for each, at the proper time, and of the family, and under all the circumstances best adapted to the accomplishment of all the divine purposes assigned to and for each and every one. And in this view we can perceive why each should, and how he can have "his own body."

The physical body being the offspring of the parents, produced strictly pursuant to natural laws, would be expected to resemble that of one or the other of the parents, and in some respects bear a resemblance to both. That children of the same family should physically be very much alike, is no less reasonable. The body being the tenement of the soul while here, and the brain the machinery through the instrumentality of which it accomplishes all the purposes of its earthly destiny, and as those pertaining to each family are usually very much alike, it is equally reasonable to suppose that the tenants and operators to which each is given would be as much alike; for, if so, their necessities would be the same.

It sometimes happens (as we erroneously suppose) that children of the same parents resemble each other but little, either in body or mind; some proving far above, and others as much below the average family standard. Such exceptional instances are everywhere to be met with, not only among men, but inferior animals, and it is no less common in the vegetable kingdom. No conclusion, of any worth, can be drawn from such extraordinary cases in favor of the theory of the propagation of the soul. But, if it were deemed necessary, an argument could be made on that phenomenon alone, in favor of pre-existence, which would be found hard to answer. If the soul existed before the body, and the body was made for its habitation, there is nothing at all mysterious in the circumstance of souls, of entirely distinct orders, being furnished with bodies from the same family. All that is necessary to adapt a body to the use of one of the first class of lost spirits (as well as for the lowest) is that the cranium should be large enough and sufficiently well proportioned to accommodate such occupant with the instruments and facilities required for his greater reasoning operations; and, as

is known to all who have observed, with any considerable care, the skull, in its growth, will accommodate itself very much to the size and form which the brain is, at the same time, assuming.

From this fact arises one of the chief advantages of an active early education. The brain being, in such cases, kept actively at work, will grow larger and in better proportion, and thereby become more healthy and vigorous also; precisely as is the case with the body, which has been brought up to habits of industry and appropriate exercise.

The detriment which one of the favorite notions of the special advocates of total depravity and predestination received, by adopting the propagation doctrine, was very inadequately compensated by what little benefit the other received from it.

It is true that their view of the origin of the soul was more consistent with that of the depravity of our nature, as observation must and does teach, than was that of their most troublesome opponents, yet it fell far short of coming up to anything approaching a full or satisfactory solution of their problem.

The hypothesis that our souls were fallen angels, and have long since been properly designated as devils, is the only one which has yet been presented to our consideration which does, or can, account for the fiendish wickedness of human nature. And that can only do so by making large allowances for the downward road we have been traveling for the last six thousand years, under the lead of Satan, and by associating with devils only.

None, comparable to many who have inscribed their names but midway up the scroll of infamy in this world, could have been tolerated in heaven for a single moment, as they were up to the time when they were expelled. So that, as has been remarked above, they must have become incomparably worse since they were cast out hence, than they then were.

"The heart is deceitful above all things and DESPERATELY WICKED; who can know it?"-Jeremiah.

CHAPTER XX.

AN APPEAL TO THE ISRAELITES.-Apology-Preservers of the Prophecies, and Light to Christianity-Friendly Relations Commended-Will the Jews be Restored to Palestine?— Who are the Israel of God?—Abraham had Eight, or More SonsConverted Jews Identified with Christians—Who are Not of the Seed of Abraham?—Israel to be Called by a New NameEzekiel's Vision of the Dry Bones-The Two Sticks-The Corn-Solomon's Temple-Lost and Driven Away-The First and the Last-Captivity in Egypt—The Ark—Christ both BenEphraim and Ben-David-Michael and Messiah-Purgatory —Saul of Tarsus—Conclusion.

MY DEAR HEBREW FRIENDS: I want to submit to your consideration, a few suggestions, but fear you will not appreciate my motives. My object is not to offend you, but if possible to gain your willing and unbiased audience for a few brief moments.

Do not turn away, saying, I have not asked your counsel. I know you have not. And I also know the estimation in which voluntary advice is usually held.

I do not propose to address you as those who are unable to read or think for themselves, and much less because I consider you without competent theological advisers of your own. You can boast much of the best talent and most profound learning from the days of Abraham to the present time. Nor do I pretend to any means of acquiring biblical lore superior to your own. To your fathers were the written oracles of God first committed, and you have preserved them with a fidelity worthy of all praise.

Your Bible is the best evidence of the truth of the Christian religion now in existence. For near two thousand years you have served as torch-bearers to the Christian world.

While you reject the meek and lowly Jesus of Nazareth, and disown him as the promised Messiah, you testify to the genuineness and verity of the Scriptures on which Christians build their faith; and your evidence is received and valued by others as the voluntary admissions of an honest party litigant against his own cause. Without the prophecies which you have so faithfully and carefully preserved, the preaching of the apostles would have been all in vain, and deprived of that divine support, the whole fabric of Christianity would yet tumble and fall to the ground.

Do you not perceive that wherever you have carried your Bible, and the Gospel has followed it, all who investigate the subject but yourselves, become Christians? I do not wish you to consider me as impertinent. No such thing, I assure you, is intended. So far from that, it is with diffidence, hard to overcome, that I get my own consent to address you a solitary line, even in the way of the most delicate intimation on a subject with which you are so familiar, and with regard to which your minds are so firmly settled. Insisting, then, that you do not charge me with vanity, or any impure motive, I beg of you a brief but impartial hearing.

Remember, we are all imperfect and liable to err, you may know incomparably more than I do, and yet it is possible that one idea may have occurred to my mind that has not to yours. Personally, I have no interest in your faith. Should I, through the tender mercies of God, get to a better world after this life, I will not need your assistance to render me happy; and if I go to hell, it will be a matter of little consequence to me where you are. While we are together here, however, we have a common interest in cultivating and preserving the most friendly relations.

We should not only as friends, but as brothers, consult and advise with each other, frankly and freely, about our great and eternal salvation. We have all set out to wander, as best we can, through the wilderness of this world, and each has the same interest to find a safe pas

sage over the Jordan of death. If you think you are on a more direct or safe route than I am, you should so inform me, and invite me to come and go with you; and I am under the same obligation to you. It is in this view that I venture to suggest a few thoughts, for your own serious reflection, as to some difficulties which I think lie in your way. And I would, with great pleasure, hear any remarks you may desire to make on the same important subject, in the same cordial friendship.

I am not one of those who can not respect or esteem a fellow-man because of a difference of opinion on any question whatever. The name Jew is as agreeable to my ear as any other, except that of Christian. And I love the kind-hearted, affable, and socially inclined Israelite, as well as any other man, who is not a consistent, practical Christian. The humble hope which I feel, that what I wish to say may, under the kind providence of that merciful God whom we all profess to adore, prove a blessing to some of my associates in crime, and fellow prisoners in this world, is the sole cause of my volunteering to say a word to you as a distinct family. And with these apologetic remarks, I proceed to the task before me.

In the first place, I desire you to answer yourselves this question, is it true that wherever we have carried our Bible, and the Gospel has followed it, that everybody who has investigated the subject, but ourselves have become Christians? This interrogatory, as you will perceive, is based on the preceding remarks about torch-bearing, and is designed to invite you to a retrospective view of the effect produced by the law, prophets, and Gospel together, on those who feel no national interest in the family quarrel in relation to the "Babe of Bethlehem."

Is it not possible, my dear Hebrew friend, that you are in error as to the promises relative to the return of your people to Palestine? I know it is generally believed alike by Jews and Christians, that you, as a nation, will at some future period return to and again occupy the holy land, before the great and final judgment. It is due to you, as