There sat four leprous men at the entering of the gate of Samaria. Round about lay the cordon of the Syrian army besieging the city, having shut off from it all supplies. The famine was terrible and maddening, so that some mothers were turned into tigresses and devoured their own offspring. At the entrance of the gate sat the lepers. "What shall we do?" they said to one another. "If we sit here, we shall perish. In the city also there is no hope. So let us go over to the host of the Syrians. Perhaps they will kill us, in which case we have nothing [230] to lose, for we shall certainly die here. But there is a chance (a small one, perhaps, but nevertheless a chance) that they may save us alive." So they rose and went to the host of the Syrians. The tents came into view. Here were horses tied; there, fires smoldering. But no voice of sentinel, no sight of soldiers. Timidly they crept nearer. They came to the first tent--no soul there; to the second--no man within or around. The third, the fourth--the camp was deserted. The Syrians must have left in great haste, for there was everything left behind, food and garments and vessels and silver and gold, especially food. The four lepers fell to and ate and ate. Then they began to carry away treasures and garments and hiding them; when all at once one of them (and here is the point of my story) felt a twinge of conscience. "What monstrous selfishness is this! Here we have gorged ourselves, here we are hiding away wealth, and all this while our whole city lies in the throes of famine! It is a day of good tidings, and we have held our peace! Such doings avenge themselves. If we do not repent at once, some evil will befall us." So they carried the good news to the city, and the population, after some precaution, turned out, swarmed into the hostile camp, and the famine was over, for there was food for all. (2 Kings 7.) And you, my brother you are living well, and enjoying the word of life, and basking in God's love and the light of Jesus Christ, and the forgiveness of sins, and the hope of eternal life, and in joy and peace of the Holy Spirit. I do not begrudge it you. But it is a day of good tidings, and you are holding your peace. You are saved, but the millions of the earth are in the death grasp of spiritual famine, under bondage of darkness and sin and despair. Yet you are well off. What have you done for the starving ones? Have you handed on the bread of life? You have found something good--are you keeping it to [231] yourself? It will not prosper. Selfishness of any kind, even spiritual selfishness, defeats itself. All the forces of the universe are in league against it. Your manna you are hoarding breeds worms and stinks. Your light under the bushel will go out. Your religion will end in dry formalism or in bitter controversies in which men will bite and devour and consume one another. The punishment will overtake you if you do not pass on your blessing. Perhaps you could go yourself and tell the good news. In fact, within your range and sphere you are the Lord's messenger under any and all circumstances to hold forth the word of life. And if you cannot carry it farther, you can encourage another to go, and support or help to support others in the preaching of the gospel at home and abroad. May your conscience trouble you when you are getting the wealth and sweetness of the word of God, and may you be constrained by the love of Christ to hand it on, to spread it abroad.

[TAG 230-232]