evidently unjust yoke of the king of Assyria, who, in contempt of his promises of assistance to Ahaz, had compelled him to become his tributary. To this we may add, that the judges, who rescued the people of Israel from the oppression of strangers, are spoken of in Scripture as deliverers sent by God, and we cannot see why Hezekiah should be blamed for that which is elsewhere commended in others; particularly as it does not appear that he made any promise of obedience to the Assyrian king so as to give his revolt the character of a violation of a positive engagement. Those who consider him to have acted wrong, found their opinion on what is said in the present chapter, where we read, that when he was pressed by the king of Assyria, who had made himself master of his fenced cities, he sent unto him, saying, “ I have offended; return from me ; that which thou puttest on me will I bear.” But may not this he regarded rather as a transient feeling of weakness on the part of Hezekiah, than as the confession of an act of injustice of which he accused himself before God?

Leaving, however, each one to form his own opinion on this subject, we shall pass on to the consideration of the lesson which we may derive from Hezekiah’s care to effect a religious reformation in his kingdom, and purify it from idolatry, before he engaged in those wars, which had for their object the deliverance of his people from their foreign oppressors. Let us learn from this, that if we would hope for the interposition of the Lord, either to deliver us from our trials, or from the external enemies that are a cause of trouble to us, we must first put away from our hearts the sins on account of which, we have reason to believe, his hand is stretched out against us. These chastisements are the remedies which he employs to heal our spiritual diseases.

So long as the evil remains, the remedy must be repeated; and it is useless to expect that God will take away any trial while the sin for which it was sent renders its continuance necessary. Numerous passages of Scripture confirm this observation. Thus Moses says: "If ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; then will the Lord drive out all these nations from

before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves." Deut. xi. 22, 23. And, in the twenty-third chapter of the same book, the Lord addresses his people in the following language :— "When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every evil thing." ver. 9. This passage is confirmed and explained by what we read in the book of Joshua, where we are told, that when that leader of the people of God complained to the Lord that "Israel turned their back before their enemies," the Lord said unto him, "There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel; thou canst not stand before thine enemies until ye take away the accursed thing from among you." Joshua vii. 8, 13. In the first book of Samuel, also, we find that man of God addressing the following exhortation to the people: "Put away the strange gods, and Ashtaróth, from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hands of the Philistines." vii.3. Many other passages bearing upon the same subject might be adduced, but we shall content ourselves with adding two decisive promises made to those whose ways are pleasing to the Lord: "To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God." Psalm i. 23. Again, "When a man's ways please the Lord, he

maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Prov. xvi. 7. May the Lord inscribe this lesson of instruction upon our hearts, that when we are called to contend with external enemies, we may remember that the only way to conquer them is, (through that grace which is never withheld from those that seek it,) to conquer sin within us, and to put away the accursed thing from our hearts.

Previous to entering into the details of the trial to which Hezekiah's confidence in God was exposed upon his revolting from the king of Assyria, the Holy Spirit relates in a few words the destruction of the ten tribes by Shalmanezer, of which we have a more particular account in the preceding chapter. Doubtless, it was not without some object that the Spirit of God referred to that event in this place. He may, perhaps, have intended to make us remark how the Lord was pleased to afford his servant an opportunity of completing the reformation which he had undertaken, before he exposed him to the trial of faith to which he was afterwards called. Hence it is said in the book of Chronicles (as if to point out this circumstance), “ After these things and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself.” 2 Chron. xxxii. l. The Lord, who favored the pious designs of Hezekiah, wishing to give him time for their accomplishment, occupied the Assyrians for several years in the war which they had undertaken against the kingdom of Israel. And thus it is that our Heavenly Father generally deals with his children. He occupies our enemies by throwing in their way some employment or other which obliges them to suspend their operations against us, until we are strong enough to resist their attacks. But while he thus affords

us a respite, he gives us to understand, by certain signs of the times, that we should be always ready; for the destruction of the ten tribes, which were also descended from Israel, was a serious warning to Hezekiah and his people. How merciful and compassionate is the Lord towards his people! He does not seek to take them by surprise; on the contrary, he wishes to give them time to strengthen themselves against the day of trial; yea, he sometimes even allows them to discern its approach, that they may be warned to prepare for it.

Brethren, let us meet these merciful dealings of our God by having eyes to see and ears to hear, and let us not be like those who see many things, but take heed to nothing. We live in times when the signs of the coming of the Son of man begin to manifest themselves with sufficient plainness. For many years we have been hearing of wars and rumors of wars ; of nation rising up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and of famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers places. Matt. xxiv. 6, 7. In our day, also, that declaration of our Lord is beginning to be fulfilled : “ Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake;" and that other prediction : “ This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the world for a witness to all nations, and then shall the end come.” Matt. xxiv. 14. All these concurring signs invite us to discern the times ; to watch and pray always, that we may be accounted worthy to escape all these things which shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. Let us take heed to ourselves, lest at any time “our hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon us unawares." Luke xxi. 34. Let us avail ourselves of the tranquillity which God affords us, to prepare for the day of contest. Let us act like king Asa, who, when the Lord gave him

rest, “built fenced cities in Judah, and made about them walls and towers, and gates of brass." Let us beware lest, absorbed in the affairs of this world, we merit the reproach which the Lord Jesus Christ addressed to the Pharisees, “ Ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times ?” Let us beware of the disposition of that wicked servant who said in his heart, “My Lord delayeth his coming, and began to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards," so that his master came “in a day when he looked not for him, and in an hour that he was not aware of, and appointed him his portion with the bypocrites.” Mat. xxiv. 48, 51. Let us beware of spending our precious time in useless and uncharitable disputes with our brethren, who are our fellow-servants. But “let us rather labour, that when the Lord cometh we may he found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” 2 Pet. iii. 14.

The fall of the kingdom of the ten tribes may also have been connected with the history of Hezekiah ; because it was a means which the Lord made use of to encourage him in the religious reformation of his kingdom, as it shewed him the severe chastisements with which he visited the idolatry of the house of Israel. The calamities which overtake Christians who apostatize from the truth are an awful warning, in which the Lord saith, “consider the goodness and severity of God: on them which fall severity ; but towards thee goodness : if thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” Rom. xi. 22.

The Lord might also have intended to guard Hezekiah against the danger of putting his trust in men, in the hour of trial, by shewing him how little the succour of Egypt had profited the king of Israel, who, leaning upon that broken reed, had found to his confusion, that