heavens are dissolved, and those who composed them are either consigned to their final abodes, or are brought into a state of preparation for it. But the world of spirits is not entirely emptied of its inhabitants, either good or evil. Besides, the process of judgment itself creates for the time apparent confusion where there was seeming order, and violence where there was outward tranquillity. Forming an opinion of one by another, such must have been the condition of the world of spirits at the time of the judgment at the Lord's first advent. Judgment is performed, not on the openly wicked or on the perfected righteous, but on those who are of a mixed character, and who, though essentially different as to their inward state, are yet so formally similar as to their outward life and worship, as to be able to live together in societies which are formed in the middle state, and even in connection with the ultimate heaven. What must be the changed condition of things when these societies are broken up, when the inward states of all are laid open! When "the interiors of those upon judgment about to come were disclosed, they appeared no longer like moral Christians, as before, but like demons, in tumults, in mutual strife, about God, the Lord, faith, and the Church; and because their concupiscences to evils were then let loose, they rejected all those subjects with contempt and ridicule, and rushed into every kind of enormity. . . . These were the signs of coming judgment." Such is the account of the states and scenes preceding the last judgment. "After the judgment was accomplished there was joy in heaven, and also light in the world of spirits, such as was not before. A similar light also then arose in men in the world, giving them true enlightenment."

Notwithstanding this great and favourable change resulting from the judgment, we read in T. C. R., published fourteen years after that event, of the existence of malignant spheres in the world of spirits, one of which is thus described: "The third sphere is concerning the conjunction of faith and charity, which sphere is so strong as to be irresistible, but at this day is so abominable that it infests as a plague whomsoever it touches, and breaks all connection between those means of salvation established from the creation of the world, and renewed by the Lord. This sphere even invades men in the natural world, extinguishing the conjugal torches at the marriage of truths and goodness. I have myself sensibly perceived this sphere, and at the time when I was thinking of the conjunction of faith and charity, it interposed itself between them, and violently strove to separate them.

The angels complain much of these spheres, and pray the Lord that they may be dispersed; but they have received for answer that this cannot be so long as the dragon is on the earth in the world of spirits, for they proceed from the spirits of the dragon; and it is written that he was cast upon the earth, and therefore it is said, 'Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and woe to the inhabitants of the earth.' These three spheres are like atmospheres arising from the nostrils of the dragon, and driven by a violent wind, and being of a spiritual nature, they do violence to minds. The spheres of spiritual truth in that world are as yet but few, prevailing only in the new heaven, and with those under heaven who are separated from the spirits of the dragon; and this is the reason why these truths are as invisible to men in the world as ships in the eastern ocean are to pilots and seamen in the western" (619).

Judging from analogy, we may conclude that after the judgment that accompanied the redemption of the human race by the Lord, the spheres of the evil would for a time be powerful in the world of spirits, and that their influence and effects would continue to manifest themselves in many if not all the forms that they had taken before the judgment was accomplished. So we find that, as extraordinary effects of the influence of evil spirits continued for a time, so for a time were continued extraordinary powers to cope with them. The apostles had the power of performing miracles. As soon as the need for it ceased, the power ceased also.

Noble, in his Appeal, in speaking of the signs on earth of judgments which have been performed in the spiritual world, considers that thirty years is about the period when they begin to manifest themselves. "We may," he says, "conclude the judgments in the spiritual world to have been finished at the Lord's ascension; and thirty years after this event the troubles broke out in Judea, which issued in the destruction of Jerusalem, the desolation of the whole country, and the end of the national existence of the Jews" (p. 163). If this view is correct, we may conclude that in the natural world it is some considerable time before a crisis comes corresponding to that which has happened in the world of spirits, and that in the interval little difference may be observed in the outward condition of things. The spiritual is the world of causes, and the natural world is the world of effects; but effect does not follow cause instantly, but gradually and steadily, as it works itself out by a change in all the degrees of descent by which the spiritual ultimates itself in the

natural.

Yet we must remember that we are in the world of causes as well as in the world of effects. We are affected by the spheres, both good and evil, which meet in the world of spirits, and it is our duty to refuse the evil and choose the good, and to bring the heavenly sphere down into our natural man, and diffuse it, as far as our powers enable and our frailties permit us, to all around us.

FROM BEYROUT TO BETHLEHEM:

BEING REMINISCENCES OF A RECENT JOURNEY THROUGH THE HOLY LAND.

By C. COLLINGWOOD, M.A., etc.

IV. CESAREA-PHILIPPI.

BEFORE leaving Damascus we paid a visit to some of the interiors of the unprepossessing houses occupied by well-to-do people. The contrast, however, between the outside and the inside was as striking as it could well have been, and no one, from a mere ramble through the streets, could ever imagine the amount of taste and elegance which lay snugly ensconced behind the mud walls in the recesses of unsavoury streets. Indeed, it seemed as though the dirtier and narrower the street, the more likely was one to find a little paradise concealed in its cul-de-sac. One is not prepared to pass immediately through a hole in the mud wall of a squalid street, and find one's-self in a spacious, cool, decorated courtyard, adorned with refreshing fountains, and scented with pomegranates, oranges, and citrons, and other beautiful flowering shrubs; into reception-rooms covered with arabesques, and inlaid with gold, with rich silk divans and embroidered hangings and luxurious fittings, such as fully come up to one's ideal of the gorgeous, if somewhat barbaric, opulence of Eastern magnates. One of these was the house of a rich Jew, in which it was evident that no expense had been spared in anything that could conduce to elegance and luxury. They are accused of great want of taste, but we were not disposed to be so critical. Such houses are always open to visitors, for the worthy Israelites are by no means anxious to hide their wealth from Christians. Their great bugbears are the pashas, who would be disposed to make them pay a handsome backsheesh, if they thought their coffers could well bear it. It being Saturday, the

Jewish Sabbath, the ladies especially were all en grande tenue, and their black laughing eyes and ripe red lips were set off by the heavy gold ornaments and the sparkling jewels with which they were adorned. We also visited the house of a Christian, and that of the Danish Consul, both of which were very tasteful.

But it is time I quitted this most interesting and most ancient place, which, founded in the mists of antiquity, had an independent government and existence of nearly 1500 years, since which it has been successively under the sway of Babylonians and Persians, of Greeks, of Romans, of Saracens, and lastly of Turks; and which, under even the effete rule of these last, still retains it vitality, I might almost say its juvenility, and promises to endure still as long as there are Eastern races to fill its narrow streets. It has as yet scarcely at all become tinged by the Western element, as Cairo has been during the last dozen years, almost beyond recognition; but we fear that this will come, and that ere many lustrums have passed, the traveller will have to go farther afield, to Bagdad or Bassora, to find the unadulterated scenes, with which, as a boy, he became familiar in the "Arabian Nights."

Mounting our horses at 7 A.M. (Nov. 13th), we emerged from the gates of Damascus, once more crossed the Merj, and left behind us the minarets and mosques of the city. Our route lay through the fertile and picturesque belt which lay around Damascus, a region kept in a state of high cultivation by means of numerous canals, through which the waters of the Abana and Pharpar are made to do excellent service. At this time of year there was not much verdure, but the agricultural operations we saw going on showed that preparations were taking place upon a large scale for the following season, Numerous villages and vineyards marked the immediate neighbourhood of the city. In some green lanes we overtook our baggage-train, which had quitted Damascus before us, and for some time we were mingled up in confusion, forming quite a crowd of men and animals. Getting clear of them at length, we also found we were getting clear of fertility, and emerging upon something like a desert-the plain of Damascus; and here was the spot pointed out as probably the site of the conversion of St. Paul. Looking back, we see the distant indications of the city in the midst of fertility; looking forward, we see nothing but sterility -rugged slopes, over which the snow-capped Mount Hermon seemed to brood, and from whose top heavy clouds appeared to be sweeping away, and indicating that the fine weather we had had so far was

going to give way. Herds of camels were grazing upon this desolatelooking soil, nibbling at what seemed the sand, though doubtless they managed to descry and utilize a little vegetation thereon. A cold and rather high wind sprang up as we stopped near this historic spot to lunch, still in sight of the minarets of Damascus. Many wretchedlooking and somewhat dirty Arabs, but withal good-humoured, squatted round as we despatched our meal, and by means of our native attendants and dragoman we were able to keep up an amusing chat with them. For three hours after this we continued our course over the undulating plains, upon which we encountered scarcely any further sign of human life or habitation. Great numbers of violet-coloured autumnal crocuses were the only flowers visible, and large flocks of pigeons, with many larks and other small birds, alighted and rose continually in our path. We cross at one place a branch of the Pharpar, which thus but once encountered us, unlike its companion the Abana, of which we had seen so much. But we could not help sympathizing with Naaman, and giving a high meed of praise to his favourite rivers, which we were unwilling to withdraw even after having seen the Jordan. And thus the day's travel brought us in due time to our camping-place, the large village of Kefr Hawr, where, by the time we arrived, a high and piercing wind was blowing, which made us glad of all our coverings as we lay in our tents under the snows of Mount Hermon.

When we were aroused the next morning at the usual time it was still quite dark, but a rich sunrise soon appeared and gave us hope of a fine day, a hope to be by no means fulfilled. We had before us

one of the longest and most arduous of our days' journeys, from Kefr Hawr, over the rugged limestone lower slopes of Mount Hermon, to Bâniâs (or Cæsarea-Philippi); and had the weather been fine, it would doubtless have been a grand and wild track, but we were doomed to one of those days which the traveller rejoices to look back upon rather than to look forward to-one of those comfortless journeys which have to be made at times, and which, in taking the rough with the smooth, must occasionally fall to the lot of all who leave their firesides. We had hardly started when the clouds gathered, and rain began, and fell without intermission nearly all day. Wrapped in waterproofs and variously contrived head-gear, we must have looked a woe-begone and somewhat strange procession-horses and riders alike feeling the depressing effects of the inclement sky. Umbrellas were dispensed with, as hopeless, by all except myself, but I found an