_Now will I sing to my well-beloved_ HOPES CONCERNING THE VINEYARD The Lord’s hopes and disappointment with His vineyard. (_A. B. Davidson, LL. D._) TRUTH TO BE PRESENTED IN VARIED FORM Aaron’s bells must be wisely rung. Sometimes the treble of mercy sounds well, at other times the tenor of jud... [ Continue Reading ]
_It brought forth wild grapes_ WILD GRAPES The history of the Jewish nation is written for our warning, and the lessons taught by this parable are sadly needed by the England of today. There is not one word of this description of the vineyard at its best which is not true of this highly favoured l... [ Continue Reading ]
_Judge, I pray you, betwixt Me and My vineyard_ THE UNFRUITFUL VINEYARD I. The way in which the inspired penman is guided to put the question in the text seems to lead us to ONE OF WE SUBTLEST WEAKNESSES OF HUMAN NATURE,--I mean the power which men possess of perceiving general truth without at th... [ Continue Reading ]
_What could have been done more to My vineyard that I have not done in it?_ HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY AND DIVINE GRACE I. In any attempt at the interpretation of the story and the exhibition of its moral and religions uses, its NATIONAL APPLICATION should be considered first. (Isaiah 5:7_._) 1. There... [ Continue Reading ]
_Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field_ THE SELFISH LANDOWNER Selfishness, or the making self the centre to which all things are to tend, is the great sin in all ages and peoples. As soon as national institutions have awakened the sense of personality and the feeling of s... [ Continue Reading ]
_Many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant_ EMPTY HOUSES (To children):--Empty houses! We all know what they look like. From afar we can see the bills in the windows--“This house to let,” or “To be let,” or, still more curtly, “To let”; and when we come nearer, the bl... [ Continue Reading ]
_Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink_ THE FRUITS OF DRUNKENNESS I. In reference to THE INDIVIDUAL HIMSELF, who is its victim. It may, perhaps, be made a question by some, When may a man be regarded as intoxicated, and what may be the number of offences... [ Continue Reading ]
_They regard not the work of the Lord_ THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD A neglect of God, and a disregard of His wonder-working providence, constitutes the character of man under the influence of his natural corruption of heart. It formed the character of the Jewish Church, notwithstanding its outward privi... [ Continue Reading ]
_My people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge_ A SERMON FOR TRINITY SUNDAY 1_._ “My people.” The Almighty has a people of His own; a people with special privileges and a special work to do. In the Old Testament and the New this is clearly written. “My people,” says Isaiah; “M... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hell hath enlarged herself. .. the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in Judgment_ THE GRAVE “Hell,” here, stands not for future punishment. The word “Sheol” in Hebrew, “Hades” in Greek, and “Hell” in this verse, represent the place of the dead--the grave. This place of the dead is spoken of in the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity._ FRIVOLITY AND PROFANITY Frivolity, he says, is the herald and handmaid of guilt. The cords are cords of vanity bound about us in mere thoughtlessness in the unguarded hours of recreation, in the giddy whirl of society, when talk is gay and fr... [ Continue Reading ]
_Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil_ WOE UNTO THEM THAT CALL EVIL GOOD AND GOOD EVIL There is a customary mode of talking, in which familiar formulas of praise and censure, as to moral objects, are employed as if by rote, revolving the admission of important principles, and recognisin... [ Continue Reading ]
_Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes_ A FALSE ESTIMATE OF HUMAN WISDOM The sin reproved (as Calvin well observes) is not mere frivolous self-conceit, but that delusive estimate of human wisdom which may co-exist with modesty of manners and a high degree of real intellectual merit, but wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine. .. which justify the wicked for reward_ WINE-LOVING LAWYERS AND JUDGES Among the men whom Isaiah denounces as the corrupters and destroyers of the society of which they are the leaders, are the unjust lawyers and judges: he mentions as characteristic o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble_ SIN BRINGS JUDGMENT IN ITS TRAIN Let not those expect to live easily that live thus wickedly, for the righteous God wilt take vengeance. Observe-- I. HOW COMPLETE this ruin will be, and how necessarily and unavoidably it will follow upon their sins. T... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against His people_ THE PROPHECY EXPLAINED Jehovah is about to bring foreign armies as the instruments of His judgment; the vision of the worst of human calamities--the invasion of a rich, civilised, luxurious nation by overwhelming hordes of barbarians-... [ Continue Reading ]