(1) The first is being in the right ;place. Elisha was in a great difficulty, in a very strait place, but he was where it was right for him to be. When St. Paul was in his dark prison at Eome the Lord stood by him and strengthened him ; when our Saviour bore His cruel agony in Gethsemane, an angel from heaven came to strengthen Him. When John Bunyan was thrust into the dismal prison on Bedford Bridge, we know what bright visions he saw, and how his dark cell was made glorious as he dreamed his wonderful dreams. Yes, but the secret of their strength was that they all were where God would have them be.
There are open hours
When the God's will sallies free,
And the dull idiot might see
The flowing fortunes of a thousand years; —
Sudden, at unawares,
Self-moved, fly-to the doors.
Nor sword of angels could reveal
What they conceal.^
(2) Tlie second condition is prayer. It may be the prayer of another for us. " Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see." He prayed God to grant the youth the same open eyes, the same spiritual vision as he himself enjoyed. But we may be our own prophet, and pray this prayer for the opened eye ourselves — "Lord, that I may receive my sight."
(3) Purity is of course essential, and if evil thoughts have blurred the vision, these must be got rid of. Direct attack will not expel them ; often the very effort and attention employed in combating them seem to increase their vividness. But the occu- pation of the mind with healthy interests will drive them out to make room for better company. And the vision is nearer to those who live keenly, with delight in the wholesome things that work and play offer them, than to those who stand aloof and seek for light by ascetic withdrawal.
^ Of the knights of the Eound Table, Sir Galahad was the one whose strength was as the strength of ten because his heart was pure. And while all the knights sought to see the Holy
^ Emerson. DEUT.-ESTH. — 3 1
482 THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE
Grail, it was to this pure-hearted knight that the Vision was first given.
For such As thou art is the vision, not for these.
(4) Peace also is essential. Sometimes, indeed, the vision flashes upon the battlefield, but that is an act of God for which we can make little arrangement. But when life is crowded with work and worry it is sometimes possible to "have courage to rest," and it is not only the pure heart that sees God, but also the quiet heart.
^ Peace is, indeed, a priceless gift to the aged saints of God ; it is infinitely precious to those who are called to face Death — and which of us is not called to face Death ? I have seen it shining in the glad eyes of a friend who was about to undergo a very dangerous operation. She had no thought of fear, knowing that whether she lived or died she was absolutely safe in God's care. And I saw it again, a few days later, when she greeted me with a beautiful smile. She knew, and her doctor and nurses knew, that it was worth a great deal to her — as a help towards recovery — to have her head (which appeared to be supported only by a tiny hospital pillow, about an inch thick) really "leaning back on Jesus' breast." ^
(5) Andi patience is often demanded if we would see — the patient attendance upon that which is fine and good. For a time Christ may seem uninteresting and His ideals dull ; but in reality they are the very splendour of God, and the soul that seeks shall find. There are stars so distant that no eye can see them, yet the photo- graphic telescope, pointed steadily to their field of darkness where they hide, receives their infinitesimal shafts of light, and their images are seen upon the plate. So, though the night be dark, the soul that turns away from lower things and resolutely points toward Christ, will yet see the image of the King in His beauty, and behold a land that is very far off.
Lay thine uphill shoulder to the wheel, And climb the Mount of Blessing, whence, if thou Look higher, then — perchance — thou mayest — beyond A hundred ever-rising mountain lines,
^ D. Farncomb, The Vision of His Face, 135,
2 KINGS VI. 17 483
And past the range of Night and Shadow — see The high-heaven dawn of more than mortal day Strike on the Mount of Vision!
So, farewell.!
2. The Vision. — " The mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." The chariots of fire, indeed, and horses of fire, were, in one sense, unreal ; that is, they were not of flesh, nor obvious to human sense : they were unearthly powers, who assumed a form by which they could make an impression of truth on the distrustful fleshly mind of the prophet's servant. There were no chariots there, nor horses ; but there were spiritual hosts, who showed themselves before the imagination of the young man to be more than a match for the army of besiegers. Thus a great truth from heaven, a reality as lasting and as wide as the universe, was taught him — that, beyond our eyes and ears, a majestic, spiritual world is moving on in silence ; that an unseen God has infinite, unseen resources ; that the causes and issue of things lie outside the horizon of the senses ; that immense agencies may be at work in all stillness and without the slightest show, of which the worldly mind does not so much as dream.