========================================================================
  WRITINGS OF F W KRUMMACHER - VOLUME 1
  by F.W. Krummacher
========================================================================

A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by F.W. Krummacher
(Volume 1), compiled for study and devotional reading.

  Chapters: 99

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. 01.00.00.  A GLANCE INTO THE KINGDOM OF GRACE
    2. 01.00.01.     Prefaces
    3. 01.00.02.     Contents & License
    4. 01.1.     A Mother's Love
    5. 01.2.     The Camp of Judah
    6. 01.3.     Issachar
    7. 01.4.     The Vision of The Night
    8. 01.5.     Spiritual Decline and Recovery
    9. 01.6.     The Dew of Israel
   10. 01.7.     The Saviour's Joy
   11. 01.8.     The Temptation of Christ
   12. 01.9.     Authors Bio
   13. 02.00.1. ELIJAH THE TISHBITE
   14. 02.00.3.     Copyright Information
   15. 02.00.4     Table of Contents
   16. 02.01.     Elijah's First Appearance
   17. 02.02.     Elijah At The Brook Cherith
   18. 02.03.     The Departure for Zarephath
   19. 02.04.     Raising The Widow's Son at Zarephath
   20. 02.05.     Elijah and Obadiah
   21. 02.06.     Deliverance from the Mouth of the Lion
   22. 02.07.     Elijah and the People at Mount Carmel
   23. 02.08.     The Decision at Mount Carmel
   24. 02.09.     The Prayer on Mount Carmel
   25. 02.10.     Flight Into the Wilderness
   26. 02.11.     Visit Under the Juniper Tree
   27. 02.12.     Arrival at Mount Horeb
   28. 02.13.     The Manifestation on Mount Horeb
   29. 02.14.     Renewed Mission
   30. 02.15.     The Hidden Church
   31. 02.16.     The Callings of Elisha
   32. 02.17.     Naboth's Vineyard
   33. 02.18.     Ahab's Repentance
   34. 02.19.     The Journey to Ekron
   35. 02.20.     The Preaching By Fire
   36. 02.21.     The Work-Day Evening
   37. 02.22.     The Passage Through Jordan
   38. 02.23.     The Great Request
   39. 02.24.     The Ascension
   40. 02.25.     The Parting
   41. 02.26.     The Legacy
   42. 02.27.     Growth In Grace
   43. 02.28.     The Writing Which Came to Jehoram from Elijah
   44. 02.29.     The Mount of Transfiguration
   45. 02.30.     The Holy Embassy
   46. 02.31.     The Shekinah
   47. 02.32.     None But Jesus
   48. 03.00.1. ELISHA: A PROPHET FOR OUR TIMES
   49. 03.00.2.     Preface
   50. 03.01.     Elisha's Appearance: 2Ki_2:19-22
   51. 03.02.        The Character of Elisha's Mission
   52. 03.03.        His First Prophetic Appearance
   53. 03.04.     The Judgment at Bethel: 2Ki_2:23-25
   54. 03.05.        The Origin of the Mockery
   55. 03.06.        The Nature of the Mockery
   56. 03.07.        The Consequences of Mockery
   57. 03.08.     The Expedition against Moab: 2Ki_3:9-12
   58. 03.09.        The Embarrassment of the Kings
   59. 03.10.        The Kings Visit Elisha
   60. 03.11.     The Miraculous Relief: 2Ki_3:13-19
   61. 03.12.        Elisha's Address to the Kings
   62. 03.13.        The Minstrel
   63. 03.14.        The Prophet's Directions
   64. 03.15.     The Augmentation of the Oil: 2Ki_4:1-7
   65. 03.16.        A Poor Widow's Distress
   66. 03.17.        The Widow's Care of the Prophet
   67. 03.18.        The Widow's Miraculous Relief
   68. 03.19.     The Shunammite: 2Ki_4:8-37
   69. 03.20.        Lodging at Shunem
   70. 03.21.        The Grateful Guest
   71. 03.22.        The Dying Child
   72. 03.23.        Gehazi with Elisha's Staff
   73. 03.24.        The Raising from the Dead
   74. 03.25.     Death in the Pot: 2Ki_4:33-41
   75. 03.26.        The Dearth in the Land
   76. 03.27.        Death Familiar among the Heirs of Heaven
   77. 03.28.        The Lord's Hand not Shortened
   78. 03.29.     The Man from Baal-Shalisha: 2Ki_4:42-44
   79. 03.30.        The Man with the Loaves
   80. 03.31.        Elisha's Command
   81. 03.32.        The Confusion of Gehazi
   82. 03.33.     Naaman: 2Ki_5:1-2
   83. 03.34.        Naaman the Syrian
   84. 03.35.        The Little Israelitish Maiden
   85. 03.36.     The Little Maid from a Foreign Land: 2Ki_5:3
   86. 03.37.        Sold at Market
   87. 03.38.        The Disease
   88. 03.39.     The Journey to Samaria: 2Ki_5:4-7
   89. 03.40.        Naaman's Preparation for His Journey
   90. 03.41.        Naaman's Passport
   91. 03.42.        Naaman's Arrival in the Holy Land
   92. 03.43.     The Beggar: 2Ki_5:8-10
   93. 03.44.        The Intervention of Elisha
   94. 03.45.        The Journey to Jericho
   95. 03.46.        The Prophet's Directions
   96. 03.47.     The Way of Recovery: 2Ki_5:11-14
   97. 03.48.        Naaman's Displeasure
   98. 03.49.        The Servant's Protest
   99. 03.50.     The Cure: 2Ki_5:14-15

========================================================================
  CHAPTER 1: 01.00.00.  A GLANCE INTO THE KINGDOM OF GRACE
========================================================================

A GLANCE

INTO THE KINGDOM OF GRACE by F. W. KRUMMACHER, D.D. translated from the German
by, Rev. Maximilian Geneste, M.A.

Second Edition

LONDON:

James Nisbet and Co. Berners Street;

John Johnstone, Edinburgh; and W. Curry and Co. Dublin

1841


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  CHAPTER 2: 01.00.01.     PREFACES
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THE AUTHORS PREFACE

Sermons are a species of reading held in little estimation by the world. Among
literary productions, by far the lowest place is assigned them, as a light and
airy commodity by which knowledge cannot be promoted or extended; and an
Authorship which is limited to Sermons, is regarded as of no value, and in the
award of fame and merit is deemed but as dust in the balance. Collections of
Sermons are nevertheless showered down upon us, and every successive season
threatens a new flood, by which an inundation may at length be apprehended, not,
however, of serious consequence; since, almost without exception, they descend
with rapid haste into the deep and silent pit of oblivion, soon enough ― alas,
in few cases can it be said too soon ― to find their grave, and terminate their
ephemeral existence.

Under such circumstances, and amid the loud complaint of the reading community,
made without intermission respecting the multitudes of religious compositions
with which, like a swarm of locusts, they are visited and overwhelmed, the
Author of the accompanying volume, which, moreover, makes its appearance in the
despised form of Sermons, does not find himself under the least concern to
justify its publication. To use the hackneyed pretense, and say, that he
published it by " particular request," his conscience will not allow; and of the
value of his productions, to say the truth, he has no very great opinion: at the
same time, he would have it understood, that the well known tenets contained
therein are to him beyond all worth, " better than gold and fine gold," and more
precious than life itself.

The Author is perfectly sensible, that these Sermons little accord with the form
and standard of the modern school, nor would they pass the ordeal of critical
acumen. The sapient mother, Didactic Wisdom, if she should deign to look upon
these productions, would see them, for the most part, so inartificial, so
disconnected and irregular, that she could not possibly acknowledge them as her
offspring, but would pronounce over them " Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin; "
Expository Wisdom would with displeasure observe, in certain parts, the absence
of the literal meaning; another school would complain of the want of good taste;
while Critical Philosophy would find fault with the deficiency of sound
reasoning.

The author hopes, by this self-condemnation, to propitiate those worthy
gentlemen who sit in judgment, and he would give utterance to the wish, that
they would admit, as an excuse for the publication of these discourses, that he
both preached and committed them to writing, not for the wise men after the
flesh, nor for the mighty, nor for the noble, of whom the apostle in one place
speaks, and whose applause he must be content to forego; but for those whom man
despiseth, but whom God hath chosen, for the sojourners in Mesech, and
especially for the babes among them, to whom these sermons may perhaps convey a
little honey from the slain lion; as it is written, ’"Out of the eater came
forth meat, and out of the strong, sweetness."

As it respects the title of the publication, " A Glance into the Kingdom of
Grace," it may be observed, that it is designed to point out the subject treated
of, since the sermons refer, for the most part, to the daily experience and
inward state of the children of grace in the way of salvation. That respecting
Issachar would have been omitted in this collection, if the Author had been
aware that it had already made its appearance in another place.

The Sacred Writings, his own heart, and the people who surround him, constitute
together, the Volume of instruction to which the preacher of the gospel should
especially direct his studies and inquiries, and from which he should borrow the
materials of all his Discourses.

If, therefore, this publication should be recognized by the experienced as
genuine gleanings from that living and inexhaustible Volume; and if, here and
there, a hungry soul should receive from these crumbs any comfort and
refreshment, then all the desires will be accomplished with which the Author,
with great diffidence, sends them forth into the world.

THE AUTHOR.

TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE.

The name of Krummacher is now familiar to the English ear; and the satisfaction
with which some of his works have already been received, might alone be deemed a
sufficient apology for adding to their number: but there is another reason, of
still greater force ― the intrinsic merits of his writings are such as cannot
fail to recommend them to the lovers of scriptural simplicity and truth.

It has been the endeavor of the Translator, in presenting the Author to the
public in another garb, to produce, as far as possible, the same impression on
the English mind, which the original work is calculated to make on the German.

He is fully sensible of the difficulty of translation, and conscious of the
great loss which a writer must sustain in having his ideas transferred into a
different language; but if, with the absence of his elegance and power of
expression, the meaning of the Author has in any case not been conveyed, it must
be attributed to the fault, not to the intention of the Translator.

This small volume comprises the whole of that to which Dr. Krummacher refers in
his Preface, with the exception of one discourse, namely, " The Temptation of
Christ in the Wilderness," which he states to be a short abridgment of a course
of Sermons delivered to his people in the vale of Barmen.’ That brief Treatise,
as it may be termed, does not appear necessarily to form a part of his design as
expressed in the title-page, and, from its nature and construction, it differs
in various respects from the rest of the work.

Should this effort be made effectual, through the blessing of God, for the
spiritual good of any of those to whom Dr. Krummacher can speak only through the
medium of a translation, the highest wish and earnest desire of the translator,
with regard to the publication, will be abundantly gratified.

THE TRANSLATOR.

West Cowes, September, 1837.

NOTICE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

The Translator has gladly availed himself of the opportunity afforded by the
demand for a New Edition of this Work, carefully to revise the whole: he has in
some instances endeavored to elucidate and otherwise improve the text. "The
Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness," omitted in the former impression, but
subsequently published by itself, is included in the present Volume. Some
passages have been altered, in which a degree of speculation was indulged, the
result of a luxuriant imagination, but which might not be deemed suitable for
general readers in this country.

West Cowes, December, 1837.


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  CHAPTER 3: 01.00.02.     CONTENTS & LICENSE
========================================================================

CONTENTS.

1. A Mother’s Love, or The Tender Compassion of Our God 2. The Camp of Judah 3.
Issachar, or The Couching Between Two Burdens 4. The Vision of The Night 5.
Spiritual Decline and Recovery 6. The Dew of Israel 7. The Saviour’s Joy 8. The
Temptation of Christ in The Wilderness 9. Authors Bio.

License Copyright Status: This book is in the Public Domain.

License: Creative Commons 3.0 Unported (by-nc-sa) 2010 This book may be freely
copied and distributed worldwide. This book may be freely downloaded from
Internet Archive, in PDF or Text format:
http://www.archive.org/advancedsearch.php

Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD
hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for
them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be
mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will
spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return,
and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God
and him that serveth him not. Malachi 3:16-18


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  CHAPTER 4: 01.1.     A MOTHER'S LOVE
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Chapter 1 A MOTHER’S LOVE, OR THE TENDER COMPASSION OF OUR GOD

"But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a
woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son
of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold I have
graven thee upon the palms of my hands: thy walls are continually before me." -
Isaiah 49:14-16

Truly, the Lord loveth the gates of Zion. Glorious things are spoken of thee,
city of God. Behold a fruit tree near a fountain, from whence thousands of weary
pilgrims in every age, have gathered golden fruits, and it flourishes, and
blossoms, and is still richly laden. O let every troubled soul draw near, and
partake of this heavenly manna.

Three things here demand our attention ―

1. The building of Zion.

2. The mournful complaint of the daughter of Zion, and 3. The assurance of God’s
love to his afflicted children.

These shall be the subjects of our meditation.

1. THE BUILDING OF ZION

Go round about Zion, mark well her bulwarks, and consider the towers thereof.
Zion is the city of the living God, ― the church, the tabernacle, or building of
which St. Peter speaks, when he addresses those that are born of water and of
the Holy Ghost, and says. " Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual
house." (1 Peter 2:5) Such is a full and comprehensive representation of the
church of God. Do you inquire respecting the Great Master Builder? The Creator
of all things is the founder of the church. Its builder and maker is God. Before
the world was called into being, its design was minutely portrayed, in all its
beautiful proportions, in the counsels of the Eternal. The height, and breadth,
and length of God’s building were accurately defined; the period within which it
should be perfected was determined; the stones were all numbered, and the places
specified whence they should be obtained. Nearly six thousand years have elapsed
since God begun the spiritual building, and Yet it is still in progress, and in
perfect accordance with the original design. It is the work of God alone. We are
only instruments which he employs; all the glory is his. He shall build the
temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory. (Zechariah 6:12-13) He is
jealous for the honour of his name. Do you ask respecting the foundation of the
church? St. Paul has furnished us with the answer: " Other foundation can no man
lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 3:11) The
incarnate God is the foundation. If trust be reposed in any other Saviour than "
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world;" (John 1:29) if the
surety-ship of blood be wanting, it is " no house of the Lord." The true church
is based upon Christ; but not upon him with whom the world can find no fault;
nor upon him whom an infidel and atheistic philosophy can tolerate; but it rests
upon that crucified Saviour who is to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the
Greeks foolishness, but to them that are called, Christ the power of God, and
the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:23-24) And what is the building itself? It
consists of stones, yea, of living stones. (1 Peter 2:5) Stones, indeed, are we
all by nature, gravitating earthwards, cleaving to the dust, hard, cold,
lifeless. How many of you have sat for years, unmoved alike by tenderness or
wrath! The rain and dew have fallen from heaven; the sun has shone in his
brightness; the awful storm of thunder and lightning has passed over you; and
yet you remain unfeeling, obdurate, unchanged. Is not this like the stone, like
the rock of flint? But, thanks be unto God, there is one who can, of these
stones, raise up children unto Abraham. (Matthew 3:9)

It is even these hard and unyielding materials that God has selected for the
building of the spiritual temple, that the greatness of his power may be made
manifest. He chose not the angels and the heavenly host; He chose not the
legions of devils, and the fallen morning stars; but the spiritually dead,
miserable, and helpless children of Adam; these are the quarry from whence he
collects the stones, with which to raise the walls of Zion. And as the building
is the Lord’s, so is the separation of the stones from the quarry. His servants,
the ministers of the Gospel, have power to loosen no stone; for he speaks the
word by their mouth; he directs the stroke where it shall fall. " My word,"
saith the Lord, " is as the hammer, and as the fire which breaketh in pieces the
rocks."

God’s methods in effecting this great work are not uniform, but various. Some
are loosened gradually and gently, after long preparation, as Mary, Lazarus, and
Martha. Others are forcibly severed; then is the work more speedy, and also more
perceptible, as Peter, and Nicodemus. Others are rent as by a flash of
lightning, like Paul on his way to Damascus, or the jailer at Philippi: there is
a clap of thunder, and at once the stone is set free. But when may it be said
that the stone is loosened? It is at that moment, my brethren, when the man, by
the Spirit of God becomes conscious that he is a miserable sinner, utterly lost,
and is led to repentance. Then is he separated from the quarry. God has taken
him thence, and he is altogether changed; differing from the stones which remain
in the quarry, he has become a living stone, and is awakened to recollection and
calling upon God. He is now formed and polished by the hand of the builder, and
laid upon the wall of the spiritual temple, being united to Christ the
foundation, by a living faith, by a faith of the operation of God. (Colossians
2:12)

If we examine the building more narrowly, we shall discover a remarkable
similarity in the living stones of which it is composed. Collected from the
various nations of the earth both savage and cultivated, and diverse from each
other in kind and quality, as soon as they occupy the place assigned them in the
spiritual temple, all diversity ceases, and they severally form a constituent
part of that magnificent edifice, which is distinguished for uniformity of
execution no less than unity of design, and in the harmony and beauty of whose
several parts, the glory of the Lord is specially made manifest. They are all
sprinkled with the same blood, all renewed by the same Spirit: and though to
themselves they appear utterly unworthy, they are, in the eyes of God, pure as
the lily, and whiter than the snow. They are a lowly, contrite people,
sojourners in Mesheck, (Psalms 120:5) pilgrims of God, who have here no
continuing city, but seek one that is to come. (Hebrews 13:14) In the world they
have tribulation, but in Christ they have peace: (John 16:33) they long and
"wait for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of their body," (Romans 8:23.)
and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. They have " one faith, one hope,
one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and
in them all. (Ephesians 4:5) Herein is the unity of the true church. Jerusalem
is a city that is at unity in itself. (Psalms 122:3; Psalms 133:1)

One in spiritual life; the gifts and graces of the members of Christ are
manifold and diversified. "Behold," saith the Lord, to his church, " I will lay
thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires; and I will
make thy windows of agate, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of
pleasant stones." (Isaiah 54:11) They are all precious stones; but one, in whom
hope predominates, may be compared to an emerald; a second is distinguished for
love; he is a ruby: in a third we are struck by the prevalence of a child-like
simplicity and humility; he is a sapphire; a fourth is a transparent crystal,
shining in wisdom and knowledge. One is contemplative and intellectual; another
active and laborious. One is a babe, another a young man, a third is a father in
Christ. Various as are the means by which they are brought nigh to God, yet they
are all one in Christ Jesus. And "all this worketh that one and the self-same
Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and
hath many members, and all the members of that body, being many, are one body;
so also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether
we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to
drink into one Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:1-13.) One Spirit works in all, and,
as He wills, Gives varied gifts on either hand; But when each stone its place
allotted fills. The temple shall completed stand;

Glorious amidst the city of our God!

There shine those gems of many a hue.

Thus shall his church appear ― his saints’ abode. Who seemed so mean to mortal
view.

2. THE MOURNFUL COMPLAINT OF THE DAUGHTER OF ZION The Lord loveth the gates of
Zion. But how deeply and how tenderly he loves her, she appears not to know; or
why does she utter this mournful complaint, " The Lord hath forsaken me, and my
Lord hath forgotten me." O Zion, weep rather for thyself. If thou wouldst
believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God.

Visitations of calamity or of judgment may indeed he sent, under which nothing
would be more appropriate than such a complaint. When, at the time of Noah, the
whole world stood in hostile array against the Lord and against his anointed,
and all, with the exception of a single family, were overwhelmed in one common
and universal destruction; or when, both in Israel and Judah, the seed of
Abraham revolted from Jehovah, and the knees of his elect people bowed before
the altars of Moloch and of Baal; or when the haughty king of Babylon trampled
with, the iron shoe of war the ruined fragments of Salem’s towers, and the
abomination of desolation was set up by Antiochus, on the altar of the Lord, and
the holy book of God was torn by profane hands, and cast into the flames; or
when, in later days, papal darkness brooded over the church, and obscured the
light of heaven; or when, yet darker still, a godless illuminator dared to mock,
as " the crucified," the Lord of lords ― ah! "who then would chide the daughter
of Zion because she hung her harp upon the willows, and clothed herself in
mourning as a widow, and gave utterance to that melancholy cry, " The Lord hath
forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me!" And what is thy state in these our
days, thou daughter of Israel? Thou standest upon thy watch-tower, and lookest
round upon thy palaces, and behold they are rich and glorious. On all sides thou
hearest again the loud acclamations of Hosannah, Hosannah to Him that Cometh in
the name of the Lord. Again, there is a witness and a testimony awakened in the
land, where there was silence and sorrow ― the witness of Him whom thy soul
loveth. The blood-red banner of the cross is again unfurled; and showers of
blessings descend from the Lord. Take then thy harp from the bough of the willow
and utter a song of praise to the Lord, and of defiance to his enemies. But
should any one inquire of thee, " What of the night?" then mayest thou answer,
not, indeed, without tears, " The morning Cometh, and also the night; if ye will
inquire, inquire ye, return, come." Thou regardest thyself still as vile, even
as the worm Jacob, and sittest solitary, as a lonely cottage in a vineyard. Thou
seest that in a thousand places the ways of Zion mourn, and all her ways are
desolate, and her priests sigh and her virgins are afflicted. Thou castest thine
eyes upon the countless host of hirelings who continually cause the people to
err, and lead them through Golgotha to everlasting destruction. Thou beholdest
the millions of wandering sheep which hear not the voice of the good Shepherd,
and perish, eternally perish, and no man layeth it to heart. At the
contemplation of this darkness around thee, thy heart is well nigh broken, and
the bitter cry bursts from thee again, " The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord
hath forgotten me." But if Zion doth not collectively thus complain, yet do I
well know that in the hearts of many of the individual citizens of Zion, this
lamentation is not silenced. I hearken to you, and hear, O children of God; and
O! on every side of me, the heavy sigh escapes from many a heart, " The Lord
hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me."

There sits a poor weeping penitent, and he smites upon his breast and cries, "
God be merciful to me, a sinner! " As yet he knows not how to find the arms and
heart of the Saviour, and he thinks " the Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord
hath forgotten me.’

Yonder, behold a warrior in the hard conflict against sin and the devil, and as
he deals his blows around him, he cannot overcome that creeping serpent, whose
heads, when wounded, are continually renewed; and at length the poor soldier of
the cross sinks upon the earth, and exclaims, " My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me! "

Here lies a poor soul in the darkness of heavy temptation, agitated and
oppressed with fearful doubts, alarming forebodings, and thoughts which cause
all his bones to tremble. He doubts respecting his state, he doubts respecting
Christ and his love, and the cry impetuously bursts from his heart, " The Lord
hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me."

There languishes another, who has now, for a long long time, been in the fire of
outward tribulation, and the Lord comes not down to deliver him, and his enemies
rejoice over him and say, " Where is now thy God? " and alas! his God does not
reveal himself. The footsteps of the Lord are in the great waters, and his head
is veiled in the clouds, so that even the friends of this troubled soul begin to
say, " If thou wert righteous, God would not thus deal with thee; " and the poor
sufferer is dismayed, and cries out in the anguish of his soul, " The Lord hath
forsaken me." And whatever other causes may be assigned, is it not true, beloved
heirs of the kingdom, that the melancholy plaint is not unfrequently heard among
us, " The Lord hath forgotten me? " From many a heart does it arise, in many a
chamber does it become vocal, and on the beds of multitudes of the children of
Zion is it uttered, with bitter cries and tears, in the night, when the world is
still, and the inhabitants thereof are at rest.

Gather yourselves together, then, ye godly troubled souls, for I speak not to
those who have the sorrow of the world; gather yourselves together. Think not
that I mean to rebuke you for your unbelief. No! That belongs not to me: for the
Lord himself doth not rebuke you. Would you then comfort us? No beloved, not I;
for how would that relieve you? But I would direct you to One who is both able
and willing to comfort you. Behold! He is none other than the Lord God himself.
He has heard your cry; he knows your sorrows; and is come down to deliver you.
The bowels of his mercy yearn over you, his weeping children. Behold! Behold
him! See the light of his countenance lifted up upon you; the outstretched arms
of a merciful God and loving Father. He has a word to say to you; fear not. It
is a word by which the darkness of your souls shall at once be converted into
the brightness of the day.

3. THE ASSURANCE OF GOD’s LOVE TO HIS AFFLICTED CHILDREN.

"Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on
the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold I
have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before
me."

O, brethren, what grace, what comfort is here! Lay these words near your heart:
let not one be lost, and say whether they are not full of comfort! Is it not a
great and distinguished privilege to be permitted to fall down before the
Almighty in trembling reverence, and to call him our God? And it is yet a
greater blessedness to have boldness of access, through Christ, and to be
enabled to cry to him in the spirit of adoption, " Abba, Father." And mark this
well. It is as if God would encourage us to approach him with the confidence
which we repose in a mother, and freely, and openly, without any fear or
reserve, to communicate our inmost thoughts and feelings to himself. A mother’s
love is therefore set before us, and we are assured that it is but a faint and
imperfect emblem of the love of God.

Think, brethren, of the tender care and anxious solicitude of a mother! In whose
arms does an infant love to rest! In whose heart is the helpless babe enshrined!
By whose watchful care is his every want supplied! Is it not a mother’s? Who has
borne, and carried, and nourished, and fed you? Is it not a mother? Who, my dear
little ones, who is it that provides for you, and clothes you? Who corrects you,
when needful, and herself suffers more, at such times, than the corrected child?
Who comforts you, and gently lays you to rest?! is it not a mother? What more
dost thou desire, thou happy child? Softly lay thy head on the bosom of thy
mother, and repose in peace.

And, is it by a mother’s love that the Lord describes his own! It is my
brethren; and it is to you he speaks, and his voice is to the children of men.
Then, then, I have enough. What more do I need to hear? It is enough. ― No! my
beloved. God has yet more to say to you. He would tell you further how it is
that he loveth you.

" Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on
the son of her womb? " Such is the inquiry which the Lord makes. And mark the
rising force of the words, which is noticed by many ancient commentators. Can a
woman forget ― can she who is per-eminently endowed with feeling and affection ―
can she forget her child? The child may be ungrateful and rebellious, but will
she, on that account, forget him, withdraw from him her love, and banish him
from her heart! Never! never ― I confidently appeal to you who are mothers.

But, admitting that she may forget her grown-up son, and far distant daughter,
will she therefore forget her infant, her tender, helpless, sucking child, that
she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? O no! A tiger may forget
her young, but not a tender mother. But to suppose possible that which we
acknowledge to be an impossibility ― a mother may forget her little child: does
it then, of necessity, follow, that she will not have compassion on the son of
her womb? that she can, without pain, see him languish, and pine away, and die?
Ah, no! A mother’s eyes that had never wept, would at such a sight become a
fountain of tears. And where is the mother that would not, from the heart, cry
out, " Alas I my poor, poor child! would that I could suffer for thee, and ease
thee of thy pain! "

When, therefore, the Lord inquires, " Can a mother forget her sucking child "
are not all of you, who are mothers, ready with the answer? and do you not
reply, with one voice, " No, no! it cannot be! " And so, saith the Lord, will I
not forget you, my beloved children. Thus he loveth you with the tenderness of
the most tender mother.

But, yet more. Here is not only a mother’s tenderness, but a love beyond that of
a mother. For the Lord does not merely say, I will not forget thee: but he says,
"yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." If that which appears
impossible, should indeed take place ― a mother may forget her sucking child ―
yet will not I, the unchangeable, the eternal God, yet will not I forget thee.
This is strong language. Here is opened before us the deep abyss of love, which
the eye of man can never penetrate. And as we have no means to fathom it, so we
can form no conception, much less can we give any adequate expression thereof.

O daughter of Zion, canst thou now complain, " the Lord hath forsaken me, and my
Lord hath forgotten me?" Ah! such a cry is not right, it is sin, it is
blasphemy. Away with such unworthy complaint. Down in the dust and pray’’. And
how does the Lord close these words of heavenly comfort? " Behold I have graven
thee on the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." How
precious this assurance to Zion at large, as well as to each individual
believer! As an architect who is about to build a city, first lays down the
outline, and marks out the spaces required for houses, streets, squares, and
palaces, so also hath the Lord delineated his whole plan of the spiritual Zion:
and it is upon the palms of his hands that he hath graven it. There, in his
eternal purpose, doth it stand, finished and adorned in all its splendor: and
who can hinder Him from perfecting his great and mighty design? Though the
war-cry of the Canaanite and Samaritan may be, " Down with it! Down with it!
even to the ground!" yet will the flag of Zion ever wave on its towers of glory.
For the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The Lord loveth the gates of
Zion. Her walls are continually before him. With his favour doth he compass her
as with a shield. And as Zion is herself graven upon the palms of His hands, so
are each of the citizens thereof. O that every one of you could realize this for
yourselves. You are graven there, not in the form which you now bear, not in the
body of sin and death which still cleaves to you, (Romans 7:24) but in the
similitude of that perfect body in which you shall hereafter be raised in power.
(1 Corinthians 15:43) And whilst you are here suffering in the church militant,
and groan, being burdened, (2 Corinthians 5:4). God beholds you already invested
with the robes of righteousness, and bearing on high the palms of triumph, and
shining in the spotless purity and surpassing brightness of eternal glory.
(Revelation 7:9) Such as you stand engraven upon his hands, such you shall
assuredly be before the throne of the Majesty on high. Nor is there a moment in
which, wherever you are, his eyes are not upon you. Know, thou daughter of Zion,
that thou art ever before him.

Shouldst thou retire into solitude to weep ― shouldst thou water thy couch with
thy tears ― shouldst thou lie, with Elijah, under the lonely juniper tree ― or
withdraw into the deepest shades of the dark and dreary forest, the tender heart
of God is near thee, his watchful eye of love is over thee, and his right hand,
though unseen, upholds and strengthens thee. In whatever state or circumstances
thou mayest be, as often as thou sayest, " The Lord hath forsaken me, and my
Lord hath forgotten me," thou speakest not aright, thou doest thyself much
wrong, God knoweth. Ah! brother, if thine eyes were but once opened, as were the
eyes of the servant of the prophet, to see the angels of God that encamp around
thee, thou wouldat indeed be astonished.

Away then with needless care! Who should be careful that knows the tender love
of God! He forgetteth not his child, his little one, his helpless babe. O no.
The child of God may take this comfortable assurance home to his heart. But are
we his children? You are, brethren, if you can say, that with weeping hearts you
seek his grace: that you inwardly delight in the fruit of his Cross; that, with
a contrite spirit, you desire nothing more earnestly than to be washed in the
blood of Jesus. Then are you the children of God: and, though you are not yet
able to rejoice in the full assurance of your adoption into the family of
heaven, and as yet are not conscious of being the objects" of the tender love of
your God; nevertheless, believe in that love. The time for sensible experience
is not far distant. God would delight to lead us in a smoother and more pleasant
path than he is ordinarily wont to lead us, did not our salvation demand it
otherwise.

But, look well to it, dear brethren, each for himself, that you do not
groundlessly trust in the love and mercy of our God. It is to Zion only that God
speaks in my text. And it is not fasting and prayer, it is not works and
deservings, which bring us within the bonds of this covenant of grace and love;
it is a poor, broken, and contrite heart, a troubled spirit, and a soul sighing
and looking to the Cross of Jesus. The " Lord, remember me," of the thief upon
the cross ― the "God be merciful to me a sinner," which bursts from the heart of
the penitent, as, led by the Spirit, he bends in lowly reverence before the Lamb
of God offered in sacrifice ― such a prayer alone rends the heavens, such a
prayer finds its way, through our Advocate, to the heart of the Father; it is
the key of the sanctuary. that God may give it to you all for Jesus Christ’s
sake.

Amen.


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  CHAPTER 5: 01.2.     THE CAMP OF JUDAH
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Chapter 2 THE CAMP OF JUDAH.

’ And on the east side, toward the rising of the sun, shall they of the standard
of the camp of Judah pitch throughout their armies: and Nahshon, the son of
Amminadab, shall be captain of the children of Judah." - Numbers 2:3. This
chapter is entitled the order of the tribes in their tents. It informs us how
they encamped on their way to Canaan; but it has also a further signification.
For this people was a type of the spiritual Israel, and all God’s dealings with
them had a reference to greater things to come. All were allegorical prophetic,
significant ― shadows of those things of which the substance is to be found in
the kingdom of Christ. This remark applies not only to the whole multitude
collectively, but, individually, to the tribes of which it was composed. Thus,
in the words before us, we are taught the manner in which the people of God are
encamped in the present day.

Let us draw near, that we may behold more clearly this lovely sight. We will
observe, 1. The tribe of Judah.

2. His camp.

3. The position of his camp.

4. His standard.

5. His army.

6. His captain. And may the Spirit of the Lord direct our meditations aright.

1. THE TRIBE OF JUDAH.

It is generally understood that the tribe of Judah was a representation of the
New Testament Church, which is not unfrequently designated by the term Judah.
Thus it is said by the Prophet Joel, " Judah shall dwell for ever." (Joel 3:20)
And Zechariah foretells that " the Lord shall inherit Judah, his portion in the
holy land." (Zechariah 2:12) A similar allusion is contained in the blessing of
Jacob, " Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise." (Genesis 49:8) And
indeed, Judah possesses every qualification requisite to set forth the reality
of the spiritual church. Was Judah the most distinguished tribe which gave to
all Israel a race of kings? Behold here is an elect people, a people who are all
kings and priests, and whose sceptre shall govern all the inhabitants of the
earth. (Revelation 2:6) Was Judah the tribe in which the second Adam was born?
Behold, here is the woman clothed with the Sun, who by the power of the Spirit,
and the witness of the word, bringeth forth a man-child, even Christ, who is to
rule all nations with a rod of iron. (Revelation 12:1-5) Was Judah the tribe
which dwelt on Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, and, bore in its bosom the sanctuary of
God! Behold, here are the royal priesthood, the citizens of the heavenly Zion,
themselves the habitation of God by the Spirit. The holy fire is preserved among
them, and the glory of the Lord filleth the house. This then is the true Judah.
The name Judah signifies praise. Now, said his mother at his birth, will I
praise the Lord, and thence his name. So also is the spiritual Judah appointed
and ordained for the praises of Him, who hath called him out of darkness into
his marvellous light. Even when silent, there ascends from his tabernacles the
sacrifice of praise. For what was once the state of those who are now so highly
honoured? Were they not as firebrands snatched from the burning, and though now
a holy nation, and peculiar people, were they not once without God and without
Christ in the world? The golden harps which they bear in their hands, were
placed there by the God of Jacob, and though fellow heirs with the holy angels,
and inheritors of the glory that shall be revealed, their desert was the misery
and despair of the devil and his angels, in the blackness of darkness for ever.

Well may this people be called Judah, a praise to the Lord, for it is a living
monument of the power and grace of Christ, more glorious than the fabric of the
world, a people that he hath formed for himself, they shall show forth his
praise. (Isaiah 43:21.) He esteems them as his peculiar treasure. They are a "
crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of their
God." ( Isaiah 42:3.) " They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day
when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his son that
serveth him." (Malachi 3:17) Their names are borne on the breast-plate of the
Great High Priest into the Holy of holies, and when at length the Son of Man
shall come in his glory, and every eye shall see him, he shall come attended by
this people, they shall encircle him as a guard of honour, they shall sit on his
throne, and with him judge the world. They are made for the praise of the glory
of his grace, and thence they are termed Judah, that is, praise. Such are the
people of whom we speak. But let it be observed, that we have not here to do
with that Judah who dwelt at peace among the hills of Zion, and on the shores of
the Jordan, and sat beneath his own vine and fig-tree, none daring to make him
afraid; but our text refers to that Judah, who, abroad upon his march, amid the
sound of trumpet and the clang of war, pitched his camp in the barren
wilderness, and thought of battle and of strife. And the spiritual Judah in this
world has much more resemblance to a people so circumstanced, than to such as
were in the full enjoyment of peace within the borders of the promised land. For
they are enlisted under the banner of the cross, nor shall their warfare be
accomplished till they at length attain the crown. (Revelation 2:10)

Truly they have more adversaries than Midian and Amalek. Many are the
principalities and powers which stand opposed to them in hostile array. They
have enemies in the air, (Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 6:12.) and on the earth;
(Ephesians 5:14.) enemies in the house, (Matthew 10:36.) in the heart, (Mark
7:21-23.) and in the members; (James 4:1) enemies in the tumult of the world,
(Mark 10:17-25; Acts 4:25-30.) and in the solitary chamber; (Matthew 4:1.) and
on all sides they are beset with ambuscades and snares, and hidden mines. Thus,
therefore, of necessity, must they ever stand ready armed. (Psalms 57:6;
Proverbs 29:5.) The Judah of former days was divided into several companies,
each of which had its peculiar equipments. And it is the same in spiritual
things. As there is a diversity in form and outward circumstance, in complexion
and character, and spiritual experience, so is there a difference in the weapons
which they wield. The defence of some are tears, as it is with a child, who, on
the appearance of danger, runs weeping to his mother. This is a band of
combatants, who, when they are weak, then are they strong, and so one victory is
followed by another. Others protect themselves after the manner of a virgin,
with holy shame-facedness and modesty. Scarcely is the temptation presented,
when the heart starts back with trembling apprehension; " How shall I do this
great wickedness and sin against God?" (Genesis 39:9.) and Joseph is rescued. A
third class is skilled in the Word of God. " It is written," is their sword and
shield under every assault; and then, " Get thee hence, Satan, for thou
savourest not of the things that be of God." ( Matthew 9:10.) With sighs and
cries to God do others prevail, as Moses, in the conflict with Amalek, when
Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands towards heaven, and Amalek and his people were
discomfited with the edge of the sword. (Exodus 17:12.) Or the cross is lifted
up on high, and one look is directed to the bleeding victim hanging on the tree,
and the storm in the members is hushed, and Satan launches his weapons in vain.
The spiritual combatants are strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
They put on the whole armour of God, that they may he able to stand against the
wiles of the devil. For they wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore they take unto
them the whole armour of God, that they may he able to withstand in the evil
day, and having done all to stand. They stand, therefore, having their loins
girt about with truth, and having on the breast-plate of righteousness, and
their feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; above all, taking
the shield of faith, wherewith they are able to quench all the fiery darts of
the wicked. And they take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the
Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance (Ephesians 6:10-18.) The
Lord himself is their rock and then fortress, and their deliverer; their God,
their strength, in whom they "will trust; their buckler and the horn of their
salvation, and their high tower. (Psalms 18:2.) Relying on the thousand promises
which are graven on the Rock of ages, they know and are fully assured that no
enemy can do them harm. Wherever they encounter the adversary, they resist him
with firmness, and deride his power, and they rejoice in the fulfillment of the
promises of God, which are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus. (2Co 1::20.) As the
weapons are various which are used against the flesh and the devil, so are those
also which are opposed to scorners and blasphemers. In the camp of Judah one
fights with the transfixing arrows of meekness and love, blessing him that
curses, and healing coals of fire upon his head. To another is given a holy
conversation and heavenly example, to stay the tongue of slander. A third
ensures success by a simplicity and gentleness which confounds and perplexes the
enemy. And thus, by such-like weapons, taken from the spiritual armory, we
prevail; though we walk after the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling
down of strongholds; casting down imaginations and every ’’ high thing that
exalteth itself against the knowledge of God." (2 Corinthians 10:3-5.) Nor is
there a sword, or shield, or spear, or other instrument of war, found in the
camp of Judah, which is not furnished by Him who is given for a leader and
commander to the people, the Captain of the Lord’s host, the Captain of our
salvation. (Isaiah 55:4; Joshua 5:15; Hebrews 2:10.) 2. THE CAMP OF JUDAH.

"On the east side, toward the rising of the sun, shall they of the standard of
the camp of Judah pitch throughout their armies." Behold, then, this people in
their camp. The Lord of Hosts is with them! the God of Jacob is their refuge.
(Psalms 46:7.) And underneath are the everlasting arms; and he shall thrust out
the enemy from before them, and shall say. Destroy them. (Deuteronomy 33:27.)
But was it always so? Did the spiritual Judah, at all times, dwell in the secret
place of the Most High, and abide under the shadow of the Almighty! (Psalms
91:1.) No, brethren. A time was when they were without; {1 Corinthians 5:13.)
and though exposed to dangers and destitute of help, they thought that they were
safe. In fancied power, and imaginary goodness, they boasted of their state. But
now the hand of grace has subdued their haughty spirit, and bowed to the earth
their crown of pride. Now they lie in the dust, weak, and poor, and destitute,
and say, " In the Lord have I righteousness and strength." (Isaiah 45:24.) They
encamp; they march; they fight; they conquer. Poor in spirit, and ever deeply
sensible of their own unworthiness, they cast themselves at the feet of Jesus.
And should any one of them attempt to quit the camp of Judah, to lift up or
exalt himself he hears the voice of Jesus, calling him to return, and his former
position is resumed. (Isaiah 30:21; John 12:23.)

Down, therefore, to these depths must you all come who trust in a righteousness
of your own, and boast in a crown which your own hands have formed, (Jeremiah
9:24; 1 Corinthians 1:31.) There are no such vain confidences m Judah. They do,
indeed, glory; but it is in the Lord they glory. (2 Corinthians 10:17.) Their
crown is the crown of thorns, which encircled the brow of their King in the
common hall of Pilate. (Matthew 27:27.) Their robe of righteousness is the
garment dyed with blood, which their Lord was content to wear for their
salvation. (Isaiah 63:1.) And ye who weary yourselves in the pursuit of human
merit, that you may be your own saviors, and seek, by good works, to atone for
your past transgressions; O come down from your heights, and take your station
with the princely but lowly Judah. For Judah casts his crown upon the ground,
the crown of life which the Saviour gives him; he lays his forehead on the
footstool of the throne of grace, land is accepted in the Beloved. (Revelation
4:4-10; Ephesians 1:6.) The camp of Judah is pitched. It is not pleasing to the
Lord that this people should consume their time in vain and fruitless labours.
It is his will that they should rest in the enjoyment of the blessings which
were purchased by the agony and bloody sweat, by the cross and passion of the
Saviour. The feast is prepared for them; the time is come; all things are ready;
nothing is required but to partake of the bounties so amply provided. (Matthew
22:4.)

Happy then is our state in the camp of God. We may rest in peace, for thou.
Lord, only causest us to dwell in safety. Do we hear from afar the rushing of
the storm? We learn to rejoice more in the serenity which pervades the camp of
Judah. Do we hear, without, the war-cry of the enemy? Our souls are thus taught
to delight in the voice of peace, (Ephesians 2:13-15.) which proceeds from the
cross of Jesus, (Hebrews 12:24.). Do we hear at a distance the raging of hell?
We compare it with the quiet of our own habitations, and give praise to God. Are
we roused in our contemplation of future things by the voice of the archangel
and the trump of God, summoning the world to judgment? We hear it with joy, for
the more dreadful the things that must be hereafter, the sweeter our feeling of
security in the knowledge of reconciliation. For, whoever has prostrated himself
on the ground with Jesus in Gethsemane, and with the worm has become a worm,
shall certainly also partake with him of this rich and abiding portion. But how
is Judah encamped? In the form described by the wave-offering, namely, the form
of the cross ( See Numbers 8:11. marginal reading.) A most significant emblem!
For the people of God are saved by the cross. They cling to the cross of the
Redeemer, as to the plank which can rescue them from shipwreck. They rest upon
the cross as the alone foundation of their spiritual life, of their hopes, their
joys, and prospects. And whosoever is without the cross can claim no place in
the camp of Judah. But where are the resting places of this favored people They
dwell in a camp. In camps there are no fixed habitations, but only tabernacles
and tents, which are speedily and without difficulty pitched and taken down. And
it is well that it is so, for the children of Judah must always hold themselves
in readiness to march. They are but wanderers and sojourners in the world. The
feeling that they are such, should ever pervade their soul, and direct and
control their plans and operations. Theirs is the most happy condition upon
earth. Occupying for a season a temporary habitation, with hearts set free from
earthly entanglements, they confess that they are strangers and pilgrims on the
earth, and declare plainly that they seek a better country, that is, a heavenly.
(Hebrews 11:13-16.) Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he
hath prepared for them a city. (1 Corinthians 7:29-31.) And thus those that have
wives are as though they had none, and they that weep as though they wept not,
and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not, and they that buy as though
they possessed not, and they that use this world as not abusing it, for the
fashion of this world passeth away. And they know that the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in them. (Romans 8:18.) And though weeping may endure for a night, joy
cometh in the morning. (Psalms 30:5.) Here they have no continuing city, but
they seek one to come. (Hebrews 13:14.)

0, how happy are they who have learnt, as travellers, to press onward to their
much loved home, only seeking shelter for the night under a transient covert by
the way! This is acquired only in the school of Christ. And as external objects
affect so little the follower of Jesus, (for he looks not at the things which
are seen and temporal, but at the things which are not seen and eternal. So is
it not to be expressed how firm is the hold which the anchor of his hope takes
within the veil. One only knows, He who will shortly conduct His people to their
rest, to the haven where they would be. 0, happy art thou, Judah in thy tents,
and in thy dwellings by the way!

3. THE POSITION OF THE CAMP OF JUDAH.

Judah pitched "on the east side toward the rising of the sun." There is
something animating and joyous in this description ― on the east side, toward
the rising sun ― the evening behind them, the morning full in view. And observe,
that from the child upwards to the gray-headed, all in Judah look to the east,
to the sunrising. Where the Rose of Sharon blooms, where the Root of David sends
forth its shoots out of a dry and thirsty ground, and the chief of the host of
stars arises in splendor over the night, thither do they direct their looks ―
their thoughts.

Now the hill of Bethlehem is tipped before them from afar with glowing light,
and they hear, with transported soul, the song of the angels. Now they stand
upon the shore, and rejoice in Him, to whom the wind and the waves yield a ready
obedience. At one time, they build a tabernacle with Peter on the mountain of
the transfiguration, and dream dreams, and see visions of glorious things which
shall be hereafter. At another time, they visit Jesus in the lowly cabin of the
carpenter, their brother, in the form of a servant, and they adore His
condescension in becoming so closely related to them, and exclaim with tears, "
Brother! my Brother!" And now they enter into the darkness of Gethsemane, and
with trembling reverence eagerly catch the bloody sweat which drops from the
forehead of their Lord and Saviour, and the wounds of their souls begin to feel
its healing power. Then the mount of the crucifixion arises before the view. The
soul expands its wings, and on the cross of the dying penitent, adopts his
prayer, " Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom," and draws upon
itself the same blessing, "Verily, I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me
in paradise." (Luke 23:42; Luke 23:48.) Behold, the stone is rolled back from
the sepulcher in the garden of Joseph! Praise, praise the Lord. The Lion of the
tribe of Judah hath prevailed. He hath arisen victorious over death and the
grave. Death, where is thy sting? Grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be to God
who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And now the glories of
the rising morn are shed on the heights of Olivet. The soul mounts upwards. She
sees heaven opened, and God is gone up with a shout; the Lord with the sound of
a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises unto our king, sing
praises. (Psalms 47:5-6.) She breathes the air of paradise. She spreads abroad
her wings, and would fain ascend with the bridegroom to the chamber where the
marriage feast is prepared, and would leave for ever the earth and earthly
things.

Thus, my brethren, doth Judah fix his gaze upon the opening glories of the
morning. Thus is he encamped towards the east. Soon will the Sun of
Righteousness arise as a bridegroom out of his chamber with healing in his
wings. Already on every side, among Christians, the heathen, and the Jews, has
the harbinger of day announced His near approach. Already the dawn appears and
the eastern heavens are tinged with red, and the vapors which foretell the
coming day, the mists of uproar and confusion which arise from the camp of the
enemy, are dispersed as with the breath of a whirlwind.

He will come. The day-star from on high will visit us. The bride longs for his
appearing! " Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." He will come. ― The prince of the
kings of the earth in the clouds of heaven, and will soon bring to an end the
rage of His embittered enemies, and will establish the mountain of the Lord’s
house in the top of the mountains, and exalt it above the hills, and all nations
shall flow unto it. (Isaiah 2:2; Isaiah 2:5) house of Jacob, come ye and let us
walk in the light of the Lord. For our camp is pitched on the east side toward
the rising of the sun. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. We already
inhale the air of the morning, hoping, believing, looking upwards.

Behold then, on the east side, toward the rising sun, is Judah encamped. Thither
tends his soul, and as he gazes with longing and intense delight, his eyes fill
with tears, they fail with looking upward, and oppressed with the exceeding
weight of glory, he sighs for the time when mortality shall be swallowed up of
life.

Walk about Zion, and go round about her, tell the towers thereof, mark ye well
her bulwarks, consider her palaces, all look toward the east. (Psalms 48:12-13.)
Glorious as is the dwelling-place of the Lord among men, it bears no comparison
to that which shall be hereafter. If there was a glory, in the earthly temple,
when the brightness of the Messiah was concealed by the veil of mortality, will
it not be more strikingly made manifest in the world to come? And may not a
further accomplishment of the promise be yet anticipated? " For thus saith the
Lord of hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and
the earth, and the sea, and the dry land, and I will shake all nations, and the
desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill the house with glory, saith
the Lord of hosts." (Haggai 2:6-7.) " The glory of the latter house shall be
greater than that of the former, saith the Lord of hosts." (Haggai 2:9.) The
great Melchizedec, the king of Salem, the king of peace shall reign there. For
there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first
earth shall pass away. And the holy city, the new Jerusalem, shall come down
from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And a great
voice out of heaven shall say. Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he
will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be
with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain; for the former things will have passed away, and, behold, he
that sitteth upon the throne will make all things new. And he said unto me,
write, for these words are true and faithful. (Revelation 21:1-5.) The pilgrim
looks, therefore, towards the rising of the sun. He waits for the morning. To
behold this is his desire in this dark and desolate world. He longs for his
peaceful home, among the dwellings of the blessed. He thinks upon the morning of
the eternal sabbath, and cries with David, "as the hart panteth after the water
brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the
living God: when shall I come and appear before God r’(Psalms 42:1.)

Some in the camp of Judah are children of sorrow. They are encompassed by
doubts, and sit in darkness, yet their window is ever open towards the east,
hoping that the morning will quickly appear, that morning whose brightness and
splendor no night can obscure. Others, beset by a thousand obstacles, would
never know another happy hour, did they not perceive with the eye of
expectation, through the confused imagery around them, the dawning of that day
of which the poet speaks. As dreams shall seem the pilgrim’s fears;

Great day; when thy bright morn appears.

Others, whilst bowed down with grief they follow the remains of a beloved one to
the grave, though weeping, may rejoice for their eye, rests upon the dawning of
that morning which will unite all the saints in one indissoluble bond of union.

Yes; go to the chambers of the afflicted children of God; visit their bed of
suffering; see the brother of Job, the sister of Lazarus, and you may well ask,
how they are capable of sustaining their calamities, and whence are derived the
peace and serenity which beam in their eyes. But know, that to the upright their
ariseth a light in the darkness, there shineth over them from afar the
effulgence of a morning, such as the world never saw; an eternal Sabbath, a
blessed jubilee, with thousand crowns and thousand glories; and by faith they
behold Jesus himself, the Light of the world, the source of their present and
everlasting joy. They are encamped on the east side, toward the rising of the
sun. And it is as though they already heard the cheerful notes of the herald of
the day, and as though the morning breeze wafted its freshness through their
window, and the early dawn gladdened their chambers. O, praise, praise the Lord.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand.

Judah is pitched on the east side, toward the rising sun. Such also is the
position of the Saints, who, having been called to their rest, are sleeping in
Jesus. The sacred dust of those who were once the temple of the Holy Ghost, the
habitation of God, through the Spirit, is precious in His sight, and He guards
it as His treasure. Whilst the bodies of the just lie in the silent tomb, their
souls are happy with Jesus; but ere long, when the morning of the Resurrection
will dawn, the Spirit of the Lord will breathe upon them, and the voice of the
Archangel and the trump of God will awaken them from their long night of
slumber. At length they shall arise, invested with a radiance and glory
inexpressible, and the soul and body again being united, they shall enter as the
blessed of the Father into the joy of their Lord ― a praise to the Redeemer
throughout the ages of eternity. " Thy dead men shall live; together with my
dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust, for thy dew
is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." ( Isaiah 26:19.)

Yes, thou people of Judah, thou art indeed blessed. Wait patiently but a little.
Thy morning sun will soon arise. O sing, then, one of the songs of Zion.

I sigh for home, and feel a stranger Here, where all is drear and cold;

Shelter me soon from storms and danger In thy warm and peaceful fold.

Soon, very soon, thy mourning will be turned into joy. The sighs which issue
from the tabernacles of the Pilgrims to Zion are heard in heaven.

I sigh for home, in twilight pining;

Grant me soon, thou Prince of Light, Thy face to see, in glory shining, In those
realms where all is bright.

Thy mansions are already prepared in thy Father’s house above. Tarry but a while
on the hill of expectation. Behold the Lord will come quickly. He will not
disappoint thy hope.

I sigh for home ― my spirit panteth After Thee, God of Love;

Give me the joys for which it fainteth, Unite me to thyself above.

Silent and unobserved, the dawning of the day will speedily appear, and, before
thou art aware, that Sun will arise which at once and for ever will turn thy
darkness into light.

4. THE STANDARD OF THE CAMP OP JUDAH

" Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch his own standard with the
ensign of their father’s house." (Numbers 2:2.) After the position of the Camp
of Judah is stated, mention is made of his standard. Judah had his own peculiar
banner, cruciform, with a transverse piece of wood above. His colour was red, as
ancient tradition relates, with the figure of a Lion on the field. It was,
therefore, the type of the Christian standard, the cross of a crucified Saviour.

Flags were used to give signals to the host for the pitching of the camp, and
other military operations. They were wont to be set up on the mountains and
hills, that they might be seen afar, and forthwith the army collected around
them. And it is even so with the banner of the cross. It is that which the
Father makes use of to draw all men unto Him. Wherever it is unfurled, there is
a moving, there is a going to and fro, there is a rushing and a hastening
forward, and the elect of God flow to it with rejoicing or with tears.

Here we behold men, whom the humiliation of the manger could not affect, and the
throne of the Majesty on High failed to alarm, whom the consideration of their
everlasting welfare could not allure, nor the thought of eternal destruction
impel to seek the salvation of their soul ― And behold! the cross of Christ in a
moment breaks their heart, and the crown of thorns pierces their soul, and the
reed given in mockery to the Son of God strikes them to the ground, and the
blood, which trickles from the accursed tree, softens and dissolves, as with the
power of fire, the heart of stone. And tell me, where do the Rahabs and the
Magdaleus become the chaste spouse of Christ; where do the aged Simeons and
Hannahs rejoice in the vigour of youth; where are the Sauls breathing out
threatenings and slaughter against the saints of the Lord, converted into
devoted priests of the Most High; and where do the strong ones become a prey to
the Lord? Is it not where the word of the cross is proclaimed, and the banner of
the cross is unfurled, and the power of the cross is experienced! This is the
standard which is lifted up, and draws all men unto it. Yea, it is the center
around which myriads of happy spirits in heaven and on earth are day and night
collected in holy love and brotherhood. For here alone, beneath this banner, is
life. When an army is deprived of its standard, it is in deed a great loss, it
is a disgrace, and almost worse than a defeat. Our enemies are aware of this,
and what is there that they more desire, than to wrest the ensign from our
hands. A holy Saviour, a divine Saviour, a princely Saviour, an exalted and
glorified Saviour ― such an one they would leave with us a thousand times, could
they but rob us of Him that was crucified. It is against Him that all their
arrows of scorn and derision are directed. To cause us to disesteem and contemn
such a Saviour ― this is all their endeavor. Brethren, they would tear from us
the banner of our faith, the flag to which we have sworn fidelity; need I exhort
you to die rather than suffer this, and lose your hope of heaven. The ensign
precedes the host, and so does the cross conduct the army of God in their
heavenward progress. It is a crucified Saviour whom they follow, and a look to
his cross is their strength and security. Should they, in following him,
encounter the storms and fury of the elements ― they look to the cross. That
look inspires courage and confirms the heart in patient endurance. Is their
pathway dark and dreary? They look to the cross. The rays of the Saviour’s glory
shine to them from thence. Darkness is made light before them, and crooked
things straight, and they are refreshed and comforted. Are they exposed to the
covert and insidious attacks, or to the more vigorous and determined onset of
their numerous enemies? They look to the cross. And whether the power of
temptation be from without or from within, from a corrupt and evil nature, or
from the world, the flesh, and the devil, they are at once assured, by the
effects which follow, that the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give them the
victory. Should sin alarm, or their heart condemn them ― they look to the cross.
God is greater than their hearts, and knoweth all things. He knoweth that they
trust in that Saviour who finished the transgression and made an end of sin, and
brought in everlasting righteousness; that they repose their faith on Him who
died and rose again, and ever liveth to make intercession for them. And they
confidently adopt the language of the apostle, and say, " who can lay any thing
to the charge of God’s elect? " since God, the triune Jehovah, acquits and
justifies. Who can condemn whom God hath not condemned! There is no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the
Spirit. And when to triumph over their last, their dreaded enemy, they pass
through the valley of the shadow of death, amid the gloom and silence of their
dreary pilgrimage, (for no human friend is near to help or encourage them,) they
look to the cross. That friend is near, who sticketh closer than a brother. They
fear no evil, his rod and his staff they comfort them. And finally, when they
stand before the awful seat of judgment ― they look to the cross, and because
that banner has gone before them to notify their approach as soldiers of the
cross, the king will hold out to them the golden sceptre, and the glorified
saints and angels will welcome their arrival. Such is the power of the banner of
the cross. It brings us safely through, where without it there is no way. It
breaks the brazen bolts and iron doors, and cuts a path through the flinty
rocks, and over the hills which touch the heavens. When a warrior falls on the
battle field, it is a mark of distinguished honour if the flag is thrown over
him, and he is covered in its sacred folds. And thus it is with thee, Judah.
Shouldst thou be stricken to the ground and faint in the conflict, the bloody
banner shall float over thee and protect thee, and bring thee to honour. And
when at length thou shalt die, die beneath the shade of this ensign, die under
the covering of this red-stained standard of the camp. Thus abide as a good
soldier. Be thou faithful unto death, and He will give thee a crown of life.

5. THE ARMIES OF JUDAH.

0, beloved brethren, how should we be astonished, what trembling delight would
seize upon us, if but once the protecting host, by which the spiritual Israel is
surrounded, should burst the veil which hides them from our view, and render
themselves visible. To some it has been permitted to behold, with their mortal
eyes, these unseen attendants of the heirs of salvation, Jacob beheld them,
after his departure from Laban. As he went on his way, the angels of God met
him. And when Jacob saw them, he said this is God’s host; and he called the name
of that place Mahanaim, that is, two hosts or camps. ( Genesis 32:1-2.) The
servant of Elislia was enabled to see the armies of heaven, when the king of
Syria sent horses and chariots, and a great army to Dothan; " and they came by
night and compassed the city about, and when the servant of the man of God was
risen early, and gone forth, behold an host compassed the city, both with horses
and chariots, and his servant said unto him, alas, my master, what shall we do I
And he answered, fear not, for they that be with us, are more than they that be
with them. And Elisha prayed, and said. Lord I pray thee, open his eyes that he
may see; and the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw: and behold,
the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." (2
Kings 6:14-17.) The army of Judah is the heavenly choir of guardian angels, all
ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of
salvation. They are the mighty ones, who with golden harps surround the throne
of the Majesty on high, and behold the face of the Ancient of Days in glory.
They are the blessed messengers which wing their way from heaven, and visit the
habitations of the children of men on earth, and take back a report of their
deeds to the presence of the Father. They are the holy angels who, around the
throne of Jehovah, await his high commands, hearkenmg to the voice of his word;
who, swifter than the rushing storm or flash of heaven, urge their impetuous
flight to help and protect the elect of God.

These blessed visitants are present in the congregation of the saints, and go in
and out of the city of God in this lower world, to mingle with our children in
their simple pleasures and keep them from harm; to warn our youths of their
danger, and conduct them in the right way; to encourage and excite those of
mature age, to faithful and active services in the things of God, and refresh
them in their labours; to convey cheering messages to the gray-headed, from
their home which is now not distant, and permit them to hear before-hand, the
first low murmurings of their heavenly harps.

Ah, what sweet but awful sensations must we experience at the thought, that such
a band of angels invisibly surrounds us; and who knows how near we may be to
that great cloud of witnesses, who before us have entered into rest, and of whom
the world was not worthy! Or should the gates through which a Samuel, a Moses,
and Elias came back, though but for a moment, from the kingdom of everlasting
rest to this globe of mortality ― should those gates, since they passed through,
have been closed, entirely closed. Who can declare it? Enough ― we live already
in the midst of the invisible world. The inhabitants of heaven are our friends
and companions, spirits are our ministers and guides. Let us then comfort
ourselves with the recollection of this unseen army which surrounds us day and
night, the horses and chariots of fire in countless number. And if there be any
one here that is dispirited, timid, or easily dejected, at the thought of the
multitude of his foes, let me remind him, that "they that be with us, are more
than they that be with them." Take this to thy comfort, and be at peace.

6. THE CAPTAIN OF THE CHILDREN OF JUDAH.

" Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, was captain of the children of Judah." The
interpretation of his name is experience, a term in every respect applicable to
Jesus Christ our Saviour. For who has more experience in battle, than He whose
bloody track is seen from the slaughter-field of Gethsemane and Golgotha, and
from that sacred spot in the garden of Joseph, where he overcame the grave and
swallowed up death in victory? And who has more skill in conflict than He who
spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing
over them in himself! (Colossians 2:15. See the marginal reading.) Or who is
more inured to the toils and pains of war, than He who now for nearly 2000
years, has never slumbered nor slept on his post, but by the power of his sword
has safely conducted his weak and feeble church through millions of its foes,
conquering and to conquer! Or who is more acquainted with the tumult of the
camp, than He against whom an infatuated world has waged a ceaseless warfare,
through every stage of time, without one moment of respite! And who is more
accustomed to victory and triumph, or laden with the spoils of glory, than He
who has made all his enemies his footstool? He may well, therefore, be called
Nahshon, an experienced and valiant captain. And happy art thou, O Israel; who
is like unto thee, people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is
the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee;
and thou shalt tread upon their high places. (Deuteronomy 33:29.)

Nahshon was the son of Amminadab, which is, being interpreted, he hath bestowed
a people. In this also is typified the Saviour of sinners, to whom God, who is
rich in mercy, hath before the foundation of the world, bestowed a lost and
ruined people, that, being quickened together with Christ, and raised up
together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, they
might in the ages to come show forth the exceeding riches of his grace, in his
kindness towards us, through Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4.) And hear the
gracious words which express his divine commission and the greatness of his
power and love. ’’ All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:37.) And again, "This is the
Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all whom he hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will
of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son and believeth in him,
may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day." (John
6:39-40.)

Blessed are they who are privileged to hope that they are of the number of those
who were given to the Saviour. They are safely kept in the hands of Him, who, in
order to effect their redemption, willingly suffered himself to be offered up in
sacrifice on the altar of the cross. In his name is their everlasting security.
Through Him they are citizens of heaven. Be thou thus encamped, O Judah of God;
be thou encamped in peace. Let others vainly confide in their imaginary powers.
Be thou humbled in the conviction of thy own helplessness and poverty. Lie low
in the dust of self-abasement. Confess the power of divine grace. Be thou
nothing, and let Christ be all and in all, and repose on the merits of thy
Surety. Abide under that Banner to which thou hast sworn allegiance, and which
is thy glory and thy trust, thy triumph and thy freedom. Let thy looks ever be
directed to the east, to the morning. Let those that are without, look to the
evening, to midnight, where for them also the sky is red, but terrible, and
fearfully lowering; thunder-clouds, laden with their curse and everlasting
destruction, are gathering blackness.

Fix thy gaze, Judah, upon the opening glories of the east, brighter, and yet
brighter every moment. Breathe the sweetness and the fragrance of the morning.
This is the good pleasure of thy God, who ere long will give thee the kingdom in
the regions of eternal day. Thou must not regard the night which now surrounds
thee. Onwards direct thy view to the Sabbath of eternal rest and peace, which
now opens its lovely dawn. Thou must not suffer thine eyes to linger on the dark
and troublous vision of thy sins, thy weaknesses, and infirmities, which still
cling to thee ― a body of death. Direct thine ardent glance beyond unto the
morning, and feast thine eyes with that great and glorious day of freedom, which
is thine even now in promise, a high and holy jubilee. Soar on hope’s expanded
pinions through the air, and leave behind the darkness and desolation of this
lower world. Immortality and light, and crowns of glory, robes of surpassing
splendor, palms of victory and triumph, joy and eternal gladness ― these, all
these, await thee in the presence of thy God and Saviour in thine everlasting
rest.

Judah, be thou comforted, as well thou mayest be. Though as yet in the dark
valley through which thy brightening course conducts thee, sing aloud the
praises of thy God.

Yes, onwards, my brethren. For he who is our leader is called Immanuel, God with
us.

Amen.


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  CHAPTER 6: 01.3.     ISSACHAR
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Chapter 3.

ISSACHAR, OR THE COUCHING BETWEEN TWO BURDENS.

" Issachar is a strong ass, couching down between two burdens: and he saw that
rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant, and bowed his shoulder to
bear, and became a servant unto tribute." - Genesis 49:14-15 In the blessing of
Jacob, from which the words just read are taken, there are many hidden wonders.
Its immediate application had respect to the outward condition of the ten
tribes, and the things of this world: but if we penetrate somewhat deeper, by
the aid of the Spirit of God, and pierce through the outer surface, we shall
discover a rich vein of spiritual truth and knowledge which we greatly stand in
need of, and which demands, and will repay our closest investigation. When, a
short time ago, we dwelt upon a few words of this remarkable prophecy, namely,
that portion which relates to Judah, we already suspected that a mine of wealth
lay concealed here, and that the ground sounded, as it were, hollow beneath our
feet. And it is upon the self-same ground that we meet to-day, prepared, by the
help of the Spirit, to dig silver and gold, where there is only the appearance
of hay and stubble.

If we look at Issachar after the flesh, the fifth son of Jacob, the meaning of
the text is very evident. It is were foretold that he should dwell in an inland
situation, and that his tribe should be agricultural. But the prophecy refers
also to the spiritual Issachar. Would to God that his tent were never pitched in
the midst of ourselves. It is to the spiritual application of this prophecy, so
strikingly portrayed in our text, that we would now direct your attention.

We see here, 1. The position of Issachar.

2. How he came into that state.

3. The toil and danger to which he is subjected in the same.

1. THE POSITION OF ISSACHAR.

" Issachar is a strong ass." There is nothing prepossessing in this comparison.
Judah is a lion’s whelp. Naphtali is a hind let loose. Joseph is a fruitful
bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over a wall. Jonathan
is an eagle; the Shulamite a dove; Israel is a rose. In all these figures there
is something agreeable to the mind. But ― a strong ass ― the name is in itself
sufficient to deter us from seeking a near acquaintance with the person whom it
designates. And yet who can tell how many of us may come under this description
in the book of God! On what account Issachar is so named we shall better
understand when his spiritual state, as contained in the figure, is unveiled to
us. Where do we behold Issachar? " Between two burdens." In these words the
patriarch gives no pleasing representation of his son. If he had described him
as moving onward between two burdens, or borders, (as by some the word is
rendered,) we should have said " Only’ wait a little; his present difficulties
will be surmounted, and the glorious land will be found!" But no, he is couching
down, and therefore his case is the worse. To be so circumstanced is always
dangerous. How alarming is the denunciation of God against the lukewarm! " I
know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou were cold
or hot. So because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee
out of my mouth." (Revelation 3:15-16) See how God condemns the wavering and
undecided, who are neither faithful to his own colors nor to those of the world;
who do not, indeed, reject him, yet they choose not his service, and thus
vacillate between both their friends and foes. He distinctly declares that they
are his enemies, and shall be treated as such. " He that is not with me is
against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." (Matthew
12:30.) And if we suppose the Lord in these our days to examine his church, and
see how many thousands of those who wish to be regarded as his faithful
ministers, halt in their preaching between the pure gospel and their own wisdom,
we may well imagine Him to say, ’’ I would that ye were either believers or
unbelievers; but ye are neither one nor the other." Yes, unbelief itself would
seem to be better than this unholy indecision, this uncertainty and want of
determination in a matter of infinite moment. But Issachar does not properly
belong to those who are neither cold nor hot, neither for nor against Christ ―
neither Christians nor heathen. He is for Christ, and so far, in a certain
sense, may be said to believe; he appears to belong to the kingdom of God, and
yet it is far from being well with him. He lies between Canaan and Egypt,
between the state of a converted and unconverted man. We cannot account him one
of the men of this world, much less can we esteem him a child of God. We dare
not say that he still belongs to the ranks of the crooked and perverse
generation of the ungodly, nor yet can we number him among the elect, who are
kings and priests unto God for ever and ever. The position which he occupies is
a middle one, between the kingdom of grace and that of Belial. And, remaining
there, the lot which will hereafter be assigned him, will not be to sit down
with the citizens of Zion, in the kingdom of their God, but to be cast into
outer darkness, with the workers of iniquity, where there is weeping and
wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

Let us consider our Issachar more closely, and examine both his spiritual and
external condition. His outward circumstances, his life, and course of conduct,
appear really commendable, and produce a very favourable impression on the mind.
Do you think that you will find him walking in the counsel of the ungodly, or
standing in the way of sinners, or sitting in the seat of the scornful?(Psalms
1:1) No. You do him great wrong in seeking for him there. He has left this
spiritual Sodom, and separated himself far from it. He no longer burns incense
on the high places and in the groves, and the assemblies of those who drink
iniquity like water, are his abhorrence and aversion; he hates and opposes their
evil courses. You can never discover him among the haunts of the wine-bibber, or
in the public assemblies, where a blind and deluded world, as if possessed by a
spirit of giddiness and infatuation, madly rages and tumultuates in unbridled
pursuit of the phantom pleasure, and where the people dance to the sound of the
pipe, Satan himself conducting their orgies. He has nothing in common with those
who use as their watch-word " Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die;" and he
wallows not with the swine in the mire. Nor can you find him among the followers
of a fond and flattering morality, who walk indeed uprightly, and conduct
themselves with propriety, but desire to know nothing of a godly or God-fearing
life, being fully satisfied with the rectitude of their intentions; who cast
away from them the word and the sacraments, the commandments and the kingdom of
God, as old and tattered garments, or who despise them as the playthings of the
childish and the weak. No. Among the quiet in the land, among them that fear God
doth Issachar abide. Where the gospel is faithfully preached; where the banner
of the cross is unfurled; where men confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father; where the word of Christ dwells in men richly in all
wisdom, and they teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, and holy hands are lifted up to heaven; (Colossians 3:16.)
where they lie down in the green pastures of the everlasting gospel, and drink
from the living fountains of the sure mercies of David, life and fulness of joy;
there is Issachar to be found; there hath he pitched his tabernacle and tent. He
dwells among the saints, unto their assembly is he united.

What! ’ Issachar, then, a hypocrite, and a deceiver? By no means. That cannot be
said of him. Hypocrites are altogether a different class. This generation of
Pharisees do not couch between two boundaries, but are still in the midst of
Egypt.

What then? If Issachar attaches himself to the church and people of God, of whom
the world is not worthy, and that with uprightness and sincerity, what lacketh
he then? Alas! much, very much; yea, all that is essential to a state of grace.
He dwells in the congregation of the righteous, but only outwardly, not in
spirit and in truth. He is no living member of that holy body of which Christ is
the head; united, indeed, externally, but not really incorporated into the body
of Christ. He is no fruitful branch of the tree of God; nor a partaker of the
root and fatness of the olive tree. (Romans 11:17.) He is not so engrafted in
it, as to bloom and flourish by the communication of its sap and life. The bond
which unites him to the church of God is human only, and corruptible, not
spiritual and divine. Do we look at his state? It is no longer that of Egyptian
darkness, arising from the prevalence of strong delusions. No. He is rich in the
knowledge of salvation; he knows the catechism by memory, is well read in the
Bible, and familiar with multitudes of sweet and animating hymns, and many
accounts of awakened sinners and established saints.

What then is his state? It is one of proud self-sufficiency, of reliance on
supposed merit and righteousness of his own, a condition of fancied security,
attained by efforts which he has put forth alone and unaided. In hearing and
reading, in his separation from the world, and in all his experience and
attainments, all his hopes and dependences have centred in self. The Holy Ghost
has no part in his illumination. He is not taught of God. What he has thus
acquired remains crude and undigested, administering neither to his nourishment
nor strength; or it is as ill-gotten wealth, locked up in coffers, and making no
return; or as costly ointment, which yields no perfume. Do we observe his course
of life? Here there is nothing particular to be remarked. Issachar maintains an
irreproachable conduct in the eyes of mankind. He lives in quiet, is domestic,
retiring, well-conducted, active, honorable. He chooses the society and
friendship of Christians, and despises the pleasures of the world. But is this
the walk of which God speaks, when He says, " I am the Almighty God; walk before
me, and be thou perfect?" (Genesis 17:1.) And to which Isaiah refers in the
exhortation, " house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the
Lord;" (Isaiah 2:5.). And of which the apostle makes mention, "Our conversation
is in heaven;" (Php 3:20.) and, again, "If we live in the Spirit, let us also
walk in the Spirit." (Galatians 5:25.) Can we recognize in Issachar the
operation of the Spirit of God? Can we perceive in him indications of the
presence of that well of water, which springeth up unto everlasting life? Alas!
what can he be? He is partly the child of good education, and good habits;
partly of a self-sought spirituality, which the Holy Ghost never will own, since
he has indeed no share in effecting it. Do we regard Issachar, as it respects
the peculiar duties of religion? Here, too, is the appearance of that which is
good and right; but are those prayers and praises which he daily offers up,
either at home or in the great congregation, acceptable to God? Are they a sweet
smelling savour, which ascends before the throne, from gifts which have been
first received from heaven? Are they incense kindled by the Spirit of God, and
arising from the censer of a broken and a contrite heart, which, in God’s sight,
is of great price? Oh no! He has, on the contrary, prepared his offering
himself, having first obtained it from his own resources! Issachar prays when he
will pray, not when he is moved and constrained to pray. It is Issachar that
prays, not Christ and His Spirit praying within him.

How unhappy is his state between the two burdens. He is a Christian, without the
new birth; he knows the lost state of man, without himself having felt it; he is
learned in spiritual things, without being enlightened, and believes in Jesus,
without reposing confidence in His merits; he esteems himself righteous, and yet
is not so; he speaks of the evidences of a state of grace, while he is not in
that state himself; he imagines that his life and conversation accord with the
requirements of the gospel, and yet he is nothing more than a natural man, one
who has experienced no real change within, nor can show even the smallest work
which bears the impress of the Spirit of God, but only that which his own hands
have effected. The new man is not created in him, but the old man has put on the
garb of piety.

Such is the state and condition of Issachar, no longer in Egypt, nor yet in
Canaan. He has come out of the world, in a certain sense at least, but has not
approached the kingdom of grace. He bears the Christian form, and is evangelical
in his notions and in his course of conduct; but he does not possess that life
which is the gift of God alone ― a new heart.

2. THE MOTIVES WHICH SWAYED ISSACHAR.

Issachar couches between two burdens. But how has he come into this situation?
Our text informs us briefly, but pointedly. " He saw that rest was good, and the
land that it was pleasant." Issachar attained his position not by the drawing of
the Father and the call of grace, or the powerful operation of the Holy Spirit;
but by the impulse of his own natural heart. Did the painful sense of sin drive
him to the Saviour? Did the thick clouds and darkness of Sinai, the thunder of
Ebal, the earnest desire of redemption, the anxious solicitude for the salvation
of his soul, impel him to flee for refuge, to lay hold of the hope set before
him in the gospel! No! Far different were his motives and feelings in assuming
the profession of religion.

" He saw that rest was good." What kind of rest? That which is vouchsafed is in
Christ? Peace with God? Deliverance from the curse and the power of sin, and
from the miserable bondage and tyranny of the law? No, brethren. The rest which
he sought was entirely of another description.

" He saw the land that it was pleasant." What land? Was it that land of beauty
and of brightness in the world on high, to which Jesus is himself the way or was
it the kingdom of grace watered by the dews of heaven, and on which the Sun of
Righteousness ever sheds his invigorating rays? Did his thoughts and desires
tend thither? Did he feel a secret longing after that as his home? No; this
cannot be said of Issachar. The goodness of the rest, and the pleasantness of
the land which Issachar desired, were quite of another kind. And what were they?
The causes, brethren, which move men to enter upon so dubious and unsanctified a
state, are various. One man feels himself attracted by witnessing the concord
and brotherly love which prevail among the quiet in the land. He has, perhaps,
had bitter experience of the falsehood and treachery of the world, and has thus
learned that it can neither be trusted nor believed, and that it is, moreover,
full of rancor and animosity. He has confided in friends, and been grievously
betrayed. Deeply pained, he looks around him for rest. His eyes fall upon the
congregation of the saints. He perceives that they are of one heart and one
mind, and are united to each other by the sacred bonds of love, and dwell
together as brethren. This pleases him well. He sees that it is good, and his
resolution is fixed. He joins himself to the society of the pious.

Another man has, by nature, a tender disposition; he is easily moved, and loves
affecting sights and sacred solemnities, and the pleasing emotions which they
are calculated to excite. The occupations of the children of God, therefore,
their zeal and ardor in the service of religion, and their fervent devotion,
present to him no inconsiderable attractions. He sees the land that it is
pleasant, and says, " it is good to be here. Here will I build my tabernacle,
and seek my rest." A third has a mind of a contemplative and thoughtful
character. He meets with the word of God. Here he finds food in abundance; here
he can exercise his intellect and powers of thought, and give them full scope.
With lively interest he applies himself to reading and diligent investigation.
It is his delight henceforth to dwell among those who make the Bible the rule of
their lives, and he takes pleasure with them in a mutual communication of
Christian ideas and hopes, and in scriptural researches. It is from choice that
he associates himself with the people of God, without being born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and
abideth for ever, (1 Peter 1:23.) A fourth, gifted with a quick perception of
the sublime and beautiful, is delighted with the glowing visions and
delineations, with the attractive similitudes, with the lovely and affecting
representations, and the splendid imagery with which the word of God abounds. He
reads the inspired volume with the warm enthusiasia with which he takes up a
brilliant production of an earthly poet; and he professes the religion of the
Bible from the intellectual pleasure and mental gratification which it affords.
There is no conversion here. A fifth observes, that in the houses of the just
infinitely more order prevails than in those of the children of this world. The
peace which is found here, and the quiet, the love, and the continual
cheerfulness; the blessing also of the Lord, which ever rests upon them, and
their prosperity ― O, how do all these things commend themselves to his notice,
especially if he considers the great difference which there is between his own
house and theirs. "He sees this rest that it is good." "I am wearied, he thinks,
with incessant noise and bickering. It shall hereafter be otherwise. I will
erect an altar in my house." And he does erect one. He reads, and sings, and
prays. The noise and tumult cease, and behold the house is changed and renewed.
Yes, brethren, the house only, alas! not the heart. The body is there, and the
exterior of religion, but the Spirit and the life are wanting. It is the form of
godliness, without the power thereof. The man draws nigh unto God with his lips,
but his heart is far from him. He has gone out of the worlds but the world has
not gone out of him. The garment is changed, but the person remains the same.

Behold, my brethren, such is Issachar, couching between two burdens. " He sees
that rest is good, and the land that it is pleasant." He is not conscious of the
longing for salvation, and the hunger and thirst after righteousness, nor of the
Holy Ghost moving him to the gospel; but the privileges of this present life, in
which the children of God rejoice, excite his desire to partake of them. He
becomes pious in his own way, quiet retiring, observant of the duties of
religion by his own endeavors. He applies himself to religion as he would apply
himself to a business, a study, or one of the liberal arts, and appropriates to
himself whatsoever belongs to the life and being of the Christian. Two things
only are wanting, and with them all that constitutes spiritual existences, that
marks and distinguishes the character of the child of God; namely, the broken
and contrite heart, in which alone the Lord will dwell, and the Holy Spirit,
respecting whom it is said, " If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is
none of his."

Issachar! ah! unhappy Issachar, who couches between two burdens, and seest that
rest is good, and the land that it is pleasant, ― the land that is beyond the
Jordan shalt thou never inherit, nor enjoy the eternal Sabbath, that rest which
rernaineth for the people of God!

3. THE TOIL AND DANGER OF ISSACHAR.

We have seen the position of Issachar, and we know also the motives by which he
was influenced. Let us now glance for a moment at the toil and danger to which
he is subjected. His pain and misery are set forth in the text, " He bowed his
shoulder to bear, and became a servant to tribute."

He bowed his shoulder to bear. There lies a heavy weight upon him, under which
he sighs and pants; and this burden is ― his sins perhaps? 0, would to God that
they were felt as such, then would he soon be in a better state! It is, on the
contrary, the religion which he has assumed that is his burden. Our Saviour
says, indeed, " My yoke is easy, and my burden is light;" but of this Issachar
is not sensible.

Let me request you to turn to Isaiah 10:27. It is there said, " and it shall
come to pass in that day," the day of the New Testament, ― " that his burden
shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and
the yoke shall be destroyed, because of thy anointing." The yoke falls off, when
the neck is bathed with oil. And when we are anointed with the Holy Ghost, and
made partakers of his grace, then is the burden taken off our shoulder; then are
the law and the service of God no longer an oppressive yoke, a heavy burden, but
easy and pleasant, our comfort and our joy. We stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free, and are not entangled again with the yoke of
bondage. Christ having made us free, we are free indeed. (Galatians 5:1.) But
Issachar is not anointed, and therefore his shoulder is bowed down to bear, and
sinks under the weight. He has not gone to the Saviour with a heart deeply
sensible of its need, and moved to repentance, to receive out of his fulness,
and grace for grace. Issachar has changed and renewed himself, and would, by his
own endeavors, walk in the path of the true Christian. He would assume the
character of a child of God; he would soar upwards, but has no wings; he would
sing and pray, but has neither the spirit by which believers are actuated, nor
their delight in holy exercises; he would run and walk on the way to Zion, but
is lame, and has not applied to the good Physician to be healed; he would keep
the law, but alas! He is destitute of power and love, of joy, and of strength!

O how hard is the service in which he is engaged, how grievous the bondage under
which he is oppressed, how vainly does he weary himself in the course which he
has chosen; in the hopeless endeavor to save himself by works and righteousness
of his own; in labour without fruit, toil without reward!

Issachar bowed his shoulder to bear; and what is he? A servant unto tribute.
What a striking representation! His prayers and services, both in public and
private, are but as tribute, which he knows that he must pay; and he brings it,
not as a child, willingly and joyfully, but as a servant, by compulsion, as
though it were extracted with reluctancy from his hard earned pittance. The
Spirit of grace and supplication has not been poured out upon him. He has no
real union with Him in whom is life. From the children of God, the tribute of
prayer and praise flows freely, as water from the fountain; but Issachar is a
dry well; how can it flow from thence When the hour arrives for the payment of
his tribute, he feels that he is compelled to lay down the sum required, and,
with much labour, it is produced and cast down before God; but the coin is base,
and will not be accepted, for since it bears not the image of the second, but of
the first Adam, it will never be received into the treasury of God.

Behold, such is Issachar; not a child of the house, but a poor " servant of
tribute," who has nothing, and yet must pay, and who, moreover, discharges his
debt, with base coin, which, as such is rejected. Since he is the bearer of such
a burden, and groans under the galling yoke of self-imposed services, and bends
beneath the severe rod of the law, without vigor and animation, he is thence
called " a strong ass."

And, O, it is painful and distressing to think of his misery and danger. The man
imagines, in his blindness, that he really belongs to the kingdom of God; but,
alas! he ranks as much with " them that are without," as the careless and
unthinking world. He has apparently succeeded well in conforming his life to
that of the children of God, and therefore cherishes the vain delusion, that he
is one of their number; and as he is frequently regarded and treated as such by
true believers, his blindness becomes the more hopeless, and he is confirmed in
his carnal security. The poor, pitiable man! He thinks that he dwells in Canaan,
but his tent is near to Tophet, and on the brink of the pit of destruction. He
dreams that he is in Jerusalem, but, alas! he couches not far from the Dead Sea,
near Adma and Zeboim. And when the Lord shall come with fire and brimstone, He
cannot spare Issachar; and when his heart within him would almost break with
compassion towards that unhappy one, couching between the burdens, He must
consume him in his wrath, and sweep him away together with the rest of the
ungodly, with the besom of destruction. (Isaiah 14:23.)

O let every one of us, therefore, who believes himself to he in Jerusalem, come
now before God with the earnest supplication of David, " Search me, God, and
know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way
in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." (Psalms 139:23-24.) Be assured, that
in the last day nothing will avail but that which the Holy Ghost has witnessed
and wrought in us, and enabled us to do. All that is our own will be burned up
as hay. All self-sought spirituality and self-imposed service; all self-wrought
piety and holiness, will be deemed of no value, and committed to the flames.
Then no inquiry will be made after the knowledge which you have attained, merely
by catechisms and preaching, but only after what you have learned of the Holy
Spirit in the school of Christ. It will not then be asked how often you have
prayed and given thanks: but whether your prayers and thanksgivings were uttered
in the Spirit, in the name of Jesus. No examination will then be instituted with
regard to your communion with believers upon earth, but respecting your union
with him who is the life ― whether you are one with Christ, who is the Living
Head.

Alas! many are the unhappy Issachars in the world, who couch between two
burdens, who assume the profession of religion from some unhallowed motive,
receiving no sanction in the word of God, and who are not indebted to the Spirit
of God for the least portion of their religion. God be merciful unto them, and
open their eyes, that they may see their real state. Many, no doubt, are
self-deceived and dazzled by the gospel form and complexion of the religion
which they have assumed. It is but an outward appearance; it is no reality. The
covering is there; but where, under the covering, is the broken heart, the
contrite spirit, the seed of the heavenly birth, the new creature? Where is the
thirst after the living water, after the cleansing efficacy of the blood of
Jesus? Where are all these things which are of the operation of the Holy Ghost,
and which alone constitute a Christian? They are wanting.

O may a God of mercy preserve us from such a fearful delusion, which must
eventually overwhelm the deceived soul in everlasting destruction. May he
terrify us with the thunders of his power and with the voice of the trumpet,
from couching down, in this unholy state, between the borders of Egypt and
Canaan, and conduct us all to that blessed rest into which they that believe
have already entered, that we may say in truth, " The Spirit of God hath created
me, and the inspiration of the Almighty hath given me life."

Amen.


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  CHAPTER 7: 01.4.     THE VISION OF THE NIGHT
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Chapter 4 THE VISION OF THE NIGHT.

’’ I saw by the night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood
among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red
horses, speckled, and white." - Zechariah 1:8. The prophecies of Zechariah are
esteemed as some of the sweetest and most pleasant fruits which grow on the tree
of the Old Testament. This prophet has much resemblance both to Isaiah and
Ezekiel. Glowing as the latter, and rich as he in sublime descriptions, and
grand, striking, and mysterious visions, he shares with the former the name of
Evangelical prophet. The Anointed of God, with his kingdom, forms the central
point and axis around which the fire- wheel of all his flaming imagery of
visions and revelations continually revolves. All the glory is given to the
Messiah. Thus, in the picture before us, the most prominent object in the
foreground, which leaves all the rest in the shade and in the distance, is the
long expected Saviour of the world, the testimony of whom is the spirit of
prophecy. (Revelation 19:10.) It is a beautiful and consoling representation.
Let us examine it more closely. We will consider, 1. The time in which the
vision was beheld.

2. The vision itself, in its consolatory signification.

1. THE TIME IN WHICH THE VISION WAS BEHELD.

Zechariah expressly states, that it was a vision of the night. He means in the
first place, the natural night; when the wearied children of men repose
themselves in sleep. The Lord then came to him and opened the eyes of his mind,
and permitted him to see manifestly depicted before him, in all their brilliant
coloring, the forms which he describes. The Lord would effectually imprint upon
his mind that great truth, that He who keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor
sleeps. It is therefore put forth, not as a mere statement, but illustrated by a
palpable representation, and revealed to him, not in the daytime, but in the
shadows of the night. Of such a nocturnal visitation from God, almost all the
saints, both of the Old and New Testament, were enabled to testify; and Elihu
speaks of it to Job as though it were of ordinary occurrence. " In a dream, in a
vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumbering upon the
bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that he may
withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man" ― (Job 33:15-17.) O how
many are there, who like Nicodemus, trace their first acquaintance with Jesus to
that silent hour. When our wearied body is at rest, and when surrounded by
darkness, we are freed from the agitating occupations of the day, our souls are
more quick in their perception, our thoughts more free and unrestrained, our
reflections more deep and penetrating, our conscience more powerful in its
operations, more unchecked and pointed in its appeals. Then does the trumpet of
the word give a clear and certain sound; then peals around us the thunder of the
curse; then does the call to repentance shake and alarm our inmost souls; and if
the sight of our sins be vouchsafed us, of our base and unprofitable life, of
our broken vows and resolutions, of our defilement and dissimulation ― if that
death which awaits us, that final judgment to which we are hastening, and that
bleeding Saviour whom we despise; if these awful visions pass before us, and
invade the solitude of our chamber, and stand around our bed ― O how terrific,
how appalling the spectacle! Whither can we fly from such dreadful sights? To
the gay and thoughtless company of our friends? They are buried in sleep. To the
distractions of daily occupation? They are at an end. To the places of concourse
and the busy haunts of men? They are forsaken. It is night, and there is no
sound to affect the ear, nothing to engage the eye, or restrain the vigor of the
mind. At such a time your little bark of the soul is driven out upon the
restless wave. You cast anchor once and again;. but the anchor takes no hold.
You anxiously look around for a haven of rest. But, behold in every haven the
tempest rages as in the open sea, and the abyss is yawning beneath. You seek to
appease the storm within, and say to yourself, " Be at rest; there is no danger.
Why art thou anxious? " But no consoling thoughts can at such a season avail.
Your perplexity and distress increase, till at length you find Him who said to
the sea, " Peace, be still;" and then there is a great calm. Your danger is
passed, your fears are gone; you are now secure and happy in the haven where you
would be.

Multitudes of Christians can number, in their own experience many such painful,
but not the less salutary, night scenes, and can say, in a certain sense, with
the Temanite, " In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep
falleth upon men, fear came upon me, and trembling which made all my bones to
shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up. It
stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine
eyes; there was silence, and I heard a voice saying, Shall mortal man be more
just than God? shall a man be more pure than his Maker?" (Job 4:13-17.)

There are some, perhaps, present, who, absorbed by day in the cares of the
world, or hurried into the vortex of its dissipations and pleasures, hear not
the call of God to consider their ways. 0, that such visions of the night, such
communications from heaven, may soon be vouchsafed you; and that the voice of
the Almighty may reach your inmost soul. God grant that it may be this very
night, for we know not that another shall be added to your number. May it not
already be said to some one, who now hears me, to-morrow thou shalt die! Let
this thought be with you, brethren, when next you retire to rest upon your beds.

" I saw by the night," saith the prophet, and he appears to intimate by that
expression, the circumstances under which he beheld the vision. Zechariah lived
about five hundred years before the first Advent. Together with his parents, he
was carried by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon, and afterwards, in consequence of the
decree of Cyrus, returned, with the first of the captivity, who sought the land
of their fathers; and he assisted in laying the foundation both of the city and
temple.

It was then a happy time, a season of rejoicing and of cheerful hope. The
covenant God of Israel had made manifest His care for his people, in a way which
could not be misunderstood, and all things were full of joyful expectation of
the golden age that was about to return. It was not then night to the people of
Israel, but bright and shining day. But this was not of long continuance. The
Samaritans sought to interrupt the harmony which prevailed. For scarcely were
the walls of the city and of the temple commenced, with alacrity and gladness,
when these strangers, who were more heathen than Jews, proposed to associate
themselves with the children of Abraham in the work, and thus to acquire a right
in the temple of the Lord, and in the administration of its services. This could
never be allowed. Hence arose implacable hostility, for the Samaritans sent
letters to Babylon, calumniating the Jews engaged in the undertaking,
representing them with great bitterness as a faithless and rebellious race, who
might endanger the peace of the Persian monarchy. Credit was given to these base
accusations, and a royal edict issued, by which the building of Jerusalem was
forbidden, and permission given the Samaritans to compel the Jews, by fire and
sword, to desist from the work. Then followed a time of tumult and distress to
the people of God, and their hopes perished. Their brightest prospects were in a
moment over-clouded, and God seemed to have again forsaken His inheritance. The
most lovely morning was unexpectedly converted into a night of gloom.

Allusion, no doubt, was made to these painful circumstances, when the prophet
said in my text, " I saw by the night." It seemed as though this external
obscurity inwardly prevailed in his soul, as if the day had declined within him,
and was succeeded by the night. And how should it be otherwise! Every thing
around him tended to produce such oppressive sensations; his gloomy forebodings
enveloped his soul in thick clouds of doubt and despondency. No indications of
the watchful and protecting care of the Almighty were visible. Yet,
notwithstanding, dark as it appeared both outwardly and within, Zechariah was
enabled to say of himself, " I saw by the night, and behold! "

" I saw by the night.’’ Some can speak of the night who have passed through it,
and are now rejoicing in the blessings of the morning. It is night, in spiritual
things, in proportion as our eyes are darkened. Then the hand which has assigned
our pain and suffering is unperceived, we are lost in the wilderness of
uncertainty, and no outlet can he found either on the right hand or on the left;
or a fire falls upon our spiritual building, and we know not whence the flames
have been kindled, by which our honour, our name, and domestic happiness are
destroyed, whether they are derived from heaven or from hell.

It is night, when the world misunderstands and calumniates us, and we cry to God
to interpose in our behalf, and there is neither voice, nor any to answer, nor
any that regardeth; or when we lie sunk in the deepest need, and stroke upon
stroke is laid upon us, and our prayer cannot reach the clouds, but is
dissipated and lost in the air around us, no help appears, no aid is at hand, no
prospect of deliverance opens before us, no explication is given of our
embarrassments, and our wanderings in the dark valley remain an incomprehensible
dispensation, a deep mystery, the meaning and intention and final issue of which
are altogether hidden from our view. When it is thus with any poor soul, he is
enveloped in darkness. The greater light which rules the day has set before his
eyes. He is the man of whom Job speaks, when he says, that his way is hid, and
that God hath hedged him in. (Job 3:23.)

O how great, how blessed the change, when God says respecting a soul, " let
there be light, and there is light." The darkness is past, and the true light
now shineth. Thus it was with Job, when the scope and intention of all his
afflictions were made known to him; and with Hagar, when the angel pointed out
to her the well of water in the wilderness; and with Abraham, when a voice came
to him from heaven, " lay not thy hand upon the lad," and his fiery trial was at
once terminated; and with Jacob, when that testimony was borne him, " thou hast
power with God, and with man, and hast prevailed;" and the Lord blessed him in
the night, after his severe conflict. And many such visitations from on high are
vouchsafed the children of God, even in our own days. Salvation comes to their
house as an unexpected guest, their trials melt away and disperse as a veil of
mist upon the mountains, or a bright light from heaven suddenly illuminates
their path. But my brethren, this can scarcely be termed, to see by the night.
It is rather the day-break shedding its lovely rays, its opening glories, into
the cave of Adullam. (1 Samuel 22:1; Micah 1:15) The Saviour then manifests
himself to us as he doth not unto the world, and our unbelieving doubts and
fears are at once dispelled; and whilst we acknowledge the power and presence of
the Godhead, we exclaim with grateful heart. Lord thou hast changed my night
into day. (John 14:22; John 20:27-28) But when the sun remains hidden behind the
clouds, and the footsteps of Jehovah are in the great waters, and men, without
seeing their way plainly, follow the guidance of their God, and rest in naked
faith on the Divine assurance, " what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt
know hereafter;" and, believing in opposition to human reasonings, and hoping
against hope, repose simply upon him who has said, " When thou passest through
the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow
thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither
shall the flame kindle upon thee" ― (Isaiah 43:2) When, entrenching themselves
in such promises, as in a strong hold, and looking by faith to that Angel of the
Lord who said to Manoah, " Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is
secret or wonderful?"(Judges 13:18) and by this name, " The Wonderful," they are
refreshed as with milk and honey in the desert ― When, without tasting, or
seeing, or feeling, they rejoice in the very present help of that God who
delivered Daniel from the jaws of the lion, and preserved the three children in
the burning fiery furnace, and commanded a fish to take up Jonah, and keep him
as in an ark of safety in the deep waters ― when they rely on that God who sent
dogs to Lazarus, that they should lick his sores and mitigate his pain, and who
appointed ravens to minister to Elijah, and feed him in the wilderness ― Then,
brethren, then may it be said, that they see visions in the darkness, that they
perceive God through the thick and lowering clouds; and in the words of
Zechariah they may exclaim, " I saw by the night and behold!"

There is another description of night of a yet more troublous kind, which David
had in view when he said, " Hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them
that go down into the pit." But even then we are not left without hope. We have
that most precious promise, that while we trust in the Lord and stay ourselves
upon our God, a light shall rise in obscurity, and our darkness shall be as noon
day. (Isaiah 58:10.) When Satan assaults me with his fearful allurements or his
fiery darts, and I am left without help or succour, then has the sun set beneath
my horizon. But I see by the night, and behold, mine eye rests upon Him, who to
death is its plague, and to the grave its destruction; and that great truth is
brought home to my mind, that in Him I have already ’’ overcome the wicked one,"
and he can no more put me to shame. Then it is given me, at the sight of my
victorious Head, to triumph in the conflict, and to enjoy peace in the midst of
tumult and alarm. What is this but a vision of the night?

When, after a painful fall, I am alarmed with a sense of my sin and misery, and
almost overwhelmed with despair, then I sit in darkness, the light shineth not
about me, my sins are greater than I can bear. At length I am enabled to think
of that grace, which recovers the children of God from the horrible pit and from
the miry clay, and sets their feet upon a rock, and orders their going. I call
to mind the good Shepherd, who left the ninety and nine sheep in the wilderness,
and came to seek and to save that which was lost, and did not desist until he
found it, and laid it on his shoulders, and carried it home rejoicing. how
cheering the sight! As yet the Lord has not manifested himself to me, nor can I
rejoice; but mercy has again visited me, and though confidence and hope have not
returned, yet "my soul waiteth for the Lord, yea, more than they that watch for
the morning." (Psalms 130:6.) When the Lord takes from me the sense of His
indwelling through the Spirit, and withdraws from me the light of his
countenance, and leaves me to the experience of my utter sinfulness; when the
vigor of my spiritual life fails, and the indications of my state of grace lose
their special character; when faith, which before could rejoice, gives utterance
only to a poor compressed and feeble cry, " O God, be not severe to me; " when
love is withered by the wintry blast, or chilled and frozen, so that I am
compelled to exclaim, with David, " I am like unto one appointed to die," and I
can no longer dare to regard myself as of the camp of Judah; when I transgress
without tears, and stumble and fall without contrition, and read the word
without delight, and pray without earnestness; Oh, this is indeed a season of
spiritual darkness. But there is a faith which can dissipate even such a
darkness as this, and under the full conviction of our spiritual poverty, needs
not the aid of sensible perception. He who is " the Amen, the faithful and true
witness," (Revelation 3:14.) stands before me in this my low estate, and I hear
him saying in the spirit, " In a little wrath I hid my ’’ face from thee for a
moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord,
thy Redeemer. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my
kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be
removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee." ( Isaiah 54:8-10.) By faith I
behold a covenant God in Christ Jesus; I look to "Him that justifieth the
ungodly," that requireth only empty vessels, that he may fill them with his
glory. (Romans 4:5.) The mystery of righteousness opens itself before me; I see
that I am justified and saved, not by works of my own, but only through the
merits of Jesus; that my faith, hope, and charity must be derived from Him: that
His intercession alone can make my approach acceptable unto the Father; and
while the senses are dead within me, and my heart is sunk in wretchedness and
misery, it is given to me by the Holy Ghost to cast myself by faith on that
Saviour, who hath said, "my grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made
perfect in weakness." Then is the night turned into day. The sun has not indeed
dispersed the overhanging clouds, and his bright beams have not yet penetrated
my inmost soul; but I can by faith enter within the veil, and I behold the sun,
though many are the clouds which intervene. Then can I say that I see by the
night, and give praises to Him who hath opened mine eyes to behold.

2. THE VISION OF THE NIGHT.

What was the vision which our prophet beheld? Truly it was a lovely sight, and
it remained stationary before his wondering eyes in all the brightness and
freshness of its coloring. An angel also talked with him, and showed him what
these things were, but we need not refer to his words, because even the vision
itself speaks to us " good words and comfortable words." It is full of the
richest consolations, the most cheering promises.

Let us now turn aside and see this great sight. The place whereon we stand is
holy ground. (Exodus 3:3-5) The man who stands among the myrtle-trees, seems to
be clad in bright and glittering armour, and as appears in the sequel, is the
Angel of the covenant, the man Christ Jesus. Our Lord reveals himself to his
people under different characters, suited to their various wants and
circumstances. Is any one of them timid and distrustful? he unveils his face,
beaming with a love beyond that of a mother, and exclaims, " Can a woman forget
her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." (Isaiah 49:15.) Behold "as
one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." (Isaiah 66:13.) Have any
wandered from the fold? The good Shepherd leaves them not to perish upon the
mountains, and upon every high hill, but seeks them out, that he may deliver
them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark
day. (Ezekiel 34:12.) Is any sick? he reveals himself as the good physician, who
healeth all our diseases. (Psalms 103:3.) Is any one dispirited and alarmed?
instantly he stands before him with his sword drawn in his hand. As Captain of
the host of the Lord is he now come. (Joshua 5:13-14.) Does any trembling sinner
feel oppressed under a sense of the wrath of God? the Saviour manifests himself
as coming from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah; glorious in His apparel,
travelling in the greatness of his strength. And to the inquiry, who is this,
and wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that
treadeth in the wine fat? the incarnate God replies, " I that speak in
righteousness, mighty to save. I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the
people there was none with me; for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample
them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will
stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of
my redeemed is come." (Isaiah 63:1-4) Or is any tied and bound with the chain of
his sins? the Lord Jesus makes Himself known, as sent " to bind up the broken
hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to
them that are bound," (Isaiah 61:1) as the mighty deliverer, who bears " the
keys of hell and of death." (Revelation 1:18.)

Now in the days of Zechariah a warrior was, of all men, held in chief
estimation, for there was then war in the land. And behold, the Keeper of Israel
reveals himself as such; " I saw by the night, and behold a man" Our Lord is a
man. This is a truth full of comfort, for it reminds us that our own nature is
united to the Godhead, that it is borne by Him who sitteth upon the throne.
Christ is a man; how sweet the assurance. The Church is his bride; she bears His
name. This blessed privilege applies equally to every individual believer.
(Isaiah 49:14-16.) He will not deny us, but acknowledge us for his own. Our
Saviour a man! O blessed truth. It is in the form of man that we are best
enabled, that we love most to contemplate him. In that form he lives in our
thoughts, he stands before us as our Advocate with the Father, when we kneel at
his footstool. We think of his wounds, we trace with wonder and adoring
gratitude the prints of the nails in his hands and feet. We here behold the
fountain of every blessing, the source of our peace. And is it not as man that
the Son of God was enabled to suffer in our behalf, to be wounded for our
transgressions, to die that we might live? Is it not thus that he makes manifest
to saints and angels a love which is stronger than death? Well, therefore, may
we rejoice, when we can say respecting our visions of the Almighty, " I saw by
the night, and behold, a man." The man whom Zechariah beheld, rode upon a horse.
In the Song of Solomon the church is represented under the figure of horses; " I
have compared thee, my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariot." (Song
of Solomon 1:9) And in the tenth chapter of the prophecy from which my text is
taken, it is said, " The Lord of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of
Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle." We may therefore
conclude that it is the Church which is represented by the red horse in the
vision, that it is ourselves who are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus.

We are led and directed by His Spirit and His word, and His hand nourishes and
supports us. At first we bear the yoke of the law, and are oppressed with that
grievous bondage which neither we nor our fathers could bear. Then, being
delivered from the law, we become the servants of righteousness, and walk abroad
in the green pastures, and by the still waters of grace and comfort, and rejoice
in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. The battle-horse of Job is an
apt emblem of the confirmed Christian, who is strong in the Lord and in the
power of his might. " He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength, he
goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted,
neither tumeth he back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against him, the
glittering spear and the shield. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and
rage, neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He saith among
the trumpets. Ha, ha. He smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the
captains, and the shouting." (Job 39:21-25.) But if at any time he is elated by
the thought of his own imaginary power and glory, the Lord takes effectual means
to humble him. He passes the yoke over his beautiful neck, and sends him with
Judah to plow, or with Jacob into the valley to break the clods. (Hosea 10:11.)

It is through the man Christ Jesus that we are made more than conquerors. He
fighteth for us, and by the arm of His power every enemy is put in subjection
under our feet; and when at length He shall come again in his glorious majesty,
to judge both the quick and the dead, we shall accompany his chariot of victory,
and participate in the splendours of his triumph.

There is another truth which is intimated by the appearance of the man on horse
in the vision, namely, the speedy help and deliverance which the Lord affords to
his church in every difficulty or distress. If the Saviour of mankind still
walked upon the earth in the garb of mortality, the faith of many a child of
sorrow would be greatly exercised whilst He was administering relief to a
fellow-sufferer, and often would be heard the cry of the sister of Lazarus, "
Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." But now He is a very
present help to his people wherever his aid is sought. In places the most remote
from each other, it may at the same moment be said, in the language of the
church of old, " The voice of my Beloved! Behold he cometh leaping upon the
mountains and skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart.
Behold he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing
himself through the lattice." (Song of Solomon 2:8-9.) In the hour of need his
presence is manifested both by day and by night, and even when the doors are
shut, He stands in the midst, as He visited the disciples at Jerusalem, and
says, "Peace be unto you." When we may suppose him far distant, " Behold, He
stands at the door and knocks; if any man hear His voice and open the door, He
comes in to him and sups with him, and he with Him." (Revelation 3:20.) To the
righteous there ariseth a light in the darkness. The bright shining of the
Saviour’s countenance beams through their habitation and refreshes their soul.
They can say with Habakkuk, " Thou ridest upon thy horses and thy chariots of
salvation." (Habakkuk 3:8.) The horse beheld in the vision was red, as
representing the church, which is covered with the blood and righteousness of
the Saviour, and thereby obtains deliverance from sin and guilt, and from the
power and dominion of the wicked one. And whence cometh He that sitteth upon the
horse! Is it not from the Red Sea, where the enemies of the spiritual Israel
were signally overthrown by the arm of the Almighty? Is it not from Gethsemane
and Golgotha, where he triumphed over principalities and powers, and made a show
of them openly? Thus was bruised the head of the serpent; thus was the prey
taken from the mighty, and the lawful captive delivered; thus was peace made by
the blood of the cross. And he stood among the myrtle-trees. These, my brethren,
are the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be
glorified. Under the influence of the heavenly dew their branches spread, and
they cast forth their roots as Lebanon. (Hosea 14:5-9) Supported by the grace,
power, and faithfulness of Jehovah, they flourish in unfading verdure, and yield
the sweetest fragrance, through the immediate operation of the Holy Ghost. The
true church, the children of God on earth, are here represented. They are as the
lovely myrtle, wherewith the King of kings entwines a wreath of glory for his
head, as he says by his prophet, thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of
the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God." (Isaiah 62:3.) For they
are " predestined by Jesus Christ to the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he hath made them accepted in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:5-6.) And as
branches of myrtle were emblematic of joy among the Jews, and were borne with
songs of gladness before the bridegroom; so do the children of God cause joy to
abound in the kingdom of heaven. God himself rejoices over them. (Isaiah 62:5.)
For thus saith the Lord, " Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken, neither shall
thy land any more be termed Desolate, but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, (that
is, my delight is in her,) and thy land Beulah, (or, married) for the Lord
delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married." (Isaiah 62:4.) And where
grew the myrtle-trees? " In the bottom;" that is, in a low ground. In such a
situation they flourish to the greatest advantage: their leaves assume the
richest verdure, and there they yield the sweetest fragrance. And so it is in
spiritual things. In the valley of humiliation and lowliness of mind, of
self-renunciation and poverty of spirit, there will you find the most rapid
growth, the greatest conformity to the will of God, the most perfect
transformation into the likeness of Him who calls us into the valley, that he
may teach us heavenly wisdom, and confer upon us the blessing of peace. " At
that time Jesus answered, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes. Even so. Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye
shall find rest unto your souls." (Matthew 11:25-26; Matthew 11:28-29.) The man
stood between the myrtle-trees. So Christ abides with his church. He " dwells
with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the
humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.’’ (Isaiah 57:15.) He is in
the midst of his church and people to employ them as seemeth good unto him, and
to protect them by his power. " Yea," exclaims the prophet Zephaniah, " the Lord
thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee
with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing."
(Zephaniah 3:17) And behold, " behind him were there red horses speckled and
white." And what are these? Our prophet himself made the same inquiry, and has
recorded the answer. " The man that stood among the myrtle-trees answered and
said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the
earth." (Zechariah 1:10.) Are they not then the hosts of Mahanaim, ministering
spirits " sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation!" May
they not also be regarded as the perfections of the Godhead, which surround us
for our comfort and deliverance, His grace, His truth, His mercy, His almighty
power? or as the precious promises, resting on which, neither the Red Sea, which
seems to shut us in, and keep us in the power of the enemy, nor the cloud-capped
mountains, with their inaccessible summits, nor the deepest gulfs yawning at our
feet, nor the darkest night, with all its fearful horrors, can move us or
obstruct us in our onward progress toward the heavenly Zion! The promises, the
attributes, and the angelic messengers of Jehovah, these ever accompany him who
was seen among the myrtle-trees, and wherever he is, there are also the hosts of
God around him; and wherever Christ gains admittance into a house or heart, the
glory of the Lord filleth the same.

This, then, was the vision of Zechariah, which he saw by the night to his
comfort concerning Jerusalem, and it is a personification of truth. Even now may
it be seen among us. Think of this heavenly vision; think of it as you lie upon
your bed at night, whenever care spreads her heavy wing over you, and Satan
hurls against you his fiery darts; think of it by day, as often as darkness
pervades your soul; and when all sense and feeling are gone, lift up the eye of
faith, and behold that which was seen by Zechariah by the night, and be
comforted.

I well know, that in every affliction and distress of the beloved children of
God in these days, as well as in former times. He is near at hand to comfort and
to bless them. Only take courage, brethren, be comforted; before another sun has
set, many, perhaps, who now think that the Lord hath forsaken them, and their
God hath forgotten them, ashamed of their unbelief, will exclaim with Jacob, "
Surely God is in this place, and I knew it not!" Many such, perhaps, may have
their eyes opened, as the servant of Elijah, to behold the mountain covered with
chariots of fire and horses of fire, and feel constrained to cry aloud with the
prophet. My father, my father! the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof."
But yet, beloved brethren, if this consolation should be absent, and if darkness
should for a time be left to hang over you, then may God grant, in his mercy,
that you may at least be enabled to exclaim with Zechariah, at such a time and
under such circumstances, I saw by the night, and behold! behold! ―

Amen.


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  CHAPTER 8: 01.5.     SPIRITUAL DECLINE AND RECOVERY
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Chapter 5 SPIRITUAL DECLINE AND RECOVERY. For it is impossible for those who
were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made
partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers
of the world to come, if they shall fall away to renew them again unto
repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him
to an open shame." - Hebrews 5:4-6.

These, my brethren, are well known and important words, of which I would speak
on the present occasion. And who is there among you, that is not aware of the
reason why they are so well known, and of their deep importance?

Many of you are, no doubt, curious to learn how the passage before us will be
now treated. But you are greatly mistaken, my brethren, if you imagine that I
have selected this text, for the purpose of displaying my skill and wisdom. No;
for that would very ill accord with my present design, and justly expose me to
censure. Nor let any one suppose, that it is my intention to afford new matter
for speculation at home, or that I mean to pamper the lust of disputation and
controversy, and pour oil into the fire of party disquisition. The former is
indeed superfluous; for so much of nice distinction and refinement, so many vain
and fruitless inquiries every where abound, that here and there the realities of
life seem to be almost overlooked and forgotten. And as to the latter, there is
no need that the fire of conflicting opinions should burn still brighter among
us, rather than smolder beneath its expiring ashes. And how could I, by fanning
such a flame, forward the cause of truth, or remain consistent with myself, or
with the sentiments which I have recently advanced on unity? No, no; my design
is far otherwise. For since this portion of Scripture, as well as every other,
is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be
perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works ― (2 Timothy 3:16-17) ― And
since it appears to me especially suitable for a day such as this, when many
weary and heavy laden souls, oppressed under a sense of sin; many sons and
daughters, who in a state of spiritual declension, having erred and strayed like
lost sheep, stand apart, and deem themselves guilty of covenant breaking, and
would gladly, if it might be, renew their covenant with God ― I have, therefore,
selected the words before us, looking upwards in hope that the Lord may enable
me, by his grace, to speak a word in season to him that is weary. O may it
appear that not I only have chosen this passage; but that He, in whose name I
speak, has appointed it for our present consideration, and will bless it to the
edification of many.

There are three points in this passage of Scripture which demand our attention.

1. The persons who are spoken of.

2. The fall of which they are susceptible.

3. The warning which is given them.

1. THE PERSONS OF WHOM THE APOSTLE SPEAKS. Are they the children of God or not?
― A most important inquiry, and one which has caused many a head to throb, many
a heart to ache!

There are some, as you are aware, who suppose St. Paul to refer, in this
passage, not to such as have been born of the Spirit; but to persons who have
possessed what has been termed a temporary faith ― to men in whose emotions,
expressions, and desires there appears to have been a kind of change, but who
have not been really renewed and converted, and are, therefore, to be regarded
as of the number of " those that are without." This interpretation is far
fetched, and evidently arises from an over anxiety to uphold, by our text, one
of the most consolatory and precious doctrines of our holy faith; namely, the
doctrine of free grace and final perseverance. But whether such anxious
solicitude be well founded or not, it is in no case right, nor in accordance
with the truth, for men to accommodate the word of God to their own peculiar
systems, and wrest and pervert it after their own pleasure. This cannot be
called, to " tremble at God’s word.’’ (Isaiah 66:2) The word may bear rule and
our systems be in subjection, but not the reverse.

St, Paul speaks of the children of God. Of the children of God? you exclaim; and
can they fall from grace, can they perish out of the right way, can they in the
end be lost? Have patience, brethren; do not forestall that which in due course
will come before you. Every part of our subject shall receive its distinct and
separate investigation. I will first of all prove to you, that St. Paul does
speak of the children of God.

You will observe, that the Apostle describes the persons he has in view by
various characteristics, which plainly indicate that they are partakers of
spiritual life. We will consider these marks in due order. And do you, my
Christian brethren, as we proceed in the inquiry, institute a close and
searching self-examination, and see whether you do not discover in yourselves
these signs and seals of the true Israel. The first part of the description
which the apostle gives of the persons to whom he refers is, that they were once
enlightened. Light is conveyed by various means in the natural world, as by the
reflected brightness of the moon, the brilliant ray of the sun, the burning of a
torch or taper. And so it is also in spiritual things.

There are some who understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and attract the
attention of their fellowmen and command their admiration, but their
acquirements have been made by human instrumentality, or by the exertion of
their natural powers. Their light is not immediately from heaven. It is the
light of the moon, which neither warms nor fructifies, which neither restores
the dead to life, nor makes the withered shrub again to flourish. A man may be
thus enlightened and yet as far from the kingdom of God and his righteousnesses,
as the poor benighted heathen.

There are others who appear to be in a somewhat better state. They possess
light, accompanied by a certain degree of warmth. These are susceptible and
easily excited souls, who, when they speak of Christ and His salvation, and the
riches of his grace, or when they hear them described or discoursed of, are
conscious of certain pleasing mental sensations and emotions, and also under
such circumstances are penetrated by the thought, that these things must indeed
be realities, and perhaps even give honour to the gospel, and so partake, in
some degree, of the stream of living water, which flows through the church of
God; but shortly their position being altered, and the influence which is made
to bear upon them being different, their feelings and affections are changed
with their new position, and " their goodness, like the morning cloud and early
dew, soon passes away." " The cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of
riches, and the lust of other things, choke the word, and it becometh
unfruitful," or " persecution and affliction arising, because of the word, by
and by they are offended."

These are the foolish virgins who have no oil in their vessels with their lamps.
The source of their light is soon exhausted, and they are again enveloped in
darkness. Neither these, nor the others mentioned above, are, in the language of
Scripture, said to be enlightened; for this description belongs only to those
who have received their light, not by secondary or more remote means of
communication, as from the moon, which conveys but a reflected brightness, or
the flame of an expiring lamp; but they are enlightened by the immediate rays of
the " Sun of Righteousness, which arises upon them with healing in his wings,"
which " shines into their heart, and gives them the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God, in the face of Christ Jesus." They hear the cry, " Awake thou
that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." They
hear and obey. " Once they were darkness, but now are they light in the Lord,"
even to the inmost recesses of their souls. They not only see their misery, but
also feel it, and like Saul, on his way to Damascus, are stricken to the ground.
When so enlightened, we are no longer satisfied with theory and speculation, but
our knowledge is intimately connected with the life and practice, and our tongue
is loosened. From the depth of our souls, the cry bursts forth, " What shall I
do to be saved? " The Saviour is not only known, but also loved and revered. ’
To us who believe, he is precious," and we long to experience more and more of
his quickening power. A thorough and entire change has taken place. The heart
and life testify the reality of our religion. The fruits of righteousness are
brought forth to the praise and glory of God. The work of the Spirit of God is
apparent. " Old things are passed away, and behold, all things have become new."
Here assuredly a work of grace is manifest. And what is the second mark by which
the individuals referred to in the text are distinguished? They have tasted of
the heavenly gift. There is also another characteristic of the people of God. It
is that of which our Lord spoke to the woman of Samaria, " If thou knewest the
gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldst
have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water: " (John 4:10.) It
is that for which St. Paul gave thanks in writing to the Corinthians; " Thanks
be unto God for his unspeakable gift." (2 Corinthians 9:15.) Christ himself is
the heavenly-gift. And can this gift be "tasted,’’ that is, partaken of, as "
the bread of God, which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world;
" be received by faith in his name, and with the delight of a pardoned sinner;
be enjoyed as his own, and yet the man be not a partaker of saving grace? (Acts
3:16.) No, no; this description belongs not to the natural man. I do not say,
that we may not know something of Christ, that we may not make a flaming
profession, with no small degree of self-satisfaction, that we may not be moved
by some of the gracious acts of the Lord, and feel a species of pleasure in the
contemplation of the glories of his Person ― I do not say, that this may not
take place without our being in reality the children of God, partakers of a new
and divine nature. But, to receive the whole gift of Christ himself, in all his
offices, as the Atonement, the Saviour of the lost; to enjoy Him in the soul
with lively confidence as the Saviour from death, as the bread of life ― this,
brethren, is the experience of God’s dear children, for it manifests a sense of
need, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and many other things which
undoubtedly belong to such as have tasted and seen that the Lord is gracious,
and who know the blessedness of those that trust in Him. The persons under
consideration are further described as having been made partakers of the Holy
Ghost, an expression, I conceive, which admits of no doubt as to its import.
For, observe, the apostle does not say that the Spirit has knocked at the door
of their hearts, soliciting admittance, but he expressly declares that they were
made partakers of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of God dwells within them. He
enlightens their understandings, elevates their affections, and rules in their
hearts. He is their teacher and comforter, which the world cannot receive,
because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him. He moves them to prayer, and
makes intercession within them with groanings which cannot be uttered. He lifts
up their souls to the high praises of their God. He carries on the conflict
within them against the flesh, with its affections and lusts, which they are
thus enabled to mortify. He makes them more than conquerors over every enemy,
through him that hath loved them. In one word, he glorifies the Saviour, taking
of the things of Jesus, and showing them unto his people, sanctifying and
sealing them unto the day of redemption, and making them meet for the kingdom of
heaven. Thus have they been made partakers of the Holy Ghost. They have drank
into one and the same Spirit, who carries on a work of grace within them, by
which God is glorified. This is the meaning of St. Paul; who then can doubt that
he referred to such as are really the people of God? And that we may know for a
certainty that he speaks of those who have received the Holy Ghost as the means
and pledge of their salvation, and the earnest of their inheritance, he further
adds, and have tasted the good word of God. They know by their own experience
that the word of God is good, that, under all the varying circumstances of life,
it is near us, to counsel, and direct, to administer its friendly aid, whether
of light or consolation. They can say with David, " How sweet are thy words unto
my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth." (Psalms 119:103.) And again,
"The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver."
(Psalms 119:72.) To taste the good word of God can be the portion only of those
that have fellowship with the Holy Ghost, who inspired the word, and applies it
to the hearts and consciences of believers ― who unfolds its hidden meaning, and
makes it effectual, " for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto
all good works." (2 Timothy 3:16-17.) They who taste the good word of God must
assuredly belong to His family. And now we come to their last distinguishing
characteristic. They have tasted " the powers of the world to come.’ And here,
brethren, you may give full scope to your imagination. Think of the abundant
effusions of grace from on high, by which the child of God is enabled to
overcome this world, and the prince thereof; think of the lively foretaste of
everlasting joys, and a transporting anticipation of heavenly blessedness; think
of the vision of the things that shall be hereafter, the second advent of the
Son of God, in power and majesty unspeakable; think of the assured expectation,
the animating hope, the joyous realization of the believer, to be ever with the
Lord; think of the victory, the exultation, the triumph, the everlasting
jubilee, when death, and hell, and sin, and every enemy, shall be put under our
feet, and sorrow and sighing, and all the evils of mortality, shall flee away;
think of these things, and of whatever else of glory and of beauty the most
lively imagination can possibly portray; and all ― all will fall infinitely
short of that which is conveyed by the expression of the apostle, " to taste of
the powers of the world to come." And need I inquire whether they are the
children of God, or not, to whom these things belong?

O that every one of you, brethren, could trace these marks of the true believer
in yourselves. We should not hesitate a moment longer to pronounce you " the
blessed of the Lord, who made heaven and earth." We should stand upon the
mountain with him " which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the
Almighty, " and should take up his parable and say, " How goodly are thy tents,
Jacob, and thy tabernacles, Israel. As the valleys are they spread forth, as
gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign-aloes, which the Lord hath
planted, and as cedar-trees beside the waters. Blessed is he that blesseth thee,
and cursed is he that curseth thee." (Numbers 24:5-9.) 2. THE FALLING AWAY OF
WHICH THE CHILDREN OF GOD ARE SUSCEPTIBLE

St. Paul speaks of the children of God, and not, indeed, of mere novices and
babes in spiritual things, but of those who have made considerable progress in
the way to heaven; and he refers to the fall, of which they are susceptible; "
if they shall fall away." Fall away? Yes, brethren, that is what he says, and
nothing else. And who is there that ought not carefully and earnestly to lay it
to heart? For here yawns an abyss beneath our feet, which threatens to swallow
up two of the most cherished tenets of our holy faith, and with them our dearest
comforts; yea, the whole of our rest and peace ― I mean the doctrines of free
and unmerited grace and favour, and of our perfect safety under the protection
of Jehovah; so that we " shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck us out
of his hands." (John 10:28) For, in truth, the thought that our salvation is
entirely dependent on our own power, is the grave of peace, and the source of
never-ending anxiety. But is it really said that we may fall away? Has not the
word some other signification? No, dear brethren; none whatever. Nor does it
alter the case that St. Paul, instead of expressly stating, in so many words,
the possibility of such an event, only supposes it, " if they shall fall away,"
as though he would intimate, this, indeed, never can fee. He has no such
intention. His meaning is obvious; that the falling away of the children of God
is possible. It is not, indeed, of frequent occurrence, but it may take place.

Yet every fall is not a falling away ― a forgetfulness of Christ, and turning
away from following him. For the word of God makes a distinction between a fall
and falling away. Of the former, occasioned by the weakness and infirmity of our
nature, we read in Proverbs, "For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up
again." (Proverbs 24:16) Of this, which is frequently the means of great and
special benefits to our souls, the apostle does not speak. In this matter let us
judge no man, for he is judged of the Lord. (Colossians 2:16) And " who art thou
that judgeth another man’s servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth.
Yea, he shall he holden up; for God is able to make him stand." (Romans 14:4) It
is not, however, with the fall of the children of God that we have now to do,
but with their falling away; and our subject demands a close and patient
investigation.

Let me refer you to Galatians 5:4. The persons whom the apostle addresses he
characterizes as really awakened, as truly converted unto God, as having run
well in the path of righteousness, and enjoyed the liberty wherewith Christ had
made them free; and yet he tells them that Christ is become of no effect unto
them; that they are fallen from grace. From grace, you will observe, is his
expression, not out of a state of grace. And I would remark, by the way, that
this latter expression, or any thing equivalent to it, I have never found in the
word of God. In what, then, consisted the falling away of these Galatians? It
was in this, my brethren, as you will perceive by the context, that they had
departed from a state of Gospel liberty, and become entangled again with the
yoke of the Law. They no longer regarded themselves as mere recipients of grace,
which wrought in them mightily, but imagined that they were themselves possessed
of power, of which they had only to make use; rejecting the thought that they
were but poor sinners, who must be saved only through the merits and
righteousness of another, they supposed they could attain life by their own good
works and deservings. They had lost the lively sense of their weakness and
unprofitalbleness, and instead of abiding under the cross, and living on grace
and mercy, they had adopted the miserable expedient of being their own saviors,
and asking in their own name, whilst they rejected the name and the advocacy of
the only Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus: and instead of
being judged and condemned in their own consciences, on account of their sins,
and resorting with earnest importunity to a throne of grace, and fountain of
mercy, that they might wash their robes, and make them white in the blood of the
Lamb, they sought to heal their infirmities, and by legal observances to set up
a righteousness of their own, and to establish a claim upon God by some fancied
worthiness which their own hearts devised, and their own hands effected. So that
St. Paul felt constrained to say to them, " O foolish Galatians, who hath
bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ
hath been evidently set forth crucified among you? This only would I learn of
you, received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the
flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain, if it be yet in vain?"
(Galatians 3:1-4.) " Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey
the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you." (Galatians
5:7-8.) This was a falling away ― a falling from grace ― a departure from the
path of the child of God, to walk in that of the self-righteous natural man. It
was a renunciation of Christ; a silent, but not the less significant
declaration, that they needed Him not; that they would not have Him to rule over
them. This was a treading under foot the Son of God, and counting the blood of
the covenant, wherewith they were sanctified, an unholy thing, and doing despite
unto the Spirit of Grace. (Hebrews 10:29.) And, therefore, St. Paul justly
charges them, in my text, with crucifying to themselves the Son of God afresh,
and putting him to an open shame. See here, my brethren, the falling away of the
true Christian, and such, alas! as is sometimes to be seen in our own days. But
there is a falling away which is still worse than this, not merely from grace to
the law, but from God to idols: from the kingdom of heaven to the world, and
from the path of the Spirit and of light to that of the flesh and darkness. It
is scarcely to be believed, and yet we have manifest proof of its reality.

You think, perhaps, that I allude to David at a certain period of his life. No,
brethren: David’s was a fall, not a falling away. But look at Solomon, that
beloved servant of God, and accompany him through his whole course of life; an
impression of dread and alarm must necessarily come over you. Behold the glowing
writer of the Canticles, the master of wisdom in proverbs, the man full of faith
and zeal ― O, how greatly has he fallen ! His queens and concubines have
enslaved and perverted his heart, and he bows down before the idols of the
surrounding nations. He forsakes the Lord, and worships Ashtoreth, the goddess
of the Zidonians, and Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, and Milcom, the god of
the children of Ammon. (1 Kings 11:33.) He does that which is evil in the sight
of the Lord, and builds idol-temples and altars, and goes with his wives to the
high places to bum incense and offer sacrifices to Moloch. Twice did the Lord
appear unto him, commanding him not to walk after other gods, but he regarded
not the voice of warning; so that at length the Lord came against him with the
lightning of his displeasure, and with a louder and more alarming call. And
alas! Have not some of the children of God been guilty of a similar defection?
Are there not those to whom the world was once crucified, that have gone back
unto the world ― have not some who, for a long time, have been serving the Lord,
now sunk into their former sinful state of life, which they had apparently for
ever forsaken, and returned like the sow that was washed, to their wallowing in
the mire?

Perhaps, there are some such unhappy ones among ourselves ― some who formerly
clave unto the Lord; but the bond is now broken and dishonored! Who once stood
beneath the cross weeping, but now themselves crucify the Saviour; who once were
ranked with the humble penitents of the Scripture, with Peter, with the thief on
the cross, and Mary Magdalene, but now they shed not a tear for their sins, and
their hearts are as insensible as steel or iron; who once delighted in singing
the songs of Zion, the praises of the Lamb, but now have forgotten the Lamb and
his precious blood, and mingle in the pleasures and occupations of the world and
of Belial; who once were the planting of the Lord to his honour and glory, but
now are like the withered tree in the forest, dried up and bare, without
blossoms, sap, or fruit. Alas! perhaps such are to be found, even in our own
congregation; so that we have not far to go to seek for them. And, if it,
indeed, be thus, then we point at such among us, and say, " Behold in these is
the proof that the falling away of the children of God is possible."

3. THE WARNING. And now, ye who have fallen away, hear the warning which is
given you; hearken to the voice of thunder which proceeds from the mouth of the
apostle; " It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted
the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall
away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the
Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." how terribly do these words
sound! They seem almost like that fearful sentence, " Depart from me, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matthew 25:41)
They do not, however, denounce a sentence of condemnation, but forcibly set
before us how painful, how difficult, must be the restoration of those, who,
having been rooted and grounded in the faith, and blessed with the sweetest
manifestations of love from God, have afterwards relapsed into sin. Whoever,
therefore, are guilty of such sin, may well fear and tremble. The word "
impossible," in our text, is calculated to fill them with horror and alarm. Let
him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. O, watch and pray, and
abide under the shadow of the cross. There lay you down to rest; there awake in
the morning. Let that be the spot of your daily employments, the scene of your
active and careful preparation for eternity. There wait for the coming of the
Lord; there draw your last sigh; then are ye safe.

I perceive an intense anxiety among you, my brethren, and many a heart heaves a
heavy sigh. I think I am not mistaken. And what is the cause! Ah, I know it
well. Some of you deem yourselves guilty of this sin, and the word "
impossible," as with the weight of a mountain, presses down your souls. Indeed,
brethren, I feel acutely for you; I mourn over your case. But have you really
fallen away? Yes, you think; yes, we have indeed. And are you distressed on
account of it? Alas! you exclaim, deeply, deeply distressed. And do you desire
to be restored? O, most earnestly, is your cry; but it is in vain. We are lost
for ever. We are unfaithful; we are base sinners; we have crucified the Lord of
glory. It is impossible, impossible. This is the language of your soul. But
stop: we know enough to say to you. Take courage; be not dismayed. Your
apprehensions are not well grounded. For you there is nothing but comfort in our
text. Comfort? Yes, brethren, comfort; for observe what the apostle says. It is
this; that it is impossible " to renew them again unto repentance." But you, I
conceive, are renewed unto, repentance; for what else is this your anxiety and
trembling apprehension? what else are these your sighs, and cries, and tears,
and this judging of yourself before the Lord? what are these but repentance and
contrition of heart! There is no need, therefore, for you to number yourselves
among those that have fallen away. Look at this obvious conclusion, consider its
truth, and be comforted. In the name of God and his word I say, ye are in a
state of grace. Is it not so, beloved, that you who are affected by overmuch
sorrow on this account, may hope in God’s mercy! But many among us still
continue oppressed with anxiety. That word " impossible " presses down their
souls as an intolerable burden, perhaps less on their own account than on that
of others. A father mourns over his fallen son; a brother thinks of his brother
that has grievously gone astray; a friend calls to mind his friend who is under
spiritual declension; and, alas! the word " impossible " so affects their souls,
that they gaze, as it were, into the bottomless pit, and behold their brother,
son, or friend, given a prey to the merciless, the everlasting flames.

Wherewith can we speak peace to these, or what can we say to those whom we may
have robbed of the delightful feeling of their security, or whose confidence we
have shaken? The latter we would exhort to be the more diligent in watching and
prayer; and to the former we would say, if those beloved ones, whose falling
away you mourn, were the children of God, they are not lost. God will not cast
away His people; and though your eyes and mine may not perceive it, though they
themselves may scarcely be conscious of it, the loving-kindness of the Lord is
not utterly taken away from them, (Psalms 89:33) the Holy Ghost has not forsaken
them, for the promise made to the People of God is, that He shall abide with
them for ever. (John 14:16) The word of God cannot be at variance with itself,
nor are we at liberty to take a partial view of divine truth, and to rest upon
one portion to the neglect of another. That which our Lord says in the tenth
chapter of the Gospel according to St. John, still holds good; " My sheep hear
my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal
life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my
hand. My Father which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to
pluck them out of my Father’s hand;" (John 10:27-29.) And also in the sixth
chapter, " All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent
me, that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day." (John 10:37-39) And that which the Holy Ghost says
in our text is not opposed to these great truths. This I must briefly show you.
And let me call your attention to the exact wording of the text. It is not said
that it is impossible for them to be renewed again, but it is impossible to
renew them again unto repentance. You can easily appreciate the difference
between the two modes of expression. A physician may say respecting a patient
who is dangerously ill, " it is impossible to restore him," by which expression
he would intimate that it is a case beyond the power of his skill to remedy.
Should he presume to say that it is impossible for the man to be restored to
health, he would say too much; for God, who possesses all power, can raise up
and restore, even from the gates of death. In like manner, the apostle, in the
expression before us, does not deny that there is any possibility of recovery,
but he asserts that the means which at other times are made use of for the
spiritual good of men, namely, the admonitions of love, the voice of warning,
and the preaching of the word, are to those, who have fallen away, unavailing.
The earnest call to repentance, the remonstrances of friends, and the promises
and threatening of Scripture, fall upon these souls as dew upon the beaten path,
and as rain upon the hard stone.

When, therefore, St. Paul speaks here of impossibility, we must regard him as
having in view the means which are usually blessed in the awakening of sinners,
" the word and doctrine," in the administration of which he was diligent, as the
servant of Christ, but that he did not intend us to understand that God himself
could not bring back one who was guilty of spiritual declension. No, brethren.
The word which excites so much alarm is to be understood precisely in that sense
in which it is explained in the tenth chapter of St. Mark’s gospel. Our Lord
there says, " It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than
for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." And when the disciples were
astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, who then can be saved? Jesus
looked upon them, and said, " With men it is impossible, but not with God; for
with God all things are possible." (Mark 10:25-27.) But why does not St. Paul
make a similar express reservation? He would warn us against security and
falling away, and therefore he uses strong language. But he is not at the same
time unmindful of the weak and timid among the flock of Christ: and that he
might not make the heart of him sad whom God hath not made sad, he more than
once, in the immediate context, intimates that with God there is no
impossibility to renew again to repentance his beloved children who may have
fallen away. And first, he does so in the third verse. He feared that some whom
he addressed had fallen away, and gave them distinctly to understand it. He was
therefore apprehensive lest his proclaiming the great mysteries of the gospel of
which he desired to treat should be of no avail, that his words should fall as
seed upon a soil that is utterly barren and fruitless. And yet he adds, that it
was his wish to preach these great doctrines to them, and this will he do, he
says, if God permit. But Paul knew that their hearts were closed against him; he
had just said that they had need of milk, and not of strong meat, and to be
taught the first principles of the doctrines of God; but he meant that what he
could not do, God could bring to pass, namely, that he could move and restore -
the hardened and unfeeling souls of those who had faithlessly departed from him,
and remained insensible under the preached word. This, his belief, he expresses
covertly, indeed, but very significantly in the words, " This will we do, if God
permit.!’ But does he not openly declare, in the eighth verse, that those who
have fallen away are hopelessly lost! He there compares them to the earth, which
receiveth not blessing from God, and which beareth thorns and thistles. And what
does he say respecting this earth? That it is rejected, and is nigh unto
cursing, whose end is to be burned. These indeed are strong expressions, but to
be nigh unto cursing does not mean to be really cursed, as to be near death is
quite a different thing from being actually dead. The words, " whose end is to
be burned," are unquestionably fearful, but these again are not so alarming as
they appear to be. It would be far otherwise, were those who have fallen away
compared to the dry stubble, which is cast into the fire to be burned. But they
are said to be like the earth. And why do men in eastern countries apply fire to
fields which are unproductive? Certainly not to destroy them and make them
desolate, but on the contrary, to free them from weeds, to render them arable
and fruitful. Even so, as the apostle intimates, does God deal with his dear
children who have fallen away. They shall again be renewed to repentance, but as
by fire, like the fearful judgment of dreadful visitations, like the flame of
wrath and the torments of the lost, as it was with David and Solomon, and
others, who have fallen away. Yes, with God nothing is impossible. Are you still
dismayed, my brethren? If it is yet a matter of doubt with you, whether the
everlasting covenant of God, which is well ordered in all things and sure,
remains fixed and unbroken, then read the remainder of the chapter. The apostle
there treats of the truth and faithfulness of God, in a way which fills the
heart with gladness and rejoicing. It seems as though it were his desire to
raise up and exalt to heaven those whom he had first, by the thunder of his
warnings, leveled with the earth. It is impossible, he says, for God to lie. Has
he once spoken to us, by the Spirit of his grace; has he really promised to us
poor criminals the joys of paradise? Then may we have strong consolation! These
two things ― his oath and his once promised word ― can never fail. In these we
have at all times an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which
entereth into that within the veil.

Behold, thus doth the apostle express himself respecting these great things. For
whom is this discourse designed? For the careless and secure, in the first
place; and next for those who are of little faith and fearful. To the former, it
addresses the voice of warning, to excite them to watch and pray, and abide
under the cross, lest, before they are aware, they should wander far from God;
for it is a fearful and a bitter thing at last, as a field, to be burned, and by
such a painful process to be renewed again to repentance ― and for the latter it
is designed, as a means of confirmation and establishment in the faith, that
they may be comforted and encouraged, though they may have been unfaithful, and
guilty of declining from God. For the foundation of God standeth sure, having
this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth
the name of Christ depart from iniquity. (2 Timothy 2:19) Yes, he knoweth them
that are his.

Come then, ye citizens of heaven, however tattered, and torn, and disfigured, by
your long wandering from the right way ― come to a God, reconciled to man in
Christ Jesus. As long as He shall see your names written on the tablet of the
covenant, he will " earnestly remember you still, (Jeremiah 31:20.) and though
months and years may have passed away since you departed from him, He will, when
you turn and repent, welcome you as friends, and you shall yourselves testify
that you really had nothing to fear, for the love of God to his people is
unchangeable. Faithful is he that hath called you, who also will do it. Let the
faithfulness of God melt and subdue your soul, and so draw nigh to Him. His
heart yearns over you to embrace you in love, to restore, to refresh, and
comfort you. Then let them come who weep, but yet believe, For contrite sinners
Jesus will receive.

Amen.


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  CHAPTER 9: 01.6.     THE DEW OF ISRAEL
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Chapter 6 THE DEW OF ISRAEL.

" I will be as the dew unto Israel ― that he shall flourish as the Rose." -
Hosea 14:5

" Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity."
― Such are the gracious words of the Lord to his people; and the promises which
he annexes to this call of mercy, and by which he allures them to himself, are
sweeter than honey and the honey-comb; (Psalms 19:10.) He will heal their
backslidings. He will love them freely, for his anger is turned away from them.
Yea, he will be as the dew unto Israel ― that he shall flourish as the rose. At
this last promise to the spiritual Israel we will pause, to inquire into its
import, and to refresh ourselves with the hidden manna which descends in this
heavenly dew. (See Exodus 16:14.) Let US contemplate, 1. Christ under the
similitude of the dew on Israel; and then, 2. The Church, as represented by a
blooming rose.

1. CHRIST THE DEW OF ISRAEL.

I will be as the dew unto Israel. How beautiful the comparison! Many, doubtless,
in this assembly, are now breathing the silent prayer ― " 0, my Lord and
Saviour, be unto me as the dew of the early dawn."

Frequent allusion is made to dew in the sacred writings. Sometimes it represents
great and special benefits; " Therefore," saith the aged Patriarch to Esau, "
God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth." (Genesis
27:28.) Spiritual blessings are also thus described; " The fountain of Jacob
shall be upon a land of corn and wine, also his heavens shall drop down dew."
(Deuteronomy 33:28.) The fruitfulness and quickening power of the word of God is
moreover set forth by this similitude; " My speech shall distill as the dew."
(Deuteronomy 32:2.) Sometimes grace is signified; "The king’s favour is as dew
upon the grass." (Proverbs 19:12.) At other times, it is expressive of peace and
brotherly union of spirit; " Behold, how good, and how pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the
head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard; that went down to the
skirts of his garments. As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon
the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for
evermore." (Psalms 133:1-3) The morning dew, copiously diffused over the face of
nature, brilliant, from the reflected light of heaven, as diamonds of the purest
water, communicating freshness to the herbage, is an apt and beautiful emblem of
the children of God, ― the converts of Zion, who are born from above, numerous
as the drops of morning dew. (Psalm. ex.) The beauty of the Lord their God is
upon them, and they are valued by Him as his precious jewels. (Malachi 3:17) The
blessings vouchsafed to the places where they dwell, in answer to their fervent
and constant prayers, descend as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the
showers upon the new mown grass. " The remnant of Jacob," it is said, " shall be
in the midst of many people, as a dew from the Lord." (Micah 5:7) The Holy
Ghost, also, with His manifold powers, gifts, and operations, is frequently
represented by the same similitude. "Whenever the Lord is described as watering
his vineyard, and causing clouds to pass over it, and sending rain from heaven;
whenever we read of a river the streams whereof make glad the city of God, and
refresh the wilderness and solitary place, the allusion is to the Holy Spirit,
who is to the soul that which dew and rain are to the face of nature. " Awake
and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the
earth shall cast out the dead." (Isaiah 26:19.) When therefore, as in my text,
the Lord thus speaks of Himself, we cannot mistake the meaning. He is Himself
the dew; for he is one with the Spirit. " The Lord is that Spirit," says the
apostle; and again, " We are changed into the same image from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord;" or of the Lord the Spirit. (2 Corinthians
3:17-18. See the marginal reading.) When Christ enters into a soul, the Spirit
enters; and has fellowship with us; and so also has Christ, who is glorified in
us, and gives himself to us with quickening power.

" I will be as the dew unto Israel." How deep is the condescension which is
intimated by this comparison. It is as if the great design of the existence of
God were the life and well-being of his people. And the same grace was
manifested in the humiliation of Jesus during his sojourn upon earth. " The Son
of man," said our Lord, " came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and
to give his life a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28.) And again, "I lay down my
life for the sheep." (John 10:15.) He laid it down once upon the cross, and in
another, and spiritual sense, he lays it down daily for us now. He lives for us,
to make us partakers of his life, that we may live in him. The Lord of heaven
and of earth, under whose feet are put all things, even He will be to us a dew ―
a refreshing shower poured upon the withered field of fallen nature; O think,
brethren, of this condescension, this love. The Lord will be as a dew. This also
intimates, that there is a thirsty and fainting land, which he will render
fruitful. And such are we, till we have received life from on high. In vain
shall we seek for any fruit in a soul, before Christ has given it life. How is
the beautiful garden laid waste, the planting of the Lord within us. The fire of
rebellion against God has devoured the green foliage. It is a desolation, a dry
and dreary desert, where only dragons and vipers dwell ― thoughts and desires
opposed to the God of heaven. Let any one seek there for the beauteous plant of
heavenly love; it is utterly destroyed. Let him search for the luxuriant growth
of filial confidence, of ardent devotion, and heart-felt delight in prayer; let
him ask for the fragrant but lowly floweret of humility, whether it yet blooms?
for the little plant of patience, whether it now grows? for communion with God,
whether it is still cherished? Let a man inquire for power, and zeal, and
inclination to do the will of God; for heavenly-mindedness; for the upward
soaring of the soul. ― Alas! how have we become a wilderness! That is fulfilled
in us, which is spoken of by the prophet, "Thou daughter that dost inhabit
Dibon, come down from thy glory and sit in thirst." (Jeremiah 48:18) Our
strength is withered away, as in the drought of summer. There is no verdure, no
life in us. And should any one seek to restore the lost verdure, as long as the
wonder-working dew of God is withheld, his efforts are unavailing as water
poured upon the burning sand. Let a man form good resolutions; let him preach or
hear the word; let him read and pray; let him retire into solitude, or seek the
society of the pious; it is all to no purpose, unless the Lord be with him: it
is as when the rain or dew falls upon the paving-stones of the streets. But the
Lord can even of stones raise up children to Abraham. He can make the wilderness
blossom as the rose.

I, saith the Lord, I will be as the dew unto Israel. ― Blessed be God that He
will be as the dew. The dew is wont to fall, in the sultry night of summer, when
the fields are dry and languishing; and, in like manner, doth Jesus visit the
thirsty soul. Go abroad into the fields on an early summer’s morning. See how
the dew sparkles in the valleys, how it lies upon the meadows as a sea of
pearls; but none has fallen upon the lofty hills. Thus, whosoever would receive
Christ must first he brought low; must, like David, cry unto God out of the
Depths. (Psalms 130:1.) " Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the
lowly, but the proud he knoweth afar off.’’ (Psalms 138:6) " To this man will I
look, saith the Lord, even to him that is poor and of a contrite heart, and that
trembleth at my word." (Isaiah 66:2.) God is wont to make a man lowly before he
visits him with his quickening and refreshing power. Every mountain and hill
shall be brought low before Him. The Saviour of men loves the valley of
humiliation. ― How well did He know how to bring down the pride in the woman of
Samaria; " Thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy
husband." (John 4:18.) At once she was convicted of sin; and sensible of her
poverty and wretchedness, she looked around for a deliverer from among the
people. Then it was that Jesus said unto her, "I that speak unto thee am He;"
(John 4:26.) and from that time she was renewed in the spirit of her mind, and
changed both in heart and life. She was the planting of the Lord, that He might
be glorified. And it is ever thus. The dew of God falls from above. He opens the
clouds of heaven, and wherever he finds valleys and depths among the hills,
empty, and helpless souls, there he sheds abroad his sacred influences. " The
hungry he filleth with good things, but the rich he sendeth empty away." As
Joseph was a type of Christ in his whole life, so was he also in this, that he
was cast into a pit which was empty.

It is in the stillness of the night that the dew descends from heaven. "We hear
no sound, we see no brightness; but in the morning it is suspended from the
leaves, and we know not whence it came, nor how it was placed there. So is it
also with Christ. The manner of his coming is hidden in darkness; who can lift
up the veil? His approach is also, for the most part still and noiseless; not
with sound and ceremony, not with visions and wondrous manifestations, not with
a voice from heaven, and pomp and parade apparent to the senses. Or ever the
sighing and waiting sinner is aware, He says to him. Behold, I am He. No host of
angels has entered his chamber, no audible voice has been heard through his
window: he has seen no vision, nor has any light from heaven shone around him,
as around the shepherds on the field of Bethlehem; but within his soul he has
heard the gracious announcement, " Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great
joy, for to you is born this day the Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." The
Spirit beareth witness with his spirit; and this is the witness that God hath
given unto us eternal life, and that this life is in his Son. His conscience
also testifies that he has partaken of the fountain of grace opened to the house
of David and inhabitants of Jerusalem: he knows that Christ is his Saviour. The
dew has gently fallen in the calm and silent season of the night; but in what
manner we know not; yet the sinner feels that it is there: and we also perceive,
in the whole course of his life and conversation, that Divine grace has
descended on his soul. The dew upon the tender grass is distinguished for its
brightness. It reflects the light of heaven. And thus also, when Christ has
found admission into our soul, amidst the deepened sense of our sinfulness, He
appears glorious in our eyes; and the more close our communion with him, the
more do our misery and utter helplessness become apparent. Hence the cry of the
believer: " Alas! what am I, my Saviour: I daily discover more evil in my
state." But thanks be to God, as the dew adorns and beautifies that on which it
falls, so does Christ cover our misery with his righteousness, which is glorious
like the curtains of Solomon. (Song of Solomon 1:5) There is no condemnation,
saith the apostle, to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:1) And how fertilizing is this dew! It
gives life to the dead soul. It makes the wilderness to rejoice and blossom as
the rose. How great is the change which is effected, when, after a long and
sultry summer’s day, the morning dawn unfolds itself, and sheds abroad its
blessings upon the fields. We see nothing then faint and withered; the flowers
and herbage lift up their heads; all things are adorned with beauty, as in the
season of spring, and the fragrance of life is wafted through the air! But yet
greater and more glorious is the change, when Christ, the dew of God, descends
upon a heart, or upon a whole household, as in the case of Cornelius.

How wretched and barren the heart of man, till Christ is there. How unhappy and
lifeless its condition. The world possesses all ― the mind, the will, the
affections. The thoughts are winged only toward the flesh-pots of Egypt. The
desires and hopes go upon the ground, like the serpent, and eat the dust. The
mouth speaks only of the gratifications and employments of time. The whole life
and being of man ― his joys and griefs, his hopes and sorrows, are estimated by
this world and its vanity; his entire state is mean and groveling, without God,
without light, destitute of heavenly mindedness, full of sin. Angels cannot
endure such a sight.

But, behold! Salvation comes to this house. The Saviour sheds his blessings from
on high. Now come and see what a change has been effected. " The glory of the
Lord filleth the house." How sacred has the place become; worldly mindedness is
expelled, and the gentle spirit of humility and love occupies its room, and the
conversation is in heaven; earthly inclinations are dislodged, and the thoughts,
wishes, and desires are now wings, wherewith to fly upward. The treasure is now
elsewhere, the heart is elsewhere also. Other bread and water are now known, and
other is the thirst and hunger. The man has attained another state and
condition, and his language and course of life are consequently different. He is
spiritual, and all things are now spiritually discerned and estimated; and his
chambers are perfumed with the frankincense of prayer and praise, ascending day
and night as a sweet smelling savour before the Lord. His state was before
dreary, and void, and desolate, and darkness was upon the face of the deep: but
the Spirit has now moved upon the face of the waters, and light has broken in,
and the soul stands glorious in the bloom and beauty of the new creation. This
is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the work of Him
who says, in my text, I will be as the dew unto Israel. That he were such to all
of us! But observe, my brethren, that dew, precious as it is, may become
injurious to the fields. This is the case, when it falls on a cold and chilly
atmosphere. Then, congealed into frost, it destroys, vegetation. And thus has
Christ been unto many the savour of death unto death. So, for example, did he
become to Judas a chilling frost. Of this the wintry atmosphere of opposition
and obstinacy in Judas was the cause. All that Jesus did by word or example, by
gentle allurements or by warnings, to gain an entrance into the heart of Judas,
hardened his heart more and more, and accelerated his destruction. Christ was
not the cause of this, but Judas himself. May God preserve every one of us from
such a state! God forbid that that which alone can give life eternal, should in
the evil atmosphere of our soul be changed into a withering frost!

O let him who has received this refreshing and fructifying gift, rejoice and
give thanks to God. But some of you, perhaps, mourn the absence of the dew after
which you thirst. For many days and weeks, it may be, you have not been able to
perceive its sweetness, nor rejoice in its communications from on high. See
that, under such circumstances, you mistake not your state. For the dew is not
unfrequently withheld from the souls of God’s dear children. Then do the plants
of love and peace, of confidence and joy, droop and hang down their heads. There
is no life for prayer, praise, or giving of thanks. But only wait awhile. God
would now show you the value of the dew. When his hour is come He will return
again to you, and give you inwardly to experience its gracious effects. And how
great the joy when the treasures of heaven are poured forth after a long, sultry
season! Then you first learn rightly how to estimate the mercies conferred on
you, and by faith perceive and acknowledge in your own soul, that the Lord alone
is as the dew unto Israel.

2. THE CHURCH A BLOOMING ROSE. As Christ represents himself in my text under the
similitude of the dew, in like manner does he compare the church, and also each
individual believer, to a rose. " I will be as the dew unto Israel ― that he
shall flourish as the rose." This expression is also highly significant. The
rose is a lovely flower, second to none in sweetness and beauty. As the
nightingale among birds, the rose is among flowers, the most eloquent in the
praises of the Creator. It utters no vocal sound, nor does it rustle, as the
palm of Elias, or the cedars of Lebanon, and yet it seems to be formed to give
glory to its maker. Thus, too, Israel, whose seed shall live for ever, a rose in
the great wilderness of man, created for God’s honour and glory. " The Lord hath
redeemed Jacob," saith the prophet, "and glorified Himself in Israel." (Isaiah
44:23.) And St. Paul declares, that God hath " predestined us unto the adoption
of children, by Jesus Christ, to himself, according to the good pleasure of His
will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:5-6.) Believers are his workmanship, born of his
Water and his Spirit. His is the light which enlightens them; His the grace
which is made manifest in their conversation. Yes, all that is bright and lovely
in their character is from God, the darkness only belongs to themselves. The
Urim and Thummin, which they bear upon their breast, has been placed there by
God; and the language of their hearts is, " Not unto us, Lord, but unto thy name
give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth’s sake." (Psalms 115:1.) The power
of His grace is displayed in all who are born again to his honour and glory. "
We have this treasure," it is said, " in earthen vessels, that the excellency of
the power may be of God, and not of us." (2 Corinthians 4:7.)

How wondrous, how mysterious, are the ways of God. For observe who are they that
shall flourish as the rose. Poor, contrite sinners, who are conscious of nothing
good in themselves; miserable outcasts, such as took refuge with David in the
cave; weak, dispirited men by nature, who have neither power nor will of their
own to make any effort ― the lame, the blind, the destitute, who lie in the
street at the threshold of His door, and live on the crumbs of bread which fall
from His table. And the great and the rich, the honorable and the powerful,
(namely, those who deem themselves as such) are but as weeds. A believer,
however deep may have been the dye of his sins; a poor Lazarus lying in his
leprosy; a publican pricked to the heart, and crying, God be merciful to me a
sinner; a penitent thief upon the cross ― Such sinners He receiveth (Luke 15:2.)
From these he ordaineth praise. Such is the wonder-working power of God. But,
truly, they are not saved by Him for the sake of any thing in themselves, nor
for any humility or piety they may be supposed to possess; but He regards them
as his own, because they are found in Christ, and are clothed with the garment
of his perfect righteousness. By his grace he hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. The rose has a delightful fragrance. Thus the Lord says by Ezekiel, " I
will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people,
and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered, and I will
be sanctified in you before the heathen." (Ezekiel 20:41.) And it is said,
respecting the church, in the Song of Solomon, "the smell of thy garments is
like the smell of Lebanon." (Song of Solomon 4:11.) This reminds us of Jacob,
when, by subtlety, he obtained the blessing. He clothed himself in the " goodly
raiment " of Esau, and drew nigh unto his father; (Genesis 27:15.) then, it is
said, Isaac smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, " See,
the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed."
(Genesis 27:27.) And this is it with regard to ourselves. We are as a sweet
savour unto the Lord, only when clothed in the beautiful garments of our elder
brother; we are accepted in the Beloved. The rose is red; in this respect also
is it an emblem of the spiritual Israel. St. Paul speaks, in the tenth chapter
of the epistle to the Hebrews, of our " boldness to enter into the holiest by
the blood of Jesus;" and again, in the twelfth chapter, he makes mention of "
the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." As
Moses sprinkled all the people with the blood of the sacrifice, so are the
children of God sprinkled with the blood of Christ, their passover, that the
destroying angel may not touch them. (Hebrews 9:19; Hebrews 9:23; 1 Peter 1:3)
Their faith looks to His atoning blood. " The shield of the mighty men is made
red," saith the prophet Nahum 2:3 This may be regarded as applying to the shield
of faith. Their hope springs out of the obedience of the Saviour, his obedience
unto death. Their prayers and praises are sprinkled with his blood, for thus
only do they draw nigh unto God. The fountain of their love is the bleeding
cross. They would glory in nothing else, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He
is their all and in all. All their works are done in the believing apprehension
of the blood of the cross. Thus do they possess the colour as well as the
fragrance of the rose. When a rose has lost its lovely hue, it is a sign that it
is hastening to decay. This holds good also with reference to the Christian. If
he cease to cry, with David, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean, wash
me and I shall be whiter than snow;" (Psalms 51:7.) if he neglect to have
recourse to the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness; if he begin to
think lightly of the offering of the Mediator, and venture without it to
approach the Father, it is an evil token― a sign that the worm of pride is
gnawing at the root. The more rich the coloring, the greater is the indication
of life; the more indispensable appears to us the blood of the covenant, the
better is the state of our soul. The rose is seldom without a thorn. And what
says the bridegroom in the Song of Solomon? " As the rose among the thorns so is
my beloved." But what are the thorns? They are the many afflictions, both
external and with-in, to which the children of God are subjected in this world.
And thus must it needs be. They are hedged in, that they may not wander out of
the right way, and that they may be protected from many dangers. Without his
sufferings the graces of Lazarus would not have shone forth so brightly; and
Paul, without a thorn in his flesh would have been exalted above measure.
Whenever the church of God has been subjected to severe persecution, the beauty
of the Lord has been most upon her, and her comeliness unfolded to the view. And
now observe, in the last place, the source whence the rose derives its
loveliness and growth. It toils not, neither does it spin, but it waves gently
in the sun-beam, and opens its cup to the dew of the early dawn; thence its
fragrance and beauty, in which it surpasses every flower of the field. Solomon,
in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of them. Here do we receive
instruction. Our toils and labours are of no avail: we cannot change and renew
ourselves. In this consists our life; that we walk in the light of Jacob; that
the day-star from on high visits us; that we "lift up our eyes unto the hills
from whence cometh our help;" (Psalms 121:1.) that we repair to no fountain but
that which is opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
(Zechariah 13:1.) and daily and hourly draw from thence living water. (John
4:10.) Happy are they who have no other care than every moment to abide under
the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and be moistened with the dew which
distills from heaven. Happy are they whose eyes rest continually on the good
Shepherd, that he may give them their portion of meat in due season; that he may
open his hand and satisfy them with good things. They shall never be permitted
to want. Their bread shall be given them, and their water shall be sure.

Wouldst thou, Israel, flourish and blossom as the rose? Unfold thine heart under
a deep sense of thy need to Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness, and to the dew of
heaven which descends gently from on high. So wilt thou be, as the rose in the
season of spring, lovely, fresh, and fragrant; and in thy words and actions, in
thy prayers and praises, and thy holy conversation, will men recognize the
brightness and the glory of the heavenly dew.

O come, then. Lord and Saviour, be unto us as the dew! On all those who are
still as withered plants, and, continuing such, must at length be cast into the
fire and burned, let the power of thy Spirit be manifest, as once on the rod of
Aaron, which though dry and lifeless, yet, in one night, "brought forth buds,
and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds." (Numbers 17:8.) May we all flourish
as the rose. And whenever Thou shalt come to us to call a soul hence to thy
eternal mansions, may it be said in heaven, " Behold, my Beloved is gone down
into his garden to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather
roses." (Song of Solomon 6:2.)

Amen.


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  CHAPTER 10: 01.7.     THE SAVIOUR'S JOY
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Chapter 7 THE SAVIOUR’S JOY A SERMON FOR CHRISTMAS DAY.

"Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the
sons of men." - Proverbs 8:31.

There can be no great difficulty in finding the solution of this mysterious
subject. The chapter from which our text is taken furnishes it amply. It shows
us plainly that the allusion is to essential Wisdom, or the Son of God. Our Lord
bears, in many passages of Scripture, the name of ’Wisdom." He says of himself,
(Matthew 11:19,) Wisdom is justified of her children; " and again, (Luke 11:49.)
" Therefore, also, said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and
apostles." And Paul declares, that " God hath made Christ unto us Wisdom." (1
Corinthians 1:30.) In our text, also, something is stated respecting Christ, the
Wisdom of God, which, especially in the light of the joyous season of the
nativity, it is not difficult to understand. Let us proceed, then, to consider
the subject thus brought before us. And first let us observe the latter clause
of our text.

1. " MY DELIGHTS WERE WITH THE SONS OF MEN."

O how bright and rich the meaning which flashes from these words upon our minds.
They are like a costly jewel, which, however you may turn and examine it, is on
all sides beautiful, and ever sends forth new rays of life and lovely coloring.
Our Lord here informs us, that He had delights ― peculiar and special
enjoyments. And where had He these delights? Where else, you say, than where the
tree of life flourishes, and the streams of living water flow; (Revelation
22:1-2.) where the crown of glory encircles his brow, and ten thousand times ten
thousand, with their golden harps, stand around his throne. (Revelation 14:2.)
But no; his heart is elsewhere; " My delights were with the sons of men." You
think, then, that he speaks of the beginning of time, and the last day of the
creation. Aye, then was it indeed good to dwell among men; for it was pleasant
to walk amidst the trees of Eden, when the inhabitants of the earth were pure
and undefiled. (Genesis 2:8.) Nor yet, brethren, is this the tune of which our
Lord speaks; but he alludes to a period when all the foundations of the earth
were out of coarse; (Psalms 82:5.) when the imagination of man’s heart was only
evil from his youth, (Genesis 8:21.) and the whole human race dead in trespasses
and sins, (Ephesians 2:1.) tied and bound by the fetters of the wicked one, (2
Timothy 2:26.) and, bending under the wrath and curse of the Almighty,
(Ephesians 2:3.) had sunk in deep mire, where there was no standing, (Psalms
69:2.) and the pit was about to swallow them up. (Psalms 69:15.) Well, therefore
may we be astonished that, under such circumstances, the Lord of Glory should
say, " My delights were with the sons of men."

" My delights " ― What, then, is implied in this expression? Many things,
beloved; and, in the first place, that which, from the beginning, was His chief
joy, His highest and most exalted pleasure. And what was that? It was Jesus
himself; for he alone is lovely, and worthy to be loved; and every thing else is
beautiful, only so far as it partakes of his beauty, and is derived from him.
(Ezekiel 16:14.) For he is the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely.
(Song of Solomon 5:16.) The rays of his own perfections delighted his eyes. And
these delights " were with the sons of men." Yes, where else should they be! ―
With the angels, perhaps? They have their own glory, but the glory of Christ is
among sinners. Wonderful as it may appear, it is, nevertheless, a reality; and
still more wonderful that it is so. He has disrobed himself of his kingly
purple, (Php 2:7.) and given it to his flock. (Revelation 1:6.) He would not
retain His white linen for himself alone, but presented it to his bride,
(Revelation 6:11; Revelation 7:14.) for her beautiful garments; (Isaiah 52:1.)
he has decorated the "worm Jacob" (Isaiah 41:14.) with His splendid attire, with
His jewels, and chain, and crown. (Ezekiel 16:10-13; James 1:12.)

How, indeed, could we have such confidence, if His righteousness did not cover
our sins? How could we dare to lift up our eyes to Him, before whom the heavens
are not clean, if we did not know that we are clothed with the purity of the
most pure, and with the holiness of the alone holy? How could we, who are as
weak as bruised reeds, with so much boldness, encounter the devil and all the
powers of darkness, were we not assured that we are enrolled among the kingly
hosts of the Saviour? How could we calmly anticipate the fiery tempest of coming
judgment, were we not, from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot
enveloped with His perfect obedience? (Romans 5:19,) and could we not draw near
to God, relying on His wisdom. His love, His glory ― as if it were our own?

There are many, perhaps, who may think that to be arrayed in the merit of
another, and to shine in borrowed light, is altogether easy. It may be; and yet
how few are content to be saved in this way ― the only way of salvation. This
privilege is, however, ours. Father, says our blessed Saviour, briefly, but in
words which cannot be misunderstood, "The glory which thou gavest me I have
given them." (John 17:22.) As the great delight of the Lord Jesus is in his own
perfections, so is the pleasure not less which he derives from the operations of
his hands. "The Lord," says David, " shall rejoice in his works." (Psalms
104:31.) But where are his works manifested? ― with the devils in hell? God
forbid. Their state has been determined by themselves; their condition is the
result of their own unhallowed devices. ― With the angels in heaven? By no
means. The crown has not fallen from their head, nor has the lustre of their
original glory been sullied. ― With the virtuous and righteous according to the
flesh? Far otherwise. They have acquired their fancied goodness of themselves,
and must depend on themselves for its preservation. ―

But, where a publican strikes upon his breast, " God be merciful to me a
sinner," and a Bartimeus cries out by the way-side, " Jesus, thou Son of David,
have mercy on me; " where a woman of Canaan speaks of herself as a dog desiring
the crumbs under the table, and a poor Magdalene would weep day and night at the
feet of Jesus; where a Paul exults in that he has obtained mercy, and a Peter
professes with trembling lips, " Lord, thou knowest that I love thee,’’ and a
Job declares, " Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" ― Behold! where such
things come to pass, and similar emotions are manifested; where stony hearts are
made as potter’s clay in the hand of God, and brazen brows become as wax, that
he may impress his mark upon them; and glassy eyes are changed into a gushing
fountain, the waters whereof flow towards the East; where the righteous begin to
rejoice over the ruin of their righteousness, (Isaiah 64:6; Php 3:8-9.) and the
wise over the destruction of their wisdom; (Jeremiah 9:23-24.) where poor
sinners acquire a heart to love Him, and the workers of iniquity are changed,
and with joyful lips are enabled, before these accusers, to make mention of
Christ as their Advocate, and Spiritual Head ― there, there beloved brethren, is
his work, and where his work is, there is his delight. Thus are his delights
with the sons of men, and especially with his poor penitents. On them his eyes
rest with pleasure. That which a beautiful prospect is to a lover of nature, or
an exquisite painting to the admirer of the arts; the same is the new creature
in a sinner to our Lord and Saviour, He is never weary of beholding it, for it
is the workmanship of his hands. Have we now seen the full meaning of the first
words under consideration? No, brethren; more is contained in them. The Lord
expresses himself with brevity; but such is his ordinary method, to say much in
a few words, whilst we are wont, with many words, to say but little. ’ My
delights," he says, " were with the sons of men;" but he withholds one word,
viz. " to dwell." And why does he withhold it? Is he ashamed to give expression
to all his love towards poor sinners? No; you know not our Saviour. What does
Paul declare concerning him? " He is not ashamed," he says, " to call us
brethren." Nor is he ashamed to dwell among us, for that is his delight; "For
thus saith the high and lofty one, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy;
I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and
humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of
the contrite ones." (Isaiah 57:15.)

But, blessed Saviour, how can thy pleasure be in that world which is the scene
of thy greatest displeasure? How canst thou delight to dwell where no man seeks
his delight in thee? ― no man, certainly, of himself ― and how canst thou
rejoice in those who cannot but distress and grieve thee? It must, however, be
so; for he again repeats, " My delights were with the sons of men." And that
this is not a transient emotion, but a deeply rooted and eternal affection,
hundreds and thousands of years without intermission, from the beginning of the
world to this very day, abundantly declare. For consider, the tender concern
which a God of love manifested towards man before He had yet created him; for He
called not into being in a moment this lord of creation by a word of his mouth
and an act of power, as he did all other creatures; but as a potter maketh a
vessel unto honour, and with great care and close attention fashioneth it; so
the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground in his own image, and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, the breath of the holy and ever-blessed
God; then man became a living soul. And scarcely were our first parents placed
upon the earth when the Saviour was also with them, walking in their company
among the trees of the garden. Then you think, then all was well. Nothing that
was opposed to God at that time existed among men; nothing that could disturb
the harmony. But if I tell you that it was through our fall and our sin, that
his delight to dwell among us gained strength and warmth, how will you give
credence to the assertion? Yet it was so in reality. For then the bowels of his
mercy began to yearn towards us; and then first did that which Zechariah says
bear its full sense and meaning; ’ Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord: for he
is raised up out of his holy habitation." (Zechariah 2:13.) And now, dear
brethren, I would go back with you to the period of the old covenant, and show
you how the Saviour, from the beginning, went in and out among sinners, and
erected his habitation among men who are dust and ashes. (Genesis 18:27.) I
would accompany you into that wilderness where He found Hagar, an Egyptian maid,
and addressed to her words of tenderness. (Genesis 21:17-21.) I would conduct
you further, into the plains of Mamre, and disclose to your view the wondrous
sight of the Lord of Hosts sitting, in the heat of the day, under the shade of
the trees with our father Abraham. (Genesis 18:18.) I would go with you to
Bethel, (Genesis 18:19.) and thence to Penuel, (Genesis 32:30.) and to Horeb,
where the Lord revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush. (Exodus 3:1;
Exodus 17:6.) Then I would open, if it might be, for a moment, the pillar of
cloud and of fire, that you might there behold His face. (Nehemiah 9:12; Psalms
99:7.) Forty years long did He thus conduct them, as their guide and protector,
though they were a stiff-necked people. 0, is it not wonderful? What is there
wanting here of delights with the sons of men? And now I would pass onwards with
you to Ophra, where with Gideon, you might behold the Saviour of men sitting
under an oak. (Judges 6:11.) Then I would repair to Jerusalem, where, over the
mercy seat in the temple, He dwelleth between the cherubim. (Exodus 25:22;
Psalms 80:1.) This would I do ― But, dear brethren, what need of journeying so
far? He is near at hand. Where are we to-day? Are we not at Bethlehem? ( Luke
2:4-7.) O look then into the stable and the manger. What do you behold there? "
A child." Yes, a child; and indeed the same that has said, " My delights were
with the sons of men." God incarnate ― in a manger ― in swaddling clothes ― at a
mother’s breast ― " Great, great, is the mystery of godliness!" Here the mind
can proceed no further: the knees tremble, and the heart is filled with
amazement; the wonder is too great for the weakness of human nature. It is well
that our eyes are dim-sighted; it is well that we behold it only from afar, and
scarcely understand the thousandth part thereof: it would otherwise deprive us
of our lives; it would overpower us; we could not endure it.

Yes, though the intercourse of the Son of God with Israel was sweet and
refreshing, it cannot be considered, in the full sense of that expression, as
His dwelling among men: it was, as a relationship, too distant, too cold a
friendship. He, the God of heaven, and they poor sinners ― the disparity was too
great. He thence became incarnate, a child, our kinsman, our brother. Yet all
that we can say respecting this great mystery is as nothing; for even the
seraphim, who now for nearly two thousand years since this great event have
looked into this abyss of love, and vainly tried to fathom it, and who never
cease from their astonishment, and the matter of all whose hallelujahs is
derived from the cleft rock of the living fountain ― even they cannot fully
declare it. But what moved the great God to humble himself thus? Nothing but his
love to man. "My delights were with the sons of men." But whence were they
derived? Whence but from Himself? Here we have traced love to its source. Higher
we cannot ascend. And now, brethren, I would briefly observe to you, that though
the Saviour is no longer cradled in a manger, yet he still bears the human
form,, and is our Brother, even to the present hour, though he again sits upon
his throne; and he has the same tender heart, having been tempted in all points
like unto his brethren, that he might be touched with a feeling of our
infirmities, and sympathize with us, and succour us in our distress. And though
we cannot take up in our arms the holy child Jesus, as did Mary and Simeon, yet
his delight to dwell with the sons of men has not diminished, and his communion
with us is equally near; yea, much nearer and more intimate. And he does not
merely tarry for the night, but he dwells with us as one of the household; and
therefore he says, that though he is ever in the high and holy place, yet he is
also continually among his people upon earth. He taketh up his abode with us. ―
let us praise the Lord. And how doth he dwell with us? Is it as a superior in
rank, who deems it a sufficient honour to mingle in our society, that we may
offer him our services, and from whom we are to expect no service in return? Far
otherwise. He has himself said, that He is as one that serveth. (Luke 22:27;
John 13:4-17.) how precious is the Saviour, how worthy of our love! Doth He then
dwell with us as a counselor, whose advice we may ask in matters of great
moment? But why only in such? He would that we should regard him as one of the
family, and He gladly receives us and resolves our doubts, in little as well as
in great things. You should lay all your concerns unreservedly before him, and
not think that you are permitted to communicate with him only respecting
spiritual things. I say unto you, that he will be careful of the meal in the
barrel, and the oil in the cruse. (1 Kings 17:14.) He will inquire after the
provision which is made for your wants; (John 21:5-13.) and no good thing will
he withhold from them that walk uprightly. (Psalms 84:11.) 0, if you would
believe, you should see the glory of God. " What nation is there so great, who
hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call
upon him for?" (Deuteronomy 4:7.) He is about our bed and about our path; He
would have us take no thought what we shall eat or what we shall drink, nor
wherewithal we shall be clothed, for He careth for us, and knoweth that we have
need of these things. ( Matthew 6:31-32.) His delights are with the sons of men.
― And yet more, for He is described in my text, as, 2. REJOICING IN THE
HABITABLE PART OF HIS EARTH." The Son of God here expresses the joy which he
received from dwelling among men. And why should we doubt that the Saviour
literally rejoiced among the inhabitants of the earth? Was he not once a child,
like other children, in all things the same, sin only excepted? Was there not a
time when his heart had never been oppressed with any burden, nor his eyes
suffused with tears; when his infant feet were not wounded and bleeding by the
thorns and thistles, which grow on the path to the altar of sacrifice; and the
cross, and shame, and death, and all that was before him, were concealed within
the veil of futurity? He was no wayward or fretful child, but serene and
affable, and therefore, as we are informed by St. Luke, he grew in favour, not
only with God, but also with men, and the mutual endearments between a child and
his mother must have been exquisitely enjoyed by him. And the angels of God may
be supposed to have come down, not only to witness, but also to participate in
these joys.

We may well imagine the existence of such delights, when the aged Simeon took up
the little child in his arms, and his soul was so transported, that the old man
became himself almost a child again, and embraced the Holy Babe, and leaped, and
wept, and smiled, at the same moment, feeling that nothing more was left for him
to desire, for his eyes had seen God’s salvation. But more is contained in the
expression. It leads us to think also of the day of creation. In the verses
preceding our text, it is said, " When he gave the sea his decree, that the
waters should not pass his commandment; when he appointed the foundations of the
earth; then I was by him, as one brought up with him, and I was daily his
delight, rejoicing always before Him." What would the Son of God teach us here?
What else, than that He created the world not only with wisdom, but also with
love; not alone for the use and benefit, but for the happiness and joy of the
children of men, of whom even then He thought with tenderness.

Yes, dear brethren, as the Lord clothed the flowers of the field, and decked the
lilies with their festal garment ― as He suspended the azure canopy in the
heavens, and beautified the fields with living verdure ― as he lifted up on high
the lofty mountains, and formed the peaceful valleys among the hills ― the quiet
lonely dales with their cool and shady brooks; as He gave their cheerful notes
to the songsters of the grove, and to those which fly heavenward with the voice
of praise ― as he adorned and diversified the workmanship of his hands, with
such, decorations and embellishments, with such lovely hues, and sweet and
melodious sounds, and goodly prospects; ― in all this we see the Saviour’s
delight and rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth. And since He has so
determined, that the external objects of nature should be as a sacred volume,
which we can only partially understand; since He has made the creatures to be as
shadows and representations of invisible and spiritual things, and comprehended
all high and eternal. truths therein, as in pleasing emblems and pictorial
delineations, which it is our privilege to read, even in the present day; since
He has appointed the sun to be an image of himself, and set forth in its effects
his own operations in the kingdom of grace; since He has decreed that the corn
of wheat, in that it dies, and puts forth its tender blade and fruit-bearing
stem, should teach us that, " except a man be born again, he cannot sec the
kingdom of God; and since He has made the butterfly’’, which, with beautifully
painted wing, rests upon the rose, to be a joyful herald of the resurrection
from the dead, and of the future glorious liberty of the children of God: ― in
these things, brethren, in all these, which are His own works, is the Son of God
made manifest, as rejoicing in His habitable part of the earth and delighting
with the sons of men. And that which we behold in his works, we are taught also
by His dealing with the children of men. See how he condescends to our ideas,
desires, and expressions. Thus, in His word he is not ashamed to accommodate
himself to our weakness, but employs language adapted to our infantile
condition. " For whom shall he teach knowledge, and whom shall he make to
understand doctrine? Is it not them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn
from the breasts? And therefore precept hath been given upon precept, precept
upon precept; line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little.
And with stammering lips and another tongue doth he speak to this people."
(Isaiah 28:9-11.)

Behold how He stoops to our conceptions and modes of life. He draws near to us.
He comes down to the level of the comprehension and understanding of poor blind
sinners who are but dust and ashes. Observe how in one place he speaks of "
repentmg;" and yet he cannot in reality repent; in another place, he assures us
that his heart yearns towards us as that of a tender father; and again, to
reveal to us our future glory, the representations are taken from the sources of
human delight and pleasure, from banquets and marriage feasts, and beautiful
houses and palaces; from brilliant stones of varied hue, and precious metals;
from green trees and pleasant fruits. Is not this condescending accommodation to
our thoughts and imaginations an illustration of our text, that the great God
rejoices in the habitable parts of his earth, and his delights are with the sons
of men? And truly, whoever has not found God thus revealed in his word, is
ignorant of the God of the Bible. And now recall to mind the manner in which God
is wont to bring near to us the mysteries of his will, and how he strengthens
our faith in his word and promises. He places before us, as is our custom with
children, all kinds of beautiful pictures, and figures in various coloring, to
attract and fix our attention, and thereby he enlightens our mind, and enables
us to consider and understand that which would otherwise be beyond our
apprehension. Thus, for instance, that we may retain with freshness in our
memories the promise which he gave to Noah, and be assured of its certainty, he
has suspended in the clouds a lovely bow, painted with seven colors, to which we
may direct our eyes; and he tells us, that as often as he shall look upon this
bow, he will remember his promise that he will no more destroy the earth by a
flood; as though God must needs place a memorial before his eyes, lest he should
forget his word of promise. But he knew that this would minister to our comfort,
and tend to confirm our faith. Thus, again did our Lord very graciously
condescend to the weakness of Gideon, when He acceded to his request, and so
quickly and readily performed that strange mystery which Gideon besought of Him,
as a new sign under the promise he had received from the Lord. First, the dew
was to be upon the fleece alone, the earth around it remaining dry; and then the
fleece was to be dry, and all the ground covered with dew. (Judges 6:37-39.) And
God did both these things, just as Gideon requested. How much tenderness and
kindness is here! But the things of God have all a deep signification. Thus, as
the Lord in the rainbow of Noah, depicted with fine touches for spiritual
perception, an emblem of the promised Mediator, so did he intimate, by prophetic
representation, in that miracle with which he pleased Gideon, how He would, in
after ages, visit mankind with the heavenly dew of his appearing, and of the
out-pouring of his Spirit. First, the dew of his grace was upon Israel alone,
whilst the whole of the earth beside was dry, and afterwards, the dew was
diffused over the whole of the earth, Israel alone being dry, as it is to this
day.

Look again at the tabernacle and temple of Solomon. There, by multitudes of
allusions and shadows, and cunning works of certain signification, did wisdom
bring near to the Jews all the great and blessed mysteries and truths of God.
And to us also, she speaks, in like manner, by the sacraments of Baptism and the
Supper of the Lord, and by the rite of Confirmation. Is there not, in this,
evidence of the delights of the Lord with his weak children, who have need of
something sensible and perceptible that they may be able to know and believe?
And how much grace and lovingkindness is manifested therein!

Let me now remind you of God’’s daily dispensations towards us. By them he
designs to teach us important lessons, the attainment of which should rather be
sought than the indulgence of superfluous sorrow or distress, whenever we are
brought into painful circumstances. Thus, for instance, the Lord sometimes hides
himself from our view; we are then ready to think that he has forsaken us and
forgotten us; but He would teach us our entire dependence upon himself, and when
he hears our voice entreating his return, he lifts up the light of his
countenance upon us, and gives us peace.

Again, our former sins, which we have long thought to be buried in the depths of
the sea, arise before our view in fearful array, and we tremble, as at first,
when awakened to repentance. Our first love has, perhaps, grown cold, and He
would thus rekindle it in our souls.

Now, He sets before us the greatness of our misdeeds, and we become fearful of
His wrath; but his design is to manifest more fully the sweetness of his grace,
and the all-sufficiency of his merits and righteousness. At another time, He
permits our enemy to stretch forth his hand as if he would seize our crown, and
also suffers him to attempt to shake the foundation of our comfort and our hope
beneath our feet. We cry in the agony of the disciples in the storm, " Lord,
help us, we perish." But the danger is not so great as we apprehend. He has
brought us into such a state, that we may grasp more firmly that which we have,
not, as we imagined, that we should lose it. And when, by various means. He
gives us counsel in dark parables for our conduct, that thereby, as also by
reason of use, our spiritual senses may be exercised to discern both good and
evil; (Hebrews 5:14.) and when He makes use of apparently the least important
circumstances in our life, that by means of them he may speak to our heart
something consolatory, instructive, or profitable; when He selects ordinary
subjects, arising from our every-day conversation, and, with Divine wisdom and
skill, makes them the channel for conveying a rich and full supply of manifold
spiritual mercies, or converts them into tablets on which he inscribes a
doctrine, or warning, an encouragement, a promise or historical incident of his
word; when He so tenderly has respect to our most trifling desires, and in the
most minute circumstances surprises us by the ready communication of his counsel
and blessing; and, in our reading the Holy Scriptures, when He takes, if I may
so say, the least significant passages, and by them instructs us in the deep and
mysterious things of God, conveying them to our souls with lively apprehension
and quickening power ― when such is the method of God with us, we are furnished
with additional proof of His rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and
that his delights are with the children of men. To allude, in conclusion, to the
lovely tones which issue from the tabernacles of the righteous ― He, who is the
Wisdom of God is the source of all harmony. All music upon earth, but that which
proceeds from Him, is dissonance in his ears, and like the hoarse croaking of
the raven. As it was He who gave the harp of David its heavenly sound, and
touched its strings upon the hill of Bethlehem, and sang the pleasant Psalms
with the voice of the royal Psalmist; so is it He who, even in these days, opens
the lips of the spiritual choir, and gives the full tone and sweet expression to
their voice; it is He who awakens the melody in their hearts, and moves the
hidden chords of their soul with the breath of his mouth. He is in their soft
and solemn sounds, and in their lofty songs of praise. He speaks within them in
psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. He is in their loud cry to the cross,
and their rejoicing on the hill of the sealed ones; (Revelation 7:1-17) yea, He
is in every Alpha and Omega of the new heart, in every Hosannah of sacred
homage, in every Hallelujah of heavenly joy, and in the great universal
temple-chorus of his sacred worshipers; " Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen."
In all this the Lord himself is manifest ― the Lord and his Spirit. It is He
that plays and makes melody on the harp of our souls; and only those songs to
which He himself gives utterance within us, fall harmoniously on his ear,
however weak and imperfect they seem to ourselves.

Behold, my brethren, thus doth the Lord rejoice in the habitable part of his
earth, thus are his delights with the children of men. Happy, truly happy, are
the people who have the Lord so nigh unto them, and to whom he manifests himself
in such tenderness and love! Of such is the kingdom of God. Forget not that the
great and the wise, namely, they that consider themselves such, are not of that
number. Hear the voice of Christ himself, " Verily, I say unto you, whosoever
shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter
therein." (Luke 18:17.) Let us then be children, dear brethren, little children.
Towards such is the desire of Immanuel; only among children will he dwell. And
wherever He dwells, surely it is good to be there, it is already a heaven in the
wilderness; and therefore has it been said. And be my home a straw-built cot,
Yet happy will I deem my lot, If there Thou dwell’st with me; Or bid me go
through deserts waste, E’en to the stake, I’ll joyful haste, If guided there by
Thee!

How sweet this little verse! When will the Lord enable us to adopt it as our
own? May it be very shortly! May the name of Jesus become more precious to us,
more loved and honoured every day; and may we know and possess, more and more,
the joys and delights which He shares on earth with his dear children, his
adopted ones; and, finally, may we participate in the glories of His kingdom.

Amen.


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  CHAPTER 11: 01.8.     THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST
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THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST IN THE WILDERNESS.

We stand to day on that memorable battle-field where those laurels were won
which encircle our brows, and that triumph was achieved which makes us
victorious before the conflict, and even in death more than conquerors, through
him that hath loved us. (Romans 8:37.)

Never was there a battle fought more wonderful in its nature, more important in
its consequences, nor one which so deeply affects our everlasting interests.

It is good for us to sit down awhile, and give ourselves to the absorbing
contemplation of this great sight.

1. THE LEADING INTO THE WILDERNESS.

Together with the consecration and anointing of our Lord to the mediatorial
office by the water of the Jordan, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost, did Jesus
receive from heaven the divine testimony that he was the only begotten Son of
God in whom the Father was well pleased. (Matthew 3:16-17.) The Sonship of our
Lord, and his essential unity with the Father, appear to have been to him, in
the days of his flesh, more an object of faith than of sight, perception, or
feeling. At moments, at least, he could, in such a manner, conceal his Godhead
from his view, and hide it in the back ground, that he apprehended it only in
simple faith on the bare word of the Father.

It was not for the disciples only, but for himself also, that the voice was
heard on different occasions from heaven, "This is my beloved Son" ― for
himself, to strengthen his faith, which, sometimes, as for instance, when he was
forsaken of the Father on the Cross, was bare and simple trust in the Father’s
love, without any sensible experience of that endearing relationship. (Matthew
27:46.)

Consecrated and divinely invested with his priestly office, Jesus immediately
hastened into the depths of the wilderness. He who led him, was, according to
the evangelists, the Holy Ghost. (Mark 1:12.) Was the Saviour aware for what
purpose the Spirit led him into the wilderness? Perhaps only in part; the great
and special cause the Father may have concealed from him. We learn also from our
own experience, that it is not always the will of the Holy Ghost to make known
to us before hand his designs in leading us.

He not unfrequently conducts us in entire darkness. We are conscious of his
inward call, " Arise, and depart to such a place, or in such circumstances, or
at such a time." We ask, "why? for what purpose?" but receive no answer. The
command is only given yet louder, and with more urgency in our heart, ’ Go,
haste, delay not." We inquire again, what can be the meaning of this internal
impulse, but it remains a mystery. We must proceed in darkness, and should we
object, the probability is a tumult in the conscience, and a bitter feeling of
the divine displeasure in our soul. We must go, we are obliged, and not till
afterwards is made known to us the reason. (John 8:7.)

Here, Philip finds a chamberlain who has been awaiting his exposition of the
Scriptures, (Acts 8:27.) and there, Elijah meets a widow, whose soul he should
enrich with heavenly treasure. (1 Kings 17:10.) At one place a disconsolate
brother cries to us, even when yet we are a great way off, "Ah, you come to me
as an angel sent from God;" and in another place it is made manifest to us, in a
different way, wherefore the Spirit hath called and sent us: either the sun
arises upon our path, and all becomes clear and bright around us, or the Spirit
gives us some slight intimations of his purpose; but all beyond this, and that
which is most important, he keeps back, hidden from our eyes.

One says, I must retire to my chamber to pray, or go to such a house to succour
and assist an afflicted brother, or to a particular place to render some special
service; but of all that which is designed for us in such places, more than the
service, assistance, or prayer ― that we shall wrestle with God, (Genesis
32:24.) or become humble and contrite in spirit, (Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 66:2.) or
pass through the purifying furnace, (Malachi 3:3. Isaiah 48:10.) or meet the
hosts of Mahanaim, (Genesis 32:1-2.) or whatever it may be ― of all this no
mention has been made to us. It shall become known to us hereafter in the way of
experience.

It seems to have been thus with our Saviour. He went into the wilderness half in
light and half in darkness. Perhaps he knew only generally, that he must go into
the wilderness to fast, suffer want, and endure hardship, and in the depths of
extreme humiliation and poverty enter upon the work of his priesthood. So much
the Spirit unfolded to him, but the severe, the fearful temptation which awaited
him appears, according to the counsel of the Father, to have been carefully
hidden from his view. The unexpectedness of the assault would add severity to
the conflict, that the triumph might be the greater and more glorious.

2. THE FAST.

Jesus went into the wilderness to fast. So far extended his light at that time,
and yet farther ― to its great design, its mysterious signification. Was not
then the fast of Jesus in the special plan of him who led him into the
wilderness? By all means. That he should be so tried was according to the
purpose of God, but only a part of it. Do you ask, then, on what account it was
necessary that Jesus should fast, and why in such a dreadful solitude so
painfully, so long ― forty days and forty nights? In reply, I would remark, that
it was of a very different description from that of Moses on Mount Sinai, and
other saints. The fast of Jesus was something more than a devotional exercise
and preparation for the priestly office, it was an initiatory work of sacrifice.
The key, not only of the temptation, but of the fast of our Lord, is to be found
behind the gate of a lost paradise. It is an expiation for Adam’s eating of the
forbidden tree, (Genesis 3:6.) an atonement for his guilt, a satisfying passion.
Did the progenitor of the human race dwell in the happy plains of paradise? We
behold the second Adam in the desolate wilderness. Did the first man, who was of
the earth, earthy, (1 Corinthians 15:47.) live amidst lovely trees and delicious
fruits in the garden of Eden? The second man, who is the Lord from heaven, must
endure hunger in a wilderness, amid stones and rank weeds, where not an ear of
corn grew to relieve the extreme necessity of his nature. Did our forefather
enjoy the most delightful communion with God and the holy angels, and the
society of his spotless wife? Jesus, on the contrary, was banished into the most
gloomy desert; he was with the wild beasts, as Mark informs us, (Mark 1:13.) and
with the old serpent, with Satan and his angels. 0, how great the contrast! But
thus it was ordained of God. Our Surety and Representative, by fasting and
suffering want in the dreary and inhospitable wilderness, made atonement in the
sinner’s stead, for the sinful presumption with which Adam, in the face of an
express divine warning and threat, stretched forth his hand to the fruit of the
forbidden tree. This he did for his people, and they have no farther atonement
to make to all eternity. But you by whom the everlasting satisfaction of the
Lamb of God is not estimated aright; you see in the circumstances of our Lord in
the wilderness, a true portrait of your own coming destiny. Thus must you ever
dwell in the eternal wilderness, and when you are an hungered, they shall thrust
a stone into your mouth instead of bread; and when you shall suffer thirst, you
must swallow flames instead of water, and you shall live as though among wild
beasts and hissing serpents, and you shall be alone, in solitude, amidst the
multitudes of the damned, for in hell there is no endearing intercourse nor
friendship; there, hate and selfishness bear sway, and each one is too much
engrossed with his own pain and suffering to sympathize with another. And the
duration of this misery is called Eternity. With this truth one would suppose we
could make rocks leap from their everlasting beds, and hills tremble. But your
hearts do not tremble. Alas! they are harder than the stony rock.

Fasts are also observed in the kingdom of God; bodily and spiritual fasts, of
various kinds, painful and joyous. The most joyous are celebrated in the
spring-time of the new life, at the beginning of conversion, after the first
assurance of divine grace, after the first manifestation of love from the
heavenly bridegroom, when God calleth the young child out of Egypt. Then it is
not needful to urge us to self-denial. All this is done at once and without
solicitation. How does the man fly as with wings from the scenes of pleasure and
dissipation of an infatuated world; how can he " fill his belly with the husks
that the swine do eat," (Luke 15:16.) after he has drunk of the wine of the "
goodly land," and partaken of the " milk and honey" with which it flows?
(Deuteronomy 3:25. Exodus 3:8.) How can he take pleasure in the sounds which
control the dance, or in the song of the voluptuary, after he has heard the harp
of David struck by his kingly hand? How can theatrical representations and the
tricks of the juggler afford gratification to any one, after he has seen heaven
with all its glory opened before him? and how can he any longer recline upon the
couch of ease and of revelry, when he has beheld Him whom his soul loveth
suspended on the accursed tree, bleeding and crowned with thorns? Away, then ―
away quickly with the shadow of your pitiful delights, and with the tinsel of
your vanities. This is our day of fast.

It is often a subject of debate and inquiry, whether certain pleasures or
enjoyments are compatible with Christianity or not. Let us cease to ask such
questions, and become Christians, then shall we know what is consistent and what
is not, and how far one that is born again, an heir of God and his kingdom, may
proceed in such things.

There is yet another fast in a state of grace, and one of a more painful
description, when the soul is led, not from the field of the world to the green
pastures of the Lamb, but from the latter into the wilderness, and this is a
very bitter reverse. We were ― ah! how unspeakably happy, in the bosom of Jesus.
Such sweet sensations and emotions, such tender delights and pleasures, such
touching and affecting apprehensions of the grace and nearness of our Saviour,
pervaded and filled our souls, that we earnestly desired, from this blessed
foretaste of heavenly joys, to pass at once into their full fruition in
paradise. The south wind blew upon our garden, and the spices thereof flowed
out; (Song of Solomon 4:16.) the grapes of Canaan refreshed our lips, and the
pleasurable sensations of love distilled like the dew of the early dawn upon our
soul. O, how abundantly were we satisfied ― the sorrows of this world were
utterly forgotten. But, before we were aware, a fast was appointed, and the
bridegroom was taken from us. (Matthew 9:15.) The fountains of milk and honey
were dried up, and the soul, deprived of her refreshment, sat motionless, with
her harp unstrung, upon the glowing sand, thirsting for the dew of heaven to
fall upon the parched ground.

These are the fast-days of the child of God in the wilderness. Happy is he whose
comforts are derived from Christ and his word, and not from feelings and
emotions. "Bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure," (Isaiah 33:16.)
If he has not sensible perception, he has, at least, faith; and if he is
destitute of feeling, yet the ground of his confidence is secure. He shelters
himself beneath the rock of the sure promise of his God, and he knows that
though the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, yet God’s kindness
shall not depart from him, neither shall the covenant of his peace be removed.
(Isaiah 54:10.) And this fast in the wilderness, when it is of God’s
appointment, is good and wholesome. The same love which dispenses our food
to-day, leaves us to-morrow to suffer hunger, and keep a day of fasting and
abstinence. What more do we need, if only to the hand of grace we look for
guidance? Let it lead us as it will.

3. THE TEMPTATIONS.

Jesus went into the wilderness to fast, but yet more than this was designed in
the purpose of God. What says the evangelist? " Then was Jesus led up of the
Spirit into the wilderness to he tempted of the devil." These are fearful words.
The Holy Ghost leads the Son of God into the presence of the devil, and for what
purpose? In plain and unequivocal words it is written, that he might be tempted
of the devil. How remarkable. But this dark and wondrous event speaks comfort to
you, O ye heirs of the kingdom. It would encourage your hearts, ye troubled
souls. It is recorded for your instruction.

Let none among you suppose that he who goeth about as a roaring lion is free and
unrestrained, and can fall upon you when he will; that he can launch his darts
according to his pleasure; and lay his snares unperceived by the captain of the
hosts of the Lord. (Joshua 5:14.)

Far otherwise. Our leader has him ever in his sight, and holds him firmly bound
by his strong word. Even Satan himself has found what the Preacher declares,
that " the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong."
(Ecclesiastes 9:11.) In vain does he attack any respecting whom Jesus has said
to him, " touch not mine anointed." A wall of fire encircles such an one by that
word of his Master; a protecting wall over which the fiery darts of the wicked
one can find no passage. (Zechariah 2:5.) But every assault of Satan is by the
express permission of the Lord Jesus, (Job 2:11-12,) and consequently for the
spiritual good of the believer; and the line is pointed out by the kingly
sceptre, with minute exactness, how far he may go, and no farther. What power,
then, doth the wicked one possess? He is led forth and made a show of openly,
and Immanuel triumphs over him in himself. (Colossians 2:15. marginal reading.)
Henceforth he is among those principalities in heaven, on earth, and under the
earth, which must bow to the sceptre of Jesus. (Ephesians 1:21; Php 2:10.) The
Lord employs him as he did a Nebuchadnezzar, a Korah, and other outcasts, as a
rod in his hand, for the good of his people; and when he has made a sufficient
use of this terrible scourge, he will break it in pieces― he will lay hold of
the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and shut up and seal
him in the bottomless pit. (Revelation 20:2-3.)

Rejoice then, ye little flock of God, that the devil is under the direction and
control of the Good Shepherd, and is made use of only for your benefit. As often
as the fiery darts of the wicked one hiss around you, remember, beloved, that it
is the Lord, even the Spirit, who has led you into the wilderness, who has
placed you in the conflict, and who is himself your strength and shield.

All the temptations of the children of God are permitted for one great purpose,
they shall make manifest the graces concealed in their souls.

Sometimes it is pleasing’ to the Lord himself to behold these hidden things
brought to light. For he delighteth in his work.

It was when our father Abraham had, in every respect, completed the preparations
for his painful offering on Mount Moriah, that the angel of the Lord called unto
him out of heaven, and said, " Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou
hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me." (Genesis 22:11-12.) This
our Lord well knew, but he wished to make manifest the fear of God which he had
wrought in his heart, and which it was his delight to behold. And so must many
of the children of grace, in our own day, be tried and tempted, that the Lord
Jesus may witness their perseverance in prayer, and hearing of the word; the
storm is sent, that the Lord may behold them believingly pass onward over the
troubled waters in their right course, and himself conduct them to the haven of
peace. (Mark 6:47-48.) It is this that gives him joy.

We ought not, perhaps, to speak thus to those afflicted ones. They would think
that we were mocking, for they perceive in themselves no graces in which the
Lord should delight; but they are seen and acknowledged of him.

Frequently doth the Lord suffer his children to fall into temptation, not so
much himself to behold that which is concealed in their hearts, as to make it
manifest to their brethren and sisters. For this end he reveals to us the faith
of Abraham, the patience of Job, the love of Moses, the zeal of Elijah, the
humility and ardor of the woman of Canaan, that we may give glory to his power,
which has wrought so mightily in the feeble children of men. But are we
disheartened, and do we think, that such holy ones may well expect an entrance
into the kingdom of God, but what hope is there for us? Then he brings at one
time a David, at another a Peter, before our view ― grapes from which, in the
wine-vat, were extracted not only wine, but the bitter waters of sin; and such a
sight restores our confidence, especially when we hear that Simon is not the
less called " a stone," and David " a man after God’s own heart." And so has it
often been, that men, from whom holiness beamed forth with especial splendor,
and who, beyond others, have enjoyed the high estimation of the church, have yet
at length, under the power of temptation, been so shorn of their beams and
goodly coloring, and their weakness and sinfulness have become so manifested;
or, to change the figure, from a noble stream they have dwindled into an
insignificant brook, which loses itself in the sand; that when compared with
that which they once were, we can scarcely recognize the same individuals. This
the Lord permits to take place, that mortal man may beware of idols, may keep
his graces bright, and give honour to Him only to whom it is due.

One great benefit of the temptations to which we are subjected is, that we may
learn more of ourselves, that we may see the sin that dwelleth in us, and humbly
lie in the dust. (Romans 7:17.)

We children of men too easily deem ourselves righteous, but Jesus calls the
ungodly and sinners to repentance. We too quickly ascend the mountain, but Jesus
would see us in the valley. He would humble our pride. And therefore it is, that
he suffers the devil, for a little while, to stir up the stink of our corrupt
nature, that the noisome odour may invade our senses, and the brood of serpents
and vipers, which lay lurking beneath, may crawl upon the surface before our
eyes. The Lord permits the wicked one at times to arouse tumultuously the swarm
of unrighteous thoughts and desires which slumber in the inmost recesses of our
souls, that we may be sensible of the evils with which the temple of God is
infested, and never think of pride or boasting more. He suffers the devil
sometimes to invade us, and to blow the trumpet to awaken the evil propensities
within. How do we wonder that they are there. We had thought that we had long
ago banished them by our holy exercises, and that the house was rendered clean.
But now we find it quite otherwise. When so humbled, the bride is again
conscious that the false coloring has faded from her cheeks, and is, in her own
estimation, as at first, black and without comeliness, and lies low in her first
repentance, and loves with her first love. (Song of Solomon 1:5. Revelation
2:4.)

There, breaks at once beneath our feet the topmost step in the ladder of our
sanctity, and not even the lowest will serve to support us any longer, but we
lie upon the ground, and are conscious that we are poor sinners, such as,
perhaps, we had never seen ourselves before.

Robbed of our decorations and ornaments, we hide ourselves with shame out of
sight, and again rejoice from our inmost soul that another will clothe us with a
wedding garment, that a cross was erected on Golgotha, and that one sits upon
the throne who is not only called Righteousness, but Grace.

4. THE DESIGN OF OUR LORD’S TEMPTATION.

We have already seen why God permits his children to be tempted. The inquiry
then arises, on what account did he suffer the Lord Jesus to be so tried? And
here do we most solemnly protest, on the outset, against that most degrading
doctrine, which irreverently declares that Jesus was placed in the fire of
temptation, that he might, by wrestling and praying, overcome the sins which he
bore in his flesh and in his members. No, we cannot endure to hear this of our
Saviour. That he appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh, we allow; but it was
only in the likeness, not in the sinful flesh itself; (Romans 8:3.) and if he
was in all points tempted like as we are, yet was there one point excepted,
namely, sin. (Hebrews 4:15.)

Blessed be God, that his word does not leave us in doubt as to this matter. With
our Mediator’s perfect and entire freedom from sin stands or falls the whole
building of our Gospel hope. Were the white linen of his righteousness stained
with the smallest speck of ungodly emotions, could any one prove this to us,
then might the churches be closed, the Bible burnt, our confidence cast away,
and despair prevail. For then would Jesus not be our Saviour, and the price
which he has paid would be inadequate and unsatisfying. The temptations which
befell our Lord were very different from those which we are wont to experience.
He encountered them, not for himself, but for us, and in our stead. They belong
to the sufferings connected with his offering as our substitute.

We saw Adam tempted by the serpent, but he wantonly permitted himself to be
hurried along by the overwhelming torrent. The second Adam, to atone for this,
sustained a more painful assault, broke the spears of the enemy, signally
overcame the adversary, and yielded to the Father a perfect obedience.

Adam, through disobedience, became the prey of the devil; the second Adam bore
for him the curse, descended from the throne of the majesty on high, to mingle
with wicked spirits in the regions of the lost. Unexampled humiliation! The
Almighty God touched by the murderous hands of Satan! the King of the Universe
hissed at by the old serpent! the Most Holy beset and surrounded by the powers
of darkness! and the Lord of Hosts a sport for the cursed spirits of hell, and
tempted and challenged to that which is most sinful! Most horrible situation for
the Son of God! the most appalling that we can imagine: for we are placed by
nature nearer to the devil, who, as our Lord declares, is, in our natural state,
our father, (John 8:44.) we bear his likeness, and therefore his foulness is not
so abhorrent to us as it must be to him who dwelleth in light, and is himself
the light. (1 Timothy 6:16. John 1:9.)

Truly no small anguish must it have been to him thus to dwell in the midst of
devils. But even to this pool and pit was the Son of God obliged to come down,
and thus the wild boars of Belial encompassed him with their terrors, that a
payment might be made for the enormous guilt that man had heaped up; and amid
such resisting powers and obstacles was he necessitated, alone, in strife and
battle to do the will of God, and with the glories of his perfect obedience to
cover the disobedience of Adam and his seed.

Another design of the temptations of Jesus was, that he might become for us a
High Priest touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Such, indeed, he could
have been without experiencing the assaults which we must endure; but now that
he has made such a display of his love, we poor children of men can more easily
believe in his sympathy, and we can with the greater freedom pour out our heart
before him, and show him all our complaint. When two men meet who can speak of
the same trials and of the same buffetings of Satan, O what better preparation
can there be for an intimate union, for a free communication, and tender
sympathy? They pour out their souls to each other. Their hearts overflow, and
the time passes rapidly. In the presence of one, on the contrary, who has never
felt as we have, we are mute. We have no inclination to communicate to him our
state, since we fear that he can neither understand us nor feel for our case.
And we should certainly have felt much more distance with our heavenly friend,
if he had not become a partaker of our sorrows. But now the thought affects us
deeply that he himself was tempted in all points like as we are, and knows by
his own experience the most bitter anguish of our souls. If then no man
understand us, we have a friend near at hand to whom we need only unfold our
state and circumstances, and he knows at once how to encourage our souls. His
fellow-feeling extends even to the darkest night of the soul, the most fearful
depths of internal suffering and distress.

You can sit under no juniper-tree beneath which He has not already sat; no thorn
can wound you which has not made His heart to bleed; no fiery dart can strike
you which has not first been hurled at His sacred head. Why then should we doubt
of his compassion.

Yes, believe it only, beloved, whenever you lie in the furnace; the eyes of the
refiner are upon you, (Malachi 3:3,) and the heart of the High and Holy One,
whose love is more tender than a mother’s, bleeds over you for sympathy in
heaven. (Isaiah 49:15; Hebrews 4:15.)

These then, with respect to the world of sinners, were the great designs of
mercy and love, in subjecting the Son of God to the fire of temptation. But it
may be inquired, whether God had not some reference to the tempter himself? and
this we shall be able to answer the more readily, when we clearly understand the
position which that fallen prince of angels sustains in the kingdom of spirits.
That satyr-like figure, with horns and hoofs, which is assigned him by popular
tradition, has no reality: it is far from the truth, and partakes more of the
ridiculous and contemptible, than of that which is great and terrific. But read
and compare together the several scattered notices which the Scriptures in many
places afford respecting these fallen morning-stars, these first of created
beings; observe their character and features, which the word of God incidentally
depicts, and there is a certain awe and wonder, which, at the sight of the
prince of hell, you cannot shake off.

He is that leviathan of whom the Lord speaks, (Job 41:1-9.) " Canst thou draw
out leviathan with a hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?
Canst thou put a hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? Will
he make many supplications unto thee? Will he speak soft words unto thee? Will
he make a covenant with thee? Wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? Wilt
thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? Shall
thy companions make a banquet of him? Shall they part him among the merchants?
Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish spears? Lay
thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more. Behold, the hope of him is
in vain. Shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?"

He is that powerful one of whom testimony is given. ’ None is so fierce that
dare stir him up. Who can discern the face of his garment? or who can come to
him with his double bridle? Who can open the doors of his face? His teeth are
terrible round about. His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close
seal. One is so near to another, that no air can come between them. They are
joined one to another; they stick together, that they cannot be sundered. By his
neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. Out of his
nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething-pot or cauldron. His breath kindleth
coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth. In his neck remaineth strength, and
sorrow is turned into joy before him. The flakes of his flesh are joined
together; they are firm in themselves, they cannot be moved. His heart is as
firm as a stone, yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone. When he
raiseth up himself the mighty are afraid. By reason of breakings they purify
themselves. The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold, the spear, the
dart, nor the habergeon. He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.
The arrow cannot make him flee, sling-stones are turned with him into stubble.
Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear. Sharp
stones are under him; he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire, he maketh
the deep to boil like a pot, he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment. He maketh
a path to shine after him: one would think the deep to be hoary. Upon earth
there is not his like, who is made without fear. He beholdeth all high things.
He is a king over all the children of pride."

Behold, these are the features of this powerful Spirit, who, with regard to his
original glory, is nothing more nor less than the idol of the rationalists. In
these great and wondrous ruins of his former glory doth Satan give praise to him
who created him. For who is his equal in knowledge and wisdom? who in
perseverance, and energy, and power? And yet that which we perceive in him is
but the remains of his original splendor. He is set forth in the Scriptures as
possessing a certain majesty, not only because he is called a lord, a powerful
one, a prince, but also the God of this world. (2 Corinthians 4:4.)

Observe how the apostle Jude speaks of him. ― " Michael, the archangel, when
contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring
against him a railing accusation, but said, the Lord rebuke thee.’ " (Jude 1:9.)
In the Book of Job we see Satan standing among the angels and spirits, around
the throne of God. (Job 1:1.) And the Lord speaks to him, and inquires whether
he had considered his servant Job, and after the subtle insinuation of the
accuser; " Doth Job fear God for nought?" the Lord gives him power over all that
Job had. And thus the devil learned, by this trial of the servant of God, how
the strength of the Almighty was made perfect in Job’s weakness.

We might almost say, that it was important to God that even this prince of
darkness should acknowledge him, and give him honour. And it was so in reality.
For it is written, that every knee should bow to him, and every tongue confess
that he is God. (Php 2:11.) And thus, by the temptations of Jesus, was the devil
enabled to glance at the sources of the atonement, to see the Lamb of God in his
purity, without blemish, to behold the surety in his power, to discharge our
debts. Thus also would he learn that Zion is redeemed with judgment, and her
converts with righteousness, and not by an arbitrary act; and that no well
grounded objection can any more be made against the salvation of sinners. When
the most wise and acute of all the spirits is constrained to admire the wisdom
of God ― is silent before his counsel ― is compelled unwillingly to praise his
mighty acts, then doth it redound not a little to the majesty and glory of the
Eternal. In the great day of judgment, and of the manifestation of God, that
must be one of the most sacred and solemn moments in which Satan will be
compelled openly to acknowledge that honour and praise are due to the Lamb; and
when one God, if we may so express it, with trembling reverence shall bow the
knee to another. It will be an utterance of praise to God of no less power and
greatness than the Hallelujahs of the heavenly host.

5. THE TEMPTER.

Forty days and nights had the Lord spent in the lonely desert, fasting, and
afterward he was an hungered.

Then came the devil to him openly, but clothed as an angel of light.

He had a two-fold object in view; first, clearly to ascertain whether Jesus were
really the Son of God: and, if he should prove to be so, he meant, if possible,
to hurl a rock upon him in the way, and for ever mar his work of saving souls.

I am greatly disposed to believe that which has already been advanced by others,
that the tempter was as yet in doubt as to the identity of the Messiah.

Jesus had now passed thirty years in the deepest seclusion. The son of a
carpenter, he had learned his father’s trade; " in the sweat of his face did he
eat bread;" (Genesis 3:19.) he lived plainly, and did and said nothing beyond
that which other children of men might have said or done. No one supposed that
he was more than an amiable person; and, perhaps, Mary and Joseph were not a
little tried in their expectations respecting him, and awaited a voice from
heaven.

God veiled his Son so completely, that even the piercing eyes of Satan might not
recognize him in this plain carpenter. Yet the devil could not altogether
overlook him.

Among men, no one thought that this simple workman at Joseph’s bench could be
the Messiah. But Satan was prudent enough not to trust too much to the external
appearance of lowliness and poverty. He thought it possible that this carpenter,
notwithstanding his outwardly low condition, might, nevertheless, be the Lord;
and many things seemed to indicate that thus it was.

He found nothing inconsistent in the supposition that the Redeemer, in such a
state of poverty, should commence his task; and many circumstances appeared
plainly to indicate that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God. Something of this
kind he suspected. As yet he knew nothing certain. He longed for the time when
all doubt would be removed. Had Satan known that Jesus of Nazareth was in
reality the Messiah, there would be many things inexplicable in his method of
proceeding towards him, as we shall hereafter perceive.

Thoroughly to ascertain this point, whether Jesus were the Christ, was the first
aim of the tempter. And so cunningly, at the same time, did the subtle spirit
plan his temptation, that if Jesus should prove to be the Messiah, he hoped the
redemption which he was about to effect should thereby, on the outset, receive
such a shock that it might for ever be frustrated. The second object of the
prince of darkness was, as by the dexterous thrust of an experienced fencer, to
push the Saviour from his mediatorial path, and establish his own dominion over
mankind for ever. To effect these purposes, he assumed the character of a
well-wisher and friend. He professed that he desired nothing so much as that the
work of redemption should be accomplished, and would only show a shorter way to
its attainment, and he formed all his projects with as much skill as we might
expect to find in one who fell from the greatest height of wisdom and knowledge
to the lowest abyss of wickedness.

6. THE APTITUDE OF THE TEMPTATIONS.

Armed with extreme craft and subtlety, the tempter drew near to Jesus. He hoped
that the fearful solitude in which our Lord had been, in the dry and barren
wilderness, would facilitate his victory. The fact that Jesus hungered, served
to direct his first assault ― so well does this murderer of souls know how to
turn his weapons against us. When we are solitary, and apart from the
intercourse of men; when no human eye is upon us, no dear brother near to warn
and awaken us, no partaker of the same salvation to strengthen our souls; when
our thoughts roam freely abroad ― then doth the wicked one put forth his
strength, and bend his bow with might to speed the poisoned barb to our hearts:
and when we hunger or thirst; when our mind is inwardly moving us towards
earthly riches or honour, towards ease or enjoyment; then is he at hand, with
friendly aspect and professions of devotedness: he respectfully submits one good
counsel after another; he unfolds means without number of fulfilling our
desires; and however unhallowed these suggestions may be, he so well knows how
to disguise and recommend them, and secure them a plausible sanction from holy
Scripture, that we think surely an angel of God, has met us ― yet it is none
other but Satan himself in the form of an angel of light. The unfathomable
mystery of his iniquity has perhaps never manifested itself more fully than in
the temptations with which he assaulted our Lord. Can Christ then be tempted?
Undoubtedly he can, for St. Paul says. He was, in all points, tempted like as we
are. (Hebrews 4:15.) Luther translates it " on all sides." The hand of that
venerated man might well have trembled, when he was about to write down the
expression " in all points." With holy shame and sacred reverence he selected,
in preference, the phrase "on all sides." Our Lord appeared " in the likeness of
sinful flesh;" (Romans 8:3.) that is, in the nature of man. All the consequences
of sin came upon him, but not sin itself. He was tempted, yet without sin. The
sinless propensities and weaknesses of our nature were also the portion of
Christ. He hungered and thirsted; he was sensible of fatigue, of rest and
refreshment, of joy, and of sorrow. Of these sinless infirmities, therefore,
Satan purposed to make use, in attempting to withdraw the Saviour from the path
divinely marked out for him. He presented before him unlawful means of
satisfying the desires of nature. Had the Redeemer yielded even in thought to
the base insinuations of the wicked one, then would success have crowned the
turpitude and villainy of Satan. The Lamb would not have been without spot or
blemish, the Priest would not have been undefiled, the sacrifice would have been
unavailing, the whole plan of salvation for ever marred, and the entire race of
man would have been irrecoverably lost.

How much, then, depended upon that single event which took place in the
wilderness!

How immensely important, how intimately connected with our highest destiny, was
the temptation of Jesus. Ought we not, therefore, with all the intensity of
which our souls are capable, to watch the development and the issue of this
wondrous scene!

7. THE FIRST TEMPTATION. The tempter awaited a favourable opportunity for his
first attack. It was when Jesus hungered that he came to him, and said, " If
thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." (Matthew 4:3)
This was the first assault by which Satan endeavored partly to arrive at a
certainty respecting the person of Jesus; partly, in the event of his really
proving to be the Lord from heaven, to bring to nought the great work of the
atonement.

He applied himself, in the first place, to defile the immaculate soul of the
Redeemer, by infusing into it the sin of distrust. As he opened his attack upon
our first parents, by deceiving them with respect to the divine command,
(Genesis 3:1.) so also here, " If thou be the Son of God," was nothing else, in
reality, than a covert suggestion of the doubt, " Yea, hath God said," a
temptation to lead him to question the testimony which, at his baptism, he had
received from heaven. And mark the monstrous and unexampled craftiness of the
tempter. In these few words, " If thou be the Son of God, command that these
stones be made bread," under one temptation he concealed numberless snares.

Jesus shall either, as the wicked one supposed, if he be the Son of God, be
brought into perplexity respecting his Sonship and the divine testimony ―
(Matthew 3:17.) It will appear to him improbable that God should suffer his Son
to perish with hunger amidst the stones and barren thorns of the desert, and
then his soul will be defiled with unbelief; or he will lay aside the veil, and,
by a miracle, give proof, at once, of his Godhead, and then he will act in
opposition to the counsels of heaven, which have assigned him poverty and
suffering, and the hiding of his glory, that he may make atonement for Adam’s
guilt. (Isaiah 53:1-12.) But should this not take place, thought the tempter;
should I fail in my endeavor to induce him to leave the path of humility and
lowliness, and to make manifest to myself and others the dignity of his nature,
yet his extreme sufferings from hunger will, perhaps, impel him to adopt my
suggestion. It will seem to him allowable to save himself from starvation,
through the power which God has given him. He will make the stones bread, by an
act of his own, to satisfy his hunger, and thus put away from himself the cup of
bitterness, without the drinking of which to the dregs a propitiation for sin
cannot be made. (Romans 3:25.)

These were the thoughts of the prince of darkness. He hoped that if Jesus should
haply escape one snare, yet he would be entangled in a second, or a third. And,
indeed, no more subtle or skillful plan could have been imagined.

Without a miracle put forth in his behalf, the most holy of the children of men
would, in such circumstances, have fallen. Had there been the smallest vein of
sin in Christ, it would have been apparent. But no; not one atom soils the
purity of his holiness.

He stands alone in the field; no guards protect him. Yet, behold, He triumphs ―
Satan is defeated. The temptation to make stones into bread is one of frequent
occurrence. Something of it has been experienced by all the children of God.

There are brethren among us, (I speak of brethren in the Lord,) to whom a fast
also has at the same time been appointed. They have no work nor wages, and yet
have need of daily bread.

Brethren, you sit down in the wilderness, amidst stones and thorns, and you are
an hungered. It would, indeed, be surprising if the tempter did not present such
an idea as this; ― " Can you really be children of God, when He leaves you to
starve?" and then add, " Command that these stones be made bread." It would be a
wonder if he did not furnish you with all sorts of counsels, such as " Be mean
and flatter, and you shall find favour and gain employment;" or, "deceive and
lie, that you may procure wealth;" or, " steal, and save yourselves from
famine;" or, " unite yourselves with the enemies of the cross, and they will
provide for you;" or, " have recourse to gambling," or whatever it may be. This
is, in fact, " Command that these stones be made bread."

But, my brethren, let the stones remain stones, and expect your bread from Him
who has not only promised to provide it, but also to do for you greater things
than this.

Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Is it not much better to
hunger and fast in the name of God, than to possess abundance in the name of the
devil? Your fast-days will cease when they shall have worked out that for which,
in the purpose of God, they were designed. Be not dismayed, you are walking in
the wilderness, in order that you may see the truth and glory of the Lord, which
are beheld better in the dry and thirsty land than in the rich and fertile
fields.

There are some among us who derive from their profession of religion ignominy
and shame, and know but little joy and comfort. It would be strange if Satan did
not present himself, and endeavor to persuade you to suspect the whole of your
religion, or to seek that joy which you cannot find in God, in the world, and
the things thereof. My brethren, it is the devil who gives you such counsel, and
who would move you in a manner inconsistent with the religion of Jesus, to
change into bread the stones of your suffering and sorrow.

We should, I think, prefer, if needs be, to pass the time of our sojourning here
in the wilderness with Jesus, to suffer with him, and then participate in his
glory; and should cheerfully leave those poisoned viands which the devil
delights to prepare for us, to those who shall burn and howl for ever with the
prince of darkness in the lake of fire.

" The Lord rebuke thee," be our cry, whenever we perceive this serpent crawling
near our feet.

Thanks be to God, ever since the true Michael contended with Satan, and cast him
to the ground, his power over us has been destroyed. (Jude 1:9; Colossians
2:15.) In his buffeting he may attack us with hand and foot, so that we may
totter and fall, but we shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth
us with his hand. (Psalms 37:24.) Should the roaring lion prowl around our
tents, seeking whom he may devour; (1 Peter 5:8.) the Prince of Peace, the
Captain of our Salvation, holds him by the power of his might, and assigns him
the limits beyond which he cannot pass.

Let us hide ourselves only in the wounds of Christ. (Exodus 33:22.) In this
strong tower we are safe, and may well rejoice. (Proverbs 18:10) 8. THE WEAPONS
AND THE VICTORY OF CHRIST. The weapons with which our Lord achieved the victory,
were the Word of God ― " It is written" ― and Satan was overcome, his purpose
was frustrated. The Bible is the arsenal of the heroes of God, the spiritual
armoury, whose walls are thickly studded with shields and coats of mail, and
rich with swords and glittering spears. Whoever has triumphed in the spiritual
conflict, equipped himself here. Hence were taken the sling-stones, which felled
the Goliaths to the ground.

He that has access to this spiritual armoury is powerful in the camp. Of these
weapons Satan is afraid, and it has been his unremitting endeavor, either to
despoil or conceal the word of God, or to destroy its effects. To what
expedients has not this cunning sophist resorted; what has he not brought
forward and industriously circulated, to throw suspicion on the word or render
it ambiguous, and thus to rob men of the pure unadulterated Scriptures of truth!

What false assertions has he not made under the high-sounding title of
exposition, to impugn the authenticity and genuineness of the Bible! There is
not a single book in the Scriptures, the authority of which this malicious fiend
has not attempted to shake, not a miracle which he has not stamped as a fable,
not a promise which he has not endeavored to weaken and nullify. And he is still
always employed, either through his instruments and servants, false prophets,
professors, and others; or in his own person, by his immediate influence ― ever
is he doing his utmost to bring into question the purity of the word of God; for
this word is his stumbling-block. But spurn him with abhorrence, turn your back
upon him whenever he opens his accursed mouth, for he is a murderer of souls,
and has been so from the beginning, a liar, and the father of lies. (John 8:44.)
But in what way, you ask, can the word of God afford such important service in
the hour of temptation? I will inform you.

Whenever the devil would lead us astray, his first and chief concern is to
confuse our ideas. That which is perverted he sets before us as right, that
which is human as divine, and evil he calls good, and good evil. Truth he
represents as falsehood, and falsehood as truth. And when he has so deceived and
dazzled us, we become subservient to his will, perhaps, when we think that we
are doing what is right. But these villainous spells and deceptions can profit
him little, when we rest in faith on the word of God, which then secures us from
deception and misapprehension. For it declares to us most distinctly what is
right and wrong, true and false; what, under all circumstances we should do, or
think, or say, in accordance with the will of God. Examples will illustrate my
meaning.

Satan would mar the labour of a preacher of the Gospel, and weaken its effect.
He sets about his design with subtlety. He suggests to him that he should preach
a little more smoothly, that he should not make the way so narrow, nor the gate
so strait ― and thus he may gain the friendship of the whole congregation.

Yes, and many whom he has now only made refractory, he may then easily win to
the truth. When once this pleasing commencement has been made, the wicked one
knows well how to back his counsels. Does the preacher now take this matter into
consideration, and has he no other shield than his own good thoughts, then is he
soon ensnared. The propositions of the devil appear most reasonable and good,
for Satan is wiser than he. But let him rest by faith on the word of God, and
believingly reply, It is written," Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way,
which leadeth unto life,’ (Matthew 7:14.) " It is written," ’ Though we, or an
angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8.) What can the devil do
now? This confidence in the word of God, this faith, is to him as the fire of
artillery, which he cannot sustain ― it compels him to retreat.

Take another example. Satan would have you believe, that the religion of Jesus
is not the only way of salvation. And how does he go to work? With consummate
skill. He carries you in spirit to a high place, and shows you the millions of
souls who, both in the Christian and heathen world, live without Christ; and
thus he begins his discourse: " Tell me, shall all these be lost? To such a
supposition neither your reason nor your heart will assent. But they do not
believe in Christ, at least, as you and persons of your stamp believe in him.
Can Christ then really be the only way of salvation? Can that which you call the
new birth, be necessary, without any limitation, for the salvation of mankind?
Have you not then been accustomed to entertain too contracted, too confined
views respecting salvation?"

Thus doth he speak. Are you, with your reason, alone upon the battle-field, you
cannot escape from this snare. His illusions will prove successful, he will
assuredly triumph over you; the ground on which you stand will easily be made to
rock beneath your feet. But if you can wield the weapons of heavenly temper, if
you can boldly oppose to the evil one the word of God, and in faith say to him,
" It is written," " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ (John 3:3.) ― " It is written," ’ I am the
way, and the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me’ ― "
It is written," few there be that find this way,’ (Matthew 7:14.) ’ few are
chosen.’ (Matthew 20:16.) ― If you can believingly hold fast by these divine
declarations, then is the devil stricken to the ground, his net is broken; he
will desist from his endeavor to persuade you that Christ is not the only ground
of salvation. His remaining hope then, is to throw suspicion upon the word
itself, on which you rely.

Again, Satan would draw you back to the world. And what is his method of
proceeding? He gently approaches you, and insinuates that it is not right to
seclude yourself from the world, and apparently desire to shun so completely the
society of others, it does not well accord with the brotherly love which should
obtain among Christians. You must sometimes repair to worldly circles, to let
your light shine there, and men will see that the religion of Christ by no means
converts its possessors into morose monks and hermits, but makes them cheerful,
that they may thus win men to Christ. Yes, and for your own sake also, to
exercise and confirm yourself in holiness, you must not withdraw altogether from
the world, for to be holy where there are no solicitations to sin is an easy
matter; but to walk in the sight of the wicked, and to refuse compliance with
their evil courses, this is indeed to be righteous. So doth the subtle one
reason, and it pleaseth the old man well. (Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:9.) Do
you venture to dispute with him, you are not his equal; he will soon bring you
under, and gain the field. For no doctor or professor is more skilled in
disputation than he. He can make the most absurd things appear to be plausible
and excellent. But should you be able, meet him in faith with the word of God;
should you, for instance, in such a case, say, " It is written," " Love not the
world." (1 John 2:15.) then can he do no more. You have cut off the hands of
Dagon. (1 Samuel 5:4.)

Thus is the word of God, when grasped and wielded in faith, the all-powerful
sword of the Spirit, by which we may subdue the wicked one. (Ephesians 6:17.)

" Yes, the ten commandments" says one, " if written in our heart, and we give
utterance to them against him, will speedily repel him." They are like the clubs
of Sampson, tenfold, or ten swords of Michael against the roaring lion.

How then did the Lord obtain the victory? Satan counseled him to command that
the stones should be made bread, and that thus, by an act of his own power, he
might appease his hunger. This was a cunning and ensnaring device, as he well
knew.

There were (to speak after the manner of men) many things which tended to move
the Lord Jesus to consent to this advice, and in that case, as we have remarked,
the work of redemption would at once have been destroyed. But he hearkened not
to the suggestion. He left the stones to remain stones, and continued to hunger.

What did Jesus make use of in delivering himself from the snares which were laid
for him? It was the Word of God. On that word his eye rested. It is written, in
the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, and the third verse, "Man doth not live by
bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth
man live." This he grasped in faith, and opposed to the tempter. And in this
promise he found abundant ground of confidence.

Better to suffer hunger forty days and nights more, and even longer, than by a
distrustful act of power of his own to forestall the aid of the Father. God can
sustain me without bread, he has led me into the wilderness, I hope in him. This
was his thought ― in truth, an impenetrable breastplate. The devil was now
obliged to devise other projects. The hope he had entertained to persuade Jesus
to an act of compliance, that he might avoid the sufferings connected with the
atonement for the transgression of Adam, had now at once and for ever vanished.
For Jesus believed the declaration of the word, that God could, even in the
bitterest season of want, without bread feed him, and without water give him
drink, and, through the bare word of his mouth, could support and maintain him.
Against this faith must all the darts of the devil be shivered, as against an
iron bulwark. The words with which Jesus prevailed are written, as it has been
said, in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses spake them to the children of Israel, on
the borders of the pleasant land, when he recalled to their minds the
faithfulness and truth with which God had led them for forty years through the
wilderness. " And thou shalt remember," he said, " all the way which the Lord
thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to
prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his
commandments or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed
thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that he
might make thee know, that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord, doth man live." (Deuteronomy 8:3)

Yes, the Lord needs not the mill or the oven for the supply of his children; he
can rain upon them bread from heaven, as he did in the wilderness. He can give
it them in the night, when the little ones are at rest.

He did so at Cherith, (1 Kings 17:5.) he did so at Zarephath, (1 Kings 17:9.) by
means of a widow-woman, and in many other places. It is a small thing to him.

It is not the bread we eat, for the support of our bodies, that is essential to
our life, but it is that spiritual food which his word, his will, and his
blessing, supply through the outward means. It is only when God wills that bread
can nourish us; otherwise it is of no benefit, we are poor and weak in the midst
of abundance.

Since, therefore, the quality of sustaining life does not belong to the bread,
but depends on the will of God alone, we can easily understand how, with five
loaves and two fishes, Jesus could feed and satisfy five thousand men; (Matthew
14:17-21.) and, with a cake of barley bread, could give his servant strength for
forty days and forty nights; (1 Kings 19:8.) yea, how he supports so many poor
families. The Lord needs not any bread to sustain us when it pleases him. His
word only is enough, and we live. Without bread did Moses subsist on Sinai, and
Jesus in the wilderness, and so have many, many others.

It needs but his word, and the air which we breathe is changed into milk, and
wine, and we eat the richest fare, and drink only strength and refreshment,
without opening the lips ― without sitting at table, or moving the hand. This is
meant by the expression ― " Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." In times of persecution thousands of
the children of God have experienced this, in its literal sense; the believing
poor continually do so, and it is true ― as true as that the living God dwelleth
in heaven.

Let all of us, therefore, who suffer need, lay hold of this truth, that it may
preserve us from fear and discouragement, and that it may protect us against the
assaults of the wicked one.

It has pleased God, in his providence, to reduce many among us to great
necessity. They have begun to suffer want in every thing ― in labour and its
recompense, and perhaps also in prospect and credit. They are deep in the
wilderness among the stones, and there is sighing among them by night and by
day. Steal and defraud they will not; God will graciously preserve them from
such crimes. But Satan would obtain much advantage, if the thought only gained
place in your breasts ― " God has forsaken us; now must we see, how we can
provide for ourselves?" Satan would be well pleased if you only yielded to the
distrustful care and anxiety ― " What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or
wherewithal shall we be clothed?" or if you adopted the notion that God has
given you a sign, by the necessity which presses upon you, that you may endeavor
to free yourselves from distress, by having recourse to some venturous
speculation, or by the chances of play, or by some artifice, or any other
improper means. Yes, then would the tempter have already succeeded well.

Brethren, though much embarrassed, permit not to the adversary such a triumph.
Meet him with the weapons which your Master bore against him, and which thus, as
by special consecration, have acquired holiness and strength; and say in faith,
" It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeih out of the mouth of God." This is the word of him that is faithful
and true. Hold fast this word, build thereon, and wait ― wait only a little in
the wilderness. He will never leave you nor forsake you. (Joshua 1:5; Hebrews
13:5.)

There are some, I could mention them by name, who have been in greater straits
than you. They have believed that word with unshaken confidence. Whenever the
wicked one has harassed them with his cursed counsels, they have, in this faith,
with resolution and firmness, repelled him, and trusted in the Lord. Now is
their mouth filled with laughter, and their tongue with singing. The Lord hath
done great things for them, whereof they are glad. (Psalms 126:2-3) They would
not exchange for mountains of gold and silver the experience which they then
acquired in the wilderness. They have seen the glory of the Lord, and have
themselves become living witnesses that " man doth not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’

" If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." So said
the tempter. He required that Jesus should give proof of his Sonship. But our
Lord chose rather to leave this demonstration to the Father.

O, my brethren, may it in every case be the same with you. God will make it
manifest that you are his children, not, perhaps, by causing you to live in
houses of affluence, but by enabling you with confidence and joy to sing praises
among the stones and juniper trees in the wilderness, and supporting you by the
word which proceedeth out of his mouth.

9. THE SECOND TEMPTATION. The first temptation of our Lord was a total failure.
Whether Jesus were the Son of God, Satan could not yet decide; and if he were
so, the tempter had not succeeded in moving Him a finger-breadth from his
mediatorial path. The devil makes preparation for a second assault. " He taketh
him up into the holy city, and sitteth him on a pinnacle of the temple." Perhaps
only in vision? No, corporeally, as the scriptural account compels us to
believe. Our Lord was borne through the air in a moment, by supernatural power,
and conveyed to the holy city, and then hurried with the swiftness of lightning
upwards to the flat roof of one of the projecting wings of the temple, on the
declivity of the mountain. The same power with which " the Spirit of the Lord
caught away Philip" from the desert of Gaza, was here granted to the evil spirit
for the occasion. (Acts 8:39.) As an eagle with his prey, so fled the prince of
darkness with the Lord of Glory. This was awfully terrible; but Jesus was
willing to endure the most horrible, and encounter the most fearful things, that
he might drink for us, to the dregs, the cup of trembling, and leave nothing of
our ransom unpaid, even to the uttermost farthing’.

He was willing to be the sport of the evil spirit in his accursed hands, that
the angels of God might bear us sinners in the arms of tenderness to Abraham’s
bosom. Did our Lord know that it was the angel of darkness with whom he had to
do? I think not. It appears to have been hidden from him by the sacred counsel
of God, that the temptation might be the more severe, and the victory the
greater and more glorious.

Behold our Saviour now, upon the pinnacle of the temple, with Satan at his side.
A giddy abyss is beneath their feet. Deep under them lies the city; yet deeper
in the valley, as a little streak, flows with rapid course the brook of Kidron.

Satan assumes the mien and aspect of the best intentioned friend, who, if Jesus
were indeed the Son of God, had with him one and the same purpose, and desired
nothing so earnestly as that the work of redemption should be speedily
accomplished.

He points down to the fearful abyss, and says unto Jesus, " If thou be the Son
of God, cast thyself down." Perhaps he added still more, " Behold, I earnestly
desire to know whether thou art the Son of God; I await only for the certainty,
to bow my knee immediately, and pay my homage. I am not the only one who, with
intense eagerness, awaits the unveiling of thy person and glory. Thou shalt be a
king and ruler over a great people as soon as it shall please thee to unfold thy
kingly majesty and power. See, here is an opportunity, cast thyself down from
this eminence. This miracle will astonish the world; no more doubt will then be
entertained as to thy Godhead, and every knee shall be bent in the dust. Thou
shalt be as God. And not others only will be convinced, but thyself also wilt
arrive at perfect certainty that thou art the Messiah, and that God has not
forsaken thee, as he appears to have done since the commencement of thy
suffering from hunger in the wilderness."

Something of this kind might the devil represent to him; and with the more
certainty, to attain his purpose, he quotes that blessed promise in the
ninety-first Psalm, " He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in
their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against
a stone." The plan is well conceived, and the trial severe. Yes, the seducer
appears to be an angel of light, and his counsel good, and well suited for the
purpose.

Behold, then, our Lord upon the fearful summit of the temple. How will he act?
One step forwards and he treads the air ― the angels bear him gently to the
ground; the people cry aloud, " Hosanna!" he is the object of their wonder,
astonishment, and worship ― but shipwreck is made of the work of our redemption
for ever; for the Priest has then forsaken the path of poverty and abstinence ―
the Mediator has acted in opposition to the plan and counsel of God ― the Lamb
is not without blemish ― it is polluted with sin, it is unfit to be presented as
the offering of atonement.

O moment big with the destiny of a world! Yet, thanks be to God, Jesus detected
the deep artifice. He well knew, indeed, that the angels would bear him up. But
should he, therefore, call in question the faithfulness and power of God? No,
no; never. His holy soul shrunk back from the snare which Satan had laid for
him.

One word of the Bible suffices to discomfit the wicked one. A second brings him
to a stand, to shield and spear ― " It is written again, thou shalt not tempt
the Lord thy God." The command is uttered. The Lord hath said it; and the devil
is again smitten to the ground.

10. SPIRITUAL HEIGHTS. The holy city, the spiritual Jerusalem, is ever the scene
of Satan’s subtlety and most cunning assaults. It is also the field of his most
splendid conquests. O, may it soon be otherwise!

Temptations are always at hand, and men are even now, through the devices of
Satan, placed in circumstances, as to spiritual things, which greatly resemble
the trial of our Lord on the pinnacle of the temple. These are spiritual
heights. The best and most happy condition upon earth is unquestionably this, to
abide, ’ as a worm,’ at the feet of Jesus, poor in spirit; with Lazarus to lie
at the rich man’s door; and with the woman of Canaan to desire, as a dog, only
the crumbs that fall from the Master’s table. And it is well to be thus, for
then shall we become rich. Here alone are we secure. No wonder then that the
wicked one is intent on nothing more eagerly than to entice the children of God
from this state of humility and spiritual poverty. And many are the devices to
which he has recourse to effect his purpose. Let me place before you one or two
of them.

Clothed as an angel of light, he comes to you, and carries you into the holy
city, that is, he sets before your spiritual vision all the gifts, and graces,
and privileges, of which you may become partakers in the kingdom of heaven, so
that you imagine it is a holy angel who enables you to see these glorious
sights. And now the enemy brings forward one of these gifts; for example, that
of the Holy Ghost, and begins to explain to you all that you may gain by this
gift; how the Holy Ghost will sanctify (Romans 15:16.) and enlighten you; (John
16:14.) how he will guide you into all truth; (John 16:13.) reveal unto you the
deep things of God; (1 John 2:27.) will lead and move you; (Romans 8:14.) will
speak and witness within you; (1 John 5:6.) and so on, in accordance with that
which is written. But the devil proceeds farther, and seeks to persuade you that
the Spirit will reveal new things unto you, which the Bible only incidentally or
partially contains, or perhaps not at all. He goes farther, and teaches you to
regard your own thoughts as those which are suggested by the Spirit; and yet
still farther, and declares that you are inspired, one who has no more need for
the outer light from the letter, since you have such inward illumination; and,
alas! before you are aware, you are transported to the pinnacle of the temple.

You feel yourself exalted on high, above the word and the testimony of God,
above the church and ministry of the gospel; you behold all these things,
together with the whole of Jerusalem, all other believers lying deep at your
feet; and if you are not seized with dizziness on this painful elevation, and
finish your course in the horrible abyss of madness, it is to the unbounded
grace of God alone that you are beholden for your preservation. And such wiles
as these have before now succeeded in ensnaring the souls of some, who would no
longer conform to any prescribed order, or permit themselves to be ruled by the
word of God, conceiving that they were led by the Spirit, which had testified to
them of higher and better things. Truly, there may have been those among them,
who were in reality pious men, and who would again be recovered to the right
path, but still it is a melancholy and distressing misconception. May God
preserve us from such illusions. But to proceed, " It is written" ― "Though we,
or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we
have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now
again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received,
let him be accursed." (Galatians 1:8-9) " It is written" ― " Thy word is a lamp
unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psalms 119:105.) Such an appeal to the
word of God puts to flight the wicked one.

If Satan gains not his point in one way, he tries another, and he does not
desist till he has had recourse to all his expedients.

We see many standing on the pinnacle of the temple, and various are the means by
which they have been transported thither.

One indulges the pleasing fancy, that he understands all mysteries, that he is
gifted with a spiritual illumination beyond others, that he carries about him
the keys of David, The devil has made a prey of him through the abundance of his
knowledge, and with wicked enchantment has persuaded him to believe that he hath
the anointing and knoweth all things. (1 John 2:27.)

Another regards himself as the man who, with the sword of his mouth, shall slay
the wicked, who, with the sceptre of his word, shall sway the minds of men, and
after whom no one dares to speak. His ability in teaching and preaching has
become, by the subtlety of the wicked one, a trap and a snare. A third arrogates
to himself the proud per-eminence of being, with reference to God, far apart
from others, as if he sat on a seat in the kingdom of Christ twice as high as
other poor sinners. Perhaps it was the gift of prayer he possessed, from which
the enemy prepared him the sweet poison. In a fourth the notion has firmly fixed
itself, that without him the kingdom of God cannot stand. He is a pillar without
his equal on earth; an apostle, an Elijah of his day. The blessing which God
granted to his word and testimony, has been made, through the artifice of the
devil, into a lime-twig, on which he has been caught. The dreams and chimeras of
a fifth has Satan magnified into pure visions and manifestations from heaven.
Now the poor creature deems himself a seer and a prophet.

Before the eyes of a sixth the devil holds his magic mirror, in which the weak
mortal sees himself with a halo of glory round his head; or the deceiver sends
to him friends, who represent that his meekness and patience, his faith or his
love, must be extolled and admired, and even idolized by men; and then the poor
deluded soul enters into the full persuasion that God most certainly intends to
set him forth as an example of holiness.

Behold, these are the heights, the pinnacles of the temple, to which Satan
conducts men. And the evil does not stop here; for let the deceived souls but
once stand upon these heights, and imagine themselves apostles, saints, and
prophets, then they sometimes step higher. It is not all of them who come down
again without having first Sustained injury. Alas! some fall from these heights
down into the depths of mental aberration. Of such unhappy ones, who at length
have supposed themselves to be God, or Christ, or the Holy Ghost, every age has
afforded instances, and that even in the midst of the holy city.

Brethren, abide in your strong tower, and lie in the dust; above all, those of
you who are rich in gifts, and apt to teach; those who are held in reputation
among the brethren, and who publicly instruct in the congregation; those of you
who lead the assembly of the pious, and whose light shines with especial
splendor in Zion. Such things readily present to the dragon that which he can
seize, and by which he can rapidly transport you to the heights.

Gird as a breast-plate on your bosom the words of Christ, " Blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:3.)

Place as a helmet on your head that truth, " Whosoever shall not receive the
kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." (Mark 10:15.)

Take as a sword in your hand that word, " God resisteth the proud, but giveth
grace unto the lowly." (James 4:6.) And never forget that the golden rose of
Jesus does not bloom upon the heights, but in the deep valleys. And should the
devil urge you into a presumptuous and perplexing speculation with regard to the
unsearchable mysteries of God, should he hurry you into vain and profitless
investigations, respecting the Trinity, or eternity, or the two natures of
Christ, or whatever else it may be of this description; now collect all your
powers, and cry aloud to him, " It is written," ’ We know in part, and we
prophecy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in
part shall be done away.’ (1 Corinthians 13:9-10.) Declare to him, in the name
of Jesus, that you desire to know nothing more than that which is necessary for
your salvation, and thus you will drive him away.

11. " IF THOU BE THE SON OF GOD, CAST THYSELF DOWN." That the devil eagerly
makes use of our relation to God, to move us the more readily to all kinds of
wicked compliances, is an acknowledged truth. Has Satan learned, for instance,
that you have yet a sin that is dear to you, and which has not been renounced
and overcome; he brings you into circumstances which not only supply incentives
to that sin, but also the opportunity of indulging it. Then you stand on the
brink of a precipice. " Cast thyself down," whispers the devil, " thou shalt
escape." You hesitate. He adds, "it is so pleasant below." You are still
reluctant. " Cast thyself down," he cries yet louder. You tremble at the danger,
and yet cannot withdraw from the spot, and are as one enchanted. "Cast thyself
down," proceeds the wicked one: " thou art a child of God; thou canst again find
grace." He so speaks, and if God do not hold you back, the leap is taken.

You are by nature of an irascible disposition. Some one in your household
disturbs you. You are greatly stirred up to yield to anger and revenge, but you
know not whether you dare. You are on the edge of a pit. " Cast thyself down,"
cries the devil, " Thou art a child of God, and between the children of God and
the world there should be no peace, but a sword and division. (Matthew 10:34.)
Give scope to thy passions." Thus he counsels, and before he has spoken, you are
boiling, perhaps, with wrath, and heaping sin upon sin.

You are in great straits, and are weary of life. The devil sets you upon the top
of your house, or upon the edge of a cliff, or on the shore of the deep sea. 0,
how dreadful is your position! " Cast thyself down," whispers the evil one. You
are inclined to do so, yet you shrink from such a plunge. " Why dost thou
linger?" cries the tempter. " ’ Cast thyself down.’ In the arms of death there
is sweet repose, and all suffering will cease. ’ Cast thyself down.’ Thou
standest by grace, and grace never is lost, even though the mountains should
depart and the hills be removed. (Isaiah 54:10.) ’ Cast thyself down.’ Hasten to
thy home." Thus the serpent. ― O frightful! you waver ― you cast your eyes
downward: the desire is great, the impulse strong, the means before you; and O!
if the hand of divine mercy do not interpose to save you, you rush into
eternity.

Satan tempted the Lord Jesus, that he might, in a way not approved of God,
namely, by a voluntary leap from the pinnacle of the temple, give evidence that
he was the Son of God. And thus also does he draw near to believers.

Doubts are entertained as to your state of grace. He whispers to you, ’ Men
hesitate to reckon you one of the children of the kingdom. Prove to them what
you are." Now it is high time to wield the sword of the Spirit against the
tempter, to meet him with the word, "The Lord knoweth them that are his;" (2
Timothy 2:19.) and to let that suffice. But in such circumstances some fall into
grievous errors.

One is guilty of shameful falsehood, inasmuch as he boasts of spiritual
experiences which he has not really attained.

Another yields to criminal impulses, since he speaks of frames of mind, in his
own case, which God alone can produce, and which he does not possess. This man
acts with scandalous dissimulation, whilst he hypocritically arrogates to
himself the anointing which has not yet been granted him, even for a moment.
That man is stained with black impurity, because he endeavors to make men
believe that the works which he has done by his own act have been wrought in him
by the Spirit of God. And what abominations can be greater in the eyes of God
than these?

Well may the devil insultingly laugh, when he succeeds in casting the children
of God into such a sink as this.

" Cast thyself down," said Satan, and would add the reason, viz. that thereby he
might carry forward the purposes and the counsel of God. And earnestly did he
desire to excite in the mind of Jesus any degree of impatience as to the slow
progress of his work of redemption.

And! how gladly would he stir up in believers the motions of impatience; how
eagerly does he spur them on to self-imposed exercises, in order to perfect
their holiness, and urge them to endeavor, by rapid strides, to mount to the
highest step of the ladder in the attainment of their individual glory. With
what importunity does he call to them to " leap down and choose the shortest
way;" for the base deceiver is well aware that such a hurrying forwards is only
a falling back, since it is a turning away from the throne of grace and the
blood of the Lamb, and he knows that in such ways, of our own choosing, no
angels will bear us in their hands, but that we shall only dash our feet against
the stones, and that we shall fall into darkness, pride, and self-sufficiency.
Are they witnesses and ministers of the word whom he thus deceives? O, how doth
he rejoice when they think the time long till God shall crown their labours, and
how sedulously doth he cherish this impatience in their souls, and with what
delight doth he cry, " Cast thyself down from the pinnacle of the temple." And
with what exultation doth he look on when they obey his voice, and endeavor,
with their own wildfire, to kindle the desires of the congregation, and with
fleshly tumult to excite the people, so to speak, to take the kingdom of heaven
by storm, and whilst God doeth it not, to gird themselves, to anoint and equip
themselves for the war. This is a day of rejoicing to the devil, for he knows
that now at least he has succeeded, and that under such dark and earthly
impulses the Holy Ghost will not make himself known.

Those by whom the Lord will execute his purposes of mercy are broken
instruments, and are submissive to the will of their God, and are cheerfully led
and directed by the Saviour. And this is as it should be. Violence and
precipitation can effect nothing in this great work.

12. SATAN ARMED WITH THE WORD OF GOD.

" If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down." So spake the devil to Jesus ― a
most difficult task. But the children of God have dared to attempt deeds of
greater peril. Peter ventured, notwithstanding its rage, to walk upon the stormy
sea; (Matthew 14:29.) and the three children recorded in Daniel, encountered the
burning fiery furnace; and they suffered no injury. (Daniel 3:27.) In all things
is it given in command to the angels of God, to bear us up in their hands. They
are attached to us, as a body-guard and safe-conduct, on whose guidance and
protection, in all the way in which God has commanded us to go, it is our
privilege joyfully to reckon.

Relying on that promise, Jesus might have cast himself from the pinnacle of the
temple; but he did it not. And why? Because God had not expressly directed him.
Scarcely was the satanic suggestion made, when probably the divine promise
presented itself to the soul of Jesus. " No, thought the pure Lamb, for such
self-chosen way is the promise not given," and if Satan said, "The Lord will
give his angels charge concerning thee," our Lord repelled him with weapons
taken out of the heavenly armoury of the word; "Jesus said unto him, it is
written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God;" and again was Satan vanquished.
But what is meant by tempting God? It is that which we have described, namely,
voluntarily to go into danger, that God may deliver us. To such unworthy courses
would the devil endeavor to lead us, and for this purpose he has committed to
memory the most striking promises of God, that he may take us by surprise.
Therefore, when some word of God is presented to us, to induce us to take some
daring step, let us ask, whether this word is suited to our case, and whether we
also have a warrant to rest upon it in such circumstances. Thus it will become
clear, who has presented to us the word, and Satan will not so easily seduce us.

If a man comes to you, and says, "Steer out into those furious breakers, and
rescue a brother out of the surge, for it is written, ’ When thou passest
through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not
overflow thee.’ " (Isaiah 43:2.) If he says to you, " Go into that house on
fire, and snatch that screaming child out of the flames, for God has said, When
thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame
kindle upon thee.’ " (Isaiah 43:2.) Do you hear a voice within you, saying, "
Give to that poor hungry soul your last penny, for it is written, ’ Inasmuch as
ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto
me.’ " (Matthew 25:40.) Then, my friend, gird yourself in the name of God, and
do so. A good angel speaks to you, and you may reasonably expect all help. But
should another approach you, and say, " Come, friend, into this or that gay
society, for it is written, ’ He will keep the feet of his saints.’" (1 Samuel
2:9.) Is it said to you, " only go ― venture it once ― take delight in it,
without any care as to the consequences, for it is written, ’ he giveth to his
beloved sleeping.’" (Psalms 127:2. German version.) Then know that it is a
crafty devil, with whom you have to do; and answer him, " It is written, again,
’ thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.’ "

There are many snares of the devil, such as these, taken from the word of God.
To this class belongs that accursed temptation, by which he entices us to make
trial of this or that divine declaration, whether it holds good, and thus to
bring under examination, as it were, the faithfulness and truth of the Lord. So
once, for example, did a villainous device of his succeed with three ministers
of the word. He placed before their eyes, the eighteenth chapter of Matthew and
twentieth verse, " Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am
I in the midst of them;" and then, that other passage in the preceding verse, "
Again, I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any
thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in
heaven;" and then he asked, " Is it indeed so?" " Ah," thought the preachers, ’
we will put it to the test;" and they appointed an hour for the purpose of
praying that the Lord would personally appear. And they came together and
prayed, " O Lord, manifest thyself. Lord appear among us;" but he did not
appear, and the devil cried out " victory!" His malicious design succeeded.
Afterwards the Lord did indeed appear to them, but in a very different manner
from that which they had expected. He became unto them as a moth, and as a worm,
(see Hosea 5:12. marginal reading,) and to the end of their lives they received
no more light, nor joy, nor peace, and a spiritual decline took place, which
they could not avert. May God in mercy preserve us from such attempts to prove
his faithfulness and truth!

Let the least inclination of the kind, that moves within us, be a token, that we
are in an evil case, and let us cry as loud and earnestly as we can, " It is
written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

One of the common devices of Satan is, to shake, if possible, our confidence in
the word of God by means of the word itself. Wonderful are the things which we
live to behold!

He sets before us, at a glance, a multitude of unimportant things from the
Bible. As that Paul wrote to Timothy, desiring him to bring the cloak, which he
left at Troas, (2 Timothy 4:13.) and many other circumstances equally trivial.
And whilst he is holding them before our view, he asks us, with malicious
purpose, " Are these words also inserted by the Spirit?" And then immediately
afterwards, " Is not then the whole of the Bible inspired?" And he proceeds
further, " What is from the Spirit, and what is not?" And then his conclusion ―
" The Bible is an unsafe foundation. And indeed occasionally, by such jugglers’
artifices, he causes, for a moment at least, the whole Bible-edifice to fall
upon our heads, so that all is uncertain and wavering for a time, till at last
we recover our recollection. For the purpose of rendering suspected the word of
God, he not unfrequently makes a passage of Scripture stand prominently before
our eyes, when something occurs in our life, which that word seems to falsify.
Are you lying, for example, almost in despair, in great need and bitter trial,
and help is as yet afar off? It is probably that word, which he recalls to your
memory, " Like as a Father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him;" (Psalms 103:13.) and then with a fiendish grin, he asks, " Where then
is the Father, where is his pity, and why tarries this boasted help?" And what
would please the wicked one better, than to pollute your soul with distrust,
impatience, and unbelief? When for a long time you have been entreating some
mercy, and wrestling with God, be it for bread for your hungry children, for
counsel under some pressing embarrassment, or for some alleviation of your pain,
or a little comfort in the cup of your anxiety, and you do not receive it ―
Satan is again near. " Behold," says he, " is it not written," ’ Whatsoever ye
shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the
Son? (John 14:13) Now, pious worshiper, is your lap already full of the gifts of
God?" So mocks the accursed one, and truly, if the Lord hold not his hand over
your faith, you cannot escape these fiery darts unwounded. The most dangerous
method in which the devil uses the word of God as a weapon against us, is this ―
He dissevers single passages of Scripture from their connection, and instead of
interpreting them according to the rule of faith, he presents them apart by
themselves, perverts their meaning, and endeavors to show them to us in the same
light. Here, certainly, if any where, it is important to encounter him with the
weapons of the word, to enter with the sword of the Spirit into the conflict.

" It is written," he says, " ’ Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound;’
(Romans 5:20.) therefore, let loose the reins, you have full liberty." Say to
him in reply, " It is written again, ’ Shall we continue in sin, that grace may
abound? God forbid! How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer
therein?’" (Romans 6:1-2.)

" But," cries the devil, " It is written, ’ It is no more I that do it, but sin
that dwelleth in me;’ (Romans 7:17.) therefore, compose yourself, and be not so
distressed about your faults." Say to him in reply, " It is also written," ’
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
(Romans 7:24.) The children of God mourn over their sins,"

" It is written," rejoins Satan, " that it is not of him that willeth, nor of
him that runneth, but of God, that sheweth mercy;’ (Romans 9:16.) therefore,
remain in the world and in the enjoyment of pleasure, till God call you." Let
your answer be, " I know it, but ’ it is written again,’ ’ work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you, both to
will and to do of his good pleasure.’ " (Php 2:12.) The devil is not backward
with a rejoinder ― " It is written," ’ known unto God are all his works from the
beginning of the world,’ (Acts 15:18.) therefore, desist from your supplications
and prayers, your portion is assigned you; whatever has been decreed to you, you
shall certainly receive." Give him this reply, " It is written again, ’Ask and
ye shall receive, for every one that asketh, receiveth.’ " (Luke 11:9-10.)

" But," says the dragon, " It is written," ’ this is the Father’s will which
hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but
should raise it up again at the last day.’ (John 6:39.) Live then as you like,
and do whatsoever your heart desires. What have you to do with Moses and his
laws? Your salvation is secured for eternity." Thus cry to him, in reply, " It
is written again," ’ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
me.’ " (John 10:27.)

Behold, my brother, thus shouldest thou disarm the devil, and in the strength of
thy God triumph over him, and make a shew of him openly.

13. THE MAGIC VISION. The scene of action is changed. With the rapidity of
lightning was the Son of God hurried from the pinnacle of the temple, and borne
by magic power to the summit of an exceeding high mountain, (Matthew 4:8) Then
did he, in mental vision, behold himself placed, as it were, on the highest
elevation of a lofty tower, and a boundless prospect, filled with every charm
and dazzling beauty lay extended before his eyes in the mirror of a wondrous
manifestation. And what followed? In a moment stand forth, within the circle of
vision, in brilliant relief, all the kingdoms of the world, with all their
glory, delights, and embellishments, in all their alluring forms. Time and space
have no longer any limits. That which is distant draws nigh; that which was
closed opens itself wide; that which was veiled is exposed to view; and yet it
was, as Luke says, (Luke 4:5,) in a moment of time ― an unheard of delusion of
the senses! In this splendid picture, as it is probable, lay the most lovely
regions of the earth spread out before him, and around him the most charming
prospect of magnificent cities and gorgeous palaces ― On this side haughty Rome,
the victorious mistress of the world, and the ruler over a hundred kings; on the
other side the spicy groves of the east, and the lovely rose gardens of Persia ―
Here Ophir, with its rich mines of gold and of diamonds; there India, that land
of wonders, abounding with the varied charms of an unfading spring, and flowing
with milk and honey. But not kingdoms merely and cities ― yet other things
presented themselves to the view of Jesus. The devil showed him, besides the
kingdoms of the world, also their glory.

Whatever this world possesses that is attractive and alluring, whatever delights
the senses and commands admiration, and whatever the children of the world call
their paradise and their heaven, at once did he behold spread before him ― Here
towering castles and pleasant villas, with their lawns and gardens; there
chariots and horses, princely trains and equipages ― On one spot, galleries of
the fine arts and temples of wisdom; on another, monuments of fame and
laurel-crowns of honour ― Yonder, courtly society in golden chambers; nearer at
hand the festive throng, amid the alluring tones and seductive power of symphony
and song. In short, all that makes the heart leap within the children of this
world, and suffuses the cheek, and causes the eyes to glisten with joy and
delight, passed then before the view of Jesus ― a picture that fixed and riveted
the attention; and no exhibition calculated to please and excite the feelings
would Satan at that time conceal from his sight.

Something similar to this do we also at times experience. Those, namely, among
our brethren who possess by nature a lively temperament, an easily excited mind,
and a strong imagination, can no doubt speak of such magic visions. Such persons
the devil is wont especially to approach with snares like these, since even
their susceptible nature itself, and their quick sensibilities, appear to him
already to promise a certain victory; at least, he the more easily succeeds in
carrying persons of this description to the summit of his magic mountain. For
the purpose of effecting this, the tempter generally makes use of outward means.
Such means he finds, for example, in the kingdom of the fine arts, in so far as
they are made subservient to the world and to sin. At one time he makes use of
an exquisite painting or beautiful poem; at another, of sweet and harmonious
tones or moving melody, in the midst of which he carries on his enchantments.

So, for instance, is there often need only of some chord, or single tone of a
flute, to be wafted in tender undulations from afar into the solitude of our
quiet chamber, where it is scarcely audible, and his magic has already begun. As
by the creating word of the Almighty, Satan produces in an instant before our
view a paradise full of intoxicating joys, and the obstructing veil, as it were,
being removed, the eye roams abroad through an earthly Elysium. The joys of our
youth, of which we long had taken leave, present themselves before us in the
most attractive form; and earthly pleasures which, perhaps, years ago we had
crucified and slain, appear to us again in the most seductive shape and
coloring. Here hang crowns of perishable honour, but how highly do we value
them. There opens to our view the tumultuous assembly of worldly society and
frivolous intercourse; but how many charms does this circle again present to us?
The poor soul finds itself powerfully drawn back.

Now open to our view the splendid halls of the great, filled with sound and
song, with stringed instruments and the votaries of pleasure, reeling in the
dance. And again, the eye rolls over the deceitful rose-beds of human art and
sweet poetry. In a word, all things that are beautiful and precious which the
world can offer, high in dignity and attractive in grace, as by a stroke of
enchantment, stand forth in living images and scenes in the mirror of our
imagination; and however vain in themselves, and worthless and pitiful, a magic
spell is over them; they are seen in beauteous coloring and adornment, and
richest enameling, as if we really looked into Paradise; and an ocean of
sensibility, and languishing, and desire begins in a moment, as we gaze at such
a spectacle, to move and to heave within our souls, as if a storm were about to
burst forth from their depths.

Behold! it is at a moment like this that you are standing upon the high
enchanted mountain, and the devil shows you all the kingdoms of the world and
their glory in a moment of time. And therefore it is, that the music of the
present day, as it is now constituted, is so dangerous a thing, since the devil
succeeds so easily in raising, by means of it, the most sinful of the passions.
In the operas and concerts of this world does Satan find a means of powerful
enchantment, to make the vain glory of the world to outshine that of heaven.

Experienced Christians have acknowledged that, for a moment at least, by means
of such wicked and worldly music, they have been so irresistibly hurried along
by the devil, as if under the influence of wine, that they have regretted their
departure from Egypt, and have envied the children of this world, if not their
scenes of rioting and intemperance, at least their higher and more refined
pleasures.

Yes; not unfrequently is this most efficacious of all his artifices, one of the
wings on which, by the power of the tempter, we are transported to the summit of
that mountain whence the kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them, pass
before the eyes of our fancy in a sea of light and golden vapour, and so charm
and captivate the senses, that the very elect would be deceived and led aside,
were it not that with his favour doth the Lord compass them as with a shield.
(Psalms 5:12.) 14. THE DARING PROPOSAL OF THE WICKED ONE. At the very moment
when the kingdoms of this world and their glory lay before the eyes of Jesus, in
the glare and dazzling splendor of this wondrous vision, did Satan, laying aside
his deceptive guise, make known himself, and say, " All these things will I give
thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me." (Matthew 4:9.) St. Luke says," All
this power will I give thee, and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto
me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it. If thou, therefore, wilt worship me,
all shall be thine." (Luke 4:6-7.) He claims all as his own ― what daring
presumption! And yet, alas! here hath the Father of lies spoken the truth.
Through the sentence of a holy God the world for which the great High Priest
doth not pray, has been made the portion of Satan. (John 17:9.) He is their
prince, (John 12:31; John 14:30; John 15:11.) their ruler, (Ephesians 6:12.)
their Lord. (Isaiah 26:13. 1 Corinthians 8:5.) The great nations of the earth
are his, and the great bulk of mankind bear his yoke. The inhabitants of this
world pay him tribute, and on the walls of their cities float his sable banners.
Who can number the countless millions whose souls he holds in severest bondage,
tied and bound with the chains of sin and darkness, and in spiritual prisons and
cells, whether Mahometan or heathen, whether Jewish or papistical, whether those
of self-sufficient rationalism or daring infidelity.

Yes, without any arrogant pretensions, was he able to say, all these are mine.
For the few who are not his, those who are left as a lodge in a garden of
cucumbers, (Isaiah 1:8.) the worm Jacob, (Isaiah 41:14.) the despised house of
Israel, (Jeremiah 33:24.) all these are lost, as nothing among the giant-cities
of the fallen prince of angels; they are as the drop in the unfathomable ocean.
And what is there in the world, which the devil has not seized and laid under
contribution for the purpose of extending and strengthening his kingdom; what
has he not made subservient to the furtherance of his wicked plans, especially
in the present day? Has he not already in his service the liberal sciences, and
their professors, the periodical press, associations, and assemblies in the
great world? Have not all these been readily enlisted in his cause? Who has
turned the stream of poetry into that flood of romance and drama, which
overflows the world with its thousand falsehoods and ungodly imaginations? Who
acts so powerful a part in the representation of opera, and in the wanton
melodies in which the powers of tone, which ought to be employed in the praises
of God, are perverted for the destruction of souls, and to pour into the heart
the most subtle poison? Who has pitched his camp among the high-flown systems of
new-fangled philosophy, and from these bulwarks and bastions hurled his javelins
against the gospel of peace? Who has raked up and and exposed to public gaze
that groveling system of the present day, that sweet and effeminate scheme of
Esthetics, a corrupt code opposed to the gospel of Christ, and which, as an
intoxicating potion, drowns the souls of men in a fatal slumber, from which, it
is to be feared, they will awake, alas! only by the thunders of the judgment? Is
it not the father of lies, the old serpent, the dragon from the bottomless pit?
And let no one be surprised that Satan speaks of a gift which is actually in his
own power ― " All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and
worship me."

There are favors conferred by the wicked one, as there are blessings from
heaven, and the world swarms with those who are indebted to him for their
enjoyments and honors, their titles and distinctions. Yes, he has his gold, and
his rewards for those who thus follow his banners, and know that their zeal in
his service will be repaid in many ways; and not unfrequently does God permit
these reprobate men so exceedingly to indulge in the pomps and pleasures of this
wicked world, and they so feast and fatten in the rich pastures of fleshly
enjoyments, that at length the last trace of man is lost in these vessels of
wrath, and they go down like beasts into hell.

" All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me."
Thus spake the tempter to our Lord. That the Son of the living God should bow
the knee in worship to the old serpent! Oh, it is the most daring, the most
frightful proposition that ever has been made. Indeed, it seems as if it were
the advice of a maniac, utterly inconsistent with the craft, and subtlety, and
unworthy the giant intellect of the prince of darkness. But let any one examine
the critical situation in which Satan was then placed, and his shameless
accursed suggestion will cease to be a matter of surprise. The mask is now laid
aside, for the devil conjectures, with increasing assurance, who it is that
stands before him. The glorious triumphs which, not-withstanding his most subtle
devices, our Lord had already achieved over him, left him scarcely the shadow of
a doubt that Jesus was the Christ.

Irritated to the utmost, by the failure of his plots against the great opposer
of his kingdom, and moved no less by the danger which threatened his dominion
over the souls of men, he meditated, in hatred and rage, a last and decisive
stroke; but reflection was now chained by the power of passion, and all prudence
and discretion were swallowed up in the fiery waves of distracting doubt, which
rolled through his soul in wild and horrible confusion. When he became certain
as to the person of his antagonist, and not till then, did Satan perceive, in
its full extent, the great and vital importance of the conflict; and it was not
concealed from him that one or other of them must fall.

Nevertheless, his last attack, however great the skill and power which he had
hitherto displayed, is the most ill contrived of all, and with the desperation
and impetuosity of a warrior who has given up all as lost, he rushes blindly
upon his adversary, and is transfixed by his sword. This blow, which Satan now
aimed against Jesus, was the last effort of desperation; by which we perceive,
that relinquishing the endeavor to ensnare the Son of God, and drive Him from
the field, which was now evidently hopeless, he meant offensively to intimate,
by a contemptuous blow, as it were, with the foot, that Jesus must not suppose
He could compel all His enemies to bow their necks before Him. With such
desperate intentions, and foaming with fury, the devil began his magic jugglery,
placed his enchanted mirror before the eyes of Christ, displayed to his view one
sight after another of the most lovely regions of the earth, and their glory;
and cried to him with grinning scorn and wild satanic derision, " Behold all
these things: these delights and enjoyments shall be thine, if thou wilt fall
down and worship me. Away then, take the rich booty. Down in the dust, and do
homage to thy Lord and Master." The supposition may also be entertained, that
from the circumstance of our Lord’s refusing to give him the desired evidence,
Satan had come to the conclusion that Jesus was not the incarnate Son of God,
but only a great saint, yet still a man, against whom, as such, he might,
unmasked, press other suggestions, more bold and gross. This Satanic suggestion
was, as has been said, an act of desperation, and more an outbreak of vicious
rage and satanic scorn than a temptation.

Believers also have frequently the same to suffer from the devil which their
Master encountered in the wilderness, whilst he tempts them with the most
abominable propositions, and infuses such blasphemous and detestable thoughts
into their souls, that they shudder at their enormity. But be comforted and
undismayed, ye oppressed souls. That the wicked one thus buffets and spurns you,
arises from pure vexation and disappointment, that he is not able to swallow you
up. Look upon these temptations as the revengeful vaporing of a powerless enemy,
who, since he cannot prevail with sword and sling, throws mire and filth, to
irritate you, at least; and if he cannot succeed by other means, endeavors, in
this way, to give vent to his rage.

15. THE ISSUE OF THE CONFLICT.

Scarcely had Jesus received the blasphemous counsel ― scarcely had he glanced
into the mirror of earthly glory and pleasure, which the devil had the insolence
to hold before him ― when it was fully manifest with whom he had to do. " These
are thy possessions, thy kingdoms," thought he, " and thou requires to be
worshiped? Thou art detected, thou foul spirit, the mask is fallen off, I know
thee." With horror and disgust, the pure soul of the great High Priest turned
away from the images of vanity and lust which Satan had conjured up before him.
He grasped the iron shield of the word of God, against which all the fiery darts
of the wicked one are quenched, and spake with the majesty of the first-born, to
whom is given all power, both in heaven and in earth ― " Get thee hence, Satan,
for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou
serve." (Matthew 4:10) Then did not the devil dare a second time to arrogate to
himself divine honour ― he was stricken to the ground ― the battle was ended;
and the Lamb of God stood pure, without spot, victorious ― the triumph achieved.
With the sword of the Spirit, the written word ― in the obedience of faith ― did
Jesus lay the dragon completely in the dust. The temptation over which our Lord
here came off victorious, not unfrequently is presented to his beloved children.

We have already remarked how Satan is able sometimes to show us, in his magic
mirror, the kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them, in a moment of time.
O yes; even the most holy upon earth must be conscious, that in the experience
of the children of God, either hours or moments may sometimes occur, when the
enjoyments and seductive allurements which they supposed to have been long
before, by the grace of God, utterly dead, are again exhibited in the most
attractive light before the eye of their imagination. Then does the sea of their
senses and desires become impetuous and raging, and Satan leaves nothing
untried, that he may drown the poor soul in this flood. At such moments it is
said to us quickly, unexpectedly, before we can recollect ourselves, ’ All this
will I give thee if thou fall down and worship me." Behold, we have only to do
some little thing to gain all those golden mountains; it is only a little
turning aside, of which, perhaps, no man may be aware; only a momentary
prostration before the tempter; only a transient homage, and all is ours. And 0,
my beloved, David and Solomon are not the only ones among the children of God
who have been guilty of such a fall, that they might once more drink of the
intoxicating cup of earthly pleasure.

Yet, in whatever way these falls may have taken place, we feel deeply for our
brethren who have been so surprised, and we contemn them not. No, we do not
despise them; for we know our hearts, and are aware what we are, and how the
tempter can paint the world so beautifully before the eyes of man, and give such
enchanting coloring to its vanities. We are aware of this, and our prayer is,
every moment, " Lead us not into temptation."’ The wicked one, indeed, cannot be
concealed when he draws near to us with such visions and shameless propositions.
The enjoyments and treasures which he presents to us, and describes so
glowingly, and the means which he proposes, by which we may become possessed of
the same, betray him. In such temptations as these he approaches us, not as an
angel of light, but without the mask, and boldly. We then soon know who is our
adversary, and this renders the struggle more easy.

We cannot, indeed, retire from the scene of conflict unwounded as Jesus; and
seldom, without any motions of sinful inclination, can we withdraw from the
sight of those seducing enchantments. And well is it for us if we only escape
before that lust hath conceived and brought forth sin, (James 1:15.) and if
unscathed, we can quit the field. The weapons with which our Lord so easily
repelled the last onset of the tempter are ours also, under similar
circumstances ― " It is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him
only shalt thou serve." This word, when uttered in faith against the devil, will
break his strongest darts, as though they were stubble. And as often as he sees
this armour flashing upon our breasts, his hopes will languish, and he can only
attempt to move us to do him reverence, and fall down for a moment at his feet.

" Then the devil leaveth Him, and behold angels came and ministered unto him."
(Matthew 4:11) This was the termination of this great and most important
conflict; and never has Satan fled from any field of battle with such feelings
of discomfiture; never has he, with a soul so torn and distracted, quitted an
antagonist as at that time he must have left the fearful opponent of his
kingdom. For to be so bruised upon the head, and to be compelled to lay down his
weapons with so much shame, was as insupportable as it was strange to him.
(Genesis 3:15.) As a dark cloud of the night, which the stormy wind drives, he
hurried away, his fiery eyes rolling in desperation, and gnashing his teeth; and
gladly would he cry to the mountains and hills to fall upon him, and cover him
both from heaven and hell, that he might not hear the triumph of the angels over
him, nor be upbraided by the hollow murmurings and howling cries of the spirits
of hell at such a shameful overthrow. But our Lord is safe. O how pleasing must
it have been for him, after having been left, most fearfully, forty days, with
the powers of darkness; (for Luke tells us, Luke 4:2, that he is forty days
tempted of the devil,) now suddenly to find himself in his own element again
amid the blessed angels of God, who had come to pay their homage, and to
minister to the mighty conqueror.

Then was fulfilled that which, in prophetic anticipation, the dying Jacob spake,
" Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he Stooped
down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? (Genesis
49:9.)

Yet this cessation from strife was not the end of the battle, hut only a short
respite. Satan, says Luke, departed from him for a season. (Luke 4:13.) It was
not long before he again stood before Jesus in full array, in the plain, and he
continued to follow him with his slings and other missiles, till the great
Sampson vanquished him by his own death on Golgotha, and tore for ever the
sceptre from his hands. (Judges 16:30; Colossians 2:15.) When the blood of the
Lamb of God stained the accursed tree, then was the head of the serpent bruised
according to the promise. (Genesis 3:15.) Our life, also, beloved children of
the cross, will prove a scene of conflict even to the end. Days of repose and
rejoicing will not be wanting to us in the wilderness, but the full unbroken
Sabbath awaits us in the heavenly Canaan, in that rest which remaineth to the
people of God. (Hebrews 4:9.) As long as we dwell in these pilgrim-tents, the
devil will not suffer his sword to rest in the scabbard ― the roaring lion will
not cease to go about seeking whom he may devour. And when he shall cease to
triumph over us, yet will he not desist from his attempts, nor suffer his wrath
to cool; but, by buffeting and otherwise assaulting us, he will cause us to feel
his hatred and his scorn. But let us not fear. " Thanks be to God," we may
joyfully exclaim with St. Paul, " Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory,
through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:57.) The victories of our
Surety are all ours through faith. We have already triumphed before the conflict
― and when also the dust of our strife with the powers of darkness covers the
battle-field, and the fiery darts by thousands hiss around our heads, even when
we fall in death, we remain victorious, and become more than conquerors through
him that hath loved us.

Thrice blessed truth! Inestimable faith! Whosoever walketh by this faith, his
courage will never fail, and though he may fall in the struggle, yet shall he
rise again, and stand erect, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. (Psalms
37:24; Micah 7:8.)

" Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord,
the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine
enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high
places." (Deuteronomy 33:29.)

FINIS.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 12: 01.9.     AUTHORS BIO
========================================================================

F.W. (Frederick Wilhelm)Krummacher: A short Biography, obtained from:
http://www.pleasantplaces.biz/authors/krummacher_fw.php

Frederick Wilhelm Krummacher was born in Prussia in 1796. He held a pastorate in
Germany but firmly held the old Lutheranism, renouncing rationalism. He came to
New York in 1843, but turned down offers to return to Germany in 1847 and
settled in Berlin. He died in Prussia on December 10, 1868. He was a prolific
writer and is best known for his book, Elijah the Tishbite. For information on
Krummacher’s father, background and early years, see the article on Frederick
Adolphus Krummacher . In 1813, Krummacher found it difficult to apply himself to
his studies, when the battle for freedom had entered the very streets of their
city. Finally, his father permitted him to join a new company that formed in the
town, even though Krummacher was barely 16 years old. They assembled and went to
an inn to await orders. Finally the word came from the Serene Highness that the
boys were to return to their studies, and at a later time, they would be called
to duty, if needed. Studies were very difficult, especially as they had to study
the great battles of history, and they could not join their countrymen who were
valiantly fighting for freedom. Finally Krummacher was promoted to Sergeant of a
rifle/lance company, and it seemed they might join the efforts. Instead they
were made singers of the gained victories at Gross-Beeren, Katzbach, and
Leipzig.

Krummacher and his fellows decided to apply themselves and see the glory of
mastering the sciences in school, but it was not easy. His parents had a steady
flow of soldiers that quartered in their home. One became a famous surgeon, who
was very intelligent and an enjoyable conversationalist. They also had fellows
that became famous persons: a painter, a poet, an archaeologist, theologians,
etc.

During this time the churches were filled and there was much prayer and
patriotism evidenced. The German people had come back to life again.

Krummacher passed high school cum laude, and when to the University of Halle.
Krummacher and his friends made their way to the school feeling as though they
stood head and shoulders above everyone else as they arrived in 1815. The school
had 600 other students, many of whom wore badges of honor for their service in
the war of liberation.

Krummacher was faced with the awful instruction of rationalism as taught by
Niemeyer in veiled form and Wegscheider in open outspoken form. The only source
of truth was Reason, and each statement in the Holy Scriptures had to be
evaluated to determine if it was to be accepted or rejected. The result is that
the Lord Jesus was stripped of all supernatural majesty, and reduced to a simple
teacher who was entangled in the prejudices of the time. He never performed any
miracles, and did not rise from the dead. Their venerated teacher Wegscheider
interpreted the language of the Scriptures according to his own ideas, even
though the words clearly taught the very opposite.

Another famed rationalist teacher that Krummacher had was the great Hebrew
scholar Gesenius. Gesenius was just a young man at the time, but his unbelief
was very pointed and evident. His rationalism was different than the respected
and earnest Wegscheider. Gesenius was little, lively and petulant. He would make
long Hebrew assignments mentioning with a scornful smile some doctrine or
teaching. In Church history, the students were made to feel as if they were
being conducted through a tour of an insane asylum, with his scornful wit
causing the class to convulse in laughter. The Professor of Practical Theology
was Marx. He always wore embroidered white gloves in the pulpit, and intoned the
prayers in a manner adopted from the opera. He even brought in a celebrated
stage player to entertain the students with her pantomimes, in order to help his
students learn to become public speakers!

Thus, Krummacher bemoaned the thousands of theologians that went out from the
school having a disdain and unbelief in the Word of God. There was one old
preacher at the school whose lectures were always well attended, who could
easily have squashed the rationalism, had he not been ill and weak in body, and
afraid to speak out against his fellow teachers. He was held in high reverence
as an old man of the bygone days of faith. Instead of boldly confronting the
students, he prayed quietly each Easter for just one student to convert to the
belief in the inspiration of God’s Holy word, and his prayers were answered,
causing him great joy. In 1817, Krummacher went to the University of Jena.
Before leaving he preached his first sermon in a village church, and they
declared his work “well done.” His main reason for leaving Halle was to get away
from the sometimes violent behavior of the students and the general depravity of
the student body. He was happy to see the students disciplined in dress and
action, going about singing or carrying on in cheerful conversation. He was
warmly welcomed by a student, when he asked for directions, and given help in
carrying his things and in personally conducting him to the dormitory.
Krummacher was soon elected to a position of responsibility there. The School
Hall was a glorious sight, with the decorated officers, and an enthusiastic
student body of 800 young men who raised their loud clear voices in the school
song. The professors scorned the modern rationalism, but were not wholly
accepting of the accounts of Scripture, reserving the right to not accept
whatever they chose not to believe.

Krummacher passed his University exams cum laude and applied to be a candidate
preacher. He preached on the assigned passage of the multiplication of the
loaves and fishes from Matthew 15:32-38. Krummacher preached on how it served as
a symbol in which the goodness of God is mirrored toward all the needy and
suffering children of men. His father, who presided over the Anhalt governing
body, interrupted his discourse, demanding to know if he regarded the Gospel as
historically true or as an allegory? The young Krummacher was suddenly stunned
at the question, never having considered it in such a light. It took some time
for him to gather his composure and answer that he did not deny the truth of the
miracles, but that he viewed them as more importantly expressing the moral
truths they represented. However, upon verbalizing the statement he realized his
whole Christian life was some undefined sentiment, rather than firm conviction.
He passed the theological examination with honor, although he was humiliated by
it.

Almost immediately his father was asked if the young Krummacher would come fill
a vacated post of assistant preacher of a German Reformed congregation in
Frankfurt-on-the-Maine. He passed his trial discourse and was unanimously chosen
by the congregation. He returned home again, this time to apply for a second
examination to be a preacher, which he passed, returning to the old town of
Frankfurt to preach at the afternoon sermon, and to fill in when either of the
two pastors were not able to do the morning services.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 13: 02.00.1. ELIJAH THE TISHBITE
========================================================================

ELIJAH THE TISHBITE by F. W. Krummacher, D. D.

Translated from the German


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 14: 02.00.3.     COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
========================================================================

Copyright Information Copyright © 1880 by American Tract Society New York edited
for 3BSB by Baptist Bible Believer in the spirit of the Colportage Ministry of a
century ago

<http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/>

~ out-of-print and in the public domain ~ This book was originally published
prior to 1923, it is therefore in the public domain and free to be posted in its
entirety despite recent publication.

God bless you from the Baptist Bible Believers website!

Please tell everyone you know about this website, pray for this ministry - and
that will be payment enough!

“Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and
understanding” (Proverbs 23:23)


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 15: 02.00.4     TABLE OF CONTENTS
========================================================================

Table of Contents 01. Elijah’s First Appearance 02. Elijah at the Brook Cherith
03. The Departure for Zarephath 04. Raising the Widow’s Son at Zarephath 05.
Elijah and Obadiah 1:06. Deliverance from the Mouth of a Lion 07. Elijah and the
People at Mount Carmel 08. The Decision at Mount Carmel 09. The Prayer on Mount
Carmel 10. Flight into the Wilderness 11. Visit under the Juniper Tree 12.
Arrival at Mount Horeb 13. The Manifestation on Mount Horeb 14. Renewed Mission
15. The Hidden Church 16. The Calling of Elisha 17. Naboth’s Vineyard 18. Ahab’s
Repentance 19. The Journey to Ekron 20. The Preaching by Fire 21. The Work-day
Evening 22. The Passage Through Jordan 23. The Great Request 24. The Ascension

25. The Parting

26. The Legacy 27. Growth in Grace 28. The Writing Which Came to Jehoram from
Elija 29. The Mount of Transfiguration 30. The Holy Embassy 31. The Shekinah 32.
None but Jesus

***


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  CHAPTER 16: 02.01.     ELIJAH'S FIRST APPEARANCE
========================================================================

Elijah’s First Appearance

CHAPTER ONE

It is a brilliant description which the Lord gives us of his true church here on
earth, when, in the Song of Solomon 4:4, he says, “Thy neck is like the tower of
David, builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all
shields of mighty men.”

He compares it to that strong hold of the Jebusites, on the hill of Zion, which
David took. Thus the church of God also stands founded on a rock, and that rock
is Christ and his blood. It rests upon the power and word of God; the eternal
triune Lord bears it in his hands, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. The tower of David was builded for an armory. And when was ever the
fortress of the church of Jesus Christ unprotected. For nearly six thousand
years has the infernal adversary bent his bow against it, and shot at it with
his fiery darts; but it stands indestructible to this day. For there is one
shield over it, which is better than a thousand: where is the lance that will
penetrate it?

That shield is He who is the Alpha and the Omega, and his protection who can
disannul? But David’s tower was hung with weapons of mighty men of valor.

- Here, the sword of the preacher of righteousness; - There, of Moses the meek
and much tried man: - Here, the armor of Daniel; - There, of Paul, who fought
the good fight - Peter, divinely surnamed a rock; - Here, helmets, breastplates,
and other equipments of Reformers, a Huss and a Wickliff, a Luther, a Calvin,
and a Zuinglius.

All of these zealous for the truth for the honor of God and all valiant
defenders of citadel of Zion. And behold! amongst the swords of these spiritual
heroes, one which presents itself with peculiar effulgence to the eye, one which
has wrought mightily for the glory of the kingdom of God, and was sharp and
piercing as any could be in arduous and evil times. Who once handled that noble
weapon!

It was ELIJAH THE TISHBITE; a man mighty word, and deed, and in miracles
besides; who broke forth like a fire, and whose word burnt like a torch, and who
was so eminently distinguished by Divine grace, that, when the Lord of glory
himself appeared upon earth, the Jews said, “It is Elias!” The life of Elijah
may be made an abundant subject of animation and encouragement, of strength and
refreshment to our faith; we intend therefore to set forth the history of this
man of God in a series of discourses. We shall accompany him at one time into
the streets of the royal city, and to the prince’s throne; at another, into the
solitary wilderness; upon the public and tempestuous scene of his labors, and
into the quiet chamber and to the humble couch watered with his tears; and learn
of him how the Lord guides his people, and how his imparted strength is
perfected in weakness. May the Spirit of the Lord God bless and seal these, our
meditations, imparting to them such a life and power, that many a weary heart
may be refreshed, and that the feeble knees of many may be strengthened!

“And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab,
As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew
nor rain these years, but according to my word” (1 Kings 17:1).

Thus commences the brief record of the prophet Elijah, abruptly setting us at
once in the midst of his life.

At this very first mention of him we see the whole man, living and moving, in
spirit and in conduct. This manner of his introduction to our notice is itself
remarkable.

In the preceding chapters the inspired historian had, as it were, dug through
the wall, and discovered to us the horrible abominations in which Israel, during
those melancholy times, was so deeply immersed.

- Clouds and thick darkness covered the whole land; - The images of Baalim and
Ashtaroth fearfully gleam everywhere; - Idolatrous temples and heathen altars
occupy the sacred soil; - Every hill smokes with their sacrifices, every vale
resounds with the blasphemous yells of cruel priestcraft. - The people drink in
iniquity like water, and sport in shameless rites around their idols.

Alas! alas! How is the glory of Israel departed! How is Abraham’s seed no longer
discernible! Their light is become darkness, the salt has lost its savor; the
fine gold has become dim! And now, while darkness reigns, a darkness which can
be felt, while no cheering star gleams through the universal blackness, on a
sudden the history changes, with the words, “AND ELIJAH SAID.” -The man seems as
if drop from heaven into the midst of this awful night-piece without father,
without mother, without descent, as is written of Melchizedec. Lo, he stands
forth in the midst of the desolation, but not without his God.

Almost the only grain of salt in the general corruption, the only leaven that is
to leaven the whole mass; and that we may learn at once who he is, he commences
his career with an unheard of act of faith, by closing, in the name of his Lord,
the heavens over Israel, and changing the firmament into iron and brass. Thanks
be to God! The night is no longer so horrible, for a man of God now appears,
like the rising moon, in the midst of it.

Let us meditate for a few moments on what is here related of Elijah:

I. His name and circumstances. II. His spiritual character. III. The prophetic
denunciation with which he comes forward into notice.

I. His name is Elijah

It is no useless particularity to attach importance to the names of sacred
personages, and to inquire into their meaning!

The names of Scripture characters were often given by God himself. Such names
served to convey a Divine promise or assurance, or taught some rule of life, or
carried some Divine memorial, or indicated the character and predominant
disposition of the persons who received them, or expressed some Divine calling.
Thus the name of Noah signified a comforter; the name of Abraham, a father of
many nations. Names were to the people like memoranda, and like the bells on the
garments of the priests, reminding them of the Lord and his government, and
furnishing matter for a variety of salutary reflections. To the receivers of
them they ministered consolation and strength, warning and encouragement; and to
others they served to attract the attention and heart to God.

I am aware, that to make things of this kind the subject of any religious
consideration at present, is to expose ourselves to the imputation of weakness
and superstition. How few there are, even of professed Christians, who
practically believe that the very hairs of our head are all numbered, that God’s
providence extends to matters the most minute, and that he is often specially
glorified in the “day of small things!”

But he who possesses this childlike faith, accounting nothing as really little
in God’s sight, realizing his heavenly Father’s gracious presence in his house
and garden, under his vine and his fig-tree-blessed indeed is that man; he
possesses much joy and peace, and Divine delight at all times; wherever he is,
he beholds the traces and hears the voice of God. The name of this wondrous man
was ELIJAH- that is, being interpreted, “My God of power,” or, “the Lord is my
strength.” A great and excellent name and he bore it in deed and in truth. He
was a man like thee or me; nothing in himself, but the strength of God was his;
he could do nothing, and yet deeds of omnipotence proceeded from his hands; he
lay in the dust, a worm, but was commissioned with Divine authority and power;
he was a royal personage, who had power to open and shut heaven, to bid the dead
to live, the living to die, and to hold judgment upon the enemies of God. Thus
he might justly be called “Elijah.” And is the force of this name merely, “God
strengthens me?” Certainly not; but rather, “God himself is my strength.”

Here is a distinction with a difference. It is not the same thing to say, “God
holds his shield before me;” and to say, “God himself is my shield.” If he holds
his shield before me, not a hair of my head can be touched and the evil I dread
shall not come nigh me. If God himself be my shield, I then lift up my head in
the raging storm, as under a serene sky, and am a partaker of the happiness of
God as much in the midst of tribulation as out of it.

Peter, when released from prison, when his chains fell from his hands, and the
prison doors opened to him of their own accord, might shout for joy as he went
on, and say, “The shield of the Lord is around me.” But Stephen, when stoned to
death by his enemies might cry out, with the countenance of an angel “God is my
shield!”

If “God strengthens me,” then, through his grace, I experience within me a
Divine power by which I can accomplish something, and feel myself arrayed and
armed with a courageous and joyful spirit; I smile at partition walls that would
confine me, and at barricades that would exclude me, and I fear nothing. But if,
finding nothing but weakness in my soul, and trembling at the sight of the
danger that surrounds me, and at the immense mountains of difficulties which lie
before me;-yet, with all the shrinking of nature, I advance with holy boldness
to meet them, hoping against reason and feeling, in simple faith on Him who is
eternally near, who will go with me, and to whom it is an easy thing to rebuke,
with a word, the ocean’s waves, and to thresh the mountains so that they shall
become a plain; and if I walk by faith on the waves of nature’s terrors,
destitute of courage and yet a hero, out of weakness made strong, and out of
despondency valiant-then I can exult and say, “God is my strength;” and my feet
are placed upon a rock.

What a wonderful thing is faith, which lays hold of a power to do all things
through Christ strengthening us; which brings man, who is a worm, into
fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ; and is the means
whereby strength is ordained, and praise is perfected out of the mouth of babes
and sucklings!

Elijah owed not his greatness to high birth or station, or a native place of
renown. He was born, as we see from the text, among the mountains of Gilead, on
the other side Jordan; a region which, though famous for its plants, and its
balms and spices, was mostly inhabited by blind idolaters, and overspread with
the abominations of the Amorites. It lay not far from the country of the
Gergesenes, where, in the time of our Lord, the devils entered into the swine;
and it may be supposed that, unless from extreme necessity, no Israelite would
take up his dwelling among these mountains.

It was probably in some poor abode, possibly in a wretched banished Jewish
family, that Elijah was born and brought up. His birthplace, Tishbe, may he
considered as only a mean and obscure village in the mountains; and the prophet
in his childhood could not have known much of schools, or seats of learning, or
of the great world. But it has constantly been the way of our God in all ages to
take those, by whom he purposes to do things, rather out of the dust than from
off the throne that all may see how everything depends upon his choice, and know
that flesh and blood have not wrought his mighty works, but that to him alone
belongs the glory.

Hence it was that he thus prepared in Gilead the balm which should recover the
health of the daughter of Zion; and in that den of murderers, the country of the
Amorites, he raised up the man, by whose instrumentality he purposed to beat
down altars, execute judgment upon kings, and destroy the priests of Baal.

If we translate the word “Tishbite,” it means a CONVERTER; and how well does
this name befit the whole life and vocation of our prophet!

Elijah enters on the stage of history with a word of faith and power:-“And
Elijah the Tishbite said;” -and where was it he spake, and to whom and when?
Here surely is “the voice of one crying in the wilderness.”

Ever since the death of Solomon the evil of idolatry had been coming in like a
flood, and no barrier could any longer avail to keep out the torrent of general
corruption. The despotic declaration of Rehoboam, the bson of Solomon, upon
coming to the throne, that if his father had scourged the people with whips, he
would chastise them with scorpions, had occasioned such a disaffection, that the
ten tribes had revolted, and formed a separate kingdom under Jeroboam. Only the
two tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained, subject to the house of David, and
formed the kingdom of Judah; while the ten rebellious tribes styled themselves
the kingdom of Israel.

The kings of Judah, who possessed the south of the promised land, resided at
Jerusalem, on Mount Zion. The kingdom of Israel comprised all the northern
districts, and its royal residence was first the fortified hill of Thirza, and
afterwards the city of Samaria. The two kingdoms were at almost perpetual war
with each other; but this was not the greatest evil. A thousand times worse was
their internal disorder.

Jeroboam began his reign by introducing, from political motives, a new idolatry.
He was apprehensive that, if the people continued in connection with the temple
and the worship of God at Jerusalem, they would gradually fall away from him
again, and return under the dominion of the house of David. He therefore made an
imitation of the golden cherubim of the temple, transferred some of the
festivals to other seasons, and chose priests out of all the tribes of the
people, at his own pleasure, without restriction to the tribe of Levi.

This unlawful worship became open idolatry, when, in the year 900 before the
birth of Christ, king Ahab, that tame obsequious slave of his bloodthirsty wife
Jezebel, ascended the throne of Israel. Then it was, at the instigation of this
ungodly woman of Sidon, that the worship of Baal became the established religion
of the country, and the worshipers of the true God were persecuted with fire and
sword.

O! The sad and evil times which now came on! The gross darkness which now
covered the land; the horrible abominations which now went on accumulating!
Gloomy idol temples rose in every direction; profane altars, stained with the
blood of prophets and other holy men, bade defiance to the Most High, and called
for Divine jealousy and vengeance. It seemed as if Satan had transferred his
residence from hell to earth, and striving to obscure the light of heaven with
the smoke and vapor of the most horrible idolatry.

Such were the times, such the awful state of things, when Elijah, the man of
God, stood up. The kingdom of Ahab and Jezebel is the dark field of labor on
which he enters, in the name of God, and where we are to behold him employed.

- How will he conduct himself in the midst of such a crooked and perverse
generation? - How will he navigate this stormy sea? - How will he surmount walls
and barriers like these?

Such questions will be fully answered as we proceed, and by every answer I trust
we shall be strengthened in the faith, and constrained joyfully to exclaim, “The
Lord, he God! the Lord, he is God!”

II. Let us now take a view of Elijah’s spiritual character, the relation in
which he stood toward God This he indicates himself in the text, where he
exclaims, “As the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand.” Elijah stood
before the God of Israel: such was his spiritual position and situation; such
the characteristic state of his inward life.

Is it asked: Who is the God of Israel?

Who then was the angel that conversed with Abraham in the plain of Mamre, and
the mysterious person in the form of man, who wrestled with Jacob till daybreak,
and said to him, “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a
prince hast thou power with God and with men, and has prevailed” (Genesis
32:28).

What was that appearance in the burning bush at the foot of Horeb, and that
bright and wondrous Presence, of which God the Father said unto Moses in the
desert, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest” (Exodus
33:14).

Who was that living Rock which followed the people of Israel through the
wilderness in their journey to Canaan; or that Captain of the Lord’s host who
appeared, with a drawn sword in his hand, unto Joshua, and who was himself the
sword of Joshua’s victories and the shield of his help? Joshua 5:13-15.

Dost thou know him well? MESSIAH is his name! He is the Lord, the God of Israel!
Before him stand the thousands of thousands; before him, the angels whom he
makes as the winds, and his ministers whom he makes as the flames of fire,
before him stood Elijah.

“Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, who stand continually
before thee!” so spake the queen of Sheba to Solomon. 1 Kings 10:8. But a
greater than Solomon is here! And how much happier are those servants who stand
always in the presence of the God of Israel! But no one can ever stand before
him in his own strength. Those whom he suffers to appear before him, stand on
the foundation of the Lord; stand in his righteousness and beauty.

For with an iron Sceptre he casts down all who dare present themselves before
him in their own footing, or behold him in their own strength. Or lift up the
head before him in their own righteousness; this he can never endure. But to the
worm in the dust, to the Poor self-renouncing penitent, lying in his blood, he
says, “Lift thyself up, stand before me, behold my face with comfort, and be not
afraid!”

He that desires to lift up the head in his presence, must have drunk of the
brook in the way, must have lain prostrate before him in the dust, must have
abased and humbled himself.

How often may Elijah have fallen on his face before him among the mountains of
Gilead, how many tears may he have shed in solitary caves and caverns, before he
could say, “As the Lord liveth, the God of Israel, before whom I stand!”

Elijah was a man reconciled to God in Christ Jesus, the promised Messiah, and
clothed with his righteousness. This is implied his words, “I stand before the
Lord God of Israel;” and is further evident from his having received the honor,
a thousand years afterwards, to be a witness with Moses, on Mount Tabor, of the
transfiguration of his Lord. But standing before the Lord, expresses something
more than a state of reconciliation in general. I stand before the Lord, when I
desire above all things that the will of the Lard may be at all times plainly
manifested to me, and that I may do nothing, from one moment to another, but
what shall please him and promote his glory; when I keep my eyes waking, and
place myself as it were at my post, to watch for the tokens of my King, and
listen attentively with my spirit to his voice, and his commands within me and
without; when I desire, according to the least of his intimations, to run the
way of his commandments-I then stand before the Lord.

Thus Elijah stood before the Lord. To be an instrument for the accomplishment of
the divine will, and for the glorifying of his name, was his ardent desire; he
could say with Isaiah’s watchman, “Lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower
in the day-time, and I am set in my ward whole nights” (Isaiah 21:8). His life
was a hearkening to God’s voice; he passed his days in the presence of his
eternal King, and “Lord, speak! for thy servant heareth,” was his watchword.

Such was Elijah, by the grace of God, and thus did he stand before the Lord God
of Israel.

III. We shall consider the denunciation Elijah proclaimed

Let us direct our eyes to Samaria, that idolatrous city. There stands the man of
God in the midst of foes, before the tyrant Ahab, and opens his mouth boldly and
valiantly, and exclaims in such a manner as to make the people’s ears tingle,
“As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew
nor rain these years, but according to my word.”

Elijah-What art thou doing? What a risk thou art incurring! Is not this putting
the honor of the Lord at stake? Will they not ridicule not only thee, but him
also, if there be any delay in what thou hast announced? Yes; but Elijah is not
afraid of this. He knows that the word of the Lord in his mouth is truth. But
how was it that Elijah was empowered to make such an announcement? The prophet,
full of holy jealousy for the honor of his God, felt an inward assurance that
such a chastisement upon the land would tend to melt the hardened hearts of the
people, and to restore the glory of the Lord’s name He brought this matter
before the Lord, as James tells us at the end of his epistle, James 5:17.

“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly
that it might not rain?” And Amen! was the answer from above in his soul. Amen,
be it so! It is given into thy hands to shut and to open heaven. Elijah took
this Amen of the living God as a sword in his hand: depending upon this Amen, he
prophesied drought with Divine infallibility.

The whole country of Samaria seemed to shake her head at it, and to laugh at his
prediction. The luxuriant pastures and the well-water; fields seemed to exclaim
together, “This judgment shall not be executed!”-and a thousand springs and
brooks, flowing through the land, and the vapory hills, which form and attract
the clouds, all seemed to join together to falsify his word. But Elijah was not
confounded; with the Amen of his God in the hand of his faith, what were natural
appearances or reasonings to him!

His voice was more mighty than that of many waters, for it was the voice of God
within him; neither springs, nor brooks, nor clouds, nor the richest luxuriance
of vegetation could aught avail against that word, “As the Lord God of Israel
liveth, over this land shall come a drought.”

So, sincere Christian, do thou also believe the Amen which thou hast received
from God in thy heart respecting his adoption of thee, and his grace toward
thee!

Suffer not thyself to be confounded either by thy objecting nature, or by the
weakness of the flesh; either by the scruples of reason, or by the devil, the
spirit that always gainsayeth. Keep a firm hold, by faith, of the Divine Amen
once given thee, and abide by it, and say, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, and
endureth forever, nothing shall condemn me, or separate me from the love of God
in Christ Jesus.

“As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these
years, but according to my word!”

Elijah said it, and immediately heaven and earth changed their appearance. The
one became as iron, and the other as brass, and the dew of heaven was
restrained. The word of the prophet struck, like a fever, into the heart of the
earth, withering and scorching; and all that was fresh and green faded and hung
its head; every stream and rivulet dried up, and all that had breath lay gasping
and languishing on the ground.

Neither dew, nor rain, fell during three years and six months. Such were the
effects produced by the voice of man-but a man who was in communion and accord
with the Almighty. In conclusion, I say unto you, my people, whom the Lord hath
so highly favored; verily, if the high places in your hearts are not removed,
the idolatry rooted out, the Baalim demolished, before Whom, alas, so many of
you, secretly or more openly, bow the knee, it will be more tolerable for the
land of Samaria and Israel than for you.

O it is already as if heaven had begun to close upon us. How sparingly does the
dew of the Spirit fall! how few arise from the dead; and how long is it since a
plenteous shower of heavenly rain has refreshed our vale! *

* The Valley of Barmen, where the author resides.

My friends, what is the cause of this? Has an Elijah stood forth in the midst of
us with his word, “As the Lord liveth, there shall not be dew nor rain these
years?” Or does Elijah sleep, forgetting to re-open what was shut up?

Church of God, thou little flock of Israel, thou people of his possession, thou
art as Elijah. Yes, thy voice can call forth clouds and rain. Arise, and call
upon thy God! for “the effectual fervent prayer righteous man availeth much!”
(James 5:16)

Pray for dew and rain upon the dry land, and to announce it from the “Amen” of
thy heart, say, The drought will soon be at an end; get thee up, eat and drink,
and be joyful, for there is a sound of abundance of rain. May God graciously
give it! Amen.

~ end of chapter 1 ~


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  CHAPTER 17: 02.02.     ELIJAH AT THE BROOK CHERITH
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Elijah At The Brook Cherith

CHAPTER TWO At that awful moment, when Israel stood at the brink of the Red Sea,
perplexed which way to turn; while before them the deep waters roared behind
them the enraged Egyptians were rushing upon them with chariots and horsemen,
and on either side of them perpendicular rocks rising up like walls on high,
making retreat impossible-the Lord came to Moses and said, “Wherefore criest
thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward” (Exodus
14:15).

There seems something very surprising in this command. But we have a God, my
friends, who always knows exactly, and much better than we do, what is good and
necessary for his children; and, in truth he never leads them otherwise than
they would wish him to lead them, if they were able to see as clearly into their
hearts and necessities as he does. But we very seldom know what is good for us;
and therefore the ways by which God leads us are generally mysterious and
obscure, just because the why and the wherefore are concealed from us.

“Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward!” What a commission was
this!

- Lord, behold the sea with its billows at our feet! “Let them go forward!” -
Lord, are we able to walk upon the waves, and to find a highway upon the mighty
waters “Let them go forward!”

Lord, Lord! but where is the passage over the flood, or,1 where are the vessels
for our conveyance? Is it thy will that thy people perish in the sea, and that
the Egyptians triumph “Speak unto them, that they go forward!” saith the
Almighty; but still he does not touch a single wave to quell it, nor does he dry
up the sea, but let its waves roar at their pleasure; and yet he points to its
troubled surface and commands that “all the hosts of Israel go forward!”

They must venture upon his word, they must believe before they see, and go
forward in faith. They venture, and lo! The very moment they prepare to advance
in the name of their God, and to step upon the boisterous element-the waves,
struck with the rod of Moses, part asunder, and become a wall on their right
hand and on their left, a highway in the sea is opened before them, and the
people pass over joyfully. This is the way of our gracious God.

We must venture upon his Word; and verily, however much we seem to hazard in his
name, nothing is really hazarded. And when he commands us to go forward, be it
into fire, tempest, or the sea, let us only advance in the path of duty, and the
result will be glorious. Truths like these, of the most consolatory kind, we
shall see confirmed as we now proceed with the history of our prophet.

“And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee
eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it
shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to
feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord; for he
went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens
brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening;
and he drank of the brook” (1 Kings 17:2-6).

How refreshing a stream of instruction may this narrative prove to those who
have to tread in any similar path, or to bear any similar trials to those of
Elijah! Draw near then, ye that seem to dwell in a desert, and who are solitary
in the midst of this wilderness world. Bring vessels with you and draw
abundantly, and drink, and let your sorrows cease. The subjects to which we
would now direct your attention, are,

I. Elijah’s perplexity; II. God’s command; III. The prophet’s faith; IV. The
triumph of his faith.

I. Elijah had prayed In zeal for the honor of God he had prayed that it might
not rain; and, being assured of an answer to his prayer, had gone to Samaria, to
meet Ahab. There, in his presence he declared with holy boldness-and no doubt
the whole country was soon filled with the report of it-“There shall not be dew
nor rain these years, but according to my word,” 1 Kings 17:1. The word was
spoken in God’s name, and the judgment denounced immediately followed: first, in
appalling harbingers; then, in complete desolation.

The sun glared upon the earth with its scorching beams, a memento of the eyes of
the Lord, the righteous Judge, which are described as “a flame of fire;” those
rays which heretofore had diffused a smile over the whole face of nature were
now changed into arrows of destruction and death; while the sultry winds dried
up with their burning gusts every rivulet from its bed, and every fountain from
its source; the plants and trees dropped their leaves and withered away; the
lowing herds and bleating flocks explored every spot upon the parched fields;
the wild beasts moaned in the forests; the dearth rose to its height, and it was
not long before the famine became universal, and turned every habitation into a
place of mourning and woe. And where is Elijah? Where should he be? He is
sharing in the common calamity.

No angel has come to convey him away-no chariot of fire has taken him up. There
he stands with the criminals on the place of execution, apparently himself a
sacrifice to the wrath he had drawn down, and exposed, with the ungodly, to
famine and death. There he stands, panting and groaning like the rest, exposed
to the same dangers, and, over and above, execrated by a whole nation, and
devoted to ruin by the infuriated populace. He seemed likely to fuller the fate
of Samson, who pulled down upon himself the pillars of Dagon’s temple roof, and
was buried in the common ruin of his enemies.

Surely it was no small matter, in such circumstances, to keep faith alive. What
a commotion must have arisen in his soul at beholding the universal misery
around him and his own personal danger! How easily may we suppose natural pity
at one time, and natural fear and despondency at another suggesting to him, “Why
didst thou pray for this?”

It is not difficult to realize the perplexity in which the prophet must have
felt himself. His joyful elevation of spirit must well nigh have subsided, and
no support was left him but simple faith in the “Amen” of his God; the
consciousness that all had been done in God’s name, and that now the Lord would
provide.

Similar experiences to that of which Elijah was probably the subject are not
uncommon to the children of God. Something like this every Christian
occasionally undergoes, in one way or another. An individual is inwardly
constrained to say or do some particular thing. The impulse is strong- the
inward call seems not to be resisted. Stimulated by holy zeal, he cheerfully
enters, in the name of God, upon a duty or a course of action, without any cold
calculation of consequences- the measure is adopted, the word is uttered. Then
all at once he is made aware of what he has risked; he finds himself cast into
difficulties and dangers, which seem far to exceed the measure of his faith and
ability; he has stepped with Peter upon the open sea; the wind becomes
boisterous, and he is threatened with destruction. He would fain retrace his
steps, but retreat is out of the question.

Then that cheerful zeal which actuated us seems to have burnt down into the
socket, and the soul desponds and cries, “Lord! save us, we perish!” This was
the case with some excellent men, who very lately, on account of their faith,
were obliged to leave their native land. In opposition to the spirit of the
great and mighty of this world, and of the ignorant multitude, they preached to
their congregations the pure Gospel-repentance towards God, and faith towards
our Lord Jesus Christ.

In so doing they had exposed themselves to danger, which however was somewhat
held back by their prudently refraining from publicly attacking the national
church, and the unchristian inroads which their superiors were making upon its
ancient doctrine and discipline.

But, all unexpectedly, their lips were opened by another, so that they could not
refrain from preaching what they had been reluctant to bring out, and would
otherwise have shrunk from doing; and, carried away by a holy zeal; they
declared the danger by which the national church was menaced.

All mischiefs and abuses were then exposed without fear of consequences, so that
the people’s ears tingled. They could no longer keep silence respecting the
insidious design of reducing the religion of Christ ultimately to mere
heathenism; they roundly declared nothing else was intended than craftily to
bear away the ark of the covenant, and to smuggle images of jealousy-false
doctrines and precepts- into the sanctuary.

They complained openly that the churches had been robbed of the invaluable
standards of their faith; that books were imposed upon teachers and scholars,
which were infected with the spirit of Antichrist; that the last pillars of
their ancient ecclesiastical constitution were shaken, in order that the church
of Christ might become a mere political institution; and many of the worthy
preachers so lost sight of themselves, and gave themselves up so entirely to the
impulse of the Spirit of God, that they openly avowed that they could net
conscientiously belong to such a church any longer. The words were uttered, the
match thrown in the mine; and who would fetch it back. The people were amazed
and confounded; many hastened to their teachers as soon as the sermon was ended,
and expressed their determination to separate from such a church; others
wavered, and were much perplexed. The mass of the people vented abuse and
curses, threatening to stone these intrepid witnesses; and the strong arm of
civil power came upon them with ejectments, imprisonment and exile.

The worthy men had not thought of consequences like these.

Consternation came upon them like an armed man. The heroic zeal, which had
carried them away in their pulpits, and in which they regarded God only and his
cause, but not themselves or their own lives, had now so subsided under the
pressure of these floods of affliction, that they were forced to say, “Had we
foreseen the consequences, we would fain have held our peace.”

Nothing now remained to them but the conviction that God had directed them; for
their own prudence would have had it otherwise; and this assurance that God
would have it so, is the pilgrim-staff which has supported and comforted them in
their banishment and wanderings to the present hour.

Now, that which happened to these worthy men upon a public scale, happens to
thousands of Christians in a more private way continually. One, under the
influence of the Spirit of love, commits unsuspectingly his whole property to a
brother in embarrassment, in the name of a disciple; but subsequently, in his
own family, he experiences the temporal inconveniences of such an act, in his
own privations or those of his children, and in other perplexing circumstances;
then his joy departs, and his heart is terrified.

Another, animated by holy zeal, stands up at length among his friends or
relatives, with a confession of Christ crucified, or even with a serious call to
repentance; but afterwards, when he finds what misunderstandings and wrong
feelings he has thus raised against himself, his zeal subsides, and he is
wretchedly cast down. What now must he do? Must he recall what he has uttered?
This he cannot, this he dare not do, for his Lord’s sake; no, he must let the
fire burn.

A third is constrained, from the fullness of his heart, to entreat the Lord to
unite him more closely to himself; and if it cannot be done by gentle means, to
effectuate it through affliction-the affliction comes-the waves of trouble roll
over him; hut alas! Affliction, while he is under its chastening, no longer
seemeth joyous, but grievous. The cheerful emotion, with which he once prayed
respecting it, is gone; he is ready to repent of such a prayer; his heart can do
nothing but mourn and complain. Are we then to begin nothing without first
calculating the consequences? I reply, Where it is possible previously to sit
down and count the cost. Do so. But, as this is not always possible, it cannot
be made a general rule.

- The lion roars-who can forbear to tremble? - The Lord gives the word-who can
forbear to publish it? - The stream rushes along-who shall impede it? - The love
of Christ constrains-who shall restrain it? - The Spirit is a fire in the
bosom-who shall quench it?

What a man is bound to do, he must do; and if any evil resort from it, he may
then say, “I was bound to do it; it was God’s command; it was not the dictate of
flesh and blood:” and, with faith like this, much difficulty and perplexity may
be overcome. And you may rely upon this, that if the arm of God is ready to
assist any, it is those, who, upon his call, “ Come hither!” confer not with
flesh and blood, but with joyful alacrity venture upon the waves, and at his
bidding risk all consequences.

This we may learn from the example of Elijah.

II. He did not long remain in this solitary condition, left to the musings of
his heavy heart When he knew not what to do, counsel was given him; and when he
saw no way of escape, the gates were opened to him. Such is usually the case. We
read that now “The word of the Lord came to him.”

What a cheering visitation in a land overspread with desolation and misery! For
when the word of the Lord comes to us, we are visited by nothing less than God’s
eternal love and compassion; for the word of the Lord is Christ.

Nothing is so beautifying to the spirit of a man, as the visitation and
manifestation of Christ. But this is especially blissful and desirable when we
have undertaken something in his name, and have thereby kindled a fire which
threatens to consume ourselves and others-when, at his bidding, we have ventured
upon a duty, the consequences of which are such as to perplex us, and make us
doubt whether it was really the will of God, and at his bidding.

Such a perplexity is indescribably painful, and raises our distress to the
highest pitch.

How gladly is He welcomed under such circumstances, when he unexpectedly knocks
at our door and permits us again to hear his pleasant voice; when he again, in
some way of his own, gives us to understand that we have acted rightly; causing
something to transpire which leaves us no longer in doubt as to his approval of
our conduct; and either by some external help, or by some spiritual testimony
and assurance of his grace, giving us an evidence that he regards us not with
displeasure, but with complacency; and that what we have done has been well
done, for he has pronounced it good.

Oh! This surpasses all other joy in this world, and though our temporal burdens
may remain as they were, we are wonderfully strengthened to bear them!

“The word of the Lord came to Elijah.” He had not to seek for it, but it came to
him; and the Lord is kind, indeed, thus to comfort his children uninvited, and
to anticipate their suit with his own counsel; for he does not always wait until
they ask, any more than that saying is always true, that “Distress will compel
men to pray.”

O how are men even at their wit’s end, when the waves of trouble come suddenly
upon them, and imminent dangers encompass them. They are confounded at the
winds; they shrink at the waves; they seize the rudder of human strength; they
cling to the brittle anchor of human hope; but, “Master, awake, we perish!” is
forgotten; or, if the Lord is thought of, there is a want of faith, or filial
courage and confidence, or something else; and scarcely one step is taken
towards seeking the Lord. How justly might he be offended at this, and requite
us accordingly!

But, no! He rather prevents his children with the blessings of goodness, and
heaps coals of fire on their heads. He often visits them uninvited and breaks in
with his light and salvation, where he was not only not sought after, but even
affronted with misgivings. Such visits of the Lord are surely well suited to
humble and abase us, to melt the heart and stop the mouth, so that we have not a
word to say for shame and confusion of face. Free and unmerited grace then
appears in all its brightness; the Christian can find nothing in himself worthy
to be thought on as a meritorious cause of the afforded aid-no prayer, no sigh,
no looking up to the Lord; he cannot lift up so much as his eyes to look him in
the face; he can only kiss his feet; and this humbling acknowledgment of mere
unmerited grace, which our proud nature is so unwilling to make, how salutary is
it-how good-how much for our spiritual welfare!

Hence the Lord sometimes purposely takes away from his children all that they
have, withholding from them even the spirit of prayer itself; and then he helps
and answers them, as if the best and most fervent prayer had been offered up to
him, that they may become truly and thoroughly humbled, and convinced that in
every respect “it is not of him that willeth, not of him that runneth, but of
God that showeth mercy” (Romans 9:16). But to return to the narrative. The Lord
interposed, not only to comfort the prophet, but to rescue him from extreme
danger. This, however, was to be done in a way which should glorify the name of
the Lord, as well as serve for a beneficial exercise of faith to Elijah. No
fiery chariot was yet to bear him above his troubles; he was not yet to rise
aloft amidst a convoy of angels. Here would have been little room for the
exercise of faith.

God, therefore, showed him another path.

“Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith,
that is before Jordan. And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I
have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.”

A singular direction-as it would seem from a bad condition to a worse. But you
remember it was said to Manoah, “Why askest thou after my name, seeing it is
wonderful!” (Judges 13:18) And as is his name, so is his way. “Thy way is in the
sea, and thy paths in the deep waters, and thy footsteps are not known!” (Psalms
77:19) Do we inquire whether the Lord directs his children still, as thus in old
time Undoubtedly he does, though not by any audible voice, yet with equal
certainty and evidence; and this commonly by closing up, inwardly or outwardly,
all other ways, and leaving only one open to us. And is not this equivalent to
our hearing a voice behind us saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it, when we
turn to the right hand, and when we turn to the left” (Isaiah 30:21).

When he inwardly leads us-he impresses a scriptural conviction on the judgment
as to what we ought to do, and it is scarcely possible for us any longer to
hesitate. Would our feelings lead us in a different course? Then peace
immediately departs, and such disquietude arises within us, that we are
compelled to retrace our steps.

When he outwardly leads us-he brings us into such circumstances, connections,
and situations, that only one way remains open, for we see every other
obstructed by visible providences. The ways which the Lord thus points out to us
seem, therefore, like that to the brook Cherith, selected and appointed purely
for the exercise of our faith, the crucifixion of our old man, the mortification
of our inveterate corruptions. Only then follow on courageously!

Whenever the Lord says to any of his children, “Get thee hence, and hide
thyself,” he also adds, either expressly or by implication, “and the ravens
shall feed thee there.” Every duty which He commands has its promise appended to
it; and we need be under no concern except to know that the Lord has directed
our way.

III. And how did Elijah obey this command his God?

There was doubtless in him, as well in every other man, something that would
oppose this divine direction, and be dissatisfied with it. Elias was a man
subject to like passions as we are, and therefore his nature would have much to
so against it. How could it please him, that, instead of an instantaneous and
supernatural deliverance, he is obliged to make a long journey on foot, like any
ordinary person? And why he should be directed to turn eastward into the land of
Judea, which participated in the judgments of Samaria, he could not discover. To
be directed into the lonely wilderness, and to the brook Cherith, amidst gloomy,
uninhabited woodlands, was far from inviting. And even his security there, from
the pursuit of Ahab and from the general drought, was not warranted by any
natural appearances: while the prospect of being fed by ravens, those unclean
and voracious creatures, must have appeared as disagreeable as it was contrary
to reason and experience.

But, however much nature might oppose, or the old man murmur and recoil, these
were silenced and crucified within him. For there was a spirit imparted to
Elijah which taught him that his own nature was wrong, and that Good’s will was
right.

Not, perhaps, that Elijah was able, with fervency of joy, to thank God for the
command given him, and triumphantly to rejoice in it. Possibly, his mind was
much tried and depressed by it; but it proved courageous in the faith by which
he endured, as seeing Him that is invisible.

“As it is the Divine command,” he might think, “therefore it is holy, just, and
good. God’s commissions to his children, what are they but hidden promises?
Since he saith to me, ‘Get thee hence,’ I am well assured that he will make a
way for me, succor me, and preserve me on the way; for he can neither deceive
nor be deceived. No serpent shall bite me, no wild beast devour me; for I am in
God’s way. Since he commands me to turn eastward, I am certain, though I seem to
be going towards the setting rather than the rising sun, still it will be
morning over my head. Forasmuch as he bids me hide myself by the brook Cherith,
which is before Jordan, that brook must be a safe place of refuge, though it
were in the midst of Samaria itself. I am directed to drink of the brook; here
then I have a pledge that the sun will not be permitted to affect this brook
with his scorching rays.”

Thus might the prophet think, and then he would conclude further, that “God’s
promises are, virtually, obligations which he imposes upon himself. If he say,
‘I will do this or that for thee,’ he must necessarily bring it to pass for his
own name’ sake. Therefore the ravens will certainly come, and sooner will they
themselves die of hunger, than I shall be suffered to starve.”

In this manner might Elijah have conversed with his own heart; and so, taking
the word of the Lord into the hand of his faith, he made it the staff of his
pilgrimage. Whenever he grew weary, he leaned upon this staff: his courage
revived. When danger appeared his way, he feared not while he had this staff
support him.

And have you such a staff in your hands, dear brethren? Are you assured, with
this prophet, that the path you tread has been pointed out to you of God; and
has any Divine promise been applied to you and become your own, either a
particular promise, or a general one, like this; “Fear not, for I have redeemed
thee. When thou passest through the waters, they shall not overflow thee”
(Isaiah 43:1-2).

O then, of a truth, all is well, sure, and certain! But now look at Elijah as he
takes his journey, a solitary traveler. It seems almost as if we heard the sound
of his footsteps, while we read that “he went and did according to the word of
the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.”

IV. Come, let us pay a visit to this man of God in his new dwelling-place A
dreary wild, near the banks of the Jordan, is the scene now opened before us.
Dead silence reigns around, interrupted perhaps by the cry of the solitary
bittern, while amongst the heath and the juniper bushes broods the ostrich-no
hunter disturbing its repose.

No pathway opens to the view-not a human footstep is seen-all is wilderness and
solitude. Let us follow him, in imagination, towards the Jordan, bonder lies our
track, where the naked rocks rear their lofty heads and the forests frown. Then;
through one thicket and another, through one narrow pass and another, we come at
length down into a deep and narrow glen overhung with tangled wood, where a
brook runs murmuring along and finds its way between the rocky masses.

O look! There sits the man of God! Here is his appointed dwelling: the blue sky
his roof, the bare rocks his walls, the stone his seat, the shady wood his
bed-chamber, the grass his couch; his company, the purling brook, and the hoarse
ravens aloft among the trees. There he sits in his hairy mantle, silent and
reflecting; and whenever solitude becomes wearisome, or the hissing of serpents
or the distant roar of the lion would inject terror into his soul, he remembers,
“I am imprisoned here for the Lord’s sake, and his footsteps are among these
rocks;” and thus by faith and hope he regains courage. For twelve months did
Elijah dwell here. This may seem to you incredible, and almost dreadful! But how
would you be astonished, were Elijah to assure you that the whole time never
appeared tedious; that solitude daily became to him less solitary-nay lively and
cheerful! And doubtless this was the case.

He needed neither books nor society-neither labor nor diversion to entertain
him.

Silent nature around him was a sufficient book, and the treasure of his
experience supplied him with an ample volume. Self-examination, prayer, and
converse with Him who seeth in secret was employment enough for him. His Lord
and God, whose gentlest whispers and footsteps he could far more readily
perceive in this solitude than amidst the noise of the busy world, was
sufficient company for him.

- The works of creation which encompassed him, soon served as a living epistle,
which he found it employment enough to study. - The rock by which he dwelt
preached to him of a Rock that ever liveth, and whereon himself had built. - The
brook had something to say to him, and spoke many sweet and comfortable things
to him of the truth and faithfulness of God, and told of other waters that were
still to come-of waters that God would pour upon the dry ground, and of floods
upon the thirsty land, and of springs which he would cause to break forth in the
desert. - At one time the shady trees would preach to him and suggest to him the
comforts of the tree of life and of those heavenly palms from whose tops eternal
peace would at length breathe upon him. - At another, the cheerful songsters of
the air, and the wild roses in the brakes would sing to him, “Be calm, Elijah,
and free from care. How can He who is so faithfully mindful of us in this
wilderness, feeding the one and giving fragrance and beauty to the other, be
forgetful of thee?

In short, everything began to live, and breathe, and talk around him-the stars
in the firmament, the flowers in the meadow, the drops on the leaves, and the
zephyrs among the shrubs; so that Elijah experienced what the apostle says,

“There are so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without
signification” (1 Corinthians 14:10); and was able to sing with David, “The
voice of the Lord is powerful, The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness”
(Psalms 29:4; Psalms 29:8).

After having thus pleased and delighted himself awhile in the exterior world and
its speaking emblems, he would then return to another world within him, and be
absorbed in listening to what was stirring and passing there.

At one time a new insight was afforded him into his deep poverty of spirit and
natural corruption; and then he would be led to weep, and mourn, and wrestle in
prayerful conflict.

At another time he would contemplate the work of Divine grace within him, and
the clear evidences of the indwelling and operation of the Holy Spirit in his
soul; and now the cliffs of the wilderness would resound with psalms like a
temple of God, and with pious hymns of thanks-giving, which vibrated strangely,
with the mountain echo, far into the depths of his solitude.

Let no one be too much cast down, should the Lord ever direct him to the
wilderness by the river Jordan, and to the brook Cherith: for he still is
accustomed to do so with his children in a variety of ways.

- If he visit us with sickness, so that we must be alone upon our bed and in our
chamber; - If our friends forsake us and forget us; - If we become regarded as
outcasts, having neither house nor heart opened to us any longer; - If we are
called to sojourn in Mesech, and to dwell among those who are of a different
mind from ourselves, who do not understand us, and who ridicule our way of life.
- In such situations we are shut in with Elijah by the brook Cherith. But be not
alarmed; rather be of good courage! Such seclusion, or exclusion, how blissful
and salutary may it become!

Numberless Christians have been constrained to declare that it was in their
imprisonment, or place of exile-in their lonely sick chamber, or in the days
when they were forsaken by men and cast out by the world, that they entered
really into their own hearts, and ascertained their true spiritual state.

The leaven of the Pharisees was then put away from them, and worship was no
longer paid to an imaginary Savior. They began to long in earnest for close
communion with him; and the wrestling prayer of Jacob, lasting until daybreak,
which they had only talked of before, now became a matter of reality and
experience, an event in their own personal history. And a hundred other things
pertaining to inward religion, which they had only in imagination appropriated
hitherto, were then individually realized.

They were then also first truly brought into the number of those sheep who hear
His voice, and were never so conscious that he really lives and speaks to his
children, and walks and dwells with them: nor did they ever experience his
tender consolation and support, or ever feel his love so strongly and
unequivocally, as at that very time when their path was so solitary and through
the wilderness, when they were obliged to be with their Lord alone.

Therefore be encouraged, ye who dwell by the brook Cherith, in solitudes, for
God’s dew can drop upon the dwellings of the wilderness, as David sings; and the
pastures in the wilderness do spring with blessings.

“Thou shalt drink of the brook, and the ravens shall feed thee there.” Thus said
the Lord; and, however marvelous and unheard of it might sound, Elijah bowed
himself and believed, and his faith did not deceive him: all that the Lord had
promised was “Yea and Amen,” and nothing remained unfulfilled.

It was not long before the whole country was like a heath, and fields and woods
became scorched as by fire. One spot alone continued green and cool; that spot
was the prophet’s rocky vale. Every fountain was exhausted, and every forest
stream dried up by the sultry heat; one brook alone continued to flow-the brook
Cherith- that remained as fresh and as full as if nothing had happened. And the
ravens also fulfilled their office.

How wonderful! Those ravenous carrion birds, impure according to the law, and so
voracious and unfeeling that they would leave their own young to starve, did not
God interpose, who asks, in the book of Job, “Who provideth for the raven his
food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat” (Job
38:41); these creatures we find employed here in an occupation of disinterested
kindness; dead, as it were, to the natural voracity of their species, coming and
going at God’s bidding, denying their own appetites and performing a most
beneficent office.

No sooner does the morning dawn in Cherith’s rocky vale, than their cry is heard
aloft in the trees; and when Elijah wakes, he beholds the provision for the day
lying before him. And when the evening shades advance, these black livery
servants again appear, laden with meat and bread. And this takes place not
merely once, but a whole year round, without intermission.

O wisdom of God, which carnal reason would account foolishness, how precious art
thou! Let the world imagine to itself a magnificent Deity whose government is
only general; we adhere to the Lord God of Elijah, and rejoice in his
providential superintendence of the smallest matters. And this God still liveth,
a living Savior, who is always to be found of them that seek him, and is nigh
unto them that call upon him; and whose delights are with the sons of men. About
his servants and handmaids is encamped a mighty host; and when he saith, “
Come!” they come; or “Go!” they go: and there has been no end to his wonders,
even to this day.

Who else was it but the God of Elijah, who, only a short time ago, in our
neighborhood, so kindly delivered a poor man out of his distress-not indeed by a
raven, but by a poor singing-bird? You are acquainted with the circumstance. The
man was sitting, early in the morning, at his house-door; his eyes were red with
weeping, and his heart cried to heaven-for he was expecting an officer to come
and distrain him for small debt. And whilst sitting thus with his heavy heart, a
little bird flew through the street, fluttering up and down, as if in distress,
until at length, quick as an arrow, it flew over the good man’s head in his
cottage, and perched itself on an empty cup board.

The good man, who little imagined who had sent him the bird, closed the door,
caught the bird, and placed it in a cage, where it immediate began to sing very
sweetly, and it seemed to the man as if it were the tune of a favorite hymn,
“Fear thou not when darkness reigns;” and as he listened to it, he found it
soothe and comfort his mind.

Suddenly someone knocked at his door. “Ah, it is the officer,” thought the man,
and was sore afraid. But no, it was the servant of a respectable lady, who said
that the neighbors had seen a bird fly into his house, and she wished to know if
he had caught it.

“O yes,” answered the man, “and here it is:” and the bird was carried away. A
few minutes after, the servant came again. “You have done my mistress a great
service,” said he; “she sets a high value upon the bird, which had escaped from
her. She is much obliged to you, and requests you to accept this trifle, with
her thanks.”

The poor man received it thankfully, and it proved to be neither more nor less
than the sum he owed! And when the officer came, he said, “Here is the amount of
the debt; now leave me in peace, for God has sent it me.”

Something very similar was experienced by another brother, who is perhaps now
present, and could testify to the fact. He had at one time the grief to see his
little child crying for hunger, and there was not a morsel of bread left in the
house, nor a penny in his pocket, and his heart was bursting with sorrow. He
crept away into a solitary corner, and prayed, with many tears, to that God who
feedeth the young ravens and clothes the lilies of the field; he prayed, “Give
us this day our daily bread!” with an earnestness which, perhaps, he had never
felt before.

And on rising up from prayer in a comfortable state of mind and going to his
house-door, a dog came running along with a piece of meat in his mouth, and on
arriving at the poor man’s threshold he let it drop, and ran off.

The Lord has sent us this,” said the man, as he took it up from the ground. “A
gracious God!” exclaimed he, as he brought it into the room; when it was cooked
and laid upon the dish, and hungry people sat round it, and a blessing had been
asked, it was to them all as memorable an occasion as if they had been partaking
of the paschal lamb. The God of Elijah still lives! and under this truth I may
rank your own experience also, my dear friends, which some of you have related
to me; that, in distressing necessities and perplexities, help has often come to
you in a wonderful manner, from persons who were not only indifferent to you,
but even disaffected towards you, and bore you some ill-will; from unbelievers,
who, in general, cannot endure them that are “quiet in the land” (Psalms 35:20).

But, all at once, it suddenly occurred to one, he himself knew not how, that he
must bring you some particular thing; or another could not sleep for the thought
of not having done something for you, and however much he strove to drive the
idea from his mind, he could not succeed in kicking against the pricks.

Yes, He who turneth men’s hearts as the rivers of water, sends them to your aid;
and his purpose who shall defeat?

What they did for you, was not done because they intended it, but because they
were constrained by conscience, that is, by the God of conscience; and thus you
experience that the God of Elijah, who can provide for his servants even by the
ravens still lives.

Therefore let every child of God be strong and of good courage! Only believe, ye
who are at the brook Cherith and in the wilderness! For faith can supply the
want of everything temporal; and faith is the grave of care.

And remember, deal friends, that it is in vain for you to rise early and sit up
late, and eat the bread of sorrows; for as David says, “He giveth it to his
beloved sleeping” (German version) Psalms 127:2.

May He who giveth songs in the night, teach us all the song of the royal
psalmist, “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for thou, Lord, only
makest me dwell in safety!” (Psalms 4:8) ~ end of chapter 2 ~


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  CHAPTER 18: 02.03.     THE DEPARTURE FOR ZAREPHATH
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The Departure for Zarephath

CHAPTER THREE

Once, when the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, he
delivered them into the hands of the Midianites, a fierce and warlike people;
these God employed to drive back his erring and straying sheep under the crook
of the Chief Shepherd. There was great distress in Israel at that time. A
considerable number of the people forsook house and home, fled to the woods and
mountains, or skulked into caverns and rocks; and a few entrenched themselves in
deserted fortifications! Whenever they attempted to cultivate the land, the
Midianites soon fell upon them, like locusts, destroying all growth in the
field, and leaving no sustenance for man or beast. This severe scourge produced
its effect. The Israelites acknowledged their sin and smote upon the thigh;
every hand was etched to heaven and every tongue prayed, “Return, O Lord, to
thine oppressed inheritance!” And God, who is faithful, heard them, and sent
them relief. In the field of Ophrah stood a solitary oak, near it was a
threshing-floor. A young husbandman was there threshing his father’s corn, and
while thus engaged he had to look about him every moment with no little anxiety,
for he had reason to fear being surprised by the marauding Midianites. His name
was Gideon. In the midst of his busy and anxious occupation he is surprised by
the sudden appearance of a stranger of benevolent and noble aspect. The stranger
sat down beneath the oak and said, “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of
valor!”

Gideon, with the regard of a true Israelite for his country, replied, “O my
Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are
all the miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us
up from Egypt But now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands
of the Midianites” (Judges 6:12-13).

The history then informs us that the Lord looked upon him and said, “Go in this
thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not
I sent thee?” (Judges 6:14)

“Go in this thy might,” said the Lord, as he cast upon him a look of love and
grace. He meant not, O Gideon, that thou shouldst subdue the enemy in thine own
strength. He directed thee to His strength, and not thine own.

It is as if he had said, “Be this thy strength, that I have regarded thee
graciously; and let it encourage thee, let it suffice for thee, that thou hast
found grace in eyes of the Lord. Go in this thy strength, and conquer!”

O invaluable assurance! Only possess the assurance that he is graciously
inclined toward thee, and thou mayest well be a stranger to fear. Only
appropriate such a testimony, that he is thy Beloved, that he is thy Friend, and
no storms or tempests need dismay thee any more; thou mayest laugh at the
shaking of the spear; yes, though there were thousands of deaths encompassing
thee, or thousands of difficulties like mountains surrounding thee-they will all
be surmounted. Falter not at thine own natural weakness, be not anxious about
thy own ability. Weak or strong, armed or unarmed; in these respects the race is
not here to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.

The strength of Immanuel is thine, his love is like a victorious banner over
thee; his word is thy sword, his salvation thy helmet, his righteousness thy
breastplate; faith in him is thy shield and buckler: he is all that thou
requirest; his grace is sufficient for thee.

Whithersoever he sends thee- be it into the fire of temptation or into the
waters of affliction-be it into domestic embarrassments and necessities, or into
severe conflicts and difficult undertakings- nay, were it even into agony and
death-yet his having graciously looked upon thee, and his having made thee
sensible of his love, may induce thee to go; yes, go in this thy might! Thou
hast no real cause for fear-none for distrust. Thy Saviour will accompany thee
and protect thee, because he loveth thee. He whose love is stronger than death,
will make all thy way plain before thee. Thus was it that Elijah went to the
brook Cherith, in the strength of that kindness and favor which he too had
received from his Lord. We are now to view him entering upon a new path of duty,
equally painful and difficult in itself, but rendered smooth and easy by the
strength of which we have been speaking. Yea, it becomes a path of blessing,
because the Lord is with him.

“And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had
been no rain in the land. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,

“Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there:
behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and
went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow
woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I
pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going to
fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread
in thine hand. And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but
an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am
gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we
may eat it, and die.

“And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me
thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and
for thy son. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not
waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth
rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and
she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted
not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which
he spake by Elijah” (1 Kings 17:7-16).

We find the prophet still at the brook Cherith. He would not leave his solitude
till the Lord bade him remove. The howling wilderness was not too dreary for
him; because God was with him. He was quite content to dwell among the rocks,
and to rest upon a couch of turf; knowing well, that “the Lord will provide.” He
was regularly supplied with sustenance, morning and evening, by his faithful
messengers, whose very cry as they approached him would serve to awaken his
heart to songs of thanksgiving and praise. The little brook of Cherith, whose
very name, in the Hebrew language, denotes drought, as if it were generally more
apt to dry up than most other brooks, had run on till now, and surely by a
miracle; but it was only for an appointed time; for now we behold the scene
changing. The change at its commencement was most unexpected and painful-it was
also in its further development very mysterious-but its result was as delightful
to man as it was glorious to God.

Three subjects here invite our consideration:

I. Elijah’s perplexity; II. His departure from Cherith; III. Its blessed issue.

I. He had now, during a whole year, been miraculously fed and preserved But a
miracle perpetuated soon ceases to appear a miracle. And when it begins to be
regarded as a matter of course, it fails of its due impression, and God’s hand
or Presence in it is liable to be overlooked. There is an Eastern fable, of a
boy having challenged his teacher to prove to him the existence of God by
working a miracle.

The teacher got a large vessel filled with earth, wherein he deposited a kernel
in the boy’s presence, and bade him pay attention. In the place where the kernel
was put a green shoot suddenly appeared, the shoot became a stem, the stem put
forth leaves and branches, which soon spread over the whole apartment. It then
budded with blossoms, which dropping off, left golden fruits in their place, and
in the short space of one hour there stood a noble tree in the place of the
little seed. The youth, overcome with amazement, exclaimed “Now I know that
there is a God, for I have seen his power!” The teacher smiled at him and said,
“Simple child, do you only now believe? Does not what you have just beheld take
place in innumerable instances, year after year, only by a slower process? But
is it the less marvelous on that account?”

Now we, my friends, are but too often like such simple children. Suppose at
rising in the morning we found a loaf added to our provisions, which we could be
certain that neither we nor any human being had put there-we should then have no
difficulty in saying that the Lord had sent it. Yet, we actually find such a
loaf every morning added to our provisions, and it is equally true that God has
sent it: but because he has sent it in a less direct and extraordinary manner,
namely, by strengthening our own powers and blessing our labor to obtain it, and
because this is an ordinary case, what is taking place all the world over,
therefore, however unreasonable such a therefore may be, we find it difficult to
realize in it his goodness, his providence, and himself. And let me tell you,
that supposing he were to manifest himself in any extraordinary manner, so as to
compel us to exclaim,

“This is indeed a marvelous interposition of God;” yet let any such
manifestation only become continual, and it will be no longer accounted
marvelous; yea, it will be well if it do not cease to be regarded even as
Divine. The manna falls once or twice in the wilderness, and it is wondrous in
the eyes of all, and the Lord God is praised. But if it falls every day, its
coming is a matter of course; and men learn to contemplate it as a natural
event; they behold the manna, but not the hand that sends it. Water is produced
miraculously from the rock; and if it be succeeded by heat and drought, men
learn in some measure to give God the glory. But the smitten rock in the
wilderness virtually follows the Israelitish host; its streams attend them in
their daily course; they have no lack of water; and what is the consequence?
They are ungrateful: and so are we. God is daily working wonders for us also,
but in order to learn this, it is good for us sometimes to undergo privations.
Not that we mean to affirm this respecting Elijah at the brook Cherith. Far be
it from us to think so ill of him. But the apostle James says, “Elias was a man
subject to like passions as we are;” and to any one like ourselves it is very
possible for length of time to weaken the impression of what is really
wonderful, strengthening to faith, and elevating to the affections; so that
Elijah himself might possibly have begun to think, “Ah! This brook flows on only
like other rivulets-that is, as long as its spring is supplied!” Thus it is that
we children of men are too much disposed to consider things; thus are we apt to
put the Divine longsuffering to the test, and as we account it a small thing to
weary men, we are fain to weary our God also.

But among the many kind offices which our gracious God has taken upon himself
for his children’s sake, there is that which he mentions in Isaiah 46:4, “Even
to hoar hairs will I carry you” Indeed, how continually has he something to bear
with in our conduct! And as he knows how easily a blessing perpetuated ceases to
be a blessing, how wisely does he provide, in his faithful love, that there
shall be no lack of changes in our earthly course! Hence he leads us through
incessant alternations, as it were, of summer and winter, day and night, rain
and sunshine, trouble and help, anguish and deliverance. It is thus that he
preserves us in spiritual health, and prevents our wandering from himself. For
thus we have always something to transact with him; there is constantly
something to be asked of him, or something to thank him for; some deliverance
from trouble, or some increased humiliation of spirit, some renewed
watchfulness, or some more faithful waiting upon him is always needed. Doubtless
this was one reason why our gracious God led, the prophet Elijah in such a
circuitous way, and gave him to experience so many vicissitudes. How
precariously changeful does his life appear! How interwoven with various
necessities! Yet, on this very account it abounded in real and lasting
blessings. Our present text commences with the word, “And it came to pass, after
a while, that the brook dried up.” From this it might be supposed the Elijah was
only a short time in the wilderness; but this was not the case. In Genesis 4:3,
immediately after mention of the birth of Cain and Abel we read, “It came to
pass, after a while, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering
unto the Lord.” Here the expression “after a while” cannot mean a short time,
but must indicate a period of several years. And in the history before us the
expression “after a while” denotes at least a whole year, for so long does
Elijah appear to have continued in the wilderness.

For we learn from the mouth of the Lord Jesus, Luke 4:25, as well as from the
apostle James, James 5:17, that the drought prevailed during three years and six
months. Now we find, from 1 Kings 18:1 that the time when the drought ceased was
in the third year of the prophet’s residence at Zarephath. Supposing him,
therefore, to have been two years and six months at Zarephath, where could he
have spent the remaining year, except at the brook Cherith! That year had now
passed over, by the help of God, at one time in faith, at another in sight,
certainly under many difficulties, but, on the whole, a thousand times better
and more pleasantly than Elijah had probably expected at the commencement. How
long he should still remain there he knew not-that he left to God. Perhaps it
might be the whole time of the famine. “Well, be it so, it be the Lord’s will!”
He had hitherto wanted nothing. The ravens did their office; the brook continued
to flow, and if it had flowed this year, why should it dry up the next? Such
were probably the prophet’s pious thoughts at the opening of a new year upon him
in the wilderness. But ere long the flow of the brook begins to diminish, and
Elijah perhaps can scarcely believe what his eyes behold.

Did not God say, “Thou shalt drink of the brook,” and thus virtually promise
that water should not fail him? We may well imagine him now observing the brook
more accurately. Yes-it is so-the brook is diminishing daily, the bed of the
rivulet begins to appear, and soon, where water flowed, all is become dry. “What
meaneth this?” Even an Elijah might well cast in his mind what manner of
providential dealing this should be.

At last water was no longer to be found. O the depths of God! O what peculiar
guidance! What a severe trial! “What meaneth it?-to be preserved so long, and
now apparently forsaken? Such sure promises, yet such a result! Where is the
Lord God of Israel? Am I no longer his prophet? Have I sinned against him, that
I am now deserted? Does it repent him that he has employed me?”

Thus might he have thought; and who can say what other imaginations corrupt
nature might have suggested, and how the prophet himself might have begun
inwardly to complain? Elijah was evidently in a great strait, for death, by
thirst, seemed imminent; and what is more, the temptation to false notions and
hard thoughts of God was near, to which, if he had yielded, his faith had then
dried up, and his confidence had disappeared, like the brook.

Yes, my dear brethren, it is one of the sorest trials that can possibly befall
us, when having been placed by the kind providence of God in the midst of
peculiar comforts, and just beginning to enjoy them with lively gratitude and
hope, we are suddenly torn from them, or bereft of all. Our harp is then turned
into mourning and our joy to heaviness.

Let us suppose any one of you to be under severe domestic affliction or
embarrassment, in debt for instance, and threatened with an arrest in default of
immediate payment. You wrestle with God in prayer that he would help you, and
his providence sends you the very help you want.

Your heart is then melted with thankfulness, and you are disposed to say, “Truly
the Lord liveth and seeth me; he heareth and answereth prayer!”

But suppose that very night your house is broken into, your money stolen, and
all your embarrassment returns. Again, suppose that, with much laborious
industry, you have acquired the means of renting a small farm: you employ your
whole little capital upon it, and you pray God that it would please him to bless
your labor with increase, for the support of yourself and your family. And then
you behold the seed sprung up, and your fields beautifully verdant. “Thanks be
to God,” you will say, “I now see his goodness to his creatures.” But in a few
more weeks, perhaps a dry summer or a Reason of excessive rain disappoints you
of all.

What is your language now, in cases of this sort? D o you not call these hard
trials, and account them the more severe because they have come upon you in the
ordinary way of Providence? Had they been more like Job’s afflictions, something
out of the common way, you are apt to imagine you could have borne them better;
you would then have seen that they came from God, and you are perhaps vain
enough to suppose you would have displayed extraordinary patience under them.
For instance, had the money which you had so wonderfully received been melted in
your coffer by a thunderbolt, then you would have said, “The Lord gave and the
Lord hath taken away” (Job 1:21). But now, as it has been carried off by
thieves, you are apt to think these words of Job inapplicable to your own case;
and as you cannot think it is the Lord who has taken it away, you are presently
open to another suggestion; “ Perhaps it was not the Lord who gave it me, else
why should he not have preserved it to me?” In instances like these it is too
easy to imagine that God has well-nigh forgotten us, and that we have only been
self-deceived in ascribing this and that benefit to his special kindness and
love; that they must have been purely accidental, though at the time they
appeared marvelous tokens of Divine favor. In some such manner might Elijah’s
trial of faith have been aggravated by the slow and natural exhaustion of the
brook Cherith. Had its stream been discontinued supernaturally and at once,
there had been no difficulty in seeing the Lord’s hand in this event; but in the
present case he might have been tempted by the imagination that nature was very
much left to herself. Indeed, the secondary cause why the brook dried up is
mentioned in the text; for we read, it “dried up because there had been no rain
in the land:” and perhaps this is added by the inspired penman, to give us a
clearer idea of the trouble which befell Elijah. We can well suppose that it
occasioned him no small trial and conflict, and put him upon a severe
examination of himself. Corrupt nature might also be stirred within him, and
suggest many gloomy and hard thoughts of God. But Elijah surmounted them all,
kept his faith in exercise, and thus obtained the victory. The Word of God was
his trust; he had not forgotten who it was that said, “Hide thyself by the brook
Cherith that is before Jordan, and thou shalt drink of the brook.” He was silent
before God in humble faith; in faith he waited, and by faith he crucified the
flesh with its affections and lusts. And ye, my Christian friends, whom I may
address as brethren of Elijah by the brook Cherith, and in the wilderness of
this world, ye children of God, who are apt enough to sigh when your streams dry
up, and when your resources seem exhausted; O, if ye did but patiently wait upon
the Lord, how strong would ye become! If ye rested more entirely upon his word,
ye would see the glory of God! O that, instead of indulging the feelings of
distrust and discontent, we did but reflect upon God’s exceeding great and
precious promises in Christ Jesus! Ought the children of faithful Abraham to
despond? Ought they who have surnamed themselves by the name of Israel to be
faint-hearted? But the answer to such expostulations too frequently is, that
“the heart knoweth its own bitterness” (Proverbs 14:10); and everyone is ready
to say “I am the man who hath seen affliction” (Luke 3:1). Alas, my brethren, we
too impatiently want “that which is crooked” to be “made straight,” and that
which is rough to be made smooth. Yea, we are apt to think our sufferings are
directly contrary to the promises of God. But no, fear brethren, this never is,
and never can be the fact. What happens to us may be contrary enough our wishes,
but can never be contrary to God’s Word.

The truth is, that we have been indulging ideas of our own concerning the manner
in which the Lord is to fulfill his promises, and hence arises our mistake. His
promises must ever surely come to pass; they are all Yea and Amen in Christ
Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20), but as to how they are to come to pass, this we
ought entirely to leave to his own wisdom and love, and in the meantime to abide
patiently in him who will do all things well, “He who spared not his own Son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us
all things?” (Romans 8:32) “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I
will help thee, saith the Lord and thy Redeemer” (Isaiah 41:14). The help you
are thus taught to expect is such as will always be best for you. It shall be in
things temporal, when that is good for you; and it certainly shall always be in
things spiritual, which are far better. When, in a spiritual sense, our brook
seems to dry, and we are ready to cry, “Where is The blessedness I knew?” when
zeal in the cause of Christ abates, and our devotion dies; when we feel no
sensible delight in prayer, and the spirit of praise and thanksgiving is gone;
when we see nothing around to awaken and encourage us, and the love of many is
waxed cold; these exigencies are trying, severely trying. But remember Him who
has said of his vineyard,

“I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment; I will even keep it night
and day” (Isaiah 27:3). “No really good thing will he withhold from them that
walk uprightly” (Psalms 84:11).

He will certainly keep his word. Therefore be of good cheer. Spiritual drought
and barrenness, if you feel it, shall be turned into a blessing. Believe, then,
that he will keep his word-and as to how he shall keep it, let not the clay be
at strife with the potter. Let him do with you as seemeth him good; the end of
your song will always be, “O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto
us confusion of faces” (Daniel 9:7).

II. Elijah’s remaining where he was, for the Lord’s sake, who had directed him
thither, is a noble example to ourselves

“He that believeth shall not make haste” (Isaiah 28:16). Elijah waited, and help
arrived, but in what manner? With water? With refreshment and consolation? No!
but with a command, which, though it might be acquiesced in by faith, could not
possibly be agreeable to flesh and blood.

“Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there:
behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.”

Reason was now again constrained to quit the field. Elijah is ordered upon along
and toilsome journey, through a wild and barren country, in a time of general
famine and extreme drought: and this into the land of Zidon, beyond the borders
of Israel, among a heathen people enslaved to a vile idolatry, the native
country of Jezebel, his bitterest enemy, and the territory of her father, a
furious tyrant, also in alliance with Ahab. “And behold, I have commanded a
widow woman there to sustain thee.”

Strange comfort this to mere natural reason! A woman who has herself lost her
chief earthly sustainer; a Phoenician, who might be a heathen, against whose
idols Elijah was so zealous. Besides, amongst so many widows in the land, how is
this widow to be found? This, indeed, was “bringing the blind by a way that they
knew not” (Isaiah 42:16). But, “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalms 46:10.

His footsteps are not known: yet most of the paths by which he conducts his
servants, though they commence in darkness, or at best in twilight, be brighter
as they proceed; by-and-by the dayspring begins to dawn and their course shines
more and more unto the perfect day.

Zarephath, which was midway between Zidon and Tyre, may signify “a place of
smelting furnaces,” serving to remind us of the furnace of affliction whereby
the Lord tries and purifies his people. The prophet’s whole route seemed to lie
directly toward this furnace. But it was a Divine direction; it was the Lord’s
will; and therefore it was right to go forward in his name. The prophet, perhaps
with sorrow, bids a last farewell to his quiet hiding-place, where he had
experienced such signal tokens of the help of God’s countenance; he girds up the
loins of his mind, takes his pilgrim staff of the Divine word in the hand of his
faith, and sets out for the heathen land. Rough as was his path, it was a way of
holiness; no lion was there, nor any ravenous beast could come up thereon. The
Lord was with him all the way that he had to go, even the Lord God, who threshes
the mountains, rebukes the winds and waves, and revives the spirit of the
humble.

III. We soon find him in the neighborhood of Zarephath, and the Lord, who was
there before him, had prepared and arranged all for his reception

He had come near the gate of the city, and lo, the widow woman was there
gathering sticks for fuel. The Spirit, perhaps, intimated to him that this was
the woman to whom he was directed.

Poor as she appeared, by the occupation which now engaged her, his faith could
tell him, that if the Lord had appointed her to sustain him, she would have
wherewith to do it. With God, who had fed him a whole year by the ministry of
ravens at the brook Cherith, he knew that nothing was impossible. And does not
God often take a method of helping us which surpasses all reason and
expectation, doing for us exceeding abundantly above whatever we can ask or
think, and sending us deliverance by means which appear altogether inadequate;
that we may learn to give the praise to him, and that his own name may be
glorified.

Thoughts like these no doubt passed through Elijah’s mind; and while he fully
confided in the Lord as the God of the widow and the fatherless, he found no
difficulty in regarding their humble roof as an appropriate dwelling for
himself.

“He,” therefore, “called to her and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water
in a vessel, that I may drink.”

Her readiness to go seems to have encouraged him; for “as she was going to fetch
it,” he added, “Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.”

His additional request, however, opened afresh the wounds of this poor widow’s
heart; she could no longer conceal her feelings. She answered, “As the Lord thy
God liveth, I have not even the smallest loaf of bread: all I have is but an
handful of flour in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse; and lo, I have been
gathering a stick or two for a fire on my hearth, that I might dress it for
myself and for my Child, as our last meal in this world, that we might eat it
and die.”

Oh, how affecting and heartrending was this simple tale! We feel it so, even at
this moment. But what says Elijah to it? Can he still believe that this is the
widow woman whom the Lord has appointed to sustain him? Yes, he is now certain
of it. Be it that she is a widow in peculiar distress, having no other companion
but her helpless child; all this creates no difficulty in his mind;
“Jehovah-jireh, the Lord will provide.” (Genesis 22:14). And, besides, she seems
to know his name, for how has she addressed me? “As the Lord God liveth.”

What an unusual and sweet sound is this in a strange land, in an idolatrous
country! Perhaps she is a secret worshiper of the living God-a rose in the midst
of thorns-a hidden dove in the clefts of the rock-a converted soul-one of the
few among the heathen whom the Word of the Lord has reached. Oh, happy thought,
to find a brother or a sister in the land of Meshech! Whence does she know that
the Lord is my God, and that I am his servant? Oh, the marvelous disposal of
Divine Providence!”

None but those who have felt it, can know how delightful it is, in a strange
country, where there are no ways that direct to Zion, or where they lie waste
and deserted, to discover unexpectedly among the children of this world, and as
were by the waters of Babylon, some citizen of the Holy Land, some brother or
sister in the Lord. Yes, it is an unspeakable delight; and to meet with only one
such a person, makes the desert seem to rejoice and blossom as the rose. At such
seasons we learn by experience that the children of God are not so deficient in
love as they are often supposed to be; we taste the blessedness of that
communion in the love of Christ, by which he has enjoined that all men should
know we are his true disciples; and occasions of this sort serve to make it
manifest.

Yes, what we may here suppose to have been Elijah’s joy, is still tasted in our
world. God be thanked, that in every known region of the earth, and even where
wolves abound and hirelings profess to feed the flock of Christ, the Good
Shepherd has his sheep, the Lord has hidden ones who know him, and who follow
him. And as sheep that pasture on barren plains often bear the finest fleeces,
so is it often with the sheep of Christ; and as they know their Shepherd, or
rather are known of him, so it is as wonderful as it is delightful to find how
readily they know and acknowledge one another.

Elijah perceiving that this was the widow of whom God had spoken to him,
hesitated not to address her in the most encouraging manner. He “said unto her,
Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first,
and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith
the Lord God of Israel, the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the
cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.”

And now she evinced that she was indeed the widow whom the Lord God of Elijah
had appointed to sustain him; for “she went” in faith, “and did according to the
Saying of Elijah; and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.”

How blessed is the way of faith!

Behold, then, this man of God cheerfully sitting down in her solitary cottage.
Surely “the voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the
righteous,” for “the right hand of the Lord” on their behalf “doeth valiantly”
(Psalms 118:15).They rejoice together, not only on account of temporal
blessings, but much more on account of those which are spiritual. Israel had
lost Elijah, and a poor widow in a heathen land had found him. Thus often does
it fare with a people who, though they have been privileged with the most
faithful preaching of the Gospel, will not turn unto the Lord with all their
heart, and walk uprightly before him. They are cursed with a famine of the Word
of God; the children’s bread is taken from them, and imparted to others whom
they account no better than dogs, who however “will receive it,” and are
languishing for it.

Indeed our Lord himself thus applies this part of sacred history to the case of
the people of Nazareth who refused to receive his ministry: “I tell you of a
truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut
up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a
woman that was a widow” (Luke 4:25-26).

Here then the prophet dwells quite happy under the widow’s roof. All distress
has disappeared. The meal is not diminished in the barrel, nor fails the oil in
the cruse, according to the word of the Lord which he spake by Elijah. Neither
does their spiritual sustenance fail. Well might this poor widow rejoice in the
privilege of sitting daily at the feet of this man of God, for instruction in
divine things!

Can we doubt for a moment that the prophet most gladly opened his mouth in
divine wisdom, to impart it to the soul of this simple believing sister? Can I
doubt that they prayed together, that they read together out of Moses and the
prophets, and that they conversed together of the day of Christ, which Abraham
saw with gladness?

And would they not, think you, occasionally raise a spiritual song to the honor
of their Lord and Saviour? How swiftly and how pleasantly must the hours have
passed with them! And well might the angels of God have rejoiced, as no doubt
they did, over this little church in the wilderness!

Behold here, then, my brethren, the bright egress and happy termination of a
path which commenced in such thick darkness! Only let all the children of God
implicitly follow his guidance, and he will assuredly conduct them to a glorious
end.

It is a noble testimony which is here borne respecting Elijah when he was
commanded away from his retreat at Cherith-it is said of him, “So he arose and
went to Zarephath.”

Let it then be equally said of you, to whatever duty the Lord may call you away,
“He arose and went!” Be the way ever so laborious or dangerous, still arise,
like Elijah, and go. Go cheerfully, in faith, keeping your heart quietly
dependent on the Lord, and in the end you will assuredly behold and sing of his
goodness.

Though tossed on a sea of troubles, you may lay anchor on the firm foundation of
God, which standeth sure.

You have for your security his exceeding great and precious promises, and must
say with the psalmist, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou
disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the
health of my countenance, and my God!” (Psalms 42:11).

~ end of chapter 3 ~


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  CHAPTER 19: 02.04.     RAISING THE WIDOW'S SON AT ZAREPHATH
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Raising The Widow’s Son at Zarephath

CHAPTER FOUR The portion of the narrative which we have now to contemplate, is a
striking exemplification of the saying of our blessed Lord, “Every branch that
beareth fruit, He purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit.”

“And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress
of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath
left in him.

“And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art
thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?

“And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and
carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. And
he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil
upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?

“And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD,
and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again.
And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him
again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of
the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said,
See, thy son liveth. And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou
art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth” (1 Kings
17:17-24).

Here we have another specimen of God’s manner of guidance, and one of those ways
which, though wonderfully dark and mysterious, lead us ultimately to a clearer
experience of the Divine goodness and faithfulness.

Come, and let us behold a remarkable work of the Lord, with its glorious
results. Here is,

I. The pruning of a branch that bore fruit; II. Its bearing more fruit; III. The
satisfaction and joy that ensued.

I. We still find the prophet Elijah in the peaceful and humble dwelling of the
widow of Zarephath

He has now passed several months in this quiet retirement. Praise and prayer,
holy discourse and offices of kindness, contemplation of God’s Word and Works,
occupied his swiftly-gliding days; and these were blessed with renewed
manifestations of divine lovingkindness and tender mercies.

Now, we are certain that many among ourselves would be ashamed of what they
would consider such an inactive, quiet sort of life, made up of nothing but
receiving and enjoying, so that they would reproach themselves for it, and seek
again, as soon as possible, the scene of labor and activity.

Elijah was not so intent upon laboring for the meat that perisheth. He had long
ago renounced, as vain and absurd, the notion that any value can attach to cares
merely human, whether for laying up treasure upon earth, or for acquiring a
treasure in heaven by our own supposed meritorious services! He knew that all
which men can receive out of God’s treasure is a simple and free gift of the
most unconditional favor; and therefore he left it entirely with his Lord,
whether he would appoint him a goodly heritage in the land of Goshen, under the
vine and fig tree, or station him in the desert, or in the midst of militant
hosts; all that he desired was to spend and be spent in his service.

“The will of the Lord be done,” appears ever to have been his watchword. Whether
called to public activity and conflict in his cause, or shut up in privacy, as
at Zarephath; and comparatively laid aside, as to all outward respects, he knew
with the psalmist, It is vain to rise early and sit up late without God, eating
the bread of worldly carefulness, for that he gives to his beloved when they are
sleeping?

Thus did Elijah feel cheerfully resigned to spend his appointed term of quietude
at Zarephath, to whatever length it should please God to protract it. O that we
all had learnt this childlike disposition. Whoever is circumstanced, as it were,
like Elijah at Zarephath; whoever is precluded from outward activity and
usefulness in the world by want of means and opportunities, or of gifts and
influence by weakness or age, let him think with Elijah, that it is the Lord’s
hand which has laid him aside; and, instead of inwardly repining, let him keep
the noiseless tenor of his way with thankfulness to God. And if indeed he lean
on the bosom of the Lord Jesus, and can rejoice in the blessings of God’s house,
let him sit under his shadow with great delight, and be only the more thankful
for it.

Let us not think it necessary to the evidence of our sincerity, that we should
be sad and sorrowful, much less gloomy or desponding. Continue at Zarephath,
fellow Christian, as long as God pleases. Rejoice whilst the bridegroom is with
thee: when once he shall be taken from thee, then the time of fasting will come.

Let us pause a moment upon the perpetual miracle experienced in the widow’s
dwelling: “The barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail.”

By whose care was this? By the care of Him who ruleth in the armies of heaven,
and among the inhabitants of the earth. He it was who replenished the cask and
the cruse every morning; and thus blessed his children while they were asleep,
and before they could have time to say, “Give us this day our daily bread!” And
are not his mercies equally renewed every morning to ourselves?

How graciously does he, in every respect, provide for us; and how minutely does
his providence condescend to our meanest wants! Yes, he is the Saviour of all
men, specially of them that believe. What he did at Zarephath, thousands daily
experience still, though not just in the same form and manner. And how truly do
the children of God experience, in a spiritual way, supplies analogous to those
temporal ones which were granted to this Widow! However pressingly their
necessities may be felt, still the bread of life is not spent, neither does
their spiritual refreshment fail. He takes care “that thy faith fail not. Mark
the words-that it fail not. We do not read that whole sacks of meal were brought
into the widow’s house, nor that her oil cruse ran over: all we are told is,
that “the meal wasted not;” she daily received as much as she needed; “Neither
did the oil fail”

So, perhaps, thou, Christian, wilt not receive any superabundance of believing
joyfulness, so as to be enabled to shout for joy in the furnace of affliction:
too much would not be good for thee. But rest assured of the faithfulness of thy
God, that he will uphold thy faith; this thy compassionate High Priest has
implored for thee, as well as for his apostle Peter; and he will daily supply
thee with so much patience by daily renewing it, that although thou may
occasionally doubt and droop, thou never shalt despair or perish.

A pious writer says, truly and beautifully, “We require just as much patience to
wait, as oil is required for our lamps, until the day shall dawn, and the
daystar arise in our hearts.”

Delightful, undoubtedly, was the situation of Elijah and the devout widow at
Zarephath. But is not usually good that a man’s life should continue flowing on
in one and the same easy manner. A long state of prosperity might leave his
corrupt nature to become presumptuous and forgetful of its meanness and poverty.
Perpetual quietude serves to nourish a false spirit of independence. Long
seasons of rest, for sacred musings, are too much open to the intrusion of
self-complacency; and therefore, generally, a condition subject to no
interruptions or changes is not good for us. Our gracious God knowing this,
appoints vicissitude of some kind or other for his children, and pours them, as
it has been said, out of one vessel into another, that they may not settle on
their 1ees which would only sour and corrupt them. A change of this sort now
awaited the favored family at Zarephath. The immediate reason of it is known to
God only.

Unexpectedly, in the midst of cheering blessings, a heavy cloud darkened the
peaceful cottage. Alas! The widow’s son, her only child, doubly dear to her in
consequence of his wonderful preservation from imminent death by famine, “fell
sick.” The sickness increased every hour, and the distress of the poor mother
was extreme; but her tears prevailed not. Her delight and hope, the dearest
object she had on earth, lay extended in the arms of death. How hard! How
severe, according to outward appearance! And yet there was nothing but mercy in
this event.

Our gracious God intended that this bitter medicine should produce the most
salutary effects. It is true that “No chastening for the present seemeth to be
joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of
righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:11).

II. For what general purpose, then, was this painful visitation sent?

We may ask such a question, though we must never pry too minutely into the
reason of every thing that befalls us; for now we can know but in part. We
cannot interpret all God’s dealings at Present. His way is in the sea, and his
path in the great waters. Clouds and darkness to us are round about him, but of
this we may be assured, that “all his works are truth, and his ways judgment,”
Or righteousness; and we shall see this more clearly in a better world. At
present, we must simply believe and trust in our faithful God, in the midst of
our obscurity and darkness.

Yet, in this visitation at Zarephath, his gracious intentions may be guessed at.
The widow, we may well believe, was a person of real piety; but then, as it
would seem, as in the manner of Lydia, before the Lord opened her heart; or like
Cornelius the centurion, and some others. They were acquainted with God in a
partial and too superficial manner: they held communion with him, but not enough
upon the true foundation. They served the Lord, but more in the way of Martha
than in that of Mary. They knew something of God’s lovingkindness, but not
enough of his grace; not being sufficiently convinced of their own sinfulness,
the corruption of their own hearts, and of the immensity of that grace which the
Lord had bestowed upon them.

Their religious feelings were probably more natural than spiritual: yet they
possibly regarded such feelings with too much confidence, as a proof of their
piety; and when we do this, we are hindered in self-knowledge, we deceive
ourselves, and remain injuriously ignorant of the relation in which we stand to
the God of all grace. In short, they were well affected to godliness in general,
but still too far off from God, ignorant of a Mediator and Intercessor, and not
enough broken and contrite in heart.

Now, it is a mercy not to be suffered to remain in this condition, for it
partakes more of self-deception than of truth. In order, therefore, that this
good widow might enter fully into the kingdom of God, it was necessary that the
Holy Spirit, who had prepared her heart already, should enable her further to
see that God’s love is grace-unmerited grace, for the sake of another’s
work-another’s merits. But how could this salutary and humble self-knowledge be
conveyed to her heart; and how could it be formed into a vital principle? Two
invisible guests break in upon her: the Lord and the Spirit.

- The one visits the widow’s house, the other her soul. - The one inflicts the
blow, the other expounds it. - The one slays her son, and the other makes her
sensible of the reason why, namely, that she may know more of herself.

Hence her language to Elijah,

“O thou man of God! art thou come to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my
son?”

See what an overthrow takes place in her spirit. “Thou art come unto me, that my
sin might be remembered.” It seemed to her as if God had now for the first time
looked into her heart:(and indeed it is good to be sensible of his discernment
of our inmost souls-to be sensible how entirely all things belonging to us are
naked, opened, and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. But
many a one, alas, when convinced of this, will still endeavor to make the best
of himself in his own eyes. And if he succeed not in so doing, yet he will seek
to escape from self-reflection amidst the diversions of surrounding vanities:
still, however, he finds no true repose of mind. Thus affliction upon affliction
is often necessary for bringing sin to remembrance, that sinners may be
effectually awakened, and made alive unto God. That something of this kind was
seen necessary by the God of all grace for the poor widow at Zarephath, seems
pretty evident from her exclamation under his chastening hand; “What have I to
do With thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come to me to call my sin to
remembrance, and to slay my son?”

This is certainly strange language; but, as the language of her heart and
feelings, it is very significant. Is it not as if she had said, “Why didst thou
come to me? I have reaped this from thy visit that my sins are brought to
remembrance and a sense of them overwhelms me. Thou art such a holy man, that
neither I nor my house were worthy to entertain thee. Hence God has seen it
necessary to punish me for being so bold, and for acting so familiarly with
thee, as if we had been thy equals. Surely it is thy coming that has brought all
this upon me. A merciful God would not have scrutinized so strictly a poor woman
and an insignificant worm like myself, if he had not found me in thy society-if
thy abiding with me had not drawn his attention upon me. Ah, why shouldst thou
have come unto me! Surely the Lord would not have approached so near to such a
poor sinner as I am, if thou hadst not brought his awful presence into my house;
for he is always with thee.”

She intended to express something of this kind. Alas, what absurd ideas! And
yet, with all this foolishness, what genuine feeling-what self-annihilation-what
humility! God’s object is gained-The triumph of truth is won!

III. And now behold the bereaved parent, bowed down with grief and misery

She is sitting with the dead child at her bosom, as if she would again warm his
stiffened limbs at her throbbing heart. She weeps at one time for her
bereavement, and at another for the multitude of her sins, and knows not which
of these distresses her most. Pitiable indeed is her condition! And the prophet
we may be sure is touched with heartfelt compassion and sympathy. He probably
perceived the design of this visitation, and perceiving also the good effect of
it, he delayed not to make preparations for allaying her anguish. He said unto
her, “Give me thy son.”

This composure on the part of the prophet must have been impressive to the
distressed widow. Surely a ray of hope must have gleamed within her. But will
Elijah be able to gratify the hopes he is exciting?

The prophet is sure of the thing in his own mind. He takes the little corpse
from the mother’s bosom, hastens boldly with it up into his bedchamber, which no
doubt was also his closet for retirement and prayer, lays it upon his own bed,
shuts the door, falls on his knees, and applies himself to prayer and to
communion with the Lord! And now, listen! What a prayer it is which he pours
forth! It is a prayer that certainly would not pass uncensured by us-that
certainly would not escape the criticism and the condemnation of our wisdom, had
we heard it from the mouth of any other than such a one as Elijah.

“O Lord my God!” cries he, “hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom
I sojourn, by slaying her son?” What! Does Elijah speak before the living God,
of bringing evil; and does he venture to approach God’s throne with such a
question, and with such a complaint? Yes: he speaks as his heart dictates; and
if he speaks foolishly-he does it in simplicity, and in faith; and if he pleads
too familiarly with God-He does so, encouraged by the blood of the Lamb and the
promises of God. It is not for us to censure him, for his prayer was accepted of
the Lord. Yet what was its purport? “Lord! Didst thou care to slay this child?
Impossible! Thy purpose was to lead the mother through affliction to repentance.
This, O Lord, having been accomplish, must the child continue dead? Look, O
blessed God, upon this widow graciously, and remember thou that I am her guest.
She has shown much kindness unto thy servant: I would gladly recompense her. Do
thou recompense her, for I am poor and have nothing. And O! Remember also am thy
prophet. If I am reproached, thou art approached also. Therefore, that thy name
may be hallowed, and thy praise magnified upon earth, now, O Lord, hear my
prayer.”

And having thus expostulated, as it were, with the Lord God, he arose, threw
himself upon the dead child, and stretched himself upon it three times, as
though he would say, “ I will not leave the child, but will await God’s answer
to my prayer;” and he cried unto the Lord and said, “O Lord my God! I pray thee
let this child’s soul come into him again;” a prayer you perceive quite positive
and unconditional. And what followed upon this holy boldness in prayer? “The
Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again,
and he revived.” But how does this agree with our notions and maxims concerning
acceptable prayer? Here we have, as I have said, an unconditional prayer-a
prayer too for something temporal-a prayer for a miracle-a prayer without
limitations; yet the Lord heard and answered it. Yes, our gracious God does not
bind himself to our maxims, suffer himself to be limited by our rules.

“O Lord my God!” cried Elijah in his upper chamber, “let this child’s soul come
into him again!”

“I will,” was virtually the answer he received. And the soul of the child came
back; the child began to breathe, and lifted itself up and left the couch of
death. And Elijah-with what feelings you may readily imagine-took the child down
from his chamber and delivered him to his mother, and in one sentence, short and
sweet, as his manner was, said, “See, thy son liveth!” He left it to the Holy
Spirit to say to her the rest. But how shall I attempt to describe the feelings
of the poor widow?

She sees heaven as it were opened to her, and this not merely in the restoration
of the child, who was now alive again in her arms, but also quite in another
way. Indeed she cannot yet speak of her child.

“Now by this I know,” she exclaimed, “that thou art a man of God, and that the
word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.” The Word of the Lord! What Word of the
Lord was it that Elijah had spoken to her?

This may be easily conjectured. We find here, at the close of the narrative, a
new key to the whole. It would seem that Elijah had said something to her,
during their acquaintance, which she had hitherto been unable to comprehend or
believe, it is not difficult to suppose what it may have been. Elijah had
probably soon perceived that the woman, with all her piety, was still not
resting upon the true foundation; and he had doubtless availed himself of the
peaceful days at Zarephath to make her acquainted with the counsel of God for
the salvation of sinners-with the doctrine of the promised Messiah-with the
merit of his redemption which he should one day accomplish-with the necessity of
faith in him, and with other matters of holy living and conversation connected
with it.

These were, it would seem, strange things to her ears, which she knew not how to
appreciate, but put them aside, because she as yet felt no need of them. A sense
of this need of a Mediator, and of an atonement, was now powerfully awakened in
her heart after she had become, through sanctified afflictions, convinced of her
sinful and guilty condition; and Elijah’s word concerning the atonement and
pardon extended to sinners through the merits of the promised Surety, had now,
by this renewed testimony to Elijah’s prophetic commission, become
unquestionably assured as Divine truth to her soul, so that she could heartily
yield herself up to it, and rejoice and be glad in it. And this new faith,
confidence, joy, and blissful hope she expressed in the words, “Now I know that
thou art a man of God and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.”

“I know, I feel, I see, I taste, the true and faithful saying.” Henceforth she
stood upon other ground; from being a devout person, she was now evinced to be a
daughter of Abraham’s faith. And at the moment when Elijah said to her, “See,
thy son liveth,” her heart was fitted to say something greater still- “I know
that my Redeemer liveth!” Here was repose after a storm.

Natural self-that which is born of the flesh-is heir only to wrath and
condemnation. All our labor expended upon ennobling the “old man with his
deeds,” is labor thrown away. However corrupt nature may set itself off, however
devoutly it may conduct itself, it remains corrupt nature still; and it is
outlawed by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. It is the accursed
thing which must be put away. It must be slain at the foot of the cross. No
amendment of it will save us from condemnation. God’s eye regards not its form,
but its nature. Nothing can be approved in his sight but the new creature in
Christ Jesus. The wise builder commended to our imitation by our Great Teacher,
digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock. That rock is Christ. They who
are taught by him, and led by his Spirit, are taught and led to rely only on his
meritorious obedience unto death, as the all-sufficient atonement for their
sins, and to open their ear and their heart to all his instruction and
discipline.

And upon this sure foundation is raised the superstructure of all their earnest
expectations and blessed hopes of everlasting life.

Ye, therefore, my brethren, who have set yourselves to build, take heed that ye
thus build upon Christ the sure foundation. He that with the heart believeth on
him, shall never be confounded; but, remember, he purifieth our hearts by faith,
and our own lives must give proof of this, to the praise of the glory of his
grace, to whom be all glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

~ end of chapter 4 ~


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  CHAPTER 20: 02.05.     ELIJAH AND OBADIAH
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Elijah and Obadiah

CHAPTER FIVE

“He must increase, but I must decrease,” said John Baptist to his disciples,
when he perceived with regret that their mistaken partiality would have placed
him above Jesus, whom John had preceded only as a harbinger and herald
proclaiming repentance. He assured them that he himself was only the friend of
the bridegroom; that his office was only to awaken the attention of the
spiritual bride to the coming of her Beloved, and that having done this, his
work was ended.

He added, “The friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth
greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:29-30).

The Baptist, in using these tWoe last expressions, compares his Lord to the
great luminary of day, but himself to its harbinger or morning star, whose light
gradually decreases as the sun arises, till at length it vanishes altogether.
Nor has he a wish to be anything more. He would gladly see himself forsaken by
his own disciples, if they will only betake themselves to the chief Shepherd, to
participate in that salvation which is to be found only with him. “He must
increase, but I must decrease.” The Baptist meant that he must decrease, not
only in person reputation, but also in office. His own office was only to bring
men to Christ, by ushering in the sweet sound of the Gospel. That the Messiah
would come with help and salvation to sinners, John’s disciples knew; some but
of them seemed erroneously to imagine that the repentance in which they were
exercised, and the life of poverty and austerity which they led, that their
fastings, self-denials, and prayers, if they did not possess some atoning power,
had in them, at least, something which was to outweigh sin, and the curse
belonging to it. Rigid followers as they were of John the Baptist, they had not
yet been baptized unto Jesus Christ-baptized unto his death. But John, their
master, would teach then that they must die more completely-that they must
plunge themselves deeper into free grace. “I,” said he, “must decrease.”

“All that I have enjoined upon you- repentance, self-denial, fasting, and
prayer-must lose all credit with you as any ground of God’s reconciliation to
you. Ye must seek this in Jesus alone.”

“He must increase.”

Now in this declaration of the Baptist is comprised the whole mystery of
practical religion. Does anyone ask what he must do to be saved? The answer is,
“Thou must decrease, and Christ must increase;” comply with this, and thou shalt
he saved.

- Does anyone inquire wherein consists the Christian’s sanctification? It
consists in this, that Christ increases in us and we decrease. - Does anyone
desire to know whether he is advancing in the way of salvation? Observe whether
Christ increases, while you decrease, in your own estimation.

By nature we are great-Jesus little; we are strong-Jesus weak. We cannot allow
Jesus to be the only Saviour, the Alpha and Omega. The excellency of the power
is ours-not his; we take carnal reasoning for our guide, instead of the simple
Word and Spirit of God; salvation is looked for in self-love, not in the Saviour
alone. But when the Word of the truth of the Gospel effectually penetrates the
darkness of our understandings and the blindness of our hearts, the case is
reversed.

The “strong man armed” is now become weak; and what appeared so weak before, is
felt to be strong, yea, irresistible. The Sun of righteousness now arises upon
us with healing in his wings, and we learn more and more to rejoice in his light
alone, own strength, virtue, and excellency are things we can no longer bear to
hear of. We love to lie humbled before the throne of grace, and to wait for a
renewed sense of Divine love, even as “they that watch for the morning.” We now
decrease and Jesus has increased with us.

It is natural to suppose that those who have been so thoroughly humbled in
repentance and faith, are not likely any more to be puffed up with
self-righteousness and vanity. But experience shows that this is a mistaken
notion. For the “old Adam” is never entirely dead; though dying as a crucified
malefactor, it can still revive and do unutterable mischief.

Yea, many a one, even after his conversion, has built anew the things which had
been destroyed: he has been permitting himself to increase, and Christ to
decrease. To mention only a few examples of this falling away-one increases by
his ascetic exercises; another, by the enlargement of his knowledge; another in
self-complacency, borrowed from his own influential popularity or the extent of
his beneficent exertions; another thinks much of his own devotional feeling and
of I know not what besides. In such things a man insensibly grows so pious and
holy, that these things become gain to him, and are no longer accounted loss for
Christ. Are we not, then, to increase in sanctification? Yes! Grow as the
palm-tree; but in self-estimation we must ever be only as the hyssop on the
wall; we must daily become less and less, weaker and weaker in our own eyes,
feeling more and more in want of the Lord’s staff for our support; otherwise we
have set out in a wrong direction. Children of God must “grow up into him in all
things who is the Head, even Christ.”

The beloved of the Lord, those who are really led by the Spirit of God, are ever
gradually descending in self-humiliation. An exemplification of these
introductory remarks will be found in the portion of Elijah’s history which we
now proceed to consider.

“And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah
in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon
the earth.

“And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in
Samaria. And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now
Obadiah feared the LORD greatly: For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the
prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by
fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)

“And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and
unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules
alive, that we lose not all the beasts. So they divided the land between them to
pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way
by himself. And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew
him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah? And he
answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.

“And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into
the hand of Ahab, to slay me? As the LORD thy God liveth, there is no nation or
kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is
not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not.
And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. And it shall
come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the LORD shall
carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot
find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth. Was
it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I
hid an hundred men of the LORD’S prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with
bread and water? And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here:
and he shall slay me.

“And Elijah said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will
surely shew myself unto him to day. So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him:
and Ahab went to meet Elijah” (1 Kings 18:1-16)

We have now to accompany the prophet once more into the stormy theatre of public
life.

I. We find him, at the commandment of the Lord, departing from Zarephath. II. We
learn what was passing at this time in the court of Samaria; III. We have the
meeting of Elijah and Obadiah.

I. The prophet had been tWoe years and some months at Zarephath The text
expresses the time as “many days,” though they seemed perhaps to Elijah but a
few. But, when we consider how rapidly storms and troubles have generally
succeeded each other, in the experience of God’s most eminent servants, it was a
long time for Elijah to have a serene sky, with the exception of some fleeting
clouds, for more than tWoe years together. For this was a length of tranquility
with which not many of the active servants of God have been privileged. In such
a season of spiritual as well as natural dearth, Elijah must surely have felt as
we should do in having to quit, perhaps forever, this peaceful abode of a pious
friend. For the cloud of adversity had burst in blessings on that humble
dwelling.

The widow, as we have seen, had become to him a real sister in the Lord, of one
mind with him, in the truest and holiest acceptation; they enjoyed mutual
fellowship in God, and in his word of atonement; and who shall say that Divine
grace had not already begun to appear in the widow’s child, restored as he had
now been from death itself? From that moment, perhaps, he had begun to live
indeed.

“The word of the Lord,” however, “came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, Go,
show thyself to Ahab.”

Thus things may be frequently contrary to our natural inclinations; but these
inclinations are as often but of little worth. Our gracious God has better
intentions concerning us, than we can have for ourselves. We should therefore
follow the leadings of his providence at every step, and confide in God as
all-wise and good, that he will not and cannot deceive us. “He is a rock, his
work is perfect; all his ways are judgment” (Deuteronomy 32:4).

“Go, show thyself unto Ahab.”

Had Elijah now conferred with flesh and blood, this would have seemed to him
like a command to plunge into the raging waves of the sea, or to walk into a
lion’s den. He had to present himself to a wicked and idolatrous king, a tyrant
armed with despotic power, whose personal enmity against him had been increasing
for at least three years and a half, and had been doubly aggravated by the
distress of the country, of which Elijah was reputed to be the author.

During all this time had Ahab been intent upon apprehending him; had used every
effort to trace out his residence; had searched through his own as well as all
the neighboring states, and had taken an oath from the different tribes and
governments that they had not found him; and yet all his efforts had been
unavailing. How vexatious to himself, and what a reflection upon absolute power!
If the wrath of a king be as messengers of death, what had Elijah to expect from
such a king as Ahab? And yet he receives the brief and positive direction, “Go,
show thyself unto him!”

But let no one suppose that the Lord ever expects what is above human nature
from any of his children, without imparting, at the same time, sufficient grace
and strength for the purpose. Let no one; therefore, imagine that he requires us
to fight a fight of faith without giving us faith to do so; or that he will lead
us into any difficulty and trial without making provision for our support and
encouragement.

Yea, even should there be forced from us the agonizing cry “Why hast thou
forsaken me?” he will enable us to prefix to it by appropriating faith “My God!
My God!” which will be enough to keep us from sinking.

He leads none of his children into the valley of the shadow of death without
becoming to them their rod and staff. Besides, however thick the darkness may
be, it is always relieved by some little ray of light.

The support he gave to Abraham in his gloomy way to Mount Moriah, was not only
by the general belief that whatever God does, he does well; but by the
particular turn given to Abraham’s faith, that God would restore his Isaac again
to life. This sweetened his three days’ journey not a little.

To Job was given a peculiarly clear and joyful expectation of the final result
of his sufferings and of the day of resurrection. “I know,” said he, “that my
redeemer liveth, and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my
flesh shall I see God.” Such a visitation preserved his spirit.

And thus Elijah, on this arduous path of faith, which directed him to Ahab, was
supported by the promise, “I will send rain upon the earth.” He could therefore
thank God and take courage. He could depart from Zarephath as a messenger of
joy, and carry a blessing with him. Yes, though the horrors of drought and
famine, though faces emaciated with hunger and thirst might well have made him
shudder on the way; though the thought of Ahab’s deadly resentment, and perhaps
of an infuriated populace, might well have forced its way upon his mind, he
could be cheered by the assurance of his commission to announce the return of
rain, and by the hope that many would at length give up their hateful idolatry,
and humble themselves before the God of their fathers. Such hopes and prospects
we can easily imagine would at least have rendered his painful duty more
tolerable.

“Show thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.”

The Lord had condescendingly commissioned his prophet to announce the
chastisement of drought upon the land, and even to say, “As the Lord God of
Israel liveth, there shall not he dew nor rain these years but according to my
word” and now, therefore, it was to be at Elijah’s word that the dew and rain
should return. Had these blessings returned without Elijah’s mediation, it would
of course have been concluded that Elijah was a false prophet and a boaster; the
priests of Baal would have attributed the deliverance to their idol, and would
have praised Baal as triumphant over God.

In order, therefore, not to miss the sole object of this grievous visitation,
and that Baal might be confounded and the Lord glorified, it was indispensably
necessary that Elijah, by a public word, should remove the drought as a complete
proof that his Lord was the true and the living God. Consequently, it was now
“Go, show thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.”

“And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab.” We see, then, the man of God again
entering with firm step on his public career of faith, surrounded by a thousand
temporal dangers and difficulties, as he had been proscribed as an outlaw
throughout the nation, yea, as a troubler of Israel; nevertheless, he went at
the commandment of the Lord and the power of the Lord was with him.

II. While Elijah was on his way from Zarephath, king Ahab, at Samaria, was also
setting out on a journey through the land.

Elijah’s errand was for the honor of the Lord his God; that of Ahab was for his
cattle, particularly for his horses and mules. This occasion makes us acquainted
with another very pleasing and interesting character, namely, with Obadiah, a
man of high rank, holding the office of chamberlain or steward of the king’s
household. Hence what is here written of Him is the more remarkable, that “he
feared the Lord greatly.”

If our discovery of a devout widow in a heathen land, between Tyre and Zidon,
occasions our grateful admiration, how much more pleasing is our surprise to
find a real servant of the Lord retained in one of the most scandalously corrupt
courts ever noticed in history!

Here we see that godliness is not a plant which, as many suppose, must
necessarily be reared in the conservatories of human education, admonition, and
good example; how, then, could a godly man have existed in Samaria? The children
of God are not the mere creatures of circumstances; the state of things in
Samaria was just adapted to form Obadiah and everyone else into a child of the
devil. The Lord “forms a people for himself, to show forth his praise,” when and
where it pleaseth him, as Isaiah 43:18-21. As “He hath mercy on whom he will
have mercy,” and is gracious to whom he will be gracious; so, whoever desires to
be as Obadiah, the Lord’s servant, cannot be prevented by unfavorable
circumstances from becoming so. Thus the fear of God, faith and adoption, are
the good part that cannot be taken away by thieves that break through and steal,
neither devoured by moth and rust, nor merged and lost in the iniquities of the
country we live in. Obadiah was enabled to keep that good thing which was
committed to him, though in an earthen vessel, safely amidst all these dangers.

It was greatly that he feared the Lord. This is indeed a noble testimonial
concerning him, for truly it was something great to fear the Lord with all his
heart, at a time and in a country wherein the true worshipers of the Lord were
exposed to public scorn and derision. It was also something great to adhere
faithfully to the Lord, when surrounded by persons bitterly prejudiced against
real godliness, and by religious and political institutions set up in direct
opposition to the true worship and service of God. To abide in the faith, at a
court where the god of this world had blinded the eyes of those in power and
influence, and had thus spread every snare and net, every possible temptation to
fall away, every possible incentive to vice and iniquity-this was surely
something great in Obadiah; especially as he occupied a post of honor and
responsibility which drew so many eyes upon him, and in which his good or bad
fortune, as it is called, depended solely on the favor of his monarch; a
situation which must have obliged him to have frequent intercourse with the most
profligate among the great; yet he held on his course, notwithstanding all these
difficulties; he feared God not by halves, but he “followed the Lord fully” as
he was no time-server, but a decided Israelite; for all this may be inferred
from the word “greatly.”

Let this picture of Obadiah be held up to the consideration of those who are so
ready to object that their situation and circumstances prevent them from
faithfully serving God. This wretched excuse has no other origin than the
blindness and deceitfulness of the human heart. Under any circumstances, however
favorable, true piety is not indebted to these, but to the grace of God alone;
and those who seek and partake of this, serve God in all situations.

For what should hinder them? Did our objectors complain that they cannot serve
God because of the corruption of their own hearts, this were a complaint that we
might listen to, but thus to complain of outward circumstances is a fearful sign
of spiritual death. True Divine life in the soul has a fire in it that burns up
this stubble of circumstances. There is a necessity in the case; a necessity
which is not to be restrained or checked, much less overpowered, by worldly
circumstances.

One signal instance of Obadiah’s substantial piety is here recorded.

Jezebel had endeavored to extirpate from the land every prophet of the Lord, and
had already caused many of them to be slain. On this perilous occasion Obadiah
was not inactive, but his activity was employed in the rescue of as many men of
the Lord’s prophets as possible, and he saved a hundred of them from the iron
grip of Jezebel. He “hid them by fifties in a cave, and fed them with bread and
water.” The hazard or expense of his undertaking proved no obstacle with him;
his love of the brethren constrained him. And does not our blessed Saviour say,
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples.” Go, then, brethren, and
do likewise, whenever it is necessary. The prince of this world, who was a
murderer from the beginning, is still awake, and is exciting, in various places,
rancorous opposition to the truth of the Gospel.

Spiritual wickedness is in many high places, as well as in many humble
dwellings. Many a preacher may, ere long, be forced to resign his pulpit; many a
professor his chair; many a mechanic his employment, and many a servant his
situation, because he is a true believer in Christ, and a sincere follower of
his example. Therefore forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, ye
children of God, for mutual edification and succor. Remember Obadiah. If God
continues to spare us, whatever blessings of his goodness we enjoy, let them be
shared by any of our distressed brethren, for they are fellowheirs with us of
our Redeemer’s kingdom.

We return to the narrative. “And Ahab called Obadiah” and commissioned him upon
a business to be executed in concert with himself. How extraordinary, that a man
like Obadiah should be in such favor with a wicked man, and with an Ahab, for it
could not have been unknown to himself, or to his court, that Obadiah “feared
the Lord greatly.” And this scripture testimony to him is utterly irreconcilable
with the supposition that he could dissemble either with the tyrant himself, or
with anyone else. We can therefore only account for this by supposing that his
integrity, activity, and firmness were things divinely overruled to restrain the
most arrogant and rancorous foes and scoffers within the bounds of a certain
respect and reverence. Ahab probably had discernment enough to perceive that,
among all his courtiers, he had not another such a man as Obadiah; and those
courtiers, too, might have been conscious that there was no one of themselves in
whom such confidence could be placed as in this Israelite of the ancient school;
and though the king might laugh at his religion, he felt that he could not do
without him. And is there not something in every true Christian that extorts at
least a tacit acknowledgment, from the bitterest enemies; a “light” to which,
though it “doth make manifest” their darkness, they are unable to refuse a
portion of their esteem and admiration? Yea, it has often happened that
eminently pious men have been singularly honored for their conduct by these who
could not understand its principles, and whose own lives were often directly
contrary to them.

“Go into the country,” said Ahab to Obadiah, “unto all fountains of water, and
unto all brooks; peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules
alive, that we lose not all the beasts.”

Lo, the only effect of this long continued chastisement of the Almighty was an
anxiety for the preservation of his stud! To such obduracy can the hearts of the
children of men be brought. Neither afflictions, nor miracles, nor admonitions,
nor temporal mercies, are sufficient of themselves to restore the spiritually
dead to life. How often are we apt to think concerning persons under some
peculiar visitation, that surely now they will be changed and softened, and
brought to reflection! We make inquiries, we take pains to ascertain the result;
and lo! where we hoped at length to find some serious thought about God and
eternity, only cares similar to those of Ahab engage their minds; and instead of
the holy emotions, for which we sought- instead of sighs, prayers, and serious
thoughts of eternity, we see only a multitude of low desires and cares, bearing
them down the stream of life into the boundless invisible ocean. “Though thou
shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his
foolishness depart from him” (Proverbs 27:22). May Almighty grace have
compassion upon us!

Obadiah readily enters upon the business to which his sovereign had commissioned
him, and which he could do most conscientiously. Yet-again the question recurs
to our minds-how could Obadiah bear to continue in the service of such a ruler,
and among the vile and wicked men of which the court was composed? He must have
mourned many an hour in secret over the wicked, and must often sighed in
solitude, “Woe is me, that I constrained to sojourn in Mesech, and to dwell in
the tents of Kedar.”

“In the world ye shall have tribulation” and Obadiah doubtless experienced this
tribulation of God’s children, resident as he was among those who were strangers
to true the God of Israel. But Obadiah could not adopt the convenient maxim,
which enjoins flight from our calling, when abiding in it is disagreeable.

“My God,” he would consider, “has placed me here for reasons best known to
himself; and ii is an easy thing for him to preserve me, though my soul be among
lions.” Here, therefore, he remained for the Lord’s sake. And what can be done
better by you, who may find yourselves in a similar situation? However much evil
you are obliged to be eyewitnesses of, whatever disagreeableness you may
experience, and however you may be ridiculed or oppressed, let such be no
reasons for removing of your own accord from the post which God’s providence has
assigned you.

Endure for the Lord’s sake, until he himself, by his providence deliver you. If
you are thrust out, or if circumstances and connections necessarily produce
change in your situation, then remove with an easy conscience, for the Lord has
called you.

But, until then, endure, and flourish as a lily among the thorns; be as the salt
of the earth to a corrupt mass, and be as a lighthouse to benighted mariners;
for, through Divine grace, you may thus serve to direct many passengers, through
the hidden rocks and quicksands of this troublesome world, to the haven of rest.

And how much soever, the raging waves of the sea may foam around you, “He that
keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep, and the angel of the Lord is
about them that fear him. His faithfulness and truth is their shield and
buckler. Blessed are those who put their trust under the shadow of his wings!”

III. Ahab and Obadiah had now “divided the land between them to pass throughout
it” And “Ahab went one way by himself,” while “Obadiah went another way by
himself.” It was of the Lord’s peculiar providence that the king thus went in
person, as he was thus made to witness something of the extent of misery and
horror which the country at that time presented, if peradventure it might lead
his unfeeling heart to feel some salutary emotions. But we know that it quite
failed of producing this effect, and instead of returning as a subdued and
humbled sinner, we find him only as a wild bull in a net, an infuriated being,
whose rage is turned against him that smiteth him, a man lighting against God.
But let us turn our attention to his servant Obadiah. Behold him on the solitary
and deserted road, bearing the woes of Israel on his compassionate heart;
meeting everywhere with desolations and miseries, which he cannot remedy! The
country around him, wherever he advanced, once a fruitful field, now changed to
a parched desert; and its whole appearance seemed to say, “Who can stand before
thee when thou art angry?” But that which must have affected him most, and
pierced his heart the most deeply, must have been the thought of apostate
Israel, who could yet, as with a forehead of brass, stand insensible to the
lightning of the Lord’s power, and the thunder of his judgments; for he sees
them continuing to live as before, in the most unpardonable obduracy, and in the
most absurd security. How must it have a afflicted him! How could he possibly
refrain from holy indignation! God’s children are in this respect, as well as
others, conformed to the image of their Saviour. They bear in a sense the sins
of the world upon their hearts, and like him they have to become repairers of
the breach which the ungodly have made; restorers of paths to dwell in, which
others have destroyed. But happy are such persons; they are numbered among those
to whom the man clothed in linen, with an inkhorn at his side, was directed, in
the prophecy of Ezekiel, to “go through the city of Jerusalem, and set a mark
upon the foreheads of the men who sighed and cried for all the abominations that
were done in the midst thereof.”

While Obadiah is thus on his way, absorbed in melancholy reflections, he is met
by a solitary and venerable personage, girded as a traveler and covered with a
mantle, whom he immediately recognizes as Elijah, and prostrates himself in
profound respect before him. “Art thou that my lord Elijah?” he asks. Is it
possible? Nothing having for a long time been seen or heard of him, he, with
many others, might have supposed that the Lord had secretly taken him to his
rest. The prophet replies briefly in his own manner, “I am: go, tell thy lord,
Behold, Elijah is here.” This reply, however, was too brief for the worthy
Obadiah; and, indeed, was like an arrow to his heart. He felt that he was now
but a poor, weak, desponding child of man. And all the children of God must have
their trying seasons of personal danger for the trial and increase of their
faith. What “treasure” we have, “is in earthen vessels,” (easily broken,) “that
the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”

This lesson Obadiah had now more perfectly to learn by the instrumentality of
Elijah. And it evidently cost him considerable conflict with himself. “What have
I sinned,” says he, “that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of
Ahab, to slay me? As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no nation nor kingdom,
whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there;
he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not. And now
thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here! And it shall come to
pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry
thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find
thee, he shall slay me.”

These many words are not the language of tranquil faith, but of human fear and
despondency. His imagination pictures to him dreadful forebodings; that, while
he is gone to carry to Ahab Elijah’s message, the latter might he caught away by
the Spirit of the Lord to some unknown region, as had happened, perhaps,
heretofore to other saints of God. In the Acts of the Apostles we have such an
event related concerning Philip the evangelist. Hence Obadiah apprehended Ahab’s
sorest displeasure at his disappointment in losing the prophet Elijah. Ahab
would consider himself mocked by Obadiah; or, at least, would be amazed that
Obadiah had not secured the detention of the prophet; thus Obadiah would lose
both his office and his life. Such were his fearful apprehensions. Natural
however as they were, still they were only thoughts of flesh and blood. He
looked, as Peter afterwards did, at the wind and the waves, but had lost sight
of his Lord.

But, further. He begins to speak of his piety. “I thy servant fear the Lord from
my youth. Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of
the Lord, how I hid an hundred men of the Lord’s prophets by fifty in a cave,
and fed them with bread and water? And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord,
Behold, Elijah is here; and he shall slay me.”

“I am a pious man,” means to say, “thou must not be misled by my court dress and
the office I fill; I am none of the rebellious children;’ I have continued
faithful to the Lord. Canst thou find in thy heart to expose a believing brother
to the most dreadful danger?”

And truly Obadiah was a pious man, notwithstanding all his weakness. Who could
be offended with him for speaking of his piety, and recounting his good deeds on
such an occasion? For it was neither presumption nor vainglory that led him to
do so, but simply fear and dread. Here, however, let us be reminded that our
salvation is built not upon works of righteousness that we have done, but upon
God’s mercy; not upon what we are to him but upon what he is to us. All our
works of righteousness together, are but a poor foundation to rest upon.

It was salutary, then, for Obadiah, and it is salutary also for us to be thus
taught by providential experience our own weakness, that we may habitually learn
to build more exclusively on that only sure foundation, Jesus Christ, the
foundation which alone can stand for ever. Our only refuge and consolation, in
life and in death, are the blood and righteousness of the Lamb of God; and, that
we may depend upon him and abide in him alone, our gracious God suffers us
continually to feel, in one way or another, our sin and weakness, that our own
utter inability may never be lost sight of.

Are we ready to value ourselves upon our courage? His providence unexpectedly
suspends over us some danger or threatening storm, and we experience that we are
but as a reed shaken with the wind. Do we feel complacency in the strength of
our faith? A test of it is presently given us, and we are made conscious that we
only dreamt of possessing its genuine power.

Are we rich, as we think, in pious feelings? Soon, very soon, alas! by some
apparently trifling accident, do we find our whole stock of goodness exhausted;
and we are obliged to confess that out of Christ’s fullness alone do we receive.
If we imagine that death is no terror to us, and that we shall be able to show
the world how men ought to die, a slight glimpse of the king of terrors will
easily dissolve our heroic courage.

Are we become spiritually proud, thinking of the high advances we have made in
holiness, we are soon made to learn the truth of the case. All our boasting now
is at an end, and nothing remains for us but to cry, like every other child of
God, “God be merciful to me a sinner!”

“If I wash myself with snow water,” saith Job, “and make my hands never so
clean, yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor
me.” And why, that we may decrease and Christ increase? The discipline, indeed,
is painful to our fallen nature, but the consequences are most salutary.

“The end of the Lord” was now attained in this instance of Obadiah.
Self-humiliation had been effected in him, and the light was again suffered to
shine upon him. Elijah said, “As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand,
I will surely show myself unto Ahab to-day.”

This composed the fears of his troubled heart; so Obadiah went to Ahab, and he
had now sufficient boldness to tell the tyrant, “Behold, Elijah is here.”

~ end of chapter 5 ~


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  CHAPTER 21: 02.06.     DELIVERANCE FROM THE MOUTH OF THE LION
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Deliverance from the Mouth of the Lion

CHAPTER SIX

“Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad,” was the injunction
of the Lord to Laban, the Syrian, when he “ so hotly pursued after” Jacob, as if
he meditated revenge. Genesis 31:24. His tongue was immediately tied, his hand
bound, and his heart turned back again.

Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their protector, who “hath cut
Rahab and wounded the dragon, who shutteth up the sea with doors and bars,
saying, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; who stilleth the raging of the
sea and the noise of his waves, and the madness of the people.” A proof of this
will be seen in that part of the history of our prophet which we are now about
to consider.

“And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he
that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou,
and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord,
and thou hast followed Baalim. Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel
unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the
prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table. So Ahab sent
unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount
Carmel” (1 Kings 18:17-20.

Here is:

I. The wonderful protection of the prophet.

II. The unjust accusation brought against him.

III. The bold language he uses;

IV. The secret power he exercises.

I. Obadiah had gone at Elijah’s bidding

He had sought out the king, informed him that he had met with Elijah, and that
he was still continuing at the place where Obadiah had found him. Ahab
accordingly, with what feelings we may better imagine than express, went to meet
Elijah. Instead, however, of any of that manifestation of royal anger which is
as the roaring of a lion, not a stroke falls. Not an arrow flies; nothing ensues
but the feeble question, “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?”

Here is not even an outrageous curse or menace, as if the volcano had been
suddenly exhausted and only emitted a little smoke.

Thus, the Lord our God can stop the mouths of lions and enable his people to
tread on serpents and scorpions, so that nothing shall by any means hurt them
when they are upon his errands.

Yes, the same God who was thus a wall of fire round about Elijah, defeating the
resentment of Ahab and Jezebel; who delivered Daniel and his three companions;
who released Peter from prison also, in the case of Luther, the poor Augustinian
monk of Wittenberg, put to shame the power of the pope and of other numerous and
mighty persecutors; the same God still liveth in the great Head of the church,
Christ Jesus; and he is with his people alway, even to the end of the world; he
is their succor and defence. Depend on it, Christians, you would not pass your
days and nights so quietly as you do, were it not for his continual
interposition against those who would molest you. The enmity of the prince of
this world, and of his servants, the children of disobedience, is still
unabated.

Many an arm of strength, both in the higher and lower walks of life, would be
stretched out against you, but that he stays it. For as many as have their
heavenly Father’s name written in their foreheads, as many as profess Christ
sincerely and faithfully before men, as many as will live godly in Christ Jesus,
must suffer molestation on that very account in this present world. And that we
live so peacefully and quietly “In” our dwellings, and that our lives are so
safe, though in the midst of dangers, is altogether owing to the protection of
our almighty Saviour, who neither slumbereth nor sleepeth; who never remits his
vigilance over us day or night; who with his mighty angels encamps about his
people, and is himself their bulwark. In eternity we shall discover, to our
great astonishment, how enemies the Lord God prevented from injuring us, and
from how many of the hands of men he has delivered us. “The name of the Lord is
a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” O how safe in such
a tower of refuge! Thus Elijah experienced, and thus may we.

II. As the protection which Elijah experienced was of the same kind as that
which all the servants of God are wont to experience

So, in like manner, the accusation charged upon him, as if it were he who
troubled Israel, was only another characteristic of the people of God. “Art thou
he that troubleth Israel?” said the wrathful monarch, and thus cast upon the
prophet the whole blame of God’s heavy judgments upon the land. But, from the
beginning of the world, this crying injustice on the part of men is one of those
afflictions of the cross which they are called to bear after their Lord and
Redeemer. Painful as this must ever be found to flesh and blood, it is one
salutary means for purifying us from the remains of indwelling sin.

It indeed often appears as if ministers were the storm-birds and messengers of
misfortune; the disturbers of peace, and such as “turn the world upside down,”
just as Elijah seemed to be, when, at his word, the season of famine overspread
Samaria. Religion enters a family, and instead of peace comes division;
unanimity is banished from the circle.

A believing son or daughter may, to their great grief, excite against themselves
their unbelieving parents; and a minister, in like manner, by his faithfulness,
may offend the most influential of his congregation, and these may stir up a
majority against him in order to get rid of him. Faithful preaching of the
Gospel may sometimes be like the sinking of a burning mountain in the sea.
Sleepers awake, and the dry bones are stirred.

On such occasions the thoughts of many hearts become revealed. Drunkards become
sober, and the sober drunken.

O what divisions of heart may we then witness! Congregations splitting, and
parties forming! Then, also, as in the apostles’ time, it is always the case
that the faithful and awakening preachers of the Gospel are regarded as the
offending parties, “the men who have turned the world upside down;” whereas the
whole blame rests with those whose hearts are alienated from the life of God
through the ignorance that is in them, and who “love darkness rather than light,
because their deeds are evil.” Nevertheless we must be content to bear the blame
of being the troublers of Israel.

“The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is
enough that the disciple be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they
have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of his
household? Therefore fear them not; for there is nothing hidden that shall not
be revealed, nor secret that not be known.”

Elijah was accused of troubling Israel, and certainly he was God’s instrument
for chastising the idolatrous and wicked kingdom. The children of God, though
they are not of the world, even as Christ is not of the world, and though the
world overlooks or despises them, have very much to do with the turn of its
affairs; they are of no small account in the sublunary disposals of Providence.
How many a single potent adversary has been felled to the ground; how many a
community has dwindled and decayed because of their opposition to the people of
God, who are continually praying, “Thy kingdom come!” How many a blaspheming
tongue has been prematurely laid silent in the grave because of that universal
prayer of the church, “Hallowed be thy name!”

Yes, if our adversaries knew how many things take place in the world on our
account, whether for the strengthening of our faith, for our succor, or for the
crowning of our prayers-if they knew what influence “the quiet in the land”
exercise, even here below, upon the fate both of individuals and whole nations;
and how often it is given into their hands to open heaven or to close it-to
bring blessings upon a place, or to take them away-to bind the arm of the
mighty, and to bring to nought the counsels of the prudent-if they rightly
understood in what sense the Prince of the Host, whose banner we follow, has
made us not only priests, but also “kings unto our God” -their rage would exceed
all bounds: and how would they then cry out, “Ye are they that trouble Israel!”

III. Let us now consider Elijah’s answer to Ahab The prophet stands before a
mortal enemy, who is the despotic ruler of the land; and how does he meet his
false accusation?

- Does he excuse himself, and cry for mercy? - Does he have recourse to flattery
or artifice? - Does he, in order to save himself, begin to “prophesy smooth
things?” - Does he conceal from him the true cause of God’s judgments upon the
land? - Does he even endeavor to moderate the king’s displeasure, by announcing
to him the good news of approaching rain?

No; Elijah is a man only for the truth, and for such truth as the occasion calls
for. His great and only concern was that the tyrant, together with his people,
should judge themselves, humble themselves before the living God, and give him
the glory. This was of more importance to him than his life. He knew whither he
was going, and death had no terrors for him. His answer there-fore is, “I have
not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken
the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.”

Such language as this is seldom heard upon earth. The world is full of
flatterers and dissemblers, and such characters abound not only in palaces, but
also in ordinary society; but faithful servants of God, who are dead to
self-interest, who so love their brethren as to be unwilling to suffer sin upon
them-such men are rare indeed. O, Ye ministers of Christ, among high and low,
let us not complain of the little fruit of our labors till we have first
complained of our own too great love of pleasing men.

We should see greater things, were not the salutary and awful, “Thou art the
man!” so entirely unknown amongst us. It is not enough that we deal in general
truths concerning human corruption, openly acknowledged in our church
confessions. How far is all this below the faith-fulness of prophets and
apostles. If Elijah, or Paul, or John the Baptist were here, you would hear the
trumpet give a very different sound. To how many an Ahab of the present day
would it then be said, “I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s
house in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord.”

- How many a Jezebel would then be told to her face, “The unrighteous shall not
inherit the kingdom of God.” - How many a publican, “Demand no more than is thy
due.” - How many a Herod, “It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s
wife.” - How many a Felix, how many a Drusilla, who at present hear only smooth
words, would then be forced to submit to one closet sermon after another from
plain and unsparing lips, upon righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come!

You may well pray, my friends, that it may be given to your ministers to make a
better use of the liberty which is thus divinely committed to them as an awful
and most responsible trust, “to reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering
and doctrine.” And what is the nature of our commission? We have a heaven to
promise, and a hell to threaten. We stand forth as messengers in Christ’s stead,
as the stewards of the mysteries of God. We speak not from ourselves, but that
which One who is greater than all commands us to speak. We go forward,
surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, as the ambassadors of the King of all kings,
and have the right to announce our message to sinners m the name of God, with
“Thus saith the Lord!”

O the dignity of our calling-the holiness of our office! O that it more
thoroughly pervaded us, and that we were more like Elijah, or Nathan, or the
Baptist, or the apostle Paul. And were it so, that by the unpleasant sound of
truth we lost a whole squadron of worldly friends, we should soon, perhaps, find
the loss made good by others collected by the Gospel trumpet from among
publicans and sinners. Nay, were the measure of our trouble and reproach
doubled, the fruit of our labor in God’s field might be doubled likewise.

We may well humble ourselves, one and all, for our insincerity and men pleasing,
in allowing ourselves to cry, “Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” This is
not tenderness, though it assumes that name; it is the want of true love to our
neighbor, a indulgence of our own indolence and ease. May the Lord kindle a
purer flame in our souls, and give us a better love, a love which, where truth,
the honor of God, and the salvation of our brethren require it, can speak and
act disinterestedly and self-denyingly; yet so, that no strange fire mingle with
that which is holy, nor we ourselves, as is often the case, break to pieces, in
our zeal, both tables of the law.

“I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have
forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.”

What then was the special sin which Elijah here holds up to view as the chief
cause of the whole calamity? Is it the intemperance, or the covetousness, or the
frivolity, or the unchaste life of Ahab, and of his father’s house? No; it is
departure from God’s Word and Statutes.

O brethren! if sins of this sort be the greatest of all sins; if God has visited
nations, countries, and cities with fire and sword on account of them, what must
be his displeasure in these times, when infidelity is becoming the very fashion
in so many circles everywhere; when the the forsaking of the statutes of the
Lord, and the following of a heathenish rationalism has found its way even into
the cottage and the work-shop; when the declaration, “we will not have this man
to reign over us!” virtually becomes more and more general, and the very voice
of Baalim is, in this sense, to be heard from many a pulpit, many a professor’s
chair, and many a schoolmaster’s desk!

When true religion, the belief of the forgiveness of sins through the blood of
the Lamb, is not only slighted, but even branded as fanaticism; and the true
life in the Holy Spirit, the life of love to Christ, and the following of his
steps, is so often declaimed against as pietism and enthusiasm!

How will it at length fare with such a generation, if we do not betimes fall
down weeping before the lifted rod of the great Preserver of men! And what kind
of days have we to expect, sooner or later, in a country where more than one
Noah preaches the righteousness of God; where more than one Jonah calls to
repentance; where more than one of Zion’s watchmen sounds the trumpet louder and
louder, because he sees the sword approaching, and still but a small band is
gathered of those who faithfully adhere to and take up the cross; while
thousands upon thousands treat the blood of the covenant as an unholy thing,
scoff at the word of the Lord, presumptuously turn with disgust from the
precepts of Christ, bow the knee to any or every shameful lust, and thus
virtually bring their offerings to the abominations of the Moabites and the
Amorites!

What vials of wrath must at length be poured out upon this favored region! Will
it have sufficed that the Lord has affected us with lack of employment and want,
with stoppage of trade and business, and visited us with plague and pestilence?
Will he not see it necessary to come with still severer judgments?

“Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee!! Bethsaida! for if the mighty works
which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have
repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more
tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. And thou,
Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell.”

O that my people would turn from evil ways, that the Lord God might repent of
this evil concerning us, and turn from the fierceness of his anger, that we
perish not!

IV. Elijah, having thus faithfully deliverer his message, now begins to make
preparations for a scene which has not it’s like in sacred history The Lord God
is about to show, by signs, and wonders and mighty deeds, that he is God and
none else; and Baal is to be overthrown in one day. “Now therefore,” said Elijah
authoritatively, like a representative of God, “Now therefore,” O king! “Send,
and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four
hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at
Jezebel’s table.”

He speaks the word and Ahab obeys, and collects the prophets unto mount Carmel.
See how matters are reversed! The subject prescribes, and the king, yes, such a
king, complies! “The thing is of the Lord.” The hearts of all are in his hands!
The servant of God have, through faith, “out of weakness been made strong,
subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained the promises.” If we, as lambs
are sent in the midst of wolves, yet we are clothed with a divine panoply, and
often with a divine influence upon others, if we are Christ’s faithful servants.

We have not, and we need not, any carnal weapons, offensive or defensive. When
despised or reviled, we must neither despise nor revile again, much less must we
have recourse to the swords with which the world is wont to fight. Instead of
all this, there is something else given to the servants of God. “This is the
victory which overcometh the world, even our faith.”

True faith is always accompanied by the illuminating light of the Holy Spirit,
whose temples we are, and who always manifests himself as the Spirit of the
mighty God. Here is a divine some-thing that can do wonders. With this something
can babes and sucklings still the enemy and the avenger; and defenseless sheep
have often with it disarmed their most violent persecutors.

This is the true star of honor which gleams through the clothing of humility; as
it is better than all the wisdom of the wise and the cunning of the prudent, so
is it of more value than all the honor of the noble, than all the power of the
mighty. With it the most simple may remain steadfast against the most seductive
subtleties of false philosophy, and put to shame the whole array of abused
talents and learning.

This secret something, which Christians carry about with them; this unction from
the Holy One, which pervades their whole being; this sign of the Son of man, and
seal of the Lamb upon their foreheads, is the supernatural armor in which the
servants God do exploits, carry on their conflict with the world, the flesh, and
the devil; and, like their Saviour: “bring forth judgment unto victory.”

Yea let them beware of being exalted above measure. Our safety lies in being
ever lowly at feet of Jesus; and the spirit of his precept disciples may well
apply to us, “Rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather:
rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

All other joy, yes, even the joy at the victories we gain, tends to darken the
inward eye, and remove poverty and dependence from our view. But if the prize of
our high calling be continually kept before the eye of faith, its brightness
will make us see our own unworthiness.

Joy in our present gifts and endowments is mutable and evanescent, for they may
be wholly or in part withdrawn from us; but the joy of our fellowship with the
Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, is permanent; for we know that the
foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, “The Lord knoweth them that
are his, and he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself.”

O happy they whose names are written in the book of life, and doubly happy they
who rejoice in this, above their chief joy! Amen.

~ end of chapter 6 ~


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  CHAPTER 22: 02.07.     ELIJAH AND THE PEOPLE AT MOUNT CARMEL
========================================================================

Elijah and the People at Mount Carmel

CHAPTER SEVEN

It was a remarkable but wise decision that Solomon made in an extremely
difficult case which was once brought before him. Two women came to him with an
infant, to which they each asserted a mother’s claim; the one stating that the
child of the other woman having died, she had taken hers from her before she was
awake, and laid her own dead child in its place; whilst the other asserted that
the contrary was the truth, saying, “The dead child is hers, and the living is
mine;” they therefore besought the king to determine the matter.

But how was it to be done? The king calls for a sword, and on its being brought,
he said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to
the other. Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for
her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living
child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor
thine, but divide it.”

You are aware how the king, from these expressions of the two women, settled the
dispute and decided the cause (1 Kings 3:24-27). A better compassion than that
of a woman for her sucking child has God for his dear children, He, too, will
have them entirely as a whole living sacrifice, or not at all. He will not
consent to our being divided between himself and the world. The love he requires
is that of all the heart, all the soul, all the mind, all the strength.

Such, likewise, is the Requirement of our Lord Jesus Christ. “He that loveth
father or mother more than me, is not worthy me; and he that loveth son or
daughter more than me, is not worthy of me.”

We must be wholly the Lord’s. Such was Elijah himself, and such he taught others
to be, as we shall see by attending the portion of his history which is now to
be considered.

“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two
opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the
people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I
only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and
fifty men.

“Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for
themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and
I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: And
call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and
the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and
said, It is well spoken” (1 Kings 18:21-24). A great and ever-memorable scene is
here unfolded. The ancient controversy, whether the Lord be the one only and
true God, is now to be decided by himself. The passage before us, however, shows
only the preparation for this astonishing decision.

Here we have:

I. Elijah’s expostulation; II. His challenge;

III. His confidence of faith.

I. We are to transport our thoughts to the summit of mount Carmel

Below roars the sea on one side and bounds the view; on the other, the eye
stretches over the brook Kishon into the spacious plain of Esdraelon, where
mount Tabor is see in the distance, and still nearer, the little town of
Nazareth, while the lake of Genesaret glimmers there beyond in the blue horizon;
to the north we behold the mountains of Lebanon with their cloud-caped summits.
On the magnificent height of Carmel, so renowned of old for its fertility, there
is at present a monastery and a Turkish mosque, beside many subterranean
chapels, caverns, and grottos, appropriated to religion.

Hither, every year, on the supposed anniversary of the memorable day recorded in
the text, multitudes of Mohammedans and nominal Christians assemble to pay, in
common, religious homage to Elijah. How would Elijah himself deal again with
these priests of Baal, if he could once more return to the ancient scene of his
zeal and conflict? You are to behold him then at present on the heights of
Carmel, surrounded by the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal, the four
hundred prophets of the groves, who ate at Jezebel’s table, a lewd and
profligate race, by the idolatrous king and his pompous court, and by multitudes
of the poor, perishing, seduced people, awaiting, with anxious curiosity, the
transactions about to transpire.

These being assembled, Elijah appears before them upon the rising ground,
conspicuous to all; a plain man covered with a mantle.

He looks around him with a cheerful and undaunted countenance, while all are
silent to listen to his address. He then exclaims audibly to the whole assembly,
“How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; but if
Baal, follow him.”

The effect of this bold and serious address was a dead silence on the part of
the assembled multitude. They seem to have felt the power of his expostulation
concerning their doubt and indecision. With the court and the priesthood the
case was different; they were decided idolaters, who had sold themselves to work
wickedness in the service of Baal. But the people, perhaps, had not been able
entirely to forget what great things the Lord had done for their forefathers:
they could not bring themselves to renounce entirely all allegiance to him;
therefore they sought to persuade themselves that they were not idolaters in
reality, but worshipers of the true God under the name of Baal, confounded the
Lord God and Baal together, and invented a religion in which they gave
themselves to all the lusts and abominations of heathenism, but retained the
self-complacent notion that still walked in the way of their fathers; that
though the form of their worship might be a little different from that of their
ancestors, the substance was the same. What awful self-delusion! What pitiful
double-mindedness! Such were the people to whom Elijah addressed his
remonstrance. But if Elijah were now preaching amongst ourselves, would he not
still have to deliver many a severe animadversion upon halting, wavering,
instability? Surely he would not long endure to witness the double-mindedness
and indecision which prevails among professed Christians. Certainly we see some
decided characters on the one side, and on the other-on the path of death, as
well as on that of light and life-and as to the former sort, there is a decided
sentence against them already pronounced in the Word of God. But will it
eventually fare better with those who may be called borderers, who halt between
two opinions, who practically, at least, doubt which master they shall serve?
And O that the generation of these halting ones did not constitute the majority
among us! But, alas! Is it not so? Decided living unto God is surely no common
thing.

But what, dear brethren, is our supreme happiness? Is it not to enjoy fellowship
with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ? Is not this the one thing
needful? Let the Lord be your treasure; let him be your supreme love. “Love not
the world, neither the things that are in the world;” until it can be
demonstrated that these are your supreme good; that these can save and make you
happy; that these can redeem and comfort you. Could they indeed do so, then the
time you spend on religion would be entirely lost time. Make sure, therefore, of
your choice, and be decided as to how you mean to live and die.

If human existence be confined to this present life merely, and if we have
nothing beyond it to look for, then “let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we
die!” then “walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes;”
for why should we then lose time upon an imaginary thing, a nullity! But if this
is not our rest; if there be a world to come, an eternity hereafter, what means
our loitering upon the way, our settling down in the land of our pilgrimage? Be
therefore pilgrims and strangers decidedly; lay aside every sin-everything which
would impede your progress; esteem all such things as dross and dung, that ye
may enter in at the strait gate, and that the word Eternity may not at last be a
word of thunder to you. Surely it is well worthwhile to sacrifice all other
cares to this one-of escaping eternal punishment, and becoming partakers of
everlasting happiness. To act half as children of time, and half as children of
eternity brings with it entire death. If the word of God be true, submit
yourselves to it in all things, even in those which are ever so opposed to our
corrupt nature and wayward desires. Believe it heartily, both in its promises
and its threatening. But if ye are wiser than God, then show it decidedly; only
do not halt, for that is irrational and absurd, and do not mix light and
darkness together.

Neither attempt to compromise between God and the world. If Christianity be of
God, decide for it with body and soul; embrace the cross; be willing to suffer
affliction with the despised people of God; forsake the pomps, pleasures and
vanities of the world, and employ all your endeavors to promote the kingdom and
glory of Christ. Do not waver between the righteousness of Christ, and your own.
Which of the two will avail you in the judgment?

If it be only the righteousness of Christ, then value yourselves no longer on
your own supposed virtues, as many do, with whom we cannot belong in company
without hearing of the good works they have done and are doing, both of humanity
and religion. Neither be undecided as to the choice of your friends and
associates; for “he that is not with me,” saith Christ, “is against me; and he
that gathereth not with me, scattered.”

And the Holy Ghost, by his apostle, saith, “Be not unequally yoked together with
unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and
what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with
Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement
hath the temple God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God
hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and
they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate,
saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and
will be a Father unto you, and ye shall he my sons and daughters, saith the Lord
Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).

“And the people,” it is said, “answered Elijah not a word;” they perceived, no
doubt, that his remonstrance was well founded, and his expostulation just. And
does not our remonstrance, made to you upon it, commend itself to your
consciences?

II. Whether the Lord be God, or Baal be God, rests not now with Elijah to
determine The Lord God himself will answer that question. Elijah proceeds, “I,
even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred
and fifty men!”

God be thanked that he was not the only man of God then living in Israel; he,
however, was the only one at that time who stood up among them publicly to
maintain the Lord’s cause against his adversaries; the rest were either slain,
or banished, or concealed in dens and caves of the earth.

Imagine, then, Elijah’s situation at this time. Among the whole concourse at
Carmel he knew not a single brother in the land except Obadiah; not one besides
who was likeminded with himself, not one who made common cause with him, or kept
him in countenance. Think what it must be for a man thus to stand alone in the
midst of a host of strangers. What an overwhelming power is there in the sight
of such a multitude of opponents to abash and discourage! But our prophet blooms
in this moral desert like the rose; yea, he flames like a meteor in the troubled
sky. The peace of God is within him; his heart is at ease; he breathes freely;
his tongue does not falter. He is cheerfully bold to testify the name of the
Lord his God before this untractable and deluded multitude because he is truly
zealous only for the honor of God and simply devoted to that one thing.

We, my brethren, should not be so easily daunted and confounded in our
confession of Christ before men, were we simply and unreservedly devoted to him,
and not secretly concerned also for our own credit and reputation. But, alas, we
have too little love to the God of our life, to the God of all grace, who hath
“called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus.” Were we but wholly given up
to the simplicity of love, we should prove invincible; for “many waters cannot
quench love, neither can the floods drown it.”

“Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.” You are aware, brethren, how
much there is in the feeling of being overpowered by numbers, to inject the
doubt, “Am I, then, the only person in the right, and all these in the wrong?”
How easily are we thus induced to make the gate of the kingdom of heaven
somewhat wider, and the narrow way somewhat broader; to give up this or that
particular portion of the truth, and not to be so very precise and exact in the
cause of the Gospel.

But Elijah was clearly above the influence and operation of circumstances like
these. He was sure of the justice of his cause, and though the whole world had
thought differently from himself, he had no mind to compromise, or to give
place-no, not for an hour; and why? Because he able to say, “I know in whom I
have believed.” He was an experimental believer, whose faith was interwoven with
his existence arid happiness.

“Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.” As if he would say, “This
maketh no matter to me; no, nor even though they were as many thousands; for we
shall soon decide the point with them.” He had faith to behold more engaged for
him than all that could be against him.

III. The people at mount Carmel are all on the full stretch of expectation,
while Elijah addresses them upon the preparations to be made, and the purpose to
be answered by them

“Let them therefore give us,” he added, “two bullocks; and let them choose one
bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no
fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no
fire under: and call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of
the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people
answered and said, It is well spoken.”

They agreed to the proposal; some from curiosity, to see what would happen;
others, in the hope that Baal would gain the victory; but some few, perhaps,
from a real desire to be certain whether the Lord was the true God. What a
hazardous proposal this appears on the part of Elijah! He ventured the whole
credit of the Lord’s worship upon the issue of it. But he acted really at no
hazard; he was assured that his gracious God would not leave nor forsake him.
The world had already received more than one answer by fire; so that it ought
not to have required another: but one more such answer still awaits this evil
world; “the earth and the works that are therein shall be burnt up” (2 Peter
3:10).

- God answered by fire when the first transgressions when cherubim and a flaming
sword were planted at gate of Paradise. - God answered Sodom and Gomorrah by
fire, and the shores of the Dead Sea retain the traces of it at this day. - By a
fiery vision God confirmed his promises to Abraham, when a smoking furnace and a
burning lamp passed between the pieces of the sacrifice. - From the of fire in
the bush God spake unto Moses; and of the fire, clouds, and thick darkness, he
spake to Israel on mount Sinai. - By fire he answered transgression of Nadab and
Abihu, the two elder sons of Aaron, who in their priestly capacity offered
strange fire unto the Lord; for “there went out fire from the Lord and devoured
them, and they died before the Lord.” - By fire as well as earthquake God
answered Israel in the matter of Korah; for “there came out a fire from the Lord
and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.” - By fire God
answered Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple; for the fire came
down and the glory of the Lord filled the house (2 Chronicles 7:2-3). - God
likewise answered the waiting apostles at Pentecost, by cloven tongues as of
fire.

“And the God that answereth by fire, let him be God.”

Let us spiritually apply this to ourselves. The fire of the Holy Spirit is the
witness of God in every true believer. This fire consumes the dross of his
corruptions, and warms, cheers, and enlightens his soul. He that is insensible
to the testimony of this witness, is still dead in trespasses and sins.

Let us show then that our hearts burn within us, by the spirit of our life and
conversation before God and man.

May the Lord Jesus inscribe his name on our hearts in the flaming letters of his
love, that he may not see it necessary to write it in our ashes in the eternally
glowing characters of his just displeasure. For he will answer and declare his
name to the adversaries, by the fire that is prepared for the devil and his
angels; in order that every creature, either with the voice of rejoicing or in
the language of self-condemnation, may give him the glory. The Lord, he is God,
and his name endureth forever. Amen!

~ end of chapter 7 ~


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  CHAPTER 23: 02.08.     THE DECISION AT MOUNT CARMEL
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The Decision at Mount Carmel

CHAPTER EIGHT

“To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” So spake the Holy
Ghost, by the mouth of David, to the thousands of Israel; Psalms 95:7-8; and
again, by the apostle, to the Christian church; Hebrews 3:15; and let us, dear
brethren, seriously lay these words to heart.

What is this hardening of the heart? It is having minds unconcerned about God’s
testimonies; it is allowing ourselves to live in practical unbelief. Judicial
hardness arises from resisting one divine and gracious call after another, and
overcoming one holy influence after another, through unbelief. The more favored
we are with means and ordinances, the more danger there is of becoming hardened.
The greatest numbers of hardened, as well as of converted persons, are generally
found under the most faithful preaching of the Gospel.

There are those among us who do not cleave with full purpose of heart unto the
Lord. They have already succeeded in resisting many a gracious call which was
made to them, and in again shaking off many a conviction which had fastened on
them. O that the demonstration of the Spirit and of power may be now vouchsafed
unto us that we may become as surely convinced that the Lord is our God, as the
Israelites at Carmel, whose further circumstances we are now about to consider,
were convinced, by the answer of fire from heaven, that “The Lord, he is the
God!”

“And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for
yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your
gods, but put no fire under. And they took the bullock which was given them, and
they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon,
saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they
leaped upon the altar which was made.

“And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for
he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or
peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, and cut
themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out
upon them.

“And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time
of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any
to answer, nor any that regarded.

“And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came
near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. And
Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of
Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:
And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a
trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he
put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood,
and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and
on the wood. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second
time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the
water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.

“And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that
Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of
Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy
servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O LORD,
hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou
hast turned their heart back again.

“Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood,
and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The
LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God. And Elijah said unto them, Take
the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah
brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there” (1 Kings 18:25-40).

What are our reflections after reading this wonderful narrative of sacred
history? Is not the answer of the Lord powerful and full of majesty? Yes, the
voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire; the voice of the Lord shaketh the
wilderness. May we really feel its power and majesty! Here we see, I. How poor a
god is that of the ignorant and infatuated world!

Elijah had made his proposal; both parties were to sacrifice a bullock, and each
was to call on the name of his God. “God,” said Elijah, “that answereth by fire,
let him be God.” And all the people agreed to it. “It is well spoken,” cried
they, as with one voices; and thus the important moment was now come, which
should once for all decide whether there be a God in heaven, and who he was.
Elijah lost no time. He said unto the prophets of Baal, “Choose you one bullock
for yourselves, and dress it first, for ye are many; and call on the name of
your gods.”

He gives them the precedency on account of numbers; “ye are many,” you have the
majority on “your side. Yes, my brethren, this has always been the case in the
present evil world, that the majority have taken the wrong side; and they so
outnumber the little flock of Christ on earth, that they could, as it were,
swallow them up, if the safety of the latter depended on their numbers. “Ye are
many!” Yes, indeed, numerous as weeds of an uncultivated field; vessels of wrath
every where; all Israel, except seven thousand, a remnant only preserved; all
the rest in Samaria, and her towns and villages alienated from the life of God.

And is it not just the same in many Christian countries at present? True it is,
in this world they have the upper hand, and not without reason, for the prince
of this world is their monarch. Hence they are honored and looked up to, and we
are the offscouring of the people; they are the great and the wise, and we the
fools. They are the party that have the judgment of the public in their favor,
and the voice of the greatest geniuses, and of the most brilliant talents, and
the applause of the public journals-and we! ah, if any one takes our part, he
thinks he is doing a most condescending work of benevolence.

We stand as a sort of criminals before the great public, and have no advocate
but Him who was in the form of a servant, and who, instead of defending our
cause before the world, tells us that “his kingdom is not of this world,” and
bids us look to the future for our consolation. What wonder is it that we appear
utterly wretched and ridiculous to the world, when the very Judge, to whom we
appeal, is one whom they have, long ago crucified. Well, be it so, ye sons and
daughters of the father of lies! Be the first, and have the superiority-for ye
are many. The Lord is at hand! But to return to the narrative, the priests of
Baal make preparation for the sacrifice. This they were obliged to do on account
of the people. Probably they would rather have let it alone. If they taught the
people to worship Baal against their own better knowledge, how wretched must
they now have felt while they cut up and dressed their bullock! So that they
would have been glad to be themselves placed in the victim’s stead to escape the
inexpressible shame and disgrace which they were now bringing upon themselves.
But such a season of the most horrible confusion in the face of their own
congregations, shall eventually seize upon all hypocritical and lying priests,
however they may now deceive and mislead the people at their altars or from
their pulpits. The sacrifice, being prepared, they begin to cry aloud, “O Baal!
hear us!” and when one of them is hoarse and exhausted, another begins and
cries, “O Baal! hear us!” and if his faith fail him, a third rallies his
drooping spirits and shrieks out, “O Baal! hear us!”

One fixes his eyes on the clouds; a second looks down into the depths to see
whether the longed-for flame will not burst forth; and another hearkens intently
to hear it rumble in the ground beneath him. But though they wait with
desponding countenances, from morning until noon, and from noon until the time
of the offering of the evening sacrifice, it is all in vain, the cry of their
frenzy dies in the echoes of the mountains. “There was neither voice, nor any to
answer, nor any that regarded.”

There lies the sacrifice on Baal’s altar, still unconsumed! At last they begin
to be desperate, and to act like mad men. They leap upon the sacrifice, as if to
provoke Baal to anger, and to call forth fire from him in consequence of it. Or
else the meaning is, that they perform a frantic religious dance about the
altar, after the manner of Baal’s orgies. Be this as it may, there is no notice
preternaturally signified of it either in heaven or on earth.

A miserable deity indeed-a mere nonentity was their idol itself; for “an idol is
nothing in world.”

And does the favorite deity of this enlightened age deserve any better name?

Is the god of the Bible-hating and froward generation of the present day-is the
god of most of our philosophers and poets, of our politicians and journalists-is
the god of very many of our seminaries and universities, professors and
students-is the god of our modern scientific institutions-is the god of our
polished circles and of our fashionable assemblies in which it is regarded as
disreputable to have even the appearance of adhering to the God of the Bible-is
such a god any better, anything more real than the deity of Baal of old? What
mean those fashionable expressions which we hear every where substituted for the
name of God, the revealed Lord? I mean the expressions “heaven,” “fortune,” and
such like. How came these expressions to be so in use, except as a flimsy veil
to hide the aversion men have to the name and the Word of God? How do they hate
to hear of anything like divine communication and manifestation of answers to
prayer, of Divine influence on the heart, or communion with God, of experience
of his presence-these are mere fabulous and absurd notions to them-these they
esteem as mere delusion-proof enough that, with their god, there is neither
voice, nor answer, nor attention-proof enough that what they call heaven, and
fortune, and fate, denotes a mere nonentity.

And is this indeed the God of our rationalists, and so many of our literary men
and illuminated dreamers! It is; and the belief of no better a god than this
spreads from them; through all ranks; and no marvel; for a god such us this,
that cannot concern himself about the affairs of men, of course will suffer a
thousand sins and excesses to take place without being offended; and this is the
very thing they want: that the service of the flesh may be a thing allowed; that
falsehood, deceit, and flattery may stand as commendable prudence, and the most
voluptuous dance be regarded as an innocent amusement; they wish for a god to
whom it is indifferent what a man thinks and believes-a god by whose name any
one may, with impunity, swear falsely; a god in whose presence a man need not be
ashamed of any loose discourse, nor blush at any impure lust.

Behold, such is the god of this perverse generation! I speak not of all but of
the majority. Such is their universal father, as they would gladly conceive him
to be: yes this conceited, Bible-hating, and falsely rational generation! Woe
unto them; for what will they the end thereof, in that day when their fear
cometh, when distress and anguish cometh upon them? Then their cry will be no
better than that of “Beal, hear us!” and such will their pretended prayers to
God be found to have been all their life long. For the god whom they now profess
to serve is no God but only an imagination of their own. For true is that which
the Holy Ghost saith by the apostle John, “He that abideth not in the doctrine
of Christ, hath not God” (2 John 1:9). Tremble then at this word of the Lord,
all ye who have not the God of the Bible, who have not God in Christ, for ye are
“without hope, and without God in the world;” ye are practical atheists. But to
return to Carmel. There is no end, at present, to the outcry and idolatrous
poise. Elijah stands by and surveys the tumult. How must his heart have been
ready to break with compassion; yet what a holy indignation must he have felt
within him! Then, again, how foolish and ludicrous must the scene have appeared!
“And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said,

“Cry aloud; forasmuch as he is a god: either he is talking, or he is pursuing,
or he is on a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.”

Perhaps he has his head and his hands so full, that he neither hears nor sees
you. Perhaps he is engaged in meditating some undertaking, or arranging the
thunder and lightning; or else he is not at home, but engaged in the chase; or
perhaps he has laid himself down a little, and is asleep; cry aloud, and awake
him!

Yes, just as there are doubts which must be expelled, not by reasons and
arguments, but as one of the primitive fathers says, peremptorily with such an
expression as “fie, fie,” which we should use to children; and just as there are
cares which are best removed by a smile, so there are absurdities and errors to
which a little well-timed irony is the best reply.

Where reasons no longer avail, and where proofs are no longer acknowledged, such
irony may occasionally serve a useful purpose. Something like it is met with in
Isaiah 44:1-28; and there, also, it is leveled at the sottishness of idolatry.

What can be done with obstinate, self-conceited people, who, perhaps, do not
once give themselves the trouble to read the Gospel and examine it? Why should
we contend long with such about the truth, seeing that all men have not faith;
nor is it communicable, like an article of merchandise. Perhaps it is better to
advise such persons to “stay at Jericho till their beards are grown;” and to say
no more. Human nature in the obstinate, ignorant and self-conceited, is
sometimes more caught hold of by brevity like this, than by ever so long and
serious an address. Are you disposed to blame Elijah for being able to mock and
use irony during such a momentous scene? If so, you are wrong. He discovers here
a free and unruffled state of mind; an inward confidence and cheerfulness about
the truth and justice of his cause; a certainty of success, and that the true
and living God will not forsake him. If there had been the smallest doubt, the
least uncertainty in his soul, he would certainly have indulged no disposition
to irony. But what is the effect of it upon Baal’s prophets and votaries? It
excites their vexation and impatience to the highest degree. Baal must hear
now-he must come forth, whether he will or no. Their cry to Baal is now intense;
they draw out their knives and lancets and lacerate their bodies, according to
heathen custom, until they stream with blood; as if they had still retained some
remnant of the ancient maxim, that “without shedding of blood there is no
remission.”

With their sinful blood they think to induce Baal to hear and answer them; and
then they begin to prophesy-that is, to make all kinds of enthusiastic motions,
and to rave and mutter forth horrible incantations. But there was no voice, nor
any that answered, nor any that regarded-all was in vain.

And even with the living God himself, my brethren, such excitements of spirit,
and forced ecstasies and devotions are not the way to gain an answer to our
prayers. However much you may excite yourselves, the Lord has no pleasure in
such sacrifices. Mere solemnity of countenance, bowing down our bodies, praying
ourselves hoarse, spending whole hours in mere will-worship, are not the things
to propitiate God: and as long as you think so, you receive no answer from him.

III. This unavailing cry of the idolaters was continued from the morning until
the time of the evening sacrifice

Then Elijah stood forth in simplicity and uprightness, without pomp and show,
with a tranquil countenance and a firm deportment; so that everyone might well
presume that he was a prophet of the true God. “And Elijah said unto all the
people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him,” both priests
and people: the former in utter dismay, the latter in eager expectation.

On the top of Carmel lay the ruins of an altar, here called the altar of the
Lord. It had probably been built there in better times, and had been thrown down
by the idolaters. This altar Elijah now repaired; as if he meant to say, “May
God restore thee, O Israel! May God restore thee, thou mournfully dilapidated
sanctuary of the Lord!” For what Elijah now did had a significant meaning. He
took twelve stones, according to the number of the twelve tribes of Israel, in
order to rebuild with them the altar in the name of the Lord. This was
figuratively to say, God will perform his promise to Jacob, and will keep his
covenant with him whom he surnamed by the name of Israel.”

About the altar Elijah cast a trench-and then prepared the wood, dressed the
bullock, and laid it upon it. And might not he who afterwards spoke of Christ’s
decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem, now have sighed ‘“O that thou
wouldest soon prepare thy sacrifice, thou Priest of God, that offering which
perfects for ever them that are sanctified!” He commanded that water should be
poured on the wood, and on the sacrifice, in order that the miracle might be the
more unquestionable, and no one be able to object, as if fire had been secretly
applied, “Fill four barrels with water,” said he, “and pour it on the burnt
sacrifice, and on the wood. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it
the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third
time. And the water ran about the altar; and he filled the trench also with
water.” The preparations are now completed. A secret awe thrills through the
assembled multitude: deep silence prevails. “And it came to pass at the time of
the offering of the evening sacrifice (which with us about three o’clock in the
afternoon, a solemn and important hour, the ninth hour, as it is called in the
evangelists) that Elijah the prophet came (near to the altar) and said, Lord,
God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God
in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at
thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that, people may know that thou art the Lord
God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again!”

Elijah calls God by his name, Lord God, which he had given himself in the
beginning, to denote his condescending and compassionate love to fallen man; he
calls him “the God of Abraham, Isaac and of Israel,” that he might excite in the
hearts of this backslidden people a bumbling remembrance of all the good which
the Lord had shown to them and to their fathers from ancient times, by his own
grace.

Elijah prays, “Let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I
am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at by word.”

The honor of God is his supreme desire. He would also have his own mission
confirmed in the eyes of the people, and he added, “Hear me, O Lord, hear me;”
expressive of the fervency and earnestness of his spirit, “that this people may
know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back
again.”

The glory of God and the salvation of the people- these two things formed the
entire object of all that the prophet did and said. And what shall we admire the
most in this prayer-the prophet’s zeal for God’s glory, or the ardor of his love
for the degraded house of Israel-his astonishing boldness in asking such great
things, or his firm confidence in not doubting that God would testify to his own
cause? No: we wonder most at the unspeakable grace of God, which teaches a
handful of dust and ashes, as man is, thus to believe, love, and pray, to him be
the glory. And now, what ensues? Mysterious moment! The whole revelation of God
is at stake. If no answer follows, the whole fabric falls in, and the ground of
our hope is gone. Then all that Elijah has testified-all that the prophets have
spoken before him, and which Elijah has confirmed-will be accounted a delusion;
and the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Israel will be no longer regarded! The
prayer is uttered. The silence of death reigns in the assembly-every heart beats
high- in every face is the extreme of expectation; when lo! The answer comes;
the Amen is given; the fire of heaven descends, in the sight of every one,
directly upon the altar, consumes the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and
the earth, and licks up the water in the trench. “And when all the people saw
it, they fell on their faces: and they said, the Lord, he is the God; the Lord,
he is the God.” Elijah’s faith is crowned, the foolish priests are put to shame,
and all the gods, which are not the God of the Bible, are confounded and
annihilated.

Ah, what has not the merciful God, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Israel
performed, to bring us to the knowledge of himself, and to faith in him! Has he
not spoken to us without end, in nature and in the Scriptures; by creation,
providence, and revelation; by arguments and figures; by prophets, apostles, and
ministers; by signs and wonders of every kind, in the most intelligible manner,
condescending to our weak capacities, as a most merciful Father; and yet, how
few are there that really know him! how few give him glory!

O ye untoward and perverse generation of this world, come near-come near! Behold
not only the testimony by which the Lord answered Elijah upon Carmel, but
likewise all the testimonies in which the Lord has made himself known.

We will place some of them before you, so that you may once more see and
remember them. He has given living testimonies of himself, by thousands; and
that which he gave in these last days, when he spake unto us by his Son, was not
the last. Look at the altar of his church built upon himself as pillar and
basis, and on the twelve living stones of the apostles. Look at the sanctuary of
God, its ability, its age, its extent, where the life and light of the Holy
Spirit, that fire of the Lord, never goes out day or night; is not this
spiritual temple an abiding proof that the Lord liveth?

Look at every stone of this building- every converted sinner.

- Here was also a ruined altar; but see, it is restored: - Here was also a
surrounding trench of thousandfold sins, ensnarements, connections, and
obstacles, which closed the entrance against the Lord; but lo! His fire has
penetrated. - Here were also stones-a hard heart and an unteachable mind; - Here
was also wood and earth- deadness, carnality, and darkness; But the flame of the
Lord has consumed the earth, the wood, and the stone, and dried up the floods of
ungodliness; and the desolated ruin is become a memorial of the glory of God.

Yet how few believe our report; and to how few is the arm of the Lord thus
revealed in the present day! Nevertheless, whether men believe it or not, they
shall be surrounded with the testimonies of Israel as with a wall, so that only
two things will remain to them-either to cry, “The Lord, he is the God!” or, as
real children of Belial, to declare that they will have nothing to do with the
Lord. It will thus at least come to a decision. Whosoever this day returns home
from mount Carmel, without caring to have it said in his heart, “The Lord, he is
the God!” let him hesitate no longer to take his place in the ranks of those who
are of their father the devil, the god of this world, who blindeth the eyes of
them that believe not. The people on mount Carmel gave glory to the God of
Israel; but the priests having hardened their hearts from his fear, and
remaining still prophets of Baal, were therefore ripe for destruction. And
Elijah said unto the people, “Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them
escape.” The people are ready enough to do it; for they perceive the abominable
deception which these destroyers of souls had practiced upon them. They fall
upon them, drag them down, at Elijah’s command, to the brook Kishon, and assist
the man of God in destroying them. However painful this execution must have been
to the tender and compassionate heart of the prophet, and how many thousand
times soever he would have preferred being God’s instrument of these men’s
conversion rather than of their destruction, yet, because the honor of God
demanded it, he could deny his human feelings, and be obedient, notwithstanding
natural tenderness and gracious compassion. I say, obedient; for in the law of
God, given by Moses, Deuteronomy 13:6; Deuteronomy 13:9, it is expressly said,
“If any one will entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods,
which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; thou shalt surely kill him;
thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand
of all the people.”

This express command of the Lord, the prophet was obliged unhesitatingly to
obey, however much his feelings might rise against it; for he was appointed of
God to contend zealously for the law, to reestablish the statutes of the Lord in
Israel, and to restore the tables of mount Sinai to their ancient honor. And it
is not fit that a servant of the Lord should in such a case confer with flesh
and blood. “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth,” is the language the obedient
spirit.

Christ has introduced another dispensation under the New Testament; and the
summary punishments of the Old Testament have been exchanged for longsuffering.
Hence the righteous and the wicked grow on together until the harvest; but were
the same mode of procedure adopted now as in the days of Moses and Elijah, there
would be no end of the slaughter; so numerous are the votaries of Baal, even in
the midst of a church which is called protestant and evangelical.

But the Woe pronounced against them “will surely come, it will not tarry” beyond
“the appointed time.” He from Bozrah, traveling in the greatness of his
strength, who is red in his apparel, will come, in his holy providence, and put
in motion the winepress of his wrath. His glittering sword is bathed in heaven,
he hath bent his bow and made it ready for the overthrow and destruction of all
seducers.

Go on, ye hirelings and grievous wolves, in your thousand places of concourse,
and persuade your poor flocks to sacrifice unto other gods than Him whom Abraham
called his Lord, and whose goings wore heard on the mountains of Israel. Go on,
ye corrupters of youth, ye blind leaders of the blind, and, amidst the plaudits
of the ignorant and ungodly, despise the sovereignty of the Ancient of days,
that may imagine on his throne a being of your own defining, that ye may dream
the Almighty to be such a one as yourselves. Go on, ye people of rank and
fashion, and proudly sneer at the true incarnate Jehovah of the Bible, and pay
your worship to the wisdom of the day!

Alas! The angel is already flying through the midst of heaven, and crying, “Woe!
Woe! Woe! To the inhabitants of the earth!” The sword is already drawn to slay
you, the pile of Tophet ordained of old is already erected, on which forsaken by
your imaginary gods, you will become flaming monuments forever of the divine
justice, and of all holy vengeance.

Oh, it is fearful indeed to fall into the hands of the living God; for he is a
consuming fire. I beseech you, lay it to heart; he is a jealous God and a
consuming fire!

But thou, Israel, take the harp, rejoice and be glad; thy God liveth! Carmel and
Golgotha, heaven and earth, vie with each other in showing forth, “Thy God
liveth!” Join in the song, O Israel! and cry aloud as with the voice of a
trumpet, laying one hand on thy heart and lifting up the other on high, “My
Lord, he is the God!” the everlasting King! This shall be known in all the
earth! Amen.

~ end of chapter 8 ~


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  CHAPTER 24: 02.09.     THE PRAYER ON MOUNT CARMEL
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The Prayer on Mount Carmel

CHAPTER NINE

We have already had three remarkable instances, in Elijah’s history, of the
efficacy of the fervent prayer of the righteous man.

- First, “he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the
earth by the space of three years and months.” - Secondly, he prayed for the
restoration of the widow’s son, and the child was restored to life. - Thirdly,
he prayed for the answer by fire to consume the sacrifice, and to decide the
controversy with Baal and his priests.

And now we have him praying again, and the heaven gives rain, and the land once
more brings forth her fruit. Let us here learn the blessing of walking with God,
and conversing with the Keeper of Israel by continual prayer.

“And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of
abundance of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to
the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face
between his knees, And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And
he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven
times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there
ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up,
say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee
not. And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with
clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.
And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran
before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. (1 Kings 18:41-46). The fire has borne
its testimony; the waters now speak. In how many and various ways does our
gracious God testify of himself, that he is the living God of providence. This,
also, is done in answer to the Prayer of Elijah. Here is,

I. The preparation for prayer;

II. The prayer itself;

III. The answer to it.

We are to imagine ourselves at the foot of Mount Carmel, in the plain below,
where the prophets of Baal were slain. Those idolatrous priests have fallen by
the hand of Elijah and his new followers, and their blood is mingled with the
brook Kishon; and praise redounds to God, who is holy in all his ways, and who
is glorified by the overthrow of his enemies, as well as by the hallelujahs of
his friends.

Three years and a half had the heavens been shut up from yielding a drop of
water to the thirsty land of Israel. What an appearance must the face of the
country now have presented! All vegetation parched and burnt up; man and beast
reduced to skeletons, and all flesh faded like the grass. They who had now
become believers in God must have been filled with unusual terror. They had
attained to the knowledge of him amidst the thunders of his judgments; he had
appeared as in flames of fire.

Even for the sake of these poor trembling sheep, our prophet was heartily
desirous that his Lord and God should again show his goodness and
lovingkindness. He longed earnestly, that for the glory of God and the people’s
good the brazen skies should now dissolve in abundance of rain, and the season
of famine and distress terminate. For this purpose it was necessary that Elijah
should speak to God. The prayer of faith was to him what the staff was to Moses,
with which he divided the Red Sea and struck water from the flinty rock.

Ahab appears to have remained with the people by the brook Kishon, and to have
witnessed everything, even the slaying of his priests-not without a partial
assent, for Ahab was evidently a weak capricious tyrant, destitute of character,
and governed and molded by present circumstances. The miracle on Carmel, and the
enthusiastic cry of the people, “The Lord, he is the God!” had not left his
heart unmoved, but made a momentary impression; so that he might have even
thought at the time, “Be it so, that the Lord is God!” But his heart was not
changed; no true faith had taken possession of it. Many a one may have
impressions from what is taking place around him, so as to be moved by them for
a time; but he soon recovers his former state of mind, and goes on afterwards
just as if nothing had happened. Such was the case with Ahab and others, at the
fiery testimony on Carmel.

Elijah, about to retire for prayer, wished to be relieved from the company of
Ahab and his attendants, and he said unto him, “Get thee up, eat and drink; for
there is a sound of abundance of rain.”

In these words we cannot help discerning a bitter reproof given to the wretched
monarch. It looks as if he had said, “Thy carnal ease is thy principal care; now
take it; it will not much longer be disturbed by drought and famine.” It was
also a cutting reproof, as implying that the king’s presence was not wanted;
especially while Elijah was about to converse with his God. And does it not
convey a touching reproof to any of us, if the children of God are obliged to
become mute and monosyllabic on our entering their company, and immediately turn
the discourse upon the weather, politics, or the news of the day? Is it not a
Divine admonition to us, when we cannot help feeling that we are burdensome to
them, that we interrupt them, and when it is gently hinted to us that we do not
perhaps feel ourselves quite at home, that we are rather out of our element?

Yes, to be thus sent away from Christian society, and banished as it were from
the sanctuary of God, is surely a foretaste of future judgments. And how many
amongst you must daily swallow the bitter pill of being told, in one way or
another, “Get thee up, eat and drink;” “we should be glad to be without you; we
cannot go on comfortably while you are present.”

“Get thee up,” said Elijah; and added “for there is a sound of abundance of
rain;” a sound of a rustling, as is usual before an approaching storm, in the
tops of the trees and upon the waters. Whether he heard it only in faith, with
the ear of the spirit, or whether God rendered his bodily hearing so acute that
he really heard it from afar in the elements, or in the higher regions of the
air, we need not inquire. It is enough that he heard it, and it sounded to him
like the tolling of the bell of prayer, even as a forerunning Amen to the
aspirations for which he was preparing himself; and it strengthened him in the
hope that his will, in desiring rain, was one with the will of God, who would
now send rain.

My brethren, we sometimes hear such a sound also; and whenever we hear it, let
it be to us what it was to Elijah-a summon to prayer. It ought to be so to us,
according to God’s intention. When, at any time, the preaching of the truth is
blessed to a church, and the word reaches the soul- when a movement appears in a
congregation, and a general excitement prevails-when tears of emotion flow, and
people meet together and say. “What a powerful, impressive sermon!” there is
then a rustling, and it is then time, ye children of God, to lift up your hands
and pray, that after the sound, the rain may come.

Again, when some judgment has occurred in the neighborhood; when a barren
fig-tree has been unexpectedly cut down before our eyes; when a scorner has been
evidently smitten by Providence, that the simple may beware; or whatever it be,
when the whole neighborhood is alarmed, and unbelievers themselves are obliged
to confess that the hand of God is visible- then pray that it may not stop
there.

When you are informed that one individual is desiring the sincere milk of the
Gospel, and that another has risen up from the seat of the scornful, and shows
an inclination to come amongst the people of God; when you perceive that among
the members of your household there is an inquiry after eternal things, and that
your children begin to hear gladly of the Lord Jesus; then, then the sound
reaches your ears; then it is time to lift up your heart in prayer.

Yes: be watchful, ye children of God! never fall asleep on the walls of Zion,
keep your ears attentive, and listen in every direction-in the church and in
your houses, among your friends and relatives; and when you hear the rustling,
even if but faintly and as at a distance, go immediately to your closet, fall
down at God’s footstool, stretch out your hands and cry, “O Lord, We will not
let thee go, unless thou pour upon us the gracious rain of thine inheritance.”

And the same course should be pursued when there begins to be a rustling, not
merely amongst others, but in your ownselves; when it thunders and lightens in
your own darkness; when a word strikes you, and a ray of light comes into your
soul; when the glory of Christ is more clearly manifested to your mind, and your
soul enjoys a foretaste of his grace, then give the more diligence to make your
calling and election sure. The rustling is not the rain itself; but it is the
forerunner of the rain, an vine summons to prayer. O, regard it as such!

While Elijah was thus employed, Ahab, we are told, went up “to eat and to
drink.” Miserable man! after all the great and heart-affecting scenes of the
day, he felt just as if he had witnessed an interesting, though somewhat tedious
comedy, after which refreshment is welcome, and food is relished. Would that
such characters were not too common even at present! Many among us are not a
whit better than Ahab. But a fearful woe awaits those who suffer the most
powerful testimonies, the loudest calls to repentance, and the most affecting
works of God to pass before them like a shadow or a dream. They please
themselves with such things for a while, as with a “pleasant song” or beautiful
painting; but carry nothing away with them from our churches and meetings,
except perhaps a feeling of the length of the service, or some topic for
conversational display, together with a good appetite for the next carnal meal.
Yes, this is all; though perhaps in the morning the Lord by his Spirit has
answered as with fire before their eyes and ears. However, we will not detain
them; let them “go, eat, and drink!”

II. When Ahab was gone, Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; in spirit, however,
we find him descending into the valley of humiliation On Carmel’s summit, where
all was calm and still, as in a solitary closet, no unbidden guests followed
him; there he could converse uninterruptedly with the Lord. On the top of
Carmel, too, he could the sooner perceive if his prayer was heard; and he stood
there, on a lofty watch-tower, from whence he could widely survey both sea and
land. However, he does not seem to have made much use of this commanding view;
for, on reaching the summit, he kneels down, closes his eyes, bends his head
forwards towards his knees, and in this posture he begins to address the Lord,
and to pray for rain.

Behold him! Would it be supposed that this is the man who, a short time before,
stood upon Carmel as a vicegerent of God, seemingly empowered with a command
over the elements? Yet be now humbles himself in the dust, under the feeling of
his own poverty and weakness. What does his whole demeanor express but abasement
and consciousness of his littleness and unworthiness! But it was the will of God
that we should for once behold his great prophet in such a situation, and
overhear him in his closet, in order to teach us where his strength really lay;
to show us that it has been God’s rule, from ancient times, to work with weak
instruments, and to do wonders by bruised reeds, in order that we might see
whence even an Elijah derived his greatness; and not be tempted to place the
honor and glory upon the head of man, instead of laying it at the feet of him to
whom it belongs; and that we might feel the force of that encouraging sentence
of the apostle James, “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are.”

When Elijah stood before the people, he was God’s ambassador, and as such, had
to speak and to act in virtue of his high commission; but when he stood before
God, he was a poor sinner and a worm, who was only able to live by mercy, and
had nothing to demand, but was obliged to beg everything at the throne of grace.

On the summit of Carmel the feeling of his unworthiness seems to have quite
overwhelmed him. How could it be otherwise, when he looked back upon the events
of that day, and upon the whole course of his life to that moment!

What success had been granted him, in the fulfillment of his desires and
prayers. What succor, what preservation, what answers had he experienced! And
who was he? He will have it confessed before God and men, how unworthy he is of
the least of all these mercies; how willing he is regard himself as the chief of
sinners. And in this consciousness he appears before the Lord, entreating again
a new wonder, although the altar is still smoking from the fiery testimony which
the Lord at his request had so recently given. When Elijah had wrestled awhile
with God in the depth of self-abasement and poverty of spirit, in a manner which
perhaps few of us know from experience-for all believers do not tread in a path
of such a deep and thorough humiliation-he said unto his servant, “Go up now,”
that is, to the declivity of the mountain, “and look towards the sea!”

He placed him, as it were, on the watchtower, to look out and inform him when
his prayer was beginning to be answered by a sign of rain becoming visible in
the distant horizon. For, he was certain of a favorable answer, in faith on the
word and truth of Him who had said to him at Zarephath, “Go, show thyself to
Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth!”

The servant went, looked out in the distance, and cast his eyes about on all
sides; but the sky was as clear as crystal-not a cloud to be seen. He came back,
and said, “I see nothing.” But it is a matter of daily experience, that help
does not appear at the first cry, nor is the harvest reaped the moment after the
sowing time of prayer. This is certainly not agreeable to flesh and blood; but,
spiritually considered, it is very salutary.

What would be the consequence, if God’s treasures were always open to us at our
first knocking?

- Should we not then seem to be rulers and commanders in the city of God, and
forget our dependent condition? - Should we not be in danger of making an idol
of our prayer, as the Israelites made of the brazen serpent, and think it is our
prayer that effects all: - Should we not think that in prayer we possess a
secret charm, a divine rod, or a legal claim upon the bounty of God?

We should soon become self-sufficient.

Therefore our gracious God does not always appear to hearken to the first cry,
but lets us generally stand awhile at the door, so that once and again we are
obliged to say, “I see nothing.”

We ought then to reflect a little, and become deeply conscious that we have, in
reality, nothing to claim, but that all is mere unmerited favor. If we make our
first approach to his footstool in the character of just persons, he keeps us
back until we feel that we are poor sinners, unworthy petitioners; and are ready
to say, “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their
master’s table.” Such is his method.

“There is nothing,” said the servant. But our praying Elijah does not despair.

The reason why we generally so easily grow weary, and so soon cease from
praying, is because we are not sufficiently in earnest for the blessing we
implore. This, however, was not the case with Elijah. He therefore bids the
servant to “Go again seven times.” But why precisely seven times? Does it me
several times, or is there here any particular emphasis in the number of seven?
And why was the servant thus to go again and again? What would it avail him to
hear every time, “There is nothing” O, it stimulated the prophet’s ardor-it
animated him to wrestle the more earnestly with God-it made him still less and
less in his own eyes, and drew forth deeper and deeper sighs from his contrite
soul.

How would his fervor in prayer thus augment from one minute to another! To
obtain a speedy hearing is much more agreeable to our natural feelings, but
waiting long is far more beneficial for us. Those are the most blessed spots on
the face of the earth where prayer is wont to be made with the greatest fervency
and perseverance.

During this process of persevering prayer:

- Our corrupt nature receives the most painful and deadly blows; - The heart is
then most thoroughly broken up, and prepared for the good seed of the Word; -
The remains of self-love are then demolished the most effectually; - The
chambers of imagery are then the most properly cleansed; - The foundation truth
in the soul is laid deep.

And when the answer comes at length, how great is the joy!

III. The servant returns the seventh time, and says, “Behold, there ariseth a
little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand”

Elijah’s prayer is answered!

It is true, it is only a little cloud at first-hardly visible. But, when God
gives the first fruits, he gives the harvest in due time. If thou hast received
a little grace, rejoice! Thou hast hereby a pledge that thou shalt receive more!
If there be something of his Spirit in thee, know that abundance of grace is in
reserve for thee. Forgiveness is a pledge of adoption, and renewal of spirit
commenced will be carried on, through faith, unto the day of Christ. Therefore
let every sincere Christian rejoice, who sees in himself or in others a little
cloud of divine grace. Let him but continue instant in prayer, and the blessing
shall increase abundantly. And the prophet said unto his servant, “Go up, say
unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.”

Thus was literally fulfilled what Elijah had said: “There shall not be dew nor
rain these years, but according to my word.” Therefore the Lord did not let the
full shower come all at once-but, first of all, a little cloud that was scarcely
visible, that Elijah might have time to announce the approaching rain to the
king, that the rain might come at the word of the prophet; and that it might be
fully apparent that the Lord God of Elijah, was the Governor of the world.

The servant comes to the king, who perhaps was stationed in a pavilion upon the
mountain, whilst the sky is still clear and seems to promise anything but rain.
“Prepare thy chariot,” was the message; “get thee down, that the rain stop thee
not!” “Rain!” would the astonished guests exclaim; “Rain!” would the people cry,
full of joyful hope; and scarcely had they lifted up their eyes, when every
region of the sky seemed to reply, “Yea, and amen; an abundance of rain!”

Dark thunderclouds ascend out of the sea, one after the other; the heavens
become black, the wind sets all the sea in motion, roars through the forests,
and a violent storm pours down upon the land, O welcome streams! refreshing
floods! The face of the earth is renewed, and all nature rejoices. A breath of
life breathes over the fields, wood and meadow are clothed with new verdure, the
birds resume their music in the branches, and man, and beast and everything
seems as if resuscitated, The voice of rejoicing is heard in the dwellings of
the righteous, and joy fills the hearts of the godly.

Ahab is already seated in his chariot, and on his way to his royal seat in
Jezreel. But “the hand of the Lord was upon Elijah.”

The Lord God invigorated him with supernatural bodily powers, so that the
prophet, girding up his loins, ran before Ahab’s chariot, which doubtless was at
full speed, on account of the deluging rain. The prophet was now a living
memorial to the king, to remind him the great things which the God of Israel had
brought to pass by his prophet; that Ahab might not easily forget them, but
carry the fresh impression of them to Jezebel.

Elijah therefore outran the chariot before his eyes, through all the torrents of
rain and tempest, till he came to the entrance of Jezreel.

* * * * * The apostle James, as we have before noticed, adduces this instance of
Elijah’s success in prayer as an encouragement to us to persevere in prayer, and
to believe that we also shall not fail of being answered, if we only pray in
faith; because, “The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth
much” (James 5:16). And indeed, who can recount all the wondrous instances in
which the truth of this declaration has been realized!

- Through prayer, Moses turned away the fierce wrath of the Almighty from
Israel; - with outstretched arms he smote the host of Amalek; and Manoah, - by
the voice of his cry, Manoah drew down a visible manifestation of the Divine
presence in human form (Judges 13:8). - Through prayer at Mizpeh, the prophet
Samuel smote the army of the Philistines, and caused the thunder of terror to
roll over Israel’s foes (1 Samuel 7:9-12). - Through prayer, Josiah the prince
died in peace (2 Kings 22:19-20). - Through prayer, fifteen years were added to
Hezekiah’s life; - The three men were preserved in the burning fiery furnace; -
To Daniel it was said by Gabriel, “I am come because of thy words.” - At the
prayer of the brethren on the day of Pentecost, the heavens were opened; - After
they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and all were
filled with the Holy Ghost (Acts 4:31). - Prayer burst the fetters of Peter, and
broke open the doors of his prison. - Prayer rebuked storms, healed the sick,
and brought back the dead to life.

And what shall I say more of the power, the wonders, and the performances of
prayer-the whole Scripture is full of them. And our church also would be full of
them-all Christendom would be full of them, were there more prayer in our
Israel, and more of this incense on our public, family, and private altar. But
prayer sleeps amongst us; for what we call praying, morning and evening,
according to custom-the sleepy, dull, and heartless repetition of devotional
language-does not deserve the name of Prayer. Keep those ceremonious compliments
to yourselves; the Lord does not want such service. The confessions of the
broken and contrite, the cry of the humble, the expression of real godly sorrow,
the opening of our cares to our heavenly Father, the breathings of grateful
love, the acknowledgment of dependence on the name of Jesus-these are the things
which go to constitute true prayer.

Brethren, pray that the Spirit of grace and supplication may be poured out upon
you; and then ask what you will, it shall be done for you. He that “cannot lie”
has promised it. Only ask in his name, as the children of God, by faith in
Christ Jesus, trusting in God’s faithfulness to his promises, and you will
certainly succeed at last.

If six times, the answer should be, “There is nothing;” yet wait on. The seventh
time, which is the proper and the Lord’s time, will give the answer you need.
Too often we omit to notice God’s answer to own prayers, otherwise how often
should we find, to our glad astonishment, that, at the time of our supplication,
the commandment had gone forth to help us.

Therefore let the call to prayer be ever regarded by us as the invitation to an
unspeakable privilege. “Continue instant in prayer” Pray in the Spirit, in the
Holy Ghost, and not in your own self-sufficiency, and you will pray with power.

Pray for yourselves, pray for all, and pray with faith and expectation for in
the immutable word, that word which must survive both heaven and earth, it
stands recorded, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the
Father in my name, he will give it you” (John 16:23). Amen.

~ end of chapter 9 ~


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  CHAPTER 25: 02.10.     FLIGHT INTO THE WILDERNESS
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Flight Into the Wilderness

CHAPTER TEN

“He that cometh from heaven is above all,” was the testimony of John the Baptist
to the Messiah: and the course of our Lord’s ministry confirmed this testimony.
Wherever we see the Saviour appearing and acting, in the narrative of the
Gospels, the impression irresistibly forces itself upon us: “Here is one greater
than Moses and all the prophets and apostles-here is one, who is separate from
sinners, and above every creature- one, who came down for a short time to our
world, as into a strange country; but whose peculiar residence is on the throne
of glory and majesty.”

We are convinced that no mere man could have acted as he did, however divinely
commissioned. Miracles as great as his were wrought by the apostles and
prophets; but the manner in which they were wrought by him, and by them,
exhibits an immense distinction between the one and the other. They, with all
their derived powers, showed themselves to be but men . Christ evidently acted
by his own independent power and authority: he raised the dead, cast out devils,
healed the sick, controlled the elements, fed the assembled multitudes with a
few loaves; all by his own inherent will, without any appearance of that
dependence which constituted the very strength of his servants who wrought
miracles in his name.

His very prayers were expressions of his will; and we see him on every occasion
as the Holy One of God, entirely distinct from all created beings. Yes, he is
above all: and, great as was the prophet Elijah, his infirmities serve to remind
us how infinitely inferior everyone is to the all-perfect Prophet, Priest, and
King, our Lord Jesus Christ.

“And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all
the prophets with the sword.

“Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me,
and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow
about this time. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came
to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But he
himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a
juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is
enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers” (1
Kings 19:1-4). The man of God is again called away from public activity and
reformation, and his path loses itself once more in the solitudes of a
wilderness. What now befell him served for spiritual exercise to himself. The
torch is shaken, that it may afterwards glow the brighter, and the refiner of
Israel must himself undergo additional trial and purification.

We have here to notice,

I. Elijah’s persecution;

II. His flight;

III. His dejection.

I. Our imagination can picture Ahab now arrived at his palace at Jezreel, which
appears to have been his summer residence, on account of its agreeable
situation.

We are certain that Jezebel, his queen, could not have been indifferent as to
the issue of the great contest at Carmel; and we may well suppose that she was
expecting, with impatience, the return of the king.

We have seen that he returned at full speed, in a violent rain; and it is easy
to imagine him hastily alighting from his chariot before the palace, and
hurrying into the apartments of his imperious consort, to announce to her the
wonderful occurrences he had just witnessed.

Elijah meanwhile remains in the neighborhood, awaiting the issue of the great
events which had been brought to pass. His hopes were probably at this time
raised high; perhaps he even promised himself an immediate return, both of
prince and of people, to the God of their fathers.

Ahab, full of the tidings of these strange events, “told Jezebel all that Elijah
had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.”

We can imagine with what emotions he would enter her apartment, and say,

“The Tishbite has triumphed! Fire from heaven has confirmed his word. Upon his
prayer, with my own eyes I have seen flames fall from the skies, consume the
burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and lick up the water in the trench. All
the people can bear witness to it. They fell on their faces, and cried out, as
with one voice, that the Lord is God. The priests of Baal were slain; Elijah and
the people have destroyed them, and their blood is flowing in the brook Kishon.
They were laughed at as liars and impotent deceivers. Their authority and their
worship is gone forever. There is universal enthusiasm for Elijah. He is a
prophet of the living God. The miracle on Carmel has placed it beyond a doubt,
and these heavy rains completely confirm it. At his command they fall; he closed
heaven, and he has now opened it again.” In some such manner as this we may
suppose the king communicating the tidings to Jezebel and then breaking off in
the midst of his narrative, as if he had been thunderstruck. On what account?
Alas, he sees the features of his queen gather blackness like a storm.

The weak king, as one “whom Jezebel his wife stirred up,” for thus the sacred
historian speaks of him, is evidently completely under her influence; and when
he perceives the effect his narrative has upon her, his opinion is quite
changed; he begins to take another view of the wonders at Carmel, as also of
Elijah himself. Jezebel resolves to gratify her blood-thirsty revenge, and she
is the adored mistress of Ahab’s affections.

The deluded monarch appears not to have dared to think differently from Jezebel
his wife. He appears as a lamentable instance of one who, though not totally
insensible to the voice of truth, continues a wretched slave to the father of
lies. His heart was given to Jezebel, and her affection is the price to which
everything else was to be sacrificed. On her behavior to him was all the
happiness of his life suspended. He was the sport of her tempers, and she
exercised over him the most unlimited control. Pliant, like clay on the potter’s
wheel, and capable of taking any form, he was always ready to be what she was
pleased to make of him. Sold by affection, under her influence he soon lost the
last remains of manly steadfastness; and, before he was aware, his own
individuality was so much sunk in that of his own proud and imperious mistress,
that he heard only her ears, saw with her eyes, and felt and thought only with
her. A great many persons, in every age, are thus led blindfold by human
influence. The claims with which the prince of darkness binds mankind to his
yoke and banner, are not always the grosser vices and lusts: he secures
thousands of souls to himself and to hell, by attaching them with the silken
cords of a tender affection to persons who have taken a decided part with the
enemies of the cross of Christ.

Now, whatever the bond may be, whether paternal, filial, conjugal, or social,
the effect is the same. The influential person or persons rule with irresistible
power, and the poor captive soul thinks not for itself, has no firmness or
independence; friends and party govern it altogether, and this in spite of the
most distressing convictions. Nor is it by perverted human affection alone that
men are kept back from the truth. There are others, and not a few, who are
equally far from the kingdom of God, by reason of the homage they pay to human
intellect, either in themselves or others.

The corrective of all these different sorts of error would be a heartfelt belief
of those plainest declarations of the Gospel:

- “Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in
your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). - “He
that cometh from heaven is above all” (John 3:31). - “I am the light of the
world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light
of life” (John 8:12. - “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

And you who exercise influence over others, take heed that you prove not, in
this respect, the agents of the great enemy of souls; for if through you any
“weak brother perish,” “his blood will be required at your hands.” Remember,
that whoso destroyeth a soul, “Him will God destroy.”

Woe, then, unto those men of talent and acquirements, who, with revolting
ingratitude, transmute the gifts and abilities which God has vouchsafed to them,
into weapons of darkness; who, under the influence of the great deceiver,
assault the most sacred things of God.

Woe unto those much admired rulers of literature, who, in wicked
self-deification, use the power they possess over the minds of men, to rivet
more firmly the bonds of infidelity and hostility to Christ upon the neck of the
present generation; and who exert their genius in preparing those intoxicating
notions and antichristian systems which delude themselves and others to their
destruction.

Woe unto those brilliant heads in laurel crowns, that cover the kingdom of sin
with fantastic enchantments, and overturning every sacred restraint, implant the
horrible delusion in the mind, that he sinneth not who only contrives to sin
poetically and elegantly.

Woe to those whose voices give the tone to the world, who have sufficient means
for becoming the Ezras and Nehemiahs of their time, but who are a pestilence to
the age they live in, by darting forth their wit in seductive and blasphemous
falsehoods; and abuse the weak understandings of those who hang in admiration
upon their lips, in order imperceptibly, under the pretence of superior light,
to scatter sparks of rebellion against the Lord and his Anointed.

Woe, woe unto these betrayers of mankind! Their part will soon be acted. A time
is coming, when, from their very lips that now satiate them with their plaudits,
only the dreadful thunder of furious execrations will meet their ears; and when
the very hands which now crown them with laurel, will be extended towards heaven
against them, to draw down upon them the lightning of an eternal curse. Be not
deceived! mistake not the present course of things for the final decision.

That decision will be pronounced by Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire, and
who weighs with other scales than those of the deluded world, which only pays
homage to external glitter. Your glory has its season and its period, like the
flower of the grass. “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness of man as the
flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away” (1
Peter 1:24).

But to return to Jezebel. The fire of hell is kindled within her; James 3:6; she
thirsts to avenge the blood of the priests of Baal. In her judgment, better
would it have been that the whole nation had perished with hunger and drought,
than that such a triumph should have been prepared for the prophet and his God.
The showers of blessing that now returned to soften the clods of the field,
cannot soften her obdurate spirit.

Well would it for the world if no such characters still remained in it: but
consider, my brethren, in how many Peaces the triumph of the Gospel increases
the opposition of unbelievers. What scoffing and ridicule at the outpouring of
the Spirit; and what contempt of piety and conversion to God are vented by many
their writings and discourse! The voice of Jezebel is virtually regarded by many
as the voice of truth; and this in our accredited journals in our refined
circles and assemblies, in our poetry and philosophy, nay, in the chairs even of
divinity professors, and in many, very man pulpits. But Woe unto the spirit of
Jezebel age!

That Woe has been pronounced Christ himself, and is recorded in the last book of
the sacred volume. “Behold, I will cast that woman Jezebel into a bed, and them
that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, and I will kill her
children with death” (Revelation 2:22-23). This is their end.

Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, has now sworn by her gods that Elijah shall die. But
the Lord, who can bind the unicorn with his band, and can put a hook in the jaws
of the leviathan, will now interpose to preserve Elijah. “He who taketh the wise
in their own craftiness,” and “infatuates the counsel of princes,” has only to
leave Jezebel to the madness of her own evil passions, and, lo! she so
imprudently forgets herself, as to send and apprise the prophet of her murderous
intention against him. This was, of course, the very defeat it. “Jezebel sent a
messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make
not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time!”

Elijah hears the message. What means it? Does it mean indeed that all his labors
and conflicts are to issue in his own disappointment and death? Is this the
conversion of Jezebel, and Ahab, and of Israel, which he had hoped for? Alas,
what a bitter draught for the soul of this man of God! Who shall comfort him at
this lamentable turn of affairs? Certainly he had never received a more painful
stroke upon his spirit than this and if his faith steers clear amid such rocks
without shipwreck, it must be owing to the support and guidance of an Almighty
hand.

But does the Lord take any pleasure in frustrating our hopes, and leading us to
despondency and doubt? O no; far be it from him! “He will fulfill the desire of
them that fear him.” The hopes he raises in us he will fulfill; only we must not
think to prescribe to him the time or the manner in which he shall do it. He
will never suffer his servants really to “spend their strength for nought and in
vain.”

When therefore they seem to be frustrated for a time, it is only that they may
learn that their success is not “of him that willeth nor of him that runneth.”
He finishes all his works and crowns them all, but he does it in his own
“mysterious way.” He suffers discouragements and impediments to arise, that his
wisdom and power may be hereby the more manifest, and that the creature may
learn that “this is the Lord’s doing.” Nothing, therefore, which we engage in
for his glory, shall be eventually unsuccessful; but then “the Lord alone must
be exalted.”

Behold, my friends, such are the ways of God! Set then your minds at rest
respecting all present difficulties; only keep in the way of duty, and commit
yourselves to God. He will be able, at the proper time, to solve every
difficulty. Reserve your judgment for the final issue, and remember that “the
beauty of a thing,” as a primitive father observes, “appears at the moment its
maturity, which God waits for.

He that tastes the blossom instead of the fruit, will pass a wrong judgment upon
it. He that would limit his idea of the beauties of vegetation to their
appearance in the winter season, would judge very blindly.” Yet how often do we
conclude thus hastily as to the ends of God’s providential government and
disposal of human affairs!

II. Let us now follow Elijah in his proceedings upon receiving this alarming
message

“When he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which
belongeth to Judah!”

In this instance, Elijah’s faith appears in some measure to have failed him. The
very words of the sacred narrative seem to give us a significant hint respecting
his state of mind just then. For the words are, “When he saw that.” What did
Elijah see? Not God’s promises, aid, power, and faithfulness; these at least
only dawned upon him in the background, with broken and feeble rays. But in the
foreground very different things did he see: namely, the infuriated Jezebel
threatening his life, and all the horrors of a cruel death. Instead of soaring
above these as on eagle’s wings, and looking down upon them with sublime
composure as on former occasions, the pressure of human terror seems to have
been too strong for his mind, especially as backed by the disappointment of his
public spirit on Israel’s account.

So “he arose and went for his life:” or, as others have paraphrased it, “he
arose and went whither he would;” which serves further to intimate the obscurity
of his course and the uncertainty of his steps. He had at this time no express
divine direction as to whither he should go. Hitherto his way had always been
marked out for him most distinctly by his Lord; but not so now. There was no
particular divine word to serve him for a staff on this journey; no distinct
commission, Remove hither or thither; do this or that! shining before him like a
lamp, giving wings to his feet and firmness to his steps.

He went forth into the wide world in uncertainty, distracted by doubts, and
unaccompanied by the consoling consciousness that he was taking this road for
God; since he went it only for himself, and for the sake of his own life; and
verily this thought was not much calculated to relieve his oppressed mind.

How pleasant and comfortable is it to pursue those paths, however rough and
thorny, in which we feel assured the Lord has commanded us to walk! How joyfully
is everything undertaken, begun, and accomplished, that comes to our heart by a
Divine commission! We then run, and are not weary; we walk, and are not faint.
But to have put to sea without knowing if we had not better have remained at
home-how painful is the thought!

The mind of the prophet appears to have been in this painful state, when,
perplexed about the ways of God, and grievously disappointed at present
appearances, he left Jezreel without any consciousness of the Lord’s direction.
The strange circumstance that the queen had thus imprudently disclosed to him
her murderous intentions, might indeed have led him to conclude that the Lord
thus warned him to flee for his life; but this was only a human inference, and
no clear divine declaration.

But though the Lord may thus permit us, like Elijah, to go whither we will,
without giving us any plain intimation by his providence, yet this is only a
procedure of his wise and tender love. For hereby we come the better to learn
what a blessed thing it is to know we are in the service of our God, and to walk
at all times in the light of his guidance; like Israel, resting at his word, and
at his Word striking their tents and advancing.

And the more we learn to appreciate this happy state by experience of its
contrary, the easier to us is the petition, “Thy will be done!” and the more
earnestly shall we hearken to what the Lord God will say concerning us, and ask
beforehand his counsel and direction in everything. Again, though God’s children
seem to go “whither they will,” in uncertainty and doubt whether the Lord is
pleased with them or not, still their faithful God accompanies them as before,
even while he often keeps himself long concealed. He never leaves them, but he
leads them, though by secret guidance, always to a happy end. This Elijah
experienced. The Lord was with him on the way, however little the prophet was
conscious of it. Let us only have patience, and before we are aware, the clouds
will pass away, and it will be seen, as in the case of Elijah, that we have not
gone in every respect whither we would, but that God has all along been leading
us.

After Elijah had traveled for many days, and gone through a great part of
Samaria and the whole of the land of Judea, he came at length to Beersheba as it
were by chance; for he had as little to do at Beersheba as at any other place.
Here, however, he could not remain; his spirit was too afflicted for common
society. Even the company of his faithful servant was burdensome to him. What
could the servant do for him? He could not enlighten the darkness of his
afflicted spirit, nor explain the mysterious providence which had disquieted it.
Therefore, leaving him at Beersheba, he went alone into the solitary wilderness,
into the very heart of it, a whole day’s journey, until the sun went down. He
then threw himself upon the heath under a juniper tree, and sank down under the
load of his melancholy thoughts.

III. Thick darkness hung over the prophet’s soul. This is shown by his whole
conduct. His close reserve, his desire for solitude, his planless wandering into
the gloomy wilderness, all indicate a discouraged and dejected state of mind.
Perplexed with regard to his vocation-nay, even with respect to God and his
government-his soul lies in the midst of a thousand doubts and distressing
thoughts. It seems tossed on a sea of troubles, without bottom or shore; and
there appears but one step between him and utter despair.

There he sits, like an exile in the midst of the fearful solitude, as if cast
out by God and the world; with his eyes fixed; full of gloomy and painful
thoughts, in spirit, he is in the land of Israel, and in the midst of idolaters,
the children of better forefathers. Oh the melancholy images which pass before
him! the heart-rending scenes which are portrayed upon the tablet of his memory!
He sees the people reeling on mount Carmel in their idolatrous orgies; in
Samaria one idol temple rises up before him after another; the streets of
Jezreel resound with blasphemies against the living God and his servants; and
Jezebel is drunk with the blood of the few believers who fell as victims to her
revenge. Such are the images which vividly and dreadfully present themselves to
his mind. And wherever he turns his eyes amidst the horrible scene is no herald
of God-no voice of a single prophet is lifted up against it. Perhaps now he
thinks, “Why did I not remain? Why did I flee and forsake my poor people?” And
if the distress of his spirit had not been already excited to the utmost, surely
such thoughts as these must have tended to that effect. The pious servant of God
has had enough of this vale of tears. He is heartily weary of painful conflicts
and fruitless labors; his soul longs for its rest. “It is enough!” sighs he to
heaven, his eyes glistening with tears.

“It is now enough, O Lord! Take away my life; for I am not better than my
fathers.”

Ah! who could have thought that Elijah could ever have become so weak and
fainthearted-the man who seemed invincible in the armor of his faith, and
superior to every storm! But to us it is consoling that even such an one as
Elijah sat under the juniper tree, and thought in his despondency that he was
unable any longer to bear the burden of life. “It is enough, O Lord! Why should
I remain longer in this land of travail; My existence is useless. If my labors
in Israel, in the midst of so many signs and wonders, have missed their aim,
where shall they be of any service! It is enough! Why should I remain here any
longer to witness the decline of thy kingdom? Therefore take me now, O Lord, my
poor and troubled soul from me; for I am not better than my fathers. Certainly I
hoped to see what many kings and prophets have desired to see; but I too have
been disappointed. But who am I, that I should venture to desire such great
things at thy hand; who am I that with presumptuous hope could promise myself a
preference, for which saints, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, have longed
in vain? It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life!”

Thus spoke Elijah, distressingly excited in mind. It was from a strange mixture
of feelings that his prayer arose. His soul was not in a state of harmony; and
yet, in the midst of the discord, the sweetest tones arose which could be
breathed from a human soul. His prayer was not like the peaceful and cheerful
language of Simeon, “Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace!” nor like
that clear, considerate, and calm expression of Paul, “I have a desire to depart
and to be with Christ!” But yet it was not the same as that of Jeremiah, “Cursed
be the day in which I was born!” nor as that of Job, “Let that day perish; let
not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it!”

Elijah’s state of mind was more subdued, gentle, and therefore not so wretched
as theirs. The discordant groans of vexation at fruitless labor and disappointed
hopes, certainly sound too audible through his sighs; but at the same time his
words breathe an affectionate sorrow for the poor people, and a holy grief at
the apparent decline of the kingdom of God. It must be confessed that there is
something in his prayer that looks like a complaint against the Lord himself;
but we perceive, at the same time, that tears of regret are already pouring out
to quench it in his heart, and that the very moment when the complaint escapes
him he feels the sinfulness of it, and on this very account is filled with
grief.

It cannot be denied, that in the expression, “It is enough!” we behold the
anguish of a soul which, disappointed in its fairest expectations, seems to
despair of God and weary of the world, and is impatient and weary of the cross;
a soul which, like Jonah, is dissatisfied with the dealings of the Almighty; and
by desiring death, seeks, as it were, to give him to understand that it is come
to such an extremity that nothing is left but the melancholy wish to escape by
death, from its suffering. Nevertheless a divine and believing longing
accompanied even this carnal excitement in the soul of Elijah, which, thirsting
after God, struck its pinions upwards to the eternal light; yes, the keynote of
this mournful lamentation was the filial thought that the heart of his Father in
heaven would be moved towards him, that his merciful God would again shine forth
upon his darkness, and comfort the soul of his servant.

Thus we see, in the prayer of our prophet, the elements of the natural life and
of the spiritual life fermenting together in strange intermixture. The sparks of
nature and of grace, mutually opposing each other, blaze up together in one
flame. The metal is in a furnace, the heat of which brings to light much
impurity; but who does not forget the scum and the dross at the sight of the
fine gold?

“Lord, it is enough!” Ah, this little prayer is known also amongst us! How many
a workshop, how many a chamber and bed of sorrow do I know, from whence this
aspiration is almost incessantly ascending to heaven, in the midst of many tears
and pangs!

- Many of these supplicants are mistaken, just as Elijah was. It is not enough
yet. - Many a faithful laborer has yet to learn that his labor is by no means in
vain in the Lord, although he thinks it is. - Many a righteous one shall yet see
light arise here below, which, contrary to the express promises of God, he
thinks is forever extinguished. - Many a broken instrument will the Lord use
again for his work, before he takes it away into the land of rest. - Many a
troubled sufferer, before he departs, shall again take his harp from the
willows, and sing thanksgivings to Him whose counsel is wonderful and his ways
mysterious, but who doeth all things well.

And then it will indeed be “enough.” Ah, who is warranted yet in saying, “It is
enough!” It is only enough when the Lord saith it. And if you have still to
remain for years in the furnace of affliction, be assured that you will
eventually acknowledge, with joyful acclamations in heaven, that then only was
it enough, and not a moment earlier, when the Lord stripped you of the garments
of your pilgrimage and took you unto himself.

One word more. If at any time you feel disposed again to say, “It is enough,”
and that you can bear the burden of life no longer, do as Elijah did, flee into
the silence of solitude, and sit under-not the juniper tree-but under that tree
whereon the incarnate Son of God was made a curse for you. Here your soul will
assuredly find sweet refreshment; yes, from Christ’s acceptable offering to God.
He is a hiding-place from the storm, a covert from the tempest, a shadow from
the heat, as rivers water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a
weary land.

Whether it be true or not which is related of the juniper tree, that no serpent
ventures near it, we can say this in a better sense of that “tree of life” under
which we encourage you to take refuge. Here the viper of discontent will not
fasten upon you, nor the “old serpent” inject the poison of murmuring against
your soul.

At the sight of the cross, you will no longer think of complaining of the
greatness of your sufferings; for here you behold sufferings, in comparison with
which yours must be accounted a light affliction, which is but for a moment:
here the righteous One suffers for you-the just for the unjust. In the view of
the cross, you will soon forget your distresses; for the love of God in Christ
Jesus to you, a poor sinner, will absorb all you thoughts.

Under the cross, you are prevented from supposing that some strange thing is
happening unto you; “the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above
his Lord;” and as the kingdom has been bestowed upon the Head, so will it also
be upon the members.

At the foot of the cross you are preserved from impatience; for you cannot but
rejoice exceedingly that what you are enduring is only a temporal suffering, and
not the curse which fell so dreadfully upon your Surety.

At the foot of the cross, your grief will soon be lost in that joy and peace of
God which drops from this tree of life into the ground of your heart, and the
foretaste you will here obtain of heaven will sweeten the troubles of this life
as with the breath of the morning, and before you are aware, will bring over
you, as over Elijah, the feeling of a heavenly repose; yea, the cross itself
will be transformed into such a medium between heaven and earth, that the most
comforting: thoughts shall descend into your soul, and the most grateful
thoughts shall ascend from your soul to heaven, like those angels of God seen in
a vision on the plains of Bethel by the solitary and benighted patriarch Jacob.

~ end of chapter 10 ~


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  CHAPTER 26: 02.11.     VISIT UNDER THE JUNIPER TREE
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Visit Under the Juniper Tree

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“Jerusalem is the city of the great king,” saith the Lord, Matthew 5:35. Where
is Jerusalem? Where tears of mourning after God start into the eye; where the
knee and the heart are bowed at the throne of grace; where the hands of faith
are lifted to the cross, and lips of sincerity utter their prayers and
praise-there is Jerusalem. This is the lovely city of God, on whose towering
heights the banner of the cross waves; this is the joy of the whole earth, and
this alone of cities. There is nothing beautiful, nothing noble, and nothing
worthy of regard but Jerusalem. Who would like to dwell in the wilderness of
this world, if Jerusalem with its peaceful tabernacles did not stand in the
midst of it? What is it makes this life of banishment tolerable, yea delightful?
It is Jerusalem.

Jerusalem! O it is good to be within thy walls, to sit together as
fellow-citizens according to the Privilege of the new birth; to sing together in
the days of the Lord, that great is the glory of the Lord in the midst of us; to
speak often one with another upon faith’s bright prospects that lie before us,
to number up our joys with which the stranger intermeddleth not, or to place
ourselves at the windows toward the east, and breathe the morning air of the
everlasting day, and refreshing ourselves with thoughts of the blissful futurity
that awaits us. “O Jerusalem, if I forget thee, let my right hand forget her
cunning!”

- Where are the treasures of God displayed, and the jewels of heaven exhibited?
- Where burn the torches of eternal light, and where springs up the fountain of
peace and joy which is inexhaustible? - Where does the soul look into the opened
books of life? - Where does the true Israelite obtain the oil of joy from the
flinty rocks? - Where drops the balm which heals every wound?

Where, but in Jerusalem? They shall prosper that love, O Jerusalem! They shall
go on from strength to strength who set their heart upon the ways Zion! But if
all this is true of the spiritual Jerusalem on earth, what shall I say of the
Jerusalem which is above, which lies on the other side of the river of death,
where the everlasting palm trees grow, and the still waters flow from the
eternal hills, and angels sing to their golden harps among the trees of
paradise.

Thither we are journeying, we happy pilgrims, from Jerusalem to Jerusalem:
whilst ye who love the world, and the things that are in world, are on your way
to Tophet, to the vails destruction, to everlasting night, we are going to full
and cheerful day, and on our staff is inscribed “The citizenship of heaven.” And
if we sometimes appear to you as those that dream, and you see our eyes
glistening with tears whilst looking at the far blue distance, it is because of
our longing for home. And all you can say is, “They are weeping after
Jerusalem!” And who has built us the city, and who has made it so beautiful for
us? Jerusalem is the city of the great King. “This is my rest for ever; here
will I dwell!” saith he. He dwells there, and the city rests peacefully under
the wings of his love. We are traveling to Jerusalem.

“And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched
him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and, behold, there was a
cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and
drink, and laid him down again. And the angel of the LORD came again the second
time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great
for thee. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that
meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God” (1 Kings 19:5-8).
This narrative belongs to the children of God, especially to the afflicted among
them. The Lord’s faithful care over his servants, especially in the season of
clouds and darkness, is here displayed the most heart-refreshing manner. This
Divine and gracious protection is made apparent, I. In the answer to prayer,
which the prophet receives;

II. In the appearance of an angel, whom the Lord sends him;

III. In the miraculous refreshments, of which he partakes;

IV. In the delightful prospect which God opens before him;

V. In the supernatural strength given him for his journey through the desert.

Let us devoutly meditate on these delightful manifestations of the paternal love
of our God.

I. Elijah had wished for death, after being obliged to give up the hope of the
regeneration of his beloved Israel

Life had now no longer any attractions for him. The love of life can bear up
under the privation of many earthly endearments but it cannot survive hope. When
Elijah sees this flower fading, he sinks, aria is weary of his existence. And if
he had not been a man of God-who knows into what still more dreadful abyss than
that of impatience and despondency he might have fallen!

It appeared as if the Lord had suddenly given up his work, and his prophet with
it. The divine superintendence was concealed too deeply in the disguise of
second causes for a mortal eye to penetrate through it. Nay, it seemed to have
been withdrawn and to have left room for human vicissitudes-at least it seemed
so to the prophet. He was unable, in such an unexpected turn of affairs, to
discover the intentions of God. He found himself, as it were, in a dark
labyrinth, without any candle of the Lord to shine upon his faith, or any clue
to conduct him through it.

And if we consider how such situations of the godly are always taken advantage
of by the powers of darkness, and how the tempter doubtless assaulted the
fugitive under the juniper tree with the fiery darts of distressing doubts and
horrible suggestions, we can easily comprehend how even such a champion as
Elijah could thus despond; and, in the deepest dejection and anguish of soul,
cry to heaven, and say, “Lord, it is enough! Take now my life from me, for I am
not better than my fathers!”

Such prayers, however, which ascend towards heaven more in the wild bursts of
carnal passion than in the sacred fire of divine love, and which are not borne
upwards to God upon the wings of faith and hope, but upon the gusts of natural
excitement-such prayers the Lord is not wont to answer; yet he does hear, so
merciful is he, the breathings of the pious soul, ascending through all this
clamor of carnal feeling, and in spite of it.

Experience shows, that he is not willing to let his children finish their course
in vexation and sadness. However violently the storms may rage around that
spiritual life which is in them, he suffers it not to be swallowed up and
drowned in the commotion. Their sky generally becomes serene again before they
reach the harbor-if not temporally, yet spiritually.

Listen, ye wounded and sorrowful souls! Your hour of removal will not arrive
till the Lord has first reconciled you to his providential government and
gracious discipline, and compelled you cheerfully to acknowledge that “He doeth
all things well!” A calm will succeed the storms and tempests of your life,
although it may not be till the evening of your pilgrimage; and you shall be
enabled to say, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace!”

Yea, you shall become willing to bear, even still longer, the cross after him,
if it be the Lord’s pleasure. Your course will terminate-not tumultuously-no,
but in the cheerful serenity of a sabbatical dawn, and in the midst of a
radiance, beaming from the heavenly Zion, will your Divine Friend translate you
to the joy of the eternal hills, that his guidance may be extolled not only
above, but even here below, and his grace and faithfulness be glorified in the
sight of your surviving brethren, and of an ungodly world. This sabbatical
morning had not yet dawned upon Elijah. It was now one of the darkest moments of
his life, in which he seemed like a man who had fallen out both with God and
with the world. The request which, in time of weakness and gloomy despondency,
he had ventured to prefer before God, was denied him. His life was not taken
from him. He must yet live to see glorious things and learn again to praise the
faithfulness of Him whose promises are Yea and Amen; he must yet be brought to
feel humbled and astonished at his former doubts and anxieties; to find the most
pleasing solution of every apparent difficulty and contradiction in God’s
dealings with him, and to be placed in such a sunshine of Divine favor as he had
never before enjoyed. And then would be the time to say, “It is enough;” and the
hour would come, when-not under a solitary tree in the dreary wilderness-no, but
in splendid triumph, on a highway, he should be carried directly over the dark
valley into the land of everlasting rest.

O that we were not so impatient when gracious God occasionally denies our
requests!

How kind it is, with respect to our real and best interests that the Lord gives
us according to his will, and not according to our own; and that he condescends
graciously to guard us against the attainment of our poor and often foolish
wishes! We may rest assured, that whenever we pray without success that which we
desire is not only not best for us but is either injurious, or at least inferior
to what he really intends for us.

- How many a minister would never have experienced the Lord’s faithfulness
crowning the labors of his servants, had he been called away from this life at
the time when, gloomy despondency, he desired it! - How many a Christian pilgrim
would never have seen anything of the spiritual manna, and of the spiritual
streams from the rocks, had God listened to him when, with fear and trembling,
he besought him not to lead him into a desert! - How many a brother would this
day be unable to rejoice that the power of Christ has so rested upon him, if the
thorn in his flesh, the messenger of Satan, had been removed at the time he
entreated such relief with many cries and tears!

Take courage, therefore, my brethren! Believe that the denial which the Lord
occasionally puts upon our requests will eventually yield us as abundant cause
for praise, as the assent with which he at other times graciously crowns them.

Do not think the time too long which you have to wait. You may be ready to
exclaim, “O Lord, make an end; it is enough!” But no, beloved brethren! You must
first travel, like Elijah, through a desert unto Horeb, that you may there hear
the “still small voice” of peace. There must first come things which shall
compel us to exclaim, “O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us
confusion of face!” And after that, the end; then the Pilgrim’s staff is
dropped-and the longed for “now” of good old Simeon is arrived, and we are
“‘tabled to sing, Thou needest, Lord, no more, To turn me o’er and o’er: The
clay at length has rest, Thine image is impress’d.

Elijah did not die-his hour was not yet come. Thus his petition remained
unanswered, yet not entirely so. The prophet longed for rest. Rest he was to
have, not however by the stroke of death, but by the boon of natural sleep. He
lay down and slept under the juniper tree. It was indifferent to him where he
lay-whether on a silken couch or upon the heath-under a thorn-bush or in a royal
pavilion.

The burden of life was alleviated, the juniper tree lent him its refreshing
shade, the inward tempest of his soul subsided, grief and uneasiness departed,
tormenting thoughts gave place to sweet and spiritual rest, body and mind became
completely renovated. Such intervals of rest from labor fall to the lot of all
that bear the cross. Even in the midst of the desert our gracious God is able to
provide for us a place of repose; the storm does not rage incessantly; the
peaceful hours intervene unawares, and the burden upon our shoulders becomes for
a while a resting pillow to our heads, upon which we insensibly gather recruited
strength.

At one time the Keeper of Israel sends us bodily slumber in the midst of our
sorrows; and what a welcome guest may it not prove to us, particularly when
spiritual conflicts threaten to confuse the senses and absorb the spirits! At
another, pleasant dreams perform to us the ministry of angels; poor Lazarus is
in thought translated into Abraham’s bosom, and lonely Jacob is borne aloft from
his stone pillow into the opened heavens. At another season, a sympathizing
Jonathan visits me in my outcast condition; and, by his affectionate
conversation, imperceptibly removes my depression. At other times, some
consoling truth of revelation is by a text or hymn suggested to my mind, and
hope diffuses its mild and cheering light in the midst of my darkness.

In short, the very days of storm and tempest have their hours of repose and
mercy, heretofore let no one be anxious, however steep and thorny his path,
however dreary and rough his road. When his weary knees are ready to sink, God
will know how to provide him a resting place, and he shall be able to say, “I
laid me down and slept; I awaked, for the Lord sustained me.”

And although these may be only short pauses, still they remind us how easily he
could, if he pleased, at any moment deliver us out of every trouble. And a
believing assurance of this is sufficient to overcome every anxiety and fear.

II. The man of God lay and slept under the jumper tree To all outward appearance
he was as one forsaken, and, like the disciples in Gethsemane, “sleeping for
sorrow.” Yet a Divine watch is kept over him. Grace, mercy, and peace are with
him. Here we have a sensible demonstration given of the ministry of the elect
angels about them that fear God, sent forth to minister to the heirs of
salvation. An angel “touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.”

Here is one instance, among several which are given in the Holy Scriptures, of
the pleasure enjoyed by angels in ministering to God’s saints on earth. Behold
then, in this gloomy wilderness, the ministry of an angel of God, who finds an
addition to his happiness in preparing help and refreshment for a servant of God
in his distress and sorrow. O Israel, a people saved by the Lord, what people is
like unto you in this world, wherever ye are scattered and dispersed, or in
whatever age ye live! What glorious attendants minister unto you, even to the
least heir of salvation among you!

Solitary as any one of you may seem in many a path of duty, that is the very
situation where he is attended by company of the best and noblest kind; thus was
Jacob attended at Mahanaim. And indeed it may be adopted as a general remark,
that where the world closes against any servant of God, there heaven opens to
him. What a wonderful mixture is there of poverty and dignity in the condition
of the children of God, even as there was in that of Christ himself upon earth,
to whose image and likeness all his people conformed. The action of the angel,
in waking the prophet and bidding him “Arise and eat,” may be spiritually
applied to many a one among ourselves. Though the weary pilgrim stood in great
need of bodily refreshment, he does not appear to have felt the want of it, and
required first to be incited externally to make use of it.

So an afflicted soul may often need nothing so much as the food of the Word of
God; and yet, by brooding over his troubles, may go on for some time insensible
of this want. Though he open the Bible, he may feel no attraction for the truths
it contains, nor any desire for the benefit of Divine ordinances, and may be
ready to ask, “What good will these things do me?” This a pitiable and
melancholy condition; but the help of God arrives to relieve it, either by a
suggestion immediately from his Spirit, or by the medium of a Christian friend,
or of some apparently accidental, but in reality providential occurrence, that
he should arise and eat; should take up and read, or go and hear the word of
life. He now finds a spiritual appetite returned, and his soul is strengthened
by the Word of God.

III. “And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a
cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.”

Thus he appears to have been so well lodged and provided for here in the
wilderness, as to leave him nothing more to wish for. Oh the tender compassion
of God; for “so he giveth his beloved sleep” (Psalms 127:2). Yet how few learn
to cast all their care and anxiety about temporal provision on Him who careth
for them!

What a serious and difficult thing does it seem to many of us to practice that
instruction of the inspired apostle, “Be careful for nothing; but in every
thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made
known unto God.” To “cast all our care on Him who careth for us,” appears, to
blind natural reason, a perilous method of proceeding. But is not our reluctance
to follow this direction a reason why we experience, in our own lives, so little
of His aid, who ordereth all things both in heaven and earth, and who hath the
hearts of all in his hand!

His remarkable interpositions in behalf of Elijah we are too apt to regard as
prodigies of a golden age long since gone by; hence almost the only sounds heard
in the tabernacles of the righteous, at present, are sighs and lamentations for
embarrassments, disappointed prospects, and unsuccessful undertakings. The bread
and the water with which God nourishes souls in the wilderness, are the truths
of his word and promises. But as the cake was baked on the coals for Elijah, and
the water placed at his head in a cruse, so we need to have the truths of God’s
word prepared for us by his Spirit, and set before us by his providence, that we
may take the benefit of them for our spiritual refreshment and nourishment.

And how refreshing and strengthening do we find those truths, when God has again
spread his table for us, and we again feed on the bread of life, by faith in our
hearts, with thanksgiving, and refresh ourselves with the divine promises, and
rejoice with renewed confidence in the divine favor! Then do we thank God for
the season of hunger and sorrow through which we passed; it then seems to us as
if we had never before feasted at such a passover; and we become more sensible
than ever of the value of that bread of life which our gracious God has prepared
for us. Hence we learn the goodness of God’s ways in suffering us for a while to
feel hunger, or deadness of spirit.

Elijah, apparently more asleep than awake, stretched out his hand, tasted the
bread, drank of the water, and sank down again, weak and weary, and fell asleep.
For that he fell asleep may be supposed from the angel’s touching him a second
time. We, however, should have thought that his surprise would have been so
excited, and his thoughts so set in motion, as to have rendered it impossible
for him to fall asleep again immediately. But here is no appearance of surprise
expressed. He partakes of the refreshment, not as if he were lying in a desolate
uninhabited wilderness, but as if he were at home in his own dwelling.

If he was not in a half awakened state, he must have been absorbed, like Mary
Magdalene at her visit to the sepulchre, in higher thoughts. This is no
unsupposable case; and, spiritually applied, it is a very common one. Persons of
weak faith, and under strong spiritual temptation, may hear the word of
consolation, and receive it; but taking only a hasty draught of the living
waters of promise, the enjoyment is soon gone again. It is however not without
its use. If it effects nothing more, it serves to revive and confirm the
persuasion, that He who can cast a ray of comfort into the benighted soul, is
able at any moment to send into it the full day of peace. The sleep of Elijah
serves also to remind us of those who are for the most part spiritually asleep,
and have never yet been thoroughly awakened. they eat and drink, or, in other
words, they hear much that is good, they read the Bible, and are regular in
attending the worship of God, yet everything seems lost upon them, and not the
smallest decided proof of spiritual life is discoverable in them. Yet let no one
venture to say, before their course is ended, that such persons have eaten and
drunken in vain. They may suddenly one day prove the contrary to your face. The
food they have received may at unawares be found effectually to have nourished
them. Let all diligently use the means of grace.

IV. “The angel of the Lord” then “came again the second time, and touched him,
and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.”

Though God allows his servants to be tried beyond their own inherent strength,
he never suffers them to be tried beyond what he himself enables them to
undergo. He prepares and strengthens before he leads them to any conflict,
before lays his cross upon them. When we enjoy days of special refreshment in
spirit, it is generally a sign that new trials of faith await us, for which,
through this refreshment, we must make vigilant preparation.

Elijah now “arose, and did eat and drink,” and his slumber and weariness
disappeared. The word of the angel seems to have quickened his soul as much as
the food had refreshed his body. The angel had spoken to him of a further
“journey” the prophet had now to undertake: which was the same as telling him
that God had a new commission for him, and that he was still on a career of
which he had not yet seen the end even at a distance. It had seemed as if his
own “heart” had “devised his way” into this wilderness; he finds that “the Lord
directed his steps,” and was still directing them. He is again persuaded that
God is present with him, and he springs up as a young roe, and no longer goes
“whither he would,” but, in the name of his gracious God, he again sets out on
his way.

O how blessed is it, after going on for a season in uncertainty and darkness,
sighing with David, “I am sorrowful and forsaken,” unexpectedly to discover some
indubitable proof of the divine presence with us, some scriptural evidence that
things are really different from what we supposed, that we are really walking in
a path which God has marked out for us!

V. Elijah is now himself again; he has found God to be the lifter up of his head

“And he went the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb,
the mount of God.”

He travels through the sandy desert alone; yet not alone, for God is with him.
He is not anxious as to whither the Lord is directing him, or about the purpose
intended by this strange journey. Forty days and nights he travels on, without
rest or intermission, through the silent wilderness-a miraculous journey, which
was performed in the strength of the food with which God, by his angel, had
refreshed him. To help by many means or by few, or with no means at all, is one
and the same thing to Him, who upholdeth all by the word of his power.

He, who multiplied the loaves and the fishes at his pleasure, could give to a
little all the virtue of much. In Short, Elijah had no need, during the whole
journey, of either refreshment or rest. The hot wind during the day did not
exhaust him, nor the difficulties of the night fatigue him. Thus he bore about
with him, in the renewed courage of his spirit, and in the unexhausted strength
of his limbs, an abiding seal and pledge that the Lord was with him, and that
the hand of the Almighty sustained him. The desert, over which Elijah traveled
forty days and nights, was the same through which the tribes of Israel traveled
during forty years, under the convoy of the cloudy and fiery pillar. Surely
this, if any, was holy ground. It had been traversed by the feet of the mighty,
it was rich with the most stupendous associations of thought, and with the most
interesting recollections. Here the whole miraculous history of the ancient
fathers would revive before him in the liveliest colors. Fresh images and scenes
from that age of wonders would recur to his mind at every step, and the very
profound silence around him would assist in the consideration of the sublime
things of which these spots had been once the theatre.

As often as he descended into a green and palmy vale, he alighted in spirit upon
some resting-place of his fathers. As often as the shade of an overhanging rock
received him, it was as if the incense of the sanctuary breathed around him; for
the prayers of the pilgrims of God had hallowed these shades. Here or there, he
would think, perhaps Moses had rested and taken counsel in the sacred circle of
his elders; and the leader of Israel would still seem kneeling before the Lord,
and speaking to him, “as a man talketh with his friend.” Thus one heart-elating
thought would follow another. The history of the forty years’ journey would
attain a form and a vitality beyond what he had hitherto realized. At one time
he would seem to be gathering the manna with the ancient fathers; at another, to
be standing with with the wounded before the brazen image of the serpent, and
feeling with them the return of health. Presently he would be in spirit at the
altar which Moses built, and called it “Jehovah-Nissi,” the Lord my banner; and
then again he would hear the desert resound with loud thanksgivings and solemn
hymns of praise to the faithfulness’ and truth of Jehovah.

Every new scene on which he entered, would bring before him some new event and
feature of those journeyings which were irradiated with the glory of God; and
whatever consolation and encouragement is comprised in these histories, would
rush upon him with sublime and overwhelming wonder, or exhilarate him with a
ring of hope and joy, that seemed to give wings to his feet, and banish the last
remains of fear and care from his spirit.

Assured that he was pursuing his way under the shadow of the same Almighty hand
which once covered the whole host of Israel, he would cheerfully pursue his
journey, not doubting that he was led by the right hand of Him who under the
juniper tree had given the sign for him to depart, and had endued his feeble
frame with a strength which no toil or fatigue of the long journey was able to
diminish; and that as soon as the end was attained, he should be bidden to rest
and lay down his traveling staff in peace and safety.

What a blessed gift is faith to the children of God! Its wondrous power deprives
privations of their horrors. That which is distant it brings near; it develops
hidden things, and awakens past events to new life. It merges the gloom of the
present into the bliss of the future, and paints the sky of many a departing sun
with the dawning radiance of a better world.

In the midst of sublunary changes, it anticipates a peaceful paradise. It
peoples our bereaved family circles with holy and heavenly company; associates
both worlds in close connection, and unites things past, present and to come. In
its light, the sacred narratives seem acted over again, and our own personal
history becomes a sacred record of Providence. It has the power of realizing the
dead as if they were alive; the ancients are our contemporaries, although their
ashes repose in the sepulchre for six thousand years. By its voice they still
converse with us, although to human ears they speak no more; by its realizing
aid they visit us in our darkness with kindness and consolation; by its light we
see a cloud of them as witnesses encamped around us; and whatever grace they
experienced is, through faith, appropriated to ourselves.

It nourishes us with the promises made to Abraham; it sustains us with the
strong consolation of the oath divinely sworn unto Isaac; it gives us the staff
of Jacob to support our steps; it enables us with Moses’ rod to divide the sea,
and with David we leap over the wall and rampart! O faith, thou door-keeper of
every sanctuary, thou master over all the treasures of God! May he that is thine
Author draw near unto us; and he that is thy Finisher incline himself towards
us!

~ end of chapter 11 ~


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  CHAPTER 27: 02.12.     ARRIVAL AT MOUNT HOREB
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Arrival at Mount Horeb

CHAPTER TWELVE

Many a true Christian has enjoyed luminous intervals in his life, which may be
called his moments on Tabor. Such an interval was that experienced by Moses,
when, overpowered by holy zeal for the Honor of God, and carried away by the
ardor of a superhuman love, forgetting himself, he broke out, in the astonishing
words:-“Yet now if thou wilt forgive them their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray
thee, out of thy book!” And such, if we follow the common translation of the
passage, Romans 9:3, appears to have been the case with the apostle Paul, when
he said, he could wish that himself were accursed from Christ for his brethren,
his kinsmen according to the flesh. If our cool, sober, calculating people of
the present day are unable to comprehend ecstatic expressions like these, it is
no wonder, neither is it any proof that holier men were not sincere in their
wonderful desires.

An infant is incompetent to enter into the ideas of a courageous and valiant
warrior; still there were such men as Gideon and David. Even Moses or Paul,
after the Divine ecstasy of the moment was over, might feel astonished at the
elevation to which their souls had been raised. For in such moments they were
transported very far above their ordinary feelings.

You know, besides Paul and Moses, a third who was all along actuated thus; who
said, “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be
accomplished!” He actually carried his desire into effect: He was willingly
“made a curse for us.” Many who call themselves Christians shake their heads at
this truth; they do not believe that the love of the Lord Jesus went so far as
to undergo the penalty belonging to the sins of the world. Were these
adversaries of the atonement in the right, it would follow that the disciples,
Moses and Paul, were above their Master in charity to Mankind. Therefore, from
this very love on the part of his disciples, we can show that they are in the
wrong. For, from whom did those disciples derive their fervor of love? Was it
from themselves? Certainly not! It was from their Saviour’s fountain of love.
Out of his fullness did they receive. As then the stream is, such must the
fountain be; and what we perceive in the copy, must be found in the original.
There is therefore a love in the heart of Jesus, which could desire to become an
anathema for sinners; else how could such a love have been found in his
disciples? The recollection, however, of such love as this, in Moses or in Paul,
is not altogether advantageous to the prophet Elijah, in comparing the scene of
his life which we are now about, to contemplate for it contains a striking
contrast to the conduct of those two saints.

“And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the
LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he
said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of
Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy
prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to
take it away. And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD.
And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains,
and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind:
and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake” (1
Kings 19:9-11).

Here we have the man of God again before us, in circumstances which are
overruled to increase his humility and experience the life of God in his soul.
The particulars which this portion of Elijah’s history brings before us are well
worth our attentive consideration.

Here is,

I. The night’s lodging in the cave;

II. The Divine reproof; III. The prophet’s complaint;

IV. The direction to appear before the, I. The prophet’s efforts to restore
Israel to the faith of their fathers had apparently failed The mighty miracle on
Carmel seemed to have produced no other fruit than redoubled hatred on the part
of the inveterate idolaters: Jezebel’s murderous intentions had been brought to
ripeness by this event. The prophet having been informed of this, fled without
Divine direction. “He went whither he would, to save his life.” His distress
increased with every step, and reached its height upon his arrival in the
wilderness. He thought himself forsaken of God; in having become weary of life,
he prayed for death; whereupon God, by an angel, sent him refreshment in body
and spirit. He learnt that he was still conducted of God, and that the divine
thoughts towards him were thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give him an
expected end. Jeremiah 29:11. In the strength of the food of which he had
partaken, and of the joyfully surprising angelic message, he entered upon the
“hard journey,” and traversed the desert for forty days and nights, with high
expectations of the result, and of the end that should terminate these solitary
wanderings.

Now, when the forty days are drawing to a close, he sees in the azure distance a
rocky mountain glistening before him, which soon becomes better known to him by
its peculiar appearance and remarkable summits. It was Mount Sinai, towering
like a magnificent temple. Another height near it appeared like its antechamber;
it was lower than the former, but as boldly formed, and as wild and rocky. This
was Horeb. What must have been the sensations of an Elijah at first beholding
theses sacred and ever-memorable heights! What elevating thoughts and delightful
hopes might then have engaged his mind! Here, he might suppose, God could again
meet him in all the glory of his benignity, and unfold to him truths respecting
the restoration of Israel which would change his mourning into rejoicing, and
gird him with gladness.

- As it was on Horeb that the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush, Elijah
would in a lively manner be reminded of the goodwill of Him that dwelt in the
bush, and would be refreshed in expecting it for himself. - As it was the rock
of Horeb was smitten and yielded a miraculous supply of water to the hosts of
Israel, Elijah would here think of a water which would refresh and invigorate
his soul. - As it was on Horeb that the uplifted hand of the man of God
prostrated the hostile strength of Amalek, and gave Joshua his glorious victory
over the armies of the aliens, Elijah perhaps might reckon upon hearing from
Horeb the sentence upon Ahab and Jezebel which would put down blasphemy and the
destruction of souls in Israel! - On Horeb God renewed his gracious covenant
with his people, after he had delivered them from the iron furnace of Egypt; and
Elijah might expect a renewal of his covenant with the Lord, fresh assurances
and promises respecting his work of reformation.

Elijah being arrived at the mount of God, we may further imagine him climbing
the rocky ridges to its summit with feelings of profoundest veneration. His feet
stand upon Horeb, and doubtless his spirit prays in fervent expectation of
further communications from the Lord. He would naturally experience alternations
of hope and fear. He cannot but think that the Lord has conducted him to Horeb,
yet he knows not wherefore, at least on what particular errand.

He is in an almost indescribable solitude. Nothing but rugged layers of stone,
one above another, around him, and tangled thickets, with here and there a
melancholy cypress or a gloomy tamarisk. Also, the devout wanderer might be at a
loss what to think of his situation, and feel as if he were banished from the
whole world! No trace of any human being is to be perceived.

The horror of this lonely, forsaken situation would be augmented by the approach
of night. Ought he to travel on? He cannot do it. He feels the limit of his
journey to be assigned him here. The strength which bore him through the desert,
perhaps, has forsaken him; and, no less so, the cheerful spirit and the courage
to proceed, and therefore nothing is left him but to seek out some retreat which
may shelter him from wild beasts and poisonous serpents. He wraps his mantle
around him, creeps into a gloomy cave, of which there are many on this rocky
mountain, and lies down in order to pass the night in this melancholy lodging.
This was, probably, one of the most anxious nights of his life; for, instead of
enjoying the cheering manifestations of the Divine presence, or realizing any of
the high expectations he might have indulged on his miraculous journey to Horeb,
he was obliged, in most comfortless outward circumstances, to bury himself in
the horrors of a desolate cavern. It may be easily supposed that no sleep could
close the good man’s eyes that melancholy night.

Satan, too, would not be inactive in his attempts against so decided an enemy,
but would summon all his strength to overthrow the faith of the hard-tried
prophet and to wound him with his fiery darts. For the circumstances in which
Elijah was now placed would give to the father of lies great advantage in
tempting him to doubt and distrust the love, and word, and promises of God, as
if the Keeper of Israel himself could sleep, or, if not, could delight in
chastising and trying his servants. “Where is now thy God?” might, be suggested
to Elijah. “Where is now thy boasted happiness in his service?” And who knows
whether the prophet was still ready for the conflict, or took the field fully
armed, with cheerful courage, to resist such wiliness of Satan.

This at least we know, that if the invisible arms had not held him, which were
wont to uphold him, especially when he was least aware of it, the temptation of
despair would have swallowed him up.

II. Elijah takes up his abode in the cave

He thus further experiences that God’s ways with his servants lead to
mortification and total self-denial. While he is there, behold, the word of the
Lord came to him, and he said unto him, “What doest thou here, Elijah?”

Elijah at once recognizes the voice of the Almighty. But what an unexpected
question was this! What a contrast to the expectations he had probably carried
with him to Horeb! Perhaps he had thought that the whole journey from Samaria
hither had been a Divine path, and that the Lord himself had called him to Horeb
in order to enrich him there with spiritual enjoyments. And now such a
salutation, or rather such an alarming inquiry! It must, however, have served to
undeceive him, and lead him to consider the state of his heart. It placed before
him the arbitrariness of his flight from Jezreel. It reminded him especially of
the weakness of his faith; it must have made him ashamed, and have incited him
to the profoundest humiliation.

When troubles come upon us, and we are disposed to lament over disappointed
hopes and undertakings, God is gracious in making known to us our infirmities
and sins, which are in one way or another the occasion of every disquietude.
Unless this is done, we are in danger of misunderstanding his dealings with us,
and of distrusting his love and faithfulness. A sense of our own guilt and
unworthiness is the best preservative against those pangs of the heart which
Asaph speaks of, Psalms 73:21. As it serves to explain many apparently hard
passages of the divine conduct towards us, so it prevents the peevish and
complaining thoughts which I would often arise within us respecting the
hardships of our condition. How satisfied do we then become! nay, how heartily
glad and thankful when only a glimpse of forgiveness, a single ray of undeserved
favor shines once more into our hearts! We seem as if needing nothing more to
make us happy; we submit humbly and serenely under the divine will, and all
murmurings are exchanged for contrite and thankful confessions. “O Lord,
righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face, because we
have sinned against thee” (Daniel 9:7-8).

“What doest thou here?” By an inquiry of this sort, divinely applied to the
conscience, many a one has been shaken out of carnal security for the rest of
his life. Painful indeed has been the experience many a sinner when thus
overtaken on the paths which lead to death. But this has sometimes ended in the
most happy result; for men have thus, like the prodigal son, “come to
themselves,” turned to their Father’s house and found a happy welcome there. But
we may be even associated with the children of God, and yet the same question
may surprise and alarm the conscience, “What doest thou here?” suggesting that
we do not really belong to such society as we have mingled with, and may thus
produce great distress and perplexity in the soul; leading it however to deep
self-examination. It is also made the means of awakening sleepers in Zion, who
are hereby aroused to spiritual conflict; and the unwatchful and careless are
prevented from going further astray.

Thus it acts as a means of separating them more entirely from the spirit and the
ways of this vain world, and of attaching them more securely to the service of
the Lord Jesus.

But, alas, how many among us are there, of whom, although they bear the
Christian name, it is to be feared that they are wandering in the wilderness out
of the way of God? O that the Almighty may this day meet them with the inquiry,
“What doest thou here?” may bring them to their right minds, and guide them into
that way of peace which hitherto they have not known!

III. The prophet, at this question, recollects himself

He answers, “I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts.” This, indeed,
was true, and he could say with the Psalmist, “The zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up.”

Alas, in the Laodicean character of the present day, how little is there of this
spirit! Men can see and hear much that, is contrary to God, with an indifference
that speaks but too plainly how lukewarm they are in his service, how
unconcerned they are for his glory.

Where, alas, do we see that fervor with which the ancient saints, the prophets,
apostles, martyrs, and confessors testified to the truth in their days? How
earnestly did they cry day and night to God, that he would exalt himself in his
own strength among the nations! Where is that self-devotedness which Moses
showed when he prayed, “Yet if now thou wilt, forgive their sin- and if not,
blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book;” where do we now find such fervent
intercession for others? O pray, pray, my brethren, that the spirit of ancient
wisdom, love, and zeal may again be poured out with awakening and reviving
energy upon us!

“The children of Israel,” continues Elijah, “have forsaken thy covenant, thrown
down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword.”

Now, if this be a sufficient cause for being zealous for the honor of God, how
is it that we continue so unmoved? Why do we not glow with zeal for the Lord of
Hosts? Are not the banners of rebellion against God waving openly enough around
us? and are there not enough blasphemers and despisers, who have forsaken the
covenant, in the midst of us? Must the name of God be still more openly profaned
than it is already, in word and in deed, amongst us? And must the measure of
iniquity become still more full, before we will wrestle with God, that he may
exalt himself in the earth, and fill it with his glory? Is not this the reason
of our lukewarmness, that we do not keep our own hearts with all diligence, out
of which are the issues of life?

Personal and practical piety, real spiritual-mindedness, is a thing too little
sustained by the diligent use of means in our closets. Is not this the true
state of the case? Do we indeed give ourselves time to allow the fire of
devotional love to kindle in our hearts? Or do we not suffer ourselves, after
some few superficial performances in private, to be led away to other pursuits?
How then is it ever likely that, in such a state of mind, we should be truly
zealous for the Lord of Hosts, and for the spiritual interests of our brethren,
or be able to say, with Jeremiah, “I am pained at my very heart;” or, “It was in
my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing,
and was unable to restrain myself” (Jeremiah 4:19; Jeremiah 20:9).

Elijah says further, “I, even I only, am left.”

The only one, he means, on the field of battle; for he was not the only child of
God in Israel; for the others had fled, or were hidden in the rocks.

“And they seek my life, to take it away.”

He does not disguise it, that to save his own life he had left Samaria and fled
to the wilderness, but relates the matter with all sincerity and candor.

God is gracious to those who open their hearts to him, however it may reflect
upon themselves. But however candid this confession of Elijah may be, it does
not sound quite right. However much holy indignation it expresses at the general
contempt put upon the name of the Lord, there is human chagrin and vexation
mixed with it, and it betrays an undue excitement of natural feeling.

Moses, when he placed himself in the breach for his idolatrous people, and
entreated the Lord to blot him out of his book if he would not forgive them,
appears greater to us, and in a more glorious light, than Elijah does in this
instance. For he seems to accuse his people with some natural vexation and
vehemence and even to plead against hem before the Lord. Nay, more; his saying
to God, how very jealous he had been for him, and then laying before him the
fruitlessness of this jealousy and the unexpected and grievous result of his
activity, seems to imply some complaint against God himself, as if he had said,
“Lord, why hast thou done this to me? How couldst thou leave thy servant to be
treated thus? How so forsake the work of thine own hands?”

The Lord, however, purposes answering their accusations himself; and vouchsafes
him such a reply as will preserve him, all his life after, from similar
mistakes.

IV. “And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord” This
divine injunction, I could wish, in a certain sense, that you would also lay to
heart. It has reference to all who are situated in some respects as Elijah. The
cave from which he was bidden to go forth, may remind us of the darkness and
perplexity in which our own hearts have involved us. Happy he who perceives it,
and whose eyes are opened to see the spiritual darkness and corruption generated
from his own bosom! But he must not think to bury himself in this. It would be
perverse and injurious so to do. Many amongst us however have often done so;
they have imprisoned themselves in the mere thoughts of their own hearts, and we
hear nothing from some, but complainings of the deadness, depravity, poverty and
helplessness of their souls: truths, all good and salutary in themselves, but
wretchedly misapplied to paralyze every spiritual and benevolent exertion. O, go
ye forth from such a cavern of darkness, and stand upon the mount before the
Lord! You will find neither life, light nor peace in your own hearts. Go forth,
in spirit, from your gloomy cell to the mount: behold the Lamb of God: look up
to him who was suspended on the cross for the ungodly; contemplate his spirit,
his love, his merits! It is this which makes the believer courageous, joyful,
and strong; and imparts new life to his spirit. The same may be said to those
who are troubled with evil thoughts, and incited to evil actions. He that busies
himself in the painful consideration of such things, who lingers amidst the dark
horrors of these temptations, looking only at the fiery darts which crowd upon
him; he who stays in such a cavern as this, is liable to be swallowed up in
despair. But let us go forth out of the cave; let us stand upon the mount before
the Lord, where Jesus presents himself, having been in all points tempted like
as we are, yet without sin, and we shall find him in all points able also to
succor them that are tempted. In the mount, the Lord shall be seen as having
“spoiled principalities and powers, as having made a show of them openly, and as
ascended on high, having led captivity captive, and received gifts for men.”

Contemplate this mighty Conqueror, in whom you have also overcome; bring all
your wretchedness before his throne, roll your burden upon him, and he shall
sustain you; courage and strength shall be given to you; you shall have victory
and triumph over the world, the devil and the flesh. The same may be said to all
who suffer under the pressure of temporal trouble, sorrow, need, sickness,
disgrace or any other adversity. Do the waves of this world thus toss you? Look
not with Peter at the storm, instead of looking to Him who can rebuke it; look
not with Martha to the pit of corruption, instead of to Him who is the
resurrection and the life; this is only to imprison ourselves spiritually in our
own gloomy cave. There can be neither joy nor peace in doing this.

Go forth! Go forth! Stretch forth the hand of faith toward the mighty and
outstretched arm of Divine love; spread the wings of hope; stand forth upon the
mount whereon is laid the sure foundation of Zion. Hereby you will learn
something of the paternal heart of Him, who, though his ways are mysterious,
nevertheless doeth all things well, and you will gain a prospect of that better
country where “they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall
the sun light on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb that is in the midst of the
throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes”

Whatever our circumstances may be, to place ourselves on every occasion before
the Lord, with an open heart, without reserve or guile, is the grand secret of
happiness and peace this world. Yes, and when the outward man itself perisheth,
and the eye grows dim in the shadow of death, the soul shall hear a voice behind
it, saying, “Go forth, and stand on the heavenly mount before the Lord!”

~ end of chapter 12 ~


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  CHAPTER 28: 02.13.     THE MANIFESTATION ON MOUNT HOREB
========================================================================

The Manifestation on Mount Horeb CHAPTER THIRTEEN The children of God in this
world are in close and wonderful connection with Christ, their head, and with
each other. This connection consists not merely in the unity of their
sentiments, faith and conduct; the communion of saints is a deep and blessed
mystery, and is very properly distinguished as one of the articles of the
Christian faith. Our blessed Lord speaks of believers as one, in a unity like
that which subsists between the Father and himself as man. In various places of
Scripture they are represented as composing one body, united to their glorious
head, Christ Jesus. Thus Paul says, 1 Corinthians 12:26-27, “Ye are the body of
Christ, and members in particular.” “If one member suffer, all the members
suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.” He
also extends this representation further still, and calls the union amongst them
a mystery.

Now those to whom this mystery is in any measure unfolded, find it an invaluable
treasure, O it is one of the most consoling, one of the most refreshing truths
of the Gospel, that all who believe are one. Let the consciousness of this
mysterious unity and fellowship accompany us to the scene which we are now about
to contemplate, and lead us to rejoice in the glorious and gracious
manifestation of God granted to the prophet Elijah upon mount Horeb, as an
exhibition of kindness vouchsafed not to him alone, but to us also, as members
of one body in Christ.

“And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold,
the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in
pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after
the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the
earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still
small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in
his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold,
there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?” (1 Kings
19:11-13).

Need I say, my friends, that it is a majestic scene to which we are now
approaching? It is an event as richly significant, and as abundantly consolatory
as any we meet with in the annals of God’s servants.

Let us then, I. Consider it in its historical course;

II. Inquire into its immediate object.

I. “Go forth,” it had been said to Elijah, “and stand upon the mount before the
Lord” The prophet hears it, and leaves his cave; and no sooner is he gone forth,
than signs occur which announce to him the approach of the Almighty. The sacred
historian here, indeed, depicts in simple language a most sublime scene.

The first sign was a tremendous wind. Just before, probably, the deepest silence
had prevailed throughout this dreary wilderness; all is now in the most dreadful
uproar about him. The mountain tempest breaks forth, and the bursting rocks
thunder as if the four winds, having been confined there, had, in an instant,
broken from their prisons to fight together. The clouds are driven about in the
sky like squadrons of combatants rushing to conflict. The sandy desert is like a
raging sea tossing its curling billows to the sky. Sinai is agitated, as if the
terrors of the law-giving were renewed around it. The prophet feels majesty of
the Lord; it is awful and appalling. It is not a feeling of peace, and of the
Lord’s blissful nearness, which possesses Elijah’s soul in this tremendous
scene-it is rather a feeling of distressing distance; “a strong wind went before
the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.” The terrors of an earthquake next
ensue. The very foundations of the hills shook and were removed. The mountains
and the rocks, which were rent by the mighty wind, threaten now to fall upon one
another. Hills sink down and valleys rise; chasms yawn, and horrible depths
unfold, as if the earth was removed out of its place. The prophet, surrounded by
the ruins of nature, feels still more of that Divine majesty which “looketh upon
the earth, and it trembleth.” But he still remains without any gracious
communication of the Lord in the inner man. The earthquake was only a second
herald of the Deity. It went before the Lord, “but the Lord was not in the
earthquake.” When this had ceased, an awful fire, no common fire, passes by.
Elijah, lost in adoring astonishment, beholds the awfully sublime spectacle, and
the inmost sensation of his heart must have been that of surprise and dread; but
he enjoys as yet no delightful sense of the divine nearness; “the Lord was not
in the fire.” The fire disappears, and tranquility spreads gradually, like the
stillness of the sanctuary, over all nature; and it seems as if every hill and
dale, yea, the whole earth and skies lay in silent homage at the footstool of
eternal Majesty. The very mountains seem to worship; the whole scene is hushed
to profound peace; and now he hears “a still small voice.” And it was so, when
Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, in token of referential
awe and adoring wonder, and went forth, and stood at the entrance of the cave.

II. If, now, we inquire into the peculiar signification and primary intention of
this Divine manifestation at Horeb, we can hardly remain long in doubt about it

It seems that the Lord intended thus to lead the prophet out of a variety of
doubts and sorrows in which he had lost himself. Outward events had appeared to
him quite enigmatical; and his inward thoughts were very confused and painful.
He had lost his clue to Providence in the unexpected turn of events which the
kingdom of God in Israel had suddenly taken.

It was in God’s name, and by his commission, that he had forsaken his native
mountains of Gilead, and had gone to Samaria to recover backsliding Israel to
the faith of their forefathers. The means for such a work had been placed in his
hands by God himself. It was given him to shut heaven and to open it again. He
had performed signs and wonders, such as had not been done in Israel for
centuries, and had labored as abundantly as any saint before him. From such
exertions Elijah expected to witness effects produced; and he probably hoped for
nothing less than a penitent return of the whole people to the Service of the
Lord. The fervent man of God, however, erred in his calculation.

The result of his faithful labors, which had been wrought in God, corresponded
not with his hopes, but proved just the opposite to them. At the very moment
when He had hoped to lead back the regenerated people with psalms and hymns of
rejoicing, to the altar of the living God, he sees himself exposed to danger in
every direction, and his labor appears to have been in vain. Such things were
too mysterious for him, and he could not reconcile them with his present ideas
of God. This doubting state of mind had been augmented in the solitary cave at
Horeb, and had now attained its height; when the majestic signs-the wind that
rent the mountains-the earthquake and the fire-passed before him, but the Lord
was not in them, nor in any one of them. Elijah did not derive from them those
spiritual blessings which are mentioned by Paul, in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, as
having been given to the fathers who “were baptized the cloud and in the sea;
who did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual
drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock which followed them; and that Rock
was Christ.”

None of these blessings were typically expressed or conveyed in the tremendous
manifestations given to Elijah. He did not, nor was it intended that he should
obtain from them a single crumb of that spiritual food, or a single drop of that
spiritual drink. They were not the means of any sweet union between his soul and
his God, or of any gracious communication. He only felt himself overwhelmed, in
an awful manner, by the greatness and majesty of God, and by a sense of his own
infinite distance from him; and all this wrought neither love nor peace in his
spirit, but served rather to make it shrink into bondage, and to produce that
state of mind which Isaiah and Job felt, when the former said, “Woe is me! I am
undone; because I am a man of unclean lips;” and the latter, “Thine eyes are
upon me, and I am not.”

But how very differently did the prophet feel, when, after this tumult of the
elements, he heard that small still voice which gave to his terrified spirit a
taste of the gracious lovingkindness of his God! His experience surely must then
have been like that of the seventy elders, who saw the God of Israel in the very
same desert, and in the same place, Exodus 24:10-11, and on whom “he laid not
his hand.” His presence did not destroy or consume them, but only refreshed and
delighted them.

A happiness so ineffable seems now to have been given to Elijah. The Lord now
“loosed his hands;” his oppressed heart was “set at liberty.” All within him
rejoiced at God’s gracious nearness; he felt the tender mercy of the Lord; he
covered his face with his mantle, and was willing to lay himself down at the
feet of his God, and to give himself up more decidedly than ever to him.

He had heard in the strong and mighty wind an echo, as it were, of the dreadful
reproofs and words of thunder with which he had struck the consciences of the
people of Israel. The earthquake represented the plagues and judgments which he
had inflicted upon the country. The fire would remind him of the flames of
Carmel, and of the bloody exertion of which it had been the signal.

In this way Elijah appeared as another Moses with the burning torch of the law-a
herald of God who is not to he mocked. But the zealous prophet was mistaken in
promising himself, from this procedure, results which never accompany the
thunders of the law, but are only wont to be coupled with the still small voice
of the Gospel.

What had he expected? Nothing less than an immediate penitent return of all
Israel to the God of their fathers. In this hope he went too far. He was not
justified in cherishing such expectations; and it was this that was to be
brought to his mind, in a convincing manner, on Horeb. Amidst the terrible
phenomena which passed before him, he was to be taught, in a lively manner, that
the manifestation merely of the power and majesty of God, where its burning
brilliance was not tempered by grace, might certainly inspire the sinner with
anxiety and terror, but could not really humble and convert him.

He was to become conscious by it that the demonstration of infinite holiness,
unassociated with “the kindness and love of God, our Saviour,” can only overawe
and repel; but is by no means adapted to produce contrition, or penitential
confession, or to incline the heart to the Lord with fervent affection. He now
better learnt that what especially softens, melts and converts the soul, is only
grace and the enjoyment of it; and that the blessed results, which he had
anticipated from the thunders of the law and the divine judgments, could only be
produced by the lovingkindness and tender mercy of the Lord.

In the significant occurrences on Horeb, the pleasing prospect was further to be
unfolded to him, that the Lord, who had not yet finished his work of reformation
in Israel, would, in due time, after the earthquake, storm and fire, come also
with the voice of the gentle whisper, which the hearts of men would then be
unable to resist, and which would bow down the mighty; and with what joy must
Elijah have laid hold of this promise!

But was his labor in Israel a lost labor? Had it been superfluous and useless?
By no means! The prophet was to learn that, just as the terrible signs he had
seen on Horeb had not been unavailing to himself, but had made him more
susceptible of the gracious and gentle whisper that followed them, and increased
his desire for the manifestation of the lovingkindness of God, so in like
manner, the Lord would point out to him that his prophetic exertions in Israel
had not been without salutary consequences.

They had prepared the hearts of the people for impressions of another kind; and
thus he was taught that his peculiar vocation, generally speaking, consisted in
ploughing up the hardened soil of their backsliding minds; in presenting the
forgotten law in all its majesty before their eyes; in awakening the sleepers,
and terrifying the secure with the thunders of the law, and thereby exciting
amongst them an earnest desire for the Gospel, and a hunger and thirst after the
righteousness which is by faith, that it might be by grace.

Thus Elijah had his scruples and difficulties cleared up; and in what a
wonderful and glorious manner! By this single divine act, the ways of God were
fully justified to his mind; the mystery was brought, in a gentle but most
convincing manner, to a sense of his mistakes; and whilst on the one hand the
honor of God was gloriously vindicated, the prophet on the other hand was deeply
humbled, and constrained with all his heart to confess, “Thou, Lord, art
righteous; but unto me belongeth confusion of face!”

And even though Elijah, soon after, repeated the complaint, it was then in a
totally different spirit from that in which he uttered it before. It proceeded
then from a humbled mind. The gloomy vexation, the disturbed temper, the inward
strife and murmuring, had all disappeared. The jarring discords of his beclouded
mind were dissolved, and harmony was restored in his soul.

Thus, my friends, I have endeavored to give you some explanation of those
mysterious events which took place on Horeb, at least with respect to their
immediate meaning and object. That this history has remained enigmatical to so
many readers, may probably arise from the excessive, or rather let me say,
improper ideas they formed of the sanctity of our prophet. They viewed him as a
being that was no longer liable to human errors, and incapable of deviating from
the path of divine simplicity, and of humble, filial, and unreserved submission
to his Lord.

But Elijah was a man “subject to like passions as we are” (James 5:17). He was
also not yet entirely free from what we all inherit from Adam; and the key to
the wonderful conduct of the Lord towards him on Horeb, is to be looked for, not
in the prophet’s perfection, but in his infirmity.

Yet, after all, how great must Elijah have been, that for his reproof and
instruction, heaven and earth are moved, as it were; the rocks rend, and the
mountains fall; and how must the mighty God have loved him, to make him an
object off condescension!

Thus we find here a trace, and a beautiful one it is, of evangelical instruction
in Horeb, in the vicinity of Mount Sinai itself.

Though the office of Elijah was rather secondary to that of Moses, than (like
that of his illustrious antitype, John the Baptist), precursive of Christ, still
it comprised the elements “of good things to come.” And could this holy prophet
have unbosomed himself fully, according to the tenor of that evangelical
character which shines through the veil of his awful severity, and according to
the tenor of that “still small voice” which he heard, doubtless he had enough
within him to have cheered the hearts of thousands.

But the time for such things was not arrived. The people among whom he resided
were not ripe for such disclosures; hence he had to keep his faith almost to
himself before God, and to merge the office of an evangelist in that of a
terrible reprover.

Here then we leave Horeb, not without refreshment and blessing. May the Lord
God, who is good and gracious, faithful and ready to forgive, incline to us all
with the still small voice, and may our whole life be, in one sense, like the
standing of Elijah before him with his face wrapped in his mantle! Amen.”

~ end of chapter 13 ~


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  CHAPTER 29: 02.14.     RENEWED MISSION
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Renewed Mission CHAPTER FOURTEEN

One of the most affecting and consoling narratives of the Old Testament, is that
of the wonderful preservation of Moses in his infancy (Exodus 2:1-10). Lo, at
the brink of the Nile, among the reeds, there floats a small ark or basket, made
of bulrushes, and carefully secured from leaking by cement of slime and pitch.
For a treasure indeed lies concealed in it-a goodly infant, acceptable to God,
and dear and precious to its mother above everything in this world: she has
therefore thus secured it, that in its floating cradle it might if possible
escape the destruction which Pharaoh’s cruel sentence had denounced upon all the
newborn males of Israel.

A mother’s love had prepared this infant’s couch, with many silent tears and
unspeakable anxiety; and while it lies there, in peril on the waters, the
sisterly love of Miriam fixes, her in sight of it to watch its fate. God’s
providence brings the daughter of Pharaoh to the banks of the river, who,
noticing the strange object, sends of her maidens to fetch it.

“And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And
she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children. Then
his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call unto thee a nurse of the
Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And she said, Go. And the
maid went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her,
Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages.”

Thus, by the divine disposal, were the mother and the child again brought
together.

Much spiritual comfort is derivable from this narrative. We who belong to Christ
are hidden as it were in an ark, which cruelty cannot penetrate, nor the floods
of the ungodly submerge. But many of us, like the infant Moses, who lay in the
ark and wept, know not how safely we are thus preserved.

Many of us float upon the waves of this troublesome world, in the region of the
leviathan and the piercing serpent, amidst many anxieties and terrific
apprehensions. But, remember who watches over thee, O Christian believer! If
thou perish, the eternal love of God must perish too: for into that ark hast
thou been received, and none shall pluck thee out of the Saviour’s hand. Nor
shalt thou float upon the waters for ever.

Be of good cheer: though thou see nothing but night and death before thee, the
providence of God, the Keeper of Israel, is nigh thee to watch over thee, as
over all the Israel of God. The portion of sacred history now to be considered,
will show how needless are all our distracting cares and anxieties.

“And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle,
and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came
a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have
been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have
forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the
sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

“And the LORD said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of
Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: And Jehu
the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son
of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. And it
shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay:
and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay” (1 Kings
19:13-17). This part of the narrative presents at first sight much that is
strange. It seems to have no spiritual connection with the great event just
before related, but rather to be at variance with it. Who, for instance, would
have expected that the prophet should renew his former complaint, or the Lord
should dismiss him with commissions and disclosures like these?

Yet it only requires a consideration of the matter, to elucidate most
satisfactorily what thus is doubtful and obscure.

Let us, I. Take another glance at the manifestation on Horeb;

II. Listen to the prophet’s complaint;

III. Pause and consider the instructions he received;

IV. Inquire into the nature of those commissions with which the Lord dismisses
him.

I. The majestic scene of wonders on Horeb has already passed before us, and its
meaning has been in some degree developed

It depicted the character of the Old Testament dispensation, and the office of
the law as our schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ; while, in the “still small
voice,” we discern the gentle whisper of Gospel grace. Thus we are enabled to
see these grand occurrences as taking place not for Elijah’s sake only, but for
ours also; and we must not leave them without at least a glance at their rich
and general import. The Lord often comes to those to whom he graciously reveals
himself, as he came to Elijah on Horeb. Has your own experience furnished
nothing similar?

Do you know nothing of the storm which he sends before him, as it were, rending
the mountains; of the earthquake, which subverts everything within us, and casts
down imaginations; of a fire of terror and dread which precedes the Lord of
glory? Are your rocks still unbroken? Have your heights not yet been cast down,
nor the deceitful ground of self-righteousness and self-sufficiency removed from
under you? And yet you imagine you have heard the gentle voice of grace! You are
not perhaps aware that the father of lies approaches men occasionally as an
angel of light, and whispers smooth things in their ears.

This destroyer is able to pervert the promises of God into the snares of death,
and he considers those secured as his prisoners, who suffer themselves to be
caught by his false assurances of Divine favor! O tremble at the artifices of
the old serpent; and remember, that the comforter who seeks to quiet your
conscience without mortifying your flesh, is not the Lord, but the wicked one!
For Jesus does not draw near with his still small voice, without first
overthrowing every high thing that exalts itself against him, and subverting the
power of the old man within us.

- “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life.” - “Many
shall Seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”

Seeking is not sufficient here-it must be striven for. The new creation within
us rises upon the ruins of the old and corrupt nature. Wherever grace builds, it
first pulls down and it is by bringing to nought things that are, that God makes
out of us what we by nature are not.

There was, some years ago, not far from this place, a very gifted preacher, who
for several years preached with great earnestness and success the doctrine of
the cross; but who, on that very account, was violently opposed. One of his
opponents, a well-informed person, who had for a long time absented himself from
the church, thought, one Sunday morning, that he would go and hear the man once
more, to see whether his preaching might be more tolerable to him than it had
been heretofore.

He went; and that morning the preacher was speaking of the narrow way, which he
did not make either narrower or broader than the Word of God describes it. “A
new creature in Christ, or eternal condemnation,” was the theme of his
discourse; and he spoke with power, and not as a mere learned reasoner. During
the sermon the question forced itself upon this hearer’s conscience, “How is it
with myself? Does this man declare the real truth? If he does, what must
inevitably follow from it?”

This thought took such a upon him, that he could not get rid of it amidst any of
his engagements or amusements. But it became from day to day more and more
troublesome; more and more penetrating; and threatened to embitter every joy of
his life; so that at last he thought he would go to the preacher himself and ask
him, upon his conscience, if he were convinced of the truth of that which he bad
lately preached. He fulfilled his intention, and went to the preacher. “Sir,”
said he to him, with great earnestness, “I was one of your hearers when you
spoke, a short time since, of the only way of salvation. I confess to you that
you have disturbed my peace of mind, and I cannot refrain from asking you
solemnly before God, and upon your conscience, if you can prove what you
asserted, or whether it was unfounded alarm.”

The preacher, not a little surprised at this address, replied with convincing
certainty, that he had spoken the Word of God, and consequently infallible
truth.

“What then is to become of us!” replied the visitor. His last word, us, startled
the preacher; but he rallied his thoughts, and began to explain the plan of
salvation to the inquirer, and to exhort him to repent and believe. But the
latter, as though he had not heard one syllable of what the preacher said,
interrupted him in the midst of it, and repeated, with increasing emotion, the
anxious exclamation, “If it be truth, sir, I beseech you, what are we to do?”

Terrified, the preacher staggers back. “We!” thinks he, “what means this we?”
and, endeavoring to stifle his inward uneasiness and embarrassment, he resumed
his exhortations and advice. Tears came into the eyes of the visitor; he smote
his hands together like one in despair, and exclaimed in an accent which might
have moved a heart of stone, “Sir, if it be truth, we are lost and undone!”

The preacher stood pale, trembling, and speechless. Then overwhelmed with
astonishment, with downcast eyes and convulsive sobbings he exclaimed, “Friend,
down on your knees, let us pray and cry for mercy!” They knelt down, and prayed;
and shortly afterwards the visitor took his leave.

The preacher shut himself up in his closet. Next Sunday, word was sent that the
minister was unwell, and could not appear. The same thing happened the Sunday
following. On the third Sunday the preacher made his appearance before his
congregation, worn with his inward conflict, and pale, but his eyes beaming with
joy, and commenced his discourse with the uprising and affecting declaration
that he had now, for the first time, passed through the strait gate.

You will ask what had occurred to him in his chamber during the interval which
had elapsed. A storm passed over before him- but the Lord was not in the storm;
an earthquake-but the Lord was not in the earthquake; a fire-but the Lord was
not in the fire. Then came a still small voice on which the man enveloped his
face in his mantle and from that time knew what was the gospel, and what was
graced. No sooner was Elijah favored with the still small voice, than he wrapped
his face in his mantle. This is an emblem of the Christian’s state of mind, who
veils his face with humility and overwhelming abasement before God. The law
fills him with apprehension; the knowledge of sin casts him down to the ground;
but the holy shame, the deep and silent contrition, which is so pleasing to God
begins to be felt when the Lord has come with his still small voice.

Behold, it is said in Ezekiel 16:62-63, “I will establish my covenant with thee;
and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; that thou mayest remember, and be
confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy alarms when I am
pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.”

O yes, when such a whisper of the most unmerited mercy breathes upon us, our
high looks are lowered-our lips are silent-we are overwhelmed with shame. But it
is shame without distress; it is a trembling without slavish fear; it is a
humiliation replete with love and blessedness.

O how well-pleasing is it to the Lord! We have already seen the prophet in
various positions. We have seen him clothed with strength and intrepidity,
contending like a lion with God’s enemies; we have seen him in the tempest, with
undaunted front, like a rock in the sea, unmoved by the winds and waves-but
surely he never appeared more noble and amiable than here on Horeb, when at the
still small voice of divine peace he bowed his mighty spirit, and, trembling
with confusion and delight, wrapped his face in his mantle.

II. We further read, that he then went forth and stood at the entering in of the
cave

He does not yet appear to have fully understood the meaning of these wonderful
manifestations. And, while he stood there, “behold, there came a voice unto him,
and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?”

This question, repeated the second time, seemed to direct him back to the scene
of activity. We should have supposed that he would not have needed to be thus
aroused again, but would, after such a gracious experience as had just before
been given him, have hastened back, with winged feet, to the work of
reformation. But instead of this, he breaks out again, to our astonishment, into
his former complaint; as if the wonders God had shown him had been ineffectual.

“I have been very jealous,” he answered, “for the Lord God of hosts; the
children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and
slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my
life, to take it away.”

The manifestations of God’s grace to Elijah had been suited to convince him that
his labors in Israel had not been in vain; but though he might now be ready to
say, “Lord, I believe,” he had still to complain and cry, “Help thou mine
unbelief!”

His anxious spirit would still gain further satisfaction, as to the manner how,
the time when, and means whereby the Lord’s intimation would be fulfilled: and
no sooner do his thoughts recur to the grievous and desperate state of things in
Israel, than a feeling of gloom returns, and he pours complaint as before.

Believing in darkness, on God’s bare word, where nothing like a fulfillment of
the promise is to be seen, is certainly a great and glorious thing, by which God
is honored; and O that such a faith were more frequently found amongst us! Alas,
even where true faith really exists, it is but generally in a state of conflict,
and seldom triumphant and perfected.

You find yourself, for instance, in a critical situation; the cares of this life
and domestic embarrassments press you down; you can see no outlet-every human
prospect of help is vanished. You now get an insight into the promises of God;
“I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee,” Fear thou not, I am with thee.
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands!” You know that He who
thus speaks addresses you, and that his word is truth. You take the word, as a
staff in your hand; you hope the best where, to all outward appearance, there is
nothing to hope; you believe in the dark. This is believing on the Word of God.
But have we generally such a faith as this?

III. Elijah is told to depart in faith “Go, return on thy way to the wilderness
of Damascus!”

He receives a threefold commission from the Lord, and with it strength to his
faith, and provision for his journey.

“When thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.” This is a reply to
Elijah’s first complaint, “The children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant.”
“I will appoint them a rod of correction,” is the Divine answer.

“Hazael, the servant of the Syrian king, shall go through the briers and thorns
for me. Go, and anoint him to be king over Syria!”

Hazael afterwards became king, and a severe scourge to the children of Israel.
He did them great injury, burnt their fortified towns, slew their young men, and
barbarously treated those whom nature in its most savage state might have
pitied. He served the Lord as the staff of his indignation, and was one of the
storms which were to go before the Lord, overturning the mountains and rending
the rocks; and, when he had finished his work, he was laid aside.

Thus the Lord knows how to make use of the vessels of wrath; at one time as
channels, through which he pours forth his indignation upon those who have not
known him, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon his name; at other
times he uses them as shepherds’ dogs, that only serve to keep his flock
together, and to bring back the wandering sheep.

Brethren, who knows what our own churches have still to experience? We are at
present evidently under divine forbearance; can any one of us say how long it
will last? It cannot be expressed how much mercy has already been expended upon
us. Yet how many are there who really thank God, and are heartily devoted to his
Service? How would it be, if the Lord were suddenly to remove all his true
children from the midst of us, and leave the impenitent to themselves. Would our
population suffer a very perceptible decrease? Or is not the case with
ourselves, as it is everywhere else; that the little flock of Israel amongst the
Canaanites is like a drop in the ocean, and like the little stars, which, in a
tempestuous night, twinkle only here and there among the black and stormy
clouds.

Are not a great part of our people dead? Yes, though many of them hear the sound
of the Word of life. This is very awful! For years together they have assembled
in our congregations, but they seem only less and less sensible of the value of
revealed truth. They have no hunger and thirst after it; no relish for it. Yea,
neither the thunder of the law, nor the sound of its trumpet has any effect upon
them; nor does the sweet melody of divine grace, and of the promises melt their
hardened and worldly hearts. Many of our people are lukewarm-neither for nor
against-neither cold nor hot; they hear the words of Christ, but they do them
not. Surely, if they continue in this state, he will reject them with abhorrence
A great part of our people praise Christ and the world with the same breath;
they bow themselves before God and mammon in the same ceremony.

They desire to be merry with the children of this world, and to be blessed with
the children of God; they wish to possess Christ, but will not, for his sake,
part with the world. Such is by far the majority of persons amongst us, whether
high or low, rich or poor. What will be the consequence of all this? May the
Lord have mercy upon us! For if we go on in this way, nothing but evil can be
prophesied concerning us!

The patience of God has an object, but we are defeating it. Who knows whether it
may not soon be said to some angel in heaven, “Go now, and appoint this or that
man for an Hazael; and let this deceiver, or that son of deceit, be placed over
such and such a church! Who knows, whether the preachers, who now stand in your
pulpits, may not be the last who shall ever offer the Gospel of peace to our
unthankful churches, and whether the destroyers are not already training under
the hand of Satan, and only wait for our departure to take possession of our
places with the torch of the false prophet in their hand, kindled from the
bottomless pit!

Perhaps, in a few years, all prophesyings amongst you will be at an end; the
people will have become foolish and dissolute; the Lord’s flock will be taken
away, and his fire extinguished to the very last spark. And when the righteous
are removed from amongst us, and no holy hands bear up the ark any longer, its
overthrow and ruin must be the result!

“O that thou hadst known, even thou in this thy day, the things which belong
unto thy peace!”

Yet forty years, and perhaps our Ninevehs will be overthrown; and wherever “the
carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together!” Awake, therefore, and
sit down in sackcloth and in ashes; let each turn himself from his evil way, and
from the iniquity of his hands. Who can tell if God will not turn and repent,
and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not!

Thus Elijah was to anoint Hazael, a stranger and foreigner, to be king over
Syria, that he might become a scourge to Israel.

His second commission was to anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi, one of themselves,
to be king over Israel. This was an answer to the prophet’s second complaint,
“They have thrown down thine altars and slain thy prophets.” As if God had said,
“I will vindicate mine own glory; the house of Ahab shall be desolate, and Jehu
shall be the axe to its roots!” And it so came to pass.

Jehu was the man that rooted out the house of Ahab from the earth, so that
neither stump nor stalk was left. He caused Jezebel to be thrown from the window
of her palace, and suffered her carcass to be trodden down as mire in the
streets. He slew the seventy sons of Ahab in one day, and caused their heads to
be displayed in two heaps at the gates of the town of Jezreel; destroyed the
priests of Baal in their own temple, cast the holy vessels belonging to it into
the flames, and made an end of the worship of Baal in Israel.

Such was the end of Ahab’s house; and similar instances have been seen in modern
times.

Even in our days, there is no want of examples of the rooting out of entire
houses and families, because they hardened their hearts against the Lords, and
bitterly opposed his children and servants. Though these ungodly families may
flourish for a season, like a green bay tree; and though they be permitted for a
while to gratify their enmity against the people of God, who have done them no
harm; yea, before they are aware, the scene is reversed, some destroyer
brandishes the sword of vengeance.

One fails in business, and comes to beggary, with his whole house. Another,
given up to the will of his flesh, sinks miserably into the filth of sin. One
must flee away branded with ignominy; and another is brought, by degenerate
children, with sorrow to the grave. One is smitten with madness; another is
delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh; or, overwhelmed with
despair, with his impious right hand destroys himself.

The babel of worldly prosperity cracks to its very foundations; and, where the
Lord breaks down, there is no building up. An evil impenitent death-that awful
finishing of temporal judgments-is only the first step to that sequence of
terrors which no grave can close upon. The castaways go with Judas to their
place, and their names are mentioned no more upon earth, or mentioned only with
abhorrence. Has anything of this kind ever happened amongst us? Answer this
question for yourselves, my friends!

One thing I know, that still many a house of Jezebel exists among us, which must
one day have to give an account for their mockery at true piety, and their
opposition to the children of God: and that, except they repent, they will in
that day judge it more tolerable for them to have been bound to a millstone and
drowned in the depths of the sea, than thus to have offended God’s little ones.
The third commission which was given to Elijah, must have been to him the most
pleasing of all. It contained the answer to his third complaint, that he Was
left alone, and they sought his life; and it was as if God had said, “Be not
cast down, Elijah, thou art not the only one that is left; and, if thou wert the
only one on the field of battle, thinkest thou not that I could raise up
prophets when I need them?”

“Go, and anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat, of Abelmeholah, to be prophet in thy
room. And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth from the sword of Hazael
shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha
slay.”

Thus a great and strong wind, that should rend the mountains and break in pieces
the rocks before the Lord, is announced against backsliding Israel in the person
of Hazael; an earthquake in the person of Jehu; and, in the person of Elisha, a
fire of the wrath as well as of the love of the Lord.

Elijah now sees the Keeper of Israel has not forsaken his vineyard. This
instruction invigorates him in body and soul; and when, in addition to this, he
hears from the Lord’s mouth the surprising information that there are still
seven thousand who had not bowed their knees to Baal, the gloomy cloud upon his
mind is entirely dissipated, and nothing prevents him from joyfully setting out
in faith to give glory to God.

My brethren, if a sword of the Lord be to pass through this congregation-and a
sword will surely come-O that it may not be Hazael’s or Jehu’s sword, but the
sword of Elisha-the two-edged sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of the
living God! This good sword, with which he takes the prey from the mighty, may
the Lord sharpen more and more, that it may better do its office amongst us, and
cut, and divide, and penetrate in a greater degree than it has hitherto done!

May it cast down the proud into the dust-drive the carnally secure from their
refuges of lies-so cut away self-righteousness and so wound them that are whole,
that they may resort only to Jesus for healing!

Gird then thy sword upon thy thigh, O Most Mighty, with thy glory and thy
majesty; and in thy majesty ride prosperously, because of truth, and meekness,
and righteousness; and by thine arrows let the people fall under thee! And may
the people which are left of the sword find grace in the wilderness; even
Israel, when thou goest to cause him to rest! Amen. Psalms 45:3-5. Jeremiah
31:2.

~ end of chapter 14 ~


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  CHAPTER 30: 02.15.     THE HIDDEN CHURCH
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The Hidden Church

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people,” saith the Lord by the
prophet Isaiah 65:19. These words give us an insight into the love of God, which
ought to draw us towards himself. We here behold the close relation which
subsists between God and his people; of which indeed we should entertain
conceptions far too mean, were we to compare it merely to the relation
subsisting between a gracious sovereign and his pardoned criminal subjects, or
between a condescending and forbearing master and his servants. We are not only
objects of his sparing and pardoning mercy, we are incomparably more than this.
The Lord rejoices over his people; he delighteth in them that fear him and trust
in his mercy. He rests in his love toward them. He beholds them-not as they are
in themselves, but as clothed with the righteousness of their Surety, and
beautified with his spirit of holiness. He loves those who are renewed by his
grace, even as he loves the express image of his person. For those whom he thus
loves, are conformed to the image of his Son.

It has been said by someone, Suppose the sun in the heavens, which enlightens,
warms, and fructifies everything, were a rational being that could see
everything which it effects, it would then behold its own image in every sea, in
every river, in every lake, and in every brook,-nay, it would even see itself
reflected on the loftiest mountains of ice; and would it not, in the abundance
of its joy at such glorious radiance- forgetting itself-embrace all these
oceans, seas, and rivers-nay, the very glaciers, in its arms, and delight over
them Thus Jesus Christ, the Sun of righteousness, beholds his image and divine
work in every renewed soul as in a polished mirror; hence, seeming to forget
himself in the abundance of the joy that was set before him. He could condescend
to wash the feet of his disciples; hence it was that he exclaimed to the
Syro-Phoenician woman, “O woman, great is thy faith!”

Thus our eternal Father beholds in his children the beauty of his Son Jesus
Christ, with a complacency which is more than we are able to express. He
embraces them with the arms of his love; and he loves the image of himself in
which he has renewed them.

Happy are the people that are in such a case; yea, blessed are the people who
have the Lord for their God! Some of them are spoken of in the portion of the
history now before us; and such, in all ages, may be called the hidden church.

“Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed
unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18).

These words conclude the Lord’s address to Elijah at Horeb. After announcing the
heavy judgments which were to come upon backsliding Samaria, by means of Hazael,
Jehu, and Elisha-this pleasing communication follows, like the still small
voice. The last shadow of anxiety was now dispelled from the prophet’s mind.
This announcement of God, respecting the seven thousand faithful worshipers
reserved in idolatrous Israel, may lead us,

I. To consider that God has ever a hidden church;

II. To reflect upon the promises made to it.

I. Elijah had complained that the Lord’s name was forgotten, and his covenant
forsaken by the children of Israel; and had added, that he himself was left
alone His complaint was correct enough for human knowledge. The days indeed were
evil; the age of Noah seemed to have returned; all was dark, dead, ruined, and
desolate; and the vintage of God seemed gathered from the earth, with the
exception of two or three on the topmost bough.

Painful in the extreme must all this have been to such a spirit as Elijah’s;
but, suddenly, he receives from God himself the astonishing tidings, that seven
thousand were still reserved, who had not bowed the knee to Baal, nor kissed
him. How astonished must the prophet have been at this disclosure! How ready to
recall his words, “I, even I only, am left alone!” and how must his new
commission have been undertaken with renewed courage! And what could be more
delightful, in this our day, than to be surprised by similar intelligence?
certainly, our own age seems greatly superior to that of Elijah; but there is
much that is only exterior show, which can hardly be mistaken. If all that
appears to be divine life were really such; and if all were evangelists, who in
modern times are preaching, not for the truth, but against it; if they were men
of God, led and gifted by the Spirit of God, and bowed the knee in truth to the
exalted Redeemer; if all the multitudes, who in every place crowd into the
places of worship, really said in their hearts, “Come, let us return to the
Lord!” If the thousands, who, in Bible and missionary associations, labor in
building the ark, all came into this ark themselves-nay, if even all whom we see
uniting for meetings of edification and prayer, could be regarded as true
worshippers, then might we indeed say something good of our times, though much
would still remain to be wished for.

But of what use is it to deceive ourselves? Things are far from being what their
appearance would indicate; alas, many things which, from a distance, look very
beautiful, are found, when more closely examined, to be full of deformities, if
not mere phantoms of what they seemed to be.

Yet, supposing we could regard all who have the show of piety as real
Christians, how few would even these be, compared with the number of those
amongst us who openly show themselves to unbelievers? The prevailing spirit of
our times is that of infidelity and apostasy-a spirit of pretended illumination,
but, in reality, of the blindness presumption-a spirit of opposition to the
plain Word of God, and of arbitrary determination upon good and evil independent
of it-a spirit of the most idolatrous exaltation of mere natural reason above
the revealed wisdom of God. Among the great mass of nominal Christians, both of
the learned sort and of the illiterate, it has long been taken for granted that
the doctrine of our native corruption is a gloomy fancy, and that of salvation
by the blood and righteousness of Christ an antiquated and by-gone notion.

It is held, that the miserable tinsel of exterior decorum, the mere flimsy
garniture of selfishness, is quite sufficient to satisfy God; and that a
Mediator is not at all necessary to the salvation of men. Many have long been
agreed, that the dogmas of a few conceited philosophers, so called, are more to
be trusted than the truth of God delivered by Christ and his apostles; and that
such faith as that of Paul, Peter, or John, is insufferable in the present day,
as being absurd, mystical, and unworthy of any maturely instructed mind-yea,
that it ought to be banished from the earth, even by persecution, if no other
means will suffice.

Such is the prevailing spirit of our modern Christendom, which, with some, is
disguised by a Christian profession; with others, has shamelessly cast off all
disguise. It is found in every district, and in all ranks of society, and is
taught in by far the greater part of our schools and nurseries. Millions of men
professing the name of Christ, lie at the feet of this impious lying spirit in
the present day. If you travel through the country, in whatever direction, you
find it discovering itself in every company, at public tables and in private
families.

Go from one church to another, and you will almost everywhere find that this
spirit of seduction is the teacher and expositor; inspect a multitude of our
modern hymn books and catechisms, and instead of the Spirit of God, this spirit
of darkness in the garb of religion will confront you; yes, and in a very large
number of our places of education, this spirit is the Moloch to which our youth
and children are sacrificed.

Indeed, a review of the Christian world in the present day, is enough to make
every pious spirit shudder. The spirit of antichrist is prevailing in the world
to such an extent as it has never done heretofore; and it is almost time to join
in with the complaint of the psalmist, “Help, Lord! for the godly man ceaseth;
for the faithful fail from the children of men!” (Psalms 12:1)

Surely many think far too favorably of the present times. But do not others
think far too gloomily of them? We are willing to believe they do, and the
experience, which Elijah had, who even thought that he only was left; and
afterwards heard, to his surprise, that there were seven thousand in Israel who
had not bowed the knee to Baal, may help to confirm us in this belief. Assuredly
the Lord has many servants with whom we are unacquainted, he has hidden ones
whom we may never hear of in this world; and many a country, and many a city,
would perhaps long ago have been as Sodom and Gomorrah, had not a small remnant
of such been left in those places.

“The kingdom of God cometh not with observation;” for, behold, “the kingdom of
God is within you.” We do not sufficiently consider this, even as Elijah did
not; and therefore we may be often mistaken with reference to this kingdom.

It is not infrequently the case, my brethren, that we measure the temple of God
with a very incorrect measuring-line, and therefore deceive selves as to its
breadth and extent. For instance, we are apt to take it for granted, that where
there arc no enlightened preachers, there can be no true Christians. But we
forget that God has promised, where the shepherds are corrupt, to take charge of
the flock himself!

Where has he made the regeneration of his chosen entirely dependent on human
instrumentality? Lo! In the midst of the desert he often plants, with his own
hand, the loveliest roses; and from the rudest and most neglected copse we often
hear the sweetest notes of the nightingale. We are also apt to think, that where
nothing is heard of awakenings, no awakenings take place. But must there be
always a sound when it rains, and cannot children be born to the Lord as dew
from the womb of the morning-silently and secretly, before daybreak, and while
multitudes are asleep?

We are apt to take it for granted, that where there is no opposition to the
Gospel, there must be a dearth of decided Christians. Certainly, the words still
hold good, “I am not come to send peace, but the sword!” and this is commonly
shown to be the case. Still there may be real Christians, who, without living
under the fear of man, go on in such a quiet, retired, and gentle way, as not to
be so exposed to the rancor of the children of this world; and if the Lord say
to Laban, “Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad,” Can Laban
act otherwise?

It is generally taken for granted, that in certain connections, stations, and
companies, for instance in the courts of infidel or worldly-minded princes, a
child of God cannot possibly be found; but do we not see, in the example of a
Joseph, an Obadiah and a Daniel, that even this may be the case? Obadiah seems
to have possessed the confidence and regard of such a man as Ahab, one of the
vilest of men. The state of Christianity is also frequently estimated by the
religious meetings convened in any place and by the numbers who attend them; but
is this estimation always correct? May it not be possible, that in a place where
no such meetings are held, there still may be many children of God who are
restrained from coming together only by timidity and reserve-for such things may
be found even in true believers-who are obliged to secrete themselves, like the
seven thousand in Elijah’s days. And is it not a part of the providential
guidance of many souls, to be directed rather to secret and retired intercourse
with God, than to much open conference with their brethren?

Hence it may follow, that possibly in those places where no sympathy or activity
exists for religious institutions as for Missionary and Bible Societies, perhaps
nothing is wanting but information respecting such institutions, for the
excitement of such an interest; or some sincere servants of God may have still
so much to do with their own spiritual concerns, that they hardly know how to
turn their attention to public efforts of this kind.

All this is possible. But it may be asked, can there be any ground for supposing
a people of God to exist, where no works of pious writers are made use of; where
there is no information found respecting the progress of the kingdom of God in
the world; where scarcely an evangelical sermon or book is ever read or heard
of? I answer, we are not sure that in such places there are no people of God.

I know some whom you would all acknowledge to be holy persons, were I to name
them to you, who, nevertheless, read nothing in the world but their Bible and
hymn book, and daily wipe their eyes for joy that they are so rich with these
two books, and think that in these they possess a library which, in their whole
life, they will never be able to exhaust, and that they can find nothing so
beautiful anywhere as in the Bible! Who can blame them? Now, there may be many
such persons in the world, who are very little known.

Moreover, we are apt to make the number of the faithful smaller than it is, by
defining too arbitrarily and narrowly the characteristics of a state of grace.
We, for instance, lay down a certain process as always observed in the Holy
Spirit’s work of conversion; whereas he is free as the wind that bloweth where
it listeth. Infinite wisdom is seen in an endless variety of processes in the
visible creation; and, as uniformity is not its business in the kingdom of
nature, so neither is it in the kingdom of grace; but the same object is
attained here also by variety.

A gracious change of mind may be as truly wrought by one process as by another.
If you have had long to sigh and groan in spirit before your sins were forgiven
you, still grudge not at him whose way hath been made to prosper more rapidly,
and to whom the Lord has earlier shown his lovingkindness. “It is the Lord; let
him do what seemeth him good.”

Or, if it be given you to gain spiritual strength more easily, while another is
day and night troubled with “a thorn in the flesh,” and cast down again and
again-is he, on that account, no child of God?

If it be given you lo have much knowledge and experience, must it necessarily be
given to another also; and can there be no retired and reserved children of God?
And if you are active and zealous in awakening others, efficient in preaching,
exhortation, &c. while others are not so, nor are able to be so, are you
therefore to question the genuineness of their piety? We must never measure
others by ourselves. If we seek more after the chief and essential matter,
namely, the contrite spirit and the genuine love of Christ and of the brethren,
we shall perhaps number many as belonging to the flock of Christ, at present we
are apt to overlook.

Elijah, as we find, received an express revelation concerning the faithful in
Israel, and their number. The Lord unveiled to him the hidden church, and it may
be supposed how great was the astonishment of this man of God, at learning that
amongst the very people he had so severely accused, there were so many as seven
thousand who had not bowed the knee unto Baal.

He had regarded himself as the only light in the darkness of Samaria; and now,
behold! a whole firmament of chosen souls is disclosed to his view, which the
clouds of his weak faith had kept hidden from him.

We have to be thankful that even still the church is sometimes refreshed by such
pleasing discoveries. Often, on the very spot where we expected to find only
thorns and briers, we find a cultivation like the garden of the Lord, and
sweeter flowers than are wont to bloom in the more open places of Christendom.

Thus lately, in a village in France, in the cottage of one who had been a
notorious, fortune-teller, was discovered a goodly group of the lambs of
Christ’s flock. So likewise there very recently found, in one of the most
dissipated cities in the world, a spiritual plantation of Divine grace, which we
should never have looked for in such a moral desert; and yet it had secretly
flourished there for several years, known only to the heavenly Husbandman, who
planted and kept it.

In another quarter, with which you yourselves are acquainted, where the voice of
preaching had long been entirely silent, there was found a considerable company
of thriving children of grace, secretly sprung up without any apparently
efficient means, of whom the church might be ready to say, “Whence came they?
And who hath begotten me these?”

And, in another place, we unexpectedly beheld, through the intervention of a
pious and righteous emperor, three hundred saints, of whom almost no one knew
anything, lately coming forth from the prisons of malefactors-three hundred, who
had not bowed the knee to Baal, and who, for that very reason, had lain in irons
without the emperor’s knowledge.

God sometimes shows us (it was a happiness I frequently enjoyed in my former
charge) some old pilot in the midst of a rude and ungovernable crew, who has
grown gray in the midst of the most brutal associates; but behold, he is
steering toward Jerusalem, and his guiding star is the star of Bethlehem; or
some rough bargeman or sailor, who has grown up in the seat of the scorners! But
lo! Through his rude exterior glistens the pure brightness of a genuine
Christian character, and beneath his rough leathern doublet beats a heart moored
by that anchor which entereth into that within the veil; and again, as has
frequently happened to us, we enter a house to preach repentance towards God to
some whom we suppose to be spiritually dead, and we are sweetly surprised by the
greeting Christian smile of one or more in the family, betraying a secret
acquaintance with the peace of God, and perhaps more deep experience in Christ
than we ourselves possess.

Such discoveries serve to shame our timidity, to strengthen our faith, and
enlarge our hearts; they also teach us to be more prudent and gentle in judging
of others, and to take a brighter and more hopeful survey of the world at large.

Since I found among yourselves such retired blossoms of faith, my whole
congregation has appeared to me in another light, and when I traverse it, I feel
like one who is passing through the shaft of a mine, where one stroke of the
mattock, to the right or the left, may possibly discover to him a new vein of
precious metal.

Yes, however low may be the present state of the church, we have reason to
conclude that it is not so poor and destitute of persons influenced by divine
grace as we are ready to imagine.

I believe that if it pleased God to lift the veil, we might be surprised with
the discovery of such numbers as would seem like a resurrection scene. We doubt
not but the Prince of the host has still many an ambush of reserve in this
world, and that he needs only to sound the trumpet, as he will do, in due time,
according to Zechariah 10:8, and then we shall be surprised at beholding troops
of Christians about us, as Elisha’s servant was surprised at beholding troops of
angels covering the mount of Dothan. 2 Kings 6:17.

How often has it happened, that in a church where, for many years, the Word of
God had seldom been heard, and of which it was a matter of doubt whether such a
church contained in it one real believer, a single occasional discourse,
delivered from its pulpit by a stranger, has proved the signal for calling
forth, all at once, numbers of timid sheep from their state of concealment! And
may not such occurrences give us reason to hope that there are yet many more of
the Lord’s “hidden ones,” with whom we are unacquainted?

How surprised shall we be in eternity, when the veil shall be removed, to find
there, from quarters where we least looked for them, among the multitude whom no
man can number, standing before the throne, many who were never known as the
Lord’s people in this world; whom circumstances, or local situation, or their
outward defects and infirmities, or their retiring humility and modesty, had
concealed from our view!

And not only in eternity, but also in this world, such a joyfully surprising
disclosure of the hidden church awaits us-and who knows how near its time may
be- that the prophetic language, in Song of Solomon 6:10, will resound as then
fulfilled, “Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon,
clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?”

II. If we look in the day time towards heaven, we cannot see the stars of God

They are there fixed in the firmament, but the eye cannot distinguish them. Wait
until evening. The night invites their rays from concealment, and in the dark
you behold their gentle luster once more. So also is the firmament of the
church. In the sunshine of worldly prosperity they are scarcely perceptible, and
the difference between them and the better sort of the children of this world is
sometimes hardly discernible.

But in this case also, have patience until evening, and their glory will light
up before you. As doubtless, at the time when Hazael the Syrian broke in upon
the land with fire and sword, these seven thousand in Israel were made manifest;
so also, on the day of the mighty sifting which awaits the Christian world, we
shall be better able rightly to measure the Lord’s temple upon earth.

These days of purification are hastening on with rapid flight. There is no want
of signs of the most diversified kind, which announce to us the nearness of that
period in which the Lord will manifest that his fan is in his hand, and will
thoroughly purge his floor. Predictions hasten to their close; and the days are
approaching, in whose wild perplexity even the elect, were it possible, might be
deceived.

Then, if a time should come, when the mark of the beast shall be obtruded on our
foreheads at the point of the sword or bayonet, when nothing can save us from
torture or a bloody death but a renunciation of Christ and his Gospel, the gold
will be separated from the dross in the church, and it will be made apparent
where the substance of godliness exited, and where only the appearance and
tinsel of it.

Alas, how many a star, respecting which we have at present no such presentiment,
will then fall from the firmament of the church; and what clouds of chaff shall
we then see borne away on the wind, even from places where our eyes at present
perceive nothing but rich floors of wheat!

For everything that is not from the Spirit of the Lord, will not survive the
ordeal of that day; and everything which now assumes to itself the ornaments of
the sanctuary, but is not clothed with them by the Lord’s hand, will be seen in
the shame of its own nakedness. At the very same period, when trees “without
fruit” shall fall, when multitudes of false brethren shall be severed and
distinguished from the true; thousands, of whom at present we know nothing,
shall throw aside the veil, and with cries of “Hosannah!” shall range under the
banner of martyrs.

When no other choice will be left but between Christ and Belial, then will those
who heretofore have been reserved and timid, declare themselves openly for
Christ and his cause. Thousands, who in the days of comparative quiet seemed to
hang down their heads, will rise like young eagles in the beclouded heavens; and
the most weak and bashful in the church will be as David. Thus, one joyful
phenomenon after another will surprise us in those days.

The deeper the night becomes; the more richly studded and brilliant will be the
firmament of the church. The elect shall be gathered from the four winds, and
come forth like a new and blooming creation; and we shall seem “like unto them
that dream, when the Lord shall thus turn again the captivity of Zion,” Psalms
126:1-2, and when we shall hear hosannas resounding ten thousand thousandfold
from all the ends of the earth, Isaiah 52:10. But what will most joyfully
surprise us at that time, if we live to see it, is, that it will be given even
to us poor timid sheep, who are now so weak in faith, to descend cheerfully, if
need be, into any tribulation for Jesus’ sake, and glorify God even in the
fires.

What the Lord says of the seven thousand in our text, will then have reference
to us: “I have reserved them to me;” and no one who belongs to the Lord will
have any cause to fear. Children of God are preserved, into whatever trials they
fall. Satan may sorely harass them; but they come off more than conquerors. The
world may oppose and distress them, but this is all it can do. They are
“reserved,” and “preserved for ever.”

“In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome
the world,” said the Lord. John 16:33.

Thus, however weak in themselves; they shall survive, when the overflowing
scourge shall pass through the earth, and in the last time of temptation, when
the fan is purging the Lord’s floor.

Be of good cheer, therefore, whoever of you are sincerely following Christ.
Whatever may happen, the seed of Jacob shall be delivered, for the Almighty
himself is their rock; and his church stands so firm that the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it!

Let the clouds then gather and forebode the storm-let Hazael and Jehu gird on
their weapons! “Yet,” saith the Lord, “I have left me seven thousand in Israel,
all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not
kissed him.” In the great tribulation which shall come upon the whole earth, a
church shall discover itself around us, of which as yet, we, in the weakness of
our faith, have scarcely dreamed. For thus saith the Lord, Zechariah 10:9, “I
will sow them among the people; and they shall remember me in far countries; and
they shall live with their children, and turn again.”

Yes, he has scattered them like grains of wheat, in all the world, that from
them, under the dew of the Divine blessing, a wondrous harvest might spring.
Therefore every place and every family where such living seed is deposited,
though it be only a single grain, may, on that account, be already counted
happy.

Who knows to what increase such a single grain may yet arrive! Certainly, it
often fares with this seed as our Lord says, “Except a corn of wheat fall into
the ground and die, it abideth alone” (John 12:24).

It is true, that believing parents, friends, teachers or inmates, must often
themselves previously descend into the grave, and then it is that their prayer
is found to have been heard; their example is remembered with powerful
influence, and their admonitions recalled and laid to heart; and it is only from
their ashes that vigorous plants spring forth; and it is on their tombs that the
first penitential tears fall of those they leave behind.

Their labor is never in vain in the Lord, but sooner or later its fruit is
found. “They that were sown,” saith the Lord, “shall live, with their children,
and turn again;” they shall increase and be multiplied.

We may well rejoice at such a prospect. Let us give up all narrow notions of the
kingdom of God. Moreover, as the Lord knoweth them that are his, and we do not
always know them, let us not presume to judge of their number by our own
knowledge. They may not be made and fashioned according to our own preconceived
pattern; they may not wear the garb and cut of our own preference, and yet they
may be citizens of heaven.

Only let it be remembered, that the seal to which every such citizen is
conformed, is this: “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from
iniquity.”

Wherefore lay apart all gloomy and dejected thoughts that would discourage you
from being steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. The
everlasting preservation, final victory, and future glory of every true member
of Christ’s holy church, should fill us with joy and rejoicing. “God hath set
his King upon his holy hill of Zion.”

The Lord Jesus Christ shall receive the nations for his inheritance, and the
uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. “Behold, the Lord God will come
with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him. He shall build the temple of
the Lord, and give himself no rest, until he has made Jerusalem a praise in the
earth. The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the
waters cover the sea; and they shall come from the east from the west, and sit
down in the kingdom of God” (Isaiah 40:10; Isaiah 62:7; Isaiah 11:9; Matthew
8:11).

Seeing then that we know these things, we are courageous and look upon the
world, not in the gloomy coloring of our own pusillanimity, but in the dawning
light of the sun of revelation. Christ must reign, and the “mountain of the
Lord’s house shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations flee unto it”
(Isaiah 2:2).

Let not, then, our eyes be dimmed, nor our hearts be distressed by the mists of
the present day. Faith already plants the standard of victory upon the scene of
conflict: for it has respect to “the time of the end;” and, although the
trophies of Satan be exalted on high in the meantime, still faith is not
daunted.

It sings of the triumph of the Lord; and bears inscribed on its banner, that
mighty asseveration of the Almighty:

“I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and
shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow; every tongue shall swear,
and say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength” (Isaiah 45:23-24).

~ end of chapter 15 ~


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  CHAPTER 31: 02.16.     THE CALLINGS OF ELISHA
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The Callings of Elisha

CHAPTER SIXTEEN The manifold wisdom of our blessed Saviour, as seen in his
intercourse with sinners; the consideration he showed for different shades of
character, and the peculiar readiness and propriety with which he met everyone’s
disposition and situation, are sufficient of themselves to evince from whence he
came. We have striking instances of this in Luke 9:54-62.

In this passage we have the four principal temperaments of the mind before us:
the choleric, the sanguine, the phlegmatic, and the melancholy: and we behold
Christ treating each of them with consummate wisdom.

To the choleric, namely, his disciples who wished to call down fire from heaven
on the Samaritans, he only presents his own spirit as a contrast to it, and
unfolds his compassionate intention in coming into the world; showing that it
was to save men’s lives, and not to destroy them. Nothing could have been more
appropriate to allay irritation of the feelings, and to give them an entirely
different tone, than these gracious and gentle words of the compassionate Friend
of man.

Shortly after this, a man comes up to him on the road, saying to him, “Lord, I
will follow thee whithersoever thou goest!” Here was a sanguine disposition. The
man appears to have been carried away with the brilliant actions and divine
lovingkindness of Jesus; and it was necessary that this flighty and enthusiastic
mind should be brought to sit down and count the cost. Hence our Lord thus
answers him, “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son
of man hath not where to lay his head.”

Another comes to our Lord, and thus addresses him, “Lord, suffer me first to go
and bury my father;” by which he appears to mean, “Allow me to remain in the
house of my parents till my father dies; I will then reflect further on the
subject.” This man then was of a phlegmatic temperament; a person slowly
excited, quiet, even and cool. Our Lord again treats this person in a wonderful
manner, entirely appropriate to such a disposition. He speaks strongly,
seriously, and awakingly, in order to produce an immediate and firm resolution
in this procrastinating spirit, and says, “Let the dead bury their dead; but go
thou and preach the kingdom of God.” The Lord meets with a fourth, whom he had
anticipated by saying to him, “Follow me.”

He replied, “Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell,
which are at home at my house.” Can we doubt what is the temperament of this
individual?

It is the melancholy, the slowly roused, but deeply and durably susceptible;
which as has been justly observed, is seldom taken by sudden surprise, but is
oftener stolen upon by slow but strong affections; which is more inclined to
care and sorrow, than to mirth and joy; which does not shun labor, but is wont
to pursue its objects energetically. These characteristics are conspicuous in
his very language to our Lord. The thing which first presents itself to his
mind, is the dark and dreadful consequences of following Christ. Therefore he
desires to embrace his family once more, and perhaps, as it seems to him, for
the last time. To meet such a disposition there was need of encouraging and firm
language, which might disperse the clouds of melancholy, and give the resolution
to break through a host of cares. The man needed an arousing call to the
standard, and such a call the Lord addresses to him, “No man, having put his
hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Here then we may well admire the penetrating eye of the Searcher of hearts; the
skill of the great Physician; the infinite condescension of the Prince of Peace
All is equally great, glorious, and adorable. In the last of these occurrences,
a scene of Old Testament history seems evidently referred to. What the person
whom Jesus called here requests for himself, is the same which Elisha requested
of Elijah before he undertook to follow him; and our Lord, in the words, “He
that putteth his hand to the plough,” &c, appears to have intended to refer the
man to the example of Elisha, in order to excite him to a quick and cheerful
determination. This example is presently to come under our consideration, in the
portion of Elijah’s history at which we are now arrived.

“So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing
with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed
by him, and cast his mantle upon him.

“And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss
my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go
back again: for what have I done to thee?

“And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and
boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people,
and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him”
(1 Kings 19:19-21).

We find Elijah, after he had departed from Horeb, arrived at Abelmeholah, in
Palestine, near the river Jordan, on the estate of Elisha the son of Shaphat,
commencing the accomplishment of what the Lord had commissioned him to do. He
calls Elisha, and Elisha obeys the call; these are the two points which require
our attention present.

I. From the solitary desert of mount Sinai, we are now to follow the prophet
back amongst the smiling lowlands of Jordan, and to walk upon the fruitful
plains which surround the little town of Abelmeholah

We there meet with twelve husbandmen behind their ploughs; eleven of them are
servants, but the twelfth is the son of a substantial landed proprietor. He is
called Elisha, and his father Shaphat. He does not esteem it beneath his dignity
to put his own hand to the work; he drives in the sweat of his brow, his yoke of
oxen before him, in the company of his servants.

The plentiful rains which had lately descended, had made it delightful to be out
in the fields, and to follow the plough. The blessing of God sensibly perfumed
the air; and the fields, which for three years and a half had been a barren
wilderness, seemed now, after the refreshing showers, impatient for the
seedtime, to unfold their newly derived powers. How often, perhaps, had this
husbandman, as he broke up the furrows, conversed with his servants of the
mighty wonders with which the Lord had of late visited their native land!

How often, perhaps, was the name of Elijah mentioned, and the fiery sign on
Carmel made the subject of discussion. For they had probably been eyewitnesses
of that miracle; and might belong to that seven thousand who had not bowed the
knee to Baal. Perhaps it was at the very time when they were thus conversing of
those wonderful days that, behold! a man draws near to them, of venerable
aspect, covered with a mantle, and having his loins girded as a traveler; and as
he comes nearer, the oxen stand still, and the husbandmen look at each other as
if they would say, “Who can this stranger be, and what brings him here?”

But who shall describe their joyful surprise, as they recognize in the solitary
traveler, now approaching with quicker steps towards the son of Shaphat, the
very man whose name and deeds had resounded through the whole country- Elijah
the Tishbite! The sacred historian says that he found Elisha; whether this
implies that he knew him before, or whether he was enabled thus to find him, by
special Divine direction given him for the purpose, we are not informed. But of
this we may be certain, that Elijah had not for a long time found a more
gratifying acquaintance than this. Elisha was the first child of God, whom,
after a long period of solitude, he had the happiness to meet; he found in the
Person of the son of Shaphat, the first and the chief of the seven thousand, and
the first seal of the promise granted him at Horeb on behalf of his people. The
simple and pious Elisha was the man, in whose sphere of action the still small
voice of God’s tender mercy and love would be heard by the children of Israel,
so as to turn them to the Lord their God. He was the first messenger of the Lord
who should sow the fruit of righteousness in peace upon the land which his
predecessor had broken up by judgments; yea, who should bind up the hearts which
had been broken. Even his name expressed the character of his divine commission.
It signifies, “My God is salvation;” and the history of his ministry is given,
as it were, in this one word. His labors, compared with those of his
predecessor, appear upon the whole peculiarly evangelical.

He goes about in meekness, and his peaceful course is marked with benefits and
blessings; nor is it accompanied by the dreadful majesty of divine and burning
jealousy, but by the mild and amiable light of the Lord’s condescending love. He
stretches out His right hand, not to close heaven, but to bring down its showers
of blessing. His office is evidently that of a deliverer, sent to announce that
“the Lord is gracious.”

An entirely new period was therefore to commence with Elisha’s mission; a period
of divine lovingkindness, after the days of judicial punishment; a period of the
“still small voice.” Elijah seemed to be aware of this; and it may be easily
imagined with what delight he must have embraced Elisha, as the man who was to
be instrumental in fulfilling his best hopes for Israel.

Elijah found him behind the plough. It is without meaning that this is mentioned
in the history. Here then we have a pleasing picture of a man, who,
notwithstanding the gifts with which he was endowed, continued lowly in his own
eyes, and led a humble and unassuming life.

How many, gifted like him, would have thought themselves too good for the
plough, and born to a sphere of life above that of a simple farmer; would have
persuaded themselves that they must not withhold their talents from mankind,
that they must go forth into the field of public labor, to enlighten and guide
the world. But such thoughts did not enter the mind of Elisha. His pretensions
went not beyond his plough and his husbandry; he saw his vocation in these quiet
and rural occupations, and well satisfied with this, he “minded not high
things.”

How much more amiable and beautiful is such a disposition than the opposite one,
which is now so frequently met with among Christians! “Labor for the kingdom of
God,” is become the watchword of the day; we certainly rejoice at it, but with
very mingled feelings. There is too much vanity and self-complacent pushing
forwards, which, alas! may be seen on this field of activity. No sooner does
anyone imagine he has found himself possessed of talents and gifts ever so
small, than he hesitates not to regard himself as a pillar of the church of God.

The condition and calling in which he has been hitherto, is no longer the proper
one for him. He immediately begins to think, if not to talk, of a higher
station, to which he imagines himself born. We ought undoubtedly to let our
light shine before men; but then everyone should do so in the situation in which
Providence has placed him. Nor does God intend, by this command to let our light
shine before men, to refer simply to the office of the ministry, or to any
official teaching in his church. It is not merely thy lips, Christian, but thy
life, which is to be the lamp. It is thy general character and conduct which are
to edify thy brother and glorify God.

He intends that all thy thoughts, words, and works should silently testify that
thou art born of God, and that the peace of God rules in thy heart. Then it is
that thou throwest around thee that gracious radiance which the Saviour means
when he bids thee let thy light shine before men; then it is that thou preachest
the Gospel, as the power of God unto salvation, more effectually than can be
done by thy words.

And remember that those spiritual lights have the purest radiance which are the
least conscious of their own brightness; and that those divine flowers diffuse
the sweetest fragrance which make the least display.

That excessive pressing of religious men into public notice, which characterizes
the present day, is only another sign of the spiritual poverty of the times.
There is a great dearth of truly great and noble spirits in our modern
Christendom. No eagle pinions at present soar in our firmament; hence the
smaller birds, the minds of inferior cast, having no living standard by which to
discern their own littleness, are emboldened to regard their own modicum of
talents and endowments as an evidence of a divine vocation to great and exalted
things.

Happy would it be for Zion were that vain activity, which is not of God but of
the world, confined to the world itself, and not obtruded within her sacred
enclosures. Happy would it be for her people, were there not so mournfully
prevalent among them an idolatry of worldly instrumentality and mere human
talents! Why is it that God so frequently calls home his most excellent servants
and evangelists, in the bloom of life, from their useful labors, but-as one
purpose at least-to secure them from the peril of that idolatrous admiration
with which these mortals are wont to be extolled, in what are called the
religious periodicals; and to let the survivors know, that the pillars of the
temple are not flesh; that wisdom does not die with any creature; and that none
but Himself is the basis, the support, and the builder up of his kingdom. When
Elijah has found Elisha, he takes his prophet’s mantle from off his own
shoulders, and throws it over those of the son of Shaphat, without speaking a
word. What must have been the feelings of the plain and unassuming husbandman
upon this occasion! for he well understood this significant action, and could
view it as nothing less than a consecration to the prophetic office, and a call
to be the assistant, follower, and representative of the Tishbite.

It is to be lamented, that, in the present day, the Christian ministry is too
exclusively and systematically confined to persons who have undergone a certain
mode of education; which was never the case with the church in its purest times.

May God raise up and put forth amongst us more of those who are taught rather by
the unction of the Spirit of God, than by the mere external apparatus of
scientific institutions! Not that these are to be despised or neglected; far
from it! but they furnish, after all, only the exterior of a Christian minster’s
qualifications.

After Elijah had cast his mantle over his successor, he went away without
uttering a word; and this he appears to have done to render more impressive the
meaning of his symbolical action.

Elisha well understood it. He lays the reins on the necks of his oxen, leaves
them standing with the plough in the midst of the field, and hastens after the
man of God. We do not find that he either resisted the call with a variety of
objections, or made many words about the too great honor done him, or about his
own incapacity for the office; no, the matter was briefly and speedily settled.

He thought not about himself, but about the heavenly Caller, and his power and
grace. He leaves in God’s hands the dignity and burden of his office, and
receives the prophetic commission with the same equanimity as he had taken in
hand the plough or the mattock. O lovely simplicity, and serenity of a humble
and child-like spirit!

Elisha, however, had more to leave than his team and field. His father and
mother were living, and them he felt bound, first of all, to inform of his high
calling, and to desire their prayers and parental blessing. Accordingly he runs
after Elijah, and requests of him a short interval, saying, “Let me, I pray
thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee!”

How very differently does the son of Shaphat begin his prophetic career from
what is related of Elijah! Him we find descending from the mountains of Gilead,
as if he had come from another world; and his first prophetic utterance is that
of a delegate of Omnipotence: - “As the Lord, the God of Israel liveth, before
whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, but according to
my word.”

His family connections are concealed from us. Not a word is mentioned of his
father and his mother, nor is there any where an allusion to his genealogy or
relationship. The softer feelings of domestic alliances seem shaded by the
experience of his elevated soul, and he steps forth, gigantically conspicuous
above his age and generation. There is an imposing majesty in his whole
character, which keeps everything about him, as it were, at a distance; he is
like Sinai itself with its bounds set round about the mount.

Elisha’s character is quite of another kind, and in the circumstances of his
coming forth into public notice, he appears as any other man. The sacred history
conducts us to his house and family. We are made acquainted with his occupation
and connections. We behold him at his plough as a common husbandman, as one
whose feelings and experience are much the same as our own; who participates in
all our relative circumstances; who, like ourselves, is closely allied by blood,
affection, and tenderness, to the circle in which he lives; who is a stranger to
none of the sensibilities of our common nature; who can feel the pain of
separation and taking leave of friends; and in whose bosom beats, in every
respect, the heart of an ordinary member of the family circle. We can venture
familiarly to approach him, and we feel our hearts gained to him in so doing.
Now, all this was suited for the official character which Elisha was to sustain
in Israel.

While Elijah was as another Moses, a vindicator of the Divine holiness, and an
ambassador of divine wrath against all who violate his law, and therefore
appeared as he did; Elisha, on the contrary, was appointed as an evangelist and
representative of the Lord’s lovingkindness, and was to shine before men in a
very different light, not to threaten and terrify, but to allure persuade, and
convert. Hence God sent him to the tabernacles of his brethren as one of
themselves, and stationed him as a friend, in whom the most timid might feel
confidence, and whose humane and affable intercourse might operate benignly on
the minds of men.

Elisha shows himself to have been a beloved and affectionate son; and we at once
feel our hearts drawn out towards any one in whom we perceive such features of
character. Partings in some respect like that which Elisha had now to undergo,
but far more bitter and painful, are those which take place when a love to
Christ in one part of a family, and an opposite feeling in the other, divides
and causes variance between parent and child, brother and brother, friend and
friend. What is every real conversion but a virtual taking leave of worldly
connections-a hastening away out of their spiritual atmosphere-a withdrawing
from the jurisdiction of their thoughts, opinions, and influence, into a
different, and, to them, strange and distant province.

Though such a separation is a most felicitous one for those who renounce the
course of this world, still it has its pain and bitterness; for, alas, it is
uncertain whether he who forsakes all for Christ, may not now have become
separated forever from those who are dear to him by nature’s ties, and may not
have to miss them in heaven; and what a painful thought is this!

He who has never experienced such parting pangs, either does not naturally love
his worldly connections, or else he is not yet effectually separated from them;
and though in his exterior religious habits he may be different from them, he is
not really so in the dispositions of his heart.

It happens occasionally, that this spiritual parting takes place with much anger
and strife; not only on the part of those that remain behind- who can be
surprised at this?-but even of those who, as they say, are desirous of leaving
the world. It seems to me, however, that it is incomparably more in accordance
with the nature of a true conversion, that the separation take place, on the
part of the converted, with affectionate regrets, as in Elisha’s case; and I
confess that where I see anything else, it wounds me like an arrow, and so
contracts my heart towards a new brother, that I can-not ardently welcome him.

I have seen many a soul turn from the world and come to the Lord; but oh! what
separations were they, when the persons were in true earnest about their
conversion It was just as if their first love now filled their very hearts to
the brim: “O that my dear father, or my dear mother, would but accompany me! O
that my brother, or my friend, would choose the same good part!”

How tenderly did they entreat them to be reconciled unto God! What anxiety to
perceive any traces of the work of grace in their dear Relatives! What inward
sighs and supplications. “O Lord, be merciful to them also, and save their
souls, as thou hast done mine!”

Everyone must be counted happy, whom the hand of mercy leads forth from the
multitudes of the blind and dead into the kingdom of light; but more happy is
he, who, when God awakens him, needs not to bid farewell to his dearest friends
on earth, but can say to them, “You went before me; I am now, by Godd’s grace,
following after you. My name is inscribed with yours in the same book of life,
and your Lord and Master is now mine!”

O what a blessed welcoming; and embracing then commences! They were once
divided, but are now united forever! O ye converted parents of unconverted
children, ye believing children of unbelieving fathers or mothers, O that such a
joyful day may soon dawn upon your dwellings!

Elijah had no objection to Elisha’s request. “Go,” said he, “and return again,
for what have I done to thee?”

The natural endearments of his paternal roof would not be found any temptation
to him, for the Lord himself had stirred him up; and what had Elijah done to
him, except to communicate the outward and visible signs? Family connections
have often stood in the way of many a converted person, but Elisha’s father and
mother evidently appear to have been no such hindrance to him. They were
probably devout and pious persons.

And though it required no little self-denial to give up a faithful and
affectionate son, perhaps their only son, the joy and prop of their old age,
especially with considerable danger of his falling a sacrifice to the idolatrous
hand of power, still they readily complied, and doubtless said, “The will of the
Lord be done.”

While Elijah was proceeding on his way towards the wilderness of Damascus,
Elisha went and took a yoke of oxen, probably those he had been accustomed to
drive, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen,
and gave unto the people, and they did eat.

This action appears significant, as if Elisha hereby meant to seal his covenant
with the Lord, to take a solemn leave of his previous station, life, and
occupation; and to testify his entire and voluntary resignation and dedication
of himself to God, who had called him to his office. A similar procedure must
spiritually take place in our house and in our hearts, if we desire to enter
into life.

“He that forsaketh not all that he hath,” says Jesus, “cannot be my disciple.”

Whatever thou lovest out of him, or more than him, must be given up.

- Is mammon thy idol? Renounce it, otherwise Satan holds thee by a golden chain.
- Is it credit and reputation among men? Away with it, and seek the honor which
cometh from God only. - Is it wisdom and understanding? Renounce them, and
become a fool for Christ’s sake. - Is it a life of ease, fashion, or pleasure?
Burst these silken but slavish bonds, and crucify the flesh with its affections
and lusts.

We cannot be God’s people unless we are so entirely, with all that we have and
are.

But this is not all. The very instruments of the oxen must be given up, the very
garments spotted by the flesh must be hated; every weight, every besetting
encumbrance must be laid aside and hewn in pieces.

A whole and entire sacrifice is what the Lord desires for his altar; and his
watchmen cry, “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean
thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean that bear the vessels of the
Lord!” (Isaiah 52:11)

The parting meal with which Elisha now entertained the people, while on the one
hand it was hospitable and cheerful, had in it, on the other hand, something
solemn and sacred. Elisha, as the ruler of the feast, seems willing to leave
with them his parting blessing, in a manner best suited to give them a cheerful
idea of the Lord’s service.

It may be imagined how Elisha felt upon this occasion. The mysterious memento
which Elijah had left with him, and his own consciousness of the prophetic call,
had put His mind upon the stretch.

However dear to him were his beloved parents and connections, he embraces them,
and leaves them.

As to his future provision for this world, he casts all his care upon the God
who feeds the ravens and clothes the lilies of the field.

Thus he sets out with a light heart and a cheerful countenance. “He arose and
went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.”

In like manner must we all be ready to follow the Lord Jesus. He has cast upon
us his mantle. If we are his disciples indeed, our hearts are so touched and
animated by his Spirit, that we can prefer nothing in the world before him, nor
can we suffer any other object to rival him in our hearts.

~ end of chapter 16 ~


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  CHAPTER 32: 02.17.     NABOTH'S VINEYARD
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Naboth’s Vineyard CHAPTER SEVENTEEN A woman of Canaan is mentioned, in the New
Testament, as remarkable for her humble acknowledgment of unworthiness, and for
the greatness of her faith in Christ (Matthew 15:21-28). The conduct of another
woman of Canaan, Jezebel, will be noticed in the portion of sacred history
before us, who was of a very different spirit. The latter was of the mighty and
noble of this world: the former had no pretensions of that kind. Consider, as we
proceed, which of these two persons was the happiest, and which is the happiest
now!

“And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to
meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of
Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him,
saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And
thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs
licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab said
to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee:
because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD. Behold, I
will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off
from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in
Israel” (1 Kings 21:17-21).

About the time when Elijah called Elisha from the plough, and consecrated him to
be a prophet, a terrible war broke out between Syria and Israel. The Syrian
king, Benhadad, with an enormous host, which was aided by thirty-two tributary
allies, took the field, quite unexpectedly against Ahab, but by God’s help he
was defeated and compelled to terms of peace.

Where Elijah abode during these tumultuous times we are not informed. It is only
after the disturbances are over that we find him reappearing in the narrative,
and this as an ambassador of God. He was sent to Samaria, to reprove king Ahab
for his sin. This mission of Elijah is the subject of our present consideration.

We will notice, I. Its occasion;

II. Its object;

III. Its immediate consequences

I. “The word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to
meet Ahab of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of
Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it” The crime which Ahab had
committed against Naboth was the occasion of the prophet’s present mission to
him. We are already acquainted with king Ahab, the weak instrument of others,
who always suffered himself to be governed by circumstances; and just what these
made of him, such was he. Thus at one time he could show himself even kind and
generous; as in his behavior to the vanquished Syrian monarch, so that a prophet
was even commissioned to reprove him for his ill-timed lenity. “Because thou
hast let go out thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore
thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people” (1 Kings 20:42).

He could also, the very next moment, according as he was externally wrought
upon, perpetrate the most infamous cruelties, especially when it could be done
without endangering his person.

Under better influence, Ahab would probably have been a better king; but, led as
he was by such a woman as Jezebel, and by such a host of sycophants as his court
was composed of, he necessarily became the very tool of iniquity.

As he was very effeminate and luxurious, he left the affairs of his government,
in a great measure, to Jezebel his wife, and was glad when he could pursue his
pleasures with undisturbed ease. After the war was finished he had retired to
his country residence at Jezreel. To pass away the time, he amused himself with
beautifying and enlarging his sumptuous palace and gardens.

Adjoining the latter was a vineyard, which belonged to the paternal inheritance
of Naboth the Jezreelite. Ahab having thought that his grounds would be much
improved by the addition of this piece of land, set his heart on obtaining, it.
Accordingly he sent for the proprietor, told him his wishes, and offered him
either an exchange of land, or the value of it in money.

But Naboth could properly part with his vineyard, because, by the law of Moses,
no Israelite was permitted to sell his inheritance. All land was to be
considered as the Lord’s property, and held only as a fief under him. It was
indeed allowed to be exchanged, but even then it was to be restored in the year
of jubilee. This was the Divine command, and Naboth would not deviate from it,
nor would he make an exchange, because he foresaw that the idolatrous king would
pay no regard to the year of jubilee, or the laws respecting it. Therefore he
answered, “The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my
fathers unto thee.”

He was not afraid of confronting the idolatrous monarch as a worshipper of the
God of Abraham; and we rejoice to see here another individual of that seven
thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal. The king was not prepared for such
a refusal as this.

He could not endure to have his favorite plans frustrated, and especially by one
who pertinaciously, as it seemed to him, and in despite of his royal authority,
adhered to the ancient law, and refused homage to the Sidonian idol. Wounded in
his pride and dignity by this supposed insult, he hastens to his palace, behaves
like a spoiled child whose will has been resisted, throws himself upon his bed,
turns his face to the wall, and refuses to eat.

Jezebel, astonished at finding him in this disconsolate situation, inquires what
has happened, and learns from him the whole affair. Her reply to him is that of
a resolutely unprincipled, despotic, and abandoned woman: “Dost thou now govern
the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I
will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

As if she had said, “Is that all that troubles thee? We will soon finish this
matter. What kind of a government would it be in Israel, if such things were
permitted!” Thus, partly to revenge the insult which the king’s majesty had
sustained, and partly to attach her husband still more closely to herself, she
takes measures immediately to procure the vineyard at any price.

She writes letters in Ahab’s name, to which she misapplies the royal seal; she
orders the elders and nobles of the town to proclaim a fast, which was wont to
be done when any great calamity had occurred or any dreadful crime been
committed. She requires them to assemble the people, to put Naboth upon a mock
trial before them, and suborn two villains to give false evidence against him,
and accuse him of having uttered blasphemies and curses against God and the
King.

This being done, Naboth was condemned unheard, dragged out of the town, and
cruelly stoned to death. And when the bloody execution was accomplished, Jezebel
went triumphantly to Ahab, and said, “Arise, take possession of the vineyard of
Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is
not alive, but dead.” When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, the miserable man
rose up from his melancholy and chagrin, “to go down to the vineyard of Naboth
the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.”

Behold, such was the atrocious crime, primarily, of Jezebel; but Ahab equally
participated in it, since he heartily approved of the infamous deed, and readily
seized the property. Indeed he would probably have contrived and perpetrated the
deed itself, had he been possessed of that resolution and cunning for which his
wife was so remarkable. They were both of them the murderers of Naboth, both
defiled with his blood, both guilty, and equally deserving punishment. This
atrocity was the more horrible and flagitious, because it was certainly not
obstinacy which induced the unfortunate man to reject the king’s offer, but
faith in the God of his fathers, and obedience to his holy ordinances. But there
is no doubt, as we have already observed, that this very circumstance
exasperated the murderers still more, yea enraged them to the highest degree.
Worldlings can least of all bear to have anything refused them upon grounds of
piety and faith.

Thus an unbelieving master has often required a pious servant, or laborer, to
join in some dishonest plan in trade or business; and when the latter has
refused, the thing would often have been taken no notice of, if the servant had
only assigned some worldly reason for his refusal, such as the danger of
adulterating goods in such a manner, or the injury it might cause to the master,
and the like.

But when persons in this situation have referred to the will of their Saviour,
and mentioned the law of God as the reason of their refusal, cursing and
reviling have been the consequence, and they have been threatened with dismissal
from service, or a discontinuance of employment; and though matters were not
carried to the length of a stoning to death, yet, virtually and in principle,
Ahab and Jezebel were there on the one side, and Naboth on the other. But Ahab’s
wicked pleasure at taking possession of Naboth’s estate was not of long
duration, However secretly the murderers had acted their part and devised their
infernal plan, One, of whose presence they thought not, had seen and noticed
all.

This secret witness was no other than He, whose eyes are as a flame of fire; the
Keeper of Israel, who neither slumbereth nor sleepeth; the Discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart, who understandeth its thought afar off; who
is about our path and about our bed, and spieth out all our ways. Surely he had
seen it, and had prepared for them the instruments of death, and ordained his
arrows against the persecutors. But why, when the Almighty saw the impious deed
devising, did he not interpose to prevent it? Why did he not rescue innocent
Naboth, who was his servant and his child, and brought into peril by his faith
and obedience? For replies to such questions as these, the Scripture refers us
to the world to come. Till that arrive, we must silently and resignedly submit
to the many mysterious disposals which occur in God’s government of the world.

We must often, in opposition to appearances and short-sighted reason, rely
solely on the sure word of prophecy, by faith give God the glory, and knowledge
that even what appears to the carnal mind foolishness, is in reality adorable
wisdom; and that what is apparently contradictory in the divine government, is
part of an economy and plan which will eventually call forth our profoundest
admiration.

God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and his ways are infinitely higher than our
ways. “We do not understand his mode of government,” says an enlightened writer,
“and are always liable to run into mistakes, both when we commend and when we
find fault with it.” God has infinite complacency in his own designs, and is
infinitely above all the opinions of men.

“It is really absurd,” says the same author, “to wish for a hair more or less
than we possess; and it is certainly better to be Elisha than Absalom; better to
be as Lazarus at the rich man’s gate, full of sores, than to be the rich man
himself.” Let the earth be what it will to us; provided God reign in it, or
rather in our own hearts, his ways will ever be well pleasing in our sight.

It is certainly true, that the permission of such an event as the death of an
innocent man like Naboth, under circumstances of the most despotic cruelty, is
sufficient to put our faith upon exercise, and to stagger the judgment of
natural reason. But events of this description will all be satisfactorily
explained in eternity. Let us leave them to the Lord: he will solve every such
difficulty hereafter, to his own glory and his people’s happiness. We may be
quite sure that it was with no discontent or complaint against divine
providence, that Naboth, just after he had closed his eyes upon this world, amid
volleys of stones, opened them before the throne of God.

And doubtless his cruel death is, to this moment, a subject of praise with his
spirit; and could he now converse with us, any dissatisfaction on our part at
God’s providence towards him would give him pain, and he would call upon us to
join him in adoring that providence as full of wisdom and love. This you may
allow to be true; but still you are ready to ask, what becomes of the promises
of God, when it can fare so ill with such a man as Naboth? I answer, the
promises of God are still what they ever were; “They are all yea and amen in
Christ Jesus.” God has promised to them that love him, that all things shall
work together for their good and so it really happens. He has promised to be
with them in fire and water; and he is with them. But you seem to assume that
the promise if neither fire nor water shall come nigh them, nor any pain or
mishap befall them; but this is not correct. It is, on the contrary, expressly
said, that the way to the kingdom of God is “through tribulation;” and the
Saviour does not conceal it from his friends, that he appoints unto them the
kingdom, even as his Father hath appointed it to him (Luke 22:29). “But if this
be so,” you may be tempted to say, “we must be in continual anxiety, and cannot
be certain of escaping any danger.

- If we travel in a lonely place, we are certain that robbers and murderers will
not have their will of us. - If we cross a river, or the sea, we have no
certainty that we shall not be drowned. - If we are deprived of work or wages,
we have nothing to assure us that God will preserve us and our families from
starvation. - If the pestilence rage around us, we have no assurance that the
destroying angel will pass over our houses.

There are, then, no promises to secure our preservation from calamities; so
that, though we are God’s children, we must be subject to the same apprehensions
as those who are strangers to the covenant of promise!”

No, my friends, such conclusions are erroneous. It is certainly not
unconditionally promised us that we shall escape every danger and misfortune;
but he that believes shall see the salvation of the Lord; and all things are
possible to him.

You know that great assurances are given us- assurances of unlimited
extent-promises which leave us nothing to wish for. Whatever may be the distress
by which we are threatened, we need only “call upon the name of the Lord,”
according to his express declaration, and we shall be delivered. Nay, the
Saviour has said, in John 15:7, that inasmuch as we abide in him, we may ask
what we will, and it shall be granted us.

But what is it to abide in Jesus? It is indeed a great and important matter,
which is pointed out to us by this expression. For if I really abide in Christ,
then I forget myself; I behold myself in Christ, and the evil conscience of sin
is lost in that of his merits. I consider myself as dead with him, risen with
him, and exalted with him above the world, sin, and death. I rejoice in his
righteousness as my own. I feel assured that God neither can nor will deny me,
as his child, and well-pleasing to himself in the Son of his love, anything that
is good for me.

Nothing any longer prevents me from joyfully casting myself, with all my
concerns, upon the tender and paternal heart of God. Thus, there may certainly
be a life free from care and fear, even in the midst of a thousand dangers;
there is a state of mind, in which we have in our hands a key to all the
treasures of God, as well as a shield against every danger both of body and
soul. Only learn the happy art of be being in Christ, and of asking in his name,
then ask what thou wilt; for, whilst praying, thou hast thy petition. But to
return to our history. The black deed at Jezreel has been perpetrated. Naboth
lies buried under the earth; but the voice of his blood cries to heaven for
vengeance. The great Advocate and blood-avenger of his church hears it, and
prepares for judgment. He gives to his servant the Tishbite a commission to king
Ahab: “Arise, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold,
he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. And thou
shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs
licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.”

Dreadful message! One would think Elijah himself must have shuddered at
delivering it; nay, he must himself have sunk under such a knowledge as he had
of the righteous judgments of God, had he known nothing of the grace of the
Gospel. But he knew much of this, by his own experience, as is evident by
attentively considering his history and character; and this rendered him
undaunted and of good courage.

III. The king of Samaria is gratifying the lusts of his heart in the vineyard of
Naboth

He exults over the valuable plunder, and is considering how this acquisition may
be turned to the best advantage, and united with his grounds. But suddenly he
hears footsteps behind him, and turning about beholds, to his amazement, a man
approaching him, in whose stead he would rather have seen a whole army marching
against him, and who had never come upon him more unseasonably than just at this
moment. It was Elijah the Tishbite. The prophet had sent no one before him to
announce his approach, or inquire whether it is the king’s pleasure to admit him
into his presence.

He assumes his rightful prerogative of speaking in the name of the Lord, and
makes no scruple of surprising the monarch in the midst of his pleasure-grounds
and gardens. Dreadful must such a meeting have been to Ahab. He had probably
vainly hoped that Jezebel had frightened away this unwelcome guest forever. He
had thought him far enough away beyond the mountains; if not, which he would
vastly have preferred, in his grave. But lo, he stands before him like an
apparition from another world; nay, like the ghost of the murdered Naboth.
Anticipating but too truly his message, he exclaims, before a word is uttered
from Elijah, “Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?” Thus his own fury and malignity
betray him, and become his own accusers.

How commonly, my brethren, is it the lot of your ministers to be treated like
Elijah, when they succeed in finding out sinners in the church; or rather, when,
by their instrumentality, sinners are found of God!

Yes, when our arrows hit the mark-when one and another of our hearers is
compelled, against his will, to see his moral deformities in the mirror we place
before his eyes-then it is immediately said to us, in the hearts of those that
are thus smitten, “Hast thou found me, O my enemy?”

We are then regarded as disturbers of men’s peace, and as taking a malicious
pleasure in distressing their minds. As for charity, we are accused as strangers
to it, and gloomy views of enthusiasm are the things we are charged with
preaching and teaching. Our sermons are considered as unsound and extravagant.
Such are the heavy charges which we are obliged to put up with; but sometimes
mere hard words are not deemed sufficient and the criticism becomes of a more
active kind.

These individuals seek to repay us for venturing to promote, in the only right
way, their peace of mind, by resolving never to hear us again, but to go in
future elsewhere. Go, then, ye stricken deer, whithersoever it pleases you. It
is not we that have “found” you, but it is God who has found you by our means,
and from him you cannot escape. His word has pierced to the joints and marrow,
and what avails it to endeavor to get rid of it again, until the same Almighty
hand which pierced you shall heal the wound.

If he is leading you to repentance, spare yourselves the fruitless labor of
kicking against the pricks. No means you resort to of this world’s devising will
be effectual to heal the wound that is rankling in your conscience. The burning
in your heart will only increase from day to day, till it is quenched in the
blood of the Lamb. O that we might but “find” you effectually, we would gladly
submit for a while to be treated by you as enemies.

“I have found thee!” said Elijah, serene and undaunted. How must the criminal
have felt at these words? Confused and oppressed by the dreadful accusations of
his conscience, he saw himself utterly unable to offer the smallest defense
against the denunciation of the prophet. Besides, it had come upon him like a
thunder clap, especially as it had found him in Naboth’s vineyard itself, where
the prophet could appeal to the very stones of the vineyard to cry out and
awaken the king’s conscience.

Truly it was a pitiable position which the king of Samaria occupied at this
moment. He had, probably, never before experienced such a disgraceful defeat.
The glory of his regal crown has vanished in an instant.

He stands before the messenger of God as a poor perplexed delinquent, out of
whose hands every weapon has been wrested; nothing now was left to him but his
own stifled and impotent rage; and it must have been painful to the Tishbite
himself, to see his sovereign thus overpowered, confused, and abased before him.
Thus the Lord is able with a word to bring down the pride of the haughty. Who
can resist the appalling power of that word, “I have found thee,” when it comes
as the language of the holy law, by which is the knowledge of sin, but not of
mercy? May everyone of us feel it, if we have not felt it hitherto; but may it
he accompanied by the gracious tidings of forgiveness and justification by faith
in the atonement of the Son of God!

Yes: with the dreadful sentence, “Cursed is everyone that continued, not in all
things that are written in the book of the law to do them,” may the blessed
announcement be heard in our inmost souls, that Christ is “the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth;” and that “whosoever believeth in
him hath eternal life.”

If we hear believingly the one announcement, “Depart, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire;” May we hear believingly the other announcement, “Come unto me
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!” Then shall the
“fearful looking for of judgment” be exchanged for that “godly sorrow which
worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of;” and the terrors of the
law shall give place to that inner contrition, which not only God will not
despise, but which is the work of his own hands, the first sign of a new and
endless life.

It is not the terror of the Divine holiness, but the manifestation of the love
of God towards us in Christ Jesus, which softens the heart and renews the soul.
By this the believer is more and more divested of self, becomes the willing
servant of the Lord, and finds his service perfect freedom. He now loves God,
and serves him; not in the slavish bondage of fear, much less in the vain
endeavor to serve two masters; but from the constraining influence of gratitude;
even as Paul could say, “The love of Christ constraineth us.”

He performs that which is good, as it were spontaneously, from a vital principle
within. Here is an instance wherein, as we may say, liberty and necessity are
closely allied to each other. The true believer becomes a captive of love, and
yet in this captivity he enjoys the only true liberty.

Such are the happy effects of the Gospel of peace.

The law worketh no such wonders as these. Only where love and grace reign, are
the true springs of life and salvation to be found. Only yield yourselves up to
the influence of this grace and love, and you will inhale, with every breath,
the powers of the world to come, and will be elevated in spirit above the love
of the world, and of the things of the world, as if a thousand hands were
conducting and welcoming you into the heavenly places!

~ end of chapter 17 ~


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  CHAPTER 33: 02.18.     AHAB'S REPENTANCE
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Ahab’s Repentance CHAPTER EIGHTEEN The Scripture repeatedly speaks of A BOOK OF
LIFE; and Paul notices, Php 4:3, the names of his fellow laborer Clement and
others, as inscribed in that book. It is, as its title imports, a book of life.
No judgments are written in it; no sentences of death are recorded. It is full
of the promise of life eternal; and they whose names are written in it never
die; they have already passed from death into life; everlasting youth awaits
them beyond the grave; and thrones of never-fading glory and joy stand prepared
for them in heaven. This book is, in other words, the paternal heart of our
almighty and most merciful Father.

In this book a number of names are inscribed; that is, a great multitude, which
no man can number, are all individually and continually remembered before him;
and everyone of them is infinitely dear to him, and eternally beloved. They are
the names of his people, his chosen, his children, his heirs, being joint-heirs
with Christ; and redeemed to himself by the blood of the Lamb. By a mystical
union with Christ their Surety, they are bound up in the bundle of life with the
Lord their God. In him, the Beloved, are they made accepted and glorious; and
because he lives, they also live forever and ever.

The book of life is open in heaven. There it is read again and again, and they
who read it are never weary of so doing. The Son of man himself sees in it the
“travail of his soul, and is satisfied.” This book indicates to the Shepherd his
sheep, to the Bridegroom his bride, to the High Priest his redeemed, and to the
Prince of peace the people in whose heart is his law. Even to the holy angels is
this book opened. They are sent forth to minister unto them who shall be heirs
to salvation; for which purpose they must know the names that are written in
this book. And continually are they becoming more and more acquainted with it,
and they increasingly wonder and adore the God of all grace, as they behold the
names of those whose sins have been many, and are forgiven.

Now, if there be any one object in the world more worthy of our curiosity than
another, I think we shall all agree in saying what it is: surely it is the sight
of our own names inscribed there. On the fact, whether our names shall be found
there or not, is suspended our peace and happiness throughout eternity. But can
this fact be ascertained here on earth? I answer, that even here on earth we may
know from Scripture the characteristics of those whose names are in the book of
life.

The chief of these is a contrite heart, longing after God. It must never be
forgotten that there are two ways of crying for mercy, and it is not every kind
of humiliation before the Lord which will justify us in concluding that our
names are inscribed in his book. But if we seriously desire to know what it is
which distinguishes true and gracious humiliation from that which is only the
working of natural feelings, we may learn it very clearly from the portion of
sacred history which we are now to consider.

“Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will
cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and
left in Israel, And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of
Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation
wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin.

“And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the
wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him
that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat. But there was none like
unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD,
whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. And he did very abominably in following idols,
according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the LORD cast out before the
children of Israel.

“And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and
put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how
Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will
not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon
his house” (1 Kings 21:21-29). The prophet delivers his message in Naboth’s
vineyard, and announces to the trembling tyrant, with all boldness, the dreadful
punishments which should come upon himself and his family. Here then let us
consider the impression which this announcement made upon the guilty monarch;
noticing, I. How Ahab’s repentance was called forth;

II. What kind of repentance it was;

III. What were its consequences.

I. Elijah’s address evidently produced unusual terror in Ahab’s mind, and
induced him to humble himself in some degree before God Nor does this surprise
us: for it contained not only an awful aeration which Ahab could not deny, but
likewise an awful sentence upon himself and his posterity, pronounced, as from
the mouth of God himself, with singular impressiveness and power. A threefold
crime is here laid to the charge of the king of Israel:

- That he had provoked God to anger; - That he had made Israel to sin; - That he
had sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord.

It was for this cause that the sword of the Almighty had been whetted for the
destruction of himself and his house.

Observe, then, how The Lord represented in the first part of the accusation, as
a God who may be so provoked by continued insults and rebellions, that his
longsuffering, like a bended bow, needs only to be drawn to a certain tension in
order to break. This certainly sounds very human; but faith is far from
stumbling at such language; for it stands in need of such representations of
God. We need to be told of God in an intelligible manner, and to be addressed by
him in the language of our nature; in expressions of mercy, sympathy, and
displeasure; as caring for us; as taking cognizance of our very thoughts; as
loving us; not as inaccessible to us, or unconcerned about us. Now just such is
the God of the Scriptures.

Ahab is here further accused, of having made Israel to sin. This he had done by
his impious example, and by those infamous decrees which had made the worship of
Baal the religion of the state, and exposed the true worshippers of the Lord to
the most cruel persecutions. Woe unto those, who, like Ahab; not satisfied with
destroying themselves, seek to infect others with their pestilential errors, and
to carry them along with them in their own fall!

Such men will not only have to bear their own burden, properly so called, but
the guilt besides of all those unhappy victims who were led away by them, and
who will pursue them forever with their vindictive execration. Such men will
have hereafter the horrid distinction which their lives seem to be aiming at in
this world-the distinction of being more like their father the devil, in whose
works they have been so preeminent. The remaining point of crimination which
Elijah alleged against Ahab was, that he had sold himself “to work evil in the
sight of the Lord.” And “there was none,” says the sacred historian, in another
place, “like unto Ahab, who did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of
the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.” “Sold himself to work evil!” What a
dreadful charge! Yet it is as true as it is dreadful, not only concerning Ahab,
but concerning every unconverted man.

“I am carnal,” saith Paul, “sold under sin;” he means in reference to his
natural condition; “for that which do, I allow not; for what I would, that do I
not; for what I hate, that do I.”

Try, my brethren, an experiment, if you please, only for one day, with the law
of God; labor to keep fully any one single command of God; and however it may
grieve you, depend on it that, before evening, you will be obliged to take up
for yourself the same humiliating confession with the great apostle.

It is a common proverb, whether true or not, that “Every man has his price;”
that there is something for which everyone will be found willing to sell
himself. These are words of awful import spiritually understood; and yet in this
acceptation they are but too true concerning every natural man.

The children of this world, proud as they are of themselves, may always be
bought with one temptation or another: honors, profits, pleasures of one class
or another, will induce them to debase themselves more and more. The idol to
which Ahab sacrificed was his affection for Jezebel. His own will, his honor,
his peace of conscience, the salvation of his soul, the favor of God-all that he
had or hoped for was laid at this idol’s feet.

Would that he were singular in such infatuation or only one of a few! But alas,
it is common in every age. Let anyone ask himself, why he is an unbeliever; why
he despises the people of God, why be serves the world and the devil, and
endeavors to stifle every good conviction. By what influence is he constrained
thus to act? Ask him, and he will tell you that he feels the influence of custom
and example, and of his own natural inclinations; that his connections, the
favor of men, or the attachment by which he is bound to other persons and other
things, are the causes which indispose him to the serious care of his immortal
soul. But what impious constraints are these!

What an accursed alliance, though it be under the sacred name of friendship
itself, must that be, which is connected with enmity against God? Whoever of us
has hitherto walked in these human chains, let him extricate or rend himself
from them without delay. “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is
not in him.” “He that loveth father or mother, or son, or daughter, more than
me, is not worthy of me.” Forget not the blessing of Moses upon Levi: “Who said
unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he
acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed thy
word, and kept thy covenant: they shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel
thy law; they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifices upon
thine altar” (Deuteronomy 33:9-10. “Ye are bought with a price,” says the
apostle; therefore “be ye not the servants of men!” The heavy accusations which
Elijah, in the Lord’s name, brought against the king of Israel in the vineyard
of Naboth, must have been the more terrific on account of those dreadful
denunciations with which they were followed.

The first of these was, “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth
shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine!” And so it came to pass, as is most
strikingly shown in the subsequent history. For Ahab, though he had taken every
precaution to secure himself in the battle which he stirred up against the
Syrians, Was slain by an arrow shot at a venture, and the blood of his wound ran
into the midst of the royal chariot which was afterwards washed in the pool of
Samaria, the very place where Naboth was murdered; and there they washed his
armor; so that the dogs of the city might easily have licked up his blood upon
the very spot of the murder, as no doubt they did. Verily there is a God that
judgeth! Have mercy upon us, O Lord Jesus! The next “curse of the Lord” was
“upon the house of” Ahab.

“Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will
cut off from Ahab every male, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and
will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the
house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs
shall eat; and him that dieth in the field the fowls of the air shall eat.”

How awful is it, when the iniquities of fathers are visited upon their children
to the third and fourth generation! Nor did any part of the threatening fail of
its accomplishment as you may see by consulting the 9th and 10th chapters of the
Second book of Kings. Jehu was raised up by providence to put the Divine
sentence in execution. Him God caused, by a prophet, to be anointed king over
Israel, and Jehu lost no time in bringing the kingdom under his authority, but
directed his first march to Jezreel, where king Joram the son of Ahab resided.
Joram, perceiving his approach went out in his chariot to meet him; and, having
met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite, he asked, “Is it peace?” To
whom Jehu replied, “What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel
and her witchcrafts are so many?”

Joram, hearing this, endeavored to escape; but Jehu drew a bow with all his
strength, and smote Joram between his arms, so that the arrow went out at his
heart, and sank down in his chariot. Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, “Take
up and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth both the Jezreelite,
according to the word of Lord.” And it was done. There Ahab’s blood flowed,
according to the letter of the divine threatening, from the veins of his son,
upon the same ground which had been polluted by the blood of the innocent
Naboth. In the same manner were Joram’s sons and all the relatives of Ahab
extirpated by the sword, so that neither root nor branch remained of that
idolatrous house.

The idol priests met with the same fate. In one day they were all slain by the
sword; the images, together with the house of Baal in Samaria, were broken to
pieces, and idolatry for a season was banished out of Israel.

The third judgment which Elijah announced to Ahab was to fall upon Jezebel. “The
dogs,” said he, “shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.” And so it came to
pass. For when Jehu entered the city Jezreel, the queen, having “painted her
face and tired her head, looked out at a window.” But the infamous woman did not
succeed this time with her meretricious arts; the heart of the rude captain
remained unmoved and impenetrable as a rock. He lifted up his eyes and called to
the chamberlains who stood near, to throw her down; and they threw her down, so
that the wall and the horses were besprinkled with her blood, and she was
trodden under foot, like the mire in the street. And it was not till after Jehu
bad gone into the city, and had eaten and drunk, that he said, “Go, see now this
cursed woman, and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter. And they went to bury
her, but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms
of her hands.”

And they that were sent returned to Jehu and told him; then said he, “This is
the word of the Lord which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
In the suburbs of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel; and the carcass
of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the suburbs of
Jezreel, so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel!”

Behold, my brethren, how the Lord fulfills his word! How ought this thought to
strike all impenitent sinners with horror; for he who denounces against them
everlasting punishment, the same God whose name is FAITHFUL AND TRUE; and it is
easier for heaven and earth to pass, then for one tittle of his word to fail.

II. The thunder of Elijah’s denunciation produced on this occasion some effect

Ahab knew whom he had before him, and that it was not this man’s custom to beat
the air, and to utter vain words. The idolatrous monarch is astonished and
deeply affected. He feels the load of guilt which lies upon him. His conscience
is alarmed, and his past iniquities rise up in terrific array before him.

Doubtless it must have seemed to him as if he saw the spirit of the murdered
Naboth standing before him; as if he heard from the graves of the massacred
saints a thousand-fold cry ascending to heaven for vengeance against him; as if
the lightnings of God’s fiery jealousy already flashed upon his guilty head; and
as if he heard behind him the howling of the dogs of Jezreel panting for his
blood.

The feeling which overpowered him at the fiery sign on Carmel revives in all its
liveliness with a thousand horrors. He is now but too assuredly convinced that
the Lord is God, and that Elijah is his messenger. The poor powerless wretch
feels as if he were already at the judgment-seat of the Almighty; as if the
thunder of the divine rebuke was rolling over his head; as if the angels of
justice were about to drag him to the place of torment.

He forgets his crown and his purple, conscious that he is an enormous sinner,
and is not ashamed to express this consciousness before God and man. He descends
into the dust, rends his clothes in token of the distress and wretchedness of
his soul, puts on sackcloth, and falls down before the God of Elijah; appoints a
fast, unconcerned whether it may please his heathen consort or not; even during
the nights, his penitential exercises are continued; he goes softly and
sorrowfully for a time, like a real subject of penitential grief. Joy is mute in
the place which was ordinarily so full of merriment; the pipe and the viol no
longer resound through the glittering saloons; the royal residence is like a
house of mourning and death; and the gloom of the king seems to have spread
itself like a black cloud over all his attendants. This mourning of the king of
Samaria was real as far as it went. The wretched outward dress in which he
appeared was a true expression of his inward temper and state of mind. Still,
much was wanting in his repentance to render it a repentance unto life and
salvation. It was not a mourning like that of the woman that was a sinner, at
the feet of Jesus, like that of the thief on the cross, or that of the poor
publican. Ahab’s repentance was utterly destitute of LOVE; and it is love which
hallows all our acts and deeds, and gives them a real value.

Let us take occasion, from this conduct Ahab, to learn what is a real gracious
repentance. Paul describes the latter, when, in Galatians 2:19, he says, “For I
through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.” By the law to
which he is dead, is to be understood here, the sum of the divine demands on
man, together with the threatenings and curses attached to it.

Now, the apostle here tells us not that he has escaped like a truant from his
schoolmaster, or deserted the law like others; but that he is dead to it,
lawfully delivered from it, even as a woman is no longer bound to her husband,
but may contract a new marriage when her first marriage is terminated by the
death of her husband.

Every man, whether he knows it or not, is thus, by nature, bound to the covenant
of the law. That is to say, if he obey the law perfectly, the law will reward
him; if he disobey it, which he always does, he becomes liable to the penalty of
its curse.

As soon then as the law vindicates its injured majesty in the conscience of
anyone, the bondage of that curse is felt. Consequently the terrified individual
generally undertakes to satisfy the law in the way of obedience, by his own good
works; and he thinks he has ability sufficient for the purpose. But here he sets
his feet upon a path, from which no one ever brought anything back but broken
bones, a wounded heart, and a troubled conscience.

Alas, what does he now experience! Instead of coming forth from the mire of sin,
he daily sinks deeper into it; and instead of proceeding forwards, he hourly
retrogrades. His best resolutions are rendered fruitless by his failure to
fulfill them; and the mournful consciousness that he is a thousand times more
corrupt than he had ever supposed, and, and the vexation, anger, trouble, and
chagrin, which, as the Scripture says, the law is wont to cause in every one who
ventures to cope with it in his own strength -these are the only and the bitter
fruit which he derives from his labor. What then is to be done?

Perfect obedience can be thought of no more; he gives up the idea of it, and
seeks to come to an agreement with the law in another manner. But how? He tries
to flee from the law-he turns deserter. “Why,” thinks he, “should I torment
myself any longer upon a path where my sincerest endeavors are perpetually
defeated!” And with this desponding thought he returns to his former vain
conversation, gives the reins to his flesh, and indulges freely the desires of
his heart.

But though he forsakes the law, the law does not forsake him. It pursues him,
disturbs him, and surprises him, from time to time, with its awful
denunciations; for these are within him, and he cannot flee from them. What is
he now to do?

One way still stands open to him. He endeavors to capitulate with the law, and
to come off with it on amicable terms. He resolves to keep it as well as he is
able, and seeks to live according to its requirements, as far as it lies in his
power; and thus he hopes it will cease to curse him so dreadfully, and allow him
to comfort himself with the mercy of God as to all wherein he may still be
deficient. But, however reasonable such a proposal may seem, it proves
unsuccessful.

The law will not be satisfied with any partial fulfillment. It demands a perfect
obedience; and however much the sinner may do, as he thinks, to the utmost of
his ability, the law does not at all lower its tone of malediction, but still
disquiets the conscience, Hence the poor helpless man finds no resource left,
but to plead guilty at once before the tribunal of leaven, confessing that the
law is just in its demands and threatenings; declaring his own moral bankruptcy,
and crying with the apostle, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me
from the body of this death?”

Nature, indeed, strives mightily against this condemnation, recoils from
pronouncing sentence against herself, and trembles at the death she has
deserved. But the light shines victoriously into her darkness, The convinced
soul sinks, as a man slain in battle before the foot of the throne of grace,
and; with dread, distress, and amazement, exclaims, “Woe is me, for I am
undone!”

Now, when a sinner has thus, with heartfelt seriousness, pronounced sentence
against himself before the throne of God, he has begun to die to the law. For
here is an end of his supposed righteousness, and of his own supposed ability to
rescue himself. But that true repentance, which the Scripture calls a godly
sorrow, and a repentance which needeth not to be repented of, does not therefore
as yet necessarily exist. This is but, it were, dying before the divine
holiness; as we see was the case of Paul, in Romans 7:1-25, “When the
commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death.”

Now thus dying under the law, and by the law, does not amount to dying to the
law. The sinner, thus alarmed and humbled, is dead to the supposition of his
moral excellences; but the marriage between him and law is not yet dissolved. On
the contrary, this hard and severe husband and schoolmaster still rebukes and
chastens him; for the sinner has yet an enmity against the law, as well as
against Him who gave it. His whole nature murmurs at it; he is vexed and
irritated that the law exists; he does not love it, he would rather see it
destroyed, because it robs him of his peace, and puts a restraint upon his
sinful flesh. Hence, his repentance is not of the right kind; he is not renewed
in the spirit of his mind; and that DYING to the law, of which the apostle
speaks, is still to come.

Now, this glorious and happy death comes by “the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:2). And this law is no other than the Gospel; whereby
alone it is that true, divine, and saving repentance is called forth.

Let us, then, consider once more the case of the awakened and alarmed sinner,
trembling almost on the verge of despair. His natural disposition is still
opposed to the law, and the distress of his conscience forbids him to lift up
his eyes to the Lord. But lo! The light of the New Testament begins to irradiate
the darkness of his mind; the cross appears amidst the clouds of his distresses;
the glad tidings of the Gospel sound in his ears, and reach his understanding
and his heart.

And now observe what a wonderful change immediately takes place in his whole
being. He hears that there is help and redemption for him; hears that the
Father, in order to save him, has sent his only begotten Son into the world;
hears that this Holy One has taken our sins upon himself; hears that he has paid
the debt, suffered the deserved punishment, endured the wrath of God, in the
sinner’s stead, and has thereby obtained eternal redemption for him.

The sinner hears it, is amazed, astonished, scarcely believes for joy, looks at
his Surety, beholds his sufferings, his head crowned with thorns, his
countenance beaming , with infinite love, and his heart, once pierced for
sinners, full of compassion and mercy on their behalf. What feelings of
gratitude spring up within him under such manifestations of the kindness and
love of God his Saviour! He bows himself under the sceptre of his divine
Deliverer!

Filial reverence and godly sorrow take the place of servile fear, and peaceful
adoring humility supersedes the terrors of the broken law. His enmity against
the law is departed. His hatred to it is changed into love; for it is the
expression of the divine will of that same gracious God, to whose mercy he owes
all his salvation.

Hence, he now delights in the law, and flees from sin as from a serpent. He
flees from it; not because of terror and outward constraint; not from fear of
punishment; but from love to the Saviour, whom he would now gladly obey in every
respect, and to whose glory he heartily desires to dedicate his whole life.
This, therefore, is true and divine repentance unto life; a repentance springing
from faith and love.

A wonderful death has now taken place. The marriage between the law and the
sinner is dissolved, and that lawfully. The law now leaves him in peace; for the
believer in Christ is made “the rightness of God in him;” and what the law
commands is now the very fruit which the good tree produces of itself, from the
new principle of faith in the Son of God. But the repentance of Ahab was not of
this kind. His enmity against the law was not abolished and slain by faith and
love. It was the punishment, and not the sinfulness of sin, that made him
tremble. Had no curse followed, his transgressions would have pained him but
little. Nay, because this punishment was delayed, he turned back into the path
of destruction, and by so doing, furnished the clearest evidence that his sorrow
proceeded only from selfishness, and that the dominion and love of sin still
prevailed within him.

III. But though Ahab’s repentance was far from genuine, it was nevertheless
regarded by the Almighty with some favor

He therefore sent his word to Elijah the Tishbite, and said to him, “Seest thou
how Ahab humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth himself before me, I
will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil
upon his house.”

Here was then a delay of execution; but no revocation of the sentence. The curse
still rested upon Ahab and his house. Yet even this respect shown to a
repentance which had so little intrinsic worth, this exemption of Ahab from
personally experiencing those storms which impended over his house, was an
instance of great condescension and favor.

But why, it may be asked, if Ahab’s humiliation was so little worth, was any
divine regard shown towards it? This, we answer, was to show by a living
example, that self-condemnation and abasement before God is the way to escape
his anger, and obtain his favor. Just as a novice in any art or trade may he
cheered by words of encouragement at the first favorable attempt which he makes,
however far it may be from perfection; so the exemption which the Lord made in
Ahab’s favor on his thus repenting was calculated, to encourage him to aim at
something better. Self-condemnation, self-abasement, and giving God the glory
are the first steps from spiritual death to spiritual life.

We are not, therefore, to regard it as any decisive mark of our state of grace,
that we at any time experience the forbearance of God upon humbling ourselves
before him; or that he at any time vouchsafes a signal answer to our cry of
distress, and disperses some of the heavy clouds which impend over us. For, all
this may be only as an encouragement to true and sincere repentance; it by no
means proves that our praying and humbling ourselves contain anything spiritual,
or that we are really restored to true friendship with God.

All history shows, that whenever any prince or people have given glory to God
and his word, though only by an outward confession, it has been attended with
signal blessings of Providence” But to infer from this, that, nations and
princes were in special favor with God would be found unsupported by Scripture
proof.

We often see persons, whom we dare not regard as truly converted to God, who
nevertheless agree to all the statements and confessions of Scripture truth;
they are evidently controlled by a certain dread of God’s displeasure; but they
do not live in obedience to the commandments of Christ: contrary, they love the
world, and the things that are in the world; and yet God temporally blesses them
and their household, and they enjoy the respect and regard of persons far more
piously disposed than themselves; but these external blessings must never be
accounted an argument of their own state of grace; for, if they be so regarded,
men may find themselves one day miserably undeceived.

God often gives many temporal blessings to such persons, that his goodness may
lead to true repentance. But these temporal favors are no seals of Divine
adoption. Let no one, therefore, deceive himself; for, “except ye be born again,
ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” The best that can be said of multitudes,
is what was here said of Ahab: “Seest thou how they humble themselves before me?
because they humble themselves before me, I will not bring evil upon them in
their lifetime; but at length that day shall come upon them as a thief, and they
shall hear it said unto them, I know you not; depart from me!”

Many, it is to be feared, are still in a situation similar to that of Ahab in
the field of Naboth. Dreadful curses are pronounced upon them; awful judgments
hang over their guilty heads; snares, fire and brimstone, storm and tempest; all
which will one day discharge themselves upon such unhappy people. Only one
outlet stands open to them; and this consists in true self-condemnation and
self-abasement. Not that these things have any merit belonging to them; but they
imply a hunger and a thirst after righteousness, and that righteousness is to be
found in the Lord Jesus Christ. The moment we stretch out the hand of faith to
lay hold on this righteousness, the curse is removed, and we are made accepted
in the Beloved.

Let Ahab’s example ever be a warning to ourselves, lest, notwithstanding the
most remarkable visitations of the Almighty, the strongest allurements, the most
lively emotions-yea, notwithstanding much penitential conflict, and many answers
received to our prayers-still we should fall short at last.

Take heed that your repentance exceed the repentance of Ahab, lest it should
have to be repented of when it is too late. When you come to your deathbed, and
with an awakened mind tremblingly behold the gates of eternity open before you,
you may indeed perform a repentance which may not be unto life, except you
repent now.

At such an hour there may be no word of comfort for you that will reach your
heart, or heal your wounded spirit. For the repentance of a deathbed is a very
ambiguous matter; it may contain no true repentance towards God, nor any true
faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And this may even be made evident by the
defects which it manifests.

For how often do we see such a repentance, unaccompanied by any heartfelt
lamentation over the man’s spiritual corruption, by any hungering or thirsting
after righteousness, by any longing after fellowship with God, or by any desire
of love to God!

It is nothing more than the mere shudder of nature; it is only that awful dread
of the Most High which the evil spirits felt, when they besought Jesus not to
command them away into the deep!

But, may God be gracious to us, and fill now us with that “godly sorrow, which
worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of!” Let our repentance be
that of affectionate children, who can have no rest till the kind but justly
offended parent again looks kindly upon them; let faith and love be the life and
soul of our repentance; let it prove its genuineness by an unfeigned surrender
of ourselves into the Lord’s hands. Then shall there be joy in heaven over us
among the angels of God; then shall we have an indubitable pledge and seal of
our adoption into the family of God; and hereafter all tears shall be wiped away
from our eyes.

~ end of chapter 18 ~


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  CHAPTER 34: 02.19.     THE JOURNEY TO EKRON
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The Journey to Ekron CHAPTER NINETEEN

“But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O
Israel” (Isaiah 43:22.

I scarcely know a more heart-affecting expression than this. It is the mournful
language of a neglected and disregarded friend. And who is this friend? It is
he, who is Love itself; it is the Father of mercies; it is the Saviour of
sinners. Alas! Who has more cause for such complaint than himself! If anyone is
forgotten, neglected, and mistaken on earth, it is the compassionate Friend of
penitent sinners!

Do not men seem to have conspired to blot out the remembrance of him? Thousands,
who are called by his name, reject him. Those who are set as pastors of his
flock will not hear his voice. To be followers of the Lamb, in the present day,
is too much everywhere a reproach.

- Decorum forbids even his name to be mentioned; - Social life has cast out the
Lord of glory as a disturber of its peace; - Science increasingly disregards him
in places very many; - Art dedicates its colors and its melody to ether gods; -
Most of the writings and books which are circulated through the world, boldly
disclaim any connection or friendship with him.

There is therefore sufficient reason for the mournful complaint of the Holy One
of Israel: “Thou hast not called upon me: thou hast been weary of me!” and who
can doubt that he has a right to make this complaint, or that he has the very
best claim upon our affectionate remembrance?

Behold, he took our nature upon him; he became a man of unparalleled sorrows;
his head was crowned with thorns; he was crucified for us!

Yes, out of free love to sinners, he yielded up himself, that he might be our
Surety and Representative, standing in our place, and bearing our punishment:
and, be astonished, O ye heavens, regarding as parts of his own mystical body
every individual whom he has redeemed.

- He associated himself with us in his death, that he might associate us with
himself in his glory - He caused our sins to be placed to his account, that he
might clothe us with his virtues; - He suffered himself to be crushed beneath
our curse, that he might raise us to his own glory.

Behold, this has he done for us! What think you then? Does he require too much
of us in requiring us to remember him, to call upon him, and not to be weary of
him? This requirement he makes of everyone amongst us. May the heart of everyone
be open to receive it, and to comply with it! For, are there none among us to
whom it may be said, You no longer wish to remember him and to be in communion
with him, as you once did? You have forgotten your first love.

Once you seemed to wait upon him, but now you love the world and the things that
are in the world; preferring its husks before the bread of eternal life. Is it
not so?

“Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord.”

O think upon what he has done for you; how he has preserved you; how he has
delivered you. There was a time when you believed that the Lord had done it! But
now you have forgotten this! And forgotten even the Lord himself. But his memory
is not like yours. Lo, he stands before you, and complains that you have not
called upon him, but have been weary of him.

O smite upon your breast, and say, “God be merciful unto me a sinner.” May our
meditations on the subject now to be considered serve to impress these thoughts
more indelibly upon our hearts!

“And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in
Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, inquire
of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this disease. But the
angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the
messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is
not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron? Now
therefore thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which
thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed” (2 Kings 1:2-4).
This narrative may serve for a variety of serious reflections. We divide our
meditation into three Parts, showing, I. The application to Ekron;

II. His Divine jealousy;

III. The paramount claims of Jesus Christ.

I. Israel had now changed its ruler

Ahab had fallen under the hand of the Lord, and the throne was filled by his son
Ahaziah, a worthless character, who did only evil in the sight of the Lord,
walking the ways of his father and mother, and causing Israel to sin. He served
Baal and worshiped him, and provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger, as his
father Ahab had done. The Almighty therefore saw it not good to sheath the sword
of vengeance.

The first painful stroke upon Ahaziah was the revolt of the Moabites.

This people had for many years been tributary to the kings of Israel; but under
Ahaziah they rebelled, and conquered. We have now before us another visitation
which Ahaziah experienced. Standing one day on a balcony of his palace, the
balustrade on which he leaned suddenly gave way. The king was precipitated to
the ground, was seriously injured, and “was sick.”

The Lord not infrequently so arranges it, that his judgments lay hold of the
ungodly and profane at the very time when they are most at their ease and
security. How often have we heard of men, who, with the cup of festivity in
their hands, and the sound of the harp and the viol in their ears, have been
suddenly struck dead by the divine hand, have fallen paralyzed to the ground, or
been seized by some other catastrophe! The severity of God is then rendered the
more apparent by the contrast between their revelry and the divine visitation;
and the cry against the vanity of the world, uttered by such judgments, is the
more loudly and alarmingly heard, by reason of the sudden reverse.

Ahaziah lies sick; but, alas, we behold in him the same state of mind on his
sick bed as we perceive in many others who come within our own observation. Here
is only another proof of the melancholy truth, that the severest afflictions are
ineffectual in themselves to soften the sinner’s heart; and thus we see that the
power which converts the soul does not consist in misfortunes and outward
events, but solely in the mercy and grace of God.

How much had Ahaziah heard and seen in his father’s time, which, humanly
speaking, might have led him to repentance! How remarkably had the Almighty
revealed himself again in Israel, and what terrific proofs had he given of his
severity and jealousy!

Though all this must have been fresh in Ahaziah’s memory, yet he acts as if such
awful realities, with his own father’s fearful lend, had been only an idle tale:
instead of humbling himself before the living God, his heart still cleaves to
idolatry; and he sends to the Philistine oracle at Ekron, where men worshiped an
idol named Baalzebub; that is, the lord of flies: probably so named because the
plague of flies, which was common in that region, was attributed to his
displeasure; or else, because he was honored as a protector from that plague.

The idol of Ekron was supposed to give oracular answers, through the medium of
its priests, respecting future events; and it had obtained such general
credence, that it was resorted to from a considerable distance. That the
predictions there uttered, and the prodigies there exhibited, were connected
with infernal influence, can hardly be doubted.

Pagan idolatry in general seems to have been supported and maintained by
infernal magic. When, in the divine Judgments upon Antichrist and his kingdom,
Satan shall suffer that signal defeat which is denounced against him in the Word
of God, it will be found that it was he who created and maintained the worship
of idols, and that it was from his agency that he kingdom of darkness and
falsehood received its Principal support.

And when heathenism shall become bereaved of this satanical support, then will
the eyes of the blind world be opened, and men will be astonished how they could
have adhered for thousands of years to a mere nonentity, and will come from the
east and the west the Lord in Zion. The idol at Ekron and his oracle was the
first remedy that the sick king at Samaria could think of. He assembled his
servants about him, and proceeded by their means to an act of impiety as great
as could well be committed in Israel.

“Go,” said he, openly and shamelessly, “inquire Baalzebub, the god of Ekron,
whether I shall recover of this disease.”

Conduct such as this of cannot outwardly be imitated by ourselves, because gross
idolatry exists no longer among us, and the polite world is too enlightened to
consult the devil in person, having long held Satan and hell to be merely the
puerile notions of antiquity. Yet after all, we find upon closer inspection, our
own philosophic age is full of that heathen leaven, though it is now molded into
a more refined form; and experience shows that disbelief of the more “sure word
of prophecy” only leads into new superstition.

It is true, the presentiment of an invisible world, and the necessity of
entering it, it is indelibly impressed upon the human mind. But those who scorn
to submit this feeling to the rule of Scripture, and to seek satisfaction in the
divinely revealed record, are sure to sink under dominion of darkness and
imposture. As a counterpart to the oracle at Ekron and Endor, we have, present
day visionaries and somnambulists; instead of the Delphic tripod and the
Dodonian oak, we have pretended prophets and fortune tellers, whose numbers are
greater amongst the people than is generally supposed; and if we above believing
these, still we have our forebodings, our presentiments, and our dreams, of
which many are apt to make as much as of the divine oracles.

The place of the ancient heathen mysteries is occupied by a multitude of covert
associations, in whose mystic obscurities thousands seek those disclosures which
they refuse to accept from the hand of the living God; and though they can smile
with scorn at the magicians of antiquity, they do not think it beneath them to
have recourse to amulets and charms, to which popular belief ascribes mysterious
powers; or they endeavor to cure diseases by what are called sympathetic
remedies.

But suppose we are free from such superstitions, still, when we hear a mother
entreating the physician to save her child, and when, upon any one referring to
the blessing of God for success, offence is taken at this reference, is not here
the same spirit as we see in Ahaziah? Is not here a running after idols, an
Idolatry of means? Yet how common is this among us. How many are there who have
never seriously thought of applying to the God of Israel, and who seem to know
of no other God in their necessities and embarrassments, except the
creature-dust and ashes!

But woe unto those who give to idols the glory which belongs to God alone! That
the Lord does not regard such conduct with indifference, the sequel of this
narrative will teach us.

II. What then became of Ahaziah?

He sent to Ekron, to inquire of Baalzebub; but instead of the lying voice of the
idol, he hears the awful words of the living God.

The angel of the Lord directs Elijah the Tishbite to “go up to meet the
messengers of the king of Samaria, and to say unto them, Is it not because there
is not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? Now
therefore thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which
thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.”

It is Christ, the Angel of the Lord, who spoke thus to Elijah. Why it was he, is
not difficult to understand. The Lord God Immanuel had the greatest cause for
being displeased at Ahaziah’s impiety! He had done everything to gain the hearts
of sinners, and to lead them to the most entire confidence in himself. During a
series of ages he had visited his people Israel with manifestations of the most
condescending kindness and love.

Even in the times of the patriarchs, he had shown how his “delights were with
the sons of men,” and how ready he was to assist them with his counsel in all
their affairs; not only with means ordained by himself, but even without means
upon many and various occasions. He had revealed himself as “a very present
help” to those who sincerely sought him; and had shown his lovingkindness in
such a manner, that it seemed as if he lived for their sakes. Yet Israel
revolted from Him, and resorted to idols. This was a heinous offence, and justly
provoked his displeasure. Such was the case in the present instance. He
therefore appeared himself, to complain of the ingratitude, and with how much
reason does he send word to the messengers, saying, “Is it because there is no
God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?”

We can imagine with what difficulty some will be persuaded that it was the
eternal God who here appeared to Elijah, and spoke to him as the children of men
are wont to speak. But we must learn to know him in his deepest humiliation, in
the manger and on the cross, and become acquainted with him in that love in
which he was willing to become despised and rejected in the eyes of men, in
order to bring us to glory; and in which he devoted himself to death as the Lamb
of God, that he might obtain for us eternal redemption by his blood.

When we have once become acquainted with him in these profound humiliations, his
other condescensions will no longer astonish us. He who has seen that which is
greater, ceases to be perplexed at that which is less. Nor let anyone be
offended because the mighty God appears in this history as provoked at inquiry
being made at Ekron, instead of being addressed to himself. Blessed be his
grace! It is because of the greatness of his love that he is not indifferent how
we are affected towards him. He wishes to be loved by his people; and not this
only, but with wonderful and most condescending kindness, and with a holy
jealousy he watches over our love to him, and desires to possess it entirely.

Yes, his children may well be on their guard against dividing their hearts
between God and mammon. He will not suffer it, but will rather use severity even
towards those who are as the apple of his eye. He will come with the rod and
chastise them; or he will tear from their arms the objects which rob him of his
place in their hearts. For he seeks to possess their whole hearts; and how
blessed are we, when He who alone is worthy of our supreme love, has obtained
it.

III. And as he desires our love entire and undivided, so it is his will that our
confidence for peace and strength should be reposed in alone Immanuel must be
all in all to us.

Moses said, in the spirit of prophecy, Deuteronomy 33:8, “Let thy Thummim and
thy Urim, O Levi, (let thy light and thy righteousness) be with thy Holy One
whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters
of Meribah, “doubtless he refers to Christ. It is as much as to say, “O Levi, do
not seek thy light, and thy perfections, or thy righteousness elsewhere; do not
sever thy high priesthood from Messiah; do not go to any other for thine
oracles.”

But how does this apply to us? I answer, Surely a separation of the Urim and
Thummim from the Holy One is effected when we are no longer satisfied with him
alone. When we consult human inventions for our help and comfort instead of
walking in the simplicity of honoring the Lord Christ; when we seek to be our
own priests and to atone for ourselves, instead of letting all our light, and
righteousness, and perfection rest with our Holy One.

There are no complaints more commonly heard among believers, than of the poor
work the they make of praying, praising and thanksgiving. Hence they become
painfully afraid lest their poor utterances should never obtain a hearing. But
remember the great Intercessor, who stands day and night before God to receive
such poor petitions of his people and to present them before the throne.
Remember also that the sufferings and death of Christ, his obedience and
righteousness-even the whole sum of his infinite and precious merits-make
intercession for you, and, as it were, pray with you.

Wherefore, believer, if you can only utter three words before God, yea, if your
very voice seem stifled at the foot of his throne, yet remember that he loves
you with the same love with which he hath loved his Son; and, as often as you
pray, hold fast this confidence. Remember that your great Intercessor prays with
you and for you, and that your prayers ascend through his righteousness. This
will give unction to your petitions, and whatsoever you ask you will receive of
him. In the breastplate of the high priest were set twelve of the most precious
stones, engraven with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Thus these names
were surrounded with glory and beauty; and as they served to typify the
spiritual glory and beauty which all the Israel of God possess in their true
High Priest, Christ Jesus, so they may serve to remind us not to separate our
sanctification from Christ, but to let it rest entirely with him. Thus let thy
Urim and thy Thummim be with thy Holy One.

But, alas! In how many different ways is this precept forgotten by professed
Christians, and how many systems and methods are here which disagree with it.

Proud self-sufficient man, in his hereditary depravity, would live without
dependence upon Him who is made unto us of God not only wisdom and
righteousness, but sanctification also. 1 Corinthians 1:30. For how many who
call themselves Christians, are righteous in their own eyes, and pure in their
own sight! And what system of iniquity has been built up for ages in support of
this delusion!

Devotees to this system think, by the accomplishment of a certain daily of
religious exercises, to make themselves perfect in the sight of God. Such is the
system of POPERY. There are many who seek their excellence in a variety of
outward observances, and would gladly persuade themselves and others that they
are purified from every spot of sin. But how little do they know the depth of
their own corruption, or the unspeakable holiness of God!

Whereas the foundation of all our hope and confidence ought to be only the
perfection of our surety, Christ Jesus. The faith of the heart in his imputed
righteousness is the only true spring and principle of all Christian virtue. Its
clothing is humility, its fruit is love, its aim is the glory of God. When
counsel was asked of God in Israel, application was made to the high priest,
who, by the Urim and Thummim, obtained a Divine answer. In like manner let us
act, and not make ourselves our own counselors. Ye who are anxious as to what ye
shall eat, what ye shall drink, and wherewithal ye shall be clothed, what are
you doing? Is your High Priest dead, and are you constrained to bear the
official breastplate yourselves? Cast your cares upon him, and He will be your
Counselor. Suffer not this or that particular event to confuse or startle you;
all will come to pass as the great Prophet of the church has predicted.

Look around you in this present world from the vantage ground of His word, and
you will find firm footing amidst the whirl of daily occurrences: you will
understand, in some salutary measure, the book of providence, and will look
forward with joy to the finishing of the mystery of God. The eye of the
Christian looks over the gloomy foreground into the golden distances which are
behind, and sees the dawn of jubilee fringing with rosy edges the clouds of the
present scene of things.

Let our whole wisdom be with Christ. Let us cleave to the sure word of prophecy,
so much the more courageously and faithfully, as the father of lies shall make
greater efforts to seduce us from the only citadel wherein we are secure, and to
strip us of our Divine armor. Away with that philosophy and science which are
falsely so-called; away with the dreams of modern illuminati; away with all vain
pretensions to spiritual gifts, and abide in that which ye have heard from the
beginning. “Keep that which is committed unto you; but shun profane and vain
babblings!” Let your light and your righteousness, your knowledge and your
wisdom, rest with your Holy One, even Christ.

Remember, that as the names of the children of Israel were inscribed on the
precious stones of the high priest’s breastplate, so our Saviour bears the names
of all his children upon his heart; and that as their names are laid upon him by
the Father, so Christ’s name is laid upon them. As he is, so are we in this
world. In Him therefore who died for us we can triumph, and say,

“Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that
justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that
is risen again.” In him who is risen again, “who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us,” we can triumph and say, “O death,
where is thy sting, O grave, where is thy victory?”

Let not unbelief, therefore, let not spiritual bareness, let not cold-hearted
prayers, or any adverse occurrence, deprive us of the enjoyment of him, so as to
make us doubt of his love, and utter the unbelieving complaint, “The Lord hath
forsaken me, and my God hath forgotten me.”

Let us assuredly believe in the unchangeable of his love, and thus be preserved
in cheerful obedience and resignation.

Let us become accustomed to regard ourselves as bound to the heart of our great
Mediator; and commit to this Bearer of our names before God the whole care of
our safety and happiness. Of all that the Father hath given him will he lose
nothing.

Let us not, then, burden ourselves with matters which God hath as little imposed
upon us as we are fitted for them. Let us commit all our affairs to our great
Shepherd, Mediator, and Intercessor, and, leaning on his almighty arm, go on our
way rejoicing. It is thus he would have us act, and thus he fulfills in us the
blessing of the prophet.

“Let thy Urim and thy Thummim be with thy Holy One!” Remember, my brethren, that
he is, and ever shall be, “all and in all.” As he is “made of God unto us
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption;” to look after any other
aid than that which is prepared for us in him is vile ingratitude, an insult
offered him, a crime against his majesty.

Cursed, therefore, be the paths that lead to Endor and to Ekron! The feet must
fail and be maimed that are found on these roads! There is a God in Israel!
who-be astonished, O heavens-full of salvation, righteousness, and aid, will
supply all our need! To whom do we owe all our confidence but to him? O let us
but be dissolved in tears of joy before our King; and “let thy Urim and thy
Thummim ever be with thy Holy One!” Amen.

~ end of chapter 19 ~


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  CHAPTER 35: 02.20.     THE PREACHING BY FIRE
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The Preaching By Fire

CHAPTER TWENTY The vital energy of the church of God upon earth manifests itself
in a threefold activity, directed to the three great objects of self-renovation,
union, and missions. Of this threefold operation of the true church Paul speaks,
in Ephesians 2:20-22. By self-renovation, we understand the effort of the church
to expel from within her every foreign, unscriptural element that may have crept
in; to remove errors from her midst; and to build herself up on the true
foundation of the prophets’ and apostles’ doctrine, “Jesus Christ himself being
the chief corner stone.” By her endeavors after union, we understand that
activity of the true church by which she seeks to combine believers more closely
together, and to promote more and more their growing up into him in all things,
who is the Head, even Christ; as the apostle says, “In whom all the building
fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.” By missionary
activity, the church endeavors to enlarge her boundaries, to recover new
provinces from the prince of darkness, to increase the number of her children,
whether from the heathen or the nominally Christian world, and to build them
together on the same foundation, “for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

Now wherever the true church exists she invariably manifests this threefold
vital activity; but sometimes one indication of it predominates over the rest.

In some places, for instance, the doctrines of the majority are correct and
scriptural, and she has rather to devote her powers to the growth and union of
her children. But, in general, her self-renovating activity is what is most
required, and her work is to lay afresh those foundations which the father of
lies has subverted. The prophet Elijah was an eminent reformer under the Old
Testament. The restoration of idolatrous Israel to the faith of their
forefathers, was the commission entrusted to him.

We should keep this in view as we meditate upon the events of his life, and thus
we shall better understand the peculiar character of some of those events. That
part of his history in particular which is now before us, will hereby become
divested of the strangeness of its first appearance.

“And when the messengers turned back unto him, he said unto them, Why are ye now
turned back? And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, and said
unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus
saith the LORD, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou
sendest to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come
down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.

“And he said unto them, What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and
told you these words?

“And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather
about his loins.

“And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite. Then the king sent unto him a captain
of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top
of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come
down. And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of
God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And
there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

“Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he
answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down
quickly. And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire
come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came
down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

“And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third
captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and
besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the
life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight. Behold, there came
fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with
their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight.

“And the angel of the LORD said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of
him.

“And he arose, and went down with him unto the king. And he said unto him, Thus
saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to enquire of Baalzebub
the god of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to enquire of his
word? therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up,
but shalt surely die.

“So he died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken. And
Jehoram reigned in his stead in the second year of Jehoram the son of
Jehoshaphat king of Judah; because he had no son” (2 Kings 1:5-17).

Thus ends the narrative which commenced with the mission to Ekron.

- “Our God is a consuming fire!” - “God is not mocked!” - “It is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God!”

Let us pause, and consider the marvelous contest here related. Here is, I.
Ahaziah’s attempt against Elijah;

II. The prophet’s victory;

III. Ahaziah’s awful overthrow.

I. The messengers of the king are already on their way to Ekron

Leaving the guilt mission with their master’s conscience, they proceed with
alacrity on their journey, and they have already settled in their own minds the
time when they shall arrive at Ekron.

But the Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vain. Another oracle
comes forth to meet them, from a quarter quite unlooked for. All at once a
living barrier stands in their way. A man suddenly appears before them of a
majestic figure, clothed in a hairy mantle. Here is no troop of angels, no any
mailed band of men; nothing but an individual fellowman without armor or
weapons. Yet astonishment seizes the courtly messengers at the sight of him, and
their train and equipage are obliged to halt.

“The Tishbite!” is the word of alarm from one to the other; and before they have
time to inquire and advise together, the venerable stranger confronts them and
discharges his divine commission:

“Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to enquire of
Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on
which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die?”

The stranger having spoken these words, turned about and went his way. We may
well imagine the consternation occasioned by this unexpected encounter; how the
men looked fully at each other and knew not what to say. Little had they dreamed
of carrying back to their prince such a speedy answer to his inquiry, and this
too without money and without price. But from whom does it come? O they are
conscious that it comes from an oracle that cannot lie.

They have no heart to proceed on their journey to Ekron; they dare not do it.
They know too well this terrible man, the fire-tested messenger of the Lord’s
displeasure. They turn about in haste, as if the least delay were dangerous, and
return with awful apprehensions to Samaria. Verily it cannot always he foreseen
what may happen on such journeys as those to Ekron or to Endor. It is a fearful
thing to pass by God and his word, and to turn aside to lying vanities. In
courses like these, how many have met with such disclosures as might well both
make their ears tingle and their hearts quake.

Many a one, by having recourse to refuges of lies, has forever lost sight of the
light of truth, and lived and died under strong delusions. Let us, therefore,
never forget the exhortation of the apostle: “Little children, abide in Him;
that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before
him at his coming” (1 John 2:28).

II. King Ahaziah lying upon his couch, supposes his messengers to be on the road
to Ekron But lo! Unexpectedly the door of his apartment opens, and the
messengers stand before his bed. Almost before he has time to wonder what this
can mean, they begin to relate to him what has happened to them on the way.

“There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king
that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Is it not because there is
not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?
therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but
shalt surely die.”

Terrific as was this message, the king collects himself sufficiently to inquire,
“What manner of man was he which came up to meet you and told you these words?”

“He was a hairy man,” answered they, “and girt with a girdle of leather about
his loins.”

This portrait was well known to the king. “Yes,” says he, with as much composure
as he could assume, “I thought so; it is Elijah the Tishbite!” The king
dismisses his messengers. “Send me hither one of my captains,’ cries he with
stifled fury and resentment. The captain appears in the sick man’s chamber, and
reads in the features of his lord the nature of his commission.

“Go with your troop,” says Ahaziah, “seize Elijah the, Tishbite and bring him to
me!” The captain bows obediently and hastens to fulfill the king’s orders.

Let us reflect a moment on the monstrous presumption which the sick monarch here
exhibits! He knows who the man is whom he is about to attack. He has seen the
mighty acts with which the Lord had borne testimony to this his own messenger.
He knows that God had a second time, in Elijah’s case, “hearkened to the voice
of a man,” and that this redoubted champion of truth has the Almighty Himself
for his shield; yea, that the thunder and fiery flame of heaven has been at his
command.

Yet all this prevents him not from taking the field against the prophet, and
thus virtually declaring war against the King of kings. Impiety renders him
frantic, and his feverish fury robs him of his understanding. A handful of chaff
would now contend with the fire, and a fleeting vapor would combat with the
storm! Surely all this is no longer merely natural. Strong satanical delusion
has taken possession of this senseless transgressor, and it is evident that he
is become judicially blind. The captain with his fifty departs upon his
commission, and it is not long before he meets the enemy. On the summit of a
mountain-probably on Carmel-they come in sight of the prophet. There he sits
solitary and silent, immersed in sacred meditations. But he sits there like a
king upon his throne, secure in his God and surrounded by an invisible guard. He
beholds the host approaching him with glittering weapons, and easily imagines
who has sent them, and what is their errand. But he is not afraid in his
invisible but impregnable fortress.

He is well able to confront them under the banner of his God, and quietly
suffers them to come against him. They approach nearer and nearer to surround
him as their prisoner; but something in his appearance, or in their thoughts of
him, keeps them still at a respectful distance. It seems as if they had a
presentiment of peril should they venture to seize him.

The captain, therefore, contents himself with imperatively declaring his
master’s order. “Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down.”

The Prophet feels a holy indignation for the honor of his God. He opens his
mouth with a faith which would have removed mount Carmel into the midst of the
sea had it been necessary, and exclaims, “If I be a man of God, then let fire
come down from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty!”

No sooner had he uttered the words, then the Lord heard them; for to prayers
which seek only his honor and glory he refuses not his Yea and Amen! The fire
descends from heaven, and the captain with his fifty lie dead below the
prophet’s feet. When this terrible event is notified to the king of Israel, he
becomes so infatuated with rage, that instead of perceiving what power he was up
against, he sends forth a second captain with his fifty, seemingly more daring
than the first; who finds Elijah still in the same place. He draws near, at the
head of his fifty, to the servant of the Lord and with astonishing presumption
addresses him in sight of the slain around him, “O man of God, thus hath the
king said, Come down quickly.” “If I be a man of God,” answers Elijah the second
time, “let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty!” And the
fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

One would suppose that the intelligence of this second defeat would have caused
a change in Ahaziah’s mind, and have induced him to conclude a truce in this
impious war; but no! He is resolved to hold it out to the last. He sends out a
third captain with his fifty, for the purpose of bringing the prophet to him as
his prisoner. The captain departs with his company of soldiers, and there is a
fearful prospect of the wrathful judgment being repeated a third time.

Elijah still sits in the same place upon his eminence. He is not afraid of many
thousands; for he knows that he has sufficient strength in his God to lay any
army in the dust that might come against him. But when the third captain at the
head of his company arrives at the mount, and beholds the man of God, and the
dead bodies of the slain lying below, he is seized with a feeling of reverential
dread, which he in vain labors to overcome.

He feels that it is bearing arms against the Almighty himself to bear them
against his ambassador; and, overpowered by the awe with which the presence of
the holy man inspired him, and by the conviction that Elijah’s God is the true
God, he puts up his sword into the scabbard, approaches the prophet with
reverence, falls on his knee before him, and exclaims, “O man of God, pray thee
let my life and the life of these fifty thy servants be precious in thy sight.
Behold, there came fire down from heaven and burnt up the two captains of the
former fifties with their fifties; therefore let my life now be precious in thy
sight!”

O how must Elijah have rejoiced at this submission to the living God, which
saved him from the mournful necessity of vindicating the honor of the Lord a
third time with consuming flames of fire! For he had no pleasure in the death of
the wicked; but it was his delight, even as it is the delight of his Lord, that
the sinner should turn from his ways and live. Doubtless it caused him no little
pain, when he was compelled to call for the sword of the Almighty to be
unsheathed and his fire from heaven to descend. And when this did take place, it
was his divine vocation and the holy object of his mission that required it, for
the extirpation of idolatry and the reestablishment of that Divine law which had
been trodden under foot, and of that faith of the fathers which had become
extinct.

The weapons of Elijah’s warfare were therefore not carnal. They were wielded by
that queen of passions-an ardent love to God and his cause-and they were
brandished in obedience to a holy zeal for the glory of the Lord’s name. It was
because the canker of idolatry had eaten so deeply into the heart of the chosen
people, that such severe remedies were required in order that the people might
be healed. In considering such narratives as the present, we should ever
remember that the times of Old Testament were very different from those of the
Christian dispensation; and that much which it became Elijah to perform would be
far from proper for a subject of the New Covenant. Our Saviour in Luke 9:54-56,
expresses himself significantly as to the distinction between the old
dispensation and the new.

When the disciples, James and John, said to him, “Lord, wilt thou that we
command fire to fall from heaven and consume them even as Elias did?” our Lord
replied, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not
come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them!”

It seems as if he had intimated that the days of severity were past, and that
those of mildness had succeeded them. The discipline of Mount Sinai no longer
bears the rule; but patience and love. Elijah was a herald of Divine justice,
therefore he necessarily appeared with lightning and thunder on his lips; but ye
are messengers of grace, who must gain the hearts of sinners by the Gospel of
the tender mercy of God; and thus your feet must be “beautiful upon the
mountains” as the patience wherewith the vessels of wrath are endured, has ever
since shown that a hand once pierced sways the sceptre of the world’s
government, and that a friend of sinners sits on the throne of dominion; so
ought the New Testament church to exhibit a faithful likeness of the gentle and
patient Lamb of God in whose blood they have made clean, and who, through
enduring and suffering, entered into glory.

The lovely image of the compassionate Son of man ought always to be visible in
his members. It therefore infinitely more becomes us as followers of the Lamb,
to pray for the enemies of his righteous cause, than to desire God’s displeasure
upon them. It is unspeakably more befitting us, in patience and meekness to heap
coals of fire on the heads of our adversaries, and to overcome them by the power
of love; than to call down the wrath of the Almighty upon them.

In short, our whole disposition and conduct ought to evince that we are the
disciples of Him who “came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them;” and
that, by the cross of Christ, a fountain of love has been disclosed, which has
taught us to bear all things, to believe all things, and endure all things; a
love which many waters cannot quench.

III. The captain, having besought Elijah that his soul and the souls of his
fifty might be precious in his sight, was spared by means of this sincere
humiliation For God resisteth only the proud and the perverse; but giveth grace
to the lowly. The Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him: be not afraid of him.”

What a command! what a mission! He was now to enter into the very midst of the
enemy’s camp, and repeat to the enraged king at Samaria, the judgment of heaven.
But the command and implied promise of his God lifts him up, as on eagle’s
wings, above every fear. He leaves the lonely hills, and hastens, at the
captain’s “side, to the royal city.

Surely as a conqueror enters the gates of some captured fortress, amidst the
waving of victorious banners, did Elijah enter the city of Samaria. He knew that
in the assembling crowds around him there were few who were not his adversaries;
yet he walks through them with a dignity which curls the insolence of the
boldest blasphemer. The king, perhaps, is impatiently inquiring whether there be
any news of the arrival of his prisoner; when the door of his apartment opens;
and who can describe Ahaziah’s amazement at beholding the object of his
hatred-the man with the hairy mantel and the leathern girdle, himself
approaching his couch.

But he utters no hard word, no triumphant taunt. He knows that in this ungodly
man he still beholds his lawful monarch and chief magistrate. Elijah knows that
“the powers that be are ordained of God;” and hence, though he is the Lord’s
prophet and standing before an apostate and idolatrous king, he in no wise
trespasses upon the respect due to royal dignity.

He adheres strictly and literally to the message entrusted to him by the Lord;
and, without adding to it or taking from it, he declares, “Thus saith the Lord,
Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron,
is it not because there is no God in Israel to enquire of his word? therefore
thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt
surely die!”

Elijah, having thus spoken, departed. But the words he had uttered remained
behind. “He died,” says the sacred historian “according to the word of the Lord
which Elijah had spoken.”

The church of God on earth had one destroyer less, and hell one victim more!

“In Judah is God known,” sings the Psalmist: “his name is great in Israel. In
Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion. There brake he the
arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah.

“Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey. The
stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of
might have found their hands. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot
and horse are cast into a dead sleep. Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who
may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?

“Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared, and was
still, When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.
Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou
restrain.

“Vow, and pay unto the LORD your God: let all that be round about him bring
presents unto him that ought to be feared. He shall cut off the spirit of
princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth” (Psalms 76:2-12).

Hallelujah! To him be the glory and the kingdom for ever and ever! Amen.

~ end of chapter 20 ~


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  CHAPTER 36: 02.21.     THE WORK-DAY EVENING
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The Work-Day Evening CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Sacred history may be regarded as a Divine prediction, which is as yet only in
part fulfilled. When we are grieved with the present sad and gloomy state of
things, we may well resort to these pleasing oracles, which set forth in type as
well as in prophecy the representation of future and better times. For with
reference to all that formerly took place of a beautiful or glorious
description, in the land where Israel sojourned, it may be said, “The thing that
hath been, it is that which shall be” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). From the history of
Eden, down to that of the glorious church of God, every happy event recorded
shall ultimately be renewed in a far more glorious manner. May this certainty
cheer and animate us as we approach, in the history of Elijah, one of the most
glorious events to which divine grace ever gave birth before the Christian era.

“And it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a
whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And Elijah said unto
Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Bethel.

“And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will
not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets that
were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the
LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know
it; hold ye your peace.

“And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath
sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I
will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. And the sons of the prophets that
were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD
will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he answered, Yea, I know it;
hold ye your peace.

“And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the LORD hath sent me
to Jordan. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not
leave thee. And they two went on” (2 Kings 2:1-6). The prophet has finished his
work upon earth and the stormy labors of the day are followed by a beautiful
evening, tinged with the golden light of another and a blissful world. He is
like the mariner, who, after a long and perilous voyage, is now in sight of the
haven of his destination, and joyfully hastens to strike his topmasts and take
in his sails.

He walks, for a few days longer, as if already within the hearing of the music
of heaven; and can now gratefully recount some of the fruits of his labors, for
they begin to manifest themselves more clearly to his view. The events we are
now about to consider, will form a pleasing contrast to his past history, and
will serve to remind us of that happy period when the enigmas of this life will
all be explained in the most satisfactory manner, and its temporary discords
resolved into the most exquisite harmony.

Three points in the passage before us are especially worthy our notice:

I. Elijah’s desire for retirement;

II. His visits to the schools of the prophets;

III. The reception he meets with there.

I. Elijah had now withdrawn from more public notice into the secluded
neighborhood of the Jordan

We find him at present in the little town of Gilgal, not far from Jericho, on
that memorable spot where Joshua, after the miraculous passage of the river, set
up the twelve stones, and dedicated them as a lasting memorial of the divine
mercy and faithfulness; “that all the people of the earth might know the hand of
the Lord is mighty.”

If ever these ancient words had deeply affected Elijah, and inspired his mind
with renewed vigor, it must surely have been now, when his own situation, in
many rejects, so strikingly resembled that of his forefathers. If those massy
stones were still remaining as in all probability they were, how must he have
felt at the sight of them! He also might have erected his Ebenezer near them,
and have consecrated it with tears of sweet and humble thankfulness. For how
frequently had he himself been led by the hand of the Almighty through an
overflowing Jordan! The prophet has now completed his pilgrimage. He knows it by
a Divine revelation. The horses of fire and the flaming chariot stand already
prepared behind the clouds to fetch him away; nor has the Lord concealed from
him the distinguished manner in which he is about to be taken home. He therefore
goes from Gilgal to Bethel to bid a last farewell to his disciples as to his
dear children. He hoped to have made this journey alone; but scarcely had he
taken his staff, when Elisha appears ready to join him. However much he wished
to be alone at this time, he loved his faithful friend too dearly to reject his
society at once.

They therefore set out together; but they had not gone on long before Elijah is
unable to conceal his desire for solitude. He therefore says to him, “Tarry
here, I pray you for the Lord hath sent, me to Bethel.” But no; Elisha cannot
this time accede to the wish of his venerable master. “As the Lord liveth, and
as thy soul liveth,” replied he, “I will not leave thee;” and they proceed
together on their way. Twice again, at Bethel and at Jericho, Elijah repeats his
request with increasing urgency, “Tarry here, pray thee, for the Lord hath sent
me to Jordan.” But all such entreaties were of no avail. Elisha persisted in
affirming, “I will not leave thee.” This urgent wish, of Elijah to be alone is
not difficult to explain. He knew what a great distinction the Lord intended for
him, such as from the beginning of the world had never been conferred on any
saint of God but once; and what was even Enoch’s triumph compared with that of
Elijah? Elijah was not only to be translated into heaven by a way which passed
not through the gates of death, but this translation was also to take place
visibly, with a glory never before witnessed. A whirlwind was to accompany it;
nay, a fiery chariot from another world was provided to fetch the prophet home.
He probably knew the day and the hour when this would occur. Only consider this
deliberately, and you will be ready to wonder that he did not sink under the
weight of such an expectation.

How must he have felt, when, lifting up his eyes to the heavens, he would say to
himself, “In a few days I shall be passing through those heavens into the very
presence of the Lord, where I shall see all the ancient fathers-Abel and Enoch,
Methuselah and Melchizedek, and the father of the faithful, and Moses, and the
psalmist, the man after God’s own heart, and dwell among them forever. Where I
shall behold the King of kings and Lord of lords, even the Lord himself!”

Is it any wonder, that in the midst of such thoughts, even the company of his
dearest friend was too much for him? Especially when he reflected that he was a
poor sinner, having many faults and infirmities, how must such reflections have
induced him to seek to be alone with his God. He had had much spiritual
experience since he had been employed in the Lord’s service; but surely never
could his thoughts have been so extraordinary as at present. What wonder was it
he should wish to pour out his soul alone with God?

The vessel of a human bosom was too narrow for it, though it were the bosom of a
friend. How much had he to reflect upon, to confess, to mourn over; and how much
cause too for thanksgiving and praise! Whether Elisha comprehended this we know
not. He would certainly have done his master an acceptable service had he
complied with his request and remained behind. Nothing however could induce him
to do so. He was firmly resolved not to leave him.

Humility also appears to have influenced Elijah on this occasion in wishing to
decline the company of his friend. He appears to have desired to conceal his
approaching triumph even from Elisha himself, lest any glory should be given to
the creature rather than the Creator. Let us here blush at ourselves! For how
vain are we apt to be of our own little distinctions!

Not so Elijah, that eminent man of God. Honorable indeed are those persons in
God’s sight, who are thus humble in their own. O that there were more such truly
modest and humble characters among professed Christians! It is qualities like
these which find favor even with then converted world.

Thrice-at Gilgal, at Bethel, and at Jericho-did Elijah, with increasing
importunity, entreat his companion to leave him; the Lord having directed him
first to one place and then to another. Thrice does Elijah receive the same
concise and decided reply, “As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will
not leave thee.”

Elijah was therefore obliged to yield to the determination of his friend.

And doubtless he was the more ready to acquiesce in it, as he might infer, from
Elisha’s language, that the Lord had revealed to him the secret of his
approaching exaltation, and that he had received divine direction to accompany
his departing master to the borders of Jordan, perhaps that he might afterwards
be able to bear testimony of this wonder to the world.

We have good reason to suppose that this was the case, and that it was this
which induced him to say, “As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will
not leave thee.”

The great and glorious things which the Lord performs amongst men must not be
hidden in a corner. In due time they must be published upon the housetops, and
contribute to make known the honor of Him who will fill heaven and earth with
his glory. Hence it often happens that he places secret witnesses about his
children, even where they think themselves unobserved by any human eye. Thus
many a pious spirit enters heaven, supposing that no one knew anything of his
life and experience, and even ignorant himself of the glory which God had shed
around him. But after such persons have left this world, everything comes to
light; the Lord removes the veil which concealed their real character, and it is
made known to the praise of his grace, as well as for the encouragement of
surviving brethren, how mighty the power of God was in their weakness, and how
much the Lord had accomplished in them and through them.

Hence the memory of the just becomes blessed even on earth, and they live in the
affectionate recollections of many. “Their works do follow them.” They leave a
sweet savor here below, and cheer and animate many surviving imitators. Such
characters of two individuals lately deceased well known to many of you-the
worthy Jaeniké of Berlin, and the faithful Krafft of Cologne. How many admirable
things respecting both these persons have come to light since their departure!

What a number of the loveliest actions of their lives did we hear for the first
time at their graves! O, I hope there are still many amongst us, who, like Abel,
will begin to speak loudest when dead; and who at present have the fairest and
brightest side of their life “hid with Christ in God.”

II. Elijah and Elisha went on from Gilgal together Their course was directed
first to the little town of Bethel. The sons of the prophets at Bethel went out
to meet them; and the same thing happened when they arrived at Jericho. These
were remarkable and highly gratifying occurrences especially at a time when
faith seemed almost extinct in Israel, and “the ways of Zion mourned.”

God had reserved to himself the education and instruction of the people of
Israel. In their divinely-appointed institutions we see the ground-plans and
models, according to which the Almighty, in the jubilee or millennial age of his
kingdom, will call into being that grand renovation which awaits the earth and
all that is upon it, whether animate or inanimate. And as in the history of this
distinguished people all the institutions of human society find their best
models; so do those of instruction in particular.

Scholastic institutions, according to the modern system, Israel certainly does
not appeal have known, at least until the Babylonish captivity. But instead of
these, home and school were one, and in the place of hireling lips, instruction
was poured forth from the tender hearts of father and mother. The child learnt
to lisp the name of the Lord under the vine and the fig-tree, before the door of
the peaceful dwelling.

- There the sacred histories of antiquity, recounted with the eloquence of
affection, passed before its admiring soul. - There the ideas of God and of the
great ends of human life were gradually impressed upon the tender mind. - There
it early learnt that which is eternally true and beautiful, and good for the
human mind to know.

And this was learnt, in the animated imagery of sacred historic record, by many
an Israelitish child, almost before it had become conscious that its years of
tuition had arrived. Thus it was pleasantly initiated into Israel’s wisdom,
hopes, and prospects, and guided into a way of thinking, feeling, and
anticipating, which penetrated upwards through the clouds of heaven, and
forwards through the bounds of time.

Having enjoyed the benefit of such a popular education in the highest sense of
the word, many a young Israelite came forth from the paternal dwelling, vigorous
in body and in mind, with an eye open to everything that is worth observing;
susceptible, like good ground, of the best cultivation; and carrying in his
hand, from his very home, the key of Scripture, of history, and of nature.

The stars of heaven, the trees and flowers of the field preached to him; and the
instructive voices of the Levites and prophets, which were constantly heard
through the country, found in his mind a quick and vivid echo.

Now, if among these youths there was one who was pressed in spirit to penetrate
deeper into the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and to search after wisdom from
above, as the vocation of his life, and to become a teacher of Israel; the
schools of the prophets, which, since the time of Samuel, appear as the fairest
blossoms of Israelitish history, were open to receive him. These were a kind of
missionary seminaries of a superior order; and owed their origin chiefly to the
contrast of a mournful state of ecclesiastical declension and moral disorder.

The decrepid character of the superannuated priest Eli, surrounded by his
degenerate sons clearly indicates the state of things at that period. Such were
the persons who ought to have been crown of the nation and the guardians of the
sanctuary. A speedy and powerful remedy was therefore requisite, to prevent the
moral degeneracy from becoming universal. This remedy God sent in the person of
Samuel, who shines as a bright luminary in those gloomy days. With his
appearance commences a new epoch in the history of the Old Testament church. He
united in himself the offices of judge, prophet and priest; at a happy moment he
put his hand to the helm of the nation, and, and was the means of preserving it
from destruction. By him those seminaries of the prophets appear to have been
first set on foot, which contained the promise of better things in Israel, and
served as a security to the well-being of the country.

Also, in ministering to that righteousness which exalteth a nation, it probably
furnished it with a succession of able counselors and leaders. For this purpose
he appears to have gathered about him companies of pious, intelligent, and
studious young men, who were called the sons of the prophets; who also became
Israel’s brightest ornament and the repository of her intellectual treasures.
The Scriptures mention four of these interesting seminaries: two in the time of
Samuel; one at Kirjath-jearim, where the ark of the covenant was kept at that
time, 1 Samuel 10:5; 1 Samuel 10:10; another at Ramah, where Samuel is expressly
mentioned as “appointed over them,” 1 Samuel 19:18-24; and two more in the time
of Elijah and Elisha, at Jericho and at Bethel.

There were, probably, other such seminaries established by Elijah at Samaria,
Gilgal, and elsewhere. There, or very near these towns, were settled, as little
colonies, these servants of the Lord; the unmarried ones, as it should seem, in
one housekeeping together, and the rest in families apart at their own cottages.
The pupils of these establishments had to maintain themselves by their labor as
husbandmen or mechanics.

This was not thought strange in Israel, much less contemptible. Indeed it has
ever been the practice of that nation to teach their children some trade, even
though they might be destined to learning and sacred offices. Many of their most
respected rabbis have been even surnamed according to their civil professions,
as “Rabbi Judah, the baker;” “Rabbi Isaac, the smith;” “Rabbi Johanan, the
shoemaker,” &c. Nor was it ever imputed to Paul or to Aquila, by their enemies,
as anything degrading, that, besides their ministerial office, they were
tentmakers.

That the sons of the prophets understood and carried on such occupations, is
evident from 2 Kings 6:4, where we find them with the ax and tools, cheerfully
engaged in constructing their wooden dwellings.

The study which chiefly occupied these sons of the prophets, was doubtless that
of the word; and the tongues of their teachers were as “the pen of a ready
writer.” Their instructions were certainly something else than what passes for
theological learning and knowledge in the present day. Undoubtedly they were
employed upon the positive meaning and practical import of revelation.

If sacred history were the subject of their discourse, it was doubtless for the
purpose of tracing, in some edifying manner, the footsteps of the Lord; or of
concluding from things past those which were future. Then the mysteries Aaronic
priesthood and of the ceremonial law, we may suppose, formed another subject of
instruction in the schools of the prophets. Thus the bleeding Lamb of God, that
was to bear and take away the sins of the world, might be presented to them in
exposition of the sacrificial institutions. Certainly we find such things
pointed at by David in Psalms 51:1-19.

Moreover, as their religious and civil codes were intermingled, especially under
the theocracy, The one would not be studied without the other; neither can we
well suppose that the cultivation of their own language would be neglected,
especially as it was the most sacred tongue in the world.

Their studies would also be connected with devotion, very differently from the
popular studies of modern days. The spirit would be sought and not merely the
letter. The depths of true wisdom would be sounded; and thus, treasures of
things new and old would be brought forth by sanctified intellects. The special
employments, however, in which the sons of the prophets are exhibited to us in
Scripture history, are those of prophecy and sacred song. In 1 Samuel 10:1-27,
we find a whole company of such disciples meeting Saul on the hill of God, near
Kirjath-jearim, with “a psaltery, a tablet, a pipe, and a harp” before them, and
themselves prophesying. And, in 1 Samuel 19:1-24, we see king Saul, on another
occasion, at Ramah, meeting an assembly of the sons of the prophets prophesying,
with Samuel set over them.

It is evident, from both these passages, that the art of sacred melody was
diligently cultivated in those retired nurseries of whatever was lovely and of
good report; and that this art was devoted, according to its original
appointment, to the praise of God, and the cheering and beautifying of civil and
domestic life. Ancient traditions tell us much of the great attainments of these
sons of the prophets in the lovely art of sacred song, and how affectingly they
thus poured forth the harmony of their souls. By what is called their
prophesying in I Samuel 10, and elsewhere, we understand an outpouring of the
language of the heart in song or in praise, under the special influence of the
Holy Spirit and these effusions we must conclude to have been always of the
sublimest and holiest nature.

Now, if the final object of these excellent schools was not precisely to form
prophets and seers-for such the Lord alone forms and calls-yet the Lord was
pleased to have ready such assemblies of his saints, from which, when he saw
good, he might select a messenger for himself, endowed with all human
preparatives, whenever these were deemed requisite.

It is highly probable that most of the prophets proceeded from these
institutions; the shepherd Amos seems to point out his to the office as an
exception to the rule, he says, in Amos 7:14, “I was no prophet, neither was I a
prophet’s son; but I was a herdman, a gatherer of sycamore fruit: and the Lord
took me as I followed the flock, and said to me, Go prophesy unto my people
Israel.”

These institutions at least, provided the country with many enlightened
teachers, many worthy, well-instructed, and faithful heads of families, and
judges. And, even had they not done so, still their very existence answered a
high and holy purpose. They were the depositories of Israelitish light and
justice; they shone as luminaries in a crooked and perverse nation; and reproved
apostasy more severely by their example, than could have been done by the most
powerful language.

Their quiet but mighty influence served to oppose the inroads of surrounding
heathen darkness. They were also a spiritual asylum wherein spiritual mourners
might find instruction, comfort, and peace. And who shall say what streams of
living waters, from those fountains of Israel, refreshed and fertilized the
country at large.

O my brethren! What sorrow fills my heart retiring from the picture of these
ancient and piously devoted seminaries back into our own times, to contemplate
the establishments for instruction which modern wisdom has devised and boasts
of.

O ye sons of Israel, how much better were ye provided for than most of our youth
in the present day! And yet we honor ourselves as CHRISTIANS! Where are
institutions at present to be found, in which another spirit rules than that of
the world and the profane? Where can we behold flourishing seminaries in which a
Christian’s hope for his children would flourish also? Alas, they do but rarely,
very rarely indeed exist; notwithstanding our systems of education, those boasts
of the age we live in. In what, then consists the vaunted perfection of such
systems?

Is it in those fragments of classical literature which are crammed into our
youths;

Or in those ornamental accomplishments to which our daughters are made to
sacrifice their health and mental cultivation. Or is it in the almost general
separation of modern instruction from the word of truth, the Gospel of our
salvation? Or is it in the more popular manner in which individual branches of
knowledge are treated, apart from all deeper investigation, apart from their
general connection, and, above all, apart from the knowledge of God as their
chief end and perfection?

Or does the excellence of our modern education consist in purely heathenish
conceptions of liberty, morality, and justice, as accredited to our youth in
many seminaries, by blind leaders who never study the sacred oracles with half
the diligence, zeal, and respect with which they study the basic writers of
ancient Greece and Rome?

And here I cannot refrain from inserting the remark of an enlightened writer
upon the present state of education in Germany. “Education,” he says, “is become
a system of seduction. Young men, and even schoolboys and apprentices, are
trained into instruments of faction and rebellion, and are found the most active
associates of tumult and revolt in the present day.

Yes, the most audacious blasphemies and execrations are uttered in the eats of
listening youths, and even of children, against clergy, magistrates, and public
institutions, while the minds of the young are thus easily excited, and drink in
these iniquities like water.”

A monstrous ignorance of the Word of God, an affecting and deplorable want of
scriptural knowledge, exists far and wide; for, during the last thirty years,
our youths have been beguiled of all the blessings of holy things in our public
and private seminaries; yes, in our very universities; and those who have most
distinguished themselves in perpetrating these spiritual robberies have become
the most reputable, popular and best rewarded.

The most vapid and superficial talking passes for religious and moral
instruction; and school books full of subtle omissions, or of the most daring
attacks upon religion, are introduced by authority. Instruction in history, that
memorial of divine justice and human sins, commonly abused to the implanting of
national pride, and the dissemination of the most pernicious principles and
doctrines.

If we do not yet find this gloomy description fully realized everywhere, we have
to ascribe exclusively to an invisible watcher, who has hitherto set bounds to
the floods of Belial. Let us commend to Him, who still cherishes thoughts of
peace towards us, and not of evil, our places of tuition both high and low; may
he reform, consecrate and renew them!

It is true that greater importance has been attached in some places to religious
instruction, and the hours devoted to it have been doubled. But this alone will
not cure the evil. Another spirit is wanting in our schools and seminaries to
complete, animate and sanctify every branch of instruction.

We ought, therefore, to pray for the outpouring of the Spirit of Christ; and,
God be thanked! We never shall seek it in vain. We have Divine promises in
abundance, which encourage us to look forward, in prayer, for better days.
Particularly would I refer you to that prophecy of Zechariah, which shall
assuredly come to pass, “In that day shall there be upon the bells of the
horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the Lord’s house shall be like
the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be
holiness unto the Lord of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take
of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the
Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.” (Zechariah 14:20-21).

What a glorious prospect is here presented to us of the future condition of the
church and of the world! The beauty and luster of holiness shall hen be spread
over all we possess, and over all that surrounds us. The Spirit of the Lord
shall be universally diffused, and every object will partake of a Divine
consecration. The sciences will then be the handmaidens of religion, and their
alpha and omega will be the glory of God in Christ. The arts will return to
their primary destination, and be again devoted to the service of the living
God. “I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.”

III. It must have been gratifying to Elijah to behold these sons of the prophets

They were coming forth to meet him, and to hear, from their voices, an echo to
his own ardent prayers, which, when his faith was weak, he had supposed to have
no counterpart. It must have increased his own self-humiliation to witness such
green spots still remaining in their moral desert, whereas he had thought the
prophets all slain, and himself standing quite alone in Israel. He would now
feel self-abased at the distrust he had expressed respecting the success of his
labors.

For here, notwithstanding the malignant influence of an Ahab and a Jezebel, and
the apostasy of a whole nation, these blooming plantations of truth had thriven
amidst storm and tempest in those parts of the country where Satan’s seat had
more especially been set up.

It must have cheered the heart of the prophet to associate, with his hope of
heavenly glory, the thought of leaving behind him such goodly bands of champions
in the service of the God of Israel. On his coming with Elisha to Bethel, the
sons of the prophets are already aware of the loss that awaits them. Probably
the Lord himself had made it known to them. With such feelings, as on this
occasion, they had never before saluted their paternal master.

How much did they need to establish their hearts in order to suppress all rising
turbulence of feeling! For a delicate sense of propriety told them they ought
not to let the master perceive that they knew of his approaching removal. They
venture to disclose only to Elisha the secret of their mournfully afflicted
souls, whilst beckoning him aside, and whispering with a trembling voice into
his ear, “Knowest thou that the Lord will take away master from thy head
to-day?”

But Elisha, as if putting a still stronger seal upon their lips, signified to
them that they should keep the matter to themselves. “Yea, I know it,” said he
softly to them; “hold ye your peace!” This happened at Bethel and the same thing
was repeated at Jericho.

These are pleasing scenes, extremely delicate and characteristic. Surely, even
in the kingdom of God, there is something which the world calls discretion, and
this must at least be reckoned amongst the odors and beauties which Sharon’s
roses and lilies shed around them.

~ end of chapter 21 ~


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  CHAPTER 37: 02.22.     THE PASSAGE THROUGH JORDAN
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The Passage Through Jordan CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“The king’s daughter is all glorious within.” In these sublime words the
inspired psalmist speaks of the true church of God on earth. Psalms 45:13. A
Christian is the highest style of man, however little the world may be of this
opinion. “The World,” as it cannot receive the Holy Spirit, so neither can it
comprehend that which is Divinely great and glorious; consequently it knows not
how to appreciate the nature and actions of him who is born of God.

There is something sublimely great in the gift of true repentance; for true
repentance is an open rupture with sin and with Satan. There is something great
in truly Christian desires; for it is the Supreme Good alone that is able fully
to satisfy them.

There is something noble in truly Christian prayers; for in these the Christian
speaks from his heart to God his Father, and treads the world beneath his feet.
Great also are the hopes of the real Christian; for they embrace nothing less
than a participation of the glory of the Divine Redeemer.

Even godly sorrow has a greatness in it, as working repentance unto salvation
not to be repented of; and as originating in regret at the loss or absence of
what is invaluably great and good. And if the sorrow, then also the joy of the
true Christian is great; and at times amounts to “joy unspeakable and full of
glory,” even in this world, because it is “joy in God through our Lord Jesus
Christ.”

Much more might be added concerning the intrinsic excellence of him who
possesses it; so true is it that “the king’s daughter,” the church, “is all
glorious within.”

And in the eminent servants of God this inward excellency and glory is much
greater and more admirable than the most splendid scenes and actions of their
outward life. Indeed the grand events of their external history almost cease to
be surprising, when we consider the dignity and elevation of their inward
characters.

Let us bear this in mind, while we reflect a little upon the miraculous act with
which we see the prophet Elijah concluding his wonderful course.

“And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and
they two stood by Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together,
and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two
went over on dry ground” (2 Kings 2:7-8).

We now follow this master in Israel from those precious plantations, the schools
of the prophets, to the banks of the Jordan. Let us contemplate, for a few
moments, I. The escort of the sons of the prophets;

II. The passage of Elijah and his companion through the river Jordan.

I. Here, in the wilderness of Jericho, where Israel’s hosts first trod the soil
of the promised land, Elijah and Elisha pass on together, and arrive at the
brink of Jordan

Fifty men of the sons of the prophets followed them at a distance, and stood to
view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan. These sons of the prophets could
not find in their hearts to stay that day in the town.

It was their master’s parting-day, during which they might still see him, but
for the last time. They felt, as it were, constrained to follow him, to behold
him once more. They were sensible that no common loss awaited them. A loss which
they had then as much reason to regret, as we should at present have to rejoice,
if it pleased the Lord to favor this age with a man like him.

We cannot doubt that these sons of the prophets, in expecting their master to be
taken away, anticipated that he would be translated to happiness. So that,
sorrowful as they must have been to part with him, their sorrow must have been
strangely mingled with joy at the thought of his triumphant exit. O how true is
this also of the surviving Christian friends of every departing saint!

And how indescribably heart-rending is it, on the contrary, to see any beloved
object going out of the world, without a well-grounded expectation of this good
exchange! Truly the most valuable thing which our dying relatives can leave us,
is a scriptural hope and confidence that they have fallen asleep in Jesus. We
then no longer regard them as lost, but contemplate them as heirs with us of the
future glorious resurrection.

It does not appear that the sons of the prophets were witnesses of the ascension
of Elijah to heaven. We cannot venture to say, with certainty, why this
transporting sight was withholden from them. But it is easy to conclude, with
respect to ourselves, why we are not made acquainted with all those
circumstances of triumph which departed saints enjoy. For we should then so
languish for our own expected blessedness, as to be unfit for the duties of the
life that now is. The present constitution of our nature cannot bear to become
familiar with more than what faith is able to realize from the Word of God. It
is therefore an instance of the divine wisdom and goodness, that more than this
is for the present withholden from us, and that darkness and the shadow of death
are suffered to intercept the glories of the invisible world, and to attemper us
to a patient continuance in this land of exile and sorrow. That the sons of the
prophets stood afar off, and did not advance nearer their departing master, is
beautifully characteristic. They knew their spiritual father too well not to be
aware that he was not desirous of any host of human witnesses at his approaching
glorification, and they possessed sufficient delicacy of feeling not to intrude
themselves upon him.

O that among ourselves this more refined, spiritual decorum were less rare than
it appears to be! There are many cases in which such delicacy is peculiarly
appropriate; but persons in general are unhappily not acquainted with it. If,
for example, we perceive the influence of Divine grace beginning to show itself
in some person eminent for rank or talents, here is a case which calls for much
holy discretion on our part. We ought to observe the thing as though we observed
it not, and keep it amongst us as a pleasing secret; and if one or another
should tell us of it, it ought to be said, as at Jericho and Bethel, “Yea, I
know it; hold thou thy peace.”

Such persons, especially at their first setting out, must be dealt with
discreetly, and the more so in proportion to the degree in which the fashion of
this world has hitherto influenced them, and in which they have moved high in
society; for should it come to the ears of such persons that the report of their
conversion is bandied abroad, it would naturally make them shrink back, and thus
tend to retard them considerably in the way of grace. But it is too common to
disregard all this, and to forget that a shoot just springing up requires very
different treatment from a full grown tree.

A variety of cases, wherein such delicacy on our part is required, might be
mentioned here. But it is not difficult to understand, that what is called in
the world “refinement,” may well have its counterpart in the kingdom of God; and
that there is a nice attention to feeling and social decorum which well befits
the sons and daughters of Zion.

II. Elijah having arrived with his companion at the brink of Jordan does not
tarry there as if he doubted how he was to pass over the river

He had not forgotten Moses, who, with one stroke of his rod, parted asunder the
water of the great deep, that the ransomed of the Lord might pass over; nor
could he forget that Moses’ God was also Elijah’s God.

A miracle similar to that of Moses now ensues. What a spectacle! The stream is
divided. On one side it flows rapidly away; on the other it piles itself up like
a wall of crystal, and the two prophets pass over, dryshod, to the opposite
shore. As soon as they are over, lo! The watery heaps rush again down the
channel, the invisible bounds are removed, and the unfettered stream has flowed
on ever since in its ordinary course.

How great a God is our God, who ruleth so absolutely in the armies of heaven,
and among the inhabitants of the earth, and who doeth whatsoever pleaseth him!
At his rebuke the seas dry up, and well-watered land become a desert; the winds
and the sea obey him. Happy the man whose refuge is in Him! Yes, whosoever hath
this Rock of Israel for his strength, all things must tend to his salvation,
even though it be against their natural tendency to do so. With this God we leap
over every wall, and faith in his name removes mountains of difficulty out of
the way.

The dividing of Jordan formed the last in the chain of wonders which ran through
the prophetic course of Elijah; and it serves to show that this man, with all
his trials and fatigues, had not become decrepid in his faith, but held fast and
maintained the beginning of his confidence stedfast unto the end. This last
honor put upon Elijah’s faith, might serve a variety of valuable purposes.

- It might serve to invigorate and encourage the faith, and promote the honor of
his successor who accompanied him. - It might serve the same purpose also, to
the sons of the prophets, who stood afar off, but saw the miracle. - It might
serve as a new sign to the whole people, a further demonstration that there had
been a prophet of the Lord in the midst of them.

To Elijah himself it might serve as another gracious visitation from his God,
another memento of his faithfulness and truth; and with respect to ourselves,
surely it serves to remind us that the Lord is with his people even to the end.
This act of the departing prophet resembled the ruby splendor of the evening
sky, which tells us that the sun, though it has vanished from our view, is not
extinguished, but only departed to shine in another hemisphere.

Elijah’s passage over Jordan, while it reminds us of that of his forefathers
over the same stream, seems far to excel it. At the passage of the Israelitish
host, what solemn arrangements and preparations were made for it!

Here there was, so to speak, an acting impromptu, and how rapid was it! There,
the Ark of the Covenant was sent before, while the people followed at a measured
distance; and it was only before the tabernacle of the Almighty that the waters
yielded; here they yield before a folded mantle in a human hand.

Had the Israelites, who passed over under Joshua, witnessed this wondrous act of
Elijah, with what astonishment would they have beheld it! Would they not have
confessed the Lord as dwelling in very deed with man? And yet in this honor put
upon Elijah, there was but a faint representation of that which God has reserved
for the children of the New Testament dispensation. When Elijah folded his
mantle together to smite the waters of Jordan, he already seemed to anticipate a
princely dominion over the earth and its elements. This act of his faith seems
the effort of a soul aspiring to higher degrees of advancement, to full
emancipation and liberty. He seems no longer to know anything of bondage to the
elements of this world. He appears like one advanced to the dignity of a seat in
the heavenly places with Christ; his faith would cast mountains into the sea and
pile up the sea to mountains were it necessary.

What is miraculous in the eyes of man, appears to have become almost familiar to
his faith. A new region must shortly be opened to his soul, for which this earth
has become too narrow and contracted. Ye heavens unfold! Ye boundaries of earth
and time retire, for his abode is no longer below.

Elisha’s spirit, too, must have been strengthened and refreshed by all this that
he witnessed and experienced at the side of his master. And here it may be
observed that those who are especially honored of God, in any age of the world,
are thus honored for the benefit of others around them, quite as much as for
their own. From the divine answer given to their prayers, our faith and
confidence may learn to ascend with theirs on high.

When they, in the night of their adversity, have new songs put into their
mouths, is it not the spirit of joy may take possession of us also, and that we
may not succumb under our worldly cares?

When they pass in triumph through the valleys of the shadow of death, how is
such a sight adapted to encourage us, and to raise us higher on the vantage
ground of faith! They seem almost to bear us away with them in their noble
career. And, reference to the peculiar times in which we live, let us remember
that it is the Lord God of Elijah, who ruleth all things in the person of Jesus
Christ, who is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.”

He too has promised that a time shall arrive when the weakest shall be as David
and the house of David shall be as the angel of the Lord before his people.
Zechariah 12:8. “Yea,” saith the Lord, “I will strengthen the house of Judah,
and I will save the house of Joseph; and they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty
man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine; yea, their children shall
see it and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the Lord” (Zechariah 10:6-7).

Such honor have all his saints. Blessed are they that wait for him! Amen.

~ end of chapter 22 ~


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  CHAPTER 38: 02.23.     THE GREAT REQUEST
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The Great Request CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

We come now to behold Elijah arrived just at the consummation of his life of
faith, and anticipating the perfect enjoyment of that glorious liberty which is
the future inheritance of all the children of God.

“And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha,
Ask what I shall do for thee, before I taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I
pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, thou hast
asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it
shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so” (2 Kings 2:9-10). The
sacred narrative has brought us to the boundary of Elijah’s earthly course. We
have the last words and his last work; a work indeed less evident to the senses
than his former acts; but not inferior, perhaps more astonishing than those. The
several matters which at present require our attention are;

I. The position after crossing the river II. Elijah’s proffer to Elisha;

III. The request of the latter, with the answer he received to it.

I. Elijah, whom we here behold beyond Jordan, may, spiritually considered, be
regarded as now placed beyond the limits of sublunary evils and sorrows

These things, like the waters of Jordan, now lie behind him. His eternal sabbath
of rest is just at hand, and the remaining few moments of his earthly sojourn
are now only a blessed waiting for the heavenly chariot.

What an enviable situation! And yet it is in substance the same with that into
which the Gospel ought already to have brought us all! Whatever depths or
difficulties we still anxiously behold lying before us, if we were only in the
vigorous exercise of a true and lively faith; we might easily surmount them all,
and spiritually leave them behind us. For faith substantiates what is hoped for,
and evidences the things which are not seen.

What is it that makes us tremble?

- Is it even the waves of death itself? Let us embark only in the sweet promise
of the Saviour, “I will come again and receive you to myself,” and we have
already surmounted these. - Is it the storm of temptation? Let us commit the
keeping of body, soul and spirit to Him who has promised that he “will not
suffer us to be tempted above what are able, but will with the temptation also
make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it;” and the severest and most
violent temptations will thus become powerless to us. - Does the remainder of
our innate corruptions dismay us, so that we are ready to ask, How shall we
become perfectly holy? Let us reflect that Christ is “made of God unto as
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” - Are we
disposed to entertain anxious presentiments of temporal and spiritual troubles?
Let us remember that each day is ordered by almighty and everlasting Love, and
brings with it that measure of the bitter and the sweet, which, according to the
judgment of infinite Wisdom, is most conducive to our true peace and welfare.

Ye see then, brethren, what glorious prospects are placed before us by Divine
revelation, and how real they are to every sincere member of Christ. So that all
such may securely look beyond the Jordan of death, beyond all the intermediate
wilderness toils and temptations of their way, as if they were already there.

Yes, those whose hearts are set upon gaining, by divine strength, a complete
victory over their innate corruptions, may rest assured of their final triumph,
and say with the Psalmist, “I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be
satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness” (Psalms 17:15).

II. When the two men of God were gone over Jordan, “Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask
what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee” This was something
more than an affectionate parting word. He wished to communicate to him his last
paternal blessing, and this no common one; “Ask what I shall do for thee, before
I be taken away from thee.” These are great words!

But what kind of benefit did Elijah intend? Was it some valuable temporal good?
Was it a large grant of worldly riches, honors, or gratifications? O no; he was
thinking of good and perfect gifts that come down from above, from the Father of
lights, Elisha is, therefore, invited to ask for blessings from the sanctuary;
and here we discern a radiance of the glory of the New Testament in the Old.
Bold as this expression is, “Ask what I shall do for thee,” it was perfectly
appropriate to the condition of the inspired prophet at that time, for he was
evidently favored with an extraordinary outpouring of prophetic grace. The
words, however, of this address to Elisha serve to remind us of the words of our
Lord to his disciples: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask
the Father in my name, he will give it you: hitherto have ye asked nothing in my
name; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”

You know what is commonly understood by praying in the name of Jesus. People
say, they pray in his name, when they so present their requests before God as
not to hope for acceptance on ground of their own worthiness, but on that of the
merits of Christ and from free grace. They say, that to pray in the name of
Jesus is to pray in humble acknowledgment of our own entire unworthiness of any
claim on divine help, and to hope for it from the tender mercy of God through
the merits and blood of Jesus Christ.

Is this explanation the true and correct one? It is not exactly incorrect, but
it is defective and imperfect. A person may really pray with the state of heart
just described, and yet not pray fully in the name of Jesus. For if this
expression signified nothing more than to pray, confiding in the merits of the
Surety, why did Christ say to his disciples, “Hitherto ye have asked nothing in
my name?”

If the Saviour would have had nothing more to be understood by praying in his
name, than to pray as a contrite sinner, trusting in the merits of the Redeemer,
then Abraham, Moses, Daniel, David, and others had certainly already prayed in
the name of Jesus. But praying in the name of Jesus is here presented to us as
something entirely new. The Saviour himself speaks of it as a thing which was
not known previous to his appearing upon earth, and it must therefore be
regarded as one of the chief privileges of the New Testament dispensation.

If, in the painful consciousness of my desert of condemnation, I approach the
eternal Father in prayer, and set Christ before me as my Mediator and Surety,
regarding God only as a consuming fire, and considering that without Christ’s
mediation I should certainly be consumed before Him-have I not then learnt the
full import of praying in the name of Jesus? No, not if I consider the Father as
still strange and distant with respect to me, and that I am protected only by
Christ from his wrath; for then I am in the bondage of fear before the God of
all grace.

I ought to approach the Father with a firm belief that I am welcome to come to
him in Jesus Christ; and that if I truly loathe myself for all my
transgressions, and thus make confession to him, then my sins and iniquities are
remembered no more. Here then may very suitably be applied to me the spirit and
import of those words which he spake to his disciples: “And I say not that I
will pray the Father for you; for the Father loveth you, because ye have loved
me, and hath believed that I came out from God.”

Let me then learn to cast all my care upon Him, fully assured that in Christ I
am not merely saved, through him, from wrath, but am also numbered among “the
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Surely, to pray in the knowledge and
belief of all this, is something more than to pray to an offended God with a
cold reliance, from necessity, on the merits of Jesus. We all know, that to do
anything in the name of another person is in some sense to represent that
person; so that if you prefer a request in my name, and you are refused, this
would amount to a disparagement of me. For it is not in reality so much you that
ask, as I. If the request be granted, it is from the respect of belonging to and
paid to me, that any such request is granted to you. This precisely is the case
with respect to asking in Christ’s name. Every answer to our prayers is
primarily an answer to the intercession of Christ for us, and in him it is that
we are accepted, answered, and blessed.

Now, he that is enabled, by faith of the operation of God, to bring his requests
before God with a filial boldness; not doubting that if we ask any thing
according to his will, he heareth us-such a one prays in the name of Jesus.

Now, the disciples not yet prayed exactly thus. Their insight into the
mediatorship of Christ had never yet reached so far as to enable them to draw
nigh to God in “full assurance of faith.”

Indeed the condition of most of the Old Testament saints, in relation to God,
though the same in substance, appears to have come far short of this in degree.
They knew that, for the Messiah’s sake, they should not be condemned; yea, they
knew much more than this, and in so far they rejoiced in their redemption. But
not many of them appear to have anticipated that fellowship with the Father, and
with his Son Jesus Christ, which was brought fully to light by the Gospel. They
had not come to “mount Sion, the heavenly Jerusalem,” but had come rather to
“the mountain that might be touched, and that burned with fire.” Even of the
most eminent of them it is written, that though they died in faith, “having
obtained a good report through faith,” as yet “they received not the promise”
(Hebrews 11:39. Nor ought we here to overlook the largeness of the promise which
our blessed Saviour makes to his true disciples.

- “Ask, and ye shall receive; that your joy may be full.” - And again,
“Whatsoever Yc shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.” - “Ye
shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”

And to such a promise as this he solemnly prefixes the asseveration, “Verily,
verily,” or “Amen, amen.” What can we desire more? Nothing in the world is so
great, nothing so small, that we might not every moment be receiving from the
Father, if we only asked it in the name of Jesus. Say, what would ye desire to
have granted you? Is it to be freed from domestic troubles; as, for instance,
that your sick child should recover? Would you gladly see your whole household
drawn to God?

Ask for any such thing in Jesus’ name, and be assured that he will grant it you.
But does not experience seem to contradict this? We answer, it does not really
do so. The deceit lies within ourselves, through not really asking in Jesus’
name. For let us again call to mind what this asking in his name implies.

You might wish very ardently, it is true, for some peculiar interposition of
God; and you might express this wish in prayer, and, as you think, in Jesus’
name. But in this it is possible that you may be mistaken. A petition is offered
in his name when it is offered in that faith which is of the operation of God,
and when that which we ask is according to his will.

Luther prayed for the lives of his friends, Melanchthon and Myconius, who were
sick unto death, and already given over; and, lo, he received the petitions
which he desired of God: and whatever we pray for, be it only gold or silver,
even this may be granted us when asked for according to his will.

Thus the pious Professor Franke prayed for means to erect his orphan-houses; and
immediately the silver and the gold flowed in upon him, and he who on commencing
was scarcely able to command a few pence, had soon enough to found that abode of
orphan charity and education, whose praise has been in all the churches. Here
the Lord granted what his servant desired.

It is to this end that John addresses us, in his First Epistle - 1 John 3:21-23,
“Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And
whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do
those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment that we
should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he
gave us commandment.”

What shall we say to these things? Alas! How little account do we make of such
exceedingly great and precious promises! How lamentably is this shown by the low
state of spiritual advancement in which most are contented to live! Were it
otherwise, things would wear a very different appearance among us. The heavens
would not so often be as brass over our heads, nor the earth beneath us as iron.
The church would soon flourish like the lily; there would be more shaking among
the dry bones, and a gracious rain would oftener refresh God’s inheritance.

Our low condition therefore at present, in spiritual things, is really our shame
and our condemnation. It is still but too true of many among ourselves,
“Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name.” But much as these mighty words
reprove us, they also serve to encourage us; for they unfold a glorious prospect
of better days to the church of Christ, whenever they shall generally unite in
asking for a new and Pentecostal season, a general outpouring of the Spirit of
grace and of supplications upon the Israel of God. This good work, we
acknowledge, has begun to be engaged in by many a company of devout persons in
various places. But as yet, comparatively speaking, such union of prayer in the
name of Jesus is but partial. As soon as it shall be full, and general, and
fervent among all real Christians, then will the fullness of the desired
blessing he poured out. The same kind of observation applies to individual
blessings desired by us. Is it the conversion of a child, or a beloved relative?
We too often lament over the condition of such, without ever fervently praying
in the name of Jesus on their behalf. It is well worthwhile here, also, to be
reminded of the duty of commending to God, in the name of Jesus, all our private
cares.

Unbelief on the one hand, and spiritual pride on the other, are alike negligent
of this. “What is the use of it?” says the former; “God can hardly be supposed
to concern himself about my private matters.” And it is the notion of the
latter, “That because God does concern himself about them, therefore I need not
do it; neither need I make such things a subject of prayer to him.”

But be it remembered, that he has ordered prayer in the name of Jesus as the
means of obtaining and receiving our blessings. This is evident from Scripture,
and from the experience of all ages of the church. If we are truly alive unto
God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, we shall feel that we can never enough value
the inestimable privilege of being thus permitted to ask and to received.

If we do not value such a privilege as this, it must be because we are still
unrenewed and dead in spirit, or because we have backslidden or sunk into a
lamentable state of sloth and lukewarmness.

It may here also be further observed, that such boldness and access, given us in
prayer through the faith of Jesus Christ, throws light and evidence on that
great truth, “that when we were enemies, we were reconciled unto God by the
death of his Son; and that, being reconciled, we are made the children of God by
faith in Christ Jesus.” For God, in thus answering our prayers, dealeth with us
as with sons; hence the Saviour calls him “his Father, and our Father;” and he
says, “As the Father hath loved me, even so have I loved you: continue ye in my
love.” So much for one of the most glorious and significant expressions that
ever proceeded from our Saviour’s lips. We now return to our narrative.

III. The bold invitation to Elisha to ask what he would from the departing
prophet, indicates a state of heart towards God, which was substantially the
same with that we have now attempted to describe

Elijah already rises high in making such an offer; and Elisha seems to rise
still higher in his expectation from it.

“I pray thee,” says he, “let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me;” that
is, “I desire to be twice as much endued with the Holy Spirit, and enriched with
his gifts, as thou hast been.”

Let us not mistake the worthy Elisha in his request; however lofty it may sound,
it proceeds from a humble and holy spirit. I do not believe that Elisha was here
referring, as many expositors suppose, to the birthright of the first born son,
who inherited twice as much as his brothers and sisters, and that he only meant,
“If others inherit a portion of thy spiritual gifts, let this portion be doubled
to me, to whom thou hast been more especially a father.”

Surely, he rather had his eye upon the loss which Israel would sustain by his
departure. This appeared to him immense; he thought that the earth contained no
man at all comparable with Elijah. The idea that he, the inconsiderable
husbandman of Abel Meholah, could fill up such a breach, or carry on the work of
Elijah to its complete accomplishment, was overwhelming to him.

Therefore, if Elijah must depart, his successor would humbly implore sufficient
help for his conscious inability. It seems then a feeling of purest humility and
self-diffidence which dictated this request. Perhaps, also, he foresaw, by
divine revelation, that his own future labors in Israel would be essentially
different from those of his great predecessor, and would bear a more evangelical
character.

After the mighty wind, the earthquake, and the fire, the still small voice of
the Lord’s grace and lovingkindness was to succeed, and be conveyed through
Elisha to Israel; for such a vocation he needed very peculiar endowments.

As he was to stand forth in the character of a messenger of the divine
benignity, it was necessary that this peculiarity of his vocation should reflect
itself in his whole conduct, and beam as it were in his countenance. Perhaps he
felt this also, and therefore said, “Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon
me!”

But, however this may have been, he desired this blessing only in order the more
effectually to glorify the Lord’s name. The more any servant of God is humble
within himself, and lives by faith upon divine grace alone, the higher will his
wishes for the glory of God naturally rise.

IV. To Elisha’s request Elijah answered, Thou hast asked a hard thing:
nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto
thee; but if not, it shall not be so” As if he had said, “It is no common favor
that you ask; neither is it a favor that can be conferred on you the will of
man; it is a rare vouchsafement, and such as few prophets ever have been, or
ever will be distinguished with.” The condition upon which Elijah, by Divine
inspiration, made the grant to depend, is also remarkable. “If thou see me when
I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.”
If “thou see me at my departure, or in the act of departing;” as much as to say,
“Do not expect the gift from me, but from Him, who is taking me away; moreover
take notice of the sign which he appoints thee for ascertaining his will in this
matter: for by this sign thou shalt understand that the gift is purely of God’s
bestowal.”

Let us conclude, with noticing the superlative bounty of the New Testament
dispensation. You know how frequently, in the first age of the church, the Holy
Ghost fell on all them that heard the word; and how the common members of the
New Testament church were often gifted with power to perform the most stupendous
miracles. And thus, as the apostle Peter tells us, has commenced the fulfillment
of “that which was spoken by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in the
last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and on my
servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and
they shall prophesy: and I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the
earth beneath” (Acts 2:16-19).

How highly then should we value our privileges, as members of Christ, and
partakers of the new dispensation, the heavenly calling! For behold how the
glory of the Gospel surpasses everything that has preceded it! What are we that
we should be thus favored! And “what manner of persons ought we to be in all
holy conversation and godliness!” (2 Peter 3:11).

~ end of chapter 23 ~


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  CHAPTER 39: 02.24.     THE ASCENSION
========================================================================

The Ascension CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR The false and fashionable theology of the
present day would not have occasioned the mischief it has done, had it not
assumed so specious an appearance of adhering to the doctrines of the Gospel.

The bulk of the people were unable to see through such delusion, and thus the
adversary, transformed into an angel of light, has, through his subtlety,
corrupted their minds from the simplicity that is in Christ. Thus a Supreme
Being is indeed set forth by them, but one with whom they would forbid us to
hold communion. The revealed Son of God is by them refined into a personified
idea, an unsubstantial image. Immortality and eternal life are spoken of also,
but only so long as men are not in earnest in pressing after them. Alas, how is
the apostolic warning forgotten, “Beware lest any man spoil you through
philosophy and vain deceit” (Colossians 2:8). But let us have the realities of
the Bible, for the human heart needs realities, and the more palpable and
substantial to our faith they are, the better. We want the knowledge of an
intelligible God; and God is only intelligible to sinful man by the Gospel, and
by that manifestation of himself in our human nature which is revealed in the
Scriptures.

- We want just such a knowledge of Divine Providence as is taught by Him who
said, “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.” - We want a Divine Surety
who, having obeyed, been judged and suffered in our stead, has made a perfect
and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole
world. - We need a heavenly home into which we may be received, a kingdom which
cannot be moved, a world more substantial than the present, which has become
subject to vanity. - We need a reunion of the soul with the body, changed indeed
and glorified, but still the body, for it is a component part of man; and,
previous and preparatory to all this, we need a real change of heart, a renewal
of the soul by the Spirit of God.

Such are some of those realities which our necessities require, and which alone
can satisfy our capacious desires of happiness. I say we want these realities to
remedy other realities which force themselves upon us in our actual experience.
For too real is the wretchedness which all men naturally and morally experience
in the present life; disease and death await us; a body of sin oppresses and
brings us low; conscious guilt confounds us; and nothing can avail to remedy all
this but what ‘s actually opposed to it.

A paper shield gives no protection; the bread of dreams affords no support; we
want the solid and substantial realities of divine revelation. There, and there
alone are such realities to be discerned; and the more they are realized by our
faith, the happier for us.

In the ascent of Elijah, which we are about to contemplate, we meet with one
such solid demonstration of immortality and the life of the world to come.

“And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there
appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder;
and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). This passage of
Scripture invites us, as it were, to a coronation, to witness an event most
marvelous and most true. The fact itself first requires our notice; and then its
meaning and signification.

I. We see Elijah and Elisha passing on together in the country beyond Jordan

It was comparatively a solitary region. God did not select the marketplace of
idlers for the scene of this wonder, but this secluded spot. While the two men
of God thus walked on, engaged in holy conversation, “behold, there appeared a
chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah
went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it.”

Well may we be astonished at beholding the glory and honor with which God thus
crowns a poor sinner, for such is man “at his best estate” in this world. Let us
however remember, that not “flesh and blood,” as such, that “entereth the
kingdom of God; neither can corruption inherit incorruption.” It is not Elijah
as born after the flesh, it is not the son of Adam, as such; but it is Elijah as
born again of the Spirit, and as united to the second Adam, the Lord from heaven
that is thus exalted.

The free grace of God towards sinners is that which reigns and triumphs here.
What does this wonderful scene indicate, but that the Most High regards and
treats as righteous all who believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and
love one another, as he gave us commandment. Behold here, then, the effect of
the meritorious sacrifice of Christ. Learn, therefore, more impressively, from
this event, the power of his mighty sacrifice for sin.

Such honor in substance, have all God’s saints. “What is it for Him to send from
on high to fetch me,” (may every true Christian say,) “seeing he is willing to
take me to his bosom as ‘the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.’”

He has in infinite wisdom and grace so ordered things, that it shall glorify his
own holy name thus to deal with his obedient children. Having conformed them to
the image of the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, it is a
small thing with him thus to ratify their union with him forever.

We need not curiously inquire how Elijah, without dying, could be fit to be
conveyed away, inasmuch as flesh and blood, in its present mortal and corrupt
state, cannot enter into the kingdom of God. We are told of the mighty working
of the Lord Jesus, “whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself,” and
whereby he will change this body of humiliation, that it may be like unto his
own glorious body; we are told that at the last day “we shall not all sleep, but
that we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye:” and we
may be quite sure that such a change as this now passed upon the body of Elijah.
This is enough for our faith at present. His mortality was swallowed up of life,
and his corruptible nature had put on incorruption.

It cannot further be described what his eye afterwards began to see, his ear to
hear, and his heart to conceive. God, however, has reserved the knowledge and
experience of all this for them that love him.

Blessed servant of God, how unspeakably and incomprehensible is now thy
everlasting felicity; made glad as thou art with the joy of God’s countenance!
Here thou art gathered to thy fathers with honor, and beholdest Abraham, and
Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God, and thyself numbered with them. So then
we have a patriarchal instance of complete triumph over death in the case of
Enoch; an Israelitish instance of the same in the case of Elijah; and, to crown
the whole, the New Testament account of our Lord and Saviour’s resurrection and
ascension; all serving to raise our faith to the certainty of a similar triumph.
Let nothing therefore relative to death depress us. Let our faith in these
truths become every day, by the grace of God, stronger and stronger; let us grow
in gratitude and love, in obedience and patience, until our own faith also shall
be swallowed up in vision, and our hope hope in enjoyment.

II. The wonderful event here recorded, is one of the most glorious, significant,
and exhilarating facts which the world ever witnessed before the birth of Christ

It served to dispel much obscurity which might occasionally cloud the faith of
dying saints under the Old Testament dispensation. It might also serve to cheer
the minds of many of the faithful but oppressed or afflicted servants of God, in
those days, during the course of their earthly pilgrimage. For they would
recollect that Elijah too had been thus oppressed and afflicted, and yet how
gloriously did he triumph at last!

Many a one, too, under deep conviction of sin, and whose faith could not always
derive the comfort he needed from the typical sacrifices of the law, might have
been preserved from despondency by remembering this honor visibly put upon one
of the penitent sons of Adam, as an encouragement to all who were like-minded
with him. This event also served to prepare the faith of true Israelites for the
wonders of the New Testament dispensation.

That prophetic invocation, “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity
captive,” It would thus be rendered more susceptible of its grandest import in
the minds of those who should afterwards wait from age to age for the
consolation of Israel. The ascension too of Elijah was surely intended to
prefigure that of our blessed Saviour. Yet it became him, as Lord of all, to
ascend, not in a fiery chariot waiting upon him, but by a visible manifestation
of his own Divine power. Hence it is only said, that “he was received up into
heaven,” that “while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up
into heaven;” and that while the disciples “beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud
received him out of their sight.”

Thus his ascension took place before men, in majestic simplicity and
tranquility, which may doubtless be ascribed to its superior glory as compared
with that of Elijah. In all generations of mankind, the present world has been
too narrow for the capacious desires of the human soul. Hence men in every
nation, however barbarous, have endeavored, by one way and another, to pierce
the veil that conceals from us the invisible world and a future state. This
shows that the spirit of man feels, as it were, its own immortal nature, though
it shows at the same time our universal need of Divine revelation.

Cyrus, though a heathen, said at the approach of death, “I cannot imagine that
the soul lives only while it remains this mortal body. I am rather inclined to
think, that when separated from this body, it will possess more understanding
and greater purity.”

Socrates, the prince of heathen philosophers, when about to die, could only say,
“We part; I am going to die, and you to live. Which of us goes the best way is
known to God alone!”

All that Cicero, the great and published Roman, could say upon this subject was,
“I do not wish that what I am about to write of a duration of existence beyond
the present life, should be regarded as certain, like a divine oracle. Upon this
subject I entertain no more than conjecture.”

Neither have the wise of this world, in our own day, any better staff to lean
upon, while they refuse to rest their hopes on the truths of divine revelation.
Their belief in a future state, if they believe in it at all, is, in most cases,
so barren and comfortless, that death is viewed by them, in their reflecting
moments, as a formidable foe. But it is the privilege of the Christian to
exclaim in his severest sufferings, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where
is thy victory?” “We know,” says the apostle, (and how many have, able since to
adopt his words as their own!) “that if our earthly house of this tabernacle
were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens.”

And if you ask the believer the source of this knowledge, he can refer you to
the Son of God himself, who, when on earth, raised the dead to life by a word;
yea, and in his own person rose again and ascended visibly into heaven; who said
to his disciples, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I
would have told you: I go to prepare a place for you: and if I go to prepare a
place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am,
there ye may be also.”

Here then is the veil that hides the other world from the eye of sense removed
entirely to the eye of faith, and we have only to behold, rejoice, and be glad
at the glorious prospect thus opened before us by the Lord from heaven. And what
he has thus revealed is plain and definite; which if we believe, we know in what
we have believed. He shows us a house, a home, a heavenly paternal home; a
peopled residence, a real habitation, where we shall know one another, and be
with one another upon terms of the most intimate fellowship and the dearest
friendship. For the expression “My Father’s house,” indicates family community,
familiar intercourse, living with and in the presence of the Father.

O how invaluable is the possession already of such sure intelligence respecting
our eternal habitation in the celestial world! And how quieting to the heart
thus to know of a better country, that is, an heavenly, where peace forever
reigns, where all is perfect harmony and love!

Thus we see that a reflected image of the Christian’s future glory is presented
to us in the triumphant exaltation of Elijah, who was originally “a man of like
passions as we are.” They who are Christ’s, who having crucified the flesh with
its affections and lusts, are seeking those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth at the right hand of God, who set their affections on things above, not
on things on the earth, and whose life is hid with Christ in God-have in
themselves an earnest and pledge of their future union with their Lord in glory.
But Woe unto the impenitent and unbelieving, for it shall as certainly be ill
with them! and this because the great salvation has been neglected, and the
riches of Divine grace, and longsuffering, and goodness, and forbearance, have
been despised.

Where this is the case, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, for it is to
Christ’s one sacrifice that Elijah and all the saints owe their triumph. God
having “made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him.”

“Worthy” then is “the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and
wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing!” Amen.

~ end of chapter 24 ~


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 40: 02.25.     THE PARTING
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The Parting CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE Our Saviour, Mark 16:14, upbraided even own
disciples with their unbelief: and what does he in general speak more strongly
against? For unbelief is the occasion of all sin, and the very bond of iniquity.
It does nothing but darken and destroy. It makes the world a moral desert, where
no divine footsteps are heard-where no angels ascend and descend-where no living
hand adorns the fields, feeds the fowls of heaven, or regulates events. Thus it
makes nature, the garden of God, a mere automaton, and the history of Providence
a fortuitous succession of events, and man a creature of accident, and prayer a
useless ceremony. It annihilates even the vestiges of heaven that still remain
upon earth, and stops the way to every higher region. But faith sees an
invisible world dawning upon the visible, and beholds this earth as a theatre of
divine wonders. It everywhere traces the footsteps, operation, and government of
the triune God. In the winds it sees messengers commissioned by Him; in the
lightnings it beholds ministers sent forth in his service. It has eagles’ wings
for a worm in the dust, and opens the regions that He beyond us.

Unassisted by faith, the mind of man, however bold may be its flight of thought,
cannot soar be-yond the limits of the visible world. For this purpose we must
become as little children, sitting at the feet of Jesus, denying ourselves, and
living by faith on his word. The poor and longing soul has then a place where it
may find repose and shelter in the storms of this life, and becomes assured that
whatever it loses of the blessings of Christian friendship by the stroke of
death, shall be restored to it hereafter in tenfold excellence, to be lost no
more.

“And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel,
and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own
clothes, and rent them in two pieces” (2 Kings 2:12).

I. Elijah having now shaken the dust of earth from his feet, Elisha, his
faithful companion is left alone in the wilderness beyond Jordan Who can
describe the feelings of the forsaken man! Is he really awake? Is it only a
vision he sees? No, he is certain of the contrary. He sees the mantle of the
ascended prophet floating down from the sky, and his own hands take it up from
the ground. It is all reality to the senses.

His friend, his spiritual father soars yonder in the chariot through the air, as
really as Noah in his ark was borne upon the waters of the deluge; as really as
Moses and the children of Israel passed dryshod through the Red Sea. Rut, O, who
had ever seen such a sight as this! In truth, he needed a divinely supporting
hand to keep him from sinking beneath the overwhelming feelings which he must
have experienced at this solemn moment of his life.

Blessed was he to whom it was given to witness such a scene! But more blessed
still is it to see by faith at present those things which are hidden from the
wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes. For verily there are those who,
though endued with much strength of natural intellect, are, in spiritual things,
as men without understanding; who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear
not.

Elisha must have been now filled with adoring wonder. New hopes and consolations
must also have been suggested to him to allay his fears, and console him upon
his loss of such a friend. His heart, however, was full, and he cried after the
ascending prophet, “My father! my father! The chariot of Israel, and the
horsemen thereof.”

Probably the name of father had never before been pronounced on earth with
stronger emotion or more affectionate tenderness. It is as if he would still
draw back his departing friend from heaven. Elisha knew his worth. He had known
him in private as well as in public life. He had found it good to be with him,
and to enjoy the benefit of his intimate friendship. For he had shown himself,
doubtless, in private life, what God had publicly owned him to be, a true
servant of the Lord; and thus had exhibited more than common disinterested love.

Though habituated to so much that was elevated and supernatural, he had shown
himself attentive even to the smallest matters which could give real happiness
to others around him: and if at one moment he had stood terrible in the scene of
conflict, with the drawn sword of the Spirit in his hand, he had been ready the
next moment to gather the little ones, the humble and teachable, under the wings
of love; to cheer the timid with the most fatherly kindness.

How much then had Elisha lost in this one man! The happiest and most important
hours of his life had been spent in his society. O, what recollections would now
hover about his soul! What surges of desire, affection, gratitude and regret are
poured out in this exclamation, “My father! my father!”

“The, chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!” or “thou wast Israel’s
artillery and cavalry;” its glittering legion and its invincible host. What a
majestic testimony! Yet what is there in this testimony that is not true of the
man whom God had made as an iron bulwark about Zion, and as an armed host
against Israel’s foes?

- Think only of the fire from heaven which this prophet, in his zeal for the
house of the Lord, called down upon the adversaries of God and of his people; -
Think of the dreadful defeat, which, as with a waving of his hand, he brought
upon the destroyers of his people at Mount Carmel; - Think of the awful thunder
which he bore upon his lips for the blasphemers of the Lord; - Think of the
mighty overcoming power which he was wont to exercise against the proudest, the
strongest, and most daring of the Lord’s adversaries.

He spake, and the horse and his rider stood as if the thunderstruck. He
threatened, and tyrants shrank back, pale and silent, at his rebuke. He
commanded in the name of God, and fire and sword united their force to destroy
from the earth a whole royal race, both root and branch, because it had taken
the fit against the kingdom of the Lord. He was wroth in spirit, and his anger
became a blazing flame, which consumed a whole host of lying priests from the
land of Israel.

And what a wall of protection was this man about the believers in the land!

- How did he encourage the trembling and scattered flock by word and deed! - How
did he stand for them in the breach, that their faith might not fail!

What encouragement was afforded them, both in precept and pattern, by this
champion of the Lord!

And Elijah was not only their champion and standard-bearer, but he was, at the
same time, as a Shield round about them in the name of the Lord. More terrible
was he to Ahab and to Jezebel, in his invisible armor, than a whole host of
Syrians and Philistines. Such was the man who had now departed! This phalanx of
Israel and its bulwark was now removed! What would be the consequence? Who would
now take the lead in the cause of God, and oppose his breast to the foe? O thou
invaluable Elijah! alas, that thou hast left us so soon! “My father! my father!
The chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!”

It is long since the church of God has seen such men as this language imports;
while, on the other hand, the kingdom of darkness is in no want of champions.
Yet still, according to the promise, Zechariah 10:3; Zechariah 10:5, we wait for
a time when “the Lord of hosts shall visit his flock, the house of Judah, and
make them as his goodly horse in the battle; and they shall be as mighty men who
tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets.” But until that time, it
must be said, “Herein is the patience of the saints.” In a certain sense,
however, the honorable appellation of “the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen
thereof,” belongs also, even now, to all the faithful and the righteous, and
especially to those who, in. the spirit of the New Testament, are mighty in
patience and prayer.

Why was the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah so long suspended? Was it not
because of the prayer of one righteous man? For, behold, what is testified of
him. “I cannot do any thing,” saith the Lord, “till thou be come thither.”

Who was it that interceded for Israel when they fought against Amalek? Was it
not Moses, the servant of the Lord? When he held up his hands in prayer, Israel
prevailed; but, when he let down his hands, Amalek prevailed. It was not their
own sword then that helped Israel; it was not the prayer of Moses, the man of
God.

So, in like manner, did Samuel pray; and an inconsiderable band, under Judah’s
banner, discomfited their enemies; for, when “the children of Israel were afraid
of the Philistines, they said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God
for us, that he will save us out of the hands of the Philistines. And Samuel
took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord:
and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel; and the Lord heard him. And as Samuel
was offering up the burnt-offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against
Israel: but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the
Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel.” (1
Samuel 7:7-10). Thus was Samuel Israel’s artillery and armed force.

Behold, my friends, such help and deliverance can praying believers obtain for
their fellow men! For faith takes hold of the promise, and takes hold of the
divine strength in the promise, and thus can do great things. So, doubtless, at
present, the faith of God’s elect restrains many a vial of wrath; and happy is
the place where such praying believers reside. They are of greater service to
such a place than walls of brass and ramparts of rock.

Happy the church whose pastors are the “chariots of Israel, and the horsemen
thereof!”

- They are Israel’s chariots, when, like Moses once, they ascend with you on the
fiery wheels of intercession through clouds and darkness, to the throne of
grace. - They are Israel’s horsemen, when they send their arrows into your
hearts, exclaiming, “Thou, thou art the man!” - They are Israel’s chariots,
when, with a holy courage, they thresh every mountain amongst you, and it
becomes a plain, that Christ alone may be exalted. - They are Israel’s horsemen,
when, in the armor of God, they take the field in prayer for you, day and night,
against the power of Satan and his seducing spirits.

Pray, my friends, for your own sakes, that God may anoint your teachers to be
such men, and that you may be able to say of them, when they are gone, “The
chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!”

II. Elisha’s eyes would still follow his master’s triumphal car; but it is soon
out of sight, and he is now left alone

Well might he now utter the lamentation of the Psalmist, “Woe is me, that I”
must still “sojourn in Mesech, and dwell in the tents of Kedar!” He rends his
clothes, exclaiming, “My father! my father!”

We are not in a situation fully to understand and sympathize, with Elisha’s
grief, because we have never had to mourn over the departure of an Elijah. We
must have stood at the grave of a Luther or a Calvin, or at that of a John
Arndt, a Franke, or a Bengel, in order to know something of it.

We must imagine what it is to lose a beloved father, or a tender mother, out of
a family; and then apply this to the whole church of the saints. But how
different is the end of the ungodly and profane from that on which we have now
been meditating, and which, in substance at least, is the earthly end of all the
Lord’s saints! The day of grace is, however, yet continued to us.

We still hear the voice of God calling us to repentance, saying, and “Turn ye,
turn ye; for why will ye die? As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure
in the death of a sinner, but rather that he should repent and live.”

We still behold the open arms of a deliverer, which are kindly extended toward
us. But, as everything has its time and its season, therefore “work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God which worketh in you, both to
will and to do of his good pleasure.”

“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is
kindled but a little.”

One of two events must follow our pilgrimage through this world; either an
ascent to heaven, or a descent to hell. There is no middle state in eternity.
Therefore, “O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest away the sin
of world, have mercy upon us. Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the
Father, receive our prayer.” Amen.

~ end of chapter 25 ~


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 41: 02.26.     THE LEGACY
========================================================================

The Legacy CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

“He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and
stood by the bank of Jordan; And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from
him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when
he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went
over. And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him,
they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him,
and bowed themselves to the ground before him” (2 Kings 2:13-15).

We come now to an interesting act-the will of the departed prophet is unsealed,
and Elisha is the heir of an inheritance, the like of which the world had seldom
seen. Let us contemplate the happy man somewhat more closely in the enjoyment of
his heritage, and consider Elisha, I. With Elijah’s mantle;

II. With Elijah’s God;

III. With Elijah’s spirit;

IV. In Elijah’s office.

I. At the moment when Elijah was taken up in his fiery chariot, his prophet’s
mantle, loosed by an invisible hand, fell from his shoulders, and floated down
before Elisha

Although this was a trifling circumstance in itself, yet it is so significant
that, we cannot overlook it. With his mantle Elijah had forever thrown off the
burden of his commission. When formerly he cast his mantle upon Elisha at
Abelmeholah, it was but as a preparatory vocation to the prophetic office.

But Elisha, on inheriting this mantle, is henceforth called to take the place of
his great master, and to carry on his work. This singular legacy was therefore
very significant to Elisha. The mantle came flying towards him heavily laden.
But with the onerous commission he thus received, was connected the encouraging
circumstance, that it came accompanied by such a precious memorial of his
paternal master. It was now no longer the mantle of the redoubted reformer, but
the robe of a blessed heir of heaven, borne thither on the wings of the
cherubim. It would remind him, and others, of the kindness and love of God to
sinful men, expressed in a most unusual manner.

The ascension of its owner to heaven had rendered it a truly festal garment; and
thus it would contribute to refresh the spirit of Elisha in his arduous office;
and, at the same time, to identify him as that gracious messenger of peace, who
was to announce to the house of Israel, like the rainbow after a storm, the
Lord’s goodwill towards men.

It was also a significant circumstance to Elisha, that the official garment he
was afterwards to wear was cast to him, as it were, out of the open heavens.
What else could he perceive in it, but an immediate investiture and vocation on
the part of the living God? And indeed, every priestly man ought to carry the
same significance now. I mean, that every clergyman, teacher, missionary, or
whoever else labors in God’s vineyard, ought to be able to say with Elisha, “I
have received my commission from heaven-my call is of God.”

But, in the present day, people commonly make the mantle themselves, esteeming
it as an idle tale that anything should fall from heaven but rain or snow, and
looking upon the sacred office of a minister as upon any other profession, which
may be taken up at pleasure, or for the sake of a maintenance. The parents
decide for their child that he shall be a clergyman. The vain youthful student,
especially if he be conscious of possessing some little talent, immediately
thinks himself fit for the sacred office. How many young men proceed to
universities to enter upon the study of divinity, without even the most distant
thought of asking counsel of God, in order to learn by the directions of
Scripture, by circumstances of Providence, and their own qualifications, whether
it will be his will to employ them in the work of the ministry; and when arrived
at the university, they too often meet with no pious counsellor, such as Elijah
was to Elisha, to take them aside, and inquire whether they had any other proof
of their call to the ministry than their own notion and fancy, and the counsel
of flesh and blood.

Hence it is, that we have now the mournful example of many a flock in
Christendom, among whom grievous wolves fill the shepherd’s office, to the
subversion and ruin of souls. Is it then to be wondered at, that the common
mariner should occasionally seize the helm, when the pilot knows not how to
govern the ship? The persecutors of such would do well to consider, that they
are only opposing what they themselves have contributed to bring into existence.

II. After Elisha had taken up the mantle in God’s name, he commences his return
to Jericho, doubtless much affected, and yet comforted; for not only Elijah’s
mantle, but Elijah’s God remains to him Of this he cannot doubt; but where is
the faith which no longer requires a seal?

“Show me a token for good,” saith the Psalmist; and what ejaculation of his is
oftener repeated than this? Elisha returns to the eastern bank of Jordan. He
beholds the stream at his feet, and over it he must pass. Elijah is no longer at
his side, and his mantle alone is not sufficient. Elijah’s God must manifest
himself.

We may easily suppose that he now heartily prayed, if not in David’s words,
“Show me a token for good;” yet in the language of deep submission and humble
dependence on the divine power and faithfulness.

He takes the mantle of Elijah, folds it together as his master had done, and
with it he smites the waters of Jordan, saying, “Where is the Lord God of
Elijah?”

This may sound strange the ears of some: nevertheless it was a right way of
proceeding in the present case; and “He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what
is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints,
according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27).

The Lord was the portion of Elisha’s inheritance; and not the prophet’s mantle
and commission only; and his faith could say, “Thou shalt maintain my lot.” Thus
Isaac inherited the portion of his father Abraham; and to Jacob God declared
himself as the God of Abraham and of Isaac. To believers also of subsequent
times he revealed himself as the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob; and
thereby promised to them the blessings he had bestowed on those patriarchs;
assuring them that he would bear them in his hands with the same, faithfulness.
Hence the Old Testament saints, praying, directed their petitions to the Lord
God of their fathers. In the same manner may we regard whatever our “God
manifest in the flesh” did for men in the days of his flesh, as a pattern of
what he will now do for all who diligently seek him. Thus we may say, “Where is
the God of the penitent malefactor? where is the God of Martha, and Mary and
Lazarus? where is the God of Paul, and of Peter, and of Mary Magdalene? where is
the Lord, who after his resurrection, on the shore of the lake of Galilee,
prepared a fire of coals, and bread and of fish likewise, for his disciples, and
who had repeatedly fed thousands with a few loaves and fishes?” Yes, “this God
is our God for ever and ever: he shall be our guide even unto death.” “Jesus
Christ the same yesterday, to-day, and forever!” Lo, he is “with us always, even
to the end of the world.” Amen.

Surely it is something very great and blessed, that we are permitted to call the
God of all the favored individuals mentioned in the New Testament, our God. But
the privileges of true Christians may be expressed in yet stronger language than
this, because of their mystical union with the only begotten Son of God. They
can therefore say, “Where is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?”

For what is it that Christ himself saith of them in his prayer to his Father?
“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they
also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me, and
that thou hast loved them, as thou hast loved ME” (John 17:21-23).

Oh, incomprehensibly glorious and adorable mystery of godliness! God indeed
manifest in our flesh! We are therefore as true believers, who keep his
commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight, warranted by
his own express word, to expect, hope, and desire of God the supply of all our
real necessities, as confidently and as assuredly as Christ himself, with
respect to his human nature, was thus warranted during his sojourn upon earth.

Think only, with humble and adoring gratitude, what unsearchable riches of
blessing are implied in such a privilege as this. And shall it ever cease? No
more than the love of the Father to Christ himself can cease. Such is the love
to those who believe in his name.

Live! Beloved brethren, daily in the faith of such at as this; and it will
enable you to overcome every difficulty in the path of duty; to run and not be
weary, to walk and not faint.

III. No sooner had Elisha smitten the waters of Jordan, than the manifestation
of the Lord God of Elijah is vouchsafed The stream of the river is again parted
by an invisible hand, the course of the upper part of it is arrested by an
invisible barrier, and the prophet descends with a firm and sure step upon its
dry gravelly bed.

It would be vain for me to attempt to describe to you the feelings which his
soul must have experienced on such an occasion as this. A deeply humble and
contrite person, experiences some sudden and evident answer to prayer; or a
young and modest man of God, who may have been tempted tremblingly to doubt
whether he had received a divine call to his office, but who sees in the first
loaded fishing net he draws to land, a divine ratification, as it were, of his
call to the ministry-such persons will be the first in the present day to
sympathize with the unspeakable joy of Elisha, upon beholding the river divided
at his word.

In his wonderful passage across its bed he must have experienced feelings
something like those of Israel when passing through the Red Sea; and of him also
it may be said, that he was baptized in Jordan. Filled with the consciousness of
God’s nearness to him, he must have felt every doubt and scruple vanish away,
like the mists before the morning sun.

He now strikingly experienced that the Lord God of Elijah had caused a double
portion of his spirit to rest upon him; God having given him the same power to
exercise over the river, was an earnest of what he had granted him besides. How
wonderfully also was his office as a prophet to Israel magnified by this
miracle!

Upon his arrival on the other side Jordan, “the sons of the prophets which were
to view at Jericho saw him: they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha;
and they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.”

This reverential homage had not so much reference to the man, as to the Spirit
that rested upon him, the divine power which showed itself in him. These sons of
the prophets not only perceived what was Divine, but they viewed it with
affection and veneration. This was a beautiful feature in their character;
whereas “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God”

Happy is it also for us, if we are affectionately and reverently affected
towards Divine things.

It is recorded of one of the most distinguished painters of former days, that
when he was a mere boy, after viewing a painting, by Raphael, for some time,
with silent transport, he suddenly broke out, with joy beaming in his
countenance, as if he had found a treasure, “I too am a painter!” He then left
the picture-gallery, mixed his colors, and afterwards produced works not unlike
that which had kindled in him such enthusiasm for his art.

In like manner, it may be regarded as a joyful sign in ourselves when the
spiritual image of an Abraham, an Elijah, or a Paul, transports us with
affection, and kindles the ardent wish within us, that our hearts were formed
like theirs. And it the consoling thought suggests itself, (I am speaking to
those who love and keep the words of Christ,) that we also are the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus, that in us there is something of the same spirit
which animated those eminent saints, we ought not to reject such a thought.

For he who knows how to understand and appreciate those in their peculiar
character, and is constrained to embrace them with affection on account of their
spiritual excellencies, certainly indicates that something of their mind exists
within him; for like is only understood and loved by its like.

Hence the Lord says, “He that receiveth a prophet in name of a prophet,” that
is, in the character of a prophet, or because he is a prophet, “shall receive a
prophet’s reward;” for by this reception, he shows himself to be like-minded
with him whom he receives.

IV. Elisha, with the spirit of his great predecessor, inherited also his office
and his flock

Elijah had not commenced his prophetical course under such favorable
circumstances. He had entered upon a waste moral wilderness; whereas his
successor found the fallow ground, as it were, broken up; nay, he even saw here
and there a blooming plantation, whose fresh and vigorous shoots already bore
the promise of future blessings to Israel. A minister of the Gospel of Christ
ought to esteem it no small advantage to find, on entering upon the care of a
church, a little flock of really believing souls already waiting to receive him.
However small their number, he discerns among them a little leaven, as it were,
which is easily capable of further extension, and an echo to his instructions,
his prayers, and his praises, from the hearts of affectionate brethren.

In this consists the prosperity of a church, and not in earthly property and
endowments. A church that is rich in the Word of God, is rich indeed. It has
then the keys of the invisible world; the weapons against death and hell; the
universal remedy for every evil; the wondrous staff that divides every river;
the tree of life, whose leaves are for effectual healing; and the lamp which
lights the way through time into eternity.

And even should this precious treasure remain like an unemployed capital, and
the word be possessed only in outward respects, and not yet have become an
inward possession, still a church may be congratulated if it have only the Word.
It lies at least within the territory of hope, and is like a field which has
received the seed into its furrows, although it has not sprung up. The
husbandman regards it with a hopeful eye, for it needs only that the gentle
showers fall, and it may by and by appear clothed in the most beautiful verdure.
We have to congratulate the inhabitants of our own happy valley, that all its
churches are more than such fields.*

* Referring to the valley of Barmen

In many places the Word has sprung up, and we have long had amongst us many
living men of God. If we look around us in our church meetings, how many a
brother and sister’s face beams upon us there! If we pass through our streets,
where is there one in which we might not somewhere or other greet a tabernacle
of God with men? Yea, there are quarters of the town in which house after house
is a pavilion of the Lord, and where we meet with groups of humble and obedient
Christians.

And O, how many a beautiful flower, how many a lily of our valley blooms in
modest concealment, known only to the heavenly Husbandman who refreshes it with
his dew, or perhaps to one or two among us that has accidentally discovered it!
How many a holy soul walks in the midst of us unobserved, and without talking or
boasting while few know the rich treasures of grace it bears within it, and the
ardent love with which it is attached to its Saviour!

Yes, were all who fear the Lord among us to come together into one place, I
believe we should be astonished to see how numerous they are. It is true, they
are of various forms and complexions in outward respects; but they are of one
spirit, one faith, and one hope. Oh, how we rejoice in being able to call such
husbandry ours! Blessed inheritance, which our never-to-be-forgotten
predecessors have left us! The praise, honor and glory belong to Divine grace
alone.

But, to return to Elisha, we find him on his way to Jericho laden with the
fruits of the Spirit abundantly, to become a blessing to the land; his own mind
sparkling like the starry heavens, with a thousand stupendous thoughts and
hopes.

Elijah’s legacy to his successor may serve to remind us of the better legacy
which is bequeathed to every faithful disciple of Christ. The mantle which our
Saviour has left to every one of his followers is the robe of his own
righteousness, a festal robe indeed! It answers the purpose of armor here, and
of priestly glory also, for our entrance into the holiest. It is so interwoven
with personal holiness, that the two are always joined together; so that it
constitutes the wedding garment of the soul, and sanctifies the members of the
body for the service of God. The God whom we serve is “a just God and a
Saviour,” who “carries the lambs in his bosom,” who deems not the angels too
high for our ministering attendants, who combines his own glory and our
happiness in one and the same everlasting love.

The Spirit of holiness which be imparts to us, though he does not divide the
waves of the sea, yet quells in us the troubled conscience; and though he does
not act in us as a spirit of prophetic vision, yet “witnesses with our spirit
that we are the children of God.”

He does not excite us to call down fire from heaven, yet he enables us to cry,
“Abba, father!” and though he does not make us workers of miracles, yet he makes
us temples of the living God. Yea, and the office of ministers of the Spirit, as
all true Christian ministers are, transcends the office of any prophet of the
Old Testament in some important respects. For our ministry is that of
reconciliation, which cries to men, “Ye are complete in Him;” and that “there is
no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit;” and that “he will not break the bruised reed, nor quench
the smoking flax.”

- We are not only Christ’s messengers, but are commissioned to “beseech men in
Christ’s stead to be reconciled to God.” - We are sent even as the Father sent
him. - We act in the name of the Son of God, not only to carry the standard, but
the keys of the kingdom of heaven. John 20:23.

Let us rejoice always in these superior blessings of divine grace; and,
accounting that “the lines fallen to us in pleasant places, yea, that we have a
goodly heritage,” let us pray and labor, and labor and pray that we may live
accordingly. Amen.

~ end of chapter 26 ~


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  CHAPTER 42: 02.27.     GROWTH IN GRACE
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Growth In Grace CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

We know how much depends upon the hands into which a new-born infant comes, and
how greatly its health and vigor in afterlife is influenced by the treatment it
receives in its tenderest age. This is true also of new-born babes in a
spiritual sense. It is no unimportant consideration to whose superintendence
they are entrusted. How many go haltingly all their days through being placed
under perverted guidance! A religious party exists in the midst of us, which,
because it does not comprehend the doctrine of sin and atonement in the
apostolic sense, has no part in the blessed privilege of serving the Lord in
gathering and bringing home the sheep of his fold. No icy heart melts under
their teaching; no resurrection of the dry bones takes place under their
ministry; yet is that party remarkable for its zeal to extend and increase
itself, although it can only do so by building its wood, hay, and stubble on
another man’s foundation.

The important work of awakening, and of conversion, it leaves to others. It does
not begin its labors amongst the dry bones, but only where the stream of new
life has already found its way; neither can it exculpate itself, with Paul, from
the charge of entering upon other men’s labors. 2 Corinthians 10:15. Under its
withering influence many a tender plant has pined away, and many a young and
hopeful tree has been blasted. In connection with this subject, we intend, in
the course of our present meditation, to notice the character of genuine
practical Christianity.

“And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong
men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the
Spirit of the LORD hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into
some valley.

“And he said, Ye shall not send.

“And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore
fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not. And when they came
again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them, Did I not say unto
you, Go not?” (2 Kings 2:16-18).

I. Elisha now finds himself among the sons of the prophets, doubtless with his
heart deeply affected by what he had witnessed and experienced beyond Jordan, as
well as in crossing it the second time

Endued with a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, and destined to do even greater
works than his predecessor, his character appears, nevertheless, not to have
been immediately comprehended by the mourning sons of the prophets, however
sincerely they venerated and loved him, and submitted themselves to him as their
new teacher.

They could not, all at once, consider their departed master as fully replaced by
Elisha; much less that in the husbandman from Abelmeholah, an Elijah, even of a
superior order, was presented to them by the Lord! Nor was this to be wondered
at, seeing it was perfectly natural that the dazzling powers of Elijah should
affect them more than the less imposing appearance of an unassuming brotherly
Elisha.

The abstracted gravity of the Tishbite seems to have corresponded far more with
the natural ideas of human greatness than the condescending affability of his
humble successor. Elisha appeared rather as an instance of the glory of man
through Divine endowment; whereas the appearance of Elisha seemed to commend the
greatness of God’s grace in human weakness. Hence we wonder not that the sons of
the prophets did not at once duly appreciate Elijah’s invaluable substitute.
From similar causes the disciples of John the Baptist were slow to perceive that
Jesus was greater than his precursor clothed with camel’s hair in the
wilderness, who seemed to them to carry with him more of the appearance of an
ambassador from heaven than the gentle and affable Friend of publicans and
sinners. The ministry of the Baptist would, also, at a superficial view, commend
itself to those whose minds were not entirely freed from a legal disposition to
establish their own righteousness; they would naturally regard it as the most
attractive form of piety, and as most suited to their own ‘necessities.

The Baptist himself would appear to such persons as a sort of perfect man
entirely abstracted from the fashion of this world; and the works of reformation
which he enjoined would be numbered up in a tangible sum total. But Jesus, on
the contrary, appearing in the greatest simplicity, not withdrawing from the
customary forms of life, describing his kingdom as not, coming with observation;
and insisting, first of all, on secret submission of the heart; promising,
moreover, nothing of human glory to his disciples, and enjoining upon them the
despised and neglected virtues of humility and love-was in the eyes of the
careless world in general, and of the self-righteous in particular, “without
form or comeliness,” and there was “No beauty in him” to them, “that they should
desire him.” That the hearts of the sons of the prophets were principally with
their departed master, is evident enough from the urgent request they made to
their new teacher as soon as he had arrived at Jericho. “Behold,” said they unto
him, perhaps with tears, “there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them
go, we pray thee, and seek thy master, lest peradventure the Spirit of the Lord
hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, of into some valley.”

There is something ambiguous in these words. What did these worthy persons mean?
Did they not know, by Divine communication, that he was that day to be taken
from them? Certainly they knew it; but it is evident that the manner of his
removal had not been revealed to them. They might, therefore, suppose either
that God had removed Elijah to some solitary place, in order afterwards to take
him to himself, or that he was received into Paradise only as it regarded his
soul, but that his lifeless corpse might still be lying exposed in the
wilderness. Perhaps they thought of the death of Moses, who, in the same region,
on the top of Pisgah, was taken away in a mysterious, distinguished and blissful
manner, but whose body was secretly buried by the Lord.

But whatever were their thoughts, their intention manifested ardent love which
could hardly believe he was really gone. It is also evident, from the urgency of
their request, that they regarded the loss of their master as irreparable, and
with all the high esteem they cherished for his successor, were far from
believing that he could fill up the enormous breach.

It would have been easy for Elisha, to whom such thoughts and feelings of theirs
could not well be unperceived, to have taught them something different. He could
have said to them, “I am come to you with messages and information, such as you
have never heard from the lips of Elijah. I have facts to relate to you
concerning the love of God to man, which have been hitherto unknown to the world
at large, and will fill you with adoring wonder.” But Elisha does not appear at
this time to have taken a single step towards securing to himself such
estimation.

He was above those sensibilities, which, upon the slightest appearance of
disregard, are apt to affect us like the sting of a scorpion! Doubtless it was
with sincere satisfaction that he witnessed the love and veneration with which
the sons of the prophets adhered to their departed father; and was not vain
enough to prefer his own honor in their esteem to the wisdom which dictated his
silence, for the present, as to what he had witnessed beyond Jordan, and which
suggested a more convenient season for his strange and delightful
communications.

Though we cannot fully explain why Elisha withheld from the sons of the prophets
the account of Elijah’s miraculous ascension, we cannot doubt that he had the
wisest and best reasons for so doing. As a prudent steward of God’s mysteries,
he appears to have considered the capacities and wants of those whom he had to
deal with, and to have reserved such matters for their proper occasion. Hence,
though the sons of the prophets were increasingly urgent to obtain his consent
to the sending out bf fifty brethren in search of their departed master, all
this did not induce him to disclose the secret.

Their urgency was at length so great that he was ashamed at their importunity,
that is, he was embarrassed and at a loss what to say to them. But he preferred
yielding to their ill-advised purpose, and letting them go, rather than betray
his precious secret before the time. It could do them no harm to convince
themselves that neither their master nor his mortal remains were to be found any
longer upon earth. By this means they would be the more disposed afterwards to
credit the intelligence of his corporeal ascension. So they went forth. and
searched for three days together through the wilderness country. But their
journey proved a fruitless toil, and they returned to Jericho downcast and
weary.

The only benefit they obtained by their laborious search, was the gentle but
cutting, and we may hope salutary reproof of their master, “Did I not say unto
you, Go not!” “Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser”
(Proverbs 9:9).

Sometimes we see it necessary to comply with the foolish wishes of wayward but
beloved children that they may learn, perhaps, by painful experience. And this
is even exemplified, to our sorrow, in spiritual as well as temporal matters.
Thus, how difficult it is to persuade some, that the righteousness which avails
in the sight of God is quite near to them-that Jesus Christ is nigh unto them,
with all his righteousness to bestow on them, if they only give themselves up
entirely to him; and yet will they still forget and undervalue him, and all the
while think well of themselves, and thus virtually seek justification before God
in their own persons, instead of seeking it heartily in Christ. What then
remains for us at last, but to say, “Well, then, go to your own broken
cisterns!”

They may thus, for a while, torment themselves with the righteousness of the
law, which only worketh wrath; and thus may learn by experience that they have
chosen a path of peril, bankruptcy and ruin-where there is no life, no progress,
to reward their pains. They may then return to us with a trembling conscience,
and welcome the confounding inquiry, “Did we not say unto you, Go not?” and thus
Christ r become precious to them, and the Gospel glad dings indeed!

II. Elisha did not consider the sons of the prophets to be yet in a state of
preparation to receive his wonderful communications This reminds us here, to say
a few words concerning GROWTH IN THE GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR
JESUS CHRIST.

Paul, in his epistle to the Philippians, the third chapter, and the twelfth and
following verses, says, “Not as though I had already attained, either were
already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also
I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have
apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

This is the way in which the true Christian will think of himself: “Not as
though I had already attained;” consequently, he will, with the apostle, follow
after an increasing conformity to Christ; and he will never forget that this is
the object for which he has been apprehended by Christ Jesus.

Let us notice, then, that wherever there is real spiritual life there is
progress in that life, from one state of knowledge and improvement to another.
“Be ye therefore renewed in the spirit of your minds,” is the language of
Scripture; and the fact in real Christians corresponds to it; for they can say,
“Though our outward man perish, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.”

Think, moreover, how the truth of this statement is confirmed by such a man as
the apostle Paul, saying, “Not as though I had already attained.”

Remember that this was the language of one who could also say, “I live; yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20); who could also say, “Who shall
separate me from the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:35); who could say, “Brethren,
be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an
ensample” (Php 3:17).

Here then is one who, at the very time that he was, with respect to the church
militant, one of the brightest stars in Christ’s right hand, Revelation 1:20,
freely and openly confesses that he had not already attained; and even repeats
it with greater emphasis again, “Brethren, I count not myself to have
apprehended.”

It is true, he is not speaking of what he is in point of justification before
God, through faith in the righteousness of Christ; for he plainly teaches that
the righteousness of Christ, laid hold of by faith, fully justifies us; and
hence he could say, “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through
our Lord Jesus Christ;” “It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth?”

And in another place, “Christ by his one offering hath perfected for ever them
that are sanctified.” But the apostle, in the passages we have been noticing, is
desirous continually to see the life of his faith in Christ more and more
manifested in the improved state of his heart and life. To appear, therefore,
self-complacent and self-satisfied with our attainments, betrays ignorance of
Christ, and want of faith.

But, alas! How many are there among us who appear to suppose that they have
“already attained.”

Let us take as an instance, spiritual knowledge. There are many who are well
acquainted with the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel, and are perhaps able to
defend them by argument, and have their minds and memories stored with no small
number of texts of Scripture, and pious psalms and hymns; we converse with such
persons, and are glad to see them thus furnished.

But a year afterwards we converse with them again, and find them just the same.
Two years elapse, and we come into contact with them again, but still no
progress can be perceived-till at length the sight of them reminds us of a piece
of woodwork, carved in the form of a tree, rather than a living production of
nature, for there are no fresh shoots nor any foliage to be seen; on the
contrary, the very same modes of speech, the same limited views and sentiments
upon every point-no enlarged expansion of the inward horizon, not a single
addition to the treasury of Christian knowledge.

“But,” say you, “what need we know more than we do know? Ah, there it is! You
have completed the circle of your knowledge; and in this respect, as you
suppose, you are already perfect, and have already attained.

But this is an indication of spiritual sickness. For if your souls were in
health, and prospering, you would say with Paul, “Not that I have already
attained:” you would be sensible of the imperfection of your knowledge.

You would believe that thousands of precious things still lay hidden from you in
the Scriptures; you would investigate the holy writings with increasing
interest; you would continually find new glories whilst perusing the Testament
of your Mediator; and when we see you from time to time, we should hear you
exclaim, “O what precious things I have afresh discovered in my Bible! What a
new and precious light has been given to me upon this or that subject! What new
and delightful views have I obtained of the glory and excellency of my blessed
Redeemer!”

And the more you thus grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, the more valuable will the Scriptures become to you, and the more
sensibly will you be convinced that you might continue to search in this mine
all your life, without exhausting it of the half of its treasures; and the more
decidedly will you say with Paul, “Not that I have already attained;” but will
give so much the more diligence to search further and further into the
inexhaustible riches of Christ.

Worse than self-satisfaction in Christian knowledge, is that stagnation of
spiritual life which some betray by saying, “My sins were forgiven me; at such
and such a time I received the assurance of it; and I know that the gifts and
calling of God are without repentance!”

The individual leads henceforth what is called a Christian life, performs his
daily devotions, and supposes that everything is done, and that he has reached
his aim. But was not Paul fully assured of his forgiveness and election? And yet
he says, “Not as though I had already attained.”

We cannot too carefully remember, that wherever spiritual health is enjoyed, the
inward life is in continual progress. The child of heaven, the new creature,
endeavors after the stature of a man, after “the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ.” There is, then, no end to its improvement. The life of
faith in Christ is an increasing abiding in him as its element. Hence there is
less narrowness of mind, more love, and humility, more circumspection, more
uniform zeal.

One word more upon our “Not having yet attained.” For Paul says, “I count all
thing but loss, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having my own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is by the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith.”

Here, then we perceive that the righteousness of faith ought to be continually
the aim and prize to which as believers we are to “reach forth;” I say,
continually, and not merely at the commencement of our Christian course. And why
are we to reach

Surely in order to enjoy it, to appropriate it, and to be invigorated, by the
belief of it, to active love for Christ and for all his brethren; and
consequently to walk as He walked, and in perpetually doing good to men, both
temporally and spiritually. And this requires perpetual self-denial and exertion
on our part. It requires what the apostle calls “reaching forth unto the things
which are before.” For surely, we cannot be ignorant, that there are many
hindrances to our attainment of this vigorous state of personal Christianity. To
name only that single hindrance, our natural reluctance to rely simply on the
merits and strength of our Divine Surety: is not this enough to awaken a holy
jealousy against ourselves, and a vigilant spirit of prayer and diligence?

We are prone so to forget the freeness of the grace of justification before God,
through the merits of the Redeemer, as to fall back in some degree upon the
covenant of works. We are apt to imagine that some particular degree of holiness
must first be attained, before we can presume to rejoice in the free forgiveness
of all our sins, and our reinstatement in the divine favor; whereas, it is
entirely through our Lord Jesus Christ that God justifieth the ungodly.
Forasmuch, then, as our whole peace, comfort, and strength depend primarily on
our heartfelt belief of what we are and have in Christ Jesus, surely we have
need of constantly directing our endeavors after a full apprehension and
heartfelt experience of the inestimable worth of Christ to our souls. For this
is the only way to obtain complete victory over indwelling sin; and it is the
main motive to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

Faith in the word of God concerning Christ our Saviour, is the healthful element
in which a Christian spirit thrives. And how good is it always to remember, that
while are endeavoring to apprehend the Word of God, are thus giving a proof that
“we are apprehended of Christ Jesus,” as Paul speaks. What a blessing is it
always to feel that every desire after him is owing to his own previous love
toward us, and to his gracious interposition on our behalf: and that each
Christian should speak and think of him for himself, as the Saviour who loved
me, and gave himself for me!

Ever then let the wish and prayer of Moses, more and more, be ours: “I beseech
thee, show me thy glory!”

Paul being thus apprehended of Christ, follows after, “that he may apprehend
that for which also he is apprehended” of him. And what is this which he so
desires; but that, with every increasing experience that in the Lord Jesus he
has all righteousness and strength, he may become more and more like him, by
keeping his words, and conforming to his precepts and example; by entering more
feelingly every into the spirit and meaning of all his gracious will and
intentions. For his sake this holy apostle had thrown everything overboard which
he once had counted gain.

All such things he had learned to account as loss for Christ, regarding them but
as dung, “that he might win Christ, and be found in him.” He therefore forgets
himself with respect to all that he is by nature and by birth, and all that he
had acquired by his own efforts. He has nailed to the cross the image of his
whole former man, and cast away his specious advantages as an offscouring from
his sight.

He is willing to be nothing in his own eyes-nothing but a poor needy sinner: he
is not afraid to behold his own natural condition, for he knows that grace
excels and repairs it a thousand times; he is much more afraid of the
insinuating fancies of his own virtues and good works, because he is, once for
all, resolved never more to admit any other consolation into his heart than that
Divine one, that he is justified and complete in Christ. Nay, he goes still
further in forgetting self. For even that which he had already enjoyed and
acquired, in his intercourse with the Lord, he regards among “the things that
are behind.”

Many have been tempted to spiritual pride, or else to spiritual depression, by
the thoughts of their past experience in a life of grace.

Some are very apt to indulge in melancholy recollections of a past and better
state than that which they now enjoy. They laud the golden days of their
espousals, the blessedness they knew when first they tasted that the Lord was
gracious; and thus they stand like superannuated old men who have left the
fairest periods of their life behind them, and having no definite hopes for the
future, only occasionally begin again to warm a little when the past presents
itself to their minds, and sends some sunny rays into their present wintry
existence.

O how different does Paul appear in this respect! Still brighter attainments of
the confidence and joy of faith are the objects he keeps perpetually in view. He
presses forward towards the mark of the prize of our high calling in Christ
Jesus. He cannot be satisfied with beholding only a few glimmering rays of the
divine glory; or with anything short of being “changed into the same image, from
glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

He saw the fairest days of His spiritual life lying not behind him but before
him. Compared with what was yet to come, all the past was to him only as a
foretaste; “an earnest of the inheritance” (Ephesians 1:14). And now is not here
a pattern for us that may well awaken our desire to grow in grace? What remains,
then, but that we be found living and walking in the same spirit and in the same
steps, that we may realize the same blessing, the same enjoyments? Put away,
brethren, from yourself whatever hinders the free and joyful development of
spiritual life within you.

But as this can only be done by the principles we have here endeavored to bring
forward-as the love of Christ is the main stem, and faith in Christ is the root
of all-keep these principles, beloved brethren, dearer to you than life itself.

May the God of peace and of all grace transplant every one of us from the
sterile soil of a false legality and self-righteousness, to the fruitful and
well-watered soil of his own Gospel; and under the breathing of his life-giving
Spirit cause us to flourish, that we may be perfect in love, and “grow up into
him in all things, which is the head, even Christ!” Amen.

~ end of chapter 27 ~


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  CHAPTER 43: 02.28.     THE WRITING WHICH CAME TO JEHORAM FROM ELIJAH
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The Writing Which Came to Jehoram from Elijah CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“And there came a writing to him (Jehoram) from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus
saith the LORD God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways
of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, But hast walked
in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also
hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, which were better than thyself:
Behold, with a great plague will the LORD smite thy people, and thy children,
and thy wives, and all thy goods: And thou shalt have great sickness by disease
of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day”
(2 Chronicles 21:12-15).

I. Elijah rests from his labors At the time of his departure to heaven, king
Jehoram, the son of Ahab, sat on the throne of the kingdom of Israel.
Jehoshaphat reigned in Judah, and continued to do so until the eighth year after
the removal of our prophet. He also had been gathered to his fathers, and his
first-born, Ahab’s son-in-law, the degenerate Jehoram, of the same name with his
brother-in-law, the king of Israel, had ascended the throne. To this Jehoram, a
writing comes, the contents of which were far from agreeable. The writing came
from “Elijah the Tishbite,” who had departed in the chariot of fire to heaven at
least six years before.

It is said by Paul, that Abel, in a figurative sense, “being dead, yet
speaketh.” The quiet and godly character of this pious shepherd; his accepted
sacrifice offered unto God in faith; his unnatural death, prefiguring to future
ages what the children of God had to expect in this world; his blood, which
cried to heaven for recompense; all this is a kind of speaking without the use
of words.

And in this way many a pious departed person still speaks, though his tongue may
have long been silent in the grave; and many a church and family is thus spoken
to by the example of some departed member. What a cloud of such invisible
witnesses encompasses us, my brethren; how many never-to-be-forgotten pilgrims
of God, whose names still live in our hearts or memories, still preach to us
encourage and comfort us by their still remembered words and examples! Thus
their influence on earth has not ceased with their earthly life. But here, it
would seem; that the prophet Elijah did not speak merely by example to those he
left behind-he spoke by a writing.

We are not, however, to expect that many will believe this in the present age,
which has for some time been endeavoring to cleanse every corner of the earth
from the belief of whatever is miraculous and supernatural. But we cannot
conceal our belief that this is one scriptural instance which teaches us, that
between the kingdom of the blessed and the dark vale of our pilgrimage, there is
not such a vast distance as most persons are apt to imagine.

And are there not several other instances in scripture which support this
belief?

- Did not Samuel personally appear after his decease, and speak to Saul in
common human language? - Did not Elijah and Moses, more than a thousand years
after their departure, meet their Saviour and his disciples on the mount of
transfiguration? - Did not the apostles, when they beheld their Divine Master
walking on the sea, and again when he appeared after his resurrection, imagine
they saw an apparition from the invisible world? - Did not our Lord, instead of
reproving them for this, as mere superstition, only appeal to their senses to
convince them that he was not such an apparition as they supposed him to be.

Peter, too, after his deliverance from prison, was mistaken by the brethren for
his spirit, as they had thought he had died in prison; and is there a word said
in Scripture to contradict any such supposed erroneous notion, namely, of the
possibility of departed saints reappearing in this visible world? This awful
writing comes to Jehoram six years after Elijah’s removal from the earth; and
this is all we learn from the sacred text, for no explanation is given.

How, then, is the fact to be explained? There are three different answers given
to this question. The first is two-fold: either that the name Elijah is here put
for Elisha, because the latter came in the spirit and power of the former; or
else that it is put for Elisha by a mistake of the transcribers.

Now, neither part of this twofold answer is by any means satisfactory. The
former supposition is unsatisfactory, because it is contrary to the whole
analogy and simplicity of Scripture, in plain historical narration, that one man
should be called by the name of another. The latter is unsatisfactory, because
we have no evidence whatever that any mistake has here been made by the
copyists, but all the evidence lies on the other side. For instance, the
Septuagint version, which was very early made, and very widely spread, has it
Elias; that is, according to its Greek, Elijah, and not Elisha, which latter
word in Greek is Eliseus. Again, the Jewish historian, Josephus, in his
Antiquities, a work also very widely spread in the world for ages, referring to
this event, has expressly the word Elias, or Elijah. The second answer that has
been given to account for this writing coming to Jehoram at time, is, that
Elijah wrote it by prophetic presence before he left the earth, and of course,
before Jehoram ascended the throne of his father, either deposited it with the
sons of the prophets, or committed it to the care of Elisha, and commissioned
him to send it to Jehoram at a time scribed. But as we have no evidence of such
a fact, so we have no probable assumption for posing it. The third explanation
remains to be considered; namely, that this writing literally came from Elijah
the prophet, after his ascension from the earth.

And why not, as well as by the agency of angel, if it thus pleased God to make
use of the prophet Elijah? In what manner it was done, we attempt not to
explain, any more than we attempt to explain how this prophet appeared unto
Peter, and James and John, at our Lord’s transfiguration on the holy mount. We
venture not to explain how far the powers and sphere of action vouchsafed to the
“spirits of just men made perfect” are extended; much less to assert that they
bear no relation to the state of the church militant here on earth.

It is in light, therefore, that we receive with simplicity the fact recorded
before us; and with this explanation we dismiss the discussion, and proceed to
the particulars of the narrative.

II. The awful writing which came to Jehoram contained unwonted language for a
monarch’s attention

Doubtless it must have occasioned momentary terror and alarm; but we read of no
contrition, much less of true repentance on his part. Alas, to what
insensibility and obduracy can a man arrive by pride, infidelity, and frivolity!

Yet surely this warning was sent by a merciful God, in order to alarm and awaken
him to true repentance and conversion. Had it produced such an effect, doubtless
the awful threatening would have been averted, as in the case of Nineveh; and,
as in the case of his own father-in-law, evil had been partially averted by
Ahab’s partial humiliation. For God is slow to anger, and ready to forgive. He
hath no pleasure at all in the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn
from his wickedness and live. Ezekiel 18:23. But, in case he repented not, the
sentence announced in this writing was a judicial sentence; and this was awfully
the case in the present instance.

Jehoram, when this writing came to him from Elijah the prophet, had nearly
filled up the measure of his iniquity; and yet two years elapsed, after the
arrival of the divine message to him, before the threat was fully accomplished
in cutting him off from the earth. Such is the patience and longsuffering of
God!

Let us now review the contents of the writing which came to him from Elijah. It
commences with reminding him of his chief sins and provocations.

“Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in
the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, but
hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of
Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, which were better
than thyself.”

How terrible this accusation! How abominable the sins here noticed! But be not
deceived, as if the Holy Spirit of God can be vexed and grieved only with such
sins as these of Jehoram.

God can say to many among ourselves, “I have given you the good word of life and
ye have heard it and read it, and yet have gone on in sin and vanity. I have
sent you one messenger after another, but ye have not hearkened to them; one
affliction after another, but ye heard not the rod, nor Him who appointed it. I
reminded you of one commandment after another, but ye have not laid them to
heart!”

Elijah addresses Jehoram, “Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father!”

This was to recall to his memory what God had done for his family in times past,
and therefore to remind him the more forcibly of his own ingratitude. It was
also thus intimated to him that he only sat on the throne because it had been
divinely promised to David that his house should continue to the coming of the
Messiah; and, further, that he might have learnt, even from David’s own history
and language, that with the Lord there is abundant forgiveness and plenteous
redemption. “Because,” continues the awful writing, “thou hast not walked in the
ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of king of Judah, but hast
walked in the way of the kings of Israel.”

Here, therefore, is a remembrance of his own pious father and grandfather; and,
consequently, an intimation of the so much greater heinousness of his guilt.
Asa, his grandfather, had reigned forty-one years at Jerusalem, and had set an
excellent example.

“He had done that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God, even
as his father David had done; for he took away the altars of the strange gods,
and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves.”

As a true shepherd of his people, he was not less anxious for their spiritual
and eternal welfare, than for their temporal prosperity. By his own conduct and
ordinances he had called upon Judah to “seek the Lord, the God of their fathers,
and to do the law and the commandment;” and the Lord had crowned these pious
endeavors with the happiest results.

Asa, as a thorough reformer, determined not to rest until the last idol in his
land was burnt, and every heathenish altar thrown down. He had called his
subjects back from the groves and high places to the altars of the Lord; and the
people had obeyed the call, “and entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of
their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul.”

As a vigilant and indefatigable ruler, he labored to promote the social welfare
of his people, and the external security of his kingdom; and, as a valiant
general, he obtained many a triumph over mighty foes, because he trusted in the
God of Israel, and marched out with the watchword, “Lord, it is nothing with
thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power” (2 Chronicles
14:11).

Towards the end of his life, indeed, he on one occasion resorted to the vain
hope of man instead of looking supremely to the Lord, 2 Chronicles 16:12; and he
had to repent of it bitterly. But he slept in God, and the people consecrated
his ashes with tears of gratitude and affection. A still more illustrious king
than Asa was Jehoram’s father, the excellent Jehoshaphat. His example shines to
this day as worthy the imitation of all rulers. The sacred historian records of
him that the Lord was with him because he “walked in the first ways of his
father David, and sought not unto Baalim, but sought to the Lord God of his
father, and walked in his commandments” (1 Chronicles 17:3-4).

He continued and completed the reformation which his father Asa had begun, The
well-being of his people, in the highest and holiest sense of the term, was the
great object which he kept continually before him. He, more than once, travelled
through the land, from Beersheba to the mountains of Ephraim, to strengthen his
people in the faith, and to bring back many to the Lord, the God of their
fathers; and the Lord gave great success to the labors of this royal missionary.

He sent also priests and Levites about the country with the book of God’s law in
their hands, to instruct the ignorant, and to establish the better informed. And
we read that “the fear of God was upon all the kingdoms bordering upon Judah,
when they heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm
of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest round about” (2 Chronicles
20:29-30).

Also some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and tribute-silver,
and the Arabians brought him flocks, and Jehoshaphat waxed great exceedingly 2
Chronicles 17:10-12. And he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced
cities of Judah, to watch over right and justice, and to determine individual
disputes.

And he said to the judges, “Take heed what ye do; for ye judge not for man, but
for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now let the fear of the
Lord be upon you” (2 Chronicles 19:5-7).

- If he went to war, his first preparation was by fasting and prayer 2
Chronicles 20:3. - His army, distinguished both for discipline and courage,
amounted to one million and eighty thousand strong 2 Chronicles 17:14, &c.

Yet his wars were entirely defensive. He gladly remained at peace whenever the
foe left him at leisure, to improve his country and to give fresh impulse to its
prosperity by founding new cities, and by promoting education and commerce. Thus
did this worthy descendant of David reign. Happy the country which is blest with
such a governor! Let us pray that the “powers that be” may ever be disposed to
rule like Jehoshaphat. This is one of our plainest Christian duties. (See 1
Timothy 2:1-2).

Such were the honorable ancestors of Jehoram. He had been trained up in the very
beams of such excellent examples. Nevertheless he had wilfully yielded to his
own natural vanity and pride, and by thus neglecting to hearken to instructors,
and listening probably to flatterers, he gradually waxed worse and worse,
deceiving and being deceived, till he became such a monster of iniquity, that a
worse monarch never sat on the throne of David. It seems as if he had adopted a
regular system of openly setting at nought the example of his excellent
predecessors, by the disgusting contrast of his own; nay, as if he had made it
his chief employment to root up and tread under foot, in the shortest possible
time, the seed sown by his pious father.

No sooner had he buried his royal parent, and taken lawful possession of his
throne at Jerusalem, that he threw off all disguise, and a horrible massacre
opens the black catalogue of his crimes, followed by iniquity after iniquity.

His brothers, who were all of them better than he, seemed to stand in his way,
and he appears to have lusted for their wealth, but more especially to have
feared the reproach which his heathenish course of life would occasion him in
their eyes; hence he hated them, and caused them to be massacred without mercy.
Six of them thus died, and one of them only escaped. Many of the great men of
the kingdom participated in their dreadful fate, as if the blood of his own
brothers did not cry loud enough to heaven.

Jehoram, under the influence of his wife Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, was
initiated in all vices and abominations of heathenism. The longsuffering of the
Lord omitted not to send him serious warnings. The Edomites invade the country,
and the city of Libna revolts from him. But Jehoram perseveres in sin and
wickedness, and openly renouncing the God of his fathers, introduces the
idolatry of Sidon, which had been expelled by Asa and Jehoshaphat, recalls the
banished priests of Baal, erects altars, consecrates groves, invites a people to
idolatrous festivals of licentiousness, and even compels Judah thereto with
despotic intolerance.

To this the words in this awful writing of Elijah refer: “Thou hast made Judah
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the
house of Ahab.” Do not be offended at this mode of expression. The Scripture of
Divine truth cannot employ such equivocal expressions as are used in modern
days; its appellations strike always at the root of things; hence; we are not
surprised that its searching language and plain dealing should have always
offended the hypocrite, the worldling, and the debauchee.

When men depart from the living God and cleave to any idol of their heart,
whatever name it may bear, whether that of superior light, philosophy, talent,
or liberality, the Scripture calls it whoredom, because it is nothing else, and,
indeed, it is the worst and the vilest. The “Maker” of the church is the husband
of the church; its innumerable members are collectively his betrothed wife. This
mystical union between Christ and his church is insisted on in Scripture
throughout; and when any member of the visible church acts not according to it,
but idolizes the honors, gains, or pleasures of this world, the Scripture calls
his conduct adultery, and pronounces judgment upon it as a thing of Divine
abhorrence.

- How awful then is the provocation of those who are not only guilty of this
conduct themselves, but by influence or example, in word or in writing, pour the
intoxicating wine of their spiritual fornication into the cup of others! - How
awful when parents or tutors do this with respect to those committed to their
care! - How awful when ministers of Christ’s religion teach, under the name of
morals and philosophy, “another Gospel which is not another,” corrupting and
denying the plain and express Word of God! - How awful when poets, journalists,
and other popular writers endeavor, by every means, to seduce the people from
the way of truth into deistical or atheistical sophistry!

Awful indeed are the denunciations of Scripture against all such companions of
Balaam! Such murderers of souls! In the divine displeasure against Jehoram, they
may behold the same against themselves. The sins and crimes of Jehoram having
been thus reproved, the writing next announces to him the sentence of God.

“Behold, with a great plague the Lord will smite thee. He will punish thy
atrocities in thy people, thy children, thy wives, and all that thou hast, and
finally, in thine own person. For thou shalt have great sickness by disease of
thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness from day to
day!”

O, fearful manifestation of the just judgment of Him who clothes himself with
zeal as with a cloak, and repays his enemies to their face. Lo, smoke goeth
forth from his nostrils, and consuming fire from his mouth! How fearful a thing
thus to fall into the hands of the living God!

Jehoram reads the tremendous announcement; but, instead of repenting, he makes
his face harder than a rock, and his neck as an iron sinew. Verily, men become
hardened and obdurate through the deceitfulness of sin. Well might he shudder at
reading such a writing. But it did not end in humiliation; and whatever will not
bend must break.

The divine curse, like a growing storm, soon discharges itself. First, a furious
hostile force of Philistines and Arabians suddenly attack the borders of his
kingdom. Jehoram sends his armies against them, but they are defeated by the
invaders. The blessing of God no longer attends the armies of Israel. With the
faith of their fathers, their fathers’ strength in war is departed. The enemy
pours into the kingdom like a desolating flood. This was the first plague: the
king was punished in his deluded and idolatrously revolted people. But this is
only the beginning of his troubles, for his ears are too dull of hearing to
discern the voice of the rod and Him that had appointed it. The enemy advances
to the capital, and Jehoram’s host is vanquished wherever it shows itself. In a
few days the conquering army of the heathen are under the walls of Jerusalem.
The city is taken, and the remnant of the Jewish army scattered; the king’s
palace is stormed and taken, his treasure plundered, and all his wives, except
Athaliah, who was reserved for a more tragic end, are carried away captive. Even
his sons are obliged to leave their native land. One only remains behind,
Jehoahaz the youngest; for the Lord remembered his word, “David shall never want
a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel.”

All the rest go into miserable captivity. Woeful example of the righteous
judgment of God! Here is indeed “eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.” The
destroyer of the people becomes accursed of the people. The avaricious robber
sees himself stripped of his family and treasures. The denier of the Lord and
his word is denied by him in return, and given up to his own way. The voluptuary
and fratricide is visited with the loss of his own wives and children. But his
plagues do not end here. Lest his impenitent heart should soon devise a false
peace for itself, he is condemned to suffer also in his own person.

The horrible disease in his bowels soon appears, and continues for two years
together, baffling all the skill and wisdom of his physicians; so that “it came
to pass, after the end of two years, that his bowels fell out by reason of his
sickness, and he died. His people made no burning for him, like the burning of
his fathers. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the
sepulchres of the kings.”

Thus was every word of the divine denunciation fulfilled. Let all who care not
for God be admonished by it.

A writing like that prophetic one lies at their very door. It begins, “Woe unto
all that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light
for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to them that
are wise in their own eyes, and pure in their own sight!”

It continues, “The lamp of the wicked shall be put out, and their feet hasten to
destruction!”

It concludes, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!”

Neither shall one of these words fall to the ground; nevertheless they do not
threaten unconditionally. There is appended to them the words, “Except they
repent and be converted, that their sins may be blotted out.”

Rejoice at this. You may escape the curse which threatens you. Hear the voice of
the Good Shepherd; begin to follow him, and believe in him, and then shall you
shall obtain, through him, the forgiveness of all sins.

But “there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.”

~ end of chapter 28 ~


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  CHAPTER 44: 02.29.     THE MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION
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The Mount of Transfiguration CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

There is perhaps none of the sons of fallen Adam to whom such a superabundance
of honor has been granted, as to that man upon whose eventful history we have
for some time been dwelling with delight.

After having been received up of God in a singular manner, without passing
through the gate of death and the grave, and this at the close of a career of
incomparably splendid deeds and wonders, and after having shone for several ages
in the firmament of sacred history, new luster is all at once thrown upon his
character, some hundred years after his departure from the earth, by his being
intermingled with the transporting scene of that great and joyful period, in the
anticipation of which Abraham rejoiced, and which many prophets and kings had
desired to see, and had not seen it. But let us now approach the mount of
transfiguration, and may the scene prove a blessing to our own souls. It will
disclose blissful objects to our view.

“After six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth
them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and his
face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light” (Matthew
17:1; Matthew 17:3). The evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all relate this
wonderful event. It was not ideal, but real. The simplicity with which it is
related is sufficient to show this. It affords us a glimpse of heavenly things,
though very incomprehensible to us.

Let it rather rejoice us than excite impertinent curiosity, that we have here
something more than the fiery sign on Carmel, more than the burning bush at
Horeb, or the flames and voice on Mount Sinai. “This is none other but the house
of God and this is the gate of heaven.”

Let us devoutly consider this sublime occurrence, and may the Holy Spirit enable
us to learn something of its excellent instruction! We will notice for the
present, I. The probable intention of this event II. The event itself.

I. The evangelists refer to the connection of this event with a conversation
which almost immediately preceded it, and which occurred at Caesarea Philippi,
when the Lord was on the point of commencing his last journey to Jerusalem

“Whom,” said he to his disciples, “do men say that I the Son of man am?” They
replied, “Some say thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremias,
or one of the prophets.” Jesus answered, “But whom say ye that I am?” Peter
replied, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered,
“Blessed, art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood bath not revealed it unto
thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it.”

Never had the disciples stood on such an elevation of faith as now. It was
therefore a favorable season for introducing them deeper into the mystery of
redemption, and for disclosing to them the solemn truth that Christ must suffer,
a truth which they had hitherto been unable to bear.

“From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go
unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests, and
scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.”

But the astonished disciples knew not what to think of all this. They could not
reconcile their minds to the notion of a suffering; and slain Messiah. Hence
Simon Peter fell back for a moment from his exalted faith to the mere notions of
a natural man; and, quite forgetting the humble relation wherein he stood to the
Lord, he takes him with unbecoming haste aside, and says to him in a tone of
advice, or rather of reproof, “Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto
thee.” But the Lord, immediately perceiving from whence his expression, “Spare
thyself,” originated, replied with holy severity, “Get thee behind me, Satan;
thou art an offence unto me; for thou savorest not the things that be of God,
but those that be of men.” The manifestation, therefore, in the holy mount,
appears to have been vouchsafed, partly on account of the disciples, in order
afterwards to cast a ray of light upon the gloom of Golgotha, by showing their
Master’s resignation to his sufferings; and further to show them who he really
was whom they were soon to behold crowned with thorns and nailed to the cross.

They might here also learn that he would not fall a sacrifice to unfortunate
accidents, and that he could not fulfill the mission upon which he came, unless
he voluntarily gave himself up to death.

They might here also learn that the voluntary death of Christ was in harmony
with the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God; the voice which they
heard coming out of the cloud.

Put it beyond a doubt. Moreover, the transfiguration served to annihilate the
suspicion that there was anything in the establishment of Christ’s kingdom at
variance with Moses and the prophets, for the appearance of the heavenly envoys,
and their converse with the Saviour, testified most unequivocally to the
contrary.

Behold then what a fullness of divine light and information was contained in
this one fact. It served to strengthen the faith| the disciples to such a
degree, that they might refresh themselves by the recollection of it during the
rest of their lives, as we find Peter does (2 Peter 1:16-18). But let us not
suppose that this manifestation was intended solely for the disciples. Not only
earth, but heaven itself participated in it. It was a spectacle also to angels,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect. Edifying and joyous must it have
been even to them to behold the glory of their abased King thus breaking forth
as the light. From this glory there proceeded new occasion for heavenly praise.
Nor can we suppose that the transfiguration did not take place partly on account
of the Son of man himself. Indeed its most important intention appears to have
had reference to him, and him alone. For though, even in the days of his flesh,
the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him; yet he, with equal truth and reality,
led a human life likewise.

As man, he had to believe, conflict, and learn obedience, even as his own
disciples. His way, like ours, lay through manifold temptations, spiritual
desertion, and darkness; nay, seasons were not wanting to him, when like his
people he really needed strengthening, comfort, and encouragement; neither did
be despise even the sympathy of his disciples. Matthew 26:38.

God had prepared him for his temptation in the wilderness, partly by the
testimony he gave from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased;” and as He was now approaching a still more portentous and awful
conflict, the glory on the holy mount would serve to prepare him for it.
Recollect the scene in John 12. Jesus had come to Jerusalem. The fire, which was
to consume him as a sacrifice, was about to be kindled.

The night was at hand; its approaching horrors were foreseen by him. His sacred
humanity trembles, and the cry breaks out, “Now is my soul troubled, and what
shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto this
hour.”

He submits to the will of the Father; and now he desires something else;
“Father, glorify thy name.” “Glorify thyself in me, and show that thou art my
leather, and that I am thine Only Begotten.”

He speaks, and immediately a voice is heard by the people about him, who thought
it thundered. “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again!” Vow the
words, “I have glorified it,” might partly have reference to the event in the
holy mount.

Thus, the transfiguration might have been intended as a means of invigorating
the Son of man himself, in the prospect of his approaching hour of trial. For,
sin only excepted, our good Shepherd was willing to pass through all the states
and conditions of his sheep, and to labor like them, in faith and dependence on
his Father, from one day to another. “He wakeneth” mine ear, saith he in Isaiah
50, “Morning by morning; he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord
God has opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.”

II. The consideration of the transfiguration itself will afford us further
important instruction

“After six days,” relates the evangelist, “he took Peter, James, and John his
brother, and bringeth them up to a high mountain apart.” These three disciples
he repeatedly distinguished above the rest: he afterwards took them with him
Gethsemane, as into the holy of holies, to behold there the priestly altar and
sacrificial fire; but here it was to view his regal splendor and glory. It seems
almost as if the Saviour in this respect felt and acted as a man; that he showed
that special affection which the heart of one friend feels for another, and was
nobly sensible of that lovely bond of tenderness which we call mutual sympathy;
like that of Jacob, whose life was bound up in Benjamin’s life.

It is true, that his children were all equally dear to him; he loved them all,
even as the Father loved him. But there were two or three who seem to have stood
nearer to his natural human feelings; and the nearest of these was evidently the
apostle John, who is emphatically called in Scripture, “The disciple whom Jesus
loved;” and, the next to him were his brother James and Simon Peter. And how
amiable does Simon Peter appear even in his well-meant mistakes, on account of
his ardent zeal for his Master, and his frank and ingenuous disposition!

And who would not have be constrained to love James-the holy and warm-hearted
man, who was ready to be, and actually was, the first amongst the twelve to
drink the cup of martyrdom! And then John, that noble young branch in the
heavenly Vine, that eagle spirit, who was named, with his brother just
mentioned, a son of thunder, whose character nevertheless so beautifully
resembled that of Jesus himself-a character full of tenderness and heavenly
love, which seemed touched as with the live coal of the sanctuary; where has
there ever existed, next to the “fairest of the children of men,” a more lovely
character than this disciple? The innermost chords of his soul harmonized with
those of the human soul of Jesus.

Yet was our Lord’s predilection for these three disciples no more than a
subordinate reason for taking them with him to the holy mount. He had other
reasons incomparably more important, which are to be sought for in the
particular vocation of these three, and in their peculiar relation to the person
of Jesus. For they undoubtedly appear as the Lord’s more intimate circle, even
as they were afterwards selected to be the three principal pillars of the
church. They were to be the first who should plant in the midst of storm and
conflict the banner of the cross on the mountains of Israel; and, on this
account, they peculiarly required such a signal preparation as they were now to
receive. The sacred narrative informs us that Jesus took these disciples with
him to “a high mountain.”

From ancient times it had been the Lord’s custom to select the retired summits
of hills, those quiet islands amidst the ocean of worldly confusion, for the
places of some of his most remarkable revelations. The mount on which the
transfiguration took place is not definitely pointed out to us in Scripture.

According to an ancient and not improbable tradition, it was Tabor, the most
considerable and beautiful mountain in Galilee.

This eminence, which a modern traveler found entirely covered with green oaks,
and other trees, shrubs, and odoriferous plants, stands elevated in the wide
plain of Jezreel, at no great distance from Nazareth and Cana; and it is said of
it, that if there is anything beautiful in nature, it is this green and rounded
mountain pyramid of Palestine.

Its summit is three thousand paces in circumference, and presents one of the
most extensive and charming prospects to be found in the world. To the right,
the eye, after contemplating Mount Carmel, that ancient scene of the Lord’s
glory, looks over the vast expanse of the Mediterranean Sea. Northwards appears
the glittering snowy cupola of Hermon, with the black ridge of Lebanon beneath
it. Towards the south, the eye first rests upon the beautiful verdure of
luxuriant vineyards and orange groves, and further on, upon the mountains of
Samaria; whilst to the left gleams the sea of Tiberias, intersecting the waving
cornfields of the plain of Esdraelon. But why do we cast our looks into the
distance, when something nearer at hand, of a more transporting nature, calls
for our attention? The apostles subsequently called the mount of
transfiguration, “the holy mount.” Yes, those are holy places, and must ever be
so esteemed by us, where we once could say with Jacob, “I have seen God face to
face, and my life is preserved.”

There are our Bethels and Peniels, where he whispered to our souls, “I have
loved thee with an everlasting love!” or where he wiped away our tears, and
crowned our supplications with his Amen. Such places are consecrated in our
esteem. They are lovely spots in this vale of tears; and he that has many of
them is truly rich!

Jesus commences the journey to the mount, followed by his three disciple’s. As
the ascent required about a day, we may suppose the sun to have already set, and
the evening twilight to have commenced by the time they arrived at the summit.
Solemn silence reigns all around. The disciples, weary with the journey, and at
the same time mentally exercised by the conversation on the way, and by their
solemn situation with the Saviour alone, in the silence of night, on the
solitary mount, recline themselves upon the ground and sink into slumber.

The Saviour prays to his eternal Father.

What was the particular subject of his prayer the history does not inform us;
but it might be similar to that in John 12:1-50, “Father, glorify thy name!” or
in John 17:1-26, “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with the glory which I had
with thee before the world was, that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art
in me, and I in thee!” How sublime! How affecting! The Prince of Life on his
knees before the face of the Almighty! The Son of the living God engaged in holy
converse with the Eternal Father on the dark mountain height! Surely, if ever
the words “stand at a distance” were appropriate, it was here. And what ensues
when Immanuel prays? His prayer must attain its object. It is high as heaven in
its ascent from the heart of the Son of man.

And yet he is ever willing to mingle your supplications with his own
intercession, and thus to give them full effect. You know how he said to his
disciples, “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.”

Jesus prays, and what is the result? All at once it seems to the sleepers as if
a bright light were playing about their eyelids, and as if the sound of a
conversation penetrated down into the depths of their slumber. They stir-they
awake; and well might they conjecture, in their sudden surprise, that the night
was past, that the sun was in the highest blaze of noon.

They look about them with amazement. But, O! What an incomparable spectacle!
Behold him! behold him! Is that shining one yonder indeed their Master? Is the
majestic figure which appears arrayed in Divine glory, he! Whose company they
ascended the mountain? The disciples are overcome with the sight. But it is no
alarm or terror that they feel. This is not a Sinai, so as to cause them to say,
“I exceedingly fear and quake.” The glory here breathes only peace and joy. The
heart is enlarged by it-the soul would gladly be entirely absorbed in it. Let
our souls then sink likewise into the contemplation of this glory. Let our
spirits rejoice in its wondrous light, and receive health and salvation. “This
is my beloved, and this is my friend, O ye daughters of Jerusalem.” O
contemplate the King in his beauty!

“And Jesus was transfigured before them;” more literally, “He transfigured
himself.” The expression implies, that the glory was not shed upon the Lord
externally, but, as existing in him from the beginning, it only broke forth
outwardly in the manifestation. Even then, whilst he still lay in the manger, as
an infant, poor, and requiring assistance and whilst laboring as the carpenter’s
son, the whole fullness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily, though concealed and
veiled behind the curtain of a servant’s form. Single rays of this hidden glory
had occasionally emanated from him in deeds of omnipotent mercy, so that all who
saw it were astonished, and said, “What manner of man is this? From whence is
he?”

But such an expansion of the rose of Sharon as this on the mount, had none yet
witnessed. Such a discovery of his hidden glory and majesty had hitherto not
been made. But however unspeakable and beyond all earthly splendor this glory
was, it was not the whole fullness of his beauty as the Son of God.

In comparison with that glory in which he will eventually meet us above, it was
probably only as the early dawn compared with the perfect day. For he manifested
his beauty, only as far as mortals could apprehend and bear it. But since the
whole scene on this sacred mount was only a specimen of the glory which Jesus
had in himself, therefore John, partly perhaps in allusion to this very event,
speaks of the Word made flesh, tabernacling among us, as the Shekinah, “full of
grace and truth.” The glory in which he there appeared to them was nothing
borrowed, but his own most peculiar and real form; it was the visible reflection
of the corporeal indwelling fullness of God, and consequently a manifestation
full of truth.

But for what reason John calls this manifestation of the Son of God, a
revelation “full of grace,” he himself must tell us, in order that we may
completely comprehend it. The glory here manifested was a benign glory, a
transporting reflection of pure kindness and love. Streams of peace flowed into
the disciples’ hearts; sweet and sabbatic repose breathed around them, and every
ray that fell from his countenance upon them, affected their souls as a new
expression of the love of God.

No wonder that Peter exclaimed, “Lord, it is good for us to be here!” They would
gladly have remained, forever remained, in this beatifying irradiation of
Christ.

We leave the summit of the holy mount, in order soon to return thither with our
meditation.

Keep firm hold in spirit of the glory which has there beamed upon you. It will
be to your faith and your love that which the vernal sun is to the first buds of
nature.

And what a blissful light does this scene reflect upon those great words of
Jesus, “Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am,
that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me.”

What a meaning does it supply to that other promise, “The righteous shall shine
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father!”

O let us now by faith build here a tabernacle for our souls! Let the summit of
holy mount be our oratory and our watchtower!


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  CHAPTER 45: 02.30.     THE HOLY EMBASSY
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The Holy Embassy

CHAPTER THIRTY

“And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then
answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou
wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and
one for Elias” (Matthew 17:3-4).

Thus we stand again upon the holy mount around a solemn silence-before us the
King in his beauty. We gladly yield up our minds to the contemplation of his
glory, when, lo! a new appearance attracts our notice. There are three subjects
which at present claim our attention:

I. The heavenly embassy;

II. Their converse with the Saviour;

III. Simon Peter’s request.

I. The disciples stand in adoring astonishment, and in a kind of beatified
contemplation of their glorified Master

But, all at once, new amazement overtakes them, for they behold two other
personages beside the Lord Jesus; and who are they? The Saviour converses with
these venerable strangers.

The disciples listen and find the one to be Moses, the other Elijah, possibly
from hearing Jesus call them by their names. But how must this information have
increased their astonishment!

They must have felt almost as if the earth had retreated from beneath their
feet, and as if eternity had overtaken them unawares; for now they are certain
that they behold, face to face, two happy citizens of the invisible world. One
of them was now fifteen hundred years old, and yet fair and flourishing as a
green palm tree in eternal youth. It is Moses himself that here stands before
us, he that was king in Jeshurun, the man who esteemed the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he had respect to the recompense
of the reward.

And as for the other, it is Elijah! Who, nearly a thousand years before ascended
to heaven in the fiery chariot on the other side Jordan. Behold, he suddenly
appears again in bodily form, in the country of his ancient conflicts; but, O,
in what a different condition! How full of praise and raptured adoration within;
how encircled with glory without! If he now called to mind the scenes of his
former sufferings, how must they have appeared as the dreams of a night long
fled!

Moses and Elias! How wonderful! For centuries they had been admitted into the
more immediate presence of God; for centuries had the sabbatic peace of the
upper world been their element. Through their hearts whole streams of bliss had
already flowed, of which only scanty drops bedew this earth. What might not
those messengers from heaven have told us! What new information might they have
given us, respecting the invisible world.

But they are silent; probably for the same reason which obliged Paul also to
withhold from us the description of “the third heaven,” into which was caught
up, 2 Corinthians 12:2, &c. The Strangely broken expressions which the apostle
uses, when speaking upon this subject, show how much his heart was moved by the
recollection of it. He seems struggling to express something, which he counts
amongst the highest and holiest things that had ever been disclosed to him. He
knows it was no dream, no play of imagination, but a real translation into
paradise.

Where was he then, for he was away from the earth? Was it only in some blissful
planet or star, from whence, like Moses upon Mount Nebo, he could “behold the
land that is very far off?” (Isaiah 33:17) No; he had been in the very heart of
that land: he had been in “the third heaven.” But as he gives us no description
of that blissful place, so it may safely be said that his silence, implying his
inability to describe what he had witnessed and experienced, is for us at
present the best description of the glory of the third heaven.

Every attempt at description would entirely fail, both on account of the poverty
of earthly language, and on account of the weakness of human capacity, and our
want of powers of conception for such things. Indeed, to attempt to describe
them, it would be necessary to dip the pencil in something that is terrestrial,
however beautiful; and this would be to dip it only in gloomy shades.

Another circumstance, which may serve also to give us some idea of the glory
which he saw in the realms above, is the ardent desire with which we afterwards
behold him longing after those mansions of light. His conversation is henceforth
in heaven. His hopes, his desires, his thoughts reside there, and the morning
and evening song of his heart is, “I have a desire to depart, and to be with
Christ.”

Death seems to him the most blessed messenger that could arrive; yes, death even
in its most dreadful form; for he knows that when absent from the body he is
present with the Lord. How joyfully does he now receive the cup of afflictions;
“For I reckon,” he exultingly exclaims, “that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in
us.”

- “To me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” - “I count not my life dear to
myself, so that I may finish my course with joy.”

Thus, my brethren, has the apostle, who heard “unspeakable words,” animated us
with expectations of paradise, which, the more strongly excite our longings
after home, the less they are capable of being uttered in human language.

It is in this indirect manner also that the two heavenly persons on Tabor afford
us cheering information being themselves a living epistle of the things of the
world to come. How sweetly does their very appearance address itself to that
faith which still trembles, weak and uncertain, over the tomb. What a satisfying
evidence is it of our personal and perceptible identity in another state of
existence!

And then the glory in which they now appear who were once so tempest-tossed;
what a blessed testimony does this bear to us of complete “victory” over death,
“through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Corinthians 15:57) It is indeed true, that
we have a greater witness of the other world than Moses and Elias. But as God
has granted us these subordinate witnesses, let us thankfully receive them as
the apostles of Christ.

Since the gate of Paradise was closed, heaven had scarcely ever visited earth in
such a manner as here on the holy mount. What an assembly! The Son of eternal
love clothed in majesty: before him the two dignified ambassadors from the city
of God; beside them, Peter, James, and John, the pillars of the New Testament
church; about them, doubtless, the holy angelic hosts; and within hearing; the
voice of the Eternal Father, whom no eye hath seen nor can see.

Where on earth was ever such a gathering together as this? There had hitherto
been wanting, even in the Paradise of these triumphant saints, the delight of
saluting the King of all kings as a Brother and a Kinsman. Oh, to behold him
now, whose day they had so long looked for! Him, by virtue of whose sufferings
they had worn the crown so long beforehand! Him, the Lamb of God, whose
sacrificial blood, so long before it was offered up, had blotted out their sins!

Surely a new heaven would disclose itself, even to them, in such a contemplation
of their Messiah!

II. Here also is a striking representation of the and unity between the economy
of the Old Testament and that of the New

Moses appears as the representative of the law; Elias, as the representative of
the prophets. As such they humbly and adoringly draw near to Jesus.

The Law and the Prophets give witness to the Son of Mary. Such is the important
meaning which we behold in this scene.

- “Judah, indeed thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise.” - “Thou art he,”
exclaims the Law, “unto whom I as a schoolmaster would bring every man.” - “Thou
art he,” say the Prophets, “who wast the burden of our inspired song.” And when
both Moses and Elias disappear in the radiance of the “fairest of the children
of men,” that great truth stands embodied before us, that “Christ is the end of
the law, as well as of prophecy.” Prophecy finds in him its fulfillment, for he
is the substance of all the shadows.

The Law ceases from all its judgments, threatenings, and condemnations, as soon
as it finds the sinner in Christ.

Moses and Elias, we read, conversed with the Lord. Attend a little! What kind of
discourse was it which they carried on with him? Did they announce to him that a
chariot of fire, and horses of fire, stood ready to carry him away from the
gloomy scene of earthly conflict to his Father’s house? No; the conversation is
concerning a cross and a crown of thorns; an altar and its consuming flame.

“They spake of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke
9:31).

As envoys from the Eternal Majesty they audibly confirmed that it was the will
of the Father, that of his own precious blood he should make atonement for sin;
“for without the shedding of blood there was no remission.”

They impressed, in God’s name, a new seal upon the ancient and eternal truth,
that the partition wall which sinners had raised, could be broken down by no
other means than by the power of his sufferings; that He, as the good Shepherd,
could only ransom his sheep with the price of his own life. Such was the
substance of the conversation on the holy mount.

We might almost imagine these blessed messengers trembling for the first time
during a thousand years, at having to converse on such things with the Son of
God. But they call his sufferings and death a decease; or exit, as if to comfort
him with this expression; and they speak of the ACCOMPLISHMENT of this decease,
or exit, as if they would present to his mind the prospect of his succeeding
glory and joy.

III. The sublime interview between the Lord and the heavenly embassy is
concluded The glorified messengers are about to take their departure. But the
three disciples, and especially Peter, naturally wished to have it otherwise;
and, giving to his feelings, he exclaimed, for himself and his brethren, “Lord,
it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles;
one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.”

Peter has been severely censured, in various ways, by some writers, for this
exclamation. Of such censures we shall take no notice, for we regard him as free
from all such imputations. His request appears to have proceeded, confused as he
was, from right and holy motives. Was it not really good to be there? Did not
the most spiritual joy flow there? And was not the King in his beauty there?

The unveiled face of Immanuel was there; in beholding which, even the
inhabitants of heaven find their supreme delight. Their Lord’s unspeakable
condescension to sinners had never been displayed to them so clearly before. The
glory of the Son of man had never been seen by them as now; neither had the love
of the Father been so experienced as now. They felt themselves abundantly
satisfied in the contemplation of all this.

They could have forgotten this earth altogether for the sake of it.

They wished to lengthen this incomparable moment, “Whom have I in heaven but
thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee!”

“Lord, it is good to be here.” For where indeed is heaven? Is it not to be with
Christ? Where he reveals himself fully to the soul. So then, our knowledge of
him here “in part,” is indeed a part of heaven. What a lonely place in itself
was this solitary mountain! But as soon as the disciples saw his glory, when he
“was transfigured before them,” they might well say, “It is good for us to be
here.”

There are some who are concerned to inquire what sort of an abode heaven is. But
what need is there of such inquiries if we only can be present with the Lord?
How much more needful, then, is it for us to inquire, whether He is ours, and we
are his? He is verily our real heaven, and his nearness to us is our highest
bliss.

How comfortable are words, “It is good to be here!” Whereas, under the old
dispensation, it was said, “How dreadful is this place!” Genesis 28:17; and “We
shall surely die, because we have seen God.” Judges 13:22

“It is good to be here,” said Peter. How seldom is this expression heard among
thousands, who, nevertheless, profess to belong to the New Testament church!
Alas! but few know the true element of peace and joy, and fewer still endeavor
to breathe perpetually in it.

“Lord, if thou wilt,” continues Peter, (which is the language, not of
forwardness, but of submission,) “let us make here three tabernacles;” for whom?
“one for thee, and one for Moses, one for Elias.”

He would have had then two these citizens of heaven to delay at least their
return to Paradise. This was a hard thing to ask. Yet he seems to have taken it
for granted that Moses and Elias would willingly tarry forever where Jesus was.
It seems expressive of humility that the disciples do not think of building four
only six, but of three; as much as to say, “We are willing to stand at a
distance and listen;” for the question, Who should sit at Christ’s right hand,
and who should sit at his left, in his kingdom? is not thought upon here. When
we have a clear sight of the glory of Christ, our own pride lies in the dust.
But perhaps their thought was to abide in the tabernacle intended for Jesus, for
they would venture to enter there rather than into the others.

And how truly do the hearts of God’s children respond to this! A faithful man of
God, well known to many of my hearers, said, in his last moments, the thought of
having to pass, in the other world, through all the radiant ranks of angels and
glorified saints, almost made him afraid; but upon recollecting that he should
immediately behold his Saviour, his heart was at ease again, and he could depart
with joy. No tabernacles, however, were actually built upon the mount. The thick
cloud soon hid Moses and Elias from their sight, and Jesus was left alone. The
corn of wheat was first to fall into the ground and die, before it could bring
forth fruit, John 12:24. They were to remember the vision for their own comfort,
but to tell it to no man till after the Son of man should be risen from the
dead.

Spiritually speaking, the tabernacle for whose delightful shelter Peter thus
longed, could only be erected above the cross. The sacred pavilion, however, is
now really erected in this vale of tears-a wondrous, glorious, and incomparable
temple. Its pillars embrace a world. Its upper story reaches to the stars. Its
walls are invincible as omnipotence. Though heaven and earth be shaken, yet its
foundations shall stand and remain unmoved. The natural eye cannot see this
temple. This wondrous building is visible only to the eye of faith. The light
falls into this temple from above. There, no longer groping in the dark, we walk
in the light of the seven-branched candlestick. It is no longer inquired in this
temple, “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord?”

- Here we know of an offering that justifies the ungodly. There is no longer any
room for the saying of Cain, “My iniquity is greater than that I can bear”, or,
that it may be forgiven.” - Here it is said, “Where sin abounded, grace hath
much more abounded.” - Here there is no longer any occasion for the exclamation,
“Let not God speak with us, lest we die!” - Here we learn exultingly to cry,
“Abba, Father!” and to cast our cares, like children, on the Eternal God who
careth for us. - The robe, with which everyone here is clothed, is a robe of
righteousness. - The bread that is here broken to us, is the bread of that peace
which passeth all understanding. - The cup of blessing, of which we here
partake, is a portion which no one taketh from us. - The air which is breathed
here, is the air of Paradise. - The censer of prayer and intercession, kindled
here, ascends as a sweet savor to the Lord. - The songs which resound here, have
for their burden, “I have obtained mercy!” - The Preacher’s instructions this
temple are, “Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people.”

If there be a happy abode under the sun, it is within this spiritual tabernacle.
Happy are they that are in such a case, however poorly they may live as it
respects the body! They need not envy kings upon their thrones, or the renowned
of earth under their pavilions of honor. Verily, they are the happy ones who
thus abide under the shadow of the Almighty, who are hidden in this pavilion,
and in the secret of this dwelling-place, founded on the Rock of ages!

In other words, thou they may have to pass through great troubles, and to
encounter great adversities in this life, they know whither their way conducts
them. Verily, there is a reward for the righteous; there remaineth a rest for
the people of God. Who introduces us into this mansion of peace? One only who
bears the key of David; He on whose worth the house is founded as on an eternal
rock. He still stands at the gate ready to open it. O, supplicate his mercy!
Rise not up from his feet until he has opened the door of his kingdom unto thee,
and until thou also canst rejoice in him, as “He that openeth, and no man
shutteth; and that shutteth, and no man openeth.” Amen.

~ end of chapter 30 ~


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 46: 02.31.     THE SHEKINAH
========================================================================

The Shekinah CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

“While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: [and they feared
as they entered into the cloud, Luke 9:34;] and behold a voice out of the cloud,
which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him”
(Matthew 17:5). A new phenomenon now occurs on the holy mount. We have reached,
the most interesting part of this portion of sacred history. Let us collect our
thoughts, in order calmly and adoringly to consider, I. The bright cloud;

II. The testimony which proceeded from it.

I. This bright cloud had an important and sublime signification

It was the Shekinah, or divine habitation, the sign of the Lord’s peculiar
presence, like that vouchsafed in the early days of the Old Testament. In the
time of Moses, a cloud, resembling a pillar rising towards heaven, formed the
habitation in which the Lord God went before his people Israel in the
wilderness. He also invested in a cloud the manifestation of himself on Mount
Sinai. At the dedication of Solomon’s Temple “a cloud filled the house of the
Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud;
the glory of the Lord had filled the house. Then said Solomon, The Lord hath
said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.”

But a cloud somewhat different from that on Sinai, and in the Temple, was here.
No stormy tempest accompanies it. It carries no rolling thunders, as on Sinai;
no lightnings flash from it; nor is it accompanied with thick darkness, but
glittering as if the sun shone behind it, and bordered with light as with the
dayspring from on high. Thus this cloud appears as announcing the beginning of a
new covenant period.

Moses and Elias enter with Jesus into the cloud as into a presence-chamber, or
as into a Father’s house. How far from that ancient leader of Israel now is the
expression, “I exceedingly fear and quake!” with which he once approached the
darkness wherein God dwelt! Nor does Elias now cover his face as he did upon
Horeb.

Both of them have become strong to bear the nearness of the Eternal. They are so
in Him who accompanies them, and who took them under the shadow of his wings.

II. “And behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased; hear ye him” This voice came from no far distant height,
but from the bright cloud which now overshadowed Jesus, Moses and Elias. It is
the voice of Him “who sitteth upon the throne between the cherubim, who clotheth
himself with light as with a garment.” It is the voice of the everlasting
Father. He, from whom are all things, clothes his almighty voice in human
language, and audibly testifies concerning the Son of man.

O the blessed realities of the holy mount! Surely they are an anticipation of
the fulfillment of the great prophetic voice out of heaven, “The tabernacle of
God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and
God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Revelation 21:3). This
testimony on the holy mount is rich in meaning. First, it comprehends, in a very
few words, the sum of the Old Testament, which, in Christ Jesus, is Yea and
Amen. “This is my Son!” is from the book of Psalms. “Thou art my Son, this day
have I begotten thee.” The addition, “In whom I am well pleased,” is out of the
prophets, namely, in Isaiah 42:1. The words, “Hear ye him,” you will find in the
writings of Moses. “A prophet like unto me, shall the Lord your God raise up
unto you, of your brethren, like unto me. Unto him shall ye hearken.”

There is, moreover, in these words, a reference to the three offices of our
Lord.

- “This is my Son,” shows us Christ as a King. - “In whom I am well pleased,”
points him out as the Mediator and High Priest, in whom God reconciles the world
unto himself. - “Hear ye him,” represents him to us as that Prophet to whose
instructions we must listen.

Finally, this testimony throws light upon the relative character which the
Redeemer bears.

- The voice, “This is my Son,” tells us who he is, with respect to his divine
nature and incarnation. - The relation he bears to us is also implied in the
words, “In whom I am well pleased.” - In the injunction, “Hear ye him.” So full
of meaning are these Divine words; indeed, who is able to express all the
fullness of meaning which is contained in them!

We already know the intention of this great testimony of God the Father. It
doubtless addressed itself, first, to the five witnesses of Christ’s
transfiguration, before whom, as the representatives of the visible and
invisible Church, Christ is here solemnly proclaimed the priestly Head of the
new kingdom, and his dominion over all things, and especially over the church,
purchased with his own blood, was here formally ratified to him by the Father.
We may, however, well believe that the testimony of the Father is also intended,
like that at Jordan, for the Saviour himself, and was to afford support to his
faith, in the prospect of his approaching sufferings.

And cannot we perceive, that after each of these his Father’s public
acknowledgments, a new power appears in him, a new grace manifests itself in his
discourses, a new ardor in his words and actions, and a more exalted state of
mind for conflict and victory? Yes; in his human nature he grew like his people,
and went from strength to strength.

“This is my beloved Son.” The Father calls him his beloved Son, in a sense and
meaning which can belong to no other being on earth or in heaven. This
appellation bespeaks him to be no mere creature; it avouches heaven to be his
throne, and earth his footstool. It evinces him to be the brightness of his
Father’s glory, and the express image of his person.

It presents him to us as the Word that was with God, and was God, by whom all
things were made, and without whom nothing is made that was made; though now
made flesh, and dwelling or tabernacling among us, as the true Shekinah, in whom
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Oh, how happy are we, to find our faith thus founded on God in Christ, and
sustained by the immediate testimony and glory of God the Father. Everything
depends upon the certainty of this article of our faith, “God manifest in the
flesh.” The whole edifice of Christianity rests upon this one prime truth.

You know, Paul calls this mystery “incontrovertibly great,” and certainly it is
so, in whatever way we consider it. It is great, in its amazing contents-God in
man! Great by its mighty achievements-having cast down a thousand infernal
strongholds and refuges of lies, by which the deceiver of the whole world holds
men in the bondage of sin, fear, and temptation. Great by its unexampled
operation-it plants a new creation in the old.

Great by the continuation of divine power-it daily delivers fresh victims from
the depths of Satan. Great on account of the glorious promises connected with
it-for all the nations which God hath made shall come and worship him through
this mystery, and shall glorify his name.

Indeed, what may we not perceive by the light of this single truth, “God
manifest in the flesh?”

- We may see heaven open, and behold the eternal mansions of poor sinners
prepared for them. - We may see this earth, once the seat of the curse, hereby
transformed into a residence of the glory of God, a scene of the greatest
wonders of his love. - We may see the fallen sons of Adam renewed unto holiness.
- We may hereby see the fountain of Divine mercy opened to us, of whose depths
we formerly had no conception; - We may perceive a Divine and human Saviour upon
the throne of power, who is not ashamed to call us brethren; with the holy
angels for ministering spirits to him and to us.

Well, therefore, the apostle calls the mystery of “God manifest the flesh,” “the
pillar and ground of the truth.”

Certainly the whole temple of our happiness rests upon this one truth. The
Father calls the Lord Jesus, “his beloved Son.” But who can fathom the depth of
this expression, “My beloved?” In all human or angelic love there is no parallel
to this. Didst thou even know how human glorified spirits love, yea, how angels
love one another, still this love of the Father would be found infinitely to
excel it all. Who, from a mere drop of water, can learn the extent and depth of
the ocean? Who, from the dim light of a candle, can conceive of the blaze of
noon, and the extent of the solar rays? Yet those are but comparisons of things
finite with finite. And yet this beloved Son, O sinner, God spared not for thee:
he SO loved the world, that he gave him for thee, that, believing in him, thou
shouldst not perish, but have everlasting life!

Who shall comprehend the full import contained in that SO? Eternity alone can
disclose it. And yet, who is it to whom the voice of the Father thus bears
testimony? Is it not to him, who, as the second Adam, represents ourselves, as
our covenant Head and Surety? Surely this testimony of the Father’s
complacential love is borne likewise in favor of all who belong to Christ; that
is, of all who abide in him, and keep his commandments. Therefore, they may well
refresh and strengthen themselves with the same Divine love and kindness. To the
declaration, “This is my beloved Son,” is added the testimony, “in whom I am
well pleased.” The Father beholds his own glorious perfections in him, and
besides this, he beholds in him the Mediator for us, and with this he is well
pleased also. Jesus said, “For their sakes I sanctify myself;” and the Father is
perfectly complacent in his so doing. Here, then, we see our own interest in the
testimony given in the holy mount. Are we the devoted followers, the obedient
disciples of Jesus? Then the Father who is well pleased in him, is well pleased
in us for his sake; is well pleased with us in him.

“Hear ye him!” is the conclusion of the voice from the cloud. Christ is the
Truth, as well as the Way and the Life. Had he not come as the teacher of this
ignorant and benighted world, what should we ever have known that is worth the
knowing? We should have been like poor forsaken orphans, and should have been
ever at a loss to know what we are, where we are, and what is to become of us.
We should have been forlorn wanderers indeed, in the valley of the shadow of
death. No prophet would then have carried a torch before us. No apostle could
have showed us the path of life. Moses, Isaiah, Daniel, and all the rest, shone
not by their own light, but by the light of the Sun of righteousness.

They were but as moons, some of them only in the first quarter, others more
advanced, and some were as full moons, possessing bright, undiminished splendor.
The same remark applies all our teachers under the New Testament disposition.
The great office of them all is to bear witness to Christ, the Sun of
righteousness.

“Hear ye him!” This needful admonition suggests a mournful reflection upon our
present moral condition. Think only, that to a race of beings who, spiritually
considered, know not as it were their right hand from their left, a Saviour is
sent, who is as much at home beyond the stars as on this side of them, and whose
ministry, as proceeding forth from God, is sealed with proofs sufficient to
astonish heaven and earth.

This Saviour comes, saying to the world, “I will remove all darkness and doubts
from before you; I will explain to you the mystery of your existence; I will
teach you the true nature of God and of man; I will unfold to you the remotest
ages that are past, and the most distant of those that are to come; I will show
you the way of peace, and point out to you the open gate of a new Paradise.”

Might we not reasonably expect that the whole world would immediately gather
around him, and that all the race of Adam would sit, like Mary, at his feet; or
be like Samuel, who said, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth?” But how very
different is the fact! There has been, alas, no lack of teachable disciples at
the feet of erroneous teachers, false prophets and vain babblers; but in the
church of the great Dayspring from on high there has always been room to spare,
even to the present hour. Not as though there were any want of authentication of
his doctrine. No: the sole reason of it is the corruption of the human heart;
the deep depravation of human nature.

Not as though the Gospel did not exactly befit our human necessities; for
nothing can be more suitable to them than the remedies it brings: but this is
the cause-that the sinner neither knows nor cares to know his own most urgent
necessities. Nor is it that the Gospel is unintelligible; for it is, in all its
most essential matters of faith, within the comprehension of a child. But it
opposes the vain delights and desires of our fleshly mind, which loves darkness
rather than light, that it may not meet with any check to its own willfulness.
Neither does the Saviour impose any heavy yoke upon man! Oh no; “his yoke is
easy, and his burden light.” But the degenerate creature, in its rebellion and
pride, will not hear of any yoke at all, and will obey nothing but the dictates
of its own fleshly will.

“Hear ye him!” How important a testimony is this to the whole of the New
Testament revelation! Let us then learn to read and listen to every word of
Christ, as if the testimony of the Father, “Hear ye him,” were still sounding in
our ears.

When the Saviour saith, “Without me ye can do nothing;” and testifies, “I am the
Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me,” when
he promises eternal life to those who believe on his name, and threatens the
unbelieving with the wrath of God, and with a fire prepared for the devil and
his angels, forget not the voice of Majesty, which said, “Hear ye him.” He then
who refuses to hear the Son of God, refuses to hear the Father. Not to hear him
and receive his words, what is it but to make God a liar? But “He that hath
received the testimony of Jesus, hath set to his seal that God is true” (John
3:33). But what kind of a hearing is it which the Father here enjoins? It is the
hearing of our implicit and cordial faith. “He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abideth on him.”

This passage of Scripture is like the pillar of cloud and of fire between the
Egyptians and the camp of Israel. It secures the salvation of believers, and the
condemnation of unbelievers.

Let us only further notice how the apostles of Christ refer to this testimony of
the Father as one of the most powerful arguments for the truth of their
doctrine.

“We have not followed,” says Peter, “cunningly devised fables, when we made
known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were
eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and
glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Let this testimony then remain ever present to our faith. If you are looking for
a polestar amidst the confusion of the present unbelieving age, it beams upon
you from this testimony. The voice from the holy mount will serve to dispel all
the doubts of your mind.

“There are,” says an enlightened writer, “two sorts of persons that deserve the
name of men of understanding. Those who serve God with their whole heart,
because they know him; and those who, though they know him not, seek him with
their whole heart.”

He adds, “There are in world, spiritually considered, three sorts of persons.

- The first have found God, and serve him. - The second have not yet found him,
but seek him. - The third live without either serving or seeking him.

The first sort are wise and happy; the last sort are unhappy, wicked, and
foolish; the second sort are wise, but not yet happy,”

“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Amen.

~ end of chapter 31 ~


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  CHAPTER 47: 02.32.     NONE BUT JESUS
========================================================================

None But Jesus CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

It is much to be lamented that the Saviour is so little known to many, who yet
are not utter strangers to him. Our acquaintance with him increases with the
consciousness of our necessities; and the more we become acquainted with him,
the more will the divine nature be expanded within us.

Man is from his birth a degenerate being, blind and naked, alienated from the
life of God, through the ignorance that is in him, and a willing servant of sin.
He neither knows Christ, nor feels his need of him. He cries “Peace! peace!” to
himself and to others, when “there is no peace.” Erroneous ideas of God and of
himself lull him into carnal security; but there are seasons when he has many
misgivings, and when God appears to him in the light of a jealous God, a
consuming fire. By the grace of God, many in this disquieted state begin to
inquire in earnest after peace. They hear or they read of Christ. They find some
consolation in the news of a Saviour, but not of the true and right kind.

They betake themselves to many means of amending their lives; but, alas! instead
of trusting wholly in Christ, they lean on their own performances. “They make
vows and good resolutions, and soon break them as easily as they were made. Thus
they discover their own insufficiency and helplessness, and this teaches them to
found all their hopes on Christ. By and by, however, they learn again that their
faith, though real, is still very weak, by reason of their still looking partly
to themselves.

Some assault or trial of their faith serves to convince them of this. Temptation
of some kind has proved too effectual; and now they begin to perceive that all
their strength is in him; that they must maintain perpetual communion with him;
that they must abide in him, or else they will bear no fruit, but wither. At
last they learn to depend entirely on him, and thus their strength is confirmed,
and their path becomes as the shining light. Thus do our necessities, from time
to time, serve to promote our spiritual advancement; and thus the knowledge of
Christ is found to keep pace with the sense of our own wants. It is great gain
to suffer the loss of all things, that we may learn depend on Jesus alone.

“And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when
they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only” (Matthew
17:6-8).

We are now arrived at the closing portion of this remarkable part of sacred
history. The particular history of Elijah here loses itself in that of our
blessed Lord. It now remains for us to consider, I. The awful impression which
the voice from the Shekinah made upon the three disciples;

II. The relief which Jesus gave to their minds;

III. Their subsequent experience.

I. The solemnity and sublimity of the transfiguration scene reached its height
at the moment when the bright cloud overshadowed our Lord, with Moses and Elias,
and when the voice of the Father’s testimony proceeded from it.

Up to that moment the disciples had felt indescribably happy on the holy mount.
But no sooner is their Lord and Master, under whose wing they had hitherto felt
secure, enveloped in the cloud, and the voice from the excellent glory sounded
from it, than their comfort is instantly at an end, and their rapture is changed
into fear.

They fall on their faces as if thunderstruck, and are sore afraid. So awful is
the approach of Eternal Majesty to the sinner. “Let not God speak with us!”
cried Israel at the foot of Sinai, “lest we die. For who is there of all flesh
that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the
fire, as we have, and lived?”

“When I saw his face,” says Daniel, “and heard the voice of his words, there
remained no strength in me, for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption,
and I sank on my face to the ground.”

When Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord, he expressed his amazement by saying,
“Woe is me, for I am undone! for I am a man of unclean lips.”

And even the disciples, whom Jesus loved, at beholding the unveiled glory of the
King of kings, fell at his feet as dead, and the arm of Omnipotence was needed
to lift him up, otherwise he would have sunk under it. What is the reason of
this terror in man, as soon as he perceives the nearness of God? Does it not
betray alienation? By nature we are disposed practically to deny him. Our
natural terror, therefore, at the thought of his presence, is but too evidently
founded on our consciousness of being guilty in his sight.

We think we are something; but when God’s excellent greatness becomes suddenly
discovered to us, we sink before it. Besides, our present sphere of vision and
conception is very limited. All our thoughts are earthly, and all our
conceptions of spiritual things are derived from this world of sense; so that,
when we behold such things in their real nature, it threatens, us it were, to
break down the whole fabric of our ideas and notions.

Hence it is no wonder that extraordinary manifestations of the invisible things
of God should overpower us with amazement and terror. But how could the
disciples be so terrified, seeing they knew the Father, by having believed on
him, and possessed in Christ their Head, such a fulness of glory, that they
could easily bear the loss of their own?

We answer, that if self had been utterly annihilated in them in the presence of
Eternal Majesty, they would have risen up only the more gloriously in Jesus; but
as this was not the case, so, in more senses than one, Jesus was to them behind
the cloud. Their insight into his mediation did not yet reach so far as to
enable them comfortably to hear such a manifestation of God as this.

The full import of the words, “Who is he that condemneth?” had not yet entered
their hearts. But how shall they, who have not yet learned the wondrous art of
beholding and finding themselves in Christ alone, stand without terror in the
immediate presence of the divine Majesty.

A word from his mouth, to the mightiest amongst us who is not thus prepared, is
as the voice of the Lord which breaketh the cedars, and maketh Lebanon and
Carmel tremble. Were he only now to exclaim from the skies in the hearing of the
whole world, “I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last!” what a vast change
would it instantaneously occasion in human theories and opinions!

How different would be the view which men would immediately take of their
present state of existence, and how different also the manner of life of many
millions! A host of blasphemers would be, as it were, bound with the terrors of
the Almighty. Well, this will one day come to pass. “Behold, he cometh with
clouds, and every eye shall see him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall
wail because of him. Even so. Amen.”

But at present, it is in the way of faith that Goa chooseth to be found of them
that seek him. He will not thus forcibly manifest himself, till he shall come to
the last judgment.

It was not only the voice from the clouds, and the unexpected approach of Divine
Majesty, which so terrified the disciples upon the mount; but even in the
testimony itself there was something awful, though it did not exactly tell them
anything new. For though they had themselves confessed that Jesus was the Son of
the living God, and had just seen his divine glory on the mount, still this
confirmation of his sonship, as coming to them immediately from the excellent
glory, might add to their belief in God incarnate, such vivid clearness of
sensible demonstration as to overwhelm them with amazement and awe.

All this is perfectly natural; and if the Lord were now suddenly to remove from
our minds the shade with which our spiritual light is so greatly intermingled,
and to elevate our faith to that clearness of demonstration which would amount
almost to sight, the consequence would be, that even the truths which we already
believe and embrace would overpower us beyond measure, for instance, the truth,
that the babe once laid in the manger at Bethlehem is God incarnate, and the
truth, that the Son of God was ignominiously nailed to the cross for our sakes.
For we at present behold all such truths in an attempered light; we see them
only as in a glass darkly, or, as it were, through a veil with which God
moderates the overpowering effect they would otherwise have upon our present
weak frame and faculties.

Such things are far too wonderful, supernatural, and excellent for us to behold,
except as through a veil; without which, in our present state, they would fail
of producing the effect which God designs by them.

II. The three disciples fell to the ground as dead and could not venture to lift
up their eyes, as long as they felt the immediate presence of the Eternal But
their Master again approached them, and at his approach “every valley shall be
exalted.”

He, like a wise masterbuilder among fragments and ruins, or like a skillful
artificer, who forms vessels of honor from clay trodden underfoot.

“And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.”

There was doubtless new vigor imparted by it, besides its natural adaptation to
human feelings. The Sun of righteousness hath healing in his wings.

Remember the poor woman, mentioned in Matthew 9:1-38, and the believing language
of her heart; “If I may but touch his garment I shall be whole.” Her confidence,
you know, was not put to shame. A touch of Christ is the only means of our
spiritual restoration. This must be obtained by faith in him, and fervent prayer
in his name.

This touch is, in other words, the work of his Holy Spirit upon our hearts and
minds, producing inward peace and personal holiness, love, humility, meekness,
self-denial, and activity to arise and labor for the glory of God and the good
of man.

III. No sooner had Jesus touched the terrified disciples, and spoken to them
these encouraging words, “Arise, and be not afraid,” than they are immediately
delivered out of all their fears, and peace again takes possession of their
hearts

“And when they had lifted up their eyes,” relates the evangelist, “they saw no
man, save Jesus only.”

Moses and Elias have returned in the bright cloud, to their heavenly abode, to
relate to their companions in glory the things they had seen and heard on the
holy mount. The holy angels resume their ministrations before the throne, and
their praises are increased. The divine luster which, beaming forth from the
Lord of glory, enlightened the darkness of the night, has withdrawn itself
behind the veil of his servant’s form; and it becomes again upon the mount, as
it had been before, dark, solitary, and silent.

The wind plays in the rustling foliage; the stars twinkle silently in the
firmament; but in the hearts of this little assembly it is different. The divine
Redeemer, after his conversation with the heavenly messengers, anticipates more
cheerfully the bloody baptism which awaits him.

The glorified spirits approach with an increased measure of holy boldness to the
throne of Glory and Majesty; and the three disciples-oh, how did they now
rejoice more than ever in their Lord and Master.

However brief are generally the moments which we may be permitted to spend in
the mount, beholding the King in his beauty; they are moments which we justly
reckon among the best and happiest of our lives. Though they may only
momentarily enlighten our darkness, they are not lost upon us; a blessing
remains from them which attends us in our path; a secret ministration of
strength which is not soon exhausted; a light that lives in the storm, and helps
to cheer the gloom of much temporal and spiritual conflict.

“And when the disciples had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus
only.”

This circumstance serves to remind us of that state of mind, which, in the more
immediate sense of the word, may be called gracious and evangelical. Oh, how
desirable is it to have our distracting thoughts so banished and subdued as to
see “Jesus only.”

Without this we cannot be vigorous, practical Christians. Learn, then, to look
away from yourself entirely, and to “stand fast in the Lord.” Divest thyself of
all anxious care about the future, for that is safe in his hands.

Yea, having committed “the keeping of thy soul to him in well-doing, as unto a
faithful Creator,” thou hast no occasion to tremble even at death itself.

Think of those words, “I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where
I am there ye may be also.” Oh the blessedness of that peaceful position of mind
in which everything that is seen by us is seen in Christ; seeing nothing in the
winds or waves, or in ourselves, but only in Jesus. The disciples seeing no
longer Moses or Elias, but Jesus only, may serve further to suggest to us
instruction with respect to viewing Jesus as the true Lawgiver, and the true
Restorer of all things. Oh, happy is it, when the sinner at length perceives
that he has his sufficiency in Christ alone, and needs no other support. He then
walks at liberty, keeping Christ’s commandments with his whole heart. The peace
of God which passeth understanding, now keeps his heart and mind by Christ
Jesus. The terrors of the law no longer appall him, and yet he now learns to
keep the law universally, and more steadfastly than ever.

“Jesus alone!” Yes, when the day shall have arrived that the “Lord shall be king
over all the earth; and there shall be one Lord, and his name one” (Zechariah
14:9); then that which we have considered as spiritually significative on the
holy mount, will be substantially realized. The whole world will then behold
Jesus alone, as “fairer than the children of men,” and will have his name
written in their foreheads.

All will bear his image; and everything will be dedicated to his praise. The
very forms and creations of art shall glorify him; the halls of learning will be
beautified with the wisdom which is from above; and the Lord alone will be the
center and focus of all the sciences.

The Lord alone will be exalted in that day; his love will form the sacred and
inviolable bond of nations.

Oh! How should we earnestly pray for the dawning of that happy day: “Hallowed be
name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”

We thus close, for the present, our meditations on the history of Elijah; hoping
to resume the one day more effectually in the city of our God.

Let us be thankful for every word of consolation and edification which we have
derived from these meditations; for to divine grace alone is all such benefit to
be ascribed. It was that the precious name of Jesus might be glorified in our
souls that we began and have continued these discourses.

May the Almighty graciously so dispose us all, that it may be said of us, in a
blessed and spiritual sense, “When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no
man, save Jesus only!” Amen

~ end of book ~


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  CHAPTER 48: 03.00.1. ELISHA: A PROPHET FOR OUR TIMES
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ELISHA: A PROPHET FOR OUR TIMES. BY F. W. KRUMMACHER, D. D. Of Elberfeld, in
Prussia TRANSLATED FROM GERMAN

____

LONDON THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY

Instituted 1799

COPYRIGHT 1838


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  CHAPTER 49: 03.00.2.     PREFACE
========================================================================

Translator’s Notes The following work contains the first part of Elisha’s
history, which is all that has yet been published by the Author. This
translation has undergone the same careful revision as that of Elijah the
Tishbite; and, like that work, it has been no further abridged, than by the
omission of some passages which were considered to impair its value, and by
condensing others which were too diffuse; but, occasionally, a few Scripture
quotations have been added. In doing this, the object has been to free the work,
as much as possible, from the disadvantages usually incident to a translation,
and to issue it in a way most likely to benefit the English reader. Of the
necessity of such revision, those only can be fully aware who are acquainted
with the original; and the great acceptance which Elijah the Tishbite has met
with, sufficiently shows the suitableness of this plan to Christian readers in
general. The Editor takes this opportunity of stating, that the only works
bearing the name of Krummacher which he has revised and edited are, Elijah the
Tishbite, and A Glimpse of the Kingdom of Grace, published by The Religious
Tract Society.

R.F. Walker 1838


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  CHAPTER 50: 03.01.     ELISHA'S APPEARANCE: 2KI_2:19-22
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Chapter 1 Elisha’s Appearance

2 Kings 2:19-22 The inspired prophet Micah, foretelling a blessed period yet to
come, which is styled "the last days," says of it, in Micah 4:4, that then men
"shall sit, every one under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make
them afraid." What a touching representation of peaceful privacy and delightful
repose is given by this single sentence of prophecy! The period, indeed, which
it describes, was very "far off" to the prophet himself; and even at our Lord’s
incarnation it had only begun to dawn; for the New Testament still speaks of it
as "the last days." Nevertheless, from the earliest ages of the Old Testament,
there were blessed periods of shorter and longer tranquility, in which the
delightful preludes of that eagerly desired "last time," were conspicuously
displayed. The patriarchal age immediately after the flood, strikes us as a
prophetic type of the great gospel year of jubilee. Childlike simplicity and
confidence characterized the intercourse which prevailed between the Almighty
and the saints of that period: the thunders of Sinai were not yet heard, and the
terrors of the law had not yet begun to constrain the children of the promise.
But they were constrained by love, arising from the kindness and condescension
of Him, who now graciously rejoiced again in the habitable parts of His earth,
and whose delights were with the sons of men, Proverbs 8:31. In the tents of an
Abraham, and in the grove of Mamre, a spirit reigned, similar to that at Emmaus,
where the two disciples sat familiarly at table with the Man who was God in the
highest; or like that which was manifested at Bethany with Lazarus and his much
favored sisters. A similar period, transcendently peaceful and benign, smiled
upon Israel, when Elisha appeared. To that happy, enlightened period, we propose
to direct our present meditations. May the Spirit of the Lord, the only
Interpreter of the sacred oracles, graciously be with us, direct our
observations, and instruct us to find much profit and delight in what has thus
been written aforetime for that purpose!

"And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of
this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the land
barren. And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they
brought it to him. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the
salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there
shall not be from thence any more death or barren land. So the waters were
healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake."

Here then we are again returned to those times and scenes of wonders, wherein so
many sources of consolation and encouragement were recently opened to us, in the
achievements of Elijah the Tishbite, and in the occurrences of his eventful
life. The very country is not unknown to us. We seem acquainted and at home in
it; and the eye scarcely alights upon a district, a mountain, a valley, or a
hamlet, that is not associated in our minds with some important and beneficial
recollection of our previous spiritual excursions. On this stage a new history
will now unfold to us a variety of most important incidents; the history of
Elisha, the man of God. May this glorious narrative accomplish the design of
Him, who caused its insertion in his word, and become to us who believe, a
spring of manifold refreshment, a well of deep and lasting consolation in
seasons of distress! Our considerations will be, at present, but preparatory;
and will concern, I. The character of Elisha’s mission; and, II. His first
prophetic appearance.


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  CHAPTER 51: 03.02.        THE CHARACTER OF ELISHA'S MISSION
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The Character of Elisha’s Mission

Elisha entered upon his course, immediately after his great predecessor had been
taken up into heaven. Let us briefly recollect the state of public affairs in
Israel. King Ahab, by the judgment of God, had been slain in battle at Ramoth
Gilead, and Ahaziah, his son and successor, was no more among the living.
Because he had sent to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, as if there had
been no God in Israel, the prophet Elijah had been sent to him with the alarming
communication, "Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone
up, but shalt surely die." And his unrepenting death had terminated a life spent
in forgetfulness of God. From the brow of this Ahaziah, the crown, stained with
a thousand crimes, had now passed to Jehoram his brother, the second son of Ahab
and Jezebel, and it is in his reign that Elisha begins his prophetic labors. Of
Jehoram, with whom we become acquainted in the course of Elisha’s history, the
Scriptures relate, that "he wrought evil in the sight of the Lord;" but not
quite to the same extent as his father and profligate mother had done. Alarmed
by the Divine judgments which he had seen inflicted upon Ahab and Ahaziah, he
had thought proper to remove the image of Baal, which his father had set up and
worshipped; but he still adhered to the golden calves in Bethel and in Dan; he
fully restored and supported the order of Jeroboam’s idolatrous priests; and
though he sometimes did homage to the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, it
was only in acts of momentary and hypocritical constraint. His mother, the
widowed queen Jezebel, continued, with his connivance, her vile and infatuated
practices, and used all her influence with the unstable monarch to confirm him
in his iniquities, and to increase the moral depravity of the people to a
frightful degree. A disgusting idolatry, mingled with every kind of vice,
continued to be the religion of the state. The whole realm was filled with this
darkness from the bottomless pit; and the little church of God, though it
glistened above the midnight covering with sublimity and brightness, was but as
a green spot in the desert, or as a solitary isle in the stormy ocean. And now,
like a rainbow on the dark cloud of those troublous times, appears the
beneficent and evangelical mission of Elisha. Many regard it only as a faint
sequel to the career of the Tishbite, but a little deeper insight into the
matter will lead to a very different conclusion. Was Elijah an original
phenomenon? Elisha was equally such. Who would think, because he had seen a
rose, that the apple blossom has no beauty of its own? The appointment of Elisha
was no repetition of Elijah. It was essentially different from that of his
illustrious predecessor; and the entire organization of the man, no less than
the manner of his appearance and acting, exactly harmonized with those special
duties which devolved upon him. The former prophet casts no shade upon the
latter; but each in his proper station serves beautifully to set off the other.

We anticipated in our reflections upon Elijah’s history, something of this
peculiar difference of the calling of Elisha. We anticipated it in the still
small voice upon the mount of Horeb, as indicative of that milder season of
providential dealings with Israel, which the son of Shaphat was to usher in.
Elisha was a kind of evangelist and forerunner of Him, whose feet are beautiful
upon the mountains; whereas Elijah, like another Moses, had to restore and
vindicate the dignity of the law, which was then neglected and despised. Elisha
was to conduct back to Jehovah any who had been aroused from their deathlike
slumber by the awful ministry of Elijah. For this benign office he had been
unconsciously trained by the providence of God. The earlier circumstances of his
life, as well as the disposition of his mind, had tended to prepare him for it.
Habituated to a peaceful, but active, rural life, he appears to have grown up
under the combined influence of cheering natural scenery, and simple family
piety. When his affectionate parents expressed, as they evidently did, the
sanguine and pious joy of their hearts, by giving the name Elisha to their
new-born son, they probably little expected how significantly appropriate that
name would one day become. For its meaning is, "God is salvation," or, "God is
my Savior;" and the son of Shaphat was designated to announce him, in this
character, to Israel. Whereas the office of Elijah, as his name imports, was
rather to demonstrate to the thoughtless multitude, the awfully judicial power
and majesty of Jehovah: that of Elisha, on the contrary, was neither alarming,
imposing, nor overwhelming; it inspired confidence, and rendered approach easy;
it indicated a messenger less awful than the man of God upon Mount Carmel. The
Lord, who dwelleth in the high and holy place, now humbled himself to behold
with special condescension the poor and the wretched. And this great and
precious truth, Elisha, by his preaching and his acts, was to make manifest to
Israel. How gracious is the King of kings, who thus early disclosed to sinners
the freeness of his mercy and his love! Never did he forget the poor of the
flock.


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  CHAPTER 52: 03.03.        HIS FIRST PROPHETIC APPEARANCE
========================================================================

His First Prophetic Appearance The first act of Elisha’s public life, sets forth
at once the character of his mission. It was at Jericho, that very city upon
which Joshua had pronounced a Divine curse, that Elisha’s mission commenced with
the removal of a curse. Thither he repaired immediately after his illustrious
predecessor had been taken up into heaven, and there he intended to await the
first commands of Jehovah. In a few days he was called forth to action. The
inhabitants of Jericho, aware that they had still a prophet among them, were
soon eager to avail themselves of the advantage. Oh that the light of every
Christian brother beamed with the mild radiance of an Elisha! And this it would
do, if we were only contented to appear as vessels of mercy, representative of
the meek and lowly Savior. Still, however, there are some, whose light is thus
beneficially shining before men. They are dead unto themselves, but Christ
liveth in them. Their "life is hid with Christ in God;" they live above the
world. There is something unspeakably soothing and animating in the company of
such humble Christians. Their faith has taken firm hold of the world to come,
and their heartfelt peace sheds a blessed influence around them. The oppressed,
the doubting, and the afflicted, have recourse to them, and obtain alleviation
and succour; for they follow the steps of Him who invited the weary and heavy
laden to come to him that he might give them rest. In their words and actions
his own love seems to smile upon us; and we seldom leave them without obtaining
clearer views, and more exalted hopes.

What the inhabitants of Jericho wished to lay before the man of God was this.
The situation of the city had been once remarkable for its beauty. The soil,
favorable to vegetation, had rivaled in fruitfulness the most productive parts
of the Holy Land. But it no longer retained its ancient beauty and fertility;
for the devastating effects of the curse, pronounced upon it by Joshua, were
strikingly visible. The palms drooped dejected; the gardens no longer yielded
their perfumes; the cattle languished upon the pastures once so luxuriant; the
flocks cast their young in the fold; and the people themselves were afflicted
with disease and early death. All these calamities had their origin in the
water, which had been rendered pernicious by the curse. The complicated miseries
which accrued from these causes, made it almost a matter of regret that Hiel,
the Bethelite, had rebuilt the city. What could the inhabitants of Jericho more
earnestly desire, than the deliverance of their district, in every other respect
so well situated, from this distressing and mortifying remembrance of the past.
Doubtless many attempts had been made, and much treasure and art uselessly
expended to accomplish it: yet the evil was not removed. But as Elisha was now
resident among them, the thought occurred, that he might possibly befriend them.
They were sensible that the chastisement which God had inflicted on them, God
alone could remove. They therefore applied to the man of God. They found him
among the sons of the prophets, and, having been encouraged by the kindness of
his manner, they modestly intimated to him their desire: "Behold, we pray thee,
the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth; but the water is
naught, and the land barren." Would to God, that this description, given by the
men of Jericho, were not, in another sense, so applicable to many places in our
own country, equally beautiful and delightful, except that the water is bad:—I
mean the spiritual water; and, therefore, the moral field is barren and
unfruitful. Wherever the spiritual fountains are corrupted, and, from the pulpit
and the professor’s chair, instead of the pure truth of the gospel, multitudes
imbibe the poison of modern infidelity, which, however tinctured with
Christianity, yet, by causing a forgetfulness of Bethlehem and Golgotha,
stimulating proud man to seek salvation in himself, spreads desolation and death
in every direction; there a more destructive curse prevails, than that which
rested on the fields of Jericho. The pastures may be clothed with flocks, and
the gardens pour forth their sweets; but the moral field is uncultivated and
waste. There, science may furnish its splendid but perishable garniture, and men
may adorn themselves with its specious covering; but hope, peace, and joy are
banished from the mind, and spiritual death reigns triumphant. Oh that the God
of Elisha may heal waters like these around us! The grace of Christ crucified is
the only healing virtue here; and where this is experienced, the wilderness is
transformed into "a fruitful field," and the desert is made to "rejoice and
blossom as the rose." No sooner had the men of Jericho declared to the prophet
their desire, than he showed the most cheerful readiness to comply with it.
Perceiving that the thing was from the Lord, and instructed by his Spirit how to
act, he replied, "Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein:" and the men flew
with joy and expectation to execute his commands. Elisha, in the performance of
this miracle, was directed to the use of means; though the means he made use of
were in themselves of no efficiency whatever. But the very unsuitableness of the
remedy necessarily contributed to make the reality of the miracle more apparent.
Thus Moses was Divinely directed to lift up his rod over the Red Sea; and thus,
in after times, the laying on of hands was enjoined to the apostles. Moses’ rod,
without which Moses himself was powerless, was intended both to remind him, and
to impress upon the witnesses of his miracles, that he was only an instrument in
the hands of God, and immediately dependent on his power. The same end was to be
answered by the means which the Lord prescribed to his servant Elisha. Had
Elisha healed the waters by a wave of the hand, or by the simple expression of
"Be it so," it might have seemed as though the power rested in himself; and the
miracle would have failed of its object. But by the method here adopted, it
appeared in a different light; and the power of God, in giving efficacy to means
so insignificant, was abundantly manifested. Nor was it without design, that the
inhabitants of Jericho were directed themselves to produce the salt and the
cruse. It gave prominence to the main purport of Elisha’s mission, which was
designed to show forth the glory of the Almighty, as a God of mercy and
salvation, making use of common instruments—mere household vessels—to effect his
great and gracious purposes. All this was strikingly evangelical.

Elisha, receiving the cruse, went forth to the spring of the waters, attended by
the men of the city, and, without any preliminary parade, or pompous solemnity,
cast its contents into the spring, exclaiming, "Thus saith the Lord, I have
healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren
land." Observe, how scrupulously Elisha guarded the interests of his Master! How
studiously he ascribed all the glory to Him, to whom alone it belonged! How
careful was he to prevent the smallest portion of such honor from attaching to
himself, or to the means employed! The Lord alone was to be glorified; and,
therefore, the miracle was to appear as the pure act of his own goodness and
mercy.

"Thus saith the Lord." With these words did the prophet approach the spring; and
with the power that authorized them, it was not difficult to perform miracles.
Such a power could even have called new worlds into existence. The work of God
is perfect, and superior to all difficulties. "He spake and it was done; He
commanded, and it stood fast." We, indeed, are not gifted with the word of
healing as Elisha was; but if we are God’s faithful people, we possess words of
even greater and more blessed import. We can say, "Thus saith the Lord, None
shall pluck my sheep out of my hand." And we are certain that these words will
confound the powers of darkness. We can say, "Thus saith the Lord, Father I will
that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am!" and are
warranted to believe, without a doubt, that, would mountains and seas impede our
course thither, even seas shall be dried up, and mountains be cast down before
us. We can say, "Thus saith the Lord, Behold the fowls of the air! O ye of
little faith, are ye not much better than they?" We can say, "Thus saith the
Lord, All things shall work together for good, to those who love God!" With
Divine assurances like these, we are encompassed as with a wall; and they will
prove no less efficacious than the words of Elisha, "Thus saith the Lord, I have
healed these waters." The words were uttered, and at once the change was
accomplished. From that hour, the water became all that could be wished for
refreshment and health, and imparted both wherever it flowed. The fields
recovered their ancient fertility, and man and beast could rejoice in renovated
life and vigor. All traces of former desolation disappeared; the inhabitants of
Jericho were filled with joy; and a cheerful, stirring activity became
everywhere visible, in young and old. The happy shouts of the reaper resounded
anew between the vine-clad hills; while the shepherd, with his lambs sporting
around him, answered from the plain with the melody of his solitary pipe. The
native husbandman contemplated with unmingled joy the rich promise of the coming
harvest, and the traveller could commend, and celebrates to this day, the
exhilarating freshness of the waters of Jericho.

How gloriously was the Almighty revealed in this miracle! What a striking
instance was it of his power and goodness! What a notable seal did it affix to
the Divine call of the prophet! Who could now doubt, in whose name and authority
he appeared upon the plains of Jericho! And what a mild luster did it reflect
upon the whole prophetic character of the holy man! Surely no herald of Jehovah
had ever entered upon his course in a more evangelical spirit than Elisha. The
removal of a curse that had afflicted the land for centuries was his first act.
The restoration of a withered earthly paradise was the first seal of his high
commission.

We want to see this miracle at Jericho spiritually repeated in our times. We
long for it; we implore it. Alas! our streams have become stagnant, corrupted,
poisoned, and send forth rivers of death, threatening with moral destruction,
not merely a city and neighborhood, but a world. The springs to which I allude,
are the modes of thinking so prevalent in this age; the immoral, anarchical, and
antichristian principles, that, like a corrupting leaven, infect the mass of the
people, and control the judgments and actions of thousands. Witness our pursuits
of science, falsely so called, which, casting aside all restraint, and giving
loose to the most unbridled pretensions, seek to reduce all Divine mysteries
within their own narrow limits. Witness our poetry, whose wit is kindled from
beneath, whose inspiration is worldly or carnal lust, and in which a bold
contempt of all that is moral and decent often assumes the air of genius.
Witness our philosophical theology, the object of which is, to disprove the
necessity of an atonement, to undeify the Savior of the world, and to annul all
difference between the creation and Him whose word called it into existence. Who
can fail to perceive, while reflecting on these things, that our situation is
similar to that of Jericho, that our moral springs are poisoned? Our journals
and periodicals are conveying these bitter waters through every region; and who,
that rightly appreciates them, can forbear taking up the lamentation of Jericho,
the city of palms: "Alas! the water is naught, and the land barren!" But, oh! ye
of the spirit of Elisha, ye faithful few, to whom the good salt of the word is
entrusted, withhold not your hand. Produce it upon all occasions in your new
vessels, yes, in any new form you please, but take heed that it be the
unadulterated salt, for that alone, under the Divine blessing, can effect the
marvellous healing which is needed everywhere. In the name of the Lord cast it
into our polluted streams and rivers, and you will accomplish incomparably
greater things than did Elisha, for you will renovate a world.


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  CHAPTER 53: 03.04.     THE JUDGMENT AT BETHEL: 2KI_2:23-25
========================================================================

Chapter 2 The Judgment at Bethel

2 Kings 2:23-25

"They compassed me about like bees," saith the psalmist; and his words may well
direct our thoughts from the tried believer, to Him whose sufferings are often
portrayed in the Psalms. The words have been fulfilled respecting Christ in
every age; and wherever his Divine image is faithfully represented, his people
also find that his opposers are restless and active. But, let Christ be our
refuge and strength, and the more we are opposed, the more diligently let us
abide in him.

"And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way,
there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto
him, Go up, thou bald-head; go up, thou bald-head. And he turned back, and
looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth
two she-bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them. And he
went from thence to Mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria." This
event has, at first sight, a very repulsive aspect; and we feel as if it would
have surprised us less, had we met with it in the history of Elijah. In that of
Elisha it appears, at first, opposed to that peaceful character we have
described. A deadly burst of vengeance upon a troop of wanton youths; a curse
pronounced upon them in the name of the Lord! How characteristic of the legal
dispensation! but how opposite to all we have said of the character and call of
Elisha, as a messenger of the kindness and love of God our Savior! Yet summer
does not cease to be summer, on account of an occasional chilling tempest,
which, clearing away the vapors, opens to the earth freer access for the genial
warmth of heaven. This apparent dissonance, as will soon appear, serves only to
heighten the general harmony.

Here then is impious mockery cast at the prophet. Let us consider its origin,
its nature, and its consequences.


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  CHAPTER 54: 03.05.        THE ORIGIN OF THE MOCKERY
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The Origin of the Mockery

Elisha now departs from Jericho on his way to Bethel, and doubtless under Divine
direction. Carnal minds enjoy following their own dictates; but it is infinitely
more safe and blessed to know, that "the steps of a good man are ordered by the
Lord, and that he delighteth in his way." Elisha quitted Jericho alone, but
followed by the prayers and blessings of many grateful hearts. The peaceful and
happy days which the sons of the prophets had enjoyed in his society, would not
be forgotten by them. The whole city would bless the man of God, the instrument
of their preservation; the benefits he had been the means of conferring being of
more value than silver and gold. It was an honorable memorial which Elisha had
established for himself in the hearts of the people, and in the surrounding
country; or rather, it was a glorious memorial to the praise of Him, whose
interpreter and minister he was, and who has declared, "My glory will I not give
to another."

Bethel, whither he now directed his steps, was, as its name imports, a city once
renowned as the house of God; but it now no longer merited that glorious
distinction. The indignant prophet called it Beth-aven, that is, the house of
vanity or iniquity, Hosea 10:5; because, together with Dan, it had become the
seat of that idolatrous worship, which Jeroboam’s impious policy had established
for the purpose of effecting an entire separation between Israel and Judah. To
annihilate all desire in his subjects after the temple-worship of Jerusalem, he
caused two new stations of central worship to be erected. The golden calves, one
of which was set up at Bethel, and the other in Dan, were to supply, the place
of the cherubim above the mercy-seat; for the king said unto the people, "These
be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." An
illiterate priesthood, arbitrarily selected, without regard to lineage and
Divine appointment, were to occupy the place of the house of Aaron; and instead
of the beautiful and figurative worship of the temple, a variety of
insignificant heathenish ceremonies were substituted, which tended, not only to
banish all hopes concerning the Messiah, but likewise gradually to eradicate
from the minds of the infatuated multitude, all idea of the true worship of God.
How impious thus to lower the highest interests of man into subservience to mere
worldly policy! and how lamentable that the case of Israel is not the only
instance of so detestable a scheme! Similar attempts have frequently been made
in the world, though nothing is more offensive and provoking to the Almighty.
That Jeroboam succeeded in his nefarious scheme is not surprising, if the
natural depravity of man be considered. Many in our own days can boast of
similar achievements. To divert the people from the temple of the true church,
Jeroboam did not directly deny the necessity of the temple-worship, but erected
another to resemble and to rival it; and having done so, he cried, "Come up
hither! This is the true church! This is Jerusalem! Here the pure light shines!"
In like manner the modern corrupters of the church have also their Christianity;
but it is a Christianity as essentially different from that of Christ, as was
the worship of the golden calves from the religion of Abraham and of Moses. To
the Christ whom they profess to honor, they have denied the crown of Deity, and
the priestly garments, and have left him but a fragment of his prophetic mantle.
The devotion of their worship is but a self-complacent glow of natural feeling
and sentimentality; and their prayers are of the most extraordinary character,
being dictated by unmeaning sensibility, and expended in ejaculations without an
object. And yet our modern Beth-aven teems with worshippers; our Israel have
forsaken the spiritual Jerusalem, and the true temple. Thus "evil men and
seducers wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived; but their folly
shall be manifest unto all men."

Elisha could take no complacency in such a Bethel, nor could the Bethelites
bestow any welcome on him. He was a messenger of Israel’s covenant God; no
wonder, therefore, that he was assailed with scoffing and derision in this abode
of darkness and unbelief. It is not under the Christian dispensation alone, that
the children of God have had to feel the truth of the declaration, "I came not
to send peace, but a sword." The saints in all ages have painfully experienced
the rancor of that enmity, which, from the beginning, was suffered to arise
between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. If the world’s enmity
against the children of God appear a mystery, it is sufficiently explained by
that declaration of our Lord: "If ye were of the world, the world would love his
own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hateth you." The world cannot tolerate our separation
from themselves, or that we should rise above their standard of moral
excellence. They require us courteously to follow in their track, to adopt their
thoughts and sentiments, and to copy their actions, and if we only comply, we
secure their favor and friendship. But the moment we show symptoms of desertion,
the question of peace is at an end. The reason is obvious. Our departure from
their ranks, our rejection of their maxims and customs, their vanities and
enjoyments, is a more decided and emphatic condemnation of them, than can
possibly be expressed in words. Every converted man is too powerful a contrast
to their own character: he admonishes them, too forcibly of the necessity of a
change, and of the possibility of rising into a more holy and elevated sphere of
action than their own. But they love darkness, and cannot bear the light; they
love vanity, and sport themselves with their own deceivings. They wish not to be
disturbed in their carnal security. What wonder, then, if they have the
strongest antipathy for those who cause the light to shine around them!
Brethren, if we experience personally little or nothing of this enmity from the
world, it is no very favorable sign for us, but should make us pause and
consider, how far we are really faithful to our Lord and Master. Hath he not
said, "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you?" Can his true
disciples easily avoid being at one time or at another reviled, persecuted, or
calumniated, for his name’s sake? The indications of our high birth must surely
be too faint, and its light can shine but little before men, if the worldly can
take complacency in it, and remain worldly at our side. Surely, then, we are
indulging them in their self-delusion by our own conformity to the world. The
courtesy we commonly receive from them may be attributed to the lifelessness of
our religion; which, if it contained more of the Divine unction, of the fire
from off the altar of the sanctuary, would cause the whole appearance of things
to be changed. The true man of God can never expect to pass unmolested through
Dan or Beth-aven; for, while he is "a savor of life" to all that believe, he is
to the unbeliever "a savor of death unto death."


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  CHAPTER 55: 03.06.        THE NATURE OF THE MOCKERY
========================================================================

The Nature of the Mockery

Elisha was pursuing his solitary way to Bethel, and we may believe him to have
been not without recollections and meditations of the deepest interest, if we
reflect only upon his recent experiences. We here can hardly help being reminded
of his forefather Jacob, on his solitary journey to this very place, and of his
communion with God; but we can better imagine than describe the prophet’s
present emotions. Elevated and invigorated by his contemplations of the past,
how painful must have been the contrast of the scenes of moral darkness which
actually surrounded him! The holy ground where Jacob was constrained to exclaim,
"How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this
is the gate of heaven;" how entirely, how mournfully, was it changed! Bethel had
become a Beth-aven, a house of wickedness. The place once dedicated to the glory
and praise of Jehovah, was now a refuge of lies, and of every idolatrous
abomination. But for what purpose, might Elisha have thought, could the Lord be
sending him hither? Perhaps, many a bright ray of hope had begun to shine
through the gloom of his melancholy reflections, and he might suppose that
possibly God intended by his means to transform this place again into a Bethel.
However, he advances towards the polluted city.

It is not unlikely, that it was already known in Bethel what sort of a man was
approaching its gates, and the prince of darkness was already on the alert to
keep his palace, and to guard his territories. In Elisha he beheld an enemy,
whom, probably, he dreaded more than he had dreaded the Tishbite. This may seem
at first sight incredible; for how simple and unpretending was the appearance of
the husbandman from Abel-meholah, compared with that prophet whose spirit and
power were as the lightnings of heaven; so swiftly could they inflict death and
destruction. But the most zealous asserters of the law are not regarded by the
adversary as his most formidable opponents. He well knows that the holy law of
God, far from melting the hardened heart into a willing surrender of itself to
the Lord, becomes, through human depravity, the occasion whereby sin works in us
all manner of concupiscence; for the rebellious disposition of man only spurns
its holy restraint the more, the nearer it is brought to him. The gospel, on the
contrary, the sweet message of mercy, fills the enemy of souls with real alarm
for his kingdom. He knows its secret energy, its power to allure, convince, and
subdue; and he is never more active in opposition, than when its sounds
penetrate within his dominions. How then could he remain neutral, when he beheld
Elisha approaching one of his most devoted cities? He was aware of the blessings
which this man of God had conferred upon Jericho, which portended to him the
loss of that city and neighborhood, and for aught he knew, the loss of Bethel
also. He, therefore, hastens to take his measures, and has his agents ready at
hand; most probably those lying priests who were always his willing instruments.
He suggests to them the danger that threatens them; he incites their jealousy
and rage, and points out to them the carnal weapons with which they might most
readily assail the enemy of their dignity and rule. The priests, we may suppose,
instigated a rabble of hardened and impudent youths to try the prophet’s
firmness, by going out of the town to meet him and insult him. This young
generation of vipers think themselves men enough to encounter the odious
prophet.

Elisha arrives within the precincts of the idolatrous place; not to curse and to
destroy it; no, but with the gracious design of collecting backsliders under the
banner of love; when, behold, the rabble of rude clamorous youths rush wildly
out of the gates of the city! Our version says, "little children," but the words
in the original also signify young people. They come behind the man of God as he
is going up to the town; they raise a loud and insolent laugh, and are not
ashamed to cast at him the lowest and most offensive mockery, making even his
venerable appearance the subject of their profane raillery.

Baldness was regarded by the lower orders as a kind of disgrace; for as it was
one of the usual consequences of the leprosy, so it was accounted a sign of
personal and mental degradation. Hence, in using this opprobrious epithet, the
young profligates had a most malicious intention. Their expressions are not to
be viewed as a mere burst of youthful wantonness; but as poisoned arrows,
pointed and directed by refined and satanic malignity. It is as if they had
said, "Thou effeminate leper! thou would-be prophet! we fear thee not! Go up! Go
up!" as if they meant, "Imitate thy master! Enter thy fiery chariot, and follow
him through the clouds!" It seems to have been a scoffing allusion to the ascent
of Elijah; partly skeptical, and partly in derision of Elisha. "Wilt thou ape
the dreaded Elijah? then magnify thy office, and show thyself." At all events,
it was more than a mere sally of childish unruliness: it was the deliberate
rancor of rooted and audacious impiety. The well known and mild demeanor of
Elisha (for he was no stranger to them) seems to have unfettered their impious
spirits. And the fact, that their hatred could overcome the power of that love,
which beamed upon them in the whole appearance of this man, renders their crime
the more aggravated. Who is not penetrated with grief while contemplating this
melancholy spectacle? Alas! we cannot but believe that these youths were
hastening to perdition. Better had it been for them to have been sacrificed in
their infancy to the fiery idol Moloch, than to have thus survived, to become
the victims of sin and Satan, and to die the death of the impenitent. But did
such an evil generation disappear from the earth with the forty and two at
Bethel? Alas! the present rising generation everywhere proves the contrary. It
is one of the greatest afflictions of these evil times, that we look to many of
them in vain for the hope of better times at hand. It is heart-rending to behold
our youth drinking of those intoxicating fountains at which their fathers have
so intemperately indulged, and to know that they are initiated in vain,
theoretic, and infidel notions, which alienate the heart from God, and dissolve
the most sacred obligations. Alas! the seed so thickly sown, is already
springing up around us, luxuriantly rank. "The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge." O ye parents, masters, and teachers,
how many of you have torn down long ago the barrier of God’s word, and destroyed
all reverence for it! and now you have yourselves to blame, that you are
surrounded by a youthful band of rebels, whom you despair of controlling. You
have taught them to view scriptural Christianity as an ignominious chain, forged
by superstition in a dark age, and to regard those who preach it as canting
hypocrites, or weak and gloomy fanatics; and though we now admonish them, in the
name of God, to honor and obey their parents, yet with what effect we do it, you
yourselves are painfully aware. You have filled them with conceits of the
independence of man and of human reason, and it is but a just retribution that
you have been the first bitterly to feel, in their misbehavior to yourselves,
the sad consequences of your pernicious instructions. Should any imagine this
description of our youth to be overwrought, let them only inspect many families
and schools, and the most superficial observation will convince them of its
truth. Alas! how many of our young plants are corrupted at the core! the very
roots are rottenness; undutiful, and presumptuously obstinate; initiated from
infancy in every mystery of iniquity and impiety, of whom no one would say,
"Theirs is the kingdom of heaven;" strangers even to the show of filial
obedience, modest submission, and respect to parents and superiors; they laugh
at the rebuke of love, and spurn restraint with rebellious defiance. Those of
low degree are vulgar, headstrong, and licentious; those of high degree are
morally enervated, filled with vanity, and trusting in a lie. May God have mercy
on the future age for which this generation is ripening! My brethren, the
foundations of antichrist are laid; they are laid in the hearts of our children.
The man of sin will have only to shake this human tree, and his disciples will
fall into his arms like ripe fruit! The budding branches of the fig tree are
full of sap, and their maturity is nigh. May God, in his mercy, overrule the
approaching ruin and desolation!


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 56: 03.07.        THE CONSEQUENCES OF MOCKERY
========================================================================

The Consequences of Mockery

Such then was the origin and character of the young, but presumptuous
blasphemers who insulted the prophet at the gates of Bethel. They were
instigated by the agency of the father of lies, and had entered upon a course
the very opposite to that of goodness, righteousness, and truth. Had not this
conduct been punished in the awful manner in which it was, the authority of
Elisha among the people might have been greatly impaired; the insolence of his
opposers would have been raised to a higher pitch, and might have known no
bounds. Doubtless, this was what our inveterate adversary desired to accomplish,
that Elisha’s spiritual influence might be put down at once, his prophetic work
abolished, his mission stripped of its glory, and his person rendered ridiculous
(as a false prophet) in the eyes of the people. The same method is still pursued
by our great adversary in his opposition to the witnesses of God. If he cannot
make them suspected as hypocrites or fanatics, he derides them to the multitude
as contemptible and weak men, and therefore as false prophets. In this manner
has he sought to destroy the influence of many a faithful Christian minister,
and especially of one whom you well remember among yourselves. Nevertheless,
that holy man stood (like an ancient confessor) unshaken as a rock, and
continued joyfully to testify of Christ. He did not, as is so frequently the
case at present, aim at countervailing the offence of the cross, by diluting the
gospel, or by dressing it up in high flown eloquence. God was with that worthy
man, and blessed his ministry. No wild beasts devoured his revilers, but they
were visited with the thunderbolts of bankruptcy and penury—the badges of public
contempt. He raised his servant from the dust, wherein they had sought to
trample him; he gave double energy and point to his words, and so remarkably
owned and prospered his work, that even the ungodly were constrained secretly to
acknowledge that "the Lord was with him!" The transaction then before the gates
of Bethel was not one that could be silently passed over. The attack on the
cause of God was too serious to be met with clemency and forbearance. Of this
Elisha was perfectly sensible. The indignity offered to himself he might easily
have brooked but higher considerations prescribed to him, in this case, a
different course. His authority in Israel was at stake, and with it the results
of his prophetic mission. His rising feelings of compassion and love must,
therefore, here be sacrificed to the honor and cause of Jehovah, the true God of
Bethel and of Israel. This required the exercise of painful self-denial in a man
of Elisha’s gentle character; but a sacred public spirit sustained him, and
higher considerations for the general good prevailed over him. The man of God
turned towards the reckless mob, beheld them with holy indignation, and "cursed
them in the name of the Lord." Many interpreters, wishing to soften the matter,
represent the prophet as only reproving them for their impiety, and threatening
them, unless they reformed, with Divine judgments. But this attempt to save
Elisha’s honor is gratuitous and misplaced. The words here used by the inspired
penman oblige us to believe, that Elisha, under Divine direction, positively
announced to his revilers the signal displeasure of the God of Israel. The Lord
confirmed the word of his servant, and affixed to it a dreadful seal. Scarcely
had the awful words escaped the prophet’s lips, when, behold, two raging bears,
the terrible executioners of heavenly vengeance, rush forth from a neighboring
wood; commence the work of destruction upon the godless rabble, and desist not
until forty and two of them are torn in pieces. Those fierce avengers then
returned quietly into the gloom of their forest, without the least molestation
offered to the man of God. But what an awful judgment! What an astounding event
to Bethel, and to the whole country! That it was a Divine visitation could admit
of no dispute; otherwise it had not been even a likely occurrence that so many
human beings should have been destroyed, as in a moment, by such means as these.
Nothing but the keenest hunger could have incited such animals to attack the
human species, and not even that to attack so many at once. That two such
creatures should rush upon a whole band of vigorous youths was a thing unnatural
and unknown. That hunger had not impelled them was evident, from their tearing
one victim after another, and then deserting them all; for the history implies
that they did not devour them. It is, therefore, most evident, which indeed the
sacred history, with equal plainness, intimates, that this was a special
visitation of God, who, in the exercise of his almighty power, can appoint at
one time ravenous birds to carry sustenance to his servants, and at another
raging bears to become the agents of his righteous displeasure. The event
produced some salutary results. Though it did not suffice to change the minds of
the idolatrous Bethelites, it put them under the restraint of bit and bridle,
and served to secure, at least for a time, not only to the prophet, but to all
the pious remnant in Israel, exemption from gross outrage and injustice. It is
of the same character with the summary execution of the golden calf worshippers
at the foot of Sinai; with the judgment inflicted on Ananias and Sapphira at the
very commencement of the New Testament church; and was intended to produce a
similar effect. It proclaimed in characters of blood, "Be not deceived; God is
not mocked;" and great fear must naturally have come upon all the people. A deep
and awful impression of the Divine severity must have bound the spirit of
blasphemy and scorn, as with chains of brass; and the children of the prophets,
those at least in Bethel, would enjoy some respite from persecutions and
indignities, to which we may well suppose they had been hitherto exposed. The
horrible image of the two terrible avengers, would seem to guard like sentinels
the dwellings of God’s servants. The shields of the mighty were now seen to
cover the prophet’s head, and the glittering sword of the Lord to be ready, if
required, to devour the adversaries. But greatly as the punishment inflicted on
this impious band of youths contributed to establish the dignity of the prophet,
and important as was the impulse given by it to his work in Israel, and to the
advancement of the word of truth, meekness, and righteousness, the spirit of the
man of God would be so far from elated at any triumph of his own, that,
doubtless, if any one lamented that the honor of God rendered such severity
needful, it was Elisha himself. Many, had they been honored with such a triumph
as his, would not have retired till they had witnessed the splendid consequences
of the fearful infliction, or at least had gratified themselves with the altered
position and obsequious respect of their opponents. Elisha desired no such
gratification, but hastened from the place, as though he had been the vanquished
party, and sought retirement on Mount Carmel. Does this surprise us? It need
not, if we consider that the prophet found himself in a sphere of action
directly at variance with his amiable and evangelical spirit. He, who was so
disposed to forbearance and pardon, had been the instrument of a dreadful
punishment; he, who was so especially fitted, by the peculiar structure of his
mind, to administer consolation and healing, found himself suddenly armed with
the sword of Divine vengeance, and, for a while, commissioned to scatter death
and destruction around him. We may imagine that he hardly recognized himself,
and that his very office seemed changed; so heavily would the horrible
catastrophe depress his affectionate spirit. Not only would the mangled carcases
of his revilers be constantly present to his imagination, but the awful
condition of the souls whom his curse had precipitated into the presence of
their Judge, would continually distress a mind like his. How should he regain
that former happy serenity of which this tragic event must have greatly deprived
him? How should he hush that tumult of horror, pity, and amazement, which must
have agitated his soul? He was, indeed, aware, that the Lord had commissioned
him to pronounce the judgment; but this consciousness would be insufficient, of
itself, to restore composure. What else could he do, except to seek in retired
solitude fresh converse with his God? In the shadow of the Lord’s hand must he
hide himself, and there regain his self-possession. From him, he must obtain
renewed assurances that he had done right, that he had acted in His name, by His
imperative command, and as His instrument. He, therefore, flees from Bethel, and
hastens to Mount Carmel, to pour out, in the solitude and silence of its groves,
his oppressed soul before the Lord, and to calm its agitating impressions in
devotional retirement.

Here we leave him, and conclude our reflections with rejoicing in the
strengthening conviction, that God identifies the honor of his faithful servants
with his own, and that all contempt of them is regarded by him as a contempt of
Himself. Supported by this consideration, we may well deem it a small thing to
be judged of man’s judgment, or to bear with the injustice of the world. If
their arrows fly upwards, we may well allow them to pass harmlessly over our
heads, without exciting our envy at the evil doers: for rather should we pity
them, and cry, "Father, forgive them." It is true, God at present endures with
much long suffering those who oppose his cause and despise his people. He seldom
inflicts summary judgment as he did for Elisha at Bethel. If in this life he
punish the revilers of his faithful servants, it is rather by concealing from
them the true glory of real Christians, than by displaying it openly. Such is
the nature of that service to which we belong, that it is the service of the
cross; and the inscription on its banner for our direction on the way, is,
"Onward." But, a day will come, when the King shall assert the honors of Zion,
and present her to his enemies as his chosen bride, arrayed in his own glory.
What astonishment and confusion of face will then be manifested! Till then let
us bear the cross patiently, and be contented to be despised and unknown. We
know ourselves. We already see though darkly, yet assuredly, in the mirror of
God’s word, something of what we shall be; therefore let us never faint, nor be
discouraged that the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Amen.


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  CHAPTER 57: 03.08.     THE EXPEDITION AGAINST MOAB: 2KI_3:9-12
========================================================================

Chapter 3 The Expedition against Moab

2 Kings 3:9-12

"My tongue is the pen of a ready writer," Psalms 45:1. So speaks the royal
psalmist, when about to utter glorious mysteries concerning the King, who is
fairer than the children of men. David, like all the other prophets of God, was
an instrument of the Holy Spirit, who spake by his tongue, and pen, and song;
employing these to convey to mankind enlarged ideas of his everlasting kingdom,
as also to express reproofs, corrections, and instructions.

Probably those inspired writers themselves sometimes knew but little of the
import of what they uttered, though they never appear to have been entire
strangers to it. David not only said, "My tongue is the pen of a ready writer;"
but he introduced it by saying, "My heart is inditing a good matter," so that
his heart was likewise engaged. Such Divine messengers were themselves feasted,
while they administered to others. But, beyond a doubt, much passed through
their hearts that was but half appreciated; much that was but darkly understood;
and much that was quite enigmatical and veiled. No authors ever occupied a
position so peculiar with reference to their own productions, or ever felt so
deep an interest in those very productions, as did the penmen of prophecy, 1
Peter 1:10-12. Their own writings afforded them abundant matter for reflection
and research. How often must they have afterwards discovered depths and wonders
in their inspired songs and addresses, of which they were hardly conscious while
penning them! How many unsuspected treasures of wisdom and consolation must they
have met with in their own writings, as their minds became more and more
enlightened for that purpose! Surely, then, the great truths which they declared
should deeply interest our minds, especially as it was to us, more than to
themselves, that they ministered them, 1 Peter 1:12. After the Sun of
Righteousness had arisen, the shadows of the Old Testament passed away, and all
its wonderful mysteries and prophecies began to receive their luminous
fulfillment. Christ has the key of David, to open every mystery, having brought
life and immortality to light. The lives and actions, as well as the writings,
of Old Testament prophets and kings, were not infrequently full of sacred
mystery.

"So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom: and
they fetched a compass of seven days’ journey: and there was no water for the
host, and for the cattle that followed them. And the king of Israel said, Alas
that the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the
hand of Moab. But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord,
that we may inquire of the Lord by him? And one of the king of Israel’s servants
answered and said, Here is Elisha, the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the
hands of Elijah. And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord is with him. So the
king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him." The scene
is here changed to war and battle; but it presents much that is interesting and
instructive. The embarrassment of the kings, and their application to Elisha,
are the two subjects to which we are to direct our attention.


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  CHAPTER 58: 03.09.        THE EMBARRASSMENT OF THE KINGS
========================================================================

The Embarrassment of the Kings

Jehoram is incited by a vexatious occurrence to prepare for war. The Moabites, a
heathen people on the southern frontier of his kingdom, had raised the standard
of revolt. This unruly people, whom God had given into the hands of the
Israelites, and of whom David once triumphantly declared, "Moab is my washpot!"
had again and again struggled to throw off the yoke; but had invariably
experienced how vain it is to fight against God. Their rebellion, however, had
now assumed a more important and alarming character. They had risen in mass,
with king Mesha at their head, declaring themselves independent; and seemed
resolved to perish, rather than to continue to pay the tribute that had been
imposed on them by the princes of Israel. The revolt of Moab was unquestionably
an act of national guilt; but it was no less a Divine chastisement upon Jehoram,
who had forsaken the God of his fathers, and had addicted himself to the
idolatry of the golden calves. Of this wickedness he was to be made sensible;
and, therefore, God let loose the lion-like men of Moab, and permitted them to
rebel.

Jehoram was not a little disturbed at the intelligence of this event; and,
spurning negotiation, which he rightly considered derogatory to his dignity, he
adopted the most energetic measures, and drew the sword. He had nothing to
apprehend from other neighboring powers; nevertheless, he requested Jehoshaphat,
the pious king of Judah, to render his important aid, and to conduct into the
field a part of his own numerous army. "I will come up," replied Jehoshaphat to
the king of Israel; "I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as
thy horses." When the two princes had united their forces, it became necessary
to deliberate on their line of march. Jehoram advised proceeding through the
wilderness of Edom, and this route was the one which they adopted. When they
arrived in Edom the king of that country, who was a tributary of Jehoshaphat,
joined the army with his horsemen; they then advanced together through the
desert to attack the enemy, who, drawn out upon the plain, and confident in
their numbers and enthusiasm, were exulting in the anticipation of a glorious
triumph. The three allies likewise flattered themselves with the same hopes. But
they, or at least Jehoram and the king of Edom, had trusted in an arm of flesh.
The admirable equipment and discipline of their troops had inspired them with a
courage, which left them no room to doubt that the first encounter would be
decisive in their favor, and open to them a way to the capital. But, as often
happens in similar circumstances, Israel had miscalculated, as well as Moab. The
affair takes quite a different turn from what either party had expected. Both
the Israelites and the heathen were again to feel that whatever might be the
issue, it was not to be brought about by an arm of flesh, or by human wisdom,
but only by Him, who doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and
among the inhabitants of the earth. He is the Dispenser of courage and of fear.
He directs the arrow to its mark, or turns it aside. His alliance is victory,
and his displeasure destruction. At His command the sun can put forth its
hottest beams, and whole armies languish and pine away. He can send forth
irresistible frost, and the limbs of his adversaries are fettered with invisible
chains. He can bring pestilence and famine upon a country, and what then avails
the warrior’s prowess, or the commander’s skill?

It was, indeed, an imposing force, at the head of which the two kings advanced
against Moab, and the general impression was, that the sight of such an army
would be sufficient to annihilate insurrection and revolt. But another enemy
unexpectedly appears, against which none had calculated; and the combined armies
of Israel, of Judah, and of Edom, were threatened with imminent destruction,
before they had even reached the Moabitish frontier: for after they had advanced
some days march through the wilderness, the heat had become intolerable, the
waters in every direction had dried up, and the troops were exhausted and
enervated. The increasing thirst of the soldiers soon consumed the supply of
water in the camp; and now, weak, dejected, and languishing, they were in danger
of perishing by a most terrible death. Their leaders would have pushed on, to
reach, if possible, a more favorable and better watered region; but in vain.
Nowhere was a spring or a supply of water to be found; nor even a shady wood,
where they might take shelter and repose. On every side was only a flat and
parched heath, swept by a burning and suffocating wind. After "fetching a
compass seven days" their march is totally arrested. The fainting warrior falls
gasping to the earth; the horse, overpowered with fatigue and thirst, can no
longer proceed, and the camels sink exhausted under their burdens. In this
extreme embarrassment and peril, the idolatrous Jehoram becomes uneasy on
another account. His conscience, like a lion invigorated by sleep, awakens
within him, and suggests to him something about the cause and consequences of
this unforeseen emergency. It is natural for an evil conscience to give things a
dismal tinge; for it is from conscience that every condition in this life
borrows its coloring. Yes, and let it be only cleansed by the blood of the Lamb,
and it sheds brightness upon whatever may happen to us; cheering interpretations
are suggested by it, and it robs each affliction of its sting. On the other
hand, the whole world cannot furnish a power equal to that of a condemning
conscience. It is a power that can make the hero tremble, and deprive the most
valiant of their courage; it can force its upbraiding through the plaudits of a
world, so as to convert the choicest earthly possessions into dreariness and
wretchedness. "An evil conscience," says Luther, "is like a tormenting spirit,
it is alarmed in the middle of outward prosperity." Scripture also declares,
that "the wicked flee when no man pursueth," and that "the sound of a shaken
leaf shall chase them."

"Alas!" cried the king of Israel, "that the Lord hath called these three kings
together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab!" "With the pure," sings David,
"thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt show thyself
unsavory." Even when the designs of God are fraught with mercy, the surmises of
an evil conscience are evil. In the Divine chastisements it discerns only a rod
of anger; and in circumstances which He has brought about for the display of his
power to save, it sees only preparations for destruction. "These three kings,"
says Jehoram; he considers not only the viceroy of Edom, but also the pious
Jehoshaphat, as included with himself in the same condemnation. The great
difference between his own character and that of the king of Judah, he entirely
overlooks. That the sentence had gone forth against himself alone, he neither
will perceive, nor suffer others to intimate Sinners imagine to themselves
consolation from having companions in their guilt and punishment; but the Lord,
who knoweth those that are his, will in due time cast down every such
imagination.


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  CHAPTER 59: 03.10.        THE KINGS VISIT ELISHA
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The Kings Visit Elisha To Jehoram’s desponding exclamation, Jehoshaphat, the
noble king of Judah, quickly replied. His words evince more firmness and
composure, and appear to have proceeded from a heart accustomed to recognize in
the God of heaven not only a Judge, but a Friend. But, it may be asked, if
Jehoshaphat was so in favor with the Almighty, why was he involved in the same
calamity with apostate Jehoram? We answer that for this he had himself to blame.
If good men make common cause with the ungodly, they must not complain if the
lightning, which descends upon the house where they are met, should involve them
in one common ruin. The king of Judah was justified in lending help to Jehoram;
but to reply with such an excess of cordiality and friendship, "I am as thou
art, and my people as thy people," and to abstain from every, the most remote,
intimation, that he had merited the revolt of the Moabites by his own apostasy
from the God of his fathers, was unworthy of a son of David. Such obsequiousness
to an idolatrous renegade, was, to say the least, very weak and ill-judged. It
was necessary that a sense of this fault should deeply affect the good king’s
mind, for present humiliation and for future wisdom; hence even he was not
exempted from the common calamity. In one respect it was the same scourge
alighted on them both, but in another respect it was not the same. Jehoram was
punished, but Jehoshaphat was chastened. But chastisements are visitations of
our heavenly Father’s love. The cup of Job was not sweet; the chastening
appointed to Lazarus was not joyous; the messenger of Satan permitted to buffet
the apostle, was still less welcome to flesh and blood. But these things are all
very different from the curse of the law; otherwise the Redeemer died and rose
in vain. King Jehoshaphat then, instead of breaking out into pusillanimous
despondency, directs his thoughts to God; to the Lord Jehovah, in whom is the
help of everlasting, strength. "Is there not here a prophet of the Lord," he
asks, "that we may inquire of the Lord by him?" How cheering is this voice
crying in such a dreary wilderness! The cry of God’s people cannot remain long
unheard. But the noble prince inquires for a prophet. Why did he not in person
approach the throne of God, and make known his solicitude? Does it not seem, as
though some consciousness of guilt had closed and barred the way? Perhaps his
sinful compliance with the world had given rise to fears, which had now ascended
like a dark cloud between his soul and God. Prophets, however, were often
consulted upon any great public or private emergency. God’s oracles, delivered
through prophets and apostles, still remain to us in the Holy Scriptures; oh
that these were oftener consulted by ourselves, for they are suited to every
emergency, rank, and condition!

One of king Jehoram’s attendants replied, that there was a prophet at hand. And
who was he? No other than Elisha, the son of Shaphat, "which poured water on the
hands of Elijah;" that is, who had acted as his servant and attendant. But how
was it that Elisha is suddenly so near at hand in this burning and frightful
wilderness? We remember that after the bloody scene at Bethel he retired into
solitude to Mount Carmel. After remaining some time there in communion with God,
by whose gracious visitations his spirit appears to have been strengthened, he
returned in the name of the Lord to the field of his labors and directed his
steps towards Samaria. Upon his arrival there, the united armies of Israel were
about to march against Moab. Incited by love, and guided by the Spirit of the
Lord, he appears to have attended at a distance the camp of his nation. The
weapons, indeed, with which he had girded himself, were not carnal. His sword
was the word of God, and faith was his shield and buckler. He probably
considered, that circumstances might arise in which his important services for
the honor of the Lord God of Israel would be pressingly required. A timely word
of his might decide the fate of battle; and he knew that prayer, the prayer of
faith, is better than weapons of war. He remembered the uplifted hands of Moses,
and the wonder-working prayer of Samuel; and, animated with cheerful courage, he
followed the host to the field, bearing the whole people upon his interceding
heart; but who would have imagined that this plain, unarmed man, covered with a
mantle, should be the instrument of preserving the armies of Israel from the
most terrible destruction? The name of Elisha was scarcely uttered before their
desponding hearts revived, and Jehoshaphat joyfully exclaimed, "The word of the
Lord is with him!" He knew the prophet, and believed in his Divine inspiration
and commission. Here "the king" discovers that he "putteth his trust in God;" a
sparkle of the concealed gem, which he bore about with him, and which in every
situation rendered him essentially different from the world of the ungodly, now
showed itself.

What a spirited and faithful delineation of real life is Scripture history! It
can scarcely be said to narrate: short and simple are its sketches, yet its
pictures are the most animated and impressive. It sets us in the middle of every
scene, and we seem familiarly acquainted with all its personages, in their
difficulties, dispositions, and characters. The prophet was now to be consulted.
But how was it to be done? In some less promising emergency a messenger might
have been sent to fetch him. But at present, even Jehoram is of opinion, that
this would not be treating the honored servant of God with becoming respect;
therefore the three kings resolve to go to him themselves in person, and they
repair immediately towards the quarter where he had been seen. It was not long
before they found him, and ready to comply with their wishes. Imagine the holy
man seated under some solitary shelter in this wilderness of Idumea. The princes
approach him, and their submissive and supplicating attitude sufficiently
indicates the nature of their visit. What an affecting scene of three monarchs,
the rulers of Israel, Judah, and Edom, in the humble attitude of suppliants,
before the lowly husbandman of Abel-meholah! Of him are they seeking counsel and
help, under circumstances wherein their own wisdom had "utterly fallen;" at his
hand they look for a change of affairs, which all their own power had failed to
accomplish. He was to intercede, as their representative, with the Almighty, and
to obtain for them deliverance and victory. Elisha is now their sole remaining
earthly counsellor. What a triumph for the prophet, or rather for Him in whose
service he appeared, and whose cause he conducted! And thus it not infrequently
happens that in times of severe distress, the servants of God are called forth
to sudden honor. When earthly supports are found too weak, when the resources of
human wisdom and power are exhausted, then have even slanderous enemies become
disposed to confess, that the people of God are to be envied; and to them will
they now have recourse, as if they thought themselves safer near them than
elsewhere; yes, as if they were sensible of the invisible defence with which the
righteous are always encompassed. Those who previously would have spurned the
exhortations of "the quiet in the land," show at once a ready ear for them, and
even find comfort in knowing that the prayers of some one of this despised
community are offered up in their behalf. At such times a wicked Ahab will put
more confidence in his devout chamberlain, than in all his generals and
ministers, yea, than in all his own majesty, his chariots and horsemen. Thus the
world is obliged, in many ways, and often against its will, to acknowledge, "Ye
are the blessed of the Lord which hath made heaven and earth." Your Lord, he is
the God, and to you He grants such access as we are unconscious of Testimonies
of this kind extorted from the ungodly, redound greatly to the honor of the
gospel, and serve as additional proofs, that the world in itself possesses
nothing but poverty and despondency. Then let his people give glory to His name,
that He has chosen them out of the world and translated them into the kingdom of
His dear Son.

If it be true that destruction would not have come upon the city of Sodom, had
ten righteous persons been found there; if it be true that "the Lord will fulfil
the desire of those that fear Him," and that he who prays in the name of Jesus,
shall never pray in vain; then it is not superstitious fancy that induces men in
times of imminent danger to place peculiar dependence on the presence of
righteous persons among them. Such persons, like living conductors, turn the
lightning from the neighborhood in which they dwell. Wherever they reside,
eternal Love resides with them, and the angel of the Lord encampeth round about
them; the windows of heaven are open to pour down blessings on such a place, and
invisible bulwarks are planted about it.

Therefore I prize thee, my own beloved valley, wherein so many of the children
of God can be numbered; that thou canst rejoice in entire districts, where every
house is a tabernacle of God among men, and of many houses in which not a single
ungodly character can be discerned. Dost thou not perceive, that, for this
reason, God hath made an hedge about thee? How often have threatening dangers
enveloped thy very confines, and then rolled away like angry clouds, so that in
thy sky scarcely anything has been visible, except the rainbow of peace, and
showers of blessing! Value then the people of God residing in the middle of
thee; despise them not, but bless them. Thou partakest of the goodness with
which He crowns them; and, though they cannot save thee at last, except thou
become entirely the Lord’s, they are a blessed means of thy temporal prosperity
and security, a means whereby the bounties of Heaven descend upon all thy
children.


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  CHAPTER 60: 03.11.     THE MIRACULOUS RELIEF: 2KI_3:13-19
========================================================================

Chapter 4 The Miraculous Relief 2 Kings 3:13-19 The times in which we live have,
on more accounts than one, a serious aspect. That period of refining which
awaits the church, appears to be near at hand. But true disciples stand upon a
rock in the middle of the waves, and that rock consists of the grace, love,
truth, power and faithfulness of their great King. May the reflections we are
about to enter upon, serve to strengthen us in the belief of this!

"And Elisha said unto the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? get thee
to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king
of Israel said unto him, Nay: for the Lord hath called these three kings
together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab. And Elisha said, As the Lord of
hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the
presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see
thee. But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel
played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him. And he said, Thus saith the
Lord, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not
see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water,
that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. And this is but a
light thing in the sight of the Lord: he will deliver the Moabites also into
your hand. And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and
shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good
piece of land with stones."

We have seen the three sovereigns in the respectful attitude of suppliants
before the prophet of God. Elisha anticipates the occasion of such unusual
condescension by first addressing them. He was not embarrassed, nor even
surprised at their visit. The Majesty of Heaven was too clearly before the eyes
of his mind for him to be immoderately awed by human greatness. As all earthly
greatness and glory appear very different in the eyes of God and of his holy
angels, from what they commonly appear to men, so is this more or less the case
with those who live near to God upon earth. Our present subject then opens with,
I. Elisha’s address to the kings;

II. The minstrel; and III. The prophet’s directions.


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  CHAPTER 61: 03.12.        ELISHA'S ADDRESS TO THE KINGS
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Elisha’s Address to the Kings

Elisha first addresses Jehoram. This unprincipled monarch merited an open
rebuke. What had he cared hitherto for Jehovah, or for any of his prophets? But
now that the Almighty had suddenly stopped him in his career, a reluctant
submission is extorted from him, so that this son of Jezebel no longer feels it
beneath him to approach one of the Lord’s prophets in the humblest manner, to
obtain his advice, intercession, and assistance. But we may be quite sure, that
Elisha was in no wise disposed to glory over him on this occasion. For if
Jehoram now believed and trembled before God, it was only as "the devils believe
and tremble." If he sought aid from above it was entirely from carnal and
worldly motives. The king came to beg water for his army, not mercy for his
soul. In his extremity he thought for once to make use of Jehovah and his
prophets, and could his object be attained he would trouble himself no longer
concerning either the one or the other. He did not seek first the Lord, and then
His benefits. When the seer’s penetrating eye had for a moment surveyed the
monarchs, his expression, usually so mild, assumed the gravity of awful rebuke,
and the words he uttered were like arrows: "What have I to do with thee? get
thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophet of thy mother!" Here is
no triumph of human vanity, it is only the triumph of God over Baal, of truth
over falsehood; it is an authoritative setting forth of idolatry in all its
worthlessness, by an appeal to the king’s present despair and ignominy. But,
distressing as is the occurrence of such exhibitions (and similar ones are not
at all infrequent in common life), they have their bright side. In these
exigencies the Lord is magnified, and his gospel triumphs, or at least its value
is illustrated. But it is a fearful retribution, if, when despisers of God feel
constrained to seek him in the hour of their calamity, and approach him with
uplifted hands and agonized hearts, if they find, with Jehoram, every access to
the Almighty closed against them; and their contempt being now requited with
contempt, they receive from above the appalling reply, "What have I to do with
thee? get thee to thy own gods, and let them help thee." Thus it was with those
who are spoken of in the second chapter of Jeremiah, "They have turned their
back unto me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will
say, Arise, and save us. But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let
them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble." Dreadful repulse!
God forbid that we should ever experience it.

If the heart of Jehoram trembled when he appeared before Elisha, what must he
have felt at this cutting salutation! "Nay," he replies; as meaning, Oh, say not
so, for it is of no use now to get me unto them; for I am sensible of the
supreme power and displeasure of Jehovah, and to Him must I apply. "For the Lord
hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hands of Moab."
Yes, the perverse apostate knew well, that Jehovah is God. Of that he had
received sensible demonstration. Still all recognition of the Most High in
Israel was odious to him, it disturbed him too much in his abominable and
impious courses; therefore he sought to expel it from his soul, and to
substitute the tolerant idols of Dan and Bethel. Now, however, when destruction
is at his heels, he would hear nothing more of the golden calves, but professes
to give glory to God. Yet what hath the Lord to do with such prevaricating
homage? What, with merely the fruit of selfish feelings? A time-serving religion
is ever repudiated by him, and loathsome to him. Elisha, little affected by
piety of this sort, replies with holy indignation, "As the Lord of hosts liveth,
before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of
Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee." This
was speaking the plain truth, and informing Jehoram at once how matters stood;
namely, that if relief should be now granted, it would not be vouchsafed out of
any respect to him, but for the sake of the pious Jehoshaphat. The ungodly
monarch would, however, be permitted to share in the deliverance, though not
wrought on his account. This was humiliating to such a prince of idolatry; yet
any thing was to be apprehended, rather than that he would "be swallowed up
with, overmuch sorrow." If he did but obtain help, his pusillanimous fears would
be allayed; which was all he cared for.

How strikingly is the same discrimination of Divine Providence as was here
exhibited in the wilderness of Edom, still observable from time to time! The
preservation or victory of an army, though ascribed by the world to its
discipline, or to the skill of its commander, is always far more properly
attributable to God’s care of his people, some of whom had probably marched
unnoticed in the ranks, while many more had remained otherwise defenseless at
home. Thus also an alarming danger has passed harmlessly away from a town or
village, and the preservation of the place has been attributed to some fortunate
accident, or to the wise measures of magistrates; while the sole occasion of
deliverance might, perhaps, have been sought in a few of the humblest
intermingled dwellings, where prayers and intercessions were made by some "that
feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name."


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  CHAPTER 62: 03.13.        THE MINSTREL
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The Minstrel

Elisha having thus addressed Jehoram, a scene opens, which at its commencement
must have appeared strange and unaccountable. Elisha, without assigning any
reason, desires a minstrel to be brought before him. A minstrel is conducted
into his presence, probably from among the military. At Elisha’s bidding he
tunes his instrument, strikes the chords, and plays before the prophet in the
solitary wilderness. Elisha and the kings listen to the sweet minstrelsy in
profound silence; the latter in anxious doubt as to what was to ensue; the
former, soaring with the melodious harmony into higher regions. Of the kind of
music which the minstrel played we are not informed. A trifling air, or a
martial song, it is not likely to have been. The awful seriousness of the
moment, and the presence of the man of God, on which the hopes of the whole army
depended, must have sufficiently intimated to the musician what was proper for
the occasion. Probably it was one of the well-known songs of Zion, which we may
suppose were sometimes played and sung in the army.

Though music is one of the gifts of God, it is not to be numbered with those of
the first order, such as our daily bread, his holy word, and many similar
blessings. It must rather be classed with the flowers that shed their fragrance
around us, and with the various delicious fruits that ripen for our enjoyment.
It is intended to redound to the glory of His name, and to contribute to adorn,
to cheer, and to soothe our existence. It is the universal dialect of feeling,
and constitutes the appropriate medium of a sensibility too refined for common
language. As giving expression to some of the tenderest susceptibilities of the
soul, it is the most wonderful of the arts; and sometimes acts with very
powerful influence. Hence it is a dangerous art, when employed in the service of
the world, of vanity, and sin. But when applied to the uses for which it was
originally intended, to the praise of the Lord, and the glory of his holy name,
to celebrate the works of his hands in the beautiful objects of nature, and the
goodness of his ways of providence and grace, and thus to give utterance and
emphasis to the nobler and better feelings of the heart, how much of genuine
beauty and blessing does it serve to diffuse over our personal and social
existence in the life that now is! Luther, our great reformer, who is even
celebrated to this day for his sublime compositions in sacred music, has
feelingly expressed in some of his writings, his own experience of the truth of
the preceding remarks.

Music was in frequent use among the ancient prophets, and was sedulously
cultivated in their school. Saul met at the hill of God a company of prophets
with psaltery, tabret, pipe, and harp, to the sound of which they sang their
inspired songs, 1 Samuel 10:5; 1 Samuel 10:10. Music was here put to its
legitimate use; for it was employed in the service of holiness. Its inspiration
was the love of God, its breathings were raised by the Spirit of the Lord, and
the glory of the Lord was its end and object. Thus consecrated from on high, and
allied to the harmony of heaven, it ministered to peace and serenity around; to
dispelling of discontent and care, to the suggestion and exercise of thought
upon the highest subjects, and to the preparation of the mind for every gracious
impression. To show how music, applied to holy purposes, can be the means of
direct salutary influence upon the soul, it is not necessary to adduce the
example of David with his harp playing before Saul. Many of us have experienced
it ourselves, and Elisha, who was a man of like passions as we are, was
evidently not insensible of it. His spirit, which had been agitated with holy
indignation against the son of Ahab, required immediate calming to its wonted
equanimity, that it might be a fit mirror of heavenly and oracular light. And
now, at the moment of recovered composure and self-possession, Jehovah
approaches his prophet in the power of inspiration, as it is written, "The hand
of the Lord came upon him." The Spirit of Christ, which was in him, did then
signify what he was to declare, advise, and do.


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  CHAPTER 63: 03.14.        THE PROPHET'S DIRECTIONS
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The Prophet’s Directions The minstrel ceases, and Elisha communicates agreeable
intelligence. How great are the mercies of God! Israel is not only to obtain
water, but to subdue the rebels. "Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of
ditches. Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall
be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your
beasts. And this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord: he will deliver
the Moabites also into your hand. And ye shall smite every fenced city, and
every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water,
and mar every good piece of land with stones." Such was the utterance of the
prophet; at which every dejected countenance must have brightened with joy. The
command was obeyed with alacrity, and ditches were formed. And when they had
drawn the deep furrows over the parched soil of the valley, at which they appear
to have worked all night, lo! the thirsty country glistens everywhere the next
morning with rills of water, which had come by the way of Edom; and thereby was
the whole fainting army not only rescued from death, but revived to new life and
vigor. Now, this is but one of the many instances of that peculiar, but
infinitely wise, method by which the God of providence displays his sparing
mercy and preserving love. Yet it may be asked, Why was such an indirect method
as this adopted? Would not the preservation of Israel’s army have been more
simply and naturally secured by a prevention of the drought altogether? It
would; but then Jehoram would have retained his golden calves; Jehoshaphat would
have had one humbling experience less of the faithfulness of his God; and the
army, attributing victory to their own prowess, would have thought, We are the
men! We can command success! The pride of human nature would have been fostered,
and Jehovah yet more dishonored and despised. But by the arrival of help and
deliverance, after every fleshly arm had been enfeebled, the Lord alone was
exalted in that day. His power and faithfulness were magnified in the sight of
the nations; apostates were put to shame; the high looks of the high ones were
brought down; believers were confirmed in their faith and courage; and enjoyment
was enhanced by such an immediate granting of the goodness and beneficence of
the Almighty. O ye children of God, take notice of all this, that you may not be
too much cast down when he leads you over rugged paths and through desert
places. Does the day of your earthly prosperity close in night? It is only that
you may behold the Star of Bethlehem. Do the supports of human wisdom and
counsel break under you? The Lord would only erect above them his throne of
power and faithfulness. The Moabites, who had received intelligence of the
advance of their enemies, were now assembled in battle array upon their
frontiers. When the sun was up, and his rosy light first fell upon the water,
the vanguard of the rebels, beholding it at a distance, supposed it to be blood.
Thus the notion was rapidly spread from one to another that the kings were
surely slain, having fallen out among themselves. Hence there was a universal
shout, "Moab to the spoil!" and they rush forward, confident of victory. But who
can describe their consternation at beholding the Israelitish squadrons
advancing to meet them sword in hand! In a moment they are confounded, and flee
in the utmost panic and disorder. The allied forces press hard upon them into
their country; and, as had been predicted by the word of Jehovah, they
demolished their cities, and on every good piece of land cast every man his
stone and filled it; and they stopped all their wells of water, and felled all
the good trees; only Kir-haraseth, the capital, they did not demolish, but they
encompassed it about with their slingers, and threatened to level it likewise
with the ground. Into this place the king of Moab had thrown himself, with the
remainder of his fugitive troops; but soon perceiving that he should not be able
to defend the city, he formed the desperate resolution of cutting his way
through the enemy. He, therefore, sallied forth on that side of the city which
was invested by the king of Edom, but being overpowered by numbers, he was again
driven back within the walls. And now a horrible scene ensued. The king, frantic
and desperate, suddenly appeared with his first-born son upon the battlements of
Kir-haraseth. There he caused an altar to be erected, and sacrificed upon it his
own child to propitiate the gods. The Israelites, at beholding such a horrifying
spectacle of rage and despair, raised the siege, and retired to their own land,
leaving the unfortunate king, with the wreck of his army, to seek safety in
flight. The object of the campaign had been attained; the power of Moab was
broken, the rebellion suppressed, and the country again placed under the scepter
of the king of Israel.

———

"The Lord is a man of war, great and mighty in battle." It is well for us, if we
are on His side, and He on ours. Then we advance from victory to victory; we
break in pieces the mighty, like earthen vessels.

Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. He takes from us our cisterns, to supply
us from his own fountains. He strikes away our supports from under us, not that
we may fall, but that he may be himself our stay and staff; and he makes use of
our perplexities to give us experience of his power, mercy, and truth. A heathen
sage is said to have exclaimed, "Never complain of misfortune while Cesar is
your friend!" But what shall we exclaim to those whom the King of kings and Lord
of lords, is not ashamed to call his friends and his brethren! He hath said, to
every one of them, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Should not this
gracious declaration for ever banish all their fears and anxieties? He who hath
Christ dwelling in his heart by faith, though he seem as having nothing, is
truly possessing all things.

Privations, difficulties, and trials, are God’s providential means of hiding
{Pride}pride from man; and it is only when pride will not be thus subdued, that
men in their afflictions yield to despair. Pride, as in the case of Jehoram, is
ever the cause of despair: and no wonder; for it is the cause of unbelief, and
of all the bitter fruits of unbelief. And why, but because it will not deign to
offer unto God one word of heartfelt supplication. What an insane and
contemptible thing then is pride in the fallen children of Adam! Even "the fear
of man," which "bringeth a snare," proceeds from pride. Do we not therefore see
what a righteous thing it is in God to rebuke and punish this sin? Can we wonder
that the fearful and the unbelieving, those who live and die under the influence
of pride, must have their portion in the lake which burneth with fire and
brimstone? But God giveth grace to the humble. He is to the true Israel a Father
of mercies and a God of all comfort; and with the Lord for our Shepherd, we can
lack nothing. Therefore never can we be too dependent on Him; never too humble
and poor in spirit. Herein is that saying true, "When I am weak, then am I
strong."


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  CHAPTER 64: 03.15.     THE AUGMENTATION OF THE OIL: 2KI_4:1-7
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Chapter 5 The Augmentation of the Oil 2 Kings 4:1-7 The spiritual Zion is no
abode of famine, drought, or desolation. Its fields are always green with
abundance both in summer and winter; because "the Lord is there." Of this we are
furnished with a pleasing instance in the history before us.

"Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto
Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy
servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons
to be bondmen. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what
hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the
house, save a pot of oil. Then he said, Go borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy
neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou
shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all
those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from
him. and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to
her; and she poured out. And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that
she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not
a vessel more. And the oil stayed. Then she came and told the man of God. And he
said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the
rest. The Moabitish war having terminated in the signal defeat and reduction of
the revolters, Elisha, who had returned home, is again employed in ministering
blessings among the lowly and quiet in the land. Thus we have now to contemplate
another instance of the peculiar character of his mission as a messenger and
instrument of grace. The account is beautifully affecting, and well adapted to
the strengthening of our faith. It relates, I. A poor widow’s distress;

II. Her application to the prophet; and III. Her miraculous relief.


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  CHAPTER 65: 03.16.        A POOR WIDOW'S DISTRESS
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A Poor Widow’s Distress The place of this remarkable occurrence is not
mentioned. It may have been at Gilgal, where there was also a prophet’s
seminary, like those in Jericho and Bethel, 1 Samuel 10:8-10. These
institutions, of which Samuel appears to have been the originator and founder,
were voluntary associations of men and youths, residing together under the same
roof, or occupying cottages in the immediate vicinity of each other, supporting
themselves by the labor of their hands, either at the plough, or in the vine and
olive gardens. Their chief business was spiritual; and they devoted their time
principally to the study of sacred history and the Divine revelations, as also
to sacred music, and other arts and sciences dedicated to the service of God. A
prophet always governed these institutions, as their teacher and paternal guide,
who, when not commissioned to other service by the word of the Lord, resided as
a welcome guest, sometimes at one, and sometimes at another of them; imparting
wisdom by his conversation, quietly assembling them for instruction in the
things of God, and uniting them in prayer and cheerful praise. These enlightened
societies, to which can best be compared the missionary seminaries of modern
days, contained the flower of Israel, and constituted those living temples,
wherein the fire of Jehovah shone purest and brightest. They were to Israel,
what Israel was to the world—the repositories of Divine truth. Often was the
little remaining vigor of that nation’s spiritual life concentrated here; whence
it issued forth afresh to revive the whole languid body of the Jewish people:
for the Lord chose from these seminaries, not a few of his seers and prophets to
plead his cause before the nations. Many of the pious and enlightened men, who
were called "sons of the prophets," had wives and children; and of such was she
who is here introduced to our notice, a widow of one of the sons of the
prophets. Let us visit her abode of poverty. The naked walls, the empty shelves,
the miserable table with a wooden bench before it, the straw pallet in the
desolate chamber, sufficiently show her circumstances. But these are still more
plainly declared by the pale and dejected countenance of the indigent widow. She
is a daughter of Abraham, and not only after the flesh; for she knows the Lord,
and is known of Him, who is a Father of the fatherless, and maintains the cause
of the widow. She is aware that her portion is not in this life, but in a better
country, that is, an heavenly. Without this animating consciousness she might
even have perished in her affliction; for severe affliction had come upon her,
one of the severest that can afflict humanity. Her husband, the glory of her
house, had been torn away from her by an early death, and the world offered
nothing to supply her loss, but much to embitter it; for she had also to
experience what it is for a poor widow of a pious husband to fall into the hands
of merciless men. However fervently he might have commended her on his death-bed
to the protection of the Almighty, she was now not only in the deepest poverty,
but loaded with debts. How these had been contracted we know not; but as it is
well here to remember the state of the times, in reference to those of whom the
world was not worthy, so it is enough for us to behold the widow in her
embarrassment. Her creditor was importunate. She had already stript her house of
all that was not indispensable, and sold it, in order to pacify him; and the
sons of the prophets, themselves poor, had doubtless contributed their utmost.
Yet all was not sufficient; and unless the whole sum were forthcoming, the
inexorable creditor was fully determined to seize and detain her two sons as
bondservants for seven years; which, according to an Israelitish law, he had the
power of doing. Imagine what must have been the distress of the unhappy mother,
on receiving a threat to this effect. Her two sons appear to have been the
principal earthly supports and comforts left to her; and to have them thus torn
from her side was grievous indeed. How many nights had she probably spent in
weeping upon her wretched couch, after receiving such an alarming threat! In
truth, her situation appeared hopeless, and she must have sunk under her
reiterated trials, had not the word of the Lord supported her, and the light of
his countenance shined upon her in this hour of darkness. The dispensations of
the Almighty even to his own children are not always joyous; he sometimes
severely afflicts them, but his love is always sooner or later manifested
thereby. Strange, forsaken, and disconsolate as may seem, at times, the
condition of his children, he always accompanies them as their Shepherd and
Guide, to whom it is an easy thing to make water flow from the flinty rock, and
to call forth grapes upon the thorny brier. Such wonders, let it also be
remembered, can only be performed in the wilderness of his people; and be it
ever so dry and dreary, still "all things work together for good to them that
love God."


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  CHAPTER 66: 03.17.        THE WIDOW'S CARE OF THE PROPHET
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The Widow’s Care of the Prophet But great must have been the distress and
anguish of the widowed mother. Though the sons of the prophets had most probably
interceded in her behalf, her creditor, who evidently hated the people of God,
for he oppressed those who were quiet in the land, was only the more
importunate. Deprived of every earthly hope, she was now driven back upon Him
who is emphatically "the Judge of the widow, and the Father of the fatherless."
But many a saint under the law could not approach the throne of grace with that
"boldness and access with confidence" which the children of the new covenant
enjoy by faith in Christ. "The way into the holiest was not then made manifest;"
the veil was not taken away. Hence did many a dark cloud seem to intercept the
prayers of Old Testament saints, arising from the consciousness they had of
their own unworthiness. When the glory of the Divine majesty, before which the
angels veil their faces, discovered to them their own vileness and deformity,
they thought it presumption to importune the Almighty about their own
insignificant concerns. What conflict and effort did it then cost the trembling
petitioner, to penetrate even to the threshold of the sanctuary, while his heart
sank within him at the first glance of the Most Holy! But we, brethren, are
invited to come boldly to the throne of grace, in the name of Him who became man
for us. We can say, what no ancient Israelite could, Lord! thou hast been
"touched with the feeling of our infirmities," having been in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin. We can exclaim, Abba, Father! hear us for the
sake of Jesus, thy well-beloved Son, who is "not ashamed to call us brethren."
We know that "we, who believe" in Him, "are justified from all things, from
which we could not be justified by the law of Moses." With what delightful
assurances does prayer ascend assisted by such reflections as these! How easily
may we now soar above every cloud in the security of this consciousness; for it
is our inestimable privilege to know the great work of reconciliation by blood,
by the blood of God manifest in the flesh! But the Old Testament saints had
recourse to the prophets, and employed them as mediators between the Almighty
and themselves. Thus did this poor widow hasten to Elisha, as one having nearer
access to the Lord than she had; and as one who, being endowed with Divine gifts
and powers, would be able to counsel and help her. With tears and lamentations
she appears before him, saying, "Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou
knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take
unto him my two sons to be bondmen." This it seems was all she could utter in
her grief and distress. No request is made, but her desire is plainly enough
intimated, in what she has expressed, and in her imploring looks. She was
doubtless acquainted with the wonderful event that had not very long since taken
place at Zarephath. Such histories, in seasons of calamity and want, tend
surprisingly to sustain our wavering faith, and to strengthen our hearts. She
might have reasoned, that if the widow of Zarephath obtained relief, why should
she herself be forsaken; and that Elisha would surely not be less able to work
similar deliverance in the name of his God, than Elijah, with whose mantle he
was now invested.


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  CHAPTER 67: 03.18.        THE WIDOW'S MIRACULOUS RELIEF
========================================================================

The Widow’s Miraculous Relief The prophet, pitying at once this pious, but
afflicted and widowed mother, finds himself at the same moment Divinely
commissioned to wipe away her tears, and to cause her heart to sing for joy; and
he said, "What shall I do for thee?" "Tell me, what hast thou in the house?" She
answered, "Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil."
Then said Elisha, "Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even
empty vessels; borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the
door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and
thou shalt set aside that which is full." And she went, and doubted not, but
believed that a preservation similar to that of the widow at Zarephath would be
hers. Here we may notice the use and design of such parts of sacred history as
these: they are recorded for the purpose of supporting our own faith in God.
With hurried steps the widow hastens home to comply with the directions of the
prophet. She collects from her neighbors a great number of vessels for the
purpose; she sets them all down in her room; she shuts herself in with her two
beloved sons, and now—oh what a holy, solemn moment must it have been!—now in
God’s name she takes her pot of oil; she broaches it; and begins to pour the
precious liquid into the first vessel, which, perhaps, was ten times larger than
her jar, but which, to her amazement, is already filled; and in the same manner
she fills a second, and a third, and so on. The sons at removing one vessel were
obliged continually to have another ready; and thus it continues to flow just as
if a fountain of oil had existed in the jar. At length, all the vessels were
filled, except the last which was under the jar, and which was already filling
to the brim, when the mother said to her son, "Bring me yet a vessel!" and he
said unto her, "There is not a vessel more." Then, the history says, "the oil
stayed;" then it ceased to flow. Full of amazement, gratitude, and joy, she
leaves her replenished vessels, and hurries back to the man of God, to relate to
him, with a throbbing heart, the great and wonderful event that had taken place.
Then Elisha said to her, "Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and
thy children of the rest." Happy woman! How gloriously, as in an instant, was
her heavy burden removed! She was redeemed from under the hand of the oppressor,
and her children, those comforts of declining years, were not to be torn from
her. It must have seemed to her as a blissful dream. But the manner in which her
rescue and preservation had been accomplished would set the matter in its true
light, namely, as an unequivocal declaration of Jehovah’s faithfulness and
truth, as a pledge of his fatherly care and protection. It was proclaiming, not
by words, but by deeds, "Fear not: I am with thee; the Father of the fatherless,
and the Husband of the widow."

Thus are we again shown how wonderfully the Lord can relieve and sustain his
people, and how all-sufficient is He after every human resource is expended. But
it may be replied, that such extraordinary interpositions as these have ceased,
and that God now never thus discharges the debts of his children. While we ought
not to be over confident in asserting this, I would ask, is his help really the
less marvellous because it is sent to us by ordinary means? Last Christmas-eve,
a poor pious widow, who had several young children to care for, lay sick and
helpless upon her bed. In all her neighbors’ dwellings, the families, young and
old, were literally keeping holiday, while this poor widow’s heart was oppressed
with anxiety and grief. Her couch was watered with her tears; and her children,
tending silent and sorrowful around her, had no morsel of bread, nor money to
purchase it. Her thought was, "O Lord, how mysterious are thy ways!" and she
sighed heavily. Then came Elisha’s question into her mind, "What hast thou in
the house?" but her answer to herself immediately was, "What have I but a few
empty plates and dishes?" This, however, was replied to by another thought
immediately suggested to her, which was embodied also in Elisha’s words, "Go,
borrow of thy neighbors empty vessels not a few!" This is not exaggerated; the
thought came to her in these very words. But the widow sighed at any idea of
applying it to herself. She turned it, however, into prayer, saying, "Lord,
behold these my children; in them thou hast empty vessels, for they are without
food and clothing!" And then her heart subsided in another thought suggested to
her, "Be not afraid, only believe." In the self-same moment, the door of her
cottage opened, a person entered, and with a friendly salutation, laid a present
of money upon the table, and took his leave. Presently other persons came in,
bringing bread and meat, and other sorts of food. The few plates and dishes were
now all full, but still the supply was increasing, so that the children were
obliged to run to their neighbors to borrow vessels, not a few, and none even
which they borrowed remained empty. Supplies of linen were also brought, with
clothing for the children, and even playthings as Christmas presents: but more
delightful than all were the friendly countenances, and kind expressions of love
and cheering consolation, with which the gifts were accompanied. I say, that all
this happened in a few moments, in such rapid succession, that it appeared as if
the persons had concerted together for the purpose; and yet not one of them was
previously aware of the other’s intention. When all was again quiet, and the
presents lay spread out upon the table, it appeared to the astonished widow as
if the whole had been merely a pleasing dream. Then all that was within her
exclaimed, "Surely the Lord is in this place!" and her heart was melted with
gratitude and emotion. She now recollected the dying saying of her husband, his
last words, "Be still and weep not; the Lord will be with thee, He will not
forsake thee!" "Surely," thought she, "it was the Lord that spoke to me by his
lips!" And in the hope of soon meeting him in heaven, she seemed now, as it
were, to possess him again; and that she could possess her health again, if it
so pleased God. The latter idea had no sooner recurred to her mind, than she at
once felt herself stronger and better than she had been for many years. She
arose from her bed, praised the Lord with her little ones, and was able to
attend public worship the next day, and the day following. After this she was
obliged again to take to her bed, where she still remains; yet from that moment
she has fully known, that it would be an easy thing for the Lord, whenever he
pleased, as by the utterance of a word, to relieve her from all her afflictions.
Now, tell me, is not this kind interposition, as well as the event recorded in
our text, deserving of our notice? Let such a recent fact then have a place also
in our memories, for seasons may arrive in which it will not be without its use.
My brethren, there is a treasury "not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
It is a treasury of all possible good. If a blessing come not from thence upon
our basket and store, our plowing and sowing will be in vain, and the sweat of
our brow will avail us nothing. Without it, though we eat, yet, as the prophet
Haggai saith, we have not enough; though we clothe ourselves, there is none
warm; and though we earn wages, yet it is to put it into a bag with holes,
Haggai 1:6. This treasury is the power, wisdom, and goodness of God our Savior,
of whom the psalmist saith, "The eyes of all wait upon thee, O Lord, and thou
givest them their meat in due season." He possesses the abundance of all things,
who speaketh and it is done, who commandeth and it is created. He is clothed
with honor and majesty. All power and dominion are His in heaven and in earth.
He governs and overrules all. Not a sparrow falls to the ground but with His
permission, by whom "the very hairs of our head are all numbered." He leadeth
forth the sun as a bridegroom out of his chamber; he appoints the stars in their
courses, and calls them all by their names. He arrays every single lily with
more than royal glory, and clothes the grass of the field; he gives to the young
ravens their food; he crowneth the year with his goodness; he communes with the
humble, and refreshes the weary soul. He is never at a loss, never without
means. Every word of his blessing is full of benefits. To this all-sufficient,
Almighty Father, as manifested to us in the person of Christ, we are directed to
make known our every want. Through Christ are we reconciled to Him, and brought
into communion with him. Yes; and thus we may apply to Him in every temporal
want. Oh, had many among us only taken this course, they had not been now in
their present perplexity! Had this been done by men in general, the misery of
the earth had been unspeakably less. But then God is so awfully holy, and we are
so awfully unholy. This is true. Nevertheless a way of access to him is open for
the vilest sinner, and that way is Christ. He who cometh unto God by this way,
with all his poverty, will in no wise be cast out. And then the true believer in
Christ, however poor in this world, possesses all things. Take heed, therefore,
that ye be true believers in Christ, and then will ye no longer discern, in the
Majesty on high, a God afar off, but a God unspeakably near. Ye will no longer
behold Him a consuming fire, but a tender Father to yourselves. Then ye will not
shrink back, afraid to offer your petitions, but crying, Abba, Father! you will
cast all your care upon Him. You will have no more hesitation; you will come
boldly to the throne of grace, and find your wants supplied. Our Savior has
said, "Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall
be opened unto you." If you should not find such promises as these fulfilled to
you at once, yet proceed upon them as you are here directed; trust in them, and
plead them before God. Forget not who it is that has said, "Seek ye first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto
you." And again, "How much better are ye than the fowls!" Plead such Divine
promises and assurances, and assistance and preservation will certainly be
obtained, for heaven and earth shall pass away, but Christ’s words shall not
pass away.


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  CHAPTER 68: 03.19.     THE SHUNAMMITE: 2KI_4:8-37
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Chapter 6 The Shunammite 2 Kings 4:8-37 The way of life is the way of the cross;
an afflicted, but yet a glorious way. Those who walk in it are never solitary.
The Keeper of Israel, with a wakeful eye of fatherly love and faithfulness, ever
attends them. Angels are commissioned to bear up their trembling steps. To them
has it been promised, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with
thee." Their very tears are noted in the book of remembrance. Principalities and
powers in heavenly places are interested about them; and at their departing
hour, in whatever painful condition, they are surrounded by heavenly companions,
ready to carry them to Abraham’s bosom, where the Lord is gone to prepare a
place for them; so that, checkered as may be our course by sufferings and
privations here, happy nevertheless are we, if we have the God of Jacob for our
help, and our hope be in the Lord our God. All this will be seen strongly
exemplified in the following portion of Elisha’s history.

"And it fell on a day that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and
she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he
turned in thither to eat bread. And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I
perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. Let
us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there
a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick; and it shall be, when he
cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither. And it fell on a day, that he came
thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there. And he said to Gehazi
his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before
him. And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for
us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for
to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine
own people. And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered,
Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old. And he said, Call her. And
when he had called her, she stood in the door. And he said, About this season,
according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my
lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid. And the woman conceived,
and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the
time of life. And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out
to his father to the reapers. And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And
he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. And when he had taken him, and
brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. And she
went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him,
and went out. And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee,
one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God,
and come again. And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him today? it is neither
new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well. Then she saddled an ass,
and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me,
except I bid thee. So she went, and came unto the man of God to Mount Carmel.
And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to
Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite: run now, I pray thee, to
meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband?
is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. And when she came to
the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to
thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed
within her: and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me. Then she
said, Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me? Then he
said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy
way: if thou meet any man salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not
again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child. And the mother of the child
said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, 1 will not leave thee. And he
arose, and followed her. And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff
upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor hearing. Wherefore
he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked. And
when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon
his bed. He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed
unto the Lord. And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon
his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he
stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm. Then he
returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself
upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. And
he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she
was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. Then she went in, and fell at
his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out."
In this narrative five principal particulars may be noticed:

I. The lodging at Shunem;

II. The grateful guest;

III. The dying child;

IV. Gehazi with Elisha’s staff; and V. The raising from the dead.


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  CHAPTER 69: 03.20.        LODGING AT SHUNEM
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Lodging at Shunem

About midway between north and south of the promised land, and a few days’
journey from Jerusalem, there is an extensive plain, which reaches from the
sea-coast to the vine-covered borders of Jordan, presenting here and there a
hill, and partially watered by the river Kishon. In this tract, which for the
fruitfulness of the soil, the luxuriance of its vegetation, and the pleasantness
of its climate, was in former days scarcely equaled in the world, was situated,
amid groves of evergreen olives and waving corn fields, the quiet little town of
Shunem, inhabited chiefly by husbandmen, and a place of comfort and simplicity.
Imagine yourselves looking down the street of it, and beholding a venerable
person with one attendant, just come into the town as a traveller. A rough
mantle is girded about his person; but his animated countenance is a striking
contrast to his attire; for it is lighted up with benevolence and peace.
Respectfully saluted by all who meet him, he returns their salutations with
paternal kindness; and having advanced towards a house, rather distinguished
from the rest by its superior situation and appearance, we find him received at
the door by the mistress of a wealthy family, and who has welcomed him with
unaffected cordiality. That the traveller should have been so well known in
Shunem by young and old to be the prophet Elisha, attended by his servant
Gehazi, need not surprise us. He had frequently passed through it on his visits
to the seminaries of the prophets, which were stationed in various parts of the
country; and whenever the tumult of the world urged him to his sequestered and
peaceful retreat on the top of Carmel, he would sometimes have to pass through
Shunem on his way. The inhabitant at whose house he was here welcomed, is
described as "great" or wealthy, as she was the wife of a substantial Israelite.
She was likewise no ordinary possessor of those true riches which neither moth
nor rust can corrupt; for we may trust that she was a daughter of Abraham after
the spirit, and one of those few in Israel who had not bowed the knee to the
image of Baal. From the great respect and filial affection evinced in her
conduct towards the prophet, we may suppose her to have regarded him as her
spiritual father, though we are not informed how she became acquainted with him.
But it appears that she was no stranger to him; that he had often availed
himself of her hospitality, and that of late, with the approbation of her
husband, who also feared God, she had prepared a room for his reception,
provided with a bed, a table, a stool, and a candlestick. Elisha, gratified by
their anxiety for his comfort, and well convinced of their sincerity, readily
accepted this additional testimony of their kindness, and in his subsequent
visits to Shunem, proceeded at once to the little sanctuary prepared for him,
which his presence converted into a Bethel. Every care seems to have been taken,
that the holy man should not be disturbed in his devotions and meditations; for
it was perceived that he enjoyed a more wonderful and intimate intercourse with
Jehovah than others. This example of the Shunammite pleasingly reminds us of the
assurance given by our Lord, "He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a
prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man
in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And
whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water
only in the name of a disciple, verily, I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose
his reward," Matthew 10:41-42. What else are we to understand by this
declaration, but that whoever respects the Divine image in God’s children,
notwithstanding their humble and unpretending exterior, and whoever shows
kindness and love to any one such person for the Lord’s sake, shall participate
in the same Divine blessings which he is ever pouring down upon the just? What
say you to this assurance? Does not the Lord highly honor his children, by thus
rewarding whatever good is done to them as if it were done unto himself? Does he
not express a most tender care over them, in thus commending them to the kind
reception of the world? Mark then well these words of the Most High. Whoever
acts according to them, as did the Shunammite to Elisha, may be assured that the
blessing of God will rest upon his house; and that blessing is likely to consist
in the most glorious of all gifts, namely, spiritual regeneration, the first
germ of which, perhaps, is indicated by such simple instances of love to the
people of God. Or, if the person be already born again, his reward may consist
in a gift, which, next to the new birth, is most of all to be desired, that of
intimate communion with God through Jesus Christ our Lord, by a more thoroughly
renovated and enlightened conscience. But whoever hates the righteous because
they are righteous, let him consider what he has to expect from an Almighty
Being who cares for his children with such a tenderness as this; yes, let the
very love of Jesus to his people make such a person tremble.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 70: 03.21.        THE GRATEFUL GUEST
========================================================================

The Grateful Guest With Elisha, now returned again to Shunem, and under the
hospitable roof of this pious family, time must have passed rapidly, and the
hardships of his journeyings have been forgotten in such holy and blessed
intercourse. How delightful is it, after having been exiled, as it were, amid
the ungodly of this world, to find ourselves once more in the bosom of a
Christian dwelling, where we may recreate our spirits, though but for a few
hours, from the vain or vexatious conversation of those with whom business
obliged us to intermingle, and where we can again hear the name of Jesus
affectionately pronounced, together with the sweet and friendly salutations of
God’s dear children! It is like landing after a long and stormy voyage, upon the
hospitable coast of a pleasant island. In such meetings somewhat of that
felicity is tasted, which will be enjoyed in the tabernacles above, in the great
and blissful reunion which shall there take place. Oh, how painfully sensible do
we thus become of the immeasurable gulf that exists between the people of the
Lord, and the most refined and polished circles of the world! We perceive at
once, that we have withdrawn from the atmosphere of selfishness, into that of
love; from the element of deceit and dissimulation, into that of simplicity and
truth. We breathe a different and a purer air, and feel with renewed freshness
the comfort of belonging to that "little flock," which, like its good Shepherd,
is "not of the world." In the middle ages, and in the very centre of papal
domination, our own neighborhood of the Rhine presented a remarkable and
cheering scene. For from Cologne to Mentz, and beyond Strasburg, there existed,
under the denomination of "weavers," most of them being of that calling, a large
number of true and enlightened Christians, who were obliged to keep themselves
concealed to avoid popish persecution. These people were very united among
themselves, so that they knew one another’s names, residence, and circumstances,
often without personal acquaintance. In travelling they proceeded from one
brother’s cottage to another, and thus found, wherever they went, a hospitable
abode and home, as it were, in their own atmosphere; for it was unpolluted by
the pestilential air of this world. Oh, that the same primitive intercourse
subsisted everywhere among Christians of the present day! for great and manifold
are the blessings belonging to such sacred communion. Elisha doubtless regarded
it as a matter of gratitude to God, that having so repeatedly to pass through
Shunem, he could find there a retreat such as this. The little apartment which
had been prepared for him was exactly to his taste, nor would he have exchanged
it for a royal residence. In his peaceful chamber, and in his secret prayers, we
can easily suppose how fervently he commended these his kind friends to God. The
next point in his history at this place is the concern he expressed to see these
hospitable friends receive a prophet’s reward. He therefore "said to Gehazi his
servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him.
And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us
with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to
the king, or to the captain of the host?" The prophet having been in credit at
court ever since the wonderful victory over the Moabites, his intercession would
have been effective, both with Jehoram and his ministers. Those great men felt
indebted to the prophet, but the prophet felt indebted to these private and
humble servants of God. Gehazi is bidden to express the same to the Shunammite
before Elisha, in his own as well as his master’s behalf, that no part of the
kindness thus acknowledged might appear to be overlooked. The Shunammite,
however, feeling all the obligation to be on her own side, declines receiving
any such acknowledgment, and considers the privilege of having such a servant of
God as her guest, an abundant reward for the little trouble she had taken. Of
the king, or the court, she had nothing to ask, as she lived on the most
peaceable terms with her own people; feeling nothing of the oppression of those
idolatrous times, and knowing nothing of disputes or litigations. Having said
this, she seems to have withdrawn, while Elisha talked over the business with
Gehazi. "What then is to be done for her?" said the prophet. And Gehazi
answered, "Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old." Then Elisha, who,
doubtless, had laid the matter before the Lord, and had now obtained his answer,
desires the Shunammite to be called in again. And when Gehazi had called her,
she stood in the door, as if kept back by modest diffidence about receiving any
reward. He then addressed her with all the dignity and decision of a man
commissioned of God, and said, "About this season, according to the time of
life, thou shalt embrace a son." The astonished woman replied, "Nay, my lord,
thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid." The prophet having now taken
his affectionate leave of the friendly abode, amid mutual blessings and prayers,
let us pause for the sake of a reflection or two suggested by the Shunammite’s
reply, "I dwell among mine own people." She said this with inward satisfaction.
God be praised that we can make a similar declaration. Many think much of being
regarded in the highest circles of worldly society; others, that they rank with
the master spirits of the age, the men of genius and learning. We envy them not;
but the condition of any Christian brother, residing among real Christians,
would indeed be envied by us, if we could not enjoy the same condition. We have
it, however, and thus we dwell among our own people. We have those about us with
whom half a word is sufficient to place us upon the best understanding; nay,
with whom words are hardly necessary for such a purpose. Blessed privilege of
Christian communion, not to be purchased with the wealth of a world, and that
exists only among sincere disciples. It is in Christian communion alone, that
pure love, sincerity, and truth can ever prevail, and that the cup of social
blessing cannot be embittered by the thought of separation. Let us learn in
every way to express fervent gratitude for our own interest in it, and
especially by always endeavoring to draw more closely those bonds of
brotherhood, in which we are all united in spirit to Christ Jesus. But to return
to the history, which informs us how the word of the Lord, as here spoken by
Elisha, was fulfilled—"the woman bare a son at that season that Elisha had said
unto her, according to the time of life." Thus did she joyfully experience that
the God of Sarah and of Hannah still lived, which she seems to have forgotten at
the moment when she uttered her unbelieving remonstrance; "Nay, my lord, do not
lie unto thine handmaid." And the God of Israel’s deliverance from Pharaoh, the
God of Daniel’s deliverance from the lions, and the God of the deliverance from
Babylon’s fiery furnace, still lives. He lives, and is "the same yesterday,
today, and for ever." Were this more stedfastly believed and thought upon, we
should see more of the glory of God.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 71: 03.22.        THE DYING CHILD
========================================================================

The Dying Child The history passes over an interval of a few years; after which
we find the Shunammite’s child, who naturally had become the joy and hope of his
parents, appointed to be the occasion of a most wonderful event in Elisha’s
ministry. The happiness of this family at Shunem appears to have been hitherto
uninterrupted, and perhaps they had begun to imagine that nothing more would
obscure the sunshine of their days; when lo, the cloud of a frowning providence
hangs over this happy abode. The father had gone out early into his fields to
the reapers; and his dear child followed him soon afterwards, as it appears, to
be with him, and to attend upon him. But while he was there "he said unto his
father, My head, my head;" and the father, not suspecting danger, desired one of
the young men to carry him home to his mother. Who can describe the shock
sustained by the poor Shunammite, at seeing her beloved child thus brought home
in a dying condition, for such it proved! "He sat on her knees till noon, and
then died." Alas, for the poor afflicted mother! Her only child lies pale and
stiff in her arms. He is dead; but can she yet believe it? Does she not call him
by his name, and implore him again and again to look at her, but all in vain?
The beautiful flower is faded, is dead; and the serenity of the happy family in
Shunem is departed with it. But why hath the Lord done this? We presume not to
pronounce on what particular account it pleased him to water these plants in
Shunem with such a chilling dew. Perhaps He saw it necessary to convince them
that the summit of happiness is not to be found on earth. Perhaps the child had
robbed Him too often of their livelier affections, and these he would again
reclaim. Or, they needed by some deep affliction to be more weaned from the
world, to be more habitually sensible that their happiness every moment depended
on the grace and mercy of God. One thing, at least, we know, that the affair was
to terminate gloriously; that here they were to gather grapes from thorns; that
a time was to come when they would kiss the hand that smote them, and would
joyfully exclaim, Blessed be God, who hath led us after the counsel of his will,
and not after our own! when they would be abashed that they had for a moment
complained of a providence, in which only thoughts of love and peace prevailed.
To those who love God, all things must necessarily work together for good.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 72: 03.23.        GEHAZI WITH ELISHA'S STAFF
========================================================================

Gehazi with Elisha’s Staff But behold the broken-hearted mother with tottering
steps, bearing her lifeless son into Elisha’s chamber! She lays him on the
prophet’s bed, as if the child were only asleep. She once more gazes at him
through her tears, and plaintively once more calls him by his name; but alas! a
life to her so precious, is certainly fled, and she sees nothing but a corpse.
Nevertheless she again presses his pale, clay-cold cheek with kisses, and bedews
it with her tears. And now, having forced herself away from the chamber of
death, and locked the door, she dispatched a message to her husband; to whom,
however, the messenger was not to mention a word about the melancholy event, but
only to request him to send her one of the young men, and one of the asses, that
she might hasten to the man of God to Mount Carmel, and return immediately. Her
husband complied, though surprised at her sudden determination; as it was then
neither new moon nor the sabbath, at which times it may be supposed to have been
the practice of Elisha to hold religious meetings in that retirement, apart from
the idolatrous neighborhood. She left answer that it should be "well;" and as
soon as the ass was saddled, she said to her servant, "Drive and go forward;
slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee." So she went and came unto the
man of God to Mount Carmel, that his prayers might be put up for her at the
throne of grace, if peradventure his intercessions might prevail to bring back
her beloved child from the dead. The prophet seeing her from a distance, and
apprehending that something was the matter, sent his servant Gehazi to meet her.
"Run now," said he, "I pray thee to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with
thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered,
It is well;" which she said either in confusion of mind, or; which is more
probable, in very strong faith. See Hebrews 11:35. Thus she hurried on towards
the man of God, and when she had come to him, to the hill, what a heart touching
scene ensued! She prostrated herself before him, and held him by the feet,
though Gehazi, presuming that such importunity could not but be offensive to his
master, came near to thrust her away. "And the man of God said, Let her alone;
for her soul is vexed within her: and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not
told me." Then, in a few abrupt words, which Elisha could well understand, and
which seem to have been all that her suffocating grief could utter, she said,
"Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me?" These two
questions told her sad tale at once, and there was stirred up at the same
moment, in Elisha’s heart, an ardent desire that God might soon comfort this
brokenhearted mother by the restoration of her child from the dead. "Then he
said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy
way: if thou meet any man salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not
again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child. And the mother of the child
said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he
arose and followed her. And Gehazi passed on before them;" but being on so
solemn an errand, he was forbidden to speak to, or answer, any one who might
meet him on the way. Gehazi, having thus hastened forward, arrived at the house,
and did as he was commanded. He laid the prophet’s staff upon the face of the
little corpse, doubtless expecting, with the sorrowing domestics, that a
miraculous effect would ensue; in other words, that the child would return to
life. "But there was neither voice nor hearing." The dead awakes not; and the
spectators look down embarrassed. Perhaps this was an instructive lesson to
Gehazi, and it may certainly be such to us. The staves of the men of God are
powerless of themselves; and their energy consists in the virtue imparted to
them by the prayer of faith in the Divine promises, through the mighty name of
Jesus. How often have the very powers of hell fled before his weakest dependent
servants! How often have mountains of difficulty been removed, and deep waters
of affliction been divided, yea, the world itself been obliged to yield, through
the prayers and exertions of faith! But, where there is nothing of this, it is
only "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?" Form is in itself but an
unmeaning thing, to which faith alone can impart energy.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 73: 03.24.        THE RAISING FROM THE DEAD
========================================================================

The Raising from the Dead

Elisha and the Shunammite were now at hand. The prophet had willingly
accompanied her, and needed not her urgent entreaties. Compassion and kindness
would not suffer him to remain behind. How naturally would the sight of this man
of God attending her, compose her mind with the assurance that all would even
yet have a happy termination! How joyfully then ought we to pursue our way, who
have a greater than Elisha at our side, even Him, in whom dwelleth all the
fulness of the Godhead bodily, Jesus Christ our Lord!

Gehazi having hastily come away to meet his master, and having reported to him
that the child was "not awaked," Elisha, followed by the mother, has now entered
the melancholy dwelling. Her husband, we may well suppose, having, during her
absence, returned home, had received them with a burst of sorrow. And we can
hardly forbear adding that she, on the other hand, was almost prepared to
comfort him with the assurance, that "the Lord their God would help them!"
Elisha, however, caused the chamber of death to be opened. He entered it, as
usual, alone; and requesting every one to leave him, he "shut the door on them
twain," that is, upon himself and the corpse, and prayed unto Jehovah. And now
let death and hell arm themselves for the conflict; for a greater than Gehazi is
here; here is more than a staff of wood, and an empty form. Here is faith in the
Almighty’s word and arm; a faith that can remove mountains with a word or breath
of prayer. On Elisha’s first petition, the bands of death were not loosed. He
then, doubtless by Divine direction, extended himself upon the body, and put his
mouth upon the child’s mouth, and "his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon
his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child
waxed warm." He then rose up from it, and walked to and fro with lifted hands,
and fervent prayers. Again he throws himself upon the body, embraces it as
before, breathes the desire of his soul in faith and prayer, and lo, to the
honor, not only of his prophetic mission, but of prayer itself, the prayer of
faith,—he prevails. The gates of heaven fly open! Oh, the ecstasy of that
moment! Signs of returning life appear; the child, sneezing seven times, opens
his eyes, fixes them with a bright and steady gaze upon the prophet, and—lives.
Elisha immediately calls Gehazi, and desires him to call the Shunammite. Almost
breathless with joy, the happy mother rushes into the chamber, nothing doubting
that she is summoned again to receive her darling. Neither have her hopes
deceived her; for the prophet advances to meet her, holding the beloved child by
the hand, in all the freshness of life and health, and says, "Take up thy son!"
No sooner has the delighted mother beheld her son, than she throws herself at
the prophet’s feet, and embraces his knees. Hallelujah after hallelujah rises
from her innermost soul to the throne of Him who had done such great things for
her. She has not only recovered her child; but its restoration would serve as a
renewed pledge of Jehovah’s favor; a living monument of that Divine assurance,
"Fear not, I am with thee." And she "took up her child, and went out:" whither,
we may well imagine, though we may not follow her. The history here closes her
"chamber" door upon her; but as we pass softly by it, we hear sobs within, as it
appears, partly of joy, and partly of distress; with broken words,—words of
supplication, of homage, and of grateful praise. Here then let us be content to
leave her; for surely she is prostrated with her child at the Lord’s footstool,
renewing the surrender of her heart to the God of her salvation, dedicating her
child to him as an eternal possession; and casting all that she has before the
foot of his throne. How sacred and impressive is such a moment of sacred
retirement, into which further we cannot intrude! Let us, however rejoice, that
the Lord has thus published his name so gloriously abroad in the earth, and that
upon those that love him, and whose names are written in the book of life, his
mercy endureth for ever.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 74: 03.25.     DEATH IN THE POT: 2KI_4:33-41
========================================================================

Chapter 7 Death in the Pot 2 Kings 4:33-41 Who are those that shall never see
death, and yet are dead? The apostle saith, "Ye are dead, and your life is hid
with Christ in God," Colossians 3:3. How wonderful to have thus outlived
yourselves! The Scriptures often speak of those who belong to Christ as
crucified, dead, and buried with Him! Turn your attention to Golgotha. What is
it you behold there rolling on like a tempest against the Holy One of God? It
advances on the wings of night, accompanied by a thousand terrors. The anger of
the Almighty is in its train, the acclamations of hell accompany it.
Unrestrained it rushes on, and its whole fury is directed against Him whom you
see suspended on the cursed tree. No angel from heaven now stands forth to
strengthen him, no shield from on high to screen him. He appears forsaken of God
and man, and in this dreadful situation, he sees a power approaching him. It
quenches the light of his eyes, it hath broken his heart, stiffened his limbs,
and, amid the triumphant shouts of hell, rent his body and soul asunder. What
power can this be? By what name is this fearful agony of the Eternal Son, this
bloody catastrophe and dissolution to be described? It is the rebuke of God; it
is death! It is a rebuke, a death, endured by Him who suffered it, not as due to
himself, but to you and me. It is the death of that curse which was due to the
sin of the whole world. He bore it as our Mediator; and "we thus judge, that if
one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which
live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them,
and rose again;" which if we do, then are we indeed regarded as having died in
Him, so that we shall never see real death, as he himself hath declared. Our
death is thus complete, that we may now learn to regard our old man as crucified
with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, that henceforth we may not
serve sin; that we may learn to reckon ourselves as dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord; that we may not suffer "sin to
reign in our mortal body, that we should obey it in the lusts thereof:" that we
may be able to join in the triumphant song, "O death, where is thy sting? O
grave, where is thy victory?" that we may see the king of terrors prostrated at
our feet, and the horrors of death and of the grave crumbled to dust.

"And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the
sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set
on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets. And one went
out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof
wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for
they knew them not. So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass,
as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of
God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof. But he said,
Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the
people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot."

Though the present portion of our sacred narrative may appear less attractive
and significant than the one last considered, it illustrates the words of the
apostle, that all Scripture given by inspiration of God, "is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness;"
and it conveys truths and reflections which acquire a double interest from the
times we live in. It shows what God is to his children in seasons of difficulty
and distress: and do I err in supposing that such exhibitions are at present
peculiarly adapted to our soul’s wants? Let us then here notice, I. The dearth
in the land;

II. Death familiar among the heirs of heaven; and III. The Lord’s hand not
shortened.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 75: 03.26.        THE DEARTH IN THE LAND
========================================================================

The Dearth in the Land

It is on the way to Gilgal, a city which we have before had occasion to notice,
that the man of God is next observable. That town was situated in the vale of
Jordan, not far from Jericho. Here, as has been mentioned already, there was a
seminary of the prophets, in the middle of a population deeply sunk in idolatry,
and it was from hence we attended the Tishbite to his triumphal coronation.
Since our last visit, oh, how again does the land mourn! The beautiful country
can hardly be recognized, so desolate is it now become. At that time, as far as
the eye could reach, nothing but golden corn-fields waved around us; we were met
in all directions by ponderous wagons, groaning under the rich treasures of the
harvest, while the vines and pomegranates bent beneath the weight of their
luxuriant burdens. The blessings of affluence and peace everywhere abounded, and
in the pleasant fields and vineyards, the shouts and rejoicings of the reapers
scarcely ceased by day or night. But behold now, how great a change! Blight has
overspread the fields; the meadows are parched; the sickle rusts on the cottage
wall, and a great part of the population are enduring the miseries of famine.
All this appears the more strikingly to have been a visitation of Divine
chastisement, because such calamities were rare in that most fruitful and
blessed of all lands. Even the sons of the prophets, whom Elisha was visiting,
shared largely in the general distress. The prophet, had he so pleased, might
have remained at Shunem, where his wealthy friends would gladly have entertained
him; and under their hospitable roof, he would have experienced little or
nothing of the difficulties of the times; but no such considerations could
influence him; his post was at Gilgal; both his duty and his heart bound him to
the sons of the prophets. A good shepherd does not desert the fold when trouble
comes; he rather finds a pleasure in sharing it with his flock, be it even unto
death. Those only can evince such cheerful, undissembled constancy, who have the
spirit of Him that said, "I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own
the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and
the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep." Oh may the love of this
Shepherd, destroy in us that desolating abomination, selfishness!

Elisha arrives at Gilgal, and finds a gloom spread over his little community.
Their stores, at no time superfluous, were now entirely consumed; their gardens
were stripped, and their purses empty. They were indeed oppressed with want, and
their wealthier idolatrous neighbors would be more inclined to ask, "Where is
now thy God?" than to extend to them the hand of benevolence. They must have
been dejected and distressed; and in what respect then, it may be asked, had
they any advantage over the ungodly? Had they not to suffer the same want, and
was not the same trouble allotted them? Yes, the children of God are often more
afflictively dealt with than the children of the world; and relief is sometimes
found sooner by the latter, than by the former. Where then, is the difference
between those who love God, and those who are still alienated from him? Verily
the difference notwithstanding is immeasurable; and one and the same calamity is
quite different in the effects of its visitation upon the godly and upon the
ungodly. While the latter often become by it more hardened in their sins, the
former are chastened and corrected by it, as by the hand of fatherly love. It
obliges them to have more entire recourse to the Lord as their Shepherd; to obey
and to trust in Him, of whom they felt not their need sufficiently in the day of
their prosperity: and then, how great is the gain, to have thus experienced the
blessedness of abiding entirely in Christ; to have the confession again and
again wrung from us, that we are only worthy to be buffeted by the world, and
that we are deprived of every refuge, but the free grace and mercy of God. Oh,
how sweet are the fruits thus produced by sanctified affliction! Therefore it is
not because we are "condemned with the world," but because we are beloved of the
Father, that we are appointed to share in public calamities. With Elisha’s
arrival at Gilgal we behold, however, a reviving spectacle in the sons of the
prophets gathered about him, as a father with his children. As such he converses
with them, comforting and strengthening their hearts, and they eagerly listen to
every word he utters, as their Divinely inspired instructor. How inwardly happy
are they in his presence! He is a bright star of promise in the night of their
affliction. The gloom of sorrow disperses before his words, and every eye again
sparkles with joy. Yes, my friends, days of sorrow are not without much that is
pleasing and sweet. They are cloudy indeed, and dark, but they resemble those
lowering moist days, which unbind the frost, and make the waters flow. At such
times the spikenard of the Divine promises sends forth its perfumes. Then do we
first seriously listen to the voice of the venerable comforters of ancient
times; and how beautiful do their feet then appear upon the mountains! Many
sacred truths, which in more prosperous seasons we had but half learned, are now
brought into use, and found invaluable. Our spirit thus can rejoice, while our
outward man is depressed.

Elisha’s presence and consolations having banished solicitude from the minds of
his friends, his cheerful voice is heard desiring his servant to set on the
great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets. Then, as savory
esculents were no longer easy to procure, one of the disciples went out into the
field to see if he could discover some vegetable that might be eaten. But has
God reserved any such thing for his servants in his vast domains? Surely he will
provide, and show where the provision is to be found. Yes; the man comes home
laden with a certain fruit, having the form of an egg; he has gathered his lap
full. The fruit is shred into the boiling vessel of pottage; none suspecting
that these gourds of the wild vine contained any harm. How strange! and yet God
permitted it; yes, he permitted deadly poison to be ignorantly gathered, and
mixed up as food for his servants! And why? Because his name is "Wonderful," as
we have again occasion to acknowledge, when we here see the "end of the Lord,"
whose ways are goodness and truth.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 76: 03.27.        DEATH FAMILIAR AMONG THE HEIRS OF HEAVEN
========================================================================

Death Familiar among the Heirs of Heaven The pottage is prepared, and brought to
table, and the brethren, cheerfully, and without suspicion, sit down to their
repast. And have they no warning from on high? None: the Lord permits them to
begin their meal. But while eating the deadly mixture, they become sensible of
its pernicious qualities. They rise from the table in anguish, and cry, "O thou
man of God, there is death in the pot!" It was indeed a heart-rending spectacle.
They had seated themselves at their simple meal, so happy and joyful in God, so
full of fervent gratitude for renewed supplies of food; thanking the Keeper of
Israel for his bounty and faithfulness; and now, all at once, behold, death
looks them in the face. What a dreadful change! What a sad interruption of their
cheerful confidence and faith in Jehovah! It might well have shaken the
strongest faith: though when the Lord afflicts his people in such mysterious
ways, it is generally to draw forth from them Job’s sorrowing declaration:
"Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." But it is sometimes to prepare an
occasion for the triumphant display of his grace and willingness to save; and to
open a channel for those tears of godly shame, which generally flow after
seasons of distrust and discontent.

Here, then, we behold disciples of Elisha, and, for aught we know to the
contrary, servants of God, indiscriminately exposed to a violent and sudden
death. But we have here no discovery of strong faith, except in the prophet
Elisha. We see only the common feelings of nature alarmed, and in dreadful
commotion. How blessed then is it to be armed against any sudden invasion of the
king of terrors! to have put on "the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand!" And do not the
promises of God in Christ Jesus teach us, that the chambers of death itself are
only chambers of repose, and thus show us death itself only as a friend? Our
great Forerunner ascended visibly to heaven in his human form, that our hopes
might have a sure foundation, leaving us the cheering assurance: "I will come
again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also!" It
is not, therefore, against death that we have now need to arm; but it is against
sin only, that comprehensive evil, which consists in slavery to the world, the
flesh, and the devil. And we should be the more concerned about this, because
death, which is always an awful thing to nature, becomes indeed awful, unless we
are thus determined warriors against sin. Yield then to the Redeemer the most
unlimited possession of your body and your soul. Our death is a call from God.
No one dies by chance, but always at the moment appointed; neither sooner, nor
later. Our days are all numbered. "Thou hast appointed" to man "his bounds that
he cannot pass," Job 14:5. Real Christians, therefore, may well leave this
matter with God. For no accident can befall them, till the Lord’s appointed time
arrives. And when it arrives, it is to them as a Father’s messenger, calling
them into his more immediate presence. Death is even numbered among the
possessions of the children of God; so that the apostle writes, "Death is
yours," 1 Corinthians 3:22. It is as Samson’s slain lion. When Jacob saw the
wagons, which Joseph had sent to carry him to Goshen, "the fainting spirit of
Jacob revived." This effect should be experienced by the true Christian, when he
contemplates his last hour; for to him "the day of death," as Solomon speaks,
"is better than the day of his birth," Ecclesiastes 7:1. It is the ascension day
of believers, the commencement of their happier life. To them "to live is
Christ, and to die is gain," Php 1:21.

Ill then does it become our sons of the prophets to raise such a cry of terror.
Dread of this kind should be reserved for other occasions, as, for instance,
when a scheme of human wisdom would commend itself to us as independent of the
atonement of the Son of God, and would point out a way to heaven in another
direction than that of Golgotha; when a theology without Christ, without a
priesthood and a sacrifice, would assume an evangelical disguise; or, with open
front, and shameless audacity, would offer itself to our acceptance, either by
books or from the pulpit; then we may well start back with horror, and cry,
"There is death in the pot!"—for then, indeed, has poisoned food been placed
before you, even wild gourds planted by the great destroyer of souls. He who is
seduced to partake of these "dainties," eats and drinks in that death, against
which there is no antidote. Alas! that even the pulpit as well as the press
should have furnished such subtle and deadly poison, and in such abundance; but
so it is; therefore take heed of their highly garnished productions. Alas! how
many of our seminaries also provide nothing better for the nurture of the rising
generation! Where in them is to be seen "the nurture and admonition of the
Lord?" The peril which now threatened the sons of the prophets was undoubtedly
great, and to all human apprehension desperate; and the danger to which their
faith was exposed, was even greater than that which threatened their lives. For
had they not implored the Divine blessing on their food? Had they not implored
it in the company, and by the mouth of one of God’s most eminent prophets? We
may be sure they had. What then were they now to think? Yet the Lord’s thoughts
were not as their thoughts. His were "thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to
give them an expected end," Jeremiah 29:11. This appalling incident was only to
commend to them his saving power and mercy. The greater the apparent difficulty,
the greater and more glorious the deliverance. The prophet has received his
instructions, and he knows that God will support him. If any one has cause to
rejoice, it is Elisha. His embarrassment was not trifling, when the hilarity of
their social meeting was so suddenly and unexpectedly interrupted by their
alarming cry. Yet his anxiety, instead of repelling him from God, served to
direct his thoughts immediately upwards. He poured out his alarmed spirit in
fervent ejaculations to Him who was able to save from death, and an answer of
peace was instantly returned, that the brethren should not die, but live. That
they should live, not to be justified in their distrust of God, but to find
reason with shame to lament it. God had yet work to be done by these prophets in
Israel, and would not suffer their violent removal to become a triumph to Satan
and his idolatrous adherents.

Elisha calls for a handful of meal. Who would have imagined that so unpromising
an expedient should have conquered death, and deprived hell of its triumph? But
the prophet prescribes it in the name of the Lord; and how potent will the most
insignificant means become when thus employed! Then a cruse of salt is
sufficient to remove from an entire district the horrors of a desolation that
has prevailed for many years. Then a piece of wood can make the bitter waters of
Marah sweet and wholesome. Then can the anointing with clay impart sight to the
blind, and that of oil restore health to persons sick unto death. The healing
power of every medicine depends upon the presence of one single ingredient, the
blessing of God. If this be present, it matters not how insignificant are the
means.


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  CHAPTER 77: 03.28.        THE LORD'S HAND NOT SHORTENED
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The Lord’s Hand not Shortened The children of the prophets did not stumble at
the inadequacy of the remedy demanded by Elisha; they well knew that God often
works by weak instruments. He who despises the day of small things, is not fit
to build that temple of the Lord which began in humble majesty. The Lord of that
temple was crowned with thorns, and sent forth fishermen and publicans to be the
preachers of his kingdom. The meal was soon provided, and Elisha cast it into
the pot without pomp or ceremony, in the fullest reliance upon Him who worketh
alike by things great or small. He then says to his servant, "Pour out for the
people, that they may eat;" and they hesitate not, but eat in faith. Faith is
never put to shame. Those only are made ashamed who trust in their own strength;
but faith shall see the glory of God. The disciples ate, and there was no harm
in the pot. The pottage was savory and good, and the poison they had already
swallowed was rendered perfectly innocuous. Thus a handful of meal, in the hand
of the Almighty, sufficed to disarm death, to disappoint hell, to preserve the
salt of the earth, and to sustain his church in the world. Let none be afraid,
who have the God of Jacob for their help. He who hath "all power in heaven and
in earth," and "worketh all in all," can render everything subservient to his
pleasure.

Thus did the sons of the prophets at Gilgal experience what was afterwards
expressly promised by our Lord to his immediate followers; "If they drink any
deadly thing, it shall not hurt them," Mark 16:18 : a promise which was
doubtless fulfilled. Spiritually also is it fulfilled every day to those who are
living by faith in the Son of God. How many, alas! are poisoned to eternal death
by a book, a system, or an error! but while the lusts of the flesh and of the
mind are kept mortified through the Spirit, in the exercise of lively faith,
such fascinations of the world have no power to inflame them. "Resist the devil,
and he will flee from you." Temptation is thus overcome, and made a subject of
praise and thanksgiving to God. There is then no "death in the pot."

Oh! the blessed security of the children of God, against whom every deadly arrow
is blunted, and every sword thrust aside! Whatever would hurt or destroy them,
shall turn unto their salvation through prayer and the supply of the Spirit of
Jesus Christ. The world is to them but as a refiner’s crucible. Even Satan’s
power and devices are overruled by Him who is our Wonderful Counsellor. The
decree is gone forth in behalf of the spiritual church, the faithful people of
God, yea, in behalf of the very weakest of the flock: "All things are yours;
whether life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours," 1
Corinthians 3:21-22. All things work together for their good. And shall those
who are thus wonderfully protected, be anxious and perplexed? Shall they suffer
their hearts to be oppressed by any care? Let them blush at such a thought. Is
it not written, "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye?" Zechariah
2:8. Away then with all vain fear; the fear of losing a little worldly
convenience in the service of the "King of kings." Let no such things be once
mentioned in the kingdom of grace; for the grace of that kingdom can render
every deadly thing, except sin, healing and wholesome.


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  CHAPTER 78: 03.29.     THE MAN FROM BAAL-SHALISHA: 2KI_4:42-44
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Chapter 8 The Man from Baal-Shalisha 2 Kings 4:42-44

Martin Luther remarked to a person who called upon him with melancholy
intelligence, "The gospel is good news, and is certainly true; but I know of
little or no good news in the world besides." The first and chief announcement
of it is the love of God; and it is cheering and consoling to observe the
workings of this love among his children, as we shall now have an opportunity of
perceiving. Its ways are, indeed, often wonderful, and shrouded in darkness; but
let us remember the words of the prophet, "There shall be a covering over all
that is glorious"—(German version of Isaiah 6:5).

"And there came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of
the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk
thereof. And he said, Give unto the people that they may eat. And his servitor
said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the
people that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall
leave thereof. So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof,
according to the word of the Lord." As our history advances, the character of
Elisha’s life and times exhibits more and more typically the features of the New
Testament. The event now to be considered, forcibly reminds us of similar ones
recorded by the evangelists; not that it equals those in grandeur, for it is in
comparison but as a single stalk to the full sheaf: still, if we carefully and
devoutly attend to it, we shall find much to reward and edify us. Let us notice,
I. The man with the loaves;

II. Elisha’s command; and III. The confusion of Gehazi.


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  CHAPTER 79: 03.30.        THE MAN WITH THE LOAVES
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The Man with the Loaves The scene of these events is still in Gilgal, and among
the sons of the prophets, whose difficulties were not yet at an end. Hitherto,
indeed, had the Lord helped them, and gloriously supplied their wants from day
to day. Though the morning might be often ushered in with sighs and weeping, the
evening as often closed with gratitude and joy. Yet they, as children of God,
neither had nor needed any better provision for the morrow, than what was
secured to them by their faith in Him. Food was always supplied to them, as they
wanted it; but, as they had often nothing in store, occasions for "taking
thought" must have been common among them. At length, however, they were more
impressively taught what hand it was that fed them, and that the Lord would
provide.

They were now again in trouble. Their last morsel was consumed, and there were
no signs of more; so that want began to stare them in the face. Did they turn
away from it to the prophet? His calm appearance would indicate, that he is "not
careful to answer" distrustful thoughts "in this matter." Was patience among
them exhausted? did murmurings arise? Natural enough might it have been for one
to sigh out, "Alas! when is this misery to cease?" and for another to exclaim,
"We have escaped poison, only to die of hunger:" and for a third to look as if
the bitter question were already upon his tongue, "Of what profit is it to trust
in God?" How then would we, my brethren, undertake to allay discontent like
this? Shall we accord with it, and say, in the same strain, "It is not worth our
while to hope or trust in God? It is true, ‘he spared not his own Son, but
delivered him up for us all;’ yet can he give bread also; or will he provide
flesh for his people? ‘He feeds the young ravens when they cry;’ but from us,
who possess his love, and to whom heaven with all its joys stands open, he
withholds these common mercies, and we perish, we perish!" Shall we say this?
Shall we doubt concerning Him by whom the hairs of our head are all numbered,
whether our wants are known to Him, or whether he careth for us in temporal
trials and difficulties? It would be well sometimes to put such questions as
these to our discontented and needlessly anxious brethren, who though "of more
value" to their heavenly Father "than many sparrows," can yet repine as though
they had no confidence in Him. Is it not discontent and arrogance to expect the
Lord to give us a stock in hand; instead of our being satisfied with present
supplies, and trusting in him for tomorrow? "As thy day, so shall thy strength
be," whether for life, or for death. What though here in Gilgal they seemed
reduced to the last extremity? It was not really so, for the Lord can provide. A
knock was soon heard at their door, and on its being opened, a countryman
entered, bearing, as firstfruits, twenty small barley loaves, which he lays upon
the table, together with a scrip of corn, which it was then the custom to parch
and eat. The pious countryman had brought these presents to Jehovah’s prophet,
probably because, according to the law, such first-fruits belonged to the Lord
and to his priests; and the ten tribes being then no longer permitted to worship
in the temple at Jerusalem, he believed that in thus bringing the firstfruits to
Elisha, he had dedicated them to Jehovah. Thus were the sons of the prophets
again taught not to distrust the love and faithfulness of God.

Events like this at Gilgal are not of rare occurrence in Zion. Many among us
have received similar and even more surprising succors. So many anecdotes of the
kind have been furnished from among ourselves, and been related from our pulpit,
that I am almost afraid to add to them, for fear of their becoming common-place.
Nevertheless I will venture to mention one more, which, though it contains
nothing remarkably striking in itself, serves to show that the Lord is magnified
even in small things. Last Christmas-eve a pious mechanic said to his
apprentice, "Tomorrow is Christmas-day, and we have nothing in the house, and no
money to get anything for dinner. The article we made for Mr. M—— is at the
silversmith’s to be mounted, and he I am afraid has been too busy to have
finished it; and if it is not sent home today, the gentleman who has ordered it
will give us scolding enough, but no money. Run, and see if it is ready." The
boy did as he was directed, though his master thought it would be in vain to go.
But before the boy came back, the pious master had shaken off his despondency,
and was able to trust in God, fully assured that the Lord would provide in some
way or other. No sooner had he thus thought, than the door was opened, and the
gentleman who had ordered the article entered, and said, "Well, is it ready?"
"Yes," replied the man, "though, I fear, not mounted; the boy is just gone to
see." "Well," rejoins the customer, "if he brings it, send it me directly; if
not, let me have it after the holidays; but I will pay you for it now." So
saying, he threw down two dollars upon the table, and went away. He was hardly
gone out of the house before the apprentice returned in great dejection, and
with a sorrowful countenance said, "Master, we must go without victuals
tomorrow, for the work is not finished." "That is unfortunate," replied the
master; and then, taking up a paper with a cheerful countenance, he showed the
astonished boy the money he had just received. "Master, where did that come
from?" asked the boy. "Where," said the master, "should it come from, but from
God who reigns above?" Then, relating to the boy what had happened, he
exclaimed, "And does not our faithful God and Lord still live? Surely the Lord
liveth, and he knows full well where poor Jacob lives." Yes, my friends; this
happened last Christmas to that same poor Jacob, who, a fortnight ago, shook off
the dust of this earth from his feet. I could relate many similar occurrences,
all of which have taken place in our own parish; and one in particular, which
happened within these few days. For was not that of the letter, last week, an
extraordinary affair? The letter contained a dollar, with these words, "I know
not how it is, but I am irresistibly impelled to send you this money. My own
necessities are extreme, but I am not permitted to keep it. Take it then, since
it must be so." And nothing could have been more opportune than was this dollar.
But enough. There would be no end were we to relate the many similar instances
with which we are acquainted.

"What part of Germany are you from?" said a celebrated professor lately to a
young clergyman who had called upon him. He mentioned several places he had
visited, and among the rest, Wupperthal. "Oh," said the professor, sarcastically
interrupting him, "that is a place where fine marvellous stories are related!"
Yes, we praise God that our valley is not so barren of facts related in these
"marvellous stories," as is probably the experience of that professor; and these
stories will one day surpass in importance the annals of the most renowned wars
and victories; for what are they but fragments of the history of Jehovah’s love
and intercourse with his people, and so many additional proofs of his
condescension, faithfulness, and power? The God, in whom we believe, is a living
God; and we experience him to be such. There are many in the present day, who,
because they like to live "without God in the world," think of him as only the
Being who, having first set in motion innumerable worlds, now calmly
contemplates their revolutions, but neither directs nor controls them. This is
the most comfortless and absurd of all ideas. They indeed assign to heaven, to
nature, and to fate, their several imaginary parts, but God with them is
imagined out of his own world. How infinitely more pleasant and cheering is the
steady light reflected from the Scriptures, which directs us to a God of life
and activity, a just God and a Savior, upholding all things by the word of his
power! Not a lily breathes its perfume, that is not clothed by His hand; not a
sparrow finds its food, that is not fed by "your heavenly Father." "The eyes of
all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest
thine hand, and fillest all things living with plenteousness." He not only
created the sun and the stars, but daily leads them forth like a flock, and
constantly preserves their never-dying fires; he causes the dew to descend upon
the tender herb, and neither slumbers nor sleeps; he in due season whispers to
the swallow and to the stork, "Arise, and go hence!" He controls every power,
and him the whirlwinds and lightnings obey. He is the life of every living
thing, without whose secret influence, bread would cease to nourish, water to
refresh, medicines to heal, and by whose all-pervading Spirit it is that we
breathe this vital air, that the blood flows warm in our veins, that the hand
moves, and the mind retains its power of thought. Yes, the views afforded us by
the Scriptures concerning the government of God are such, that we must
necessarily conclude, were he for a moment to withdraw his superintending care,
all things would return to their original confusion and emptiness, and the lamp
of life would go out in darkness and nothingness. This account of the intimate
connection between God and his creatures is the true one, for He has himself
delivered it to us in his word. He is the life of all that lives, not less so of
the worm in the dust, than of the seraph before his throne. All things exist by
him from moment to moment; his kingdom ruleth over all. Yea, "the preparations
of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord." "A man’s
heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps." Over the movements of
our inmost soul he presides; "The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as
the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will."

There is nothing we do that is not under his control. "O Lord, I know that the
way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his
steps." Laban, when panting for the life of Jacob, was in a moment disarmed of
his rage, and constrained mildly to declare, "It is in the power of my hand to
do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take
thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad" (Lutheran version,
"otherwise than kindly"). Esau, burning with anger, laid wait for his brother,
but when they met, he ran towards him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
Balaam was resolved upon cursing Israel, but when he opened his mouth for the
purpose, lo, he was constrained to bless them altogether, and to predict
Israel’s prosperity. Saul, when he at length found David, whom he considered as
his mortal enemy, standing before him, instead of showing the fierceness of his
revengeful jealousy, exhibited all the gentleness of the dove; and instead of
denouncing death against him, he accosted him as a beloved son, "Is this thy
voice, my son David?" and was far from offering him the smallest injury. Thus
the Lord controls the most secret impulses of the human heart, and governs
there, as everywhere, in the most unlimited sense, according to the counsel of
his own will. How consoling is this truth! but it is only so to His faithful
people. It is no comfort to the enemies of God, to be told that they are thus
dependent on the power of the eternal Majesty. None but His children can find
reason to rejoice, that Jehovah is the living God, for his providence is always
working blessings for them; and indeed, what blessing is there that it does not
include? In its bosom they repose, as watching over their existence, and
directing their steps; and from the shadow of its protecting wings they can
never for a moment remove. It is as a bounteous Provider, supplying their
tables, and preserving them from hunger; whose honor is engaged not to suffer
them to want "any good thing." Our heavenly Father, by his beloved Son, requires
all his children to cast their care upon Him, assuring them that though a mother
may forget her sucking child, He will never forget them. He is their faithful
and watchful Guardian; as "a wall of fire round about them," their "shield and
exceeding great reward." All this we may well consider Him to be, who is
almighty and omnipresent, who controls all the power of the enemy, whose voice
"breaketh the cedars," and "divideth the flames of fire." He can impart a
healing balm to every flower that adorns the path of life, and can extract the
poison from every noxious weed. He is a Comforter, who is always present at the
fittest moment, mixing with every pain the comfort of salvation. As an unwearied
Friend, he is with them day and night, ruling over the present, and anticipating
the future, arranging every thing as his love may deem most advantageous;
skilfully administering to them pleasure and correction, and watching over them
with a constancy and tenderness, infinitely surpassing all human love.


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  CHAPTER 80: 03.31.        ELISHA'S COMMAND
========================================================================

Elisha’s Command The man from Baal-shalisha must have been a most welcome
visitor; not merely on account of the value of his gift, but because, as the
firstfruits of a new harvest, it was a joyous intimation that Jehovah would
again smile upon the afflicted land. His arrival in Gilgal with the bread, like
that of Joshua and Caleb with the grapes of Eshcol in the Hebrew camp, and the
dove with the olive branch in the ark of Noah, must have chased the gloom from
their desponding minds, and opened the future to their view in bright and
promising prospect. Thus in our days of spiritual dejection and barrenness, we
breathe more freely, and indulge a more cheering hope, if we meet with a person
whose life manifests a healthy, glowing, and joyous faith. The exalted piety of
such a person affords us clear evidence, that heavenly grace is not withheld; we
seem to recognize in it the first indication of a general pentecostal
visitation; we indulge the hope, that our community may soon be the scene of a
revival; the bare thought of which raises the very soul, and brightens the dim
night of our earthly existence with a cheering dawn. As the miner, when he
discovers, after much toil and labor in subterranean darkness, the smallest
particle of gold, regards it as a favorable sign, so that his hopes are raised,
and he joyfully exclaims, "This will no doubt lead to greater treasures;" so is
it with us in the spiritual kingdom. The news of a single conversion among the
heathen fills us with delight; for it serves to open to us the meaning of
prophecy, and indicates, like a streak of early light, the nearer approach of
morning. A single believing Jew, taking up the cross indeed, and addicting
himself to the ministry of the saints, serves to give a more cheering aspect to
his whole nation; and the new birth of such a person, is like a powerful
breathing upon the thousand-stringed harp of the promises, awakening its tones
to louder and livelier strains. As the twenty barley loaves lay upon the table,
we may imagine with what complacency the younger members of the family would
look, first upon them, and then upon the giver, as ready to embrace him, and
give vent to the fulness of their thankful hearts. The elder ones, also, would
be fain to acknowledge that it was long since such beautiful bread had been seen
in Gilgal. It has been even supposed that such bread had never before been set
before them. It is true, it was not from that table in the kingdom of God, at
which men sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; but to these sons of the
prophets it would appear to resemble it much more than ordinary bread. The only
alloy to their satisfaction was, that the loaves, being neither large nor very
many, would soon be consumed. One or other of them may indeed have been disposed
to think, "If God intends to relieve us, why not at once, rather than by
halves?" Thus discontented and presumptuous, we are a people whom God can rarely
please. We find nothing more difficult than to suspend our judgment till his
purposes are ripened; for, if our desires are not instantly gratified to their
full extent, we become distrustful of His power, goodness, and faithfulness.
Were he to remove the veil from our eyes, and show us the gifts designed for us,
how should we be abashed and ashamed of our want of faith, and of our
low-thoughted cares and presumptions! As Elisha surveys the loaves, he would
doubtless consider them as sent by the Lord, and as entrusted to his hand for
the sustenance of his poor brethren. But will they suffice to relieve the
cravings of more than a hundred persons? Undoubtedly they will, for the
Entertainer is Almighty. It depends not on the quantity of the food; its
nourishing quality consists on His blessing. We have not to learn the power of
the bread, but the power of Him who gives it and bestows it daily upon us. These
we may easily conceive would be the thoughts of Elisha, which would encourage to
further cheerful confidence in God. Entering, therefore, magnanimously into the
spirit of their Divine Provider he commands his attendant to take up what is
before him, and "give unto the people that they may eat." It was spoken in
faith, purely in the name of God, and in God’s stead. This circumstance may
remind us of the late pastor Henke, who once acted in a spirit similar to that
of Elisha. It happened that a Christian friend called upon the worthy man, who
at once invited him to stay and dine, though he knew that he had nothing to set
before him. At noon the servant passed several times through the room, in order,
if she could do it unobserved, to call her master out. The pastor, however, not
perceiving her intention, only reminded her that it was time to lay the cloth.
The servant went away embarrassed, but soon returned, and requested him to come
out for a moment. "Sir," she said, with a sorrowful countenance, "you have
desired me to lay the cloth for dinner, but you have forgotten, that there is
scarcely a piece of bread in the house, and you have sent, as I heard you
declare, your last farthing to a poor sick person." "Ah," replied Henke,
smiling, "is that all you have to tell me? Lay the cloth just as usual; the
dinner will be in time enough if it comes when we are seated at table." The
servant, not a little astonished, did as she was desired. The pastor and his
guest took their seats, and the good man, with a cheerful countenance, as at
other times, offered up a prayer, in which he spoke much of "the fowls of the
air," and "the young ravens." As he pronounced his "Amen," a ring at the bell
was heard. The servant flew to the door, and what did she discover? A basket
with handsome provisions, which a neighbor had been irresistibly prompted to
send. With the utmost placidity, as if nothing extraordinary had happened, the
pastor directed the whole to be arranged upon the table; then turning to the
servant, he inquired, with a smile, if there was "any thing in the entertainment
to find fault with?" These are delightful instances of trust in Providence, but
we are not to ape them. It is easy to order the table to be prepared; but that
of itself is not sufficient. Remember Gehazi with Elisha’s staff at Shunem. Yet
have you Elisha’s or even Henke’s faith? Then hesitate not; for a royal Provider
will supply you.


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  CHAPTER 81: 03.32.        THE CONFUSION OF GEHAZI
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The Confusion of Gehazi

"Give unto the people, that they may eat," is Elisha’s command to his servant;
but Gehazi replies with a look that seems to say, Surely you cannot be in
earnest. He counts their number—a hundred men, besides women and children, and
all so hungry that these twenty loaves would scarcely satisfy ten of them. The
servant, shaking his head, asks, "What! should I set this before an hundred
persons!" And he utters his question with a tone and manner that seems to
insinuate, that the prophet must be dreaming, or had issued an absurd command.
He viewed the matter with carnal eyes, and attempted to gauge his master’s
thoughts by his own mean and groveling conceptions. His scruples remind us of a
person, who should take up a cannon ball, try how far he can hurl it, and then
gravely declare to an intelligent soldier, that it can never be thrown to a
distance. For Gehazi had just in this manner forgotten what it was that gave
energy and impulse to his master’s command. That command was supported by a
faith that could remove mountains; by such a reliance on the promises of God, as
overcomes all difficulties. The energy of the Holy Spirit was in the order; yea,
the power of the Almighty himself. How then could the people be otherwise than
filled! But of all this Gehazi was too ignorant. He understood the command,
"Give to the people, that they may eat," as if it were nothing more than what
might have proceeded from his own lips. He did not consider that such words
spoken by Elisha, were essentially different, because they had been spoken in
the name and with dependence on the word of God, and therefore could do wonders.
How presumptuous then were his unbelieving thoughts! It was his duty silently to
obey and to distribute the bread; whether the people were to be filled or not
was no affair of his; he was only required to perform the duties of a servant,
but he acted as if the miracle depended on himself; and how often are we
disposed to act in the same spirit! When our Lord sent forth his disciples,
saying, "Go, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out
devils;" how unbecoming would it have been for them to have replied, "Lord, our
power and skill do not extend to such things." The commands of the Son of man
were as good as promises; that is, what he desired them to do, he purposed to do
by their means. In like manner, there is much enjoined us to do, which, were we
to undertake it in our own strength, would come to nothing. We are commanded to
overcome death, to tread spiritually upon serpents and scorpions, and all the
power of the enemy, to resist the devil that he may flee from us, to lift up our
heads in the greatest affliction, to rejoice evermore, never to be cast down,
always to be holy, as our Father in heaven is holy; and many other wonderful
works. How are these great and yet positive commands to be received? Surely they
are to be received like those which were given to the apostles, when our Lord
said, "Go, and heal the sick." For they are commands full of encouragement and
promise; and if this thought only take possession of the whole man, we become
animated with strength and courage, with peace and joy; for we can then lift up
our heads, and triumph over death, and the world, and every foe.

Elisha, in no wise embarrassed by the remark of his unbelieving servant,
repeated the command with increased emphasis, "Give to the people, that they may
eat;" and he added, "For thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave
thereof." And now, the servant having begun to distribute the bread as he was
desired, beheld it multiplied in his hands. Every one partook of as much as he
required: "they did all eat and were filled;" filled likewise, we trust, with
gratitude to God. Yes, and there was still bread left in abundance upon the
table. But it may be said, "This was out of the course of nature." Be it so: it
is not more incomprehensible, than is the growth of the tree in the garden, or
than that a single grain of wheat cast into the earth should return a hundred
fold. The same almighty and creative power is displayed in the latter case, as
in the former.

Let this miraculous transaction serve to strengthen our own faith, my brethren,
as we trust it did that of the sons of the prophets. And you, in particular, who
may be languishing under complicated wants and miseries, the end of which you
cannot see; if the Lord be yours, "be careful for nothing;" for, as the Lord
liveth, "he careth for you," and will relieve all your necessities. Fix your
attention more than ever upon the great conclusion which you may obtain with
infallible truth, from the still greater argument of the apostle; "He that
spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with
Him also freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32. In this and in the following
verses he breaks out into great rejoicing. His heart seems full, while he
realizes, with one glance, all that is treasured up in Christ for the children
of God: and at this view he appears to rise above the world and mortality. He
beholds his enemies vanquished at his feet; he descries a righteousness of
overwhelming brightness, and finds himself possessed of a fulness of gifts and
blessings, the extent of which he is incapable of estimating; and under a
protection so secure, that he seems to have nothing more to do upon the earth,
except to triumph and give praise. Whence then does the apostle derive this
superlative delight? Not from himself, but from a fountain that is daily and
hourly open to ourselves. Christ is that fountain of blessings. All, all, is
traceable to the love of God in Christ. Neither let us overlook that the apostle
speaks not only of himself, but of every brother and sister in communion with
him; and intimates, that if they cannot all break forth into the very same
exultations with him, it must be ascribed not to any deficiency of their
privileges, but to their want of faith. The first and last truth in which he
exults is incomparably glorious and great. It is, "God is for us." In this truth
we perceive the whole sum of the apostle’s privileges and power; here is his
rock and his fortress. The Lord is on our side; He bears us on his heart; He
graciously undertakes for us; He encompasses us with his love. This is, indeed,
a truth in which we may well rejoice. But, can it be so? May sinful and helpless
man really boast that God is on his side? The word of God here assures us, that
he may; "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all,"
attests it, and attests it irresistibly.

We are primarily and ultimately directed to the love of God in delivering up his
only begotten Son, who was from eternity with the Father in heaven; "His best
Beloved;" "the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person."
How astonishing the fact of his having been sent to be the propitiation for our
sins! Behold here, how eternal Love has triumphed! Behold the Son of God as an
infant in the manger; veiled in our nature, divested of his glory; destitute,
and exposed to a thousand dangers, unnoticed and unknown by the world; yea, an
object of fiercest enmity and most barbarous persecution. Why was all this? It
was because only at such a price could we be redeemed from merited condemnation.
Yes, God for this purpose "delivered him up." The expression denotes a
forsaking, a sacrificing. The same word is used, Matthew 10:21, where it is
said, "And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death:" and in this sense
of death it is employed in the passage before us. And then, he delivered him up
"for us all." "For us" means "in our stead;" and thus our thoughts are at once
transferred from the manger to the cross. Oh, what an affecting transfer! But
the Scripture must be fulfilled; "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and
against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts." The Man of gracious
lips was permitted to exclaim, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!" The
Man who went about doing good, was nailed to the cross, and his compassionate
soul was "exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." If we are sensibly affected
while thinking on the sufferings of God’s beloved Son; what must we think of the
love of God towards us in thus not sparing him, but delivering him up in our
stead! For he did deliver him up. Oh, unfathomable love! Oh, unutterable mercy!
The apostle, having thus set before us the love of God, draws from it wonderful,
delightful, and incontrovertible inferences, under which we may reduce every
anxious care, and out of which we may form another Eden in this vale of tears.
His first and grand inference is, "How shall he not with Him also freely give us
all things?" Admirable is this inference, and beyond all contradiction. The
truth of it is certain, and plain even to a child. Was his love to me such, that
he gave his own Son to suffer death upon the cross for me? then he certainly
will not refuse me inferior blessings. For all things in heaven and earth are as
nothing compared with this unspeakable gift. How inconsistent is it to doubt the
goodness of God as to the supply of our daily wants! Ye seem thus to say, "God
has indeed given me his Son, so far, I admit, his love extends; but it is not so
evident that He will give me clothing, food, and shelter." How absurd and blind
are such reflections! What! shall the grace that confers upon you its crown, and
heaven itself, fail to supply all your wants upon your pilgrimage? It is with
reluctance I enter upon the refutation of such unreasonable thoughts, lest, by
so doing, I should awaken a suspicion that they rest on some foundation. O be
wise, my brethren, and consider how infinite that love must be, which places
underneath you its everlasting arms. And, whenever doubts and fears arise, flee
to Bethlehem, behold the young Child lying in the manger, contemplate the
brightness of the love which there shines upon you, and ask yourself the
question propounded by the apostle, "He that, for our sakes, spared not his own
Son, how"—answer, ye angels; ye men and devils, join all your sagacity, and
say—"how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" The apostle
draws another inference from the love of God. It is, "Who shall lay any thing to
the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth." The inference here is
likewise sound and unquestionable. Such was the love of God to us, that He gave
his Son for us under the law, that he might fulfill it; under the curse, that he
might sustain it. And the Son of God has actually fulfilled for us the law, and
endured for us the curse. If, therefore, we believe in Jesus Christ, with the
heart, unto righteousness, God will judge us according to the merits of his Son:
and then, unto the last breath we breathe out of heaven, nothing, be it what it
may, can deprive us of the right thus exultingly to inquire, "Who shall lay any
thing to the charge of God’s elect?" Yes, who shall accuse them? Shall Satan? he
is "cast out." Shall the angels? here is a righteousness that will eclipse their
own. Shall our fellow men? We should be sorry to find them at the last day our
accusers; but they would; he found liars. Shall conscience? it is become "the
answer of a good conscience towards God." The Supreme Judge has already
pronounced us justified by a faith which worketh by love: and "being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." "It is God that
justifieth." The apostle draws another inference. If, he argues, God be for us;
if he spared not His own Son, but delivered him up for us all, "Who can be
against us?" How evident is this inference also, and how incontrovertible! As he
pronounces the word, "Who," he looks all around, as though he would address the
inquiry to heaven, earth, and hell. The most appalling objects may present
themselves to his view, but at these alarming objects he is neither to despond
nor to be made weak. He exclaims, "If God be for us, who can be against us?"

Seeing, then, that for us also God hath given his only begotten Son, what shall
prevent us from breaking forth into the same spiritual joy? Let us but be
conquered by the same love that conquered Paul, and our place of defence is as
"the munitions of rocks." We are then in a citadel, whose walls are fire; whose
gates are decorated with the spoils of a thousand vanquished foes; and whose
foundations are in the holy hills. The saints in this security are proof against
all assaults. Here the weakest shall be as David, who, amid all the assaults of
his enemies, lived in it uninjured, and then closed his mortal life, as he did
his Psalms, with triumphant halleluiahs! In such a strong-hold does every true
believer dwell. The love of God in Christ is their defence, and forms, with all
the other Divine perfections, an insuperable barrier around them. Here we may be
alarmed, but not conquered; attacked, but not overcome. "We are kept," saith the
apostle, "by the power of God through faith unto salvation," and if so then "God
is for us, and who can be against us?" In the strength of these three important
inferences let us earn to hold on our way in holy fear, and consistent
obedience. Are we disquieted about our temporal existence, let us, for a moment,
thoughtfully retire, and quell the tumult of our hearts with this Divine
suggestion: "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Does a sense of sin,
of sin constantly repented of and struggled against, depress us? Let us call to
mind the infinite love of God. He has delivered up his own Son for us. "Who
shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth."
Does fear lay hold upon us at the sight of the many enemies and difficulties we
have to contend with? Let us recollect that God has given us, in His precious
promises, sufficient warrant to exclaim with exultation, "If God be for us, who
can be against us?" Hallelujah! Amen.


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  CHAPTER 82: 03.33.     NAAMAN: 2KI_5:1-2
========================================================================

Chapter 9 Naaman 2 Kings 5:1-2

Anxiety, as to "what shall be on the morrow," occasions more than half the
troubles of life. Visit any abode of affliction, among the poor or the rich, and
you will find that its distresses arise oftener from anticipations of the
future, than from the exigencies of the moment. Hence the prevalent custom, in
all ages and nations, of seeking for tokens of security from misfortune. Hence
the almost universal recourse to astrology, oracles, priest craft, false visions
and dreams, and even to birds, whose settlement upon the housetop has been
imagined as valuable a prognostication as was the arrival of Noah’s dove.

Signs of this sort are of little account. Nevertheless, one sign there is, which
is infallible; and they to whom it belongs may well rejoice at it, and may learn
to cast every anxious care away. What can this be? Is it wealth? Far from it!
Remember the man described in the gospel, who pulled down his barns and built
greater. Is it honor and fame? These quickly fade like a green bay-tree. Is it
talent and learning? These cannot avert distress, or death, or the wrath of God.
Is it political distinction? He who poureth contempt upon the great ones of the
earth that honor him not, is able also to destroy both soul and body in hell. Is
it our own supposed rectitude? That will prove a miserable covering, when tried
by the measure of the righteousness of God. Is it even Christian knowledge?
Judas Iscariot possessed this, when swift destruction came upon him. The true
token of happiness is different from all these, and is referred to Psalms 86:17,
"Show me a token for good." It is not an exterior, but an interior sign; yet it
always shines forth in the life and conversation of the outward man. It is
natural to none, for it is a wound inflicted on the heart by the grace of the
King, and is the invariable result of self-knowledge. No herb, no balm produced
from this earth can heal it. The publican exhibited it, when he smote upon his
breast; and the thief upon the cross, when he cried, "Lord, remember me;" and
the woman that was a sinner, when she washed the Savior’s feet with her tears,
and wiped them with the hairs of her head. All, with whom it has been well in
time and in eternity, have had this infallible mark, which, in other words, is a
heart truly broken up and humbled by the deep consciousness of sin. Those who
have it feel self-condemned, and themselves deserving the curse of a righteous
God. This constitutes the wound. Of a truth it is an unsightly token, but it is
of inestimable value; and though but little esteemed by the world, it is the
only prognostic of true happiness. To this the Scriptures testify. But it stands
not alone; it is associated with another, namely, with the mark with which the
Lord distinguishes his people for their preservation. That mark is the
determination not to know any thing in comparison of Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Where these are found together, the wound and the mark, conviction of
sin and faith in the Lamb, the contrite heart and reliance on the only
Sacrifice, there the good sign is complete, and only there. It dazzles not like
this world’s honors, like the golden chain, the star of nobility, or the badge
of royalty; but how gloriously shall the splendor of this sign one day outshine
all these! In the world it confers neither dignity nor rank; but the angels of
God behold it with joy, and love those who possess it, knowing themselves
appointed to be their ministering servants. God be thanked, that there are every
where among us some whose hearts bear this token, compassed as they may be with
many infirmities. That delightful part of the narrative of Elisha’s history on
which we are about to enter, is a practical commentary on David’s words, "Show
me a token for good." God grant his blessing to our meditations!

"Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his
master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria:
he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper. And the Syrians had gone
out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a
little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife."

Events of Elisha’s life now come before us which still more strikingly bear a
New Testament character. Here the breaking down of the partition wall between
Israel and the heathen is anticipated, and several other things of an
evangelical description. By way of introduction to what this part of the
narrative has to offer, we shall consider, at present, the new personages here
presented to us—

I. Naaman the Syrian;

II. That humble instrument for his salvation, the little Israelitish maiden: and
we pray that, under the Divine blessing, this alone may serve not only to
gratify, but to benefit us.


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  CHAPTER 83: 03.34.        NAAMAN THE SYRIAN
========================================================================

Naaman the Syrian The history turns our attention to Damascus, an ancient city,
the capital and residence of the monarchs of Syria, situated in a fertile region
north-westward of Hermon and Lebanon. Let us leave the boundaries of the Holy
Land to contemplate for a while the death-like shades of that heathen country.
Thick darkness surrounds us. On every side the altars of idolatry are
multiplied. Not the faintest ray of pure light, of the knowledge of the true
God, relieves the awful gloom that covers this benighted people.

We might almost imagine them separated from the land of Divine revelation, of
seers and prophets, by oceans or immeasurable deserts, instead of that mere
ridge of mountains which divides Syria from Canaan. But a more formidable and
impassable barrier was their national hatred against the laws and customs of
Israel, their ancient and hereditary enemy. The pride of these heathens caused
them to shut their eyes to the light of Judah, and to extinguish on their very
frontiers any spark of heavenly wisdom that would have passed to them from
thence. Yet the Almighty graciously designed to cast the torch of his truth into
the very heart of this fenced country, and to establish beside the altars of
their dumb idols, a new altar, to the glory of his name, Jehovah. Wherever he
hath purposed to enlighten, who shall disannul it? His command, "Let there be
light," scatters the thickest darkness. His grace and power, and his
omnipotence, go forth together, and who shall withstand them?

God is not a God in heaven only, he is also a God among men, and will be known
as such: he will be recognized as a God, who resides and governs in the middle
of us; and, great in the smallest things, his guiding hand directs the most
minute affairs. For this reason his works of grace proceed commonly through the
intervention of human means; and he conceals his own sovereign control under the
concurrence of a variety of apparently accidental and trivial circumstances.
Nevertheless, he shows by the event, that all was Divinely arranged; and thus
displays to us not only his work, but Himself as the all-governing, omnipotent,
omnipresent Jehovah. These remarks will be confirmed by the present history. On
the throne of Syria was seated the warlike Benhadad, the same who, in the
lifetime of Elijah, had led the battle against Israel, and who commanded in
person on the bloody field, where Ahab, whom God had rejected, fell, transfixed
by an adventured arrow. Among the assemblage of grandees whom that mighty
heathen prince had gathered about his person, there was one particular favorite,
whose talents had raised him to the right hand of his king, and the renown of
whose deeds had made him the idol of the people. His name was not less
descriptive of his person, than of his official relations. He was called Naaman,
which signifies well-formed, beautiful; a designation which afterwards indeed
became a reproachful contrast to his figure and appearance. At present he was
arrayed in the doubtful and perishable glory of earthly greatness; his brow was
decorated with laurels gained upon the battle field; his breast glittering with
the insignia of royal munificence and favor. The public voice proclaimed him the
greatest commander of his age, and his acts were probably celebrated in popular
songs. For the rest, Naaman was a heathen, born and educated in all the
idolatrous blindness of his people: he had often, indeed, been providentially
conducted into the land of Divine revelation, but had remained insensible to its
light. Hitherto he had only visited this people, from whom his healing and
salvation were to proceed, in the hostile attitude of a warrior; like too many
in our day, who can tolerate and delight in any but those who, having access to
the tree of life, and possessing the true riches, are the only people that can
render them the services they stand in need of. Happy is it for us, that "it is
God who worketh in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure;" that the will
itself is vouchsafed of God as an earnest of its accomplishment. Happy is it for
us, that the grace of conversion not merely solicits and invites, but that it
operates with Divine energy, both seeking and making its subjects. Who would be
saved were it otherwise? Naaman, likewise, was to experience this gracious
power. That God, of whom he was at present ignorant, had great designs
concerning him, however unfavorable appearances might be, and however
conflicting the elements that opposed. The Lord governs in the human mind with
the same almighty sway as in the kingdom of nature. He not only calls forth the
stars in the canopy of heaven, but the very thoughts of our souls, and can bid
them come and go at his pleasure. All hearts are in his hand. Obedient to his
will the vast universe holds on its course; and man, the child of dust, with
every insect and atom, are under his control. Such a connection banishes,
indeed, the proud idea of national and individual independence; yet renunciation
of all self-sufficiency in the creature tends but to our greater tranquillity.
The only thought that can enable us to take a cheering survey of the world and
its affairs, is that all things are sustained and guided by the hand of almighty
power and infinite wisdom. What would become of the world, if its affairs were
ordered by the will of man, and not by the will of God! At the period at which
we next behold Naaman, a dark cloud had obscured his glory. Although he was the
same distinguished hero as before, he was no longer an object of envy. Alas! the
bitterness of gall had been infused into his cup of joy, his glory was corroded
by a canker, which in an instant had brought down this man of prosperity and
grandeur to a level with the most pitiable of the sons of men. Naaman was now
become a leper! He was afflicted with that dreadful and disgusting disease which
was employed to represent to Israel the most abominable thing under heaven—sin,
and the healing of which was typical of salvation in Christ, the greatest of all
blessings. His body, from the crown of his head to the soul of his foot, was one
entire ulcer; his skin a lacerated, suppurating, inflamed sore. His comeliness
was changed to disgust and horror, and his breath into that of deadly
pestilence. Such was now the situation of a man, who so lately had been raised
to the pinnacle of glory and earthly felicity. Who is there, however mean and
wretched, that would exchange situations with Naaman?

How often we are inclined to think, "Such a one is reposing in the lap of
prosperity; what a rich, what a great man is he!" But did we only know the
misery that is often concealed beneath such splendor; we should be far from
envying men their earthly distinctions. Be contented then with your temporal
condition, however unpromising it may appear; a glittering exterior can add
nothing to your happiness. Cease to covet any thing allotted to others. It is
the peace of God alone that can impart real happiness; and to him who possesses
this, a plain morsel of bread is sweet, and a cottage is as happy an abode as a
palace.


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  CHAPTER 84: 03.35.        THE LITTLE ISRAELITISH MAIDEN
========================================================================

The Little Israelitish Maiden

We may easily suppose, that for the recovery of so important a man as Naaman, no
efforts were left untried. The king, who had found him the most powerful
supporter of his throne, would certainly command his most skilful physicians to
attend him, and they no doubt would zealously use every means in their power for
his relief. But no means proved successful for the relief of Naaman. The
mysterious and inveterate disease of leprosy appears never to have yielded to
medical treatment. Accordingly the Scriptures represent it as a plague, which,
having been inflicted by the immediate hand of God, could only be removed by his
immediate interposition. Diseases of the kind are not uncommon; and they serve
to check the pride of man, not only by rebuking for sin, but also by
circumscribing human science and wisdom within the limits of a becoming
humility. For they serve to keep alive our consciousness of entire dependence on
the Almighty, and to guard us against the erroneous idea, that the preservation
of our lives is in our own hands. What a signal discomfiture has the science of
this world lately sustained, in its conflicts with that devastating pestilence,
which, issuing from the east, overspread a great portion of the world; and which
still continues its ravages! As Christians we cannot but acknowledge this as a
timely and salutary rebuke to the growing pride of human intellect; for, in
truth, its boastings had attained a height that knew no bounds. Science, which,
in its inflated pride, had usurped the throne of the Godhead, has been obliged
to confess, by the mouth of its most distinguished representatives, that it is
unable to detect and eradicate this disease; and human art, which had arrogantly
professed to do all things, and assumed the lofty air of a worker of miracles,
has here sustained a signal defeat.

We have now to consider how the afflictive visitation upon Naaman was likewise
sent in goodness and mercy. God was gracious to this heathen captain. But was it
because Naaman first loved God? Certainly not. It was because God would herein
display his goodness and mercy. Naaman had evidently lived after the flesh, and
had sought his own glory in valour and war. But God delighteth not in the
strength of the battle, neither taketh pleasure in the prowess of sinful and
mortal man. The only account therefore that we can give of his favour to Naaman
is, that "He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy." But how shall such
mercy be brought near to him? What way of approach is there to the man who has
not the faintest conception of the living God, is ignorant of His word, and
spell-bound in the mazes of his erroneous and superstitious faith? Fear not, for
with God all things are possible. Who would have expected that the leprosy
should have been appointed as the first link in that chain of events by which
such a display of Divine mercy was to be effected? The second link is one which
we should be still less likely to have thought of. During the continuance of the
war between Benhadad and the king of Israel, the Syrians had invaded the
Israelitish borders in marauding companies, and had carried away (probably from
some village) a little captive maiden, who appears to have been thus utterly
separated from her parents; and, having been made a slave, was providentially
brought into Naaman’s family, and waited on Naaman’s wife.

Here a mysterious hardship seemed to have been permitted by the "Keeper of
Israel;" but we are sure to err, when we form a judgment on the ways of God,
without waiting to see the end of his providence. This event, which appeared to
originate in the mere will of man, and to be the result of discord and
confusion, was the commencement of a plan, which, through the wise dispensation
of God, was to command the admiration of future ages. For it turned out to be
only an additional illustration of the fact, that precisely when God’s care of
his people is thought to have come to an end, it unexpectedly receives a new and
glorious confirmation. For yet a little while, and you will perceive how
admirably this mysterious dispensation will unfold itself in the recovery of
Naaman, and, for aught we know to the contrary, in the salvation of his soul and
of the souls of many. Certainly such mercies of God are never displayed entirely
in vain. Yes, the development of this mysterious event will be such, as to give
sufficient cause to the little maid, whose fate now appears so deplorable, to
cast herself adoringly before the Eternal, and to kiss the hand that withheld
its succour in the hour of her captivity; to call forth from the afflicted
Naaman the grateful acknowledgment, that, in this child, a kind angel had been
sent to Damascus for his relief; and to extort from the whole city the
confession, that "The Lord he is God, and none else." So that we likewise must
be filled with admiration, and be constrained to confess, with lively and
renewed conviction, that we have abundant reason calmly to repose in the
government of the Most High, whose counsels, though mysterious in working, are
glorious in their final accomplishment.

Blessed is he whose God is the Lord, and who possesses the assurance that the
events of his life are ordered by unerring wisdom and goodness. Such a person
may assuredly reckon that when things seem most dark and inexplicable, the Lord
of all will sooner or later certainly appear for him. For the words of the
psalmist are everlastingly true, that "Good and upright is the Lord: therefore
will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment: and the
meek will he teach his way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto
such as keep his covenant and his testimonies," Psalms 25:8-10.


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  CHAPTER 85: 03.36.     THE LITTLE MAID FROM A FOREIGN LAND: 2KI_5:3
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Chapter 10 The Little Maid from a Foreign Land 2 Kings 5:3 The Lord, whether he
seem to have forsaken us, or to have arrested us with a feeling of his
displeasure, has doubtless in each case the design either of leading us to
repentance, or of confirming us in it. He would divest us more and more of self;
he would make us more thoroughly sensible of our entire dependence on Him, and
on his grace. Like considerations may serve not only to reconcile us to many of
his mysterious dealings with ourselves and others, but even to make us
gratefully admire and adore the wisdom and goodness which he displays therein.
Our present subject happily tends to the same result.

"And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is
in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy." Our thoughts tarry with
growing interest at Damascus, on account of Naaman, whom Providence had now so
specially taken by the hand. No sooner do we witness, with painful sympathy, the
decay and expiration of all his worldly glory, than another of infinitely
greater brightness appears to dawn. And how remarkable was the commencement of
this mercy! Bands of the Syrian army had made incursions upon the Israelitish
frontiers, had attacked and plundered some unprotected place, and had carried
off a little Jewish maiden, probably to sell her in Syria as a slave. Who would
have imagined that such a scene of calamity was the introduction to a process of
Divine mercy towards Naaman and his country? In what degree it was such will
presently appear.


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  CHAPTER 86: 03.37.        SOLD AT MARKET
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Sold at Market

We may first turn our attention to a heathen marketplace, that of Damascus,
where it is very possible that our little maid was exposed for sale. But be that
as it may; whether with a multitude of other unhappy people, violently torn from
their homes, and driven like cattle to the market, this child was also appraised
and sold, or whether she was handed over at once as a present to Naaman’s wife,
of two other things we cannot well doubt, namely, that she must have suffered
extreme anguish, and that the particular providence of God was in this event.
There must have been a time, when her young heart was well nigh broken, when she
thought upon her father and her mother, and her distant and beloved home. She
falls, however, into the hands of Naaman’s wife; and how, but by the providence
of Him who called the universe into being? This child proves to her mistress as
a messenger from heaven; and not to her mistress only, but to Naaman: and hereby
events transpire which were to interest his household, and his prince, and the
Syrian nation, and king Jehoram, and all Israel; yes, and ourselves also. Such
Divine disposals, beginning often in sorrowful events, and often in little
things, it behooves us seriously to consider. What is here presented to us may
serve to shed a light on what is dark in our own experience, and may furnish us
with the reason why the Almighty, instead of granting directly the blessings we
may have implored, and the assistance we may have earnestly desired, has
appeared to shut up our path, and to appoint to us sorrow upon sorrow.


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  CHAPTER 87: 03.38.        THE DISEASE
========================================================================

The Disease The captain of the host of Syria sits in his chamber, oppressed and
dejected by an incurable disease, and thinks of any thing but recovery, or of
its probability, or of its means so near at hand. But now, in another part of
his mansion there resides a little captive Israelitish maiden, employed in
"waiting upon Naaman’s wife." Were we to be banished for a time, like this
Hebrew maiden, to the privations of a foreign land, and condemned, as are many
of our distant brethren and sisters, to stand isolated in our faith, in the
middle of a cold, unbelieving, benighted world, oh, how would those privileges
rise in our estimation, to the enjoyment of which long possession has almost
rendered us indifferent! While not a few are ready to envy us the pleasant
opportunities of brotherly communion that have really befallen us, and are
thinking that our spiritual profession must be ever fresh and green, amid the
streams of refreshment and encouragement which surround us, alas! what is our
interior condition! Oh that we did not ourselves so frequently trouble a spring
from which we might draw such abundant supplies of spiritual profit and delight!
Did we love one another better, my brethren; were we more firmly united, more
unanimous and mutually intimate; were we more confidential with each other, more
unreserved and open, than we too generally are, how unspeakably should we gain
in substantial joy and blessing! I beseech you, if you value these things at
all, think oftener of the apostle’s words; "If there be any consolation in
Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels
and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love,
being of one accord, of one mind; in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other
better than themselves."

Whether the little Hebrew maiden was particularly well-informed and instructed
we know not; but she brought with her sufficient light to cheer the dark and
dreary path of the disconsolate. It must, at least, have been known to her, that
God was not only the God of the Jews, but also of the whole earth. She could
not, therefore, have doubted, that if Naaman humbled himself before Jehovah, he
might experience that Divine favor was not limited to the borders of Canaan;
hence she said, "Would God, my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria!
for he would recover him of his leprosy;" and who can say to what other and
greater blessings? The wish of this child was uttered in perfect simplicity, and
evidently without the remotest suspicion of the great results it was to
originate. But the information was instantly communicated to Naaman himself. And
how much had that little, lowly daughter of Abraham already accomplished by her
pathetic exclamation! In a moment did she thus revive the hopes of the afflicted
pair, and introduce into this house of heathen gloom the first ray of
cheerfulness. Those who had so lately contemplated death, and who had only
dreamed of separation and the grave, are now suddenly awaked to anticipations of
prolonged life and future felicity.

We also may remember a similar and more delightful period in our own lives, when
a ray of gospel truth first cheered our minds, after we had gone on restless and
dejected under a sense of our estrangement from God; the words, "Come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," or some other
such cheering invitation; having first made known to us One that could help us,
and One alone. And have we been deceived or disappointed? Blessed is he who has
found himself where the footsteps of Jesus are heard, and where all may obtain
counsel, consolation, and relief. O go unto him all ye that stand as it were far
off from him! Let those who desire the healing of their souls immediately have
recourse to Christ. He, and He alone, can effectually recover us from the
leprosy of sin. In him, and in him alone, is our peace, security, and life. In
him, as in a living temple, dwelleth the all-sufficiency of the Godhead bodily.
What though it be awfully proclaimed from this mystical temple, "Whoever
forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple!" let us but enter; and
within we shall read the words, "Here is peace; here the weary find rest and
refreshment:" and from a thousand pillars, that stand as firmly as the
everlasting hills, do those indelible truths shine forth; "I am thy God: I have
loved thee with an everlasting love, and all that I have is thine." Amen.


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  CHAPTER 88: 03.39.     THE JOURNEY TO SAMARIA: 2KI_5:4-7
========================================================================

Chapter 11 The Journey to Samaria 2 Kings 5:4-7

How unspeakably consoling are those words of our blessed Lord, "The Son of man
is come to seek and to save that which was lost!" Luke 19:10. He here represents
man as a sheep wandering without a shepherd in the solitude of a waste and
howling wilderness, which, finding nowhere a hospitable shelter, is exposed,
weak and defenseless, to the ravenous wolves, and ignorantly pursues the path of
death. Or, we are reminded of a ship foundered in the mighty billows, and "lost"
to all hope of recovery: or of a person who has borrowed a large sum of money,
and who, when the time for repayment arrives, has not a farthing left, and is
obliged to part with his house and all that he hath; his comfort, his credit,
his strength, and, perhaps, his life. Examine yourselves, and see if your own
spiritual circumstances do not answer to this descriptive word, "lost;" and if
they do, then mourn and lament, but yield not to despair; for it was "to seek
and to save that which was lost," that "the Son of man" is come.

Sorrow and humiliation for sin are indispensably requisite to all who would
enter the temple of the New Testament. Do we wish that Jesus should befriend us,
we must plead that we are "lost;" and should we even have good qualities and
good works whereof to boast, we must on no account make them our plea. For the
Lord might answer us, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance." Let others boast of the sincerity of their repentance, the fervor
of their piety, the purity of their desires, or whatever else they please; our
plea must be, "Lord Jesus, we are lost and ruined, therefore have mercy on us!"
This appeal, humbly urged, will never meet with a repulse. "The Lord abideth
faithful; he cannot deny himself;" and he declares that the humbled and the lost
are the objects of his saving mercy. To save them, yes, to seek them out, he
declares to be his peculiar office, the real end of his mission into our
miserable world. God be thanked, that he came to seek us, and that we had not
first to seek him; for had this been the case, who would ever have come to him?
We are not merely lost as travellers, who, by deliberation and the help of
guide-posts, can regain their right road; but we are lost, as a piece of silver
is lost, which of itself will not return into our purse, and must be carefully
sought. Blessed are we, that He, who alone can save, condescends also to seek.
And this is beautifully exemplified in what follows concerning Naaman the
Syrian.

"And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is
of the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a
letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents
of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. And he
brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come
unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou
mayest recover him of his leprosy. And it came to pass, when the king of Israel
had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and
to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy?
wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me."
The termination which this mysterious history was likely to take now begins to
show itself. Three points claim our attentive consideration—

I. Naaman’s preparation for his journey;

II. His passport; and III. His arrival in the Holy Land.


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  CHAPTER 89: 03.40.        NAAMAN'S PREPARATION FOR HIS JOURNEY
========================================================================

Naaman’s Preparation for His Journey The pathetic sigh of the Israelitish
maiden, "Oh that my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria!" produced its
effect. It is surprising what important results may ensue from a passing and
accidental word, be it spoken by whom it may, if only accompanied with the
Divine blessing. How could it have entered the mind of this little foreigner in
Damascus, to attach such importance to a wish thus uttered by her simplicity!
yet what a succession of glorious events gradually proceeded from it! And why
did they proceed from it, but because the great Being, who governs all things,
designed that thus it should be? Through his own overruling wisdom and goodness
it was made a means of shattering the strong holds of heathenism, and of
wresting from Satan a portion of his power: and, indeed, who can say in how many
other ways this apparently trivial event was to effect good in the world, even
unto this day! It may serve, at least, to remind us how valuable is the least
connection with any one who is at all connected with that church of God, which
is appointed by Himself to be a blessing in the world. His servants are the salt
of the earth, and their very words are not uttered in vain. How agreeable will
be their surprise, when the Lord shall hereafter discover to them the beautiful
plants that, under his blessing, have sprung up in stillness and obscurity from
the good seed, which they, by their words and actions, had unconsciously
scattered! Then they will perceive that they have not lived in vain with regard
to others, and that "their works," which no stream of time can sweep into
oblivion, shall "follow them" into eternity. On Mount Caucasus, in Georgia,
there is a people, anciently known by the name of Iberians, who in the early
part of the fourth century, when all around them was spiritual and moral
darkness like the shadow of death, became possessed of the blessings of the
gospel in the following remarkable manner. The Iberians having been successfully
at war with a neighboring people, among whom Christianity had gained some
ground, brought away a young captive Christian maiden, and sold her into
slavery. The child was purchased by a reputable family, who as little suspected,
as did Naaman’s wife, the value of the purchase they had made. For the maiden
was a vessel of Divine mercy, and profusely as her tears might have been shed in
secret, she found consolation in her Savior: and quietly and willingly performed
all, and even more, than was required of her. By her obliging disposition and
great fidelity, which were rare qualities among the Iberians, she soon acquired
the confidence and affection of those around her.

It one day happened that, according to the custom of the country, a sick child
was carried about the neighborhood from door to door, in hope that some one
might be able to suggest a remedy for its disease. But none could render the
least assistance, and most people wondered that any hope of the child’s recovery
should be entertained; so that the poor parents, with their dying infant,
proceeded on their melancholy round with increasing despondency and fear. At
length it occurred to them to show the child to the amiable stranger; they
thought it possible that in her country a cure for its complaint might be known,
with which she might be acquainted; and as no other resource appeared, it was
resolved upon as a last resort. The bed was immediately carried to the house
where Nunnia, the Christian maid, lived as a domestic slave. On hearing their
desire, she remarked, with some embarrassment, that she was but a poor girl, and
quite unable to advise them; but, she added, with a smiling countenance, I could
direct you to One, who is not only able to restore the child to health, but who,
were it already dead, can even recover it to life. The afflicted parents eagerly
inquiring who the person was, and where he might be found, she replied, "He is a
great and mighty Lord, who fills the throne of heaven, but he willingly humbles
himself to those who seek him, and he is all compassion and love." They implored
her to fetch him. The maiden immediately retired to bow her knees before her
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom she prayed, "Manifest thyself, O Lord, for
thine own glory; show thyself, and grant thy help!" And on returning to the
child with the joyful assurance in her heart that the Lord had heard her
petition, lo, the child opened its eyes, smiled, and was restored! In a
transport of joy the happy parents returned home with their treasure, and
related to every one they met, what a great and glorious event had taken place.
But to Him who had wrought this miraculous cure, the honor was not ascribed; it
was given exclusively to the little slave, whom they now regarded as a
supernatural being. The report flew quickly through the country, and soon
reached the ears of the queen, who not long afterwards herself becoming sick,
thought immediately of the little slave. She sent messengers to request that she
would visit her; but Nunnia declined the invitation; for she was greatly
distressed that they should persist in ascribing to her an honor that belonged
to her Lord alone. The queen, however, determined to visit her in person, and
ordered herself to be conveyed to the house where Nunnia served. The maiden was
greatly affected at seeing her. She prayed again, and the queen likewise
returned home in health. Miraus, the king, was overjoyed when he saw his beloved
consort return in health, and made instant preparations to send the richest and
most costly presents to her, who was thought to have performed so great a
miracle. But the princess dissuaded it, assuring him that it would afflict the
mysterious child, for that she despised all earthly wealth, and could only be
rewarded for her services by their worshipping her own God with her. The king
was not a little astonished; but the circumstance made, for the present, no
further impression upon his mind. Upon the whole, it appears that the flash of
celestial light which these two extraordinary cures had brought into the
darkness of Iberia, produced at this period no lasting effects. It happened,
however, not very long afterwards, that the king being on a hunting party, and
following his game with unusual ardor, lost himself in the depths of a wood. In
this situation he was surprised by a dense fog, which quite separated him from
his train, and every effort to extricate himself only served to entangle him
more in the solitary wilderness. Evening approached, and his embarrassment
became extreme. He sounded his horn, but the answer he received was from the
echoes of the surrounding cliffs, which increased his feeling of loneliness. It
was now he remembered what the foreign maiden had said of the power of her
great, invisible King, whose throne and habitation were on high, but who was
everywhere present with those that sought him. If this be true, thought Miraus,
what is there to prevent his appearing for me? As the thought arose, he bent his
knee in the solitary wilderness, and prayed, "O Thou whom the stranger calls her
God! Jesus, if thou art, and art almighty, O show it now, and recover me out of
this perplexity! If thou openest for me a way of escape, my heart, my life, and
all that I have shall be thine." The words were no sooner uttered than the dark
mist began to disperse, the heavens appeared serenely blue, and the astonished
king, having proceeded a few steps, regained his track, and recognized the place
where he was. He returned home in safety, but deeply affected. He related his
adventure to his queen, and they no longer doubted that the God of the little
slave was the living and true God, for they had experienced and felt him to be
so. The next morning they repaired to Nunnia; for they thought that she before
all others ought to hear what great things had come to pass. With considerable
emotion the king related also to her the wonderful event, and then both the king
and the queen kindly took the maiden by the hand, and entreated her to tell them
more of Jesus. From that moment the royal pair were seen sitting like teachable
children at the feet of the lowly slave, and Nunnia proclaimed to them, with
unaffected simplicity, all that she herself knew of her Savior and of his
wonderful works. They listened to her words with avidity, and their hearts
melted and burned within them. Nor was it long before a still more interesting
sight presented itself; for both the king and the queen thought that they could
not confer a greater benefit on their people, than by proclaiming to them the
blessed gospel which informed them of God, as having been manifest in the flesh.
The king therefore preached to the men, and the queen to the women and maidens;
the Lord blessed the message, and the people received the good word with
gladness. Jesus entered the hearts, as well as the habitations, of these savage
hordes, and a new creation sprung up in the gloom of their moral desolation. On
the ruins of their idolatrous altars were erected cheerful Christian edifices,
which loudly resounded with the praises of Him, who also here had searched for
his own sheep, and sought them out. Among the descendants of this people in our
days, the Spirit of life has again begun to breathe. Active and anointed
messengers have again displayed among them the standard of the cross, and the
most gratifying proofs are increasingly exhibited, that the grace which planted
this vineyard in so wonderful a manner fifteen hundred years ago, has not
departed from it.

What think we of this occurrence? Is it not delightful and encouraging? How
striking the resemblance it bears to the history of Naaman! Yes! Jesus is "the
same yesterday, today, and for ever." How easy is it for Him to accomplish his
purposes by the smallest as by the mightiest agents! And how well does he know
when and where to find his sheep! "For though thy people Israel be as the sand
of the sea, a remnant shall return." "I will call them my people, which were not
my people; and in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people;
there shall they be called the children of the living God."

But, to return to Damascus. When Naaman had heard the declaration of his little
slave, he resolved on following the hint which had been given him, and soon
received permission and encouragement from his king to undertake the journey. If
Naaman asked this permission he did right; though in our visiting the spiritual
springs of Israel, it is not necessary for us to confer with man, or to be
troubled about the approbation or disapprobation of "those that are without."
The king having been informed of what the little Israelitish maid had said,
replied, Then go thither! Go to Samaria! The preservation of a life so valuable
as that of the distinguished commander of his armies, was all-important to him.
Could he have entertained a hope that relief might be obtained from the
physicians and priests of his own country, the jealous monarch would not have
ceded to the hated Jewish people the honor of the cure. Now, however, he not
only does this, but more; he even offers the invalid a letter of recommendation
under his own hand. This royal document was immediately written and sealed. It
was addressed, "To Jehoram, king of Israel," and was as follows:—"Now when this
letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to
thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy." It must be admitted that
this epistle was worthy of its author, as evincing the great blindness of his
heart. He imagined that if any one in Israel were possessed of miraculous
powers, it must be the king of Israel himself. As if the Almighty judged as man
judgeth, or had any respect of persons in dispensing his gifts and graces; or,
as if he imparted supernatural powers as an abiding possession, to be controlled
and exercised at human pleasure. Oh what folly and absurdity are uniformly
exhibited, whenever the ungodly and profane adventure to meddle with "the things
of the Spirit of God!" The sick man, after thankfully receiving the royal
letters, hastened to make the necessary preparations for his departure, in a
manner that became his rank. His most splendid equipages were prepared, and his
officers ordered to accompany him, with a numerous train of domestics on camels.
Money was likewise abundantly provided. He took with him the large sum of ten
talents of silver, or about sixteen thousand dollars, besides six thousand
pieces of gold, of which the greater part appears to have been intended to
enrich the man who should effect his cure. For the same fortunate individual the
ten splendid changes of raiment appear to have been intended. Thus royally
equipped, he took the direct route to the land of promise, the land of his
hopes. From all this pomp it would appear that the ideas of Naaman were not much
more enlightened or spiritual than those of his royal master. He, likewise,
expected to find in the prophets of Samaria little more than a kind of magicians
and enchanters, similar to those of the heathen world. Of a God who dispenses
blessings, and commands them to be dispensed, without money and without price,
he had not the slightest conception. And, indeed, it is not natural to the
corrupt heart of man to guess at the noble principles of real religion. That
persons should be most welcome to the throne of grace who feel themselves most
poor and destitute, and most willing to obtain what they desire without any
desert on their part, is incomprehensible to "the natural man." How difficult is
it to us, even when renewed by grace, to sacrifice to this truth our legal
conceptions, our ideas of service and reward! Alas! how often do we approach the
Lord, like Naaman, laden with imaginary gifts, or else with vows to present
them! How frequently, how imperceptibly do we again fall back upon the foolish
thought, that not until we can reckon upon something of our own are we at
liberty to enjoy the consolation of the Divine promises! We do not then
prostrate ourselves before God, and present our supplications like Daniel, "for
the sake of His mercy;" we profess indeed to depend on the merits of our great
Surety, but we depend, in fact, on the notion of our own acquirements, subtle as
may be the covering that conceals such a notion from us. Yet why do we do so,
when it is not only our privilege to ask and to receive "wine and milk without
money and without price," but this is even enjoined upon us as a duty? Such is
the arrangement before the throne of Jehovah. Oh, let us conform to this blessed
regulation!


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  CHAPTER 90: 03.41.        NAAMAN'S PASSPORT
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Naaman’s Passport

Naaman commenced his journey under the patronage and with the passport of his
lord; which at every stage would secure him an uninterrupted passage, and the
greatest attentions. For our comfort we possess a similar safe conduct, though
of infinitely greater value, and of a more exalted description. It is the same
that was given to the sick man in the gospel, to whom Jesus said, "Go in peace."
And of which the disciples were the subjects in the request made by Jesus to his
enemies, "Let these go their way."

We too, brethren, are set out upon a journey; we are continually and rapidly
advancing in it. Whether we know and wish it or not, our progress is without
intermission or pause. This journey commences with our life, and the hour of our
death is the last stage of it. We do not, it is true, recline in a carriage,
neither do we perform it on horseback or in a ship; but the wings of time, on
which we repose, move with a far more vigorous and rapid speed. Every stroke of
the clock warns us of our progress. Every movement of the pendulum proclaims
with a solemn sound, "Ye travel onwards!" How lately did our road lie through
the smiling fields of spring! It seems but as yesterday. Now, the roses have
faded; and soon the leaves will wither, and fall rustling to the earth. Then
snow succeeds, and before we are aware the lovely flowers of spring will again
shoot forth: thus time rolls on. And how long will it be, before we fade like
the leaves, for all flesh is as grass! The grass withereth, the flower fadeth,
and whither are we travelling but towards that eternity, into which all the
streams of life are successively discharged. But eternity is distinguished by
two provinces of very different natures, separated by an impassable gulf; the
one a lake of fire, the other a paradise of bliss; the one, heaven, the other,
hell. In the one, or in the other, all will be landed. The last wave of time
casts us upon the shores of the one province or the other.

Now, it may fare ill with us on our pilgrimage. We may fall into the hands of
formidable enemies; we are liable to be attacked and subdued, and to suffer
imprisonments, whose horrors are not to be described. For do not thousands daily
become entangled with the delusion of sin, and are they not more and more
encompassed by its fatal snares, till in its horrible embraces they are
overtaken by eternal perdition and death? Remember Ahab, Judas, and Herod. How
many of the same spirit do we everywhere behold! How many who willingly take
upon them the yoke of Satan, and become quite involved in self-deception and
falsehood, as if they had sold themselves to do evil, as if they had voluntarily
consigned themselves to that everlasting torment which is prepared for the devil
and his angels! Think of the wretched beings over whom Jesus so pathetically
pronounced, "Woe! woe!" Thousands fall into the hands of Moses, by whom they are
accused: the accusation is heard before the highest tribunal; each delinquent is
condemned, and his name written in the book of cursing. Thousands are cast by an
alarmed conscience into the furnace of despair, and despair is the stigma of the
reprobate. Thousands, at the command of the Judge, are dragged by the last
enemy, the king of terrors, to eternal desolation; alas, who can conceive to
what misery and torment! and thousands in their last extremity will cry, "Lord,
Lord, open unto us!" but will be doomed to hear the answer, "I know you not:
depart from me, ye workers of iniquity!"

These are dreadful miseries, horrible events. What are all the afflictions of
earth compared with them? What is loss of fortune? what the loss of health, or
of the world’s esteem? to languish in bodily pain, what is it, when compared
with such spiritual evils? They are all too insignificant to be mentioned in
comparison. Job, Lazarus, and Bartimeus, in their misery, were a thousand times
more enviable than the rich man clothed in purple, or than Saul, Herod, and many
others in their robes of state. But it may be anxiously inquired, Is there no
escape from these horrors? Yes, my brethren, many escape them. In what way? They
possess a passport. He who travels without one, will doubtless one day be
arrested as a vagabond or criminal. A passport, if it be genuine, is a great
protection on a journey, but false ones here are of no avail, they lead to
certain and greater disgrace and ruin. Yet many, alas! make use of them, and
many, it is to be feared, even among ourselves. Some make out their own
passports, which contain much self-applause. "We are," they say, "not bad
people; we give to the poor, we do what is right!" and there is no end to their
self-deceptions. Others obtain their passports from the world, in which they are
described as excellent people, held in general estimation. But where did the
world obtain its authority for furnishing passports? Its seal is neither legal
nor valid. And even though you should possess a passport written by the children
of God, testifying of you that you are members of the same kingdom; place no
dependence on it. How often have they been mistaken in their testimony, and
through shortsightedness or ignorance given false certificates! Your credentials
must come from far higher authority, even from Him who once said to the hostile
multitude, "Let these go their way;" and to the woman, "Go in peace." Yes, this
woman received the true passport, the only one that is valid under all
circumstances, and in all contingencies; and it is possessed by the very least
of those who belong to Christ.

Nothing of the kind could have been granted as a matter of course, to any one of
our fallen race; for we are all by nature children of wrath. But the Son of God
had compassion on us, he became our Surety, having undertaken to save that which
was lost, and to present us holy and unblameable and unreprovable in the sight
of God. He "hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Thus "by the
obedience of one shall many be made righteous;" He having not only rendered it
possible for Grace and Mercy to sign their passport, but for the Divine Holiness
and Justice to subscribe it with a firm, unwavering hand. For Mercy alone would
never have signed it. God then, and God alone, issues the passport, even the God
of mercy and truth; and he does so on the ground of the meritorious obedience of
our atoning Mediator. From having thus alluded to the Christian’s spiritual
passport, it may be further worth while to glance at a few of its contents. It
describes the name of any one who is its owner, to be such as no man knoweth,
save he that hath it; and his age, as not comprehensible within the chronicles
of this world. It speaks of God as our Father, and of Jerusalem above as the
mother of us all. It speaks of some wilderness of Mount Sinai as the place of
our natural birth, and of Zion as our spiritual residence; of our rank as
priestly and royal; and of our profession as that of spiritual combatants,
benefactors, healers, and children of song. It speaks of our fellowship with the
Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, by our having been made partakers of the
Holy Ghost. It speaks of the object of our pilgrimage, as the enjoyment of
things which God hath prepared for those that love him; of our being borne
occasionally as on an eagle’s wings, and clothed with the garments of salvation;
of our speaking the language of Canaan, and of our being fair and comely in the
sight of God; of our having the eyes of our understanding enlightened, of our
ear as opened daily to Divine discipline; and of our tongue as loosed to confess
the name of Jesus, and to praise the Lord. If we inspect it once more, in order
to notice how far it is valid, we find it is valid to the heavenly city, where
there is no night, and where there is no need of the sun, neither of the moon,
to enlighten it; where every tear is wiped from all eyes, and men hunger no
more, neither thirst any more. Better is it that our right hand should forget
its cunning, than that we should forget this city of God. Our passport thither
implies also a command given to ourselves to go forward in seeking it; and a
command to all creatures, and all events, to co-operate for our advancement
thither; a command to the angels to take charge concerning us; and a command to
all adverse powers in the world to "let these go their way." To every bearer of
this important document, it is expressly enjoined, "Be of good courage, fear
not; go in peace." The angels obey its commands with delight; and the powers of
the adversary from necessity. Foolish then, indeed, is that person who can
possess it, and yet not anoint his head and wash his face, and leave worldly
anxiety and sorrow behind him.

Many a one is, indeed, provided with this document of heavenly credentials,
though hardly at present aware of it. Or, he carries it about with him sealed,
and thus is but little acquainted with the pleasant nature of its contents. Such
are bidden to "give all diligence to make their calling and election sure:"
which if they do, then, however their passport may be for the present concealed
from themselves, its value is not impaired, but it will still secure to them a
safe conduct. Nevertheless, the consciousness of its possession, and the ability
to decipher it, are invaluable blessings, which we should daily aspire to
attain.


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  CHAPTER 91: 03.42.        NAAMAN'S ARRIVAL IN THE HOLY LAND
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Naaman’s Arrival in the Holy Land At the end of one or two days’ journey, our
traveller came in sight of the mountains of Israel. In what a different light
did he now behold them stretching out before him, from what he had done on
former occasions, when at the head of his trained legions, and mounted on his
war horse, he had proudly contemplated them at a distance, in order to select
the height on which to unfurl his victorious banner. In proportion to his
confidence of obtaining a cure, would be the home feeling, yea, the tender
affection, with which he would now survey the country, opening like a place of
refuge to his view. Beyond those hills he looks for the realization of all his
hopes, and his heart bounds thither much swifter than his wheels can carry him.
He is now, moreover, likely to raise a standard upon Israel’s hills, which shall
bear the inscription, "Jehovah is my help." Now also a battle is to be fought;
but the gods of Naaman will fall in the encounter, and he himself become a
captive to the Lord God of the whole earth. He will now, as formerly, not retire
empty from the field; but his conquests shall be imperishable in their
consequences. As at other times, the song of victory and triumph shall be
raised, but it will be such as the angels of God can join. Of all this Naaman
has at present no idea. A fountain of bodily health is all he seeks, and all he
hopes to find. But God has greater designs towards him. His route conducts him
for some time along the foot of lofty mountains to the lake of Gennesaret; then
he passes Capernaum and Bethsaida, and enters the plain of Jezreel. And now
Samaria, the lofty residence of the king of Israel, soon becomes visible. This
was the place of his destination, and surely on such an occasion as this, even
the heart of Naaman could not have been without strange emotions as he
approached it. Naaman, upon his arrival in the city, "brought the letter" of
Benhadad "to the king of Israel." Whether his having "brought" it implies, that
he did so in person, though a leper, we are not told. But of this we are
certain, that his unexpected visit, and the contents of the letter, gave no
little embarrassment to the king of Israel; who read in it as follows: "Now when
this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant
to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy." The king, indignant at
this strange communication, rent his royal robe, and exclaimed with a vehemence
incomprehensible, at first, to all around him, "Am I God, to kill and to make
alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy?
wherefore, consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me."
But what unnecessary alarm, and what groundless uncalled-for passion, as if he
were required to perform the miracle! Nevertheless, even here there is something
commendable. For Jehoram himself is indignant at being thought to arrogate the
place of God; whereas through ages past unto the present day, how many who have
professed and called themselves Christians, have everywhere virtually done this,
and are doing it still! This remark deserves the deep consideration of all who
profess either spiritually to kill or to make alive. And what else but the
latter of these alternatives are we ourselves doing, if we practically renounce
our dependence on the grace of Christ, and can think of no homage but that which
is claimed by our own self-sufficiency? If the letter of Benhadad manifests the
blindness of a heathen, the burst of feeling from Jehoram strikingly shows some
influence of the light of truth which still shone in Israel. For he is not only
sensible that the leprosy, as inflicted by the special visitation of God, can be
removed by nothing but Divine interposition, and that its cure would be as life
from the dead, but though in imitation of his fathers he was addicted to
idolatry, he is convinced in his heart that Jehovah is God, and that in His
sight, there is no offence of greater magnitude, than to deify the creature, by
investing it with the honor due to God alone. Therefore he is seized with
instantaneous consternation, at a request seeming to be addressed to him, which
he is thoroughly convinced should be addressed only to the living God. We may
perhaps be surprised to meet with so much true Israelitish sentiment and feeling
in Jehoram; but it is not difficult to account for it, if we consider how much
light yet remained in Israel, and how readily even bad men can avail themselves
of such light to serve their own purposes, or when these are not counteracted by
it. In the present case, it shed some of its rays around one who was still a
miserable being; a striking instance of whose perturbable state of mind is
further seen in his causeless and distrustful apprehension of renewed
hostilities on the part of Ben-hadad; an apprehension which, at least, should
not have so unnerved a man, who had witnessed such wonderful proofs that there
was for Israel a Keeper that never slept, and who could deliver the prey out of
the mouth of the lion. But Jehoram’s pusillanimity was likewise evinced in the
embarrassment which he betrayed, perhaps in the very presence of the afflicted
Syrian, as if in Israel a leper had never been healed; as if in the whole
history of that people no instance of Almighty help could be found to justify
the hopes of Naaman; also in his having so entirely forgotten, that there was a
prophet in his own dominions, of whose wonderful powers he had himself received
ocular demonstration. So that what little light he showed as a son of Israel,
was merely accidental, and such as it was not in his power entirely to quench;
while in every other respect he was a contemptible character, an apostate
without faith, and altogether devoid of elevated desires and real dignity.

If Jehoram’s unholy embarrassment at the request made by the Syrian moves our
pity or indignation, let us turn it against ourselves. For how frequently do we,
in like manner, and upon the most insignificant occasions, become disturbed so
as to betray the honor of God, and of the kingdom to which we belong! At the
smallest misfortune, or the most trivial difficulty, we can suddenly disquiet
and demean ourselves, as though our faith in the Lord, and in all his promises
had been but fancy and delusion. Ought not our spiritual character to be above
permitting us, even under the most mysterious dispensations, to sink down thus
into practical unbelief, so as to bring into discredit with others, our high
calling and holy profession? Instead of so readily speaking about the unpleasant
things that have happened to us, ought we not much rather to be animated with
devout zeal, to show forth more faithfully the salvation and lovingkindness of
our God? Ought we not infinitely prefer becoming a reproach and the offscouring
of all things, rather than bring a reproach upon that kingdom, whose citizens we
have professed ourselves before the world? We have every day experienced mercies
and blessings unspeakably great, and far outnumbering whatever cross incidents
may have befallen us, and we ought so to remember them as, at least, to put all
our complaining to shame. And then what is any one of those cross incidents
which thus astonish and confound us, but things equally ordained by the only
wise God, and brought about by his mysterious providence, all for our final
benefit, and for his glory? Yes, every such thing is made to harmonize with his
own gracious designs. But what was Naaman now to do? for this afflicted man, who
had arrived so elated with hope, finds that his fair prospect has suddenly
vanished away. Jehoram can no more assist him than could Benhadad and the Syrian
physicians; but confesses his inability to serve him, or to recommend him to any
one who can. What a distressing situation for Naaman! And yet all this was just
as it should be; for now is the way prepared, wherein the Lord will magnify his
name and display his power. The moment is arrived in which Elisha can appear,
and manifest gloriously, that Jehovah is God, and not Baal, nor any other.
Verily, the whole world can find no assistance, except from the God of this
despised and unassuming man. Now, as a last resource, all hopes are directed
thither, and in him Naaman shall rejoice, to the honor of that God whom Elisha
worshipped. When the world has exhausted its consolations and resources, then it
becomes manifest, that the house of Israel is not so utterly worthless as is too
generally suspected. How welcome, at such times, is the love and the
faithfulness of a believing Christian! how seasonable his consolations, and more
precious than gold and much fine gold! Where the resources of human art and
succour terminate, there the efficiency of real Christianity commences. Where
the sun of worldly glory sets, there the consolations of God spring up as light
in the darkness. When the mighty upon earth are constrained to confess, "We know
of no remedy," the servants of the Most High can lift up their hands unto God in
the heavens, and can draw down that help which the world cannot give; and for
any affliction, for any plague or trouble, can obtain the healing balm of Divine
truth, and an everlasting cure. The resources from which they derive such help
are never exhausted, for "their help is in the name of the Lord, who hath made
heaven and earth!" He is their "refuge in times of trouble," whether their own
trouble, or that of others. God acts by their means, and they act by Him. He is
the Fountain of Israel, and they are the channels through which his mercies
flow.


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  CHAPTER 92: 03.43.     THE BEGGAR: 2KI_5:8-10
========================================================================

Chapter 12 The Beggar 2 Kings 5:8-10

"He that humbleth himself shall be exalted," is the standing law of God’s
kingdom. If we now attend seriously to the sequel of Naaman’s history, we may
become, by the Divine blessing, the more disposed to obey that law.

"And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had
rent his clothes, that he sent to the king saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy
clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in
Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the
door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go
and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou
shalt be clean."

Three particulars here claim our attention—

I. The interposition of Elisha;

II. The journey to Jericho; and III. The prophet’s directions.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 93: 03.44.        THE INTERVENTION OF ELISHA
========================================================================

The Intervention of Elisha The aspect of things for Naaman was at present not
very cheering. Could then the hint of the Israelitish maiden have been only a
delusion? Had imagination raised up visions which sad reality was to dispel?
Naaman had reached the end of his journey, but hitherto it appeared to have been
performed in vain. Is then Samaria as Damascus? Is there no help in Israel? Was
the leper’s last hope to be given up? Not so. Here was only one of those many
instances, in which it has been "good for a man to wait and quietly hope for"
the Lord’s mercies. The more desperate the case appeared, the more signally was
it to display the Lord’s power. The world with its wisdom, its skill, and its
expedients, was first put to shame: and the reason is obvious; for the granting
of Divine relief, after every human means had failed, would the more evidently
redound to the glory of God, and to the consequent benefit of man. The news of
the celebrated stranger’s arrival in Samaria, and of the scene that had taken
place in the palace, quickly spread throughout Israel, and soon reached Elisha’s
humble dwelling at Jericho. When he heard of the reception given by the king to
the afflicted stranger, he was not a little affected by it. He was devoted to
the honor of Jehovah, and thus to see it clouded, could not fail to pain him at
the heart. Could the king already have forgotten that there is a living God in
Israel! Could he thus, expose Israel to the scorn of the heathen, as if here
also the fountains were dried up, as if all truth had failed! The zeal of the
prophet does not pine away in musings, but displays itself in action. He
instantly dispatches a messenger to the capital, with orders to appear before
the monarch, and to say to him in his name, "Wherefore hast thou rent thy
clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in
Israel!" What great words! How sublime this interposition of the man of God! He
comes forth from his seclusion, like the sun breaking through the dark clouds.
He assumes, indeed, a high and lofty tone, but it is warranted. It is no idle
boast. Let others rend their garments at will; but for Israel on such an
occasion to do so were unworthy. The kingdom of Jehovah is not a realm of
poverty. How noble and public-spirited was the feeling of the man of God! Wave
proudly aloft, thou banner of Zion. There is no shade like thine. Come hither,
come hither, all ye who need counsel and help. What a whole world cannot furnish
we here possess. Is it wisdom that you seek? Do not doubtfully inquire what it
is, and where it is to be found. It is found already; its fire is in Zion. Is it
peace? Rend not your clothes, as if peace were unheard of in Zion. Seek it on
her rich pastures. Here its streams murmur, and its gentle breezes blow. Is it
righteousness? O take courage, though you have not yet attained it in your
spiritual bondage. In Zion a heavenly righteousness prevails, the righteousness
of God, and you may be clothed with it, as with a robe of light. Is it strength,
to triumph over the cares of life and the fear of death, that you desire? The
inventions of human wisdom cannot impart it. But fear not, there is still no
reason for despondency. Come to Salem, and we engage that whatever opposes you
shall be vanquished at your feet. Yes, search out your innermost wants, express
your most hidden desires, however great or many they may be; give vent to them
all: within the boundaries of Christ’s kingdom we promise you their most ample
gratification and fulfillment. Here there is an end of poverty; here heaven
pours out its fulness. Here is the termination of every grief. Then "let him
that is athirst come." Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread?
and your labor for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness."


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  CHAPTER 94: 03.45.        THE JOURNEY TO JERICHO
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The Journey to Jericho

Elisha’s messenger arrives in Samaria, hastens to the palace, and discharges his
commission. Jehoram receives the communication with pleasure. It relieves him
from a secret embarrassment, and he therefore readily endures the pungency of
Elisha’s words. He causes the sick commander to be informed, that in Jericho
there dwells a prophet to whom he might repair. No guide-post ever imparted more
welcome information to a bewildered traveller. Naaman’s joy must have been
indescribable. The message surely sounded to him like the oars of an approaching
boat to a shipwrecked mariner; like the voice of help to one who has fallen into
a deep pit. "Yes," would he recollect, "it was of a prophet that the little maid
in Damascus spoke!" and his sensations at this moment would resemble those of
the eastern sages, when, on issuing from the gate of Jerusalem, they beheld
themselves still guided by the star which was to conduct them to the object of
their desires and expectations. His cheering prospects, which had been so
obscured and clouded, would assume at this happy intelligence their former
freshness, and his confidence of recovery would be now more ardent and consoling
than before.

If God send us forth, and guide us on our way, let the direction seem ever so
strange and bewildering, we cannot but reach in safety the place of our
destination. A hundred times will our prospects darken before us and around us,
but a hundred times will they re-open with increased brightness. A hundred times
will our hopes appear to have expired, but as often will they revive, and
brighten up with fresh gatherings of glory. And having finally overcome the
difficulties of the wilderness, ye shall serve God in his holy mountain; and
then will the confession of Joshua be ours, "There failed not aught of any good
thing which the Lord had spoken" concerning us, Joshua 21:45.

Naaman had no sooner received the welcome tidings of Elisha’s message, than his
retinue was immediately on the move. His camels and horses were harnessed in
haste, the chariots were led forth, and the splendid eastern procession, now
departing, through the streets of Samaria, was once more the attraction and
renewed talk of its inhabitants, many of whom perhaps expressed their doubts
whether the prophet would heal him. Naaman trusts that he will; and probably he
never returned from the victorious battle-field with half the interest with
which he now advanced towards Jericho. The distance was speedily overcome, nor
was Naaman long in discovering the humble abode of the prophet; for surely there
could not be a child in Jericho that had not heard of Elisha, or that did not
mention his name with veneration and love. His memorable miracle of healing the
waters was enough to acquire him the gratitude of the whole city. As Naaman
proceeded towards the prophet’s dwelling, he was likely to be greeted with many
a joyful assurance, that if he came to seek from the man of God the cure of his
disease, he had not undertaken such a journey in vain. Surely his feelings of
impatience to gain an interview with this wonderful man would be very great. At
length the chariot stops before a lowly habitation, which is pointed out to him
as that of the prophet. But was this the residence of the man who was to do him
a service, which he had sought in vain from all the world, from all the most
distinguished physicians and priests both far and near? Little probably had
Naaman learned that power may be clothed in the simplest attire, and that it is
only emptiness or impotency that needs to decorate itself with pomp and parade.
There were also many other things with which he was equally unacquainted; but
they will gradually come under his observation, and will accomplish a strange
revolution in his mind. If the meanness of Elisha’s dwelling had alarmed the
pride of Naaman, his extraordinary reception proved to him in the highest degree
vexatious and offensive. The noble leper had doubtless imagined, that the moment
his splendid equipage should halt at that humble door, the prophet would be out
to receive him, and submissively tender him the offer of his services. But
everything turned out differently from what the hero had expected, and contrary
to the style and manners of his country. The prophet was well aware, what person
was waiting at his gate, but was not the least elated by it. Yet, as if the
communication made to him had respected the most ordinary and unimportant event,
he remained undisturbed in his humble dwelling. All he did was to send a
servant, probably Gehazi, briefly to inform Naaman what he must do in order to
be cleansed of his plague. This procedure appears the more extraordinary in
Elisha, because everything like haughtiness and reserve was altogether foreign
to his character and his calling as a representative of Divine grace and
goodness. But Elisha was perfectly master of what he did, and his whole
proceeding, though in appearance indicating self-sufficiency, and even pride,
only attested a high degree of spiritual wisdom and prudence in the service of
the Lord his God. The noble stranger was, at the very outset, to be made to feel
that he had not now to do with a Syrian magician or an idolatrous priest, but
with the servant of a Majesty which has no respect for persons, and in whose
presence all human conceptions of great and small, high and low, dwindle into
nothing. He had to learn that the distinctions which very properly exist in this
world, are as nothing in the eyes of Him, before whom all alike are sinners,
devoid of that glory which alone has merit in His sight; that splendid rank and
high sounding titles, though justly numbered among the things that give
importance to dust and ashes, are but as a vapour in the estimation of Him,
neither constitute any claim to Divine favor; that he must not therefore expect
to be regarded of God as superior to the meanest, but be contented to accept the
help of Jehovah, simply on the ground that he is a God of mercy to miserable
sinners. Of this and similar truths Elisha doubtless wished, in the most
impressive manner, to convince his noble guest; and therefore it is that we see
him, with holy self-denial, laying aside his obliging affability, and assuming a
demeanor towards the stranger which seemed rather to say, "Draw not nigh hither,
put off thy shoes from off thy feet!" which was characteristic less of the mild
benignity, than of the dazzling majesty of Him whom the prophet was called to
represent among men. But in how estimable a light does the man of God appear on
that very account! Can all the preachers of the gospel in modern times venture
to survey themselves in this living mirror? Alas! how frequently does pastoral
deportment in the present day seem to justify the supposition, that the Lord,
whose interpreters and representatives we are, judgeth "with man’s judgment;"
that He has given a preference to rank, station, and wealth; and that he stands
nearer to the noble, the dignified, and wealthy, than to those of low degree.
But, in truth, the ministers of Christ in general, are now too little regarded
by themselves or by others as the representatives of Jehovah and of His mind.
And this is the well-merited reward of our love of worldly pre-eminence. Even
those, in whose presence we lower the standard of truth with obsequious
pusillanimity, despise us in their hearts, much as they may value and compliment
us as "well-bred" and "gentlemanly." Oh may the "Lord of all" mercifully
interpose to restrain this contemptible spirit on the part of his poor servants,
and to establish them on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, from
whence the fascinations of dignity and rank would be viewed as a vapor!

Doubtless there was nothing that Elisha more fervently desired than that it
might be granted him to place what we may call the beggar’s staff in the hands
of his noble visitant. Neither could this desire be prompted by any other motive
than love itself; for he was perfectly acquainted with the promise in Psalms
72:1-20, in which the Lord engages to answer the cry of the poor and needy. Oh
blessed state of poverty and need, contradictory as such an exclamation may
sound! For though every one is poor by nature, yet it is not every one that
knows it, or desires to know it. For very few are humble enough to live
habitually by grace; to rest habitually on the merits of another; to be led
along by the hand of Divine mercy. Pride and self-love are our greatest
obstacles. Poor and needy as we are, we are not easily made sensible of our real
condition. Providence may visit us with chastisements, and misfortune upon
misfortune may come upon us, but we are often more ready to repine and despond,
than to imagine that such visitations are "for our profit" and improvement; and
how often do we still remain unhumbled under them! Instruction, education,
example, correction, and punishment, may do much for man, but they can never
make him truly humble in spirit. A whole array of Scripture passages,
exhortations, and philosophical evidences of transgressions, judgments,
calamities, and I know not what besides, will of themselves produce no effect to
the purpose. He will often rather break than bend. The change so devoutly to be
wished is the work alone of Him who "giveth repentance unto Israel." And to be
clothed with this humility of spirit is better than to be arrayed in princely
garments. But how is it effected? Sometimes by alarming convictions of the
strictness, extent, and spirituality of the Divine law. Hereby the man becomes
sensible that his quantum of supposed virtue falls far short of what he is bound
to pay. He therefore forms resolutions and purposes of amendment; for he is now
awfully persuaded that the Divine commandments must be kept! that without
obedience there is no holiness, and that without holiness there is no happiness.
But, alas! the more earnestly he endeavors after all this, in his own strength,
the more overwhelming are his discouragements. For experience now teaches him
that he is retrograding instead of advancing; that he sinks deeper every day,
becomes poorer instead of richer, and accumulates debts instead of discharging
them. His awful apprehensions are increased; he renews his exertions; but
repeated shortcomings confirm his conviction that he is bankrupt; that he has
nothing wherewith to pay. Yet he hears the gospel of peace proclaiming, "Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." He hears the simple message
of the cross, and a beam of hope pierces the gloom of his despondency. He sees
himself cast upon Christ as his only hope; and at length he falls down, and
humbles himself before the throne of grace. The consciousness of being a
helpless sinner, and that there is salvation only through the precious blood of
Christ, is now that beggar’sstaff in his hand which God alone can give. This
humble state of mind cannot long remain concealed from the world. It is a
spectacle of joy in the presence of the angels of God; and it becomes a
spectacle of wonder and praise, as also of reproach and scorn, to men. To real
Christians it is an unspeakable joy that another brother is born to them, that
their Lord still works mightily, that his Spirit breathes upon the dry bones,
and that his kingdom prospers. The angels again rejoice that their King displays
more and more the exceeding riches of his grace, and that they can thus welcome
another fellow-heir of glory. In the Scriptures we nowhere read that there is
"joy in heaven" over men’s acquirement of gold, or nobility, or splendid
appointments, or crowns of worldly praise. But the humility and change of mind
of which we speak, are an occasion of joy to the whole kingdom of God; while the
devil only, and his agents, are abashed at the sight; a glorious testimony to
the value of Christian humility. But it is not others only to whom it is the
occasion of joy. The subject of it himself soon feels the comfort that attends
it; and irksome and revolting as he thought it beforehand, it is now his welcome
element. For it is the very element of heaven; the element of benevolence and
love. And as God’s children kindly welcome him as a brother, so God himself
regards him as no more a slave, but a son. He bids him to "be careful for
nothing," but to "cast all his care on Him who careth for him." He assures him
of His everlasting love; and that He will never leave him, nor forsake him. Here
then is the true honor; here are "the true riches;" here alone is happiness.
Little as it is thought of by the world, all the true nobility that the world
ever knew have been characterized and distinguished thereby. Abraham, and a
train of successive prophets, and the apostles have been clothed with it. The
best fathers of the church, and the best reformers, were most remarkable for it,
and "counted it all joy." And shall not we highly prize and seek after that
which will rank us in the same class with them? Of what real value to me are all
other distinctions, however imposing? These may any day belong to traitors and
infidels, and they perish with the using. Not so that clothing of humility,
which is never put on by the ungodly. With this beggar’s staff we may
courageously pursue our path to heaven, where it will become as a palm of
victory in our hands. What multiplied motives have we for not being ashamed of
it here! But we are not beggars at thy door, thou miserable world! From thee we
desire nothing. Keep what thou hast. Thy poverty can afford us no pleasure. We
prostrate ourselves before another gate; and oh, how great and glorious are the
benefits we there receive! "as having nothing, and yet possessing all things."
To those to whom it was once said, "Thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor,
and blind, and naked," it is now said, "All things are yours."


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  CHAPTER 95: 03.46.        THE PROPHET'S DIRECTIONS
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The Prophet’s Directions

We are next to consider Elisha’s prescription to his noble patient. He sent unto
him saying, "Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again
to thee, and thou shalt be clean." This was, in truth, a most unexpected and
singular direction: it amazed Naaman in the greatest degree, and once more
darkened his hopes of returning felicity. But who can mistake the highly typical
character of this advice? Against the spiritual leprosy, sin, we can only
prescribe in a similar manner: a bath, a washing, a baptism; not, however, in
the waters of an earthly stream, but in that "fountain opened to the house of
David for sin and for uncleanness." Here it is absolutely necessary that all
polluted sinners must wash; otherwise, as saith Job, "thou shalt plunge me in
the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me," Job 9:31. "If I wash thee not,"
said the Savior to an apostle himself, "thou hast no part with me," John 13:8.
Read this declaration with a threefold emphasis, and the one thing needful will
be distinctly perceived. Place the accent first on the word "I;" "If I wash thee
not:" Christ must do it. Wash yourself as you will, and with what you will, if
Jesus wash you not, you are still unclean in the sight of God. Try the cleansing
efficacy of your own supposed meritorious services; they may gain you applause
before the world; but hope not for the complacency of the Most High, if you are
too proud to pass under the cleansing hand of Jesus. A good name among men has
its value; but if your desires extend to heaven and the world to come, then
dwell seriously upon the words, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me."
"If I wash thee not." It matters little what Jesus may have done for you
besides, unless he have washed you. You may say, "He teaches and instructs me;"
but Judas Iscariot might have said the same, and yet he perished. You may even
have directed others to him as the fountain for the house of David; but have you
been washed in that fountain yourself? Without this you remain a sinner; and
"the wages of sin is death." But wherewith, or by what means, is this washing
and cleansing wrought and effected? The apostle answers this inquiry, and
exclaims, "The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." The
church triumphant "have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb." To all whom God "justifieth," it is triumphantly proclaimed, "Ye are
come to the blood of sprinkling!" He who heartily welcomes and holily values the
sufferings of Immanuel as his only dependence and his only foundation, that
person wears a vesture purified with the blood of Christ, and is free and
cleansed from his foul and native leprosy. Would we enjoy such a happy
condition? We then must come by faith to "the blood of sprinkling," that we may
be "washed, sanctified, justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the
Spirit of our God." For "there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Nothing of the kind
any longer cleaves to them. All the sins of their past lives are fully atoned
for, made amends for, rebuked, punished, remitted; blotted out of the book of
God’s remembrance, and cast into the depths of the sea, so as to be no more
found; yea, all this was done in the Divine foreknowledge long before those sins
were committed. And does the blood of the Lamb purify? it also furnishes goodly
raiment, adorning, and honor. He who, with heart-purifying faith, receives as
placed to his account the atoning sufferings of Christ, that person is also
allowed to receive and to put on, the merit of Christ’s glorious obedience. And
he evinces his having done this, by bearing in his changed character the
Savior’s image. Yes; and it is on this account we triumphantly testify, that as
justification emanates from the blood of Christ, so, with equal truth, does
sanctification likewise devolve through it. For, live only and entirely by true
heartfelt faith in thy once-suffering, bleeding, dying Savior, and the germ of
"the virtues of Him," in thy renewed nature will, by the grace and power of His
spirit, Spring up, unfold, blossom, and bear fruit in thy disposition, life, and
conversation. Then the love of Christ thus dying for thee will be like a
precious oil to nourish and kindle up the spark of thy little love into a flame,
and true humility within and without thee, will be the pledge of thy exaltation
unto victory. Live, I say, by faith in that merciful, that dying love, and it
will make thee merciful and forgiving, and conscientious, and patient. Thou wilt
then have no relish for the vain pleasures of this world, but thou wilt have
calm courage and confidence whenever trouble or death may come. "Keep," then,
"the faith" we here speak of, even faith in the atoning blood of Christ; hold it
fast; for the more tenaciously you abide by it, the more will you find that word
of Scripture true, "the blood is the life."

Well, therefore, may the church triumphant in heaven be represented as singing
the song of Moses, and of the Lamb, Revelation 15:3. For whatever they are, in
moral excellence, whatever they have been enabled to do on earth in fulfilling
the law, whatever they now have and enjoy in heaven, they owe it all exclusively
to "Him who hath loved them, and washed them from their sins in His own blood."
"Worthy then is the Lamb that was slain!" this is their song before the throne;
they know nothing of their own merit. Yes, this is that whereby alone they
received, or ever could receive, their worthiness to obtain that world; and thus
it came to them, as children receive a birthright inheritance, without the least
claim on the ground of their own personal desert, yet no one interposing, or
daring to interpose, a protest against it. They had to pay down nothing for the
purchase of it; they had only to part with their dreamy and delusive notions of
self-righteousness, their pride, and their lusts. These they were willingly
obliged and constrained to sacrifice to the honor and love of the truth. The
whole foundation of their glorying was laid by Another, and no part of it by
themselves. And this having been once laid for them, was laid for ever, as
sufficient as it is everlasting. It needed no addition of man’s device, nor ever
will. Oh precious blood of the Lamb of God! wonderful, all-powerful,
all-efficacious atonement! Let the world, if they please, tread it under foot;
let those who are "doing despite unto the Spirit of grace," let them, if they
will, "count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing;" it shall, nevertheless,
be my strength and my song in this frail tabernacle, this house of my
pilgrimage; and I will commend it while I live; I will praise the Lord for it as
long as I have my being; yes, for the everlasting covenant of it, as all my
salvation and all my desire. For where had I now been, if Christ had not died
for me? But his atoning death swallows up my death in victory. It destroys "the
body of sin" in me, which is the real "body of death," "that henceforth I should
not serve sin." Thus from the blood of sprinkling I come forth "a new creature;"
"a new creation." Triumphing in Christ alone, I pluck the palm of victory from
the grave itself, and from the hand of hell. But who can worthily praise the
Lord for this grace of atoning blood, and for its unfathomable power and
efficacy! a single application of which is sufficient in a moment to make
crimson sins white as snow; yea, it maketh me the righteousness of God in Him,
even in Christ Jesus; and by virtue of it I become at length "blameless and
harmless," "without rebuke," and "without fault before the throne of God;" yes,
and raised to privileges of adoption and sonship which Adam in paradise never
knew. This atonement, moreover, covers my guilty head with "a crown of life,"
and brings me "into the holiest at once;" it gives life to that love which,
being "made perfect," is the earnest that I shall "have boldness in the day of
judgment," and shall "not be ashamed before the Lord at his coming;" but shall
be welcomed to everlasting rest under his shadow "at his appearing and his
kingdom." Oh invaluable and wonder-working atonement of blood! who can ever
worthily praise and bless the Lord for this! Oh that I may never lose sight of
it! especially in that hour, when this mortal life, and, with it, all this world
to me, shall sink away in dimness and night from these dizzy and death-arrested
eyes! O Thou, who art Faithful and True, grant that then, when eternity is
opening to my mental sight, when its dawning brightness shall make all the guilt
of my past life, all the blackness of my ingratitude, seem revived before me in
more appalling vividness than ever, O then, then, yea, and now, against that day
and hour let me be strong in faith, in hope, and in love! So, when I walk
through "the valley of the shadow of death" shall I fear no evil. A believing
view of Thee, as having, by thy death, reconciled me to God, and much more as
saving me by thy life, shall command me to overcome all fear. Let then the
remembrance of thy atonement by thy precious blood be ever present to my
thoughts, to the belief of my heart. According to my faith, my hope, and my
trust, so let its efficacy abide with me, and its presence for my every need be
realized by me. Let the lintel and the side-posts of my earthly tabernacle be
sprinkled and sanctified by it continually. Yea, let thy blood of atonement be
sprinkled upon us all, to "purge our conscience from dead works, to serve thee
the living God." Let it be upon us all, unto reconciliation and life eternal.
Amen.


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  CHAPTER 96: 03.47.     THE WAY OF RECOVERY: 2KI_5:11-14
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Chapter 13 The Way of Recovery 2 Kings 5:11-14

Speed in this wilderness is the gift of God alone. Whether He grant it, or
whether he suffer the believing pilgrim to halt disconsolate on his way, the
mark is at length attained. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the
righteous runneth into it, and is safe."

"But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will
surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and
strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and
Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not
wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And his
servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had
bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather
then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean! Then went he down, and dipped
himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and
his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean."

How interesting and instructive are these few verses! The heart of Naaman is
here laid open to us. And what one thing can be more like another in all its
essential features, than is "the heart of man to man?" While, therefore, we are
considering the conduct of Naaman, some of us may unawares discover our own
character. Naaman’s remarkable displeasure, together with the judicious and
well-timed remonstrance addressed to him by his faithful servants, will form the
two subjects of our present meditation. May this be accompanied with the Divine
blessing! Amen.


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  CHAPTER 97: 03.48.        NAAMAN'S DISPLEASURE
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Naaman’s Displeasure

"Naaman was wroth!" In a moment he feels himself insulted by the prophet’s
message to him. His thoughts seem to have been, ‘This is too much! to make so
long a journey, to spare neither labor nor pains, to be put off from one to
another, and at length shifted to this contemptible expedient of going and
washing in Jordan seven times! Truly it was worth while to travel so far into
this land of wonders for such an experiment! What do they mean? do they suppose
that the captain of Syria is to be thus trifled with?’ Thus is he incensed in
his splendid chariot, as though he would again grasp the sword. He is deeply
mortified; he believes himself, perhaps, intentionally deceived; his reflections
goad him towards despair at seeing, as he supposes, all his hopes wrecked at the
very mouth of the haven. The anger of this troubled warrior is a spectacle of
itself. How unreasonable was it, and how dangerous to him who indulged it! It
had almost turned him away, with the whole burden of his misery, from the
threshold of recovery and health. And who were the objects of this his
displeasure? Perhaps not even the little Israelitish maid was excepted; for her
hint had proved to him, as it now seemed, a piece of mere fatuity. And what
could he think of king Jehoram, who had sanctioned his application to Elisha? Or
what of the citizens of Jericho, who had confirmed him in his vain,
unsubstantial hopes? But, lastly, he was angry against the prophet himself, by
whom he might regard himself insulted and mocked. And yet had Naaman persisted
in these proud notions, so as to have returned in anger to Damascus without a
cure, there to have fallen a victim to his terrible malady, whom would he really
have had to blame but himself? The rod of destruction to all his hopes would
have been made up of his own pride, his own presumption, his own preconceived
opinion, his carnal mind. The remedy is before him. Why does he not accept and
welcome it? Simply, because it is indicated to him in a different form from the
one in which he expected to meet with it.

"Behold," he says, as the chariot is turning to depart, "I thought, he would
have" done this and that. But if there is one thing in the world more pernicious
than another, it is oftentimes that disposition which the expression "I
thought," as here used by Naaman, betrays. Our great adversary easily avails
himself of the high opinion we have of our own judgment, to construct out of it
the most formidable barrier between sinners and their salvation. Many have gone
so far as to yield to a certain conviction that they are sinners, but, at this
point, their own suppositions will begin to intervene; the sum of all which is,
that they arraign the oracles of God at the bar of their own shallow reason, and
judge concerning Divine truths and commandments, as they would concerning the
traditions and commandments of men. But what desperate temerity is it thus to
venture upon the dread ocean of futurity, in the frail and treacherous bark of
fleshly understanding! Upon a mere opinion will no prudent merchant venture his
capital in any speculation. He must have some reasonable certainty respecting a
favorable result. And yet to risk the happiness of the soul upon the doubtful
security of an opinion, how easily is this done, and how lightly accounted of by
many among us, though a fearful retribution will certainly one day overtake it!
Those who at present will think independently of the word of God, will have a
miserable recollection of it in that day when all their thoughts shall have
"perished." It will be the misery of disappointed miscalculations. Imagine only
the agony of their self-reproach, the soliloquy of their disappointment. ‘I
thought it would be well with me after all. I thought that sin was not a thing
of so much importance. I thought that God would forgive me. I thought that
punishment in a future state was questionable: that what was believed concerning
the devil was merely imaginary; and that strict notions about religion were but
state contrivances. I thought that I was as likely to be right in my opinions as
others in theirs; but, oh dreadful delusion! I find it now to be far otherwise,
my own thoughts have fatally deceived me!’ And what was it that Naaman here
thought? He had indulged narrow and haughty ideas of his own, the fallacy of
which he soon experienced. "Behold," said he, "I thought, He will surely come
out to me!" As if he had said, "A person of my rank does not every day stop at
his door." He evidently expected deference to have been paid to his station and
quality; and was chagrined at a reception which seemed to lower him down to the
meanest common applicants. His high thoughts of himself encountered most
unexpectedly a check and mortification; so that he at once shrunk aside with
disgust into the conclusion that the prophet was destitute of power. This was a
hasty conclusion indeed; hasty, indeed, and extraordinary, but not uncommon.
What is the ordinary reception which a faithful preaching of the gospel meets
with from the world? Is it any better than Naaman’s notions of Elisha at
Jericho? The gospel, in respect of its faithful application to the conscience,
knows no distinction of rank or station, of education or moral worth, but
addresses itself to all, indiscriminately, as fallen children of Adam, born in
sin, shapen in iniquity, unworthy of the least of God’s mercies, and at best but
unprofitable servants. Thus it directs every one to depend for salvation on free
grace alone. But on this very account does the world often reject and set it at
nought; and why, but because their own thoughts of themselves are very
different? Nevertheless, as the word of God is true, their thoughts of
themselves are a perversion of all right thinking. And what else were the
thoughts of this blind Syrian, who thus further expresses himself; "I thought he
will stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over
the place, and recover the leper." Yes, there we have it! He had brought with
him ideas, formed not from Divine truth, but from heathen falsehood; or to speak
more plainly, from the natural imaginations of the corrupt heart of man. He had
probably imagined that a kind of exorcism was to take place at once, by Elisha’s
calling on the name of his (Elisha’s) supposed national and local god, with a
solemn approach to the diseased man, and a mysterious waving of the hands over
his sores and ulcers; with other such-like pomp of heathen ceremony. But now,
when nothing of all this his expectation was realized, but every thing of a
contrary and humiliating tendency, his hope of supernatural relief vanished at
once. Like a man who thought himself imposed. on, and even insulted, he seemed
to give his last hope to the winds. How pitiable was his delusion! Had he laid
but his own opinions and prejudices for a moment aside, the very simplicity and
absence of all show in Elisha’s procedure, would have led him to a very opposite
conclusion, for it would have forced upon him the joyful conviction, "This man
cannot possibly be a cloud without water; surely he must have the aid of Divine
power; he is calmly confident of the issue of his message to me; he would not
risk his high reputation by giving instructions so direct and unambiguous, as,
‘Go, and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and
thou shalt be clean.’" But Naaman sits entrenched behind his own opinions,
measuring what is Divine by an earthly standard, and little considering that
what is merely human, calls for the aid of imposing circumstance and appendage,
only because it is poor and insignificant in itself; while that which is Divine,
being sufficiently great and important of itself, would seem more or less
deteriorated by any addition of external garniture. Yet, how many are there who
still participate in the wrong sentiments of Naaman! And as they hold his
sentiments, so are they involved in his fate as uncured lepers, though, alas! in
a much more melancholy degree. Their unblessed opinions bedim their vision with
a servile covering of worldly elements, so that they blink in the very dominions
of light and truth, and "grope in darkness at noon-day." Hence it is the same to
them as if there existed no word of God; for their minds are perverted by
notions utterly foreign to every Divine communication, and to all the Lord’s
doings as set forth in those sacred writings, for the very style and tone of
which they evince a cordial disrelish. As little do they recognize the great and
glorious agency of the Most High in all the features of nature and of human
affairs; forsooth because nothing of what they see, in the one or in the other,
accords with their own preconceived notions of Divine interposition. Thus they
practically disown the God of revelation, of providence, and even of nature
itself; so that their own thoughts, opinions, and sentiments, go to destroy
every thing that is great, divine, and blessed in the world, and to deify, on
the other hand, a philosophy or a vulgar sentiment, that is as vain and
worthless, as it is exteriorly imposing and plausible.

Therefore must all who would persuade themselves that they "have chosen the way
of truth," be ever jealous of any imagination or opinion that tends to flatter
the pride, vanity, or indolence, of our fallen nature. Preconceived opinion, as,
for instance, respecting the humble manner in which the Christian revelation was
first ushered into the world, is the nurse and mother of infidelity. The corrupt
inclinations and self-flattering prejudices of mankind form the very pillars of
Satan’s empire. By their means it is that he governs the world; while wherever
men begin to question the infallibility of their own conceptions, there is his
kingdom shaken. And if we proceed a little further, so as to become convinced,
that the manner in which God should reveal himself to his sinful creatures, can
be learned only from Himself, we are not far from the kingdom of God. For those
who inherit that kingdom are of childlike docility; neither do they presume to
understand before they have been instructed. But there are multitudes in our
day, who deny truth to be truth, because they have determined what is truth,
before they have become acquainted with it.


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  CHAPTER 98: 03.49.        THE SERVANT'S PROTEST
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The Servant’s Protest

Naaman’s unexpected reception from Elisha was not the only, nor the chief cause
of his extreme vexation. The unpromising appearance of the remedy which the
prophet had prescribed, had still more to do with it. Elisha had bidden him,
"Go, and wash in Jordan." "In Jordan!" thought the indignant captain: "are not
Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may
I not wash in them, and be clean?" And, indeed, we must admit that he was right,
if the two rivers he refers to were to be regarded in the same light in which he
regarded them. For to this day are the waters of Syria esteemed more wholesome
and strengthening than most of those in the promised land. But who had bidden
the stranger to compare the physical properties of Jordan with those of the
rivers of Damascus? He did not reflect, that in his favor, on that occasion,
there was a Divine promise attached to the waters of Jordan. The assurance had
been given him in the name of the Almighty, that by this water he should be
cured of his leprosy; therefore a healing power had been, for the present case,
imparted to it, surpassing all the physical powers of other waters. Yea, it
stands to reason that the special blessing of God can render the meanest
appointments the most salutary; a barley-loaf better than a sumptuous
entertainment; a shepherd’s rod in the hand of Moses more powerful than an
imperial scepter; and any condition of poverty superior to the greatest
abundance. What were all the medicines in the world compared with the brazen
serpent in the wilderness, after the Lord had said, "He that looketh upon it
shall live!" What the largest possessions of corn, wine, and oil, in comparison
with the widow’s handful of meal in a barrel, and a little remnant of oil in a
cruse, after the Lord had pronounced concerning these, "They shall not waste nor
fail!" Verily, the worth of everything depends upon its being associated with
the Divine blessing. The scanty pittance and the hard couch of God’s poorest
children are infinitely preferable to the fine linen and sumptuous fare of
those, who, not seeking in the first place the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, have no Divine promise recorded in their favor, that all needful
earthly things shall be added unto them.

"Judge not," then, like Naaman, "after the outward appearance." He considered
the water of Jordan simply as the water of Jordan, without reflecting on that
Divine blessing which, like the angel at Bethesda, would descend upon it. Hence
to wash in that river appeared too simple an operation to warrant any hope of
essential benefit. Had Elisha commanded something uncommon or ceremonious and
difficult, this would have raised the warrior’s hopes. But the simplicity of
such a prescription, so widely different from his own ways of thinking, seemed
to leave him no prospect but that of a miserable death. He therefore indignantly
orders his charioteer to drive off: "he turned and went away in a rage."
Impatient of delay for any further inquiry, he will have his orders instantly
obeyed, his servants mounted on their camels, and his whole train on the march.
But do we not feel as though we could have seized the bridles of the horses, and
have closed the gates of Jericho to prevent the departure of this deluded
stranger? Should we not have shed tears of compassion at beholding the unhappy
man turning away from the very door of mercy, and ready to carry home to a
death-bed his burden of loathsome disease and wretchedness? With such a burden
he would certainly have returned as he came, had not the providence of God
mercifully interposed, to rescue him from the delusive imaginations of pride and
prejudice. And this is just what the great Author and Finisher of our faith has
done for recovering many a proud person from the leprosy of sin. And how
necessary have such interpositions been! The bare consciousness that we have the
leprosy of sin, or even the superadded wish for recovery, is insufficient of
itself to persuade us heartily to accept the appropriate and Divinely appointed
remedy. In the very sight of the manger and the cross, if left to ourselves, we
should still turn aside, and in the darkness of some self-flattering way of our
own, we should miserably perish.

Naaman, if he would be cured, must be disabused of his own proud delusions: the
mighty captain and counsellor of Syria must listen to humble and humbling
advice. Now, observe how beautifully God’s providence wrought for the
accomplishment of this merciful purpose. He suffered him previously to discover
the evil passions of his own proud spirit, to make him sensible that this, as
well as his body, needed a cleansing from Jehovah. Nor does he miraculously
prevent him from actually commencing his return homewards, but leaves him to act
according to his own free will. There was something also humiliating in God’s
choosing as the further instruments of his merciful intentions towards Naaman,
the inferiors and servants of this great man. He had already moved off from the
humble dwelling of Elisha, who probably remained quietly in his prophet’s
chamber, imploring that the eyes of the infatuated man might be opened; when
some of Naaman’s attendants, who viewed the matter with more simplicity of mind,
came up, and accosted their master in his chariot, and with equal respect and
earnestness entreated him to comply with the directions of the prophet, and at
least to try the prescribed remedy. From their apparently familiar and
affectionate address, "My father!" (though it may have been only an Eastern
compliment), we may not unreasonably conclude that Naaman was an affable and
benevolent master. Certain it is, that many are affable and benevolent in their
ordinary conduct, still a proposition is made to them of similar import to that,
"Go, wash in Jordan, and be clean;" and then, alas! how soon will what appeared
to be a lamb be heard to speak as a dragon! Should, however, the result be more
favorable, it is a pleasing sign of the influence of Divine grace. And doubtless
it is only under such influence, that the "Fountain opened for sin and for
uncleanness" will be cordially and thankfully resorted to.

We may observe in the words of Naaman’s servants the beautiful simplicity of
good common sense. "My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing,
wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee,
Wash, and be clean!" Truly, they were right. Had Elisha prescribed the
achievement of something great or extraordinary, though it were a pilgrimage
through the Arabian Desert, or to the top of some lofty mountain, or a fast of
many days, or a costly sacrifice, how buoyant had been Naaman’s hopes, and how
ready his compliance! But to wash in Jordan, and this seven times, appeared to
him so perfectly futile, that he could not imagine any healing, much less that
of the incurable leprosy, attainable by so insignificant and unmeaning a
ceremony. The reasoning of Naaman’s servants will admit of further consideration
for Christian use. How difficult do men find it implicitly to acquiesce in the
gracious liberality of the New Testament economy! The very facility with which
the blessings of the Christian covenant may be attained, becomes an offence. To
be thrown entirely upon a single resource, "the simplicity which is in Christ,"
is a matter of stumbling to the pride of human nature. Hence the necessity of
constantly watching to stand fast in the faith of that great truth which serves
to sustain, purify, and animate the very life of all Christian obedience;
namely, that "by grace ye are saved, through faith;" that by the grace of God we
are what we are; and that the propitiation of Christ, the Son of God, who freely
laid down his life for us, is the everlasting basis of all spiritual healing and
reconciliation. The invitation of the gospel therefore is, "Come and purchase,
without money and without price!" Thus the way of faith is one of humiliation
and self-abasement from beginning to end, and "eternal life is the free gift of
God through Jesus Christ our Lord," For "whosoever will," behold "all things are
ready," and "let him take the water of life freely." Here is Mary’s "chosen" and
"good part" without Martha’s "cumbrance and trouble about many things." Choose
the same then, dear brethren, for yourselves! Walk not after the imagination of
your own hearts, which will certainly deceive and disappoint you at last, as
many have experienced already. Be willing to go into total poverty of spirit;
for to this is attached the healing and satisfying blessing of the kingdom of
heaven. In the way of our own preferences we may imagine ourselves free, but we
are here in the very worst state of slavery; we may imagine ourselves honorably
employed, but we are bringing forth fruit unto death; we may believe that we are
keeping all the commandments of God’s law, while it has undoubtedly many things
against us, which if not timely remitted by the only method wherein we are
authorized to expect it, will amount to its awful curse, and to our final
rejection. If, on the other hand, for Christ’s sake, we renounce and let go at
once our own imaginary glory, then we acquire, in its stead, a glory that fadeth
not away. If we deny every false claim of self, and "yield ourselves unto God as
those that are alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of
righteousness unto God," having His will for our will, and His glory for our
only glory, then indeed we are counted as the children of the King; yea, as one
with him. Spend not then any longer your "money for that which is not bread, and
your labor for that which satisfieth not;" but hearken diligently to the voice
of the Good Shepherd, and feed upon that which is good; yea, "let your soul
delight itself" in its abundance, and shine in the garments of salvation and
robe of righteousness prepared for you by the King of the freely-invited guests.
Here is the Divine blessing; here is the love of God; here is the kingdom of
heaven opened, through the precious death of Christ, to all believers. "Blessed
are they that practise his commandments, that they may have right to the Tree of
life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without
are—whosoever loveth and practiseth untruth."

Turn, therefore, to this "Stronghold, ye prisoners of hope," all ye who value
your immortal souls. Be enslaved no longer to any self-flattering imaginations
of your own. Truly in vain is salvation hoped from the multitude of such hills!
Come, and receive it as a free gift from the hands of Divine mercy, which
"giveth unto all men liberally, and upbraideth not," and which expects nothing
in return, except the grateful love and reasonable service of a devotedly
obedient heart and life.


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  CHAPTER 99: 03.50.     THE CURE: 2KI_5:14-15
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Chapter 14 The Cure 2 Kings 5:14-15

"They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick! I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance!" Thus spake our blessed Lord to
the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees. If He is the Good Physician, who is
found among the sick, why does He seek them, except to heal them? If He is the
Friend of publicans and sinners, for what purpose is it but to call them to
repentance, and to separate them from sin for ever? He came into the world to
save sinners, and every miracle of mercy that he wrought, showed that his design
was, that sinners might be saved; that is, not only pardoned, but transformed
into new creatures by the renewing of their mind, so as to become devoted to
God. Pardoning grace is always sanctifying grace. Of such things we shall be at
least reminded in this concluding portion of Naaman’s history.

"Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the
saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a
little child, and he was clean. And he returned to the man of God, he and all
his company." The narrative now takes a favorable turn, and Naaman obtains the
object of his wishes. Let us praise God for it; for we should have regretted to
this day had the leper returned uncured, when an effectual remedy had been
Divinely pointed out to him. And yet he had very nearly foregone the benefit of
it; so destructively may any one stand in his own light, when he presumes to
judge of Divine things by his own imagination; and arbitrarily undertakes to
determine how the finger of God shall be recognized. Let us now observe how the
Syrian was first cured of his folly, and then of his disease.


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/writings-of-f-w-krummacher-volume-1/
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