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A beautiful lily laid in your hand would show you nothing of the mud and slime of the river bed from which it sprung. Like such a lily is Hezekiah, the flower of kings. Some natures seem to grow strong in virtue, by contact with its opposite. Joseph, Moses, end Daniel ripened in strange gardens, and Hezekiah must have sucked honey out of thistles. Consider —

I. HIS REVERENCE. Victor Hugo affirms that neither Wellington nor Blucher won the battle of Waterloo. Napoleon conquered himself. His own excessive weight destroyed the equilibrium. "He vexed God" by his importance, and so his fall was decreed. Hezekiah began his reign by exalting God and humbling himself.

II. HIS RELIGIOUS ZEAL.

III. HIS PUBLIC SPIRIT.

IV. HIS SINCERITY OF HEART.

(Monday Club Sermons.)

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KJV: And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the LORD his God.

WEB: Hezekiah did so throughout all Judah; and he worked that which was good and right and faithful before Yahweh his God.