may he not be left to choose his own river, and to wash in that which, for any reason, might please him best? Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean?' If the prophet had left the choice of the river to Naaman's discretion, there would have been something for himself to perform towards his cure; and he would have gone and washed in that river which was most agreeable to his inclination, or in that which, according to his own wisdom, was most likely to heal him. And it is often thus with respect to the message of the gospel. It is not unfrequently disagreeable to men, because self is not consulted,-because self-will and man's own wisdom are not suffered to take part. Men will allow, perhaps, that pardon must be an act of God's free grace, and that the merits of Christ are needful to procure it; and they will suffer themselves to be admonished, moreover, that the grace of the Holy Spirit is requisite to impart to them the will and the power to obey; but yet they are not satisfied unless their own will be consulted in some manner with respect to the appropriation of these blessings. They must be permitted to accept God's offer when they please, or where they please, or how they please. Our Lord, for example, appoints ministers and

ordinances of religion; but they think that they can do as well or better without making use of any such institutions. The gospel sets forth meek graces and holy works whereby the name of the Saviour may be magnified, and his kingdom advanced; but men think that they can discover other means by which these ends may be more effectually attained. The gospel declares that pride and self must be brought low, and points out the manner in which this may be accomplished; but many persons, while they profess to aim at the end, insist upon adopting their own methods of mortification and self-denial. Or, lastly, God requires repentance and the practice of holiness while it is called to-day, and says,

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Behold, now is the accepted time, behold, now is the day of salvation;" but men answer, that the present is, of all others, the most difficult, the most unfit, time for their conversion; and that while they are resolved to do all that is demanded of them, they are determined also to defer their obedience until a more convenient season.

My Christian brethren, these two evil princiciples of our fallen nature, pride and self-will, are fruitful sources of unbelief, and of a rejection of the gospel. Nor can we wonder that they should rise up in opposition to that very system which is designed to overthrow them in the heart. But

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let us not forget that humility and self-renunciation are essential to Christian faith. must come to the Saviour to be recovered from our ruin, not as Naaman came to the prophet, but in the temper of the centurion, who came to our Lord at Capernaum, praying for the cure of his servant. The proud Syrian expected that Elisha would come out to him; and he was angry when the prophet only sent a messenger. But when Jesus said to the centurion, “ I will come and heal him," that humble man answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed." This was the man of whom our Saviour declared, "I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel;" and his is that lowliness of heart with which it becomes us to seek for the blessings of salvation. Like him, also, we are required to place our dependence on the power and grace of the Redeemer, and to surrender ourselves to his will. He said, indeed,

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Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed;" but he did not intend to dictate to the Saviour, or to prescribe the course of conduct which ought to be pursued. He knew that the disease would depart from his servant only in implicit obedience to the Saviour's command. "For I," said he," am a man under authority, having

soldiers under me; and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it." And thus let us come to the gospel of the Saviour, feeling, on the one hand, that we are not worthy of the grace which it proposes to bestow; and, on the other, that our sins are to be forgiven, and our souls to be healed, only upon God's own terms, and in the way which he has himself prescribed.

II. We have seen that pride and self-will, while they were suffered to exert their influence, led Naaman to reject the message of Elisha; and that, if these principles prevail in our own hearts, we shall be led, in like manner, to refuse the offers of the gospel. Let us consider, in the next place, what are the arguments by which Naaman was induced to comply with the prophet's injunction; and what are the views and feelings which, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, may induce us, in like manner, to accede to the terms of salvation, and to accept the mercy of God.

"His servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather, then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean ?"

Here we may observe that Naaman was wrought upon, in the first place, by a sense of the greatness of his malady, and of the value of a cure. He was reminded that he would not have thought any cost or sacrifice too great in order to obtain deliverance from his sad condition. His leprosy was a grievous affliction; and he knew that relief would be well purchased at any price which he could pay. And in the same way, men are in a great measure prepared to comply with the gospel method of salvation when they are duly impressed with a sense of their spiritual misery and want. They will not lend a favourable ear to the message of the Saviour, until they are seriously convinced of their great need of his deliverance; but, when once they are aware of their lost estate by nature, and of their utter inability to recover themselves, they are ready, by God's grace, to prize and to welcome the offers of mercy held forth to them in the gospel. A servant, perhaps, said to the Syrian, 'Think, my lord, of the extent and danger of your malady! What pain it occasions to yourself! What a source of grief and concern it is to all your friends!' And we say to those who have hitherto refused the offers of salvation, Think of the ruin which sin has brought upon your souls! Think of the deadly malady, the noxious and fatal leprosy,-which has polluted, and is