132. Howbeit, now
must I needs confess the Prophet Isaiah’s confession, which he
makes before declaring the word of the Lord: “Woe is me, my
heart is smitten, for I, a man of unclean lips, and living in the midst
of a people of unclean lips, have seen the Lord of
Sabaoth.” Is. vi. 5. Contrast the
Vulgate—Vœ mihi, quia tacui, quia vir pollutus labiis ego
sum, et in medio populi polluta labia habentis ego habito, et regem,
Dominum exercituum vidi oculis meis; and the
LXX.—ὦ
τὰλας
ἐγώ, ὃτι
κατανένυγμαι(compuncto corde sum) ὄτι
ἂνθρωπος ὤν
καὶ ἀκὰθαρτα
χεὶλη
ἔχων…κ. τ. λ..…καὶ τὸν
βασιλέα
Κυριον
σαβαὼθ ἐιδον
τοῖς
ὀφθαλμοῖς
μου A.V. 1611—“Woe is me, for I
am undone.…and mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of
Hosts. Now if
Isaiah said “Woe is me,” who looked upon the Lord of
Sabaoth, what shall I say of myself, who, being “a man of unclean
lips,” am constrained to treat of the divine generation?
How shall I break forth into speech of things whereof I am afraid, when
David prays that a watch may be set over his mouth in the matter of
things whereof he has knowledge? Ps. xxxix. 1, 2; cxli. 3, 4.
O that to me also one of the Seraphim would bring the burning coal from
the celestial altar, taking it in the tongs of the two testaments, and
with the fire thereof purge my unclean lips!