Then the prophet took the child, and delivered him to his mother, who said, "Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is true."

At the end of three years, Elijah by Divine command went to seek Ahab. On his way he met Obadiah, the steward of Ahab's house, a good man, who hid "a hundred prophets of the Lord by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water."

Elijah sent Obadiah to inform Ahab of his approach. Ahab, on seeing the prophet, charged him with troubling Israel. Elijah replied, "I have not troubled Israel; but thou and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim." Then Elijah requested the king to assemble all the prophets of Baal, and the people of Israel, on Mount Carmel, to prove whether the Lord or Baal were the true God.

Each company was to offer a sacrifice to its God, but without the fire; and he who should answer their prayers by sending fire to burn up the sacrifice should be considered the true God.

Each offered a sacrifice; that of Baal being untouched, while that of Elijah, though water was three times poured over it, was consumed by fire from heaven. The people fell upon their faces, and exclaimed, "The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God."

Elijah now ordered the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal to be taken down to the banks of the River Kishon, where they were slain.

After this, at the prayer of the prophet, the longlooked for rain poured down, and the famine ceased.

QUESTIONS.

What was Elijah? What is a prophet? Where did he live? Who sent Elijah to Ahab? For what purpose? Who was Ahab? What is drought? Why did Elijah hide himself? How was he sustained? When the brook dried up, where did he go? How long did he stay at Zarephath? How was he there sustained? What happened to the widow's son? What did the widow think had caused the illness? What did she say to Elijah? How did that prophet act? After the miracle was worked, what did the widow say to Elijah? Where did Elijah go when he left

Zarephath? Whom did he meet on his way? What do you know of Obadiah? What did Ahab say to Elijah? What was the reply? What request did Elijah make? How did he purpose proving which was the true God? Give some account of the sacrifice offered on Mount Carmel. What became of the prophets of Baal?

THANKSGIVING FOR RAIN.

OH! sing to the Lord,

Whose bountiful hand

Again doth accord

His gifts to the land.

His clouds have shed down
Their plenteousness here,
His goodness shall crown
The hopes of the year.

In clefts of the hills

The founts he hath burst,
And poureth their rills
Through valleys athirst.

The merciful King,
Of purity born,
Makes herbage to spring,
Prepareth the corn.

The river of God

The pastures hath blest;

The dry, withered sod

In greenness is drest.

And ever the fold

Shall teem with its sheep;

With harvests of gold

The fields shall be deep.

The vales shall rejoice

With laughter and song,
And men's grateful voice
The music prolong.

So, too, may He pour,
The last and the first,
His graces in store
On spirits athirst.

Till, when the Great Day
Of harvest hath come,

He takes us away

To garner at home.

A. L. P.

CHAPTER LXIV.

ELIJAH (continued).

JEZEBEL, the wicked wife of the wicked Ahab, now sought the life of Elijah. The prophet fled. He came to a wilderness, where, worn out with fatigue and hunger, he sat down under a juniper tree, and requested that he might die, and fell asleep.

But God was watching over His servant. He sent His angel, who awoke him, and supplied him with "a cake baken on the coals and a cruse of water at his head," in the strength of which he was sustained forty days and forty nights.

Elijah came to Horeb, the mount of God, where he lodged in a cave. While in this lonely place the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" The prophet replied that all he had done for the Lord had been in vain.

On this the Lord bade him stand before Him upon the mountain, and first "a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. Then there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire."

Then, while all was quiet, Elijah heard a "still small

voice," which taught him that he was not left alone, and that there was still work left for him to do.

He was to return and anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, Jehu to be king over Israel, and Elisha as his own successor. The "still small voice" told him that, instead of his being left alone, the Lord had left him seven thousand in Israel which had not bowed the knee to Baal.

Elijah afterwards foretold the judgments that awaited Ahab, Jezebel, and Ahaziah.

"In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.

"The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. "Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die."

NOTE.-Juniper, a well-known trec of the cedar family..

QUESTIONS.

What was the name of Ahab's wife? Was she a good or a bad woman? What was her intention towards Elijah? Why did she not succeed? Where did Elijah flee? What happened to him in this wilderness? Where did Elijah next go? What did God say to him? What answer did the prophet make? What then happened? Shew that Elijah was not left alone. What work had God for him? What did he foretell concerning Ahab? and Jezebel? and Ahaziah?

CHAPTER LXV.

ELIJAH (continued).

A-HA-ZI-AH, on discovering where Elijah was, sent a captain with fifty men to seize him. The soldiers, finding him on Mount Carmel, bade him come down.

But the prophet refused to come down when thus commanded, and at his word fire was sent from heaven which consumed them all. A second force met with a similar fate. But a third captain came and fell on his

knees before Elijah, and prayed that the man of God would descend. On being assured of God's protection, Elijah at last came down from the mountain, when he appeared before the king and pronounced his doom.

"Now when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And he said to Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord sends me to Bethel. And Elisha answered, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.

"So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and

said, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to-day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold you your peace.

"And Elijah said to Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord sends me to Jericho.

"And he answered, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho.

"And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho said to Elisha, Knowest thou that the Lord will sake