How long halt ye between two opinions? -- 1 Kings 18:2.
If Christianity be false, you gain nothing; you then have the consolation of taking a leap in the dark, -- to launch forth on the boundless eternity, not knowing whether an angel or a devil will meet you at your entrance.
Secondly, you are in danger of losing everything. Should Christianity prove true, you are lost forever! How long, then, halt ye between two opinions?
1. What are we to understand by halting between two opinions? Literally, how long hop ye about on two boughs? This is a metaphor taken from birds hopping about from bough to bough, not knowing on which to settle, balanced between opposing claims. To halt is to stop, to hesitate between opposite interests. Paul was balanced between a life of usefulness on earth and a life of enjoyment in heaven.
The people in the days of Elijah were balanced between the worship of an idol and the worship of the God of heaven. Multitudes in our day are balanced between heaven and hell; two contrary influences acting upon them, as though God and heaven and holy beings were pulling one way, and the fiends of darkness and hell pulling the other. They halt between the two claims.
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