The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 380

10 manifest, alas( in all times and laads, is not destitute of many grave and start.ling B 1g\(1·stione. 1. It shows the moral disorganizatim of the human world. This state of things oan never be according to the original plan of the creation. Can it be accordant with the original purpose of the Creator that wickedness should sit on thrones and hold the sceptres of the world in its grasp? Can it be that Infinite Purity intended to endow depravity with such worldly wealth and power? Impossible. A terrible convulsion bas happened to the huma11 world, a convulsion that has thrown every part into disorder. "All the foundations of the earth are out of course." The social world is in a moral chaos. The Bible traces the calll!e and propounds the remedy of thi~ terrible disorganization. 2. It shows the perverting capability of tM ,oul. The greater the amount of worldly good a man possesses, the stronger is the appeal of the Creator for his graUtude and devotion. These earthly mercies urge self- consecration. Moreover, the larger the amount of worldly wealth and power, the greater the facilities as well as the obligatious to a life of spiritual intelligence, holiness, and piety. But here, in the caije of this monarch, you have, what indeed you find in different degrees everywhere in human life past and present, the soul tw-ning these advantages to the most fiendish iniquity. The perverting capability of the soul within us may well fill us with amazement and alarm. We can darken the li~ht of truth, make the tree of life drop poison, and cause the very breath of God to be pestilential. 3. It shows the Mgh probability of a J°udgment. Under the government of a righteous monarch, will vice always have its banquets, its purple, and its crown? Will the great Mechanician always allow the human engine thus to ply its wondrous energies in confusion? Will the great Lord allow his stewards to misappropriate his substance, and never call them to account? It cannot be! There mnst come a day for balancing long-standing accounts; a day for making all that has been irregular in human history chime harmoniously with the original law of the universe. II. THE DEGI\ADATION OF THE BEOULAR AND THE ELEVATION OF THE SPIRITUAL, The ju,lgment of God, which must ever follow sin, at length overtook the wicked monarch, The.Assyrian nrmy, under the direction of Esarhaddon, invaded the country, and carried all before it. The miserable monarch can make no effectual resistance. He is seized, bound in chains, transported to Babylon, and then cast into prison. Here is secular degradation. Here, away in exile, chains, and prison, like the prodigal, he began to think. His guilty conduct passed under sad review-memory brought past crimes and abused mercies in awful and startling forms before him, and his heart is smitten with contrition. He prays; his prayer is heard; and here, bereft of every vestige of secular greatness, he begins to rise spiritually, to become an intellectual and moral man (2 Chron. xxxiii. 12). We may learn from this: 1. That man's circumstances are no neceasary ltindrancea to cmversion. If the question were asked-What circnm- etances are the most inimical to the cultivation of piety? I should unhesitatingly answer-Adversity. I am well aware, indeed, that adversity, as in the case before us, often succeeds in inducing religious thoughtfulness and penitence, when prosperity has failed; that afflictions have often broken the moral slumber of the soul, and led the careless to consider his ways. But, notwithstanding this, I cannot regard adversity itself as the most suited to the cultivation of the religious character. Sufieringo are inimical to that grateful feeling and spiritual effort which religious culture requires. It is when the system bounds with health, when Providence smiles on the path, when the mind is not necessarily pressed with anxieties about the means of worldly sub- sistence, when leisure and facilities for religious reflection and effort are at command, that men are in the best position to discipline themselves into a godly life. But here we find a man in the most unlavourable position, away from religious institutions and friends and books, an imprisoned exile in a pagan land, beginning to think of his ways, and directing his feet into the paths of holiness. Such a case as this meets all- the excuses which men offer for their want of religion. It is often said," ·were we in such and such circumstances we would be religious." The rich man says, "Were I in humble life, more free from the anxieties, cares, responsibilities, and associations of my position, I would live a gor.lly life." Whilst the p<ior, on the other hand says, with far more rew;on, "Were my spirit not pressed down by the crushing forces of poverty; had I sufficient of worldly goods to remove me from all necessary anxiety, I would give my mind to religion, and serve PlY God." The man in the midst of the excitement and  THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. [011. XXI, 1-28,