their religion. And even after her death, for
thirty years, came times, such as Hezekiah speaks of--times of trouble
and rebuke and blasphemy, plots, rebellions, civil war, at home and
abroad; dangers that grew ever more and more terrible, till it seemed at
last certain that England would be conquered, in the Pope's name, by the
King of Spain: and if that had come to pass (and it all but came to pass
in the famous year 1588), the King of Spain would have become King of
England; the best blood of England would have been shed upon the
scaffold; the best estates parted among Spaniards and traitors; England
enslaved to the most cruel nation of those times; and the Inquisition set
up to persecute, torture, and burn all who believed in what they called,
and what is, the gospel of Jesus Christ. That was to have happened, and
it was only, as our forefathers confessed, by the infinite mercy of God
that it did not happen. They were delivered strangely and suddenly, as
the Jews were. For forty years they had been, chastised, and purged and
humbled for their sins; and then, and not till then, came times of safety
and prosperity, honour and glory, which have lasted, thanks be to God,
ever since.

And now, my dear friends, what has this to do with us? If this chapter
was a lesson to our forefathers, how is it to be a lesson to us likewise?

I have always told you (as those who have really understood their Bibles
in all ages have told men) that the Bible sets forth the eternal laws of
God's kingdom--the laws by which God, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ,
governs nations and kingdoms--and not only nations and kingdoms, but you
and me, and every individual Christian man; "all these things," says St
Paul, are "written for our admonition." The history of the Jews is, or
may be, your history or mine, for good or for evil; as God dealt with
them, so is He dealing with you and me. By their experience we must
learn. By their chastisements we must be warned. So says St Paul. So
have all preachers said who have understood St Paul--and so say I to you.
And the lesson that we may learn from this chapter is, that we may repent
and yet be punished.

I know people do not like to believe that; I know that it is much more
convenient to fancy that when a man repents, and, as he says, turns over
a new leaf, he need trouble himself no more about his past sins. But it
is a mistake; not only is the letter and