We, too, if we are Christian men and women, have a gospel of which the
very kernel is that there is to us a communication of power, and the
very name of that divine Spirit whom it is Christ's greatest work to
send flashing and flaming through the world, is the 'Spirit of Power.'
And so the old promise that ye shall be clothed with strength from on
high is the standing prerogative of the Christian Church. There is not
merely some partial communication, as when hand touched hand, but
every organ is vitalised and quickened; as in the case of the other
miracle of this prophet, when he stretched himself on the dead child
eye to eye, and mouth to mouth, and hand to hand; and each part
received the vitalising influence. We have, if we are Christian
people, a Spirit given to us, and are 'strengthened with might by the
Spirit in the inner man.'

That gift, that strength comes to us by contact, not with Elisha, but
with Elisha's Lord and Master. Christ's touch, when He was on earth,
brought sight to the blind, healing to the sick, vigour to the limbs
of the lame, life to the dead. And you and I can have that touch, far
more truly, and far more mightily operative upon us than they had, who
only felt the contact of His finger, and only derived corporeal
blessing. For we can draw near to Him, and in union with Him by faith
and love and obedience, can have His Spirit in close contact with our
spirits, and strengthening us for all service, and for every task.
Brethren! that touch which gives strength is a real thing. It is no
mere piece of mystical exaggeration when we speak of our spirits being
in actual contact with Christ's Spirit. Many of us have no clear
conception, and still less a firm realisation, of that closer than
corporeal contact, more real than bodily presence, and more intimate
than any possible physical union, which is the great gift of God in
Jesus Christ, and brings to us, if we will, life and strength