OF THE 
 
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 Of ILLINOIS 
 
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 V 
 
 
 
Elijah the Tishbite. 
 
 * 
 
 By 
 
 DR. F. IV. KRUMMACHER , 
 E lb erf eld. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW ; 
 
 EDINBURGH \ AND NEW YORK. 
 
 I869. 
 
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 ■ CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 P4il3 
 
 I.— Elijah’s First Appearance ... 9 
 
 II. — Elijah at the Brook Cherith ... 24 
 
 III. — The Departure for Zarephath ... 44 
 
 IY. — Raising the Widow’s Son at Zarephath . 62 
 
 Y. — Elijah and Obadiah ..... 75 
 
 VI. — Deliverance out of the Mouth of the Lion 93 
 
 VII. — Elijah and the People on Mount Carmel . 106 
 
 VIII. — The Fire on Carmel 119 
 
 IX. — The Prayer on Mount Carmel ... 134 
 
 PART II. 
 
 I. — The Flight into the Wilderness . . . 143 
 
 II. — The Visit under the Juniper Tree . . 166 
 
 III. — The Arrival at Mount Horeb . . . 181 
 
 IV. — The Manifestation on Horeb ... 192 
 
 V. — Renewed Mission ...... 201 
 
 VI.— The Hidden Church 215 
 
 VII.— The Calling of Elisha 232 
 
 VIII. — Naboth’s Vineyard .... 247 
 
 IX. — Ahab’s Repentance 262 
 
 X. — The J oumey to Ekron .... 280 . 
 
 XT.— The Preaching by Fire . . . 294 
 
 I I 62380 
 
17 
 
 Contends. 
 
 PART III. 
 
 FAOS 
 
 I.— The Work-Day Evening . 305 
 
 II. — The Passage through Jordan . . . 322 
 
 III. — The Great Request 329 
 
 IV. — 1 The Ascension 341 
 
 V. — The Parting Call 353 
 
 VI.— The Legacy 364 
 
 VII. — The Growth in Grace 375 
 
 VIII. — The Letter of Doom 358 
 
 IX.— The Mount of Transfiguration ... 398 
 
 X. — The Heavenly Embassy .... 412 
 
 XI.— The Shechinah 426 
 
 XII — Jesus Only ....... 410 
 
ELIJAH THE TISIIBITE. 
 
 I. — ELIJAH’S FIRST APPEARANCE. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIENDS, 
 
 It is a splendid picture which the Lord gives 
 us of his true church here on earth, when, in the Song of 
 Solomon, chap, iv, 4. he addresses her, “ Thy neck is like 
 the tower of David, builded with breast-works, whereon 
 there hang a thousand bucklers, and all manner of 
 weapons of mighty men.” He compares her to that 
 strong tower which David built on Mount Zion. Thus 
 stands also the Church of God, founded on a rock, and 
 that rock is Christ, and his blood. She rests on God’s 
 power and word ; the Three-One God that liveth for ever 
 bears her in his hands. The gates of hell shall not pre- 
 vail against her. 
 
 The tower of David was builded with breast-works, 
 whereon hung the shields of his heroes by thousands. And 
 when was the fortress of the Church of Jesus ever seen 
 without defences ? Many a thousand years has the infer- 
 nal archer bent his bow against her, and shot at her with 
 his fiery darts ; she stands unharmed to this day. One 
 buckler is here in the room of thousands. It covers her 
 on all sides, and shines gloriously. Where is the lance 
 that will pierce it ? The name of that shield is Alpha 
 and Omega. It defies the rust and decay of Time. 
 
 But David’s tower was also hung with all manner of 
 weapons of the mighty and the strong. There were the 
 weapons of vanquished foes, hung out as trophies to be 
 
JO 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 made a show of openly ; and the arms of crowned warriors 
 that fought for Zion, kept as an inspiring memory for chil- 
 dren’s children. The living tower of the Church of God is 
 hung with like adornment for the spiritual eye. Behold 
 there hanging on the battlements, the captured and broken 
 Weapons of many thousand vanquished strong ones. Here, 
 the battle-sword of the murderer from the beginning the 
 old Dragon ; there the poisoned sting of Death, the grim 
 king of terrors ; here the heavy artillery of the seven hills ; 
 there the shattered spears and halberts of many false pro- 
 phets and spirits of error, with their captured banners ; 
 and from year to year the number multiplies of splintered 
 lances and baffled adversaries, that the conqueror makes a 
 show of openly. 
 
 But let us not pass over on this tower the swords of those 
 heroes who stood for Zion in> the field of battle, and to 
 whom, as instruments and ministers of the living God, we 
 owe the preservation of our light, and the upholding of the 
 true sanctuary ; they gleam also, on the battlements, for 
 the joy and comfort, and inspiring example of us, their 
 remote posterity. Here the sword of a Noah, the preacher 
 of righteousness ; there of a Moses, the much tried saint ; 
 here the armour of Daniel ; there of Judas the Maccab- 
 bee ; here of Paul, who fought the good fight ; there of 
 Peter, surnamed a Rock ; here the helm and mail of Huss 
 and Wicliff ; and there the jousting array of Luther, Calvin, 
 and Zuingli, honest champions of the glory of God, trusty 
 defenders of the rights of Zion. 
 
 And, behold ! among the swords of these spiritual heroes, 
 there rises up one with startling lustre to the eye, one that 
 has wrought wonders for God’s kingdom and glory ; one 
 that was two-edged and piercing, as any could be, in sore 
 and evil times, and is yet stained with the blood and sweat 
 of the fight. Whose is this noble weapon ? It is that of 
 Elijah the Tishbite, a man mighty in word and deed and 
 and miracle, who burst forth like a fire, and whose word 
 burnt like a torch, and who was so glorious and distin- 
 guished through grace, that when He who alone hath 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 11 
 
 glory, -walked upon the earth, the Jews said, “ It is 
 Elias.” 
 
 The life of Elijah, inwardly and outwardly, furnishes an 
 inexhaustible source of varied edification and strengthen- 
 ing in the faith, and of encouragement and excitement to 
 duty. We have resolved, therefore, to bring the history 
 of this man of God, in a series of discourses, before your 
 eyes. We shall accompany him, at one time to the 
 streets of the capital, and the throne of the monarch ; at 
 another to the waste and lonely wilderness ; now to the 
 public, stormy theatre of his labours ; now to the quiet 
 chamber and the couch watered with tears ; and learn of 
 him how the Lord guides his people, and how his strength 
 is perfected in weakness. May the spirit of the Lord of 
 Lords smile in grace on these our meditations, and work 
 so mightily by them, that many a weary heart may be 
 refreshed, and many a feeble knee may be strengthened. 
 
 1 KINGS xvii. 1. 
 
 “ And Elijah the Tishblte, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, 
 said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I 
 stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to 
 my word.” 
 
 Thus begins the history of our prophet, and this brief 
 and vivid opening carries us at once into the midst of 
 his life. In his first appearance we have the whole man, 
 as he lives and moves in heart and in action. The man- 
 ner of his introduction on the stage of this history, is, 
 indeed, remarkable. The preceding chapters have, as it 
 were, dug through the wall, and disclosed to us the abomi- 
 nations of shame and horror, in which Israel, in that 
 dismal age, lay wholly immersed. Ah ! see how clouds and 
 darkness lower over the whole land : images of Baal and 
 Ashtaroth frown and leer at us on all sides, heathen 
 temples and idolatrous altars cover the sacred soil, every 
 hill smokes with impious sacrifices, every mountain re- 
 echoes the accursed yells of a lying priesthood. The 
 people drink up iniquity like water, and revel in shame- 
 less rites around the golden calves. Alas ! alas ! how is 
 
12 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 the glory of Israel departed ! how is Abraham’s seed 
 become so little discernible ! the light so dark, the salt 
 so savourless, the gold so dim ! A dreary dark night on 
 all sides, and nought but night, and nowhere one cheer- 
 ing little star in the heaven ! Then does the history 
 suddenly break out with the words, “ And Elijah said.” 
 As one fallen from heaven like a shot of lightning, as 
 a gleaming thunderbolt hurled from Jehovah’s hand, 
 this man comes into the midst of the awful night-piece, 
 without father, without mother, without descent, as 
 Melchizedek. There he stands — in the midst of the deso- 
 lation — with his God alone, in the wide world ! Almost 
 the only grain of salt in the universal corruption, the only 
 leaven to leaven the whole lump ; and that we may 
 learn at once who he is, he begins his career almost like 
 a god with an unheard-of deed of faith, by closing, in the 
 name of his Lord, the heavens over Israel, and changing 
 the firmament into iron and brass. God be praised ! the 
 n’ght is no longer so dismal as before, for one man of God 
 stands in the midst of it, and that makes it feel cheerful, 
 as if the moon had risen over the scene. 
 
 Let us then meditate for a little on what is related in 
 the present section of this man of God, and direct our 
 attention to his name and external circumstances, his 
 spiritual character, and the prophetic threatening with 
 which he makes his appearance. 
 
 The man with whom we have to do is named Elijah. 
 We hold it no idle play of fancy, to lay some weight, in 
 the case of men of God, like Elijah, also upon the names 
 they bear, and to inquire into their sense and import. 
 In Israel, the giving of names was not left to the pleasure 
 of man, but stood under the strictest control of God, so 
 that the Lord not infrequently interfered by an express 
 and immediate command, “ Thus shall the child be call- 
 ed.” Hence, there was no meaningless name, no name 
 barren and devoid of real ground and import. Here 
 there was wrapped up a precious promise or divine assur- 
 ance. there a serious warning, a holy rule of life, or some 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITS. 
 
 13 
 
 other memento which the subject of the name carried 
 everywhere about with him. Sometimes, among the 
 people of God, names indicated the character and pre- 
 vailing disposition of a man, as the name Abel, nothing- 
 ness, humility; sometimes his divine vocation, as the 
 name Noah, a comforter ; sometimes one’s lot on earth, 
 thus Mary, bitterness ; sometimes the name sealed a pro- 
 mise, which was given to the man, as the name of the son 
 of Terah, Abraham, i. e. father of many nations ; some- 
 times it denoted the peculiar relation of the man to God, 
 as the name Enoch, devoted ; David, beloved ; and so 
 on. Thus, it is not to be wondered at that the mind of 
 the people of Israel took each man’s name within the 
 ground of its more serious reflections, and was accus- 
 tomed to ask and to inquire what the Lord meant and 
 wished to be understood thereby. Names were to the 
 people like tablets of remembrance, and like the bells 
 on the priests’ garments, reminding them of the Lord, 
 and of his government, and furnishing occasion for a 
 variety of salutary reflections. While, to the subject of 
 the name it was a source of comfort and strength, of 
 warning and encouragement — nay, to many a one like a 
 cord by which he was drawn to God. 
 
 I am well aware that the man who directs a spiritual 
 eye to such minutiae and details, as the import of names, 
 is certain to be condemned before the tribunal of our 
 rationally-enlightened public, and ridiculed as a narrow- 
 minded, tasteless, and superstitious dealer in trifles. 
 Alas ! that even among believers, the faith in a God who 
 numbers our hairs, and seeks to glorify himself in things 
 the most minute, is practically become a rare jewel. But 
 in whomsoever this child-like faith has yet its dwelling, 
 who makes no distinction between great and small, and 
 brings down the gracious God fairly with him into 
 house and home, and sees Him sit by his side, under 
 his vine and fig-tree, such a man is happy, and has 
 much joy and peace, and divine delight everywhere, and 
 wherever he goes he sees spiritual faces, and hears 
 
14 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 divine voices, in names, in dreams, in thoughts, in inci- 
 dents, and all around him there is the word of God, and 
 the sound of his feet upon the mountains, and the Lord 
 his God lisps and stammers with him in all manner of 
 signs and images, trying now this and now that, as a 
 mother with her suckling, and is not ashamed of the 
 dialect of the nursery. 
 
 Our prophet’s name is Elijah, that is, being interpret- 
 ed, “ My God of power,” or “ The Lord is my strength,” 
 a fine and noble name, and he bore it indeed and in 
 truth. He was a man like you and me, nothing in him- 
 self, and yet his was the strength of God : he could do 
 nothing, and yet deeds of omnipotence went forth from 
 his hands. He lay in the dust, a worm, and yet took 
 part in God’s rule and sovereignty, a king, and had power 
 to open and shut the heavens, to summon the dead to life, 
 to doom the living to death, and to hold judgment on 
 God’s enemies. Thus might he justly be called Elijah, i. e. 
 “ God strengthens me.” Nay, more, “ God is himself my 
 strength.” Here is a difference. It is not the same thing 
 my friends, when one merely says, God holds his shield 
 before me, and when another can say in triumph, “ God 
 is my shield.” Does he keep his shield before me, then 
 nothing shall touch a hair of my head, and the evil before 
 which I tremble, comes not nigh me. But is God my 
 shield, then do I lift up my head amid the raging storm, 
 as if the blue sky were over me, and rejoice in God, even 
 amid the tumult, as if I were not there. Peter, when he 
 came out free from prison and from chains, and all bolts 
 burst in sunder before him, might shout for joy, as he 
 went on, and say, “ The shield of the Lord is round about 
 me.” Stephen, with his angel’s countenance, under the 
 fatal shower of stones from the hands of enemies, might 
 cry out, " God is my shield.” It betokens not equal 
 progress in grace, when one says, “ God comforts me,” and 
 when another can confess, “ God is my comfort.” Does 
 the Lord comfort me, then my heart grows light and 
 cheerful and gladsome, and there flows into the troubled 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 15 
 
 depths of my soul a stream of delightful joyfulness. But 
 is God my comfort, then may my heart be torn and 
 blighted, and wrapped in gloom, I faint not, and am 
 stout and resolute of soul, and stand over my heart, and 
 walk above the conflagration, and am still : in sense, I 
 have nothing ; but have all in simple faith, in that God, 
 who has once sworn to be my God ; in that faith I have 
 it, which holds that in sure possession, which I neither 
 see, nor taste, nor feel. It is not one and the same thing, 
 my friends, when I say, “ God gives me peace,” and when 
 another confesses, “ God is my peace.” Does God give me 
 peace, then do the proud waves of my soul subside, the 
 storm is blown over, and the fires are quenched, and 
 a still soft murmur, as from the top of Horeb, breathes 
 through my spirit, and the spices flow out in my garden. 
 But if the tempest should still rage in the firmament of 
 my soul, if it should lighten and thunder in the whole 
 sky, and conscience be in wrath, the flesh in rebellion, the 
 thoughts in self-accusing anguish, and the fiery darts of 
 the wicked sweeping through my affrighted spirit, and if 
 I am troubled on every side but not distressed, per- 
 plexed but not in despair, and borne aloft above the 
 tumult in the chariot of faith, I embrace the wounds of 
 my glorified Lord, and save myself by the thought, that 
 He is the God, “ yea and amen,” keeping covenant to a 
 thousand generations, and lay up the poor tempest-tossed 
 bark of my soul in the haven of faith in free grace, and 
 anchor under the rocky shelter of the immoveable pro- 
 mises, — then is the Lord my peace. 
 
 Just so is it with the expressions, “ God strengthens 
 me,” and “ God is my strength.” If God strengthens me, 
 then am I something by his grace, and find a divine power 
 in myself, through which I can do something, and feel 
 myself armed and girt about with a courageous and joy- 
 ful spirit, and laugh at walls and bulwarks ; and have a 
 free path and a clear field, and fear nothing. But, if 
 sensible that I am nothing, and feeling only nothingness 
 und weakness in my soul, and trembling at the sight of 
 
16 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 the danger that surrounds me, and at the mountains of 
 difficulty that rise to heaven before me, I yet, though 
 nature quails, go calmly forward, hoping against reason 
 and sense, and even hope, in simple faith on Him who is 
 eternally near, who will go with me, and to whom it is a 
 light thing to beat down with a word the ocean’s waves, 
 and to thrash the mountains so that they shall become a 
 plain ; and if I walk by faith on the waves of nature’s 
 terror, without courage a hero, in weakness strong, in 
 fainting valiant, then can I exult, and say, “ God is my 
 strength,” and my feet are set upon a rock. What a 
 miracle is this faith, which includes omnipotence, which 
 unites God and a worm in one being, and puts the sceptre 
 of the Almighty in the hands of a babe. 
 
 Elijah could not claim much distinction from birth, 
 station, or the place of his nativity. He was born, as we 
 see from the text, among the mountains of Gilead, beyond 
 Jordan, a country rich indeed, in all manner of fruits 
 and herbs, balms and spices, but mostly peopled with 
 blinded heathens, and covered with the idolatrous abom- 
 inations of the Amorites. It lay not far from the spot 
 where the devil afterwards entered into the swine, and 
 we may easily conceive no Jew thought, unless from the 
 strongest necessity, of making his home among these 
 mountains. It may have been a poor household, perhaps 
 a wretched banished Jewish family, in which the child 
 Elijah was born and brought up. His birth-place, Thisbe, 
 was, indeed, no other than an obscure and sorry moun- 
 tain village, and the lad could know very little of schools, 
 universities, and the great world. But this is no other 
 than the manner of our God, from the times of old, to 
 lake the instruments of a great work much rather out of 
 the dust, than from off the throne, that it may be seen 
 how all depends on his choice, and made manifest that 
 flesh and blood hath not accomplished this or that, but 
 that the glory of it is His alone. For this reason, he was 
 then preparing in Gilead the balm by which the health 
 of the daughter of Zicn should be recovered, and rearing 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 1: 
 
 up for himself in the bloody den of the Amorites’ coun- 
 try, the man, with whom, as with a hammer, he should 
 dash altars in pieces, do judgment upon kings, and cut 
 off the priests of Baal. The term “ Tishbite,” when 
 translated, means “ Converter,” and how strikingly does 
 this name agree with the whole life and peculiar vocation 
 of our prophet. Of the youth of Elijah and his earlier 
 history we know nothing ; only there is an old legend, 
 which, though fabulous, is yet striking, to the following 
 effect : — On the birth of Elijah, his father, Soliach, is said 
 to have seen a vision, in which a number of men dressed 
 in white and shining garments appeared to stand round 
 the child, and then wrapped him up, with every token of 
 reverence, in swaddling bands of fire, and fed him with 
 blazing flames. The priests are said to have interpreted 
 the vision thus That the family of Elijah should come 
 to great distinction, and that he himself should judge 
 Israel with the fire of his mouth. And what prediction 
 was ever more exactly fulfilled ! 
 
 Elijah appears on the theatre of our history with a word 
 of faith and power, “ And Elijah the Tishbite said.” And 
 where does he utter it, and to whom, and when ? Hark ! 
 it is the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Since the 
 death of Solomon, evil had burst in on Israel, irresistible 
 as on eagle’s wings ; and there was now no barrier strong 
 enough to stem the torrent of universal corruption. The 
 despotic language of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, on 
 ascending the throne, that if his father had scourged the 
 people with whips, he should chastise them with scor- 
 pions, excited disaffection, and led to the revolt of ten 
 tribes, which renounced their allegiance, constituted them- 
 selves an independent kingdom, and formally elected Jero- 
 boam, his general, to be their king. Only the two tribes 
 of Judah and Benjamin remained subject to the new 
 king, and, after him, to the royal house of David, and 
 formed henceforth the kingdom of Judah, while the ten 
 revolted tribes styled themselves the kingdom of Israel. 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 The kings of Judah, who possessed the south of the pro- 
 mised land, resided at Jerusalem, on Mount Zion. The 
 kings of Israel, whose realm included the northern parts, 
 had their residence in the hill-fortress of Thirza, and after- 
 wards in the city of Samaria. Both kingdoms continued 
 at perpetual feud with each other ; but that was not the 
 worst evil. Many thousand times worse was the internal 
 disorder. Rehoboam began his reign by introducing, 
 from political motives, a new form of worship. He was 
 afraid that if the people continued in connection with the 
 Temple and the worship of God at Jerusalem, they would, 
 bye and bye, decline from their allegiance to him, and 
 return to the crown of David. He set up golden calves, 
 therefore, in imitation of the cherubim of the Temple, 
 changed the time of certain festivals, and elected priests 
 from all the tribes of the people indiscriminately, without 
 restricting himself to the tribe of Levi. This unlawful 
 worship of God became open idolatry, when, in the year 
 900 before the birth of Christ, king Ahab, that feeble, 
 and characterless slave of his bloodthirsty wife Jezebel, 
 ascended the throne of Israel. Then it was at the insti- 
 gation of this ungodly heathen woman of Sidon, that the 
 worship of Baal was formally introduced as the national 
 religion, and the fire and sword of persecution let loose 
 against the worshippers of the true God. Alas, for the 
 sad and evil time which then broke in, the dark night 
 which brooded over the land, the horror and abomination 
 which everywhere came to the light of day ! Gloomy 
 idol-temples rose up in all quarters, profane altars, red 
 with the blood of slaughtered prophets and children of 
 God, did despite to the Most High, and provoked Him to 
 wrath and vengeance. The most crying injustice sat upon 
 the throne, the maddest caprice was exalted to rules of 
 government and policy. And every hill and mountain, 
 wood and grove, house and hut, was polluted with the 
 most shocking, licentious, and shameless rites and horrors 
 of heathenism. The devil appeared to have transferred 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 
 his residence from hell to earth, and was striving to 
 darken the sun of heaven with the smoke and vapour of 
 the most horrible idolatry. 
 
 And now behold ! this is the time, these the circum- 
 stances in which Elijah, the man of God, like a portrait 
 in a dark frame, meets our view. The kingdom of Ahab 
 and Jezebel is the dark theatre on which he enters in 
 God’s name, and where we shall behold his efforts ; and 
 a despotic prince, a bloodthirsty tyraness, a people lost 
 to reason, and a multitude of ambitious and lying priests 
 form the field of labour where he is to plough and sow. 
 How will the man of God acquit himself among so crooked 
 and perverse a generation ? What fortunes shall he en- 
 counter on this stormy sea ? How will he find his way 
 over such walls, mountains, and bulwarks ? All this we 
 shall discover in the sequel, and find ourselves every 
 moment constrained, with strengthened faith and joyful 
 hearts, to exclaim, “ The Lord, he is God ! the Lord, he 
 is God ! ” 
 
 II.* — So much, by way of introduction, for Elijah’s 
 external position. Let us now glance at his spiritual 
 character, and relation to God. This he indicates himself 
 in the words of our text, when he says, “ As the Lord God 
 of Israel liveth, before whom I stand.” Elijah stood 
 before the God of Israel ; that was his spiritual bent and 
 attitude, and the character of his inward life. “ My pre- 
 sence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.”— Exod. 
 xxxiii. 14. Knowest thou the living rock that followed 
 the people through the desert to Canaan, and that prince 
 over the army of the Lord, who appeared with a drawn 
 sword to Joshua at Jordan, and was himself the sword 
 of his victories, and the shield of his help.— J osh. v. 13-15. 
 Dost thou indeed know him ? Christ is his name. He is 
 the Lord, the God of Israel. Before him stand the thou, 
 sand times ten thousand ; before him the angels, whom 
 he makes spirits, the ministers whom he makes a fiame 
 of fire : before him stood Elijah. 
 
20 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 “ Happy are thy people, and happy are those thy 
 servants that stand continually before thee.” So spake 
 the queen of Sheba to Solomon. — 1 King$ x. 8. But a 
 greater than Solomon is here ; and how much happier 
 the servants 'who stand in the presence of the God 
 of Israel ! But no one stands before Him in his own 
 strength. Those whom he permits to stand in his pre- 
 sence, stand on his footing, in his strength, in his righte- 
 ousness and beauty. For he bears an iron sceptre, and 
 with it he beats down all who are presumptuous enough 
 to appear before him on their own merits, to behold him 
 in their own strength, to seek to lift up the head before 
 him in their own righteousness. This is what he cannot 
 bear. But to the worm in the dust, to the poor sinner, 
 emptied of pride, that lies in his blood, he says, “ Get 
 thee up : stand before me, behold my face with comfort, 
 and be not afraid.” He that desires to stand before him, 
 and to lift up the head in his presence, must first have 
 lain prostrate before him in the dust, in the writhings 
 of conviction and repentance. How often may Elijah 
 have lain on the earth, among the mountains of Gilead ! 
 how many tears may he have shed in lonely caves and 
 holes of the rocks, ere he could say, “ As the Lord liveth, 
 the God of Israel, before whom I stand.” Elijah was a 
 man reconciled to God through Christ Jesus, the Messiah, 
 and clothed with his righteousness. All this lies in his 
 words, “ I stand before the Lord, the God of Israel ; ” all 
 this is attested by the fact, that he it was whom Christ, 
 about a thousand years later, deemed worthy to be, with 
 Moses, a witness of his transfiguration on Mount Tabor. 
 
 But this standing before the Lord, implies something 
 yet more than the state of reconciliation to God in gene- 
 ral. It denotes a farther and special relation to God. 
 In this sense I stand before the Lord when it is my 
 highest desire to know the will of the Lord perfectly, 
 and when, from one moment to another, I can do no- 
 thing but strive to please him, and seek his glory. When 
 1 keep my eyes awake, and hold them at their post, as it 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 21 
 
 were, to discover the signals of my king, and quicken the ears 
 of my mind, to perceive his voice and commands, within 
 me and without me, and when I long for the least of his in- 
 timations, that I may run in the way of his commandments 
 — then it is that I stand before the Lord. If this be my 
 predominant character, I then belong to the class of 
 Christians who have been called apostolical, and who 
 rejoice in outward effort, rather than in still contem- 
 plation. Elijah, like all God’s children, had his part in 
 both ; but his prevailing disposition was tnat which he 
 himself expresses in the text. He stood before the Lord. 
 To be an instrument of the will of God, for the hallow- 
 ing and glorifying of his name, that was his fervent de- 
 sire. He could say alike of spiritual eye and ear, as the 
 watchman in Isaiah, “ Lord, I stand continually upon the 
 watch-tower in the day-time ; and I am set in my ward 
 whole nights.” — Isa. xxi. 8. His life was a hearkening to 
 God’s voice. He sought it in thunder and in storm, as 
 well as in the still small voice. He listened to it in all 
 the turns of his life, as well as in the changing moods of 
 sentiment ; and when he went forth a wanderer, his wan- 
 dering was still a standing and a waiting ; his way still led 
 under the open canopy ; in the presence of his eternal 
 king he spent his days ; and his watchword was, “ Speak, 
 Lord, for thy servant heareth.” Such was Elijah through 
 the grace of God. Thus he stood before “ the Lord, the 
 God of Israel.” 
 
 III. — Let us now direct our eyes to Samaria, the idola- 
 trous city. There stands the man of God in the midst of 
 his enemies, fronting the tyrant Ahab, and he opens his 
 mouth free and fearless in his God. and exclaims, so that 
 the ears of all tingle, “ As the Lord God of Israel liveth, 
 before whom I stand, there shall not be dew or rain these 
 years, but according to my word.” Elijah ! what art thou 
 doing ? What a perilous venture ! Is not this to put the 
 honour of God at stake ? Will they not ridicule him 
 and thee also, if thy prediction be slow of accomplish. 
 
22 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 ment ? 0, Elijah has no such fear. He knows who will 
 maintain his cause. 
 
 But how could Elijah make such announcement ? Full 
 of holy zeal for the honour of his God, he was inwardly 
 persuaded that such suffering and penal judgment on the 
 darkened land might melt the hardness of their hearts, 
 and make the name of the Lord once more glorious in 
 their eyes. He had laid the matter before the Lord, as 
 James assures us in the end of his epistle, — chap. v. 17. 
 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and 
 he prayed earnestly that it might not rain. And Amen ! 
 was the answer from above in his soul. Amen ! be it 
 so ; into thy hands it is given to shut up and to open 
 heaven. Elijah took this Amen of the living God, as a 
 sword in his hand. Resting on this Amen, he announced 
 the drought, with divine infallibility. All nature in 
 Samaria seemed to shake the head at it, and to laugh 
 the threatening to scorn. The luxuriant pastures and 
 meadows, and the well-watered seats of springs, cried 
 everywhere to each other, “ Elijah, in this you shall not 
 succeed ! ” and many hundreds of bubbling fountains, and 
 brooks, flowing through the land, and the vapoury hills 
 that form and attract the clouds, all seemed to have 
 joined in one to falsify his word. But Elijah was not 
 mistaken. He held the Amen of his God in the hand of 
 faith, and what cared he for nature, probability, and 
 reason. He silenced the Nay! of fountains, brooks, 
 and clouds, with his Yea / and where all promised the 
 bloom of verdure, his words were. As the Lord liveth, 
 there shall be a drought. Believe thou in like manner 
 in the amen, which God has once given thee in thy heart, 
 to seal thy gracious state, and thy adoption. Be not thou 
 deceived, either by thy questioning nature, or by the 
 weakness of thy flesh, or by thy over-scrupulous conscience, 
 or by Che devil, the spirit that always gainsayeth. Keep 
 thyself fixed in faith on the divine amen once granted 
 thee, and abide by it, and say, “ As the Lord the God of 
 Israel liveth and endureth for ever, nothing shall con- 
 
ELIJAH THE TiSHBITE 23 
 
 demn me, or separate me from the love of God in Christ 
 Jesus.” 
 
 “ As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, there shall 
 not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my 
 word.” Elijah said it, and straightway the heavens and 
 the earth changed their appearance. The heaven became 
 as iron and brass, and its moisture was stayed. The word 
 of the prophet fell like a fever upon the bowels of the 
 earth, parching and burning, and all that was fresh and 
 green grew languid and drooping, and every bubbling 
 spring and flowing brook was dried up, and all that had 
 breath lay gasping and pining on the ground. For three 
 years and a half there fell neither rain nor dew — so 
 mightily did the word of one feeble man work, but of a 
 man who stood in covenant and harmony of will with the 
 Omnipotent. 
 
 We conclude. O my flock, blessed of the Lord, verily, 
 verily I say unto you, it shall not be more tolerable for 
 you than for Samaria and Israel, if the high places in 
 your hearts are not speedily removed, the groves cut 
 down, and the idols broken in pieces, before which even 
 you (alas ! that it should still be true of the majority) 
 more secretly or more openly bow the knee. Ah, is it 
 so, that the heaven has already begun to close over us ? 
 How sparingly falls the dew of the spirit, how few are 
 raised from death, and how long is it since the sound of 
 abundance of heavenly rain was heard in our vale.* How 
 is this ? Perhaps there is an Elijah come forth among 
 us, with his word, “ As the Lord liveth, there shall be 
 neither dew nor rain these years.” Or, does Elijah sleep, 
 forgetting to loose again what he has bound ? Church of 
 God, little flock of Israel, people of his profession, thou 
 art Elijah ! Thy tongue is also made to call forth clouds 
 and rain, and is as a rod to break the brazen doors in 
 sunder. Ah, sleep not ! for “ the effectual fervent prayer 
 of a righteous man availeth much.” — James v. 16. Go, 
 pray, pray for dew and rain upon the thirsty ground, and 
 
 * The vale of Barmen, where the author then resided. 
 
24 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 then announce it from the amen of thy heart. The 
 drought will soon be at an end : get thee up, eat and 
 drink, and be joyful, for there is a sound of abundance of 
 rain. May God grant it in his grace. Amen ! 
 
 II. — ELIJAH AT THE BROOK CHERITH. 
 
 In those moments of alarm and peril, when Israel stood 
 on the shore of the Eed Sea, not knowing which way to 
 turn, while before them the deep waters roared, behind 
 them the enraged Egyptians rushed on with chariots 
 and horsemen, and on both sides impassable cliffs rose 
 abruptly like walls on high, and made all flight impos- 
 sible, the Lord appeared to Moses, and said, “ Where- 
 fore criest thou unto me ? speak unto the children of Israel, 
 that they go forward.” — Exod. xiv. 15. 
 
 Great must have been the surprise of the man of God 
 at this command, and when the people also were apprised 
 of it, their surprise and astonishment must have been still 
 greater. There had been in the prophet’s mouth neither 
 crying nor sighing : on the contrary, he appeared strong 
 and resolved, and was even zealously concerned to com- 
 fort and support the people with all his might, and to 
 keep before their minds the promises, with which the 
 God-amen, had so solemnly engaged and sworn to be 
 their shield and defence. “ Fear ye not,” he cried through 
 all their ranks, “ stand still, and see the salvation of the 
 Lord, which he will show to you to-day : for the Egyptians, 
 whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no 
 more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall 
 hold your peace.” — Exod. xiv. 13, 14. And, as he thus 
 cried through the ranks, in appearance so strong, so heroic, 
 and so joyful in his God, the word came from the Lord, 
 “ Moses, why criest thou unto me ? ” 
 
 Moses alone was in a situation to comprehend that 
 divine call. And comprehend it he did. In his mouth, 
 there had indeed been no cry, but a cry all the more in his 
 heart, and though his look was bold, and valiant, and 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 25 
 
 undismayed, as that of a young hero, for the people's 
 sake, that they might not despair, alas ! in the mind of 
 the man of G od, all looked quite otherwise. There all was 
 trouble and extremity, perplexity and terror. His faith 
 struggled in violent conflict with the billows of doubt, 
 which impetuously stormed and bore in upon him, and 
 threatened to bury him in their fury ; and the promises of 
 his God, though he seemed to have them as a rock under 
 his feet, and a sceptre in his right hand, fell, alas ! upon 
 his soul only like the moon-beams on the ruffled bosom 
 of a lake, broken, quivering, and glancing to and fro, with- 
 out being able to form a settled image. The Lord saw 
 clearly the prophet’s struggle, and before Moses found 
 time to make his plaint to God, and to cry out to him, 
 “ Lord, I believe ; help thou mine unbelief,” the Lord 
 had, with tender care, resolved to calm the storm in the 
 prophet’s breast, and he calmed it with the words, “ Why 
 criest thou to me ? speak unto the children of Israel, 
 that they go forward.” 
 
 We have a God, my friends, who is at home in the 
 depths of our hearts, and whose eyes run incessantly like 
 a flame of fire through the chambers of our soul, and 
 descend to the darkest recess of our being. Before we 
 have disclosed and laid before him our want and misery, 
 he takes measures to help and heal us, and regards our 
 misery as if it were a prayer, and hears not us, but our 
 distress. At all times he knows perfectly, and far better 
 than we know ourselves, what is good and profitable and 
 needful for his children, and assuredly he never acts other- 
 wise than they themselves would pray that he should deal 
 with them, could they but see so clearly into their spiritual 
 necessities as he sees into them. But we know only in 
 rare cases, what is for our good, and therefore the ways 
 by which God leads us, are, for the most part, dark and 
 perplexing, just because the why and the wherefore are 
 hid from our view. But how hard, how painful, and how 
 aimless soever his dealings toward us may now and then 
 appear, they are in truth, nothing else than the actual 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 hearing, if not of our expressed prayers, yet of our misery, 
 and of our unknown and unfelt wants. They are all, with- 
 out exception, ways of mercy, and their simple end is 
 health and salvation. 
 
 “ Moses ! why criest thou to me ? speak to the children 
 of Israel, that they go forward.” Thus spake the Lord. 
 And what a mandate ! “ Lord ! seest thou not the sea at 
 our feet, how fearfully it rages ? ” “ Go forward.” “ Lord ! 
 can our feet walk upon the billows, and pass over the 
 abyss ? ” “ Go forward.” “ Lord, Lord ! where is the 
 
 bridge, then, that thou hast raised, or the boats of pass- 
 age ? Wilt thou. Lord, have thy people lost in the wild 
 waters, and Egypt blaspheme thy name ? ” “ Say I not 
 
 that ye go forward ? ” speaks the Almighty ; but yet he 
 touches no billow, to calm and smooth it, nor dries up the 
 bottom of the sea, but lets it heave and storm at will ; and, 
 pointing towards the wild tumult, he speaks, “ Go for- 
 ward, go forward ! ” They must venture upon his word ; 
 they must believe before they see, and march forward 
 upon trust. They do venture ; and behold, in the mo- 
 ment when they make ready to go forward in the name of 
 their God, and to tread upon the raging element, then 
 struck by the rod of the prophet, the waves separate and 
 divide, and tower up like a wall on their right hand and 
 their left, and in the midst there is a dry passage, and 
 Israel joyfully marches through. 
 
 Thus does our gracious God work. We must venture 
 upon his word, and truly there is no hazard in all that we 
 venture in his name ; and where his command is, “ For- 
 ward ! ” be it into fire, or storm, or sea, let us advance 
 with confidence, and the issue shall be glorious. Truths 
 like these of the most consolatory nature, we shall find 
 to-day confirmed, as we now proceed with the history of 
 our prophet. 
 
 1 KINGS xvii. 2—6. 
 
 “ And the word of the Lord came unto him saying, Get thee 
 hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook 
 Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be that thou shalt 
 drink of the brook ; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBIXE. 
 
 2 , 
 
 there. So he went, and did according unto the word of the Lord ; 
 for be went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. 
 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and 
 bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook.” 
 
 Here is a cool refreshing spring opened In our history 
 for all who have to follow Elijah’s footsteps, and to bear 
 Elijah’s cross. Hither, then, all that dwell in the desert, 
 and mourn amid the shade and gloom of the wilderness ! 
 Bring with you vessels for the hidden manna ; draw and 
 drink abundantly that your hunger and sadness may cease. 
 
 We shall at present direct our attention, I. to Elijah’s 
 perplexity ; II. God’s command ; III. the prophet’s faith ; 
 IV. the reward of his faith. 
 
 I. Elijah, burning with zeal for the honour of Him 
 whom he served, had made his prayer to the Lord, “ Lord, 
 it is time. Break forth, and save the honour of thy name. 
 For the iniquity of the people is full ; and there is no end 
 of their wickedness. Show that thou, Lord, art God 
 indeed, and smite the land with thy judgments, that 
 Samaria may learn that thine is the kingdom, and that 
 Thirza may bow at thy feet.” Thus prayed Elijah ; and 
 the Almighty said, “ Amen ; be judgment given into thy 
 hand. Shut up the heaven for years, and command the 
 clouds to become iron and brass, and shed down neither 
 dew nor rain.” And Elijah, joyful in God, broke forth as 
 a fire, flew to Samaria, burst through the guards and gates 
 of the royal palace, like another king, and stopped not 
 till he had reached the tyrant’s throne. There, in the 
 sight of Ahab and his crowd of minions, he opens his 
 mouth, and calls aloud, so that soon the sound filled all the 
 land, and made all ears to tingle, “ There shall be neither 
 rain nor dew these years, but according to my word.” 
 
 The word was spokon in God’s name, in holy burning 
 zeal, and the judgment immediately broke forth. Dread- 
 ful harbingers came first ; then the full plague. All-con- 
 suming, like the flaming eye of the God of vengeance, the 
 sun glared from heaven upon the earth ; its rays were 
 changed into arrows of destruction and of death ; the 
 
28 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 air was parched and sultry, and carried up, like a lawless 
 sea of fire, every streamlet from its bed, and every foun- 
 tain from its source. Plants and trees dropped their 
 leaves, and died ; the cattle crept groaning over the parched 
 up meadows, the wild beasts moaned in the forests, the 
 dearth rose to the highest, and it was not long till famine 
 reigned throughout the land, giving " cleanness of teeth,” 
 and changing houses and fields into scenes of mourning 
 and woe. 
 
 Where is now Elijah ? Where should he be ? He shares 
 the common lot. No angel came to rescue him ; no chariot 
 of fire has borne him upward. There he stands with the 
 sinners on the same scene of judgment, to all appearance 
 himself exposed to the vengeance which he had called 
 down, and obnoxious to famine and destruction with the 
 ungodly. There he stands, and must groan and languish 
 like the rest, threatened by the same danger, and besides, 
 execrated by a whole people, vilified, persecuted, and 
 devoted to death. It seems as if he were about to share 
 Samson’s fate, who tore down the pillars of the temple 
 of Dagon, and was buried with the Philistines in the same 
 ruin. Truly it was no light task, in such a situation and 
 amid such circumstances, to hold fast his faith. What 
 must have been the struggle of his inmost soul, in view 
 of the universal suffering around him, and of his own 
 dangers ? How often may natural pity, at one time, natural 
 fear and despondency at another, have cried within him, 
 “ Elijah, why hast thou prayed for this ?” Yes, it is not 
 difficult to imagine in what perplexity and confusion the 
 prophet must have found himself. His joy and triumph 
 were by this time well nigh over, and no other stay was 
 left than simple faith in the amen of his God, and the 
 conviction, “ I have acted in God’s name, and he wall see 
 to the issue.” 
 
 Experiences like those which Elijah must now have 
 passed through, are not uncommon in the kingdom of 
 God. Almost every Christian meets with something like 
 this in his own history, in one form or other. They are 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 29 
 
 pressed in spirit to do or utter this or that particular 
 thing : the impulse is strong, the inward call is irresistible. 
 Overflowing with holy zeal, borne away by a mighty spirit of 
 triumph, and losing all self-control, the man takes his 
 course like a ship with spread sails, for which the wind is too 
 strong ; and before time has been found for reflection and 
 weighing of the consequences, the step is taken, the word is 
 uttered. Then, all at once, he is made aware what he has 
 risked ; he sees himself thrown forward into a region of 
 difficulties and dangers, which seem far to surpass the 
 measure of our common faith and ability ; he has, with 
 Peter, stepped down upon the open sea, the wind howls 
 frightfully, the waves threaten him with destruction : 
 gladly would he retrace his steps, but the way of return 
 is barred, and retreat can no more be thought of, however 
 he may repent of his rashness. The elated zeal which 
 overcame us is burnt to the socket, the soul cries in despair, 
 " Lord, save us : we perish ! ” 
 
 This was the case, for example, with many of the admir- 
 able men who were recently compelled to leave their 
 country for their religion. In opposition to the spirit of 
 worldly power and greatness, they preached to their flocks, 
 the simple Gospel, repentance towards God and faith 
 towards our Lord Jesus Christ. Herein lay sufficient 
 danger for them, which they still, however, in some mea- 
 sure avoided, as they prudently refrained from attacking 
 the national church, and denouncing the unchristian 
 inroads of the government on its liberties. But before 
 they were aware, their lips were opened in their pulpits 
 by Another, so that they were constrained, all at once, to 
 utter what they would not, and, borne away by holy zeal, 
 to disclose the danger which threatened the ruin of the 
 national church. Every thing was then exposed without 
 fear or reserve, so that the ears of the people tingled. 
 Uzziah was denounced for his unpardonable presumption in 
 seeking to unite the sword and the censer in the same hand. 
 They could no longer keep silence respecting the dark 
 design of reducing the church of Christ to heathenism ; 
 
30 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 they boldly proclaimed that nothing else was intended 
 than wickedly to steal away the ark of the covenant, and 
 to smuggle the images of false doctrine and precept into 
 the sanctuary. The complaint was openly made to God, 
 that the churches had been robbed of that treasure, the 
 Heidelberg Catechism, while books inspired by the spirit 
 of antichrist had been forced on masters and scholars in 
 its stead ; and, that the last pillars of their ancient eccle- 
 siastical constitution were shaken, in order to convert the 
 church of Christ into a political institution. Many of the 
 estimable preachers so far forgot themselves, and gave 
 themselves up so entirely to the spirit of God, that they 
 publicly declared that they could not reconcile it with 
 their conscience to adhere to such a church any longer. 
 
 The word was spoken : the spark was thrown into the 
 mine ; who could recal it ? The people were in the greatest 
 excitement : many went directly after sermon to their 
 teachers and declared to them their resolution to separate 
 from such a church ; others wavered, and were much 
 perplexed. The majority vented their feelings in curses, 
 revilings, and threatenings to stone these fearless witnesses, 
 and the arm of civil power fell upon them in deposition, 
 imprisonment, and exile. The worthy men had not 
 thought of such consequences. Consternation came upon 
 them like an armed man. The cheerful zeal which inspired 
 them in their pulpits, and in the ardour of which they 
 regarded only God and his cause — not themseleves and 
 their own worldly prospects — was soon all but extinguished 
 in the flood of these tribulations, so that they could only 
 say, “ Had we foreseen the consequences, we had rather 
 have kept silence ; ” and nothing was left them but the 
 conviction, ff We have been directed of God ; our own 
 wisdom would have acted otherwise.” And now this faith 
 in God is the pilgrim’s staff on which they still to this day, 
 though now and then with a sigh for the past, wander 
 about, without fear or sadness, in a strange land. It has 
 helped them gloriously, and will never fail. 
 
 What befell these men on a large scale, a thousand 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 31 
 
 Christians experience on a smaller, in various ways. One, 
 under the influence of the spirit of love, confidently 
 entrusts his whole property, for Christ’s sake, to a brother 
 in embarrassment ; but when he comes to reflection, and 
 sees the consequences of this step disclose themselves in 
 his own want, or that of his children, or in other 
 perplexities, his joy is gone, and his heart is terrified. 
 Another, carried away by holy zeal, will, after long reserve, 
 come forth at length before his friends and family, with 
 an open and joyful confession of Christ crucified, or with 
 an earnest call to repentance. But no sooner is the deed 
 done, and he learns what a fire of resentment he has 
 kindled around him, and how the peace of his own house- 
 hold is broken, than his zeal is cooled, and he is wretchedly 
 cast down. What, then, is he to do ? Retract his confes- 
 sion ? This, for his Lord’s sake, h A e cannot, dare not do : 
 he must let the fire burn. Another is moved, in the confi- 
 dence of his heart, to pray to God for still nearer com- 
 munion with Himself, and if this cannot be realized in 
 the way of peace, that he would send tribulation. The 
 I trials come, the waters of tribulation roll over him ; but, 
 alas ! the tribulation, when it is at hand, seems no more 
 j oyous, but grievous. The j oyful frame in which he prayed 
 is overcast, he repents him of his petition, and his heart 
 is filled with repining and sorrow. 
 
 Are we, then, to take nothing in hand without first 
 calculating the consequences ? I reply, where it is possible 
 to sit down before hand and count the cost, let us by all 
 means do it. But let whoso can do it, where it is impossible. 
 We cannot make this rule of calculation universal. The 
 lion roars, and who shall not fear ? The Lord God speaks, 
 vnd who shall not prophecy ? The tide rushes on, who 
 jhall stay it ? The love of Christ constrains, who shall 
 restrain it ? The fire bursts forth, who shall quench it ? 
 Necessity has here no law ; and, follow what will from 
 discharge of duty, this I know, “ God has constrained me, 
 and I have been constrained ; of Him it is, and not of 
 
32 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 the flesh.” With this faith much is already overcome. 
 
 On this you may rely with confidence, that if ever God’s 
 arm is stretched forth to help any, it is those who, in 
 obedience to his call, “ Come hither,” have cheerfully and 
 without consulting with flesh and blood, stepped down 
 and ventured at his bidding on the stormy waves. This we 
 shall learn from the example of the prophet. 
 
 II. Elijah remained not long in this solitary situation, 
 left to the musings of his heavy heart. When he was quite 
 without counsel, the counsellor appeared ; when he saw 
 no way of escape, the gates opened of their own accord. 
 This is God’s procedure. “ The word of the Lord,” it is 
 said, “ came to him.” How welcome a voice in a land of 
 desolation and woe ! for, if the word of the Lord visit us, 
 this is no other than God’s eternal love and mercy, since 
 the word of the Lord is Christ. Nothing is more blessed 
 at all times than to be visited and inwardly addressed by 
 Christ. But it is most of all blissful and desirable when 
 we have begun some enterprise in his name ; and behold ! \ 
 
 we have thereby kindled a fire that threatens to devour 
 us and our associates ; when we have, at his bidding, ven- 
 tured upon a step, whose consequences are such as to 
 confound us, and make us stand in doubt whether that 
 step has been taken with God’s will and at his command. 
 This uncertainty is then indescribably painful, and carries 
 our distress and perplexity to the utmost. And how 
 gladly do we welcome Him when he, in such circumstances, i 
 unexpectedly knocks again at our door, and causes us to < 
 hear the sweetness of his voice ; when he, in any way i 
 whatever, gives us to understand that we had acted , 
 rightly, and by some farther dealing towards us, leaves us ‘ 
 no more in doubt of his full approval of our conduct ; f 
 and, either by some visible outward relief, or an inward ( 
 testimony of grace and assurance of adoption, gives us an 
 unambiguous token that he is not angry with us, but 
 regards us with love, and will perfect that which con- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 33 
 
 cerneth us. Ah, this joy surpasses all other joy, and 
 though the outward trouble may remain as it was, this joy 
 makes the heart strong to bear it. 
 
 “ The word of the Lord came to Elijah,” it is said. Not 
 that there was any word*of Elijah to Jehovah. No, he is 
 gracious enough to visit his children uninvited, to antici- 
 pate their request with his counsel. He does not always 
 wait for their prayers. It does not always happen as the 
 proverb says, that “ Want teaches men to pray.” Alas ! 
 how great is the confusion often when the waters of afflic- 
 tion suddenly roll over our heads, or imminent dangers 
 compass us about. One looks to the winds, another to the 
 waves. One seizes the rudder of human strength, another, 
 the frail anchor of human hope ; but, “ Master, awake, we 
 perish ! ” is forgotten by all ; or, if the Lord is thought 
 of, there is either a want of faith or of filial courage and 
 confidence, and scarcely a step is taken to seek the Lord. 
 How justly might he be offended at this, and leave us to 
 suffer for it. But no ; he chooses rather to shame his 
 children through love, and to heap coals of fire upon their 
 heads. Even when uncalled, he visits them, and breaks 
 ! in upon them not unfrequently with light and salvation, 
 where his presence was not only not desired, but where he 
 had been affronted by unbelief. These visits of the Lord, 
 however, you may rest assured of it, may well humble and 
 abase us, melt our hearts, and stop our mouths, so that 
 we have not a word to say for shame and confusion 
 of face. His pure unmerited grace strikes then in full 
 splendour fairly on our eyes ; there is nothing that one 
 can regard as in the least a concurring cause of the mani- 
 festation of good, no prayer, no sigh, no upward look 
 unto the Lord, not even a thought of him ; so that we can 
 only cast our eyes downwards and kiss the feet of our 
 Lord, and exclaim, “ This is pure, free grace ! ” A salutary 
 mortification this of our inward pride, a precious lesson 
 that “ it is not of him that willeth, or of him that run- 
 neth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” 
 
 To return to our narrative. The Lord had come to the 
 3 
 
34 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISRBITE. 
 
 prophet not only to calm his fears, but to take him out of 
 the way of danger. This was, however, to happen in 
 such a way as might equally glorify the name of the Lord, 
 and teach the prophet a salutary lesson of faith. Hence 
 he was carried away on no clouc^or chariot of fire. Hence 
 he was not borne through the sky, nor did a host of angels 
 hover round him. In such a deliverance there would 
 have been little room for faith. God pointed out a differ- 
 ent path, “ Get thee hence, and turn eastward, and hide 
 thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And 
 it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook, and I have 
 commanded the ravens to feed thee there.” A singular 
 direction, as it seems a step from one evil into many. But 
 know ye what the Lord said to Manoah, “ Wherefore 
 askest thou after my name, seeing it is wonderful .” — 
 Judges xiii. 18. Yes, wonderful is his name, and his 
 way, “ and his paths are in the deep waters.” 
 
 You ask whether the Lord still shows his children the 
 path of duty, as he did the prophets in times of old. Un- 
 doubtedly ; not indeed with an audible voice, but never- 
 theless with the same certainty and distinctness. This 
 he does generally by shutting and barring up all other 
 ways and leaving only one open to us. This is then, 
 in effect, to say “ Thus shall ye go, and turn neither to 
 the right hand nor to the left.” Does he lead us by 
 a guidance from within ? Then he secretly suggests to 
 us the course we should follow, and makes all farther 
 choice impossible. Should we strive to take another 
 direction than that inwardly suggested, our peace is 
 immediately disturbed, and such a storm arises in the 
 soul that we must retrace our steps. Does he lead us by 
 outward guidance ? Then he brings us into such circum- 
 stances and relations that we have only one way to fall 
 back upon ; as we see all others barred before us by out- 
 ward providences. The ways which our Lord thus points 
 out to us are, in general, like those of Elijah, specially 
 selected for the trial of our faith and the crucifixion 
 of our old man. Only follow on with confidence ; for, as 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 35 
 
 often as the Lord says to one of his children, “ Get thee 
 hence, and hide thyself in the wilderness of Jordan, and 
 by the brook Cherith,” he adds also, aloud or in a whisper 
 in the depths of his heart, “ and the ravens shall feed thee 
 there.” Every way which he points out has its own pro- 
 mise ; and we may dismiss all alarm so soon as we know 
 for certain that the way is of God’s direction. 
 
 III. How then did Elijah receive the command of his 
 God ? There was something in him, as in every other, to 
 which this direction of the Lord ran directly counter, and 
 that could not reconcile itself to the divine procedure. 
 His old man was ready with a multitude of objections. 
 How could it please him that, instead of a more speedy and 
 marvellous deliverance, he should be required to retire on 
 foot like an ordinary person ? Why he was directed to 
 proceed on the morrow into the land of Judea, that 
 shared in the judgment of Samaria, he could not see. 
 Nor could it at all cheer him to be directed to the lonely 
 wilderness and the brook Cherith, in a gloomy and unin- 
 habited forest. That he should there be secure from the 
 machinations of Ahab and his enemies, or that the waters 
 there also should not be dried up in the general drought, 
 was to him very questionable. And then, his being fed 
 by ravens, those unclean and ravenous creatures ; that 
 was to him far from inviting in itself, as it lay beyond 
 the horizon of his reason and experience ; so that he 
 could have wept at the prospect, or, with Sarah, have 
 laughed in his heart. But, however much nature might 
 oppose, or the old man object and murmur, they were 
 thwarted, beat down, and crucified. For there was also 
 another principle in Elijah, which condemned his own 
 nature, and acquiesced in the will of God. 
 
 This, however, is far from saying that Elijah could not, 
 with fervency of joy, render thanks for the command which 
 he had received, and exult in it with heartfelt triumph. 
 Perhaps his mind was a good deal troubled and depressed 
 with it, but still confident, and firm in faith which doubted 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 not at that which it did not see. “ Is it the command of 
 God,” he might think, “ then it is holy, and just, and 
 good. God’s commissions to his children, what are they 
 but hidden promises ? Since he hath told me, ‘ Get thee 
 from hence,’ I know well that he will make a path for 
 me, help me to the end, and shield me by the way. For 
 he deceives no one. No serpent shall sting me, no lion 
 shall devour me, for I walk on the Lord’s errand. Since 
 he commands me, ‘ Turn thee eastward,’ I am assured 
 that, though I seem to be moving westward, the mom 
 shall rise over my head. Since he commands me to hide 
 myself by the brook Cherith, which is before Jordan, the 
 brook Cherith must be for me a safe retreat, even if it 
 flowed not in the wilderness, but through the palace of 
 Samaria. I shall drink of the brook : he says it, and this 
 is warrant and security enough that the sun will be enjoined 
 not to touch this brook with his scorching rays.” Thus 
 thought the prophet ; and then he would proceed farther, 
 
 “ God’s promises are, in substance, injunctions, the fulfil- 
 ling of which he unalterably imposes on himself. Has he 1 
 said, ' I will do this or that for thee,’ he must needs 
 bring it to pass for his own name’s sake. Thus, the 
 ravens shall certainly come, and must sooner die of hunger 
 themselves than allow me to want.” Thus spoke Elijah 
 with himself in his heart. And then he took the word of 
 the Lord into the hand of faith, as the staff of his pilgrim- 1 
 f.ge, and journeyed forwards ; and, whenever he grew 
 weary, he leaned upon this staff, and his strength revived ; l 
 and when danger threatened him by the way, in view of i 
 this staff he was not afraid. Have you such a staff in ( 
 
 your hands, my dear brethren ? Are you assured, with 
 Elijah, that the path you tread has been pointed out 1 
 to you by God ; and has any divine promise been received ( 
 by you and made your own — either a particular promise, l 
 or a general one like this ? “ Fear not, for I have 
 
 redeemed thee. When thou passest through the waters, 
 they shall not overflow thee.” — Isaiah xliii. 1, 2. Oh, is 
 it not true that all is then well, and sure, and certain ? 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 37 
 
 Behold, then, our prophet, the lonely wanderer, as he sets 
 forth on his journey ! It seems as if we heard the firm tread 
 of his footsteps echo in our ear, while we read that “ he 
 went and did according to the word of the Lord ; for he 
 went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before 
 Jordan.” 
 
 IV. Come with me, and let us visit this man of God in 
 his new abode. He has just arrived. A desert tract, not 
 far from the Jordan, is spread out before our eyes. A dull 
 silence reigns over the wild, broken only by the cry of the 
 lonely bittern ; while, amid heath and juniper, the ostrich 
 broods, and no one disturbs her repose. No path is to be 
 seen, no track of human footsteps — all is forsaken, lonely, 
 and desolate. Let us cross through, and approach the 
 Jordan. Yonder lies our path, where the naked rocks 
 rise abruptly to heaven, and the woods hang so dark 
 around. Pass now through this thicket, and now through 
 this narrow gorge, and then down into the tangled dell, 
 where the brook gurgles along, and forces its way from 
 rock to rock. Behold, there sits the man of God ; here is 
 his house ; the blue heaven, his roof ; the bare rocks, his 
 walls ; his seat, the mossy stone ; the shady wood, his bed- 
 chamber ; his couch, the green grass ; and his company, 
 the murmuring brook, and the cawing ravens above him 
 in the trees. There he sits in his hairy mantle, silent and 
 ruminating; and as often as the loneliness is ready to 
 overcome him, or the hiss of adders near him, and the 
 roar of lions in the distance to alarm him, he says within 
 himself, “ I sit here at God's bidding ; and his foot- 
 steps are among these rocks ; ” and thus he regains courage 
 and hope through faith. And now Elijah has had his 
 home here for a whole year. It sounds incredible, and 
 even awful. But how would you be astounded to learn, 
 from Elijah’s own assurance, that he had, through the 
 whole lengthened period, known nothing of tedium ; and 
 that his solitude had become from day to day less soli- 
 tary, nay more lively and cheerful. And doubtless so 
 
88 ELIJAH THE TI3HBITE. 
 
 it was. He needed neither books nor company, neither 
 work nor diversion, to entertain him. A book, ample 
 enough, he had in silent nature around him, and the trea- 
 sure of his own experience, which he could turn over' at 
 will. Work enough he had in self-examination, prayer, 
 and converse with Him who seeth in secret ; company 
 enough in fellowship with the Lord his God, whose whis- 
 pers and footsteps, even the gentlest, he could discern 
 far more readily and surely in this stilly solitude, than 
 amidst the tumult of the world. Nature, that lay all 
 around him, soon transformed itself into a fairly- written 
 scripture, and became his Bible, stored with matter 
 enough for reflection and study. The rock by which ho 
 dwelt preached to him of a rock that ever liveth, and on 
 which he had builded for eternity. The brook had its own 
 voice, and had much to say that was sweet and comfort- 
 ing, of God’s truth and faithfulness; and told of other 
 waters that were yet to come, which God should pour 
 upon the thirsty, of floods for the dry ground, and of 
 streams that he should open in the desert. And now the 
 shady trees began to preach, and sweetly to direct the 
 prophet to the tree of life, in whose shade a mansion 
 stood already prepared for him, and to the heavenly 
 palms, from whose tops eternal peace should one day 
 breathe on him. Then the cheerful songsters in the air, 
 and the wild roses in the thickets, would sing to him, 
 “ Be still, 0 Elijah, and free from care. He who 
 remembers us so faithfully in this wilderness, feeding the 
 one, and giving freshness and beauty to the other, how 
 shall He not care for thee ? ” Every thing, in short, 
 would begin to live and breathe around him ; to reason 
 and to teach ; the stars in the firmament, the flowers on 
 the bank, the drops on the leaves, the zephyrs among the 
 trees; so that Elijah would then vividly experience the 
 truth of what the apostle says, “ There are so many kinds 
 of voices in the world, and none of them is without sig- 
 nification"— 1 Cor. xiv. 10 • and could sing, with David, 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 39 
 
 v The voice of the Lord is powerful ; the voice of the 
 Lord shaketh the wilderness.” — Psal. xxix. 6, 8. 
 
 And having thus pleased and delighted himself a while 
 with the outer world, and its figurative scripture, he 
 would turn inward upon himself, and bury himself in 
 self-contemplation, listening to the voices of this myste- 
 rious region, and to what was stirring and passing there. 
 At one time, he would catch a new view of the depth of 
 his own ruin and misery, and so find something to weep 
 and mourn over, and lay before the Lord. At another 
 time, his eye would rest upon the work of grace within 
 him, and the indubitable proof of the indwelling of the 
 Holy Ghost, furnished by his acts of creation, breathing, 
 witnessing, and working in the soul ; and then the melody 
 of psalms would rise among the cliffs as in a temple of 
 God, and hymns of devout thanksgiving would circle 
 wondrously on the mountain echo, far through the depths 
 of the wilderness. 
 
 Oh, let no one be ever too much cast down, should the 
 Lord direct him to the wilderness of J ordan and the brook 
 Cherith. Thus he deals occasionally with his children 
 still, and in various ways. Behold, if he visit thee with 
 sickness, so that thou must be alone with thyself on thy 
 bed and in thy chamber, or if thy friends mistake thee, 
 and leave and desert thee as an outcast to whom no one 
 will open his house or heart more, or if thou must sojourn 
 in Meshech, and dwell among men of a strange language, 
 who do not understand thee and laugh at thy ways ; in 
 such cases thou sittest with Elijah by the brook Cherith. 
 “ But be of good cheer : be not afraid.” Such seclusion 
 and abandonment, oh, how blessed and salutary may it 
 prove ! Numberless Christians have been constrained to 
 confess aloud, that it was in their imprisonment, or place 
 of exile, on the lonely couch of sickness, or in the days 
 when they were disowned and forsaken of men, and cast 
 off by the world, that they first entered rightly into their 
 own heart, and sounded the true state of their soul to the 
 bottom ; that it was then that the leaven of the Pharisees 
 
40 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBTT*. 
 
 ,wliich is hypocrisy) was forced out of their tempers, and a 
 Saviour desired who was no longer a dream of the fancy, so 
 that to struggle in good earnest after close communion with 
 him then began ; and a cleaving to his side ; and a Jacob’s 
 wrestling with him till the dawn of day, which they had 
 known before only in word, became a real palpable fact of 
 personal history, and entered into the soul and marrow of 
 their own experience ; and a hundred other matters of vital 
 Christianity, of which they had till then only speculated, be- 
 came experimentally true in their own life. There also were 
 they for the first time brought into the number of those 
 sheep who hear his voice, and became inwardly persuaded, 
 as never before, that he really lives and converses with 
 his children face to face as a man with his friend, and 
 has a personal walk and communion with them ; and 
 never did they experience so strong, immediate, and in- 
 dubitable tokens of his unwearied and tender care, and 
 gracious presence, as even then, when their path was soli- 
 tary and over the desert, and they were obliged to be 
 with their Lord alone in the wide world. Be comforted, 
 then, ye that dwell by the brook Cherith, and in the 
 wilderness, for God’s dew can drop upon the dwellings of 
 the wilderness, as David sings ; the pastures of the wilder- 
 ness are rich in blessings, and even its thorns must bear 
 Jigs, and its thistles grapes for God’s children. 
 
 “ Thou shalt drink of the brook, and the ravens shall 
 feed thee there.” Thus spake the Lord : and, however 
 wonderful and unheard of it might sound, Elijah bowed 
 his head and believed the promise ; and his faith did not 
 deceive him. All that the Lord had spoken was yea and 
 amen, and “ not one good word failed.” It was not long 
 till the whole land was like a heath, and field and wood as 
 if wasted by fire ; one spot alone remained cool and green, 
 the rocky vale of the prophet. Every fountain was ex- 
 hausted ; every rushing woodland brook dried up by the 
 parching heat ; only one brooklet continued to murmur, 
 the little brook Cherith, and it remained as cool and clear, 
 as fresh and full, as if no drought were in the land. The 
 
ELIJAH THE TISnBITE. 
 
 41 
 
 ravens too fulfilled their office. How wonderful ! this ra- 
 venous and insatiable bird, unclean according to the law, 
 and so voracious and unfeeling that it would let its own 
 brood die of hunger, if God did not interpose, as he speaks 
 in Job, xxxviii. 41. “ Who provideth for the raven his 
 food ? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for 
 lack of meat ” — those creatures here meet us engaged in ser- 
 vices of the most unselfish love, as if dead to the natural 
 instinct of their species, coming and going at God’s bid- 
 ding, denying their own appetite, and bent on the kindest 
 office to man. When the grey dawn looks over the parted 
 rocks, their cry is heard in the trees, and when Elijah 
 awakes, he sees his store of provision for the day lying at 
 his feet ; and at fall of evening, they are there again, the 
 black messengers, richly laden with meat and bread ; and 
 hungry as each may be, none dare yield to his appetite. 
 And this takes place not once merely, but a whole year 
 round, twice a day, without intermission. 0 foolishness 
 of God, how precious art thou ! let the world fashion to 
 itself what stately gods it will, who rule only by grand 
 and general laws ! We adhere to the God of Elijah, and re- 
 joice in the minute care of his providence. 
 
 And this God still liveth, a living Saviour, who can be 
 felt and found, whose delights are with the sons of men, 
 and about whose servants and handmaids a mighty army 
 ordained to wait ; who says “ Come,” and they come, and 
 “ Go,” and they go ; who regards not the wisdom or art of 
 the world, but makes dogs the physicians of his servants, 
 and ravens their ministers, as he pleases ; who mocks the 
 proud, and sports as it were with his children ; and of 
 whose wonders there is no end to this day. What other 
 was it than the God of Elijah, who lately in our neigh- 
 bourhood delivered a poor man so kindly out of his dis- 
 tress, not indeed by a raven, but by a poor singing bird. 
 The man was sitting early at his house door, and his eyes 
 were red with weeping, and his sighs rose to heaven, for he 
 was expecting a visit from the officers of justice to distrain 
 him for a small debt, from which no one could be pre- 
 
42 
 
 ELIJAII THE TISHBITE. 
 
 vailed on to save him by a loan ; and, as he sat there 
 with a heavy heart, there flew a little bird through the 
 street, that fluttered in distress up and down as if it could 
 find no rest, till at last, quick as an arrow, it flew over the 
 good man’s head into the cottage and perched upon an 
 empty cupboard. The good man who little dreamt who 
 had sent him the bird, hastily shuts the door, catches the 
 bird, and puts in a cage, where it presently began to sing 
 very sweetly, and it seemed to the man as if it were the 
 tune of a favourite hymn, “ Fear thou not when darkness 
 reigns ; ” and he listened gladly, and his heart caught up 
 the sentiment. Suddenly there came a knock to his door. 
 Ah ! the officers of justice, thought the poor man, and 
 was sore afraid. But no ! it was the servant of a respect- 
 able lady, who told him that the neighbours had seen a 
 bird fly into his house, and that he wished to know if he 
 had caught it. “ 0 yes,” replied the man, “ there it is,” 
 and the bird was carried away. After some minutes, 
 however, the servant returned. — “ You have done my mis- 
 tress a great service,” said he, “ the bird which flew away 
 from her was worth its weight in gold. She is much 
 obliged to you, and requests your acceptance of this trifle, 
 with her thanks.” It was neither more nor less than the 
 sum he owed. And when the officers came he said, 
 “ Here is the amount of the debt ; leave me now in peace : 
 my God hath sent it me.” 
 
 Something quite similar once befell another brother, 
 who is perhaps here present, and can attest the circum- 
 stance. He was once in the deeply painful situation of 
 seeing his children weep for hunger, while there was not 
 a morsel of bread in the house, and not a farthing in his 
 pocket ; and his heart was like to faint with perplexity. 
 He then retired into a solitary corner, and prayed with 
 many tears to God, who feeds the young ravens, and decks 
 the lilies of the field, and presented the petition, “ Give us 
 this day our daily bread,” in a way he had never done 
 before ; and, as he arose from his knees with a lightened 
 heart, and stood by the door of his house, a dog came 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 43 
 
 running along with a piece of flesh in his mouth, and, as 
 he passed by the threshold of the poor man, he let it fall 
 and hurried away. “ That the Lord sends us,” said the poor 
 man, as he took it from the ground. “ The faithful God,” 
 sighed he, as he brought it into the room ; and when it 
 was made ready and laid upon the table, and the hungry 
 children gathered round, and the grace, “ The eyes of all 
 wait on thee,” was over, the joy of all was as great as if 
 the paschal lamb had lain before them. 
 
 Yes ! The God of Elijah still lives. And in this chapter 
 is found the counterpart of your experience also, ye dear 
 friends, who have related to me that often in your bitter 
 straits and perplexities a strange help has come to you, 
 just from such people as were not only indifferent to you, 
 but harsh also, and unkind ; from unbelievers, who at 
 other times could not endure the “ quiet in the land.” — 
 Psalms xxxv. 20. But then it was suddenly suggested to 
 one, he knew himself not how, that he should send you 
 this or that ; while another had his night’s rest broken by 
 the thought that he had not done some particular thing 
 for you ; and as they strove to banish these ideas from 
 their minds, they could not succeed in kicking against the 
 pricks. Yes ! He who turneth ihen’s hearts as the rivers 
 of water, he impelled them to be your helpers ; and he is 
 not to be resisted when he has a purpose to fulfil. What 
 l they did to you they did not because they intended it, but 
 from a higher necessity ; and thus you have found that the 
 God of Elijah, who can feed his servants even by the 
 ravens, still lives. 
 
 Let every child of his then be strong and of a cheerful 
 courage. Believe, only believe, ye who are at the brook 
 Cherith, and in the wilderness ; for faith can supply the 
 want of all things temporal, and is the grave of care ; and 
 know also, my dear friends, that it is vain for you to rise 
 early and sit up late, and eat the bread of carefulness ; 
 for, as David says, “ He gives it to his beloved sleep- 
 i ag.” * May that God who giveth songs in the night teach 
 
 * German Version. 
 
44 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 us all the strains of the royal psalmist, — “ I will both lay 
 me down in peace and sleep ; for thou Lord only makest 
 me dwell in safety.” Psalms iv. 8. 
 
 III.— THE DEPARTURE FOR ZAREPHATH. 
 
 When the children of Israel once did evil in the sight 
 of the Lord, he sold them into the hand of the Midianites, 
 a fierce and warlike people, that they might drive back 
 the strayed sheep into the fold of the Chief Shepherd. 
 
 At that period the misery of Israel was great. A con- 
 siderable portion of the nation left house and home, fled 
 to the forests and mountains, took refuge in dark dens 
 and caves in the rocks ; and some intrenched themselves 
 in solitary mountain fortresses, and, as soon as Israel 
 sowed the fields, the Midianites came down like a mighty 
 cloud of locusts upon them, and destroyed every green 
 thing from the land, and “ left no sustenance for Israel, 
 nor sheep, nor ox, nor ass.” 
 
 This sharp scourge did not fail of its effect. Israel 
 knew their guilt, and smote upon their thigh, and all 
 hands were stretched forth to God in the caves and rocks 
 around, — “ Return, return to thine oppressed heritage.” 
 The faithful God heard them, and took measures for their 
 relief.” 
 
 In the field of Ophra stands a solitary oak, and near it 
 there is a threshing-floor, in which a young husbandman 
 is at work ; and ever and anon he looks around him with 
 anxious eye, for he fears an inroad of the Midianites, 
 from whom he seeks to save the corn. His name is 
 Gideon. And, as the excellent youth is thus so busily em- 
 ployed, a stranger unexpectedly enters, of high and noble 
 aspect, and upon whose countenance there sits a sun-like 
 radiance. He seats himself under the oak, like one 
 weary with a lengthened journey ; and, as Gideon gazes on 
 him, the noble stranger opens his mouth and says, “ The 
 Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.” Then 
 Gideon started, and thought, “ How strange a greeting is 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 Jb 
 
 this ! ” But soon divining rightly in whose presence he 
 was, he freely disclosed what lay nearest his heart . — “ Oh 
 my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this evil 
 befallen us ? and where are all the miracles which our 
 fathers told us of, saying. Did not the Lord bring us up 
 from Egypt ? But now the Lord hath forsaken us, and 
 delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.” — Judges 
 vi. 12, IB. So Gideon : Then the history informs us, 
 “ The Lord looked on him," and that Lord was the Son 
 of God ; and, as he looked on him with grace and favour, 
 he said, “ Go in this thy nrght, and thou shalt save 
 Israel from the hand of the Midianites : have not I sent 
 thee ?” — Judges vi. 14. 
 
 To be looked on by the Lord is not always a source of 
 pleasure and enjoyment. As he once looked on the Egyp- 
 tians, it was as if a resistless peal of thunder had swept 
 through the whole host, and the hearts of the mighty were 
 instantly smitten with terror, and the thoughts of the 
 wise were confounded and darkened. “ He looks on the 
 mountains and they tremble.” Such a look it was from 
 those eyes, which are as a flame of fire, that alighted on 
 the attendants of Daniel ; such a terror came over them, 
 and they fled and hid themselves. And how mournfully 
 do we hear J ob sighing, as if his sighs came from the bot- 
 tom of the pit. “ Thy eyes are upon me and I am not ! 
 Am I a sea or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me ? 
 How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone, 
 till I swallow down my spittle ? I have sinned, what 
 shall I do unto thee, 0 thou preserver of men ? Why 
 dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine 
 iniquity ” ? — Job vii. 8, 12 ; 19, 21. And there is yet another 
 looking down of the Majesty of Heaven on the worms of 
 the dust ; a penetrating of the eye of the thrice Holy One 
 into our darkness, a fixed gaze of Eternal J ustice upon 
 the sinner ; which is the most awful of all terrors which 
 the miserable soul of man can experience on the earth : 
 and yet it must be felt and experienced, or we shall never 
 pass into the light of God’s countenance. 
 
46 
 
 ELIJAH TIIE TISHBITE. 
 
 The look which was vouchsafed to Gideon by the oak 
 was a look of condescension and of grace. The eye on 
 which he then looked had in it nothing awful and over- 
 whelming, but was like an open cheerful sky, clear and 
 soft, and tender, and shone on him in mild and benevolent 
 lustre. It was one of the looks of God’s countenance 
 which makes the dead live, the mourner shout for joy, 
 one with which whole streams of peace and gladness enter 
 the wounded spirit, and of which David sings, “ Cause thy 
 face to shine and we shall be saved.” — Psalms lxxx. 17. 
 
 With the look of grace, the Lord gives Gideon also this 
 direction, “ Go in this thy might.” In what might ? In 
 the might of my countenance, which has assured thee of 
 my loving-kindness. 
 
 Ah yes, the power of such gracious looks, which con- 
 vince the favoured saint in his inmost soul that the 
 Lord loves him, is truly great. The hearts which but a 
 little while ago were like a stormy ocean are changed in a 
 moment into a temple of heavenly sabbattic rest ; and the 
 souls which sat lately in sackcloth and ashes mount up 
 suddenly like eagles on the wings of joy and transport, as 
 soon as the beams of divine compassion have alighted 
 upon them. Then, not seldom, people known hitherto 
 only for their simple piety unfold themselves all at once, 
 like flowers of Paradise, spreading around them the most 
 precious fragrance ; and powers and gifts are suddenly dis- 
 closed in them, which look as if showered down on them 
 from above. Reserved and backward persons begin then 
 to testify for Christ in so lovely a manner that one is 
 never tired of hearing them ; and modest and timorous 
 souls come forth with confessions of their Saviour, and of 
 his love, so joyful, ready, and undaunted, that ohe can 
 scarce comprehend how all at once their courage has 
 grown so decided. And what sacrifices are then made ! of 
 what acts of self-denial are we then capable ! what pa- 
 tience is then shewn ! what resignation ! and how fervent 
 the brotherly love which is then displayed ! And whence 
 all this ? It is the power of the Lord’s gracious smile ! It 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 47 
 
 i3 the fruit of this conviction, “ My Saviour loved me, and 
 gave himself for me” — Gal. ii. 20. 
 
 “ Go in this thy might,” said the Lord to Gideon, as he 
 vouchsafed him the look of love and grace, as if the Lord 
 had said, “ It is not my intention, O Gideon, that thou 
 shouldst subdue the enemy in thy own strength. I point 
 thee $o my might : not to thine own. This, Gideon ! be 
 thy strength, that I have looked on thee in favour ; let 
 this encourage thee ; let this suffice thee that I am gra- 
 cious unto thee. In this thy strength, go forth and con- 
 quer.” 
 
 Truly a precious assurance ! Know only this one thing, 
 that He is graciously inclined to thee, and then thou 
 mayest dismiss all fear and doubt for ever. Make sure 
 only of the evidence that he is thy friend, and then thou 
 needest dread neither storm nor tempest ; then, though 
 thy foes were thousands round about thee, thou mayest 
 ; laugh at the shaking of the spear ; and, though mountains 
 rise to heaven upon thy path, thou canst trust in an arm 
 that will bear thee over all. Put not thine own strength 
 | in the balance, and measure not doubtingly thy own power. 
 
 I Whether thou art strong or weak, armed or unarmed, is 
 here no more a question. The strength of Immanuel is at 
 thy call : and his love to thee is thy banner, thy sword, 
 thy helmet and mail, thy shield and buckler ; and, if thou 
 1 wantest aught besides, “ his love shall supply all thy need 
 according to his glorious riches.” When thou art sent, be 
 it into the fires of temptation, or the waters of affliction, 
 be it into domestic straits and necessities, or severe conflicts 
 and difficult undertakings ; nay, though it were into peril 
 and death, if he has looked on thee in grace, and thou 
 knowest only this one thing, “ my Saviour loves me,” then 
 go, “ go in this thy might.” Thou hast no cause for fear, 
 none for anxiety. Thy Saviour will attend thee and pro- 
 tect thee, because he loveth thee, and his love is stronger 
 ■ than death. He will make all thy ways plain before thee. 
 
 In the strength of such a look of grace and kindness, 
 which he had received from his Lord, Elijah went to the 
 
48 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 brook Cherith. In the same strength we shall see him 
 to-day enter upon a new path of duty, equally hard and 
 painful with the former. And, behold, the Lord is with 
 him, and it becomes a path of blessing. 
 
 1 KINGS, xvii. 7—16. 
 
 “ And it came to pass, after a while, that the brook dried up, 
 because there had been no rain in the land. And the word of the 
 Lord came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath/which 
 belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there behold, I have com- 
 manded a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose, and 
 went to Zarephath ; and when he came to the gate of the city, be- 
 hold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks ; and he 
 called to her, and said. Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a 
 vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he 
 called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in 
 thine hand. And she said. As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not 
 a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a 
 cruse ; and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in 
 and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die. And 
 Elijah said unto her, “ Fear not ; go and do as thou hast said ; but 
 make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after 
 make for thee and for thy son : For thus saith the Lord God of 
 Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of 
 oil fail, until the day that tbe Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. 
 And she went, and did according to the saying of Elijah ; and she, 
 and he, and her house, did eat many days And the barrel of meal 
 wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word 
 of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.’ 
 
 We find our prophet again to-day where we last left 
 him. He has not deserted the post to which his Lord and 
 King had appointed him. The lonely wilderness in which 
 he dwells is not yet become too savage for him ; the waste, 
 unpeopled desert, not yet too dreary. His God is with 
 him. So long as his pleasure lasts, the walls of stone, the 
 green shade, and grassy couch are good enough for the 
 prophet. There he sits — the admirable man — upon his 
 hard seat of rock, and thinks with himself, “ The Lord will 
 provide.” The raven train perform their service faithfully 
 giving the prophet morning and evening matter for praise 
 and thanksgiving, and the brook Cherith runs by with full 
 and gladdening murmur, a miracle the more astonishing, 
 that this brook usually ran dry much earlier than any 
 other, and was called, from this very circumstance, Cherith, 
 which signifies, in the original language, “Drought.” 
 
 Now, however, we are to see the scene change, and the 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 4S 
 
 history take another course, a course which appears in its 
 beginning in the highest degree surprising and painful, in 
 its further developement very mysterious and inexplica- 
 i ble, but in its issue equally delightful and glorifying to 
 | God. We have here three points to consider : first, Elijah's 
 | need ; second, his departure from Cherith ; third, his glori- 
 ous supply. 
 
 Let us premise a general reflection. A whole year long, 
 as we know, had Elijah been supplied and supported by a 
 i miracle. But a miracle permanent and long-continued 
 loses its nature, and ceases in our eyes to be a miracle. 
 Through lapse of time we come to regard it as something 
 that must be so, and could not be otherwise. It soon ceases 
 to make an impression on us, and God’s agency and pre- 
 sence in it is soon forgotten and disregarded by us. Y ou 
 know the eastern tale of a boy who once challenged his 
 teacher to prove to him the existence of a God by mira- 
 cle. The priest, as the story goes, got a vessel filled with 
 earth, wherein he deposited a kernel in the boy’s presence, 
 and bade him pay attention, and, miracle indeed ! in the 
 place where the kernel was laid there starts suddenly up 
 a green shoot, the shoot becomes a stem, the stem puts 
 forth twigs and branches, and soon fills with its foliage the 
 whole apartment. Buds and blossoms then unfold them- 
 selves among the leaves; the blossoms wither and pass 
 into golden fruit ; and, in the space of one hour, there stood 
 a majestic tree where before there was only a small 
 seed scarcely visible. The youth was overwhelmed with 
 amazement, and, in a transport of admiration, cried 
 out, “Now I know that there is a God, for I have 
 seen his power.” But the priest smiled, and said, 
 “ Foolish child, dost thou now believe ? What thou 
 hast now seen thou seest year after year around thee, 
 many thousand times, only by a slower process, and in a 
 regular course. But is the marvel on that account the 
 less V But we are just such foolish children. Should we 
 rise up some morning, and find a loaf in the house that 
 neither we nor any one else had brought there, it would 
 4 
 
50 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 not be difficult for us in such a case to recognise the hand 
 of the Lord ; but we equally find a loaf every morning in 
 our houses, and beyond all question God has put it there. 
 But because he has done so in a slower and less uncommon 
 way, strengthening our powers and blessing our labour ; 
 and because we find it there constantly, it becomes very 
 difficult for us to recognise him and his power and good- 
 ness in the matter. Nay, and should he actually manifest 
 himself to us in an extraordinary manner, so that we 
 should feel constrained to exclaim, “ Behold, this is the 
 finger of God yet, could not such a manifestation be too 
 long continued, otherwise it would soon cease to be mar- 
 vellous; and it would be well if it did not also cease to be 
 regarded as divine. Once or twice manna in the wilder- 
 ness ! it is marvellous in our eyes, and we praise God the 
 Lord. Manna every day becomes an every day thing ; men 
 look on it as a matter of course, and see at last only the 
 manna, and not the hand which rains it down. Once 
 water from the rock, and then again heat and drought ; 
 this teaches us to give God the glory. But should the 
 smitten rock follow us with its daily stream, and give forth 
 its waters without ceasing, and no misery of drought again 
 recur, that would not be for our good. God would soon 
 be forgotten, in spite of the miracle which he daily 
 wrought for us. 
 
 Let it not be absolutely affirmed that it was so with 
 Elijah at the brook Cherith. Far be it from us, without 
 distinct evidence, to think so hardly of him. But James 
 tells us, “ Elias was a man of like passions with ourselves 
 and it could very easily happen to any such possessor of 
 human nature, that, through length of time, the special 
 aspect of miracle in the case, which always strengthens 
 faith, renews the inward man, and raises the soul to God, 
 might have quite disappeared ; and he might have come, in 
 time, to think, “Well now, this brook Cherith flows like 
 other brooks, so long as they have water, and are supplied 
 from the spring.” Thus we children of men are wont to 
 do, just to put the long-suffering of God to the proof, and, 
 
51 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 if it "were possible, to weary him, and to provoke him to 
 cast us off for ever. But among the many trying offices of 
 kindness towards his children, which our gracious God has 
 taken upon himself, there is that which he promises in 
 Isaiah xlvi. 4., “ Even to hoar hairs will I bear you.”* 
 Yes, there is- something about us to be borne by him ; and, 
 since he knows well that a perpetual blessing can so easily 
 become to us no blessing at all, it is to Him a matter of 
 adorable care, with that bearing love of his, that our life 
 shall not want vicissitudes, and he makes his guidance of 
 us in providence a constant alternation of summer and 
 . winter, day and night, rain and sunshine, trouble and 
 help, anguish and deliverance. For it is thus we are pre- 
 served in spiritual training and exercise, and kept from 
 i wandering in thought from his throne of grace, since we 
 have then always something to transact with him, some 
 matter of prayer or thanksgiving, some cry for help, or 
 | confession of humility, some course of watching and of 
 waiting for his mercy. For this reason the God of all 
 grace made the way of Elijah run so much in zigzag, full 
 ! of crossings and turnings, serpentine bends and ceaseless 
 1 revolutions. How varied is the complexion of his life ! 
 It is a work of varied texture and of plaided colour. It is 
 made up of innumerable exigencies and innumerable 
 mercies and deliverances. Hence it is a life so full of 
 i eternal blessing. 
 
 ^ Our present text commences with the words, "And it 
 came to pass, that, after a while, the brook dried up.” 
 This would seem to indicate a very short stay by the brook 
 Cherith ; but the inference is erroneous. In Gen. iv. 3, 
 where the birth of Cain and Abel is narrated to us, we 
 find a similar expression. “ It came to pass, after a while , 
 that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering 
 ' to the Lord. Here it is self-evident that the expression 
 I “ after a while ” cannot mean a short time, but must de- 
 note a considerably long period of years. In the narrative 
 before us, we must understand by it a whole year, which 
 
 * German Version. 
 
52 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 was the period of Elijah’s sojourn in the wilderness. We 
 learn from the mouth of the Lord J esus, Luke iv. 25, and 
 also from the apostle James, v. IT, that the drought lasted 
 three years and six months. We also learn from 1st 
 Kings xviii. 1, that, at the time when the drought ceased, 
 the prophet was in the third year of his stay (that is, two 
 years and some months, probably six, ) at Zarephath. Where 
 then could he spend the other year ? Where but at the 
 brook Cherith ? This calculation is only introduced by the 
 way, and for the sake of those to whom our assertion, that 
 Elijah was a whole year in the wilderness, might appear 
 gratuitous and unfounded. 
 
 The year then was passed by God’s help, partly in faith, 
 partly in sight, and certainly amid great hardships, but on 
 the whole a thousand times better and happier than Elijah 
 could have imagined at its commencement. How long he 
 should still remain he knew not. He left that to God. 
 Perhaps he might be obliged to conclude that it would be 
 till the famine was fairly over. “ Well, be it so, in God’s 
 name.” Hitherto he had felt no want. The ravens did 
 their office ; the brook kept flowing, and, having lasted this 
 year, why should it dry up the next ? Such were probably 
 the new-year’s reflections of the prophet. But soon he 
 had to take up a different strain. 0 dark foreboding ! It 
 was not long till it began to strike him that a decrease of 
 the water was visible. He could scarcely believe his eyes. 
 Has God said, “ Thou shalt drink of the brook ?” and thus 
 virtually promised that its waters should not fail ? But 
 what avails it ? He begins to measure ; he plants marks 
 by the water's edge ; it is too true, the brook decreases by 
 the hour ; the bottom comes in sight ; and soon, where 
 flowed the water, there is nothing to be seen but a bed of 
 pebbles. What meaneth this? Yes, Elijah, stand and 
 ponder ! Water is nowhere to be found. 0, the depths 
 of God ! ttye wonders of his guidance ! the severity of his 
 trials! What meaneth it ? might Elijah say. So long 
 preserved, and now forsaken ! So certain a promise, and 
 such an issue ! How shall I account for it ; am I no 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITK. 
 
 I longer his prophet ? have I sinned against him so deeply 
 that I am now rejected ? Does it repent him to have 
 held communion with me ? Thus might he have thought : 
 and who can tell what the old man within him may have 
 further suggested, and how he may have begun to murmur 
 and to open his mouth in hard words and presumptuous 
 counsels. Elijah was in a great strait ; outwardly, as 
 death by thirst was imminently near ; but much more 
 inwardly, for the temptation to distrust his God was not 
 distant, and then his faith had dried up and disappeared 
 || like the brook. 
 
 Yes ! my dear brethren, it is beyond question one of the 
 very worst and hardest of trials that can befal us, when, 
 from a happy situation of peculiar comfort and security, 
 on which we had entered with deep and thankful joy, and 
 with the firmest confidence that God alone had ordered 
 our lot in his grace, we are suddenly and against all ex- 
 pectation tom away, so that the song of praise dies on our 
 tongues, and is changed into lamentation and woe. Take 
 an example : You find yourself in affliction and domestic 
 embarrassment. I shall suppose you are in debt, and 
 must either pay or go to prison. You wrestle with God in 
 prayer for help. He sends help ; the amount of your debt 
 is suddenly sent in some extraordinary way to your house. 
 Your heart is melted in praise and thankfulness. “Now 
 I know assuredly that the Lord liveth and heareth prayer.” 
 But what happens ! In the night thieves break into your 
 house and steal your treasure, and on the morrow you 
 must take your way to prison. Again ; suppose that, with 
 great labour and sweat of your brow, you have at last 
 succeeded in gaining a small farm. You bend the knee 
 and pray to God to bless your labours with increase, that 
 you may support yourself and your family ; and, behold, 
 your fields prosper abundantly. “This comes from the 
 Lord,” you say, “ I see now that he is faithful, and has 
 mercy on his creatures.” But, whilst you are thus full of 
 praise and thanks, and ready to call on every one to mag- 
 nify the Lord with you and exalt his name, a season of 
 
(A 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 drought comes, and your land and that of all your neigh- 
 bours is changed into a waste. And what is your language 
 then ? “0 these are sore trials !” and they are all the sorer 
 that the misfortune comes in a quite common way. Now, 
 had the money that you received so wonderfully been sud- 
 denly melted in your coffer by a thunderbolt, or had it 
 disappeared in some altogether mysterious way, how very 
 natural would have been the language of Job, “ The Lord 
 gave, and the Lord hath taken away and it might not 
 have been so difficult to add, “ Blessed be the name of the 
 Lord.” In such a case your conviction would still be, 
 
 “ Well now, I see that the Lord’s hand is busy here, and is > 
 still near me ; and he will soon appear for my deliverance.” 
 But when, on the contrary, your property is lost in so 
 common, nay sinful a way, you are much more open to the ’ 
 thought, “ The Lord hath not taken it away ; and, perhaps, ■ 
 it was not the Lord who gave it me ; else why should he ! 
 not have preserved it to me ?” The matter looks, in truth, 
 as if God’s care for us were extremely small; and you 
 are in the greatest danger of falling into the belief that , 
 you have deceived yourself in tracing the favour to God’s 
 special love ; and that, however wonderful it was in its 
 appearance, it was nothing more than a work of accident, 
 and a fruit of purely natural arrangements. 
 
 Thus also the trial of the prophet’s faith was materially 
 aggravated by the circumstance that the brook did not 
 dry up suddenly, nor by a miracle, nor in any mysterious ; 
 way ; for in that case it would have been clearer that the $ 
 same Lord who made it flow had made its flowing cease ; ^ 
 but because he dried up its waters quite in the ordinary < 
 way, gradually, like other streams, by continued drought < 
 and heat of the sun. And then it seemed indeed as if '■ 
 Nature, and not Jehovah, were God. The cause why the 
 brook Cherith dried up is expressly added in our text, > 
 “ The brook dried up because there had been no rain in ! 
 the land ;” a common and natural cause. Why this is ex- 
 pressly recorded by the Holy Ghost, we may venture to sur- 
 mise. It is to set before us in the liveliest manner the whole 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 55 
 
 severity of the trial to which Elijah was subjected. The pro - 
 phet was probably greatly distressed by this fiery trial, and 
 did not come out of it without great conflict and strong 
 crying and tears. A sore questioning of his own heart 
 was probably the first movement to which this occurrence 
 led ; for it could not but look as a punishment of his sins. 
 The feeling of desertion also would not leave his soul unha- 
 rassed ; and the forces of corrupt nature would take their 
 wonted side. For they could not remain idle in such a case. 
 The thoughts of nature can never be as God’s thoughts ; 
 nature could not but rebel, excite to impiety, scoff at the 
 prophet’s faith, and lend this counsel, “ arise, and help thy- 
 self, for there is no help in thy God.” Who can tell what 
 suggestions of the Wicked One might thus assail his soul ! 
 but Elijah remained firm, believed to the end, and obtained 
 the victory. He had a trusty sword in his hands where- 
 with to repel all these assaults. That was the word of 
 his God, “ Get thee hence, hide thyself by the brook Cherith, 
 that is before Jordan, and thou shalt drink of the brook.” 
 He was silent before God in faith : in faith he waited ; 
 and by faith he crucified the flesh, with its affections and 
 lusts. 
 
 0 ye brethren of Elijah at Cherith, and in the wilder- 
 ness, ye children of God, that sigh beside exhausted brooks 
 and dried up fountains, would that ye were still and 
 patient, and then ye would be strong ; would that ye be- 
 lieved, for “ ye should see the glory of God.” When one 
 thinks what promises have been given you, one might 
 almost be tempted to be heartily 'displeased and angry with 
 you for your sighing and apprehensions, ye repining and 
 mistrustful race ! What cause hast thou to despond, 0 
 Israel ? 0 Jacob, what hast thou to fear ? “ Ah,” you reply, 
 “ ‘ the heart knoweth its own bitterness;’ you must have 
 felt our cross to understand it.” Well, my dear brethren, 
 “ the crooked shall be made straight,” as the Baptist says. 
 “ Ah,” you add, “ you should first know what it is to 
 experience sufferings which run directly counter to the pro- 
 mises of God.” Nay, my dear brethren, this never can be 
 
65 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 the case . Y ou are in error ; things run counter only to ycur 
 will and desire, never to the word of God. You have set- 
 tled in your own minds how and in what manner the Lord 
 should fulfil his promises to you, and, since it turns out 
 otherwise, you give way to the idea that the Lord has not 
 done as he had said. The promise shall assuredly be 
 “ Yea and Amen ;” leave only the How to his wisdom and 
 his love, and be patient and still, for he will do all things 
 well. For, tell me, who is he on whom the Lord has 
 wholly set his eye, and for whom Eternal Love left 
 heaven to sojourn on the earth ? who is the child of his 
 heart ; and the son towards whom his bowels of compas- 
 sion are moved? Is it not thou, 0 Jacob ! “ Fear not, 
 then, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel : I will help 
 you, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer.” — Isa. xli. 14. 
 
 All this is true, not merely of temporal, but also of 
 spiritual blessings. When one finds the spiritual brook 
 Cherith dry up, the affliction cannot be borne in silence. 
 How great the distress, when all peace expires in the soul, 
 and all blessedness is gone, when zeal has waxed cold, and 
 devotion dull and languid, when one can no longer pray 
 from extreme spiritual barrenness, and the spirit of 
 praise and thanksgiving has, so to speak, lost itself in the 
 sand ; and still God has said, “ that he will water his 
 vineyard every moment, and keep it night and day.” All 
 these are so many trials. But be of good cheer ; God is 
 faithful to his word ; and, for the moment, would you but 
 believe it, this inward drought which you lament is but a 
 means of further refreshment for you, and in the barren 
 ground there lies already the seed of blessing. Believe, 
 then, that he will keep his word. As to how he shall keep 
 it. let not the clay presume to strive with the potter. Let 
 him do with you as seemeth him good ; the end of your 
 song will ever be, “ 0 Lord, righteousness belongeth unto 
 thee, but unto us confusion of face.” — Dan. ix. 7. 
 
 II. — Elijah remained where he was for the sake of the 
 Lord who had sent him thither, and waited patiently, a 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 67 
 
 noble example ! For a soldier of the cross to leave of his 
 own will and choice a post to which the Great Captain has 
 sent him, can have no good issue. Elijah endured, ana 
 the helper came. But how came he ! Quite otherwise 
 than Elijah had probably expected. Was it with water, 
 with consolation and refreshment ? No, it was with a 
 commission, which, for ought I know, might be grateful 
 to faith perhaps, but assuredly not to flesh and blood. 
 “ Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, 
 and dwell there : behold, I have commanded a widow wo- 
 man there to sustain thee” Yes, reason is once more 
 compelled to quit the field. To reach Zarephath, he must 
 enter the country of the Phenicians. The journey besides 
 is long, and not less toilsome, through wild deserts and 
 dreary wastes of sand, and that, too, at a period of uni- 
 versal famine, and under the fiercest heat of the sun. 
 “ Get thee to Zarephath, that belongeth to Zidon.” Thus 
 he must quit the soil of Israel for the land of heathens 
 and idolaters, the native country of Jezebel, the bitter 
 enemy of the people of God, and over which Jezebel’s 
 father swayed the sceptre — a blood-thirsty tyrant, who, in 
 league with his son-in-law Ahab, had doubtless issued 
 many an edict against the liberty and life of the prophet. 
 “ And, behold, I have commanded a widow woman there 
 to sustain thee.” Strange comfort this! A woman who 
 had lost her own sustainer ; a Phenician widow, hence a 
 heathen, against whose gods Elijah was so inflamed with 
 zeal. And what widow ? How shall the right one be found 
 among the many thousand widows in the land ? Truly a 
 singular direction to remove ; not less so than that which 
 had brought him there ! “ It was bringing the blind by a 
 way that they knew not,” Isa. xlii. 16. “ Only be still, and 
 know that I am God,” Psa. xlvi. 10. Most of the paths 
 which the Lord takes with his children are like the day 
 which is bom of dark night, and takes its rise in the faint 
 glimmer of twilight ; but soon the morning sun sheds its 
 rays, and shineth more and more unto the perfect noon. 
 
 “ Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth unto 
 
58 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 Zidon and, we may add, to Tyre also, as it lay mid- way 
 between these commercial capitals. Zarephath signifies 
 in the original, “ a place of smelting furnaces,” which 
 may remind us of the furnace of affliction whereby the 
 Lord purifies and refines his people. The whole direction 
 of the prophet appeared only as a direction into the 
 furnace. But the direction was of God. It is the Lord's 
 will ; go forward in his name. The prophet bids his silent 
 dwelling-place the last farewell, perhaps with sadness of 
 heart, for it had become so much of a home to him, amid 
 these wild rocks; he blesses the spot where he had ex- I 
 perienced so much of the kindness of Him who had been j 
 the help of his countenance and his God; and then he j 
 gathers up his mantle, takes his pilgrim-staff, the staff j 
 of God’s word, in the hand of faith, and sets out for the | 
 Phenician land. And on this highway of faith no lion J 
 has devoured him, no serpent has harmed him. It was 
 indeed no path of roses ; but strewed thick with the thorns j 
 of self-denial. Yet the Son of Man was with him, who ] 
 thrashes the mountains, rebukes the swelling of the sea, 
 and revives, in his grace, the spirit of the humble. 
 
 III. Ere the prophet is aware, he has reached the end of J 
 his journey. Zarephath lies there before him, on its rocky 
 eminences, with its smoking houses and furnaces of iron ; 
 for the busy little town had thence its name. “Now, 
 Lord, how much farther, and whither.” Only be calm, 
 Elijah, and patient. The Lord has been here before you, 
 and all is ready and in order. The prophet walks slowly 
 forward. His way leads beside a wood in front of the town. 
 There he observes a little behind him, among the bushes, 
 a woman, meanly dressed, and employed in gathering a 
 few sticks for fuel. “ That is the widow,” is suddenly im- 
 pressed on his mind. “Is that the widow?” he might 
 reply. This miserably poor woman, who appears herself 
 to be sunk in the deepest indigence, and probably lives 
 only on charity. But he goes on to reflect. If this be the 
 sustainer whom God intends me to find, she shall not 
 
ELIJAH THE TISIIBITE. 
 
 59 
 
 want the means. What can be impossible to Him who 
 fed me, by the mouth of voracious ravens, a year long, by 
 the brook ? And is it not His way to send help contrary 
 to reason and expectation, and to save by means which 
 promise no deliverance, simply to exalt the glory of his 
 own great name. Thus may Elijah have communed with 
 his own heart. Yes, he trusted his Lord, who could easily 
 make this poor woman to minister to his need ; and the 
 man of God had humility enough, in all simplicity, to con- 
 template the hovel of this poor beggar in the thicket as 
 his future lodging, and not to shrink from the prospect. 
 
 And now he must see what the character of the woman 
 is. He therefore called to her and said, “'Fetch me, I 
 pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.’' 
 The woman looks up to see the stranger, leaves her burden 
 behind her, and hurries away to the town to fulfil his 
 request. Elijah is struck ; the readiness of the heathen 
 woman gives him a very agreeable surprise; and he all 
 but makes up his mind that this is the widow in question. 
 He is emboldened to make a further request. “ Bring me, 
 I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand.” The words, 
 however, opened the wounds of this poor woman’s heart 
 afresh, by. reminding her of her sad condition. Her 
 oppressed heart must find relief. She can no longer keep 
 back her tale of want. She must pour her whole distress 
 into the bosom of the stranger. She answered, “ As the 
 Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake ; but a handful of 
 meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruse ; and, behold, I 
 am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for 
 me and my son, that we may eat it and die.” Alas ! how 
 mournful does this sound ; how affecting and heart-rend- 
 ing ! Who can read it without tears ? But what says 
 Elijah to the tale? Does he think still “she is the 
 widow ?” Yes ; he not only thinks so, he is now convinced 
 of it. He gathers from her words that she has no husband, 
 for she speaks only of herself and of her son. Her great 
 poverty is no objection. He trusts in the “Lord who 
 will provide.” And how strange but encouraging her lan- 
 
eo 
 
 ELIJAH TIIE TISHBITE. 
 
 guage, “As the Lord thy God liveth.” How unwonted 
 and sweet the sound in a strange and heathen land. She 
 knows the Lord ; a secret worshipper of the living God ; a 
 rose among thorns; a hidden dove in the clefts of the 
 rock ; a converted soul ; one of the few among the heathen 
 whom the word of the Lord had reached. Oh, blessed 
 discovery ! Who can describe the prophet’s joy ! A sister 
 in the land of Meshech ! And does she not say, “ As the 
 Lord thy God liveth.” The Lord thy God! Whence 
 knows she that I also am a servant of the living God ? 
 0, marvellous disposal of divine love ! 0, blessed meet- 
 ing ! 0, precious acquaintance ! 
 
 Yes, he alone who has felt it can tell how blessed 
 and delightful it is when banished to a strange coun- 
 try, where the way to Zion lies desolate, and cast out 
 into the circle of this world’s children, and, as it were, by 
 the waters of Babylon, one finds unexpectedly, in the wide 
 waste, some citizen of Canaan, some brother or sister in 
 the Lord. This is joy unspeakable ; and were there no 
 more than one, the desert straightway begins to rejoice 
 and to blossom as the rose. In such cases, it appears in 
 full clearness that the mutual love of the regenerate is not 
 so poor and imperfect a thing as the world has often 
 asserted it to be ; that the love of which our Lord says, 
 “ By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, 
 if ye have love one to another,” is really in all his people, 
 and that, however latent it may be, it can never be extin- 
 guished. The joy of Elijah is thus still tasted in our 
 world. Thanks be to God for it, and also for the assur- 
 ance, that everywhere in the earth, even where hirelings 
 and wolves devour the flocks, the God of grace has his 
 sheep and hidden doves ; that those sheep which pasture 
 on barren plains bear often the finest wool ; and that the 
 proverb holds wonderfully true — “ The children of God find 
 out each other.” 
 
 As Elijah now knew that it was the widow, of whom 
 God had spoken to him, he hesitated no longer to address 
 to her all the comfort in his power. ITe was directed by 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 61 
 
 God to say to her, “ Fear not, go and do as thou hast said ; 
 but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto 
 me ; and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus 
 saith the Lord God of Israel, the barrel of meal shall not 
 waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that 
 the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.” 
 
 The promise in the latter part of this address removed 
 all the difficulties in the former. It lightened the faith of 
 the widow and encouraged her to do as Elijah had said ; 
 and the three cakes were actually produced, and Elijah 
 i did eat, and she and her son, and all were supplied in the 
 most wonderful and glorious way. Blessed indeed is the 
 path of faith ! 
 
 Behold, then, the man of God now sitting in the lonely 
 cottage (not far from the sea, if we may credit an old 
 legend). There is now his home, and he is quite cheerful, 
 and the whole house rejoices in his company, not for his 
 worldly gifts alone, but much more for the spiritual bless- 
 ings which he brings with him. Israel has lost her pro- 
 phet ; a poor widow has found him. Thus it fares with a 
 people who are slow of turning to the Lord, and who will 
 not repent under any preacher. The bread is taken from 
 them and given to the dogs, who are languishing for it 
 without. Of this our Lord reminded the people of 
 Nazareth, as recorded in Luke (iv. 25) in these words, “ I 
 tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days 
 of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six 
 months, when great famine was throughout all the land ; 
 but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, 
 a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.” 
 
 Yes, there the prophet sits, in tranquil happiness with 
 the whole house. All want has disappeared. The meal 
 in the barrel is not consumed ; the cruse of oil ever replen- 
 ishes itself, according to the word of the Lord. A spiritual 
 table is also newly spread from day to day. 0 how this 
 poor woman delights in the privilege of sitting day after 
 day at the feet of this wise and holy man of God, to learn 
 from him the truths of heaven; and how gladly does 
 
62 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 Elijah open his mouth in divine wisdom to this dcr.r, 
 affectionate, and simple-hearted sister. They pray together, 
 read together in Moses and the prophets, discourse of the 
 promised Messiah and his appearance in the world, raise 
 now and then a spiritual song to the praise of the Lord ; 
 and the hours pass swiftly and pleasantly by ; and the 
 angels of God may well ’rejoice over such a little church 
 in the wilderness, and look down on it with gladness. 
 Behold, then, dear brethren, here is the issue and termi- 
 nation of a way which began in. such deep darkness. Thus 
 God leads his children, in all things pertaining to life or to 
 godliness, at all times to the most glorious end. 
 
 Only mark what is said of Elijah. “ He arose and went.” 
 It is a noble testimony. Let it then be equally said of 
 each of you, whithersoever the Lord may call you, “ He 
 arose and went.” Be the way ever so painful, “ arise and 
 go.” Go forward, strong in faith ; be still and endure : it 
 will end in light thus, in one wonder of grace or another ; 
 and whosoever has ventured on the bark of life at God’s 
 bidding, far away from land, and is now tossed to and fro 
 on the open sea, let him fear not, but cast his anchor in 
 the depths of divine faithfulness, and by the rock of his 
 eternal promises. Let him be of good courage, and ex- 
 claim, with the sweet singer of Israel,. “Why art thou cast 
 down, 0 my soul, and why art thou disquieted in me ? 
 hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the 
 health of my countenance and my God.”— Ps. xlii. 11. 
 
 III. — RAISING THE WIDOW’S SON AT 
 ZAREPHATH. 
 
 The purifying of a chosen soul in the wine-press of 
 trouble, which is at work in God’s vineyard night and 
 day, shall form the subject of this day’s meditation. 
 
 1 KINGS, xvii. 17—24. 
 
 “ And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the 
 woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick ; and his sickness was so 
 sore, that there was no breath left in him. And she said unto 
 Elijah, What have I to do with thee, 0 thou man of God ? art thou 
 come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son ? 
 And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 63 
 
 her bosom, and carried him up into a loft where he abode, and laid 
 him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O 
 Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with 
 whom I sojourn, by slaying her son'V And he stretched himself 
 upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O 
 Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again . 
 And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah ; and the soul of the child 
 came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child, 
 and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and de- 
 livered him unto his mother: and Elijah- said. See, thy son liveth. 
 And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art 
 a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is 
 truth.” 
 
 Here again we have a new instance of God’s peculiar 
 guidance ; another of those ways, which are indeed wonder- 
 fully dark and mysterious, but not the less pure, goodness, 
 and truth. We have here recorded an attack of grace on the 
 part of the great spiritual conqueror. Its object is the heart 
 of the poor widow of Sarepta : already had the outwork 
 fallen ; but it must be absolutely mastered and subdued. 
 
 Let us unite, then, in contemplating this work of Him 
 whose name is Wonderful, and its glorious consequences. 
 
 We have here, I., The assault of grace ; II., The perfect 
 victory ; III., The calm after the storm. 
 
 I. We find our prophet where we last left him, in the 
 land of Sidon, by the sea shore, in the silent, peaceful 
 dwelling of the widow of Zarephath. His stay there has 
 now been lengthened. He has passed, not weeks only, but 
 many months, in his still, quiet retreat. A pleasant time, 
 a life of enjoyment, flowing on like a stream, clear and 
 bright, and without fall or whirlpool. A life divided be- 
 twixt praises and prayer; betwixt pious discourse and 
 offices of kindness ; betwixt study of the divine word and 
 contemplation of the works of God in nature ; and day by 
 day crowned anew with tokens of Jehovah’s grace and 
 kindness. Now, I am certain that many among ourselves 
 would have been ashamed of such an inactive quiet sort of 
 life, made up of nothing but receiving and enjoying; and 
 that they would have felt it a reproach, and have sought 
 again as soon as possible the scene of labour and activity. 
 But Elijah was not so ambitious of employment. The belief 
 that there is in human labour and effort a certain worth 
 
64 . 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 for its own sake, a certain available and meritorious value, 
 he had long ago discarded as a vain and foolish supposi- 
 tion. He knew that all that men receive from the treasury 
 of heaven is a pure gift of the most unconditional grace, 
 and therefore he left it entirely to his Lord’s disposal, 
 whether he should appoint him a goodly heritage in the 
 land of Goshen, under his vine and fig-tree, or station him 
 in the desert, under the waving of the banner of war, and 
 in the scene of toil and mortal struggle. “Be it as my 
 God will” was his watchword. Did the Lord summon 
 him to labour and conflict, he was at his post. Did he 
 shut him up, as at Zarephath, in the haven of rest ; far 
 from aiming at self-willed escape, he thought with the 
 Psalmist, “ It is vain to rise up early and sit up late, eat- 
 ing the bread of carefulness, for he gives it to his beloved 
 whilst they sleep.” 
 
 Thus no scruple of conscience assailed the prophet in 
 the midst of his happy days at Zarephath. He knew that 
 his time was in the hands of the Lord, and he was full of 
 joy and hallowed thankfulness, and of freedom from care, 
 as a harmless child. Would that we were all thus like 
 little children. Whosoever among you is in the situation 
 of Elijah, be the circumstances and causes of it what they 
 may, be it from feebleness or age, from want of oppor- 
 tunity or of gifts, of influence or of personal resources, 
 be it from poverty or widowhood, or from any other cause 
 whatever, that one is excluded from the sphere of active 
 service, or laid aside from those works of faith to which 
 we are too apt to attach the idea of merit, let such an one 
 consider that the Lord has directed him to Zarephath, to 
 serve him there in peace and quietness ; and let him not 
 fill his mind with idle scruples and unprofitable niceties, 
 but let him rather embrace this life of repose with thank- 
 fulness to its Author. And whosoever among us thus lives 
 in the Lord’s bosom, and feels his soothing hand, and not 
 the rod of displeasure, and enjoys the blessedness of him 
 who “ eats bread in the kingdom of God,” and feels his 
 heart satisfied to overflowing with the goodness of God's 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 6 5 
 
 house, let him continue “ to drink, yea, drink abun- 
 dantly,” and rejoice greatly in the God of his salvation, 
 and make no scruple to rejoice in the Lord alway, and 
 yet, again, to rejoice ; and let him not vex and harass 
 himself with the thought that he is so free from struggles 
 and doubts, from darkness and temptation, while other 
 brethren lie in the dust ; much less let him strive to work 
 himself into this frame of doubt and darkness, as if it were 
 necessary to pass through it, or remain in it, in order to 
 be a Christian and at peace with God — an idea fraught 
 with absurdity, and rising from the self-righteous blind- 
 ness of our corrupt nature. Tarry at Zarephath, gracious 
 soul, so long as God pleases. Rejoice, since the bridegroom 
 is with thee ; when once he shall be taken from thee the 
 time of fasting will come of itself. Act like the Shula- 
 mite in the Song of songs. When the Lord led her into 
 his banqueting-house, she followed without scruple, and 
 went not out to force tears of affected sadness, but sang 
 with joy, “ I sat under his shadow with great delight, and 
 his fruit was sweet unto my taste. He brought me to the 
 banqueting-house, and his banner over me was love. He 
 stayed me with flagons ; he comforted me with apples.” 
 Be not afraid to bound “like a young roe on the moun- 
 tains of spices,” so long as thy master grants thee liberty. 
 Thou shalt not miss the salutary cross and the needful 
 struggle in their own good time. In a word, it is as far 
 wrong, of our own self-will, to make a Sabbath, when the 
 Lord gives us one, into a week-day, as it is wrong to con- 
 vert the week-day, when he enjoins it, of our own self- 
 will, into a Sabbath. 
 
 Was there not also, my dear brethren, something beauti- 
 fully interesting in the perpetual miracle of which this 
 poor widow’s house was the scene. The merciful God, 
 who governs a thousand worlds, and in whose hands are 
 the affairs of the universe, visited this humble dwelling 
 nightly with his grace, replenishing the barrel and the 
 cruse ; and, when its inmates rose in the morning, they had 
 been blessed in their sleep, before they had found time to 
 5 
 
66 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 pray, “ Give us this day our daily bread.” And do we not 
 also experience his tenderness and condescension ? Is lie 
 not the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever ? The 
 miracle of Zarephath is repeated each day to thousands, 
 though in a less visible form ; and all God’s children ex- 
 perience in spiritual things what this widow did in tem- 
 poral. Great as may be our spiritual poverty, “ the bar- 
 rel of meal wastes not, and the cruse of oil does not fail.” 
 
 He cares, dear brother, that thy faith fail not. Mark the 
 expression, “ that it fail not.” We do not read that 
 whole sacks of meal were brought into this widow’s house, 
 nor that her cruse ran over. What we are told is, “ that 
 the meal wasted not.” She received daily as much as she ' 
 needed. “ And the cruse of oil failed not.” And so thou, 
 perhaps, wilt receive no superabundance of the joy of be- 
 lieving, so that thou mightest exult and triumph even in 
 the furnace ; too much might not be for thy good. But this 
 thou art assured of, that thy faith shall not fail ; that the ’ 
 merciful and faithful High Priest has gained by interces- 
 sion for thee, as once for his apostle Peter ; and he will t 
 daily supply thee with so much patience, each day as at $ 
 the first, that, though thou mayest occasionally doubt and . 
 be oppressed, thou shalt never sink utterly, nor despair. 
 
 A pious writer says, with equal truth and beauty, “ I need 
 just as much patience to wait, as the lamp needs oil, till 
 the day break and the shadows flee away.” 
 
 Delightful, beyond question, as we have already seen, , 
 was the situation of Elijah with the pious widow at 1 
 Zarephath. But it is not good for man in general that f 
 his life should flow on in the same easy channel. Long ' 
 prosperity makes him proud and forgetful of his native ( 
 poverty. Lazarus might then be tempted to leave the 
 rich man’s gate, and to part with his pilgrim’s staff. c ; 
 Long seasons of rest for sacred contemplation are open to 
 the intrusion of self-complacency. Lengthened holidays j 
 gratify too much the old Adam ; and, hence, a life inter- 
 rupted by no vicissitude and change is far from being the 
 best for us. Our gracious father, knowing this, makes 
 
ELIJAH THE TISnBITE. 
 
 f7 
 
 provision that there shall be no lack of variety in the lot 
 of his dear children, but pours them, as it has been said, 
 out of one vessel into another, that they may not settle 
 on their lees. Such a change now awaited the interesting 
 family at Zarephath. The “wherefore” was known to 
 God only. The pleasant calm is succeeded by a tempest ; 
 the grateful coolness by a burning heat. 
 
 Quite unexpectedly, amidst the happiest scenes, and the 
 most refreshing experiences of God’s love and presence, a 
 heavy cloud darkened the peaceful cottage. Alas! the 
 widow’s son, her only child, doubly dear to his mother, as 
 having been miraculously saved from death by famine, be- 
 gan to complain of illness, and from hour to hour the 
 malady increased. His sickness was sore, heavy, and dange- 
 rous ; the anguish of the poor mother rose to the utmost ; 
 but her tears found no answer. Alas ! after a few days, the 
 happiest of dwellings was changed into a place of lamen- 
 tation and woe. The mother’s darling and hope, her 
 dearest on earth, her beloved child, lay stretched upon 
 the bier, pale and cold ; and “ there was no more breath 
 in him.” His soul had returned to God who gave it. 
 This was the trial sent by God against the heart of this 
 poor widow. How hard, how severe, according to out- 
 ward appearance. And yet there was nothing but mercy 
 behind the cloud. Our gracious God had a purpose to 
 serve with this bitter medicine. It is true “ that *c 
 chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but 
 grievous but that “ it afterwards yieldeth the peaceable 
 fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised there- 
 by,*’ our narrative shall abundantly instruct us. 
 
 II. To what end, then, this painful visitation ? Yes, to 
 what end ? This is what we are always striving to know, 
 to the minutest details. But who are we, that we should 
 seek to explain and interpret perfectly all the dealings of 
 the Lord. Do you not know that the judgments of the 
 Lord are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out ! 
 Therefore we ought not to hope to find the key to every 
 
63 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 one of his dispensations towards his children, nor too 
 eagerly set our hearts on divining to the letter every rid- 
 dle of his providence ; but be satisfied with what is writ- 
 ten in Moses — “ His work is perfect ; all his ways are 
 judgment and stop short with faith, and trust our gra- 
 cious God, even when clouds and darkness are round 
 about him. Yet, in this visitation of the family of Zare- 
 phath, there is not wanting a certain glimmer of light, 
 which enables us to guess at the divine purpose. The 
 widow was a woman of piety ; that admits of no doubt ; 
 but pious only in the sense in which Lydia and Cornelius, 
 and others, were so before the period of their actual con- 
 version and regeneration. She knew the grace of God ; 
 but this knowledge was as yet defective and superficial ; 
 she stood in a certain relation of intercourse with him, 
 but this rested not yet on the true ground, the blood of 
 the promised Lamb of God. She served the Lord ; but 
 more in the manner of Martha, who thought that she re- 
 quired to bring somewhat in her hand, than of Mary, who 
 sat at his feet on the ground with her hands empty, and 
 with open heart, only receiving and wishing to receive. 
 She knew God in his benevolence and love ; but not yet in 
 his grace, since she did not yet know the sinfulness and 
 unworthiness of her own heart ; and the emotions of joy 
 and wonder, which the manifold blessings and deliverances 
 of the Lord excited — those feelings, I say, which were 
 rather natural than gracious, and which she might regard 
 too confidently, as betokening the “ new heart,” which God , 
 demanded, caused her to err from the path of self -know- ' 
 ledge, and blinded her eyes as to her own real and spiritual ) 
 state before God. In short, she imagined herself *o have < 
 gained the friendship of God, without knowing anything ■ 
 of “ the way to the Father without Mediator ; without 
 Surety ; without the broken heart. And such friendship <’ 
 with God has no reality ; it exists only in our imaginations, 
 find rests more on mistake and self-deception than on the 
 truth. Hence, if the poor widow, with all her piety, could 
 not enter into the kingdom of heaven ; and if, in spite cf 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 es 
 
 all her singing, prayer, and believing, she must at last have 
 suffered shipwreck of her soul, it was necessary that the 
 Holy Ghost, under whose preparatory training she had 
 long rested, should yet farther interpose ; and, above all, 
 open her eyes to see that the love of God is grace, unde- 
 served grace, through the work and merit of another. But 
 how could this salutary and humbling view find entrance, 
 how could it become a rooted and living principle without a 
 previous knowledge of her state of sinfulness, which made 
 grace indispensable ? And this the eternal mercy of the 
 Godhead provides for. We all know the means. She is 
 doubly visited. Two invisible guests break in upon her ; 
 the Lord and the Spirit. The one visits the widow’s 
 house ; the other the widow’s heart. The one inflicts the 
 calamity ; the other expounds it. The one slays the son ; 
 the other explains the reason why : while the one assails, 
 the cry of the other pierces her soul, “ woman, woman, 
 this is a judgment for thy sins.” And the woman hears, 
 wrings her hands, and cries out, “ Elijah, what have I to 
 do with thee, 0 thou man of God ; Art thou come unto 
 me, to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son ?” 
 Behold, then, here is a universal, a total overthrow. 
 “ Thou art come unto me to call my sin to remembrance.” 
 She meant that now God had for the first time seen into 
 her heart ; and this is the right feeling. Yes, thus it is 
 with one when the Holy Spirit begins to disclose to him 
 the “plague of his own heart.” At such a moment the 
 soul feels as if it saw the Divine Eye rest upon itself, fixed 
 and immoveable ; and, ah, it rests there like the burning 
 noon-tide blaze, like an awfully bright and devouring flame 
 of fire. Then it will hide its nakedness ; but through all 
 screens and curtains that great Eye breaks through. Ex- 
 cuse and palliation, the shelter of spiritual shame, are 
 utterly burnt up by its flame. The fair array of virtues, 
 sought out and gathered up to bear that Eye aside, are 
 scorched and blackened, and turned into sins. And when 
 the soiil would flee away and escape, the Eye of terror goes 
 with it ; and, whether it move or rest, the unaverted gaze 
 
TO 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 is there. It stands above our bed when we 1)3 down ; it 
 
 scares us in visions ” when we sleep. In the lonely 
 chamber we find no peace from it ; and amid the world’s 
 bustle we suddenly falter and grow pale, as Belshazzar at 
 his feast ; for the great Eye is again upon us, and our rest 
 is fled, our joy is over, our soul is hunted from shelter to 
 shelter in cowering haste, and there is no peace here, and 
 no peace there, but everywhere the Eye, the tremendous 
 Eye, and the voice of thunder, “ Adam, where art thou.” 
 
 Such was our widow’s experience. And what was her 
 exclamation to Elijah, in the anguish of her heart ? “ O 
 thou man of God, what have I to do with thee ? Art thou 
 come to call my sin to my remembrance, and to slay my 
 son ?” Strange, and even foolish, language ; but, as the 
 language of her heart and feelings, very significant and 
 interesting. As if she had said, “ Why didst thou come 
 to me : I owe it to thy visit that God has remembered my 
 sins ; for thou art so holy a man that I and my house 
 were not worthy to receive thee. And God must punish 
 us for being so bold and forward with thee, as if we had 
 been thy equals. Thy coming has brought all this upon 
 me. The merciful God had not so strictly reckoned with 
 me, poor insignificant worm that I am, but in thy society, 
 which has drawn down his attention upon me. In thy 
 holiness has he first seen my sinfulness, and he would not 
 have come so near a poor sinner like me, hadst thou not 
 brought his presence into my house, for He is always with 
 thee.” Something like this was the meaning of her language. 
 Foolishness of thought is indeed here ; but, with all 
 this foolishness, what holy simplicity ; what truth of feel- 
 ing ; what self-annihilation and humility ! The end of 
 God is gained, and the victory is won. 
 
 III. Behold, there sits now the poor mother 1 What a 
 spectacle of sadness and woe ! Alas, unhappy woman ! 
 There she sits, with her dead son in her arms, as if she 
 would again warm its stiffened limbs at her heart. Her 
 eyes are red with weeping and she wrings her hands ; ami 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 7 1 
 
 now her tears are fcr her child’s death, and now for the 
 greatness of her crimson sins, and she knows not which is 
 the deeper wound. Pitiable state ! The prophet sits 
 opposite ; and well may his heart also have been touched, 
 and his eye moistened with genuine sympathy and com- 
 passion. But he guessed rightly the purpose of this visit- 
 ation, and had no sooner perceived that God’s merciful 
 end was accomplished than he hastened to take measures 
 to quell the storm. He arose, and with firm step and 
 peaceful countenance, that prophesied of good, approached 
 the mother and said to her, “Give me thy son.” This 
 composure must have made a wonderful impression on the 
 poor mother. A bright ray of hope must have shone into 
 the darkness of her soul. But see, Elijah, that thou art 
 able to fulfil the hopes thou art raising. Elijah has no 
 fear of the issue in his own mind. He takes the little 
 corpse from the mother’s breast, hastens with it into the 
 upper chamber, which was his, lays it upon the bed, shuts 
 the door, falls on his knees, and applies himself to prayer 
 and communion with the Lord- 
 And now, hark ! hark ! What a prayer is that with 
 which he presents himself before the Lord ; a prayer 
 which assuredly would not pass uncorrected by us ; that 
 would not escape the criticism, censure, and condemnation 
 of our wisdom, had we heard it from the mouth of any 
 other than the prophet Elijah. “0 Lord my God,” cries 
 he, “hast thou also brought evil on the widow with whom 
 I sojourn by slaying her son ?” What, Elijah ! dost thou 
 speak before the living God of. bringing evil ? and dost 
 thou dare to come with such a question, nay complaint, 
 before his throne ? Yes, Elijah dares. It is in the fulness 
 of his soul. He speaks fresh from the heart ; and feels 
 neither scruple nor difficulty. And, if he speak foolishly, 
 he does it in simplicity ; if he err, he errs in faith ; and, if 
 he treats too confidently with God, he does it emboldened 
 by the blood of the Lamb, and the divine promises. We 
 dare not make ourselves his masters ; for his prayer was 
 accepted of God. Was not its import this, “Lord, was it 
 
72 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 thy purpose to slay the child ? Impossible. Thou wouldst 
 only lead the mother to repentance by the cross ; and it 
 is accomplished. Shall the child then continue dead ? 
 Lord, let it not be. Look graciously on this poor widow, 
 and recompense her for all her kindness to thy servant ; 
 for I am poor and have nothing. And, Lord, remember 
 that I am thy prophet. In my reproach, thou also art re- 
 ' proached. That thy name may be hallowed, and thy praise 
 increased on the earth, O do thou hear this my prayer.” 
 And, having thus spoken to the Lord, he arose and threw 
 himself upon the dead child, and stretched himself on it 
 three times, as though he would say, “ I will not leave 
 this child, but will die or live with it.” And, having 
 stretched himself for the last time, he cried out, with a,n 
 earnestness that might move heaven and earth, “ O Lord 
 my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come unto him 
 again.” A prayer this quite positive and unconditional, 
 without the qualifying words, “Not my will, but thine, 
 be done.” And what followed this holy boldness in 
 prayer ? “ The Lord heard*the voice of Elijah, and the soul 
 of the child came into him again, and he revived.” 
 
 But does not this run directly counter to all our notions 
 and maxims respecting acceptable prayer ? Here we have 
 an unconditional prayer; a prayer for a temporal bless- 
 ing ; a prayer for a miracle ; a prayer without limitation, 
 without addition of the clause, “Not my will, but thine, 
 be done;” and yet God answers it. Yes, our gracious 
 God does not tie himself down to our maxims, and is not 
 bound by our rules. This event in the life of Elijah at 
 Zarephath is similar to one recorded of Luther at Wittem- 
 berg. His friend Myconius lay on his death-bed, and wrote 
 him a farewell letter. Luther immediately, on reading 
 the letter, fell on his knees and began to pray — “ 0 Lord 
 my God, no ! thou must not yet take our brother Myconius 
 to thyself ; thy cause cannot yet do without him. Amen.” 
 And, after thus praying, he rose up and wrote his sick 
 brother, — “ There is no cause for fear, dear Myconius ; the 
 Lord will not let me hear that you are dead. You shall 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 73 
 
 net, and must not die. Amen.” These words made a 
 powerful impression on the heart of the dying Myconius, 
 and agitated him in such a manner, that the ulcer in 
 his lungs discharged itself. He recovered. “ Well, I wrote 
 you that it would be so,” was the answer of Luther to the 
 letter which announced the recovery of his friend. 
 
 Another little anecdote occurs to me, that I can hardly 
 withhold on account of its simplicity and beauty. The 
 mother of a little girl only four years old, had been for 
 some time most dangerously ill. The physicians had given 
 her up. When the little girl heard this, she went into an 
 adjoining room, knelt down, and said, “Dear Lord Jesus, 
 make my mother well again.” And, after she had thus 
 prayed, she said, as though in God’s name, with as deep a 
 voice as she could, “Yes, my dear child, I will do it 
 gladly.” This was the little girl’s Amen. She rose up 
 with a light heart, ran to her mother’s bed-side, and said, 
 “ Mother, you will yet be well.” And she recovered, and 
 is in health to this day. May I also venture, then, you 
 ask, to pray thus unconditionall} r , even in temporal con- 
 cerns ? No ; that thou must not venture to do, so long as 
 thou canst still ask and doubt. But if thou art moved by 
 the Spirit thus to pray, without doubting, without scruple, 
 in a child-like temper and with simplicity of heart, resting 
 on the true foundation and in genuine faith; pray thus 
 without fear. No one dare censure thee. God will hear 
 thy prayer gladly. 
 
 “O Lord my God,” cried Elijah in his upper chamber, 
 “ let this child’s soul come to him again.” “ I will,” cried 
 the Lord in return. “ Amen, be it so.” And the soul of 
 the child came back from the invisible world. The child 
 began to breathe, and lifted itself up, and left the couch 
 of death ; and Elijah, with feelings which you can easily 
 conceive, took the child, brought him down from his 
 chamber, and delivered him to his mother ; and, in one 
 sentence, short and pithy, as his manner was, said, “ See, 
 thy son liveth.” He left it to the Holy Ghost to say to 
 her the rest. What shall I now tell you of the feelings of 
 
74 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 the poor widow ? She sees heaven opened, and that not 
 so much in the recovery of her child that lay once more 
 alive on her breast. No, quite otherwise. She cannot yet 
 think of her child. “Elijah,” she exclaims, with inex- 
 pressible joy, “Elijah, now, by this I know that thou art a 
 man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth 
 is truth.” The word of the Lord : What word of the Lord 
 had Elijah spoken to her r 0, that is not difficult to find. 
 We find here, at the end of the narrative, a new key to 
 the whole history. It is clear that Elijah had said some- 
 thing to her in the days of their intercourse, which she 
 had not yet been able to comprehend or to believe. It is 
 not difficult to conjecture what that might have been. 
 Elijah had no doubt soon discovered that the woman, 
 with all her piety, was yet far from standing on the true 
 foundation ; and he had also availed himself of the peace- 
 ful days at Zarephath to acquaint her with the divine 
 plans for the salvation of sinners, with the doctrine of a 
 promised Messiah, with his blood and merits, and with 
 the necessity of faith in him, and the other points which 
 spring from these great discoveries. These had been to 
 her, as it appears, strange and mysterious things, which 
 she could not rightly appreciate, but pushed aside be- 
 cause there was as yet no need of them in her soul. But 
 a sense of the need of a Mediator and Reconciler was now 
 powerfully awakened in her heart, after she had become 
 conscious, in the furnace of affliction, of her sinful and 
 guilty condition. Elijah’s preaching of the cross, and of 
 the forgiveness of sinners through the merits of the pro- 
 mised Surety, was, through the miraculous testimony by 
 which God had sealed anew his prophet and messenger, 
 raised to the rank of divine and indubitable truth, so that 
 she could yield herself up to it with her whole heart, and 
 rejoice and be glad in it. And it was this new faith, this 
 new certainty, this new joy and blessed hope, which ex- 
 pressed itself in her language, “Now I know that thou 
 art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy 
 mouth is truth.” “ I know, I feel, I see, I taste it. It is 
 
ELIJAH THE T1SHBITE. 
 
 75 
 
 truth ; yes, precious truth.” Now she stands on another 
 foundation. From a fearer of God she has become a 
 child of God. And in the moment when Elijah said to 
 her, “ See, thy son liveth,” her heart could say something 
 greater still ; “ I know that my Redeemer liveth.” This 
 was the calm after the storm. 
 
 V.— ELIJAH AND OBADIAH. 
 
 “He must increase, but I must decrease,” was the 
 language of J ohn the Baptist to his disciples, as he per- 
 ceived, with the greatest concern, that they placed him 
 above Jesus, and with mistaken attachment clung to him, 
 instead of attaching themselves to that “ Greater than he,” 
 whom John had only preceded as herald and harbinger 
 with the trumpet of repentance. “My children,” cries 
 he, “ what are you attempting.” “ He that hath the bride 
 is the bridegroom, and the bridegroom is Christ. I am 
 only the friend of the bridegroom. My office is to an- 
 nounce to the spiritual bride the arrival of her beloved, 
 and to direct her attention to him. When the beloved 
 is come, and the bride hath found him, then is my office 
 at an end. Then the friend of the bridegroom, who 
 standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of 
 the bridegroom’s voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. 
 He must increase, but I must decrease.”— John iii. 30. 
 
 The Baptist compares his master to the great luminary 
 which makes the day ; but himself to the lesser light, or 
 to a planet, which is visible only so long as the sun is not 
 in the heavens, but then pales its ray, retires into dark- 
 ness, and vanishes altogether. And he wishes to be no- 
 thing more than such a faint star, or a moon in full day, 
 and would gladly drive all his followers who surround 
 him by force from him, that they might fall at and em- 
 brace the feet of the Saviour. Gladly would he stand for- 
 saken, and no more regarded, did he but see the sheep 
 resting in the fold of the great Shepherd, and partaking of 
 that salvation which could alone be found there. “ Ha 
 
7b 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 roust increase, but I must decrease.” The Baptist meant, 
 that he must decrease not merely in personal reputation, 
 but also in regard to his office. His office was only pre- 
 paratory. It was his duty to prepare the way for the 
 spiritual Bridegroom, by preaching the law unto repent- 
 ance, and to be no more than a “ schoolmaster unto Christ,” 
 as Moses ; only that he drew Sinai and Calvary near to- 
 gether, and blended the trumpet notes of the law with 
 the sweet harp-tones of the gospel. 
 
 That the Messias should come to bring help and salva- 
 tion to sinners, the disciples of John well knew ; yet many 
 so viewed the matter, as if the repentance which they 
 were now displaying, and the life of rigour and poverty 
 which they were passing in the wilderness, as well as the 
 fasting, self-denial, and prayer, which John enjoined, had 
 in itself some atoning virtue, or must at least be laid in the 
 balance as works of merit, which they hoped would 
 outweigh the evil of their sins, and the threatened curse 
 of the law. This was, however, utterly to confound the 
 offices of John and of Christ, and to make a very strange 
 mixture of grace and works. The zealous men had not 
 yet been baptised deep enough in the Jordan. “ No, no,” 
 exclaimed the Baptist with vehemence, “this will not 
 suffice ; you must die unto yourselves yet far more 
 thoroughly. Sink deeper into free grace. ‘ I must decrease.’ 
 All that I have enjoined, the sorrow for sin, the crucifying 
 of the flesh, the fasting and the prayer, must lose all worth 
 in your eyes as a means of reconciliation with Cod. In 
 Christ must ye seek this, and in Christ alone. ‘ He must 
 increase.’ ” 
 
 Now, in this declaration of the Baptist, the whole mys- 
 tery of godliness lies wrapped up. Does any one ask 
 what he must do to be saved, “Friend, thou must de- 
 crease, and Christ must increase ; and thus thou shalt be 
 saved.” Does another ask, “ Wherein consists the sancti- 
 fication of the believer ?” What shall we reply ? It 
 consists in this, that Christ increase ...and that the believer 
 decrease. Would another seek to know a certain sign that 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 77 
 
 he is advancing in the life of grace ? We should only need 
 to say to him, “ Test yourself by this, whether Christ in- 
 crease in your eyes, and you yourself decrease.” By nature, 
 we are great and Jesus little ; we are strong and Jesus is 
 weak. So long as we cannot allow Him to be the only 
 Saviour, the Alpha and the Omega, we find the power 
 in our own hands, not in his ; the light in our own rea- 
 son, not in his word ; the salvation in our own acquired 
 merits, not in the blood of ‘the Lamb. Suddenly the light- 
 ning of divine illumination falls on our benighted heart, 
 and the case is at once reversed. The strong has in a 
 moment become weak ; the weak has become strong. The 
 Sun of Righteousness rises in full view before us with 
 healing under his wings, and our poor lunar light grows 
 dim, and sinks with all its blaze of glories, virtues, and 
 moral powers into darkness. As poor debtors we lie 
 weeping on the steps of the throne of grace, and, 0, what 
 would we not give if He, the adorable, the only Saviour, 
 would with one beam of grace, with one glance of love, 
 revive our downcast hearts. Then the sinner has decreased, 
 and Jesus has increased before his eyes. 
 
 We might, at first, suppose that one who has once been 
 heartily and thoroughly humbled in repentance, would 
 never all his life long be able to lift up his head in pride. 
 But experience teaches us often & very different lesson. 
 If the old man were dead within us, it might be so ; but 
 he lives still, although dying as a malefactor on the cross ; 
 and not unfrequently he revives, even in the regenerate, 
 with djch sad influence, that we are forced to take up the 
 language of complaint regarding them, “ Alas, Christ de- 
 creases, and they increase.” One increases by his ascetic ex- 
 ercises, another by the enlargement of his knowledge, an- 
 other by his good works, and another by the devoutness of 
 his frames ; and I know not all besides. In these they in- 
 crease, and are in a little become so pious and holy that they 
 stand erect on their own footing, and rest in their own righ- 
 teousness, and leave the throne of mercy an unfrequented 
 place.* With the sense of guilt, the conviction of help- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 ? 8 
 
 lessness departs, and hence Christ and his blood decrease 
 in their eyes. 
 
 Are we not then to increase in sanctification ? Yes, 
 truly ! Grow as the palm tree, but, in thy feeling and con- 
 sciousness, thou must remain like the hyssop on the wall, 
 and become daily less and weaker, and more dependent on 
 an outward prop that bears thee, or thy course is not the 
 right one. The children of God must grow “up unto 
 Him in all things, who is the head, even Christ.” Behold, 
 when thou art from day to day more in thy own sight “ as 
 nothing,” and Christ becomes to thee more literally “ thy 
 all when thou feelest thyself daily poorer, and embracest 
 more eagerly the riches of thy High Priest ; when thou find- 
 est thyself ever emptier of true virtues, and the righteous- 
 ness of thy Surety becomes to thee more and more precious ; 
 when thou seest more deeply thine own impotence, and 
 placest thyself as the beggar at the rich man’s door ; when 
 thou canst offer with thy whole heart the prayer, “Yea, 
 Lord, but the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from the 
 master’s table then is this thy decrease a true prospering 
 in grace, and thy poverty and debility in thyself is a 
 growing rich and strong in thy God. I must decrease, is 
 the language of the Baptist. It is a law of Christ’s king- 
 dom. Whom the Lord loveth, he leadeth from one descent 
 to another. The spectacle of such a spiritual decrease, 
 that Christ may increase, our present narrative presents 
 to us in the example of Obadiah. 
 
 1 KINGS xviii. 1—16. 
 
 “ And it came to pass, after many days, that the word of the 
 Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying. Go, shew thyself unto 
 Ahab: and I will send rain upon the earth. And Elijah went to 
 shew himself unto Ahab : and there was a sore famine in Samaria. 
 And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house: 
 (now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly ; For it was so, when Jezebel 
 ••ut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took an hundred 
 prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread 
 and water:) And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto 
 all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may 
 find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all 
 the beasts. So they divided the land between them, to pass 
 throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went 
 another way by himself. And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, 
 Elijah met him : and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said. 
 
ELIJAH THE TI3HBITE. 
 
 79 
 
 Art thou that my lord Elijah ? And he answered him, I am : Go, 
 tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. And he said. What have 
 I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of 
 Ahab, to slay me ? As the Lord thy God liveth, thei'e is no nation 
 Or kingdom whither rny lord hath not sent to seek thee : and when 
 they said. He is not there, he took an oath of the kingdom and 
 nation, that they found thee not. And now thou sayest, Go, tell 
 thy Lord, behold, Elijah is here. And it shall come to pass, as 
 soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry 
 thee whither I know not ; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and 
 he cannot tind thee, he shall slay me : but I thy servant fear the 
 Lord from my youth. Was it not told my lord what I did, when 
 Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how I Kid an hundred men 
 of the Lord’s prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread 
 and water ? And now thou sayest. Go, tell thy lord, Behold, 
 Elijah is here : and he shall slay me. And Elijah said, As the Lord 
 of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto 
 him to-day. So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him* and 
 Ahab went to meet Elijah/’ 
 
 Now that we have dwelt for a while with the prophet 
 under his vine and fig-tree, we are called again to accom- 
 pany him to the stormy theatre of public life. We have 
 here, I., The manner of his departure from Zarephath ; 
 II., The occurrences at the same time in the court at 
 Samaria ; and III., The meeting of Elijah and Obadiah. 
 
 I. The prophet had now been two years and some 
 months at Zarephath. " After many days,” is the language 
 of scripture. To the prophet they may have seemed 
 only a few ; yet certainly, when compared with the ordinary 
 course of God’s dealings with his children, it was a long 
 time. To lie for two years and some months in succession 
 as it were at anchor in a haven of rest ; to have for two 
 years and more a perpetual Sabbath, an unclouded sky, 
 if we except a few passing shades of trouble, and to remain 
 in a state of unbroken peace, with the assaults of the 
 devil and the world shut out, is the lot of few of Gods 
 servants. Our stay at Zarephath can in general only be 
 reckoned by hours and days, not by months and years. 
 Perhaps Elijah would have gladly lingered a little longer. 
 Ilis had been a happy time, and still more delightful in 
 its latter end than in its beginning, for the cloud of trouble 
 had left much dew and blessing behind on this quiet hill 
 of Zion. The widow had now become to him a real sister 
 
so 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 in the Lord, in the deepest and holiest sense of the word 
 And who can tell what work of grace may have passed in 
 the widow’s son, that Elijah recalled from the dead, and 
 whether from that moment his true life may not have begun. 
 But the word of the Lord came, “ Arise and depart.” At the 
 brook Cherith, where the wish to leave may naturally have 
 arisen, the command was, “ Thou shalt dwell here and 
 now at Zarephath, where he would gladly have tarried 
 longer, he receives the call, “ Go, shew thyself unto Ahab.” 
 Thus must our will and pleasure be often crossed, for it is 
 in general of little worth ; and God has better things in 
 store for us than we would choose for ourselves. Let us 
 cast our care on Him, to design and execute the plan of 
 our life, and trust in him as too wise and good to deceive 
 us ; for, as Moses says, “ He is a rock ; his work is perfect ; 
 all his ways are judgment.” Deut. xxxii. 4. Forward, 
 then, Elijah. “ The eternal God is thy refuge, and under- 
 neath are the everlasting arms.” Deut. xxxiii. 27. 
 
 “ Go, shew thyself unto Ahab.” What is this but to 
 say, “ Leave thy bark, and plunge into the waves ; quit 
 thy shelter, and rush into the lion’s den.” He had to 
 present himself to a fierce and exasperated king, whose 
 rage against him had risen each year with the increasing 
 misery of the country, and had grown ever more deadly 
 and rooted. For three years and a half had Ahab sought 
 to lay his hands on the prophet ; had used every effort to 
 track out his hiding-place ; had sent spies throughout his 
 own and all the neighbouring states to search for him, and 
 had taken an oath from the different tribes and govern- 
 ments that they had not found him, and yet all his efforts 
 had proved fruitless. What a source of irritation : and 
 what a slur on his royal power. Yes ! Elijah had to brave 
 a formidable desire of revenge in the heart of Ahab ; and 
 yet his commission is short and decided, “ Go, shew thyself 
 to Ahab.” Let no one suppose, however, that God Sver 
 expects from any of his children what is above human 
 nature, without granting at the same time the supernatural 
 strength ; let no one imagine that he calls us to a fight 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 81 
 
 of faith, without giving us faith for the encounter ; or that 
 he will lead us into any scene of dark trial, without at the 
 same time making provision that we shall be upheld, and 
 kept at least from prostration and despair. Yea, should 
 we ever be forced even to the cry of anguish, “ Why hast 
 thou forsaken me ?” yet he knows well so to support us, 
 if not by sense and sight, yet by secret faith, that we shall 
 be able to prefix to it a “ My God, my God and that is 
 enough to keep us from sinking. We are never called to 
 pass through the dark valley, but he is our rod and our 
 staff, and, however thick the darkness may be in which 
 he wraps us, he sends us still some cheering ray or other, so 
 that the night soon draws to dawn. The lamp which he 
 lighted up for Abraham, in his dark journey to Mount 
 Moriah, was, besides the universal belief, “Whatever 
 God does is good,” the special conviction in Abraham’s 
 breast that the Lord would raise his Isaac again to life. 
 And this sweetened his bitter path not a little. To the 
 p'atriarch Job was vouchsafed an especially clear and 
 certain and joyful view of the final result of his sufferings, 
 and of the day of resurrection. “ I know that my Redeemer 
 liveth, and, though after my skin worms destroy this body, 
 yet in my flesh shall I see God.” And what promise did 
 Elijah receive to lighten his path of faith ? “ Go, shew thy- 
 self to Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth." 
 “Now, God be praised for it,” might Elijah say ; “ I go as the 
 messenger of peace, and bring a blessing with me ;” “ soon 
 shall it be otherwise,” might he joyfully say to himself, as 
 the horrors of drought and famine met his eyes by the way. 
 “ Courage, courage,” he would exclaim in his heart, as faces 
 pale with hunger gazed at him; and when he thought of 
 Ahab, and the rage and malice of his enemies, the thought 
 would presently occur, “ Who knows what may take place 
 when I open the clouds once more in God’s name ; who 
 knows but they will at last repent, humble themselves, and 
 acknowledge the Lord of glory?” Such thoughts and 
 hopes and prospects must have made his sad and perilous 
 path far more tolerable, and relieved man}’’ a dark moment 
 
82 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 of shuddering sympathy with his unhappy countrymen. 
 Such is the manifold care of our gracious and tender God, 
 that no road be too rough, no hour too dark, for his children. 
 
 He is thy Shepherd sure. 
 
 His watch o'er thee shall aye endure; 
 
 He will on his own shoulders bear. 
 
 For thee already stands heaven's chariot near 
 
 Thy guard and crown ; though faith may wax obscure. 
 
 He is thy Shepherd sure. 
 
 “ Go, shew thyself to Ahab ; and I will send rain upon 
 the earth.” That sounds strange ; as if God had had need of 
 his own prophet for the re-opening of heaven ; and certainly 
 he did need him for that purpose. God had, so to speak, 
 transferred the power to open and to shut up heaven from 
 his own hand to that of his prophet, and commissioned him 
 to affirm openly, “ As the Lord God of Israel liveth, there 
 shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to 
 my word." Much, then, depended on the fact that the 
 rain returned according to the word of Elijah ; no less than 
 his own authority as a prophet, and the honour of the 
 God of Israel. For, had the heavens been opened without 
 his interference, it would have been regarded as a settled 
 point by all that Elijah was a false prophet and boaster, 
 and his God a phantom of the brain ; and the priests of 
 Baal would without scruple have ascribed the deliverance 
 to their idols, and have praised Baal as triumphant over 
 J ehovah. If, then, the whole design of the heavy judgment 
 on Israel should not fail ; if Baal should be brought to 
 shame and the Lord exalted, it was absolutely necessary 
 that J ehovah’s prophet should remove the drought by a 
 public word, as a complete proof that his Lord was the 
 true, the living God. Hence the command came, “Go 
 hence, and shew thyself to Ahab; and I will send rain 
 upon the earth.” 
 
 “ And Elijah went to shew himself to Ahab.” The 
 words are characteristic. Yes, here we find him again ; 
 the same noble man of God, with his firm step and his 
 walk of faith. He went, though surrounded by a thousand 
 dangers ; for he had become an execration of the populace. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 83 
 
 and an outlaw to all Israel ; yet he went, and his Lord 
 went with him. 
 
 II. While 'Elijah was taking his departure from Zare- 
 phath, Ahab the king was preparing himself in Samaria for 
 a journey. Elijah journeyed for the glory of God ; Ahab, 
 for the suke of his cattle, particularly his horses and his 
 mules, for which he would appear to have had a great 
 fancy. On this occasion we make, as before, an acquaint- 
 ance of a very pleasing and delightful kind. It is Obadiah, a 
 man of distinguished rank and station. He was chamber- 
 lain, or steward, of the royal household, and, at the same 
 time, captain of the royal guard ; being thus at once a 
 courtier and a soldier. We are therefore the more surprised 
 when we read, " that he feared the Lord greatly.” If the 
 discovery of a pious widow, between Tyre and Sidon, in a 
 heathen country, came upon us with a delightful surprise, 
 how much more unexpected must the appearance of an 
 Obadiah be amidst one of the most scandalous and corrupt 
 courts that ever existed in the world ! Thus we see that piety 
 is no plant which grows, as many think, in the hot-house 
 of human education, admonition, and good example ; for 
 how could a pious man thus have been reared in Samaria ? 
 We see that the children of God are not the products and 
 creatures of favourable circumstances and influences, since 
 the circumstances of society in Samaria were quite adapted 
 to make Obadiah and every one else children of the devil. 
 The Lord "forms a people for himself, to show forth his 
 praise,” when and where he pleaseth; "he has mercy 
 on whom he will have mercy, and has compassion on 
 whom he will have compassion;” and whosoever is de- 
 signed to be his child cannot be hindered by adverse 
 circumstances from becoming so. And thus also do the 
 fear of God, faith, and adoption, rank not among the 
 treasures which thieves can break through and steal, which 
 moth or rust can corrupt, or which the tide of wicked 
 company and seductive example can sweep away. Thus 
 Obadiah, by the good help of his faithful Saviour, brought 
 
84 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 his treasure, though in an earthen vessel, through all the 
 risks of a dangerous navigation. 
 
 “ Obadiah feared the Lord greatly.” In truth a noble 
 testimonial, given to this man in the word of inspiration. 
 And truly it was something great to fear the Lord with all 
 his heart at a time when the true knowledge and fear of 
 God had become a scorn and derision of the populace, and 
 the whole nation lay sunk in darkness and idolatry. It 
 was also truly great to remain steadfast on the Lord’s side 
 in a circle where gall and wormwood was the portion of 
 all God’s children, and every weapon was employed to 
 shake their fidelity. The more we think of it, the more 
 extraordinary does it appear to have adhered to the faith 
 in a court where the devil had spread all his gins and 
 snares ; and where all possible temptations to apostacy, 
 all possible seductions to vice and profligacy ran in one full 
 and common stream ; and in a part which drew all eyes 
 upon him ; in an office where his fortune or disgrace 
 depended entirely on the pleasure of the monarch ; in a 
 situation which doomed him to daily intercourse with the 
 most depraved men in the country, the wretched crew of 
 courtiers ; and there, in defiance of all who had influence, 
 to fear God ; and that not by halves, but with the whole 
 heart ; not timourously, but with decision ; not secretly, 
 but without disguise ; for all this lies in that one word 
 greatly. 0, this was something great and singular. But 
 who is to be praised for it ? The great Obadiah ? Tar 
 from it : he would himself forbid it. To the mighty God 
 and the power of his grace be all the glory ! 
 
 Let the example of Obadiah be often before the eyes of 
 those whose constant complaint is, “ that they would serve 
 the Lord willingly, but cannot, from the force of outward 
 circumstances.” Never was objection more unfounded. 
 So, if the outward circumstances were altered, ye would 
 serve the Lord fully ? Miserable blindness ! Ye cannot 
 do it at all, neither in one set of circumstances nor an- 
 other, except it be given you from above. But the man 
 to whom it is so given serves the Lord in all circumstances. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 85 
 
 And what should hinder him ? “I cannot serve God by 
 reason of the depravity of my heart,” is a complaint that 
 we may well listen to. But, “I cannot serve him because 
 of this or that outward hinderance;” this is the com- 
 plaint of those who lie dead in trespasses and sins. Where 
 the life of God is in the soul, ah, there is a fire that burns 
 through every bushel, a stream which sweeps away every 
 mound of opposition; then there is a must in the soul, 
 which is neither to be confined nor arrested, nor over- 
 mastered by circumstances. 
 
 Obadiah had already given a striking proof of the 
 sincerity of his piety and zeal for the cause of God. “ By 
 this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love 
 one another.” And by this touchstone Obadiah’s disciple- 
 ship had been tried and found genuine. As Jezebel, the 
 embittered enemy of the God of Israel, was making every 
 effort to extirpate his prophets by fire and sword, Obadiah 
 interposed for their rescue, and took a hundred of the 
 prophets, or their scholars, and concealed them by fifties 
 in a cave ; and stopped not here, but visited them in their 
 dark and lonely refuges, and fed them with bread and 
 water. It was a daring act, and might have cost him dear. 
 But the love of the brethren constrained him. Go, then, 
 my brethren, and do likewise. Through the influence of 
 the Ahabs and Jezebels of our times there is no longer a 
 lack of such as, from despotic laws, or caprice of ungodly 
 employers, are persecuted, cast off, and exposed to suffer- 
 ing for conscience sake. A frightful rage is re-awakened, 
 both on many a throne and seat of justice, and in many a 
 house and home, against those who will not bow the knee 
 to Baal ; and this persecuting spirit shall grow fiercer and 
 fiercer. Many a preacher will yet have to leave his pulpit ; 
 many a teacher his>chair ; many a mechanic his workshop, 
 because he is a Christian. Then gather yourselves close 
 together, ye children of God, for defence and succour. 
 Imitate Obadiah. The foe shall not have the triumph of 
 a malicious joy at the tears and sighs and clasped hands of 
 the children of Israel. Here we too are within sight of the 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 struggle ; and what is ours by the Lord’s goodness, let us 
 impart it to our brethren, who are purchased with the 
 same blood. 
 
 To return to our narrative. “And Ahab,” it is said, 
 “called Obadiah,” to give him a commission, which he 
 was to execute in company with the king. What a sin- 
 gular circumstance that a man like Obadiah should be 
 in such high favour with a despot like Ahab. He could 
 certainly never for a moment have dissembled his religion 
 to please the tyrant ; and it must have been known to the 
 king and queen and the whole court that he was one of 
 the most zealous worshippers of Jehovah. But the ex- 
 cellent man appears to have had grace given him, by his 
 walk and conversation, to stop the mouths of the wicked ; 
 and, by the steadfast truth and transparent purity of 
 character that he always displayed, to restrain even the 
 bitterest of enemies and scoffers within the limits of a 
 certain reverence. Ahab was no doubt well aware that 
 he had no second Obadiah among his officers of state ; and 
 they must all have perceived that no one had so much 
 confidence placed in him as this Israelite of the old school ; 
 and, though the king might join in the ridicule of his reli- 
 gion, he felt that he could on no account do without him. 
 
 Yes, there is something in every believer that forces 
 from the bitterest adversary a secret acknowledgment of 
 their dignity ; a light that condemns and punishes their 
 own darkness, and from which, in the bottom of their 
 hearts, they cannot withhold a certain esteem and admira- 
 tion. Nor is it an infrequent case either, that, in times 
 when jesters can no longer be of service, the hated sect 
 comes suddenly into favour, and rancourous opponents of 
 the gospel are for once glad that they have in their neigh- 
 bourhood some Galilean of whom they may make a 
 chosen counsellor. 
 
 “ Go into the country,” said Ahab to Obadiah, “ unto 
 all fountains of water, and unto all brooks ; peradventure 
 we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that 
 we lose not all the beasts.” Miserable man ! An anxious 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 87 
 
 solicitude for the preservation of his horses, and the keep- 
 ing up of his stud, was all that the divine judgment, now 
 continued for three years and a half, had awakened in his 
 soul ! “ Why should ye be stricken any more, ye will 
 
 revolt more and more.” Neither crosses nor blessings, 
 neither signs and wonders, nor corrections and judgments, 
 are able to awaken the spiritually dead to life. Nothing 
 can do so, but the almighty power of divine grace. Is not 
 this the lesson of daily experience ? How often, alas ! do 
 we think of some one we know, that now at last he shall 
 certainly become an altered man — such sore and humbling 
 chastisements must soften him, and bring him to reflection. 
 Must, did we think ? We anxiously mark his temper, and 
 seek the trace of change ; and, behold, where we hoped to 
 find at length a thought of God and of eternity, the man is 
 full of his horses and mules ; and instead of the holy 
 emotions which we looked for, instead of repentance and 
 prayer, and serious meditation on the great and eternal 
 concerns of the soul, there is nothing but a thick swarm of 
 the most pitiful cares and occupations, which flutter and 
 flutter around the soul, till they and it together are 
 swallowed up in the awful seriousness of eternity. “ Though 
 thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with 
 a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.” 
 — Prov. xxvii. 22. 0 thou almighty grace, have mercy 
 upon us ! 
 
 Obadiah readily obeys the command of his king. His 
 office required submission; and in the present case his 
 conscience had nothing to urge against it. But how could 
 a man like Obadiah bear to continue in the service of such 
 a ruler, and in the society of so thoroughly corrupt and 
 wicked a court ? The question, we may well suppose, 
 could not be an easy one for himself to solve. “ In the 
 world ye shall have tribulation,” says our Lord ; and this 
 tribulation, this feeling of strangeness in an ungenial 
 element, was doubtless not unknown in Obadiah’s experi- 
 ence. Many an hour may he have mourned and sighed in 
 secret: “ Woes me, that I am constrained to sojourn in 
 
83 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 Meshech, and to dwell in the tents of Kedar and often 
 must he have felt the noxious atmosphere lying like a 
 blight on the growth of his spiritual life. But Obadiah 
 could not adopt the convenient maxim which advises flight 
 where it is painful to continue at our post. “ My God,” he 
 would consider, “ has placed me here ; the reasons are 
 known to his infinite wisdom ; and it is an easy thing for 
 him to preserve me, even in this den of lions.” And thus 
 he would remain, for the Lord’s sake. Ye that are in 
 Obadiah’s situation, go, all of you, and do likewise. How- 
 ever much the evil which you must be eye-witnesses of, 
 however great the opposition you meet with, however you 
 may be scoffed at, derided, oppressed, and maltreated, let 
 that be no reason at all to you to shrink of your own 
 will from a post of duty where the Lord has placed you. 
 Endure for the Lord’s sake, till he himself set you free. If 
 you are cast out by violence, or if a change of circumstances 
 necessarily brings along with it a change in your situation 
 or post of service, then retire with a good conscience, for 
 the Lord has called you. But, till then, endure, and bloom 
 as the rose among thorns, and be as a preserving salt in 
 the midst of decay, and stand as a beacon-tower in the 
 sea, with far-reflected light, and thus ye may, by God’s 
 grace, guide some poor storm-tossed souls from the waves 
 of this world’s troubles into the peaceful haven. And, 
 however the billows may foam around you, “He that 
 keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep, and the 
 angel of the Lord is about them that fear him. His faith- 
 fulness and truth is their shield and buckler. Blessed are 
 those who put their trust under the shadow of his wings.” 
 
 III. Ahab and Obadiah set out in different directions. 
 They will explore the country, and see whether there be 
 not some verdant spots to be found in the valleys, and 
 among the springs of the land. That the king took this 
 journey in person, was ordered by the Lord, that he might 
 have brought before him the whole picture of misery and 
 v/oe which the land now presented, if possibly the scene 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 89 
 
 miglit melt the obduracy of the tyrant’s heart. But we 
 know already how totally it failed of making the right 
 impression; and, instead of an over-awed and humbled 
 sinner, we shall see him return the same monster of rage 
 and cruelty : who, instead of “ rending his heart” in con- 
 trition, turns his anger against the rod that smites him, 
 though he had himself bound it up in the bundle of his 
 iniquity. 
 
 But let us leave the monarch and follow the footsteps of 
 his pious servant. Y onder he j oumeys along, on the deserted 
 and dreary road, sad and sighing, and bearing all Israel in 
 his compassionate heart, and in his prayers to God. Alas ! 
 how the scene of desolation, which stretches on all sides 
 around, grieves his very soul ! The whole land lying like a 
 scene of pride and glory ravaged by fire, and everywhere as 
 with letters of flame written in the ashes, “ Who can stand 
 before his anger !” But what affects him most painfully 
 of all, and pierces his heart most deeply, is the spectacle 
 of an apostate race, which, as if armed with triple obdu- 
 racy, Gould stand up against the thunder of such judgments* 
 and live on unmoved in the most wanton carelessness and 
 baneful security. Ah ! how that stirs his spirit within 
 him ! How can he restrain a holy outburst of zeal ? The 
 children of the kingdom are in this like their crucified Lord, 
 that they bear the sins of the world on their heart, and 
 must often repair the breach which the ungodly have 
 made. But happy are such persons ; they are those whom 
 the man in white linen, with the ink-horn at his side, in the 
 prophesy of Ezekiel, was directed to with the commission, 
 “ Go through the city of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the 
 foreheads of the men who sigh and cry for all the abomina- 
 tions that are done in the midst thereof.” — Ezekiel ix. 4. 
 
 As Obadiah travels on, absorbed in these gloomy reflec- 
 tions, behold, a man comes forth before him, leaning on a 
 pilgrim’s staff, of commanding figure, with firm step and 
 grave countenance, and a rough mantle hanging over his 
 shoulders. Obadiah is amazed ! What a rencontre ! He 
 cannot yet believe his eyes. Is it possible ? Yes, it is he ! 
 
90 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 0, joyful surprise ! Elijah ! Elijah ! To recognise the man 
 of God and to fall in reverence at his feet is the work of 
 the same moment. 0, delightful meeting ! For three long 
 years no one had seen or heard aught of Elijah, and the 
 pious remnant were disposed to believe that God had 
 secretly caught him up into his eternal rest. And now he is 
 here once more, as suddenly as if he had fallen from 
 heaven. “ Art thou that my lord Elijah ?” asks Obadiah 
 with profound respect, as he bowed before him. And 
 Elijah, in his own brief manner, replies, “ I am, go, tell 
 thy lord. Behold, Elijah is here.” 
 
 These words produced a strange effect on the excellent 
 Obadiah. They evidently cut him to the heart, put his 
 courage ’and zeal to a sudden and too trying proof, and 
 exhibited him in all the weakness, doubt, and despondency 
 of a poor child of man. It was a salutary lesson, however, 
 of his dependence upon the grace of God for everything. 
 It was learned by him amid a great conflict of emotions, 
 and its various steps are full of instruction to us. N o sooner 
 are the words of the prophet uttered, “ Go, tell thy lord. 
 Behold, Elijah is here,” than his faith fails him ; his courage 
 begins to glimmer like an exhausted lamp ; fear comes 
 upon him like an armed man ; and he appears to his own 
 mortification, and I trust to our profit, in all his emptiness 
 and weakness. “ What have I sinned,” says he, “ that 
 thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, 
 to slay me ? As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no 
 nation or kingdom whither my lord hath not sent to seek 
 thee : and when they said. He is not there, he took an 
 oath of the kingdom and nation that they found thee not. 
 Arid now thou sayest. Go, tell thy lord. Behold, Elijah is 
 here. And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from 
 thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I 
 know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he 
 cannot find thee, he shall slay me.” Ah ! how many 
 words are here : how many words ! This is not the language 
 of calm faith, but of human fear and despondency. And 
 what then does Obadiah fear? Ah! he sees frightful 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 91 
 
 things in imagination. He thinks, that, when he proceeds 
 to Ah&b with the information that Elijah is there, the 
 enraged tyrant will immediately take all measures to get 
 the prophet into his hands ; and, as God would doubtless 
 prostrate the malignant purpose, that the Spirit of God 
 would carry him away, as may at other times have 
 happened to the saints of God, and as we know was after- 
 wards the case with Philip in the wilderness. When then 
 Ahab failed to find him, he would wreak his displeasure on 
 Obadiah ; and on the charge that he had deceived the king, 
 or violated his duty in not apprehending the prophet, or 
 that he stood in secret league with him, he would lose at 
 once his office and his life. These were Obadiah’s fearful 
 apprehensions. The dictates, alas ! of flesh and blood. 
 He looked like Peter at the winds and waves ; but had lost 
 sight of his Lord. 
 
 But let us hear farther. He now begins to speak of his 
 piety, — “I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth. 
 Was it not told my Lord what I did when Jezebel slew 
 the prophets of the Lord, how I hid an hundred men of 
 the Lord’s prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with 
 bread and water. And now thou sayest. Go, tell thy Lord, 
 Behold, Elijah is here ; and he shall slay me.” “Iam a 
 pious man,” he means to say, “ my garb and office must 
 not mislead you. I am none of the apostate crowd. I 
 have continued faithful to the Lord. Can you prevail on 
 yourself to expose a brother in the faith to the most ap- 
 palling danger of death.” Yes, Obadiah, so thou sayest ; 
 and we believe it all. Thou art a pious man, that is cer- 
 tain, and thou remainest so, even amid all thy weakness ; 
 and who can take it amiss that thou speakest of thy piety, 
 and recountest thy deeds of faith. This is not the language 
 of spiritual pride in thee, but of fear and despondency. 
 But rejoice with us, Obadiah, that thy salvation rests not 
 on thy faith and piety, but on a quite different ground, 
 that lies without thee ; else how sad would be thy case 
 with all thy goodness ! 
 
 0 yes, our best religious attainments in this world are 
 
92 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 and must be but as the strength of infancy, or the re- 
 sources of poverty. If our faith, our courage, our de- 
 voutness, our assurance, were the steps of the heavenly 
 ladder, how frail a footing would they be to the heights of 
 glory. And this their rottenness we must be taught ; and 
 it is salutary for us to learn to build more firmly and ex- 
 clusively on the true foundation, that lies without us, in 
 the merits of Christ, and which stands eternally sure. Our 
 only refuge and consolation in life and in death is, and 
 alone can be, the grace of God in the blood of the Lamb ; 
 and, that we may embrace it alone, the mercy of God 
 makes provision that the memory of our sins shall be al- 
 ways re-awakened, and our misery by nature never de- 
 part from our eyes. Do we think ourselves perfect in 
 courage ? straightway comes danger and a storm over our 
 head, and we learn that we are but as reeds shaken by the 
 wind. Do we boast of our faith ? immediately a touch- 
 stone is applied, and we see that its strength was all a 
 dream. Do we feel ourselves absorbed in the richness of 
 our devotional experiences ? soon our heart is dried up to 
 a waste of sand, and we must confess that Christ alone is 
 the fountain of living water. Do we imagine that we have 
 conquered all fear of death, and that we shall one day 
 shew how a Christian should die and pass into eternity ? 
 the Lord gives us from afar a glimpse of the grim King of 
 Terrors, and, alas, the frightful prospect makes all our 
 heroism at once grow pale. Do we dream of high steps 
 that we have reached in the scale of holiness ? soon the 
 wind of temptation is let loose on us, and we are left only 
 a moment to our own standing, and, alas, we are again 
 “ in the depths,” and all our boasting is gone, and there 
 remains for us, as for every other dear child of God, no- 
 thing but the prayer of the publican, — “ God be merciful 
 to me, a sinner.” “ If I wash myself with pure water,” 
 says Job, “and make my hands never so clean, yet wilt 
 thou plunge me in the ditch, and my own clothes shall 
 abhor me.” And why does this happen to us ? “ That 
 we may decrease, and that Christ may increase.” This di- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 93 
 
 vine proceeding may be indeed bitter in the mouth, but 
 the profit and sweetness shall surely follow. 
 
 The Lord had now attained in the case of Obadiah the 
 end of his purpose of love. His self-humiliation was com- 
 plete, and the light was again suffered to shine on him. 
 In the moment of conscious weakness and shame, Elijah 
 said, “ As the Lord of Hosts liveth, before whom I stand, 
 I will surely shew myself unto Ahab to-day.” This com- 
 posed all his fears ; and with shame and confusion of face 
 he parted from the prophet, and had now sufficient bold- 
 ness to tell his sovereign, in the words of his message, 
 “ Behold, Elijah is here.” 
 
 Through more and more decreasing, 
 
 Christ leads his saints unceasing. 
 
 High up the heavenly road. 
 
 VI.— DELIVERANCE OUT OF THE MOUTH OF 
 THE LION. 
 
 “ Take heed that thou speak not to J acob either good 
 or bad,” was the injunction of Jehovah to Laban the 
 Syrian, when he so “hotly pursued after Jacob,” as if he 
 meditated revenge. Gen. xxxi. 24. His tongue was at 
 once tied, his hands bound, and his fierce resentment 
 turned into kindness. 
 
 Happy are we if we are of “ the seed of Jacob,” and 
 have for our protector the Lord our Redeemer, “ who hath 
 cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon, who shutteth up 
 the sea with doors and bars, saying. Hitherto shalt thou 
 come, but no farther ; who stilleth the raging of the sea 
 and the noise of his waves, and the madness of the 
 people.” A proof of this will be found in that part of 
 the history of Elijah which shall this day engage our at- 
 tention. 
 
 1 Kings xviii. 17 — 20. 
 
 “ And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said 
 unto him. Art thou he that troufileth Israel P And he answered, 
 I have not troubled Israel ; but thou, and thy father’s house, in 
 that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou 
 hast followed Baalim. Now therefore send, and gather to me all 
 Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred 
 
94 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat 
 at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, 
 and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel.** 
 
 The appearance of the prophet which we are now to 
 consider is a striking illustration of his integrity and fear- 
 lessness as a man of God. We have here, I., The wonder- 
 ful protection which he experiences ; II., The unjust ac- 
 cusation which he suffers ; III., The fearless reply which 
 he makes ; IV., The secret power which he exercises. 
 
 I. Obadiah, recovered from his alarm, and re-assured 
 by the language of Elijah, went his way, and sought out 
 the king, and said to him, “ Elijah is found ; he is in such 
 a place.” This was like a spark among gunpowder. A 
 frightful explosion was to be expected. A flood of gall 
 and poison, of cruelty and revenge, had collected in the 
 tyrant’s heart against the man of God. Scarcely had 
 Obadiah, with fear and trembling, delivered his message, 
 than Ahab rose to set forth in his own royal person. His 
 rage made him neglect all form and usage, and he hurried, 
 like a raging beast of prey, to meet the hated prophet. 
 What is to be expected ? Elijah can be saved only by a 
 miracle. Elijah sees the infuriated monarch approach. 
 But he stands erect, and quails not ; the living God is 
 his strong tower, his shield and buckler. And now 
 Ahab has reached the spot, and the prophet stands con- 
 fronting his arch-enemy. And now, Elijah, thou art lost 
 for ever ! Lost ! Nay, the danger is already over. Truly 
 a wonder ! The sword cleaves to its scabbard ; the eager 
 arm is palsied ; the teeth of the lion are broken. No 
 stroke falls, no arrow flies, and, instead of an appalling 
 outburst of vengeance, there follows nothing but the feeble 
 question, “ Art thou he that troubleth Israel ?” Not one 
 word of thunder, — “ Thou art the troubler of Israel not 
 one impassioned curse or threatening ; only the question, 
 the feeble question, as if the fire-breathing volcano had 
 burnt itself out, and only a little smoke could rise above 
 its summit. Thus, the Lord can stop the mouths of lions, 
 and enable his people to tread on serpents and scorpions. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 95 
 
 so that nothing shall hurt them or make them afraid. 
 Yes, the same God who surrounded Elijah like a wali of 
 fire, and broke the envenomed shafts of Ahab and Jezebel 
 in the quiver ; the same God who rescued Moses from the 
 hand of Pharaoh, and Daniel from the den of lions ; who 
 delivered Peter from prison and from bonds ; and carried 
 Paul through the persecutions of his bitterest adversaries 
 without dismay ; and who, by means of a poor Augustinian 
 monk of Wittemberg, put the might of emperor and pope, 
 of princes and clergy, nay, and of the devil himself, to 
 confusion ; this God is alive for evermore, and will be the 
 rock and fortress of his children and servants now as in 
 the days of old. Were He not alive, let me tell you, we 
 should hear of many a sore evil, even in our days, for there 
 dwells yet many an Ahab in Israel, and many a J ezebel 
 in heart too, in high places and in the lowest. The spirit 
 of persecution may smoulder in the ashes, but it is not 
 extinct. The blood of the witnesses would again flow if 
 the hand of the Almighty were withdrawn but for a little 
 from the necks of his enemies. For as many as have the 
 seal of the Lamb, not merely in their hearts, but on their 
 foreheads, as many as belong to the number of those who 
 come to Christ, not by night, but in the open day, must 
 excite opposition and the spirit of molestation ; and that 
 we dwell so peaceful and secure in our tabernacles, 
 though in the den of lions, and between the lands of the 
 Philistines and the children of Amalak, is due to our great 
 Protector and Saviour, who neither slumbereth nor sleep- 
 eth, who is ever armed for our defence, who encamps 
 around us with his strong legions of angels, and who is, 
 and will be himself our bulwark. In eternity we shall 
 first discover, to our great astonishment, how many lions’ 
 mouths the Lord has stopped for us, and from how many 
 enemies’ hands he has delivered us. Happy are we in this 
 tower of strength ! How secure is our dwelling amid the 
 “ munitions of rocks.” They may storm as they will, the 
 Ahabs and the Jezebels, with the malignant servants of 
 Baal. Let them assault us as they will, armed with rage 
 
96 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 and malice, we shall still fear nothing. Our God can smite 
 with palsy the hand that is already lifted up against us. 
 So Elijah found it, and so shall we, in our own measure, 
 experience the truth of the wide-reaching promise,' — u Be- 
 hold, I give unto you power to tread on scorpions and ser- 
 pents, and over all the power of the enemy ; and nothing 
 shall by any means hurt you.” “ Yet,” adds our Lord, 
 “ in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you ; 
 but rather rejoice .because your names are written in 
 heaven.”— -Luke x. 19—20. 
 
 II. The protection which Elijah experienced was ex- 
 actly of the kind which the saints of God are wont to ex- 
 perience ; and in like manner he could regard the accusa- 
 tion brought against him, that it was he who was the 
 troubler of Israel, as one of the certain marks that he in- 
 deed belonged to the people of God. “ Art thou he that 
 troubleth Israel,” said the wrathful monarch, laying there- 
 by on him the whole blame of the heavy distress of the 
 people, instead of on himself. It was an act of outrageous 
 injustice. But, from the beginning of the world, the child- 
 ren of God have been obliged to submit to the same evil. 
 It is a principal part of the cross, which we must bear 
 after our Lord and Redeemer ; and, though we thereby de- 
 serve no higher place of honour in the kingdom of God, 
 yet we crucify effectually the “ old man ” within us. 
 
 It very often looks, indeed, as if we were the storm-birds 
 and harbingers of misfortune ; the disturbers of peace, and 
 such as turn the world “ upside down ;” as could not but 
 be the case with Elijah, since the famine fell upon Samaria 
 at his word. How often does it appear as if fire and flame 
 were bound to our feet, and war and tumult followed our 
 steps. At one time we -remove peace from the families in 
 which we live ; at another time we banish harmony from 
 the circle in which we move. At one time a believing son 
 must, to his unspeakable distress, excite the displeasure 
 of his unbelieving parents, so that the dwelling of love i« 
 suddenly changed into a scene of incessant strife and 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 97 
 
 violence ; at another, a converted daughter must witness, 
 with tears, that she has, against her will, cast the brand of 
 contention among those who are nearest her on earth. 
 The whole family is suddenly driven out of its pleasant 
 course of quiet and cheerful life, and all peace is torn up 
 by the root. Sometimes, when a minister of the gospel 
 displays the doctrine of the cross to his people the effect 
 is as if a mountain had been cast into the sea. The waves 
 swell ; there is tumult and wild uproar ; the agitation 
 spreads on all sides, and everywhere there is excitement 
 and feverish interest. The sleepers awake ; the dry bones 
 are shaken. On one side is wrath and menaee ; on the 
 other, exultation and triumph ; and the flock is divided 
 against itself, and broken up into parties. How often, 
 indeed, does it happen, that bold and zealous servants of 
 God, aiming at nothing else than the return of strayed 
 sheep, “ to the shepherd and bishop of their souls,” have 
 kindled such a fire, and occasioned such heats and heart- 
 burnings, that the world has been scandalized, and worldly 
 power stepped into to preserve good order. And in all 
 such cases, we are the scapegoats, the troublers, the 
 criminals ! That the abyss, out of which the smoke of 
 confusion and dissension arose, lies in a quite different 
 quarter; that the fire which inflamed the excitement is 
 holy, and just, and good ; and that the source of mischief 
 was to be found solely in the hearts of the ungodly, the 
 unbelieving, and the haters of the light ; are suppositions 
 which occur to nobody. The cry is obstinately maintained 
 against us, “You, you are the troublers of Israel.” And 
 can we expect our denial to be listened to ? “ The disciple 
 is not above his master, nor the servant greater than his 
 lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his 
 master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called 
 the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more they 
 of his household ! Therefore fear them not ; for there 
 is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed, nor secret 
 that shall not be known.” 
 
 We are called, my brethren, to be the salt of the earth, 
 7 
 
98 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 by our life, as well as by our testimony, our word, and our 
 confession ; a salt in the corruption of this generation, each 
 in his own sphere. Ye believing fathers, among your 
 children; ye masters, among your servants; ye equals, 
 among your equals ; ye friends, in your friendship. Being 
 made the salt ourselves, we should season others. The 
 process must be painful, and accompanied with excite- 
 ment ; for if all remain still and motionless, it is a proof 
 that the salt has lost its savour. But if there be a stir and 
 movement around us, and if one eagerly inquire, “ What 
 must I do to be saved ?” and another, in a paroxysm of 
 rage, exclaim, “ Ye are the troublers of Israel,” it is the 
 wished-for token that we are still the salt of the earth, and 
 that the salt has still preserved its virtue. 
 
 “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” asked Ahab of 
 the prophet ; and in a certain sense, it must be confessed, 
 he was so. He had, in holy zeal, implored of God the 
 heavy judgment on Samaria. The children of God have a 
 share in God’s government of the world, which is often 
 greater than they themselves are aware of. Did the 
 adversaries know of it, they would be bent on our exter- 
 mination. How many an opponent has even in this life : 
 been dashed to the ground by the iron rod of the King of 
 Zion, for no other reason than that he bore arms against 
 God’s people ? And how many a persecutor has been 
 judged and cut in sunder, from no other cause than that 
 he persecuted the little flock ? How many a blasphemer 
 has had his mouth stopped by a visible judgment, just 
 because we pray, “ Hallowed be thy name ?” How many 
 a family and land must suffer through our prayers to the # 
 
 Lord, “that he would save them as a brand from the j 
 
 burning, be it by weal or woe ?” Yes, did our enemies l 
 
 know how many things take place on the earth, simply for ) 
 
 our sakes ; whether for the strengthening of our faith, our 
 deliverance from danger, or for the honouring of our ' 
 
 prayers ; did they know what influence the “ quiet in the { 
 
 land” exert on the fate of individuals and of whole nations, 
 and how, and in what sense, the great Captain of the Lord’s 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 9D 
 
 host, to whom we have sworn fealty, has made us all not 
 only priests, but kings, their wrath against us would know 
 no bounds ; and they would cry out, in a very different tone, 
 “ Ye are they that trouble Israel ?" 
 
 III. Elijah, in his reply, appears as much the man of 
 ' God as in the former course of the interview. “ Art thou 
 he that troubleth Israel ?” was the question. And what 
 now should the prophet answer? He stands before his 
 mortal enemy; and this enemy is the monarch of the 
 i country, an arbitrary despot, who needed only to give the 
 | word, and the prophet’s head lay at his feet. Shall he 
 I humble himself ? Excuse himself ? Cry for mercy ? 
 j Others might stoop thus ; Elijah cannot. Shall he take to 
 ji falsehood or cunning, to flattery or servility ? Shall he 
 conceal the true cause of God’s judgment on the land ? 
 That be far from him. He is a man wont to make con- 
 science of the truth, which is black indeed, but comely, 
 like the tents of Kedar. It might have been excusable to 
 have mollified and soothed the king with the prospect of 
 coming rain and happier days. But the time is not yet. 
 The prophet exercises a just reserve. His sole aim is to 
 bring the tyrant, with his whole people, to judge them- 
 selves, to humble themselves before the living God, and 
 give him the glory ; and this aim is dearer to him than 
 life. He knows whither he is going ; and death to him has 
 lost its terrors. And therefore he answers, “ I have not 
 troubled Israel, but thou and thy father’s house, in that 
 ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and 
 thou hast followed Baalim.” A bold and fearless reply, 
 rising fresh from the heart, and above all praise ! 
 
 Such language as this is seldom heard on earth. The 
 world is full of flatterers and dissemblers ; they swarm, not 
 only in the palaces of the great, but also in the circles of 
 the poor, and even in the pulpits of the church of God ; 
 and men in rough prophets’ mantles and leathern girdles, 
 who are bold enough, for their master’s sake, to defy the 
 father of lies and all his works, and to take the truth as a 
 
100 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 staff in their hand, a shield on their breast, and a sword in 
 their mouth, even at the hazard of sharing Elijah’s reproach, 
 and the Baptist’s dwelling and fare in the wilderness— 0, 
 such men are rare jewels ! O ye ministers of Christ in the 
 pulpit and out of it, why do we complain of the little fruit 
 of our labours, of the scanty harvest of our sore toil and 
 travail? Rather let us complain of our own hollow 
 dealing, and be humbled in the dust for our own faint- 
 heartedness. 
 
 We should see greater things, were not the salutary and 
 awful “Thou art the man,” so entirely extinct among us, 
 and buried in Nathan’s grave. We preachers in this vale 
 have the character of a singular closeness of dealing ; and 
 perhaps it is so in comparison with the multitudes of 
 hirelings, who everywhere at the present day eat the bread 
 of the church, and repay her in the currency of lies and 
 false doctrines. Yet, what is this freedom of speech, when 
 closely examined ? Is it anything great to preach God’s 
 word freely, where the doctrine of the cross (thanks be to 
 God !) has gained a certain mastery ? Or to set forth so 
 fully the doctrine of human depravity, where another doc- 
 trine would empty our churches, and be besides a devia- 
 tion from our articles of faith ? I tell you, were Elijah, the 
 Baptist, or Paul here, you would hear the trumpet give a 
 very different sound. Then the individual would be re- 
 proved and condemned openly, and there would be no 
 more respect either of persons or of stations. How many 
 an Ahab of the present day would be thus addressed, “ I 
 have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father’s house, 
 in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord !” 
 How many a Jezebel would then be told to her face, “ The 
 unclean shall not inherit the kingdom of God !” How 
 many a publican, “Exact no more than that which 
 is appointed you!” How many a Herod, “It is not 
 right for thee to have thy brother’s wife !” How many a 
 Felix, how many a Drusilla, in the midst of us, who now 
 hear only smooth words, would be forced to submit to 
 one closet-sermon after another, from rough and unspar- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 101 
 
 ing lips, of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to 
 come ! 
 
 Well may you pray, my friends, that it may he given to 
 your teachers to improve better the knowledge which 
 they have from God by virtue of their office, and to dis- 
 charge more faithfully the duty committed to them by 
 the Most High ; to threaten, to reprove, to use great plain- 
 ness of speech, in season and out of season, in the cottages 
 of the poor, or in the halls of the great and powerful and 
 noble in the land. Truly we want neither the weapons 
 nor the full commission to employ them. We have a 
 heaven to promise and a hell to alarm. We come forth as 
 ambassadors for Christ, and as the stewards of the mys- 
 teries of God. We speak not of ourselves, but what One 
 who is greater than all gives us to speak. We appear 
 surrounded by a cloud of witnesses as the deputies of the 
 King of kings, and have the right to announce our mes- 
 sage to sinners with, “ In the name of God” — “ Thus saith 
 the Lord.” 0, the dignity of our calling ! the sacredness 
 of our position ! 0, that it might inspire us more tho- 
 roughly, and make us like Elijah and Nathan, like Paul 
 and John the Baptist ! Should it then be that we scat- 
 tered with the fan of truth whole crowds of former friends 
 as chaff, perhaps we should attract by the gospel trumpet 
 from the publicans and sinners more than enough to re- 
 pair the loss. Should the measure -of our reproach and 
 trouble be doubled, perhaps the fruit of our labours and 
 our harvests in the Lord’s vineyard would be doubled too. 
 Yes, my friends, we must all repent together ; we, your 
 teachers, and you with us, for you are each in his sphere 
 called to Nathan’s office. 0, *i is a melancholy thing to 
 think that our social life is in general so conducted, that 
 it is no better than a web of falsehood, dissembling, and 
 man-pleasing, and a continued cry of peace, peace, when 
 there is no peace ! Truly, that is a worthless delicacy, 
 with which we, instead of reaching the potsherd, stand 
 aside and allow our friends to die of their sores, for fear 
 of giving pain. A hateful love is it which, instead of call- 
 
102 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 ing loudly on the sleeper by the mouth of the pit, lulls him 
 into a deeper slumber, to spare him the horror of awak- 
 ing, and us the reproach of breaking his rest. May the 
 Lord kindle a pure flame of love in our hearts, a love 
 which, when the cause of truth, the honour of God, and 
 the salvation of our brethren require it, can speak in tones 
 of thunder, regardless of the displeasure of others, and of 
 pain to itself ; and yet a love in which no strange fire 
 shall mingle with what is holy, and we shall not, as is too 
 often the case, break to pieces, in our zeal, both tables of 
 the law. 
 
 “ I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father’s 
 house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the 
 Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.” What is the sin 
 which Elijah expressly holds up to him as the proper 
 source of the whole calamity ? Is it his intemperance, 
 his covetousness, his frivolity, his unchaste life ? No, 
 it is his shameless unbelief ; it is his wanton departure 
 from God’s word and statutes ; it is his blasphemous con- 
 tempt of what the living God had revealed and appointed 
 in the world. Blessed God, if this be the deepest crime, 
 and the blackest guilt in God’s sight ; if for this cause he 
 visits nations and countries and cities with fire and sword , 
 what have we to look for in an age wherein the forsaking 
 of God’s statutes is become the fashion, and a heathenish 
 rationalism has found its way into the very cottage and 
 the workshop ; when the language of the wicked servant, 
 “ we will not have this man to reign over us,” is becoming 
 always more general, and the sound of error is heard from 
 so many pulpits and seats of learning, from the highest 
 to the lowest, as a real voice of Baal ; in which true Chris- 
 tianity, the belief of the forgiveness of sins through the 
 blood of the Lamb, is so frequently branded as mysticism, ; 
 and the real life of the soul in the Holy Ghost, the life of 
 love to the Saviour, and walking in his footsteps, is so often 
 decried as fanaticism ; and when Baal has so many wor- 
 shippers, who, in the gloom of Pantheism or Atheism, 
 scatter their incense in his nostrils, and build him altars? 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 103 
 
 I How will it at length fare with such a generation, if we do 
 not in good time fall weeping before the uplifted rod in 
 the hand of the great Preserver of men ? And what kind 
 of days have we sooner or later to look for in a country 
 where more than one Noah preaches the righteousness of 
 God, where more than one Jonah calls to repentance, 
 where more than one of Zion’s watchmen sounds the 
 trumpet without ceasing, because he sees the sword ap- 
 proaching, and only a little band enlist under the banner 
 of the cross; while thousands upon thousands treat the 
 blood of the covenant as an unholy thing, hold the word 
 of the Lord in derision, and reject his ordinances without 
 shame before their eyes, and bow the knee to all manner of 
 shameful idols, and sacrifice to the abominations of the 
 Moabites and the Amorites ! What vials of wrath must 
 at last be poured out upon this favoured region ? Will it 
 be enough that the Lord visit us with loss of employment 
 and want, with stagnation of trade and business, with pes- 
 tilence and with drought ? Will he not see it necessary to 
 come with still heavier judgments ? “ Woe unto thee, Cho- 
 razin ! woe unto thee Bethsaida ! for if the mighty works 
 which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, 
 they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 
 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre 
 and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. And 
 thou, Capernaum, that art exalted to heaven, shall be 
 brought down to hell.” O that my people would turn 
 from their evil ways, and from the foolish work of their 
 hands; that the Lord God might repent of the evil con- 
 cerning us, and turn from the fierceness of his anger, that 
 we perish not ! 
 
 IV. “I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy 
 father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments 
 of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.” Thus spake 
 Elijah, “the man without fear or reproach,” — and no 
 sooner has he spoken thus than he began to make pre- 
 parations for a scene that has not its like in sacred his- 
 
104 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 fcory. Jehovah is about to shew, by “ signs and wonders, 
 and mighty deeds,” that he is God, and that there is none 
 else, and Baal is about to be overthrown in one day. 
 “Now, therefore,” said Elijah, authoritatively, like a re- 
 presentative of God, " Now, therefore, 0 King ! send and 
 gather to me all Israel to mount Carmel, and the prophets 
 of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the 
 groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table.” He 
 speaks, and Ahab obeys, and it is done. Behold how 
 matters are reversed ! The servant has become the lord, 
 the lord the servant ! the subject enjoins, and the monarch 
 obeys ! Such is the unseen sceptre in the hands of the 
 children of the Ruler of spirits, and the secret, marvellous 
 power which they exercise through the Eternal Spirit that 
 dwelleth in them. O, it is nothing rare that simple men of 
 God, void of all outward authority and influence, have by 
 one word, nay, by their mere appearance and aspect, 
 “ stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of 
 fire, turned to flight the armies of the aliens !” And this 
 power is peaceful and unobtrusive, as becomes the chil- 
 dren of the kingdom. The master sends them forth, “ as 
 lambs in the midst of wolves,” and says, “ He that smiteth 
 thee on the one cheek, turn to him the other also.” They 
 are not clad in mail of iron, and the “ weapons of their 
 warfare are not carnal.” They must, “when reviled, re- 
 vile not again,” and make no use of that temporal sword 
 which the princes of this world bear. To them is com- 
 mitted a totally different might. How shall I describe it ? 
 Is it faith, the victory that overcometh the world ? Is it 
 the light of the Holy Ghost raying through them, whose 
 temples they are, and who manifests himself at all times 
 as the Spirit of the mighty God ? Enough ; it is a certain 
 divine something in them that works wonders. There- 
 with have we seen timid children overawe the most 
 furious enemies, and defenceless sheep disarm their bit- 
 terest persecutors. This royal mark of the children of 
 Israel, — we might call it the star of their nobility, — which 
 shines through the garb of their humility, is more than all 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 105 
 
 the skill of the prudent, and all the wisdom of the wise, 
 more than the honour of all nobility, and the prowess of 
 all might. It enables the simplest souls to discomfit the 
 greatest philosophers, and to bring their false boasted 
 subtleties to confusion. This nameless something which 
 Christians carry about with them, this mild lustre of the 
 jewels of God, this spark of heaven’s own fire, which 
 lights up their whole being as the twinkling beam of the 
 everlasting lamp that breaks through the veil of the 
 heavenly temple, this sign of the Son of Man, and seal of 
 the Lamb upon their foreheads; this is the supernatu- 
 ral armour in which the servants of God do exploits, 
 prove their sonship, gain their victories, “ bind the princes 
 of the earth,” judge the rebellious, silence the scoffers, 
 shame the blasphemous, chain the unclean spirits, and 
 cast down Satan himself, “ as lightning from heaven.” 
 
 “ Notwithstanding, rejoice not in this, that the spirits 
 are subject unto you ; but rather rejoice because your 
 names are written in heaven.” The joy of dominion can 
 easily fall into the danger of spiritual pride. The joy of 
 admission into the family of God, which his grace has 
 vouchsafed us, is more pure and separate from the flesh ; 
 it softens and humbles. The one leads easily back to self ; 
 the other keeps us at the Saviour’s feet, and tunes the soul 
 to his praise. The one easily darkens the inward eye, and 
 hides our own poverty from view ; the other, resting on 
 the unspeakable glory to which we are called, is like a 
 light in whose brightness our own unworthiness cannot but 
 appear. The joy over the spiritual might that fills us is 
 precarious and changing ; for our powers may be lost or 
 crippled by sin ; the joy over our citizenship in heaven is 
 enduring, for we know the foundation of the Lord standeth 
 sure, and hath this seal, “ The Lord knoweth them that 
 are his,” and “ He abi-deth faithful ; he cannot deny him- 
 self.” O, happy they whose names are written in the Book 
 of Life ; and doubly happy they who know that they are 
 written there. Amen. 
 
106 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 YII.— ELIJAH AND THE PEOPLE ON MOUNT 
 CARMEL. 
 
 Who among us can be ignorant of the celebrated decision 
 of Solomon, in a remarkably difficult case that was 
 brought before him. Two women presented themselves 
 with an infant, to which they each asserted a mother’s 
 claim ; the one affirming that the child was hers, and that 
 the child of the other having died, she had taken the living 
 child from her, and placed her own dead child in its place ; 
 the other maintaining the exact contrary, and both re- 
 questing the king to decide the matter. 
 
 But how was it to be done ? The wise man did not fail 
 of an expedient. He calls for a sword, and on its being 
 brought, he says, “ Divide the living child in two, and give 
 half to the one, and half to the other.” Then spake the 
 woman, whose the living child was, unto the king, for her 
 bowels yearned over her son, “ 0 my lord, give her the living 
 child, and in no wise slay it.” But the other said, “ Let 
 it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.” You are 
 aware how the king, from the expressions of the two 
 women, settled the dispute and decided the cause. 1st 
 Kings iii. 24 — 27. 
 
 Why do I recal this incident to your minds ? To remind 
 you of the tender compassion of our God, who judges of 
 his children as the true mother in this history. He will 
 have no division of his children between himself, and the 
 devil or the world. He will have his children, soul and 
 body, as a whole living sacrifice, or not at all. “Thou 
 shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with 
 all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy 
 mind.” And again, “Thou shalt have no other gods 
 before me and once more, “ Follow me, and let the 
 dead bury their dead and in another place, “ If any 
 man come to me, and hate not father and mother, and 
 brother and sister, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be 
 my disciple.” What a holy jealousy ! What it is to be 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 107 
 
 wholly the Lord’s, we shall this day learn from the word 
 and deed of that man of God, whose zealous soul was “ as 
 the chariots of Israel and the horseman thereof.” 
 
 1 KINGS xviii. 21—24. 
 
 “ And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt 
 ye between two opinions ? If the Lord be God, follow him : but if 
 Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 
 Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet 
 of the Lord; but Baal s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. 
 Let them therefore give us two bullocks ; and let them choose one 
 bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and 
 put no fire under ; and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on 
 ■wood, and put no fire under : And call ye on the name of your 
 gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord ; and the God that 
 answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered 
 and said. It is well spoken.* 
 
 A great and ever-memorable scene is here to be unfolded. 
 The ancient controversy, whether there be a God that rules 
 in heaven, and whether Jehovah or another be that God, 
 the Lord is about to decide himself ; and that by a judg- 
 ment that can not only be heard with the ears, but also 
 impressed on every faculty of sense. In this passage, how- 
 ever, we see only the preparations for this astonishing 
 decision. The sublime spectacle is yet to follow. 
 
 We have here a sermon of Elijah, brief, but weighty ; 
 and it brings before us, I., His expostulation ; II., His 
 challenge ; III., His strength of faith. 
 
 I. We have in imagination left the city of Samaria 
 behind us, and taken our stand on the lofty summit of 
 mount Carmel. Far beneath our feet roars the sea, which 
 stretches away beyond our vision to the boundless distance. 
 On the other side, our view ranges over the river Kishon, 
 into the wide plain of Esdraelon, where Mount Tabor, and, 
 still nearer, the little town of Nazareth rise before our 
 eyes ; farther beyond glimmers the lake of Gennesaret in the 
 blue horizon, and on the extreme north we descry the 
 mountains of Lebanon, with their rounded and cloud- 
 capped summits. A magnificent scene ! “ The excellency 
 of Carmel,” is the scripture description of it ; and a short 
 time ago, the phrase was repeated in the letters of a mis- 
 sionary, who had preached the doctrines of the cross on 
 
108 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 its heights. On this fruitful mountain, there are to be 
 found at present, besides a Christian monastery, a Turkish 
 mosque, and many subterranean chapels, caverns, and 
 grottos, applied to purposes of worship. On the anniver- 
 sary of the memorable day here recorded, crowds of Ma- 
 hommedans and Christians flock together to bend the knee 
 before their common saint. Elijah How would the pro- 
 phet treat these priests of Baal, could he revisit once more 
 the ancient scene of his zeal and conflict ? 
 
 To-day, then, we find him on the heights of Carmel. 
 There he stands, surrounded by a countless multitude of 
 the people of Israel. Here are four hundred and fifty 
 priests of Baal ; yonder, the four hundred priests of the 
 grove, a noisy and profligate crew, who ate at Jezebel’s 
 table. Here the idolatrous monarch, in person, with his 
 pompous train of courtiers; and all around the poor, 
 perishing, deluded people, crowded together to the number 
 of many thousands, all awaiting with eager curiosity the 
 coming wonders. 
 
 And now, when they are all assembled, the prophet comes 
 forth before them all into the midst ; a plain man, known 
 by his hairy mantle and his leathern girdle. He looks 
 around him with a cheerful and undaunted countenance, 
 and when all is hushed in silence, he opens his mouth 
 before all the people and addresses them, “ How long halt 
 ye between two opinions? If Jehovah be God, follow 
 him ; but if Baal, follow him.” A fearless and solemn 
 appeal ! What was its effects ? The people make no 
 answer ; they are silenced by the power of truth. Elijah, 
 you perceive, blames his countrymen for halting between 
 two opinions ; for wavering now to the one side, now to the 
 other, and for dividing with unsteadfast hearts their 
 worship between Jehovah and Baal. With the royal 
 family, the court, and the priesthood, the case was diffe- 
 rent ; they were confirmed idolators, devoted with heart 
 and soul to the profane and impure service of Baal. The 
 people, however, could not yet have quite forgotten the 
 mighty works of Jehovah to their fathers in former days. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 109 
 
 They could not, therefore, resolve on a complete apostacy, 
 but sought to persuade themselves that they were not in 
 reality idolators, even in worshipping an idol, as this was 
 but an object through which they adored the one true 
 God. They mingled the service of Jehovah and Baal 
 together, and invented a religion in which they could on 
 the one hand give themselves up to all the foul abomina- 
 tions of heathenism, and yet, on the other hand, preserve 
 the show and the self-complacent feeling of still walking 
 in the steps of the faith of their fathers, at least in sub- 
 stance, though they might depart from it a little in form. 
 What subtlety of self-deception ! What strong delusion to 
 believe a lie ! What contemptible double-heartedness ! These 
 were the people to whom Elijah turned with his appeal. 
 
 And let me tell you, were Elijah now preaching among 
 ourselves, we also should be forced to hear many a severe 
 sermon upon halting, wavering, and instability ! He would 
 not be able long to bear in silence the double-mindedness 
 and inconstancy that prevail among us in such a multi- 
 tude of forms. It must be confessed, that in the midst of 
 us there are not wanting decided spirits either ; we find 
 them on both sides ; in the paths of death, and in the way 
 of ligfet and life. As we have those among us whose motto 
 is in deed and in truth, “ All for Christ so we have a 
 crowd of others who will know nothing of the Saviour, 
 who have turned their back on his gospel, and renounced 
 his friendship once for all. The golden calf of short-lived 
 pleasure and honour is dearer to them than the Lamb of 
 God with his blood and sacrifice. They offer incense to 
 Satan, are slaves of the flesh, bid defiance to hell-fire, and 
 will venture in the devil’s name to step into eternity — if, 
 indeed, eternity be not all a dream. These are persons of 
 decision, men of character, who know what they are do- 
 ing, and see what they are aiming at ; they do not halt ; 
 no, they walk with firm step straight onward to the worm 
 that never dies, and the fire that never shall be quenched. 
 And there is a great multitude of this class, old and young, 
 in all ranks and conditions of life, as vessels of wrath, re» 
 
no 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 served for the manifestation of the righteous judgment of 
 God at the great day. The rock of Jacob shall fall on 
 them, and grind them to powder. But will it fare better 
 in the end with those who have pitched their tent between 
 the two camps, and who would fain belong to Baal with 
 the one half of their hearts, and with the other to Jehovah ? 
 Would that this race of waverers did not form the ma- 
 jority among us ! But, alas ! it is so. Halting, of one 
 kind or other, is the order of the day, and decision in the 
 divine life is a rare jewel. Woe unto thee, thou deceitful 
 generation, that thou thinkest it a possible case to share 
 thy love and service between God and his enemies, that 
 thou waverest to and fro in thy purposes, and bowest the 
 knee this hour to the Lord, only that in the next thou mayest 
 stand as a suitor in the harlot-chamber of the world ! Who 
 is the supreme good ? Is it the Lord ? Why then is he not 
 thy all in all ? What means, then, this accursed hunting 
 after short-lived gains and perishable jewels ? What this 
 idolatrous thirsting after vain honours and earthly splen- 
 dours ? What this anxious care for riches and ease, this pant- 
 ing after worldly comforts and pleasures, and this pagan la- 
 mentation over temporal losses ? If the Lord be God, let 
 him be thy treasure and thy care, and let all thy love and 
 longing be towards him. But if the world be the supreme 
 good, if it can save and bless thee, redeem and comfort 
 thee ; then, I say, love the world, and lose not thy time in 
 singing and praying, in church-going and Bible-reading, 
 and other routine of holy service. Be at length assured 
 of thy standing, and be something entire in thy life and 
 being. Woe unto you, ye that halt between time and 
 eternity ! Ye shall halt yourselves at length into hell, and 
 there is no remedy ! Decide ere it be too late ! If the life 
 of man be shut up within the bounds of time, and nothing is 
 to be looked for in a hereafter, then, I say, be your watch- 
 word “ Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die then 
 make the most of your days, and give free course to your 
 appetites ; and do not befool yourselves in losing time 
 with your so-called preparations for eternity. But if you 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 have here no continuing place, if there be a city to come, 
 and an eternity without limit or end, why should you then 
 loiter by the way ? why set up your tents as for ever by 
 the path of your pilgrimage ? Then be nothing more than 
 wanderers, passing travellers ; then cast away every weight 
 and hindrance of your journey; tear up every obstruc- 
 tion of your path ; and count all but loss and folly, that ye 
 may enter in at the straight gate, and that the word 
 Eternity be not at the last a word of thunder to you. Yes, 
 methinks it is no lost labour to sacrifice all cares to this 
 one, how we may escape an endless misery, and be made 
 partakers of an endless happiness ! But to try to live it 
 out, half as children of time, and half as children of eter- 
 nity, — from this life of halves there results a total death. 
 Woe unto you, ye that halt between the service of truth 
 and the service of falsehood, between the wisdom of your 
 natural reason and the wisdom of God ; who now, as it 
 suits your humour, believe the Bible more than yourselves, 
 and now yourselves more than the Bible ! If the word of 
 God be true, then submit your reason to it in all points, 
 even in those which cross and thwart the bent of nature ; 
 then believe not merely its promises, but its threatenings, 
 though it should speak of a judgment-seat before which 
 we must all appear, and of a shutting of the kingdom of 
 heaven against all who are not bom again. But if ye are 
 wise by Nature’s teaching, then be so entirely ; maintain 
 yourselves in your wisdom ; give the book of God to the 
 winds ; only halt not, for that is folly and unreason ; and 
 learn to mingle light and darkness no more together. Woe 
 unto you, ye that love to balance between Christ and Anti- 
 Christ ! Is Christianity the cause of God ? then decide for it 
 with soul and body, and count all its reproach as fame and 
 honour, and walk forth free and openly under the banners 
 of the despised race of Israel ; and quit the noisy haunts of 
 the frivolous children of the world, and make yourselves no 
 more like them, but relinquish their pleasures and gaieties 
 for ever ; and wheresoever the kingdom of God is forcing 
 its way, and there is stir and movement in the field of 
 
112 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISEBITE. 
 
 the dead, and the cry of new life is abroad — then join not 
 you in the enemies’ taunt of extravagance and fanaticism, 
 but rejoice rather that the smooth surface of everyday 
 form is broken up, and that a spiritual festival, with its 
 singing and harping and dancing before the ark of the cove- 
 nant, is again about to dawn upon the Church. But if 
 Christianity be fable and falsehood, then why do you 
 waste a word on its defence ? Be your curse on it, and 
 pass over wholly to the ranks of Anti-Christ. Woe unto 
 you, ye who halt between yourselves and Christ ! Who is 
 your saviour ? who is your surety ? who is able to redeem 
 your souls from death ? Is it yourselves ? Then let this 
 Jesus be a Jesus for others, and let me not rest as if my 
 salvation were in his hands. But if he be the only way 
 unto the Father, how should I have rest till my whole 
 heart is converted unto him ! Then must I seek to hold 
 him fast, and to cling day and night to his embrace, and 
 to make him the centre of my thought and action ! But 
 ye are neither cold nor hot, as if ye did not yet know 
 whether he or you is the saviour of the soul. Beware, ye 
 lukewarm, that he spue you not out of his mouth ! And 
 why do you waver between his righteousness and your 
 own ? Which will avail you in the judgment ? Your own ? 
 Then cast yourselves upon it, and give up your vain talk 
 of the merits of Christ. But if it be the righteousness of 
 Christ which alone avails you, why do ye return so often 
 to the mire of your own miserable virtues, and pour forth, 
 even in the shortest interview, those masses of pitiful de- 
 tail which are meant to shew what pious persons you are ? 
 how much good you do ? how diligently you read the 
 Bible ? how regularly you go to church ? how strictly you 
 observe the Sabbath ? What means, 0 waverers of every 
 class, your wretched indecision ? Be one thing or the 
 other. I tell you, with this halved and sundered nature, 
 ye are an abomination to the Lord. “No man,” says he, 
 " can serve two masters^ for either he will hate the one 
 and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and 
 despise the other ; ye cannot serve God and Mammon.” 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 113 
 
 “ He that is not with me,” says the same Lord, “ is against 
 me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” 
 And what says the apostle ? “ Be not unequally yoked 
 with unbelievers ; for what fellowship hath righteousness 
 with unrighteousness ? and what communion hath light 
 with darkness ? and what concord hath Christ with Belial ? 
 or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel ? and 
 what agreement hath the temple of God with idols ? 
 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye sepa- 
 rate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and 
 I will receive you.” — 2 Cor. vi. 14 — 18. “ How long,” cried 
 Elijah, “halt ye between two opinions. If Jehovah be 
 God, follow him ; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the 
 people must have thought that the man of God was right. 
 And ye also, I am persuaded, will not be able to reply to 
 the truth of God which has now been set before you ; and 
 of you the language of the text will hold equally true, 
 “ And the whole people kept silence, and answered him 
 not a word.” 
 
 II. Whether Jehovah or Baal be God, is not for Elijah 
 himself to decide. God himself will utter a word in the 
 controversy, and Elijah cares not to anticipate its mighty 
 impression. Meanwhile he continues his address. “ I, 
 even I only, remain a prophet of Jehovah ; but Baal’s 
 prophets are four hundred and fifty men.” God be 
 thanked, he was not the only man of God then living, but 
 the only one who appeared longer on the theatre of pub- 
 lic life ; the only one who still defended the cause of Je- 
 hovah against the enemy the rest were either sla : n or 
 banished, or concealed in dens and caves of the earth. 
 Now, reflect on Elijah’s position ! With the exception, 
 perhaps, of Obadiah, there was not in the whole immense 
 crowd on mount Carmel a single brother in the faith : not 
 one man of like mind, or like attachment to the com- 
 mon cause. No one on whom he could lean for support ; 
 no one to encourage him by his looks, or inspire him, by 
 sign and gesture, with confidence. Ah ! you know how 
 8 
 
114 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISH?ITE. 
 
 the heart sinks when one stands thus all alone in the crowd 
 of total and unsympathizing strangers. You know how 
 the soul is then damped and staggered, how the tongue 
 cleaves to the roof of the mouth, and how the breath of 
 life itself, to say nothing of the bold spirit of the martyr, 
 is ready to expire. But the prophet blooms in this desert 
 like a rose, and burns like a torch in this noxious atmo- 
 sphere. No, his heart is at ease, he breathes freely, and 
 his tongue does not falter. He has great joy in testifying 
 of the name of the Lord before this intractable multitude, 
 since his whole soul is fired with zeal for God’s honour. 
 We, in like circumstances, would not be so easily daunted 
 or silenced, did we care somewhat more for the glory of 
 God than our own credit, and somewhat less for our own 
 comfort and ease. But the God of all grace is not dear 
 enough to our souls, and we have too little in our hearts 
 of that fervent love to him which many waters cannot 
 quench, nor the floods drown. Yes, I know well the cause 
 of your failure. When a bold and joyful confession of 
 Christ is to be looked for from you, it is only then, when one 
 or more are present who will applaud the testimony. But, 
 alas ! it for the most part stops there. Ah ! brethren, I 
 know the weakness and deceitfulness of your hearts, for 
 my own has betrayed your secret to me. 
 
 “ I, even I only, remain a prophet of Jehovah ; but 
 Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.” He is 
 entirely surrounded by enemies, despisers of all divine re- 
 velation, infidels and scoffers, among high and low, learned 
 and unlearned. You are aware, my dear brethren, how 
 a situation like this, among none but unbelievers, especi- 
 ally if they are men of worldly credit, prudence and ac- 
 complishment, must act injuriously on our faith, and how 
 easily the doubt insinuates itself, “ Am I then the only 
 person in the right, and are all these in the wrong ?” You 
 know how readily one is then tempted to make the strait 
 gate somewhat wider, the narrow way somewhat broader, 
 to leave this and that article out of the essentials of sal- 
 vation, and, in a word, to be not so very precise and ex- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 115 
 
 act in the cause of the g spel. But Elijah appears to have 
 been far above the reach of such influences from without. 
 It was to him nearly all one where he stood. He thought 
 here and yonder alike ; his views were not darkened, his 
 convictions not weakened by outward circumstances, for 
 he knew the grounds of his faith to the bottom. And 
 though the whole world had thought otherwise, and he 
 had held to his faith alone upon the earth, he still had not 
 abated one jot or tittle of it. No, not for an hour ! He 
 j would then, too, have stood fast by his conviction, and 
 boldly made the challenge that he alone was in the right, 
 and the whole world in the wrong, for he could say what 
 not many can say, — “ I know in whom I have believed.” 
 Every point of faith which he maintained was gained by 
 a struggle of experience, and had thus so struck its roots, 
 and fastened its hold, that it could no more be bent and 
 shaken by every wind of doctrine. 
 
 “ Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.” “ Yea,” 
 he means to say, “ and if they were as many thousands, 
 what then ? We shall soon decide the point with them.” 
 What language of bold defiance ! But there is a confi- 
 dence in God which all God’s children may put on ; a con- 
 fidence in which we can say with Luther, “ If there were 
 as many devils as there are tiles on the house-tops, yet 
 will I go forward and with Elisha, “ Behold, they that 
 be with us are more than they that be with them.” Yes, 
 
 , were there but a little more of this confidence amongst 
 us, the hands would not so soon hang down, and the knees 
 become feeble. We could then set our face as a flint, and 
 make our forehead as iron. Who shall assail us since God 
 is on our side, and a wall of fire round about us ? All be- 
 | fore us may indeed fear ; but we need tremble before no 
 | created thing, either in heaven or on the earth. Can the 
 devil harm us ? He fears not indeed the purple and 
 crowns of kings ; but the prayer of the least of all saints 
 puts him in dread and terror. Can death harm us? 
 Truly, the voice of this king of terrors can shake those who 
 are proud and lofty as the cedars of Lebanon; but the 
 
116 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 dying-bed of the least in the kingdom of heaven is a sacred 
 fortress, which repels his onsets. Can sin prevail against 
 us ? It is indeed the devil’s snare, and fills for him the 
 prison-house of woe ; but neither can it affright us. The 
 snare has been broken by the Mighty, and we are escaped. 
 And what shall the wicked and the adversaries do against 
 us ? Our King shall dash them to pieces, as the potsherds 
 of earth. Therefore be confident in the Lord ; for “ the 
 way of the Lord,” says Solomon, “ is right, and the up- 
 right shall walk therein ; but the transgressors shall fall 
 therein.” 
 
 III. The people upon Carmel are on the full stretch of 
 expectation. Nobody yet knew what was to take place. 
 But Elijah hastens to prepare the scene for the stupendous 
 display of Jehovah’s glory. “ Let them therefore give us,” 
 said he, “ two bullocks ; and let them choose one bullock 
 for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, 
 and put no fire under ; and I will dress the other bullock, 
 and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under : And call 
 ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name 
 of Jehovah ; and the God that answereth by fire, let him 
 be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well 
 spoken.” They agreed to the proposal ; some from curi- 
 osity to see what would happen ; others actually in the 
 hope that Baal would gain the victory ; perhaps some few 
 also, from a real desire to know for certain whether there 
 was a God at all, and which was the true God. What 
 astonishing boldness in this step of Elijah ! What does he 
 not put to hazard by it ? The whole heritage of the true 
 God in the world ; as, in case of failure, faith would no 
 more have been found upon the earth. But to Elijah, it 
 seemed no hazard at all ; he thought to himself, “ The God 
 of all grace cannot forsake me in such a trial.” And since he 
 thus reasoned, and was as a child in faith, he had leave to 
 act thus wondrously in God’s name. Yes ! faith can nerve 
 us to many a venture. 
 
 The world has already received many an answer of God 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 117 
 
 by fire, so that it ought by this time to know who is the true 
 God ; but it will not retain him in its knowledge, and there- 
 fore many an answer by fire must yet be sent. By fire he 
 answered the first sin ; by fire that gleamed partly from the 
 sword of the flaming cherubim, and partly burnt downward 
 in their hearts, like the fire of Tophet. By fire he spake to 
 Sodom and Gomorrah, when they sought to forget him ; 
 and the shores of the Dead Sea retain, after many thousand 
 years, the traces of that word of power to this day. By 
 fire he confirmed his promises to Abraham, when, in the 
 darkness of the night, a smoking furnace and a burning 
 lamp passed between the pieces of the sacrifice. Out of 
 the fire of the burning bush he spake to Moses, his servant, 
 as a man with his friend. With fire he answered his people 
 on Sinai, when the top of the mountain smoked and 
 burned, and the awful words, “thou shalt,” and “thou 
 shalt not,” were uttered in thunder. By fire from heaven 
 he answered David, after the numbering of the people, 
 and burnt up the offering on the newly -erected altar, in 
 the eyes of all. By fire he answered the prayer of Solomon 
 at the dedication of the temple, “ so that all the children 
 of Israel saw the fire come down, and the glory of the Lord 
 upon the house, so that they bowed themselves with their 
 faces to the ground.” By fire did he visit Jerusalem in 
 wrath, after he had visited it in vain with water and with 
 blood. And with fire shall he come once more, as he has 
 ever done, with the fire of the great day of trial, to burn 
 up the dross of his people, and to devour his enemies like 
 stubble ; and then shall heaven and earth be cast into the 
 flame, that the taint of sin may be purged out, and that 
 a new creation may rise from the mighty furnace, in un- 
 er eakable transfigured glory. 
 
 “ And the God that answereth by fire, let him be God.” 
 We have received answers by fire from him, with which 
 our hearts yet thrill in amazement and joy. Think of the 
 answer given more than one thousand eight hundred years 
 ago. Mankind stood in despair ; saw heaven shut above 
 and hell open beneath, and knew no refuge ; for their sins. 
 
118 
 
 ELIJAH THE TIsnEITE. 
 
 more in number than the sands of the sea, cried to God 
 for vengeance : and who should avert it ? And when there 
 was now no more help or comfort, no more counsel or 
 deliverance, and no one knew how he should escape the 
 reward of his deeds, and reconcile an angry God, then the 
 clouds were rent in sunder, an awful fire broke forth from 
 the open heavens, descended upon Calvary, and consumed 
 the Lamb of God on the altar of the cross. Then we knew 
 the deep mystery of our redemption ! An answer was 
 come to our desponding questions ; an answer by fire. 
 
 But there remained yet a sore question behind. Where 
 shall we find the faith, that embraces the sacrifice of the 
 cross, and secures us a part in the great atonement ? Where 
 shall we find the source of that life, to which we must 
 awake as from the dead ? The question was asked, and, 
 behold, a second answer sounded forth ; an answer by fire. 
 The heaven again burst open ; tongues of fire sped down- 
 ward ; streams of life flowed ; the fountain of all-saving 
 blessings was opened to the world ; the Spirit was poured 
 forth upon the church. And with these tongues of fire the 
 Lord still answers to this day. He answers by fire among 
 heathens and Christians ; among princes and the poor of 
 the earth : in the isles of the nations, and “afar off upon 
 the sea.” Wherever he comes, streaks of fire play behind 
 him — the flames of the new life. Hills melt, rocks are 
 rent, deserts bloom. Shall he then not be our God? 
 “ Behold, I am come to send fire on the earth ; and O, 
 would that it were already kindled.”* 
 
 The true God answers by fire. He that has not yet 
 experienced, this has no god at all, or his god is an idol, 
 a barren notion, a shadowy phantom. So soon as he 
 approaches us, we are ready to exclaim, “ Did not our 
 hearts burn within us ?” Wherever he goes, the seven 
 candlesticks blaze around him; and all his words to 
 us are dipped and baptized in fire. Our hearts descend to 
 the pit when he preaches us repentance. Our souls are 
 swept as by a storm when his word comes home to them. 
 
 * German Version. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 119 
 
 He rebukes, and the pillars of our existence tremble ; he 
 speaks comfortably, and our hearts are melted in love ; 
 he promises, and the soul dissolves in longing ; he requests, 
 and our compliance is a fervent necessity ; he commands, 
 and a burning law is enstamped upon our hearts. Such is 
 his language to his people ; and if he proves his existence 
 to his enemies, he does it amid the brightness and the 
 terror of fire. 
 
 O, that he would then write upon our hearts, that he is 
 Jehovah, with the bright letters of his love; that he may 
 not be provoked at last to write it in our ashes, with the 
 ever-burning traces of his wrath. For to all gainsayers he 
 will answer and proclaim his name by that fire, which is 
 prepared for the devil and his angels ; that every creature, 
 whether in the songs of bliss, or the wailings of despair, 
 may give him the glory ; and that the voices of the re- 
 deemed, and of the vessels of wrath “ that have fitted 
 themselves for destruction,” may rise in one concert, 
 “Jehovah is God; and his name endureth for ever.” 
 Amen. 
 
 VIII.— THE FIRE ON CARMEL. 
 
 “ To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your 
 hearts.” Thus David addresses the people of Israel ; 
 thus the apostle Paul, the churches of the early Christians, 
 and thus do we in our present assembly address you : 
 Dear brethren, “ To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden 
 not your hearts.” 
 
 What then is this hardening of the heart ? It is a state 
 of blindness to the divine testimonies, and of obstinate 
 resistance to sufficient light and motive. Hence it is 
 evident there can be no hardening where there is no 
 divine revelation, no sound of law or gospel, no call to re 
 pentance and conversion. Hardening of heart arises from 
 the rejection of one call of grace after another, and the 
 overcoming of one holy influence after another by unbelief. 
 Hence, the more rich the dispensation of the word of life 
 
120 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 is, in a country or a congregation, there is the more occa- 
 sion, not only for conversion, but also for penal hardness 
 of heart. 
 
 “ To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your 
 hearts.” There are unbelievers in the midst of us, in 
 whose hearts there “ is no good thing found towards the 
 Lord God of Israel.” They have succeeded hitherto in 
 turning aside many a thrust of the sword of the Spirit by 
 the panoply of unbelief, and in shaking off many an arrow 
 that had fastened in their conscience. It is so, that to- 
 day you are to hear the voice of the living God utter a testi- 
 mony to himself, such as few of you have yet experienced. 
 Should you succeed in shutting your ears against this voice, 
 and in evading, through unbelief, this marvellous evidence, 
 O, what shall then move you ? You are a great step 
 farther from salvation, and nearer the judgment of invin- 
 cible hardening. Wherefore, “To-day, if ye will hear his 
 voice, harden not your hearts.” 
 
 1 KINGS xviii. 25—40. 
 
 “ And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one 
 bullock for yourselves, and dress it first ; for ye are many ; and call 
 on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. And they took 
 the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called 
 on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, 
 hear us ! But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And 
 they leaped upon the altar which was made. And it came to pass 
 at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud ; for he is a 
 god : either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or 
 l>eradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. And they cried 
 aloud, and cut themselves, after their manner, with knives and 
 lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. And it came to pass, 
 when mid-day was past, and they prophesied until the time of the 
 offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor 
 any to answer, nor any that regarded. And Elijah said unto all 
 the people. Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto 
 him : and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. 
 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the 
 tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, 
 saying, Israel shall be thy name ; And with the stones he built an 
 altar in the name of the Lord; and he made a trench about the 
 altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put 
 the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on 
 the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the 
 burnt-sacrifice, and on the wood. And he said. Do it the second 
 time : and they did it the second time. And he said. Do it the 
 third time: and they did it the third time. And the water ran 
 round about the altar ; and he filled the trench also with water. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 121 
 
 And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening 
 sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said. Lord God of 
 Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou 
 art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done 
 all these things at thy word. Hear me, 0 Lord, hear me ; that this 
 people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast 
 turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell, and 
 consumed the burnt-sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the 
 dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when 
 all the people saw it, they fell on their faces ; and they said. The 
 Lord, he is the God ; the Lord, he is the God. And Elijah said 
 unto them. Take the prophets of Baal ; let not one of them escape 
 And they took them : and Elijah brought them down to the brook 
 Kishon, and slew them there.” 
 
 Now, brethren, what say you to this sublime record ? 
 Is not the voice of the Lord powerful ? Is not the voice 
 of the Lord full of majesty ? Yea, “the voice of the Lord 
 divideth the flames of fire, breaketh the cedars of Lebanon, 
 and shaketh the wilderness.” May the Spirit of the Lord 
 then come upon us, and bear us in thought to the heights 
 of Carmel ; make us worthy spectators of the august scene, 
 so that to-day the “ very stones may cry out,” and the 
 desert rocks open their mouths in singing ; and many a 
 carnal heart may confess this day for the first time, 
 “Jehovah, he is the God ! Jehovah ! he is the God !” 
 
 This narrative does not admit of a formal division. But 
 let us contemplate in it, I., The God of the blinded, in- 
 fatuated world ; and II., The God of Abraham, of Isaac, 
 and of Jacob. 
 
 I. Elijah has made his proposal. Both parties are to 
 sacrifice a bullock : he, and the priests of Baal ; while each 
 is to call on the name of his God. “ And the God,” said 
 Elijah, “that answereth by fire, let him be God.” And 
 the whole people assented. “ It is well spoken,” cried 
 they, with one voice. And now the mighty hour was 
 come, that should decide for ever whether there be a God 
 in heaven, and what is his name ! Elijah loses no time. 
 “ Ye prophets of Baal,” cries he, “begin ; choose ye first 
 your bullock, and call on the name of your gods.” This 
 precedency belongs to you, “for ye are many;” ye have 
 the majority on your side. Yes, and it remains true to this 
 
122 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 day, that the number of the children of Cain, of Baal, and 
 of Belial, so far exceeds that of the sons of God, that they 
 could, as it were, swallow and eat them up as bread, if it 
 depended upon numbers. “ Ye are many.” Yes, as the 
 weeds to the plants; “vessels of wrath” in myriads; whole 
 towns and villages ; whole taverns, ball-rooms, and theatres, 
 for one little dove that is found “in the clefts of the 
 rocks.” Alas, for the fires of judgment which shall bum 
 all up as the dry stubble ! True it is, that in this world 
 they have the upper hand ; and not without reason, for 
 the prince of this world is their monarch. Hence they are 
 honoured and looked up to ; and we are the offscourings 
 of the people, at whom every child is taught to hiss in 
 scorn; they are the great and the wise, and we are the 
 confessed fools, whose wisdom is taken to task by every 
 school-boy of this godless and infidel generation ; they axe 
 the favourites in society, the leaders and dignitaries in 
 public life, and we, unhappy mortals, are neglected and 
 disowned by all ! They are “ they that justify themselves 
 before men,” and have the applause of the whole crowd on 
 their side, and the voice of the greatest geniuses and of 
 the most brilliant talents, and of the mighty oracles in 
 all reviews and journals; and we, why, if any one but 
 once takes our part, he thinks he is condescending to a 
 work of great mercy and compassion. We sit in the poor 
 criminal’s chair, before the great public, and have no other 
 advocate th£n Him, who was “in the form of a servant,” 
 and who, instead of defending our cause at such a bar, 
 reminds us that his kingdom is not of this world, and 
 puts us off to the future for our consolation. What wonder 
 is it then, that we appear utterly wretched and ridiculous 
 to the world, when we appeal to this Advocate, whom they 
 think they have long ago put to death upon the cross, and 
 silenced in the tomb ? Well, be it so ; ye sons and daugh- 
 ters of the father of lies ! Seek your happiness, if you 
 will, under the sceptre of the old serpent ! be the first, and 
 sit on high, “for ye are many !” We envy you not ; for 
 who would grudge the victim, that is to bleed to-morrow. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHB1TE. 
 
 123 
 
 liis last store of fodder ; or the gay trappings and badges 
 of the sacrifice ; or the triumphal shout of the blinded 
 crowd that attends him to the altar ? 
 
 To return to our narrative. The priests make prepara- 
 tions for the sacrifice. They were forced to it, on account 
 of the people. Probably they would rather have let it 
 alone. If they were really not sure of their cause, or had 
 betrayed the people into the service of Baal against the 
 light of their own consciences, alas ! how deplorable must 
 now have been their plight ; with what faces of perplexity, 
 and pitiable uneasiness of mind, must these false impostors 
 have cut up and dressed their bullock, so that they might 
 have wished themselves in the victim’s place, only to escape 
 the unspeakable scorn and shame which they were now 
 obliged to join in bringing on their heads. But such a 
 season of agonising shame and confusion in the face of their 
 congregations shall one day overwhelm all hypocritical 
 and lying priests, however they may have deceived and 
 misled the people, at their altars, or from their pulpits, or 
 by their private influence ! The sacrifice is prepared ; and 
 now a loud cry is raised, that made the whole mountain 
 echo, “ 0 Baal, hear us !” And when one is tired and 
 hoarse, another takes up the cry, “ 0 Baal, hear us !” 
 And if his faith is wearied out, straightway a third collects 
 his expiring hopes into a desperate effort, and shrieks out, 
 
 “ O Baal, hear us !” One fixes his eyes on the clouds, to see 
 if they will not yet rend ; another looks downward into the 
 depths of the rocks, to see whether the longed-for flame 
 will not burst forth ; a third hearkens intently to hear it * 
 rumble and crackle in the ground beneath him,' — “ 0 Baal, 
 hear us !” But let them groan and yell as they will, till 
 they are hoarse and wearied, and stand with open mouths 
 and forlorn faces from morning till noon, and from noon 
 till the time of the evening sacrifice, the cry of their frenzy 
 goes no deeper than the clefts of the rocks, and dies away 
 among the echoes of the mountains. “ There was neither 
 voice nor answer, nor any that regarded.” For all that 
 Baal does, they are no better that if all the fire in the 
 
124 
 
 ELIJAII THE TISHBITE. 
 
 world had gone out ! At last they begin to be frantic, and 
 to act like madmen ; they spring forward, leap upon the 
 sacrifice, then whirl and caper around the altar in wild 
 orgies, with distorted and fanatic gestures. But still no 
 one in heaven or on earth takes notice of their frenzy. A 
 miserable deity, is it not, this Baal ? a mere nonentity ! 
 
 But tell me, might not one think that this was intended 
 for a picture of the favourite deity of the present en- 
 lightened century ? Yes, just such a dead vanity it is, 
 such a dumb idol, in which there is neither voice nor hear- 
 ing nor attention — that is the god of the Bible-hating and 
 perverse generation of our day ; that is the god of most 
 of our philosophers and poets, the god of our politicians 
 and journalists, the god of very many of our seminaries 
 and universities ; that is the god of our modern scientific 
 associations and institutes ; and hence, that is the fashion- 
 able god of our polished circles and assemblies, and of so- 
 ciety of the best quality, in which it is disreputable to 
 have even the appearance of adhering to the God of the 
 Bible, and where the name of God or Lord is almost as 
 jealously avoided as if it were a word of shame and in- 
 famy ; and where, instead of these blessed names, the 
 terms, “ Heaven,” and “ Fate,” are now become the cur- 
 rent style— expressions behind which an ungodly heart 
 in vain seeks to hide its apostacy. They would like to 
 hear nothing of a word of God, know nothing of divine 
 grace and revelation, and hearing of prayer, and operation 
 of our God upon the heart, and communion with him, 
 and experience of His presence. These are to them mere 
 fable and absurdity ; these they regard as vain sounds, the 
 fruit of priestcraft and credulity; a proof, surely, that 
 with their god there is neither voice nor answer, norhear- 
 ing ; a proof, surely, that they understandby their heaven 
 and fate a pure nonentity, and have for deity a dead 
 painted idol, a dumb, sluggish, drowsy Baal, who, God be 
 praised for it, exists only in the dark chamber of their 
 distempered brain. Alas ! for this boasted pure idea of 
 God ; the god of many so-called Deists and Rationalists, 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 125 
 
 the god of so many of our illuminated dreamers ; the god 
 of our romance-readers and fashionable critics, and reli- 
 gionists of the newest school ! A god this who knows not 
 black from white, and allows a thousand sins and infamies 
 to pass with a smile, if they only do not offend against the 
 rules of police ; a god in whose book of law the service of 
 the flesh is a permitted indulgence, falsehood and deceit a 
 prudent dexterity, adultery a pardonable weakness, and 
 the most licentious dance an innocent amusement ; a god 
 to whom it is absolutely indifferent what our creed and 
 opinions are ; a god to whom every villain dare confidently 
 appeal as his witness and his judge ; a god of whose fa- 
 vour the most reckless may rest secure ; a god in whose 
 presence one need be ashamed of no loose discourse, blush 
 for no impure lust, and tremble for no blasphemy or ob- 
 scenity ! Behold, this is thy god, thou untoward genera- 
 tion ! I speak not of all, but I speak of many. This is 
 thy so-called “ Universal Father,” as thou wouldst fain ima- 
 gine, and bring thyself to believe, — yes, thine, most wise, 
 Bible -scorning, enlightened generation ! Woe unto you ! 
 for how will this god leave you to your fate when distress 
 and anguish cometh upon you, when death with his fatal 
 sting transfixes you, and the fire runs through your veins, 
 that, according to the word of truth, shall never be 
 quenched ! Then may you cry till you are faint, “ O Baal, 
 hear us !” But there will be neither voice nor answer, nor 
 hearing, for the Baal in whom you have put your trust 
 has no place at all in the realms of being, and was never 
 more than a phantom of the brain. As the Lord liveth, 
 my brethren, it is the truth which the Holy Ghost speaketh 
 of the apostle John, “ He that abideth not in the doc- 
 trine of Christ hath no God.”* — 2 John 9. Tremble, then, 
 all of you together, who have not the God of the Bible, 
 who have not God in Christ ; ye are Atheists ; search into 
 the bottom of your souls and you will find it so. Yes, 
 A theists. 
 
 To return to Carmel. The outcry and frantic noise 
 
 * German Version. 
 
126 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 seems as if it would never end. Elijah stands by, a spec- 
 tator of its horrid absurdity. It is easy to imagine his 
 various feelings, how his heart would at one moment be 
 like to break with compassion, and then a holy indigna- 
 tion would rise within him ; and then, again, the matter 
 would appear so foolish and ridiculous, that he could not 
 restrain his scorn. “ Yes,” he cries out amid the tumult, 
 “ Cry aloud, for as much as he is a god : Either he is 
 talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a journey, or perad- 
 venture he sleepeth, and must be awaked.” Perhaps he 
 has his head and hands so full that he neither hears nor 
 sees you. He may be a-musing, or a-busy arranging the 
 thunder and lightning, or from home and in the chase, or 
 he has laid down to take a nap ; cry aloud and awake him ! 
 Yes, just as there are doubts which should be repelled 
 not with reasons and arguments, but, as a pious old father 
 says, with a peremptory “ fie ! fie !” and just as there are 
 cares which are best removed by a smile, so there are 
 follies and delusions to which a little lively sarcasm or 
 irony is the best reply. Where arguments lose their force, 
 and all rational proof has been tried in vain, there re- 
 mains no other weapon of truth than ridicule, which, when 
 used to the glory of God, as here by Elijah, and, among 
 others, by Isaiah, in the admirable irony of his 44th chap- 
 ter, may produce a most salutary effect. What shall I do 
 with obstinate folly and self-conceited ignorance, which 
 perhaps has never been at the pains to read the gospel, 
 and yet condemns it unheard ? Shall I strive and labour 
 to persuade them of its truth, when, besides, I know that 
 " all men have not faith,” and that it is not transferable 
 like an article of merchandize ?” No ! let me break off 
 with the counsel, “ Tarry at Jericho till your beards be 
 grown,” given in sadness or in scorn, as the case may be. 
 Such a shaft of irony may stick longer in the conscience 
 than a serious appeal ; and we know that it is said of God 
 himself, Psalms ii. 4, “ Ho that sitteth in the heavens 
 shall laugh : the Lord shall have them in derision.” Do 
 you perhaps object that it argued human weakness in 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 127 
 
 Elijah to be able to mock and use irony during the mo- 
 mentous scene on Carmel ? I affirm, on the contrary, that 
 it shewed a divine confidence worthy of all admiration. 
 For what a cheerful and undaunted courage does it sup- 
 pose ! what an inward repose and serenity of temper ! what 
 a firm conviction of the justice and truth of His cause ! 
 what a certainty of success, and that the living God will 
 not forsake him ! The faintest scruple, the smallest un- 
 certainty, would soon have put all his irony to flight. 
 Thus, also, it has been given to many Christians in the 
 joyful elevation of their faith to repel the devil with scorn 
 and ridicule, to calm the troubled conscience with a smile, 
 to triumph over the shame and reproach which they en- 
 countered with a certain play of humour, and to utter 
 pleasantries of defiance against death and the grave when 
 in their very grasp, as enemies long ago unstinged and 
 trodden under foot. Let no one take upon him to school 
 these cheerful Christians, because they do not hang their 
 heads like a bulrush and afflict their souls. That would 
 be to arraign His grace who has “ filled their mouth with 
 laughter and their tongue with singing.” Let us weep 
 with those who must weep in God, and rejoice also with 
 those who can rejoice. There is, says Solomon, “ a time 
 to weep and a time to laugh.” 
 
 Elijah’s irony raises the vexation and frantic violence 
 of the priests of Baal to the highest pitch. Now Baal 
 must hear them ; he must come forth, whether he will or 
 no. The outcry is changed into a howl ; they lay hold of 
 knives and lancets, and lacerate their bodies according to 
 pagan custom till they stream with blood, as if they had 
 retained by tradition something of the article of faith, 
 that “ without shedding of blood is no remission.” With 
 their sinful blood they think to move Baal, and to force 
 an answer ; then they begin to prophesy, that is, to make 
 all kinds of enthusiastic motions, to rave as if rapt in 
 vision, and to mutter forth horrible incantations. “ But 
 still there was no voice nor answer, nor any that regarded.” 
 All was in vain ! And, brethren, in your worship of the 
 
m 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHSITE. 
 
 living God, you will not succeed by such forced excite- 
 ments and unnatural ecstacies and devotions. Believe me, 
 though you force up such frames ever so high, Jehovah 
 has no pleasure in these sacrifices. Though you roll your 
 eyes, bow your heads to the earth, pray yourselves hoarse, 
 and fill up day and night with your services of will- wor- 
 ship, in the idea that these are the things to propitiate 
 God, you will find yourselves rewarded only by an awful 
 silence, and there will be neither voice nor hearing, nor 
 answer from the Most High. 
 
 II. From morning till the time of the evening sacrifice 
 has the insane folly lasted. Then Elijah comes forth, 
 pimple and straight-forward, with calm look and steadfast 
 bearing, so that every one must have said in his heart, 
 “ That is the prophet of the true God.” “ And Elijah said 
 unto all the people. Come near unto me. And all the 
 people came near unto him.” On the top of Carmel lay the 
 ruins of an altar built in Israel’s earlier and happier days, 
 but thrown down by Jezebel. This Elijah restored and 
 consecrated anew, as if he meant to say, “May God restore 
 thee, O Israel, thou sadly dilapidated sanctuary of the 
 Lord !” For all that Elijah now did was an instructive 
 discourse by signs. He took twelve stones, according to 
 the number of the twelve tribes of Israel, in order to re- 
 build with them the altar in the name of the Lord. As 
 much as to say, “ God will remember his covenant and his 
 promise, and will again restore Israel to his favour when 
 the Leader of the people is come.” About the altar he dug 
 a trench, large enough to contain two measures of seed, 
 as if he had said, “ 0 Israel, return to thy happy singu- 
 larity and isolation, in which thy God hath shut thee up, 
 and separated thee from the beginning !” He then laid 
 the wood in order, cut up the bullock, and laid it thereon. 
 “ Ah !” might not his soul now sigh, “ that thou wouldest 
 speedily prepare thy Sacrifice, thou Priest of God, that 
 Sacrifice which shall perfect for ever all them that are sanc- 
 tified !” He commanded that water should be poured on 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 129 
 
 I the wood and on the sacrifice, that the miracle might be 
 the more unquestionable, and no one might afterwards be 
 able to object that fire had been secretly applied. “Fill 
 four barrels with water,” said he, “ and pour it on the 
 burnt sacrifice and on the wood and he said, “ Do it the 
 second time ; and they did it the second time and he 
 said, “Do it the third time ; and they did it the third 
 
 I time ; and the water ran round about the altar ; and he 
 filled the trench also with water.” 
 
 The preparations are now completed. A secret thrill 
 | runs through the assembly ; a deep silence pervades the 
 whole multitude. And it came to pass, at the time of the 
 I offering of the evening sacrifice — (our third hour, or the 
 ninth of the evangelists — solemn and momentous hour !) — 
 that Elijah, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, comes 
 near to the altar, clasps his hands, turns his eyes upwards 
 to heaven, while his whole heart and soul and spirit go 
 with them, and in the name of the promised Son of Man, 
 who is the way to the Father, opens his lips in prayer, and 
 such a prayer ! “ Lord God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of 
 Jacob, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, 
 and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these 
 things at thy word. Hear me, 0 Lord, hear me, that this 
 people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that 
 thou hast turned their heart back again.” Elijah calls God 
 by his name, “ Jehovah God,” which he had chosen for 
 himself in the beginning, to denote his condescending and 
 compassionate love to sinners ; and by his name, the God 
 of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, that he might 
 thereby excite in the hearts of the backsliding people a 
 humbling remembrance of all the goodness that this God 
 had made to pass before them and their fathers of his free 
 grace. Elijah prays, “ Let it be known this day that thou 
 art God in Israel.” The honour of God is his ruling pas- 
 sion, the source and end of all his zeal. “ And,” he adds, 
 ** and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these 
 things at thy word.” This he might well request with 
 confidence, for his honour and that of his master were in 
 9 
 
130 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 this entirely one. And with what intense earnestness did 
 he add the words, “ Hear me, 0 Lord, hear me !” And 
 what was the import of a plea, with whose energy all 
 heaven might be stirred, — “ That this people may know 
 that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned 
 their hearts back again.” Thus, in this prayer, as in all 
 that the prophet did or said, we find two great ends be- 
 fore his mind, the glory of God and the salvation of the 
 people. And what shall we most admire in this prayer ? 
 The prophet’s zeal for the renewed display of God’s glory, 
 or the fervour of his love for the degraded house of Israel, 
 the amazing confidence of faith which could ask such great 
 things, or his immovable assurance that God would testify 
 of his own cause ? No, we wonder most at the unspeak- 
 able grace of God, which teaches a handful of dust and 
 ashes, as man is, thus to believe, thus to love, and thus to 
 pray. To him be the glory ! 
 
 And now, what ensues ! Stupendous moment 1 The 
 whole revelation of God is at stake. If no answer follow, 
 the whole fabric falls in, and the ground of our hope is 
 gone for ever. Then all is delusion, which Elijah has tes- 
 tified ; all is delusion, which the prophets before him have 
 declared, and he has confirmed; then are the pillars of 
 God’s ancient promises as stubble, and their foundations 
 as sand; then is the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob 
 a fable and a dream. The prayer is uttered ; there is the 
 stillness of death in the assembly ; every heart beats high ; 
 in every face is the intensity of expectation ; when, lo ! 
 the answer comes; the Amen resounds! the heaven is 
 rent ; mountain and vale and sea gleam suddenly in the 
 red blaze ; the fire of the Lord breaks forth from the blue 
 and cloudless sky ; it rushes down amidst the crowd ; and 
 now it is upon the altar, and devours the burnt-offering, 
 the wood, the stones, and the earth, and licks up the water 
 in the trench. The people, in unspeakable consternation, 
 fall thunderstruck to the ground, bury their faces in the 
 dust, and cry out, “ The Lord, he is the God ; the Lord, he 
 is the God!” And ye that hear it in this assembly; ye 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 131 
 
 children of God, ye servants of Baal, to the ground ! to the 
 ground ! and forth with the cry of confession, “ The Lord, 
 he is the God ; the Lord, he is the God!” Verily I say 
 unto you, if ye hold your peace, the very stones will cry out ! 
 Elijah’s faith is crowned ; the frenzied priesthood are put 
 to shame, and all the gods which are not the God of the 
 Bible are confounded and brought to nothing ! 
 
 O, what has the merciful God, the God of Abraham, and 
 of Isaac, and of Jacob, not done, to make our faith in him 
 easy, and to bring the knowledge of himself nigh to us ! 
 Has he ever been weary of revealing himself in nature, and 
 in scripture, by the work of his hands, and the word of his 
 mouth ; by arguments and figures, by poets and prophets, 
 and by signs and wonders ; in every style, and in the easiest 
 manner in each ; condescending to the most childish and 
 silly of our difficulties ; and yet who acknowledges him as 
 God ! who gives him the glory due unto his name ! 0 thou 
 untoward and perverse generation of this world, come 
 near ! come near ! Gladly would we baptize you, though 
 reluctant, in the fire of Carmel. Gladly would we drag 
 you, though by no welcome violence, within hearing 
 of the great testimonies of J ehovah. We would force your 
 eyes open to his mighty deeds, and even thrust his signs 
 and wonders in your faces ; that you may want all excuse 
 at the last day, that you could not have known the God of 
 Israel. Living signs and standing wonders, like that of 
 Carmel, have been given to thousands ; and that which he 
 gave in these last days, when he spoke to you by his Son, 
 is not the last. Behold the altar of his church, built upon 
 himself as its chief comer stone, and on the twelve living 
 stones of the apostles ! It is surrounded, too, by a trench, 
 which the bitterest of its enemies have sought in vain to 
 cross, with all their weapons of war, to this day. Look on 
 it ; this sanctuary of God, in its stability, its age, its com- 
 pass, where the fire of the Lord goes not out night or day. 
 Is not this spiritual temple a standing proof that Jehovah 
 iiveth ? Look at every stone of this building ; every con- 
 verted sinner ! Here, too, was a ruined altar ; but see, it is 
 
132 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 restored. Here too was a trench around it, of thousand- 
 fold sins, temptations, and obstacles, which closed the 
 entrance against the Lord ; but lo ! the fire has forced its 
 way ! Here also were stones— a hard heart and a stubborn 
 mind; here also were wood and earth — deadness, car- 
 nality, and darkness ; but the flame of Jehovah has 
 devoured earth, and wood, and stone ; dried up the floods 
 of sinful passion; and the desolated ruin is become a 
 monument of the glory of God. But how few believe our 
 report ! Believe it or reject it you must ; for ye shall be 
 surrounded with the testimonies of Israel as with a 
 wall ; so that only two things will remain to you ; — either 
 to cry, “ The Lord, he is the God,” or as genuine children 
 of Belial, to declare, “We desire not the knowledge of 
 Jehovah.” It shall thus at least come to a decision with 
 you ; and ye shall bring the counsel of God, by your own 
 deeds, to an issue. He that returns home this day from 
 Mount Carmel, without one echo in his heart of the words, 
 “The Lord, he is the God,” let that man have no longer 
 any scruple to take his place in the ranks of those whose 
 father and prince is the devil, who has blinded the eyes of 
 them that believe not ! 
 
 The people on Mount Carmel gave glory to the God of 
 Israel ; but the priests of Baal hardened their hearts, per- 
 sisted in their rebellion, and refused all submission. They 
 were therefore ripe for destruction. “ Take the prophets 
 of Baal,” said Elijah, “let not one of them escape.” The 
 people lend a ready ear ; for they now perceive the foul 
 imposture which these destroyers of their souls have prac- 
 tised upon them. They fall upon them, drag them down 
 at Elijah’s command to the brook Kishon, and assist the 
 prophet in destroying them. Their doom was just. These 
 deceivers could no longer be permitted to abide in Israel, 
 if idolatry was to be rooted out. They must be cut off as 
 hardened priests of idols, as malignant teachers of error, 
 as blood-thirsty murderers of the prophets of Jehovah. 
 God would not only prove his existence by the manifesta- 
 tion of Carmel, but also shew that he was the Holy One of 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 133 
 
 Israel ; the God that judgeth in the earth. H owever painful 
 this execution must have been to the merciful and com- 
 passionate heart of Elijah ; how many thousand times soever 
 he would have preferred the conversion of these men to 
 their destruction ; yet, because the honour of God de- 
 manded it, he could deny his natural feelings, and be 
 obedient to God, in opposition to all human affection and 
 impulse. I say, obedient ; for in the law of God, given to 
 Moses, it is expressly enjoined, “ If any one will entice 
 thee secretly, saying, let us go and serve other gods, which 
 thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers, thou shalt 
 surely kill him ; thine hand shall be first upon him to put 
 him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people.” 
 To this express command of Jehovah, the prophet felt 
 himself constrained to render unqualified and unhesitating 
 submission, however great a struggle it might cost him ; for 
 he was appointed and ordained of God to contend zeal- 
 ously for the law, to re-establish the rights of Jehovah in 
 his kingdom of Israel, to restore the tables of mount Sinai 
 from the neglect of ages to their ancient splendour. And 
 it is not fitting that a servant of the Lord should confer 
 first with flesh and blood. His watchword must be,— . 
 “ Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.” 
 
 The cross has introduced a new era ; and ever since the 
 reins of empire were placed in the hands that were nailed 
 to the tree, the iron rod has been exchanged for the 
 gentler sceptre of long-suffering. Hence the wild grapes 
 are suffered to remain in the true vineyard ; the wheat and 
 the tares grow together until the harvest. But if we were 
 still amid the times of Moses and Elijah, there would be no 
 end of the slaughter ; and the blood of the priests of Baal 
 would flow in streams, even in a church styled “ Evange- 
 lical,” but which is far from deserving this fair and glorjous 
 name. But their judgment slumbereth not; and their 
 damnation sleepeth not. Soon shall he come ; the Mighty 
 One from Bozrah, that is red in his apparel, and shall put 
 in motion the wine-press of his wrath ! Ye servants of 
 Baal and seducers of the people, the sword hangs over you 
 
134 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 only by a thread; the bow is already bent, and made 
 ready. 
 
 Go on, go on, ye hirelings and wolves in your thousands 
 of pulpits, and persuade your poor flocks to sacrifice to 
 other gods than Him whom Abraham called his Lord, and 
 the sound of whose feet was on the mountains of Israel ! 
 Go on, ye corrupters of youth ; ye blind leaders of the 
 blind, and strive amid the plaudits of the vile sons of earth 
 to hurl the Ancient of days from his throne, that ye may 
 set up in his stead a mockery and abomination, the 
 phantom of your diseased brain ! Go on, ye votaries of 
 fashion, with your well-bred sneers at the J ewish God of 
 the Bible, and defile yourselves with the idol-worship of 
 the wisdom of the day ! Hark ! The angel is already 
 flying through the midst of heaven : and his cry is Woe ! 
 Woe ! The sword is already drawn that shall slay you ; the 
 cup mixed that ye shall drink of to the dregs ; the pile of 
 Tophet set in order, on which, forsaken by your gods, ye 
 shall become flaming monuments for ever of the divine 
 justice and holy vengeance. 0, it is a fearful thing to fall 
 into the hands of the living God; for he is a consuming 
 fire. I beseech you, take the words home — a consuming 
 Jire. 
 
 But thou, Israel, take the harp ; rejoice and be glad ; 
 thy God liveth ! Carmel and Golgotha, heaven and earth, 
 vie in the strain, “Thy God liveth !” Join in the song, 0 
 Israel, and call aloud, as with the voice of a trumpet, 
 laying the one hand on thy heart, and lifting up the other 
 on high, to confound the enemy, and to still the avenger ; 
 “ My Lord, he is the God. My God is King.” Amen. 
 
 THE PRAYER ON MOUNT CARMEL. 
 
 Prayer is the light of the soul ; the hand that removes 
 the veil from Jehovah’s glory. The saint has power with 
 God, because he walks with God, and lives in the beams 
 of his countenance. Thus alone can the prayer of the 
 righteous become effectual and fervent, and of much 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 135 
 
 avail. This was the secret of Elijah’s wonderful success in 
 wrestling with God. I trust each new miracle of the pro- 
 phet’s influence, as it has passed before us, has deepened 
 the impression of this great truth. And, 0, that the 
 sublime display which we are about to witness of the 
 might of prayer, may prove a still more powerful ex- 
 hortation to us to maintain unbroken communion with 
 the keeper of Israel, “and to pray without ceasing !” 
 
 1 KINGS, xviii. 41—46. 
 
 “ And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink ; for 
 there is a sound of abundance of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and 
 to drink : and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel ; and he cast 
 himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees. 
 And said to his servant. Go up now, look toward the sea. And he 
 went up, and looked, and said. There is nothing. And he said. Go 
 again seven times. And it came to pass, at the seventh time, that 
 he said. Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a 
 mans hand. And he said. Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy 
 chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. And it came 
 to pass, in the meanwhile, that the heaven was black with clouds 
 and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to 
 Jezreel. And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah ; and he girded 
 up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.” 
 
 The fire has borne its testimony ; now the waters speak. 
 The grace of God exhausts itself in manifestations and 
 testimonies that he is Lord, and not another, and that 
 the living God rules in Israel. When shall this thunder of 
 his power unstop the ears of the deaf adder ? The prayer 
 of Elijah is the subject of our present meditation ; and we 
 have here, I., The preparation for the prayer; II., The 
 prayer itself ; III., The answer. 
 
 I. We are now standing at the foot of Carmel, in the 
 midst of the valley which lately witnessed the bloody exe- 
 cution of the priests of Baal. These men have fallen by 
 the sword of Elijah and the repentant people, and their 
 blood is mingled with the waters of the brook Kishon. 
 The sword of vengeance is sheathed again with praise to 
 Jehovah, who is holy in all his ways, and who is glorified 
 no less in the overthrow of his enemies, than in the halle- 
 lujahs of his friends. 
 
 For three years and a half have the heavens been shut 
 
136 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 up, and not a drop of water has refreshed the thirsty land. 
 You can imagine the appearance of the devoted country ; 
 the whole land as a heath ; man and beast reduced to 
 skeletons ; and all flesh faded like the grass. Those who 
 had now become believers in God, must have been filled 
 with terror, for they had learned to recognize him amid the 
 thunder of judgment, and as seated on his throne of de- 
 vouring fire ! For the sake of these poor trembling sheep, 
 the prophet was earnestly desirous that the Lord should 
 again make his countenance to shine, so that the bones 
 which he had broken might rejoice. As the song of faith 
 rises most cheerfully after the storm of trial is past ; as 
 the fruit of faith ripens best in the beams of divine mercy, 
 when the winter of wrath is over and gone, Elijah was 
 anxious, for the people’s sake, that the brazen skies should 
 now dissolve in abundance of rain, and the season of 
 famine and distress terminate. But for this Elijah must 
 wrestle with God. What the rod was to Moses, by which he 
 divided the waves of the Red Sea, and brought water out of 
 the flinty rock, that was the prayer of faith to Elijah. 
 
 Ahab the king stood also among the people at the brook 
 Kishon. He had been a spectator of the whole scene, from 
 beginning to end, even of the slaughter of his priests, and 
 that not without a certain concurrence ; for he was evi- 
 dently a weak, capricious tyrant, changing with the hour, 
 and moulded by circumstances, like the potter’s clay. 
 The miracle on Carmel, and the enmusiastic cry of the 
 people, “ The Lord, he is the God,” had not left his heart 
 altogether untouched ; so that even he might think for a 
 moment, “ It is possible, after all, that the Lord may be 
 God.” But he was as far from conversion as ever. What- 
 ever faith he had, was only the transitory impulse of flesh 
 and blood, and not the work of the Spirit of God. It is no 
 uncommon thing, amid a great awakening in a church, 
 and an unwonted stir among the dry bones, for many to 
 be carried along with the crowd — they cannot themselves 
 tell how, or why. It, -is as in a thunder-storm, when one is 
 struck down by the* lightning, and his comrades fall like- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 137 
 
 wise to the ground from the violent shock and concussion 
 of the air. He has been smitten, and remains on the spot ; 
 they are unharmed, and soon rise up and pursue their way 
 as if nothing had happened. Thus was it with Ahab, and 
 with many others, at the fiery testimony on Carmel. 
 
 Elijah, about to retire to prayer, could well dispense 
 .with the company of Ahab and his train. “ Get thee up,” 
 said he to him, “ eat and drink, for there is the sound of 
 abundance of rain.” With these words, in which we 
 cannot fail to perceive a scornful and stinging reproof of 
 the sensuality of the wretched monarch, Elijah sought to 
 relieve himself of his unwelcome society, that he might 
 give himself, undisturbed, to communion with his God. 
 The children of this world must often submit to such pain- 
 ful exclusion from the sanctuary. It is one of the judg- 
 ments which pass on them even in time. Such a judgment 
 it is, when it is in effect said to any of us by our pious 
 friends, “Retire for a little; I wish to converse with my 
 God,” or, “Withdraw to thine own circle; I expect the 
 company of brethren in the faith ; and our intercourse can 
 have no interest for thee.” Is it not a touching reproof to 
 us, if the children of God become all at once mute and 
 monosyllabic on our entering their company; or, if out 
 of complaisance to us, they change at once the conversa- 
 tion to the weather, the politics, or the news of the day ? 
 Is it not as a divine admonition to us, when we cannot help 
 seeing that our presence is no better than an intrusion, 
 and when it is perhaps gently hinted to us that we may 
 possibly have missed our way a little, and made a slight 
 mistake in entering a society where we are not altogether 
 at home ? Yes, to be thus excluded from the sanctuary, 
 and banished from the temple of God, is surely a foretaste 
 of the last great separation ! And how many of you must 
 swallow this bitter pill day after day, in being told, now on 
 one occasion, and now on another, “ Get ye up, eat and 
 drink ; we should like to be alone ; here we cannot well em- 
 ploy you ; and we should be sorry to cast pearls before 
 swine !” 
 
138 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 “ (let thee up,” said Elijah, and added, “for there is 
 the sound of abundance of rain.” The prophet heard the 
 sound of motion and a rustling in the air, as is com- 
 mon before a storm, in the tops of trees, and on the 
 waters. Whether he heard it only in faith in the ear of 
 the mind ; or whether God made his organs of hearing so 
 acute, that he perceived what was afar off, or in the higher 
 regions of the air, we cannot tell. It is enough that he 
 heard it ; and it sounded to him like the tolling of the bell 
 of prayer ; as a fore-running Amen to the earnest suppli- 
 cation to which he was addressing himself ; and it 
 strengthened him in the hope that his will in desiring rain 
 was one with the \$ill of God, who would now send rain. 
 
 My brethren, we sometimes hear such a sound also ; and 
 as often as we hear it, let it be to us what it was to Elijah, 
 a solemn call to prayer. This is what God intends it to be 
 to us. When at any time the preaching of truth is blessed 
 to a people, and the word comes home to the soul ; when 
 there is a movement in a congregation, and a general ex- 
 citement is produced ; when the tears of emotion flow, and 
 people meet together and say, “ What a solemn and im- 
 pressive sermon !” there is then the sound of rain ; and 
 then it is time, ye children of God, to lift up your hands 
 and plead that after the sound abundance of rain may 
 come ! Again, when the judgment of God visits our neigh- 
 bourhood, and some barren fig-tree is suddenly cut down 
 before our eyes, or some scoffer is visibly smitten in his 
 sins ; when the whole neighbourhood is alarmed, and un- 
 believers themselves are obliged to confess, “ This is the 
 finger of God,” then there is the sound of rain; and 
 you must pray, ye flock of God, that it stop not there ! 
 When thou art informed, Christian brother, that here 
 one man is desiring the sincere milk of the gospel, and 
 that there another has risen up from the seat of the 
 scornful, and is seeking to draw near to the children 
 of God; when thou observest that in thy household a 
 spirit of inquiry after eternal things is awakened, and 
 that thy children begin to hear gladly of the Lord Jesus, 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 139 
 
 then the sound is come to thine ears ; then it is time to 
 give thyself to prayer! Yes! be watchful, ye children 
 of God; never fall asleep on the walls of Zion. Keep 
 your ears attentive, and hearken, here and yonder, and 
 in the church, and in your houses, among your friends 
 and relatives, and when ye hear the first rustle, be it only 
 faint and from afar, go directly to your closets, fall upon 
 your knees, and stretching out your hands before the Lord, 
 cry, “ 0 Lord, there is the sound ; we will not let thee go 
 till thou grant us also the abundance of rain !” And take 
 the same course, when there begins to be a rustling, not 
 without you in others, but within you in your own selves ; 
 when it thunders and lightens amid your own darkness ; 
 when a word strikes you, and a ray of light falls upon your 
 souls ; when Christ reveals himself before your eyes, and a 
 foretaste of his grace is vouchsafed to your hearts ; then 
 give the more diligence, to make your calling and election 
 sure. The rustling is not the rain itself ; but it is a fore- 
 runner of rain, and a divine summons to prayer. 0, that 
 you would so regard it ! 
 
 Elijah delayed, you see, not a moment, after he heard 
 the sound of rain. He dismissed Ahab and his attendants, 
 and we are told “Ahab went up to eat and to drink.” 
 Miserable man ! After all the great and heart-affecting 
 scenes of the day, he just felt as if he had witnessed an 
 interesting though somewhat tedious comedy, after which 
 refreshment is welcome, and food is relished. But where 
 are such souls not to be found ? Many among you are not 
 one whit better than Ahab. Ah ! woe is you, ye careless 
 souls, that can suffer the most convincing testimonies, the 
 strongest calls to repentance, and the most impressive 
 miracles of God, to pass as a shadow on the wall before 
 your eyes ; pleased perhaps a little, as with a gay show, but 
 bringing nothing more away with you from our churches 
 and meetings, than perhaps a complaint of the length of the 
 services, or matter for conversational display and conceited 
 criticism, together with a good appetite for the next 
 carnal meal, and an exhilarating prospect of the worldly 
 
140 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 pleasure and indulgences of the Sabbath evening. Yes ! 
 this is all ; and perhaps in the morning the Lord and his 
 Spirit has made answer before your eyes and ears, as with 
 fire ! Well, we will not detain you here, “ Get ye hence, 
 and eat and drink.” 
 
 II. When Ahab was gone, Elijah, we are told, went up 
 to the top of Carmel ; bent in spirit, as we shall see, he 
 descended into the depths of humiliation. On Carmel’s 
 summit all was calm and still, as in the lonely chamber ; 
 there no unbidden guests followed ; there he could collect 
 his soul to prayer. On Carmel’s summit, also, the pro- 
 phet could most readily perceive and descry whether his 
 prayer was likely to be answered, as he stood on a watch- 
 tower, whence land and sea were visible, and a wide horizon 
 lay around him. Of this commanding view, however, he 
 appears to have made little use ; for no sooner does he 
 reach the summit than he stoops to the ground, kneels, 
 closes his eyes, bends his head forwards towards his knees, 
 and in this posture begins to plead with the Lord for rain. 
 Behold him ! Who would say that this is the same man, 
 who but lately stood forth on Carmel, as God’s vicegerent, 
 seemingly empowered with a command over the elements ? 
 His whole demeanour expresses nothing but prostration of 
 spirit ; nothing but self-annihilation ; nothing but con- 
 sciousness of his own insignificance, poverty, unworthiness, 
 and impotence. But it was the will of God that we should 
 see his prophet, once for all, in such a posture ; and over- 
 hear him, as it were, in his closet, that we might learn 
 where his marvellous strength really lay ; and see that it 
 has been God’s rule from the beginning to work only with 
 broken instruments, and to do wonders with bruised reeds ; 
 and he instructed not only whence, but how, Elijah derived 
 his greatness; and never be led more to put the crown 
 of honour on the head of man, instead of laying it at 
 the feet of Him, whose right it is ; and feel the comfort 
 ©f the appeal of the apostle James, “ Elias was a man 
 euoject to like passions as we are.” When Elijah stood 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 141 
 
 before the people, he was the ambassador of God, and had 
 | to sustain his high character in word and action ; but, when 
 
 I he stood before God, he was a poor helpless sinner, who 
 was only able to live by grace, and had nothing to demand, 
 but everything to beg, from the hand of grace. On the 
 summit of Carmel, the feeling of his unworthiness seems 
 in an altogether peculiar manner to have overwhelmed 
 him. And how could it be otherwise, when he looked 
 back on the events of that day, and upon the whole course 
 of his life, to that moment ? How had success everywhere 
 attended him, and all that he desired been given into 
 his bosom ! What succour, what preservation, what 
 answers to prayer had he experienced ! And who was he ? 
 We cannot, we dare not, utter it ; but he himself, he as 
 well as Paul, will have it confessed before God, that he is 
 the chief of sinners ! And in this consciousness, he appears 
 before the Lord, to implore a new miracle, though the 
 altar yet smokes with the fiery testimony, which had shone 
 forth from the Lord at his request. 
 
 When Elijah had thus, in the depths of self-annihilation, 
 wrestled for a time with God, in a way which but few 
 know from their own experience, for all believers are not 
 led by a path of such total and absolute abasement ; he 
 sent his young servant (who was perhaps the son of the 
 widow of Zarephath, whom, after his raising from the 
 dead, he might have taken with him as a scholar), and 
 said to him, “ Go up now, and look towards the sea.” He 
 placed the servant upon the watchtower, that he might 
 attend to the sky, and inform him when his prayer was 
 heard, and a prognostic of coming rain was visible in the 
 distant horizon. That his prayer would be heard he had 
 no doubt, from the faithful word of Him who had said to 
 him at Zarephath, “Go, shew thyself to Ahab; and I 
 will send rain upon the earth.” The servant went, looked 
 into the distance, and cast his eyes about on all sides ; but 
 the heaven was clear as crystal; not a cloud was to be 
 seen. He returned, and said, “I see nothing/ It is a 
 matter of every-day Christian experience, that help does 
 
142 
 
 Eli J AH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 not come at the first cry, and that the harvest of prayer 
 is not reaped as soon as it is sown. Much need not he said 
 to justify this procedure of Divine wisdom. It is painful 
 to flesh and blood, but in the end most salutary for us. 
 What would the consequence be, if all the treasure chambers 
 of God’s grace were opened to us on our first knocking ? 
 Should we not, then, come to think ourselves rulers and 
 commanders in the city of God, and quite forget our 
 nothingness and poverty! Should we not be in danger 
 of making idols of our prayers, as the Israelites of 
 the brazen serpent, and feel as if prayer saved us of 
 itself, as if we possessed in it a secret talisman, a 
 divining rod, or a legal claim upon the bounty of God ! 
 We would soon become so full of our own sufficiency, that 
 the grace of God would be received by us in vain. Hence 
 our gracious Father is not always ready with his answer 
 the moment after our prayer ; but lets us generally stand a 
 while at the door, so that once and again it may be said, 
 “ I see nothing.” Thus we are brought to reflect a little, 
 and restored to our sense of the truth, that we have really 
 no claim at all to present, and that if aught be granted us, 
 it is of pure grace. If we begin with asking loaves, we are 
 allowed to wait till we descend to slices, and at last to 
 crumbs. If we come before him at first as righteous per- 
 sons, he keeps us back, till we are become in our own eyes 
 poor sinners, unworthy petitioners, nay, dogs ; and are 
 ready to say, “ Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs 
 that fall from their master’s table.” Such is his method. 
 
 “ I see nothing,” said the prophet’s servant. But the 
 praying Elijah did not despair. That we weary so soon in 
 our prayers, and desist so soon altogether, proceeds, in 
 general, from this cause, that we are not sufficiently earnest 
 in our desire of the blessing. He that sees hell open before 
 him, I assure you, will not easily cease to cry for mercy, and 
 he that feels the blight of the curse on his soul, will not easily 
 give up praying that his conscience may be sprinkled by 
 the blood of the Lamb. So it was with Elijah. “ Go again” 
 said he to his servant, “ seven times.” Why he chose the 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 143 
 
 number seven and no other, we cannot exactly tell. It is 
 one of those mysteries of Hebrew type and figure which we 
 should not interpret rashly. But you may ask, Why did 
 the prophet require his servant to come to him with so 
 many discouraging reports. What could it avail to hear 
 always over again the reply, “ I see nothing ?” Doubtless 
 it was to stimulate the prophet’s ardour, to excite him to 
 a yet more earnest wrestling with God, to make him less 
 and less in his own eyes, and to draw forth deeper and 
 deeper sighs from his contrite soul. How must his fer- 
 vour have increased from moment to moment ; till heaven 
 was moved, and the heart of the merciful God yearned 
 over the agony of his servant. No doubt, immediate hear- 
 ing of prayer is more agreeable, but delay so improved as 
 in this case, is unspeakably more profitable. Those are the 
 most blessed spots on earth which are hallowed by the fre- 
 quent kneeling, and watered with the bursting tears of 
 suppliants who will not let the Lord go till he bless them. 
 In this course of long sighing and crying the body of sin 
 and death receives its most deadly wounds; the fallow 
 ground of the heart is most thoroughly broken up and pre- 
 pared for the seed of the word; the remains of self-righteous- 
 ness are most thoroughly demolished, till not a stone is left 
 upon another, and its foundations of sand too are utterly 
 swept away ; and in the deepest basis of conviction in the 
 real centre of the soul, the comer stone of the true temple 
 of grace is laid ; and if deliverance then follow, how great 
 is the joy, how permanent and inwrought the confidence ! 
 Blessed are ye, and truly enviable, ye souls that have thus 
 experienced in your hearts the deep working of the great 
 Master-Builder ; who have struggled through such depths 
 of abasement to the sure footing of a patient trust in Christ ; 
 and who, after all the drought and lingering of the wilder- 
 ness, are now refreshed by the fountains and the palms of 
 Klim ! 
 
 III. The servant comes the seventh time, and says, 
 “ Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a 
 man’s hand.” Blessed message! Elijah’s prayer is answered 
 
144 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 At first only a little cloud appears, scarcely visible. But 
 if God gives anything he gives all, for he does not work by 
 halves. Art thou receiving a little grace ? Rejoice, for in 
 this thou hast a pledge that thou shalt receive “ grace for 
 grace.” Hast thou obtained aught of his Spirit ? then rest 
 assured that thou shalt be filled with all his influences. 
 The forgiveness of one sin draws after it the forgiveness of 
 all ; and the “ day of small things” in the work of regenera- 
 tion shall lead to complete renewal in the “ day of Christ.” 
 God either gives all or nothing. He either does not begin 
 the good work, or he carries it to perfection. Such is his 
 method. Rejoice, then, though no more than a little cloud 
 of grace has as yet risen in the horizon of thy soul ! The 
 time is at hand when this little cloud shall cover the 
 whole sky. 
 
 No sooner does Elijah hear of the arising of the cloud, 
 than he brings his prayer to a close. God had closed it 
 with a mighty Amen ! He rises from the earth, and says 
 to his servant, “ Go up, say unto Ahab, prepare thy cha- 
 riot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.” Thus 
 was literally fulfilled, what Elijah had said, “ There shall 
 not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” 
 And on this account also it was that the Lord did not send 
 the abundance of rain at once ; but made the little cloud 
 arise, that Elijah might have time to announce to the king 
 the approaching change, and that it might be apparent 
 that this took place at Elijah’s word, and that his Lord 
 was God, and the Ruler of Providence. 
 
 The servant of Elijah reaches the royal pavilion, while 
 the sky was yet clear, and nothing seemed less likely than 
 the promise of rain. “ Prepare thy chariot,” cries he, “ get 
 thee down, that the rain stop thee not.” “ Rain !” would 
 the astonished guests exclaim. “ Rain !” would the people 
 cry, full of joyful hope ; and no sooner had they cast their 
 eyes upwards, than from every region of the sky the words 
 seemed to come to them, “ Yea, and Amen, abundance of ( 
 rain !” Dark thunder clouds ascend out of the sea, one 
 after another, the heavens become black as sackcloth, the 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 145 
 
 ■wind sighs over the sea, and moans in the forest, and a 
 torrent of rain pours down upon the earth. 0 welcome 
 streams, refreshing floods! The face of the earth is re- 
 newed, and joy spreads through all nature. The breath of 
 life rises from the fields; wood and meadow are again 
 clothed in green ; the birds take up their songs anew in the 
 thick branches, and man, and boast, and every thing re- 
 joices as in a second birth. The melody of joy and health 
 is in the tabernacles and hearts of the righteous. Ahab is 
 already seated in his chariot, and on his way to his royal 
 seat in Jezreel. But the hand of the Lord comes upon 
 Elijah, and girds up his loins, strengthens him, and repairs 
 his exhausted force, so that he outstrips the royal chariot. 
 He required to be thus kept before the king, as a living 
 memorial of all the great things which God had done by 
 his prophet to*the house of Israel ; that Ahab might not 
 forget them, but carry the fresh impression of them home 
 to Jezebel. Elijah therefore outran the chariot, and kept 
 before his eyes, through all the violence of rain and tem- 
 pest, till he came to the entrance of Jezreel. 
 
 “ And Elijah,” saith the apostle James, as it were in the 
 midst of our assembly, “ was a man like as we are, and he 
 prayed earnestly, that it might not rain ; and it rained not 
 on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 
 And he prayed again ! and the heaven gave rain, and the 
 earth brought forth her fruit.” And why does the apostle 
 notice this ? He wishes to impress on us, that we shall not 
 fail, any more than Elijah did, “ if we only pray in faith ; 
 because the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man 
 availeth much.” Who can number the wonders bf God’s 
 power and goodness, which have been wrought in the earth, 
 at the call of prayer ! By prayer, Moses turned the fierce 
 wrath of the Almighty away from Israel ; and with out- 
 stretched arms beat down the host of Amalek. Manoah, 
 by the constraint of prayer, drew down the Angel of the 
 Covenant in a visible form. By prayer, Samuel, in his 
 10 
 
146 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 chamber, routed the army of the Philistines, and caused 
 the terror of thunder to roll over Israel’s foes. By the 
 sword of prayer, J ehoahaz, though a wicked man, repelled 
 the force of the-Syrians, that defied all other weapons of 
 defence. Through prayer. King Josiah died in peace. 
 Through prayer, fifteen years were added to Hezekiah’s 
 life ; the three men were preserved in the fiery furnace ; 
 and to Daniel it was said by Gabriel, “ I am come because 
 of thy words.” At the prayer of the disciples, the heaven 
 was opened on the day of Pentecost, and the place where 
 they were assembled was shaken ; and they were all filled 
 with the Holy Ghost. Prayer broke the fetters in which 
 Peter lay, and burst the doors of his prison. Prayer re- 
 buked storms, made the sick whole, and brought the dead 
 back to life. And what shall I say more of the power, the 
 wonders, and the miracles of prayer ? The whole Scrip- 
 ture is full of them, and our church too would be full of 
 them, and all Christendom would be full of them, were 
 there more prayer in Israel, and more smoke of incense on 
 the altars of Judah. But prayer sleeps amongst us ; for 
 our praying at meals, and at morning and evening, accord- 
 ing to custom — this sleepy, dull, and heartless utterance i 
 by rote of the words of devotion — deserves not the name of • 
 prayer. Keep these formal compliments to yourselves ; the , 
 Lord does not want such service. The sighs of the broken 
 and contrite heart, the cry of the humble and needy, who 
 lie in the dust and are “ in the depths,” the groans of con- 
 flict with the body of sin and death, the language of de- 
 pendence, confession, thanksgiving, and earnest zeal : , 
 these, and these alone, constitute true prayer. 
 
 Brethren, pray for earnestness, pray for the spirit of j 
 grace and supplication, and ask what you will, and it shall ‘ 
 be done unto you. He “ that cannot lie” has promised it. j 
 We, too, have a Mount Carmel, on which to pray for what \ 
 we will, “ and it shall be done unto us.” This is the ground ; 
 of thy Redeemer’s merits ; and when thou standest there, v 
 the heart of God will yearn over thee ; and his hand will ; 
 deny thee nothing that is for thy good. Take hold only of 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE- 
 
 147 
 
 his eternal faithfulness in Christ, and rest on the footing 
 of his immutable promises ; and then thou art in the true 
 place of prayer ; then thou art in the attitude which secures 
 an answer. You may have to sigh, and implore, and weep, 
 but the watchman on the height shall at last bring a mes- 
 sage of joy. Though he comes six times with the answer, 
 “ I see nothing,” let him six times return, “ while you pray 
 as in an agony at the seventh time it will be said, “ Behold 
 there is a cloud, and it will rain.” Often we cannot our- 
 selves see the answer to our prayers. But could we, like 
 Elijah, place a watchman at the sick-bed of those sufferers 
 for whom we implore consolation ; or amid those dear 
 friends at a distance, for whom we seek grace and protec- 
 tion ; or by the cradles of our children, for whom we desire 
 the guidance and the guardianship of angels ; how often 
 would we learn with joyful astonishment, that at the very 
 moment when we bent the knee on their behalf, the com- 
 mandment had gone forth to help them. 0, let the voice 
 of prayer rise then with new frequency and ardour in the 
 midst of us, that it may be made manifest to the glory of 
 God, and the shame of the adversary, that we are en- 
 camped under the banner of the living God, the God that 
 heareth prayer. Pray in faith, and pray in humility ; pray 
 for yourselves, and pray for all ; and pray in hope, for there 
 stands written, as on the rock of eternity, the great and 
 immutable word, that must outlast heaven and earth, 
 “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask 
 the Father in my name, he will give it' you.” Amen. 
 
148 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISKBITE. 
 
 I. — THE FLIGHT INTO THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 “ He that cometh from heaven is above all.” Such was 
 the testimony of the Herald in the wilderness, to him 
 whose shoe’s latchet he did not count himself worthy to 
 unloose. The whole appearance of the Son of Man upon 
 earth serves to confirm this testimony. It is the self -re- 
 velation of one who is “ above all and wherever we 
 behold our Saviour appear and act on the stage of gospel 
 history, the conviction irresistibly forces itself on an un- 
 prejudiced mind, that here is one indeed greater than 
 Moses and all the prophets and apostles, that here is one 
 “ separate from sinners” and above all creatures, one 
 who has descended but for a short space upon earth, as 
 upon strange ground, while his proper seat is above the 
 clouds, and on the throne of majesty and glory. 
 
 In all his actions, we feel that a mere man could never 
 have so acted, however wonderfully he might have been 
 endowed with heavenly powers. No doubt many prophets 
 and apostles performed miracles as great as his ; but if we 
 look at the style and manner in which they performed 
 them, his miracles rise above theirs as high as the heaven 
 is above the earth. Let us view them in the moment when 
 they are exerting all their miraculous power, and we see 
 at once that they are not in their own element, but are 
 liker persons who have been led on ground where all is 
 strange and untried. We find them, for the most part, in 
 great excitement, anxiety, and confusion. They divide 
 seas with trembling hands ; the dead that come forth at 
 their call inspire them with the same astonishment as the 
 surrounding multitudes, and the anxious measures and 
 preparations which generally precede their miracles, shew 
 them to be but feeble mortals, who are in themselves less 
 than nothing, and who are only invested for a moment 
 with a power not their own, under whose gigantic weight 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHB1TE. 
 
 149 
 
 they are well nigh overwhelmed. The power is not bound 
 up in the essence of their nature, nor is it even lent them 
 for the moment, they are but the frail instruments of an 
 invisible miracle-worker. 
 
 How different is the impression which the miracles of 
 Jesus force upon us ! When he comes forth amid the tu- 
 mult of the elements to rebuke them, or draws near the 
 graves to reanimate the dust, how distinctly do we feel 
 at once that “ He is above all.” These efforts of Omni- 
 potence seem his familiar work ; this divine power of crea- 
 tion is seen to be inherent in his nature. Here we find no 
 lengthened preparations, no anxious and awe- struck em- 
 ployment of means ; here we have nothing of that inward 
 struggle which Moses felt as he stood by the Red Sea, no- 
 thing of that convulsive earnestness, with which Elijah 
 raised the widow’s son, at Zarephath. He proceeds to the 
 great work with a divine repose, as one who ruleth over 
 all, and whom nature is accustomed to obey. He bears no 
 staff in his hands as a badge of dependence : in tranquil 
 majesty he stretches forth his hand ; and the blind see, 
 the palsied arise and walk. He needs not, like prophets 
 and apostles, to command in the name of another, or ap- 
 peal to a power above his own ! His language is “ I will ; 
 be thou clean,” and the leper is cleansed.. He beckons, 
 and the winds and waves obey ; He commands, “ Young 
 man, arise !” and life starts up from the midst of corrup- 
 tion. Thus a majesty shines everywhere around him, 
 which reveals to us nothing less than “ all the fulness of 
 the Godhead” in him. Nay, He must, so to speak, check 
 the thunder of his power and hide the fulness of divinity 
 that dwells in him ; and so when we find him at other 
 times veiling his glory, and standing before us in the sinless 
 weakness of humanity, we feel at once that this is but an 
 assumed nature, and not the original ; while, on the con- 
 trary, the lustre of supernatural power that rests on pro- 
 phets and apostles is but a reflected splendour, and the 
 frailty and weakness all their own. 
 
 And not only does he differ immeasurably from all in 
 
150 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 his working of miracles ; his whole life is beyond all paral- 
 lel. Who ever spake like him, whose very prayers were 
 expressions of his will ? Who ever reproved like him, in 
 whose Woe ! Woe ! the trump of judgment seems already 
 to sound? Who ever consoled like him, who not only 
 prayed for a home in heaven to his people, but bought it 
 with his blood, and went before to prepare its mansions ? 
 Thus he appears before us everywhere as the Holy One of 
 God, distinct from all creatures ; higher than the heavens, 
 entitled to all homage, worthy of unlimited trust ; since 
 every display of his nature is but a raying forth of the 
 glory, majesty, and greatness that fills heaven and earth, 
 and in the blaze of which we should perish, if it were not 
 a glory “ full of grace and truth.” 
 
 Yes, “ He is above all.” And the history of perhaps the 
 most glorious of all' prophets, the prophet Elijah, will, as 
 it proceeds, more and more display and confirm the great 
 truth. 
 
 1 Kings xix. 1 — 4. 
 
 “ And Aha told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal, 
 how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel 
 sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying. So let the gods do to me, and 
 more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to-mor- 
 row about this time. And when he saw that, he arose, and went 
 for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which.belongeth to Judah, and 
 left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the 
 wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper-tree : and he 
 requested for himself that he might die ; and said. It is enough : 
 now, O Lord, take away my life ; for I am not better than my 
 fathers.” 
 
 The history here takes a turn. The man of God is called 
 away from his public work of reformation, and his path 
 loses itself once more in the silence and desolation of the 
 wilderness. This is a fresh trial and spiritual exercise for 
 the prophet. The torch is shaken that it may blaze more 
 brightly ; the reformer of Israel must now descend himself 
 into the furnace of purification. Our attention is here 
 called, I. To Elijah’s persecution; II. His Flight; III. His 
 ^dejection. 
 
 I. We have now left the height of Carmel, and are ap- 
 
ELIJAH THE TTSHBITE. 
 
 151 
 
 preaching the palace of Ahab, in the rich plain of J ezreel, 
 where the monarch, charmed with the beauty of the place, 
 had fixed his summer residence. The queen stands at the 
 window of the palace, and awaits, with impatience, the 
 return of her consort. He comes at full speed amid the 
 violence of rain ; hastily alights and hurries at once into 
 the apartments of his haughty consort, to be the first mes- 
 senger of the astonishing events which he had just witnessed. 
 Elijah meanwhile remains in the neighbourhood, awaiting 
 the impression of the stupendous miracle. The most joy- 
 ful hopes may have filled his mind ; and can we pronounce 
 him too sanguine, if he promised himself the complete and 
 immediate return of the court, as well as of the nation, to 
 the faith of their fathers ? 
 
 Ahab, full of the emotions which the wonders of the 
 day had produced, begins his recital in high excitement, 
 “ The Tishbite has conquered. Fire from heaven has con- 
 firmed his mission. With these eyes, I have seen, at his 
 prayer, flames descend from the clouds, consume the burnt- 
 offering, wood, stones, and earth, and lick up the water in 
 the trench. All the people can bear witness to it. They 
 fell on their faces and confessed, as with one voice, that 
 J ehovah is God. The priests of Baal are slain. They have 
 fallen by the sword of the prophet ; and their blood flows 
 with the brook to the sea. The people have applauded the 
 deed. They were laughed at as liars and impotent de- 
 ceivers. Their authority and their worship is for ever de- 
 stroyed. The enthusiasm for Elijah is universal. He is 
 a prophet of the living God. The miracle on Carmel has 
 placed it beyond doubt ; and this deluge of rain now uni- 
 versally confirms it. It pours down at his command. He 
 it was that shut up heaven ; and he has now opened it 
 again.” 
 
 Thus probably the king proceeded. Suddenly he breaks 
 off in the midst of his narrative, recoils in confusion, and 
 stands thunderstruck. Alas ! his recital has failed of all 
 good impression. A storm gathers on the brows of his 
 imperious queen. Scorn, wrath, and revenge chase each 
 
152 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 other, like ominous clouds, over her countenance. Her 
 eyes gleam with rage, and a volcano of passion struggles in 
 her breast. The king observes the change ; and his con- 
 fusion is indescribable. His countenance falls ; his con- 
 fidence in himself is gone; and his whole temper is changed 
 as by a stroke of enchantment. And now the wonders of 
 Carmel have lost their hold of him, the Tishbite appears 
 a mere magician, his miracles works of infernal art, and 
 his slaughter of the priests a bloody crime that must be 
 deeply avenged. So evidently thinks Jezebel, the ruling 
 queen ! the adored mistress of his affections ! And thou, 
 poor captive slave ! How durst thou once think otherwise 9 
 
 King Ahab presents us with a melancholy instance of 
 one, who, though not quite hardened against all impres- 
 sion of truth, is nevertheless detained in miserable bondage 
 to the father of lies, a bondage not the less fatal that its 
 fetters are those of love and affection. His heart was 
 given to Jezebel, and for her favour all must be sacrificed, 
 as the happiness of his life was entirely in her hands. 
 Hence he was the sport of her caprice ; and the very in- 
 most convictions of his soul yielded to one haughty glance 
 of her eye. Pliant like clay in the hands of the potter, and 
 capable of taking any form, he was always ready to be 
 just what this heathen mistress pleased to make him. Sold 
 by love under her influence, he had given up the last rem- 
 nant of manly independence, and before he was aware of 
 it, his individual being was so sunk in that of the proud 
 tyranness, that he heard only with her ears, saw with her 
 eyes, and thought and felt only with her. 
 
 There are a multitude of persons still, who are thus led 
 blindfold by human influence. The chains with which the 
 prince of darkness binds men to his yoke and banner 
 are not always the coarser ones of vice and degrading lust. 
 He makes sure of thousands as his prey, by binding them 
 with the cords of some tender affection to others who 
 have espoused his side and zealously declared themselves 
 the enemies of God and of the cross of Christ. Whether 
 this silken cord be filial or parental affection, or ardent 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 153 
 
 friendship, or virtuous love, the unhappy soul becomes 
 unawares a slave of man, a bondsman in spirit. The be- 
 loved object rules with resistless influence, fashions the 
 other after the mould of its own thought and feeling ; and 
 thus insensibly, and without effort, holds him in leading- 
 strings, which are the more dangerous the more secretly and 
 gently they are managed ; and ere the poor self-sold thrall 
 is aware, the spirit of independence is quite extinct ; and 
 should he ever make the attempt once more to stand on 
 his own footing, and to choose his own path, a fascinating 
 glance, or a look of disapproval, or an air of coldness, is 
 quite enough to wither the holiest resolves of duty in the 
 bud, to make the heart waver in its best principles, and to 
 level the firmest convictions to the ground. And as love 
 is here the tempter to this foul slavery, so there are others 
 who sink in an equally deplorable bondage, through an 
 impious homage to the energy and mere power of mind. 
 These are persons of weak character, who need only to fall 
 in with a man of some talent or genius, who has the firm- 
 ness and decision which they want, and straightway are 
 seen to become passive instruments in his hands, obedient 
 to every impulse or capricious movement of his will. To 
 the false influence of his accomplishments they can make 
 no resistance, they believe that they shall catch his excel- 
 lences which they admire, by a servile subjection to all the 
 features of his mind, good or bad, as the laws of their own ; 
 and thus daily changing with the fluctuations of their 
 models, they are never more than what the last man of 
 genius or strong will they met with has made them, per- 
 haps, on his part, by mere accident. 
 
 Ye weak and pliant souls, would that you but felt one 
 influence more, even of him, who says, “ Ye are bought 
 with a price, be not ye the servants of men or of him, 
 the Herald in the wilderness, who, taking in the whole 
 circle of strong minds and gifted imaginations, from one 
 end of heaven to the other, testified, “ He that cometh 
 from heaven is above all a testimony which He himself 
 repeats with great plainness and conscious dignity in these 
 
154 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 words, “ I am the light of the world, I am the way, the 
 truth and the life. No man hath ascended up to heaven, 
 but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, 
 who is in heaven.” 
 
 And ye too that rule the souls of others, be it by blood, 
 or affection, or talent, or any other influence, see to it, 
 that ye are not apostles of Satan and emissaries of the 
 pit. The blood of every soul that dies through your influ- 
 ence, whether you purpose it or not, will be required at 
 your hand. Have you made a covenant with lies and 
 chosen for yourselves the chamber of death ? Be it so. 
 Only make a sign on your doors, that the simple may pass 
 by and escape the plague within ; cry out like the leper, 
 “ TJnclean ! Unclean !” a long way before you ; and seek 
 where ye have kindled the flame of attachment and de- 
 votion, to quench it again, with all speed, ere it bum like 
 fire of hell, and swallow up its victim in eternal ruin ! For 
 whosoever destroys a single soul, “ him will God destroy.” 
 
 And woe to you, ye men of proud genius, among a people, 
 who, with flagrant ingratitude, pervert the gifts and 
 powers which God has given you into weapons of dark- 
 ness, and wage impious war under the banner of the father 
 of lies against the cause, the temple and the altars of the 
 Most High ! Woe to you, as ye sit on your thrones of fame, 
 and lend yourselves, as if ye were the gods of the earth, to 
 the homage of admiring crowds, and use your superiority 
 over your worshippers only to wreath the serpent coils 
 of infidelity more firmly about your deluded generation, 
 and to mix for them the poisoned cup of the world’s en- 
 chantments, with which they reel and stagger into the 
 dark abyss, where they will awake from the dizzy mad- 
 ness, only to curse you and themselves for ever ! Ye 
 applauded demi-gods on the heights of art and science, 
 who, with dark pride, would extinguish the world’s sun 
 that it might warm itself at the sparks of your kindling, 
 and walk in the light of your meteor fancies, and antichris- 
 tian systems ! Ye laurelled heads, that trick out the brood 
 of sin in meretricious dress, and defying all restraint of 
 
155 
 
 elijah'the tishbite. 
 
 holy feeling, spread the horrid delusion in the minds of 
 the simple, that sin is no sin, if it he but done with grace ! 
 Ye leaders and oracles of the world, who had the call to be 
 the prophets and teachers of ’ your age, and have been the 
 bane of your century, the deceivers of unstable souls, and 
 the leaders of rebellion against the Lord and his anointed ! 
 Woe to you, one and all, ye betrayers of humanity ; your 
 reign will soon be over, your day is drawing nigh ! A time 
 is approaching when, from the lips which now weary you 
 with their shouts of praise, the dreadful thunder of wild 
 execrations shall sound in your ears, and the very hands 
 which now crown you with laurels shall be lifted to heaven 
 against you, and draw down upon you the lightning of an 
 eternal curse." Be not deceived ! The history of the world 
 is not the day of judgment. The last decision is in the 
 hand of Him, whose eyes are as a flame of fire, and who 
 applies another balance than the folly of the world, which 
 worships the mere outward show. Your glory has its sea- 
 son like the flower of the grass. “ All flesh is grass, and 
 all the goodliness of man as the flower of grass. The grass 
 withereth and the flower falleth away.” 1 Peter, i. 24. 
 
 The spark is cast into the mine, and the explosion is 
 dreadful. Jezebel storms with rage, and her countenance 
 is fired with the passion of a demon. The fire of Carmel 
 has burnt, as it were, into her soul. She is filled with the 
 thirst of blood. She would rather that the whole nation 
 had died of famine, than that a triumph should be con- 
 ceded to the prophet and his God. A horrid character, you 
 will think. But is Jezebel buried for ever in the dust of 
 Samaria ? Would that it were not too true that the spirit 
 of this age, at least of thousands of its children, is the 
 spirit of Jezebel. Where one cannot hear of the works of 
 God and the triumphs of the gospel without malice and 
 scorn ; where news of conversions and outpourings of the 
 spirit are intolerable; where a base joy fills the mind at 
 accounts of the progress of antichrist, and of the failure of 
 religious schemes ; where a satanic cry of exultation is 
 raised over some saint who has made a fall, or some weak 
 
156 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 brother who has run unto foolish errors ; wherever, in a 
 word, one can rejoice at what makes angels grieve, and 
 mourn at what is the cause of their joy, there is the spirit 
 of Jezebel ! How many regard this spirit as that of truth. 
 How many o/ our public journals are inspired by it ! 
 How many of our polished circles and assemblies acknow- 
 ledge its sway ! It tunes the harp of many of our poets, 
 and lies at the bottom of the wisdom of many of our phi- 
 losophers. Has it not even raised itself to the chairs of 
 some of our theologians, and spread its folly and its mis- 
 chief from the pulpits of very many of our ministers ? Nay, 
 where is the rank in life, into which this hateful spirit 
 has not insinuated itself ? It meets us in every guise, and 
 among all classes. But woe unto this spirit from the judg- 
 ment of the Lord ! “ Behold, I will cast that woman Jeze- 
 bel into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her 
 into great tribulation, and I will kill her children with 
 death.”— Rev. ii. 22. Such is their end. 
 
 Elijah then must die, Jezebel has sworn it by her gods. 
 But the Lord interposes. He can bind the unicorn with 
 his band, and put a hook into the jaws of the levia- 
 than ; and the result is a most surprising one. J ezebel, 
 who, in subtlety of intrigue, was at other times without a 
 rival, is hurried away by the blindness of her passions, and 
 led, before fulfilling her murderous intention, to apprise the 
 prophet of his danger. This was truly an imprudent mea- 
 sure. But who can be prudent when the Lord “ infatuates 
 their counsel ?” and blessed be his name that he can turn 
 the plans of the wicked into foolishness! Jezebel then 
 “ sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, so let the gods do 
 unto me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life 
 of one of them by to-morrow at this time.” Elijah hears 
 the message, and is utterly confounded. Is this the last 
 result of all his hopes, and all his struggles ! the only fruit 
 of the lengthened famine ! of the unparalled miracles and 
 divine testimonies of Carmel ! J ezebel more hardened than 
 before ; feeble Ahab again gained over ; the reformation 
 of Israel threatened with formidable resistance, which 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 157 
 
 might perhaps frustrate it for ever; and he himself in 
 greater danger than ever before ! 0, it was a bitter draught 
 for the soul of the man of God i His fairest hopes are scat- 
 tered, a storm of hail has ravaged the field that seemed 
 white unto harvest, and who shall comfort him ? Never 
 had the prophet received a more painful stroke ; and if his 
 faith steers clear of such rocks without shipwreck, it must 
 plainly be by the guidance of an Almighty Hand. 
 
 Now, do you ask, in peplexity, Is the Lord a God who 
 takes pleasure in casting down the hopes of his people, 
 which He himself has inspired ? No, my friends, it is not 
 so. All the hopes that he has inspired he realizes, only 
 we must not be his counsellors to prescribe to him the 
 manner in which the fulfilment is to take place. Is the 
 Lord a God, asks another, who leaves his servants whom 
 he has called to waste their powers in vain ?” No, but a 
 God who would fain have all his servants convinced that 
 the conversion and enlightenment of the sinful soul is not 
 of him that runneth, or of him that willeth, but of God 
 that sheweth mercy. Is the Almighty then a God who 
 can begin a great and good work and leave it unfinished ? 
 Far be it from Him. All his works are perfected in wis- 
 dom, but they are “ wonderful.” By suffering obstacles 
 and delays to arise, he only illustrates his own wisdom 
 and power in the end, and forces from the creature the 
 confession, “ This is the finger of God.” Is the Lord then 
 a God who can suffer a work to miscarry which we have 
 begun with a view to his honour ? O, no ! but he loves so 
 to bring about the result, that we must altogether retiro 
 into the shade, and give up all claim to a share, for our- 
 selves or others, in what is his work alone. Such, my 
 friends, are the ways of God. Be perplexed no longer then 
 by this cross in the way of Elijah. God will remove it in his 
 own time. His career is not yet ended ; spare your judg- 
 ment to the close, and remember the fine remark of an 
 enlightened father of the church, “ The beauty of things 
 appears at the moment of their ripeness, which God waits 
 for. He that should taste the blossom of the cherry for 
 
158 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 the fruit, would pass a poor judgment on it ; he that should 
 conceive of the foliage of the woods from the cheerlessness 
 of winter, would judge very blindly.” But often no better 
 is our judgment of the government of God, and the de>- 
 signs of his Providence ! 
 
 II. How then does Elijah act in his perilous circuim 
 stances ? “ When he saw this,” says the history, “ he arose 
 and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belong- 
 eth to Judah.” In this instance, Elijah’s faith appears in 
 some measure to have failed him. “ When he saw this,” 
 says the narrative, and thereby seems to give a significant 
 hint respecting the state of his mind at this period. Now, 
 what did he see ? Not God’s promises, aid, power, and faith- 
 fulness ; these only glimmered on him, from the distant 
 back-ground, with faint broken rays. The fore-ground was 
 filled with other images : the danger of the enraged Jezebel, 
 and the horrors of a bloody death. This was what he saw, 
 and his faith did not rise with the emergency. Instead of 
 soaring as before, on eagles’ wings, and looking down on 
 these dangers with sublime composure from the high tower 
 of the divine promises, he was overcome with human fear ; 
 and instead of an invincible resistance in the armour of 
 his God, we see him, for once, retiring from his post. 
 
 “ He arose and went for his life,” or, as others render it, 
 
 “ He arose and went whither he could” This indicated 
 the obscurity of his course and the uncertainty of his steps. 
 He had this time no divine direction as to whither he 
 should flee. Hitherto all his ways had been ordered most 
 distinctly of the Lord ; but not so now. No express direc- 
 tion of God served as the staff of his pilgrimage, as a 
 guide to his feet, and “ a lamp unto his path.” He went**- 
 out into the wide world in uncertainty, harassed by many 
 doubts, and attended by no consoling assurances, that he 
 was taking this road for God ; since he went it only for 
 himself, and the sake of his own life; and verily this 
 thought was not at all calculated to give relief to his 
 troubled mind. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 159 
 
 How easy and cheerful is it to walk in these paths, how- 
 ever rough and thorny they be, in which we know for cer- 
 tain that we have the warrant of God. How joyfully is 
 everything undertaken, begun, and ended, which wears to 
 us the sure authority of a divine commission. We then 
 run and are not weary ; we walk and are not faint. But 
 to have put to sea without knowing if we had not better 
 have remained where we were ; to have entered on a path 
 without a single word from God, whether it is his path or 
 not, and not one into which he suffers us to rush in his 
 anger, alas ! how painful is the situation ! How lame are 
 our feet in such a way, how unsteady all our steps ! How 
 do the knees totter, the spirits flag, and the spring and vi- 
 gour of the soul give way ! Such appears to have been the 
 situation of the prophet, as in confusion, disappointment, 
 and fear, he left Jezreel, and quitted the post of duty 
 without any distinct intimation from God. The quite un- 
 accountable imprudence of the queen, indeed, in betraying 
 her murderous purpose to him, might perhaps, in some 
 measure, have warranted him to conclude that the Lord 
 was warning him to flee for his life. This was, however, no 
 more than an uncertain human inference, and no un- 
 doubted divine declaration. It was but a broken reed, on 
 which he could not lean with safety. 
 
 But though the Lord may sometimes allow us, like Eli- 
 jah, to go whither we will, and may, in the meanwhile, 
 maintain an entire silence, this is no other than the result 
 of his wise and tender love. The wholesome fruit we reap, 
 from this experience, is a deep inward conviction what a 
 blessed thing it is to be entirely devoted to the Lord’s ser- 
 vice, to walk always in the light of his guidance, and, like 
 Israel, to pitch and to remove our tents, and journey on- 
 ward at his word. The more one learns to value this 
 blessed state by experience of the opposite, the more con- 
 fidently will his heart rest on God, the easier will the some- 
 what hard petition be, “Not my will, but thine be done 
 and the more earnestly will he hearken to the first wh'isper 
 of the Divine voice, and seek beforehand the counsel and 
 
160 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 will of God in everything. But even when the saints of 
 God, go whither they will, in doubt and in darkness, the 
 faithful God still follows them, and keeps at their side, 
 though he may keep himself long concealed. He can never 
 forsake them, but leads them, by a secret guidance, it may 
 be, but always to a happy end. And this Elijah now ex- 
 perienced. Little as the prophet knew of it, the Lord was 
 with him by the way. Let us only have patience, and, 
 before we are aware, the clouds will vanish and we shall 
 see, that, after all, Elijah did not go whither he would, 
 but that now, as formerly, he was walking in the secret 
 way of the Lord. 
 
 After the prophet had travelled for many days, and 
 wandered through a great part of Samaria, and the whole 
 land of Judea, he came at last to Beersheba, as it were by 
 chance, for he had as little to do there as anywhere else. 
 He first alighted on it without plan or purpose ; his heart 
 weary, his head oppressed with sad thoughts. Here, how- 
 ever, he could not remain. The wells which the father of 
 the faithful had digged here, yielded him no refreshment ; 
 the trees which he had planted, no reviving shade ; and 
 the altar of Abraham was probably overturned, as his 
 prayer had long ceased among his degenerate children. 
 The prophet was too afflicted in spirit for common society, 
 and even the company of his faithful attendant was un- 
 welcome. What could he do for him ? could he enlighten 
 the darkness that crowded over his soul, or answer the 
 mysterious question which disturbed his peace ? He left 
 him therefore at Beersfieba, and then went forth all alone 
 into the silent and solitary wilderness, far into its depths, 
 a whole day’s journey, until the sun went down. He then 
 threw himself upon the heath, under a juniper, and sank 
 under the load of his own gloomy thoughts. 
 
 III. Thick darkness hung over the prophet’s soul ; this 
 is seen in his whole conduct. His shut up heart, his long- 
 ing for solitude, his planless wanderings into the gloomy 
 wilderness, all bespeaks a mood of great forlomness and 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 161 
 
 dejection. Perplexed with regard to his own mission, nay 
 even with respect to God and his government, his soul lies 
 in the midst of a thousand doubts and distressii^ reflec- 
 tions, like a swimmer in a raging sea where there is neither 
 shore nor bottom. At the moment when we see him throw 
 himself with a deep sigh, and with bitter and gloomy re- 
 signation, under the juniper tree, there appears but a step 
 between him and the abyss of despair. 
 
 There he sits, with his hand on his weary and troubled 
 brow, like an exile in the midst of the fearful solitude, like 
 one cast off by God and man. There he sits, with fixed 
 and vacant gaze, and he sees within gloomy visions and 
 dreams dark dreams. His eyes are far away in the land of 
 Israel ; sad images and horrid scenes pass before them in 
 melancholy procession. On Carmel he sees the people 
 reeling ‘in their impious orgifes; Samaria, with one idol- 
 temple after another, rises on the view; the streets of 
 J ezreel resound with blasphemies against the living God 
 and his servants ; and Jezebel is drunk with the blood of 
 the few believers that fall victims to her revenge. The al- 
 tar on which the Lord answered by fire stands lonely and 
 deserted ; Baal is solemnly adored for sending the rain that 
 has lately blessed the land ; his votaries increase by thou- 
 sands ; and the last remnant of the ancient faith is forsworn 
 amid horrid rites, that pave the way for a universal wor- 
 ship of idols and demons. Such are the visions that appal 
 the prophet’s mind and wheresoever he turns his eyes 
 is the fearful darkness ; there is no herald of God ; no voice 
 of a single prophet is lifted up in the wilderness. And 
 now he begins to think, “ Alas ! why did I not remain ? 
 Why durst I flee and forsake my poor people ?” And, if 
 the distress of his spirit had not been already excited to 
 the utmost, surely thoughts like these must have tended, 
 like a wasting thunderbolt, to rend his heart asunder. 
 
 The pious servant of God has had enough of this vale of 
 tears. He is heartily weary of its bitter paths and its fruit- 
 less labours. His soul longs for the Sabbath of rest. “ It 
 is enough,” he sighs to Heaven ; and his eyes glisten with 
 11 
 
162 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 tears. “ Lord it is enough. Take away my life, for I am 
 not better than my fathers.” Alas ! who could have 
 thought it, that this spiritual hero could become so weak 
 and faint-hearted ; the man who seemed invincible in the 
 harness of his faith, and superior to every storm ! But let 
 it comfort us that even such a one as Elijah thus sat under 
 the juniper-tree, and thought, in his despondency, that he 
 could no longer bear the burden of life. “ Lord, it is 
 enough ! Why should I tarry longer in this world of hope- 
 less travail ? My existence is useless. If my labours in 
 Israel, amid such signs and wonders, have missed their aim, 
 where shall they now be of any service ? It is enough ! 
 Why should I be longer a witness here of the decline of 
 thy kingdom from the earth ? Therefore, Lord, take now 
 my poor and troubled soul from me, for I am not better 
 than my fathers. I hoped’ to see what many kings and 
 prophets have desired to see, and have not seen it. But 
 who am I, unworthy servant that I am, that I should ven- 
 ture to desire so great things at thy hand ? Who am I, 
 that, in presumptuous hope, I should promise myself a 
 preference, for which saints, whose shoes I am not worthy 
 to bear, have longed in vain ? It is enough ! Lord, make 
 an end !” 
 
 Thus spake Elijah in unspeakable distress of mind.. It 
 was a wonderful mixture of feelings which gave birth to 
 such a prayer. It was, indeed, no harmony ; and yet, a- 
 midst the discord, the holiest, sweetest, tones arose that 
 could breathe from the chords of a human soul. His 
 prayer was not the joyful and peaceful utterance of a Sim- | 
 eon, “ Lord ! now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace !” • 
 
 nor the clear, calm, deep longing of a Paul, “ I have a de- { 
 sire to depart and to be with Christ.” But just as little i 
 was it the impatient and passionate cry of a Jeremiah, ( 
 “ Cursed be the day in which I was born !” or the violent ' 
 and tumultuous outburst of a Job, “ Let that day perish ! ! 
 let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine , 
 upon it !” The temper of Elijah was more subdued, more ( 
 gentle, and therefore not so unhappy as theirs. We hear 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 163 
 
 indeed, in the sound of his sighs, the harsh discords of a 
 bitter vexation at his fruitless labours and deceived hopes ; 
 but, at the same time, his words breathe a pathos of weep- 
 ing love for the poor people, and a holy grief at the decline 
 of the kingdom of God, in which we find the great prophet 
 in his nobler features once more restored to us. It must 
 be confessed there is something in his prayer like the low 
 murmur of complaint against the Lord himself ; but we feel, 
 nevertheless, in the same moment, that tears of regret are 
 already pouring out to hush it in his heart ; and the soul, 
 the instant the complaint drops from it, feels its sinfulness 
 and sinks in deep contrition on account of it. Doubtless, 
 we see, mirrored in the words “ It is enough !” the distrac- 
 tion of a soul which, being deceived in its fairest hopes, 
 seems to despair of God and of the world, and is impatient 
 and weary of the cross ; a soul which, like that of J onah, 
 frets and quarrels with the Almighty, and, by the desire of 
 death, gives him as it were to understand that he has now 
 brought it to such an extremity, that nothing is left it but 
 the melancholy wish to take refuge from his severity in the 
 grave. Nevertheless, in the soul of Elijah, this carnal long- 
 ing was outstripped by a divine and believing aspiration, 
 which, thirsting after God, struck its pinions upwards to the 
 Eternal Light ; and the key-note of his troubled complaint 
 was the filial thought that he would, by it, move the heart 
 of his God and Father ; since that gracious Being could not 
 hear it without being induced to shine forth from the dark- 
 ness, and to revive by his smile the downcast spirit of his 
 servant. Thus we see in the prayer of the prophet the 
 elements of the natural and spiritual life fermenting to- 
 gether in strange intermixture. The sparks of nature and 
 of grace, mutually opposing each other, blaze up together 
 in one flame. The metal is in the furnace, the heat of 
 1 which brings much impurity no doubt to light ; but who 
 does not forget the scum and the dross at the ravishing 
 sight of the purified silver, that shines like the gleam of a 
 fairer world ? 
 
 “ Lord, it is enough !” Ah, this little prayer is known 
 
164 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 also amongst us ! I know many a home of industry, many 
 a chamber and couch of pain, from which, almost without 
 interruption, this aspiration is sighed forth to heaven amid 
 many tears and pangs. Many of these petitioners are in 
 error, as Elijah was. No, it is not yet enough ! Many a 
 faithful labourer has yet to learn that his labour is by no 
 means in vain in the Lord, although he thinks it is. The 
 path of many a just man is yet again to be brightened here 
 below by the light which, contrary to God’s express pro- 
 mise, he thinks is for ever extinguished. Many a broken 
 instrument shall yet be used by the Lord for some work, 
 ere He lays it aside in the land of silence ; and many a 
 troubled sufferer shall, before his last farewell, once more 
 take down his harp from the willows, and raise a song of 
 thanksgiving to Him who is “ wonderful in counsel and ex- 
 cellent in working .” And then it will indeed be enough ! 
 Ah, who can yet say with reason “ It is enough !” It is 
 never enough, till the Lord saith it. A nd though ye should 
 have long years more, ye sufferers in Israel, in the furnace, 
 as at this day, yet rest assured of it that ye shall at length 
 acknowledge, in songs of triumph in heaven, that it was 
 then only enough, and not a moment earlier, when the 
 Lord stripped you of the faded garments of your pilgrim- 
 age, and took your souls home to himself. 
 
 One word more. As often as you begin to feel thus, and 
 to say “ It is enough !” as if you could no longer bear the 
 burden of life, then do as Elijah did. Flee into silence and 
 soiltude, and I will shew you a tree under which to cast 
 yourselves. It is the Cross. True, indeed, it is thick set 
 with stings and prickles ; armed with nails and spikes that 
 pierce the soul, and wound the corruption of nature to the 
 heart. But this tree has a fragrance that revives the heart, 
 the odour of a sweet smell that makes our offering accept- 
 able unto God. This sacred tree spreads a shade that cools 
 the burning fire of conscience, and repels the fiercest rays 
 of the divine displeasure. And though it be an error, as is 
 fabled of the juniper tree, that no serpent ventures near 
 it, yet, of this “ tree of life,” it is a glorious truth Here 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 165 
 
 the viper of discontent will not fasten on thee ; the old ser- 
 pent shall not inject the poison of murmuring against God 
 into thy soul. In the view of the Cross, it will never more 
 enter thy thoughts to complain of the greatness of thy suf- 
 ferings, for here thou seest an agony beside which thy own 
 is not to be once named; and it is the Just One that suf- 
 fers for thee, the unjust. In the view of the Cross, thou 
 wilt soon forget all thy distresses ; for the love of God in 
 Christ Jesus, to a poor sinner like thee, will draw away 
 thy thoughts and contemplations from all beside, and fix 
 them on himself alone. Beneath the Cross, thou art safe 
 from the thought “ that some strange thing has happened 
 thee,” for “ the disciple is not above his master,” and as 
 the Head of the body had to droop in sorrow, so also must 
 the members. Beneath the Cross, thou art secure from 
 all impatience, for there thou must rejoice that only a 
 short suffering in time hath struck thee, and not the curse 
 i that fell so dreadful on thy Surety. Beneath the Cross, 
 thy sadness will soon be lost in that peace of God which 
 streams from this tree with the blood of the Lamb, and 
 sinks into the ground of thy heart. And the far prospect 
 that here opens before thee, — from the wilderness to thy 
 heavenly home, that stands already wide to view, — and from 
 the stormy ocean to the rest beyond, into which thy weary 
 soul shall one day enter — 0 ! this shall tinge all the clouds 
 of thy life with the hues of a coming dawn, and, ere thou 
 art aware, the rest of paradise shall spread its wing over 
 thee, and the Cross shall transform itself into a Jacob’s 
 ladder, on which one blessed thought after another, like 
 angels of God, shall descend into thy soul from the upper 
 sanctuary. 
 
 Peace and pardon blended 
 Prom the Cross down flow. 
 
 Sorrow’s reign is ended, 
 
 Death is trampled low. 
 
 Lift thy look of sadness. 
 
 Sinner ! up on high ; 
 
 Let thine ear drink gladness 
 From thy Saviour’s sigh. 
 
166 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 Hark ! now all is finish’d. 
 Fought thy fight of pain. 
 Sin in Jesus punish’d. 
 
 Burst the tempter's chain. 
 All for thy receiving ! 
 
 Ope thy ready breast. 
 
 Fear not unbelieving ! 
 
 Be the Cross thy rest. 
 
 II.— THE VISIT UNDER THE JUNIPER TREE. 
 
 “ Jerusalem is the city of the great King.” Thus saith 
 the Lord, (Matt. v. 35). 
 
 Where is Jerusalem ? Wherever a tear of longing after 
 God fills the eye, or the knee bows at the footstool of the 
 throne of grace ; wherever the hands of faith are spread 
 upward to the Cross, and an honest heart lisps the confes- 
 sion, “ My Lord and my God,” — there is Jerusalem. 
 
 Jerusalem ! thou beloved city, over which waves the 
 blood-stained banner of the Cross ; thou art the joy of the 
 earth, and thou alone. There is in it nothing fair, nothing 
 noble, nothing venerable but Jerusalem. Who would 
 dwell in this wilderness, if Jerusalem, with its peaceful 
 tabernacles, did not stand in the midst of it? What makes 
 this life in a strange land endurable, nay, dear and pre- 
 cious ? It is J erusalem. 
 
 Jerusalem ! 0, it is good to be within thy walls, to sit 
 together as fellow-citizens according to the dignity of the 
 new birth, to take the harp and praise the Lord whose 
 glory is great in the midst of us, to review together the 
 blessed work of faith in our souls, and recount our trea- 
 sures of which the world knoweth not ; or to place ourselves 
 at the windows towards the east, and breathe the morning 
 air of an eternal day, and gaze with rapture on the golden 
 shadows of the land that “ is afar off.” 0 Jerusalem ! if 
 I forget thee, let my right hand forget her cunning. 
 
 Where are the treasures of God opened, and the jewels 
 of heaven spread forth to view ? Where burn the torches 
 of eternal light ? Where are the well-springs of peace and 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 167 
 
 joy that cannot run dry ? Where does the soul look into 
 the opened book of life ? Where does the rill of joy trickle 
 from the flinty rocks, and the balm drop down that heals 
 every wound? Where, but in Jerusalem? Therefore, 
 blessed are all they, 0 Jerusalem, that love thee and pray 
 for thy peace ! 
 
 But what shall I say of the Jerusalem above, that lies 
 beyond the river of death ; where the everlasting palm- 
 trees flourish, and the still waters flow through the green 
 pastures, and the angels sing to their golden harps among 
 the trees of paradise ! Thither we are journeying, we hap- 
 py pilgrims — -from J erusalem to J erusalem. While ye that 
 love not the father are journeying to Tophet, to the valley 
 of destruction, to the blackness of darkness ; we are going 
 to full and cheerful day, and on our staff is inscribed 
 “ The citizenship of heaven and if we sometimes appear 
 to you as those that dream, and you see our eyes glistening 
 with tears as we gaze into the far blue distance, it is our 
 longing for home, and all you can say is, “ They are weeping 
 after Jerusalem.” 
 
 And who has built us this city, and made it so beautiful 
 for us ? Jerusalem is the city of the great King. Thus he 
 speaks, “ Here is my rest for ever, here will I dwell.” He 
 dwells there, and the city rests peacefully under the wings 
 of his love. This day shall we advance in our pilgrimage 
 toward Jerusalem. 
 
 1 Kings xix. 5 — 8. 
 
 “ And as he lay and slept under a juniper-tree, behold, then an 
 angel touched him, and said unto him. Arise and eat. And he 
 looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a 
 cruse of water at his head : and he did eat and drink, and laid him 
 down again. And the angel of the Lord came again the second 
 time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat ; because the jour- 
 ney is too great for thee. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and 
 w ent in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto 
 Horeb the mount of God.” 
 
 This narrative belongs to the children of God, especially 
 to the afflicted. It may thus become to them like an an- 
 'gel charged with bread and water for them in the wilder- 
 ness. The Lord’s watchful care over his servants, espe- 
 
163 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 cially in a dark and cloudy season, is here displayed in 
 the most refreshing manner. This gracious divine pro- 
 tection is made apparent — I. In the answer to prayer 
 which the apostle receives. II. In the appearance of an 
 angel which the Lord sends to him. III. In the miraculous 
 refreshment of which he partakes. IY. In the delightful 
 prospect which God opens before him. V. In the super- 
 natural strength given him for his journey through the 
 desert. Let us devoutly meditate on these gracious mani- 
 festations of the tender loving-kindness of our God. 
 
 I! Elijah had wished for death, since life had no charm 
 for him after the failure of his hopes of the regeneration 
 of Israel. The love of life can indeed see many a star in 
 our heaven expire before it is itself extinguished ; it can 
 outlive what is dearest, but it cannot survive hope. When 
 Elijah sees this flower fading he sinks, and his heart is 
 quite loosened from its hold of life ; and had he not been 
 a man of God, ah! who can tell into what more dreadful 
 abyss than that of impatience and despondency he might 
 have been plunged. 
 
 It appeared as if the Lord had suddenly given up his 
 work in displeasure, and his prophet with it. The divine 
 procedure had wrapt itself too thickly in the disguise of 
 accident, for mortal eye to penetrate the veil. Yea, the 
 care of Providence seemed to have quite withdrawn, and 
 to have left the most unbounded room for the play of 
 chance or human caprice ; so it seemed to the prophet. 
 He no longer understood the way of his God, and could 
 6ee in such an unexpected turn of things neither aim 
 nor plan. He found himself in a dark labyrinth, 
 without lamp to light his way or clue to guide his foot- 
 steps. And if we reflect that the powers of darkness never 
 let slip such times of trial to the children of God, and that 
 the adversary, without question, harassed the wounded 
 spirit of the prophet, under the juniper-tree, with many a 
 fiery dart of unbelief, foul suggestion, and nameless hor- 
 ror, we shall easily understand how such a champion 
 might then despond, and in the deepest gloom and di- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 169 
 
 straction of spirit, nay, in the expression of a bitter dis- 
 appointment,. cry to Heaven, “ Lord, it is enough, take 
 now my life from me, for I am not better than my 
 fathers.” 
 
 Such prayers as these, sent up to heaven more in the 
 wild tumult of carnal passion than by the sacred impulse 
 of faith, and rising to God, not on the soft wings of faith 
 and hope, but on the gusts of natural excitement, are not 
 generally regarded by the Lord ; yet, in his mercy, he does 
 sometimes hear them, little as they deserve a gracious 
 answer. Experience teaches us, that the Lord will not 
 readily suffer his servants to finish their course amid 
 gloom and disappointment. However fiercely their life 
 may have been distracted, the stormy sky generally 
 clears, the sun shines, before the haven of rest is entered ; 
 and if there is not a calm outwardly, yet within, and in 
 the depths of the soul, all is settled peace. Listen, ye 
 wounded and desponding souls, your hour will not come 
 till the Lord has reconciled you to the dealings of his pro- 
 vidence, and compelled you cheerfully to acknowledge that 
 “ He doeth all things well !” After the 'tempest shall come 
 a great calm, though not perhaps till the very end of your 
 pilgrimage, and after all your impatience and distrust, the 
 cry of Simeon shall be heard from you, “ Lord, now lettest 
 thou thy servant depart in peace,” and your despondency 
 shall be changed into a willingness, even then, to bear the 
 cross after your Lord, should he so order it. Not in tumult 
 and in storm, but in the glorious light of a Sabbath 
 dawn shall thy course be finished, and by the arms of 
 rejoicing angels shall thy Divine Friend bear thee on high 
 to the joy of the eternal hills ; that his guidance may be 
 adored, not only above, but here below, and his grace and 
 faithfulness made glorious in the eyes of all. 
 
 This Sabbath dawn the prophet was not yet to see. The 
 rash desire of his heart, the prompting of little faith and 
 of sad dejection, was denied. His life was not taken away. 
 He was yet to see glorious things, to learn again to praise 
 the faithfulness of the God-Amen. to experience at last a 
 
170 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 blessed rebuke for all his doubts and fears, to find the 
 most joyful solution of all the riddles of the Divine provi- 
 dence, and to emerge into a splendour of revelation of the 
 glory of God, such as had never before shone into his soul. 
 And then it would be enough ; then the hour would be 
 come when, not under a solitary tree in the dreary wilder- 
 ness, but in splendid triumph, he should be carried by an 
 untried road over the dark valley into the land of eternal 
 rest. 
 
 Would that we were less impatient when our gracious 
 Father in heaven denies us our first requests ; and less wil- 
 fully bent on obtaining, at his hands, all that we desire, 
 and exactly at the time and in the way we desire it ! How 
 kind is it in Him to grant, not according to our will, but 
 his own ; and to condescend to so gracious a care over us, 
 as to save us from the gratification of our own poor and 
 ignorant wishes ! Of this we may rest absolutely assured, 
 that if ever we have prayed in vain, it has been either be- 
 cause we desired something that was a curse and not a 
 blessing, or had implored a smaller blessing, when God was 
 keeping a greater in store for us. How many a pious mi- 
 nister would never have experienced the Lord’s faithfulness 
 in crowning the labours of his servants, had the Lord called 
 him away at the time when, in dark despondency, he de- 
 sired it ! How many a Christian pilgrim would have seen 
 nothing of the manna that descends from heaven, and of 
 the water that gushes from the flinty rocks, had God heard 
 his trembling and distressful prayer, “ That he might not 
 be led into the wilderness !” How many a brother would 
 this day be unable to rejoice that the power of Christ had 
 so rested on him, if the thorn in the flesh, the messenger 
 of Satan, had been taken away at the first time when he 
 besought the Lord that they might depart ! Therefore, be 
 of good courage ! Be assured, my brethren, that this No ! 
 with which some of our prayers are answered, will excite 
 us hereafter to more fervent strains of thanksgiving than 
 sometimes the Yes ! which has crowned others. Beware, 
 then, of tarrying too long under the juniper-tree. Beware 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 171 
 
 of the words. “ It is enough !” Ye must first travel to Ho- 
 | reb ; first hear the still small voice of peace. The night 
 must be followed by morning ; the fight with victory ; the 
 sowing in tears with the reaping in joy. First one expfe- 
 i rience, and another, and another, that shall force from us 
 the confession, “ 0 Lord, righteousness belongeth unto 
 thee ; but unto us confusion of face.” And after that 
 cometh the end ; then the pilgrim’s staff is dropped, and 
 the longed-for “ Now” of Simeon is heard. 
 
 Elijah did not die. His hour was not yet come. His 
 prayer remained unheard, yet not wholly so. The pro- 
 phet longed for rest, and rest he was to have, not how- 
 ever from the angel of death, but from the gentler wing 
 of the angel of sleep. He lay down and slept under the 
 juniper-tree. It was all one to him where he lay ; on a 
 silken couch, or on the bare heath ; under a juniper-tree, 
 or in a royal pavilion. The burthen of life was for a while 
 lifted off him ; visions of peace hovered around his soul ; 
 the cool shade breathed refreshment over him ; all in- 
 ward storms were hushed ; grief and trouble fled away ; 
 and tormenting thoughts gave place to soothing dreams, 
 till soul and body were locked in the same deep repose. 
 Such pauses from labour fall to the lot of all who bear 
 the cross. For us also in the midst of the wilderness can 
 the Lord provide a chamber of rest, and make the howling 
 of the storm for a little cease, or bring its fitful gusts like 
 the falls of a lullaby upon the ear, and lay the burden 
 off our shoulders for a season as a pillow of rest under our 
 heads, on which we softly sleep and recruit our wasted 
 strength. At one time the Keeper of Israel sends us 
 bodily slumber on our couch which is watered with tears ; 
 and what a welcome guest may it not prove to us, espe- 
 cially if spiritual conflicts threaten to confuse our senses 
 and shatter our nerves ! At another time pleasant dreams 
 perform to us the ministry of angels, and bear poor 
 Lazarus into Abraham’s bosom, or weary Jacob from his 
 stony pillow up to the opened heaven. At another sea- 
 son some sympathizing Jonathan visits me in my lonely 
 
172 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 sadness, and by his cheering converse I feel my spirits 
 raised and my mind restored to its spring and vigour. 
 Sometimes as by a sudden miracle of faith my chamber of 
 pain is changed into a meeting-place of worthies of old ; 
 champion after champion gathers around me and bends 
 towards me,— all bearers of the cross in their day like 
 me, and they all found a happy deliverance, and their 
 example shines before me like a pillar of fire, their ex- 
 periences still revive me like the palms and fountains on 
 the pilgrim’s way. Sometimes a comforting verse finds 
 me out, or a hymn rises to my mind, like David with his 
 potent harp, chasing away my gloom; or a promise of 
 God’s word paints itself like a rainbow on the clouds of 
 my soul, and Hope lights up my darkness with its golden 
 radiance. In short, the very days of storm and tempest 
 have their hours of repose and mercy, and even on the 
 foaming billows the Lord can provide for his children an 
 ark of peace. Therefore let no one be troubled, however 
 steep his path, and thorny and rough his road ! When his 
 weary knees are ready to sink, God will know how to pro- 
 vide him a place of rest ; and in some sense it will be true 
 of him, as is said here of Elijah, “ that he lay and slept 
 under a juniper-tree and though these pauses may be 
 but short, we see from them how easy it would be for 
 Him, if he pleased, to deliver us in a moment from all our 
 trouble ; and when our hearts are once settled in the faith 
 of this, the bitterness of trouble is past. 
 
 II. The man of God lies fast asleep under the juniper 
 tree. Who could be more forsaken and desolate ? But a 
 divine watch is over him, and he may sleep secure. As 
 he lies thus unconscious under the green shade, a shining 
 form, with majestic movements, draws gently and unob- 
 served to his side. It is a messenger from heaven. With a 
 silent pause of love and respect he stands for a moment 
 before tfie prophet and looks tenderly on his pale, care- 
 worn, slumbering face ; he then bends down, touches him 
 gently, and says, “ Arise and eat.” The sacred narrative 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 173 
 
 calls our attention to this incident with a “ Behold !” It 
 I is indeed a striking spectacle. Amid the dreary waste, 
 
 ! marked only by stunted shrubs and hills of sand, behold 
 an angel of God, who no doubt regarded it as a high 
 honour to bring help and refreshment amid his trouble 
 j to a servant of the King of kings. 0 Israel ! a people 
 i saved by the Lord, who is like unto thee ? Flaming spirits 
 minister unto thee; messengers of heaven are charged 
 with the supply of thy necessities. Where thy path is 
 lonely, it becomes most full of a higher company ; and 
 where men quit thy society, thou art surrounded by the 
 hosts of Mahanaim. Where the world shuts thee out, 
 heaven opens for thee ; where thy knees sink, the ever- 
 lasting arms bear thee up. What a wonderful mixture of 
 meanness and dignity in the condition of the children of 
 God ! If I asked you for the most venerable spots and 
 interesting scenes in the world, where would you direct 
 me ? One, perhaps, would point to where the gilded 
 domes of the cathedral rise ; another, to where the towers 
 of palaces stand forth in majesty. One would turn to the 
 halls of wisdom and science; another, to the splendid 
 store-houses, where the wealth and art of the world are 
 treasured. But I would rather point you to the spot where 
 a Magdalene lies weeping at the feet of Jesus, or a poor 
 sinner is rejoicing over the pardon he has received ; where 
 a Lazarus dwells, or a Martha and a Mary, the friends of 
 J esus. Though the walls be but of clay and the roof of 
 straw ; here is a Bethel, here is no less than the house of 
 God. Here dwelleth a royal priesthood clad in the beauty 
 of the Eternal King ; high and invisible guests pass to and 
 fro ; and eternal love overshadows them with her wings ! 
 
 The action of the angel in awaking the prophet and 
 saying to him, “ Arise and eat,” may be spiritually applied 
 to many among ourselves. Though the weary pilgrim 
 stands in great need of refreshment, he does not feel his 
 want of it, and requires to be excited by the influence of 
 God’s providence or grace. An afflicted soul may often 
 need nothing so much as the word of God, and yet may 
 
174 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 go on brooding on its own trouble till it is ready to perish 
 of spiritual famine, and yet all the while be insensible of 
 its error. He may scarcely open the Bible, or attend on 
 Divine ordinances, or listen to one word of religious con- 
 versation, and all from the idea that these things are not 
 suited to his state. This is a truly melancholy and pitiable 
 condition ; and while we should not rashly judge of it, as 
 indicating a total absence of grace, we ought to use all 
 wise efforts to recal the unhappy sufferer from his culpa- 
 ble delusion ; and above all, to cry mightily to the Lord 
 for deliverance. He alone can open the inlets of spiritual 
 sense anew, and bid the famished sufferer “ arise and eat 
 and then the appetite returns, the bread and the water of 
 life are eagerly sought for ; the soul once more returns to 
 its habits of devotion and feels its joys. It goes forth 
 amid the green pastures, and rests beside the still waters. 
 The countenance of the Lord again shines upon it, and it 
 is saved. 
 
 III. “ Arise and eat,” said the angel. And Elijah awoke, 
 “ and as he looked round, behold, there was a cake baken 
 on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head ; and he did 
 eat and drink, and laid him down again.” He could have 
 wished for nothing more, all lonely and outcast as he was 
 in the terrible wilderness. Such is the tender compassion 
 of our God. Thus “ He gives it to his beloved sleeping .” 
 But who gives God the glory due unto his name, or believes 
 that he is thus able to help us without our own aid ? How 
 hard a precept does that of the apostle appear to many, 
 “ Be careful for nothing : but in every thing by prayer and 
 supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made 
 known unto God ; casting all your care upon him, for he 
 careth for you!” We stand before such a counsel, as on 
 the brink of a dark abyss ; and we feel as if we must in- 
 evitably sink, if we venture into its depths. Could we but 
 find some artificial support of our own righteousness, we 
 would then be less timid ; but we dare not trust all to the 
 promised grace of God. But how great is the sin and loss 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 175 
 
 of thus distrusting God ? and how naturally does it follow 
 that we see not many mighty works by reason of our un- 
 belief ? The remarkable interpositions in favour of Elijah 
 we are too apt to regard as the prodigies of an early age of 
 wonder and of mystery, long since gone by ; and hence, in- 
 stead of the song of Moses, and the timbrel-sounds of 
 Miriam, we hear almost nothing but sighs over worldly 
 embarassments, disappointed prospects, and unprosperous 
 undertakings, with which the tabernacles of the righteous 
 are filled. Would that we could glory more in our infir- 
 mities, that the power of Christ might rest upon us ! 
 
 The bread and water with which God nourishes souls in 
 the wilderness is his word. But as the bread and water 
 were first made ready for Elijah by the angel, so must the 
 truths of the word be prepared for us by the Spirit of God. 
 And how refreshing do we find those truths, when, after 
 long famine of the word of God, we again are privileged to 
 approach the spiritual table, and feed on that Bread which 
 is given for the life of the world. We can then thank the 
 Master of the feast even for our long season* of hunger and 
 of thirst, as necessary to make us value aright the constant 
 supply of the heavenly manna, and to keep us from saying, 
 with the unbelieving Jews of old, “ Our soul loatheth this 
 light food.” 
 
 Elijah, apparently more asleep than awake, stretched 
 out his hand, ate of the bread, drank of the water, ana 
 sank down again, weak and weary, and fell asleep. Strange 
 that so mighty a miracle should not have greatly surprised 
 him, and affected his whole soul. But no ! we discern not 
 the slightest trace of astonishment. He partakes of the 
 refreshment, not as if he were lying in a dreary and deso- 
 late wilderness, but as if he were at home in his own cham- 
 ber. Or, perhaps, he was, like Mary Magdalene at the 
 sepulchre, absorbed in higher thoughts ; and as the appear- 
 ance of the risen Saviour made no greater impression on 
 her absent mind than if he had been one of the servants 
 of the garden, so the glory of the seraph fell powerless on 
 the deadened vision of the prophet, whose inward eye was 
 
176 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 fixed on the dark void in his heart, from which his God 
 had disappeared. 
 
 The return of the prophet to slumber is of a piece with the 
 spiritual experience of many. They may be suddenly a- 
 waked, in the midst of spiritual darkness, to hear the word 
 of consolation, and may take a hasty draught of the blessed 
 waters of promise ; but the enjoyment is but for a moment. 
 It is like a passing meteor, which lights up the darkness, 
 but does not dispel it. Yet this sudden gleam of comfort 
 is not without its use. Secret strength is inspired into the 
 soul, were it by nothing more than the quickening of the 
 persuasion that he who can send one ray of light in so dark 
 a sky could, at any moment, pour into the benighted soul 
 the full sunshine of peace. 
 
 The sleep of Elijah reminds us, too, of many of our un- 
 happy hearers who are still spiritually asleep, and who 
 have never yet experienced the deep awakening of conver- 
 sion. They eat and drink ; in other words, they hear much 
 that is good, they neglect no sermon, they read the Bible, 
 they engage in all the exercises of devotion, but, alas ! all 
 seems lost upon them, and no fruit unto life ever appears. 
 They may have slight touches and momentary awakenings 
 from the Spirit of God. But with these it fares no better, 
 for they sink afresh into the slumber of d^ath. Yet, let 
 no one say, before the end, that such persons have eaten 
 and drunk in vain. They may suddenly prove the contrary, 
 and put your rashness to shame. The fruit of many old 
 impressions may mingle itself with some new and striking 
 one, and produce a blessed change with all the suddenness 
 of a second birth. 
 
 IY. “ The angel of the Lord” then “ came the second 
 time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat ; because 
 the journey is too great for thee.” Thus faithful is our 
 God, who never suffers his servants to be tempted above 
 what they are able to bear, but supplies them beforehand 
 with strength and refreshment, ere they are sent forth to 
 fight his battles ; and as the trial does not come without 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 177 
 
 the gracious strengthening, so the season of special glad- 
 dening and growth in grace is designed to introduce some 
 signal proof of faith, or some deadly struggle with the 
 enemy, as the largess and equipment of the soldier pre- 
 cede the hour of heroic and desperate enterprise. 
 
 “ Eat and drink,” said the angel, because the journey 
 is too great for thee.” When Elijah heard these words, 
 his soul was at once revived, and sleep and weariness dis- 
 appeared. There was one word in the angel’s address 
 which found a ready way to his heart, and moved him 
 more deeply than all the splendour of the heavenly visit- 
 ant, or the greatness of the miracle which he had expe- 
 rienced. That was the word “ journey.” Hitherto he had 
 seemed to be wandering at random, without commission 
 or guidance from the Lord. He had “ devised his own 
 way,” and it had seemed to him no better than a succes- 
 sion of errors, the sport of chance and of human caprice ; 
 and now he learns all at once that he had been all the 
 while on a “ journey” of God’s appointment, and that as 
 the end was fixed in the Divine purpose, so also must 
 have been the beginning. His God is thus restored to him 
 in all his providence and grace ; he starts up in the strength 
 of a renewed commission, and sets forward, not “ whither 
 he would,” but in the name of the God who had called 
 him by his grace. Those of us only who have shared the 
 prophet’s experience, can tell how supremely blessed it is, 
 after a season of wandering in darkness, and sighing with 
 David, “ I am sorrowful and forsaken,” all at once to dis- 
 cover some proof of the Divine love that cannot be mis- 
 taken, some sense of the Divine guidance that forces itself 
 in upon our deepest uncertainty, and convinces us that 
 we are not tossed without rudder or compass on a stormy 
 sea, but that Christ is with us in the vessel, and that the 
 lights in heaven are again displayed to guide us over the 
 trackless deep. Then “ is our mouth filled with laughter, 
 and our tongue with singing,” and we exclaim in the lan- 
 guage of Asaph, “ Whom have I in heaven but thee, and 
 there is none in all the earth that I desire besides thee.” 
 12 
 
178 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE 
 
 V. Look now at our prophet. We find him once more, 
 the old Elijah, with his firm step and erect hearing. “ He 
 went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty 
 nights unto Horeb, the mount of God.” He travels 
 through the sandy desert alone, and yet not alone, igno- 
 rant of his course, and yet free from care. Forty days 
 and nights he travels on, without rest or intermission, 
 through the silent waste ; a miraculous journey made in 
 the strength of the food and drink of which he had par- 
 taken under the juniper-tree. To help by many means, 
 or by few, or with none at all, is one and the same thing 
 to Him who upholdeth all things “ by the word of his 
 power.” He who can multiply the food of the body 
 by a word, can, without food, uphold the frame in health 
 and vigour. In short, Elijah had no need, during the whole 
 journey, either to eat and drink or to halt and take re- 
 pose. His feet were not weary ; his eyes were not enfee- 
 bled. The hot- wind of the day did not exhaust him ; nor 
 did the damps of the night chill his vigour. Hill and rock 
 were lightly surmounted ; waves of sand did not engulph 
 him ; he followed on the daring track of the ostrich and 
 the gazelle, as over level and familiar paths. He thus 
 bore about with him, in the unshrinking buoyancy of his 
 spirit, and unexhausted strength of his body, an abiding 
 seal and pledge, that the Lord was with him, and that 
 the hand of the Almighty sustained him. 
 
 The desert over which Elijah travelled forty days and 
 forty nights, was the same in which the Israelites had 
 formerly wandered forty years, under the guidance of the 
 pillar of cloud and of fire. Surely this, if any, was to a He- 
 brew classic ground. But to the prophet it was more, it 
 was holy ground ; scattered over with bright foot-prints ; 
 rich beyond every other scene in grand and cheering recol- 
 lections ; and marked out beyond all other places on the 
 earth’s surface by the most stupendous works and mani- 
 festations of the living God. Here the whole miraculous 
 history of the fathers of old lived again before him in the 
 liveliest colours; at every step and halting-place the 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 179 
 
 lonely desert became peopled with venerable and sacred 
 forms; a hoar antiquity would rise before him in the life 
 and dream-like distinctness of yesterday ; and still as he 
 moved on, fresh scenes and images would crowd upon him 
 from the departed age of wonders, and he would see a holy 
 memorial of it in every object within view. Every moun- 
 tain would rise like an eternal witness to the marvels of 
 the past, and the total silence that reigned around would 
 seem like the deep musing of nature on the sublime events 
 of which she had once been the theatre. As often as he 
 descended into a green and watered vale, he alighted in 
 spirit on some resting-place of his fathers ; as often as the 
 shades of an overhanging rock received him, it was as if 
 the incense of a sanctuary floated around him, for the 
 sacrifice of the pilgrim had hallowed these shades. As 
 often as a solitary cluster of palms rose before him on the 
 plain, the thought might startle him, that here Moses had 
 rested and taken counsel amidst the sacred circle of the 
 elders ; and wherever his way lost itself in the gloom of the 
 acacia and tamarisk grove, his heart might be thrilled by 
 the suggestion, that in this green temple the leader of Is- 
 rael was still kneeling before the Lord, and speaking to 
 Him “as a man talketh with his friend.” Thus one thought 
 after another would make the heart beat high. The his- 
 tory of the forty years’ journey attained a life and a reality 
 entirely new ; thought passed into sight ; memory was 
 quickened into experience. At one time he would lie on 
 the ground and gather the manna with the ancient fa- 
 thers ; at another, he would stand with the wounded be- 
 fore the brazen serpent, and feel the pulses of life again 
 run through his veins. Now he would stand before the 
 altar which Moses built, and called it “Jehovah Nissi” 
 (the Lord my banner) ; and now he would hear the wide 
 waste resound with loud thanksgivings and solemn hymns 
 of praise to the faithfulness of Jehovah. Every new scene 
 on which he entered would bring before him some new 
 event and feature of those journeyings which were irra- 
 diated with the glory of God ; and all the comfort, refresh- 
 
180 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 ment, and impulse, which. these histories contain, would 
 rush upon him like a mighty stream from hill and valley, 
 overwhelming him with a sublime and awful joy, that gave 
 wings to every footstep, and banished the last remains of 
 fear and care from his spirit. The wilderness blossomed 
 as the rose, and all its plains broke forth into singing. 
 Assured in his deepest conviction that he was pursuing 
 his way under the same shadow of the Almighty which 
 covered the host of Israel, he journeyed cheerfully on- 
 ward, not doubting that He, who, under the juniper- tree, 
 had sounded the note of his departure, and endued his 
 feeble frame with a strength which no violence of the 
 elements or fatigue of travel could impair, would lead 
 him all the way by the right hand of his righteousness, 
 and at last shew him his place of rest, and take from him 
 the staff of his pilgrimage in peace. 
 
 O Faith, Faith ! Thou dear and sacred companion of the 
 children of God! Thy wondrous power dispels all the 
 horrors of the wilderness, and the deepest solitude under 
 thy blessed guidance is no longer solitary. The fairest 
 that earth possesses, or that dwells in heaven, is thine ; 
 thou goest forth in search of it, into height and into 
 depth, to enrich with their treasures the poverty of thy 
 friends. Thou bringest the distant near ; thou disclosest 
 the hidden things of God ; thou awakenest the past to a new 
 life. Under thy hand the gloomy present melts away into the 
 light of a blessed hereafter, and the clouds of this mortal 
 horizon are mantled all over with the dawning radiance of 
 better worlds to come. In the lonely wastes of our cheer- 
 less pilgrimage, thou charmest into being for us the fresh- 
 ness and the glory of paradise. Our most deserted corner, 
 thou peoplest with holy, with heavenly company ; thou 
 bridgest over with thy wondrous span all the chasms which 
 sever world from world, and age from age, and throwest 
 down all the partition walls that rise between our Now 
 and our Hereafter, our Earth and our Heaven. In thy 
 light the history of the past is wrought into our present 
 life, and our present life is exalted to a sacred history. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 181 
 
 Through thee the dead are not dead to us ; our departed 
 ones have not taken farewell ; the saints of old are our 
 brethren of to-day and yesterday, though their bones are 
 resting in the graves of centuries. By thee, though dead, 
 they yet speak to us •; by thee, they visit us in our hours 
 of darkness with the looks and voices of a heavenly sym- 
 pathy ; by thee, we see them encamped about us, a holy 
 cloud of witnesses; and, by thee, all the goodness and 
 truth that have passed before them, becomes our own. 
 Thou supportest us on Abraham’s promises ; thou makest 
 us lean on Jacob’s st&ff ; by thee, we cleave the sea with 
 the rod of Moses ; and by thee, we leap in the gracious 
 triumph of David over rampart and wall. 0 Faith, Faith ! 
 Thou keeper of the door of every sanctuary, thou steward 
 over all the treasures of God ! May He who is thy Author 
 draw nigh unto us, and he who is thy Finisher bend down 
 towards us ! 
 
 III.— THE ARRIVAL AT MOUNT HOREB. 
 
 The life of almost every Christian has striking points 
 of light scattered over it, which may be called its moments 
 on Tabor. In these moments the children of God appear 
 in unveiled dignity; the likeness of the Divine nature, 
 which they bear within them, breaks through the garb 
 of their humiliation ; a preternatural exaltation is dif- 
 fused over the whole being ; and their thoughts, and 
 feelings, and words, and actions, all soar above the com- 
 mon ground of their experience. 
 
 Such a moment it was in the life of the apostle Paul, 
 when he could utter these words, “ For I could wish that 
 myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my 
 kinsmen according to the flesh.” The expression is truly 
 startling ; and whatever idea we form of the extent of the 
 curse, it conveys an amount of self-sacrifice altogether 
 incalculable. We have a like instance in the case of Moses, 
 who, fired with a holy zeal, and carried away by the ar- 
 
182 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 dour of a love in which self was totally forgotten, broke 
 forth into the amazing exclamation, “ Yet now, if thou 
 wilt forgive them their sins ; and if not, blot me, I pray 
 thee, out of thy book.” If our cool, sober, calculating 
 people of the present day find it hard to comprehend these 
 ecstatic expressions, it is no great wonder ; but neither is 
 it a proof that these holy men were not deeply in earnest 
 with their astonishing requests. An infant is incompetent 
 to enter into the ideas of a valiant warrior ; still there 
 were such men as Gideon and David. Even Paul and 
 Moses, after the moment of divine ecstacy was past, 
 may have been astonished at their own excitement, and 
 unable to comprehend the mysterious working of their 
 own minds in it ; for they were then carried far beyond 
 the natural course of their desires, and they could not re- 
 produce the exalted feeling at their pleasure. 
 
 You know, besides Paul and Moses, a third who shared 
 their feelings in a far higher degree, and who actually 
 carried the desire into effect, which they only uttered in 
 a moment of rare excitement ; of him it is written, “ He 
 was made a curse for us.” Many who are called Christians 
 shake their heads at this truth, and cannot believe of the 
 Lord Jesus that his love went so far as to lead him to 
 undergo the penalty for our sins, which would have swal- 
 lowed up and consumed the sinners themselves. Were 
 these adversaries of the atonement in the right, it would 
 follow that these disciples, Moses and Paul, were above 
 their Master in love to mankind. Therefore, from this 
 very love of them, we can shew our opponents that they 
 are in the wrong. For from whom had these men of God 
 their fervent love, from themselves ? Certainly not. It 
 was a drop from the ocean of the Saviour’s love ; as then 
 the stream is, so must the fountain be ; as the copy, so 
 the original. In the Saviour’s heart there must then have 
 dwelt a love which prompted him to make himself a curse 
 for sin, else how could such love have been found in his 
 disciples ? 
 
 The recollection, however, of such a love as this, on the 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 183 
 
 part of Moses and of Paul, is not altogether advantageous 
 to the prophet Elijah, in comparing the scene of his life 
 on which we are now about to enter, for it presents a 
 striking contrast to the conduct of these two saints. 
 
 1 Kings xix. 9 — 11. 
 
 “ And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there : and, be- 
 hold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him. 
 What doest thou here, Elijah ? And he said, I have been very 
 jealous for the Lord God of hosts : for the children of Israel have 
 forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy 
 prophets with the sword ; and I, even I only, am left ; and they 
 seek my life to take it away. And he said. Go forth, and stand 
 upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed 
 by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in 
 pieces the rocks, before the Lord ; but the Lord was not in the 
 wind : and after the wind an earthquake ; but the Lord was not in 
 the earthquake.” 
 
 Here we have the man of God again before us in a situa- 
 tion calculated to increase the depth of his humility. The 
 particulars of this striking scene are well worthy of our 
 close consideration. We have here — I. The night’s lodg- 
 ing in the cave. II. The Divine reproof. III. The pro- 
 phet’s complaint. IY. The summons to appear before 
 the Lord. 
 
 I. We left the prophet travelling on in the wilderness, filled 
 with many recollections of its ancient history, and agitated 
 with many questions as to the probable issue of his jour- 
 ney, and its ultimate design in his prophetic life. And 
 now, when the forty days are drawing to a close, he sees 
 a mountain in the azure distance glistening before him, 
 which soon becomes better known to him, not less by its 
 height than by its white and shining summits. It was 
 Mount Sinai ; towering up with its bold cliffs like an im- 
 mense cathedral with innumerable spires. Another height 
 near it appeared like its ante-chamber, not so tall, but as 
 bold in its formation of wild and craggy steeps. This was 
 Horeb. What must have been the emotions of Elijah on 
 first beholding these sacred and ever memorable heights. 
 What elevating thoughts and delightful hopes may then 
 have rapt away his soul ! Hq resigns himself to the pleas- 
 
184 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 ing expectation, that this Horeb was to be the end alike 
 of his wanderings and of his troubles. In this ancient 
 scene of revelation he hopes to find the richest requital 
 for all his vexing failures ; the most comforting solution 
 of all the mysteries of his life ; the most glorious assurance 
 of the restoration of Israel to their ancient faith. It was 
 on Horeb that Moses was honoured to behold the glory of 
 Jehovah in the burning bush ; and Elijah expected nothing 
 less than the display of the good-will of “ Him that dwelt 
 in the bush.” It was on Horeb that the rock was smitten 
 which refreshed the thirsty hosts of Israel ; and Elijah 
 would think of the living water which would revive his 
 soul. It was on Horeb that the uplifted hands of Moses 
 prostrated the strength of Amalek, and gave Joshua his glo- 
 rious-victory over the armies of the aliens ; and Elijah might 
 hope to hear in Horeb the sentence against Ahab and the 
 heathen Jezebel, which should put down blasphemy and 
 rebellion in Israel. On Horeb God renewed his covenant 
 with his people, after he had delivered them from the iron 
 furnace of Egypt ; and on Horeb Elijah might expect the 
 renewal of his own commission from Jehovah, with the 
 aids and promises necessary to a complete Work of refor- 
 mation. 
 
 At length he reaches the holy mountain. With the pro- 
 foundest veneration he begins to climb the rocky ridges 
 and rises to its summit. It is evening. His feet stand up- 
 on Horeb. His soul is overwhelmed with the most varied 
 emotions ; but he prays to God, and anxiously waits for 
 the expected manifestation. His hopes are not realized. 
 There is many a bush, but in none does he see the fire ; 
 and many a rock, but from none do the waters flow. No# 
 sound of Divine footsteps on the dull and silent ridges 
 that rise all around him. He would give way again to tho 
 gloom of the wilderness, but he cannot look on the hea- 
 venly vision that led him hither as a play of fancy or a 
 delusion of darkness ; he knows that the Lord has con- 
 ducted him to Horeb, and he will wait his time. An in- 
 describable solitude stretches around him ; nothing but 
 
ELIJAH THE TTSHBITE. 
 
 185 
 
 rugged layers of stone, tangled thickets, and here and 
 there a gloomy cypress or dusky tamarisk. On all sides 
 dark chasms and abysses appeared, rocks hollowed into 
 dismal caverns, scarcely the song of a bird in the stunted 
 brakes, but everywhere a silence as in a field of the dead, 
 broken only by the cry of the wild-goat on the peaks of the 
 crags, or the rustling of the loose shingle down the steeps, 
 under the light hoof of the mountain-antelope. Alas ! the 
 pious wanderer might be at a loss what to think of his 
 situation, and might look on himself as banished from 
 the whole world. No trace of a human dwelling is any 
 where to be seen. The horror of his lonely situation is 
 increased by the approach of night. Ought he to travel 
 on ? He cannot. He feels that the limit of his journey is 
 reached. The strength which bore him through the desert, 
 perhaps, has forsaken him, and no less so, the cheerful 
 spirit and the courage of the pilgrim ; and, therefore, no- 
 thing is left him but to seek out some retreat which may 
 shelter him from wild beasts and poisonous serpents. He 
 wraps his mantle around him, creeps into a gloomy cave, 
 of which there were many in this rocky region, and lies 
 down in order to pass the night in this melancholy lodg- 
 ing. No doubt it was one of the anxious nights of his life, 
 for the cheering prospect he had entertained of dwelling 
 in the pavilion of the Lord’s glory was disappointed ; and 
 he was obliged to bury himself amidst the most comfort- 
 less circumstances in the horrors of a desolate cavern. It 
 may be easily supposed that no sleep closed the prophet's 
 eyes this melancholy night. Satan, too, would assail him 
 with the most horrid images and suggestions, and summon 
 up all his strength to overcome his hard-tried and per- 
 haps wavering faith, and to pierce him with his fiery 
 darts. For the circumstances of the case gave the Old 
 Serpent a great advantage ; and he might deem it easy to 
 prove the love of God a delusion, the promises of God a 
 broken reed ; as if the Keeper of Israel “ could himself 
 slumber,” and his paternal kindness admit of his chasten- 
 ing his children without cause. “ Where is now thy God ?” 
 
186 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 might he press upon Elijah. “ Where is the boasted hap- 
 piness of his service ?” might he ask in scorn ; and who 
 knows whether the prophet was now ready for the con- 
 flict, and able to repel with decision all the thrusts of the 
 subtle tempter ? Yes ; had the invisible arms not been 
 under him, which were wont to uphold him, when he 
 was least aware of it, he would have been swallowed up 
 in the gulph of despair. 
 
 II. Elijah retires into the cave and experiences the truth 
 of the lesson, that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, 
 nor his ways our ways ; and farther, that self-humiliation 
 must precede all advancement. What his feelings were, no 
 one can presume to tell. Suddenly, in the deep silence, the 
 word of the Lord comes to him as a shot from a bow, pierc- 
 ing to the very heart. “ And the word of the Lord came to 
 him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah ?” 
 The voice makes the prophet start, for he knew it to be 
 that of the Almighty God. But what an unexpected ques- 
 tion was this ? What a painful contrast to the expecta- 
 tions that he had brought with him to Horeb ! Had he 
 not thought that the whole journey from Samaria was 
 approved of God, and that he had been expressly called 
 to the Mount of Horeb to receive these peculiar blessings 
 from the Lord ! and now, instead of a welcome, he is met 
 by the alarming inquiry, “ What doest thou here ?” It 
 must however, painful as it was, have served to deepen 
 his sense of his own blame-worthiness in leaving his post 
 at first, and following his own will rather than that of 
 God. It must have reproved his feeble faith and his des- 
 pondency, and quenched the last murmur against the Di- 
 vine sovereignty in his soul. 
 
 When it goes ill with us in the world, my friends, and we 
 begin to raise our notes of complaint over disappointed 
 hopes and ruined enterprises, God can do us no better service 
 than disclose to us the sins and offences against him which 
 lie at the bottom of our disasters ; if we have no such dis- 
 covery made to us, we run great hazard of distrusting the 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 187 
 
 faithfulness of the Lord without cause. But this sense 
 of guilt is the best preservative against that “ pricking in 
 the reins/’ of which Asaph complains (Psal. lxxiii. 21.), 
 and the surest antidote to our unhappy lamentations over 
 the darkness of God’s ways. This teaches us patience, 
 and makes us heartily thankful when the Lord causes but 
 one ray of pardon, one glimpse of grace, to shine upon us, 
 so that we desire nothing besides, and falling at his feet, 
 renounce all murmuring for ever, in the deep confession, 
 “ 0 Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us 
 shame and confusion of face.” Dan. ix. 7, 8. 
 
 What doest thou here ! A question like this coming 
 direct from God, has made many a one quake with a salu- 
 tary fear. How awful must it sound to the sinner, as it 
 overtakes him in the road of death, and he knows for the 
 first time, to his consternation, that the call is from the 
 Lord. How severely tender when it comes in the milder 
 accents of ill-requited love to the prodigal amid the husks 
 of sense ; who, though bought with a price, has faithlessly 
 forsaken his most faithful friend. How disquieting is it 
 when this question surprises us in the midst of the child- 
 ren of God, and holds forth the possibility that we have 
 mistaken our circle ; and how keen may be the struggle of 
 self-examination thus produced. Thus the Lord makes 
 use of this question as a trumpet-note to awake the care- 
 less ; as a warning missile sent to drive back the straying 
 sheep to the flock ; as a net to gather out the elect from 
 among the unbelieving crowd ; and as a chain to bind the 
 penitent to his yoke, that they err no more from the paths 
 of duty and safety. Alas ! how many poor souls among 
 us are wandering in error, and ready to “ stumble upon 
 the dark mountains.” Would that the voice of the Al- 
 mighty would this day sound the question in their ears, 
 “ What doest thou here ?” that he would utter it in thun- 
 der and in storm, and meet them with it in “ every re- 
 fuge of lies,” till they are chased out of all, and taught 
 to find the way of peace, which hitherto they have not 
 known. 
 
188 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 III. The prophet at length collects himself, and re- 
 plies to the alarming question, “ I have been very jea- 
 lous for the Lord God of hosts.” This indeed was true, 
 and he could say with the Psalmist, “ The zeal of thy 
 house hath eaten me up.*’ Alas ! how little is to be seen 
 in this Laodicean age, of such zeal for the Lord ! We can 
 see much and hear much that is contrary to God, ere our 
 cold heart is warmed with holy indignation. How readily 
 can we judge those that are without, and exalt ourselves 
 above them, while, all the while, there is in us no godly 
 jealousy for the Lord’s name ! Where is the passionate zeal 
 with which the ancient saints, day and night, gave the Lord 
 no rest till he should make his name great among all na- 
 tions, and before the eyes of all people ! Where is the 
 self-consuming fervour of Moses, who exclaimed, “ Yet 
 now, if thou wilt forgive their sins, and if not, blot me, 
 I pray thee, out of thy book.” May the good Lord have 
 mercy on us, and rebuke our dulness, and send a whole- 
 some tide of zeal with its currents and its waves into the 
 stagnant waters of our formal Christendom ! 
 
 “ The children of Israel,” continues Elijah, “ have for- 
 saken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain 
 thy prophets with the sword.” Now, if this be a cause 
 for zeal in God’s name, why do we remain so lukewarm 
 and faint-hearted ? Why do we not glow and bum, and 
 breathe forth the holy flame ? Are not the banners of re- 
 bellion against God flaunting openly enough around us, 
 and are not scoffers and blasphemers, who have forsaken 
 his covenant, all too rife ? Must the name of God be still 
 more openly profaned than it has been already, in word 
 and deed, among us ? and must the measure of iniquity 
 be yet more full, ere we have cause to wrestle with God 
 that he would stir up his strength and might to avenge his 
 own great name ? Would that the Lord would season our 
 salt that has lost its savour, and baptize us with the Holy 
 Ghost, and with fire ! The cause is, that we live too much 
 in words and forms, and keep our hearts with too little 
 diligence. How can the fuel of zeal be kindled without 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 189 
 
 the secret fires of meditation and prayer ? How can we 
 then expect to say with Jeremiah, “ I am pained at my 
 I very heart or it was “ in my heart a burning fire, shut 
 up in my bones ; and I was weary with forbearing, and 
 was unable to restrain myself.” J er. iv. 19, xx. 9. 
 
 Elijah says, farther, “ I, even I, only am left.” The 
 only one, he means, in the field of battle ; for he was not 
 the only saint of God in Israel ; only the rest were fled, 
 and had concealed themselves amid the rocks and caves. 
 “ And they seek my life to take it away.” He thus makes 
 no secret of it, that he has left Samaria and fled into the 
 wilderness to save his own life ; he narrates the whole, as 
 it occurred, with sincerity and candour ; and God is gra- 
 cious to those who thus confess the truth, for “ to the up- 
 right he will shew himself upright.” Interesting in this 
 light as the confession is, it is far from being entirely 
 blameless in its tone. However much holy indignation it 
 displays at the dishonour done to J ehovah’s name, there 
 mingle in it discords of more human vexation and fretful- 
 ness ; and it betrays an excitement of natural temper, 
 which, to say the least of it, had not its source in the 
 spiritual affections of the prophet. Moses and Paul, as 
 we have already hinted, appear in this instance much 
 greater than Elijah. He does not throw himself into the 
 breach for the idolatrous people of Israel, and offer him- 
 self as a victim for them ; but appears, on the contrary, 
 in a certain sense, their accuser before the Lord. This is, 
 perhaps, only, however, a lower attainment than theirs ; 
 but it was a positive sin that he recounted his own zeal, 
 and contrasted with it his total want of success, in a tone 
 which was no other than one of reproach to God himself. 
 As if he had said, “ Lord, why hast thou done this to 
 me ? How couldst thou leave thy servant thus in his hour 
 of need ? How forsake the work of thine own hands ?” 
 The Lord has resolved, however, to answer these accusa- 
 tions himself ; and answer him he will in a way of majesty, 
 and yet of grace, which will preserve him all his life after 
 from such mistakes. 
 
190 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 IV. And now the Divine summons comes, “ And he said. 
 Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord.” 
 The prophet advanced to the mouth of the cave. But 
 what he saw, and what he heard, on this wonderful occa- 
 sion, must be deferred till afterwards. 
 
 “ Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord.” 
 This Divine injunction, I could wish that you also, in a 
 certain sense, would lay to heart. It is addressed to all 
 who are dwelling, like Elijah, in dens and caves ; and many 
 are the dens and caves in which we bury ourselves. Our 
 heart is such a cavern, and it is a dark one. Happy he 
 who is aware of this, and whose eyes are no strangers to 
 the darkness, disorder, and corruption of this great deep. 
 But he must not seek to bury himself in it ; this would be 
 a perverse and ruinous error. Many among us have often 
 done so, and imprisoned themselves in this dark dungeon. 
 How great their folly ! They see nothing but the darkness 
 of the cave; meditate on nothing but the deadness, de- 
 pravity, poverty, and helplessness of their souls ; and, since 
 they get no farther, their lips are never free of complaint, 
 their eyes of heaviness, their soul of despondency, and their 
 whole life of gloom and misery. To all such I would say, 
 “ Go forth !” In your hearts you will find neither life, 
 nor light, nor peace. Forth, forth with you, from thi3 
 gloomy cell. Stand upon the mount that smokes with the 
 blood of sacrifice ; behold the Lamb of God that taketh 
 away the sin of the world. Behold his heart of love, 
 behold his all-sufficient merit. It is this which makes the 
 believer courageous, joyful, and strong. This is the life of 
 the world. You complain that you find still so much 
 awanting that should be there ; no humility, no just hatred 
 of sin, no love, no tears, no faith. Well, and what then ? 
 Can you suppose that you will make up the want by 
 brooding in secret over that very want itself ? In vain. 
 Forth with you from your cavern to the mount of God. 
 CJnder the Cross, and there only— at the throne of mercy, 
 and there only — are these saving graces found. 
 
 In just such another cave are those souls to be found 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 191 
 
 who are troubled with sore temptations, and incited to 
 horrid actions. He that is absorbed in the painful consi- 
 deration of these things, and lingers amid the dismal 
 shades of these temptations, looking only at the fiery 
 darts which crowd upon him, is shutting himself up in a 
 gloomy cavern, and drawing backward into the gulf of 
 despair. Nay ; let us go forth out of the cave ! Let us 
 stand upon the mount before the Lord, where the Saviour 
 agonizes in bloody sweat, and wrestles in the deadliest con- 
 flict with Satan, that temptation may no longer prevail 
 over you. In the mount the Lord shall be seen as having 
 “ spoiled principalities and powers, and made a shew of 
 them openly, triumphing over them in his Cross.” Behold 
 the mighty Conqueror, in whom you too have overcome ; 
 bring all your wretchedness before him ; roll your burden 
 upon him ; and thus shall your courage be nerved for the 
 struggle, and it shall be given you, even when most feeble, 
 to triumph in your exalted Head ! 
 
 Another cave is worldly distress or outward trouble ; in 
 the various shapes of poverty, loss, reproach, and sickness. 
 To look with Peter on the storm, and not on its Ruler ; 
 with Martha, on the grave of corruption, and not on Him 
 who is the resurrection and the life ; this is to thrust 
 yourselves into the gloomy cave. There is neither joy nor 
 peace in that dungeon. It can only make desponding and 
 wretched prisoners of you. Go forth ! go forth ! rise on 
 the wings of faith and hope ; take your stand on the moun- 
 tain of the eternal promises, and cast your eyes thence 
 over to the other side of J ordan into the peaceful borders 
 of the land of promise, which you are soon to enter upon, 
 and strengthen your soul with the glorious prospect of that 
 blessed multitude “ which no man can number, who have 
 come out of great tribulation, and washed their robes and 
 made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Breathe no 
 more the pestilential vapours of the prison-house, but the 
 fresh air of that eternal morning which is soon to dawn ! 
 
 0 that in all our grief and misery, as often as we are 
 tempted to sit down amid the shades of darkness, tho 
 
192 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 loud inspiriting call were to sound in our ears, “ Go forth, 
 and stand on the mount before the Lord.” Yes ; to stand 
 upon the mount of Calvary, to stand upon the mount of 
 promise, and to stand there before the Lord with open 
 heart, without reserve, deceitfulness, or guile, this is the 
 grand secret of peace in time, and bliss in eternity ; and if, 
 besides, you will have a hiding-place and a safe retreat, let 
 it be in the secret of the Lord’s tabernacle, in the pavilion 
 of the Most High. 0 the blessedness of this seclusion, the 
 delights of this resting-place of the soul ! Here is the 
 service of a constant Sabbath in the calm sanctuary of 
 the heart ; here is the gleam of hope in the uplifted eye, 
 even when all without is darkness ; even then, yea then, 
 most of all, when the sound of the last trump shall break 
 upon our graves with the joyful summons, “ Go forth, and 
 stand on the heavenly mount before the Lord.” 
 
 IV.— THE MANIFESTATION ON HOREB. 
 
 The children of God in this world stand in a very close 
 and wonderful connexion with Christ their Lord, and with 
 each other. This connexion consists not merely in unity 
 of sentiment, of faith, and of practice ; the communion 
 of saints is a deep and blessed mystery, and is justly 
 placed in the creed as one of the articles of the Christian 
 faith. 
 
 The Saviour has assured us that believers are one, even 
 as He and the Father are one. They are elsewhere repre- 
 sented as forming one body, united to the one glorious 
 Head in heaven. Thus Paul says, 1 Cor. xii. 27, “ Ye are 
 the body of Christ, and members in particular.” “ If one 
 member suffer, all the members suffer with it or “ one 
 member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.” 
 In other passages he carries this image still farther, and 
 expressly calls the union thereby represented, a mystery. 
 
 Now, all to whom this mystery is unfolded, find in it a 
 rich and exhaustless treasure. That all of us, who believe 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 193 
 
 the truth, form one body ; 0, this is one of the most con- 
 soling and refreshing truths of the whole gospel ! But how 
 far does this extend ? you ask. I shall shortly endeavour 
 to make this manifest. We often hear you complaining 
 thus, “ I certainly cannot deny that God has drawn me 
 to himself ; but I dare not appropriate this or that par- 
 ticular consolation or promise. It may belong to others, 
 but not to me.” These are foolish ideas, my friends. You 
 speak as if every Christian stood alone, and could possess 
 something in which other Christians had no part whatever ; 
 whereas, according to Scripture, every Christian is an in- 
 separable part of the whole ; and the promises are made 
 not to this or that individual member, but to the whole 
 body, that spiritual body of Christ, to which the weakest 
 Christian belongs as really as the strongest. Ask no longer 
 then, Am I a beginner in the Christian course, or an ad- 
 vanced and experienced pilgrim ? Am I strong in the in- 
 ward man, or weak and infirm ? The divine inheritance 
 does not depend on the measure of our grace, or the de- 
 gree of sanctification we have attained. Ask no other 
 question but this, “ Dare I reckon myself among the little 
 flock of Israel ?” and if thou canst answer this question 
 in the affirmative, then, whether thou art the greatest in 
 the kingdom of heaven or the least, the first or the last, 
 thou hast equally the right to apply to thyself, without 
 scruple, all that is promised anywhere in the Bible to the 
 people of God. If you. read, for example, that the Lord 
 declares of his church that the gates of hell shall not 
 prevail against her, do not hesitate to include yourself in 
 the promise, and to say, “ I am invincible for what is 
 said of the whole applies also to you the part. If you 
 read of the city of God, that “ God is in the midst of her, 
 she shall not be moved : the Lord shall help her, and that 
 right early then think, “ God is with me, I shall not 
 be moved ; he shall help me early for thou art a citizen 
 of Zion, as truly as ever Abraham, or John, or Paul was. 
 Thus, my friends, we must acquire the habit of contem- 
 plating ourselves, not as isolated individuals standing 
 13 
 
194 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 alone, but as parts of one whole, as members of one body. 
 And when you read of a brother in the Lord being heard 
 in prayer, wonderfully delivered, or favoured with some 
 signal display of grace, you must not say, “ Ah, that fell 
 to his lot, but he is quite unconnected with me.” No, my 
 brethren, we must then rejoice and think, “ This benefit 
 has accrued at the same time to me, the Lord has equally 
 shewed his grace and nearness to me. I also have received, 
 in what has been bestowed upon my brother, a new seal 
 and pledge of the loving-kindness of my God towards me ; 
 for I and my brother are one, we belong to one and the 
 same indivisible body, and if one member be honoured, 
 all the members rejoice with it.” 
 
 You see then, my friends, what abounding consolation 
 lies in the doctrine, that we are all one body ; and 0, what 
 a new and blessed significance do the histories of all the 
 saints of God thereby acquire for us ! May a deep sense 
 then of this mysterious unity and fellowship accompany 
 us to the scene which we are about to contemplate, and 
 enable us to rejoice in the glorious and gracious manifesta- 
 tion vouchsafed to Elijah on Horeb, as an exhibition of 
 kindness, not to him only, but to us also as members with 
 him of the one body in Christ. 
 
 1 Kings xix. 11 — 13. 
 
 “ And he said, Go forth and stand upon the mount before the 
 Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong 
 wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks, before the 
 Lord : but the Lord was not in the wind ; and after the wind an 
 earthquake : but the Lord was not in the earthquake : And after 
 the earthquake a fire ; but the Lord was not in the fire : and after 
 the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, 
 that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in 
 the entering in of the cave : and, behold, there came a voice unto 
 him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah ?” 
 
 It is a majestic scene, my friends, to which we now draw 
 near in the stillness of devotion. It is a narrative as grand, 
 as deep in meaning, and as rich in consolation, as we any- 
 where meet with in the lives of the saints of God. May 
 it then disclose to us its depths of wonder, and impress us 
 as strongly as if it had been repeated in our own expe- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE.. 195 
 
 rience. We shall consider the event, I. In its historical 
 course. II. In its immediate object. 
 
 I. “ Go forth,” it had been said to Elijah, “ and stand upon 
 the mount before the Lord.” The prophet hears and obeys. 
 And no sooner is he gone forth, than signs occur which 
 proclaim the approach of the Almighty, and what awful 
 signs ! A constant thrill of terror and of awe passes through 
 the prophet’s mind. The first sign is a tremendous storm. 
 Till now, the deepest silence had reigned over the dreary 
 waste. Suddenly all about him is in fearful uproar. What 
 a crashing of the elements on every side ! What a struggle 
 . of howling blasts and hollow thunders from the depths 
 of the mountains, as if the four winds had in a moment 
 burst their prison to fight in wild wrath together. Whole 
 forests are swept from their rocky seats as with the besom 
 of destruction. The clouds career over the sky like squad- 
 rons rushing to the conflict. The sandy desert rises in 
 curling billows like a raging sea. Deep resounds unto deep 
 with the crash of falling cliffs. The rocks are rent and 
 threaten to sink in ruin. Up every steep and chasm there 
 sounds as the whirling haste and fiery rage of an invisible 
 army hurrying on the foe ; and from every central depth 
 there rise the groans, and shrieks, and murderous din of 
 unearthly combat. Sinai quakes to its summit as of old, 
 and as if the terrors of the law-giving were renewing 
 around it. The prophet stands at the entrance of the 
 cave, and gazes in consternation on the tremendous scene. 
 His soul trembles at the majesty of Jehovah, and is ready 
 to sink under the weight of terror. It is, alas, no sense of 
 peace or nearness to God, with which the awful tumult 
 inspires him ; rather a feeling of distressing distance. “ A 
 strong wind went before the Lord, but the Lord was not 
 in the wind.” 
 
 And as the storm abates, behold a new and alarming 
 portent ! The earth reels to its lowest depths, and the 
 foundations of the hills are moved; shock follows after 
 shock; the solid ground quivers all about him. The pro- 
 
196 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 phet feels the quick rise and staggering fall, and hears 
 on every side a mingled rending, and bursting, and shat- 
 tering of elements, as if the solid globe would fall asun- 
 der. The mountains and rocks, which the storm had torn 
 and scattered, are now hurled upon each other by the 
 earthquake. Heights sink and valleys rise ; chasms yawn 
 and horrible depths unfold, as if the earth would perish in 
 its own abysses. The prophet looks forth upon the wreck 
 of nature, and feels more than ever the terrible majesty 
 of Him, who but looketh upon the earth and it trembleth. 
 But here, too, there is no trace of a gracious presence or 
 message of peace. The earthquake was only a second herald 
 of the approaching God. It went before the Lord, “ but 
 the Lord was not in the earthquake.” 
 
 And no sooner is the earthquake over, than, wonder upon 
 wonder ! a new amazement fills his soul. Jets of fire dart 
 forth on all sides with horrid hissing sound ; and in the 
 twinkling of an eye the deepest midnight is turned into 
 lurid and unearthly day. The whole heaven is one sheet 
 of flame, one ocean of fire, that dashes its spiry billows over 
 the mountain-summits, fed by a subterraneous tide from 
 every rent and cavern in the rock, and devours, in the wide 
 waste, tree and bush, and stone, and licks up the water in 
 the springs. It is as if the day of the last conflagration were 
 come, in which heaven and earth shall be cast into the 
 furnace, that the soiled and wasted hull of time may sink 
 in dross, and the holy splendours of a new heaven and a 
 new earth may rise in eternal beauty on the view. Elijah 
 is lost in adoring awe. The flames play harmless about 
 him ; but the Lord does not descend to him in the chariot 
 of fire. His heart is still mastered by consternation and 
 dread, and feels nothing of the presence of a reconciled 
 God. The fire went before the Lord ; “ but the Lord was 
 not in the fire.” 
 
 The fire dies away ; the rolling waves of flame have 
 spent their rage. A deep tranquillity, like the stillness of 
 a sanctuary, settles again over all nature ; and it seems as 
 if every hill and dale, nay, the whole earth and skies, lay 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 197 
 
 in silent homage at the footstool of the eternal Majesty. 
 The very mountains seem to worship ; their silent tops to 
 be lost in adoration. Not a leaf is heard to rustle ; the 
 firmament is once more clear and cloudless, and the stars 
 of God look down bright and peaceful from their calm 
 heights ; and lo ! “ a still small voice,” or “ the voice of a 
 gentle whisper,” falls on the prophet’s ear, and the Lord is 
 there ; Elijah feels it, and his heart now sinks in deeper 
 awe ; but his dread is gone. He wraps his face in his 
 mantle, goes forth in adoring wonder, and stands at the 
 entrance of the cave. 
 
 II. If now we enquire into the peculiar signification and 
 intention of the Divine manifestation at Horeb, we cannot, 
 I think, remain long in doubt respecting it. It is evident 
 that the Lord meant thereby to lead the prophet out of a 
 variety of doubts and anxieties in which he had lost him- 
 self. One outward mystery had followed another; one 
 inward perplexity had complicated another. He had lost 
 his clue to the windings of the labyrinth, in the sudden 
 turn which the affairs of God’s kingdom had taken in Is- 
 rael. In God’s name, and with his commission, be had 
 forsaken his native mountains, and gone to Samaria to 
 recal the backsliding people to the faith of their fathers. 
 The means for such a work had been placed in his hand 
 by God himself. It had been given him to shut heaven, 
 and to open it again ; to bring distress upon the land, and 
 to remove it. He had done signs and wonders, such as 
 had not been wrought in Israel for centuries, and had la- 
 boured as abundantly as any saint before him. From such 
 exertions he had expected, as was natural enough, corres- 
 ponding results ; and had hoped for nothing less than a 
 penitent return of all Israel to their allegiance to Jeho- 
 vah. The fervent man of God, however, was mistaken. 
 Not only were his hopes not realized; they were utterly 
 frustrated. In the very moment when he had expected 
 to lead back the re-converted people to the altar of the 
 living God, with psalms and hymns of rejoicing, he sees 
 
198 
 
 ELIJAH THE TlSHBITE. 
 
 the sword uplifted to slay him, and all his labour appears 
 in vain. All this was too mysterious for him ; and he could 
 not reconcile it with his views of the faithfulness of God. 
 
 This doubting state of mind had attained its height at 
 Horeb, and had broken forth in a complaint, not only 
 against the people, but virtually against the Lord himself ; 
 when the majestic signs and wonders, we have been con- 
 sidering, passed before him, and produced those effects 
 which have been already described. The wind, the earth- 
 quake, and the fire, produced only an awful sense of dis- 
 tance ; and the still small voice, on the contrary, the live- 
 liest emotions of joy and sense of communion with God. 
 In these signs, and their effects, I apprehend, we are to 
 behold a Divine lesson given to the prophet respecting 
 the nature and working of his own*past prophetic labours, 
 and a glorious answer to all the complaints, doubts, and 
 fears to which he had given way. 
 
 The scenes of terror which he had witnessed were signs 
 of his own prophetic teaching and activity, which had 
 been wrapped in the awful grandeur of Divine majesty, 
 and been characterised more by the spirit of the law, than 
 of the gospel. The storm was but . an echo of his own 
 words of thunder in reproving sin, with which he had 
 struck the consciences of the people of Israel ; the earth- 
 quake represented the shaking of plagues and judgments 
 over the land ; the fire reminded him of the flames of 
 Carmel, and of the bloody execution of which it had been 
 the signal. In this way, it had fallen upon Elijah to ap- 
 pear as another Moses, with the burning torch of the law, 
 a herald of that God, who will not be mocked. But in his 
 zeal our prophet had forgotten, that in looking for refor- 
 mation from these measures, he was expecting conse- 
 quences which never can attend the ministration of the 
 law, but must always be coupled with the still small voice 
 of the gospel. What had he expected ? Nothing less than 
 the penitent return of all Israel to the God of their fathers. 
 In this hope he went too far. He was not justified in che- 
 rishing these expectations, and it was this which was to 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 199 
 
 be brought to his mind in an impressive manner on Horeb. 
 He there learned that the display of mere power and ma- 
 jesty, however overwhelming, if their burning terrors are 
 not tempered by grace, may indeed inspire the sinner 
 ■with anxiety and alarm, but cannot truly humble or 
 convert him. He was to become deeply conscious, 
 that the display of infinite holiness, unassociated with 
 the kindness and love of God our Saviour, can make 
 the soul tremble and shrink back in despair, but cannot 
 move it to penitential confession, or confiding submission 
 to the Lord. Now he had experienced in his own heart 
 that grace alone can really soften, and melt, and convert 
 the soul ; and that the blessed results, which he had igno- 
 rantly expected from the law, could only be produced 
 by the loving-kindness and mercy of Jehovah. 
 
 But though thus taught the error of his past hopes, he 
 was at the same time led to the pleasing conclusion that 
 his labour would not be in vain in the Lord ; and, that, 
 after tbe storm, the earthquake, and the fire, the Lord 
 would come, also in due time, with the still small voice, 
 which the hearts of men would then be unable to resist, 
 and to which the stubborn would gladly yield ; and with 
 what delight must Elijah have read in these events this 
 great promise, and embraced it ! And his labour, too, was 
 not to be a lost labour. How welcome the assurance ! As 
 the signs of power and terror on Horeb had not passed 
 over his own soul without trace of good, but had prepared 
 it for the genial breath of the still small voice, and height- 
 ened the melting power of the contrast, so the Lord would 
 thereby have him understand, that the mind of the peo- 
 ple had been made alive by terror to the coming manifes- 
 tation of grace. He was thus taught to regard his prophetic 
 office as designed to break up by the plough the hardened 
 soil of apostacy ; to present the forgotten law, in all its 
 majesty and strictness, before the minds of a backsliding 
 people; to awaken the sleepers and terrify the secure 
 with the thunders of the law, and thereby to excite in 
 them a longing after the gospel, a hungering and thirsting 
 
200 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITR. 
 
 after “ grace reigning through righteousness, unto eternal 
 life.’* 
 
 Thus Elijah has received a satisfactory solution to all 
 his difficulties ; and in how wonderful and divine a man- 
 ner. In this one divine act the Lord has fully justified 
 his own dealings towards the prophet,— cleared up all the 
 mysteries of his life, — dispelled all his anxieties, — rebuked 
 all his doubts, — and, at one and the same time, gloriously 
 vindicated his own honour, and gently taught the prophet 
 his own mistakes, so that he is ready to bow in the deepest 
 humility, and to utter the confession, “ Thou, Lord, art 
 righteous, but unto me belongeth confusion of face.” And 
 though Elijah soon after repeated the complaint, it was 
 in a totally different spirit. It then proceeded from a 
 contrite and humbled frame of mind. The gloomy vexa- 
 tion, the fretting temper, the inward strife and murmur- 
 ing, had all disappeared. The jarring discords of his agi- 
 tated spirit had melted into the purest harmony. 
 
 Thus, my friends, I have endeavoured to give you some 
 explanation of the immediate design of the mysterious 
 events on Horeb. The reason why so many evangelical 
 expositors have left it no better than a riddle, arises from 
 their excessive, or let me rather say, improper ideas of 
 the sanctity of the prophet. They saw in him a being who 
 was no longer liable to human errors, and who could never 
 be drawn aside from the path of divine simplicity, and of 
 stedfast, child-like, unreserved submission to his Lord. 
 But Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are ; 
 he was not free, any more than others, of what we all in- 
 herit from Adam ; and we must seek the key to the won- 
 derful manifestation on H oreb, not in the prophet’s per- 
 fection, but in his infirmity. Yet, how does it exalt our 
 ideas, after all, of the greatness of his devoted spirit, that 
 for his reproof and instruction, heaven and earth were 
 moved, the rocks rent, the mountains overthrown ; and 
 how must the mighty God have loved him, to have deemed 
 him a worthy object of such condescension ! 
 
 This narrative enables us to answer a question which 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 201 
 
 bas been sometimes proposed. Why is Elijah styled a pro- 
 phet, while, in his whole history, there appears no trace 
 of the gospel or future Messiah ? We deny the assertion. 
 There is here a trace of the gospel of life ; nay, more than 
 a trace. The office of our prophet was not, indeed, that 
 of an evangelist, seeing that he was appointed to main- 
 tain the dispensation of Moses ; but the sun of the gospel 
 had risen upon his own heart ; and we have seen from the 
 effects of “ the still small voice,” what healing there was 
 under its wings. I am persuaded, that could he have un- 
 bosomed himself more fully, he would have been one of 
 the most blessed heralds of mercy to the ancient church, 
 and his speech would have dropped as the rain, and dis- 
 tilled as the dew. But the people, among whom his lot 
 was cast, were not yet ripe for the full disclosure of grace, 
 and hence his high mission required him to treasure up 
 the jewel of his faith almost in the secresy of his own 
 heart, and to hide the office of the evangelist under the 
 rough garment of a herald of the law. 
 
 Here, for a season, we leave the top of Horeb, and, I 
 trust, not without refreshment and blessing. May the 
 Lord, who is the great, and gracious, and faithful God, 
 visit us all with the still small voice, and may our whole 
 life be like the standing of Elijah before Him with his 
 face wrapped in his mantle ! 
 
 Y.— RENEWED MISSION. 
 
 One of the most affecting and consolatory of the Old 
 Testament histories is that which relates the wonderful 
 preservation of the infant Moses, Exod. ii. 1 — 10. Lo, at 
 the bank of the Nile, there floats among the reeds a small 
 ark made of bulrushes, and carefully coated over with 
 slime and pitch, that the water might not enter in ; for a 
 treasure, indeed, lies concealed in it, an infant, beautiful 
 before the Lord, and dear and precious beyond all else to 
 his mother ; she has, therefore, thus secured it to try if 
 the babe in its floating cradle may not escape the cruel 
 
202 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 sentence which Pharaoh has pronounced on all the new- 
 born males of Israel. A mother’s love has prepared the 
 infant’s couch with many silent tears ; and while it lies 
 there rocked by the winds and waters, the sisterly love of 
 Miriam keeps her within sight of it to watch its fate. 
 The providence of God brings Pharaoh’s daughter to the 
 banks of the river, she descries the ark floating among the 
 reeds, and sends one of her maids to fetch it. “ And when 
 she had opened it, she saw the child ; and, behold, the 
 babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, 
 This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” Then said his 
 sister to Pharaoh's daughter, “ Shall I go and call to thee 
 a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the 
 child for thee, and she said. Go.” And the maid went and 
 called the child’s mother, and Pharaoh’s daughter said 
 unto her, “ Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and 
 I will give thee thy wages.” Thus were child and mother 
 once more restored to each other, “ and they nursed the 
 child.” 
 
 The spiritual comfort which may be derived from this 
 narrative is great. As many of us, my friends, as belong 
 to Christ are hidden as it were in an ark, which no sword 
 of oppresssor can penetrate, or flood of persecution sub- 
 merge. This ark is his heart, his love. But many of us 
 are like the infant Moses, who knew not how secure he 
 was, and wept. Many of us are, no doubt, left to float 
 on the waves of trouble amid slimy reeds, where the 
 winds sigh, and the crocodile moans, and the viper hisses, 
 and the dark stream whirls its eddies ; and hence we give 
 way to trembling, and our eyes fill with tears. But weep 
 not, beloved brethren, remember who watches over you. 
 A greater than mother’s love has placed thee there for 
 thy good, and woven thine ark of safety, and set a watch 
 over thee, though thou seest it not. If thou perish, the 
 eternal love of God must perish also ; for into that ark 
 hast thou been received, and no hand can open it to pluck 
 thee away. Nor shalt thou float upon the waters for ever. 
 Be of good cheer ; though there are nothing but darkness 
 
ELIJAH THE TI3IIBITE. 
 
 203 
 
 and death before thee, as before the infant Moses, the 
 love of God stands already by the brink of the stream, 
 and is hastening to draw thee forth from its reedy waves, 
 and to nurse and train thee in thy true eternal home. The 
 sacred narrative, which we are this day to consider, con- 
 spires with that of Moses in teaching us to calm our fears 
 and forget our sorrows. 
 
 1 Kings xix. 13—17. 
 
 " And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face 
 in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the 
 cave : and, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said. What 
 doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have 'been very jealous 
 for the Lord God of hosts : because the children of Israel have for- 
 saken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy pro- 
 phets with the sword ; and I, even I only, am left ; and they seek 
 my life to take it away. And the Lord said unto him. Go, return 
 on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus ; and when thou comest, 
 anoint Hazael to be king over Syria ; and Jehu the son of Nimshi 
 shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel ; and Elisha the son of Sha- 
 phat, of Abel-meholah, shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room . 
 And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of 
 Hazael shall Jehu slay ; and him that escapeth from the sword of 
 Jehu shall Elisha slay.” 
 
 The passage just read presents, at first sight, much that 
 is strange in connexion with the great events that formed 
 the subject of the preceding lecture. Who would have 
 expected that the prophet would renew his former com- 
 plaint, or that the Lord should dismiss him with commis- 
 sions and disclosures like these ? It needs, however, only 
 a closer consideration of the matter to unravel and eluci- 
 date everything that is thus perplexed and obscure. 
 
 Let us, I. Take a hasty practical retrospect of the mani- 
 festation on Horeb ; II. Attend to the prophet’s com- 
 plaint ; and, III. Enquire into the nature of the commis- 
 sions with which the Lord dismisses him. 
 
 I. The majestic scene of wonders on Horeb has already 
 passed before our eyes, and its deep meaning has been in 
 some measure disclosed. It displayed the striking con- 
 trast of the spirit of the Old Testament dispensation as a 
 schoolmaster unto Christ, and of the New Testament dis- 
 
204 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 pensation as the reign of grace. Thus we see the grand 
 occurrence taking place, not for Elijah’s sake only, but 
 for ours also ; and we must not leave it without a glance 
 at its rich practical import. 
 
 The Lord comes to all, to whom he will reveal himself 
 in grace, more or less, as he came to Elijah at Horeb. 
 Is your own experience quite different ? Do you know 
 nothing of the storm which he sends before him, as it were, 
 to rend the mountains ; of an earthquake, that shakes the 
 depths of the soul, and casts down its high imaginations ; 
 of a fire of terror and wasting anxiety that precedes the 
 approach of the Lord of glory ? Are your rocks still un- 
 broken ? Have your heights not yet been cast down, and 
 the treacherous ground of self-righteousness been swept 
 from beneath your feet ? And yet you imagine that you 
 have already heard the still small voice of grace. Ah, you 
 are, perhaps, not aware that Satan can “ transform him- 
 self into an angel of light,” and counterfeit the sounds of 
 the gospel of peace. Have you not learned that this de- 
 ceiver can speak a false assurance of forgiveness to the 
 soul, and out of the very promises of the gospel wreathe 
 snares of death; and that, of all his captives, he least 
 fears the escape of those who are caught by the wiles of 
 a false security of eternal life ? 0 tremble at the artifices 
 of the old serpent, and bethink you, that the comforter 
 who can quiet your conscience without mortifying your 
 flesh is not the Spirit of the Lord, but the spirit of dark- 
 ness. For Jesus draws not nigh with his still small voice 
 till every high thing that exalts itself against him is made 
 low, and the old spirit of self-righteousness has received a 
 mortal wound. 
 
 Brethren, “ Strait is the gate and narrow is the way 
 that leadeth unto life,” and “ many shall seek to enter in, 
 and shall not be able.” Seeking is not sufficient here ; 
 there must be striving. The new creation arises upon the 
 ruins of the old and corrupt nature. Wherever grace 
 builds, it first pulls down ; and it is by bringing to nought 
 things that are, that God makes of his people what they 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 205 
 
 bv nature are not. An interesting anecdote will illustrate 
 this. 
 
 There was, some few years ago, a very gifted preacher 
 not far from this place, who had for several years preached 
 with great earnestness and success the doctrine of the 
 Cross ; and who, as might have been expected, had not 
 failed to raise up violent opposition. One of his oppo- 
 nents, a man of much education and travel, had, out of 
 hatred to the truth, long given up the practice of attend- 
 ing church, when one Sabbath morning it occurred to him 
 to go and hear the gloomy man once more, to see whether 
 his preaching might be more tolerable to him than it was 
 before. He went : and that morning the preacher was 
 discoursing of the “ narrow way,” which he made no nar- 
 rower, but also no broader than the word of God makes 
 it. “ A new creature in Christ or eternal condemnation” 
 was the burden of his sermon ; and “ he spoke with au- 
 thority and not as the scribes.” During the sermon the 
 question forced itself on this hearer's conscience, “ How is 
 this after all ? Does the man declare the real truth ? If he 
 does, what must be the inevitable consequence ? And if it 
 is mere words and fables, surely these barbarous ministers 
 should be driven from their pulpits in disgrace for alarm- 
 ing the consciences of men with the inventions of priest- 
 craft.” This thought took such a hold of him, that it fol- 
 lowed him home, and stuck to him amid his hours of busi- 
 ness and amusement. It became from day to day more and 
 more penetrating, more and more troublesome, and threat- 
 ened at last to embitter every joy of his life ; till it brought 
 him to the resolution of going directly to the preacher him- 
 self, and asking him on his conscience if he were really 
 convinced of the truth of that which he had lately preached. 
 He carried his purpose into effect, and went to the preacher. 
 “ Sir,” said he, to him, with visible emotion and great ear- 
 nestness, “ I was one of your hearers the other day, when 
 you spoke of the only way of salvation. I confess to you, 
 you have disturbed my peace of mind, and I cannot re- 
 frain from asking you solemnly before God and your own 
 
206 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 conscience, if you can stand by your assertions, or if you 
 have distressed your hearers with an unfounded alarm.’’ 
 The preacher not a little surprised at this address, re- 
 plied with strong decision, that what he had spoken 
 was the word of God, and hence infallible truth. “ If 
 this be so,” returned the visitor with manifest con- 
 sternation, “ what will become of us ?” His last word us 
 startles the preacher ; but he masters his confusion, and 
 begins to explain the plan of salvation to the inquirer, 
 and exhorts him to repent and believe. But the latter, 
 as though he had not heard one syllable of all that the 
 preacher had said, interrupts him in the midst of it, and 
 repeats with increasing agitation the anxious exclamation, 
 “ If this be true, Sir, I beseech you, what are we to do ?” 
 Terrified, the preacher staggers back. We , thinks he, 
 what means this we ? and striving in vain to suppress and 
 conceal his growing uneasiness and embarrassment he 
 falls anew to the work of expounding and exhortation. 
 The visitor’s eyes filled with tears ; he smote his hands 
 together like one in despair, and cried out in accents that 
 might have moved the heart of a stone, “ Alas ! Sir, if this 
 be true, it is all over with us, and we are undone for 
 ever.” The preacher stood pale, trembling, and speech- 
 less ; then with a look of unspeakable confusion, with 
 downcast eyes and convulsive sobbings, he seized his visitor 
 by the hand, and exclaimed, “ Friend, down on your 
 knees ; let us pray and cry for mercy.” They knelt toge- 
 ther and prayed ; and the visitor hastily took his leave. 
 The preacher shut himself up in his closet. Next Sunday, 
 word was sent that the minister was unwell, and could 
 not preach. The Sunday after, it was the same. On the 
 third Sunday he made his appearance before his congre- 
 gation, worn with his inward conflict and pale, but his 
 eyes beaming with joy; and commenced his discourse 
 with the surprising and affecting declaration, that he had 
 now, for the first time, passed through the strait gate. 
 You will ask, what had occurred to him in his chamber 
 during the weeks of his seclusion. A storm passed over 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 207 
 
 before him, but the Lord was not in the storm ; an earth- 
 quake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake ; a fipq, 
 but the Lord was not in the fire. Then came a stilj 
 small voice ; on which the man wrapped his face in his 
 mantle, and from that time knew what was the gospel, 
 and what was grace. 
 
 No sooner did the Lord approach the prophet in the 
 still small voice, than he wrapped his face in his mantle. 
 This is a striking emblem of the inward temper of all 
 God’s children. They walk before the Lord wrapped in 
 the mantle of humility. The law fills them with alarm ; 
 the knowledge of sin casts them on the ground ; but the 
 holy shame, the deep and silent contrition, which is so 
 dear in God’s sight, begins to be felt only when the 
 Lord has revealed himself in the soft whisper of grace. 
 “ Behold,” it is said in Ezekiel xvi. 62, 63, “ I will estab- 
 lish my covenant with thee ; and thou shalt know that I 
 am the Lord : that thou mayest remember and be con- 
 founded, and never open thy mouth any more because of 
 thy shame, when I am pacified towards thee for all that 
 thou hast done, saith the Lord God.” Yes, when such a 
 whisper of the most unmerited mercy breathes upon us, 
 our lofty looks are brought down, our mouth is shut, we 
 blush and are ashamed to lift up our face. But it is a 
 shame without distress ; a trembling without servile fear ; 
 a humiliation replete with love and blessedness. 0 how 
 well-pleasing is it to the Lord ! We have now, my breth- 
 ren, seen the prophet in many situations. We have seen 
 him clothed with strength and boldness, contending like 
 a lion with God’s enemies ; we have seen him in the tem- 
 pest, with undaunted front, stand like a rock of the sea, 
 unmoved by the winds and waves. But, methinks, he 
 never appeared more noble and amiable, than here on 
 Horeb ; when, at the still small voice of Divine mercy, he 
 bowed his mighty spirit, and trembling with confusion 
 and delight, wrapped his face in his mantle. 
 
208 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 II. The prophet now went forth and stood at the en- 
 tering in of the cave, “ And, behold, there came a voice 
 unto him, and said. What doest thou here, Elijah V* This 
 question, thus repeated, seemed to direct him back to the 
 scene of his public activity. We should have supposed 
 that, after his extraordinary experiences, such a direction 
 would now have been eagerly welcomed, and that the pro- 
 phet would have hastened back with winged feet to the 
 midst of Israel. But, instead of this, he breaks out, to 
 our no small astonishment, with his old complaint, as if 
 the wonders that had passed before him had been for- 
 gotten. “ I have been very jealous,” he answered, “ for 
 the Lord God of hosts ; for the children of Israel have 
 forsaken thy covenant, and thrown down thine altars, and 
 slain thy prophets with the sword ; and I, even I, only am 
 left ; and they seek my life to take it away.” 
 
 Let us explain the mystery, my friends, at once. The 
 words of the complaint are the same, but not its spirit. 
 It is now purified from all remains of murmuring and 
 natural bitterness, and appears as the involuntary cry of 
 poor, infirm, human hearts, even of God’s children, when 
 the exercise of strong faith is called for. He must, by this 
 time, have been persuaded that his labours in Samaria 
 had not been in vain ; but he could not utter the confes- 
 sion, “ Lord, I believe,” without the depressing addi- 
 tion, “ Help thou mine unbelief.” Of the certainty, in 
 general, of the approaching reformation, he could not 
 doubt ; but when he came to the time when, and the 
 manner how it should be effected, he became entangled 
 amid his former difficulties, and could not refrain from 
 pouring out his complaint as before. 
 
 Believing in darkness, on God’s bare word, where sight 
 is impossible, or rather runs counter to the demands of 
 faith, is certainly a great and glorious thing, by which 
 God is highly honoured ; and would that this fruit of the 
 Lord’s planting were more abundant in his vineyard ! But 
 alas ! even where faith is genuine, it appears most fre- 
 quently in a state of conflict, and seldom triumphant or 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 209 
 
 perfected. Y ou find yourself, for example, in precarious 
 circumstances ; the cares of life and domestic embarrass- 
 ments weigh you down ; you can see no relief from the 
 burden ; all human help has vanished. You now cast 
 your view over the promises of God. “ I will never leave 
 thee nor forsake thee; fear not, I am with thee. Be- 
 hold, I have graven thee on the palms of my hands.” 
 You know that he who thus speaks to you is the God of 
 truth. You take the word as a staff in your hand ; you 
 hope against hope ; you believe in the dark. This is be- 
 lieving on the word of God. But is our faith generally of 
 this stamp ? Is not our faith more frequently like a bark 
 on a stormy sea, which only escapes a thousand shipwrecks 
 by the good hand of God upon it ? Sometimes a gleam of 
 hope may visit us, and we exclaim, “ The Lord will do 
 all things well but we soon pass again under the cloud, 
 and ask in despondency, “ But how will it be performed ?” 
 No sooner have we ventured the request, “ Lord, let me 
 come to thee on the sea than, appalled by the winds and 
 waves, we cry out, “ Lord save me, I perish.” Thus our 
 hearts are in perpetual fluctuation, and our faith engaged 
 in a constant wrestling with doubt. There are, indeed, 
 bright and noble exceptions — saints who are strong in 
 faith, giving glory to God ; and, assuredly, our unbelief 
 is not more our misfortune than our sin. But it is well 
 to know the weakness of our frame, to be on our guard 
 against “ the evil heart of unbelief,” and to watch and 
 pray that we enter not into temptation. 
 
 III. To return to our narrative. Elijah is told to depart 
 in peace. “ Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of 
 Damascus.” He receives from the Lord a threefold com- 
 mission, and with it strength to his faith, and provision 
 for his journey. “ When thou comest, anoint Hazael to 
 be king over Syria.” This is the reply to Elijah’s first com- 
 plaint. “ The children of Israel have forsaken thy cove- 
 nant.” “ I will send thee a rod of correction,” was the 
 Divine answer ; “ Hazael, the servant of the Syrian king, 
 14 
 
210 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 shall fulfil all my purposes of chastisement. Go, anoint 
 him to be king over Syria.” Hazael afterwards became 
 king, and a severe scourge to the children of Israel. “ He 
 burnt their fortified cities, slew their young men, dashed 
 their children in pieces, ripped up their women with 
 child.” He served the Lord as the staff of his indignation, 
 and was one of the storms that went before him, to break 
 the rocks and rend the mountains ; and when he had 
 finished his work, he was laid aside. The Lord can thus 
 make use of the wicked at one time as vessels of wrath 
 for pouring out his indignation upon those who have not 
 known him, at another, as shepherds’ dogs, that keep his 
 flock together, and bring back the wandering sheep. 
 
 My brethren, who can tell what is yet in store for our 
 own vale, our own congregation, our own churches ? We 
 are at present under Divine forbearance ; but can any one 
 tell how long this will last ? We cannot recount all the 
 mercy which the God of all grace has already shewed us, 
 and shews us still from day to day. Yet how few are 
 there who really thank God for his long-suffering kindness, 
 and shew their gratitude by keeping his commandments ? 
 Suppose the Lord were suddenly to remove all his true 
 children out of the midst of us, and leave the impenitent 
 alone behind, — would our population suffer a very percep- 
 tible decrease ? Or is it not the case with ourselves, as 
 everywhere else, that the seed of Jacob among the Canaan- 
 ites is but as a drop in the ocean, and like the little stars 
 which in a stormy night twinkle only here and there among 
 the black' and gathering clouds ? Are not a great part of 
 our people dead, alas ! sealed in death, in some measure, 
 by the word of life ? This is truly awful ! For years to- 
 gether have they brought their dead souls with them to 
 the house of God ; and it seems as if the quickening atmo- 
 sphere of gospel truth into which they have entered had 
 acted on them only to harden and to petrify them. A 
 great part of our people are weary of the simple truth, 
 and listless in their hearing ; the incessant theme of J esus 
 and his Cross is become distasteful to them. No thunder 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 211 
 
 of the law can now awake them, no sweet note of mercy 
 and promise can touch a cord of sensibility in their dead- 
 ened hearts. We knock, but the bolts of the heart are- 
 not withdrawn : we shoot, but the arrow of conviction re- 
 coils from the seared conscience. Many of our people are 
 lukewarm, neither for nor against, neither cold nor hot ; 
 they know Christ in word, but their heart remains with- 
 out fire of love to him ; and what awaits them but to be 
 rejected by the Saviour with abhorrence ? Many halt be- 
 tween two opinions ; they praise Christ and the world in 
 one breath; they bow before the Lord and Baal in the 
 same act of worship. Their heart is set on two incompa- 
 tible things, to be merry with the children of the world and 
 to be blessed with the children of God ; they wish to possess 
 Christ, but will not for his sake part with the world. Be- 
 hold, my friends, the majority of our countrymen; they 
 fall almost all into one or other of these classes, whether 
 high or low, rich or poor. What shall be the end of these 
 things ? May the Lord have mercy upon us ! For if mat- 
 ters go on in this way, what can be prophesied of us but 
 evil ? The patience of God has its limits, and we may be 
 verging on them. Who can tell but that soon it may be 
 said to some mighty angel, “ Go now and appoint this or 
 that man for a Hazael ; and let this deceiver or that son 
 of lies be made shepherd over such and such a flock ?” 
 Who knows whether the preachers who now stand in your 
 pulpits are not the last who may proclaim to this ungrate- 
 ful generation the message of peace, and whether the trai- 
 tors are not already training in the school of Satan, who 
 only wait for our departure to take possession of our places, 
 with the torch of the false prophet lighted from the bottom- 
 less pit in their hand ? Perhaps in a few years the vision 
 among you may cease, the people be wasted and scattered, 
 the Lord’s flock all taken away, and his fire extinguished 
 to the last spark. And when the righteous are taken out 
 of the land, and no more holy hands are lifted up in inter- 
 cession, its pillars become rotten, its walls unstable, its 
 foundation slippery and insecure, and it sinks in vice and 
 
212 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 ruin. “ 0 that thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy 
 day, the things that belong unto thy peace !” Yet forty 
 years, and perhaps our Nineveh shall be overthrown, “and 
 where the carcase is the eagles will be gathered together.” 
 Arise, then, and put on sackcloth and ashes. Let each 
 turn himself from the evil of his way, and the iniquity of 
 his hands. Who can tell, if the Lord will not turn and 
 repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish 
 not ? 
 
 Elijah was to anoint Hazael, a stranger, to be king over 
 Syria, that he might become a scourge to Israel. This 
 was his first commission. And the second was, to anoint 
 Jehu, the son of Nimshi, to be king over Israel. This was 
 the answer to the second complaint of the prophet. “ They 
 have thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets.” 
 As if the Lord had said, “ I will vindicate my own glory ; 
 the house of Ahab shall be extirpated, and Jehu shall lay 
 the axe to its roots.” And so it came to pass. Jehu was 
 the man that rooted out the house of Ahab from the 
 ground, so that neither stump nor stalk was left. He 
 caused Jezebel to be thrown from the window of her 
 palace, and suffered her carcase to be eaten up of dogs in 
 the streets. He slew the seventy sons of Ahab in one day ; 
 caused their heads to be displayed in two heaps at the 
 gates of Jezreel ; destroyed the priests of Baal in their 
 own temple ; cast its holy furniture into the flames ; and 
 made an end of the heathen worship of Sidon in Israel. 
 
 Recent times have afforded examples of similar judg- 
 ments to what were poured out on the house of Ahab. 
 Even in our own days, there is no want of instances of the 
 rooting out of whole families, because they hardened their 
 hearts against the Lord, and bitterly persecuted his child- 
 ren and servants. Though, for a season, they may flourish 
 like a green bay-tree, and may have power granted them 
 to gratify their enmity against the unoffending flock of 
 God, and its pastors ; suddenly, the scene is reversed, and 
 He, who puts on jealousy like a garment, takes upon him- 
 self the office of Jehu, and bathes the sword of vengeance 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 213 
 
 in heaven. Their glory sinks into the depths of ignominy, 
 and there is no one found who can arrest the rapidly de- 
 scending wheel. One fails in business, and sinks into beg- 
 gary with his whole house ; another is given up to the will 
 of his flesh, and sinks miserably in the filth of sin. One 
 must flee away bearing the brand of the law ; another is 
 brought by abandoned children with sorrow to the grave. 
 One is smitten with madness ; another is given over to a re- 
 probate mind, and, perhaps, in a fit of despair, with impious 
 right hand destroys himself. Ah, the building of pride 
 creaks to its very foundations ; and where the Lord breaks 
 down, there is no building up ; the fire of his anger burns 
 even unto hell ! An evil impenitent death, the awful close 
 of temporal judgments, is but the first in a new series of 
 terrors which no grave can close. The castaway go with 
 J udas to their place, and their names are named no more 
 on earth, or only with abhorrence ; their place on earth 
 is forgotten,, or shunned as the seat of an everlasting curse. 
 Has any thing of this kind ever happened among us ? 
 Answer this question for yourselves, my friends. One 
 thing at least I know, that many a house of Ahab still 
 exists among us, that, if impenitent, cannot escape its 
 fate, but must pay the penalty to Divine justice of. its 
 fierce scorn and hatred of Christ and his people. “ Who- 
 soever shall fall on this stone shall be broken; but on 
 whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder.” 
 
 The third commission given to Elijah must have been 
 to him the most pleasing of all. It contained the answer 
 to his third complaint, “ I, even I, only am left, and they 
 seek my life to take it away.” It was as if the Lord had 
 said to him, “ Be not cast down, 0 Elijah, thou art not 
 the only one that is left ; and wert thou the only prophet 
 on the field of battle, thinkest thou not that I raise up 
 prophets when I need them.” “ Go and anoint Elisha the 
 son of Shaphat, of Abel-meholah, to be prophet in thy 
 room. And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth 
 from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay ; and him that 
 escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.” 
 
214 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 Thus a storm is announced against backsliding Israel in 
 the person of Hazael ; an earthquake in that of Jehu ; 
 and a fire in that of Elisha, that should declare at once 
 the wrath and the love of Jehovah. Elijah now sees that 
 the Keeper of Israel has not forsaken his vineyard ; and 
 this strengthens his faith ; this nerves him in soul and 
 body ; and when he soon afterwards hears from the Lord’s 
 mouth the surprising intelligence that there remained 
 still 7000 in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal, 
 the gloomy clouds are entirely scattered from his mind, 
 and with his heart full of the prospect of the glory of 
 God, he cannot longer delay to set out on his return 
 through the wilderness. 
 
 My brethren, if a sword of the Lord is to pass through 
 this congregation, and a sword will surely come, 0, may ' 
 it not be the sword of Hazael and of Jehu, but the sword 
 of Elisha, the two-edged sword of the Spirit, which is the 
 word of the living God. This good sword, with which he ’ 
 takes the prey from the mighty, may the Lord prosper 
 more and more, that it may better hew its way among ' 
 us, and pierce, and sever, and penetrate, as it has never 
 done before. May it cast down the proud into the dust ; t 
 drive the secure out of their refuges of lies ; and so wound i 
 the self-righteous and maim the whole, that none but ■■ 
 J esus may be able to heal them ! Blessed wounds ! salu- 
 tary disasters ! The strokes of this sword divide the living 
 from the dead ; and by its scars thou mayst distinguish 
 the children of God ! 
 
 “ Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, 0 most Mighty, with , 
 thy glory and thy majesty ; and in thy majesty ride pros- 
 perously, because of truth, and meekness, and righteous- t 
 ness ; and by thine arrows let the people fall under thee.” j 
 Psal. xlv. 3—5. “ And may the people which are left of ( 
 the sword find grace in the wilderness ; even Israel, when \ 
 thou goest to cause him rest.” Amen. Jer. xxxi. 2. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISIIE1TE. 
 
 215 
 
 VI.—' THE HIDDEN CHURCH. 
 
 ‘‘ I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people," 
 saith the Lord by the prophet Isaiah, Ixv. 19. These words 
 open to us a view into the paternal love of God, which 
 ought to draw our hearts up towards himself. We behold 
 here the close relation which subsists between God and 
 his chosen people ; and see that we entertain, respecting 
 it, ideas far too mean, if we conceive of it as the relation 
 of a mighty monarch and his pardoned criminal subjects, 
 or of a condescending master and his unprofitable ser- 
 vants. It is only a faint glimpse of the love of God which 
 is afforded us, when it is said that we are objects of his 
 sparing and pardoning mercy. We are incomparably more 
 than this. The Lord rejoices over his people. He de- 
 lighteth in them that fear him and trust in his mercy. 
 He beholds them not as they are in themselves, but as 
 they appear in the glorious righteousness and implanted 
 holiness of their Surety. In that holiness he sees some- 
 thing that wears the image of his Son, and shines with 
 the brightness of his own glory. For the regenerate are 
 conformed to the express image of the Divine person. 
 
 A figure here occurs to me, which has been used by a 
 certain writer somewhere, which is so striking, and deep, 
 and beautiful, that I cannot deny myself the pleasure of 
 repeating it for your edification. The glorious sun in the 
 heavens, as you know, enlightens, warms, and fructifies 
 all nature. Suppose now, that this all-enlightening, all- 
 reviving, all-fructifying sun, were a rational being, and 
 could watch all the effects of his influence ; it would then 
 behold its own image in every sea, in every lake, in every 
 river, in every brook, nay, it would even see itself re- 
 flected in the loftiest mountains of ice ; and would it not, 
 in the abundance of its joy, at this glorious radiance, for- 
 getting itself, embrace all these seas, lakes, and rivers, nay, 
 the very glaciers, in its arms, and delight in them ? Thus 
 Jesus Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, beholds his own 
 
£16 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 image and Divine work in every renewed soul, as in a 
 mirror ; hence, seeming to forget himself in the abundance 
 of his joy, he could condescend to wash the feet of his 
 disciples, and exclaim over the Syrophenician woman in 
 profound satisfaction, “ O woman, great is thy faith.” 
 Thus, too,, the eternal Father beholds in his children the 
 beauty of his Son Christ Jesus, as the brightness of his 
 own glory, with an adorable complacency, which we want 
 words to express. He embraces them in the arms of 
 his love if the image of the Son be but reflected in their 
 hearts, however chill and cold they be, he turns not away 
 the reviving beams of his affection. 
 
 Happy are the people that are in such a case ; “ Yea, 
 blessed are the people that have the Lord for their God.” 
 We are to witness the discovery of a portion of them this 
 day, where we would little have thought to find them. We 
 are to contemplate the hidden church. 
 
 1 Kings xix. 18- 
 
 “ Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees 
 which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not 
 kissed him.” 
 
 1 
 
 These words form the conclusion of the address of Je- 
 hovah to Elijah at Horeb. After the announcement of 
 the heavy judgments which were to come upon degenerate 
 Israel, by the hands of Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha, this de- 
 lightful communication follows like the still small voice. 
 The last shade of gloom must now have been dispelled, 
 and the full day of peace and joy restored to the prophet’s 
 mind. 
 
 The announcement made to the prophet may lead us, 
 I. To remark that God has ever a Hidden Church. II. To 
 attend to the discovery of it sometimes made. III. To 
 rejoice in the promises given to it. 
 
 I. “ 0 Lord, thy name is forgotten, and the pillars of 
 thy temple are shaking. I, even I, only am left, and they 
 seek my life to take it away.” Such were Elijah’s com- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 217 
 
 plaints, and how could he help their utterance ; since the 
 age was indeed evil, and the days of Noah seemed to be 
 restored. All was dark, dead, ruined, and desolate ; and 
 the kingdom of God, with the exception of a few perse- 
 cuted adherents of it, driven from the earth. It must 
 have wounded Elijah to the very heart. For many a day 
 had he dwelt on the painful topic, and could find no 
 lightening of its darkness ; when all at once he hears from 
 the mouth of the Omniscient One the unspeakably as- 
 tonishing tidings that the faithful were not as he had 
 gloomily imagined, only one here and one there ; but that 
 a whole body, a great multitude, 7000 in number, yet re- 
 mained, who had not bowed the knee to Baal, nor kissed 
 him. How deeply affected must the prophet have been 
 by this disclosure. Gladly would he have recalled the rash 
 words, “ I, even I, only am left alone.” How must he 
 have been ashamed of his unbelief ; but with a shame 
 that merged in a deeper joy that the kingdom of God 
 was still so gloriously upheld. How eagerly must he have 
 longed to commence his return to the blessed labour of 
 farther extending it ! 
 
 And what could be more delightful, my brethren, than 
 for us in the present day to be surprised by a similar piece 
 of intelligence ? Our age, no doubt, is a great deal better 
 than Elijah’s was ; but every one must admit that there 
 is much that is no better than outward show. Yet, if all 
 were Divine life which appears in the form of real godli- 
 ness ; if all the preachers who, in recent times, have re- 
 turned to the evangelical strain preached the truth in 
 the Holy Ghost, and in supreme devotion to the crucified 
 Saviour ; if all the crowds that flock to the house of God 
 were really saying in their hearts, “ Come, let us return 
 to the Lord,” and were following a better lead than that 
 of fashion and custom ; if all the great ones of the earth, 
 who are striving to lead back the people to the faith of 
 their fathers, had, indeed, first taken the oath of alle- 
 giance to Him by whom kings reign and princes decree 
 justice, and resolved to walk in the steps of the man after 
 
218 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 God’s own heart ; if the thousands that seek by Bible 
 and Missionary Societies, the drawing of all nations into 
 the ark of safety had first entered it themselves ; nay, 
 if only those whom we see in the present day regularly at- 
 tending meetings for prayer and religious edification we: e 
 all entitled to be reckoned as true followers of the Lamb ; 
 if we could suppose all this, the present state of our world 
 would not be quite so bad, however much might yet re- 
 main to be corrected. But what avails it to blind our eyes 
 to the melancholy truth ! How deceitful are the fairest 
 appearances, and how sadly does that which looked large 
 and shone brightly in the distance shrivel up and fade on 
 a nearer inspection, even where it does not, as is too often 
 the case, vanish like a meteor of the night, and leave no 
 trace behind ! But suppose we even granted that all who, 
 in our days, have the form of godliness were acquainted with 
 its power, how small would be the proportion of such be- 
 lievers, even in so-called Christian countries, to those who 
 stand forth manifestly in the eyes of all as rejectors of the 
 salvation of the Bible ? The prevailing spirit of our times is 
 still, as formerly, a spirit of infidelity and apostacy ; a spirit 
 of the shallowest rationalism and the blindest presumption ; 
 a spirit of opposition to the Word of God, and of arro- 
 gant self-reliance in the knowledge of good and evil ; a 
 spirit of the most unbounded idolatry, of mere natural 
 reason, and the most insolent depreciation of the revealed 
 mysteries of the Bible. Among the great mass of nominal 
 Christians, not only of the learned sort, but also of the 
 illiterate, it has long been a settled point, that the doc- 
 trine of human depravity is a gloomy fancy, and that 
 salvation by the blood and righteousness of Christ is an 
 antiquated delusion. It is assumed as an incontrovertible 
 dictate of reason, that the miserable rubbish of external 
 righteousness, the precious store of pride and selfishness, 
 is more than sufficient to satisfy the God of justice, and 
 that the provision of a Divine Mediator is a quite needless 
 expedient. Many have long been agreed that the dogmas 
 of a few conceited witlings of philosophers are far more 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 219 
 
 to be trusted than the truth of God, as delivered by Him 
 who is the Light of the world; and that the faith of a 
 Paul, a Peter, and a John, is something so antiquated, 
 absurd, mystical, and unworthy of a cultivated mind, 
 that it ought not merely to be contemptuously rejected, 
 -but zealously opposed, persecuted, and, if possible, rooted 
 out by force. Such is the prevailing spirit of our modern 
 Christendom, which is at one time tricked out and dis- 
 guised in the forms and language of Christian truth, and 
 at another walks forth in the unblushing hardihood of 
 naked infidelity. The poison circulates in every quarter, 
 and amid all classes and ranks in life, and is sucked in by 
 our children even with their mother’s milk. Millions of 
 men, baptised in the name of Christ, lie at the feet of this 
 shameless spirit of lies. Travel through the country, and 
 you will hear its noisy voice at every public table ; mix in 
 company, and it will discover itself in almost every con- 
 versation ; go from one church to another, and in most 
 you will find this spirit of seduction in the preacher and 
 expositor ; cast a glance over many of our modern hymn- 
 books and catechisms, and instead of the Spirit of God, 
 this spirit of darkness, in the mask of religion, will con- 
 front you ; yea, and in our schools too, there are every- 
 where altars of Moloch, where our children are sacrificed 
 to this demon. Yes, my brethren, a review of the whole 
 Christian world in the present day is enough to make every 
 pious spirit among us shudder. The time is dark and evil ; 
 the spirit of antichrist is in the world to a degree m which 
 it seldom was before ; and it is almost time to join in 
 the complaint of the psalmist, “ Help, Lord ! for the godly 
 man ceaseth ; for the faithful fail from the children of 
 men.” Psal. xii. 1. 
 
 Surely, then, many think far too favourably of the pre- 
 sent times, which are in truth no other than times of the 
 most mournful degeneracy. But do not others think far 
 too gloomily of them ? Doubtless they do, at least we 
 would fain believe so ; and an experience like that of Eli- 
 jah, which we have now before us, cannot but confirm us 
 
220 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 In this belief. Assuredly the Lord has in this world, besides 
 the saints with whom we are acquainted, a hidden seed, 
 whom we never know ; and many a land and city would 
 have been long ago made like Sodom and Gomorrah, had 
 not the small remnant of righteous persons in them averted 
 the lightning of the divine displeasure. “ The kingdom of 
 God cometh not with observation,” for, behold, “ the king- 
 dom of God is within you.” We do not sufficiently keep 
 this in mind, even as Elijah did not, and thereby we often 
 unwarrantably narrow the boundaries of this kingdom. 
 
 It is not infrequently the case, my brethren, that we 
 measure the temple of God with a very incorrect measur- 
 ing line, and therefore err greatly in regard to its breadth 
 and extent. It is, for example, comm only taken for granted 
 that where there are no enlightened preachers there can 
 be no true Christians. But do we not remember the pro- 
 mise of God, that where the shepherds are unfaithful he 
 will take charge of the flock himself; and has he ever 
 made the regeneration of his elect entirely dependant on 
 human instrumentality ? Lo, in the midst of the desert, 
 he often plants with his own hand the loveliest roses ; and 
 in the wildest brakes, away from the haunts of men, he 
 often wakes for us the sweetest notes of the nightingale. 
 
 We are so apt to think, too, that where nothing is heard 
 of awakenings no awakenings take place. But must there 
 always be a storm of wind when it rains, and cannot child- 
 ren be born to the Lord like dew from the womb of the 
 morning, silently and secretly, before day-break, and when 
 men are yet asleep ? Again, we take it for granted that 
 where we hear nothing of opposition there can be no de- 
 cided Christians. Certainly the words still hold good, “ I 
 am not come to send peace on the earth, but a sword 
 this is the general rule. Still there may be Christians who, 
 though free from the fear of man, pursue so quiet, retired, 
 and gentle a course that they do not provoke the enmity 
 of the children of the world ; and if the Lord say to Laban, 
 “ Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or 
 bad,” can Laban act otherwise ? We farther take it for 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 221 
 
 granted that in certain circumstances and situations, as, 
 for example, in an infidel and worldly-minded court, a 
 child of God cannot possibly be found. But do we not see 
 from the example of a Joseph, an Gbadiah, and a Daniel, 
 that this may very well happen ? And Obadiah, too, seems 
 to have possessed the confidence and esteem of so bad a 
 man as Ahab. 
 
 The state of Christianity is not infrequently estimated 
 by the religious meetings which are held in any place, and 
 by the number of those who attend them. But is this al- 
 ways a right ground of judgment ? Is it not possible that 
 in a district where no such meetings are held many true 
 saints of God may still be found, who are restrained from 
 coming together only by reserve and timidity — and both 
 we know can exist even in true believers— and who are 
 obliged to preserve secrecy like those in Elijah’s days ? 
 And is it not a part of the Lord’s guidance of many souls, 
 that they feel themselves directed much more to secret 
 and retired intercourse with their Lord, than to much in- 
 tercourse with their brethren ? Hence, from the fact that 
 there exists in a certain quarter no active feeling in favour 
 of religious institutions, such as Bible and Missionary So- 
 cieties, we cannot with any certainty draw the conclusion 
 that no lively Christians are there to be found. Perhaps 
 all that is wanting is sufficient information on such sub- 
 jects, or judicious means to excite interest in them; or, 
 perhaps, these sincere servants of God have so much to do 
 with themselves, so much to engross them in their own 
 spiritual wants and difficulties, that they have not yet 
 found it possible to turn their attention to public efforts 
 of this kind. All this is possible. But where no works of 
 pious writers are sought for and read ; where there is no 
 intelligence of the progress of the gospel ; no tracts and no 
 sermons, surely we may infer that there is a total want of 
 spiritual life ? Oh no, the conclusion is premature. I 
 know some whom you would all acknowledge to be saints 
 were I to name them, who nevertheless read nothing in 
 the world but their Bible and hymn book, and daily wipe 
 
222 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 their eyes for joy that in these they have such a treasure, 
 and will tell you that in these they possess a library which 
 in their whole life they will never exhaust, and that they 
 find nothing so beautiful anywhere as in their old Bibles. 
 Who can blame them, or force other books upon them in 
 which, as they truly say, there is nothing so beautiful ? 
 And of such persons there may be more than we imagine. 
 
 It is not uncommon for us also to make the number of 
 the faithful smaller than, it is by defining too arbitrarily 
 and narrowly the marks of a state of grace. We presume, 
 for example, to prescribe to the Holy Spirit, who is free, 
 as the wind bloweth where itlisteth, a certain fixed course 
 which he must follow in the conversion of all ; and even 
 set up for a standard the history of his work with ourselves- 
 in turning us unto the Lord. But who are we, that we 
 should direct the Spirit of the Lord, or be his counsellors- 
 to teach him ? Eternal Wisdom has chbsen our earth for 
 its theatre ; and uniformity is not its favourite style, either 
 in the kingdom of nature or of grace; but its great law is 
 variety in unity. Though thou hast had to struggle thy 
 way into the land of promise through the Red Sea of a 
 sudden, violent, and all but desperate agony of repentance, 
 why may not the Spirit have led another by a path of more 
 gentle sadness, that was sweetened from the first by the 
 hope of grace ? His repentance is in substance entirely 
 like thine own, only not in form and outward sign. If 
 thou hadst long to sigh and groan ere thy sins were, forgiven 
 thee, yet grudge not thy brother his earlier taste of the 
 graciousness of the Lord ; and doubt not the soundness of 
 his conversion, which is the fruit of the same Spirit. If 
 thou hast had grace given thee to attain with greater readi- 
 ness to a blameless walk and conversation, while thy poor 
 brother has day and night to feel the torture “ of the thorn 
 in. the flesh,” and is once and again beaten to the ground 
 by the blows of the messenger of Satan, and can hardly dry 
 the tears of his first repentance, art thou therefore to ad- 
 judge him no child of God ? If it is given thee to talk to 
 much edification of thy knowledge and experiences in the 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 223 
 
 spiritual life, mast the gift be therefore distributed to all, 
 and shall there be no silent, reserved, and retiring saints 
 of God ? And if thou hast within thee a fervent impulse 
 to awaken others, and to labour like an apostle in preach- 
 ing from the housetops and exhorting in season and out 
 of season, while others shew none of thy urgency, and have 
 neither the gift nor the pressing call within, wilt thou on 
 that account impeach their faith as- dead and spurious ? 
 How rash would such conclusions be ! And yet, my breth- 
 ren, there is too much amongst us of this hastiness in 
 judging and measuring others by false and self-made stan- 
 dards ; and if we but looked more to the chief and essential 
 matter, the contrite heart and the spirit of love to the Sa- 
 viour,. and held fast in unessential things to the great prin- 
 ciple, “ There are diversities of gifts, but the one Spirit,” 
 I doubt not we should reckon many a precious soul in our 
 brotherhood, that we now unjustly cast off from us as not 
 belonging to the body of Christ. 
 
 II. Elijah, as we have seen, received an express revela- 
 tion respecting the faithful in Israel and their number. 
 The Lord unveiled to him the hidden church, and we may 
 easily conceive his astonishment at the unexpected dis- 
 covery. He had regarded himself as the only light in the 
 darkness of Samaria, and all at once a whole firmament 
 of elect souls sheds its rays on him, which only the clouds 
 of unbelief had before concealed. 
 
 It still happens in the present day, to the praise of God’s 
 grace, that the church is refreshed with such delightful 
 discoveries. Often where we looked for nothing but briars 
 and thorns, the Lord surprises us by the view of flowers of 
 paradise blooming in the spiritual garden ; and where we 
 thought of nothing but Egyptian darkness on every side, 
 it is said to us, in a higher sense than to Abraham, “ Look 
 upward and tell the stars, if thou canst number them.” 
 Thus lately, in a village in France, the Lord opened up to 
 our sight the cottage of a notorious fortune-teller, and dis 
 covered to us, instead of a family of degraded imposters. 
 
224 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 a peaceful and happy company of the lambs of Christ’s 
 Hock, gathered in a short space from the most outcast vice 
 and misery. So likewise there was very recently found, in 
 one of the most dissipated cities in the world, a spiritual 
 plantation of Divine grace, which we should never have 
 looked for in such a moral desert ; and yet it had bloomed 
 from year to year in secret, known only to the heavenly 
 Husbandman who had planted and watered it. In another 
 quarter, and you know it well, where the voice of preach- 
 ing had long been silent, we were lately called upon to 
 witness whole companies of the most sincere and lively 
 children, which the Lord himself had regenerated by his 
 Spirit, without human means, so that the church was con- 
 strained to say, “ Who hath begotten me these ?” and to 
 look upon them as “ dew from the womb of the morning.” 
 And in another place we unexpectedly were made to see, 
 through the intervention of a pious emperor, three hund- 
 red saints, of whom almost no one knew any thing, lately 
 step forth from the prisons of malefactors— three hundred 
 who had not bowed the knee to Baal, who therefore had 
 lain in irons without the emperor’s knowledge. Sometimes 
 the Lord leads us — it was a happiness I frequently enjoyed 
 in my former charge — to find, among the rudest and most 
 abandoned crew of sailors, some old mariner who has grown 
 grey amidst the most hardened associates, and, behold ! he 
 is steering toward J erusalem, and his pole-star is the star 
 of Bethlehem ; or some rough barge -man or sailor, with 
 the most rugged aspect, who has grown up in the seat of 
 the scorners, and, behold ! through his rude exterior glistens 
 the pure gold of genuine piety, and beneath his canvass- 
 jacket beats a heart moored by that anchor which entereth 
 into that within the veil. And again, as has frequently 
 happened to us, we enter a house to preach repentance 
 towards God to some one whom we imagine spiritually 
 dead, and are completely disarmed, 0 how happily dis- 
 armed, by the sweet smile with which we are saluted, and 
 which is reflected from the peace of a soul that has long 
 tasted that the Lord is gracious and known perhaps more 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 225 
 
 of the depth of Christian experience than ourselves. Such 
 discoveries, my friends, are far more precious than any 
 made by those who dig for gold or sail round the world in 
 quest of novelty ; and it is impossible to express how deeply 
 they put to shame the feebleness of our courage, strengthen 
 our faith, and enlarge our hearts, how much more cautious 
 and charitable they teach us to be in our judgments of 
 others, and how much more bright and hopeful they make 
 our view of the world at large. Since I found among your- 
 selves such hidden jewels of faith, of which I formerly 
 knew nothing, my whole flock rises before me in a new 
 light; and, when I make my rounds among you, I feel 
 like one who is passing with excited hopes through the 
 rich shaft of a mine, where one stroke of the hammer to 
 the right or to the left may at any moment bring to light 
 a new vein of precious metal. 
 
 Yes, however barren the church may at any time be of 
 spiritual life and converting influence, it is assuredly never 
 so poor and destitute of the fruits of Divine grace as we 
 in our doubtfulness are apt to imagine. I am persuaded 
 that if it should only please God to lift the veil, we would 
 be surprised at any moment with a spectacle which could 
 only be compared with the final resurrection. As when a 
 general plans an ambuscade, he breaks up his squadrons 
 into small detachments, and plants a straggling handful 
 here and there, in cave and hollow, amid rocks and bushes, 
 so that nothing is seen but the bare mountain and the 
 lonely silent forest. But when the enemy thoughtlessly 
 draws near, the trumpet gives the signal, and straightway 
 a cloud of warriors arises from the earth as by enchant- 
 ment and hurls its thunders on the foe, to his mortal ter. 
 ror and the loud triumph and applause of the friendly 
 legions that survey the scene. Thus the Captain of the 
 heavenly host has an ambushed army in the world, and he 
 needs only to blow the trumpet, as he will do in due time, 
 according to Zech. x. 8, to call up sights before us like 
 that which Elijah’s servant saw on the mount of Dothan, 
 2 Kings vi. IT. How often has it happened in a church in 
 15 
 
226 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 which for years there had been a famine of the bread of 
 life, and where there was room for doubt whether a single 
 real believer was concealed, that a single sermon by a stran- 
 ger, who awakened the old sound of the gospel in its pulpit, 
 has proved the signal for calling forth, all at once, numbers 
 of timid sheep from their concealment, who gathered 
 themselves, after service, around the valued stranger, to 
 be taught the way of God more perfectly, and to enjoy a 
 little longer the beams of that blessed light which had long 
 been quenched in their own sky. May not such expe- 
 riences, of which there are not a few, be regarded by us 
 as the grapes brought back by Caleb and J oshua from the 
 promised land, which gave evidence of the riches of whole 
 vineyards that remained to be explored. 
 
 Ah, how great shall be our surprise at the last, when 
 eternity shall lift up every veil, and disclose to us that 
 portion of the Church of God, which remained here on 
 earth withdrawn from our view, either by the soft dis- 
 guise of reserve and modesty, or the unhappy cover of fear 
 of persecution, or the dark screen of a faulty and deficient 
 Christian practice, through which the light of faith did 
 not force its way \ And not only in eternity, but also in 
 this world, such a joyfully surprising disclosure of the 
 hidden Church awaits us ; and who knows how near the 
 days may be, when the prophetic question of the Song of 
 Songs (vi. 10.) shall resound in the church, “ Who is she 
 that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear 
 as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners ?” 
 
 III. When you look up in the day-time to the heavens, 
 tell me where are the stars of God ? They stand there as 
 ever fixed in the firmament, but the eye cannot distin- 
 guish them . W ait until evening. N ight invites them forth 
 from their concealment, and in the dark you behold their 
 gentle rays again glancing from above. As the natural 
 stars, so are the stars in'the firmament of grace. In the 
 sunshine of gentle and untroubled days of peace, they 
 are scarcely to be discerned, and the distinction between 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 227 
 
 them and the better sort of men of the world is often 
 far from striking. But have patience till evening, and 
 their glory will burst forth upon you in all its radiance. 
 As doubtless, at the time when Hazael the Syrian broke 
 in upon the land with fire and sword, the seven thousand 
 in Israel were brought to light ; so also, on the day of the 
 mighty sifting which awaits the Christian world, we shall 
 be better able rightly to measure the temple of the Lord 
 upon earth. 
 
 These days of purification are rapidly hastening on. The 
 most varied signs are no longer awanting, which, as the 
 storm-birds foretel the hurricane, announce to us the ap- 
 proach of the period when the Lord will appear with his 
 fan in his hand, and will thoroughly purge his floor. The 
 cry of the watchmen upon Zion’s walls becomes daily 
 more loud and alarming. Prophecy hastens to its fulfil- 
 ment. If it should come to pass, that the mark of the 
 beast is branded on our foreheads at the point of the sword, 
 and nothing but an open denial of Christ and his gospel 
 can save from torture or a bloody death, the dross will 
 then be separated from the fine gold in the church ; and 
 it will be made apparent where the essence of godliness 
 was to be found, and where only the tinsel counterfeit. Ah, 
 how many stars, of which we now have no such presenti- 
 ment, will then fall from the firmament of the Church, 
 since they shone only with their own light, and not with 
 the true lustre of Christ’s grace ; and what clouds of chaff 
 shall we see scattered by the wind, that now appear only 
 as rich garners of wheat ! For every spirit that was not 
 the Spirit of the Lord, shall be unable to withstand the 
 fiery trial of those days, and all shall appear in the shame 
 of its own nakedness, that now assumes the ornaments 
 of the sanctuary of itself, and has not been clothed with 
 them by the hand of the Lord. 
 
 But just at this very time, when the trees which have 
 no firm root shall be overthrown ; and when, on the one 
 hand, there shall be no end of the ranks of false brethren 
 that take their depai ture, the thousands, on the other band. 
 
228 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 of whom we know nothing at present, shall cast away 
 their disguise, and with the cries of “ Hosannah/' shall 
 gather under the banner of the martyrs. If no other 
 choice remains, but between Christ and Belial, then those 
 who, like Nicodemus, have shunned disclosure, shall no 
 longer hesitate to avow themselves openly on the side of 
 Christ. Many who now cannot resist a lo6k of irony, and 
 are ready to give up the honour of their Master through 
 fear of ridicule, will then, when the danger of confessing 
 Christ waxes greater, stand all at once like heroes on the 
 field. He who formerly could deny his Lord to escape the 
 raillery of a maid-servant, will now, for his Lord’s sake, 
 submit to be nailed to the cross, when no simple denial 
 will save him, but a solemn forswearing of allegiance to 
 his Saviour. The most gentle and dove-like temper, that 
 in its calm retreat, amid prayer and meditation, busied 
 itself little with the outward world, will now, when in- 
 sulted with the proposal to deny the Lord of glory, kindle 
 in holy zeal, and feel constrained to bid adieu to its seclu- 
 sion, and go forth without the camp bearing the reproach 
 of Immanuel. Many, whose wings drooped in the days 
 of repose, will now, when the sky is overcast, mount up 
 and brave the storm like young eagles ; and the weakest 
 and most timid in the Church shall be as David. Thus 
 one joyful appearance after another shall surprise us in 
 those days. The deeper the night, the more richly gemmed 
 and bright will be the firmament. The elect shall be ga- 
 thered from the four winds, and shall come forth from 
 their disguise like a new and blooming creation ; and we 
 shall be “ like them that dream,” when we hear our own ; 
 hosannah sent back a thousand-fold in living echoes from t 
 the ends of the earth. 
 
 But what will strike us with the greatest and most agree- j 
 
 able surprise in that time, if we live to see it, is, that it { 
 will be given to us poor timid sheep who are so weak in 
 faith, for the sake of Jesus, if need be, to descend cheer- , 
 fully into the furnace of trial, and to glorify God by a 
 dying testimony. What the Lord says of the seven thou- # ‘ 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 229 
 
 sand in our text, will then apply to us, “ I have reserved 
 them unto me and no one who is reserved for God has 
 any ground of fear. They are reserved, into whatever temp- 
 tations and struggles they may fall. Sin in their members 
 may, indeed, alarm and wound, but it cannot destroy or 
 slay them ; they are reserved. Satan may sorely buffet 
 them, and bring them close to the pit ; but he cannot 
 overwhelm them, they shall keep the field more than con- 
 querors. The world may invade them with formidable 
 assaults, and oppress them for a season ; but that is the 
 utmost. At last, though soiled with the dust of conflict, 
 they escape victorious from the yoke. “ In the world ye 
 shall have tribulation ; but be of good cheer, I have over- 
 come the world,” saith the Lord. And thus they are re- 
 served, however unworthy, when the last fires of purifi- 
 cation shall be kindled on the earth, and the overflowing 
 scourge of final trial shall pass through the church and 
 the world. Be of good cheer, therefore, all of you who 
 are in the Lord ! Come what will, the seed of Jacob is 
 reserved. The Almighty himself is the rock on which 
 the church is built ; how then should the gates of hell pre- 
 vail against her ? Let the clouds gather and portend the 
 storm ; let Hazael and Jehu whet their swords and make 
 them ready ! “ Yet,” saith the Lord, “ have I left me 
 seven thousand in Israel ; all the knees which have not 
 bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed 
 him.” 
 
 Let us then, my brethren, open our hearts to the consol- 
 ing hope, that not only we ourselves shall be certainly pre- 
 served, though thousands fall at our right hand, and ten 
 thousand at our left, but that an innumerable company 
 besides, shall, at the sound of the signal of great tribula- 
 tion, disclose themselves all around us, of which, as yet, in 
 the feebleness of our faith, we have hardly dreamed. For 
 thus saith the Lord, Zech. x. 9, “ I will sow them among 
 the people, and they shall remember me in far countries ; 
 and they shall live with their children and turn again.” 
 Yes, he has scattered them like grains of seed all over the 
 
230 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 world, that, under the dews of his Spirit, they may spring 
 up as “ the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified.” 
 Every place and every family, where such living seed is 
 deposited, though it were no more than a single grain, 
 may be already accounted blessed. Who can tell how this 
 single grain may multiply and increase ! Often, indeed, 
 that holds true of this seed, which the apostle affirms of 
 the natural grain of wheat, “ that it is not quickened ex- 
 cept it die.” Believing parents, friends, and teachers, must 
 often first be laid in the dust, and then their prayer is 
 visibly heard ; their example and exhortations come home 
 with mighty power to the heart ; the blossoms of spiritual 
 life first rise from their ashes ; the penitential tears of be- 
 reaved friends first fall on their graves, and the harvest 
 of their sowing is not reaped except around their tombs. 
 Their labour is never in vain in the Lord ; the stock of the 
 pious will not die in the ground. “ They that were sown,” 
 saith the Lord, “ shall live with their children and turn 
 again ; they shall increase and be multiplied.” 
 
 Let us rejoice then, my friends, at so elevating a pros- 
 pect. Let us, in judging of the kingdom f God, breakh 
 loose from those fetters of narrow-mindedness, in which 
 former generations were held bound. Let us renounce the 
 habit of selecting outward marks and tokens of saint ship, 
 which, as they are not set forth by the great Shepherd, 
 cannot but be presumptuously applied by us in estimating 
 the number of his flock. Time was, when a man was ac- 
 counted a saint of God, only when he was cast in this 
 mould, and squared after that pattern; and, generally, 
 the badge of distinction was a poor and insignificant for- 
 mality, some fashion of dress, or gesture, or speech, or 
 place, or ritual ; some phrase of doctrine, or shibboleth 
 of party. But this time is gone by. Judgment in the 
 church of God has new become more strict, because more 
 spiritual; and yet, at the same time, more liberal and 
 free from prejudice. We look not at the garb and cut of 
 outward ceremonial, but at the spirit and life which shines 
 through it ; and where these are wanting, we will not bo 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 231 
 
 duped and blinded by the trappings of form. But where 
 the breath of that life comes fresh upon our souls, no 
 matter from what community, we give full course to our 
 joy, and seek no outward uniformity in the church of God. 
 Nay, we find it a beauty of Zion, that unity and variety so 
 harmoniously adorn her towers and her palaces. Let this, 
 my friends, be your favourite rule of judgment ; and in 
 the measure in which your charities enlarge, will the 
 Christian world assume a happier and more hopeful 
 aspect. 
 
 Away then with that spiritual hypochondria, whose 
 gloomy reflections overcast even the bright side of the 
 Church of God with the shades of night, and Which de- 
 lights with its dismal oracles to eclipse even the star of 
 hope, and to hide by its portents of clouds and storm the 
 prospect of better days to come. Let us chase away the 
 bird of night by pouring in upon its darkling haunts the 
 bright rays of Divine promise, and forget its dirges of woe 
 in the sweeter chorus with which all birds of happier omen 
 are already saluting the rising sun. We know who is king 
 in God’s holy hill of Zion, and to whom the uttermost 
 parts of the earth are given for a possession. “ Behold, 
 the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm 
 shall rule for him. He shall build the temple of the Lord, 
 and give himself no rest until he has made Jerusalem a 
 praise in the earth. The earth shall be full of the know- 
 ledge and glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea ; 
 and they shall come from the east and from the west, and 
 shall sit down in the kingdom of God.” Isa. xl. 10, lxii. 7, 
 xi. 9, Matt. viii. 11. Seeing, then, that we know these 
 things, we rejoice greatly, and look upon the world, not 
 in the gloomy colouring of our own distempered vision, 
 but in the dawning radiance of the Sun of Revelation. 
 Christ must reign ; and Mount Zion be exalted above all 
 the mountains of the earth. We will not let our eye be 
 clouded nor our heart depressed by the shades of the pre- 
 sent, while our hope is fixed on the golden age that lies 
 beyond. Faith plants already amid the hottest of the con- 
 
232 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 flict the standard of victory, for it sees the end: and, 
 though the trophies of Satan be exalted to heaven. Faith 
 is not dismayed. It sings of the triumph of the Lord ; for 
 there waves on its banner, as a sacred device, that mighty 
 word of the Most High,— 1 “ I have sworn by myself, the 
 word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall 
 not return : That unto me every knee shall bow, every 
 tongue shall swear, and say, In the Lord have I righteous- 
 ness and strength.” Isa. xlv. 23, 24. 
 
 YII.— THE CALLING OF ELISHA. ' 
 
 If we find everywhere occasion to admire the “ mani- 
 fold wisdom” of our blessed Saviour, it is yet nowhere more 
 admirable than in his intercourse with sinners. The minute 
 regard which we find him taking of the nicest shades of 
 individual character, in the most various instances, and 
 the wonderful discrimination with which he treats every 
 one exactly as his temper and circumstances required, are 
 matter of unbounded astonishment, and discover to us 
 the Searcher of hearts, “ who knew what was in man.” 
 
 We have a striking example of this in Luke ix. 54 — 62. 
 We here see the Saviour dealing with the four principal 
 temperaments of human nature, the choleric, the san- 
 guine, the phlegmatic, and the melancholy ; and how mas- 
 terly is the style in which each is treated ! 
 
 First, we have the choleric temperament, with its vio- 
 lent excitability, and its strong though speedily exhausted 
 impulse to activity. The inhabitants of a Samaritan vil- 
 lage in which Jesus, on his way to Jerusalem, intended to 
 lodge, refused to receive him ; when his disciples James 
 and John heard this, they were excited to violent 
 anger, and in fierce exasperation these “ sons of thun- 
 der” come before their Master, and with flashing eyes 
 appeal to him, “ Lord, wilt thou that we command fire 
 to come down from heaven and consume them, as Elias 
 did ?” Here we have the choleric disposition. And the 
 Lord, to cool their hot indignation, and temper their 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 233 
 
 spirits to a softer strain, in the most admirable manner 
 refrains from uttering a word of direct reproof, which 
 would have been to pour oil upon the flame, but presents 
 his own heart as a contrast to theirs, and opens to them 
 a humbling view into the depth of his love for sinners, and 
 the compassionate design of his mission. “ The Son of 
 man,” he says, “ is not come to destroy men’s lives, but 
 to save them.” What could have been more appropriate 
 to allay their sinful excitement, to teach them a needful 
 lesson of humility, and to give their feelings a different 
 tone, than these gracious and gentle words of the com- 
 passionate Friend of sinners ? 
 
 Shortly after this scene, a person comes up to Jesus 
 with great marks of readiness and joy, and addresses him 
 in the language of fresh excitement, “ Lord, I will follow 
 thee, whithersoever thou goest.” Here we have the san- 
 guine temperament, with its quick impulse, its wide sus- 
 ceptibility of feeling, its rapid faculty of conclusion ; but 
 at the same time, with its defect of deep and abiding im- 
 pression, of laborious effort, and of perseverance. The Sa- 
 viour saw into the inmost depths of this man’s character, 
 and knew that his purpose was formed in the heat of the 
 moment, under the immediate influence of his own splendid 
 miracles and divinely gracious aspect. He, therefore, re- 
 cals the enthusiast from his momentary fervour to calm- 
 ness and discretion, and teaches him to sit down and count 
 the cost of his offer of service. “ The foxes have holes, 
 and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man 
 hath not where to lay his head.” 
 
 Another soon falls in the way, who is not so hasty with 
 his acceptance of discipleship. “ Follow me,” says the 
 Lord with distinctness and emphasis. But he replies, 
 “ Suffer me first to go and bury my father as if he had 
 said, “ Allow me to live in my father’s house till he dies ; 
 I will then reflect farther on the subject.” Who can mis- 
 take in this man the phlegmatic temperament, with its 
 slow excitability, its calm equanimity, its cautious reflec- 
 tiveness, which, though free from hazard, of violence, and 
 
234 
 
 ELIJAH THE TI3HBITE. 
 
 mischief, pass too readily into timidity, indifference, and 
 sloth. Our Lord again treats this person in a wonderful 
 manner, as befitted his disposition. His language is strong, 
 penetrating, arousing, and fitted to beget rapid and sted- 
 fast decision in this procrastinating spirit. “ Let the dead 
 bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of 
 God.’' 
 
 The Lord meets with a fourth, whom he had probably 
 anticipated also, by saying to him, “ Follow me.” But he 
 replies with clouded brow and downcast look, “ Lord, I 
 will follow thee ; but let me first bid them farewell which 
 are at home at my house.” Can you doubt of what tem 
 perament this man is ? It is the melancholy, with its fa- 
 culty of slow, but deep and lasting excitement, which 
 comes more by stealth, than sud4en surprise ; its pre- 
 vailing tendency to care and sadness, its capacity of labour 
 and energetic devotion to its purposes. These characteris- 
 tics appear in his very language to our Lord. The first 
 thing that the call of Jesus suggests to him, is its dark 
 and fearful consequences. His brooding mind is full only 
 of presentiments of suffering or death, and so he will once 
 more embrace his relatives, and stretch the hand of fare- 
 well to them, it may be, for the last time. Here there 
 was needed, most of all, a firm, courageous, and minis- 
 tering word, that would scatter the clouds of his depres- 
 sion, and help his resolution to break forth through a host 
 of fears. He needed an arousing call to the standard; 
 and this the Lord addresses to him, “No man having put 
 his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the 
 kingdom of God.” In all these cases, we are at a loss which 
 most to admire, the penetrating glance of the Searcher of 
 hearts ; the skill of the great Physician ; the infinite con- 
 descension of the Prince of Peace. 
 
 In the last of these occurrences, which we have hastily 
 reviewed, there appears an allusion to a scene of the Old 
 Testament history. What the person whom Jesus called 
 here requests for himself, is the same favour that Elisha 
 asked of Elijah before he followed at his call and our 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 235 
 
 Lord, in the words, “ He that putteth his hand to the 
 plough,” &c., appears to have intended to hold up the con- 
 duct of Elisha to imitation as an example of quick and 
 cheerful decision. You ask, in what the excellence of 
 this example consisted ? Our present lecture shall answer 
 this question. 
 
 1 Kings xix. 19—21. 
 
 “ So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, 
 who was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he 
 with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle 
 upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said. 
 Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I 
 will follow thee. And he 6aid unto him. Go back again : for what 
 have I done to thee ? And he returned back from him, and took 
 a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the in- 
 struments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat ; 
 then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.” 
 
 Elijah has returned from Horeb, with lightened heart, 
 and hopes more high than at any former period of his pro- 
 phetic labour. We now find him in the country of Sa- 
 maria, about to accomplish the commission which the 
 Lord had laid upon him. He calls Elisha, and Elisha 
 obeys the call,- these are the two points which are now 
 to be considered. 
 
 I. The scene of our history is changed. From the lonely 
 and dreary desert around Mount Sinai, we are carried 
 back with the prophet to the smiling lowlands of Jordan, 
 and walk upon the fruitful plains that surround the little 
 town of Abel-Meholah. We here meet with twelve 
 husbandmen behind their ploughs ; eleven of them are 
 servants, — the twelfth is the son of the rich proprietor 
 himself. His name is Elisha, and his father’s Shaphat. 
 He does not think it beneath his dignity to put his own 
 hand to the work ; he drives in the sweat of his brow his 
 yoke of oxen before him, like one of his servants. It was 
 a pleasure, at this season, to be abroad in the fields, and 
 to walk behind the plough. The blessing of God filled all 
 the air with fragrance, and the fields, that for three years 
 and a half had been a barren wilderness, appeared now, 
 after the copious floods of rain, impatient of the seed- 
 
236 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 time, to unfold, in the luxuriance of blade and ear, their 
 newly derived powers. How often may these husband- 
 men, as they broke up their genial furrows, have talked 
 with each other of the mighty wonders with which Jeho- 
 vah had lately visited their native land ! How often may 
 the name of Elijah have been mentioned, and the fiery 
 sign on Carmel made the subject of the liveliest discussion ! 
 For they had probably been eye-witnesses of that great 
 miracle ; and might belong to the seven thousand that had 
 not bowed their knees to Baal. It may be, that they were 
 even now conversing of those wonderful days, when, be- 
 hold, a man draws near to them, clad in a hairy mantle, 
 and with a leathern girdle about his loins. He approaches 
 with firm step ; and the oxen stand still, and the husband- 
 men look at each other with inquiring faces, as if they 
 would say, “ Who can this stranger be, and what brings 
 him here ?” But who shall describe their joyful surprise, 
 as they recognize in this solitary traveller, who now hastens 
 forward with quicker steps to the son of Shaphat, the very 
 man whose name and deeds resounded through the whole 
 country — Elijah the Tishbite. 
 
 Elijah, says the sacred historian, found Elisha. Whe- 
 ther he knew him before, or now discovered him by a 
 special miracle, we are not informed. This much we may 
 be certain of, that Elijah had not for a long time made a 
 more valuable acquaintance. Elisha was the first child of 
 God, whom, after a long period of solitude, he had the 
 happiness to meet ; and he found in the person of the son 
 of Shaphat, the first and chief of the seven thousand, and 
 the first living seal of the promise granted him in the mi- 
 raculous appearance at Horeb, on behalf of his people. 
 The simple and pious Elisha was the man in whose mis- 
 sion would be heard, through the land of Israel, the still 
 small voice of God’s tender mercy and redeeming love, to 
 convert and win their hearts to the Lord. He was the first 
 messenger of J ehovah who was called to sow the seed of 
 peace in the furrows which his precursor had torn up by 
 judgments, and to make the bones that bad been broken 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 237 
 
 to rejoice. In his very name we have an indication of his 
 peculiar commission. Elisha signifies, “ My God is salva- 
 tion,” and it may he written as a running title over his 
 whole history. His labours, as compared with those of 
 his great predecessor, appear evangelical. He goes about in 
 meekness ; and his course is calm and noiseless. His foot- 
 steps are attended everywhere by benefits and blessings ; 
 and it is not the terrible majesty or the burning jealousy of 
 the Lord, but the mild and gracious light of Jehovah’s con- 
 descension, that shines in almost all his actions. He 
 stretches not forth his hand to shut heaven, but to bring 
 down its showers of blessing. He opens not his mouth 
 in sentences of wrath and terror ; but his doctrine drops 
 as the rain, and his speech distils as the dew. His office 
 is to help and heal. The great doctrine of his prophetic 
 life is, “ The Lord is gracious.” A new period was, there- 
 fore, to commence with Elisha’s mission, in the provi- 
 dential training of Israel ; a season of Divine loving-kind- 
 ness, after the days of penal judgments and legal thun- 
 ders ; a time of the still small voice, after the storm, the 
 earthquake, and the fire. Elijah foresaw this, at least 
 obscurely ; and hence we may conceive with what delight 
 he must have embraced Elisha, as the man in whom his 
 dearest hopes of the regeneration of Israel were centred. 
 
 Elijah found him behind the plough. It is not without 
 reason that this is expressly recorded in the history. We 
 are furnished in this with a pleasing picture of a man, 
 who, with all his gifts, remained poor and lowly in his own 
 eyes, and led a humble and unassuming life. Others, in 
 his place, would soon have come to the conclusion that 
 they were too good for the plough, and born for a higher 
 sphere than that of a simple farmer, and that they ought 
 not to bury their talents in obscurity, but cultivate them 
 in schools of learning, and then come forth on the stage 
 of public life, to enlighten and guide the world. Such 
 thoughts never once occurred to Elisha. His pretensions 
 went not beyond his plough and his husbandry ; he saw 
 his vocation to these quiet and rural occupations, and was 
 
238 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 perfectly satisfied with his lot, and had no wish to “ seek 
 great things for himself.” How much more amiable and 
 beautiful is this temper than the opposite one, of which 
 we find in the present day too many examples among 
 Christians. “ Labour for the kingdom of God,” is become 
 the universal watchword of our times. We rejoice in it, 
 but with mingled feelings. Alas, how much do we see of 
 vanity and self-complacent love of management manifest- 
 ing itself on this field of activity ! Hardly has any one 
 made up his mind that he has about some small measure 
 of spiritual gifts, than he begins to regard himself as a 
 pillar of the church of God. The condition and calling in 
 which he has hitherto been is now no longer suited to him. 
 He must talk of a “ higher sphere of usefulness,” to 
 which he feels himself born. He must propose to become 
 minister, missionary, or professor, and yet, all the while, 
 the inward call to which he appeals may be nothing more 
 than a vain ambitious movement of his own heart. Doubt- 
 less, we should let our light shine before men ; only, each 
 in the situation where God has fixed his lot. The Lord 
 does not intend by such a direction to make all “ his people 
 prophets.” It is not merely thy lips, but thy life from 
 which the light is to radiate. It is in the total impression 
 which thy life has made on the church and on the world, 
 that we are to seek its worth as a missionary life ; its in- 
 fluence as a manifestation of the glory of God. Didst thou 
 but make others feel, in all thy purposes and actions, that 
 thou art partaker of a higher life, and that there dwells 
 in thee a more than mortal happiness, thou wouldst then 
 cast around thee that blessed heavenly light of which thy 
 Saviour speaks; and thou wouldst preach the gospel as the 
 “ power of God,” more effectually than can be done by 
 words. And remember that those spiritual lights have 
 the purest radiance, that shine unconscious of their own 
 brightness; and that those divine flowers diffuse the 
 sweetest fragrance which bloom in the hidden spots where 
 God has placed them, and court the shade. 
 
 One reason why we find, in the present day, so much 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 239 
 
 unauthorised eagerness to press upon the stage of public 
 activity is the great poverty of the times fn truly great 
 and commanding religious spirits. No eagle pinions at 
 present soar in our firmament; and hence the smaller 
 birds want a measure of their own littleness, and are not 
 ashamed to regard that scantling of spiritual gifts which 
 they possess as an evidence of a Divine call to great and 
 exalted things. 
 
 Away from the walls of Zion with this ill-omened and 
 vain activity, which is not of the Father, but of the world ! 
 Away from the sacred inclosure of the chosen people with 
 that accursed idolatry of human instruments, which so 
 mournfully prevails in the church of God ! I am persuaded 
 that God, in our days, often calls home his most excellent 
 servants and evangelists in the bloom of life and in the 
 full harvest of activity, to secure them from the peril of 
 that idolatrous admiration with which, in what are called 
 religious periodicals, these mortal men are wont to be ex- 
 alted to heaven ; and to teach the church that the pillars 
 of his temple are not flesh, that wisdom does not die with 
 any creature, and that none is the basis, the support, and 
 builder up of his kingdom, but Himself alone. 
 
 When Elijah has found Elisha, he takes his prophet’s 
 mantle from off his own shoulders, and throws it over 
 those of the son of Shaphat, in his own deeply significant 
 way, without uttering a word. What must have been the 
 feelings of the plain and unassuming husbandman on the 
 occasion ! for he well understood the momentous symbol, 
 and could see nothing less in it than his consecration to 
 the prophetic office, and his call to be the assistant, suc- 
 cessor, and representative of the Tishbite. 
 
 After Elijah had cast his mantle over his successor, he 
 went away without uttering a word ; and this he did to 
 make the meaning of the symbolical action still more im- 
 pressive. Elisha perfectly understood it. He lays the reins 
 on the necks of the oxen, leaves them with the plough 
 standing in the midst of the field, and hastens after the 
 man of God. We do not hear that he resisted the call 
 
240 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 with all manner of objections, or, as is common on such 
 occasions, made many words about the too great honour 
 done him, or his own incapacity for such an office. No, 
 the matter was shortly and summarily settled. He looked 
 not at the call, but its Author ; not at himself, but pro- 
 mised grace and strength. He leaves in God’s hands the 
 dignity and burden of his new office ; the counting of the 
 cost, thinks he, is spared me by the Lord’s immediate call ; 
 and he takes the prophet’s girdle and mantle with as much 
 equanimity as formerly the plough and the mattock. 0 
 precious simplicity, lovely serenity of a humble and child- 
 like spirit ! 
 
 Elisha, however, had more to leave than his team and 
 field. His father and mother were still alive, and he felt 
 bound to apprise them of his high calling, and to desire 
 their parental blessing. Accordingly, he asks of Elijah a 
 short interval, saying, “ Let me, I pray thee, kiss my 
 father and my mother, and then I will follow thee.” And 
 here I cannot but remark, how differently the history of 
 Elisha begins from that of Elijah. We saw the Tishbite 
 descend from the mountains of Gilead like a being from 
 another world. After his descent and family connexions 
 we inquire in vain. He comes upon the stage like a divine 
 meteor, and his first salutation to us is a word of omni- 
 potence, “ As the Lord, the God of Israel liveth, before 
 ■whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, 
 but according to my word !” And as we know nothing of 
 his human relatives, so the softer feelings of human affec- 
 tion and tenderness seem foreign to his exalted nature ; 
 and he steps forth gigantically, rising above his age and 
 generation, an original man in every point of view. There 
 is scarcely a trace of captivating frankness and condescen- 
 sion in his whole history. He that would understand him 
 must seek to rise to his level. An imposing majesty sur- 
 rounded his whole demeanour, and kept everything about 
 him, as Mount Sinai did the Israelites, at a reverential 
 distance. 
 
 Now the character of Elisha, and the manner of his 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITL. 
 
 241 
 
 first appearance are of a quite different order. He appears 
 a man of the ordinary stamp. His descent, birth, voca- 
 tion, and outward i-elations, lie enveloped in no impenetra- 
 ble mystery. The sacred narrative leads us back to his 
 cradle, and the house of his parents. We are made ac- 
 quainted with his occupation and connexions ; we see him 
 follow the plough like any of his servants, and find in him 
 a man with all the ordinary feelings of humanity in his 
 breast, with the share of other men in domestic joys and 
 sorrows ; bound like them in the ties of blood, of affection, 
 and of tenderness to the circle in which he lives ; a stran- 
 ger to none of the sensibilities of our nature, but feeling 
 the pain of separation and taking leave of friends, and in 
 every sense endowed with a human heart like that which 
 beats in our own bosoms. No awful barriers of dignity 
 stand around him ; we can confidingly approach him, and 
 feel his presence quicken our trust and love. 
 
 All this points to the contrast between the office of Elisha, 
 and that of his more stem precursor. Elijah was like 
 another Moses, a herald of the Divine holiness, and an 
 ambassador of God’s wrath against all who violate his law ; 
 and, therefore, it behoved him to appear as he did, en- 
 circled by the glory of the thrice Holy One, and let down 
 all at once as from the throne of him who is a consuming 
 fire. Elisha, on the contrary, was appointed an evange- 
 list and messenger of the grace of Jehovah, and hence he 
 required to appear in the radiance of a milder light. His 
 office was not to threaten and to terrify, but to allure, to 
 win, to convert. Hence God sent him to dwell in the 
 tents of his brethren as one of themselves, and set him 
 forth as a friend, in whose presence the most timid might 
 feel emboldened, and whose humane and affable inter- 
 course might operate benignly on the minds of all. 
 
 Elisha, then, must bid farewell to his father and mother. 
 In this he shews himself a dutiful and affectionate son ; 
 find our interest is immediately increased in every one, 
 though an entire stranger to us, in whom this trait of 
 character appears. We cannot bring ourselves to imagine 
 36 
 
242 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 that the grosser vices can grow on the same soil with filial 
 piety. Partings in some degree similar to that which 
 Elisha had now to undergo, but unspeakably more bitter 
 and painful, are those sunderings of soul from soul which 
 take place in consequence of the genuine call of grace, 
 when Christ comes into a family, not to unite, but to di- 
 vide parent from child, and friend from friend. What is 
 every true conversion but a leave-taking of all unconverted 
 men, a hastening away out of their moral atmosphere, a 
 withdrawing from the domain of their thoughts, opinions, 
 dreams, wishes, and efforts, into a totally different, and, 
 to them, strange and distant province. No doubt, a happy 
 severance for those who thus “ come out and are separate 
 but it has its pain and bitterness too ; for it is clouded by 
 the awful uncertainty, whether the objects of affection, 
 now left behind, may ever rejoin us to all eternity ; and 
 what thought can be more painful than this ? If there be 
 any one whose dearest friends are still among those who 
 are without, and who has, notwithstanding, felt no pang 
 of separation, let me tell him with all plainness, that he 
 either has no love for those whom nature has most closely 
 joined to him, or is in no respect as yet essentially sepa- 
 rated from them ; and though he may put on the form of 
 an outward difference, is radically at one with them in 
 the views and dispositions of an unconverted heart. 
 
 It happens, occasionally, that this spiritual separation 
 takes place amid much excitement of passion, with anger 
 and strife, and that not merely on the part of those who 
 remain behind ; (who can be surprised at this ?) but even 
 of those, who, as they say, “ bid farewell to the world.” 
 I conceive, however, that it is unspeakably more in ac- 
 cordance with the nature of genuine conversion, that the 
 separation take place, on the side of the converted, with 
 tears and embraces, as in Elisha’s case ; and I confess, that 
 where I see it otherwise, it wounds me to the heart, and 
 so cools my affection towards the new brother, that I can- 
 not with my whole soul bid him welcome. I have seen 
 many a soul leave the world and turn to the Lord ; but 0 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 243 
 
 how bitter the partings were, where the conversion was a 
 work of good earnest. It seemed as if the persons had 
 never loved their relatives till now ; and in a certain sense 
 this was true. “ Oh that my dear father, or my dear mo- 
 ther, would but accompany me ! Oh that my brother, 
 or my friend, would choose the same good part !” How ten- 
 derly did they then entreat them, “ Be ye reconciled unto 
 God.” What anxiety to perceive any traces of the work 
 of grace in these dear relatives ! What inward sighing and 
 supplication, “ 0 Lord, have pity on them also, and heal 
 their souls, as thou hast done mine !” What a mourning 
 and weeping, “ 0 Absalom, my son, my son !” Happy is 
 the man whom the hand of mercy has led forth from the 
 multitudes of the blind and dead into the kingdom of 
 light ; but happier he, who, when God bids him arise and 
 depart, need not bid his dearest on earth farewell, but 
 can rejoin them with the welcome greeting, “Behold, here 
 am I also ; ye went before me, but by God’s grace I have 
 followed after you ; my name is written with yours in the 
 same book of life, and your Lord and Master is now also 
 mine.” 0 what a blessed welcoming and embracing is this 
 Lost, but now found ; once severed, but now united for 
 ever and for ever ! 0 ye converted parents of unconverted 
 children, and ye believing children of unbelieving fathers 
 and mothers ! soon may such a joyful day dawn on your 
 dwellings ! 
 
 Elijah has no objection to Elisha’s request. “ Go,” said 
 he, “ and return again.” And to make his parting more 
 easy, he adds the words, “ Consider what I have done to 
 thee * and thereby fixes, as it were, a bond around his 
 heart, which should ensure his return. He would thus 
 be reminded of the solemn act of investiture which had 
 just taken place, and the words would sound like a call of 
 God in his ear, enabling him to withstand all the endear- 
 ments of the parental roof, if he should be tempted by 
 them to falter in his purpose. But we have no reason to 
 believe that he was exposed to any such seduction. Ilia 
 * German Version. 
 
244 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 father’s house was not to him a snare and a deep pit, as 
 it has been to many converted children ; his father and 
 mother were, in all probability, pious and devout persons. 
 It was doubtless no small sacrifice to give up a dutiful and 
 affectionate son, probably their only son, and the joy and 
 prop of their old age, and that too, to a public office, that 
 could not but expose him, in an idolatrous age, to the 
 greatest peril of his life ; but the command was from the 
 Lord, and they no doubt were enabled to say with joy, 
 “ Tlie will of the Lord be done.” 
 
 While Elijah was proceeding on his journey towards the 
 city of Samaria, Elisha goes with a beating heart to his 
 father’s house, and relates to his astonished parents the 
 whole circumstances of the interview, in which Elijah 
 had called him to so high an office. This done, he 
 takes the yoke of oxen which he had been accustomed to 
 drive, slaughters them, perhaps in sacrifice, boils the flesh 
 with the instruments of the oxen, and gives it unto the 
 people to eat. The whole action was significant. Elisha 
 sealed by it his covenant with the Lord, took a solemn 
 leave of his previous station, life, and occupation, and tes- 
 tified his entire and unhesitating surrender and dedica- 
 tion of himself to God, who had called him to his office. 
 A like procedure, my friends, must take place, in sub- 
 stance, in our own houses and hearts, if we desire to enter 
 into life. “ He that forsaketh not all he hath,” saith Je- 
 sus, “ cannot be my disciple.” Whatever thou lovest out 
 of him, or more than him, thou must bring to his cross 
 and slay it before him. Is mammon thy idol ? Renounce 
 it, else Satan holds thee by a golden chain. Is it worldly 
 honour ? Away with it ; cast back the baubles of this sor- 
 ceress in scorn, and seek the honour that cometh from 
 God only. Is it wisdom and understanding ? Renounce 
 them, and become a fool for Christ’s sake. Is it indul- 
 gence, luxury, and pride ? Burst the slavish bonds, and 
 crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts. We cannot 
 be the Lord’s, unless we are so entirely, with all that we 
 have and are. He must be our whole portion, our all in 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 245 
 
 all. And not only must we give up the golden calves them- 
 selves, the outward objects of sinful enjoyment; but the 
 very reins and harness by which they drag us after them, our 
 inward luet and concupiscence must be cast off, nay, most 
 earnestly of all devoted to destruction, and hewn asunder 
 by the sword of the Lord from heaven. “ Whole burnt- 
 offerings” are what the Lord requires for his altar ; and 
 his watchmen cry, “ Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out 
 from thence; be ye clean that bear the vessels of the 
 Lord.” 
 
 Once more we enter the peaceful house at Abel-meholah, 
 where a new scene presents itself. The solemn act of de- 
 dication is over, and the aged parent, his wife, and the 
 servants of the household have sat down to the friendly 
 meal which the parting Elisha had provided for them. It 
 was such a feast as that at which Levi, the new disciple, 
 entertained his Lord, when he put to shame the false 
 austerity and captious ignorance of the Pharisees. It was 
 a feast of joy called forth by the signal honour which 
 the Lord had done to Elisha and his house. It was a fare- 
 well feast, in which the ties that bound heart to heart 
 might be strengthened, and affection might prepare itself 
 for a long living on tender recollections. Elisha, the mas- 
 ter of the feast, appears already in his new character of 
 prophet ; and the old relations of every kind seem done 
 away. His parents look on with strange solemnity, and 
 with the submission due to a minister of Jehovah. The 
 servants who formerly associated with him as an equal, 
 now sit still and silent, and cannot help looking up to him 
 with eyes of wonder; hanging on his lips, and feeling 
 themselves deeply honoured when he addresses them with 
 his former kindness. There is joy and cheerfulness in the 
 hearts of all, but a calm reverence has entered the house, 
 and surrounded the table, as if a prince sat beside it, or 
 an angel were entertained at it not “ unawares.” The 
 emotions of Elisha himself may be imagined. Here he 
 felt himself at home no longer. The present had lost for 
 him its interest, and his thoughts wandered into the future. 
 
246 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 The mysterious memento which Elijah had left with him, 
 had stirred his mind with the deepest emotions. He knew 
 well that the casting of the mantle over him was the 
 omen of great events, though what these events were to 
 be, he could not tell. A whole world of great presenti- 
 ments was opening up before him. Dear as his father’s 
 house was to him, the inward call was not to be resisted, 
 and for his sake it was not to be lamented that the hour 
 of parting came so soon. Once more he gives his parents 
 a tender embrace. The thoughts that are too deep for 
 utterance shine through their mutual tears. With a con- 
 vulsive start he breaks at length away from their arms, 
 grasps with a brother’s kindness the hand of each of his 
 old associates and friends, and hastens forth sad and pen- 
 sive from the house of his fathers. A pilgrim’s staff, and 
 the parental blessing, is all that he carries with him. He 
 leaves the care of the future with cheerful resignation to 
 Him who had called him to his service, and who clothes 
 the lilies of the field. With rapid steps and lightening 
 heart he wanders over the plain, and having turned round 
 for the last time to bless the home of his childhood, and 
 to commend its dear inmates to the care of the great 
 Shepherd of Israel, he tarries no longer by the way, but 
 hastens to overtake his master Elijah on the road to Sa- 
 maria, and to meet the scenes of that wonderful future, 
 which lay before him in magic light, a more than earthly 
 perspective, a veiled and mystic world of wonder. 
 
 With such struggling of unutterable hope, and sense of 
 sovereign attraction, have all of us, my brethren in the 
 faith, followed the Lord Jesus, when he cast over our 
 naked souls the mantle of his righteousness, and we found 
 him to be the Leader of our salvation, and our guide to 
 the Father. Then there was no more leaving of him for 
 ever, and no tarrying behind with aught that before was 
 dear ; an unquenchable longing to be complete in union 
 with Him allowed us, while out of Him, no peace or rest. 
 Our whole desires have received their bias for eternity. 
 A mighty attraction has drawn them all upwards, and 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 247 
 
 through all resistance they must follow Him to his throne. 
 Let the might of earth or of hell turn the needle from its 
 pole-star ; it is but for an hour or a day, and it recoils to 
 its heavenly bent with a more sacred violence. The fire 
 that fell from heaven into our hearts has kindled the sacri- 
 fice, and it must mount again to heaven in its own flames. 
 The world is not our rest. The satisfaction, the repose, 
 the very element of our souls, is the presence of Jesus. 
 Would that this glorious picture, my dear flock, were 
 realized in all of you. May the wing of Divine mercy over- 
 shadow you all on earth, and gather you all under it to 
 everlasting Sabbath rest ! 
 
 VIII.— NABOTH’S VINEYARD. 
 
 “ Truth, Lord ; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which 
 fall from the master’s table.” This was the believing an- 
 swer with which the woman of Canaan surmounted the 
 last obstacle by which J esus had tried her faith. (Matt, 
 xv. 27, 28.' And as the brightness of the sun is reflected 
 in a dewdrop, the whole glory of the gospel and the deepest 
 experience of all true Christians shines forth in these 
 words of this poor outcast from the commonwealth of 
 Israel. 
 
 “ Truth, Lord,” said the woman ; and how deep, my 
 friends, is the import of that one word, “ Truth.” You 
 remember the language of the Saviour, “ It is not meet to 
 take the children’s bread and give it to dogs." He had 
 applied this term to her in common with all who are not 
 children of the household. The woman answers, “ Truth, 
 Lord and thus confesses the justness of the title, and 
 hence the condemnation of all who are in a state of na- 
 ture. But she adds, “ yet and in this the whole glory 
 of the gospel shines. The words in her mouth stand very 
 pear each other ; but there stands between them a cross 
 surrounded with the terrors of Divine wrath ; an altar 
 Streaming with the only innocent blood that ever flowed 
 
248 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 on earth, a Lamb that taketh away the sin of the world ; 
 a Surety that receives the punishment due to the actual 
 offenders. 0 blessed salvation ! Though, fallen and con- 
 demned, we must sigh out, “ Truth, Lord,” the wonders of 
 Calvary enable us to add our “Yet,” with heartfelt joy. 
 It is a great and difficult step to utter the former, as we 
 see from the experience of David in the 32d Psalm. But 
 it is not enough for salvation, unless we add the latter, as 
 we see from the case of Cain and Judas. The union of 
 both, as in this poor woman of Canaan, is required to form 
 the true saint of God ; and wherever the deep feeling of 
 guilt and misery is relieved of its bitterness by hope in 
 the mercy of God in Christ, there and there only do we 
 find the glory of the gospel reflected, and the genuine 
 image of the Christian impressed on the soul. 
 
 Do you ask why I have commenced this discourse with 
 this glimpse into the heart of the woman of Canaan ? One 
 reason is, that I wished to shed one cheering ray of light 
 over the dismal night-piece which we are about to con- 
 template ; and another is, that I thought it might contri- 
 bute to guide our judgment of the heart of Ahab, whom 
 we are to hear uttering the same words, “ Truth, Lord,” 
 in this and the following narrative. Alas, his confession 
 left him short of eternal life, since it was not followed by 
 the humble and believing words of that firstling of the 
 Gentiles at the coast of Sidon. 
 
 1 Kings xxi. 17 — 21. 
 
 “ And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbitc, saying. 
 Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria • 
 behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down 
 to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying. Thus saith 
 the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession ? And thou 
 shalt speak unto him, saying. Thus saith the Lord, In the place 
 where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, 
 even thine. And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O 
 mine enemy ? And he answered, I have found thee : because thou 
 hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. Behold, I 
 will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will 
 cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him 'that 
 is shut up and left in Israel.” 
 
 About the time when Elijah called Elisha from the 
 plough, and consecrated him to be a prophet, a bloody 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 249 
 
 war broke out in Israel. Ben-hadad king of Syria suddenly 
 invaded the country with an immense army, commanded 
 by two-and-thirty tributary princes ; but by the help of 
 God he was defeated and compelled to sue for peace. 
 Where Elijah abode, during these tumultuous times, we 
 are not informed. It is only after the troubles are over, 
 that we see him again appear in the narrative, and then 
 as an ambassador of the God of Justice. He is sent to 
 Samaria to reprove king Ahab for his sin. This mission 
 of Elijah is the theme of our present meditation. We 
 shall consider, I. Its occasion. II. Its purpose. III. Its 
 immediate result. 
 
 I. The word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, 
 saying, “ Arise, go down to meet king Ahab of Israel, 
 which is in Samaria ; behold he is in the vineyard of Na- 
 both, whither he is gone down to possess it.” Thus the 
 crime which Ahab had committed against Naboth, was 
 the occasion of the prophet’s mission to the capital. The 
 monstrous -iniquity which the court had been guilty of, in 
 the case of this pious Israelite, is so well known to you, 
 that I need only briefly recapitulate the details. We al- 
 ready know the character of king Ahab, and have seen, 
 that, however wicked and tyrannical he was, this proceeded 
 not so much from malignant depravity, as from a total 
 want of principle and independence. He had not the 
 strength of character requisite to contrive and carry out, 
 in cold blood, deep and extensive schemes of iniquity ; 
 but was, on the contrary, a weak tool in the hands of 
 others, pliant and unscrupulous enough, when it suited 
 the purposes of profligate advisers ; but capable upon oc- 
 casions, under better influence, of something like kind- 
 ness and generosity. Thus his behaviour to the vanquished 
 Syrian king was such, that the Lord had to reprove him 
 for his ill-timed lenity ; “ Because thou hast let go out of 
 thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, 
 therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for 
 his people.” 1 Kings xx. 42. And yet, all but the very 
 
250 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 next moment, we find him so wrought upon from with- 
 out, that he could perpetrate the most execrable cruelties, 
 especially when it did not endanger his own person. Un- 
 der better influences, Ahab would probably have been a 
 better king ; but led as he was by such a woman as Jeze- 
 bel, and the sycophant train of a court accomplished in 
 every wickedness, it was no wonder that his character be- 
 came utterly ruined, and that we find in him a melancholy 
 example of a man, who is not totally impervious to good 
 impressions, while yet his whole life is an unbroken series 
 of iniquities and crimes. 
 
 As he was very effeminate and voluptuous, he left the 
 affairs of his government, in a great measure, to Jezebel 
 his queen, and was glad when he could pursue his plea- 
 sures with undisturbed ease. At the close of the late war, 
 he had returned to his country residence at Jezreel. To 
 pass away the time, he amused himself with planning al- 
 terations in his palace and gardens, and with enlarging 
 and beautifying the grounds that surrounded them. Ad- 
 joining his magnificent garden, was a vineyard, the paternal 
 inheritance of Naboth the Jezreelite. It occurred to Ahab, 
 that his grounds would be much improved by the addition 
 of this piece of land, and he set his heart on obtaining it. 
 He lost no time in calling the proprietor before him, in- 
 formed him of his desire, and offered him either an ex- 
 change of land, or, if he preferred it, the value of it in 
 money according to his demand. Naboth, however, could 
 not by any means entertain the idea of parting with land, 
 his vineyard, since, according to the law of Moses, no Is- 
 raelite was permitted to sell his inheritance. All land 
 was to be considered as the property of Jehovah, of which 
 each held an inalienable portion for his life-time. Ex- 
 change of land was permitted, but only till the year of 
 jubilee, when it reverted to the original proprietor. From 
 this Divine law Naboth would not deviate, and he would 
 not consent to an exchange ; because it was easy to fore- 
 see, that an idolatrous king would trouble himself little 
 about the year of jubilee, or the laws of God respecting 
 
ELIJAH THE TI3HBITE. 
 
 251 
 
 it. Therefore he answered, “ The Lord forbid it me, that 
 I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.’' 
 He was not afraid to confront the idolatrous monarch as a 
 worshipper of the God of Abraham ; and in this pious and 
 independent man, we rejoice to find another of the seven 
 thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal. 
 
 Ahab was not likely to brook such an answer. That 
 his royal will should be thwarted, and his favourite 
 plans marred ; and that too by the independence of an 
 adherent of the old law, and by the piety of a sub- 
 ject who, in defiance of royal mandate and example, had 
 refused to worship the Sidonian idol, and kept stedfast to 
 the faith of his fathers, this was to Ahab too mortifying 
 Ho be endured. Deeply exasperated at the supposed in- 
 sult to his dignity, as well as inflamed by the resistance 
 to his wishes, he hastens back to his palace, behaves 
 like a spoiled child whose humour has been crossed, throws 
 himself upon his bed, turns his face to the wall, and re- 
 fuses to eat. In this disconsolate plight J ezebel finds him ; 
 inquires with astonishment what 'has happened him, and 
 learns the whole affair. “ Indeed,” exclaimed his wife, 
 “ Is that all ? It would be a sorry kingdom where such a 
 misadventure could not be put to rights. Dost thou now 
 govern the kingdom of Israel ? Arise, and eat bread, and 
 let thy heart be merry. I will give thee the vineyard of 
 Naboth the Jezreelite.” Thus, partly to avenge the insult 
 offered to the royal dignity, and partly to attach her hus- 
 band to her still more closely, she takes measures imme- 
 diately to get possession of the vineyard at any price. She 
 writes letters in Ahab’s name ; she misapplies the royal 
 seal to instructions of which he knew nothing ; she orders 
 the nobles and elders of the town to proclaim a fast, which 
 was wont to be done only upon occasion of some great 
 calamity or dreadful crime. She directs them to assemble 
 the people, to put Naboth on a mock trial before them, 
 and to suborn two villains to give false evidence against 
 him, and accuse him of having uttered blasphemies and 
 curses against God and the king. This was done accord- 
 
252 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 ingly ; Naboth was condemned unheard, given up to the 
 excited populace, dragged out of the town, and stoned to 
 death without mercy. And when the bloody execution 
 was accomplished, Jezebel went in triumph to Ahab, and 
 said, “ Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth 
 the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money ; 
 for Naboth is not alive, but dead.” When Ahab heard 
 that Naboth was dead, the clouds of melancholy and 
 chagrin disappeared from his brow ; the miserable man 
 rose with an air of undissembled satisfaction, and has- 
 tened “ to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jez- 
 reelite to take possession of it.” Such was the atrocious 
 crime, primarily, of Jezebel, but which Ahab made his own, 
 by heartily approving of the infamous deed, and gladly 
 seizing the miserable spoil. He would have perpetrated 
 the deed himself, had he but possessed enough of the 
 craft and strength of purpose for which his queen was so 
 remarkable. They were both of them the murderers of 
 Naboth, both defiled with his blood, both equally guilty, 
 and deserving of punishment. 
 
 The atrocity was the more dark and execrable, because 
 it was not obstinacy which induced the unfortunate N a- 
 both to reject the king’s offer, but faith in the God of his 
 fathers, and obedience to his sacred institutions. Nay, we 
 cannot doubt, as we have already observed, that this very 
 fact exasperated his murderers, and enraged them against 
 him to the highest degree. The world can bear no refusal 
 worse, than that which is made from motives of piety and 
 faith. Thus it has not unfrequently happened, that un- 
 believing masters have required their Christian servants 
 to connive at some dishonest act in trade or business ; and 
 when the latter have refused, nothing more would have 
 , been said of it, and all would have stood on the old foot- 
 ing, had they only assigned some worldly ground for their 
 refusal, as that it was dangerous to adulterate goods in 
 such a way, it might injure the interests of their master, 
 and the like. But when, instead of this, they have ap- 
 pealed to the will of their Saviour, and referred to the 
 
ELIJAH THE TI3HBITE. 
 
 253 
 
 law of God as the reason of their refusal, they have had 
 to stand a torrent of curses and revilings, and have been 
 threatened with dismissal from their service or employ- 
 ment ; and though matters were not carried the length of 
 a stoning to death, yet, so far as motives and principles 
 are concerned, Ahab and Jezebel were there on the one 
 side, and Naboth on the other. 
 
 II. The satisfaction of Ahab in this estate, thus vio- 
 lently acquired, was not of long duration. However se- 
 cretly the murderers had acted their part, and devised 
 their diabolical plans. One whose presence they had not 
 suspected, had been in the council in which it was ma- 
 tured ; had read the blood-thirsty Jezebel’s thoughts; 
 stood behind the seat as she wrote the false letters ; heard 
 the rehearsal with the suborned witnesses; known the 
 whole mystery of iniquity from its beginning ; and, before 
 the foul deed was done, had written it in his book as 
 finished, and laid it up for judgment. This secret witness 
 was no other than He, whose eyes are as a flame of fire. 
 It was the Keeper of Israel, who neither slumbers nor 
 sleeps, who reads the heart as an open book, whose eyes 
 pierce through every den of darkness, who laughs at every 
 veil of ingenuity, who understands the thoughts of sinners 
 afar off, and is at home in the most hidden corners of 
 their hearts. Surely he had seen it, and “ had prepared 
 for them the instruments of death, and ordained his arrows 
 against the persecutors.” 
 
 But why, when the Almighty saw the infamous deed 
 from the first, did he not interpose to prevent it ? Why 
 did he not rescue the innocent Naboth, who was his child 
 and servant, and had been brought into peril by his faith 
 and obedience ? For replies to such questions, the Scrip- 
 ture refers us to the world to come. Till then we must 
 pass on in silence amid the thousand mysteries of the 
 Divine providence that meet us on all sides, and in oppo- 
 sition to the doubts of reason, give God the glory by a 
 faith that rests on the sure word of prophecy; a faith 
 
254 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 which tells us that “ God’s foolishness” is no other than 
 adorable wisdom ; that apparent contradictions and per- 
 plexities in his government form part of a plan and great 
 system, which will at last constrain us to an admiration, 
 all the more profound, the more it has in this life baffled 
 our short-sighted reason. God’s thoughts are not our 
 thoughts, nor his ways our ways. “ We do not understand 
 his mode of government,” says an enlightened writer, 
 “ and are always liable to go too far, both when we com- 
 mend and when we find fault with it. His world is made 
 to please himself, and our judgment is of small account in 
 his sight.” “ It is a real absurdity,” says the same author, 
 “ to wish for a hair more or less than we possess ; and it 
 is certainly better to be Elisha than Absalom ; better to 
 be Lazarus with his sores, than the rich man with his re- 
 version of torment. Be the world the best it could be, or 
 not, it is all one to us, if God but rule in it ; or rather, in 
 our hearts, for his ways will then always be right in our 
 eyes.” 
 
 No doubt an example like the death of Naboth, thus 
 condemned, though innocent, and butchered by the hands 
 of violence and outrageous oppression may sometimes put 
 our faith to exercise, and shake the pillars of a theology 
 that builds all on reason. But a deeper harmony rises 
 above the discord, and is heard by the purified ears in a 
 higher world. Let us leave the only wise God to do as 
 seemeth him good. He will unravel in due time all the 
 knots that now perplex us in our own life, or that of any 
 of his people, to his own glory, and the highest good of 
 all. Of this we may be certain, that Naboth did not ap- 
 pear with a complaint in his mouth, when he passed from 
 the judgment-seat of falsehood and cruelty to the foot 
 of the eternal throne, and opened those eyes which had 
 closed amid the barbarous wounds of his enemies, amid 
 the peaceful splendours of his eternal home. Doubtless 
 his bloody death is now a matter of thanksgiving to him ; 
 and could he this day appear in the midst of us, our 
 stumbling at God’s dealings towards him would give him 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 255 
 
 pain, and he would call upon us to join him in adoring 
 those dealings of Providence, as full of wisdom, and grace, 
 and love. 
 
 All this you may allow is true ; but what becomes then 
 of the promises of God, if a man like Naboth can have 
 such an end ? I answer : The promises of God remain as 
 they ever were, ** They are all yea and amen in Christ 
 Jesus.” God has sworn it, " That all things shall work 
 together for good to them that love him,” and so it comes 
 to pass. God has promised to be with them in fire and 
 water, and so he is. But you take it for granted that he 
 has promised that neither fire nor water shall come nigh 
 them, neither pain nor mishap befal them, and this is 
 altogether a mistake. Nay, rather, it is expressly said, 
 “ That through much tribulation they must enter into the 
 kingdom of God and the Saviour does not conceal it 
 from his friends, that he appoints unto them the king- 
 dom, “ even as his Father hath appointed it to him.” 
 Luke xxii. 29. But methinks I hear you saying, “ If this 
 be so, we must live in perpetual anxiety, and cannot count 
 with certainty upon deliverance from any danger. If we 
 pass through a lonely place, we cannot tell whether we 
 shall escape the hands of robbers and murderers. If we 
 are crossing a river or the sea, we have no assurance that 
 we shall not meet a grave in the waters. If work or wages 
 are taken from us, we have no good ground of confidence 
 that God will preserve us and our children from starva- 
 tion. If the pestilence rages around us, we can have just 
 as little security as an unbeliever, that the destroying an- 
 gel shall pass over our dwelling. There are no promises 
 that assure us of preservation from temporal misfortunes ; 
 and hence, notwithstanding our adoption, we must be 
 subject to the same alarms in every danger, as those who 
 are strangers to the covenant of promise ?” No, my friends, 
 such conclusions are erroneous. Though it is not uncon- 
 ditionally promised us, that we shall escape all dangers 
 and misfortunes, “ Yet he that believes,” shall see the sal- 
 vation of the Lord, “ and all things are possible to him.” 
 
!56 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 You know that great assurances are given us, assurances 
 of unlimited extent ; promises that leave nothing more 
 to wish for. Be the trouble that threatens us of what- 
 ever kind it may, we need only, according to the express 
 declaration of God, “ to call upon his name,” and we 
 shall be delivered. Nay, the Saviour is our security, (John 
 xv. 5.), that if we abide m him, we may ask what we will, 
 and it shall be done unto us. But what is it to abide in 
 Jesus! It is a glorious position, a great and important 
 matter, which is pointed out to us by this expression. If 
 I abide in Christ, according to the full sense of this lan- 
 guage, I forget myself in him, I behold myself in him, 
 and the evil conscience of sin is lost in the sense of his 
 merits. I count myself as dead with him, risen with him, 
 and exalted with him above the world, sin, and death. I 
 rejoice in his righteousness as if it were my own. I know 
 that God neither can nor will deny me any thing that is 
 for my good, since I am his child, and well-pleasing to 
 him in the Son of his love, and thus nothing prevents me 
 from going with all my concerns to the footstool of my 
 Father, and casting myself with all my cares on his pa- 
 ternal heart. This is to draw near in the “ name of Jesus,” 
 and to this state of faith God has promised every thing 
 that we can desire or pray for. Thus there may be a life 
 free from care and fear, even amid a thousand dangers ; 
 there is a temper of mind in which we have in our hands 
 a key to all the treasures of God, and at the same time 
 an impenetrable shield against every danger both of body 
 and soul. Only learn the happy art of abiding in Christ, 
 and of asking in his name, then pray for good, or against 
 evil, as thou wilt, and whilst thou art praying, thou hast 
 thy petition. 
 
 But to return to our history. The black deed at Jezreel 
 has been completed. Naboth lies a mangled corpse in the 
 grave ; but the voice of his blood rises from the sepulchre, 
 and cries to Heaven for vengeance. The great Advocate 
 and blood-avenger of his church hears it, and prepares 
 for judgment. He summons his servant, the Tishbite, and 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 257 
 
 gives him a commission to king Ahab, “ Arise, go down 
 to meet Ahab, king of Israel, which is in Samaria ; be- 
 hold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone 
 down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, say- 
 ing, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, 
 shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.” Dreadful message ! 
 One would think it must have stunned Elijah himself like 
 a peal of thunder ; and doubtless it would, had he known 
 only the terrible majesty of the Lord, and nothing of his 
 grace ; and this very fact, that he gazed so often on the 
 awful countenance of an avenging God, and yet remained 
 calm and untroubled by fears of his own salvation, con- 
 vinces us, among other things, that he must have seen 
 God also in the face of Jesus Christ, and had much more 
 than a glimpse of the whole plan of salvation in the 
 gospel. 
 
 III. The king of Samaria is gratifiying the lusts of his 
 heart in the vineyard of Naboth. He exults over the rich 
 plunder, and is considering how the field of blood should 
 be best improved and united with his other grounds. 
 But hark ! that is surely the sound of footsteps, and they 
 are near at hand ! He turns about, and how great is his 
 surprise and vexation, to behold a man approaching him, 
 in whose stead he would gladly have seen a whole army 
 marching against him, and who could never have come 
 upon him more unseasonably than just at this moment. 
 It was Elijah the Tishbite. The prophet had come like a 
 thunder-cloud laden with death and ruin. He sends no 
 one to announce his approach, or inquire whether it is 
 the king’s pleasure to admit him into his presence. He 
 forces an audience for himself in the name of Jehovah, 
 and makes no scruple of surprising the monarch in the 
 midst of his pleasure-grounds and gardens, and in his 
 hours of relaxation. How must Ahab have cursed the 
 day of such a meeting ! He had flattered himself, per- 
 haps, with the hope that he was rid of this unwelcome 
 guest for ever. He had thought him far away beyond the 
 17 
 
258 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 mountains ; or, what he would greatly have preferred, in 
 his grave ; and all at once there he stands like an appari- 
 tion from another world, nay, like the ghost of the mur- 
 dered Naboth before him ! Deadly pale, and trembling 
 with chagrin and fear, he sees the hateful messenger stalk 
 forward to him ; and before Elijah had spoken a single 
 word, his commission was in a certain sense discharged. 
 Ahab reads the sentence of judgment in his looks, and a 
 single stern glance of the prophet is enough to awaken his 
 guilty conscience from its slumbers. “ Hast thou found 
 me, 0 mine enemy ?” he exclaims, as if by his fury and 
 malignity he would frighten the prophet back ; but he 
 merely betrays his own guilt, and becomes his own ac- 
 cuser. 
 
 How often, my brethren, must your ministers share the 
 treatment of Elijah, even when they succeed in finding 
 out sinners in the church, or when, more properly speak- 
 ing, God finds them out by us! Yes, when our words 
 kindle a fire in the conscience, when the arrow hits the 
 mark, and when our descriptions of the sinner are so exact, 
 that one and another of our hearers must see his hateful 
 deformities in the mirror we hold up to him, then it is 
 immediately said to us in the hearts of those who are thus 
 convicted, “ Hast thou found me, 0 mine enemy ?” We 
 are then malicious disturbers of men’s peace ; we have a 
 pleasure in torturing their minds with needless scruples 
 and alarms. We know nothing of love or Christian gen- 
 tleness, and a gloomy austere enthusiasm is the highest 
 form of religion which we recommend to our flocks. Our 
 sermons are in every respect unsound, and are full of 
 exaggeration. Instead of elevating the soul, and inspiring 
 it with cheerful views of life, they only outrage its bene- 
 volent feelings, and provoke it to a dislike of all religion. 
 Besides, there is in these barren harangues no trace of 
 what is called genius or originality, and he that looks for 
 solid instruction, “had better apply to some other quar- 
 ter. Such are the harsh judgments that we must submit 
 to ; and it often happens that the offended parties do not 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 259 
 
 stop with words, but proceed to more practical criticisms. 
 They will make us repent it, that we dared to disturb the 
 peace of their consciences ; and so they resolve .never more 
 to hear us, but to go in future elsewhere. Go, ye stricken 
 deer, whithersoever ye will ; it is not we, but God that 
 has found you, and from him you cannot escape. The 
 arrow has pierced through the joints of the harness, and 
 what avails it to tear your flesh with its barbed point, 
 since ye cannot get rid of it till the same Almighty hand 
 from which it sped draws it forth out of the wound. If 
 he is leading you to repentance, spare yourselves the 
 fruitless labour of kicking against the pricks. No herb or 
 balm of this world’s compounding will avail to heal the 
 wound that is rankling in your conscience. The burning 
 in your heart will only increase from day to day; the 
 fire in your bones will spread wider and wider, till it is 
 quenched by the blood of the Lamb. 0 could we but 
 thus find you, we could be well contented for a while to 
 be called your enemies ! 
 
 Scarcely has the expression of rage and remorse, “ Hast 
 thou found me, 0 mine enemy ?” broke from the monarch’s 
 lips, when it returns upon him like a frightful echo in the 
 answer of the prophet. “ I have found thee,” said Elijah, 
 with his wonted self-possession and courage. How must 
 these words have increased his agitation ; and yet, con- 
 founded and shut up to silence as he was by the dreadful 
 accusations of his conscience, he saw himself utterly un- 
 able to meet the denunciation of the prophet by the 
 smallest plea in his own defence. And then the terrible 
 charge found him in Naboth’s vineyard itself; and the 
 significant look with which the prophet accompanied the 
 words, told the king too surely that his accuser knew whose 
 the vineyard was, and what barriers of justice and hu- 
 manity he had tom down to find his way into this un- 
 wonted walk of pleasure. Truly, it was a pitiable situa- 
 tion in which the monarch of Samaria at this moment 
 stood ! He had never experienced such a disgraceful de. 
 feat before. The glory of his crown, and the splendour 
 
260 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 of his purple, are gone ; and he stands before Elijah a 
 poor, naked, helpless delinquent, from whose hands every 
 weapon, but stifled and impotent rage, has been struck or 
 wrested ; and it must have been painful to the Tishbite 
 himself, to see his sovereign thus overpowered, confounded, 
 and humbled before him ; himself, as it were, become the 
 king, and his master a cowering slave at his feet. Thus it 
 is that the Lord can bring down the mighty by the breath 
 of his mouth, and humble the proud ones, as the straw 
 before the reaper’s sickle. 
 
 You cannot but feel the numbing and deadening power 
 in the stern coolness of the reply, “ I have found thee.' 1 
 This is the remorseless language of the law, which freezes 
 all the play and movements of self-righteousness into stone, 
 and lays the chill hand of death on its lfcllow and con- 
 sumptive hopes. How often has this sentence, coming 
 from the throne of offended Majesty, driven the con- 
 science-stricken sinner to the verge of despair, and threat- 
 ened to confound his wavering reason. God grant in 
 mercy, that this messenger of heavenly justice, if he find 
 you now or afterwards in your false refuges, may come 
 attended by the angel of peace, that the terrors of the 
 law may be mingled in your experience of them with the 
 hopes of the gospel ! May the words of thunder, “ Cursed 
 is every one that continueth not in all things written in 
 the book of the law,” sink and be lost in the joyful pro- 
 clamation, “ Christ is the end of the law for righteousness 
 to every one that believeth.” May the sounds of doom, 
 “ Depart ye cursed,” be drowned in your ears by the soul- 
 reviving call, “ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are 
 heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Then shall the 
 sorrow of the world that worketh death, be changed into 
 that godly sorrow, “ which worketh repentance unto sal- 
 vation not to be repented of ;” and the dreadful hardening 
 of despair shall find its antidote in that melting contri- 
 tion, which is the first sign of the “ heart of flesh,” and 
 out of which shall grow all the love and rapture of un- 
 fading bliss. No, it is not the fiery terror of Divine jus- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 261 
 
 tice that makes new creatures of us, but the reviving 
 beams of Divine love to sinners that shine in the face of 
 Jesus Christ. By the manger and the cross, and not amid 
 Sinai’s blackness, and darkness, and tempest, are the heirs 
 of heaven bom again. In the manifestation of “ the kind- 
 ness and love of God our Saviour toward man,” lies the 
 marvellous attraction, that raises the children of the dust 
 above themselves, and makes them “ partakers of a Di- 
 vine nature.” Here the mighty power of love comes into 
 play, and makes the sinner for ever the servant of his 
 Saviour. But this service, (for what element can love exist 
 in but service,) is the true, the only freedom. It is free- 
 dom from self as a law, and as an end, freedom from the 
 world and all its vanities, freedom from the fetters of sin, 
 and of the flesh. We then live to God, as from an urgent 
 necessity of nature ; seek his honour, as by a sacred in- 
 stinct ; run in the way of his commandments, as by a re- 
 sistless impulse, and bring forth fruit unto God, by the 
 same vital and spontaneous process as a plant shoots forth 
 its blossoms, or the water bubbles from its springs. A 
 heavenly liberty and a holy necessity are thus united in 
 mysterious embrace ; man becomes the bondsman of love, 
 but in its bonds he is divinely free ; free as God himself is 
 free. Such are the blessed workings of the gospel ; the 
 law does no such mighty works as these. Only where 
 Divine love reigns in the soul, are the true springs of life 
 and salvation opened. Under its bright cloud, and amid 
 its heavenly voices and gracious visitants, set up thy taber- 
 nacles. There thou shalt drink in, with every breath, the 
 joy, and freshness, and strength, of the world to come, 
 and shalt feel thyself borne upwards as by a thousand 
 hands in celestial sympathy with thy transfigured Head. 
 
 Transform each sinful feature. 
 
 Lord Jesus, by thy grace. 
 
 Since thou, for such a creature, 
 
 Did’st mar thy blessed face. 
 
 Grace shall my bonds dissever. 
 
 Roll from my grave the stone. 
 
 And make me. free for ever, 
 
 In fealty to thy throne. Amen. 
 
262 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 IX.— AHAB’S REPENTANCE. 
 
 The Scripture, my friends, as you well know, speaks re- 
 peatedly of a Book of Life ; and the apostle Paul, in his 
 Epistle to the Philippians, iv. 3, speaks of the names of 
 his fellow-labourer Clement and others, as written in that 
 book. What kind of book then is this ? You all know, 
 that when we wish to ascertain the nature of an earthly 
 book, we learn its title, its contents, its author, its object, 
 and also the persons for whom it is written ; and if we 
 follow out these inquiries respecting this book, we shall 
 be abundantly satisfied. The title of the book is the Book 
 of Life ; a delightful and promising title, which excites in 
 us no fear but this, that our own names may not perhaps 
 stand in it. It contains no judgments ; it records no sen- 
 tences of death. It is full of the promise of life eternal : 
 those whose names are written in it cannot die. They fall 
 asleep in Jesus, and awake to newness of life ; everlasting 
 youth awaits them beyond death and the grave; and 
 thrones of unfading glory and joy stand prepared for them 
 in heaven. This Book of Life is not an ordinary book 
 written on perishable materials, and with dead letters. 
 It is like the book of memory in which we treasure up 
 the looks of our dearest friends, and the sacred images 
 of the never-to-be-forgotten dead. It is a book of the 
 heart, written in the living letters of love. Yea, it is the 
 very heart of our Almighty Father in heaven. In this 
 book are inscribed a multitude of names that no man can 
 number, which are all individually before the Lord at all 
 times, and are to him unspeakably dear and not to be for- 
 gotten. They are the names of his people, his chosen, his 
 children, his heirs, written in the blood of his Son, by 
 whom they are redeemed. For his sake alone are these 
 names transferred from the roll of the condemned to the 
 Book of Life ; and in the light of his great name do they 
 all shine in the record of the Divine heart. This book is 
 open in heaven. It is there read over and over, and its 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 263 
 
 interest is never exhausted. It is the favourite book of 
 the glorified Saviour, who sees in it the trophies of his 
 power and grace, the pearls of his treasure, the jewels of 
 his crown. This book indicates to the good Shepherd his 
 sheep ; to the bridegroom, his bride ; to the High Priest, 
 his redeemed; to the Prince of Peace, the subjects of his 
 gracious love. Even to the holy angels is this book opened. 
 They are sent forth to minister unto them who shall be 
 heirs of salvation, and so they must know the names that 
 are written in this book ; and day and night do these hosts 
 gather around this wonderful book, and they turn over 
 and read, and read again, and strike their hands together 
 in astonishment. They read there the names of Rachab, 
 and Mary Magdalene, and the thief on the cross, and the 
 publican, and all the names of the chief of sinners ; and 
 ever as they read, they fall down in adoration, and pour 
 forth their wonder in songs of rapture to God, and to the 
 Lamb. 
 
 Now, if there be any object in the world worthy of our 
 curiosity, I am sure we will agree in saying what it is. 
 Does my name stand in the book of life, or does it not ? 
 This is, beyond all controversy, the most serious, weighty, 
 and momentous question that can rise up in a human 
 heart. On the decision of this question hangs my whole 
 peace, my happiness in time and in eternity. If our names 
 are there, then hallelujah ! from henceforth may all gene- 
 rations call us blessed ! If they are not, then woe unto 
 us ! it had been better for us that we had never been 
 born. 
 
 Do you ask, now, in what way it is possible to ascer- 
 tain on earth whether our names are written in heaven ? 
 I answer, that every one whose name is thus written, is 
 already marked out from others by God, and the Scrip- 
 ture tell us what these marks of an heir of glory are ; 'the 
 chief of these is a contrite spirit, a heart that longs after 
 God. There are, however, two ways of crying for mercy, 
 and it is not every humbling of the soul before God, that 
 warrants thy conclusion, that thy name is written in the 
 
264 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 Book of Life. Therefore, deceive not thyself. But if thou 
 wilt seriously know in what the false humiliation differs 
 from that which is the fruit of grace, the portion of sacred 
 history before us will make the distinction abundantly 
 clear. 
 
 • 1 Kings xxi. 22—29. 
 
 “ And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son 
 of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the 
 provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made 
 Israel to sin. And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying. The 
 dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall ofJezreel. Him that dieth of 
 Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat ; and him that dieth in the 
 field shall the fowls of the air eat. But there was none like unto 
 Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the 
 Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. And he did very abomin- 
 ably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, 
 whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. And it came 
 to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, 
 and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, 
 and went softly. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the 
 Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before 
 me ? Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring 
 the evil in his days • but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon 
 his house.” 
 
 Elijah delivers his message in Naboth’s vineyard, and 
 announces to the tyrant, with all boldness, the dreadful 
 judgments that should overtake himself and his family. 
 We have to consider the impression which this denuncia- 
 tion made on the guilty monarch ; and in speaking of his 
 repentance shall notice, I. How his repentance was called 
 forth. II. What kind of repentance it was. III. What 
 were its consequences. 
 
 I. The terror which we see taking possession of Ahab’s 
 mind, was the effect of Elijah’s message. The awful na- 
 ture of that message produced also some humiliation of 
 his guilty soul at the footstool of God. Nor does this sur- 
 prise us, for it contained not only a Divine accusation 
 against the king, but also the sentence of the tribunal of 
 the Most High. 
 
 A threefold crime is laid to his charge ; that he had pro- 
 voked God to anger, made Israel to sin, and sold himself 
 to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord. Eor this 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 205 
 
 cause, the sword of the Almighty was already whetted for 
 the destruction of himself and his house. 
 
 Observe, then, how Jehovah is represented in the first 
 part of the accusation, as a God who may be provoked by 
 continued insults of his creatures, and whose long-suffering 
 is like a bended bow, which must not be drawn beyond a 
 certain point, otherwise it will break. This certainly 
 sounds very like the manner of men ; but faith is so far 
 from stumbling at such human representations of God, 
 that she rather finds in them a source of help and satis- 
 faction. Such a God as this it is we stand in need of ; a 
 living God apprehensible by minds like ours ; a God with 
 every spiritual element of our own nature, intelligence, 
 affection, and desire. A God enthroned on inaccessible 
 heights, far withdrawn from us amid the abysses of eter- 
 nity, and so remote from all human thoughts, as to be 
 unmindful alike of our praises and our blasphemies ; such 
 a God would be no God to us. There would be an impass- 
 able gulf between us and our God ; but faith will be satis- 
 fied with nothing but union and communion with him. 
 All God’s revelations of himself, therefore, which are co- 
 loured with human feeling, are dear to faith ; and even 
 where Jehovah declares, that he is displeased, is grieved, 
 is provoked to anger, when a creature denies him the glory 
 due unto his name ; even there faith does not stumble, but 
 finds something consolatory and suited to its wants. 
 
 Ahab is farther accused of having made Israel to sin. 
 He had done so by his ungodly example, as well as by the 
 infamous decrees which had made the worship of Baal 
 the religion of the state, and exposed the children of God 
 to the most bloody persecutions. Woe unto those, who, 
 like Ahah; are not satisfied with destroying their own 
 souls, but who make it a matter of anxiety and trouble 
 to poison others with the infection of error and sin, and 
 to sink them in their own ruin. Such men will one day 
 have to bear, not only the burden of their own iniquity, 
 but the guilt, besides, of all the unhappy victims who were 
 ensnared by their arts of seduction ; amid whose vindic- 
 
266 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 tive execrations they shall suffer a double damnation, and 
 in which there will be nothing to comfort them, but the 
 thought, that, by their destruction of souls, they have 
 made themselves so much liker the image of their father 
 the devil, than those who are come with them to the same 
 place of torment. 
 
 The third accusation which Elijah brought against Ahab, 
 was, that he “ had sold himself to work evil in the sight 
 of the Lord.” Nay, adds the sacred historian, “ there 
 was none like unto Ahab, whom Jezebel, his wife, stirr- 
 ed up.” Sold to work evil ! Horrid delusion ! and yet, 
 there is no man in an unconverted state to whom it does 
 not apply with fearful truth. “ I am carnal,” says Paul, 
 with reference to his natural condition, “ sold under sin ; 
 for what I would, that do I not ; but what I hate, that do 
 I.” Try the experiment only for a single day with the 
 law of God ; labour to keep in the spirit any one command 
 of God ; and, however it may mortify you, you will find 
 yourself compelled, before evening, to subscribe to the hum- 
 bling confession of the apostle, and make it your own. 
 
 It is a common proverb, that, <f Every man has his 
 price, for which he is willing to sell himself.” Horrible as 
 this sounds, it is perfectly true of the natural man. For 
 some stipulated amount or other, be it payable in gold, or 
 honours, or pleasures, the proud son of the earth may be 
 bargained for like a piece of merchandise, and hired to 
 any debasing or wicked service. The price of king Ahab, 
 as we know already, was a woman’s favour. The affec- 
 tion of Jezebel was the idol to which he sacrificed every- 
 thing. She had but to say the word and Ahab was ready 
 to lay, not only his own will, his honour, and the peace 
 of his conscience, but also the salvation of his soul, if, 
 indeed, he had any, and the favour of heaven, when he 
 possessed it, at her feet. Would that he were singular in 
 this infatuation, this cheap and easy barter of his immor- 
 tal soul ! But such miserable bargains are no strange 
 madness among us. Alas, let many a one ask himself, why 
 he is an unbeliever, why he despises the people of God ? 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 267 
 
 why he is the slave of the world and the devil, and tries 
 to resist every good impression ? However humbling to 
 his pride, he must reply, “ I am bound ; I cannot act 
 otherwise.” And in what manner bound? By human 
 custom and example, by worldly connexion, by favour, by 
 attachment; all of which involve a tacit understanding, 
 that the enjoyment of them must be purchased by the sur- 
 render of moral freedom and independence, and that every 
 holier principle, nay, the immortal interests of the soul 
 must be sacrificed to their claims. Fatal connexions ! ac- 
 cursed bonds of friendship ! Rather let us have strife and 
 discord among very friends, than such a compromise, such 
 a harmony as this ! He that has hitherto walked in such 
 claims, let him rend them asunder without delay, and bow 
 his head no longer to the impious yoke. “ He that loveth 
 father, or mother, or son, or daughter, more than me, is 
 not worthy of me.” Remember the blessing of Moses up- 
 on Levi, “ Who said unto his father, and to his mother, I 
 have not seen him ; neither did he acknowledge his breth- 
 ren, nor know his own children ; for they have observed 
 thy word, and kept thy covenant. They shall teach Jacob 
 thy judgments, and Israel thy law ; they shall put incense 
 before thee, and whole burnt-sacrifices upon thine altar.” 
 Deut. xxxiii. 9, 10. “ Ye are bought with a price,” says 
 the apostle, “ therefore be not ye the servants of men.” 
 The heavy accusations which Elijah, in God’s name, 
 brought against Ahab in the vineyard of Naboth, must 
 have been the more terrific, from the tremendous threat- 
 enings with which they were followed. The first of these 
 was, “ In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, 
 shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.” This appalling 
 denunciation was literally fulfilled. For soon afterwards 
 Ahab, from motives of pure ambition, proclaimed a war 
 against the Syrians, contrary to the express command of 
 God, and in spite of the warning of Micaiah the prophet, 
 “ If thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken 
 by me.” And he returned not. In the very first battle the 
 avenging hand of God smote him. A certain man drew a 
 
268 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 bow at a venture, but the Lord directed the arrow, and it 
 smote him between the joints of the harness ; wherefore, 
 he said unto the driver of his chariot, “ Turn thine hand, 
 and carry me out of the host, for I am wounded and so it 
 was done ; and the king died at even ; and the blood of his 
 wound ran down into the midst of the royal chariot ; and 
 they carried him to Samaria and buried him there. And 
 as they washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria, the 
 very place where Naboth was murdered, the dogs licked 
 up his blood. Verily, there is a God that judgeth in the 
 earth ! Lord Jesus have mercy upon us ! 
 
 The next curse of the Lord was upon the house of Ahab. 
 “ Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away 
 thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab every male, and 
 him that is shut up and left in Israel. And will make thine 
 house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and 
 like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. Him that 
 dieth of Ahab in the city shall the dogs eat; and him 
 that dieth in the field the fowls of the air shall eat.” How 
 awful is sin when the iniquities of the fathers are thus 
 visited upon the children, to the third and fourth genera- 
 tion. Of this threatening, not one word failed, as you 
 may see in 2 Kings chap. ix. Jehu was the Divine instru- 
 ment in this execution, after he had first been anointed 
 king over Israel. He lost no time in bringing the kingdom 
 under his authority, and his first march was against Jez- 
 reel, where king Joram, the son of Ahab, resided. When 
 Joram heard of the approach of the hostile force, he went 
 out in his chariot to meet it, and bring matters to a peace- 
 ful settlement. Having met Jehu in the portion of Na- 
 both the Jezreelite, he asked, Is it peace ? To whom Jehu 
 replied, What peace so long as the whoredom of thy mo- 
 ther Jezebel, and her witchcrafts, are so many. Joram, 
 hearing this, endeavoured to escape ; but Jehu drew a 
 bow with all his strength, and smote Joram between his 
 arms, and he sank down in his chariot. Then said J ehu 
 to Tidkar his captain, “ Take him up and cast him in the 
 portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, according 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 269 
 
 to the word of the Lord.” And it was done. There Ahab’s 
 blood flowed according to the letter of the Divine threat- 
 ening, from the veins of his son, on the very ground which 
 had been dyed with the blood of the innocent Naboth. 
 In like manner were all J oram’s sons, and all the relatives 
 of Ahab, cut off by the sword, so that neither root nor 
 branch remained of that idolatrous house. The idol priests 
 met with the same fate. In one day they were all slain 
 with the sword, the images, together with the temple of 
 Baal, in Samaria, broken to pieces, and idol-worship for 
 a season extirpated in Israel. 
 
 The third judgment which Elijah announced to Ahab, 
 was to fall upon Jezebel. “ The dogs,” said he, “ shall 
 eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.” And so it came to 
 pass. For when Jehu came to Jezreel, and the queen 
 heard of it, “ She painted her face, and tired her head, 
 and looked out at a window.” But the infamous woman 
 did not succeed this time with her meretricious arts ; the 
 heart of the rude captain remained unmoved and insen- 
 sible as a rock. He looked up, and called to the chamber- 
 lains who stood near her, “ Throw her down and they 
 threw her down, so that the wall and horses were be- 
 sprinkled with her blood, and she was trodden down 
 like the mire in the streets. And after Jehu had 
 eaten and drank, he said, “ Go, see now this cursed wo- 
 man, and -bury her, for she is a king’s daughter.” But 
 when they came, “ they found no more of her than the 
 skull, and the ft jt, and the palms of her hands.” And 
 they that were sent returned to Jehu and told him. Then 
 said Jehu, “ This is the word of the Lord, which he spake 
 by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the suburbs 
 of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel ; and the car- 
 case of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field 
 in the suburbs of Jezreel, so that they shall not say, This 
 is Jezebel !” 
 
 Behold, my brethren, how the Lord fulfils his word ! 
 Great God ! what fear and trembling should overtake all 
 i mpenitent sinners ; for he that has threatened them with 
 
270 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 hell and everlasting death, is the self-same God ; his name 
 is Faithful and True ; and it is easier for heaven and 
 earth to pass, than for one tittle of his word to fail ! 
 
 II. The thunder of Elijah’s denunciations did not this 
 time at least fail of effect. Ahab knew whom he had be- 
 fore him, and that it was not this man’s custom to beat 
 the air, and utter empty sounds ; and so he stands thunder- 
 struck, confounded, and utterly overwhelmed. His knees 
 totter, his bones tremble, a quiver of strange horror thrills 
 through his soul. He cannot but confess that these awful 
 judgments are deserved. He feels the enormous burden 
 of his guilt. His conscience awakes in avenging strength, 
 and past iniquities rise up in terrific array around him. 
 He feels as if the ghost of the murdered Naboth stood 
 before him in ghastliness and blood ; as if he heard from 
 the graves of slaughtered saints a thousand-fold cry rise 
 to heaven for vengeance ; as if the lightnings of Divine 
 wrath glanced already around his guilty head ; as if the 
 fearful howl were even now behind him of dogs panting 
 for his blood. The impression which had overpowered 
 him at the fiery sign on Carmel, awakes in all its freshness 
 with a thousand horrors. He now knows too well that 
 Jehovah is God, and that Elijah is his minister. The poor 
 terror-stricken mortal sinks down as if he stood already 
 before the judgment-seat of the Eternal, and heard the 
 thunder of Divine rebuke roll over his head, and saw the 
 angels of justice gathering round to carry off the apostate, 
 who gave honour to Baal, to the place of execution. He 
 forgets his crown and his purple, and with all the pride of 
 regal dignity and state lost and swallowed up for the mo- 
 ment in the overwhelming consciousness of guilt, he is 
 restrained by no shame from appearing before God and 
 man as a miserable and burdened sinner. He descends 
 into the dust, rends his clothes in token of a heart torn 
 by remorse, puts on sackcloth, falls down before the God 
 of Elijah, and pours forth his distress at his footstool. 
 He appoints a fast, unconcerned whether it please his hea- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 2*i 
 
 then consort or not, continues his exercises of repentance 
 through whole nights, exchanging his couch of state for 
 a bed of sackcloth, and goes softly and sorrowfully for a 
 season, a picture of undissembled woe. J oy is mute in the 
 palace, formerly so full of unhallowed mirth ; the music, 
 pipe, and viol no longer resound through the glittering 
 halls of state ; the royal dwelling is like a house of death 
 and mourning, and the gloom of the king spreads itself 
 like a black cloud over all his attendants. 
 
 The mourning of the king of Samaria was not a false 
 show. The outward garb of distress in which he appeared 
 was a true expression of his inward temper and feelings. 
 Nevertheless, his repentance wanted much to make it a 
 repentance unto life and salvation. It was not a contri- 
 tion like that of Mary Magdalene, of the poor publican, 
 or the thief on the cross. Ahab’s repentance was destitute 
 of love ; and it is love which first gives our acts and deeds 
 a true holiness, and a worth in the sight of God. 
 
 Let us take occasion, from the example of Ahab, to ex- 
 plain briefly the nature of true repentance. The apostle 
 Paul points out its essential character when he says. Gal. 
 ii. 19, “ For I, through the law, am dead to the law, that 
 I might live unto God.” By the law to which he is dead, 
 is to be understood here, the sum of the Divine demands 
 on man, together with the threatenings and curses an- 
 nexed to it ; or in one word, what we commonly call the 
 moral law. Now the apostle says of himself, that he has not 
 escaped from this schoolmaster as a truant, or a deserter 
 like others ; but that he is dead to it, and thereby deli- 
 vered from it, not only to the completest extent but also 
 in the legal way ; even as a woman, whose husband is 
 dead, is free from her engagement to him, and may con- 
 tract a new marriage. Every man, whether he will ac- 
 knowledge it or not, stands in a peculiar relation to the 
 law ; in a relation exactly like that of a subject to his 
 sovereign, or a servant to his master. His duty is to obey 
 the law ; if he does so, the law rewards him ; if he does 
 not, it visits him with its curse. Now, so soon as the law 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 makes its right to command distinctly felt in the con. 
 science of any man, the relation of taskmaster and ser- 
 vant comes into force, and now is alive. The man feels 
 his obligation to the law, and sees it to be a very urgent ne- 
 cessity of his case to come to terms, and be on a safe 
 footing with this law, which stands before him with its 
 commands, threatenings, and curses. Up to this point 
 then both are alive, the law and the man who is under its 
 authority. The marriage-compact, ratified by God, is still 
 in full force, and the sentence due to the breaker of it, 
 “ Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things 
 written in the book of the law,” maintains all its power 
 and rigour. The consequence is truly alarming ; and the 
 first thing which the man commonly does to escape it, is 
 to satisfy the law in the way of obedience, or by doing the 
 works of the law. He is still alive ; and has, in his own 
 estimation, strength and ability enough to carry out his 
 purpose. He gives himself, therefore, to the work; he 
 comes under the law ; and here he sets his foot upon a 
 path from which no one ever brought any thing back but 
 broken bones, a wounded heart, and a distressed con- 
 science. Alas, what must he now experience ! Instead 
 of coming forth from the mire of sin, he daily sinks deeper 
 in it ; instead of going forwards in the way of obedience, 
 he hourly goes backwards. His best resolutions are ruined 
 by his own inability; and the deplorable conviction, 
 that he is a thousand times more corrupt than he had 
 ever supposed, together with the deeper feeling of the 
 curse that gnaws into his conscience, and the vexation, 
 anguish, trouble, and despondency, that, according to the 
 word of God, the law works in all that are bold enough to 
 encounter it in their own strength, — this is the whole fruit, 
 — the harvest of sorrow, — that the sinner reaps from his 
 self-righteous endeavours. What then is he to try next ? 
 Perfect obedience is now out of the question, so he re- 
 nounces all hope from it, and seeks to put himself right 
 with the law in another fashion. But how ? He resolves 
 to flee from the law— he turns deserter. Now, thinks he. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 273 
 
 with the boldness of desperation, why should I torment 
 myself longer upon a path where my most honest efforts 
 have totally failed of success? and with this desperate 
 thought, he yields himself up once more to his sinful 
 ways, gives the reins once more to his flesh, and follows 
 every lust of his depraved heart. But let him forsake the 
 law as he will, the law will not forsake him. It pursues 
 him, — haunts him,— tracks all his guilty retreats, and 
 startles him, now in this sinful indulgence, and now in 
 that, with its pealing thunders and its muttered curses ; 
 for it is in truth lodged in his own conscience, and how can 
 he flee from himself ? What is he now to do ? One way 
 stands still open to him. He will now capitulate with the 
 law, and save himself by a favourable compromise. “ I 
 will observe thee,” says he, “ as well as I can, and strive 
 to answer thy demands, as far as lies in my power ; 
 only thou must then cease thy dreadful curses, and grant 
 me the indulgence of making up any deficiency, and com- 
 forting myself with the mercy of God.” Reasonable, how- 
 ever, as this may seem to him, it succeeds no better ; the 
 law disdains to accept any partial fulfilment. It absolutely 
 demands a perfect obedience ; and let the sinner do the 
 utmost he can to satisfy it, the law does not at all lower 
 its tone of malediction, or plant one sting less in the con- 
 science. Hence the poor forlorn sinner must now give up 
 his last hope ; he feels that there is no other course left 
 him but to plead guilty at once before the bar of God, to 
 confess that the law is just in its demands and threatenings, 
 to declare his own moral bankruptcy, and exclaim with the 
 apostle, “ O, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver 
 me from the body of this death.” Nature, indeed, strives 
 mightily against this sentence of self-condemnation, — 
 trembles to sacrifice her last desperate hope, — and recoils 
 from a death by her own hands. But what avails this sad 
 reluctance ? Light shines overwhelmingly into her dark- 
 ness. As a captive, pierced with a thousand arrows, the 
 convinced soul sinks before the foot of the throne of God, 
 and in the extremity of distress, confusion, and amaze- 
 18 
 
274 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISEEITE. 
 
 ment, utters the exceeding bitter cry, “ Woe is me, for I 
 am undone !” 
 
 When a sinner, then, has been brought thus far to pro- 
 nounce on himself the sentence of death with sincere and 
 unaffected distress, is the process which the apostle calls 
 “ dying to the law” then completed ? Far from it ; other- 
 wise Cain and Judas might have said, with Paul, that they 
 were dead to the law. There has certainly one kind of 
 dying taken place ; the sinner is dead to his fancied self- 
 righteousness, — dead, also, to his own ability to keep the 
 law. But that repentance which the Scripture styles a 
 godly sorrow unto salvation, needing not to be repented 
 of, is not, therefore, necessarily as yet produced. Paul, no 
 doubt, calls this sense of absolute impotence, a dying ; 
 for he says in Rom. vii., “ When the commandment came, 
 sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which 
 was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.” This is 
 dying under the law, and by the law ; but it is not dying 
 to the law. The sinner whom we formerly described, is 
 dead to his fancied moral excellencies ; but the marriage 
 between him and the law is not yet dissolved. On the 
 contrary, this severe husband and schoolmaster makes 
 him cruelly feel his bondage, continues the torture of the 
 scourge, and often drives him by his rigours to the verge 
 of despair ; and all this time there remains in the breast 
 of the sinner his enmity to the law, and, consequently, to 
 the Author of the law. His whole nature murmurs and 
 grudges at it ; he is vexed and irritated that the law exists ; 
 he cannot be subject to it ; he would gladly see it destroy- 
 ed, because it robs him of his peace, and puts a strong 
 curb on his sinful flesh. But, so long as this is the case, 
 his repentance is not of the right kind ; that Divine change, 
 which we call regeneration, has not yet taken place, and 
 that dying to the law, of which Paul speaks, is yet to 
 come. 
 
 Now, this glorious and blessed death comes not by the 
 ministry of condemnation, but by a better law. “ I,” says 
 the apostle, “ am dead by the law to the law.” This law 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITK 
 
 by which he died is, without doubt, the “ law of the Spirit 
 of life,” of which he says in Rom. viii. 2, “ The law of the 
 Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the 
 law of sin and death.” And this “ law of the Spirit of 
 life” is no other than the gospel, whereby alone it is that 
 true, divine, and saving repentance is called forth. Let 
 us consider once more the case of the awakened sinner, 
 whom we left at the bar of Divine justice, trembling and 
 almost on the verge of despair. His heart is as much 
 opposed to the law as ever ; and the distress of his con- 
 science forbids him to lift up his eyes to the Lord. But 
 lo ! the Sun of the New Testament casts its first rays into 
 his darkness ; the cross appears amid the clouds of his 
 distress ; the glad-tidings of the gospel are sounded in his 
 ears ; and find a way, opened by the Spirit, into his heart. 
 And now mark the wonderful change that takes place in 
 his whole being ! He hears that there is help and redemp- 
 tion for him ; he hears that the Father has sent his only 
 begotten Son into the world for his salvation ; he hears 
 that this Holy One has taken his sins upon himself ; he 
 hears that He has paid the debt, suffered the deserved 
 punishment, endured the wrath of God in the sinner’s 
 stead, and is gone to prepare for him a place in the king- 
 dom of everlasting glory. The sinner hears of it, is startled, 
 is amazed, scarcely believes for joy — looks at his Surety, 
 beholds his wounds — his head crowned with thorns — his 
 countenance beaming with infinite love — and his heart, 
 his holy, compassionate, pierced, and bleeding heart ! Then, 
 indeed, he knows not what to think of it, and can scarcely 
 yet believe his eyes and ears. Ah, what feelings spring 
 up within him, under the beams of such love and kind- 
 ness ! He falls with bursting heart at the feet of his Divine 
 Deliverer, and pours forth floods of tears ! Ah, these are 
 tears no longer wrung from him by despair, but flowing 
 from the deepest fountain of love. For servile fear, there 
 has come to be a child-like reverence and humility ; for 
 the trembling of guilt, a deep and holy shame, in which 
 the bitterness of remorse is past. Enmity to the law has 
 
276 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 now departed from his heart ; for how should he hate a 
 law that is no longer formidable, — a law that neither irri- 
 tates, nor depresses, nor condemns ? His enmity to the 
 law is changed into love ; for it is the expression of the 
 will of him, to whose mercy he owes his whole salvation. 
 
 He now, therefore, delights in the law, and flees from sin 
 as from a serpent. He flees from it, not from outward 
 compulsion, but inward impulsion, — not from fear of 
 punishment, but from love to that Holy Saviour, whom 
 it is his supreme desire to obey, and to whose glory he 
 dedicates himself with his whole heart. This, then, is true 
 and godly repentance unto life ; repentance springing from 
 the first love of the gospel, and always attended with faith. 
 
 A wonderful death has now taken place. The ruinous 
 alliance between the sinner and the law is dissolved, and 
 that lawfully. The law now leaves him in peace ; for the 
 believer in Christ is made “ the righteousness of God in 
 him,” and even the demands of the law are changed in 
 their character; for what it commands is now nothing 
 more than the fruit which the good tree, out of an inward 
 principle uf life, would produce of itself. 
 
 Of a repentance so glorious as this, we see no traces in 
 the sorrow of Ahab. The enmity to the law was not abo- , 
 lished in his mind, and slain by faith and love. The pe- 
 nalty of sin made him tremble, not the sin itself. Had 
 the law denounced no curse against him, his transgres- 
 sions would have cost him but little pain. Nay, because 
 the punishment lingered, he turned back into the path of 
 destruction, and thereby afforded the most undoubted 
 evidence that his sorrow was no more than the fruit of 
 selfish fear, and that the dominion and love of sin were * 
 not destroyed within him. 
 
 III. But though Ahab’s repentance was far from genu- '■ 
 ine, this did not prevent the Almighty, at whose feet he ( 
 humbled himself, from regarding it with some favour. r 
 H e sent, therefore, his word to Elijah the Tishbite, and said 
 to him, “ Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 277 
 
 me ? Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not 
 bring the evil in his days ; but in his son’s days will I bring 
 the evil on his house.” Here there was a delay of execu- 
 tion, but no recall or reversal of judgment. The curse still 
 rested upon Ahab and his house. But even this mark of 
 Divine respect to a repentance that had so little intrinsic 
 worth, this exemption of Ahab from experiencing in his 
 own life the violence of all the impending storms, was 
 an act of great condescension and grace. But you ask, 
 why did the Lord shew this regard to a humiliation so 
 little deserving of it ? I answer, he did so to impress this 
 truth deeply, by a living example, on the king and all who 
 witnessed his grief and dejection, that self-abasement be- 
 fore his throne is the way to escape his judgments, and 
 obtain his favour. We are to look upon it as an encour- 
 agement to Ahab to proceed in the right direction, just 
 as the first promising attempt of a novice in any art, how- 
 ever defective it may be, is greeted with cheering approval. 
 This was the first step which, though it did not lead from 
 death unto life, prepared the way for those which did so. 
 We must be careful, however, of supposing it a certain 
 mark of our state of grace, that we at any time of our 
 life experience the like forbearance of God on humbling 
 ourselves before him, that he vouchsafes a signal answer 
 to our cry of distress, and in consequence of our regrets 
 and confessions, rolls away some of the heavy clouds that 
 hang over us. This was, perhaps, nothing more than an 
 encouragement of the first defective attempts of the no- 
 vice in the school of repentance ; but by no means a dis- 
 tinct proof that our prayer and humiliation were the fruit 
 of godly sorrow, or that we were restored to the favour 
 of God. All history teaches us, that whenever a king or 
 people have given glory to the King of kings, even by 
 outward appearance, this confession has been crowned 
 with signal blessings from God ; but he that should thence 
 infer that these nations and princes were especial objects 
 of God’s favour, would often find himself premature in 
 his conclusions. There are men among ourselves also. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 278 
 
 whom we dare not regard as regenerated persons, who, 
 notwithstanding, take their stand on the side of gospel 
 truth, and maintain a certain form of devotion, with 
 prayer and humiliation, before the Most High, and are 
 influenced by some fear of the Divine displeasure, and are 
 capable of an apparently lively interest in the concerns 
 of Christ’s kingdom. We find, accordingly, that God blesses 
 their house, and prospers their outward lot, so that they 
 acquire the respect and esteem of all well-disposed men, 
 and enjoy, amid general goodwill, the abundant supplies 
 of this world’s good. But God forbid that these men 
 should conclude from this state of things, that they really 
 belong to the number of the saints of God, and have en- 
 tered into the congregation of the righteous. How fatal 
 would such a conclusion be ! No, God blesses them only 
 in his wise providence, though they have little more than 
 a name to live, in order to make of them living examples 
 to others, that he will not be backward to acknowledge 
 the smallest approach to his service, and that the outward 
 fruits of godliness are prosperity and honour. He makes 
 use of them as instruments for his own glorious purposes, 
 and not to seal their assurance of adoption. Let none of 
 you, my brethren, deceive himself ; for “ except ye be 
 born again, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.” 
 And if ye are not born again, it will be said of you, as of 
 Ahab, “ Seest thou how they humble themselves before 
 me ? Because they humble themselves before me, I will 
 not bring evil upon them in their lifetime.” But that day 
 shall at the last take them unawares as a thief, and the 
 voice of judgment shall startle them, “ I know you not, 
 whence ye are. I never knew you ; depart from me, ye 
 workers of iniquity.” 
 
 As many of you, my brethren, as are still “ without,” 
 are in a situation similar to that of Ahab in the field of 
 Naboth. Awful curses have been denounced against you, 
 dark clouds of judgment hang over your heads ; in these 
 clouds sleeps the thunder, and it will awake the lightning, 
 and it shall strike you through suddenly. One way of 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 279 
 
 rtjcape is still open, but one ; self-condemnation and self- 
 renunciation ! Not that these things have any value in 
 God’s sight of themselves, but they speak the felt need 
 of a better righteousness, and that need shall be supplied 
 by the righteousness of God. As soon as you stretch out 
 the hand of faith in the hour of trouble to lay hold on 
 this, the instruments of death are cast aside, the terrors 
 of the curse are hushed, the decree of grace goes forth 
 from the eternal throne, and the rainbow of the covenant 
 overspans your heaven with its glorious promise, “ I will 
 no more be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.” 
 
 Here we take leave of king Ahab. Let his example be, 
 and remain to us, an awful warning, that a sinner, after 
 the most remarkable visitations of God, the strongest al- 
 lurements, the liveliest emotions, yea, after a struggle of 
 repentance, and a wonderful answer to his prayers, may 
 yet come short and be lost for ever. 0, may our repentance 
 be better than that of Ahab, else we may look forward to 
 a more fearful repentance still, when it is too late ! Yes, 
 when the hour is come, in which the axe is laid to the 
 root of the tree, and as it falls it must lie for ever, when 
 hope is over and retreat cut off by a “ great gulf fixed,” 
 and the world has fled with all but the memory of its sins, 
 and the dark prison-house of eternity is opening wide — 
 then repentance will overtake you. But 0, what repent- 
 ance ! not unto life, but unto death ! Alas, how many 
 among you, whose “ neck is as iron,” “ and whose brow is 
 as brass,” shall quiver with strange fear, and hide your- 
 selves in the holes and clefts of the rocks, and call on the 
 mountains to fall on you and cover you from the wrath of 
 the Lamb ; and ever and anon shall burst forth the groan 
 of anguish, and the piteous cry, “ My poor, poor soul ! 
 Undone ! Undone !” And who shall comfort you, since 
 till holy beings see that your repentance is no godly re- 
 pentance, no mourning for spiritual ruin, no grief for 
 the loss of righteousness, no sighing and longing after the 
 love and communion of God ; but a shudder of suffering 
 nature, a trembling of despair, such as devils feel, a 
 
280 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 cowering before the Most High, such as the evil spirits 
 confessed when they felt the conqueror of Satan near, a 
 struggle to escape from themselves and God, such as the 
 demons felt when they prayed him not to command them 
 away into the deep. God be merciful to us, dear breth- 
 ren, and grant us that repentance unto salvation that 
 needeth not to be repented of. Let our repentance be 
 like that of the weeping child, which can have no peace 
 till the sye of the offended parent again rest on it in love ; 
 like that of the grieving Magdalene, who sunk at the Sa- 
 viour’s feet, and would not go till He spoke the words of 
 pardon. Let love be the soul of it, and faith its guiding 
 light, and a thorough breach with the kingdom of darkness 
 its first movement, and an entire surrender to the Lord, 
 the seal of its security. Then shall our tears be numbered 
 in heaven, and call forth a joy among the angels ; and the 
 Lord himself shall stretch forth both hands and wipe them 
 away, and give us the first pledge and seal of our adoption, 
 in the sacred sadness that remains behind. 
 
 X.— THE JOURNEY TO EKRON. 
 
 “ But thou hast not called upon me, 0 Jacob ; thou 
 hast been weary of me, 0 Israel.” Isa. xliii. 22. I hardly 
 know a more affecting expression than this. It is the 
 mournful complaint of a neglected and disregarded friend. 
 And who is this ill-requited, this complaining friend ? It 
 is He who is love itself ; it is the God of tender compas- 
 sion, the Saviour of sinners. And must he thus complain ? 
 Ah, who has such sad reason ! If there be on earth one 
 that is forgotten, disregarded, or mistaken, adorable Friend 
 of sinners, it is thou ! Yea, does not all the world appear 
 to have conspired to blot out his remembrance ? The 
 church, which is called by his name, for the greater part 
 rejects him. Over the doors of many of our Christian 
 sanctuaries might be written the words, “ Why seek ye 
 the living among the dead ?” The pastors of his flock, in 
 great numbers, refuse to hear his voice. The seal of the 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 281 
 
 Lamb is, in the profane language of the day, a brand of 
 infamy. Politeness forbids even the mention of his name ; 
 social life has cast out the Lord of glory as the disturber of 
 its peace ; Science scarcely deigns a serious notice of Him 
 more ; Art consecrates its colours and its tones to other 
 gods, and most of the writings and books which circulate 
 through the world, cry out, “ I know not the man,” and 
 are moved by no cock-crow to repentance. 
 
 There is ground, then, for the mournful complaint of the 
 Holy One of Israel, “ Thou hast not called upon me ; thou 
 hast been weary of me.” Who will doubt that he has a 
 right to make this complaint, and a perfect claim to our 
 affectionate remembrance ! Behold, he stands before thee 
 a man of unparalleled sorrows, his bleeding head crowned 
 with thorns ; his sacred form marred by innumerable 
 wounds. Methinks thou shouldst know by this time the 
 meaning of the strange sight ! His look was once far 
 otherwise. He was in the bosom of the Father, in the 
 form of God ; and the glory which he had with the Father, 
 before the world was, left him in no need of thy poor ser- 
 vice or of mine. But in his heart there kindled of itself 
 the flame of sacrifice, the free love of sinners; and for 
 this he chose no longer to be alone, no longer to dwell 
 apart in his own infinity, but to form the head of a sacred 
 body ; and, be astonished, ye heavens ! to complete him- 
 self through us ! Yes, sinner, that he might become thy 
 brother, and unite thee with himself in his glory, he united 
 himself with thee in thy death. Thy sins he took upon 
 himself in judgment, to lay his virtues upon thee ; and 
 bowed beneath thy curse in death, to serve thee heir to his 
 wondrous merits. Behold, this has he done for us ! What 
 thinkest thou then ? Does he ask too much in the remon- 
 strance, “ Thou hast not called upon me.” And this is 
 still the soft language of wounded love ! Surely it goes 
 deeper to the heart than the sword of vengeance ! 
 
 The touching complaint is addressed to all of us. Would 
 that it found a ready ear and an open heart ! Say, my 
 brother, didst thou once know him, or stand near him, c,a 
 
282 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 if thou wert his friend ; and dost thou now care to know him 
 no more ? Ah, look upward ; his eye of love is still upon 
 thee, thou backsliding child, and its look is sad and pain- 
 ful. Hast thou once lain at his feet, and dost thou now 
 play the traitor with the world ? Hast thou taken from 
 his hands the bread of life, and art thou now returned to 
 the husks of the prodigal ? Ah, turn not away from his 
 eye. It seems to ask thee, “ Knowest thou me ?” It seems 
 to implore thee, “ Be not weary of me.” Return, thou 
 faithless one, to his embrace, and let thy soul dissolve in 
 tears of penitence ! Think what he has done for thee, 
 from thy youth up ; how the buckler of his faithfulness 
 has shielded thee, and how his strong hand has drawn 
 thee often forth from the fearful pit and the miry clay. 
 There was a time when all this seemed to thee from the 
 Lord ; is that time forgotten, and with it the Lord him- 
 self ? If so, thy memory is false and treacherous com- 
 pared with his. For behold he still stands before thee, 
 and his language is, “ Be not weary of me !” 0 regard this 
 petition of forgiving and inviting love ! 0 smite upon thy 
 breast, and say, “ God be merciful to me a sinner ! If I 
 forget thee, may my right hand forget its cunning !” 0, 
 be not deaf to the call of the most condescending, the 
 most amazing love. It is the Creator of all things plead- 
 ing with the creature ; the supremely good and holy Being 
 with the sinner. Who can fathom this depth ! Let us 
 believe that, however astonishing, it is yet true ; and our 
 hearts will surely be grieved for ever, and live to God in 
 Christ Jesus. May the lesson of this day open up to us 
 still farther this strange mystery of love, and bring our 
 souls more deeply under its almighty influence. 
 
 2 Kings i. 2 — 4. 
 
 “ And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber 
 that was in Samaria, and was sick : and he sent messengers, and 
 said unto them. Go, enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whe- 
 ther I shall recover of this disease ? But the angel of the Lord said 
 to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the 
 king of Samaria, and say unto them. Is it not because there is not 
 a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baal-zebub the god of 
 Ekron ? Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come 
 down from that bed on which thoa art gene up, but shalt surely 
 die. And Elijah departed.” 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 283 
 
 This narrative may lead us to many serious reflections. 
 May the Lord accompany it with his blessing. We shall 
 consider, I. The application to Ekron. II. The Divine 
 jealousy. III. None but Jesus. 
 
 I. The kingdom of Israel is now passed into other hands. 
 Ahab has fallen by the stroke of the Lord, and the throne 
 is filled by his son Ahaziah, a worthless prince, who did only 
 evil in the sight of the Lord, walking in the ways of his 
 father and mother, and causing Israel to sin. He served 
 Baal and worshipped him, and provoked the Lord God of 
 Israel to anger, as his father Ahab had done. The Almighty, 
 therefore, could not return the sword of vengeance to its 
 scabbard. The first heavy stroke on Ahaziah was an in- 
 vasion of the Moabites. For a long period this people had 
 been tributary to the kings of Israel ; but they now re- 
 volted, and recovered their independence by force. Ano- 
 ther visitation which Ahaziah experienced, is related in 
 the narrative before us. Standing one day on a balcony 
 of his palace, the balustrade on which he leaned suddenly 
 gave way. The king was severely injured by the fall, and 
 “ was sick.” 
 
 Ahaziah lies then on a bed of pain ; but, alas, we be- 
 hold in him the same state of mind that so many shew 
 who come within our own observation. It is a spectacle 
 far from cheering, and furnishes another sad proof of the 
 truth, that the sharpest stings of outward trial are unable 
 to pierce the hardened heart of the sinner ; and that the 
 power which converts the soul lies not in outward cala- 
 mities and distresses, but solely in the mercy of God, and 
 the victorious operations of his almighty grace. What 
 had been wanting to Ahaziah in his father’s life-time, that 
 might have been thought likely to lead him to repentance ! 
 How remarkably had th£ Almighty revealed himself anew 
 in Israel ; and what everwhelming proofs had he given of 
 his severity and jealousy ! All this must have been fresh 
 in Ahaziah’s mind ; yet he acts as if such great realities, 
 with the fearful end of his own father, had been no more 
 
284 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 in his sight than the fleeting images of a dream ; and, in- 
 stead of humbling himself before the living God, his heart 
 is given to idolatry, and he flees to his gods in the time of 
 trouble. In the Philistine city of Ekron there was an 
 oracle, sacred to the god Baal-zebub, that is, the god of 
 flies, so called either from the plague of flies common in 
 that region being attributed to his displeasure, or from 
 his being honoured as a protector from that plague. This 
 idol was supposed to answer, by his priests, all inquiries 
 respecting the future fortunes and events of life ; and so 
 great was the faith in these responses, that the shrine was 
 a constant resort of pilgrims from other quarters. That 
 the predictions and miracles, that distinguished this oracle, 
 were not the work merely of fraud and priestcraft, but 
 rested on something real, which was produced by infernal 
 influence, is just as little susceptible of doubt, as it is that 
 heathenism in general was supported by the arts of evil 
 spirits, without which it would not have subsisted for half 
 a century. When at last, in the Divine judgment of anti- 
 christ and his kingdom, Satan shall suffer that signal de- 
 feat which is predicted in the word of God, it will need 
 no farther proof that it was he who created and upheld 
 idolatry, and that through his magic power, that system 
 of darkness and falsehood received its principal support. 
 No sooner shall heathenism be stripped of this Satanic 
 garb, than it will be as if scales had fallen from the eyes 
 of the blind ; they will be confounded to think that they 
 have adhered for thousands of years to a pure nonentity, 
 and will come from the east and the west to worship the 
 Lord in Zion. The oracle of the idol at Ekron was the 
 first which it occurred to the sick king at Samaria to con- 
 sult. He assembled his servants about him, to perpetrate 
 by their means an act of impiety, than which none greater 
 could be committed in Israel. “ Go,” said he openly and 
 shamelessly, “ and inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ek- 
 ron, whether I shall recover of this disease.” 
 
 The infamous example of Ahaziah cannot' be followed 
 in our times in its naked letter, as idol-worship has long 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 285 
 
 since been banished from the midst of us, and the world 
 is too enlightened to consult the devil in person, having 
 long been disposed to count Satan and hell among the 
 gloomy phantoms of a rude antiquity. And yet, if we 
 examine the matter closely, we shall find that even this 
 philosophic century is full of that heathen leaven, though 
 it is now moulded into a more refined form ; and we shall 
 learn by experience, that the rejection of the sure word 
 of prophecy only leads to a new superstition. The pre- 
 sentiment of an invisible world, and the felt need of pene- 
 trating into its mysteries, are indelibly impressed on every 
 human heart. But the man who refuses to subject this 
 longing curiosity to the dictates of Scripture, and to seek 
 the satisfaction of his desire in Divine revelation, will in- 
 evitably fall a prey to the delusions of darkness and impos- 
 ture. As a counterpart to the oracle of Ekron and of 
 Endor, we have in the present day clairvoyants and som- 
 nambulists; instead of the Delphic tripod and the Do- 
 donian oak, we have pretended prophets and fortune- 
 tellers, whose number is greater among the people than 
 is commonly imagined ; and, if these are too silly to move 
 us, we have forebodings, presentiments, dreams, &c., to 
 which many trust as the voice of inspiration, and make 
 their peace of mind depend on them. The place of the an- 
 cient heathen mysteries is occupied by a set of secret asso- 
 ciations, in whose mystic obscurities thousands seek those 
 disclosures which they refuse to receive from the mouth 
 of the living God ; and though they can smile with con- 
 descending pity on the magical arts of antiquity, they do 
 not despise to make trial of vulgar amulets and charms, 
 which the popular belief endows with strange virtues, and 
 to hope for the cure of diseases from one and another so- 
 called sympathetic remedy. And once more, my friends, 
 when we hear a mother entreating the physician to save 
 her child, and putting all her confidence in his skill, and 
 even taking offence at his pious reference to the Divine 
 blessing, as what alone can make his remedies effectual, 
 is not this the very spirit of Ahaziah ? Is it not a running 
 
286 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 after idols, an idolatry of secondary causes ? But alas ! 
 how great is the number of such practical atheists among 
 us ; how many are there to whom it has never once occur- 
 red as a serious thought, that any thing should be hoped 
 for from the God of Israel, and who, in all their necessi- 
 ties and embarrassments, have no other God than the 
 creature, than dust and ashes ! But woe unto those who 
 give unto idols the honour due to God alone ! For that 
 the Lord does not regard them with indifference, the sequel 
 of the narrative will make plain to all of us. 
 
 II. How then did Ahaziah succeed ? Re sends to Ekron 
 to consult Baal-zebub ; but, instead of the lying response 
 of the idol, he hears the awful thunder of the living God. 
 His messengers are already on their way, when the angel 
 of Jehovah comes to the Tishbite and directs him, saying, 
 “ Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Sa- 
 maria, and say unto them. Is it because there is not a God 
 in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of 
 Ekron ? Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt 
 not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, 
 but shall surely die.” It is Christ, the Angel Jehovah, who 
 spake thus to Elijah. Why it was He, is not hard to un- 
 derstand. He had the greatest reason to be displeased 
 with Ahaziah’s impiety. It was He who sought to be a 
 God for men and among men ; and who had done every- 
 thing to gain the affections of sinners to himself, and to 
 constrain their trust and obedience. From the times of 
 old he had heaped upon Israel all possible proofs of his 
 condescension, favour, and love. Even in the days of the 
 patriarchs he had shewn that his delights were with the 
 sons of men, and that he was ready to guide his chosen 
 people, not only by the Urim and Thummim of the high- 
 priest, but by his own immediate voice and counsel. He 
 had revealed himself as the Lord, “ who was ever nigh to 
 all that call upon him in truth,” and had so manifested his 
 love to sinners, that it might seem as if he lived only for 
 their sakes ; and now we see them refusing to come to 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 him, and following after the vain idol of Ekron. The 
 offence cried to heaven, and justly provoked him to anger ; 
 and, therefore, he appeared in person to complain of such 
 ingratitude, and to furnish the messengers with the sadly 
 just remonstrance, “ Is it because there is no God in Is- 
 rael, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of 
 Ekron ?” 
 
 I can imagine with what difficulty some may be con- 
 vinced that it was in truth no other than the Eternal God 
 that here appeared to Elijah, and spoke to him as the 
 children of men to each other ; and, no doubt, they never 
 will believe it, till they have learnt to know Him in his 
 deepest humiliation, by the manger and the cross, and in 
 the fulness of that love which made him willing to be 
 despised and rejected of men that he might bring us to 
 glory, and in which he devoted himself to death as the 
 Lamb of God, that he might obtain by his blood eternal 
 redemption for us. He that has once become acquainted 
 with him in these deep humiliations, can look on all other 
 acts of his condescension without astonishment. He who 
 has seen the greater, ceases to be amazed at the less. 
 
 And let no one stumble at the fact, that the mighty 
 God appears in our history like the children of men, in 
 being provoked at being passed by, while inquiry was 
 made at Ekron. Such a God, and no other is our God, 
 and such he will abide, blessed be his name ! Surely he 
 is not most glorious to us in his unveiled dignity, but in 
 the veil of condescension and love. It is because of the 
 greatness of his love, that he cannot be indifferent how 
 our hearts are affected towards him. He would have his 
 people love him ; and not only so, but he watches over our 
 love to him with a holy jealousy, and seeks to possess it 
 alone, entire, undivided, and exclusive. Yes, his child- 
 ren may well be on their guard against the smallest dis- 
 traction of their love. He will not suffer it ; but will use 
 severity to those who are as the apple of his eye. He will 
 come with the rod and chastise them, saying, “ Ephraim, 
 v.hat hast thou to do any more with idols ?” or he will tear 
 
288 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 from their embrace the objects that divide their heart 
 with him. For he must have our whole heart, and how 
 blessed shall we be if it is given entire to him “ who alone 
 is worthy.” 
 
 III. And as he desires our love unbroken and entire, so 
 he will not suffer us to find our peace, our confidence, and 
 our strength in any other than himself alone. Immanuel 
 must be our all in all. Do you ask what this implies ? 
 Gladly do I embrace the present opportunity of bringing 
 this vital subject clearly before your minds. You know 
 the blessing of Moses pronounced on Levi, “ Let thy 
 Urim and thy Thummim, 0 Levi, (thy light and thy right- 
 eousness,) be with thy Holy One.” Deut. xxxiii. 8. Here 
 you have the answer to your question. The “ Holy One” 
 was not Aaron, but Aaron’s antitype, Christ, the true 
 High Priest ; and Levi is taken for a type of the chosen 
 people of God. So that the blessing of Moses, in its highest 
 sense, is this, “ Let thy Urim and Thummim rest and 
 abide for ever with Christ.” Now, as the Urim and 
 Thummim, or that square breast-plate set with twelve 
 precious stones, after the number of the tribes of Israel, 
 which the high priest wore, was the distinctive badge of 
 his high-priesthood, the language of Moses is, “ Separate 
 not the High-Priesthood from Jesus, leave him in full 
 possession of his glorious office.” Not, as if we could 
 by our backsliding suspend the intercessions of our Re- 
 deemer for us, or escape from the range of his high- 
 priestly care. But we may sever the high-priesthood from 
 our Lord, by losing our own sense of its need and hal- 
 lowed influence, and sinfully placing it elsewhere than in 
 Christ. When, after being “ known of God,” we fall into 
 sin, we are too apt to distrust the Lord’s mercy, and lose 
 sight of our great Advocate with the Father. We weep ; 
 but the tears are those of servile fear, or mortified self- 
 confidence ; we make vows for the future, and approach 
 God in the strength of our own resolutions, rather than 
 the all-sufficient grace of our Surety. This is to take away 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 289 
 
 the priesthood from Christ, in its peace- speaking power to 
 the conscience, and its strengthening power to the affec- 
 tions and the will ; and against this the warning is directed, 
 “ Let thy Urim and Thummim be with thy Holy One.” 
 
 No complaints are heard more frequently from believers 
 than those which are made over their poor attainments in 
 praying, praising, and thanksgiving. And with these is 
 very naturally connected, the fear that their half-stifled 
 cries cannot pass through the heavens, and find a hearing 
 of God. But how foolish and unbelieving is this conduct ! 
 This is to put the Urim and Thummim on your own breasts, 
 and to come before the Eternal with incense from the 
 censer of your own merits. Do you know so little of the 
 great Advocate who stands day and night before the Fa- 
 ther, to receive the weak and broken petitions of his saints 
 as they rise, and to complete them by the addition of his 
 own intercessions ? And do you not know that the blood 
 of Christ, the sufferings and death of Christ, the obedience 
 and righteousness of Christ, the whole sum of the un- 
 speakably precious work of Christ, prays with and for you ? 
 Think, my redeemed brother, that though thou canst utter 
 but three words before God, and only lisp and stammer at 
 the foot of his throne, thy broken voice is that of one 
 whom God loves with the same love with which he regards 
 his only begotten, and on whom he thought from eternity 
 in his lost estate, and reconciled when yet an qnemy, by 
 the death of his Son. Hold fast, then, this confidence in 
 prayer. Remember that your High Priest prays with and 
 for you, and that your prayers are accepted in the Be- 
 loved. This will give unction. to all your petitions, and 
 teach you that spirit of prayer in faith to which nothing 
 is denied. 
 
 In the breast-plate of the high priest were twelve of the 
 most precious stones, on which were engraven the names 
 of the twelve tribes of Israel. The resplendent light and 
 glory which thus shone around the names of the chosen 
 people, were emblematic of the beauty and glory of the 
 children of God, which they possess in their true High 
 19 
 
290 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISEUHTE, 
 
 Priest. Hence they teach us not to separate our sanctifi- 
 cation from Christ, but, in this sense also, to let our TJrim 
 and Thummim be with the Holy One. But alas ! in how 
 many ways is this all-important rule practically set at 
 nought among professed Christians; nay, how many systems, 
 great and small, are there established in direct defiance of 
 it ! The proud child of the dust, in the loftiness of his 
 heart, must have an independent holiness of his own. It 
 is a hereditary disease ; but would that the professed sons 
 of God did not retain so many dregs of it. But what do 
 we see ? One society of so-called Christians after another, 
 given up to the self-righteous pursuit of the phantom vir- 
 tue, and even dreaming that they have overtaken and 
 secured it. Others multiply restraints and impose prohi- 
 bitions, “ touch not, taste not, handle not,” and profess 
 to have reached, by this ladder of pride, attainments in 
 holiness which they can dispense to others. These are 
 your sticklers for seasons and places of prayer, your de- 
 votees by the clock, your sanctuary and Sabbath saints, 
 and well-going people of form, who lay their head on their 
 pillow with a good conscience, when the daily routine of 
 religion has been run over in thought, and all found exact 
 and punctual ; these are the vain dreamers whom the gos- 
 pel arouses not, and who, in outward gestures and mystic 
 quietism, and voluntary austerities, and other similar in- 
 ventions of will-worship, seek their own glory, and even 
 boast of a complete purification from the least taint of sin. 
 All are deluded by their own self-righteous blindness ; all 
 are walking in the same fearful path of error, ignorant 
 alike of the depths of their own depravity and of the 
 holiness of the Most High. Happy those who have learnt 
 that God’s glory is the end, and God’s grace, through 
 Christ, the means of our holiness ! The ground of our 
 hope and confidence is, and must be for ever, the perfec- 
 tion of our Surety, which is ours by pure favour of God. 
 It is the consciousness of being thus complete in Jesus, 
 which is the spring of true Christian virtue, of which the 
 body is humility, the soul is love, and the end and aim 
 
ELITA.H THE TISHEITE. 
 
 291 
 
 the Divine honour. Resolve, then, to be nothing in thy- 
 self, by thyself, or for thyself Say rather with the spi- 
 ritual poet 
 
 “ Had I an angel’s holiness, 
 
 I'd lay aside the shining dress, 
 
 And choose my Saviours righteousness.” 
 
 When it was desired in Israel to learn God’s will and 
 purpose, application was made to the high priest, who, 
 by means of the Urim and Thummim, give the wished- 
 for answer in the name of God. This circumstance may 
 teach us to draw a new lesson from the blessing of Moses. 
 Let us leave our concerns in the hand of Christ, and make 
 not ourselves our counsellors. 0 ye of little faith, who 
 are still asking the anxious question, “ What shall we eat, 
 or what shall we drink, or wherewithall shall we be cloth- 
 ed ?” Consider what you do. Is your High Priest dead, 
 and must ye bear the breast-plate of office yourselves ? 
 Cast your care on Him, and He will keep your mind in 
 perfect peace. Farther, let your light and direction for 
 the future be with him. Be not perplexed by this or that 
 untoward providence. All will come to pass as the great 
 Prophet has long ago predicted. From the watchtower of 
 his prophecies look forth upon the world, and you will 
 have a sure footing amid the turmoil of this distracted 
 age. Y ou will know already the substance of all ephemeral 
 views, for you can now read the book of the world’s his- 
 tory, and understand its sequel and the glorious close. 
 Over the gloomy foreground your eye darts away into the 
 golden distance that lies beyond, and sees the clouds of 
 the present tinged with the rosy dawn of the coming ju- 
 bilee. Lastly, let our whole wisdom be with Christ. Let us 
 hold fast the sure word of prophecy, and that all the more 
 firmly and valiantly, the more unblushingly the father of 
 lies comes abroad in our day, to drive us from the security 
 of our citadel, and wrest these weapons of Divine temper 
 from our hands. Away with that philosophy and science 
 which are falsely so called, away with the dreams of new 
 revelations, away with the visionaries and inflated enthu- 
 
292 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 siasts, whose cry is still, " Spirit and life !” while all the 
 while they desire nothing but a “ fair show in the flesh,” 
 and who tremble not to lay impious hands on the sacred 
 letter of the written word. “ Let that, therefore, abide 
 in you which ye have heard from the beginning.” “ Keep 
 that which is committed unto you ; but shun profane and 
 vain babblings.” Yes, let thy light and thy righteousness, 
 thy knowledge, thy counsel, and thy wisdom be with thy 
 Holy One. 
 
 As the names of the children of Israel were written on 
 the breast-plate of the high priest, let us remember that 
 Christ bears the names of his children on his heart. They 
 are laid on him by the Father, and his name is laid on them. 
 Hence a blessed community with Christ in his sufferings 
 and glory. Christ is not dead and arisen, and ascended to 
 heaven, and crowned with glory and honour for himself 
 alone, but every believer in him ! This is an unspeakably 
 great and sacred mystery. Of this all the apostles were 
 persuaded, in the faith of it they all lived and died, and 
 they have given us their testimony with all solemnity that 
 it is even so. “ I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I 
 live.” “ Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in 
 God.” “ Christ is risen from the dead, and become the 
 first fruits of them that slept.” It was this that called forth 
 the triumphant language, “ Who shall lay any thing to 
 the charge of God’s elect ? It is God that justifieth. Who 
 is he that condemneth ? it is Christ that died ; yea, rather 
 that is risen again, who also maketh intercession for us.” 
 “ 0 death, where is thy sting ; 0 grave, where is thy vic- 
 tory ?” Let our faith be that of Paul, and we shall equally 
 glory in the High Priest of our profession. 
 
 The high priest, as you know, bore the names of the 
 children of Israel on his heart. And so it is upon his 
 heart that Christ bears your names, upon his heart that 
 was wrung with anguish and pierced with the spear for 
 you. Consider the import of this glorious truth, “ As my 
 Father hath loved me, so have I loved you.” And shall 
 we not then cleave to this compassionate High Priest ? 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 293 
 
 not only in our ultimate attachment to his cause (for if 
 we are truly his, he will hold us fast for ever, amid all our 
 unfaithfulness), but in our constant self-dedication to 
 him, and unbroken enjoyment of his fellowship. Let no 
 felt deadness of heart then, let no spiritual drought, let 
 no seeming rejection of our prayers, awaken in us doubts 
 of his love, or call forth the unbelieving cry, “ The Lord 
 hath forsaken me, and my God hath forgotten me.” Let 
 us maintain in all circumstances the blessed consciousness 
 of his love, and the joyful and holy calm of spirit which 
 flows from this conviction. Let us look upon ourselves 
 more and more, as our assurance grows with increase of 
 faith and holiness, as bound with all that we are and have 
 to the heart of the great Mediator, and as warranted to 
 commit to him the whole care of our direction, and sanc- 
 tification, and preservation, unto the day of the Lord. 
 Our great Shepherd, Advocate, and Intercessor, has re- 
 ceived the charge of all that the Father has given him, to 
 lose nothing. 
 
 Behold, then, my brethren, Him who is, and must be, 
 your all in all. Seeing that he is made of God unto us, 
 wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemp- 
 tion ; to look, however obliquely, to any other quarter for 
 that help which he has provided for us, is a base ingrati- 
 tude, an insult to his offices, an act of treason against his 
 Majesty. Cursed then be the paths that lead to Endor 
 and to Ekron ! halt and lame must the feet be that are 
 found in these ways ! There is a God in Israel, who, be 
 astonished ye heavens ! stands ready to supply the sinners 
 need with a Divine fulness of help, and righteousness, and 
 salvation ! To whom do we owe our love, our confidence, 
 our soul’s all, but to Him ! 0 Israel, be dissolved in tears 
 before thy King, and let the words be henceforth graven 
 on thy heart, “ Let thy Urim and thy Thummim ever be 
 with thy Holy One.” 
 
294 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 XI.— THE PREACHING BY FIRE. 
 
 The Life of the Church of God upon earth manifests 
 itself in a threefold activity, in Reformation, in Christian 
 Union, and in Missionary Enterprise. Of this threefold 
 development of life in the true Church, the apostle speaks 
 in Eph. ii. 20—23. 
 
 By Reformation, we understand the efforts of the Church 
 to cast out every foreign and unscriptural element that 
 has crept in ; to purify herself from errors, and to build 
 herself upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, 
 Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. 
 
 By Union, we understand that vital energy of the Church, 
 whereby she seeks to combine believers more closely to- 
 gether, and to promote more and more their growing up 
 in all things unto him who is the Head. “ That,” as the 
 apostle says, “ the whole building, fitly framed together, 
 may grow into an holy temple in the Lord.” 
 
 By Missionary activity, it is the effort of the Church to 
 extend her boundaries, to recover new provinces from the 
 prince of darkness, to increase the number of her child- 
 ren, whether from heathen abroad, or practical heathen 
 at home, and to build them together on the same founda- 
 tion “ for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” 
 
 Wherever, then, the true Church is to be found, she 
 will, in all cases, display this threefold character, although 
 it commonly happens, that some one of these activities is 
 found to predominate over the others. Among us, for ex- 
 ample, the Church has much less to do in the way of re- 
 formation than elsewhere, for the creed of the majority 
 among us is orthodox, and accordant with Scripture. The 
 Church can therefore with us apply herself all the more 
 to the edification and union of her own members, and to 
 the farther extension of the spiritual fold. But, in general, 
 it may be said of our age, that the reforming activity of 
 the true Church is the predominant one ; her work is to 
 lay the foundation, since the spirit of falsehood has dared 
 to attack the very basis of the Church of Christ. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 295 
 
 Elijah stands before us as the greatest reformer of the 
 ancient dispensation. The restoration of idolatrous Israel 
 to the faith of their forefathers, was the work given him 
 to do ; and thus the prevailing character of his age was 
 that of reformation. Let us keep this principle steadily 
 in view in the study of his life ; we will then be enabled 
 to interpret aright the peculiar character of his measures ; 
 and the history which we are now to consider will, among 
 others, lose the aspect of strangeness which it presents to 
 us on its first appearance. 
 
 2 Kings i. 5—17. 
 
 “ And when the messengers turned hack unto him, he said unto 
 them. Why are ye now turned back ? And they said unto him. 
 There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again 
 unto the king that sent you, and say unto him. Thus saith the Lord, 
 Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to 
 inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron ? therefore thou shalt not 
 come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt 
 surely die. And he said unto them. What manner of man was he 
 which came up to meet you, and told you these words ? And they 
 answered him. He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of lea- 
 ther about his loins. And he said. It is Elijah the Tishbite. Then 
 the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty : and he went 
 up to him; (and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill;) and he 
 spake unto him. Thou man of God, the king hath said. Come down. 
 And Elijah answered, and said to the captain of fifty. If I be a man 
 of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee 
 and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and con- 
 sumed him and his fifty. Again also he sent unto him another 
 captain of fifty with his fifty : and he answered and said unto him, 
 O man of God, thus hath the king said. Come down quickly. And 
 Elijah answered and said unto them. If I be a man of God, let fire 
 come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the 
 fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his 
 fifty. And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty : 
 and the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his 
 knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man 
 of God, I pray thee, let my life and the life of these fifty thy ser- 
 vants, be precious in thy sight. Behold, there came fire down 
 from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties 
 with their fifties ; therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight. 
 And the angel of the Lord said unto Elijah, Go down with him ; be 
 not afraid of him. And he arose, and’went down with him unto 
 the king. And he said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch 
 as thou hast sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub the god 
 of Ekron, (is it not because there is- no God in Israel to inquire of 
 his word?) therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on 
 which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. So he died, according 
 to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken.” 
 
296 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 Such, my friends, is the end of the narrative which 
 commenced with the mission to Ekron. Our God is a 
 consuming fire. He will not be mocked ; and it is a fear- 
 ful thing to fall into his hands. Let us tarry a little to 
 contemplate this strange contest. Here we have, I. Aha- 
 ziah’s attempt against Elijah. II. The prophet’s victory. 
 III. Ahaziah’s complete destruction. 
 
 I. The messengers of King Ahaziah are already on their 
 way to execute the impious commission. Throwing the 
 guilt of their enterprise on the head of him who devised it, 
 they pass cheerfully on, and already anticipate the end of 
 their journey. But in such courses we are ever liable to 
 err in our reckoning. The oracle comes ere they dream of 
 it, and from a quarter the farthest from their imaginations. 
 All at once a living barrier stands in their way. A man of 
 high and commanding look suddenly appears before them, 
 clad in a hairy mantle, and his mien as dark and awful as 
 the summit of Sinai with its clouds and thunder. Here is 
 no embattled army, but only a single man, without armour 
 or weapons. But the party stand at once aghast at his 
 appearance, and their train is startled and refuses to pro- 
 ceed. “ The Tishbite” is whispered in alarm from mouth 
 to mouth ; but ere they gain time to inquire and take coun- 
 sel, the awful stranger confronts them, and his alarming 
 message breaks on them like a storm. “ Is it because there 
 is not a God in Israel, that ye are gone to inquire of Baal- 
 zebub, the god of Ekron ? Return and tell your master, 
 Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that 
 bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.” The 
 stranger spoke, and turned and disappeared. Pale and 
 trembling, the messengers gaze on each other, and know 
 not what to say. They had not dreamed of bringing their 
 master so swift an answer, and that too without money and 
 without price. And from whom did the oracle come ? They 
 know too well that it comes from a source that could not 
 lie. They have lost all inclination to pursue their journey; 
 they shudder at the thought. The way seems wrapt in 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 297 
 
 flames of fire, with the pit of Tophet at the further end. 
 One encounter with this terrible man was more than 
 enough ; and they would rather have rushed into the 
 bloodiest field of battle than met him once again. They 
 turn about in haste, as if the place were no longer safe, 
 and return in silent consternation to Samaria. Verily, it 
 cannot always be foreseen what one is to encounter in such 
 journeys as to Ekron and Endor ! It is a dangerous re- 
 course to turn aside from the word of God, and follow after 
 the lying vanities of superstition and imposture. Many a 
 one, in such presumptuous courses, has found disclosures 
 which made his ears tingle and his heart quake. And many 
 have lost for ever the light of truth, and “ been given over 
 to strong delusions to believe a lie.” The case of Saul is 
 the great scripture warning against this vain and impious 
 curiosity. You know in this tragic instance, how God 
 himself sent up the prophet Samuel with a message of 
 death; and mixed, with the flagitious sport of the conjuror, 
 a scene of good earnest, which was terrible enough to crush 
 for ever, in all who should hear of it, all vain design to in- 
 termeddle with such arts of darkness. “ Little children, 
 abide in him “ If any man draw back,” saith the Lord, 
 “ my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” 
 
 II. We return to Samaria. King Ahaziah lies upon his 
 couch, and occupies himself with thinking how far his 
 messengers may be by this time on their way. Suddenly 
 he hears the sound of footsteps, the door of his apartment 
 opens, and the messengers stand before his bed. “ How,” 
 asks the monarch with no small surprise, “ are you re- 
 turned so soon ? What means this ?” And, without delay, 
 the messengers relate without reserve all that had befallen 
 them by the way. “ There came a man up to meet us, and 
 said unto us. Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, 
 and say unto him. Is it because there is not a God in Is- 
 rael that thou sendest to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of 
 Ekron ? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed 
 on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.” The 
 
298 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 king hears and is confounded. But collecting himself, as 
 his amazement changed into rage and exasperation, he 
 inquired, “ What manner of man was he which came up 
 to meet you, and told you these words !” “ He was a hairy 
 man,” answered they, “ and girt with a girdle of leather about 
 his loins.” This likeness was well-known to the king, “Yes,” 
 says he, with an assumed composure, “ I thought so ; it is 
 Elijah the Tishbite.” 
 
 The king gives his messengers a sign to retire. “ Send 
 me hither one of my captains,” he cries with stifled but deep 
 and burning resentment. The captain appears in the sick 
 monarch’s chamber, and reads in his master’s looks the 
 purport of his commission, “Go with your troop,” says he, 
 “ seize Elijah the Tishbite and bring him unto me.” The 
 captain bows submission and hastens to execute the king’s 
 orders. Reflect now on the amazing presumption which 
 the sick monarch here displays ! He knows well enough 
 who the man is against whom he is about to employ force. 
 He has witnessed the mighty deeds with which the Lord 
 had accredited this his prophet. He is not ignorant how 
 God hears this man’s voice, how this mighty champion 
 has Jehovah upon his side, and how all the heavens’ thun- 
 ders, and lightnings, and flames of vengeance are at his 
 command. Yet all this cannot prevent him from entering 
 the lists with the prophet, and thus declaring war against 
 the King of kings. Thus his impiety infatuates his reason, 
 and the feverish fury of his passion banishes the last ves- 
 tige of cool reflection. The stubble sets itself in array a- 
 gainst the fire, a cloud of vapour defies the storm. Surely 
 the course of nature is here invaded. And it is so. For 
 strong delusion has compassed round his apostate spirit, 
 and the stamp of Satan is already visible in his judicial 
 hardening. 
 
 The captain with his fifty nas already marched forth, and 
 is not long in finding the enemy. On the summit of a 
 mountain, probably on Carmel, they come in sight of the 
 prophet. There he sat, still and lonely, and lost in sacred 
 meditation. But he sat there like a king on his throne, 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 299 
 
 secure in his God, and surrounded by an invisible host for 
 a guard. He looks up, and beholds the troop with glitter- 
 ing arms approaching, and guesses at once from whom they 
 have come and what is their errand. But he fears nothing 
 in his strong fortress. He will confront them under the 
 banner of his God, and calmly permits their hostile ad- 
 vance. They come nearer that they may shut their pri- 
 soner in ; but the regal dignity of the man, as he rises to 
 meet them, and the majestic repose that is stamped on his 
 countenance impose a restraint on their minds, and make 
 them shrink from laying hands on him. They doubtless 
 had a vivid presentiment of some outburst of ruin, should 
 they dare to seize such a man. The captain is satisfied 
 with declaring, in harsh and insolent words, his master’s 
 order, “ Thou man of God, the king hath said. Come down.” 
 The prophet sees the haughty bearing of this officer, ag- 
 gravated as it was by the conviction that its object was con- 
 fessed to be a man of God. His soul burns with jealousy 
 for the honour of his God, and, with a faith which could 
 have removed Mount Carmel from its base and cast it into 
 the midst of the sea, he cries out “ If I be a man of God, 
 then let fire come down from heaven and consume thee 
 and thy fifty.” Scarcely has he spoken, ere the words have 
 flown on high and waked the slumbering fire. The Lord 
 hears, and denies not his amen to prayers which seek his 
 own glory. The sky is filled with a lurid blaze, and from 
 the rent clouds the fire rushes down ; and the captain with 
 his fifty lies dead at the prophet’s feet ! 
 
 When this terrible event is made known to the king, 
 with almost inconceivable madness, he is hardened in his 
 impiety, and becomes so blind from rage, that instead of 
 observing against what power he was really making war, 
 he sends a second captain and his fifty, seemingly more 
 daring and unscrupulous than the first, who finds Elijah 
 still in the same place. He draws near at the head of his 
 troop to the servant of the Lord, and with unparalleled 
 presumption, in sight of the slain around him, addresses 
 him as harshly and scornfully as the former, “ 0 man of 
 
300 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly.” “ If 
 I be a man of God,” answers Elijah the second time, “ let 
 fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy 
 fifty.” And the fire of God came down from heaven and 
 consumed him and his fifty. 
 
 One would have thought that intelligence of this second 
 defeat must have caused a change in Ahaziah’s temper, 
 and moved him to seek a truce from this unexampled and 
 ruinous contest. But no. Though he should lose his 
 whole army in the struggle, and sacrifice his crown and 
 kingdom besides, nay, and his life also, he will not yield. 
 He sends forth therefore a third captain with his fifty, and 
 enjoins him to bring the prophet as his prisoner. The 
 captain departs with his company, and already we antici- 
 pate with horror the renewal of the wrathful judgment. 
 Elijah still sits in the same place upon the height. He 
 thinks not of flight or of terms of peace with the enemies 
 of his King. He is not afraid of many thousands, for he 
 knows that the army of heaven which surrounds him 
 could lay the whole array of earth’s legions in the dust. As 
 now the third captain, at the head of his force, arrives at 
 the mount, and beholds the man of God surrounded by 
 the dead bodies of the slain, he is seized with a feeling of 
 awful reverence, which he in vain endeavours to overcome. 
 He feels that he is bearing arms against heaven, nay, a- 
 gainst the Almighty himself, thus to attack his ambassa- 
 dor ; and, overpowered with the awe of the presence of the 
 man of God, and with the living conviction that Elijah’s 
 God is the true God, he puts up his sword into the sheath, 
 and his fifty with him, and reverently drawing near the 
 prophet, exclaims, “ 0 man of God, I pray thee, let my 
 life and the life of these fifty, thy servants, be precious in 
 thy sight. Behold there came fire down from heaven and 
 burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their 
 fifties ; therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight.” 
 O, how must Elijah have rejoiced at this submission to the 
 living God, which delivered him from the mournful ne- 
 cessity of avenging the honour of his master, the third time. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 301 
 
 with flames of fire. For, without controversy, his soul had 
 no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but it was his delight, 
 even as it is the delight of his Lord, that the sinner should 
 turn from his ways and live. It must have cost him no small 
 struggle to call forth the sword of the Lord from its sheath, 
 and the fire of the Lord from heaven. But where it was 
 necessary, his divino commission enjoined it ; the sacred 
 end of his whole prophetic life required it, for the extir- 
 pation of idolatry and demon- worship , the restoration of the 
 dishonoured law, and the rekindling of the extinguished 
 faith of his fathers. The weapons of his warfare, then, 
 were not carnal. They were wielded by that queen of 
 passions,— love to God and his cause ; and brandished in 
 the service of holy zeal, for the glory of Jehovah’s name. 
 It was because the canker of idolatry had eaten so deeply 
 into the heart of the chosen people, that such painful 
 excision and cautery was necessary, that the health of the 
 daughter of Zion might be recovered. 
 
 Let me remark further, that, in studying such narratives 
 as the present, we should ever bear in mind that the 
 times of the Old Testament were very different from those 
 of the Christian dispensation, and that much which it was 
 proper for Elijah to perform, would be far from right in a 
 disciple of the New Testament. You all know the pleas- 
 ing contrast which our Saviour draws between the two dis- 
 pensations, (Luke ix. 55), in relation to this one point of 
 the divine treatment of sinners. No doubt the indignation 
 of the disciples against that city of Samaria which refused 
 to receive the Lord of Zion was in itself just and right ; 
 only the way in which they sought to express their zeal for 
 the honour of their master was totally alien from their 
 character as disciples of the Son of Man. They wished, 
 as ye know, to tread in the footsteps of Elijah, and said, 
 “ Lord wilt thou that we command fire to fall from heaven 
 and consume them, as Elias did ?” But what says the 
 Lord himself.' To indicate that the whole of this procedure 
 showed a misconception of the character of their age and 
 their vocation, he replies, “Ye know not what manner of 
 
m 
 
 ELIJAH THE TTSHBITB. 
 
 spirit ye are of ; for the Son of Man is not come to destroy 
 men’s lives but to save them.” As if he had said, “ The 
 days of severity are past, and those of mildness have suc- 
 ceeded them. The discipline of Mount Sinai is no longer 
 the rule ; but patience and love. Elijah was a herald of 
 divine justice, and it behoved him to appear as with the 
 ensigns of majesty and terror. Ye are messengers of peace, 
 who have to win the hearts of sinners with the gospel of 
 grace, and thus your feet must be beautiful upon the moun- 
 tains.” And as it has in these last days been made manifest 
 in the long-suffering with which the vessels of wrath are 
 endured, that a hand once pierced sways the sceptre of 
 the world’s government, and a Friend of sinners sits on 
 the throne of dominion; so ought the New Testament 
 Church to exhibit in its essence a true image of the gentle 
 and patient Lamb of God, in whose blood they are cleansed, 
 and who, through endurance and suffering, entered into 
 his glory. The lovely image of the compassionate Son of 
 Man ought to be visible in all his members, and the cap- 
 tivating lustre of his merciful and gracious nature ought 
 never to disappear from the society of his friends. Thus 
 it is at all times infinitely more becoming in us, as fol- 
 lowers of the Lamb, to pray for the enemies of the cause 
 of truth, than to call down the lightnings of heaven upon 
 their heads. Unspeakably more appropriate is it to our 
 place, in patience and meekness to heap coals of fire upon 
 the heads of our adversaries, and overcome them by the 
 power of love, than, in the spirit of the law, to implore the 
 wrath of the Almighty to go forth against them. In short, 
 our whole walk and conversation should make it manifest 
 that we are the disciples of that Master “who came not to 
 destroy men’s lives but to save them;” and that our poor 
 hearts have found, at the foot of his cross, the fountain of 
 that love opened in them, which finds it easy to bear all 
 things, and believe all things, and endure all things, even 
 that love which many waters cannot quench, nor the 
 floods drown. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 303 
 
 III. “ 0 man of God, let my life and the life of these 
 fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight.” Thus spake 
 the third captain, with entreaties and on his knees ; and 
 his sincere submission was the means of his escape. “ For 
 God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the hum- 
 ble.” The Lord said to Elijah, “ Go down with him ; be 
 not afraid of him.” What a command ! what a mission ! 
 He was now to enter into the very midst of the enemy's 
 camp, and repeat to the enraged monarch at Samaria the 
 oracle of doom. But the words, “ Be not afraid,” bear 
 him up, as on eagles’ wings, above all care and anxiety. 
 He leaves the lonely hills, and hastens by the captain's 
 side to the royal city. 
 
 As a conqueror enters the gates of some captured fort- 
 ress, amid the waving s of victorious banners, Elijah en- 
 tered the capital of Samaria. He knows that, in the ga- 
 thering crowds upon the street, he sees only embittered 
 enemies; but he walks on with a dignity and majesty 
 which overawes the most daring blasphemer, and checks 
 every word of reviling or insult. The king is turning im- 
 patiently on his bed, and asking fretfully whether there 
 be not yet news of the last dispatched captain ; when lo, 
 the door of his apartment opens, and who can describe 
 Ahaziah’s amazement, as he sees the object of his malice, 
 the man with the hairy mantle and the leathern girdle, 
 with grave and stately mien approach his couch. The 
 monarch is utterly daunted by the calm and solemn air of 
 the man of God; his rage is stifled and restrained ; and 
 he feels himself quite at the prophet’s mercy. But Elijah 
 utters no harsh word, no taunt of triumph. He knows 
 that in this impious man he still beholds his lawful sove- 
 reign, the anointed of the Lord. He will not speak evil 
 of dignities, or forget the sanctity which in Israel attached 
 to the kingly crown. He looks upon himself merely as the 
 organ of the Divine voice, and puts his own personal 
 wrongs and feelings of holy zeal aside. He keeps strictly 
 to the letter of the Divine message ; and without deviat- 
 ing a hair’s-breadth from it, he declares, “ Thus saith the 
 
304 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to inquire 
 of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron ; is it not because there 
 is no God in Israel to inquire of his word ; therefore thou 
 shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art 
 gone up, but shalt surely die.” <Thus spake Elijah, and 
 departed. But the word which he had spoken remained 
 behind. '‘He died,” says the sacred narrative, “ accord- 
 ing to the word of the Lord, which Elijah had spoken.” 
 The Church of God on earth had one destroyer less, and 
 hell one victim more. 
 
 “ In Judah is God known,” sings the holy psalmist, “ his 
 name is great in Israel. 
 
 “ In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place 
 in Zion. There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, 
 the sword, and the battle. Selah. 
 
 “ Thou art more glorious and excellent than the moun- 
 tains of prey. The stout-hearted are spoiled, they have 
 slept their sleep ; and none of the men of might have 
 found their hands. 
 
 “ At thy rebuke, 0 God of Jacob, both the chariot and 
 the horse are cast into a dead sleep. 
 
 “ Thou, even thou, art to be feared ; and who may stand 
 in thy sight when once thou art angry ? Thou didst cause 
 judgment to be heard from heaven ; the earth feared, and 
 was still. 
 
 “ When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of 
 the earth. Selah. 
 
 “ Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee ; the remain- 
 der of wrath shalt thou restrain. 
 
 “ Vow and pay unto the Lord your God ; let all that be 
 round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be 
 feared. 
 
 “ He shall cut off the spirit of princes ; he is terrible to 
 the kings of the earth.” Psal. lxxvi. 
 
 Hallelujah ! To him be the glory and the kingdom for 
 ever and ever ! Amen. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISEBITE. 
 
 305 
 
 I.— THE WORK-DAY EVENING. 
 
 Sacred History, my brethren, may be regarded as a Di- 
 vine prophecy, which is in part yet unfulfilled. In its 
 pleasing images we may thus revive our spirits amid all 
 the gloom and barrenness of the present times. The world 
 of glory and beauty which flourished on the soil of Israel 
 is not a world of the dead, over whose fallen and wasted 
 relics we can only weep and pour forth hopeless sighs. It 
 points like a monument with a half-defaced inscription to 
 a brighter future ; and its inscription is the saying of So- 
 lomon, taken in its deepest and holiest sense, “ The thing 
 that hath been, it is that which shall be.” Eccl. i. 9. 
 
 Erom the history of Eden, down to the glorious Church 
 of Pentecost, which is at last to embrace all nations, all 
 the spiritual creations which we meet with in the world 
 of sacred history, shall one day be restored in exalted 
 splendour. The calm and holy patriarchal graces shall 
 rise in youthful beauty from the tomb. The mighty men 
 of God, Abraham, and Moses, Elijah, and all the rest, 
 shall be sent forth again in transfigured glory. The age of 
 sweet singers and psalmists shall return with holier melo- 
 dies; and the gentle days of Solomon shall revisit the 
 whole earth with a purer and more blessed peace. This 
 cheering prospect relieves the sadness with which we would 
 otherwise walk through the grand and lovely scenes of a 
 former dispensation, and inspires us with a joy which is 
 the earnest of that with which the Church shall yet be 
 filled. 
 
 Let this soothing feeling attend us this day, as we ap- 
 proach, in company with Elijah, one of the most glorious 
 works which Divine grace ever gave birth to before the 
 Christian era. 
 
 20 
 
306 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 2 Kings ii. 1 — 6. 
 
 “ And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into a 
 
 heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Grilgal. I 
 
 And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee ; for the Lord j 
 
 hath sent me to Beth-el. And Elisha said unto him, As the Lord • 
 
 liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went j 
 
 down to Beth-el. And the sons of the prophets that were at Beth-el « 
 
 came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the \ 
 Lord will take away thy master from thy head to-day ? And he , I 
 said. Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. And Elijah said unto 
 him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee ; for the Lord hath sent me to j 
 
 Jericho. And he said. As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, ' 
 
 I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. And the sons of 1 
 
 the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto 
 him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from 3 
 thy head to-day P And he answered. Yea, I know it ; hold ye your j 
 peace. And Elijah said unto him. Tarry, I pray thee, here ; for 1 
 the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. And he said. As the Lord liveth, j 
 
 and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went j 
 
 on.” 
 
 The prophet has finished his work upon earth. A lovely J 
 evening of rest, tinged with the golden light of a more 1 
 blissful world, settles down upon the weary pilgrim in holy - 
 and inspiring calm ; and the cheerful images of home al- 
 ready play in glad and tempting promise around his long- 
 ing soul. He is like the mariner who, after a long and 
 stormy voyage, is now in sight of his harbour, and hastens ;i 
 with joy to strike his topmasts and take in his sails. He 
 walks for a few days longer, as if already amid the sounds 
 of heavenly music, to muse in pensive affection and 
 brightening thought on the fruits of his labours, which 
 now disclose themselves more clearly td his view. It is to 
 these peaceful days in which the mysteries of his life are 
 most happily resolved, and all seeming discords melt in 
 the sweetest harmony, that our history is now to conduct 
 us, and to refresh us with its calm and delightful contrast 
 to the struggles and the sorrows of his earlier ministry. 
 
 In the passage before us there are three points worthy , i 
 of especial consideration. I. Elijah’s desire for retirement. 
 
 II. His visit to the schools of the prophets. III. The re- 
 ception he meets with there. 
 
 I. Elijah has withdrawn from the bustle of the capital ( 
 into the secluded valleys of the Jordan. We find him at ; 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITK 
 
 307 
 
 present in the little town of Gilgal, not far from Jericho, 
 on that memorable spot where Joshua, after the miracu- 
 lous passage through the J ordan, set up twelve stones to 
 be an enduring memorial of the Divine mercy and faith- 
 fulness, “ That all the people of the earth might know 
 the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty.” If ever these 
 ancient words had deeply affected the prophet and revived 
 his soul with new strength, it was assuredly now, when 
 his own situation was in more than one respect so strik- 
 ingly like that of his forefathers. If the moss-covered 
 stones were still there, how must they have moved his 
 heart ? He could set up his Ebenezer beside them, and 
 consecrate it with the tears of holy and humble thankful- 
 ness. For through how many a J ordan that threatened 
 to engulf him and swallow up his fairest hopes, had he 
 been carried by an almighty arm as it were on dry land. 
 
 The stones of Gilgal excite in me a desire, which I will 
 freely utter. We have a Bible in word ; we have another 
 in nature ; I wish we had a third in monuments. The 
 place where the bones of a distinguished saint of God re- 
 pose till the great day ; where a martyr in Christ’s cause 
 won the bloody crown ; where the arm of the Lord has 
 signally revealed itself for judgment or deliverance ; such 
 places, and they are to be found in every land and in every 
 province, well deserve, after the example of Israel, to be 
 marked out by memorials which should save the names of 
 the saints from the ravages of time, and bring near and 
 perpetuate from age to age the marvellous works of the 
 Lord. Who does not know the mighty, magical, and hun- 
 dred-tongued language of association by place, which is of 
 all languages the most universal, and can call whole worlds 
 of thought and emotion into life by a word. In this exer- 
 cise, art would find her true vocation and sphere of effort. 
 She would thus become as she was at the beginning, and 
 as she ought ever to be, a herald of the Divine glory, a 
 handmaid of the sanctuary and kingdom of God. 
 
 The prophet has now completed his pilgrimage. Of this 
 a divine revelation made him fully aware. The horses of 
 
ELIJAH THE TISEBITE. 
 
 fire and the flaming chariot stand already prepared behind 
 the clouds to fetch him away ; nor has the Lord concealed 
 from him the distinguished manner of his departure. With 
 this great secret to stir his soul, he goes from Gilgal to 
 Bethel, to bid a last farewell to his dear children in the 
 schools of the prophets. He hoped to have made this 
 journey alone ; but scarcely has he taken his staff, when 
 Elisha appears, and is eager to attend him. However un- 
 seasonable the prophet might think the request, he had 
 too much regard for his faithful friend to reject his society 
 all at once. They proceed, therefore, on their way together ; 
 but had not gone far till Elijah can no longer conceal the 
 longing of bis heart for solitude. He therefore says to him, 
 “ Tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath sent me to 
 Bethel.” But no ! Elisha cannot on this occasion consent 
 to the request of his venerable master. “ As the Lord 
 liveth, and as thy soul liveth,” he replied with calm deci- 
 sion, “ I will not leave thee and again they resume their 
 journey. Twice again — at Bethel and at Jericho — Elijah 
 repeats his request with increasing urgency, “ Tarry here, 
 I pray thee, for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan.” But 
 no entreaty or adjuration availed; Elisha continued in 
 the same calm strain, “ I will not leave thee.” 
 
 This urgent desire of the prophet to be alone is not hard 
 to comprehend. You know how great a distinction was 
 about to be vouchsafed him from the Lord. Once only 
 before in the history of the world had the same honour 
 been conferred ; but what was even Enoch’s triumph to 
 that of Elijah ! The latter was not merely to be taken to 
 heaven without tasting of death; but to be translated 
 amid a visible and stupendous display of glory. A whirl- 
 wind and a fiery chariot from the world above were pro- 
 vided to give awfulness and grandeur to the scene. Nay, 
 Elijah knew beforehand the day and the hour of the un- 
 paralleled event. N ow, realize all this in thought, and you 
 will be astonished, not that he wished to be alone, but 
 that his soul was not entirely overwhelmed by such an 
 anticipation. How must he have felt when he lifted up 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 309 
 
 his eyes to the heavens, and gazed upon the stars in the 
 firmament, and then reflected with himself : Behold, in 
 a few days thou shalt be passing far beyond Orion and the 
 Pleiades, alorsg a path of light far beyond the sun and 
 moon ; and then, oh then, thou shalt pass through the 
 curtain into the sanctuary of God, into the eternal light 
 of day where Jehovah sitteth on his throne, where the 
 angels strike their harps, and the patriarchs dwell in their 
 peaceful tabernacles. There shalt thou see all the fathers 
 of old face to face, Noah and Enoch, Methuselah and 
 Melchizedek, and the Father of the faithful, and Moses, 
 and the Psalmist, the man after God’s own heart ; and 
 amid their many mansions there shall be one for thee. 
 With them, reposing under the palms of paradise, thou 
 shalt hear them tell of their pilgrimage of old, and of the 
 thousand wonders of Divine love. Yea, thou shalt behold 
 the King of kings, Jehovah himself. Tell me, my friends, 
 if amid thoughts like these, (and where could his thoughts 
 now be, but among these celestial scenes ?) it was any won- 
 der that all the fountains of his being were opened, and 
 that his soul, absorbed in the depths of its own emotions, 
 had no relish for the company of his dearest friend ? Es- 
 pecially when he reflected who he was, that the Lord 
 should thus visit him, and, contrasted with the opening 
 scene of glory, the image of that life which was soon to 
 close, and which with all its reflected splendour, was 
 still the life of a poor sinner, darkened with many sins 
 and errors, how deeply must he have wished to be alone 
 with his God. Many had been the spiritual experiences 
 of the prophet ; but never had his thoughts been carried 
 away by so extraordinary an impulse as the present. The 
 excitement of imagination, the thrill of expectation, 
 the transport of hope, the prostration of humility, were 
 all too deep and unutterable to be poured into a single 
 human heart. God alone could be the refuge of such a 
 soul. Whether Elisha comprehended any thing of this 
 abstraction of his master in the work of reflection, con- 
 fession, supplication, thanksgiving, and praise, we cannot 
 
310 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 tell. He would certainly have done the prophet a great 
 service had he consented to stay behind. But to this no 
 argument can move him. He is firmly resolved not for 
 one moment to leave him. 
 
 There was, however, something else which induced Eli- 
 jah at this time to wish for the absence of his friend, and 
 a something which, if the man of God had not already 
 won our best affections, could not but gain him our hearts. 
 It was the depth of his humility which moved him to 
 meet his translation alone — a humility which contrasts 
 strongly with our own too frequent desire to magnify self 
 in promoting the kingdom of God. 0, thou noble Tish- 
 bite, how does thy august aspect cast us all into the shade ! 
 Thou desirest to be nothing that God may be everything, 
 and tremblest lest thou shouldest be taken for more than 
 a dark shadow, to set off the Divine glory. Concealing 
 the secret of thy approaching triumph, thou fliest the eye 
 of witnesses, and seekest a veil for thy glory, afraid lest 
 any one should admire and praise, instead of the Sun, the 
 little dewdrop that reflects his beams. And yet thou 
 hadst not seen him, who spake, “ I am meek and lowly 
 in heart.” “ I seek not mine own honour, but his that sent 
 me.” We have seen him — the beloved of the Father — and 
 yet how clearly does his image shine in thee compared 
 with us. “ Tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath 
 sent me to Beth-el.” Yes, we penetrate thy motive, we 
 understand thy request, and are covered with shame ! 
 
 0, I know nothing within the pale of the Church of God 
 more lovely than those finely strung spirits, which can 
 speak only with a trembling shame and a stammering 
 tongue of the great things which the Lord hath done for 
 them, while they are deeply penetrated with anxiety lest 
 what they owe to the free grace of God alone should be 
 ascribed at all to their own natural goodness or piety. 
 Would that there were more among us of these hidden 
 jewels and flowers among the thorns ! For such souls find 
 favour, and recommend the cause of God even to the men 
 of this world. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 811 
 
 Thrice — at Gilgal, at Bethel, and at Jericho— has Elijah 
 with increasing earnestness urged his companion to leave 
 him ; and thrice does Elijah receive the same decided re- 
 ply “ As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will 
 not leave thee.” Elijah was therefore obliged to yield to 
 the importunity of his friend. And doubtless he was the 
 more easily induced to comply, the more distinctly he in- 
 ferred, from the repeated and solemn protestations of 
 Elisha, that the mystery of his approaching translation 
 had been revealed to him also, and a divine commission 
 given him to attend his master to the very verge of im- 
 mortality, perhaps that he might afterwards be able to 
 bear his testimony to this great miracle before the world. 
 And without question it was so ; and hence the earnest- 
 ness of Elisha’s asseveration, “ As the Lord liveth, and as 
 thy soul liveth.” When the Lord makes a display of his 
 glory and greatness among men, he does not mean that it 
 should be hidden in a corner. In its own time, every 
 thing covered must be made known, and contribute to 
 the honour of him who fills heaven and earth with the 
 full splendour of his glory. And hence it frequently hap- 
 pens that he surrounds his children, even when they think 
 no eye of mortal sees them, with secret witnesses, whose 
 it is to observe from behind a curtain their private deeds 
 of charity and devout experiences. Thus many a precious 
 soul enters heaven, supposing that no one knows any 
 thing of its life and experience, and itself ignorant of the 
 lustre of holiness which God has shed around it. But 
 when such saints are no more, all is brought to light : the 
 Lord himself lifts the veil, and to the praise of his glorious 
 grace, and the consolation of their brethren in the faith, 
 it becomes apparent how perfect God’s strength was made 
 in their weakness, and how much the Lord had accom- 
 plished in them and by them. Thus they enjoy a resur- 
 rection from the dead, as it were, before the time. Erom 
 the humble drapery of their shroud their comes forth a 
 living statue of grace and beauty, which is set up for ages 
 to come in the best of all shrines, the faithful remem- 
 
312 
 
 ELIJAII THE TISHBITE. 
 
 brance of the saints of God. Their holy deeds are en- 
 twined together into the bright garland which hangs over 
 their graves. Their unexpected legacy of devout experi- 
 ences becomes the treasure of thousands. Let me remind 
 you, my friends, by way of example, of two eminent saints 
 lately deceased, and well known to you, the amiable 
 Jaenike of Berlin, and the faithful Krafft of Cologne. 
 How many admirable things respecting both have come 
 to light since their departure ! what a number of the 
 loveliest acts of their life did we learn for the first time 
 beside their graves ! O ! I hope there are still amongst us 
 many who, like Abel, will begin to speak loudest when 
 dead, and who have still the fairest and brightest side of 
 their life “ hid with Christ in God.” 
 
 II. Elijah and Elisha, now fully united in consent and 
 purpose, went on from Gilgal together. Their way led first 
 to the little town of Bethel. There the sons of the pro- 
 phets went out to meet them; and the same reception 
 awaited them at Jericho. These were unexpected and 
 gratifying occurrences, especially in an age when the true 
 faith had almost vanished, and the streets of Jerusalem 
 lay waste. But who were these sons of the prophets ? 
 Let me briefly attempt to answer this question. 
 
 When Moses, looking upon Israel in a moment of in- 
 spiration, exclaimed, “ Behold how wise and understand- 
 ing they are, and a glorious people !” none will question 
 the justice of this eulogy, but those whose whole ideas of 
 education are taken from the schools of Athens, and who 
 have no higher standard whereby to try the minds of men, 
 than that furnished by the vain show of heathen wisdom 
 and genius. God had set apart for himself the instruction, 
 training, and enlightenment of the people of Israel. What 
 wonder, then, that under such a Teacher, a race was formed, 
 whose modes of life and institutions form the outlines and 
 models according to which the Almighty, in the millenial 
 age, will call forth that mighty renovation which awaits 
 the earth and all that is in it, animate and inanimate ! 
 
ELIJAH THE TI3HBITE. 
 
 313 
 
 And as we find among this distinguished people all the 
 institutions of human society in their best forms, so in 
 particular those of education. Schools, in the modern ac- 
 ceptation of the term, do not appear to have been known 
 in Israel, at least till the Babylonish captivity. But, in- 
 stead of these, home and school were one ; and, instead of 
 hireling teachers, instruction was poured from the tender 
 hearts of father and mother. Under the green shade of the, 
 vine and the fig-tree, and before the peaceful dwelling, the 
 child learned to lisp the name of Jehovah. There the sa- 
 cred histories of the days of old, recited with the eloquence 
 of affection, passed before the admiring soul. There, in the 
 way of tale and lively story, the ideas of God and the great 
 ends of human life were insensibly impressed upon the 
 youthful heart. There it early learned to apprehend what 
 is eternally true, and good, and beautiful, in fresh and 
 vivid examples ; and before it was aware that its years of 
 tuition were come, it was already exercised in the lessons 
 of Israel’s wisdom. It was inspired with the hopes and 
 prospects of the chosen people, impregnated with the ideas 
 of its greatest sages and heroes, again to become in it 
 the seeds of a new harvest, and filled with impulses which 
 carried the youthful spirit forward in a course of high en- 
 terprise; which, as it took the form of thought, or devotion, 
 or prophetic anticipation, pierced upwards through the 
 clouds of heaven, and forwards through the bounds of time, 
 and from which hardly an hostile force could entirely or 
 for ever divert the soul. Prepared by such a popular edu- 
 cation in the highest sense of the word, the young Israelite 
 came forth from his paternal dwelling, sound in mind and 
 body, with an open eye for all that is worth observing, 
 susceptible, like good soil, of the best culture, and pliant, 
 like a hopeful shoot that has been raised from a healthy 
 seed. Thus carrying in his hand, from home, the key to 
 the books of Scripture, of Providence, and of Nature, he 
 hardly needed farther direct instruction. A heart once 
 opened to the spiritual world can find itself everywhere 
 in a school of wisdom. The stars of heaveD, the trees and 
 
314 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 flowers of the field, preached to him ; and the instructive 
 voices of Levites and prophets, that sounded everywhere 
 through the land, found in his soul, as in a well-built 
 temple, a prompt and living echo. 
 
 Now, if any one among these young men felt an urgent 
 call in spirit to penetrate deeper into the mysteries of the 
 kingdom of God, to apprehend its great principles in their 
 connexion, to choose the study of heavenly wisdom as 
 the business of his life, and to become a teacher of Israel, 
 the schools of the prophets were open to receive him ; 
 which, since the days of Samuel, appear as the fairest 
 blossoms of Israel’s history. To these we shall hardly find 
 any parallel in our days, except it be in those missionary 
 seminaries, which, within the last few years, have been 
 called into being by a re-awakened faith, and crowned 
 everywhere with a visible blessing. The former, like the 
 latter, owe their origin to the contrast of a mournful state 
 of ecclesiastical degeneracy and moral disorder. The feeble 
 character of the high-priest Eli and the profligacy of his 
 sons too clearly indicate the spiritual condition of a period 
 in which men like them were the crown of the nation and 
 the guardians of the sanctuary. A speedy and powerful 
 remedy was therefore called for, to arrest the moral cor- 
 ruption before it became universal and incurable. And 
 such a remedy God sent in the person of a man who shines 
 among the brightest of Israel’s worthies, and with whom a 
 new epoch begins, that embraced the happiest days of the 
 Old Testament Church. This was Samuel, who, uniting in 
 himself the threefold office of judge, and prophet, and 
 priest, at a happy moment laid hold of the helm of the 
 shattered church and state, and with steady hand guided 
 both through otherwise fatal perils. The earnest attention 
 of this great reformer was chiefly directed to the rising 
 generation, whom he strove to mould to a better character 
 than their fathers ; and from whom he looked not only for 
 a sounder spirit in the community, but also for a succession 
 of able counsellors and leaders. For this purpose he called 
 around him young men of piety, intelligence, and zeal, and 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 S15 
 
 taught them under his guidance to devote their powers to 
 the study of divine truth ; thus laying the foundation of the 
 schools of the prophets, and introducing that happy insti- 
 tution which was destined to become Israel’s brightest or- 
 nament, as well as its best security, the source of her 
 spiritual life, as well as the repository of her intellectual 
 treasures. 
 
 Of these interesting seminaries the scripture mentions 
 five : two under Samuel ; one of them at Kirjath-Jearim, 
 where the ark of the covenant was then kept, 1 Sam. x. 
 5 — 10 ; another at Ramah, 1 Sam. xix. 18 — 26 ; and three 
 more in the times of Elijah and Elisha, at Gilgal, Jericho, 
 and Bethel. In these towns, or very near them, dwelt these 
 devoted young men ; the unmarried apparently in one 
 household together, the married apart with their families. 
 Since they derived no regular support from the state, the 
 pupils of these seminaries had to maintain themselves as 
 husbandmen or mechanics. This was not thought singular 
 in Israel ; much less contemptible. It continued afterwards 
 the practice of learned men of this nation, to acquire with 
 their learning some art or trade. Many of their most dis- 
 tinguished Rabbis have been even surnamed according to 
 their civil calling, as “ Rabbi Juda, the baker “ Rabbi 
 Isaac, the smith “Rabbi Johanan, the shoemaker,” &c. 
 It was never imputed to Paul and Aquila by their enemies 
 as anything degrading, that they wrought at their occupa- 
 tion of tent-makers. That the sons of the prophets un- 
 derstood and carried on such occupations is evident from 
 2 Kings vi. 4, where we find them with axes and other 
 tools cheerfully employed in constructing their dwellings. 
 
 The instructors of these young men were the prophets, 
 these steady lights in the midst of darkness, these standard- 
 bearers in every conflict with error, these great upholders 
 of the ancient theocracy, who were richly endowed with all 
 the gifts of the Spirit, and attested before all the people by 
 signs and wonders as the heralds and ambassadors of God, 
 as the interpreters of the old revelation and the vehicles of 
 the new, as the expounders of the past and the seers of 
 
316 Elijah tiie TisnuiTE. 
 
 the future. As fathers among their children they lived in 
 the midst of their pupils, unless when summoned to the 
 field of public labour, and their instructions, free from all 
 formality and pedantry, were rather like the overflowings 
 of full and zealous hearts, that sought only the sympathy 
 and co-operation of youthful minds. The subject of study 
 was doubtless the divine word, and the tongues of these 
 teachers were." like the pen of a ready writer,” who had 
 himself searched the deep things of God. Their reading 
 was doubtless something else than what passes for helps to 
 scripture study in the present day, of which the sole aim 
 seems to be to weary us with trifling difficulties and with 
 discordant and barren criticism. Here the positive mean- 
 ing of revelation was searched out, and “ the letter which 
 killeth” made way for “ the spirit which giveth life.” Sa- 
 cred history in their hands was not a mere skeleton list of 
 names and dates, a collection of dry bones, very many and 
 very dry ; for the voice of a prophet was uttered over them, 
 and they arose a great army of witnesses to the glorious 
 perfections and plans of Jehovah. If the mysteries of 
 Aaron’s priesthood and the ceremonial law engaged them, 
 they did not fall into the blind and bigotted literalism of 
 the pharisees of after times ; but opened out the hidden 
 gospel from its larva-like envelopment, and found in all 
 sacrifice a type of the bleeding Lamb of God who taketh 
 away the sins of the world, and in all the hieroglyphics 
 of the tabernacle, the "patterns of things in the heavens.” 
 They must also have studied their civil law, one main in- 
 stitution of the theocracy ; and also their mother tongue 
 which had been consecrated in being used by God him- 
 self. 
 
 The special employments, however, of these sons of the 
 prophets, as they are presented to us in scripture history, 
 are those of prophecy and sacred music. In 1 Sam. x., we 
 find a whole company of them meeting Saul on the hill of 
 God, near Kirjath-Jearim, with a “ psaltery, a tabret, a 
 pipe, and a harp” before them, and themselves prophesy- 
 ing. And in 1 Sam. xix, we see king Saul once more at 
 
ELIJAH THE TI3EBITE. 
 
 817 
 
 Ramah, meeting an assembly of the sons of the prophets, 
 with Samuel set over them, prophesying. From both pas- 
 sages it is evident that the art of sacred melody and har- 
 mony was diligently cultivated in these peaceful retreats 
 and nurseries of piety, and kept in their original place, by 
 being devoted to the praise of God, and the enlivening and 
 beautifying of domestic life. By what is called their pro- 
 phesying, we are to understand nothing more than the 
 outpouring of the emotions of the heart in verse, at the 
 impulse of the Holy Ghost ; which was the highest and 
 holiest form of improvisation ; at one time accompanied 
 with the notes of psaltery or harp ; at another, more in 
 the form of sacred oratory without accompaniment. 
 
 If now the final object of these excellent schools was not 
 exactly to form prophets and seers — for such the Lord 
 forms and calls of himself — yet the Lord could always find 
 in these companies of youth such as were possessed of all 
 human qualifications for the office, when it pleased him 
 to select from among them those who should discharge the 
 highest functions of prophecy. It is in the highest degree 
 probable that most of Israel’s prophets were trained in 
 these schools; at least, the shepherd Amos seems to 
 denote his vocation to the office as an exception to the 
 rule, when he says, chap. vii. 14, 15, “ I was no prophet, 
 neither was I a prophet's son, but I was an herdsman, and 
 a gatherer of sycamore fruit ; and the Lord took me as I 
 followed the flock, and said unto me. Go, prophesy unto 
 my people Israel.” At any rate these establishments pro- 
 vided the country with many enlightened teachers, with 
 many zealous, and intelligent, and faithful heads of families 
 and judges. And even had they not done so much as this, 
 their very existence in the land served a high and sacred 
 purpose. They were the depositories of Israel’s law and 
 oracles ; they shone like lights in the midst of a perverse 
 and crooked generation, and reproved apostacy more deep- 
 ly by example than all the thunders of rebuke. Their 
 quiet but mighty influence served as a barrier against the 
 inroads of surrounding heathen darkness. They were as a 
 
318 
 
 ELIJAH THE TTSHBITE. 
 
 guiding star to the wandering spirit tossed in the sea of 
 error, an asylum for the spiritually distressed, and a foun- 
 tain-head of refreshment and joy to the whole land, from 
 which we cannot tell what streams of healing may have 
 flowed from age to age. 
 
 O, my brethren, what sadness oppresses my heart as I 
 turn from viewing these ancient pious seminaries to con- 
 template the institutions of the present day, high and low, 
 that profess to be devoted to a similar object. 0, ye chil- 
 dren of Israel, how much better were ye provided for than 
 most of our youth in the present times ! and we are 
 Christians. Where shall we seek, in these days, for 
 schools of instruction in which another spirit rules than 
 that of the world and the profane ? Where flourish the 
 seminaries to which Hope can turn its eye for a better 
 generation than their fathers ? Alas ! the search would 
 prove vain ; in spite of all the vaunted perfection to which 
 the art of education has now been brought in this much- 
 talked-of age of enlightenment. In what, pray, consists 
 this boasted perfection ? Is it in the extended range of 
 lifeless science, through whose scattered fragments our 
 sons and daughters must be hastily dragged, to the con- 
 fusion of all just and solid thinking ? Is it in the complete 
 separation of all modern training from the word of truth 
 and the gospel of salvation ? Or is it in the loose way in 
 which individual branches of knowledge are handled, 
 apart from their connexion with all higher wisdom ? Or 
 is it in the confused mass of heathen notions in politics, 
 morals, and law, with which, in multitudes of our schools, 
 the unhappy youth are supplied by blind leaders of the 
 blind ? 
 
 If in all our schools these unhappy features are not 
 equally manifest, we must ascribe it exclusively to the re- 
 straining grace of that invisible Watcher who has hitherto 
 arrested the full development of the germs of evil which 
 are so thickly sown. To Him, whose thoughts towards 
 us are thoughts of peace and not of evil, be all our places 
 of education, high and low, devoutly commended ! May 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 819 
 
 He reform, re-organize, and consecrate them to Himself ! 
 Let us acknowledge with thanksgiving that in some places 
 a better day has dawned ; and, in particular, that here and 
 there religion has acquired greater prominence, and that 
 the hours devoted to it have been doubled. But we still 
 lack the true Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord; and never 
 shall our seminaries be nurseries for eternity, till He de- 
 scend upon them, like a rushing mighty wind, and per- 
 vade and animate and sanctify all their arrangements. 
 Our hope of better times must rest on the invisible gua- 
 rantee of the divine promises, and God be thanked that 
 these are such as to banish all despair ! The rays of that 
 bright Day-star of promise are especially cheering, which 
 shines forth among the predictions of Zechariah (xiv. 20, 
 21), “ In that day there shall be upon the bells of the 
 horses Holiness unto the Lord; and the pots in the 
 Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, 
 every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness un- 
 to the Lord of hosts, and all they that sacrifice shall come 
 and take of them and seethe therein ; and in that day there 
 shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord 
 of hosts.” What a glorious and enrapturing prospect is here 
 opened up to us of the state of a revived church and con- 
 verted world ! On the very bells of the horses the same in- 
 scription is written as on the forehead of the high-priest, 
 “ Holiness to the Lord.” The distinction between sacred 
 and profane shall be done away by a diffusion of sanctity 
 over all the arts of life and their instruments. The sciences 
 shall be handmaids of religion, and the glory of Christ shall 
 be their Alpha and Omega. The arts shall return to the 
 service of the sanctuary , and all their creations shall breathe 
 the spirit of heaven. Then, by the graves of the schools of 
 the prophets, the dirge of woe shall be changed into the 
 song of rejoicing, as they rise in purer forms from their 
 ashes, and become no more the refuge and hiding-place of 
 persecuted truth, but the centres of a universal wisdom, 
 and the head-quarters of all spiritual enterprise. Happy 
 days, when will ye take the wings of the morning and dawn 
 
820 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 upon us? We gaze with tears on your distant brightness, 
 and utter the prayer “ Thy kingdom come !” 
 
 III. Great must have been the joy of Elijah, in entering, 
 once more, before his departure, these schools of the pro- 
 phets, and hearing there the echo of all those sighs and 
 prayers for Israel’s restoration which he had supposed to 
 be without counterpart. The sight of these fair “ gardens 
 of the Lord” must have rebuked his former complaints 
 and anxious fears, and deepened the self-humiliation which 
 now wrought in his mind, as he thought of the dark hours 
 when his labour seemed entirely without fruits. These 
 blossoms of promise, blooming in a moral waste and amid 
 the storms of persecution, and rich with the hope of “ fruit 
 unto holiness” in after days, were delightful evidence that 
 his labour had not been “ in vain in the Lord.” What a 
 proof was this of the faithfulness and grace of him “ who 
 out of stones can raise up children to Abraham!” And 
 how cheering to the prophet’s heart to associate with the 
 hope of heavenly glory the other hope of leaving the 
 church on earth supplied with a goodly band of champions, 
 by whom the last bulwarks of idolatry might be perhaps 
 subverted, and the banner of the Lord erected every- 
 where on the towers and hills of Zion. 
 
 As Elijah and Elisha approach Bethel, the sons of the 
 prophets are already aware of the loss that awaits them. 
 Doubtless the Lord himself had made it known to them, 
 that they might know, for certain, how the course of this 
 great man would end, and comfort themselves with the 
 thought “ that the Lord had taken him away.” Never be- 
 fore had they saluted their paternal master with such feel- 
 ings as on this occasion. How much did they need self- 
 control to check the rising burst of emotion, and to hide, 
 if not suppress, their tears. For a delicate sense of pro- 
 priety taught them to conceal from the prophet’ their 
 knowledge of his approaching removal. They venture to 
 make known only to Elisha, the secret of their deeply af- 
 fected souls, while they beckon him aside, and whisper. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 821 
 
 with a trembling voice, in his ear, “ Knowest thou that 
 the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to-day.” 
 But Elisha, as if to seal up their lips still more closely, 
 gently said to them, “ Yea, I know it ; hold ye your peace.” 
 This happened at Bethel ; and the same scene was repeated 
 at Jericho. These are lovely incidents ; delicate and cha- 
 racteristic in the highest degree. Their beauty must be 
 felt and not reasoned about, for such tender flowers are 
 injured by minute handling. I leave it to yourselves to 
 enter into the reasons why the sons of the prophets spared 
 Elijah the usual parting scene of grief and tears, and only 
 remark how bright a light it casts on the prophet’s cha- 
 racter ; and how fine a lesson it gives us, that in the king- 
 dom of God, there is something which the world calls 
 discretion, and which must be reckoned amongst the 
 odours and perfumes which Sharon’s roses and lilies Shed 
 around them. 
 
 0 how glorious is the state of that soul which the Lord 
 has formed “ to newness of life.” It is like a finely-strung 
 harp, capable of every tone and modulation. The boldest 
 sweep of psalms slumbers in its strings, and the gentlest 
 notes of love ; the deep and fervid song of the nightingale, 
 and the innocent and lively carol of the lark. And even 
 in its discords there is a higher harmony ; its jars are in- 
 wrought into a sweeter unison. Amid the bursting strains 
 of such living harps of God, Elijah passed the last hours 
 of his earthly pilgrimage ; the same Elijah who, in for- 
 mer days, had fitly strung and tuned them to the praise 
 of the Eternal. We will not envy him the spiritual re- 
 freshment of the work-day evening. Eather we will call 
 him blessed ; and pray that we also, your teachers, may 
 share in such an hour the lot of Elijah. May He in 
 mercy grant it, in whose hand are the hearts of men. 
 Amen. 
 
 21 
 
822 
 
 Elijah the tishbite. 
 
 II.— THE PASSAGE THROUGH JORDAN. 
 
 “ The king’s daughter is all glorious within.” In these 
 words the inspired psalmist speaks of the true Church of 
 God. (Psal. xlv. 18.) The fairest and grandest object on 
 earth is a genuine Christian. The world does not acknow- 
 ledge this. It has no eye for what is divinely great and 
 glorious ; and how should it know and appreciate the na- 
 ture and actions of one who is “ born of God ?” 
 
 The Christian is great in his repentance, for his repent- 
 ance is an open rupture with sin and Satan. He is great 
 in his desires, for the Supreme Good can alone satisfy his 
 heart. He is great in his prayers, when he shakes the 
 dust of earth from his feet, and with his “ Abba, Father !” 
 rises upwards to the heart of Jehovah ! He is great in his 
 hopes, for he is looking for nothing less than a participa- 
 tion of the glory and the inheritance of the Lord, his Re- 
 deemer. lie is great in his tears, for they are the tears of 
 a fallen king, who mourns a lost kingdom and a forfeited 
 crown. He is great in his joy, for it is derived from ano- 
 ther world, and its objects are beyond the skies! Yea, 
 how much could we not tell of the greatness of a true 
 Christian ; how much could we add to confirm the saying, 
 “ The king’s daughter is all glorious within.” 
 
 There is nothing more beautiful under heaven than the 
 Divine work of grace in a renewed soul. Consider it in 
 its full development in a Moses, an Elijah, or a Paul, and 
 you will agree with me, when I call the moral miracles re- 
 corded in Sacred History more wonderful than the physi- 
 cal. I look with unspeakably greater amazement into the 
 hearts of these men of God, than upon the most splendid 
 scenes of their outward life. It cannot, after this view 
 of their moral greatness, so much surprise me, that such 
 men did not tread the ordinary smooth round of life, but 
 rose to higher spheres and courses of activity. The power 
 of working miracles appears to agree with such elevation 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 323 
 
 of character, as the mighty river to the Alpine summit 
 where it takes its rise. 
 
 Let us bear this in mind, while we contemplate the 
 stupendous act with which Elijah concluded the splendid 
 series of his miracles. 
 
 2 Kings ii. 7, 8. 
 
 <c And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to 
 view afar off : and they two stood by Jordan. And Elijah took his 
 mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they 
 were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry 
 ground.” 
 
 Having conducted this master in Israel through the 
 schools of the prophets, we again find ourselves in com- 
 pany with him and his faithful attendant on the solitary 
 banks of the Jordan, where new scenes of wonder meet 
 our view. Let us then contemplate for a little, I. The 
 escort of the sons of the prophets. II. The miraculous 
 passage through the Jordan. 
 
 I. In the lonely and silent wilderness of Jericho, where 
 Israel’s hosts first trod the promised land, Elijah and 
 Elisha are seen walking on in rapt and solemn silence. 
 Elijah, who knew that his hour was come, has already 
 shaken off the dust of earth from his feet, and his thoughts 
 wander in high anticipation to other worlds, Elisha is 
 struggling to control his human feelings, and could all but 
 arrest the flight of his venerable master. Walking as if 
 alone in the wilderness, they approach the rushing stream. 
 But they are not altogether alone, for many friendly eyes 
 are resting on them from a distance, and with mingled 
 grief and expectation following their track. Fifty men 
 of the sons of the prophets could not find it in their hearts 
 to remain that day in the town. It was their master’s 
 parting-day. To-day they could still see him ; to-morrow 
 he would be gone for ever. They could not retain him in 
 their circle ; but they could take a last long look of his 
 receding form. They knew it was no common loss that 
 awaited them. We can readily sympathize with their re- 
 gret, if we but consider how great a blessing, in the pre- 
 
324 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 sent day, the re-appearance of a man like Elijah would 
 be to the Church of God. 
 
 Deep, indeed, and inexpressible was the sadness of this 
 pious company. Yet we cannot doubt that there mingled 
 with their melancholy, a calm and spreading joy, like a 
 gleam of light upon a dark and troubled sea. They know 
 that their master is to be translated to glory. They 
 see him already mingling in the cloud of heavenly wit- 
 nesses, and can almost for a moment forget their grief 
 to celebrate his triumphant entry into heaven. 0 how 
 blessed is the departure of those who are dear to us, when, 
 beyond the thick darkness into which they have entered, 
 there shines the happy light of a resurrection-morn! 
 And oh, how heart-rending is it, how indescribably pain- 
 ful, when a friend whom we dearly loved must bid us fare- 
 well for ever, and we cannot tell whether his path is that 
 of the just, nor say, “ He is not lost, but gone before.” 
 Yes, the most precious legacy which our dying friends can 
 leave us, is the joyful certainty that they have fallen 
 asleep in Jesus. This blessed thought restores them to us 
 in brighter forms ; in the light of this assurance their eye 
 still beams upon us, and our circle of friends is not di- 
 minished but only enlarged in its circumference. Yes, I 
 well know the happiness of many of you who, in this de- 
 lightful confidence, treasure up the images of departed 
 parents, and brothers, and sisters, and friends. I well be- 
 lieve you, that you would not lose, for all the joys of earth, 
 that comfort which, like a blessed star of promise, shines 
 over the graves of your departed ones, and unites you for 
 ever with those who are only for a brief season withdrawn 
 from your eyes. Would that over our own graves such 
 blessed flowers of hope may grow for the comfort of the 
 dear hearts we leave behind! Would that the. Spirit of 
 grace may so set his mark on our foreheads, that when we 
 depart, none may stand in doubt whether or not we have 
 taken the heaven-ward way ! 
 
 The sons of the prophets, doubtless, entertained the 
 hope of being witnesses of Elijah’s translation. Yet, as 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 S25 
 
 is manifest from the sequel, they did not see it. It is im- 
 possible to say with certainty, why this sublime spectacle 
 was not vouchsafed to them. But why, in general, it 
 pleases the Lord to conceal the glorious issue of the saint’s 
 life by clouds and thick darkness, it is not hard to discover. 
 Did we see, on the death of the righteous, heaven visibly 
 opened ; did we follow the departed spirit from the cham- 
 ber of death straight to the abodes of bliss ; did we behold 
 around each death-bed the bright messengers of heaven 
 in waiting, and hear them, when all was over, sounding 
 their joyful greeting, and rising with the redeemed soul 
 amid the choirs of paradise, we should then find our spi- 
 ritual progress impaired instead of advanced. For do 
 you think that we could then bear that long delay in the 
 present world which our Father has appointed ? Would 
 not the ardour of our longing to depart absorb all our 
 zeal for God, and destroy our capacity for the duties of 
 the present life ? How great is then the wisdom of the 
 God of love, in allowing the termination of the narrow 
 way to be still clouded with the shades of death, and in 
 thus tempering the eagerness of our heaven-ward impulses, 
 and suffering patience to have her perfect work in this 
 land of exile and of tears ! 
 
 That the sons of the prophets stood afar off, and did not 
 approach nearer to their departing master, is a lovely pic- 
 ture of the scene, equally favourable to both. They knew 
 their spiritual father too well, not to know that he would 
 shrink from having the approaching scene of his exalta- 
 tion gazed on by a host of spectators, and they had delicacy 
 of feeling enough not to obtrude themselves on him. 0 
 that among us, this refined spiritual delicacy were not so 
 rare as it appears to be ! There are many cases in which 
 it would be peculiarly in its place ; but we too often vio- 
 late or neglect it, and our standing “ afar off” is rare in- 
 deed. If, for example, the grace of God should begin to 
 affect any one amongst us who may be outwardly distin- 
 guished, here is a case where much discretion is called for. 
 We should observe the fact as if we observed it not, and 
 
326 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 keep it as a pleasing secret to ourselves ; and should any- 
 one disclose it to us, we should reply as at Jericho and 
 Bethel, “ Yea, I know it ; hold thou thy peace.” Bor such 
 persons, especially at the first setting out, must be dealt 
 with discreetly ; and all the more so, in proportion as the 
 world has hitherto held them in its bondage of form and 
 false delicacy, and as they stand high in society. Should 
 it come to the ears of such persons, that the report of 
 their conversion is bandied about, it will naturally make 
 an impression upon them unfavourable to their spiritual 
 progress, nay, often throw them many degrees back into 
 their former coldness. They are not yet strong enough in 
 the faith to take up the cross openly and follow Christ. 
 But we very commonly forget all this ; and raise a loud 
 and ill-judged rumour in such a case, and seem not to be 
 aware that a tender shoot requires a very different kind 
 of handling from a full-grown tree. Many other cases 
 might be mentioned illustrative of this truth ; and I trust 
 you are now persuaded, that “ refinement” and “ good 
 taste,” so much commended by the men of the world, 
 ought to have a just and free play within the circle of the 
 Church of Christ. 
 
 II. Elijah having arrived at the brink of the Jordan, 
 had not long to consider how he should pass the river. 
 The thought of Moses occurs to him, as with a stroke of 
 his rod he parted the Red Sea asunder ; and the thought 
 followed : the God of Moses is the God of Elijah. With 
 a faith like this, “ he took his mantle and wrapped it to- 
 gether,” and with the air of one who gave law to the ele- 
 ments, he smote the river. His God is with him, and the 
 miracle instantly ensues. What a spectacle ! The stream 
 is divided. On the one side it rushes hastily on ; on the 
 other, it towers up like a wall of crystal ; and the two pro- 
 phets pass over, dryshod, to the opposite shore. But no 
 sooner are they over, than the curling heap sinks down 
 into its old channel, its invisible barriers are removed, 
 and the unfettered stream flows on in its wonted course. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 s:r 
 
 How great a God is our God, who thus rules with abso- 
 lute freedom in his own kingdom of nature, and can sus- 
 pend the operations of all things, in heaven and in earth, 
 at his pleasure. His rebuke drieth up the seas, and turneth 
 the springs into a wilderness ! The winds and the waves 
 obey him ; and, in the hand of his messengers, a rod or a 
 mantle becomes a sceptre of mysterious dominion. Happy 
 is the man whose refuge is the Lord, for to his salvation 
 the Rock of Israel can make all things minister, even 
 against their nature and tendency. In His strength we 
 leap over every wall, and by faith in His name we remove 
 mountains of difficulties out of the way. 
 
 The dividing of the Jordan formed the last link of that 
 chain of stupendous wonders which runs through the pro- 
 phetic life of Elijah. It serves to teach us that this great 
 spiritual hero, notwithstanding all his fatigues and trials, 
 had not become decrepit in faith with the progress of his 
 years, but held fast the beginning of his confidence sted- 
 fast to the end. The uses of this last act of faith were, 
 according to the divine purpose, great and manifold. To 
 Elisha, who was about to inherit his master’s mantle, it 
 would serve as an encouragement to be strong in faith ; 
 to the children of the prophets it would be a final me- 
 mento of the greatness of him at whose feet they had sat ; 
 to the whole people, to whom it would doubtless be an- 
 nounced, it would prove a fresh sign that a prophet of the 
 living God had been in the midst of them. To the prophet 
 himself it would appear a new token of the Lord’s loving- 
 kindness, a new pledge of his faithfulness and truth ; and 
 to us a cheering confirmation of the truth, that the Lord 
 is with his people to the end. This act of the departing 
 prophet resembled the bright track of a ship over the 
 waves, which shines when she is far away on her course ; 
 or the ruddy splendour of the evening sky, which tells us 
 that that sun which has just vanished from our sight is 
 not extinguished, but is only sunk in the wave to Hse with 
 renewed brightness in another hemisphere. 
 
 Elijah’s passage over the Jordan reminds us strongly of 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 that of his forefathers over the same stream. And yet it 
 seems in some points to excel it. In the one case there 
 were solemn arrangements and preparations ; in the other, 
 a free and simple action, as it were, in the impulse of the 
 moment. There the ark of the covenant needed to go be- 
 fore, with the people at a reverend distance, and the waters 
 yielded only to the tabernacle of the Almighty ; here they 
 gave way before a simple man and a folded mantle in his 
 hand. If the Israelites who passed over under Joshua 
 had but seen this miracle of the Tishbite, how must they 
 have been amazed at it, and confessed that God was here 
 in very deed, dwelling with man upon the earth ! But, in 
 this honour put upon Elijah, we have but a faint shadow 
 of the glory reserved for the children of the New Testa- 
 ment dispensation. 
 
 When Elijah wrapped his mantle together to smite the 
 waters of the river, he had already a dark sense of the 
 kingly dominion which awaited him over the earth and 
 its elements. In his act of faith we see the struggling of 
 a more than mortal spirit, aspiring after higher regions of 
 emancipation and liberty. He seems to have already in 
 some measure shaken himself loose from bondage to the 
 elements of this world. All has now to him a subject air, 
 as if he were already set down with Christ on his throne. 
 His faith could cast mountains into the sea, and pile up 
 the sea to mountains, were it necessary. What is mira- 
 culous in the eyes of men has almost become familiar to 
 his faith. A new region must shortly be opened to his 
 soul, since this earth is become too small and narrow for 
 it. Ye heavens unfold ! ye boundaries of earth and time 
 retire, for here he must dwell no more below ! 
 
 And as Elijah may be supposed to have been prepared 
 by all this for the grand and otherwise overwhelming 
 scenes on which he was about to enter, so also Elisha must 
 have learned to view with greater faith and assurance 
 that work of miracles which he was about to take up 
 himself, and to catch something of the sublime spirit of 
 his departing master. And this is just what happens still, 
 
ELIJAH THE TISEBITE. 
 
 3-9 
 
 to all who are blessed with the society of distinguished 
 men of God. The gifts of such men are for the good of 
 others, not less than for their own. Striking answers to 
 their prayers attract our own more steadily to the throne 
 on high. When they, amid the storms of persecution, stand 
 undaunted, like the rocks of ocean, it is that our look may 
 become free and fearless as theirs. When they, under the 
 cloud of personal suffering, have songs given them in the 
 night, is it not that the spirit of joy may enter our hearts 
 also, and give us the victory over all the cares of time ? 
 When they pass in triumph through the valley of the 
 shadow of death, how ought such a scene to inspire us, 
 and to raise us to a vantage-ground of faith, where we can 
 hardly imagine that the last enemy can be terrible. Great 
 spirits, like these, bear us away in their own noble career, 
 and teach us to mount in their train. Would that there 
 were more of such men to smite upon the waves of a 
 stormy and distracted age, “ that the ransomed of the 
 Lord might pass over.” And though we may lament their 
 absence, let us bear in mind that the God of Elijah, of 
 Paul, and of Luther, “ sits King upon the floods.” He 
 has promised it, and the time shall come “ when the 
 weakest shall be as David, and the house of David shall 
 be as the angel of the Lord before his people,” Zech. xii. 8. 
 “ Yea,” saith the Lord, “ I will strengthen the house of 
 Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph ; and they of 
 Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall 
 rejoice as through wine; yea their children shall v see it 
 and be blessed; their heart shall rejoice in the Lord,” 
 Zech. x. 6, 7. How blessed the prospect ! We hail it with 
 delight, and wait for it in the sunny light of hope. Amen. 
 
 III.— THE GREAT REQUEST. 
 
 It is a glorious confession of the Apostle Paul which we 
 find in Gal. ii. 20, “ The life which I now live in the flesh 
 I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and 
 gave himself for me.” If ever a saint of the Old Testament 
 
330 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 period could use these words, in all their fulness, it was 
 Elijah, at that interesting moment where we now behold 
 him. His life of faith has now reached its point of cul- 
 mination. Every thing of the servile spirit of the Old 
 Testament is now vanished. The “ Now” of the apostles 
 is become his, in the glorious liberty of the children of 
 God. 
 
 2 Kings ii. 9, 10. 
 
 “ And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah 
 said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken 
 away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion 
 of thy spirit be upon me. And he said. Thou hast asked a hard 
 thing : nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it 
 shall be so unto thee : but if not, it shall not be so.” 
 
 The hour in which the prophet is to be withdrawn from 
 our view is near at hand. Our present narrative conducts 
 to the last boundary of his earthly course. We have here 
 his last words, coming upon us as from another world ; 
 and his last work, less impressive indeed to the senses 
 than his former acts, but not inferior to any; perhaps 
 more astonishing than all. We have here to consider, — 
 I. Their position after crossing the river. II. Elijah’s 
 proffer to his friend. III. The request of the latter, and 
 Elijah’s answer. 
 
 I. The prophet has now passed over Jordan. The sons 
 of the prophets have had their last look of him, and shall 
 see only yet farther the distant gleam of the chariot that 
 was to bear him on high, and hear the strange roll of its 
 heavenward flight. The prophet has left the Jordan be- 
 hind him, and with it all the waters of sublunary trouble 
 and sorrow. His Sabbath of rest is come, and he now 
 only awaits the heavenly chariot. Enviable situation ! 
 and yet it is no more than a true image of what every 
 Christian should reach through the gracious provisions of 
 the gospel. All the depths and whirlpools that roll and 
 foam before thy shrinking footsteps thou mayest by one 
 sincere act of faith, pass through, and stand on the other 
 Bide. Does the dark stream of death make thee tremble 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 331 
 
 as in thought thou drawest near its brink ? Embark only 
 in that sweet promise of thy Saviour, “ I will come again 
 and receive you to myself,” and the flood is left behind. 
 Do the swelling waves of temptation affright thee ? Be- 
 hold the glorious assurance spanning the gulf, that the 
 Lord “ will not suffer you to be tempted above what ye 
 are able to bear,” and this deep also has lost all its terrors. 
 Do the waters of outward tribulation rise around thee, or 
 dost thou cherish a foreboding fear that gloomy swamps 
 and hidden pits may lie across thy future way ? Remem- 
 ber, that as thy day is, so shall thy strength be ; and thus 
 safe in the guidance of that Eternal Wisdom, from which 
 each day comes as a messenger of love with its needful 
 mercy to sweeten judgment, thou shalt be led “ unto the 
 wealthy place.” Thou art complete in Jesus ; and “ nei- 
 ther height nor depth, nor things present nor things to 
 come, shall be able to separate thee from the love of God 
 which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” He has trampled 
 upon sin and Satan, and the world and death, not only for 
 himself, but also for thee ; and hence even in the midst 
 of the conflict thou art more than conqueror, and mayeso 
 take up already “ the song of Moses and the Lamb.” 
 
 II. The two men of God had advanced some way into 
 the wilderness, when all at once Elijah, with an expres- 
 sion of deep solemnity and tenderness, which may well 
 have made Elisha start as if the hour of parting were al- 
 ready come, turned towards him, not to say farewell, but 
 to give him his last paternal blessing. It was not couched 
 in the form of a simple wish or prayer, but contained an 
 extraordinary and definite promise : “ Ask what I shall 
 do for thee before I be taken away from thee.” These are 
 great words ! But what kind of benefit did Elijah intend ? 
 Was it the gold of Ophir, or the wisdom of the wise, or 
 even the best counsel of his own prophetic mind ? No. 
 He was thinking of the good and perfect gifts that come 
 from the Father of Lights alone. He speaks as if all the 
 treasures of heaven were at his command, and as if Elisha 
 
322 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 bad only to make bis choice. This language of confidence 
 was a high attainment even in Elijah, and it confirms 
 what we have already said before, that he now breathed, 
 in all its purity, the blessed element of New Testament 
 freedom, along with the highest inspiration of prophetic 
 grace. 
 
 This bold expression of Elijah reminds us of the pro- 
 mise of our Lord, which seems to remain as yet in its 
 deepest import, to most Christians, as “ a spring shut up,” 
 “ a fountain sealed “ Yerily, verily, I say unto you, 
 whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will 
 give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name ; 
 ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” You 
 know what is commonly understood by praying in the 
 name of Jesus. People say that they pray in his name 
 when they bring their requests before God in such a 
 frame of spirit as not to hope for an answer on the ground 
 of their own worthiness, but on that of the merits of 
 Christ, and from free grace. They say that he alone prays 
 in the name of Jesus who, with the humbling conviction 
 that he is altogether devoid of any thing to recommend 
 him to the Divine mercy, nevertheless draws near the 
 throne of grace with his entire reliance fixed on the blood 
 of Jesus, as what alone can make his prayer accepted in 
 the sight of God. Is this explanation the true and correct 
 one ? Now I do not say exactly that it is incorrect ; but 
 it is defective and imperfect. A person may really pray 
 in the state of mind just described, and yet not pray in 
 the name of Jesus. If this had been all, our Saviour could 
 not have said to his disciples, “ Hitherto have ye asked 
 nothing in my name.” They surely did not pray before 
 with the spirit of the Pharisee, and in entire dependence 
 on their own righteousness. And not only do our Lord’s 
 words include the eleven apostles ; but they extend to the 
 whole former dispensation, and assert of it that the mode 
 of prayer which he is now enforcing was something of 
 which it fell short. And hence, if prayer in Christ’s name 
 meant nothing more than praying in a contrite spirit and 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 333 
 
 with trust in the work of the Mediator, all the patriarchs 
 and saints of old would have stood on the same level with 
 ourselves. For they assuredly prayed not in dependence 
 on their own righteousness, but their whole system of 
 sacrifice, which preceded and went along with prayer, was 
 a loud and continued confession that they ventured to 
 hope for an answer to their petitions only through the 
 merits of another. Hence it would follow that, if this 
 were the full import of prayer in the name of Jesus, 
 Abraham and Moses, and Daniel and David, and others, 
 had already done so. But this our Lord expressly denies, 
 and represents the exercise as something entirely new, as 
 one of the blessed consequences of his advent, and chief 
 privileges of the New Dispensation. 
 
 Every prayer in Christ’s name implies trust in his me- 
 rits ; but it also implies something more. This is a sense 
 of peculiar and gracious relation to the Father through 
 him. If, in the painful consciousness of my desert of 
 condemnation, I approach the Majesty of heaven, and 
 place Christ before me as a shelter from the Divine ven- 
 geance, without which I know that God will be to me a 
 consuming fire, I pray, indeed, in dependence on Christ’s 
 merits, but not in his name; I still think the Father 
 Strange, and distant, and unreconciled, and look upon 
 myself as only protected by Christ from his wrath. But 
 when I gain the delightful assurance of the eternal kind- 
 ness of the Father, as the source of the glorious scheme 
 of mercy, and feel that, through my union to his Son 
 Christ Jesus, I too am become the son of his love ; and 
 when my deep consciousness of sin, and love of the Di- 
 vine holiness are mingled and sweetened with the realizing 
 sense of acceptance through Christ, and of the Father’s 
 love in him, my prayer is no longer servile but filial ; no 
 longer of the law, but of the gospel ; no longer a draw- 
 ing near to God as a still incensed enemy, but a drawing 
 near to God in the name of Jesus. For what is it to do 
 anything in any one’s name, but to represent that person 
 \n the matter in question ; and when thou thus actest in 
 
334 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 my name, in making any request to a third party, it is not 
 thou that askest, but more properly I. Thou receivest 
 my authority ; thou enterest upon my claims ; so that if 
 thou shouldst encounter a refusal, the disparagement falls 
 entirely upon me; if thou shouldst succeed in thy request, 
 the honour is done to me. If, then, Christ invites us to 
 pray in his name, what is this but to encourage us with 
 all humility and confidence to put ourselves in his place, 
 and so far as the range of things agreeable to his will ex- 
 tends, to ask these of the Father, “ in faith, nothing 
 doubting.” For then the ear of the Father will be as open 
 to us as to him ; our prayers will be as welcome and cer, 
 tain of answer as his Divine intercessions ; our requests 
 shall be as little rejected or delayed as those of Him 
 whom “ the Father heareth always.” How amazing the 
 privilege ! and yet all this, and nothing less than this, is 
 implied in the Saviour’s promise. 
 
 He, then, that is enabled to appropriate the merits of 
 his Surety, to stand with believing a*nd grateful heart in 
 that grace of adoption to which Christ has introduced 
 him, and to bring his requests before the Father with holy 
 boldness and confidence, prays in the name of Jesus. And 
 in this wise the saints of the Old Testament had not pray- 
 ed. Their view of the mediatorial work of Christ did not 
 reach so far as to enable them, as Paul expresses it, “ with 
 a conscience made perfect,” to draw near unto God. They 
 knew, indeed, that for the sake of the Messiah, they should 
 not be condemned; and in so far they rejoiced in their 
 redemption. But, just as little as a pardoned criminal 
 could infer, from the royal act of clemency, that he should 
 be dressed in purple and fine linen and made to sit at the 
 king’s table; as little did they anticipate (though, per- 
 haps, they had some vague and distant glimpse of it), that 
 the whole merits of the Redeemer should become their 
 own, and that they should have perfect and unbroken 
 fellowship with “the Father, and his Son Christ Jesus.” 
 They had come to the mount which burned with fire, 
 and unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest. Though 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 335 
 
 they all died in faith, “having obtained a good report 
 through faith yet, “ they received not the promise.” 
 Heb. xi. 39. How different is our situation ? We have 
 seen and heard “ what many prophets and righteous men 
 desired to see and were not permitted a blessed reality 
 has taken the place of the dim shadow of “ good things 
 to come,” and we can even enter into the startling lan- 
 guage of our Lord respecting the Baptist, “ That the least 
 in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” We, there- 
 fore, can approach God with far different confidence, and 
 pour out our hearts before him with a far other liberty ; 
 and are not surprised that the Lord speaks of prayer in 
 his name, as a new thing, which has come with himself 
 into the world. 
 
 And mark now the extent of this promise ! It is ushered 
 with the solemn words, “ Verily, verily.” These are the 
 immutable oath, the royal seal of Him who is the Father’s 
 equal. “ Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my naiSe, 
 he will give it you.” And again, “Ye shall ask what ye 
 will, and it shall be done unto you.” Here is a field 
 opened without landmarks or limits. What can we desire 
 more ? Nothing in the world is so great, nothing so small, 
 that we might not at any moment receive it from the 
 Father, if we only asked it in the name of Jesus. Say, 
 what would you desire to have granted you ? Is it deliver- 
 ance from domestic trouble ? as, for example, that your 
 sick child should recover ? or, that your whole household 
 should be converted to the Lord ? Make known your 
 desire to your Father in heaven in the name of J esus, and 
 if there is truth in the Bible, he will grant it you. But 
 does not this seem contradicted by experience, besides in- 
 volving on our part something like an invasion of God’s 
 Omnipotence ? I answer. No ! for wherever we have seemed 
 to fail, the fault has been in ourselves ; and it is only the 
 Spirit of God who can produce in us that frame of desire, 
 from which asking him in Christ’s name proceeds. We 
 must distinguish between a passing wish, and a desire of 
 faith expressed in the name of J esus. For example, though 
 
836 
 
 ELIJAH THE TI3HBITE. 
 
 you might wish the resurrection of a beloved friend, yet 
 you could not bring your mind to pray for it, except under 
 the guidance of the Spirit, and from the conviction that 
 it was required by the glory of God ; but with such a con- 
 viction so wrought in you, you might pray for the miracle, 
 and it would not be withheld. Thus Luther prayed for 
 his friends Melancthon and Myconius, when they were sick 
 unto death, and already given over; and, behold, his 
 prayer was answered of God ! Suppose that your heart 
 was set upon silver and gold, if you could pray for them 
 in faith, they would assuredly be yours. But could you 
 pray for such things in the name of Jesus! The pious 
 Francke of Halle had grace given him to do so ; and 
 straightway silver and gold flowed in upon him, so that 
 he was able to build his Orphan House of the size almost 
 of a city ; and he, who before had hardly a few pence of 
 his own, was privileged to found an institution which was 
 an honour to his age, and is still a blessing to his country. 
 Remember the words of the apostle J ohn, “ Beloved, if 
 our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence to- 
 ward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, be- 
 cause we keep his commandments, and do those things , 
 that are pleasing in his sight,” 1 John iii. 21, 22. . 
 
 What shall we say to these things ? Do they not lead us 
 into the very sanctuary of Christian privilege, and re ( veal 
 to us by a heavenly inspiration the splendour of our dig- 
 nity as the sons of God, and cast a light of glory around 
 every doctrine and promise of our ever blessed faith ! 
 And oh, how these words rebuke our unbelief ! How few 
 of us embark in this sacred ark of promise ! How poor 
 and barren are our souls amid all the wealth of this spi- * 
 ritual treasury ! Were it otherwise, how different would ' 
 every feature in our religious condition be ! The heavens i. 
 would no longer be as brass over our heads, nor the earth \ 
 beneath us as iron. The Church would flourish like the ( 
 lily ; there would be a constant shaking among the dry t 
 bones, and the blessing would be poured out on us from ; 
 above till there was not room enough to receive. Thus 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 r : 
 
 our poverty in spiritual things is our condemnation. The 
 mild reproof of Jesus applies too truly to ourselves, 
 “ Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name.” 
 
 But much as these great promises reprove us, they also 
 serve to revive and encourage us ; for they open the blessed 
 prospect, that the Church might at any time, by its united 
 supplications, cause a better day to dawn. What more 
 would be required for this result than that the little flock 
 of Christ, pressed in spirit, and continuing, as of old, with 
 one accord, in prayer, should not cease till a new pente- 
 cost were shed forth from on high, with a fresh illapse of 
 spiritual power and gifts of the Holy Ghost ! The Church 
 of God, indeed, lieth waste ; but the prayer of faith could 
 repair its desolations; our congregations are, alas! dull 
 and formal, but the prayer of one believing heart could 
 break their lethargy ; our friends are, many of them, still 
 in the broad way ; but could we now begin to pray for 
 them in faith, “ in faith, nothing doubting,” “ the accepted 
 time, and the day of their salvation” would be come. Thus 
 this word of promise can raise us to a calm height, where 
 we breathe only the air of hope, and the view stretches 
 bright and cheerful before us. 
 
 Let us learn, then, from this delightful promise to avoid, 
 on the one hand, the error of praying in a legal and ser- 
 vile spirit, and, on the other hand, the still more per- 
 nicious and detestable error of neglecting prayer, on the 
 pretence that we are already among the elect, and that 
 all our wants are supplied by the intercession of Jesus. 
 The former is unworthy of us, as disciples of the New 
 Testament, and as reconciled to God by the death of his 
 Son ; the latter betrays a perversity of thought and dead- 
 ness of spiritual affection, which can only arise from total 
 irregeneracy, or such deplorable backsliding as shews our 
 alleged trust in Christ’s intercession, and God’s paternal 
 care, to be an awful mockery and delusion. No ! my breth- 
 ren, we are made the children of God, that we may enjoy 
 intercourse with our heavenly Father ; we have a great 
 High Priest over the house of God, that me may draw near 
 22 
 
308 
 
 ELIJAH TnE TISHEITE. 
 
 with true hearts, and in the full assurance of faith. And 
 thus the two glorious truths hang together, that we owe all 
 to the intercession of Christ, and yet that the intercession 
 of Christ is itself the fruit of the Father’s love. This we 
 learn also from the passage which immediately succeeds 
 that splendid promise to which we have devoted so much 
 consideration ; and with the quotation of it we return to 
 our history, “ At that day ye shall ask in my name, and I 
 say not that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father 
 himself loveth you because ye have loved me, and have be- 
 lieved that I came out from God.” John xvi. 26, 27. 
 
 IIL We have said that the temper of mind in Elijah 
 which led to his unconditional offer to Elisha, was not of 
 the law but of the gospel, and in substance the same wit h 
 that which we have just attempted to describe. How then 
 was the proffer received ? With a faith worthy of its ow n 
 greatness, Elijah rose high in making it ; Elisha still higher 
 in his expectation from it. “ I pray thee,” says he, “ let 
 a double portion of thy spirit be upon me,” that is, “ I de- 
 sire to be twice as much baptized with the Holy Ghost, 
 and enriched with his gifts, as thou hast been.” Let us not, 
 however, mistake the excellent Elisha in his request. 
 Loftily as it may sound, it proceeds from a humble and holy 
 spirit. I cannot, indeed, suppose with many expositors 
 that Elijah had here a reference to the birthright of the 
 first-born son, whose share of the inheritance was double 
 that of his brothers and sisters, and that he meant no 
 more than this ; “ If others inherit a portion of thy spirit, 
 let me, to whom thou hast been more especially a father, 
 inherit a double portion.” I see, rather, in these words, 
 how great Elisha’s estimate was of the loss which the 
 church would sustain by Elijah’s removal. The breach 
 appeared to him irreparable ; he thought the earth con- 
 tained no man like him it was about to lose. And could 
 he, the poor husbandman of Abel-meholah, born and bred 
 for the plough, ever be fit to take the place, and that too 
 An a time of universal degeneracy, of a spiritual champion 
 
ELIJAH TEE TISHEITE. 
 
 m 
 
 who bad been without peer or rival, and whose name was 
 to descend, in the highest rank of worthies, to the latest 
 posterity ! Such were his thoughts ; and they were enough 
 to stagger and overwhelm him. And if it was indeed the 
 will of Jehovah that the succession should devolve on him, 
 then he could not but pray that the prophetic endowments 
 of Elijah should rest on him in double measure, since he 
 was so unequal to him in natural gifts. This then is the 
 language of the purest humility, of that humility which 
 is in the sight of God “ of great price,” and which goeth 
 “ before honour.” We may suppose, moreover, that he 
 had already some vague idea that his future labours were 
 to be essentially different from those of his great predeces- 
 sor, and would bear a more evangelical character. The 
 still small voice of Jehovah’s love and mercy was in him 
 to succeed the storm and earthquake and fire of Elijah’s 
 ministry ; and for this office he manifestly needed peculiar 
 preparation and endowment. Deeper views of the divine 
 love to sinners, and of the glorious plan of mediation 
 through a Kinsman-Redeemer, must be vouchsafed him ; 
 and his own character as a herald of the divine benignity 
 be written as it were on his forehead, and shine in his 
 countenance. No wonder, if he felt thus, that he uttered 
 the request, “ Let a double portion of thy spirit be on me.” 
 But however unbounded his desires had been, they would 
 still have been consistent with true humility, for he would 
 have continued to acknowledge that he had nothing which 
 he did not receive, and all would have been rendered back 
 in homage and service to its Eternal Source. This would 
 hold true of the Christian, though he should desire all the 
 graces of all the saints to be united in his own person ; and 
 the time will come in the annals of eternity when he may 
 desire unspeakably more than this; for he would still 
 enjoy all in Christ, and would bind all into one wreath of 
 glory, to lay at the feet of Him “ who alone is worthy.” 
 Thus the utmost boldness of desire and the greatest depth 
 of humility are sister graces that go hand in hand on earth 
 and in heaven. 
 
340 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISnBITE. 
 
 IV. Elisha’s request makes his master for a moment 
 startle. “ Thou hast asked a hard thing,” he replied ; not 
 as if the gift of miracles or other distinctions of the pro- 
 phetic office could not be given in double or tenfold mea- 
 sure of that which he himself possessed. But probably 
 from the evangelical character of the blessing asked, the 
 prophet might have some remaining doubt that the grant- 
 ing of it was hardly compatible with the continuance of 
 the old economy until the distant time of “ restoration.” 
 He calmly submitted the whole matter to the decision of 
 his Lord, and gave an outward sign by which it should be 
 decided whether or no the great request were answered. 
 This sign, given doubtless by inspiration of God, is itself 
 remarkable. “ If thou see me when I am taken from 
 thee, it shall be so unto thee ; but if not, it shall not be 
 so.” As if he had said, “ The exaltation of such a mortal 
 is itself a glorious anticipation of the work of pardoning 
 love and grace, that shall mark that better dispensation 
 into the spirit of which thou desirest to be baptized ; if, 
 then, thou beholdest the spectacle, thy prayer is already 
 fulfilled; if thou dost not, then thou must still abide 
 within the ancient limits of the present economy.” The 
 prayer of Elisha found acceptance with God; and under 
 the opened heaven, into which his master gloriously 
 ascended, he received, by the appointed sign, a renewed 
 consecration to his exalted calling. 
 
 A brighter day has now dawned on us. That which was 
 to Elisha an extraordinary sign, has become as common as 
 the daily bread of the children of Zion. Every page of 
 the New Testament is a cheering sign, that speaks more 
 to us of the love of God to sinners than Elijah’s ascension 
 could do. 0 that we were fully conscious of our high 
 prerogative, and enjoyed in all their richness the blessings 
 of that better covenant of promise of which we are the 
 heirs ! May the love wherewith God embraces us in Christ 
 J esus be the element in which we live, and may we every 
 moment of our being realize the gospel beatitude. — 
 ** Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for 
 they hear.” Amen. 
 
ELIJAII THE TISHBITE. 
 
 341 
 
 IV.— THE ASCENSION. 
 
 There can be no doubt, my brethren, that the false 
 theology of our times would not have occasioned half the 
 mischief it has done, had it come everywhere in unmasked 
 deformity as a direct contradiction of revealed truth. But 
 as it assumed the specious garb of adherence to the funda- 
 mental doctrines of the Church, its course was easy. The 
 unsuspecting people were unable to see through such de- 
 lusion, and, ere they were aware, Satan, thus transformed 
 into an angel of light, had triumphed over their faith and 
 carried away the choicest treasures out of their sanctuary. 
 It is true there was scarcely any of the articles of Scrip- 
 ture doctrine which was entirely suppressed ; they were 
 all given back to the people in a simpler and purer form 
 than that of the old-fashioned catechisms and creeds of 
 former centuries. The people, thus miserably deceived, 
 stretched forth their arms to embrace the truth, and be- 
 hold it was only a cloud ! They thought to gather the 
 flowers of paradise in their old seats, and lo ! they were 
 but artificial shows, without freshness, or fragrance, or 
 life. These unhappy victims of false teaching have re- 
 tained no doubt a Son of God ; but so spiritualized and 
 refined away, that it is hard to say whether he is a person 
 or merely a personified idea, an unsubstantial image. 
 True, they have a “ Supreme Being” still recommended 
 to their faith ; but a Being so shadowy, etherial, and infi- 
 nitely exalted above this world of ours, that they must 
 renounce from the first all idea of close communion with 
 him. A heaven, too, is left in name ; but a heaven with 
 which men can only be satisfied so long as they are not in 
 earnest in pressing into it. They speak of immortal life, 
 and a happy reunion of friends beyond the grave ; but 
 when the hour of need comes, the phantoms vanish, and 
 the farther shore proves, as the bark of hope nears it, 
 nothing but a collection of mists and vapours. Alas, poor 
 deluded people ! how sadly have ye forgotten the apostolic 
 
S42 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 warning, “ Beware lest any man rob you through philoso- 
 phy and vain deceit*,” Col. ii. 8. Away with this va- 
 porized theology of our fashionable pulpits ! Let us keep 
 a fast hold of the reality of the Bible. He that takes it 
 from us takes our all ; for the heart of man needs and will 
 have realities, and the more palpable and substantial they 
 are the better. An incarnate Cod, that can be appre- 
 hended by my thoughts and. laid hold of by my affections ; 
 a Surety that allowed himself, in the literal sense of the 
 words, to be judged and punished in my stead ; a special 
 Providence that numbers the hairs of my head ; a local 
 heaven, peopled with visible and tangible forms ; a con- 
 scious personal existence after death, and a reunion of 
 the soul with its earthly partner, the body; these are 
 some of the realities which my necessity loudly calls for, 
 and without which my heart can never be satisfied. For 
 all too real is the misery that weighs me down, the sin that 
 burdens my conscience, and the death that clings to my 
 very nature, that aught should prove to me a source of 
 joy which is not as firm and solid in its texture. Can a 
 paper shield avert the arrow that flies at my heart ? *No, 
 I must have one of solid brass. Can a painted banquet 
 appease my hunger? No, I must have substantial food, if 
 I am to have my life preserved, and not my wants cruelly 
 mocked. 
 
 I for one know exactly what I want ; and am content to 
 leave the chaff and husks of this world’s wisdom to those 
 who feel no need of stronger nourishment. My taste is 
 for the solid realities of Bible truth. I confess that where 
 I hear voices from the sky above, or see divine appear- 
 ances in corporeal form, or the heaven opened as over the 
 head of the martyr Stephen, that my heart, in such cases, 
 finds its true satisfaction ; and that the more palpable and 
 substantial the things of a future life shew to my sight, the 
 more gladly do I bid them welcome. I love the hopes 
 that can be seen in broad day-light and take root in history, 
 and 1 hold by such demonstrations of the immortality of 
 * German version. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 343 
 
 t he soul, and of a life to come, as we are this day to wit- 
 ness. The reality I speak of is fully seen in the subject of 
 this day’s meditation — the ascent of Elijah in the chariot 
 of fire. If there be any among you whose taste is like my 
 own, it will be abundantly gratified on this occasion. 
 
 2 Kings ii. 11. 
 
 “ And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that be- 
 hold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted 
 them both asunder,and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” 
 
 Here there is as it were a coronation-scene set before you. 
 Here is an event surpassed in splendour by none in sacred 
 history. Nor is it a spectacle in which you have no per- 
 sonal interest, since the glory of Elijah shall one day be 
 your own. Let us consider : I. The light in which we 
 .should view this glorious event ; II. The event itself ; III. 
 Cts sublime import. 
 
 I. We return with you to the familiar scene beyond J or- 
 dan. This lonely spot was chosen for the miraculous scene 
 by Him who knew better what was in man than to display 
 it in the market-place of idlers, and who will not sink his 
 condescension so far as to favour those with new wonders 
 to whom the old have been a mere show, or an occasion of 
 unbelieving doubt and ridicule. 
 
 It might be the calm hour of the first twilight of evening 
 when the two men of God, absorbed in holy conversation, 
 wandered over the silent scene. Their discourse was pro- 
 oably of Elisha’s future mission, and of the faithfulness of 
 their covenant-God. Elijah walks already with more than 
 mortal tread, and a majestic soaring expression of fervent 
 hope throws its halo around him. Nature, too, may have 
 given signs of the approaching wonder, in the gathering of 
 the curtained clouds of every radiant hue ; the spreading 
 of a universal stillness, broken only by a fitful rustle a- 
 mong the palms of the desert, and the louder murmur of 
 the distant stream ; and in the marshalling of her far-off 
 thunders, which came with low and solemn sound, like a 
 voice of welcome from another world, or peals to usher in 
 an eternal Sabbath. We turn away, however, to muse on 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 844 
 
 the moral aspect of this grand preparation, and rise above 
 the voice of Nature to the voice of God. It speaks of 
 the approaching glory of one of the children of the dust, 
 but warns us not to deify the flesh and blood that was to 
 be thus exalted. It tells us that it is not the son of Adam, 
 as such, who can inherit the kingdom of heaven ; and that 
 the coming triumph of Elijah is awarded to him, not as 
 bearing the image of the earthly, but of the heavenly, 
 but is a triumph of Divine mercy, of free sovereign grace, 
 which has its ground and source in the merits of the second 
 Adam, the Lord from heaven. It is a festival of grace in 
 which the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world 
 receives all the honour; a proclamation to angels and 
 men and the powers of darkness, “ This is my beloved son, 
 in whom I am well pleased.” 
 
 II. The great moment is come. The Lord is at hand. 
 Elisha trembles with anxiety. His master looks exultingly 
 upwards. The glowing clouds are rent, and from the fiery 
 portal, there rides forth the chariot of salvation. Like a 
 falling sun, or a star sent wandering from its place, or a 
 blaze of linked thunderbolts, it darts its dazzling splendour 
 afar ; and wraps wild, and tree, and rock, and river, in one 
 mantle of unearthly light. At length the bewildered eye 
 descries the flaming chariot with its fiery horses wheeling 
 down to earth. And now with arrowy-flight it has left 
 the thunder-clouds behind, and rolled over the hills that 
 shut in the wilderness ; and an invisible guide has arrested 
 its fire-breathing steeds by the prophet’s side. 
 
 Let us turn aside, my friends, for a moment, to see this 
 great sight. The eye of unbelief indeed may stay away. 
 We regard not its distorted and darkling fancies. But 
 even the eyes of believers see not here all alike true ; but 
 some have been blinded by the surpassing splendour. We 
 reject their notions of a chariot of gilded clouds, mistaken 
 for horses of fire, or of a host of angels linked together like 
 a chariot, and bearing the prophet on high. This is plain 
 and literal history ; and why should we volatilize it into 
 metaphor, or extend to it the freedom of speech which 
 
ELIJAII THE TISHBITE. 
 
 345 
 
 exists in poetry. We find, indeed, in the 68th Psalm, 
 the “ angels of God” spoken of as “ God’s chariots.” 
 But this is no psalm, but a sober chronicle, composed in 
 a style that does not mount on the wings of fancy, but 
 walks with firm step on the earth. Let this conceited and 
 unbelieving generation sport their miserable jeers at us as 
 slaves of the letter, if they will, we hold fast by the literal 
 chariot of fire and horses of fire, in the faith of simple and 
 honest hearts, and we trust the veracity of Him who can- 
 not lie. We need not trouble ourselves with the question 
 whence these strange objects came, whether from the 
 abodes of the blessed, or from some distant star or planet 
 where there are other forms of being and laws of nature, 
 or whether they were formed directly by the hand of Om- 
 nipotence, as perhaps also the dove that descended at our 
 Saviour’s baptism. On this I will not speculate, for I do 
 not know ; but this at least I know, that to judge of the 
 world that lies above our experience by the laws of our 
 own little planet, would be as foolish and absurd as to make 
 the natural history of our own garden-plot a standard for 
 the natural history of the globe. Let whoso will, then, 
 shake his head, and boast of his enlightened scepticism ; 
 we are not faithless but believing. He gains nothing by 
 his denial. How great our gain is from our decried su- 
 perstition, even those who wrongfully revile us must them- 
 selves confess, from their fancied height of wisdom. While 
 they leave such scenes with profane scoffs and empty hearts, 
 we feast on hidden dainties and rejoice in our covenant 
 God who counts his servants worthy of such glory ! While 
 they see only mist and vapour, we behold heaven opened and 
 breathe its native air ! While they bind the laws of th.eir 
 poor science, like iron fetters, around the hull of this earth, 
 we mount by mysterious attractions above the stars, and 
 walk already among the happy throngs of paradise ! While 
 they, curtained in by a thousand impenetrable folds of 
 mystery, mutter forth their doubtful “ To be or not to 
 be we soar away on the wings of faith, and alight on the 
 hills of immortality ! 
 
846 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 The prophet had marked the car of triumph without 
 misgiving or dismay. Its sudden appearance gave him 
 no shock, for his was now the love which “ casteth out 
 fear.” In the twinkling of an eye he is caught away, and 
 the fiery chariot again rolls upwards. Farewell, dark 
 vales below, scenes of my struggles, of my tears ! Fast fly 
 the heavenly steeds through cloud and airy sphere up to 
 the flaming portal of the firmament. The last speck of 
 earth is gone ; the prophet heeds it not ; his look is up- 
 wards ; his hands are stretched forth to a higher heaven ! 
 And while he thus rides on up the boundless steep, his 
 earthly body is transfigured into a higher form, and this 
 mortal puts on immortality. So shall it be with the just 
 who are caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Old things 
 are now passed away, and death is swallowed up in victory. 
 Who shall describe the new world which now opens to 
 his glorified senses, the calls of welcome, the faces of bright- 
 ness, the beckonings of triumph, that crowd around him ? 
 A rapture and a beauty are there, a holiness and a love, 
 with the overspreading charm of an immortal youth, before 
 which the fairest of earth’s dreams fade into dark and hol- 
 low shadows. And now the cloudy spheres are far behind ; 
 and through the kindred aether that wraps suns and starry 
 systems, the flaming horses urge their way. “ The heavens 
 declare the glory of God.” “ Great is the Lord and of 
 great power,” is the hymn which rises from the mystic 
 choir on one side ; “ All worlds are full of his glory” is the 
 thousandfold response from the other. Soon stars fade, 
 and vanish, and sink as in a bottomless abyss below ; and 
 these new and thrilling strains, that now sweep down on 
 his ravished ear, what are they? They are far-off tones 
 of the harps of seraphim around the throne of God. It 
 is the Hallelujah of the heavenly host, the jubilee an- 
 them of the “ just made perfect.” Elijah now weeps his 
 last tears; but they are tears of ecstacy, such as earth 
 knows not ; and ere he enters heaven, heaven in its rap- 
 tures has entered into his soul. The gates of pearl are 
 wide unbarred; and the New Jerusalem, for which his 
 
ELIJAH THE TlSHBITE. 
 
 S4T 
 
 heart had yearned night and day in the years of his mortal 
 banishment, lies in the sunshine of its glory before him. 
 And now the burning chariot is gone, and he is amid the 
 green pastures and the verdant palms of paradise. Look 
 round thee, thou blessed of the Lord ! Here are the pa- 
 triarchs, in whose steps thou troddest, to bid thee wel- 
 come ! Here is father Abraham, to fold thee as a beloved 
 son in his bosom ; here is Moses, whose office thou didst 
 bear, to greet thee ; and the royal Psalmist to raise a new 
 song of triumph ! Vain the call ! he hears nothing, sees 
 nothing. One glory has eclipsed all others, and he is 
 already prostrate in silent ecstacy before the throne of 
 God. Let us retire and leave him there. For us, there is 
 no dwelling long in that upper world. We must return to 
 the vale of tears ; but we take back with us heaven in our 
 hearts, and learn something of its song to cheer our pil- 
 grimage in this strange land. 
 
 “ Sick at heart, of exile weary, 
 
 Nought I see but thickening gloom ; 
 
 Hide me soon from tempest dreary. 
 
 Lord ! in peaceful halls of home.” 
 
 III. The ascension of Elijah is incontestably one of the 
 most glorious, delightful, and significant facts which the 
 the world ever witnessed before the birth of Christ. Like 
 a bright star of hope in the cloudy sky of the ancient dis- 
 pensation, it sent down its cheering radiance through many 
 centuries; and in the light of it, the saints of God went 
 on their pilgrimage with renewed strength.. It was a prop 
 of their faith in a life to come, a proof by fact of the 
 reality of things unseen and eternal. How many a death- 
 bed may it have comforted ; how many a soul upheld by 
 the thought that he, whose life was so gloriously closed on 
 earth, had once sat like them under the juniper-tree, and 
 poured out his complaint to the rocks of the wilderness. 
 This may have filled up the dark void which, in spite of 
 offering and sacrifice, opened before the troubled con- 
 science, and given them such a view of the paternal love 
 of God to sinners, that they henceforth rose above their 
 
343 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISnBITE. 
 
 despondency, and were no longer, “ through fear of death, 
 subject to bondage.” 
 
 But not only was this event like a rainbow of promise 
 over the dark clouds of the former economy, it also looked 
 forward to that better dispensation which was to come 
 “ in the fulness of time.” It was unquestionably a type 
 and figure of the glorious entrance of the Great High- 
 Priest into the true sanctuary, when he passed through 
 these heavens, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 
 And though, to the eye of sense, it may seem at first as 
 if the type were more glorious than the antitype, a little 
 reflection will teach us how truly in this respect, as 
 in every other, “ He that cometh from heaven is above 
 all.” No fiery chariot was to bear the Saviour upward; 
 but he was to ascend by his own inherent power, in simple 
 and silent majesty, and like one whose steps were accus- 
 tomed to a higher path, and whom all the elements obeyed. 
 As is the difference between the unadorned greatness of a 
 monarch, and the gorgeous and manifold trappings of his 
 retinue ; such was the difference between the ascension of 
 the sinful servant, and that of the Lord from Heaven, the 
 Son of God. 
 
 Even for us, the children of the better dispenation, this 
 mighty event opens a spring of true consolation, and stands 
 out in bold and strong colours like a great fresco-painting, 
 in which the vigour of the outline but gives us a more 
 vivid idea of the realities of another life. From the be- 
 ginning of the world until now, the soul of man has found 
 the world too narrow for its desires. To be shut up within 
 the sphere of things mutable and transitory, and to share 
 itself the common lot of dissolution ; — this has ever been an 
 intolerable thought to man, which he has struggled by all 
 means in his power to exchange for a more cheering hope. 
 At one time on the wings of fancy, at another on those 
 of speculation, he has striven to pass without the circle 
 of this visible earth, and to discover, for certain, an in- 
 visible and eternal sphere beyond, by faith in which he 
 might soothe the sorrows of the present hour, and into 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 349 
 
 which the soul might be received in safety, after the great 
 shipwreck of the body. This struggle to pierce the veil, 
 and burst the brazen doors of the prison-house, has been 
 renewed in every nation, in every clime and in every age. 
 But what is the fruit of all these painful efforts ? Merely 
 to prove, first, that man in all conditions and stages of 
 civilization feels, however vaguely, the immortality of his 
 being, and his destination for a life beyond the darkness 
 of the grave and the horrors of corruption ; and, secondly, 
 that man, when left to prove this truth by reason, has 
 ever erred, and cast his darkened eye around for light in 
 vain, and striven in vain to push aside the bars which the 
 hand of the Eternal alone can move. Look to the men 
 of the ancient world, who stood on the very summit of 
 philosophic insight, and consider how little way they ad- 
 vanced in their knowledge of a future state. Cyrus, who 
 had been educated in the schools of the most illustrious 
 Persian sages, said, on his death-bed, to his children, “ I 
 cannot imagine that the soul lives only so long as it re- 
 mains in this mortal body, and ceases to live when it is 
 separated from it. I am rather inclined to think , that 
 it will then have more intelligence and greater purity !” 
 Socrates, the greatest of the philosophers of Greece, when 
 his last hour was at hand, could only say to his judges, 
 “We are about to part. I go to die, you to live ; which of 
 us goes the the best way is known to God alone.” Cicero, 
 the great and polished Roman, could say no more than 
 this, “ I do not wish that what I am about to say of a 
 future life, should be regarded as certain, like a Divine 
 oracle. Upon this subject I only advance conjectures !” 
 And, if you will believe me, the wise men of the present 
 day have no better staff to lean upon, in so far as they 
 forsake the stable ground of Scripture. They also fluc- 
 tuate between doubt and certainty, between hope and 
 fear ; and their belief, where they have one in a future 
 life, is, in most cases, so barren and comfortless, that 
 death puts all their confidence to shame, and, by the first 
 light stroke of his dart, breaks their frail shield into a 
 thousand shivers. 
 
350 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISK3ITE. 
 
 Now, into the midst of these wise men of the world, who 
 can produce as the fruit of some thousand years specula- 
 tion, nothing better than a barren and hesitating conjec- 
 ture, that there is, perhaps, a future state, and an eter- 
 nal existence of the soul in it, the Christian comes forward 
 with beaming eye and uplifted look, and exclaims in 
 triumph, “ 0 death, where is thy sting ? 0 grave, where 
 is thy victory ?” “ We know,” he can declare with firm- 
 ness and decision, “ We know, that if our earthly house 
 of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of 
 God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the hea- 
 vens.” And, if you ask him the ground of this knowledge 
 and joyful hope, he refers you not to the loose and sandy 
 foundation of dreams, and presentiments, and probabili- 
 ties, and speculations ; but to the word of One, in whose ' 
 mouth men and devils in vain endeavoured to find deceit ; 
 One, who confirmed his words by deeds of Divine ma- 
 jesty; One who, in proof that death cannot retain his 1 
 prey for ever, approached the tombs of the dead and 
 called them back to life by a word, and One who esta- ‘ 
 blished his doctrine of immortality, not only by the fact 
 of an ascension like Elijah, but on the unspeakably \ 
 stronger pillar of his own resurrection from the dead j 
 before he was exalted to glory. Hear him when he , 
 says, “ In my Father’s house are many mansions ; if it ' 
 were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a 
 place for you ; and if I go and prepare a place for you, I 
 will come again and receive you to myself, that where I , 
 am there ye may be also.” Here then is the cloudy veil , 
 withdrawn, and the barriers that separate time from • 
 eternity thrust aside by a mighty hand ; while all that we i 
 have to do is to behold and rejoice at the magnificent ' 
 prospect. True, indeed, the glory thus discovered can be t 
 seen only by that wonderful eye which we call Faith. \ 
 But how firm and distinct and stedfast may the view of t . 
 Faith be, when she looks through the glass of a sure word c ; 
 of truth, spoken by Him in whose life and history is every j 
 moment revealed the Lord from heaven ! And where then 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 351 
 
 does he, who is as familiar with the world of spirits as 
 with the gross realities of earth — where does he direct our 
 longing hopes ? Is it, like the wisdom of this world, to a 
 dark and boundless void ? Is it to far distant shadows thal 
 flit in the horizon ? to words without knowledge of an 
 ocean of spirit, into which the souls of men are to be re- 
 absorbed ? or to deep riddles respecting an existence out 
 of the limits of space and time ? Oh no. It is to some- 
 thing which is distinct and apprehensible and near at 
 hand. It has shape and body, and a clear outline and a 
 lively colour ; and if we believe in it, we know at least in 
 what we have believed. The Author of our Faith shews 
 us, behind the clouds, no dreary and immeasurable ex- 
 panse, no empty and shapeless pile of vapours, in think- 
 ing of which we should rather feel glad to keep still by the 
 solid earth. He shews us something which we can live in 
 and feel ourselves at home — a house, a mansion, a pater- 
 nal home. Do you say, “ These are but figures.” No doubt 
 they are ; but there lies under them a deep reality, and 
 they are not mere oratorical flourishes and strokes of 
 fancy. Verily heaven is no building with roof and walls. 
 But it is a local region, a peopled spot, a place of habita- 
 tion, where friend knows friend, and enjoys all the delights 
 of close and enduring relationship. The expression, “ My 
 father’s house,” points to a family community, a confiding 
 intercourse, a living with, and beside a common Father, 
 where all is love, and peace, and joy; and this is the sub- 
 stance, the sober reality of the image. 0 how precious is 
 the thought, that we have so sure intelligence of this 
 house in heaven, and that when we are a-weary of this 
 world of sorrow, and would flee away and be at rest, our 
 souls can escape through those chinks in the prison-house 
 which let in the light of heaven, and soar away to the 
 regions of the blest. How does it do the heart good, in 
 the midst of this mortal toil and struggle, to know of a land 
 where peace for ever reigns ; in the midst of this drooping, 
 and fading, and reign of death, to know of a world without 
 blight or decay ; in the midst of the fierce and jarring 
 
352 
 
 ELIJAH TnE TISHBITE. 
 
 tumult of earth, to rejoice in a scene where all is conspira- 
 tion and blessed harmony ; and from the stormy billows 
 of a changeful life, to look to a quiet haven where all 
 storms are hushed, and whence there is no more voyaging 
 abroad into the distracted deep ! How cheerfully does 
 such a glimpse of glory impel us onward through the vale 
 of tears ! Dark as is our earthly dwelling-place, the air of 
 heaven now plays around it, and enters into it ; and though 
 the range of our feet be still confined, our heart is abroad 
 in boundless spheres. The blue canopy of heaven is now 
 a vapour which hangs around the sunny hills of the “ land 
 that is afar off the stars are but the twinkling lamps of 
 the city of our God ; and the moon is but a silent sentinel 
 that softly beckons the pilgrim on, “ ordained to guide 
 the unbodied spirit home from toilsome life to never- 
 ending rest.” 
 
 Yes, in the triumphal ascent of Elijah, we see only a : 
 reflected image of the glory that awaits all the people of ’ 
 God. As the whole flock follows the leader, when the 
 “ appointed time” of the crane and stork is come, so shall ' 
 we also, after the prophet, rise on the wings of faith and 
 love to a happier clime ; as the first bud of spring an- ? 
 nounces the approaching verdure of the whole tree, so he $ 
 announces a general spring-time to all who are grafted in- , 
 to the True Yine. Yes, we shall follow thee in thy ad- 
 venturous path ! The true Precursor has broken up our 
 our way. For us there may be no fiery chariot ; but the 
 ministry of angels shall be ours, and who can tell what 
 besides ? , 
 
 We take leave of this splendid and heart-elevating pic- ! 
 ture ; but I cannot pass from it, without drawing aside I 
 the curtain that veils an equally real and more stupendous j 
 scene. Behold ! what a spectacle is this ! A dismal hill of [ 
 death — a bloody tree of agony, with thickest night around, ) 
 and the cry and groan of anguish from amid the gloom. 
 Truly this is another sight than that we have just gazed ; 
 on in the wilderness. Here is a righteous man nailed to \ 
 the cross ; there a sinner ascends to glory. Here the inno- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 353 
 
 cent is compassed round with the “ sorrows of death” and 
 “ the pains of hell” — there the guilty triumphs in a cha- 
 riot of fire. Here the “ brightness of the Father’s glory” 
 sinks in the night of death — there a criminal, deserving to 
 die, passes without tasting of death into the joys of para- 
 dise. Here the Lamb of God bleeds by the sword of aveng- 
 ing justice — there a creature of the dust is welcomed as a 
 child of God to the arms of mercy. What startling con- 
 trasts, and, to the natural mind, perplexing riddles ! And 
 yet they are bound together by a deep inward harmony. 
 For the one depends upon the other, and finds in it its 
 true explanation. Christ assumed the sinner’s place. He 
 became “ sin” for Elijah ; and thus Elijah became the 
 “ righteousness of God in him !” He took on himself the 
 sinner’s punishment ; the sinner becomes partaker of his 
 glory. He has drunk the sinner’s cup of trembling ; the 
 sinner receives from his hand the cup of blessing. It is 
 this marvellous substitution of Immanuel in the sinner’s 
 stead that clears up all difficulties in the Divine proce- 
 dure, and shews how a sinner may ascend to the highest 
 heaven. 
 
 Here, then, we leave for the present the bright scene 
 of ascension. And in what better frame can we depart, 
 than by joining in the heavenly chorus of angels and spi- 
 rits of the just made perfect, “ Worthy is the Lamb that 
 was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and 
 strength, and glory, and honour, and blessing.” Amen. 
 
 Y. — THE PARTING CALL. 
 
 When we read, in Mark xvi. 16, that Jesus “ upbraided 
 his disciples with their unbelief we read of something 
 that has happened not once in the history of the world, 
 but times innumerable. Nothing did the Saviour so often 
 smite with the “ sword of his mouth” as unbelief ; and 
 with the strongest reason. For it is the source of all sin, 
 and causes the forfeiture of all saving blessings. It bars 
 23 
 
S54 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 at once the door of heaven, and wreathes around our necks 
 the yoke of the Prince of darkness. 
 
 0, it is a detestable thihg, this sin of unbelief, on what- 
 soever side we contemplate it ! It can do nothing but 
 darken, and degrade, and destroy. It extinguishes all the 
 lights of the spiritual world, and spreads around a night 
 and chaos, out of which all foul and monstrous shapes of 
 evil are born. What does unbelief make of the world ? 
 A barren and cheerless waste, where no sound of Divine 
 footsteps is heard ; no angels ascend and descend ; no living 
 hand clothes the fields, and feeds the birds of the air, and 
 regulates the events of life, but where one dull play of 
 mechanism succeeds another ; and where, instead of an 
 inner spirit of life, a dead law of nature sets all things in 
 motion and there is no room for a special providence of 
 love mysteriously to control all. Thus it changes the world 
 into a great field of the dead, and makes of nature, the 
 garden of the Lord, an immense automaton ; of history, 
 that grand development of a manifold counsel of God, a 
 fortuitous concourse of accidents; of man, the pupil of 
 a Divine training, a creature without other rule of life 
 than chance and self-will ; and of prayer, an absurd and 
 useless ceremony. It disrobes the world and the life of 
 man of every great and exalting aspect; it annihilates 
 even the vestiges of heaven that are yet upon the earth, 
 and bars the outlet to every higher region. 
 
 But faith comes to re-open the intercourse between earth 
 and heaven. She peoples the world, and the scenes of our 
 life, with high and glorious visitants. She sees an invisi- 
 ble world dawn upon the visible ; and to her eye the earth 
 is a theatre of incessant wonders and mighty acts of God. 
 Everywhere she traces the interference, and working, and 
 ruling guidance of an exalted Trinity. In the winds she 
 sees his messengers, and his ministers in the flames of fire. 
 She has the wings of angels for a dweller in the dust ; and 
 for the prisoner of time, the key that “ opens the palace 
 of eternity.” 
 
 Great and wonderful, indeed, is the force of the mind 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 355 
 
 of man when, in the words of an eloquent author, “ with 
 more marvellous threads than those on which the insect 
 darts into the light air, and is borne by the wind over vale 
 and mountain, he stretches the web of his thoughts from 
 star to star, and from galaxy to galaxy, and calculates 
 distances, which his own measuring line, at the speed of 
 light, would take thousands of years to traverse.” And 
 yet how feeble and infant-like does this same mind appear, 
 amidst all its reach and loftiness, when it fails to raise 
 one of those bright curtains of that spiritual world, on 
 whose borders it treads, and has to confess that, though 
 its own limits are not the boundaries of truth, but the 
 walls that partition off some great and mysterious regions 
 of the universe, it can neither overpass these nor remove 
 them out of the way. Shut up in its own little pen-fold 
 of a world, it must forego all lofty contemplation of a 
 Spirit that is above all, and turn its ignorant gaze on what 
 is but the veil and outer covering of his glory. The sage 
 must first become as a little child, and sit in lowly docility 
 by the word of revelation. Only at the feet of Jesus is 
 this spiritual wisdom to be learned. Of that man only, 
 be he wise or ignorant, who has comprehended the light 
 of His doctrine, can it be said, “ The darkness is past, and 
 the true light now shineth.” 
 
 2 Kings ii. 12. 
 
 “ And Elisha saw it, and he cried. My father, my father! the 
 chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no 
 more : and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two 
 pieces.” 
 
 The man of God, whom we have so often attended in 
 his eventful course, and who has so mightily excited our 
 admiration and our love, is no more to be found in the 
 land of mortals. He has shaken off the dust of earth, 
 and Elisha, his faithful companion, is now to be seen 
 alone in the wilderness near Jordan. How deep and pe- 
 culiar his feelings must have been, on this occasion, we 
 cannot in words describe. Yet his conduct, as here re- 
 
356 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 corded, opens a slight view into the depths of his agitated 
 heart. Let us consider, I. Elisha’s Last Look. II. His 
 Parting Call. III. His Expression of Grief. 
 
 I. Elisha beholds with trembling heart the sublime spec- 
 tacle of his master’s translation; and his heart almost 
 sinks under the awful and imposing grandeur of the scene. 
 Who can picture the excitement of the forsaken man ? 
 Is he really awake ? Is it only a vision of his fancy ? For 
 a moment he might doubt his senses ; but he finds himself 
 still in the wilderness and alone ; the mantle of the as- 
 cended Elijah has floated down, and his hands touch and 
 handle it. No ; it is no vision, it is all reality. His friend, 
 his spiritual father, soars in very deed yonder through the 
 air ; as really as Noah floated in his ark on the waters, or 
 as Moses and the children of Israel passed, dryshod, 
 through the waves of the Red Sea. But who had ever 
 seen such a sight ! Truly it needed a Divine supporting 
 hand, to keep him from sinking in this the most solemn 
 and momentous hour of his life. 
 
 Happy was Elisha in “ having seen,” still more happy in 
 " having believed.” Happiest of all are we, if by the eye 
 of faith we see, and in our hearts believe, the great truth 
 taught in Elijah’s ascension, and are not among the “ wise 
 and prudent, from whom these things are hidden.” For 
 there are men who, “ having eyes, see not ; and having 
 ears, hear not !” and who, when the Father gives testi- 
 mony concerning his Son from heaven, “ I have glorified 
 thy name, and will glorify it again,” can only say “ it 
 thundereth,” and hear neither divine nor angelic voice. 
 Let us not forget also, that, as Elisha’s great request was 
 answered in seeing the display of God’s love to sinners in 
 Elijah’s translation itself, as well as by the dropping of 
 the mantle, so we also receive the spirit of the New Testa- 
 ment by looking in faith on another and greater ascension, 
 and by the shedding forth of the gifts of the Holy Ghost 
 which follow it. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 357 
 
 II. Elisha gazes in devout wonder on the ascending 
 chariot. An exalted joy, indeed, and hopes unknown be- 
 fore, must then have sprung up in his breast. But the 
 sense of unutterable loss overpowers all, and he cries after 
 the ascending prophet, “ My father, my father, the cha- 
 riot of Israel and the horsemen thereof !” Never was the 
 word “ father” pronounced on earth with greater depth 
 of feeling or affectionate tenderness. There is something 
 urgently sad in the cry, as if he would call his master back 
 to earth. And this is almost unexpected by us, who have 
 been accustomed to look on Elijah almost exclusively as 
 a son of thunder. Certainly, if we have attended to our 
 feelings, it has not been confiding affection, but reveren- 
 tial awe* with which he has inspired us by the majesty 
 and fiery earnestness of his public appearances. But 
 Elisha, who had seen the workings of the heart which 
 beat under the hairy mantle and heavenly armour of 
 proof, knew better what manner of man Elijah was ; and 
 in his eyes the prophet had not overshadowed the man. 
 O how much had Elisha lost in him ! How instructive did 
 he find his company ! how soothing and full of care his 
 friendship ! Though accustomed so much to what was 
 elevated and supernatural, how great was his interest in 
 all, however trifling, that concerned his friend ; and if at 
 one moment he stood terrible on the scene of conflict with 
 the drawn sword of the Spirit in his hand, he had been 
 ready the next to gather the little ones, the humble and 
 the teachable, under the wings of his love, and to welcome 
 the timid to his embrace ! Yes, Elisha’s loss could not be 
 tefld. The sweetest and most valuable hours in his life 
 had been spent in his society. 0 what recollections would 
 hover about his soul ! What struggling emotions of desire 
 and affection and gratitude and regret are poured forth in 
 the parting call, “ My father, my father !” 
 
 “ The chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof !” or, 
 “ Thou wast Israel’s artillery and cavalry,” its glittering 
 legion and its invincible host. What a noble testimony \ 
 And yet what is it but a true likeness of that man whom 
 
3S8 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 God had made as an iron bulwark about Zion, and an 
 armed host against Israel’s foes ? Think of the fire that 
 was ready to descend at his prayers against Jehovah’s 
 enemies, of the ruin that by a word he hurled against the 
 priests of idolatry. Think of the awful thunder which 
 rolled from his lips against the blasphemer, the power of 
 look, and of mere presence, by which he quelled the 
 strongest and proudest spirits of his time. He spake, and 
 the horse and his rider stood thunderstruck ; he threat- 
 ened, and tyrants recoiled, pale and mute and trembling. 
 He commanded in the name of God, and a whole royal 
 family that set themselves against the Lord were rooted 
 out by fire and sword. He was wroth in spirit, and his 
 wrath became a consuming flame which burnt up a whole 
 host of lying priests from the land of Israel. And what a 
 wall of defence was this man around the believers in the 
 land ! How did he encourage the trembling and scattered 
 flock by word and deed ! How did he throw himself into 
 the breach to save their faith ; and, like a champion, put 
 forth every effort, by exhortation and example, to keep 
 them stedfast in God’s covenant! And Elijah was not 
 only their champion and standard-bearer, he was their 
 shield and breastplate, defending them from the malice of 
 tyrants, and proving himself more terrible to them than 
 whole armies of Philistines and Syrians. And this man 
 was gone ! The phalanx of Israel and its bulwark were 
 removed ! and what might be the consequence ? Who 
 would now take the lead in the cause of God, and oppose 
 his breast to the foe ? 0, irreparable loss ! Alas, Elijah, 
 that thou hast left us so soon ! “ My father, my father, 
 the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof !” 
 
 It is long since the Church of God has seen men deserv- 
 ing of this highest of titles ; the days in which we live are 
 evil ; while, on the other hand, it seems as if the kingdom 
 of darkness would never fail in champions and heroes. 
 Yet the predicted time will come, when “ The Lord of 
 hosts shall visit his flock, the house of Judah, and make 
 them as his goodly horse in the battle ; and they shall be 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 3S9 
 
 as mighty men, who tread down their enemies as the mire 
 in the streets,” Zech. x. 3 — 5. But till then our motto 
 must be, “ Here is the patience of the saints nor must 
 we forget the old lines : — 
 
 “ Once the cedar and the palm 
 M arked the soul for glorious deeds ; 
 
 But in this, the better time. 
 
 Fragile vines and bruised reeds.” 
 
 Still, however, in a certain sense, the honourable ap. 
 pellation of “ the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen 
 thereof,” belongs even now to all the faithful and righte- 
 ous, and especially to those who, in the spirit of the New 
 Testament, abound in prayer and intercession with God. 
 Mark how the prayer of Lot suspended the destruction of 
 Sodom ; the prayer of Moses procured the slaughter of 
 Amalek, and the prayer of Samuel brought down the 
 thunders of heaven on the Philistines, and routed them 
 with a great overthrow. Such is the power of believing 
 prayer. For it lays hold of the Divine promise, and there- 
 by engages Omnipotence on its side. It defends cities, 
 decides battles, arms warriors, stops the mouths of lions, 
 turns to the flight the armies of the aliens, restrains judg- 
 ments, and divides the waves of the sea. Happy the place 
 where such believers dwell ! That is better for it than walls 
 of brass, and ramparts of rock. Happy the church whose 
 pastors are “ the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen there- 
 of.” They are Israel’s chariot, when they, like Moses once, 
 rise with you on the fiery wheels of intercession through 
 clouds of darkness to the throne of grace ; they are “ the 
 horsemen thereof,” when they fall upon your hearts with 
 the charge, “ Thou, thou art the man.” They are Israel’s 
 chariot, when, with holy boldness, they ride over and beat 
 down every high place among you that the Lord alone may 
 be exalted ; they are Israel’s horsemen, when, in the 
 armour of God, they take the field for you day and night 
 against Satan and his seducing spirits. Pray, my friends, 
 for your own sakes, that your teachers may have such an 
 unction from the Holy One, and that you may be able, when 
 
360 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 they are no more, to inscribe upon their tombstone to the 
 praise of God, “ The chariot of Israel, and the horsemen 
 thereof/’ 
 
 III. The last faint trace of the fiery chariot is gone ; 
 Elisha’s eye gazes no longer upwards ; he looks around, 
 and feels that he is indeed alone. Will no second chariot 
 come to bear him also above this vale of tears and of the 
 shadow of death ? “Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, 
 and dwell in the tents of Kedar.” Such is the language of 
 his heart, as he rends his clothes “ in two pieces,” exclaim- 
 ing, “ My father, my father !” 
 
 We are not in a condition fully to understand and sym- 
 pathize with Elisha’s grief, as we have never been called 
 to mourn over the departure of an Elijah. We must have 
 witnessed the death of a Luther, or a Calvin, or stood by 
 the grave of John Arnot, a Franke, or a Bengel, in order 
 to feel the depth of sadness which makes Israel exclaim, 
 “ How are the mighty fallen ; how are the weapons of war 
 perished !” We must imagine what it is to lose a beloved 
 father or a tender mother out of a family, and then apply 
 this to the whole church of the saints. 
 
 Elisha’s grief could not be of very long duration. Hope, 
 like a guardian angel, must soon have revisited his soul ; 
 and in the blessed prospect of a speedy re-union to his 
 lost master, he must have risen above his sorrows. And 
 so shall it be with us, when, from the death-beds of pious 
 friends, where heaven seems opened above us, and we almost 
 hear the sound of the receding chariot of fire, we must re- 
 turn as from the gates of paradise to dwell a little longer in 
 the wilderness. “ Let patience have her perfect work ere 
 long the time will come. The hour of our departure may 
 strike sooner than we imagine, and introduce us to the 
 bosom of Eternal Love. 
 
 But thou, poor soul, that hast no longing for home— 
 thou unconverted soul, that despisest the blood of the 
 cross and followest another standard than that of Calvary — 
 thou, too, must take thy last journey; and whither, O, 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 361 
 
 whither does it lead ? Thou hast heard the devils ex- 
 claiming, “ Lord Jesus, send us not into the deep,” and 
 their cry shall one day be thine own. Now thou walkest 
 in thine own way, gay and thoughtless, and sayest to thy- 
 self, “Peace ! peace, when there is no peace,” and, “There 
 is no danger,” while yet the danger is appalling, though 
 thou knowest it not, or wilt not consider it. On the clock 
 of eternity thine hour is struck ; but no angel descends to 
 bear thee away ; no mansion of peace is opened for thee ; 
 no crown of life is wreathed for thy head. Thy name 
 stands not in the book of life. Ah, thine angel of death 
 has no peaceful look, no mild and cheering voice. On thy 
 bed of death, no friendly hands bear thee up ; but the 
 ministers of justice rudely seize thee; thou fallest not 
 asleep, but goest thine own way to the place of execution. 
 Ha, what mean those starts of agony, those looks of fixed 
 despair, those chill drops that bedew thy sinking head ? 
 Is this godly sorrow, is this repentance ? Yes ; it is the 
 repentance of Judas, of Ahab, of Cain ; it is the remorse 
 of hell, without faith ; it is the pressure of guilt, without 
 movement towards God ; it is a fearful looking for of judg- 
 ment, without hope from the Judge; a shuddering at 
 eternity, without one recourse to the prayer of faith, or 
 one struggle of the soul to embrace the crucified One. Un- 
 happy sinner, who can help thy sad case;! We preach to 
 thee, thou understandest not ; we point thee to the blood 
 of the Lamb, thou wilt not raise thy heavy eyes ; we name 
 to thee the name of Jesus, thou canst only tremble. We 
 would pray with thee, but thou givest no sign of assent. 
 And oh, should this not be thy state, but shouldst thou 
 advance so far into the dark entrance, dull, and hardened, 
 and blind to all that lies beyond ; yet, as thy senses fail 
 thee, and thine eye darkens, and thine ear is shut, and 
 the world is all behind thee, then another scene will open, 
 a strange world of gloom, and ghastliness will rise around 
 thee, and thou wilt feel that thou art all alone — alone 
 with thy sins — alone with thy burdened heart — alone with 
 thy boding terrors — alone in the thick dark cloud of death \ 
 
862 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISEEITE. 
 
 Alone — yet not alone ! For thou hearest whispers that 
 make thy naked spirit quiver ; a spiteful hissing and a 
 bitter laughter, that tells thy quaking heart into what 
 hands thou art betrayed and sold for ever. And when 
 thy pulse beats no more, and the last death-rattle is 
 breathed from thy throat, and thy soul leaps forth with 
 one cry of anguish from the body, thou then knowest 
 whore thou art, for now thou seest the spirits of darkness. 
 Ah, the hideous looks that stare on thee all round, hard- 
 ened by the crimes of long ages ; and they only mock and 
 triumph in thy misery ! Thy prayers, thy tears, thy ad- 
 jurations, thy mad reproaches of thy accursed convoy 
 avail thee not. With fiendish mockery they tell thee, 
 “ That thy lot is of thine own choosing ; that thou mightest 
 as readily have fled to the cross as joined their banner; 
 that honour calls thee to play out thy part.” And so they 
 drag thee forth on thy dismal journey through a ravaged 
 world, which no God repairs; an utter wilderness, still as 
 the grave, and dark, without sky or solitary gleam of star ; 
 thy downward way carries thee from depth to depth, and 
 the darkness grows ever denser, the silence ever more 
 drear, and broken only by the rush of infernal wings, or 
 the grating thunder of doors that close on thee for ever ; 
 and thy poor soul’s distress is ever sadder and sadder, and 
 darker than all the night that wraps thee round. Ah, 
 these piercing sounds that break upon thee from the far 
 depth, what mean they ? They are the weeping, and wail- 
 ing, and gnashing of teeth, of which on earth thou heardest 
 the Saviour speak. And now thou art beside them, and 
 seest their ghastly faces ; each more dismal than the other, 
 and upon all the same despair and madness ; and from 
 every lip, nothing but self-cursing and blasphemy. Ah, who 
 shall save them from their undying worm, or put out their 
 unquenchable fires! There is Judas, the traitor, tossed 
 to and fro like a cloud of night, wringing his hands and 
 crying for annihilation, but crying in vain. There is Cain, 
 the fratricide, grovelling in the deepest abyss ; and though 
 he digs downward in search of death, he cannot find it. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 353 
 
 There is Nero, the blood-hound of persecution. Such is 
 thy company ; but here no one cares for others ; for all 
 are buried in their own woes, and all hearts are of stone, 
 except to the pangs of their own torment. And as thou 
 quailest at the sight, and wouldst turn away, the pangs of 
 hell lay hold on thee, and thou feelest a wave of anguish 
 break upon thy soul, to which the direst sufferings of earth 
 would be a respite of peace. It is a mystery of horror, 
 unimagined, nameless, unutterable ! and no deliverer, far 
 or near ; no more sacrifice for sin ; and for pity, there is 
 bitter mockery ; and for comfort, the hellish taunt, “ See 
 thou to that !” Love has fled these dark abodes ; and the 
 night is too thick, alas, even for a ray of hope. Here no 
 clock strikes to mark the passing away of an hour of sorrow ; 
 no dawn follows the midnight of despair, to give promise 
 of a better day. Here that scene becomes a sad reality, 
 which a dark imagination has pictured with colours so fear- 
 fully true. One lost spirit meets another, and asks him, in 
 rueful despair, “ What of the clock ?” He answers, “ Here 
 are no minutes, no hours, no years, no ages, no time at 
 all ; but only one long, awful, never-ending eternity. Here 
 is only one great clock, that has no dial, no hands, no 
 numbers ; only a pendulum that swings on with one dull 
 beat of thunder. Ever — Never. Ever Damnation — 
 Never Redemption ! Here the name of a Father, a God, 
 that was written on all upon earth, in storm as in sun- 
 shine, in waste as in fruitful field, and which makes earth, 
 in the retrospect, a very paradise, is to be read no more. 
 Shall it be written on the chains of darkness that know 
 no breaking, on the smoke of torment that ascendeth up 
 for ever and ever ?” In the dread flames that cannot be 
 quenched by floods of tears ? In the wail of despair that 
 finds no answer ? 0 God of justice ! in hell there is written 
 on the dungeon walls, and the hearts of the prisoners, no- 
 thing but this sentence, “ Our God is a consuming fire.” 
 Alas ! poor soul, that must learn, by eternal trial, the awful 
 depth of this word ; with what shout of joy wouldst thou 
 hear, but for once, in that place, what thou hast so often 
 
364 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 heard on earth, “ Be ye reconciled unto God,” and see the 
 curse and blessing once more put within thy choice. But no. 
 The curse alone is thy eternal portion. No God cares for 
 thee more, no Saviour seeks after thee, no day of grace 
 dawns on thee ; and escape from these realms of sin and 
 death is barred against thee, not for long ages merely, but 
 for ever and ever ! 
 
 Alas ! Alas ! what a picture is this compared with that 
 scene which we lately dwelt upon with rapture. Then it 
 pained us to leave the blessed abodes of light, into which 
 we followed in thought the triumphant prophet, and re- 
 turn to this vale of tears. But now we could almost break 
 into shouts of joy, that the way is still open for our return 
 to the earth and the day of grace. Again we hear, instead 
 of the yell of demons and the wailings of despair, the voice 
 of God calling us to repentance. Instead of the devouring 
 fire, we see the arms of mercy still opened, as wide and 
 gracious as ever, to receive us. All, however, has its time 
 and its season. “ Work out your own salvation with fear 
 and trembling ; for it is God that worketh in you both to 
 will and to do of his good pleasure.” “ Kiss ye the Son, 
 lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath 
 is kindled but a little.” One of two things must close our 
 pilgrimage ; an ascent to heaven or a descent to hell. 
 There is no middle state. “ Have mercy upon us, 0 Saviour. 
 Jesus, thou Lamb of God, have mercy upon us.” Amen. 
 
 YI.— THE LEGACY. 
 
 Our faith in a Millenium rests not only on the sure word 
 of prophecy, but also on the disorders of the Church in 
 the present day, and the destitute state of the world. With- 
 out it the issues of Redemption would appear incomplete ; 
 the mediation of Christ less powerful than the influence of 
 the prince of this world. But for this we would be incon- 
 solable for the loss of the Pentecostal church, and even the 
 great spiritual heroes of the earlier dispensation would be 
 contemplated by U3 with humiliation and shame. Those 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 365 
 
 therefore are to be blamed who despise the study of pro- 
 phecy, who seek not to complete the mutilated figure of 
 church history by adding to it the proportions and members 
 that lie scattered in the predictions of good things to come, 
 and who shut their ears to the sounds of His approach, who 
 has promised to “ come quickly.” As for myself, I confess, 
 that, if the prospect of a speedy dawn of these blessed days 
 had not supported me, I should never have been embold- 
 ened to take you back into that age in which Elijah and 
 Elisha lived and acted so gloriously. But as it is, I look 
 with calm and unenvying eye upon these bright forms of 
 the ancient dispensation, for greater saints and heroes are 
 yet to coihe. 
 
 2 Kings ii. 13—15. 
 
 “ He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went 
 back, and stood by the bank of Jordan ; and he took the mantle of 
 Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where 
 is the Lord God of Elijah ? And when he also had smitten the waters, 
 they parted hither and thither ; and Elisha went over. And when 
 the sons of the prophets, which were to view at Jericho, saw him, 
 they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came 
 to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.” 
 
 We come this day to an interesting act. The will of the 
 departed prophet is unsealed ; and Elisha is the heir of an 
 inheritance the like of which the world has seldom seen. 
 Let us contemplate the happy man somewhat more closely 
 in the enjoyment of his heritage, and consider Elisha, 
 I. With Elijah’s Mantle. II. With Elijah’s God. III. With 
 Elijah’s Spirit. IV. In Elijah’s Office. 
 
 I. In the moment when Elijah was taken up in his fiery 
 chariot, his mantle, loosened by an invisible hand, fell from 
 his shoulders, and floated down before Elisha. This was 
 but a trifling circumstance in itself ; but, as a symbol, of 
 too much importance to be overlooked. With his mantle, 
 Elijah had cast off for ever the burden and dignity of his 
 commission. In the world above there are no more teachers 
 and prophets, for faith is swallowed up in vision. Elisha 
 was at no loss to understand the sign. When formerly he 
 cast his mantle on Elisha at Abel-meholah, it was no more 
 
366 
 
 ELIJAII THE TISHBITE. 
 
 than a preparatory call to the prophetic office. Now, how- 
 ever, he is called upon to take the place of his great master, 
 and to continue his work. The mantle came flying towards 
 him heavily laden. But, with the grave commission which 
 it brought, was united the pleasing encouragement of hav- 
 ing received it thus from such a master. This mantle was 
 the remembrancer of mighty deeds, like a banner that had 
 long waved in fields of victory ; and not only so, it was the 
 robe of a blessed heir of heaven borne thither on the wings 
 of cherubim. The kindness and love of God to sinners 
 would now be signified by it to Elisha’s mind ; and thus 
 would refresh his spirit in his arduous office, and mark him 
 out as that gracious messenger of peace, who was to an- 
 nounce to the house of Israel, like a rainbow after a storm, 
 the good will of God to men. 
 
 It was also a circumstance of importance for Elisha, that 
 the mantle of office he was forthwith to wear, was cast to 
 him as it were from the open heavens. In what light could 
 he regard this, except as an immediate investiture and vo- 
 cation on the part of the living God. And should n<Jt every 
 mantle of office now carry the same significance ? Should 
 not all preachers, and teachers, and missionaries, and all 
 others that labour in the Lord’s vineyard, be able to say, 
 with Elisha/' I have received my commission from heaven ; 
 my call is of God ?” But, in the present day, people com- 
 monly make the mantle ohemselves, esteeming it an idle 
 fancy that aught should fall from heaven but rain and snow, 
 and looking upon the sacred office of a minister as a pro- 
 fession, like any other, into which any one may be put for 
 “ a morsel of bread.” The parents decide for their child 
 in his cradle, “We shall make a minister of him.” The 
 vain young student, especially if he be conscious of pos- 
 sessing some small talent, immediately concludes that his 
 sphere is the pulpit. Too many of our young men enter 
 the universities and devote themselves to the study of 
 theology, without the most distant thought of asking coun- 
 sel of God as to the matter of their choice ; and nowhere 
 is an Elijah to be found to take them aside and inquire 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 whether they have any better proof of their call than their 
 own good opinion of themselves and the counsel of flesh 
 and blood. Hence it is that we have now the mournful 
 spectacle of a church before our eyes, in which grievous 
 wolves fill the shepherds’ office, and the inconsistency of 
 the clergy is a common matter of scandal and hindrance 
 to the gospel. Is it strange, that, in such circumstances, 
 the common mariner should sometimes seize the helm, 
 when the pilot knows not how to govern the ship ? The 
 denouncers of lay agency would do well to consider that 
 they are only opposing what they themselves, however 
 much against their will, have called into existence. 
 
 II. After Elisha had taken up the mantle in the name 
 of the Lord, he commences his return to Jericho, much 
 excited, and yet of good comfort; for not only Elijah’s 
 mantle, but Elijah’s God remains with him. This he 
 doubts not ; but where is the faith which no longer re- 
 quires no seal. “ Shew me a token for good,” saith the 
 psalmist ; and what prayer of his is oftener repeated by 
 the saints than this.? This prayer was in the heart of Elisha 
 as he approached the banks of J ordan. He must pass over — 
 Elijah is no longer at his side. And the mantle in itself 
 is nothing. Elijah’s God must manifest himself. He takes 
 the hairy mantle, wraps it up as he had seen his master 
 do, and with it he smites the waters of Jordan, invoking 
 the Almighty from heaven, and saying, “ Where is the 
 Lord God of Elijah ?” What shall we say, my friends, to 
 this call ? Is it too bold and confident ? No, it only shews 
 how greatly the miracle in the wilderness had strengthened 
 his faith in the Most High. Is it a tempting of/ God ? No ! 
 it is a holy and blameless reliance on his Providence. 
 Does it partake of unbelief ? No ! the language is that of 
 doubt ; but the spirit is that of faith. And if it seem to 
 speak impatience, the importance of the event and the 
 occasion removes all appearance of this evil. “ He that 
 searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the 
 spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints ac- 
 cording to the will of God.” 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 The reason why Elisha invoked the God of Elijah was 
 this, that he had received for his inheritance not only the 
 mantle, but also the God of Elijah. Thus God was the 
 portion of Isaac by inheritance, and afterwards of Jacob. 
 To believers, also, of after ages God revealed himself as 
 the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; and thus promised 
 them the blessings which he had conferred on these pa- 
 triarchs, and assured them that he would bear them in his 
 hands wi^h the same faithfulness. Hence the Old Testa- 
 ment saints directed all their prayers to the God of their 
 fathers ; and found, in the original covenant made with 
 Abraham, a deep source of comfort and hope. And to 
 whom do we direct our prayers ? Thrice happy are we 
 who have seen God manifest in the flesh, to whom we can 
 pray with a degree of confidence which the saints of old 
 could never possess. We know that every act of kindness 
 done by our Lord to sinners, in the days of his flesh, was 
 designed to be a pattern of what he will do in all times to 
 those that seek him. We then can look with more confi- 
 dence to God as thus revealed in the person of his Son ; 
 and.how does it strengthen our faith when sin weighs us 
 down, or when poverty and want oppress us, to be able to 
 say “ Where is the God of the penitent malefactor ? Where 
 is the God of Martha, and Mary, and of Lazarus ? Where 
 is the God of Peter and of Mary Magdalene ? Where is 
 the Lord who fed thousands with a word ?” Yes, this 
 God is our God for ever and ever. “ Jesus Christ is the 
 same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” 
 
 Surely it is a great and blessed thing that we are pri- 
 vileged to call the God of all the heirs of Divine grace, 
 from the beginning, our own God. But let me assure you 
 that there is a higher privilege still, of which we are all 
 partakers. In all circumstances we are warranted to ex- 
 claim, “ Where is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ ?” We may look in faith for the same display of 
 love and tender care from the Father with which he re- 
 garded his only begotten Son. “ The Father himself,” 
 says Jesus with great emphasis, “ The Father himself 
 
ET.IJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 3C9 
 
 loveth you and still more expressly, in his intercessory 
 prayer, “ Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me.” 
 John xvii. 21 — 23. 0 exalted and inconceivably blessed 
 privilege ! “ Such honour have all his saints.” Be rooted 
 and grounded in this faith, and all spiritual temptations 
 will vanish, all worldly cares will cease, and you will, even 
 in this life, rise as far above the highest attractions of the 
 present evil world, as ye are exalted above its highest dig- 
 nities. 
 
 III. No sooner had Elijah smitten the waters, than the 
 Divine “Amen” comes forth, and the God of Elijah mani- 
 fests himself. The flood divides. The stream of the river 
 from above is arrested by an invisible barrier, the waves 
 rise and tower on high as before, and the prophet walks, 
 with a firm and sure step, over the dry bed to the other 
 side. Who shall describe the altogether new feelings of 
 Elisha on this occasion ! A deeply humble and contrite 
 soul that, in the midst of its depressed and fainting hopes, 
 has suddenly received an undeniable answer to prayer, or 
 a young minister who, in the midst of his painful doubts of 
 his call to the office, has seen in his first successful casting 
 of the gospel net a Divine ratification of his act, are, per- 
 haps, the persons most likely to sympathize with the pro- 
 phet's unspeakable joy. He must have experienced some- 
 thing of the feelings of the Israelites in their march 
 through the depths of the Red Sea ; and it might be said 
 of him, “ that he was baptized into the river, as they 
 into the sea.” Filled with the consciousness of God’s pre- 
 sence, all his remaining doubts aud scruples must have 
 vanished away, as the mists of morning before the sun. The 
 blessing of his office was now divinely secured to him ; the 
 first-fruits were already reaped, and in this he had a pledge 
 of the full harvest that lay in the far distance to reward 
 the labours of his prophetic life. 
 
 Upon his arrival on the other side of Jordan, the sons 
 of the prophets, who had witnessed the miracle from 
 their place of observation, come forth to meet him. There 
 24 
 
370 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 was a Divine wisdom in calling them forth to make them 
 spectators of the scene, that they might learn from it the 
 Divine commission of Elisha, and reverence in him the 
 successor of Elijah. And well did they understand the 
 Divine token. “ They said. The spirit of Elijah doth rest 
 on Elisha ; and they came to meet him, and bowed them- 
 selves to the ground before him.” As if they had said, 
 “ There is here another Elijah sent us of God.” Not that 
 they forgot the difference of character which distinguished 
 the two prophets, or intended more than what is ex- 
 pressed of the apostle, “ There are diversities of gifts ; 
 but the one Spirit.” And here I cannot but remark, that 
 those persons mistake the matter grievously who look 
 upon Elisha as a mere copy of Elijah, and his history as 
 a mere echo of that of his illustrious predecessor. There 
 is no such barrenness of idea in the works of God ; no 
 such repetition without difference in the plan of his moral 
 creation. The works of his grace are always original ; al- 
 ways peculiar and individualized forms. Though the stars 
 are the same class and magnitude, though the spirit of a 
 Moses rests on Elijah, of an Elijah upon an Elisha, of a 
 Paul upon a Luther, and of a John upon a Melancthon ; 
 yet these luminaries shine with a lustre all their own, and 
 utter praise not only to the inexhaustible mind, but also 
 to the manifold wisdom of the Godhead. Among all the 
 saints, whose images are treasured up in the Scripture 
 gallery, I know none who is a mere copy and repetition 
 of another ; but can find something marked and distinc- 
 tive in all. 
 
 The reverence which the prophets shewed for Elisha, 
 was paid not so much to the man himself, as the Spirit 
 that rested on him. They thus not only knew the Divine 
 endowment, but they regarded it with veneration and 
 affection. This was a beautiful feature in character ; “ for 
 the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit.” 
 And so we may regard it in our own case, if our heart 
 beats high in the presence, or at the remembrance, of illus- 
 trious men of God ; and we feel ourselves ennobled and 
 
ELIJAH TnE TISHEITE. 871 
 
 animated in such an exercise. Many of you may know 
 the anecdote which is recorded of one of the greatest 
 painters of modern times. Standing, when a mere boy, 
 before a painting of Raphael, at Rome, .he gazed a long 
 while, rapt in silent transport — and at last, as if he had 
 found some great treasure, with joy Suddenly beaming on 
 his countenance, suddenly broke out with the words, “ I, 
 too, am a painter !” He then left the picture gallery, 
 went home, mixed his colours, and immediately began to 
 produce works not unlike that which had excited his en- 
 thusiasm and called forth his hidden powers. In lik:e 
 manner, it may be regarded as a happy sign of ourselves, 
 if the spiritual image of an Abraham, an Elijah, or a Paul, 
 transport us with such an enthusiasm, that we exclaim, 
 “ 0 that my heart was fashioned like theirs.” And if, in 
 such moments, the thought should rise, “ I, also, am a 
 child of God,” and we feel within us something of their 
 spirit, it is not at all our duty to reject such a thought. For 
 he who can understand and appreciate such men, and em- 
 brace them with peculiar affection for the sake of the 
 Spirit of Christ which is in them, has thereby a tolerably 
 certain mark, that he has at least somewhat of the mind 
 in himself which was in them, — since like can only un- 
 derstand and love its like. Hence the Lord says, “ He 
 that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet,” that 
 is, in the character of a prophet, or because he is a pro- 
 phet, “ shall receive a prophet’s reward for, by this re* 
 ception, he shews himself to be like-minded with him he 
 receives. 
 
 IV. Elisha, with the spirit of his great predecessor, in- 
 herits also his office and his flock. Elijah had not com- 
 menced his prophetic career under such favourable cir- 
 cumstances. He had entered on a waste moral wilderness ; 
 whereas his successor finds a fallow ground already broken 
 up ; nay, here and there a blooming plantation, in whose 
 fresh and vigorous shoots there lay a thousand hopes for 
 the future good of Israel. 
 
372 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 A minister of the gospel of Christ ought to count it no 
 small advantage, if he find, in the church to which he is 
 introduced, a little flock of believing souls, waiting to re- 
 ceive him. However small their number, he discerns in 
 them, as it were, a centre of crystallization, around which 
 others may be formed, a golden thread on which other 
 pearls may be strung, a living image of what his descrip- 
 tions of Christian character set forth, and for himself a 
 living focus in which all the rays of his own spiritual life 
 are collected and sent back upon his own soul. The nightin- 
 gale sings best when there is a constant echo. The mer- 
 chandise of wisdom, which is better than that of silver, is 
 carried on all the more happily, that the bark of the word 
 which is freighted with it, returns to the preacher laden 
 with the best spiritual experiences of his people. 
 
 The ministers of this happy valley can each congratulate 
 themselves that they have enjoyed the same great privilege 
 as Elisha. We found ihe good seed of the word plentifully 
 scattered among you ; and therein lay your strength, and 
 not in earthly property and endowments. A church that 
 is rich in the word of God is rich indeed. It has then the 
 keys of the invisible world, the weapons against death and 
 hell, the universal remedy for every evil, the wondrous 
 staff that can divide every river, the tree whose leaves are 
 for the healing of the nations, and the lamp that lights 
 the way through time into eternity. And even should th : s 
 precious treasure lie like unemployed capital, still the 
 church that has the word has much cause for thankfulness. 
 It lies still within the territory of hope, like a field into 
 whose furrows the seed has been cast, and which lies for 
 a while rough and bare. The husbandman regards it with 
 a hopeful eye, for it needs only the gentle showers of 
 spring to clothe it with the fairest and richest promise. 
 
 But the churches in our valley are more than such fields. 
 In many places the word has sprung up and multiplied 
 itself in many a mature growth of Christian attainment. 
 The Lord knows it, and therefore he is as a wall of fire 
 round about us ; the Chief Shepherd knows it, and there- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 373 
 
 fore he blesses us with a host of zealous evangelists ; the 
 holy angels know it, and therefore they guard our dwellings 
 so wakefully and true ; Satan with his infernal army knows 
 it, and therefore he regards us with such spite and pours 
 out against us all manner of reproaches and blasphemies. 
 Our brethren too from a distance know it ; and therefore 
 when they visit us, they leave us with the feeling of having 
 been refreshed as with living waters. If we look around 
 us in our church meetings, how many a brother and sister’s 
 face beams on us there ! If we walk through our streets, 
 where is there one in which we could not somewhere or 
 other find the tabernacle of God witli men ? Yes, there 
 are quarters of the town in which house after house is a 
 tent for the God of Jacob. And oh, how many a lily of 
 our valley blooms in modest retirement, known only to the 
 heavenly guardian, who refreshes it with dew, or perhaps 
 to one or more of us, who have discovered it by accident ! 
 How many a sanctified soul walks in the midst of us, un- 
 perceived and without talk or boasting ; while few know 
 the rich treasures of grace that it carries within, or the ar- 
 dent love with which it is attached to the Saviour. Yea, 
 were all who fear the Lord among us, to come together 
 into one place, I believe we should be astonished at their 
 numbers, and praise the Lord for his distinguished grace 
 to us as a portion of his church. True, they are of all 
 manner of forms and complexions, but all baptized with 
 one baptism, all inspired with one spirit, all bound up in 
 one bundle of life with Christ Jesus. Blessed inheritance 
 which our never-to-be-forgotten predecessors have left us ! 
 We bless their ashes ; and offer our sacrifices of thanks- 
 giving to Him to whom all praise is due, over their graves 
 of rest. 
 
 But to return to Elisha, whom we left in the way to J ericho. 
 He walks along in the company of the sons of the prophets, 
 in pensive silence. He is bowed down with the weight of 
 blessing, which has been laid upon him, and his heart longs 
 for rest from the mingling and deep emotions which mark 
 this, the greatest day of his life. Elijah’s legacy may re- 
 mind us of that better legacy which Christ has bequeathed 
 
874 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 to all his faithful disciples. The mantle which he has left 
 behind is the robe of his righteousness, a festal robe in- 
 deed ! “ The skies,” saith the prophet, “ rain down righte- 
 ousness.” Y es, this garment of salvation is all we can de- 
 sire. It is armour in the day of battle, a priestly robe for 
 our entrance to the holiest of all, a wedding-garment for 
 admission to the feast above. It is interwoven with the 
 inward holiness of our souls, so that we can appear in the 
 presence of our God, all-glorious without and within. 
 
 The God whom we serve is a shepherd “ who carries the 
 lambs in his bosom,” who deems not the angels too high 
 for our ministering servants, and who embraces his own 
 glory and our happiness in one purpose of Eternal Love. 
 The Spirit which he imparts to us may not indeed divide 
 the waters, but quells in us the troubled conscience ; he 
 may not disclose to us the events of the future, but He 
 “ witnesses with our spirits that we are the children of 
 God.” If he does not teach us to call down fire from hea- 
 ven, he teaches us to cry “ Abba, Father and if he does 
 not make us workers of miracles, he makes us temples of 
 the living God. The office of ministers of the Spirit far 
 surpasses in glory that of the prophets of the Old Testa- 
 ment. Our ministry is that of reconciliation, which calls 
 to those who have been sinners, “Ye are complete in him !” 
 to transgressors, “ There is now no condemnation to those 
 that are in Christ Jesus,” and, to bruised reeds, “ The Lord 
 will not break you.” We are not only Christ’s ministers, 
 but we are in Christ’s stead. We are sent by him even as 
 he was sent by the Father. We act in the name of the 
 Son of God, and carry not only the standard, but the keys 
 of the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 Beloved, my brethren in the Lord, thus have we been 
 remembered in the blood-besprinkled testament of Him 
 who hung upon the cross ! What a glorious legacy, what 
 an incomparable bequest ! Let us rejoice in this richness 
 of divine grace, and join with triumph in the song of Da- 
 vid, “ The lot is fallen to me in pleasant places, yea I have 
 a goodly heritage.” Amen. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 VII.— THE GROWTH IN GRACE. 
 
 Much of the future vigour and health of a new-born in- 
 fant depends upon the hands into which it first comes ; 
 and as its natural malformations may then be most easily 
 corrected by judicious attention, so its natural good pro- 
 portions may then be most seriously injured by misma- 
 nagement. This is true also of new-born babes in the spiri- 
 tual sense. It is a momentous consideration, therefore, to 
 whose care their souls are first entrusted. How many are 
 weak and sickly all their days in consequence of the errors 
 of their first Christian training ; and how often do we see 
 in the church, as in the world, those who are lame through 
 unskilful rearing ! 
 
 There is a religious party existing in the midst of us, 
 which, because it does not, and cannot, receive the doctrine 
 of sin and of atonement, in the apostolic sense, has neither 
 part nor lot in the blessed privilege of serving the Lord in 
 bringing in the lost sheep into his fold. No icy heart melts 
 under their teaching ; no resurrection among the dry bones 
 follows their prophesying ; yet in this party there prevails 
 the most ardent zeal to extend and increase itself, which 
 it can only do by dropping, like the cuckoo, its eggs into 
 the nests built by others. The work of awakening and 
 conversion it leaves to others. It does not commence its 
 labours among the dry bones, but only where the move- 
 ment of life has already spread. It has none of the noble 
 ambition of the apostle, who disdained to build on another 
 man’s foundation, Rom. xv. 20. Under its perverting in- 
 fluence many a healthy birth has been sadly crippled, and 
 many a tender and hopeful plant of grace stunted or wi- 
 thered away. I shall take occasion to present you in the 
 following meditations with a description of the true form 
 and natural working of a healthy Christianity. 
 
 2 Kings ii. 16 — 18. 
 
 “ And they said unto him. Behold now, there be with thy servants 
 fifty strong men : let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master . 
 
37<5 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 lest peradventure the Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up, and 
 cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, 
 Y e shall not send. And when they urged him till he was ashamed, 
 he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men ; and they sought three 
 days, but found him not. And when they came again to him, (for 
 he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them. Did I not say unto you, 
 Go not?” 
 
 Let us, I. Consider the Historical Fact itself, which is 
 here recorded ; and, II. Apply it to the regenerate Soul’s 
 growth in Grace. 
 
 I. Elisha, carrying the image of the opened heaven in 
 his heart, and breathing the air of that glorious world on 
 the confines of which he had been treading, descended 
 like a messenger from heaven among the sons of the pro- 
 phets on the other side of Jordan. His face shone with 
 the glory which he had witnessed ; his heart was lost in 
 adoration of the wondrous love of God which had been 
 vouchsafed to his master ; yet, though he was the herald 
 of a more gracious dispensation, and endowed with a double 
 portion of Elijah’s spirit, the sons of the prophets did not 
 at once recognise the full extent of his dignity, however 
 sincere might be their love and respect for him. They 
 could not all at once regard their departed master as re- 
 placed by Elisha ; much less could they be persuaded, that, 
 in the husbandman of Abel-meholah, a higher Elijah was 
 presented to them by the Lord. It needs no great know- 
 ledge of the human heart to account for this. The daz- 
 zling powers of Elijah naturally impressed the senses more 
 strongly than the less imposing appearance of the unassum- 
 ing, brotherly Elisha. The lofty reserve of the Tishbite 
 corresponded more to their natural impressions of great- 
 ness, than the condescending familiarity of his humble 
 successor. Elijah appeared rather as a display of the glory 
 to which man may be raised by Divine endowment ; 
 whereas Elisha’s whole life was an exaltation of the grace 
 of God in human weakness. Hence we need not wonder 
 that the sons of the prophets did not, at once, fully appre- 
 ciate the substitute whom God had given them for his de- 
 parted minister. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISIIBITE. 
 
 377 
 
 From exactly the same causes, the disciples of John 
 iv ere slow- to perceive that Jesus was greater than the 
 Baptist, who, with his mantle of camel’s hair, his leathern 
 girdle, and austere diet, seemed to carry more of the am- 
 bassador of heaven in his look than the gentle and affable 
 Friend of publicans and sinners. And besides the magni- 
 fying influence of this mere singularity of life, there was 
 something in the doctrine of the Baptist which suited those 
 minds which were not free from legalism, and which wel- 
 comed his form of piety as the best suited to their neces- 
 sities. The Baptist himself would appear to such persons 
 as a sort of perfect man, complete in himself, and entirely 
 abstracted from the fashion of the world ; and the good 
 works which he enjoined would bulk before their minds as 
 a definite and tangible sum-total. But Jesus, on the con- 
 trary, not only appearing in the greatest simplicity, and 
 adhering to the ordinary forms of life, but describing his 
 kingdom as coming not with observation, and insisting on 
 the secret homage of the heart ; promising moreover no- 
 thing of human glory to his disciples, and enjoining, as 
 cardinal virtues, poorness of spirit and mourning for sin, — 
 ran most directly counter to the whole bent of a self-right- 
 eous and worldly temper, and caused the Baptist all the 
 difficulty he felt in pointing his disciples from himself to 
 that greater than he, whose shoes latchet he “ was not 
 worthy to unloose.” 
 
 That the hearts of these sons of the prophets were still 
 with their departed master, is evident from the urgent re- 
 quest they make to their new teacher, immediately on 
 reaching Jericho, “ Behold,” said they unto him, perhaps 
 not without tears, “ there be with thy servants fifty strong 
 men, let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master ; lest 
 perad venture the Spirit of the Lord have taken him up, 
 and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley.” 
 These words have in them something mysterious. What 
 did the excellent men mean? Was it really to seek their 
 master ? and if it was, did they not know by divine reve- 
 lation that he was that day to be taken from their head ? 
 
ET8 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 Certainly they knew this ; but they were still in doubt as 
 to the manner of his removal. This lies on the surface of 
 the narrative. We must conceive, therefore, that they 
 thought either that Elijah had been conveyed into some 
 lonely place, in order to be afterwards taken up by God, 
 or that he was already received into heaven, but only in so 
 far as regarded his soul, his lifeless body being still ex- 
 posed in the wilderness. Perhaps the case of the death of 
 Moses came vividly before their minds, who, in the same 
 region, on mount Pisgah, and within sight of the promised 
 land, was taken up in a mysterious, distinguished, and 
 blessed manner, while his body remained on earth and was 
 secretly buried by the Lord. But whatever were their 
 thoughts, their conduct was evidently marked by that ar- 
 dent love, which we have all seen by the death-bed of some 
 beloved friend, long doubting the possibility of the fatal 
 separation, and when it becomes at last too plain, still 
 clinging with convulsive grasp to the lifeless clay. And 
 this too is manifest from the words of their excited and 
 incoherent request, that they accounted the loss of their 
 master as irreparable, and with all the high esteem they 
 cherished for his successor, were far from believing that 
 the mighty breach could be filled up by him. 
 
 It would have been easy for Elisha, who could hardly 
 be ignorant of what was passing in their minds, to have 
 taught them a different lesson. “ I come to you,” he might 
 have said, “ with a message such as you never heard from 
 the lips of Elijah. I have things to utter of the love of 
 God to man, such as have been before unheard of, such 
 as were revealed to none of the fathers, and such as will 
 fill you with adoring wonder.” But Elisha was, as far as 
 possible, removed from any temptation to assert his own 
 dignity. He was vastly above the little sensibilities of 
 those tempers, to which the slightest appearance of dis- 
 paragement is as the sting of a scorpion. With heartfelt 
 joy he, doubtless, witnessed the love and reverence with 
 which the sons of the prophets adhered to their departed 
 father ; and was not vain enough, for the sake of main- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 379 
 
 taining his own place in their esteem, to set aside the advice 
 of wisdom, which taught him to say nothing for the pre- 
 sent as to what he had witnessed beyond Jordan, and to 
 wait a more convenient season for his strange and delight- 
 ful announcement. 
 
 What the particular reasons were which induced Elisha 
 to say nothing of the miraculous translation of Elijah, we 
 cannot distinctly explain. There can be no doubt that he 
 was influenced by the best and wisest motives. A prudent 
 steward of the mysteries of God must take into account 
 the wants and capacities of those with whom he deals, 
 and either dispense or reserve his stores according to time 
 and place. And the time and place for his wonderful dis- 
 closure, Elisha saw to be not yet come. Hence the in- 
 creasing urgency of their request, to be allowed to send 
 out the fifty brethren on their mission of search, could not 
 induce him to disclose his secret. They urged him, we are 
 told, “ till he was ashamed that is to say, till he was 
 embarrassed and knew not what to say. Still he would 
 rather yield to their ill-advised suggestion, and let them 
 take their own course, than discover the mystery before 
 the season. It could at any rate do them no harm to be 
 convinced that neither their master nor his mortal re- 
 mains were to be found any longer upon earth. This 
 would only prepare them all the better for receiving the 
 account of his ascension in the body ; so away they went 
 and commenced the desired search. Three long days are 
 spent in exploring the solitary wilds of the desert. No 
 doubt, in many a silent vale, and bosky forest, their hopes 
 rose high of finding their living master, or at least of 
 coming upon his sacred remains ; and who could say in 
 what weeds of death, or guarded by what strange watch ' 
 But all is in vain. Disappointment follows hard on dis- 
 appointment ; and on the third day, at even, they return 
 fatigued and depressed to Jericho ; and the only reward of 
 their hard journey is the mild but salutary reproof of 
 their master, “ Did I not say unto you. Go not.” 
 
 Sometimes it is found unavoidably necessary to comply 
 
3S0 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 with the wishes of beloved but foolish children, that they 
 may learn a lesson of dear-bought experience. And so it 
 is with those who “ are but children in understanding,” 
 in regard to spiritual things. They refuse, perhaps, to be- 
 lieve our testimony, that there is a righteousness brought 
 near them, even the righteousness of Christ, which they 
 need only to embrace and be saved, and choose rather to 
 seek justification before God, from some fancied righteous- 
 ness which is to be wrought out of the tissue of their own 
 good intentions and life-long endeavours. We may re- 
 peat, and prove, and urge the doctrine over and over, till 
 at last nothing is left but to say, “ Well, be it so. Walk 
 in the light of your fire, and of the sparks that ye have 
 kindled.” They may thus torment themselves for a while 
 with the struggle to keep that law which only worketh 
 wrath, and learn, by experience, that the course they 
 have chosen can only end in bankruptcy and ruin. They 
 may thus be led to turn back and appear before us with 
 trembling conscience, to be welcomed with the prophet’s 
 question, “ Did we not say unto you, Go not.” And thus 
 their failure and disaster becomes their greatest fortune. 
 For Christ will then be precious to their souls, and his 
 gospel will prove to them, according to its name, good 
 tidings. 
 
 II. It is evident from the narrative before us, that Elisha 
 did not consider the sons of the prophets, as yet, suffi- 
 ciently prepared for the glorious message he had to deliver. 
 Children of God as they were, and partakers of heavenly 
 grace, they still seemed to the eye of their master, not 
 ~nly to admit of, but strongly to need farther instruction 
 and advancement in the things of God. I shall take occa- 
 sion from this incident, to say a few words on a subject, 
 in regard to which the great majority of Christians have 
 either inaccurate or defective ideas, and which I have long 
 desired to explain to you somewhat more closely than I 
 have hitherto found an opportunity of doing. This sub- 
 ject is, the “Growth of the children of God in grace. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISnBITE. 
 
 881 
 
 and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ .” This is the scriptural name for a healthy state 
 of spiritual life ; and, in this general light, I shall discuss 
 this all-important topic in its scriptural principles and 
 evidence. 
 
 I know no passage of Scripture which presents a finer 
 and juster description of the Christian’s spiritual life, 
 than the words of the great apostle. (Phil. iii. 12— 14. > 
 “ Not as though I had already attained, either were already 
 perfect ; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that 
 for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Breth- 
 ren, I count not myself to have apprehended : but this 
 one thing X do, forgetting the things that are behind, and 
 reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press 
 toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God 
 in Christ Jesus.” Yes, my brethren ; here is a believer in 
 sound spiritual health. Every one that is in the like state 
 will say with the apostle, first of all, “ Not as though I 
 had already attained then he will with the apostle fol- 
 low after the same end ; and, once more, he will never 
 forget that this is the end for which he has been appre- 
 hended of Christ Jesus. It may be well to pursue a little 
 the consideration of these characteristic marks of genuine 
 Christian life. 
 
 Wherever there is life, my friends, sound and natural 
 life, there is progress and development. A plant which 
 puts forth no shoots, and makes no growth, is dead or 
 sickly. Even a tree which has reached the measure of its 
 height and breadth, renews and varies its outward appear- 
 ance ; and as it is in the kingdom of nature, so also is it 
 in the kingdom of grace. Every plant of the Lord’s plant- 
 ing must be constantly in a state of change, and ought to 
 be in one of development. “ Be ye, therefore, renewed 
 in the spirit of your minds,” is the daily call of Scripture, 
 find in some measure it is complied with in all ; for they 
 can say, “ Though our outward man perish, our inward 
 man is renewed day by day.” 
 
 “ Not as though I had already attained, either were 
 
382 
 
 ELIJAH THE TTSHBTTE. 
 
 already perfect.” Listen to these words, my brethren : 
 whose are they ? One would think they came from one 
 who was a novice in the spiritual life, one not yet assured 
 of his standing in grace, or even one who had not yet 
 passed through the strait gate. But no, brethren. These 
 are the words of one who had attained a height of perfec- 
 tion, such as, probably, none amongst us has reached. 
 This is the same apostle that could say, “ I live ; yet not 
 I, but Christ liveth in me the same spiritual hero who 
 could say,. “ Who shall separate me from the love of 
 Christ?” and who, without breach of modesty or truth, 
 could say, “ Brethren, be followers together of me, and 
 mark them which walk, so as ye have us for an example.” 
 And yet this saint, the brightest star in Christ’s hand in 
 the early church, here freely and openly confesses that he 
 has not yet attained. No, he adds, “ I am not already 
 perfect,” and even repeats it with greater emphasis again, 
 " Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended.” 
 True, he is not speaking here of what he is in Christ be- 
 fore God. When he speaks of justification, his language 
 is very different. For then he says, “ It is God that justi- 
 fied ; who is he that condemned ?” “We have believed 
 on Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith 
 of Christ.” “ By his one offering he hath perfected for 
 ever them that are sanctified.” He speaks, however, in 
 the place before us, of the inward state of his heart. It 
 is in regard to his sanctification, as judged of by the Holy 
 One, that he makes the humbling confession, “ I have not 
 attained.” 
 
 Be not offended, dear brethren, if I say, that there is 
 some danger among us, if not of resting satisfied with the 
 perfection of our righteousness in Christ, without seeking 
 personal holiness at all ; at least, of resting too soon from 
 that blessed course. How many among us appear to sup- 
 pose that they “ have already attained.” Take as an in- 
 stance, spiritual knowledge. There are many among you 
 who are well acquainted with the great doctrines of salva- 
 tion, and know the most important proof-texts of Scrip- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 383 
 
 ture for them, and have their memories stored, besides, 
 with many precious promises of the Bible, and pious 
 psalms and sayings of godly men. We converse with such 
 persons, and are glad to see them thus furnished. But a 
 year afterwards, we converse with them again, and they 
 remain just as before. Two years elapse ere we come in 
 contact with them once more, and still not the slightest 
 improvement is to be seen. At length the sight of them 
 reminds us rather of a piece of wood-work, carved like a 
 tree, than of a fresh and living production of nature ; for 
 there are neither new branches nor foliage to be seen. We 
 find always the same recurring modes of speech — the same 
 views on all points, great and small — the same narrow 
 circle of conception and language ; but no extension of 
 the spiritual horizon— no increase of the treasure of evan- 
 gelical sentiments — no approach to any of the depths of 
 Scripture doctrine. But you say, “ What need we know 
 more than we already know ?” Ah, there it is ! You have 
 finished your course in knowledge, and in this respect, as 
 you suppose you have attained, and are already perfect. 
 But this is an indication of spiritual disease and feeble- 
 ness. For were your souls in health and prospering, you 
 would say with the apostle, “ Not as though I had already 
 attained you would feel the imperfection of your know- 
 ledge ; you would believe that thousands of precious things 
 yet lay hid in the Scriptures ; you would search the sacred 
 field with growing interest; you would continually find 
 new glories in the Testament of your Mediator ; and when 
 friends conversed with you from time to time, you would 
 always be found exclaiming, “ Oh, what precious things 
 I have discovered afresh in my Bible ! What a delight- 
 ful light have I found thrown on this and that sub- 
 ject ! what new promises have I met with ! and what ra- 
 vishing views of the glory and excellency of the offices of 
 my Redeemer !” And so we should feel respecting you, 
 as if we had come upon a tree clothed with the fresh green 
 of spring, and we should say, “ Yes, this man is grow- 
 ing in grace ; how much better does he now understand 
 
384 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBTTE. 
 
 the Bible ; how much deeper lias he penetrated into the 
 mysteries of the gospel ; how much more enlightened and 
 great are his views on all subjects than they once were !” 
 And so it is, my friends, the more you advance in this 
 wholesome progress, the richer will the Bible become in 
 your eyes, the more strongly will you feel that its treasures 
 may be explored for ages and not exhausted, the more 
 decisively will you say with Paul. “ Not as though I had 
 attained !” and so much the more zealously and hopefully 
 will you prosecute your researches in this repository of 
 the “ manifold wisdom of God.” 
 
 But worse still than this delusive idea of perfection in 
 knowledge, is that stagnation of spiritual life which leads 
 men not infrequently to say “ My sins are forgiven me ; 
 on such and such, a day I received the assurance of it ; 
 and the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” 
 Henceforth the person leads what is called a Christian 
 life, goes through his daily service of devotions, and “ has 
 attained and is already perfect.” But you ask, “ Is not 
 assurance of salvation a mark of spiritual perfection ? 
 Far from it, my friends. Was not the apostle Paul fully 
 assured of his forgiveness and election ? And yet he says, 
 “ Not as though I had already attained.” Let us never 
 forget that spiritual life of its very nature involves spiri- 
 tual progress. The child of heaven, the new creature, can- 
 not be always detained in the swaddling-bands of infancy , 
 it endeavours after the stature of a man, “ after the mea- 
 sure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” The spiritual 
 creature is constantly rising into brighter forms, under the 
 forming influence of that Spirit which brooded in the 
 darkness of irregeneracy and called forth the first ele- 
 ments of light and order. The blossom of early love to 
 Christ unfolds itself into the full flower of Christian de- 
 votedness. Faith gains its majority and moves with new 
 freedom and enjoyment amidst its glorious inheritance of 
 privileges. Assurance lays a firmer hold on the words of 
 promise ; and the “ fear which hath torment” yields to 
 boldness in entering “ into the holiest of all.” The life of 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 385 
 
 the soul becomes from day to day a conscious abiding in 
 Christ as its proper element, and a doing all things in his 
 name and by the strength of his spirit. While the dead 
 letter of the law, with all its narrow scruples and per- 
 plexities, loses its power to harass, the great spirit of the 
 law is begotten in the conscience and in the heart ; and 
 from day to day there rises a new and glad train of evan- 
 gelical virtues from a region which was formerly the 
 seat of constraint, dread, irresolution, and spiritual le- 
 thargy. 
 
 We remarked that a genuine Christian in a growing 
 state “ follows after, if that he may apprehend that for 
 which also he is apprehended of Christ Jesus.” And what 
 is this aim ? Hear the apostle himself explain it. “ That 
 I may win Christ and be found in him ; not having mine 
 own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is 
 through the faith of Christ, even the righteousness which 
 is of God by faith.” But you say, “ How could this be the 
 end of his striving and reaching forth to that which was 
 before ? Did he not possess this righteousness at the be- 
 ginning of his Christian course ?” This surprise of yours 
 betrays a want of harmony between you and the apostle. 
 For know, that the righteousness of faith, with the em- 
 bracing of which a Christian life begins, must continue to 
 the end the object of a constant effort on the part of the 
 believer to realize and enjoy it. In this he must be con- 
 stantly found ; in this he must lose the fears of guilt and 
 the sense of weakness, so that the consciousness of his 
 own sinfulness, as a source of terror and of hindrance in 
 the Divine life, may be more than swallowed up in the 
 conviction that he is “ complete in J esus.” And how great 
 are the obstacles to our continuance in this state of faith ! 
 Our natural self-righteousness constantly tends to rise up 
 against this dependance on the merits of another, and to 
 bring us once more into the old and beaten track of the 
 covenant of works. Our innate legalism of temper seeks 
 to disown all enjoyment of the glorious freeness of Christ’s 
 righteousness, till we have reached a certain height of 
 25 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 sanctification. The prejudices of wrong education, and 
 false systems of morals and divinity, greatly increase these 
 difficulties. And even the Christian may now and then 
 find himself in the state of the apostles, “ when they could 
 not believe for joy and may be tempted by the thought, 
 that to exercise this absolute confidence in Christ is some- 
 thing which savours of presumption, and is destructive of 
 his own personal holiness. 0 how much is there which 
 must be slain with the sword of the Spirit, which is the 
 word of God, ere we can embrace Christ in the whole of 
 that glorious fulness, in which “ he is made of God unto 
 us wisdom, apd righteousness, and sanctification, and re- 
 demption !” But, as we must all have found that it is in 
 the living and abiding consciousness of what we are and 
 have in Christ Jesus, and in this alone, that we not only 
 have peace and joy, but also strength for warfare, and 
 the means of that victory which overcometh the world ; 
 nay, our whole capacity of perfecting holiness in the fear 
 of the Lord ; so it is our bounden duty to direct our efforts, 
 first of all, to the great work of filling our whole hearts 
 with this blessed conviction of the unspeakable sufficiency 
 of Christ. And hence we must condemn, as an anti-evan- 
 gelical error, the view of many who seem to think that 
 the aim of a Christian life is altered after the forgiveness of 
 the believer, and that his great object is, thenceforth, the 
 attainment of a so-called righteousness of heart and life. 
 Our eye must still be fixed on the righteousness of the 
 Mediator as our great source of comfort and holy motive. 
 This is not only the shortest way, but the only way in 
 which we can escape from the dominion of sin, and have 
 our hearts fired with a holy and unwearied zeal for the 
 glory of our God and Father in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Thus it is that the Christian who, like the apostle, is 
 apprehended, “ follows after, if that he may apprehend 
 that for which also he is apprehended of Christ Jesus.” 
 And by what way does he pursue this glorious object ? 
 Here again the apostle may serve as our instructor, “ 1 
 forget the things that are behind, and I reach forth to those 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. S87 
 
 that are before.” Now these things which were behind, 
 were the whole of his privileges by nature and education, 
 and the whole of his once boasted righteousness of the 
 law. These things he had long since learned to count loss 
 for Christ ; he had nailed the image of his former self to 
 the cross ; and cast away his specious advantages as dross 
 and offscouring out of his sight. But he still fears the in- 
 sinuating influence of a legal temper, and carefully keeps 
 guard against its subtle movements. He is not afraid of 
 the view of his misery by nature, for he knows that, where 
 sin abounded, grace hath much more abounded. He 
 dreads rather the dreams and fancies of self-righteous- 
 ness; and is resolved to have, to all eternity, no other 
 ground of hope than the perfection of the Saviour’s right- 
 eousness. 
 
 And, yet, he is not willing either to abide always amid 
 distressing images of his own sinfulness. He knows that 
 there is a fairer object than these filthy rags — the glorious 
 finished work of the Redeemer. He knows that to keep 
 always in the view of our own guilt and misery, and of 
 nothing else, is the way to enfeeble and dispirit the mind ; 
 while it gives strength and elevation to the soul to rejoice 
 in the Lord, and in his salvation. But the apostle forgets 
 more of the things that are behind, than the wants and 
 privileges of his unconverted state. He casts also into the 
 back-ground all the struggles and joys of his Christian life, 
 in order that the view of these might not impair his sole 
 reliance upon Christ. How different is it with many 
 amongst us, who live only in the past, and talk only of its 
 happier scenes, and count the period immediately after 
 their conversion the golden age of their spiritual life ; and 
 are thus like old men, who, because they know that the 
 fairest period of their life lies behind them, and nothing 
 remarkable awaits them in the future, can only now and 
 then be warmed into animation, when some lively remem- 
 brance of the past darts a sunny ray into their wintry 
 souls. 0 how unlike the holy apostle ! His fairest days 
 are not behind him, but before him. There are sunnier 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 heights of faith yet to scale — there is a sun of glory which 
 has yet glimmered only through a curtain— an ocean of 
 bliss which has hitherto only disclosed its shallow margin 
 — a ligh^of holiness around the throne, which shines as 
 yet only with faint reflection on the wings of hope. 
 
 Such, my friends, was the experience of the great apos- 
 tle, and it must be yours ; otherwise you are weak, and 
 sickly, and void of spiritual strength. May He who is the 
 great Physician graciously regard us, and forgive all our 
 iniquities, and heal all our diseases. May he remove 
 every obstacle to our growth in grace out of the way, re- 
 deeming our souls from all bondage of error and infirmity 
 of faith, making us more and more like trees planted, not 
 in the barren waste of legalism, but by the living streams 
 of his gospel, and visiting us with the vital breath of his 
 Spirit, that we may grow up as “ trees of righteousness, 
 the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.” 
 
 Till.— THE LETTER OF DOOM. 
 
 An awful shipwreck is this day to be witnessed by us; 
 A royal bark of fair promise sinks in the devouring deep, 
 struck by the lightning of an avenging Heaven. On all 
 sides we may see the floating fragments, telling the mourn- 
 ful tale, and bearing the words written on them, “ Little 
 children, keep yourselves from idols.” 
 
 2 Chronicles, xxi. 12 — 15. 
 
 “ And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, say- 
 ing, Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father, Because thou 
 hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the 
 ways of Asa king of Judah, but hast walked in the way of the 
 kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jeru- 
 salem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, 
 and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, which were 
 better than thyself: Behold, with a great plague will the Lord 
 smite thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy 
 goods : And thou 6halt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, 
 until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day.” 
 
 This awful passage rises before us like a spirit from 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHEITE. 
 
 389 
 
 another world, pale and motionless, and prophetic of 
 direful evil. Let us contemplate for a little this memor- 
 able incident ; and consider, I. The Author of the Letter. 
 II. The Contents of the Letter. 
 
 I. Elijah rests from his labours. At the time of his de- 
 parture the throne of Israel was occupied by king Joram, 
 the son of Ahab, and brother of Ahaziah. The kingdom 
 of Jadah was in the hands of Jehoshaphat, whose reign 
 lasted for eight years after the prophet’s death. But now 
 he also is gathered to his fathers, and his-eldest son J oram, 
 who was of the same name with the king of Israel, and so 
 ill-advised as to marry a daughter of Ahab, has ascended 
 his father’s throne. One day this Joram, or Jehoram, re- 
 ceived a letter which bore upon it that it came from Elijah 
 the Tishbite. Its singular origin and alarming contents 
 invest this letter with peculiar interest. 
 
 When was the mysterious letter written, and in what 
 way did it reach its destination ? This is a question which 
 we cannot very decidedly answer. But we may suppose 
 that it was written by the prophet before his translation, 
 in the foresight of J ehoram’s accession and wicked reign, 
 and deposited with the sons of the prophets or Elisha, to 
 be forwarded in due time. This might appear a more 
 powerful means of impression than if the same commis- 
 sion had been given at that time to the successor of Elijah, 
 and might be designed to put honour on the departed 
 prophet after his removal, and to revive and strengthen 
 his reforming influence in the land. If this view appears 
 too little in harmony with the grandeur of Elijah’s char- 
 acter, and the supernatural aspect of his whole ministry, 
 it requires no greater effort of faith to believe in the mys- 
 terious transmission of a writing from the glorified prophet 
 in heaven than in the descent of a chariot of fire and 
 horses of fire to bear him at first to that blessed place. 
 We cannot set limits to the active powers and exercises of 
 the just made perfect ; and it will probably turn out both 
 that our notions of heaven are, in one sense, too spiritual 
 
390 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 for its glorious and familiar reality, and in another sense, 
 too material for its purity and joy. 
 
 II. Jehoram receives the letter, opens it, and reads 
 Unwonted language to a monarch’s ear ! every word has 
 a sting; every line breathes judgment and doom. Yet 
 what was its effect ? The king may have trembled at its 
 threatenings, or turned pale for a moment at the sight of 
 its unearthly signature. But this is all. The ungodliness 
 of his character was too great to yield even to the most 
 tremendous denunciation ; and in the armour of pride and 
 unbelief and hardness of heart he bids defiance to every 
 arrow of conviction. The writing was in fact a judicial 
 sentence, contemplating and proceeding upon his past and 
 foreseen impenitence, and announcing the awful judg- 
 ments by which the long-suffering of God towards him 
 should be succeeded. 
 
 This message of death commences with a register of his 
 sins, “ Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father. Be- 
 cause thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat 
 thy father, nor in the ways of Asa, king of Judah, but 
 hast walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and hast 
 made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a 
 whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and 
 also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, which 
 were better than thyself.” How awful is this impeach- 
 ment ! How gross the series of crimes here denounced ! 
 But be not deceived. There awaits you also a like fearful 
 numbering of your sins, and setting of them in order be- 
 fore you, if you are not washed in that blood which alone 
 cleanseth from sin ! How awful to have it said to us at 
 the last, “ Because I gave you in abundance the word of 
 life, but ye trampled it under foot ; because I sent you one 
 messenger of grace after another, but ye wearied them by 
 the hardness of your hearts ; because I poured forth my 
 Spirit in your churches, but ye rebelled and vexed him ; 
 therefore, ye despisers of the matchless goodness which I 
 bestowed on you, depart from me ! Therefore, ye cum- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 8ftl 
 
 txuers of my vineyard, begone into eternal waste and 
 gloom r 
 
 “ Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father !” How 
 significant these opening words ! As if it had been said, 
 “ Ungrateful man ! how couldst thou forget the goodness 
 which the Lord hath shewed to thy fathers’ house ! Why 
 didst thou not reflect that thy place on the throne was 
 owing entirely to the Divine promise to preserve the seed 
 of David on the throne till the coming of the Messiah ! 
 Why didst thou not learn from David’s example that with 
 the Lord there is forgiveness and plenteous redemption, 
 and so turn from thine evil ways and live !” 
 
 “ Because,” continues the writing/' thou hast not walked 
 in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of 
 Asa, king of Judah, but hast walked in the ways of the 
 kings of Israel.” This allusion to his pious father and 
 grandfather is also designed to shew the aggravation of his 
 guilt. Asa, his grandfather, had reigned forty-one years 
 in Jerusalem ; and approved himself a pattern of a good 
 king. “ He had done that which was good and right in 
 the eyes of the Lord his God, even as his father David had 
 done : for he took away the altars of the strange gods, and 
 the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down 
 the groves.” As a true shepherd of his people, he extended 
 his care not less to their spiritual than to their temporal 
 welfare. By his own example and royal ordinance, he 
 taught Judah to “seek the Lord God, the God of their 
 fathers, and to do the Law and the commandment and 
 the Lord crowned these pious labours with the happiest 
 results. Like a thorough reformer, he did not stop till 
 the last idol in the land was burnt with fire, and the last 
 heathen altar levelled to the ground. He called his sub- 
 jects back from the groves and the high places to the 
 altars of Jehovah ; and they heard his voice, “ and enter- 
 ed into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers 
 with all their heart and with all their soul.” As a vigilant 
 and indefatigable ruler, he neglected nothing which could 
 increase the social happiness of his people, or strengthen 
 
892 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 the security of his kingdom ; and as a valiant general, he 
 gained many a triumph over powerful enemies, because 
 he trusted in the Lord God of Israel, and marched to the 
 field with the watchword, “ Lord, it is nothing with thee to 
 help, whether with many or with them that have no 
 power,” 2 Chron. xiv. 11. Towards the end of his life, in- 
 deed, he erred in turning away his mind from the power 
 and faithfulness of God, and trusting in the false help of 
 man. He had to repent of it bitterly, yet he slept in God, 
 and the people hallowed his ashes with the tears of grati- 
 tude and affection. 
 
 A still more admirable king than Asa was Jehoram’s 
 father, the excellent Jehoshaphat. His character shines 
 to this day as a living model of princely virtue. He also, 
 like his father, has “ obtained a good report” in the un- 
 erring record of sacred history. “ He walked in the first 
 ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim, but 
 sought the Lord God of his father, and walked in his com- 
 mandments.” He continued and completed the reforma- 
 tion which his father Asa had begun. The well-being of 
 his people, in the highest and holiest sense of the term, was 
 the great aim which he kept before him day and night. 
 He more than once travelled through the whole land, from 
 Beersheba to the mountains of Ephraim, in order, by his 
 personal influence, to strengthen his people in the faith 
 of their fathers, and reclaim those who had been guilty of 
 apostacy ; and the Lord granted great success to the la- 
 bours of this royal missionary. He sent also multitudes 
 of priests and levites throughout the country, with the 
 book of God’s law in their hands, to instruct the ignorant 
 and to establish the better-informed in the truth. And 
 “ the fear of God was upon all the kingdoms bordering 
 upon J udah, when they heard that the Lord fought against 
 the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was 
 quiet ; for his God gave him rest round about ;” and the 
 Philistines and the Arabians brought him presents. And 
 he set judges in the land, throughout all the fenced cities 
 of Judah, to watch over right and justice, and to settle 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 393 
 
 individual disputes. His instruction to them was, “ Take 
 heed what ye do ; for ye judge not for man, but for the 
 Lord, who is with you in judgment.” If he went to war, 
 his first preparation was fasting and prayer, 2 Chron. xx. 3. 
 His army, distinguished both for discipline and valour, 
 was a million strong ; yet he engaged only in defensive 
 war. He gladly remained at peace when his enemies did 
 not molest him ; and improved the season of leisure by 
 founding new cities, by promoting trade and commerce, 
 and by attending to the interests of education and religion. 
 Thus did this worthy descendant of David reign. Happy 
 the country which is blessed with such a ruler. Let us all 
 pray that all the higher powers, to whom we are com- 
 manded to be subject, “ as ordained of God,” may be 
 anointed with the spirit of Jehoshaphat. 
 
 Such were the honourable ancestors of J ehoram. He 
 had grown up amid the constant light of such distinguished 
 examples. “ But a man can receive nothing, except it be 
 given him from heaven.” The children of God are born, 
 “ not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will 
 of man, but of God.” This hopeful young prince became 
 one of the worst monarchs that ever sat on the throne of 
 David. His whole reign is a tissue of atrocious crimes. It 
 almost seems as if he had formed a regular plan, openly 
 to pour contempt on the example of his excellent prede- 
 cessors by the disgusting contrast of his own ; nay, as if 
 he had proposed it to himself, as the chief aim of his go- 
 vernment, to root up and tread under foot, in the shortest 
 possible time, the seed sown by his pious father. No 
 sooner had he buried his father, and taken possession by 
 right of birth of the throne at Jerusalem, than he threw 
 off the mask which circumstances had hitherto forced him 
 to wear, and gave full scope to the malignant and unna- 
 tural lusts of his heart. A horrid massacre opens the 
 black catalogue of his crimes, and paves the way for fresh 
 atrocities. His brothers, who were all better than himself, 
 seemed to stand in his way, and as he partly coveted their 
 wealth, but much more feared the reproach which his 
 
394 
 
 LIU AH. THE TISHE1TE. 
 
 heathenish course of life would occasion him in their eyes, 
 and hated them as being a restraint on his own excesses, 
 he formed the deliberate purpose of putting them all to 
 death, and then executed his diabolical plan as rapidly as 
 it was conceived. The innocent brothers, six in number, 
 were massacred without mercy, and many of the great 
 men shared the same fate, as if their blood did not cry 
 loud enough to heaven. 
 
 In the hands of his wife, Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab 
 and Jezebel, Jehoram was initiated into all the abomina- 
 tions of heathenism, and “ did evil in the sight of the 
 Lord continually.” Yet the divine long-suffering granted 
 him many a respite and warning to repentance. The 
 Edomites invaded the country, and the city of Libnah re- 
 volted to them. But Jehoram persevered in sin, and per- 
 verted all his means of grace into occasions of hardening 
 his heart. He openly apostatized from the worship of 
 his fathers, introduced anew the idolatry of Sidon, which 
 had been expelled by Asa and Jehoshaphat, recalled the 
 banished priests of Baal, erected altars, consecrated groves, 
 invited young and old to idolatrous and licentious festivals, 
 and even compelled the people, with despotic intolerance, 
 to take part in these heathen rites. It is to this that the 
 words in the writing of Elijah refer, “ Thou hast made 
 Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a-whoring, 
 like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab.” Do not 
 take offence at this plain language. The Word of Truth 
 has no toleration for your hollow and palliating phrases ; 
 its appellations strike always at the root of things ; and 
 hence it is no wonder that its solemn and searching faith- 
 fulness of speech has always been an eyesore to the white- 
 washed pharisee and the showy moralist. Yes ! when 
 men depart from the living God, and set up any idol in 
 their heart, be it what it may, though they may call it 
 the enlightenment of the age, philosophy, genius, or liber- 
 alism, the Scripture calls it whoredom, because it is no- 
 thing else ; and indeed it is the worst and the vilest. “Thy 
 Maker is thy husband,” says the Lord, not only of the 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 SS5 
 
 church of Israel, but of the church in every age; and 
 when any member of the visible church forgets this rela- 
 tion, and pays court to the world, from the attractions of 
 its gains, its honours, or its pleasures, the Word of God 
 calls this conduct adultery, and pronounces judgment 
 upon it as an object of Divine loathing and abhorrence, and 
 declares the doom of the offender to be cast, as one of the 
 things that offend and work abomination, out of God’s 
 holy kingdom. And 0, what shall become of those, who 
 have not only committed this crime themselves, but by in- 
 fluence or example, in word or writing, mixed the cup of 
 spiritual fornication for others. Ye faithless parents, who, 
 under the name of refined ideas, have sowed in your 
 children’s minds the seeds of ungodliness and apostacy ! 
 Ye hollow-hearted teachers of mere virtue in schools and 
 colleges, who train up those children, on whom the name 
 of the Holy Trinity has been named, to self-idolatry and a 
 darker aversion to the true God than the worshippers of 
 Baal ! Ye hirelings and spiritual counterfeits in the 
 church, that teach your flocks, instead of honouring the 
 God of Israel, to bow down to the self-made gods of a false 
 philosophy and morality ; and ye poets, journalists, and 
 popular writers, that only sound the trumpet to subvert 
 and deceive unwary and unstable souls, and lead them 
 away from the path of truth amid the mazes and pitfalls 
 of sophistry and infidelity ! Woe, woe unto you, ye follow- 
 ers of Balaam, ye destroyers of immortal souls ! In Je- 
 horam’s fate behold your own ! A cloud of vengeance, 
 doubly dark, hangs over your heads ; and it shall burst and 
 sink you to the lowest hell ! 
 
 To return to the letter. After it has held up the sins . 
 and crimes of Jehoram to his own conscience, it announces 
 the sentence in the name of Him who hath prepared his 
 throne for judgment. What a fearful threatening, “ Be- 
 hold, with a great plague the Lord will smite thee ; in thy 
 people, thy children, thy wives, and all thy goods ; and 
 thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, 
 until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness from 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITB. 
 
 day to day.” Awful manifestation of the just judgment 
 of Him who “ clothes himself with zeal as with a gar- 
 ment, and recompenses fury to his adversaries.” “ Fire 
 goeth before him and burneth up his enemies round 
 about.” u It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of 
 the living God !” Jehoram reads the tremendous sen- 
 tence ; but he makes his face harder than a rock, and his 
 neck is as an iron sinew. Only almighty grace can over- 
 come the monstrous perversity of corrupt nature. With- 
 out the working of this grace, the law is but as stubble in 
 the fire ; and even that Word of God, which is as a ham- 
 mer that breaketh the rock in pieces, only hardens by its 
 blows the sinner’s adamantine heart. Jehoram is a strik- 
 ing example of this melancholy truth. Well might he 
 shudder at such a writing ; but it did not bend his settled 
 obstinacy. And whatever will not bend must break. 
 
 The divine curse, like a tempest of fire, soon discharges 
 itself. A hostile force of Philistine Arabians suddenly 
 attacks the border of his kingdom. He sends forth his 
 armies and they are destroyed. The banner of the Lord 
 is no longer in the camp of Israel. With the faith of 
 their fathers, their fathers’ strength in war is departed. 
 The enemy pours into the kingdom like a desolating flood, 
 storming city after city, repulsing force after force, and 
 marking all their steps with devastation, rapine, and 
 slaughter. This was the first plague, the punishment of 
 the king in his deluded and apostate people. But it is 
 only the beginning of troubles ; for his ears are dull of 
 hearing, and the call of judgment is unobeyed. The ene- 
 my presses resistlessly forward. The royal army is every- 
 where beaten and dispersed. In a few days the heathen 
 invaders are at the gates of Jerusalem. The city is taken, 
 the remnant of the Jewish army is scattered, the palace 
 itself is stormed and plundered, the royal treasure carried 
 off, and the royal family taken prisoners. All his wives, 
 with the exception of Athaliah, who was reserved for a 
 more tragical end, are led away into captivity, and even 
 his sons are banished from their native land. Only one ra- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 397 
 
 mains behind, Joash, the youngest, for the Lord had re- 
 spect to his promise, “ David shall never want a man to 
 sit on the throne of the house of Israel.” All the rest 
 are doomed to a miserable bondage. Alarming example 
 of the righteous judgment of God ! Behold “ an eye for 
 an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” The destroyer of the 
 people becomes the object of their execration. The ava- 
 ricious robber is stripped utterly naked by robbers’ hands. 
 The denier of Jehovah and his word is denied by Him in 
 return, and given up to his own way. The debauchee and 
 fratricide is visited with the loss of his own wives and 
 children. But the train of his disasters is not yet com- 
 plete. His intense selfishness might perhaps have taught 
 him to bear these heavy strokes too lightly, and therefore 
 he must suffer in his own person. The horrible disease 
 predicted by the prophet, soon appears and manifests it- 
 self to every one as a visible judgment of heaven. For two 
 years it continued without remission, and baffled all the 
 skill of the physicians ; “ and it came to pass, after the 
 end of two years, that his bowels fell out, by reason of his 
 sickness ; and he died. His people made no burning for 
 him, like the burning of his fathers. Howbeit they buried 
 him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the 
 kings.” 
 
 Thus was the writing of doom accomplished to the very 
 letter ; and not a syllable of it remained unfulfilled. Mark 
 this, ye impenitent sinners that are still far from God ! 
 A writing like that prophetic one lies also at your door. 
 It begins, “ He that believeth not the Son shall not see 
 life, but the wrath of God abideth on him !” It continues, 
 “ The lamp of the wicked shall be put out, and their feet 
 hasten to destruction.” It concludes, “ It is a fearful 
 thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” And its 
 signature is this, “ Thus speaks the true and faithful 
 Witness.” Well may you tremble, for none of His words 
 fall to the ground. But, blessed be his name, the threat- 
 ening is not unconditional. It only runs thus, “ If ye 
 will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart.” There- 
 
1898 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 fore rejoice in thy respite, 0 sinner, and thy hope of es- 
 cape. The manslayer is behind thee, but there is a city of 
 refuge. Lay hold on the hope set before thee in the gospel. 
 Repair to the cross of Jesus, and thou shalt see the hand- 
 writing of doom nailed to that cross ; and instead of it thou 
 shalt receive another writing into thy bosom, which bears 
 the gracious words, “ Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are 
 forgiven thee ! for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee 
 by thy name, and thou art mine.” — Amen. 
 
 IX.— THE MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION. 
 
 I know no second example, among all the sons of men, 
 of one to whom such a superabundance of honour and 
 glory has been granted, as to that man on whose eventful 
 history, which stretches very near a thousand years, we 
 have for some time been dwelling with delight. After he 
 had, at the close of an incomparable series of miracles and 
 splendid deeds, passed into heaven without tasting of 
 death, and been fixed by the hand of God himself as a 
 bright and cheering star in the Old Testament sky, for the 
 joy and hope of many generations, new lustre is all at 
 once thrown upon his wonderful character, four hundred 
 years after his departure from earth, by his being intro- 
 duced as a principal figure into the transporting picture, 
 filled up with inspired lines and colours, of that glorious 
 period, which Abraham rejoiced to see afar off, and which 
 many prophets and kings had desired to witness. Malachi, 
 the prophet of God, thus spoke in Israel, in the name of 
 Jehovah, “ Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet 
 before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the 
 Lord : And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the 
 children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest 
 I come and smite the earth with a curse,” Mai. iv. 5, 6.' 
 
 Elijah, recalled, as it were, by this striking prophecy 
 from the ages of the past, now shone as a distant light in 
 the future, and became one of the dearest objects of Is- 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 S99 
 
 rael’s expectation. The saints, thenceforth, beheld him 
 in the spiritual horizon as a harbinger of the dayspring 
 from on high, as an inseparable attendant of the glorious 
 Son of David. For four hundred years had Elijah thus 
 shone in the apocalyptic heaven, when at last the Sun 
 of Righteousness arose on our benighted earth, and re- 
 flected the light of truth on all the shadows of prophecy. 
 A voice in the wilderness is heard to announce that the 
 kingdom of heaven is at hand ; and so the Lord of the 
 kingdom appears ; and in reference to this herald of his 
 approach declares, “ If ye will receive it ; this is Elias 
 which was for to come.” Malachi’s prophecy was, there- 
 fore, now fulfilled ; and yet only figuratively, and by way 
 of prelude. That the whole meaning of the prophecy was 
 not yet exhausted, is manifest from our Lord’s language, 
 “ If ye will receive it !” and still more distinctly from the 
 declaration of John the Baptist himself, “ I am not Elias.” 
 John was called Elias, merely because he appeared in the 
 spirit and power of Elijah ; and there can be no doubt 
 that the words of Malachi point to a personal return of 
 the prophet to earth. This has always been the belief and 
 expectation of the Jews ; and thus Jesus the son of Sirach 
 appears to have understood the prophecy, as we gather 
 from his animated apostrophe in the 48th chapter of his 
 apocryphal book. “ Thou, Elias, wast taken up in a whirl- 
 wind of fire, and a chariot of fiery horses ; who wast or- 
 dained for reproof in its season, to pacify the wrath of 
 the Lord’s judgment before it broke forth into fury, and 
 to turn the hearts of the fathers unto the sons, and to 
 restore the tribes of Jacob. Blessed are they that see thee, 
 and shall be honoured on account of thy friendship ; then 
 shall we possess the true life.” 
 
 And lo ! ere we think of it, the ancient prophet himself 
 is before us in a bodily form, after the rest of a thousand 
 years above. He stands on the Mount of Transfiguration, 
 with Moses at his side, and both of them engaged in sacred 
 conference with the Lord of glory. And yet, amazing and 
 unexampled as is the scene, I doubt if even this event 
 
400 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 exhausted the full meaning of Malachi’s prophecy. He 
 was to come “to turn the hearts of the fathers to the 
 children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers.” 
 N ow he has not yet executed this commission ; and, con- 
 sequently, the ancient prophecy leaves us to expect a still 
 farther accomplishment. It is already fulfilled in a typical 
 manner ; but its entire fulfilment is what I think we have 
 not yet seen. Are we then still to expect a return of 
 Elias ? Eor my part I cannot avoid this conclusion, and 
 I am inclined to place the event before the conversion and 
 restoration of Israel, when he will probably appear upon 
 the earth in his glorified person, to accomplish a great 
 Work both for the J ews, and, through them, for the Gen- 
 tile world. 
 
 How wonderful to find a man who thus keeps upon the 
 stage of the world’s history for thousands of years ; and 
 passes, though a son of the dust, with equal ease from 
 earth to heaven, and from heaven to earth, to fulfil the 
 great designs of Him whose minister he is ! “ 0, Elijah, 
 how art thou honoured,” may we say with the son of Si- 
 rach, “ which of us is to be praised like unto thee ! Bless- 
 ed are they that see thee, and will be honoured on account 
 of thy friendship.” Yet even thou, what art thou but a 
 satellite, shining with borrowed light, and reflecting the 
 grace and love of Christ to sinners of our race ! 
 
 We are this day to approach the “ holy mount.” It is a 
 delightful pilgrimage. No mountain has a serener sky or 
 a fairer prospect. May the way be blessed to our souls ! 
 
 Matthew xvii. 1, 2. 
 
 “ And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his 
 brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and 
 was transfigured before them ; and his face did shine as the sun, 
 and his raiment was white as the light.” 
 
 The wonderful event here recorded is, beyond all ques- 
 tion, a real and not an ideal history. The account of the 
 evangelists, who all concur in this narrative, is enough to 
 shew this. This event is a scene in the life of the incar- 
 nate God among men. What wonder, then, that it should 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 401 
 
 pass beyond all the limits of ordinary experience, and 
 present to us, the children of a day, much that is unpre- 
 cedented and incomprehensible. Let joy, rather than 
 idle amazement or curiosity, fill our hearts at this glorious 
 spectacle. Lo, here is something more than the fiery sign 
 on Carmel, the burning bush at Horeb, and the flaming 
 glories of Sinai. “ This is none other but the house of 
 God, and this is the gate of heaven.” 
 
 Let us approach with reverence this sublime scene ; and 
 may the Spirit of the Lord disclose to us the depths of its 
 meaning. We contemplate for the present, I. The pro- 
 bable Design of the Transfiguration. II. The Preparations 
 for the Event. III. The Event itself. 
 
 I. In the narrative of the evangelists, the transfigura- 
 tion of our Lord is connected with a conversation with 
 his disciples, which occurred almost immediately before, 
 at Cesarea Philippi, when the Lord was just about to 
 commence his last journey through the country to Jeru- 
 salem. “ Whom,” said he to his disciples, “ do men say 
 that I, the Son of man, am ?” They replied, “ Some say 
 thou art John the Baptist ; some, Elias ; and others, Jere- 
 mias, or one of the prophets.” Their master answered, 
 “ Whom say ye that T am ?” Peter, in a moment of fer- 
 vent inspiration from above, breaks forth with the noble 
 confession, “ Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living 
 God.” Jesus receives the testimony with gracious appro- 
 bation, and declares, “ Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona ; 
 for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my 
 Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee. Thou art 
 Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church ; and 
 the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Never had 
 the apostles stood on such an elevation cf faith as at this 
 moment. It was, therefore, a favouiable season for in- 
 troducing them deeper into the mystery of his work of 
 redemption, and disclosing to them more of the awful 
 details of his bloody death than hitherto they had been 
 able to bear. “ From that time forth began Jesus to shew 
 
402 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, 
 and suffer many things of the elders, and chief priests, 
 and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third 
 day.” But the astonished disciples could not understand 
 this discovery. They could not reconcile their minds to 
 the idea of a suffering and atoning Messiah. And Peter, 
 falling back in one moment from his position of exalted 
 faith to the level of a mere natural man, and quite for- 
 getting his place as a disciple, takes his Lord with unbe- 
 coming haste aside, and in a tone of advice, or rather of 
 admonition, says to him, “ Be it far from thee. Lord ; 
 this shall not be unto thee.” But the Lord seeing with 
 omniscient eye into the source of this apparently kind 
 entreaty, replies with holy severity, “ Get thee behind 
 me, Satan ; thou art an offence unto me : for thou sa- 
 vourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be 
 of men.” At the same time his compassionate heart sym- 
 pathizes with their difficulties, and provides for their en- 
 lightenment that glorious manifestation of himself which 
 was to take place on “ the holy mount.” 
 
 But how, you ask, was this scene of glory to strengthen 
 their faith? The splendour of Tabor was designed to 
 cast a ray of light on the gloom of Golgotha. It was in- 
 tended to shew the disciples, as they had never seen it 
 before, the inherent greatness of Him, whom they were 
 soon to behold crowned with thorns, and nailed to the 
 cross. The glory of this scene would illustrate the magni- 
 tude of his condescension, and the voluntary nature of his 
 sufferings ; for they could not but learn from it, that their 
 Master was not to be the victim of unfortunate accident, 
 since such a Being could only die by his own free devotion 
 of himself to death. The miracle was also designed to 
 set forth the harmony of Christ’s voluntary death with the 
 determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ; a point 
 which was settled for ever by the voice from the “ excel- 
 lent glory.” And last of all, this scene of transfiguration 
 would utterly remove the suspicion, that there was some- 
 thing in the establishment of Christ’s kingdom at variance 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 403 
 
 with Moses and the prophets ; for the appearance of the 
 heavenly messengers, and their converse with the Saviour, 
 testified most unequivocally to the contrary. Behold, 
 then, what a concentration of Divine light and wisdom 
 in this one fact. It contained so much to strengthen the 
 faith of the disciples, that the recollections of their whole 
 life would not he enough to exhaust its fulness. 
 
 But let us not suppose that this manifestation was in- 
 tended for the disciples alone. Not only earth, but hea- 
 ven also participated in it. It was a spectacle to angels, 
 and the spirits of the just made perfect. With what joy 
 and transport may these bright spirits have hung around 
 the scene, where the glory of their King burst through 
 the veil of his humiliation, and with what new hymns of 
 praise would they celebrate the wonders of his grace ! 
 
 Nor can we suppose that the transfiguration did not, 
 also, take place on account of the Lord himself. I can- 
 not doubt that it did so ; nay, that this was its deepest and 
 ultimate meaning. You know how that, though, even 
 in the day of his flesh, the fulness of the godhead dwelt 
 in him bodily, he, with equal truth and reality, led the 
 life of a man. In this character he had to believe, to 
 maintain a conflict, to learn obedience, even as his own 
 disciples. His way, like our own, lay through the strait 
 and dreary path of manifold temptations, spiritual deser- 
 tion and darkness ; and seasons were not wanting in his 
 life, when, like his people, he really stood in need of 
 strengthening and comfort ; and did not despise even the 
 sympathy of his disciples. For the temptation in the 
 wilderness he was prepared by the testimony from Heaven, 
 “ This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased 
 and as he was now approaching a more momentous and aw- 
 ful struggle, the glory of the Holy Mount was vouchsafed 
 as a source of heavenly strength. Recollect the scene in 
 John xii. The Lord has come to Jerusalem. The fire is 
 ready for the sacrifice. The night is at hand; the ap- 
 proaching horrors of the hour and the power of darkness 
 gather around his soul. The deep foundations of his 
 
404 
 
 ELIJAH THE TI3HEITE. 
 
 holy nature tremble, and, like a stream long repressed, the 
 cry breaks out “ Now is my soul troubled, and what shall 
 I say ! Father, save me from this hour.” But his mind 
 fixes itself on the divine purpose of mercy, and the prayer 
 is not uttered , ere it is recalled, “ But for this cause came 
 I unto this hour.” His will is thus entirely one with the 
 Father’s will ; and his desire takes another form, “ Father, 
 glorify thy name !” glorify thyself in me, and shew that 
 thou art my Father, and that “ I am thine Only-Begotten. 
 He speaks, and an audible voice from heaven is heard, 
 “ I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again !” Now 
 the words “ I have glorified it” look backwards, and have 
 almost certainly a reference to the event of the transfigu- 
 ration. And as it could only be referred to by the Al- 
 mighty Father for the same use of gracious encouragement 
 for which it was at first brought to pass, we have here 
 sufficient proof that the glorious scene was primarily in- 
 tended to strengthen the Son of Man in the hour of trial. 
 Thus the perfectly Holy One was made like unto his 
 brethren in this point also, that in a season of spiritual 
 darkness he was 'thrown back upon brighter scenes of en- 
 joyment of the Divine communion. For, with the excep- 
 tion of sin, our good Shepherd was willing to go before his 
 sheep in every path of trial and difficulty, and to travel 
 onwards from day to day in entire faith and dependence 
 on his Father. “ He wakeneth mine ear to discipline, 
 morning by morning,” says he in Isaiah 1. “ He waken- 
 eth mine ear to hear as a learner. The Lord God has 
 opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned 
 away back.” Who can tell how greatly the faith which 
 enabled the Son of Man, in the last tremendous struggle, 
 to prefix the words of trust, “ My God, my God !” to the 
 complaint of desertion, “ Why hast thou forsaken me ?” 
 was supported by such remembrancers as that of Jordan 
 and the Holy Mount ! What a precious thing is a store 
 of gracious experiences ! How blessed, amid the gloom and 
 dreariness of the evil day, to “ muse on the times of old,” 
 and “ remember the years of the right hand of the Most 
 High.” 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 405 
 
 II. The contemplation of the event itself and of its 
 other preliminaries will supply us with farther instruction. 
 “After six days,” relates the evangelist/* Jesus took Peter, 
 James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into 
 a high mountain apart.” These three disciples were re- 
 peatedly distinguished above the rest ; he took them with 
 him afterwards to Gethsemane to see the priestly altar 
 and the sacrificial fire ; but here to behold his regal splen- 
 dour and glory. It seems almost as if the Saviour in this 
 respect also became a man, inasmuch as he was capable, 
 not only of general regard, but of the special affection of 
 friendship, and felt that lovely bond of tenderness which 
 we call mutual sympathy, like that of Jacob, of whom it 
 is said, in his affection for Benjamin, “ His life is bound 
 up in the lad’s life.” It is no doubt true that his saints 
 are all equally dear to his electing love ; he loves them all 
 even as the Father hath loved him, and he gave his life 
 with equal readiness for all. Yet to his merely human 
 feelings there was a difference on earth, for some stood 
 nearer him than others ; and the nearest of these was evi- 
 dently the apostle John, who, in allusion to this, so ten- 
 derly calls himself “ the disciple whom Jesus loved,” and 
 his brother James, and Peter. How much was there in 
 the natural dispositions of these three to conciliate the 
 special affection of the Saviour ! How amiable does Simon 
 Peter appear, even in his errors and failings, with his 
 frank and ardent character, full of zeal for his master, and 
 integrity without suspicion or guile. And who would 
 not have been constrained to love James, the holy and 
 warm-hearted man, with his high and noble decision, 
 which made him ready to be the first of the apostles, as 
 he actually was, to drink the cup- of martyrdom. And 
 then John, that noble young vine in the garden of the 
 Lord, that eagle spirit, justly named a son of thunder — but 
 whose voice like the thunder was always heard pealing amid 
 the invisible depths of the sky. John, the most perfectly 
 mirrored image of the Saviour himself, in which were re- 
 flected all the love and grace that a sinner could receive 
 
406 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 from the Lord of glory — John, whose whole nature seemed 
 purified to the very dross as by a live coal from the altar 
 of the sanctuary — who, next to Him that is “ fairer than 
 the sons of men,” can be pointed out as a more pure and 
 engaging character than this disciple ! And as we all 
 know that it is not personal excellence, however great, 
 which forms the magic charm of friendship — but a mys- 
 terious something which lies far deeper, and which we 
 call harmony, so we find the very heart of this apostle 
 strung in all its chords in unison with the tender and 
 sublime affections of the Redeemer. 
 
 Yet our Lord’s special love for these three disciples was 
 but a subordinate reason for their selection on this occa- 
 sion. He had other reasons, incomparably more import- 
 ant, which are to be found in the characters of these three, 
 and their peculiar relation to his person and kingdom. 
 For they undoubtedly appear as our Lord’s more intimate 
 circle, even as they were selected to be the three principal 
 pillars of the church. It was their privilege first to plant 
 the banner of the Cross upon the mountains of Israel; 
 and therefore they stood in special need of such a prepara- 
 tion as they were now to receive. 
 
 We are told that Jesus took these disciples with him to 
 a “ high mountain.” From ancient times it had been the 
 good pleasure of God to select the silent tops of mountains, 
 those quiet islands in the ocean of this world’s confusion, 
 as the scenes of the most remarkable and glorious revela- 
 tions. The mountain on which the transfiguration took 
 place is not definitely pointed out in Scripture. Accord- 
 ing to an ancient and very credible tradition, it was Mount 
 Tabor, the largest and most beautiful mountain of Gali- 
 lee. This eminence, which is clothed to the summit with 
 a most splendid profusion of wood and forest scenery, rises 
 in the wide plain of Jezreel, not far from Nazareth and 
 Cana ; and a modern traveller has said of it, that, if there 
 be any thing beautiful in nature, it is this green and round- 
 ed mountain-pyramid of Palestine. Its summit, which 
 rises boldly into the region of the clouds, is covered with 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 407 
 
 tall oaks, and is nearly three miles in circumference. It 
 presents one of the most magnificent and charming pro- 
 spects to be found in the whole world. To the right, the 
 eye passes over Mount Carmel, that ancient witness of Je- 
 hovah’s glory, and loses itself in the vast expanse of the 
 Mediterranean sea. Northwards, appears the black sharp 
 ridge of Lebanon, and behind it the dazzling snowy cupola 
 of Hermon. Towards the south, the eye first rests on the 
 beautiful verdure of luxuriant vineyards and orange groves, 
 and farther on upon the cheerful hills of Samaria ; whilst 
 to the left, gleams the sea of Tiberias, as if its bright ex- 
 panse were sailing through the waving corn-fields of the 
 plain of Esdraelon. But why should we dwell on these 
 beauties of nature, when it is a scene of history that gives 
 Tabor its interest ? why do we cast our looks into the dis- 
 tance, when a more glorious scene near at hand calls for 
 our attention ? 
 
 The apostles subsequently called the mount of transfi- 
 guration “ the holy mount.” This shews the strong and 
 sacred impression which had there been made upon their 
 minds. Yes, those are in truth holy places, and are for 
 ever sacred in our remembrance, where we have once had 
 cause to say, with Jacob, “ I have seen God face to face, 
 and my life is preserved !” There are our Bethels and our 
 Peniels, where he whispered to our souls “ I have loved 
 thee with an everlasting love,” or wiped away our tears, 
 or crowned our sighs of contrition with a gracious assu- 
 rance of pardon. These scenes are hallowed ground. They 
 are to us as the house of God, and as the gate of heaven. 
 They are lovely spots in this vale of tears. He who has 
 many of them has true riches. 
 
 Jesus commences the journey to the mount, followed by 
 his three disciples. The ascent required about a day ; and 
 hence the sun must have set, and the shades of evening 
 begun to fall, by the time they reached the summit. So- 
 lemn silence reigns all round. Not a sound breaks the 
 stillness, but the rustle of the evening breeze amid the 
 spreading leaves. The disciples, weary with their journey. 
 
408 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE, 
 
 and at the same time deeply affected by their conversation 
 on the way, and their solemn situation with their Lord 
 alone in the silence of night upon a solitary mountain, lay 
 themselves down and sink in slumber. J esus prays to his 
 Eternal Father. What his prayer was, the history does 
 not inform us. It might be like that in John xii., “ Fa- 
 ther, glorify thy name or in John xvii., “ And now, 0 
 Father, glorify thou me with the glory which I had with 
 thee before the world was ; that they all may be one, as 
 thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee.” What a sublime 
 spectacle ! The Lord of glory on his knees before the face 
 of the Almighty ! The Son of the living God engaged in 
 holy converse with the Eternal Father on the dark mount- 
 ain height ! Surely if ever the words “ come not near” 
 were appropriate, it was here. And what ensues when 
 Immanuel prays ? His prayer must rise to heaven as al- 
 most the same with the omnipotent will of the Father, 
 for “ he doeth always those things that please him.” And 
 yet he is ever willing to mingle such intercessions with 
 your prayers, and thereby to support and purify and per- 
 fect them ! And this is the truth which gives sublime con- 
 sistency to those glorious words of promise, “ Whatsoever 
 ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.” 
 III. Jesus prays. And what follows such a prayer ? All 
 at once, it seems to the sleepers as if a bright light were 
 playing about their eyelids ; and as if the soft sounds of 
 conversation penetrated down into the depths of their 
 slumber. They stir, they awake, they glance round in 
 sudden surprise to see if the night were indeed already 
 past and the sun in the full blaze of noon. But who can 
 describe their amazement as their dazzled eyes fix at 
 length on the glorious miracle ! 0 incomparable spectacle ! 
 Behold ! Behold ! Is that shining One indeed their master! 
 Is the majestic figure, which appears arrayed in the very 
 glories of the Godhead, the same at whose side they 
 ascended the mountain ! 0 splendour that eclipses the sun 
 and moon ! radiance of light that might dazzle the eye of 
 seraphim ! His countenance, like an opened heaven. 
 
ELIJAII THE TISnBITE. 
 
 409 
 
 beaming with purity and bliss ! his brow a throne of god- 
 like majesty ! his look as if the earth would sink before it 
 into nothing ! his mouth as if in act to utter the words of 
 creation ! his raiment as if woven of the beams of morn- 
 ing, and worked all over with ethereal sun-light ! The dis- 
 ciples are overcome with the sight. It is not alarm or ter- 
 ror that they feel. No, they are exalted with their Lord, 
 and feel as yet oppressed with the strange joy. This is 
 no Sinai to force the awe-struck confession, “ I exceed- 
 ingly fear and quake.” The glory here breathes only too 
 deep a rapture. Their language was not that of the an- 
 cient prophet, “ Wo is me, for I am undone !” but that of 
 the psalmist, “ Cause the light of thy countenance to shine 
 upon us and we are saved.” 
 
 O that our hearts could be absorbed with this glory of 
 our King ! What health and salvation amid the beams of 
 this Light ! 0 how beautiful and glorious does he there 
 appear — the fairest of the sons of men — not only the King 
 of Peter and James and John, but my King. Hallelujah ! 
 and thine ! Yes ! here is more than Solomon in all his 
 glory ! more than Aaron and Melchizedek in their robes of 
 priestly dignity ! When did ever a star shine on our 
 world like this ! When brake ever a sun upon earth’s 
 darkness like this Sun ! 0 incomparable brightness, that 
 lights up the night of the soul, that chases away all the 
 shades of sin and sorrow, that forces the angels to fall 
 down and worship, and makes sinners rejoice with un- 
 speakable joy ! “ This is my beloved, and this is my friend, 
 O daughters of Jerusalem.” 0 contemplate the King in 
 his beauty; “ Let the children of Zion be very joyful in 
 their King.” There he stands — the First and the Last and 
 the Living One — not clothed with the sun, but himself the 
 sun in the kingdom of spirits ; not irradiated from with- 
 out, but possessing the fountain of light in himself. It is 
 as if the tops of the mountains broke forth into singing, 
 “ Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the 
 Lord is risen upon thee.” There he stands on the solitary 
 summit, and not he alone, but his disciples partake of the 
 
410 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 splendour of his transfiguration. Here we can, in some 
 measure, anticipate the fulfilment of the words of the 
 apocalypse concerning the city of God, “and the city had 
 no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it ; for 
 the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light 
 thereof.” And here also we find a key to that other deep 
 saying, “ It doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but we 
 know, that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for 
 we shall see him as he is.” 
 
 “ And Jesus was transfigured before them.” More li- 
 terally, “ He transfigured himself.” The expression im- 
 plies that the glory was not shed upon him from without, 
 but rayed forth as a light of life that had been in Him 
 from the beginning. Even when he lay in the manger, a 
 poor and helpless infant, and laboured as the carpenter’s 
 son, there dwelt in him, though veiled under the form of 
 a servant, all * the fulness of the godhead bodily.” Single 
 rays of this hidden glory had occasionally broken forth be- 
 fore, in deeds of omnipotence and mercy, so that all who 
 saw him, and even his enemies, were astonished, and said 
 “ what manner of man is this ? from whence is he ?” But 
 such an unveiling of the awful sanctuary as this on Tabor, 
 no one had yet witnessed. The curtain was drawn for a 
 moment aside, and revealed the Son of the Highest, 
 “ whose goings forth have been from of old from ever- 
 lasting.” But, however glorious beyond all earthly glory, 
 and all description of man, this manifestation was, — it was 
 not the whole fulness of his beauty as the Son of God. In 
 comparison with that glory with which he will meet his 
 saints above, it may be no more than the early glimmer 
 of dawn to the brightness of the perfect day. For he 
 shewed forth his glory only as mortal eye was able to bear 
 it. Then his countenance shone as the sun, but now it is 
 itself the Sun of all worlds ; then his raiment was white 
 as the light of day, but the robe which he now wears is 
 that essential light which enwraps, as a vesture, the Thrice 
 Holy One. Now as the whole scene on Tabor was only 
 a manifestation of the glory which Jesus had in himself, 
 
"ELIJAH THE TiSHBITE. 
 
 411 
 
 it was, as the apostle J ohn calls it, “ the glory of the only 
 begotten of the Father, full of truth." It was nothing 
 external, foreign, or borrowed; but his own individual and 
 real form ; it was the very essence of his being ; the visible 
 reflection of the indwellingjfulness of God, and consequently 
 in the highest sense " full of truth.” But for what reason 
 the apostle John calls this a revelation “ full of grace,” he 
 must himself tell us, if we would comprehend it perfectly. 
 This glory of Tabor must have been a benign glory, a trans- 
 porting reflection of pure kindness and love. Every glance, 
 every play of look, every word, every majestic act, was 
 radiant with grace, and only grace. Streams of peace 
 flowed into the disciples’ hearts ; sweet and Sabbatic rest 
 was breathed around them, and every ray of his counte- 
 nance that fell upon them was the transporting smile of a 
 God. No one desired the Lord to veil from them the over- 
 powering glory; no one thought of the prayer of Job, 
 “ Thine eyes are upon me and I am not.” Their language 
 rather was “ Lord, it is good for us to be here !” Here they 
 would gladly have made tabernacles and remained, for 
 ever remained in this beatific irradiation of the only Begot- 
 ten, full of grace. 
 
 We leave the summit of the holy mount, in order soon 
 to return thither in the spirit of devout meditation. Keep 
 firm hold in spirit of the glory that has beamed upon you. 
 What the first sunshine of spring is to the earliest buds of 
 nature, that will this glory be to your faith and to your 
 love. It will break the last fetter of doubt that chains the 
 one, it will melt away the last chilly weight of fear and 
 diffidence that oppresses the other. How blessed the light 
 that is reflected from this great scene on the amazing words 
 of Jesus, “ The glory which thou ga vest me I have given 
 them.” What a ravishing distinctness does it give to that 
 other word of promise, “ Then shall the righteous shine 
 forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” O let us 
 build a tabernacle for our souls amid this glory ! Let the 
 summit of the holy mount be our oratory and our watch- 
 tower. Within sight of the transfigured One thy last fear 
 
412 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 shall die, and thy prayer shall mount up with holy rapture 
 to the presence of his glory. 
 
 X.— THE HEAVENLY EMBASSY. 
 
 Suppose, my brethren, that a stranger from another 
 world were to descend to our earth, with senses so consti- 
 tuted that he could in one moment take in all the coun- 
 tries of Christendom, and at the same time perceive all 
 the transactions of which they were the scene. Suppose 
 that the time was the morning of Christmas day, and that 
 he took his stand on a mountain so high as to command a 
 view of all the kingdoms of the world “ in a moment of 
 time.” Then let the sound of innumerable church-bells 
 be borne to his ears, and the sight of endless crowds of 
 festive worshippers be presented to his eyes, and let him 
 hear at the same time the sound of rejoicing choruses in 
 every sanctuary, and every prayer and sermon sending 
 forth its notes of jubilee ! How great would be the 
 stranger’s excitement ! How eager his desire to learn the 
 origin of such a festival of the world ! But were he gifted 
 with the power of looking backward into time, as well as 
 around him into space, and were he guided by some 
 equally gifted spirit, not to an ancient field of battle, not 
 to the capital of some great empire and the palace of 
 illustrious kings, but to a poor village in an obscure land, 
 to a lowly stable, with a mean travel-worn woman in it, 
 and a new-born infant lying in scanty swaddling-clothes 
 amid the straw of a manger; and were we told that it 
 was the birth of this neglected child that had excited the 
 universal jubilee, how would his wonder rise and transcend 
 all expression ! 
 
 He might fancy it at first all a dream, and wonder what 
 sort of world this was in which so unheard-of a revolution 
 could come to pass. And when he was instructed farther, 
 and told that the history of many a great genius, many a 
 mighty conqueror, and founder of a new religion and 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 413 
 
 school of wisdom, had begun in circumstances of great 
 obscurity, his surprise would not even then be done away ; 
 for he would hear this Child spoken of in a higher strain, 
 and announced by a heavenly chorus as neither man nor 
 seraph, but the Eternal Son of the 'Eternal God," manifest 
 in flesh.” 
 
 It is good, my friends, to bring the fresh and uncor- 
 rupted feelings of other orders of being to rectify and 
 exalt our own. For how low are our notions, how cold 
 our faith in “ this great mystery of godliness.” O it is no 
 light and trivial thing to believe in an Incarnate God, but 
 an awful and serious matter. This Faith is a miracle- 
 like the birth of the Son of God himself. Is this Child 
 that I can take in my arms and caress, as it prattles and 
 smiles on me as other children do, in very truth one in 
 person with the Eternal Word, the Creator of all ? 0 my 
 poor brain ! how shall I find room in 1 thee for such a 
 thought? It is an unfathomable mystery! If I never 
 felt before what it is to sink beneath a thought, I feel it 
 here. But can we stay for ever by the manger ? No, we 
 must go forth from this scene of awful eclipse, from the 
 stable, the manger, and the days of infancy, and re-assure 
 our faith amid those glorious outbursts of divinity which 
 marked the holy manhood of our Saviour. And when I 
 have seen all, and followed him to his last ascent of tri- 
 umph, my heart then casts off its load and breathes a 
 freer air. I carry back the reflected lustre of his almighty 
 deeds to the dark and lowly scene. I return with a heart 
 whose craving void this Incarnate God alone can fill ; and 
 when I re-enter the stable of Bethlehem, I join with fer- 
 vent soul in the angel’s song, I kneel before the manger in 
 the dust, I stretch my hand to heaven, and in defiance of 
 Satan, who would gladly seal my lips from a confession 
 which bodes him fall and overthrow — in defiance of the 
 might of all his host, whose fierce mandate of “ silence” I 
 burst, with the gates of hell, asunder, — in defiance of the 
 spirit of an apostate age, that cannot longer restrain my 
 tongue with its scoffs and laughter— and in defiance of my 
 
414 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBTTH. 
 
 own pride of reason which sets itself against a testimony 
 that casts it down into the dust,— I bend before the infant 
 in the manger, and I swear to God “ Yea and Amen,” this 
 child is the True God and Eternal Life, — a feeble creature, 
 and yet the Lord and Maker of all creatures ! 
 
 One of the many places where this confession is as easy 
 for the faith of the Christian, as at Bethlehem it is diffi- 
 cult to make, is the summit of Mount Tabor. From this 
 holy mount a light is reflected at once on the manger and 
 on the cross, which chases all doubt away. We return 
 now to this sacred spot, to refresh our souls amid its mar- 
 vellous light with new joy and peace in believing. 
 
 Matthew xvii. 3 — 6. 
 
 “ And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talk- 
 ing with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it. 
 is good for us to be here : if thou wilt, let us make here three taber- 
 nacles ; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. While 
 he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them : and be- 
 hold a voice out of the cloud, which said. This is my beloved Son, 
 in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye him. And when the disciples 
 heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.” 
 
 Here then we stand once more on the sacred summit— 
 a solemn stillness, as of a sanctuary, around us — before 
 us, the King in his beauty. Again we would gladly lose 
 ourselves in the contemplation of his single glory; but, 
 behold our attention is divided. The sacred circle of 
 objects is increased, and our eyes are attracted by the new 
 appearance. There are three objects which at present 
 claim our attention : I. The Heavenly Embassy. II. Their 
 Converse with the Saviour ; and, III. Simon Peter’s Re- 
 quest. 
 
 I. The disciples stand in adoring wonder, and in rapt 
 contemplation of their glorified Master. All at once a 
 new amazement fills them ; for, behold ! two glorious 
 forms, one on each side of the Lord Jesus, shining in the 
 same light and bending with reverence before him. “ Who 
 are these, and whence come they ? Did we not ascend the 
 mountain with him alone ? No ! these are not mortals 
 whom we behold, the crown of life is already on their 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHB-ITE. 
 
 415 
 
 heads.” And lo, the Saviour begins to converse with these 
 venerable strangers. The disciples listen, and, hark ! what 
 names do they hear their Master use ? Moses and Elijah ! 
 Do they hear aright ! And has the earth then fled away ; 
 and is Time gone ; and has Eternity, that sweeps away all 
 distinctions of ages, and brings all duration into one awful 
 point, already dawned upon them ! They cannot be mis- 
 taken ; the glorious personages are indeed two citizens of 
 the invisible world, two happy saints from the Jerusalem 
 above. A sure and sacred instinct would have taught the 
 disciples to recognise them without more instruction ; for 
 their image lived in the hearts of the chosen people, clear 
 as ever form did in the mind of an artist. The one is now 
 fifteen hundred years old, and yet fair and flourishing, as 
 a green palm tree, in eternal youth. How could the dis- 
 ciples mistake his majestic expression ! In these glorified 
 hands lay once the mighty rod that divided the waves of 
 the Red sea. Under these feet did Sinai quake, when the 
 Lord came from Paran with a fiery law. These arms, up- 
 held in prayer, laid Amalek in the dust ; and these eyes 
 saw manna rained from heaven, and water burst from the 
 flinty rock, and have seen that glory of the Lord which on 
 earth could not be shown. It is indeed Moses that stands 
 before us ! the captain of Israel — the king in Jeshurun — 
 the man who “ esteemed the reproaeh of Christ greater 
 riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he had respect un- 
 to the recompense of the reward.” And the other — how 
 can he be a stranger to us ; there is the same undaunted 
 eye, the same lofty majesty of look, that we knew so well in 
 all our pilgrimage with him. Elijah ! yes ! the heroic Tish- 
 bite ! It is almost a thousand years since he shook off 
 the dust of earth in the wilderness of Jericho, and mounted 
 in his fiery chark t to the world of rest. A thousand years 
 has his voice mingled in the choirs above, and now he 
 stands suddenly before us, in the same body that saw no 
 death, on the old scene of conflict ; but, O, with what new 
 feelings would he look round on all, as the dim outline 
 rose before him, under the silent stars ! here, the summit 
 
416 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 of Carmel ; there, Jezreel and its wide plain ; beyond, the 
 dark thickets and rocks of Cherith ; and far to the south, 
 the lonely waste, with the juniper tree, and the awful 
 height of Horeb. With what dim and all but invisible 
 hues of sadness would his moments of doubt and care and 
 despondency now appear ! and all his sorrows vanish from 
 his sight, like the dreams of a night that had long since fled ! 
 
 Moses and Elias ! Welcome visitants in this vale of tears ! 
 Had they been allowed to break their silence, what won- 
 ders could they have told us of ! For long centuries they 
 had been in the immediate presence of God, for long cen- 
 turies the Sabbatic rest of the world above had been the 
 element of their life. Their feet had trod the ever- verdant 
 hills of paradise, their hands struck the harps of seraphim, 
 and their eyes ranged through familiar splendours, of 
 which a faint reflection dazzles ours ; their hearts drunk 
 in a tide of rapture, of which scanty drops make up earth’s 
 happiness. What could they not have told us of death and 
 the resurrection, of the scenes and the life of paradise? 
 But they are silent ; and the reason is, that, like him who 
 was caught up into the “ third heaven,” they had seen and 
 heard things not <c possible to utter.” 
 
 You know the striking description which Paul gives of 
 this great experience of his own, 2 Cor. xii. 2, &c. The 
 strangely broken language of the apostle shews how deeply 
 his heart was moved by the recollection of this “ vision of 
 the Lord.” He is struggling to express something which he 
 counts among the highest and holiest experiences of his life. 
 He cannot find words to describe the act of translation, and 
 he knows not whether he was in the body or out of the 
 body. One thing he knows, it was no dream or play of the 
 fancy, but a real translation into Paradise. Where was 
 he then, for he was away from the earth ? Was it in some 
 blissful planet or star, from whence, like Moses from the 
 top of Nebo, he could “ behold the land that was very far 
 off.” No ! it was a higher flight. He had been in the 
 very heart of that land, “ in the third heaven,” above the 
 noise of earth, above suns and firmaments, in the realms 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 417 
 
 without sun, or moon, or stars of light, amid the blaze of 
 the Eternal throne, whence no hallelujah is echoed back, 
 in the bride-chamber of the New Jerusalem, in the palace 
 of the King of kings. And what word does he bring from 
 that great capital of the universe, whence no traveller 
 returns, no vessel steers to this island speck of ours ? Ah, 
 our eager curiosity is vain, our fond anticipations vain ! 
 For glowing description, we have the cold assurance that 
 all description is impossible. Cold assurance ! I recall the 
 word. For is not this silence more eloquent than speech ? 
 Is not this confession of the poverty of language, and the 
 weakness of our faculties, and the inadequacy of all the 
 inlets and organs of sense and time, full of a depth of joy 
 and a promise of immortality, greater far than if eye had 
 seen it, or ear heard it, or it had entered into the heart of 
 man to conceive it ? The apostle will rather leave the 
 picture to shine uncopied in his own chambers of imagery ; 
 for what were the brightest of earthly colours but gloomy 
 shades ? the radiance of sun and stars, and the bloom of 
 roses and lilies, but the broken and misty rays of twilight ? 
 One thing may teach us some imperfect notion of this 
 surpassing glory, — the lesson of the apostle’s life. The re- 
 velation had been vouchsafed him fourteen years before, 
 and though locked in his own breast, it had made him 
 feel as if henceforth his connexion with the world was at 
 an end. His conversation is in heaven, and on earth he 
 is no more at home. In that upper world all his hopes, 
 his desires, his thoughts dwell ; and the morning and 
 evening song of his heart is, “ I have a desire to depart 
 and to be with Christ.” Death seems to him the happiest 
 of messengers ; yea the death of martyrdom, for he knows 
 whither the way leads from the dungeon and the cross. 
 O, how gladly will he now drink the cup of wormwood to 
 the dregs, when he knows what waters of life are to fill 
 the cup of immortality ! how readily will he walk into any 
 path of torture and fiery trial, since he knows that it will 
 end at the gate of the celestial city ! “ I reckon,” he ex- 
 ultingly exclaims, ,c that the sufferings of this present time 
 27 
 
418 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 are not worthy to he compared with the glory which shall 
 be revealed in us.” “ To me to live is Christ, and to die is 
 gain.” “ I count not my life dear to me, so that I may 
 finish my course with joy.” 
 
 Not less glorious, though equally indirect, is the news 
 which the visitants on Tabor bring us of the heavenly 
 world. They are themselves a living epistle of the things 
 of the world to come. Their very appearance speaks 
 cheering words of comfort to the faith that still trembles 
 weak and uncertain over the tomb. What a joyful evi- 
 dence have we here of the conscious, undivided, personal, 
 and recognised identity of the spirits of the just in a future 
 state of being ! And then the glory which shines around 
 them, the light of immortality which encircles those heads 
 on which burst so many a storm of trouble, the sunny 
 radiance of peace spread over faces that were once dark 
 with toil and suffering, the deep settled joy that plays 
 over features once moist with the chill of death ! what a 
 blessed testimony is all this to us of the resurrection and 
 the life, and of complete victory over death, through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ ! We have indeed a greater witness 
 still than Moses or Elias. But thanks be to God that in 
 our hours of doubt and gloomy fear of death we can look 
 not only to the empty tomb of Joseph but to the heights 
 of Tabor, and in answer to the question of the Tempter, 
 “ How are the dead raised up ?” can point not only to the 
 person of our risen Lord, but also to the real and glorious 
 forms of those who on earth “ were men of like passions 
 with ourselves.” 
 
 Since the gate of Paradise was closed. Heaven had 
 hardly ever visited earth in such a manner as here on the 
 mount of Transfiguration. What an assembly ! Here the 
 Son of Eternal Love clothed in majesty ! Before him the 
 two high ambassadors from the city of God ; beside them 
 the pillars of the New Testament Church ; in the clouds, 
 doubtless, the hosts of angels ; and in the midst, though 
 unseen, the Eternal Father. When had there ever been 
 such a congress as this ? What are the most splendid of 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 419 
 
 earth’s conferences to this august interview ? How great 
 the transport of all, and not least of the heavenly visitants ! 
 Hitherto it had not been granted them to salute the King 
 of kings as a kinsman and a brother. But now they saw 
 Him, the Wonderful, whose day they had desired so in- 
 tensely to behold ; the Bright and Morning Star, for whose 
 rising they had so long kept watch. “ And art thou He 
 through whose bloody death we have already for a thou- 
 sand years worn the crown ? Thou the Lamb of God that 
 didst take away our sins ere thine offering was complete ? 
 This the body whose most precious blood hath cleansed 
 our souls ere yet it flowed ; and these the hands that have 
 opened for us the door of mercy on the faith of a ransom 
 they should hereafter pay ?” Such was the language of 
 their hearts ; and gladly would they have fallen in the 
 dust before Him, who was their resurrection and life, their 
 way to the Father and to heaven, and the Author of that 
 glorious righteousness in which they stood acquitted be- 
 fore the Most High, and assured of his eternal love and 
 favour. 0 look once more on this blessed circle on the 
 holy mount, and behold them bound together in a deep 
 and sacred union ! The Father one with the Son, as in 
 essence, so also in the plan of the world’s redemption ! 
 The Son one with the ambassadors from on high, who act 
 as his servants and prepare for him the way ! Moses and 
 Elijah one with John and Peter and James, as bearers of 
 the same sovereign banner, as pillars in the same temple 
 of God ! The apostles one with the angels, as ministering 
 to the same spirits who should be heirs of salvation. 
 Exalted bond of union ! Glorious alliance of all that is 
 good in the universe directed to one end and aim, that 
 “ the name of God should be hallowed, his kingdom come, 
 and his will be done on earth as it is done in heaven !” 
 
 II. Moses and Elias in glory before the Son of Man ! 
 the receiver of the tables of stone, and the reforming 
 leader of the holy prophets ! How important this strange 
 meeting ! It is a historical demonstration of the perfect 
 
420 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 harmony and unity of the Old Testament economy of sal- 
 vation and that of the New. Moses appears as the repre- 
 sentative of the law ; Elias as that of prophecy. As such 
 they humbly and adoringly drew near to Jesus. The Law 
 and the Prophets do homage to the Son of Mary ; and this 
 is the grand lesson which we ought to learn from this 
 scene. The one meant nothing by its institutions, and the 
 other knew nothing by its predictions but this Jesus of 
 Nazareth. “ Thou art He,” exclaims the Law, “ to whom 
 I as a schoolmaster would bring every man.” “ Thou art 
 He,” answers Prophecy, “ who wast the subject of my in- 
 spired song.” And when Moses and Elias disappear in 
 the radiance of Him “ who is fairer than the sons of 
 men,” the great truth stands embodied before us, that 
 “ Christ is the end of the law and of prophecy.” Prophecy 
 finds in him its fulfilment, for he is the substance of all 
 its shadows. The law ceases from its judgments and 
 threats and condemnation, as soon as it finds us in Christ, 
 who has satisfied its utmost claims. 
 
 Moses and Elias converse with the Lord. He that hath 
 ears to hear let him hear ! What kind of discourse is it 
 which they carry on with him ? Ho they announce that a 
 chariot of fire stands ready to bear him away from the 
 dark scene of earthly conflict to the bliss of his Father’s 
 house ? 0, how justly might he have left a world that 
 knew him not ! but then where were we to all eternity ? 
 and even Moses and Elias must have cast away their crowns 
 of glory, and given themselves to be bound anew in the 
 chains of death and of hell. Far different is the subject 
 of discourse. It is of a cross and a crown of thorns ; of 
 an altar and its sacrificial fire. “ They spake of his decease 
 which he should accomplish at Jerusalem,” Luke ix. 31. 
 As messengers of the Eternal Father, they audibly affirmed 
 that it was the Father’s will that with his own precious 
 blood he should make atonement for sin ; “ for without 
 shedding of blood was no remission.” They impressed, 
 in God’s name, a new seal upon the ancient and eternal 
 truth, that nothing but his atoning death could break 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 421 
 
 down the wall of partition between earth and heaven, and 
 that he, as the good Shepherd, must “ lay down his life 
 for the sheep.” Such was the substance of this exalted 
 conversation. Perhaps these holy messengers, for the first 
 time after a thousand years, trembled with awe as they 
 spoke of such things to the Son of God. But they call his 
 sufferings and death a decease, or exit, as if they meant to 
 comfort him by the expression ; and they speak of the 
 accomplishment of this decease, or exit, as if they would 
 open a view from the cross to the crown and reign of glory. 
 And the Son of God with cheerful resignation hears the 
 counsel of Eternity once more declared, and gladly repeats 
 his vow of entire submission to the Covenant, “ Lo, I come, 
 in the volume of the book it is written of me ; I delight to 
 do thy will, 0 my God ; yea, thy law is within my heart.” 
 
 III. The sublime interview between our Lord and the 
 heavenly embassy is brought to a close. The glorified mes- 
 sengers are about to take their departure. But the dis- 
 ciples wished to have it otherwise, and would gladly have 
 prolonged the blessed season. In their name, Peter, for- 
 getting all but the rapture of the moment, earnestly ex- 
 claimed, “ Lord, it is good for us to be here ; if thou wilt, 
 let us make here three tabernacles ; one for thee, and one 
 for Moses, and one for Elias.” 
 
 Peter has been severely censured by many writers and 
 commentators for this exclamation, as yielding to selfish 
 enjoyment, and forgetting the progress of his Master’s 
 kingdom. But these charges appear to have no better 
 foundation than the suspicion of the aged Eli, which was 
 excited by the pious fervour of Hannah. We regard them 
 as quite groundless, for his request must have proceeded 
 from the purest motives, and was not the dictate of the 
 flesh but of the spirit. Was it not really good to be there ? 
 Did not the most spiritual and exalted joy flow there from 
 the sight of the King in his beauty ? The unveiled face of 
 Immanuel was there ; in beholding which even the inhabi- 
 tants of heaven find their supreme delight. Never had 
 
422 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 their Lord’s condescension to the guilty shone in so over- 
 powering a light. Never had such deep views of the glory 
 of the Son, and the grace of the Father that sent him, 
 been vouchsafed them before ; and can we wonder that 
 their souls, satisfied with the likeness of the Godhead, 
 forgot all else in heaven and on earth ? Surely it was not 
 a subject of blame, but of praise ; not a spiritual defect, 
 but a high spiritual attainment, that they found in the 
 enjoyment of this close communion with God the end of 
 all their desires and wishes, and could say, with the devout 
 Asaph, “ Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is 
 none upon all the earth that I desire besides thee !” 
 
 There is a certain overvaluing of religious frames and 
 feelings, against which it is right for a faithful minister to 
 warn his hearers. If they build their confidence, not upon 
 the Rock, Christ, but upon the treacherous and shifting 
 ground of their own rapturous experiences of communion 
 with Christ, then we must tell them that their foundation 
 rests upon the sand ; and so far from condoling with them 
 when the blasts of trial and temptation sweep their joys 
 and transports away, we shall rejoice if such a lesson teaches 
 them to seek a firmer basis in the work of Christ out of 
 themselves, and to draw all their spiritual happiness and 
 security before God from that source alone. There is, how- 
 ever, a rejoicing in the Lord which has no such danger, 
 and which it is at once a duty and a privilege to cherish 
 always. It springs from the believing contemplation and 
 appropriation of the Saviour's perfect work as Mediator. 
 The dignity of his person, the sufficiency of his atonement, 
 the glory of his righteousness, the freeness of his gospel, 
 the grace of his Spirit, the blessedness of eternal life with 
 him, when seen by the eye of faith, and laid hold of by 
 the hand of faith, may well produce a joy to which all 
 other joy is as nothing, and which is the very strength of 
 the renewed soul for conflict, the very breath of the life 
 of heaven. 0 blessed life, in such a vision of the great 
 High-priest ! The dust of earth is shaken off ; the soul is 
 changed by it from glory to glory, and the righteousness of 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 423 
 
 justification and sanctification are blended into one. Sin 
 is as it were “ cast out as the mire in the streets.” The 
 soul is raised above all the thoughts and desires of na- 
 ture to an unworldly and godlike strain. The heart is 
 all zeal for the glory of its Lord. Time and sense have 
 lost their charms ; and all the arrows of temptation 
 are counted as straw and stubble. The baits of lust are 
 now regarded with a recoiling horror ; the lighter fascina- 
 tions of pleasure put away from us with a pitying smile. 
 Are we by nature proud ? we now lie low at the feet of 
 Jesus ; are we cold and selfish ? we could now embrace the 
 world in the arms of a true and active charity. A mighty 
 sun has drawn us up into its sphere, and keeps us there ; 
 and now the gladness of light is in our souls, and all the 
 virtues, like seasons, follow their glorious round. 
 
 “ Lord, it is good to be here.” For tell me. Where is 
 heaven ? Is it behind the curtained clouds ? beyond the 
 stars ? Is it where the seraph strikes his golden harp ? 
 where the ever green palms wave ? No, brethren, it is 
 where the Beloved Son abides ; where he reveals himself 
 to the happy soul. This Tabor was at best but a deserted 
 height, a gloomy mountain summit. But so soon as the 
 King of Glory revealed himself upon it, there was no hap- 
 pier spot in paradise than this lonely eminence. Its aged 
 firs now waved as the palms of immortality ; the sighing 
 of the night breeze was as the breath of Sabattic rest ; the 
 stony ground was fair as a pavement of sapphire ; and, 
 amid the dusky glades, there was spread a peaceful Eden, 
 into which the angels of God might have descended as of 
 old. How needless the question where and what heaven 
 is, at least in the minute and anxious way in which many 
 pursue it ! Christ is my heavenly kingdom ; his presence 
 my highest name for joy. “ Lord, it is good to be here !” 
 This is the song of the bird that hath found a house, of 
 the swallow that hath found a nest ! 0 how cheerful are 
 the words : “ It is good to be here !” Under the Old Testa- 
 ment it was, “ How dreadful is this place.” Now all is 
 more tender, more peaceful, more confiding. It expresses 
 
424 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE 
 
 calm longing, hallowed delight. With this cry the New 
 Testament dove drops her weary wing, and alights on the 
 olive-tree of gospel peace. With this song the true church 
 floats swan-like on the calm and mirrored depths of the sea 
 of grace, and gently breasts its shining waves. Why should 
 this language of faith be so rare among us ? Few of us 
 know our true element ; fewer still seek to live in it. Ne- 
 vertheless it abideth true, that there is even here a rest 
 for the people of God ; and that he that has found it has 
 ceased from his own works as God did from his. Happy 
 the man that has found this rest. He unbuckles and throws 
 aside the armour of sinful care, he sits down under his 
 vine and fig-tree, where none dare make him afraid, and 
 writes over the tent of his pilgrimage, “ Lord, it is good 
 to be here." 
 
 “ Lord, if thou wilt,” continues Peter (and his language 
 shows how much the glory of his master had repressed his 
 usual forwardness), “ let us make here three tabernacles.” 
 But for whom ? “ one for thee, and one for Moses, and 
 one for Elias.” He would then have had these citizens of 
 heaven give up the hope of return to paradise. This was 
 a hard thing to ask. And yet he was right in taking it for 
 granted that Moses and Elias would gladly have staid at 
 the desire of Jesus, wherever he was. And it was a still 
 fairer feature of character, that he desired to build not 
 four or six tabernacles, but only three ; as much as to say, 
 “We are willing to stand at a distance and listen.” The 
 question, “ Who should sit on his right hand and who on 
 his left in his kingdom,” had noplace here. When we have 
 a clear sight of the glory of Christ, our own pride is laid in 
 the dust. Or perhaps they thought of sharing with Jesus the 
 tabernacle which he should occupy, as they could venture 
 there so much more readily than into the others. And if 
 it were so, how deeply true is this to the feelings of all the 
 children of God. A faithful man of God, well known to 
 you all, said, in his last moments, that the thought of 
 having to pass, as he entered heaven, through all the 
 bright ranks of angels and glorified spirits, almost made 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 425 
 
 him afraid ; but upon recollecting that he should come at 
 once to his Saviour, his heart was again at ease, and he 
 could depart with joy. 
 
 You are aware that no tabernacles were actually built 
 on the holy mount. The shades of night soon closed over 
 the scene, and left the disciples nothing but the remem- 
 brance of its exceeding glory. The corn of wheat was first 
 to die, ere it could bring forth fruit. They were to tell the 
 vision to no man till the Son of Man were risen from the 
 dead. The tabernacle, for whose delightful shade Peter 
 thus longed, could only be erected above the cross. Now, 
 however, this holy tabernacle is erected in this vale of 
 tears. It is a temple, wondrous, glorious, and without 
 parallel. Its pillars embrace a world. Its roof rises above 
 the stars. Its walls are impregnable as Omnipotence. 
 Heaven and earth may be shaken; but its foundations 
 stand and cannot be moved. The natural eye sees it not. 
 The glorious building is visible only to the eye of Faith. 
 This temple is the Holy Catholic Church of Christ, in 
 which no man believes but he who is within its portal. 
 The light falls into this temple from above. Here we no 
 longer grope in the dark, but walk in the light of the seven- 
 branched candlestick, and “ know the truth.” The deepest 
 questions have been answered in this heavenly oracle. 
 Here it is asked no more, “ Wherewith shall I come be- 
 fore the Lord ?” For all know of a sacrifice that hath per- 
 fected for ever them that are sanctified. Here is no longer 
 room for the lamentation of Cain, “ Mine iniquity is greater 
 than it may be forgiven.” For here it is said, “ Where sin 
 abounded, grace did much more abound.” Here is no 
 longer ground for the entreaty, “ Let not God speak with 
 us, lest we die.” For all have learned exultingly to cry, 
 “ Abba, Father !” and to cast themselves into the arms 
 of the Eternal, as dear children. The robe which every 
 one here wears is a robe of righteousness. The bread which 
 is here broken to all, is a peace of God that passeth all 
 understanding. The wine, of which all are partakers, is 
 a joy which the world cannot give or take away The air 
 
426 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 which is breathed here, is the air of paradise. The in- 
 cense of prayer which is here kindled, rises through the 
 clouds, a smell of a sweet savour to the Lord. The songs 
 which resound here, have all one burthen, “ I obtained 
 mercy and the commission of all who minister is, “ Com- 
 fort ye, comfort ye, my people.” 
 
 “ If the lines are fallen in pleasant places” to any one 
 under the sun, it is to him who dwells in this spiritual 
 tabernacle. 0 happy brother, whoever thou art, and how 
 poor soever thy earthly dwelling, thou needest not envy 
 monarchs on their thrones, or the renowned of the earth, 
 as they pass under arches of triumph to halls of honour ! 
 Verily, thy abode is glorious, resting as thou dost, under 
 the shadow of the Almighty, and adorned, as thou art, 
 with the fulness of his royal treasures. Thou sleepest be- 
 hind walls where no arrow of the King of Terrors can 
 harm thee, and no lightning of vengeance smite thee more. 
 Though poor thy chamber, the sunshine of Eternal love 
 disdains not to enter it ; and soon after a little more of 
 earth's darkness and storm, thou shalt exchange it for a 
 mansion on high, amid the rest that “ remaineth for the 
 people of God.” 
 
 Who is it that opens for us this tabernacle of peace ? 
 He only who bears the key of David. He only, on whom, 
 as on an eternal rock, this “ house of the living God” is 
 founded. Still he stands at the gate and is ready to open 
 it to all. 0, fall at his feet, and supplicate to enter in ! 
 Yea, rise not up till he has opened to thee the door of his 
 kingdom, and thou canst rejoice in him, as, “ He that 
 openeth, and no man shutteth ; and that shutteth, and no 
 man openeth.” Amen. 
 
 XI.— THE SHECHINAH. 
 
 “ I am desolate,” complains the royal Psalmist. Psal. 
 xxv. 16. Here he spoke truth ; but not the whole truth. 
 He was right as to feeling ; but feelings may deceive us. 
 The Lord was still with him, behind the veil. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 427 
 
 “ I am desolate,” is a complaint that is more frequently 
 heard in the tabernacles of the righteous than any other. 
 But it ought not to be hastily uttered. For consider, that 
 this is to accuse the faithfulness of Him, who hath said, 
 “ I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee and again, 
 “ Lo, I am with you always, to the end of the world.” 
 These are the words of the Alpha and Omega, the faithful 
 and the true Witness, who will abide with us for ever. 
 
 Many exclaim, in reference to God’s dealings with them 
 in Providence, “ I am desolate.” Well, if it were so, and 
 that, the Lord led thee by a way in which thou wert quite 
 alone, would that be a misfortune ? If he does but lead 
 us, our way is safe and right. Shall the clay say unto the 
 potter, “ What doest thou ?” And yet I believe that, even 
 in this sense, no one can say with truth, “ I am desolate 
 or alone.” 0, there are many that travel the same road ; 
 only we do not know of it. Look into the Scriptures. 
 There, at least, you will undoubtedly find some one whose 
 experience is a faithful mirror of your own. And how 
 comfortable is this companionship of trial of some one 
 of the saints of God ; for the idea that we are quite alone 
 overcasts our joy and weakens our faith. 
 
 “ I am alone,” thinks many a one, in looking at his faith. 
 “ I believe things which millions reject as foolishness, a 
 Trinity in Unity, an Incarnation of the Godhead, a true 
 atonement for sin.” And then the doubt immediately sug- 
 gests itself, “ Am I in the right, and so many others in 
 the wrong ?” Yes; be assured you are of the truth, and 
 all the rest blinded by error. But are you alone? No, 
 you are not alone. Read the pages of history, and what 
 do you there behold ? Assemblies of the saints converted 
 into scenes of massacre ; pulpits stained with blood ; mar- 
 tyrs proclaiming on the scaffold, “ God was manifest in 
 the flesh and crying out at the stake, “None but Christ 
 and, in gloomy dungeons, the prisoners of the gospel sing- 
 ing to Him that lay in the manger, while tyrants and 
 bloody priests, and arch-heretics, and ministers of torture, 
 and all the hell-hounds of persecution, have had to con- 
 
428 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 fess that the Word of the Incarnate God was also the 
 power of God to all that believed it, and a breastplate of 
 defence which the shafts of death could not pierce. Is 
 this true, and art thou still alone in thy faith ? And rest 
 assured of this, besides, that the number of those who have 
 enlisted under the same banner with thee in the present 
 day, is not so small as thy desponding heart would often 
 make it. And even were it so, is the generation of mortals 
 that now surround thee, the world ? Lift up thine eyes on 
 high! Behold “ ten thousand times ten thousand, and thou- 
 sands of thousands, standing before the throne of God 
 and of the Lamb.” Listen to the hallelujahs of the “great 
 multitude, which no man can number.” Lo, these are 
 the companions of thy faith, thy brethren in heart, who 
 stand on thy side and join in thy song of triumph, 
 “ Worthy is the Lamb that was slain !” 
 
 But though all these songs above were hushed, and thou 
 stoodest with thy faith alone in the world, what then ? The 
 word which thou holdest fast is confirmed, attested, seal- 
 ed, as nothing else is. All that is most glorious and fair 
 in the history of man,— thou findest it where this word 
 has sounded and found entrance. Thou seest but one 
 golden thread running through the dark history of our race ; 
 and mark ! it follows closely the track of this word. There 
 only where the message in which thou hast trusted has 
 found open hearts, dost thou find the growth of virtues, 
 which are no specious show, but shine all the fairer the 
 more strictly they are brought to the test. There only 
 is the reign of love — there only the abode of peace. There 
 only does the streaming eye look upward from the depths 
 of affliction ; there only is the sigh of unworldly longing 
 heard, that knows no fear of death, “ I have a desire to 
 depart, and to be with Christ.” 
 
 And even should this seal, too, be hid from thy sight, 
 the word of faith, the gospel of thy salvation, would lose 
 nothing of its infallible certainty. Thou hast greater 
 witness far than this. The present lecture will bring this 
 deepest ground cf evidence fully into view. # 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 429 
 
 Matthew xvii. 5. 
 
 “ While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them ; 
 and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved 
 Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye.him.” 
 
 A new wonder is presented to us on the Holy Mount ; 
 the most sublime part of the transfiguration scene. Let 
 us collect our thoughts, in order, calmly and devoutly, to 
 consider, I. The Bright Cloud. II. The Voice out of the 
 Cloud. 
 
 I. “ While Peter yet spake, behold a bright cloud over- 
 shadowed them.” This bright cloud had an important 
 and sublime meaning. It is the Shechinah ; the dwelling- 
 place of the -Ancient of days ; the covering of Him “ who 
 walketh upon the wings of the wind, and the clouds are 
 the dust of his feet.” The common sign of Jehovah’s pre- 
 sence, in the days of the Old Testament, was a cloud. In the 
 time of Moses, a cloud, rising like a pillar towards heaven, 
 formed the habitation in which he marched before his peo- 
 ple of Israel through the wilderness. In a cloud he clothed 
 the manifestation of his glory on Sinai. In the symbol 
 of a cloud he rested over the mercy-seat in the tabernacle, 
 and there received the blood of atonement, and dis- 
 pensed his sacred oracles. At the dedication of Solomon’s 
 temple, “ a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the 
 priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud ; 
 for the glory of the Lord had filled the house. Then said 
 Solomon, The Lord hath said that he would dwell in the 
 thick darkness.” Now, what did all this indicate but the 
 awful majesty of Jehovah, and his distance from sinful 
 men ? What was it but a warning, “ Stand afar off ; for 
 no one can look on my face and live.” But a cloud dif- 
 ferent from that of the law is here. It is attended by no 
 storm and tempest ; it comes not as a chariot of war, with 
 rolling thunder and fames of fire. It sinks still and noise- 
 less, as if borne on gentle winds upon the summit of the 
 mountain. It is not dark or lurid ; but radiant, as if the 
 
430 
 
 ELIJAH TOE TISHBITE. 
 
 sun shone behind it ; and bordered with light, as of the 
 dayspring from on high. It announces the dawn of a new 
 economy ; and hangs like another rainbow of promise, a 
 sign of a better covenant. And yet it shines with a bor- 
 rowed light, which radiates like every symbol of mercy 
 from the mount of Calvary. 
 
 Moses and Elias enter with Jesus into the cloud, calm 
 and joyful as into a presence chamber, or as into a Fa- 
 ther’s house. How far from the ancient leader of Israel 
 is now the language, “ I exceedingly fear and quake,” with 
 which he once drew near to the thick darkness in which 
 God dwelt ! Nor does Elias now cover his face as upon 
 Horeb. Both of them have become strong to bear .the 
 near presence of the Eternal. They are so in Him who 
 accompanies them, and who took them under the shadow 
 of his wings. 
 
 II. “ A bright cloud overshadowed them,” and, “ be- 
 hold !” says the evangelist with growing wonder ; for a 
 new revelation is at hand, the sublimest moment is come. 
 The heavenly messengers are with Jesus within the cloud, 
 as in a sanctuary. The disciples, amazed at their own 
 solitude, stand without. And now, to complete their 
 astonishment, a voice is heard. It is not from heaven or 
 from a distant height, but from the overshadowing cloud, 
 and it speaks, “ This is my beloved Son, in whom I am 
 well pleased ; hear ye him.” It is the voice of Him “ who 
 is enthroned above the cherubim, and who clotheth him- 
 self with light as with a garment.” It is the voice of the 
 everlasting Father. He, of whom are all things, veils his 
 majesty in a gracious cloud, clothes his almighty voice in 
 human language, and in his own person testifies, in mortal 
 hearing, of the Son of his Love. When saw ever the earth 
 a greater wonder of glory and of grace ? 0 the blessed 
 realities of the holy mount ! The visible presence of the 
 Majesty of the invisible world in this dark valley of death ! 
 the sensible revelation of the King of Glory to the children 
 of the dust ! 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 431 
 
 This testimony on the holy mount is unspeakably pre- 
 cious and rich in meaning. First, it comprehends in a 
 very few words the sum of the Old Testament, which is 
 yea and amen in Christ Jesus. For the three parts of this 
 divine proclamation embrace the three classes of Old 
 Testament writings. “ This is my Son,” as from the book 
 of Psalms, “ Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten 
 thee the addition, “ in whom I am well pleased,” is out 
 of the prophets, namely, Isaiah xlii. The words, “ hear 
 ye him,” you will find in the writings of Moses, “ The 
 Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet of thy 
 brethren like unto me: unto him ye shall hearken.” 
 Deut. xviii. 15. There is, moreover, in these words a re- 
 ference to the three offices of our Lord. “ This is my Son,” 
 brings before us Christ as a King. “ In whom I am well 
 pleased,” points him out as the Mediator and High Priest, 
 in whom God reconciles the world unto himself. “ Hear 
 ye him,” represents him to us as that Prophet to whom 
 we must hearken. Finally, this testimony throws light 
 on the different relations of the Redeemer. What he is 
 by nature and in himself, we learn from the voice, 
 “ This is my Son.” What he is for us, is taught in the 
 words, “ In whom I am well pleased and what hd is in 
 us, is implied in the command, “ Hear ye him.” So full 
 of meaning is this Divine sentence ; nay, who is able to 
 exhaust all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge which 
 lie hid therein ? 
 
 We already know the intention of this great testimony 
 of the Father. Doubtless, its first reference was to the 
 five witnesses of the transfiguration, before whom, as re- 
 presentatives of the visible and invisible Church, the God- 
 Man Christ Jesus was here solemnly proclaimed the priestly 
 Head of the new kingdom ; and dominion over all things, 
 and especially over the Church, purchased with his own 
 blood, was formally consigned and ratified to Him by the 
 Father. We know, moreover, that the declaration before 
 us, like that at Jordan, had a reference also to the Savi- 
 our himself, and wa3 designed to prepare and strengthen 
 
432 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 him for his approaching sufferings. We think we can 
 perceive, that after each great testimony of this kind, a 
 new power appears in the Saviour, a new grace in his dis- 
 courses, a new ardour in his words and actions, and an 
 exalted fitness for conflict and victory. Yes, in his human 
 nature, he increased in strength like his people, and drew 
 ii from the same inexhaustible fulness of the Spirit. 
 
 “ This is my beloved Son.” Thus speaks the Father, 
 and the eyes of all angels and glorified saints attend the 
 signal. The Father calls him his Son, in that peculiar 
 and unfathomable sense, in which no one else in heaven 
 or in earth may receive the name. By this appellation 
 he raises him above all creatures ; and shows him to be one 
 in nature with himself. He declares him to be the bright- 
 ness of his own glory, and the express image of his per- 
 son. He presents him to us, as his own equal in power 
 and glory, “ in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead 
 bodily Him “ who had life in himself,” and whom all 
 might justly honour, “ even as they honour the Father.” 
 Happy are we to find our faith in the Deity of Christ thus 
 supported, on the immoveable pillar of an immediate 
 testimony from the “ Excellent Glory.” For every thing 
 depends on the certainty of this article of our faith, “ God 
 manifest in the flesh.” The whole Christian edifice stands 
 or falls with this doctrine. 
 
 You know Paul calls this mystery “ incontrovertible’ 
 great,” and certainly it is so, in whatever way we consider 
 it. It is great in its amazing contents, “ God in man.” 
 Great in its mighty achievements, it has broken down a 
 thousand strongholds of Satan, and prevailed over the 
 gates of hell. Great, by its unexampled operation, it 
 plants a new creation amid the old. Great, by its continued 
 Divine power, it daily delivers fresh victims from the 
 mouth of the Lion. Great in the majestic promise which 
 is connected with it, for to this mystery every knee shall 
 bow. But great above all other greatness is this mystery 
 of godliness, on account of the glorious new facts and truths 
 which it presents in itself to the eye of faith. For what 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 433 
 
 is it I see in the light of this truth, “ God manifest in the 
 flesh !” I see heaven opened, and the names of poor sin- 
 ners written upon its mansions of bliss. I see this earth 
 that was once Anathama, a seat of the curse ; and now it 
 is a residence of the glory of God, a scene of the greatest 
 wonders of his love. I see a race of mortals allied, by 
 brotherhood with Christ, to the eternal God. I find a 
 God so near and apprehensible, that I can see him with 
 my eyes, and handle him with these hands of mine. I 
 see a Father’s heart disclosed, of whose depths of mercy 
 I had before no conception, and perceive a Partaker of 
 humanity upon the throne of the universe, who is not 
 ashamed to call us brethren, while the angels are but his 
 ministers. The apostle calls this mystery of God “ mani- 
 fest in the flesh,” “ the pillar and ground of the truth.” 
 He means to teach, that without this article of faith, there 
 is no gospel at all. The whole light and comfort of our 
 religion rests on the basis of this truth. Deny that the 
 man Christ Jesus is God, and you have trampled the 
 gospel under foot, and reduced it to an empty and broken 
 shell. The light of every cardinal point of faith is extin- 
 guished, and the tree of life is stripped of its leaves which 
 are for the healing of the nations. There is an end to 
 atonement, sacrifice for sin, merit to cover the guilt of 
 man ; for the blood of a mere creature, though the most 
 glorious of all, has no virtue as a ransom for sin. Then 
 Christ has but suffered for himself, triumphed for him- 
 self, wrought out a righteousness for himself ; as a crea- 
 ture, and nothing more, he could not stand in the breach 
 for a guilty world. No more can it be said, that he has 
 abolished death, triumphed over hell, bruised the ser- 
 pent’s head ; the precious doctrine of justification is now 
 an idle dream, since the righteousness of Christ can be 
 imputed to me, only upon condition that it was the right- 
 eousness of a perfect man, who was at the same time very 
 God, and thus not subject in his own person to the law. 
 Call him, if you will, the most exalted of teachers, — his 
 Tfisdom will not reconcile me to God ; call him the noblest 
 28 
 
434 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE, 
 
 of martyrs, his sufferings did not remove the guilt of my 
 sin; call him the most glorious of super-angelic spirits, 
 he was under law to God as a creature, and his merits 
 could not cover the transgressions of a world. The edi- 
 fice of my hope is still in ruins ; and, rather than preach 
 a false hope to others, I should leave this place of teach- 
 ing, and let who would preach another gospel in my stead. 
 Justly does the apostle John set it down as the essential 
 mark of one who is in the truth, “ T.hat he confesses that 
 J esus Christ is come in the flesh.” Whosoever denies and 
 opposes this article of the Deity of Christ, has ceased to 
 belong to the church of Christ. He has become its enemy ; 
 and as he is a partaker with antichrist in his sins, so shall 
 he be in his plagues. 
 
 The Father calls the Lord J esus “ his 'beloved Son.” But 
 who can fathom the depth of this expression, “ my be- 
 loved Son.” This is a subject beyond our range, as what 
 we call love, is no measure for Divine affection. And did 
 we know the mutual love of glorified spirits, and of the 
 highest seraphim, still this love of the Father would re- 
 main incomprehensible. Sooner may you learn from a 
 drop of water the immensity of the ocean, or from a 
 glimmering ray through the chink of a dungeon the form 
 and magnitude of the sun ! And this beloved Son he 
 spared not for thee and me ! Can you now see some glimpse 
 of the meaning of the so in John iii. 16, where it is said, 
 that “ God so loved the world, that he gave his only be- 
 gotten Son.” Before this extent of love, all heaven is 
 equally confounded with thee ; and the highest angel is 
 forced to exclaim, “ 0 unfathomable depth !” 
 
 And who is it to whom the voice of the Father thus 
 bears testimony ? Is it not to Him, who, as the second 
 Adam, stands as our representative and surety before 
 God ? And so this amazing depth of love is conveyed by 
 this new and living channel to our souls also ; and who- 
 ever abides in him, and keeps his commandments, abides 
 in this love : even as the Son has kept the Father’s com- 
 mandments, and abides in his love. 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 485 
 
 The solemn declaration, “ This is my beloved Son,” is 
 followed by the important testimony, “ in whom I am 
 well pleased.” In these words, the Father declares him 
 to be the object of his complacential love, as his own 
 Eternal Son, the reflection of his own glory, and the pos- 
 sessor of his own adorable perfections. Still more dis- 
 tinctly, however, was this testimony borne to the Son as 
 Mediator ; and to that work which in the likeness of sin- 
 ful flesh he was to accomplish, when he “ finished trans- 
 gression, and made an end of sin, and brought in everlasting 
 righteousness.” And as this glorious work was not for 
 himself, but for those of whom he said “ For their sakes 
 I sanctify myself the divine testimony of approbation 
 is extended in Christ to all his people. Hence this glory 
 of the transfiguration becomes our own, if we are “ in the 
 Son” and “ keep his commandments for his righteous- 
 ness is then ours ; and of us individually it may be said, as 
 of the First-born among many brethren, “ This is my be- 
 loved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 
 
 “ Hear ye him” is the end of this glorious proclamation 
 from the cloud. Christ is the Truth, as well as the Way 
 and the Life. Had he not come as a teacher into this 
 ignorant and darkened world, what should we ever have 
 known that was most worth knowing in heaven and on 
 earth ? We should have been like poor forsaken orphans, 
 growing up in the depths of a forest solitude, and neither 
 knowing who or where they were, or what was to become 
 of them. We should have been forlorn wanderers in the 
 valley of the shadow of death, raising many a sad cry only 
 to be returned by the dull echo without an answer. No 
 prophet should then have carried a torch before us ; but 
 we should have been led astray by every ignis fatuus of 
 delusive hope. No apostle could have shewed us the path 
 of life. For what are Moses, Isaiah, Daniel, and all the 
 seers of old, but dark orbs, shining by the reflected bright- 
 ness of the Light of the World? And what the apostles 
 but humble satellites, which borrowed all their rays from 
 a Central Sun? No doubt the size was not alike in ail. 
 
436 
 
 ELI J All THE TISHBITE. 
 
 nor the power of receiving light. Some were, so to speak, 
 moons in their first quarter, and others with half-enlight- 
 ened phase, and others in full -orbed splendour. But all 
 were but secondary luminaries, and the one light was the 
 Sun of Righteousness, around whom they all revolved. 
 
 “ Hear ye him.” It is a, melancholy light which the 
 need of such an admonition casts on our present moral 
 condition. Think only, that to a race of beings that know 
 not their right hand from their left, and who are wrapped 
 in the night of death, a Person is sent who is as much at 
 home beyond the stars as on this side of them, and who 
 confirms his mission from above by proofs sufficient to 
 astonish heaven and earth. Now, after this incomparably 
 greatest of messengers has proved himself before all the 
 world, by a long series of signs and wonders and mighty 
 deeds, to bear the signature of the God of Truth, he ad- 
 dresses the children of darkness, “ I will unvail to you 
 heaven and hell ; I will explain to you the mystery of your 
 existence ; I will teach you the true nature of God and man ; 
 I will unfold to you the remotest past, and the most dis- 
 tant future ; I will shew you the way of peace, and direct 
 you to the open gate of a new Paradise.” Should we not 
 expect that the whole world would gather round this 
 Teacher ; and that, without any direct voice from heaven, 
 the whole race of Adam should sit like Mary at his feet, or 
 be ready with the language of Samuel, “ Speak, Lord, for 
 thy servant heareth.” But how very different is the fact ! 
 Nay, there has been no lack of docile pupils at the feet of 
 seducing teachers, false prophets, and vain babblers ; while 
 in the church of the great Day-spring from on high, there 
 has always been room to spare, up to the present hour. N ot 
 as if the evil lay in the want of evidence for his doctrine ! 
 it lies in the unspeakable depravity of the human heart. 
 Not as though the gospel did not meet the necessity of hu- 
 man nature ! It lies in this, that the deluded sinner neither 
 knows nor cares to know his own most urgent necessities 
 Nor is it that the gospel is impossible to be understood . 
 for in all that is essential it may be comprehended by a 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 437 
 
 child. It lies in the opposition which it makes to the sin- 
 ful desires of the flesh and of the mind, which “ love the 
 darkness, rather than the light, because their deeds are 
 evil.” Neither is it that the Saviour imposes too heavy a 
 yoke on man ; for his yoke is easy and his burden is light. 
 But the apostate creature, in its rebellion and pride, will 
 not hear of any yoke at all ; but only believe and practise 
 what agrees with its own corrupted will. Is it then the 
 fault of the light that it shineth in darkness, and the dark- 
 ness comprehendeth it not ? 
 
 “ Hear ye him.” How important and pregnant a tes- 
 timony is this to the whole of the New Testament re- 
 velation, on every part of which it stamps the seal of 
 infallibility ! Every word, therefore, that proceeded out 
 of the mouth of J esus must be read by us as if we still 
 heard the voice from the cloud sounding in our ears. 
 When the Saviour says, “ Without me, ye can do no- 
 thing ;” and testifies, “ I am the way, and the truth, and 
 the life ; no man cometh unto the Father but by me 
 when he promises eternal life to those who believe on 
 his name, and threatens the unbelieving with the wrath 
 of God, and with an unquenchable fire prepared for the 
 devil and his angels ; forget not the voice of Majesty which 
 still echoes from heaven, “ Hear ye him.” He then who 
 refuses to hear the Son, refuses to hear the Father, and 
 makes God a liar. But he “ that hath received the testi- 
 mony of Jesus, hath set to his seal that God is true.” 
 John iii. 33. 
 
 But what kind of hearing is it, which the Father here 
 enjoins ? It is the hearing of true and cordial faith ; the 
 most entire surrender of the heart and conscience to 
 Jesus. For it stands for ever true, “ He that believeth on 
 the Son hath everlasting life ; and he that believeth not the 
 Son shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on 
 him.” These words rise like a dark cloud over our heads, 
 from which indeed there descends the genial rain and dew 
 of heaven, but from which there also bursts the lightning 
 and. the thunder. Ah, my friends, it is no easy matter to 
 
488 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 establish our hearts in the truth of this word of Scripture, 
 if we look it full in the face, and feel its piercing energy ! 
 Only think, there is a bloody cross, able to reconcile the 
 whole world to God ; and yet those only are reconciled 
 who believe. The sacrifice of the Redeemer extends im- 
 measurably wide, and is sufficient to blot out the sins of 
 all sinners of our race ; and yet he who is not clothed with 
 Christ’s righteousness abideth in death and perishes in his 
 sins. And what is the number of those who are thus 
 united to the Saviour ? Only one here and there ; while 
 of the crowds of the unbelieving there is no number. Think 
 of the millions of heathens, who have never heard the 
 name of Jesus, much less believed in it ; and 0 ! how aw- 
 ful is the view of the truth, “ He that belie veth not shall 
 be damned.” Think of the many thousands of nominal 
 Christians who leave this world of trial and opportunity 
 with no better trust than in their own righteousness; 
 and 0 ! how sadly does the truth sound, “ He that be- 
 lie veth not shall be damned.” We think of dear friends 
 whose natural virtues are great, and to whom our hearts 
 are bound in tender affection. But one thing they lack ; 
 they have not faith ; they are not members of Christ. Alas ; 
 who can look upon them, and bear the thought, “ The 
 wrath of God abideth on them !” 0, to stand by their dy- 
 ing beds, and feel the emotions of nature, and love, and 
 gratitude, all striving against this doctrine of the word of 
 God, — this is agony ! But the word of God cannot pass 
 away, “ Let God be true; but every man a liar.” The 
 scripture reiterates its solemn alternative and takes no ac- 
 count of other conditions of pardon and safety. “ He that 
 believeth, — he that believeth— shall be saved,” is its sole 
 and emphatic doctrine ; and we must crucify every feeling 
 of our nature that opposes the will of Him, who may justly 
 condemn all to destruction, and who knows what are the 
 best terms on which to offer and bestow his own free 
 mercy. And, 0, let this teach us the more deeply, brethren, 
 that one thing is needful ; and though we should want all 
 else, that we must have faith in Christ, or we are undone 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 439 
 
 for ever ! There is only this command given us from the 
 cloud, “ Hear ye him but it includes all others ; and 
 without obedience to it, no self-chosen services of ours 
 will save our souls from death. “ This is his command- 
 ment,” says the apostle John, “ that we believe on him 
 whom he hath sent, Jesus Christ.” 
 
 So much, my brethren, by way of explanation of this 
 most copious and deeply interesting passage. We find the 
 apostles themselves referring to this important testimony 
 of the Father to his Son, as one of the most powerful ar- 
 guments of the truth of their doctrine. “We have not 
 followed,” says Peter, “ cunningly devised fables, when we 
 made known unto you the power and the coming of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty. 
 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, 
 when there came such a voice to him from the excellent 
 glory. This is mj beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 
 Let this testimony, then, remain ever present to our faith. 
 If you are looking for a pole-star, by which to guide your 
 course amid the innumerable errors of the present unbe- 
 lieving age, it shines on you from this testimony. Before 
 this heavenly voice, all the clouds of doubt shall be chased 
 away ; all the barriers of infidelity shall be levelled, like 
 the walls of Jericho, in the dust. 
 
 “ There are,” says Pascal, “two sorts of persons that 
 deserve the name of men of understanding. Those who 
 serve God with their whole heart, because they know him ; 
 and those who, because they know him not, seek him with 
 their whole heart.” He adds, “ There are in the world, 
 tried by a spiritual standard, three sorts of persons. The 
 first serve God ; they have found him : the second seek 
 God ; they have not yet found him : the third live without 
 either serving or seeking him. The first sort are wise and 
 happy ; the last sort are unhappy and foolish ; the second 
 are wise, but not yet happy.” “ He that hath ears to hear, 
 let him hear.” Amen. 
 
440 
 
 ELIJAH THE XISHBITE. 
 
 XII.— JESUS ONLY. 
 
 There are, through the mercy of God, many among us, 
 my brethren, who bear in their own hearts the joyful as- 
 surance that they believe the gospel. We bless them in the 
 name of the Lord ! For, though faith be not the ground 
 of hope, — which must be something without us, — it is the 
 most characteristic mark of the children of God, the star 
 and breast-plate of those who are kings and priests unto 
 God. But how few are there among believers who know, 
 in any just and comprehensive sense, in whom they have 
 believed ! This is much to be lamented ; for the structure 
 of their hope thus wants one of its strongest pillars. 
 
 Alas ! it is not in the world only : but often in the midst 
 of his own family, that the Saviour is comparatively un- 
 known. That he is the Saviour is indeed confessed by all ; 
 and that is a great and decisive step. But from how great 
 an extent of evils he delivers them, and by how glorious a 
 system of means, many have no idea, far less a thorough 
 knowledge and persuasion. 
 
 Many are the spiritual revolutions through which the 
 Lord leads his people, ere they arrive at the height of per- 
 fect knowledge of Christ. Their knowledge grows with 
 their necessities ; the more the soul wants, the more does 
 it discover in its Redeemer. And thus, at each new ad- 
 vance in knowledge, there follows a bound of progress in 
 the spiritual life. The brighter the beam of the Sun of 
 Righteousness above us, the fairer the expansion of the 
 divine nature within us. 
 
 We find a deep expression in the mouth of the patriarch 
 J ob. In the midst of his sore trial of faith, we see him 
 eagerly recurring to the glory of his days of prosperity, and 
 rejoicing in the testimony of his conscience that he had 
 walked before the Lord in the integrity of his heart. In 
 this review we find him using the following striking lan- 
 guage, “ Then I said, I shall die in my nest, I shall mul- 
 tiply my days like the sand” The word translated satid 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 441 
 
 more properly denotes that fabled bird, the phoenix, which 
 was so often used in the East as a symbol of wisdom and 
 moral truth. This bird was supposed to be immortal, and 
 to rise from its own ashes and those of its nest in renewed 
 youth and beauty. Job thus points to an ascending scale, 
 a constant progression of life and happiness. 
 
 Now this figure of the patriarch’s outward state is a 
 striking image of the spiritual course of every believer. By 
 nature he is the depraved child of a depraved race ; alie- 
 nated from the life of God, and sunk in actual sinfulness. 
 He knows not Christ ; for he has no need of his salvation. 
 His cry is Peace ! Peace ! when there is no peace. Thus 
 false ideas of God, and of himself, form the “ nest” in 
 which he thinks to die. But before he is aware, this re- 
 fuge of lies is set on fire by the lightnings of divine justice 
 and the flames of an awakened conscience. And now, un - 
 der some sense of the evil of sin, and the necessity of a 
 Saviour, but with a mistaken idea that he can only be 
 saved by Christ upon condition of his own sincere obedi- 
 ence, he sets about building together a new nest, out of 
 his own righteousness, which is no better than the former 
 place of shelter. But from this refuge of lies he is also 
 driven. He learns, by the grace of God, the vanity of his 
 own efforts and resolutions ; and in the fire of a deeper 
 self-knowledge and contrition, this false shelter is also 
 burnt up. And now a new man comes forth from the ashes 
 of the old, rejoicing in the finished work of Another, and 
 exercising that faith in him which is the sole means of en- 
 joying his precious merits. But soon this faith becomes 
 itself the ground of his confidence ; and he has built, out 
 of his own believing frames and experiences, another nest, 
 which must, like the former, be reduced to ashes. And so 
 his faith is assailed and overthrown by temptation ; and 
 his assurance of its existence is utterly lost. He seeks rest 
 in this and that false expedient ; but seeks it in vain. At 
 last he makes the glorious discovery, that the ground of his 
 hope lies not in his own faith, but in Christ alone ; and 
 that his finished work is at all times as open to his embrace 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 4A 2 
 
 as a sinner, as it is to his appropriation as a saint. And 
 now at last he has found a sure refuge, and his nest is in 
 the rock ; of which no fire of divine wrath or condemning 
 conscience shall dispossess him more. Would that the re- 
 fuges of lies, which are so common amongst us, were ut- 
 terly destroyed by the hail and fire of a general conviction ; 
 and that the church of God would rise ever fairer out of 
 its own ashes ; and learn the glorious lesson of sacrificing 
 all else to retain Jesus only! 
 
 Matthew xvii. 6 — 8. 
 
 <£ And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were 
 sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, 
 be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no 
 man, save Jesus only.” 
 
 Once more, and for the last time, we meet around the 
 glorious scene on Tabor ; and our hearts may well be sad- 
 dened, as around the grave of a dear friend. For, through 
 the power of faith to recall the dead to life, the Tishbite 
 has become to us as one with whom we had lived for days 
 and years in confiding intercourse. This, my friends, is 
 the right use of imagination in the solemn matters of re- 
 ligion ; it is to revoke what is fairest in the past, and to 
 minister to faith in restoring it to us in the freshness of 
 life. Henceforth the history of Elijah loses itself in that 
 of One unspeakably greater than he ; and he disappears a 
 second time from the earth and entirely from the page of 
 history. When he shall come again, the earth shall shine 
 in heavenly glorification, as a “ Bride adorned for her hus- 
 band and all her coantless hills and mountains shall be 
 as Tabor. It remains for us to consider, I. The Impression 
 which the Voice out of the Cloud made on the three Dis- 
 ciples; II. The Belief which Jesus gave to their Minds; 
 and, III. The important Change in their Position after the 
 Miracle of .Transfiguration. 
 
 I. The solemnity and grandeur of the scene of transfigu. 
 ration reached their height at the moment when the cloud 
 overshadowed our Lord, and the glorious testimony of the 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 443 
 
 Father was heard from the midst of it, “ This is my beloved 
 Son, in whom I am well-pleased ; Hear ye him.” Up to 
 this moment, the disciples had felt unspeakably blessed on 
 the mount. But no sooner is their Lord and Master, un- 
 der whose wing they had hitherto felt secure, enveloped in 
 the cloud, and the voice from the excellent glory heard, 
 not from some distant heaven, but at their very side, than 
 their joy is at an end, and their rapture is changed into 
 fear and awe. They fall on their faces as if thunderstruck, 
 and are “ sore afraid.” Such are the feelings of nature ; 
 so awful is the approach of Eternal Majesty to the mind 
 of the sinner ! “ Let not God speak with us,” cried Israel 
 at the foot of Smai, “ lest we die. For who is there, of all 
 flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking 
 out of the midst of the fire as we have, and lived ?” “ When 
 I saw his face,” says Daniel, “ and heard the voice of his 
 words, there remained no strength in me, for my comeli- 
 ness was turned in me into corruption, and I sank on my 
 face to the ground.” When Isaiah saw the glory of God, 
 he broke forth with the cry of amazement and terror, 
 “ Wo is me, for I am undone ! for I am a man of unclean 
 lips!” And even the disciple whom Jesus loved, on be- 
 holding the unveiled glory of the King of kings, “ fell 
 at his feet as dead;” and the arm of Omnipotence was 
 needed to uphold him from utterly sinking under it. N o w, 
 what is the meaning of this overwhelming terror of man 
 in the immediate presence of God ! Does it not betray the 
 alienation of our nature from God ! Yes, its deepest root 
 is our own unbelief. For we are atheists at heart, and his 
 coming has all the terror of surprise ; we are sinners, and 
 suddenly the Judge is at hand. It also grows out of our 
 pride. We would fain be something in our own eyes, and 
 in those of others : he unfolds his transcendent glory, and 
 we sink into nothing. It arises, finally, from the very li- 
 mitation of our sphere of vision and conception. We are 
 accustomed to think chiefly of earthly things, and to 
 shadow forth our scanty knowledge of things spiritual in 
 poor images borrowed from the material world. Suddenly 
 
444 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 an object forces itself upon us, high as heaven above our 
 most exalted conceptions ; and it threatens to burst the 
 narrow chamber of our thought, and to tear the whole 
 fabric of our ideas and notions out of its place, and break 
 it to pieces. How natural, then, that our first emotion, at 
 the view of the unveiled glories of the Godhead, should be 
 one of amazement and terror ! 
 
 But how could the disciples be so terrified ; since they 
 knew the Father, and put their trust in him, and possessed 
 in Christ their Head such a fulness of glory, that they might 
 easily have borne the loss of their own. It is true, my 
 friends, that if self in them had been annihilated before 
 the Eternal Majesty, they would have risen up only the 
 more glorious in Jesus ; but in a spiritual sense, as well as 
 a corporeal one, Jesus was now behind the cloud. Their 
 insight into his mediation was not yet so great as to enable 
 them to stand erect in him before the Ancient of days. 
 The triumphant language of faith, “ Who is he that con- 
 demneth ?” with its deep foundation and warrant, was yet 
 far from them. And how shall they who have not yet 
 learned the wondrous art of beholding and finding them- 
 selves in Christ alone, stand at last before the presence of 
 the Eternal ? The Lord God uttereth his voice, and the 
 disciples lie prostrate in the dust. How easily can he lay 
 low the strongest of the sons of the mighty ! It needs but 
 a word, and the cedar is broken — Lebanon and Carmel 
 tremble. I often think how easily he could change in a 
 moment the whole moral state of our world. Were he but 
 to utter from above, in the hearing of all men, these words, 
 “ I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last,” what a 
 mighty revolution would it make at once on all human 
 theories and opinions ; what a new turn would it give to 
 philosophy, to science, and to legislation ! Every man’s 
 view and scheme of life would then be altered ; the life 
 itself of many millions totally revolutionized. The captive 
 daughter of Zion would be set free ; and the host of Satan 
 bound with adamantine chains. Well, this shall one day 
 come to pass. “ All the kindreds of the earth,” saith the 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 445 
 
 Lord, “ shall wail because of Him.” But know that God 
 our Saviour is a God “ that hideth himself a God who 
 will be found only of those who seek him. The fully-mani- 
 fested God comes only to judgment. 
 
 “ The voice of the Lord,” says David, “ is powerful ; the 
 voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire.” This it does 
 wherever it reaches the sinner’s ear. The voice is here — 
 in this book ! It sounds forth amid your cares and your 
 pleasures, and your unhallowed engrossment with the pre- 
 sent life. But ye peceive it not ; and it passes over you 
 without trace or result. But take care, ye that have Bibles 
 in your houses, or Bible phrases in your memories ! You 
 are playing with a dangerous and awful force, that may 
 any day explode to your unspeakable consternation ! It 
 is an easy thing for the Lord, at any moment, so to affect 
 your ear that you shall hear, in the words of this book, 
 his own voice, the voice of the Infinite Majesty ; and hear 
 it as if it came, not from a written scroll, but from the 
 depths of the Eternal Throne. Then it is more than a pro- 
 phet of Nazareth that tells you, “ Except a man be born 
 again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” It is the 
 Lord of the kingdom ; and wo unto you, if ye are not “born 
 again !” Then it is no longer the disciple Matthew from 
 whom you receive the witness of Tabor, “ Hear ye him.” 
 It is the Eternal God ; and ye are despisers of his Son, and 
 rebels ! Then it is no more a Jewish lawgiver that threatens 
 you, “ Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things 
 written in the book of the law to do them.” It is the Judge 
 of all ; and 0, the words are words of thunder ; and they 
 strike your heart, for it is still “ hard as the nether mill- 
 stone !” Any day, the voice of the Lord may thus surprise 
 you. And 0, would that it did so ; for how much better 
 to be awaked out of the sleep of death, though it be by 
 terror, than to be awaked out of it by that voice which all 
 must hear, and which utters truly the words of eternal 
 doom ! 
 
 That which overpowered the disciples on the mount 
 was, however, something more than the voice from the 
 
446 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 cloud, and the unexpected approval of the Divine Majesty. 
 In the testimony itself there was something awful, though 
 it did not exactly contain any thing new. They had con- 
 fessed Jesus as the Son of the living God, and seen his 
 glory with the bodily eye. But upon this confirmation of 
 his sonship from the mouth of the Eternal Father, their 
 faith in him, as God manifest in flesh, rose suddenly 
 to a distinctness, and clearness, and certainty, that over- 
 whelmed by its awfulness, rather thap cheered by its 
 grace. Do not suppose that this is a singular experience 
 of the disciples. The same would happen to yourselves in 
 similar circumstances. You believe that the Babe of 
 Bethlehem is the incarnate God. You believe it; and 
 your faith of it makes you happy. But you see it only 
 afar off, and through an attempered medium, so that 
 your faith only animates your mind without overpower, 
 ing your senses. But let the Lord withdraw the curtain 
 through which the light of his gospel is so graciously 
 3oftened to our feeble eye, — let him raise your faith to a 
 degree of distinctness which is all but sight ! and you 
 would be overpowered, like that saint of God, who fell, at 
 the lively thought of this mystery, in a swoon, and found 
 relief in a flood of tears. The same holds true of our 
 faith in the crucifixion of the Lord of glory ! We know it 
 by faith, and it gives us peace and joy ; for the stupendous 
 wonder it involves is seen in a softened light. Did we know 
 it by sight, it would utterly crush and overwhelm our 
 faculties. For these things are far too great and super- 
 natural, that they should be let down to us otherwise 
 than through a veil ; for then they would fail of their 
 gracious effect, and the treasure would burst the earthen 
 vessels in pieces. 
 
 II. The disciples lie on the ground as dead, and dare 
 not lift up their eyes so long as they feel that they are in 
 the presence of the Eternal. But their Master again ap- 
 proaches them ; and by him “ every valley shall be exalted.” 
 He is like a wise master-builder, among fragments and 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 447 
 
 ruins ; a compassionate High-priest, who preaches to the 
 spirits in prison, and revives in the arms of his mercy 
 those who have been stricken with the thunder of Divine 
 Holiness. 
 
 “ And Jesus oame and touched them, and said. Arise, 
 and be not afraid.” Such was the touch with which he 
 once revived his servant Daniel, and his apostle John ; a 
 touch which doubtless imparted supernatural strength and 
 confidence to their confounded minds. Thus he showed 
 himself in all things the Prince of Life, the Sun of Right- 
 eousness with healing in his wings. You remember the 
 poor woman mentioned in Matthew ix., and the language 
 of her faith, “ If I may but touch his garment I shall be 
 whole.” You know that her confidence was not put to 
 shame. And such a touch of Christ, my friends, is the 
 only means of healing our spiritual maladies. Do you 
 ask how we may still approach him and enjoy this sacred 
 contact ? It is by faith, by assurance, by devotion, and 
 prayer. It cannot be described ; but the saints have all 
 felt it. It is when their hearts are enlarged and their 
 supplications flow forth freely, when the Saviour’s work 
 is clear and glorious to the eye, his communion almost as 
 if it were a bodily presence, and the exercise of the soul 
 rather a free and living dialogue than a formal prayer. It 
 is then that we touch the Prince of Life ! and virtue goes 
 out of him and heals all our diseases. 
 
 III. No sooner had Jesus touched the terrified disciples, 
 and spoken these encouraging words, “ Arise, and be not 
 afraid,” than they are Immediately loosed from their bonds, 
 and a delightful peace again pervades their hearts. “ And 
 when they had lifted up their eyes,” relates the evangelist, 
 “ they saw no man, save Jesus only.” Moses and Elias 
 have returned through the bright cloud to their home be- 
 yond the stars, to recount to their companions in glory the 
 great things they had seen and heard in the holy mount. 
 The Ancient of days, having given testimony to the Son of 
 his love, dwells, as before, in inaccessible light, and amid 
 
448 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 the praises of seraphim, that, with veiled faces, surround 
 his throne. The holy angels have resumed their unceasing 
 service, and strike their harps to a more lofty strain. The 
 Divine lustre which rayed forth from the Lord of glory, 
 and enlightened the darkness of the night, has retired be- 
 hind the veil of his servants’ form ; all upon the mount is 
 once more as at the beginning, dark, solitary, and silent. 
 The wind plays in the rustling foliage ; the stars twinkle 
 silently through the clouds. But in the heart of this little 
 assembly there is a change. The great High Priest, after 
 his discourse with the heavenly embassy, looks more calmly 
 forward to the bloody baptism that awaits him. The 
 glorified messengers draw near with more of holy boldness 
 to the throne of Majesty ; and the three disciples — how do 
 they rejoice, more than ever, in the communion of their 
 Lord and Maste^ ! Yes ! however brief the moments which, 
 in this vale of tears, we are permitted to spend on the 
 mount, amid the unveiled glory of our King ; they are 
 moments which we justly reckon among the best and hap- 
 piest of our lives. Though they may only gleam for a 
 twinkling upon our darkness, and sink again in night, they 
 are not lost upon us ; there remains a blessing from them 
 which follows us in our path, a fulness of invisible strength 
 which is not soon exhausted, a light that braves the storm, 
 and sheds, at least, a genial twilight over the gloom of our 
 pilgrimage. 
 
 “ And when the disciples had lifted up their eyes, they 
 saw no man, save Jesus only” A striking image this of 
 that state of mind which we call evangelical. Would that 
 it were in my power to lead you all, from the manifold 
 subjects of religious contemplation, to such a unity as this, 
 and to concentrate all your scattered thoughts on Jesus ! 
 So long as you have not attained to this, your faith is 
 imperfect. You may be Christians, but you are not so in 
 the full New Testament sense. You must learn to forget 
 all your cares and distresses in Jesus, and to find all your 
 joy and comfort in him. You must learn to look away 
 from yourselves, and to look to the Lamb of God, and to 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 4-1 9 
 
 him only. If the thought of judgment alarm you, then re- 
 member that your Judge is also your Surety, and that, in 
 the robe of his righteousness, you shall be “ justified from 
 all things.” If the sense of remaining sin distress you, re- 
 member that the obedience of the Son of God is your se- 
 curity, and that the grace of his Spirit is all-sufficient. If 
 the troubles of life afflict you, look not at the rocks and 
 shallows, but to Him only “ who holds the waters in the 
 hollow of his hands.” And fear not death : but rejoice in 
 “ life and immortality;” and, in your last trying hour, 
 look to Him only “ who will shew you the path of life,” 
 and who hath said, “ I will come again and receive you to 
 myself, that where I am there ye may be also.” In all 
 these things, let the happy circumstances of the disciples 
 on the mount be renewed in your experience. 0 the 
 blessed and peaceful state of mind in which all that is seen 
 by us is seen in Jesus, and in which we look not at the 
 winds, not at the waves, not at ourselves, but at Jesus, and 
 Jesus only ! 
 
 Moses and Elias were gone ; Jesus alone remained. This 
 teaches us a sacred lesson of the all-sufficiency of Christ as 
 our Redeemer. Too many so-called Christians see Moses 
 and Jesus together. They are half slaves of the law, and 
 half disciples of the gospel. But the Lord can put an end 
 to this halting between two opinions ; and by granting a 
 deeper insight into the spirituality of the law and the car- 
 nality of our own nature, he brings the waverer over to 
 entire dependance on the grace which is in Christ. And 
 then, though Moses has disappeared, the works of the law, 
 for the first time, come forth to light. The soul enters 
 upon the blessedness of the children of God, and all the 
 fountains of a holy life are opened. The law has lost ali 
 its terrors, and yet it is observed from love ; the eye of 
 faith sees Jesus only, and this view is enough to make the 
 believer “ run in the paths of his commandments.” 
 
 “ And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no 
 man, save Jesus only.” 0 the glorious images and visions 
 which this scene calls up before the mind ! Yes, in that 
 29 
 
450 
 
 ELIJAH THE TISHE ITE. 
 
 day, “ when there shall be one Lord over all the earth ; 
 and his name shall be one,” then that of which we have 
 here a shadow shall be grandly fulfilled in all its reality. 
 Man will then look above him and around him on all sides, 
 and from whatever point he directs his view, will see J esus, 
 and J esus only. The whole world shall then be a scene of 
 transfiguration ; nay, be itself transfigured. All shall bear 
 his name written on their foreheads. Everywhere shall 
 be seen his spirit, his lustre, his image. Humanity, like 
 one royal diadem, shall reflect only the rays of his glory ; 
 while each renewed spirit, like a separate jewel, shall bear 
 some special mark of his likeness. All shall be consecrated 
 to his honour and restored to his service ; all irradiated 
 with his light and inspired with his life. Behold the forms 
 and creations of art : and they glorify him only. Frequent 
 the retreats of genius : and Jesus only is the fountain of 
 its inspiration and the theme of its song. Turn aside to 
 the schools of wisdom : and J esus only is the principle and 
 centre of all the sciences. In a word, all has been baptized 
 into Christ : and has embraced Him as all in all. Jesus 
 only in the government of the world ; His word the only 
 statute-book; His cross the symbol of every empire; His 
 love the inviolable bond of all nations ! 0 how my heart 
 longs for the dawn of this day of glory ! how all that is 
 within me groaneth and travaileth in prayer that God 
 would speed its coming ! My joy is unspeakable and full of 
 glory, when I embrace the thought, that death shall every- 
 where be swallowed up in the life of Christ ; the night of 
 sin in the sunshine of his beauty ; and that no one shall 
 be seen over all the earth but my Redeemer — my Im- 
 manuel alone ! 
 
 My friends, the hour is come when we must part from 
 the welcome company of Elijah the Tishbite. With his 
 departure from the mount of Tabor, and the theatre of 
 history, these Lectures naturally close. We bid him a 
 hearty and reverential Farewell; only in the hope of a 
 happier meeting in the city of our God. How much he 
 
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE. 
 
 451 
 
 has grown upon our affections during the years of this our 
 intercourse with him ! It almost seems as if we should feel 
 a blank in our life, now that we must miss him from our 
 peaceful Sabbath evening service. With none of the 
 saints of old have we closer sympathy than with Elijah ; 
 and if we may venture so to speak, he will be one of the 
 first of the saints in glory towards whom our eyes shall be 
 directed upon landing on the shores of immortality. And 
 then may he sit down with us under the shades of para- 
 dise, and give us a deeper comment on his earthly history 
 than we have been able to furnish ! And, yet, what shall 
 we find after even he, amid the far echoes of angelic harps, 
 has disclosed to us the course of his life below ? Elijah 
 shall retire once more behind the cloud, and we shall see 
 no one, save Jesus only, and his free grace. 
 
 We lift up our hearts to our God, and thank Him for 
 any little edification and comfort that he has been pleased 
 to vouchsafe us from the meditations which we now close. 
 To his name be all the glory, if he has given his blessing to 
 the weak and humble words which we have ventured to 
 utter, in fear and in much trembling, on the life of one of 
 the holiest and most distinguished of all his prophets. 
 That the blessed name of Jesus might be magnified in your 
 souls, was the aim that we set before us in all these dis- 
 courses ; that you might be drawn by them to the Source 
 of saving mercy, and feel that it was good to be there, was 
 the wish of our heart which we have never ceased to che- 
 rish. 0, that something more may come of it than emptv 
 wishes ! How rich our reward ! May the Almighty grant 
 it in his grace, and confirm to us our delightful hope, that 
 there may be not a few in our assembly, of whom, in a 
 deep and sacred sense, it may this day be said, “ When they 
 had lifted up their eyes, Moses and Elias were gone, and 
 they saw no man, save Jesus only.” Amen. 
 
 THE EXD.