Isaiah 59:19 - Homilies By W.m. Statham

The successful standard.

"When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." The standard is highly prized in war. On it are engraven the names of special victories and the fields of old renowned. It is the last disgrace to lose the standard, and in many a foray and fierce campaign men have fallen in heaps around the standard-bearer. Think—

I. OF THE VICTORIES ENGRAVEN ON THE STANDARD OF THE LORD . Of truth over error; righteousness over injustice; purity over lust; God over mammon.

II. OF THE SPECIAL SEASONS IN WHICH INIQUITY COMES IN LIKE A FLOOD . Times such as those of the profligate Stuarts, when the sabbath was desecrated and debasing plays were acted. Times when the pride of priestcraft and power drove out the faithful from the land. Times when the Bible itself was put under a ban, and the flood-gates of evil were left open. Nothing then withstood, and nothing will ever withstand, the tides of sin, but the Word of God. Utility, expediency, propriety,—these are but thin "withes" that the giant snaps; these are but gossamer gates through which the torrent roars. Nothing is strong but the Spirit of the Lord working in us and with us.—W.M.S.