the rrsult. If the good deeds were sufficient, If they weighed down the scale wherein they were placed, then the happy soul was permittiid to enter "the boat of the sun," and was conducted by good spirits to tlie Elysian fields (Aahlu), to the "pools of peace," 11.11.d the dwelling-places of the blest. If, on the contrnl'y, the. good d11eds were msufficient, if the sc&le remained suspended in the air, then the unhappy soul was sentenced, according to the degree of its ill deserts, to go through a round of transmi• grations in the bodies of animals more or less unclean; the number, nature, nncl duration of the transmigrations depending on the degree of the dece:\sed's demerits, 11nd the com,equent length and severity of the punishment which he deserved or the purifi- cation which he needed. Ultimately, if after many trials sufficient purity was not attained, the wicked soul, which had proved itself incurable, underwent a fine.I sentence at the hands of Osiris, supreme judge of the dead, and, being -condemned to complete and absolute annihilation, was de~troycd upon the steps of heaven by Shu, the" lord of light." 'l'he good soul, having been first freed from its infirmities by passing through the basin of purgatorial fire guarded by the four ape-faced genii, was.made a companion of Osiris for a period of three thousand years, after which it returned from Amenti, re~tered its former body, rose from the dead, and lived once more a human life upon the earth. This process was gone through again and again, until a certain mystic cycle of years became complete, when, to crown all, the good and blessed attained .the ~nol joy of union with God, being absorbed into the Divine essence from which· they h,ad, once emanated, and so attaining the full perfection .and true end of their existence. With this elevating belief were mixed up a number of strange superstitions, not very easily reconcilable with the main creed, yet occupying an important place in the thoughts of the people. The soul, notwithstanding its transmigrations and presence in Amenti and Aahln. was never at any time wholly sepa,rated. from its body, but still inhabited the tomb, partook of the offerings leftJor-it, and even.had me~tings and hel4 con verse with the souls belonging to other neighbouring bodie~. It c~uld,-.at aU times read the passages from the " ritual of the dead" .painted ori ,jts. ~arcophagµs, qr its mummy-bandages, or the inner walls of its tomb, an\i could thus refresh .its memory)! at any time in its long journeyings through the lower world it failed to _recollect at the right moment the proper invocation or prayer under circumstances .of danger. IIL THE HEBREW VIEW. Coming from Babylonia into Egypt, wit~ probably only &0me vague notions of an after-life, in which the inequalities of this Hfe should be remedied and justice meted out to all, the Hebrews were brought into COl!lact wJ.th the complicated and elaborate creed of Egypt upon the subject-a creed which filled the thought.a of the Egyptians, and dominated their whole life, entering into aU t~eir relations, political, social, and domestic, This creed was mixed up with1 all ~he intricacies of the Egyptian polytheism, involved acceptance of the Osirid myth, acknow- led"ment of half a hundred deities, and adoption, if it were accepted, of numerous sui:rstitious practices. Whatever may have been. t.he c~~e with individ~als (Josh. xxiv. 14; Ezek. xx. 6-9), the Hebrews, as a nation,. reJected th.c Egyptian creed, viewed it as corrupting and debasing, and put it aside en bloc, without troubling them- selves to sift the wheat from the cha.ff, the grains of golJ from the mud and sand in which they were embedded. The rejection of th,e imaginative theosophy of Egypt produced a. reaction in the Hebrew mind towards the material and the mundane. , They seem to have left Egypt with less definite views on the subject of a future life. than those which their ancestors had had in Babylonia. And in hie revelations from Sinai it did not please God to enlighten them. Light was vouchsa~ed them grad?-a!ly ~h.rough the psa!miBts and prophets-by the present statement of Isaiah, by Ezekiel s v1s1on ol the dry bones (xu:vii 1-10) and the teaching which followed it (vers. 11-14), by Daniel's prophecy (xii. 2) already referred to, and otherwise, uutil, in the time o( ~lie Maccabees, their faith in the resurrection wa.a as strong, and almost as full and dofin1te, as that of ChristiaWI (see 2 Mace. vii. 9, 14, 23, 29, 36; xii. 43, 44).
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vars. 1-18.-The vi,ion of futu,·e glory. It seems beet to take this as the picture of an ideal spiritual state. . L Tu IMPBEGNABJ..E Ol'l'Y. ltll walls and outworks are "salT&tion," A great oJ!I. ~XVI. 1-21.] THE BOOK Oil' TUE PROPHET ISAIAH. 1[0