The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 69

remedies the phyRiciA.n hM ordered, but, if he bM common sense, he uses the remedies at. once. s;,m,,,·, the cure/or your disease is a simple one. "Believe on the Lord Jee\18 Christ, and thou shalt be i;;aved." It is the only one. " There is none other Name under heaven given among nwn whereby we can be saved," except the Name of Jeeue. Naaman, at last, persuaded by his servants' entreaty, believed the prophet's promis•, and acted in obedience to his instructions. He went and washed in Jordan, and, as h,J prophet said, he was made whole. God promises to every sinner that if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you shall receive everlasting life. Did you ever know God's promise to fail? Why, then, should you hesitate, as a lost soul, to take the way of salvation provided for you through the mercy of God and the infinite love of Obrist? "There ie a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel's veine; And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty et.a.ins. .. The dying thief rejoiced to see That fountain in his day; And there may I, though vile as he. Wash all my sins away." III. NAAMA'N's GRATITUDE. Naama.n's marvellous cure made him a believer in the God of Israel. He returned to Elisha with gratitude in his heart. How different the spirit in which he now approaches the prophet! No longer proud and haughty, waiting at the door for Elisha to come out to him, he enters the prophet's house, and humbly stands before him. He shows a spirit of gratitude to God and to his prophet. He asks Elisha to give him a quantity of earth, that he may raise an altar unto the God of Israel, saying that he will henceforth sacrifice to no other god. You whom God has raised up again from beds of sickness-have you shown in any practical way your gratitude to him? Do you ever count up your mercies when you calculate how much you will subscribe to some religious object? If you did, there would not be much difficulty in clearing off church debt& We are, all of us, every day we live, dependent on God's mercy and bounty. In his hand our breath is. " In him we live, and move, and have our being." Many of us are saved sinners, redeemed through the precious blood of Christ. What have we done to show our thankfulness to God, who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light? N aaman, though a changed man and no longer an idolater, was still wanting in decision. He asked to be pardoned for bowicg in the temple of the god Rimmon, when his master, the king, went in to worship there. Some have thought that Elisha's answer, " Go in peace," gave permission to Naaman to go through this outward form of idolatry. But the prophet did not mean this at alL His words were bnt the Eastern form of saying "good-bye." He neither condemned nor approved N aaman's action. He left it as a matter for his own conscience. And so it must be in many things. We cannot lay down hard-and-fast lines for others. Be!!'inners in the Christian life, especially, should be tenderly dealt with. But while we°make every allowance for Naaman, who had spent all his life in heathenism, let us not imitate him in his want of decision. He owed allegiance to a higher Kicg than to the King of Syria. In matters of conscience, let no man be our master but Christ. Let us never sacrifice principle for expediency, or obey the call of popularity rather than the call of duty. A far higher example is tbat of Jobn Knox, who, when rebuked for his outspoken words before Queen Mary and her council, said, "I am in the place where I am demanded of conscience to speak the truth ; and therefore the truth I speak, impugn it whoso list."-C. H. L Vers. 20-27.-El,isha and Gehazi. We shall, perhaps, derive most profit from the study of theae two characters if we look at them together, as they are here set before us, in sharp and striking .'.lOntrast. L CONTRAST THE COVETOUSNF.SS OP THE ONE WITH THE UNSELPIBHNESB OP THB OT!IF-n. 1. Look, first of all, at Elisha', wnselfishnu,. It is a sublime picture. We hardl_v know which to admire moet--El,ijah as he stands forth alone in rugged grandeur to coufront the prophets of Baal; or El,iBli.a, as in quiet simplicity and sincere forget- fulness of self he stands there before Naaman, and gently puts away from him the OIi, V. 1-27.) .., THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 107