thee prince over my people Israel, and 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; but 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 : therefore, behold, I will bring evil will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam." Truly, "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!" Every member of this idolatrous house, except Abijah, who alone seems to have escaped the evil contagion, was to be swept away by a violent end; - an event which took place within two years from the death of Jeroboam, when Baasha utterly exterminated the family. Abijah was rescued from the impending calamity, by an early and peaceful dismissal to that better world "where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest." The predictions in the text were fulfilled the child died, and all Israel mourned for him and buried him; and he only of Jeroboam came to the grave, because in him there was found some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

The short history of this young person,

faithful only found among his unfaithful relatives, presents to us three points worthy of particular consideration; namely,

First, The great religious disadvantages under which he laboured;

Secondly, The conscientiousness of principle with which he appears to have borne up against them; and,

Thirdly, The favour which God was pleased to shew to his early piety.

First. The first point which occurs, in perusing the narrative before us, is the serious disadvantages of a religious kind which this youthful prince seems to have encountered. How small, comparatively, is the number of those who, with every religious privilege within their reach, are willing to forego their worldly pleasures or interests for the sake of the "excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord!" In our own highly favoured age and country the means of spiritual improvement are open to all: the Bible is, or may be, in every hand, and whosoever will may drink of the fountain of life; and no bonds, no pains, no public disgrace or punishment, are attached to a profession of Christianity: yet, with all these disadvantages, how few are decided for God, how few care for their immortal interests, how few heed the salvation of their souls! In

many instances, the instructions and restraints of a Christian education, the prayers and entreaties of friends, the beauties and allurements of religion, the remonstrances of conscience, and the admonitions of God's word, all combine in vain to soften the heart and induce the transgressor to take heed to his ways. But Abijah had few such advantages; for, in the first place,

He was the son of a proverbially wicked father. His education was in the mysteries of a blasphemous and senseless idolatry: the example of his parent, and all the surrounding circumstances of his childhood, were such as to favour the growth of every evil propensity, and to choke every opening virtue in the bud. We have no reason to suppose that his mother, or any of his relations or connexions, exhibited a better pattern: we hear of no prayers poured forth for his spiritual welfare; no early instructions to melt his infant heart. He stood single in a wicked family, and contrary to the whole course of education and example. To add to this,

He was a prince. His temptations were therefore great: he was exposed to the seductions of pomp and passion: there were many to caress him, many to flatter him, many to encourage him in every evil way; but none, that we read of, to warn him, to guide him, or

to oppose his inclinations, however wayward. If he was vain, there was much to flatter his vanity; if proud, his pride had ample scope for exercise; if a lover of pleasure, there were all the allurements of a court to attract him. True religion alone was unpopular; the ways of God alone were unfashionable; but in every other course, all that riches and power and public estimation could afford, was within his grasp. To complete his disadvantages,

He was a child; that is, a minor, or young person. His character could scarcely have been formed; he had not grown inured to temptation; he was open to "youthful lusts which war against the soul." He might have urged the example and solicitations of his elders; he might have pleaded that God could not require, from one so young, so great a sacrifice. There was time enough, he might have said, for him to think of religion; but youth was the season of careless mirth; and why should he alone stand out against all that he saw his gay companions enjoying?

Such were his disadvantages.

Secondly. We are now to consider that conscientiousness of principle with which he appears to have been enabled to bear up against these disadvantages. This is shortly but expressively intimated in the expression, "In

C

him there is found some good thing towards the Lord of God of Israel." The extent of his piety, or of his sacrifices for conscience sake, is not particularly mentioned; and there might even be some considerable defects in his character; but still there was "some good thing in him towards God." His religious principles, if not wholly matured, were yet ingenuous and hopeful: he had very probably shewn an early abhorrence of the idolatry into which his family and nation had fallen, and had determined, if ever he came to the throne, to suppress it, and to restore the pure worship of the one true God. It was said of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, as of the subject of this narrative, that “there were good things found in him ;" and these good things were, that he had taken the groves of idolatry out of the land, and prepared his heart to seek God. And such, we may conclude, were the "good things" meditated and begun to be put in practice by the young prince Abijah. Under the secret teaching of the Holy Spirit, amidst many difficulties and temptations, he doubtless "prepared his heart to seek God;" he remembered his Creator in the days of his youth; he mourned over the idolatry of his native land, and resolved to extirpate it. He seems to have been one of those youthful servants of God, who, like John the Baptist, were sanctified from the birth; or, like Timothy,