The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 379

'the high places which Hezekiah bad destroyed erected altars for Ila.al and Asherah, like Aha_b of ~srael.'" There are two great mistakes prevalent amongst ~en-one is an over-est1mat10n of the secular; the other, a depreciation of the spiritual. Mauy theo- retically bold, and more practically indicate, that man should attend mainly if not entirely,_t.o his secular interests, as a citizen of time; that. the present, the palpable, and the certarn should enga~e a far greater portion of his attent km than the future, the unseen, and the probable. It 1s bad to bold these ideas, but it is worse to practise them. More respect, perhap~, is due to the mistaken men who theoretically adopt them, than to those wbo_deno1~nce m n? very measured terms their votaries and yet practically carry them out m their daily_ hfe. And yet such characters abound in Christian England, abound in our congregations, and in our clergy too. The religionist who gives more of his thought, energy, and time to the secular than the spiritual, is carrying out in his everyday conduct the principles of those secular and infidel teachers aa-ainst whom he is ever ready to thunder his condemnation. Far more distressed :m I at the practical secularism of the Christian than at the theoretical secularism of the sceptic. The other mistake is overrating the spiritual at the expense of the secular. It is not very uncommon for religious teachers to profess to despise secular interests, and so to enforce the claims of piety as if they required the sacrifice of our corporeal and secular happiness. I have no faith in such representations of moral duty. Man is one, and all his duties and interests are concurrent and harmonious; the end of Christianity is to make man happy, body and soul, here and hereafter. These remarks are su~gested by the history of Manasseh. He was the son of Hezekiah; was born upwards of seven hundred years before Christ; began to reign when he was twelve years of age; continued his rulership for fifty-five years, died at the age of sixty-eight, and was buried in a sepulchre which he had prepared for himself in his own garden (see 2 Chron. x.n:iii. 1-20). His inner life or character will appear as we proceed in the illustr-ation of our subject. In his biography we have three instructive views of the se,cvlar and spiritual. We have here-- I. THE ELEVATION OF THE SECULAR AND THE DEGRADATION OF THE SPIRITUAL. "He built up again the high places which Hezekiah bis father had destroyed; and he reared np altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab King of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them," etc. Here is a man at the height of the secular elevation. He is raised to a throne, called to bear sway over a people the most enlightened. and in a country as fertile and lovely as any on the face of the earth. In the person of this Manasseh you have secular greatness in its highest altitude an<l most attractive position. But in connection with this you have spiritual degra- dation. Penetrate the gaudy trappings of his royalty, look within, and what see you? A low, wretched, infamous spirit, a spirit debased almost to the lowest point in morals. Few names in the history of our sinful world stand out with more prominent features of depravity and vice than this of Manasseh. Look at him: 1. Socially. How acted he as a son? His father, Hezekiah, was a man of undoubted piety-a monarch of dis- tinguished worth. Many earnest prayers he offered, no doubt, for his son, and many tender counsels on religious subjects had he addressed to him. Yet what was the return for all this? His sire was scarcely cold in his grave before the son commenced m,doing in the kingdom all that his pious father had for years endeavoured to accomplish. Uis insane fanaticism in the cause of debased religion was not surpassed even by the king ;n modern times who most resembled him, Philip II. of Spain. How did he act as a parent1 Was he anxious for the virtue and happiness of his children? No; "he caused his children to pass through the fire of the son of Hinnorn." History represents the god Molocb, to which this Manasseh presented his children, as a brazen statue, which was ever kept burning hot, with its arms outstretched. Into these outstretched anus tbt idolatrous parect threw his children, which soon fell down into the raging furnace beneath. 2. Religiously. A dupe of the most stupid imposture. "He observed times, and used enchantments [and used witchcraft], and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards." He wa~ the maddened votary of the most cruel and monstrous superstition, 3. Politically. Ruining his 01vn country, provoking the indignation of Heaven. '' So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of IBrael." The e'.evation of the eecular and the degradation of tl&e spiritual, (lll, XXI. 1-26.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 429