mends each of these kings for doing what " was right in the sight of the Lord;" yet shades its approbation by the additional remark, that "the high places were not taken away." If they were numerous when Ahaz began to reign, they would be greatly multiplied by his influence, and the suppression of worship in the temple.

To overturn these altars, which were planted in almost every neighborhood, defended as they were by superstition, by the connivance of former kings, and by local interest, was a work requiring courage and uncompromising determination. Fit instruments for its accomplishment were prepared during the joyful weeks of the festival. The teachings of the Levites had not fallen on ears dull of hearing, or on minds surfeited with knowledge. As many of the dense crowd listened with awe to the command, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them"-their hearts were filled with penitence and shame. From day to day the impression was deepened. At length the feeling became so intense, that when the people were dismissed from the temple, they rushed forth in detached parties to exterminate idolatry from the land, as in later times the myriads of Europe precipitated themselves into Palestine to recover

the holy city and sepulchre from the possession of infidels. Before their unsparing hands, the altars and groves disappeared from the cities and villages. and hill-tops of Judah. More difficulty might have been anticipated among the ten tribes; but either Hoshea was inclined to favor the work, or the idolatrous Israelites quailed before the determined spirit of the reformers. Throughout the whole country the ensigns of idolatry were soon swept away, and Israel was once more externally a people holy to the Lord. Nothing is said of the destruction of the golden calves. The Jews have a tradition that the golden calf in Dan had been carried away, a few years before, by the victorious Assyrians; and that a few years later, Salmaneser carried off the golden calf from Bethel. Having thoroughly accomplished their work, the children of Israel returned in triumph, "every man to his own possession, into their own cities." The events connected with that meeting, recounted with glowing lips, would kindle its spirit in the remotest dwellings of the land, and the name of the God of Jacob be magnified.

When the Comforter revives the hearts of his people, the enemies of religion are often amazed at the manifestations of his power; but they soon recover their hardihood, and frequently become more violent from the temporary restraint of their hostility. The best time to remove evils which mar the peace or the purity of a community, is when Chris

tians are strong in the graces of the Spirit, and the world around are awed by evident tokens of the divine presence. Hesitation, delay, will only render reform more difficult; opposers will regain their courage, and deferred efforts will usually be vain.

The service of God has its seasons both for active duties and for religious worship and joy. They operate powerfully on each other, and should never be separated. The faithful discharge of active duties is the best preparation for the pleasures of religious worship; while the legitimate pleasures of religious worship will be followed by a prompt and efficient discharge of active duties, however trying or difficult. If the Israelites, satisfied with their sacrifices and gladness, had not attempted to check idolatry or vindicate the honor of Jehovah, well might the prophet have been commissioned to proclaim, "Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination to me. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes."

A step in the reformation was now to be taken, which displays Hezekiah's fixedness of purpose, strength of character, and fervor of piety, more than any thing yet done. When he overturned the altars and cut down the groves devoted to idols, no doubt respecting duty could assail his mind. The law was express in its language, and his own feelings were in harmony with its injunctions. In accom

plishing that work, he had to confront only superstition and idolatry. But now he felt constrained to perform an act which to himself must have been painful, and which, to some of his pious subjects whose religious sensibilities and discernment were less keen than his own, might seem of doubtful utility. The brazen serpent which God had directed Moses to form for healing the people bitten by fiery serpents, had been carefully preserved as a memorial of that wonderful occurrence. In process of time it became an object of worship, as if itself the cause and not the instrument of the cure. It must now be destroyed, or the reformation could advance no further. Indeed, if the brazen serpent was spared, the ground already gained must be given up, and idolatry would soon fill the land with grosser evidences of its power.

But how shall Hezekiah destroy this signal proof of the regard of Jehovah for the nation in ancient days? How shall he break in pieces a work made at the command of the great lawgiver and leader of Israel, and transmitted with so much care from century to century through a long succession of holy men?

Many would be ready to say, "How often has the sight of it strengthened the faith and excited the gratitude of the pious in other times. Let Hezekiah correct the abuse of it by the people, and not lay ruthless hands on a relic venerable from its

sacred associations, and worthy of preservation as a remnant of the arts of a former age. As to its worship by the people, is it any thing more than a medium through which they render homage to Jehovah himself? May not their dull minds need the aid of material objects to give vividness to their conceptions respecting the spiritual world?

Hezekiah was not to be misled by suggestions like these. If, possibly, a few might employ it merely as a medium for the worship of Jehovah, Hezekiah was aware that even that was a form of idolatry; while the vast multitude would pay their devotions to the brazen serpent itself. God, who knows best what will aid mankind in the spiritual worship of himself, had enjoined, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them;" and Hezekiah would not set theories, however plausible, against this express divine command. He doubtless knew that the worship of serpents was common among the heathen, whose idolatrous practices the law often warned the Israelites to avoid. At the risk therefore of being thought narrow-minded by some and overscrupulous by others who had gone thus far with him in extirpating idolatry, he ordered the brazen serpent to be broken in pieces, and termed it, in contempt, "Nehushtan"-" a brazen bauble." Efficacious as it was in accomplishing the end for which it was made, as an object or in