Christian course; has overcome some slight temptations, to which others have proved inferior; or has made some petty sacrifices which others have wanted self-denial to essay. On this he becomes presumptuous. Confident in his own strength he throws himself into some dangerous trial-some position in which the lower passions of his nature-lust, or anger, or covetousness-have a tendency to be called forth; and straightway he is found wanting. He betrays himself, he betrays his profession, he betrays even Christ his Lord; or if he does not go so far as this, he at least cowardly denies them. He is driven either with Judas to despair, or with Peter to bitter selfcompunction, or he bears a living death of shame like Uzziah of whom we have been speaking.

Yes, brethren, his ignominious downfall may warn more or less directly and pertinently each class that I have been describing. God knows whether we come under any one of them; let us approach Him earnestly in prayer that we may know. But it may warn us all, generally, that it is possible for us then to be most distant from God, and most cast off by God, when we fancy ourselves privileged to be most near to Him, and to have a special right to approach Him. And then it may go on to bid us, as such selfdeceit is possible, to prostrate ourselves in deep humility, before Him "who is able to keep us from falling, and to preserve us blameless unto the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."

"Lord, I am not high-minded," says the Psalmist (cxxxi. 1). "I have no proud looks. I do not exercise myself in high matters which are too high for me. But I refrain my soul, and keep it low, like as a child that is weaned from his mother: yea my soul is even as a weaned child."

This would have been a good rule for Uzziah: had he followed it, it would have prevented his downfall. It cannot be unsuitable to the Christian.

JOTHAM.

See 2 KINGS Xv. 32-38. 2 CHRON. xxvi. 21; xxviii.

THE annals of the reign of Jotham, which lasted for sixteen years, are brief, but as far as he is personally concerned, satisfactory. He came to the throne experienced in the art of government; for his father's unhappy condition had rendered a regency necessary, probably for a considerable time. And, undoubtedly, he had been taught humility by the chastisement which he had seen follow upon presumption. "He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah did: howbeit he entered not into the Temple of the Lord" in the spirit which Uzziah had displayed. And a reward ensued upon his righteousness: "He became mighty, because he prepared (or established) his ways before the Lord his God." The chief public works recorded of him are the embellishment of the Temple, by building "the higher gate of the house of the Lord;" the

strengthening of the walls of Jerusalem; and the planting of "fenced cities in the mountains of Judah, and of castles and towers in the forests." The two latter of these may have been rendered necessary by offensive operations on the part of Rezin, the King of Syria, and Pekah, the King of Israel, who were evidently beginning to be troublesome neighbours. We are told that "God began to send them against Judah," no doubt as a scourge for the national sins of which we shall speak presently. But, if we may judge from similar cases, the personal holiness of the king, and the divine blessing upon his arms, averted their attacks for a time. Jotham, indeed, appears to have been a successful warrior. His " wars are spoken of generally, as if he had carried on several, and the details of one of them are specified. He entered upon a campaign against the Ammonites, and reduced them to the same tributary condition which they had held in the days of his father.

What Jotham's internal administration of his kingdom was we are not informed. But two notices of the state of religion in his day would seem to indicate that he was somewhat remiss in efforts to leaven his people with the fear of God. One of these occurs immediately after the mention of what he had done. for the Temple: "Howbeit, the high places were not removed the people sacrificed and burned incense in the high places." The other follows close upon a record of Jotham's own upright walking, and of his

avoidance of his father's sin: "And the people did yet corruptly." The inference would seem to be, that though Jotham was personally a religious man, and showed anxiety for the maintenance of the great sanctuary and centre of religious worship, he was not, like Jehosaphat or like Josiah, a missionary of God to his subjects. Perhaps his active spirit, continually employed in war, overlooked this most obvious duty of a king. Perhaps, like many an amiable theorist in later days, he thought that an embellished Temple and a gorgeous ritual would of themselves attract mankind to Him in whose honour they were established. Or perhaps he lacked the faculty which at all periods of the world many eminent men have lacked, of indoctrinating others with the truths which a man holds himself in sincerity. But, from whatever cause, he, as the high priest Eli had been long before, is an illustration of the truth of the poet's words

"If our virtues

Do not go forth of us, 'twere all alike

As though we had them not," 1

Had

so far as any effect upon others is concerned. he possessed more earnest, diffusive zeal, his name would have shone more brightly among the kings of Judah, his son might not have become proverbial for wickedness, his people might have been kept from

1 Measure for Measure. Act i. sc. 2.