The purifying power of punishment.
Great national judgments, such as that which Isaiah was sent to announce, have a purifying effect in three ways.
I. THEY ALARM A CERTAIN NUMBER OF PERSONS, AND INDUCE THEM TO QUIT THEIR SINS. The careless and indifferent have their attention excited and their fern's aroused by the dangers which manifestly threaten all, and the calamities which naturally fall on some. The class of waverers, who would fain be on the side of good, but continually fall away when temptation assails them, find their power of resistance strengthened by the perils of the time, which render sinful enjoyment insecure, and bring home to them the certainty that there is retribution in store for sin. Even among pronounced and habitual sinners there are apt to be some whom the novel circumstances of the time startle and induce to "consider their ways." It is an undeniable fact, that of such penitents a certain proportion repent with extreme earnestness, and become examples to the flock, advancing with the same impulse and fervor in the way of godliness as they formerly advanced in the "way which leadeth to destruction" (Matthew 7:13).
II. THEY INCREASE THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE BETTER DISPOSED, AND RENDER THEM MORE CIRCUMSPECT AND STRICT IN THEIR CONDUCT. Men are aware, under ordinary circumstances, that they may at any moment be summoned to meet their Judge. But they do not commonly realize the possibility. It is one of the effects of great national judgments—war, pestilence, famine—that they force on men the consideration of the peril in which they stand, and compel them to contemplate death as near, and their own speedy demise as probable. They lead men's thoughts to existence beyond the grave, and encourage them to prepare for the great change which death will make in their condition. They break in upon the placid calm of everyday life, which laps so many souls in an elysium of unconsciousness, and remind men of their Lord's solemn injunction to them: "Watch" (Mark 13:37).
III. THEY GIVE OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE EXERCISE OF THE HEROIC VIRTUES, AND HAVE THUS AN ELEVATING AND PURIFYING INFLUENCE ON THE BEST MEN. There is more room for self-devotion in times of national calamity than under any other circumstances. Thousands are thrown upon the charity of their neighbors. The suffering which exists is at once quasi-universal and extreme. Much danger has to be encountered in its relief. The best men at such times give themselves up wholly to the task of alleviating their neighbors' woes. Singly, or in bands, they go forth, fling themselves into the thick of the struggle, and do their best to relieve the general distress and misery. Whether they succeed or whether they fail in their object of helping others, they do not, cannot fail in one thing—the improvement of their own characters. Their "dross" is certain to be "purged away" by their unselfish efforts, and the pure metal of their virtue to shine forth ever more and more, as time goes on, free from all alloy of pride, or vanity, or self-seeking. Affliction has also a purifying effect on the individual. "Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth," etc. Thus only can "patience have her perfect work" (James 1:4). Thus only can faith be tried (1 Peter 1:7) and strengthened. Thus only can "the fellowship of Christ's sufferings" (Philippians 3:10) be known and realized. But this branch of the subject lies outside of Isaiah's teaching in the present chapter.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON