Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 1.pdf/219

 make merry with my friends. Surely the younger was justified rather than the other! The younger had examined his heart, and had seen his sin: repentance followed; and, in humiliation, he returned to his father. The elder, like all who are principled in external religion, had not examined his heart, for he was angry at his brother's return home, and felt no inward joy at another's good. With what justice could he complain to his father and say, "Thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends," when the father said, "Son, all that I have is thine?" Yes, all that the Lord God of heaven has—all his love, wisdom, and truth, the riches of his house, of creation itself, are given to us. His thankless children. Let us use these faithfully, so shall all evil be expelled from within, and we shall learn the luxury of making merry at beholding another's good.

N the first part of this chapter the sons of the prophets are said to request Elisha to allow them to go to Jordan, in order to build a house or place where they might dwell, as the place they were then at was too strait for all to live in. The prophet gave leave and went with them. When they had arrived at Jordan, they began to cut down wood for the building of the house: "but as one was felling a beam, the axe-head fell into the water: and he cried, and said. Alas, master! for it was borrowed. And