fellow-men, so that by our instrumentality the condition of the world is bettered, and so that ultimately he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

In conclusion, having this day contemplated the condescension of the Son of God in assuming our own nature, and in that nature to have become the pattern of a holy life, as well as to have atoned for man's transgressions, let us examine our hearts and conduct to know whether we reciprocate His birth and life, in being renewed by His Spirit, and in holy and pure actions. This is the practical bearing of the subject for though we believe in His incarnation and in all that He did for us, it can profit us nothing, unless the benefits of His life and death be realised by us, so that we may "be careful to maintain good works." Thus may we live, and thus may we die.

:

72

The Sunday after Christmas-day.

MORNING SERVICE.-First Lesson: Isaiah xxxvii.

Verse 15.-" And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying—”

THE character of Hezekiah is highly commended in Scripture. He was a king who feared God, and manifested the greatest zeal for His glory and the advancement of His worship. His idolatrous father having left the nation plunged into a kind of heathenism, Hezekiah, with great vigour, applied himself to reform it. In the first year of his reign he caused the principal doors of the Temple to be opened and repaired; he ordered the priests and the Levites to purify it and prepare it for sacrifice. This being done he solemnized the dedication with a multitude of offerings. The Passover was observed with great solemnity, which was continued for fourteen days instead of seven. Then, and afterwards, Hezekiah and his people brake down the idolatrous altars and images in his dominion, and destroyed the brazen serpent which Moses had made in the wilderness, because the people had been tempted to worship it.

Encouraging himself in the Lord, Hezekiah shook off the Assyrian yoke, which his father had wickedly drawn upon the country, and refused to pay them the accustomed tribute. This led to the circumstance with which the text is connected. In the fourth year of his reign, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, invaded his kingdom, and took most of his finest cities. Hezekiah compromised for peace, under the conditions of paying to the Assyrians three hundred talents of silver and thirty of gold, in all about 351,000l. sterling. To raise this sum he was obliged to exhaust his treasures, and to pull off the golden plates which he had lately placed on the doors of the Temple. No sooner bad Sennacherib received the money

than he sent three of his principal officers from Lachish to demand Hezekiah's immediate surrender of his capital city. Rabshakeh, the principal Assyrian messenger, magnified the power of his master, as if neither God nor man could deliver out of his hand. Hezekiah's messengers were shocked with the blasphemies, gave no reply, but rent their clothes, and reported the whole to their master. He begged Isaiah the prophet to intercede with God in behalf of the city, and was assured in return that the Assyrian army should be quickly ruined, and their king perish by the sword. When Sennacherib departed from Lachish to give battle to Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, he sent Hezekiah a most blasphemous and insulting letter, which he spread before the Lord in the court of the Temple, and begged the Lord to deliver him from this insolent enemy. The Lord assured him by Isaiah that He had heard, and would quickly answer his prayer—that Sennacherib should never besiege Jerusalem, nor so much as shoot an arrow against it.

Having thus briefly given the circumstances under which the text was written, let us observe, first the tenor, and secondly, the result of Hezekiah's prayer.

I. The tenor of Hezekiah's prayer.

We find here several things worthy of consideration.

1. Hezekiah prays in circumstances of distress. He says to Isaiah the prophet, "This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy." We often find distress to be effectual means to bring a sinner to his knees. Persons who in times of security, and prosperity, and happiness, may have lived in utter forgetfulness of God, when in adversity and distress are brought to reflection and prayer. David says, "Before I was afflicted I went astray." "It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn thy statutes." In the time of distress Jacob wrestled with the angel at Peniel. It was in distress that Manasseh thought of "the Lord God of his fathers." It was in distress that Ahab humbled himself before God. It was in distress that Nebuchadnezzar

acknowledged the power of the God of heaven. It was in distress that the prodigal son thought of returning to his father's house. It was in distress that the gaoler of Philippi cried out, "What shall I do to be saved?" It was in distress that Saul of Tarsus exclaimed, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" It was in distress that John Newton remembered the words of his mother, and became a renewed man. It is in distress that many are brought unto God with a penitent heart, and are taught to pray for pardon and peace.

2. Hezekiah felt his own insignificance and helplessness. He had exhausted all his human resources to appease the King of Assyria. He felt the taunting insult of Rabshakeh to be too true. "Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the King of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders. upon them."

Like a vessel in a storm, having lost her rigging, her rudder, and her bulwarks, is left to the mercy of the waves, blown by the wind, driven by the tempest, and in danger of being at any moment foundered in the ocean; so was Hezekiah in those circumstances. He had no hope left him for help from man, therefore he goes to God, who is at all times "a very present help in trouble." Whither should we go but unto the same God? We are as helpless as he to withstand the shocks of the opposing elements with which we have to contend in life. We stand opposed to the world, the flesh, and the devil. The conflict is unequal; the weakest foe is stronger than we; we must inevitably fall unless we receive help from above. We must feel as the disciples felt at the sea of Galilee, and say, "Lord save us, we perish!" 3. Hezekiah prayed in a proper place. "And Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord." The house of God is a "house of prayer for all people." God delights to hear prayer at all times and from all places. He observes the trembling sigh that silently agitates the humble, contrite heart. He takes up the bitter

tear that drops from the eye of a sorrowful, penitent sinner. He sees the outpourings of our closet devotions, and will reward us openly. He regards with admiration the joint pleadings of the little circle that kneels around the family altar. Every place to Him is hallowed ground. But He loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. "For the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation." The Sanctuary is the seat of His chief glory upon earth. Here He has recorded His name. Here He has engaged to meet His people whenever two or three are met together in His name. It was at Bethel He manifested Himself to Jacob. It was in the Tabernacle and Temple that He revealed His pleasure to the people of Israel. All good men in all ages who have had a taste for devotion felt a strong desire to enter into His sanctuary. David was glad when they said unto him, "Let us go into the house of the Lord." Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord; Anna the prophetess, who was of great age, "departed not from the Temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day." The Apostles "continued daily with one accord in the Temple" after the ascension of. their Lord. Paul and his companions went to the place "where prayer was wont to be made." God still expects us to meet Him in His house of prayer, "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is." We have no ground to hope for answers to our private prayers, nor that a blessing will attend our private devotions, if we disregard the positive command of going "up unto the house of the Lord."

4. Hezekiah addresses the Almighty under appropriate and reverential names: "O Lord of hosts, God of Israel."

A proper address is an important part of prayer, which should be expressive of either what God is in Himself, or what He is to us. In the comprehensive prayer which our Saviour taught His disciples, and teaches us, He directs that God be addressed as "Our Father," which signifies the relationship in which He stands to us as His people. No term