last and pierce the dark cloud which hides its splendours, and enter in and take your place with those that have gone in before you! Surely the approach of death need have no real terrors for a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, for it has no real dangers. It is Christ that calls: press onwards, then, and make your calling and election sure. The journey heavenwards need not distress you. You may have dangerous enemies, but you have mighty friends. At length the gates of pearl shall be opened, and you shall find yourselves joining in the hallelujahs of the blest. Amen.

16

me.

II. BEYOND THE JORDAN.

2 KINGS, ii. 9-18.

"And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; and he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master;

lest peradventure the Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send. And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not. And when they came again to him (for he tarried at Jericho), he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not?"

NOT another word do we find about Abel-Meholah, either as to the ploughing, the sowing, or the reaping up there, nor yet about Shaphat or any of his belongings. But is it necessary to suppose that all intercourse between Elisha and his father's house must have been conclusively broken off at the time of his call? We think not. The silence in that direction is probably intended to show us that ordinary relations and interests had thenceforward become secondary matters to him, and ought, indeed, to be regarded as such by us. And great events were stirring during the ten years or more that Elisha continued to pour water on the hands of Elijah;" and although we do not find that prophet's name associated prominently with all of them, we may at least suppose his very office to have made it necessary that he should have been concerned in all those cases in which we read that the agency of any prophet was called into use. For some think that "the

B

sons of the prophets," so often mentioned, were employed under the leading seer in the performance of his commands, very much as the evangelists were under the apostles' at a later day. It was only on great occasions, such as that of confronting Ahab in Naboth's vineyard, when "he had slain and taken possession," or when he foretold the death of Ahab's son, that Elijah appeared personally upon the scene during these years. It is thought, however, that he was chiefly employed in the superintendence of the schools of the prophets which Samuel had established, and perhaps in adding to their number.

But the day of the separation of master and servant drew near; and when at length it came, it even appeared that, amongst the sons of the prophets at least, there was some presentiment of what was about to take place. Perhaps we ought not for a moment to doubt that they had received divine intimation of the event beforehand. And yet it has sometimes happened, if we may credit report, that some unwonted occurrence has been foreshadowed by anticipations, not vague but very precise, bordering almost upon the prophetic; as also that intelligence of some momentous event, such as a battle decisive of the fate of nations, has spread with an incredible swiftness, scarcely to be

accounted for but by means which were supernatural. Was it in the former way that the impending removal of Elijah was impressed upon the minds of those around him? We must not speak confidently. We know that Elijah himself spake, on certain occasions, as if he was aware that he was to be distinguished above others in the manner of his removal from this world; and it may well be supposed that there was something in his appearance-some unusual manifestations of elevated solemnity which struck all who

came near him with an impression, which grew at length into the conviction, that his destiny was to be different from that of other men, and that the time of some great event in his history was at hand. Perhaps, indeed, the intelligence of his translation was positively imparted to the schools of the prophets; but the strange uncertainty which prevailed in that quarter, even in the face of Elisha's express testimony, might possibly be thought to throw some doubt on that explanation.

But the day had at length arrived. In some quarters it might only be vaguely surmised; but in Elisha's case it was well known that the time had come when he was to be separated from his master. For aught we know, Elijah might seem