Ver. 20.-17.e Ohristmn view of age. These words are not to be taken literally; they are distinctly pictorial, highly hyperbolical; they indicate a state of future blessedness, employing images most likely to be impressive and inspiring at the time of utterance. They may suggest to us the Christian a..~pect of old age. I. THAT CHRISTIAN LIFE TENDS TO LENGTH OF DAYS. Health, and therefore life, depends most on ha.bit. What shortens life is folly, irregularity, excess, anxiety, sorrow; Christian principles guard against these, or materially modify them. What lengthens life is purity, temperance, serenity, and cheerfa1ness of spirit; Christian principles are a security for these. II. THAT CHRISTIAN LIFE TENDS TO PRESERVE THE CHILD-HEART IN THE AGED MAN. A beautiful object is a "green old age;'' an excellent thing it is when "he that is a lrnndred years old dies a youth." The best preservative of freshness of spirit, openness of mind, youthfulness of heart, is an unselfish habit. Disinterestedness of soul, broad and generous syrnpathies, active participation in all onward movements,-this will keep the heart of youth in the form of age. III. TBA T THE CHRISTIAN PROMISE POIN'rs TO THE LONG FUTURE. "The shorter life, the earlier immortality." IV. THAT WE MAY DIE YOUNG, AND YET FILL UP THE MEASURE OF OUR DAYS. Our Lord died a young man, and yet he "finished the work which the Father gave him to do." Many martyrs, many devoted labourers in the field of usefulness, have failed to reach extreme old age, but they have not failed to accomplish the task which the great Leader bad set them. The excellency of life depends on its quality, not on its quantity. "One day in thy courts is better than a thousand," etc. "Though the sinner die a hundred years old, he shall be accursed," and his life will be a bane and a blot. .A. very few years (or months) of holy service may be of inestimable service to the ea.use of Christ and of man.-0.
Ver. 24-.-77.e Divine readiness. Man is slow to respond. 1. His limited intelligence makes him slow to apprehend what is needed. 2. His imperfect sensibility makes him slow to feel the urgency of the need. 3. His feebleness of execution makes him slow to interpose and to effect. God is not under these limitations. His perfect readiness is seen in- I. Hrs ANTICIPATION OP OUR NECESSITIES. Providing this world for our habitation; preparing its soil and its seed; storing its coal and its meta.ls, etc.; providing for our wants in sunshine and in rain, etc., which come without our asking for them; having all kinds of truth and knowledge ready for our inquiry; etc. II. HIS AliSWEBS TO OUR PRAYERS, 1. Sometimes literally granting our requests at the very time of our asking (Dan. ix. 20, 21). 2. Always virtually meeting us with an immediate response; for when he does not grant us all we ask instantly, as he could not do with any regard to our real and spiritual interests, he does hear us and heed us, and determine in what way he will bless us, III. HIS RESPONSE TO OUR APPEAL IN BORROW AND IN PENITENCE. There are two things in regard to which the words of our text are emphatically true. 1. When in sorrow we ask for bis s11mpath11. Whe11 the ~res, anxieties, disappointments, losses, OB. LXV. 1-25.) THE BOOK 01!' THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 481
separations of life, overtake us, then the stricken heart of man turns and looks for the healing hand of God, then the troubled child goes to his heavenly Father ; and never vainly. For in the very a.et of e.n appeal, while we are yet upon our knees, before we have left the sanctuary, God has laid his kind hand upon us, Jesus Christ has spoken "peace" to our agitated spirit. 2. When in penitence we ask for bis pardon. When, away in the far country of unbelief, or of wrong-doing, or of irreligioo, or of unfaithful- ness and backsliding, or or indecision and procrastination, we bear the summons from the Father's home, and when we say," I will arise and return," what happens then? A Divine readiness to receive us, even as the great Teacher has shown us. Then the Father of souls does not wait to be convinced, and to be induced to pardon and reinstate us. He comes forth to meet us; he anticipates our action; he breaks in upon our con- fession with his words of forgiving and accepting love (Luke xv. 21, 22); he overwhelms us with the proofs of his Divine affection.-C.