I will only mention his ascension. It appears that all the towns and villages round about had heard, by what means I know not, that Elijah was soon to be taken up into heaven; for wherever he and Elisha went, the people said unto Elisha, _know you wot that Elijah is about to be taken from you?_ and Elisha nodded an assent, and said, “_hold your peace._” It appears as if Elijah endeavored to evade Elisha’s presence when he would be taken up; but Elisha stuck to him until up he went in a chariot of fire, with horses of the same; and Elisha saw it, and cried out, “_My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!_” In going up, his mantle fell off, Elisha taking it, and with it, the prophetic spirit of his master. Elisha then followed on in the footsteps of his predecessor; and his first act was, to call on his God to destroy some little children, for the enormous crime of calling so odd a looking fellow, “_old bald head_” In truth, we discover in most of the prophets such a spirit of intolerance and rage towards those who were so unfortunate as to differ from or oppose them, that they ought to be considered prophets of the Devil, and not servants of him whose wisdom, power and goodness are stamped on all the works of this mighty universe. The prophet Jonah seems to have been a man every way unfit for the prophetic service; for when ordered to go to Nineveh, to cry against the wickedness of its inhabitants, he ran away; and, according to the record, his, disobedience produced a violent storm, and when the sailors found that he was out of his road to Nineveh, they cast lots to find out the person who had caused the storm, and the lot fell on Jonah, who confessed himself to be the guilty person. He then told them to cast him into the sea, as the only way to save themselves and the ship. It is written what followed. Another blunder again in the choice of Jonah; and miracles must be performed to cause this run-away prophet to reach his destination. He then again made an attempt to preach repentance to the Ninevites; and they, hearing of the destruction against them, repented, and this made the prophet stark mad; for his consequence as a prophet being hurt, he exclaimed, that _he was tired of life_. Poor, paltry trash for the employment of a God, to reason with and coax a hotheaded creature like Jonah! but, like all the rest of such tales, there is not one word of truth in the whole concern.