ACCORDINGLY she hasted to him; and he, on the other side, discovered the Temper of a real Friend, in the Message with which he sent _Gehazi_ his Servant to meet her, _while she was yet afar off._ The Moment she appeared, the Concerns of her whole Family seem to have come into his kind Heart at once, and he particularly asks, _Is it well with thee? Is it well with thine Husband? Is it well with the Child?_ A beautiful Example of that affectionate Care for the Persons and Families of their Friends, which Christian Ministers (who, like the Prophets of old, are called _Men of GOD_[q]) should habitually bear about in their Hearts; which should be awakened by every Sight of them, and expressed on every proper Occasion. HER Answer was very remarkable: _She said, It is well._ Perhaps she meant this, to divert the more particular Enquiry of the Servant; as she had before made the same Answer to her Husband, when he had examined into the Reason of her intended Journey, as probably not knowing of the sad Breach which had been made: _She said, It is well_[r]; which was a civil way of intimating her Desire that he would not ask any more particular Questions. But I cannot see any Reason to restrain the Words to this Meaning alone: We have ground to believe, from the Piety she expressed in her first Regards to _Elisha,_ and the Opportunities which she had of improving in Religion by the frequent Converse of that holy Man, that when she used this Language, she intended thereby to express her Resignation to the Divine Will in what had lately pass'd: And this might be the Meaning of her Heart, (tho' one ignorant of the Particulars of her Case, might not fully understand it from such ambiguous Words; ) "_It is well_ on the whole. Though my Family be afflicted, we are afflicted in Faithfulness; tho' my dear Babe be dead, yet my Heavenly Father is just, and he is good in all. He knows how to bring Glory to himself, and Advantage to us, from this Stroke. Whether this Application do, or do not succeed, whether the Child be, or be not restored, _it is_ still _well_; _well_ with him, and _well_ with us; for we are in such wise and such gracious Hands, that I would not allow one murmuring Word, or one repining Thought." So that, on the whole, the Sentiment of this good _Shunamite_ was much the same with that of _Hezekiah_, when he answered to that dreadful Threatning which imported the Destruction of his Children, _Good is the Word of the Lord which he hath spoken_[s]; or that of _Job_, when he heard that all his Sons and his Daughters were crushed under the Ruins of their elder Brother's House, and yet (in the fore-cited Words) _blessed the Name of the Lord._