he knew not what would come after death.  And, therefore, he prayed hard not to die.  He did not pray altogether in a right way:  but still he prayed.  ’Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which was good in thy sight.’  And the Lord heard his prayer.  ’Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying, Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears, behold I will add unto thy days fifteen years.’

Then what was the use of God’s warning to him?  What was the use of his sickness and his terror, if, after all, his prayer was heard, and after the Lord had told him, Thou shall die and not live—­that did not come to pass:  but the very contrary happened, that he lived, and did not die?

Of what use to him was it?  Of this use at least, that it taught him that the Lord God would hear the prayers of mortal men.  Oh my friends, is not that worth knowing?  Is not that worth going through any misery to learn—­that the Lord will hear us?  That he is not a cold, arbitrary tyrant, who goes his own way, never caring for our cries and tears, too proud to turn out of his way to hear us:  but that he is very pitiful and of tender mercy, and repenting him of the evil?  Hezekiah did not pray rightly.  He thought himself a better man than he was.  He said, ’Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight.’  And Hezekiah wept sore.  But he did pray.  He went to God, and told his story to him, and wept sore; and the Lord God heard him, and taught him that he was not as good as he fancied; taught him that, after all, he had nothing to say for himself—­no reason to shew why he should not die.  ’What shall I say?  He hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it:  I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.’  And so he felt that, instead of justifying himself, he must throw himself utterly on God’s love and mercy; that God must undertake for him.  ’O Lord, I am oppressed, crushed—­the heart is beaten out of me.  I have nothing to say for myself.  Undertake for me.  I have nothing to say for myself, but I have plenty to say of thee.  Thou art good and just.  Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.  I can say no more.’

And then he found that the Lord was ready to save him.  That what the Lord wished was, not to kill him, but to recover him, and make him live—­live more really, and fully, and wisely, and manfully—­by making him trust more utterly in God’s goodness, and love, and mercy; making him more certain that, good as he thought himself, and perfect in heart, he was full of sins:  and yet that the Lord had cast all these sins of his behind his back, forgotten and forgiven them, as soon as he had made him see that all that was good and strong in him came from God, and all that was evil and weak from himself.