branch, a genuine branch, out of the withered root of David: "And the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly, even with joy and singing, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

Such was the hope and trust which sustained the prophet through his sixty years of toil and conflict. In the weakness of Ahaz, in the calamities of Hezekiah, under the tyranny of Manasseh, Isaiah remained firm and steadfast to the end. Wider and wider his views opened as the nearer prospects of his country grew darker and darker. First of the prophets, he and those who followed him seized with unreserved confidence the mighty thought that, not in the chosen people so much as in the nations outside of it, was to be found the ultimate well-being of man, the surest favor of God. Truly might the apostle say that Isaiah was "very bold"-"bold beyond" all that had gone before him -in enlarging the boundaries of the Church-bold with that boldness and large with that largeness of view which, so far from weakening the hold on things divine, strengthens it to a degree unknown in less comprehensive minds; for to him also, with a distinctness which makes all other anticipations look pale in comparison a distinctness which grew with his advancing years -was revealed the coming of a Son of David who should restore the royal house of Judah and gather the nations under its sceptre. If some of these predictions belong to that phase of the Israelite hope of an earthly empire which was doomed to disappointment and reversal, yet the larger part point to a glory which has been more than realized. Lineament after lineament of that divine Ruler was gradually drawn by Isaiah or his scholars, until at last a Figure stands forth, so marvelously combined of power and gentleness and suffering as to present, in the united proportions of his descriptions, the moral features of an historical Person such as has been, by universal confession, known once, and once only, in the subsequent annals of the world.

The task laid upon the prophet was difficult, the times were dark; but his reward has been that, in spite of the opposition, the contempt and the ridicule of his contemporaries, he has in after ages been regarded as the messenger, not of sad, but of glad, tidings-the evangelical prophet, the prophet of the gospel, in accordance with the meaning of his own name, which he himself regarded as charged with prophetic significance-"the divine salvation."

No other prophet is so frequently cited in the New Testament, for none other so nearly comes up to the spirit of Christ and the apostles. No other single teacher of the Jewish Church has so worked his way into the heart of Christendom. When Augustine asked Ambrose which of the sacred books was best to be studied after his conversion, the answer was, "Isaiah." The greatest musical composition of modern times, embodying more than any single confession of faith the sentiments of the whole Christian Church, is based, in far the larger part, on the prophecies of Isaiah. The wild tribes of New Zealand seized his magnificent strains as if belonging to their own national songs, and chanted them from hill to hill with all the delight of a newly-discovered treasure. And as in his age, so in our own, he must be preeminently regarded as "the bard rapt into future times." None other of ancient days so fully shared with the modern philosopher or reformer or pastor the sorrowful yet exalted privilege of standing, as we say, "in advance of his age," "before his time." Through his prophetic gaze we may look forward across a dark and stormy present to the onward destiny of our race, "when the eyes of them that see shall not be dim-when the ears of them that hear shall hearken-when the vile person shall no more be called liberal nor the churl said to be bountiful-when the liberal shall devise liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand-when Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim-when thine eyes shall behold the King in his beauty, and see the land that is very far off."

XXIX.

HEZEKIAH.

LL the kings of Israel were bad men, without one exception. And so too were most of the kings of Judah. There were, however, a few pious sovereigns among them a little wheat among the chaff. Hezekiah was perhaps the most remarkable. Of him it was said, "He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him of all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him."

He came to the throne at a time when the nation had sunk very low. Their earthly greatness had almost passed away; and as for their religious state, the people were given up to the grossest idol-worship.

It was a happy day for the land of Judah when Ahaz died and Hezekiah mounted the throne. He began to reign when he was only twenty-five years old. He had been taught no lessons of holiness by his father Ahaz, but rather the reverse; but in spite of this, he seems to have been one who had the fear of God before his eyes and the grace of God in his heart. Perhaps his mother, Abijah, was a godly woman, and her example and her prayers may have been blest to the young prince.

We can hardly tell what amount of good comes to a child from a mother's piety and a mother's prayers. Many a son owes to them all that makes his present life a useful and a happy one, and all that brightens his path toward another world. Great indeed is the influence of a religious mother; her words of wisdom

and piety, her kind and loving counsel, and above all, her consistent life, will oftentimes tell upon her child in years to come, when she herself perhaps may have passed into eternity. Just as a seed from some pine tree by the mountain-side may be dropped upon the surface and lie there for years, and then after a while it may spring up and become one of the noblest ornaments of the forest, so it may have been with Hezekiah. The seed, it may be, was sown by his mother, and he grew up to be an honored servant of God and a peculiar blessing to his people.

One of his first acts was to open for worship the temple which his wicked father had actually closed, taking away some of the sacred vessels used for religious worship and destroying the rest. Hezekiah carefully repaired the building and replaced all that was wanting, and then, having restored the priests to their office, he caused them to offer up sacrifices, in token of their sincere repentance. And all this he did so earnestly that it was said of him, "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."

But Hezekiah lived in troublous times. The proud king of Assyria had already made several attacks upon the kingdom of Judah; and on one of these occasions he sends Rabshakeh, his captain, with a letter full of boastful threats, in order to strike terror into the heart of Hezekiah and his subjects. Then it was that the simple, trusting faith of the Jewish king specially shone forth. He was very much alarmed both for himself and for his people; but he knew that the Lord was his truest counselor, and he went, we are told, and "spread his letter before him."

Thus his faith is strengthened and his fears removed, and he is assured that both he and his people are safe under the Lord's protection; and whilst he uses every possible means for the defence of his country-building up the city walls, which had been broken down, repairing the fortress and arming his troops-he at the same time reminds his people that ineir trust must not be in

an arm of flesh, but in the Lord's promised aid.

"Be strong," he says, "and courageous. Be not dismayed for the king of Assyria. With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles."

And well would it be for us if it was our habit thus to carry our wants to God-if we made him our Guide and Counselor in all our ways. What a relief would it often be to our troubled minds to place our concerns in his hands, feeling that where he leads us is the path of safety!

O God, teach us to trust thee! Show us the way wherein we should go! And may we ever cast our care upon thee, for thou carest for us!

But Hezekiah was a poor weak man, like one of ourselves. He fell sick, as we may; and he fell into sin, as we too are liable to fall; for there are but few among us who "always stand upright."

We will speak of his sin first. It happened that the king of Babylon sent some ambassadors on an errand of kindness to Hezekiah. He appears to have been so pleased and flattered by this compliment that he gave way for the moment to a feeling of pride. He showed the ambassadors all his treasures, and, like David, he gloried in the multitude of his people and the number of his armies. Hitherto his trust had been in God, but now it was in his riches. This displeased the Lord, and he sent Isaiah, the faithful prophet, to tell him that, as a mark of his displeasure, all his treasures and his children should one day be carried to Babylon.

We are told that God "left him to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart," and for a moment he seemed to give way and to fall beneath the trial. His footsteps wellnigh slipped, but God in his mercy upheld him, so that he was not utterly cast down; for we read that he afterward "humbled himself for the pride of his heart;" and again it is written, "Did not Hezekiah, king of Judah, fear the Lord, and besought