When a man builds a house, he is very much on the alert that no shoddy, inferior material enters into the building; not one joint or door but it should measure up to the specifications. Strange that in the infinitely more important building of Christ's Church, people should be so indifferent as to the material and of things measuring up to the specifications of God's Word, and allow "wood, hay, and stubble" to take the place of gold, silver, and precious stones.
God protect us against indifference. And then, to conclude, the members of what Church are we? The character, legitimacy, and proper Christianity of a church is its true, clear, unmistakable confession of the doctrines of the Scripture, and it is our right to say that these doctrines are embraced, held, and taught by us, and were thus held and taught by us before any of the multitudinous sects and parties about us had a being. The Mother of Protestantism,—what church is it? It was born, existed, and was mighty in strength before them all, and upon them rests the burden of proof and apology for their separate being. And we should go borrowing to them, or hesitate to speak a modest word in our favor?
My Church, my Church, my dear old Church!
I love her ancient name,
And God forbid a child of hers
Should ever do her shame.
Her mother-care I'll ever share,
Her child I am alone,
Till He who gave me to her arms
Shall call me to His own.
Amen.
EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.
And Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.—1 Kings 18, 21.
It was a remarkable, but wise decision that King Solomon once rendered in a difficult case which was brought before him. Two women came to him with an infant to which they both asserted a mother's claim, the one contending that the other had overlaid her child, and taken hers from her before she was awake, and laid her own dead child in its place, whilst the other asserted that the contrary was the truth, saying, "The dead child is hers, and the living is mine." And now it was for the King to decide. But how was it to be done? Solomon calls for a sword. "Divide," he commands, "the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other." Then spake, says the Holy Record, the woman whose the living child was unto the King, for her bowels yearned upon her son, "O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it." But the other said, "Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it." Solomon instantly recognized the true mother's heart. "Give her the child," he said. The same it is with God, our true heavenly Parent. He does not want His children divided; He will have them entirely, as a whole living sacrifice, or not at all. The sum of His commandment and will regarding us, as repeated in to-day's Gospel lesson, is: "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." Of that would we remind ourselves in our present worship, taking for our instruction the Scripture read as our text.
With the aid of the Holy Spirit we note Elijah's challenge on Mount Carmel,—A call to Christian decision. I. The question at issue: "Is the Lord God?" II. The obligation involved, "Then follow Him."
Israel had had many wicked kings since the suicide of its first monarch, Saul, upon Mount Gilboa, but none more so than Ahab. The crowning iniquity of this unprincipled and despicable prince was the introduction of the idol called Baal into Israel. Baal signifies governor or ruler, and was the name given in the East to the chief male idol of the heathen. To the honor of this idol, temples were erected, bloody sacrifices offered, and the most shameful things perpetrated. Ahab had married Jezebel, the daughter of the idolatrous King of the Sidonians, and under her sway the worship of this idol had become sinfully popular in Israel. Four hundred and fifty priests served at his altar, and nearly an equally large number were appointed to the worship of his mate, Ashtaroth, for every male idol was wont to have his goddess. This abominable form of idolatry was going on in the land where God had thundered from the sides of Sinai as His first requirement: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," and had declared: "My glory will I not give to another, nor my praise to graven images"; and in consequence the judgments of Jehovah were not slow to follow. No rain or dew had fallen for the space of three years, the heaven was as brass, and the earth like a nether grindstone.—Famine stalked throughout the land, when one day, as Ahab was wandering up and down the country searching for food, he met the stern and fearless prophet of Jehovah, Elijah, called the Tishbite. "Art thou he," asks the King, "that troubleth Israel?" Elijah retorts: "Not I have troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandment of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim."
And so the contest is on, not so much between Elijah and Ahab as between the supremacy of Jehovah and Baal. How is the dispute to be settled? Elijah proposes a method. All Israel should be convened at a place specified, Mount Carmel. Two altars were to be erected, one by the champions of Baal, another by himself. Sacrifice was to be laid thereupon, and the God that would answer by fire to devour the sacrifice should be recognized victor. The test is accepted. You, as well-informed Bible readers, know the outcome. After futile attempts by the priests of Baal to secure the hearing of their God, Elijah addresses his God. In fervent prayer he raises his eyes and hands and heart to heaven. No sooner had the last words escaped the prophet's lips than down came the fire of God consuming the whole sacrifice and the wood, the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench, whilst the fickle people fell on their faces, crying: "The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God." Elijah then follows up his victory by commanding them to seize the whole group of Baal's priests and slay them at the brook Kishon. Thus did Jehovah terribly and surely vindicate His honor and majesty.