The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-08-27
hird Quarter. Lesson TX. l Kings,
 xix, Is. August 2S, 1904.
Elijah Discouraged.

F Elijah Discouraged.
 Elijah is one of the towering. pie turesque, and ever-living characters of Hebrek history. His peership to Moses is indicated by the fact that with him he was permitted to view our Saviors transfiguration. His imminence in Jewish thought had a singular illus tration when Jesus was crucifed. The people thought the sufferer on the cross called Elijah, and said, Let us see if Elijah will not come To this very. day in orthodox Hebrew homes there Is one occasion when a vacant chair is set for the prophet. and he Is the honored, though invisible. guest. Elijah Is more frequently mentioned in the New Testament than any other prophet. The very abruptness with which he enters the annals of his times seems appropriate. The descent and parentage of other prophets Is giv- en with minute particularity-that of Elijah is omitted. Like the fabled Mel chezedech, he is without father or mother. beginning or end Of days. Some one says he bursts into Hebrew history in a storm and makes his exit in a whirlwind.
 Attention is directed again to this unique character. He Is not. however, tnlS instance, seen TlulHS lhc Cltst of a popular reformation-its idolized hero-but ignominously stranded upon the shore, where the receding tide has left him. The picture may not be as pleasing and exhilarating, but 1t may be quite as profitable, or even more so. than the other. How to deport ones self in defeat; how to make defeat serviceable in the evolution of charac- ter-that is the prime lesson for the universal human heart. And that les sor God teaches us in His dealings with His servant in the wilderness and in Mt. Horeb.
 The dry bed of the brook Kishon at the foot of Carmel runs red with the blood of 450 priests of Baal. The king sits down at command of the prophet to a sacred and sacriflcial banquet on the top of the same mountain. But the prophet does not feast He prays. He unlocks the windows of Heaven with the key of faith. At first token | of approaching storm he bids the king hasten his return to his palace lest the gushing water courses impede the pro- gress of his chariot.
 One of the most significant acts of
 Elijah's life is related in a single verse. He ran before Ahab to the en- trance of Jezreel" He had rebuked the king, but now he throws the full weight of his personal and official character on his side by acting as his herald The queen. from her lattice. saw the chariot coming and Elijah running be- fore Though she knew what the gen | erous and patriotic deed signified. il failed to soften her heart Jezebel gave Elijah his choice of exile or
 death. It dawned upon the prophets
 minds that a race can not be reformed l fY1 bo5 l been grand. but 1t was an incident
 merely in the reformation. The trend
 of three generations of idolatry could | not be changed simply by the people vociferating, The Lord. he is Cod
 Savonarola had to learn the same les son twenty-five centeuries later in Florence. It was human for Elijah to be shocked by the incomplete character of his reformation. The cowardly
 thing for Him to have done. however,
 would have been to have remained and
 died. He did the courageous thing
 when he put himself beyond the reach | of the murderous queen
 At length, Elijah stood where Mos es had stood six centuries before, and, like him. witnessed in the mount of God the majesty of Jehovah. Nature in her various features forces, and
 moods. is both nurse and medicine for the mind distressed. Tn the tumult Of
 the storm Elijah regained his equili- brium. But these phenomena were not a sedative merely. They were an al- legory also. Wind. earthquake and
 fire are after all. not the best sym | bols of God. Professor MOulton has well said: The exquisite rendering
 of the margin reminds us that no voice
 was yet heard. The servant knew, by lIonG communion. when his Lord passed