are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for that the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen"-the fruits of the soft breathing of God's Holy Spirit on the inward ear of the heart and the conscience -"are eternal." LECTURE V. THE FIRE FROM HEAVEN. ST. LUKE, ix., 54-6. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them ...... THE manner in which Ahab, King of Israel, had obtained possession of the vineyard of Naboth, is too well known to need that I should recall the details of the story to your recollection. The act itself was his wife's, but God does not, on that account, hold him the less responsible for it, seeing that he both acquiesced in its commission, and eagerly availed himself of its fruits. Hitherto the mission of Elijah has been chiefly directed to the reformation of religion. The laws which are commonly distinguished as those of "the first table" are they which he has been called upon more especially to vindicate. The acknowledgment of other gods besides Jehovah-Baal and Ashtoreth-and the worship of those gods under a variety of outward symbols and representations— Baalim and Ashtaroth-are the sins which he has been employed to denounce and to punish. And, notwithstanding the disappointment to which we heard him, in the last lecture, give vent, there is evidence in the chapter of the First Book of Kings* which immediately precedes that containing the story of Naboth, that the prophets of the Lord have gained confidence from the victory on Carmel, and that Ahab, however unwillingly, * I. Kings, xxii., 13, 22, 28, 35—43. recognises their office, and gives them access to his presence. So far, then, we may say that the cause of religion has prospered in the hands of Elijah. It now remains for him to assert the oneness of that cause with the cause of morality. He must give Ahab, and through him his queen, his court, and his people, to understand, that what is required of them is, not a superstitious, but an intelligent and moral acknowledgment of Jehovah as God; that He must be owned and obeyed as resolved and able, not only to defend Himself against being dishonoured by man, but also to protect man against the wrong or violence of his fellow man. In short, it must be made plain that He who said, "Thou shalt have none other gods but me," and "Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image," and "Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain," is the same Who also said, "Thou shalt not covet," and "Thou shalt not bear false witness," and "Thou shalt not kill," and "Thou shalt not steal." * Attended by Jehu, who afterwards became king of Israel, and by Bidkar, afterwards "Jehu's captain," and possibly by the rest of his court, so as to make a ceremonial expressive of his gratification at the success of his wife's infamous device, Ahab had gone down from Samaria to Jezreel, to take possession of the murdered Naboth's vineyard; the land being forfeited to the king through its owner having undergone capital punishment. This formality over, when Ahab is on his way back to the capital, attended as he had come to Jezreel, the exhilarating current of his thoughts is arrested, humbling recollections are awakened in him, and his conscience is aroused into disagreeable activity by the unexpected and unwelcome appearance * See II. Kings, ix., 25. |
