Transmigration of Souls. 49 History of Ceylon,) to the effect that the elephant has two hearts, by the use of one of which he is used to gentleness, by the other to ferocity and resistance. Upon this, a writer in the National Review observes: "This legend of the two hearts of the elephant is a striking expression of that duality of the physical nature which seems to distinguish tameable from untameable animals. In an animal of the latter class, whether in its wild state or in captivity, the whole bent of its nature is single and unwavering: it may be crushed by outer violence, but it admits of no internal division, and the influence of man finds no place in the permanent nature of the beast. In the tameable animal, on the contrary, there is an original duality which furnishes a foot-hold for the power of man. There is one part of the creature's nature that struggles with the other, and thus strangely mimics the moral nature of man, with its conflicts between the higher and the lower principles in him, and like that moral nature is amenable to the power of rewards and punishments." The writer then instances the dog as exhibiting this quality in the highest degree; but considers that the same thing, in lesser degrees, characterises all animals that are capable of being tamed, and not merely subdued to be held in by present force. Mrs. Elizabeth Rowe, the friend of Bishop Ken, and of Dr. Isaac Watts, has left, in allusion to the "Pre-existence of Souls," A HYMN ON HEAVEN. Ye starry mansions, hail! my native skies! TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS, AND SACREDNESS OF ANIMALS. The Egyptians maintained that after death the soul, being immortal, transmigrated into bodies of all kinds of animals, whether birds, beasts, or fishes; and that after the space of three thousand years it again returned to the body which it left, provided that body was preserved from destruction during the long period of its absence. The Egyptians also held that the gods took refuge in the bodies of animals from the wickedness and violence of men; they therefore regarded such animals as sacred, and accordingly worshipped them as containing the divinities whom they revered. This led to the bestowing on them the honour of embalming, while it explains the reason why the mummies of so many animals are found to this day preserved in their catacombs. They placed particular gods in particular animals: thus, Apollo was in the hawk, Mercury in the ibis, Mars in the fish, Diana in the cat, Bacchus in the goat, Hercules in the colt, Vulcan in the ox, &c. These animals, with many others, or parts of them, are accordingly found embalmed with the bodies of the human race in the Egyptian tombs; but they were not all worshipped during the early history of Egypt. E Spiritual Life. SPIRITUAL RECLAMATION. THE progress of souls from darkness to light, from ignorance to knowledge, is among the more beautiful spectacles of our spiritual life. And, soon or late, this is a consummation which awaits us all. Yet, spiritual reclamation, whether on the large scale or the small, demands concentration of purpose, energy, and intelligence. Would we realise heaven, let us begin now. The paradise of our aspirations has its foundations here, and the capacities of the future are grounded on those of the present life. A twofold cosmos, natural things and spiritual, For whoso separates those two, In arts, in morals, or the social drift, Tears up the bond of nature and brings death. As we love here, we shall love in a degree hereafter, as we feel and think now, so must we in somewise feel and think for ever. The unseen world, with all its momentous transactions, let us be assured, is simple and natural as that in which we dwell. Ascetic horrors and ascetic gloom, travestying and deforming with frightful, yet vain imaginings, the beautiful city of God, are sorry preparatives for heaven. How, indeed, should sourness and formality, convictions on which no ray of imagination or feeling seems to shine, consort with the angelic amenities, the transporting assurances of the life to come. For this, let us be well assured, is not as some inquisition torture-chamber, reformatory hulk, or condemned cell. In the celestial life, as here, so surely as God is light, and truth, and love, goal shall succeed goal, and quest follow quest, for ever. A new iris shall spring up, not to foil past efforts, but to allure us on to new, a constant becoming of which the perfect realisation is never. There, indeed, the greatsouled patriot shall freedom find at last, there each self-denying saint the sanctities which lie folded within the inner life, and of which the perfect home is heaven.-Dr. Mc Cormack's Aspirations of the Inner Life. "EXCELSIOR." This is the motto of the United States of America: it signifies literally "Higher," and may be considered to denote the aspiring character of that nation. "Excelsior" is also the title of a Notions of Angels. 51 sublime poem by Longfellow, whose meaning is thus interpreted by a classic friend: "Longfellow, in my mind, has a feeling in that beautiful poem not unlike the feeling of his psalm of life under every aspect. It is, I take it, an ideo-religion of Longfellow's own fine imagination and truly poetic art, and I read the effusion as his view of the interior career of man. EXCELSIOR, starting from that sublime point of departure wherein the human soul was placed by the Almighty, paulo minus ab angelis,' the individual who wishes to improve himself never finds a halting place on earth. His career is upward, in one sense, whatever it may appear to be. His very degradations are means of increased ennoblement, because of incessant compurgation and purity. And in one respect the human almost surpasses the angelic lot; because the one, being perfect in its kind, does not, perhaps, admit of progress, and the other does indefinitely. The yearning to fulfil this progressive lot engenders a noble discontent, and that discontent is expressed by the word Excelsior. Observe, it is not Excelsius; it is therefore entirely interior; whereas Excelsius would refer to the circumstances, rather than to him who was in them."-Miles Gerald Keon; Things not Generally Known, First Series, page 91. NOTIONS OF ANGELS. The word Angel, (angelos in Greek, malak in Hebrew,) literally signifies "a person sent," or a messenger." Dr. Lee remarks, in his Hebrew Lexicon: "As man is incapable of receiving any communication from God in his abstract and incomprehensible character of deity, if a revelation was to be made to man by any visible personage, it must have been by the intervention of some being fitted to sustain such office;" and such was the person emphatically styled "the Angel of Jehovah," in Exod. xxiii. 20, to whom are ascribed the acts and reverence attributable to none but God himself; for, it is added, v. 21, " my name (person) is within him." In a lower sense, angel denotes a spiritual being employed in occasional offices; and lastly, men of office, as priests or bishops. The "angel of the congregation," among the Jews, was the chief of the synagogue. Such is the Scriptural usage of a term, which, in common parlance, is now limited to its principal meaning, and denotes only the happy inhabitants of heaven. The apostle of the Gentiles speaks of the angels as "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation," in strict keeping with the import of the term itself. In Mark i. 2, it is applied to John the Baptist. "Behold, I send my messenger (angel) before my face," and the word is the same ("malak") in the corresponding prophecy of Malachi. In Hebrews xii. 22, 24, we read: "Ye have come to an innumerable company of angels, to the spirits of the just," &c., and this idea of their great number is sustained by the words of our Lord himself, where, for example, he declares that "twelve legions" of them were ready upon his demand: the full Roman legion numbered about 6,000 men. They are also called the "armies" of heaven. Their song of praise is described as "the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings." (Rev. xix. 6.) In fine, the sense of number is overwhelmed in the effort to compute them: "I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts and the elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." (Rev. v. 11.) The nature of angels is essentially the same as that of man; for not only are understanding and will attributed to them, but they have been mistaken for man when they appeared, and Paul represents them as capable of disobedience. (Heb. ii. 7, 16.) The latter possibility is exhibited in its greatest extent by Jude, who speaks of "the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation," (v. 6;) and upon this belief is founded the whole system of tradition concerning angels and demons: the former term was gradually limited to mean only the obedient ministers of the will of the Almighty, and the influence of evil angels was sublimed into the office of the great adversary of all good, the devil, or Satan. These ideas were common to the whole Eastern world, and were probably derived by the Jewish people from the Assyrians. The Pharisees charged the Saviour with casting out devils " by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils." (Matt. xii. 24.) But that evil spirits acted in multitudes under one person appears from Mark x. 9, where the evil spirit being asked his name, answered: "My name is 'Legion,' for we are many." The book of Tobias speaks of Seven Angels superior to all the rest; and this has been constantly believed, according to the letter, by the ancient Jews and Christians. So, the seven that have the greatest power, the first-born angels (Tob. xii. 15): “I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, which present the prayers of the saints, and go in and out before the glory of the Holy One." And this Daniel may very well be thought to mean when he says, chap. x. 13, &c.: " Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me.' That some angels were under the command of others may be collected out of Zechariah ii. and iii., where one angel commands another, "Run, speak to this young man," &c.; and out of Rev. xii. 7, where Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and his angels. The number of just seven supreme angels Grotius conceived to be drawn from the seven chief princes of the Persian empire; but it may be doubted whether the seven there were so ancient as this tradition. Three names of these seven the Scripture affords-Michael, Gabriel, Notions of Angels. 53 and Raphael; but for the other four-Oriphiel, Zachariel, Samael, and Anael, let the authors of them answer, as likewise for their presiding over the seven planets.-Cowley's Notes to Davideis. 66 van In the Roman Catholic services, St. Michael is invoked as a most glorious and warlike prince; "chief officer of Paradise,” captain of God's hosts," "the receiver of souls," and the " quisher of evil spirits." His design, according to Randle Holme, is a banner hanging on a cross; and he is armed as representing victory, with a dart in one hand, and a cross on his forehead. Bishop Horsley and others consider Michael only another designation for the Son of God. We may add, as a certain Biblical truth, that the Lord Himself is always meant, in an eminent sense, by any angel named as his minister; and He is called the Angel of the Covenant, because He embodied in his own person the whole power and representation of the angelic kingdom, as the messenger, not of separate and temporary commands, but of the whole Word in its fulness. Paul speaks of a "third heaven," which must be understood not as a distinct order of created intelligence, but in the same sense as the Lord's declaration, "In my Father's house are many mansions." For Jesus Christ always speaks of his kingdom as essentially one, even in both worlds, the spiritual and natural. The rhetorical passage (Rom. vii. 28, 30), ""neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, can separate us from the love of God," makes excellent sense, however it may be understood. Dionysius, or St. Denis, the supposed Areopagite, describes three hierarchies of angels in nine choirs, thus: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, Virtues, Angels, and Archangels. Vartar, the Armenian poet and historian of the thirteenth century, describes Angels under the same terms, but expressly states, "these orders differ from one another in situation, and degree of glory, just as there are different ranks among men, though they are all of one nature." He also remarks that the first order are attracted to the Deity by love; and hardly attributes place to them, but states of desire and love, while the heaven which contains the whole host is above the primum mobile, which, again, is superior to the starry firmament. This description, and all others resembling it, the twelve heavenly worlds of Plato, and the heaven succeeding heaven of the Chinese, for example, are but as landmarks serving to denote the heights which the restless waves of human intelligence have reached at various times in the attempt to represent the eternal and infinite in precise terms. Böhme, (Behmen,) regards "the whole deep between the stars as the heaven of one of the three hierarchies, and places the other two above it; "in the midst of which," he says, "is the Son of God: not part of either is farther or nearer to Him, yet are the three |