t. Bernard, who
tells us that he never ate for the gratification of taking food, but
only that he might the better serve God and man.

We remember also that each of these heroic spirits was confronted by a
hostile court. In the case of Elijah, Ahab and Jezebel, together with
the priests of Baal and Astarte, withstood every step of his career;
and in the case of John the Baptist, Herod, Herodias, and the whole
drift of religious opinion, with its repeated deputations to ask who he
might be, dogged his steps, and ultimately brought him to a martyr's
end.

How distinctly, also, in each case there was the consciousness of the
presence of God. One of the greatest words which man has ever uttered
was that in which Elijah affirmed, in the presence of king Ahab, that
he was conscious of standing at the same moment in the presence of the
Eternal: "And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead,
said unto Ahab, 'As the Lord, the God of Israel, liveth, before whom I
stand'"--a phrase afterwards used by Gabriel himself when he told
Zacharias that he was one of the presence angels. "And the angel
answering, said unto him, 'I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of
God.'" This consciousness of the Divine presence in his life revealed
itself in his great humility, when he cast himself on the ground with
his face between his knees; and in the unflinching courage which
enabled him to stand like a rock on Mount Carmel, when king, and
priest, and people, were gathered in their vast multitudes around him,
sufficient to daunt the spirit that had not beheld a greater than any.
This God-consciousness was especially manifest in the Baptist, who
referred so frequently to the nearness of the kingdom of God. "The
kingdom of heaven," he said, "is at hand." And when Jesus came,
unrecognised by the crowds, his high spirit prostrated itself, and his
very visage was shadowed with the vail of intense modesty and humility,
as he cried; "In the midst of you standeth One whom ye know not, the
latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose."
Coupled with this sense of God, there was, in each case, a marvellous
fearlessness of man. When Obadiah met Elijah, and was astonished to
hear that the prophet was about to show himself to Ahab, Elijah
overbore his attempts to dissuade him, saying: I will certainly show
myself to thy master: go, tell him Elijah is here. And when afterwards
the heavenly fire had descended, and