'next generation. 4. Evil counsel may extenuate, but it will not excuse, our individual folly and wrong-doing. Not even a mother may lead us into paths of sin. I III. THAT FAVO"(TRABLE omoUMBTANOES WILL NOT GUARANTEE ANY MAN'S WELL- DEING, 1. Who so fortunate in Judah as Ahaziah? Heir to the throne and succeedin<> at an early nge (see 2 Kings viii. 26 with ver. 17 of that chapter); n'.iarried while h~ was young; with little children soon about him ; with every prospect of power, wealth, domestic affection, royal estate, for many years. 2. And who more pitiable than this young prince ? Educated and trained in the belief of error, in the practice of folly, with a mother _whose whole influence was a~ains~ moral worth, seeking and forming a dangerous alliance, cut off after a very bnef reign (ver. 2), leaving a reputation of ill odour behind him. It is certain that no man can count on a future of prosperity and joy simply because the circumstantial 01J,tlook is favourable. The child of fortune, like Ahaziah, proves to be one of the most unfortunate of men. Whom all his young contemporaries were disposed to envy, we who look back unite to pity with a most genuine and deep compassion. Who, let us ask, is the man to be envied, or rather to be congratulated? Surely it is he who is born of Christian pa.rents, who has about him in childhood and in youth "counsellors" who will know what is true, and do what is really kind and wise ; it is he whom his human father trains in the way of righteous- ness, and whom his heavenly Father disciplines, according to his Divine wisdom, building him up in purity, in integrity, in strength, in love.-C. Ver. 4.-The counsel that destroys, and that which saves. "His counsellors . . . to his destruction." The counsel we receive has much to do with the character we form and the life we live; much, therefore, with the destiny we are weaving. I. THE URGENT NEED FOR COUNSEL IN A CRITICAL PERIOD OF OUR LIFE. In onr earliest years the river of our life flows between high and narrow banks. We are well fenced in, and must move according .to our surroundings. But later on the banks are lower, the restrictions are weaker, and we may overflow, may cut a new channel for ourselves. At first we are under commandment from hour to hour; we do that which is prescribed for us ; we shun that which is interdicted. Then comes a. time when we disengage ourselves from this position; it has become bondage; we demand to enter upon the rights of maturity, to form our own judgment, to act according to our own choice. It is at this point, when the father's authority is no longer paramount, that we need to act tinder counsel. We urgently need the help of those who will advise, though they do not assume to direct us. We want the guid•mce of those who will say to us, not, You shall, but, You should. We require the advantage of the experience of men who have gone through the ways that now lie before us; of men whose wisdom will equip us for the new duties that have to be discharged, for the new burdens that have to be borne, for the new dangers and difficulties that have to be faced and fought, for the new temptations that have to be met and mastered. But there are two kind8 of counsel, and everything depends on which we shall adopt. II. 'l'HE COUNSEL THAT DESTROYS; viz. the counsel that kills all that is best in our nature, and brings us down to spiritual if not, indeed, to material ruin. 1. The counsel of a. degrading selfishness, which speaks on this wise: "Take care of number one ; " " Every man for himself," etc. ; that would impress the opening mind of young manhood with the miserable falsehood that, so long as we can secure what we crave for ourselves, it is of little consequence what becomes of our neighbours or of our fellow- men. 2. 'l'he counsel of shameful indulgence, which speaks in this strain: "Youth comes but once in a lifetime ; " "A short life and a merry one;" counsel that would recommend the young to consume all that is pure and sound in their nature in the fires of unholy passion, to drown all that is worthiest, all sense of what is becoming, and all self-respect, in the turgid waters of unrestrained or ill-restrained indulgence. 3. 'l'he counsel of financial exaggeration, which says, " Get money by all means, honestly if possible, but get money;" this is counsel which would "sacrifice life for the sake of the means of livina," which would lead to the loss of that which ls most sacred and precious for the sake "of that which, at best, can only supply the outward conditions of well-being. It makes mero pecuniary possession the goal of human life-a very common but an utter and pitiable mistake. 4. 'l'he counsel of a shallow mate- rialism; that whioh lays great stress on temporal success aud on human favour, a.nd 266 'rHE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [orr. xxn. 1-12,
makes little or nothing of spiritual worth and the favour of God. Such counsels ae ~hese are t~uly destructive ; they kill f~ith, love? purity, hope, spirituality-everything, rndeed, which makes our m1mhood, which constitutes our true heritage, Under such counsellors we may gain the world, but we lose our soul; they are "counsellors to our destruction." III. THE OOUNBEL wmcu BAVES. There is One of whom, many centuries before he came, it was said, "His name shall be called Counsellor;" of whom, when he was with us, it was said, "Whence hath this Man this wisdom? " who came to be to us "the Wisdom of God" (1 Cor. i. 24). If we will learn of him, we shall know what is the truth indeed respecting human life, worldly wealth, the honour which comes from man and that which is of God, what constitutes eternal life below, and what it is that leads ?n to tb~. heavenly life beyon~ the gra".~ (see Matt. vi. 19, 20, 33; x. 37-39; Luke iv. 4; Xll. 15; John v. 44; xiv. 23; xvn. 24).-0,