Notes of an Address by C. G. at Lachute, April 2nd.

(2 Chron. 25:)

The story of every reign in this book has its distinctive lesson. Solomon's reign gives us the beginnings of departure from God; Rehoboam's the incompetency for the things of God of one whose character was formed by wrong influences. In Abijah's reign we have contending for the faith once delivered, and so right down these sketches of these successive reigns we find a distinctive lesson in each account.

In Amaziah's story we find at the very threshold the key to its lesson. "And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart" (ver. 2). We are to read the history of his reign in the light of this. In it we find the results of not doing the things that are right in the sight of the Lord with a perfect heart. His father, Joash, in his later days trespassed against the Lord, and consequent upon his turning from the Lord we find he was outwardly attacked by the Syrians, but there was also inward trouble, some of his own servants at last conspiring against him and slaying him. Amaziah was associated with Joash during the last three years, but on the death of Joash by his servants we read of the kingdom being confirmed to him and that he slew the conspirators. There was evidently an attempt to set aside the throne, else it would not be said the kingdom was confirmed to him. The conspirators not only wanted to be rid of Joash, but of Amaziah also. But the throne is established in his hand, God coming in, in His sovereign mercy and grace, and securely settling him upon it.

Well, the first thing he is said to do after this is that he slew the conspirators, and the Spirit of God is careful to call attention to the fact he was obedient to the word of the law in Deut. 24:16. He is careful to obey it exactly, and does not put the sons to death. Looking back to Deuteronomy, largely at least, we get directions which are intended to restrain and repress. They are a curb on man's passions. Man is so prone to go too far, to be severe and harsh, to be cruel and oppressive, that God has given certain laws for the express purpose of restraining those propensities so peculiar to us. Think of it! How Amaziah's feelings must have been roused against these men; still these feelings are restrained. He does not put the sons to death. He is careful to obey the law to the letter. He keeps in check his natural resentment, as in Ephesians we are exhorted, "Be ye angry, and sin not:let not the sun go down upon your wrath." This is what we have illustrated in this. Was this not right? Yes, that is what is said here, "He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord." But looking more closely, we may believe after all it was only outward conformity, '' not with a perfect heart." Think of this! Let us apply it to ourselves, to our own actions as the people of God. May it not be said of a great deal in our lives that may appear very exemplary and may be right, that it is very much outward conformity to God's word and will? Well, beloved, if it be so, we are on slippery ground. If we are not obeying, conforming to the Word with a perfect heart, there are dangers into which we may slip before we are aware. If the will of God be not a joy and pleasure to us, if our hearts be not in the word of God, if we do not inwardly delight in it, we are standing in a dangerous place.

Now look at Amaziah (ver. 5). He numbers up his men able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield, and finds he has an army of three hundred thousand choice men. Here we are warned again of what is our danger if the will of God be not completely the object of our hearts. He is evidently intending war with the Edomites, calmly measuring his resources. After doing this he is not satisfied. Although able to raise three hundred thousand choice men he is not satisfied. Why? Because he has not faith. He cannot trust God. Had he looked back over the history of God's people, he would have been reminded of many a time when the people of Israel went forth to battle against an enemy far greater than they and the Lord gave them victory, and he would have known by faith in God that He was still the same. What does he do? He turns to the ten tribes, the revolted tribes from whom Judah was righteously separate, and hires an hundred thousand mighty men of valor-all to go down against the Edomites!

Beloved, may there not be much in us that passes as right, that is right, indeed, but still in doing it the energy of faith is wanting, and then, because it is not done with a perfect heart toward God we turn to other resources and bring them in to further the work of the Lord.

But Jehovah is very pitiful and of tender mercy, and sends His prophet, a man of God, saying:"O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the Lord is not with Israel, all the children of Ephraim. But if thou wilt go, do it, be strong for the battle:God shall make thee fall before the enemy:for God hath power to help, and to cast down " (vers. 7, 8). His course is forbidden of God. Now see how far he has been strengthened in departure from God in all this. He is loth to yield, yet he does submit. He does the thing that is right when he is reproved by the prophet, but was his submission with a perfect heart? Plainly not. It is the same thing over again. "What shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, the Lord is able to give thee much more than this" (ver. 9). Amaziah sends home the men of Ephraim, but he suffers under the government of God for his wrong step, as we all do, individually and collectively. These soldiers dismissed by Amaziah "fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even unto Beth-horon, and smote three thousand of them, and took much spoil" (ver. 13). Now you can see how Amaziah is reaping the fruit of not obeying the Lord with a perfect heart. If he had done so at the first, he would not have been so tested with regard to it again. But in connection with the second testing we find there is a struggle. The first time there does not appear to have been one. He obeys promptly and readily. It is not so easy to obey now. He has lost ground, and all because in obedience his heart is not perfect. He has to reason and question and be assured by the prophet that God is able to give him much more than he has foolishly squandered upon the Israelites. At last, however, after all this struggle, he submits. He obeys, but alas! his heart is not perfect.

Now he goes forth to the war against Edom. I suppose it was a righteous war. It was the proper thing to keep the Edomites down. He is doing that which is right in the sight of the Lord. He gains the victory, but he is not able to curb his feelings and righteous indignation against them. He could restrain himself when visiting the death penalty upon the murderers of his father, but he is not able to do so now. After the victory has been gained he takes ten thousand of the captives and leads them to the top of the rock and casts them down, so that they are broken in pieces. A harsh, cruel, heartless act. He is now allowing his feelings, his indignation against the Edomites, to carry him into cruelty. He is not now the man he was at the outset. How significant all this. How it bids us search our hearts and watch against the beginning of departure from the Lord. How it bids us search and see that what we do is done with a perfect heart.
But we read more about him. "He brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense to them" (ver. 15). Alas! how far he has now traveled in the path of departure and declension. Step after step he has gone on and on,
until now he can displace the worship of the true God with that of idols. Beginning with obeying while the heart was not in it, he has gradually weakened, so that now he not only throws off restraint but perverts the worship of God. What a humiliating spectacle! But let us search our own hearts, for are we not in fact reading our own histories? For "as in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man." We may go on for years as good, exemplary Christians, and yet end our course with God displaced in the throne of our hearts.

The Lord now mercifully sends His prophet to rebuke him. "Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thy hand?" To which the king replied, "Art thou made of the king's counsel? Forbear." The prophet does forbear, though not without warning of coming chastisement from the hand of God. "I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel." But look at Amaziah. See how passion rages. He resents the rebuke, and is ready to take the prophet's life. How, alas! we are capable of silencing the voice of God in those whom He raises up to rebuke us for our disobedience. Next Amaziah indulges in feelings of resentment towards the army of Israel. He is indignant at their desolation of his cities. He feels like wreaking vengeance upon them; so he challenges the king of Israel to meet him in battle. Elated over his triumph over the Edomites, he feels himself competent to measure strength with Israel. The king of Israel has no desire to fight him; endeavors indeed to persuade Amaziah to desist from his purpose. But, actuated by a desire to revenge a wrong, and inflated with pride and self-sufficiency, he is determined on war with Israel. The two armies meet at Bethshemesh, but Amaziah is defeated and taken prisoner. If we are not really in heart with God it is an easy thing to embark on a cause which He has not called us to. We can readily persuade ourselves that a mission of our own is His. The Israelites were divisionists and off the true ground of the people of God. Amaziah might have reasoned that it was a proper thing to go and bring them under; but God had not given him such a work. May we not also undertake to do what God has not put upon us? Indeed we are quite capable of it. But alas! when thus engaged in our self-imposed task we have met with disaster, we have become captives to the very things against which we have stood in our own strength. Through our pride and self-sufficiency we have come under the power of what we have sought to regulate or put down. But this is not all. Amaziah, a prisoner in Joash's hands, is led up to Jerusalem to see four hundred cubits of her wall broken down. When thus we are in the enemy's hand how impossible to maintain the principle of separation from evil. But again, the king of Israel despoils the king's palace and the house of the Lord of their treasures. In our captivity to the power of evil our souls are robbed, we are not allowed to enjoy our portion in Christ.

The people now make Uzziah king in the room of his father, though Amaziah lives yet for fifteen years. By the providence of God Joash, the king of Israel, dies, and Amaziah is thus delivered from his captivity. But he is a hindrance to Uzziah-a dead weight upon him. Uzziah cannot rebuild Eloth and restore it with all its wealth of commerce to Judah. If unrepentant, though God mercifully delivers us from what in our folly, pride and self-sufficiency we have brought upon ourselves, what weights and hindrances we may be to others.

The Lord give us to be sober and serious, and to challenge our hearts day by day in reference to every detail of our lives. May we ask ourselves, Are we doing the will of God with a perfect heart? If we can detect a lack of real, hearty interest in that will, a lack of real submission of heart to God, let us judge it, and seek by all means, in all our ways, reality in our souls. May God grant us His blessing and help.