November 21

But above all gardens precious,

See the hearsely paradise:

There the tree of life is bearing;

There the springs of glory rise;

And the richness

Every want and wish supplies.

There the foot no thorn e'er pierces;

There the heart ne'er heaves a sigh;

There in white we walk with Jesus,

All our loved connections by:

And to reach it,

T is a privilege to die.

"Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof." 2 Kings 13:14.

ELISAH was spared the common doom of mortality, and was taken to heaven in a chariot and horses of fire without dying. But Elisha, who had honored God so much longer, goes the way of all the earth. Why was this difference? Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.

But he does not die of natural infirmity; neither does he die suddenly—he had fallen sick. This mode of dissolution was less desirable with regard to comfort, but it was more favorable to usefulness. It afforded him opportunity for glorifying God, and instructing and impressing his attendants. And "the chamber where the good man meets his fate" has often been to others, as well as to the dying individual himself, the house of God, and the gate of heaven. We are therefore glad to find Joash the king of Israel with Elisha in this situation. Such a scene is generally very uninviting to persons in the upper ranks of life. They love not, in the midst of flattery and dissipation, to be reminded of the days of darkness. Yet "it is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better." It is more serious, and more soft.

But who was this Joash? "He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. He departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin; but he walked therein." Who would have looked for such a man here? Yet see the trouble he takes. He does not send to inquire after the dying prophet, but personally visits him. See his condescension and humility in entering "a little chamber on the wall, with a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick." See his tenderness in hanging over the expiring saint, and weeping. See his knowledge of the value and importance of Elisha: "Ah, what shall I do, and what will my people do, when thou art gone? My father, my father! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof." How much like a pious man does Joash now appear. How little can we judge of men by particular conditions, events, and feelings. Who has not had powerful convictions? Who has not often exclaimed, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his?" Who has not, like Felix, trembled under the preaching of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come? Of whom has it not, in some period, been said, as it was of the young man in the gospel, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God?

What brings Joash here now? He had disregarded and despised Elisha before. But Elisha is now going. "How mercies brighten as they take their flight!" How an undutiful child prizes a parent when he is following him to the grave. How many would listen to the voice of the preacher when they can hear him no more. Even the Jews, who so often would have stoned Moses, mourned for him many days. Who would have thought that all these fine impressions would have worn off? But Joash leaves the dying room and the honored prophet, and enters ordinary life, and straightway forgeteth what manner of man he was. The tempting scenes of greatness again seduce him, and his iniquities, like the wind, take him away. And who would have thought that, after the wreck of all his worldly substance, or the loss of a Joseph and Benjamin, or the taking away of the wife of his bosom with a stroke, or the awfulness of a disease that led him down to the gates of death, and induced him to cry, Oh, spare me a little longer!—who would have imagined that after such lessons any man could turn again to folly, and walk more eagerly according to the course of this world? "O Ephraim," says God, "what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away."

The devotion of natural men depends upon external excitement. They pour out a prayer when God's chastening hand is upon them, but they do not delight themselves in the Almighty—they do not always call upon God. The summer brook may by a storm be swelled into a flood; but having no permanent source, it soon rolls off, and the bed is dry. A Christian's devotion may be aided by outward helps, but it does not depend upon them. His practice flows from principle, and he exemplifies the promise, "The water that I will give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life." And "he only that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved."