THERE IS DEATH IN THE POT! (Haynes)

FOR THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

“And Elisha came again to Gilgal, and there was a dearth in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seeth pottage for the sons of the prophets; and one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered thereof, wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of potage: for they knew them not. So they poured out for the men to eat: and it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot; and they could not eat thereof; but he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot.”—2 Kings, iv. 38, 41.

BROTHER BEEBE, Turn to 1st Kings, xix, 19, and you will find this same Elisha ploughing with 12 yoke of oxen, and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him, and he became a prophet of the Lord. Now the sons of the prophets were sitting, or waiting before the prophet, but what were they waiting for? From Elisha’s ordering his servant to put on the great pot, it seems they were waiting for some of the pottage, for they tarried until one went into the field and gathered herbs, and prepared the pottage, and when they began to eat thereof, they cried out O thou man of God, there is death in the pot; they could not eat. Is it not probable there are some young men in this day of boasted light, who are, and have been waiting a long while at the Theological Seminaries, to have the pottage prepared and poured out for them; who, when they have began to eat thereof, have cried out, There is death in the pot, until the legal forms, Jewish rites and idolatry were purged out by the Saviour’s blood and righteousness—or the handful of meal.

The servant who put on the pot, was probably Gehazi; and although he had been living with the prophet a long time, he had not become a very honest man; he lusted exceedingly after money, and sometimes obtained it dishonestly, as you will see: turn to 2d Kings, v. 22: “My master hath sent me, saying, Behold even now there be come to me from Mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver and two changes of garments.” Mark! What a zeal this Gehazi pretended to have for the sons of the prophets—begging for them money and clothing to such an amount as required two servants to bear them before him.

How strikingly this trick of Gehazi resembles the conduct of a great train of Mendicants who are in this our day, scouring our country to beg money and clothing, which they tell us, in the name of their master, are for the sons of the prophets. But hear the language of the Lord’s prophet to Gehazi. “The leprosy of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed forever. My Brother, are not our streets filled with these unclean leapers, who, like Gehazi, have corrupted themselves by wickedly imitating his impious example? “And one went out into the field and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds, his lap full: for they knew them not.”

How much this is like those who attempt to preach, and to teach the things of the spirit, when they have not themselves been taught of God; and they are as likely to gather herbs from a wild vine as from any other, and there are many in the field at this time who know not the difference between a wild vine and a tame one, whose only object is to get a lap full. The Lord’s prophet, being told that there was death in the pot, did not hesitate, for he knew full well there was but one remedy for death. He said then bring a meal, and he cast it into the pot, and there was no harm in the pot.

By meal, I understand the Gospel—which is Jesus Christ and him crucified.—Bread corn is bruised, Isa. xxviii. 28. Jesus, who is the Bread of life, and who is also represented as a corn of wheat, &c. was bruised for our transgressions; and corn when it is bruised, is meal. I think there is frequent necessity for handfuls of meal being cast into the great pot, in order to counteract the poisonous qualities of the wild gourds, which the unskilful teachers of modern theology are throwing in so constantly by handfuls. Pots are often spoken of in the scriptures, of different kinds and for various uses; sometimes they are applied to purposes of honor, as in the case of the marriage at Cana, of Galilee, also the golden pot in the ark, in which the manna was deposited; and again, Zach. xiv. 20, 21: And the pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar, yea, every pot in Jerusalem, and in Judah, shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts; and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seeth therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. Happy will that day prove when there will be no Canaanite left in the house of the Lord—no death in the pot. Death will be vanquished and swallowed up in victory.

But we read of another kind of pots in Psalms lxviii. 13; and these seem to be a black kind which will soil the garments of those who take lodgings among them. The Psalmist says, Though ye have lain among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.

Brother Beebe, when I wrote you last, I was a member of the Church at Hoosack, in the Shaftsbury Association; I am now a member of the Church at Troy, where Elder E. Raymond preaches. I still reside in Hoosock; I am not a public man, but a farmer. I do not send this scrawl for publication, and perhaps you may enquire why I send it at all? I answer, I am so full of infirmities that I can plough but a short time before I am tired, and go into the house and read my bible; and sometimes I fling some of my ideas into writing for my own satisfaction. My object in sending you this is in the hope that you or some of your correspondents may take up the subject and do it better justice than I am able. I would like to see something published on this subject. I think, if I am anything, I am an Old Fashioned Baptist. So I subscribe myself,

Yours, in Gospel Bonds,
JOHN HAYNES.