and they passed over dry shod. Surely there could not have been more apt teaching for Elisha and for all future times,

that the power of wonder-working rested not with the prophet individually, but was attached to his office, of which this

rough raiment was the badge. The same truth was conveyed by what passed on the other side. There the reward - or,

perhaps we should rather say, the result of his spiritual perseverance awaited Elisha. But although Elijah asked him to

say what he should do for him before their parting, it was not his to grant the request. No one would imagine that

Elisha's entreaty for a double measure of his master's spirit was prompted by the desire that his ministry should greatly

surpass that of Elijah, although even in that case it would not be warrantable to attribute such a wish to anything like

ambition. "Earnestly covet the best gifts," is a sound and spiritual principle; and Elisha might, without any thought of

himself, seek a double portion of his master's spirit, in view of the great work before him. But perhaps it may be safer,

although we make no assertion on the point, to think here of the right of the firstborn, to whom the law assigned a

twofold portion (Deutero nomy 21:17). In that case Elisha would, in asking a double portion of his spirit, have intended

to entreat the right of succession. And with this the reply of Elijah accords. Elisha had asked a hard thing, which it was

not in any man's power to grant. But Elijah could give him a sign by which to know whether God designated and would

qualify him to be his successor. If he saw it all, when Elijah was taken from him, then - but only then - would it be as

he had asked.

Viewing Elisha's request in that light, we can have no difficulty in understanding this reply. And in general, spiritual

perception is ever the condition of spiritual work. We do not suppose that if all the fifty sons of the prophets, who had

followed afar off, had gathered around, they would have perceived any of the circumstances attending the "taking

away" of Elijah, any more than the prophet's servant at Dothan saw the heavenly hosts that surrounded and defended

Elisha (2 Kings 6:14-17), till his eyes had been miraculously opened; or than the companions of St. Paul saw the Person

or heard the words of Him Who arrested the apostle on the way to Damascus.

And as we think of it, there was special fitness in the sign given to Elisha. It is not stated anywhere in Holy Scripture

that Elijah ascended in a fiery chariot to which fiery horses were attached - but that this miraculous manifestation

parted between them two, as it were, enwrapping Elijah; and that the prophet went up in a storm-wind (2 Kings 2:11).

The fiery chariot and the horses were the emblem of Jehovah of Hosts.131 To behold this emblem was pledge of

perceiving the manifestation of God, unseen by the world, and of being its herald and messenger, as Elijah had been.

Beyond the fact that Elijah so went up to heaven,132 and that the symbolic manifestation of Jehovah of Hosts was

visible to Elisha - Holy Scripture does not tell us anything.

And it seems both wiser and more reverent not to speculate further on questions connected with the removal of Elijah,

the place whither, and in what state he was "translated." If we put aside such inquiries, since we possess not the means

of pursuing them to their conclusions - there is nothing in the simple Scriptural narrative, however miraculous, which

transcends the general sphere of the miraculous, o r that would mark this as so exceptional an instance that the ordinary

principles for viewing the miracles of Scripture would not apply to it.

And Elisha saw it. As if to render doubt of its symbolic meaning impossible, the mantle, which was the prophet's

badge, had fallen from Elijah, and was left as an heirloom to his successor. His first impulse was to give way to his

natural feelings, caused alike by his bereavement and by veneration for his departed master, "My father, my father!"

His next, to realize the great lesson of faith, that, though the prophet had departed, the prophet's God for ever remained:

"The chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!" We would suggest that the words, "And he saw him no more" (ver.

12), imply that he gave one upward look where Elijah had been parted from him, and where the fiery glow had now

died out in the sky. Then, in token of mourning, he rent his clothes in two pieces, that is, completely, from above

downwards. But while thus lamenting the loss of his loved master, he immediately entered on the mission to which he

had succeeded, and that with an energy of faith, combined with a reverent acknowledgment of the work of his

predecessor, which ought for all time to serve as a lesson to the Church. Bereavement and sorrow should not make us

forget, rather recall to us, that Jehovah our God liveth; regret and a sense of loss should not dull, rather quicken us for

work, in the name of God. Nor yet should the feeling that we have a call to work, dim our remembrance of those who

have gone before us. We are all only servants successively taking up and continuing the task of those who have passed

into glory; but he is our Master, Whose is the work, and Who liveth and reigneth for ever.

And so Elisha took up the mantle that had fallen from Elijah. It was not a badge of distinction, but of work and of

office. With this mantle he retraced his steps to the bank of Jordan. One upward glance: "Where is Jehovah, the God of

Elijah - even He?"133 spoken not in doubt nor hesitation, but, on the contrary, in assurance of his own commission from