or he is gone aside, or he is on a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked.  And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lances, till the blood gushed out upon them.  And it was so, when midday was past, that they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening oblation; but there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.”  The sincerity, earnestness, and perseverance of these people are commendable, but they were wrong.  Sincerity, although a most desirable trait, can not change a wrong act into acceptable service to God, nor can earnestness and perseverance make such a change.  It is necessary both to be honest and to do the will of our heavenly Father.  After water had been poured over the other sacrifice till it ran down and filled the trench around the altar, Elijah called on Jehovah, and in response to his petition “the fire of Jehovah fell, and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.”  Elijah then took the false prophets down to the brook Kishon, at the base of the mountain, and killed them.  Acre is the Acco of the Old Testament, and lies around the bay, twelve mile from Haifa.  It is said that the Phoenicians obtained the dye called Tyrian purple there, and that shells of the fish that yielded it are yet to be found along the beach.  Napoleon besieged the place in 1799, and used a monastery, since destroyed, on Mount Carmel for a hospital.  After his retreat, Mohammedans killed the sick and wounded soldiers who had been left behind, and they were buried near the monastery.  Acre was called Ptolemais in apostolic times, and Paul spent a day with the brethren there as he was on his way down the coast from Tyre to Jerusalem. (Acts 21:7.)

About noon I entered a carriage for Nazareth, in which there were four other passengers:  a lady connected with the English Orphanage in Nazareth, and three boys going there to attend the Russian school.  About two miles from Haifa we crossed the dry bed of the Kishon, as this stream, like many others in Palestine, only flows in the wet season.  Our course led along the base of Carmel to the southeast, and the supposed place of Elijah’s sacrifice was pointed out.  Afterwards Mount Gilboa, where Saul and Jonathan were slain, came in sight, and later we saw Little Hermon with Nain upon it, Endor below it on one side, and Jezreel not far away in another direction.  We saw a good portion of the Plain of Esdraelon, and Mount Tabor was in sight before we entered Nazareth, which lies on the slope of a hill and comes suddenly into view.