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M. He went at first, by the command of the Lord, to the brook Cherith, a stream of water which fell into the river Jordan; there it was, that God commanded the ravens to feed him; that is, God made these birds to bring him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening. Thus Elijah, sitting beside a brook in a very lonely place, had all his wants supplied by the tender care of his heavenly Father, who made the birds of the air to wait upon him. And he ate of the food which those ravenous creatures brought him regularly morning and evening, and drank of the fresh stream which ran at his feet.

Surely, the servants of God, those in all ages, who are doing his work, should learn from this wonderful story, to trust to him for the supply of their daily wants. Surely, they have no need to be unhappy or anxious about what they shall eat, or what they shall drink, since their heavenly Father knoweth, and graciously remembereth, that they have need of these things, and has so often been pleased to work mira.cles, sooner than any servant of his should want his daily bread.

E. Did the prophet stay long at this brook, mamma?

M. The Bible tells us that, after a time, the brook dried up; because there had been no rain in the land. But Elijah was not forgotten by God. As soon as the water of the little brook Cherith had failed, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, “ Arise, get thee to Zarephath, and dwell there; behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.” So he arose and went to Zarephath, a city belonging to the Zidonians; and there he was supported no less

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barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, so long as the famine lasted in Israel; and she and her family, and the prophet, were fed from them many days.

E. Ah ! mamma; I dare say she thought of that verse which is written in the Bible, where it says, “ He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord : and look, what he layeth out, it shall be paid him again.” Do not you think that that verse might have come into her mind ?

M. It is not likely, my love, that she should have known of it, for she was not one of the people of Israel, to whom alone the Scriptures were then given: but there is no doubt that her kindness to the prophet sprung from faith in God, and that she really received the blessing, which is promised in the verse which you have repeated. And shall not we learn from her simple story, to do good whenever we have an opportunity; if we have much, to give plenteously, remembering that all the blessings which we enjoy are the gracious gifts of our heavenly Father, not deserved by us, but given of his free goodness and love: and even if we have but little, let us not on that account shut our hearts and our hands to the wants and miseries of our fellow-creatures, but let us willingly give of that little, placing our cheerful trust in that Being, who sent the ravens to feed his prophet, and who gave his blessing so richly to the kind widow woman of Zarephath.

This poor widow had very long reason to rejoice that she had given of her last handful to the servant of her God. She was fed, as we have seen, whilst others suffered greatly from the famine which was

then in Israel ; but this was not all. Very soon afterwards, her son fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in his body, and he died. In this hour of sorrow, well was it for the unhappy mother, that the prophet Elijah dwelt under her roof. No sooner had the child's soul fled away, than the prophet was allowed by God to call it back again. The Lord heard his prayers for the child, and permitted him to awaken it from the sleep of death, and to give him once more to the arms of his mother.

E. Mamma, tell me where Zarephath is. I should like to see the place where that good widow lived.

M. You will find it marked on the map, in Phenicia, quite to the north of Palestine, on the sea coast, to the east of the mountains of Lebanon, and between the famous cities of Tyre and Sidon. For Zarephath, as I told you, belonged to the Sidonians.

TWENTIETH SUNDAY EVENING.

ELIJAH AND THE WORSHIPPERS OF BAAL.

M. You will remember, Edward, how I told you, last Sunday evening, of the message which God sent to Ahab, that for three years there should be no rain in Israel. That time had now gone by, and the people, as you may suppose, had suffered much from this long drought or want of rain, and from the great scarcity of food which it brought with it. Ahab was now searching diligently through the land for any brooks or fountains of water, which might still per

haps remain ; by the side of which he might get grass for the horses and mules and cattle, which were likely to die.

Just at this moment, when their misery was at its height, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, desiring him to go again to Ahab, to see, no doubt, whether the sufferings he and his people had undergone, had made them sorry for their sins, and willing to forsake their idols, and return to the worship of the true God.

E. Was not Elijah afraid to show himself to Ahab ?

M. Elijah, my love, was a faithful servant of God, and had courage enough to do whatever the Lord commanded him : believing no doubt firmly, that, however great the danger might seem to be, he was then only really safe and happy, when he was obeying the word of God. The holy prophet had cause, indeed, to be afraid of showing himself to Ahab; for he knew that he hated him, and that he thought that it was Elijah, who had brought down upon them all the troubles they had endured; he knew too, that there was no nation or kingdom where Ahab had not sent to seek for him. But Elijah feared God more than man: he would have been afraid of displeasing the Lord, though he was not afraid of the anger of a wicked king; for he believed that Ahab had no power at all to hurt him, unless God permitted him to do so. Boldly, therefore, at the word of the Lord, he went to meet the king.

As soon as Ahab saw the holy prophet, he began to reproach him as being the cause of those sufferings under which the land was groaning. “ Art thou hes he says, that troubleth Israel?” So ready are wicked

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