s Hos. xiii. 4.
2. What should be your determination ?
[" Every man, as the prophet teUs us, will walk in the name o£his God," whatever his idol may be, whether pleasure, or riches, or honour: "and we also should walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever'\" In this resolution we should be fixed'. What though all Israel be against us, and we stand alone ? shall we withhold our testimony on that account ? No : truth is truth, whether embraced by many or by few. The prophets of Baal were not at all the more right in their views, because they were so numerous; nor was Elijah the less right, because he had none to concur with him : nor did he accomit liis singularity in what was good any reason for relinquishing it : on the contrary, though alone, he deter- mined to adhere with all steadfastness to the Lord ; and we in like manner should say with Joshua, " Though all Israel should depart from God, we and our houses will serve the Lordk" ]
^ Mic. iv. 5. i Hos. xiv. 8. i^ Josh. xxiv. 15.
1 Kings xix. 11 — 14. And he 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 brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord ; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake ; but the Lord was not in the earthquake : and after the earthquake afire ; but the Lord ivas not in the Jire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and ivent out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said. What doest thou, here, Elijah ? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts : because the children of Israel have forsaken thy coveiiant, thrown down thine altars, and slai?i thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it aioay.
THE history of all the saints of old sufficiently proves, that there is no such thing as sinless per- fection to be found. There certainly have not been many more distinguished characters than Elijah; yet was he not exempt from sinful infirmities. Circum- stances of peculiar difficulty are like a furnace that