body, and he revived. Then Elias took the child and brought him down to his mother, whose joy and astonishment at seeing her dead son thus brought to life we may imagine. "Behold," said Elias, "thy son liveth." And the widow acknowledged the power of God through Elias, saying, "Now by this I know thou art a man of God, and the word of the Lord in thy mouth is true."

Elias was one of the greatest of the Jewish prophets, and the Jews recognised him as such. He it was who, with Moses, appeared conversing with our Blessed Saviour in His transfiguration; and when our Lord called upon God the Father on the cross, pronouncing the Jewish word, "Eli," God, the Jews asked if He were calling upon Elias.

In the death of this child, whose soul was recalled into his body by the powerful prayers of Elias, we may see how the soul of a Christian is dead when in mortal sin, which is so real a death that it is only recalled to the life of grace by the absolution pronounced over the penitent sinner by the priests of God.

ACHAB AND JEZABEL.

AND the famine and drought continued very severely throughout the country still; but in the third year, God, moved by the prayers of His servant Elias, promised to make it cease, and desired Elias to go to King Achab to rebuke him for his sins. Meantime this wicked king, and his still more wicked wife, had sought every where for Elias to put him to death, for being, as they considered, the cause of the famine; and when they could not find him, he being concealed in the widow's house at Sarephta, they began a persecution of the priests of

God, killing all they could find. A hundred of these priests had their lives saved by one of Achab's servants named Abdias, a good and pious man, who hid them in a cave, and fed them there, till the danger was past.

Elias, however, with the zeal and courage of a true saint of God, went up to face this impious monarch; and Achab, on seeing him, advanced to meet him, with this greeting, "Art thou he that troublest Israel?" And Elias, great in the power and strength of God, replied, nothing daunted, to this angry monarch, "I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, who have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and have followed the idol Baalim." Then Elias desired the king to send out orders that the whole nation of Israel should assemble on Mount Carmel, and that the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal should also come thither. And when they were all assembled, Elias addressed the people, and said, "How long do you halt between two sides? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him." And all the people remaining silent, Elias went on, "I alone of the Lord's prophets am here, but of Baal's prophets there are four hundred and fifty men. Let two bullocks be given us, and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it upon wood, but put no fire under; and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it. Call ye then on the names of your gods, and I will call on the name of my Lord; and the God that shall answer by fire, let him be God." And all the people answering, said, "A very good proposal." Then Elias desired the prophets of Baal to begin and dress their bullock in the way agreed upon; and they did so, and called on the name of Baal from morning even unto noon, saying,

"O Baal, hear us!" But there was no reply from their false god, neither by voice or sign; and the idolatrous priests in their frantic worship leaped over the altar which they had made.

And when noon had come, and their cries were not heard, Elias jested at them: "Cry with a louder voice," said he, "for he is a god, and perhaps he is talking, or is at an inn, or on a journey; or perhaps he is asleep and must be awaked." So they cried with a loud voice, and cut themselves, according to the rites of their dreadful worship, till they were all covered with blood; but still Baal heard them not, nor did any one answer or regard them as they prayed. Then Elias called the Israelites around him, and desired them to aid him in repairing the stone altar of God which was broken down. And he took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, whose name, we may remember, was changed to Israel by the command of God, and rebuilt God's altar with these stones, and made a great deep trench all round it, and laid the wood in order, and placed the bullock cut in pieces on the top. Then he desired that four buckets full of water should be poured all over the burnt-offering or sacrifice, and on the wood. And this he had repeated three times; and the water ran all over the altar, and the trench around it was filled with it. And now, when the hour was come to offer the sacrifice, Elias approached and prayed fervently to God, saying, "O Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, show this day that Thou art the God of Israel, and I Thy servant, and that according to Thy commandment I have done all these things. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may learn that Thou art the Lord God, and that Thou hast turned their heart again."

No sooner had Elias finished his prayer, than the fire of the Lord fell from heaven, and burnt up not

L

only the sacrifice and wood, all drenched as it was with water, but the very stones of the altar itself, drying up with its fervent heat all the water which filled the trench. At this astonishing miracle, which showed to the hardest idolater that there was indeed but one God who could answer prayer and send fire from heaven, the people all fell on their faces in adoration and awe, saying, "The Lord He is God, the Lord He is God."

Then Elias desired them, since they were convinced these prophets of Baal were deceivers, to take them all down to the brook Cison and there put them to death, which was accordingly done.

And Elias turned now to king Achab, and said, "Go up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain." And the king went up to eat and drink, and God's servant to pray. Elias went up to the top of Mount Carmel, and casting himself down on his knees with his face to the earth, he supplicated God for rain. And he sent his servant to look towards the sea, and seven times the servant returned having seen nothing; and the seventh time he said he saw a little cloud like a man's foot. Then said Elias, "Go up and warn Achab, and say, 'Prepare thy chariot, and go down, lest the rain prevent thee."", And the king and the prophet both went up to Jezrahel, and the heavens grew dark with clouds and wind, and there fell a heavy rain.

NABOTH'S VINEYARD.

WE shall now hear a grievous story of the wickedness of Achab and Jezabel, which will show us how deaf this wicked king and his wife were to the voice of conscience, and how entirely they disregarded the

laws of God. There was a man living in Jezrahel named Naboth, and he had a vineyard which had belonged to his ancestors for many years, and which he had inherited from them. This vineyard, however, lay close to the king's palace, and Achab coveted it in order to make it into a garden of herbs. So he sent for Naboth, and offered to buy it of him, or to give him another vineyard for it. Naboth, however, utterly refused to part with his vineyard for any price.

"The Lord be merciful to me, and not let me give thee the inheritance of my fathers," said he. And King Achab came into his house angry and fretting at this reply; and throwing himself upon his bed, he turned his face to the wall, and would neither eat nor drink.

Then his wife, the wicked Queen Jezabel, came to him, and seeing him in this state of grief and vexation, she asked him what was the matter. And he answered her, "I spoke to Naboth the Jezrahelite and said to him, 'Give me thy vineyard, and take money for it; or, if it please thee, I will give thee a better vineyard for it; and he said, 'I will not give thee my vineyard." Then Jezabel his wife said to him with contempt, "Thou art of great authority indeed, and governest well the kingdom of Israel. Arise, and eat bread, and be of good cheer. I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezrahelite." A poor amount of rule and power have you over your kingdom of Israel,' she would say, 'if you cannot obtain this vineyard. I will soon give it you.'

It had not at once occurred to the weak king Achab to go such lengths as to commit murder to obtain this land; but his bad wife at once determined on it. So she wrote letters in Achab's name, and sealed them with his signet-ring, and sent them to the ancients and chief men of Jezrahel, with orders