(Concluded.)

Now, let us see for a little what more is involved in this error at which we have been looking.

It involves the error of a divided Christ. The expression, " The Christ," includes, in such passages as i Cor. 12:12, not only Christ the Head, but also His body, the Church. If, at His coming, a part only of that body is taken and the other left, what becomes of the unity of this mystical body? (See i Cor. 12 :25.) And again, the Church, the body, composed of all believers, is Christ's bride. Will He have a bride with members lacking – a body incomplete, in heaven-some members in glory and glorious with Him above, and others on earth suffering in the great tribulation ? Is it not written, "Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it" (i Cor. 12:26)? How does this comport with the theory of a partial rapture ? Will the members caught up at the coming suffer in heaven with their fellow-members left behind on earth ?

Again, if the Holy Spirit (who now dwells in the Church as the temple of God) goes with the Church at the coming of Christ, that part of the Church left on earth would be no more God's temple or dwelling-place. But Eph. 4 :30 declares the members of Christ here on earth are by the Spirit "sealed unto (or till) the day of redemption." Does this agree with the thought of some of these sealed ones being left at His rapture-the day of redemption ? The seal is the mark, the sign, put by the owner upon the purchased possession until its removal by him to its settled abiding-place; and the believer, "bought with a price," is marked and set apart for God, "sealed unto the day of redemption." But if he is left at the rapture, the day of the body's redemption, how could this scripture be fulfilled in him ?

And yet further:will there be different classes of the people of God on earth in the tribulation- one, an earthly and Jewish remnant; the other, a portion of the Church on earth with a heavenly calling? And where is this left portion of the Church referred to in Revelation, or in any portion of the Scriptures treating of the tribulation ? What is their testimony, their place, their destiny, and will they ever again be joined to the Church, "which is His body?" The earthly saints, both Jew and Gentile, we can clearly see and trace, but this detached portion of the body, this left section of the Church, we nowhere find. Why ? Because they are not there ; they are all in glory:the bride, the Lamb's wife, is presented there to Himself "a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing " (Eph. 5:27)-nor any subtraction, nor any member missing, we might add.

Two scriptures are frequently referred to as supporting the belief in a partial rapture. One is the parable of the ten virgins (Matt. 25). Let us look at it. The whole company of the ten virgins represent the professing Church. The wise are the true believers; by the Holy Scriptures they have been made "wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus" (2<ijTim. 3 :15). They have not only the lamp of profession, but they have oil in their vessels with their lamps. Oil, in Scripture, is the standing type of the Holy Spirit. And it is written, "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His " (Rom. 8 :9). And being Christ's, the wise are ready, and when the Bridegroom comes, they go in with Him to the marriage. The foolish virgins have the profession, but not the Spirit-they are not Christ's, not true children of God; mere professors they are, unconverted ones, having lamps but no oil, no Holy Spirit. So when the Bridegroom comes, they are unprepared and shut out-left without hope. "I know you not," the Bridegroom says. Could this be said of any saint, however unsatisfactory his state? No; for it is written again, "The Lord knoweth them that are His" (2 Tim. 2:19).

The other stock text is Heb. 9:28:" Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Now, it is not our purpose here to go into the full meaning of this passage. A most cursory examination of the context would show that the inspired penman has before him the Old Testament figure of the Jewish high priest going into the holiest of the tabernacle, as he did once a year, to make atonement for Israel, while the expectant people waited without for his reappearance. So Christ, our great High Priest, has entered heaven itself, there "to appear in the presence of God for us." And in due time, like the earthly priest of old, He shall appear again to them . "that look for Him," and they "that look for Him" are all the people cf God. It does not say, nor does it mean, that He will appear only to them that intelligently wait for His coming, or to those who watchfully listen for His shout. No; for this would make the translation of a saint dependent, not upon his faith in Christ, or even on his devoted-ness to Him, but upon his knowledge-an idea which would deny the plain import of Scripture as a whole, and special passages in particular, as "knowledge puffeth up."

The fact is, every truly converted soul is looking for Christ-not all in the same way, nor yet with equal degree of intelligence or longing'. Some, through ignorance, look for Him at death; others expect to see Him coming at the end of the world; while others, again, have no fixed belief as to the occasion and time ; they only know that they love Him because He first loved them, and their heart would be made glad at the sight of His glorious face.

I remember, many years ago, hearing a devoted soul, a real "mother in Israel," tell of a dream she had concerning "the end of the world," as it had been taught her. The mighty thunders were crashing, the earth rending, stars falling, the heavens rolled back as a scroll, the fire was descending, and the graves opening, and the judgment about to sit ; and she awoke in her bed exclaiming in ecstacy, "Oh, I shall see Jesus!" Was she not "looking for Him ? " Yet how mixed up she was in it all. Like thousands of others of God's saints, she knew nothing at all of what is called "dispensational truth;" but like them and all who know and love the Saviour, she was looking for Him; and to them He shall appear as well as to us who by grace possess a little more knowledge of the order in which God's word has placed these different events. How mistaken, then, are they who would limit and narrow a passage of Scripture like this, and make it apply only to a small portion of the beloved and blood-bought saints of God!

We close our argument; not that we have said the last word on the subject; no, not by any means; for very much more might be said in refutation of this wide-spread error of a partial rapture. But enough has been said, we believe, to convince and satisfy any one willing to bow to Scripture, and it is for these that we write; for our aim has been more to help the perplexed, and guard those already instructed, than to convince the gainsayers.

It only remains for us, in closing, to exhort the Christian reader to be found of Him in peace, watching and waiting, with lamp trimmed and burning; with loins girded, "like unto men that wait for their Lord," that both reader and writer maybe "presented faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." "Let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober " (i Thess. 5:6). C. Knapp