The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 48

be spared. Then death is at his worst; and it is beyond man's power, it is the triumph of Di,·ine grncP, to say, ·• Thy will be done." This is seen in the case of HezekiRh, to whom death seemed an expression of Divine dissntisfaction • a tel'rible family afflict.ion, seeing he had as yet no heir; and nothing short of a nation~l calamity. Cnmpnre the announcement of approaching death made to Aaron and to Moses. Dut in their cases l)fe-work ':as doi:ie, The strain on Hezekiah was t~at "his purposes were broken off. We thmk this to be the severest test under which God puts his people. We are searched through and through by the questions, " Can you die? " "Can you die now?" Physicians' work is often, nowadays, most difficult and trying. They must break, as it is called, to their patients the news of the hopeless character of their disra.se. \Vhat makes this strain? I. NATURAL DREAD OF DEATH. For all creatures on his earth God bas made lire to be the supreme treasure which they dread to lose. 'l'be incentive to all enterprise is cmr love of life, and passionate clinging to life. The fear of death is the common instinct of humanity. The Christian cannot fix his thoughts _quietly on dying• he ~hrinks as much as any one from putting his foot down into the cold stream. Di~ine grace alone can overcome this natural fear, which is implanted for the sake of the due prescrvatiun of the race. II. DrsAPPOINTMF.NT OF OUR HOPES. It is so bard for death to come just as we have "Canaan's goodly land in view." It may be that we have toiled, denied ourselves, per- severed, overcome difficulties, and see life's ambition just within reach, when the message comes that we must die. We have pulled down our barns and built greater; we are just ready for the harvest; and "this night we must die." III. UNCEBTATh'TY OF THE FUTURE. For the disclosures and revelations concerning it are made in such large poetical figures, rather than in such plain statements, that even in the best men faith and fear mingle; and often they hardly know whether faith or frar prevail~. From the future, tbe other world, no traveller has ever returned with a report. It is to us all a terra incognita, a step into the dark. IV. W AFr OF FULL sun:MissroN TO GoD. We may think we have this, but news of speedy death searches us, and sho~s our submission to have bee11 only good, but weak, sentiment. Many a man finds that the true submission has to be won when he stands face to face with death.-R. T. Ver. 2.-Private and personal prayer. It should be noticed that Hezekiah was a man who so believed in prayer as to immediately resort to it in every new emergency (•f life. It was his first way of relief. He sought God at once. In a time of great national distress, be went into the house of the Lord, and spread the insulting letter uf his enemies before the Lord. Iu a time of personal peril, when disease was gaining ground and vitality was failing, and it was made evident that he must die, he sought privacy that he might pray, wrestling with God, if so be be could win restoring mercies. Too ill to go to the sanctuary, he could make a secret place of the corner of the room where bis royal couch was laid, tum bis face to the wall, and pray to the" Father who seeth in secret, and rewardeth openly." Only certain points of so large a subject as "private prayer" can be dealt with in one discourse. The points suggested by this action of Hezekiah are- L WHAT ABE ITS APPBOPBIATE CONDITIONS? Absolutely necessary are privacy, the Fense of privacy, quiet-mindedness, and continuance in the prayer-exercise. It is the most serious evil affecting modern religious life, that household arra.ngeme~ts and business claims make prh·acy, quietness, and continuance for personal devotions so r.early impossible. _The only hopeful revival will begin with the home place of prayer. Gb ri11tian parents, by example and ek i Iful management of family life, must make pl'i vato prayer possible for all member~ of the family. '!'hey cannot make others prayerful; but they can make suitable prayer-conditions. Christ says we must "shut to the door" d WHAT SHOULD IT CONCERN? Everything, small or great, that le o~ d_irect personnl iuterest, whether it concerns body, mind, or 11oul. Efforts a.re ma.de to l1m1t tbo ~p~crcs ,,f prayer to matters of religious life and feeling. The godly man cannot ~o so hm1ted, Fa1 here care for children's bodies and min<ls and relations, as well ae for thou charncters. And our heavenly Father 11urely concerns hiD188lf about our sicknesses, our anxieties, OH. xxxvm. I-22.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 51