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while the dreamy god, like the fabled | Somnus, charmed by poppies and somniferous herbs, sleeps in some dark cave, on a bed of down, encircled by black curtains, and never takes part in mundane affairs.

Such opinions did Reuben Flint hold, who, but a few years ago, was the pest of our village. But whence arose these opinions ? As I have looked upon his emaciated form, something ever whispered within me that it was guilt. There was something, indeed, in that form, which conveyed a sense of guilt unpardoned, to every one who could spell human nature. The restless motion of his downcast eye was a true index of a guilty conscience; and this, no doubt, worked him into the belief that there was no God in heaven or earth, no soul in man, and no future existence.

In former years Reuben moved in the higher classes of society. He was, indeed, beloved by them, and courted for his wit and humour. His education, morever, entitled him to a place in that society. Deeply versed in the classic lore of the ancients, and not less so in that of the moderns, he could interest you by rich.quotations from those treasures of learning. But it has been said,

"Not lofty intellect the heart keeps clean

From moral taint, or yet illumes the mind
By nature dark."

part of our village community, when Reuben condescended to mingle in their society. The poison of his principles spread through their veins in as subtile a manner, as does the poison of the asp through the veins of the hapless being who receives its bite. Many, through his influence, were led into the paths of immorality and irreligion, and walked hand in hand with him, through the hazy wilds of atheism. Apt to learn that which is evil, they learned to laugh at our good old rector, to forsake his fold, and to term his holy occupation priestcraft. They were not, however, so skilful as Reuben in the dark subject. When pressed for a reason why they thought chance made the world, that there was no God, and that they had no soul; their only reply was, "Reuben Flint tells us so, and you know he is a wonderfully clever man.' "Besides," some of them would add, "Reuben is a good man, he is not above taking his glass with us, as the saints are. Let them show themselves as humble, and we will listen to what they say; we will then hear both sides of the question over a full glass."

The reader may be sure that Reuben was a thorn in the sides of our rector. He was indeed, and one of a severe nature. He wished to turn him into the right way; but Reuben avoided all his counsel by declining to confer with him. If he saw him in the distance, Reuben would turn into some other road; or, if there was an alehouse near, he would take shelter there. Once, however, they fairly had a race, and nimble as were the heels of Reuben naturally, and spurred on as he was by coward fear, our rector overtook him just as he was hiding himself in a nook in the wall. There, it is said, he read Reuben such a lecture as made him tremble, to the no small amusement of some truant boys who had joined in the race. This fact, for a short time, seemed to shake the faith of some of his followers; but their leader rallying over his glass, so as to term him "bigot," they rallied over theirs, and

This was verified in the character of Reuben. By degrees he began to lead a profligate life; and still, as he advanced step by step in the path of vice, he proceeded further and further into the night of atheism, and descended lower and lower in the scale of society. His latter years were spent, indeed, amongst the rustics of our village, although he had the means of supporting himself in a higher style of life. But we cannot wonder at this conduct, for, as Reuben promulgated his views publicly on the subject of the composition of man; that they were all composed of perishable matter, it would have been folly in him to have kept himself aloof from the low-matters went on as before. est society. Besides, he held the notion that mankind should possess all things in common. This notion, however, he did not carry into practice; for, though he idled away his time on the same alebench with the meanest sot, he reserved to himself the right of emptying his own glass.

That was an evil day for the rustic

Our rector, at length, despaired of ever reclaiming Reuben by his own skill; and knowing full well that Reuben deemed and called his sacred office priestcraft, he called in laymen to his aid, hoping thereby to effect his holy purpose. Among those whose aid he solicited, I was one. It was some time, however, before I had an opportunity of conversing

with Reuben, for he cared but little to converse with any one in the village, except his own companions. But, at length, I perceived him walking towards me, in the moss-grown retreats; and strange to relate, as we met, Reuben himself commenced a conversation.

"I have been thinking," said he, "while looking on the scene around us, what a lucky move the atoms which composed chaos made, when they flew into the beautiful order in which we now see this earth."

"That is an excellent idea," I replied; and taking my watch out of my waistcoat pocket, and holding it up to his view, I added, "and it solves the question which I have for years endeavoured to answer, namely, since no maker's name is engraved thereon, who made this ingenious piece of mechanism? What an idiot I must have been not to have thought of this before! Who made it? No hand, mortal or immortal, was employed in its construction; it came together by chance. Reuben, I thank you for your observations!"

At that moment I looked upon its wheels, and saw they had ceased their evolutions, and tapping it gently, "How is this?" I exclaimed, "there is something the matter with it; its wheels stand still."

"Probably it wants winding up; or, perhaps the spring is broken,' said Reuben.

"I hope not the latter," I replied; "but, if it is, chance must repair it." Examining the works, however, I found it had only run out its chain; and intent upon convincing Reuben of his folly, I ejaculated this apostrophe: "Chance, thou madest this watch which I hold in my hand; and a very beautiful watch it is, and a very good watch when in repair. But you must know that, hitherto, when there has been any thing the matter with it, I have been unwise enough to send it to a mechanic to be repaired; and when it has wanted winding up, I have taken the key, at the end of my chain, and wound it up with my own hands. Now, I do not intend to do this any more, for I find, from the reasoning I have just heard, that thou madest it, and thou must repair, and wind it up for the future. I pause to observe thy handiwork."

Now, whether Chance was offended by this familiar apostrophe, or whether it works only when it pleases, this deponent

saith not; but certain it is, that the wheels of his watch made no movement until he took the key in his hand, and wound up the chain; which, when he had done, he looked Reuben full in the face, and exclaimed, "You see that I can do more than Chance now; I have set the wheels of my watch in motion."

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"I see to what point you are directing your course,' said Reuben; "but what has your watch to do with the world ?"

"Nothing, whatever," I replied; "only I imagine that if this watch was made by the hand of ingenuity, which is proved by the fact, that it would not move its wheels without my aid, then, this magnificent globe must have been formed by some almighty Being, and must now be sustained, in its diurnal rotation round yonder glorious luminary-which astronomical fact you cannot gainsay-by the same hand.”

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Apropos," whose looks denoted that he did not relish this logic, and that he wished to change the topic, "I have often wondered why you hold the opinion, that the world at large, or rather I should say, Christendom maintains concerning the soul of man.'

exclaimed Reuben,

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"And why should you wonder ?" said I, somewhat surprised at his expressing himself thus freely. "that

"Because I know," he replied, you are acquainted with the opinions of the ancients on this subject, than which nothing can be more unsatisfactory. You know that Socrates doubted of its existence; and that Epictetus says, that what is fire, in our composition, returns to that element, what of earth to earth, what of air to air, and what of water to water. You, know, also, that Cicero and Plato give to it the attributes of the Divine Being, and suppose it to have been from all eternity uncreated and selfexistent; and that some hold its postexistence as well as pre-existence, while others believe it to be a quality; and the imperial Stoic maintained, that every body would be lost and buried in the universal substance, and that every soul would be absorbed and sunk in the universal nature. What did the school of Aristotle teach? That the soul, after its separation from the body, will neither joy nor grieve, love nor hate, nor be subject to any passions of the like nature; neither will it remember, think, or understand. What, then, did the school of

Zeno teach?

That the soul died with | the body. And the school of Pythagoras ? The transmigration of souls: a doctrine which he no more believed, than did Ovid, who perpetuated it in his immortal Metamorphoses. The fables of the mythologic poets, were contrived simply to impress on their hearers a reverence for their fabulous gods. But what boots it to talk of the ancients? You know, that the opinions of the wiser sort of moderns differ as much on this point as did they. What do some physicians think of the soul? That it is a complexion. And musicians? That it consists of harmonies. They differ also, both ancients and moderns, as widely as to its seat as they do with reference to its existence. Some place it in the heart, others in the veins; some in the brain, and others in the stomach; some say it is all in all, and in every part; and others, that it is not contained, but all contains. Now, amidst such conflicting opinions, what are we to think of the matter? Is it not our wisdom to conclude, that we have no soul at all ?"

Just then a mole was seen peering its head out of a molehill, which it had been upturning whilst Reuben was revelling among these opinions concerning the soul; and calling his attention to the action of the little creature, I asked, "Do you know who this mole represents ?"

"I do not," he replied.

"Then I can inform you,' ," I rejoined. "It is the representative of man in a state of nature. As that creature gropes its weary way through the dark bowels of the earth, without one ray of blessed light, so blindly does man, left to himself, pass through this world; ever conjecturing, but knowing nothing for a certainty. It is true, Reuben, I know what these great men have broached concerning the soul of man; but when I read their pages, I always bear this in mind, that I am reading the works of those who wrote by the glimmering light of that pitiful taper, intellect! These men, therefore, are not my oracles on the subject of the soul of man: and yet, if I were to draw an inference from their varied conjectures, by my own unaided reason, I should come to a very different conclusion from that which you appear to have arrived at. I should conclude that man had a soul; but the knowledge of what principle it is, the reach of mortal thought is too feeble to attain. And this would derive a con

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firmation from my own senses. ben, I feel that I have a soul. When I awake in the morning, and reflect upon the visions of the night; the imaginary flights I have taken, and the imaginary transactions I have been engaged in, I feel that it was the workings of a soul, stirring within. When I reason on any subject, I feel that it is by the powers of a soul. When I converse, I feel that my words are dictated by a soul. When again, I lift up my arm, or advance a step" I said, and suited the action to the word, which made Reuben shrink, as though he feared the weight of the staff I held in my hand—“I feel that it is the motion of a soul. But I neither depend upon inferences which I can draw from the writings of ancients or moderns, or upon the evidence of my own senses in this matter. Revelation teaches me, that I have a soul, and that it is an immortal principle, which will exist for ever in weal or woe."

"And so you really believe," exclaimed Reuben, affecting a look of surprise, "that man has a soul! but if you do, it is more than some can say, with truth, who are paid for teaching such a dogma."

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"I drop a tear of pity over such characters," replied I; but, if men are so venal, as to promulgate what they do not believe, merely for a provision in this life, does that affect the great question before us?" And seeing that Reuben wanted to escape from the question of revelation, I brought him at once to the point, by asking his opinion of its evidence.

"Rev-e-la-tion," answered Reuben reluctantly. "I can only say what others have said before me, that we have no revelation. Are you so weak as to think that, if there is a Being presiding over the universe, that he would deign to reveal his will to such a few collected atoms as man ?"

"Not," I replied, "if man were only atoms; but as he is in possession of a soul, worth, in the estimation of Heaven, ten thousand worlds, I can believe that he has deigned to reveal his will to man, and I should account that day, the most evil of all my days, when I could part with this fundamental principle of my faith."

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"And now, interrupted Reuben, while an exulting smile played upon his lips, "I have a thought. The immortal Byron has remarked, that the Old Testament, which you consider as part of your revelation, makes no mention of a

place of torment, which your saints are | tion, continued: "Suppose we

so fond of apportioning to those they are pleased to designate sinners."

"Has the bard made such a remark?" I asked.

"He has," replied Reuben.

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Then," I continued, "I maintain he knew but little of its contents. What did good old Israel mean, when in the prospect of death, he exclaimed, 'I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord?' Gen. xlix. 18. Would he have termed an oblivious sleep salvation? What, again, did the patriarch Job mean, when he said, 'I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me," Job xix. 25-27. Does not this passage prove the fallacy of the poet's assertion, and breathe a sweet hope of a hereafter? And would you, rather than possess such a hope, persuade yourself that you are upon an equality with the brutes that graze around us? Think of how much comfort you deprive yourself; and reflect, have you never had a bosom friend, whom you would wish to meet again, if not in this, in some better world? I know you have. And would you not possess this hope? I know you would. Reuben, the whole tenor of the Old Testament proves that there is a future state; and I would recommend you to give it an attentive perusal, and after that, to read its faithful commentary, the New Testament. will-"

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I was going on to say, that he would find the latter elucidate the former most happily; but Reuben looking fiercely upon me, exclaimed, "I have no time to listen to your sermon, or to attend to your advice. I thought, when I commenced a conversation with you, that I should find you a rational being, and that you would have met me on my own classic ground, and have quoted rational authors, such as you know I love, in defence of your opinions, that man has a soul; but instead of that, I find you are a supporter of priestcraft.'

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one, by way of trial, from the imm Shakspeare:" and I commenced H let's Soliloquy on Death.

"To be, or not to be: that is the question-
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The stings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take up arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die-to slee
No more and by a sleep, to say, we end
The heart ache, and the thousand natural sho
That flesh is heir to; 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die—to sleep-
To sleep!-perchance, to dream! ay, there's

rub!

For in that sleep of death, what dreams ma come,

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. There's the retrospectThat makes calamity of so long life.

For who would bear the whips and scorn o' t time

The oppressor's wrong; the proud man's co tumely;

The pangs of despised love; the law's delay;
The insolence of office; and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardles bear
To groan and sweat under a weary life?
But that the dread of something after death-
(That undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns) puzzles the will;
And makes us rather bear the ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of,
Thus conscience does make cowards-

Now, whether the conscience of Reuben was awakened out of its slumbers, and was transforming him into a coward, I cannot aver; but certain it is, that, dearly as he loved Shakspeare, before the recitation was concluded, he turned himself round, and walked hastily away.

It is certain, also, that the conversation was lost upon him, for he trod the same wild round of atheism as before.

He was indeed the

"Grey-beard corrupter of our listening youth;" and heads older than his own, looked to him for his opinion of death and eternity.

But there is one remarkable fact, which must not be omitted, and that is, that not one who had led a moral life, sought comfort at his hands; the profligate alone wished to be convinced that there was no hereafter: a fact which confirms the poet's supposition, "that guilt is the parent of atheism." With such characters as these Reuben would lounge over the ale-bench for hours together, carousing and holding up death as a bugbear to frighten old women and children, but at whom wise men, like themselves, laugh. Thus it was that they boasted over their cups; but when death came, many of them, it is said, trembled, and wished to avoid his grasp, a "little space," that they might repent. Reuben

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THEBES.

No, No-Ammon, Diospolis, or Thebes, was the most ancient capital and renowned city of Egypt. It was most probably built by the first settlers, Mizraim and his family; whence Egypt is generally styled, "The land of Mizraim," in the original Scriptures, though usually rendered, "The land of Egypt." The origin of the city is certainly lost in the remote infancy of human settlements and institutions. The Egyptian name of the city was No, Ezek. xxx. 14; to which was added Amon, or Amoun, which, according to Herodotus, was a title of Jove among the Egyptians. This would suggest that the city denoted was the chief seat of the worship of Jupiter Ammon. And such was No; for the Septuagint renders Ezek. xxx. 15, by Diospolis, "the city of Jove," on account of its devotion to the worship of Jupiter. The Grecian name of the city was Thebes, which was probably

derived from thetch, "an ark," like Noah's, the memory of which would naturally be preserved by the first settlers after the deluge in all parts of the earth. Bruce, indeed, observes, that "the figure of the temples in Thebes do not seem to be far removed from the idea given us of the ark."

In B.C. 87, Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, sought to murder her son Alexander; who, discovering the design, caused her to be put to death, when the people revolted, and placed Lathyrus, his elder brother, on the throne. In the course of the war, Thebes was taken and demolished by the conqueror, B.C. 82, after a siege of three years. From that time, this extensive city, once than twenty miles in circumference, went to decay. But so massive and substantial were the structures, that the ruins now, after two thousand years of dilapidation and neglect, fill the beholder with surprise, and have preserved most inter

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