LXII.

UZZIAH.

FAMILIARITY WITH RELIGIOUS THINGS.

2 KINGS XVv. 5.

"THE LORD SMOTE THE KING, SO THAT HE WAS A

LEPER UNTO THE DAY OF HIS DEATH, AND DWELT IN A SEVERAL HOUSE. AND JOTHAM THE KING'S SON WAS OVER THE HOUSE, JUDGING THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND."

1. THE character and conduct of King Uzziah are very full of instruction. His life is most fully described in the Book of Chronicles. He was sixteen years old when he began to reign; his reign was long, lasting fifty-two years, and we are told he did what was right in the sight of the LORD. Nevertheless, his life was marked by one fault and by one signal act of punishment from GOD. His fault was the offering sacrifice, that which only the priest might do ; and his punishment a leprosy, inflicted on him

by the word of a priest on his persevering in his fault. This is the more remarkable as he is on the whole described as a good character. One notable circumstance is, that in the Book of Kings he goes by the name of Azariah, and is there also described as a good king, and all that we are told is that he died a leper, having dwelt in a several house until the day of his death. The acts of his reign on which GOD seems to have set His approval, are the following. He made constant reference to Zachariah the prophet, and we are told, as long as he sought the LORD, GOD made him to prosper. He made war on Philistia and prospered. Again, we are told that God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians. Having come back, he built towers in the desert, and he had much cattle: It appears that in his campaigns he won a high name for courage. He transgressed against GOD by going into the temple and offering incense on the altar. The priest went in after him with fourscore other priests--all valiant men; and they withstood Uzziah, saying, "It appertaineth not to thee, O Uzziah, to burn it."

Uzziah, having a censer in his hand, was wroth; and while angry holding the censer

in his hand, the leprosy rose up into his forehead, and the priests thrust him forcibly out; and he himself hasted to go out because the LORD had smitten him. The rest of the acts of Uzziah are written in the Book of Kings. But there mention is made of the leprosy, but not of the cause which led to it; and on this point of discrepancy I will first speak.

2. It seems clear that Uzziah was a man whose life throughout, until the finishing act of it, was in conformity to God's will, and blessed with God's mercy. That crowning act of his life-the offering the incense, we are told, was the result of a presumptuous spirit brought on by the success of his life. But while this cause is assigned for the fault and the fault is mentioned to explain the punishment in the Book of Chronicles, in the Book of Kings the punishment only is mentioned; and we are simply told that the LORD smote the king till he was a leper; and that he dwelt in a several house; so that any one reading the account in this Book, without referring to Chronicles, would be in the dark as to the motive of the ALMIGHTY in afflicting the king. We must refer to one portion of God's counsels to understand the other. The light shed from one page of His will, will

irradiate and explain that which hitherto may have appeared to be obscure; and how often is this the case in daily life! An occurrence takes place, illness or affliction of the body, a heavy domestic calamity, a shock given to the security of the estate, and we see no reason for it at the time, nay, we think we see every reason against it! The life of the man who is afflicted has been, hitherto, apparently unimpeachable; then why does GOD afflict him? a reference to the other portions of God's counsels would tell us perhaps, that the heart had been lifted up owing to success, and that GOD Who knew the heart, has punished the fault. In ordinary life we read but the Book of Kings, in heaven is revealed the Book of Chronicles. Or we are inclined to wonder at the suddenness of the trouble, and complain of the apparent inequality of God's dealings; whereas, we have not seen nor known of the long provocations which the sufferer may have given to GOD. Or we marvel at the apparent want of aptness in the particular trouble,-why should the prosperous and successful king be stained with leprosy? and why should the man who had been for so many years so singularly under the sun

shine of God's love, be compelled to go down to so dishonoured a grave? why should one whose life had been so harmless, be visited with so heavy a calamity; while others who seem to have erred much more against GoD and their neighbour, have "not bands in their death but are lusty and strong?" The questions may not be answered by the ordinary volume of God's revealed will, in which the chapters of human circumstances are contained; but they are fully explained in that other volume which reveals the connection of the rebellious heart and the chastened life.

Such is the relation between the Books of Chronicles and Kings, in the lives of many of those who are described in both of them, especially in the case of King Uzziah. The Book of Kings tells us that the LORD smote the king that he became a leper; the Book of Chronicles tells us that when Uzziah was strong, he transgressed against GOD, and "the leprosy rose up in his forehead," and the priest thrust him out of the temple; yea, himself hasted to go out because the LORD had "smitten him."

The eye of GOD is often resting in secret on the inmost heart of those who to the world's