THE METHODIST NEW CONNEXION MAGAZINE. JANUARY, 1878. THE GOLDEN MEAN. "GIVE me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full and deny Thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain."-Proverbs xxx., 8, 9. ON a certain day the prophet Elisha being at Shunem, a woman there in comfortable circumstances and of pious disposition constrained him to eat bread. From that time he became her guest frequently, enjoying her hospitality as often as he came that way. At length she said to her husband, "Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick and it shall be when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither." Touched by this thoughtful and spontaneous generosity, the prophet, desiring to make some suitable return for it, said to her by his servant Gehazi, "Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldst thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people." : Here is a charming picture of simple and quiet contentedness. Not only was the woman disinterested enough to accept of no reward for her kindness, but she was happy enough to desire no improvement in her outward condition, at least by such favours as kings and captains have it in their power to bestow. Whatever other besetting sin she had (and it were too much to suppose she had none), she was free from "the lust of the eye" and from "the pride of life;" and in this freedom would know but little of the vexations and disappointments of those whose greed is ever craving for something more, or whose ambition is ever aspiring to something else. "I dwell," said she, "among mine own people." I am where I would be, and have what I wish to have. B Happy moderation! Rare and enviable tranquillity! If there is one state of mind more desirable than another, it is that of the individual whom honours cannot tempt nor luxury seduce, who, equally removed from affluence and indigence, moderates his wishes by a deep practical wisdom which finds in his present condition sufficient for his present wants, and who even prefers the competency which gives but a measured though safe enjoyment to the superabundance which promises a greater but more perilous felicity. Such appears to have been the state of mind, and such the circumstances favourable to it, of this Shunammite woman. She was not poor, neither according to any high standard was she rich. She had enough for her own reasonable requirements, and something to spare for another in need. She desired nothing more, and nothing different. Her contentment was so great, her satisfaction with her present lot so complete, that even the prospect of royal favours could not disturb it; for to the spontaneous and unexpected offer of these, though made in grateful acknowledgment of a positive obligation, she at once and calmly replied, "I dwell among mine own people." A condition like hers is that for which Agur prays. A spirit like hers is that for which we all may pray. Indeed we may pray for the condition too, if at the same time we discipline our hearts to receive in answer whatever God may be pleased to appoint. Three things unite here for our instruction, which may be considered under three single terms: Faith, Moderation, SelfDistrust. 1. Faith. By this is meant not a belief in credible testimony, but a pious recognition of the Divine Being as present and supreme in all the operations of outward nature, and in all the concerns of our individual life. It is by faith, as an original provision in our mental constitution, that we come at first to a knowledge of His very existence. What is called a rational demonstration could never of itself furnish this knowledge, and as a matter of fact never did. Reason is wholly impotent, by a purely logical process, to find out God. As a rule, indeed, it starts in quest of Him after He has already been found, and at best can do no more than illustrate and confirm what a natural faith, springing up under influences congenial to its nature, has pointed to before. In truth, it is hardly supposable, even antecedent to all inquiry, that God would make the belief in His existence and universal providence dependent on the subtleties and uncertainties of human speculation. Had He done so, how few would have possessed it with any degree of intelligence and assurance! He has, instead of this, implanted the germ of it deep in the original soil of our nature, so that in any case it requires but conditions favourable to its growth to bring it to the maturity of a |