it it. It
was Elisha who drew aside the veil that concealed from his affrighted
servant the horses and chariots that, upon the mountain, await the hours
when they are needed to supplement the strength of those who fight upon
the Lord's side; it was Elisha, too, who proved to the warriors of his
day that magnanimity is more potent than violence. He conquered by
self-restraint--and "the bands of Syria came no more into the lands of
Israel."

Daniel is another man in whom faith begat courage and for whom courage
carved a large niche in the temple of imperishable fame. The Daniel who
interpreted to the trembling Belshazzar the fateful handwriting on
the wall; who, unawed by enemies, prayed with his windows open toward
Jerusalem, and who, in the lions' den, waited in patience until Darius
hastened from a sleepless couch to call him forth and join him in
praising Israel's God--this Daniel was the same intrepid servant of the
Most High, who in his youth refused to drink wine from the king's table,
and, demanding a test, proved that water was better--a verdict that
twenty-five centuries have not disturbed.

Passing over many characters who would seem mountainlike but for the
majestic peaks that overshadow them, let us turn to the immortal seer
who, listening heavenward, caught the words of the song that startled
the shepherds at Bethelehem and, peering through the darkness of seven
centuries, saw the light that shone from Calvary. It was Isaiah who
foretold more clearly and more fully than any one else the coming of
the Messiah, suggested the titles which He would earn, described the
sufferings which He would endure and enumerated the blessings He would
bring to mankind. In chapter nine verse six we read, "For unto us a
child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon
his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The
Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

In chapter fifty-three, we learn of His vicarious atonement:

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted
with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was
despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of
God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he
was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was
upon him; and with his strip