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itself master of the heart, and turns it like the streams of water whithersoever it pleaseth ? And how shall we conduct ourselves with wisdom toward them, unless God gives us the Spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind? What shall we do without prayer in those moments of perplexity when we know not what to do with ourselves or with our children ? What a consolation will it be, to be able then to lay ourselves and them at the feet of Him in whose hands we are as clay in the hands of the potter ! What a consolation, when they have formed bad habits, when we ourselves have adopted a bad method with them, or when we have committed errors in their education, to be able to go to Him who is “the repairer of breaches," and who can make all things new, to ask him to change that which we cannot change, and to remedy that for which we see no remedy! What a consolation, to be able, in every circumstance of embarrassment, to go and consult Him whose name is “ Counsellor," and who hath said, “I will guide thee with mine eye!"

Let, then, prayer be the soul of our education, and let an habitual application for the assistance of the Holy Spirịt for ourselves and our children, draw down a vivifying influence upon all the cares which we devote to them. Let our children be, as it were, in a happy network of prayer, from which they cannot disengage themselves. Let our prayers follow and restrain them when they escape from our exhortations ; let them guard them when they are near us and when they are afar off. Let us be able, when we exhort them, to say, as the mother of king Lemuel said to him when seeking to bring him back to the good way, “ What, my son ? and what, the son of my womb ? and what, the son of my vows ?" Let us often say, with David,

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“ O God, forsake me not, until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.” Ps. lxxi. 18.

Then, after all, let us be prepared to expect that we shall fall into many errors ; let us not fear to acknowledge them, and sometimes even before our children but above all, let us confess them before Him who has promised that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This good God, “who knoweth our frame, and remembereth that we are but dust," will have pity on our weakness; he will repair our errors, he will take away the evil and receive the good : and notwithstanding our infirmity, he will bless our efforts to bring our children to him ; for he hath promised saying, “ Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Prov. xxii. 6.

May zeal for the glory of God, your own interest and that of your children, engage you to put these instructions into practice, and to say with Joshua, “ As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua xxiv. 15.

May the Lord inspire you with this resolution, and give you strength to put it into effect, through his good Spirit. Amen.

MEDITATION VII.

HEZEKI AH'S PRIDE AND SUBSEQUENT REPENTANCE.

“ In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death, and prayed unto the Lord: and he spake unto him, and he gave him a sign. But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem. Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah. And Hezekiah had ex

much riches and honour: and he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of pleasant jewels; storehouses also for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts, and cotes for flocks. Moreover, he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance ; for God had given him substance very much. This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper water-course of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works. Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart. Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness, behold, they are written in the vision Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David : and all Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.” 2 Chron. xxxii. 2433.

“ At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah : for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered. And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found. in his treasures : there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not. Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said

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these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon. Then said he, What have they seen in thine house ? And Hezekiah answe

swered, All that is in mine house have they seen : there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them. Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts : Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon : nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord, which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.” ISAIAH xxxix. 1-8.

We have now come to the conclusion of the history of Hezekiah, and this conclusion, like the history of every child of Adam, who is the subject of divine grace, is

, well calculated to humble the pride of man, and to exalt the glory of God. There are two general instructions to be derived from the life of believers, even the most sanctified; the first is, that man is but a poor, miserable creature, weak and frail, incapable of good, prone to evil, and continually exercising the patience of God, by his repeated falls and relapses : the other, that God is a God of love, long-suffering, and of great mercy, abundant in goodness and truth, and making grace much more abound where sin hath abounded.

In this point of view, the life of the believer may be compared to a cloudy sky penetrated by a ray of the sun, the brightness of which is gradually increasing. Often is this ray veiled by dark and heavy clouds, pressing one upon the other in quick succession ; but every time that a moment of unbelief or weakness comes to intercept the light which descends from above, the power and mercy of God are unexpectedly exercised to dissipate the darkness, and soon the sun's rays, piercing the clouds anew, break forth with greater

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strength and brilliancy. Each fall is followed by a renewal of repentance and faith which brings the soul under the influence of the “ Sun of Righteousness," rising “ with healing under his wings.” Thus the life of the believer is composed of a succession of light and darkness, in which, however, the light always prevails, until the sun, after its last eclipse, pierces all the clouds, and displays itself in its full glory to the believing soul, which then beholds the face of God in righteousness, and enters into the kingdom of light where “there shall be no more night,” and where the “ sun shall no more go down." “ The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Prov. iv. 18.

We see this representation strikingly exemplified in the life of Hezekiah. That pious prince began his reign by a courageous extirpation of the idolatry which prevailed in his kingdom. Soon after, being attacked by the king of Assyria, he displays at first confidence in God; he then becomes alarmed, and seeks to arrest the enemy, by taking the treasures of the temple and the plates of gold with which he had himself overlaid the lintels and posts of the doors, in order to pay the appointed tribute. Here is a moment of darkness in which confidence in God is eclipsed. But soon Hezekiah recovers ; he regains his confidence, and we find him in the temple, placing his cause with simplicity in the hands of the Lord, who delivers him from the army of the Assyrians. Hezekiah then falls sick, and in his sickness, according to his own acknowledgement, he allows himself to sink into despondency, to feel excessive regret at the thought of dying, and to complain of the severity of God in his dealings towards him. New moment of darkness in which the child of God walks in obscurity, and “ the light of his eyes is gone from

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