Syrian " (vrr. 20), a sw~arer (ver. 20), covetous, untruthful, careless of his master's honour, secretive (ver. 24), shameless. He had no sense of God's watchful eye and continnnl presence, no respect or love for his masrer, no care for what Naaman and the other Syrians would think of him. He thus did as much as in him lay to ruin hie master's. projects, and to lower him in the esteem of those whose good opinion he knew hIS master valued. Another lesson to be drawn from the narrative is the follmdng :- II. ONE SIN LEADS ON TO ANOTHER BY A SEQUENOE WHI0R IS AI.:M:OST INEVITABLE, Gehazi begins with covetousness. Re cannot see the grent wealth of Naaman, the wedges of silver and gold, and the large bales of rich stuffs, without a keen desire to obtam possession of a portion. He hopes that his master will spoil the Syrian, and not spare him; in that case he may contrive to get a share in the advantage. His master's refusal, no doubt, seems to him mere folly, quixotism-almost madness. He sets his clever wits to work, and soon frames a scheme by which his master's intentions shall be frustrated. The scheme, as any scheme must under such circumstances, involves him in lying; nay, in a whole heap of lies. He tells a circumstantial tale in which there i11 not a single word of truth. The tale runs glibly off his tongue, and easily deceives the foreigner, who is not of a suspicious temper. Gehazi is completely successful, obtains even more than he had ventured to ask; hides it away without any difficulty, and thinks that all is over. But all is not over. " Whence comest thou, Gehazi?" sounds in his ears; and he must either confess all or, directly and unmistakably, lie to his master. Of course, the lie is resolved upon; his previous conduct has so demora- lized him, that we cannot even imagine him to have hesitated. The direct falsehood to his master, which be would fain have avoided, has to be uttered: "Thy servant went no whither." Facil,is descensus ~verni. The only security against a moral decline as grievous as Gebazi's is not to enter upon it, not to take the first step. Principiis obsta. Check evil tendencies at once, and the fatal sequence need never be entered upon. Gebazi's pnnisbment has also its lesson. He had gained his coveted wealth; the prophet could not take it from him. He was a rich man, and might carry out all his far-reaching schemes of proprietorship, and lordship over others. But what will it all profit him, if he is to be, to the end of his days, a leper? The apples of Sodom, so "fair to view," are felt and known to be worthless, when they "turn to ashes on the lips." So was it with him ; and so is it, commonly, with those who pursue a course similar to his. The prosperity acquired by fraud has within it a. taint of rottenness. There ill "a. little rift within the lute "-a. drawback of some kind or other, which deprives the prosperity of all its value, and makes the wealthy prosperous man a miserable wretch. If be escape external calamity, he will, at any rate, not escape the worm of remorse, which will eat into his heart, and poison his cup of pleasure,
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS .AUTHOR!,, Vers. 1-3.-The captive Israelitish maid. There are four personageR that stand out with special prominence in this chapter, from each of which important lessons may be learned. 'l'hese are-the little Hebrew maid; N aaman, the commander-in-chief of the Syrian army ; the Prophet EliEba.; and Geba.zi, the prophet's servant. We shall speak first of the little maid. L THIS LITTLE :M.AID nm NOT FORGET HER Rl!:LIGION WREN SHE WENT FIIOM HOME, We see that, though in a foreign land, she still thought of her fath~rs' God and of his prophet. 'l'ba.t ii, an important lesson in these days, when travellmg has become so common. The motto with a great many professing Christians seems to .be that when they are at Rome, they must do as Rome does. When they travel on the continent, they keep the continental Sunday, just as if the same God was not looking down upon them there as at home, just as if the Lord's day was not the Lord's day everywhere, and as if there were not good Christian people on the continent who valued the day as a day of rest and worship. Mr. Ruskin wrote some pointed words lately in reference to the way Chrietian people seem to forget their religion when they go abroad. He asked them to count up their expenditure on railway fares and sight-seeing, op guides &ud l.{llidc-book.s, on luxuries and photographs; and then to ask themselves how much Oil. V. 1-27,) THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 103