Uriah, in the forefront of the battle.

He wanted to get rid of one of his soldiers, who was at the war fighting for him. Why did he want to get rid of him? Because David had taken from him something which that soldier valued beyond all other things! I will tell you what that thing was afterwards.

So David told his great captain, Joab, to set this soldier, called Uriah, in the forefront of the battle, and then to retire from him, so that he should get killed. So Joab, who was an unscrupulous, untrustworthy man, did as the king commanded him. Then he sent back word to David at Jerusalem about the great battle, and mentioned that Uriah was killed.

"But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord."

The precious possession which David had taken for himself, while Uriah was at the war, was Uriah's dearly loved wife: and David had broken two of God's direct commands—one was, "Thou shalt do no murder," the other was:

     VII. "Thou shalt not commit adultery."

—Which is taking another man's wife away from him.

Then there came another messenger to David. Not from the battlefield, where Uriah lay dead, but a message from God Himself, sent by the Prophet Nathan to the king.

And the Prophet told David this story: "There were two men in one city: one was rich, and the other poor."

"The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: the poor man had only one little ewe lamb, that he had brought up at home, and that played with his children and drank out of his own cup."

"And a traveller came to see that rich man; and the rich man grudged to take any out of his own flocks to feed the traveller, but took the poor man's ewe lamb!"

When David heard this story he was very angry with the rich man, and told Nathan he ought to be punished.

And then Nathan said to the king: "Thou art the man!"

"Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? Thou hast killed Uriah with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife."

"Therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house."

Then David was dreadfully sorry. He saw his great sin in the sight of the Lord, and he earnestly asked to be forgiven.

If you read the fifty-first Psalm you will see how sorry he was.

And the Lord did forgive him; but David had to bear the effects of his sin the whole of his life afterwards.

XV. THREE COMMANDMENTS
ABOUT OUR HANDS—OUR TONGUES—AND OUR HEARTS

     VIII. "Thou shalt not steal."

PERHAPS you draw back, and say, "Steal! Surely no one would think I would steal!"

But when we come to think it over, there are a good many ways of stealing; or being tempted to steal. There are little unfairnesses that many practise, without in the least realizing that they lead to dishonesty. A boy who cheats over his lessons goes very near the mark! A girl who borrows from her class-mate a sixpence to buy a hair ribbon, and does not return it, goes very near the mark too!

Satan is so wary, and we are so un-wary!

I heard of a dear, good woman the other day.

She had a very hard life to make both ends meet. And one day, the person who was lodging with her left her purse on the table.

The woman would never have thought of opening the purse and taking out her neighbour's money! Oh no!

Satan was too wary to suggest that!

The dear woman went to move the purse to a place of safety, and it was very full of money, and fell open, and the contents in a moment lay scattered on the floor: shillings, sixpences, half-crowns!

Then Satan saw his opportunity. As the dear woman stooped to gather the money, the thought crossed her heart: "She would never miss one of these coins! And I do need them so—"

And then the dreadfulness of the temptation came upon her, and she fell on her knees.

"Dear Lord, forgive me!" she murmured, and hurried to gather up the money, and to restore the purse to its owner. God had helped her to be brave!

What made Judas betray his Lord?

Was it not that he was a thief, and had the bag, and carried about with him what was in it?

He thought if the chief priests would give him those thirty pieces of silver, he would be a rich man all his days instead of a poor man!

Did he ever enjoy those thirty pieces of silver?

There was a boy I heard of lately, who was tempted: and he took an orange from a greengrocer's shop. But his heart smote him; and that evening he wrote this letter to the greengrocer's wife in a round, boyish hand:—

   "Dear Madam,—I am very sorry for stealing an orange from you yesterday, while in your shop. I must apologize as I am a Christian, but was tempted."

Signed . . .

   "I enclose a penny stamp for the cost of same."

That confession must have cost that boy a great deal to do! But he was "more than conqueror through Him who loved him!"

     IX. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."

How did the wicked queen Jezebel manage to get Naboth's vineyard for her husband? It was by means of false witnesses!

She sent letters sealed with the king's seal to the nobles and elders who were in the city where Naboth lived, and ordered them to proclaim a fast, to set him up on high where all the people could see him, and to get two wicked men to give false witness against him, to accuse him of blaspheming God and the king. Then he was to be carried out of the city and stoned.

So the elders did as Jezebel told them, and poor Naboth, who had done no wrong, was cruelly killed.

And now I am going to tell you the story of the sin which brought this about.

God said in His Tenth Commandment—

     X. "Thou shall not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shall not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is his."

Covetousness is one of the sins that hides deep in a man's heart, and if given way to may spoil all his happiness.

King Ahab had a palace at Jezreel; and near to the palace was Naboth's vineyard, which was his family possession.

As the king passed to and fro, he began to covet the vineyard of Naboth in order to make himself a garden; and at length he asked Naboth to exchange his vineyard with him for another better one, or offered to buy it from Naboth for money.

This seemed at first sight a reasonable offer; but Ahab knew perfectly well that no Jew would sell his father's inheritance, and that he valued it almost like his own life.

So Naboth refused, and the king went back to his palace heavy and displeased, and went and lay upon his bed and would not eat.

When Jezebel found out what was the matter, she begged Ahab to get up and eat; and she promised that she would get the vineyard for him!

And this was how it came to pass that those false witnesses swore away Naboth's life!

When Ahab knew that Naboth was dead, he went down to take possession of the vineyard.

But the Lord sent this message to the king by Elijah, His Prophet—

"Thus saith the Lord: Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? Thus saith the Lord: In the Place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine."

It is a very solemn thing to break God's commands. Shall we not pray, as we think of them: "With my whole heart have I sought Thee: O let me not wander from Thy Commandments!"

XVI. TAKEN FROM THE BROOK

I SAMUEL 17.12-52

A GREAT Giant had come out of the land of the Philistines to fight against the Israelites.

He was about 11 feet high-that is higher than a tall doorway, and no ordinary man could attempt to fight with him, with any hope of victory, be he ever so brave.

This Giant, Goliath of Gath, appeared every day for forty days, defying the Armies of Israel, and challenging them to send out a man to fight with him.

The Giant struck terror into the hearts of the Armies of Israel.

Now there was a youth named David, ruddy and beautiful, who was on the Mountains of Palestine, tending his father's flocks.

As he sat watching the sheep, the Holy Spirit taught him many of the Psalms we all love, such as, "The Lord is my Shepherd."

One day a lion came out of his lair and took a lamb of the flock, and David, knowing that God was his strong Helper, went out after the lion, and smote him and got the lamb out of his mouth, and when the lion turned on him, David caught him by the beard and killed him. And a bear came in the same way, and he killed him too.

One day David's father, Jesse, sent him to see how his brothers, who were at the war, were getting on; and when he reached the Camp, the first thing that he heard was the news of this dreadful Giant, who was defying the Israelites every morning and every evening.

And David said, "Who is this heathen Philistine, that he should defy the Armies of the Living God?"

David's eldest brother was angry with him for what he said; but David's words were heard by the other soldiers, and they repeated them to King Saul.

And Saul sent for him, and when David came into his presence, he said to the King, "Let no man's heart fail him because of the Giant, I will go and fight with him!"

The giant struck terror into the hearts of the armies of Israel.

But Saul looked at David and said, "You are not able to fight with the Giant."

Then David told the King about the lion and bear, and he said, "The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine."

So Saul agreed to his going, and put some armour on him; but David told the King he could not go with these, for he was not used to armour.

Then David took his staff in his hand, and went to the brook and chose out five smooth stones, and he put them in his shepherd's bag that hung at his side.

Before we go on to what David did with those stones, there are two or three interesting things in this story which we shall do well to notice; for they will be, if we think of them, a great help to us in our own lives.

We all have, like David, a tremendous enemy to face. This is Satan; and he comes to us every day, like the Giant Goliath, and he tries to make us afraid. He wants us to live without thinking about God; he wants us to forget that there is a great Helper for us in every time of need.

But David truly loved God with his whole heart, and he was very brave; but it was in God's strength that he had determined to meet the Giant.

So he went to the brook, and chose some of the smooth stones that he was accustomed to use.

It was a very simple weapon; and doubtless he had often practised slinging stones, as he sat watching his sheep, and knew how to aim well.

And, if we want to conquer Satan when he tempts us to do wrong, we must take the weapon God has given us to use—which is His own word. Just say, "Lord, help me!" or "Lord, save me!" and Satan will be driven away.

I shall never forget being called to comfort a dear dying girl, who was much worried by Satan's suggestions. I stood by her bedside and quietly repeated these words of God to her, from Isaiah 59.19: "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him."

In a moment the cloud of sorrow and fear passed from her face; and God never let Satan worry her again!

So you will find God's words will be just like David's smooth stones, when he went up to meet the Giant!

DAVID GOES TO MEET GOLIATH.

And Goliath said, "Am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves? Come to me, and I will give thy flesh to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field!"

Then David answered, "Thou comest to me with a sword and with a shield, but I come to thee in the Name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand . . . and I will smite thee, and take thy head from thee. For the battle is the Lord's."

So, as the Giant came forward towards David, David ran to meet him, and put his hand into his bag and took a stone, and slang it, and it hit the Giant on his forehead, so that he sank down on the ground on his face. Then David ran, and took Goliath's own sword, and cut off his head with it.

And when the Philistines saw that their Champion was dead, they fled, and the Israelites followed after them and the Victory was won.

XVII. THE FIRST AND SECOND COMMANDMENTS:
AND HOW THEY WERE BROKEN

"I am the Lord thy God, Which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

     I. "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me."

     II. "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 the Lord thy God am a jealous God."

THE Children of Israel had left Egypt. God had brought them out with a strong hand. They had left their enemies the Egyptians, some of them dead in their houses, for all the firstborn were dead; and some of them overwhelmed in the Red Sea, where they had attempted to follow the Israelites, for whom God had made a way on dry ground, through the midst of the waters.

And now God had led them about in the wilderness, for they were obstinate and disobedient, and He could not let them go into the Promised Land of Blessing, because their hearts were too hard to learn His great lessons.

In the third month after leaving Egypt, they came into the wilderness of Sinai, and the whole congregation camped before the mount.

Then God called Moses to come to Him to the top of the mountain; and here God spoke to him, and sent him down to repeat to the congregation all the words which He had told him.

And God told Moses that it was a very solemn thing for Him to speak in their hearing, so they were to set bounds round the mount, that no one should come too close.

God said that He would come to Moses in a thick cloud; but that the people should hear His Voice when He spoke, and should believe Moses for ever.

While God was telling Moses all these Commandments, on the top of the mountain, there were thunderings and lightnings, and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people in the camp trembled.

Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord Jehovah descended upon it in fire; and even the mountain trembled at the Presence of the Holy God.

And this was the First Commandment—

"Thou shalt have no other gods before ME!"

Nothing else in the world nearer and dearer to us than God!

I heard the other day of a terribly injured soldier, who sent this message to one who had written to sympathize in his great deprivation: "Don't pity me; the sacrifice has been worth it; for I have found God!"

Oh! What it is to learn that!

Now we come to the Second Commandment—"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image."

Moses cast down the two Tablets which God had written.

When the Children of Israel stood round that mount, and heard God say that, if they would obey His voice, they should be a peculiar treasure to Him, they promised that they would faithfully keep all that the Lord said.

But I am sorry to tell you that they soon forgot their promises, and did the very thing God had told them not to do. And this was how it all happened.

Moses was up on the mount with God for forty days and forty nights, and God gave Moses the two Tablets of stone, on which God Himself had written His Ten Commandments.

But forty days and forty nights seemed a long time to the thousands of people waiting below on the plains; and they "gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said, Up! make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!"

Then Aaron bade them bring him gold from their ornaments, and he cast the gold into the fire, and it melted down into a great piece of gold, which looked like a calf.

Aaron took a tool and moulded it, and the people said, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!"

Then they offered sacrifices to the golden calf, and feasted, and rose up to dance.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for the people have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. Now, therefore . . . let Me alone, that I may consume them!"

But Moses besought the Lord most earnestly to turn from His anger, and asked Him to remember His servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and begged Him to forgive the sin of His people.

So Moses went down the mountain with God's Law in his hands. But when he and Joshua, who was with him, saw from the mount what had happened, and that the people had already broken God's two first commandments, Moses cast down the two Tablets which God had written with His own Hand, and they fell beneath the mountain and were broken to pieces.

And the Lord sent a sore punishment to the people who had sinned, and three thousand of them died.

The next day Moses went up to the Lord again, and his words of entreaty are most touching—

"Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of Thy Book which Thou hast written."

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My Book."

This is an awfully solemn story. We do not read that the people themselves repented—if they had, the Holy God would have forgiven them out and out.

For He says in the 55th of Isaiah—

"Let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."

XVIII. THE NEXT TWO COMMANDMENTS:
AND HOW THEY MAY BE KEPT

     III. "Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord My God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name in vain."

THINK of the name of the person whom you love the best in the world, and then think how you would feel if you heard any one speak against that name. Would not you feel grieved? Would you not turn away from the one who spoke against that loved name? And say: "I cannot hear you speak like that—I love that name above any on earth."

Yes; if you think of it, you will see that it is so.

And if we feel so about an earthly love, and an earthly name, what ought we to feel about that "Name which is above every name"?

No wonder God says in His Holy Law: "Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain!"

And our Lord, in the Prayer which He has told us all to use, says—

"Our Father, which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name!" It is the first request of that wonderful prayer.

Do you see the baby boy in your home? He has hurt himself, or got into some difficulty. He can just say one single word, and that word is the only name he knows; and you hear him calling out in his distress, "Mother! Mother!" Over and over, till she comes running in, and in a moment he is in her arms!

And this brings me to a text I am very very fond of: "The Name of the Lord is a Strong Tower! The righteous runneth into it and is safe."

A few years ago a sister of mine was walking on a lonely road, and just as she was crossing a railway bridge between two brick walls a man sprang out and seized her watch and chain.

No one was in sight, and she knew she was utterly helpless, and that the man's strength would soon wrench the watch away.

Then she bethought herself of the Name of Jesus! And she called to Him aloud, "Lord, help me!"

In an instant the man relaxed his hold, dropped the watch and chain, and made off as fast as he could, and she saw him no more! Surely to her the Name of the Lord had been a strong tower, she had run into it and was safe!

And this is only one instance of very many that I have known, when the Holy Name of our God, or of our dear Saviour, is all-powerful to help us in our greatest need.

If we hallow the Name of our God in our lives now, there will be a time when we shall see His Face, and His Name shall be in our foreheads, as a token that we are His for ever.

And now we come to another thought, about another Commandment—

     IV. "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God . . . For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth . . . and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."

You will see it begins with the one word—

"REMEMBER!"

What are we to remember? A father goes out in the morning, and as he turns away, he says, "Remember, children, what I have told you to do!"

So our Heavenly Father says to each one of us, about the Sundays that come every week: "Remember! This is My Day—it is the Sunday of the Lord thy God!"

Then let us rejoice that such a day is given us. A rest from our lessons; a rest from our work; a time when we can read a nice book in which we find something to help us about pleasing God.

Sunday is given us to do good in. Think how our Lord, when He was on earth, went about healing and comforting on the Sabbath Day! And He told the people "it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath Day."

If we look out for opportunities, we can think of things to do that will help others. We can paint texts to send to invalids or to cottages; we can put sacred pictures, if we have any, into scrap-books for the Children's Hospital, or we can paste some white paper on a used picture post-card, and write neatly a verse or two of a hymn, and send the cards, when done, to cheer the wounded soldiers! Such a hymn as "Fight the good fight," or "Jesu, Lover of my soul," or "I heard the voice of Jesus say."

An elder sister, perhaps, can show the little ones a Bible picture-book, and tell them some simple stories about Little Samuel or Joseph. Or she can read aloud a Sunday story-book to the others, while they paint or chalk some outlined texts.

In a large family I know, this was a very favourite occupation.

Then singing hymns! Oh, how children love hymns!

As you begin to "remember" to make God's Day a holy, happy one, you will find that there are things to do in it, for His sake, that will make you happy, too.

It is a day for worship, for rest, for peace, and for loving ministrations for others, and you will find that "in keeping His Commandments there is great reward."

XIX. THE POTTER'S VESSEL

THOSE who have visited the East tell us that even to-day the potter still sits at his work, making jars and jugs to carry the precious water from the wells.

Now we must suppose ourselves entering the little courtyard where the potter sits at work, or bending our heads to enter the shady little building or shed, where the rays of the mid-day sun cannot reach him.

He has just brought a lump of clay, and placed it on the middle of his wheel, and with his feet, he gives the wheel a twist, and begins to mould the great lump of clay into a round sort of mass.

THE POTTER'S WHEEL.

So the visitor ventures to say: "May I ask what you are making, sir?"

And the potter looks up, with a half-smile, as he answers: "I am going to make a lovely jar," and then his feet twist the wheel round and round, and the visitor stands by watching.

The potter puts his thumb into the place where the neck of the jar will be, and as he twists and moulds, the visitor sees before his eyes the ugly bit of clay coming into an elegant shape.

At length the jar is done, and the visitor asks another question. "What will you do, now?" he says.

"I shall paint it with beautiful colours—"

"And then?"

"Then I shall put it into the oven and bake it, so that the shape and the colours will stand fast."

The visitor hesitates. At length, he asks, "You do not make them all alike? Some are plain and homely; some are beautiful, and I suppose costly?"

The potter smiles, as he rises and places his jar on a shelf out of harm's way.

"Well, sir," he says, "it's just as I choose to make them! Some are so precious in my eyes that I love to look at them; some turn out so badly, that I have to mould the clay over again. Just as I like, sir; just as I like! It is my clay, and my work; but I want the pieces that I make, to come out beautiful and lovely."

I shall paint it with beautiful colours.

So the potter takes another lump of clay, and goes to his wheel again; and the visitor, thanking him very much for his kindness, turns away thoughtfully.

Had he not read somewhere in his Bible about the Clay and the Potter?

"Yes," he said to himself at length. "It was in Jeremiah, and when I get back to my Hotel, I will look it up."

And he found what he wanted, in the 18th Chapter of Jeremiah, where the Lord told the Prophet to go down to the potter's house, that He might tell him there, what he was to say to the Jewish people, who at that time were sadly disobedient, and had turned away from God.

So Jeremiah went down to the Potter's house; and behold, he was making something on his wheel.

But as he made it, the vessel which he was moulding was marred, or spoilt, under his hand; so he turned, and made the piece of clay into another shape, as it seemed good to the potter to make it.

And the Prophet stood and watched him.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, and the Lord told him he was to go to the people of Israel and tell them His message. That if they continued in their evil ways, He would take them out of their own land, and from their beloved City, Jerusalem, and He would send them to be Captives in a distant land.

And God said, "O house of Israel, cannot I do with you, as this potter has done with his clay?"

For God loved the Children of Israel, and He wanted to make them good and beautiful, like the potter wanted to make his jars.

But the Children of Israel rebelled against God; and though He had sent great deliverances many times, and brought them right out of the bondage of Egypt, and into the beautiful land of Canaan, they very quickly forgot Him again.

They forgot all His love towards them, and began to serve other gods, which they made with their own hands; and they even sacrificed and burned their own sons on their altars.

So God sent Jeremiah with His message to them—that if they would turn away from their evil ways and come back to Him, He would forgive them and give them every blessing; but if they refused, then Jerusalem should be destroyed, and God would send those who were left after the battles into a far country where they should be Captives for seventy years.

Yet even with all these solemn warnings, the Children of Israel—the Jews—refused to obey God; and very shortly those things came to pass which Jeremiah had told them.

But God has given great promises to the Jews, and He is very patient and longsuffering.

By and by after seventy years, He brought them back in a wonderful way to their own Land, which they again inhabited, and built cities and lived in them.

But it was not very long before they again began to depart from God's laws; they ceased to obey those things which were plainly written in the Old Testament Scriptures; and at last, when Jesus Christ came to earth to be their Messiah and King, they did not remember all God had said in the Bible about Him, and they rose up against Him, and crucified the Lord of Glory!

And so, again the Heavenly Father, who calls Himself the Potter, has had to send the Jews out of their Land, and He is moulding them now by trials and sorrows, so that by and by they may be purified and restored to His favour.

For when Jesus comes back to Earth, as He surely will, "they will look on Him whom they have pierced," and will turn to Him, and be saved.

XX. JEHOSHEBA, THE GOOD AUNT

2 KINGS 11.1-21. 2 CHRONICLES 22, 23, AND 24

QUEEN ATHALIAH, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, was a very wicked woman.

Her son Ahaziah only reigned one year in Jerusalem, and she was his counsellor to do evil. But at the end of the year he was slain by Jehu, and the Throne of Judah became empty.

Then Queen Athaliah determined to destroy all the Royal Princes, and ordered all the sons of Ahaziah to be killed, in order to reign over the Kingdom herself.

But while these terrible scenes were happening, and the Princes of Judah were being killed one after another, there was a Princess, Ahaziah's sister, who made a brave resolve, and carried it out most successfully.

She knew that one of the King's sons, whom Athaliah had intended to kill, was a baby of a year old, and she determined that she would do her utmost to rescue him from the soldiers who were ordered to carry out this wicked scheme. This Princess was called Jehosheba, and she was the wife of the High Priest, and evidently could go into the outer rooms of the Temple.

So while the shouts of the soldiers, and the cries of those who were being murdered, were filling the air with terrible sounds of confusion, Jehosheba stole swiftly to the place where she thought she should find the baby boy, and hiding him under her beautiful robes she bore him into the Temple, far away from the noise and turmoil, and she hid him in a bedchamber, under the care of his trusted Nurse.

BORE HIM INTO THE TEMPLE.

The bedchamber was probably a little room where the mats and bedding for the priests who lived in the Temple, were kept, and at night they were brought out and laid upon the floor in the larger chambers; for that is the custom in the East.

No one missed the little child, for Athaliah believed that all the Royal Princes were slain. So she immediately put herself on the Throne, and reigned over the kingdom, practising all her wicked ways as before, in defiance of the Commands of God.

You will not wonder that she came to a very sorrowful end, as we shall hear presently.

Meanwhile, Joash, the little heir to the throne, was kept hidden safely in the Temple. You can picture to yourselves how Jehosheba would have often gone to that far-off bedchamber to play with her little nephew, and how she would teach him all she could, to prepare him for the Kingdom.

It is evident also, when we read the accounts, that her husband, Jehoiada, the High Priest, was often with the child: for by and by when six years had passed away, and little Joash was seven years old, Jehoiada determined that he should be crowned King.

So he called the Captains of the army, and they started out all over the land of Judah, and gathered the Levites from all the cities, and the chief fathers of the people, and they all came up to Jerusalem.

Then Jehoiada . . . put the crown on his head.

Jehoiada shewed them the little King, and made arrangements for their guarding him on the Coronation Day. He also armed them with spears and shields and bucklers which had been King David's, and said to them, "Behold the King's son shall reign, as the Lord hath said of the sons of David."

So the Captains and the Levites did exactly as Jehoiada told them, and stood on guard about the King, with their weapons in their hands.

Then Jehoiada brought forward the little son of King Ahaziah, and put the crown on his head, and the roll of the Testimony in his hand, and they made him King, and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him; and those about him clapped their hands with joy, and said, "God save the King!"

But when Athaliah, the wicked Queen, heard the shouting and rejoicing, she hurried into the House of the Lord, and when she saw the King standing by a pillar, and the Princes and the trumpeters around him, and all the people rejoicing, and sounding the trumpets, she rent her clothes and cried, "Treason! Treason!"

But Jehoiada quickly commanded the Captains to seize Athaliah, and take her out of the Temple, and to kill her with the sword outside the Courts; and there she was slain.

Then Jehoiada made a covenant with the King and all the people, that they should be the Lord's people, and not idolaters any more; and they went into the house of the idol Baal, and broke it down; and they broke up the altars of Baal, and his images into small pieces, and killed the priest of Baal.

So all the people rejoiced greatly, and they brought the King to the King's house, and he sat on the Throne of Judah.

As long as the faithful High Priest lived, Joash was a good King. Jehoiada was his counsellor and friend, and under his advice Joash did much to repair the Temple of God.

But when Jehoiada died, Joash fell into evil company. The Princes of Judah came and persuaded him to go to the Groves and Idols; and the end was, that he brought misery on himself, and also on the Kingdom which he ruled.

God sent Prophet after Prophet to implore the people to return to the Lord, but Joash went on in his wrong-doing, even to killing the son of Jehoiada, his old friend and protector.

Joash fell very sick at this time, whether from wounds or from illness, the Bible does not say; but the servants who waited on him conspired against him, and killed him in his bed.

Oh! What a sorrowful death! No love, no tender pity, but hatred for all the evil he had done to the Kingdom, over which he might have reigned so gloriously, had he only kept close to the Lord God, who would surely have established his throne.

XXI. GOD FEEDS ELIJAH

ELIJAH was a great Prophet of the Lord; and to him were given more wonderful honours than were conferred on any other Prophet.

We talk much now-a-days about deeds of bravery, and about the honours which are given to the men who have thus distinguished themselves; and these honours are given them by our King, and the brave deeds are spoken of from one end of the world to the other!

You will like to know what honours Elijah had?

He was allowed to go to Heaven without dying; and he was allowed long afterwards to come back from the glory to talk with the Lord Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.

These wonderful "distinctions" were not given him by any earthly king, but by God Himself; and as we follow out the story of Elijah's life, we shall ourselves, perhaps, have a peep into that glory which Jesus is even now preparing for those who love and follow Him.

I have read that Elijah's name means "My God is Jehovah!" and it seems to me that this is a brave motto for each one of us, "My God is Jehovah!" "For in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength."

The first mention we have of the Prophet Elijah, who came from the land of Gilead, was in the reign of King Ahab.

God chose Elijah, who was very brave, to rebuke the king for his many acts of wickedness. We read that Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God than any of the other kings before him.

One day Elijah went to Ahab and told him: "As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before Whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word."

This loss of rain was doubtless sent as a great punishment for the idolatry and sin into which the whole people of Israel had fallen.

Then the Word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, "Turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan."

God did not forget His faithful servant in the famine that was coming; and He told him He had commanded the ravens to feed him, and that he would be able to drink of the brook.

Here, amidst the rocks and fastnesses, he was safe from the wrath of Ahab and of Jezebel, Ahab's wife, who hated Elijah with all her heart.

And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook.

But when the hot days came the brook began to grow less and less, because there had been no rain, and at last the brook dried up; and then the Word of the Lord came to him again: "Arise and go to Zarephath, near Sidon: I have commanded a widow woman to feed thee there."

So Elijah went the long journey to Zarephath, and just outside the gate he saw a woman gathering sticks; and, too thirsty to wait till he reached her side, he called to her: "Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water to drink!"

And as she was going to fetch it, he called again: "And bring me a morsel of bread in thine hand!"

But she quickly answered: "I have not any bread! I have nothing but a little meal in the bottom of the barrel, and a little oil in a cruse; and I was gathering a few sticks to bake a little loaf for me and my son, that we may eat it and die!"

The famine was so bad in the land that this was the last bread that poor widow would be able to get.

But God knew all about it, and He had arranged it all in His loving way.

So Elijah, hungry and thirsty as he was, gave her God's message.

"Fear not," he said; "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 for 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."

And she went and did as the Prophet told her, and he, and her house, had enough to eat all the while the famine lasted.

And since then there are many widows, and many distressed and anxious families, who have found the God of Elijah the same loving, providing God that this poor widow did.

But by and by there came a still harder trial to that widow's heart. Her precious little boy, who had been kept alive all through the famine, was very ill, and died.

Then the poor widow was utterly hopeless, and she blamed Elijah and said it was his fault that this dreadful sorrow had come to her.

Doubtless Elijah had told her much about the Holy God who cannot bear sin, and she began to look at her past life, and one particular sin came up before her! She told him that he had come to bring this sin to remembrance, and to slay her son!

But Elijah said, "Give me thy son." And he took him out of her bosom and carried him up to the loft where he lived, and laid the child upon his own bed.

And Elijah cried to the Lord. (You see he was a man who lived in close touch with God!) And he said: "O Lord my God, hast Thou brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?"

Then he stretched himself upon the child three times. And again he cried to the Lord God, and said: "O Lord my God, I pray Thee, let this child's soul come into him again!"

"And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived."

"And Elijah took the child, and brought him down . . . and delivered him unto his mother, and said, 'See! Thy son liveth!'"

"And the woman said to Elijah, 'Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the Word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.'"