to God from idols to serve the living and true God." (1 Thess. i. 9.)

Will you pray the Lord to teach you, by His Holy Spirit, that you too may become "dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom. vi. 11.)

"OH! think upon the Saviour kind,
As on the cross He hung;

And ask, what means that bitter cry
From His most holy tongue?

"It was that He, who knew no sin,
Stood in the sinners' place,

Drank the fierce wrath of God, and felt

The hiding of His face.

"What caused the holy Son of God

To stoop so very low?

What brought Him from His glory bright
To bear this weight of woe?

"'Twas love, 'twas love to ruined man,
Whose sin He deigned to bear,

That sinners, through His death of shame,
Eternal life might share.

"Oh! can you doubt this Saviour's love,
And hear Him plead in vain ?

Or seek, in earth's polluted streams
Your happiness to gain?

“His word of grace is very nigh,

This day it speaks to you;
Believe, and you with joy shall find

Its endless blessing true."

CHAPTER X.

THE MOTHER IN DEBT.

2 Kings iv. 1-7.

You will remember, dear friends, that in the last chapter I told you a good deal about the prophet Elijah. Perhaps you know that this holy man was afterwards taken up to heaven, without dying, in a chariot of fire. We find an account of this wonderful event in the second chapter of the second book of Kings. Elisha, the prophet's servant, was with him at the time. "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." Happy Elijah! to be thus taken from earth to heaven, without the pains of dying! This was, methinks, a foreshadowing

and type of what will happen when the Lord Jesus comes again in His glory; for then all those who are ready, and looking for His appearing, "shall be caught up . . . . in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thess. iv. 17.) Elisha, who saw his master thus ascend to heaven, became now, by God's command, a prophet in his stead, and a double portion of Elijah's spirit is given to him, in answer to his request: "I pray thee, let a double portion of thy Spirit be upon

me."

I have given you this short account of these prophets, because the next two narratives are so closely connected with the history of Elisha.

7

The mother of whom we are now going to read was the wife of one of the sons of the prophets, and she came to Elisha, and said, "Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen."

What a history of sorrow and trouble is contained in these few words: "My husband is dead, and the creditor is come to take unto him

my two sons to be bondmen." We see that this woman had not only become a widow, but that she was poor and in debt, and the creditor, that is, the man to whom she was indebted, was hardhearted and cruel; for, as she had nothing to pay him with, he wanted to take her two sons to be his bondmen or slaves, thus they would become his property, and he would have power to sell them or to do just what he liked with them. This custom of making slaves of debtors was common amongst the heathen nations, especially with the Romans, and they were very cruelly treated by them; but it was forbidden by the law of Moses, as we read in the twentyfifth chapter of Leviticus: "And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee, thou shall not compel him to serve as a bondservant; but as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubile, and then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return. For they are my forth out of the

servants, which I brought

land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as bondmen."

We will observe the reason this poor woman gives why the prophet should help her in her distress, she says of her husband: "Thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord." This is her plea, she said nothing in her own behalf, she does not praise herself; but for her husband's sake she begs help. And indeed here was a good reason, for although we ought to follow the example of Him who "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matt. v. 45.) Yet we must also observe the apostolic rule: "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." (Gal. vi. 10.)

If any of you, my friends, have husbands that fear the Lord, be very thankful for such a blessing, and do all you can to help them on in the right way. Remember, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments his praise endureth for ever." (Psalm cxi. 10.)