Chapter 8: Abijah (Or, the Difficult Place)

From: Children of Scripture By:

• 50 min. read • grade level: 6

“NEVERTHELESS I am continually with Thee, Thou hast holden me with Thy right hand; Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory." (Psa. 73:23, 24²³Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. ²⁴Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. (Psalm 73:23‑24).)

“Lord, I commit my way to Thee,
Do Thou my footsteps lead;
Be Thou in danger my defense,
My help in time of need."

1 Kings 11:28-37; 12:25-33; 14:1-18²⁸And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph. ²⁹And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field: ³⁰And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces: ³¹And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee: ³²(But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:) ³³Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father. ³⁴Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant's sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes: ³⁵But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes. ³⁶And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light alway before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there. ³⁷And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt be king over Israel. (1 Kings 11:28‑37)
²⁵Then Jeroboam built Shechem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel. ²⁶And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: ²⁷If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. ²⁸Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. ²⁹And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan. ³⁰And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. ³¹And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. ³²And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Beth-el, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places which he had made. ³³So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Beth-el the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense. (1 Kings 12:25‑33)
¹At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. ²And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people. ³And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child. ⁴And Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age. ⁵And the Lord said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman. ⁶And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. ⁷Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, ⁸And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes; ⁹But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back: ¹⁰Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone. ¹¹Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the Lord hath spoken it. ¹²Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die. ¹³And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. ¹⁴Moreover the Lord shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now. ¹⁵For the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger. ¹⁶And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin. ¹⁷And Jeroboam's wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died; ¹⁸And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet. (1 Kings 14:1‑18).

1KI 11:28-37²⁸And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph. ²⁹And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field: ³⁰And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces: ³¹And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee: ³²(But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:) ³³Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father. ³⁴Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant's sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes: ³⁵But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes. ³⁶And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light alway before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there. ³⁷And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt be king over Israel. (1 Kings 11:28‑37)1KI 12:25-33²⁵Then Jeroboam built Shechem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel. ²⁶And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: ²⁷If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. ²⁸Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. ²⁹And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan. ³⁰And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. ³¹And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. ³²And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Beth-el, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places which he had made. ³³So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Beth-el the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense. (1 Kings 12:25‑33)1KI 14:1-18¹At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. ²And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people. ³And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child. ⁴And Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age. ⁵And the Lord said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman. ⁶And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. ⁷Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, ⁸And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes; ⁹But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back: ¹⁰Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone. ¹¹Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the Lord hath spoken it. ¹²Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die. ¹³And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. ¹⁴Moreover the Lord shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now. ¹⁵For the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger. ¹⁶And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin. ¹⁷And Jeroboam's wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died; ¹⁸And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet. (1 Kings 14:1‑18)IS there a child who has read sadly about the Christian home? Some child in a Difficult Place? A little lonely child, or a sick child, or a sorrowful child? For though the mercy of God has spangled this dark world all over with bright christian homes, just as He has spangled the midnight sky with bright stars, yet there are many difficult places between, and many feet, little and big, have to stand at times in the difficult place; but the difficult place is not therefore the dark place; oh no, it is the place for faith, the place for hope, and the place for love.

The child Abijah stood in a difficult place, as you will hear, though he was the son of a king. His father was Jeroboam—the first king who reigned over ten of the twelve tribes of Israel when they were divided into two kingdoms.

Jeroboam had been a servant of King Solomon, he is spoken of as "a mighty man of valor;" he was also an industrious young man; he had courage, strength, boldness, perseverance, and industry—all these were good qualities; perhaps he had some others which we are not told about, yet Jeroboam was a very wicked and miserable man. Good qualities or abilities may be in a man or in a child, yet, if the heart is not subject to God, these very good things only lead on to sin and ruin. Many things are good in themselves and have been given of God, but one who knows not God can only make a bad use even of good things. Jeroboam's industry and enterprise, that is power to plan and to do, were only his helps to ruin. For a time he seemed to prosper; Solomon made him ruler over some of his vast possessions, besides this a wonderful prospect was opened before him: the prophet Ahijah met him one day and told him that God would give him ten of the tribes of Israel, and that he should be king and reign to his heart's content. Ahijah also told why God was going to take ten of the twelve tribes away from Solomon, and this might have been a warning to Jeroboam; it was on account of Solomon's self-indulgence and idolatry, that his son Rehoboam was to lose so large a part of the kingdom; only two tribes, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, were to be left to him, and that was for the sake of the promises of God given to David, of which I spoke in the story of Joash.

I fear that Jeroboam was like that fool who trusteth in his own heart; he heard what God said about Solomon's sin and idolatry; he saw its punishment, when the ten tribes turned away to him from Rehoboam; but he does not appear, for a moment, to have turned to God; he does not appear to have said to himself—If Solomon thus sinned and displeased God, and brought down punishment upon himself, what is to keep me from sinning? Do any of you ever behave like Jeroboam? Perhaps one child is in trouble through naughtiness; does another who sees it then turn to God saying, My heart is just like that, weak and sinful, only God can keep me? or does he feel pleased with himself, as though he were better than the naughty child? that is trusting in your own heart. If you think yourself better than the naughty child, you do not know your own heart; there is not in your heart one single spot that will produce goodness for God, and, alas! there is not one single sin that your own heart could not give way to, if left to itself. If we know our own hearts we shall know that, from beginning to end, God sees them fit for nothing but judgment. God kept on trying man, and man always turned out the same-a sinner. God tried Adam in the garden of Eden, with everything there to help him to be good and happy; but there, in the midst of God's many gifts, Adam disobeyed, and he was turned out of the garden. God tried the children of Israel. When He had showed them His power and goodness in bringing them out of the land of Egypt and through the Red Sea, God Himself took care of them in the wilderness, but there they murmured against Him, and worshipped a golden calf which they had made. God tried them in the land; He subdued their enemies and gave them abundance of good things; He punished them again and again; He delivered them again and again from the sorrow into which their sin had brought them; but they went on sinning until the Jews, who were the people left of the two favored tribes which God yet watched over and tried after the ten tribes had long been scattered, were a people under tribute to the Romans, that is servants to the Romans, in the land which God had given them for their own. The tender heart of God grieved over the people, who, with all His care and goodness, had gone on their own way. Psa. 81 will show you how He felt about them. God had yet one thing with which to try man. “Last of all he sent unto them his Son, saying, they will reverence my Son." But man did not reverence Jesus, the Son of God. “He came unto his own," that is to the Jewish people, and His own received Him not. “The chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him." “Herod with his men of war set him at naught and mocked him." Pilate, though forced to say, "I have found no fault in this man," yet offered to “chastise him;" and when all the people together cried out, " Away with this man, crucify him, crucify him," "Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required, and he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast, into prison, whom they had desired, hut he delivered Jesus to their will." All kinds of people were there, Jews and Gentiles, high and low, learned and ignorant, wicked thieves and those who were accounted good people, and when Jesus was, delivered to them, what was their will? It was all one will; all hearts of men were proved to be alike. When they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him. This was the heart of man. They crucified Jesus who went about doing good, they crucified Jesus who spake as never man spake. God could try nothing more. He would try nothing more. Not only God, but now all men could see what man's heart, left to itself, was like. What was done to Jesus when left to the will of man, to the heart of man? He was put to a shameful death. God has now one word for all flesh. “What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." The flesh means what you are by nature as born from Adam. “So they that are in the flesh cannot please God."

As soon as Jeroboam came to the throne, of Israel, he thought of a plan in his own heart, and took counsel with others who had but hearts like his own; he did not take counsel with God by prayer. God had given the ten tribes to Jeroboam, and God could have kept them for him, and He told him upon what condition He would do this.

In 1 Kings 11:38³⁸And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do that is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; that I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee. (1 Kings 11:38) we read: “And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways and do that is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments as David my servant did, that I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee."

The heart of man loves its own plan much better than God's way. Jeroboam seems to have forgotten all that he might have learned from the messages of Ahijah the prophet, and, in order to keep the throne, he did the very thing because of which Solomon had lost the throne. He made idols; two calves of gold. He feared lest the people, if they went to Jerusalem to worship, should leave him and return to Rehoboam. Then he said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

It is sad to see the deceit, the foolishness, and the wickedness of Jeroboam, and also to see how readily the people followed him, how easily they were deceived. Foolish people! How could it be too much for them to go where God had told them to go? Was Jeroboam more merciful and gracious, was he better able to enter into the feelings of the people than the God who, hundreds of years before, had seen their affliction when they made bricks in Egypt, had heard their groaning, and had come down to deliver them? God did not at once forsake the people, though they so richly deserved it. He sent a prophet to stand before Jeroboam and warn him, while he was engaged in the idolatrous worship which he had invented. God will not accept as worship the inventions of man's heart, even though they may be intended in His honor. The prophet who came to Jeroboam prophesied of the child Josiah and of the work he should do; a work of destruction upon that which Jeroboam was setting up; but all this did not warn the foolish king, who trusted in his own heart. “After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way."

Then judgment was determined upon him from God.

Such was the home of the child Abijah; a dark home indeed, for there the word of God was disregarded; a sad home, for the judgment of God was determined upon it; a difficult place, for with all its real darkness and sadness, there was much in that palace at Tirzah that would naturally attract the heart of a child.

Jerusalem had been the real chief city of the land of Israel, but when the kingdom was divided that wonderful city belonged to the King of Judah. Samaria, which is nearly forty miles north of Jerusalem, became, after a time, the capital of the kingdom of Israel, but it was not built until the reign of Omri, father of Ahab. Tirzah, where Jeroboam lived, is about five miles east of Samaria. We may be sure that he who was so clever and industrious as the servant of King Solomon, would not fail to surround himself, in his new palace home, with all that could add to his magnificence and enjoyment. He would know well how to do this, for besides his own industry and power, he had had the advantage of spending some time among the Egyptians, who were, as you know, a rich and learned people.

Abijah had a heart like yours; you know how much there is in glitter, and grand show, and luxury that naturally entices the heart. How easy it would have been for Abijah to have been satisfied, nay delighted, with finding himself the son of the king; how easy to have pleased his father by taking pleasure in the worship of the golden calves; how easy to have filled his heart with the grandeur and the enjoyment and the success and the self-pleasing which was all around him!

Yes, very easy. “For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat."

Abijah would have had plenty of company in the easy way, father, mother, brothers, courtiers, servants; in the difficult place he stood alone. What could keep him? Why could not he, like all the others in that dark home, run in the easy way? Ah! there was in his heart “some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel."

There were good things, as we saw, in Jeroboam, but they were not good things towards God, and they only helped to lead him faster and further from God. What was the good thing in Abijah? We are not told of any great or good thing which he did; we are not told that he destroyed the calves of gold, or that he reproved his idolatrous father. No, that would not have been a child's place.' God sent a prophet to do that; He did not give that work to Abijah.

We are not told what good thing was in Abijah, but from other parts of scripture we learn what good things God takes pleasure in finding in a heart. One thing precious to God is a need of Himself; perhaps this was in Abijah. Perhaps he had read of the goodness of God to His people. His great goodness "laid up for them that fear him, that trust in him before the sons of men." Perhaps Abijah's heart had learned to say, Oh, this is what I should like a share in; I would rather have a share in the good things which God has laid up than in the grand things, the passing entertainments, “the pleasures of sin," which are round me in the palace. Perhaps Abijah's heart felt a need which could only be satisfied with the goodness of God.

Perhaps Abijah trembled at the word of God; this is one of the good things precious to God — "a heart that trembleth” at His word. Perhaps Abijah felt the terribleness of being surrounded with the idolatry which God hated; he was quite helpless. He could not put away the idolatry, for his father had set it up; he could not get away from it, for it was in his home, and he was but a child in his home; there was but one way out, it was not the front door or the back door, it was not east or west, north or south, it was up. Ah! that is the only way for the child in the difficult place. Abijah's heart could escape from the dark idolatry, up to the bright presence of the one true God, the Lord God of Israel; and while his heart was up, his feet were kept from sinking in the slippery place.

We may be sure that Abijah's heart did not turn upwards to God without receiving some answer of support and comfort from Him, and he must have needed it, for he must have been a lonely sorrowful child indeed in that dark home.

Jeroboam sinned against all the warnings he received; no repentance, no seeking after God, and he had to reap the fruits of his sin; the judgment determined was ready to fall upon the idolatrous family; but God remembered the weak, lonely, sorrowful child in that hour. He would take him away; Abijah fell sick.

Oh, what is to become of those who live in pleasure and who forget God, when sorrow reaches the home! It is not the sunlit shadow of the Christian home; no getting comfort from God, no bowing with broken heart to the will of God in Jeroboam's dark palace, only more planning in his own heart; first, inventions to keep the kingdom which God had given to him; now, inventions to keep the son whom God was about to take from him. It was a mercy to Abijah, but it was a sore punishment to Jeroboam, for no doubt he loved his son, and, as king, was proud of this heir to his prosperity.

Jeroboam called his wife and said, "I pray thee disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam, and get thee to Shiloh: behold there is Ahijah the prophet, who told me that I should be king over this people. And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him; he shall tell thee what shall become of the child."

This plan of Jeroboam's was quite wonderful for its foolishness. How could Ahijah look forward through time into the counsels of God and know what would become of the child, if he could not look through a strange garment and know who had come to talk with him?

The plan, too, showed sadly what a dark waste the heart of Jeroboam had become; the only thing he says of Ahijah the prophet is, "He told me I should be king over this people." What he was to get, what suited the covetousness and ambition of his own heart, was all that he remembered; the sad lesson taught him in the punishment of Solomon, the warning given as to his own conduct, seems to have been quite forgotten. Jeroboam was not afraid to inquire of the one who had spoken with him, for he only remembered what pleased himself of that solemn conversation.

Ah! are not our hearts like Jeroboam's? How often people excuse themselves by saying, "I forgot." Yes, they forgot that part which was sent as a lesson to them, or which concerned others, and they remembered only that part which pleased their own selfish hearts.

Jeroboam's wife set off; she had a journey of twelve miles or more to go; she took the present; but could any present make the idolatrous king acceptable to the man of God? She dressed herself up. Useless labor! for had she appeared in all simplicity as the king's wife, Ahijah could not have seen her; his eyes "were set," that is, were blind, "because of his great age." Useless labor, too, this pretending to be what she was not, for could not the Lord see through any disguise, and would He not be before the foolish woman who traveled these twelve miles with her present and her pretense?

Ahijah was waiting quietly at home, but before the wife of Jeroboam reached him, the Lord had spoken to him. Deceitfully, yet perhaps, with all the clever planning, anxiously, the mother of the sick child stood at the prophet's door. At once her folly was disclosed, her hopes, which rested upon self, its plans and its offerings, were crushed. Thus will it ever be. “The hypocrite's hope shall perish." Solemn words sounded in her ears; it was the voice of the man of God, no voice of pity, a voice of reproach.

“Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam." Yes, she must come in just as she was. “Why feignest thou thyself to be another?” Why indeed! Why do pretense, unreality, deceit, appear in her ways? Because her conscience was uneasy. She knew well that she, with all Jeroboam's house, deserved the judgment of God. She knew it, but her heart was not tender like the heart of Josiah, she would not own herself or her house to be guilty, she still tried her own plan; two plans to which the heart of man ever clings when forced into the presence of God. She pretends to be what she is not; and she offers something of her own production to make herself acceptable. But all this is useless, she is seen to be what she is and none other; her present is not even spoken of; she gets no message of mercy, nothing but heavy tidings. Jeroboam had wished to know what would “become of the child," for he saw that he was sick. He would hear more than he desired, he would hear not only what was to “become of the child," he would hear what was to become of himself and all his house—all those on whom his hopes were set.

One thing was before them all—destruction; miserable, hopeless, entire destruction. Only one, of all that pleasure-taking house, was excepted. The one concerning whom Jeroboam had feared, the sick child alone, was not in danger. God was going to take him away from the evil to come. It must have been a sad, sad message to the mother's heart, "Arise, therefore, get thee to thine own house, and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die."

Yes; God, who knows how to bring honey out of a rock, light out of darkness, sweetness out of sorrow, bright hope from grief, knows also how to reprove, when needful, the hard, self-occupied heart. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked." The mother had not helped, had not taught, had not shielded, had not comforted, her poor little son; she had left him to bear alone the temptations and the sorrows of his dark idol-making home, and she was not to be with him in his last moments. The child had turned in his loneliness to God, and from his loneliness God would take him. Happy child! for the one who is cast upon God alone, finds what it is to have all the heart of God for him.

The mother traveled back her twelve miles, a dark and ever darkening road of judgment and bitter sorrow; no planning now was of any use, no disguise, no present! God had all in His own hands, and in the midst of judgment He remembered mercy, purest mercy, to the child who had needed Him

When the messenger of judgment reached the door, the child died: he was not, for God took him. The little helpless child, the child who had planned nothing, whose one only hope was towards the Lord God of Israel, got the blessing, escaped the judgment.

God's eye can single out everything. One little child who turns to Him, no matter how thickly, how darkly surrounded by the present idolatry of this world's pleasure-seeking, self-preserving, and God-forgetting, one such child, in all its helplessness, in all its worthlessness, in all its need is seen and singled out by God, kept and prized by Him as a precious jewel picked from a heap of this world's mire.

The mire of this world may look, in the light of this world, like costly jewels; the jewel of God may look like the off-scouring of all things; but “the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." God sees if there be "Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Of them that feared the Lord and that thought upon His name it is said, “They shall be mine, saith the Lord, in that day when I make up my jewels."

Is there a child walking in a difficult place, who fears the Lord, who has respect to His presence, and to His thoughts in a place where He seems well-nigh forgotten? How precious to such a child is the Name which he may think upon, the Name which we know now, “His name Jesus"!

“Jesus, I may trust Thee, Name of matchless worth,
Spoken by the angel at Thy wondrous birth,
Written, and forever, on Thy cross of shame,
Sinners read and worship, trusting in that Name."

And Jesus Himself has made known to us a name, a new name, which the child Abijah could not know—the name of Father. Yes; God condescends to make Himself known by that precious name, Father, to the child whose trust is in Him. "Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." There is but one way of having God as our Father; not by any doings of our own, but only by receiving Jesus the Savior, thus only we become children of God. There is but one way of tasting and enjoying the love of the Father, who is ours by faith in Christ Jesus, it is by having our hearts kept from the love of the world. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever."

Jeroboam has passed away: his plans, his industry, his success, his honor, his riches, all are past; the place that knew him shall know him no more; only his name remains, with this dreadful stamp upon it, ten times repeated, "Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin." Abijah has not passed away, for God, who took that lonely child from his dark home, kept him, and in the day of resurrection he will be among those who walk in the light of the New Jerusalem, that city where "every several gate" was seen to be "of one pearl and the street was pure gold," the city where there was "no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."

This was a vision, a heavenly picture displayed to the Apostle John; but it will be, to all who are washed in the precious blood of Christ, a glorious and eternal reality; truly we may say, “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed, in us."

If, while the ten tribes followed Jeroboam in his idolatry and his ruin, while the whole house agreed to forget God, the child Abijah stood alone in the difficult place and waited God's own time and way of deliverance, and waited not in vain, how much more may the christian child stand quietly and meekly, yet with unshaken trust, in whatever place God has appointed him! Rivers of comfort and streams of light reach the christian, child, which Abijah never knew; all the sorrowful path is lighted now with the traces of His footsteps who was down here a, Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; all the fears, all the flutters of a timid, lonely heart are known to Him who Was touched with the feeling of our infirmities; yes, the difficult place is now the bright place of faith, constant looking up, up to the things which are not, seen, but which are eternal; it is the place of hope, too, a hope which "we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil, whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus." Yes, you need never say, I fear to go on, I know not what is before me in this difficult way, you are not the first to tread that way; there has been a Forerunner, Jesus, and He has reached the safe place within the veil. The way is plain before you; besides, He lives there. "The forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made a High Priest, forever;" from thence He sends down strength for the weak heart, strength so that the child, so trembling, so helpless, so needy, may be kept from sinking, kept with the heart and the eye of faith lifted up- "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

With this plain way into the safe place, this support through the rough place, the bright view at the end, you are not put to stand only in the difficult place. The place of faith and of hope is also the place of love; what tender love and care pour down upon the child in the difficult place; what love, too, should be going out from him, thus blessed, to the barren place around! Of what use in a dry, sandy desert would a dry, barren stick be, however steady?

Are those whom God tends to be like barren sticks—just standing in their place and that is all? Or are they to be like weeping willows, just keeping their own branches green, always bowed down, and that is all? No, indeed. Even a child in the difficult place is set there to be like the Pitcher plant.

What a common, simple thing a pitcher is! Yes; but common, simple things are often those which we could least do without. Oh! what would the little, thirsty birds, the hundreds of small animals, the weary traveler in the stony, barren parts of the island of Java do, without the Pitcher plant? It has been set there, not in a moist, pleasant soil; not in a region of beauty, but there in the stony desert where it is needed; and there it “drinketh water of the rain of heaven." At the stalk end of each leaf of the Pitcher plant there is a little bag; a strong fiber or thread-like stalk holds a cover over each little bag, but just before rain falls, this fiber squeezes itself up and holds the cover of the bag wide open. So-when the trouble is greatest, the heart most needy, is the time to hear that word of God— "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it," for just then blessing and deliverance are coming down.

Down comes the rain, and fills all the little bags of the Pitcher plant; then, down fly the little birds, out creep the little animals, and drink their fill; while all through every stalk and leaf and fiber of the giving plant, the refreshing shower carries strength for future drafts and future service.

It is not the business of the Pitcher plant to move about and pour out its drafts where it thinks best. No, its one business is to stand where it is set, and to hold out its open cups, first to catch the shower of blessing, then to give refreshment to all the thirsty ones who come; it must open its cups at the right time or they would not get filled with the precious drops, for the drops are sent, they are not its own, and of what use would it be to open the covers when the shower was over? the little birds would soon fly away from those empty cups. When the Pitcher plant has opened its cups, and has them filled, it must still keep them open; it is not set there to take care of itself only; it would be a useless thing with those full shut cups, and the excess of moisture would only cause it to rot away. The Pitcher plant is not a great river, known through miles and miles of wide country; it has not floods of water; it is not a reservoir; this is why I think it is like the child, in a, barren place; it has just little cups, tiny cups filled with every shower, and needy and ready and open again when the next shower falls.

Little Hannah was set, like the Pitcher plant, in a dreary, barren place: like the Pitcher plant too she had but tiny cups, but you shall hear how she opened these cups to get and to give. Hannah had several brothers and sisters, and her home was a poor one; besides this, a dreadful illness visited it, it was small-pox; all the children caught it, and they were only just getting well when the father met with a sad accident, and thus the home was made still poorer, for he could do no work. Hannah's grandmother heard of all the trouble; she was not very poor, she had a comfortable house, a hard-working husband, and no children to provide for; she saw Hannah looking ill, and took her to her own home to care for her. There, Hannah was a very lonely little child; in fine weather, well wrapped up, she could sit outside her grandmother's door and watch the children running through the street on their way home from school, but she was too weakly to run with them. She held a doll in her arms, but it was not all the company she wanted; her little thirsty heart wanted some love. Hannah's grandmother was good to her; she kept her neat and clean and warm, she gave her good food to eat, but she did not give those drops which the thirsty little heart longed for. I will tell you why this was: the poor grandmother had never tasted these drops herself, and you know we cannot give out to others what we have not got ourselves.

Well, when little cups are open you may be sure they will not be left long empty. It was not long before Hannah, at a neighbor's door, heard some sweet words; words of love, such as she had never heard before, for they were words of scripture. I am sorry to say, that though in Mrs. B.'s house a Bible was kept and carefully dusted, that was all the notice that was taken of it; it was never read. Hannah was only eight years old, and a very untaught little girl. I dare say she hardly understood the words she heard; hardly knew which were words of life and which were kind words spoken by the lady who read, she knew so little, but one thing she did know: her heart said at once, like the poor Hindoo with the spiked sandals, and like many and many a heart since, when it has heard of the love of Jesus, — This is what I want.

You see Hannah was not set in the barren place to wither away from thirst: no; God does not leave any one to wither. However dark or stony the place, if there is a little cup open, drops of blessing will come down into it, for heaven is not dark and stony; up there all is light and love. A drop was not enough for Hannah; she longed for more: timidly—for she was but a shy little girl, and among strangers in a strange place—she opened the door through which she had heard the sweet words, and asked leave to come in. The neighbor felt kindly towards the gentle little girl, and gave her a seat by the fire; soon the lady rose to go, then Hannah came forward and said, “Please, Ma'am, will you come to my grandmother?" Hannah led the way, while the lady followed; with a new joy in her weak little voice, she pushed open the door saying, "See, see grannie, the lady is coming to us!"

Mrs. B.'s poor heart was as empty and as dry as Hannah's, but she did not know it. She was not thirsty; she prided herself on having lived a good and useful life; she thought too that she knew as much as any who could visit her; for, as she said, she had lived for years in service in the highest families. Oh, how dry is the heart that drinks from no spring but its own good doings! Our own goodness, our own knowledge, will never fill a little cup to refresh a thirsty soul.

Mrs. B. did not care about the sweet drops of love, but little Hannah eagerly drank them in, and she had many an opportunity at one house and another of hearing more. She began to think much of what she had heard, and she asked her grandmother questions which she could not answer. Mrs. B. was very angry; she said Hannah should go out no more to hear the reading.

When next the lady came she complained bitterly. “That child," she said, "thinks more of what you say than of what I say. Last night she asked a question which neither I nor her grandfather could answer."

“What was the question?” said the lady.

"Why," said the poor ignorant woman, "she began to talk about her father who is dead and buried, and she asked what would become of him, and whether he would rise out of his grave. Now, I should like to know who could answer such a question?"

The visitor replied: “God has plainly told us in the Bible, that the dead shall rise again. ‘They that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation.' The Bible is the only book which can make us know God, ourselves, and the way of salvation."

No wonder poor Mrs. B., though she thought well of herself, was so ignorant, for she never read her Bible, and she lived many years ago, when little preaching or teaching went on among the poor.

While this conversation was going on Hannah, who hardly understood anything but that her grandmother was much displeased and was complaining of her, cried bitterly.

Mrs. B. did not like to see the tears, perhaps they were a reproach to her from the gentle little child; she turned round angrily. "Stop crying," she said, "you can hardly see out of your eyes; if you shed another tear I will lock you up."

Hannah dried her tears; she looked up sweetly into her grandmother's face. "I will be good; I won't want to go out to hear the reading if only," she said, "you will let me pray to God. May I pray, grannie?"

Perhaps you will wonder what Hannah could mean; she did not know that God could hear a whisper; this poor little girl had learned so little. When she prayed she prayed aloud, and Mrs. B. did not like to hear it, but she could not refuse such a request, so she only answered, “Yes, you may pray if you will not talk about it."

So Hannah turned to the lady who stood by the door waiting to go away and said, "Could God hear me if I spoke softly?" How glad she was when she learned that God would hear the faintest whisper, that God listened at all times, that God could see, and would take notice of all the wishes and sorrows and difficulties of her poor little heart. Then the lady taught her some verses: "Pray to your father which is in secret." “His tender mercies are over all his works." "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." Now Hannah had a new joy. Before, her one hope had been to look out of the window watching for the lady who read and who spoke the sweet words; her one pleasure had been to see her coming, and then quietly to follow her to the place where she might be going to read. Now, she could look not only out of the window, a better place was open to her; she could look up, she could speak to, she could learn from the very One who spoke as never man spoke; and she had not to watch and wait for Him, and often to come away disappointed; He was always ready. Much comfort and precious teaching, which appeared in all her ways, Hannah stored up in this manner.

After a little while the visitor came again; she had not seen Hannah in the street, or met her in any of the neighbors' houses. Hannah was not in her little chair at home, neither was Mrs. B. there; her kitchen was tidy as usual, but empty. Soon Mrs. B. came from upstairs, she was weeping bitterly. Ah! her heart had not been softened and broken by love; now it was broken with sorrow. “Oh my child," was all that she could say when she met her visitor. “My dear child, so unlike other children, so gentle, so obedient, so loving, how can I do without you!" Hannah was upstairs; she was very ill; the doctor had been, he had given her medicine, he had done all he could. "I can do no more," he had said, “I fear she will die."

The lady went upstairs: Hannah seemed to know nothing of what passed around her. The lady waited for come time, then she went down again, but scarcely had she reached the lower room when Mrs. B. called to her: "My child is waking up; I think she is coming to herself."

The lady returned to the sick-room. The sick child knew her, and by a sign asked her to pray; then she anxiously looked at her grandmother. Yes, the proud heart was broken, even she felt a need then; meekly, just like a little helpless child, just as every one must who would share the blessing, she took her place beside the visitor, on her knees. God heard the prayers; little Hannah was raised up, and carefully she watched over her grandmother. Mrs. B. was softened, and no longer forbade the child to go to the readings, but that was not enough for Hannah: she would watch the time when her grandmother was least busy, then she would fetch in the visitor and bring out the Bible. Soon Mrs. B. herself loved the reading, and herself would say to her kind friend, “Perhaps you will come another day, Ma'am, if you are at leisure." The time came when Hannah was not obliged to pray only in secret, she and her grandmother prayed together; they longed to see the grandfather's heart softened. God, who had softened their hearts, could soften his. They knew this, and one day they got a wonderful answer: wonderful words were heard from the aged man. He had gone on his own way; he had "trusted in himself," but one day, after all the prayers and the tears and the longings, his heart opened, and he cried out suddenly, " Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief." Oh, what a comfort had little Hannah become in that dark and difficult place! What streams of refreshment had dropped, through her need and her longing, her drinking, her prizing, and her prayers, upon the barren ground! Hannah's home was not a barren place because luxuries were not there, because it was a small house in a poor street, or because she had no brothers and sisters there; it was barren for one reason: because the sweet name of Jesus was unloved there, because the love of Jesus was unknown there; and every home, whatever else it may contain, whatever comforts may fill it, whatever beauties may be in it and around it, however many loving brothers and sisters may live together in it, is yet barren, a dry stony place, if the love of Jesus is unknown.

Perhaps though, yours is not such a home; perhaps the Bible in your home is not a book carefully dusted and laid aside; perhaps, and I hope it may be so, that precious book is read every day. My home, you may say, is not a barren stony place. Well, if you are not set to be the little pitcher-plant in a stony place, are you like the sweet-scented violet among the green leaves of the garden? or like the fruitful trees there? Barren sticks in a barren place are of little use; and who wants barren sticks in a fruitful, watered garden?

Besides this, we are all like one very strange little plant; we are like the orchis. And why is this? Let me tell you what the orchis does, then you will soon be able to guess why we are all like that strange plant.

The orchis does not only grow down at its roots and up at its stalk; every year it takes one long step, and each year it grows up in a place several inches beyond the place where last year it sheaved its purple flower.

We are all like the orchis—moving on.

The orchis goes always one way; wherever it may be planted, it always travels its one, long, yearly step towards its own home in warm southern countries.

Are we all like the orchis in this? Do we all know a home and travel towards it?

No; it is very sad to have to say it, but we are not all like the orchis. Men, women, and children do not all go one way.

All are travelers; yes, all must travel.

“Passing onward, quickly passing,
Naught the wheels of time can stay;
Sweet the thought that some are going
To the realms of perfect day,
Passing onward,
Christ their Leader, Christ their way."

But there are two ways. One is the narrow way, it may be a rough way, a lonely way, a difficult way—but it LEADETH UNTO LIFE.

The other is the broad way; it may be a smooth way, a way of many things that please the heart, a way where many walk, an easy way—but it LEADETH TO DESTRUCTION.

All are travelers, swift-going travelers; not one step in a year, but many, many steps each hour and day, we all must make. Are you only travelers? or are you pilgrims Pilgrims know where they are going. Pilgrims are like the orchis, always traveling homewards, to the bright cloudless home.

The pilgrim can say:—

"I have a home above.

From sin and sorrow free;

A mansion which eternal love

Design'd and form'd for me.

The Father's gracious hand

Has built this blest abode;
From everlasting it was plann'd,

The dwelling place of God.

The Savior's precious blood

Has made my title sure;

He pass'd through death's dark raging flood

To make my rest secure."

Yes; the pilgrim knows where he is going:—

"One sweetly solemn thought,
Comes to me o'er and o'er;
I'm nearer home to-day,
Than I e'er have been before."

But even the pilgrim does not know what sort of places he may have to pass. Yours may seem an easy place today, but in how few hours you may find yourself in a very, very difficult place God will have it so, for He will not let the child He loves walk along without Him.

I know two bridges: one is so well made you would hardly know it was a bridge at all; it seems so like all the rest of the road; the river runs beneath it, but there is a good thick wall on either side.

Oh! you say, there is nothing to fear on such a bridge. What is the other bridge like?

It is such a shaky, narrow plank; with such a high scanty rail, only on one side. Every child who goes over there could roll off under the rail in a moment, and under that bridge the water is so deep and foaming and strong, and there is a great mill wheel too.

What a terrible bridge!

Yet I will tell you something, and perhaps it will surprise you; all sorts of crying and tumbling and accidents take place on the good bridge, but I never saw a little child tumble on the bad bridge, and I can tell you why. Whenever the little child comes to that shaky plank, and sees the great wheel turning, and the water splashing and rushing by, it fears and stops, and then it catches hold of its mother's hand, or very often is lifted in the strong steady arms of father or mother, and how safely then it crosses the difficult place! God can always find a way for His child, however difficult the place, or however suddenly it is reached. Once, long ago in Paris, a dreadful deed was done. Wicked people began to kill all the Christians they could find. A certain well-known man, named Moulin, heard that the murderers were approaching; he could not run out of the house where he was, for the streets were already full of wicked people; he crept into a large oven; scarcely was he in this than a busy little spider came and quickly wove its web over the mouth of the oven, and when, a few hours later, the murderers ran into the house to search for Moulin they said, "Oh, it is of no use looking here, for there is a cobweb over the oven's mouth; this house must have been deserted many days ago; " and they went quietly away.

Sometimes the place that looks easy and safe is far more dangerous to the little traveler than the place that looks rough and hard. God sees this, and in great love and mercy He spoils the pleasant place, and stops the easy-going traveler.

An artist had just painted a picture; a beautiful picture it was, and it had grown from his mind and hand; he loved his picture, he admired it so much that he quite forgot where it was, all his thoughts were swallowed up in the picture; it was hundreds of feet above safe, solid ground, and the artist stood only on a narrow scaffolding inside a high building. The artist was not alone; if he had been, I think he would very soon have been killed. Oh, what a mercy it is that we are not left to travel alone, but that God watches over us!

A friend was by the artist, and great was that friend's horror when he saw that the artist, while gazing at his picture, was slowly, slowly walking backwards to the edge of the scaffolding; there were so few steps between the picture and the edge of the scaffolding; such a great depth behind. The man's heart was in his picture, he forgot where he was moving. With pleasure and contentment on his face, with calm unconcern, yet with frightful certainty, he was going backwards to destruction. What could save him; he was lost in his picture! He could not hear a voice, he could not see his danger, nothing could save him but spoiling the picture that had thus entrapped his heart; the friend rushed forward, he seized a great brush of yellow paint and threw it towards the picture. At this strange sight, in fear for his beloved picture, the artist too rushed forward and so rushed away from the danger he had forgotten, and he was saved.

Sometimes now God spoils pleasant pictures. He does it in love to the traveler who forgets to consider where he is going.

God looks down on every home. No roof but what He sees through; no thick walls behind which His eye pierces not. His is an eye of love, looking for precious things: from dark homes and bright ones; from poor houses and rich ones; from lonely spots and crowded parts, God gathers out His own precious things. Sometimes they are picked from among the surrounding dust, as the silver piece was picked by the woman in Luke 15, who swept the house and searched diligently; then they are made bright and set to shine there; sometimes they are gathered, with one touch from the Father's hand; and taken home at once, just as you gather sweet flowers from lonely rocks and carry them home with you. Your flowers wither in a few days, but the little flowers God gathers bloom forever; for there “is no more death," in the bright home above.

God looked down into Abijah's home and gathered the child away, and then all the others in that dark idol-loving palace were left for judgment. There are homes of idols now, not golden calves, but idols of silver, of gold or what not; things with which the world tries to fill the hearts which God would fill with His own love. God often gathers little ones now from such homes, but then it is not to shut the door in judgment upon the others, it is to open a place for mercy and love. It is like the friend spoiling the pleasant picture, to save the traveler.

Oh! how the picture is spoiled when the little one is gone; the youngest, the darling of all: its childish beauty, its freshness, yet untouched by the world, its baby love and baby trust all gone; what a great big empty space a little one leaves! A little empty bed in the nursery, a silent corner there, a little empty chair, and oh, what empty places in the hearts of the father, the mother, the brothers, the sisters! Oh, what empty cups, if only each will open and hold them up for the shower of love and comfort that waits to pour down.

There was once just such a little one; the pride of his mother's heart, the darling of his four sisters, the youngest of all, the hope and the light of the home, and alas! he was the chief light, his home knew not the light from above; it was lighted only with the world's joys and the world's jewels, and with the fresh sweet love of this little child. Ah, what was to become of the child if he grew up there?—an heir of much wealth, a receiver of the good things of this life; time only used to be passed away, strength only spent to get honor and pleasure for self, no thought of things unseen which are eternal. The mother loved her little son; she WAS a widow, and he was thus doubly dear to her, but there was One above who also loved the little one, and He would take him away out of that dark, dangerous, difficult place.

Little did those in the house foresee what was Coming. A grand entertainment was planned, the guests were invited, the house made ready; God had planned something else for that same night, but those in the dark home knew nothing of it. The day came, but the shadow had fallen already across that house; little F. was ailing, each hour he grew worse. He must have perfect quiet and rest, said the doctor.

Perfect quiet! when the house in a few hours was to be filled with guests; when music, and talking, and many feet moving, and gay careless voices would soon sound through all the rooms!

What was to be done? In that home the world claimed its place; the world would not be turned out in a moment for that little child; the guests could not be disappointed, the preparations could not be wasted; the child would not hurt; he must be carried away to a quiet house near. So little F. was taken from his own little bed and his own nursery, away from his home it was to be his no longer; another was already opening to him. A dreadful illness had seized him. The mother's heart was, no doubt, anxious and sad as she saw her little suffering darling carried from the house, but she could not watch beside him then, she must attend just then to the business she had planned. Tomorrow the child should come back, and she would watch him and nurse him.

So little F. lay in the strange room, on the strange bed; nurses and doctors anxiously watching, while his mother was away. She could plan a time for her own doings, but she could not plan the time for what God was going to do. In the midst of all the noise and glitter from which the little sick child had been carried away, a message reached the mother, "You must come: little F. is dying," and so it was. I cannot tell you whether the little one had a parting look for his poor mother, or whether, like Abijah, he died as her feet reached the threshold; but it was only a short time, and he was gone.

No light of this world could hold back the dark shadow from that home, and no claims of this world could hold back the little child whom Jesus called. For “He shall gather the lambs with his arms and carry them in his bosom."

Oh, how tender the love that looked down upon that home and cared for that little one, and took him away from the evil to come! How tender the love that waited on each empty heart in that darkened house, and how tender the love that looks down now upon you. Are you in the difficult place? His word is "Fear not, for I am with thee." He has said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Are you traveling in the easy, the dangerous place? "both not wisdom cry and understanding put forth her voice? Now, therefore, hearken unto me, O ye children; for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate me love death." Are you thirsty? Your heart constantly wanting something you don't know what; never quite filled, never quite at rest? Jesus stood and cried, saying, “If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." “He every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price."

Jeroboam's day of glory

Was the day of Israel's shame,

When they follow'd his vain idols,

And forgot Jehovah's name.

They, who in His Holy Temple

Did the Glory-cloud behold,

Now could leave His chosen altars,

And could worship calves of gold.

Oh! sad story, oft repeated,

Of man's foolish, wandering heart;

Yet, sweet story, intermingled,

Of how grace can do its part: