The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 394

you ml\y be thrown by your business among ungodly companions and surroundings;- no matter! God expects you to be faithful unto him. Young men, Josiah's early devotion is a bright example for you to follow. Never 11uffer yourselves to be led astray by the notion that religion is an unmanly thing. The truly religiou3 man is the noblest and most perfect man. He is great in all that constitutes true manhood. And if you want to find the greatest heroes in the world's history, you will find them, not among the followers of the world's fashion and the world's pleasure, bt:t among the prophets, apostles, martyrs, and humble Christians in the Church of God. It is the highest aim any young man can set before him to be a bumble and devoterl follower of Jesus Christ. Never mind what circumstances or companion~ surround you, except to try and make them better. Joseph was faithful to God in Egypt. His faithfulness sent him to a prison for a time; but afterwards it raised him to be the greatest man in Egypt after the king. Daniel was faithful to God in Babylon, though he knew well it was at the risk of his life. His faithfulness brought him for a little while to the lions' den; but it afterwards made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon. It is true heroism to be ready to suffer-to suffer bodily pain, to suffer the loss of worldly goods, yes, to suffer even the loss of l'eputation itself, for the sake of truth and purity and right. Like Josiah, the sooner you begin to serve God the better. You will never regret it. "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth." II. JosIAH's WORK OF REFORMATION. (Ver. 3-ch. xxiii. 25.) Here also he be~an very early to do what he believed to be right. It was in the twelfth year of his reign -when he was only twenty years old-that he bt'gan to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places and the idols. Then in the eighteenth year of his reign-when he was twenty-sir,; years old-he began to repair the house of the Lord, which had been long disused and neglected. God so prospered him in this work, that tbe people brought large sums of money for the repairing of the temple. It was when this was being done that Bilkiah the priest found in the temple the book of the Law. There it lay, probably all covered with dust, like the unused Bible in many a home, a silent reproof to those who should have known what was right but did not do it. When the bcok of the Law was read to the king, he rent his clothes, in sorrow and in ~hame, when he thought of how the Law of God had been broken and neglected. It was determined that it should be so no longer, and, having gathered all the people together, he read in their ears all the words of the Law. Then, standing on a pillar, he made a covenant that they would serve the Lord and keep his commandments, and all the people agreed to it. After this was done, he appointed a solemn Passover to be kept by all the people. And it is said, "Surely there was not holden such a Passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, wherein this Passover was holden to the Lord in Jerusalem" (eh. xxiii. 22, 23). It was a marvellous work for a young king to have accomplished in the twenty-sixth year of his age. He found the land full of idolatry and corruption. But he had already pulled down the altars, and burned the idols, and swept away the dens of vice. He found the temple closed, neglected, and in decay. He had already repaired it and restored the worship of the true God. He found the Law of God forgotten, forsaken, and unknown-the temple copy of it hidden away out of sight. He had already restored it to its proper place as the l'uling principle of his government and of the natiou's life. Truly a marvellous work for a young king of twenty-six. We see here, as we have seen in the life of Hezekiah, the power of decision/or what is right. Josiah was not content merely to know God and serve him by himself. He was determined that, so far as he had any influence, others should know and serve God too. He might have said, in the spirit of many lukewarm Christians of modern times, "What matters it? They have their religion, and I have mine." He might have said that, as a ruler, he had nothing to do with his people'11 religion, but only with their conduct as members of the state. Not so. He knew that it is religion, or the want of it, which makes or mars the happiness and prosperity of the nation. He knew that, as a servant of God, he was bound to bear his testimony and to use every influence in his power against sin and in favour of what was right. .And so he acted, not with half-measures, not with half-hearted hesi- tation, but with firmness, fearlessness, promptness, and determination, as becomes one who is doing the work of God. And so, also, God stood by him, and gave him success  THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KING& [en. un. 1-20,