ion? What doest thou, a selfish, godless man, here, at the table of the Lord with those who truly love and serve him? Friends, when this stern voice is heard by us thus, let us welcome it as the utterance of God, and resolve that by his help it shall never again require to be addressed to us. "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."

Then, after Elijah had attempted to vindicate himself, in words that seem to reveal the wounded self-love to which I have referred, saying: “I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." The Lord said: "Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?" And this new inquiry he answered after the former manner.

Now, various interpretations of this spectacle have been suggested, but to my mind it seems to be a symbolical delineation to the prophet of the nature of the work which he had done, and a suggestion to him of that which had been wanting in order to the attainment of the success on which his heart had been set. There had been about him much of the whirlwind, the earthquake, and the fire. He had said and done much to terrify and alarm. But he was to learn that

God was not in these things. These were but the awful outriders of his majesty; but that majesty itself is gentleness.

Here, therefore, as it appears to me, a great principle was unfolded to Elijah, and to all workers for God, and an intimation is given that, while they may need to use the earthquake and the fire, the secret of their power will ever be in "love." It was as if Jehovah had said: "But half of thy work is done, and that half the least profitable and powerful. Thou hast used the terror of the whirlwind. Go back, and try with men the still small voice of tenderness and compassion." Not John the Baptist, but Jesus, is the regenerator of men; and though John must go before Jesus, yet to expect that he shall succeed in reforming the world is as absurd as to suppose that the plowshare and the harrow will produce a harvest without the genial heat of the sun and the kindly rain of the clouds.

Then, having given Elijah this lesson, the Lord says to him, "Yet have I left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him." Things were not so bad as to the prophet's jaundiced eye they looked. However hardly we may judge of matters, they are usually better than we deem, and in any case we must not let ourselves complain of lack of success until we have patiently exhausted all inquiries, and can speak from fullest knowledge. Not in the shout of the multitude on Carmel, but in the existence of those hidden ones, must Elijah see the true results of his faithful labors.

One thing, however, needs to be said here: God does not excuse these seven thousand for their silence. They ought to have declared themselves; and if they had done so, perhaps Elijah's flight had never occurred. Ah! how many servants of God have pined in melancholy, because none of those whom they have been the means of benefiting ever

came to say to them, "God bless you, you have done me good."

When Chalmers was in the very zenith of his popularity in Glasgow, and crowds were gathering every Sabbath round his pulpit, he was walking home one evening with a friend, who told him of a soul who had been converted through the instrumentality of a sermon which he had preached. Immediately the tear-drop glittered in the good man's eye, and his voice faltered as he said: "That is the best news I have heard for long. I was beginning to think that I had mistaken the leadings of Providence in coming to your city; but this will keep me up." And how many similar cases might be told? Grumblers come often enough to the pastor, complaining that they have been neglected, or that things are not just as they want them to be; but the people who are really upheld and comforted and blessed keep themselves hidden, until, too often, with his energies broken and his spirit crushed, the minister gives up in despair. Many an Elijah who has fled to the wilderness might have kept his post, if only those whom he had strengthened by his labors had come to him and encouraged him by their affection.

Finally, observe that God gives the prophet here some new work to do. He will take him out of himself by sending him on a new commission: "Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria; and Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room." There are few ministries more healing than that of work. A friend of mine in the pastorate, who had lost his wife, once said to me that he had no true comfort till he resumed his work. Kind counselors had sent him to one place and another, assuring him that change of scene would do him good; but his first consolation came

to him through his ministry for others. And so it will be with us. The standing pool breeds fetid weeds and harbors croaking frogs; the running stream filters as it flows, and sings the while a happy song in the Creator's ear. Let us seek to keep our happiness in keeping at our work, for by the Gospel of Jesus labor has been transfigured into a means of grace.

Thus have I sought to bring before you the practical instruction of this chapter. Despondency may be on us now, or it may come to us in the future; but in either case let us remember God's dealings with Elijah, and so the lesson of this evening will be like God's own hand held down to us, by grasping which we may lift ourselves up from our dejection, and sing, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Hope in God, for thou shalt yet praise him, who is the health of thy countenance, and thy God."

IX.

ABEL-MEHOLAH.

I KINGS Xix., 19–21.

T the close of the last act of the stirring life-drama of

Elijah, the curtain fell before the desert-cave of Horeb, where, after the passing-by of whirlwind and earthquake and fire, we heard the still small voice, followed by the divine reproof and admonition; and now, by one of those rapid transitions for which this prophet's history is remarkable, the scene is changed, and we look upon "the laughing brightness of a river-bordered meadow," with happy plowmen following their steers, and preparing the furrows for the precious seed. The place is Abel-meholah, literally," the meadow of the dance;" therefore, as we may believe, the chosen resort of the youth of the surrounding districts in all their times of rural festival. It was situated in the plain of Jordan, about ten miles south of Beth-shean, and between that and Shechem. Long ago it had been the refuge of the host of the Midianites when they were pursued by Gideon ; but now it is in the possession of Shaphat, who, eager to take advantage of the favorable change which the late rains have brought, has sent all his laborers into the field to plow.

It is a busy scene, for there are twelve plows at work, each drawn by a yoke of oxen; and with the last of the twelve, bringing up the rear and superintending the movements of all the rest, is the beloved son of the farmer, who thinks it

* Judges vii., 22.