Such is the proneness of man to superstition : and, from Hezekiah's conduct, we learn,
II. How earnestly we should all endeavour to coun- teract it — We should counteract it,
1. In ourselves —
[There is a great deal of this evil remaining in the heart, even after we are truly converted unto God. To view God in every thing ; to ascribe every thing, evil as well as good, to God^; to give him the glory of every thing; and to depend wholly and entirely upon him for every thing, is an attain- ment to which we are not . soon brought : we gain it for the most part by a long and painful discipline. There is a mea- sure of creature-confidence and creature-dependence cleaving to us to the end : or though we be purged from it, yet is there a tendency to return to it, and a necessity to be constantly on our guard against it. Whence is that confidence which some derive from dreams, or visions, or other conceits of their own ? Whence is that stress which they lay on the word of God coixiing to their minds in this or that particular way? It all arises from a propensity inherent in fallen man to rest in something besides God. The word of God is our only legitimate ground of either hope or fear. The manner of its being appHed to the mind does not alter one jot or tittle of it. The promises are not a whit more sure because they are presented with force to our minds, nor the threatenings less sure because we are strongly impressed with the idea that they shall never be fulfilled in us. And the only effect of attending to our own feelings in relation to these things is, to generate a presumptuous confidence in some, and groundless apprehensions in others. They all draw the mind from God ; and must be guarded against as superstitious vanities : and " all who trust in such vanities, shall have vanity for their recompence."]
2. In others —
[Were superstition a harmless delusion, we might leave men to themselves : but when we consider how great an evil it is, and how strenuously the pious Hezekiah opposed it, we should all use our utmost efforts to counteract it in the world. Wliether we view the dishonour which it does to God, or the evil which it entails on man, we cannot but see, that we should tread in Hezekiah's steps respecting it. That it robs God of his glory, is obvious ; because it ascribes to the creature what
f Amos. iii. 6.