-And Paul:

I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.-ROM. ix. 2.

-'Samuel mourned for Saul;' and the witnesses in the Revelation speak forth their prophecy clothed in sackcloth.' So it goes until the Lord's people are ready for the old cry of the prophet Isaiah :

Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence !-ISA. lxiv. 1.

-These mountains of sin and misery that shadow the world.

And the man of God wept.

-Useless tears,' you will this time say to me. And yet not so that living proof that the saints are one with Christ; one in suffering as in sympathy with him who 'when he came near the city, wept over it.'

Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.-Ezek. ix. 4.

XXXIII.

Hezekiah's Sick-room.

And Hezekiah wept sore.-2 KINGS XX. 3.

WHO then was Hezekiah? The believing son of an utterly wicked father; at twenty-five crowned king over the house of Judah, and now at this time of which we read about thirty-nine years old. Great deliverances had followed him all along, and these fourteen years of his reign bore a splendid record.

He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.-2 KINGS xviii. 3. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel.

He clave unto the Lord, and departed not from following him.

He wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God.-2 CHRON. xxxi. 20.

And the Lord was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth.

And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.-2 CHRON. Xxxi. 21.

-So we find him fearlessly 'removing the high places' and breaking the images' of Israel's idolatry; clearing and repairing the Lord's temple; waking up the priests, stirring up the people, praying for them, keeping with them the most wonderful Passover that had been seen since the days of Solomon. When danger threatened, he

'went into the house of the Lord' for help; when an insulting letter came, he 'spread it before the Lord;' praying himself and calling upon Isaiah to pray, until between them they fairly prayed away the camp of the Assyrians, and Judah was safe. You see his faith and works went hand in hand, and there was no mistake about either.

Fourteen years had almost gone by in this sweet, sure fashion, when suddenly this came to pass:

In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death.-2 KINGS XX. 1.

-It was the same year of Sennacherib's invasion; when the Assyrians had been turned back, and the Lord was 'guiding Israel on every side;' and gifts and tribute were pouring in. And 'in those days,' just those prosperous days, was Hezekiah 'sick unto death.' The good ship of state had weathered the tempest, and was safe at her desired haven; but her captain, whose faith and spirit had been so strong while her danger lasted, was now himself caught in the breakers, and lay all adrift. All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me,' said the Psalmist; and I think Hezekiah felt no less submerged,

Hezekiah wept sore.

One would not have expected it. And it proves how many-sided men are, and how far-reachiug our charity need be. For no inherent strength invests the Christian; he is but a man, when all is done. Weak, changeful, timid; having nothing wherewith to either stand or withstand, save what the Lord gives him from day to day.

Thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.

Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled.-Ps. civ. 28, 29.

-It is the very summary of Christian strength. They can no more store up grace, than the Israelites could manna. As has been well said, 'A present hold of Christ is all the greatest saint on earth can have to trust to.'

I do not mean that Hezekiah's hand had slipped off just now, not at all. But in the sudden confusion of surprise and fear and pain and disappointment, he was perhaps only conscious that he did hold (and so was held) fast, somehow, with the torrent rushing all around him. For the faith which had braved the idolatry of the people and the wrath of the king of Assyria, now shook and trembled in the presence of one dark rider and his pale horse. He had met them hand to hand in battle often before, and shown no fear; but now in his own chamber as the tread was heard approaching, 'Hezekiah wept sore.'

He had not thought perhaps at first what step it was that drew nearer every day; or, with the natural hopefulness of a sick man, he listened to hear it pause before some other door. But if this delusion hung about him, it was one day scattered by a message sharp and sure. Not from his doctors, -they might have feared the royal displeasure; but it was the Lord's prophet, sworn to speak just what the Lord bade him, that brought the word.

The prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.-2 KINGS XX. 1.

—'Set thine house in order,'-how the words flash into for

gotten cupboards and neglected corners, making plain even the very motes that cloud the air; yet it is against just such a summons that we are bid to be ready.

Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments.-REV. xvi. 15.

-So always in order.

There is no need to suppose that Hezekiah's house-his life and life affairs-were in any special way out of order; but what room does not need rearranging for the royal presence? and what most orderly of housekeepers is not surprised at the rubbish in her domain the minute she. begins to pack up to move? Joseph shaved himself and changed his raiment,' just to appear before heathen Pharaoh ; but Hezekiah from the prison of his sick-bed was now suddenly summoned to the presence of the King of kings; and the message was, 'Set thine house in order.'

Give an account of thy stewardship.

Prepare to meet thy God.

-He is a happy man who, when that cry comes, does not find that his lamp needs trimming.

'I thought I trusted the Lord before,' said one, of the hour when she was told that death-all unlooked-for-was close at hand; 'but I knew that I did then!'

And another, seated at breakfast, suddenly paused with the words 'Hold, daughter,-my Master calls me!'-and so quietly, in a minute more, went home.

And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.-LUKE xii. 38.

-This was not Hezekiah's first thought, however; or rather