wardly broken, he placed a stone for each of the twelve tribes. Then he called the Israelites near and made the sacrifice, but— strange wonder !—he made a trench round, as deep as he could have sown four gallons of seed in, and called on the Israelites to pour water on it again and again and again, till wood, stones, and flesh were thoroughly drenched, and the trench was full of water. This water came from an immensely deep spring close at hand, which does not depend upon weather and is never dry. Then, at the moment of evening sacrifice, he came near, and with a short, simple prayer—a great contrast to the orgies of the prophets of Baal— he entreated that the Lord JEHOVAH, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, would prove Himself indeed the God of Israel, and turn the hearts of these wilful people back again to their true Creator.

Then fell the fire of heaven-miraculous fire, burning up not only the soaked flesh and wet wood, but the very stones, and licking up the water in the trench!

Israel was conquered; from every lip rose the cry, "Jehovah ! He is the God; Jehovah, He is the God!"

Nor has Mukhrakah, “the place of the burning," ever been forgotten.

LESSON XV.

THE COMING OF THE RAIN.

B.C. 906.—I KINGS Xviii. 40—46; xix. 1—3.

And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

them escape.

And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.

So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees,

And he went

And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven

times.

And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go

up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.

And it came to pass in the meanwhile, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went

to Jezreel.

And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.

Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time.

And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.

COMMENT.-Tell Casses, "the mound of the priests," is a small flat-topped green knoll close to the river Kishon, and is almost certainly the place where, at Elijah's bidding, the priests of Baal were slain. It was in perfect accordance with the commands in the Books of the Law:

If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,

And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;

Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him and cleave unto him.

And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;

Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;

Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:

But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.

Nothing but absolute extirpation could put away the guilt and ingratitude of turning to any god save Him who had brought Israel out of the land of Egypt. And be it borne in mind, too, that the Baal worship of the Phoenicians included human sacrifice, and such foul and horrible orgies, that heathens of purer minds, like the Greeks and Romans, shrank from them with abhorrence; so that these apostate prophets well deserved to die, and it was the law that it should be by the hand of all the congregation.

Ahab himself seems to have been convinced; indeed, for the rest of his reign he seems to have longed to turn back to the Lord, but to have been too great a coward not to be withheld by his violent and imperious wife. At this moment he was entirely overcome, and God had pity on even such fleeting repentance. Elijah indeed seems to have thought the victory won, as he prayed in his intensity of prayer for the long-withheld rain. There he prayed, on the top of the mountain, while his servant at his bidding gazed out on the glittering Mediterranean lying far beneath-gazed and gazed into the glowing brazen sky.

Flow forth, ye showers, ye blissful showers;
Long parched hath been the land.

In sultry noon, where withered Carmel towers,
Elijah is at hand;

He leaned his head full low,
His head in prayer did bow,

His head between his knees.

What is there now beyond the distant seas?
Methinks I hear afar

The footsteps of the storm!

Now go and yoke the harnessed car,

And hasten to the town;

For o'er the distant main

There is a cloud, as if a form

Were leaning with a pitcher down

And drawing up the rain.

The Baptistery.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

So speaks St. James. The servant of God was allowed to win the blessing of dew and showers for the land. He knew his prayer was granted when that tiny cloud rose in the sunset, and he bade Ahab hurry home, and eat and drink-break the fast that no doubt was being kept for the misery of the land. Black and stormy came the welcome clouds. Ahab drove swiftly over the plain to Jezreel, and, strung up by fervent zeal and inspiration, the prophet ran along by his side, while the welcome tempest overtook them, and the drops fell, steaming up from the parched earth, and refreshing winds brought joy and gladness to fainting man and beast; and surely none could doubt who was the God who ruled the clouds and sent rain on the earth. No one? Nay, how did Jezebel take the wonderful proofs who was the God, and the agreement of her husband and all his subjects in destroying the impostors who had so entirely failed? She was the more fiercely bent on crushing what opposed her. She swore that by the next day Elijah too should be slain. Nor could faint-hearted Ahab stir a hand to uphold the truth; and of the men who had been convinced the day before, there were plenty quite willing to do her bidding!

Was this all that had come of Elijah's threat-the three years' drought, the great ordeal, the purging of the land, the coming of the rain? Behold, Baal's worshippers were as determined as ever, and Elijah himself was forced to flee, to Judah first, where, under Jehoshaphat, he was safe, but he was too sad at heart to continue in the haunts of men, and from Beersheba went on alone into the wilderness.

LESSON XVI.

ELIJAH ON MOUNT HOREB.

B.C. 906.-I KINGS xix. 4-21.

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

And as he lay and slept under a juniper * tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.

And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals,† and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.

And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.

And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?

And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and 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: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:

And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

And he said, I have been very jealous § for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

And the LORD said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and

* Retem, a kind of broom, with purple and white flowers, that grows in desolate places. + Embers. Food. § Full of burning zeal.