anthrophic exertions, is in a rare degree "a good and faithful servant;" yet it is impossible not to perceive that he may pass through life with many depths of his being altogether unsounded, with the richest secrets of the soul undiscovered and unguessed, with many of the loftiest portions of his character still latent and unimproved; and that when he passes through the portals of the grave, and reaches the new Existence, he will enter it a wholly unprepared and astonished stranger. Much quiet meditation, much solitary introspection, which the man involved in the vortex of active and public life has rarely leisure to bestow, seem requisite to gain a clear conception of the true objects and meaning of existence--of the relation which our individual entities hold with the Universe around us and the Great Spirit which pervades it. Without this deep and solitary communing with our inner Nature, the most energetic and untiring Philanthropist or Dutydoer among us appears little more than an instrument in the hands of the Creator-a useful and noble one, certainly, yet still an instrument-for the production of certain results, but not to have attained to the dignity of a distinct and individual Intelligence-an agent who comprehends himself and the nature of the work in which he is engaged, as well as the mere routine of its performance.

Again, notwithstanding all that has been said as to the admirable effect of action on the character, it is certain that there are many points of personal morality from which a life of busy and even meritorious activity almost unavoidably diverts our attention. The temper, the appetites, the passions, require a ceaseless and guarded watchfulness, to which incessant exertion is, to say the least, certainly not favourable.

On the other hand, too frequent a reflection-too deep an insight-too vivid a realization of the great mysteries of Being, would be apt so to shrivel up into

microscopic insignificance all the cares, toils, and interests of this life, as entirely to paralyze our zeal and energy concerning them. If we were literally to "live as seeing Him who is invisible," the common works of earth could no longer be performed, save as a duty, and in a dream. It is well for us that we "walk by faith, and not by sight." If we could realize both the nearness and the fulness of Eternity, we should be unfitted for the requirements of this earthly state.

CHAPTER XVII

THE GREAT ENIGMA.

We are accustomed to say that Christ brought life and immortality to light by his Gospel; by which we mean,—not that he first taught the doctrine of a future life, scarcely even that he threw any new light on the nature of that life; for the doctrine was held, long before he lived, by many uncivilized tribes; it was the received opinion of most, if not all, among the Oriental nations; and it was an established tenet of the most popular and powerful sect among the Jews; but that he gave to the doctrine, for the first time, an authoritative sanction; he announced it as a direct revelation from the Deity; and, as it were, exemplified and embodied it in his own resurrection. But, as we have already come to the conclusion that Christianity was not a Revelation in the ordinary sense of the word, Christ's inculcation of the doctrine becomes simply the added attestation of the wisest and best man who ever lived, to a faith which has been cherished by the wise and good of all times and of all lands.

In consequence of this view of Christianity, a future life becomes to us no longer a matter of positive knowledge-a revealed fact-but simply a matter of faith, of hope, of earnest desire; a sublime possibility, round which meditation and inquiry will collect all the probabilities they can. Christianity adds nothing certain to our convictions or to our knowledge on the subject, however rich it may be in suggestions of the truth. Let us, therefore, by a short statement of its

views of futurity, see how far they are such as can be accepted by a cultivated and inquiring age.

It may seem to many a strange observation, but we greatly question whether the views of Christ regarding the future world (so far as we can gather them from the imperfect and uncertain records of his sayings, which alone we have to go by) were not less in advance of those current in his age and country, than his views upon any other topic. The popular opinion-that he made a matter of certainty what before was only a matter of speculation-has blinded our perceptions on this point. When we put aside this common misconception, and come to examine what the notions inculcated by the Gospel concerning the nature of this futurity really were, we shall be surprised and pained to find how little they added, and how little they rose superior to those current among the Pharisees and the Essenes at the date of its promulgation; and perhaps even how far they fell short of those attained by some pious pagans of an earlier date.

The scriptural idea of Heaven, as far as we can collect it from the Gospels, seems to have been:

In

1. That it was a scene hallowed and embellished by the more immediate, or at least more perceptible, presence of God, who is constantly spoken of as "Our Father who is in Heaven." It is the local dwellingplace of the Creator, lying exterior to and above the Earth, and into which Christ visibly ascended. deed, notwithstanding the distinct and repeated assertions of the perpetual superintendence of God, He is depicted much more as a local and limited, and much less as a pervading and spiritual Being, in the New Testament than in many of the Psalms and in Job. The delineations of the former are far more simple affectionate, and human-far more tinged with anthropomorphism, in the tone at least; those of the latter more vague, more sublime, more spiritual. In

this point, the Gospel idea of one of the attributes of Heaven, though eminently beautiful, natural, and attractive, will scarcely bear scrutiny. That in a future state we shall be more conscious of God's presence, is not only probable, but is a necessary consequence of the extension and purification of our faculties; that He dwells there more than here is an obviously untenable conception. The notion may be said to be subjectively true, but objectively false.

2. That Heaven would be a scene of retribution for the deeds and characters of earth has been the view of its essential nature taken by nearly all nations which have believed in its existence: to this idea the Gospel has added nothing new. That it would also be a state of compensation, to rectify the inequalities and atone for the sufferings of our sublunary life, has long been the consolatory notion of the disappointed and the sorrow-stricken. This idea Christianity especially encourages; nay, unless we are to allow an unusually free deduction for the hyperbolical language which the New Testament habitually employs, it would appear to carry it to an extent scarcely reconcilable with sober reason or pure justice; almost countenancing the notion-so seducing to the less worthy feelings of the discontented and the wretched-not only that their troubles will be compensated by a proportionate excess of future joy, but that earthly prosperity will, per se, and apart from any notion of moral retribution, constitute a title to proportionate suffering hereafter that, in truth, Heaven will be the especial and exclusive patrimony of the poor and the afflicted. "Blessed are. they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." "Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now, for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh. But woe unto ye that are rich, for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto ye that are full, for ye shall hun