Gilgal. Here a dearth was in the land, and the prophet commanded Gehazi, his servant, to set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets. Upon this command being given, one went and gathered wild gourds, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage. While the people were eating, they cried out, "O thou man of God, there is death in the pot!" and they could not eat. Elisha then threw in meal or fine flour; this rendered the food wholesome, and they partook of it, for then "there was no harm in the pot." (ver. 41.) Is it not at once apparent that the food was rendered deadly by the wild gourds from a wild vine being shred into the pottage? Elisha gave no orders to gather wild gourds, and he at once neutralized their deadly effects by throwing in meal or fine flour. It may appear marvellous in our eyes that a little meal should remove all the deadly effects of the wild gourds; but, dear reader! if thou art a man of God, look, I beseech thee, through the mere letter of the miracle to its inward spirit and life, and thou shalt see greater things than these! Do we not know that a little good can annihilate a great evil, just as easy as a soft answer turneth away wrath, or as the words of Jesus, "Peace be still!" turned the storm into a calm!
It was at Gilgal this miracle was wrought. This place was within the boundaries of Canaan, between Jericho and the banks of the Jordan, where the Israelites first encamped after crossing the river; and as Canaan represents the spiritual kingdom or church of the Lord, so Gilgal, the border of the land, denotes the external of the church, that is, the first state in the religious life, where man receives his first in-
