How suggestive is the fact that the writers do not undertake to tell how he was translated! The writer of the book of Kings gives us a "chariot of fire" and "a whirlwind" as the modus operandi of translating Elijah from one world to the other (?), but here there are no agencies mentioned, and so far as the writers are concerned, there seems to be nothing incomplete or unreasonable in the statements that he "was carried up into heaven," and "was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight." We must suppose that persons witnessing such an extraordinary event would have some notions as to the means used in translating Jesus above the clouds, and that they could not fail to express them in giving an account of what they had seen. Their silence on this point, and the utter incredibility of the story make it apparent that the writer is merely recording myths. The last chapters of John are silent concerning the ascension. Now, as it is generally admitted by the best biblical critics that the last twelve verses of the last chapter of Mark are spurious, we have then only one of the four biographers of Jesus who mentions the ascension. It is utterly improbable that these three other writers should deliberately refuse to give an account of the greatest event they had ever seen. We must consider the discrepancies of the writers concerning the number of days that Jesus remained on earth after his resurrection. According to Luke's account, he did not remain on earth one day. "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23 : 43)--that is, in heaven; see 2 Cor. 12 : 4. In this same twenty-third chapter of Luke, Jesus does not ascend until the third day after his crucifixion; and in Acts 1 : 3, it is recorded that he was "seen of them forty days." Another slight discrepancy occurs in relation to the length of time Jesus was in the grave. Matthew says (12 : 40), "For as Jonas was three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." But as Jesus was only two nights and one day in the grave there is no analogy between the two, hence the statement is radically erroneous.