Homilist 2 Kings 13:20-21 And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.… Death is no respecter of persons; the most illustrious, as well as the most obscure, must bow before his cold sceptre, and depart from the scene of life. This miraculous incident was designed and calculated to make a wholesome moral impression on the mind of the age. It had a tendency to (1) Demonstrate to all, the divinity of the prophet's mission. (2) To show the honour with which the Eternal treats the holy dead. (3) To prove the existence of a power superior to death. And (4) To foreshadow a future state. I. WHAT ARE THE SPIRITUAL REMAINS OF THE HOLY DEAD WHICH HAVE A QUICKENING POWER? What are those remains of the holy dead, which, like the bones of the old prophet, have a power to quicken the dead? The answer may be comprised in one sentence — Gospel thoughts, and Gospel virtues. Such thoughts have a life-giving force. They are the voice that calls up the soul from its grave of sensuality and sin; they fall upon the dead spirit like the quickening rays and refreshing showers of heaven upon the seed that is buried in the soil. What effect they had when uttered by the apostles! By them they woke the slumbering mind of their age, and turned the world upside down; and from the days of the apostles to this hour, whenever they have been brought into direct contact with soul, there has been the touch of life. Who has not felt their power? How often, as they have fallen from the lips of a Christ-inspired minister, have they passed like an electric fire through the audience, startling them with new and strange emotions. Every Gospel thought is charged with a life-giving power. But we say Gospel virtues as well as thoughts. Gospel virtues are but Gospel thoughts in feeling and in action; they are thoughts in their fullest development, and strongest power. It is the Gospel incarnate, made flesh, dwelling and working amongst men. II. WHERE ARE THE SPIRITUAL REMAINS OF THE HOLY DEAD WHICH HAVE A QUICKENING POWER? Where are they to be found? 1. In the memory of men. It is a solemnising thought, that the spirits of living men are the resting-places of the thoughts and virtues of men that are gone. 2. In sacred literature. Books are filled with the spiritual remains of the holy dead. They are valuable chiefly on this account. III. HOW ARE THE SPIRITUAL REMAINS OF THE HOLY DEAD WHICH HAVE A QUICKENING POWER TO EXERT THEIR QUICKENING POWER? It was by contact with the bones of Elisha that life came to this dead man; and it is by contact with these Gospel thoughts and virtues, that spiritual life is to be produced. The life of a grain of corn, which contains the germs of future harvests, depends upon contact with certain elements. The energy of explosive matter depends upon contact with fire. A piled mountain of powder is powerless until it is brought into contact with the spark. It is even so in this case; unless we bring our spirits in Conscious contact with these remains they will avail us nothing. How is this contact to be obtained? By devout reflection. The most sacred things and the most powerful elements of truth may be deposited in the memory, yet, unless we prayerfully reflect upon them, they will be foreign to our hearts; we shall never feel their quickening touch. 1. That every age is increasing in responsibility. As good men depart, the world grows richer in the means of spiritual improvement: every soul that lived a holy life here, left behind it elements of life. 2. We must not judge of men's usefulness by the results of their lifetime. 3. That wonderful revelations may be anticipated on the Day of Judgment. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. |
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