The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 174

they had ~n ~ak~g large profits for their pock?t (Acts XX. 19). Destructive godli- ness eomet.tmes mdioates a devot.edness, and sometimes renders a service which deserves to take high rank amongst the exoellences and even the nobilities of human worth, We look at- I. Tm: DESTRUCTIVE PIETY SHOWN BY THE KING. He removed the high places set apart for idolatrous worship, also the altars of false gods ; he " out down the groves " where moral and devotional abominations were likely to be committed· he "took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made" (1 Kings xv. 12). And that which was, perhaps, more than all this, as evidencina a sincerity and thoroughness of heart toward God, and justifying the language used by the Chronicler (ver. 2) concerning him, he destroyed ths idol of Maaihah and even removed that idolatrous que~Il: from the offic_ia_l dignity she had been enjoying. Asa, therefore, struck a very dec1s1ve and damagmg blow at the idolatry of his time• be powerfully and effectually discouraged iniquity and immorality in three ways: 1.'He showed his own persona! and royal hatred of them. 2. He rebuked and punished the perpetrators of them. 3. He took away the means of indulging in them. By these measures be stTove well and wrought successfully for the truth of God and for the purity of his people. II. OUR OWN ACTION IN THE BAME DlRE0TION. In what ways shall we serve God by a destructive piety? 1. By prMMting wise kgislative meas"res. There are evils which it is needless to name from which large numbers of people need to be protected. To be tempted by them is to be overcome, is to be slain by tbem; they are active sources of e,·il and of suffering, of ruin and of death; they ought to be suppressed; and one pa.rt of a Christian man's duty is to join his fellow-citizens in cutting down or "removing those high places" of the land. 2. By excluding evil things a,nd evil perso'Tl,/J fr()'ITI, the home. There a.re men and there is literature concerning whom and concern- ing which we can only say that they are sources of defilement; and if we have not power, like an Oriental monarch, to forbid them the land, we can forbid them the home; we can see that, in respect of those who are in our charge and for whose well-beini we are responsible, that tnese men and these books are well beyond reach. 3. By putting doU,"n evil language. This we may do, in many quarters, by firmly discountenancing and fearlessly condemning it; the voice of righteous reprobation will soon silence the profane and lascivious tongue. 4. By e:t:-pellingfrom our own life tha.t which imperils our moral or spiritual integrity. Every man must know, or should know, what ha.bits (in eating or drinking, in recreation, etc.) are fascinating, absorbing, dangerous to· himself; must know in what direction it is perilous to set out, lest be should go too far. There let him determinately bar the way; that threatening ha.bit let him dxclude rigorously from his life (see Matt. v. 29, 30).-C. Vere. 2, 4. 6, 7.-Constructive godliness. It is better to construct than to destroy (eee preceding homily), and though Asa did well in demolishing the strange altars aud expelling the sodomites from the land, be did even better in (1) encouraging all Judah to seek God in worship and to obey his Law, and in (2) fortifying his territory against the enemy while the land was in his full possession (while the land was "yet before" them). The patriotism and the piety that expended themselves in spiritual e.nd in material edification were of the best. We shall find their analogue among ourselves in- L BUILDING UP OURSELVES on our holy faith (Jude 20). A man's first duty is that which he owes to his own spirit; for God has given him that, above all things, to have in charge and to present pure and perfect before him at the last. We are, therefore, most sacredly bound to build up ourselves in faith, in love, in purity, in truthfulness, in moral and spiritual integrity, in mercy and magnanimity. And this we shall do (1) by the study of our Lord Jesus Christ (of his life and character); (2) by the worship of him and fellowship with him, both in the home and in the sanctuary ; (3) by an earnest and prayerful endeavour to do and bear his will, and to follow his example until we attain to his likeness. II. EDIFYING THOSE WHO]I[ WE CAN INFLUENCE; bringing to bear upon the inmates of our home, npon those whom we employ (or by whom we are employed), upon our nearer neighbours, upon our fellow-townsmen, upon our fellow-wol'llhippcrs and fellow- orr. xiv. 1-15.J THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 175