The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 138

come the wrong must faithfully point out to them Iha possibilities of evil th11t are within their Ol\·n heart. Who that knows human nature, that knows the facts or history, can doubt that such possibilities exist? Look at Ha.zael, hitherto the faithful, trusted servant, stooping over the bedside of his master, and calmly and deliberately taking away his life. He had the ambition to be King of Syria, and he wades to the throne through bis master's blood. Who that knows what crimes men will commit when under the influence of covetousness, intemperance, hatred, or some other passion- men who otherwise woul<l have shrunk from the very mention of snch acts-can doubt the possibilities of e\'il within the human heart? There are possibilities of evil even in goo,l men. The ol<l nature is not ta.ken away. "When I would do good," said St. Paul, "e\'il is present with me, so that bow to perform that which is good I find not." "For I see a law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin." What, then, is the difference between II Christian and an unregenerate man? There are possibilities of evil in them both, but the Christian strives agaillst the evil, whereas the um~generate man yields to sin and loves it. The Christian may fall, but if so, be is filled with penitence. The Christian will have his faults, but, if so, he acknowledges them and seeks help to forsake them. "Faults!" says Thomas Carlyle, in his lectures on' Hero-Worship,' "the greatest of faults is to be conscious of none." Yes; there are possibilities of evil, there are actualities of evil, in the best of men. Christ might still say to an assembly of even his own disciples, "Let him that is without sin cast the first stone at a fallen sister or an erring brother." II. THE DANGER OF IGNORING THESE POSSIBILITIES. Hazael did not become a murderer all at once. The old Latin saying is, Nemo repente fit turpissimus-" No one becomes suddenly very wicked." It is true. Perhaps a. few yea.re before this if any one had told Hazael that he would be a murderer, he would have been highly indignant. Even now he asks, "What is thy servant, this dog, that he should do this great thing? " It is nncertain whether this exclamation of Haza.cl refers only to Elisha's prophecy about the cruelties he would perpetrate on Israel, or whether it refers also to the suggestion of Elisha that he was to be the murderer of Benhadad. If it refers to the murder of the king, then the exclamation would express surprise at the idea of his venturing to lift his hand against his master. If it only refers to the subsequent cruelties which he was to commit, it shows in any case that Hazael did not know of what he was capable. Shakespeare's representation of Brutus when meditating the murder of Julius Cmsar, to which he had been incited by other conspirators, throws light upon Hazael's feelings. "Since Cassius first did whet me against Cmear I have not slept. Between the acting of a dree.dfu 1 thing And tl.ie fil'Bt motion, all the interim is Like a phanta.sma, or e. hideous dream : The genius and the mortal instrumenls Are then in eonncil; and the state of a mnn, Like to e. little kingdom, suffers then The nature of e.n insurrection." It is, indeed, e. dangerous thing to tamper with temptation •. There _is that ~ffiaity between the evil which is in our own heart and the temptations which are w1tho11t, that there is between the gunpowder and the spark. It is wisdom to keep the sparks away. It is wisdom to keep away from the temptation. "Vice is a monster of so hideoi1s mien, As, to be hated, needs but to be seen ; Yet, seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace." It is "fools" who make a mock at sin. It is a. foolish thing to make light of the guilt of sin in God's sight. It is a foolish thing to make light of the power of sin in our own hearts. "Lead us not into temptation." III. 'fIIBBE 18 ONLY ONE SAFEGUARD AGAINST THESE EVIL TENDENCIES IN oun OWN liEARTS: THAT sAFEGt:ARD IS THE GRACE OF GoD. Of the power of that grace Hnzael knew nothing. Temptation upon tewvtatiou came crowding i11to his mind. Tl,efirae on. vm. 1-29.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 17'.l