A Miracle of Grace

A Miracle of Grace

A Sermon

(No. 3505)

Published on Thursday, March 30th, 1916.

Delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At [13]the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to
do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the
children of Israel. And the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people;
but they would not hearken. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the
captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among
the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. And
when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord, his God, and humbled
himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him and
he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him
again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord
he was God."–2 Chron. 33:9-13.

MANASSEH was born three years after his father's memorable sickness.
You will remember that Hezekiah was stricken with a mortal disease, and
Isaiah, the prophet, come to him and said, "Thus saith the Lord, Set
thine house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live." He appears to
have been startled and appalled at the tidings, and gave vent to his
feelings with bitter tears. Evidently he was afraid at the time to face
death. He had probably been indulging a worldly spirit; and besides
this, it lay as a heavy burden upon his heart that he had no son whom
he should leave as his successor in the kingdom. In deep distress of
soul, accordingly, he turned to the wall and prayed to the Lord. With
piteous weeping and earnest pleading he besought that his life might be
spared. His prayer was heard, his tears were seen, and his petition was
granted by God. His days were prolonged by fifteen years. In the third
year of those fifteen years his son Manasseh was born to hire. Had he
knows, methinks, what sort of a son would have risen up in his stead,
he might have been content to die, rather than to be the father of such
a persecutor of God's people, and such a setter up of idolatry in the
land. Alas! full often we know not what we, pray for. We may be
covetous of an apparent boon which would prove to be a real curse both
to ourselves and to thousands of others. You prayed, mother–yea,
prayed fervently–for the life of that dear babe whom God was pleaded
to take away from you. You cannot know what disposition the child would
have shown, what temptations would have befallen it, or what
consequences would have come of its life. Could some parents have read
the history of their children from the day of their birth, they might
rightly have wished that they had never been born. We had better leave
such matters with God, and submit to his sovereign will. He knows
better than we do, for ho is wonderful in counsel and excellent in
working. Thank God, these affairs are not in our own hands. They are in
far better and wiser keeping than ours.

Manasseh's mother was named Hephzi-bah, a beautiful name. I wonder
whether Hezekiah gave her the name because she was his delight, or
because his gratitude inspired it, as he was then himself delighting in
his God. I can scarcely think that at such a time he would have chosen
one who had not also chosen God; therefore, let us think of her as a
godly woman. But in that case she could have had little enough delight
in her son; and sometimes, I should think, when she saw him pursuing
the people of God with the sword, and sinning with a high hand, she
must have been ready to say, "Call me no more Hephzi-bah, but call me
Marah, for the Lord hath dealt bitterly with me." It is not always that
the thing which makes us glad to-day will make us glad to-morrow
likewise. Let children be accounted a heritage of the Lord. They are
the joy of our hearts and the flowers of our homes. But what will they
be to us when the gay, guileless, sportive days of their childhood have
run out? Unless God sends his blessing with them, the increase of our
families may be the sorrow of our lives. Evil passions and propensities
develop themselves in our children with their growth, and if the grace
of God does not subdue their sinful disposition, we may have to rue the
day that they were born. Manasseh's name signified "forgetfulness." I
hope his father did not forget his training, and leave him to those
young courtiers who always hang about kings' palaces, and are pretty
sure to instil into a young prince's mind more vanity than virtue, and
bespeak his favour and patronage for the popular party. There was a
superstitious section in those days, cultivating idolatry and pouring
contempt on the Evangelical brethren, whose cause his father, Hezekiah,
had espoused so earnestly and defended all his days. That new religion,
imported from among the heathen, had its meretricious attractions. Was
there not a great deal to please the eye in its pageant, and much to
charm the ear in its worship? The beautiful artistic work in the
statuary of its idols, and the fine display of pomp in all the
ceremonies–did not these appeal to a cultivated taste? The
old-fashioned puritanical order of worshipping at one temple, where the
service was bald, and where there was scarcely anything to be seen
except by the priests themselves, was becoming effete. Would it not be
better to go with the times, take up with Baalim and Ashtaroth, do
homage to the sensuous proclivities of the common people, and make
friendly alliances with nations holding other creeds? I should not
wonder but they talked to the young man in that fashion, and
he–oblivious of what God bad done for his sire and forgetful that in
the long history of the house of Judah the people had always been
smitten when they turned aside to idols and that they only prospered
when they clave to the living God fell into the snare, and sinned with
a high hand.

I shall introduce him to you first as a loathsome monster of guilt;
then, secondly, I shall show you how the hand of God followed him till
he became a piteous spectacle of misery; after which–blessed be
God!–we shall have to mount into a clearer atmosphere, when we point
him out to you as he became afterwards, a miracle of grace; and in fine
we shall have to admire him as a delightful picture of genuine
repentance. We must begin by considering him as:

I. A LOATHSOME MONSTER OF GUILT.

I cannot imagine that any one of my hearers can have been so great a
sinner as Manasseh. I shall not attempt to draw a parallel between him
and anyone else. Still, I should not wonder if some of you may be led
to draw some such parallel for yourselves. If you do so, I pray the
Lord to give you such a sense of your own guilt as shall constrain you
to seek pardon.

Deep was the crime, and daring was the impiety of Manasseh, in size
that he undid all the good work of his pious father. What Hezekiah had
painfully wrought at the web he began to unravel as fast as he could.
That which the father built up for God the son pulled. down; and that
which the father had cast down because it was evil the son at once
began to reconstruct. I must confess I have known sons do the like.
Because, they have hated their father's piety, as it has been a
restraint upon their sin, they have vowed that if it ever came into
their power to do as they liked, there should be a change in the
household. As I passed a certain house this week a friend said to me,
"Many a prayer-meeting has been held in that farmhouse. People used to
come for miles round there to meet and pray." "Is that a thing of the
past?" said I; "are no prayer meetings held there now?" "Oh! no," he
replied; "the father died, and his reprobate son came into the
property. A prayer meeting, indeed! No. He defied his mother to attempt
such a thing; and after having stripped her, and stripped the little
estate of all there was that was worth the having, he has gone away,
and has not been heard of for many a year. As far as he could, he tore
down everything that belonged to his father that reminded him of his
God." Mr. Whitefield used to tell of a wicked son who said be would not
live in the same house that his father had inhabited, for he said that
every room in the house stunk of his father's religion, and he could
not bear it. There are men who after such manner devise mischief. But
ah! young man, you cannot sin in that atrocious way without incurring
extraordinary guilt. It will be remembered that you sin against the
light; it will be recollected at the last great day that you were
prayed for–that you were instructed in the right way; nor will you sin
so cheap as others–others, did I say? I means such as, when they
transgress, only follow an evil example, and run in the path which
their parents taught them. Oh! how I grieve over ungodly young men who
treat their father's God with dishonour and despite.

Manasseh's sin was aggravated by the fact that he chose to follow the
very worst examples. Though he had in his father one of the best
patterns of purity, that would not do, but he must cast about him to
see whom he could imitate. Upon whom think ye, did he light? Why, upon
Ahab–the Ahab Of whom God had said that he would cut off every one of
his house, and not leave one remaining; a threat which had been
executed, for the blood of Ahab had been licked by dogs in the field of
Naboth, and Jezebel, his wife, had been devoured of dogs. Yet this
young man must needs choose Ahab to be his pattern, so he set up
Baalim, even as Ahab had done of old. The like folly I have known to be
committed by young men in these days. It may be there are those here
who have not found anybody that they could imitate, until at last they
sought out some licentious individual, perhaps, of years gone by, whom
they have elected to be their leader. Why, half the youth of England
used, at one time, to be infatuated with Lord Byron. The glare of his
genius blinded them as to the terrible hue of his character and the
atrocity of his conduct, so they followed headlong in his track,
because, forsooth, he was a great man and a poet. Affecting wit, they
bid defiance to pure morals. Alas! for the men whose sentiments, whose
language, and whose actions betray the hardihood and the daring of
vicious characters they are prone to emulate! Though they know better,
they deliberately choose the worst models that they can copy from. What
extravagance man will perpetrate in sin!

But this Manasseh sought out for himself unusual and outlandish sins.
Bad as Ahab was, he had not worshipped the host of heaven. That was an
Assyrian worship, and this man must needs import from Assyria and
Babylonia worship that was quite new. He set up the image Ashra, which
you may, perhaps, have seen on the slabs that have been brought from
Nineveh: a tree bearing souls, intended to represent all the host of
heaven. He carved this in the house of God, and set it up for worship.
We read in the prophets that the people used to stand in front of the
temple and bow before the rising sun, worshipping the hosts of heaven.
He was not satisfied with common sin. We have known sinners of this
class; they are not content merely to sin as others do; they are
ambitious to invent some fresh sin. Like Tiberius, who offered a prize
if somebody would find him out a new pleasure, they want to discover a
new species of impiety, which shall draw attention to themselves. They
must be singular in whatever they attempt; even if it comes to being
singularly wicked. Such was Manasseh. He could not be satisfied to run
in the race with others, and mingle with the ill-fashion of his times;
swiftly as they would fly, he must distance them all.

Beyond this, he insulted God to his face. Here, perhaps, his sin
culminates. It was not enough to build idol temples for idol worship,
but he must needs set up the idols and their altars in the Temple of
Jehovah. Such arrogance, as we think of it, makes our blood chill. And
ah! one trembles to tell it, not a few men have thus invoked upon their
bodies and their souls the curse of the Almighty. So desperately have
they been set on transgression, that they have lifted their hand and
defied their Maker. Had he not been God–the God of all patience–he
would have resented their defiance, and have suddenly smitten them down
to hell; but being God, and not man, he has borne with them. He is too
great to be stirred by their insults. He has put it by, and let it lie
still, winking alike at their ignorance and their assumption. for a
while, until their iniquity shall be full; and then, in his justice,
will he visit it upon their head. There are not a few in our great city
who continually do all that they can to provoke God, and to show how
little they reverence him how utterly they ignore his claims on their
homage. They will go out of their way to introduce blasphemies into
their common conversation, and to express their disgust and contempt
for everything chaste and comely, sacred and godly. Such was Manasseh.
He set up the altars of the false gods in the house of the living God.

Is not his character black enough? Nay, we have not laid on the
thickest touches yet. We are told he made his children to pass through
the fire; that is to say, he passed them between the red-hot arms of
Moloch, that they might belong for ever as long as they lived, to that
fiendish deity. If we do not aver that men do this now-a-days, they
fall little short of the same cruelty and crime. Many a man teaches his
child to drink arduous spirits; trains him to habits which he knows
will lead him to drunkenness; does his utmost to pass the child through
the red-hot arms of the spirit-fiend, Else Moloch of the present time.
Many a man has taught his child to blaspheme. If he has not
deliberately purposed it, he has actually effected it, fully conscious
that he was so doing. What was his example but a deliberate lesson? Ay;
there are people who seem to take delight in the sins of their
children, Laughing at the iniquities they have instructed their own
sons to perpetrate. Do I address a father who, for many years, has
never attended a place of worship on the Sabbath–who has often gone
home reeling drunk, and, though somewhat reformed himself, sees his own
son plunging into every vice that he was himself once habituated to?
Let me ask you, Do you wonder at it? Do you wonder at it? You have
passed your children through the flames; what marvel that they were
singed, and that the smell of fire is upon them? Oh! it is a crying sin
that men will not only go to hell themselves, but they must needs drag
their children with them. Many a man has not been satisfied to be
ruined but he must ruin same young woman who, perhaps, once had
religious convictions. He becomes her husband, and forbids her to
attend the house of God. As for his children, they may, perhaps, be
sent to the Sunday School to get them out of the way in the afternoon,
yet any goad they might learn there is Soon dissipated by the scenes
and sounds they witness and hear under the roof of their home. Why,
multitudes in this city–we know it, and they must know it
themselves–are ruining their children, deliberately compassing their
perdition. Is this a small sin, an insignificant mistake in their
training? I trow not.

Moreover, Manasseh proceeded further, for he made a league with devils.
There were, in his day, certain persons who professed to talk with
departed spirits, supposing that the devil had the means of
communicating with them about things to come. Now, whether this
fellowship with familiar spirits is a delusion and a lie, as I suspect
it is, or whether there may be a mystery of Satan involved in it, I do
not know; but certain it was that Manasseh tried to get as near the
devil as he could. If he could get him to be his friend he was well
content to make a covenant with hell, so that it might answer his
purposes. Let him have good luck; little did he care for God. He would
consult a wizard. Superstition led him to that, but the good Word of
God he utterly despised. And there are same that have done this–some
here, perhaps. I will not suppose they have lent themselves to those
silly superstitions, or resorted lo those deceitful or deceived mediums
who perform in the dark. I should think, in these modern times of
popular education, anyone is fit to be confined in a lunatic asylum who
is beguiled by that snare. Intelligence should protect you from
imposture. But there be those who, if the devil would help them, would
be glad enough to shake hands with him, and say, "Hail, fellow; well
met!" If they do not entertain the devil, it is no fault of theirs.
They have set the table for him, and furnished the house, and made
themselves quite ready for any evil spirit that chooses to come to
them. Oh! what iniquity this is! They will not have God; they will have
Satan. They cast off the great Father in heaven, but the archenemy of
souls–with him they make a covenant, and contract a league. Could sin
go much farther shall this? It could, and it did; for this man led the
whole nation astray. Being a king, he had great power, and he used his
authority and exerted his influence to induce his subjects to follow
his pernicious course. I often wonder what will be the horror of a man
that has lived in gross sin when, in the next world, he meets those
that he betrayed and seduced into iniquity, when he begins to see, in
the murky gloom of that intolerable pit, a pair of eyes which somehow
or other seem to hold him fixed and fast. He recognises them; he has
seen them somewhere before, and those eyes flash fire into the soul as
though they would utterly consume him, and a voice says, "A thousand
curses on thee! Thou art he that led me first into sin-enticed me from
a virtuous home, and from godly associations, to become thy partner in
iniquity. A blast be on thee evermore!" What company they have to keep
in that place of torment! How they will gnash their teeth at one
another in dreadful rage, each one charging the other with being his
destroyer! Oh! there is remorse enough in store for a man who ruins
himself, but who can tell the pangs that shall scourge his soul who
betrays his fellow-creatures, and precipitates them into everlasting
ruin? Verily, dear friends, we stand aghast at the picture of such a
man as Manasseh, he set no bounds to his sin. He sinned with both hands
greedily, and when the messengers came from God to tell him of it, he
was angry with them. Tradition says that he sawed the prophet Isaiah in
halves for daring to reprove him. But it is not from tradition, but
from revelation, we learn that he made Jerusalem to swim with blood
from one end to the other, putting to death all those that would not go
in his ways and follow his devices. Persecution of the saints of God is
a scarlet sin, that calls aloud to heaven for vengeance. Manasseh was
guilty of this, among other crimes. I am sick at heart, and my tongue
is weary of the story. Let me turn to another branch of the narrative.
This terrible monster of iniquity presently became:–

II. A SINGULAR SPECTACLE OF MISERY.

A few words will suffice to describe it. The Assyrian king sent his
captain, one Tartan, who besieged the city till it was devastated, and
the king fled. It would appear that he hid himself in a thorn brake,
and was dragged out from it, and fettered and manacled with heavy
irons. There remains a representation at the present time of some
Jewish king–we cannot be sure it was Manasseh–who was dragged before
the King of Babylon. At any rate, it represents what was done to
Manasseh, whether the like treatment befell any other Jewish king or
not. He has two rings–a ring on each ankle, and a heavy bolt between
them, and his hands are fastened in the same manner. He is brought
before the king at Babylon. There he seems to have been cast into
prison, and kept in confinement. The cruelties of the Assyrian monarchs
are attested by the memorials upon their own palace walls; therefore, I
can fully credit the story told; by Jerome, that this Manasseh was
himself put into a brazen vessel, and subjected to the most intense
heat, the Assyrian king abusing him for having passed his own child
through the fire in the same manner. That he was kept for many a long
month in a dark and dreary dungeon, with only sufficient bread and
vinegar given him to sustain his life, appears certain. He must have
been wretched to the last degree: his crown gone, his kingdom
devastated, his subjects put to unheard–of miseries, We are told that
the judgment which God executed upon the land was such that it made the
both ears of him that heard of it to tingle. The king must, therefore,
have experienced some indescribable afflictions from the hands of the
tyrant of Assyria. Ah! sinner, though thou harden thyself in thy
transgressions, thou wilt not go unpunished. A bitter end awaits thee.
Reckless as thou art, young man, thy father's God will not always be
mocked. You have persecuted your wife and your friend, but their
unhappiness will return ere long to your own bosom. There will come an
end to your arrogance, and a beginning to your recompenses. Oh! I wish
your iniquity would come to an end soon, and that it might end with
your conversion. If it does not come to that end, your outlook is
gloomy indeed, for your total destruction will complete the course you
are running.

Perhaps I am addressing somebody who has been living in heartless sin
until he has become entangled in helpless misery. In this crowd you
seem as if you were pointed out, for your heart is ready to break with
anguish. Your property is lost, your health is broken up, your
character is blasted; you are a mere wreck, a waif, a stray upon the
dark sea. There is none to have compassion upon you. You are a
castaway. Even your old companions have forsaken you. The devil himself
seems to have cast you adrift. You are abandoned, and you might cry out
and sound your own death knell. "Lost! lost! lost!" Well, now, I have a
message from God to you. I am come to speak to you, in the name of the
Lord, about this man Manasseh, in the hope that it may be also
concerning yourself true–that after having been a prodigy of sin, and
a spectacle of misery, you may now become as, in the third place,
Manasseh became:–

III. A MONUMENT OF GRACE.

Oh! I do not wonder at Manasseh's sin one half so much as I wonder at
God's mercy. There was the man in the prison. He had never thought of
his God except to despise his prerogative, and offend against his laws,
till he was immured in that dungeon. Then his pride began to break; his
haughty spirit had to yield at last. "Who is Jehovah, that I should
serve him?" he had often said. But now he is in Jehovah's hand. Lying
there half-starved in the prison, a crushed man, he begins to cry,
"Jehovah, what a fool I have been! I have stood out against thee until
at length thy sovereign power has arrested me. and thy infinite justice
has begun to avenge my crimes. What shall I do? Where shall I hide from
thy wrath? How can I escape? Is it possible to obtain thy pardon?" He
began to humble himself; God's Spirit came and humbled him more and
more; he saw how foolish he had been, how wicked his character, how
cruel his conduct, how abominable. Thus he spent his days and nights,
in weeping and in lamentation. It was not the prison he cared so much
about. His soul had gone into iron bondage. Then it suddenly flashed
across his mind that perhaps God might have mercy on him, so he began
to pray. Oh! what a trembling prayer that first prayer was. Methinks
Satan said to him, "It is no use your praying, Manasseh. Why, you have
defied the living God to his face. He will tell you to go to the idol
gods you have served, repair to the images you have set up, and bow
before the hosts of heaven you have been wont to worship, and see what
they can for you." Nay; but in this awful despair he felt he must pray;
and surely the first prayer he breathed must have been, "God be
merciful to me a sinner." And in his deep abasement, he continued still
to pray and plead with God. And that dear Father of ours who is in
heaven heard him. If ever you can bring him a praying heart, he will
bring you a forgiving message. As soon as he saw his poor child broken
down, and confessing his wrong, he took pity on him, heard, and
answered him, and blotted out his sins like a cloud, and his
transgressions like a thick cloud. I think I see Manasseh, with his
morsel to eat, never enough to stay his hunger, and his little drops of
vinegar, saying to himself, "Ah! I don't deserve this!" He would thank
God even for that starving allowance in the depths of his cell, feeling
that it was mercy that let him live. "Why should a living man complain,
a man for the punishment of his sins?" And so it came to pass that he
was delivered.

The King of Assyria, for State reasons which I need not mention,
determined to put this king on his throne again. He thought that he had
broken him down, and humbled him enough; that he would make a good
viceroy and a faithful lieutenant, and that he would be afraid to rebel
again, so one bright day he opened wide Manasseh's dungeon, and told
him he was going to send him back to Jerusalem. And when he told him
that, then Manasseh knew that Jehovah, he was God. This conclusion was
forced upon him by the mercy he obtained. "Who," he would say, "but the
Most High God could have brought me out of this horrible pit, have
released me from the power of this tyrant king, or moved his heart to
relent, and have compassion on me?" As he rode back to Jerusalem, how
his heart would be breaking with gratitude! I think I see him when he
first got within sight of the walls of that temple which he had so
recklessly profaned. Surely he threw himself upon his face, and wept
sore, and then arose and blessed the name of the Lord tl at had
forgiven all his trespasses. And when he entered Jerusalem, and the
people gathered round him, what must the greetings have been? Where are
those courtiers that had been his companions, that led him into sin? Do
they come whining round him? What a rebuff they will get! How will he
exclaim, "Get you gone. I am another man. I do not want your company or
your counsel." Are there any of those poor people standing in the
background–the people that used to meet to pray and worship Jehovah,
faithful among the faithless found–such as had been wont to hide away
their Bibles because they were hunted and harried from one retreat to
another–a small remnant, that had escaped the fangs of the
persecutors–did they came forward? How he could look at them, and say,
"Ah! you servants of Jehovah, you are my brethren. Give me your hands;
for I, too, have found from heaven, and I am, like you, a child of
God." I warrant you there was singing in Jerusalem that night amongst
the feeble band of the steadfast believers; and there must have been
music in heaven too, for the fiery angels must have rejoiced in a
conversion that seemed so unlikely, so incredible.

"What, Manasseh saved? Manasseh–that bloodhound–is he transformed, by
the renewing of his mind, into a lamb of God's flock? What he, the
red-handed persecutor–has he become a professor of the faith he once
destroyed?" Ah! yes. Well might Bishop Hall say, "Who can complain that
the way of heaven is blocked against him, when he sees such a sinner
enter? Say the worst against thyself, O clamorous soul! Here is one
that murdered men, defied God, and worshipped devils, yet he finds the
way to repentance. If thou be vile as he, know that it is not thy sin,
but thy impenitence, that bars heaven against thee. Who can now despair
of thy mercy, O God, that sees the tears of a Manasseh accepted?" I
remember an old lady who would not travel by railway because she
thought that some of the bridges were in bad repair, especially the
Saltash bridge, near her own house. Over that bridge she could not be
persuaded to pass, for fear her weight should break it down, although
hundreds of tons weight were carried over it every day. At such folly
everybody can smile. But when I hear any man say, "I have committed so
much sin, that God cannot pardon it," I think his folly is far greater.
Look at this huge train that went over that bridge. Behold Manasseh
laden with ponderous crimes! Mark what a train of sin there was behind
him! Then look at the bridge, and see whether it starts by reason of
the loaded teem of wills which is rolling over it. Ah! no, it bears up,
and so would it bear the weight if all the, Sins that men have done
should roll across its arches. Christ is "able to save to the uttermost
them that come unto God by him." I do not know where to cast my eyes
for the person to whom this message is directed. That he is somewhere
in this assembly I entertain no doubt. So I speak to some sister who,
in an unguarded hour, left the path of virtue, and since then has
pursued a course of shame? I pray you accept the message. I deliver it
to you. The greatest sin, the utmost guilt, the most incredible
iniquity, the most abominable transgressions, can be forgiven, and
shall be blotted out. The Redeemer lives; the sacrifice has been
offered; the covenant is sealed. Turn now to the Lord with purpose of
heart. Confess the sins. Abjure thyself. Trust in the infinite mercy of
God, through Jesus Christ, his Son. "Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him turn unto the Lord,
for he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon." Our closing reflection is that Manasseh became:–

IV. A PICTURE OF TRUE REPENTANCE.

At once he ceased to do evil. He went straightway to the temple and
pulled down the idols. How I would like to have been with him, and have
had a hand in demolishing them. Down went the images; then over went
the altars; every stone was dragged right out of the city, and flung
away. God grant that every image in England may yet be pulled down,
battered to pieces, and the small dust thereof flung into the common
sewers. May that which is an utter abomination before heaven stir a
righteous indignation on earth. Oh! that our land may be so godly that
no respect for fine arts may suffer her to tolerate foul impieties!
Manasseh made haste to undo the mischief he had done. This is what
every converted man tries to do. All the evil he has ever caused he
tries to stay; he takes vengeance on his former devices; against them
he lifts both his hands, raises his voice, and exerts his influence.

Nor did this suffice; Manasseh began forthwith to do good. Right
speedily he began to repair the altar of the Lord, and to restore the
services of God and the ordinances of the Temple to their original
purity, according to the divine statutes. So when a man is truly
converted, he will be anxious to join himself to the Lord's people, and
support the institutions of his house. Nor did Manasseh smother his
gratitude, but he presented thank-offerings to God. He was not
unmindful of the devout acknowledgments that were due for the great
mercy he had received. Like that other great sinner, whose gratitude is
recorded in the gospel–the woman who brought an alabaster box of
ointment, very precious, and brake it–like her, methinks, he loved
much because he had had much forgiven.

And, then, being established in his kingdom, he proceeded to use his
high influence for holy purposes. He ruled his subjects in the fear of
the Lord; and made the law of his God to be the law of the land,
renouncing all strange gods, and adhering rigidly to the book by
inspiration given. Oh! that God would incline the heart of some
penitent sinner here at once to bring forth this fruit of conversion!
What a change there would be in his house! What a difference his family
would see! What an altered man he would appear in his daily avocation,
whether he be employer or employed! He would be seeking the conversion
of those whom he formerly led astray. Those he once scoffed at, and
called by evil names, would become his choicest companions. "Can God do
this?", says one. Oh! my dear hearers, the God that can forgive great
sin can also change hard hearts. Cry to him. If you are unsaved, may
his Spirit lead you to seek salvation now. Stay not for to-morrow's
sun. If you are saved yourself, may that blessed Spirit lead you to
pray for others, and seek their present and eternal welfare. Watch unto
prayer. Let your own faith in God stimulate you to believe that all
things are possible. Never give them up, never give them up. Are you a
mother–you do not know how prevalent your intercessions may prove. I
wonder whether poor Hephzi-bah was alive when Manasseh was converted?
She had grieved over him, doubtless, in his young days. Well, if she
did not live to see the fruit of her prayers, yet her prayers lived,
and her tears were repaid with rich interest. There is many a mother's
son whose heart will be turned to God long after his mother's bones
have been laid in the churchyard. The vision is for an appointed time;
though it tarry, wait for it. Thy son will yet be brought to glory
through thy prayers. Pray on, brethren and sisters, pray on for those
whose sins and sorrows lay heavily on your heart. Pray on, and God will
hear you. O poor sinners, the mercy of God is the antidote for man's
despair. Believe in his mercy. Look for his mercy. Cast yourselves upon
his mercy, and you shall find his mercy unto everlasting life. God
grant it for Christ's sake. Amen.