His answer has a royal ring;
    Its lesson high shall not be lost: 
    “Burnt offerings I will never bring
    Unto Jehovah without cost.”

    The altar rose, the victims died,
    The plague was stayed, and lo, there fell—­
    Token that Heaven was satisfied—­
    A fire from God, and all was well.

    ’Twas like a finger from the skies—­
    That falling fire—­to show God’s will,
    That here the Temple should arise
    And crown Moriah’s sacred hill.

    And still God marks the faithful prayer,
    The careful work, the costly pains;
    The Spirit’s fire descendeth there,
    And there, as in a shrine, remains.

        RichardWilton, M.A.

[Illustration:  David and Araunah.]

ELIJAH FED BY RAVENS.

God was displeased with King Ahab, and sent His prophet, Elijah the Tishbite, to say unto him, “As the Lord God of Israel liveth there shall not be dew nor rain for years in all Israel.”  God knew that these words would make Ahab angry with Elijah, so He commanded Elijah to get out of Ahab’s way.  “Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.  And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.”

Elijah went, and the ravens brought him bread and meat, morning and evening, and he drank of the brook.  But after many days the brook dried up, and God told him to go to Zarephath, where a widow would sustain him.  So he arose and went to Zarephath.  When he came to the gate of the city he saw the widow gathering sticks; and called to her, saying, “Bring me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink, and a morsel of bread in thy hand, that I may eat.”

The widow turned and said, “As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but only a handful of meal, and a little oil in a cruse; and, behold, I am gathering a few sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it before we starve to death.”  Elijah told her not to fear, but to make a cake for him, and, afterwards, one for her son and herself, for God had said that neither her handful of meal nor her cruse of oil should fail until He again sent rain upon the earth.  So she did as Elijah told her, and there was always enough oil and meal for their daily food, according to the word of the Lord which He spake by Elijah.

[Illustration:  Elijah fed by ravens.]

PLOUGHING IN CANAAN.