hes_[13]."
He thought far more of what he had not done, than of what he had done.
He felt how incomplete his reformation had been, and he felt how far
more guilty his whole people were than he had supposed, receiving, as
they had, such precise guidance in Scripture what to do, and such
solemn command to do it; and he learned, moreover, the fearful
punishment which was hanging over them; for in that Book of the Law
were contained the threats of vengeance to be fulfilled in case of
transgression. The passages read to him by the high priest seem to
have been some of those contained in the Book of Deuteronomy, in which
Moses sets good and evil before the people, to choose their portion.
"See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and
evil. . . . . I call heaven and earth to record this day against you,
that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing[14]."
"A blessing and a curse; a blessing if ye obey the commandments of the
Lord your God: . . . a curse if ye will not obey[15]." And there was
more than the mere words to terrify him; there had been a fulfilment of
them. Samaria, the ten revolting tribes, the kingdom of Israel, had
been led away captive. Doubtless he already knew that their sins had
caused it; but he found in the Book of the Law that it had been even
threatened them beforehand as the punishment; and he discovered that
the same punishment awaited his own people, should they persist in sin.
Nay, a judgment had already taken place in Judah; for Manasseh, his
grandfather, had been carried away into Babylon, and only restored upon
his repentance.

In the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, you will see what was to
be the curse of disobedience: or again, consider the words of the
twenty-ninth chapter: "Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord
your God . . . that thou shouldest enter into covenant with Him, and
into His oath; . . . neither with you _only_ do I make this covenant
and this oath; but with him that standeth here with us this day before
the Lord our God, and _also_ with him that is not here with us this
day: . . . lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or
tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God" (alas!
as it had happened in the event, even all _ten_ tribes, and then the
whole twelve had fallen away) "to go and serve the gods of these
nations, lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and
wormwood; and it