Mammy, we've raised this little stone to mark where thou art laid,
And show how deep thy tender love is in our hearts engraved,
Mammy, we now are orphans, left alone and friendless here,
Of all protection we're bereft, for thou'rt no longer near.
Mammy, thou art with God in heaven : look down upon us now ;
Ask God to bless and teach our hearts his gospel-truth to know.
Mammy, we pray to Him above with all our heart and might,

To guide our steps and love us while we think and act aright. ANNIE. From the effusions of the above order, which it should be observed are generally extremely modern, it is a relief to turn to the simple oldfashioned expressions of hope contained in such phrases as “ Resurgam;" “ In spe beatæ resurrectionis." Here is a specimen from the tomb of an old Devizes lawyer of the Civil War period.

Tidcombus tumulo jacet hoc Michaelis in alto,

Sospes dum clangit baccina " Surge” manet. Which may thus be Englished :

Michael Tidcombe here,

Entombëd though he lies,
Rests in surety till he hear

The trumpet sound, “Arise.” Under this class, namely of examples of positive assertion that the deceased would abide in the tomb till the general resurrection, Mr. Cromwell furnishes the following:

Here I lie till Christ appears.
Here lieth, waiting for immortal life.
We must lie here till Christ appears.
In calm repose within this grave,
To wait the call we all shall have,

Lie those we loved so well.
Rest, child beloved, and wait th’ Almighty's will ;
Rise when Christ calls, and be an angel still.

Here lies . . . . till the resurrection.
May spotless spirits ...".
Preserve him safe, in soft repose,
Till the archangel's trumpet blows ;
For then immortal shall he rise,
And mount in triumph to the skies.
She sleeps in dust, and free from pain,
Till Christ shall raise her up again,

On a Mariner.
Though Boreas' blasts and Neptune's waves

Did toss me to and fro,
The past is past, and now in peace

I harbour here below.
While here, I at an anchor ride,

With many of our fleet,
But shall not fail again to sail,

Our Admiral Christ to meet.
Kind angels watch this sleeping dust,
Till Jesus comes to raise the just ;

Then she shall wake with sweet surprise,
And in her Saviour's image rise.

Here my precious child doth lie

Till called to immortality.
This peaceful grave me safe shall keep
Until the glorious day when I awake
From my long sleep, and leave this bed of clay.

Till the great day shall I be sleeping here.
The following is from Brompton Cemetery, on the tomb of Mrs. Jane
Howells:-

Rest, weary head.
Lie down to slumber in the peaceful tomb ;
Light from above hath broken through its gloom.
Here in the place where once thy Saviour lay,
Where he shall wake thee on a future day,
Like a tired child upon its mother's breast,

Rest, sweetly rest. Of the examples given of assertion that the deceased was both gone to heaven and would remain in the tomb till the last day, two may suffice.

Here a father lies. He passed into the hands of his Creator on [date of death here given,]

"... but thou, my sire,
Amid the wreck of worlds shalt soar at last!
To immortality beyond the skies.
Here rests till the resurrection, ....

... Heaven is now her home. A quaint instance of faith in the separation of body and soul by death, coupled with a comparison of the body to a building removed when life terminates, appears in the following, copied from a tomb in an obscure private metropolitan burying-ground now closed.

Here lies the clay tabernacle of Elizabeth, wife of Robert Mollett, which was taken down 16th October, 1809, after having stood (oh ! how few) 36 years.

We may as well conclude this chapter on tombs in Mr. Cromwell's own words. ... “Let us hope for a time when, all the corruptions of Christianity having come to an end, the great cry of every believer in future life and happiness will be, as it was with a Peter and a Paul,

Jesus and the resurrection - Jesus and the resurrection. With God a thousand years or ages are but as a day, and a day as a thousand years or ages. He saw us through all the geologic periods that preceded the formation of man as we now are ; and through all the changes of matter and of worlds that may precede our rising again, he will see us as at that rising again we shall be. What he purposes, with him is; and it is our part to rest upon his purpose, when declared to us, as though it were accomplished. But a moment, to our perceptions, will intervene between the closing of our eyes in death and their re-opening upon another scene of existence. Can we not in peace commit ourselves to his care for that virtual moment ? Can we not lie down to die even as we lie down to sleep ; since the interval before waking will not, to our consciousness, be longer."

ASPIRATOR.

A PRAYER.
OH, Strongest of the strong! Be thou the stay

Of the weak creature that thy hand has made ;
I am so helpless, that each moment brings

Some new, some pressing reason for thine aid.
Oh, Wisest of the wise ! I nothing know,

I am so ignorant, so poor, so blind !
Be thou my Teacher, be my Light, my Guide,

Show me the pathway that I cannot find.
Oh, Kindest of the kind ! I.come to thee

Longing for favours that I sorely need ;
Open thy bounteous hand, for thou art He

Whose choice it is to give, in word and deed.
Oh, Truest of the true! When others fail,

Thy years remain the same ; be it my lot
To share thy faithful friendship! Dearest Lord.

'Mid human changes, oh, forget me not !
Oh, Gentlest of the gentle ! Speak one word

And give one smile, one single smile to me;
No voice is soft as thine, no earthly smile

So beautiful, so ravishing can be.
Oh, Best among the good! Make me like thee !

Strong, wise, and kind, in attributes divine,
True, gentle, good, in graces not of earth-
Let me in thy reflected beauty shine.

Religious Poems. (Nisbet.)

Literature. The Words of Holy Writ on Eter- pecially anxious to publish tracts

nal Life and the Fate of the and books on the life question, Ungodly. London: Kelleway they introduce in the Bible Echo and Co.

from time to time lists of such This tract must be useful, for in it publications for the information of the Bible speaks for itself.

those who wish to read on the sub

ject. The Bible Echo (Kellaway), is a penny weekly paper for which we Clearer Light. By & Layman : wish success, because it teaches the London : Elliott Stock coming of the Lord, and life only This little book contains a numin him. We know of no other ber of brief chapters on religious weekly journal in England of which subjects. Of a good deal in the this can be said. It contains choice volume we can only say that, if this paragraphs for family reading: and be “clearer light," the former light as Messrs. Kellaway & Co. are es- must have been obscure.

THE RAINBOW:

I Magazine of Christian Literature, with Special Reference to the

Revealed future of the Churcy and týe World.

SEPTEMBER 1, 1874.

THE COMING OF CHRIST FOR HIS SAINTS. THE last words of Jesus to his Church are, “Surely I come quickly;" 1 and, for eighteen hundred years, the response has rolled heavenward, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus." For this he ever bids us to be on the alert, warning us, “Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore : for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning : lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” (Mark xiii. 32-37.)

How He will COME. Let us go back in thought over eighteen centuries, as we turn our eyes eastward, to the now ruined city of the Great King; and there let us take the road to Bethany. A little before us, we perceive a group of men, walking slowly, as they listen, with breathless attention, to the words which fall from the lips of One in the centre. As we approach them, a thrill of joy runs through our hearts ; for in him we recognise our beloved Lord. He soon tells us that he is going to ascend to his and our Father; but, he adds, seeing the sorrow depicted on the countenances of his beloved disciples, “In my Father's house are many mansions : if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I WILL COME AGAIN, AND RECEIVE YOU UNTO MYSELF; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John xiv. 2, 3.) He then leads us out to the Mount of Olives. And now what a touching scene presents itself! The parting of Jesus with his loved ones! No tongue nor pen can tell that farewell parting for the “ little while.” “And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.” (Luke

ас

xxiv. 51.) "And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel ; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts i. 10, 11.) This, then, is how he will come. O wondrous, blessed, glorious promise! Trembling one, why those fears ? Eighteen hundred years of glory, amidst which angels and archangels prostrate themselves before him, has not changed his love for us, his poor friends. Oh, no! He comes again ; the “same Jesus,” in all points, as he went away. This the angelic prophecy distinctly asserts : “ This same Jesus shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Would you be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless ? Would you see him in his beauty ? Would you be one of those who shall be “changed, in the twinkling of an eye,” and, together with the risen saints, be caught up to meet him in the air ? Would you feel his warm embrace, see his smile, and hear those loving words of welcome, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant ? ” O then, be ready: watch and pray; " for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh."

When HE WILL COME. This, then, is the first act in bis second coming, and is to be distinguished from his coming in “flaming fire" at the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. (2 Thess. i. 8.) In the first, he comes in love and mercy, to take away his saints from the dread terrors of “ the great tribulation,” according to his promise: “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from " (not through, but "out of '] “ the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” (Rev. iii. 10.) In the second, after having presented his body, a glorious Church, without spot, or any such thing, before the throne of the Eternal, with exceeding joy, and the celebration of the marriage supper, he comes, with his saints, according to the prophecy of Zechariah, “ The Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.” (Chap. xiv. 5.) Observe: he comes attended with his saints, (clearly showing they have previously been removed), clothed in a vesture “ dipped in blood.” His eyes are “as a flame of fire,” and “on his head” are “ many crowns," and “ on his vesture and on his thigh a name is written, King OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” He comes for the deliverance of his people the Jews, to destroy the Antichrist and the false prophet, together with his followers, to bind Satan in the abyss, “that he should deceive the nations no more ” for a thousand years, and to inaugurate his own beneficent and glorious reign, as King over the whole earth. Then shall the heavens rejoice, and the earth shall be glad, and the sea shall roar and the ful