th~ _ne.tion of a re_ligion w~ose ~piri~ was pure and elevating, and giving it one whose spmt was ~rruptmg and hcent1ous (Bahr). In the case of the Maccabees, a foreign power, dominant over the country by right of conquest, had formed the design of completely sweeping away the Jewish reliO'ion and substituting for it tho Greek or rather the Syrian, polytheism and idolatry~ The crisis was even more terrible than tha~ in Jehu's time, the danger more pressing and greater. In both these cases the n~tlon seems to have waited with the utmost patience, until there was no other remedy. Either~ convulsion had to be faced, or the national religion, the national morality, and the national self-re~pect, would have been swept away. The nation in each case pre- ferred revolution to submission; and the sympathies of the sacred writtrs evidently go with them in their choice. II. WHEK THERE IS A FAIR PROSPECT OF SUCCESS IF A. STAND IS MADE. Nemo tenctur ad impossiln"lia. If the force on the side of authority is overwhelming, if .the national spirit opposed to it is wen.k and faint, if there is no reasonable hope that resistance may be effectual and save the nation from the evils suffered and apprehended, then, whatever their reluctance, though it be "pain and grief to them," patriots are bound to restrain themselves and to remain quiescent. As Plato says, they must shelter themselves under a wall while the storm rages; they must be content to keep themselves pure, as the seven thousand, who had not bowed the knee to Baal, did in Ahab's reign; they must wait for better days. If, however, there be a fair chance of success, ff it be reasonable to hope that the yoke which is doing deadly hurt to the nation may be thrown off, then no considerations of their own convenience or ease, no fear of blame, no shrinking from disturbance, or even bloodshed, should deter patriotic souls from initiating the struggle by which alone their country can be saved. Desperate diseases require desperate remedies. If Elisha a.nd Jehu had waited with folded hands for Joram and Jezebel to work out their wicked will, the Baal-worship would have been riveted upon the northern, perhaps even upon the southern, kingdom. If the Maccabee family had submitted to the agents of Antiochus Ephiphanes, and failed to raise the standard of revolt, Judaism would have been merged in heathenism, and have perished from the earth. It may be added that if, in our own country, no resistance had been offered to James II., but his commands had been submitted to and carried out, then Great Britain would have been recovered to the Roman obedience, and the witness to a purer Christianity than that of Rome, which has been helll up to the world by the English Church during the last two centuries, would have been extinguished and crushed, with what loss to the nation. to Europe, and to the world generally, it is i.mpossil.Jle to estimate.
Vers. 2r-37.-Retribution may be long in ccming, but it comes at last. Even a heathen could say, "Raro a11tecedentem scelestum deseruit pede pc:ena claodo n (Ho!ace, ' Od.,' iii. 2, lines 31, 32). Yet throughout all history evil-disposed men have persisted in wicked and cruel conduct, just as if it was not only possible, but probable, that retri- bution would be escaped. The lesson thus needs contiD:,ually to be impre_ssed on ~en, that, sooner or later, retribution must come-that there 1s no escape from it. Retnbu- tion must come-- I. BECAUSE GoD RULES THE UNIVERSE, A.ND Gon IB JUBT. Disbelief in retribu- tion is essentially atheistic. It implies either tbat there is no God, or that God is wit~out one or more of those attributes which make him God. A just God must have the will to puuish; an omnipotent God ma.et have the power to punish. If a so:called God did not punish sin, he must be either not just, or not omnipotent, or not either; but then he would not be God. As Bahr says, "A God without vengeance, i.e. who cannot and will not punish, is no God, but a divinity fashioned from one's thoughts." IL BECAUSE Gon HAS DECLARED THAT IT SHALL COME, Am> GoD 18 TRUE. God has said to each man, through his conscience, that he will punish sin. Remorse an_d regret, the dissatisfaction of a guilty conscience, are such punishment begu!l· In h!s Word God has expressly declared that he " will reward every man according to hie works" (Pe. lxii 12; Prov. xxiv. 12; Matt. xvi. 7; R?m. ii. 6; 2 Ti~. _iv. 1~); that he "will by no means clear the guilty" (Exod. xxx1v. 7) ; that " 1nd1_g~~t1on a'!-~ wrath, tribulation and anguish, shall be on every soul of man that doeth evil _(R?m. 11, . 8, 9). Nothing is more plainly taught in the whole of Scripture, from the begmning to on. 1x. 1-37.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 199
~he end, thn.n requi?ll, retribution,. condign punishment. .A.ha.b'e cn.se is singular, not m t~e general prmc1ple, but only m the exact correspondence between the sin and its punishment. Such correspondence is rare and abnormal; but it does occur from time .to time, and, when it occurs, there is something a.bout it that is most impressive and striking. W~en the author o~ P!oecription, Marius, is himself proscribed; when the dethroner of kmge, Napoleon I., 1e himself dethroned; when the inventor of conspiracies, 'l'itus Oates, falls a _victim to an invented conspiracy; when Robespierre and Danton, who have ruled by the guillotine, perish by the guillotine;-" poetic justice," a.s it has been ea.lied, is satisfied, and the world at large is forced to recognize and acknowledge that requital has taken place in a signal way. III. BECAUSE ANY NEGATIVE INSTANCE TDAT CAN BE PRODUCED WILL ONLY SHOW A DELAY, NOT AN ABROGATION OF THE SENTENCE. Infinite time is at the disposal of the .Almighty. Men are impatient, and, if retribution does not overtake the sinner speedily, are apt to conclude that it will never overtake him. But with the Almighty "one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." The important thing to be borne in mind is the end ; and the end will not be reached till '' the judg- ment ie set, and the books are opened" (Dan. vii. 10), and men are "judged out of those things which are written in the books, according to their works" (Rev. XL 12). Punishment may be long in coming-the ungodly may continue during their whole lifetime in prosperity. But there remains a future. Where the heathen felt and said, "Raro,'' the Christian will say, "Nunquam antecedentem scelestum deseruit pede pcena cle.udo."