vi. 1, 2, 5-7. _I saw also the Lord, &c._
In that perfect prayer which our Lord bequeathed to His disciples we
are taught to ask that God's will may be done in earth as it is done
in heaven. Thus angelic service is set before us as a model and
pattern. Not that the services we are called upon to render are the
same with those assigned to angels. Their sphere is heaven, ours for
the present is the earth; and each of these spheres has its distinct
and peculiar duties, appropriate to the nature and faculties of its
occupants. But the spirit in which the employment of angels and men
should be prosecuted is the same. One common sentiment--the sentiment
of adoration and devotedness--should animate and govern them all.
Hence the passage before us, although containing a record of the
transactions of another sphere, contains a lesson, if not respecting
the nature of our duties, yet respecting the method in which we
should seek to fulfil them.
+I. The twofold life of a servant of God, whether human or angelic,
is here very beautifully exhibited to us.+ The seraphim are
represented as veiling their faces and feet with their wings while
they stand in adoration before the throne of God. But although
engaged in ceaselessly adoring the Divine perfections, they do not
lead a life of barren contemplation. The words, "with twain he did
fly," intimate to us that they are also engaged in the active
execution of those errands with which God has charged them. The
Christian's life, like that of the seraphim, branches out into the
two great divisions of contemplative devotion and active exertion. It
is the life of Mary _combined_ with that of Martha (P. D. 2417).
1. _The devotional branch of the Christian's life._ In the exercises
of the closet and of the sanctuary are to be found the springs of the
Christian's exertions in his Master's cause. These exercises are not
originating sources of grace, but they are channels and vehicles
through which God's Spirit conveys Himself to the soul--pitchers in
which may be drawn up the waters of the River of Life to refresh and
recruit the energies of him whom a painful resistance to evil within
and without has rendered weary and faint in his mind (H. E. I. 3426,
4107, 4108, and 3438-3448). If devotion be essential to the
perfection of a seraph's service, how much more essential must it be
to ours, our necessities being so immensely greater than those of the
bright inhabitants of heaven! The exigencies of our time make
devotion especially needful now. The present is emphatically a period
of the world's history in which "many run to and fro, and knowledge
is increased." Moreover, there is a revival of outward energy and
activity in the cause of religion. This is a blessing. But remember,
days of excitement are not days of deep devotion. There may be much
of rapid movement abroad in the world without a corresponding
adoration of God in the secret chamber of the heart--much of flying
without veiling of the face.[1]
2. _The outward manifestation of the Christian life_ discernible by
the world. Care must be taken not only that the lamp shall be filled
with oil, but that there shall be a light shining before men (Matt.
v. 16; H. E. I. 1042, 1044, 3906). The seraphim are not so wrapt up
in adoration of God that they are forgetful of active service. "With
twain they did fly" for the execution of the errands on which they
were commissioned.
Here is a reproof of the monastic principle, that seclusion from the
society of our fellow-men and from the active duties of life is
necessary in order to secure an uninterrupted period of leisure for
solitary spiritual exercises. Undue predominance is thus given to one
branch of God's service, to the prejudice and neglect of the other
and no less important branch. Exercise as well as nourishment and
repose is essential to the health of the body, and so toil in the
vineyard--earnest endeavour to advance the kingdom of God in our own
hearts and the hearts of others--is no less essential to the health
of the soul. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength;" but for what purpose? That they may walk in good works,
and run with patience the race that is set before them (chap. xl. 31;
H. E. I. 1736-1742).
+II. Some practical lessons concerning the maintenance and
manifestation of the twofold Christian life.+
1. _A lesson as to the spirit which should pervade all devotion._
These bright and glorious beings are without sin. Still, such is
their sense of the infinite distance between themselves and their
Creator, that they veil their faces and their feet before His throne
in token of adoring reverence. The first and most essential element
of devotion is a feeling of deep awe flowing from a sense of God's
transcendent excellences and leading to profound self-abasement
(H. E. I. 3798, 3799, 5074). If reverence was befitting in the
seraphim, how much more is it necessary in sinful men! (Luke
xviii. 13; Ezra ix. 6).
The vision of God wrought in Isaiah a feeling almost akin to despair.
It seemed to him as if the perfect holiness of God was engaged to
banish for ever every creature possessing the slightest taint of
moral evil (ver. 5). In vers. 6, 7 we have the glorious remedy. What
is the significance of the symbols? By the work of the Son of God a
mighty Altar of Propitiation has been reared up, and thence there
comes to the penitent sinner cleansing as well as pardon. The "live
coal" is an emblem of that love and zeal in God's service with which
the Holy Spirit imbues the souls of these who flee to the Altar of
Atonement as their only refuge from the wrath to come. A
participation in that Spirit's influence is absolutely essential to
our true participation in the chorus of the angelic host (H. E. I.
2887).
2. _A few words on that active service which is the outward
manifestation of the principles nourished by devotion._ (1.) We must
prepare for it by the care and culture of our own heart.[2]
(2.) There is also an outward work which God has made binding on all
of us. He has assigned to each of us a certain position in life.
Every such position involves its peculiar responsibilities, snares,
and occupations. The responsibilities must be cheerfully and manfully
met, the occupations diligently fulfilled, as a piece of task-work
allotted to us by the Lord of the vineyard (Eph. vi. 7). Besides, God
has intrusted to us, in various measures, substance, time, abilities
influence, and these we are diligently to use for the promotion of
the cause of God in the world. In our busy path through life, which
brings us in contact with so many individuals, opportunities are ever
and anon presented to us of being useful to our fellow-men; and to
watch for, seize, and improve such opportunities is not the least
important of these branches of active service (P. D. 40, 3567, 3569).
CONCLUSION.--1. It is not the intrinsic dignity of our duties, nor
the large result of our fulfilment of them, which renders the
diligent performance of them an acceptable work in God's eyes. The
great design of our being places in this world is not that we may do
some signal service, or large amount of service, to our Creator, but
rather that we may execute the service (be it great or small)
allotted to us in a spirit of fidelity, zeal, and love. The spirit
which is thrown into and pervades the work is everything--the work
itself (comparatively) nothing. Be the sphere what it may which
Divine Providence has assigned to us, let the duties of it be
executed in a seraphic spirit (P. D. 1484). 2. We have overwhelming
motives, if we did but rightly appreciate them, to devotedness of our
every faculty to the services of our God. The redeemed sinner owes to
God far more of allegiance than the angel who has retained his
integrity. Angels no such Fall have known, "angels no such Love have
known," as we.--_E. M. Goulburn, D.C.L.: Sermons,_ pp. 77-99.