not of the children of Abraham; yet God sent the prophet to her.

From the time of the revolt of the ten tribes under Jeroboam, the kings of Israel had been, without one solitary exception, evil men. In their folly and wickedness they grew worse and worse, until Ahab married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Sidon, who introduced the public worship of Baal, Astarte, and other Phenician deities. Thus idolatry and corruption prevailed to such an extent, that God, in anger, commissioned his servant Elijah to announce a severe and protracted famine. This famine, we are told in the New Testament, continued three years and six months. But God, ever mindful of those who fear Him, commanded Elijah to secrete himself in a cave by the brook Cherith, where he was fed by the ravens, which brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening. Thus he was sustained until the brook dried up. He then went, at the bidding of God, to the country of the Sidonians, and when he came to the city of Zarephath, or Sarepta, he met a widow-woman at the gate. Of this woman God had spoken to the prophet while yet at the brook Cherith, saying, "Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there; behold, I have commanded a widow-woman there to sustain thee."

We are introduced to the widow of Sarepta under circumstances of peculiar interest. She, in common with all the inhabitants of her country, had suffered from the famine. She had seen her little store of provisions gradually diminishing, without the most distant prospect of its being replenished, until it was reduced to a mere handful of meal and a little oil; that used, and the entire stock would be exhausted. This woman was a mother; she had one only child, a son, in whom all the affections of her fond heart centred. With what anguish on his account must she have watched the approach of utter destitution; with

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what despair must she have seen at last that the little all which remained could furnish but one more scant repast, after which, both she and her son must die! How heart-rending the thought that she must see her beloved child perish, unable to relieve his sufferings; or worse, if possible-that she might die first, and leave him to suffer and die alone! The hour so long dreaded has at last arrived. She goes to procure fuel, but at the gate she is accosted by a stranger-a man of rough and forbidding exterior, who bids her bring him a drink of water. She hastens to comply with his request; but what must have been her astonishment and grief when he added "Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand!" "Who," she asks herself, " can this strange, rough, wild-looking man, be? Can he mean to take advantage of my helplessness? Is he a stranger in the country, who knows not the miserable straits to which we are reduced? I will tell him all; perhaps my distress may move his compassion, and he will spare me." And she said "As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse; and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die." "And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said; but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel-The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth."

Mark here the trial: not only is this woman out of her little store required to share with the stranger, but she is bidden to make him the first cake, and then make for herself and her son. Look at the group by the poor widow's humble dwelling. There is the little boy at play, unconscious of impending starvation; the mother, with pale and saddened countenance, and the stranger, weary with his journey, and faint with hunger. He has no claims

of kindred, or even of country, upon her; she has never seen nor heard of him before; he is of a country whose laws, customs, and religion, are strange to her; yet he throws himself upon her hospitality, and asks at her hand the bread she is about to prepare as a last morsel for her child. Must she give, under such circumstances? Does charity or religion demand it of her? While she hesitates, the stranger gives the promise, with the sanction of "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel"-concerning the oil and the meal. She complies with the apparently unreasonable and severe request; she takes out the meal and oil with trembling hands, and prepares the cake. What was her moving principle? Was it faith-faith in the promise of a stranger, made in the name of his God? If so, what a striking and beautiful example of faith was hers, exhibited under the circumstances of her situation! If she acted in obedience to what she conceived the imperious demands of hospitality, how noble was her disinterestedness and self-denying kindness!

The man of God is received into the widow's house; becomes a member of her little family, and partakes with her and her child, of the daily supplies furnished from that barrel of meal, and that cruse of oil. The drought continues; the famine increases; the water-streams dry up; the earth is parched, and vegetation ceases throughout the land; yet still the handful of meal wastes not, and the oil fails not. The woman's faith has become established by daily experience of the fulfilment of the Divine promise, and her doubts and fears have gradually given place to abiding confidence and cheerful hope,-hope that by the blessing of the God of Israel upon her store, her wants may be supplied until the famine is over, and the earth shall again be made fruitful by plentiful showers, causing it to yield abundantly seed to the sower and bread to the eater. But while the fond mother thus dreams of a happy future, looking forward to the time when her son shall become the stay and comfort of her declining years, the opening