take indeed. So are civil words to our souls' tempters, and civil deedA to our great enemy Se.tan I J/ Hezekiah had known that "these men," and "the conntry whence they came" (2 Kings xx. 14), were going to be the capturers and the enforced home respoctively of God's people, whom he had been set jealously to guard and watch over as the under-shepherd; if he had known tbe.t all hie" precious things, silver and gold, ~pices and ointment, armour and all treasures," were to be the sacrilegious plunder of Babylon and the King of Babylon ;-would he then have done as he did? These things, it may truly be said, be did not know now. But what did he know? And did he not know such things as these-that pride and vanity, vain-glory and ostentation, were cot for him, who was the dependent servant of God, and the trustee of treasures, sacred treasures, also, that belonged to him to whom the earth and the fulness thereof and all its precious things, but especially Israel, belonged? How often do we excuse our- selves, both for mere faults and also for sins, on the plea that we did not know certain exact facts, forgetful of these two tbings---first, that we nevertheless did know, and do know, certain great general principles and rules which, had we observed them, would have covered and governed all individual cases; and, secondly; that though we may often Hy, "We did not know," there remains to be answered the question whether our ignorance was not nevertheless of our own making, or at least within the reach of oi;r own removing! III. THE ATTITUDE OF HEZEKIAH TO ms FAITHFUL PROPHET. It certainly would appear (2 Kings x.x. 14, 15; Isa. xxxix. 3, 4) that he was conscious of wrong in the presence of Isaiah, that be feared his interrogatories, that he equivocated in bis reply, or, at any rate, concealed, or tried to conceal, some part of what had transpired in his interview with the ambassadors of Babylon, laying emphasis enough on the rest. So far as the narrative goes, he does not directly reply to what "these men" said. He was probably flattered by" great Babylon" coming at all, by the congratulations brought, by the inquiry respecting" the wonder that was done in the land," and-infatuation though it were, if so-by the presumable overtures on the part of the King of great Babylon to enter into some alliance with him. This all was emphasized greatly by the fact that the present visit was the first converse of the two kingdoms. Israel bad heard of Babylon, of her "wealth," her "glory," her "beauty," and of her "sins" (Isa. xiii., xiv., xxi.) also, but up to this time bad held no sort of communion with her. In an evil hour the "uplifted" (ver. 25) heart of Hezekiah answered to all the blandish- ments of the occasion, and the new and grand acquaintance which he has made is pro- phetically and positively set before him by Isaiah in a light which quickly disenchants him, as the conqueror and taker-captive of Israel, and the very master of his sons and humbled posterity. An hour ago it was bis ambition to show all his "wealth" and all his "dominion," and watch whether they vied with those of the great master of the "ambassadors." A moment's vision of the truth dashes all else to the ground; and Hezekiah becomes either the genuine resigned penitent-God having" tried him," left him "to himselt~ that he might learn all that was in his heart" (ver. 31)-or the alike obsequious and selfish receiver of the tidings of doom for his people, delayed till after his own death. If this latter be the position, the even grateful resignation to the Divine will, uttered by Hezekiah's lip, contrasts ill with the nobility we would wish to put to the credit of such a king, and the king of such a people.
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-8.-Inface of the enemy. We do not know how long" after these things, and the establishment thereof," occurred the events which are here narrated; but the connection of the two in the record of the Chronicler may suggest to us- I. 'l'HAT TROUBLE MAY FOLLOW FAITHFULNESS AS IT DOES FOLLOW SIN. We never read of Israel's serious departure from their loyalty to Jehovah without reading of appropriate penalty coming in due course. Suffering always waits on sin-suffering in some form. But sometimes, e.s here, trouble comes to the right-hearted; to the nation which has Hezekiah for its king, e.Ld Isaiah for its prophet; to the man who is zealous in the cause of hie Divine Lord. "Many are the afflictions [even] of the righteous," and sometimes great as well o.s many. They have a work to do within and beyond, the value of which will immeasurably outweigh the" grievousness of the present" (Heb. xii. 11). 388 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [on. xxxn. 1-33.