be enabled to give vent to these feelings? Well, then, you are prepared, for to you the appearance of the Lord Jesus is dear. That is enough; but remember! this is indispensable, and cannot be substituted by any strict church attendance, sense of justice, or moral perfection. This is the test and evidence of that feeling, to which the name of divine belongs. As is faith, so is repentance only then genuine and true, when that holy longing is its essence, its life. In these observations, my beloved friends, I have given you the metewand for the historical event, which we shall read to-day in the narrative of Elisha. A remarkable scene we shall now find presented to us. May its contemplation prove to us a blessed one! 2 KINGS, VI. 24-30. And it came to pass, after this, that Benhadad, King of Syria, gathered all his host, and went up and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria: and behold they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver. And as the King of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying," Help, my Lord, O King." And he said, "If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the wine-press?" And the king said unto her, "What aileth thee?" And she answered, "This woman said unto me, 'Give thy son, that we may eat him to-day, and we will eat my son to-morrow.' So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, 'Give thy son, that we may eat him and she hath hid her son."" And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and behold he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. : What a dark, gloomy scene is here presented, through which the thread of the history of Elisha runs. To be sure, it runs on like the thread of life of the children of God through all their dark trials. On the other side, beyond shadows of darkness, there appears the sunlight of the operation of divine grace and support. The Lord knows his own, and protects them as the apple of his eye. The portion of the narrative now before us, unveils, first, A HEAVY JUDGMENT, then THE PAROXYSM OF DESPAIR, and finally, A ROYAL PENITENT. Let us tarry for a few moments before these pictures. "After this I. commences our history, as if the next coming event had attached itself immediately to the preceding one. But this is by no means the case, rather is it left open for us, to suppose the two events to be separated from each other by a period of several years. The wonderful escort of the Syrian army into Samaria, as well as their generous treatment, at which they had such reason to be rejoiced, had doubtless not transpired without making some conciliatory impression upon the heart of Benhadad. But the mind of the natural man resembles a sieve, which allows nothing to escape more swiftly through it than any better emotion. Thus in the heart of the Syrian prince the resolution to spare thenceforth that nation, through the superficial emotion produced at the noble act of the Israelites, appears soon to have passed away. The deeply-rooted hatred of the Jews, together with the desire after the beautiful provinces of Canaan, resumed their former force. What, however, was made to serve this time as a pretext, I know not; suffice it, that Benhadad again declared war against King Jehoram, and before the latter had completed his means of defence, his troops had marched across the frontier and approached Samaria. Thus it seems, as long as Syria remains Syria, and Israel remains Israel, a treaty of peace between them is not to be thought of. In more modern times, there is not seldom observable, on the part of the faithful, espepecially the educated portion, a vain endeavour to fill up with all kinds of self-chosen things, the gulph which is placed between them and the world. Here, one tries to reconcile to himself the children of the world by striving to represent himself to them as one of equal rank in the kingdom of learning and science; another courts their good opinion by studied development and open displays of striking talents in some favourite invention. A third imagines that it will prove more successful to lay aside the appearance, to the world so disagreeable, of pietistical narrow-mindedness, if he, of course as far as may be made justifiable to a Christian conscience, joins with a manner at once free and uncontrolled, in the forms of worldly sociality. A fourth exerts himself to show the world, that he rests his faith not merely upon the basis of pious feeling, but at the same time of philosophical reflection, and hopes, in such way, to escape the reproach of Christ, and to regain possession of a seat amongst the "rationalists." At the present day, unhappily, we not unfrequently meet with efforts of this kind in authorship and practical life; but if a believer is so fortunate as to force from the world the acknowledgment that "he is really a pleasant, social and clever man, nay, even a man of mind, talent and fine abilities," he will nevertheless soon become convinced that the enmity planted by God between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman is not to be removed by human devices, and that, together with the hatred of the unbelieving world, he has hardened himself now, after revealing his weakness, with its contempt. Nor is even this the most bitter fruit which his backsliding efforts will bring him. He will have to atone for his double dealing still more severely, in a stricken conscience, in a broken spirit, and in deep selfdebasement. And many a chastisement from above will assuredly fall upon him, for it is a perfect and not a lame and divided people that the Lord desires. We greet, God be thanked! in our professors' chairs at our universities, many faithful theologians in our days; but how many are there among them who remind us, I will not say of the Apostles, but of the heroes of faith in the age of the Reformation? Wherein lies the striking distance between the former and the latter? For what reason does their influence upon the church of their age show itself so weak, so slow? How does it happen that before them the spirits of unbelief and libertinism do not feel restrained, much less fettered, and that though there is found, in the banners of those professors, the good watchword, yet not in their mouth the twoedged sword, or in their appearance the power of an allgoverning Spirit? Alas! the divided hearts! the pitiful honour-taking from each other! the coveting even after the applause of enemies! the double desire after a corner in the hall of the heroes of Christ's kingdom, and at the same time after a niche in the pantheon of human fame! To these good men the increase of those against whom they make war is at least as precious as the triumph itself that they may gain over them. But with such half-fighting, how are home-telling blows to be given, and determined efforts to be made? It cannot be more than a mere flash of fire at which no enemy shrinks. The reformers sought only one thing-Christ's honour and the victory of His cause; and in this oneness lay their virtue and their strength. When we to-day enter the land of Canaan, we shall find King Jehoram in the most embarrassed situation. Driven back from every side by the vigorously advancing forces of the enemy, he has been compelled to seek safety with his soldiers within the walls of his capital. There he is now closely besieged by the Syrians, with just time to reflect and ask himself, why Jehovah has forsaken him, and deserted his banners? Come, let us steal into the town, and see how it stands with the besieged. Alas, what a scene is here presented! What a mass of extreme wretchedness and misery is exhibited before us on every side! The town, owing to the unexpectedly rapid assault of the enemy, had not been perly supplied with provisions, and thus all they have is exhausted, and any supply from beyond the walls is not to be thought of. A famine ensues, such as has never been known. Horses and asses are slaughtered, although the flesh of the latter is held by the Levitical law impure and forbidden. An ass's head already sold for fourscore pieces of silver-about 31. sterling; the fourth part of a cab, or six egg-shells of dove's food -a mixture of scarcely eatable lentils and wild roses, five pieces of silver. In the dwellings of the lower classes there is already raging the most frightful starvation. Perishing skeleton forms of children moan forth in feeble but imploring accents their prayer for bread, but alas, in vain! The richer classes, in spite of all their gold and silver, suffering equally from hunger, have in addition, to dread every moment the sudden |