Vera. 1-3.-.A vision of death. The scene is one of true pathos; it is one of those touches of nature which" make the whole world kin." We have- I. DEATH SUDDE1''LY PRESENTING ITSELF TO MAN IN HIS PRIME. (Ver. 1.) Death is very common in infancy ; it must be near in old age. It occasions no surprise, and brings comparatively little pain or grief when it occurs at either :or these extremes. Infancy does not understand it, and age accepts or even welcomes it. But occasionally, man in the prime of his powers, woman in the glory of her days, is called upon to look death in the face when life seems to stretch out far into the future. The out- breaking of latent disease, the mysterious and totally unanticipated collapse, the fearful and fatal accident,-these or other things are at work, saying in stern tones to one and another of our race, " Thou shalt die, and not live." II. THE PROFOtTh""D HUMAN REGRET WRICH IT THEN OCCASIONS. " Hezekiah wepL sore." We differ, according to our individual temperament and our national habits, as to the exhibition of our feelings. The Jewish king gave vent to his sorrow in hot tears and sore lamentation. An Englishman will probably command both voice and featuro when he learns that he must die, and may not live. But no one, suddenly taken away from th~ widst of beloved relations and friends, unexpectedly torn from the activities and e1,joyments on which he has set his heart and spent his energy and centred his hopes, can be unmoved, untroubled. It is a transcendently solemn moment when the human heart first learns that, instead of blessed communion and of joyous activity, there must be hopeless separation and the silence of the grave. Sudden death in prime is a wrench sorer and sadder than any which life has known. III. THE REFUGE OF THE BtrllAN SPIRIT IN THE LAST RESORT. "'l.'ben Hezekiah ... prayed unto the Lord." There are some things which, when everything else fails, lead us to God-the extremities of joy and sorrow, a crisis in our career, the near presence of death. When human art has failed, and man can do no more for us, then we turn our thought to Heaven-we lift up our face unto God. God can intervene, we know, in the very greatest exigency; it may be that he will; we will "pray unto the Lord." And if we do so reverently and resignedly, we do so rightly; for who can tell how or when he may be pleased to act on our behalf, to "see our tears, to bear our prayers,'' and to "add unto our days" (ver. 5)? Or, if we do not have recourse t.o God in prayer for deliverance, we can fall back on that which may be better still-on a cheerful sub- mission to bis holy will. IV. A CONSOLATION AT THE or,osE OF LIFE. If we do not make it a pleCJ with Goo, as Hezekiah thought it right to do, viz. that we" have walked before God in truth end with a perfect heart," etc. (ver. 8), we may find in such a fact a very precious consola- twn to our own spirit. To have to look back from the dying hour on a course of folly, guilt, and mischief, must be bitterness itself. To be able to survey, from that ln~t oII. xxxvm. 1-22.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 17
scene, a life of sincere devotion to God and faithful service of mankind, must be a source of unspeakable thankfulness and serenity. V. A DU'fY IN DEATH WHICH IT IS THE DUTY OF LIFE TO REDUCE TO ITS LOWEST POINT. "Set th_ine house in order" (ver. 1); do the necessary things that remain untlone- that which is unfinished in the sanctuary of the soul, in the inner circle of the family, in the relationships which are outside. But how excellent it is to live with all these things preserved in such order that, when the end comes, there will be the least possible left to do, and the mind can turn, untroubled, to rest in the presence of the t:'aviour, and to look for the rest that is so soon to be enjoyed !-C.
Vers. 4-6.-Human life; the kindness of God and the wisdom of man. In the providential ordering and in the human direction of this our mortal life, we see- I. THE KINDNESS OF GoD. 1. The strong links by which God has connected us together. "'l'he God of David thy father;" for David's sake, in part, be would render deliverance. Human life is so ordered that we are all of us immeasurably the better for the piety, the virtue, the patient and faithful labours of tho~e who came before us. 2. His sensitiveness to our suffering. '' I have seen thy tears." "Like as a father pitieth his children," etc.; "When he saw the multitude, he was moved with com- passion." 3. His attention to our appeal. "I have heard thy prayer.n God's ear is open, not only to the prayers of "the great congregation," but to the faintest breath of one believing soul; though he may sometimes seem to be deaf, yet is he always "inclining his ear" unto us. 4. His multiplication of our days. "I will add unlo thy days." With the morning light, as it continually returns, we should say, "This is the day which the Lord hath made," etc. ; it is a new gift from his gracious band. We take it too much for granted, as if he were under some obligation to add it to those he has given us before. But it is all "of grace "-so much more than we deserve or ba\'e any right to expect at his hand. 'l'o the "Lord of our time, whose hand has set New time upon our score," we should render heartfelt praise for his daily gift. 5. His compounding our cup of hope and of uncertainty. God told Hezekiah he wonld arid to his "days fifteen years.n Is it not a yet kinder act of our Father that he holtls out to us the hope of future years, without letting us know how far he will fulfil our wishes! Without the hope, we should lose all the inspiration which urges us to fruitful action; without the uncer- tainty, we should presume on the continuance of our life, and be bereft of one of the most potent checks on folly and on sin. A strong hope, with an element of uncertainty, is the most favourable condition for the cultivation of wisdom and virtue. II. THE WISDOM OF MAN. Our wis,lom, under those conditions in which we finrl ourselves, is: 1. To prepare for length of days. By patient diligence, by prudent forethought, to be ready for long life, in c11se God should give UM that blos~ing. 2. To prepare for sudden death and the loog future. By faith in Jesus Christ and by fidelity in the " few things" of time, to lie ready at nny hour to stand at tho judgrneut-sea.t, Lo pass to the" many things" of eternit.y.-C.