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mands, and hast served Baal. Now
send, and gather together the pro-
phets of Baal, 450 of them; let
them all come to mount Carmel.”
Ahab did as Elijah said; and all
the wicked prophets came to Car-
mel; Elijah was there too, and very
many of the people of Israel. Then
Elijah spoke to the people, and said,
“Choose to-day whom you wish to
serve. If Baal is the true God,
obey Baal; but if not, obey God,
the God of Israel.” The people
made no answer. ‘Then Elijah said,
“We will try now, and see who is
the true God. Let Baal’s prophets
build an altar, and offer a bullock in
sacrifice, and put no fire under.
Then I, the Lord’s prophet, will
build an altar, and offer a bullock
in sacrifice, and put no fire under.
You shall pray to Baal, and I will
pray to the Lord; and the God who
sends down fire on the sacrifice, he
shall be the true God.” All the
people said, “ Yes, let us try.” So
Baal’s prophets built the altar, and
put a bullock upon it, and prayed
Baal to send fire upon the sacrifice.
But Baal could not hear. He was
but an idol, without power to answer
prayer. Then the prophets cried
louder, and said, “ O Baal, hear us.”
But still there was no voice, no an-
swer. ‘Then the foolish prophets
cried again, and cut themselves with
knives, till they were all covered
with blood. They thought this
might make Baal attend to them.
But no; no fire came, no answer,
no yoice. When it was evening,

 

pn
7

- BAAL’S PROPHETS.

and they were all tired of waiting
so long, Elijah called them, and
said, “Come to me.” ‘Then he built
up the altar of God, and took an-
other bullock, and put it upon the
altar, and poured water upon it, and
prayed to the Lord, the true God.
He asked God to teach the people
that He alone had power to hear
prayer, and to send fire from Hea-
ven. And did God hear? Yes, the
fire fell from Heaven, when Elijah
prayed; it burnt the sacrifice, and
the wood, and the stones, and dried
up the water upon the altar; and
all the people saw it, and cried,
“The Lord, He is the God; the
Lord, He is the God.” Then Eli-
jah commanded that all the wicked.
prophets should be taken; and he
brought them to the brook Kishon,
and killed them there. It was sad
to put all these wicked men to
death; but it was God’s command.
They deserved to die, for they had
taught Israel to sin. The people
now saw who was the true, the only
God.

There are many people now, in
distant countries, who worship idols
such as Baal. They do not know
the true God, for they have no
Bible to teach them about Him.
Let us be thankful that we know
the true God, the God of Elijah,
who will always hear and answer
His people’s prayers; and let us ask
God to send missionaries and Bibles
to the poor ignorant heathen, to
teach them to know Him too.