of America to the faith, and those stones raise up children unto Abraham.' Let the warning, given us by our own apostle, be ever sounding in our ears, though when we consider the state of religion among us, it may perhaps make them tingle : Because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed, lest he also spare not thee.' [Rom. xi. 20, 21.]

[BISHOP HORNE.]

SERMON C.

TENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

CHARACTER OF AHAB.

1 KINGS xxi. 25.- -There was none like unto Ahab, who did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord.

[Text taken from the First Morning-Lesson for the Day.] A SINNER, of peculiar infamy, is here proposed to our consideration. There was none like unto Ahab, who did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord.' [1 Kings xxi. 25.] May the odiousness of his name deter us from the most distant imitation of his example!

After the death of Solomon, the kingdom was divided into two parts, according to the divine threatening. Ten of the tribes of Israel revolted from Rehoboam, the son of Solomon; formed themselves into a separate government under the conduct of Jeroboam; and were never more subject to the house of David. Upon this revolution, also, they forsook the worship of the true God; and, probably from political motives, established idolatry as the national religion. Jeroboam, their new leader, to prevent them from going up to the temple service, and to detach them more entirely from the kings of Judah, commanded them to attend at Dan and Bethel, and to bow before the golden calves, which he had there set up. The bad effects of the change very soon appeared. The people almost universally apostatized from God; and their princes were altogether vile and abominable.

Ahab was the seventh in succession; and during those several reigns, the nation made a continual progress in sin. No other consequence can be expected, when men forsake God,

and are given up to their own ways. One ruler of Israel after another was destroyed by the just judgement of an angry God; yet those who followed, laid it not to heart. It seemed that each resolved to tread in the steps of him, who had gone before, or rather, if possible, to exceed him in wickedness. Such was Omri, the father of Ahab, who wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all that were before him.' [1 Kings xvi. 25.] What, then, could be looked for, from the son of so abandoned a father? We have known, indeed, instances of eminent piety among the descendants of profane parents. But such is the influence of education, such the evil tendency of human nature, that children are prone to imitate bad examples, and very apt in learning the corrupt practices of their teachers, unless the grace of God interpose to prevent it. We do not wonder, therefore, when we read, that Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him, and did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger, than all the kings of Israel that were before him.' [1 Kings xvi. 30, 33.] What extensive mischief, then, may follow from the neglect of your offspring! If they perceive in you an avowed contempt of God and his worship, it is probable that they will be at least as zealous in the cause. of wickedness and infidelity, as yourselves; and the ruinous effects may spread from age to age.

Young people, however, must not screen themselves behind the authority of their parents; for they shall answer for their own iniquity. Their connexions may expose them to peculiar dangers and temptations, but do not furnish them with an excuse for sin. Let Ahab warn them of the sad consequences of imitating the profaneness of their nearest friends or progenitors.

This impious prince was no sooner in possession of the government, than he showed himself a decided opposer of true religion. He not only cast off all regard to the service of Jehovah, but went farther than any of his predecessors; inasmuch as he introduced the detestable rites of the heathens, and erected a temple for Baal. Some part of his zeal in this business, we are to ascribe to the alliance which he had formed. He married Jezebel, the daughter of an idolatrous king, a woman of a fierce, persecuting, and abandoned disposition: and it should seem, that, in compliment to his queen, or influenced by her instigations, he committed some atrocious crimes,

which, bad as he was, he would not otherwise have done. This thought should engage the attention of the young. Your future character and conduct, perhaps your eternal state, may depend on your choice of the companion, to whom you are to be united for life. Beware, lest a regard to worldly prospects, your ill-directed fancy, or the solicitations of your lust, draw you into such connexions, as may, in the issue, be fatal to your souls. Suppose not, that you can withstand every enticement to evil, while you see how many have been overcome. Nor imagine, that you shall convert her to the cause of truth, who is yet an enemy to it; but rather fear, lest your own minds should be more and more corrupted. For how can you expect the blessing of God, if you act in contradiction to his will and command? Is it less dangerous for you, than it was for the Jews of old, to be thus joined with unbelievers? Or is your religion of less value than theirs, that you are not so much concerned to maintain it?

The Lord is patient and long-suffering; but in the misery which sin occasions, even here, we perceive an evident token of his displeasure against it. The prophet Elijah, whose ministry had been despised and opposed, was sent to denounce the judgement of God against the king for his impiety; and accordingly, a long drought and famine reduced the whole country to the utmost extremity. [1 Kings xvi. and xviii.] Ahab himself felt the distress, but was not humbled by it. He still persisted in his idolatry; and hated, and persecuted, with murderous rage, Elijah, the faithful messenger of Heaven; and yet, when the prophet voluntarily presented himself before him, he had no power to hurt him. He reproached him, indeed, as the troubler of Israel, but stood to hear his faithful reproofs; and, as if he were won over to his side, complied with his requisition, in summoning the priests and the worshippers of Baal, to a general assembly. There he himself attended; and, when he had beheld Elijah's decided victory over the advocates of idolatry, probably under the conviction which that victory produced, he consented to the death of four hundred and fifty of those very priests, whom he had introduced and supported.

It is no unusual thing for men of the most abandoned character to be struck with profound awe, and restrained from their vile purposes, by the presence of an eminently-pious per

son. There is a power in real godliness, which commands the reverence of those who hate it; and this the proudest sinners often so far feel, as to be unable to carry on their violent opposition against it, while yet no saving change is effected upon them.

What, then, was the effect with Ahab? He reported those remarkable transactions, which he had himself beheld upon mount Carmel, to his queen Jezebel: [1 Kings xix. 1, &c.] and this might be done with no ill design. But her rage was excited, when she heard that her favourite priests were destroyed; and immediately she vowed to take vengeance on Elijah; nor did Ahab, as he ought, resist her wicked proposal, or defend the prophet of Jehovah.-There are those also among ourselves, who, with a full persuasion of the truth of the gospel, are afraid or ashamed to stand up in its vindication; and who therefore tamely acquiesce in the violent schemes of its opposers. What base cowardice and treachery is this! In such a cause, it is not sufficient, nor is it possible, to remain neuter. For thus our Saviour has determined, ‘He that is not with me, is against me.' [Matt. xii. 30.]

When a very formidable attack of Benhadad, the king of Syria, had thrown the Israelites into the utmost consternation, and threatened them with instant destruction, [1 Kings xx. 1, &c.] yet Israel obtained a very singular deliverance. Benhadad was delivered into Ahab's power, for the express purpose of being made an example of justice. Ahab, however, neglected his commission; and through a sinful lenity, not only permitted the insolent offender to escape, but treated him as his brother, and entered into a foolish covenant with him. This conduct was highly offensive to God; who, therefore, sent a prophet to reprove and to threaten him for his disobedience, assuring him that he must soon lose his own life, in lieu of the criminal whom he had spared. Instead of imploring forgiveness, he went to his house heavy and displeased,' full of enmity against God and his prophet. The influence of divine grace will dispose us to justify the sentence, by which we are condemned. But the haughtiness of man is unwilling to bow before God; and therefore sinners are inclined to vindicate themselves, to be sullen and angry, and to quarrel with the declarations of God against them. Who can acquit himself in this matter? Have you not been forward to accuse your Judge, when you ought to have taken shame to your

selves? Have you not complained of the strictness and severity of his law? And when a faithful application has been made to your consciences by the ministers of Christ, has not the effect been the same as with Ahab? Have you not gone to your house heavy and displeased?'

Shall we, then, envy the monarch upon his throne? He had obtained a signal victory; but the wrath of God was kindled against him. He possessed a kingdom; but his own furious and vile passions rendered him extremely wretched. As if his whole dominion could not satisfy his desires, he fixed his eye upon a small vineyard, which he coveted as an addition to his garden. [1 Kings xxi. 1, &c.] But this was the paternal inheritance of another person, Naboth, who it should seem, from a conscientious regard to the law of God, [Lev. xxv. 23.] refused on any terms to relinquish that which descended to him from his ancestors, and which was entailed upon his family. A refusal from his own subject, the haughty prince could not bear; and merely because he could not obtain the accession he had longed for, being filled with rage and anguish, he gave himself up to a sullen despondency.

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What a striking picture does this exhibit of the sin, the danger, and the misery, of an envious, proud, and avaricious disposition! Be content with such things as ye have.' [Heb. xiii. 5.] Some little enlargement of your income or your estate, you suppose, would quite satisfy you. No: you deceive yourselves: something else would then be wanted. The rich and the powerful are as far from the summit of their wishes as the most indigent. If you had Ahab's property, with Ahab's temper, you would be truly wretched. Why should you not be satisfied, as you now are? Only pray, that you may enjoy the love and blessing of God with your possessions, and you will find a little that a righteous man hath, is better than the riches of many wicked.' [Psal. xxxvii. 16.]

It rarely happens, that a person of a discontented, malignant spirit is not hurried away into schemes of villany, to accomplish his object. The infamous queen, Jezebel, contrived and effected the destruction of Naboth by the basest perfidy, that she might gratify the desires of the king. Ahab, indeed, did not appear in that transaction; but he plainly consented to it, and immediately seized upon the inheritance of his murdered subject. Although his wife might be the more obdurate offender, he himself was destitute of every good principle, and