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his faithful servant, who, regardless of his own personal safety, had delivered his message to the aban doned monarch with promptitude and faithfulness.

Elijah, in obedience to the direction of heaven, took up his residence by the brook Cherith, which is before Jordan, where he was supplied "by ravens with bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook."

He was not instructed to lay in a supply of provisions and water, to the intent that his faith might be tried, and that he might learn, from day to day, his dependence upon Providence. But are we therefore to encourage ourselves, from this extraordinary instance, in the expectation that GOD will supply our wants, without the proper exercise of our faculties, and the due improvement of our talents? By no means. In so doing we should be guilty of tempting the Lord, who requires us to be industrious in our callings, and to make use of those means which he has ordained in an ordinary course for our present subsistence and future welfare.

The brook Cherith was at length dried up, and the ravens failed in their attendance. This was designed to draw the prophet from his seclusion, and to convince him that it was now time for him to enter again into the world, and to exert himself in that important charge to which he was appointed by heaven.

"Arise," saith the Lord, "get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there; behold I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee." 1 Kings xvii. 9.

Elijah, who had readily followed the Divine command in retiring to that lonely spot, with equal willingness obeyed this injunction to enter again into the society of men. All places are alike to him who follows the Divine direction, and consults it in every step of his life. The crowded city and the solitary desert will be endured with the same evenness of

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temper by him whose passions are calmed down into an entire submission to the will of God. Those changes and crosses which perplex other minds, only serve to animate his faith, and to quicken him in his duty.

The same Divine hand which conducted Elijah to Zarephath, led the poor widow to the gate of the city to gather a few sticks. Worldly wisdom would have provided an asylum for the prophet beneath the roof of some opulent citizen; but Providence directed that the cottage of a disconsolate and abject widow should be his abode. Elijah was contented with the humble condition alloted him; and on seeing the poor woman with whom he was to dwell, he desired her to give him a little water to drink. What he requested was of great consequence in that time of general scarcity, and Elijah was an utter stranger. It is probable also that the appearance of the prophet was but mean, having so long resided in a desolate place; but the benevolent woman, attending only to his necessity, immediately went to fetch water to quench his thirst.

To try her yet more, the man of GOD ventured to ask her for some bread. This was a bold thing to request at such a deplorable season, and of a person apparently in the most wretched circumstances; yet she did not petulantly refuse the prophet. Her miseries had not hardened her heart, nor made her peevish and ill-natured. She was ready to assist and relieve the wayfaring man as far as lay in her power; but to take the last morsel of bread from herself and her child, was too much. Still her answer was respectful: "As the Lord thy God liveth I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse; and behold I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die." She was driven now to the dregs of her scanty stock of provisions, and without the least hope of a farther supply. The man of GOD did, it is true, declare "that the barrel of

meal should not waste, nor the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord should send rain upon the earth :" but was this assertion calculated to remove her apprehensions of perishing by want, or to inspire her with confidence in the prophet? No. She saw the very man who promised such mighty things, himself a suppliant for a draught of water to quench his thirst. Might she not then have said, "If thou hast the power of working miracles, why art thou miserable, and hungry? It ill suits these lofty pretensions that thou art now begging a morsel of bread of one, who has but a single meal left for herself and child." Let us besides consider that this woman was a Zidonian, and a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel. Marvellous then was her faith, that instead of refusing the prophet's demand, she should rely upon his word. Yet so it was, "and she went and did according to the saying of Elijah; and she and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah."

This desolate woman trusted the declaration of the man of GOD, and took him into her house; by which means she not only procured temporal food for the support of the body, but the "bread of life for the nourishment of the soul." During the prophet's residence in the house of the widow, her son, the hope and stay of her old age, fell sick and died. This indeed was a grievous trial both to her and Elijah. She could not help venting her complaint to the prophet, and he was no less concerned for her sake. Elijah poured out his prayer to GOD; and in answer to his earnest importunity, the child was restored to life. The ways of heaven are mysterious; and things are oftentimes left to extremity, that man may see the salvation of the Lord. Had the prophet restored the child to health, the gratitude of the mother might have been fervent; but perhaps she would have stopped with feeling

her obligations to the instrument, instead of raising her faith and thankfulness to the GoD of Elijah. The child, therefore, was suffered to die, that, by his miraculous restoration to life, the mother might learn to place full dependence upon the true God, and that the faith of Elijah might receive also strength.

Elijah continued to reside with this good woman many days, or until the end of the period during which, according to the word of the Lord, declared by him to Ahab, there should be no rain upon the earth. At the end of this time the prophet was commanded to present himself before that monarch, upon whose heart even this visitation had made no change. So grievous was the famine, that Ahab and his Steward Obadiah went through the land, in different directions, in search of water for the cattle. On the way Obadiah met the prophet, and as soon as he discovercd him he fell on his face, and said, "Art thou my Lord Elijah?" The servant was not like his master. The evil practices of Ahab and Jezebel had not contaminated the heart of good Obadiah, but he retained his integrity amidst all the temptations of a court. Here also the goodness of the Lord was made manifest; for this man, by his situation, was enabled to shelter a hundred prophets in a time of persecution. Thus does the Almighty provide for his church and people, even in the bosom of their enemies. In the profligate court of Ahab there was a righteous Obadiah, who took care of the afflicted servants of God; and in the worst of times, there will always be found some proving themselves "the salt of the earth."

Elijah directed Obadiah to inform Ahab of his arrival. This command greatly afflicted the pious man, who was afraid that if he told his master of Elijah's arrival, and in the mean time the spirit of the Lord should convey him away, his life would be the penalty of his false intelligence. Elijah, however, removed the apprehensions of Obadiah, by a solemn

asseveration, that he must see Ahab that very day. The king, on hearing that Elijah was come, went to meet him; but instead of being confounded in the presence of God's minister, he had the effrontery to say, "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?"

Elijah thus retorted the accusation: I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and followed Baalim. He then required the king to convene all the false prophets upon Mount Carmel, in the sight of Israel. That the monarch should obey the command of the man whom he considered as his greatest enemy, is only to be accounted for by supposing that he thought it would be a good opportunity to put him to death. Let this be as it may, Ahab did as he was directed, and, at the time appointed, there appeared only Elijah, opposed to eight hundred and fifty false prophets, supported by the presence of the king and his people.

When we view Mount Carmel, and behold the man of God in this situation, surrounded by the most formidable enemies, we almost tremble for his safety. But Elijah stands undaunted, and, fearless of the tyrant and his hosts, he thus boldly makes his appeal to the people: "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be GOD, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." Elijah then proposed that two sacrifices should be offered, one by the prophets of Baal, to their deity, and one by himself to Jehovah, and that He who answered by fire should be regarded as the true God."

This challenge was fair and honourable. Baal's priests accordingly made great preparations; and, after their manner, they cut themselves with knives to invoke the presence of their deity. Elijah waited with much patient dignity; and when he saw how they tortured themselves in vain, he mocked them, under the appearance of stirring them up to new exertions. How forcible is the irony with which he treats these deceivers!" Cry aloud," says he, "for he

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