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her son fell sick, and his sickness was so sore that there was no breath left in him.'

This grieved the poor widow, and she mourned for her son, for she thought his illness was a punishment for some sin that she had done in the sight of God; and she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?

And he said unto her, Give me thy son: and he took him from her bosom, and carried him out into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.' There the prophet cried unto his God, and prayed that He would let the child's soul come into him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.'

Elijah then brought him to his mother, and said, 'See, thy son liveth.' This must, indeed, have made the heart of the widow to sing for joy; and if she had before doubted what manner of man her guest was, this convinced her that he was sent from the Lord, for she said, 'Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.'

Thus, through the goodness of God, this poor woman was not at all the poorer for giving part of her little to the servant of the Lord; and He, who caused her meal to

waste not, nor her cruse to fail, heard the prayers of Elijah on behalf of her dear child, and restored him to health.

Her obedience to, and faith in God, which caused her to be generous and hospitable when famine was almost at her door, were rewarded by many mercies from the hand of God, which came upon her when distress and misery were all around. Although she was poor, and perhaps little thought of in the place where she dwelt, yet her humble home was the means of giving shelter to one of the good men of the earth, which has given her a better name than she could have won, had she been merely the richest lady in the land.

MORE ABOUT ELIJAH.

Ir came to pass after many days, when there had been no rain in the land for three years, that the Lord commanded Elijah to go before the king, for He would send rain upon the earth. By this time, the famine was very severe, because nothing would grow for want of rain and dew to nourish the earth, and all the little streams were dried up, so that the drought was very great.

When the prophet was on his way, he met one of the

ng's servants, whose name was Obadiah. This man was le of the few who still feared the Lord, and worshipped im.

He told Elijah that the king had sent into every nation nd kingdom to seek him: upon which the man of God vished him to go and tell Ahab that he was there. Obaliah was, at first, afraid lest his master should be angry; but he went at length.

When Ahab saw Elijah, he said unto him, 'Art thou le that troubleth Israel?' And he answered, 'I have not roubled Israel; but thou and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou nast followed Baalim.'

Then Elijah told the king to call together all the prophets of Baalim; and when they were all assembled on mount Carmel, 'Elijah came unto the people, and asked them, when they would make up their minds whom they would serve; saying, 'If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.' At this, the people were silent, and said not a word.

There stood Elijah, the only prophet of the Lord, on the top of this high mountain. On one side of him was the deep sea, and on the other might be seen the land in which they dwelt, those homes for which they were indebted to that God whom they had forsaken.

Around the prophet stood four hundred and fifty men, who called themselves priests of Baal, and who taught this unhappy people to bow their knees to an idol.

Then Elijah wished that they each should make trial of their religion; those around him, by making an offering to their god Baal, while he would make his offering to the Lord his God; and 'call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord, and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God.'

To this the people agreed; and the priests of Baal took a bullock, dressed it, and laid it on the wood. But it was in vain that they besought their god to consume it with his fire; they called upon his name from morning till noon, saying, 'O Baal, hear us; but there was no voice, nor any that answered.'

Thus they continued until the time of the evening sacrifice. Still their offering lay untouched by fire; their god in whom they had trusted, had forsaken them in their need, and was indeed proved to be a false god. Then Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me: and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down, took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord,'

He then made a deep trench round the altar, which he

caused to be filled three different times with water, until every thing around the altar was quite wet.

When the time was come for the evening sacrifice, Elijah came near, and said, 'Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word: Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.'

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Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the dust that was in the trench; and when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said, The Lord He is the God, the Lord He is the God.'

Thus were this people once more brought to own the one true God; and Elijah commanded that all the priests of Baal should be seized and put to death. After this, the country was refreshed by rain, according to the word of the Lord.

The prophet was obliged to flee into the wilderness, to escape the anger of his enemies for having slain the priests of Baal. We read, 'that he went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree;' there he prayed for himself that he might die.

But the Lord never forsakes those who trust in Him, and

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