turn from the service of Jehovah, who had just granted him a Rignal proof of his power nnd his goodness, to the service and the worship of the gods of the very people he had dofentod (vcr. 14) I Well might he be reproached for conduct so culpable and so irrational. Any one who was conversant with the history of the Hebrew people, even up to this time, might have known that faithfulness to Jehovah was accomp,mied by victory and prosperity, and that, contrariwise, idolatry was attended with misery and disaster. And yot, such was "the deceitfulness of sin," we find king and courtier, priest and people, lapsing into disobedience and iniquity. We are not now under the temptation which proved too strong for Amaziah, but we may make a mistake as 11erious and as senseless as be made. II. THE FOLLY OF IRRELIGION, AND ESPECIALLY OF SPIRITUAL UNFAITHFULNESS. For what is it that we see? 1. A large number of men and women honouring various false gods; it is some form of temporal success; it may be physical enjoyment, or it may be the possession of wealth, or it may be social position, or it may be political power, or it may be professional distinction. 2. These votaries are not. blessed by the deities they are serving; for these" powers" are weakness itself; they" cannot deliver their own people," their own adherents. They do not deliver them from failure, from dis- appointment, from heartache, from misery. They do not gladden the heart and brighten and beautify the life of those who are seeking and serving them. Even those who have reached the heights they set themselves to climb, who have grasped the goal towards which they ran, have confessed, again and again, that they have not found rest unto their soul, but rather disquietude, craving, envy-a sense of dreariness and defeat. Why, then, should we add our souls to the number of the unblessed, of the deceived and the betrayed? Why, indeed, should we who have tasted of better thin~s be so indescribably foolish as to abandon" our Rock" for" their rock" (Deut. x:x:xii. 31)? Why should we seek after the "gods that cannot deliver their own people"? And this folly is the greater when we take into our account- III. THE PROVED WISDOM OF PIETY. For has it not been abundantly confirmed th:i.t "godliness has the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come"? Do not we who have followed Christ know, and can we not testify, that to be bis true disciple, his faithful servant-this is to be: 1. Gladdened with all joy. 2. Comfortc,l in all sorrow. 3. Enlarged in all obscurity and lowliness of sphere. 4. Engaged in the best and noblest of all works-the work of human elevation. 5. Sustained by the most exalted hope-the hope of everlasting life in his own royal presence.-0. Vers. 11-24.-Human presumption. In the correspondence between these two kings and the action which ensued we have a very striking illustration of the evil of human presumption. I. IT MAY BE BEGOTTEN OF A SLIGHT succEss. "Thou hast smitten the Edomites; and thy heart lifteth thee up to boast" (ver. 19). Some men are soon inflated; even a little "knowledge puffeth up." And a very slight achievement, in art, or in song, or in speech, or in manufacture, is enough to fill them with vanity, to cause them to "think more highly of themselves than they ought to think," to make them presume upon an ability which they are far from possessing. Complacency is an element which soon rises to the surface in h1:man nature; it takes a very slight touch to stir it. II. IT MAY BEGET A SINFUL SCORNFULNESS. On this occasion the presumption of Amaziah provoked the contemptuous answer of Joash (ver. 18). There is something very unbeautiful and unbecoming in human scorn. Derision is a rather frequent action, and those who employ it take great pride in it. But we may be sure that it is offensive in the sight of the Lord of love. ,v e may pity, we may condemn, we may reproach one another, rightly and faithfully. But to pour out on one another the spittle of our scorn,-this is an unworthy, an ungodly, a blameful thing. Joash no doubt felt a. keen satisfaction in his reference to the cedar and the thistle, and sent his message with enjoyment; but the Father of spirits would be grieved to see one of his children thus treating another with withering contempt. Scorn may be a pleasant thing, but it is a sinful thing. III. IT BUFFERS AN HUMILIATING DEFEAT. (V'ers. 21, 22.) Failure and humiliation are the inevitable end of human presumption. It is certain in time to undertake some task too great for its strength, to go up to a battle against a foe which it cannot fight; U, OliRONIOL)l:B, X 306 THE SECOND DOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [en:. xxv. 1-28,
and we ~now ~hat will be ~he. igsue. . Whatever the field may be-whether political, commercial, literary, eoclee1ast1cal, socutl-the man of presumptuous spirit is on hie way to an ignominious defeat. He will attempt the leap which he cannot make, and he will come down heavily to the ground. IV. IT El\'"DURES OTHER PENALTIES BESIDES. In the case of Joash it meant, beside defeat, captivity, the violation of the capital, and the spoliation of the temple, the miseries of remorse as he pondered in his palace. How senselessly he had brought this calamity on himself (see ver. 15) ! Presumption is sure to result in adversity of more kinds than one. It ends in the bitter mortification of defeat, of conscious overthrow and dishonour• it usually ends (as here) in loss, either of property, or of reputation, or of friendshi~ perhaps of all of these at the same time. It frequently brings down upon a man the s<>vere reproaches of those who have been injured along with the principal offender. For guilt of this kind commonly involves misery to many beside the criminal. It is Jerusalem, and even Judah, as well as Amaziah, on whom the blow comes down. 1. Let us know ourselves well, lest we make an egregious and fatal mistake. 2. Let us ask God to reveal our feebleness to our own eyes.-C.