273 
by Him in whose hands are the forces of the universe. The 
prophets of Baal in vain called upon their god from morning 
till noon, and till evening approached, and cried and cut 
themselves, and leaped in desperation on their sacrifice, but 
no answer came, and no fire descended. But, when Elijah 
appealed to the Lord, to show all the people that he had done 
all in obedience to His word, and thus turn their heart back 
again to Himself, ‘ then the fire of the Lord fell and con- 
sumed the burnt ‘sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and 
the dust, and licked up the water in the trench.”’ Here was 
a work which only the Supreme Ruler could have done ; and, 
hike all which He did in the government of His people, it 
was done under circumstances which rendered mistake or 
deception impossible. A public challenge had been given, 
the prophets of Baal and of the groves, 850 in all, had been 
summoned, and all Israel had been collected to witness the 
result of the contest. Most important national interests were 
involyed ; an entirely new departure, or a return to the old 
paths, must be the result of that day’s trial; their eyes were 
open, their interest was excited, their attention fixed, and the 
result was a national cry, “ The Lord he is the God! The Lord 
he is the God!” Ifany transaction ever was real, and certain, 
and unmistakable, this was, up to the unanimous and 
universal verdict. 
Another act of direct divine rule occurred a few years after 
the above, in the kingdom of Judah, which demands considera- 
tion for our present argument. Jehoshaphat was informed 
that a great multitude of Moabites, Ammonites, and others 
was coming against him in Jerusalem. He knew that his 
force was insufficient to meet them, but he believed in the 
Lord his God, proclaimed a fast, and gathered all Judah to 
ask help of the Lord. Then, as the voice of the whole con- 
gregation, he uttered the following prayer: ‘“ O Lord God of 
our fathers, art not Thou God in heaven ? and rulest not Thou 
over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in Thine hand is 
there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand 
Thee? Art not Thou our God, who didst drive out the jn- 
habitants of this land before Thy people Israel, and sue it 
to the seed of Abraham Thy friend for ever? . . Fer ky 
when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pesti- 
lence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in Thy pre- 
sence (for Thy name is in this house), and cry unto Thee in our 
affliction, then Thou wilt hear and help. And now behold the 
children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir whom ‘hou 
wouldst not let Israel invade when they came out of the land 
of Egypt, but they turned from them and destroyed them 
