into his heart, furnished him with a ready answer, " All is well." Now this answer is of considerable importance ;
I. As illustrating the character of Gehazi —
[Previous to this we have nothing that gives us any par- ticular insight into the character of Gehazi. He lived with a pious master, enjoyed the benefit of his instructions and ex- ample, and was an eye-witness of the miracles he wrought. One might have hoped therefore that he was impressed with a sense of true religion. But in this answer we see that he was a subtle, self-deluding hypocrite.
As far as related to the general scope of Naaman's inquiry, the answer was true : but was it true, as conveying all that Gehazi intended to convey? or would Naaman have thought it true, if he could have seen all that was in the heart of this \ile impostor? Was aU well, when thou wast coming on so base an errand ? when thou hadst fabricated such a falsehood ? and wast making it an occasion of such dishonest gain ? Was all well, when thou wast so belying thy master, so dis- honouring religion, casting such a stumbling-block before Naaman, and bringing such guilt upon thine own soul ? Did not thine own conscience reprove thee, when thou thus con- fidently daredst to assert, AU is well ?
From thy composure on the occasion it was evident, that thou expectedst to reap the fruit of thine iniquity in peace; and that, when thou rephedst, " All is well," thou apprehendedst no evil. But didst thou forget that God saw thee? Didst thou forget that he noteth down every thing in the book of his remembrance, and will bring it forth at the last day in order to a final retri- bution ? Didst thou forget that even now God could reveal thy wickedness to his prophet, and punish it by some heavy judgment? Hadst thou known at that moment that thy master's eye was upon thee, and that in less than an hour afterwards the leprosy of Naaman would cleave to thee, and that it would be the wretched inheritance of thy children to their latest posterity, wouldst thou then have said, that All was well? Above all, if thou couldst have reahzed thine appearance at the bar of judgment, and the sentence that there awaited thee, wouldst thou then have said, AU is weU ?
But so it is that sin blinds the eyes of men, and hardens their hearts ; nor is there any passion in the human mind, which, if suffered to gain an ascendant over us, may not produce in us the very same effect. The ambition of Absalom, the envy of Cain, the malice of Esau, the revenge of Jacob's sons, the covetousness of Judas, the lewdness of Herod, sufficiently shew, that, where there is some professed regard