Thus it was in the days of Elias; there were seven thousand such stars whose light was obscured by the thick clouds of idolatry--who would not yield to the darkness themselves, though they lacked power to enlighten others; yet was there but one star of sufficient power and brightness to dispel the mists and create a sphere in which others might shine. This was Elijah the Tishbite, whom we now behold, in heavenly power and light, breaking into the very stronghold of Baal, upsetting Jezebel"s table,[18] writing folly upon the whole system of Baal"s worship, and in fact, by G.o.d"s grace, effecting a mighty moral change in the nation--bringing the many thousands of Israel down into the dust in real self-abas.e.m.e.nt, and mingling the blood of Baal"s prophets with the waters of Kishon.
[18] False religion has always sought the sunshine of this world"s favor, whereas true religion has always been more pure and genuine when the world has frowned upon it. "_The prophets of the groves eat at Jezebel"s table._" If Jezebel had had no table, she would have had no prophets either; it was _her table_, and not _her soul_, they sought.
How gracious of the Lord to raise up such a deliverer for His deluded people! And what a deathblow to the prophets of Baal! We may safely a.s.sert they never offered a more unwilling sacrifice to their idol than that which our prophet suggested. It was the sure precursor of his downfall, and of theirs also. What a sad aspect they present, "crying and cutting themselves with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out," and crying out, with unavailing earnestness, "O Baal, hear us!" Alas, Baal could not hear nor answer them! The true prophet, conscious in his inmost soul of the sinful folly of the whole scene, mocks them: they cry more earnestly, and leap with frantic zeal upon the altar; but all in vain. They were now to be unmasked in the view of the nation. Their craft was in imminent danger. Those hands which, through their influence, had so often been lifted up in the diabolical worship of a sinful absurdity, were speedily about to seize them and drag them to their merited fate. Well, therefore, might they cry, "O Baal, hear us!"
How solemn, how immutably true, are those words of Jeremiah, "Cursed is the man whose heart departeth from the Lord"! It matters not on whom, or on what, we place our confidence: whether it be a religious system or a religious ordinance, or anything else, it is a departure of the heart from G.o.d; a curse follows it, and when the final struggle comes the Baal will be invoked in vain; "there will be neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any to regard."
How awful is the thought of departure from the living G.o.d! How dreadful to find, at the end of our history, that we have been leaning upon a broken reed! O reader, if you have not found solid and abiding peace for your guilty conscience in the atoning blood of Jesus, if you have a single emotion of fear in your heart at the thought of meeting G.o.d, let me put the prophet"s question to you, "How long halt ye between two opinions?" Why do you stand aloof when Jesus calls you to come unto Him and take His yoke upon you? Believe me, the hour is coming when, if you have not fled for refuge to Jesus, a greater than Elijah will mock at your calamity. Harken to these solemn words: "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all My counsel, and would none of My reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you" (Prov. i. 24-27).
Awful words! inconceivably awful! How much more awful the reality!
Reader, flee to Jesus. Betake yourself to the open fountain, and there find peace and refuge, ere the storm of divine wrath and judgment bursts upon your head. "When once the master of the house has risen up and shut to the door," you are lost, and lost forever. Oh think of this, I implore of you, and let not Satan drag your precious soul into everlasting perdition!
We now turn to another side of the picture. The prophets of Baal were signally defeated. They had leaped, cut themselves, and cried to no purpose. Their whole system had been proved a gross fallacy; the superstructure of error had been trampled to the ground, and it only now remained to rear the magnificent superstructure of truth in the view of those who had been so long enslaved by vanity and lies. "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."
It is always well to wait patiently, and allow evil and error to find their own level. Time will surely bring the truth to light; and let error array itself ever so carefully in the venerable robes of antiquity, yet will time strip it of these robes, and display it in all its naked deformity. Elijah felt this, and therefore he could stand quietly by and allow all the sands of Baal"s gla.s.s to run out ere he began to exhibit the pattern of a more excellent way. Now it needs a very real apprehension of divine principles to enable one to adopt this patient course. Had our prophet been shallow-minded, or badly taught, he would have been in much greater haste to display his system and raise a storm of opposition against his antagonists. But a spirit gifted with true elevation is never in haste, never perturbed; he has found a centre round which to move, and in revolving round that he finds himself carried out of the region of every other influence.
Such an one was Elijah, a really elevated, independent, holy man--one who in every scene of his extraordinary career maintained a heavenly dignity which is earnestly to be sought after by all the Lord"s servants. When he stood on mount Carmel, beholding the fruitless bodily exercise of Baal"s prophets, he presented the appearance of one who was fully conscious of his heavenly mission; and not only in his manner, but also in his principles of acting, he acquitted himself as a prophet of the Lord.
What, then, were those principles on which Elijah acted? They were, in a word, those on which the unity of the nation was based. The first thing he does is to "repair the altar of the Lord that was broken down." This was Israel"s centre, and to this every true reformer directed his attention. Those who seek to carry out a one-sided reformation may rest satisfied with merely throwing down that which is false, without proceeding further to establish a sound basis on which to erect a new superstructure: but such reformation will never stand; it will carry with it too much of the old leaven to admit of its being a testimony. The altar of Baal must not only be thrown down, but the altar of the Lord must be set up.
Some there are who would sacrifice to the Lord on the altar of Baal; in other words, they would retain an evil system, and rest satisfied with giving it a right name. But no; the only centre of unity which G.o.d can recognize is the name of Jesus--simply and exclusively that.
The people of G.o.d must not be looked at as members of a system, but as members of Christ. G.o.d sees them as such, and it should be their business to reckon themselves to be what G.o.d tells them they are, and manifestly to take that blessed place.
And we may further remark that Elijah in his actings on mount Carmel does not stop short of the recognition of Israel"s unbroken unity. He takes _twelve stones_, according to _the number of the sons of Jacob_, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, "_Israel shall be thy name._" This was taking high ground--yea, the very highest. Solomon could have taken no higher. To recognize the twelve tribes of Israel at a time when they were divided, and weakened, and degraded, evidenced true communion with the mind of G.o.d in reference to His people. Yet this is what the Spirit will ever suggest. "Our twelve tribes" must never be given up. True they may, through their own weakness and folly, become scattered and divided; yet the G.o.d of Israel can only think of them in that unbroken unity which they once exhibited, and which, moreover, they will exhibit again when, having been united by the true David, they shall in holy fellowship tread the courts of the Lord forever.
Now the prophet Elijah, through the Spirit, saw all this. With the eye of faith, he penetrated the long, dreary time of Israel"s humiliating bondage, and beheld them in their visible unity, no longer Judah and Israel, but _Israel_, for the word is, "_Israel shall be thy name_."
His mind was occupied, not with what Israel was, but with what G.o.d had said. This was faith. Unbelief might say, "You are taking too high a stand; it is presumption to talk about twelve tribes when there are but ten; it is folly to speak of unbroken unity when there is nothing but division." Such will ever be the language of unbelief, which can never grasp the thoughts of G.o.d, nor see things as He sees them. But it is the happy privilege of the man of faith to rest his spirit on the immutable testimony of G.o.d, which is not to be nullified by man"s sinful folly. "_Israel shall be thy name_." Precious promise! Most precious! Most permanent! Nothing could for a moment interfere with it--neither Rehoboam"s childishness nor Jeroboam"s cunning policy; no, nor yet Ahab"s vileness could hinder Elijah from taking the loftiest position that an Israelite could take, even the position of a worshiper at an altar built of twelve stones, according to the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Now in Elijah the Tishbite we have an example of the power of faith in the promise of G.o.d at a time when everything around him seemed to stand opposed. It enabled him to rise above all the evil and sorrow around him, and to build an altar of twelve stones with as much holy confidence and unclouded a.s.surance as did Joshua when, amid the triumphant hosts of Israel, he erected his trophy on the banks of Jordan.
But I must bring this section to a close, having already extended it further than I had intended. We have seen the principle upon which our prophet desired to carry out the reformation. It was a sound one, and G.o.d honored it. The fire from heaven at once confounded the prophets of Baal, confirmed the prophet"s faith, and delivered the people from their sad condition of halting between two opinions. Elijah"s faith had given G.o.d room to act; he had made a trench and filled it with water; in other words, he had made the difficulty as great as possible in order that the divine triumph might be complete: and truly it was so. G.o.d will always respond to the appeal of simple faith. "Hear me,"
said the prophet, "O Lord, hear me; that this people may know that Thou art the Lord G.o.d, and that Thou hast turned their heart back again."
This is intelligent prayer. The prophet is engaged solely about G.o.d and His people. He does not say, "Hear me, that this people may know that I am a true prophet." No; his only object was to bring the people back to the G.o.d of their fathers, and to have the claims of G.o.d established in their consciences, in opposition to the claims of Baal.
And G.o.d harkened and heard; for no sooner had he concluded his prayer than "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 G.o.d; the Lord, He is the G.o.d.""
Truth triumphs! The prophets are confounded! The prophet, in holy indignation, mingles their blood with the waters of the Kishon, and thus, evil being judged, there remains no further hindrance to the communication of the divine blessing, which Elijah announces to Ahab in these words, "Get thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain." How do these words convey to us Ahab"s true character! "_Eat and drink._" This was all he knew, or cared to know.
He had come forth to look for gra.s.s, and nothing more; and the prophet conveyed to him that intelligence which he knew he desired. He could not ask him to come and join him in thanksgiving to G.o.d for this glorious triumph over evil, for he knew well he would meet with no response. And yet they were both Israelites: but one was in communion with G.o.d, and the other was the slave of sin; hence, while Ahab found his enjoyment in getting up to "eat and drink," Elijah sought his in retirement with G.o.d. Blessed, holy, heavenly enjoyment!
But mark the difference between Elijah"s bearing in the presence of man and in the presence of G.o.d. He had met Obadiah, a saint in wrong circ.u.mstances, with an air of dignity and elevation; he had met Ahab in righteous sternness; he had stood amid the thousands of his deluded and erring brethren with the firmness and grace of a true reformer; and lastly, he had met the wicked prophets of Baal with mocking, and then with the sword of vengeance. Thus had he carried himself in the presence of man. But how did he meet G.o.d? "He cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees." Thus he carried himself before G.o.d. All this is lovely. Our prophet knew his place both before G.o.d and man. In the presence of man he acted in the wisdom of the Spirit, as the case demanded; in the presence of G.o.d he prostrated himself in unfeigned and reverent humility. Thus may all the Lord"s servants know how to walk in all their complicated relations here below.
We must now accompany our prophet to widely different scenes.
_SECTION V._
THE PROPHET ON MOUNT h.o.r.eB
There are few who have taken a prominent place in the history of the Church of G.o.d whose course has not been marked, in a special manner, by vicissitude: of such, as of "those that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters," it may be said, "They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble." They are sometimes seen on the mount, sometimes in the valley; at one time basking in the sunshine, at another beaten by the storm.
Nor is this the case merely with prominent characters; almost every Christian, be his path ever so retired and noiseless, knows something of this vicissitude. Indeed, it would seem as if no one could run the race which is marked out for the man of faith without finding inequalities in his way. The path through the desert must be rough, and it is well that is so; for there is no right-minded person who would not rather be set in a rough than in a "slippery" way. The Lord sees our need of being exercised by roughness and hardness, not only that we may find the rest at the end sweeter, but also that we may be the more effectually trained and fitted for the place we are yet to occupy.
True we shall have no need for trials in the Kingdom, but we shall have need of those graces and habits of soul which were formed amid the trials and sorrows of the wilderness. We shall yet be constrained to acknowledge that our path here below was not a whit too rough, but that on the contrary we could not have done without a single exercise of all those that had fallen to our lot. We now see things indistinctly, and are often unable to see the needs-be for many of our trials and sorrows: moreover our impatient nature may often feel disposed to murmur and rebel; but only let us be patient and we shall be able without hesitation, and with the full a.s.sent of every thought and feeling, to say, "He led us forth by _a right way_, that He might bring us to _a city of habitation_."
The above train of thought is suggested by the circ.u.mstances of our prophet in chapter xix. He seems to have had little antic.i.p.ation of the terrific storm which was about to burst upon him: he had come from the top of mount Carmel, and in the energy of the Spirit outstripped Ahab in his chariot to the entrance of Jezreel; but there he was destined to receive a check, and that, too, from one who had hitherto kept herself in the background. This was the wicked Jezebel. I say, she had kept herself in the background; but she had not been idle there. She had no doubt influenced her weak-minded lord, and used his power for her wicked ends. She had opened her house and spread a table for the prophets of Baal. These things she had done in furtherance of her master"s interests.
Jezebel is not to be looked at merely as an individual: she stands before the spiritual mind as the representative of a cla.s.s--yea, more, as the impersonation of a principle which has from age to age been working in hostility to the truth of G.o.d, and which appears in its full maturity in the person of the great wh.o.r.e spoken of in the Apocalypse. The spirit of Jezebel is a persecuting spirit--a spirit that will carry its own point in opposition to everything--an active, energetic, persevering spirit, in which satanic vigor appears very manifestly.
Very different is the Ahab spirit. In Ahab we see one who, provided he could attain the gratification of his carnal and worldly desires, cared but little about religion. He troubled himself but little to decide between the claims of Jehovah and those of Baal. To him they were all alike. Now it was such an one that Jezebel could wield according to her mind. She took care to have his desires gratified while she actively and sagaciously used his power in opposition to the truth of G.o.d. The Ahabs are always found to be fit instruments for the Jezebels; hence, in the Apocalypse, where all those principles which have been, are now, or are yet to be, at work, are seen in their full maturity, we find the woman riding the beast: that is, corrupt religion wielding the secular power, or the full-grown Jezebel-spirit making use of the full-grown Ahab-spirit.
All this has a solemn voice for the present generation; and those that have ears to hear, let them hear. Men are becoming increasingly heedless as to the interests and destinies of the truth of G.o.d in the earth. Christ and Belial are all alike, provided the wheels of the vast machine of utilitarianism be not clogged in their movement. You may hold what principles you please provided you hold them in the background; and thus men of the most conflicting principles can unite and hold those principles in abeyance while with ardor and energy they pursue the phantom of worldliness.
Such is the spirit and tendency of the age, and all that is needed is that a Jezebel spirit should arise and lead men on along the path upon which they have manifestly entered--a path which will most a.s.suredly end in the blackness of darkness forever. Solemn, most solemn thought!
Again I say, "He that hath ears to ear, let him hear."
But we have said it was from Jezebel that the prophet Elijah received the check which seems so to have overwhelmed his spirit. "And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword." Observe, "Ahab told Jezebel;" he had neither sufficient interest in the matter to lead him to take an active part himself, nor, even if he had the interest, did he possess sufficient energy. To him, perhaps, the abundance of rain seemed to stand connected with the death of the prophets, and therefore he could quietly stand by and see them put to death. What was Baal to him, or Jehovah either? Nothing. Let Ahab and all of that school get enough to "eat and drink," and all questions of truth and religion will be but lightly regarded. Gross and unmeaning abomination! Miserable, infatuated sensualism! Ye children of this world, whose sentiments are expressed in the words "let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die,"
think of Ahab; remember his terrible end--the end of his eating and drinking. What was it? "The dogs licked his blood." And as to his soul--ah, eternity will unfold its destinies!
But in Jezebel we see one who lacked neither interest nor energy. To her the controversy was one of the deepest moment, and she was determined to act with decision. "Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the G.o.ds do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time."
Here then the prophet was called to endure the storm of persecution.
He had been on mount Carmel, where he had stood against all the prophets of Baal; his course had hitherto been a triumphant one, the result of communion with G.o.d; but now his sun seemed, in his view, to be about to go down, and his horizon to become dark and gloomy. "And when he saw that, he arose _and went for his life_, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day"s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers."
Elijah"s spirit sinks altogether; he looks at everything through the dark cloud in which he was enveloped; all his labor seems, in his view, to have been for nought and in vain, and he has only to lie down and die. His spirit, hara.s.sed by what he deemed fruitless efforts to bring the nation back to its faith, longed to enter into rest.
Now, in all this we perceive the workings of impatience and unbelief.
Elijah said nothing about longing to depart when he stood on mount Carmel. No; there all was triumph; there he seemed to be achieving something--he seemed to be of some use, and therefore he thought not of his departure. But the Lord would show His servant not only what he "must do," but also what he "must suffer." The former we like well enough, the latter we are not so well prepared for. And yet the Lord is as much glorified in a patient sufferer as in an active servant.
The graces that are developed by one who is enabled to endure protracted suffering are as fragrant in their perfume as all the fruits of active service. This our prophet should have borne in mind.
But ah, the heart can well understand and sympathize with him in his gloom and despondency.
There are few of the Lord"s servants who have not, at some time or other, eagerly desired to put off their harness and cease from the toils of conflict, particularly at times when all their labor and testimony would seem to be in vain, and when they are disposed to look upon themselves as mere c.u.mberers of the ground. Yet we must wait G.o.d"s time, and until then seek to pursue our way in patient, uncomplaining service. There is a vast difference between longing to get away from trial and sorrow, and longing to be at home in our Father"s house. No doubt the thought of rest is sweet, ineffably sweet, to the laboring man. It is sweet to think of the time when our own gracious G.o.d shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, sweet to think of those green pastures and living fountains to which the Lamb will lead His flock throughout the coming ages of glory. In a word, the whole prospect presented to the view of faith is sweet and cheering; yet we have no right to say, "O Lord, take away my life."
Nothing but an impatient spirit could ever dictate such language.
How different is the spirit breathed in the following words of the apostle Paul! "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is _far better_. Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is _more needful for you_. And having this confidence, I know that _I shall abide and continue with you all, for your furtherance and joy of faith_" (Phil. i. 23-25).
These words exhibit a truly Christian spirit. The servant of the Church should seek the Church"s good, and not his own advantage. If Paul had considered himself, he would not have tarried a moment on earth; but when he considered the Church, he desired to abide and continue for the purpose of furthering its joy and faith. This should have been Elijah"s desire too: he should have desired to remain for the benefit of the nation. But here he failed. He had fled into the wilderness under the influence of unbelief, and for the purpose of saving his life, and then desired that his life might be taken away simply to escape from the trials which his position involved.
In all this we may learn a most profitable lesson. Unbelief is sure to drive us from the place of testimony and service. So long as Elijah walked by faith, so long he occupied the place of a servant and a witness; but the moment his faith gave way, he abandoned both and fled into the wilderness. Unbelief ever unfits us for the place of service, and renders us useless. We never can act for G.o.d save in the energy of faith. We should remember this at a time like the present, when so many are giving up and turning aside. I suppose we may lay it down as a fixed principle of truth, that whenever a man abandons any distinctive position of testimony, it is from positive unbelief in the truth which led him into it.
Thus, for example, at the present day we see many who at one time took up a very distinct and prominent position from having learnt (as they stated) that great truth, the presence of the Holy Ghost in the Church. Now, when this truth is really learnt, and held in power, it delivers from man"s authority in matters of faith, and leads Christians out of those systems where such authority is acknowledged and defended. If the Holy Ghost rules in the Church, then man has no right to interfere, no right to decree and inst.i.tute ceremonies; for in doing so he is most presumptuously interfering with the divine prerogative. If therefore a man sincerely believe this important truth, his belief will certainly influence his conduct so far that he will feel himself called upon to bear testimony against every system in which this truth is practically denied, by separating from it.
It is not a question of what or whom he will attach himself to. No; this is another, and an after, consideration. A man"s first business is to "cease to do evil," and after that to "learn to do well."
However, many who once professed to see this truth, and to act upon it, have since lost confidence in it, and as a consequence have retired from their distinct position, and gone back to those systems from which they had emerged. Like Elijah, they had not realized all their expectations; the results which they looked for have not appeared, therefore they have fled from the scene, and doubtless many have felt disposed to say, "_It is enough_." Yes, many a heart which once cherished high and fond expectations respecting the Church is now bowed down with sorrow and disappointment. Those who professed to see and act upon the truth of the presence of the Holy Ghost in the Church, and other collateral truths, have, to say the least, failed to carry them into practice, and not only failed, but in many instances have made a most humiliating exhibition of themselves; and the enemy has not been backward in making his own use of all this. He has used it especially to discourage the hearts of those who, no doubt, desired to stand in testimony for Christ, but who, seeing the failure of everything like corporate testimony on the earth, have given up in despair. However, let Christians observe this: it was unbelief that made Elijah fly into the wilderness, and it is unbelief which causes any one to give up that position of testimony into which the truth of the Holy Ghost"s presence in the Church would necessarily lead him.
Those who thus retreat prove that it was not with G.o.d and His eternal truth, but with man and his circ.u.mstances, that they had to do. If G.o.d"s truth be the basis of our acting, we shall not be affected by man"s mutability and failure. Man may, and a.s.suredly will, fail in his very best and purest efforts to carry out the truth of G.o.d; but shall man"s failure make the truth of G.o.d of none effect? "G.o.d forbid; yea, let G.o.d be true and every man a liar." If those who profess to hold the blessed doctrine of the unity of the Church should split into parties; if those who hold the doctrine of the Spirit"s presence in the Church for the purpose of rule and ministry should nevertheless practically lean upon man"s authority; if those who profess to be looking for the personal appearance and reign of the Son of man should be found grasping with eagerness after the things of this present world, shall these things nullify those heavenly principles?