it, and in a world where there is every thing to be
done for God and men, holds him, and every other dead saint, in a
useless suspension of his consciousness, and, indeed, for so many ages,
annihilation? Poor economy in the dispensation of overflowing love to
intelligent beings,--we say it with submission,--does this seem to be;
nor can we think that, in the case of Elijah, it was this which was
heralded by horses and chariots of fire. Chariots and horses are emblems
of flight; but if sleep were descending upon the hero of the prophetic
age, twilight would more appropriately have drawn her soft veil over
nature, birds would have begun their vespers, clouds would have put on
their changing, pensive colors, while cadences of music, breathed by the
winds, would have shed lethargic influences into the scene. Inspiration
does not trifle with us by really meaning such a preparation for a sleep
of ages, and yet informing us, in so many words, that "the Lord would
take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind." No; going to heaven is not
going to sleep, and going to sleep is not going to heaven. Sleep and
death are used figuratively for each other, according to the laws of
language, which describes appearances without regard to scientific
truth, as in speaking of the sun's rising, for example, and the going
down of the sun; but to fall asleep in Jesus is to awake in heaven; to
be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. This we all
believe; and may we never be moved away from this cheering, animating
hope. Yet how little power has this belief and hope upon our feelings
and conduct! for our Christian graces partake of the same imperfection
which characterizes our whole nature; the soil is poor in which they
grow; the seasons are short, the climate cold; they do not reach
maturity. It is instructive to notice how men who have had the very best
advantages, and the greatest knowledge, are, nevertheless, prone to
unbelief. Christ appeared to his disciples, and upbraided them because
they believed not them which said he was risen. Their incredulity
strikes us as marvellous. They were not the first, nor the last, whose
want of faith is a marvel. These sons of the prophets in Elisha's day
were equally slow to believe. They themselves had said to him, "Knowest
thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to-day?"
Elisha came back to them from the scene of the translation. Of course he
told them what had happened, des