depravity that those who listen to priests are very apt to believe. But let us be just to human nature, and recognise the fact that there were good men in the darkest of the Dark Ages, men who were revolted at the vice and corruption engendered by Pricstcraft and fostered by the Church; indeed, it was this feeling on the part of thousands that caused the spread of the Hussite and Wycliffite "heresies." But when the Church had succeeded in branding these Proto-Reformers and their followers with the name, and banning them with the curse, of heresy, there still remained within the Church men who saw and abhorred the priestly corruption and vice, and who, by their writings and their teachings, paved the way for the great Rebellion against the Priesthood which marked the 16th century.

Some may say, Why did not these men join the followers of Wycliffe and Huss? But let us not blame them too hastily that they did not this. Every man is not fitted to become a martyr. In those days, too, ere yet the Printing Press was invented, these men for the most part knew nought of Huss and Wycliffe, or if they heard of them, heard only that they were fearful heretics, who denied Christianity and abjured Religion. And, again, it should not be forgotten that the work these men did would never have been done by them except as obedient sons of the Church. These considerations afford a sufficient explanation and apology for them, and in drawing our readers' attention to some of their teachings, and the influence wrought by them in the age preceding the Reformation, we would be understood as wishing, in the first place, to show that the Reformation itself grew out of the action of humanity, was, in fact, an historical development, having its source and explanation (amongst other predisposing causes) in the consciousness which had gradually grown up in the minds of men that the priestly system and Church teaching which had led mankind into vice and barbarism were neither Religion nor Christianity, and in the next place as desiring to do justice to human nature, by showing that it has within it a tendency against evil, powerful even in the worst of circumstances, so that Priestcraft was never able wholly to eradicate human goodness.

Beyond these, however, there is still another lesson of practical value which is involved in the consideration of this subject, this, namely, that however insignificant and contracted our sphere of action, we may yet do somewhat towards furthering the progress of mankind. If we cannot stand out in the van, and as leaders in the battle, we may at least enrol ourselves among the "unknown heroes;" if we cannot be a Luther, we may be a John of Goch or a Jacob of Juterbock. Every man may do something. Many a giant evil, many a pernicious falsehood, many a capital error, would long ere this have been destroyed, and have disappeared from among men if those who stood doubting their own capacity to do aught to remove it had banded themselves together, or bad even gone to work single-handed (though in that case the process might have been slower) against it. Evil exists because men tolerate it. Error puts on a brazen front because men hesitate to attack it.

As Religious Reformers, it is well for us ever to remember that there is an infinite value in Individual Endeavour; that the greatest movements which history records have originally existed in the earnest thoughts and words of some few earnest souls, who gave no thought to the question of their power to do, but went and did what was in their power. Let no man, then, for an instant doubt his power to aid in the great work of Religious Reform. Bethink you, too, of this, that he who is not for us-hand, heart, and soul is against us, for by his very hesitation he makes the powers of

evil strong. The earnest word of truth once spoken, no matter who the speaker, the earnest deed once done, no matter who the doer, have a value infinite and immeasurable. Though we may not see the results of our work, depend upon it those results must come; and whether they come or not is a matter which we can afford to leave out of our calculations if we can but answer to our own consciences and to God for having done all that lay in our power to bring them about. Let each man who wishes well to our cause go about the work in this spirit, and it will not be long before it will be a great success. In any case his reward will be all-sufficient in the consciousness he will possess of having done his duty.

JAS. L. GOODING.

SOUTH PLACE CHAPEL SUNDAY EVENING LECTURES. BY P. W. PERFITT, PH. D.

THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF ELIJAH.

(Continued from p. 96.)

Ir is quite natural for the curiosity of a reader of this narrative to be excited upon many points, all of which are important in their general bearing upon the authority of the narrative as a whole. For instance, who can avoid asking how it was possible for one man to do so much in so short a time. According to the narrative, Elijah did not begin to build his altar until the failure of the Baalites was made manifest ; but when he began, the work went on at a rate which far surpassed anything achieved in our modern systems of building. The story reads as if Elijah did not begin to work until "the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice," when, seeing that Baal had not answered, he called the people to heed his words and to watch his actions. The hour for the evening sacrifice was that of sunset. But, taking advantage of a statement made by Josephus, to the effect, that at a later date it was offered at 3 P.M., Kiel states that it is the earlier hour we are to fix upon. This is an assumption which is not warranted by the facts. He sug gests, also, that the Hebrew should be translated not "till the offering," but "till "towards the offering," thus securing a lapse of time between that point when the failure of the Baalites was made clear, and that when Elijah sacrificed. This may be granted, but still it is impossible to believe that the whole series of recorded events occurred within any such scanty period. There was, first of all, the altar to be built. The text says, repaired an old altar," but then goes on to speak of Elijah building one with twelve stones. Whether repairing an old or building a new altar requires stone, and no single man can move very heavy blocks of stone, in an instant. It must have been of great size. A bullock cut up and laid out according to the orthodox method covered a considerable space, and thus the mere removal of the stones must have occupied no inconsiderable portion of time. They were not miraculously moved or it would have been so stated; neither does it seem that the writer believed the prophet had any assistance in performing his building labours, so that we are compelled to desire more information before undertaking to say that the narrative is true.

There are, however, other wonders. The altar was completed, and then he dug a trench round about it, "great enough to contain two measures of seed." What size was that trench? The critics are divided, because, in truth, the original does not mean that the capacity of the trench was merely equal to the two measures, but that "the surface was equal to that upon which two measures would be sown.' This would give a very large space, and that was what the original writer believed. All those who believed in the stories of giants and fairies were satisfied with the most incongruous and contradictory narratives, being under the impression that, from the beginning to the end the events were supernatural. This notion does not

suit the modern mind, but it is involved in the text, and with all its inconsistencies it cannot be ignored. But taking its capacity as being smaller, it must still be spoken of as a deep trench, dug on all the four sides of an altar large enough to lay a bullock upon, and thus not less than twenty-four square yards. This is the smallest space allowable, and then the question arises, How, if Elijah began his work of building towards the time of evening sacrifice (say at 4 P.M.), could he in two hours have done so much, both in the way of al ar building and trench digging? The majority of readers never pause to ask such questions, any more than we in our boyhood time asked how the dwarfs and fairies did so much in a short time. It was the event we looked at-not the possibilities, but when older grown it was the latter which forced itself upon our attention. And so here; there is no hint of supernatural work, it is all stated as a plain matter of building and digging, and I do not hesitate to say it was utterly impossible for any man to have done the work, even in twenty-four hours, much less, then, was it possible for it to have been done in two, or, at the most, three hours.

Unhappily, however, for the credit of the narrative, other wonders and impossibilities follow. When the whole was complete Elijah ordered some of the people to bring water to pour over the altar and wood, and bullock, which they did until all were drenched." They brought four barrels; of their size we cannot speak, but to make the narrative perfect they must have been very large, for they drenched the whole. When this was completed he ordered them to do it again, and again for the third time, after which he filled, or had the trench filled with water. How many scores of gallons were required for filling the trench must be decided by those who know its actual size; enough for us to know that the mere filling the comparatively small space I have allowed would take many hours, even if water were at hand, which it was not.. Where did it come from? Water upon the top of Mount Carmel was not to be obtained at any time without great labour. Some ingenious gentlemen have supplied good springs from which they suppose it to have been drawn; but let the springs be granted, and let them be ever so good, still time is an element in the matter, which cannot be dispensed with. To do the work of inundation after the altar was built would require many hours, even supposing that there were many ready hands to render assistance.

But the gentlemen who have been so liberal as to supply good springs seem to have forgotten that even they run dry after a long drought. The narrative states that for above three years there had been no rain, so that all the wells and springs had gone dry. Can we suppose those on Mount Carmel to have remained open when those upon the plains were closed? Obviously, the mountain-springs would dry up first, and thus they who have so generously imagined the springs, must complete their work by imagining some means of supply.

Driven from this, there is no use in descending two thousand feet to the River Kishon, for that also must have been equally dry, and so there is no other assumption than that, as Dr. Kitto suggests, the water was salt and brought from the sea. If so, then, as they had miles to carry it, how long were they in conveying the necessary quantity ? Men cannot jump over miles of mountains down to the sea shore to obtain salt water, and then leap back in the same hurried manner. The narrative, like all others of a similar character, does not dwell upon such small matters, but hurries on to the end, as I must do, merely protesting that while so many impossibilities are crowded together, it lies beyond our power to say that it is true. Unless the water was supplied miraculously it could not have been thus used upon the top of Carmel.

But what of the results? What of the butcheries? The writer says: "And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. "And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and "slew them there."* So that they were all butchered, and by the hand of the "Man of God." All slain without mercy and without regard to justice. Can we picture to our minds this man of blood while engaged in his fearful task? To slay one man must be a fearful task, from which we all should start back

* 1 Kings, xviii. 40.

appalled, but what would be our feelings were we called upon to slay several hundreds? And why slay them, when, if the narrative were but true, they would have been glad to join in the Jehovah worship? If they had failed with their own and then had seen the success of Elijah, are we not bound to believe they would have turned to the most powerful Divinity? Men never cleave to a dethroned God. While they can believe in His power a faithful worship is possible, but once prove His inferiority and all is done. So that in this case, if the narrative of these astounding events be true, then the certainty is that there was no need to slay the men. All that that they stood in need of was a fair chance to declare themselves to be on the side of the victor and his Divinity.

They who swear by the Biblical narrative have felt themselves somewhat hampered by this stroke of slaughter, and yet they have managed to escape from it rather easily. Dr. Kitto remarks that "the appeal of Elijah was to the people. He called upon them to inflict, then and there, upon these ringleaders "of the people in idolatry-the punishment which the law denounced, and such as "would have been inflicted upon himself had the victory been on their side; and the "king seems to have been too awe-stricken to interfere. From the character of Elijah, we have no doubt that he executed this act of blood heartily and with "entire satisfaction. It is not for us to vindicate him. The only question is, "Was this in accordance with the law, and with the spirit of the times? It certainly was. And Britons, not so much as fifty years ago, performed under their "own laws, with perfect peace of mind, upon far less heinous offenders, the deadly "executions which we now regard with horror. If, then, in looking back upon the "last generation, we make allowance for this great change of law and sentiment "within so short a time, we must needs make the same allowance in surveying the more remote, and less refined, age in which Elijah lived." ""* But I decline to make that allowance until it is conceded that we are dealing with the story of ordinary life. If God guided Elijah, then what the prophet did under such circumstances must be attributed to the Divinity. Dr Cox contends that "the slaughter of the priests of Baal which followed, at the command of Elijah, was "not the indulgence of personal revenge, but an act of retributive justice for the blood of the prophets, which they had caused to be shed; and of righteous punishment for the guilt which they had incurred in seducing the Israelites from "the worship of the true God; to whom also they owed allegiance as their special "protector, having been by Him separated from all other nations "+ Is it true that these priests had seduced the people to turn from Jehovah? Can it be said that they were ever true worshippers? And is it for any man to slay another upon matters of religion?

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But after all this the king was to be won over. Rain was promised. Elijah, after the butchery returned to the top of Carmel, "and said to his servant, Go up now, look towards the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass at the "seventh time, that he said, Behold there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get "thee down, that the rain stop thee not. And it came to pass in the meanwhile, "that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain, “and Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah; "and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel." Fancy the prophet bounding before the chariot of Ahab! A more pitiful sight cannot be conceived, unless it be Crammer flattering Henry the Eighth.

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And now Ahab informed his wife, Jezebel, of what had been done. "And "Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one "of them by to-morrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose, and "went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judab, and left his

*Kitto. Daily Bible Illustrations, vol. iv. p. 244.

+ Sacred History ahd Biography, p. 244,

+1 Kings, xviii, 43-46.

"servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he "might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am "not better than my fathers."* So that the selfsame man who could mercilessly slaughter with his own hand all these priests could not remain to be tried in the fire of persecution. Take the picture as painted by the author, and we must say that Elijah, too, was a man, and how often it is seen that he who is readiest to create the stake and bind the victims, and set fire to the faggot, is the first to say 'hold, enough, I cannot! I cannot!" when it comes to his own turn to be tried in the fire.

Elijah fled, and went away from his servant a full day's journey into the wilderness, where the thought, as he sat beneath the tree, arose in his mind, "Oh that I "could die! Oh that I now could die! The reaction had commenced, for even, according to the narrative, this man was not a murderer by profession, but kindly hearted and generous. Roused to a lofty pitch of bitter religious fanaticism, he could sieze the priests of Baal and immolate them upon the altar of God; but when the hour of reaction came, once more the man emerged from the fanatic, and then he looked with inexpressible horror upon his work. And to what had it all led? How had the nation been profited by the sacrifice? He had conquered, and now in the hour of victory it is as an exile he sits beneath the juniper tree, to review the horrible past. Let us read what follows, and see what lurks beneath the curious story. He lay down and slept, and "behold an angel roused him to "eat and refresh himself for a long journey," a journey of forty days, to Mount Horeb, was before him. The journey was made. Horeb was reached, and then follows this relation. "The word of the Lord came unto him, and said, What doest "thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of "hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine 'altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." Does it not seem strange to you that such an answer should be given by one who is represented as one of the greatest of Religious heroes? Where was the heroism of thus flying from the battle at the time his presence was most needful? Nor was this the first time that this "pro"phet" had shown himself thus wanting. Very different to this has ever been the conduct of the real heroes of the Past-the men to whom, apart from foregone conclusions and priestly teachings, the suffrages of the world are most willingly given. Often has it been that the witnesses of the truth might also have said, I only am left, and the evil ones seek my life to destroy it," but still they remained and fought the good fight, and, unlike Elijah, priest-made hero though he be-never thought of deserting their posts because danger pressed. But the story proceeds and the Lord said, "Go forth, and stand upon the mount before "the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent "the mountains, and break in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord 66 was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not "in the earthquake."‡

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