viii. 11-15. _For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong
hand, &c._[1]
God's people are to be "a peculiar people." Their whole life is to be
governed by Divine principles. 1. By these principles they will be
saved from the grievous practical heresy of abstention from public
life.[2] Civilised life, especially in a free community, is a
partnership, and no man has a right to take all the advantages of a
partnership and evade all its labours and obligations. "Owe no man
anything." We are bound to labour as well as pray, that God's will
may be done on earth as it is done in heaven. The result of
abstention on the part of Christian men from public life is the
domination of bad men, and the employment of the resources of the
community for evil purposes (Ps. xii. 8). If we need example in this
matter, we have the example of the prophets, who were much more than
preachers of a monastic piety: they were active politicians, and yet
politicians of an utterly unworldly type. 2. By these principles they
will be guided and kept aid all the duties and difficulties of public
life. They will be uplifted above party spirit in all its narrow and
debasing forms. Theirs will be that true patriotism which consists in
a steady loyalty to truth, and righteousness, and mercy.
If we are to be Biblical politicians, and this is the duty of every
man among us, +I. We shall not necessarily be found on the side of
the majority+ (ver. 11). How often God's people have been called to
stand in what is called "a miserable minority!" (Exod. xxiii. 2).
+II. We shall not necessarily adopt as our own the popular cries+
(ver. 12).[3] _Vox populi_ is often far other than _Vox Dei._
+III. We shall not necessarily share in the prevalent feelings of our
time,+ whether they be those of fear or of hope (ver. 13). We shall
know that no permanent hurt can be done to our nation while it is in
pursuit of righteousness, and that no real advantage can be gained by
methods that will not bear the Divine scrutiny. +IV. Our supreme
desire will be, not to conciliate men, but to please God+ (ver. 13).
We shall consider all public questions, and vote for, and withhold
our vote from, all public men, as in His sight (Heb. xi. 27). This
may cause us often to cut ourselves off from our "party," but this
will not trouble us. Hostility may thus be excited against us--will
be excited against us, for such "impracticable men" are the
abhorrence of mere politicians; but then God Himself will be to us
"for a sanctuary."[4] +V. We shall never lose sight of the fact that
the penalty of ungodliness in public life is ruin+ (vers. 14, 15).
The real Ruler of the world is God, who governs it according to a
plan of truth, righteousness, and mercy; and every human "policy"
which is not consistent therewith, though it may win for its authors
a short-lived triumph, will inevitably plunge those who accept it
into disaster. From those who fight against God, utter defeat cannot
be far off.
When these facts are inwrought in the understandings and consciences
of God's people and have become influential in their public and
political life, much will have been done to usher in the millennium
for which we daily pray, and of which Isaiah himself has given us
such glowing pictures (chaps. ii. 4, xxxii. 16, 17; lx. 17).