Homilist Isaiah 58:1-4 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.… is the popular piety of this age and land. I. IT IS VERY EARNEST. The piety', of Israel at this time seems to have been anything but a dull and inactive power; it was very busy. 1. It was earnest in study. "They seek Me daily," etc. (ver. 2). 2. It is earnest in prayer. "They ask of Me the ordinances of justice," etc. 3. It is earnest in its self-sacrifice. It endures lastings and self-mortifications (ver. 3). 4. It is earnest in its churchism. "Ye fast for strife and debate," etc. It would seem that the Israelites were divided into religious parties or factions, some professing to be more orthodox than others. There was a rivalry, therefore, in their devotion; one tried to excel the other, and the competition ran so high that they began to "smite each other with the fist." 5. It is earnest in its professions. They made "their voice to be heard on high." II. IT IS TERRIBLY REPREHENSIBLE. The prophet is here called upon to "Cry aloud, spare not," etc. 1. It is an insult to God. "He abhors the sacrifice where not the heart is found." This selfish piety is the most abhorrent of all impieties. 2. It is pernicious to souls. This selfish piety inflicts incalculable injury upon its possessor: it warps the judgment, it deadens the conscience, it awakens false hopes generates diseased affections and dehumanizes the man. Nor is the injury confined to the possessor himself. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. |
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