iftly rushing on self-destruction, whereas
Peter and John received years of discipline, before they were fully
prepared to fulfil their mission. No doubt, in such cases evil may
have been, making slow and stealthy advance under the surface, though
the result appears with startling suddenness, just as gas will escape
without noise, and creep into every corner of the room; but when a
light comes in, death and destruction come in a flash. Evil is an
explosion, good is a growth.

This perhaps accounts for the facts that evil had quickly grown strong
in the kingdom; while, on the other hand, Asa's attempt at reformation
was incomplete and transient. He seems, however, to have done what he
could, and that is more than can be said of many. If he had been a
timid, half-hearted man he might have been content to worship Jehovah
in his private room, and thus rebuke, by his example, any idolaters who
happened to hear of it But his was no policy of _laissez-faire_. He
felt that the evils encouraged by the father ought to be put down by
the son, and this he did with a strong hand, wherever he could reach it.

Unhappily, there is a sad dearth of such reforming zeal in the Church,
and in the world. Even among those who in private lament prevailing
evils there is a singular contentment and tolerance even of those which
might be at once removed. This is grievously common in large centres
of population, where each individual feels insignificant among such
vast multitudes, and loses the sense of individual responsibility in
the vastness of the crowd which surrounds him. How many professing
Christians, for example, deplore drunkenness and impurity, while they
shrink from any kind of open protest, and will not even trouble
themselves to vote for representatives who will fight these evils; and
if a preacher boldly denounces such iniquities they will even beg him
to leave questions of that kind alone, and to confine himself to
doctrinal exposition. We are all too apt to forget that truth and
righteousness, sobriety and holiness, are of God; and that the mission
of Jesus Christ was to establish these, and to put away sin, even by
the sacrifice of Himself. The religion He exemplified was not to be
ranged on the shelves of a library, but to prove itself a living force
in politics, in business, and at home. What was His own doctrine?
"_Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven, but he that doe