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power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken. Pardon, I beseech thee the iniquity of this people, according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until And he said, I have pardoned according to thy word." Num. xiv. 15, 20. Asaph successfully employed the same motive when he said: "Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name. O deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever. Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily." Ps. lxxiv. 18, 22. The Lord has said, “He that toucheth thee toucheth the apple of mine eye.” So that in all the unjust attacks of our enemies, we may say, "Lord, they touch me, defend the apple of thine eye. O God! defend thy glory which is interested in the salvation of my soul. O God! hear those that seek to shake my confidence, and endeavour thus to separate me from thee, and make me forsake thee. See, Lord, to what temptations I am exposed, and how I shall cause thy name to be blasphemed, if thou permittest me to fall. O my God, what glory shall redound to thee, if thou bringest to salvation such a weak and miserable creature as I am, if thou changest a heart so rebellious as mine! O God! support all thine Israel, lest if thy people stumble, their enemies should triumph over them, and exalt themselves against thee, saying, Their God was not able to deliver them."

The third motive on which he founds his prayer is, that there was still a "little remnant" in Israel for which there might be hope, and that all was not yet lost. "Wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left." The fenced cities of Judah were taken,

or were ready to surrender : Jerusalem alone held out. Yet there was therein a remnant from which deliverance might come, and this was a reason for hoping still, and consequently for prayer.

Here also a plea which we may use with our God, when we call

upon

him in our distress that there is still a little remnant within us. But how shall we know that there is such a remnant there, when we find within us nothing but emptiness and misery? How, I would ask, knew Hezekiah, that there was still a little remnant in Judah? There was still there a people who had not surrendered, and who requested others to pray for them. And where this is the case where any one seeks to obtain deliverance or protection for himself by prayer, here there is a remnant for which we ought to pray. When, therefore, in

When, therefore, in your distress, you implore the assistance of God, and request the prayers of your brethren ; resting upon this act alone you can say,

“ There is still in me a remnant of faith and of life; all is not lost; the enemy is not victorious, I have not yet surrendered; for I pray. Omy God, I supplicate thee for this little grain of faith by which I still look to Jesus, and unto his promises, I supplicate thee for this remnant which still remains ; rekindle the smoking flax, strengthen that which remains in me, and which is ready to die.”

God grant, my brethren, that these reflections, blessed by the Holy Spirit, may engage us to have a full and entire liberty before God in our distress! Instead of being cast down, because we are cast down; instead of being discouraged, because we are weary and heavy laden ; instead of being troubled on account of our very trouble, let us pour out our hearts before God like water, remembering, that while we pray, there is yet a little remnant by which all that seems to be lost

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Let us remember that we are required to "pray always and not faint,” and conse

" quently, that while we still have life, however low may be the ebb at which our faith is found—however long we may have to wait for deliverance, we must still pray: for since it is written, “always pray,” there is never a time when we may stop, saying, It is enough; there is no more hope. The very act of prayer brings with it its own consolation. So long as we can pray, it is certain that there is in the soul the breath of life ; and where there is life there is hope. Let us then imitate the simplicity and perseverance of the man after God's own heart ; who, when he was weary with crying, without receiving an answer, cried still to tell God he was weary. “I am weary of my crying, my throat is dried : mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.” Ps. lxix. 3. “Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord ! arise, cast us not off for ever. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression.” Ps. xliv. 23, 24.

Let those who have joy bless the Lord for it; but let them not glory in it ; and let them beware of discouraging, by hard words, those who are in distress, reproaching them for it with severity or impatience. Let them remember, that we are commanded to comfort the afflicted, and that Isaiah reproached not Hezekiah when he sent to tell him that he was in the most painful trouble and anguish of soul. He answered him not, Where is thy confidence ? Wherefore dost thou fear? Why art thou not joyful? Is it thus that a child of God ought to behave bimself in affliction ? No, Isaiah did better than reproach him, he prayed for him, and he obtained from God a promise of deliverance. You, who can rejoice yourselves, but have among you children of God that are sorrowing, innitate this example.

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If your joy be of God, it will be accompanied with charity. Now “charity suffereth long and is kind;" it "supports the weak,” is “patient towards all men,” and “weeps with those that weep.” If your joy leads you to be harsh and repulsive towards those who have it not, I would entreat you to examine carefully of what kind it is, and to see if you have not reason to be sad, and to weep in your turn.

May the Lord enable us all, amid the afflictions inseparable from this warfare in which we are engaged, to find in a simple and sincere faith in the promises of God, joined with fidelity, that sweet and serious joy which is the privilege of believers. That joy springs from hope and uprightness, and it is preserved by the habit of pouring out the whole soul before God, with the confidence of a child. May he who “fulfils in us the good pleasure of his will,” give us to cast all our cares upon him, knowing that “he careth for us."

MEDITATION IV.

HEZEKIAH'S DELIVERANCE.

me.

“ So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed

Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah : for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, . Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered ? Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar ? Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah ? And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Heze. kiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth ; thou hast made heaven and earth. Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear : open, Lord, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire : for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only. Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed