Temple (2 Chron. xxvi. 16-21); his son and successor was Jotham, the only king of the house of Judah whose character has not one dishonouring blot; was it not appropriate that, when the disobedient king was removed, and a king who honoured God and His house had succeeded him, there should have been this glorious revelation of the King of kings-not merely as a preparation of the prophet for his mission, but as an encouragement to the monarch to persevere in his loyalty towards God and His truth? That which was granted to the prophet was a vision of the Triune God. Proofs ver. 3, which shows the plurality of persons in the Divine unity; John xii. 41, where it is asserted that that which the prophet saw was the glory of Christ; Acts xxviii. 25, where it is asserted that the voice which the prophet heard was the voice of the Holy Ghost; ver. 3, the threefold repetition of "holy." I purpose, therefore, to make some observations on this important subject of the Trinity. I. The doctrine of the Trinity has been believed by the Church of Christ in all ages. This is at least a presumption that it is taught in Scripture, successive generations of devout men could scarcely have been mistaken on such a vital point. II. This doctrine of the Trinity underlies the whole Bible, and is inextricably interwoven with its fabric and structure. The Old Testament testifies to the Divine unity, as contrasted with the polytheism which prevailed among heathen nations; the Gospels record the manifestation of the Incarnate Son of God; the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles set forth the work of the Third Person in the Church. There is direct testimony to this doctrine, such as Matt. xxviii. 19, 2 Cor. xiii. 14. But just as circumstantial evidence when it is clear and complete is even more satisfactory and decisive than the very best direct testimony, still more valuable is the indirect testimony to this doctrine underlying the whole Bible, like a threefold cord, it runs through the whole book, and binds the whole of Divine revelation together. III. This doctrine of the Trinity, while it is clearly taught in Scripture, is mysterious and inexplicable. We can no more comprehend it with the unaided human understanding than by uplifting the fingers we can touch the starry firmament (a). This is no reason for refusing to accept it (6), for we accept many other facts which we cannot explain (we cannot explain even the familiar fact of sight), but it is a reason for not insisting dogmatically that other men should accept our explanations of it. As we cannot stay to consider the effect of this vision upon the mind of the prophet, I shall conclude with just three words of practical application of the doctrine itself. 1. It is bound up with our duty to God. We are bound to accept it, because He has revealed it; and accepting it, we are bound to yield to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost the homage and love of our souls. 2. It is bound up with our hope of salvation. If it is not true that the Everlasting Son came forth from the bosom of the Father, and took upon Him to deliver man; and if it is not true that the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son raises men from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, and restamps upon their souls the lost lineaments of our Maker's image, what foundation is there left for our hope of everlasting life? 3. It is bound up with the fulness of the Gospel blessings. These are all summed up in the Apostolic benediction, 2 Cor. xiii. 14. If these be ours, we "have all and abound."-R. W. Forrest (Christian World Pulpit, i. 492). (a, B) See Article: THE TRINITY, in my Homiletic Encyclopædia of Illustrations, and section 1501 in my Dictionary of Poetical Illustrations. REVELATIONS OF GOD. vi. 1-5. In the year that King Uzziah died I saw, &c. (a). I. Earthly powers fade and perish, but the Eternal Power that uses them all lives on (ver. 1). Comfort here, when a great king or statesman is taken away from the head of a nation; when a great leader of an arduous reformatory movement, such as Luther, is laid low; when an eloquent preacher or wise pastor is summoned to his rest; or even when the head of a household is cut off just when his family most need his care. He who has wrought by their instrumentality can work without it (Ps. lxviii. 5, &c.) II. In God's temples there is room only for God. "His train filled the Temple." Ahaz could build in the courts of the Lord's house an altar to the god of Damascus (2 Kings xvi. 10-16), but he could not worship two gods there, for the only living and true God departed when His sanctuary was thus profaned. God will have all, or none (Isa. xlii. 8) All His earthly temples must be counterparts of the one heavenly temple, where He reigns alone. In no church will God divide His empire with the State or with popular opinion: we must choose between Him and all other authorities. In no heart will He reign along with any other principle or passion (Matt. vi. 21.) III Until we reach the land where there is no temple, we cannot see God as He is (3). To Isaiah a vision of God was granted, and yet it was but a symbolic vision. He saw a throne, and on it seated a Being of indescribable majesty; but who imagines that he saw God as He is ? Does God sit on a throne, after the fashion of kings, such as Uzziah, who fade and die? The vision was a condescension to the human faculties of the seer, and served its purpose, that of impressing upon him the majesty and holiness of the Most High. And he tells us more of the ministers who surround the throne than of its Occupant! Him no words. can describe; of Him no absolute disclosure is now possible; He can but give us revelations-visions-adminis trations of Himself. And this He has done. 1. In nature. The purpose of the manifold and wondrous universe is not accomplished if we look only at the creation, and do not discern in it veils not thickly hiding, but helping to reveal the Creator (Rom. i. 19, 20) (7). 2. In Providence. The manner in which the world is governed is, to the man who studies it comprehensively, earnestly, and reverently, a revelation of the character of the Ruler. 3. In His Word. That man miserably mistakes, who studies the Bible as anything less than a many-sided disclosure of God. 4. In Christ (8): a familiar thought this, yet how seldom do we enter into its depths! We do not worship an unknown God, yet we cannot see Him as He is until we have entered into that light which is inaccessible and which no mortal can approach unto, until we have been ourselves transformed into "children of light," and so rendered capable of looking on "the Father of lights." IV. Those to whom He reveals Himself most fully are most humble, and those whom He most exalts are most ready to serve. We have both these truths illustrated in the seraphim and in Isaiah. (a) The scene of the Vision is the Temple; and its features will have been the same whether we suppose them to have risen before Isaiah's imagination while he was absent from the spot, in the solitude of his chamber or his house-top, or assume (as I myself prefer to do), that he was actually praying in the Temple at the time. Though it is unlikely that any of the successors to what was but a small remnant of Solomon's kingdom perfectly restored the Temple after it was deprived of its original splendour by Shishak in the reign of Rehoboam, yet we see the worthier princes from time to time repairing the structure when it had been suf. fered to fall into decay, and replacing, as far as they could, the treasures and the costly decorations of which it was repeatedly despoiled to buy off foreign invaders; and probably there was no period in which the restoration would be more complete than in the reign of Uzziah, who in his power, wealth, and magnificence, came nearer than any other to Solomon. And there will be much more of fact than of fancy in the picture, if, for the clearer understanding of the scene of this vision, we figure to ourselves the youthful prophet in his rough hair or woollen garment (probably not unlike that of the Capuchin friar as we now see him in the streets or churches of Rome), going up to the Temple to worship;-and if we look with him at the Temple as, at the end of 300 years from its building, it must have presented itself to his eyes, with its ample courts, and colonnades, and porch, and its holy house, and holy of holies, well-proportioned, and of the most elaborate workmanship, though rather massive than large according to our notions. As he crossed the variegated pavement of "the great court of the congrega tion," and stopped-for we have no reason to suppose him a Levite-at the entrance to the inner, or priests'" court, on each hand would rise one of the tall pillars which Solomon set up in token that the kingdom was constituted by Jehovah, and would be upheld by His might (1 Kings vii. 21; 2 Chron. iii. 17), and which, once of "bright brass," but now mellowed into bronze, had their square capitals richly wreathed with molten lilies, chain-work, and pomegranates; before him, resting on the back of the twelve oxen, and cast like them in brass, would appear the "molten sea," a basin of thirty cubits in circumference, and containing two or three thousand baths of water, its, brim wrought "like the brim of a cup with flowers of lilies," and under these a double row of ornamental knobs; while on each side stood five smaller lavers, the bases of which rested on wheels, and were most elaborately ornamented with oxen, lions, cherubims, and palmtrees engraved upon them; and beyond these again he would see the great brazen altar of burnt-offering, with its never-extinguished fire; and overhead the roof of thick cedar beams resting on rows of columns. These were the courts of the palace of the divine King of Israel, for the reception of His subjects and His ministers. [Compare the description of Solomon's own house, which besides its inner porch had another where he sat to judge the people, 1 Kings vii. 7. The arrangement of the Temple is plainly that of a palace.] The house itself again consisted of two parts, the outer of which, the holy place, was accessible to those priests who were in immediate attendance on their unseen Sovereign, while the inner, or holiest place, was the very presence-chamber of the Monarch who dwelt "between the cherubims," which spread their golden wings over the ark containing the covenant He had vouchsafed to enter into with His people, and itself forming ณ mercy-seat," where was "the place of His throne and the place of the sole of His feet." In the position which I have, following the requirements of the narrative in the chapter before us, supposed Isaiah to be placed, he would see through the open folding-doors of cypress, carved "with cherubims, and palmtrees, and open flowers," and "covered with gold upon the carved work," into the holy place, which he could not enter; and the light of the golden lamps on either side would show him the cedar panelling of the walls, carved with knobs and open flowers, with cherubima 66 and palm-trees, festooned with chain-work, and richly gilt; the mosaics of precious stone; the cypress floor; the altar of incense; the table with the shew-bread; the censers, tongs, and other furniture of "pure and perfect gold;' and before the doorway at the further end, and not concealed by the open leaves of the olive-wood doors (carved and gilded like the others), would be distinguishable the folds of the vail" of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen," embroidered with cherubims. In the East the closed vail, or purdah, declares the presence and secures the privacy of the monarch, into which no man may intrude and live; and in the Temple at Jerusalem it was the symbol of the awful presence and unapproachable majesty of the King Jehovah, Lord of hosts. Perhaps on this occasion, or certainly on many others, Isaiah had been joining in the public daily sacrifice and worship, and had afterwards brought his own free-will offering a bullock or a lamb without blemish. Such an offering, the symbol of his dedication of himself to Jehovah's service, would be the natural expression of his earnest desire for some token that at last it was permitted him to enter on the actual functions of the prophetic office for which he had been so long preparing; and that this vision was the answer to such beautiful prayerful desire-itself an inspiration from on high-we may well believe.-Strachey. ... Some of you may have been watching a near and beautiful landscape in the land of mountains and eternal snows, till you have been exhausted by its very richness, and till the distant hills which bounded it have seemed, you knew not why, to limit and contract the view,-and then a vail has been withdrawn, and new hills not looking as if they belonged to this earth, yet giving another character to all that does belong to it, have unfolded themselves before you. This is an imperfect, very imperfect, likeness (yet it is one), of that revelation which must have been made to the inner eye of the prophet, when he saw another throne than the throne of the house of David, another king than Uzziah or Jotham, another train than that of priests or minstrels in the Temple, other winged forms than those golden ones which overshadowed the mercy-seat. Each object was the counterpart of one that was then or had been at some time before his bodily eyes. The symbols and service of the Temple were not, as priests and people often thought, an earthly machinery for scaling a distant Heaven; they were witnesses of a Heaven nigh at hand, of a God dwelling in the midst of His people, of His being surrounded by spirits which do His pleasure, hearkening to the voice of His words. -F. D. Maurice. ... (8) See my Dictionary of Poetical Illustrations, No. 1501; and my Homiletic Encyclopædia of Illustrations, Nos. 2229-2240. (7) D. P. I., 1489, 1493, 1496, 1502, 15041506, 1508, 1509, 1511, 1514, 1519, 1526, 2545, 2552, 2563; H. E. I., 2242. (5) H. E. I., 854-857, 2241, 2243. ISAIAH'S VISION. vi. 1–7. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord, &c. (a). Behold, in these temple scenes, both what the Lord your God is, and what He requires from you. I. The first of these temple scenes presents to our view the majesty of God: "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high, and lifted up." One of the first and most important truths for us to learn is the absolute rule of God-over nature, man, the principalities of heaven. Mark the scenic circumstances. He sitteth upon His throne: this is the attitude, 1. Of supremacy and dignity; He sitteth while all other beings stand before Him to receive His commands, bow in adoration, or are prostrate in abasement. 2. It is the attitude of ease and perfect security (3). But, above all, mark the place of His throne as displayed in this wonderful vision. It stands in the temple; it has been sprinkled with the blood of propitiation; it is now the mercy-seat. To the truly penitent all its terror appears softened with grace. II. The second of these temple scenes displays to us the ineffable and incomprehensible nature of God. Let not man suppose that he can by searching find out God, or know the Almighty unto perfection. This is scenically, but most impressively, represented to us in the vision before us: "His train"-the skirts of the shekinah-"filled the temple," its the temple," its fainter rays beaming from the central blaze in the holiest of all, and irradiating the more distant objects. But even that was too much for man, and it is therefore added, “And the house was filled with smoke;" a veil was thus drawn over what was too bright and dazzling for mortal vision; and though God dwelt in the light, yet it was light involving itself in thick darkness (Ps. xcvii. 2; Ex. xvi. 10). Revelation has not superseded mystery (Job xxvi. 14). As to His dispensations, we are all still to walk by faith rather than by sight; and as to the depths of His nature, rather to adore than reason. An infinite being is necessarily incomprehensible by finite beings (7); He must be mysterious. If we could fully know God, we must either be equal to Him, or He must lose the glory of His nature and come down to ourselves (1 Cor. xiii. 9; Rom. xi. 33). III. The third view presented by this vision is that of the adorable and awful holiness of God (ver. 3). This is seen in His titles (Ps. lxxi. 22; Deut. xxxii. 4); in His acts; in His law; in His visible image on earth, His Son incarnate; in His Gospel; in His judg ments; in the reward of the righteous. IV. In the next scene which the vision presents we behold a sinful convicted and laid prostrate before this holy God (ver. 5). man V. In the final scene we behold a convicted, self-abased, and penitent man pardoned and consecrated to the service of God (vers. 6, 7). What are we taught by this wondrous representation? That for guilty man there is pardon, that for unholy men there is purification, and that lips, once unclean, but now sanctified, may join in the hymns of seraphim, and, without dread, approach to God, and celebrate the glories even of His holiness. This we are taught, but not this only; not merely is the fact, but the manner of it, brought before us. it, brought before us. See, then, the means. The instrument of purification is fire; but not any kind of fire, fire from any place; it is fire from the altar, the altar where atonement is made for sin; fire, therefore, both of divine origin, and coming to us through the great Propitiation. We can be at no loss for an interpretation of the symbols thus employed. Our altar is the cross; the propitiatory sacrifice, the spotless Lamb of God; by the merit of His death, and the baptizing fire of His Spirit, are the guilty and polluted pardoned and sanctified to God.-Richard Watson: Works, vol. iv. pp. 143-153. (a) God is invisible; yet in that heavenly world in which He has His special and eternal residence He manifests Himself in ineffable glory, dwelling in what the Scriptures call "the light which no man can approach unto." Of that heavenly world, the tabernacle and temple were splendid emblems; they were "patterns of heavenly things." But why the astonishing fact, that when sinful creatures erected a tent in the wilderness, and a temple subsequently at Jerusalem, the visible glory of God descended, taking possession of the place! God thus came down from heaven to earth, with all these impressive circumstances of visible majesty, to teach His creatures that He was awfully glorious, and fearful even in His praises; that even in His acts of grace His holiness is solemnly declared; and thus to show with what reverence and purity man ought to approach to Him. So when Isaiah was to be appointed to an office in which he was to fear God, and not the face of man, and which, to give it weight and authority, required an entire sanctity, a scene similar to that which had been displayed in the temple at its consecration, but greatly heightened and magnified, was disclosed to him in vision. The space of this visionary temple appears to have been far more ample than that of the one at Jerusalem; the throne was greatly elevated, it was "high, and lifted up;" the "train," the "skirts" (as in the margin) of the cloud of the Divine presence filled the whole place; instead of the carved representations of the cherubim of glory fixed on the mercy-seat, the prophet beholds the cherubim themselves, living, and all ardour, activity, and adoration; they are not represented in the vision as the cherubim in the holiest of all, silently gazing on the glory of God and the mysteries of His covenant, but as hymning His praises, proclaiming His spotless purity, and declaring "the whole earth to be full of His glory." The prophet, beholding the wondrous scene, sinks oppressed and self-abhorred, until a coal from the altar touches his lips, and he is thus sanctified to the service of God, and put among His ministers.- Watson. (8) No rebellions shake the throne of God; though "the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing," yet "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision." The throne of God is a rock in the midst of the ever-rolling ocean of created existence, that heaves and swells with ceaseless change; but, in comparison of Him, its mightiest billows have but their moment of existence, and sink into the mass at the base of the immovable throne of the Everlasting One.-Watson. (7) An observer on a mountain-cliff may be able to survey the whole circumference of a lake that lies beneath him, but no man can see the whole of the ocean, simply because it is the ocean, and not a lake.-Watson. THE SERAPHIM. vi. 2. Above it stood the seraphim (a): each had six wings, &c. I. "With twain he covered his face" (B). hey bow with prostrate awe, veiling themselves in the presence of the Divine glory, as though feeling the force of those strong words, 66 'He chargeth His angels with folly, and the heavens are not clean in His sight." If the angels tremble while they gaze, what should man feel? II. "With twain he covered his feet" (y). Among Orientals this expresses reverence. Well may you bow in reverence before Him! The sense of pardon will humble you, even while it fills you with holy exaltation. III. "With twain he did fly"-in readiness to execute His commands.-Richard Watson: Works, vol. ix. pp. 150-153. (a) As those that are nearest of a king's attendants stand behind his throne or chair of state, at his elbow.-Day. This is the only passage of Scripture in which the seraphim are mentioned. According to the orthodox view, which originated with Dionysius the Areopagite, they stand at the head of the nine choirs of angels, the first rank consisting of seraphim, cherubim, and throni. And this is not without support, if we compare the cherubim mentioned in Ezekiel, which carried the chariot of the divine throne; whereas here the seraphim are said to surround the seat on which the Lord worshipped. In any case, beings of different kinds; and there is no the seraphim and cherubim were heavenly weight in the attempts of Hendewerk and Stickel to prove that they are one and the same. And certainly the name seraphim does not signify merely spirits as such, but even, if not the highest of all, yet a distinct order from the rest; for the Scriptures really teach that there are gradations in rank in the hierarchy of heaven. Nor were they mere symbols or fanciful images, as Hävernick imagines, but real spiritual beings, who visibly appeared to the prophet, and that in a form corresponding to their own supersensuous being, and to the design of the whole transaction. Whilst the |