complained that amidst a renegade nation he only was left, found himself at once amidst an innumerabie company of angels, crying, "Holy, Holy, Holy." He, who had been reckoned an enemy in the palaces of earth, was now welcomed as a friend in the courts of heaven. He sate down in glory, expecting greater blessedness, looking forward to the day when the death he owed was to be paid for him by Another, and the decease should be accomplished in Jerusalem, in virtue of which he was already free. Doubtless he was allowed to look forward to the day when, on the Mount of the Transfiguration, he should attend the Son of Man".

Thus, more than two thousand years after

"When, in the desert, He was girding Himself for the work of life, angels of life came and ministered unto Him; now, in the fair world, when He is girding Himself for the work of death, the ministrants come to Him from the grave.

"But from the grave conquered. One, from that tomb under Abarim, which His own hand had sealed so long ago; the other from the rest into which he had entered, without seeing corruption. Then stood by Him Moses and Elias, and spake of His decease."Ruskin's Modern Painters, vol. iv.

the translation of Enoch, was another saint rescued from death: thus did it please God to keep alive the expectation that one day the spoiler should be spoiled, and the prey snatched from the greedy jaws of death. Another righteous man had walked with God and was not, for God took him. Death, then, was not necessary for the purgation of man. The evil in his nature might be separated from it without his passing through that fearful process. Here was a human soul not delivered from the flesh, but that flesh so transformed as to be no longer a burthen. His translation hinted what is reserved for the human body, that it too is to partake of the glory of redemption, that it is not necessarily the prison of the soul, the enemy of the spirit, but shall one day renew its strength, mount up as the eagle, run and not be weary, walk and not faint.

Let us believe that, if we live the life of Elijah, we shall die a death which shall be blessed like his removal. We may have, like him, to stand out and be singular in the cause of conscience, not following a multitude, but firm and true to our own convic

tions, though no one sees the matter as we do, and we are told that our scruples are quite unnecessary.

We are to be bold like him in rebuking vice. Our prayers should be like his, both as to the heart from which they proceed, and the intensity with which they are urged. Like him, we are to trust to God's supplies, to be content with what He provides; to rest assured that, if we be true to Him, we cannot want, for assistance shall come from the most unlikely quarters, just as the foreign widow, who herself had nothing, supported Elijah at one time, and ravenous birds denied themselves for him at another. If such be our character, then shall the Lord God of Elijah be our God, then shall Jordan be cleft for us, then shall angels receive us, and we shall be with the Lord, not for a time only, but for an eternity of blessedness; we shall see Him as He is, our vile bodies shall be changed, and shall be fashioned like unto His glorious body, on no earthly mountains, but on their glorious antitypes.

Tracts for the Christian Seasons.

NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

II.—ELIJAH AND ELISHA.

IN the preceding Tract we have considered Elijah's history up to the time of his translation; it remains to notice a peculiarity about the way in which he is mentioned in Holy Scripture. The closing

words of the Old Testamenta declared that Elijah the prophet should be sent "before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord," for that his ministry would be necessary to prevent a curse which would otherwise ensue. These words, we know,

created a belief in the Jews that the Messiah could not be manifested unless Elijah had first reappeared. Naturally the Jews still expect him. A writer, describing the proceedings at a modern passover, says, “All

a Mal. iv. 5.

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are now in profound silence, expecting the prophet Elijah to make his appearance as the harbinger of Messiah, and, consequently, as a certain sign of their restoration. The doors are opened to welcome his visit "." He adds, in a note, "The belief in the appearing of Elijah, before the coming of Messiah, has remained so strong among them that it is customary, until this very day, when a devout Jew mentions any place or person he esteems, for him to add, 'May it stand until Elijah.'

Among Christians, too, there are many who believe that this prophet is to appear personally, before the end of the world. In support of this expectation, they point to the eleventh chapter of the book of the Revelation, and affirm that Elijah must be one of the two witnesses who shall prophesy twelve hundred and sixty days. The words "clothed in sackcloth," "if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies," "these have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy," are certainly con

b Mills' British Jews.