when fairly considered as presented to the minds of such as had nothing else to proceed uponnot of such as are already believers on other grounds are insufficient to warrant anything beyond a probable conjecture; and that in fact they very seldom produced even that effect. To bring the doctrine fairly within the list of truths discoverable by unaided reason, it should be shown, first, to have not only existed but prevailed as a matter, not of conjecture, but of belief, in some nation destitute of divine revelation; secondly, to have been believed on sufficient grounds; and, thirdly, to have been correctly believed. If any one of these requisites be wanting, it cannot be properly reckoned among the doctrines of natural religion. But, in truth, it appears that all three of these requisites were wanting among those enlightened nations of antiquity whose supposed knowledge of a future state is commonly appealed to: their notions were neither correct nor well-founded, nor generally received as a matter of certain belief."a

I wish to draw attention to the third argument adduced by Plato; and I bring it forward

a Revelation of a Future State, by Richard Whateley, D. D., Archbishop of Dublin, p. 114.

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entirely on account of its own nature, and the principle which it involves. The belief there brought before us of the pre-existence of the soul, is of great antiquity; and when we understand this existence, not as giving remembrance of that which has passed, but as being the imperfectly manifested consciousness of a true eternity, the doctrine presents an aspect not dissimilar from that which our own reflections enable us to behold. It is also partly in accordance with the views of Origen, "a presbyter of Alexandria, and a man of vast and uncommon abilities, who interpreted the divine truths of religion according to the tenor of the Platonic philosophy. Origen taught

"That there is a pre-existent state of human souls. For the nature of the soul is such as to make her capable of existing eternally, backward as well as forward, because her spiritual essence, as such, makes it impossible that she should, either through age or violence, be dissolved; so that nothing is wanting to her existence but the good pleasure of Him from whom all things proceed.

"That souls were condemned to animate mortal bodies, in order to expiate faults they had committed in a pre-existent state.

"That the soul of Christ was united to the Word before the incarnation. For the Scriptures teach us that the soul of the Messiah was created before the beginning of the world: Phil. ii. 5. 7. This text must be understood of Christ's human soul, because it is unusual to propound the Deity as an example of humility in Scripture. Though the humanity of Christ was so God-like, He emptied himself of the fulness of life and glory, to take upon him the form of a servant.

"That at the resurrection of the dead we shall be clothed with etherial bodies. For the elements of our terrestrial compositions are such as almost fatally entangle us in vice, passion, and misery. The purer the vehicle the soul is united with, the more perfect is her life and operations.

"That, after long periods of time, the damned shall be released from their torments, and restored to a new state of probation. For the Deity has such reserves in his gracious providence as will vindicate his sovereign goodness from all disparagement.

"That the earth, after its conflagration, shall become habitable again, and become the mansion of men and animals, and that in eternal vicissitudes. For it is thus expressed in Isaiah, -

Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind; and in Heb. i. 10. 12., Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth; as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed."

It is essential here to bear in mind the distinction between the previous existence of the soul, as understood by Plato, and its existence as a true eternity. Unless we carefully reject the notion of its existence in a former order of things, we shall be liable to fall into the error of the Hindoo and its kindred theology, which not only teaches the doctrine of metempsychosis, but looks upon the imprisonment of the soul in a body of flesh as a punishment for guilt committed in a previous state of existence. On the contrary, since we believe that that which possesses the property of Being without beginning or without end is now present, and since we have determined it to be necessary to speak of such Being as in the present, we are unable to regard the soul as existing previous to the manifestation of time. It is only during her connection with a temporary dispensation that she knows aught of priority or consequence. But it is

quite possible that, in an eternal state, she may be conscious of that which is taking place in eternity, of that which appears to us as having taken place in the past, or as about to take place in the future. Only we must be careful to remember, that this eternal existence is present, and can, in truth, be neither before nor after her earthly pilgrimage.

"Religious people often speak of death: sometimes generally, as a return;' at others with a further addition, as a 'return home.' Such modes of speaking, I admit, merely as such, and especially when they are uttered as so many empty phrases, unaccompanied with real feeling, and repeated without discrimination in season and out of season, are not perhaps calculated to make a very deep impression. Still, a very beautiful but grave meaning is nevertheless contained in them, and one which throws out very strongly the purely spiritual aspect of the matter. But here, then, a difficulty immediately presents itself. The question arises, How can we be said to go back or return to a place where, in fact, we never were before? or how can that be rightly called our home, which, in our present life, we first seek, and are to find, and learn to