MEN OF THE BIBLE; SOME LESSER-KNOWN CHARACTERS

by

 GEORGE MILLIGAN, D. D. J. G. GREENHOUGH, M. A. ALFRED ROWLAND, D. D. , LL. B. PRINCIPAL WALTER F. ADENEY, D. D. J. MORGAN GIBBON. H. ELVET LEWIS. PRINCIPAL D. ROWLANDS, B. A. W. J. TOWNSEND, D. D. 

1904

 CONTENTS

 1. ENOCH By W. J. TOWNSEND, D. D. 

 2. ELDAD AND MEDAD By ALFRED ROWLAND, D. D. , LL. B. 

 3. BARZILLAI By GEORGE MILLIGAN, D. D. 

 4. ADONIJAH By ALFRED ROWLAND, D. D. , LL. B. 

 5. HIRAM By W. J. TOWNSEND, D. D. 

 6. JEROBOAM By ALFRED ROWLAND, D. D. , LL. B. 

 7. ASA By ALFRED ROWLAND, D. D. , LL. B. 

 8. AHAZIAH By J. G. GREENHOUGH, M. A. 

 9. GEHAZI By J. MORGAN GIBBON

 10. HAZAEL By J. G. GREENHOUGH, M. A. 

 11. MANASSEH By J. G. GREENHOUGH, M. A. 

 12. AMAZIAH By J. G. GREENHOUGH, M. A. 

 13. JABEZ By J. G. GREENHOUGH, M. A. 

 14. SIMEON By H. ELVET LEWIS

 15. PONTIUS PILATE By Principal WALTER F. ADENEY, D. D. 

 16. BARABBAS By J. G. GREENHOUGH, M. A. 

 17. JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA By ALFRED ROWLAND, D. D. , LL. B. 

 18. PHILIP, THE EVANGELIST By GEORGE MILLIGAN, D. D. 

 19. ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA By GEORGE MILLIGAN, D. D. 

 20. DEMAS By Principal D. ROWLANDS, B. A. 

ENOCH, THE DEATHLESS

BY REV. W. J. TOWNSEND, D. D. 

Enoch was the bright particular star of the patriarchal epoch. Hisrecord is short, but eloquent. It is crowded into a few words, butevery word, when placed under examination, expands indefinitely. Everyvirtue may be read into them; every eulogium possible to a humancharacter shines from them. He was a devout man, a fearless preacherof righteousness, an intimate friend of God, and the only man of hisdispensation who did not see death. He sheds a lustre on theantediluvian age, and he shines still as an example to all generationsof steady and lofty piety. 

It is difficult to realise the exact environment of the earlypatriarchs. Human society was then in its making. There were giantsin those days, both physically and intellectually. They lived long, and unfolded a vigorous manhood, by which civilisation was developed inevery direction. Some of them, also, were tenderly responsive tosupernatural influences, and thus rose to a spiritual stature whichenables them to bulk largely in sacred history. 

The guiding lines of Enoch's biography are clear though few. "_Hewalked with God_"; "_he pleased God_"; "_he was translated that heshould not see death_. " These are the pregnant remnants of his history, from which we may construct a character and career of striking eminence. 

I. 

"He walked with God. "

Therefore he knew God. The articles of his creed were not many, but hewas fixed on this foundation-truth of all religion. Further than this, he knew God as taking a living interest in His creatures, as one whocould be approached by them in prayer and communion, and who wassympathetically responsive to their needs. He somehow knew God, also, as being righteous and holy, and he must have had a rudimentary idea ofthe Christ, as it unfolded itself in the great promise of a delivererfrom evil made to our first parents in Paradise. However scanty innumber were the articles of his creed, they were not scanty in results. They produced a great life and a great name. The results were that "hewalked with God. " Walking is the habitual exercise of a man's life. Aman runs sometimes. Under great strain, or the demand of specialcircumstances, he runs, but finds that exhaustion follows; or if heruns too frequently, total collapse is the inevitable consequence. Twoof the most eminent ministers of our times recently died owing tooverstrain and over-exertion. But we have some now living who havedone signal service for the Church during a ministry of fifty years, and who are still hale and having a green old age. To walk at a steadypace, fulfilling life's responsibilities and the demands of duty, is tofulfil the will of God and serve our generation. This rule refers toman's religious and spiritual life. To walk onward and upward in thehighest things is to grow in excellence and grace. 

As man is a social being, he must walk with someone in life. Perpetualsolitude dries up the springs of existence, and true manhood isshrivelled up. Solitary confinement is the saddest and cruellestpunishment that can be inflicted by man on his fellow. The prisoner inthe Bastille, when his reason reeled through prolonged silence andloneliness, was saved from mental collapse by the friendship of a rat;and a similar story is told of an English prisoner, who, under similarcircumstances, found solace in the company of a pigeon. Man craves forfellowship and friendship. Happiest is he who has the noblestcompanion. God alone fills the deep craving of the heart for acongenial and helpful presence, and Enoch "_walked with God_. " Thewords imply regular, unbroken, well-sustained communion with Him. Witha sublime and lofty aspiration Enoch had risen above shadows, idols, and pretences, and with simple, manly faith had grasped the unseensubstance and reality, the personal God, the Father of us all. 

This "_walking with God_" may be fairly inferred to have been carriedout in all the affairs of life. The statement has no exceptions in it. Other saints have their failings and sins recorded with an admirablecandour, but we are left to conclude that this was a saint of pure lifeand character. In tending his flocks and herds, in carrying out thebarter of the markets in the early world, in commanding his childrenand ordering his household, in preaching righteousness and foretellingjudgment, the great law of his life was here, "_walking with God_. "

When such unbroken intercourse with God is maintained, all duty andlabour have a new meaning, and are suffused with a new glory. Everyoccupation or profession becomes a transparency by which divine truthand purity are translated to the world. No man is then a menial or aslave, but a free man, living in love and by love. He becomes anevangel, who, by words of holiness and deeds of sacrifice, adorns thedoctrine of God and Christ in all things. Nothing is common, nothingis unclean; all life is sanctified and beautiful; the man is a templeconsecrated by and for God alone. 

In such habitual fellowship there is constant growth in familiarity andintimacy. God becomes known more and more in the tenderness andconsiderateness of His love. He unfolds Himself to the soul of Hisfriend in such love-compelling charm as that the believer isconstrained to ever-growing reverence, gratitude, and devotion. Theman is transfigured. His thoughts, motives, desires, actions, are allinspired by the Divine Mind and framed after a Divine Pattern. Thelimitations of human nature are relaxed, and the man expands intonewness of life; he soars into heavenly places; he is charged with holyinfluences. "The trivial round, the common task, " become _media_ tohim, by which he can interpret and make known to all, the beauty ofholiness as revealed to him by communion with God. 

It is a significant fact in the history of Enoch, that his piety shonebrightest amid family surroundings. He was not an ascetic or ananchorite. He was a husband and a father. It is said that he "_walkedwith God after the birth of Methusaleh_. " With what measure of fervourhe served God before the coming of a child into his house, we are nottold; but we are told that after that event "_he walked with God threehundred years_. " Possibly he had not manifested special piety before. His children gathered round him, for we are told that after Methusaleh, he had "sons and daughters. " But the blessing of children in no wiseslackened his course of piety. Not infrequently, family cares andbusiness responsibilities draw men's thoughts and desires from God; andmany who in youth were ardent in religious exercises and unfailing inspiritual duties, in middle life and old age are found to be merelyformalists in worship, and paralysed for useful work in the Church. The fine gold has become dim, through the fretting cares or the surgingexcitements of life. It is awful when such is the case, when thepromise and interest of youth settles into impotence and rigidity, whenthe type which once had the die of thought fresh upon it is worn flatby overuse, or when the shell, once the home of life and bright withocean's spray, lies with faded colour and emptied hollowness. This ismelancholy, indeed, and many such wrecks of religious life are aroundus. But with Enoch, the increase of life's cares brought an access offresh devotion. New gifts of Providence roused new feelings ofgratitude, and he grappled himself the closer in attachment to theGiver of enlarged blessing. This is as it should be. Every gift ofGod should be a call to renewed praise and prayer, to a more perfectand joyous service. 

This record of Enoch's piety teaches that the highest spirituality ofnature is not found in avoiding the duties and cares of life, or inseeking a cloistered and solitary existence. The piety of monkery isnot the crown of living. It is neither an experience of healthy joynor of abundant fruitfulness. The healthful influences of Christianityare immeasurably more beautiful when manifested in the joys of familyand home life, or in the discharge of honest trade and commerce, thanin the introspective gloom of the recluse, or the ceremonial round ofthe ascetic. It is remarkable that the record states that Enoch's walkwith God lasted "_three hundred years after the birth of Methusaleh_. "There was no break in his spiritual course; it was continuous growthand progress until the light of eventide deepened into the glory ofheaven. 

II. 

"He pleased God. "

This is to win the highest prize of life. Not only because God ishighest and noblest of beings, but also because His pleasurepresupposes great moral and spiritual qualities, and unfolds itself inblessings of untold preciousness both in this life and that which is tocome. The pleasure of the Lord is graduated to the intrinsic beauty orvalue possessed by the object which draws it out. It was manifestedwhen the great creation stood in finished order before Him, and Hepronounced it "only good. " But of a higher kind is that pleasure saidto be taken by Him in His only-begotten Son, in His people, and in HisChurch. Over these He rejoices with singing, as He rests in His love. Of such pleasure Enoch was the recipient, and it was bestowed upon himin a most signal and unique manner. Two especial qualities areindispensable to those with whom God is pleased. One isfaith--"_Without faith it is impossible to please God_" (Heb. Xi. 6). The other is uprightness--"_I know also, my God, that Thou hastpleasure in uprightness_" (1 Chron. Xxix. 17). The former grace is thesuperlative and distinguishing feature of the people of God. It isindeed the foundation quality on which all others rest, and from whichthey spring. It is the broad separating act which marks the differencebetween the saint and the sinner. Without it man is in opposition toGod. The Divine displeasure rests upon him, because absence of faithmeans want of confidence and want of sympathy. The unbelieverdistrusts God, and has no fellow-feeling with Him or His ways. 

There is no more offensive feeling that can be shown by one beingtowards another than distrust. It irritates our sensibility; it arraysin opposition all the resentment of our nature. It is the parent ofgloom, dissatisfaction, pessimism, and rebellion. It writes discontenton the brow, and bitterness on the heart. It is the fruitful parent ofall ill in human nature. But faith pleases God. It draws the humanand Divine into loving association. It leads the human to look to theDivine for counsel, to lean upon Him for help, to refer all things toHis decision, to wait on Him for guidance in every step and enterprisein life. The faith of the patriarchs seems to have been characterisedby entire simplicity and childlikeness. As manifested by Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, all of whom had the pleasure of the Lord resting on themin a pre-eminent degree, there was no stumbling or hesitancy. Some ofthem had their faith severely tried, but it came forth from the testvictorious, as "gold tried in the fire. " Therefore, if the command ofGod was hard, faith led to obedience; if the mystery of life was deep, faith drew them close to the Father; if the sense of sin and guilt wasstrong, faith never failed, but led them to look for the promisedRedeemer, and they rejoiced to see His day and were glad. 

Faith is said to be difficult to exercise in this day of bustle, excitement, and pressure. The differences between this day and Enoch'sday are merely accidental and not essential. There were the sameinducements and temptations to evil then as now. There were scoffersand cavillers then as now. The doubting spirit in our first parentsand in Cain was felt in all; but there was also the strong and manlyfaith which resisted the sin of doubt, which looked from the seen tothe unseen, from the temporal to the eternal, from sin and folly toGod, and which established itself firmly on His promise of unchangeablelove. Therefore Enoch "pleased God. " Faith presupposes reverence, love, obedience, and man never pays a higher tribute to another than totrust him implicitly and for all in all. Such faith God accepts anddelights in. Such faith builds a noble character and a lofty life. 

III. 

"He was translated that he should not see death. "

That was the crowning evidence and token of the Divine pleasure. Deathis the wages of sin, the harbinger of retribution, the seal of man'shumiliation and defeat. The fear of death is a bondage under which therace of man lies, save only where Christian faith and hope alleviatethe terror and inspire a superhuman courage before which all fear isbanished. The extraordinary nature of Enoch's piety could not bedemonstrated by any fact so imperative as this, "_He was translated_. "

There are three complete men in heaven. Man is threefold in hisnature. He is body, soul, and spirit. He is not complete without hisbodily organisation. The work of faith is not perfect, nor is the workof sin undone until at the Resurrection trump man shall stand completein his threefold being. But of that completeness there are threespecimens in heaven; Enoch from the patriarchal epoch; Elijah from theJewish dispensation; and Christ from the Christian. The translation ofElijah was a marvellously dramatic episode. It was witnessed by Elishaand the sons of the prophets--and a heavenly equipage, lambent withsupernal glow, carried him in triumph out of sight. But as to Enochthere was no such scenic display. "_He was not found, for God tookhim_. " It was a quiet but beautifully fitting end. Moonlight risinginto sunlight, the sweet calm light of a starlit sky becoming flushedwith the auroral tints of a brilliant morning. 

Translation means promotion, and also expansion. 

It is _promotion_ in honour, in office, in privilege. The bishop istranslated from Rochester to Winchester and thence to Canterbury, because he has pleased his party and his sovereign. It is a sign thathe has won promotion by devoted service. Christ says to his follower, "_Occupy till I come_"; and after a due period of labour welldischarged, he says, "_Come up higher_. " The rule of the DivineKingdom is, "_faithful in that which is least_, " then, "_ruler overthat which is much_. " Translation to Enoch meant the elevation tohigher duties and enjoyments without the wearing agonies of disease, the sharpness of death, or the darkness of the grave. 

It meant also _expansion_. In the passing from a lower to a highercondition, we cannot now realise the quick change which would pass overthe material framework of the patriarch, but that it would beetherialised so as to be "_a heavenly body_" marvellously endowed withnew powers of sense, of insight and locomotion, fit to be theinstrument of a soul fully redeemed from the consequences of sin, wecannot doubt; and for thousands of generations has that soul sunneditself in the brightest fellowships and employments of the highestheaven. 

ELDAD AND MEDAD

BY REV. ALFRED ROWLAND, D. D. , LL. B. 

NUMBERS xi. 24-30. 

Nothing is known of these two men beyond the incident recorded in theBook of Numbers; but this is so remarkable and significant, that itwell repays careful study. 

The Israelites had been once more displaying suspicion and ingratitude. Turning with loathing from the manna, they whimpered, like spoiltchildren, for the fish and flesh they had enjoyed in Egypt, andmurmured against God and against Moses. The patience of their leader, under this new provocation, completely broke down, so that he went sofar as to accuse God Himself of being a hard taskmaster, who had laidtoo much upon him. With infinite forbearance, allowance was made forthe manner in which Divine counsel and help had been asked for, and thepromise was graciously fulfilled, "_Cast thy burden upon the Lord, andHe shall sustain thee. He will never suffer the righteous to bemoved_. " God dealt with his servant as a father at his best will dealwith his child who runs to him, hurt and bruised, in a passion oftears. Instead of beginning with an angry rebuke, help and relief arefirst given, and then in a few calm words the needed counsel isproffered. It was in a spirit of patient love that God appointedelders from among the people to help his over-wrought servant and sharehis heavy burden. 

Moses was, no doubt, justified in saying, "_I am not able to bear allthis people alone, because it is too heavy for me_. " Indeed it waswell for him, as it is for us all, to feel the need there is for humansympathy and Divine aid. Self-contained, self-reliant men are not thehighest type of humanity, and they are sometimes for their own goodvisited by anxieties and responsibilities which compel them to cry, "_Lord help me_. " Thus was it with Moses. Indeed, our Lord Himselfshared that experience, when for our sakes He became man. He chosecomrades who were a blessing to Himself, although He was a far greaterblessing to them. He took them with Him when he went forth to confrontthe crises of His life--on the Mount of Transfiguration, and in theGarden of Gethsemane, where His sorrow was intensified by their failureto watch with Him. He had three specially intimate friends. He calledtwelve to be apostles, and sent forth seventy as missioners--anarrangement in which we see the New Testament counterpart of thechoosing of these seventy-two elders, to rule and judge the Israelites, and thus share the responsibility of Moses. 

The account given us of their appointment is singularly interesting. Six men out of each of the twelve tribes were summoned to theTabernacle, solemnly set apart and filled with the Spirit--but two ofthe men--Eldad and Medad--were absent "_They were of them written to_"is the exact phrase--and the fact that they received a written summonsdenotes a higher and more general culture among that ancient peoplethan is generally imagined to have existed. Yet it is what might bereasonably expected, for they had come out of Egypt, the most civilisedpower then in the world, a country where the usual writing materialswere exclusively made. Though the Israelites had been only slavesthere, they would doubtless be familiar with the art of writing, forthe men of that race have never yet lagged behind any people among whomthey have lived. 

Seventy of the men thus summoned came together promptly, and wereranged in a semicircle before the Tabernacle. Then, in the sight ofall the people, the cloud descended, wrapped them all in impenetrablemist, as a sign that the chosen men were being mysteriously baptisedwith the Spirit, and when again they emerged they began to prophesy. It was the ancient counterpart of the day of Pentecost, when thedisciples met, and the Spirit came upon them as a mighty, rushing wind, and they began to speak with other tongues, as men chosen and inspiredby God. 

In the 25th verse of the eleventh chapter of Numbers, it is said that"_the Lord took of the spirit that was upon Moses, and gave it unto theseventy elders_. " Some conclude from this statement that, as apunishment for his intemperate prayer, the wisdom of Moses was thuslessened, while others were enriched at his expense. But wisdom, andall gifts similar to it, are not diminished by distribution. If weimpart information, we do not lessen our own store of knowledge. If wegive of our love lavishly, yet affection is not lessened by suchoutpouring. The spread of fire over what is inflammable increases itsintensity. Though we light a thousand candles from one which burnedalone at first, it still burns brightly as before. So is it with theSpirit of whose fulness we all receive. No Christian man is poorerbecause his brother is enriched with grace, nor was Moses. "_There isthat scattereth, and yet increaseth_. "

It is time that we turned to the two men, Eldad and Medad, who, although summoned with their brethren, did not come to the assembly atthe Tabernacle. They may have been absent from their tents when thepapyrus letter was delivered, and would not be quickly found in thevast camp. Be this as it may, what followed is evidence that they didnot wilfully disobey the summons, and that their absence was not due toany bad motive. For some reason unknown to us they failed to put in anappearance at the critical time, when others of the elect werereceiving the mysterious but efficient grace of the Spirit. Yet, atone and the same moment, they also were inspired while walkingtogether, as they probably were doing, in some far-off part of thecamp. To the amazement of the people, and doubtless to their ownamazement too, they suddenly began to prophesy, and crowds of listenersquickly gathered round them, as on Pentecost they ran together to hearthe inspired apostles. This unique experience was given by God, andreceived by the people as convincing evidence that Eldad and Medad weredivinely appointed, and divinely qualified, equally with their brethrennearer the Tabernacle. It is true that Joshua exhibited some jealousyand suspicion, and would have silenced them because the blessing hadnot come through Moses; but the great law-giver, with characteristicinsight and generosity, would not heed the request--"_My lord Moses, forbid them_. " Calmly, yet decisively, the answer rang out, "_Enviestthou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His spirit upon them_!"

In the experience of these two men there is imbedded valuable andpermanent truth. We regard it as an evidence, the more remarkablebecause given under a ceremonial regime, that God did not intend toinstitute any order of men outside the limits of which there was to beno liberty of prophesying and no fitness for it. Nor is there anyexclusively sacred place, be it tabernacle, temple, synagogue, orchurch, where alone such gifts can be conferred. We believe thatoutside all sacred places, outside the churches of our own faith andorder, and of any other churches, there are men, and women too, equallycalled of God with those within such limits, and the evidence that theyare so called lies in the fact that in them also the Spirit of God isresting, and through them the Spirit of God is working. 

This lesson, which still needs to be enforced in our own day, isperhaps best deduced from an incident so early and so simple as this. Just as we may learn more of the way in which an engine really worksfrom a simple model--say of George Stephenson's--than from one of thecomplicated machines of the present day, so we may gain the moreinstruction from this incident, because of its very simple character, while its antiquity keeps it out of the confusion caused by moderncontroversies. 

Eldad and Medad were men called of God to undertake holy service forthe good of His people. In their case the call was manifestly inwardrather than outward. Though truly chosen, they were not in theTabernacle, nor were they wrapped in the cloud, and they received noordination from the laying on of hands by Moses and Aaron. Theevidence of their call lay in their fitness for the work, and theirfitness was due to the gift of the Spirit. Yet all this occurred undera dispensation which was far more strict in ceremonial law than thatunder which we live. 

What does it teach? It surely confirms our belief that the word of Godis not bound. The exposition and enforcement of Divine truth is not tobe confined to those who have received priestly ordination by someoutward rite. No man therefore has the right to forbid any preacherfrom exercising his functions on the ground that his orders are notregular, or because he has not been recognised by an Episcopate, aPresbytery, a Conference, or a Union. 

To put the same truth in hortatory form, I would say to any one who hasknowledge of Divine truth, who has experienced the graces of the HolySpirit, and who has the gift of utterance: You are called upon, by thefact of possessing these qualifications, to serve God as opportunitycomes. You ought not to be silent on the claims of Christ, nor shouldyou refrain from leading others in prayer, while on every other topicyou are fluency itself. "_Neglect not the gift that is in thee_, "whether it came by laying on of hands, or in some other way. Everytrue convert should sometimes feel as the prophet Jeremiah felt, whenhe said, "_The word of the Lord was within me as a burning fire shut upin my bones. I was weary with forbearing and could not stay_. " Thework assigned too often exclusively to the minister is really the workof the Church. 

Happily, speech is not the only mode in which men can serve God. It isclear from the Hebrew narrative that Eldad and Medad, like theirbrethren at the door of the Tabernacle, did not receive an abiding giftof prophecy, but a transient sign which seemed adequate to convince thepeople that they had been chosen and inspired. Unfortunately, theAuthorised Version gives us a phrase which is the exact opposite of themeaning of the Hebrew phrase in the twenty-fifth verse, rendering itthus, "_They prophesied, and did not cease_. " The Revised Version setsthis right in the phrase, "_They prophesied, but they did so no more_. "In other words, the singular manifestation of power soon passed away. It was not a permanent possession. 

This is in harmony with the experience of the early Christian Church. The miraculous power given to the apostles, as evidence of their Divinecommission, was not always at their disposal. The gift of tonguesbestowed on them, and on others, soon ceased; for it was intended toshow the supernatural origin of Christianity until written evidence wasavailable, and then it was withdrawn. The Holy Spirit still remainedin the Church, and was revealed in a diversity of operations. Hispresence was proved by the changed characters of converts moreeffectually than by abnormal gifts--and similarly the religious ecstasyof Eldad and Medad and their comrades was soon exchanged for theirabiding spirit of wisdom and justice. 

Christians who at one time spoke for Christ are not always to blame ifthey speak publicly no more. They may have withdrawn from SundaySchool teaching, for example, but only to serve God in another form. Their matured experience may be quite as valuable as their once ferventzeal. The river which near its source noisily rushes over the pebbles, is not lessened in value when, full and deep, it silently glides onwardto the sea. 

Happily, there are diversities of operations, though they are all underthe inspiration of the Holy Spirit; and if we are faithful to ourspecial calling, we may hope to receive our Lord's "_Well done_, " justas did these seventy-two men, who sustained and aided Moses, thoughthey left no record of their steady, useful work. Indeed, there arethose who in actual service can do very little, whose gracious andbenign influence is the best proof of true inspiration. Such was he ofwhom Cowper sings:

 "When one that holds communion with the skies Has filled his urn where those pure waters rise, And once more mingles with us meaner things, 'Tis even as if an angel shook his wings; Immortal fragrance fills the circuit wide, That tells us whence his treasures are supplied. "

God calls us to Himself before He calls us to His service. The sameDivine Spirit who qualifies for religious work, creates men anew. Ofevery one so created, it may be said he was "_born of the Spirit_. "

In this, also, neither place nor circumstance is essential. Eldad andMedad were both away from the Tabernacle, somewhere in theunconsecrated camp; yet they received the same blessing which theirbrethren were enjoying at the door of the Tabernacle. And we rejoicethat some who are now outside a place of worship--outside this or thatdenomination--outside Christendom, do receive the Spirit who transformsthem into the likeness of Christ. 

In confirmation of this, we recall the fact that our Lord spoke moreoften in houses, and fields, and boats, and streets, than in theTemple. And the apostles who were called to follow Him were engaged atthe time of their calling in their ordinary occupations, at thetoll-office or in the fishing-boat. Saul was converted on the road toDamascus, the jailor of Philippi in prison, Lydia by the river side. All this reminds us that though our power may be limited by time andplace, God's power is not; though our work is contracted, His is broad. The Holy Spirit is no more confined to a place than the wind is, whichbloweth as it listeth over land and sea, over desert and garden. 

It is a comfort to remember this when we grieve over some prodigal, whohas gone beyond the reach of religious observances; who never attendsworship, or reads the Bible. We may hope about him, believe in him, and pray for him still, because the Spirit of God can reach him as Hereached Eldad and Medad, "_who went not up to the Tabernacle_. " Theold promise is not exhausted yet: "_I will pour out of My Spirit uponall flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and youryoung men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams_. "

It is this divine afflatus, this outpouring of the Spirit, which is thegreat need of the age we live in. The Church seems to be lyinglistless as a sailing ship, due to leave harbour, but still waiting fora breeze. Her masts are firm, the canvas ready to be stretched, andher equipment complete. The helmsman stands impatient at the wheel, and all the sailors are alert, but not a ripple runs along the vessel'sside. She waits, and must wait, for a heavenly breeze to fill hersails, and till it comes she cannot stir. Like that ship the Church iswanting impulse, and we ought to be waiting for it, and praying for it. The power we need can only come from heaven, the breath of God must beour real moving force, and we should be wiser, stronger, and morehopeful if we entered into the meaning of the old, oft-repeated verse:

 "At anchor laid, remote from home, Toiling, I cry, 'sweet Spirit, come, ' Celestial breeze no longer stay, But swell my sails, and speed my way. "

BARZILLAI

BY REV. GEORGE MILLIGAN, M. A. , D. D. 

"There is nothing, " says Socrates to Cephalus in the _Republic_, "Ilike better than conversing with aged men. For I regard them astravellers who have gone a journey which I too may have to go, and ofwhom it is right to learn the character of the way, whether it isrugged or difficult, or smooth and easy" (p. 328 E. ). 

It is to such an aged traveller that we are introduced in the person ofBarzillai the Gileadite. And though he is one of the lesser-knowncharacters of Scripture--and we might perhaps never have heard of himat all had it not been for his connection with King David--on the fewoccasions on which he does appear he acts with an independence anddisinterestedness which are very striking. 

The first of these occasions is at Mahanaim, in his own country ofGilead. In the strong fortress there David and his companions hadtaken refuge after the disastrous revolt of Absalom. Owing to theirhurried flight, the fugitives were wanting in almost all thenecessaries of life, and they could hardly fail also to have been alittle apprehensive of the kind of welcome the Gileadites would extendto them. But if so, their fears were soon set at rest. Three of therichest and most influential men in the district at once came to theiraid. Shobi the son of Nahash, and Machir the son of Ammiel, andBarzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, brought beds, and cups, and wheat, and barley, and honey, and butter, and sheep--all, in fact, that wasneeded--for David, and for the people that were with him: for theysaid, "_The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in thewilderness_" (2 Sam. Xvii. 29). 

In so acting, the first of these, Shobi, may have been trying to atonefor his brother's insulting conduct when David had sent messengers tocomfort him on his father's death (2 Sam. X. 1-5);[1] and Machir as thefriend of Mephibosheth (2 Sam, ix. 4), was naturally grateful for theking's kindness to the lame prince. But, as regards Barzillai, we knowof no such reasons for his conduct, and his generosity may, therefore, be traced to the natural impulses of a kind and generous heart. In anycase, this unlooked-for sympathy and friendship had an arousing andencouraging effect upon the king. He no longer despaired of hisfortunes, black though at the moment they looked, but, marshalling hisforces under three captains, prepared for war with his rebellious son;with the result that in the forest of Ephraim Absalom's army was whollydefeated, and the young prince himself treacherously slain. 

With the death of its leader, the rebellion against David may be saidto have ended; but to the sorrow-stricken father victory at such aprice seemed an almost greater calamity than defeat would have been. And it needed the strong, almost harsh, remonstrances of Joab to rousehim from his grief, and lead him to think of his duty to his people. At length, however, the homeward journey began, the king following thesame route by which so shortly before he had fled, until he came to thebanks of the Jordan, where a ferry-boat was in readiness to take himand his household across (2 Sam. Xix. 18). Before, however, hecrossed, several interesting interviews took place. Shimei, who hadcursed so shamelessly on the day of misfortune, was forgiven, andreceived the promise of protection; Mephibosheth was restored to theking's favour, and his old place at the king's table; and, whatspecially concerns us at present, David had his final parting withBarzillai. 

The loyal chieftain, notwithstanding his eighty years, had come all theway from his upland farm to bid farewell to his king, and see himsafely over Jordan. And as David remarked the old man's devotion, andremembered his former favours, the wish seized him to attach him stillmore closely to his person. "_Come thou over with me_, " he said, "_andI will feed thee with me in Jerusalem_" (2 Sam. Xix. 33). It was fromone point of view a dazzling offer. Barzillai had seen enough of Davidto know that what the king said he meant, and that if he chose to gowith him, honour and position awaited him at the court. But he wouldnot be moved. His grey hairs, if nothing else, stood in the way. "_How long have I to live_, " he answered, "_that I should go up withthe king unto Jerusalem_?" (verse 34). I am too old, that is, for sucha life as would there be expected of me. And, after all, why shouldconduct such as mine meet with so great a reward? No! let me go alittle way over Jordan with the king, and then "_Let thy servant, Ipray thee, turn back again, that I may die in mine own city, and beburied by the grave of my father and of my mother_. " "_But_, " hehastened to add, as if anxious to show that he appreciated to the fullthe king's generous offer, and saw the advantages it presented to thosewho were able to enjoy them, "_behold thy servant Chimham_, " my son, "_let him go over with my lord the king; and do to him what shall seemgood unto thee_" (verse 37). With a plea so expressed, David could notbut acquiesce: "_The king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and hereturned unto his own place . . . And Chimham went on with him_"(verses 39, 40), to become famous as the founder of a caravanserai, orhalting-place for pilgrims on the road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, which for at least four centuries continued to bear his name (Jer. Xli. 17) and which may even, it has been conjectured, have been the samewhich, at the time of the Christian era "furnished shelter for twotravellers with their infant child, when 'there was no room in theinn. '"[2]

Round Barzillai's own name no such associations have gathered. Afterhis parting with David we do not hear of him again, if we except apassing reference in David's dying instructions to Solomon, to "_shewkindness unto the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite_" (1 Kings ii. 7), and the mention, as late as the return from Babylon, of a family ofpriests who traced their descent to a marriage with the Gileadite'sdaughter, and prided themselves on the distinctive title of "_thechildren of Barzillai_" (Ezra ii. 61). But in the absence of anythingto the contrary, we may be allowed to conjecture that, full of yearsand experience, surrounded by all the love which his useful, helpfullife had called forth, Barzillai died in peace among his own people, and was buried, as he had himself desired, by his parents' grave. 

Such, then, is the story of Barzillai's life, so far as the Biblereveals it to us. It is, as I have already said, as an old man that heis principally brought before us, and in thinking of his characterfurther, it may be well to do so from this point of view, and see whathe has to teach us regarding a true old age. Four points at leaststand out clearly from the Bible narrative. 

I. 

_Barzillai was evidently by nature a warm-hearted, sunshiny old man, himself happy and making others happy_. 

David himself was such a man before the great sin which brought atrouble and a sorrow into his life that he was never again able whollyto surmount. And it may have been the sight of his own lost gaiety andlightness of spirit in the aged Gileadite that first drew out his heartto him. 

It may be said, perhaps, that it was easy for Barzillai to be cheerful. The sun had shone on him very brightly: the good things of life hadfallen very freely to his share. He was, according to the Biblerecord, "_a very great man_" (2 Sam. Xix. 32), evidently a mostsuccessful farmer, rich in flocks and herds, looked up and respected inthe district in which he lived. But after all, is it the universal, oreven the general, experience that wealth and power are associated withsimple cheerfulness and happiness? Could anything, for example, haveexceeded the bitterness and the boorishness of the other richflockmaster whom David's youths, with Eastern frankness, had asked, "_Give, we pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thyservants, and to thy son David_" "_Who is David? and who is the son ofJesse_?" burst out Nabal in a fury. "_Shall I then take my bread, andmy water . . . And give it unto men whom I know not whence they be_?"(1 Sam. Xxv. 8, 10, 11). And even if that be an extreme instance, itwill not be denied that outward blessings in themselves, and consideredonly by themselves, are apt to have a hardening rather than a softeningeffect. It says much, therefore, for Barzillai, that amidst his greatpossessions, he still kept the free, open, happy disposition of youth. 

II. 

_That he did so, is due amongst other reasons to the fact that he was agenerous man_. 

His unsolicited assistance of David clearly proves this, while the verylength of the catalogue of articles with which he and his friendssupplied the fugitive's needs, proves that when he gave, he did so inno stinted fashion, but freely and liberally. 

It is an excellent example for all who are feeling themselves burdenedby the possessions and the opportunities with which God has enrichedthem. Let them remember that they hold them only in trust, and inhelping to bear others' burdens, they will actually, strange to say, lighten their own. 

 "'Tis worth a wise man's best of life, 'Tis worth a thousand years of strife, If thou canst lessen but by one, The countless ills beneath the sun. "

While, on the other hand, can there be a sadder thought for the manwhose earthly course is nearly run, than the thought that there will benone to rise up after him and call him blessed, but that he will die, as he has lived, unhonoured, unwept?

If that, then, is not to be our fate, we cannot use too diligentlyevery opportunity of well-doing which God has placed within our reach;we cannot live too earnestly, not for ourselves only, but for others:that from the seeds which we sow now, there may spring up hereafter arich and abundant harvest. 

III. 

_Barzillai was contented_. 

Not many men in his position would have refused the king's offer. Itseems rather to be one of the penalties of wealth and greatness, thattheir owners cannot rest satisfied with what they have, but are alwaysdesiring more. But Barzillai felt, and felt rightly, that in hiscircumstances, the place in which he had been brought up--"_his ownplace_"--was the best place for him. He was a home-loving old man, andthe simple interests and pleasures of his daily life had moreattraction for him than the excitements and rivalries of the court. 

I do not, of course, mean to say that either here or elsewhere inScripture, a wise and healthy ambition is discouraged. It is naturalto wish to get on, if only for the sake of a wider sphere ofusefulness; but let us see to it that we avoid that restless longingfor change, simply for the sake of change, that coveting of positionsfor which we are not suited, and which, if gratified, can end only indisappointment. 

"It is a great thing, " said one to an ancient philosopher, "to possesswhat one wishes. " "It is a greater blessing still, " was the reply, "not to desire what one does not possess. " And surely, in what we dopossess, in the beauties of nature with which we are here surrounded, in the love of home and wife and children, in the intercourse withfriends and acquaintance, we have much to make us contented, much, verymuch, to be thankful for. "To watch the corn grow, or the blossomsset; to draw hard breath over ploughshare or spade; to read, to think, to love, to pray, "--these, says John Ruskin, "are the things that makemen happy. " And these are things that, in some measure at least, arewithin the reach of us all. 

IV. 

_There remains still a fourth and a last element in Barzillai'shonoured, life and happy old age--his attitude towards God_. 

Though we are never distinctly told so, we cannot doubt that he was areligious man. And as it was in gratitude to God for all that He haddone to him, that he first showed kindness to God's anointed, so it wasin the same humble and trusting spirit that he accepted old age, andall that it involved when it came. That is by no means always thecase. Are there not some, who, as they look forward to the time of oldage, if God should ever permit them to see it, do so with a certainamount of dread? They think only of what they will be called upon toabandon--the duties they must give up, the pleasures, so dear to themnow, they must forego. But to Barzillai, the presence of suchdisabilities brought, as we have seen, no disquieting thoughts. Hecould relinquish, without a sigh, what he was no longer fitted toenjoy. He desired nothing but to end his days peacefully in hisappointed lot. Enough for him that the God who had been with him allhis life long was with him still. 

Happy old man! Who does not long for an old age, if he is ever to seeold age, such as his? But, if so, it must be sought in the same way. Every man's old age is just what his own past has made it. If, in hisdays of health and vigour, he has lived an idle, careless, selfishlife, he must not wonder if his closing years are querulous, andbitter, and lonely. But if, on the other hand, he has devoted himselfto good and doing good, if he has made the will of God his rule andguide amidst all the difficulties and perplexities of his daily lot, then in that will he will find peace. God wilt not forget his "_workand labour of love_" (Heb. Vi. 10): and in him the old promise will beonce more fulfilled--"_Even to your old age I am He; and even to hoarhairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carryand will deliver you_" (Isa. Xlvi. 4). 

[1]In view, however, of the difficulty of reconciling the two passages, and of the fact that Shobi is not mentioned elsewhere, it has beenconjectured that for "Shobi the son of Nahash" in 2 Sam. Xvii. 27, weshould read simply "Nahash, " see Hastings' _Dict. Of the Bible_, art. "Shobi. "

[2]Stanley, _History of the Jewish Church_, ii. , p. 154. 

ADONIJAH

BY REV. ALFRED ROWLAND, D. D. , LL. B. 

It is notorious that the sons of devout men sometimes prove a curse totheir parents, and bring dishonour on the cause of God. When Everejoiced over her first-born, she little suspected that passions weresleeping within him which would impel him to slay his own brother; andthe experience of the first mother has been repeated, though indifferent forms, in all lands and in all ages. Isaac's heart was rentby the deceit of Jacob, and by the self-will of Esau. Jacob lived tosee his own sin repeated in his sons, and he who deceived his fatherwhen he was old and blind, suffered for years an agony of grief becausehe had been falsely told that Joseph, his favourite son, was dead. 

Probably few men have known domestic sorrows, so many and so great, asthose which befell David. He shared, in all its bitterness, the miseryof a parent who sees his best hopes disappointed, and who is rackedwith anxiety as to what his wayward boy will do next, sometimes wishingthat before such dishonour had befallen him his son had been laid torest under the daisies, in the time of infant innocence. David'seldest son, Amnon, after committing a terrible crime, was assassinatedby his brother Absalom. In his turn, Absalom, the fairest of thefamily, rebelled against his own father, and was killed by Joab, as hehung in the oak. Chiliah, or Daniel, died we know not how, and thenAdonijah, the fourth son, the eldest of those surviving, followed inAbsalom's footsteps. 

Adonijah's sin appears at first sight so unnatural that, in justice tohim as well as for our own instruction, we should try to discover thesources whence this stream of evil flowed which was so bitter and sodesolating in its results. 

This is not an easy task, because the full details of his life are notrecorded. There are, however, no less than three evil influenceshinted at in these words: "_His father had not displeased him at anytime, in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also was a very goodlyman, and his mother bare him after Absalom_" (1 Kings i. 6). Takingthem in reverse order: _Heritage_, _Adulation_, and _Lack ofDiscipline_, were three sources of moral peril, and these would tend tothe ruin of any man. Let us think of each of these, for they are notextinct by any means. 

We know very little of Haggith, but she was probably a dancing girl whomade her way to the front by her ambition and beauty. From her andfrom his father we may assume that Adonijah inherited a tendency toambition and self-conceit such as Absalom inherited from the union ofDavid with Bathsheba. It is one of the laws of life that "likeproduces like, " Evidence of this constantly appears in the loweranimals, in the speed of the racehorse, in the scent of the hound, andso forth. This asserts itself in men also. We often notice what wecall a "family likeness. " Tricks of manner, and various mentalqualities such as heroism, statesmanship, mathematical or artistictalent, descend from parents to children, and sometimes reappear forgenerations in the same family. This cannot be due to example alone, because the phenomena is almost as frequent when the parents die duringthe child's infancy. Similarly, moral tendencies are transmitted, andthe Bible gives us many examples of the fact. The luxury-loving Isaac, who must have his savoury food, just as his son, Esau, who would sellhis birthright for a mess of pottage, Rebekah, who, like her brotherLaban is shrewd and cunning, sees her tendency repeated in her sonJacob, who needed a life of discipline and prayer to set him free fromit. 

In more senses than one "the evil which men do lives after them. " Adrunkard's son, for example, is often conscious of an inbred cravingwhich is a veritable disease, so that he is heavily weighted as hestarts out on the race of life. This solemn and suggestive fact thatthe future well-being of children depends largely on the character ofparents, should give emphasis to the adjuration in the weddingservice--marriage, therefore, is to be honourable in all, and ought notto be engaged in rashly, "thoughtlessly, or lightly, but advisedly, reverently, and in the fear of God. " The law of moral heritage makesparental responsibility a solemn trust, while, in so far as it affectsthose who inherit bad or good tendencies, we are sure that the Judge ofall the earth will do right. But it must never be forgotten that evena bad disposition need never become a dominant habit. It is somethingto be resisted and conquered, and, it may be, by the grace of Him whois faithful, and will not suffer any of us to be tempted above what weare able to bear. Our tendencies are Divine calls to us to recogniseand guard certain weak places in the citadel of character, for it isagainst these that our enemy directs his most persistent and vigorousattacks. 

Unhappily, Adonijah's natural bias was made the more dangerous by theatmosphere of the court, where flatterers naturally abounded--for "_hewas a very goodly man_, " physically a repetition of Absalom, the Adonisof his time. We may also fairly surmise that his parents were guiltyof partiality and indulgence in their treatment of him, for David wouldlove him the more as one who revived the memory of his favouriteAbsalom, the idol of the people, distinguished for his noble mien andprincely bearing. Courtiers, soldiers, and people all flatteredAdonijah, and Joab, the greatest captain of his age, next only to theking, was his partisan, the more so because he neither forgot norforgave David's reproaches after the death of Absalom. Even Abiathar, who represented the younger and more ambitious branch of thepriesthood, joined in the general adulation, until Adonijah, intoxicated by vanity, set up his own court in rivalry to that of hisfather, and when he moved abroad was accompanied by a stately retinueof chariots and horsemen, and fifty foot attendants gorgeouslyapparelled. 

No doubt every position in life has its own peculiar temptations. Theill-favoured lad, who is the butt at school and the scapegoat at home, is in serious danger of becoming bitter and revengeful, and of growingcrooked in character, like a plant in a dark vault, which will have nobeauty because it enjoys no sunshine. But, on the other hand, physicalbeauty, which attracts attention and wins admiration, especially if itis associated with brilliant conversational gifts, and great charm ofmanner, has befooled both men and women into sin and misery. Many agirl has been entrapped into an unhappy marriage; and many a lad, movedby a vaunting ambition which overleaped itself, has fallen never torise: like Icarus, when his waxen wings melted in the sun. 

There must have been sad laxity of discipline in the home of David. Itis said of Adonijah that "_his father had not displeased him at anytime in saying, Why hast thou done so_?" In other words, Adonijah hadnever been checked and rebuked as he ought to have been, and thisfoolish indulgence was as fatal to him as it had been to the sons ofEli. There are still such homes as David's, although their inmates dowell to draw down the veil of secrecy over them with loyal hands, andnever blazon abroad the grief and anxiety which rend their hearts. Inone home a fair, bright girl mars the beauty of her early womanhood bya flippant disregard of her mother's wishes, and by an exaltation ofher own pleasure-loving disposition as the one law of her life. Inanother, a mere child, hasty and uncontrolled in temper, is the dreadof the whole household, and at last becomes its tyrant, because everywish is gratified rather than that a scene should be provoked. In yetanother a grown-up son is callous about his mother's anxiety and hisfather's counsels; and gladly ignores his home associations as hedrifts away upon the sea of vice, and there becomes a miserable wreck. With each of these it might have been otherwise. If authority had beenasserted, and steadily maintained, before bad habits were formed; iffirm resolution on the part of the parents had taken the place ofindulgent laxity, if, instead of being left to chance, character hadbeen moulded during the time when it was plastic--these might, withGod's blessing, have grown up to be wise, pure-hearted, courageousfollowers of Christ--who would not only have sweetened the atmosphereof home, but would have done something to purify and illumine society, as the salt and the light of the world. 

The sin of which Adonijah was guilty, whose sources we have tried todiscover, was the assumption of unlawful authority and state, whichinvolved rebellion against his own father. 

Ambition is not always wrong. It is a common inspiration often nervingmen to attempt daring and noble deeds. Desire for distinction, withcapacity for it, may often be regarded as the voice of God summoning tohigh effort. The world would soon be stagnant without ambition. Thescholar working for a prize, the writer or speaker resolving to make aname, the man of business pressing onward past the indolent and thene'er-do-weel, are not to be condemned, so long as they seek lawfulobjects by lawful means. Those who strenuously and hopefully fulfilthe duties of their present sphere will be called higher, either inthis world or the next, for God means us to rise by our fidelity wherewe are, and not by discontent with what we are. Ambition may haveconscience in it, and this will reveal itself in the steady and minuteperformance of small duties. Any who are content, with tireless hand, to make crooked things straight and rough places plain, will ultimatelysee glory revealed. But if ambition is not ruled by righteousness, ifit is not modified by love and consideration for others, it becomes asin, and will prove to be the herald of disobedience and death, for itis such ambition which has cursed the world by tyrannies and bloodshed, and dragged down angels from realms of light. This was the ambitionwhich let Adonijah exalt himself, and say, "I will be _king_. "

It may be said that his conduct was natural enough, although it was tooprecipitate, because he would legitimately succeed his father in duecourse, as his eldest surviving son. But this was not so. The law ofprimogeniture was not law for Israel. The invisible King expresslyreserved to Himself the right of appointing the ruler of His people, asis evident from Deut. Xvii. 14 and 15. The government was theocratic, not monarchical nor democratic. David himself had been chosen andanointed in preference to Jonathan, Saul's son, and Solomon, David'syounger son, had already been designated as his successor through theprophet Nathan, partly because he was best fitted to become the man ofpeace who should erect Jehovah's temple, and partly as a sign to Davidthat his sin with Bathsheba was forgiven. It was not as the "leader ofa court cabal, " but as a prophet inspired by Jehovah, that Nathan hadmade this solemn appointment. Adonijah knew this perfectly well; heacknowledged it to Bathsheba in the fifteenth verse of the secondchapter, and therefore, when he declared, "_I_ will be king, " he wasdeliberately and knowingly setting his will against God's, and this wasa sin. 

The divine choice often differs from the human, for "_the Lord seethnot as man seeth_. " In his reply to the sons of Zebedee, Jesusdeclared that God is not swayed by favouritism, nor moved by arbitraryimpulse, but assigns to each his position according to his fitness. This should give us contentment with our lot, and should emphasise theprecept, "_Seekest thou great things for thyself; seek them not_. "Though it is natural enough to wish for escape from the fret ofpoverty, or the weariness of pain, and to win for ourselves wealth orprominence, we must be on our guard against the indulgence of defiantself-will, like that of him who said, "I _will_ be king. "

Adonijah's motive in aspiring to the throne was not that he might thebetter care for the welfare of others, but that he might selfishlyenjoy wealth and honour. He cared much for outward show, while hefailed to cultivate inward worth, preparing for himself chariots, horsemen, and a retinue of servants, but never displaying a love ofjustice or ability in statesmanship. And such little motives as hisnever make greatness. 

Adonijah was not the last to be attracted by glitter and tinsel, and tolive for earthly things which perish in the using. The candidate whocares much for honour and nothing for learning, the professional manwho will sacrifice reputation to win a fortune, and all who wrongothers in order to better themselves, only gain what is transient andunsatisfying. It would be well for all to learn the lesson (not leasthe for whom the ceremony is primarily intended), which is symbolicallytaught when a Pope is crowned. The Master of the Ceremonies takes alighted taper in one hand, and in the other a reed with a handful offlax fastened to it. The flax flares up for a moment, and then theflame dies away into thin, almost imperceptible, ashes, which fall atthe Pontiff's feet, as the choir chant the refrain "Pater sanctus, sictransit gloria mundi. " No earthly honour is worth having except it isthe result or the reward of character. Even in Pagan Rome the Templeof Honour could only be reached through the Temple of Virtue. And overthe gateway of the greatest of all kingdoms in which Christ Jesus issupreme, this motto is inscribed indelibly--"_He that humbleth himselfshall be exalted, and he that exalteth himself shall be abased_. "

How often such ambition is accompanied by disregard of the rights ofothers! What did Adonijah care for his father's dignity, or hisbrother's claims? David was still on the throne, and Solomon's rightto succeed him had been authoritatively proclaimed, and yet, withinbred selfishness, this ambitious prince declared, "_I_ will be king!"The lawfulness of any ambition may often be tested by the amount ofselfishness which inheres in it. If desire for distinction, or wealth, leads one to crush a competitor to the wall without ruth, or to refuseall help to others in a struggle where every man seems to fight for hisown hand, its lawfulness may well be questioned. Our Lord taught us tolove even our enemies, and surely competitors have a still strongerclaim on our consideration, and certainly all who belong to a churchwhich is based on sacrifice, and symbolised by a cross, should even insuch matters deny themselves, and seek every man his neighbour's good. 

All sin is the worse when it is committed, as Adonijah's was, indefiance of warning. He deliberately repeated his brother's offence. Yet he knew the tragic story of his death, and how his brilliant lifehad been ended by violence in a wood, where he perished without afriend; and he must often have seen his father brooding alone over thetrouble thus caused, as if he was still whispering to himself: "_OAbsalom, my son, would God I had died for thee! O Absalom, my son, myson_!" Yet the very sin of Absalom which had been so terriblypunished, Adonijah boldly committed. 

History is crowded with examples of ambitious men who died indisappointment and despair, --Alexander, who conquered a world, and thenwept because there were no more worlds to conquer, perished in a sceneof debauchery, after setting fire to the city. Hannibal, who filledthree bushel measures with the gold rings of fallen knights, at last, by poison self-administered, died unwept in a foreign land. Caesar, who had practically the whole world at his feet, was stabbed to theheart by so-called friends, even Brutus being among them. Napoleon, the scourge and conqueror of Europe, died, a heart-broken exile, in StHelena. Indeed, it is written in letters of blood on the pages ofhistory, "_The expectation of the wicked shall perish_. "

Happily, angels' voices are calling us to higher things. Consciencewhispers to us of duty and love. Christ Himself, from the Cross, whichwas the stepping-stone to His throne, still cries to every one who willlisten, "_Follow me_. "

The false must be displaced by the true--the world by the Christ--theusurper by the Divinely-appointed King. It was thus that Adonijah'sscheme was defeated. Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, and Nathan, theprophet, hurried in to tell David of Adonijah's revolt against hisauthority, and that at his coronation-festival, then begun, even Joab, the commander-in-chief, and Abiathar, the priest, were present. ThenDavid's old decision and promptitude reasserted themselves once more. At his command, Solomon, his designated successor, was seated on theKing's own mule, and rode in state to Gihon, where Zadok anointed himin Jehovah's name; and when the trumpet was blown all the people said, "_God save King Solomon_!"

It was the crowning of the new king which proved the dethronement ofthe false; and this fact enshrines a principle divine and permanent. False doctrine is overcome, not by abuse, but by the proclamation ofthe true. Evil, whether enthroned in the heart or in the world, isconquered by greater good. The strong man armed, only keeps his goodsin peace, until One stronger than he comes to bind him and cast himout. Christ conquers the devil, be he where he may. "_For thispurpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the worksof the devil_. "

In the progress of Solomon, as he rode on his mule to Jerusalem, amidthe acclamations of the people, we see the Old Testament counterpart tothe New Testament narrative, which tells how Christ Jesus enteredJerusalem as its king, while the people met Him with welcomes, and withpalms, and children sang His praises. And in both is a symbol of Hisadvent to every heart, and, if He be but welcomed as rightful king, Hewill take to Himself His power, and reign. 

HIRAM, THE INSPIRED ARTIFICER

BY REV. W. J. TOWNSEND, D. D. 

The Temple of Solomon was the crown of art in the old world. There weretemples on a larger scale, and of more massive construction, but theenormous masses of masonry of the oldest nations were not comparable withthe artistic grace, the luxurious adornments, and the harmoniousproportions of this glorious House of God. David had laid up money andmaterial for the great work, but he was not permitted to carry it out. He was a man of war, and blood-stained hands were not to build the templeof peace and righteousness. Solomon was the providential man for such anundertaking. He had large ideas, a keen sense of beauty, generousinstincts, a religious nature, a literary training, and a highlycultivated mind. He was in peaceful alliance with surrounding nations, many of whom would be drawn into requisition for the suitable materials. They had to supply the cedar wood, iron, copper, brass, tin, gold, silver, and the rich fabrics which have made proverbial the sumptuous andbeautiful raiment and decorations of those times, with the rarest marblesthat the quarries of Lebanon and Bezetha could contribute. So with thethousands of busy builders and artificers, "Like some tall palm, the graceful fabric grew, "

until it stood complete on Mount Moriah, an inspiration to the people, acontinual benediction to the nation, and the envy of many a covetousconqueror. 

The name of one man only has been handed down the ages as havingspecially signalised himself in the decoration of the temple. Solomonmust procure the best of human talent and genius for the perfection ofthe work he meditated. Therefore he not only made a treaty with Hiram, King of Tyre, for supplies of material, but of workmen, and chief ofthese, one whose artistic productions were to be the best adornments ofthe House of God for succeeding centuries. He was a tried veteran indecorative work, an expert in almost every kind of art, and fit to beplaced in the position of chief superintendent of so superb a building. The King of Tyre sent to Solomon a testimony which was eloquent in hispraise: "_I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding . . . . The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, andin timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also tograve any manner of graving, and to find out every device_" (2 Chron. Ii. 13, i4). Another record says: "_He was filled with wisdom, andunderstanding, and cunning to work all works in brass_" (1 Kings vii. 14). 

It is a significant fact in the history that Hiram, this expertartificer, bearing the same name as his king, should have had anIsraelitish mother, and a Gentile father who had also been a worker inmetal. Thus he got his artistic taste and training from the father, hisreligious knowledge and sympathy from the mother. Religious feeling andsympathy he certainly had, as his magnificent work in the temple fullydemonstrated. 

Hiram constructed of bright, burnished brass, an immense laver, called "amolten sea, " to be used for the ablutions of the priests. It was capableof containing from fifteen to twenty thousand gallons of water, and theornamentation was elaborate exceedingly. Under the brim were two rows ofballs or bosses, encircling the laver. Twelve oxen, three looking infour different directions, supported it, and the brim was wrought likethe brim of a cup with flowers of lilies. Beyond this, there were tenlavers, smaller in size, for the washing of such things as were offeredin sacrifice. These were carefully decorated with lions, oxen, andcherubim on the borders of the ledges. They stood upon bases, measuring6 feet by 4 1/2 feet, ornamented carefully on each side with garlandshanging in festoons, literally, "garlands, pensile work. " Each base hadbrasen wheels attached, with brasen axletrees, and brackets whichstretched from the four upper corners of the bases to the outward rim ofthe laver. All the furnishings were also made by Hiram, such as pots, basons, shovels; probably also the golden altar, and table, with theseven-branched lamp stands, of which there were ten, of beautifulconstruction and ornamentation. But the most glorious work of Hiram wasthe construction of the two majestic brasen pillars, called Jachin andBoaz, They were stately in height, the shaft of each measuring 27 feet, abase of 12 feet, and two capitals of 13 1/2 feet, thus the whole heightof each pillar being 52 1/2 feet. The decoration was equally gracefuland elaborate, especially upon the capitals. The lower capitals had afine network over the whole, and chain-work hanging in festoons outside. There were also pomegranates wrought upon them. The upper capitals, forming a cornice to the whole pillar, were ornamented with lily-work. At Persepolis there still stands a pillar, the cornice of which is carvedwith three rows of lily leaves. These pillars were esteemed the mostimportant ornaments in the magnificent temple, the erection of which wasthe best feature of Solomon's reign. They were of such prominentimportance that a name was affixed to each of them. One was called"Jachin, " which means, "he will establish, " the other was called "Boaz, "which means "in strength. " The ideas involved are stability andstrength. Possibly the Psalmist had these pillars in his mind when hewrote, "_Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary_" (Ps. Xcvi. 6);strength first, then beauty; strength as the foundation of divine work, then beauty, graceful finish, and ornament. 

Hiram was an inspired artist and artificer. He was "_filled with wisdomand understanding, and cunning to work_. " We are told the same as to thegreat decorative workers of the Tabernacle, concerning whom the Lordsaid: "_See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son ofHur of the tribe of Judah: and I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner ofworkmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, andin brass, and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of workmanship_" (Exod. Xxxi. 2-5). So also it iswritten of Aholiab, Ahisamach, and other Tabernacle workers. 

It is instructive to find that in Scripture, genius as displayed inliterary insight and facility, in ingenuity and inventiveness as to thevarious arts, and even in the conception of instruments of husbandry, isattributed to Divine inspiration. It may not be the same order ofinspiration by which "_men spake from God, being moved by the HolyGhost_"; "_Searching what time or manner of time the spirit of Christwhich was in them did point unto when it testified beforehand thesufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow them_" (2 Peteri. 21; 1 Peter i. 11); but the fact is clear, whether it was inspirationof a different nature or in a different degree, that on men of specialgifts in various departments and of the highest order, wisdom andunderstanding are a direct gift of the Holy Spirit. This truth wasacknowledged in earliest times, and skilled experts in art or handicraftwere reckoned to be under the inspiration of God. Among the heathen thisbelief lingered long. The ancient poets invoked the aid of their deitieswhen entering on some great composition, and the devout earnestness ofsome recorded prayers is remarkable. There should be a line ofdemarcation drawn in this connection between a man of talent and a man ofgenius. Talent may be a matter of cultivation and perseverance. A manof ordinary intelligence may, by determined resolution, push his way topower in many directions, and the one talent may become ten talents. Butgenius is not mere cleverness, however well directed and carefullydeveloped. Genius is creative and inventive; it has insight, it hasimagination, it "bodies forth the forms of things unknown, " and "gives toairy nothings a local habitation and a name. " Isaiah speaks of theinspiration of the inventor of the agricultural instrument: "_His Goddoth instruct him aright, and doth teach him . . . This also cometh fromthe Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel and excellent inwisdom_" (Isa. Xxviii. 26-29). 

When man required in the old time direct teaching of great religioustruths and realities, God inspired prophets and seers, but the worldrequired also to be educated, regulated, civilised. Therefore poets, painters, _litterateurs_, artists, and artificers were called for, bydeep needs of humanity. God answered the need by giving the marvellousgift in various forms and degrees to men who had understanding of theirtimes, and who by special insight were able to give impulses to progressin every direction. This truth is powerfully stated by a Germanmetaphysician:--"Nothing calls us more powerfully to adore the living Godthan the appearance and embodiment of genius upon the earth. Whatever inthe ordinary course of things we may choose to attribute to themechanical process of cause and effect, the highest manifestations ofintellect can be called forth only by the express will of the originalMind, independent of second causes. Genius descends upon us from theclouds precisely where we least look for it. Events may be calculated, predicted--spirits never; no earthly oracle announces the appearance ofgenius: the unfathomable will of the Creator suddenly calls to it--Be!"[1]

The Apostle Paul says concerning the Christ, "_IN HIM were all thingscreated_" (Col. I. 16). Everything in the universe became objective, because they were first subjective in Christ, the second Person in theadorable Trinity. All things were made from forms and types which werein Himself before they were impressed on Creation. The infinite gloriesof sky, and air, and sea, the beauties of the tree, the flower, the bird, and all forms of life, the fleeting and recurring grandeurs that paintthe seasons and the years, are all but revelations of the boundlessresources and the ineffable beauties and qualities of the mind of Christ, our Master and Teacher. Our craving of genius, and its never-dyingambition, is to come ever nearer to the perfection of the Infinite Artistand Architect. The inspiration which filled the soul of Bezalel or Hirammay not be so elevated or elevating as that which enabled Isaiah to soarto the throne of the Eternal in speechless rapture, or which enabledMichael Angelo to represent in form and colour his vast conceptions ofthe beautiful and sublime; but it was as real, and in some aspects asserviceable in suggestion and realisation, as these. "God fulfilsHimself in many ways. " As the Divine Spirit plays on the minds ofspecial men, one is turned to music, another to painting, another tosculpture, another to architecture, another to mechanics, and another toa smith's imaginings; but it is still the same Spirit that worketh in alland through all, and each may be perfected instruments by which Heaccomplishes His wise and gracious purposes in the uplift of men. 

What a living force among men is the true poet, the man who can takewords and weave them into forms of perfect rhythm, rhyme, and measure, and then fill them with thoughts so suggestive and burning, as that theybecome for ever a force in the hearts of men, thrilling the souls of menand women with lofty ideals, prompting them to noble deeds, nerving themto patience in suffering and courage in battle. What may not the artistaccomplish by throwing on the canvas landscapes or seascapes, likeTurner, Scripture scenes, like Raphael, or heroic deeds, like Millais?Do these things not speak to the heart through the eye effectually? Andwhat refining influences may not be silently absorbed into the nature bythe artificer, who works in metals, or in pottery, in glass, or in wood, producing shapes of graceful contour, and decoration of delicate beauty, so that the articles of the household or the warehouse may be aneducation to the mind, and become to it patterns of things in theheavens. The command to Moses on the Mount was, concerning all thefurniture of the Tabernacle, which Bezalel and Aholiab had to constructwas, "_See that thou make all things according to the pattern showed tothee in the mount_" (Heb. Viii. 5). The beautiful things were in themind of God first, and then had to be produced by the inspiration of theartist, in the house of prayer by the wisdom and deftness imparted by theSpirit. 

It is possible, we sorrow to think, to misuse the Divine gift of artisticinspiration. The poet may devote his genius to animalism, like Byron, orto teach immoral license, like Swinburne; the painter may crowd hiscanvas with degrading ideas and vulgar representations, and the artificermay be ingenious in the production of forms of ugliness and degradinggrotesqueness. Such desecration of great endowments is alike displeasingto God and ruinous to the man. Of such it may be said: "_He feedeth onashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver hissoul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand_?" (Isa. Xliv. 20). 

Thank God, that we may say truly that generally the superlatives mighthave been found sitting at the feet of Jesus. The heavy, dull masses ofmeaningless masonry which belonged to Egypt or Assyria, flowered into thepure, delicate, ideality of the Greek builders, and this again developedinto the warm, spiritual, suggestive style of Christianity which hascovered Christendom with consecrated buildings like the cathedrals ofCologne or Chartres. The art of twenty centuries has been proclaimingthe Christ as perfect in beauty, in grace and refinement, as He isperfect in love and in sacrifice. The music of the past, in all itshighest reaches from Gregory to Mendelssohn, celebrates His grandredemption. The most gifted poets, from Dante, pealing his threefoldanthem from the topmost peak of Parnassus, to Shakespeare, with "hiswoodnotes wild"; from Milton, with his "sevenfold chorus of hallelujahsand harping symphonies, " to Tennyson, with his "happy bells, " which

 "Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand, "

but chief of all which

 "Ring in the Christ that is to be, "

are resonant with loyalty and devotion to Him. Thus, all voices and allgifts, as they come from Christ, and are claimed by Christ, should beused for Him and Him alone. The lofty reach of genius is called toglorify Him, and the humblest gift of the peasant in the cottage, or theworkman in the mill, or the little child at the mother's knee, are alldue to Christ, to be devoted to Him, and also to be appreciated andrewarded by Him. 

[1]Gustav Schwab, quoted by Ullmann, in _The Worship of Genius_. 

JEROBOAM

BY REV. ALFRED ROWLAND, D. D. , LL. B. 

"Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin. "--1 KINGS xiv. 16. 

Jeroboam's character is worthy of serious study, not only because itinfluenced the destiny of God's ancient people, but because it suggestslessons of the utmost value to His people still. He may be fairlyregarded as a type of those who are successful men of the world. He wasnot an example of piety, for he had none--nor of lofty principle, for hewas an opportunist who made expediency the law of his life throughout. Yet he was permitted to win all that he could have hoped for, and reachedthe very zenith of his ambition, though he went down to the grave atlast, defeated and dishonoured, with this as his record--he was the man"_who made Israel to sin_. "

Such a life as his throws a flood of light on our possibilities andperils, showing unscrupulous men both what they may possibly win, andwhat they will certainly lose. 

Jeroboam appears to have been a man of lowly origin. Of his fatherNebat, whose name is so often linked with his own, we know nothing, although an old Jewish tradition, preserved by Jerome, identifies himwith Shimei, who was the first to insult David in his flight, and thefirst of all the house of Joseph to congratulate him on his return. Allwe know with certainty is that he belonged to the powerful tribe ofEphraim, which was always jealous of the supremacy of Judah, andtherefore hated David, Solomon, and Rehoboam. It was this feeling ofwhich Jeroboam skilfully availed himself when he split the kingdom ofDavid in twain. 

In the Book of Kings, this remarkable man first appears as an ordinaryworkman, or possibly as a foreman of the masons who were engaged inbuilding Fort Millo, one of the chief defences of the citadel of Zion, guarding its weakest point, and making it almost impregnable. Under thesystem of forced labour then in vogue, the workmen would be inclined toshirk their toil, and among them Jeroboam stood out in conspicuouscontrast, by reason of his eagerness and industry. Solomon the king, whoalways had a keen eye for capacity, saw the young man that he wasindustrious, and after making some inquiries about him, raised him to theremunerative post of superintendent of the tribute payable by the tribeof Ephraim. It was, no doubt, a difficult office to fill, for the tribewas restive and powerful, but it would be very profitable, because thesystem on which taxes were collected, as is still usual in Easterncountries, gave immense opportunities for enrichment to an unscrupulousman. We may be sure, therefore, that Jeroboam quickly became wealthy. At the same time he won influence with the tribe, by expressing secretsympathy with his fellow-tribesmen, and he stealthily fostered theirdiscontent until the opportunity came for asserting himself as a moresuccessful Wat Tyler, in the kingdom which by that time Solomon had leftto his foolish son, Rehoboam. Little did Solomon imagine that when headvanced Jeroboam he was preparing the instrument of his son's ruin, andthat this Ephraimite would prove to be like the viper Aesop tells of, which a kind-hearted man took in from the cold, but which when roused bywarmth from its torpor, killed its benefactor. 

I

1. In looking for the elements which contributed to Jeroboam'srapidly-won success, we must certainly credit him with remarkable naturalability. 

No one can read his biography carefully without noticing his shrewdnessin seeing his chance when it came, and his boldness and promptitude inseizing it. He possessed such self-control that he kept his plansabsolutely to himself until the critical moment, and then he made adaring dash for power, and won it. And these characteristics of his weregifts from God, as Ahijah the prophet emphatically declared. 

We are far too timid in the maintenance of our professed belief thatphysical and mental gifts are divine in their origin. Mediaevaltheology, which was largely tinged by Pagan philosophy, sometimes went sofar as to attribute exceptional beauty, or talent, to evil powers; and weare apt to trace them to a merely human source. But keen perception, sound judgment, a retentive memory, a vigorous imagination, and, notleast, good common-sense, are among the talents entrusted to us by GodHimself, who will by-and-bye take account of His servants. 

This is regarded by many as an old-fashioned and effete theory. Theyassume that the doctrine of evolution has conclusively shown that no manis a new creation, but is a necessary product of preceding lives; thathis lineaments and talents may be traced to parentage, that thebrilliance of the Cecils and the solid sense of the Cavendishes, forexample, are simply a matter of heritage. But even admitting this to belargely true, it does not invalidate the statement that our gifts are ofGod--He is the Father of all the "families" of the earth, as well as ofindividuals. He does not rule over one year only, but over all thegenerations. Time and change, of which we make much, are nothing to Him. The theory of evolution, therefore, merely extends our conceptions of therange of His power and forethought. Whether a child presents a strikingcontrast to his parents, or whether he seems to be a re-incarnation oftheir talents, it is equally true that all things are of God, and thatfor Him and by Him all things consist. Natural abilities are Divinetrusts. 

There is startling unevenness in the distribution of these gifts. Notonly do two families differ widely in their talents and possessions, butchildren of the same parents are often strangely unlike, physically andmentally. One is radiantly beautiful, and another has no charm inappearance or in manners. One is physically vigorous, and another isfrail as a hothouse flower. One is so quick that lessons are no troubleat all, and another wearily plods over them till ready to give up indespair. Evidences of this unevenness of distribution meet useverywhere. One man will make a fortune where another would not suspecta chance. One remains a third-rate salesman all his days, and wouldspend even his holidays in looking into shop windows, for his soul doesnot rise beyond them; while his comrade is brimful of talent, and theworld will ring at last with his name and fame. We say "it is in them";but what is in them is of God, and these very differences between men areintended by Him to elicit mutual consideration and mutual helpfulness;for we are members one of another, and the deficiencies of one are to besupplemented by the superabundance of another. 

2. The most brilliant gifts are of no great value apart from personaldiligence, such as distinguished Jeroboam. 

He did thoroughly the work which lay to his hand, whether as mason, tax-collector, or king. Such diligence often rectifies the balancebetween two men of unequal ability. The plodding tortoise still beatsthe hare, who believes herself to be so swift that she can afford time tosleep. Any one who looks back on his classmates will see that thecleverest have not proved the most successful, but that the prizes oflife have usually gone to those who diligently developed to the utmostwhat they had. Scripture is crowded with examples of this. Jacoblaboured night and day, and therefore he prospered, even under Laban, unjust and exacting though Laban was. Joseph won his way to the front, though an exile and a slave, for he made himself indispensable in prison, and in the kingdom. "_Seest thou a man diligent in business? he shallstand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men_. " And becausethis is a Divine law, it prevails in higher spheres also. If a Christianuses, in the service of his heavenly Master, the gifts he possesses, faith in God, knowledge of truth, power in prayer, persuasive speech--hisfive talents will become ten, or his two will gain other two. "_To himthat hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have abundance_. "

3. It may be said that talent and diligence combined do not always winsuccess, and so far as this world is concerned, it is true. PossiblyJeroboam would never have come to the front if Solomon had not happenedto notice him. But if we read the interviews which Ahijah the prophethad with Jeroboam, and with his mother, we shall learn to recognise thecontrol of God in this also. 

If God over-rules anything he must over-rule everything, because whatappears to be the most trivial incident, often has the most far-reachingresults on human character and destiny. Trifles are often turning-pointsin one's history. A casual word spoken in our favour may bring about theintroduction which leads to a happy marriage, or to a prosperous businesscareer. It may not have been known to us at the time, nor thought ofagain by the friend who spoke about us, but back of his friendlyutterance God was. In life we are not infrequently like a passenger onboard ship, who chats to those about him, but pays no regard to thewheel, or to the seaman who controls it, still less to the officer whogives the man his instructions; and yet the turning of that wheel, inthis direction or in that, involves safety, or wreck. God keepscontrol--unseen--over the lives of men, and it was more than a luckychance which led Solomon to notice the smart, stalwart worker at Millo, and raise him to a higher post. 

The wise king showed his wisdom in rewarding as he did, fidelity anddiligence. It is because this is often not done in offices andwarehouses that there is so little mutual goodwill between servants andmasters. An employer will often treat his people as mere "hands, " whoare to sell his goods and do his bidding, but directly work is slack, hewill turn them adrift without scruple or ruth; or if they remain foryears in his service, will give no increase of wage or salaryproportioned to capacity and diligence. A Christian employer, at least, should follow a more excellent way, and advance a diligent servant, notbecause he cannot be done without, or because it is for the good of thefirm to retain his services, but because his promotion is right andrichly deserved. It would be a woful thing if God treated us exactly aswe treat our fellows. 

But whatever the immediate result, fidelity and industry are called forfrom us all. Our Lord Himself said, "_It is My meat and My drink to dothe will of My Father in heaven_, " and this He felt to be as true of Hiswork at the carpenter's bench as in the precincts of the Temple. Whetherin the business, or in the household, or in the Church, the King is everwatching His servants, and of His grace will raise every faithful one tohigher service and larger possibilities. "_The Father, who seeth insecret, shall reward thee openly_, " and His reward will come not only inloftier position but in ennobled character--

 "Toil is no thorny crown of pain, Bound round man's brow for sin; True souls from it all strength may gain, High manliness may win. 

 "O God, who workest hitherto, Working in all we see, Fain would we be, and hear, and do, As best it pleaseth Thee. "

II. 

Jeroboam's defects in character, and indeed his actual sins, were manyand great. 

1. His ingratitude to his benefactor was a disgrace to him. 

He fostered and used, as far as he dared, the discontent which smoulderedin the tribe of Ephraim, as the result partly of jealousy of Judah, andpartly of restiveness under extravagant expenditure and increasingtaxation, and this treachery went on until he was expelled the country bySolomon, and driven out as an exile into Egypt, where, however, he stillcarried out his ambitious schemes, till his chance came under Rehoboam. 

Many a man kicks away the ladder by which he rose to fortune. He likesto divest himself of the past wherein he needed help, for it was a timeof humiliation, and by cutting off association with former friends, wouldfain lead people to believe that his success was entirely due to his owncleverness. Even his own parents are sometimes neglected and ignored, and these, to whom he owed his life, who cared for him in his helplessinfancy and wayward youth, are left unhelped. "_Cursed is the man whosetteth light by his father or mother_. "

But though we naturally cry "shame" upon such an one, it is possible thatwe ourselves are acting an unfilial part towards our Heavenly Father. And the more He prospers us the greater is the danger of our forgettingHim, who crowns us with loving-kindness and tender mercies. 

2. Jeroboam's sin against Solomon was as nothing compared with his sinagainst God. 

From the first he seems to have been an irreligious man. He regardedreligion as a kind of restraint on the lower orders, and therefore usefulin government. Priests and prophets constituted, in his opinion, thevanguard of the police, and they should, therefore, be supported andencouraged by the State. As to the form religion assumed, he was notparticular. In Egypt he had become accustomed to the ritual of Apis andMnevis, which was by no means so gross and demoralising as the idolatryof the Canaanites, and he evidently could not see why the worship ofJehovah could not be carried on by those who believed in Him through theuse of emblems, and, if need be, of idols. Therefore he set about theestablishment of the cult of Apis, and "_made two calves of gold, and setthe one in Bethel and the other put he in Dan_. " This was the sin forwhich he was condemned again and again with almost wearisome iteration. He was by no means a fanatical idolater, and this act of his was simplythe dictate of his worldly policy. He was engaged in the establishmentof the separate kingdom of Israel, which for many a long year was toexist side by side with the kingdom of Judah. But this policy ofseparation would be impossible so long as there was the old spirit ofunity in the nation. And this unity was expressed and fostered most ofall by the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem, the common centre towhich all the tribes resorted, and from which all government emanated. If this continued so to be, it was evident that the nation would sooneror later reassert its unity. The men of Ephraim were just nowexasperated by the taxation imposed by Solomon, and increased byRehoboam, and they still resented the precedence and supremacy of therival tribe of Judah; but this feeling might prove transient, it might besome day dissipated by the statesmanship of a wiser king, and then theseparated kingdom would die out, and all God's people would appear asone. To prevent this was Jeroboam's aim in the erection of the goldencalves. 

It was a policy which would naturally appeal to the jealous people, whowere told that they ought not to be dependent for their means of worshipon Judah, nor send up their tribute for the support of the Temple inJerusalem. And they would welcome a scheme which brought worship withineasier range, and saved the cost of leaving business and undertaking awearisome journey in order to keep the feasts. Thus, without deliberatechoice, they swiftly glided down into idolatry and national ruin. 

Jeroboam thus led the people to a violation of one of the fundamentallaws in the Decalogue. For if the first command was not disobeyed by allthe people, the second was, and these laws are still obligatory, nor canthey be broken with impunity. With fatal facility those who worshippedJeroboam's golden calf became identified with the heathen, and thekingdom thus set upon a false foundation was at last utterly destroyed. And as surely as the tide flows in upon the shore, so surely will thelaws of God bring retribution on all who are impenitent. To every manthe choice is proffered between the false and the true ideal of life. Onthe one side the tempter points to wealth and position, which may oftenbe won, as Jeroboam won it, by unscrupulousness; and on the other sidestands the Son of God, who, though rejected and crucified, wasnevertheless the Victor over sin, and who now from His heavenly throneexclaims, "_To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in Mythrone, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in Histhrone_. "

ASA

BY REV. ALFRED ROWLAND, D. D. , LL. B. 

1 KINGS xv. 8-24; 2 CHRON. Xiv-xvi. 

Asa was the third king who reigned over the separated kingdoms ofJudah. His father was Ahijah, of whom it is sternly said, "_He walkedin all the sins of his father, Rehoboam, which he had done beforehim_. " A worse bringing-up than Asa's could scarcely be imagined. Asa child, and as a lad, he was grievously tempted by his father'sexample, and by the influence of an idolatrous court, which was crowdedby flatterers and panderers. The leading spirit of the court-circlewas Maachah, "_the King's mother_, " as she is called--the SultanaValide. She was a woman of strong character, and held a high officialposition. She was the grand-daughter of Absalom, and was notorious forher fanatical idolatry. In short, she was the evil genius of thekingdom, like the Chinese Queen-mother of our own times, although, happily, Asa possessed a force of character which the young Emperor ofChina seems to lack. It is certainly noteworthy, that, with so muchagainst the cultivation of a religious life, "_Asa did that which wasright in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father_. " Sometimes ona heap of corruption, which we are glad to hurry past with abhorrence, God plants a beautiful and fragrant flower, as if in defiance of man'sneglect; and thus Asa appeared in the family, and in the court ofAhijah, his father--a God-fearing, single-minded lad, with a will ofhis own. 

As there was hope for him, there is hope for all. Whatever a man'sparentage and circumstances may be, he is not forced into sin, and hasno right to say, "_We are delivered to do all these abominations_. "Amid all his difficulties and discouragements, if he is earnestlyseeking to serve God, and looking to Him for help and hope, he maytriumph over the most adverse circumstances, and prove himself to be atrue citizen of heaven. If he waits in prayer on God, as Joseph did inEgypt, Daniel in Babylon, and Asa in Ahijah's court, he will not onlybe endued with piety, but with an independent spirit, and a resolutewill, which will make him a power for good in the very sphere where heseemed likely to be crushed by the powers of evil. It is not in vainthat the apostle gave the exhortation, "_Be not overcome of evil, butovercome evil with good_. " Asa was a noble example of obedience tothat command. 

It is clear from the narrative, in the First Book of Kings, that Asawas rich in noble qualities, such as manly resoluteness, politicalsagacity, and administrative vigour. But special prominence is givenin the Bible (as one might expect) to his religious sincerity, for itis emphatically said--"_Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all hisdays_. " This does not mean that he was sinless, that he had reachedmoral perfection, but that he had completely, with whole-heartedness, given himself over to the will of God, to be and to do what He ordained. 

The proof of this was seen in the reformation Asa daringly attempted. This is the record of it--"_He took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his father had made. And also Maachahhis mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had madean idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by thebrook Kidron_. "

Things must have gone badly in the kingdom before he ascended thethrone. Although it was only about twenty years since the death ofSolomon, irreligion and vice had corrupted the nation. The truth isthat evil spreads faster than good in this world, which is evidencethat it has fallen. We have embodied this truth in a familiarproverb--"Ill weeds grow apace. " If we neglect a garden, we are soonconfronted with weeds, not with flowers. Valuable fruit-trees growslowly, but a poisonous fungus will spring up in a night. 

Evidence of this often appears in national affairs. A few months ofwar will suffice to desolate many homes, to destroy fertile fields, andto burn down prosperous villages, but it is long before that waste canbe repaired, confidence restored, and prosperity and goodwillre-established. The devil will carry fire and sword through the worldwith the swiftness of a whirlwind, but Jesus Christ patiently waits andweeps over an irresponsive people, as he says, "_Ye will not come to Methat ye might have life_. "

The same contrast in the progress of good and evil appears in our ownexperience. If we yield to evil, and indulge sinful passions, we moveso swiftly downward that it is hard to stop, --like an Alpine climber ona snow-slope, who, having once slipped, in a few minutes' rush losesall that he has gained by toilsome climbing, and becomes less able tomake new effort because of his wounds and bruises. Among our Lord'sdisciples, we see Judas swiftly rushing on self-destruction, whereasPeter and John received years of discipline, before they were fullyprepared to fulfil their mission. No doubt, in such cases evil mayhave been, making slow and stealthy advance under the surface, thoughthe result appears with startling suddenness, just as gas will escapewithout noise, and creep into every corner of the room; but when alight comes in, death and destruction come in a flash. Evil is anexplosion, good is a growth. 

This perhaps accounts for the facts that evil had quickly grown strongin the kingdom; while, on the other hand, Asa's attempt at reformationwas incomplete and transient. He seems, however, to have done what hecould, and that is more than can be said of many. If he had been atimid, half-hearted man he might have been content to worship Jehovahin his private room, and thus rebuke, by his example, any idolaters whohappened to hear of it But his was no policy of _laissez-faire_. Hefelt that the evils encouraged by the father ought to be put down bythe son, and this he did with a strong hand, wherever he could reach it. 

Unhappily, there is a sad dearth of such reforming zeal in the Church, and in the world. Even among those who in private lament prevailingevils there is a singular contentment and tolerance even of those whichmight be at once removed. This is grievously common in large centresof population, where each individual feels insignificant among suchvast multitudes, and loses the sense of individual responsibility inthe vastness of the crowd which surrounds him. How many professingChristians, for example, deplore drunkenness and impurity, while theyshrink from any kind of open protest, and will not even troublethemselves to vote for representatives who will fight these evils; andif a preacher boldly denounces such iniquities they will even beg himto leave questions of that kind alone, and to confine himself todoctrinal exposition. We are all too apt to forget that truth andrighteousness, sobriety and holiness, are of God; and that the missionof Jesus Christ was to establish these, and to put away sin, even bythe sacrifice of Himself. The religion He exemplified was not to beranged on the shelves of a library, but to prove itself a living forcein politics, in business, and at home. What was His own doctrine?"_Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into thekingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is inheaven_. " Evils outside the Church, then, are to be combated, and nottolerated, by all true Christians--even though in the result they aremaligned as renegades to their party, or jeered at as Pharisees orPuritans. The late Tom Hughes was quite right half a century ago, whenhe thus described to the lads before him the lot of a would-be reformer. 

"If the angel Gabriel were to come down from heaven, and head asuccessful rise against the most abominable and unrighteous vestedinterests which this poor old world groans under, he would mostcertainly lose his character for many years, probably for centuries, not only with upholders of the said vested interest, but with therespectable mass of the people he has delivered. They wouldn't ask himto dinner, or let their names appear with his in the papers; they wouldbe careful how they spoke of him in the palaver, or at their clubs. What can we expect, then, when we have only poor gallant, blunderingmen like Garibaldi and Mazzini, and righteous causes which do nottriumph in their hands; men who have holes enough in their armour, Godknows, easy to be hit by respectabilities sitting in theirlounge-chairs, and having large balances at their bankers. But you arebrave, gallant boys, who have no balances or bankers, and hateeasy-chairs. You only want to have your heads set straight to take theright side; so bear in mind that majorities, especially respectableones, are nine times out of ten in the wrong, and that if you see a manor boy striving earnestly on the weaker side, however wrong-headed orblundering he may be, you are not to go and join the cry against him. If you cannot join him, and help him, and make him wiser, at any rateremember that he has found something in the world which he will fightand suffer for--which is just what you have got to do foryourselves--and so think and speak of him tenderly. "

Those manly words are worth quoting in full, and they will fitly setforth the service young Asa rendered to his kingdom, and to the worldat large. 

I. 

It may be well to analyse a little more closely the reformation thisright-hearted king attempted. He diminished opportunities for sin. The traffic in vice, by which many were making profit, he put down witha strong hand. And there are hotbeds of vice to be found in our ownland, where strong appeal is made to the lusts of the flesh, and whereintoxicating drink incites men to yield to passions which needrestraint. Indeed, even in our streets moral perils assail the youngand innocent, which no Christian nation ought to tolerate. We oftenmeet the assertion that we cannot make people moral by Acts ofParliament; but if dens of infamy, which it is perilous to enter, areswept away, if gin-palaces and public-houses which flood the land withruin are diminished in number, and in their hours of trade, it wouldcertainly lessen the evils we deplore. Vested interests fight againstsuch a change, and many on the side of sobriety and righteousnessshrink from the contest, so that we need the inspiration which God gaveto Asa, if we are to win the victory. 

This kingly reformer not only lessened opportunities for vice, butcertain evil influences in his kingdom he brushed aside with a stronghand. Maachah, the king's mother, was a potent influence on the sideof idolatry. It seemed at first impossible to touch her. The king wasindebted to her. She was aged, and age merits respect, and, therefore, some would argue that she might be tolerated for the few years she yethad to live. But these pleas did not avail her, for the issuesinvolved were too serious for the nation, and for the kingdom of God. And because "_Asa's heart was perfect_, " completely devoted toJehovah's cause, he "_removed her from being queen_, " and publiclyburnt the idol she had put up. 

Leaders in evil are sometimes found among the leaders of the world. Clever, unscrupulous men succeed in winning power through their want ofprinciple, and even of scruple. Distinguished writers, gifted withbrilliant style, or poetic power, exercise widespread influence forevil. Young people of singularly attractive personality win tothemselves a large following, and use it for the worst ends. Many agolden image, or beautiful object of adoration, still stands on thehigh places of the world; and even if we cannot pull them down, as Asadid, at least we can say to the evil one, who set them up, "_Be itknown unto thee that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the goldenimage which thou hast set up_. "

The history of Asa should inspire us to a renewal of war against theevils which Jesus Christ died to put away. Victory will not comewithout conflict. In respect to anxiety we are to be quiescent as thelilies, which neither toil nor spin, but in respect of moral evil, within or without, we must be vigilant and strenuous. 

 "Lilies have no sin Leading them astray, No false heart within That would them bewray, Nought to tempt them in An evil way; And if canker come and blight, Nought will ever put them right. 

 "But good and ill, I know, Are in my being blent, And good or ill may flow From mine environment; And yet the ill, laid low, May better the event; Careless lilies, happy ye! But careless life were death to me. "

II. 

The courage of Asa had as its root confidence in God, and this is shownmore fully in the narrative which appears in the Second Book ofChronicles than in the First Book of Kings. 

His reforming work--carried out with ruthless vigour--naturally raisedup adversaries on every side. In the court itself Maachah and herparty were implacable. Outside it the idolatrous priests, and alltheir hangers-on, whose vested interests were abolished, were plottingand scheming against the king. But Asa was imperturbable, because hehad found God to be his refuge and strength. The man who really fearsGod finds the fear of his fellows thereby cast out. 

To Jehovah, therefore, the brave king brought all his difficulties. This was beautifully exemplified when he found himself confronted withan overwhelming force of Ethiopians, for then "_Asa cried unto the Lordhis God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether withmany, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for werest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee_. " Prayer was thesecret of his strength, and in it we also may find all the help we needin meeting our discouragements--the ignorance which tries our patience, the indifference to God which nothing seems to stir, the vice whichholds its victim as an octopus, the sin which is as subtle as it isstrong. Against them all we have no power, and may well pray as Asadid. "Lord, help us. " Then He will fulfil the promise, "_When theenemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will lift up astandard against him_. "

III. 

After his great deliverance Asa renewed his consecration. The need forits renewal shows that in character and conduct he was far from beingall that he ought to have been. He was not "_perfect_" in that sense. His earnestness cooled down. Through his carelessness the "_highplaces_" were re-erected. He seems to have been content that the"_groves_, " with their grosser forms of idolatry, were gone, and thatother forms might be tolerated, just as some, who have conquered theirvices, are morally ruined by what the world calls little sins. But, inspite of these failings, the judgment of God, who is ever slow to angerand of great mercy, was that Asa's heart was "_perfect_"--sound, whole, and sincere, though not sinless. 

How happy it is that God judges not as man judges, that He canunerringly read the heart, and graciously accepts even the imperfectand blundering service which we sincerely offer to Him. Jehuaccurately executed Jehovah's fiat, whereas Asa's obedience seemedimperfect; yet the latter was commended, and the former condemned, because Asa, unlike Jehu, was right in heart. Therefore we may beencouraged still to do our little part in God's service, in spite ofthe failures and imperfections of the past, if only we can say, "_Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee_. "

AHAZIAH

BY REV. J. G. GREENHOUGH, M. A. 

"And the destruction of Ahaziah was of God, by coming to Joram; for, when he was come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son ofNimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab. "--2CHRON. Xxii. 7. 

We rarely read this part of the Bible. And I do not wonder at it. Forthose particular chapters are undoubtedly dreary and monotonous. Theycontain the names of a number of incompetent and worthless kings whodid nothing that was worth writing about, and who were singularlyalike, so that when you have heard the story of one of them you knowpretty well the story of all. It is the good lives that furnishattractive reading, because there is so much individuality and varietyin them, so many pictorial lights and shadows. A novel in which allthe characters are mean, would be read by nobody. The blackness needsto be relieved by something good, for darkness is always monotonous. Bad men show a dreary sameness in their thoughts and doings, their riseand fall. The godly are like nature illumined by the sunlight, manifold and infinite; the wicked are like nature when the darknesscovers it, uniform and dismal. Nearly all that is said in the Bibleabout these bad kings, is that they walked in the ways of Ahab orJeroboam or some other wicked person, that they closely imitated thedoings of their model. The Bible does not waste space in describingthem more accurately. One or two specimens do for all. 

But certain things are said about Ahaziah which afford room forreflection, and may, perhaps, be useful to us if we take them in aright way. 

And first let me give you a lesson in genealogy. These lessons areoften very wearisome. Let two men get on talking about who was thecousin, father, grandfather, great-grandmother, and what not of such aperson, and you begin at once to wish that you were out of it, or thatyou could quietly go to sleep until they settle the question; and yetit is not so unimportant as it seems. When a man writes a biography hedeems it his duty to go back three or four generations, and tell youwhat sort of fathers and mothers and grandmothers and evengreat-grandsires his hero had. It is very wearisome, but it is verynecessary. The story is not complete without that--for breed andancestry go quite as far with men as with cattle, and often further. 

Ahaziah's descent was right on one side, but it was very mean on theother. He had David's blood in his veins, and Jehoshaphat's, andmingled with that, the venom of heathenism. His mother was Athaliah, and Athaliah was the daughter of Jezebel, and Jezebel was a licentiousheathen princess whom Ahab on an evil day had made his wife. 

There is nothing in the Bible more tragical and more infamous than thestory of this woman Jezebel, and the part which she took in shaping thedestiny of the Jewish nation. She was a Syro-Phenician princess, whosefather ruled over the powerful and wealthy cities of Tyre and Sidon. Ahab was caught by her beauty, and by the attractive political allianceof which she was the pledge. Some think that the forty-fifth Psalm hadreference to her, which speaks of the daughter of Tyre coming with goldof Ophir, splendidly arrayed, and bringing a handsome dowry with her. Ahab thought he was marrying wealth and dignity, and providing for thegreatness of his house, and, as often happens in such marriages, heforgot to ask for a certificate of character, forgot to ask what sortof mother he was providing for his children. She came with all hermeretricious splendour covering one of the most fiendish natures thatever wore a woman's form. She developed, if she did not bring withher, all imaginable vices--her vindictive passion revelled in blood;her religion was the filthiest licentiousness; her beauty became thepainted face of a common harlot. Her figure stands forth in the Bibleas the very worst exemplification of the dark possibilities of humannature. Tennyson says men do not mount as high as the best ofwomen--but they scarce can sink as low as the worst. For men at mostdiffer as heaven and earth; but women, worst and best, as heaven andhell. And this woman became, alas, the mother of kings; and all whowent forth from her inherited her nature, and forgot nothing of hertraining. For several generations the taint of her evil influence wasfelt throughout the whole court life of Israel, and the licentiousabominations which she had introduced infected the whole national life. Ahab married for money and position, and this was what came of it. 

Her influence extended also to the southern kingdom of Judah. Jehoram, King of Judah, must needs marry Ahab's daughter, Athaliah, who was theexact counterpart of her mother, Jezebel. Another wedding in whichmorals and religion were sacrificed on the altar of gain--for by meansof it a small kingdom was to be cemented in alliance with a greater, and another rich dowry to be secured. And the same dreary resultsfollowed--a court corrupted with all manner of impurity, sons anddaughters initiated into all the mysteries of wickedness, demoralisation spreading all around. 

In this atmosphere Ahaziah was trained. His mother's name, says therecord briefly, was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, that is, the directdaughter of Jezebel. He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly--wherefore he did evilin the sight of the Lord, for they were his counsellors after the deathof his father to his destruction. What else could result in a home ofwhich Athaliah was the head, in which the main training and influencewere supplied by one of Jezebel's brood. The significant feature inall these Chronicles is the immense influence of women in shaping thelives and characters of kings. The men seem to have little to do withit; the women are almost supreme. Sons do not take after their fathersbut after their mothers. Again and again we read of a good king whohad a wicked father--Josiah, Hezekiah, and others. They shake offtheir evil inheritance; they refuse to follow in their fathers' steps;they destroy idolatry, and endeavour to redeem Israel from itsiniquity. But whenever this is the case you do not look far withoutdiscovering the cause. A good mother has been at work--woman'sgracious influence has counteracted against the pernicious example ofthe father. And, on the other hand, we have a long list of vile andidolatrous kings, whose fathers were either comparatively worthy, orfull of downright godliness, and then, invariably, there is someevil-minded royal consort at the back of it. Whenever we can get intothe secrets of court life, we find that the character of the wifedetermines the moral weight and form of the royal children. It is hertraining that shapes the men. How could it be otherwise indeed? Whattime had those kings to spend on home matters, what with theirfighting, judging, governing, and attending to all the affairs ofempire? How could they do a father's work and watch the training ofthe future kings? It was left to the mothers, and unhappy they who hadmothers like Ahaziah's. 

And is not this an everlasting story, true to-day as it was in thoseold days? It is the mother's hand mainly that shapes men for good orevil. Women more than men make the atmosphere of home--the atmospherewhich young lives breathe, and breathing never lose. The wise womanbuildeth her house--the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. Whattime does a father spend in disciplining the moral and spiritual natureof his children? That has to be done in the hours when he is toilingin the warehouse, or resting wearily after the labours of the day, orsurely it is not done at all. From a mother the child receives all itsearly religious thoughts. By her the Bible stories are taught, andthrough her lips the good book comes to be loved. None can do itexcept her. It is her eyes that watch every moral movement in theyoung life--every sign of change--every incipient error--everybeginning of good and evil habit. No eyes can detect these things asquickly and as surely as hers. And if she is too careless to discoverthem, they will go unobserved and unchecked. Unhappy is the mother whogives to society, or to friendship, or to pleasure the time which sheowes to her sons and daughters, for she will have to reap in vainregrets the penalty of her neglect. How rarely do good and true womenand men go forth from a home in which a mother has been too busy withthe giddy affairs of the pleasurable world to teach and pray with herchildren. Still more rarely do permanently evil and incorrigible livesgo forth from a home in which a noble and religious mother has made itthe chief business of her life to mould and train her children in pathsof pure thought and reverent purpose. There is no religious work whicha woman can do that equals this in importance, and none which securessuch sure and blessed results. That, then, is the main thoughtsuggested by these chapters--the measureless influence of women informing lives for evil or for good. 

Then comes the only other thing that we are told about thisAhaziah--that he was killed because he happened to be found in evilcompany. He lived badly because he followed the counsels of hismother, we read, and he died suddenly and tragically because heendeavoured to be on very friendly terms with his mother's relatives. He was King of Judah, and Judah with all its sins still worshipped Godand was comparatively free from idolatry. But Israel, over whichJehoram, his mother's brother ruled, was given up to all theabominations of heathenism. Its court was a horrible sink of iniquity, and God's judgment had gone forth against it and all its doings. Ahaziah must needs join hands and pledge friendship with his relatives, and for that purpose visited them--probably he did not intend to domore. It was just to look at the doings of this court, and have ataste of its pleasures, and then come back again. But once there hewas led on from step to step--found Jehoram's company very attractive, entered into his plans, went out with him to battle, took part, nodoubt, in the worship of his gods, and then while the two were goinghand and glove together, the long-deferred judgment of God fell onJezebel's house. The soldier raised up by God for that purpose swoopeddown upon the wicked king and his favourites with resistless force, making no distinction; and Ahaziah, being one of the band, shared inthe general destruction. 

The destruction of Ahaziah, says the Book, was of God, by coming toJehoram. By his coquetting with evil he was made to pay the lastpenalty. So runs the story, and it seems far removed from everythingthat concerns our lives--yet not so far--things of a similar kind arehappening every day. Men who tread the ways of sinners, who enter intoany sort of fellowship with them, often find themselves involved verystrangely and suddenly in their shame and their punishment. You cannotgo into ways of evil men, or visit any forbidden scenes, or lend yourcountenance in any way to their doings, even though you have no furtherintention than just to look on, but there is ever hanging over you thesword of detection. The policeman appears, or God's light is let downupon the scene, and you are discovered as having part in it, and yourname is stained and your character gone, and your life marked with aperpetual stigma of disgrace. When God's Judgment comes on sin italways involves some who are just hovering on the edge of it, as wellas those who are in the thick of it. You ought not to be there. Remember Ahaziah. 

And there are some evil natures and some evil things which a man cannottouch in even the slightest degree without being led on from step tostep, as Ahaziah was, until he was in the thick of Jehoram's iniquity. A young woman cannot enter a gin-palace and drink her glass at thecounter--as I see scores do any night--without gradually going furtherand losing all the modesty and grace of womanhood. A young man cannottouch gambling in any of its forms without almost inevitably beingdrawn under its fascinations, as one who is slowly involved in a wilyserpent's coils. An English bishop thinks and has said that a littlebetting is allowable, that if you only indulge moderately in it, youmay do it with impunity. He might as well have said that if you onlysteal coppers the law will smile upon you, but if you steal gold youwill come in for its stripes. He might as well have said, "If you onlyput your little finger in this fire it will not hurt you, but if youthrust your whole hand in, it will burn. " There can be no moderationin a thing which is essentially and in all its principles based ondishonesty and corruption, and evil excitement and evil greed. I amprofoundly sorry that such a thing has been said by one whose word hasso much authority and influence. It will be taken by thousands as anencouragement to do what they are only too prone and eager to do. Whoshall curse what a father in Christ has condescended to bless? We needrather to have all Christian hands and voices raised in passionate andtearful denunciation of that which is doing more than anything else todemoralise our youth and eat away the very morals of the nation. Weneed to warn against it and denounce it in whatever form and degree itis practised, and to say, "Touch not, taste not, handle not theaccursed thing. "

We must keep away altogether from the men who delight in evil paths, and from the things, the very touch of which defiles. Go not in theirway, pass not by it. "If sinners entice thee, consent thou not. "Learn the lesson of Ahaziah's life, and how his fall came because heconsorted with wickeder men than himself, and was anxious to see theirdoings. 

GEHAZI

BY REV. J. MORGAN GIBBON

"The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thyseed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white assnow. "--2 KINGS v. 27. 

Elisha and Gehazi were master and man. They were more. They werealmost father and son. Elisha calls him "_my heart_, " just as Paulcalls Onesimus his heart. Yet they parted so. --"_He went out from hispresence a leper_. " The punishment was terrible. Was it deserved?Had the master a right to pass this sentence? "_The leprosy ofNaaman_"--yes! but had Gehazi caught nothing from Elisha?

Most commentators fall on Gehazi with one accord. He is pilloried as aliar. He is branded as a thief. He is bracketed with Achan, andcoupled with Judas. They flatter the master, they are hard on the man. But this is surely a very false reading of facts. By clothing theprophet in spotless white, and tarring Gehazi a deep black all over, weviolate the truth of things and miss the lesson of the story, which, like the sword-flames at Eden's gate, turn many ways. 

To take but one out of its numerous suggestions, we have here a storyfor servants of all sorts, and for masters and mistresses too, of allkinds. 

The section is rich in domestic interiors. Servants have always formedimportant members of the household, and often their service has risento be a beautiful and holy ministry. 

We see here, for example, a great Eastern lady, Naaman's wife, and herlittle Jewish maid, whom the fortunes of war had swept from her home"in the land of Israel. " In the division of the spoil, this human mitehad fallen to Naaman's share, and drifted into his lady's service. Theslave-child has evidently reached the woman, perhaps the hungeringmother's heart, in her mistress; and the sorrow of the woman, for alas!she is a leper's wife, has touched the servant's heart. The burningsense of the wrong to herself is cooled and quenched by the pity shefeels for her master; and the expedition that brought health to Naaman, and unspeakable joy to Naaman's wife, was the outcome of a word shespoke. She knew of Elisha, she said what she knew, and great thingscame of it. 

She did this, not as a slave of Naaman's wife, but as a free humansoul, and servant of God. No tyranny could extort this service. Nowealth could pay for this golden secret. Sometimes a character appearsbut once in the course of a great drama. The man or woman, comes onthe stage to deliver one message, and then disappears. But that onebrief word has its place in the playwright's scheme, and its effect onthe action of the piece. This child was sent to Syria to utter onespeech, to speak one name, and because she spoke her little speech, kindly and clearly, things went better with ever so many people. 

"A fair day's wage for a fair day's work, " but let there be more thanmoney in the wage, and more than labour in the service. Let no one, inbeing a servant, cease to be a free human soul. Do you serve in Syria?Is your lot cast among those that know not the Prophet? Well, but_you_ are from the land of Israel; speak your speech, tell out theProphet's name. Be more than servant, more than clerk, more than a"hand, " an apprentice, a journeyman; be a soul, an influence, a linkwith higher things, a reminder of God, a minister of Christ. 

Naaman, too, was happy in _his_ servants. He was a Bismarckian, peppery man. Accustomed to command, he expected miracles to be done toorder, and prophets to toe the line. And because he did not likeElisha's manner nor his prescription, he was on the point of returningto Syria in a rage. But he had servants that knew him through andthrough. They knew what note to sound, and they saved him fromhimself. The expedition had been suggested by a servant who generouslypaid good for evil. It was saved from defeat by servants who did forkindness what no contract could have specified and no wage could cover. They also were souls who knew at times that man was created forspiritual service. 

But Elisha, too, though doubtless poor, had his servant, and anefficient, tactful servant he was. 

A very good book might be written on "poor men's servants. " For theyhave had of the very best. The whole world knows Boswell, and with allhis faults it loves him still, for he was loyal to a royal soul. Well, most great men have had their Boswells. When all is known it will befound that the men of the five talents have owed much of their successand more of their happiness to the fidelity and love of men of the onetalent. 

How well Gehazi served Elisha! How nobly the servant comes out in thatexquisite story of the Lady of Shunem. How jealous he is of hismaster's honour! How dear he was to Elisha's soul, "my heart! my otherself!" And yet, he did this thing. He lied, he cheated, he obtainedgoods by false pretences, he lowered the prophet in Naaman's sight; andafter all his years of noble service, his master smote him with hiscurse, and he went out of his presence a leper!

But was Naaman's the only leprosy that infected Gehazi? Had Elisha anyshare in his fall? After all, it is a sorry business to heal astranger and send forth one's own friend in this fashion. 

Nothing can exonerate Gehazi. His lie remains a lie, say what youwill. But our business is not to apportion blame, but to try to findout how such things came to be, in order to guard against them in ourown homes. If a servant leaves your employ poorer in character thanwhen she came to you, if a youth leaves your business harder, colder, weaker in will, further from God than when you received him from home, it is a clear case for inquiry. It is our duty to see that youngpeople are not exposed to moral infection in our homes. 

In the matter of physical infection, two facts are familiar to us all. The first is, that mischief enters the system by means of a germ; andthe second is, that the action of the germ depends very much on thecondition of health in which it finds a man. If the man is healthy, heis often proof against the arrow that fleeth by day, and the pestilencethat walketh in darkness. But if the body is already enfeebled, thegerms find half their work done for them beforehand. 

Well now, these natural laws are valid in the spiritual world. Therules of moral hygiene are summed up in our Lord's prayer, "_Lead usnot into temptation_, " that is to say, do not breathe the germ-ladenair, and in St Paul's precept, "_Be strong in the Lord_, " cultivategeneral spiritual health, safety lies in strength. Good health is thebest prophylactic. There is no precaution so effective as being well. 

Now what have we in this narrative? When the prophet permitted Naamanto bow in the temple of Rimmon he did very right, say the chorus ofcommentators. But the common-sense of mankind has taken a differentview. Bowing in the temple of Rimmon has become a byword and areproach. It signifies something which men feel is not quite right. It was, in fact, an indulgence. Still, perhaps it was wise not toforce the new-born convert. Perhaps it did Naaman no harm. Possiblyit did Elisha's soul no injury to be so far complaisant towardsidolatry. But surely there was a germ of evil in the thing, and thisgerm found a nidus, found a nest in Gehazi's soul, in which to hatchits evil brood. It lighted on Gehazi at the psychological moment. Hehad seen the gorgeous equipage. He had gazed on the ingots of gold andthe great bars of silver. He had fingered the silks and brocades. Elisha had waved them away. To him they were as child's trinkets. Buthe had other resources than Gehazi, and when the cavalcade drew off, leaving nothing of its treasures behind, his longing grew into a feverof desire. It was so mad of the master to let _all_ that gold andsilver go, and he so poor! Gehazi had to bear the brunt of thepoverty, and tax his five wits to make ends meet. And to think that agold mine had come to their very door and they had refused to let it in!

But it is too late now--and yet why should it be too late? The companymoves slowly. One could easily catch up with it. But what to say?

Pilgrims sometimes knock at Elisha's door. Sons of the prophets fromthe college on Mount Ephraim often come to see the master. There weretwo last week, or was it the week before? Without doubt we shall haveothers soon, for they like to talk to the master. They are miserablypoor like ourselves, but they have good appetites. Naaman would bedelighted to leave something for them. He would feel easier in hismind. It would be a kindness to let him give something. True, we havenone of them in the house at this moment. But we have had and we shallhave. If I say we have them _now_--well, that will only be making alittle bow in the temple of Rimmon. Naaman means to do that. Masterallows him to do it. We must not be _too_ strict. "_As the Lordliveth I will run after him and take somewhat of him_!" Elisha washurt, shamed, and angry. The sin was great and terrible. Yet, perhaps, had Gehazi met Elijah this would not have happened. HadElisha sounded the great Elijah-note, "if the Lord is God, follow Him, but if Rimmon, then follow him, " perhaps the germ of temptation wouldnot have found Gehazi even quite such an easy prey, Mind, I am not whitewashing him or mitigating his crime. I am tryingto get at the forces that conspired to make him what he was, and amongthese I have no doubt at all that his master's complaisant permissionof compromise was a very potent force. Of course he was wrong, ofcourse there is no logical connection between what the master allowedin the Syrian general and the great lie Gehazi told. And yet there wasa sort of ghastly logic in this poor wretch's procedure. There aremany commandments. But duty is one thing, and if you weaken a man'ssense of duty by breaking one commandment yourself, you must not besurprised if you find him breaking another commandment later on. Gehazi was cured of the leprosy of Naaman. The prophet's angry wordwas not countersigned on high, and one hopes that he also shook off byGod's assisting grace the ill-effects of Elisha's complacency. For thegreater danger lay in _that_. And does it not still lie there?

Our young people, our children, our servants that minister to ourcomfort, our assistants and clerks that multiply our personalactivities and help to build up our fortunes, is there no danger totheir spiritual life in being exposed as they are to the spiritualinfluences which we give off every hour? They see the cavalcades ofwealth, they gaze at the ingots of gold and the great white silverbars; they look with longing eyes at the silks with colours that comeand go like the iris on the dove's neck. The luxuries of meat anddrink appeal to them. The temptation to live for these things assaultsthem. 

And what help does Gehazi get from Elisha to-day? What help do youngmen in offices and shops get from masters and heads of departments?What help do servants in London homes get from the daily examples ofmistresses? What are the inferences drawn in the kitchen from thingsheard and seen in the dining or drawing-room? and what in the nursery?Does a young man who sees to the very core of your business say tohimself, "The master's profession of religion is hypocrisy--_all_religion is hypocrisy?" Then may God help him, for he is smitten withthe leprosy of Elisha; and may God help you, for it is a sorry businessto evangelise Asiatics and send your own servants forth from yourpresence lepers white as snow. 

Let every master and mistress pray, "_Search me, O God, and know myheart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there is any way ofwickedness in me, and lead me in the way everlasting_. "

HAZAEL

BY REV. J. G. GREENHOUGH, M. A. 

"But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this greatthing?"--2 KINGS viii. 13. 

Hazael was the chief minister and prime favourite of Benhadad, theSyrian king. He had been raised from a humble lot and promoted to thathigh post by the partiality of his sovereign, who had doubtlessdiscerned his exceptional abilities, and certainly placed implicittrust in him. Just now the king was dangerously ill, and Hazael hadbeen sent to inquire of the prophet of Israel as to the probable issueof the sickness. He put the question with seeming anxiety: "Will mymaster recover?" He spoke as if that was his dearest wish; perhaps hedid wish it. But there were evidently other thoughts half-formed, lurking and hiding themselves in the background. Suppose the kingshould die and leave the throne vacant, what then? May there not be achance for me? Elisha read these hidden thoughts, and looked the manin the face long and steadfastly, until the face turned crimson and thehead was lowered with shame. And then the prophet said, "Thy masterneed not die of the sickness; nevertheless, he will die, and I see youfilling a throne won by murder, and I have a picture before me of theterrible things which you will do to my dear land of Israel. " And asthis vision passed before the prophet's eyes, he wept. Then Hazaelgave the answer which stands at the head of this paper. 

It is open to two interpretations. The Authorised Version gives oneand the Revised Version the other. According to the first, it is anindignant denial; he recoils with horror from the picture of perfidy, cruelty, and enormous criminality which the prophet has sketched forhim. I am not capable of such a thing, he says; "_Is thy servant adog, that he should do this great thing_?" According to the otherreading it is not the crime that he revolts from, but the kingship andthe greatness that he refuses to believe in. It seems so improbableand all but impossible that he, a man of obscure birth, should climb tosuch eminence. He exclaims against it as a piece of incredulous andextravagant imagination. "_What is thy servant, which is but a dog, that he should do this great thing_?"

Now, I doubt not that both readings may be allowed. For certainly boththoughts were in the speaker's mind. He did not believe at that momentthat he could ever be brought to commit such infamous deeds, and he didnot believe that he could ever attain such high ambitions and power. There was a dark moral depth predicted for him to which he was sure hewould never fall, and there was a certain grandeur and elevation towhich he was confident he would never rise. To both things he said, "It is impossible, " and yet the impossible came to pass. 

Now I would have you observe that this is one of the prominent lessonsof the Bible; on many a page does it bring out an unexpecteddevelopment like this. Again and again it is the unlikely that happensin the lives which figure on its pages. They rise or they fall in away that no one looked for, and which they, least of all, anticipatedthemselves. We seem to hear them saying with Hazael, "Impossible, " andthen, before we get far, the thing is done. Impossible, we say, thatking Saul should ever descend so low as to deal in witches; or thatSolomon, the wise, God-fearing youth, should give himself up to thesway of lustful passions and idolatries. Yet that comes to pass. Impossible, we say, that the cunning, lying Jacob should ever developinto a man of prayer; and the outcast beggar, Jephthah, ever grow intoa hero-patriot and king. Yet we see it. In the Bible storiesgreatness always comes to those who have neither marked themselves outfor it, nor deemed themselves fit for it; and, on the contrary, itsmost infamous deeds are done, and its most shameful lives lived, bythose who have given promise of fairer things, and who in their earlymanhood would have scouted the possibility of descending so low. Themen whom it describes have no suspicion, to begin with, of the greatpower for good that is in them, or the equally great possibilities ofevil. Tell the shepherd youth, David, that he has in him the making ofa king and an immortal poet, and he will think you are poking fun athim. Tell him that he will one day fall into the crimes of adulteryand murder, and make all Israel blush for him, and he will be indignantenough to strike you to the ground. Speak to the fisherman, Peter, ofthe commanding influence which awaits him in some coming kingdom ofGod, and he will think you are beside yourself: and then tell him thathe will one day deny and curse his sworn Master and kindest Friend, andhe will ask you, Do you think I am a dog or a devil that I should dothis? Impossible! And yet the thing comes off. 

Why do the sacred writers give us so many stories of this kind? Surelyit is because we need both the warning and encouragement. It is toprove to us that on one side of our nature we are greater than wethink, and on the other side weaker and lower than we believe. It isto inspire the diffident with courage, and the despairing with hope, while it pulls up the forward, the careless, and the over-confidentwith the wholesome and humbling word, "_Let him that thinketh hestandeth, take heed lest he fall_. " These men of the Bible werestrangely mixed. They were conspicuous instances of the contradictionsand surprises which are in us all. For that is the point: the thingcomes home to us. 

Believe me, we are all a riddle to ourselves. Each man is to himself, and each woman too, the greatest of all mysteries save the one greatermystery, God. None of us know of what elements he is composed, and howstrangely the good and evil mix and mingle and clash and strive in eachday's doings, and through the whole of life. They who believe that thesaint is all saint, and the sinner all sinner, are blindly and pitiablyignorant of human nature. God has made no man without putting somelittle bit of the Divine image in him. The worst has some lingeringtrace or ruin of it. And the best is not so entirely the temple of theHoly Ghost that no fouler spirits ever obtain entrance there. You maysay that you do not believe in a devil. Well, that may be; but thereis something like a devil in all of us at certain times, and I wouldrather believe that it comes from the outside than that it is born andbred and originates within. At any rate, there are in all of us thestrange oppositions, the darkness and the light overlapping each other, the evil and the good ever contending, like Esau and Jacob, in thebirth hour. The awful and the blessed possibilities are there, andwhich shall get the uppermost depends first on God, and then uponourselves. 

I. 

Remember first, then, that we have all a lower side. 

There is in us what I may call a lurking, crouching, slumbering devil, which needs constant watching and holding down with the strong hand ofself-mastery and prayer. "Praying always with all prayer, and watchingthereunto, " says the apostle. In every one of us there is thepossibility of falling, however high we stand and however near God wewalk. Bunyan says, in his immortal story, "Then I saw in my dream thatby the very gate of heaven there was a way that led down to hell. " Noman, however ripe in goodness, however firmly rooted and grounded infaith, love, and Christian qualities, ever gets beyond the need ofvigilant sentinel work--watching himself. He must always be buffetinghimself, and keeping under his body, as Paul did, lest he himselfshould be a castaway. Let him grow careless, presumptuous, neglectfulof prayer, and all the old tempers and passions slowly steal in, andbit by bit obtain the mastery, and the Christian disgraces hisprofession, and the saint becomes a sinner again. Every Christianknows this. He knows the evil powers that are in him. 

It is the man who has never fought with his temptation, never prayed, who especially needs to be reminded of it; young men and women who havebeen well brought up, who have kept themselves moderately straight sofar, and who are full of good resolutions. I hear them say, "Oh I amstrong enough. I am not such a fool as to throw myself away in thestupid game of the prodigal, in drunkenness, and gambling, and uncleanliving. I can hold myself in. I can go just as far as I please. Ican indulge to a certain extent, and pull myself up just at the momentI please; and as for prayer and seeking God's help, thank my stars Ican clear a safe course without all that. I shall not overstep theline you may depend upon it. " "_Is thy servant a dog, that he shoulddo this_?"

And I answer, yes--there is quite enough of the dog in you, or of thedevil, if you like the word better, to do this and to do worsethings--if you play with the dog and let it loose, and let it have afree run now and then. In my time I have heard scores of young mentalk in this way. I have heard them laugh scornfully when danger wasmentioned to them, and I have seen a few of them fortunate enough togrow up to manhood with a fairly unspotted character; a few, but notmany--the greater part have gone wrong, and some deplorably wrong. There is hardly one of us can keep that dog fastened up and chaineddown always, unless we rely upon a stronger power than our own. Itgets loose at times with the best of us--it runs wild and playsdreadful havoc with those who are not the best; there is always in youthe baser self--always the dry torches of evil passions which a sparkmay kindle--always the moral weaknesses and lusts, half-sleeping, whichsome stronger blast of temptation may awaken and bring out; and if youwish to escape the evil and hold fast to the good, you will commit yourway unto the Lord, and put on the Christian armour, and strengthenyourselves by prayer. Do not presume too much--better men than youhave fallen every day. God only can save you from yourselves. 

II. 

It is just as needful to remember the other side--the side of betterpossibilities. 

Some of you are tempted to say at times with Hazael, "_Thy servant isbut a dog; how can he do these great things_?" You are disposed tounderrate your gifts, your opportunities, your happy chances inlife--in a word, your possibilities. You despair of finding anyopening; you are sure that you will never hear a call to come uphigher; you think your lives must always be ill-paid drudgery, with nopromotion. It is sad to work with a conviction of that kind. Younever work well if there is nothing to look forward to, and it iscowardly to give way to a conviction of that kind. Perhaps you are notspecially clever--no, but there are better things than cleverness inthe world, and things which have more to do with life's real successes. 

If you have in you some power of plodding, to do steady work, doing italways honestly; if you have perseverance, self-control, a sense ofduty, a determination to do always the thing that is right, all will bewell--these are the qualities which lift a man up to the best places, and one of those places is being prepared for you if you are worthy tofill it. You say, perhaps, "I can never be a good man. I can never bea Christian. I am not made for these high things; it is not in me. " Ianswer, "It is in you, or if it be not in you now, God will put it inyou if you diligently ask Him. "

Nay, truly, there are the germs of goodness in every one of us. Thyservant is something more than a dog, though he calls himself that, andnothing else. There is something of the religious emotion in you, andthat means there is something of the Divine. You have dreams at timesof a beautiful life, you have longings for it, sometimes you even setout to reach it--and these are all touches of God. They all prove thatthe Holy Ghost sometimes pays at least a passing visit to your hearts. You do not know what God can make of you until you trust and try Him. There are greater things by far in you than you have guessed. Haveconfidence in Him, and He will bring them out. I can see a man of Godin you, a pillar in the Church, an honour to the town. I can see aChristian mother in you, a half-sainted woman full of good works, bringing children up to noble lives. It is there in many of you, ifyou do not despise and neglect the gift that is in you, but use it andcultivate it prayerfully, and let God bring it to perfection. 

MANASSEH

BY REV. J. G. GREENHOUGH, M. A. 

"Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reignedfifty and five years in Jerusalem. "--2 CHRON. Xxxiii. L. 

Fifty and five years--he wore the crown a longer time than any other ofthe house of David. Of all the kings that reigned in Jerusalem, thisman's reign filled the largest space; yet he is the one king of Judahabout whom we are told least. In the modern city of Venice there is ahall which is adorned with the portraits of all the doges or kings whoruled that city in the days of its splendour--all except one--one whomade himself infamous by evil deeds. Where his portrait ought to be, there is a black blank space which says nothing, yet speaks volumes;which says to every visitor, Do not think of him, let him be forgotten. In some such way Manasseh is disposed of by the sacred writers. Theyhurry over the fifty-five years; they crowd them into half a chapter, as if they were ashamed to dwell upon them, as if they wanted thememory of them and of the man to be forgotten. And that was thefeeling of all the Jews. Century after century, and even to thepresent time, Jews have held the man's name in abhorrence. Do notspeak of him, they say. He was the curse of our nation. He denied ourfaith. He slew our prophets. He brought Jerusalem to ruin. 

Yet, strange to say, the man so hated and cursed was once a nation'shope and joy. When his father, Hezekiah, lay sick unto death, hisgreatest grief and the profoundest sorrow of his people was caused bythe thought that he was dying childless. They prayed for his recoverymainly on that ground. He recovered, and married, and a child wasborn, and the glad father called him Manasseh, which means, God hathmade me forget--forget my sickness and my sorrow; and all over the landthe ringing of bells was heard and shouts of rejoicing, and the prophetIsaiah sang of the child's birth in those triumphant words which wehave often heard since in another connection, "_Unto us a son is born, unto us a child is given_"; and they thought that all would go well nowthat there was an heir to the throne, and they prayed that he might besturdy and strong, and get over all the ailments of childhood. Theyhoped more from the child than they did from God. Their prayers weregranted. God gave them their desire, and the result was such as tomake us doubtful whether we are always wise in pressing such prayers. We are never sure that it will be good for us, or good for our darlingchild, that its life should be spared and prolonged in some time ofcrisis. Often the early death which we dread may be far less cruelthan the evil which waits beyond. Better to leave these things inGod's hands, and say that will be best for all which seems right toThee. A whole nation prayed for the birth and preservation of thisson. That same nation came to curse the day on which he was born. 

Strange that a father like Hezekiah had a child like this. Hezekiahwas, I think, the best of the Jewish kings, wise and brave, gentle andstrong, full of reverence and faith, pre-eminently a man who walkedwith God and strengthened himself by prayer, and fought as earnest andtrue a battle for religion and righteousness as we have recorded in theOld Testament. How came it that the son was in all respects hisopposite? Did an evil mother shape him, or what? We cannot tell. These are among the saddest mysteries of human life. The law that achild's training and environment determine the character of the man, often fails most deplorably. The wisest man may have a most foolishson; the godliest home may send forth a reprobate; the child of manyprayers may live a life of shame. When a young man goes wrong, it isoften both unjust and cruel to lay it on the home training, and to saythat there has been neglect or want of discipline, or want of rightexample there. It is adding another burden to hearts already weightedwith intolerable grief. 

For the most part, children will follow their parents in what is good, and those nursed in prayer will grow up praying men. But there arehideous exceptions, and sometimes the most Christlike people have thiscross to bear; and it is the most heart-crushing of all to see childrenturning aside from all that they have held dear, and by the wholecourse of their lives mocking the religious ideals and hopes which werecherished for them. God save all you fathers and mothers from thiscalamity, and God save all our young people from crushing tender hopesin this cruel way. 

Manasseh's life was spent in undoing what his father had done. Itseemed to be his great ambition to overturn and destroy the sacrededifice which his father's hands, with untiring prayer and devotion, had raised. Hezekiah had taught his people to trust in God, and inreliance on His help to sustain a noble independence separate fromheathen alliances. Manasseh hastened to join hands with Babylon, andmake his nation the vassal of a great heathen empire. Hezekiah hadswept the land clean of idols. Manasseh filled every grove andhillside with these vain images again. Hezekiah had restored theTemple worship and the Mosaic ritual, and the moral law, and labouredto establish a reign of sobriety, purity, justice, and order. Manassehoutraged all the moralities, and delighted in introducing everywherethe licentious abominations of the neighbouring peoples. Hezekiah hadcultivated and encouraged prophecy, and gathered about him great andnoble souls like Isaiah and Habakkuk. Manasseh drove them from hispresence, and finally slew them. 

There were new lights in those days, as there are now. Men who sneeredat all the old thoughts and ways, who swept Moses aside with disdain, and thought that David's psalms were poor and feeble things, and thatthe old-fashioned religion was narrow and provincial, and that thestories of victories won by faith and miracles wrought by prayer wereworn-out fictions. They said that if the nation would prosper, it mustturn its back on all this stuff, and follow new methods, and profess anew religion. Let them make the great empire, Babylon, their model, with its advanced civilisation, and science, and literature, and vaststores of wealth, with its worship, too, of the sun, and stars, andfire, its religion full of jollity and license, which contrasted sohappily with the sober and severe worship of Jehovah, and did nottrouble men with unwelcome moral precepts. See how great that empirehad become, and how stationary and unprogressive was their own littlekingdom, because it clung to the old ways. That was what the new partysaid. Away with the old-fashioned thoughts and the old-fashionedtrusts and beliefs and worship. We are wiser than our simple-mindedfathers. We know a few things more than these narrow-minded and crazyprophets. We will have all things new. 

And Manasseh, being a young man and as foolish as he was young, drankin greedily their counsels and made himself their leader. For it isever the temptation of young life to think lightly of their father'swisdom, and to despise what they call the narrow religious beliefs, andthe careful moral scruples of the old, and to fancy that they know allthings so much better than those who have gone before. They want totry experiments of their own with life, and shake off the shackles ofold moral laws and religious creeds, and be free to do and think asthey please, and put the Bible away on the shelf, and shove prayeraside as a sort of worn-out heirloom, and have a merrier and bettertime than the old folks knew. That was the course which Manasseh took, just as headstrong and irreverent youths take it now. 

Then followed that time which the Jewish people never speak of withoutshame--a hideous reign of idolatry, and immorality, and injustice; anawful period of persecution for the few righteous and God-fearingpeople who were left when the prophets had been sought out and slain. Isaiah sawn asunder, Habakkuk stoned to death, the faithful driven intodens and caves of earth. It is of this time that we read in theEpistle to the Hebrews, in that graphic account of the martyredfaithful: "_They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins andgoatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented: of whom the world wasnot worthy_" (xi. 37, 38). A few years of this sufficed to pull downthe whole fabric of religion which Hezekiah had so painfully andpatiently raised. For it is so easy to destroy; so easy for folly andirreverence to pull down what wisdom and goodness have taken years inbuilding; so easy for a vicious and irreligious son to bring shame andruin upon the house which a godly father and mother have spent alifetime in rearing with honour; so easy, by a few rash acts, todestroy the character and reputation which the prayers and training ofyears have sought to establish. It is the easiest thing in the worldto undo and overturn; there is no cleverness and courage required fordestroying, the cleverness and courage are called for in building it up. 

Manasseh succeeded to his heart's content. People followed himgreedily, except the steadfast few. And presently the prophets wereall gone, and the worship of the true God was nowhere practised exceptin secret, and the sacred names were no more mentioned, and the landgave itself up to all the foul rites and the shameful indulgences ofthe heathen world, And then God's retribution came swiftly. Where therotting carcase was, there the eagles gathered together. These sameBabylonians whose ways the renegade Jews had so much admired andimitated, swept down upon them with the talons of a vulture, withcruelty that spared neither tender woman nor innocent child, andJerusalem was burned with fire, and Manasseh carried off in chains andflung into a foreign prison to muse in solitude over the end of hisprojects, and to find out there that the old ways had been the best. 

There we are told that he repented, that he was stricken with shamebecause of all the evil that he had done, and turned with prayer andhumility to the God whom he had defied. And we are told that God wasmerciful and heard his entreaties, and accepted his repentance, andbrought him back after sorrowful years of imprisonment to his land andthrone. This is the part of the story which most people emphasise. That, they say, is the main lesson of the story--Manasseh's repentance, and how God accepted the rebellious sinner at the last and forgave himall his iniquities--and they draw from that the conclusion that it isnever too late to turn to God, and that all the dark doings of a man'slife are swept clean away, if at any time the heart repents andbelieves. 

But this is not the part of the story which the sacred writers dwellupon. In the Book of Kings, where there is another version ofManasseh's doings, no mention is made whatever of the repentance, andhere it is only briefly recorded, and in a somewhat sorrowful tone. 

He came back humbled and forgiven, indeed, but not in a happy state ofmind. He came back to a ruined kingdom; to a sinful and demoralisedand destitute people; to see everywhere the sorrow, and the evil andthe misery and shame which his doings had caused; to be remindedcontinually that his life had been a great wicked and foolish blunder, and that there was no undoing the mischief which he had done. For thesake of his repentance he was spared a little longer, but there couldbe little joy in the remaining years of a life like that. 

I think that that is the experience of most men who turn away in theiryouth from the example and precepts of godly fathers, who reject thetruths which make life sober and strong, who betake themselves tothoughts of infidelity and ways of sin, and fancy that they can livelife happily without God and prayer. There comes a time when they aremade to feel that their life has been a mistake, that it would havebeen far better for them to have stuck to the old ways, that thosebelieving fathers whom they laughed at were right after all; perhapsthey repent and go back to God at last, and He accepts them; butwhether repentant or not, they always carry with them an awful burden. Shame is upon them for the evil they have done, shame for the life thathas been spent to so little purpose, regret and humbling that theycannot undo the blind and guilty past. Repentance at the best is apoor business when it comes in the evening hours of life. Better thenthan never; but better far to have gone with God from the beginning. That, I think, is the lesson which the wise man will find in the storyof the evil king. 

AMAZIAH

BY REV. J. G. GREENHOUGH, M. A. 

"And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for thehundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the manof God answered, The Lord is able to give thee much more than this. "--2CHRON. Xxv. 9. 

Amaziah, King of Judah, belonged to that numerous class of men who wishto stand well with both worlds. He was what we call in religiousmatters half-and-half. He wanted to secure the favour and protectionof God without losing much or anything of the ungodly helps andadvantages. One hardly knows whether to describe him as a bad sort ofgood man, or a better sort of bad man. He was like those gentlemen inthe _Pilgrim's Progress_ whom Bunyan names Mr Facing-both-ways and MrPliable. It depended very much on the company he was in, whether heshowed a religious face or assumed the other character. 

We have an illustration of this doubleness in the incident recordedhere. He was preparing to go to war against the neighbouring nation ofthe Edomites, or probably he had learned that they were about to makewar on him. For these neighbours, like some others you know, werealways ready to pick a quarrel. Edomite and Jew were never longwithout a scrimmage or a battle. Amaziah, with this business on hand, took count of his forces, found that he had three hundred thousandsoldiers; big enough battalions if they had only had a leader with abig heart. David had scattered those Edomites with an army notone-twentieth part the size of that. But Amaziah was not a David. Hemust needs have more men. He sent, therefore, to the king of Israel tohire another hundred thousand, and paid him down an enormous sum ofmoney for the loan. Now these men of Israel and their king had fallenaway from God, and become heathen people, worshippers of Baal, foul andimmoral as the Edomites themselves. But Amaziah thought that was of noconsequence so long as he could increase his fighting force. The moneywas paid, and the hundred thousand hirelings came. 

And then suddenly appeared another man whom he had not sent for, one ofthose prophets or preachers whom kings and other people find verytroublesome at times, who upset all the nice arrangements, and stop thebusiness which promises so well, with an unwelcome "_Thus saith theLord_"; prophets who do not know how to flatter, who cannot be boughtfor a hundred talents, or for any price, and who say what God has giventhem to say whether the great folk like it or not. This man cameuninvited, and told the king that he must pack off these mercenaries totheir own country again, for God was not with them, and God would notbe with him if he joined hands with idolaters and paid them to fighthis battles. 

It was an awkward position. Amaziah knew that what the prophet saidwas true, and he believed, moreover, that if God should turn againsthim, that business with the Edomites was likely to end badly for him. But, on the other hand, to send that goodly array of fighting men awayand lose all that gold into the bargain, was both galling to his prideand a ridiculous waste of treasure. He knew well what was the rightthing to do, but to do it at such a sacrifice, that was the difficulty. He was in a strait betwixt two, wriggling and hesitating, and at lasthe cries in his bewilderment, "_What shall we do for the hundredtalents which I have given to the army of Israel_?" And the man of Godanswers, "_Never mind the money, let that go; far better forfeit thatthan lose God's help. The Lord is able to do for thee much more thanthe hundred talents are worth_. "

And now, out of this old story, we learn some lessons for this andevery day. 

I. 

Our difficulties in the way of serving and obeying God are oftenself-made. 

They are always more or less self-made. This man pleads his own wrongact as a reason why he should not do right now. He himself has raisedthe obstacle which now stands in the way of obedience. He ought not tohave sought the help of an idolatrous king. He ought not to havebargained for these hirelings, he ought not to have paid the money. God had not put the difficulty in his way; his own foolish and wickedaction had created it. And people are constantly talking as this mantalked, declaring that there are hindrances and immense difficultieswhich prevent them from doing what is right, prevent them from doingwhat they know to be the will of God. They talk as if God was somehowresponsible for those hindrances, when, in fact, their own wrong-doinghas caused them. 

For instance, some of you know perfectly well that you ought to beChristians, avowed Christians, that you ought to take the Lord's sidein the great battle of life; you know that you ought to be Hisservants, followers, and soldiers; you know that that is your duty, youcannot help knowing it and admitting it, unless you reject the Biblealtogether, and deny the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ. You have knownfrom childhood that Christ has claims upon you, and that to live theChristian life is your solemn obligation. It is more than probablethat you told your mother, your teachers, and yourselves long ago, andperhaps many a time over, that you fully intended to give your livesand hearts to Christ's service. But you have not done it yet, and thereason is that there are certain self-made difficulties which hold youback. God has not put them in the way--you have built them upyourselves. I hear young men and women say, in the very tone of thisperplexed king. But what shall we do for the hundred talents? If wetake up religion, how shall we bear the loss which it involves? Howare we to get on without those pleasures, self-indulgences, anddearly-loved habits which Christ's service would cut us off from? Howare we to abandon those very pleasant, but not very inspiring and pure, companionships, with and among which we spend most of our leisure time?How are we to resign all our free and easy and thoughtless ways, ourloose talk, our vain and sinful imaginations?

These are your difficulties, are they? But who made them for you?Heaven did not send them. I am not sure, even, that the devil was theauthor of them. You made every one of them yourselves. It was yourown weak yielding that formed those habits so dear to you. It wasbecause you preferred your own way to God's that you took to pleasuresand self-indulgences which were wrong in His sight. It was your ownchoice that sought out and formed friendships and companionships of theungodly sort. If you have any joys, delights, and associations whichChrist would compel you to resign, they are only such as you oughtnever to have entered upon. They are self-made difficulties whichought never to have been made; and now, with curious inconsistency, youare urging them as reasons why you cannot serve God. You are using thesinful things which you have done in the past as an excuse for notdoing the right and noble thing now. 

There are hundreds of people who, if they could begin again, would jointhe ranks of the religious--at least they think they would, and perhapssay it. If we could just start with a clean sheet, we would beChristians, we would walk in the noble and faithful way. But then, yousee, we cannot undo the years that have been lived in the other way. We have committed ourselves to the irreligious side. We have made allwho know us understand that we do not care about religious things. Wehave talked about them carelessly, perhaps contemptuously, as if we putno value upon them at all. We have made a reputation of that sort, andnow it stands in the way. We cannot go back of all our oldprofessions; the inconsistency would be manifest. No one expects it ofus. No one would believe if we did it. There you have the self-madedifficulties again. Because you did wrong all those years, you mustneeds go on doing wrong. Because you talked and acted in anunbelieving way, you must not now change into the higher and prayerfulway. Because you have robbed God and your own souls so long, there isnothing for you but to continue repeating the offence. Yet these, whenyou name them, are so absurd, that one could almost laugh at them. Theconviction that you have hitherto been on the wrong side is the onething that ought to force you now to the right side. Why should youperpetuate blunders, follies, and misdoings? Why should the evil pastchain you? Let the dead bury its dead--forget the things which arebehind. You have paid the hundred talents to the wrong master. Whyshould you go on paying because you have done it once? Let God's mercycover and forgive that. And now pay your vows and give your lives toHim henceforth. 

II. 

We are held back from the right thing by the fear of the loss which itwill involve. 

We say with poor, frightened Amaziah, But what about the hundredtalents? They will be clean gone if I obey the voice of God. Thehundred talents take many forms, but the principle is always the same. We shall lose a little in the way of business, if we make up our mindsto be scrupulously honest, and to speak the simple truth. We shallforfeit a little of our present popularity, if we take the course whichconscience dictates. We shall have to forego and neglect certainthings, and suffer loss, if we undertake Christian work. We shall haveto give up many an easy hour, many a light and frivolous hour, many anopen and secret sin, sweeter to us than honey, if we confess the LordChrist, and take up the burden of discipleship. The hundred talentsblock the way, and rather than let them go, we let God go, andsacrifice all the sanctities, and all the precious and immortal things. 

And this answer comes to all of us--the answer which the prophet gaveto the hesitating king as he stood balancing the hundred talentsagainst the duty of the hour: "_The Lord is able to give thee much morethan this_. " Better to win thy great battle and lose the talents, thankeep the money and lose thyself and everything in the impendingstruggle. God is not so poor that He cannot pay His servants as amplewages as they ever get from other masters. It is not the same kind ofpay, but it is always, in the long-run, larger and better. No man everdoes the right thing at God's command, without receiving eventuallysufficient wages for it--joy even in this life. Whatever immediatelosses he may incur, there will be more than compensating gains. Theman who lives an upright, conscientious, pure and kindly life, wrongingno one, showing justice and mercy to all, is always the happier man;richer in all his thoughts and emotions, richer in friendships andaffections, richer in peace of mind, in abiding satisfactions, richerin hopes. He has within him a well-spring of joy which never ceases toflow. Righteousness is not a losing business: it has the best part inthis life, and in that which is to come. 

Whatever you resign at Christ's call: whatever His service costs you inthe way of sacrifice: however much you must give up in the shape ofpleasure, ease, and agreeable habits--there will be more given to youin return. When Christ asked the disciples to leave all things andfollow Him, He said nothing about the rewards--not just then. He toldthem to take up their cross and come after Him; that was all. He spokeoften to them about the pains they would have to endure, the scorn theywould meet with, the tribulation they would have to pass through. Whenhe called the last of the apostles, Paul, He even said, and it was theonly promise He gave, "_I will show him how great things he must sufferfor My name's sake_" (Acts ix. 16). No talk of rewards and gains atfirst. He knew the men. He knew their eagerness to do what was rightand to obey the voice of God. Men who have the right spirit, men withsome fire of enthusiasm, do not need crowns held before them to drawthem into the true and noble way. They are almost glad to think thatcrosses and self-sacrifices await them in that way. Christ spoke nowords at the beginning about gains and rewards. Come, because I wantyou, and God asks you, and it is your duty: but afterwards, when theyhad obeyed His call, He talked to them often about the gains. They hadbegun to understand them then. There is no man who hath left anythingfor My sake, who shall not receive a hundredfold in this present time, and in the world to come, life everlasting. 

And we all learn in a measure what that means, when we have faithfullyserved Christ for a little time. You talk about the sacrifices andlosses of the Christian life. Yes, but no man is fit to be called aChristian who has not found in Christ ten or twenty times as much joyas he has lost. If there were no hereafter, no future crowns at all, it would be a terrible disappointment, but even, apart from that, thepresent life of every one who believes in Christ and does Christ'swork, and loves as Christ loved, is richer, fuller, wider, and happierin almost every way than the life which knows Him not. What about thehundred talents? you say, and I answer with the prophet, "_The Lord isable to give thee much more than this_. "

JABEZ

BY REV. J. G. GREENHOUGH, M. A. 

"And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren. "--1 CHRON. Iv, 9. 

This is a curious fragment of biography, half-hidden in a dreary massof wholly uninteresting names. We cannot conjecture how it got there. It seems to have no connection either with what comes before or whatfollows. It is like a sweet little poem in the midst of a dry, genealogical chart; or like a real, living face with the flush of warmcolour in it, speaking amid endless rows of mummies or waxwork effigies. 

It is indeed the short, incomplete story of a life with neitherbeginning nor end. We are not told who his father was, or who hismother was, or what tribe or family he belonged to. Not a word aboutorigin, descent, pedigree. And there seems to be a purpose in this. For the sacred writer at this point is doing nothing else but tracingpedigrees. These four chapters are to us the most useless in theBible: names, nothing but long-forgotten names. Names of everybody'sfather, grandfather, great-grandfather, back to a remote antiquity. Iquestion whether there are many Bible readers who have ever labouredthrough the list. Yet these family trees, as we may call them, werevery precious to the Jews. They thought as much of long descent as mylord Noodle does now. It swelled them immeasurably in self-importanceif they could trace their lineage back in unbroken line to one of thetwelve patriarchs, or to one of those who came out of Egypt. And thehistorian ministers to this prejudice or vanity by diligently recordingthe whole dry catalogue, and then, as if weary of the business, or, perhaps, with just a touch of scorn, he introduces this one name assomething worth talking about. 

Here was a god-made nobleman, whose heraldry need not be written onearth, because it is more surely written in heaven. All the rest weretheir fathers' sons, and that was about all. This man did not need apedigree: he won a name and reputation for himself without the help ofa distinguished ancestry. By prayerfulness, and energy, and courage, he fought his way from obscurity to honour. And when that happens, when a man has fought the fight with adverse circumstances and overcomethem, when he has made his mark in the world by sheer force of work andcharacter, no one cares to grope through musty fusty parchments insearch of his progenitors. What does it matter! God has given him acertificate of noble birth; that was surely what the historian meant:"_Jabez was more honourable than his brethren_. "

Now there are two or three touches in this little story worth noticing. God sends us some of our best joys in the guise of sorrows. 

I. 

He came into the world without a welcome. 

I venture to say, and I thank God for it, that there is hardly one ofmy readers of whom that can be said. No matter into what home you wereborn, there was a welcome awaiting you on the part of one at least. Itmay be that no one else was particularly glad, that every one elselooked upon you as one too many; but your mother at least met you witha sweet kiss which plainly said, thank God for this gift. Here, however, there was not even that; this child was received withmisgivings and fears, and awoke no joy in the mother's breast. Shecalled his name Jabez, which means sorrowful, because she had borne himin sorrow. 

Of course, we do not know what lies behind that, but it was somethingof a heart-burning or heart-breaking kind; either the father was dead, or the home was in a state of terrible poverty and distress, or thechild was a child of shame; you can only guess, and all your querieswill probably be wide of the mark. But the mother looked mournfullyupon him, and wished he had not come, and could not believe that a lifewhich commenced so untowardly would ever be anything better than aburden to her, and a misfortune and misery to himself. She expressedher fears and forebodings in the name which she gave him--Jabez, thechild of sorrow. 

And while she was gloomily predicting his future with the black coloursof her despondency, God was writing the child's story in golden lineswhich would have set her heart leaping for joy could she have readthem. This despised one was to win for himself a noble name, and buildup the house in honour, and become his mother's pride, and make heryoung again in hope and gladness. 

What fools we are when we set ourselves to forecast the future of ourchildren! They rarely develop on the lines we draw for them; the mostpromising of them sometimes flatter us in the bud and blossom, and mockus in the fruit. Where we hope most there comes most heartache, ourfavourites are made our burdens, our pride is humbled by a harvest ofsorrow. And where we have bestowed most tenderness we get mostingratitude--the child of many gifts, the joy of the household, theflower of the flock, turns out the nightmare of our lives, the oneunhappy failure which costs us endless tears. 

And perhaps it is partly our own fault, because we have pampered, flattered, and indulged them too much. Ah! and just as often thereverse is true--the child whom in our hearts we called Jabez; theslow, dull child so hard to teach, so unresponsive, or perhaps sowilful and obstinate that we never thought or spoke of him save withsecret fears and misgivings--the child who was always to be a burdenand a cross to us, develops by-and-by in beautiful and unexpected ways, grows into moral strength and religious grace, becomes honourable inthe sight of all men, and saves our old age from going down with sorrowto the grave. The golden harvest of our lives grows not where we lookfor it, but often in the neglected places where God bids it grow. Where our pride built its palace of content we find emptiness andshame, and that which we almost cursed God for sending us becomes ourcrown of rejoicing. She called his name Jabez, my sorrow, and lo! hebecame her very consolation, most honourable of all. 

II. 

Faith wins the battle of life against many odds. 

Yes! this is indeed a romance of faith--faith overcoming the world. This child or youth starts out with all things against him. He islikely to grow up into an Ishmaelite if he grows up at all. He startswith an ill-starred name--a name that spells misfortune. He startswithout his mother's blessing and without a glimmer of hope to cheerhim; no father to give him a helping hand by the way--withoutendowment, fortune, family, or friends. What chance can there be inthe race for one so heavily handicapped? Failure is written on hisbrow by the hand that nursed him. Failure is written on all hiscircumstances. It will be a desperate struggle all through. Therewill be none of the prizes of life for him. If he gets a bare livingwage, it is as much as he may expect. 

That is what he has before him, apparently! Well, for one thing, heputs on courage, and starts on his way singing _Nil desperandum_. Andthen, knowing well that he has few or no human friends, he falls backon the Father of the fatherless and the Helper of those who have noother help. He relies on faith instead of fortune. He will makeprayer his main weapon, and the light of the Lord his guide, and dutyhis pole star. He will pursue a straight course, avoiding evil, tryingto feel the hand of God upon him, and the watchful eyes of God overhim. And he will make a brave fight of it day by day, doing his best, and leave a higher power to determine what shall follow. That is whatwe read between the lines of this story. Nay, that is all expressed. "_He called on the God of Israel_. " He committed his life to theordering of the Almighty. And the Almighty promoted him. He becamemore honourable than his brethren. 

They are poor creatures who complain that the battle is lost before itis even begun, who groan that the chances of life are all against thembefore they have made one brave venture and endeavour; and they arevain and self-deceiving men who fancy that the victory will be easybecause somebody has given them a good start, and they have the backingof family, social position, wealth, and mental gifts. If some of youthink because your fathers stand high, because your education has beenwell looked after, because there are unlimited money and plenty offriends to push you on--if you think that because of these things youcan dispense with the fear of God, and the daily obligations of duty, and make pleasure and self-indulgence your main ends, and do withouthonest, persevering, self-denying toil, you will be miserablydisappointed. God has some hard things to say to you before you getfar on in years. It does not matter how promising one's beginnings, ifthere is no steady, conscientious brave self-discipline, and endeavour. 

Life is always a failure and a disgraceful thing with a downwardcourse, if there is no serious purpose in it and no great thoughts. And if you are ever tempted to say, as many do, that there is no hopefor a life which commences heavily weighted; that all the chances go tothose who are clever, and richly endowed; that if a youth begins withno money to back him and no friends to push him into promotion, he mustremain chained down to that low condition to the end--then I point youto this little bit of biography. I could take you round a certain townand point you to a hundred men who have repeated that bit of biographyin their own lives, and I tell you that even now the chances areplentiful: waiting at the feet of those who tread life's way, a braveheart within and God overhead, and that no one need despair, howeverunpromising his start, who makes God his guide, and prayer hisinspiration, and duty his chosen companion, and shuns evil, and pursuesthat which is good. Faith and loyalty to conscience and a courageoustemper are still the weapons which conquer in the fight. Jabez, thechild of sorrow and misfortune, became more honourable than all hisbrethren. 

III. 

And now I commend this prayer to all of you--the prayer which thisyouth offered when he went out carrying his unhonoured name and emptyhand into the rough places of the world. It is a beautiful prayer. Itis on the whole a wise prayer. There are better and more Christianprayers in the gospels and epistles; but in the Old Testament there arefew prayers more worthy of imitation than this. 

He asked that "_God might bless him indeed_, " that is, above everyhuman blessing and favour, that he might, by his life and conduct, deserve it He asked what we may all safely and humbly ask of God, provided that we give a large and not a low meaning. He asked that"_God would enlarge his coast_. " If that meant broad estates, you hadbetter drop it out of your prayer. But if it means to have your lifeenlarged, your sympathies and interests widened out, your influence andyour power of service increased, it is such a prayer as Christ mighthave taught you. Never forget to offer it. He asked that "_the handof God might be with him_"; that every day he might feel the leadingsand take no step which was not a step approved by God. And he askedthat the watchful and restraining power of the Almighty would "_keephim from evil_. "

You will do well to offer that prayer at the beginning. You will dowell to offer it every day to the end. It is a prayer that will keep;you will find it fresh each morning. And every day will be a betterday which is thus commenced, and every life will grow honourable in thesight of men, and beautiful in the sight of God, which develops in thespirit of it. 

SIMEON

BY REV. H. ELVET LEWIS

The Temple shows to better advantage at the beginning of the Gospelhistory than at its close. As we follow our Lord through the events ofthe last week, we meet no winsome faces within its precincts. Annas isthere, and Caiaphas; Pharisees too, blinded with envy; but there is noZacharias seen there, no Simeon, no doctors of the law even, such asgathered around the Boy of twelve. If any successors of these stillfrequented the sanctuary, they are lost in the deep shadow cast by anation's crime. Perhaps we may consider those whom we meet on thethreshold of our Lord's life as the last of an old regime of propheticsouls, the last watchers passing out of sight as the twilight of acoming doom thickened and settled on the Holy City. 

But there he stands, the gracious, winsome old man, whom death is notpermitted to touch till the Star of Bethlehem has risen. "_It wasrevealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death beforehe had seen the Lord's Christ_!" He is like a dweller of the spiritualworld, who only returns to visit earthly ways. For him the veil, though not as yet rent, has worn thin, and he is more familiar with thevoices from beyond it than with the voices of earth. The priest, theLevite, the Rabbi, pass him like shadows: the Holy Ghost is his livingcompanion and teacher. Browning's Rabbi ben Ezra might well haveborrowed his song from the lips of this aged saint:

 "Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, The last of life, for which the first was made: Our times are in His hand Who saith, 'A whole I planned, Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!'"

Consider his CHARACTER: "_the same man was just and devout_. " Inwardand outward are in equipoise; he does not make frequent prayers atonefor equally frequent lapses in duty. He looks upon men in the lightwhich has risen upon him through looking upon God. He brought withhim, from the Throne of Grace, the tranquil beams which helped him toperceive what he owed to his fellow-men. He was so subdued to charity, that his one expectation was the consolation of Israel. He was noprophet of doom; perhaps he was even blind to the moral deterioration, the blight of ideals, growing more wasteful, every day, of the nation'sbest life. To him, Israel was still more in need of consolation thanchastisement. Alas! for these gentle-souled patriots, whose hopes risefrom their own heart's goodness, and not from their nation's worth! Soobscure, so devout: while the great ones sin, they pray; while thepopular priests lead in worldliness, they retire into God'shiding-places to intercede. They have private paths into God'sParadise: they do not always see the cherubim with flaming sword. Godoften calls them home before the stormy dawn of the evil day. So theylive and die, waiting for the consolation. 

Consider, again, his HOLY FELLOWSHIP: "_the Holy Ghost was upon him_. "His heart became the ark of the Heavenly Dove, wandering over the greywaters; and to him was the olive leaf brought. He looked past the faceof the Rabbi and the priest, not contemptuously, but wistfully, wondering why he must: he looked past them, and beheld in the dawningshadow a diviner Face. He heard secrets which would be foolishness toothers, even to frequenters of the Temple and to robed priests. Hethought of death peacefully; but that other Face always came, faintlybut immutably, between him and the Last Shadow. The Lord's Christfirst, death after. What gracious ways God has of treating some ofthese simply-trusting children of His! How graciously He orders thecourse of spiritual wants for them! "_And the evening and themorning_" are--each day. 

"_And he came by the Spirit into the Temple_. " He required noecclesiastical calendar, no book of the hours. This obscure denizen ofthe sanctuary had a dial in his own soul, and the silent shadow on thefigures came from no visible sun. Be sure that there are men and womenstill, just, and fearing God, who anticipate the days of heaven, andalmost win their dawning. How often must Simeon have come, waiting:and yet how fresh was his hope each time! He fed on God'sdisappointments; the unfulfilled was his hidden manna. 

Consider his ONE GREAT DAY. An obscure worshipper suddenly becomes therichest, most honoured man in all the world: in his arms he holds God'sIncarnate Son. Yesterday was a day of earth, tomorrow also may well bea day of earth: but this, a day of heaven! Alas! but only to him. Toothers this, too, is a very day of earth. Did some officiating priestwatch the little group of peasant parents showing their first-born toan obscure worshipper? And did he look, without a stain of contemptupon his vision? And yet Jerusalem, Alexandria, Rome, had no such giftand prize as the arms of that humble dreamer held. Who would not havetaken his place, had they known! It is well to be reckoned God'sintimate, lest we miss the Child. 

 "The sages frowned, their beards they shook, For pride their heart beguiled; They said, each looking on his book, 'We want no child. '"

But Simeon had dwelt nearer God than they--nearest God of all that cameto the Temple that day. And so God trusted him with His Best. 

Then, once more, consider his PROPHETIC PRAYER. He was now ready todepart. He had arrived at the house where the chamber of peace lookstowards the sunrising: why should he return to the warfare again? Hewas unfitted for earth, by the face of that Child: he would go wheresuch a vision would not be marred by earthly airs! "_For mine eyeshave seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face ofall people: a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thypeople Israel_. " The sentinel has been long on duty: now the watch isdone, "_now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace_. " And as hepasses from his well-kept post, his heart's charity overflows, andGentile and Jew are covered with his blessing: the Gentile even comingfirst, as though, perhaps, he perceived that "the salvation of the Jewscould only be realised after the enlightenment of the heathen, and bythis means"--Godet suggests. To the darkened souls of the paganworld--light: to the humiliated Jewish people--glory. Israel had seenand lost many a glory: it had seen the glory of conquest, of wealth, ofwisdom, of ritual, of righteousness: but in the little Child was thesum and essential radiancy of all glory that had been, the earnest ofall glory that was to be. Eternally, Christ is "_the hope of glory_. "

Consider also his PERFECT CANDOUR. He looked in the Child's face, helooked in the mother's face, with all the tenderness and love that madeit half divine; and then this disciple of the Spirit, strangely movedfrom his wonted calm, described truth purely as he saw it. He scannedthe future, heard the sound of many a fall, caught the hiss and cry ofuneasy consciences against the "sign"; he saw the gleam of the sword, and the wounded mother's heart; he saw the revelations of good and ofevil which the child would surely effect. One might not unnaturallyconclude that these presentiments were of the day--of that very hour. He had hitherto walked and dwelt in the light of consolation; he haddreamed his tranquil dream "_beside still waters_. " But in this momentof contact with God, he was made strong to see the darkness which isnever absent from the azure of truth--"a deep, but dazzling darkness. "So to young Samuel came the sorrowful vision of the fall of the houseof Eli; so to the old prophet-saint now glittered the gleaming arrowsof truth. But neither scorn nor wrathful eloquence moves him, in viewof what he saw: he simply accepts this burden of the Lord, and bearsit, without murmuring or exulting. He sees the "_fall and rising againof many in Israel_"; it is God's will: let His will be done! "_A swordshall pierce through thy own soul also_": bow, mother-heart, to thepurposes of God's heart of love! "_In peace_" this servant of the Lordstill stands; "_in peace_" he departs. Blessed are they whom darklingtruths may grieve, but not distract; whom stormy revelations beat upon, but cannot shake. They live in the house founded upon a rock. 

What presentiment of his nation's doom came to him in that moment ofclearer insight, of more candid intercourse with truth? "_The thoughtsof many hearts_"--"the uneasy working of the understanding in theservice of a bad heart":--how much was revealed, how much wasmercifully concealed? We cannot tell; but strength was given him tobear the gleam of the vision, and still wait. "_O rest in the Lord;wait patiently for Him_. " He saw the Child go out of the Temple; andif, for a moment, a breath as of a chill wind smote his soul, heretired into the deeper consolations of God, where the sun smites notby day, nor the moon by night. If it was his last visit to the Temple, he had seen what would have made it worth his while to have gone thereevery day for seventy years or more. And let it not be forgotten thatGod still gives His Child to those who humbly, faithfully wait for theconsolation of Israel. 

Such a picture as that of Simeon gives piety its divinest charm. It isnot simply that men have wished to be in his place; but--what is farbetter and far more practical--they have wished to be in his spirit. He draws them towards him, and after him. He stands in a gloriouscompany of winsome souls, who not only lead to heaven, but attract menon the way. 

 "They are, indeed, our Pillar-fires Seen as we go; They are that City's shining spires, We travel to: A sword-like gleam Kept man for sin First out; this beam Will guide him in. "

PONTIUS PILATE

BY REV. PRINCIPAL WALTER F. ADENEY, D. D. 

In spite of the fact that he condemned Jesus to death, the Gospelspresent us a more favourable portrait of Pontius Pilate than that whichwe derive from secular historians. Josephus relates incidents thatreveal him as the most insolent and provoking of governors. Forinstance, the Jewish historian ascribes to him a gratuitous insult, thestory of which shows its perpetrator to have been as weak as he wasoffensive. It was customary for Roman armies to carry an image of theemperor on their standards; but previous governors of Judaea hadrelaxed this rule when entering Jerusalem, in deference to the strongobjection of the Jews to admit "the likeness of anything. "Nevertheless Pilate ordered the usual images to be introduced at night. When they were discovered, the citizens protested vehemently. Pilatehad the crowd that he had admitted to his presence surrounded withsoldiers, and threatened them with instant death. But they threwthemselves on the ground, protesting that they would submit to thisfate rather than that the wisdom of their laws should be transgressed. The governor had not reckoned on this. He was only "bluffing, " and nowhe had to climb down, and the images were removed. On anotheroccasion, described by the same historian, Pilate had seized the sacredmoney at the Temple and employed it in building an aqueduct, a piece ofutilitarian profanity which enraged the Jews to such an extent that avast crowd gathered, clamouring against Pilate and insisting on thestoppage of the works. Then the governor sent soldiers among thepeople, disguised in the garb of civilians, who at a given signal drewtheir clubs and attacked them more savagely than Pilate had intended, killing and wounding a great number. Although Josephus does notmention the incident recorded by St Luke (xiii. 1), in which Pilatemingled the blood of some Galilean pilgrims with their sacrifices, thisis entirely in accordance with his brutality of conduct in the eventsthe historian records. Philo goes further, giving a story told byAgrippa, according to which Pilate hung gilt shields in the palace ofHerod at Jerusalem, but was compelled to take them down as the resultof an appeal to Tiberius Caesar, and adding that Agrippa describedPilate as "inflexible, merciless, and obstinate. " He says that Pilatedreaded lest the Jews should go on an embassy to the emperor, impeaching him for "his corruptions, his acts of insolence, his rapine, and his habit of insulting people; his cruelty, and his continualmurders of people untried and uncondemned, and his never-ending, gratuitous, and most grievous inhumanity. " Josephus is nottrustworthy, always writing "with a motive, " and Philo must beconsidered prejudiced, since he saw too much of the worst side of theRoman treatment of Jews; and the wholly unfavourable verdict of thesetwo writers should be qualified by what we read in the New Testamentconcerning the subject of them. The interesting point is that we haveto go to the Christian documents for the more calm and just estimate ofthe man who crucified Christ. This fact should deepen our sense of thefairness of the evangelists. They evince nothing of that bitterness ofresentment which the Jews, quite naturally, as the world judges, cherished towards their oppressors. They were the followers of One whohad taught them to love their enemies, and who, when in mortal agony, prayed to God to forgive the men who had inflicted it. But further, the early Christians discriminated between the Jewish authorities, whoplanned and purposed the death of Christ and really compassed it, andPilate, who was but a weak instrument in the hands of these men. Thefact that the evangelists so clearly mark this distinction is a signthat they are in close touch with the events, and that they faithfullyrecord what they know to have taken place. In a word, it is clear thatwe have a more just and accurate portrait of Pilate in our Gospels thanthe representations of him by Josephus and Philo, who are thus seen tobe less trustworthy historians than the New Testament writers. 

The word "Pilate" as a proper name has been variously explained. Somehave derived it from the Latin _pileatus_, meaning one who wore the_pileus_, the cap of a freed slave, and so have regarded the Romangovernor by whom Jesus was tried as a man who had been raised from theranks of slavery. The worst condemnation of slavery is, that itdegrades the characters of its victims, developing the servile vices ofcowardice, meanness, and cruelty--all of which vices are manifest inPilate's character. But such a promotion as this theory implies wouldbe most improbable. A more likely explanation connects the name with_pilum_, a javelin. The earlier name Pontius suggests the family ofthe Pontii, of Samnite origin, well-known in Roman history. It wascustomary to confine such an office as that which Pilate held toknights, men of the equestrian order. Nevertheless, it was not a verydignified office. It is described indefinitely in the Gospels as thatof a "governor. " But Pilate is designated more distinctly by Tacitusand Josephus as _procurator_ of Judaea. This official served under theLegate of Syria. His proper duty was simply to collect the taxes ofthe district over which he was appointed. Thus he would be likely tocome into contact with the chief local collectors, such as Zaccheus;and in this way he may have heard, and that not unfavourably, of Onewho was known as the "Friend of publicans and sinners. " But in theturbulent districts--such as Judaea and Egypt--the procurators wereentrusted with almost unlimited powers, subject to an appeal to Caesaron the part of Roman citizens. Soldiers were sometimes needed for theforcible collection of taxes, and the disturbed condition of theseparts demanded an official in residence who could act at once and onthe spot. The punishment of turbulence was with the rigour of martiallaw, which really means no law at all, but only the will of the man incharge of the army. A subordinate official lifted to a position ofalmost irresponsible power--such was Pilate. We can well understandhow a man with no moral backbone would succumb to its temptations. Pilate was a much smaller man than Gallic the proconsul at Corinth, andthat other proconsul at Cyprus, Sergius Paulus, whom St Paul won overto Christian faith. But his pettiness in the eyes of Roman societywould lead him to magnify his importance in the little world he wastrying to rule like a king, though often with consequences humiliatingto himself. 

Pilate's headquarters were at Caesarea, by the sea coast, the Romancapital of Palestine; but he came up to Jerusalem with a troop ofsoldiers at the Passover, to prevent any disturbance among the vasthosts of pilgrims then gathered together in the city, just as Turkishsoldiers now mount guard at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during theEaster celebrations, to prevent the Christians from quarrelling andfighting. That is how it was he happened to be present when Jesus wasarrested and brought up for trial. In this fact also we may see whythe Jewish authorities felt it necessary to hand their Prisoner over tothe Roman governor; although, a few years later, they were ablethemselves to execute the death sentence on Stephen in the Jewish mode, by stoning, and still later to do the same with James, the Lord'sbrother. 

All four Gospels refer to the trial of Jesus before Pontius Pilate; butthe fullest information is to be obtained from the third and fourth. St Luke throughout both his works seizes every suitable opportunity forsetting out the scene of his story on the large stage of the world'shistory, and he is especially interested in showing it in relation tothe imperial government. Thus, while Matthew only connects the time ofthe birth of Jesus with the reign of Herod, a Jewish note of time, Lukealso associates it with Caesar Augustus and the chronology of Rome; andlater, while Matthew does not say when John the Baptist began his work, but notes the imprisonment of John as the occasion of the commencementof our Lord's public ministry, Luke carefully records that it was "inthe fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, _Pontius Pilatebeing governor of Judaea_" (Luke iii. 1), that John the Baptist beganpreaching and baptizing. It is this same evangelist only who refers toPilate's savage slaughter of the Galileans at Jerusalem. The author ofthe Fourth Gospel does not mention Pilate before the time of our Lord'strial, but he gives us a much fuller account of that trial than any ofhis companion evangelists. Next to John, our fullest account is inLuke. On these two authorities therefore we must mainly rely. ButJohn's is not only the most ample and fully detailed narrative; it alsofurnishes us with by far the most vivid and convincing portrait of theRoman governor. This is one of the numerous cases of life-likecharacter-drawing with which the Fourth Gospel abounds. Nicodemus, thewoman of Samaria, Thomas, Judas, Mary Magdalene, and now Pilate, areall known to history from St John's portraits of them. Should not thissignificant fact lead us to attach great weight to his portrait ofJesus Christ, which soars above the Christ-pictures of the synoptics inthe most exalted Divine glory?

Jesus had been tried soon after His arrest before Caiaphas and theSanhedrin, the supreme council of the Jews, and there He had beencondemned to death, not on the charge for which He had beenarrested--threatening to destroy the Temple--for the evidence againstHim had broken down, but for blasphemy during the course of His trial, when adjured by the high priest to declare whether He was the Christ. But the presence of Pilate prevented the council from executing theirsentence (as doubtless they would have done if he had been away atCaesarea), in defiance of the law, which was entrusted to a weak andcapricious governor. Accordingly they brought their Prisoner to theprocurator's residence--probably Herod's palace, a magnificent buildingwith two marble wings, containing large rooms sumptuously furnished, and spacious porticos surrounded by gardens and enclosed in a loftywall with towers, situated in the western district of the city, andapproached by a bridge across the Tyropaean valley. The facts that alater governor, Gestius Florus, resided here, and that Pilate lived inHerod's palace at Caesarea when in that city, and that he hung theshields about which there was so much trouble in the Jerusalem palace, make this view more probable than the traditional idea that the trialof Jesus took place in the Castle of Antonio, the imperial barracks, close to the Temple. 

The Jews objected to enter this fine palace, because as a Gentileresidence it was defiled, and therefore defiling, and they wished to be"clean" for the feast they were to eat in the evening. Pilate humouredthem, and had his conferences with them outside the building. Seeingtheir object and observing their temper, he must have discovered atonce their miserable hypocrisy. These were the men who affected to bethe leaders of the one pure faith on earth, a faith which looked withscorn on the "idolatry" of the cultured Roman. He must have regardedthem with immense contempt. If his tone is cynical, it is but a matchfor the unmitigated cynicism of their conduct. 

Pilate inquires as to the crime with which the Prisoner is charged. Atfirst, the Jews do not give an explicit reply, only stating that theyhave already found Him guilty. Pilate catches at that. His weakness, so pitiably apparent throughout the whole proceedings, appears at thisearly stage. Desiring to shirk the responsibility of deciding thecase--he would use the first apparent loophole of escape. Since theJews have taken this case in hand, let them carry it through, dealingwith it according to their law. They are not to be caught by thatflattering suggestion. They know that they have not the power of lifeand death. Pilate would not let them kill Jesus. His proposal, whichon the surface looks like the granting of a privilege, amounts to this, that they may exercise ecclesiastical discipline, excommunicate theirPrisoner, or perhaps fling Him into jail, possibly scourge Him. Butthe worst of these punishments will not satisfy their determinedhatred, or rid them of the haunting fear inspiring it, that Jesus willundermine their influence with the people. Nothing less than His deathwill put an end to that danger; so they thought, although the eventproved that it was this very death of Christ that was to lead to thevictory of Christianity over Judaism. This, however, even His owndisciples could not foresee, much less could it enter into the minds ofHis enemies among the Jews. 

Thwarted in his first attempt to escape, and compelled to try thisdifficult case, Pilate enters the palace where Jesus is kept underarrest, and questions Him. He has been informed that Jesus claims tobe the king of the Jews. Is that so? Is the charge but a piece ofmalicious slander? If it is, there is an end of the matter. Pilate isnot going to lend himself to humour the whim of those hateful Jews, whom he affects to despise while in his heart he is mortally afraid ofthem. There is nothing of the bearing of the violent insurgent in thiscalm peasant who stands before him. Surely this is some stupidmistake, or there is more Jewish malice in it than Pilate can fathom. But the Roman magistrate soon discovers that he is dealing with noordinary man. Jesus takes his measure in a moment. Pilate is a feeblecreature, with no character, insincere, dishonest. He must be made tofeel his littleness. We can imagine how our Lord would fix on him apenetrating gaze before which the shallow nature of the man wouldbecome apparent, as He asked whether this cross-examination wasgenuine, or whether Pilate was prompted to it; whether, as we shouldsay, it was "a put-up affair"--"_Sayest thou this of thyself, or didothers say it concerning Me_?" Picture the situation--the great marblepalace, the representative of Imperial Rome clad in the purple robe ofoffice, and seated in his chair on the dais, the surrounding officialsand bodyguard; and then the peasant from Galilee, alone, unattended, undefended, come straight from insult and mockery in another court, andthat after a night of mental agony. Observe how completely therelative position of judge and Prisoner are reversed, at least, to theeyes of the onlooker. Jesus calmly questions Pilate, calmly tells himof the limit of his power, and calmly claims the kinship forhimself--there of all places--in the Roman governor's residence, speaking to this governor himself, knowing that it must seal His ownfate. The two powers are now face to face--the world-power of Rome, outwardly so imposing, but at this moment shrinking to insignificance, looking so vulgar, so mean, so sordid, so unreal, so essentially weak, in the person of the paltry governor; and the heavenly power, the powerof truth and goodness, the Kingdom of God represented by the provincialPrisoner whose inherent dignity of Presence is seen to be all the moresublime for the contrast. And Pilate? How does he view this? He ismanifestly disconcerted, but he tries to hide his awkwardness under amask of Roman scorn. "_Am I a Jew_?" he exclaims, in a tone ofmeasureless contempt. It is like the contempt of Agrippa when, inresponse to St Paul's enthusiastic appeal and close home-thrust, hecried, "_With but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me aChristian_!" Pilate reminds Jesus that He has been given up by His ownpeople. Jews might be expected to stand by a fellow-Jew under theRoman tyranny. How comes it to pass that the Jewish people havebrought a man of their own race to the foreign tribunal, prosecutingHim before this alien power, seeking His death from the hated Imperialgovernment? What can He have done to bring about so unusual asituation? Pilate is perplexed; and the answer of Jesus does notclarify the magistrate's ideas. It seems only more mystifying. Jesusdescribes His kingdom, so different from any institution bearing thename that Pilate has ever heard of. It is not of the order of thingsin this world. If it were, of course Christ's servants would fight, asdo the servants of the claimants of earthly thrones. But they do notresort to violence. The kingdom and its methods of government are bothunearthly. Pilate is interested, perhaps amused, with what now seem tohim the fancies of a fanatical dreamer. He pursues the inquiry, we maysuppose, with a smile on his lips, "_Art thou a king, then_?" he asked. There is no ambiguity in his Prisoner's reply. He is a king. Thisstrange kingdom, not resting on any basis of earthly power, dispensingwith fighting, with all that an army suggests, with force, is the veryopposite to Pilate's idea of a state. Rome was materialistic to thecore. Her rule rested on brute force. The Empire, the _Imperium_, wasthe dominion of the _Imperator_, that is to say, of thecommander-in-chief of the army. It was a military despotism. Nominally the government was still republican, and the older and morepeaceable provinces were administered by proconsuls, whose appointmentrested with the senate, or was supposed by a legal fiction to rest withthat body. But the newer and more troublesome provinces were governedas conquered territory directly by the emperor as the head of the army. Now Judaea came in this latter division. Pontius Pilate and hissuperior, the Legate of Syria, were both directly responsible toTiberius Caesar. Pilate was Caesar's officer under military direction. Military methods characterised the procurator's rule. To a man placedas Pilate, the notion of a ruler independent of fighting supporters, and that in territory held down by force of arms, was simply absurd. 

Our Lord's further explanation seems to Pilate still more out ofkeeping with the notion of royalty. Jesus says He was born to be aking in order that He might bear witness to the truth. Aking--truth--what have these two words in common, the one referring tothe most real region, the other to the most ideal? To Pilate, theconjunction is absolutely incongruous. "_What is truth_?" he asks, ashe turns away, too contemptuous to wait for an answer. This famousutterance has been quoted as a text for the anxious inquirer, andpreachers have gravely set themselves to answer it. Jesus did nothingof the kind. Evidently it was not a serious inquiry. Pilate flung offthe very idea of truth--a mere abstraction, nothing to a practicalRoman. Still, though he was not seeking any answer to his question, bythe very tone of it he suggested that he did not possess that gem whichthose who hold it prize above all things. "The Scepticism of Pilate"is the title of one of Robertson's greatest sermons. The preachertraces it to four sources: indecision; falseness to his ownconvictions; the taint of the worldly temper of his day; and thatpriestly bigotry which forbids inquiry, and makes doubt a crime. Pilate is the typical sceptic, who is worlds removed from the "honest"doubter. Serious doubt, which is pained and anxious in the search oftruth, is in essence belief, for it believes in the value of truth, ifonly truth can be discovered; but typical scepticism not only does notcredit what the believer takes for truth, but despises it as not worthseeking. That is the fatal doubt, a doubt that eats into the soul as amoral canker. 

Nevertheless, although what is of supreme value to Jesus is reckoned byPilate as of no importance whatever, the cross-examination hassatisfied the magistrate of the innocence of his Prisoner. His duty, then, is plain. He should acquit the innocent man. But he dare not doso immediately. That howling mob of Jews and those odious priests andSadducees of the council are determined on the death of their victim. Pilate has made himself well hated by the roughness of his government. Nothing would please the Jews and their leaders better than to havesome chance of impeaching him before his jealous master at Rome, on thecharge of leniency to treason. Pilate quails before the terriblepossibility. In face of it he simply dares not pronounce a verdict ofacquittal. Yet he means to do all he can to effect the escape of hisPrisoner. His inbred instinct for justice prompts him to this; for theRomans cherished reverence for law, and even so corrupt a ruler asPilate was not independent of the atmosphere of his race. Then itwould be a bitter humiliation to let his judgment be overruled by thosecontemptible Jews. He would be heartily glad to confound anddisappoint them. More than this, he had begun to feel some awakeninginterest in his remarkable Prisoner. He had come to the conclusionthat Jesus was a harmless dreamer; but he had felt some faint shadow ofthe spell of the wonderful Personality. If only it could be managedwith safety to himself, he would be glad to have Jesus set free. 

Accordingly we now see Pilate resorting to a series of devices in orderto escape from his vexatious dilemma. From this point his conductopens out to us a curious study in psychological phenomena. Theingenuity of Pilate in resorting to one expedient after another, isvery striking. Evidently he has keen wits, and he uses them with someagility. But it is all in vain. He is pushed from each of thepositions he takes up by the same stubborn, relentless pressure whichhe invariably finds to be irresistible. The explanation is, thatthough he has intellect, he lacks will-power. On the other side thereis not much need for intelligence, but there is the most obstinatewill. The Jews possess a clear notion of what they want, and a setdetermination to have their way. In such a contest there is no doubtwhich side will win. When will is bitter against intellect, it is thelatter that succumbs. The determined will forces itself through allopposition that rests only on intelligence, reasoning, contrivance. Intellect does not count for nothing; allied to a strong will, as inCalvin, Cromwell, Napoleon, it helps to effect gigantic results. Butin the sphere of action, it is will-power that tells in immediateresults. Even here, reason may conquer stupid obstinacy in thelong-run. But you must give it time; and you must have honesty ofcharacter. Neither condition was present in this case of Pilate. Hehad to decide promptly; and his moral nature was unsound. Such a manunder such circumstances will never find his most cunning devices amatch for the set determination of his opponents. So Pilate, feeblyprotesting, helplessly scheming, is pushed back step by step; andultimately he concedes everything demanded of him, and the final issueis more humiliating to himself and more cruel to the innocent Prisonerwhom he is trying to shield, than it would have been if he had yieldedat the beginning. The real victim of this tragedy in the palace is notJesus, it is the soul of Pilate. We seem to see a weak man beingthrust down a steep place, resisting and catching at the shrubs androcks that he passes, but torn from his grasp of them and finally flungover the precipice. 

Pilate's first device was to send Jesus to Herod Antipas, who happenedto be at Jerusalem at the time. It was a compliment to the frivolous"king of Galilee" to remit a Galilean prisoner to his judgment, andPilate would gladly rid himself of the awkward case by this ingeniousdevice. But it was useless, for the simple reason that Herod had nopower of life and death in Jerusalem, and Pilate soon had his Prisoneron his hands again. Next he clutched at the custom of releasing aprisoner during the feast. Here was a chance for letting off Jesuswithout declaring Him innocent. But this suggestion was hopeless. Ifthe Jews were set on effecting the death of Jesus, they would not giveup their right to choose their prisoners to be released, and take atthe dictation of Pilate the very man they wanted to have done to death. They clamoured for an insurgent, Barabbas, a man caught red-handed inthe very crime for which these hypocrites professed in theirnew-fledged loyalty to Caesar to be anxious to have Jesus executed. The cynicism of their choice is palpable. By daring to make it, theyshow in what contempt they hold Pilate. The governor loses groundconsiderably by this false move. Then he tries to throw the blame ofthe murder of Jesus, which he sees he cannot prevent, on the Jews. Anew motive urges him to escape from the responsibility of committing ajudicial murder. His wife had sent a private message warning him to"_have nothing to do with that righteous man_. " She had been muchdisturbed by a dream about him. Romans were slaves to omens andauguries, and the most materialistic of them felt some awe of dreams, although they had lost faith in real religion. Your confirmed scepticis often slavishly superstitious in the secret of his soul. It is away the spiritual has of avenging itself on the man who openly floutsit. Boldly flung out of the window, it creeps back into the cellar andvexes the soul with petty tricks played on the subterraneanconsciousness. The man who expels his good angel is haunted by impsand elves. He who will not believe in God and despises truth succumbsto the message of a dream. 

More anxious now than ever to escape responsibility, Pilate calls forwater and publicly washes his hands, telling the Jews that the innocentblood will be on their heads. They accept the awful responsibility. What do they care for the weak Roman's scruples? He is doing theirwill, and of course no hand-washing can cleanse his conscience from thestain of guilty compliance. 

Yet one thing more Pilate will do. He will scourge Jesus. Perhapsthat may satisfy these savage Jews. For scourging was a savagepunishment. The whip was loaded with lead and sharp fish-bones, and atevery stroke the flesh was cut. Men often died under this severetreatment. Pilate had it inflicted on Jesus, knowing Him to beinnocent; but hoping that, if He survived, no more might be required. It was an abominable compromise. If Jesus were innocent--and Pilateknew He was innocent--He should have been set free unscathed, withapologies for a mistaken arrest. If he were guilty, of course he oughtto receive the death-penalty for the crime of treason. Justice couldallow of no middle course. But Pilate is not thinking of Justice. Heonly wants to escape the onus of killing an innocent man. Then he hasJesus brought forth, bleeding, in agony, His lacerated flesh exposed tothe view of that heartless multitude. "_Behold the man_, " says Pilate. "Look at your victim; is not this enough?" If Pilate thought hisappeal _ad misericordiam_ would touch those hardened sinners of theSanhedrin, he was strangely mistaken. The sight of their victim in Hisagony only maddens them. They are like hounds who had tasted blood. Like hounds, they "give tongue, " and yell for His death. Pilate canresist no longer. He has played his last card, and it has been taken. Thoroughly humiliated and quite helpless, he gives sentence, and so inspite of the governor's desperate efforts to escape the stigma of hisawful crime, it goes down to all the ages that Jesus was "crucifiedunder Pontius Pilate. "

BARABBAS

BY REV. J. G. GREENHOUGH, M. A. 

"And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, andrelease unto us Barabbas. "--ST LUKE xxiii. 18. 

You have heard a crowd of people cry out all at once. It is alwaysimpressive, it is sometimes very terrible, occasionally it is sublime. It begins in a way that no one can explain. Somebody in the crowdutters a name, or ejaculates a brief sentence. What happens? Oftennothing at all. Men are not in the mood for it; it drops unnoticed, orprovokes a jeer or two and is then forgotten. But sometimes the wordfalls like a spark on a mass of dry tinder--ten thousand hearts havebeen prepared for it--swift as a flash of lightning a sympatheticcurrent passes through the whole throng--ten thousand lips take up thecry. They are all carried away by contagion, magnetism, or madness, and a shout goes up enough to rend the sky. When some great and noblesentiment has laid hold of them, the shout of a people is one of thegrandest things on earth; when it is some awful prejudice, unreasoninghatred, or cowardly terror that sways them, the shout is the mostinhuman and hellish thing on earth; and that was the character of theshout that was raised here. 

The world has never forgotten that cry, and never will. To the verylast the world will wonder how it should have come to be raised, andwill condemn and pity the crowd of people who gave themselves up to it, for they were making a hero of the vilest stuff, and clamouring for themurder of the world's one Divine man. There never was a more brutaland insane shout than that; never again can there be a choice so fataland so suicidal as the choice they made: "_Away with this man, andrelease unto us Barabbas_. "

If the thing had not happened, we should say it was impossible. Itseems well-nigh incredible that human eyes and human hearts could be soblind. A story of this kind is food for the bitterest cynic. He whohas the most utter contempt for the race to which he belongs might findhere almost a justification of his scorn. Oh what a satire upon humannature, that a whole city full of people, men, women, mothers anddaughters, had come to this pass that they could not discern which wasthe nobler of these two--nay, thought that Barabbas was more deservingof their honour. One the very flower and crown of humanity, theexpress image of God; and the other a gaol bird, a notorious criminal, whose hands had been dyed red, and whose heart had been hardened by theshedding of blood. Well might those pitiful lips say, "_Father forgivethem, for they know not what they do_. "

Why did they do it? Why did they raise their voices for Barabbas?

The main answer is that men make their heroes as the heathen make gods, after their own image. There is no doubt that Barabbas was more to thetaste of this people, more according to their heart, than Christ; or atleast they thought he was; not quite their ideal man, perhaps, butcertainly nearer to their ideal than the Christ whom they rejected. Itmay be that they had had no particular love for him until just now, possibly they had hardly thought of him at all; but now it was aquestion between this man and Jesus, and Jesus they did not want at anyprice. And their very hatred of the one made the other look beautiful. Barabbas is our man, they said, and the more they said it the more theybelieved it; and each time the name was repeated it sounded sweeter, until they were all shouting it, nine-tenths of them because the othersshouted it, and until they really made themselves believe that in thisman they had got a veritable hero and hardly less than a god. 

That is always what happens in such cases, the greater part beginshouting for no particular reason because a few others have led theway, and they end by believing that the man whom they are acclaiming isalmost divine; yet it is certain that they elected this man on thewhole because of the two he had more points in common with them, thispoor despicable and very unheroic thing was the person whom theydelighted to honour because they themselves were very unheroic andsomewhat despicable. We cannot see the greatness of a truly great manunless there is just a bit of greatness in ourselves; Christ was toobig and too divine to be seen and measured by their small and vulgareyes. Barabbas was about their size, and they raised their voices forhim. 

We have had Carlyle's words quoted to us a thousand times about heroesand hero-worship--how it is part of human nature to go after heroes andmake them--how the world has always been given up to this worship, andalways will be. We all revere and follow great men, or those whom wedeem great, which is not quite the same thing. And it is a beautifulfeature in human nature if it is wisely directed, if we can only setour hearts on the true heroes and follow them. It is not beautiful atall when we make our gods of clay, and shout ourselves hoarse inexalting to the skies creatures as undivine and quite as small as weare. 

Heroes are sometimes easily made to-day, and martyrs too. Modernmartyrdom of the popular sort is about the least costly thing going. It calls for no tears and blood, it can be gained on very easy terms. You have only to break a law which you do not like, or your consciencedoes not approve, and to be brought up for it with an admiring crowdaccompanying you, and to have a fine imposed, which is paid for, perhaps, by popular subscription--and lo, you are a martyr. I am notcalling in question the thing itself. It may be both right andChristian to refuse obedience to a law on extreme occasions; but tocall this martyrdom is extravagant and almost humorous. 

It was not so in the olden time when the real martyrs were made. No, those martyrs were not delicately handled, but stripped and stoned topieces, and burned, and there were no crowds to greet them with bravoesand caresses, but furious mobs clamouring for their blood. We havechanged all that indeed, thank God: but they were heroes and martyrsindeed, and it sounds to me somewhat like a desecration of the word toapply it to men and even women who are good, probably brave in a way, but who win their crown of glory very cheaply indeed. If we are tohave heroes, let us make sure that they possess some heroic stuff. 

There is a vast amount of hero-worship to-day which reminds us too muchof that shout for Barabbas. We are glorifying the wrong people; atleast, most of us are. It is one of the deplorable weaknesses of thetimes, or if you like it better, it is one of the fashions or crazes towhich human nature at times gives itself up. The heroes of the crowd, of the great mass of people, are not the good men, not the men of lightand leading, not the men who are morally great or even intellectuallygreat, not the men who are the strength and salt of a nation, but themen who minister to its pleasures, and lead the way in sports. No onecan have any doubt of that. No one can have any doubt about the sortof persons whom the vast majority of young people, and some olderpeople too, delight to honour. With some it is the star of the musichall or opera. With a great many more it is the winner of a race, orthe champion player in a successful football team, or the mosteffective bowler, or the highest scorer in cricket. The crowd goes madabout these heroes. There is no throne high enough to place them on. Money and favours are lavished at their feet, and all the newspapersare full of their glorious triumphs. 

Mark I am not speaking against athletic sports. I like to see a welland honestly played game, and I would join in the clapping when a manmakes a clever stroke. What I object to is the crazy and almostdelirious worship which is given to these champions of the sportingworld. It is the excess of the thing that proves a diseased state ofmind. There is more fuss made over some youth who scores a fewhundreds on the cricket-field, than there would be over a man who hadsaved six hundred lives. In hundreds of journals his portrait appears, and his doings are chronicled as if he had wrought some deliverance forthe nation. Poor lad, it is not his fault that he has sprung upsuddenly into fame, it is the fault of the people who love to havethese things so. It is because men have gone pleasure-mad andsport-mad, and in their madness cannot see the difference between aclever athlete and a mental or moral giant. We prove what our owntastes are, we prove the quality of our own hearts and minds, we proveour own debasement, when we exalt physical strength above excellence ofcharacter, when we make our heroes out of muscle instead of soul, whenwe worship those who serve our pleasure more than those who set usexamples of noble things, and lead the way in them. It is only anotherrendering of the old shout, "_Away with this man, and release unto usBarabbas_. " Not so wicked, of course, but equally foolish and unworthy. 

Who are your heroes? That is the question. Or in other words, Whatsort of men do you admire most? Answer that, and I know at once whatsort of men and women you are. If you are worshippers of pleasure, thechampions of the pleasure-world will be your idols and kings. If youare rooted and grounded in the love of lucre, the successfulmillionaire is the man that you will fawn upon or worship from afar. If your main delight is in intellectual things, the great thinkers andwriters will be the men to whom you look up with reverence. And if youare good men, with a passionate love for goodness, and a constantstriving to be better than you are, there are none whom you will admirewith all your hearts except the good, except the best, and those whoare leading in the way of goodness. 

In a land which is truly Christian, the only heroes will be those whomost resemble Christ. If we are truly Christians, and Christianthoughts have taken full possession of our hearts, we shall recogniseno heroes save those who serve as Christ served, who live in a measureas Christ lived, who deny themselves for others, and spend theirstrength for the benefit of their fellow-men as the Master did. Theseare the true heroes, and all the others are more or less cheapimitations of them, or false substitutes for them. These are the trueheroes, I say. The men and women who risk their lives to save otherlives. The men who use their strength and ability, not for pay, butfor the good and the advancement of their fellow-men, to save men fromtheir sins, and to lessen the sum of human ill. The brave men andwomen who venture all things to serve some great and righteous cause, and to speed on the Kingdom of Christ and righteousness in the world. 

We have no right to count any as heroes unless they have courage, patience, self-denial, great love for their fellow-men, and strengthwhich they cheerfully employ for something greater than themselves. The men, in fact, who have something of Christ in them; these are theonly heroes whom God writes down in His book of life, and they are theonly heroes whom we shall exalt in our hearts if we are followers ofthe crucified One. 

In a Christian land, the beginning and end of all true and healthyhero-worship, is to set Christ first and above everything else andevery one else in our affections. We shall measure all other men trulyif we have first of all taken the true measure of Him. Love Him withall your hearts, say of Him, "Thou art the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely, " and you will never give much of your heartsagain to the things and the men who are morally not worth loving. Youwill never be carried away again into the worship of that which isfalse, common, or cheap. A man who sees _all_ beauty, and the perfectbeauty in Christ, will never say that there is much beauty anywhereelse, except where there is something that resembles Christ. 

We have to make our choice to-day, as those men made it long ago. Itis not quite the same choice. It is not Barabbas against Christ, butit is the poor, coarse, common, frivolous things of the world againstChrist. It is the earthly against the heavenly; it is pleasure and sinagainst the service of the Man who was crucified: it is the love ofself, and things baser than ourselves, against the love of Him who diedfor us. And everything depends upon that choice. To make Him yourKing is to become kingly yourselves, and to be crowned at last with thetrue glory and honour. But it is a terrible thing to say, "_Away withthis man, and release unto us Barabbas_. "

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

BY REV. ALFRED ROWLAND, D. D. . LL. B. 

"Joseph of Arimathea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited forthe kingdom of God. "--MARK xv. 43. 

The crucifixion of our Lord produced strange and startling effects inmoral experience, as well as in the physical world. The veil of theTemple was rent from top to bottom as if a hand from heaven had tornit, in order to teach men that the ancient ritual was done with. Darkness covered the earth, suggesting to thoughtful minds the guilt ofthe world and the mystery of the sacrifice which atoned for it. Concurrently with these physical phenomena were spiritual experiences. The Roman centurion who, in command of four soldiers, had the duty ofseeing the sentence of the law duly executed, was so profoundly movedby what he saw of the Divine Sufferer and by His dying cry, that heexclaimed, "_Truly this was the Son of God_, " and thus he became thefirst of the great multitude out of all nations who give honour to theLamb that has been slain. The women, too, who were sometimes despisedfor weakness and timidity, proved themselves in this crisis to beheroines. And Joseph of Arimathea, who up to this moment of shame andapparent defeat had been content to remain a secret disciple of ourLord, now boldly avowed his love and loyalty. 

The "_even_" had come, the second evening of the Jews, and the laststreak of golden light was beginning to fade from the western sky. Three lifeless bodies were still hanging on the crosses at Golgotha, but according to Jewish custom they were about to be taken down, andflung into a dishonourable grave, when Joseph "_went in boldly toPilate, and begged the body of Jesus_, " caring for our Lord in death asanother Joseph had cared for him in infancy. 

This man is described as an "_honourable counsellor_, " which doubtlessmeans a member of the Sanhedrim. He is also spoken of as "_a good manand a just_, " which could not have been said of many of hisfellow-counsellors. On this occasion his action was sufficientlyimportant in its relation to prophecy, and in its bearing as evidenceof the reality of the burial and of the resurrection of our Lord, to bementioned in each of the Four Gospels. Yet neither by this nor bysocial influence, nor by brilliant gifts (if he possessed them), did hebecome prominent in the early Church. Probably he was a man ofpractical sagacity and ready resource, rather than of great spiritualforce. He could not stand on the same level with Simon Peter, thefisherman, whose honour it was so to hold the key of the Kingdom as toopen the door of it to the Gentiles; nor did he ever attain influencecomparable to that of Paul, who shook the citadel of paganism to itsfoundations, and planted amid its fallen defences the seed of theKingdom, even the word of God. Joseph must be regarded as a commonsoldier, rather than as a general in Christ's army; but when theofficers had fallen, or deserted their Leader, he bravely stepped tothe front and proved himself a hero. Perhaps all the more on thisaccount some study of his character and conduct may encourage those whoare not prominent in the Church to cultivate his fidelity, promptitude, and courage. 

If we piece together the few fragments of his biography which arescattered through the Four Gospels, we shall gain a fuller and moreaccurate conception of the man. 

I. 

It is clear that Joseph had already protested against the wrong done toour Lord by the Sanhedrim, though he had been powerless to prevent it. 

In this protest no doubt Nicodemus would have sided with him, but hewas probably absent, for Joseph seems to have stood alone in hisrefusal to condemn the prophet of Nazareth. This was not easy. Hewould be urged to vote with his fellow-counsellors on the ground thattheir ecclesiastical authority, which had been defied, must bemaintained, and that loyalty to the Sanhedrim demanded that all membersof it should sink their private opinions in its defence. To hold outagainst an otherwise unanimous council would be the more difficult ifJoseph had but recently attained the honour of membership, and this isprobable, for the allusion to his "_new grave_" seems to imply that hehad not long resided in Jerusalem. It was difficult, and possiblydangerous, to assert his independence; but he did so by vote, if not byvoice, for he "_had not consented to the counsel and deed of them_. "

Right-minded men are not infrequently placed in a similar position. Apolicy may be initiated which they disapprove, and yet their protestagainst it may wreck the party and even displace the government, sothat they naturally hesitate between party loyalty and enlightenedconscience. Others who are engaged in business, or in professionalaffairs, have sometimes to confront doubtful practices which, thoughsanctioned by custom, unquestionably tend to the lowering of the moraltone of the nation. Their own financial interests, their fear ofcasting a slur on some known to them, who, though guilty of suchpractices are in other respects honourable men, and their dread ofposing before the world as over-scrupulous, pharisaic men, who arerighteous over-much--all urge them to keep quiet, especially as such acustom cannot be put down by one man. Yet is not conscience to besupreme, even under such conditions? The cultivation of the requiredmoral heroism, which is sadly lacking in all sections of society, mustbegin in youth; and in this, elder brothers and sisters as well asparents and teachers of all grades have serious responsibility. Occasionally the moral atmosphere of a whole school becomes corrupt, and practices spring up which can only be put down by some right-mindedlad or girl running the risk of unpopularity and social ostracism, yetit is under such conditions that God's heroes are bred; and books like_Tom Brown's Schooldays_ have done much to foster the development ofthe heroic temper. 

The truth is, that, wherever we are, in this world where evil widelyprevails, fidelity to conscience must occasionally inspire what seemsan unavailing protest against the practice of the majority. But wemust see to it on such occasions that a real principle is at stake, andthat we are not moved by mere desire for self-assertion, nor by prideand obstinacy. If, however, we are consciously free from these, andbravely protest against a wrong we cannot prevent, we may at least lookfor the approval of Him who carried His protest against evil up to thepoint of death, even the death of the Cross. 

In thus taking up our stand against what we believe to be wrong, we maybe, imperceptibly to ourselves, emboldening others, who are secretlywaiting for some such lead. 

II. 

If Joseph required bravery on the council, he needed it still more whenhe went into the presence of Pilate to beg the body of Jesus. 

The Roman procurator was a man to be dreaded by any Jew, and was justnow in a suspicious and angry mood. But Joseph not only braved arepulse from him. He knew he would have to confront the far morebitter hostility of the priests. Theirs was a relentless hate, beforewhich Peter had fallen, and Pilate himself had quailed. Yet this manJoseph, brought up though he had been in circumstances of ease, went inboldly to Pilate and deliberately ran the risk of their savage hatred, which would not only bring about as he believed his expulsion fromoffice, but in all probability cruel martyrdom. It was a bold step;but no sooner did he take it than another rich man was by hisside--Nicodemus by name--who also himself was one of Christ'sdisciples, though secretly, for fear of the Jews. The act of Josephhad more far-reaching consequences on the conduct of others than heexpected. 

Most heroic actions are richer in results than is expected by those whodare to do them; though the immediate effects may seem disappointing. Elijah learnt to his amazement that although all the people on Carmelhad not been converted, more than seven thousand faithful men had beenemboldened by his conduct. And when John plucked up courage to goright in to the palace of the high priest, Peter, who till then hadfollowed Jesus afar off, went in also. 

The truth is, that we all have influence beyond the limits of what wecan see or estimate--parents over children, employers over their youngpeople, mistresses over servants; for what we are these are encouragedto be, whether for good or for evil. Indeed, even a child whofearlessly speaks the truth, a servant who does her work thoroughly andcheerfully, an obscure lad who in a small situation is faithful tohonour and truth, will effect far more than is imagined. Others whoare unperceived are emboldened, and range themselves on the side ofrighteousness. 

Joseph discovered, as many have done since, that when he steadfastlyset his face towards duty he succeeded far better then he expected. When he went into the palace of Pilate he foresaw that he might beasked to pay an enormous ransom, for that would be only customary; orpossibly his request might be scornfully refused by the procurator, whowas angry with himself and with the Jews. But, doubtless to hisamazement, no such thing happened. Without delay, or bartering orabuse, Pilate at once gave him leave. 

History is crowded with similar incidents. How helpless and hopelessthe Israelites were when they found themselves face to face with thewaters of the Red Sea, while the army of Egypt was rapidly overtakingthem; yet they soon discovered that their danger was to prove theirmeans of deliverance; for the waters which barred their progress toliberty soon overwhelmed their enemies. In other spheres of experiencesuch deliverances have come, and will continue to come, to trustfulsouls:

 "Dark and wide the sea appears, Every soul is full of fears, Yet the word is 'onward still, ' Onward move and do His will; And the great deep shall discover God's highway to take thee over. "

Peter had a similar experience when in prison. He arose and followedthe angel, and safely passed through the first and the second ward; butthe great iron gate seemed an insuperable barrier, yet that opened tothem of its own accord, and he stepped through it into liberty. Thusit was with the women who as they walked, while it was yet dark, towards the grave of their Lord, thought of one difficulty which seemedinsurmountable, and asked one another, "_Who shall roll us away thestone at the door of the sepulchre_?" Still on they went, with faithand courage, and when they reached their imagined difficulty they foundthat it had vanished; for they saw that the stone was rolled away. 

A similar experience is constantly met with. It is shared by a youngman who is expected to undertake some doubtful transaction, but fromconscientious scruple hesitates. He fears what the result of a refusalmay be, but resolves to risk it; perhaps to find that the order is notpressed, or that some new incident opens up for him a way of escape. True, God does not always deliver a conscientious man from the specialdanger before him, but in the forum of conscience, and before thejudgment-seat of Christ, he will be righted. 

Be the result what it may, we must be true to conscience, which, however, is but another form of saying, we must be true to God; andinstead of peering into the future, and picturing to ourselves allpossible evil results, we must learn to take the next obvious step inthe pathway of duty, trusting that God will make the next step clear, possible, and safe. When a tourist is climbing a difficult mountain, his guide sometimes rounds a corner, or climbs up to a higher level, and for a time is lost to sight, having left his charge behind him; andhe, unaccustomed to such an expedition, dares not look down, and fearsto stir another step, till feeling the rope taut between himself andthe guide, and hearing his cheery voice, he ventures forward, to findthat the danger was not so great as he imagined. Thus made bolder byeach difficulty surmounted, he begins to feel the exhilaration of amountain climb, which braces the nerves more than anything besides. Ifwe are really anxious to be in God's appointed way, and boldly take itwhen it is made clear, we may be sure that He will answer the prayer:"_Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not_. "

III. 

There are crises in the experience of every one when the whole futureis determined; and such a crisis came to Joseph of Arimathea. 

He had been for some time a disciple of Jesus, but had never avowed thefact. But after standing on Calvary and seeing the death of his Lord, sorrow, shame, and indignation so stirred him, that at once he went inboldly unto Pilate. It was the turning-point in his history, whenobedience to God-given impulse decided his whole destiny. Thespiritual influences which play upon our souls are not even in theirflow. There are times when one is strangely moved, although in outwardenvironment there is little to account for it. The sermon listened tomay be illiterate, the hymn sung may be destitute of poetic beauty, thefriendly word may be spoken by a social inferior--yet one of thesesometimes suffices as the channel of divine power, which shakes thesoul to its very depths. We have known the unexpected avowal of loveto Christ on the part of one obscure scholar set all in the classthinking on the subject of personal responsibility to God, and to HisChurch. And sometimes the sorrow of leaving home for the first time, or the death of a dearly-loved friend, has sufficed to arouse thequestion, "_What must I do to be saved_?" We must beware of allowingsuch opportunities for decisive action to slip away unimproved. When avessel has grounded at the harbour-bar, she must wait till the tidelifts her, or she will not reach a safe anchorage; but when the tidedoes flow in, no sane man will let the chance go by, lest a stormshould rise and wreck her within reach of home. 

It is noteworthy that Joseph was moved to decision and confession bythe crucifixion of the Lord; for this might have been expected to sealhis lips. It would seem to have been easier to follow the greatTeacher when listening crowds gathered round Him, and multitudes werebeing healed of whatsoever diseases they had, than to acknowledgeloyalty to Him when He was crucified as a malefactor. Yet it was fromthe Cross that this man went into the Church. The light came to himwhen darkness seemed deepest. It was in the presence of the crucifiedSaviour, of whom even the Roman centurion said, "_Truly this was theSon of God_, " that Joseph learned to say, "Because thou hast died forme, I will henceforth live for Thee. " This was one of the earliesttriumphs of the Cross, in which Paul gloried, and of Him who diedthereon--dying for us all, that we who live should not henceforth liveunto ourselves but unto Him. In the presence of that memorable scenewe are called on for more than admiration or adoration, even for apassionate devotion to Him who gave Himself up for us all. 

It may be that some of His professed followers may again fail Him, andthat others will step in to do the service which He requires. In thehour of darkness all His recognised disciples forsook him and fled; andwhen the tragedy on Golgotha was over, it was not Peter, and James, andJohn, and Andrew, who rendered Him the last service, but holy, humblewomen, and Joseph and Nicodemus, who up till then had not been reckonedas disciples at all. There are times in the history of the Church whenour Lord seems "_crucified afresh, and put to an open shame_, " whileHis so-called disciples remain silent and hidden. Superstition and sinstill join hands to put the Christ to death, to bury Him, and seal Hissepulchre. But secret disciples are meanwhile avowing themselves;coming from the east, and the west, from the north, and from the south, to fill up the vacant places, to do the needed services, and to rejoicein a risen and glorified Lord. Better by far the doing of a simple actof love to the Saviour who died for us--such as Joseph did--than loudprofessions of loyalty, or accurate knowledge of creeds. Hear oncemore the solemn words of Jesus: "_Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeththe will of My Father which is in heaven_. "

 "And that voice still soundeth on From the centuries that are gone To the centuries that shall be! From all vain pomps and shows, from the pride that overflows, From all the narrow rules and subtleties of Schools, And the craft of tongue and pen: Bewildered in its search, bewildered with the cry: 'Lo here, lo there, the Church!' poor, sad Humanity Through all the dust and heat turns back with bleeding feet By the weary road it came Unto the simple thought by the Great Master taught, And that remaineth still: 'Not he that repeateth the Name But he that doeth the Will. '"

PHILIP, THE EVANGELIST

BY REV. GEORGE MILLIGAN, M. A. , D. D. 

Philip the Evangelist must be carefully distinguished from Philip theApostle. And though it is little that we are told regarding him inScripture, that little is very significant. He first comes before usas one of the seven chosen by the early Church at Jerusalem to takecharge of the daily ministration of charity to the poor widows (Actsvi. I ff. ). And when this work is hindered by the outbreak ofpersecution following on the death of Stephen, we find him at oncedeparting to enter on active missionary work elsewhere (Acts viii. 4ff. ). The fact that he should have selected Samaria as the scene ofthese new labours, is in itself a proof that he was able to rise abovethe ordinary Jewish prejudices of his time. And this same liberalspirit is further exemplified by the incident in connection with whichhe will always be principally remembered. 

In obedience to a Divine summons, Philip had betaken himself to the waythat goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza. And if at first he may havewondered why he should have been called upon to leave his rapidlyprogressing work in Samaria for a desert road, he was not for long leftin doubt as to what was required of him. For as he walked along he wasovertaken by an Ethiopian stranger returning in his chariot fromJerusalem. This man, who was the chamberlain or treasurer of Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, had heard somehow in his distant home, of theJewish religion, and had undertaken this long journey to make furtherinquiries regarding it. We are not told how he had been impressed;very possibly the actual fruits that he witnessed were very differentfrom what he had expected. But one treasure at least he had found, aGreek copy of the prophecies of Isaiah, and this he was eagerlysearching on his return journey, to see if he could find further lightthere. One passage specially arrested his attention, the touchingpassage in which the prophet draws out his great portraiture of the Manof Sorrows. But, then, how reconcile the thought of this Messiah, suffering, wounded, dying, with the great King and Conqueror whom theJews at Jerusalem had been expecting! Could it be that he had anythingto do with our Jesus of Nazareth, of whom he had also heard, and whom, because of the Messianic claims He had put forward, the Jewish leadershad crucified on a cross? Oh, for some one to help him! Help wasnearer than he thought. Prompted by the Spirit, Philip ran forward tothe chariot; and no sooner had he learned the royal chamberlain'sdifficulties than he "_opened his mouth, and beginning from thisscripture, preached unto him Jesus_" (Acts viii. 35). 

We are not told on what particulars Philip dwelt; but, doubtless, starting from the prophetic description of the Man of Sorrows, "_despised and rejected of men_, " he would show how that descriptionheld true of the earthly life of Jesus. And then he would go on toshow the meaning and bearing of these sufferings. They arose from nofault on the part of Jesus; but, "_He was wounded for ourtransgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities_. " And yet that wasnot the end. The life which had thus ended in shame had begun again inglory: the cross had led on to the crown. And as thus he unfolded thefirst great principles of the Christian faith, Philip would press homeon the eunuch's awakened conscience that they had a vital meaning forhim. "_Repent_, " can we not imagine him pleading as Peter had pleadedbefore, "_and be baptised . . . In the name of Jesus Christ unto theremission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the HolyGhost_" (Acts ii. 38). The eunuch's heart was touched, and he askedthat he might be baptized. Satisfied that he was in earnest, Philipagreed to his request. And when they came to a certain water, "_theyboth went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and hebaptized him_. " Thus "the Ethiopian changed his skin, " and "_went onhis way rejoicing_" to his distant home, to declare in his turn to hiscountrymen the tidings of great joy. 

There are many points of view from which we might regard this beautifulincident, but it is with it in its bearing on the person and characterof Philip that we are alone at present concerned. And in consideringit further in this light, it may be well to confine ourselves tonoticing in what way it gained for Philip his distinctive title of"_the Evangelist_, " and consequently what it has to teach us stillregarding all evangelistic and missionary work. 

I. 

The Evangelist. 

With regard to the evangelist himself, one truth stands out clearlyfrom the whole narrative, his work is _given_ to him to do. He isfirst and foremost a missionary, one sent. 

It is a pity, perhaps, that in our ordinary speech, we have come tolimit the name "missionary" so much to the man who carries the gospelabroad. No doubt he is a missionary in the highest sense of the word;but still the fundamental idea in every minister or evangelist'sposition is the idea of one sent--sent for a particular purpose, with aparticular message to proclaim wherever God may place him. He has nopower, no authority of his own. All that he has comes from Him whoseservant he is, and whose truth he has to announce. 

You remember--to appeal at once to the highest example--however-present this thought of His mission was to the mind of our Lordand Master. His meat, so He told His disciples, was to do the will ofHim that sent Him (John iv. 34). The word which He spake was not Hisown, but the Father's who sent Him (John xiv. 24). And so when thetime came for His sending forth His disciples to carry on His work, itwas as "Apostles, " those sent, that the work was entrusted to them; andin the same spirit He prayed for them in His great intercessory prayer:"_As Thou didst send Me into the world, even so sent I them into theworld_" (John xvii. 18). 

If we keep this view of the evangelist as the missionary, ever beforeus, there is one fact regarding his position we can never lose sightof. He has no new truth of his own to declare, no new theories of hisown to frame. The message which he has to deliver is not his own, butGod's; and it must be his constant endeavour to learn that message forhimself, and then, as God's servant, to announce it to others. Men mayreceive his message. If they do not, he dare not substitute any other. 

II. 

His Message. 

In what does the evangelist's message consist? "_Philip_, " we aretold, "_preached unto him_ JESUS. " And what that included we havealready seen. It was the story of the life, and the death, and theresurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, a new story then, an old story now, but still "the old, old story" for us. 

The duty of the Christian teacher must be first of all to proclaimChrist and His salvation, to announce the glad tidings of mercy and oflove to sinful men. 

This is not, of course, to say that every address or sermon is to beoccupied with the objective facts of Christ's life and death. Suchteaching would soon become monotonous and wearisome, and fail in thevery purpose it set before it. Nor have men only to be awakened to thetruth, they must be built up in it. And the practical question for usall is to learn how to apply and carry out in our daily lives, thetruths we have received, how to make our conduct correspond to ourcreed. That opens up an endless field for the evangelist's work: thatintroduces us to lectures on Home Missions and Foreign Missions, to thestory of noble lives; to all, in fact, that is likely to deepen and toquicken our moral nature. But still this remains as the fundamentalobject of the whole evangel, to preach Jesus, to bring those to Him whoknow Him not, to strengthen and to comfort those who do. 

When, then, men call upon the Christian teacher to leave the objectivefacts of the gospel alone, and to occupy himself with the philosophicand social questions of the day, they are calling upon him to surrenderhis special function and duty. He must indeed endeavour so to presentthe truth so as to meet the peculiar wants of his own time. The formin which the gospel was presented in one age may not be the best formof presenting it in another. At one time it may be necessary toemphasise one aspect of the truth, at another, another. But underneathall its changing forms and aspects, _the_ truth remains unchanged; andit is that which must be taught. 

And after all, has not the simple gospel message ever proved itself theone message that can touch the hearts and meet the wants of men? Whatwas it, for example, in the preaching of Savonarola that so mightilymoved Florence, the elegant, refined, wicked, pagan Florence of thefifteenth century? He himself tells us that it was the preaching ofScripture truth. When he discoursed in a philosophical manner, theignorant and the learned were alike inattentive: but "the word"mightily delighted the minds of men, and showed its divine power in thereformation of their lives. Or, to take another instance from nearerhome. Archdeacon Wilson describes somewhere the experience of thepromoters of a certain evening-class, which they had instituted for thebenefit of some of the more ignorant and degraded inhabitants ofBristol. All that they could think of they did for the benefit of themen who gathered to it. They read to them; they sang to them: theytaught them to read and write. Yet, in course of time, interestflagged. Every expedient failed, and they were on the point ofabandoning the work in despair, when it occurred to them to apply tothe men themselves. "What would you like us to tell you about next?"they asked. "Could you tell us something about Jesus Christ?" answeredone of the men. That was the one thing needful, the one abidingsatisfaction for their deepest needs. 

And so ever. It may be strange, but it is true, that it is "_the Manof Sorrows_" who has won the love of men; it is the Saviour who hasbeen lifted up on high out of the earth, who has drawn all men toHimself. Christ: Christ crucified: Christ risen: that is the messagewhich every Christian evangelist has to declare. 

III. 

His Message of Glad Tidings. 

And is not that good news? "_Beginning from that same scripture, Philip preached the GLAD TIDINGS of Jesus_. "

Philip made the eunuch's previous knowledge the starting-point of allthat he had to say, and, as he went on, showed how there was in hismessage the answer to all his doubts and the solution of all hisdifficulties. 

And the gospel has still the same meaning for us. It has a message forthe man struggling with the battle of life, in the example of One whohas fought that fight before, who knows its every trial and sorrow, andwho has come gloriously through them all. It has a message for thesinner, brooding anxiously over his guilty past, conscious only of hisown defilement and unworthiness in the sight of an all-holy God, as itassures him of mercy and free forgiveness, of sin blotted out in theblood of Christ. It has a message for the trembling believer, compassed about with temptations and doubts, as it tells of One who canstill be "_touched with the feeling of our infirmities_, " and who, because "_He Himself hath suffered being tempted_, " is "_able tosuccour them that are tempted_. " And it has a message for the mournersorrowing over the loss of near and dear ones, for it points to Him whois "_the Resurrection and the Life_" of His people, and gives promiseof the "_Father's house_" with its many mansions, where He is preparinga place for His children. 

And yet great and glorious though that message is, where there are nota hearing ear, an understanding heart, and a willing mind, even a StPhilip or a St Paul may preach in vain. But where, on the other hand, these are present, then God may use even the humblest and feeblest ofHis servants to speak some word, to utter some warning, which may beworth to us more than all we have in the world besides. God grant thatit may be so with us, and that by the power of the Holy Ghost the wordpreached may be welcomed, "not as the word of men, but, as it is intruth, the word of God, which also worketh in you that believe" (1Thess. Ii. 13). 

ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA

BY REV. GEORGE MILLIGAN, M. A. , D. D. 

One of the most striking features of the early Christian Church waswhat we have come to know as Christian Communism, or as the historiandescribes it in Acts iv, 32: "_And the multitude of them that believedwere of one heart and soul: and not one of them said that aught of thethings which he possessed was his own; but they had all thingscommon_. " It is a bright and a pleasing picture that is thuspresented. Nor is it difficult to understand how such a spirit shouldarise amongst men whose hearts were full to overflowing with the newChristian graces of brotherhood and peace. For we must not imaginethat there was anything compulsory about this communism. It wasentirely voluntary, and was due to the eager desire on the part of thewealthier members of the Church to do all that they could for theirpoorer brethren. In this particular alone, we can at once see howwidely it differed from what is generally known as communism orsocialism in the present day. The spirit of much at any rate of ourpresent-day socialism--so the distinction has been cleverly drawn--is, "What is thine, is mine": but the spirit of those early believers wasrather, "What is mine, is thine. "

At the same time, we can readily understand that in a large and mixedcommunity like the early Church, all members would not think exactlyalike, and that while many, we may believe most, would cheerfully obeythis unwritten law of love, and share and share alike, others wouldgive in to it--if they did give in, for, let me again emphasise, therewas no compulsion upon any--more grudgingly and hesitatingly. 

Of these two classes the writer of the Book of Acts presents us withindividual examples--of the former class, in the case of Joseph, orBarnabas, a wealthy Cypriot, who "_having a field, sold it, and broughtthe money, and laid it at the apostles' feet_" (Acts iv. 37)--of thelatter, in the case of Ananias with Sapphira his wife, whose melancholystory is now before us. 

That story is very familiar, and is often regarded simply as aninstance of the sinfulness of lying. And that undoubtedly it is; butit warns us also against other equally dangerous and insidious errors, as a little consideration will, I think, show. For what were Ananias'smotives in acting as he did? If we can discover them, we shall havethe key to the whole story. 

And here, it seems to me, they must, in the first instance at any rate, have been of a sufficiently _generous_ character. Ananias had seenwhat was going on around him, and he had determined that he must not bebehindhand in this ministry of love. But--and now we get a littledeeper into his character--_ambition_ to stand well with hisfellow-members evidently mingled with the pure spirit of charity:though we do not need to suppose that there was as yet any consciousintention to deceive. Acting, then, on these somewhat mixed motives ofcharity and ambition, Ananias determined to sell a possession, somefarm or other which he had, and hand over the money to the apostles. He probably meant at first to hand over the whole price, but with themoney in his hand, the demon of avarice entered into his heart. Andhe "_kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, andbrought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Petersaid, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the HolyGhost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles itremained, did it not remain thine own? and after it was sold, was itnot in thy power? How is it that thou hast conceived this thing in thyheart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God_" (Acts v. 2-4). 

The sin of Ananias, then, lay in this, that he gave a certain sum _asif it were the whole_. There was no necessity for his giving eitherthe whole or the part. Had he hung back, when others were sellingtheir possessions, he would have been pronounced _ungenerous_ incomparison with them. Had he brought a part, making no mistake aboutit that it was only a part, when they were giving all, then he wouldhave been not _so generous_. But when he brought a part as if it werethe whole, he added to his former selfishness and avarice _deceit andhypocrisy_. If he did not in so many words tell a lie, he did what wasequally heinous, he _acted_ a lie. 

It is only when we thus clearly realise the enormity of Ananias's sin, that we can understand the reason of the dreadful doom that followed. "_And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down, and gave up the ghost_"(ver. 5). The judgment came not from men, but from God. As it was inGod's sight--the sight of the living and heart-searching God--that thesin had been committed: so it was by the direct "visitation of God"that it was now punished. 

Nor was the awful lesson yet over. Three hours had scarcely elapsedsince the young men had carried forth her husband, and buried him, whenSapphira, "_not knowing what was done, came in_. " "_And Peter answeredunto her_"--answered her look of amazement as she regarded theawe-struck faces of those present--"_Tell me, whether ye sold the landfor so much_?" "_Yea, for so much_, " she replied, adhering to theunholy compact into which, with Ananias, she had entered, and addingdeceit in speech to his deceit in act. "_But Peter said unto her, Howis it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and they shall carry thee out_" (verses 8, 9). 

It was the first intimation the unhappy woman had received of Ananias'sdeath: and to the shame of her own consciousness of guilt, must havebeen added the feeling that she had a certain responsibility in whathad befallen him. A word of remonstrance on her part might, at thebeginning, have prevented the crime: it was too late now. "_And shefell down immediately at his feet, and gave up the ghost: and the youngmen came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried herby her husband_" (ver. 10). And as the sacred historian againimpressively adds, showing how deep was the effect produced: "_Andgreat fear came upon the whole church, and upon all that heard thesethings_" (ver. 11). 

Such is the story. Who does not feel its sadness? All before had beenso peaceful and happy. The early believers had presented such abeautiful spectacle of brotherly unity and love. And now, all toosoon, the enemy had been at work, sowing tares among the wheat. In thevery particular in which the Church most deserved praise--theenthusiasm of its members' charity--sin had appeared. And thus earlyhad the young Church of Christ learned that truth, which it has beenthe work of nineteen centuries to emphasise, that her true danger comesnot so much from without as from within, and that then only is shedisgraced, when she disgraces herself. 

For what may we learn from this tragic incident?

I. 

We learn the sanctity, the holiness, which Christ looks for in HisChurch. 

The Church of Christ is holy: it consists of those who have separatedthemselves from the world and its defilements, and who have setthemselves apart--body, soul, and spirit--for Christ's service. That, I say, is the Church's ideal. But we know, alas! only too well, howfar short the Church on earth falls of that--how much worldliness, andvanity, and ambition--yes, and even grosser sins--mingle with our holythings. 

But we must keep God's ideal ever before us, that ideal which assuresus that God, by His Spirit, actually dwells in His Church, dwells inthe heart of each individual believer. Only when we remember that, canwe see how great was Ananias's sin. "_He lied to the Holy Ghost: helied not unto men, but unto God_. " As by God's Spirit his heart hadbeen enlightened and opened to the knowledge of the truth: so nowagainst that Spirit he had deliberately sinned. 

Such a sin could not pass unpunished. Had that been allowed, the falseimpression would have got abroad that God was easy and tolerant of sin. Rather it was necessary "that men should be taught once for all, bysudden death treading swiftly on the heels of detected sin, that thegospel, which discovers God's boundless mercy, has not wiped out thesterner attributes of the Judge. "[1]

II. 

We learn the reality of the power of Satan. 

On this point, Peter's question is very suggestive--"_Why has Satanfilled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost_?"

There is a constant tendency in those days, which are so impatient ofall that is supersensible and wonderful, to try and get rid of thepersonality of the devil, and to tone down the question of man'ssalvation to a struggle between two opposing principles within theheart, instead of regarding it, as the Bible teaches us to regard it, as an actual contest for the soul of man between real persons--theSpirit of God from above, the Spirit of evil from beneath. The heartof man is as it were a little city or fortress on the borderlandbetween two nations at war with each other, and which is liable to becaptured by whichever at that point proves itself the strongest. Butat the same time with this great difference, that every man has thepower of deciding into whose hands he is to fall. His will is free:and he is personally accountable for whom he may choose as master. 

For, notice how, in the case before us, St Peter, while tracing thefall of Ananias to the agency of Satan, yet prefixes his question witha _why_: "_Why hath Satan jilted thine heart_?" There had been a timewhen resistance was still possible. Ananias might have rejected thesuggestion of the tempter: he was not bound to yield: but he hadyielded. And very suggestive of why he had fallen so low, is thatother word "_filled_. " It brings before us the quiet, gradual mannerin which evil takes possession of the heart of man. We have seenalready that it was so in the case of Ananias. _Ambition_ to standwell in the sight of others was his first step: to ambition wasafterwards added _avarice_: and then ambition and avarice combined ledto _deceit and hypocrisy_. Or, as bringing out the same truth of thegradual progression of sin, notice how Ananias apparently first_thought_ over the sin in his own heart: then _spoke_ of it to hiswife, and agreed with her that it could be done: and then how togetherthey _carried it out_. Thought, speech, action: how often are thesethe successive links by which a man is led on from one degree of sin toanother? The lesson is surely to resist at the very outset: so muchdepends upon the first step. We must not give place to even the firstthought of evil: nor listen to the tempter's whisper, whisper he everso softly. How many, as they look back upon a downward career, cantrace its beginning to some idle or vain thought, or to some hasty orcareless word!

III. 

We learn that a divided service is not possible. 

"_No man_!" said our Lord Himself, "_can serve two masters: ye cannotserve God and mammon_. " Not that we are not tempted sometimes to tryit. What commoner sin is there amongst professing Christians than theattempt to make the best of both worlds--to lay hold of this world withthe one hand, while we give it up with the other--to seem other than weare?

But surely with this old story from the Book of Acts to warn us, wemust see how vain all such divided efforts are. We may deceiveourselves or others for a while; but the deception cannot last, and insome hour of searching or of trial our true characters will be laidbare. Let us see to it, then, that we may take this awful example homeas a very real and practical warning to ourselves--that we not only"_hate and abhor lying_, " but put away from us whatsoever "_maketh alie_"! and that the prayer continually on our lips and in our heartsis, "From the crafts and assaults of the devil . . . From pride, vain-glory, and hypocrisy, good Lord, deliver us. "

[1]Dr Oswald Dykes. 

DEMAS

BY REV. PRINCIPAL DAVID ROWLANDS, B. A. 

Many a man who figures in history, is only known in connection withsome stupendous fault--some mistake, some folly, or some sin--that hasgiven him an unenviable immortality. Mention his name, and the hugeblot by which his memory is besmirched starts up before the mind in allits hideousness. Take Cain, for example. He occupies the foremostrank as regards fame; his name is one of the first that children learnto lisp; and yet what do we know about him? Very little indeed; ourknowledge, in fact, is limited to a single act--an act which is themost horrible of human crimes. His name is suggestive only ofviolence, murder, the shedding of innocent blood--the foulest deedsthat man can possibly commit. Or take Judas Iscariot. We know moreparticulars about him--we know that he was one of the originalapostles, that he managed their common fund, that he posed as a stricteconomist, and above all, that he was a consummate hypocrite. Yet whenwe mention his name, we call up the remembrance of only one vile deed, one treacherous act--an act that has made his name a curse and a bywordthroughout the ages. The same remark is applicable to Demas. His nameis familiar enough, but the story of his life is almost unknown. Paulrefers to him more than once as a fellow-labourer, which shows that fora time at least he was an exemplary Christian. But he failed in thehour of trial--failed through being dominated by an inordinate love ofthe world--and his memory survives, therefore, as a representative ofthat worldly-mindedness which leads to apostasy. 

The tone in which the great apostle mentions Demas, in his secondletter to Timothy, is very touching. "_Demas_, " saith he, "_hasforsaken me, having loved the present world_" (2 Tim. Iv. 16). Wemight have expected him to give vent to his feelings in bitterinvective--as is customary in such cases--and to denounce thecowardliness of this desertion in language aflame with indignation. Itwould have been no more than justice to the offender, and it might havedeterred others from stumbling in the same way. But no, he doesnothing of the kind; his words contain nothing more than the brief, deep, pathetic groan of a wounded heart. He had probably built manyhopes upon Demas, and not without reason. In his arduous labours amongthe Gentiles he had found him an efficient helper, and many were thehours of sweet communion he had spent with him and others, indiscussing the triumphs of the Gospel. And he was confident that nowin his bonds, waiting the pleasure of the Roman tyrant, he would havederived comfort from his companionship and encouragement from hisfaithfulness. But alas! these bright hopes had been cruelly shattered;for in the hour of his greatest need Demas had abandoned him. Theapostle was too grieved to use harsh language--too grieved, not only athis own disappointment, but also when he thought of Demas's own future. Unconsciously, in this unostentatious exercise of self-restraint, hehas left us an impressive lesson in Christian charity, and has shown usthe way in which those who fall away from their steadfastness ought tobe treated. How many of those hapless delinquents might have beenreclaimed, had the high, noble, generous spirit which animated theapostle been manifested towards them by those whose confidence they hadbetrayed, it is impossible to tell; but it is certain that not a few. 

The question that presents itself here is this: In what light are we toregard Demas's character? Was he a cool, calculating, determinedapostate; or did he simply give way to weakness? There is an essentialdifference between the two cases, and they ought to be judgedaccordingly. There are men who through sheer perversity renounce theirfaith, and are not ashamed to vilify the religion which they onceprofessed. They are generally embodiments of irreverence, who glory intheir atheism, and talk of infidelity as if it were a cardinal virtue. Whenever there is foul work to be done, they are almost always to thefore; whenever holy things are to be held up to ridicule, they are themen to do it. These are deliberate apostates; men who with their eyesopen prefer darkness to light, who of set purpose deny the truth andembrace error. Happily the world contains but few such. To the honourof human nature, fallen though it be, it may be said that itinstinctively recoils from such characters with a sense of horror. Wedo not think for a moment that Demas belonged to this class, though theterms in which he is sometimes spoken of might lead one to suppose so. 

There are others who fall away through weakness. They find themselvesin circumstances for which they are not prepared--circumstances bywhich their faith is sorely tried--and, lacking that strength ofconviction, which alone can give stability, they recede from theposition which they took up with so much apparent enthusiasm. Theirsis not that deep spiritual experience which makes its possessor countsuffering as a privilege and martyrdom as a crown. They rejoice for aseason in Christ and His salvation, but "_they have no root inthemselves_, " so that "_when tribulation or persecution ariseth becauseof the word, by and by they are offended_. " We are inclined to thinkthat Demas belonged to this class. The apostle was now overwhelmed bycalamities. His career as a messenger of the Cross had been ruthlesslycut short. There were unmistakable signs of a coming storm, when he, and possibly those around him, would be tortured and slain, to gratifythe bloodthirstiness of the Roman emperor. He seems to be fullycognisant of this, for he says, "_I am now ready to be offered, and thetime of my departure is at hand_. " It is probable, therefore, thatDemas feared lest by continuing with the apostle he might share hisdreadful fate. He pictured himself being carried away in chains by thebrutal soldiery, as he had seen many others, to the great amphitheatre, to be thrown into the arena, and there to be drawn limb from limb byferocious beasts, for the amusement of the frivolous thousands whogloated on such scenes. The bare thought of it made him tremble. He"_loved the present world_"; to him life was too precious, too full ofdelightful possibilities, to be thrown away in the prime of manhood--tobe thrown away especially in this awful fashion. Visions of formerdays began to haunt him. His early home, the comrades of his youth, his loving kindred, all that he had left when he became a convert, completely engrossed his thoughts, and cast over him a fascination thatwas becoming irresistible. There was nothing else for it; he must seethem once more, even though it should cost him his hope of heaven. Andso he "departed to Thessalonica, " the place where he was bred and born. Some suppose that he took this step for the sake of gain--for the sakeof engaging in some lucrative trade. It may be so; but there is noevidence to prove it. 

These considerations, though they explain, do not excuse Demas'sconduct. Far from it. He richly merits all the censure that has beenmeted out to him. He ought to have played the man, and braved anydanger for the sake of his principles. Like the Psalmist, he ought tohave said: "_The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid_?"Compared with the kingdom to which he belonged, what was Rome with allits power? Compared with the King whom he served, what was Nero withall his glory? Compared with the joys of holy living, what was theworld with all its attractions? But he failed to realise these greatfacts, and hence he acted the part of a weakling; he bent as a reed, when he ought to have stood firm as an oak. If all the first discipleshad been made of such pliable stuff as himself, what would have beenthe condition of the world to-day? How mean and cowardly his actionappears when contrasted with the heroic endurance of weak women, whorather than deny their Lord faced the "_violence of fire_!" Weaknessin certain situations amounts to a crime. Who ever thinks ofjustifying Pontius Pilate? He was not guilty of wilful wrong; he wouldhave gladly acquitted our Lord, had he been able to do so withoutrisking his own safety; when he delivered Him to be crucified, hesimply gave way, through fear, to the clamour of an enraged populace. Nevertheless he stands convicted by after-ages of the vilest act thatany judge has ever committed. Wrong-doing is not to be palliated byascribing it to the overpowering force of temptation. The claims ofconscience are paramount, and no inducements, however plausible, canjustify us in setting them aside. 

It is sometimes asked, what became of Demas eventually? Did he, afterwandering in the world, and finding no rest to his soul, identifyhimself again with the cause which he had deserted? We should like tobe able to believe this. But the record is silent; and this silence isominous; for when the Bible describes the fall of a good man, itgenerally gives some account of his restoration. Peter is a notableinstance. Amidst the terrors of the Judgment-hall he thrice denied hisLord. The evangelists make no attempt to shield him from adversecriticism; on the other hand, they mention in detail every circumstancethat enhances the baseness of his behaviour. But they are equallycareful to dwell also upon the reality of his repentance. John, in apassage of marvellous beauty, relates how in a saner mood, on the shoreof the sea of Galilee, he thrice confessed his Lord--confessed Him withsuch glowing fervour, that he was there and then restored into theposition which he had so miserably forfeited. But the last word aboutDemas is that which points him out as a backslider; and as such he mustbe for ever known. 

The lesson of Demas's life is clear, nay even obtrusively clear, andthe need of it has been freely acknowledged at all times. We couldalmost wish that it were inscribed in letters of fire upon the midnightsky. He was a man who "_loved this present world_, " and we see in hishistory how loving the world involves separation from God, and howseparation from God results in the abandonment of His cause. 

It is difficult to discourse to any purpose upon worldliness. Youmight get a crowd of people anywhere to hear you dilate upon it. Theywould probably applaud to the echo your most scathing denunciations ofits baseness. But after all the probability is that no one would applythose fervid periods to himself. And why? Just because this evilprinciple manifests itself in such a variety of ways. A man whodetects worldliness in his neighbour with the greatest ease may beabsolutely incapable of seeing it in himself, simply because his ownand his neighbour's are so different in form. It is the old story. David boiled over with indignation at the hard-hearted monster who hadtaken the poor man's lamb; but the fact that he himself had takenanother man's wife, gave him no concern whatever. 

It will be readily conceded that the miser is a worldly man. He lovesgold for its own sake; he hoards up riches, not with the view ofenjoying them, but in order to satisfy an inordinate greed ofpossession; his chief object in life is to die worth his hundreds, histhousands, or his millions. Though rich, he is frequently tormentedwith the fear of ending his days in want, and is more anxious for themorrow than the poorest of the poor. The only redeeming point in hischaracter is his self-denial--a truly noble characteristic whenassociated with a generous disposition--which, however, in his case, loses its value through the sordidness of its aim. Yes, he is aworldly man, beyond the shadow of a doubt. But this is equally true ofthe man whose manner of life is the very opposite of this--thespendthrift. He values money only in so far as it enables him to makea grand display, to spend his days in riotous living, to gain thegoodwill of the empty, useless, pleasure-living society in which hemoves. How totally different the latter from the former! Howfrequently do they despise and condemn each other--the miser thespendthrift, and the spendthrift the miser! And yet they worship, soto speak, at the same shrine; they are victims of the same delusion;they both make this world their all. 

This love of the world leads in every case to separation from God. Thestory of the Fall furnishes an apt illustration of this fatal result. Stript of its poetic setting, what have we there depicted?Covetousness--the desire of material good--the determination to obtainit at all hazards. It was under this guise that sin made its firstentrance into human life--sin, which in its turn

 "Brought death into our world and all our woe. "

Now mark the effect of the first act of transgression. We are toldthat when Adam and his wife heard the voice of the Lord God walking inthe garden in the cool of the day, they "hid themselves" from Hispresence "amongst the trees. " In other words, the cords of love whichup to that point bound man to God were rudely severed. Before this thethought of God filled their souls with joy; they loved to hear Hisvoice in the whisperings of the wind, to see His smile in the merrysunshine, to trace His power in the structure of the heavens; but nowall was mysteriously changed, things which previously ministered totheir enjoyment became a source of terror. 

Why should the love of the world lead to this result? It is becauseGod must be all or nothing to the human soul. The first commandment inthe law is--"_Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might_. " This is not an arbitraryenactment, but it has its ground in the eternal fitness of things. Godis the infinitely powerful, the infinitely wise, and the infinitelygood, and as such demands the undivided love of man. Anything lessthan this, not only falls below His lawful claim, but also fails tosatisfy our profoundest aspirations. As Augustine puts it, "Thou hastmade us for Thyself; our hearts are restless, until they find rest inThee. " But it may be asked, Does love to God exclude all other loves?By no means. The second commandment in the law, "_Thou shalt love thyneighbour as thyself_, " is inseparable from the first. It isimpossible to obey the one without obeying the other. Obedience thatdoes not regard both is partial, and therefore futile. The reason isplain. God is immanent in creation. The Christian beholds God ineverything, and everything in God. Thus it comes to pass that hissupreme love--his love to God--intensifies, ennobles, and hallows everyother. If you would have an example of the highest type of love--loveto God manifesting itself as love to man--go to a Christian home, andyou will find it there in all its charm, uniting husband and wife, parents and children, master and servants, making the house a veritable"paradise regained. "

There is a sense in which the Christian even loves the world--loves itas no other man can love it--that is, when the term is applied to thewondrous system of nature. He loves sometimes to wander in the fields, where innumerable lovely forms, both animate and inanimate, revealtheir beauty to the eye; and at other times to meditate upon theillimitable expanse of heaven, crowded by ten thousand worlds, whichall declare the glory of Him who is Lord over all. Paul could not havehad this meaning in his mind when he spoke of Demas as having, throughloving the present world, made shipwreck concerning his faith. He wasthinking rather of the sum-total of those pursuits, pleasures, andambitions which bind man to earth, hamper his spiritual growth, andlead him to his ruin. The "world" in this sense is God's rival; tolove the "world" is to hate God. 

What does separation from God imply, and when can it be said to takeplace? God is everywhere; who can flee His presence? God is a spirit;who can do Him injury? These are questions that have always presentedsome difficulty. It was asked in the days of Malachi, "_Will a man robGod_?" as if such a thing were beyond the range of possibility. At theday of judgment, those on the left hand will ask the Judge, "_Lord whensaw we Thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee_?" as if the things laidto their charge were without foundation. Now, the objectors in thedays of Malachi who asked, "Wherein have we robbed thee?" wereanswered, "In the tithes and offering. " And the objectors at the dayof judgment will be answered, "_Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as yedid it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me_. "Evidently, therefore, God--or God in Christ--and His cause are in avery real sense identical; so that he who forsakes the one, ofnecessity forsakes the other also. 

Separation from the world is an inward process; it takes place in theheart, and cannot therefore be perceived by a man's most intimatefriends. But the forsaking of God's cause is the outward expression ofthis process, the manner whereby it becomes known to all the world. Ifit is asked why we assert that Demas had forsaken God, the answer isevident; it is because he forsook Paul, who was the representative ofGod's cause. 

This is never the work of a day, though it may sometimes appear such. A professedly religious man commits a flagrant act of sin--or perhaps apunishable crime--which places him at once among the open enemies ofreligion. We wonder at it; we say in our minds, "What a sudden change!yesterday a saint, to-day an unmitigated villain!" But are we right insaying so? Certainly not. That rash act was simply the culmination ofa process that had been going on through a long period. The man hadbeen sailing towards the rapids for months, or perhaps years, only thefact was unobserved; it was not until he was hurled headlong over theprecipice into the foaming gulf, that the attention of the world wasattracted to it.