their Babylonish enemies. What would have been the consequence if our sovereign's illness had continued, none can tell. We mean not to cast reflections upon any person or party; we would abhor a party-spirit either in religion or politics: but this we may say without a possibility of giving offence to any; that, however wisely the defect of an executive power might have been supplied, and however faithfully it might have been employed, still the nation would have suffered an almost irreparable injury; for the very sinews of government would have been cut asunder. This, we say, would have been the case, supposing that every thing had been planned with the most consummate wisdom, and executed with the most unblemished integrity: but what might have happenned, God alone knows: blessed be his name, he has delivered us now from the apprehensions of the calamities we have so earnestly deprecated, and so justly dreaded. Again The resemblance holds good in the means by which they were recovered from their illness. What was there in a plaster made of figs that could give so sudden a turn to a mortal disorder as to remove it in three days? Just as much as there was in the waters of Jordan to cleanse Naaman from his leprosy, or in the clay and spittle which our Lord used, to open the eyes of a blind man. It was prayer that healed Hezekiah; yes, prayer pierced the skies and entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts. "I have heard thy prayer, said God, and have seen thy tears, and will heal thee." And what has healed our gracious Sovereign? we answer without disparagement to any, PRAYER: a spirit of prayer has been poured out upon all God's people throughout the nation: all that have an interest in the court of heaven, have cried day and night to God on his behalf. The prayers of the church prevailed for the delivering of Peter out of prison: so we doubt not but that the king's recovery is an answer to prayer; to the prayers of those very people, who yet are too often hated, despised, and persecuted. It is true; God has used means; but what means? not the art of medicine, but repose and quiet. We mean not to detract from the merit of those who have assisted in his cure; they deserve well of the nation at large; and we shall rejoice to see them rewarded according to their desert: but the glory is God's, and his alone: the king's recovery is the gift of God; and that in answer to the prayers of his own people; and, we trust, that they will not discontinue their prayers for him even to the latest hour of their lives. Once more-The resemblance holds good in the readiness with which God vouchsafed the desired mercy. Hezekiah's and Isaiah's prayer was answered before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court; and in three more days the cure was effected. So has it been with respect to the cure vouchsafed unt● our sovereign: it was withheld for a season just to make all praying people earnest in their supplications. The rod impending over the nation seemed for some time ready to fall: yet was the stroke by various occurrences providentially delayed: and then at the very moment that it was expected to fall, behold! deliverance comes: so truly may the words of the text be applied to this event, "the Lord was ready to save." Surely that proverb has been again verified to us, that "in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen;" for God did not deliver Isaac more seasonably from the hand of Abraham, than he has done us from the calamities which threatened us. Now if the occasions for joy and thankfulness are so similar, ought not our expressions of thankfulness to be similar also? Ought we not to render unto God according to the benefits he hath conferred upon us? Yes surely. Did Hezekiah then make his deliverance a matter for universal praise? let us stir up both ourselves and others to a devout and holy joy on account of the recovery of our king. Did he determine that he would make it a subject of public thanksgiving? let us do the same: and did he determine to remember it and sing of it all his days? let us endeavour to keep upon our minds a lively sense of this mercy, and not provoke God to withdraw it from us by our ingratitude.] 2. To excite our gratitude for the mercies of redemption [We all without exception are sick nigh unto death: what Isaiah says of the Jews is applicable to every nation upon earth; "the whole head," says he, "is sick;" that is, the kings, and nobles, and all the governors in church and state, are infected with a mortal disease; "and the whole heart is faint," that is, the people at large, without any exception, are dying of the same malady: "from the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in us, but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores." Sin is this deadly disorder, and, unless we be recovered from it, the consequence must be dreadful to us all. We are not left to conjecture what this may be; we know; we know for certain; we know that no temporal calamity whatever can be compared with it: we know that our disorder, if not speedily cured, must issue in everlasting death; in an everlasting separation of soul and body from God, and in an everlasting suffering of divine vengeance. But we are fully warranted to say with Hezekiah in the text, "the Lord is ready to save us." Of all the thousands and tens of thousands who came to our Lord for healing when he was on earth, not so much as one applied in vain: nor did ever any one call upon him for spiritual healing without experiencing his readiness to save. And is he not "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever?" Would Jesus ever have come VOL. III. 3 N down from heaven, if he had not been ready to save? Would he have shed his precious blood for us, if he had not been ready to save? Would he have sent his word, his ministers, and his holy Spirit to invite and draw us to him, if he had! not been ready to save? Has he not said, "As I live I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but rather that he turn from his wickedness and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die?" And would he thus have sworn, invited, intreated, and expostulated, if he had not been ready to save? Beloved brethren, would to God that you would all put him to the trial! not one of you would then ever perish in your sins; he would cleanse you in his blood from all sin; he would restore your souls to health; and make them to flourish in immortal youth and beauty. Do you ask, How shall I obtain this blessing? We answer, just as the king of Judah, or the king of Britain, were restored to health: means were used for both; but the means were very inadequate to the end which was to be obtained: that which prevailed for both, was prayer; and that shall prevail for you. If you were like Jonah at the bottom of the sea in a whale's belly, the prayer of faith should deliver you. Still however you must use the means; attend to the word that is preached; and read the Bible in your closets: but do not imagine that these means can convert your souls: no; that is the Lord's work; and you will use all means in vain, if you do not beg of God to render them effectual. But if you pray, you will find the Lord far more ready to give, than you are to ask. To save sinners is his work, his office, his delight; it is "the joy which was set before him, in expectation of which he endured the cross and despised the shame:" yea, it is the import of his very name; for he was "called Jesus, because he was to save his people from their sins." This is a perpetual ground of joy to all; it calls for our devoutest thanks and praises: it should make us all adopt the language of the text, and say, "the Lord is ready to save me; therefore will I sing songs to him all the days of my life in the house of the Lord." But if you have been restored to health; if you have experienced his salvation; if upon a review of your past life you can say with Hezekiah, "The Lord was ready to save me;" what ought to be the frame of your mind? how should you give thanks! the Psalmist says, "Let them give thanks whom the Lord hath redeemed;" and if they will not, who will? The angels were not half so much indebted to him, as they for whom he shed his blood. "O then give thanks, give thanks unto our God; for it becometh well the just to be thankful:” “O come let us sing unto the Lord, let us heartily rejoice in the God of our salvation."] AN ANALYSIS OF THE FOREGOING SERMON. [The Author had at one time thought of inserting a considerable number of short sketches; but he relinquished the idea, from an apprehension that they would not afford sufficient aid to those, whose more immediate benefit he consulted. The following Analysis is added as a specimen.] PUBLIC acknowledgments of national mercies are proper The kings recovery is a just ground for them at this time I. The import of the words-In which observe 1. The occasion of them--Here notice [Hezekiah's illness, and dread of approaching deathHis character, as most concerned for God's glory and the national warfare The probable consequences of his death The means of his recovery: prayer-figs- 2. The words themselves--These contain [The grounds of his thankfulness; That God had restored him-And that he had been ready to do so The expressions of it-He would give all the glory to GodHe would do it publicly-He would have others to do the same-He would do it all his life-] II. The use we should make of them 1. To excite our gratitude for the king's recovery [The occasions are similar; As to the persons that were ill-(compare Hezekiah, and the king.) As to the probable consequences of their not recovering-As to the means used for their recovery, PRAYER-And as to the readiness of God to comply with our requests Our gratitude should be similar; Public-universal-fervent -perpetual-] 2. Toexcite our gratitude for the mercies of redemption [All are sick nigh unto death-The consequences of not recovering will be dreadful-The Lord is ready to heal us-PRAYER is the grand mean of recovery-All should rejoice; The sick, that the Lord is ready to save; The recovered, that he was, and still is, ready-] END OF VOL. III. |