The outward form of religion, without inward piety, an offence to God.
It is strange how deeply ingrained the idea is in man, that formal acts of worship, outward acknowledgment, ritual, ceremonial, pageantry, constitute religion, and will be accepted by God in lieu of the inward devotion of the heart. Heathenism was full of the notion. Plato tells us that the Greeks thought they might commit any number and any kind of sins or crimes, and obtain pardon for them at the hands of the gods, if they offered sufficient sacrifices (Plato, 'Rep.,' 2. § 7). It is evident that the Jews of Isaiah's time were possessed with a similar idea. They "tried to compensate for their unrighteous lives by sumptuous—perhaps extravagant—performance of ceremonial observances" (Kay). So did the Pharisees of our Lord s day. Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, mercy, and faith." "Ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer" (Matthew 23:23, Matthew 23:14). And do not professed Christians too often do the same? Is not "saying prayers" too often made a substitute for private devotion, and "going to church" for the true public worship of God? Nay, is not attendance at the Holy Eucharist itself sometimes allowed to become a mere form? Alas! Isaiah's warning voice is needed as much by Christians as by Jews. He tells us that the outward form of religion, without inward piety, is not only not pleasing to God, but is an offence unto him. It is so—
I. As IMPLYING A LOW AND UNWORTHY CONCEPTION OF GOD. To imagine that God will be content with external observance is to suppose, either that he is unable to read our hearts or that he does not care how we are in our hearts disposed towards him. It is thus either to question his omniscience or to deny his moral nature. A good father does care whether his sons render him a mere formal obedience or are heartily bent on obeying him through love and gratitude. Only one unworthy of the name is careless upon the point, and content so long as that which he commands is done.
II. As A SPECIES OF HYPOCRISY. "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" was our Lord's denunciation of those who paid tithe of every minutest vegetable, yet were without mercy and faith (Matthew 23:23). The outward acts of religion—prayer, praise, observance of fast and festival, attendance at sacraments, and the like—constitute a profession of certain inward feelings—love, gratitude, faith, reverence—and, if these are absent, the performance of the acts is deceptive and hypocritical. It is to make a pretence that we are what we are not. It is bad enough if it is done to deceive men; but it is worse if we think thereby to hoodwink God. God hates hypocrisy, and is revolted by the conduct of such as "honor him with their lips, while their hearts are far from him."
III. As A DESECRATION OF THINGS SACRED. The observances of religion have something sacred about them. They are either suggested by nature or formally ordained by God for a holy use; and, if practiced in an irreligious, or even in a non-religious, spirit, they are desecrated. It is a mockery to bend the knee and repeat the words of formularies while our thoughts are straying to other matters, as business, amusements, gaieties—it is emptying things holy of their holiness, and bringing them down to a lower level. We injure ourselves by so doing, we scandalize the truly religious, we give occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme. Better not to "tread God's courts" at all than to do so without a reverent and prayerful spirit.