July 11

1 In the year that king Uriah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his vain filled the temple

2 Alone at work the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly

3 And one one I unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, in the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.

4 And the years of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke

5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone;

because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

6 Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his head, which he had taken with the tongs from all the altar.

7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin perred.

8 And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities he wasted without im-

habitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate.

12 And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

13 But yet to it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten as a teal tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves to the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

Isaiah was sinful, and thought he was forever ruined—undone. Every sinner comes to that point, when he has a revelation of God's holiness. But Isaiah's extremity was God's opportunity. Then flew one of the seraphim unto him. Seraphim literally means "burning ones." The true meaning of the seraph is "to set on fire" or "burn up." Here with a live coal of the Divine fire he burned up Isaiah's sins.

Religion is a live coal—it is a life. Isaiah had the baptism of fire. He was now ready for work. If we want to work for the salvation of souls, we must have the fire. It must burn in our bones. We must love God burningly, and men the same way.

"Here am I; send me." Who is this? Why, he is the same man who was crying awhile ago, 'Woe is me!' What a change regeneration makes in a man! He is anxious to do something now. . . . But stop, Isaiah, God has not told you yet what He wanted you to do. 'It makes no difference—Here am I; send me.' But the work may be something which you cannot do at all. 'If so, I never would have heard the voice. No man ever hears God's call to another. God would not call me to do impossibilities. Here am I; send me.' But stop, Isaiah, you do not know where God wants you to go; He may want to send you to the North Pole. 'I cannot help it, that is God's business. Here am I; send me.' He may want to send you into the house of your enemy, or into the most dangerous and disreputable alley in Jerusalem. You know not how great the cross. 'Here am I; send me.' Isaiah asks no questions."—W. E. Munsey, D. D.

Closet Promise.—The very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it—1 Thess. v. 23, 24.

It was no relief from temporal evils that the apostle promised. . . . No; the mercy of God might send them to the stake, or the hons; it was still His mercy, if it but kept them "unspotted from the world." It might expose them to insult, calumny, and wrong, they received it still as mercy, if it "established them in every good word and work." O brethren! how many of you are content with such faithfulness as this on the part of your heavenly Father? Is this, indeed, the tone and tenor of your prayers?— Wm. Archer Butler.