d unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?
And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy
father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the
Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim. Now therefore send, and gather
to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four
hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred,
which eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children of
Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel.' The
tyrant's guilty conscience makes a coward of him: and he quails
before the wild man out of the mountains, who has not where to lay
his head, who stands alone against all the people, though Baal's
prophets are four hundred and fifty men, and the prophets of the
groves four hundred, and they eat at the queen's table; and he only
is left and they seek his life:--yet no man dare touch him, not even
the king himself. Such power is there, such strength is there, in
being an honest and a God-fearing man.

Yes, my friends, this was the secret of Elijah's power. This is the
lesson which Elijah has to teach us. Not to halt between two
opinions. If a thing be true, to stand up for it; if a thing be
right, to do it, whatsoever it may cost us. Make up your minds
then, my friends, to be honest men like Elijah the prophet of old.

For your own sake, for your neighbour's sake, and for God's sake, be
honest men.

For your own sake. If you want to be respected; if you want to be
powerful--and it is good to be powerful sometimes--if God has set
you to govern people, whether it be your children and household,
your own farm, your own shop, your own estate, your own country or
neighbourhood--Do you want to know the great secret of success?--Be
honest and brave. Let your word be as good as your thought, and
your deed as good as your word. Who is the man who is respected?
Who is the man who has influence? The complaisant man--the cringing
man--the man who cannot say No, or dare not say No? Not he. The
passionate man who loses his temper when anything goes wrong, who
swears and scolds, and instead of making others do right, himself
does wrong, and lowers himself just when he ought to command
respect? My experience is--not he: but the man who says honestly
and quietly what he thinks, and does fearlessly and quietly what he
knows. People who differ from him will respect him, because he acts
up to his principles. When they are