them for a season, and tho they may assume to themselves the honor and glory, and arrogate the power of swaying the destiny of nations, instead of ascribing it to the superintending providence of God; yet they will most certainly be brought, at last, to feel themselves abased by the hand of that Almighty Power whose providence they abuse, and be constrained to acknowledge that God alone is able "to build up, and to pull down," and can with equal ease, turn the battle in favor of whom he will, without regard to strength or numbers.

If such was the fate of this Jewish conqueror, under a dispensation, and in an age, when wars were sometimes permitted and authorized by Divine Providence, how deplorable must be the folly of those rulers and nations who presume to make war in their own strength, and according to their own wills! But such is the spirit of war, in nations and rulers, and such the self confidence of warriors, after a successful campaign, that their hearts become inflated with pride, and they flatter themselves, and suffer others to flatter and eulogize their names, and emblazon their deeds, as tho their own power and skill had alone obtained the victory.*

AHAZ, the son of Jotham, succeeded his father in the kingdom of Judah. But his conduct was widely different from that of his father, who, it appears, shared the favor of Divine Providence, and had a prosperous reign; "because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God." But his son Ahaz, like the kings of Israel, gave himself up to idolatry, and practiced all the abominations of the heathen, "whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.Wherefore the Lord delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of captives;-and he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, all valiant men; because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers."" In this terrible slaughter fell one of the king's sons, and some of the principal officers of his government; besides the loss sustained in the captivity of his subjects, to the number of two hundred thousand, men, women and children.

In addition to these calamities, the Edomites and Philistines successfully invaded the kingdom, and committed great depredations: for the Lord brought Judah low, because of Ahaz; for he transgressed against the Lord." Ahaz, in his

* Witness the pride, fall and acknowledgment of Nebuchadnezzar. Dar. ch. iv.

trouble, sent to the kings of Assyria for help, and took a portion of the treasures "out of the house of the Lord, and out the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria.-And the king of Assyria came unto him and distressed him, but strengthened him not." Having thus lost the Divine favor, neither his own armies, nor his hired allies, were of any avail to him. But all these calamities tended only to make Ahaz increase still more in his wickedness, and to become more and more impious, in his sacrilegious abominations against the Lord. This is the usual course of those who trust in an arm of flesh, instead of relying upon Divine protection.

In these reverses of fortune, we have a striking evidence that the protection and prosperity of that kingdom and people, did not depend on their strength of arms and valor in war. For these same enemies, during the reign of those kings who had kept the law, and placed their trust in God, had been kept in subjection; and many of them who had risen against the Jews, had been defeated with great slaughter, and that too by forces far inferior to those which Ahaz at this time possessed. His father and grandfather had greatly strengthened the kingdom by strong fortifications; and had made every necessary preparation for protection and defence. They had also a numerous and powerful army of valiant men, well armed and trained to war. Yet with all these advantages, in which kings boast and warriors place their confidence, Ahaz was brought to ruin, and his kingdom reduced to the lowest ebb of disgrace. His valiant warriors could not save him. He had forsaken the Lord, and gone after other gods; and the Lord had left him to the mercy of those nations in whose gods he had trusted; and he was compelled to reap the reward of his own folly. Here too we have a striking proof that a nation, who by their impiety have lost the Divine favor, cannot be protected by military preparations and warlike defences,

ĤEZEKIAH, the son of Ahaz, on ascending the throne, began a great reformation in his kingdom. He opened the doors of the house of the Lord, which had been shut up by his father, and repaired them; and with great zeal, set himself about restoring the true worship of God in Jerusalem, and throughout all his dominions. His people cheerfully complied with his orders, and destroyed the heathen altars and images, and put an end to the idolatrous worship which had been introduced under the reign of his father. In these religious proceedings he was greatly blessed and prospered.

At length he was threatened, and his kingdom actually invaded by the king of Assyria, with a numerous and powerful army. And tho he made great preparations for defence, according to the custom of the times; yet it appears that his greatest confidence was in the protection of Divine Power: for in his exhortation to his officers, whom he had appointed over the people, he said, "Be strong and courageous; be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that are with him; for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles."

After this the king of Assyria sent a very haughty and blasphemous message to Hezekiah and his people, boasting of what he had done to other nations, and threatening the like destruction to the Jews. On receiving this message, Hezekiah humbled himself before the Lord, and sent notice to Isaiah, who returned an encouraging answer, saying, "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 me. Behold I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."

After this, the king of Assyria sent another insolent and boasting message to Hezekiah, arrogantly cautioning him not to let the God in whom he trusted deceive him with a hope of deliverance. "Behold" said he "thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?" On the receipt of this message by letter, Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord, and in deep humiliation, besought the Lord that he would save him and his people from the hand of the king of Assyria, "that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, and thou only."

His supplication was heard, and a promise given by the prophet Isaiah, that the king of Assyria should not come into the city, nor shoot an arrow there; that he should return by the same way that he came. That same night, by a supernatural providence of God, one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrian army were destroyed. The king, with the remainder of his army, fled with precipitation to his own country, and (according to the account of Josephus) left his camp a spoil to the Jews. Soon after this he was slain in the temple of his god, by two of his own sons.*

* 2 Kings xix. 2 Chron. xxxii. and Isaiah xxxvi. and xxxvii.

These remarkable dispensations of Divine Providence, in favor of the pacific king of Judah, who instead of relying on his own great military power, put his trust in God, affords another very striking example to the advocates of war, of the superior wisdom and safety of relying on Divine protection, and trusting in him who rules the destinies of nations, and who can, with ease, subdue the most powerful foe, without the aid of armies or the weapons of war.

MANASSEH, the son and successor of Hezekiah, notwithstanding the pious example of his father, and the warnings and admonitions of the prophets, threw off all dependence upon Divine Wisdom, and abandoned himself to all sorts of wickedness. He did more towards corrupting the people with idolatry than any of his predecessors had done. Josephus says, "No impiety escaped him. He began his reign with the contempt of God, and so proceeded to a barbarous and bloody persecution of holy and good men, dipping his hands in the blood of the very prophets themselves: insomuch that hardly a day passed without putting some one or other of them to death, so that the very streets of Jerusalem ran blood."* "It is said he sawed the prophet Isaiah asunder with a wooden saw.

זיי.

These things brought the judgments of God upon Manasseh and his people, and laid the foundation for the conquest and captivity of the Jewish nation. And tho his father had been signally protected from the Assyrian army, by the hand of Divine Providence, because he trusted in God; yet that same Divine Providence left this idolatrous son and successor to fall into the hands of the Assyrians, and to be harrassed and spoiled by his enemies. The armies of Assyria and Babylon invaded his kingdom, routed his troops, seized and bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon; nor was it in his power, with all his military forces, to defend himself. "And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him." And it appears that, notwithstanding all his former wickedness, God heard his supplication, and through the dispensations of his providence, "brought him again to Jerusalem, into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God." Thus it ap

pears that the arms of war could claim no honor in the days of Manasseh; but all events were decided according to the direction of Divine Wisdom.

*Josephus, Ant, B, x. ch. iv,

Brown's Dict. Bible, article Manasseh,

JOSIAH, the son of Amon and grandson of Manasseh, appears to have been the most pious of all the kings of Judah. He labored with great zeal and assiduity, to purge out idolatry and reform his people; and to turn the whole nation from those idolatrous practices, into which they had been so deeply plunged by the wickedness of his ancestors; and to bring them back to the worship of the only true God. In this pious work he was greatly blessed and prospered, was much beloved by his people, and, for many years, enjoyed his kingdom in peace.

But alas! this pious prince, who had hitherto been greatly prospered with the blessings of peace, as the reward of his piety and virtue, was at length tempted to indulge the spirit of war, and that too without any divine authority or any just cause. In consequence of this rash step, he lost his own life and hastened the destruction of his people. The king of Egypt, being upon an expedition against the king of Assyria, found it necessary to pass through the borders of Judea. Without any right to interfere in the war between these two heathen nations, Josiah marched out against the Egyptian king, with a design to interrupt his progress and give him battle. The king of Egypt sent ambassadors to him, with a pacific message, declaring that he had no intention of meddling with the Jews, but only wished to march his army through the borders of his country, against his own enemies, saying; "I come not against thee this day, but against the house with which I have war."

Josiah paid no regard to Necho's message, but disguised himself, and went out to fight with him, "in the valley of Megiddo." Here he was mortally wounded, and was carried back to Jerusalem, where he soon died Such was the fate of Josiah, who had rashly intermeddled in a war where he had no just concern. Had he been contented to stay at home, he might doubtless have enjoyed a long and happy reign, and died in peace. But such is the infatuating spirit of war, that, (as in the case of this hitherto good king,) the most virtuous lose their virtue thereby, and bring a curse upon themselves; and it generally hastens the ruin of all that engage in it.

After the death of Josiah, his successors in the kingdom, and the great body of the Jews, abandoned themselves to all manner of iniquity, corrupting themselves with idolatry, and all the debasing customs and manners of the heathen nations, wholly disregarding their own divine laws and the institutions of Moses. By these means they lost the protection