stated that he shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem with blood from one end to the other (ver. 16). Let us beware of the beginnings of evil. 3. We see also the power of sin to harden men's hearts. We read in 2 Chronicles that "God spake to Manasseh and hie people; but they would not hearken." How often God still speaks to men by his Word, by his providences, and yet Bin has so hardened thei; hearts, that they pay no attention to his warnings, remonstrances, and appeals! II. THE POWER OF PRAYER. There is no reference in this account of Manasseh to any prayer of his. And yet, strange though it may seem, prayer played an important part in Manasseh's history. ·when we turn to the summary of his life which is given in 2 Ohron. xxxiii., we read (vers. 18, 19), "Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer =to his God, and the words of the seers that spake unto him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. His prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sins, and his trespass ... before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers." Now, what was this prayer of Manasseh? It was simply a prayer for pardon. Observe how Manasseh learned to pray. For all his wickedness the Lord brought judgments upon him (vers. 10-15). He brought upon him and his people "the captains of the host of the King of Assyria, which took Manasseh prisoner, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon." It was then, in his extremity and calamity, that Manasseh learned to pray. "And when he was in affiiction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him: and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God" (2 Chron. :x.xxiii. 12, 13). Often it is affliction and trial that first teach men to pray, to tum to God. We see here the power of penitent prayer. We see here tbat no one is too great a sinner to pray to God for mercy. Your past life may have been given up to sin. So was Manasseh's. You may have dishonoured and disobeyed God. So did Manasseh. Yet he obtained mercy. The greatest, guiltiest sinner may get pardon at the cross. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they he red like climson, they shall be as wool."-C. H. I. Vera. 19-24.-.Amon's wicked reign. We have here more than one instructive lesson. I. 'l'IIE POWER OF EVIL OFTEN COUNTERACTS TIIE GOOD. Manasseh had humbled himself before God. He obtained pardon. But he could not undo the guilty past. He could not undo the effects of his evil example and influence. We see how his sins were imitated and continued by his son Amon. How careful we should be what influence we exercise, what an example we leave behind us! Many a penitent sinner would give worlds if he could undo the consequences to others of his own p'!.st sius. II. THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION ONOE MORE. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." Every case of disobedience against God on the part of Israel and her kings brought its corresponding penalty. .Amon was very defiant in his sin. "He humbled not himself before the Lord, . . . but trespassed more and more" (2 Chron. x:x.xiii. 23). He cast off the authority of God. The day came when his own servants rose in rebellion against his authority, and conspired against him, and slew him. The conspirators also met with their punishment. " The people of the land slew all them that had conspired against King .Amon" (ver. 24). .Amid all its corruptions, the natiou had not yet utterly lost the sense of justice. "Whatsoever a mau soweth, that shall he also reap."-C. H. I.
Vers. 1-18.-Manasseh; or, the material and moral in human life. "Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years iu Jerusalem. Aud his mother's name was Hephzibah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord," etc. "Manasseh," says Keil, "having begun to reign at an early age, did not choose his father's ways, but set up the idolatry of his grandfather Ahaz again, since the godless party iu the nation, all whose chief priests, and (false) prophets stood, and who would not hearken to the Law of the Lord, and in the time of Hezekiah had sought help against .Assyria, not from Jehovah, but from the Egyptians, had obtained control of the young and inexperienced king. He built again (28 THE SECOND IlOOK OF THE KINGS. [un. XXI. 1-26.