aside of the two main golden pipes altogether, and connecting the seven subsidiary pipes directly with the bowl that contains the oil; which, it is needless to observe, is at total variance and contrary to the prophecy as expressed by these distinct, though not separated, symbols.

This prophecy also confirms the opinion that the latter rain of the Spirit will not be poured down upon the Church before the translation of the saints, but afterwards; inasmuch as if the risen saints in their immortal and incorruptible bodies are to be used as the principal agents in its communication, then they must first be translated into the spiritual state, in order to the fulfilment of their heavenly mission.

Indeed, it is almost inconceivable that the Church, in her present disunited and therefore unholy state, should receive that investiture of spiritual power which it is expected the latter rain will convey; far less that her ministries who, to say the least, form no exception to this too general rule, should, in their present condition, become the agents for its communication: for, admitting that the Holy Ghost is to be communicated to the subordinate ministries, and the Church at large, by the laying on of the hands of a superior ministry in the visible Church on earth, common consistency would require that such ministries

should first have received the gift themselves, either directly from God, as on the occasion of the first outpouring of the Spirit, or "BY THE HANDS OF" the risen and glorified saints, as we suppose will be the case when that second descent of the Holy Ghost takes place spoken of in Scripture as the latter rain. A contrary opinion supposes that spiritual unity could be conveyed by the laying on of the hands of a disunited ministry; which, independent of such a notion being an absurdity in itself, is quite contrary to the past experience of the Church as well as opposed to the spirit of all revealed truth.

We may be uttering hard sayings, but with the elements of dissolution now rapidly at work, and the final destruction of all things already so fearfully begun, we are not disposed at the close of our labours to withhold the expression of perhaps unwelcome truths; and we have yet to receive a few practical lessons in the school of human expediency before we can consent, as interpreters of prophecy, even to qualify, far less suppress, what we consider to be a true exposition of the divine record, out of consideration to the feelings or preconceived notions of any man: and, if we read that record aright, the solemn truth presents itself to view from every point of the prophecies which bear any allusion to the Church of Christ in the

VOL. III. -R

aside of the two main golden pipes altogether, and connecting the seven subsidiary pipes directly with the bowl that contains the oil; which, it is needless to observe, is at total variance and contrary to the prophecy as expressed by these distinct, though not separated, symbols.

This prophecy also confirms the opinion that the latter rain of the Spirit will not be poured down upon the Church before the translation of the saints, but afterwards; inasmuch as if the risen saints in their immortal and incorruptible bodies are to be used as the principal agents in its communication, then they must first be translated into the spiritual state, in order to the fulfilment of their heavenly mission.

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last days--that before she will be endowed with power from on high she will first be reduced to the condition of utter brokenness of heart before God, and may be also, at the same time, the scoff and derision of the world. Indeed, to invest the Church with spiritual power, in the present state of her heart and spirit, would be, not for the healing of the nations, but for their destruction: for, alas! she knows not of what spirit she is of, for she has yet to learn that to reign with Christ she must also suffer with Him; and in that day she shall know that the blessedness of God's healing hand can only be fully experienced by those who are of a broken and a contrite spirit. A very short time will now prove whether these views are in accordance with the spirit of divine revelation, or whether we have been following the ignis fatuus of a heated imagination. But let us resume our subject.

The prophecy in Zechariah leaves us little doubt as to the exact period in the history of the Church to which this symbolical candlestick points; for, between the vision itself and the explanation of the attendant angel through whom it was given, a prophecy is inserted of Christ, under the type of Zerubbabel, as the builder of the spiritual temple; and if we refer to the prophet Haggai we further discover that, whilst the second tem