The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-10
Elijah Taken Up into Heaven.

To the few isolated events of Eli jah's career one was to be added which should surpass them all, even in their surprising scenic effects. He who had set the Lords house in order with such a masterful hand found it com paratively small matter to put his own in readiness. He was intent upon con- serving the reform which he had in- gurated. This could be best done by confirming the faith of the young men preparing for the prophetic office They were the hope of national godliness. So Elijah undertakes a last visitation of the prophet-communities at Bethel, Gilgal, and Jericho. With heroic pur- pose he sought to visit these sons of the prophets to the law and to the testimony. There Is something touch- ing in the firm adhesion of Elisha to Elijah in this closing scene. It reminds us of Ruth's "Entreat me not to leave thee" If, as has been suggested Ell jan was putting his successor to final test. his tenacity must have been very reassuring. He saw that he was ''steadfastly minded"
 It is an instinctive impulse on the part of the dying to bestow a last gift. the value of which shall be enhanced by the circumstances under which 1t is DesloWeus DO EllJdu sdius Aoh Whae | shall do for thee before I be taken away free thee." Elishas wise choice reminds us of Solomon's He gives the prophet another reassuring token of his fitness to be his successor. He asks for what pertains solely to his success in his holy calling-a double portion of Elijah's spirit. Not twice as much as Elijah had. That would be incongru- ous Not an evangelical spirit which would be twice as good as the legal spirit. Subsequent events do not sus- tain such a contrast. But 1t Is as if Elisha had said, If you wish to bestow a parting gift, which shall serve at once as memorial of your affection and be helpful to me In my career. rec- ogize me as your eldest son by giving me the double portion which falls to the eledest by law; give me. for exam pie. twice as much of the prophetic spirit as comes on any one of the fifty of your younger sons on wonder hill top"
 Elijah answered.: You have done hard in asking, for the matter is not one of explicit revelation to me. How ever, we will put 1t into the Lord's hands in this way: do not know how am to quit the earth whether visibly or invisibly. If in the former manner, so that you see me when I am taken from you, take 1t as the Lords own token that your request is granted. and that @ double portion of prophetic spirit is yours"
 Any attempt at minute description of Elijah's translation leads to exagger- ated rhetoric. Human language can not depict the scene. It was a theo- phany. The Lords minister on this oc- casion, as on many others, was a Ham, ing fire-"a chariot of fire and horses of fire and parted them both asunder: and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven"
 My father! my father! (thou) char lot of Israel and (thou) horsemen thereofv'-an epitaph without tomb stone! Committed to. the immortal cus- tody of the sacred Scriptures, 1t has survived many a panegyric 'sculptured in the rock or graven with an iron stylus on a sheet of lead forever" The first exclamation is expressive of that tender relationship subsisting between the prophet in the air and the prophet on the earth. It is as Elisha had said "Ah! I see thee! Thou art then my father and the eldest of thy prophetic sons. By tho Lords own token mine is now the double portion of the eldest son."
 The remainder of the epitaph tells with Oriental picturesqueness what the Tishbite was to Israel The chariot was the strongest arm of Eastern mil. itary service. corresponding to modern artillery. It was usually built of oak covered sometimes with metal A.
 many as three poles and as many span: