July 14

And Hazael said, What, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? - 2 Kings 8:13.

WELL might the prophet exclaim, “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself.” This fact is confirmed by all history, profane and sacred. Here is a scriptural instance. Elisha the prophet settled his countenance stedfastly on Hazael, until he was ashamed. And Hazael said, “Why weepeth my lord?” And he answered, “Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strongholds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child.” And Hazael said, “But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?” He was then sincere in these feelings, for he was a private individual; but, says Elisha, a change of condition and circumstances will produce a change of character and conduct. “The Lord hath shewed me that thou wilt be King of Syria.” And so he put off humanity, and put on the crown; becoming all that he had execrated, in the comparison, and perpetrated all the atrocities and cruelties which made the man of God mourn.

Thus, how incapable are we of judging of our real character by present circumstances and appearances! how liable to be deluded by present views and feelings! whereas new situations, and new scenes and circumstances, will materially alter our character, and induce a totally different course of action. The reference to the accounts given of the infamous Robespierre, in connection with the horrible atrocities committed during the French Revolution, may serve as a further illustration of the sentiment. This man originally seemed an amiable character: so he was deemed in all his neighbourhood. He was a civilian. He published two books, one on Electricity, the other on the Code of Criminal Jurisprudence, lamenting that it was so sanguinary, and endeavoured to ameliorate it. But the current of the Revolution laid hold of him, and the flood hurried him away, and he became the reverse of all he had appeared before.

Thus we see that man is a fallen creature, and much of the effects of the fall appears in the derangement of the operations of his natural powers. So that it is undeniable that the clearest convictions of his conscience, his decision, his judgment, can be neutralized and counteracted; so that, as the heathen said, “Men see and approve things, and follow worse.”