Isaiah 38:19 The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known your truth. 1. The feeling which the Jew had entertained on the subject of death differs as widely as possible from that entertained by St. Paul. The change of sentiment had been consummated by Christ, who had "abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel." The life of the Christian was thenceforth "hid with Christ in God." The affections were thenceforth to be "set on things above." The opposition between the things of the world and the things of God had been declared. But as soon as the Christian asked himself what was the means by which he could make this view his own, there could be only one reply. He must live after it. He must take the spirit of Christ into the world. But he could rise to the height of his duty here, only by keeping his eye fixed on the pattern in the heavens. 2. This conception of Christian life suggests reflections of two different kinds — (1) If religion brings harmony and law into human life, then the life which aspires after the ideal of religion is the most complete. (2) On the other hand, do we always fully accept the human revelation which the teaching of life itself offers to us? Do we recognise the divinity which resides in the pursuits and institutions of secular life? (W. W. Jackson, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth. |
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