HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 1-11.-.The heigltt OJ oppo1·tunity. To Hezekiah as he ascended the throne of Judah there we.s presented a very noble opportunity. His father had brought the nation down very low, had left it "naked" to its various enewies, had caused it to incur the sore displeasure of the Lord, had suffered it to reach the very verge of destruction. But he himself was young and strong; he knew what was the secret and what the source of prosperity; he indulged the hope that everything might yet be restored if determination and energy were sl:,ovm at the right hour. He resolved that, with the help of God, he would be equal to this great emergency, would rise to the height of this noble opportunity; and so he wae, and so he did. He bad what be needed for it- L ALL DUE PBEPA.RATION IN GODLY TBAINING. For, although his father was an apostate from the true faith, and his exawple was everything that he should avoid, Hezekiah was not without home influences of another and a very difforent kind. It is a happy inconsistency we often find in bad men that they are willing for their children to rtceive tlie good counsel which themselves disregard and perhaps even despise. Whether due to a contemptuous indifference or to a covert fear, they are willing, some- times even wishful, that their children shou!d receive a godly education. It is highly probable that frow bis mother, Abijab, be learnt those truths and received those influences which led him to choose the service of God. Probably Isaiah had access to hiw • and if so, we may be sure be made use of his opportunity. Whoever did teach and train bim must have felt amply rewarded in after-years, when Hezekiah rendered 1111ch splendid service to his country. There is sometimes done at the mother's knee or in the schuulroow a work for God the full fruits of which are never revealed on earth. ll. SEBSIBILITY. As we read the address wLich Hezekiah delivered to the priest1 cm. xx1x. 1-36.J THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 351
and the Levites (vers. 5-11), we are impressed with the fact that the speaker was a man of no ordinary sensibility. The things which had happened of late had cut him to the heo.rt. His nation's dishonour, the domestic sorrow~ of the people (ver. 9), the overshndowing of the high di~pleasuro of the Almighty,-all this moved him to pure and deep emotion, Be was a man of strong and profound feeling (see also Isa. xxxviii.). III. RESOLUTENESS, 'l'here is reason to think that the ecclesiastical officials wcro far from being keenly sympathetic with the king in his work of reformation, The priests were quite in the background, and the Levites needed to be exhorted "not to be negligent" (ver, 11). '.!.'he king himself not only took the initiative, but he brought to the work a firm resoluteness which carried everything before it. "It is in my heart to make a covenant," he said (ver. 10); and it was clear that the young king, although his elders were before him, and although the reins of government were only just in his hand, intended to carry out his purpose. One strong will, especially when it holds a. high place and has a right to spea.k authoritatively, will drive indecision and even half- heartedness before it. IV. SAGAOITY. Hezekiah showed a sagacity which may be said to have been "beyond his years." L He recognized the right order of procedure. He felt that tbe first thing to be done was to set the nation right with the God whom they had so seriously offended; and be perceived that the first thing to be done to attain this great end was to purify the profaned house of the Lord. 2. He took the leaders of religion into counsel and co-operation. He called the Levites and the priests together, and energetically addressed them ; he appealed to them in the language of piety and of affection (ver. 11). 3. He understood that all reformation must begin with our own hearts. "Sanctify yourselves," he said ( ver. 5). It must be the clean hands of the pure heart that cleanse and purify the sanctuary of the Lord. If we would rise to the height of our opportunity we must do these things. 1. Realize the greatness of the work before us; be impressed and affected by it; be ~eriously solemnized by it, It is not the cold or the chill heart that will carry a great work through all obstacles and over all toils to a successful issue. 2. Give the first place to the sacred side of the matter; feel that we must have God with us in our work; con- sider well what are its relations to him, and in what way his favour is to be secured. 3. Make a beginning with ourselves-" sanctify ourselves" for the work in hand, by self-examination, by a sincere repentance and return unto God, by a solemn and deliberate rededication of ourselves to our Lord and to his service, by earnest and believing prayer, cleanse our own heart and thus be ready for the part we are to take. 4. Co-operate with our fellows to the utmost of our power; not proudly consider that we alone are sufficient, nor selfishly desire to reserve sacred duty and opportunity for our own hand, nor contentiously make it difficult for others to work with us; but gladly and graciously enter into fellowship with our friends and neighbours.-C.
Vers. 12-19.-Doing duty. The way in which these Levites received and executed the commission of the king may indicate to us the way in which we should enter upcn and discharge our duty. I. UNDERTAKE IT IN A RIGHT SPIRIT. These men "arose" and went forth to do what Hezekiah called upon them to execute. It will not be presuming much if, judg- ing from the account which follows, we cc:nclude that they undertook their work in a spirit of (1) obedience to the king, and (2) devotion to their God. Certainly that would have become them and have honoured them. And that is, undoubtedly, the spirit in which we should go forth to any duty with which we are charged; we should (1) realize our obligation to man-to do what is just and fair toward him; (2) our responsi- bility to God; for in diligence and fidelity we may do everything unto him also (Col. iii. 23). II. BE UNDISTURBED BY ITS UNPLEASANTNESS, This duty laid upon the Levites and upon the priests was not inviting work. 'l'o "bring out all the uncleanness" from the temple, and to "carry it out into the brook Kidron," could not be very agreeable occupation. But they did not hesitate to do it. And, indeed, they could not possibly have been better occupied. In that act they were carrying forth a curse; they were bearing away the wrath of their God. 'l'hey were not merely cle_ansing an edifice; they were clearing their ~onscience; they were righting their record 111 the books of heaven. 352 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [err. xx1x. 1-38,