the right spot for prayer, on the spot where prayers are answered. There sigh, implore, and weep; and then place a watchman upon the eminence, that he look out and inform thee of what should take place. If he return even six times, and say, "There is nothing," send him again to his post, and increase the ardour of prayer; and, if thou didst pray before as a worm, now pray as a mite; at the seventh time it will be said to thee, 66 Behold, there arises a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand; the rain is at hand." Yes, we often do not ourselves see the answer to our prayers. Could we, like Elijah, place a servant, be it by the sick beds of those for whom we implore consolation-be it amongst our distant friends, for whom we solicit the Lord to protect them, and be gracious unto them—be it at the cradles of our dear children, for whom we beg that the angels might guard and guide them-or wherever it be, how often would we hear, with joyful surprise, that, at the moment we bent our knees on their behalf, the Helper in time of need has been amongst them, and has done what we requested for them. O may, then, the prayer-bell sound louder and louder amongst us, that, to the honour of God, the adversary in our flock, also, may know that we have sworn to the standard of a living God, of a Lord who answers prayers. Pray with all your might, and pray in the dust. Pray for yourselves, and pray for all; and pray in hope; for in the rock of perpetuity is engraved the great and eternal word, that shall outlive both heaven and earth, the word, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." Amen. THE FLIGHT INTO THE WILDERNESS. 66 "HE that cometh from heaven is above all." Thus testifieth the herald in the wilderness, of him whose shoes latchet he deemed himself not worthy to unloose. The whole appearance of the Son of man upon earth serves to confirm this testimony. For it is the self-manifestation of one "who is above all;" and wherever in the representations of the gospels, wherever we behold our Saviour appearing and acting, the impression irresistibly forces itself upon the unprejudiced mind, that here is in truth a greater one than Moses, and all the prophets and apostles; that here is one apart from sinners," and every creature; one who has descended but for a little while to our earth as to a strange country, but whose real abode is above the clouds on the throne of power and majesty. As He acts, we feel it, a mere man, however abundantly endowed with heavenly gifts, could not have acted. It is true that miracles equal to his were also performed by some of the prophets and apostles; but, if we compare his manner and way of accomplishing them with theirs, we instantly perceive the immense difference. For during the time they are performing their divine works, we plainly see that they are in an element not their own, but treading upon strange and unknown ground. Their minds are then generally in great agitation and anxiety; they divide the seas with trembling hands; the dead who upon their call arise from the graves strike them with as great an astonishment as the surrounding multitudes; and the restless and at times apprehensive preparations and • John, iii. 31. arrangements which precede their miracles plainly point the apparent workers of them out as abject worms, who, nothing in themselves, were but for a moment armed with the power of another, under the gigantic weight of which they themselves seem about to sink. Every thing shows that this power does not belong to their nature and their being, and that they perform their works not independently and out of the plenitude of personal strength, but as the frail organs of an invisible worker of miracles who supports them. How different, on the contrary, is the impression which the works of Jesus force upon our heart. Whenever he goes forth during the rage of elements to appease them, or approaches the graves in order to animate the mouldering dust, instantly one feels convinced, "He is above all;" that he accomplishes these works of omnipotence as things habitual to him, and that this creative power of God, as belonging to his nature, is peculiar to him alone. Nothing of protracted preparations, or of scrupulously solemn arrangements, is to be observed here; none of that inward struggle which Moses felt when standing by the Red Sea; none of that convulsive vehemence under which Elijah raised the dead child at Zarephath. With majestic calmness like one who possesses power, and who is accustomed to perform such deeds, he commences his work. He bears no staff in his hand, nor any other sign of dependence. With calm dignity he stretches forth his hand, and the blind see, and the palsied arise and walk. He is not obliged, like the prophets and apostles, to speak, " In the name of him or him," and to appeal to the power of another. He says, “I will, be thou clean," and the leper is healed. He beckons, and storm and seas subside, as if they would say, "Is it thou, O Almighty King, that rebukest us; who shall resist thy nod?" He commands, "Young man, I say unto thee, arise;" and he that is dead rises from majesty which manifests nothing less than the fulcorruption. Thus he is everywhere surrounded by a ness of the Godhead. We feel it, that the working of such deeds is thy it is restraint unto him not to break forth in all the nature; here thou art in thine own element! Yea, plenitude of the divine powers which he possesses. And when once we meet him otherwise than in that superhuman glory, when once he appears to us weak and trembling, we instantly feel, "This is not his himself." On the other hand, the splendour of the nature, but that of another which he has taken upon miraculous works of the prophets and apostles evinces itself in a manner precisely the reverse, as something alien to their nature, whilst their infirmities and weaknesses prove to us their real being. As the peculiarity of the manner in which Jesus performed his works infinitely distinguishes him from every other being, so also does every thing we Who ever perceive in him throughout his life. spake as he did? Divine mandates were his words. Who could pray as he prayed, " Father, I will," and so forth? Whoever upbraided as Jesus upbraided; the trumpet blast of the judgment day? Who could comfort as he comforted, who not only wished heaven for us, but who had the gift of it in his hands. Thus we find him every where, and on all all creatures as one who is higher than the heavens, occasions, the Holy One; as entirely distinct from who is entitled to the utmost adoration, and to the out of whose exclamation of woe we hear as it were most implicit confidence; and every thing we perceive in Him exhibits to us a glory, majesty, and greatness, which fills heaven and earth, and which would overwhelm us, were it not a glory "full of grace and truth." Yes, "He is above all:" and the history of the noblest of all the prophets, even of our Elijah, will also fully substantiate and confirm this truth, in the following paragraph: 1 KINGS, XIX. 1-4. "And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and | withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time.' And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers."" The history of our prophet assumes again a different character. The man of God is called away from the theatre of his activity in behalf of reformation, and his way is lost anew in the solitary silence of uninhabited wastes and deserts. What we shall now see is trial and exercise of spirit. The torch is shaken that it blaze the brighter in the darkness; and the smelter of Israel must now himself submit to enter into the crucible. We will direct our attention to-day to Elijah's persecution, flight, and dejection. their dead bodies. They were called liars and im- We have left the height of mount Carmel, and are now in the little city of Jezreel, in the fertile plain of Esdraelon, not far from mount Gilboa, King Ahab presents to us the most deplorable where Saul put an end to his life. Owing to the picture of a man who, though not entirely deaf to beauty of the surrounding country, Ahab had built the voice of truth, is nevertheless chained in a palace in Jezreel, where the royal family usually wretched slavery to the kingdom of falsehood, and passed their summer; and here we find them on the chained, moreover, by the silken bands of love and present occasion. The queen is standing at the tenderness. His heart was in Jezebel's power, and window of her apartment, anxiously expecting the her love was the prize for which he sacrificed every return of her husband. At length he comes, driving thing. His whole happiness depended upon her at full speed, under a heavy fall of rain; hastily demeanour towards him. He was the plaything of alights at his residence, and hurries to the apart-her caprices, and with the glance of her eye she had ments of his consort, in order to be the first to the command even over his most decided convicannounce the marvellous events he had just wit- tions. Yielding like a piece of clay on a potter's nessed. Elijah, who had preceded the king to the entrance of the city, remains at a little distance to await the result of those great events. The most pleasing hopes agitate his heart; and who would call it bold in him to think he can now promise to himself nothing less than a complete and unhesitating return of the court as well as of the people to the God of their fathers. Ahab, full of the great things he had seen, yea, even moved and elated by them, as far as a dissipated character like himself could be, goes on to relate with impetuosity: "The Tishbite has conquered," he exclaims. "Flames from heaven have confirmed his higher mission. With these, mine own eyes, have I seen how upon his prayer the fire fell from heaven, consumed the burnt sacrifice, wood, stones, dust, and licked up the water in the trench. All the people can bear witness to it. They fell upon their faces, and cried out with one accord, JEHOVAH, HE IS THE GOD.' The priests of Baal are slain. The sword of the prophet has massacred them. Their blood now flows with the brook to the sea. The people have approved of it. Shouts of triumph resounded over wheel, and susceptible of any chosen form, he was at all times whatever the adored daughter of heathenism thought proper to make of him. Thus completely subdued by love into her influence, he had soon lost the last remnant of manly independency, and, before he was aware, his individuality had sunk in such a degree into that of his proud mistress that he heard only with her ears, saw with her eyes, and felt and thought with her heart. There is a great multitude of such persons upon earth, who, through love or esteem, are sold to some human influence; for the chains with which the prince of darkness keeps us bound to his yoke and standard are not always the baser ones of vice and depravity. Thousands of souls does he secure to himself and hell by means of the silken bands of tender affection, with which he links them to persons who have already made up their mind, and determinately joined the enemies of God and of the cross. It matters not whether the tie be parental or filial love, ardent friendship or conjugal affection; the being, ere he is aware, is a slave to human will, and a captive in spirit. The beloved object governs him with irresistible influence, moulds him imper-who, delighting with wicked self-deification in the ceptibly, and with the greatest ease, to its own way of thinking, viewing, and judging, and holds the poor sold captive in leading strings; generally the stronger, the gentler and the more secretly they are used; and, before the rivetted being is yet conscious, he is deprived of every atom of independence; and, should he ever again wish to resume it on any occasion, and to adopt a self-chosen course, a pleasing look, or a disapproving mien, or a cold reception, on the part of the beloved object, would suffice to crush, in the very bud, the most sacred resolutions, to unsettle the best of principles, and to shake and destroy the most positive convictions. crowds of your enthusiastic adorers, make use of the power you possess by your mental superiority over the minds of others, solely for the purpose of winding the serpent coil of unbelief and enmity to Christ still closer around the corrupt generation of the present time, and who, out of your genius, prepare the bewitching draught to the world, which intoxicates mankindyea, intoxicates them even to perdition, where they shall wake from their spell-bound state only to curse you and themselves to all eternity. O ye exalted in the arts and sciences, who, with insatiable ambition would darken the sun of heaven in order that nothing might shine upon the night of this human wilderness, except the dancing ignis-fatuus of your fancies, and the evil meteors of your anti-christian systems; ye laurel-crowned heads, who vest the kingdom of sin with fantastic charm, and, overthrow Thus, as some are by love and tender affection put into chains of the most pitiable subjection to human will, others again fall into this worst of slaveries by an unbounded respect with which they pay homage to every mental energy and superiority.ing every holy restraint, implant the horrible notion, These are weak, characterless beings, who need but be confronted by a person combining, with some sense and talent, the assurance and decisiveness in which they are themselves deficient, and you see them like passive instruments, to be acted upon at discretion. They have no power to resist this mental superiority: they believe they imbibe that which is beautiful in it, and which they so much admire and adore, if they suffer themselves to be enslaved by the general thoughts, expressions, and views, of the admired persons; and thus, in daily mutability, they are always only what the person who kept them last in awe, perhaps, unintentionally has made of them. in others, that he does not sin who sins poetically and elegantly; ye who have the leading voice and the sway in the world, who, calculated to be the Isaiahs and Nehemiahs of your time, are but a pestilence to the century in which you live, dissipating your wit in blasphemy and accursed falsehoods, and abusing the susceptibility of those who, in admiration, hang at your lips, merely to infuse, under the pretence of a superior light, sparks of hellish rebellion against God and his Anointed; woe, woe unto you, ye betrayers of mankind! Your part will soon be played: the time comes when, from the selfsame lips which now satiate you with their applauses, Ye poor beings! ye are the play-balls of every the dreadful thunders of wild imprecations only will one, and it is hard to tell who will have yet the last reach your ear; and when the same hands which throw. Oh! that you would but be held in awe also even to-day crown you with laurels will be stretched by the voice of Him who exclaims, "You are dearly towards heaven against you, in order to bring down bought; be not the servants of men:" and the upon you the lightning of an eternal curse. Be not voice of another, before whose mental superiority mistaken. History of the world is not judgment of even the heavens bow, and of whom, alluding to all the world. The arbiter is He whose eyes are as great minds and geniuses of the world, the herald flames of fire, and who weighs with other scales than in the wilderness testified, "He that comes from this deluded world, which pays homage only to outheaven is above all;" and who, with great and trium-ward show. Your glory has its end like the leaf and phant assurance, says of himself, "I am the light of the grass: "for all flesh is as grass, and all the the world; I am the way, the truth, and the life; glory of man as the flower of grass. no one can ascend to heaven, but he who is from withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away." heaven, even the Son of Man." The grass The link is thrown into the mine, and the explosion is terrific. Jezebel foams with rage. Her countenance is distorted and horrible, like that of a demon out of hell. The fire on Carmel; ha! how does it inflame her passion. The cry of the people, "The Lord, he is the God;" how odious does it sound in her ears. With boiling metal she would have stopped the throats of the criers. The blood of the priests of Baal is to her an intoxicating drink. She raves with thirst for vengeance. And now, too, the showers of rain, which descend from the clouds. Rather had the whole people perished from famine, than that the prophet and his God should have obtained this victory also. Offspring of the abyss! But what think you that Jezebel has mouldered away in the earth of Samariah? Would that she And you who possess influence over the hearts of others, by relationship, amiability, accomplishments, or whatever it be, take heed that you are not the disciples of the devil, and the servants and accomplices of hell. The blood of every individual soul whom, with or without design, you have corrupted by your influence, shall be demanded at your hands. If you love falsehood, and wish to be victims of death, be it; only place a sign over your gate, that the unwary may beware of the pestilential air that surrounds you; with candour, like lepers, cry, "Unclean, unclean!" and endeavour speedily to quench the flame of love and admiration, wherever you have kindled it, ere it spread itself like hellfire, and consume the poor captive souls even to perdition for whoso destroys a soul, him will God had! 0:0 destroy in hell. Woe unto you, ye men of distinguished mind, who, with revolting ingratitude, convert the gifts and abilities which God has bestowed upon you into weapons of darkness, that, under the standard of the father of lies, you may atrociously attack with them the cause, temples, and altars, of God. Woe unto you, ye admired men of pre-eminence in literature, But she lives; and, oh! might we be wrong in saying that the spirit of the present age, at least of many thousands of its children, is the spirit of Jezebel; for, in truth, where the works of God, or the triumphs of his Gospel, cannot be heard without gall rushing into one's blood, and scorn rising to the lips-where nothing is more disagreeable than the intelligence of new awakenings, nothing more intolerable than the news of outpourings of the Spirit where one is beyond himself with malicious joy of God! Who shall console him at this unexpected when rumours are spread of victories of Antichrist, and deplorable turn of things? His most promising and of frustrated plans of conversion; where, in expectations, there they lie broken to pieces at his really satanic exultation, one claps his hands when feet. Alas! upon this hail-storm destroying the a saint has fallen, or the Gospel has turned some corn-field, which he dreamed already ripe for harone's brain, as the favourite saying is, or something vest. Indeed, nothing more painful could easily else has taken place which offers the smallest appa- have befallen our prophet; and, if his faith bears up rent reason to suspect Christianity; where, then, also amid these rocks without shipwreck, then surely those things can be considered as delight over it is most evident that an Almighty safeguard which the angels of peace weep, and those as a pro- encompasses him. And what feelings stir within vocation over which there is joy in heaven, there you, my beloved, at the sight of these lamentable surely is Jezebel. And where is she not in these consequences? Are you not ill at ease, and does evil times, this enemy of God and the cross? God not many an anxious question rise within your has stigmatized her. The present century has brought oppressed heart? the accursed again to honour. Her voice is upheld as the voice of truth and of light, and her devilish tricks are called meritorious acts in behalf of the civilization of mankind. How many of our public journals are inspired by her: in how many of our polite circles and assemblies does she give the tone and take the precedency: to how many of our poets does she tune the lyre; and how many of our philosophers draw out of the fountain of her wisdom. Yea, she has risen, here and there, even to the chairs of the professors of divinity, and she hisses and lisps from numerous pulpits in the churches of God. Yes, where is there a class in society, where a condition, into which she has not penetrated? You meet her in every garb, and can find her under every device. But woe unto her! What says the Lord? "Behold," he says, "I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation. And I will kill her children with death. Such is the end. Elijah is to die. Jezebel has sworn it by her gods. But here the Lord interposes, he who can yoke the unicorn, and put a hook into the jaws of the leviathan. What takes place? A very striking incident. Jezebel, who otherwise has not her equal in intriguing artfulness, becomes suddenly possessed with the strange notion, herself perhaps not knowing how, previous to the execution of her murderous plan to send a messenger to the hated prophet, who should inform him of her bloody purpose. This was unwise. But who can be wise when the Lord confounds and infatuates him? And praise be to Him that he can perplex and strike with folly whomever he pleases. "How is it, then," I hear it asked, "is Jehovah a God who delights in disappointing the hopes which he himself has infused into the soul?" No, no, my friends, the hopes which he excites he realizes also: only do not let us be his counsellors, but in faith leave to him the manner and the time of fulfilment. "Is then the Lord a God," another asks, "who suffers his chosen servants to spend their strength in vain ?" No, my friends, such a God he is not; but a God who wishes to make his servants conscious that it does not depend upon their "willing" or "running" that sinners are awakened and hearts enlightened, but solely upon his mercy. "Is then the Almighty a Lord who can commence a work in order to lay it aside, and give it up just before it is completed?" By no means. He perfects all his works, and crowns them, but in a mysterious way. He raises up obstacles that, after he has removed them, his wisdom and power may be the more clearly perceived, and the creature be forced to confess, "This is done by the Lord!" "Is then the Lord a God who can suffer that which we have engaged in for his honour to be nevertheless frustrated?" Assuredly not; but he is wont to accomplish it in such a manner as will throw us quite into the background, so that the thought of ascribing the honour of success to our own selves can never occur to us. Behold, my beloved, such are the ways of God. Therefore be not dismayed in regard to the intricate knot which you now see tied in the life of our prophet, for God is sure to unloose it in due season. Elijah's career is not yet at an end. Therefore keep your judgment until the conclusion, and bear in mind the beautiful words of an enlightened father of old. "The beauty of things," he says, "consists in the moment of their maturity, which God waits for. If any one were to taste the blossom of cherries for the fruit, he would pass but a bad judgment upon it; or if any one were to judge of the umbrageousness of the tree by its appearance in winter, he would judge very blindly." But such conclusions we make often enough in regard to God's government and its designs. The messenger comes to the prophet, and says, "My royal mistress sends to thee, saying, 'So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow, about this time.'" Elijah hears it. What is all this? Shall he believe his ears? Gracious God, what unlooked for tidings! What, this the final result of all his labour and his conflicts? This the ultimate impression of the heavy calamity upon the land? This the fruit of the unheard of wonders and divine testimonies upon Carmel? If ever he was carried by the most joyful hopes to Jezreel, it was on the present occasion. And now to hear such a message. The woman more obdurate than ever; Ahab again coinciding with her; and the reformation of Israel, which he believed to be on the point of being accomplished, suddenly threatened by opposi-thrust him out of his vineyard as an useless instrutions which may frustrate it perhaps for ever; and he himself surrounded by dangers as he never was before. Oh, thou bitter draught for the soul of the man * Rev. ii. 22. II." How did Elijah act under these critical circumstances?" And when he saw that," relates history, "he arose and went for his life;" or, in other words, he fled. This time his faith failed him; he could not remain. And whence was this faith to be derived? Did he not appear to himself as though the Lord had now dispossessed him of his office, and ment? And from such a feeling, which threw the poor man again upon himself, indeed no joyfulness could originate so as courageously to confront the approaching danger. Had he been able, in happy reliance upon his God, to have kept his post, truly not a hair of his head would have been hurt, and the raging waves would have changed into a rock under his feet. For where is the deed faith dare not undertake? This favourite of God can "play by the nest of the adder, and safely thrust his hand into the hole of the basilisk." This darling of Jehovah can hold pastime with the lightnings and flames of fire, and the flames will cease to burn; and can repose in the midst of the lions' den, and "the lions will eat straw like oxen." Provided it be no mistrustful tempting of God, but a sincere faith and trust in Him who is disposed by love, and bound by promises, to guard his children like the apple of his eye. And, then, with it thou canst accomplish everything ;--thou mayest plough down mountains, and wilt succeed in the boldest enterprise. Yet this faith, being the gift of grace, ever remains such. It is not in the power of any believing child of his own accord to awaken this gift in himself, when circumstances require it. In every single case it must be begged for anew, and anew granted from above. And what can be more humiliating to us than this truth; and in what a painful manner must even an Elijah now experience it. "And when he saw that," says history; thus giving us a significant hint respecting his state of mind at that moment. What did Elijah see? did he see God's promises, aid, power, and faithfulness? Alas! only with broken and trembling rays these stars now glittered upon him from afar; but near to him appeared other objects. There stood the daughter of heathenism, with a drawn dagger; and horror-striking images of death were pictured in the mirror of his alarmed mind. These were the things he saw; and for the moment his faith was unequal to these terrors. Instead of soaring above them on eagle's wings, as he was wont to do on former occasions, and with majestic calmness looking down upon them from the sunny heights of divine promises, he was now overpowered by dread and terror; the force of circumstances prevailed, and, instead of an heroic resistance in the armour of his God, there followed, both bodily and spiritually, a human retreat. Then, like young eagles, we rise upon wings. We Although the Lord permits that we also go for a time, like Elijah, whither we will, and he remains silent before us; it is nevertheless but a measure of his well-meant love. The wholesome fruit we shall gather in such paths is the perfect conviction of what a great blessing it is to be wholly in the service of our God, to walk always in the light of his guidance, and, like Israel, to rest at his word, and at his word to arise and to journey. But the more we learn to value this happy condition by experiences to the contrary, the more closely will our heart cleave to the Lord, and the more easy will be the otherwise very difficult prayer, "Not mine, but thy will be done, O Lord! and with the more zeal shall we strive always to listen first for the voice of God, and, above all things, to seek his counsel and direction. But, if children of God, even go whither they will, thus in darkness, uncertainty, and doubt, as to whether the Lord approve of it, the faithful God is nevertheless near them as heretofore, although he frequently remains a long time concealed. It is impossible for him to abandon Elijah arose and went. And whither? "Whither he would," as the original may be rendered. This sounds strange indeed. It indicates to us the obscurity of his way, and the uncertainty of his steps. This time he had no express direction from God, whether and whither he should go. Hitherto his ways had always been pointed out to him by his Lord, in the most distinct and unequivocal manner. But them. He still leads them, though in secret guinow this was not the case. No special word from God served him for a staff upon this journey. No positive charge, “Go hither or thither; do this or that; "shone on this occasion as a lamp before him, giving wings to his feet and firmness to his steps. He went only at random, in uncertainty, troubled by many doubts, and not even accompanied by the consoling consciousness that he had taken this road for his God, since it was taken on his own account, and for the sake of his own life; and truly this was not a consciousness much calculated to give any succour to his oppressed mind. Ah, how cheerfully and with what ease do we tread the roughest and most thorny paths, as long as we have the assurance that the Lord has directed us to pursue them. With what joy is everything undertaken, commenced, and accomplished, which manifests itself to our heart as a divine commission. dance, always to a happy end. This was experienced by Elijah also. The Lord was with him on his road, little as the prophet perceived it. But, patience, my brethren. The clouds will disappear sooner than we imagine, and it will be proved that, when properly viewed, Elijah went not whither he would, but, without being aware of it, followed, as heretofore, a secret direction of his God. Elijah had already travelled for many days, had traversed a great part of Samaria, and the whole land of Judea; finally, he arrives at Beer-sheba, by chance as it seemed; for at Beer-sheba he had as little business as at any other place. Full of grief and anxious thoughts, he had followed his road instinctively, as it were, without any plan or purpose. Beer-sheba, situated in the south of the Holy Land, was the fortified frontier-town between Canaan and Arabia. Here was the well where |