ix. 18-19. _For wickedness burneth as the fire, &c._
One of the grandest and most fearful scenes in nature is the forest
on fire. This is the figure Isaiah employs to describe the
destruction that was coming upon sinful and stubborn Israel.[1] That
destruction would not be spared and the wealthiest could not escape.
And all this woe, at which it behoved the people to tremble, is
attributed to the wickedness in which they delighted. "Wickedness
burneth as the fire"--a comprehensive statement eternally true.
+I. Consider how true it is in regard to individuals.+ The
forest-fire--1. _what a trivial thing it may seem in its
commencement!_ It was but a little heap of dried leaves and sticks
which a thoughtless traveller kindles, that by means of the little
fire thus produced he might cook his evening meal. He had no
conception how that fire would spread. So the wickedness that
ultimately consumes and utterly destroys, often commences in what
seems a little transgression, _e.g.,_ the few glasses of wine taken
at a wedding-breakfast by one who has been a total abstainer; the
little act of dishonesty that is undetected, &c. (James iii. 5). Many
of the passions by which millions are consumed--avarice, lust,
intemperance, &c.--seem little things in their commencement (H. E. I.
4497, 4498, 4513-4518). 2. _It makes progress according to its own
laws,_ utterly regardless of the desires of the onlookers. It will
not stop at any line which they may prescribe. No man can accomplish
a desire to burn down just one acre of a forest. If he kindles a fire
in the forest at all, it will advance as far and as long as there is
fuel for it. So no man can determine beforehand the measure of the
power which permitted wickedness shall acquire over him; the fire
which a man kindles in the forest of his own passions will go burning
on long after he may wish it to stop. 3. _Its power grows
continually._ It acquires a marvellous intensity and fervour as it
proceeds (H. E. I. 409, 4500, 4501, 4534-4537). 4. Consequently _it
proceeds with ever-accelerating rapidity._ Here again the moral
analogy is frightfully accurate. 5. Consequently, too, _its range
continually widens._ That which began as a little point becomes a
vast circle constantly expanding. Things that seemed so far off as to
be absolutely safe are speedily included in the ring of flame. So the
fire of ungodliness which was kindled in one passion hastens through
the whole nature, and destroys every vestige of virtue and nobility;
it seizes every faculty of mind and heart.[2] 6. _It is remorselessly
undistinguishing in its effects._ The fair flowers and the poisonous
weeds, the stately cedars and the misshapen brambles, it consumes
alike. So again with the sinner: the wickedness that consumes him
spares nothing. In workhouses, lunatic asylums, prisons, how many
most terrible proofs there are of the truth of this declaration! Once
the owners of many choice possessions, and with prospects as fair as
those of any of us, they are now like the forest region _after_ the
fire--blackened and desolate.
+II. Consider how true this is of nations.+ Wickedness consumes the
nation's prosperity, happiness, strength, and ultimately its
existence.[3]
From all this there are many lessons to be learned. 1. _He is a fool
who makes a sport of sin_ (Prov. x. 23). He is infinitely more
foolish than the child who plays with fire. 2. _He is a fool who does
not stamp out the fires of unholy passion the instant that he
perceives them beginning to kindle upon him._ In dealing with sin, or
in dealing with fire, our only safety lies in the promptest and most
energetic action (H. E. I. 4733, 4734).[4] 3. _Those nations are
guilty of suicidal folly who legalise vice in any form._ 4. _Those
who pander to a nation's vices are traitors of the worst
kind_.[5]--_R. A. B._
In this message the prophet affirms that there are resemblances
between a fire and sin. It is not a common fire to which he refers,
such as is employed for domestic or public purposes. It is a great
conflagration which burns the humble shrubbery, the gigantic forest,
extends over the land, and sends a mighty column of smoke and flame
up to heaven. By attending to this comparison some of the
characteristics of sin will vividly appear.
+I. The origin of a great fire.+ Recently we read an account of a
great fire, and the paragraph closed with these words: "The origin of
the fire is unknown." Suppositions were made, conjectures were
offered, still a deep mystery which may never be unravelled. The same
with the origin of sin. We know it had a beginning, for God only is
from everlasting. We know it had a beginning before Eve and Adam felt
its power, since they were tempted. We know it began with him who is
called Satan and the father of lies. Still, there are three questions
about it which we cannot answer. 1. _Where_ did it begin? 2. _When_
did it begin? 3. _How_ did it begin? These questions might have been
answered; they have not, because such information is not required by
us in this stage of our unending history.
+II. The progress of a great fire.+ Place one spark amid combustible
material in London. Let it alone. What will be the result? It will
leap from point to point, house to house, street to street, until the
whole city is in flames. Sin has spread in an exactly similar way.
One sin, to the individual; one wrong action, to the family; one
immoral look, to thousands; one crime, to a kingdom. The sin of one
woman away in the East, some sixty centuries ago, has spread itself
amongst the whole race; and there is not one who has not felt, to
some extent, its scorching power.
+III. The transforming power of a great fire.+ Wood, coal, &c., it
transforms into its own essence, because it makes fire of these. It
is even so with sin. It turns everything, over which it gains the
slightest control, into its own nature--that is, into a curse. The
desire to _possess,_ sin has turned it in a different direction, and
made it an autocratic passion. Take the principle of _ambition_ the
same way. Take _commerce_ in the same way. Thus the richest
blessings, yea, all the blessings which God has given to us, sin can
so transform that they shall become curses.
+IV. The destructive energy of a great fire.+ Who can calculate the
amount of property in London alone which has been destroyed by fire?
But the destruction which sin has caused in London is infinitely
greater and more momentous. Some have bodies once beautiful, now
bloated and withered by sin. Some have feelings, once tender, now
petrified by sin. Some whole intellectual powers were once strong,
now feeble by sin. Some, who were once full of hope, now hopeless by
sin. The destruction which sin has caused is awful. And this it must
ever do to all who touch it. Avoid it, therefore, more than anything
else. Herein only is safety.
+V. The termination of a great fire.+ It terminates when all the
material is consumed and reduced to ashes. Can the fire of sin ever
be put out in this way? The body in the grave is scorched by it no
more; but what of the soul? Look at the rich man. He is tormented, in
pain, not by a literal flame, but by the fire of sin. He will be so
for ever, because the soul is immortal.
A great fire has been terminated by a superior quenching power. There
is also an element which can completely remove sin from the soul.
What is it? Nothing can be more important than the true answer to
this question. Health must depart, trade must be left, money not
required. Our souls must live for ever. With sin, no heaven, but
hell. How delivered? Ask those in heaven, and those on earth, who
have been saved. They all say that the fires of unholy passion have
been quenched in them, and their guilt removed, by the blood of the
Lamb. Apply at once to the same source.--_A. McAuslane, D.D._