barrel of meal wasted not, nor did the cruise of oil fail as long as the famine lasted.

After a while the poor widow's little boy died; and when she saw that he was dead, she was much grieved and thought that this misfortune was meant to punish her for some sin which she had committed. But Elijah took the child, and carried it up into the loft where he slept, and laid it upon his own bed. Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried to God, saying, “O Lord, my God! I pray Thee let this child's soul come into him again." God granted the prayer of Elijah, and the child came to life again, and he delivered him to his mother. And when the woman saw her son alive again, she 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."

How great and powerful is the Lord

our God! In his hands are the earth and the fulness thereof; He maketh alive, and He commandeth us to return unto the dust. He sent famine to afflict the land of Israel, because the king and the people had sinned against Him; and on the contrary, He provided food for his prophet, and for the poor widow who received this servant of God into her house. He took away her child, and He it was who gave it back to her again.

Let us then revere the power of the Almighty, and walk always in the path of His commands. In all that we do let us aim to please Him, and look upon His favour as the most precious thing that we can possess.

ELIJAH AND THE PRIESTS OF BAAL. (1 Kings xviii. 17-40.)

It might have been thought that when Ahab and his people saw that Elijah was

provided with food, while they were all starving, and when they knew that he had raised the widow's son to life, they would have turned away from their idols and worshiped the true God. But their hearts were still hardened; therefore, to convince them that Jehovah was God, and that Baal was nothing more than a senseless idol, Elijah desired Ahab to collect together all the people of Israel, and the prophets of Baal, and the prophets of the groves, on mount Carmel.

When they were all come together, Elijah proposed to the priests of Baal, that they should take a bullock, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it; and that he should do the same with another bullock; that they should then call on their gods, while he would call on Jehovah ; and the God that answered, by sending fire to consume the bullock, should be acknowledged as the true God.

The priests agreed to do as he pro

posed; and when they had taken a bullock and prepared it, they called on the name of Baal from morning till evening, saying, "O Baal! hear us;" but there was no voice nor any that answered. At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, Cry aloud, for he is a god; but he must either be talking or busy, or on a journey; or perhaps he sleepeth, and must be awaked." On this the priests became very furious; and they cried aloud, and cut themselves with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out; but although they continued this till the evening, they obtained no answer.

Then Elijah commanded the people to come near; and he built an altar in the name of Jehovah; and on this altar he laid the bullock and the wood, and he poured a large quantity of water upon it, to shew that there was no deceit, but that all was done fairly. After this he prayed to God, saying, "Jehovah, the

God of Abraham, of 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 Jehovah their God, and that Thou hast turned their heart back again."

Then God sent fire from heaven, and it consumed not only the wood and the sacrifice, but the stones and the dust, and even the water, which was in the trench round the altar; and when the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, "Jehovah is God; Jehovah is God;" after which, by the command of Elijah, all the wicked priests of Baal were put to death.

The God whom we worship is the true God, and there is none besides Him. He manifested himself to the Jews of old under the name of Jehovah; and to us He has more clearly revealed himself by Jesus Christ, as our Father in heaven.