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tion than the children of light. "And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents." He did not want two talents; that was rather too much in his situation; he would not know how to dispose of so much money as that-three hundred and fifty pounds, and more. But Naaman urged him; and so he took it, and two changes of garments: and they were laid upon two of his servants; and there was enough for both of them to carry, weight enough for two men, the servant of the prophet walking carefully behind. "And when he came to the tower," (that is, the gate of Samaria) " he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed." It was all delightfully managed; it was all happily secure; he had imposed upon Naaman; his master would know nothing of the transaction. But had he imposed upon God? Did he not know that there was no darkness, no shadow of death, where the thief, and the liar, and the worker of iniquity could hide himself? Had he forgotten that he was open to the vision of the piercing and awful eye of God? He could not have been so ignorant; but he heeded it not. So 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:" as innocent as a lamb; as guiltless as a child! When one lie is told, there must be another when one sin is committed, it must be fortified and upheld by a long train. "And Elisha said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and men-servants, and maid-servants?" And here the secret of the man's mind came out: he had been building castles in the air; he would have an establishment of his own; he had got seven hundred pounds and more; he would buy a house; he would have a vineyard; he would have sheep, he would have oxen, he would be a great man. All this was passing in his mind. "The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence, a leper as white as snow." He had better to have had an empty purse and a clean conscience, an ordinary coat and a whole skin, than to have the full purse and the beautiful raiment, and the noisome leprosy along with it.

It has been thought that the punishment in this case was severe; but look at the complicated nature of the offence. There was, as I have said, falsehood, clearly deceit he obtained this by false pretences. What was worse than all, he exposed his master's character to suspicion and to doubt; because Naaman, you would suppose, would immediately conjecture that the prophet wanted the money, and desired the raiment, though he wanted confidence to say so. That was the worst part of the transaction: it was lying, not so much to men, as to God; it was like the sin of Ananias and Sapphira; and so the man found it out to be.

Now here are three classes of servants; the very good, the middling, the intolerably bad and base. Aim to belong to the good. Remember what the apostle Paul has said: "Adorning the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." What is a person worth who has no principle, no fixed honesty, no resolute honour? What is a person worth who can be turned aside, and changed about, by the opportunities of vice, and the facilities of transgression? Follow, run after, capture-not Naaman, his garments and his gold-but follow whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just,

whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely and of good report. And if there be any whose conscience smites for picking and stealing, injustice or wrong in any form, repent; cease to do evil, learn to do well. Think of the Israelitish maid: your interest and your honour are in it. Think of Gehazi : you must be found out and punished if you are like him.

I have done with the servants, and I come to THE SOLDIER-the commander in chief of the Syrian forces.

And I wish to mark his rank. He was commander of the host of the King of Syria. He was a great man with his master. He is said by the rabbies to have been the person who aimed at Ahab, and smote him through the joints of the harness; because "by him the Lord had given deliverance to Syria." And you remark here, that when even Syrian and idolatrous armies are victorious, it is ascribed to God. He was also a mighty man in valour: he is said to have been a giant, a person of large stature, and commanding aspect; in every respect a man competent to his situation, and of great abilities.

I wish to mark, secondly, his malady. "But he was a leper :" and as Bishop Hall has justly said, "The basest slave in Syria would not have changed skins with him; no, not though he should have had his military prowess and his master's favour into the bargain." "But he was a leper." And so in almost every condition in this life there is something unfavourable: there is a crook in every lot; there is a but in every person's condition. "He is a man of great abilities, but of bad character." "He is a man of great public spirit and zeal in political affairs, but he neglects his wife, and is unkind to his children, and his private character is infamous." "He is a man whose private virtues are exquisitely pure and perfect, but he has no public spirit." "He is very opulent, but he has no children." "He has plenty of children, but they have no grace; they are his crosses, and not his comfort." And so I might go through almost the lot of every person, and find something in it which answers to the expression here respecting Naaman the Syrian. O it is a mercy when the but in our condition is only the leprosy in the flesh—is not that deeper stain of vice, and condemnation, and moral loathsomeness, of which leprosy is the figure and the symbol. And give me leave further, to ask what must that world be where in every creature there is perfection, and in every station purity and satisfaction to the full! That is the world to which I hope you are going.

Permit me to observe, further, his mistake. The King of Syria said, “Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the King of Israel." And accordingly Naaman departed with a letter to the King of Israel: and "when the King of Israel had read the letter, he rent his clothes, and said, Am I a god, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? Wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me." Here are two kings and the commander in chief of the forces, in a matter of religion all totally in the dark. And if I wanted to be informed upon some nice points of scriptural biography, where do you think I should go? To the Court? When Sir Joshua Reynolds brought out his picture of Samuel bowing before the ark, some of the great and fashionable people of the time asked who Samuel was. Do you think I should go to the House of Commons? Do you think I should go to Oxford, or to Cambridge, or to the King's College, or to the London University? Nay, I would not go to any one of them. I would go into a Sunday School: I would go into a well-ordered, well-disciplined, well

instructed, religious family: and I would catechize some lovely little maid, and I should get the information that I wanted. This Jehoram needed not have been in such a fever: he was not the best man of his times: he was just as well acquainted with the calves of Bethel, as Naaman was with the idolatries of Rimmon. All this is affectation and pretence: he did not care any thing about God, and God's prophet: but it suited his purpose just then to say so. And then it shows the darkness of a suspicious mind. It was not as he supposed; war was not desired. So it is very often with a suspicious mind, that evil is imagined to be where there is none. But that which I now remark upon is, that the two kings and Naaman were all in the dark upon this question; and they would have remained so if the prophet had not, by God's command, miraculously interposed.

This brings me to another point. I wish you to notice the pride and the vanity of Naaman. "So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha." I suppose the whole company were there the mules laden with the presents, and the servants riding upon the camels, as well as the great man himself in his chariot: they all stood before the mean door (as we may suppose it was) of the prophet. And when the messenger came out, saying, "Go, and wash in Jordan seven times, and thou shalt be clean," Naaman "was wrath, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, he will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper." He must be recovered in his own way; the prophet must come, and stand, and do obeisance. God must honour him; he will condescend to accept God's gift in his own way. So it is, as Dr. Clarke has said respecting the nobleman who said to Christ, "Come down, for my child will die," that there are people who hardly know how to be civil, even to Almighty God himself. I am quite aware that honour is to be rendered to whom honour is due: but there are persons who sometimes come to listen to us in our ministrations, and ask personal conferences with us at our houses, and it seems as if they felt that an honour was conveyed, that a benefit was communicated; not as if they were the recipients. It may not be proper to any minister in these times to behave exactly as the prophet did. I have been told of some things of this nature which I did not at all approve of, and which seemed to my mind to be uncourteous. But here is Naaman the Syrian in his pride and passion; because the prophet did not honour him as he expected, away he goes in a rage. And now what fools they all appear! They had come from Damascus to Samaria-for what purpose? If the Israelitish maid had been there, rebuke, perhaps remonstrance, or irony and scorn, to say the least, would have been her portion. But in a rage passion is ever blind. Passion is like a vicious horse, which will smash all things to pieces. Never let passion lead: put not the reins into the hands of fury. Let reason, let principle be your chariot wheels; they will guide you safely if passion should have the reins, you will come to no good.

"Are not

There was no reason in this rage. The man said in his rage, Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean?" No; you had no divine commandment respecting these rivers: these rivers have never been subjected to any miraculous operation. In Jordan miracles had been wrought: "What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?" As I said, there was no reason in this man's rage.

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I wish you to notice further, his prudence in listening to what his servants said. They came near, and spake unto him, My father." This word expresses at once their reverence and their affection: and it does honour to them that they could give such advice; and it does honour to Naaman that he was ready to receive it. And it is most true that bad counsel you are not to receive, though it be from the hands of beauteous Eve herself; and that good counsel you are to receive, though it should come from one of the meanest of your fellow-creatures. Well, they reason with him, and say, "If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? how much rather, then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean?" His rage was overcome; his passion was pacified; he acted according to their counsel. Now rage is bad; but fixed malevolence is worse. I have known men to be firm against remonstrance; and they have said, "I will persist in my course, whatever the consequences may be I will go on, though I die for it; yea, I will, though I go to hell for it." Then you are a fool; you are a reckless and an insane person. Then you will have all time, and all eternity, to repent in; and your repentance will be in vain. If you are going wrong, listen to remonstrance from whomsoever it may come.

Now I have to mark his obedience. They went not back to Damascus, but right on, as fast as they could go, unto the Jordan. Naaman, we must have supposed, disrobed himself; and he dipped in: he came out, and the leprosy was upon him. He did it again; and perhaps the healing virtue began to appear: but according to the commandment he did it seven times; and it is said his flesh came again, like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." If any of you have had a son or a daughter two years old-healthy, happy, fleshy, modest, whom you have squeezed, and kissed, and loved; you can enter into the exquisite beauty of this similitude: "his flesh was like the flesh of a little child." What a delightful change! No more a nuisance to others, and an abomination to himself: no longer noisome, and walking about in shame and dishonour; but in health, in freshness, in bloom, in vigour, and in beauty again. Blessed was Naaman the Syrian when he received from God the gift of his perfect cure.

"Had he said, Do

And here is the Gospel, and the Gospel unto perfection. some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it?" And in order to salvation, men would be great doers: penances, austerities, inflictions upon the body, prayers, fastings, charities, tears; my first-born for my transgression; the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul; any thing, every thing; my life; all my goods to the poor; my body to be burned; if it will secure the salvation of my soul. Nay, it will not; none of these things-no " 'great thing" at all. "Go, dip in Jordan." Go, wash in the fountain that is open for sin and for uncleanness: Go, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ: nothing else in the world. The Apostle has language on this subject stronger than I have given "Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man who doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring down Christ from above :) or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth

you.

the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." It is not, “ Do, and live,” but, “ Believe, and live:" it is not, "Work, and be cleansed;" it is, " Accept the virtue of Christ's blood, and all the leprosy of sin, all the impurity of transgression, vanishes away for You must wash seven times. You have done it once-you must do it again: you must wash and wash till your dying day; you must do it in your last hour; and then in consummate purity arise to the society of angels, as pure as any one of them.

rver."

I wish you to notice his gratitude. As soon as he was healed, he did not hasten home; he did not go off, as fast as he could drive, to his wife and his palace, to his kindred and his king: but he came, and he, and his company stood at the prophet's door. "Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?" Only one, and he a Gentile, came and returned thanks to Jesus Christ. Here is Naaman recognizing his obligation both to the prophet and to God. There is nothing I like to see so much as a grateful man: a man uttering a song of praise to God: "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me bless his holy name. He has healed my disease: from him I have received this help and cure." And I would rather hear Naaman expressing himself thus at the prophet's door, than listen to the sweetest melody of any nightingale in the world. Nothing is so sweet to the mind as man expressing joyfully his thankfulness to God.

And now, lastly, I must notice his infirmity. What did he mean by the "two mules burden of earth?" I cannot tell what. The Mahometans, when they go to their sacred place, bring away portions of the earth, and make an altar of it, and say their prayers before it. Peradventure Naaman thought, that as there were virtues in the waters of the Jordan, so also was there in the earth of the Israelitish territory. But let this pass: what does he mean when he asks permission to bow with his master in the house of Rimmon? Rimmon, as you know, was the idolatrous temple of Damascus. It is not certain exactly what the word means. Probably Baal, an image, a figure, was there adored as the type and image of sin. It is thought by some to have been a pomegranate, because pomegranates were there in great estimation, and yielded a very precious liquor; and they are supposed to have worshipped this deity, as the Grecians and Romans worshipped their goddess Ceres. But be that as it may, it was the temple of an idol; and the expositors tell us it means, not that he wished to go into the temple with his master in time to come, but that he begged pardon for having been an idolater in time past. I am rather of opinion, however, that it means that he wanted permission to go into the temple, and to lean on his arm, and not to worship in time to come. And it may give me an opportunity to say, that, when we are enlightened and converted, we shall never ask forgiveness of sins that we intend and purpose to commit: that is utterly inconsistent and antichristian. And if any man shall say, "I shall go to a ball, but shall not dance: I shall go to the theatre, but I shall not join in its profligacies: I shall go to a card-party, but I shall not play at cards:" will you? Perhaps you had better not perhaps you had better have nothing to do with the air, or the roof, or the house of Rimmon. Perhaps you had better listen to the advice of the apostle Paul, "Be not conformed to the spirit and maxims of this world." Perhaps you had better remember that the fashions of the world pass away. It is only as we are separate from