Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-08-28
In the Religious World
ELLIS.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

making and nonsense. Awaking to a
need of spiritual power, he went apart
for two years, and returned, transform
ed the messenger of mysticism whom
five continents know.
For many wild, in many a land, and
] many peak sublime,
Car tell how solitude with God breeds
souls that conquer time"
Out of such wilderness school - per.
haps the very Wilderness" east OF
Galilee, to which Jesus Himself retired
eight hundred years later Elijah
came to arraign the corruption of the
Court of Israel. We have no record of
the full interview. 1t must have been
sizzling. With words that punctured
pride and purple state, this incongru-
GUS figure wearing an animals skin
for robe, portrayed to the arrogant
king how little his treaties and trade
and alliances and glory amounted to,
alongside of the fact that he had been
recreant to Jehovah, and to Israel's
distinctive mission Thank God that
in every time God sends voice to call
men back to right paths.
Royal thunderbolts were hurled at
the shaggy locks of the Tishbite. But
Gods man has mightier weapons than
any earthly king; and Elijah declared
to the enraged and impenitent Ahab
that God would send drought upon
Israel, as punishment for It's idolatry.
That word of disaster set all the
hounds of hate at the heels of the stern
prophet. He had to fee for his life;
and the Lord directed him to the
brook Cherith.
The Raven commissarIat.
Travellers who have gone from Jeru-
salem to Jericho cannot forget the
huge ravine, or gorge, at the bottom
Of which flows the brook Cherith The
immensely Of this rocky chasm is a
surprise. AS stood on the edge of the
precipice that forms one Of it's sides,
and looked down to the dizzy depths
below, where the Monastery Of Elijah
is perched on the lower reaches or the
opposite side, I saw the huge. strong
winged ravens circling before me. 1t
was easy to picture the lonely prophet,
in the fastness of this majestic and
well nigh inaccessible solitude fed by
these powerful far faring birds. Her
mits and refuses have always made
this a favorite resort, and the cliffs are
full of caves
A strange place and way for Gods
man to be kept? God always has NOV
ed in mysterious way to care for His
own. The ravens that fed Elijah are
not any more marvellous than the prov
licences that are sustaining trustful
souls in this year of our Lord 1915.
There are pantries as empty as Eli
jahs which are being replenished in
ways as wonderful. God still has His
ravens, running His errands. Shining
out from this old, old story is the pre-
cious truth that God is concerned in
the welfare of His friends. HE will
perience of Elijah Is reinforced by the
teaching of Jesus concerning the birds
Of the air and the flowers of the field.
The Highest is not above being solicit
tous for the lowliest of mortals.
Peters word sums up the lesson,
Casting all your care upon Him, for
He careth for YOU" That text could
be illustrated by countless experiences
from the recent hard times.
The Original Widows Cruise.
Elijah the Tishbite is today preach.
ing a sermon on the resourcefulness OF
Jehovah God has many ways of car
ing for His own. The brook Cherith
dried up, and the prophet, who usually
had to do considerable travelling to
speak or hear his messages or to do his
work, was sent afoot, Of course, on
the long journey across Judah and