ii. 6-9. _They be replenished from the east, &c._
We have here the indictment which the prophet brings against Israel.
It consists of three counts: 1. That the people had adopted the
superstitions of the surrounding nations. 2. That the government had
accumulated treasure and organized a cavalry force, in direct
disobedience to well-known Divine injunctions (Deut. xvii. 16, 17).
3. That rich and poor alike had abandoned themselves to idolatry. But
these verses may be taken also as Isaiah's _description_ of Judæa in
his day; and so regarding them, we find in them an instructive
combination of the material and the moral. According to modern ideas,
so far as the description concerns the material, it is exceedingly
bright. An observer who regarded only the material--such a man as we
can conceive of as being sent out as a "Special Commissioner" by the
_Daily Telegraph_ or the _New York Herald_--would have given a
glowing account of Judæa at that period: an overflowing exchequer, a
powerful army, evidences of wealth and prosperity on every hand, &c.
But the prophet, looking only at what is moral, gives an account that
is lurid and dark in the extreme: he sees only cause for lamentation
and foreboding. So we reach the first of the lessons on which I
intend to insist to-day, viz., +I. That the most diverse reports may
be made truly concerning the same community.+ St. Paul visited
Athens, and we have a touching account of the effect of that city
upon him (Acts xvii. 16); to him it presented a pitiable spectacle;
but what a different effect would have been produced upon a mere man
of culture, and what a different account he would have given of that
metropolis of art! What very different accounts might be given of our
own country from these two standpoints, the material and the moral!
+II. When two reports of a community are given--one materially bright
and the other morally dark--it is the latter only that a wise man
will regard as important.+ For 1. _It is on the moral condition of a
nation, and not on its material prosperity, that its happiness
depends._ Increase of wealthy does not necessarily mean increase of
happiness. Frequently it means destruction of happiness; it always
does so, when wealth increases faster than intellectual culture and
moral restraint. In the absence of this moral restraint, wealth is
not a blessing, but a curse. 2. _The material disassociated from the
moral is transient._ Vicious prosperity is short-lived. By the luxury
born of prosperity and virtue of industry, foresight, and
self-denial, on which prosperity depends, are sapped. The health of
the nation is lowered. Commerce becomes a gigantic system of
gambling. Ruin is soon reached. Hence,
+III. Our chief concern as patriots should be to promote the moral
well-being of our nation.+ Those who uplift it in virtue are its true
benefactors. All who minister to its material, intellectual, and
artistic progress are worthy of gratitude; but most deserving of
gratitude are those who inspire it with the fear of God, and with
love for His laws. Hence,
+IV. Our chief concern as individuals should be for the moral and not
for the material.+ It is a very small matter to add house to house,
and field to field: it is a very great thing to add virtue to virtue
until we have succeeded in building up a symmetrical and noble moral
character. A man's life--his true well-being depends not upon what he
_has,_ but upon what he _is_.[1] And upon this, too, depends his
eternal destiny. How childish, therefore, is the almost universal
concern for mere material improvement! And how little have those to
complain of who find themselves unable to accumulate wealth! The
millionaire has soon to leave all his stores, and he speedily reaches
a point at which all his bonds and notes become wastepaper. What a
contrast between his experience, and that of the man who, having
employed his life in virtue, finds that all unconsciously he has been
laying all up for himself treasures in heaven! These two courses are
open to us--to live for the material, or to live for the moral: which
will you choose?