stricken with judicial blindness;
so he clothed himself in sackcloth and cried aloud, with fervid
eloquence, upon the people to repent. He is now the popular preacher,
and his theme is repentance. In his earnest exhortations he foreshadows
John the Baptist: "Unless ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." It
would seem that Savonarola makes him the model of his own eloquence.
"Thy crimes, O Florence! thy crimes, O Rome! thy crimes, O Italy! are
the causes of these chastisements. O Rome! thou shalt be put to the
sword, since thou wilt not be converted! O harlot Church! I will stretch
forth mine hand upon thee, saith the Lord." The burden of the soul of
the Florentine monk is sin, especially sin in high places. He sees only
degeneracy in life, and alarms the people by threats of divine
vengeance. So Isaiah cries aloud upon the people to seek the Lord while
he may be found. He does not invoke divine wrath, as David did upon his
enemies; but he shows that this wrath will surely overtake the sinner.
In no respect does he glory in this retribution: he is sad; he is
oppressed; he is filled with grief, especially in view of the prevailing
infatuation. "My people," said he, "do not consider." He denounces all
classes alike, and spares not even women. In sarcastic language he
rebukes their love of dress, their abandonment to vanities, their
finery, their very gait and mincing attitude. Still more contemptuously
does the preacher speak of the men, over whom the women rule and
children oppress. He is severe on corrupt judges, on usurers; on all who
are conceited in their own eyes; on those who are mighty to drink wine;
on those who join house to house and field to field; on those whose
glorious beauty is a fading flower; on those who call good evil and evil
good, that put darkness for light, that take away the righteousness of
the righteous from him. His terrible denunciation and enumeration of
evil indicate a very lax morality in every quarter, added to hypocrisy
and pharisaism. He shows what a poor thing is sacrifice unaccompanied
with virtue. "To what purpose," said he, "is the multitude of
sacrifices? Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination to
me, saith the Lord. Therefore wash you, make you clean, put away the
evil of your doings; cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow."
Isaiah does not preach dogmas, still less metaphysical distinction