i. 1. _The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw
concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah,
Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah._
+I. The nature of the prophet's endowment:+ a "vision" into the very
heart of things, a power of distinguishing between the seeming and
the real. +II. The sadness and the joy of the prophet's life:+
sadness arising from his "vision" of human sin (vers. 2-15); joy
arising from his "vision" of the wondrousness of the Divine mercy
(ver. 18).
_Application._--1. In these latter days the prophetic endowment, to a
greater or lesser extent, is possessed by all God's people (1 John
ii. 20). 2. The Church should pray that it may be possessed to the
fullest extent by all who are called to minister in holy things.
Prophets of clear and penetrating "vision" are among the greatest
gifts which God can confer upon the Church.[1] 3. This great
endowment must be used not merely for the detection and exposure of
human sin, lest we become cynical and inhuman, but also for the
discovery of the abounding evidence of the Divine compassion (as in
v. 9), that we may be brought into more perfect sympathy with Him who
hates sin but desires and seeks to save the sinner.