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weeps silently; while Elisha, ignorant of the cause of her grief, looks earnestly upward for divine direction and assistance. At length her distress finds vent in speech, and amid sighs and sobs she inquires earnestly,

"My lord Elisha, did I desire of thee a son? Did I not rather say to thee, Do not deceive thy handmaid ? I was content and happy. Now what is my condition? The precious boon is recalled, and I am left desolate."

Without wasting time in idle inquiries, the prophet sent his servant to the house of the Shunammite with explicit directions how to proceed, evidently expecting that a miracle would be wrought by his mere volition, through the agency of another. But the heart of the mother was not satisfied with this delegation of power, and she declared her resolution not to return unless accompanied by Elisha himself. Accordingly the two took their way down the mountain in company, and meeting Gehazi on the way, learned from him the utter failure of his mission. Humbled by the lesson, Elisha entered the house, and going to his room, shut himself in with the dead child, and

in fervent prayer sought help, where alone it could be found, from the great Dispenser of life and death.

Having done this, he took measures which were doubtless divinely suggested, and after a time had the exquisite delight of seeing symptoms of returning animation in the hitherto lifeless body of the child. Calling the mother, he exclaimed, "Woman, look upon thy son, given back to thee by God from the grave. Take him up, and fear not; for he shall live, and not die."

Who can adequately portray the emotions of the mother, as by slow degrees she realizes the wondrous miracle, and embraces her child, glowing with health, and rosy as if just awaking from natural and refreshing slumber? Throwing herself at the feet of Elisha, she pours out her full heart in thanksgiving to the God whose instrument he had been; and then, with a look of unutterable gratitude and veneration, bowed low before the prophet, and taking her restored treasure in her arms, left the apartment.

From this time we lose sight of this inter

esting woman until, some years afterwards, we find Elisha warning her of an approaching famine in the land, and advising her to emigrate with her family to the neighboring country of the Philistines.

After seven years spent in this land of exile, her heart yearned for the home of her youth, and with her son she returned to Israel, but only to learn that her home and possessions had been confiscated, leaving her in her declining years in abject poverty.

Elisha seems to have been absent at the time of her return, for in this crisis the Shunammite was compelled to go alone into the presence of the king, to beg a reversal of the unjust sentence by which she had been deprived of home and fortune.

But the God she served had not forgotten. or forsaken his child, and in a manner the most unexpected had provided a way for her deliverance. To beguile a leisure hour, the king was listening to Gehazi's account of the public life of his master and the miracles wrought by him. While he was yet speaking of the Shunammite and her son, whom he re

stored to life, behold, two persons appeared, ushered in by a servant, and Gehazi recognized at once in the new-comers the very individuals of whom he had been speaking.

"Behold, my lord, O king," he exclaimed, "this is the woman of whom I spake, and this is her son who was restored to life. Why they are here, I know not; but in all Shunem there is not to be found an inhabitant more honored. and beloved than this woman."

It was a favorable moment for the suppliant to present her petition; and when it was ended, the king not only granted her request, but appointed an officer to take charge of the business, with a special injunction to restore all that belonged to her, together with all the arrears which had been accumulating during the period of her absence from Israel.

Thus reinstated in her ample possessions, and dwelling once more among her own people, we leave the woman of Shunem, certain that the close of her useful and honored career must have corresponded in beauty and serenity to the calm brightness of the morning and noon of her existence.

[graphic]

The Jewish Queen of Ahasuerus.

HE mirth and revelry which for many months had reign

ed in the palace at Shushan, turning night into day, and transforming men made in the im

age of God into the semblance

of demons, were over; but their consequences, evil and far-reaching, were only beginning to be felt. Vashti

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