it. What then? It should have been therefore argued, He that sent it can remove it: I will wait upon his mercy, under whose justice I suffer. Impatience and distrust shall but aggravate my judgment: "It is the Lord, let him do what he will." But now to despair because God is just, to defy mercy because it lingers, to reject God for correction, it is a presumptuous madness, an impious pettishness. | resolve upon the lesser evil; famine is worse than the Syrian: in the famine there is certainty of perishing, amongst the Syrians hazard; perhaps the enemy may have some pity, hunger hath none; and, were the death equally certain, it were more easy to die by the sword, than by famine. Upon this deliberation they come down into the Syrian camp, to find either speed of mercy or despatch. Their hunger would not give Yet, in spite of all these provocations, them respite till morning: by twilight are both of king and people, Elisha hath good they fallen upon the uttermost tents: "Benews for Jehoram: “ Thus saith the Lord, | hold, there was no man." They marvel at To-morrow, about this time, shall a mea- the silence and solitude: they look and sure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and listen; the noise of their own feet affrighted two measures of barley for a shekel, in the them; their guilty hearts supplied the Sygate of Samaria." Miserable Israel now | rians, and expected fearfully, those which sees an end of this hard trial; one day's were as fearfully fled. How easily can the patience shall free them both of the siege Almighty confound the power of the strong, and famine. God's deliverances may over- the policy of the wise! God puts a panic stay our expectation, not the due period of terror into the hearts of the proud Syrians; his own counsels. O infinite mercy! when he makes them hear a noise of chariots, man says, No longer. God says, "To- and a noise of horses, even the noise of a morrow" as if he would condescend where great host. They say one to another, he might judge, and would please them who "Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against deserve nothing but punishinent. The word us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of seemed not more comfortable than incre- the Egyptians to come upon us!" They rise dible: "A lord, on whose hand the king therefore in a confused rout, and, leaving leaned, answered the man of God, and said, all their substance behind them, flee for Behold, if the Lord would make windows their lives. Not long before, Elisha's serin heaven, might this thing be." Prophe- vant saw chariots and horses, but heard cies, before they be fulfilled, are riddles ; none now, these Syrians hear chariots no spirit can read them, but that by which and horses, but see none: that sight comthey are delivered. It is a foolish and in- forted his heart, this sound dismayed theirs. jurious infidelity, to question a possibility, The Israelites heard no noise within the where we know the message is God's: how walls; the lepers heard no noise without easy is it for that Omnipotent hand to effect the gates; only the Syrians heard this noise those things which surpass all the reach of in their camp. What a scorn doth God human conceit! Had God intended a mi- put upon these presumptuous Aramites! raculous multiplication, was it not as easy he will not vouchsafe to use any substantial for him to increase the corn or meal of Sa- stratagem against them; nothing but an maria, as the widow's oil? was it not as empty sound shall scatter them, and send easy for him to give plenty of victuals, with- them home empty of substance, laden with out opening the windows of heaven, as to shame, half dead with fear: the very horses, give plenty of water, without wind or rain? that might have hastened their flight, are The Almighty hates to be distrusted. This left tied in their tents; their very garments peer of Israel shall rue his unbelief: "Be- are a burden; all is left behind, save their hold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but bodies, and those breathless for speed. shalt not eat thereof." The sight shall be yielded for conviction; the fruition shall be denied for punishment. Well is that man worthy to want the benefit which he would not believe: who can pity to see infidelity excluded from the blessings of earth, from the glory of heaven? Doubtless these Syrians knew well to what miserable exigents the inclosed Israelites were brought, by their siege; and now made full account to sack and ransack their Samaria; already had they divided, and swallowed the prey, when suddenly God puts them into a ridiculous confusion, and sends them to seek safety in their heels: no booty is now in price with them but their life, and happy is he that can run fastest. Thus the Almighty laughs at the designs of insolent men, and shuts up their counsels in shame. The fear of the four lepers began now to give way to security: they fill their bellies, and hide their treasures, and pass from one tent to another, in a fastidious choice of the best commodities; they, who erewhile would have held it happiness enough to have been blessed with a crust, now wantonly rove for dainties, and from necessity leap into excess. Israelite goes away filled, laden, wearied with the wealthy spoil. As scarcity breeds dearth, so plenty cheapness. To-day a measure of fine flour is lower rated, than yesterday of dung. The distrustful peer of Israel sees this abundance, according to the word of the prophet, but enjoys it not. He sees this plenty can come in at the gate, though the windows of heaven be not open. The gate is his charge: the famished Israelites press in upon him, and bear him down in the throng. Extreme hunger hath no respect to greatness. Not their rudeness, but his own unbelief, hath trampled him under feet. He that abased the power of God by his distrust, is abased worthily to the heels of the multitude. Faith exalts a man above his own sphere; infidelity depresses him into the dust, into hell: "He that believes not, is condemned already." How far self-love carries us in all our actions, even to the neglect of the public! Not till their own bellies, and hands, and eyes, were filled, did these lepers think of imparting this news to Israel. At last, when themselves are glutted, they begin to remember the hunger of their brethen, and now they find room for remorse: "We do not well; this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace." Nature teaches us, that it is an injury to engross blessings, and so to mind the private, as if we had no relation to a community. We are worthy to be shut out of the city gates for lepers, if the respects to the public good do not oversway with us in all our desires, in all our demeanour; and well may we, with these covetous lepers, fear a mischief upon cONTEMPLATION I.—THE SHUNAMITE SUING ourselves, if we shall wilfully conceal blessings from others. The conscience of this wrong and danger sends back the lepers into the city; they call to the porters, and soon transmit the news to the king's household. The king of Israel complains not to have his sleep broken with such intelligence; he ariseth in the night, and not contemning good news, though brought by lepers, consults with his servants of the business. We cannot be too jealous of the intentions of an enemy. Jehoram wisely suspects this flight of the Syrians to be but simulatory and politic, only to draw Israel out of their city for the spoil of both. There may be more peril in the back of an enemy than in his face the cruelest slaughters have been in retiring. Easily therefore is the king persuaded to adventure some few forlorn scouts for further assurance. The word of Elisha is out of his head, out of his heart, else there had been no place for this doubt. Timorous hearts never think themselves sure; those that have no faith, had need of much sense. Those few horses that remain are sent forth for discovery; they find nothing but monuments of frightfulness, pledges of security. Now Israel dares issue forth to the prey there, as if the Syrians had come thither to enrich them, they find granaries, wardrobes, treasures, and whatever may serve either for use or ostentation. Every BOOK XX. TO JEHORAM; ELISHA CONFERRING WITH How royally hath Elisha paid the Shunamite for his lodging! To him already she owes the life of her son, both given and restored; and now again, after so many years, as might well have worn out the memory of so small a courtesy, herself, her son, her family, owe their lives to so thankful a guest. That table and bed, and stool and candlestick, were well bestowed. That candlestick repaid her the light of her future life and condition, that table the means of maintenance, that stool a seat of safe abode, that bed a quiet rest from the common calamities of her nation. He is a niggard to himself that scants his beneficence to a prophet, whose very cold water shall not go unrewarded. Elijah preserved the Sareptan from famine; Elisha the Shunamite: he, by provision of oil and meal; this, by premonition: "Arise, and go, thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn." The Sareptan was poor, and driven to extremes; therefore the prophet provides for her from hand to mouth; the Shunamite was wealthy; and therefore the prophet sends her to provide for herself. The same goodness, that relieves our necessity, leaves our competency to the hand of our own counsel; in the one he will make use of his own power, in the other of our providence. The very prophet advises this holy client to leave the bounds of the church, and to seek life, where she should not find religion. Extremity is for the time a just dispensation, with some common rules of our outward demeanour and motions, even from better to worse. All Israel and Judah shall be famished: the body can be preserved nowhere, but where the soul shall want. Sometimes the conveniences of the soul must yield to bodily necessities. Wantonness and curiosity can find no advantage from that which is done out of the power of need. It is a long famine that shall afflict Israel. He, upon whom the spirit of Elijah was doubled, doubled the judgment inflicted by his master. Three years and a half did Israel gasp under the drought of Elijah: seven years' dearth shall it suffer under Elisha. The trials of God are many times not more grievous for their sharpness, than for their continuance. This scarcity shall not come alone: God shall call for it: whatever be the second cause, he is the first. The executioners of the Almighty (such are his judgments) stand ready waiting upon his just throne; and do no sooner receive the watch-word, than they fly upon the world, and plague it for sin. Only the try of our sins moves God to call for vengeance; and, if God once call, it must come. How oft, how earnestly, are we called to repentance, and stir not! The messengers of God's wrath fly forth at the least beck, and fulfil the will of his revenge upon those whose obedience would not fulfil the will of his command. After so many proofs of fidelity, the Shunamite cannot distrust the prophet; not staying, therefore, to be convicted by the event, she removes her family into the land of the Philistines. No mtion was more opposite to Israel, none more worthily odious; yet there doth the Shunanite seek and find shelter: even the shade of those trees that are un wholesome may keep us from a storm. Everywhere will God find room for his own. The fields of the Philistines flourish, while the soil of Israel yields nothing but weeds and barrenness. Not that Israel was more sinful, but that the sin of Israel vas more intolerable. The offers of grace are so many aggravations of wickedness. It equal offences, those do justly smart more, who are more obliged. No pestilence is so contagious as that which hath taken the purest air. These Philistine neighbours would never have endured themselves to be pestered with foreigners, especially Israelites, whom they hated, besides religion, for their usur pation: neither were they in all likelihood, pressed with multitude. The rest of Israel were led on with hopes, presuming upon the amends of the next harvest, till their want grew desperate and irremediable; only the forewarned Shunamite prevents the mischief: now she finds what it is to have a prophet her friend. Happy are those souls, that upon all occasions consult with God's seers: they shall be freed from the plagues wherein the secure blindness of others is heedlessly overtaken. Seven years had this Shunamite sojourned in Palestine; now she returns to her own, and is excluded. She, that found harbour among Philistines, finds oppression and violence among Israelites: those of her kindred, taking advantage of her absence, had shared her possessions. How oft doth it fall out, that the worst enemies of a man are those of his own house! All went by contraries with this Shunamite: in the famine she had enough, in the common plenty she was scanted: Philistines were kind unto her, Israelites cruel. Both our fears and our hopes do not seldom disappoint us. It is safe trusting to that stay which can never fail us, who can easily provide us both of friendship in Palestine, and of justice in Israel. We may not judge of the religion by particular actions: a very Philistine may be merciful, when an Israelite is unjust; the person may be faulty, when the profession is holy. It was not long since the prophet made that friendly offer to the Shunamite, out of the desire of a thankful requital: “ What is to be done for thee? wouldst thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host?" and she answered, "I dwell among my brethren." Little did she then think of this injurious measure, else she might have said, I dwell among my enemies, I dwell among robbers. It is like they were then friendly, who were now cruel and oppressive. There is no trust to be reposed in flesh and blood. How should their favours be constant, who are, in their nature and disposition, variable? It is the surest way to rely on Him who is ever like himself, the measure of whose love is eternity. Whither should the Shunamite go to complain of her wrong, but to the court? There is no other refuge of the oppressed, but public authority. All justice is derived from sovereignty: kings are not called gods for nothing; they do both sentence and execute for the Almighty. Doubtless now the poor Shunamite thought of the courteous proffer of Elisha, and, missing a friend at the court, is glad to be the presenter of her own petition. How happily doth God contrive all events | for the good of his This supplicant shall fall upon that instant for her suit, when the king shall be talking with Gehazi, when Gehazi shall be talking of her to the king: the words of Gehazi, the thoughts of the king, the desires of the Shunamite, shall be all drawn together, by the wise providence of God, into the centre of one moment, that his oppressed servant might receive a speedy justice. O the infinite wisdom, power, mercy of our God, that insensibly orders all our ways, as to his own holy purposes, so to our best advantage! What doth Jehoram, the king, talking with Gehazi the leper? That very presence was an eye-sore. But if the cohabitation with the infectious were forbidden, yet not the conference. Certainly I begin to think of some goodness in both these. Had there not been some goodness in Jehoram, he had not taken pleasure to hear, even from a leprous mouth, the miraculous acts and praises of God's prophet. Had there not been some goodness in Gehazi, he had not, after so fearful an infliction of judgment, thus ingenuously recounted the praises of his severe master. He, that told that dearbought lie to the prophet, tells now all truths of the prophet to the king. Perhaps his leprosy had made him clean; if so, happy was it for him that his forehead was white with the disease, if his soul became hereupon white with repentance: but we may well know that the desire or report of historical truths doth not always argue grace. Still Jehoram, after the inquiry of the prophet's miracles, continues in idolatry. He, that was curious to hearken after the wonders of Elisha, is not careful to follow his doctrine: therefore are Gehazi and the Shunamite met before him, that he may be convicted, who will not be reformed. Why was it else, that the presence of the persons should thus unexpectedly make good the relation, if God had not meant the inexcusableness of Jehoram, while he must needs say within himself. Thus potent is the prophet of that God whom I obey not. Were not Elisha's the true God, how could he work such wonders? and if he be the true God. why is he not mine? But what shall I change Ahab's god for Jehoshaphat's? No; I cannot deny the miracles, I will not admit of the author: let Elisha be powerful, I will be constant O wretched Jehoram! how much better had it been for thee never to have seen the face of Gehazi, and the son of the Shunamite, than to go away unmoved with the ven geance of leprosy in the one, with the merciful resuscitation of the other! There. fore is thy judgment fearfully aggravated, because thou wouldst not yield to what thou couldst not oppose. Had not Ahab's obdurateness been propagated to his son, so powerful demonstrations of divine power could not have been uneffectual. Wicked hearts are so much worse, by how much God is better: this anvil is the harder by being continually beaten upon, whether with judgments or mercy. Yet this good use will God have made of this report, and this presence, that the poor Shunamite shall have justice. That son, whose life was restored, shall have his inheritance revived: his estate shall fare the better for Elisha's miracles. How much more will our merciful God second his own blessings, when the favours of unjust men are therefore drawn to us, because we have been the subjects of divine beneficence! It was a large and full award, that this occurrence drew from the king: "Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field, since the day that she left the land, even until now." Not the present possession only is given her, but the arrearages. Nothing hinders but that outward justice may stand with gross idolatry. The widow may thank Elisha for this: his miracle wrought still, and puts this new life in her dead estate; his absence did that for the preservation of life, which his presence did for the restoring it from death. She that was so ready to expostulate with the man of God upon the loss of her son, might, perhaps, have been as ready to impute the loss of her estate to his advice. Now, that for his sɛke she is enriched with her own, how doth she bless God for so happy a guest! When we have forgotten our own good turs, God remembers and crowns them. Let us do good to all while we have time, but especially to the household of faith. Could Israe' have been sensible of their own condition, it was no small unhappiness to lose the presence of Elisha. Whether for the idolaries, or for the famine of Israel, the prophet is gone into Syria, no doubt Naanan welcomed him thither, and now would force upon him thanks for his cure, which the man of God would not receive a home. How famous is he now grown that was taken from the team! His name is not confined to his own nation: foreign countries take notice of it, and kings are glad to listen after him, and woo him with presents. Benhadal, the king of Syria, whose counsels he had detected, rejoiceth to hear of his presence and now, as having forgotten that he had sent a whole host to besiege the prophet in Dothan, sends an honourable messenger to him, laden with the burden of forty camels, to consult with this oracle concerning his sickness and recovery. This Syrian, belike, in his distress, dares not trust to his own gods; but, having had good proof of the power of the God of Israel, both in Naaman's cure, and in the miraculous defeats of his greatest forces, is glad to send to that servant of God whom he had persecuted. Wicked men are not the same in health and in sickness: their affliction is worthy of the thanks, if they be well-minded, not themselves. Doubtless the errand of Benhadad was not only to inquire of the issue of his disease, but to require the prayers of the prophet for a good issue. Even the worst man doth so love himself, that he can be content to make a beneficial use of those instruments whose goodness he hateth. Hazael, the chief peer of Syria, is designed to this message: the wealth of his present strives with the humility of his carriage and speech: "Thy son, Benhadad, king of Syria, hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recove of this disease?" Not long since, Jehoram, king of Israel, had said to Elisha, " My father, shall I smite them?" and now Benhadad, king of Syria, says, My father, shal. I recover?" Lo, how this poor Meholathite hath kings to his sons! How great is the honour of God's prophets with pagans, with princes! Who can be but confounded to see evangelical prophets despised by the mearest Christians? 64 It is more than a sngle answer that the prophet returns to the message: one answer he gives to Benhalad that sent it, another he gives to Hazae that brings it: that to Benhadad is, "Thot mayest surely recover;" that to Hazael, “ The Lord hath showed me that he shall surely die." What shall we say then? Is there a lie, or an equivocation in the holy mouth of the prophet? God forbid. It is one thing, what shall be the nature and issue of the disease; another thing, what may outwardly befall the person of Benhadad: the question is moved of the former, wheret the answer is direct, The disease is not hortal; but, withal, an intimation is given to the bearer, of an event beyond the reach of his demand, which he may know, lut either need not, or may not return: “ The Lord hath showed me that he shall surely die," by another means, though not by the dis case. The seer of God descries more in Hazael, than he could see in himself; he fixes his eyes, therefore, stedfastly in the Syrian's face, as one that in those lines read the | bloody story of his life. Hazael blushes; Elisha weeps. The intention of those eyes did not so much amaze Hazael, as the tears: as yet, he was not guilty to himself of any wrong that might strain out this juice of sorrow: Why weepeth my lord ?" 66 The prophet fears not to foretell Hazael all the villanies which he should once do to Israel; how he should fire their forts, and kill their young men, and rip the mothers, and dash their children. I marvel not now at the tears of those eyes, which foresaw this miserable vastation of the inheritance of God; the very mention whereof is abhorred of the future author: What, is thy servant a dog, that I should do this great thing?" They are savage cruelties whereof thou speakest: it were more fit for me to weep, that thou shouldst repute me so brutish: I should no less condemn myself for a beast, if I could suspect my own degeneration so far. Wicked men are carried into those heights of impiety, which they could not, in their good mood, have possibly believed: nature is subject to favourable opinions of herself, and will rather mistrust a prophet of God, than her own good disposition. How many, from honest beginnings, have risen to incredible licentiousness! whose lives are now such, that it were as hard for a man to believe they had ever been good, as to have persuaded them once they should prove so desperately ill. To give some overture unto Hazael of the opportunity of this ensuing mischief, the prophet foretells him, from God, that he shall be the king of Syria. He that shows the event, doth not appoint the means. Far was it from the spirit of God's prophet to set or encourage a treason while he said, therefore, "Thou shalt be king of Syria," he said not, Go home and kill thy master. The wicked ambition of Hazael draws this damnable conclusion out of holy premises; and now, having fed the hopes of his sovereign with the expectation of recovery, the next day he smothers his master. desire of rule brooks no delay. Had not Hazael been gracelessly cruel, after he had received this prediction of the seer, he should have patiently waited for the crown of Syria, till lawful means had set it upon his head: now he will, by a close execution, make way to the throne. A wet cloth The impotent |