over the world, to all who believe,―to each of them wholly and entirely, though He is on the right hand of God in heav en. At another time, Elisha multiplied twenty loaves of barley and some corn, so as more than to suffice for one hundred men.

7. Again, I might say much on what I alluded to in the beginning of these remarks, I mean Elisha's close connexion and intercourse with matters of this world, in which he resembles Christ and His Church. Elijah, like the Baptist, lived out of the world; but Elisha was intimately connected with the great political movements (as we now call them) of the day. It was through him that Jehoshaphat and Joram gained the victory over the Moabites. It was through him that Jehu was raised to the throne, and Jezebel and Joram slain. He interfered in the counsels of Benhadad, king of Syria; and his last act in his "sickness, whereof he died," was to promise Joash king of Israel three victories over the Syrians. Yet he pretended to no earthly power. in all this; he acted from God, and on supernatural claims; thus answering to our Lord's account of His kingdom, as being not of this world, else would His servants fight.†

8. Lastly, it is well to notice the dignity and state which he assumed in his dealings with men, high and low; in which he was a fit type of that Holy Church Catholic to which it is promised, "The nation and kingdom that will not serve Thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted."

For instance; consider his conduct to the Shunammite. She was "a great woman," as Scripture tells us, wealthy and honourable; he was a poor man and a wanderer. She, in her piety, finding him pass by often, constrained him to eat bread at her house, and gave him a room in it. If this were now to take place, she would be called the patron of

* 2 Kings xiii. 14-19.

John xviii. 36.

Elisha, and he would be thought highly indebted to her, and bound to look up to her. But what was the actual bearing of Elisha and this pious woman towards one another? they both felt that his presence conveyed far more to her, than any thing she could do for him. Accordingly, in spite of her riches and his poverty, he in her house acted as the lord, and she as the servant. We read that, "it fell on a day that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there. And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him. And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us, with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people. And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old. And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door. And he

said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou

shalt embrace a son.'

Such a deportment would in this day be called pride in such as Elisha,-so different are God's ways and our ways. It would indeed have been gross pride and arrogance, had he so acted as from himself; but he was in his day a steward of the mysteries of God, and only behaved himself as became his rank and his office as God's representative. Again; consider his conduct towards Naaman, which so grievously offended the proud Syrian. Instead of waiting upon him, he sent him a mere message to wash in Jordan. Thus he magnified his heavenly office, to remind Naaman that there was a God in Israel; whereas Naaman and his master had considered him a mere servant of the king of Israel, bound to do whatever he was bidden to do. Consider, too, his conduct to the messenger of Je

* 2 Kings iv. 11-16.

horam, already referred to, when he "sat in his house and the elders with him ;" and to Joash, on his death-bed, with whom "the man of God was wroth," because "he smote thrice and stayed." What have we here but a figure of that Church, to whom kings were to "bow down with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of her feet?"+

To conclude. These remarks lead us to this reflection. If Elisha be in spirit still among us, I mean, if the Church of Christ, viewed in her rulers, her confessors, her ascetics, and her doctors, be represented in the prophetic writings, such as Elisha is described in the history of Israel, how much have we to learn before we gain a clear and simple view of its real character! What a veil is on the eyes of men, who treat it as a mere institution of this world! Surely, we are under a supernatural dispensation, though we do not realize it; and did we realize it better, we should see it better, we should doubtless have more sensible proofs given us of it. God asks of us, first, faith, and then He vouchsafes to give us sight. Did we believe that we were under His immediate governance, He would reward us by results of such a privilege which we know not of at present. Did we cry out, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" the waters would divide. Never then, my brethren, come to Church, or to Holy Communion, never be present at a baptism, marriage, or burial, or at any other rite, without feeling that there is a great deal more there than you see. Where two or three are gathered together in Christ's name, He is in the midst of them. Believe that, were your eyes opened, as the young man's were, you would see horses and chariots of fire round about. God's arm is not shortened, though man does not believe. He does his wonders in spite of us. Elijah went to heaven by miracle, and one man only

* 2 Kings v. 10. vi. 32, 33. xiii. 14-19.

Isaiah xlix. 23.

saw it; but a miracle was done nevertheless. Angels are among us, and are powerful to do any thing. And they do wonders for the believing, which the world knows nothing about. According to our faith, so it is done unto us. Only believe, and all things are ours. We shall have clear and deeply-seated convictions on our minds of the reality of the invisible world, though we cannot communicate them to others, or explain how we come to have them.

SERMON XIV..

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH A CONTINUATION OF THE JEWISH.

ISAIAH XXXvii. 31..—“The remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward."

WHEN the power and splendour of the family of David were failing, and darkness was falling on the Church, and religious men were fighting against dismay and distrust, the Prophets foretold that the kingdom of the saints should one time be restored; and that, though its glories were then setting, a morrow would come in due course, and that a morrow without an evening. Has this promise yet been fulfilled or no? and if fulfilled, in what sense fulfilled? Many persons think it has not yet been fulfilled at all, and is to be fulfilled in some future dispensation or millennium; and many think that it has indeed been fulfilled, yet not literally, but spiritually and figuratively; or, in other words, that the promised reign of Christ upon earth has been nothing more than the influence of the Gospel over the souls of men, the triumphs of Divine grace, the privileges enjoyed by faith, and the conversion of the elect.

On the contrary, I would say that the prophecies in question have in their substance been fulfilled literally, and in the present Dispensation; and, if so, we need no figura