The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 46

consciousness of his power tvith God. He finds out, through his servant Gelll\zl that the one greRt thi1Jg on earth that they desired most., and would most appreciate ~,•as a f~mily; a child would. brighten their. hearth and gladden their hearts. Thie, tbrough his wonderful power with Hea1•en, Ehsha obtains for them. Thus the Almighty him- i;elf acknowledged the hospitality which this woman had shown to his faithful prophet. "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." CoNCLUSION. Dinings out and social banquets are common enough amongst us, but hospitality of the true sort is, it may be feared, somewhat rare-the hospitality desoribed by Washington Irving, which "breaks through the chill of ceremonies, and throws every heart. into a glow." There is an emanation from the heart in genuine hospitality that cannot be described.-D. T. VerB. IS-31.-Great trials. " And when the child was grown," eto. This paragraph suggests three general observations. L That great trials OFTEN SPRING FROM GREAT MERCIES. With what rapture we may suppose did this woman welcome her only child into the world, and with what care and affection did she minister to his health and enjoyments ! It was her greatest earthly prize. She would sooner have parted with all her property, and even, perhaps, with her husband, for he was an old man, than lose this dear boy of hers. Yet she does; death snatches him from her embrace. "And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. And when be had taken him, and brought him to his mother, be sat on her knees till noon, and then died." Though the boy we.s dead, the woman did not seem to lose hope; her maternal love would not allow her to realize the terrible fact at once. She first lays him on the bed in the chamber which she had built for the prophet; then she calls to her husband, and entreats him to send a servant with one of the asses, that she might fly with swift- ness to Elisha. When her husband suggested some difficulty about her going just at that time, she replied, "It shall be well." " Then she saddled aD ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee. So she went e.nd came unto the man of God to Mount Carmel." This was a journey of about five or six hours. Distance is nothing when the traveller's heart overflows with emotion. How frequently it happens that from our greatest blessings our greatest trials spring I I. Friendship is a great blessing. One true friend, whose soul lives in ours and ours in him or her, is of priceless worth. Yet the disruption of that friendship may strike a wound into the heart that no time can heal. 2. A sanguine temperament is a great blessing. It drinks in largely of the beauties of nature; it paints the future with the brightest hopes, and stimulates the energies to the greatest enterprises. All the best productions of the human species have sprung from such temperaments. But what trials it brings, in frustrated plans, blighted purposes, and extinguished hopes I But life a.bounds with illustrations of the factr-the greater the blessiDgs we enjoy, the greater agony felt in their loss. IL That great trials sBOULD BE PATIENTLY ENDURED. In this great trial this woman seems wonderfully resigned. In •reply to a difficulty which her husband ruggested in setting out for the journey, she said," It shall be well." And_ when Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, on her approach to the prophet, asked her, " Is 1t well with thee? Is it well with thy l1usband? Is it well with the child?" she answered, "It is well" "Though I left my dear boy a corpse at home, and my heart bleeds, I feel it is all ' well; ' it is the dispensation of a Father all-wise and all-loving. I bow to his will" A state of mind so m:ignanirnous as this under great trial is the duty of al~ and the sublime privilege of the holy and the good. Thus Job felt, "The Lord gave, and the Lord ha.th ta.ken away; blessed be the Na.me of the Lord." Thus our great Example felt when overwhelmed with immeasurable distress he said, "Not my wiU, but thine be done.'' "Thy way, not mine, 0 Lord, However dark it be ; Lead me by thine own hand, Choose out the path for me. on. 1v. 1- 44.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 83