Ver, 10.-Length of life a doubtful good. Yet every one wishes to live long. Every one imagines for himself an old age; and an ideal human life includes it. A.nd yet there are but few who have the experience of old age who would really wish others to share it. Not without good reason did the ancients say, "Those whom the gods love die young." Length of life is a doubtful good, because- !. 'l'HE AGED ARE PUT ASIDE FROM THE ACTIVITIES OF LIFE. Life goes past them : opinions change; customs change; business is changed. The old man no longer fits; he must stand aside ; if he persists in keeping his place, he ruins his business, and worries everybody. It is hard to have to live on into a time when we shall no longer be of any use. II. 'l'HE AGED MUST BEAR THE BURDEN OF FAILING POWERS. See the description of old age in Ecclesiastes. See the force of the terms " labour " and "sorrow " in the text. The necessary weakening of the bodily faculties is accompanied-save in very extreme cases-with corresponding failing of mental powers, and a trying limitation of human interests. The old man ceases to belong to his day, and lives over again his childish years. Sometimes aged helplessness, with disease, is most pitiful. Ill. 'l'HE AGED SOMETI'IIIES HAVE TO BEAR THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE SINS OF YOUTH. A.11 sins of sensuality anl self-indulgence carry their inevitable penalties; and if the pressure of them be delayed by a well-regulated manhood, they come on a man with a rush when the vitality is lowered by advancing age. A. man bears "the sins of youth in the bones of eld." IV, THE AGED OFTEN FTh'D THEIR HEAVIEST TROUBLE TO BE THE LONELINESS IN w111011 THEY ARE LEFT, He who has had troops of friends dies at last tended by the hireling. Loved ones die away or remove out of reach, The old ma.n often says, as did the Rev. William Jay, of Bath, in his advanced years, "My burying-ground is richer than my ohurch." To sensitive, affectionate souls, aged loneliness mu~t be the- 266 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PB. XO. 1-17,
supreme woe. Wife, children, friends, gone on before. How the old man must say to himself continually- " Whe.t is my neat to me ?-my empty nest ? " V. TIIE AGED SOMETIMES HA VE TO BEAR DISTRESSING om0UMSTAN0EB AS WELL AB BODILY FRAILTY. To live on means exhausting the savings; to be unable to earn; to have 11one t-0 work for us. But life is in the Lord's hands, not ours. "If life be long, we will be glad, that we can long obey."-R. T.
Yer. 12.-Numbering our days. That cannot mean merely counting them. Whether they are to be few or many we know not. The rich and self-centred farmer thought he cc>uld count his days, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many ye:trs." But the truth was that for him there wa.s not even a "to-morrow." "This night thy soul shall be required of thee." We can value, estimate, appraise our days. \Ve can realize their responsibilities, their work, their possibilities, their issues. When should the numbering work be done? Will it do to lenve it until we are on the threshold of eternity? In this matter" now is the accepted time." Number them as you number the days of a holiday-time, so that you may crowd every day with the best an~ worthiest things. Number them aright, and you will not foil to ask grace of God, saying, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." I. Days, to be well numbered, must be ESTIMATED m THE LIGHT OF ETERNITY. How changed a thing life would become to us if there were no eternity I Compare two lives, one withot1t, and one with, the thought of eternity. 1. Days may seem many; they are really but few. Seventy years is but a little while to look back on. See striking Bible figures of our life-weaver's shuttle; passing sbadow; shepherd's tent; breath of mouth m winter. The generations are like the changing sentinel-watch in the night. 2. Days may seem to go slowly; they really hurry by. "Thou carriest them away as with a flood." Swifter than the post. 3. Days may seem to be made up of little things; really there is nothing little; because everything bas its bearing on the future, on character; and everything has eternal issues. It is a cause with a consequence. A little pebble may make ripples that shall never die away. IL Days well numbered will not allow THE PUTTING OFF OF DUTY. Every day l,as its work. There is no possible overtaking the ends of life, save in daily faith- fulness. If we are faithful every day, life cannot be nnfinished, A faithful man can be stopped at any time. He wants no time in which to get himself ready. Ill. Days well numbered must seem TOO SOLEMN FOB UNAIDED SELF-EXERTION. The man who rightly values them will tremble to step on them alone. Even the lesser claims of life overwhelm a thoughtful spirit. We all fail to be what we desire to be, even in common life. Much more the higher. We have a soul to save, a crown to win; and there should be jewels in the crown. Can we do it alone P-R. T. Vers. 16, 17.-Prayer for Divine revealing of the mystery of life. This prayer, as referable to the Israelites, is a presage of the end of their pilgrimage, of their forgiveness, and of their settlement in Canaan. The issue of present Divine dealings was a glory which could only come to the children of the Mosaic generation. But Moses could properly pray that what God was actually then rloing-his work by his disciplinary dispensations-might at once be revealed to his servants. To know what God is doing with us is our best help in bearing what burdens God lays upon us. And when we do know, we can even pray God to keep on his corrective work, whatever it may cost us, and let our children realize the issues. The "beauty" of the Lord may be taken as the Divine favour; or it may be a figure for the glory of the Divine presence. The prayn seems to embrace two things. I. THAT Goo's PURPOSE SHOULD BE MAllE TO APPEAR. "Thy work." That prayer is constantly rising from the hearts of men. We are always wanting to know the meanina of life; the meani □ g of our lives; the meaning of our lives at particular times. Wbat ~ God doing with us? Unto what, into what, is God leading us? This is o?lY made known in answer to prayer, which reveals to God an attitude of mind and feelmg t-0 which his purpose and his work can be explained. God holds the key to every life-story. PB. XOI. 1-16.] TITE BOOK OF PSALMS. 267