On this subject I feel in duty bound to make a suggestion to general Bible readers, and which may strike the mind on a first impression as decidedly strange, not to say paradoxical, or even absurd, and I had as well do it right here probably as anywhere else. It is this, that the astounding fact that the soul of man (and which is the man) is not a newly created ESSENCE, but a fallen angel, was not, so far as we are informed, fully comprehended, if conceived at all, by any of the patriarchs, prophets, or apostles, save Sts. Paul and John; and not by the latter, prior to his vision in the Isle of Patmos, if then. Christ, of course, knew all about it, and often had reference to it in his acts and sayings, but taught it, though in various forms of speech, yet always in parables. Paul, on his way to Damascus, had a vision; he saw a light from heaven which shined about him, and which oppressed him so that he fell to the earth; and he heard a voice speaking words which overwhelmed him. Of all that he saw and heard on that occasion, and under circumstances so alarming, he has informed us but little. It was enough, however, to “make a believer" even of the mighty "Saul of Tarsus,” who was the leading champion of the persecution then so cruelly prosecuted against the disciples of Christ. He was not only convinced, but his towering ambition was subdued, and he became at once as meek and humble as a little child. He no doubt did hear "unspeakable words which it is not lawful for man to utter." See Acts 9: 3, et seq., and 2 Cor. 12: 4.

Notwithstanding he was not permitted to tell all he saw and heard, he was granted the privilege of making a "rightabout-wheel," to repent of all his evil doings, seek and find pardon, and to abandon every earthly interest, and devote his capacity, energies, and days to the service of his Divine Friend, who was so gracious as to forgive him. And he was also allowed to make such references to things he then learned, as would, in the providence of God, tend to the increase of knowledge in the earth, as circumstances should, from time to time, require.

It is true that intimations are thrown out, and remarks

often made by patriarchs, prophets, and other apostles, which have reference to this great truth. But, from the way in which it was done, it would seem that they only spoke as the spirit gave them utterance; and, although they spoke truly, as they were commanded, and said just what God intended they should say, there is no sufficient. evidence that they fully comprehended the whole scope and intendment of all that they heard and uttered. Indeed, we have positive proof that Daniel did not understand all that he heard and wrote; and that Paul and John did not tell all they knew.

Begging pardon for this digression, on the ground that it occurred to me as best to make it, I now proceed further to notice the parable above copied.

In what respect did the Savior intend to be understood as comparing the "kingdom of God" to the sowing of seed, and the reproduction of corn therefrom? I must confess that I should find this question one hard to answer, but for the light which he has been pleased to throw on the subject since he propounded it for our solution. But, with the help of what the Apostle Paul said about it, the mysteriously wonderful revelation to St. John, and the many allusions, more or less pointed, but all in the same direction, which are everywhere to be found both in the Old and New Testaments, the problem has become an easy one.

He clearly meant precisely the same thing which Paul did in first Corinthians fifteenth, as far as his parable went; but that of his apostle, when considered altogether, goes much further than Christ himself went; so that I need say but little more in explication of this than simply to refer back to what I said there. In short, I understand the Savior as if saying to this generation: As a man sows his seed in the ground, and it comes up and grows, while he sleeps and wakes, night and day, he knows not how, for the earth appears to bring forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, and next the grain, and when the harvest comes he cuts down and gathers his wheat into his barn; so it is that God populates and orders His earthly kingdom. He plants His seed, which are the souls

in the bodies of men, although their souls and bodies appear to grow up together, night and day, being first little children (the blade), then infants (the ear), and after that into mature age (the full corn in the ear), they know not how; and when His fruit is ripe, He cuts it down and gathers it into His garner, even as the farmer harvests his grain.

And by which He has given us light to understand that by His seed He intends the eternal spirit; for the probation of which the world was created, and the body of man "formed." And that our spirits, although very differently capacitated before, are, on entering our bodies reduced to the torpidity of mind or intellect of the little child, the newly born babe; that it gradually expands and grows into the advanced state of infancy (minority), and "after that” matures into that of the adult man or woman. And that as the Divine purposes for which we were brought into this state of being have been accomplished as to each, the fruit is ripe, and then Death, with his sharp scythe, cuts down the body (the stalk), and the emancipated spirit is wafted home to heaven or driven away into eternal darkness, as the fruit has proven good or bad. I have introduced this parable of the Savior, in this place, not so much to prove the origin of the human soul as to sustain the position that the spiritual eye is shut, and the memory of the past suspended, when the soul enters the body.

This it does successfully. Not so much by furnishing additional reason for it, or evidence that such is the case, however, as by showing that my construction of the fifteenth Corinthians is well founded. The figure presented by Christ is, in substance, the same, and, so far as is necessary for this argument, identical with that of St. Paul. They both represent the spirit given by the seed sown, and the passing of the seed into the stalk, by which the union of the two is produced, and the maturity of the fruit, in the same way, although in different words. To carry out the simile of either, the spirit, the seed, must pass into and through a condition which may, in parabolical language,

very properly be indicated by the terms sleep or death. The reason why this should have been done has already been shown. That God has the wisdom to contrive and power to execute such a plan, no one will deny who recognizes the cardinal truths of Christianity.

If, then, there was good reason why some such plan should have been adopted, and God could have done so, and there is strong scriptural evidence that he did, we may, in the absence of any good reason, and all proof to the contrary, believe that such is our fearful situation in this life.

Does it not seem wonderful that such minds as those of Solomon, Luther, Webster, and Bascomb, to say nothing of others, ourselves, or those we personally know, should have been at one time as torpid, insensible, dead, as is that of the unconscious nursling-a little babe! Strange though it may appear, it is no less true than strange. So we all began our earthly career. We enter this life as one passes into a dream-a trance-and from which state we return to sensibility slowly but gradually and regularly. And from the foot round, we ascend the ladder of science, higher and higher, until met by Death, whose unrelenting hand cuts the brittle cord which binds us here; then again we “shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Well and truly did Job say, that God "doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number."

CHAPTER XIII.

The same Subject Continued-Parables of Luke 15 Noticed-To whom Addressed-The Surrounding Circumstances- Followed by those of the Unjust Steward and of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Chapter 16-Parable of the Lost Sheep ConstruedThat of the Piece of Silver-Of the Prodigal Son-Figurative and Literal Meaning of Days-Secret Things-Reluctance of Man to Repent-Other Scriptures compared with these Parables-Manner of Christ's Teaching-Care with which Opinions on Leading Subjects should be made up-Our True Status in this World.

BEFORE leaving this branch of the subject, it is deemed best to call attention to a few more of such Scriptures as bear directly upon it.

And in doing so, I call the reader's attention, in the next place, to the parables of which the whole of the fifteenth chapter of Luke consists. And as I have not the vanity to think I could fill the same space with any argument of my own which would be comparable with what the Savior taught there, I copy the whole chapter here, that these several parables may be read in the light reflected from this stand-point, and, considered together, as they were delivered by the Messiah in person:

"1. Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

"2. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

"3. And he spake this parable unto them, saying,

"4. What man of you having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?