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MORNING TWENTY-SECOND.

LESSON.-2 Kings, Chapters xiii. and xiv.

MAMA. I have again, my dear Mary, combined two chapters into one lesson, from their containing the history of two sovereigns, contemporary with, and opposed to, each other; and also, perhaps, because (as all veins of a precious mine are not equally rich in gold) they seemed less fertile than some previous and succeeding ones, in edifying matter. But we shall never find a single chapter of Holy Writ barren and unprofitable; and, as you read, I discerned gleams of spiritual light, "shining as in a dark place," through the apparently uninteresting record. What King of Israel have we first to consider ?

MARY. Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu.

MAMA. Was he more thorough and uniform in his obedience than his father?

MARY. No, just the same. "He followed the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin."

MAMA. How we are haunted, Mary, by that

ominous phrase, through every chapter of this book! I am sure it has heightened my fear of setting a bad example, and incurring that awful threat of our Lord, "Woe be unto him by whom the offence cometh ! It were better a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the depths of the sea!" What fresh sorrows did the continued "offence" of the golden calves bring upon devoted Israel?

MARY. God delivered them into the hand of Hazael, and of Benhadad his son, all their days. MAMA. And what at length procured them. some respite?

MARY. The prayer of Jehoahaz, Mama. "He besought the Lord, and he gave Israel a saviour."

MAMA. My dear, nothing in the whole Bible is so astonishing as God's readiness to listen to the worst sinners, if they "turn to him" ever so little; unless it be their returning (like Jehoahaz) when the danger is past, to their idols and their sins! To what deplorable condition of weakness was Israel at this time reduced, and by its own iniquities, remember?

MARY. Mama, Jehoahaz had but " fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen."

MAMA. Just look into 1st chapter 2d Chroni

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cles, and tell me how many Solomon had, before an angry God "began to cut Israel short?"

MARY. Oh! Mama, "A thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen."

MAMA. Ay, Mary, just (even allowing for the separation of the little kingdom of Judah) about a thousand times as many of both! Such is the prosperity God can give, and can take away! To what does the chapter liken the abject condition of Israel?

MARY. To" dust made by threshing," Mama; so often had the Syrians beat them.

MAMA. Who Succeeded Jehoahaz in the kingdom?

MARY. His son, Jehoash.

MAMA. Are you not struck with so many bad kings dying peaceably in their beds, one after another, and their sons succeeding? What did this fulfil?

MARY. God's promise to Jehu, Mama, that "because he had executed God's work in cutting off the house of Ahab-his children of the fourth generation should sit on the throne of Israel."

MAMA. Very well remembered, Mary, I was sure it could not be for their own merits! Was Jehoahaz "better than his fathers?"

MARY. Not a bit, Mama, as to the golden

calves; but I think he must have had some good in

him, because he wept over Elisha when he saw him dying, and cried "Oh! my father, my father!" MAMA. I fear there was something selfish in What did he call the prophet be

his sorrow.

sides? MARY.

"The chariot of Israel, and the horse

men thereof."

MAMA. This seems to imply that his chief value for him was as a temporal defender, not a teacher or spiritual guide. This was like the Jews with our Lord. If he would have taken up arms and led them to battle, instead of preaching the Kingdom of God, they would have followed him (as they afterwards did the "false Christs" of whom he warned them) with all their hearts. What parting token of kindness and power did the prophet confer on the King?

MARY. "He put his hands on the King's hands," while he shot with a bow and arrows; and told him it was the "arrow of the Lord's deliverance from Syria."

MAMA. Do you remember any other holy man whose "hands" were made instrumental in procuring victory for the Israelites?

MARY. No, Mama.

MAMA. I am just reminded of one.

Moses,

during a battle with the Amalekites in the wilderness, held up his hands in prayer, and always,

as he let them fall from weariness, Amalek prevailed, till, at last Aaron and Hur held them up for him on every side. I have often thought this was meant as an encouragement to perseverance in supplication. We have just the same moral in what follows here. What did the prophet next bid the King do?

MARY. "Smite upon the ground" with the arrows: "and he smote thrice, and stayed." MAMA. And what would have happened had he done it oftener?

MARY.

He would have smitten Syria till it was consumed; but now he was only to do it three times. But he could not know this, Mama!

MAMA. No, my dear; but had there not been some want, either of faith or energy in him, a simple omission would not have exposed him to reproof. We are all given to smite or knock too seldom and feebly at the door of God's mercy, and not as if we fully believed it would "be opened unto us." What says our Lord respecting importunity in prayer?

MARY. I don't remember.

MAMA. Who came, Mary, often to a judge, saying, "Avenge me of mine adversary?" MARY. Oh! I know, a poor widow. MAMA. And did he do it at first?