desires to be broken. For in it hearts made soft and penitent by the
Voice, breathe out lowly acknowledgment of widespread sin, and see God's
mercy in the continuance of 'a very small remnant' of still faithful
ones. There is a little island not yet submerged by the sea of iniquity,
and it is to Him, not to themselves, that the 'holy seed' owe their
being kept from following the multitude to do evil. What a smiting
comparison for the national pride that is--'as Sodom,' 'like unto
Gomorrah'!

After the sentence comes pardon. Verses 16 and 17 properly belong to the
paragraph omitted from the text, and close the stern special word to the
'rulers' which, in its severe tone, contrasts so strongly with the
wounded love and grieved pity of the preceding verses. Moral amendment
is demanded of these high-placed sinners and false guides. It is John
the Baptist's message in an earlier form, and it clears the way for the
evangelical message. Repentance and cleansing of life come first.

But these stern requirements, if taken alone, kindle despair. 'Wash you,
make you clean'--easy to say, plainly necessary, and as plainly
hopelessly above my reach. If that is all that a prophet has to say to
me, he may as well say nothing. For what is the use of saying 'Arise and
walk' to the man who has been lame from his mother's womb? How can a
foul body be washed clean by filthy hands? Ancient or modern preachers
of a self-wrought-out morality exhort to impossibilities, and unless
they follow their preaching of an unattainable ideal as Isaiah followed
his, they are doomed to waste their words. He cried, 'Make you clean,'
but he immediately went on to point to One who could make clean, could
turn scarlet into snowy white, crimson into the lustrous purity of the
unstained fleeces of sheep in green pastures. The assurance of God's
forgiveness which deals with guilt, and of God's cleansing which deals