if they are not always walking through dry places and seeking rest and finding none, is to say the least, as far from God the judge of all, the spirits of just men made perfect and the innumerable company of angels as earth is from heaven.

The communications of our times are generally the most trivial and often the most senseless mumeries imaginable. But the angels of God "being greater in might and power," came to men as befits their exalted station, charged with messages of importance, endowed with power to make those messages known and understood to the honor and glory of him they serve.

A marked distinction is made between angels and spirits of the dead, when they are mentioned in connection in the Bible.

Paul makes the distinction when he classifies the inhabitants of the heavenly Jerusalem, as 66 an innumerable company of angels; the church of the first-born; God the judge of all; and the spirits of just men made perfect.

The Pharisees made the distinction when they said "If an angel spirit or an angel hath spoken to him."

"The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess both."+

This distinction would certainly not have been made, if angels and departed spirits were identical. † Acts 23: 8-9.

*Heb. 12: 22—23.

The distinction is made by the Saviour. He says: "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God."-Luke xii: 8.

Did Christ intend to teach that those who confess him before men should be confessed before themselves ? that those who denied him before men should be denied before themselves? Who is prepared, in order to sustain a "baseless fabric," to make nonsense of the solemn words of the Redeemer !

Angels are not spirits of the dead, because they existed before any person died.

"Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, **where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding * * when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy."-Job 38.

"So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turneth every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."-Gen. 3: 24.

These sons of God and cherubim must have been angels. Is it not certain, therefore, that angels existed when the earth was created, and before the death of any person, and consequently are a distinct class of beings?

Let those who assert the contrary in the face of such Biblical testimony, vindicate if they can, the absurdity that the Lord had no angels till after the death of Abel ! .

CHAPTER V.

SPIRITUALISM NOT THE WORK OF DEPARTED SAINTS,

"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them."-Rev. xiv. 13.

THE SPIRITS of all departed saints are with Christ in heaven. Those only who have been converted and lived the life of the righteous, together with little children, are eligible to a seat in the presence of the Redeemer, and the holy angels. It is their special privilege to claim what was implied by the dying protomartyr, "Lord Jesus receive my spirit." Well may all such persons "desire to depart and be with Christ; which is far better." Christ's assurance, 66 Verily I say unto thee Today shalt thou be with me in paradise," was ample consolation for the dying penitent. Says the Apostle.

'Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: We are confident, I say, and Willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."-2 Cor. v: 6.

When Christians are absent from the body they are present with the Lord. Paul clearly reveals the residence of all departed saints.

"Ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire. ** But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. To the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant."--Heb. xii: 18, 22-24.

According to this, in that blessed city, styled the "Father's house of many mansions,” are :

1. An innumerable company of angels.

2. The church of the first born, those who rose from the dead with Christ.

3. GOD the judge of all is there.

4. The spirits of just men made perfect are there. 5. Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant is there.

66

As the old Jerusalem was located on mount Sion, by a tropical allusion the location of the new Jerusalem is called mount Sion also. Paul's saying to his brethren " ye are come unto mount Sion," is a metaphor, showing that the relation existing between them and the heavenly city, was analagous to the relation between the Israelites and mount Sinai, when they were at the foot of the mountain and Moses was on its summit, as the mediator of the old covenant; because when Paul wrote, as now, Christ was in the heavenly Jerusalem as mediator of the new covenant.

Does any one suppose that this text describes what is to be realized after the resurrection? I reply, the Apostle speaks of what had already taken

place. "Ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched-like Sinai-but ye have come unto mount Sion," i. e., they had obtained a relationship of heavenly grace with that city, the location of which Paul metaphorically styled mount Sion. And as Paul is true, the abode of departed saints is there.

"We know that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens."-5 Cor. v: 1.

It cannot be shown from the Bible that Jehovah has ever commissioned the spirit of a just man to hold intercourse with sinful mortals, with a solitary exception, that of Samuel.

The appearance of Moses and Elias on the Mount of Transfiguration will be urged as an objection to this assertion.

And after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them; and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him."-Math. xvii : 1-4.

Elijah never died. He was translated to heaven bodily.* Hence he must have appeared on the mountain in his glorified body. There was but one disembodied spirit there--that of Moses, and he had no intercourse with the apostles.

Hence this text does not effect our position. His

*2 Kings 2: 11.