Such is the power of example, especially when it falls in with our corrupt inclinations, that the Jews, notwithstanding the revelation they had received from God, and the care he took to preserve them from the abominations of the surrounding nations, often forsook the worship of Jehovah for idols, or attempted to incorporate idolatry with Judaism. The kingdom of the ten tribes was in this respect the most guilty. Ahab, one of the wickedest of their monarchs, had married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of the Zidonians, by whom Baal was worshipped. Through the influence of this wicked woman, the worship of Baal was diffused to an enormous extent in the kingdom of Israel. Against this abomination the prophet Elijah, with the dauntless courage of a reformer, set himself in determined opposition. After reproving the monarch, and rousing against himself the malignity of Jezebel, who sought his destruction, he sent a challenge to Ahab, to put the claims of Baal and Jehovah to a fair and decisive test. In an evil hour for the credit of Baal the challenge was accepted: the decision was to be sought by each party preparing a sacrifice, and calling upon their God to answer by fire: and the scene of contest was Mount Carmel. It was an august and awful spectacle; the question to be determined being to whom rightly

designated Baal, or Bel, or latinised Belus. This deity, under another theory of his nature, was the Chronos of the Greeks, and the Saturn of the Latins. We do not find the name Baal in use east of Babylonia, but it was general west of it, to the very extremity of Europe. The worship of Bel, or Belinus, incorporated with Druidical rites, was general throughout the British Islands; and some of those rites and observances are still maintained among us, notwithstanding the establishment of Christianity through so many ages. A town in Perthshire is called Tilliebeltane, i.e., the rising-ground of the fire of Baal. In Ireland, Beltein is celebrated on the twenty-first of June, at the time of the solstice. A fire is kindled on the tops of the hills, and the members of families pass through it in order to secure good fortune for the year. Bel-tein is also observed in Lancashire. In North Wales a similar ceremony is practised on the first of November, when the people run through the fire and smoke, and each casts a stone into the fire. See Watson's Biblical Dictionary [and Hampson's Medii Ævi Kalendarium, vol. 1, p. 246.]

belonged the throne of Deity. There on one side were Baal's priests arranged in troops, to the number of one hundred and fifty, patronised by the monarch and his wife, full of confidence, and flushed with hopes of victory. On the other appeared one man, to the eye of sense solitary, unbefriended, unpatronised, unprotected. But that solitary man was Elijah, the prophet of the Lord of Hosts. Strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, assured of the triumph that awaited him, he surveyed the array of priests, the frown of Ahab, and the malignant eye of Jezebel flashing fury and revenge, calm and undismayed. What dignity was in his looks, and what majesty in his deportment! The congregated thousands of Jewish spectators witnessed, in awful silence, the preparations. Heaven with serene confidence, and hell with dread and dismay, watched a scene which, not only for that occasion, but for all time, was to decide whether Jebovah or Baal was the true God. How much was at stake; what interests were involved; what a question was to be decided! One can imagine all nature was hushed in dread suspense; that the waves of the Mediterranean ceased to roll; that the winds of heaven were still that the forests of Carmel were listening. The prophet towards the close of the day put an end to the suspense. Advancing to the assembled multitude of Israelites, he said, "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God follow him; if Baal, then follow him. Ye are not yet in conviction quite alienated from the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; but your allegiance is shaken, and ye are divided in opinion and practice between Jehovah and Baal. Your irresolution is as guilty as your suspense must be painful; and your indecision is as uncomfortable as it is dishonourable and wicked. Ye worship Baal. I worship God. I am here to prove which has the rightful claim to your fealty and obedience. I now propose a trial upon which to rest the issue of the present contest.

Let each party prepare a sacrifice, and call upon his God; and the God who answers by fire, let him be considered as the true God." You know the sequel ;* and I drop the narrative, only turning back for one moment to dwell upon the indecision of the people: they halted between two opinions. You wonder at their indecision, and condemn them with language of severest reprobation, and very justly so. But do you not in this also condemn yourself? Are you not undecided in a case which, if not so palpable to the senses, is no less plain to the judgment ?

But before I describe the nature, and pronounce the character, of your indecision, let me set before you the opposing parties in reference to which it is maintained. On the one hand there is the Lord God of Hosts, the Jehovah of the Jews, under the fuller and clearer manifestation of himself as the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ; there are his ministers demanding the acknowledgment of his claims, and there is presented his service, the faith, hope, and love of the gospel. On the other side are the Baalim of this age, in all the various forms under which they are the objects of human idolatry. It is true you are not called, invited, or disposed, to bow the knee to idols of wood, stone, or metal, either graven or molten, either in the rude images of barbarous worship, the grotesque and monstrous creations of Hindoo polytheism, or the fascinating forms of classic mythology. These however are not the only ways in which idolatry may be practised. What in fact, have ever been the objects of false worship but the evil qualities and passions of man's fallen nature, visible embodiments of his own

* Infidel wits have flippantly asked, "Where did the people get the water to fill the trenches at the command of the prophet, since the drought had caused all the water of the land to fail ?" They forget, as they generally do, when they offer sceptical observations, the one main fact of the case, that the scene of the contest was not very far from the sea shore. [There has also been discovered on the spot assigned as the scene of the miracle a well which never fails. See Professor Stanley's Palestine.]

lusts and pleasures exalted to the skies, to be there seen invested, as on Olympus of old, with all charms and splendours; or sent down to the infernal regions, to receive the stamp of their authority and malignity, that so they might come from either place with power to make men wicked. Every one has a god, and if a man does not love and worship Jehovah, he will make a deity of his own image, and the deity cannot surpass himself. Survey, young men, the idols which you are called upon from many quarters to worship, and between which and the only living and true God, (O inconceivable folly and sin!) you are hesitating. Among them, sustaining a high place, is the idol of sensuality, “That reeling goddess with a zoneless waist," decked out with all that can pollute the imagination, inflame the passions, or excite the propensities of a youthful heart. Before this image multitudes of devotees of both sexes bow the knee, and offer the most costly sacrifices of property, health, principle, and reputation. Near her is the bewitching and smiling image of worldly pleasure, with the intoxication of music, songs, and dances, alluring the giddy and thoughtless to its orgies, and throwing the spell of its fascinations over the imagination of multitudes who go merrily to their ruin. Mammon, the sordid deity of wealth, is there, glittering with gold, and offering riches to his eager followers as the reward of their diligent and faithful adherence. His liturgy is the cry of "money, money, money!" his sacrifices, notwithstanding his large promises of happiness, are the time, the bodies, the souls, the principles, and the comfort of his worshippers; and his officials are the greedy speculators and commercial adventurers of our country and our age. There is also the Baal of infidel speculation, with false philosophy as his high priest to conduct the ceremonial, inviting the youthful aspirants after mental liberty to come into his service, by his promises to free the intellect from the shackles of superstition. Near this is the shrine of human knowledge; evil only when raised

into the place of faith, piety, and virtue; but when thus exalted above revelation, a deceiving, corrupting idol; the false Minerva of a Pantheon of Vices. Nor must I leave out the idols of false religion, the chief of which is Popery, the anti-Christ of the Apocalypse, “the Man of Sin," described by the apostle as "sitting in the temple of God, exalting itself above all that is called God." This idol, taking the name of Christ as its designation, assuming the cross as its symbol, and boasting of an apostle as its first minister; enriched by wealth; venerable for antiquity; dignified by learning; decorated by sculpture, architecture, and painting; and adding the profoundest policy, and most serpentine craft, to all those other dangerous qualities, has fascinated countless millions; and notwithstanding the monstrous absurdity of its doctrines, the blood-stained page of its history, and its hostility to the liberties of mankind, is now putting forth the most arrogant claims, and making the most audacious attempts for the conquest of our country. Such are the principal idols which oppose themselves to the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, as the claimants of your heart. Such are the objects which have induced an indetermination in your minds whether you shall serve them or your Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor.

By the undecided in religion I do not mean the confirmed infidel, profligate, or scoffer, or those who live in total or absolute rejection of religion. They are not undecided; they are in the fullest sense decided; they have made up their minds, though unhappily on the wrong side. They have chosen their god, and are the determined and devoted worshippers of Baal; they have decided against God. They have hardened their hearts, seared their consciences, and perhaps outlived all misgivings upon the subject, except it be an occasional qualm in the season of death or sickness. They congratulate themselves upon their having thrown off all the weaknesses and fears of superstition, and upon their being now enabled to pursue