right. Evil may, and does work against the right; work unremittingly, resolutely, and in a thousand ways; yet it cannot injure it. It may work calmly, insidiously, but cannot sap its foundations; or it may work in tempests, but it can produce no impression on its architecture. The kingdom of right, after all, is the only growing and enduring kingdom on earth. "It fortifies my soul to know That, though I perish, Truth is HOURS WITH THE LONELY. No. 4. Subject: ELIJAH IN THE WILDERNESS; OR, LONELINESS IN RELIGIOUS DEPRESSION. "He himself went a day's journey into the wilderness.-1 KINGS xix. 4-18. Elijah's life was full of the most sudden reverses. Here we have to watch him as he leaves all the excitement of the multitudes and the flush of his victory on Carmel, and withdraws to the wilderness solitudes in which we have recently watched Moses. In Elijah's experience in the wild solitudes that were under the shadow of Horeb, we have a religious man in great depression, and that depression closely connected in many ways with his religiousness. We notice— I. Religious depression FOL LOWING GREAT PUBLIC EXCITE MENT. It was after a victory in which multitudes had rent the air and echoed through the mountain passes the shout, "The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God," that the prophet, with no one with him but his faithful boy-attendant, went into the wilderness, and there felt his aloneness. Concerning this and its frequent counterparts in every such life as Elijah's, we observe, (1) It is a natural reaction. As a matter of mental and moral law, such depression must follow such excitement. Natures like his spend themselves; and even if the scenes do not change, the mood and tone of the man must. We observe, (2) It is a needful discipline. Continual conquests on Carmel would not be good for the prophet's own soul. He must have sometimes more of introspection and self-communing and less of challenge of foes, or of the applause of friends. He must have at times the hush of the people's shout, that he may listen to the still small voice of God. II. Religious depression producing THE FEELING OF UTTER LONELINESS. Under the juniper-tree he longs to sob out his life, and afterwards thrice over utters the pathetic "alone, alone, alone." He seems separate from men. He thinks first of fathers who were dead, and then the sense of loneliness that is the result of human mortality possesses him; then he thinks, secondly, of the handful of the good as compared with the troops of evil men, and so the sense of loneliness that is the result of lacking fellow-workers lays hold of him. The thoughts about the death of those who have wrought for God and truth, and the desertion of those who ought to be doing so, often make men who have passed the meridian of life feel lonely in Christly labour. OF III. Religious depression causing MISTAKEN VIEWS LIFE. He in his present passing loneliness had two wrong notions clouding his vision. He thought, first of all, that his life-work had been a failure, whereas he had stirred the religious life of the people to its very centre, and his name ever lives as a symbol of heroic single-handed conflict with evil. And secondly, he supposed the generation of godly seers was extinct, whereas he was but one of 7000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal. This mood of mind often leads men to see failure written on their labours, and to feel the number of the Christly a narrow instead of an ever-widening circle of men and women and children. IV. Religious depression DIVINELY REMOVED BY FITTING MEANS. Here Elijah was lifted from his depression through the instrumentality (1) Of nature. Storms call men out of themselves. Taber prays: "O God, that I be with Thee, Alone by some sea shore, And hear Thy soundless voice within, And the outward water's roar. The cold wet wind would seem to wash The world from off my brow; And I should feel amidst the storm That none were near but Thou. Each wave that broke upon the rocks Would seem to break on me; And he who stands an outward shock Gains inward liberty." (2) Of new occupation. There was fresh work to be done. (3) Fresh companionship. An Elisha was waiting for him. (4) Unveiling of forgotten facts. In the existence of the 7000 faithful men there was a fact of hope and encouragement he had forgotten. So every exiled spirit needs, and, if true to God, has, an Apocalypse. URIJAH R. THOMAS. Bristol. Seeds of Sermons from the Minor Prophets. If the Bible as a whole is inspired, it is of vast importance that all its Divine ideas should be brought to bear upon the living world of men. Though the pulpit is the organ Divinely intended for this work, it has been doing it hitherto in a miserably partial and restricted method. It selects isolated passages, and leaves whole chapters and books for the most part untouched. Its conduct to the Minor Prophets may be taken as a case in point. How seldom are they resorted to for texts ! and yet they abound with splendid passages throbbing with Divine ideas. It is our purpose to go through this section of the Holy Word; selecting, however, only such verses in each chapter and book as seem the most suggestive of truths of the most vital interest and universal application. Having passed rapidly through Hosea and Joel, two of the Minor Prophets, we come now to Amos. He, we are informed, was a native of Tekoa, a small region in the tribe of Judah, about twelve miles south-east of Jerusalem. Nothing is known of his parents. He evidently belonged to the humbler class of life, and pursued the occupation of the humble shepherd. From his flock he was divinely called to the high office of prophet; and though himself of the tribe of Judah, his mission was to Israel. He was sent to Bethel, into the kingdom of the ten tribes. He commenced his ministry in the reign of Uzziah, between 810 and 783 B.C., and therefore laboured about the same time as Hosea. In his time idolatry, with its concomitant evils and immoralities of every description, reigned with uncontrolled sway amongst the Israelites, and against these evils he hurls his denunciations. The book has been divided into three parts: "First, sentences pronounced against the Syrians, the Philistines, the Phoenicians, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Jews, and the Israelites, chapters i. and ii. Second, special discourses delivered against Israel, chapters iii. to vi. Third, visions, partly of a consolatory and partly of a comminatory nature, in which reference is had both to the times that were to pass over the ten tribes previous to the coming of the Messiah, and to what was to take place under His reign, chapters vii. to ix. His style is marked by perspicuity, elegance, energy, and fulness. His images are mostly original, and taken from the natural scenery with which he was familiar. labourer. His own language elsewhere indicates this: "Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit." The great Governor of this world has generally selected the chief ministers of His kingdom and messengers of His truth from men in the humbler walks of life. Elisha was taken from the plough tail, David from the sheepfold, the apostles from the humbler classes; and the chief Teacher of the world came from a peasant cottage in Nazareth. Indeed, our greatest discoverers, scien tists, philosophers, philanthropists, have risen from the obscurest ranks.* In this fact we have two things: First: Worldly pride divinely rebuked. Foolish men think much of material riches and the pomp and the glitter therewith. But in the eye of God all this is nothing worth. To Him the possessions and pageantries of the greatest monarchs of the earth are things of loathing and contempt. Hence, for His messengers He passes by palaces and mansions and goes to cottages and huts. Let not the rich man glory in his riches. Secondly: Human nature divinely honoured. By selecting from the poor men for high office, He confers honour upon man as man. Poverty is no hindrance to the Divine regard, nor is it a necessary hindrance to intellectual and moral elevation, or to high office in the Divine empire. "Learn more reverence, not for rank or wealth; that needs no learning; That comes quickly, quick as sin does! Ay, and often leads to sin; But, for Adam's seed, man! Trust me, 'tis a clay above your scorning, With God's image stamped upon it, and God's kindling breath within." -Mrs. E. B. Browning. II. The AGE IN WHICH HE LIVED. There are two events specified. Mark the period when he lived and wrought. First: The political event of this period. "In the days of *See "Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties." was about, as we have seen, eight hundred years before Christ. At this time the kingdom of Judah, under Uzziah, was comparatively peaceful and prosperous; so also was the kingdom of Israel, over which Jeroboam, its second monarch, reigned. Notwithstanding this, this prophet was sent out to warn of coming crimes and judgment. Secondly: The physical event of this period. Two years before the earthquake. Some imagine that this earthquake occurred in one of Isaiah's visions, when the posts were moved (Isa. vi. 4). Amongst the Jews there is a tradition that it happened when Uzziah impiously assumed the priest's office and went in to burn incense (2 Chron. xxvi. 16). Josephus, referring to it, says, "By it half of a mountain was removed and carried to a plain four furlongs off, and spoiled the king's gardens." This earthquake was the Divine harbinger which was threatened against the two kingdoms of Israel and the surrounding nations. Why is the period of his life thus described? (1) Because you cannot rightly judge a man's character unless you understand the circumstances under which he lived. (2) You cannot estimate the value of a man's mission unless you correctly judge of the moral character of his times. Common men are carried away by their times. Great men rise above them, often modify, change, and control them. Observe, III. The MISSION TO WHICH HE WAS CALLED. What was it to pronounce divine judgment ? He said, "The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither." He announced the judgment First: As coming according to his vision. He declares what he saw concerning Israel. It was not what he was told by others, but what he actually saw, not with the outward eye but the clearer, surer eye of the soul. His ministry was no subject for speculation or debate. Secondly: As coming in a terrible form. The Lord shall roar. This is, of course, highly metaphoric. The idea is, that the approaching judgments would be as terrific as the roar of a ravenous lion in the ears of the pilgrim of the desert. Thirdly: As issuing from a scene of mercy. From Zion and Jerusalem. This had been the seat of mercy for thousands of years; but it was now to become a throne of judgment. Mercy had passed into indignation, the oil had gone into flames, the lamb was transformed into a lion. The wrath of the lamb is the most terrible of all wraths. Fourthly: As fraught with calamitous results. "The habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither." Even the shepherds, the most harmless portion of the population, shall mourn on the top of Carmel; the most fruitful portions of the land shall wither. God's judgments, when they come on sin, are always terrific in their character and calamitous in their results. What an argument for repentance! No. LXXIV. Subject: DIVINE COGNIZANCE OF HUMAN SINS. "Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron," etc., etc. -Aмos i. 3-15; ii. 1–8. We place these verses together because they illustrate the following general truths.* First: That the sins of all the peoples on the earth, whatever the peculiarities of their character or country, are under the cognizance of God. Secondly: That of all the sins of a people, that of persecution is peculiarly abhorrent to the Divine nature. Thirdly: That these sins expose to Divine punishment, not only the actual offenders but their posterity also. We devote this sketch to the first, namely: THAT THE SINS OF ALL THE PEOPLES ON THE EARTH, WHATEVER THE PECULIARITIES OF THEIR CHARACTER OR COUNTRY, ARE UNDER THE COGNIZANCE OF GOD. -Here are men of seven countries named-Damascus, the head city of Syria, the kingdom that was often vexatious to Israel; Gaza, a city of the Philistines and the metropolis of that country; Tyre, one of the wealthiest and strongest of ancient places-a kingdom in itself; Edom, the city of the posterity of Esau; Ammon, the name of a place called after the *As the verses are numerous, we shall occupy a sketch with each truth they contain, without requoting the verses. |