as it seemed to demand her last morsel.

"Fear not," adds the mysterious stranger; "provide for me, and afterwards for thyself and son; for thy jar and cruise shall not fail, till the famine be ended." The widow believed, and, in her extremity, she divided her bread with the weary and famishing prophet. The word of the Lord failed her not; her giving was her receiving—and it was good measure, pressed down, and running over. There is a beautiful Providence that can extract life from death itself, and reveal the honeycomb, even amid the decaying carcass. Abundance was the widow's allotment henceforth, for many days;"-yet shadows will pass over the most favored, and gloom again settles upon the humble mansion of the widow of Sarepta. That little son falls sick;-and his sickness is dreadful, and his breath departs. In this world great griefs will come, and there are times when they will come suddenly. Blessed are they who then possess their souls in patience, and remove not their hand from the great Father's. In the wildness of the widow's sorrow, she glances upon the good prophet, as though he had come to bring judgment to her house, rather than mercy, and as if his hand were concerned in the death of her boy. "Art thou come to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son ?" Be not in haste to speak, especially when deep distress overshadows thee, and when the agony of disappointment and grief presses thee deeply to the dust. Weep softly,

and let thy heart bleed in silence. Or if thy lips be opened if thy cries must be uttered, let it be rather in the ear of God, that is open to prayer. There is hazard when, in such awful times, we glance elsewhere than upon heaven. The aching eye is often dim and confused. It may seem to discern enemies when only friends are near. It may think to detect secondary agencies, and be blind to the great hand that holds and directs all destinies. "It is the Lord." is Faith's solemn voice;—and then the spirit, in its bitterness, is hushed and still,-and cold suspicion dies-and the heart is at peace with all men, and with itself-and "Blessed be the name of the Lord!" is the song of the weeping.

And often, too, there is provided a way of escape. The walls of darkness may seem impenetrable, and the last hope may seem to give way— when, all suddenly, the cloud heaves up, and we look for it, and lo! it is gone;-and skies spread themselves over us, such as are more beautiful and brilliant than we had gazed upon before-and the night is spent, and the day is come. Great is God; and as good and merciful as he is great. He pities the widow, and often remembers her tears, when human sympathies are feeble and few. “O Lord my God!" cries the prophet, “I pray thee let this child's soul come into him again!" It is a sublime prayer. A man on earth goes feeling after a soul resident in eternity; and the God of infinite sympathy helps,

and the departed spirit is permitted to return. "See, thy son liveth!" saith the prophet, as he restores the lad to his astonished and rejoicing mother. Those eyes are animated and brilliant once The paleness of death has left those features, and the lips that just now appeared sealed forever, open and speak again.

more.

From that day, the widow of Sarepta trusted in the God of Elijah. "The word of the Lord is truth!" she exclaimed, and as she believed, it was counted to her for righteousness. "Blessed are

all they that put their trust in Him!"

"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."

Such appears to be the moral of what is written of the Sidonian widow. Too often is the stranger, as he enters our doors, counted as unwelcome. The world is shut out-and the little circle is quiet now. A chosen company are there; and smiles, and joyous converse, and pleasant fruits, and delicious music, gladden the sce"Far off be the stranger;-nor may he nery. intermeddle with those hours of brilliancy!" Or, there may be a different aspect. The dwelling may be cold and cheerless-and the widow and the orphan may be lingering there-and want and sorrow dwell there-and cries for bread from helpless ones pierce often that poor mother's heart,--and Hope has fled away, for the last loaf is prepared, and the last scanty meal is made ready, that they may eat and die. Far off be

the stranger!" Yet pray not thus too ardently, daughter of sadness! And if he come-come to share thy last pittance-grieve not too sorely. He may be God's messenger; he may be to thee some angel of mercy, commissioned to bear to thy cheerless mansion abundance instead of famine, and life rather than death.

This is, perhaps, the most hateful of the female characters exhibited in the sacred Scriptures. She was of royal descent, being daughter of the king of Tyre; and having been bred a Pagan, she remained a confirmed idolatress to the day of her death. Ahab, one of the most wicked of Israel's kings, sought and obtained her hand, and introducing his heathen wife to his court and people, he also led in her idolatry, became himself a worshiper of Baal, and established the heathen altars and priesthood in all his kingdom. Four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal were scattered through his dominions, and four hundred, besides,

priests of the impure rites of the Sidonian Astarte, were supported constantly at the table of the infamous Jezebel. Meanwhile, the prophets of the Lord were everywhere persecuted and slain at her command, and the true worship was interdicted, and substituted by the abominations of heathenism.

The great Elijah, amid these troublous times, was, of course, a doomed man, and his life was especially sought by the wicked Ahab and Jezebel. He saw the frightful apostasies of the kingdom of Israel, and his prayer had gone up to God for the withholding of the rains of heaven, in order that, by the judgments of the Almighty upon the land, the inhabitants thereof might learn righteousness. Dreadful famine, as a consequence, was prevailing; but the king and queen, like Pharaoh of Egypt, were only hardened, rather than subdued, by the judicial visitation; while their vengeance waxed hotter and hotter against God and his people.

Elijah at length comes forth from his hidingplaces, and shows himself to Ahab, who hails him as the troubler of Israel. With tremendous emphasis the prophet retorts the charge upon the king, and, with his characteristic fearlessness, proclaims to him the sad cause of all the widespread calamity. "Thou, and thy father's house, have forsaken the commandment of the Lord, and have followed Balaam." The great demonstration at Mount Carmel succeeds, and the true God is