Chapter 5: The Children of Bethel (Or, the Fear of the Lord)

From: Children of Scripture By:

• 36 min. read • grade level: 7

“THE fear of the Lord is to hate evil." (Prov. 8:13¹³The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. (Proverbs 8:13).)

“By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil." (Prov. 16:6⁶By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. (Proverbs 16:6).)

“Well we know the Lord of glory
Always sees what children do,
And is writing now the story
Of our thoughts and actions too."

Mrs. Shelly

2 Kings 2:1-15¹And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. ²And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Beth-el. And Elisha said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Beth-el. ³And the sons of the prophets that were at Beth-el came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. ⁴And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. ⁵And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. ⁶And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on. ⁷And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan. ⁸And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground. ⁹And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. ¹⁰And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. ¹¹And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. ¹²And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. ¹³He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; ¹⁴And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. ¹⁵And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. (2 Kings 2:1‑15) AND 23, 24

2KI 2:1-15, 23, 24¹And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. ²And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Beth-el. And Elisha said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Beth-el. ³And the sons of the prophets that were at Beth-el came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. ⁴And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. ⁵And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. ⁶And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on. ⁷And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan. ⁸And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground. ⁹And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. ¹⁰And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. ¹¹And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. ¹²And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. ¹³He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; ¹⁴And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. ¹⁵And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. (2 Kings 2:1‑15)
²³And he went up from thence unto Beth-el: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. ²⁴And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them. (2 Kings 2:23‑24)THIS is a terrible story, though it is a short one; for in that Book which is apart from all other books, one among the many things we may notice is how much is made known to us in a few words. The shortest verse in all the Bible, only two words, tells what has comforted the hearts of hundreds in the hour of sorrow, and in the 2nd chapter of 2 Kings, one of the most wonderful events that ever happened among men is described in a few short lines:

“And it came to pass, as they still went on and talked, that behold there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven."

Elisha was servant to Elijah; he was also a holy man of God; he had gone with his master from Gilgal to Bethel, and again from Bethel to Jericho, on through the plain of Jericho, then across the pathway smitten by Elijah's mantle through the midst of Jordan; then, on the further side of Jordan, amid the lonely mountains which bordered close upon its deep waters, the two had talked together until Elijah had been taken up into heaven.

Elisha had stood and looked upon the wondrous sight, but now Elijah was gone; Elisha could see his beloved master no more; nothing was left but the mantle which Elijah would need no longer; no more contentions with the enemies of God for Elijah, no more flights from wicked rulers, no more toilsome journeys—Elijah was gone up to heaven. Elisha took up his master's mantle, and then, in all the dignity of the faith, the love, and the sorrow which filled his heart—clothed, too, with the power of Elijah—he began his lonely journey back to Bethel.

Would not all who saw him look with reverence on the man who alone had been permitted to behold the heavenly vision? Would they not listen to catch a word of power and love from those lips which had last spoken with the prophet whom heaven had claimed? Would they not feel for the sorrow of the lonely friend and servant of the man of God? We might have supposed so, but in this dreadful story of the Children of Bethel we have quite another picture.

From the river Jordan to Bethel was about twenty miles, and already, before he reached that city, the power of Elisha, the man of God, had flowed out in grace—he had healed the waters of Jericho so that the barren land became fruitful; then he went on to Bethel. Once, a heavenly vision had been seen at Bethel; it was there that Jacob had lain upon his pillow of stones, and had dreamed of the "ladder set up on the earth," whose top reached to heaven, and on which he beheld the angels of God ascending and descending. More than this: God Himself had looked upon that spot where Jacob lay, and had spoken with the wanderer, and when Jacob awaked out of his sleep he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place," and he gave it the name of Bethel, which means House of God.

Ah, well would it have been for the little children of that city, if they had learned and remembered these words of their forefather Israel: “Surely the Lord is in this place!”

About eight hundred and sixty years had passed since the night of Jacob's dream, but God had not departed from Bethel: “His eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men." Alas! for the children of Bethel, when they forgot those Eyes of Jehovah.

And “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." You may not be in Bethel, but you are, as much as the children of Bethel, under the eyes of the Lord. You may not act as did the children of Bethel, but we read—"I the Lord search the heart." God had not left Bethel all the eight hundred and sixty years, without a solemn reminder of His presence; Bethel had been the dwelling-place of the old prophet who told a lie, and just outside Bethel was the spot where the man of God, who had turned from the command of the Lord to the lie of the deceitful prophet, had been slain by a lion in the way. Perhaps there were some among the older inhabitants of the city who even remembered the dreadful day of the disobedient prophet's death, for it was not more than 79 years before the other dreadful day of which I am now going to tell you, and perhaps the fathers of the old people in Bethel might have been among the "men" who "passed by and saw the carcass cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcass." Many children of Bethel had, no doubt, since seen the spot and heard the terrible story.

It may have been near this very spot that Elisha was when the wicked children met him. Was it just two children, or three, who had remained thus careless of the presence of the Lord and the warnings given to Bethel? No, quite a crowd of little children came forth from this wicked city—forty-two; there might have been more, forty-two is the only number mentioned, and oh! was not that enough?

Forty-two children had gone out of the city, and would return no more; fifteen, twenty, thirty, I cannot say exactly how many, but many mothers would weep that day for the children whom they would behold no more; fifteen, twenty, thirty doors had shut forever on the ungodly children.

What a sound burst upon the ears of the gracious, sorrowful man of God, as he was going up by the way to Bethel; the children mocked him and said, “Go up, thou bald head. Go up, thou bald head." Yes, these little children dared to speak thus to the holy man of God; and to speak rudely and mockingly to Elisha would have been alone a sin with which God would have been displeased. When children are disrespectful to the aged, God is displeased, for He has said, “Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and fear thy God. I am the Lord." How much more when children dare, by manner or words, to slight or mock a servant of God!

Thus we may see two things in the behavior of these children which were offensive to God; but there was another thing, worse even than this: perhaps the children, when they left their homes that day, had little guessed what a dreadful tale would soon be told of them; when we begin in willfulness we know not where we shall end. These children were like those who say, “Our lips are our own, who is Lord over us?" But when the Lord does not keep the door of our mouth, when we say our lips are our own, there is one, the enemy of children, the enemy of souls, who is ready to use those unkept lips.

Did you ever think about this enemy? He is called the “wolf," who “catcheth the sheep;" he is a liar and a murderer from the beginning. Oh, what a dreadful enemy! that old serpent who deceived Eve-the devil, who goes about "as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour." His name is Satan.

Satan likes to see children willful; oh, how fast then he drives them on to more sin, and he gives wages to his servants, dreadful wages: “The wages of sin is death."

Perhaps all the forty-two children did not go out at once to meet Elisha, a few most likely went first, a few began the cry, then another joined and another until forty-two children fell into the temptation and were caught in the snare; ah! when you are willful you know not what temptation may be waiting for you, or how far you may fall in a moment. One child alone, perhaps, or two, would not have dared thus to shout at the prophet, but the forty-two seemed a strong company; in their foolish eyes the one holy man of God looked nothing to be afraid of. But God's all-seeing eye saw each of those forty-two children as plainly as though each had stood alone in the way beside Elisha. “Though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished."

Foolish children! foolish indeed, for they had not "the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom." Their words, “Go up, thou bald head," were more than mockery of Elisha, they were mockery of what God had done These children, in their wicked folly, mocked at what it was said that God had done in taking Elijah up to heaven. They could not understand the holy mystery, and they made light of it.

God was not going to explain His mysteries to wicked, rebellious children; they would not find themselves taken to heaven.

“He loves the little ones to teach,
And put his truth within their reach."

But “Surely he scorneth the scorners." Nothing great, no vision from heaven was sent to these scorners; an earthly, common yet awful event was to prove their folly to them, and to all who should come after them.

The clamorous children dared to approach and to surround Elisha; his very quietness and grace perhaps added to their wicked boldness, but now they would learn the awful danger of despising grace.

“Elisha turned back and cursed them in the name of the Lord;" that is, he pronounced a message of anger and punishment from God upon them. Yes, Elisha, the man of faith, of love, of sorrow, of grace, cursed these children. How awful! from the lips of grace to hear a curse. How dreadful! to see the eyes of love turned on them in anger. And there is One, a Man of Grace, beyond Elisha, “All bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth." Those who listened to Jesus were forced to say, “Never man spake as this man." Yet there is a day when those lips of grace shall speak such words as these: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Jesus, the gift of God's love, once the Man of grace and sorrow, will be seen one day as the Messenger of God's wrath, the Man of power and glory. “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance."

And on whom will He take vengeance? " On them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe."

Not far from where Elisha and the children were standing, there was a wood. Perhaps these little children sometimes played there, but they would play there no more; their voices no doubt had sounded many a time upon that same road, but playful tones would be heard from them no more. One last sound was to come forth from their lips, in answer to the curse of the man of God: a scream of terror, a groan of death, and then silence forever.

Out of that wood, obedient to the will of God, executors of His judgment upon the ungodly, mocking children, “there came forth two she-bears and tare forty and two children of them."

God could shut the mouths of lions that they should not hurt the praying Daniel. God could restrain the poisonous adder that it should not hurt the prisoner Paul. God could also fill these two bears with rage to destroy these wicked children.

Did you ever see a bear? His shaggy brown coat, his long heavy body, his thick rough legs, his great paws, and his wide cruel mouth set with sharp strong teeth? Oh, what terror must have filled the hearts of those children, when the fierce eyes of the two bears glistened on them from among the trees of the wood, and the two monsters sprang upon them! None could help the other then, though hand joined in hand.

Elijah had been gone from earth in a moment; and but one had seen him go; what terrible proof had these unbelieving children that God could remove them too in a moment, with but one, and that same one, to see them go!

Elisha passed on his way; the history of these little children had reached its sad end-at least, their earthly history had reached its end; it had ended in death, but there is, "After death the judgment," and it may be, in the awful day of the Great White Throne, when the "dead small and great stand before God," that among the small who stand there, will be those "little children" of Bethel.

Sorrow must have filled the town of Bethel when the solemn event of that day became known; perhaps, in the midst of the weeping that must have been heard in many a little child's home that night, some remembered the night, nearly six hundred years before, when "There was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead." Did any then remember the slain lamb, and the sprinkled door, and God's word of mercy. “When I see the blood I will pass over you?" We know not.

There was once a little boy who dreamed about the Day of Judgment; his name was Johnny. Poor little Johnny could neither hear nor speak, he was deaf and dumb; perhaps it was for this reason that God taught him by a dream, for now that we have the whole word of God, we do not often get teaching by dreams, as in the old times when but half the scripture was given. A kind Christian lady taught Johnny every day, and took great pains with him, but as he could neither hear what she said nor answer her in words, it was very difficult to know how much he understood. There was a dangerous illness going about in the place where Johnny lived, and many had died after a short time of suffering. How quickly a child, or even a grown person, often dies when a dangerous illness lays hold of them. "Ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away." The lady thought how dreadful it would be if Johnny should die before he had learned about God's judgment and God's mercy, and she prayed that God would enable her to teach these things to the poor boy, although it was so difficult. Accordingly, when Johnny came to his lesson the next day, the lady put the usual lesson books aside, and looked very gravely at her poor little deaf pupil, by which he understood that there was something new and very important to be learned that day, and he, in his turn, fixed his eyes on his friend, by which he showed, though he could not reply, that he was ready to pay great attention to the new lesson.

Then the lady took a piece of paper and a pencil. She drew a great fire, by which she meant to tell Johnny of that fire spoken of in the ninth chapter of Mark and the forty-third verse—

“And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be, quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

And again in the next verse: "And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

Again, a third time, "And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

Yes, any suffering here is better than to be cast into that dreadful place, " Where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Still, no suffering of ours could deliver from that dreadful place; nothing but the suffering of Christ, who “once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust," could “bring us to God."

Johnny looked at the great fire; then, by his looks, he inquired, What was it for? Oh great was his surprise when the lady drew men, women, and children; Johnny looked anxiously at her, but she could not comfort him yet, there was something still worse to be told; the lady, in answer to his looks of alarm, gravely shook her head, and then drew the picture that always meant herself, and, at last, the picture that Johnny knew to be his own. Poor speechless Johnny, though he could hear nothing, well understood that it was an earnest and dreadful truth the lady was telling him; his fear and sorrow now broke out in cries and tears; he took the hand of his kind friend, he wept over it, he made known that the fire must not be for her; then he became angry; he began to shake his fist at the picture of the flames, but the lady stopped him, she had something more to tell; it was no one Johnny could fight against, who had appointed this punishment for sin, it was God; the lady had signs by which she made this known. Johnny understood at once, he had learned about the power and goodness of God who had made all things, but God " angry with the wicked " was a new thought to him; he wept bitterly and clung to his friend with beseeching looks as if to implore her to save him. Ah, Johnny felt his need of a friend, but the kind lady could not be that friend.

"Which of all our friends to save us,
Could or would have shed his blood?
But our Jesus died to have us
Reconciled in Him to God;
This was boundless love indeed!
Jesus is a Friend in need."

The kind lady could not be the friend whom Johnny needed, she could only point again to the picture of herself being sent along, like all the other men, women, and children into the terrible flames. Johnny must learn that every one alike has earned by his doings the judgment of God and the punishment of sin.

What could poor Johnny do now?

Nothing; he could only cry.

What could any poor sinful child do without Jesus the Savior?

Ah, nothing but weep forever and ever.

But Johnny was not to weep forever. After he had cried for a time the lady made known to him that she had something more to say, something comforting. Johnny dried his tears and ventured to look again at the dreadful picture. Then, on the opposite side of the paper, the lady drew the figure of one Man alone coming forward towards the fire, and by signs she made known to Johnny that because of what He had suffered, the men, women, and children could be saved from that dreadful fire.

Johnny appeared to be rather comforted, and he looked at the new picture of the one Man, and by signs expressed his joy, but soon a new trouble arose. Johnny, though he could not speak, could think, and he had a very thoughtful mind.

What do you think now troubled him?

It was this: Was the goodness of that One enough to save the whole multitude of condemned men, women, and children

Johnny made signs to his friend: the Savior was only One; the condemned were many, very many. Now, how could the lady teach the deaf child that Jesus was One apart from all men, the One in whom sin is not; no picture or earthly figure could really show what Jesus is, because He is, though a Man, yet a divine Being. He was “that Holy Thing," the Son of God; but the lady trusted that God would, by His Holy Spirit, teach the poor child; and you know that we, though not deaf and dumb, must learn also of that great Teacher—the Holy Spirit.

The lady, meantime, used means to make known to Johnny that, in comparison with that One who had come forward as Savior, all the inhabitants of the world were as nothing at all: she went to the window where some flowers were in pots, and she picked up a little earth and a few tiny bits of stick and dead leaves; these she put upon the many; then, taking a gold ring from her finger, she laid it upon the One. Then Johnny understood.

Many other things the lady told Johnny that day; she made known to him about the Judgment of the great white throne, about the dead small and great standing before God, about the books which were opened, and in which "the story" was written "of their thoughts and actions too;" then she told him about the precious blood of Christ which alone can blot out sin from God's sight, and make the sinner clean and fit for the light of God's presence.

When Johnny went to bed that night, it was not surprising that he dreamed of the wonderful things he had been told; perhaps, as he could not talk, he thought more than many children; and it might be well for children sometimes, though they are not dumb, to talk little and think more. Johnny dreamed that the day of the great white throne had come, and that sinners, one by one, were being called up before God.; Johnny heard their stories read out of the books that were opened, and he saw that there was nothing in those, stories to save the sinners from being sent away into everlasting punishment; at last, in his dream, Johnny heard his name; it was his turn to be brought up there. Oh, what fear he felt! He knew a little of what his story in those books would be, and there was nothing in it to comfort him. The book was opened, his page was turned up, but there was nothing to be read there. Johnny could see nothing, and nothing was to be seen, but the precious blood which had blotted it all out, and Johnny saw, standing by his side, the One in the picture, Jesus the Savior, and He showed Johnny's name in the book of Life, and took Johnny by the hand to lead him away as His own from the place of judgment.

Then Johnny awoke.

The next day he told his kind friend of his dream, and she thanked God who had thus taught the poor deaf and dumb boy.

Johnny did not catch the illness which his friend feared for him, but lived for some time, to show by his ways that he had not only heard of Jesus, but had received Him by faith in his heart.

Perhaps you may read more of Johnny, or some of you may already have read about him in a book called “The Happy Mute," written by his kind friend, Charlotte Elizabeth. Johnny had many blessed truths to learn, besides those which were made known to him that day: among others he might learn that it was "the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world," and that to those who "receive him," that is Jesus, "to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name," and it is to those who thus "receive him" that Jesus has said, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am there ye may be also." Before that day of the great white throne, they will be with Jesus and like Jesus; they will never be left, as poor Johnny in his dream, to feel all the horror of being judged among the dead. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life."

In your own Bible you may find the word "condemnation," but that was a mistake made by the men who translated the New Testament from Greek or Latin into English; that word should have been written “judgment." How blessed for us when we read of God's judgment against sin, to be able also to read such words as these, and to know they are the words of "God who cannot lie" to us.

There is no child-story in all the scripture, I think, which is so dreadful as this of the Children of Bethel, but God has recorded it there for us to read; God does not delight in judgment, though He hates sin; God delights in mercy and it is His mercy which gives such warnings as these, just as it was true love in Johnny's friend, which made her draw the dreadful picture, though it made him cry. He would have us learn and abide in the fear of the Lord. These children had not the fear of the Lord; they had to learn “the terror of the Lord."

The Lord says to us by such warnings, “Let not thine heart envy sinners, bat, be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long."

Perhaps you are ready to say—Who could envy the wretched children of Bethel?

Ah! who could envy them, when judgment had fallen upon them. But do children never envy others who are doing or having what they are not allowed to do or have? May there not have been, even in Bethel, some children besides those forty-two, who would willingly have gone with the crowd that ran out to meet Elisha, but whose parents would not allow them to join the rude unruly children? Do you think Amram or Jochabed would have let Moses run with the mockers? or would Hannah have let her little Samuel, whom she had asked of God, be found in the company of those who feared Him not? A father like poor Eli might have seen such wicked sons as Hophni and Phinehas in that crowd. We may be sure that most of the children who reached such an extremity of wickedness, and upon whom such sudden destruction came, had often, in their homes at Bethel, given proof of the rebellious spirit that was in them, and were such as those who sheltered their little ones in the Subject Place would not allow to them as friends and companions. “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed."

Oh, what a lesson the children kept at home might learn that day! “Let not thine heart envy sinners." What a warning we who read may receive! “The fear of the Lord is clear, enduring forever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins."

In 2 Cor. 5:11¹¹Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. (2 Corinthians 5:11) we read of “The terror of the Lord;" Paul says, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men." The terror of the Lord is that which must be known one day by those who refuse to learn the fear of the Lord. The terror of the Lord is mighty, destroying, and dreadful. Of this terror we read Isa. 2 —"And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth." Also in Rev. 6, “And the kings of the earth, and the great men and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondsman, and every free man hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains." If you read Mal. 3:16-18¹⁶Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. ¹⁷And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. ¹⁸Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. (Malachi 3:16‑18) and 4:1, 2, you will see very plainly the difference between those who fear the Lord, "that thought upon his name," and those who fear Him not, who do wickedly, and are overtaken by the terror of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the continual remembrance of His presence. It is likewise mighty, but it is preserving and precious.

“In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence." “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life." A treasure. Prolongeth days. Gives a heritage. “Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith."

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." “And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches." If any one has not the fear of the Lord, he is without knowledge, he knows not who it is that he is thus forgetting. “With God there is terrible majesty. Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out; he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict. Men do therefore fear him." “Hast thou an arm like God, or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?” “The voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is full of majesty." “Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name." “Great is the glory of the Lord." But “Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly."

Yes, all this power and greatness is not told of to make us afraid of God; all this power and greatness is to protect the lowly against the terrible enemy, the wolf, who tries to catch the sheep; if there is but a child who fears the Lord, who thinks upon Him, who remembers that God hears, that God sees, God remembers and keeps that child when the wolf is trying to tempt and to catch him.

There were once two little boys; they were cousins, and they were hath nearly the same age, just five years old; they were alike in another thing, a very sad thing. Each of these poor little boys had a very cruel, wicked father; one father had gone quite away to be a soldier, and had left his wife and his poor little son to get on as best they could; the other father lived by selling fish and other things in the street; he might have been able to supply his wife and child with food and clothes, but he was idle, and earned but little; he was also selfish, and liked only to spend what he earned upon himself. Most likely he had been an idle, selfish and willful boy, before he had grown into this bad father.

The two mothers and the two little boys lived together, and did what they could to help one another. The mothers kept the home clean and as tidy as they could, and did their best to earn what was needful, but it was little they could earn, and the poor little boys had to spend many hungry days; when the two mothers earned what would provide dry bread enough for the whole day, their joy and thankfulness were great.

The two little cousins went together to an Infant School, and there they learned a text. You have most likely learned this same text. I wonder if you have thought about it, and have made as good use of it as did these little boys; it is a text which teaches the fear of the Lord, which would keep us constantly remembering that we are in God's presence "THOU GOD SEEST ME."

The little boys thought much of what they learned, though they were only just five years old; when they came home from school, they would repeat their texts and hymns to their poor mothers, and would tell them all they had heard; they could not bring money to the poor, hungry home, but they brought what they could to cheer the hearts of their mothers.

One day, they were playing together in the yard behind their house; it was one of the hungry days, they had eaten what bread there was for breakfast, but there had been nothing for dinner when they came home from school. The father had been out that morning selling herrings, but he had brought back no money to his poor wife; he had gone out to spend it on himself, and had put his basket with the herrings that were left in one corner of the yard, where the little boys were at play.

Oh 1 how good those herrings smelt to the poor hungry children, and how hard it was even to play when it was so long since they had had anything to eat.

One of the children looked longingly into the basket, and suddenly, for he felt he could resist no longer, he took a herring and put it to his mouth, but the other little boy ran quickly to him, and caught hold of his hand, saying "Oh, put it down! for the great God is looking down upon you from the sky." In a moment, the child dropped the herring again into the basket, for he remembered, "Thou God seest me."

What a reproof are those poor little dinnerless boys to any children who perhaps quickly give way to the temptation of taking what has not been given to them! not because they are very hungry, but because the thing looks nice, and tempts them.

This is, perhaps, a sin into which only very little children fall, but there are many other temptations all along the way as we grow older, and all along the way, "Thou God seest me," is a kind of lantern by which we should do well to examine what we are inclined to do. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."

But, alas! there are in this world those “who love darkness rather than light," and who have to "eat the fruit of their doings." I have now a sad story to tell you of one who heeded not reproof. It was Sunday; a widow and her son had just finished their simple dinner; it was a widow's home, so perhaps a poor home, but it was comfortable too; the widow had done her utmost to tenderly nurture her only son; she had tried, too, to teach him the fear of the Lord, but alas! of late he had often caused her heart to ache. The dinner being ended, the lad, for he was grown beyond a mere boy, rose and took his hat; time was when perhaps he had stayed by his mother, but now he was going out; and where do you think he had planned to go that Sunday afternoon? He had planned to go boating.

His mother reproved him, entreated, him, but this willful son would not listen to her voice. At last, as he stood with the door in his hand, his mother rose and said solemnly to him—

“Alexander, if you go this day, I shall never expect to see you again."

Oh! would he not hearken now, would not his heart at least be softened by her sorrow, would not his conscience be touched by her reproof? No, it was all in vain, he may have hesitated a moment, but he was too well accustomed to disregard the word of reproof, and too well used to listen to his own foolish heart, he had too long forgotten the fear of the Lord, and so he went out, and, like the children of Bethel, he shut the door upon himself forever.

Alexander did not think then that it was forever; oh no, the Tempter takes care to hide the real truth from the foolish one who forgets the fear of the Lord; to hide is part of Satan's work as a liar. If, while Alexander was sitting at dinner, somebody had opened the door and said, Make haste, Alexander, eat up your dinner, we want to drown you in the river, do you think Alexander would have gone? Of course not, he would have been glad enough then to have stayed in his home. But this part was hidden from him.

It is only God who knows the end from the beginning; thus those who fear Him, who have respect to His mind in all they do, find that fear to be “a fountain of life to keep from the snares of death."

Alexander walked away from his mother's door, and then his short history was soon told; he found his two companions, he went in the boat, and, just like that boat from which the other young man was kept by the Subject Place, this boat suddenly upset.

Who could tell what Alexander felt then?

No one; for while his two companions swam to shore, he sank, and, as his poor mother had feared, she never saw him again.

This is a dreadful story; but it is true, and it is well for us to remember, that God is the same God now that He was in the days of the children of Bethel, thousands of years ago.

Alexander was an ungodly lad; he disregarded the Lord's day, and disobeyed his mother's wishes; he might have died, as many do, quietly in his bed, but God willed that he should come to his end in this manner as a warning to others. Some sins are open, that is they are such as may plainly be seen by others, going before to judgment; this is very dreadful; dreadful indeed to be an Alexander, of whom such a story can be told. None of you might ever think of going out boating on a Sunday, and I trust indeed that you would not treat your mother, and a widowed mother, too, as Alexander did his; still, if we have not the fear of the Lord, we know not where we may get to. But this solemn verse does not end there, it goes on to say, "Some men they follow after," and unless our sins have been all blotted out by the precious blood of Christ, as Johnny in his dream learned that his were, they must " follow after the sinner to judgment, they will yet be found in those books, where the Lord writes down the story of men's thoughts and actions too.

If we are not kept by the fear of the Lord we are very very badly off. Look at all the things, a few pages back, which the fear of the Lord brings, and then think how badly off is the one who is without all those precious things. There is yet one other precious thing which I must tell you about the fear of the Lord. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

I have heard of woods, in former days, in the midst of which some precious thing was kept, but to reach this precious thing, you must go by the right road; there were many paths in the wood, but all would not lead to the precious thing in the midst. How could the right path be found?

At its very beginning there was a little thread, I mean a fine thread, but it was a very long thread, it reached all the way into the middle of the wood, right on to the treasure; it was not a great rope which every one could see at once, it must be felt for carefully, and held carefully, and walked by carefully. Now this guiding thread was like the fear of the Lord. When a mother, a father, or a kind friend teaches the little child, it is like putting his hand upon the thread.

And do all the children hold the thread carefully, and walk by it carefully, and find the treasure? If not, why do they drop this precious thread? Oh, says one, I cannot hold it, it pricks my hand. So the fear of the Lord causes many a prick, when we are not obedient to its guiding; but alas for the one that drops it! who can tell into what part of the tangled forest of folly and woe he will be drifted? I cannot hold it, says another, for I have something else in my hand. My hands are full already.

The hands of a man in Luke 12 were full, and what did God say to him? “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee." Alexander's hands were full, but soon his drowning hands had to drop all in the deep waters of the river.