Ver. 13.-Many counsellors. '' Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels." The mind of man will seek counsel. For men everywhere, in the old Athenian groves and gardens, and in the fellowship of modern clubs and associations, will seek for "opinion" to guide and help them. They are so slow to trust alone to conscience and to God. I. THE UNSATISFYING ORACLES. "Thou art wearied." You have tried them so often without results of guidance and good. All is vain. Men go here and there, but, alas! too often to those who are the most likely to fall in with their desires and whims. Like Absalorn, men consult counsellors like Ahithophel, who pander to their folly. Then, when times of real emergency and anxiety come, when the poor tired heart needs rest and peace, it is led to new pleasures, new excitements and interests, until weariness ensues. How contrasted is the Christian's lot I "Commit thy way unto him." II. THE MANIFOLD FAILURE. It is a failure all round. Think of the multitude of counsellors. Men go to a minister instead of to the Bible; or to a priest instead of to a Saviour ; or to their passions instead of their conscience; or to man ins toad of to God. Humbly let us seek the heavenly guidance. "The meek will he guide in judg- ment: and the meek will he teach his way."-W. U.S.
Ver. 6.-What we owe to the aged. "Upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke." This wrong-doing is selected, out of all others, to point the reproaches of the prophet. If Babylon would do that, it was merciless enough to do anything. Hard, indeed, is the heart that will show no pity for old age, but will lay a heavy yoke on it~ shoulders. We may lP,t this sentence suggest to us the light in which a Christian m:u IBAIAH-IL {' 210 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHE'l' ISAIAH. [oH. XLVII. 1-lli.
will look nt age. What is it8 due? How shall wo exhibit the temper our Master would appro,e in our bearing towards it? I. THE CONSIDER.\TENESS WHICH IS DUE TO THE WEAK. Many passages from both Testaments invite our attention to the considerateness of the Divine Father of the gracious Lord, to t~e wea~, to the b~rdene_d, to the defenceless (see eh. xl. ii). To be patient and considerate m our relations with those whose power is reduced, and who arc going back to the feebleness out of which they once came, is to be " the children of 0nr Father who is in hea"en," is to be "disciples indeed" of the ~reat Exemplar. II. THE RESPECT WHICH IS DUE TO THE EXPERIENCED, There nre truths which Mlhing but experience seems able to teach. What evils might not be shunned, what sorrows e~caped, what happiness and what usefulness secured, if we would but let the wiso.om of the experienced direct our thoughts and guide our steps! They only who have sounded the waters of life can tell their depth; they only who have drunk of its many cups can tell us where the killing poison or where the curing medicine is to be found. Age, instructed by experience, has a wisdom which youth and maturity do well to re\'erence and to master. III. THE GRATITUDE WHICH IS DUE TO THOSE WHO HA VE SERVED us. There are many ~ged men who have lived selfish lives, and to whom we owe no gratitude at all; but there are others who have toiled and suffered, not perfunctorily or of constraint, but freely and magnanimously,-to these far more is due than the pecuniary payment they may have received, and they will go to the grave unrecompensed if those who reap the fruits of their labours and trials do not render them the honour they have earned. IV. THE SERVICE WE SHOULD RENDER TO THOSE WHO WILL SOON BE BEYOND OUR RE.~CH. It is an affecting and constraining thought that there remain but a very few times more when we can do anything for one of our neighbours-that he will soon be where onr hand cannot reach to rescue or to enrich him. The aged will soon be gone from amongst ns. A few weeks or months will take them where no kindness of ours can make their path smoother, their heart happier, their character more noble. To them, most of all, applies the gracious sentiment- ,, Be kind to each other ; The night's coming on, When friend and when brother, Perchance, will be gone." 1. Unkindness to the aged is peculiarly displeasing to God. 2. Considerateness and succour shown to the aged will draw down the special favour of Christ. They, too, are among the" little ones" whom it is at our peril that we ·"offend," to render whom the simplest act of love is to win a Saviour's blessing.-C. Vers. 7-11.-Bpiritual infatuation. This is a striking picture of infatuation. We note- I. ITs ESSENTIAL :NATUIIE. Under the perverting influence of sin men come into a mental and spiritual condition in which everyt~ng is s~~ng~, unn~tural,_ distorted. Somethina has "perverted" them (ver. 10). It 1s a cond1t1on m which thmgs seem to them ~ther than they are-in which they fail to discern what ought to be quite palpal,le to them, in which they are subject to unhappy and hurtful delusi?ns. Knowledge does not instruct them, facts do not affect them, reasons do not convrnce them truth does not enlighten them. '!'hey are duped by semblances, betrayed by error; ruined by the falsehoods which they entertain and cherish. II. 'Tm,; FORMS WHICH IT ASSUMES. 1. An extravagant and offensive egotism. "Thou sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me." It is a very common effect of sin to produce in men a sense of their own importance carried to a painfully high degree; they think anrl feel as if their present interests were t_he only things to be .consulted. Everytbing else must make way, every one else must give way to them; their comfort, their advantaae absorbs all other considerations whatever. None else beside them is of any accuuut. 2. 0 A blind disregard of the future. "Neither didst remember the latter end ol' it." Many men regulate their lives as if they would always remain as strong aud h,althy as they are to-day. Many indulge in courses which tend to weakness or to disl,onour. or even to utter ruin, without concerning themselves as to the goal toward on. xLVIl, 1-15.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH, 211