* I have heard the words of this preceding quotation handled by a great variety of divines, asserting themselves to be orthodox, and who hold the position of Christian ministers. All, without exception, profess to regard the expressions about the sun being darkened and the stars falling, as figurative or metaphorical, and each, according to his prevalent ideas, or to the pet theory of the day, explain the imagery as having a reference to some emperor, king, queen, general of armies, and I know not what besides. But, to anyone who examines the phraseology closely, it will be seen that the words are to be taken in their most literal sense. Jesus had, as we have shown, a firm belief in the immediate destruction of the world, and upon that theme he descants and dilates. Taking the Mosaic account of creation as strictly true to the letter, Jesus regarded the sun, moon, and stars as apanages of our earth, and very naturally drew the inference, that when the world was burned up, there would be no necessity for the celestial luminaries--the sun would cease to shine, the moon would be dark, and the stars fall from the sky under the influence of the same power that produced the mundane destruction. These defunct bodies would be replaced by a vast apparition, whose glory would exceed that of the ancient rulers of the day and night, and he who now stood on earth as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief would be seen and recognized as the arbiter of the destinies of every man. The passages referred to in the text bear no other meaning than the one here assigned to them; nor would anyone, however wild "a divine" he might be, ever see, or endeavour to discover, in the words referred to, a hidden meaning, unless the solemn assertion of Jesus of his immediate advent in the clouds of heaven had been such a signal failure as time has proved it to be. We have always protested against those theologians who pronounce passages in the Bible to be metaphorical or literal as it suits the event, and we do so now. Why such men should insist upon it that everything in the Koran and Buddhistic books must be taken au pied de la lettre and that everything in the Bible may be allegorised, is a matter beyond my comprehension. They surely forget the dictum--"with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again" (Matt, vii. 2).