2
* E. E. Jenkins.
^ T. Hodgkin, Human Progress and the Inward Light, 28.
I KINGS XIX. II, 12 455
I hear it often in the dark,
I hear it in the light, — Where is the voice that comes to me
With such a quiet might ? It seems but echo to my thought,
And yet beyond the stars ! It seems a heart-beat in a hush,
And yet the planet jars !
Oh, may it be that far within
My inmost soul there lies A spirit-sky, that opens with
Those voices of surprise. Thy heaven is mine — my very soul !
Thy words are sweet and strong; They fill my inward silences
With music and with song.
They send me challenges to right,
And loud rebuke my ill; They ring my bells of victory ;
They breathe my " Peace, be still ! " They ever seem to say: "My child,
Why seek me so all day? Now journey inward to thyself,
And listen by the way." ^
^ That individual and immediate guidance, in which we recognize that " the finger of God is come unto us " seems to come in, as it were, to complete and perfect the work rough-hewn by morality and conscience. We may liken the laws of our country to the cliffs of our island, over which we rarely feel ourselves in any danger of falling ; the moral standard of our social circle to the beaten highway road which we can hardly miss. Our own conscience would then be represented by a fence, by which some parts of tie country are enclosed for each one, the road itself at times being barred or narrowed. And that Divine guidance of which I am speaking could be typified only by the pressure of a hand upon ours, leading us gently to step to the right or the left, in a manner intended for and understood by ourselves alone.^
^ When we have crossed to the other side of the gulf that separates the seen from the unseen we shall find that nothing has ^ W. C. Gannett. ^ Caroline Stephen, Qualcer Strongholds.
456 A STILL SMALL VOICE
over mattered except faithfulness to that voice. Place does not matter — one might gain all the glory of the world and yet be a stranger to one's own soul ; fame and station count for nothing in that mysterious beyond towards which we are all hastening ; the only possession we can carry there is what we are. Can we not live now as though our hearts were set only upon eternal values ? Can we not do with our lives now what we would do if we knew for certain that nothing shall live but love ? Can we not gaze calmly at the destructive effect of earthquake, wind, and fire, when we know that the still, small voice is whispering, " Well done, good and faithful servant " ? Above all, we shall not be tempted to think that success or failure depends in the least upon what the world can see.^
Loud mockers in the roaring street
Say Christ is crucified again: Twice pierced His gospel-bearing feet. Twice broken His great heart in vain. I hear, and to myself I smile, For Christ talks with me all the while.
No more unto the stubborn heart
With gentle knocking shall He plead, No more the mystic pity start,
For Christ twice dead is dead indeed. So in the street I hear men say, Yet Christ is with me all the day. 1 K. J. Campbell.
Naaman.
Literature.
Campbell (J. M.), Bible Questions, 230.
„ (L.), The Christian Ideal, 98.
„ (R. J.), Sermons addressed to Individuals, 107. Currier (A. H.), in Sermons by the Monday Club, 29tli Ser., 310 Gosse (P. H.), Rivers of the Bible, 216. Horwill (H. W.), The Old Gospel in the New Era, 68. Moody (D. L.), New Sermons, Addresses, and Prayers, 327. Pearse (M. G.), Naaman the Syrian, 1. Riacli (W. L.), Naaman, 69.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xv. (1869), No. 893. Vaughan (C. J.), Lessons of Life and Godliness, 205. Wliyte (A.), Bible Characters, iii. 109. Wilson (S. L.), Helpful Words for Daily Life, 125. Churchman^s Pulpit : Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, xi, 447
(Vaughan), 449 (Perry).
4S3
Naaman.
And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? — 2 Kings v. 13.
1. The history of JSTaaman, though it fills only one chapter of. the Bible, has much that makes it peculiarly attractive. He possessed nearly every requisite to worldly success and the full gratification of the highest ambition. He had the genius of a great commander ; under his leadership the armies of Syria had won great victories. Besides this gift of leadership, he had the personal courage and the heroic daring of a popular hero admired and extolled as " a mighty man of valour," Because of his great services to the State he enjoyed to an unusual degree the favour and confidence of his king, who lavished upon him the rich gifts and great offices which monarchs confer upon their favourites.
^ Tradition says that it was Naaman whose hand shot the arrow that smote between the joints of Ahab's armour, so that he fell down dead in his chariot. Such a man as sometimes comes to the front in the desperate needs of a nation — daring, wise, splendid in heroism, seeing the thing to be done and doing it swiftly and well : his name an inspiration to his forces, and a terror to his foes — how much can such a one do, carrying in his hands the destinies of nations. Here is greatness : great in him- self, great in his position, great in his possessions, great in his achievements, great in his authority : no element of greatness is lacking.^