The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 124

ite own oultus and ite own worshippers. We e.\l reco11:nize that an idol may exist in our t~ought as well as in our _sight. The essence of idolatry is the preference of anyt~mg to God, so as t~ allow it to ta.ke the pla.ce he s~ould fill in our thoughts and affections. The same obJect does not tempt us a.11, nor WIil the BBme allure us in a.II the stages of our life. In youth you may worship Asta.rte; in manhood Ba.al • and in old age, the golden calves. Speak of forms of idolatry prevalent in England. ' I. The idolatry of weal,th. We do not allude to the gaining of money, which is possible to a. man who wine it by his shrewdness and skill, by his industry and probity in business. The Lord has given him power to get wea.lth, which he uses a.s a. steward for God. Describe one who makes money-getting the object of life. He chooses a. business, without any care about its evil associations. He steels his heart to misery a.nd to the claims of his own kin. He ignores the standard of integrity which an enlightened conscience sets up. If advantage is to be gained by bribe or trick, he is not the man to lose it from scrupulo118ness. He ha.a no time for home duties, for Church work, etc., which claim his efforts. In brief, he dismisses, and feele that he must dismiss, God from his plans; and as the ha.bit grows he becomes "joined to idols," and in hie avaricious hardness God lets him alone. 2. The idolatry of pleaaure is not extinct. Picture a young girl introduced to society, in whose gaieties she henceforth finds herself entangled. Simple '.of heart as she is fair of face, she is insidiously injured by the unwholesome excitement, the late hour11, the ina.ne a.nd profitless chit-chat of such an existence. Too tired to pray, too flattered to conquer self, she forgets those solemn realities to which the present life is only a vestibule, until in the scales of Eternal Jl18tice she is" weighed in the ha.lances and found wanting." Slowly but surely her early sensibility decreases; and she whose heart was once easily touched, whose con- science was keenly sensitive, becomes the hardened, scheming woman of the world. She is joined to idols: let her alone. 3. The idolatry of sensuousness. The halls of entertainment in which the lusts of the flesh and of the eye are pandered to are thronged nightly by lads whose incipient manliness becomes deteriorated. There, and elsewhere, drink exercises a fatal influence. Short of intoxication, the will is weakened, the memory obscured, the imagination so excited as to find pleasure where otherwise there would be none; and so the first step to ruin is often taken half consciously. Little by little the power of drink asserts itself, till self-control is gone, and its victim cannot live without it; and so joined to idols is he that God says, "Let him alone." In these as in similar temptations many resent holy influence till they cannot feel it ; they are "twice dead," "given over to a reprobate mind." II. THE WOEFULNESS OF INSENSIBILITY, 1. Its natu.re. "Let him alone," is God's command to all who have been speaking in his name, the prophet being their repre- sentative. A minister preaches, and many under the influence of the truth are moved to thought and penitence. One hears as others do, but, unlike them, is hard and callous. Often has he said to himself, "I wish I could go to a place of worship without feeling uneasy; '' and at last God says," You shall. Ministers, let him alone! " Friends spoke faithfully to another, urging him to prayer, pleading with him, even with tears, to turn from sin. Sometimes he laughed at their anxiety, sometimes he was angry at their interference, heartily wishing that they would interfere with him no more. Now they do not. One friend has removed to a distance, the voice of another is stilled by death, and another has given up further effort in utter despair of success. God has said, "Let him alone." Solemn events once stirred to thought, but now their influence is gone. The voice within which warned and entreated is sensibly weaker and less frequently heard. To conscience God has said," Let him alone," and now it is sleeping. 2. The dreadfulness of this condition is seen in the fact that the noblest part of ma,, is gone, Suppose your hand was injured so that you were in pain night and day. Driven to desperation, you take a red-hot iron and sear the flesh, destroying nerves and tissue ruthlessly, The sore heals, the pain is gone. Ay, but the hand is use- less, and nothing ca.n restore it. So may you deal with conscience. Refusing to go to the good Physician when conscious of your peril, you sin deliberately against God, and thus conscience may be "seared as with a hot iron." Note, also, the ominousness of being lert alone. We see all the trees in an orchard pruned with an unsparing yet skilful hand, and are told that they will be the more vigorous and fruitful in the autumn. One tree, however, has been let\ untouohed by the knife. Why? Is i,  122 'l'HE BOOK OF, HOSEA.