Abijah’s speech is unique. There have been other instances where commanders have tried to make oratory take the place of arms. Sennacherib’s envoys. When Octavian was at war with his fellow-triumvir Lepidus he made a daring attempt to run over his enemy’s army. Riding openly into the hostile camp, he appealed to the soldiers by motives as lofty as those urged by Abijah, and called upon them to save their country from civil war by deserting Lepidus. At the moment his appeal failed, and he only escaped with a wound in his breast; but after a while his enemy’s soldiers came over to him in detachments, and eventually Lepidus was compelled to surrender to his rival. Another instance of a successful appeal to a hostile force is found in the history of the first Napoleon, when he was marching on Paris after his return from Elba. Near Grenoble he was met by a body of royal troops. He at once advanced to the front, and, exposing his breast, exclaimed to the opposing ranks, “Here is your emperor; if any one would kill me let him fire.” The detachment, which had been sent to arrest his progress, at once deserted to their old commander. (W. H. Bennett, M.A.)
The lessons of Abijah’s speech
These are two.
I. The importance of an official and duly accredited ministry. Every Church has in practice some official ministry, even those Churches that profess to owe theirseparate existence to the necessity of protesting against an official ministry. Men whose chief occupation is to denounce priestcraft may themselves be saturated with the sacerdotal spirit.
II. The importance of a suitable and authoritative ritual. Every Church, too, has its ritual. The silence of a Friends’ meeting is as much a rite as the most elaborate genuflexion before a highly ornamented altar. To regard either the absence or presence of rites as essential is equally ritualistic. The man who leaves his wonted place of worship because “Amen “ is sung at the end of a hymn is as bigoted a ritualist as his brother who dare not pass an altar without crossing himself. (W. H. Bennett, M. A.)
