by the descent of the long-withheld and long-desired "rain," but also by a national deliverance from the invasion of the enemies of Israel. For "Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it. And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith YAHVEH, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am YAHVEH. And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith YAHVEH, By the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou. Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two: and after them he numbered all the people, all the children of Israel, seven thousand. And they went out at noon: but Benhadad was drinking himself drunk in the tents, he and the thirty and two kings that helped him. And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Benhadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria. And he said, Whether they have come out for peace or for war, take them alive. So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army that followed them. And they slew every one his man; and the Syrians fled; and Israel pursued them: and Benhadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with the horsemen. And the king of Israel went out, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.

"And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we: but take the kings away, and put captains in their room; and number thee an army like the army that thou hast lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot: and we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And at the return of the year, Benhadad numbered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel: and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country.

"And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith YAHVEH, Because the Syrians have said, YAHVEH is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys;

therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine han Ly and ye shall know that I am YAHVEH.

"And they pitched one over against the other seven days; and so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined: and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians a hundred thousand footmen in one day." (1 Kings xx.)

But all these gracious manifestations of YAHVEH in ancient times are not to be compared with that which is to come, and which is near-yea, it hasteth greatly. The deliverance from Egypt exceeded any deliverance from the beginning until now : but so much greater is the one just at hand that after it the coming out of Egypt will not deserve to be mentioned. "For, behold, the days come, saith YAHVEH, that it shall no more be said, YAHVEH liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, YAHVEH liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and they shall know that my name is YAHVEH." (Jer. xvi.)

And because this great salvation is at hand; and because the Teutonic and Celtic races are the lost ten tribes of Israel; and because YAHVEH, during the last two hundred and fifty years, has been gathering them, together with their Jewish brethren, into this American wilderness, which is "the wilderness of the peoples" (Day) spoken of by Ezekiel the prophet (xx. 35), and "the wilderness" of Jeremiah (xxxi. 2), and of Hosea (ii. 14); and because YAHVEH is about to "make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah" (Jer. xxxi. 31), that he may fulfil with a complete fulfilment his covenant promises which he confirmed with an oath to Abraham; therefore YAHVEH sendeth this Elijah-message to Israel.

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And, in conformity with his usage in old time, our God first calls upon Israel to give heed to his name. The Mosaic message began with its announcement: the Elijah message opens in like manner. "O magnify YAHVEH with me, and let us exalt his holy name together.” (Ps. xxxiv. 3.) "He hath commanded his covenant forever; holy and reverend is his name." (Ps. cxi. 9.) "Blessed be YAHVEH God, the God of Israel, who only doth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name forever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen." (Ps. lxxii. 18.)

THE BROKEN COVENANT.

"I WILL mention the lovingkindnesses of YAHVEH, and the praises of YAHVEH, according to all that YAHVEH hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses. For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.” (Isa. lxiii. 7-9.) "And YAHVEH gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And YAHVEH gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; YAHVEH delivered all their enemies into their hand. There failed not a word of any good word which YAHVEH spake unto the house of Israel; all came to pass." (Josh. xxi. 43.)

Why, then, has Israel been banished from the covenant land for these twenty-five hundred years? And what means the desolation of that land? Why does the mosque of Mahomet pollute the place where Solomon erected his temple to YAHVEH? Ah! the words of Moses are fulfilled in these questions. "The generation to come of your children, that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which YAHVEH hath laid upon it; that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning; that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which YAHVEH overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath; even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath YAHVEH done thus unto this land? What meaneth the heat of this great anger? Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of YAHVEH, God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: for they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew

not, and who had not given to them: and the anger of YAHVEH was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book: and YAHVEH rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day." (Deut. xxix.)

And this is the covenant "which they brake, saith YAHVEH": "In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai: and there Israel camped before the mount. And Moses went up unto God, and YAHVEH called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all peoples; for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words

which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

"And Moses came, and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which YAHVEH commanded him.

"And all the people answered together, and said, All that YAHVEH hath spoken we will do.

"And Moses returned the words of the people unto YAHVEH. And YAHVEH said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash their clothes, and be ready against the third day: for the third day YAHVEH will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death there shall not a hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.

"And it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the

nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because YAHVEH descended upon it in fire: and the smoke ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And YAHVEH came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount and YAHVEH called Moses to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.

"And God spake all these words, saying: I am YAHVEH thy God, that brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I, YAHVEH thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth-of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands-of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

"Thou shalt not take the name of YAHVEH thy God in vain; for YAHVEH will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in

vain.

"Remember the sabbath [rest] day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the sabbath [rest] of YAHVEH thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates for in six days YAHVEH made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day: wherefore YAHVEH blessed the sabbath [rest] day, and hallowed it.

"Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which YAHVEH thy God giveth thee.

"Thou shalt not kill.

"Thou shalt not commit adultery.

"Thou shalt not steal.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man servant, nor his maid servant,