Mount Saint Elias

“ Jeremiah also says the same: "The gods that have not made the heavens and earth, let them perish from the earth which is under the heaven." [37] For, from the fact of his having subjoined their destruction, he shows them to be no gods at all. Elias, too, when all Israel was assembled at Mount Carmel, wishing to turn them from idolatry, says to them, "How long halt ye between two opinions? ”

“ Should another attempt be made to climb Mount St. Elias, the shortest and most practicable route from the coast would be to land at Icy bay and ascend the Agassiz glacier. The course taken by us in 1890 could be intersected just north of where the tributary glacier from Dome pass joins the main ice-stream; and from there the route followed last summer would be the most practicable. A camp should be established on the divide between Mount St. Elias and Mount Newton, from which excursions to either of these peaks could be made in a single day. ”

“ And none was able to make the dead to live save Almighty God, Who hath dominion over the heavens and the earth. And Mount Tabor is a similitude of the Church, and our Lord gathered together therein the Two Laws, the New and the Old. And when the disciples heard the voice of the Father, they fell down and became like dead men; and Moses returned to his grave, and Elias went up to heaven. ”

“ Elias, Mount, a mountain in NW. coast of N. America; conspicuous far off at sea, being about 18,000 ft. or 31⁄2 m. above it.
Elijah, a Jewish prophet, born at Tishbe, in Gilead, near the desert; prophesied in the reign of Ahab, king of Israel, in the 10th century B.C.; revealed himself as the deadly enemy of the worship of Baal, 400 of whose priests he is said to have slain with his own hand; his zeal provoked persecution at the hands of the king and his consort Jezebel, but the Lord protected him, and he was translated from the earth in a chariot of fire, “went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” ”

“ Elias and Mount Fairweather belong to the Alaskan system, not to that of the Cascade or Presidents’ Range, which properly ends at Puget Sound. Mount St. Elias, the highest mountain save one in North America (18,090 feet) was discovered by Vitus Behring in 1741. Its ascent was accomplished in the summer of 1897 by the Italian explorer, the Duke of Abruzzi.
Mount Fairweather, so named by the whalers, who predicted fair weather when the summit of this peak was free from clouds, has an altitude of 15,050 feet; it is located near Sitka, on the Alaskan coast.—Ed. ”

“ On the morning following it was cloudy, with rain, and the breeze springing up compelled us to trip. Towards the evening it cleared up, and we were treated with a most splendid picture of St. Elias and all the neighbouring peaks, in full beauty, not a vapour near them. Each range is in itself an object worthy of the pencil, but with the stupendous, proud St. Elias towering above all, they dwindled into mere hillocks, or into a most splendid base on which to place his saintship.
Although Vancouver describes St. Elias as "in
Mount St. ”

“ Now, from Yakutat it is clear at once that this col is barely half-way up the mountain. Secondly, as I went down the coast in the canoe the weather was absolutely perfect, and Mount St. Elias clearly in view till the third morning, when we lost it by getting behind Cape Fairweather. I can clearly recollect how, as we were pulling in to the landing-place north of Cape Fairweather on the second evening, the peak stood up clear and sharp against the sunset sky, with at least a third of its bulk above the horizon. ”

“ Numerous rock-carvings and inscriptions have been discovered, as well as statues and vases of various periods. Near the western foot of Mount Elias is the temple of Thea Basileia, which, though very small, is perfect throughout even to the roof. ”

“ I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, who have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and have followed Baalim.
18:19. Nevertheless send now, and gather unto me all Israel, unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, who eat at Jezabel's table.
18:20. Achab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered together the prophets unto mount Carmel.
18:21. And Elias coming to all the people, said: How long do you halt between two sides? If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. ”

“ Elias, one hundred and fifty miles away, added poignancy to the regrets of the July passengers. From a height of 17,500 feet, the mountain has now risen to 19,500 feet, according to the latest “Coast Pilot,” and somewhere it has been given an elevation of 23,000 feet above the sea. Fame and glory await the mountain-climber who reaches its top, and every American who rides up the Righi, or has a guide pull him up other Alpine summits, should blush that a grander mountain in his own country, the highest peak of the continent, too, has never yet been accurately measured, or explored, or ascended. ”

“ The cliffs rise perpendicularly from the waters of the bay, in some places to the height of 1000 feet; but towards the open sea, both in Santorin and Therasia, the ground slopes gradually away, and has been converted into broad level terraces, everywhere covered with tufaceous agglomerate, which, though extraordinarily bare and ashen to the eye, is the soil which produces the famous Santorin wine. Towards the south-east rises the limestone peak of Mount Elias, the highest point of the island (1887 feet) , and the only part that existed before the volcano was formed. ”

“ Then said Quartus unto me, "Did not Eliezer the son of Arak say truly, that 'Jesus looketh upon the book of the world as well as upon the book of the Law, and seeth in all things God'? For even as Elias the Prophet loved to commune with God on the tops of mountains, and in deserts, and in caves, and received revelations of the Lord from earthquakes and fires, but most of all from the still small voice; even so doth our Master look upon all things that are, yea even on the smallest things that live or grow, and from all, he heareth a still small voice that speaketh of the Father. ”

“ Inhabiting some mountain cave, tasting only the coarse fare that nature offered—locusts and wild honey—the new Elias has come and has found his Cherith; and here, withdrawn far from "the madding crowd" and the incessant babble of human talk, with no companions save the wild beasts and the bright constellations of that Syrian sky, as they wheel round in their nightly [89] dance, the lonely man opens his heart to God's great thoughts and purposes, and by constant prayer keeps his clear, trumpet voice in drill. ”

“ Of time unborn, of nations yet unnurst;
Torrent of truth, river of prophecy, 1990
Rolling through worlds to find fulfillment's sea.
He stands, as Moses on the mystic mount,
Where knowledge pours from wisdom's purest fount;
Stands 'neath the droppings of the crystal eaves,
Stands on the loftiest summit man achieves,
Where light eternal—was, is, and to be—
'Lumines the vistas of immensity,
The ultimates of human destiny.
He walks and talks with God, as friend with friend ”

“ Mount St. Elias being then within fair distance. About eight we anchored in fifty fathoms, mud; the day beautifully fine, horizon well defined, and our position as perfect as could be wished for our observations, all of which were obtained, and satisfactory.
The current was found to set one mile and a half per hour west, varying but slightly in force, and not at all in direction. At this position, not a single drift tree was noticed. We were within the white water about two miles, which I am now satisfied flows from the ice. ”

“ The appearance of Moses and Elias on the Mount of Transfiguration, whether regarded as a vision or as a materialization, was of the order of the phenomena which are now banned as anti-Christian.
No; those who, having wandered in the darkness of death and blindness, find a ray of light within their own being need not fear the judgment of the Mediator. Here in the 83 freedom of the mountains I feel something of the inscrutable certainty, the joy of a secret conviction, that wisdom waits on our tortuous paths in the Borderland. ”

“ And he answered: Thou hast asked a hard thing; nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, thou shalt have what thou hast asked: but if thou see me not, thou shalt not have it.
2:11. And as they went on, walking and talking together, behold, a fiery chariot and fiery horses parted them both asunder: and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
2:12. And Eliseus saw him, and cried: My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the driver thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own garments, and rent them in two pieces. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Elias, winding its way high up into the mountain, where the snow drifts whirl blindly all the summer day, where no plant or animal abide, seems to be in keeping with the surroundings, but to emerge from a dense thicket, a valley teeming with animal and vegetable life, on a hot summer day and fall spat upon a dead glacier is a sight which must be seen to be realized—then to know that this vast field of ice once extended to the sea, but so long ago that thousands of acres of timber have grown up in its retreating pathway, is enough to astound any but the simple. ”

“ Elias region is so great that one constantly wonders that anything is left; yet, except late in the fall, the snow surfaces at the bases of even the steepest cliffs are mostly bare of débris. The absence of earth and stones on the surfaces of the névé fields is mainly due, of course, to the fact that these are regions of accumulation where the winter's snow exceeds the summer's melting. ”

“ Elias, on a commanding eminence, and traversing the level plateau of the rocky gorge, we alighted at the Monastery of Daphne, whose half-ruined cloister and chapel occupy the site of a temple of Apollo. We sat for half an hour in its quiet, walled churchyard, carpeted with poppies and tender flowers of spring, amid the remains of old columns and fragments of white marble, sparkling amid the green grass and blue violets, and looked upon the blue bay of Eleusis and Salamis, and the heights of Megara beyond. Surely nature has a tenderness for such a spot ”

“ Hic extendens Dominus manum, labia Johannis digito tanget, ac ori imponet auream linguam.
Go now thy way forth, I shall thee never fail,
The spirit of Elias have I given thee already.
Persuade the people, that they their sins bewail,
And if they repent their customable folly,
Long shall it not be, ere they have remedy.
Open thou their hearts, tell them their health is coming:
As a voice in desert, see thou declare the thing,
I promise thee sure, thou shalt wash him among them
In Jordan, a flood not far from Jerusalem. ”

“ In his reign prophesied Elias the Thesbite, and Michæas the son of Jebla, and Abdias the son of Ananias. And in the time of Michæas there was also the false prophet Zedekias, the son of Chonaan. These were followed by the reign of Joram the son of Jehosaphat, for eight years; during whose time prophesied Elias; and after Elias, Elisæus the son of Saphat. In his reign the people in Samaria ate doves’ dung and their own children. ”

“ Who wast taken up in a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot of fiery horses.
48:10. Who art registered in the judgments of times to appease the wrath of the Lord, to reconcile the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob.
48:11. Blessed are they that saw thee, and were honoured with thy friendship.
48:12. For we live only in our life, but after death our name shall not be such.
48:13. Elias was indeed covered with the whirlwind, and his spirit was filled up in Eliseus: in his days he feared not the prince, and no man was more powerful than he. ”

“ Recently, a trip out of Cross Sound, and northwestward about two hundred miles along the Pacific coast, has been occasionally added to the scenes of the inland passage, the new views presented being the Mount St. Elias Alps, directly facing the Pacific, for the distance noted, and containing within those limits the greatest number of high and imposing peaks to be found in any range in the world. ”

“ It was perfectly consistent with the spirit, principle, and genius of the dispensation of which Elias was the exponent and representative, to call down fire from heaven to consume the men sent by a godless king to arrest him; but the blessed Lord was the perfect Exponent and divine Representative of another dispensation altogether. His was a life of perfect self-surrender, from first to last. He never asserted His rights. He came to serve and to give; He came to represent God—to be the perfect expression of the Father in every way. ”

“ It teaches us that God is the Lord of all the universe, that all the powers of nature, rain and drought, dews and clouds, obey Him. We may sow and plant, but the increase comes from God.
Firm faith. Like a very rock of faith and confidence Elias confronted the wavering multitude, the unbelieving king, and the frantic idolatrous priests. He reproached the people for their indecision; he mocked the insane superstitions and vain efforts of the priests of Baal, and never doubted for one instant that God would hear his prayer and confound his enemies. ”