subjects. The brightest thoughts derived from human royalty are shadows here. Not that the analogy is uninstructive; but let us not fail to mark, also, the points of contrast. One of the latter is suggested by the first line of our chapter: Isaiah saw the everlasting KING in the year that Uzziah died. In regal dignity, as in priestly, Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Uzziah's garlands of victory faded, and all his glory was laid low, in the grave Jesus is "alive for evermore," and hath "the keys of hell and of death."

On this memorable occasion, Isaiah is not carried in spirit to "the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire,"-nor to the judgment-seat,-nor to heaven itself. The scene is laid in the earthly palace of the great King. If God may be known by fallen man, it is only through the mediatorial provisions which are represented in the temple. "I will glorify the house of My glory," says the Holy One; and each true worshipper can reply, “O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is ; to see Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary." But, in this visionary scene, no vail hides the way to the holiest. That sign of imperfect privilege is removed. A prophetic glance antedates blessing to come. Jesus is disclosed on the mercyseat, a King and a Saviour.

The celestial ministers by whom Christ is attended are called "seraphim." And here many questions arise which it is vain to attempt to solve. On the nature, arrangement, and occupations of holy angels, the Bible sheds a light but partial and slanting, though never unprofitable. Curiosity is not to be gratified: we are not yet to know as we are known. It is remarkable, indeed, that some of us talk of angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, as if they were familiar acquaintances. Thus, six or more angel-princes have had their respective satrapies assigned them,-some to lead the invisible hosts, and some to rule the elements of this material frame. To-day it is concluded that there are three hierarchies; to-morrow, that there is but one. Rabbins and their disciples are sure that every believer has his own unseen guardian. All this may serve for the painter and the poet, not for the theologian.*

But what saith the Scripture? Of "archangels," as a class, literally nothing; Michael alone being called by that excellent name. The "cherubim" are but imperfectly traced, even in the most pictorial texts of Ezekiel or Moses. Whether these composite figures are to be identified with the "seraphim," may still admit a question. On other points, commonly taken for granted, it may turn out that the more we inquire for exact scriptural proof, the less we find to be

* How little the current fictions owe to "the true sayings of God," may be inferred from a comparison of Milton with one who sung in Greece nearly a thousand years before the Christian era. Some of our countryman's magnificent dreams have their prototypes in Hesiod. ("Works and Days," Division I.; "Theogony,” passim.)

ascertainable. On the other hand, a copious nomenclature promises some help. Everyone is aware that angel means messenger, archangel chief messenger, and seraph burning one: but the etymology of cherub seems involved in hopeless doubt.* Further: "Things in heaven" and "things in earth" include "thrones," "dominions," "principalities," and "powers." Here, it will be generally conceded, the main reference is to angel-hosts; and no one will suppose that a variety of titles is lavished on a single order. But we are lost among lines of light. The shining ranks to whom these names belong are, perhaps, pitying the feebleness of our best efforts to find out their meaning. But enough-if we are prepared to go with meet humility to the text in hand.

Above it, or, "above Him,"-that is, surmounting the propitiatory on which Christ was throned,-stood the seraphim. How many of these spirits appeared, we know not; and their form is very slightly delineated. Their visit to the temple may be regarded as evidence of benevolent interest in mysteries of grace for man, which were there silently, solemnly, ceaselessly prefigured; and it is in beautiful harmony with the statement of St. Peter, to the effect that angels are now students of the accomplished plan of redemption. (1 Peter i. 12.) This thought alone might be expanded into a volume; but others quickly succeed. The seraphim shine forth our examples in zeal, in lowly reverence, in alacrity, and in praise.

Their name tells of unquenchable zeal for God. From Him they have derived their being, and all its joy. His face they continually behold. His methods of grace and providence they continually explore. To His full light all their capacities of knowledge and enjoyment expand. And, because the Sun of eternity never sets, the fires of seraphic love never go out. But ought not our zeal of gratitude to be even more intense than theirs? For us, not for them, Jesus left the bosom of the Father.

Each seraph had six wings. With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet; as if shrinking from the brightness and the glance of Deity. In the language of the ancients, the feet denote the conduct, ways, actions, course of life. But it seems enough to understand, in this place, an oriental sign of reverence. From both parts of the description may be learned the temper of mind in which we ought to draw near to God. Such veneration as pervades the hosts above, who stand before the throne, can never damp the joys, or abate the true confidence, of worshippers who bow at the footstool. "If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?"

A readiness to do the will of God is denoted by the use of the

*The highest suffrages are now divided among three interpretations, which our Orientalists may compare at their leisure:-1. Great, powerful, or resembling the Great. 2. Near, in the sense of "approaching the Divine Presence." 3. That in which an animating principle finds expression, form, shape.

VOL. III.-FIFTH SERIES.

C

remaining wings: With twain he did fly. Swifter are those serving spirits than the "arrows of light;" swift as thought, which is one moment at the line, the next at the pole,-one moment here, the next in the planetary or starry spaces. (Dan. ix. 21, 23.) "Bless the Lord, all ye His hosts; ye ministers of His, that do His pleasure." If we cannot emulate your alacrity, it is ours, nevertheless, to run the way of the Lord's commandments; and all within us shall say, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."

And now we listen to the seraphic hymn. One cried unto another, -literally, "This cried to this,"-each chorister or host chanting to each in mutual response: an arrangement well known to the music of the Hebrews. "Holy, holy, holy," said one; and another replied, "Holy, holy, holy:" and such was the strain, that the bases of the thresholds shook at the voice crying, or at the voice of him crying.† It was as if inanimate things would join in confessing the awful magnificence of Him from whose face the earth and the heaven will one day flee away; or, as if massive architecture, and all that is material, were unable to sustain the rushing sweetness of heavenly song. And the house was filled with smoke,—“ smoke from the glory of God, aud from His power." (Rev. xv. 8.)

Holy, holy, holy.If the primary idea be kept in mind, this term will be taken as extending to "the whole Divine perfection, that which separates or distinguishes between God and His creatures."‡ (See Hosea xi. 9.) But the allusion to sanctity, moral excellence which is as immutable as pure, is doubtless prominent. The Lord of hosts, or armies, is celebrated in an aspect of most sublime loveliness. It is the glory of the Thrice Holy which fills the circle of the earth. All the Divine words and ways demonstrate "the Holy One of Israel." "The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." "Thy word is very pure therefore Thy servant loveth it." That constitution which unites happiness with virtue, misery with sin, is every hour proclaiming the same lesson. Judgments abroad in the earth repeat it, as with thunder-voice. Sickness, adversity, disappointment, change, death, graves and monumental stones, all tell that the Ruler of this disordered world is holy. Still more impressively does the plan of salvation "declare His righteousness." Jesus, our Redeemer and Pattern, is incarnate purity: the Spirit's witness in the word is, that He "knew no sin." It is the triumph of regenerating grace, and of that alone, that the saints can now rejoice in the Lord," and "give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness." But the pure in heart shall see Him as He is.

* "Serving spirits." (Heb. i. 14.)-But this does not adequately represent the phrase. All the angels take part in a public service to Christ, in our behalf. Yet a legion of them will fly, at His bidding, to guard the meanest heir of salvation.

+ Such appears to be about the exact sense. The authorized version is hardly improved by Lowth: "The pillars of the vestibule were shaken with the voice of their cry."

Professor Alexander: "The Prophecies of Isaiah, earlier and later."

Heaven is the home of "a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." "Holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, for ever:" how much more Thy celestial temple!

Christian antiquity regarded the seraphs' hymn as conveying a plain allusion to the Trinity in Unity. It is justly said by a modern writer, already quoted, that this "is the more probable because different parts of the chapter are referred in the New Testament to the Three Persons of the Godhead." (See, in particular, John xii. 41; Acts xxviii. 25, 26.) A second indication of the doctrine will meet us in verse 8. And, in fact, this trinal praise is in most significant accord with the teaching of Scripture at large. Trinitarianism is supported by twofold proof,-the highest and most convincing that the case admits :-It appears, first, in a number of texts which are direct, and equivalent to a theological proposition: as, for instance, in the account of Christ's baptism; the form of baptism for all nations; the apostolical benediction; the promise of Jesus, "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth ;”the statement of a common privilege for Jews and Gentiles, "For through Him" (Christ Jesus) "we both have access by one Spirit to the Father;"—and the invocation, by the exile in Patmos, of equal "grace" and "peace" from the Eternal Father, from the Sevenfold Spirit, and from "Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood." But, secondly, (what is no less valuable in real argument, and valuable in proportion to the multiplicity, minuteness, and inter-coincidence of the detail,) the Trinity is implied in the whole Bible. It meets us in sudden changes of number among pronouns which represent the everlasting Name; in a hundred hints of plurality, such as, if occurring in a human author, the critic in matters of evidence might be allowed to call undesigned, unstudied; and also, (as we believe,) in the texts which express threefold praise, or threefold blessing. In the one under review there is, surely, more than a Hebrew superlative. To our ears, the "Holy, holy, holy" of the seraphim mingles with the chime of general adoration to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. And let all on earth say, Amen!

A light purer than "the terrible crystal" filled the scene of vision; and Isaiah, trembling, anxious, overwhelmed, could only lament his own condition, disclosed in the piercing contrast: Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone. The Chaldee, "I have sinned," is a very free paraphrase; and the Syriac, "I am struck dumb," (to which Lowth conforms,) is little justified by usage of the precise term. If there is a glance at any occasion of guilty silence on the part of the Prophet, it is an exceedingly obscure one; nor can it be better traced in the confession which follows: I am a man of unclean lips. Such an opinion is altogether liable to doubt. The mention of the lips is more probably due to the anthem just heard as if the penitent would say, "I am not worthy to join the adoring seraphs, or to

utter the Name of the Most High." But the lamentation is profoundly accurate in a wider sense: "I have sinned against Heaven, especially with my lips." It points to the life, the entire communications; and, since "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," it points no less certainly to the deep-seated malady of our nature. Hence the amazing force of certain texts, which are often too hastily recited :-"I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue." If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man." Birds of the air, serpents, and the wildest tenants of the deep or the forest, have been "tamed of mankind;" but, according to an Apostle, "the tongue can no man tame." infinitely higher power must be applied for the control of that "unruly evil, full of deadly poison." Isaiah's confession, and St. James's doctrine of human helplessness, will find echoes in the soul of every one who knows himself. Let each of us review his words, and mournfully reflect how few of them have been given to praise and prayer, how few to that speech which is fitted to "minister grace to the hearers;" how many to trifling, if not even to murmuring, and guile, and censoriousness!

An

And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Whether regarded alone, or as the representative of my nation and my race,the only child of Adam whose awful privilege it is to be admitted here, I shrink, I faint, I confess myself undone. All mankind are utterly corrupt. There is among us no daysman-none to intercede for his brother.

How was this overpowering sense of guilt, defilement, and misery obtained? Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Isaiah was, doubtless, impressed with the appearance of the seraphim; but all created brightness fades before "the King in His beauty." Angels are holy; but their holiness is a drop from the shoreless sea. As it was with the awe-struck Prophet, so it is still with awakened souls: THE SIGHT OF GOD IS EVERYTHING. Hence strong convictions of vileness and demerit: "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee: wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Hence feelings of heart-sorrow, as well as abasement, for having sinned against such majesty, purity, and condescension. Hence a final end to all flattering comparisons with publicans and sinners, or with our own former selves. Hence, too, in the case of the believer, a contrition unknown before,-one which still deepens with every re-assurance of pardon: "I will establish My covenant with thee," says the Holy One; "and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: that thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God." Hence fresh apprehensions of the Divine law, in its breadth, spirituality, and searching power. Hence many a harrowing thought of frailties, omissions, trespasses, aggravated by richest displays of light and grace. Hence a continual sinking into "the depths of