The proof of this was seen in the reformation Asa daringly attempted.  This is the record of it—­“He took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his father had made.  And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron.”

Things must have gone badly in the kingdom before he ascended the throne.  Although it was only about twenty years since the death of Solomon, irreligion and vice had corrupted the nation.  The truth is that evil spreads faster than good in this world, which is evidence that it has fallen.  We have embodied this truth in a familiar proverb—­“Ill weeds grow apace.”  If we neglect a garden, we are soon confronted with weeds, not with flowers.  Valuable fruit-trees grow slowly, but a poisonous fungus will spring up in a night.

Evidence of this often appears in national affairs.  A few months of war will suffice to desolate many homes, to destroy fertile fields, and to burn down prosperous villages, but it is long before that waste can be repaired, confidence restored, and prosperity and goodwill re-established.  The devil will carry fire and sword through the world with the swiftness of a whirlwind, but Jesus Christ patiently waits and weeps over an irresponsive people, as he says, “Ye will not come to Me that ye might have life.”

The same contrast in the progress of good and evil appears in our own experience.  If we yield to evil, and indulge sinful passions, we move so swiftly downward that it is hard to stop,—­like an Alpine climber on a snow-slope, who, having once slipped, in a few minutes’ rush loses all that he has gained by toilsome climbing, and becomes less able to make new effort because of his wounds and bruises.  Among our Lord’s disciples, we see Judas swiftly 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.