No wise ruler will be indifferent to the question of the produce of the land. The king that" loves husb11ndry" is, other things being 1iresent, a king that loves his people and rules for the b11ppiness of their homes. It is probable that Judah never spont s~ contented and prosperous a half-century as during the long reign of Uzziah. II. IT_s EXPLANATION. (~) It was _part~y due to the fact that he came under good human mfln:n~; that of his father m his better days, that of Zechariah all through that prophets hfe; (perhaps) that of a godly mother. (2) It was due in part to his own cRpacity and en~rgy. Had he been a weak prince, giving way to base flatteries and to corrupt co~pamonship! he ?Ould not have played the admirable part he did. (3) H was due, chiefly and pnmanly, to the favour of Jehovah. "God made him to prosper" (v~r. 5). Fr?m the Divine rcs?urces came intelligence, strength, sagacity, statesman- ship. He might well have said, "Thou art the glory of my strength, and in thy favour has my horn been exalted." This is the explanation of every victorious career. 1. 'l'bere goes toward it individual character and energy. Every man must "bear his 0wn burden," and "have rejoicing in himself alone" (Gal. vi. 4, 5). In some sense and to some degree we must all "fight the good fight" for ourselves, if we would gain the Yictory and win "the prize of our high calling." 2. There is included in it helpful influenCt!- from without ; all kindly human help from the home and from the sanctuary from the father and from the friend. 3. The all-decisive force is the power that work; fi·om above on our behalf. God must make ns to prosper if we are to gain the victory iu the great strife of life. From him must come the guidance and the guardianship, the inspiration and the control, without which we shall faint and fall. And this is to be secured by (1) submission to the gracious sway, and (2) living in the holy service of a Divine Saviour.-C. Vers. 16-21.-.A clouded close. We could have wished that the end of Uzziah's life bad answered to the beginning; that a reign which began so well, which had so commendable and even distinguished a record, bad closed in light and honour. But it was not to be. That powerful temptation which assails the strong and the victorious proved too powerful for the Hebrew king; he fell beneath its force, and he paid a heavy penalty for his fall. We have- I. A PA.Th"'FUL SPECTACLE in the person of a leprous king. In Uzziah the leper we have one who occupied the highest place in the kingdom brought to an estate which the meanest subject in the realm, who had the hue of health in his cheeks, would not have accepted in place of his own; we have one in whose presence it was once an honour to stand, and whose face it was a high privilege to behold, reduced to such a condition that it was a kindness for any one to be with him, a pain for any eye to regard him, a sacrifice and defilement for any one to touch him; we have a man whose presence once brought highest honour to the home the threshold of which he might condescend to cross, now brought so low that no humblest householder in the land could or would perm.it him to pass his door; we have a man who did stand foremost in every religious privilege, debarred from entering the outer court of the sanctuary; we have one who had spent his manly energies in all forms of happy and useful activity, shut up in a separate house and secluded from affairs; we have an instance of complete humiliation, and we cannot fail to be affected by it if we dwell upon all that it meant to ihe unhappy subject of it. II. .AJ.q .APPABENTLY HEAVY SENTENCE FOB ONE OFFENCE. We inquire-Why this terrible visitation? And we find t!iat it was because the king invaded the temple of God and attempted to do that which was not permitted by law. To any one judging super- fi.cially, the sentence may seem severe and indeed excessive. It may seem unjust to visit one cay's wrong-doing, one act of guilt, with a heavy penalty for life-a penalty that disabled and disqualified, as leprosy did, for all the duties and all the enjoyments of human life. But we have not to look far to find- Ill. THE EXPLANATION OF THE SEVERITY. 'l'his is twofold. 1. It was of the first importance that the royal power should not presume upon ecclesiastical functions. H was not a mere question between king and priest; that would have been small enough. It was a question whether God should continue to rule, through his chosen officers, over the uation, or whether the king should set aside the divinely given Law, and practically ma.ke himself supreme. To defy and disobey one of the clearest and one of oll, xxvr. 1-23.J 'fHE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 321
the most emphatic precepts in the Lnw, and to assnme a prerocrn.tive which God hac! strictly confined to the priestly order, was a step that was re:olutionary in its cha- racter and tendency, that was calculated to overturn the most sacrerl traditions, and tc, break up the ancient usage as well as to lessen that sense of the Divine separateneRs nnd sanctity which it was the first object of the great Lawgiver to fasten on the mind of the people. It was a daring and a dangerous innovation, which nothing but over- grown presumption would have attempted, and which demanded the most striking and impressive rebuke that could be administered. The sentence was J°udicial, and was intended to warn all others from acts that were injurious, and from an ambition that was unholy. 2. It was the punishment, not merely of one sinful action, but also of a guilty state of heart. Uzziah would not have done this sacrilegious action if he had not fallen from the humility, which is the first condition of true piety, into a state of condemnable spiritual pride. "His heart was lifted up;"" his heart was haughty, and his eyes were lofty," and therefore he wanted to "exercise himself in things too high for him" (Ps. cxxxi. 1). Much success had spoiled him, as it spoils so mauy In every land and dhurch. It had made him arrogant, and human arrogance is a moral evil of the first magnitude, displeasing in a very high degree to the Holy One of Israel, utterly unbecoming in any one of the children of men, exposing the soul to other sins, requiring a strong and sometimes even a stern discipline that it may be uprooted from the heart and life. It may be hoped, and perhaps believed, that in the" several house" (ver. 21) in which Uzziah afterwards lived, he learned the lesson which God designed to teach him, humbled his heart before his Maker, and came to bless that prnning hand which dealt so severe a stroke to save the vine from fruitlessness and death. 1. Shrink from intruding where God does not call you. But, more particularly: 2. Recognize the fact that success in any sphere is a." slippery place," and calls for much self-examination and much earnest prayer for humility and simplicity of spirit.-0.