II. HOW THE BAD BOY BECAME A BAD KING; AND NEARLY RUINED HIS NATION, vs. 2-90. Summary, ver. 2. He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. The Lord's plan was for a holy nation which would be able to bless the whole world. Manasseh acted on exactly the opposite plan. If he had read Deuteronomy he would have seen the two plans laid out clearly before him to decide which to choose.

Deut. 28: 1-14.

Deut. 28: 15-58.

All these curses shall come upon thee

All these blessings shall come upon and shall pursue thee and overtake thee, thee, and overtake thee, etc.

etc.

The choice was clearly set before Manasseh, if he had read the Bible, and the history of his nation, or listened to Isaiah.

The Wrongs Manasseh Did Against his | The Corresponding Wrongs Evil Men are
Country's Welfare.
Doing against the Welfare of our
Country.

(1) v. 3. He built again the high places, on the secluded hilltops "where Jehovah was professedly worshipped (2 Kings 18:22), but with idolatrous rites" (Speaker's Commentary), and

with all their immoralities.

A formal and outward religion that permits sin, injustice, and immorality.

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(2) v. 3. Reared up altars for Baalim. Says Dr. Gregg, in his sermon The idol gods of the heathen. And made" Insects with Wings," "Sin as a catergroves (Am. R." Asheroth "). Wooden pillar is bad enough, but sin as a butterimages or symbols of a licentious ap-fly is a thousand times worse. pearance and significance, connected If sin in its grossest form be thus with the worship of the Phoenician dangerous, what must be the unmeasured goddess of love. power of sin when it puts on the robes Perhaps the chief attraction consisted of beauty? Satan's greatest power in the sports, the revelry, the licentious is when he clothes himself as an angel freedom, appealing to every passion, of light, of joy, beauty, and pleasure. with which idols were worshipped. They The license, the immoralities, white could serve every evil in the name and slavery," divorces, are among the most under the sanction of their gods. dangerous enemies of our country.

(3) vs. 4, 5. He built altars in the house of the LORD, in the two courts. Thus desecrating the very Temple itself, putting idols on a par with God. He did everything he could to keep his people from worshipping the true God.

(4) v. 6. He caused his children (in 2 Kings, "his son ") to pass through the fire. The sacrifice of children by fire was part of the worship of the Ammonite god Moloch.

One can get from Tennyson's "The Victim" an idea of the motive which led to this dreadful distortion of religion, which in the name of God committed the greatest cruelties and crimes, which were contrary to every principle of true religion, and which made God seem like a devil.

"The world is full of little gods, man-made idols. We do not call them gods, but we worship them none the less, - Luck, Accident, Fortune, Fashion, Popularity, Self-indulgence." Joseph Parker. Add Money, Success, Honors, High Place.

Everything that lessens the power of the church and its services, or the Sunday school and its services, hinders their progress, and diminishes the success and power of our country.

The cry of the children for many years has ascended to heaven. But now in many ways much is being done for them. They have in not a few instances been treated almost as badly as those sacrificed to Moloch. But a new day is dawning. And every parent and friend of children, every lover of his country, should join in insisting on the welfare of the children.

9. So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.

(5) From 2 Kings 21: 16 we learn There are martyrs now and here. that Manasseh "shed innocent blood They are doing a splendid work in fightvery much, till he had filled Jerusalem ing for the good causes. They uplift from one end to another." He slew the whole race. There are many martyrs those who opposed him in these acts. not known to history, but whose names He made martyrs of the true followers are recorded in heaven, who in humble of the Lord. "A reign of terror for homes, in retired sick rooms, in the those who were minded to be faithful recesses of their own hearts, have been to Jehovah." It is quite probable that crucified on unseen crosses, and burned Isaiah may have been one of the martyrs. with invisible flames, and been victors He lived into Manasseh's reign, and in silent battles these, too, belong to doubtless did all he could to keep the the noble army of the martyrs.

young king from ruining himself and his country. There is a tradition that the trunk of a carob tree was split open, and Isaiah was placed between the parts, and thus sawn asunder. See Hebrews II: 37.

(6) vs. 7, 8. He set a carved (Am. One of the greatest dangers to our R. the graven ") image of the idol he country is the seeking of gain and success had made, in the house of God. The in defiance of the commandments of idol (2 Kings 21:7) was the Asherah, God, and the principles which Jesus the pillar of the Assyrian goddess of laid down for our guidance. We cannot love and lust. This was a worse de- defy justice and righteousness, and the filement than the altars first placed there. love of neighbors as ourselves, and V. 8. All this was done in defiance | make any real success of our lives. of God's commandments and of his promises conditioned on obedience.

(7) v. 9. So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse (Am. R. " so that they did evil more than did the ") heathen (Am. R. "nations") whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel. Manasseh was blind, and deaf. He did not realize what he was doing.

"Sadder sight than eye can know,

Than proud bark lost, or seaman's woe,
Or battle fire, or tempest cloud,
Or preybird's shriek, or ocean shroud,
The shipwreck of a soul."

But there is one thing sadder than this,
- the shipwrecking of the souls of
others, the climbing to our own gains
over the ruined souls and bodies of our
fellow-men.

There are in this country, and in every country called Christian, men who do things as bad or worse than heathen do. Look at the slums, the white slavery, the children in some of the mines, the saloons. The city is not as bad as a heathen city, for what is done in cities of Christendom is but a very small part of the city, opposed by a hundred times as many things working to destroy the evils. They are boils on a fairly healthy body.

But it is our business to destroy the evils that otherwise will bring ruin to our country.

Because they are diametrically opposed

Why these things would ruin a Nation. to God's perfect laws, physical and moral. Taking the material laws of God's world, which are so perfect that they cannot be changed in any degree without injury, the whole progress of material_civilization has come from man's learning to use and obey God's physical laws.

The laws

of health are the only means of keeping healthy, and living out one's days. In the same way God's moral laws, as the unchanging Ten Commandments, and the Sermon on the Mount, are forever the only way to a really successful life, for individuals or for a nation. For God has made them so.

It is folly itself to attempt to defy God's laws. Place before you the works of the

10. And the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.

II. Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

flesh (Gal. 5 19-21), and realize that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God: And The Fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5: 21, 22); and there lies

and officials. He may have begun to long like Father's house, but he did not arise and go.

before you why Manasseh failed as king, and how any nation that chooses can make itself a part of the kingdom of God.

III. HOW MANASSEH WAS BROUGHT TO SEE THE EVIL OF HIS WAYS, vs. 10-13.

First. The Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people. Doubtless in more ways than one. He spoke through his prophets, who saw clearly the danger of the king's course. But they would not hearken (Am. R., "But they gave no heed").

He may have contrasted the results of his course with the prosperity of his father's reign. But he was too blind to see and change.

His conscience doubtless troubled him at times. His conscience was not dead, as we shall see, but only sleeping. He had more or less of an inward conflict, like Stevenson's Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. But Manasseh yielded to the temptations and influences of his courtiers the Prodigal Son to go back to his

"We are done with Hope and Honor; we are lost to Love and Truth;
We are slipping down the ladder, rung by rung;

And the measure of our torment is the measure of our youth.

God help us, for we knew the worst too young.' Kipling.

Second. Manasseh was led to Repentance by the Effects of his Crimes upon his own Person as well as on the Nation, v. II. It is not known just when Manasseh was made to pay the penalty of his sins, but it must have been after many years of idolatry.

The LORD brought upon them, the king and his people, the captains of the host of the king of Assyria. We do not know how the Lord brought the Assyrians upon Manasseh, but there are various ways in which he may have done it, as by his Providence, by his holy Spirit's leading, by permitting Manasseh to rebel.

Which (who) took Manasseh among the thorns (Am. R. " in chains"). Farrar, paraphrases," Esarhaddon sent his generals to Jerusalem, took Manasseh by stratagem, drove rings through his lips, bound him in chains, and brought him to Babylon where Esarhaddon was holding court." On an Assyrian inscription Assurbanipal says: "With the knife which I use to cut meat I made a hole in his [an Arabian king's] jaw. I passed a ring through his upper lip. I attached it to a chain with which one leads the dogs in leash.' And bound him with fetters. "Of bronze, as the Hebrew implies; literally, of double bronze, i.e., on feet and hands." - Wood. And carried him to Babylon. Nineveh was the capital; but "the mention of Babylon as the place of captivity rather than Nineveh may be accounted for by supposing that Manasseh was taken prisoner in the reign of Esarhaddon. This king of Assyria rebuilt Babylon, and spent much of his time there." - Expositor's Bible.

12. And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,

13. And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.

Manasseh's offence was probably some revolt against Assyria, in company with a list of 22 petty states in Syria, among whose names occur that of " Manasseh, king of Judah." He was between two fires, the neighboring revolting states on the one hand, and the distant Assyrians from Nineveh and Babylon.

He was bound hands and feet, and some ancient writers say that he was kept in a brazen cage. "As a rule, the lot of a conquered vassal at the Assyrian court was horrible." - Farrar. Manasseh had a fine opportunity to observe in its perfection the idolatry he had foolishly imitated, and experience in his own person its fruits of cruelty. No wonder he came to loathe it.

"Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience long he waiteth, with exactness grinds he all."

The

IV. REPENTANCE, FORGIVENESS, REFORMATION, vs. 12-20. First. Repentance. And when he was in affliction. (Am. R., "distress.") bitter fruits of his wrong-doing wrought the desired effect. The prodigal came to

himself.

(1) He Prayed. He besought the LORD, Jehovah, not the heathen gods he had been worshipping, who failed him in his trouble. A “Prayer of Manasseh" is preserved in the Apocrypha.

(2) He humbled himself greatly in confession of his sin, in the consciousness of the awfulness of his conduct. He saw himself as he was.

A vision of the Judgment Scene. Dr. John Todd once represented the judgment day as our coming into a great hall whose walls were hung with pictures on which were painted all the sins that we have ever committed. On one picture are painted all the bad words that we have ever spoken; on another all the jealousies we have ever felt; on another all the covetings of our hearts, all the wrong bargains we have ever made, all the unkindness to our parents and friends of which we have ever been guilty, all our prayerless mornings and evenings, all our neglect of God's Word, all our ingratitude towards our heavenly Father and our hard feelings towards him, all our abuse of the Sabbath and the means of grace, all our neglect of the Saviour and our grieving away the Holy Spirit. What pictures would our sins open sins, secret sins, heart sins, and lifelong sins - make! What a terrible hall that would be!

Repentance or Remorse. "Remorse is not repentance; and whatever be our judgment of Manasseh, we may well use his career to remind ourselves of the distinction. Remorse is easily induced by the perception that sin has been a disastrous mistake, and the whole emotion rotates around oneself; repentance occupies itself first and chiefly with God and God's view of our sin."

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The Upward Slant. Yes,' said the worker in the slums, I have immense hopes of Luigi.'

But he is so ignorant !' urged some one.

6

- he

'Yes,' admitted the worker, but he shows the infallible sign of advancement is no longer discontented with his condition; he is discontented with his character.'" Second. Forgiveness. 13. And he was intreated of him. He had come to a place where God could wisely forgive him. God loves to forgive. He does not love to punish. As he tells us through Ezekiel : "Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

"Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

"Make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? "For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye."

God does not punish in anger, any more than the surgeon is angry when he uses the knife or the dentist when he cuts into a tooth. One object of punishment is always to put the sinner in the way of recovery.

14. Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah.

15. And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.

16. And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.

As a proof of the divine forgiveness, the Lord brought Manasseh again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD (Jehovah) he was God. A proof that his repentance was sincere, and his forgiveness assured.

Third. Reformation. After his restoration, Manasseh "lived like a penitent and a patriot." (1) He made his nation as safe as possible against attack, strengthening the fortifications of Jerusalem which had been damaged by the Assyrians, and organizing the defence in the other fortified cities of the kingdom. (2) So far as he could, he undid the mischief of his idolatry, destroying his idols, and cleansing the temple of heathen abominations. (3) He restored the service of true religion. (4) He issued his positive command that the people should follow his example.

But, alas! it is easy to cut down a tree, but hard to grow another. The people had learned to love their idolatries. They could not bring themselves to give up the heathen shrines, though they compromised with right by sacrificing there only to Jehovah.

NOTE that his repentance could not undo much of the evil his conduct had caused. It could not bring to life the innocent whom he had slain. It could not restore the families he had broken. It could not make good the characters he had defiled. It could not bring back the young he had led into vice and irreligion. He sailed forth on the sea of life, a young boy. His life-ship became a pirate ship, which sank many other ships. He wrecked his own vessel on the rocks of selfishness and irreligion, and idolatry and vice. He himself was saved with some of the cargo, but there was much that was lost beyond recovery.

LESSON VII. August 12.

JOSIAH'S GOOD REIGN. 2 Chron. 34:1-13.

MEMORIZE vs. 2, 3.

GOLDEN TEXT. Remember also thy Creator in the days of thy youth. — ECCL.

12: I.

THE TEACHER AND HIS CLASS.

"Training Colts and Boys. "James Lane Allen, in The Doctor's Christmas Eve, describes a typical Kentucky gentleman of the old type, a turfman and a breeder and trainer of the famous Kentucky horses.

"The master of the horses listened to his friend's story of his way of training his boys, which consisted of telling them over and over, morning and night, 'what not to do,' forever, and nothing else but what not to do,'' and you say

the training was a failure. Any training would be a failure that made it the chief business in life to fix its mind on what not to do. You have prepared a list of the evil traits of humanity and required your boys to memorize them: and then you tell them to beware.'

"And he concluded, 'Don't you know that no human being can teach any living being man, or beast, or bird, or fish, or flea- not to do a thing? You can teach only to do.'"

Even the negative 10 commandments would not suffice, but for the continual