474 THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE
use against a man who had Heaven to back him. " His servant said unto him, Alas, my master ! how shall we do ? And hi answered. Fear not : for they that be with us are more than the} that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I praj thee, open his eyes, that he may see."
I.
The Visible.
1. " Open his eyes, that he may see." Was the young mar asleep, then, or was he blind ? Not the least, in the sense usuall} attached to those terms. This young man was as wide-awake sn most of us ; his eyes were as bright and as quick, as clear and far- seeing as those of a sailor at the mast-head. He had only jusi run in breathless to tell Elisha what he had seen — a mighty armj with glittering swords, prancing steeds, and chariots well mannec with soldiers, their breastplates reflecting the sheen of the sun light. Oh yes, he could see well enough as far as the physica! organ of sight is concerned, and yet he was dark with a blindnesf which defies the skill of the ophthalmist — brain-blindness, heart- blindness, soul-blindness, a blindness which enables a man to see only the material husks of things, and to believe that they are all a blindness which discerns nothing of the spiritual presences anc the spiritual significances with which God's world is full.
2. And how insistent the visible is. Our seen surroundings are so palpable and so evident. They press in upon the spirit and, by their strong insistence, claim to be recognized. Day bj day every man works out his destiny under their influence anc power. And many of them are hurtful to the spirit and harmful to the life. There is the glitter of the recent light which ex- tinguishes for us the patient shining of the deathless stars. There is the false standard of life which does so much to make us forget life's highest greatness. The voices, clamant, and even strident, which fill the ears with their Babel, are all about us. These things are the setting of the lives of us all.
^ Ruskin's strength lay in his intense perception of what was there ; but he was a moralist and not a poet ; he had little sense of symbols, he had little touch of music in his composition. He
2 KINGS VI. 17 475
saw the light on things so clearly that he did not see the hidden light that falls through things. " I was only interested," he wrote, " by things near me, or at least clearly visible and present." He paid a heavy penalty for this in his days of later darkness ; but in those early days, the rapture of light and colour and form so filled his heart and mind that he did not see those further secrets which can only be guessed at and perceived, hardly shared or uttered, but the truth of which, if a man has once tasted them, has a sacredness that is beyond all words.^
3. If we see only these things, what is the natural result ? It is fear. Fear darkening to bewildered helplessness is reasonable to men who see only the material and visible dangers and enemies that beset them. The wonder is, not that we should sometimes be afraid, but that we should ever be free from fear, if we look only at visible facts. "Worse foes ring us round than those whose armour glittered in the morning sunshine at Dothan, and we are as helpless to cope with them as that frightened youth was. Any man who calmly reflects on the possibilities and certainties of his life will find abundant reason for a sinking heart. So much that is dreadful and sad may come, and so much must come, that the boldest may well shrink, and the most resourceful cry, " Alas, how shall we do ? "
^1 Moses looked with his eyes and saw Israel enslaved. He saw his people downtrodden and oppressed, poor and despised, smitten and apparently hopeless. An ordinary man would have despaired. He would have said, " Nothing can be done with these dumb slaves," but Moses looked beyond the visible and saw Israel emancipated. He saw the light of Canaan on the far horizon. The vision stilTened his courage. He broke through conven- tionalism, threw down worldly ambition, walked out of the palace, and, setting his face towards the desert, began forty years of stern preparation for real leadership.
^ On one occasion M. Coillard started on a peace mission to a neighbouring tribe of Zulus. The party consisted of himself and Nathanael Makotoko with their respective followers. Makotoko "was M. Coillard's devoted friend and disciple, but not yet a Christian, and he was intensely superstitious. It was mid- winter ; they had to travel as much as possible by night, to avoid being seen by the enemy ; the Drakensberge were covered with snow ; they had not enough to eat or to cover themselves, and the fearful * A- C. Bensou, Euskin : A Study in Personality, 28.
476 THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE
cold reduced their spirits to the lowest ebb. To their dismay, the very first evening they met an ant-eater, or aardvark, a creature which very rarely shows itself by day, and which the Basutos regard as an infallible herald of misfortune. All, including the ambassador himself — Makotoko — wanted to turn back at once, but M. Coillard would not allow them, reminding them that, as messengers of peace, they had a Divine escort. The Basutos, however, saw no chariots of fire, and as they met with many adventures, they exclaimed in chorus at every critical moment : ' The ant-eater, Moruti, the ant-eater, you see ! ' " ^