The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1894-03-29
JEHAZIEL.
A Story Of the Bible.

little ones, their wives and their chill
dren." Human nature is the same in
all ages. The forgotten God is quickly
remembered in the time Of danger and
adversely. When Jacob hears that
Esau is coming with a troop to meet
him. the next thing we behold is the
alarmed man engaged all night IN
prayer with God. 50 long as all things
are going on well. men feel that they
can get along without the Lord, bat
the instant that trouble rolls up Ike Il
dark thunder-cloud, and begins to NUT
ter and flash and drop its bolts, the
soul Graves refuge and calls out for
God.
1t doesn't say how long Judah and
the families Of Judah had been neglect
Ing the Temple. Doubtless they had
not felt any pressing necessity to PEE
| sent themselves before. Moral oblI-
cations are not considered to be OF
non stponable character by the av-
| erage inhabitant Of the world, III the
time Of Jehosaphat or Grover ClcVe-
| land. God does not press me Ike
my grocer" said a man III darkest
! ignorance Of the laws Of spiritual lie.
| The favOrite time with men Tor seeking
God is the eleventh hour, the time OF
imminent peril, when the mind IS dis
! tracted, and the moment when, with
the death rattle i'll the throat, they feel
the door of the body opening for the
departing soul to beat It's way through,
while they can all but hear the clods Of
earth, dis1odged at the edge OF the
| grave by their stumbling feet, fall on
their coffin lid.
Judah with wives and children are
now standing before the Lord, just as
people in the United States suddenly
remember the house of God when yell
low fever, cholera, or any natural
calamity befalls them.
Judah appears for counsel. They,
like all troubled people, went to hear
God speak. What has He to say :
What are His counsel and commands d:
Speak, Lord. are we not all before
thee:
The Scripture says very significantly
to the mind Of the writer: Then upon
Jehaziel came the spirit of the Lord IN
the midst of the congregation
Why upon this man instead of 9th
ers: Does God have tavorltes: Is
He a respecter Of persons:
This is no new scene in the Bible.
Again and again we see Jehazlel under
another name, receiving the mind OF
the Lord and communicating it to
others. God speaks to Abraham and
| to | of iS of
brance that while the two angels spake
with Lot, the third who was Jehovah,
talked only with Abraham. Again we
see him cOmmuning with Moses but
not with Aaron. Christ takes three
out Of the twelve to see His transiig-
uration on the mountain; His resur-
rccting power in the death chamber OF
the young damsel, and to be near Him
in His awful agony in the garden. John
sits next to Him at the last supper,
and Peter has to ask the beloved dis
c'p.e what the Saviour is saying.
The Church to-day is filled with peo-
pie who have to ask others what God
Is doing, what He means in His Provi-
deEce, and what is His will concerning
them, and conclude it all with the re.
quest, pray for me-
Simon of Samaria revealed his spir-
itual distance from Christ and inferior
place under Peter when he said, pray
We to the Lord for me that none OF
these things which We have spoken
come upon me-
Why should it be that on certaic
occasions JehaZiel, John, Peter anC
others are spokesman, made so at the
time by the Spirit, while the great
crowd is silent: Why is it that il
every congregation and every revival
some individual is singled out by the
Lord and marked with peculiar bless
ING, and becomes Gods mouth-pece
and channel of grace for others:
God singles out Jehaziel from al
Judah to speak to and speak through
Does the reader believe this to hay,
been a mere arbitrary act of Heaven
; God does not act that way.
What if the Lord, looking down from
Heaven into the hearts of men, take
note of the motives that bring them t,
wait on Him i'll the Temple or Church
The man who goes under some kind O
, compulsion is certainly not the sam,
morally as he who comes through pref
erence. Judah went up i'll selfish fear
, desiring simply deliyerance from
t present danger, and received no per
sonal message. The fact that Jehazie
2 touched the Lord, and was granted al
!, interview. is proof in itself sutlicien
that he did not approach God like tn
rest; that he came i'll different spirit
and stood before Heaven in a ditferen
Il moral condition.
S The explanation of the honor show
to ,Iehaziel, all through the ages an
: all the world round, in churches. re
e vivals, religious gatherings and spin
a ltual crises and opportunities, is to b
r found somewhere. 1t is not an ace
dent
y Some people think the heavenly fir
and power falls as undesgnedlv an
undlscriminately as the lightning.
Is very soothing to ones spiritual val
5 ity to believe this when we are nc
} distinguished by the heavenly consiC
c Grafton. 1t would be Il wonderful cor
\ tirmer of moral sloth if it were so.
! Dul II II lOl 50 L ut IdltuluI
a always descends upon faithfulness.
We have noticed that when a ma
who has workmen under him desires t
Il send some one on business errant
I that he calls the man who stands nea,
S est to him. The spiritual history
c this world when written up will sho
:, that this is what God did all the time
!, When He spake it was to the ma
. nearest to Him. and when he called o
. one to do anything for Him, He sti
= addressed the highest man.
If we are asked who lives nearest
God, we would reply he that pray
most. We refer not to the Catholi
conception of prayer. nor to a praye
divorced from service. In fact. til
praying we speak of qualities and a,
counts for the constant use of the ma
in the service of God. Hence whe
3 God looks about for q man to speak It
a speak through. and work through. II
does not look on the street or in Bah,