The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 384

men who practice.Uy denied the living God should bo practically 1·eminde:' of their 1lP.pendence on Him. It was well that those who held Bo.Al to be lord ofno.tw·e, eltould 1,e left to discover his impotence (cf. Judg. x. 14; Jer. xiv. 22). "Are there any of the vanities of the heathen that can give re.in ? " And it wo.e a. punishment this, which penitence might avert. Moreover, it was the pon11.lty foretold in the law (Dent. n:viii. 23). Elije.b we.s not left to scatter plagues a.t ltis ple:i.sure. Like e.n eo,rlier prophet, ho oould not "go beyond the word of the Lord to do Iese or more" (Kum. xxii. 18). Of himself, he could do nothing (ibid. v. 88). His meeso,ge we.a, "AB the Lord liveth." If the ro,in should only come "according to his word," it we.a because his word was God's word. If his prayer for the ci.l'ouaht ha.d been ans~rnred (Ja.mes v. 17), it had first been inspired. He speaks here a,; the minister not tb.e master. He is the willing, patient slave of Jehovah. "Before whom i stand." IV. Hrs MINISTRY. From this initial message let us tum to his ministry as a wltole. And it presents to our view these broad features- 1. It wtU eurcised in silence. How few a.re Elijah's recorded words, and those few are the utterances of but five or six occasions. He was not "mighty in word." He had no sooner delivered his first brief message than he disappears, e.ndfor three yea.rs and a half Israel hears him no more. He speaks for a moment: he is dumb for a. triennium. And when he reappears, it is but for a, day. That one day's ministry ended, he is again hidden from our view. Thrice more he reappears in the history, but each time it is but for a day, o,nd then he goes into the silent heavens, and save on the night of transfiguration, speaks to men no more. How like to the revelations of God to man. He "keepetb. silence (Pse.. L 8). He too hideth Himsell •• He spe.ke and it was done." How unlike the everlasting chatter of some of our later prophets. "Ministers," it is sometimes s&id, "are mere talkers.'' Elijah proclaims the dignity, if not "the eternal duty, of silence." "All real work," some one has said, "is quiet work.'' How many of our sermons, full of sound o.nd fury, leave not a trace behind them. But the silent EWLS accomplished the regeneration of hie country. 2. It Wf1B a ministry of deed. There was no need for him to speak. The works that he did bore witness of him. Declamation, argument, remonstrance, would have been absurd. The time for that we.a past. And he had actions to speak for him. Su:-ely there is e. lesson for Christ's ministers here. It is true they cannot work wonders like Elijo.h ; and it is also true that tb.ey are sent to " preo.oh the Word," to reprove, rebuke, exhort, &c. ; but we are reminded here that o. fruitful ministry must be one of action. Words, however eloquent, in the long turn count for less than 11, holy life. The age, however it may hanker after sensa.tiono.lism, is ncvertlteless suspicious of all talk. Why is it that our holy religion has but suoh an indifferent !told on the masses of our countrymen? One reason is that while we "point to heaven," we do not always "lead the way." "Cujua vita contemnitu1', ejus pracdicatio despicitwr." The life of their parish priest is the only Bible many Englishmen ever read, and ale.a, what a smeared and blotted page that some• times is. And those who do hear our sermons have learned to discount them. They know full well tltat words a.re cheap, and that emotion, and even unction, can be simulated. They ofLen wonder how much of our discourse we really believe and 11re.ctise ourselves, and they tum to our lives for o.n answer. That familiar paradox, consequently, is full of truth and meaning? that, "in. pree.c~ing! the tlting of leo.st importance is the sermon.'' It was well said that actw-a.ction m the truest sense of the word, not gesture or manner, but conduct-is the first, second, o.nd third great essential of eloquence. (see "G_ue~ses e.t Truth," ii. pp. 146 seqq.) A Fre!1oh ecclesiastic, the Abbtl MullolB, has le.id 1t dowh, as one of the co.none of preacluog, that "to address men successfully, they mUBt be lovea 'TTVIJ,Ch.'' "Nothing influ- ences others so much as character. Few peoplo are capable of reasoning, and fewer still like the trouble of it; and besides, men have hearts as well a_s hee.c~. Hence, coneist.ency, reality, ever-present principle, shining through the person Ill whom they dwell, and making themselves peroeptible, he,ve more we1(fht than IWl,ny a.rgumente, than muelt preaohing '' (Heygate, "Ember .Houn" ), It 1e Baxter tlD. XVII. 1-24.] TIIE Fif.ST BOOK OF KINGS. 891