The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 302

land, and the highe~t epiritue.l tee.ching. He had given them: 1. Political freedom. For ages they had been in politico.I bonda.ge, the mero sla.ves of despots; but here we Bre told that God had " brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the ha.nd of Pharaoh King of Egypt" ( ver. 7). When they crossed the Red Sea, entered the desert, Bnd st.epped into Palestine, they were civilly free; the chains that had bound them so long were then completely broken, and each he.d the common right of liberty. Political freedom is the inalienable right of all men, is one of the greatest blessings of a people, but one which in every age bas been outraged by despots. The millions are groaning in many a land still under political disabilities. 2 . .A right to tlte land. Canaan was the common right of all; true, it was divided amongst the ten tribes, but this was not for the prirnte interests of any, but for the good of all. What we call "landlordism" scarcely existed, and perhaps it would have been M well had it never existed; it bars the common rights of mankind. When one thinks that all the land in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and England is in the hands of eight thousand men, a number which could be crowded into Spurgeon's tabernacle, and that thirty millions have no portion in the land, it is impossible not to feel that the condition of things ia anomalous. Archdeacon Paley, no mean authority, with bis characteristic clearness and common sense, bas the following remarkable words: " If you should see a flock of pigeons in a field of corn, and if (instead of each one picking where aud what it liked, taking just as much as it want.ed and no more) you should see ninety-nine of them gathering all they got in a heap, reserving nothing for themselves but the chaff and the refuse, keepin;,: this heap for one, and that for the weakest, perhaps the worst pigeon of the flock, sitting rouwi and looking on all the winter, whilst the one was devouring, throwing about, and wasting it; and if a pigeon more hardy or hungry than the rest touched a grain of the hoard, all the others instantly flying upon it and tearing it to pieces ;-if you should see this, you would see nothing more than what is every day practised 11-nd established amongst men. Among men you see the ninety and nine toiling and scraping together a heap of superfluities for one (and this one too oftentimes the feeblest and worst of the whole set-a child, a woman, a madman, or a fool), getting nothing for themselves all the while but a little of the coarsest of the provision which their own industry produces, looking quietly on while they see the fruits of all the labour spent or spoiled, and if one of the number take or touch a particle of the hoard, the others joining against him and hanging him for the theft." What boots collecting and publishing facts concerning the sufferings of people, and entitling the tract the 'Bitter Cry of Outcast London,' unless something is done to put a greater share of the land into the bands of the people, not by violence or spoliation, but by a. calm and just legislation? Alas! even good men, through a weakness of juJgment and the workings of a traditional faith, seem to dream that by multiplying churches and chapels they will bush the "bitter cry." How absurd l 3. The hi,ghest spiritual teaching. "The Lord testified against Israel, and ag:linst Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the Law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets" (ver. 13). One of the fundamental needs of mankind is true ethical teacb- ina;0 not the teaching of abstruse dogmas and vain ceremonies, but the teaching of im mutable law-the "statutes of God." These statutes are not only written on paper, but on every page of Nature's magnificent volume, and on the tablets of human reason and conscience. "Do unto others as ye would have others do unto you." Genuine disciples of such teaching will evermore act rightly towards themselves, to\"l'ards their fellow-men, and towards their God. IL A GREAT NATIONAL WICKEDNESS. Possessing all these privileges, how acted these people-not merely the people of Israel, but the people of Judah as well? Was the sentiment of worship and justice regnant within them? Were they loyal to all that is beautiful, true, and good? Nay. 1. They rejected God. "They would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God," etc. (vers. 14, 15). They declined the study of his statutes, and renounced his claim on their devotion. 2. They adopted idols. Mark: (1) The earnestness of their idolatry. With what unremitting zeal they promoted the ea.use of idolatry I "The children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in all their cities" (ver, 9). It is also OH, XVII, 1-41.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 349