THE PROPHET OF FIRE: OR, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ELIJAH, WITH THEIR LESSONS. 66 BY J. R. MACDUFF, D.D., 99 66 AUTHOR OF MEMORIES OF GENNESARET," MORNING AND NIGHT WATCHES," 66 FAITHFUL PROMISER,' ETC. "Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Behold, I will make my words JER. v. 14. "Elijah stood up as a FIRE and his word burned as a lamp." Fifth Thousand. ECCLUS. xlviii. 1. LONDON: JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET. M.DCCC.LXIV. 341 ELIJAH PREFACE. THE author hesitated in committing these pages to the press, for the same reason which he believes has deterred others, viz., that the life of the greatest of the Prophets of the kingdom of Israel has been already so graphically portrayed, and its sacred lessons enforced, in the admirable volume of Dr Krummacher. It is not certainly with the presumptuous expectation of either rivalling or excelling that wellknown work, that he has ventured to occupy the same ground. The gifted and now venerable pastor of Elberfeld, whose writings have enjoyed a long and deserved popularity, will always retain his own peculiar pedestal in the Christian Church as the biographer of the Tishbite. But what is true in all departments of literature, is surely specially so in the case of sacred literature and Bible biography, that no human works—not the very best— can possibly be exhaustive :-there are always har vest - gleanings, if not sheaves, for the diligent reaper. A character like that of Elijah, at once so unique and so complex, and a life so varied in incident, must ever be suggestive of new lines and phases of thought. More than this, much interesting light and information since Krummacher wrote, has been thrown upon the times of the Great Prophet and upon the scenes of his labour, tending further to illustrate and vivify the events in his heroic career. While the writer, therefore, has endeavoured to give as faithful a photograph as he can, of "the grandest and most romantic character Israel ever produced," he has made it his special aim, to draw manifold practical and gospel lessons from a history so replete with evangelic truth, as well as so suggestive of noble life-thoughts for this earnest and busy age.t * Dr Stanley's "Sinai and Palestine," p. 325. + I have taken care to make reference in foot-notes to any sources of information to which I have been indebted. I have to acknowledge my obligations, among other modern writers, especially to Dr Stanley's works, Kiel on Kings, and an excellent and learned article on "Elijah" in Dr Smith's Bible Dictionary. Also, as throwing further light on the localities connected with the Prophet's life, to the travels particularly of Van de Velde, Dr Robinson, and Dr Bonar. Although deeming it unnecessary to make in all cases specific reference, I have gratefully to acknowledge the help derived throughout from Dr Krummacher |