very midst of his distress this king Ahaz trespassed yet more against the Lord. He sacrifised to the gods of Damascus, thinking that these gods had helped their worshippers, and that if he worshipped them they would help him as they helped the Syrians. But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel.

Ahaz took all the vessels of the house of God. He cut these vessels in pieces. He shut up the house of God. He closed its doors. He made altars in every corner of Jerusalem. In every city of Jerusalem he made high places to burn incense to other gods. Ahaz thus provoked to anger the Lord God of his fathers. Ahaz slept with his fathers. They buried him in Jerusalem, but not in the sepulchres of the kings of Israel.-2nd Chron. xxviii. Hezekiah, his son, reigned in his stead.

XIII. B.C. 726.-(1.) Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, took counsel, he, his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem. It was agreed to hold a passover when the priests had sanctified themselves. All the tribes were invited to Jerusalem. Most of the ten tribes laughed the messengers to scorn. Several people of Asher, and Manasseh, and Zebulon humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. The assembly at Jerusalem to keep the passover in the second month (wailing for the priests) was very large. Many from various parts of the land did eat the passover, though they were not sanctified. Hezekiah prayed, "The good Lord pardon every one."

"There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, there was not the like in Jerusalem." They went out from Jerusalem and destroyed images, groves, and high places, and altars in all the cities of Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim and in Manasseh. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.

(2.) Hezekiah appointed the courses of the Priests and of the Levites to offer sacrifices and to perform the offices and services of the sanctuary. He commanded all to pay the usual offerings to the Priests and to the Levites. This command was cheerfully obeyed. The people brought, in abundance, the first fruits of corn, wine, oil, honey, and of all the increase of the field. They brought, in abundantly, the tithe of all things. The children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated to the Lord their God. They laid them by heaps. When Hezekiah and his princes saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord and his people Israel. Chambers were made by Hezekiah as places in which these heaps might be stored. Over these stores Cononiah, the Levite, was ruler, and Shimei, his brother, was next to him in authority. The priests and Levites had an abundant supply, and had a large store of provision under careful supervision. In every work which Hezekiah began in the service of the house of God, and in the law and in the commandments to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.-2nd Chron. xxix., xxx., xxxi.; 2nd Kings xviii.

Be

(3.) Hezekiah manifested energy and piety when Sennacherib invaded Judea.-Sennacherib, king of Assyria, encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself. When Hezekiah understood the intentions of Sennacherib, he took counsel with his princes and chiefs. The result was a plan to deprive the invading army of the water in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. This plan was carried out. A multitude engaged in the work, and stopped all the wells, fountains, and the brooks which ran through the midst of the land. Hezekiah repaired the walls and fortifications of Jerusalem. He built another wall without. He repaired Millo, in the city of David. Millo was a valley between the old city of Jebus and the city of David on Mount Sion. David and Solomon caused it to be filled up. It was thus made into a place of assembly for the people. On part of it Solomon built a palace for his queen. Hezekiah repaired Millo, and made darts and shields in abundance. He set captains of war over the people; "He gathered them to him" in the street of the gate of the city. He spake comfortably to them, strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all his multitude, for there is more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles." The people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah. Sennacherib and his army were besieging Lachish, a city in the south of Judah. From this place he sent his servants to Jerusalem, to Hezekiah, and unto all Judah who were at Jerusalem. Kings xviii. there is a very full account of this message to Hezekiah. The king of Judah, Hezekiah, is described in his zeal to destroy idolatry, and to restore the worship of God. He broke in pieces the brazen serpent which Moses had made. Unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it. kiah called it Nehushtan, a word, the signification of which has been disputed by very learned men. Some state that the word means a brazen serpent. Some state that it means a serpent. Some state that it means a monkey; and some state that it means a piece of brass.

In 2nd

Heze

(4.) In the fourteenth year of (B.c. 713) Hezekiah, king of Judah (eight years after the captivity of Israel by Shalmanezer, king of Assyria), Sennacherib, his successor, invaded Judea, with the intention of playing a victorious part as his predecessor had done. The object was universal monarchy. Hezekiah sent presents to Sennacherib. Hezekiah proposed to present to Sennacherib the sum which he might demand. Sennacherib demanded three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. Hezekiah sent to Sennacherib all the silver found in the house of the Lord, and in the king's house. He cut off all the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which he had overlaid, and sent this gold to Sennacherib. Yet the mind of Sennacherib was determined upon the destruction of Judea. He sent three men who held distinguished positions in his army and amongst his people to induce the people of

Jerusalem to open their gates to him. Tartan, Rabsăris, and Rabshakeh were sent by Sennacherib from Lachish to Jerusalem with a great host. These three great men stood by the conduit (pronounced cundit) of the upper pool (the aqueduct which brought the water from the upper or eastern reservoir into the city), and spake to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. First, they called to the king. Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, came out to them. Eliakim was over the household, "Lord Chamberlain." Shebna, the scribe, and Joash (the son of Asaph), the recorder, were with Eliakim, to hear the message of these three ministers of state, who were sent by Sennacherib. Rabshakeh addressed them, "Speak ye now to Hezekiah." In 2nd Kings xviii. 19-35, the address of Rabshakeh, or Sennacherib's message to Hezekiah, is related. It is a well-conceived message. Hezekiah

and his people were of one mind. When Rabshakeh concluded his speech or message, the people held their peace. They answered to him not a word. The king's commandment was, "Answer him not."

1. The Lord - Chamberlain - Eliakim; 2. the Secretary-Shebna; 3. the Recorder-Joash, (the son of Asaph), rent their clothes, came to Hezekiah, and told to him the words of Rabshakeh. In Isaiah xxxvi. and xxxvii., as well as in 2nd Kings xviii. and xix., the history of this invasion of Judea by Sennacherib is given. Hezekiah, when he heard the report of Sennacherib's message, rent his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. He sent his three chief ministers and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos. Isaiah has given his own account of the invasion of Sennacherib. It is the same as that given in 2nd Kings xviii. and xix. Hezekiah told his ministers what message he wished them to bear to Isaiah. He wished that the good prophet would pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "Wherefore, lift up thy prayer for the remnant which are left." The messengers came to Isaiah. They told to Isaiah the words of Hezekiah. Isaiah, calm in the midst of alarm, replied, "Thus shall ye say to your master:" "Thus saith the Lord-(here is inspiration here is revelation)-Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me." Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and he shall return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land." B.C. 710.

(5.) Rabshakeh and his fellow-ministers returned and found Sennacherib warring against Libnah. Rabshakeh had heard that the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish. Libnah and Lachish were not far distant from each other. They were in the mountains of Judah, southward of Jerusalem. Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, was come out to fight against Sennacherib. The information of the approaching engagement reached the king of Assyria. He had no time to lose. The surrender of Jerusalem was necessary. He sent Rabshakeh to reason with Hezekiah and with the inhabitants of Jerusalem

upon the folly of their resistance, and to endeavour to prevail upon them to surrender Jerusalem, without delay, into the hands of the king of Assyria. The messenger of the king delivered the message. Hezekiah received the letter sent to him by the king of Assyria. Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord. He spread the letter before the Lord. He prayed to the Lord. The Lord heard his prayer. Isaiah, the son of Amos, sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus saith the Lord, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, I have heard." This is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him, "The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee." The words of the Lord declare that Sennacherib had by his messengers reproached the living God-that all the deeds of heroism which Sennacherib had performed in his efforts to obtain universal empire were performed by the permission of the God whom he had blasphemed, and that on account of his rage against God, "I will (saith the Lord) put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest." The sign of this inspiration and revelation was, 1. Ye shall live upon the spontaneous produce of your lands in the first year; 2. Ye shall live on the similar spontaneous produce which will grow in the second year; 3. "In the third year sow ye and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof." Sennacherib had ravaged Judea. The Lord promised to feed his people for two years, by the spontaneous or voluntary produce of their lands. Sennacherib must not come into Jerusalem. He must not shoot an arrow there. He must not come against Jerusalem with shield, nor cast a bank against it. He must return by the way by which he came. God would defend Jerusalem for his servant David's sake. How was this prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled? God sent a blast upon the Assyrian host, or the pestilential and suffocating wind called "The angel of the Lord." By this awful visitation of the Almighty, one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrian host perished in a moment. The living awoke to see the bodies of their comrades dead. Sennacherib departed. He dwelt in Ninevah, the capital of his empire. "And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch, his god, that Adrammělech and Sharezer, his sons, smote him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Armenia; and Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his

stead."

(6.) B.C. 713.-Hezekiah was sick unto death. Isaiah came to him and said, "Thus saith the Lord, Set thy house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live." Hezekiah, after the custom of the east, was lying on a bed in a corner of a room in his palace. He turned, and he must turn his face to the wall. He prayed. Hezekiah wept sore. Isaiah had gone out. He was in the middle of the court (on his way home). The word of the Lord came to him, and commanded him to return to Hezekiah, "the captain of my people,"

word of the Lord. The old prophet declared that he also was a prophet, and that an angel had come to him and told to him to bring back the man of God to his house and to give to him refreshment. The man of God from Judah yielded to the persuasion of the lying prophet from Bethel. He returned with him. He sat at the table. The sentence of death came to the man of God from Judah, as it came on the wall in Belshassar's feast day in his palace. The old prophet of Bethel was moved by the Holy Spirit to reprove the disobedient prophet, whom he had, by his "lying unto him," seduced from his obedience to his God. "Thy carcase shall not come to the sepulchre of thy fathers." Such was the sentence of death which the Spirit of the Lord enabled the lying prophet to pronounce against the man of God who came from Judah. The sentence of death was speedily executed. The ass was saddled. The man of God mounted, and proceeded on his way. A lion met him and slew him. Passengers reported in the city what they had seen. The lying prophet heard what had been reported in the city. He spake to his sons, "Saddle me the ass; and they saddled him." Those words should be written: "Saddle the ass for me, and they saddled the ass for him." The former words make the lying prophet call himself an ass- -"me the ass;" and make the sons saddle their father-" and they saddled him." The lying prophet came to the scene of death. He had told why the death had happened. He saw the dead body of the man of God from Judah. The lion who had slain the disobedient prophet stood by the carcase; he had not eaten the carcase nor torn the ass. The lying prophet laid on the ass the body of the disobedient prophet. He arrived in his own city to mourn and to bury a man whose untimely death was caused by the false friend who lied unto him.

After all this warning Jeroboam returned not from his evil way. He made of the lowest of the people priests of the high places. "This thing became a sin to the house of Jeroboam, to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth."

(e.) Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, fell sick at this time. Jeroboam told to his wife to go to Shiloh to Ahijah the prophet, who told to him that he should be king. "Disguise thyself." "Take with thee ten loaves, cracknels, and a cruse of honey. Go to him: he will tell to thee what shall become of the child."

Jeroboam's wife arrived at the house of Ahijah. The prophet was unable to see. Old age had dimmed his vision. The Lord made known to Ahijah the disguised visitor, and the reason of her coming, and the answer which he should give to her inquiry. Her feet touched the threshold of the prophet's house. The sound of her footsteps fell upon his ears. He cried to her: "Come in thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another?" I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. He predicted death to Abijah, and complete destruction to the house of Jeroboam, on account of the disobedience of Jeroboam.-1st Kings xiv. 7-16. The words of the prophet conclude thus: "And He (the

Lord) shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin." Jeroboam's wife came to Tirzah, a city of Ephraim; the name Tirzah signifies pleasant. Tirzah was the royal seat of the kings of Israel, from the days of Jeroboam to the days of Omri, who built Samaria, which then became the capital of the kingdom of Israel. When Jeroboam's wife came to the threshold of the door, the child died. "They buried him. All Israel mourned for him." "For he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave," are the words of the Lord, by the prophet Ahijah, which were fulfilled in the death and burial of Abijah, the son of Jeroboam. The length of the reign of Jeroboam was twentytwo years, from B.C. 975 to B.C. 953 or 954. Jeroboam slept with his fathers, and Nadab, his son, reigned in his stead.

2. Nadab (B.c. 953 to 951) reigned two years over Israel. He began to reign in the second year of Asa, king of Judah. He walked in the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. Baasha, of the house of Issachar, whose father was named Ahijah, conspired against Nadab, and smote him in Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. For Nadab and all Israel had laid siege to Gibbethon. In the third year of Asa, king of Judah, did Baasha slay Nadab. He reigned in the stead of his victim.

3. Baasha (from B.C. 954 to B.C. 930) destroyed all them who breathed of Jeroboam, according to the word of the Lord spoken by Ahijah the prophet. There was war between Baasha, king of Israel, and Asa, king of Judah, all their days.

Baasha did evil in the sight of the Lord. He walked in the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin. Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu, the son of Han-a-ni, against Baasha. The same form of speech used by Ahijah is used by Jehu: "The house of Baasha shall be made like to the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin." slept with his fathers. Elah, his son, reigned in his stead. Baasha reigned twenty-four years.

Baasha

4. Elah, son of Baasha, began to reign in the twenty and sixth year of the reign of Asa, king of Judah. Elah reigned over Israel, in Tirzah, two years, from B.C. 930 to B.C. 928. Elah was in Tirzah, "drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, steward of his house in Tirzah. Zimri, Elah's servant, captain of half of his chariots, conspired against him, and killed him in the twenty and seventh year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned in his stead."

The

5. Zimri, B.C. 928.-Zimri destroyed the entire family of Elah and of Baasha. Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. The people were encamped in Gibbithon, which belonged to the Philistines. people in the camp heard of Zimri's conspiracy, and made Omri, who was with them in the camp, king of Israel. A civil war was the result. Omri and his army marched to Tirzah and besieged it. The city was taken. Zimri went into the royal palace, set it on fire, and perished in the flames. Zimri suffered because he also walked in the way of Jeroboam, the

had sinned so wantonly. He knew that the Lord he was God, when he in the dungeon at Babylon prayed unto the God of his fathers. The Lord heard him and answered him, and brought him again to Jerusalem. Manasseh then knew, or publicly acknowledged, that the Lord he was God. He built a wall without (outside of) the city of David, on the west side of the Gihon (or a mountain west of Jerusalem, where Solomon was anointed king by Zadok and Nathan), even to the entering in of the fishgate, and compassed about Ophal (the tower), and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the cities of Judah. He took away the strange gods and the idols out of the house of the Lord, and he cast out all the altars which he had built. "Still the people sacrifised in the high places, but unto the Lord their God only." So Manasseh slept with his fathers. They buried him in his own house. Amon, his son, reigned in his stead.-2nd Chron. xxxiii.

XV. B.C. 643. Amon was twenty years old when he began to reign. He reigned two years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh, his father, had done. Amon sacrifised to all the carved images which Manasseh, his father, had made, and he served them. Amon did not humble himself before the Lord as his father, Manasseh, had done. Amon trespassed more and more. His servants conspired against him and slew him in his own house. The people of the land slew all who had conspired against king Amon; "and the people of the land made Josiah, his son, king in his stead."-2nd Chron. xxxii.

XVI. B.C. 641. Josiah was the son of Amon, whose reign continued for two years, who was murdered by his servants who conspired against him, who, in their turn were murdered by the people of the land, who buried Amon, a miserable sensualist and idolator, in the garden of Uzza, the family sepulchre or burying place.

He was

The reign of Josiah is recorded in 2nd Kings xxii. and xxiii., and in 2nd Chron. xxxiv. and xxxv. (1.) Josiah succeeded his father Amon. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign. He reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. thirty-nine years of age when he was slain. PharaohNecho killed him. Josiah's mother's name was Jedĭdah, the daughter of Adaiah, of Boscath. Josiah was faithful in the discharge of his religious duties. He turned not to the right or to the left. Strange that one so young should walk after a good example in direct opposition to the example set before him by his own father, Amon. He walked in the way of David, his father.

(2.) Josiah, in the tenth year of his reign, gave orders that the money, freely offered by the people, should be duly paid to the workmen employed in the repairs of the temple of the Lord. Hilkiah, the high priest, received the king's messenger; inquiry was made, and no reckoning was made, because they dealt faithfully. Hilkiah told Shaphan, the king's messenger and secretary, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord." Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan and he read it. Shaphan returned

to the king, and told to him that all things were done correctly in the work and in the distribution of the money to the people who were working in and about the temple. Shaphan, the scribe (or secretary), then shewed to the king the book of the law which Hilkiah, the high priest, had found in the house of God.

"Was that the autograph of Moses ?" It is very probable that it was, for in the parallel place, 2nd Chron xxxiv., it is said to be "the book of the law of the Lord, by Moses." It is supposed to be that part of Deuteronomy (xxviii., xxix., XXX., xxxi.) which contains the renewing of the covenant in the plains of Moab, and which contains the most terrible invectives against the corruptions of God's word and worship.

Her

(3.) Shaphan read the book before the king. Josiah rent his clothes, issued a commission to inquire of the Lord for him, and they, with Hilkiah the high priest, went to Huldah the prophetess. Huldah replied to the king's messengers in the true strain of inspiration: "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell the man who sent you to me." message declares wrath against Jerusalem and its inhabitants, on account of their sins; and a promise of mercy to Josiah, because he had sought the Lord. "Behold, therefore, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place." They reported the words of Huldah to king Josiah.

(4.) Josiah assembled the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. He assembled all the inhabitants, together with the elders. He went up to the house of the Lord and presided over the solemn assembly of his people. He read in their ears all the words of the book found in the house of the Lord. The king stood by a pillar. He made a covenant before the Lord, "to perform the words of this covenant which were written in this book." "And all the people

stood to the covenant."

(5.) Josiah commanded Hilkiah, the high priest, and his companions and assistants, to bring out of the temple of the Lord the vessels which had been made for Baal, for the grove, and for all the host of heaven. He burned these vessels outside of Jerusalem, in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel. He put down the idolatrous priests, ordained by his predecessors to burn incense in high places, in the cities of Judah, and round about Jerusalem. He put down those priests also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. He brought "the grove out of the house of the Lord. He burned it at the brook Kidron. He stamped it to powder, which he cast upon the graves of the people. He broke the houses of ill-fame which were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove. He defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba, the northern limit, to Beersheba, the southern limit of the kingdom of Judah. He brought the priests out of the cities of Judah. The priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they

"For

to me first; then make for thee and thy son." thus saith the Lord God of Israel, 'The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day in which the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.' The woman did as Elijah had directed. She, and he, and her house, did eat during 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."

(c.) The son of the widow sickened and died. The widow, in her haste, said, "What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to my remembrance and to slay my son ?"

Elijah took her son, carried him up to the loft where he abode, laid him upon his own bed, cried unto the Lord, "O Lord, my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son ?" Stretched himself upon the child three times, and prayed, "O Lord, my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come unto him again." The Lord heard and answered Elijah's prayer. "The soul of the child came into him again, and he revived." Elijah brought the child down from his chamber into the house, and delivered him to his mother. Elijah said, "See, thy son liveth." The woman said to Elijah, "Now, by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth." The miracle was evidence. The fulfilment of the prophecy was evidence. Miracle and prophecy, the external evidences of revealed religion, were given by Almighty God to evidence the truth of his word spoken by his servant Elijah.

(d.) Elijah is commanded by the word of the Lord: "Go, shew thyself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth." This command was given to Elijah in the third year of the drought. Elijah went to shew himself to Ahab (Axaß). "And there was a sore famine in Samaria." Ahab called Obadiah, who was governor of his house. The arrangement for a journey for both was made. Ahab went by himself into one part of the country; Obadiah went by himself into another part of the country. Ahab's design was to discover whether any grass could be found about the fountains and brooks.

Obadiah met Elijah, or Elijah designedly met Obadiah. Obadiah knew him, and fell to the ground on his face and cried, "Art thou that my Lord Elijah?" Elijah replied, "I" (am). "Go tell thy Lord, Behold, Elijah is here." Obadiah reasoned with Elijah: "What sin have I committed, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab to slay me?" Obadiah explained to Elijah that Ahab had sent to all people to make inquiries after him. He took an oath from them, "that they found thee not." Obadiah feared that as soon as he delivered to Ahab Elijah's message, The Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not. When I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee-IIe will slay me." "But I, thy servant, fear the Lord from my youth." Obadiah gave to Elijah an account of his conduct as evidence of his being a true and

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cave.

faithful worshipper of the true God. At the peril of losing his own life, he hid, in two caves, one hundred prophets of the Lord; fifty prophets in each He fed them with bread and water, that is, he provided for them food to support nature. "Now, thou sayest, Go, tell thy Lord, behold, Elijah is here." "And he will slay me." Elijah then sware to Obadiah: "As the Lord of Hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself to him to-day."

Obadiah delivered to Ahab the message which Elijah gave to him. Ahab went to meet Elijah. When Ahab saw Elijah, he uttered the expression of his rage in few words: "Art thou he who troubleth Israel?" The spirit and power of Elijah expressed themselves in words of solemn daring: "I have not troubled Israel; but thou and thy father's house (have troubled Israel), in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and have followed Baalim." Elijah then gives a command to Ahab, which shows that he possessed some power superior to human. Jezebel had four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and four hundred prophets of the grove, who ate at her table. Elijah commanded Ahab to summon them all to Mount Carmel. Jezebel's four hundred did not appear. The four hundred and fifty priests of Baal were present. Ahab and his court were present. The great and small estates of Israel were assembled on Mount Carmel to hear the dictate of one man whose word had reduced their country to starvation. His word locked up the treasures of the rain. Elijah appeared to have a more exalted 'spirit and power" in the increase of dangers which threatened him. He looked upon the people, and, with restrained indignation, asked them, "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal (be God), then follow him." "The people answered to him not a word."

Elijah explained his situation: "I only remain a prophet of the Lord. Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty." He then proposed that two bullocks should be given, one to Baal's prophets, to whom he yields the choice, and one to himself. He leaves Baal's prophets to cut their bullock in pieces, and to lay the pieces on wood, and put no fire under. Elijah will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under. "Call ye on the name of your god. I will call on the name of my God. The god who answereth by fire, let him be God." "All the people answered and said, 'It is well spoken.'

The prophets of Baal prepared their bullock according to Elijah's direction. They put no fire under. They called on Baal from morning even to noon. There was no voice, nor any who answered. They leaped upon their altars. Their call upon their god, "O, Baal, help us," was in vain. Elijah mocked them: "Cry aloud. For he is a god. He is talking. He is pursuing. He is journeying. He is sleeping. He must be awaked." Elijah understood that Baal's worshippers held these notions of their god. They obeyed the command. They cried aloud. They cut themselves with knives and with lancets till the blood gushed out upon them. They continued in the