Recent times have afforded examples of similar judgments to what were poured out on the house of Ahab. Even in our own days, there is no want of instances of the rooting out of whole families, because they hardened their hearts against the Lord, and bitterly persecuted his children and servants. Though, for a season, they may flourish like a green bay-tree, and may have power granted them to gratify their enmity against the unoffending flock of God, and its pastors; suddenly, the scene is reversed, and He, who puts on jealousy like a garment, takes upon himself the office of Jehu, and bathes the sword of vengeance in heaven. Their glory sinks into the depths of ignominy, and there is no one found who can arrest the rapidly descending wheel. One fails in business, and sinks into beggary with his whole house; another is given up to the will of his flesh, and sinks miserably in the filth of sin. One must flee away bearing the brand of the law; another is brought by abandoned children with sorrow to the grave. One is smitten with madness; another is given over to a reprobate mind, and, perhaps, in a fit of despair, with impious right hand destroys himself. Ah, the building of pride creaks to its very foundations; and where the Lord breaks down, there is no building up; the fire of his anger burns even unto hell! An evil impenitent death, the awful close of temporal judgments, is but the first in a new series of terrors which no grave can close. The castaway go with Judas to their place, and their names are named no more on earth, or only with abhorrence; their place on earth is forgotten, or shunned as the seat of an everlasting curse. Has any thing of this kind ever happened among us? Answer this question for yourselves, my friends. One thing at least I know, that many a house of Ahab still exists among us, that, if impenitent, cannot escape its fate, but must pay the penalty to Divine justice of its fierce scorn and hatred of Christ and his people. "Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder."

The third commission given to Elijah must have been to

him the most pleasing of all. It contained the answer to his third complaint, "I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life to take it away." It was as if the Lord had said to him, "Be not cast down, O Elijah, thou art not the only one that is left; and wert thou the only prophet on the field of battle, thinkest thou not that I raise up prophets when I need them." "Go and anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat, of Abel-meholah, to be prophet in thy room. And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay; and him that escapeth from the «word of Jehu shall Elisha slay." Thus a storm is an nounced against backsliding Israel in the person of Hazael: an earthquake in that of Jehu; and a fire in that of Elisha, that should declare at once the wrath and the love of Jehovah. Elijah now sees that the Keeper of Israel has not forsaken his vineyard; and this strengthens his faith; this nerves him in soul and body; and when he soon afterwards hears from the Lord's mouth the surprising intelligence that there remained still seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal, the gloomy clouds are entirely scattered from his mind, and with his heart full of the prospect of the glory of God, he cannot longer delay to set out on his return through the wilderness.

My brethren, if a sword of the Lord is to pass through this congregation, and a sword will surely come, O, may it not be the sword of Hazael and of Jehu, but the sword of Elisha, the two edged sword of the Spirit, which is the word of the living God. This good sword, with which he takes the prey from the mighty, may the Lord prosper more and more, that it may better hew its way among us, and pierce, and sever, and penetrate, as it has never done before. May it cast down the proud into the dust; drive the secure out of their refuges of lies; and so wound the self-righteous and maim the whole, that none but Jesus may be able to heal them! Blessed wounds! salutary disasters! The strokes of this sword divide the living from the dead; and by its scars thou mayest distinguish the children of God!

"Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most Mighty, with

thy glory and thy majesty; and in thy majesty ride prosperously, because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness; and by thine arrows let the people fall under thee." Psal. xlv. 3-5. "And may the people which are left of (he sword find grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when thou goest to cause him rest." Amen. Jer xxxi. 2.

VI.-THE HIDDEN CHURCH.

"I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people," saith the Lord by the prophet Isaiah, lxv. 19. These words open to us a view into tho paternal love of God, which ought to draw our hearts up towards himself. We behold here the close relation which subsists between God and his chosen people; and see that we entertain, respecting it, ideas far too mean, if we conceive of it as the relation of a mighty monarch and his pardoned criminal subjects, or of a condescending master and his unprofitable servants. It is only a faint glimpse of the love of God which is afforded us, when it is said that we are objects of his sparing and pardoning mercy. We are incomparably more than this. The Lord rejoices over his people. He delighteth in them that fear him and trust in his mercy. He beholds them not as they are in themselves, but as they appear in the glorious righteousness and implanted holiness of their Surety. In that holiness he sees something that wears the image of his Son, and shines with the brightness of his own glory. For the regenerate are conformed to the express image of the Divine person.

A figure here occurs to me, which has been used by a certain writer somewhere, which is so striking, and deep, and beautiful, that I cannot deny myself the pleasure of repeating it for your edification. The glorious sun in the heavens, as you know, enlightens, warms, and fructifies all nature. Suppose now, that this all-enlightening, all-reviv ing, all-fructifying sun, were a rational being, and could

watch all the effects of his influence; it would then behold its own image in every sea, in every lake, in every river, in every brook, nay, it would even see itself reflected in the loftiest mountains of ice; and would it not, in the abundance of its joy, at this glorious radiance, forgetting itself, embrace all these seas, lakes, and rivers, nay, the very glaciers, in its arms, and delight in them? Thus Jesus Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, beholds his own image and Divine work in every renewed soul, as in a mirror; hence, seeming to forget himself in the abundance of his joy, he could condescend to wash the feet of his disciples, and exclaim over the Syrophenician woman in profound satisfaction, "O woman, great is thy faith." Thus, too, the eternal Father beholds in his children the beauty of his Son Christ Jesus, as the brightness of his own glory, with an adorable complacency, which we want words to express, He embraces them in the arms of his love; if the image of the Son be but reflected in their hearts, however chill and cold they be, he turns not away the reviving beams of his affection.

Happy are the people that are in such a case; "Yea, blessed are the people that have the Lord for their God." We are to witness the discovery of a portion of them this day, where we would little have thought to find them. We are to contemplate the hidden church.

1 Kings xix. 18.

"Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him."

These words form the conclusion of the address of Jehovah to Elijah at Horeb. After the announcement of the heavy judgments which were to come upon degenerate Israel, by the hands of Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha, this delightful communication follows like the still small voice. The last shade of gloom must now have been dispelled, and the full day of peace and joy restored to the prophet's mind.

The announcement made to the prophet may lead us, I. To remark that God has ever a hidden church. II. To

attend to the discovery of it sometimes made. III. To rejoice in the promises given to it.

I. "O Lord, thy name is forgotten, and the pillars of thy temple are shaking. I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life to take it away." Such were Elijah's complaints, and how could he help their utterance; since the age was indeed evil, and the days of Noah seemed to be restored. All was dark, dead, ruined, and desolate; and the kingdom of God with the exception of a few persecuted adherents of it, driven from the earth. It must have wounded Elijah to the very heart. For many a day had he dwelt on the painful topic, and could find no lightening of its darkness; when all at once he hears from the mouth of the Omniscient One the unspeakably astonishing tidings that the faithful were not as he had gloomily imagined, only one here and one there; but that a whole body, a great multitude, seven thousand in number, yet remained, who had not bowed the knee to Baal, nor kissed him. How deeply affected must the prophet have been by this disclosure. Gladly would he have recalled the rash words, "I, even I, only am left alone." How must he have been ashamed of his unbelief; but with a shame that merged in a deeper joy that the kingdom of God was still so gloriously upheld. How eagerly must he have longed to commence his return to the blessed labour of farther extending it.

And what could be more delightful, my brethren, than for us in the present day to be surprised by a similar piece of intelligence? Our age, no doubt, is a great deal better than Elijah's was; but every one must admit that there is much that is no better than outward show. Yet, if all were Divine life which appears in the form of real godliness; if all the preachers who, in recent times, have returned to the evangelical strain, preached the truth in the Holy Ghost, and in supreme devotion to the crucified Saviour; if all the crowds that flock to the house of God were really saying in their hearts," Come, let us return to the Lord," and were following a better lead than that of fashion and custom; if all