THE STRANGER IN THE PHILISTINES' LAND.

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him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, 'Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land even until now.""

The event presented to our view this day is perhaps not exactly a miracle; and yet how is it otherwise, if we designate an immediate interruption by God of the course of nature and human life, by the name of a miracle? Various isolated circumstances occur, seemingly unimportant and accidental, but ere any of them have attracted our particular attention, we become conscious of the development of some wise and settled design, in every feature of which we trace a gracious purpose of the Almighty gradually advancing to fulfilment. And is it not for this reason that histories like the present, which show even the most trifling incidents of our life to be interwoven in the golden web of Providence, usually afford us more consolation, than the most brilliant accounts of miracles, the relation of which to ourselves is less easy to discover? May, then, the history before us shed upon the path of our pilgrimage abundant streams of cheering light! THE STRANGER IN THE LAND OF THE PHILISTINES; THE HIDDEN PROVIDENCE OF GOD; and THE RESTITUTION,—are the inscriptions of our three divisions for meditation.

I.

The commencement of our history of this day transports us back to that period of calamity, the dreadful epoch of the seven years famine, in which occurred the scenes described at the conclusion of the fourth chapter of our book: and in the first years of which the retreat spoken of in the former part of our text took place. Now, the terror which, during the famine,

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overspread Samaria, has reached its termination, and a more genial sun smiles upon the serenity-stricken land, to allure back the many fugitives from their refuge in the mountains, and encourage them to return to their forsaken but beloved home. Among the rest is that woman, whom, as an endeared acquaintance, we behold again returning to the scene of our history, and whom we the more sincerely welcome, from the recollection of former days.

She

You will not yet have forgotten that noble woman, under whose hospitable roof Elisha found a friendly room, in which, as often as his pilgrimage brought him to the neighbourhood, he found himself at home; whose son the prophet promised her in the name of the Lord; and to whom, subsequently, her son was given, as it were a second time, even from death itself. was one of the elect of God, cherished in the bosom of His love, but on that very account not always reclining on roses or silken pillows. Her pilgrimage was not without its seasons of woe: she knew what it was "to be fed with the bread of tears ;" and if there were moments at which divine blessings were abundantly showered upon her, when those who saw her exclaimed, as did once the Philistines to Isaac, "We see of a truth, that Jehovah is with thee!" still there were days when her existence was overcast by clouds of sorrow, and there was but little difference between her and the children of the world when she was apparently forsaken by God. Such a period befel her in the famine, which visitation the Scripture announces by the words, " And the Lord called for a drought upon the land."

It is common in Scripture thus to represent the visitation of heavy calamities upon a land or a dwelling, and by this means to shed upon our tribulations and trials in the world a light teeming with import, and highly consolatory to the children of God. According to this, which indeed is the only just form of view, hunger, dearth, the devastations of war, or whatever calamities there may be, form one army at command of Almighty God, which advances and retires at His signal, which stands ready for attack or retreat, according as He may bid, and which uncommanded, none can attack. To what extent the tribulations are to strike, what they are to perform, what they are to attain and effect, is all appointed to them in the most exact and positive manner. Thus they are commissioned to execute the Divine judgment, and to punish; now to awaken up, and restore the intoxicated to soberness, now to turn the world into gall, and force sinners to the throne of grace; now to put saints to the proof, and to kindle around them the fire of purification; and be assured, as the word of the Lord declares, they return not until they have performed what they were sent to accomplish. Thus the afflicted have no need to give heed to their sufferings, but only to Him who has inflicted them. None need give way to lamentation, when in trouble, nor be anxious about their suffering; but should first enquire, what is its purpose ? Tribulation ever brings with it something more than the mere suffering. It bears a message of mercy from God. Happy he, who has eyes to discover it, and a heart to comprehend it!

The famine, which with its thousands of calamities spread through the kingdom of Israel, spared not the dwelling of the Shunamite woman. One would have

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thought that the general calamity would not have touched her, the elect of the Lord, and that from her possessions, the blessing would not have been taken away. But there would only be foundation for such a view, if, in the earthly duration of the life of the children of God, the whole measure of their existence was concluded. Then would those who are sanctified, have immunities not possessed by others, and the miracles of God would be renewed in them continually. Pilgrimage is their temporal existence; probation and preparation for their eternal home, the purpose thereof. high a crown is preserved for them; on high their sabbath and their inheritance await them! And what an inheritance! The angels behold it with wonder! Is it then worth mentioning, if they slightly wound their feet with thorns in the short road of their pilgrimage? And how much more gloriously placed are the people of the Lord even amidst the tribulations of the pilgrimage, than those who are wandering without God! The elect are only led into the wilderness, in order to be fed on Divine manna, and to drink water out of opened rocks. For them indeed the flood of suffering which beats upon the shore of their existence, casts up none but precious pearls, and pearls which are theirs for eternity. If God makes his children to pass through Red seas, why does He do it, but to find an opportunity for the fulfilment of his word? "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee !" 1 If he permits that they be smothered in flames of fire, what does he seek but for an opportunity to protect them as their guardian, and to manifest his great glory in their preservation. The

I Isaiah xliii. 2.

periods of tribulation are, for true Christians, what the period of pilgrimage in the wilderness was for Israel, the time of miracles and the presence of God. At such periods, it is true, they are involved in the darkness of night; but that night first unveils the grandeur of the firmament; brings out the stars of God upon the plain, and quickens the ear for spiritual harmonies. O blessed night of sorrow for the children of God, in which they hear the steps of that guardian, who neither slumbers nor sleeps, which is continually illumined by the light of gracious promises, and gently and wondrously harmonised by the consolatory greetings of His paternal tenderness!

It is true, we can hardly repress our surprise that the Lord should so act towards his elect. But hear what Paul says of himself in the first chapter of his second Epistle to the Corinthians; "For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure”"nay above strength," he adds. "Above human power," he means to say. But how far? "So far," he continues, "that we despaired even of life;" that we scarcely longer ventured to believe in the maintenance thereof. 66 'Nay, we had the sentence of death in ourselves." "In our hearts," he means to say, there remained yet but one cry: "We are lost!" But why did the danger rise to such a height? Answer: "Because we should not trust in ourselves, but in that God which raiseth the dead." We were to learn to rely on him even for apparent impossibilities. We did so. We cast the anchor of our hope on his might, because no other anchorage was to be found. "Behold," concludes the apostle, "who delivered us from so great a death,