tunity. When he was called upon to stand alone, he stood alone. "I, I only remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men." He matched himself against them all; he denied nothing; he concealed nothing; he withheld nothing. He stood out in that simple personality, one man here and four hundred and fifty there; one man with God and the hundreds with Baal; and this one man with God outnumbered and subdued them all. Then there came that reaction which comes so often; a reaction which is needed. It is scarcely possible that with such success and such wonderful achievements as marked the life of Elijah, he should be able to bear this pressure and to live in this exalted state. It was almost inevitable that, when the excitement was withdrawn, when no longer there were hundreds of men to resist him, and he stood alone, the conqueror-it was almost inevitable that his heart should fail him. It was necessary that he should have this recalling to himself. God gives it to us; he gave it to Elijah; he gave it to St. Paul afterwards. Lest he should be exalted out of measure by the abundance of the revelation, lest he should be exalted in his own thoughts and be separated from his work, God gave to St. Paul a thorn in the flesh. He gave to Elijah that woman Jezebel to bring him to humility, that he might

feel it was God alone who was great, even though he was the prophet of God. There was a falling back into dismay and disappointment; there was a halting, because of the fear which oppressed his soul. Then there came those grand lessons. One brought him down from the comfort of the proud seclusion in which he lived. He was reminded that there were seven thousand who were like himself; seven thousand faithful hearts. It was not altogether a pleasant thought for a man who was boasting himself in his peculiar goodness. As if that was not enough, he was reminded that it was not very essential that he should live; for there was a farmer's boy following the oxen along the plains of Abel-meholah, who would be ready to stand in his place and take up his work; so that for the world it mattered very little whether Elijah lived or not. How much there was to make this man find his place ; not to take away anything which he had wrought or anything from his willingness to do, but to bring him to the level of other men, until he found in his own heart that which the Scripture has been frank enough to write concerning him, that "Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are," so that he needed the same. discipline that he might keep the faith. But Elijah lived, went to Beersheba, left his servant behind him, plunged into the wilderness

and there laid him down in his despair and prayed that he might die. Then there came that which God so often gives, and which works so wonderfully for our relief, a good night's sleep. It is marvellous how the still, dark hours of the night will clear one's thoughts and bring him to his place; how often the dejection of evening is banished when the sun rises; how many mysteries and uncertainties have flown when the day comes back again. Elijah lay down to sleep and found that truth which is written in the Psalm, that God giveth to his beloved while they sleep. He gave to this man, for Elijah was his beloved. As he slept the angel touched him and spoke to him, and when he was awake he fed him. Twice he touched him, twice he roused him, and gave him bread and drink, and the man went forty days and nights on the strength of this ministry of mercy and of bread. We find no more the wish that he might die, no more the desire to be rid of the world, no more of the terrible despondency which made his earthly future full of terror. He went his way to the place where a greater than he had been commissioned, where Moses had found God, where God had found Moses. In the shadows and among the very cliffs of Horeb did this man wait until he should hear God; and he heard God. Men always hear God when they listen. He heard God, not in the wind which

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broke the rocks in pieces, not in the earthquake which shook the mountains to their base, not in the fire which blazed from cliff to cliff and lighted up the deep gorges; not in these. There had been enough of tumult, enough of storm and tempest. They had exhausted their power on this man's heart. God came closer to him, and when he had made quietness he spoke to him in a still small voice which Elijah heard. Now what is Elijah's complaint? only am left, and they seek my life to take it away." What is the remedy? God did that which another had purposed to do; he took the man's life away; not the breath out of his body, but his life. He took Elijah's life up into his own hands, and Elijah consented to have it taken up into the hands of God. I pray that it may be marked, because it is a lesson in which we need very much to be instructed, that God came to this despondent man, not with words of mere comfort, not with that worn and unsatisfying solace which we so often speak, not weeping with him, not weeping over him; but with that comfort wherewith men are comforted of God. He came to him with something to do. What did he say to this man who felt that his life was in peril, that he only was left and that men were about to take away his life? He did not point him to the glory which shall be forever; he did not say, "Well, Elijah, everybody must

die, and it matters very little whether it is to-day or to-morrow, whether it is in this way or in that." He did not say, "You have rendered a very good service; you have outlived your usefulness." He said nothing like that. O, men, there is something here, in the way in which God came to Elijah, that is full of comfort and wisdom for you and me. For I notice this: That when God comforts a man, it is very often by giving him work. He does not content himself with soothing and quieting men as if they had no strength and were simply like crying children needing to be fondled and indulged. God respects the manhood of a man. What does he say to Elijah's complaint-"I, even I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away?" "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." That was God's comfort, something to do. When a man is busy for God he has comfort. spondent hours are the hours when we are not at work, or not at work for God. With a man's hands pouring oil upon Hazael and Jehu, and dropping the mantle upon Elisha, there is very little time to think about Jezebel. The calmness of God comes to the obedient child of God.

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