Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1875-11-04
reported for the Herald
Sunday Evening Lectures at
PittSfoFd.
ELIJAH.

| ELIJAH.
The fifth lecture of the course was de-
liyered on Sunday evening, Oct. 81, by
Rev. r. t. Hall, upon "Elijah, or the
Times of the Prophets"
After brief summary OF the sacred
history from tho accession of Solomon
to the appearance OF Elijah, the speaker
| portrayed the state of things in the
northern kingdom. Ahab was on the
throne and was married to a Sidonian
princess of most positive character, who
had persuaded the weak king to attempt
the destruction of the JehoYistic religion.
! Most of the prophets of the Lord had
been slain, and the worship of Baal,
the Phenician Apollo or Sun God had
been established in great pomp. At this
crisis the famous Gileadite prophet,
whom Dean Stanley calls the grandest
and most romantic character Israel ever
produced, appeared upon the scene.
! Scripture tells US nothing respecting
his birth or ancestry. That he was
"among the inhabitants of Gilead' is,
however, very significant. Gilead was
a pasture land of tent villages, and far
less civilized than the region west of the
| Jordan. The Bedouin habits and ideas
which are familiar to Us through count
! less travellers tales were those of the
Glleadites. Elijah whether born in the
land or not was like Jephthah, Bedouin
in physical activity and endurance, and
in a certain wild energy. His life was
/ thoroughly dramatic, andits events may
be grouped in. 50 far as we know them,
I In five acts.
The first was occupied with the fam
inc and the sacrifice on Mt. Carmel.
After suddenly appearing before the
king 10 announce the drouth which was
to continue three and n half years as g
punishment for his disloyalty to God, he
was compelled to secrete himself from
the royal vengeance al Cherith and
Zarephath. Reappearing without warn
ing he summoned the whole nation TO
that grand religious conflict with which
VIC are all familiar Completely sue
cessful as he was in his bold attack upon
Baal worship he was nevertheless driven
again into flight, probably because his
stolid, unbeleving coantrymen would
not stand by him. Il was during this
exile in the deserts ana Sinai that he
passed through the profoundest spiritual
crisis Of his life. C0mforted in his deep
dependency by the mysterious words of
''the still small voice" he confronts the
king in marvelously dramatic fashion in
the very vineyard which, through bis
wife he had iniqujtously wrested from
Naboth. ''Haat thou found me, 0
mine enemy says the trembling king.
Il have found thee" replies the stern
son of the desert, and be tells Of the
coming doom of the royal family-a
doom which their crimes had merited.
OF course he had 10 hide himself again,
probably In the businesses of Carmel,
from which he emerged 10 deliver his
third blow against Baal worship. Ahab
and JcZebel his wife had both died and
the dogs had licked the blood Of one and
eaten The other, as had been fOretold
when AbaZiab, their son, sent to inquire
at EkrOu, OF the Philistines, whether he
vas to recover from ~ accident that
had befallen him. Elijah declares that
as a punishment Tor going TO another
God 10 inquire. he shall die. This mes I
sage, given first 70 the royal messengers /
be afterwards delivered TO the king HIM !
self. The crisis in the conflict with |
Baal was apparently past. The prophet /!
seems not to have hid himself after this /
dow rs DeIOre. After sending 4 written |
message to the king of ,ludah warning !
him against the results of his alliance
with the fatal line Of Jezsbel he passes
over Jordan in the fifth and last act Of (!
his life, and disappears on almost the /
identical spot where Moses lad jisaD-
peared long before.
In summing up his work it appears /
that in him the prophetic order reached /
its highest influence in shaping the |
national life of the Hebrews. He was !
no poet like Isaiah and jeremiah. 10 his
tOrian like Cad and Nathan. not SO r.. !
markabie g worker Of miracles as /
Elisha, no royal counsellor like Isaiah or /
Elisha, yet he was able single handed to /
resist the determined effort Of Jezebel to |
overthrow the religion of Jehovah. /
The most conspicuous elements in his /
character were his unCOnquerable cOur- /
age and his uniliuChing devotion to God. /
Probably in the intervals between his |
heroic assaults upon Baal worship he .
displayed some Of the gentler and more
amiable qualities with which Jewish ira
ditiOn endows him. He made a vast i'm
preston on his nation as the condition
of the Jewish mind with respect to the
reappearance Of Elias in the time of
Christ may show. Aside from bis cour-
age and constancy we may proftably
take as lesson his inner experiences at
ter bis victory upon Carmel. He had TO
wrcstle with the bitter consciousness
that his cOuntrymen would not rouse
themselves to follow where he had so
bravely led. The same experience comes
10 all unseltsh Iaborers for the fellow
mems highest welfare, and can be cured
only as his was by the ministries of the
''stlll small voice. 1t was this crisis in
2 most heroic life which Mendelsgohn
chosen Nta~ L