h he did not even think at that moment.

In the third book of Kings, Obadiah, steward of king Ahab, having met
the prophet Elijah, who had for some time kept himself concealed,
tells him that king Ahab had him sought for everywhere, and that not
having been able to discover him anywhere, had gone himself to seek
him out. Elijah desired him to go and tell the king that Elijah had
appeared; but Obadiah replied, "See to what you expose me; for if I go
and announce to Ahab that I have spoken to you, the spirit of God will
transport you into some unknown place, and the king, not finding you,
will put me to death."

There again is an instance which proves the possibility of the
transportation of a living man to a very distant spot. The same
prophet, being on Mount Carmel, was seized by the Spirit of God, which
transported him thence to Jezreel in very little time, not through the
air, but by making him walk and run with a promptitude that was quite
extraordinary.

In the Gospel, Elias[403] appeared with Moses on Mount Tabor, at the
transfiguration of the Saviour. Moses had long been dead; but the
Church believes that Elijah (or Elias) is still living. In the Acts of
the Apostles,[404] Annanias appeared to St. Paul, and put his hands on
him in a vision before he arrived at his house in Damascus.

Two men of the court of the Emperor Valens, wishing to discover by the
aid of magical secrets who would succeed that emperor,[405] caused a
table of laurel-wood to be made into a tripod, on which they placed a
basin made of divers metals. On the border of this basin were
engraved, at some distance from each other, the twenty-four letters of
the Greek alphabet. A magician with certain ceremonies approached the
basin, and holding in his hand a ring suspended by a thread, suffered
it at intervals to fall upon the letters of the alphabet whilst they
were rapidly turning the table; the ring falling on the different
letters formed obscure and enigmatical verses like those pronounced by
the oracle of Delphi.

At last they asked what was the name of him who should succeed to the
Emperor Valens? The ring touched the four letters [Greek: THEOD],
which they interpreted of Theodosius, the second secretary of the
Emperor Valens. Theodosius was arrested, interrogated, convicted, and
put to death; and with him all the culprits or accomplices in this
operation; search was made for all the books of magic, and a great
number were burnt. The great