Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 33:12
And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
12. affliction ] R.V. distress, as in 2Ch 28:22.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
12, 13. fathers, and prayed ] R.V. fathers. And he prayed.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
2Ch 33:12; 2Ch 33:18
And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God.
Manassehs wickedness and penitence
I. Mansssehs career in crime.
II. His return to and acceptance of God.
III. The gracious results of his penitence. Improvement.
1. The lamentable wickedness and duplicity of the human heart.
2. The freeness, fulness, and efficacy of Divine grace.
3. The consequences of salvation are reformation and obedience. (T.B. Baker.)
Manasseh
Manasseh is an eminent instance of the power, richness, and freeness of the Divine mercy. Observe–
I. The sins which he committed.
1. Their contributory cause. His early freedom from restraint, his coming to supreme power when only twelve years of age.
2. Their special nature. The catalogue is appalling.
3. Their aggravated nature.
(1) They were committed in defiance of religious education, and of the admonitions and example of his father.
(2) They were of more than common enormity.
(3) They were productive of more than ordinary evil to others.
(4) They were in defiance of the expostulations of the prophets (verse 10).
II. The repentance which he exercised.
1. Its cause.
(1) Its more remote cause was probably his religious education. The case of Manasseh is not discouraging to training children in the way they should go.
(2) The immediate cause was affliction.
2. Its nature.
(1) Deep conviction of sin.
(2) Deep contrition.
(3) Earnest prayer.
(4) Reformation of life.
III. The mercies which manasseh received.
1. Temporal nature.
2. Spiritual He was brought to the spiritual knowledge of the God of his salvation. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord He was God. This knowledge led him to fear, trust, love, and obey. This obedience was accompanied by the deepest self-renunciation and abasement to the end of his life. Lessons.
1. To those who are insensible of their sinfulness.
2. To those who are ready to sink into despair under the weight of their sinfulness.
3. To those who are disposed to presume on the mercy of God. Manassehs son Amon was quickly cut off in the midst of his sins (verses 21-28). He seems to be a beacon set up close by the side of his penitent and accepted father, to warn all persons against presuming on the mercy manifested to Manasseh. (Homilist.)
Manassehs repentance
I. His character as a sinner.
1. He was a notorious sinner.
2. He was not a hopeless sinner.
II. His conduct as a penitent.
1. The period of his repentance is specified. When he was in affliction.
2. The nature of his repentance is described.
(1) Deep humility.
(2) Fervent prayer. These invariably distinguish the conduct of every true penitent (Jer 31:18-19; Luk 18:13; Act 9:11).
III. His salvation as a believer.
1. He obtained the pardoning mercy of God.
2. He received a saving knowledge of God (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)
Manasseh humbled
I. The benefit of afflictions in bringing the sinner to a true sense of his condition and converting him to God.
II. The mercy of God in so bringing and receiving him.
III. The remaining and lasting portion of the evil of sin, even after the individual is pardoned. In the Second Book of Kings it is repeatedly declared that Judah was destroyed on account of the sons of Manasseh.
1. A man looks back with sorrow and contrite concern upon the follies and sins of his youth; but what of his companions in guilt? Some, perhaps, whom he seduced into sin, and many whom he encouraged and confirmed in sin.
2. Some writers have employed their pens in the odious cause of immorality and irreligion. Such persons have lamented their errors; but the publication has done its work; the poison has been circulated, and the corruption is incurable. (J. Slade, M. A.)
The conversion of Manasseh
I. That early advantages may be succeeded by complicated sin.
II. That sin is frequently the cause of severe affliction.
III. That affliction, when sanctified, exalts to prayer, and promotes humiliation.
IV. That prayer and humiliation are always attended with distinguished blessings, and produce valuable effects.
V. From the whole.
1. The patience of God.
2. The sovereignty of God.
3. The wisdom of God in adapting means to the conversion of men.
4. The mercy of God in saving the chief of sinners. (S. Kidd.)
The repentance of Manasseh
We will connect the important change which took place in the mind of Manasseh–
I. With his early advantages. John Newton states somewhere, When I was in the deepest misery, and when I was committing the most atrocious sin, I always seemed to feel the hand of my sainted mother pressing my head.
II. With the afflictions by which it was produced.
III. With the effects which it unfolded.
IV. With the sovereignty of Divine Grace. (A. E. Farrar.)
Manasseh brought to repentance
I. His life of sin.
1. It was in direct contrast to the good reign of his father.
2. His sin involved many in guilt. He made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err.
3. He was not moved by the sight of the same wickedness in those whom he despised (2Ki 21:9).
4. His sin was not checked by Gods punishment of others. The heathen had been driven out from the land because of their wickedness. Judah occupied their place and adopted their vice.
II. The life of manasseh under Gods chastisement. We learn from recently discovered Assyrian inscriptions what is meant by among the thorns. The word thus translated means a hook, which was put through the under lips of captives. The depths of Manassehs degradation may be imagined. Yet it was sent in mercy to turn him to God.
III. His repentance and restoration.
IV. His re-establishment of the worship of God. Lessons.
1. Never to be ashamed of repentance.
2. We see the meaning of Gods chastisements.
3. The power of a single man when he has turned from sin to God.
4. The necessity of solitary communion with God.
5. The patient love of God. (Monday Club Sermons.)
The conversion of an aged transgressor
I. Let us attend to the circumstances which by the grace of God led to the conversion of Manasseh.
1. Affliction.
2. Solitary reflection.
3. Prayer.
II. Consider next how the grace of God operated in Manasseh.
1. He humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
2. He was made to know that the Lord was God.
3. He brought forth fruits meet for repentance.
III. The circumstances which made his conversion peculiarly striking.
1. It was the conversion of an atrocious sinner.
2. Of an aged sinner.
3. It took place at a distance from the ordinary means of grace. (H. Belfrage, D.D.)
Manasseh
God contents not Himself to have left on record in His word declarations and promises of grace as beacons of hope to the sinner. We have examples also of His acts of grace. Abounding iniquity, and more abounding grace, are the special features presented to us in this history of Manasseh.
I. Abounding iniquity marked Manassehs course.
1. He was the son of Hezekiah the servant of the Lord. We place this foremost as an aggravation of his sin, that in spite of a fathers example he cast off the fear of the Lord and sinned with a high hand against his God. That father, indeed, was early taken from him, for Manasseh was but twelve years old when he began to reign; still, the memory of Hezekiahs piety could not have been utterly forgotten. Too marked had been the interposition of Jehovah in that fathers deliverance from Assyria and in his recovery from sickness for the report to have passed away. But Manasseh heeded not these things; he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke Him to anger.
2. Manasseh added to his disregard of a godly parent this iniquity also, that he led his children unto sin, he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. . . . Some godless parents have shown a happy inconsistency, in that whilst pursuing themselves that path whose end is destruction, they have desired for their offspring that they should seek the Lord. The force of example, indeed, meeting as it does with the evil that is bound up in the heart of a child, will in such eases often prove too powerful to be withstood. But Manasseh took no such course, but dedicated his children as well as himself to the service of the false gods. Alas, the reproducing power of evil! Thou that art a citizen of the world, intent on gain or pleasure, can it be expected but that thy children should walk after thee in the same destructive road?
3. Manasseh bade defiance to Jehovah in His own sanctuary. Not only did he build again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed, but he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God. It was not enough that he himself should bow down to idols, and that his children should also do them homage, but with yet more prsumptuous sin he declared himself, in the face of all Israel, an idolater, and desecrated to this base end the very temple, of which the Lord had said, My Name shall be there. It is the very character of Jehovah that He is a jealous God, His glory will He not give to another.
4. But further, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another. The faithful who warned him were doubtless the ones especially sacrificed to his vengeance, and it is supposed that Isaiah suffered death under this fearful persecutor of the Church of God. For the wickedness of Manasseh could not plead this even in palliation that he was unrebuked: The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not hearken. What depth of malignity is there in the unchanged soul! what pollutions! what ingratitude! what rebellion! Were it not for the restraining grace of God, what a scene of bloodshed and of all enormity would this earth be!
II. More abounding still the grace of God.
1. In chastisement the first faint streak of mercy manifested itself. The voice of plenty had spoken to him in vain, the voice of warning had been treated with neglect, but now the voice of correction speaks in tones not to be gainsaid. The alarm of war is heard in that guilty court.
2. His deep penitence bore witness to the workings of grace. He humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers That word greatly speaks much as recorded by the Spirit of truth. As with the gospel itself, so with the chastenings of the Lord, they are either a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death.
3. The voice of prayer went up from that prison-house, He besought the Lord . . . and prayed unto Him. Tears, many it may be, fell before one prayer was uttered.
4. Abounding grace, shone forth, too, in the answer granted to prayer. God was intreated of him. He heard his cry, and hope sprung up in his downcast soul.
5. The workings of Gods grace were further evidenced by the fruits of faith in life according to godliness. Manasseh restored to his kingdom, has now but one object in view, the glory of God, and that object he consistently pursued. The idol is east out from the temple, and the altars of the false gods out of the city, and the people are commanded to serve the Lord God of Israel. He turned not aside from his purpose to bring back to Jehovah those whom formerly he had led away to sin; and this godly course he pursued unto the end.
Lessons.
1. The first is, that there is a fulness of grace in God as our reconciled Father in Christ Jesus beyond the power of heart to conceive, or of tongue to utter.
2. But this history also reminds us of the dreadful nature of sin. Deep are its furrows, lasting its effects. Manasseh is pardoned, but,could he repair the evil he had done? (F. Storr, M.A.)
Manasseh
We shall consider Manasseh–
I. As a sinner.
1. He sinned against light, against a pious education and early training. It is a notorious fact that when men do go wrong after a good training they are the worst men in the world. The murder of John Williams at Erromanga was brought about by the evil doings of a trader who had gone to the island, and who was also the son of a missionary. He had become reckless in his habits, and treated the islanders with such barbarity and cruelty that they revenged his conduct upon the next white man who put his foot upon their shore.
2. He was a very bold sinner.
3. He had the power of leading others to a very large extent astray.
II. As an unbeliever. He did not believe that Jehovah was God alone.
1. The unlimited power that Manasseh possessed had a great tendency to make him a disbeliever.
2. His pride was another cause.
3. Another cause was his love for sin.
III. As a convert. He believed in God–
1. Because God had answered his prayer.
2. Because He had forgiven his sin. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Manassehs repentance
Manasseh is unique alike in extreme wickedness, sincere penitence, and thorough reformation. The reformation of Julius Caesar or of our own Henry V, or to take a different class of instance, the conversion of Paul, was nothing compared to the conversion of Manasseh. It was as though Herod the Great or Caesar Borgia had been checked midway in a career of cruelty and vice, and had thenceforward lived pure and holy lives, glorifying God by ministering to their fellow-men. (W. H. Bennett, M.A.)
He was intreated of him.
Pardon for the greatest guilt
The story of Manasseh is a very valuable one. I feel sure of this, because you meet with it twice in the Word of God. God would have us again and again dwell upon such wonders of sovereign grace as Manasseh presents to us.
I. Let us examine the case before us.
1. Manasseh was the son of a good father.
2. He undid all his fathers actions.
3. He served false gods.
4. He desecrated the Lords courts. There are some to-day who do this; for they make even their attendance at the house of God to be an occasion for evil.
5. He dedicated his children to the devil. Nobody here will dedicate his children to the devil, surely; yet many do. Have I not seen a father dedicate his boy to the devil, as he has encouraged him to drink? And do not many in this great city, dedicate their children to the devil by allowing them to go into all kinds of licentiousness, until they become the victims of vice?
6. He fraternised with the devil, by seeking after all kinds of supernatural witcheries and wizardries.
7. He led others astray.
8. He persecuted the people of God. It is said,–we do not know whether it was so or not,–but it is highly probable, that he caused Isaiah to be cut asunder with a wooden saw.
9. In short, Manasseh was a compound of every sort of wickedness.
10. Notwithstanding all this Manasseh was pardoned. How it came about?
(1) Being in great trouble, he turned to Jehovah his God.
(2) He humbled himself greatly.
(3) He prayed.
II. Let us consider why there should be others like Manasseh. Judging from many probabilities, that God will save other great sinners as He saved Manasseh.
1. Because He speaks to such great sinners and commands them to repent (Isa 1:16-18). Because of the great promises God has given to great sinners.
3. Because of the nature of God.
4. From what I know of the value of the blood of Jesus. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Then Manasseh knew that the Lord He was God.—
Forgiveness and the knowledge of God
Men first begin to know God when they are forgiven. What did the prodigal know about his father when he asked for the portion of goods that fell to him, or while he was wasting his substance in riotous living? Because love and forgiveness are more strange and unearthly than rebuke and chastisement, the sinner is humbled by pardon far more than by punishment; and his trembling submission to the righteous Judge deepens into profounder reverence and awe for the God who can forgive, who is superior to all vindictiveness, whose infinite resources enable Him to blot out the guilt, to cancel the penalty, and annul the consequences of sin. (W. H. Bennett, M.A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. And when he was in affliction] Here is a very large addition in the Chaldee: “For the Chaldeans made a brazen mule, pierced full of small holes, and put him within it, and kindled fires all around it; and when he was in this misery, he sought help of all the idols which he had made, but obtained none, for their were of no use. He therefore repented, and prayed before the Lord his God, and was greatly humbled in the sight of the Lord God of his fathers.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
12, 13. when he was in affliction,he besought the Lord his GodIn the solitude of exile orimprisonment, Manasseh had leisure for reflection. The calamitiesforced upon him a review of his past life, under a conviction thatthe miseries of his dethronement and captive condition were owing tohis awful and unprecedented apostasy (2Ch33:7) from the God of his fathers. He humbled himself, repented,and prayed for an opportunity of bringing forth the fruits ofrepentance. His prayer was heard; for his conqueror not only releasedhim, but, after two years’ exile, restored him, with honor and thefull exercise of royal power, to a tributary and dependent kingdom.Some political motive, doubtless, prompted the Assyrian king torestore Manasseh, and that was most probably to have the kingdom ofJudah as a barrier between Egypt and his Assyrian dominions. But Godoverruled this measure for higher purposes. Manasseh now showedhimself, by the influence of sanctified affliction, a new and betterman. He made a complete reversal of his former policy, by not onlydestroying all the idolatrous statues and altars he had formerlyerected in Jerusalem, but displaying the most ardent zeal inrestoring and encouraging the worship of God.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when he was in affliction,…. In prison; however, in fetters; according to the Targum, the Chaldeans made an instrument of brass with holes in it, and put him in it, and fire about it, something like the brasen bull of Perillus; and the above Arabian writer k calls it a tower of brass:
he besought the Lord his God; by prayer and supplication:
and humbled himself greatly before the Lord God of his fathers; confessing his sins, expressing great sorrow and repentance for them.
k Abulph. & Suidas, ib. (Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 3. p. 67.)
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
= , 2Ch 28:22. In this his affliction he bowed himself before the Lord God of his fathers, and besought Him; and the Lord was entreated of him, and brought him again to Jerusalem, into his kingdom. The prayer which Manasseh prayed in his need was contained, according to 2Ch 33:18., in the histories of the kings of Israel, and in the sayings of the prophet Hozai, but has not come down to our day. The “prayer of Manasseh” given by the lxx is an apocryphal production, composed in Greek; cf. my Introduction to the Old Testament, 247.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(12) When he was in affliction.See this phrase in 2Ch. 28:22.
He besought.Literally, stroked the face, a curious realistic phrase occurring in Exo. 32:11.
The God of his fathers.Whom he had forsaken for the gods of aliens. Some MSS., and the Syriac, Targum, and Arabic insert Jehovah before this phrase.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2Ch 33:12. When he was in affliction, he besought the Lord, &c. The Jews have a tradition, that while Manasseh was at Babylon, by the direction of his conqueror, he was put in a large brazen vessel, full of holes, and set near a great fire; that, in his extremity, he had recourse to all those false deities to whom he had offered so many sacrifices, but received no relief from them; that, remembering what he had heard his good father Hezekiah say, namely, “When thou art in tribulation, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee.” Deu 4:30-31 he was thereupon immediately delivered, and in a moment translated to his kingdom. This is no less a fiction than that miraculous flame, which the author of the imperfect comment upon St. Matthew speaks of, that encompassed Manasseh on a sudden as he was praying to God, and, having melted his chains asunder, set him at liberty. In all probability, it was Saos-duchin, the successor of Esar-haddon, who, some years after his captivity, released Manasseh out of prison. Bishop Hall remarks, from this verse, the truth of that saying of the prophet, Affliction giveth understanding. If the cross bear us not to heaven, says he, nothing can. What use were there of the grain, but for the edge of the sickle wherewith it is cut down, the stroke of the flail wherewith it is threshed, the weight and attrition of the mill wherewith it is crushed, the fire of the oven wherewith it is baked? Say now, Manasseh, with that grandfather of thine, It is good for me that I have been afflicted: thine iron was more precious to thee than thy gold; thy jail was a more happy lodging to thee than thy palace; Babylon was a better school to thee than Jerusalem. How foolish are we, to frown upon our afflictions! These, how severe soever, are our best friends: they are not, indeed, for our pleasure, but for our profit; their issue makes them worthy of a welcome. What should we care how bitter that potion is that brings us health?
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Ch 33:12 And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
Ver. 12. And when he was in affliction. ] When the rod spake, he heard it Mic 6:9 who would not hear the word. 2Ch 33:10 God sent him into the dungeon to repent; as he did David into the depths, and Jonah into the whale’s belly to pray. Adversity hath whipt many a soul to heaven, which otherwise prosperity had coached to hell.
He besought the Lord.
And humbled himself greatly.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
And when: 2Ch 28:22, Lev 26:39-42, Deu 4:30, Deu 4:31, Jer 31:18-20, Hos 5:15, Mic 6:9, Luk 15:16-18
he besought: 2Ch 33:18, 2Ch 33:19, Psa 50:15, Act 9:11
the Lord: 2Ch 28:5
humbled: 2Ch 33:19, 2Ch 33:23, 2Ch 32:26, Exo 10:3, Luk 18:14, Luk 18:15, Jam 4:10, 1Pe 5:5, 1Pe 5:6
Reciprocal: Lev 26:41 – humbled Lev 26:43 – and they Deu 8:2 – to humble Deu 17:20 – his heart Jos 7:19 – make 1Ki 8:47 – Yet if they 2Ki 13:4 – the Lord 2Ki 22:19 – humbled 2Ch 6:26 – thou dost 2Ch 7:14 – humble 2Ch 12:6 – humbled 2Ch 12:12 – when 2Ch 15:2 – if ye seek him 2Ch 30:11 – humbled themselves 2Ch 34:27 – humble 2Ch 36:12 – humbled Ezr 8:23 – and he was entreated Job 5:8 – seek Job 8:5 – thou wouldest Job 33:26 – pray Psa 10:17 – humble Psa 51:17 – thou Psa 107:13 – General Psa 116:4 – called Ecc 3:1 – every thing Ecc 7:14 – but Isa 26:16 – in trouble Isa 57:15 – with Jer 13:18 – Humble Jer 36:7 – It may Jer 44:10 – are not Lam 3:29 – putteth Lam 3:55 – General Eze 18:21 – if the Dan 4:36 – mine Dan 4:37 – those that walk Mic 6:8 – walk humbly Mat 5:3 – the poor Mat 20:5 – and did Mat 24:40 – the one Luk 15:18 – will arise Luk 18:13 – a sinner Luk 23:41 – we indeed Joh 4:10 – thou wouldest Act 8:22 – pray Act 9:9 – General Phi 4:6 – in 1Ti 2:8 – pray Jam 4:6 – giveth grace Jam 4:7 – Submit Jam 5:13 – any among
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
GODLESS AND GODLY
Worse than the heathen. In affliction he besought the Lord his God.
2Ch 33:9; 2Ch 33:12
I. It is fearful to think into what depths of wickedness it is possible to fall.The story of Manasseh frightens us. He had a good father and was brought up amid holy influences. Yet when he became king he turned away from all that was good and beautiful and sank into the worst sins. As we read about the things he did we see the terrible danger of departing from God. We cannot know where our departure will end.
II. One of the worst things about a bad life is that it leads others also into evil.Manasseh was a king and he led a whole nation astray. A father or mother who does wrong takes a whole family away from God. But every one has influence over others. Every young person who lives wickedly draws companions or friends in the evil course. We ought to think of this when we are tempted. Our sin does not destroy ourselves only.
III. Sin always brings trouble.Even if one is not punished at once, doing wrong draws a curse after it some time. Manassehs wickedness brought enemies upon him and he was carried away as a captive. He was treated shamefully. Chains were put upon him and he was cruelly used. But it is thus that sin always uses those who become its slaves. People fancy sometimes that it is hard to be a Christian, but it is far harder to live in sin. However pleasant it may be at the time we do wrong, it brings bitterness in the end.
IV. The worst may repent and be saved.Manasseh had grown into terrible wickedness, but when he turned his heart to God and called for mercy he was forgiven and restored. The trouble that his sin brought upon him was Gods way of bringing him to see the evil of his course and of leading him to repentance. Then not only was Manasseh forgivenhe was also restored to his place as king, that he might build up again what he had destroyed. So we see him pulling down the idols and idol temples he had set up and repairing and restoring the Temple of God which he had violated. God is very merciful, and there is joy in heaven when a sinner repents. Manassehs repentance caused joy.
Illustrations
(1) After a Hezekiah comes a Manasseh, who entirely changed his policy, and undid the work of reform, and the men of Judah and Jerusalem followed him into more evil than did the nations of Canaan. How frail and changeable we are! There is no stability in human virtue. As a garden will return to a wilderness if it be not constantly tended, so would all goodness soon die out of the world if it were not for the grace of the Holy Spirit. The very existence of lovely and noble life among us is a perpetual witness to His being and energy.
(2) This repentance of Manasseh was evidently the chief subject in the mind of the chronicler, and while his sins are painted faithfully, and revealed in all their hideousness, all this becomes but background, which flings into relief the genuine penitence and the ready and gracious response of God. It is a wonderful picture in the midst of the prevailing darkness and persistent wickedness, this revelation of the readiness of God to pardon. It is always so if men will have it so. Far better to walk with a perfect heart before God through life; but where this has not been so, if there be genuine repentance, all the failures but serve to reveal in a clearer light the love of God. There is a solemn warning in the history of Amon, who, on coming to the throne, followed the earlier example of his father, and was so utterly corrupt that his own servants conspired against him and slew him. While personal sin repented of brings ready forgiveness, the influence of the sinning days is terribly likely to abide.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2Ch 33:12. When he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God Being deprived of his authority and liberty, and secluded from his evil counsellors and companions, and from all his pleasures, in chains, and in a prison, without any other prospect than of ending his days in that wretched situation, he had leisure to reflect on what had passed. He then, no doubt, recollected the honour, prosperity, and deliverances with which his father had been favoured; his own good education, with the instruction and warnings of the prophets; and his atrocious, multiplied, and daring crimes: and he remembered that his miseries had been foretold by his faithful monitors. Thus, by the special grace of God, his solitude and affliction brought him to view his own conduct and character in another light than before, and he began to cry for mercy and deliverance, humbling himself greatly before the God of his fathers. Scott. Bishop Hall remarks, from this verse, the truth of that saying of the prophet, Affliction giveth understanding. If the cross bear us not to heaven, says he, nothing can. What use were there of the grain, but for the edge of the sickle, wherewith it is cut down; the stroke of the flail, wherewith it is beaten; the weight and attrition of the mill, wherewith it is crushed; the fire of the oven, wherewith it is baked? Say now, Manasseh, with that grand-father of thine, It is good for me that I have been afflicted; thine iron was more precious to thee than thy gold; thy jail was a more happy lodging to thee than thy palace; Babylon was a better school to thee than Jerusalem. How foolish are we to frown upon our afflictions! These, how severe soever, are our best friends: they are not indeed for our pleasure, they are for our profit; their issue makes them worthy of a welcome. What do we care how bitter that potion is which brings us health?