The Universalist., 1895-07-20

| God Jehovah had been cast out OF Is
rael, the nation fastened to its de-
cline. The bulwark of nations is God
and religion. These are the nerve
and the life Of the people.
The House of Omri sat on the
throne, and Ahab was its sovereign.
He was weak and helpless man who
was ruled by the queen of the harem,
Jezebel, name of dark and sinister
import to every man in Israel. The
city of Samaria had been made the
capital of the revolted tribes. Ahab
built the beautiful palace of Jezreel
for his royal residence, and within it
was a palace of ivory. His queen
was a Phenician, of the race of
Canaanites. The Canaanites were
forever disturbing the peace of Israel
and furnishing the glory of his peo-
pie. In the room of the elevating
worship of the one true God, Jezebel
established, in the court of Ahab, the
cruel and licentious worship of the
Phenician divinities. There was
also sanctuary on the hill of Sama
ria dedicated to the hawk headed
sun-god of Egypt. And it was Jeze-
bel who had thrown down the sacred
altar of Jehovah and killed the proph-
cts of the Lord, and made the life of
Elijah burden.
But Jezebel feared Elijah as she
never feared the devil. He was the
sole champion of the one. eternal
God. "Alone, alone, alonew He was
the loftiest, sternest spirit of the true
faith that ever grappled with the
proudest, fiercest spirit of Asiatic Pa
ganism. Elijah, the Tishbite, closed
in mortal combat with Jezebel, the
Phmnician.
Rough, unpublished, bitter, he was
the very incarnation of the spirit of
man to deal the death blow to for
eign religion; fearless, audacious and
unrelenting, he was the type of man
hood to stand before a shameless
queen. Nursed in the bosom of Is
rael, among the prophetic portions of
the chosen people, vindicating the
ancient religion of his fathers, setting
at defiance the whole power of the
kingdom, he reached height equal
to that of Moses and' Samuel in the
traditions of his country. He was
pre- eminently the prophet for whose
return in later years his countrymen
looked with eager expectation. He
was the one dread terror of Ahab
and Jezebel; the sole disturber of
that wicked reign. And the single
exclamation, Behold Elijah" was
sufficient to make Ahab tremble on
his throne and Jezebel tremble and
turn pale in her beauty.
1t is said that we cannot love Eli
jah, we cannot excuse his railing irony,
nor forgive his bitter cruelty. But
we can forgive keen blade of the sur
geon that cuts to heal, cure; the
stripes that wound to heal, and the
unhappy failures that compel us to
win higher glories. Elijah was jeal-
Gus for the glory of the Lord his
God; he was bitter against the in
iquity of his nation; he was cruel to
tie enemies of his people; he was the
terror of wickedness, RIGHTEOUSNESS
and irreligion; and his eye was single
to the redemption of Israel from idol
airy.
[ revere him as one of the grand
prophets and heroes of the ages.
His times needed him; his time
needed an untrammeled, uncom-
promising reformer of heroic meas
ures. 1t found such in Elijah,
man who was faithful to God, but
Indifferent to the wishes or the prais-
es of men. In these our days of vac
illation, turning to catch the breath
of praise, trimming to catch the
breeze of the popular demand, l lift
aloft Elijah, who turned neither to
the right nor left for men, but who
yielded himself, like an humble child,
to the hand of God
He was not without humanity; not
without heart in his bosom. But
all his sweeter, tenderer life was swal
lowed up in his loneliness, his stern
ness and his heavy destiny. The
currents of his soul were swift and
deep, and the banks were lined with
the hostilities of Paganism. He
never lived for the sake of living.
Death was the price of his life. But
he dared to live to purpose. His
one thought included God, religion,
Israel. He had no friends but God
and Elisha. His mission was to
overthrow the worship of Baal, to
tear it up, root and branch, and plant
in its stead the glorious religion of