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LECTURE IX.

2 KINGS viii. 13.

“And Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?"

CONTINUING the history in which we are engaged, we find Elisha for the first time wandering beyond the limits of his native land, and a visiter in the country of the Syrians, his open and declared enemies.

Benhaddad, who was king of Syria at the time when Naaman, the captain of his host, was healed by Elisha, was still the reigning monarch; but he was at this period suffering under a great and serious illness. The coming of the prophet into his land was soon reported even in the sick chamber of the king, and he who had witnessed so remarkable an instance of Elisha's miraculous

power in the recovery of Naaman, would naturally desire to consult him respecting his own.

Accordingly, we read, that no sooner was it told the king," saying, the man of God is come hither," than he despatched Hazael, one of his chief officers, saying, “Take a present in thine hand, and go, meet the man of God, and inquire of the Lord by him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?"

How different a message from that which true wisdom would have dictated. How much more reasonable would it have been to have said, "Go, meet the man of God, and entreat him to heal me." Or, how wiser far, "Go, meet the man of God, and invite him to come and speak to me of the God of Israel." But, alas! Benhadad possessed not the inclination to be instructed, or the faith to be cured; he had simply the curiosity to know what would be the result of his malady. Strange, brethren, that it should be so strong a feature in the human mind, to desire to be informed of that which would profit us little if known, and to be indifferent to the only know

ledge, which "is life eternal." "Lord, wilt thou

at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"

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Lord, are there few that be saved?" were questions from which even the apostles themselves could not refrain; how many at all times would like to indulge in similar inquiries; how few who desire to ask with the same sincerity and earnestness, "Lord, what shall I do to be saved?" And yet the most explicit answer to the former could only gratify a fruitless curiosity; while upon the latter, an eternity, yes, absolutely, an eternity, of weal or wo depends.

Benhadad's messenger departs with the deeplyinteresting, but singularly unprofitable inquiry of his master. For the historian informs us that Hazael went to meet him (Elisha), and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden, and came and stood before him, and said, "Thy ́son Benhadad, king of Syria, hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?"

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Thy son Benhadad;" this was widely different language from that with which Elisha

would have been greeted, had the bands which this same monarch sent, but a short time since, to arrest him, been successful in capturing the prophet. But Benhadad then was in all the vigour of health, in the full enjoyment of a crown, and with a prospect of its many years' continuance; a bed of sickness, a strong conviction of the utter insufficiency of worldly help to aid us, a near glimpse of eternity, are powerful correctives, mighty teachers. Brethren, if you would only think of the word of God's ministers, of the duties of God's day, of the importance of God's commandments, and, above all, of the infinite value of God's dear Son, now, as most men think of them upon a sick bed, as perhaps, you yourselves have there thought of them, the charm of this world would be broken, and, as a bird out of the hand of the fowler, by God's help your soul would be delivered from those snares by which it is now so fatally entangled. Cherish, I beseech you, most prayerfully, most earnestly, the feelings and resolutions which are implanted in a chamber of sickness. To forget or neglect

them with returning health, is one of the most effectual, but, alas! most common means, of sowing with thorns a dying pillow.

"And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover; howbeit the Lord hath showed me that he shall surely die :” i. e. Benhadad may certainly be healed of the disease, in which there is nothing mortal, but God hath shown me that he shall die, though from a very different cause. "And he settled his countenance steadfastly, until he was ashamed; and the man of God wept." Hazael settled his countenance in well-feigned regret at this prediction of his master's death, until he quailed beneath the steady gaze of the prophet, who evidently penetrated the flimsy veil of his hypocrisy, and made him ashamed of his detected guilt. "And the man of God wept;" his eye was permitted to foresee the horrors impending upon his native country, and he could no longer refrain from tears. He wept to think of all that Hazael would perpetrate, and all that Israel would suffer. "And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord?