blessed Lord was such as even consumed liim"^:" but remember, it was himself that it consumed, not others : yea, when he himself suffered from the blind zeal of others, he prayed for them, even for his very murderers ^ "Be ye then followers of him." " Let it be your meat and your drink to do the will of God yourselves':" but, with respect to others, let all your efforts be " to save, and not to destroy them";" to "win them" by love% and not constrain them by force y.]
'^ John ii. 17. s Luke xxiii. 34. * John iv. 34.
u Luke ix. 56. ^ ^xo\. xi. 30. y Luke xiv. 23.
2 Kings X. 30, 3 1 . And the Lord said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house ofAhah according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.
WE can scarcely conceive any stronger proof of God's willingness to reward his people, than that which he has given us in rewarding persons, whose services were merely external, without any real love to him in their hearts. If we were to judge from the honour put upon Jehu, we should be ready to suppose he was, if not a blameless, yet, on the whole, a pious character : but on a review of his history, our admiration must be fixed, not on him, but on that infinitely gracious and condescending Being, who was pleased to remunerate such services as his. Let us consider,
L The character of Jehu —
Here was a mixture, not uncommon in the world. Let us notice,
I. What he did for God—
[Being appointed of God to the office of avenging upon Ahab the blood of Naboth and of the prophets, he addressed