EXTRACT FROM "ELIJAH THE TISHBITE."
By R. F. Cottrell
"Elijah had prayed—in zeal for the honor of God he had prayed that it might not rain; and, being assured of an answer to his prayer, had gone to Samaria, to meet Ahab. There, in his presence, he declared with holy boldness—and no doubt the whole country was soon filled with the report of it—'There shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.' "The word was spoken in God's name, and the judgment denounced immediately followed: first, in appalling harbingers; then, in complete desolation. The sun glared upon the earth with its beams, a memento of the eyes of the Lord, the righteous judge, which are described as a 'flame of fire;' those rays which heretofore had diffused a smile over the whole face of nature were now changed into arrows of destruction and death; while the sultry winds dried up with their burning gusts every rivulet from its bed, and every fountain from its source; the plants and trees dropped their leaves and withered away; the lowing herds and bleating flocks explored every spot upon the parched fields; the wild beasts moaned in the forests; the dearth rose to its height, and it was not long before the famine became universal, and turned every habitation into a place of mourning and wo. "And where is Elijah? Where should he be? He is sharing in the common calamity. No angel has come to convey him away—no chariot of fire has taken him up. There he stands, with the criminals on the place of execution, apparently himself a sacrifice to the wrath he had drawn down, and exposed, with the ungodly, to famine and death. There he stands, panting and groaning like the rest, exposed to the same dangers, and, over and above, execrated by a whole nation, and devoted to ruin by the infuriated populace. He seemed likely to suffer the fate of Sampson, who pulled down upon himself the pillars of Dagon's temple-roof, and was buried in the common ruin of his enemies. Surely it was no small matter, in such circumstances, to keep faith alive. What a commotion must have arisen in his soul at beholding the universal misery around him and his own personal danger! How easily may we suppose natural pity at one time, and natural fear and despondency at another, suggesting to him, 'Why didst thou pray for this?' It is not difficult to realize the perplexity in which the prophet must have felt himself. His joyful elevation of high spirit must well nigh have subsided, and no support was left him but simple faith in the 'Amen' of his God; the consciousness that all had been done in God's name, and that now the Lord would provide." Elijah is considered a type of those that are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord, from the fact that they are to be taken up to heaven without death as he was. But there is much in his experience before his translation, which strikingly corresponds with that of the last generation of the true church, as marked out in the word of God. 1. He was a commandment-keeper in the midst of commandment-breakers—the mass of the people who were the worshippers of Baal. The mass of professed christians are now breaking one of God's commandments in following after the Baal of the book of Revelation—the papal beast. 2. Elijah had a message for the people of his time, very similar to the third angel's message, which is addressed to the last generation of earth. Compare them. 'How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God follow him, but if Baal, then follow him.' The people were reined right up to a choice between the service of God and that of Baal. The same is true of the last message. 'If any man worship the beast and his image, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God,' &c. 'Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.' Men must choose between the two. 3. Those that heeded Elijah turned back from Baal to the commandments of God. So will those that heed the third message. Elijah restored the commandments to the true Israel; so will this message. 'Elias must first come and restore all things.' 4. Elijah was accused of troubling Israel; so are those accused that preach this last message. But the answer of Elijah to Ahab applies with equal force today: 'I have not troubled Israel; but thou and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.' But in reading the above in a book entitled, 'Elijah the Tishbite,' I was struck with the analogy between Elijah in the time of drouth and famine which had come according to his word, and the saints remaining on earth in the time of trouble, and while the seven last plagues are being poured out. We are now predicting, from the Bible, a time of trouble such as never was. We are warning men of the coming wrath unmingled—the last plagues. Soon we shall find ourselves involved, in a measure, in these troubles, though no plague shall come nigh our dwelling. The rage of the people will be turned against us, as the cause of their troubles. They will try to destroy us, but God will interpose for us. He will feed us if necessary in the time of famine by the agency of ravens, or by causing the handful of meal in the barrel not to fail, and will deliver us from the rage of the people that have rejected the final warning. The chariots of God will appear for us, and we shall be taken up to heaven as Elijah finally was. But I only desired to call attention to this extract, and let each reader trace the analogy.