COLERIDGE ON THE SECOND

ADVENT.

DEAR SIR,-The following note may perhaps interest some of your readers. The celebrated philosopher and poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, whom Charles Lamb aptly and wittily described as "an archangel a little damaged," was, it is well known, very much in the habit of largely annotating the books he read, and some of his interesting marginalia, not hitherto given to the world, were published in Blackwood's Magazine recently. Among the books from which these marginalia are taken, now in the British Museum, is a copy of Ben Ezra's Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty, a valuable prophetic work, now very scarce, translated from the Spanish, and magnificently prefaced by the well-known Edward Irving. Near the end of this volume Coleridge writes: "In all these marginal notes since those on the first part of this pre-discourse, I have written in the character of a convert to Mr. Irving's main Khpvyμa or tenet-the second personal coming of the crucified Son of Mary. What I object, therefore, is not objected against the doctrine, but in support of it indirectly, at least by removing this or that obstacle, this or that unnecessary difficulty in the way of its reception."

At the end of the book Coleridge breaks out into this remarkable and beautiful prayer:

"O, Almighty God, Absolute Good, Eternal I Am ! Ground of my being, Author of my existence, and its ultimate end! mercifully cleanse my heart, enlighten my understanding, and strengthen my will; that if it be needful or

furtherant to the preparation of my soul and of Thy Church, for the advent of Thy Kingdom, that I should be led into the right belief respecting the second coming of the Son of Man into the world, the mind may eye of my be quickened into quietness and singleness of sight." W. MAUDE. Liscard, Birkenhead.

"THE TIME OF THE END."

SIR, A word with Mr. T. C. Westfield, if you please, with reference to his paper in January No. of this year, "The Time of the End." Mr. Westfield writes thus: "The commencement of the Grand Gallery, without doubt, symbolises the Birth of our Lord" and, he adds, "Consequently the beginning of the present dispensation." Now, I admit (pyramidically) the first clause, but in reference to the "Consequently," or second clause, I wish to ask a question, which I asked Mr. Piazzi Smyth, in Nov., 1878, but which he declined to

answer.

In a work entitled "Philitis," by a Mr. C. Casey, which professes to be an epitome of Mr. Piazzi Smyth's account of the Great Pyramid, it is written that, "There is, on entering the Grand Gallery, a square sepulchral aperture, from the bottom of which a passage leads westerly for a short space to the edge of a subterranean passage just before it falls into the Hades Chamber-of course, the grave."

It is furthermore said that this shows the date of Calvary, the birth of the Lord having been thirty-three years previously.

Now, I ask Mr. Westfield, whether the length of 1882 inches

in the Grand Gallery is to a point below or above the sepulchral aperture, or whether there is any distinguishing feature at the lower end of the Grand Gallery that points to the length of The Lord's Life? i.e., 334 inches.

My reason for asking the question in reference to Mr. Westfield's second clause above, will now be plain. It is this. The present, or Christian dispensation cannot, Scripturally, be said to commence till the resurrection of the Lord, or till the day of Pentecost. During His life the Lord Jesus waswithout detracting from any other element of His great work of Salvation a divinely vicarious Israelite in perfect obedience to the Law, fulfilling it, and making an end of it, as a principle of righteousness in His death (Rom. x. 4). See also Gal. iii. 23, 24: "Before faith came," i.e., faith in a risen Christ as the source of justification, men were shut up under law; His death, therefore, terminated the Legal Age..

If divinely instructed it would seem extremely probable that the

pyramid architect has made some mark of 33 inches, to note the length of the Lord's life, and not have included it in the 1882 inches. If not, then the question arisesConsidering the dispensational character of the Lord's life, what do the termini of the gallery of 1882 inches point to?

Again. Mr. Westfield says, "Measuring over the step, however, would considerably extend the period." Has this any reference to the above? and what is the extra measure? Be it further remembered, that the Christian age terminates with the translation of the Church, the body of Christ, into heaven, according to 1 Thess. iv., an event that is said to occur seven years before the so-called end of the world, and appearance in glory and power of the Lord Jesus. Those seven years will be anti-Christian; 3 years of duplicity and flattery (Dan. ix. 27, x. 21), and 3 years of blasphemy and persecution. Then, the crisis of the world's doom (Rev. xix. 11 to end). H. GOODWYN.

Reading.

Solar

Eloh-heem the True God.
Light the Garment of the Lord.
By W. MORRIS, M.D. London:
Elliot Stock.

We have rarely, if ever, seen a sixpenny pamphlet of such extraordinary value. It is profoundly deep, and yet clear as crystal. Dr. Morris has the power of telling you what he means, and his meaning is worth something. As an argument for the Deity of the Son of God, the essay is conclusive. The illustrations from light and

flowers are exquisitely beautiful. This eloquent and admirable essay should secure very many readers. The author's former pamphlet, "The Revised and Arianized Version of the English New Testament," has a splendid sequel in "Eloh-heem, the true God." He who has these two essays has the foundations of true theology.

Bible Misreadings; or, the Book

Divine and Human. London :
Elliot Stock.

THIS little work is very much of the

character of the same publisher's "Biblical Things Not Generally Known," perhaps somewhat more critical. The writer makes good use of the two versions now before the English-speaking world, that of 1611 and that of 1881, and has specially in view Sunday School Teachers. He has really laid them under obligation by these Notes; but, of course, they will be useful to any person who reads them.

A Chaplet for the Church. Original Christian Melodies. By JOHN DAWSON HULL, B.A., Vicar of Wickhambrook, Suffolk. LonElliot Stock.

don

THE simple outpourings of a thankful heart on a number of religious subjects, suggested by texts of Scripture. Indeed, they are poetical commentaries on texts from which

this excellent evangelical clergyman has, no doubt, often preached, and they express the feelings of devout believers everywhere.

Some Triumphs and Trophies of the Light of the World. By the late Dr. MARGOLIOUTH. London: Elliot Stock.

A BRIEF memoir of this invery teresting convert from Judaism to Christianity precedes his papers, which are on "The Feast of Hoshana Rabba; What think ye of Christ? The Claims of the House of Jacob; The Feast of the Passover; and, It is the Day of Atonement." Very touching is the story of Moses Margoliouth's enlightenment, and valuable very are his papers in this volume.

The Speaking Dead; or, Select Extracts from the Writings of the Reformers and Martyrs. By B. BRADNEY BOCKETT, M.A. Oxon., Vicar of Epsom, Surrey. London: Elliot Stock.

THE sub-title of this book describes

its character. Its arrangement presents a page for every day in the year. Many of the pages are from the same authors. The biographical notes which precede have been gathered chiefly from Foxe and the Parker Society. Many of the extracts are precious gems. Some

of them are such atrocious libels on God that their reproduction in this year of grace surprises us. Surely Mr. Bockett cannot be ignorant of the clearer light shed upon the Divine character during the past few years.

New Covenant Ordinances and Order. The Word, Sacraments and Prayer. Practical Reflections in Rhyme. Stock.

A QUAINT production, neither poetry nor prose, showing, in its own way, the writer's notions about baptism, inspiration, and so forth. The School Hymnal.

London:

E. Marlborough & Co., 51, Old
Bailey.

THIS Volume contains 343 hymns for use in schools and families. Some are well-known favourites; others are to be found only in comparatively rare books; whilst many have not hitherto appeared in any printed collection. It is one of the results of corrupt theology that so many hymns are put into the lips of children which are at once contrary to reason and Scripture. People do not wish to die and go to heaven. It is not true; and it is cruel to make children sing that which fills their young hearts with gloom. This little book, although it is not free from blemish in this respect, is a great improvement in the way of healthy hymns for Sunday Schools. It would be of the hymns sung throughout a blessing to the world if one-half Christendom on Sunday were destroyed. We know what we say.