Gazette Of The United States, & Philadelphia Daily Advertiser

From the Farmer's Weekly Museum.

"And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow thee."

IN the reign of King Ahab, Elijah, the Tishbite, and the prophet, possessed a power, little short of the regal. Saintly, charitable, wise, and prescient, he gained the affections, and suggested the plans, of the Israelites. At that period, popular belief was strongly attached to prophecy, and popular applause surely would not only be acquired, but merited by him, whose life was given to all the duties of benevolence. It seems, that Elijah had the strongest claims upon the attention, the gratitude, and respect of his fellow-citizens. As a man, as a prophet, he had filled up the measure of usefulness. The Zidonians, though proverbially "careless and secure," had felt the chastisement of the skies, which retained their dew, and their rain, and the dusty and parched region, attested the drought of years. Among this supine race, the observing prophet, had recognized an individual, a woman of Zarephath, "Looking well to the ways of her household," and providing food for her little one, oppressed by the common calamity. Her signal display of charity, at a time, when selfishness would aver, that charity itself must fail, induced the grateful Elijah to invoke miracles to her aid. The barrel and the cruse, which hunger had emptied, were perennially supplied, and the darling child of the widow, was reanimated, by the prayer of the prophet. Nor was this the only passage in his life, to excite the wonder, or secure the veneration, of his people. He had, first by ridicule, and then by experiment, confounded the worship of Baal, and restored the religion of the Jews. From that "little cloud," which a servant could not, during seven attempts, behold; and which at length, seemed minutely rising from the sea, "like a man's hand," the enlightened eyes of Elijah could discern torrents descending to water, and revive the parched grounds of Samaria. Exposed to the vengeance of Jezebel, a vindictive and powerful princess, the fugitive prophet seemed to be the peculiar care of Providence. Ready to perish, under the scanty Shade of the mournful juniper, food was supplied him by angelick hands, and a celestial voice vindicated to the repining seer, the ways of heaven.

This enumeration of the peculiarities of Elijah's life and office, will not be deemed impertinent, by those who, with the Preacher, trace the context, and find the prophet by the side of the youthful Elisha. To him the reputation of the age was notorious. He had heard his prophecies, he had witnessed their completion. He saw the venerable philosopher, invested with the double power to anoint a Syriack king, and a Jewish prophet. He must have conjectured, that the mysterious mantle of his predecessor, would soon secure to Elisha an Elijah's praise. What powerful incitements to the pride, to the ambition of a young and obscure man. How would an ordinary, how would a selfish character have been engrossed by vain speculations. "How great, how wise, how courted," he might whisper, "shall I be, about to possess the faculties of a prophet, whose fame has been reechoed through Palestine, and whose mighty works have" mon candidate for such an office, would have forgotten his connexions, his country, his duty, every thing, but himself. But Elisha was not so dazzled by the blaze of a prophet's glory, as to become bewildered in the paths of duty. He remembered the injunction from Mount Sinai, to honor the more immediate authors of our being. He reflected that his Parents ought to be apprised of the new dignity of their son; they would rejoice at his prospects, they would shed their benediction. Instead, therefore, of instant compliance, the dutiful Elisha pauses, reflects upon his beloved home, and the aged couple at its fire side, and makes the affectionate response in the text, "Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee." Verily, Elisha, thou provedst a good son, and I love thee more, for remembering a Mother's love, than for all thy miracles. They may pass away, but not one jot, nor one tittle of thy filial piety shall pass from remembrance. Divided Jordan, a sweetened spring, and a miraculous gush of waters, might own thy energy, but thy tender concern of thy Parents, revealed thy heart. When hearing thy pathetick request, Let me kiss my father and mother, the Cherub charities of life drew near, and wept—and smiled!

The duty implied in the text, is acknowledged by all, but I fear is felt, except by few. The habit of domesticating with parents, during our infancy and childhood, induces a mechanical affection, and an obedience of course. But when the calls of business urge us from home, the world operates as an opiate, and benumbs every filial sensation. We leave it to the nurse to talk of the cradle, and the endearments of a mother, and to the steward to compute the sums that a father's indulgence has given, without reflecting upon the gentle offices of the one parent, or the bounty of the other. But reflection will convince any man that, generally speaking, he never found faster friends, than his parents. Mutual interest, natural affection, and long habit, all seem to conspire to bind parents and progeny in the closest union. Nor is it a small debt we owe to them for twenty one years service. Lifits means, and Education, these are the important items of their accompts against us, and shall we carelessly forget the obligation?

When children are in their full strength, parents are commonly advanced in age. "Age hath pains to soothe," and who so proper to practice "lenient arts, make languor smile, and smooth the bed of death," as a daughter, or a son? What service more grateful, what duty more clear?

The amiable son of Sirach knew this truth well. I can add nothing to his unction, his energy, or his tenderness. "He that honoreth his mother, is as one that layeth up treasure—and the relieving of thy father shall not be forgotten. In the day of affliction it shall be remembered; thy sins also shall melt away, as the ice in the fair warm weather."

THE LAY PREACHER.