His answer has a royal ring;
Its lesson high shall not be lost:
"Burnt offerings I will never bring
Unto Jehovah without cost."

The altar rose, the victims died,
The plague was stayed, and lo, there fell--
Token that Heaven was satisfied--
A fire from God, and all was well.

'Twas like a finger from the skies--
That falling fire--to show God's will,
That here the Temple should arise
And crown Moriah's sacred hill.

And still God marks the faithful prayer,
The careful work, the costly pains;
The Spirit's fire descendeth there,
And there, as in a shrine, remains.

RICHARD WILTON, M.A.

[Illustration: DAVID AND ARAUNAH.]




ELIJAH FED BY RAVENS.