Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-02-07
SERMONS oNTHe PROPHETS
Rev. Mr.. Carver Begins Series With a
Discourse Upon Elijah.

| Rev. Austin S. Carver began what
promises to be a very interesting and
instructive series Of sermons on the
prophets of the Bible, at the morning
service Sunday. Elijah" was the proph-
ct chosen as the subject Of the first SER
mon in the series, and the text was TAX
EN- from / Kings xviii, II, And 1t came
! to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, that
Ahab said unto him, art thou he that
troubleth Israeli"
Before taking up the consideration Of
the grandest and most striking Of the
prophets, Rev. Mr.. Carver made a few
observations regarding prophecy and its
place in Bible history. There is no
part Of the Old Testment, said the
| preacher, that compares il value with
that which bears the name of the
Nophets. There is no equal selection of
so high a place, either for its intrinsic
power or permanent influence. Yet the
character of the prophets and the sig
nificance of their work are only imper-
fectly understood
Prophecy is not an institution pecu-
liar to Israel. Every religion had it's
special class of religious men whose
functions were essentially the same and
who were called by the same name.
long history and corresponding stages
of development. 1t began in those phe-
nomena that mark the early stages of
every religion. The fact was apparently
universal that when man is out of his
senses, or, as the Greeks sad, mad, then
he was thought to be inspired. Then he
was 0racular.
Out 0. this mob of time-servers, for
such the majority Ct the prophets were,
n nVTTQ nd
clear-eyed, and stern as c0nscleroe it.
| self, TO protest against the wrong He
obeyed the mighty thought Of his heart;
he uttered 1t as tie command CT God.
1t is this that makes the grandeur of
Hebrew prophecy. At its best it rose out
of and tc'umphed over its weak begin
nings, AID the man spoke not in wild
frenzy, but in calm possession of the
highest sentiment that humanity can at
| ta:n.
! A third observation is not yet super
| f1uous. A prophet is not foreteller. /
( presume most people if asked What is
/ a prophet?" would answer, "He is a
man who predicts the future" 1t is
still confirmed opinion that the spec
ial distinction of the prophet was his
ability to announce what was to happen
in the long centuries to come. 1t would
be as far from the fact as to say that
7 L
or Emerson was to foretell On the
contrary the prophets had nothing to do
with the future, except as tomorrow is
involved in today.
! The prophet can be understood only
in relation to his time. We must recall,
| therefore, the danger which threatened
| the nation after its settlement in the
land of Canaan. The Israelites had a
God of their own, as each tribe had, but
( T h he n \
He could be acknowledged without re-
nounc!ng his rivals. The spirit of Moses
had not yet proclaimed the command
ment, Thou shalt have no other gods
| before me-" The tendency was toward
q complete amalgamation of the Isra ell
ties with the Canaanites.
1t was during one of the moments OF
crisis, so often recurring in the history
| of the people Of Israel, when it seemed
as if all was lost, that suddenly, like an
apparition, wild and hairy figure is
| seen in tie road, and he sends this sum-
mary message Of our text to the king.
! The scene that followed / will not at
| tempt to describe. The contest of
| Elijah alone with the As prophets of
| Baal on the summit of Mount Carmel,
between the plain and the sea, lasting
| from morning until the hour Of the eve
ming oblation, is the most wildly and
! powerfully dramatic scene in the whole
Bible. In the cry of the prophet to the
| people, How long will we halt between
| two opinions, Jehovah or Baal, which
| shall it be?" we see what the crisis is.
\ 1t is not matter of doctrine it is not
a proposition about the future Elijah
was simply demanding the decision of a
/ practical question The people had
never felt the need of deciding. To them
there was nothing radically different
between the service of the two gods.
We have the revelation Of the true
prophet in the scene where the king goes
into the vineyard which he had wished
to buy for garden, but which the owner
refuses to part with 1t is when the
king goes into the vineyard to claim II
as his own, that he meets the terrible
/ figure that seems to haunt his guilty
steps like a shadow Here we see tbs
feeling that inspired Elijah to plead the
1 cause of Jehovah. He has given his
own conscience to the God of Israel; the
tribal deity becomes a god of justice
the leader of armies becomes ar
4 avenger of wrongs, the support of the
weak against the mighty. Nothing is
more interesting than this transforma
ton or construction of the idea of God
The new thought does not come dowr
from heaven, but rises from the con
science and heart of great man.
1t Is thus that the idea of the mighty
one, the national god, begins to be hu.
man, and the first step is taken to-
wards the gospel. The prophetic note
! is sounded for the first time, and is
! never again to be lost. We see what
| is involved in the tremendous challenge
of Jehovah or Baal. Without this mora.
sentiment, the crusade against the gay
and earthly Canaanite, God would have
meant nothing but egotism. But il
/ Jehovah represents right and justice
and civil order, then Israel can have
no other god beside him.
We have very little material for fill.
ing out of a sketch Of the life of Eli.
jah. He must ever remain dim and
shadowy figure on the borderland OF
| history and legend. He appears only
an instant on the stage of action TO dis
appear as mysteriously as he came. II
is not without significance that to this
day, all through the Levant, the noun
tains bear his name. No character OF
the Bible has left such an impression
! upon the after-time. He it was who
lived in the minds of the people as the
one who was to return. Such was the
impression which the life of this re-
/ markable man left on the minds of his
contemporaries, and upon all after-tirne
Through the golden mist we can see the
gigantic outline of one Of the worlds
greatest sons.
When we ask what Elijah, accom-
plisned, we are reminded that his great
things were not those which the world
would account great. He wrote moth
ing; he made no laws. From one point
of view, he accomplished nothing Re-
call the moment of his despair, one OF
the most noble and profound in all lit.
erature After the storm, the earth.
quake and the lightning came to him
in the deep. unbroken stiffness of the
mind the whisper of. a voice as of a