the case; or perhaps he was in a condition similar to that of Mary Magdalene when, at the open grave, upon whom angels had no effect after she had lost her Lord, and on whose mind and heart the sight of those shining forms produced no greater impression than if one of her own servants had asked her, out of the grave, wherefore she wept. What could the prophet care for bread and water, and the attendance of many thousands of seraphims? An Ishmael experienced a similar favour, and was rejected notwithstanding. Elijah did not seek bread, water, and angels; but his God, by whom he believed himself abandoned; and, as long as he was not certain that his gracious countenance again shone upon him, he was silent, reserved, and insensible to every thing. ocean, and be inevitably drowned, should we venture his usual meal is but just served up to him. Perinto the immeasurable depths of such a confidence haps, in his half-waking state, it seemed to him to be in God. We do not risk it as long as some plank of our personal strength bears us up, or some human prospect keeps us afloat. But the greater is the pity that we are so reluctant to disregard ourselves in order to be entirely dependent upon the Lord; and, on this very account, it happens that, in our individual life, we experience so little of the God who works miracles and does wonders. Narratives such as of the barrel of meal and the cruise of oil; of the supply of food at the brook Cherith, and of the proffered refreshments in the wilderness; we listen to with astonishment as some unaccountable things of a wonderous age long gone by; when, at the same time, we might continually experience the same if we had but faith. And this is the reason why, instead of the psalms of Moses and the music of Miriam, the tabernacles of our righteous, for the In beholding the prophet eat and drink under the most part, are filled with lamentations and sighs juniper tree; and then, as it seems, without being over perplexity, thwarted prospects, and unsuccess- at all invigorated, immediately sink down again, ful undertakings. Oh that we may become weak, weary and exhausted, we are once more reminded of and daily weaker, within ourselves, in order that the the various conditions and experiences of inward power of God might find room to show itself more life. For it is not unfrequently the case in the abundantly amongst us. wildernesses and deserts of a darkened faith and of word of consolation and slightly partake of it, and swallow a hasty draught out of the living waters of promise; but it is a mere hurried repast, and the relish lasts but for a moment. A lightning flashes through our darkness, and not the wished for light of a lasting day. We cannot retain what we lay hold on. The light does not remain. It divides the darkness but does not disperse it. The night appears to our feelings only the darker by the momentary contrast. And, after having scarcely lifted our head, we sink down again, and our trouble is undiminished. Yet this quick repast has not been fruitless. It left behind a latent vigour in the soul, though it were but in the revived thought that He who can give a flash of consolation in so deplorable a condition is also able at any time to restore the perfect day of peace to the forlorn heart. The bread and water with which the Lord nou-spiritual temptations, that we certainly hear the rishes the souls in the wilderness is his word. But even this bread He must prepare for us himself, and make it palatable through the Spirit; it must be baked on the coals; and that water must be as it were poured into a cruise and set before us, so that we can say, "Behold, it belongs to me, it is poured out for me;" and then only we commence eating and drinking. And how do we enjoy the meal, when, after the long time of want, the board is again spread, and we may again believe in all the promises of God, and trust in all his mercies with renewed confidence. Then our having been for so long without a resting place on the way proves to be nothing but an advantage to us; and we thank God for the time of hunger and sorrow we suffered; for we think we have never yet profited so much from the scripture as now, and now only we know what a kind of feast of milk and honey the loving God has prepared for us. With renewed and revived gratitude we again rejoice in the delicious fountain of the Bible, which out of thousand channels sends its vivifying water into the exhausted soul; every leaf of the scripture seems to us a green valley full of lilies and balmy shrubs; and every blade which grows there by the way, an inestimable gift worthy of never ceasing thanksgivings. And so ought to be; and, hence, it happens that our gracious God so frequently suffers us to hunger and thirst for a while in the desert, in order that it may not be verified of us which is written, "An ox knoweth his master, and an ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know it;" and that we do not run the danger of loathing, like the Jews, the bread from heaven. Nor does Elijah in his sleep remind us less of those, amongst our beloved hearers, who are yet altogether spiritually asleep, and who have never been as yet thoroughly awakened. They eat and drink and hear much of the good; they miss no service, they learn their catechism and read the Bible; but, alas, all this seems to be lost upon them, and not the smallest fruit of life is to be seen. It happens that they are, at times, slightly stirred and moved for a moment, but immediately sink down again into their torpid sleep, and every thing remains as before. Yet, let no one assert prior to their death that they have eaten and drunken in vain. They might suddenly prove his error and confute his opinion. Before we are yet aware, the nourishment they have taken can invigorate them in such a manner that, in the strength of this food, which for years seemed to be ineffectual, they may suddenly haste before us with wings to their feet,-who knows how far towards the gates of heaven. Elijah, more asleep than awake, took up the bread, ate of it, then drank a hasty draught out of the cruise and sank down again, weak and weary, and slept as before. This is strange. One would suppose such a miraculous supply would have caused IV. The angel of the Lord appears a second him the utmost surprise, and agitated his very soul. time, approaches the juniper tree, gently touches But, no, not even a vestige of astonishment, or any the prophet, that he may not alarm him, and says, thing approaching to it, is to be observed. He" Arise and eat; because the journey is too great accepts the proffered aliment, not as if he were in the midst of a waste and uninhabited wilderness, but as though he were at home in his chamber, where for thee." Thus our gracious God, although he permits his friends to be tried beyond their own strength, never suffers them to be tried beyond the be it by a divine word which has revealed itself to us, or by whatever it be- that matters are in reality quite different to what we supposed; that, in truth, we pursue a road which God has pointed out to us; and that our bark is not driven about in the open sea, void of mast and rudder, but that the Lord, as heretofore, is at the helm, and directs our course to a destination. In short, we perceive that the course of our life is not a straying course, but guidance. And, oh, such a perception can quickly restore us, when already half dead, to life again, and shower unspeakable joy and blissfulness upon the doubtful and harrassed soul; so that suddenly, in the midst of the wilderness and the dark caverns, the harps begin to resound, and out of the depth of misery is heard Asaph's hymn of praise. "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee." power he himself confers upon them, and, at all times, arms and equips them ere he leads them to the conflict, or gives them his cross to bear. When we are told "to eat and to drink," and days of special consolation and solace, and of assurances of divine favour appear, and insight after insight is granted to us into the recesses of the eternal heart of fostering love, and into the depths of the mercy and faithfulness of God, it is generally a signal that new trials of faith await us, and we may prepare ourselves for struggle and conflict. It can be viewed in a similar light to when great supplies of provisions and ammunition appear in an army, when the general begins to be more kind towards the soldier, when the pay is doubled, and the hearts are strengthened and animated by favourable proclamations: the soldier then inspects his fire-lock, and tries the edge of his sword, for he anticipates what is coming; and the thunder of the hostile cannon will soon convince him that he was right in his an-again-the man with the firm step and erect head. ticipation. "Eat and drink," said the angel; " because," he added, "the journey is too great for thee." As soon as Elijah heard this, his soul revived at once; and sleep and weariness disappeared. It was not the sight of the heavenly messenger that produced this effect, or the food with which he surprised him: no; but it was a word from the mouth of the angel, which, like some sweet melody from heaven, like a salutation of eternal love, penetrated into his benighted and sorrowing soul, and, like a whirlwind, dispersed the clouds of affliction which were gathered around his oppressed heart. It was the word 66 journey." The prophet had considered it already as decided that he was no longer on a journey, or on a way prescribed to him by God. Since the flight from Jezreel, he looked upon himself as a cast-away exposed to the winds of blind fate, as one abandoned by his God, and left to go whither he would. And now, all at once, he hears that he is really on a way, and on a journey, and not, as he supposed, wandering about unguided and at random ; but, pursuing a prescribed road, and proceeding towards a goal which the Lord had fixed for him. For all this was contained in the words of the divine herald, "Because the journey is too great for thee." "No matter," thought Elijah, "whether great or not great, whether smooth or rough, as long as it is a journey, a way, prescribed by the Lord." This was quite sufficient for him. His God was again with him. He felt his hand again reposing in that of his faithful guide. Like a young roe, he leaps from beneath his green shelter, and sets out upon his journey, and goes no longer whither he will, but in the name of his loving and gracious God. In order to be able to enter into the joy of our prophet over the word "journey," we must have experienced a similar indication. Oh, it is, indeed, a blessed discovery when, after having walked for a while with uncertain steps in profound darkness, and believed ourselves abandoned by God, and having already sighed with David, "I am sorrowful and forsaken," and thought no otherwise than that the Lord had withdrawn his hand from us, had left us to our own will, and exposed us to the storms of blind chance, or to the wiles of the devil, suddenly we again find Him whom we had lost. In such times of dismal night, we unexpectedly become again aware be it by an evident proof of his presence and love; be it by an inward declaration and confirmation; V. Now behold our prophet. Elijah is himself He hears the sound of Jehovah's footsteps around him, and again feels himself held in the leading strings of God. And, in this joyful consciousness, the discordant notes of his soul dissolve into harmony, and he is again courageous and intrepid. There he travels through the sandy desert, solitary, but not alone; not knowing whither, and yet unconcerned about road and purpose. Forty days and nights, without rest or respite, he travelled onward through the silent wilderness-a miraculous journey, performed in the strength of the food of which he had partaken under the juniper tree. To help by much or by little is no difficulty to Him who upholds every thing by his powerful word. He, to whom the miracle of externally multiplying the bread cost scarcely a word, could as easily perform the same inwardly. Suffice it, Elijah did not require, during the whole journey, either food or drink, rest or repose. He retained his strength, his feet were firm, and his eyes vigilant. The burning winds of the day did not exhaust him, and the difficulties of night made him not weary. Like a young roe, he bounded over hill and rock, and the waves of the sandy ocean did not impede his course. Thus he bore with him, both in the renewed courage of his soul and in the undiminished strength of his limbs, a lasting seal and pledge that the Lord was with him again, and the hand of the Almighty again held and sustained him. The wilderness in which Elijah wandered for forty days and nights was the same which the Israelites were made to traverse for forty years, under the guidance of a pillar of a cloud by day, and of a pillar of fire by night. A truly classical ground. But to our prophet it was more; it was holy earth covered with shining footsteps, and richer than any other region in the most sublime and most consoling recollections, and distinguished beyond all other parts of the world by majestic works, and manifestations of the living God. Here the whole miraculous history of the ancient fathers revived before him in its most vivid colours. Everywhere around him the solitary wilderness was peopled with venerable and holy forms, and the ages gone by became present to him. At every step he advanced in the dreary waste, new images and scenes from these ages of wonder presented themselves to his view. Every thing that surrounded him became a holy monument. Every mountain seemed as if it had something important to communicate. Nature herself, with Abraham's promises, and lettest us lean on Jacob's staff. Through thee we divide the seas with Moses' rod; and, with David's experiences of divine mercy, we leap over wall and rampart by thy help. O FAITH, FAITH! thou guardian at the gate of every sanctuary; thou master over all the treasuries of God! may He who creates thee draw near unto us; may He who accomplishes thee bend down towards us. in her profound silence, appeared to him but ab- peoplest with holy and heavenly company. Thou sorbed in deep contemplation concerning the sub-throwest thy wondrous bridges over every chasm lime things, the theatre of which she has been. As which divides times and worlds from each other, often as he descended into a green and flowery dale, and removest the partition between what was and he approached in spirit some resting place of his what is, between above and below. In thy light fathers. As often as the shade of a projecting rock sacred history is realized anew, and our own life received him, he felt as if the incense of a sanctuary becomes a sacred history. Through thee, the dead breathed upon him; for pilgrims of God had blessed are not dead for us, and the departed have not these shades. As often as he met a solitary group quitted us. The ancients are our cotemporaries, of palm-trees in the desert, the thought rose within and remain so, although their bones rest in graves him that here Moses may have once reposed, and, of thousands of years. Through thee, they still hold surrounded by his elders, taken holy counsel. And, converse with us, although they have thrown off when his way lost itself in a shady grove of acacias, their mortal cover. Through thee, they visit us in or of tamarind trees, his heart felt a solemnity, as the darkness of our afflictions, with friendly consolathough the leader of Israel was still kneeling some-lation. Through thee, we behold them encamped where in this verdant temple, and the Lord speaking around us, a cloud of holy witnesses; and, whatever to him," as a man talketh with his friend." they have experienced of divine favour, by thy Thus one heart-elevating recollection pressed interposition, becomes ours. Thou nourishest us upon another. The ancient records of the forty years assumed for him a form and a life such as they had never had before. Each single scene of them passed distinctly as in a vision before him. He did not think upon them, but in spirit he actually saw and witnessed them. Now he seemed to be gathering manna with his fathers; now he stood together with the wounded before the brazen serpent, and felt the vigour of health animate his body; now he was before the altar which Moses had built, and called it "Jehovah-nissi,-Jehovah my banner; now he heard the spacious wilderness resound with loud thanksgivings and solemn hymns upon the faithfulness of Jehovah. Every change of place brought fresh scenes and features out of that journey, which was illumed by the glory of God; and, whatever of encouragement, consolation, and solace, is contained in those records, rushed from every direction, wherever his way led him, like a mountain stream, and poured upon him a hopeful joy, which dispelled the last remains of fear, anxiety, and sorrow, from his soul. Yea, the wilderness budded for him, and every thing in it wore the aspect of gladness. Fully assured that he was pursuing his road under the same shadow which once covered Israel, he travelled on in comfort, and doubted not that he was guided by the right hand of Him who had directed him to depart when under the juniper tree, and who had furnished the feeble dust of his body with a strength which no influence of the weather could overcome, and no fatigue nor exertion from the long journey could diminish; and that, as soon as he should have reached his destination, his God would likewise bid him stop, and would take the pilgrim staff out of his hands. THE ARRIVAL AT MOUNT HOREB. THE life of almost all true Christians is interspersed by single bright intervals which may be called their moments on Tabor. During these moments, the children of the Most High appear what they really are: the seed of divine nature which is in them breaks forth in unusual splendour through the concealing cover of their abjectness; the glory of a super-human holiness illumes the unimportant shadow of their being; and we behold them suddenly quit the common course of their life and activity, and, with their thoughts, feelings, expressions, and actions, strike their wings to higher regions. This ex Such a bright interval, such a moment of elevation, in the life of the apostle Paul, was indisputably the one in which he says, "I have wished that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh."* pression is really surprising; and, whatever pains people have employed to give it a more lenient meaning than the literal, it is indubitable that the apostle means nothing less than that, overcome by love and compassion, he had sincerely and seriously wished to be forsaken by Christ for the sake of his O FAITH, FAITH! thou blessed companion of the brethren, and to take upon himself the curse and children of God! thy wondrous power divests damnation which they had brought upon themselves every wilderness of its horrors; and the deepest in consequence of their sins, provided that, by this solitude ceases to be solitary under thy blessed means, he could save Israel, and cover and abolish guidance. Whatever earth, and whatever heaven their sins from before the face of the Lord. During possesses of beauty, it is thine. Thou penetratests that moment the apostle was in the same state of into the heights and into the depths, in order to mind as Moses once, when, overpowered by a holy enrich and delight with their treasures the poverty zeal for the honour of God, and transported by the of thy friends. That which is distant thou bringest ardour of a super-human love, unmindful of himnear to the spirit; that which is hidden thou dis-self, he broke out into the astonishing words, "Yet closest to the mind; and the past thou awakenest now, if thou wilt, forgive them their sins; and, if not, again to new life. The gloom of the present thou blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book." sinkest into the bliss of the future; and the clouds of this dismal life are tinctured by thee with the dawning radiance of a better world. In the waste and void of comfortless deserts thou makest for us paradises of peace. Our most lonely dwelling thou But that cool, sober, and calculating people, as we are, cannot comprehend such ecstatic expressions, is by no means surprising; however, this is, indeed, no proof that those holy men were not ear Rom. ix. 3. indeed, worth our while to bestow upon them some moments of serious meditation. Five points in particular claim our attention. They are as follows. The lodging in the cave; the speaking word; the divine reproof; the prophet's complaint; and the summons before the Lord. nest and sincere in their strange and astonishing of so important and interesting a nature that it is, desire. A child is not able to enter into the mind of a courageous and intrepid warrior; but, nevertheless, there were such men as Gideon and David. Certainly, after the moment of that divine ecstasy was over, Moses and Paul might themselves have wondered at the strange emotion with which their soul was seized, and no longer known how to account for it; for, in those moments, they were far removed from the tenour of their ordinary feelings: neither was it in their power at all times to return to that height of superabundant love, and holy zeal for the honour of God. At any other period, it would have been a falsehood if they had assured their brethren they were ready to become a curse for their sakes, if, by this means, they could remove the curse from their head; but, at those intervals, it was truth, and the most sincere meaning of their wondrously excited heart. us. You know a third, besides Paul and Moses, who participated in the same wish with them. And He, indeed, carried into effect to what his heart urged him; for it is written of him, "He became a curse for us." Some Christians doubt this truth, and are unwilling to believe that the love of our Lord Jesus towards us went so far that he himself desired to take upon him the punishments which, on account of our sins, would have fallen upon and destroyed But if these opposers of the doctrine of expiation were in the right, it would follow that the disciples, Moses and Paul, were in love above their master. Yet, by this very love of the disciples, we prove, to the opposers, that they are in the wrong. For, from whence derived those men their ardour? From themselves? Certainly not. It was a drop out of the ocean of their Saviour's love. And, as the current is, so must be the spring. And, what we behold in the copy must also be contained in the original. Therefore, in the bosom of the Lord must have been a love which could desire to become a curse for sinners, or else how could such a love ever have been discovered in his disciples? But on the present occasion I ought not to have referred to that flow of love of a Moses, and of a Paul, as this reference is not altogether favourable to our prophet Elijah; for the scene of his life we are about to approach in our contemplation bears a very striking contrast to the conduct of those two saints. 1 KINGS, XIX. 9—11. "And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he* said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah, and he said, '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.' And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord." The individual features which the above portion of Elijah's history presents to us to-day are again * In the German version, the particle he is left out, making a remarkable difference in the sense of the passage. According to our English version of this text, it would seem that the Lord Christ, who is the Word of the Lord, as shown in the first chapter of St. John's Gospel, especially appeared personally to Elijah; but the circumstances related in the subsequent verses would go to show that the German interpretation is right, and that this address to the prophet was one of those mysterious communications of internal apprehension by which the holy men of old were aware that it was the Holy Spirit that spake with them, and not a per sonal manifestation. I. The endeavour to bring Israel back to the faith of their fathers had seemingly failed. The great miracle upon mount Carmel had, to all appearance, yielded no other fruit than the increased hatred of the idolatrous enemies; and Jezebel's design of slaying Elijah had by it been brought to maturity. The prophet, informed of it, flees without any special divine direction: "he went, whither he would, for his life." His dejection increases with each step he takes through the country, and attains its highest pitch in the Arabian wilderness under the juniper tree. He deems himself abandoned by his God; and, weary of life, he prays for death. Hereupon he is invigorated, first, bodily, and then spiritually. A divine messenger says to him, “Eat and drink, because the journey is too great for thee." We know how melodious the word "journey' It was the first pleasing word sounded to his ear. he had heard for a long time. He already believed himself to be on no journey at all to which he was And now he hears that he is directed from above. still guided, and that his steps are bent towards a destination. In the strength of the food of which he had partaken, and of the angel's message which so joyfully surprised him, he sets out upon his great journey," and traverses the wilderness for forty days and nights, anxiously awaiting the issue of this continued travelling, and the goal which should terminate these solitary wanderings. 66 Sur And, as the forty days are at their close, he discerns a mountain emerging out of the blue distance before him, which soon becomes more distinguishable, from its towering height, and its summit of white dazzling granite. It was mount Sinai. rounded by bold jutting rocks, it rose like an immense temple with its hundred spires into the clouds. Adjacent to it, forming as it were an entrance hall, stood another mountain, which, though lower, had the same bold appearance, and was as wild and as rocky. This was mount Horeb. We can imagine what must have been the feelings of our prophet at the sight of these sacred and ever-memorable heights; what pleasing dreams, and what sweet hopes may then have fluttered on their golden wings around his soul. He entirely resigns himself to the joyful thought that Horeb, this mountain of God, is to be the final destination of his wanderings, as well as the end of all his hardships. At this ancient place of the manifestations of divine benevolence and faithfulness he hopes to find the amplest factory and pleasing explanations of all the mysteries compensation for his sufferings, and the most satisof his guidance. Here, he thinks, his God will meet him again with the full glory of his affability, and reveal to him things respecting the restoration of Israel which will at once transform his sighs and sorrows into exultation and rejoicing. It was on mount Horeb where Moses was favoured once with the wondrous appearance of Jehovah in the burning bush. Elijah is filled with the like expectation, and his heart throbs with joy at the recollection of the blessing upon Joseph: "the blessings of Him who dwelleth in the bush come on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was banished from the whole world, and cast out into separated from his brethren." In Horeb, the rock everlasting wastes. No trace of any human being was struck which satiated the thirsting pilgrims is to be discovered. Not a soul seems to dwell in with streams of water. Elijah, too, looks for water the whole expanse around. The dreariness of this which will refresh and transport his soul unto heaven. solitary and abandoned condition begins to be augFrom Horeb, the uplifted hands of the man of God mented by the approach of night. An indescribable vanquished the army of Amalek, and gave Joshua sorrow, like some dark cloud, overcasts the soui of a glorious victory over the squadrons of the hea- the prophet. In truth, he was not prepared for thens. "I, too," thinks Elijah, "I come to Horeb such a result of his journey. Shall he proceed to hear, perhaps, that sentence shall now be passed farther? He cannot. He feels the bounds which upon Ahab and his wife Jezebel, and upon the blas- are set for him here. The strength which bore him phemers and seducers in Israel." On Horeb, God through the wilderness is gone, and, alas, the joyrenewed his gracious covenant with his people after fulness of heart, and the courage, that urged him he had delivered them out of the furnace of Egypt: onward, have likewise disappeared. And thus he Elijah cannot suppose otherwise than that he has has no other choice than to seek out some sheltering also to expect a renewal of his covenant with Je- retreat for the night, in which he might be protected hovah, and that he also will be armed anew, as well from the assaults of wild beasts and poisonous seras receive superabundant assurances and promises, pents. He wraps his mantle around him, creeps in regard to his work of reformation. Surrounded into one of the gloomy caves, of which there are by such pictures and visions, and borne up by such many in this rocky mountain, and lies down, in order blessed expectations, he proceeds in anticipating joy to pass the night beneath this dismal shelter. And towards the mountain and it would have been by this might then have been one of the most miseno means surprising, if, in spirit, he had seen every rable and sorrowful nights of his whole existence; bush already burning around him, and every rock for he had never yet experienced a more painful yielding water. disappointment than the present, since he had calculated with the most joyful certainty at least upon a shelter in the pavilions of God, and, instead of that, was obliged to bury himself in a dreary and desolate cave, under the most distressing circumstances in the world. : For Elijah arrives at the mount of God. Replete with feelings of the deepest veneration, he climbs between the crags up to the summit. It is about evening time. He is standing on Horeb. What a commotion of feelings agitates him. His soul prays. And now he is in anxious expectation for the things We can easily imagine that our prophet did to come. He listens with attention; he looks every not close his eyes during that melancholy night; where around him; now here, now there, he thinks what apprehensive thoughts with oppressive weight he hears the coming of his Lord. A thrill of joy might then have revolved in his soul; what images pervades his frame; he bends his knees into the of terror, like spectres, might have ranged themselves dust; but, alas! it was only a current of air which before him; and how Satan would again have taken rustled through the leaves. Again he rises, again every pains entirely to overthrow the faith which he looks around, but all in vain. There is nothing then began, perhaps, to waver in the prophet's soul, to be either heard or seen. The apprehension that and to pierce his heart with the fiery shafts of fainthe will be obliged to see the golden castles raised by hearted or even blasphemous suggestions. hope overthrown a second time is already about to these calamitous circumstances were most excelovercome him; but, should it really happen, he feels lently adapted for the parent of lies to support his that he cannot survive the overthrow. No, he cannot, vile argument how the representation of eternal love as yet, give way to the dreadful thought that a mere is but a fable; how the lauded promises of God are delusive fancy should have led him towards Horeb, unstable, and not to be depended upon; and how the and that the joyful prospects which elated his heart keeper of Israel himself could sleep, or delight in at the sight of this mount should have been but tormenting his servants. "Where now is thy God, a mere freak of imaginations, or a mockery of the Elijah?" he might have whispered into his ear. powers of darkness. He listens, he looks again," Where is now the boasted happiness of his serbut what avails it! Bushes enough are around, but vice?" he might have asked him in derision. And, a burning flame is in none. Many are the rocks; but ah, who knows whether the prophet was still suffiwhere streams the wished-for water? These rocks ciently armed and ready to defeat with joyful courage only frown upon him in dumb silence. Nowhere all the satanic devices of falsehood and deceit. is to be heard the noise of invisible footsteps, or Many an alarming doubt may have rent his bosom seen a friendly apparition from other worlds. The during that dreadful night; many an unhallowed whole is a waste region of indescribable solitude. thought may, like a roaring lion, have assailed his Nothing but wild and rugged stones heaped one upon mind. He felt in his interior nothing but abandonanother around him, and tangled thickets, and here ment, nothing but the burning fire of divine wrath. and there a mourning cypress or a gloomy tamarind. There was no longer a drop of consolation and In every direction dreary cliffs, chasms, and ca- solace; and, if the invisible arms had not supported verns; scarce a bird in the bushes; and a stillness him, which were wont to support him most when he is in the midst of this wilderness, like that of the was least aware of it, the gulf of despair would have grave, disturbed by nothing but now and then by swallowed him up. the piercing cry of the wild goat upon the upper- Our prophet might have spared himself a great most ridges of the rocks, or by the noise of a crum-deal of the distress which befell him on mount Horeb, bling flake of slate, which, by the slight pressure if he he must pardon our censuring him- had of the swift gazelle, rustles down into the depths on his way thither reduced his hopes and expectabelow. tions to a more moderate ratio. Elijah promised to himself more splendid consequences at the end of his journey than was altogether meet under his Ah! here our good traveller knows not what to say or think, and it seems to him as if he were now |