said, I pray thee let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing; nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more; and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; and he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither, and Elisha went over. And when the sons of the prophets, which were to view at Jericho, saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him."

We have quoted the whole of this interesting account of the translation of Elijah, that our readers may have all the circumstances in detail before them. The essence of a sign, or token, given as a pledge of a promise to be hereafter ful

filled, essentially consists in its miraculous character. It is the supernatural, not the naturalthe extraordinary, not the ordinary-the exception, and not the rule. This is plainly exhibited in the signs God condescended to give Gideon, with the fleece, to assure his faith, and inspire him with confidence, in the exccution of the mission with which he was entrusted. The sign given to Elisha-that a double portion of Elijah's spirit should rest upon him-was, that he should see the manner of his translation: this constituted the miraculous sign given to him, and furnishes us with conclusive evidence that the witness of such a phenomenon, through the senses of a living man, is the exception, and not the general rule of such a sudden change. It is a singular feature in this history of the translation of the prophet Elijah, that the sons of the prophets were all conscious of the approaching removal of their head and master, though they themselves were not participators, or even witnesses, of this remarkable event. We are not able to draw any definite analogy from this circumstance, applicable typically to the change of the saints at the appearing of the Lord, if it does not indicate that there may possibly exist some, in that day, who may be conscious of such an event impending, yet who may not themselves prove subjects of the translation.

In further illustration of our argument, we shall refer to another passage, recorded in the second

book of Kings, more particularly as it not only proves that man, in his natural state, ordinarily cannot be cognizant of any acts taking place in the supernatural spiritual world; but because we believe it contains a true type of that day of the Lord, when Christ sitteth enthroned as King in the heavens, surrounded with the glorious assembly of his risen and gathered saints :

"Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down. And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him, and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice. Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us is for the king of Israel? And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha the prophet, that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bed chamber. And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold he is in Dothan. Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city

about.

And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city, both with horses and chariots: and his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."

Now, here we have a record of the vicinity of an immense assemblage of spiritual beings, surrounding a city beseiged by a large army of the King of Syria; and yet their presence, at first, was discerned only by one man, and that man one of the most distinguished of the seers, whose office it was to hold communication with the spiritual world, and for whose safety they encompassed the beseiged city. The prophet's servant, was, however, in the blind condition of ordinary men, until, in order to assuage his fears, Elisha prayed that his eyes might be opened, and he then became conscious of the presence of that brilliant array.

It is scarcely needful to multiply instances, in order to establish the truth of our position; as, in almost every narration of the appearance of

supernatural beings to men in the flesh where others have been present, it is evident that those only for whom the vision was designed were conscious of the occurrence. But we cannot refrain from referring to the conversion of St. Paul, and the death of the martyr Stephen. Of the former it is recorded, in the 9th chapter of the Acts, that, "as he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven; and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man."

The above text needs no comment of ours; for it is sufficiently manifest that not any of the company, save Paul, saw the vision.

The vision vouchsafed to Stephen, immediately before his martyrdom, conveys the same truth, for they gnashed on him with their teeth; but he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God,

G