tems of human policy are speculative and airy projects, without foundation or substance.-The history of their own exploits and establishment, since they had become a nation, was a strong confirmation of this doctrine.

But too free and uninterrupted a possession of God Almighty's blessings, sometimes (though it seems strange to suppose it) even tempts men to forget him, either from a certain depravity and ingratitude of nature, not to be wrought upon by goodness, or that they are made by it too passionately fond of the present hour, and too thoughtless of its great Author, whose kind providence brought it about. This seemed to have been the case with the men of Judah :-for notwithstanding all that God had done for them, in placing Abijah and Asa his son over them, and inspiring them with hearts and talents proper to retrieve the errors of the foregoing reign, and bring back peace and plenty to the dwellings of Judah ;-yet there appears no record of any solemn and religious acknowledgment to God for such signal favours. The people sat down in a thankless security, " each man under his vine, to eat " and drink, and rose up to play ;"-more solicitous to enjoy their blessings, than to deserve them.

But this scene of tranquillity was not to subsist without some change;-and it seemed as if provi dence at length had suffered the stream to be interrupted, to make them consider whence it flowed, and how necessary it had been all along to their support. The Ethiopians, ever since the beginning of Abijah's reign, until the tenth year of Asa's, had been at peace, or, at least, whatever secret cnmity they bore, had made no open attacks upon the king

dom of Judah.-And indeed the bad measures which Rehoboam had taken, in the latter part of the reign which immediately preceded theirs, seemed to have saved the Ethiopians the trouble.-For Rehoboam, though in the former part of his reign he dealt wisely; yet, when he had established his kingdom, and strengthened himself,-he forsook the laws of the Lord;-he forsook the counsel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men, which were brought up with him, and stood before him.-Such ill-advised measures, in all probability, had given the enemies of Judah such decisive advantages over her, that they had sat down contented, and for many years enjoyed the fruits of their acquisitions.-But the friendship of princes is seldom made up of better materials than those which are every day to be seen in private life,-in which sincerity and affection are not at all considered as ingredients.--Change of time and circumstances produce a change of councils and behaviour.--Judal, in length of time, had become a fresh temptation, and was worth fighting for.--Her riches and plenty might first make her enemies covet; and then the remembrance of how cheap and easy a prey she had formerly been, might make them not doubt of obtaining.

By these apparent motives (or whether God, who sometimes over-rules the heart of man, was pleased to turn them by secret ones, to the purposes of his wisdom) the ambition of the Ethiopians revived. With an host of men, numerous as the sand upon the sea-shore in multitude,-they had left their country, and were coming forwards to invade them.

-What can Judah propose to do in so terrifying a crisis?-where can she betake herself for refuge? -On one hand, her religion and laws are too precious to be given up, or trusted to the hands of a stranger;--and, on the other hand, how can so small a kingdom, just recovering strength, surrounded by an army of a thousand thousand men, besides chariots and horses, be able to withstand so powerful a shock?--But here it appeared, that those who, in their prosperity, can forget God, do yet remember him in the day of danger and distress ;--and can begin with comfort to depend upon his providence, when with comfort they can depend upon nothing else --for when Zerah, the Ethiopian, was come unto the valley of Zephatha at Maretha, Asa, and all the men of Judah and Benjamin, went out against him ;--and as they went, they cried mightily unto God--And Asa prayed for his people, and he said,

"O Lord! it is nothing with thee to help, wheth"er with many, or with them that have no power: "--help us, O Lord our God! for we rest in thee, "and in thy name we go against this multitude."O Lord, thou art our God, let not man prevail "against thee."-Success almost seemed a debt due to the piety of the prince, and the contrition of his people. So God smote the Ethiopians, and they could not recover themselves;-for they were scattered, and utterly destroyed,-before the Lord, and before his host.-And as they returned to Jerusalem from pursuing,-behold the spirit of God came upon Asariah, the son of Oded. And he went out to meet Asa, and he said unto him," Hear ye me, "Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; the Lord is "with you, whilst you are with him ;-and if you

"seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye for"sake him, he will forsake you."-Nothing could more powerfully call home the conscience than so timely an expostulation. The men of Judah and Benjamin, struck with a sense of their late deliverance, and the many other felicities they had enjoyed since Asa was king over them, they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem, in the third month in the fifteenth year of Asa's reign ;-and they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart, and with all their soul and they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets; and all Judah rejoiced at the oath.

One may observe a kind of luxuriety in the description, which the holy historian gives of the transport of the men of Judah upon this occasion. And sure, if ever matter of joy was so reasonably founded, as to excuse any excesses in the expressions of it, this was one ;-for without it, the condition of Judah, though otherwise the happiest, would have been, of all nations under heaven, the most miserable.

Let us suppose a moment, instead of being repulsed, that the enterprise of the Ethiopians had prospered against them,-like other grievous distempers, where the vitals are first attacked,-Asa, their king, would have been sought after, and have been made the first sacrifice. He must either have fallen by the sword of battle, or execution; or, what is worse, he must have survived the ruin of his country by flight,-and worn out the remainder of his days in sorrow, for the afflictions which were come upon it. In some remote corner of the world,

the good king would have heard the particulars of Judah's destruction. He would have been told how the country, which had become dear to him by his paternal care, was now utterly laid waste, and all his labour lost;-how the fences which protected it were torn up, and the tender plant within, which he had so long sheltered, was cruelly trodden under foot and devoured. He would hear how Zerah, the Ethiopian, when he had overthrown the kingdom, thought himself bound in conscience to overthrow the religion of it too, and establish his own idolatrous one in its stead:-that, in pursuance of this, the holy religion which Asa had reformed, had begun everywhere to be evil spoken of, and evil entreated :

That it was first banished from the courts of the king's house, and the midst of Jerusalem,—and then fled for safety out of the way into the wilderness, and found no city to dwell in :-That Zerah had rebuilt the altars of the strange gods, which Asa's piety had broken down, and set up their images :—

That his commandment was urgent that all should fall down and worship the idol he had made :-That' to complete the tale of their miseries, there was no prospect of deliverance for any but the worst of his subjects; those who, in his reign, had either leaned in their hearts towards these idolatries, or whose principles and morals were such, that all religions suited them alike;-but that the honest and conscientious men of Judah, unable to behold such abominations, hung down every man his head like a bulrush, and put sackcloth and ashes under him.

This picture of Judah's desolation might be some resemblance of what every one of Asa's subjects