PUBLIC SPIRIT 



fighting man, he took the field with the 

 armies of his country, placing all his natural 

 and all his prophetic skill at the service of 

 kings and generals. Once when the forces 

 faced the enemy but were dying of thirst 

 he won the campaign by revealing copious 

 supplies of water. In civil matters as well 

 he was always ready with his aid. Prophet, 

 he was often virtually prime minister. Im- 

 perfect, unrighteous as his country and its 

 institutions were in his age, he would not 

 desert or renounce them. Even amid siege, 

 famine and death, Elisha remained by, con- 

 tent to fare nay, determined to fare no 

 better than the rank and file of Israel. 



The prophet also had an enthusiasm for 

 humanity which for those times was veri- 

 tably miraculous. It made him cosmopoli- 

 tan in his feeling. He healed of a deadly 

 disease the chief captain in the host of his 

 nation's worst enemy, Syria, sending him 

 back to his home and his sovereign whole 

 and happy. Having captured a hostile 

 force by special stratagem and not by supe- 

 riority in war, he forbade that they should 



