The Universalist., 1895-07-20

called him at once into the southern
desert wilderness of Mount Horeb
that he might reveal his will to him.
Now away in distant Damascus, and
now on some lonely heights on the
way to Ekron. Snatched away on
some mountain or in some valley!
Running before the chariot OF Ahab!
Standing before the naughty Phoeni-
clan queen of Israel! Such was the
outward appearance and career OF
Elijah. He came first with a curse
upon the land because of idolatry.
With all his dramatic power he sud-
denly stood before the throne OF Ahab
and proclaimed that no dew should
gather nor rain should fall without
his word for three years. The close
of his career was just as dramatic
On the farther banks of the Jordan,
in chariot of fire drawn by horses of
fire, he ascended into heaven by a
whirlwind of fire.
His rough exterior was the reHec-
ton of his inward life, which was even
more lawless. Like the mighty
Cedars of Lebanon, tossed by the
wind, the soul of the prophet beat
violently againss the bars that bound
him from storms without and cross
grained impulses within. Behold
him moral giant in the city OF
Samaria, defiant, fearless before the
king and his court, declaring that it
should not rain for three years but by
his permission! And at once, by the
brook Cherith or Kedron, the most
humble, abject, dependent man in the
world, fed blythe ravens in their daily
flight, and quenching his thirst in
the mountain stream.
Sometimes his spirit seemed to be
the reflection of the mountains that
stood facing each other, near the
royal city, Mount Ebal and Mount
Gerizim, Mounts Blessing and Ours
ing. For he sweeps down from the
sea shore near Zidon, from the home
of the starving widow of Zarephath,
whose cruise of oil he had replenished
and whose son he had called back
from the dead, sweeps from his errand
of mercy to the stern errand OF ours
ing and destroying the prophets of
Baal on the lonely heights of Mt.
Carmel.
And then in the moment of his
greatest triumph, when the false
prophets were slain, when the wor
ship of Jehovah was once more in
stituted in Israel, when the heavens
were opened and the copious rains
fell upon the parched and thirsty
land at the prayer of Elijah, then
there fell the whitening curse of Jeze-
bel that drove him far away to Beer
sheba in Judah. And he came into
the wilderness and sat down in the
shade of juniper tree, all cast down
and discouraged, and prayed that
death might overtake him. "It is
enough" he cried, stake away my life,
o Lord, for I am not better than my
fathers"
Like his body, so the soul of this
hero was first on the mountain and at
once in the valley; now the most
powerful, most independent, most
commanding in the world, and now
Immediately the most helpless, the
weakest, and the most pitiable. To
day he feeds on the bounty of God;
tomorrow he begs the last meal of
flour and oil of the widow of Zara
phath to nourish his famishing body.
Today his soul burns up like the for
est fire on Mount Carmel, and to-
morrow it shoulders like the burning
flax in the valley.
Elijah was a lonely spirit, but
mighty even to despair. The cry of
his loneliness pierced the desert air.
He was fearless. His soul knew no
terror. His spirit stood in awe of but
one single thing, the Spirit of the
Eternal God. AS he lay in his cave
among the rocks of Mount Horeb, he
heard the great, strong wind that tore
the mountain and hurled the rock
over the precipice; he felt the rum
blings of the earthquake that shook
the hills to their foundations, and he
listened to the roaring fire as it de-
voured the forest that skirted the
mountain. But none of these things
could tempt him from his lurking
place. 1t was only when he heard
the still, small voice of God in his
bosom that he wrapped his face in
his mantle and came to the entrance
of his cave.
The voice said to him, "What .doest
thou here, Elijah?"
He knew the voice. and he answered