Morgan County republican. (Versailles, Mo.) 1906-1914, 1911-05-11

IL "Noi" tlS NOlCS u
the Lord. saying, Whom shall 1 send, and
who will 70 for us? Then said I. here
am I: send me.'-Isa. 6s.
TIME-The year when King Uzziah
died, which was (Beecher) b. c.. 1855, or
(Hastings) B. c. 7s.
PLACE-The Temple in Jerusalem.
KINGS-In Israel. Menahem: in A.
syria. Asshur-daan III.
This is a home-missionary lesson.
We are asked to read Isaiah "a. What
home-missionary thoughts are to be
found there? Those glowing sentences
are in many particulars faithful pic
lures Of our wealthy modern nations.
There are the unexampled movement
Of immigration, the aping of evil Gus
toms from other lands, the vast wealth,
the mammon-worship, the pride. the
social wrongs and expressions, the
m1sgovernment, the devotion to FASH
lon and luxury, and in it all a nucleus
Of nobility that will bring about the
utmost triumph Of godliness. There
Is as great need that w should work
for u country as that Isaiah should
work for his; and, though we are SO
much inferior to Isaiah, yet God calls
US in essentially the same way to the
same great service.
The literary qualities most conspic-
uous in Isaiah is the wealth and bril-
liancy of his imagination. No other
Old Testament writer has the same
power of picturesque and graphic de-
scription. There Is no other Hebrew
author who furnishes the reader with
80 many quotable sentences. One can
imagine the people Of Jerusalem stop
ping one another on the street, to tell
and hear the latest from the prophet.
This, of course, was precisely what he
desired and intended. Isaiah was a
humorist and satirist in the truest
sense Of the word. This Is evident
from his vivid, quaint description of
the strange manufactured idols and
images Of worship. from his curious
and vivid picture Of female luxury and
fashion in his day.
The events of his time may BIO
summed up in two momentous occur
rences. The first Was the advance of
the Assyrians upon the small states OF
Syria and Palestine, %paralyzing their
national consciousness, and with this
also their national religions. Judah
was not destroyed like Samaria, but
Its independence was lost, and 1t was
the prophets chief political ASK to
enable his country to adjust itself to
the new conditions. AS a politician
Isaiah's maxim was mo politics." He
strongly dissuaded Ahaz from entan.
Cling himself with Assyria. but when
his advice was disregarded and Judah
become subject to Assyria he resist.
ed with equal strenuousness all at.
tempts to throw off the Assyrian
yoke.
The second occurrence was the fall
Of Samaria. by which the mission OF
united Israel became the heritage of
Judah alone. During all these troub-
lous times Isaiah was the leading
statesmen Of his country.
Isaiah was filled with fear OF Q
vision because 1t was a vision Of God,
and the Hebrews believed that no one
could see God and live. Isaiah loved
God. and instinctively he prepared to
join his voice to the seraphs' chant,
but ere the harmony could pass his
lips he caught his breath and was
dumb. A horrible sense Of unclean.
ness seized him.
One Of the bright seraphs. glowing
as with fire. and with wings like the
lightning FASH" took a hot stone with
tongs from the altar and touched lisa.
iah's lips with it In token Of purifca-
ton: The hot stone IL a stone kept
in all ancient Oriental households as
a means of applying heat to household
purposes.
Why does Jehovah seek q man to
go on his errands. when he has the
winged seraphs? Because men can
reach men better than angels can.
Only once did God choose . completely
sinless preacher. Always. but that
once, God has chosen sinful men; and,
aot seldom, the most sinful of men he
could get to speak to their fellow.men
about sin and salvation. Isaiah was
quick to offer himself as the mesen.
ger. because he felt himself, with his
sin removed, both fit and able for
service, and wanted to show his graf.
itude for what had been done for
him.
How does this marvellous chapter ap-
ply to our nation and to homo mis-.
sions? 1t contains q message Of doom
and a message Of hope and promise.
Which shall 1t be for our nation? The
former, II Christians are needless OF
the greet work before them. to
gelize the masses Of our fellow-coun.
trymen that do not know Christ. The
latter, II homo missions are earnestly