Ver. 20.-77ie woe of aged sinne1·s. There are three epecio.1 periods of life in which men are peculiarly exposed to the power of temptation and ein. Most men that fall, fall either into young men's perils, full-grown men's indulgences, or old men's sine. A pure, humble, godly old man is one of the noblest sights to be seen under heaven. And by so much as that is beautiful, a godless, characterless, debased old man is a shame and contempt. "A hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness." Yet old age bas its special evils. Temptations to those sins which the Bible gathers up into the word "uncleanness." Often uncleanness of word and con versation ; oflen, alas! of life and conduct also. It would appear that bodily lust and passion gathers it.~elf in old age for one last struggle to gain the mastery. The flame flares up in the socket, and old men need to keep very near to God, very much in the power of the sanctifying Spirit, if, having withstood all the pelils of youth and man- hood, they do not fa.II under the temptations of old age. What an awful sight is the foul-mouthed, leering-eyed, depraved old man, tottering on the very edge of the eternal, where "he that is filthy shall be filthy still n I The prophet tells of the time when there shall be no confusions about the state of aged sinners, because they are in great state, or a.re spared long. "The sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed." I. THE WOE OF AGED SINNERS COMES IN BITTERNESS OF BUFFERING. The self-indulgent life ensures an unusually suffering old age. There are natural and necessary penalties, which are first smitings of Divine judgment. Il. THE WOE OF AGED SINNERS COMES IN THE ESTIMATE OF THOSE WHO TEND THEM. The aged sinner outlives his so-called friends, who shared his self-willed doings, and might have sympathized with him. He is put, for tending, into the hands of a new generation, who only see the wreck and ruin of body and character which the life has led to. He feels despised; he feels the misery of being despised. He knows well enough that they wish him gone. III. THE WOE OF AGED SINNERS COMES IN FEARS OF THE FUTURE. It comes on a man sooner or later that he will have to "give a.n account of his stewardship." His body was not his own ; bis time wa.s not his own; his talents were not his own; his posses- sions were not his own; his relations were not his own. Presently he asks himself- What have I done with God's property, which was entrusted for a. while to my care? Conscious of having diverted God's property to his own uses, he may well fear to meet his offended God.-R. T. Ver. 24.-Swift answers to prayer. The answer comes even when the prayer is but a thought, is only a sigh; for God is the Infinite Thought-reader, "Prayer is the burden of a sigh, The falling of a tear ; The upward glancing of an eye, When none but God is near." One of the wonderful revelations of the day that is coming will be God's showing us the many answers he sent to prayers of ours that never took shape in human words, that were no more than the outlook and uplook of our souls. The point impressed by the prophet here is that, b_v reason of man's sinfulness, delays in answering his prayers are often necessary, delay doing a very essential disciplinary and corrective work. But if a man were holy-in full harmony with God's will-there would never be any question about his prayers, never any need for delay in answering them. God could respond at once. "In man's experience of men, often, as things are now, in his relations with God, there is an interval between prayer and answer. In the new Jerusalem the two would be simultaneous, or the answer would anticipate the prayer." God's present method in relation to prayer may be illustrated from Dan. ix. 23; Luke xviii. 1-7; 2 Cor. xii. 8. L WHAT IS IT IN US TRAT MAKES ANSWER TO PBAYER SLOW AND EVEN UNOERTAIN? It is certain that God ie more willing to hear than we are to pray. He has made large and fi Im promises of answer if we pray; and yet sometimes his answer is a refusal, and at other times it is a delay, and at yet other times the gift of something which we did not desire. The explanation is in us; we either ask for wrong thingo, or elso we ask in on. txvt. 1-24.J THE BOOK OJ? TH:E PROPHET ISAIAH. 485
a wrong spirit. We need rebuff, or we need correction, An unanswered prayer should always set us upon" examining ourselves." II, WHAT 18 IT IN US THAT MAKES ANSWER TO PRAYER COME -SWIFTLY? The conformity of our desires with God's will, and the offering of ourselves in the spirit of aubmission, dependence, and trustful love, which becomes obedient children. "Lord, teach us how to pray aright." R. T.
8EC7l'ION XII. FINAL THREATENING& A.ND l'BOMISE8 (CH. LXVI,).