than object to, by only asking them in return-" But whom say ye that I am?" Our spirits came from the custody of God, and will return to his keeping, but whether to the same region or place as formerly, (if souls did before exist,) we cannot tell. The Scriptures uniformly represent us as being only strangers and pilgrims on the earth-that heaven is our country, into which we ought to prepare for our return; and the early fathers,* in the first ages of Christianity, held similar language. "Christ," says St. Chrysostom, "leads us again into heaven;" giving us undoubtedly to understand that we had been there before. St. Basil tells us that we are by sin fallen to the earth, and another early writer assures us that our Redeemer opened the way to our heavenly country, from which all mankind had been banished many thousand years.†

The Essenes are said to have been the most religious and equitable people under the Jewish law. They believed the souls of men existed in a prior state, and that they shall continue to live for ever;" that when the appointed moment arrived at which the soul behoved to animate a body, it descended from the highest air, being drawn into the habitation prepared for it by an irresistible natural attraction.

* There are some who associate all reference to the Fathers, (as the early theological writers of the Christian Church are called,) with Papistical notions; but it should be remembered that the corruptions of the Romish Church are to be attributed principally to the ignorance and bigotry of the dark ages which arose after Christianity had been established for several hundred years, and it would be arrogating rather too great a superiority for our own penetration to imagine, that at the distance of 1800 years, we now know more of the true spirit of Christianity than those learned and pious men who professed it in the days of the Apostles, and immediately after them. As frequent reference is made in the course of this work to the writings of these primitive Christians, the above remark should be allowed its due weight. + Laurent. Surii. Homil. p. 379, in die Pasche.

Besides the two great sects of the Pharisees and Sadducees, the Jewish nation was formed also of two others, the Herodians and Essenes; the latter of whom resided chiefly near Engedi, in the wilderness of Jordan; where, with considerable reason, it is believed that John the Baptist received his early education.

It escaped again from its prison, as soon as the body died, and returned with inconceivable velocity to its abode on high."*

Adam was free from sin when first placed in paradise, which may be said to be inconsistent with his soul having existed in a former state in which it had sinned; but there would be no great stretch of imagination (in order to reconcile some Scriptural difficulties) in believing that in this case, God had forgiven all former sin, but perhaps only conditionally, when he sent the soul into the mortal body of man; thus forming a new being, although one of the parts may have formerly existed, and no one supposes that the body ever lived before its life here. If the soul had begun its new career clogged with a weight of sin, it could not have been said to have started fair, and it may have been pardoned only on condition of maintaining its purity through a life on earth, until it had been allowed to partake of the tree of immortality. It might not have been thought worthy of regaining heaven at once without a course of probation, after which, it might then have directly and immediately become again an inhabitant of heaven; an opportunity would thus have been afforded of satisfying the justice of God, at the same time that his mercy was eminently displayed. finding that man could not thus regain heaven, from his having yielded to the wiles of the great evil Spirit, another mysterious plan was adopted: Our Lord and Creator himself becoming a man, subject to death, then offering his mortal life for the sins of his fallen, and otherwise helpless and hopeless children and fellow-men.

On

We are not informed that the fall of man from a state of innocence brought death upon any other species of living creatures, and we have no reason to believe that any alteration was made regarding them on that occasion. There is no reason to think that any of them were created immortal, and we hear of no tree of life placed in their power, no after

* Gleig's History of the Bible, Vol. II. p. 225.

life in another state, or continued one in this world, and no sentence of death passed on them,* or any necessity of removing them from paradise, as there was in regard to man after he had disobeyed. We believe that carnivorous birds and beasts were formed along with the others, and were present in Eden while man was in a state of purity. If they were so, death must have even then been known among the creatures on which they prey, as from their very construction, both external and internal, they could not live on the vegetable productions of the earth, or be supposed to exist without food. "What may be the designs," says the Rev. Dr. Crombie, "of the great Parent of all being, respecting the inferior creation, whether the present is to be the whole of their existence, or whether they may yet have other purposes to answer even on this earth, than appear to us, we are wholly ignorant. This, however, we may venture to affirm, that, if we have in the phenomena of the human mind evidence sufficient to convince us, that there must be in man a principle not material, which perceives, thinks, and wills, it cannot weaken our conviction, were it absolutely certain, that an immaterial principle exists in none, in some, or in

* When the ground was cursed for the sin of man, and it was said that in future it should bring forth thorns and thistles, it has been inferred that in consequence, the condition of all herbivorous animals must have also in some degree been altered for the worse. But the meaning of the denunciation more probably had only a reference to man, and meant that the earth would no longer spontaneously yield him food, and not until he laboured for it. To all browsing animals, and those dependent on its products, the earth still produces food for them of itself.

The gastric juice in the stomach of every species of animals is adapted to the food they commonly feed on, as directed by natural instinct, and it will generally dissolve no other. Thus, a few grains of corn will make a hawk sick, and the same is the case with almost all beasts of prey, while herbivorous animals cannot digest flesh.

Among the large quantities of antediluvian fossil bones discovered near Montpellier in France, were many of carnivorous animals. Lions and tigers much superior in size and strength to the present living species-animals whose canine teeth are about six inches in length!

See Account by M. Marcel de Serres, in Edin.

Journal of Science, Ap. 1826.

all, of the inferior creation."* If, however, when arguing from natural reasons, we infer that man must have a soul distinct in its nature from his animal frame, because he thinks, then if it be admitted that beasts can also think and show many of the powers attributed to mind or soul yet without having any immaterial principle within them,--or, that the animal matter of their bodies is endowed with such a power,-it certainly follows that the brain of man may also be endowed with mind as an inherent faculty or power in itself, since in beasts we have an instance of matter being able to act in such a manner. But we have not sufficient knowledge of the nature of beasts to assume that they are actuated by no kind of spirit whatever, and we cannot draw so important a conclusion with regard to ourselves from such uncertain premises. In common language we speak of a horse, for instance, as having a fiery spirit, a gentle spirit—a mule, an obstinate spirit—a fox, a cunning spirit, and so on. Is the proverbial wisdom of the elephant the effect of a particular organization of the matter of his brain? It would be a dangerous admission that it is so, for an inference might fairly be drawn by the materialist with regard to the powers of the human brain.

"The Prince of the power of the air," a great Spirit in rebellion against God, seems early to have directed his attention to ruin the fair creation in the garden of Eden. The unsullied purity of the first pair was soon tarnished and effaced by his wiles, which induced them to disobey an explicit command of God. However small a matter the mere act in itself might be considered, if it is taken literally, yet as a solemn order of their Creator, and in the face of such an awful threatening, it became a serious crime. It was not, therefore, merely eating a certain fruit, even had it been literally so, but was an open opposition to the divine will, an assumption of knowledge like unto that of heavenly beings, which God had chosen to prohibit man from acquiring until

*Crombie's Natural Theology, Vol. II. p. 375.

+ Ephes. ii. 2.

his own gracious time came. The evil spirit spoke truth when he told Eve of the knowledge she would acquire, and God himself acknowledges that both she and her husband had obtained it in consequence of their own deed.*

Death did not immediately follow, but they were left subject to it, as well as exposed to sorrow and suffering, as soon as they had committed the fatal act, as a direct consequence of the newly acquired and dear bought knowledge, which, indeed, tended, and would very soon have led them to immortality, by prompting them to eat of the tree of life, if they had not been driven from the garden, by which expulsion, the Lord in due time fulfilled his threatenings.

Death, therefore, was the general doom of man in consequence of sin in the first parents of our race.

Adam and Eve were tried by God, and found guilty on their own confession. Sentence was passed on them both, and immediately carried into execution. They were driven from Paradise to be out of reach of the tree of life ;—the natural consequence of which was, that their bodies, after lasting about 930 years, became unable to support life any longer, and returned to the earth, while their souls went to the place of separate spirits.† In their sentence were included some minor punishments besides their being left to die. The ground was no longer spontaneously to yield them food without trouble, but for this they were doomed to toil, in order to obtain it, and the woman was at times to suffer bodily pain.

Thus, our first parents, although warned of the certain consequence of disobedience, were yet guilty of it—were tried sentenced-and their doom at length apparently carried into full effect. We may imagine, as some do, that it included a more terrible punishment, but those who take the Scriptures for their guide, can there find no more than that

Gen. iii. 22.

+ It is unknown whether Adam or Eve died first, for the death of the latter is not mentioned.