1. _When He calls them out of the world before they have reached the
limits of life which are to be found in Scripture_ (Ps. xc. 10).
Hezekiah undoubtedly numbered his years according to this standard
when he spoke (at forty years of age) of being deprived of the
residue of his years. 2. _When He calls them out of the world before
they have reached the bounds of life fixed by Providence._ Thought
the Scriptures limit life to seventy or eighty years, yet Providence
often extends it to a longer period, even to a century. Many aged
persons enjoy a large measure of health, strength, and activity;
should any of these be suddenly cut down by disease or accident, they
would be deprived of the residue of their years which they had
anticipated, according to the course of Divine providence in fixing
the limits of life to the aged. 3. _Even those who die before they
have reached the bounds of life which are imposed by the laws of
Nature, may be said to be deprived of the residue of their days._
Nature sets bounds to every kind of life in this world, not excepting
human life. What the natural limit of human life is we cannot tell,
but from the fact that some have survived for over a century and a
half, we may infer that God has deprived the vast majority of the
human race of the residue of their years, and has not allowed even
one in a million to reach the bounds of life which Nature has set.
II. WHY GOD THUS SHORTENS THE LIVES OF MAN AND CUTS OFF THEIR
EXPECTED YEARS.
1. Sometimes it is _to teach the living that He is not dependent on
them in the least degree._ Though He can and does employ them in His
service, yet He can lay them aside whenever He pleases, and carry on
His designs without their assistance. Let eminent and useful men like
Hezekiah remember this, that they may not yield to the temptation of
pride (H. E. I. 2218-2219). 2. In order _to teach mankind their
constant and absolute_ dependence upon Himself. This they are
extremely inclined to forget, and their forgetfulness arises in a
great measure from the consideration of the general bounds of life
which Scripture, Providence, and Nature have set. To these well-known
periods they naturally extend their views, desires, and expectations.
But to make them sensible that they still live, move, and have their
being in Himself, God continually deprived one and another, and much
the larger portion of mankind, of the residue of their years. 3. _To
teach the living the necessity of being continually prepared for
another life_ (H. E. I. 1543-1546). 4. _To teach the living the
importance of faithfully improving life as long as they enjoy it._
All men are naturally slothful and strongly inclined to postpone
present duties to a more convenient season. The best and most
industrious of men need the sharp spur of the possibility of sudden
death, and of being called away before their work is complete. When
God cuts down the active and useful in the midst of their days, He
warns us most solemnly (Eccl. ix. 10; H. E. I. 1562-1566). 5. God
sometimes cuts short the days of the wicked _to prevent their doing
evil in the time to come_ (Ps. lv. 23; Prov. x. 27; Eccl. vii. 17).
6. God sometimes shortens the lives of His faithful servants to
prevent their seeing and suffering public calamities. It seems to
have been in mercy to Hezekiah that God added only fifteen years to
his life; had fifty years been added (and then at death he would only
have been ninety), he would have been involved in the dreadful evils
which were coming upon both his family and his kingdom (Isa. lvii. 1).
APPLICATION.--1. If God does not always deprive men of the residue of
their years, _there is a propriety in praying for the lives of the
aged as well as for the lives of the young._ Even the oldest persons
living, though labouring under pains, infirmities, and diseases which
seem to indicate the near approach of death, may yet pray for the
removal or mitigation of their disorders, and for a longer space of
life. Life is a blessing, and to pray for its continuance is a duty.
2. If God so often deprives men of the residue of their years, _it is
extremely unreasonable and dangerous to flatter ourselves with the_
_hope of living a great while in the world._ What ground have we to
expect that our days will be greatly prolonged; that _we_ shall
escape all the dangers and diseases which have proved so fatal to
others, and live as long as men can live according to the course of
nature? This expectation is as dangerous as it is absurd. It
encourages the wicked to continue in sin. It is the strangest and
most fatal error that mankind ever embraced (James iv. 14; Matt.
xxii. 44). 3. Since God deprives so many of the residue of their
years, _we ought to beware of placing too much dependence upon the
lives of others, as well as of our own._ Others are as liable to
leave us as we are to leave them (Ps. cxlvi. 3-5). 4. If God so often
deprives men of the residue of their years, then _long life is a
great as well as a distinguishing favour._ It is a talent capable of
being improved to the highest public and private advantage We should
desire it for the sake of having greater opportunity of getting good,
and still more of doing good. Had Hezekiah, Joseph, Joshua, Caleb,
and David died in early manhood, how little comparatively they could
have done for Israel! Since good men are to be rewarded according to
their works, the longer they are permitted to live, the greater
opportunity they enjoy of promoting their own future blessedness.
5. If God always has wise and good reasons for depriving men of the
residue of their years, then _it is as reasonable to submit to His
providence in one instance of mortality as another._ He knows all the
disappointment which a strong man feels in being cut down in the
midst of his days, all acute sorrow that is caused by an untimely
death and He sympathises with it all. He never afflicts willingly,
nor grieves the children of men; He takes no pleasure in giving
anxiety and distress to the dying, nor in desolating the hearts of
the living; and when He does either, it is for a reason that is
infinitely wise and infinitely kind. It behoves us then to say with
Job: (Job xiii. 15, or Job i. 21).--_Dr. Emmons: Works,_ vol. iii.
pp. 79-92.