vi~. praise and ack:nowledgment on the part orthose who represent the nation and have R right to speak on its behalf. Due acknowledgment is seldom grudged, when the end has come or approaches; and, though man's judgment is a "small thing" compo.red with God's, it is not altogether to be despised-we may feel in such acknowlcdglllent a legitimate satisfaction. II. A LESSON OF FORTITUDE. Elisha makes no moan, expresses no complaint. It is extraordinary how many men, even men who profess to believe in a future life of infinitely _great.er happiness than the present one, arc discontented, and murmur, or even pass10_nately cry out, when a mortal disease attacks them. And this although they have lived the full term of average human life in this world. Very few quit the scene gracefully, placidly, bravely. Almost all seem to regard the summons to set their bolll!e in order as untimely, and themselves as hardly used by the call being made upon them. There is always something for which they think they might as well have been allowed to wait- " Half the cows to calve, and Barnaby Holmes to plough." ~IL A 1;-ESSON OF PERSEVERANCE AND _EFFO:itT TO TIIE ~ERY_END. Elisha, though etncken with a mortal disease, doe., not give himself up to 10act1on, or cease to take an interest in the affairs of this life. On the contrary, he has his country's welfare most deeply at heart, and initiates and carries through a scene, in which his physical powers m11st have been severely tasked, for encouraging king and people in their death-struggle with Syria, and assuring them of final victory. 'l'he confidence inspired may have been a serious factor in the result. Elisha, at his age, might have been excused, bad be remained wholly passive, and received the king's visit as the compliment which it was intended to be ; but he could not be content without utilizing the visit to the utmost. He rouses the king from his despair (ver.14); inspires in him hope, courage, energy; promises him success, actively participates in the symbolic drama, which at once indicates and helps forward the result aimed at. We may learn from this that, while we live, we have acth-e duties to perform; we are not exauctOf"ati till the last summons comes; on our sick-bed, on onr death-bed, we may still be agents for good- we may advise, exhort, incite, rebuke evil (ver. 19), and be active ministers of good, impressing men more than we ever did before, when we speak from the verge of the grave, and having our "strength made perfect in weakness." Vers. 20, 21.-Li/e in death. The miracle wrought by the instrumentality of Elisha's bones wonld seem to have been designed for three main ends or purposes. I. Fon THE HONOUR OF THE PROPHET; that so he might have in his death (as Elijah had had in the method of his departure) a testimony from God that he was approved by him, and that he would have him respected and honoured by his countrymen. W orehip of relics was not a J ewisb superstition; and thus there was no danger of those ill results which followed on the alleged miracles wrought by the bodies of Christian martyrs. Those who witnessed or heard of the miracle in Elisha's tomb were led to venerate the memory of the prophet, to whom so great a testimony bad been given; and might thence be moved to pay greater attention and stricter obedience to what they knew of his teaching. II. FoB THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE NATION. The death of Elisha was no doubt felt as a national calamity. Many, besides the king, must have seen in it the lose to the nation of one who was more to it than "chariots and horsemen" (ver. 14). Despon- dency, we may be sure, weighed down the spirits of numbers who might think that God, in withdrawing hie prophet, bad forsaken his people. It was a great thing to such persons that they should have a clear manifestation that, though the prophet was gone, God still continued present with his people, was still among them, ready to help, potent to save. The more spiritually minded might view the miracle as sym- bolical, and interpret it to mean that, as 1be dead roan had sprung to life again on contact with Elisha's bones, so the dead nat10n should, as it were, rise out of hia tomb and recover itself, once more standing on its foet, in full possession of all its energies. III. FoB THE HONOUB OF GoD, AND THE SHOWING FOBTH 01' HIB TBANBOENDENT POWER, To give life is among the highest of the Divine attributes. It is God's special privilege, one that he cannot communicat.e to a creature. Even modern scientists bow OH. XIII, 1-25,] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 269
their heads before the mysterioue, inconceivable act, o.nd confess that they find it impossible to present it distinctly to their consciousness. But to give life to that which is held by death, in which decay is begun, which is under the law of dissolution and corruption, is e. still more incomprehensible thing, stranger, more astonisl,ing. And to orown "11 by bringing the new life out of death, making a dead corpse the source out of which vita!Hy shall leap forth to fresh energy, is to surpase all that the most lively fancy could imagine of wonderful, and almost to reconcile contradictions. God willed at this time to show that he could effect even this marvellous thing-make death give life to that which was recently dead-educe from one dead in him the vital power that should resuscitate and reanimate another also dead, and make a tomb- the place of death-the scene of the transformation I " 0 Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy Name; for thou hast done wonderful things" (Isa. xxv. 1); truly " wonderful art thou in thy doing towards the children of men" (Ps. !xvi. 4). The miracle of Elisha's bones is no argument for relic-worship. Relic-worship implies a belief that a virtue exists in the remnants of a deceased saint's body, which enables them of themselves to exercise a miraculous power. Elisha's bones were never thought to possess any such property. They were not exhumed, placed in cases, or exhibited to the faithful to be touched with the hand or kissed by the lips. It was understood that God had been pleased to work one miracle by them; it was never suppo~ed that they might be expected to work any more. They were therefore suffered to remain in the tomb wherein they had been from the first depositerl. It was not till the time of Julian that any importance was attached to them; though then we must conclude that they had become objects of reverential regard, since the Apostate took the trouble to burn them.