The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1877-05-10
The sunday school.
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5fat Asosrrs - " Kuo ? Kisgs
lis tis Ishna sseeeaafal conspiracy
agsiss, kias JshorAn. Ahab's son. IL
1875 Tie horrible dsasA Of iho.gulIiy
Jezslsl. whs had aons 30 much 70 cor.
rups the people. 70 insFoauoe The wor
Dip Il Baal abd 81 is a.tendas, forns
II uiekedaess. and who lad nsos.
cruelty prosecuted the faithful worship
ere q God, liE 50 ST.
Jabu vas fierce. headstrang zeAlol
lie did soms things that were right,
thai ought 70 have been done but il is
doabtlBl Il be ala anything from a
purely night motive. II was an er.
tyemely sinful period 10 The history Of
Israol The severest measures were
necessary 10 order 10 reform. Because
God used him iot certain purposes does
aot imply that be approved all he did.
Tie servants ofBAal deserved the pun.
ishmcnt they received. Yet that does
not excuse Jehu's deceit and treachery
30 the way he took 10 destroy them.
Jehu's zeal for reforms ought TO hare
included all forms Of sin instead Of
tia, be seems TO have used /, as an ex.
cuse for certain other, and really no
less abominabIe sins. His fatal failure
was ia this he /" took no heed 10 walk
ia The law Of the Lord God OF Israel
With all his heart" At heart he cared
hardly more for Jehovah than for Baal
treacheTous, double minded, and half
hearted lie sinned as his predecessor
Jeroboam had sinned and, like him,
be also made Israel to sin" In rough
times God sometimes works out bis
own righteous and gracious purposes
by means Of rough instruments Sach,
emphatically, was Jehu. And what
ever he undertook he went about 1t
like Jchu r.
TnE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF BAAIIrEs
20-2s. King Jehu appointed it. He
did itby public proclamation. Itlooked
as il be had gone over TO their party,
aud was about to make, in the most for
NAL manner. Baalism the state religion,
the established church. The worship
ers probably mean the officials con-
neeted with the idolatrous Bsalistic
rites and ceremonies, constituting q
kind Of priesthood
Baal worship began as a dedication
Of nature. In sense, the spring and
generator Of all life upon earth is the
sun. With Quits warmth and light,
no life could exist, the world would be
as good as dead. Hence the worship
Of Nature easily became the worship
Of the sun. And Baal was the son.god.
That spirit in man which, in any age,
makes a scientific man deny the per-
sonality Of God, and refuse to accept
his personal revelation of himself to us,
is of the same disposition which in the
old time led to Baalism. 1t was q
worshiping and serving the creature,
rather than the Creator, who is God
over oil and blessed forever. That
being endowed with reason and con-
science, as man is, should have sunk
into the worse than idiocy of idolatry,
mast always remain mystery of in
EQUITY But the process is described
exactly by the Apostle, in that appal-
ling picture and epitome of so large a
part Of human history, given in Rom.
| i 1922, which see The Baal worship
widely prevailed among the mere
advanced nations with which the Israel
ties came in contact. Not unlikely its
mysteries were reckoned the most ad
vauced thought of the day, and urged
upon the attention OF the worshippers
Of Jehovah accordingly. And yet the
license which it gave to the depraved
lusts al men, and the fact that it ad-
ministered no troublesome checks TO
the conscience Of it's devotees is what,
after all, most favored its acceptance.
Baal worship had been introduced by
royal sanction under the reign Of Ahab
aud Jezebel. Elijah did bis utmost to
check and roll back the foul tide Of
idolatry aud sensuality. But its con-
tinued existence was the crying sin Of
the nation II was the standing re-
proach TO the pure worship Of Jehovah
aud threatened utterly TO subvert the
sacred character Of the chosen nation.
A crisis had come, when the most de-
eisiye measures must be resorted to.
l See Deut. iv 1921.
This Baal worship was itself fraud.
a lie, an imposture. Aud whether Jehu
did right or not. in bis stratagem by
which he inyeigled all the Baal wor.
shippers into the Baal temple, for their
utter destruction. they were hardly
the ones who would have right 10
complain.
1 l25.2S The stralagem was com
plete success. Short work was made
With them, and with all the Visible 10.
sigma of the pollutiag heresy and apos-
tacy. Thus Jehn destroyed Baal out