CHAPTER XI.

EFFECTUAL FERVENT PRAYER.

"And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite: run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me. Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me? Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again and lay my staff upon the face of the child. And the mother of the child said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her. And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked. And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord. And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm. Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out."-2 KINGS iv. 25-37.

FROM one of the slopes of Mount Carmel an unusual sight met the eye of Elisha. Two travellers were urging their mules over the plain of Jezreel at the utmost of their speed. One of the two Elisha could discern, even at that distance, to be a woman. No ordinary travellers would have crossed the plain of Jezreel ere the heat of the day was past, nor hastened onward at such speed. As the two approached nearer, the

prophet recognised the well-known form of her who, on Sabbaths and new moons, had so often come to wait on his ministry. Some very extraordinary event must have brought her at this time. In his anxiety to ascertain her errand, and with an undefined apprehension of some great sorrow, he hastily sent Gehazi to meet her, and to "say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child?" Gehazi was not loth to execute the commission. He put the questions, doubtless, with not a little of personal curiosity, though without much personal sympathy. It is strange what trouble people will take to "know all about others," especially when they are in sorrow. Under such circumstances they seem prompted, not merely by ordinary curiosity, but by a morbid craving after coarse excitement. They would watch our every sigh, and measure our every tear; they seem to delight in every feature of the terrible. Or, is this another phase of selfishness—a wish to see their own faces reflected in our tears? Certainly it is not sympathy, for that is of delicate step, of tender hand, and of silent lips.

What other answer, than that she made, could have been expected of the Shunammite? She could not open up the story of her grief to any one without sinking under its weight, as she tried to lift it into view. Least of all could she have spoken of it to a Gehazi. She had locked it up in her bosom for Elisha, or rather for Elisha's God, and was she now to give up the key to Gehazi? Silence was her only strength, and that silence she would preserve till she had reached the spot, toward which she had toiled these sixteen weary miles across the plain of Jezreel. It seems incomprehensible-yet there are who can open their feelings and experiences, even to a Gehazi. But can these be the real wants of our inmost hearts, which are so readily spread to the eye of every onlooker? Can these have been real burdens of the soul which

so lightly roll from the lips of religious talkers? Is this whole-hearted talk about being "powerfully awakened" and "peace" consistent with the anguish of a soul, striving to enter in at the strait gate, or with the holy calm when, after a night of wrestling, at morn the sun has risen upon halting Israel? Still the Shunammite pressed on, till at last she stood before the well-known form of the prophet. The sight of him brought back the stemmed-up tide of remembrance. As crowded into one picture she saw it: Elisha's first morning in the guest-chamber of her house; she felt again, how, when the unexpected ray of hope had broken upon her, she could, in the confusion of her happiness, only say, "Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid;" then the infant; then the boy; then her dead child lying in that same upper chamber! Like a mighty river, which having burst the feeble barriers that man opposed to its rush, sweeps them away in its torrent strength, so her feelings, long restrained, now unloosed, burst into a very agony of unspoken sorrow. She fell at Elisha's feet, and convulsively clasped them to her bosom. It was now that the contrast, as presented by the character of Gehazi, fully appeared. To the man of conventionalities and secularities, to the shrewd Gehazi, such an outburst of feeling seemed improper, unbecoming. judged the outburst; he knew not what real feeling was. Perhaps he regarded it as unsubmissive, irreligious. He would have thrust her away; he would have rushed into what was most sacred, and applied his rules of common sense, or his religious platitudes, to the agony of an over-burdened heart.

He

Is it not still so? In the view of many, sorrow may wrap itself in orthodox trappings, and religion flow in well-worn channels. All beyond that must be sternly repressed. Similarly, we may speak to men from the pulpit, and tell them in their collective capacity that all are sinners, a charge to

which, unless further applied, the most careless will not take exception. We may even at set seasons- -as in times of trial, or at a sick bed-repeat this privately, though in a milder form. But to speak plainly on these subjects; to ask a person directly whether he is on the road to heaven or not, or to press upon him individually his duty towards God as regards means, time, or influence, that is beyond the conventional, and a Gehazi would thrust away the unwelcome speaker. There is indeed a twofold extreme here to be avoided. Personal religion is a matter between the soul and God, and we have no right to intrude. On the other hand, it is our solemn duty, not, indeed, to interfere, but to bring the truth to bear on the conscience. It is a terrible thought that some may fail finally and fatally for lack of our speaking plainly.

Or, to take a lower view, the duty of each one whether as regards giving, or working, or suffering, is as between him and his Master, and we have no right to prescribe. But to admonish the rich not to trust in uncertain riches, not to give of their means as if they were their own, but to offer as unto the Lord, meekly and in deepest humility, praying that He may be pleased to accept it; to do this, not seeking any personal advantage, is not interference, but Christian duty, and mostly a hard and trying duty to perform.

Such harm does a Gehazi-spirit work in the Church, that it would even thrust away from the feet of Christ. And yet there are true Christians who, in their intercourse with a hard, shrewd world, have allowed their hearts to be overlaid as with a layer of ice, although, thank God, the living stream flows underneath it. Like Gehazi, they imagine that they understand our motives also, and have sounded our depth, when in reality they have only paid out their own sounding line. Yet they are good and loving men. Beneath the crust of ice there is the flowing river, though it often needs, alas, the

sharp pickaxe of affliction to break up that, which will not yield to such rays as pierce the wintry clouds overhead. Why should it be so, and why introduce the world if you have really forsaken it? Why not rather yield to spiritual motives, and live as true and consistent disciples of Christ? But to return to our narrative. With . brief words of explanation the prophet arrested the officiousness of his servant. A twofold sorrow now cast its shadow upon Elisha. The soul of the Shunammite "is vexed within her," "and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me." So constant and close had been the prophet's fellowship with God, that He almost spoke to him as a man to his friend. Yet even so, God had not told him. For, miracles are not magic, nor is revelation soothsaying. Extraordinary communications were only for extraordinary purposes. In ordinary circumstances Prophets and Apostles were subject to the same laws, and had only the same means of acquiring knowledge as ourselves. Nor does Scripture communicate knowledge, which might otherwise be obtained, any more than special Providence supersedes the wise use of the best means. St. Paul had his ship's company given him from the shipwreck, yet neither was the wreck itself prevented, nor were any of the means of safety to be neglected. It is vain to question disjointed words of Scripture for geological, or physical, or physiological information. There is nothing hid under obscure expressions, which require the ingenuity of afterinformation to elicit from them meanings which neither their writers nor their readers would otherwise have found in them. It deserves special notice that Elisha did not seek to arrest the outburst of the mother's anguish. The most intense grief is not inconsistent with real piety. Only unbelief is to be watched against, lest, either in joy or in sorrow, we forget Him that sent it. Not so in the case of the Shunammite.