SUNDAY READING.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 4036, 28 June 1884, Page 6 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

SERMON BY THE REV. T;F. JONES. I. Kings, 19 ch.,i_ ver.—"But ho himself

'• went a day's journey into tho wilder-; ness,:and came and sat down under a' juniper tree : and he requested for himsolf that ho might die: and said, It is. enough ; now, 0 Lord,, take 'away my• life ; for I am not- better than my fathers." ,< ■■-..- ■ Elijah, the prophet, had iled from duty, from the city to the wilderness; and although he had escaped the power. of Jezabel, ho

became the victim of despondency in tha lonely desert. Let us look at the cause of the prophet's flight. Tho day before he stood on Mount Carmel and defied the mobs of Baal. There too in goodly numbers were the priests of the congregations and of the idols, and there congregated wero the thousands of the vacillating children of Israel. They had come to witness the result of the ehal'lcngo between the Lord God and the God of Baal. Elijah stood alone, but no craven fear quivered his lips ; it did not pall his brow; but with his far-sounding voico he throw out a challenge at the feet of the idolators, and when the utter inability of the God of Baal wa3 seen, ho used words of cutting sarcasm and terrible irony, " he is a god and must bo awakened." And as we think of him then we imagine he was one of the boldest men we have ever met, but on the morrow our idol is shattered. Fear has taken possession of his heart, and ho flies, not from tho vast armies of Israel, but from the face of Jezabel, the wicked Queen of Israel. Ahab was not in a very pleasant mood when he was insulted by Elijah, and when he found that the children of Israel decided for the Lord God and slow all the prophets of Baal. Ho drove home in his chariot keeping silent, aud he told Jezabel all that had taken place. We can only imagine tho feelings of that proud Queen. History tells us she was beautiful, but sho was wicked, and sho hated Elijah with a deadly hatred. Rome of those priests had been from her native land) and they had been put to death by the order of her enemy. Her bosom heaved, and her eyes flashed, and she swore, Elijah should die by the morrow, and his life should pay for the lives of those he had taken away, and when Elijah heard that he fled for his life into tho wilderness, and as he sleeps there let us learn the lessons which we can learn from his life and strange conduct. Ho was placed in an awkward position, but he did tho wrong thing to lleo from duty ; he i ought to have prayed that the Lord, who ■ had stood by him at Carmel, would not forsake him now. Ho did not think of consulting God, but a terrible fear took possession of his breast, and ho ran inito tho lonely desert. This shows us that Elijah was a man like ourselves. His feelings give encouragement to us. If these Bible men had been porfect, no signs of blemish, their lives then—the history of their lives then —would give us very littlo 1 encouragmont; they would stand afar off, and would appear to have no fellow feeling with us. But when we know that these Bible worthies were men of like passions, wero imperfect, stained by sin, and they conquered and won, it gives no encouragement, it spurs us with a hopo—as they i conquered so shall we conquer, as they won :so shall we win. And now, when Elijah 1 awakes under the juniper tree, he becomes depondent. They tell us despondency is the worst thing wo can have. Despondency makes us forget our mercies and count our troubles; it is prone to make us think . of the dark side of life and forgot the bright. There wero many reasons for his despondoncy. When we remember the excitement and the arduous labors he had to perform, we need not be surprised that he became despondent and melancholy. There is a subtle connection between the mind and the body, the one effects a potent influence over tho other. After times of excitement, after times of physical labor, when all our powers 1 have been called to work, there conies a reaction, there come times of despondencyYesterday he had climbed Mount Carmel, , and thero was the excitement of that terrible , contest, and the arduous labor he had to undergo, and after that he had to overtake Ahab, and after that was performed he came into the wiiderness, and when we remember : these we need not hesitato to say that this physical exertion had something to do with the depression of Elijah. Another factor was the want of sympathy. Thero are some men who do not require sympathy, and they go through the world without minding its applause and without mind- ; ing its censure, but they are few. Most people in this world loye sympathy. Sympathy to men wero like tho men to Moses; they held up his hands. It is the wind that fills the sails. Many a man owes his position in life to the sympathy received when yet a boy, and many a man who has failed in the battle of lifo owes it to tho want of sympathy which was not given to ; him in his early life. You remember that anecdote which is often repeated, and which will bear repetition, of tho fire in Chicago. Thero was ono house which was burning, 1 and the inmates had just come out, when it was remembered that another child was in the house. A brave fireman put up his ladder, and he attempted to climb, but the fiam.es wero too fiorco. A man in tho crowd said, ' Givo him a oheer,' and they gavo him a cheer.. Tho fireman was stimulated, and heLwent to the fire once more and saved tho child, and gavo it into the arms of the mother. There is power in a cheering word. Another factor was tho want of success. That his lifo was a failure, he thought that his work was unsuccessful. 'I, even I, only amleft,' and great depression had taken hold of him. Thero is nothing so depressing to us as to think our work is unsuccessful. Beecher says he has often gone home and made up his mind he would not preach again, but go and take a farm, Spurgeon, in his lectures to students, has said the samo thing. On many a Sunday night he has been so discouraged that ho has made up his mind nevor to pi*each again. So it is with Sunday school teaching, you get despondent. Although our Biiccess may not be seen now our work is not a God has blessed our work and our efforts, and though we may not see it now by and by wo shall know our labor in the Lord- has not beenin vain. For the closing remark notice God treated Elijah very tenderly. Ho sent an angel, and tho angel ministered to him, and he arose and wont in the strength of those provisions forty days and forty nights, and ho travelled the same desert as the children of Israel travelled for forty years, and whon ho camo to Horeb, the mount of God, he dwelt in a cave thero, and the Lord said unto him, 'What doest 'thou here, Elijah ?" And ho said, " I have been very jealous, for the children of Israel havo broken thy covenant, and slain the prophets with the edge of the sword, and I, even I, only am left, and they seek my lifo to tako it away." And. the Lord said, " Stand forth," and there came a mighty wind—a wind which made the trees bond and tho mountains quake, hut tho Lord was not in the wind, Then thero came a terriblo earthquake, tho foundations of tho mountains wore, tottering, and tho hills reeled, but tho Lord was not in the earthquake. Then there camo a mighty fire, which wrapt the mountains in splendor, but the Lord was not in the fire. Then there came a still small voice, and; Elijah, when he heard,, wrapped his faco in a mantle, and' he came to tho mouth of the cave. It was tho Lord that was speaking to him. This is somewhat difficult to understand: You know i truth is. brought to our minds by various ways, sometimes :by parabolioal language, and sometimes by a?} object lesson, and God was to bring the truth to Elijah's mind by an object lesson. It conveys this meaning to our minds, though we do.not know its entire meaning. The wind, would remind him of the words.he had spoken, the earthquakes of the judgments that were inflicted.on Judah, and the firo of the. scenes that hftd taken place on Mount Carmel, yet they were all unsuccessful. The Lord was not in the wind, in the earthquake, nor in tho fire. These wero a!l preparatory, and the Lord spoke to Elijah in tho still small voice, and the lesson is' this- Although Elijah's work seemed a failure, and tho reproofs he uttered, and the plagues inflicted, and the fires on Mount Carmel wero all failures, they were all.preparatory. God would now work with tho children of Israel in tho still small voice, thus com pleting tho work Elijah had commenced. Let tho lessons of Elijah's life, and the lessons from his flight and on Mount Horeb, make a lasting impression on our minds for the Saviour's sake.