not his manner to employ men as leaders in such enterprises, before their own principles have been thoroughly tried and firmly established.

My young reader, perhaps you think your .situation peculiarly unfavorable for beginning a religious life; but are the obstacles in your path greater than those which beset Hezekiah? Have you a father more ungodly than Ahaz? Do you live among a people more irreligious than the inhabitants of Judah, at this period in their history? And even if you reside where the Sabbath is made a day for business or amusement or revelry, and no sanctuary invites you by its open gates to enter in and hear the messages of mercy, were not the doors of the temple closed also before Hezekiah? But he sought the favor of the God of Israel in his youth, and he obtained it. It prepared him for a life of usefulness and honor, and for a death of hope and peace. "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find."

CHAPTER II.

HEZEKIAH BEGINS TO REIGN.

THE ungodly Ahaz has been committed to the tomb. Hezekiah has taken his seat on the throne of David, and the people have gone to their own homes. As the new monarch looks down upon the city from his palace on mount Zion, it seems to be given up to idolatry. The temple, indeed, rises in solemn grandeur, and externally presents the same magnificent appearance as when dedicated by Solomon to the service of Jehovah; but its gates are closed, the fire has ceased to burn on the brazen altar, the lamps in the holy place have been extinguished, and its courts no longer echo, day and night, with the songs of priests and Levites in praise of the God of Israel. The smoke of sacrifices still ascends within the sacred inclosure, but the victims are offered to a Syrian idol, and "in every corner of Jerusalem" are seen the altars which Ahaz erected to foreign gods. Hezekiah, as he passed through the streets of the city, had often been pained at the sight of this senseless and profane worship, without the power to prevent it. He had often stood in sadness before the temple, while he thought of the multitudes who, in better times, came up from all parts of the land with the voice of joy and praise,

to keep holy day. With David, the monarch best beloved of God and the nation-to whom the Bible compares him and his great-grandson Josiah only, of all the kings of Judah or Israel-he had doubtless often resolved, that on coming to the throne he would not give sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids, until he had found "a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the mighty God of Jacob."

The sceptre is in the hands of Hezekiah, and the time for executing such a purpose has now come. Nor does he, occupied as he must have been at the beginning of his administration, waver or delay. "In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them." He does not wait for the priests and Levites, to whom the service and care of the sanctuary specially pertained, to urge him to undertake the work of reform, but he goes forward from the spontaneous impulse of his own mind. He gathers them together from their various cities in Judah, and addresses them with dignity and parental kindness. "Hear me, ye Levites, and sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers. Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us. My sons, be not now negligent, for the Lord God hath chosen you to stand before him to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him and burn incense unto

him." He reminds them of the evils which the nation had suffered in the time of Ahaz. Pekah, king of Israel, had slain a hundred and twenty thousand valiant men of Judah in one day. Some of the chief among the people, and one of Hezekiah's own brothers, were also slain in the same war. The king of Syria had invaded the land, and carried a great multitude to Damascus, and the sons and daughters and wives of many of the inhabitants were still captives in that city. The Philistines had broken into the south of Judah, and were in possession of many of its cities and vil lages. Hezekiah does not hesitate to ascribe these disasters directly to the hand of God, chastising the people for their revolt from his service. "Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes." Nor is he afraid that any will accuse him of want of respect for his father's memory, in so hastily abolishing these rites of heathenism. "Our fathers," says he, distinctly referring to Ahaz, though doubtless including others who had sanctioned his impious acts, "have trespassed and done that which was evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs." Hezekiah felt that he must render allegiance to God at the sacrifice of

any earthly tie. And no less is required under the milder system of the gospel. Our Saviour, who would not lay upon man more than is right, says,

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He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me."

We must suppose Hezekiah was encouraged in this movement by Isaiah and Micah. He could scarcely fail to summon these distinguished men to advise and countenance him in a work so dear to their hearts, and so accordant with their character and prophetic office. Still, this attempt at reform was a bold step in a prince who had but just assumed the reins of government. The body of the nation were prone to idolatry, and might be expected to dislike so abrupt a change. Many of the courtiers, addicted to the worship of the gods introduced by Ahaz, would be little disposed to aid in demolishing their altars. The old counsellors of his father might urge the impolicy of so sudden and entire a revolution in the religion of the state. They might suggest that the people ought to be weaned by degrees from their attachment to idols, and not be alienated from his government by violent measures.

But Hezekiah wisely judged that it was best at once to reestablish the rites and worship ordained by the law of Moses. In such a course he might expect the divine favor, which he would forfeit by partial obedience. The firmness manifested by the