instead of supporting him, it only entered into his hand and pierced him. Happy is it for us when the Lord instructs us by the example of others, that we may not entail upon ourselves similar chastisements by imitating their unbelief.

HEZEKIAH BEING ATTACKED, SHEWS HIS CONFIDENCE IN

GOD, LOSES IT, AND AGAIN RECOVERS IT.

his power.

When Hezekiah was attacked by the king of Assyria, his confidence in God did not make him neglect the natural means of defence which lay within

6 He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men, stopped the waters of the fountain which were without the city, built up all the wall that was broken; made darts and shields in abundance, and set captains of war over the people.” 2 Chron. xxxii. 26. From this it appears that a real confidence in God by no means precludes the exercise of a reasonable foresight, nor the use of all the legitimate means of preservation which the providence of God places within our reach. But it is to be observed, that though Hezekiah used the means, he did not place his confidence in them. Having assembled around him his principal officers, he addressed to them that short exhortation, in which he ascribes all the glory to God, and expresses so strongly that confidence in Jehovah which formed the groundwork of his character: “ Be strong and courageous, be not afraid or dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him, for there be more with us than with him: with him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord

God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah." 2 Chron. xxxii. 7, 8.

But there is nothing perfect in the heart of man,

.

and even where we see confidence in God predominating, we find moments of distrust and weakness, Of this we have a striking exemplification in Hezekiah at the period of his history which we are considering. . Seeing that his fenced cities had fallen into the hands of the Assyrian king, who was every moment drawing nearer to Jerusalem, he becomes alarmed, and sends a messenger to him, saying, “ I have offended ; return from me: that which thou puttest upon me will I bear.” To pay the tribute which is imposed upon him, Hezekiah takes “ all the silver which was in the house of the Lord,” and which he ought to have regarded as sacred, and “cuts off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which he himself had overlaid.” Observe here the strange inconsistency in Hezekiah's conduct which the Spirit of God notices. In a time of peace and tranquillity, he enriches the house of the Lord, and spares no expense to establish his service at Jerusalem. In an hour of trouble and danger, he loses for a moment that confidence in God which he displayed at the commencement of his reign. He takes back from the Lord what he had formerly given him, and places more dependance on the gold and silver of the temple than on the God of the temple himself. What poor, weak children of God we are! In the time of prosperity, we trust in the Lord: we seem to trust in him, so long as the trial is not carried too far: but when it comes upon us with re-doubled force, when the wind becomes violent, we fear and begin to sink, and in our alarm we are sometimes even induced to make use of means for our deliverance which God disapproves of, and which he can never bless.

Never can we sufficiently bewail the unfaithfulness of those children of God who diskonour their Heavenly

even

Father by supposing that he is unable to deliver them without their having recourse to means which he condemns. The Scriptures have taken frequent occasions to notice such infirmities in the lives of the believers whose history they relate: that, on the one hand, we may learn to be watchful, and that he that standeth may take heed lest he fall : and on the other, that those of God's children who may bave experienced such moments of weakness may be animated and encouraged to return to their God, seeing that he has in so many instances mereifully pardoned and restored his servants after similar falls.

We see, indeed, in the case of Hezekiah, as of all the elect of God, the accomplishment of that blessed promise of the Holy Spirit, “ Though the righteous fall, he shall not be utterly cast down : for the Lord upholdeth bim with his hand.”. Psalm xxxvii. 24. Hezekiah did not fall to rise no more, and he could apply to himself the words of David, “ When I said, My foot slippeth, thy mercy, O Lord, held me up." But observe what it was that became, in the Lord's hands, the means of his recovery; a circumstance which, to all appearance, was just calculated to produce the contrary effect. Sennacherib, violating his promise, and taking no account of the tribute which Hezekiah had paid him, continued the war, and sent a powerful army against Jerusalem to besiege it. It was at this critical moment that Hezekiah recovered his trust in God, and henceforth we see him, while blocked up by the besieging army in the holy city, committing his cause to the Lord, and calling upon him with a child-like simplicity and freedom, to deliver him out of his distress. It is thus that the Father of all mercies deals with us when we depart from him to seek deliverance from the arm of flesh 17

by his overruling providence he makes all the false supports on which we depend, break in our hands, and thus turn to our confusion. Our work being nothing but hay and stubble, is burnt up; our trial becomes more and more severe; our way becomes so difficult and so beset with thorns, that we are compelled to acknowledge our folly, and to return to that God whom we have forsaken, and who alone is able to deliver us. It is then that the soul, enlightened to see the difficulty of a way where it is not supported by a confidence in God, says with the spouse of whom the prophet speaks, “I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.” Hos. ii. 7. What mercy and condescension in our God to be always ready to receive us with open arms, even when we are brought back to him by the urgency of our distress, after learning by sad experience the impossibility of doing without him! How good, hew worthy of our love, is that forbearing and forgiving husband of our souls, who says' to us, “ Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers, yet return again to me. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth ?” Jer. iii. 1, 4.

RAB-SHAKEH COMES TO SUMMON HEZEKIAH-GENERAL

REFLECTIONS ON HIS DISCOURSE.

We now come to the period when Rab-shakeh, one of Sennacherib's generals, presents himself before Jerusalem, demanding a parley with the king, and when he delivers in the audience of the messengers,

whom Hezekiah sent unto him, that impious and insolent harangue, which seems to contain an abstract of all the arguments which Satan makes use of to shake the faith of the

believer. It is easy to see, that he was trained up in the school of him, whom the Scripture designates as the "father of lies, and the accuser of the brethren who accuseth them day and night." We shall examine this discourse in detail, considering it as a faithful representation of those which Satan too often addresses to our hearts, and by which he endeavors to plunge us into despondency.

Be not surprised if we say, that Satan speaks to us; he spoke to our first parents; he spoke to our Lord, when he tempted him in the wilderness; and if he now no longer appears under a visible form, he does not the less speak to us by the thoughts which he suggests to our minds. Did he not speak to David, when he provoked him to number Israel? 1 Chronicles, xxi. 1; Did he not speak to Ananias, when he "filled his heart to lie to the Holy Ghost ?" Acts v. 3. And have we ourselves never heard his deceitful language in our hearts? Have we never experienced certain thoughts and suggestions, which, though we rejected them with horror, continued to follow us, and seemed to come from some malevolent being which sought to torment us? Yes, as the Spirit of God, to establish us in the truth, speaks within us, by forcibly applying to our hearts certain passages of Scripture adapted to our spiritual wants; so does Satan often speak within us by suggesting to our minds, thoughts, which he endeavors to persuade us come from ourselves, and sometimes even from God.

The first remark which we would make on the discourse of Rab-shakeh, is, that he directs the whole force of his attack against Hezekiah's confidence in God. In his discourse, he developes, if we may so speak, the diabolical text contained in the words with which he begins: "What confidence is this wherein