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TWO DOLLABS AND FIFTY CENTS.
PPIR ANNUM. '
VOLUME XLI., NO. S.
fnetrj,
MEET ME—A HYMN.
BY JOHN W. CORSON, M. D.
1 1 will come to you.”—John xiv : IS. "Lo, lam
with you.”— Mac xxviii: 20.
Air, “Bet in y”*
Jesus, by faith be known.
Thy love bestow;
Bless, from Thy lofty throne,
My home below :
Meet me and claim thine own,
Ofi in the closet ’ one.
Thy mercy show.
Come, and with accents or Id,
Calm needless fears ;
Still every tempest wild,
Stay Thou my tears ;
Let me be reconciled—
Only Thy loving child
Through coming years.
Meet “ two or three,’* in prayer,
Ap Thou hast ‘aid ;
Or, in Thy temples fair.
Be Thou the Head;
Meet uie with thivngs that there,
Anthe c: rraTirs Phare
o'ith sainted dead.
Come to my bed of pain.
Nuht-wiitches keep:
Life-giving pece maintain
Tn angui-.h deep;
Ouiet my fevered brain.
Let not my trust be vain,
Lull mo to sleep.
On to the brighter lard,
<Hadden my way ;
Savioor, with gentle hand,
Be Thou iny stay :
Leal to the angel-band,
Let me with loved ones stand,
In fadeless day.
Oranoe , N. J„ . 1877.
•Repea t the sixth line of each stanza in singing.
Contributions.
where IS THE RESPONSIBILITY.
Dr. Guthrie, of Scotland, in 1852 deliv
ered wild published a sermon on the results
of the war which England was then waging
in the Crimea. His biographers tel! us
that his views were not in agreement with
those which were then common. He was of
course unpopular for a while, and was doubt
less accused of bringing politics into the pul
pit. As long aB the preacher was willing to
be a fixture in the general framework and
borne onward by the public current, the pol
iticians around him said, he was sitting still,
as a well-behaved minister ought to do. But
as soon as he began to move individually up
stream, they suddenly found our that he was
meddling with politics. Such is the harsh
and capricious rule wbicti applied to mod
ern ministers.
Three years ago Rev Thomas Binney, a
well known English preacher, died. From
notices which appeared at the time, it may
be interred that he was one of those minis
ters who claim the right to press everything
of public interest, into the Christian educa
tion cf their hearers. Everything that stirred
the mind or heart of England,everything hat.
moved the sympathies, the hopes, the tears,
the passions of Englishmen, could be stu
dii-d r“ligiou.“Ji.y *lO ha believed and 5 >
ticed. v Vffa he necessarily wrong in tnis ?
In our last Sunday-school Lesson th se
remarkable words were spoken—not in par
tisan zeal (as they have often been spoken
since!), but by one uuder the sure guidance
of inspiration: ‘-The battle is not yours,
but God's.” In an hour like that the usual
distinction between sacred and common,
between preaching and politics, disappears.
It is possible that crises like that may occur
in modern histoiy. But the caee3 are far
more common, in which iue Bible does not
dictate our politics. Even when reverently
and intelligently consulted, it may leave us
a wide margin within which to choose. But
it always decides the spirit in which our
opinions are to be held and defended. If
a traveler in a strange land, comes to where
the roads part, his Bible does not tell him
which to take. But it does tell him in what
temper he must, travel over anvrosd. Our
opinions we may modify by discussion. Our
tone and spirit and characerare prescribed.
-This rule applies to politics, as well as to
other fields. And here, certainly, the pro
fessed expounder of the Bible may have
something to say. Let ns suppose the Sab
bath before our Fall Elections to have come.
A preacher, in the coarse of his usual ser
mon, speaks such words as these:
“ Nothiug can be more natural or more
proper than that those who have strong im
pressions themselves as to the line to be fol
lowed in public matters, should be desirous
of persuading others to think as they do ;
every man who loves truth and righteous
ness. must wish that what, he himself ear
nestly believes to he true and righteous,
should be loved by others also; but the
highest truth, if professed by one who be
lieves it not in his heart, is to him a lie. and
he sins greatly by professing it. Let ns try
as much as we will to convince oar neigh
bors ; but let us beware of influencing their
conduct, when we fa’l in influencing their
convictions. He who bribes or frightens his
neighbor into doing an act, which no good
mau would do for reward, or from fear, is
tempting his neighbor to sin ; he is assisting
to lower and to harden his conscience—to
make him act tor the favor or from the fear
of man. instead of for the favor or from the
fear of God ; and if this be a sin in h'm, it
is a double sin in us to tempt him to it. N r
let us deceive ourselves by talking of the
greatness of the stake at issue; that God's
glory and the public good are involved iu
the result of the contest, and that therefore
we must do all in our power to win it. Let
us, by all means, do all that we can do with
out sin; but let us not dare to do evil, that
good ma r come ; for that is the part of un
belief. It becomes those who will not trust
God with the government of the world, but
would fain guide its course themselves
Here, indeed, our Lord's comm :nd does
apply to us, that we be not anxious:‘‘Which
of yon by taking though; can add to his stat
ure one cubit?” How little can we see of
the course of Prov deuce! Haw little can
we be sure that what we judged for the best
in public affairs may not lead to mhehiet 1
But these things are in Goa's hands; our
business is to keep ourselves and our neigh
bors from ein, and not to do, or encourage
in others, anything that is evil, however great
the advantage which we may fancy likely to
flow from that evil to the cause even of the
highest good.
“ But what is going on all around us, what
we hear of, read of, and talk of so much, as
we are many of us likely to do, in the next
week or two, about political matters, that
we should be accustomed to look unon as
Christians: we should by that standard, try
our common views and language about it,
and, it it may be, correct them; that so
hereafter, if we be called upon to act, we
may act according to the Apostle’s teaching
in the name of our Lord Jesus. And lam
quite sure, if we do so think and so act, al
though our differences of opinion might re
main just the same, yet the change in oar
selves, and I verily believe iu the blessings
which God would give us, would be more
thau we could well believe’; and a general
election, instead of calling forth, as it now
does, a host of unchristian passions and
practices, would be rather an exercise of
Christian judgment and forbearance and
faith and charity ; promoting, whatever was
the mere political result, the glory of God,
. advancing Christ's kingdom, and the good
*t .Jffiis—;as it would be then truly called—
nation.”
*§oiilwn Clfisliitt
Is this polit'cal preaching? In one sec
tion of the country it might be bo consider
ed. In other sections it might not. Or,
stranger still, in the same congregation,
some would consider this as political preach
ing, while others would call it religious
preaching. These paragraphs are a verbal
ly exact quotation from a sermon spoken in
England, and the preacher has been resting
in his peaceful grave for more than thirty
years. He had no strained or fanciful text.
He had before him these sublime words:
“ Whatever ye do, in word or deed, do all in
the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks
to God and the Father by him.” Was he
wandering from this inexhaustible text, or
was he profaning it, when he spake the words
given above ? Can yon tell from that ex
tract whether, on the following Thursday,
the speaker voted the conservative or radi
cal ticket? The question before U3 now, is
not the special fitness, of this teaching to
his hearers, or to our readers, but can such
words is Votes, Election, be int-odneed in a
st-rmou ?
The responsibility of bringing the highest
motives and restraints to bear oa the public
mind, in itg most excited moods, must re3t
somewhere, on the pulpit, ou the press on
private cit'zenß, or on all of these togethi r.
The field of politics is not, in itself, ac
cursed or unclean. The name is of human
invention. The thing is of divine appoint
ment—as really so as the Church. If we,
from reason or revelation, it must be the
will of the Creator, that men should live to
gether in society. If so, there must exist
that singular and far reaching network of
relations, which we call politics. No man,
no party, no nation, can separate that which
God has toined together, and say that all
this array of necessary and powerful forces,
must be irreligious in its impulse, guidance,
or results. But in that field, which in itaeif
is as pure as any field of human enterprise,
gome of the worst spirits that scourge our
race, have their favorite retreats. The de
mons ofgreed, selfishness, and discord, are
holding high carnival in our land. If Chris
tianity has any word of counsel or warning
for a distres.-ed nation, now is the time to
say it. Jas. H. Carlisle.
WITH THE DEAD.
In 1801, v.hen I first reached Lynchburg
with my command. I was the guest of Geo.
W. Laughorne, 1). I)., since dead. Iu his
family, and in that of Bishop Early, I heard
very much of Jimmy Duncan, of his match
less humor, his amiability, his attractiveness.
Teat summer I saw him. That classic face,
so tamiliar to all our people as it has been
presented in the fine likenesses published,
was only a little more youthful then, but not
less fascinating. I heard him preach. I
thought then, and think now, he was the
finest pulpit declaimer I had heard in our
Church, save one. If he had art, it was the
high art which conceals itself.
After the war I was a guest at Mr. Chas.
.1. Biker’s, where he was also entertained,
and with whom he was also a great favorite,
and 1 was with him for several days. I met
him after this in private circles in Virginia
and Maryland. He was‘the most sparkling
mau 1 nearly ever Knew. His hutnor was
irresistible. The man who was dignity
itself when dignity was demanded, was mirth
innate when mirth was in place. F’ull of
health, full of love, he made every fireside
he sat at a piece of joy. Where one is
known is the place to weigh his merits ; and
in Virginia, where he had been known from
h-,s btr h—in that Conference, of which he
had been a member before he had passed
his first score of years, he was most beloved.
His robe was spotless. Those who knew
him far better than I did, have told me of
the depth of his tenderness, the breadth of
his sympathy. He impressed every one with
whom he came in coutact by his remarkable
common sense. He was emphatically level
headed. He would have made a grand
Bishop, or a capital circuit preacher. He
would have managed a Sunday school or a
college with the same ability. If he worked
himself to death, he did it.because he would,
and not because Virginia called for the sac
rifice. Nobody ever dreamed of his being
tired. He was so bright, and when I knew
him, so strong, that work was a joy.
What a different man was Elbert Munsey,
the most astonishing genius of this era, as
far as our Church is concerned. I met him
first the same year, 1861, when he had been
driven from Knoxville because of his intense
Southernism. I think it was probably in the
very room he died, that I first saw him, with
his portfolio on his knee, working out some
of the great ideas of his wondrous brain. I
never saw him again, until he burst upon
the sky in Virginia and Maryland, a comet
of amazing lustre. He had come from the
mountains of South-West Virginia at the in
stance of Dr. Harris of Staunton—had as
tonished Staunton; then amazed and de
lighted cultivated Lexington, with its Uni
versity ; then enraptured the literati of the
University of Virginia. His fame was wide.
No church could hold the people he preached
to, and for that fame he yielded up his life.
I knew him afterwards intimately. I loved
him truly. I never knew a more child like,
unselfish, hone=t, unpretending soul, than
his. Transparent as glass, delighted at the
conquests he had won, he was unable to
conceal his delight; yet never arrogant,
never offensively conceited, always gentle,
loviiig,*child:sh. He had no particle of
worldly wisdom. If he had found Golcon
da, he would have revelled in the beauty of
its gems, then given them to children whom
he met.
There are stories of his early life, which I
know to be true, that are most touching and
beautiful. Left with a mother and sisters
upon his hands to maintain, living under the
dankest of the Blue Ridge, he toiled like a
slave to support those he loved, denying
himself the very necessaries of life, that he
might care for them. Working by day, and
studying by night, preaching when he could,
he then penniless joined the Conference,
and began to walk to bis first circuit. His
first friend was A. G. Worley, of our Con
ference, who gave him a horse. He preach
ed wondrously, toiling on and learning as
best he could. Alas! for him that he ever
learned that he had matchless powers; for
this knowledge intoxicated him, and to win
ame and to keep it, he wore down a frame
like mountain oak, until it was
a bruised reed. He wrote, and polianed,
and committed, till night after night two
o’clock found him at work, giving more toil
to one grand sermon than a volume demand
ed. His frame gave way—the sad sequel
the world knows. It is due to his memory
to Bay, that save that weakness when his
body escaped him, and when the demand
for narcotics and stimulants was an insan
ity, he was as pure, as Christ like, as he
had ever been. I inquired of those who
knew him well in his last days, and that was
their united testimony. He was, the; said,
a prayerful, loving man to the last, though
PUBLISHED BY J. W. BURKE & COMPANY, >,OR THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH.
sadly weak. God only knows what he en
dured. God only knows how many acts to
which we attribute guilt are involuntary, and
how many hearts are loyal to him, who rr*
ceive our condemnation. If to be a good,
self denying son, if to be a kind, though fa 1
husband, if to be as true a frieud as ever
lived, if to be as brave a patriot as ever was
exiled, if to be as loyal to the Church as
man was ever loyal, if to be as honest in
confessions of weakness as Peter was, if to
love Jesus and His honor—make a good
man—then, I believe Elbert Munsey was a
good man to the death.
He was as peculiar in person and manner
as he was in mental make up. Tall, fragile,
with a giiatening, restless eye of blue, with
his hair almost shaven from his head; with
a nervous excitability which kept him always
in motion; with an abstracted air which told
others that his thougts were far away, he
would have attracted any eye. To prepare
a sermon —for he did not have many—he
read and thought widely. On one sermon
he exhausted the real of metaphy.-ics, on
another moral philosophy, on another geo
logical science. When his work was done —
and it took him weeks to do it —he was com
pelted to go over what he had done, as
though it had been done by another,and labo
riously commit ail to memory. He dared
not go into his pulpit without the book in
which his sermon was written, though he
did not look into it at all. He preached
every sermon with trepidation, and found
himself sick whenever he had preached. A
frame of steel could not have borne the
strain he put upon it, and his gave way of
course. Remonstrated with, he said God
called for a few preachers like himself, and
ho was conscientious in his work arid must
go on.
When his book of sermons is published
they will be widely read. I certainly hope
they will not be imitated. There was but
one Munsey—we do not need another. He
was put up on a different plan from other
men, and any man who tries to follow his
footsteps will be lost in the mazes.
G. G. Smith, Jr.
“MY HEART IS FIXED; Oil, GOD! MY
MY HEART IS H\Kll.”
Dear Bro, Kennedy: In the last, issue ef
our excellent Advocate, I found an interest
ing communication from Bro. Weber, based
on the above text. My miud involuntarily
went back to the last time I heard our now
sainted Bishop Capers preach. It was from
the above written texf. It was about six
months before he entered into rest. He came
to Charleston on a visit to his sou, Col. F.
W. Capers, who was at that time at the head
of the Citadel Academy. It was the good
fortune of the writer to secure his services
for the Sunday morning appointment at Cum
berland Street Church. Bro. Samuel J. Wag
ner, now in heaven, furnished the convey
ance to bring the Bishop to the Church. The
writer was early in the campus, and after
waiting awhile, informed the Bishop that the
horse and carriage were awaiting him, and
that we had probably better go. “ What
horse and carriage ?’’ he asked, with some
surprise. I informed him. “ I cannot ride.
to church in Charleston,” he replied, ‘-for
the reason that years ago we organized a so
ciety in this place for the ‘ better observance
of the Sabbath, and the relief of the servants
who might be required to labor for us on the
Lord’s Day.’” I insisted that in his weak
bodily condition, he ought to avail himself
of the offered help. ‘T cannot, and will not,
ride to church in Charleston,” he replied ;
and added, “ Go and dismiss the servant and
carriage, and we will walk slowly to the
church." He leaned heavily on my arm as
we went down Meeting street, and I thought
he had never treated me so affectionately as
during that walk. His heart seemed to over
flow with kindness, and his whole mannei
was gentle, even to tenderness. That walk
will not be forgotten until we may be privi
leged to renew it on the golden streets of the
New Jerusalem.
After the preliminary services he announc
ed for his text, the words at the heal of this
article. He was always a favorite in Charles
ton, but the old Methodists of Cumberland
Street Church almost idolized him. His
voice was feeble, and his whole hearing that
of one fatigued with labor, or worn with sick
ness. There was one feature, however, which
had not suffered by age and infirmity, viz :
that keen, peuetrating, flashing black eye,
which had of itself carried conviction, perhaps
terror, to many hearts during his long and
distinguished ministry. Theie was a band of
silken, gray hairs, which flowed loosely over
his upright coat collar, and which imparted
a look, peculiarly venerable, to his regular
and handsome face —handsome even in old
age. Someone has said that the very pres
ence of Bishop Capers was an eloquent ser
mon to him. On that occasion, as he warm
ed to his subject, his voice became clearer
and more musical, and his attitude and bear
ing more like that to which we had been ac
customed in the days of his glorious man
hood. At times there was a peculiar unction
of the Holy Spirit attending his preaching;
and that day was one of his happiest and
best.
The analysis of the sermon, I cannot give
after the lapse of so many years. Bishop
Capers’ sermons sometimes defied all analy
sis. They were always elegmt, simple, tin
pretending—sometimes searching and poic
erful beyond description. If you went to
take notes you would most likely put up
pencil and paper, and resort to your pocket
handkerchief. You felt more like praying
than criticising.
On the Sabbath referred to, he seemed,
unconsciously to himself, to be preaching
his own funeral, at least so far as his Cum
berland hearers were concerned. They never
heard him again. Nor did the writer of this
imperfect sketch. The Moods, Wagners,
Justs, and indeed the larges; part of those who
beard him that day, are in the dust—Cam
berland Church itself in ashes —and the sor
vivors, one here ond another there, await
ing their translation to the Paradise of God.
But we can never forget the solemn and im
pressive manner in which he repeated the
text, raising his hands and eyes to heaven.
“My heart is fix ed : Oh, God ! my heart is
fix ed” —adding, * I will sing and give
praise.” He seemed to throw his whole soul
into the words of the Psalmist; as if above
all other words theyjexpreseed his own unal
terable resolution to consecrate the remnant
of hiß days to that Divine Being whose ser
vice and praise had formed the great and
undivided work of nearly all his past
life. To hear a veteran of the Cro-s, stand
ing on the very verge of eternity, whilst
apparently gathering up the shreds of re
maining bodily strength, give such decided
expression to his entire devotion to God,
was refreshing and edifying in the highest
degree.
It might seem to be a small thing in this
connection, to call attention to the peculiar
manner in which he pronounced the word
MACON, GEORGIA, fi IDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1878.
•‘fixed.” Small strAefroL>yft and ’e
are, however, necessary to give con ,p 'e
ness to any picture, and no one realized .his
more fully than our good Bishop him.' If.
His taste was exquisite in small as well as g -at
matters. He was himself a great word painter,
and some of his happiest efforts in the P’-'Pit
consisted largely in the minuteness as well? as
the delicacy with which he handled any ib
ject. Minuteness, not because the preacher
was of small proportions, or his subjects ‘ un
important, but because in the _grnJ?ur
of the highest mental conceptions, and
the glow of the most fervent zeal, he >ad
a high appreciation of little things. -He
called “fixed” fix-ctf, dividing the wprd
into two syllables, and distinctly piano iuc
ing the last. Such, and a thousand fj>ld
more, was my dear, devoted, beloved Bis* op
Capers. It-
A FEW QUESTIONS.
Mr. Emtor: A word just bf re ' ‘ '
please, about Frothingham and other- -no
seem to be greatly exercised upon the jo
ject of hell, who are really frothy about it.
1. If there is no hell fire, why lus it UOn
bled the world so long ?
2. If it amounts to nothing, why not Kip it
alone, and preach about something 1
3. If this be an advanced age, too far ahead
of ali the past to allow the doctrine of etetual
punishment, why go back over the centuries
to ascertain what Father Origen tho< ht
about matters?
I once heard of a man who had trave ed
so far East that he could hear the Sun mak "g
a fuss in the chiiiquenin bushes of mornings
when he was trying to getup. If we go buck
to Origen wu can find almost anything.
Those of us who differ from the mc 'Cy
preachers, belong to the advanced thinke-;*.
Origen is too dusty for us. The dirt-daubers
have been building to those old books, a td
the spiders have been covering them v*h
their webs too long for advanced thinkers.
4. But if men will quote Origen, why
be honest enough not to garble? Why r
go on with Origen and insist as bedid: “Tail
spirits, after they have been purified by Die
tire of hell, will return to the bosom of God:
that at length they will detach themselves
from him, and that God, to punish their
inconstancy, will lodge them again in n'•*%
bodies, and that thus eternity will be noth
ing but periodical revolutions of time?”
5. If hell is missionary ground, did iu-bt
St. Paul speak hastily when he said “1 ha -e
finished my course?” A “chosen vesse ”
in this world, would hardly be left off Vie
programme in the world to come.
Lastly: A preacher in hell, trying to mske
t bc miserable inhabitants believe that all iJe
“smoke,” horrible tempest,” “weeping,
wailing, and gnashing of teeth,” “torment, ! ’
to be found there is simply medicinal! God,
“mocking at their calamity,” “laughing-at
their fear,” to get them on good terms wi -h
Him 1
Better let Origen alone, and catch np wi'h
the advanced thinkers. Jonas. \
Bermuda Hundreds.
AN APPEAL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO
THE BIBLE CAUSE.
The attention of pastors, officers of auxili
aries, and all other friends of the Bible So
ciety, is respectfully invited to the following
statement:
1 During nine months of the current finan
cial year the Board of Managers have been
called upon to make grants of nearly 200,000
copies of the Scriptures for varied distribu
tion through Churches, Bible Societies, Mis
sionary Boards, and individuals, including
the books circulated under the direction of
the Society’s own representatives in different
parts of the land. Besides theße large dona
tions, from which little can be expected in
the way of direct returns, about fifty colpor
teurs have been employed at the expense of
the Society, in the South and West, for the
sole purpose of searching out and supplying
families and individuals who are destitute cf
the Scriptures. As the sale of books at cost
yields no profit, ani as the larger part of th e
Society’s issues are sold at less than cost,
the Managers can continue this work onljra.
they are furnished with money through thjs
gifts of those who desire to see the Holy Bible
more and more widely distributed. For this
one department of work, and for the Super
intendents who have charge of it, at least
$l4O 000 are absolutely required this year,
2. For expenditure on foreign fields, there
were appropriated at the beginning of the
year $96,400. Additional requests have since
been presented, and should all be called for,
the sum to be expended in this way in cash
during the current year will amount to not
less than SIIO,OOO. This expenditure is
needed to prosecute the work of the Society
through its flourishing agencies in Tarkey,
Brazil, Uruguay, China, and Japan, and to
supply to American missionaries in Syria,
Persia, India, Siam, Africa, Micronesia, and
Mexico, and in various parts of Europe, the
means of confirming their instructions by an
appeal to the written word of God.
3. This work is now prosecuted on a large
ly diminished income. As thus outlined, it
involves an expenditure of $250,000 per an
num. which Uifabout the average amount. re
ceived yearly for the last seven years ia
cash donatioas from auxiliary societies,
from congregational collections, from indi
vidual donations, and from legacies. Du
ring the last year the donations receive!
from the living were $68,685, and from
legacies SIBB,OIB. But during nine month.,
of the year, only $33,167 have been
received as donations from congregations,
individuals and auxihV-ies, and only $77,-
937 from legacies; and as the expenditures
thus far exceed the donations by more than
$50,000. prompt and generous contributions
are required to relieve the Board from th®
necessity of largely curtailing their bekey.
olent and noble work.
4. This large falling off in the contribu
tions to the treasury of the American Bible
Society is dne in a considerable degree to
the fact that the Bible cause has been
crowded out from the consideration of the
Churches by purely denominational claims.
The building of churches, the liquidation of
parish debts, the provision for current ex
penses, the contributions for home and for*
eign missions, for Ssbbath schools, for edu*'
cation and important causes, have beeii
made so prominent, that the unsectarian
undenominational, fundamental work dif
giving the Bible to the nation and the world
has been to some extent, overlooked, and
too often the Bible collection in the Churched
has been omitted.
5. The benevolent work of the Bible So
ciety depends upon the gifts of the Chris-t
tian public. In its behalf pastors are re-j
spectfully urged to solicit annual contribu;
t.ons from their Churches. The officers of
auxiliary societies arealao invited to JQm|
sent this matter before their constituents,
and to forward at an early date any sums
which may be in their treasuries, whether
on purchase or donation account. From life
members and all other friends of the Socie
ty, renewed gifts will be thankfully received
and judiciously expended in promoting the
widest circulation of the Holy Scriptures.—
Bible Society Record.
FALSE VIEWS OF SIN.
We often query when we meet with “libe
ral ideas," so called, whether their holders
apprehend the real nature and guilt of sin.
They certainly entertain no such conceptions
of its radical and terrible character and con
sequences as we do, or they would change
their notions of its remedy and penalty. If
sin were an error, an accident, a fault, or a
misfortune, then might a good man correct
it; a change of circumstances remove it, a
loving Father overlook it, or a kind provi
dence take away its sting and bring its mise
ries to an end in the natural order of things.
But if it is something ingrained in the human
constitution, if it is voluntary and habitual,
if it is a crime of deep dye. and “exceeding
sinful,” then must we expect relief from its
power and curse, through means which God
only institutes and clothes with vital energy,
yea charges with omnipotent force. All
theology diverges into opposing schools just
at this point: a truth which may be ilius”
trated by an incident in the history of the
building ot anew custom house aud post
office at Chicago by the Government. When
the walls of the vast structure bad risen a
story, the report spread that its foundations
were insecure. Ali work was stopped. Con
gress sent a committee of architects and
others to examine the questionable founda
tions, who reported them wholly insufficient
to sustain the enormous weight they must
carry. The citizens, who were anxious to
have the work proceed, for many reasons,
raised a home committee of experts, who,
after a searching investigation, pronounced
the impugned foundations adequate to sup
port any weight that would be required by
the builder'B plans. This absolute disagree
ment by the ablest men in the country, led
to crimination and recriminatien, and to
utter distrust of the honssty and ability of an
honorable profession, until it was discovered
that the government committee had calcu
lated that the foundations must sustain twelve
thousand pounds to the Bquare inch, while
the citizens’ committee had allowed but for
three thousand pounds to the square inch.
The contradictory results were at once ac
counted for without damage to the heads or
hearts, capacities or motives, of the opposing
investigators.
Now if we believe that sin is a horrible
evil, a huge crime, which destroys mans hap
piness, and brings upon him the wrath of
God forever, we look for a remedy outside
of human nature, above Suite creatures, and
are only satisfied when we know that God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Ghost, have undertaken our salvation from
its bondage and guilt. We cannot see any
door of hope for sinners but that of the Gos
pel, which proclaims a Deity crucified and
i r.£, a*d M.a©a**4 a-.re -
generation of the sonl by the Omnipotent
Creator Spirit. Our heaven is founded on
the Rock of Ages, on a pardon blood bought,
a justification that implies and contains a
new life, a promise that involves a satisfac
tion of all the attributes of God, and a com
plete and glorious reconstruction of man as
an immortal being.
Has there ever been a holy man or woman
on the earth who did not experience, at some
time, a profound conviction of the guiltiness
of their nature and life, which could not be
disposed of without the blood of atonement?
Nay, is not holiness wrought iato the sub
stance of our souls through a perpetual sense
of the awful evil and peril of sin, accorn
panied by an overmastering consciousness of
God’s infinite mercy in the “unspeakable
gift?”
If we consider the great preachers of all
ages of the Church, the men who have moved
masses, and uplifted souls to a plane of entire
consecration, we find them all profoundly
conscious of the total loss of men under sin,
and possessed with a realization of the soul’s
immeasurable possibilities of suffering under
the eternal judgment of God. There has
been no powerful preacher of Christ who has
not been inspired by the belief that He, by
His blood, cancelled a debt and atoned for
a crime practically infinite. Earnestness in
dealing with men’s spiritual interests is al
ways proportioned to the grasp we have of
the truth that sin is a deadly, damning reality,
which Jesus Christ alone can destroy, by
virtue of His sufferings and death, resurrec.
tion and intercession.
What Church has had any wide sway, or
firmly held individual adherents; what Church
has furnished martyrs and missionaries, that
maintained low, loose views of sin and its
issues? The historic Churches, and those
that now move with aggressive energy, teach
that man is in the gall of bitterness and the
bond of iniquity, that God will by no means
spare the guilty, and that these shall go away
into everlasting punishment, where their
worm dieth not and their fire is not quench
ed. Such facts can not go for naught with
thinking men, but must lead to a uew study
and consideration, and a more thorough pro
clamation of the doctrine of sin, suctf.il will
give pith; point, and convicting power, to our.
testimony for the glorious Gospel of the
blessed God.— Northern Christian Advocate.
A DEATH-BED WITNESS.
A New York journal, according to the
Baltimorean —from which we copy —gives
the following incident, which we reproduce
as a warning to poor rich men :
“ A gentleman died last week, at his resi
dence in one of our up-town fashionable
streets, leaving $11,000,000. He was a
member of the Presbyterian Church, in ex
cellent standing, a good husband and father,
and a thriving citizen. On his death bed,
lingering long, he suffered with great agony
of mind and gave continual expression to
his remorse at what his conscience told him
had been an ill spent life. ‘ Oh,” he ex
claimed, as his weeping friends and relatives
gathered about his bed—‘Oh, if I could only
live my years over again. Oh, if I could
only be spared for a few years, I would give
all the wealth I have amassed in a lifetime.
It is a life devoted to money-getting that I
regret. It is this which weighs me down
and makes me despair of the life hereafter!”
His clergyman endeavored to soothe him,
but he turned his face to the wall. ‘You
have never reproved my avaricious spirit,’
he said to the minister. ‘ You have called
it a wise economy and forethought, but my
riches have been only a snare for my boul I
1 would give all I possess to have hope for
my poor soul 1’ In this state of mind, re
fusing to be consoled, this poor rich man
bewailed a life devoted to the mere acquisi
tion of riches. Many came away from his
tsidWi? pressed with the uselessness of
such an existence as the wealthy man had
spent, adding bouse to house, and dollar to
dollar, until he became a millionare. All
knew him to be a professing Christian and a
good man, as the world goes, but the terror
and remorse of his death bed administered
a lesson not to be lightly dismissed from
memory. He would have given all his
wealth for a single hope of heaven.”
EACH IX HIS OWN WAY.
All great works are done by serving God
with what we have in hand. Moses was keep
ing sheep in Midian ; God sent him to save
Israel, but he shrank from the undertaking.
We sympathize with Jethro’s herdsman,alone
and a stranger owning not a lamb that he
watched. He had nothingbuthis shepherd’s
rod, cut ont of a thicket, the mere crabstick
with which he guided his sheep. Any day
be might throw it away and cut a better one.
And God said:
“ What is that in thine hand? With this
rod, with this stick, thoa shall save Israel.”
And so it proved.
“ What is that thou hast in thy hand,
stranger ?”
“ An ox-goad with which I urge my lazy
beasts.”
Used for God, and Shamgar’s ox-goad de
feats the Philistines.
“ What is that in thine hand, David ?”
“My sling with which I keep the wolves
from :he sheep.”
Yet with that sling he slew Goliath, whom
an army dared not meet.
“ What is that in thine hand, disciple?”
“ Nothing but five barley loaves and two
little fishes.”
“ Bring them to me; give them to God.”
Andi he multitude was fed.
“ What is that in thine hand,poor widow ?”
“ Only two mites.”
Give them to God, and behold, the fame
of your riches fills the world.
“ What hast thou, weeping woman ?”
“An alabaster-box of ointment.”
Give it to God. Break it; pour it upon
the Saviour’s head, aud its sweet perfume is
a fragrance in the Church until now.
“ What hast thou, Dorcas?”
“ My needle.”
Use it for God, and those coats and gar
ments keep multiplying, and are clothing the
naked still.
You are a manufacturer, or a merchant, or
a mechanic, or a man of leisure, or a stu
dent, ora sewing woman. God wants each
of you to serve him where you are. You have
your business; useitforGod: order it in a
godly manner; ando 1 not allow wickedness in
it; give godly wages ; preach Jesus to your
clerks —not by a long face, but by being like
him and doing good ; use yoar profits for
God—feeding the hungry, clothing the naked,
visiting the sick, comforting the wretched)
spreading the gospel far and wide. What a
field you have to glorify God in just where
you are 1 If you have nothing, use your
tools for him. He can glorify himself with
them as easily as he could with a shepherd’s
stick, an ox goad, a sling, or two mites.
A poor girl, who had nothing bat a sewing
machine; used it to aid a feeble Church ; all
her earnings, above her t ee4(j, were ei(-eri
toward building a house of worship, and in
a year she paid more than others a hundred
times richer than she. So you can do if you
will Think of the widow and her two mites,
the woman with the alabaster-box, and Dor
cas and her garments! You may do as
much, aud have as great a reward. —Bible
Student.
A HAPPY FUTURE.
“We know tnat when He shali appear, we
shall be like Him.” We have a future which
is an object, not of dim expectation and
trembling hope, but of knowledge. Ou r
word is not, “it may be,” but ‘‘it will be. ’
We have a certainty, not a possibility or a
probability, for our hope. That which is to
be becomes as firm reality as that which has
been. Hope is truerthan history. The future
is not cloudiand, but solid, fruitful soil, on
which we may plant a firm foot.
And the,refore the habit of living in the
future should make us glad and confident.
We should not keep the contemplation of
another state of existence to make us sor
rowful, nor allow the transiency of this pre
sent to shade our joys. Our hope should make
us buoyant, and should keep us firm. It is
an anchor of the soul. All men live by hope,
even when it is fixed upon the changing and
uncertain things 01 this world. But the hopes
of men who have not their hearts fixed upon
God, try to grapple themselves on the cloud
rack that rolls aloDg the flanks of the moun
tains; and our hopes pierce within that veil,
and lay hold of the Rock of AgeH that towers
above the flying vapors. Let us then be
strong; .or our future is not a dim peradven
tnre, nor a vague dream, nor a fancy of our
own, nor a wish turning itself into a vision;
bat it is made and certified by Him who is
the God of all the past and all of the present.
It is built upon His Word; and the brightest
hope of all its brightness is the enjoyment of
more of His presence, and the possession of
more of His likeness. That hope is certain.
Therefore let ns live in it, and “reach forth
nnto the things that are before.”— Alexander
MacLaren.
WORK FOR CHRIST.
There is no joy like that of winning souls
for Christ. I thought when I was converted
that there was great joy, bat, oh, the bliss of
saving others! There is no joy in the world
like that. The luxury of winning a soul to
Christ, the luxury of being used by God in
building up His kingdom, the luxury of hear
ing the young convert testify of what God
has done for him. And to think that God
condescends to use us 1 Why, what a con
descension that He gives ns the privilege of
leading men out of darkness into light! Some
one has said that he does not believe that
there is an angel in heaven that would not, if
he could, leave his position and come into
this world, that he might have the privilege
oi working for Christ. Suppose an angel
could wing his way from this place to the in
finite world, and make the statement to God,
the Father, that there is one solitary child in
Boston, shoeless and hatle33, his mother,
may be, dead ; and his father, perhaps, a
drunkard: the poor boy wandering in the
streets of Boston, with no kind friend to lead
him to Christ, and called from His great
white throne in heaven, and God asked if
there is an angel in heaven that would be
willing to leave his home and come down into
this city and live here fifty years to save that
soul, do you believe there would be an angel
left in heaven in three minutes 1 Even Ga
briel, from his high place, would say: “ Let
me go; let me leave this lofty position,
and have the privilege of leading this child
to Christ.” And yet the Church is folding
its arms, and Christians are saying, “Don’t
send me —let the minister do it, or the stew
ards, or the deacons; bat don’t send ns.”
May God give you courage. Go forward and
conseorate yourselves to His aervioe and He
will stand by you.— Moody.
AX EDUCATIONAL ABOMINATION.
“ The educational abomination of desola
tion,” says Prof. Huxley, in the Fortnightly
Review, “ is the stimulation of young people
to work at high pressure by incessant com
petitive examinations. Some wise man (who
probably was not an early riser) has said of
early risers in general, that they are conceit
ed all the forenoon and stupid all the afpin
noon. Now, whether this is true of early
risers in the common acceptation of the word
or not, I will not pretend to say ; but it is
often too true of the unhappy children who
are forced to rise too early in their classes.
They are conceited all the forenoon of life
and stupid all its afternoon. The vigor and
freshness which should have been stored up
for the purposes of the hard struggle for ex
istence in practical life, have been washed
out of them by precocious mental debauche
ry —by book-gluttony and lesson-bibbing.
Their faculties are worn out by the strain put
upon their callow brains, and they are de
moralized by worthless childish triumphs be
fore the real work of life begins. I have no
compassion for sloth, but youth has more
need for intellectual rest than age ; and the
cheerfulness, the tenacity of purpose, the
power of work, which make many a success
ful man what he is, must often be placed to
the credit, not of his hours of industry, but to
that of his hours of idleness in boyhood.—
Even the hardest worker of us all, if he has
to deal with anything above mere details,
will do well, now and again, to let his brain
lie fallow for a space. The next crop of
thought will certainly be all the fuller in .the
ear, and the weeds fewer.”
Com!tinned from NationaUSuadjj'-sctiool Teacher.
INTERNATIONAL LESSONS.
March 3, 1878. —Ahaz’s Persistent Wick
edness.
2 Chron. xxviii: 19-27.
Golden Text. —'’And in the time of liis
distress did he trespass yet more against
the Lord : this is that king Ahaz." —22.
Topic.—“l Voe unto the wicked! It. shall
be ill with him ; for the reward of his hands
shall be given him.” —ls. hi: 11.
Home Readings. —Monday, Is. iil: 1-26 —
Woe unto the Wicked : Tuesday Ps. xi: 1-
7 —Upon them rain Snares; Wednesday,
Ps. i . 1-6—Ungodly like the Chaff; Thurs
day, Is. xiviii: 1-22—No Peace to the Wick
ed ; Friday Is. Ivii: 1-21—Like the Troubled
Sea ; Saturday, Gal. vi: 1-10 —Ashe Soweth,
shall Reap; Sunday, Rom. ii: 1-16—Accord
ing to his Deeds.
Time —B. C. 742-726. Place.—Jerusa
lem. Rulers. —Ahaz, king of Judah; Pek
ah, king of Israel ; Tiglath-pilever, king of
Assyria. Prophets. —Hosea, Micah, Isaiah.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Brought Low by Sin (19). —“This is that
King Ahaz.” The king whose life we are
no.v to have under examination was so pre
eminently weak and wicked among the
kings of Judah that the sacred historian
sarcastically refers to him in the words we
have quoted. 22. To those who knew any
thing about the history of Judah nothing
more was needed to evoke the contempt and
disgust of men. The very name of Ahaz Bug
gested impotence, folly, and sin. He had
splendid opportunities lor achieving distinc
tion. Everything was favorable to Ahsz,
when became to the throne. He had great
dominions, great riches, great power, and he
was admirably prepared tor warboth abroad
and at home. But it is not the young man
who starts best in life that always comes out,
best in the end. The very things that, should
he qjje’a menus of aivancemer.t are some
times the means of one’s ruin. “The pros
perity of fools shall destroy them” Very
likely the luxury that had begun to creep in
with their prosperity had something to do
with the incapability exhibited by Ahaz.
Perhaps he was a fast young man. It. is
quite likely that in youth he sowed “wild
oats” the harvest of which he never gpt
through reaping. Had he been an exempla
ry youth he would have been a better man.
And he had every reason to be; for his
grandfather, except in the matter of his one
great offense, had set for him a good exam
ple—an I the punishment for that one tres
pass should have been more influential for
good, even, than all the rest of his life be
side. And then there was the quiet, consis
tent,worshipful life ofhis father,who,avoiding
he i ransgression of Uzziah, “prepared his
ways before the Lord his God.” Ahaz was
the son of a good father, and the father of a
still better son —a blotch of mud between
two diamonds —rebuked by the characters
aud the examples of each.
Abaz fell from a very high pinnacle to a very
low estate. Lei us see the means which
precipitated him thither. No one ever takes
a headlong plunge into wickedness. The
venture is gradual. Ahaz began by follow
ing the example of the kings of Israel, prob
ably, at first, by worshipping Jehovah in
forbidden ways. Next he made “molten
images for Baalim.” He had gone a step
farther. His next step was a long one in
deed ; for he sacrificed his own children in
the fire to Moloch. Incidentally we wish
to call attention to the fact that all worships,
except the worship of the true God, are in
their nature cruel. It is the only one that
begets a regard for the well-being of each
member of the household. From being a
worshiper of one God, Ahoz had become a
devotee of many gods, and had shown the
sincerity of his adoration of the worst one
among them all by placing his own children
alive upon the heated arms of the idol. Hav
ing done this, we are prepared to learn,
further, that he sacrificed and burnt incense
“in the high places, and on the hills, and
under every green tree.” He had become
a wholesale offender against the commands
of God.
Next we look at his punishment. Iniquity
like this could not go unrewarded.
His first punishment waß connected with
the joint invasion of the kings of Israel and
of Syria. These two kings had thrown off the
Assyrian yoke, and Isaiah tells us that their
object was to put ‘‘the son of Tabeal,” a
creature of their own, upon the throne of
Judah. lavii: 1-6. There is strong con
firmation of the assertion that they wished to
do this in order to use the vast power of
Judah to help them make good their rebel
lion against the Assyrian domination. Isaiah
assured the king in the name of the Lord
that their expedition should be unsuccess
ful and, in order to bring him back to a re
liance upon God, told him to aska sign “eith
er ia the depih or in the hight above.” Is.
vii: 11. But the stubborn king would not
do so, though by the news of the expedition
“his heart was moved, and the heart of his
people, as the tree3 of the wood are moved
with the wind.” Is. vii: 2. He fought in his
own strength, and, of course, he failed.
Though no reliable plan ot the campaign can
be gathered, all its facts may be gleaned
from a careful sifting of the two accounts
given in the chapter we are engaged upon in
Chronicles, and 2K. xvi. Rezin recovered
Elath, the port upon the Idutuean Sea that
Uzziab had built and restored to Judah, and,
besides, he met the king in' batile, defeated
him, and carried away a great number cap
tive to Damascus. Ahaz was, also, deliver
ed into the hand of Pekaa, who slew 120,000
of his soldiers and carried off 200,000 women
and children as captives. The hand of the
Lord lay heavy upon Ahaz;tor these calam
ities happened “because they had forsaken
the Lord God ot their fathers.” But dig
asters did not stop here. The Edomites took
this occasion to revolt, and made an attack
upon Judah from the south, and, likewise,
were successful, carrying captives home as a
part of their booty. The Pailistines, also,
seized their opportunity, and wrested from
the plundered kingdom more than Uzziah
had taken from it. in this way had the Lord
brought Judah low because of Abaz, king of
Israel. By his transgressions he bad made
J udah naked —stripped her of her territory,
her wealth, her people, her prestige, her
honor, and, worse than all, had made her
naked in her shame betore the God of Israel.
Distressed By Sin (20, 21). —As Isaiah
had predicted, the two kings did not suc
ceed in the main purpose for which they in
vaded Judah. They were not able ?o cap
ture Jerusalem. That is probably to j|je ac
counted for upon two reasons. The fi.it of
these is that that city strong
ly tortified both
F. M. KENNEDY, D. D., Editor
J. W. BURKE, Assistant Editor
A. G. HAYGOOD, D.D., Editorial Correspondent
WHOLE NUMBER 2090
The second was that the petition of Ahaz
had reached the Assyrian king, Tiglath
pileser, and he had come up against Da
mascus, rendering it neceisary for King
Rezin to hasten home to proteet his own
dominions. Damascus fell before the con
queror, Rezin was slain, and his people
were carried into captivity. How literally
that fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah to which
Ahaz had refused to listen: “For before
the child shall have knowledge to cry My
father and my mother, the riches of Damas
cus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken
away before the king of Assyria. Is. viii: 4.
The fulfillment of the latter part of that
prophecy, just quoted, followed hard on after
the other; for Tiglath-pileser, having sub
dued Syria, tamed his attention to Israel.
He conquered the district east of the Jordan
and the northern half of Israel, and carried
their inhabitants away captive Pekah saved
himseli from’ the fate of Rezin, probably,
by submitting before it was too late to pla
cate the victor.
By releasinghim from fhe folds that Pekah
and Rezin had wrapped around him, Tiglath
pileser had been of service to Ahaz. But it
was a service for which he paid a costly
price. In sending to him, he said : “I am
thy servant and thy son”—a poetical way of
saying that from henceforth he would be his
vassal. From the warning of Isaiah and
from the circumstances of the case, there is
every reason for supposing Tiglath-pileser
was about to undertake the conquest ot these
two refractory vassals on his own account,
and, therefore, if that be true, Ahaz bowed
his neck to the yoke before there was any
necessity for doing it. The presents to the
Assyrian king were not made until after the
of capture Damascus, and, most likely were
in response to a demand of that monarch for
tribute. Tiglath pileser came not to help
Ahaz, but to help himself. To meet this
demand, ticking had to plunder the temple
once more/ms own palace, and levy upon
the treasures of the princes. Instead of
helping, him the Assyrian king distressed
him.
F - om the fact that it is said Ahaz went to
Damascus (2 K. xvi: 10) to meet Tiglath
pileser, it is likely that he took the presents
to that monarch himself. It is affirmed that
before the Assyrian king returned home, he
summoned twenty fonr kings to meet him at
the Syrian capital and do him homage, and
that among these was Ahaz. king of Judah.
His petition had placed him on no better
footing with the Assyrian monarch than hig
enemies themselves. With the losses he had
suffered from the hands of Pekah, Rezin,
the Edomites, and the Philistines, it was,-no
doubt, provocative of great distress to raise
the amount necessary to satisfy the demands
of one like Tiglath pileser. And, of course,
there was the yearly tribute besides. King
Ahaz was experiencing the fact that the way
of the transgressor is hard—though he does
not appear to have been able to perceive the
real reasou of all his distresses.
Persisting in Sin (22-26). —In times of
distress, if evpr, people are wont to tarn nnto
the Lord. When all other help fails, they
begin to think that possibly there may be
some help in the Lord. If one in his dire
need will not call upon the Lord, ther- is
no hope that he ever will. Aflictions are
sent as the last and most powerful arguments.
“In the time of his distress did he trespass
yet more against the Lord : this iB that king
Ahaz.” He not only did not beseech him
for help, but set him still more at defiance
He ascribed the cause of all his difficulties,
not to the fact that he had not worshiped
God, as he should, but to his not having
worshiped the gods of those who had pre
vailed against him. He sacrificed unto the
gods of Damascus that smote him. It is
plain iiiat the writer is expressing, not the
opinion of himself, but the opinion of Ahaz,
when he thus states the power of the gods
of Damascus. In the order of record, this
event hardened right after he had
the temple for the sake of
hut in point of fact it mu9t have taken
immediately after his defeat by Rezin.
next transgression was in substituting the
altar whose pattern he saw while in Damas
cus for the brazen altar of burnt offering that
stood just before the temple. 2 K. xvi:
10-16. Having done thus much, we are not
surprised that, undeterred by the swift retri
bution that came upon his grandfather, he
usurped the priestly functions long enough
to offer a sacrifice upon it. 2 K. xvi: 12.
U r ijiih was not of the sterling temper of
Azariah. The priests and the people took
this innovation so very tamely that he was
encouraged even to commit depredations
against, the temple. He gathered together
and cut to pieces the vessels of the House
of the Lord. Some suppose he did this in
pure wantonness, but it is probable, rather,
that he did it to fill his exhausted treasury.
2 K. xvi: 17, 18, more specifically tells what
these outrages were. He cu r off the borders
from the bases, removed the laver, took
down the sea from the brazen oxen and pnt
it on a pedestal of stones instead. The cov
ered platform where the king sat was taken
down, and the ascent in which Solomon took
such pride (1 K. x : 6) was removed.
The next count in the indictment against
Ahaz is that he shut the doors of the temple.
For the first time in nearly three hundred
years the people had no open temple. There
had been wicked kings, kings that had dared
do acts of profanation, bnt none had even
conceived of an outrage so impious as this.
But having rifled the temple, very likely he
closed it because it was inexpedient to keep
it open. The priests could Dot perform their
part of the services because of the destruc
tion of the consecrated vessels, and the mu
tilated ornaments would have been so many
eloquent and condemnatory voices had the
people heen allowed to see them. The tem
ple was closed less on account of a hostility
to its worship than to conceal its poverty.
Having shut the doors of the temple, he
felt the necessity of giving the people some
thing eLe in the place of the worship that he
had discontinued. Hence he set up altars
on every street corner in Jerusalem. Je
hovah ceased to be the pre-eminent God.
Hts temple was shut up, and in lieu of its
one altar, there were altars upon every
street corner in the Holy City, and, in every
ci’v of Judah, there were high places estab
lished for the purpose of burning incense
untoother gods. One man can do more
evil than many others can undo. And he
can nullify the efforts of as many more.
Thus in the few years of his reign, Ahaz had
reversed t.he work of the good kings Asa,
Jehoshaphat, Uzziab, and Jotham, and had
given the nation such a strong impulse to
ward evil that subsequent, and better minded
kings, were not wholly able to arrest it.
The greatest mischief that Ahaz did to his
time was, not that in a few brief years he
lost the territory that bis father and grand
father had won and bequeathed nnto him ;
that he had become the epoil of the nations
round about; that he had redneed the nation
from unexampled prosperity to indigence,
and from supremacy to vassalage—it was
not in the injury done to the kingdom of
Judah, though that was great, that he did
the keenest injustice to his age, but it was in
the evil that he did to the kingdom of God
in Judah.
Disgraced by Sin (26, 27). —The people
of Judah had a most singular way of passing
upon the character -of their kings after they
were dead. None but good kings, those who
had been faithful followers of the true God,
were allowed burial in the sepulchers of the
kings. By what process of trial, judgment
in each case was reached, weare notinformed.
But thejndgment was inexorable however
reached. Jehoram and Joash were express
ly denied this privilege, and, ip the case of
others who had transgressed, it is said of
them that they were buried “in the city of
David,” all mention of “the sepulchres of
the kings” being significantly omitted. And
this final honor waß denied, no matter how
much the people had shared in the sin of
the dead king. Here was a solemn court
before which the body of the deceased king
appeared and was judged for the deeds it had
done while it was tenanted. Before this tri
bunal the body of Ahaz was summoned, and
it passed upon it the sentence of exclusion,
though all the land was still fall of the altars
and the high places he had set np, and be
fore which the people were still bowing in
gratified worship. No one had a good word
for the dead. Hts name was despised eveu
by those whose lust for idolatry heJiad sat-, j
istied. He was known to all
king Ahaz.” His very name
word and a reproach.
doers themselves “the menJK
blessed, but the name ot^ffi