The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-02-08

u
Hbr adversities, accord EN%####HNN' EtIA
ing to their obedi- "~SNN>N~S>SSYl, | |
ence. On arriving at
the palace Elijah call Art thou he that
ed for the Royal Su- FO"OIeh IsrdeV
perintendent, or Prime Minister Obadiah
he was godly man and. of course, dis
tressed by the idolatrnus course of the
King and the Queen. If he was not suf-
nclently COURAGEOUS TO protest openly, he
was, nevertheless, courageous. for, in a
time when the servants of Jehovah were
being prosecuted to death by Queen Jeze-
bel. Obadiah hid one hundred of them and
supplied them with the necessities of life
evidently at the risk of his ALL When
Obadiah met Elijah and was told TO tell
the King that Elijah was there to see
him, Obadiah feared to do So He de-
clared that himself and others had
searched the entire country over most
carefully to find Elijah and found him
not. He realized that the Lord had hid
den him. He protested that IL now he
would declare that Elijah was ready to
see the King. the probabilities were that.
by the time the King would get there.
the spirit or power of the Lord would
somehow carry Elijah away. Then the
King, infuriated. would cause Obadiah's
death; but Elijah reassured him.
When the King met Elijah his first word
was. Art thou he that troubleth Israeli"
minister who tells the Truth and relates
the Divine prophecy respecting the re-
wards or evi-doing is held accountable
as though he had caused the trouble But
ELIJAH was not intimidated. He promptly :
answered. l have not troubled Israel butS
thou and thy parents house. in that yE
nave forSaken the commandments Of tlf -
Lord and followed Baal Three years b.
fore the King would have probably OF -
oered the execution of Elijah; but the fu
fllment of his word and the pangs o.
munger had humbled him. He was anxS
ious that the blight should be removed
anc responded to the demands Of Elijah
tbs the eight hundred and fifty prophets
OF fdolatrous Baalism should meet at Mt.
Carmel and that thither all the people
or IErael. represented by their chief men.
shoukt also assemble. The design evil
IDENTIFY, was contest between Elijah. the
repres, ntative of God. and these murder
Gus pr of Baal, proteges OF Jezebel.
Choose We This Day"
This sathering Of the priests and Of the
prophets required time, but was finally
accomplished. When the meeting con-
vened Elijah declared that it was time to
nave testing and showing as to who
really was God, Jehovah or Baal The
test was TO b. that two altars were to
built and two bullocks were to be sa<
need. The Baaitcs were TO provido
DullockS themselves and to make g
OF the one for their own altar. Whi1
God would answer by fire and ac<
onerlng, would be acknEwl ed q
only true God
To them came the first opportuiIifV9
They had the noontime opportunity, when
the fierce heat of the sun seemed almost
warm enough to set fire to the fat Of the
bullock They prayed they shrieked; they
cut themselves with knives, entreating
that Baal would answer by fire and prove
himself the mighty god. Hour after hour
this proceeded until evening when they
were forced to give over and admit their
inability
Then came Elijah's turn. He command
ed that water be brought and that the
altar which he was to use should be thor
oughly flooded with water No one must
have room TO say that there was a secret
shoulder Of fire beneath. And, since rhe
sun had gone down. no one could claim q
spontaneous combustion. Then Elijah
prayed calmly, earnestly, reverently and
the Divine answer came-a fire from heav-
en- consuming the sacrifice and licking up
the water in the trough OF the altar
Then the people recognized the differ
ence. They fell on their faces and said
Jehovah is The God! A great lesson had
been learned
A lesson for us is that the masses of
Christendom are deceived today. as were
the masses of Israel then. And when bv
end by, God shall open their eyes of un-
derstanding through the agency of Mes
siah's Kingdom, every knee shall bow
ana every tongue confess. The knowl-
edge of the Lord will fill the whole earth
Complying with the Lords direction
through Elijah. the Israelites slew all the
prophets of Baal We are not TO under
stand this to represent the Divine ro-n