Next I observe on the especial communion, or (as I may call it) citizenship, which Elisha enjoyed with the unseen world.

Elijah thought himself solitary, though he was not so; the world invisible was hid from him.

Though ministered to by Angels, though sustained miraculously by Almighty God, yet, like St. John Baptist, when he sent to ask Christ, Art Thou He that should come? he seemed to himself one against many.

But Elisha had the privilege of knowing that he was one of a great host who were fighting the Lord’s battles, though he might be solitary on earth.

To him was revealed in its measure the comfortable Christian doctrine of the Communion of Saints. His eyes were purged to see sights which the world could not see….

Hear Elijah’s words—I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away (1 Kings 19:10).

On the other hand, when Elisha’s servant, on finding the host of the Syrians round about them, said to the Prophet, Alas! my master, how shall we do? Elisha answered, Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them (2 Kings 6:15-17).

And then he besought Almighty God to give to his servant for an instant a glimpse of that glorious vision which he in faith, or by inspiration, enjoyed continually.

He prayed, and said, Lord, I pray Thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

How well does this vision correspond to that blessed privilege which, as the Apostle assures us, is conferred upon us Christians:

Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,

and to an innumerable company of Angels, to the general assembly and Church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all,

and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant,

and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel!

An innumerable company of Angels, and the Spirits of the just;—we dwell under their shadow; we are baptized into their fellowship; we are allotted their guardianship; we are remembered, as we trust, in their prayers.

We dwell in the very presence and court of God Himself, and of His Eternal Son our Saviour, who died for us, and rose again, and now intercedes for us before the Throne.

We have privileges surely far greater than Elisha’s; but of the same kind.

John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890): Sermons on Subjects of the Day, Sermon 13. Elijah a Type of Christ and His Followers.