And when he was in affliction, he sought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
Read Chapter 33
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
His altars. Rabsaces was ignorant of the law, and upbraids the king for a commendable action. (Calmet)
Thus our adversaries foolishly blame us for keeping holy days and abstinence. (Haydock)
I know of a fifth baptism also, which is that of tears and takes much more work. It is received by one who washes his bed every night and his couch with tears; whose bruises sting through his wickedness; and who goes about mourning and is of a sad disposition. It is received by one who imitates the repentance of Manasseh and the humiliation of the Ninevites upon whom God had mercy; who utters the words of the Publican in the Temple, and is justified rather than the stiff-necked Pharisee; who like the Canaanite woman bends down and asks for mercy and crumbs, the food of a dog that is very hungry. - "On the Holy Lights, Oration 39.17"
O happy penitence which has drawn down upon itself the eyes of God, and which has by confessing its error changed the sentence of God’s anger! The same conduct is in the Chronicles attributed to Manasseh, and in the book of the prophet Jonah to Nineveh, and in the gospel to the publican. The first of these not only was allowed to obtain forgiveness but also recovered his kingdom, the second broke the force of God’s impending wrath, while the third, striking his breast with his hands, “would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven.” Yet for all that the publican with his humble confession of his faults went back justified far more than the Pharisee with his arrogant boasting of his virtues. - "Letter 77.4"
