Isaiah 40:6-8 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:… When we make a judgment of the objects of sense and of faith, "the things that are seen" claim the preference over "the things that are not seen." The appearance which the world presents is seducing, that which religion exhibits is forbidding. The appearances are deceitful, and the judgment we form of them false. I. THE VANITY OF THE THINGS OF THIS LIFE. Empty as is every thing in the world, and limited in its duration, it is one of the truths the most common and the least received. 1. The voice of reason teaches men that they have only a little while to live. If they will but reflect upon their constitution, they cannot but discover, both within and without, innumerable principles of their speedy dissolution. 2. This the Scripture teaches without ceasing: adapting its lessons to the importance of the awakening truth, no strong expressions are overlooked, no striking images escape the sacred writers. 3. Besides, our own experience proclaims to us the fact by the most indubitable proofs. II. THE SOUNDNESS OF A CHRISTIAN'S HOPE IN FUTURITY. The future is as enlivening to the Christian as the past is humiliating to the man. Death, properly speaking, is only the lot of the wicked. The Christian, in the estimation of the Gospel, never dies; he falls asleep, he "rests from his labours." (P. Huet.) Parallel Verses KJV: The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: |
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