departed flitting about like shadows. The pre-existence of the soul in heaven was a notion cordially entertained by Plato, and derived by him from the East; it has been prevalent at various periods since, and was among the heresies of Origen. It was thought that, upon the fall of the rebel angels, a probationary course was ordained to those remaining, in order to fully test their integrity. Pythagoras regarded the body as a penitentiary, in which erring spirits were incarnated, as a punishment for sins committed in a prior state. In accordance with this conceit, which is invested with a spice of awful sublimity, every human form was regarded as the vehicle of either a good angel or an evil demon. And, indeed, somewhat of the spirit of the superstition remains to this day, for it is not unusual to hear it remarked, "Such a one is my good angel," or, "my evil genius."

The Romans had their penates, their lares, and their manes, under whose supposed influence that war-loving people lived and acted. These divinities, who were both national and domestic, were believed to be all-puissant; augurs invariably invoked their aid on all important occasions. The penates were lesser divinities, celestial and infernal; the lares and manes were the souls of ancestors, more especially those of such as had rendered themselves famous or illustrious during their mortal career. These latter exercised a guardianship over their descendants, and the place of their own sepulture, it being customary among the Romans to bury the dead within their life-time dwellings. When these were mischievously inclined, they were called larvæ and lemures. The term demon, although in Scripture phraseology it invariably signifies an evil spirit, had more frequently, in heathen vocabularies, a favorable meaning.

The worship of the gods and demons was inseparably interwoven with the politics of Rome; and although the religion of the Romans was not so beautifully æsthetic as that of the luxurious Greeks, it was of a far purer nature, and conduced to a more virtuous state of society. Seneca, in his essay on Superstition, observes: "The whole of the vulgar crowd of gods, which, for ages past, a Protean superstition has been accumulating, we shall worship in this sense, viz.: that we ever remember the worship we pay them is due rather to good manners than to their own worth. All such rites the sage will observe, because they are commanded by the laws, not because they are pleasing to the gods!" Good

Seneca, didst thou flourish in our day, verily would we dub thee a cruel wag, or the prince of satirists!

The belief in a purgatory was another dogma entertained by many of the heathen, as can be abundantly proven by reference to Hellenic and Oriental authors. Virgil, in his account of the visit of Æneas to the infernal regions, intimates his faith in private purgatories, or expiatory sufferings, though on a smaller scale than those pictured by the luridlyglowing pencil of Dante. He says:

"We have each of us a demon, from whom we suffer, till length of time, after the fixed period is elapsed, hath done away the inherent stains and hath left celestial reason pure from all irregular passions, and the soul, that spark of heavenly fire, in its original purity and brightness, simple and unmixed; then are we conveyed into elysium, and we who are the happy few possess the fields of bliss."

The Koran, that curious intermixture of Pantheism, Judaism, Christianity, and the ravings of an unprincipled charlatan, commands an implicit and unquestioning faith in the ministry of angels; it is interfused through the whole of its teachings. The Koran holds that the angels are endowed with pure and subtle bodies, composed of ethereal fire; that they are of a diversity of forms, and devoted to divers offices. Some are employed in adoring Allah, in various postures; others, in chanting his praises; and others in offering up intercessions for mankind. Not a few are occupied as recording angels, carefully noting down every thought, and word, and action, of each probationer of time; and upon some of the most highly favored and noble devolves the transcendent honor of bearing the august throne of the Deity. Mohammed further taught that, among the hosts of spiritual beings, there are four mighty tetrarchs, angels who are pre-eminently distinguished by the favor of the Supreme, and who, by virtue of the suppositious offices assigned them, are to be held in extreme veneration. The first of these celestial potentates is Gabriel, on whom, among other lofty titles, is conferred that of the holy spirit, and the angel of revelations, he being believed to be the prime minister of heaven, and the one to whom is committed the writing of the divine decrees. Next in order comes Michael, the friend and protector of the Jews; then Azrael (or Raphael), the angel of death, who dissolves the union of soul and body; and, lastly, Israfil (or Uriel), who has the most melodious voice of all God's creatures, and is the Angel of Resurrection, his princi

pal office being to sound the trumpet at the last day. The offices of the four chief angels are described in almost similar language in the apocryphal gospel of Barnabas, a forgery of some nominal Christians at an early day of the Church, and partially adopted as a text-book by the Mohammedans. Therein it is stated that Gabriel reveals the secrets of God; Michael fights and vanquishes his enemies; Raphael receives the departing spirits of mortals; and Uriel is to summon every soul to judgment in the day of account. The Mohammedans believe that, to every child born into the world, there are allotted attendant guardian angels, one stationed on the right hand, to note down on a tablet his good deeds, and another on the left, to record his evil; and that they are changed every day, and therefrom entitled Al Moakkibat, or, the angels who continually succeed one another. The one who notes down a man's good actions has command over him who notes the evil ones; and, when a person performs a praiseworthy deed, the angel on the right hand writes it down ten times; and when he commits an evil one, the kind angel says to the angel on the left: "Forbear setting it down for seven hours; peradventure he may pray, or may ask pardon!" The angel to whom is committed the final summing-up of human actions is named Al Sifil.There are likewise two most terrible angels, Munkar and Nekeer, the Searchers of the Tomb, who, immediately after interment, visit the grave, and with fearful voices arouse the newly buried, whose soul is supposed to linger some days, or until decomposition sets in, and question him straightly respecting his faith. Should his replies not be satisfactory, they torment him cruelly, beating his head with huge maces of iron, until he yells with agony; but, if completely assured of his orthodoxy, they recompose the dead to rest, and leave him until the final visitation of the day of doom. This comfortable article of faith is certainly borrowed from the Jews, for it is nearly similar to that one of theirs which bears on the same point. They have also another tradition, that at the last day, Hell, with its entire population, will be dragged towards the tribunal of God by seventy thousand halters, each halter being hauled by seventy thousand angels.

Of the cause of the expulsion from heaven of the rebel angels, and the subsequent fall of man, Alkoran gives the following history:

"I had no knowledge of the created princes (the angels), when they disputed concerning the creation of man (it hath been revealed unto

me only as a proof that I am a public preacher), when the Lord said unto the angels, Verily, I am about to create man of clay; when I shall have formed him, therefore, and shall have breathed my spirit into him, do ye fall down and worship him.' And all the angels worshipped him in general, except Eblis, who was puffed up with pride, and became an unbeliever. God said unto him, 'O, Eblis, what hindereth thee from worshipping that which I have created with my hands? Art thou elated with vain pride, or art thou really one of exalted merit?' He answered, I am more excellent than he; thou hast created me of fire, and thou hast created him of clay.' God said unto him, 'Get thee hence, therefore, for thou shalt be driven away from mercy, and my curse shall be upon thee until the day of judgment.' He replied, O Lord, respite me, therefore, until the day of resurrection.' God said, 'Verily thou shalt be one of those who are respited until the day of the determined time.' Eblis said, By thy might do I swear, I will surely seduce them all, except thy servants who shall be peculiarly chosen from among them.' God said, 'It is a just sentence, and I speak the truth. I will surely fill hell with thee, and with such of them as shall follow thee altogether.'

This elucidation of the very abstruse mystery, the origin of evil, and the fall of Satan and his adherents, has, to quote the words of Irenæus," some affinity with an opinion which has been pretty much entertained among Christians, viz.: that the angels being informed of God's intention to create man after his own image, and to dignify human nature by Christ's assuming it, some of them, thinking their glory to be eclipsed thereby, envied man's happiness, and so revolted." The devil, whom Mohammed, from his utter despair, names Iblees, or Eblis (perdition or refractory), was, according to the same authority, in his original state, Azazil, one of the grand dignitaries nearest the eternal throne; whence, according to the passage from the Koran, already cited, he was banished for refusing, at the command of God, to pay homage to Adam. The book concerning the assumption or death of Moses calls this demon Samael, prince of the devils, and states that when he advanced towards the conductor of God's people, with a design of forcing his soul out of his body, he was so struck with the lustre of the saint's countenance, and the virtue of the name of God written on his rod, that he retired in trepidation. Some of the Rabbins gave a very fanciful account of the manner in which the same Samael prevailed on Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit. They assert that the Tempter took great advantage of her not repeating to him the divine prohibition in the precise terms in which the Creator prescribed it. He had distinctly forbidden them to eat of that tree, or even to touch it. Nevertheless Eve, in a spirit of proud self-trust, ventured near it, when Samael, in the guise of a serpent, seizing the opportunity, laid hold of

her and pushed her against it; and, having thus made her sensible that death did not ensue from the contact, from that persuaded her that neither would she die did she partake of its fruits. The existence of an intermediate order of aerial beings, between angels and fiends, is another of the extravagances of Mohammedanism. These they believe to be, like the superior spirits, created of fire, but of a grosser and inferior material than angels; for, like mortals, they require physical aliment, and, like mortals, they are liable to physical death. They are both good and evil, and shall be judged in regard to their actions, and shall, even as men, receive future salvation or damnation. Some of them are called jins, or genii, some peris, or fairies; others, divs, or giants; and others tocwnîs, or fates. These fanciful sprites are a prolific source from whence is drawn the legendary lore, the romances and poetry of the Persians, Arabians, and Turks; and on their histories and marvellous adventures is founded the greater portion of the current literature, profane as well as sacred, of those imaginative people.

The ministry of angels, and their supervision over human affairs, was a favorite and firmly believed in doctrine of the ancient Persians. They supposed that the eternal throne was situated in the sun, which, for that reason, became the chief object of their adoration; and that through the stars were distributed the various orders of angels that encircled it. In common with different other orientals, they held that the stars are either themselves spirits, or vehicles of spirits, and that the falling stars are firebrands, which the good angels hurl after the bad who dare to encroach upon their territories. They considered that, in the direction of human affairs, particular angels had different provinces and posts assigned them, with which their brethren interfered not; and in honor of them they bestowed their names upon the months and days. How these names were ascertained is a nice question, and one not very likely to be answered. For the days of the month they had thirty angels, and twelve greater ones for the year. With them, as well as the Moslems, Gabriel was the favorite angel. His reputed gifts were many and great. They believed him to possess the power of making the voyage from heaven to earth in an hour, and of being able to overturn a mountain with a single feather of his wing. Him they called Sorush and Reván Cakhsh, or the Giver of Souls, in contradistinction to the office of the Angel of Death,