But he went in, and stood before his master, and Elisha said unto him, whence comest thou Gehazi, and he said, thy servant went no whither. THE fame of Elisha reached Naaman, captain general of the host of Syria. Labouring under the leprosy, he resolved to apply to this powerful prophet for relief. He was cured by washing, as commanded, seven times in the river Jordan. With a heart full of gratitude to God, he offers to Elisha splendid gifts, which are refused. On the departure of Naaman, the servant of Elisha, Gehazi, longing for the treasures which his master had refused, pursues the grateful commander, with a pretended message; and is accordingly loaded with costly presents. Thus far Gehazi had succeeded to his wish; and having deposited his stores in safety, he appears in his master's presence, who asked him, "Whence comest thou Gehazi?" Stung with conscious guilt, with a false heart he replies"Thy servant went no whither." And Elisha said unto him, "Went not my heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? The leprosy, therefore, of Naaman shall cleave to thee." And he went out from his master's presence, a leper, as white as snow. We learn here, in what crimes and evils, one guilty passion indulged, may involve us. From admiring the treasures of Naaman, Gehazi was tempted to covet them. This unjust desire betrays him inte fraud, to cover which, he attempts to elude the penetrating spirit of his master; this completes his guilt; and punishment just and prompt follows.-If we once consent to an unlawful impulse, crimes follow crimes, till accumulated guilt brings, to the peace forsaken bosom, irretrievable destruction. So is it with pride, envy and resentment. If a man indulge, rather than suppress, any rising suspicion, the consequence will be, cold reserve or arrogant contempt towards its object, and the slightest gust will blow the smothered fires into fierce contention. So is it with every bad disposition of the heart.-Had the servant of the prophet been intent on his master's business, instead of gazing, first, with stupid admiration, then with avaricious desire, upon the treasures of Naaman, the dishonest wish might never have entered his mind; or if he had been previously, as careful and solicitous as he ought to have been, under such a master, in treasuring up the words of wisdom and sowing the seeds of goodness and integrity, such a base wish would have been expelled, as soon as it rose within him. Short was the triumph of Gehazi-untasted the fruit of his transgression yet lasting the dreadful penalty. If we were acquainted with Gehazi's earlier history, we might probably see avarice and dishonesty staining his character, before the arrival of Naaman's splendid retinue. His mind had certainly been contaminated by the indulgence of criminal passions, which, notwithstanding the outward restraints imposed by his master's presence, had secretly undermined his innocence. Let us remember, then, the tendency of dishonest actions to multiply the occasions of dishonesty. Crimes engender crimes, and bring men into such situations and induce such habits, as draw them more and more from the path of duty, and begin a fatal career, which always threatens to involve them in the depth of remorse, ignominy and ruin. 168 A REASON WHY PARENTS SHOULD BE PURE. JUNE 9. The leprosy, therefore, of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed forever. WHAT must be the reflections of that man who is conscious, that he has by his folly and misconduct, not only brought disgrace and wretchedness upon himself, but upon all who are connected with him. Above all, what must that parent feel, who is conscious that, like Gehazi, he has entailed great and irremediable evils, and a stain of indelible dishonour, on his whole posterity! You may be inclined at first to look upon the punishment of this treacherous servant, as not only cruel but unjust; and to say, "What! must the innocent offspring of this unhappy man, suffer, through future generations, for the crime of their progenitor ?"-Alas, do we not every day behold similar instances? We do not believe in moral acquisitions being transferable by birth; but examples like Gehazi are numerous in the world. Could it be otherwise without abolishing that most wise and benign constitution of divine providence, whereby the great brotherhood of mankind, composed of smaller brotherhoods, was to be linked together in mutual dependence and mutual amity? Think, what an inducement is this to the practice of virtue, to the abhorrence of guilt-that deep gangrene-that spreading leprosythat interminable evil. How must the heart of Gehazi been wrung with anguish, when he beheld the symbol of remembrance of his crime, multiplied with the increase of his family! What parent, who is not destitute of all reflection, can allow himself in the practice of vice? whereby he is most probably involving those who are dearest to him, not only in his punishment, but indirectly in his guilt; and by the overpowering force of a parent's example, treasuring up remorse as well as anguish and disgrace, for them and for their successors. How awful and controuling is the thought, that the comfort of all future generations is and must be affected by the good or evil conduct of the present.-Not an act that we do, nor a word that we speak, but tends to a habit. Habits constitute the very complexion and character of the soul; thus character diffuses its influence in a widening circle; the improvement or degeneracy of the present age acts upon the age to come; our whole life upon the greater life that is to follow; and on time hangs eternity. No act dies away in the doing; not an evil thought can be unpunished; not a good intention lost each grain of genuine goodness weighed in the balance of eternal justice, returns with a rich revenue of solid happiness. If man is the heir of immortality, every act may be, by the laws of habit, the source and model of innumerable others, proportionably augmenting or diminishing his own felicity, or that of those who come under his influence. The parent is, to the child, the representative of the Deity, and is regarded with a kind of oracular veneration. His council and example define the word, Father. Under such circumstances, how greatly does it behove us, that a vein of pure and good intention shall run through our whole life! that whatsoever reason and duty and conscience enjoin, we do it heartily without reserve and without delay-and especially, that we seek from our Maker that direction for the blindness, and that aid to the weakness of our nature, which our imperfections and exposures require. THE DANGER OF DEPARTING FROM STRICT RECTITUDE. JUNE 10. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me. 169 THE history of Gehazi is full of moral warning.-There is not a greater enemy of our virtue and peace, nor at the same time, one more deceitful and encroaching in its advances, than that relaxed and slothful disposition, which by degrees, insinuates itself under the most harmless and bland appearances; then, pleading the prescription of customary and long indulgence, and insensibly extending its dominion, at length debilitates the soul. We are not aware of the secret spreading mischief, when we first yield to its deadening influence. We think not of our sinking reputation, retiring friends and self-accusing conscience, or if we do, the thought soon dies away in the languid mind and is forgotten. It would be well if a frame of mind so incapacitated for every thing good and useful, was equally so to evil; but the most slothful in virtue seem to be often most active and strenuous in vice; and he who will not move a step at the call of reason and duty, will be full of ardour and impetuosity, at the command of the passions. Thus Gehazi, who had been so little attentive to his master's precepts and example, no sooner forms the projects of enriching himself, at the expense of Naaman's treasures and Elisha's reputation and honour, than the whole vigour of his body and mind is aroused,--that of the one is pursuing the Syrian captain, and that of the other in the invention of a plausible and apt tale of falsehood and upon his return, we see him, with almost winged dispatch, dismissing the attendants, disposing of the treasures, and resuming his post in the presence of his master, before, as he foolishly flattered himself, he could be suspected of having left it. The same feebleness of mind which refuses to exert itself in honourable action, yields unresistingly to every allurement; and strong passions, rising in a mind unguarded and unnerved, bear away like a torrent, all moderation. A slothful disposition consequently becomes the cherisher of all other vices. There they find an open field, and riot without controul. There, especially arrogance and pride strike deepest root, and raise their crest aloft. They who always spend their time in flattering and deceiving themselves, have little leisure for devising or executing any plans of beneficence or charity to others. Pride too thus engrafted upon indolence, and shutting out on both sides improvement and the wish to improve, is the fruitful source of malignant passions. Stung with disappointed ambition and blasted hope, men's minds become a prey to pining discontent and racking jealousy. These passions, again, generate impious murmurs against providence, unrighteous projects of gaining renown or emolument, not by serving, but by supplanting their fellow creatures.--So prolific is the bitter root of iniquity; so dangerous is it to relax from the strictness of virtue; so dreadful the extremes into which men are precipitated by letting their ungoverned passions usurp the government of life. May never pleasure, wealth or pride, 170 ABRAHAM OFFERING HIS SON ISAAC. JUNE 11. It came to pass that God did tempt Abraham, and said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt-offering. THIS Command Abraham went to fulfil, when God interposed. Abraham's faith here is justly extolled; for the trial was hard, though the obedience was reasonable.-As to the first; Isaac was his only child, given to him by a miracle in his old age, which must have greatly increased his affection for him. He had probably never done any thing to disoblige his father, but on the contrary had been good and dutiful. This son was to be suddenly taken from him by death, and by a violent death; and what was harder, he was to be present at it ; and what was still harder, he was to be the executioner. How difficult it must be for a parent to perform an act of this kind, is what every one may easily feel and imagine. Abraham took his son, and departed with a full resolution to do as he was ordered; and for three days together he underwent all the anxiety and distraction which must be supposed to have filled his heart upon this severe trial and cruel occasion. We read in history of parents, who, being generals or magistrates, put their own sons to death for transgressing military laws, or for rebellion; and preferred the love of their country, of impartiality, of justice, and of discipline, to natural affection. But in this hard conflict they had popularity, reputation, fame, glory, and, perhaps, pride and a rigid severity of temper to support them, and to subdue the tender passions. Abraham had the highest degree of natural affection to overcome. Lastly, his only son was also the very person to whom God had solemnly promised signal blessings and a numerous posterity; so that the former promises and the last command seemed directly to contradict each other, and consequently might have staggered a less confirmed piety than that of Abraham, and have made another parent, if he had been so tried, unwilling to obey, and inclined to suppose either that there was some delusion in the revelation, or that he did not rightly understand it. He would have chosen to save his son, and to sacrifice his faith. Yet Abraham's faith was as reasonable as it was eminent. For, first, he had a long and familiar intercourse with God, and frequent experience of the nature of revelations, and so knew, beyond a possibility of doubting, that the command came from God. He was ordered to go with his son to a land where there were many mountains, and to offer up his son upon one particular mountain which God would shew him. On the third day he came within sight of it and distinguished it from the rest; which must have been by some divine indication, perhaps by a cloud or a fire appearing upon it. So this was a new revelation to him that God required of him this act of obedience. He therefore concluded that God would provide some method to reconcile this cruel command with his goodness and with his promises. And this method could be no other than to raise up Isaac, and to restore him to a second life. Upon this supposition the immorality and the cruelty of killing a son would be removed, and the death of Isaac would be only a short sleep followed by a resurrection. Here we learn the true nature of that genuine practical faith which recommends us to the favour of God. FALSE VIEWS OF FAITH. JUNE 12. 171 And these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of tempta. tion fall away. FAITH is a persuasion of the mind founded on that evidence which is procured by reason. Philosophically and universally, it is opposed to knowledge.-There is not perhaps any point of divinity which has been and which is more mistaken and misrepresented than the nature of christian faith; and this will appear by comparing these false, weak and fanatical notions of faith with the faith of Abraham. One errour is, to consider faith as a mere assurance and firm persuasion arising from no suitable evidence and no sufficient reason, but from feelings, from an inward illumination, and an irresistible impulse and operation of the Spirit. This is a faith which must be useless to all, except the possessor, since he can neither prove the reasonableness of his own belief to others, nor bring them over to his sentiments by any proper motives. And as this faith depends only upon imagination, so when the imagination flags, or takes a new turn, or the inward light waxes dim, the faith is gone, having no solid support. And in fact it appears from their own confessions that such enthusiasts pass alternately from one extreme to another, sometimes fully assured, sometimes doubting or disbelieving, now carried up to heaven, and then sinking down into the deep. Another errour concerning faith is, to lay more stress upon believing than upon good works,-to exalt faith and to depress morality. The faith of these persons is a bold and a confident persuasion that they are favourites of God and of Christ, and certain of salvation; and this, according to them, is the principal part of religion, though the scriptures plainly assure us that this is a most incomplete and erroneous notion of true faith, that faith without works is nothing. Another false notion of faith is, that it is a blind submission of the understanding to the haughty decisions of a Church, which scorns to prove her doctrines except first by affirmations, then by blows. The faith of Abraham was not of this absurd kind. He readily submitted to the will and to the orders of God, because he was satisfied and convinced that God was able to reconcile his present command with his former promises, and to make an ample recompense both to him and to his son. Hence we may form to ourselves a right notion of true, active, practical christian faith. It is a belief of the revelation which God has made to us by his Son; it is a belief entertained upon just grounds; it is a belief of a future state of retribution, and more particularly of the rewards promised to the obedient; and it is a belief shewing itself by doing that which is good, and by abstaining from that which is evil. When the present temptations to sin are strong, and yet are overcome, then it is that faith appears to the most advantage, and shines in its brightest splendour; and he who sacrifices a favourite vice, is as if he sacrificed a favourite son. Thus faith is a victory not over our senses and reason, but over our irregular affections, and turbulent passions. This is faith, the faith which the scriptures recommend other faith besides this they know not, but reject with disdain, as hypocritical, unprofitable, false and dead. |