ew of the disciples. In loving intercourse Elijah
promises to give to his companion as token of his love whatever Elisha
may choose. Elisha asks simply for a double portion of his master's
spirit, which Elijah grants in case Elisha shall see him distinctly when
taken away.

"And it came to pass, as they still went on and talked, that behold
there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, which parted them
both asunder. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha
saw it, and he cried, 'My father, my father! the chariot of Israel, and
the horsemen thereof !'"--Thou art the chariot of Israel; thou hast been
its horsemen! And then there fell from Elijah, as he vanished from human
sight, the mantle by which he had been so well known; and it became the
sign of that fulness of divine favor which was given to his successor in
his arduous labors to restore the worship of Jehovah, "and to prepare
the way for Him in whom all prophecy is fulfilled."

ISAIAH.

PROPHESIED 740-701 B.C.

NATIONAL DEGENERACY.

To understand the mission of Isaiah, one should be familiar with the
history of the kingdom of Judah from the time of Jeroboam, founder of
the separate kingdom of Israel, to that of Uzziah, in whose reign Isaiah
was born, 760 B.C.

Judah had doubtless degenerated in virtue and spiritual life, but this
degeneracy was not so marked as that of the northern kingdom,--called
Israel. Judah had been favored by a succession of kings, most of whom
were able and good men. Out of nine kings, five of them "did right in
the sight of the Lord;" and during the two hundred and sixteen years
when these monarchs reigned, one hundred and eighty-seven were years
when the worship of Jehovah was maintained by virtuous princes, all of
whom were of the house of David. The reigns of those kings who did evil
in the sight of the Lord were short.

During this period there were nineteen kings of Israel, most of whom did
evil. They introduced idolatry; many of them were usurpers, and died
violent deaths. If the northern kingdom was larger and more fertile than
the southern, it was more afflicted with disastrous wars and divine
judgments for the sins into which it had fallen. It was to the wicked
kings of Israel, throned in the Samarian Shechem, that Elijah and Elisha
were sent; and the interest we feel in their reigns is chiefly directed
to the acts and sayings of those two great prophets.

The kingdom of Judah, blessed o