. ment at the hour of death, while the Bible locates it at Christ's future return from heaven. (2 Tim. iv. 1.) And (2.) the Bible represents the physical man as being judged, instead of a disembodied soul: "And the sea gave up the dead whieh were in it .. and they were judged every man according to their works." (Rev. xx. 13.) The very man that is buried in the sea must hereafter be "judged;" and who will claim that it is a disembodied soul that goes into the sea, instead of the physical man? And if that claim should be made, it would involve the conclusion that such souls were "dead" while there, thus clashing with theology, for the statement-" gave up the dead"-cannot be construed to mean, gave up the living. With these facts before us, it is vain for tradition lovers to philosophise about a judgment for disembodied souls at the hour of death. The picture may be painted in impressive colours, but the trouble is, it is not a faithful and truthful representation. 4. Tradition also portrays a reward for disembodied souls, and theological philosophers eloquently speculate upon the future condition of souls untrammelled, and transported to some remote realm, and their reaping the result of their doings on earth. Inspiration, however, presents the question of future reward in a different light from that of tradition. The time of reward is not at death, as tradition claims, but at the resurrection (Rev. xi. 18), in agreement with Christ's promise: "Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." (Luke xiv. 14.) This reward of the saints being due at the resurrection, it will be received by literal men released from the power of death, instead of disembodied souls. This time of reward, when soul and body will be together, even if they previously had a separate existence, is frequently mentioned by the Saviour: "For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." (Matt. xvi. 27.) At a later date, after his ascension, he affirmed: "Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his works shall be." (Rev. xxii. 12.) This promised reward comes when Jesus comes to raise the dead; hence it will be given to raised men, and not to men without bodies, even if such men were in existence. 5. Tradition insists that there is somewhere a home for disembodied men, after assuming that such men exist; but where to locate that home has been a hard point to settle; hence, theological philosophers are all in confusion on this point. This home has been located by tradition in various regions at different times: sometimes on a remote sea-shore, sometimes in the bowels of the earth, and sometimes in the skies. But against all this vacillating tone of tradition the voice of Jesus is heard: "When the Son of Man shall come in his glory . . . then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." (Matt. xxv. 31-34.) The time here specified is that of resurrection, and the place of inheritance is this world. This agrees with the angel's affirmation to Daniel : "But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. ... And the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High." (Dan. vii. 18, 27.) This will be a world-wide kingdom, when the "kingdoms of this world " shall have "become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.' (Rev. xi. 15.) The kingdom promised by tradition is an uncertain realm for immaterial men-men that exist only in imagination-while the Bible promises a real kingdom for real men, after the resurrection; a purified earth for immortalised saints. "Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth"-not the sky.-Bible Banner. (New York.) PIOUS FRAUD S. 66 HE wind bloweth where it listeth." In the article under this head Tingy, the feminine forms of the verbs in verse 8, adopted in the Syriac version, are represented as indicating that the Holy Spirit is referred to whereas it should have been printed that the Holy Spirit is not referred to. As the subject is one of great importance, this correction will not be deemed unnecessary. "Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand." (Phil. iv. 5.) "Here we have," remarks Dr. Fairspeech, some of whose relations figure in the Pilgrim's Progress, "an apostolic recommendation to avoid extremes, to steer the safe and middle course of an honest man, to tread on no one's toes, and to see to it that no one tread on yours. While abstaining on the one hand from the use of fire and sword in propagating your private faith, take care of yourself by accepting and interpreting the precepts of Christianity only in such sense as shall square with your rights as a citizen. Above all things, never be pointed at as a religious enthusiast. It may have been all very well for a madcap like Francis Xavier to dignify his renunciation of property and other extravagances by the habitual response, All for Jesus;' but a little of the wisdom recommended by the Apostle might easily have convinced him how much wider would have been his influence for good had he kept his patrimony in his own hands. Stick therefore to Ovid, and rejoice that Paul has quoted his wholesome maxim, "Medio tutissimus ibis.'” Meanwhile, a divine of a very different complexion, a total alien, in fact, from the college of Messieurs Fairspeech, Anything, or Facingboth-ways, has given another meaning to the Apostolic language which it may be worth our while to examine. The late Henry Craik, copastor and coadjutor to George Müller, of Bristol, remarks on the Greek term here translated "moderation," that " strictly and properly it denotes that disposition of mind which would lead an individual not rigidly to exact even that which lawfully belongs to him, but to yield up his right to others; the fact that the Lord is at hand operating as a powerful motive to produce such a beautiful feature of character in those whose affections are set on things which are above." (Improved Renderings of the New Testament, p. 30.) All the other instances of its use in the New Testament favour Mr. Craik's view. Oliver Cromwell, no mean graduate in the school of Christian experience, read it in the same light: "If the day of the Lord," says he, "be so near as some say, how should our moderation appear! If every one, instead of contending, would justify his form of judgment by love and meekness, wisdom would be justified of her children; but alas (Letter to Fleetwood.) Such was Oliver's habit of thought towards tender consciences; his political action will be noticed presently. But of all men, the early Quakers seemed resolved to make full proof of this principle of "yieldingness," and to push it to the utmost limits of endurance. Strong in the belief of final victory, they never for a moment shrank from laying themselves open to be systematically plundered and ruined by any legal, municipal, or clerical harpy who found pleasure in striking the unresisting. Theirs was an heroic mission, and their martyr-honours were fairly won; nor will there be a single word of disparagement adopted in this place to prove that the position which they took up in that experimental age was illogical, illusory, or fruitless. For indeed this "yieldingness" to men was but the expression of their obedience to a higher law; and he that has found the courage to suffer wrongfully has made an important step in the art of reigning. We may not forget that the Apostolic precept to yield to others in matters only personal was uttered by one who "gave place by subjection no not for an hour" in matters which concerned his Master's honour. And here we begin to see that the question is one which has many sides. The Quakers were called to exhibit the omnipotence which lay in simply suffering for Christ; but they comprehended not such a mission as that of Cromwell. Yet the motive power in both was identical, and subjection to the unwritten law the one rule of life. Oliver, who knew his vocation as none other might know it for him, felt that he had no alternative but to fulfil it. And so at last we all come round to the same issue. But let the medium-mongers, the advocates of the moderation-scheme, be well assured of this, that while no one extreme has anything in it more heroic than another, any extreme, undertaken as Francis Xavier undertook it, is better than the coward-resort of silence. St. Paul was the last man to exhort his friends to beware of becoming fools for Christ's sake. What he did say was this:-Be trodden down as the mire of the street, if Christ command it; lead the van in storming the topmost citadel of error, if Christ command it: but as for the middle path of safety, scorn it as the Lord of the Churches scorns it. Thomas Carlyle has here a word of power for us, crashing like artillery amongst the worshippers of a stereotyped formula, amongst the men who, fearful of thinking for themselves, are half disposed to go to heaven by proxy; which, let us listen to for a brief space. "Love of power, if thou understand what to the manful heart power signifies, is a very noble and indispensable love. And here and there, in the outer world too, there is a due throne for the noble man,—which, let him see well that he seize and valiantly defend against all men and things. God gives it him; let no devil take it away. Thou also art called by the God's-message. This, if thou canst read the heavenly omens, and dare do them, this work is thine. Voiceless, or with no articulate voice, Occasion, God-sent, rushes storming on amid the world's events, swift, perilous, like a whirlwind, like a fleet lightning-steed ;manfully thou shalt clutch it by the mane and vault into thy seat on it, and ride and guide there, -thou! Wreck and ignominious overthrow, if thou have dared, when the Occasion was not thine ;-everlasting scorn to thee if thou dare not, when it is,if the cackling of Roman geese and constitutional ganders, if the clack of human tongues and leading articles,' if the steel of armies and the crack of doom deter thee, when the voice was God's!.. Thou shalt,' is written upon life in characters as terrible as Thou shalt not."—(Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, iii. 276.) And now for the practical result towards which this short essay has been steering. It is an appeal to the readers of the RAINBOW. "No one," says Professor Max Müller, "who at the present moment watches the intellectual atmosphere of Europe, can fail to see that we are on the eve of a storm which will shake the oldest convictions of the world, and upset every thing that is not firmly rooted." (Frazer, for May, 1873.) What then is our position? Is it rock, or is it sand? Is it lasting, or is it ephemeral ? Is it an arena for internecine warfare, or is it the mere proscenium of an intellectual pastime? Now, we have no hesitation in declaring, and abiding by the issue, that the only philosophy promulgated in the pages of the RAINBOW is a system based on the Jewish Scriptures, and culminating in the character, in the message, in the works, and in the words of the Lord Jesus. When this fails us, our magazine may go to the moon. The advocates of this system, are men who have searched the Scriptures for themselves,-who believe that language was designed to be a medium for truth and not for delusion, and who have the courage to declare that all God's declarations to his poor creatures have been made in good faith. It is a system sublime in its simplicity, beneficent in its embrace, and strong in its integrity. What then will we do with it? Has it never occurred to some of us, that he who rightly apprehends the inspired declarations on human life and human death, wields an engine of terrific power? Then should the arm also which guides it be irresistible and "cunning of fence." The wisdom requisite to know when to strike, where to strike, and how to strike, will not be given to anarchists, but it will be given to faithful men, and that before long. And then shall be discovered how mischievous, heathenish, and profound is the ignorance which has so long been permitted to usurp the simple philosophy of Life in Christ. In this conflict, fear neither hard names nor hard knocks. When confronted with spiritualists (so called), remember that you yourselves have quitted the world of pagan shadows. If they think to blacken you with the title of materialists, show them that the "matter" of Jesus Christ's "materialism" contains potentially the sublime elements which make up the Divine nature, and that higher than this you desire not to ascend. A little honest study of the Bible, will soon convince them that they have been raising a spirit which they cannot lay. But there is another class,-the fearful and unbelieving around These are everywhere saying,- "It is no great matter, this crusade of yours, -a mere unimportant difference of opinion,-a little cloud of dust which will speedily subside." But surely we know better than this; and, well aware, as we must be, of the issues which wait on victory our manifest duty is, without any further flourish of trumpets, to precipitate the illustrious crisis. Ours will not be the latest battle in the world of thought, but it will rank as a very important one in the list of what are denominated "decisive battles ;" and, like the thunderstorm in nature, it will clear the atmosphere for Heaven's directer rays. (To be continued.) us. THE COMING OF ELIJAH. THE following paper was written in reply to the inquiries of a Christian soldier, who had become deeply interested in the study of the Word of God. In the course of his reading he encountered some difficulties. His difficulties and queries, in his own words, were as follows: "To whom had Christ reference in speaking of Elias in Matt. xi. 14? The conclusion I first came to was that it was of himself he spoke. This conclusion was strengthened by the words of John the Baptist, in John i. 21 ; he says, 'I am not Elias.' Then it could not have referred to John the Baptist. "Again, at Christ's transfiguration before Peter, James, and John (Matt. xvii.), Elias appeared unto them (ver. 3). This confounds my conclusion. For if Elias appeared there, how could Christ be Elias, and he also there conversing with him? Now in ver. 12, he manifestly refers to John the Baptist. This also confounds my first conclusion, and at the same time seemingly contradicts John's words (John i. 21). Now the difficulty is to reconcile these two passages, and to find out who Elias was that the scribes were looking for (Matt. xvii. 10), and I suppose the Jews to this day expect. Christ repeatedly says that 'Elias has come already.' So we believe as Christ could not be, and as he also refers to John the Baptist as Elias, as at least the disciples understood (ver. 13), we are to consider it so, unless we can understand his words differently. If, now, we come to the same conclusion the disciples did, how are we to dispose of John's words, I am not Elias ?'" Such were some of the difficulties presenting themselves to one evidently no caviller, but earnestly desiring to know all the truth. And as we know that these and similar difficulties are encountered on the threshold of prophetic inquiry by many others, the writer submits the reply sent to the above queries, in the hope that, through the divine blessing, it may be helpful to such as are beginning to examine "the things to come," as these are revealed in Scripture, especially as this paper, while making no pretension to anything more, offers an elementary exhibition of some parts of prophetic truth connecting naturally with the questions respecting Elias. Your difficulty with reference to Elijah (the Elias of the New Testament) arises from your not seeing that the Scriptures fully reveal to us that there are two comings of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth; and two comings of Elijah to prepare his way before him. Many prophecies of the Scripture have a double fulfilment; first a partial, then (centuries afterward it may be) a complete fulfilment. One of these prophecies we have in Isaiah xl. 1-12: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The voice said |