more, if by this hour to-morrow I make not thy life as the life of one of them." Then Elias was afraid, and rising up he went whithersoever he had a mind: and he came to Bersabee of Juda, and left his servant there. And he went forward, one day's journey into

the desert. And when he was there he sat under a

EXPLANATION OF THE TYPE OF ELIAS AND THE HEARTH CAKE.-" Through the grace of the Holy Eucharist," says the Catechism of the Council of Trent, "the

ACHAB COVETS THE VINEYARD OF NABOTH. 361

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juniper tree, and requested for his soul that he might die, and said: "It is enough for me, Lord, take away my soul for I am no better than my fathers." And he cast himself down, and slept in the shadow of the juniper tree and behold, an angel of the Lord touched him, and said to him: "Arise and eat." Arise and eat." He looked, and behold there was at his head a hearth cake, and a vessel of water: and he ate and drank, and he fell asleep again. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said to him: Arise, eat for thou hast yet a great way to go. And he arose, and ate, and drank and walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, unto the mount of God, Horeb.

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At the holy mount God appeared to Elias, and told him of the judgments that were to be executed upon the house of Achab: commanding him to go to Da

faithful during life enjoy the greatest peace and tranquility of conscience, and lastly strengthened by its power, no otherwise than Elias, who in the strength of the hearth cake brought to him by the angel walked to Horeb the Mount of God, when the time comes for departing from this life they ascend to eternal glory and beatitude." The hearth cake brought by the angel sustained Elias in the way of food on his journey to the Mount of God, as the manna that fell from Heaven sustained the people on their journey to the promised land. Both were the gift of God in the way of food and nourishment, given for the special purpose of enabling the journey which God commanded to be accomplished. The Christian is said in the theology of the Church to be "homo viator," that is, "a man who is on his way," and who though he can choose which way he will go, he cannot stand still and refuse to move. Elias had his choice, either to go back and fall into the hands of Jezabel, or to move on valiantly over the wilderness to the Mount of God, where Jezabel could not lay her hands upon him. Thus also has the Christian his choice, either to go back and fall into the hands of wicked and immoral companions, and live with them for this corrupt world and all its vile lusts and bad practices, or to go on manfully forward, nothing daunted by the fear of having a wilderness to cross over, but always trusting to the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist to sustain him, as he makes steadily forward ↑ reach the mount of God.

mascus to anoint Hazael king of Syria, and to make Eliseus the son of Saphat prophet in his room.

§ 25. Jezabel causes Naboth to be falsely accused and stoned. Achab desired to enlarge the garden of his palace in Jezrahel, and applied to Naboth a citizen of Jezrahel,

to purchase his vineyard which adjoined the palace. Naboth, who, it would seem, abhorred the king for his

ELIAS IS SENT BY GOD TO ACHAB.

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introduction of idolatry, answered: "The Lord be merciful to me and let me not give thee the inheritance of my fathers." Achab went home so mortified at this refusal, that he would neither eat nor drink. When Jezabel inquired and learned the cause, she said: "Thou art of great authority indeed, and governest well the kingdom of Israel. Arise, and eat bread, and be of good cheer, I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezrahelite." So she wrote letters in Achab's name, and sealed them with his ring, and sent them to the ancients, and the chief men that were in his city, and that dwelt with Naboth. And this was the tenor of the letters: "Proclaim a fast, and make Naboth sit among the chief of the people. And suborn two men, sons of Belial, against him, and let them bear false witness, that he hath blasphemed God and the king and then carry him out, and stone him, and so let him die." And the men of his city, the ancients and nobles, that dwelt with him in the city, did as Jezabel had commanded them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them. They proclaimed a fast, and made Naboth sit among the chief of the people. And bringing two men, sons of the devil, they made them sit against him: and they, like men of the devil, bore witness against him before the people, saying: "Naboth hath blasphemed God and the king : wherefore they brought him forth without the city, and stoned him to death. And they sent to Jezabel, saying: "Naboth is stoned, and is dead." And it came to pass when Jezabel heard that Naboth was stoned, and dead, that she said to Achab: "Arise

and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezrahelite, who would not agree with thee, and give it thee for money for Naboth is not alive, but dead." And when Achab heard this, to wit, that Naboth was dead, he arose, and went down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezrahelite, to take possession of it.

NABOTH IS STONED TO DEATH BY THE ORDER OF JEZABEL.

§ 26. Elias meets Achab with a promise from God of a reckoning day. And the word of the Lord came to Elias the