our inward condition; you
refuse or hesitate to obey God's call, and follow the light. God has
not left you to yourselves, but the Spirit is grieved by your
unwillingness; and the result is, that you have conflict in your
hearts, clouds in your sky, and failure in your lives.

Take it from me, that you cannot have this deliverance which the
Apostle describes, this keeping power and peace, unless the will of God
is supreme in your heart. Controversy must be given up, the full
surrender made, and then you must trust yourselves and your lives in
God's hands. If this is done, and the Apostolic direction followed,
then you will be able to sing--

_Careless through outward cares I go,
From all distraction free;
My hands are but engaged below,
My heart is still with Thee._

XX

An Appeal and a Response

'_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! And He said, Go._'
(Isaiah vi. 8, 9.)

The incident with which these words are connected was a real mosaic in
sacred history. You have the record of a vision which was not a dream
but a revelation--a panorama of actualities. The background of this
vision might well absorb our attention. The temple and the glory which
filled it; the throne and Him who sat thereon; the seraphim, with their
wings and ascriptions of Holiness. The atmosphere was, indeed, electric
with the presence of God and the angelic host.

Isaiah, the solitary human figure in the scene, was overawed with the
glorious majesty of the Divine character; shame at the revelation of
his own impurity overwhelmed him. He rightly felt that he was a blot
upon this temple scene, but the Divine touch of the living fire
transformed him, and prepared him for that which was to follow.

Analyse this conversation, and you see three things standing in a most
natural order:--

First. An Appeal sounds out: 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for
Us?'

Second. A Response is made to that Appeal: 'Here am I; send me'.

Third. A Commission was given: 'And He said, "Go"'.

Now this conversation was not only important and imperative as regards
Isaiah and his circumstances, but in its application to ourselves and
our surroundings. I think we shall get some blessing and inspiration
for duty if we consider the three facts as they stand.

1. _The nature of the appeal was a very simple one._ The Lord wanted a
suitable representative