1. That the earth is a plane, and not a globe. If the earth is a globe of 8000 miles in diameter, and 24,000 miles in circumference, it must have a curvature of eight inches in the first mile (from the observer), and in every mile afterwards it will increase as the square of the distance multiplied by eight inches. Thus, at two miles it will be thirty-two inches; at three miles it will be six feet; four miles, ten feet; five miles, sixteen feet; six miles, twenty-four feet; and so on. This will be admitted by astronomers as the necessary result of their hypothesis. And yet is it not strange that it has never been given as the first proved fact in all their text-books? Why has it never been laid down as the foundation of their theory? Simply because the theory does not accord with the fact. How much more simple to give evideuce as to this fundamental point than to give a few vague assumptions about a ship; such as, "The earth must be a globe, because a ship can sail in one direction, and return to the same place." This is based upon the hidden assumption that " a globe" is the only condition under which this could be done. When we remember that a circular plane would produce a similar phenomenon, the "proof" vanishes into thin air.

How much more satisfactory, again, would it be for astronomers to prove that the necessary curvature really exists, by reference to direct experiments made with this object, than to assume it, because a ship disappears at sea. It has never entered their minds that this disappearance may be the result of the operation of the true law of perspective with a base in motion, as is really the case.

Why, then, may we ask again, have they never taken the steps or the pains to prove the existence of this curvature ? Were they to undertake this, they could ascertain, at the same time, the exact amount of the convexity, and see whether it accorded with the hypothesis. But, no! it does not exist, and therefore it remains to this day unproved by them.

But the opposite may be proved on any day by your readers. Let any one find a few miles of still water, and apply any test he can think of; and only one result will be obtained. Let him repair to the sea-shore, and there he will see the horizon perfectly horizontal. Let him proceed a few miles on the sea, and look back at the coast till he can see twenty miles of it, and the line where the water and land join will be always found perfectly horizontal; whereas, if the earth is a globe, the two extremities, on the right hand and on the left, ought to be each sixty feet lower than the centre.

In a word, adopt any experiment you choose, and the only conclusion can be that the disappearance of a ship at sea, so much vaunted and relied on, must be explained on some other principle than the curvature of the earth.

In the same manner it is said that, when the moon is eclipsed, there is evidence that the shadow of the earth upon the moon proves it to be a globe. So it would, if it were demonstrated that it is the shadow of the earth that comes over the moon. Until this is done, it clearly cannot be adduced in evidence. The record lies before me of nine instances in which the sun and moon have both been above the horizon at the same time during a lunar eclipse!

2. Again, with reference to the diurnal and orbital motion of the earth, no evidence is afforded. On this and other points I cannot do better

than refer your readers to standard works on astronomy, from which they will see for themselves that no evidence, properly so called, is ever adduced.

3. The multitude are, however, content to take all that is said upon credit, because the prediction of eclipses affords such overwhelming proof that the astronomers know all about these matters, and are therefore right. They forget that the prediction of eclipses belongs to no theory, and were foretold in tables independently constructed by the Chaldæan, Babylonian, Egyptian, Hindoo, Chinese, and other ancient nations.

Hipparchus, 140 B.C., and Ptolemy in the second century, both constructed tables for six hundred years to come. The Babylonish tables existed 719 B.C.; and Thales, 600 B.C., and Anexagoras, 530 B.C., both predicted eclipses. It is all the result of observation. Eclipses recur in cycles; and any one, with almanacs for thirty years could construct a table, and foretell eclipses.

The subject, however, is too vast to attempt any further formal statements. Much true evidence is still required; and this is the necessary result of the adoption of a theory which effectually stops all true advancement in knowledge. All the evidence that has been obtained up to the present time proves,

(1.) That the earth is a circular plane, the centre being the north point, and situated under the north star. This central region is all ice, and the southern extremity is bounded by ice in every direction.

(2.) The sun revolves round this north centre over the earth, at a distance of not more than seven hundred miles from where he is vertical. This distance differs from the popular calculation, (a) because, in the latter case, the base of the triangle being the diameter of the earth's orbit, is an assumption that remains unproved; and (b) because the angles are calculated on the assumption that the earth is a globe. The true distance is ascertained by taking a measured base line, and making no allowance for rotundity in measuring the angles.

(3.) The stars, like the sun, revolve round the north centre, over the earth, most of them retaining the same relative position, but some, having an independent motion, called by the ancients asteres planates, or wandering stars.

(4.) That the sun's path expands in the winter, and contracts in the summer, so that in the winter the northern edge of the disc of light does not touch the north centre, producing continuous night there; and in the summer the north centre is included within the disc of daylight, and has, for some time, continuous day.

(5.) That tides are produced, not by the effect of gravitation (which Sir Isaac Newton regarded as the least satisfactory portion of his theory of gravitation), but by the floating motion of the earth, which is not a globe, but land (Gen. i. 9, 10; Ps. xxiv. 1, 2; cxxxvi. 6; 2 Pet. iii. 5), and is "founded upon the seas." (Gen. xlix. 25; Exod. xx. 4; Deut. iv. 18; xxxiii. 13; Jer. xxxi. 37.) This may be caused by the compression of the atmosphere, influenced by the moon. Multifarious is the evidence on this subject, one important fact being the rising and falling motion of the Pole star every twelve hours, as watched through a glass lashed to a fixed object.

Surely sufficient has now been written to show that Christians have

more reason than ever to cling to their Bible. It alone can teach them the truth as to "the revealed future of the Church and the world." And it is no mean part of the mission of the RAINBOW to show that the future of the world, as declared in such passages as Rev. vi. 12, 13; Isa. xiii. 10; Ezek. xxxii. 7; Joel ii. 10, 31; iii. 15; and Matt. xxiv. 29, &c. &c., is not only not inconsistent with other parts of God's revealed will, but is consistent both with it and all the facts of the true science of scriptural astronomy. B.

ORMUZD AND AHRIMAN;

OR, THE GREAT WARFARE.

RIGHTLY to tell the solemn history

Of good and evil would demand the powers
Of some great angel, who has viewed the strife
From first to last, and over all the field.
Perchance, to show this mystery of God,
To such an one the task shall be assigned
When all is finished, and the new-made earth,
Set in new heavens, shall seem to all therein
One universal paradise, and present

A fairer aspect to the gaze of heaven.

His be the task; yet may I pass unblamed
(Being no idle witness of the war
Whereof I tell), if, with becoming speech,
And modesty befitting one who treats
Of weightiest matters, knowing all the while
He knows but little, I descant thereon.

A grander theme than e'er war-singer had,
Though singing of the battles of the gods,
Or godlike heroes, or of those who sought
To win back Salem from the infidel ;

And nobler, though their strains still have the power,
Like trumpet tones, to kindle in the breast
A love of war and war's vain pageantry,
Wakening in men the never-sated thirst
Of conquest, mother of hell-worthy deeds.
And, first, methinks the deadly enmity
Of good and evil is a war to which
All other wars seem but as passing brawls
Of revellers, quickly hushed, or petty strifes
Of children at their play, though bitter woes
To millions follow such, and age-long ills:
A warfare mighty beyond precedent,
And terrible past words: a conflict fraught
With grander issues than the loss or gain
Of mightiest empires; for the same reach out
To endless time and every child of man.

For every state and city and every home
Feels the dire strife; yea, every heart of man
Hath part in it: hard lot, though not unblest,
Nor unheroic, since the strife demands

Strength and endurance, being a war stretched out
Even to old age, and weariness, and death;
A long campaign, fulfilled of divers toils
And dangers, and admitting neither truce
Nor parley, but demanding watchfulness
Unceasing, and an ever-hostile front.
Glory and good await each combatant,
And endless being in a blissful state;
Equality with angels, or the loss

Of very being, and eternal scorn.

With varying fortune, too, the war goes on From age to age, o'er all the mighty field;

And oft the warriors of the holy war,

Borne down by numbers, or surprised by guile,
Give way before the legions of their foes,

And all seems lost; and recreant multitudes

Pass to the enemy; ignoble souls

That trust not Cod; cowards, whose earliest thought

Is their own safety; and with these depart

Those shameless ones that follow but for sport.

Good riddance, and no lessening of their strength!
So God weeds out the worthless, till at last,
Like Gideon's of old, his army seems
Contemptible in every eye save His

Who, out of small things, bringeth great, to stay
Men's boasting, and to hearten souls too prone
To trust in numbers and an arm of flesh.

But whoso wearies of the godlike strife,
And makes his peace with evil, shall be held
A traitor, and shall have a traitor's doom,
And a fool's fame. A better lot is theirs
Who battle to the end, and fall at last,
Weary with slaying of the enemy.

Mourn not for these. Death's lawful captives now,

They yet shall be his conquerors, having fought

Beneath His banner who doth keep the keys
Of Death and Hades; but lament for those
Who once fought well, but, yielding, soon became
Sin's captives, and, in close captivity,
Bewail their weakness, and repent too late ;
Despised of men, and covered with self-scorn,-
The sorest punishment that heart can bear.

God views the strife with no impartial eye :
His is the quarrel, and the weighty charge

And ordering of the war, which yet shall end
In glorious victory over all the field.
For the day cometh that shall see the end
Of evil doers; and the powers of ill,
Not few or feeble, shall be overthrown
With such a slaughter as surpasses thought,
And such a ruin as shall beat out hope:
A judgment threatened from of old; for long
Has evil vexed Him, though it cannot mar
His purpose, or attach unto His plan,
Or dim His glory. So His hand shall yet
Wipe out the wicked, though He long endure
The troublers of His reign, and in His place
Keep silence, while they ever wax more bold.

So taught the wise Zerdusht, who, from the deeps
Of Boundless Time, beheld two powers arise :-
Ormuzd, the principle of light and good,
Best imaged, as his worshippers still deem,
In the pure flame of fire; and Ahriman,
The power of darkness and of ill, his foe.
These two divide the universe, and wage
Perpetual war. Ages on ages pass

In doubtful strife. At length, the evil power
Battles prevailingly, and heaven and earth
Bow to his sway: and thus for centuries
He reigns invincible, and seems, indeed,
Eternal victor; but far-looking men
Deem otherwise, and reckon on his fall.
For utter ruin, downfal, and defeat

That nought may mend, await him and his cause,
And all who aid him, though it be not yet.
For Ormuzd shall arise, as when the sun
Breaks forth at morn, or after brief eclipse,
Scattering the darkness; and his foe shall fall,
And all his hosts, like shadows, flee away.

RICHARD PHILLIPS.

THE BEREAN CASKET.

I. "I AM very thankful for the light I have received from the RAIN

BOW on many things concerning which I must honestly confess, I was in a fog. If you would say a word about our Lord's promise to the thief on the cross I should feel much obliged, as my friends refer to that as a proof that the soul goes to heaven when the body dies. A LEARNER.'

Read carefully, and have the kindness to ask your friends to do the same, the first paper in the present number, which was written before your request reached us.

II. "I am a reader of your invaluable magazine, and hope both Edi.