her infant in her sleep and smothered it: both of our children were sons. And this woman, my companion, finding her child dead, arose in the night and took my child from my side while I was asleep, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I arose in the morning to give my child suck, behold it was dead, as I at first thought; but then, considering his features more carefully by the full daylight, I saw that this dead child was not my son.'

Then the other woman interrupted the first speaker, saying, "It is not so as thou sayest; but thy child is dead, and mine is alive." But the first woman still insisted that her tale was true, and that the dead infant was not her son. Then the king showed his wonderful wisdom and knowledge of the human heart. Turning to the two women who appealed to him for justice, he said, "The one of you saith, 'My child is alive, and your child is dead;' and the other answereth, Nay, but thy child is dead, and mine liveth.' Therefore bring me a sword." And the attendants brought a sword to the king. "Divide," said he, "the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other."

Then the woman who had first spoken, and who was the true mother of the living child, sprang forward, and throwing herself at the feet of the king, said, "I beseech thee, my lord, give her the child alive, and do not kill it." But the other woman, satisfied that her companion would not now be better off than herself, agreed to the decision, saying, "Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it." Then the wise king saw at once that the true mother of the child must be she who could not bear to see it killed, but would rather consent to lose it herself than see its blood shed. "Give the living child to this woman," said he, "and let it not be killed; for she is the mother thereof." So the infant

was delivered to its true mother; and all Israel saw and approved the decision of the king, who showed the great gift of God in his judgments.

SOLOMON'S END.

It would have been happy for Solomon if he had indeed followed up the great gifts of God, and pursued and attained that true heavenly wisdom which would have caused him to love and serve God as his father David had done; but his end, alas, was very different from that of the holy servant and friend of God. We are told much in Scripture of his greatness and riches, and how even the great kings of other nations who came to visit him were astonished at his wealth and possessions. Hiram the king of Tyre, and the Queen of Saba, both came to see Solomon, and marvelled at his riches and greatness; and the Queen of Saba exchanged royal presents with Solomon of great value. But at the end of his reign, Solomon's heart became turned away from God: he married wives from the heathen nations around him, and suffered himself to be led away to worship the false gods of these his idolatrous wives. This evil conduct drew down upon him the judgments of God, who, as He had threatened He would, withdrew His favour from him, and visiting Solomon this time in wrath, told him that He should take away all his kingdom excepting the tribes of Benjamin and Juda; these two tribes, He said, He would leave to him and his descendants for the sake of His servant David, who had so faithfully kept His laws, while the rest of Solomon's dominions should be given to his servant Jeroboam, who, in fact, succeeded to part of the kingdom of Solomon ;

while Solomon's son Roboam inherited the two tribes before spoken of. And thus were the Jewish dominions divided into the kingdoms of Israel and Juda, David's descendants keeping the latter up to the period of our Blessed Saviour. And Solomon had reigned over Israel and Juda forty years when he died.

THE KINGS OF JUDA AND ISRAEL.

It would make this little book too long if a history of every king of Juda and Israel were written in it; and as stories of bad people are very painful and unpleasant, we will not relate the histories of the kings who followed David and Solomon (most of whom were very bad), excepting in one or two instances, where their lives, or the incidents of their reign, are particularly interesting, or where the prophets of God are much connected with their stories. There were one or two very good kings of Juda; of these the most remarkable perhaps were Josaphat and Ezechias.

THE PROPHET ELIAS.

ISRAEL and Juda were now, as we have heard, divided into two kingdoms, and one of the kings of Israel who was especially wicked was named Achab, and he had a wife called Jezabel, who was even worse than himself. Jezabel was a daughter of the King of Sidon, and worshipped the idol of the Sidonians named Baal; and she led her husband, who had never been zealous for the true faith, to become an idolater likewise, as well as also leading astray his people. The terrible influence of this princess over

the mind of her husband should carry a great warning to the hearts of Catholics, too many of whom are moved by worldly motives to think but little of espousing husbands or wives brought up in a false faith. The daily and hourly example of one to whom we are so closely bound as a husband or a wife has far more influence upon us than we are often disposed to think, and God alone knows where such influence may stop; in the best cases, it must tend to weaken the faith of believers, and cool their fervour in God's service, and in the worse cases it will end in the total ruin of the professor of the true faith, like the unhappy Achab. The crimes and idolatries of Achab and the Israelites having become very great, God sent a holy prophet to them named Elias, to preach repentance to them, and to work miracles in defence of the true religion. And Elias told them that God would send a grievous drought and famine on their land to punish their iniquities, which accordingly came to pass. Like all the saints and great servants of God, Elias lived a very holy and most austere life. He lived at first on the banks of the torrent Carith, and he had the waters of this stream to drink, and was fed by the hand of God Himself during this famine, who sent ravens to bring him food morning and evening. The spring of Carith, however, in consequence of the long dry wea ther, dried up; and God commanded Elias then to go to Sarephta, a town belonging to the Sidonians, and dwell there; "for," said He, "I have commanded a widow-woman there to feed thee." therefore went to Sarephta; and as he entered the city, he saw the widow-woman gathering sticks, and asked her to bring him a little water to drink; and as she was going to fetch it, he called after her, begging her to bring him also a morsel of bread. But she answered, "As the Lord thy God liveth, I have

Elias

no bread, but only a handful of meal in a pot, and a little oil in a cruse; and I am gathering these few sticks that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die." For the famine and scarcity had now lasted a long time.

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And the prophet said to her, Fear not, but go and do as thou hast said; but first make for me a little hearth-cake, and bring it to me; and after make for thyself and thy son. For thus saith the

Lord the God of Israel: The pot of meal shall not waste, nor the cruse of oil be diminished, until the day wherein the Lord will give rain upon the face of the earth." Upon this the widow-woman put faith and trust in God and His servant, and did all that he had desired her. And her faith was rewarded; for during the whole time that Elias was with her the pot of meal wasted not, nor did the oil become less, though she and all her house, with Elias, eat of it. But soon afterwards the widow's son fell sick; and the affliction of his illness shook the faith of his mother, so that she murmured against the prophet of God, and said, "What have I to do with thee, thou man of God? Art thou come to punish my iniquities, and to kill my son ?"

And Elias said to her, "Give me thy son;" and he took him out of her bosom, and carried him into the upper chamber where Elias lodged, and laid him upon his own bed. Then this great prophet poured forth a fervent prayer to God, and said, “O Lord, my God, hast Thou afflicted also the widow, with whom I am after a sort maintained, so as to kill her son?" Then he stretched and measured himself on the child three times, and cried to the Lord, and said, "O Lord, my God, let the soul of this child, I beseech Thee, return into his body." And God heard the voice of this His holy and great servant: the soul of the child returned into his lifeless