fast; in the observance of which all his subjects cordially con- curred : and so intent were they on a due observance of the day, that all put on sackcloth from the least of them to the greatest, and even the king himself " laid aside his royal robes, and clothed himself in sackcloth, and sat in ashes:" nor did any of them so much as " eat bread or drink water" the whole day. Even the herds and the flocks were kept without any species of food or refreshment, that by their privations they might participate in the general grief, and by their moanings produce on the minds of the penitents an increased effect.
To their fasting they added prayer: yea, " they cried mightily unto God." They were not content with formal unmeaning acknowledgments. They bewailed their guilt; they saw how deeply they had merited the Divine displeasure; and they strove by earnest supplications to ward off from themselves the judgments which the avenging Deity was about to inflict upon them. The sincerity of their repentance they manifested by an instantaneous reformation of their lives; all of them turning from their besetting sins, and engaging to consecrate themselves to Jehovah as a holy and obedient peo- ple. How many of them maintained their steadfastness we know not : but from the mercy vouchsafed to them in answer to their prayers, we are led to hope that many became true servants of the living God.
Thus, at all events, they sought for mercy ; and thus they obtained the deliverance they implored.]
Now then let me call your attention to their conduct, II. As a pattern for your imitation —
Sorry am I to say, that there is occasion for the same humiliation on your part, as you have seen in them —
[ b And this I am authorized to declare, that,
whatever the second causes may have been, the evil itself is from the Lord : for, " Is there evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done itc?" Yes, it is a chastisement from God on account of our sins : and I call upon you not only to "believe" this, but to " hear the rod, and him that has appointed it." If we will not view the hand of God in these dispensations, we can have no hope that they shall be exchanged for mercies : but to acknowledge him in them will be the best preparation for the reception of mercies from him, and the most certain prelude to his bestowment of them.]
b Here the particular occasion (war, pestilence, famine, or what- ever it be) should be set forth. c Amos in. 6.