Not only, as we have seen, does Mr. Greg contend that there is nothing in Christianity, per se, which suggests a Divine origin, but he proceeds to strengthen his position by arguing, that-whether there be much evidence or not, it is impossible that anything could be so revealed to man. After stating his arguments, he thus sums up :—“ Our reflections bring us to this conclusion-that the only certain proof we can have of a revelation must lie in the truths it teaches, being such as are inaccessible to, and therefore incomprehensible by, the mind of man; that if they are such as he can conceive and grasp and accept, they are such as he might have discovered, and he has no means of knowing that he has not discovered them; if they are such as he could not have discovered, they are such as he cannot receive, such as he could not recognise or ascertain to be truth."

In support of his position, Mr. Greg quotes the following extract from one of our acutest writers :—“A truth is a real and actual relation of things subsisting somewhere either in the ideas within us, or the objects without us-and capable, therefore, of making itself clear to us by evidence either demonstrative or moral. We may not yet have advanced to the point of view from which it opens upon us; but a progressive knowledge must bring us to it, and we shall then see that which hitherto was sustained by authority, resting on its natural support; we shall behold it, indeed, in the same light in which it has all along appeared to the superior Intelligence who tendered it to our belief. Thus revelation is an anticipation only of science: a forecast of future intellectual and moral achievements."

Let us illustrate these propositions by the case of a party of voyagers travelling to a distant land—say from the south of Asia to the north-where they would meet with startling phenomena such as they could not realise from their own experience in their warmer climate—as, for instance, the solidification of water so as to enable men and horses to walk on its surface. Were such a party to

send on a pioneer to report to them what he had seen, his report would be exactly a parallel revelation to them. which Christ's revelations touching the future life are to us. When the travellers had (in the words of Mr. Greg's authority) "advanced to the point of view from which the truth opens to them, they will see that which hitherto was sustained by authority," ie., the authority of their pioneer, "resting on its natural support." But here Mr. Greg steps in with his proposition—" If the truths are such as they could not have discovered, they are such as they cannot receive, such as they could not recognise or ascertain to be truth!" Obviously Mr. Greg's proposition here fails in its application, for they would and could receive and believe the statements of their messenger.

To return to the parallel case of a revelation touching the future life. Assuming for a moment that Christ did re-appear to his disciples after death, or that departed spirits can and do return now-a-days and describe their experiences in the life beyond the grave, are these not exactly parallel cases to the pioneer traveller? and yet Mr. Greg must admit that such revelations are constantly accepted by minds on earth and firmly believed to be true, in spite of the undeniable fact that men can never discover the facts of the future life for themselves until they actually arrive there.

May not a revelation be equally possible of new truths in morals and physical science? A teacher reveals to his pupils truths in connection with physical science or moral laws which are new to them. Of course they may in time test his statements for themselves, but meanwhile they take them on trust. Strange to say, Mr. Greg, in another part of this work (p. 189), admits this himself when speaking of the reception of the truths of Christianity by those who are too poor, ignorant, uneducated, or busy, to work out these truths for themselves-" Their creeds, i.e., their collection of dogmas, those who do not or cannot think for themselves

must always take on the authority of others. They do so now: they have always done so. They have hitherto believed certain doctrines, because wise and good men assure them that these doctrines were revealed by Christ, and that Christ was a Teacher sent from God. They will in future believe them because wise and good men assure them of their truth, and their own hearts confirm the assurance."

I do not see how Mr. Greg reconciles the concluding words of the foregoing paragraph with his previous conclusion, that if truths "are such as man could not have discovered, they are such as he cannot receive, such as he could not recognise or ascertain to be truth."

What Mr. Greg understands by the "revelation" we learn on page 167, where he says that a Christian believes the doctrines which Christ taught "were directly and supernaturally communicated to Him from on high," and not worked out naturally, as Mr. Greg alleges, in His own brain.

Much of the confusion of ideas which-with all respect to Mr. Greg's clearness and force of reasoning-I cannot help thinking he displays in the latter part of his work, arises, it would appear, from his assuming that a revelation to man must needs be supernatural. What if it can be shown to be the most reasonable and natural of processes? It seems to be possible-by once more calling in the aid of Spiritualism to advance an explanation of revelation that must commend itself to most minds as infinitely more rational than Mr. Greg's assumption of a supernatural intervention in every case of the kind.

Assuming once again for the purpose of our argument— and this Mr. Greg himself admits-that there may be a future state, what can possibly be more natural than to suppose that, after death, we shall be influenced by the habits of mind and modes of thought acquired during our life on earth? Is it conceivable that a man can readily give up the thoughts he has constantly dwelt on for years? The thoughts he has indulged in—be they good or bad—will

most likely continue to be his thoughts, after his change from this life to the next. If he be of the earth earthy, his thoughts will inevitably draw him to the persons and things of his earthly life. So with the noble and the good. The true philanthropist will, in all probability, continue to take an interest in the welfare of his fellow-men, who are learning their first lesson in life here on earth; and his enlarged capacities for acquiring knowledge will teach him many lofty and valuable truths concerning the progress of humanity, which, if it were possible for him to communicate to us, might be of infinite service to mankind. So again the affection which a mother has for her offspring must, in all reasonable probability, attract her to those she loves-unless, indeed, we assume the dreadful idea, that death destroys all ties of kin and friendship. She will delight in watching over and guarding her children, and in warning them of dangers and sins. That there will be these inclinations to communicate-for good or bad purposes once more with those on earth, seems to me quite reasonable and probable. Why, then, should we assume that it is impossible? Why assume that there is no means of communicating except by objective signs and sounds. Many such there have been, if the overwhelming weight of testimony which we possess, be worthy of our attention. May we not then assume that many inexplicable presentiments, unaccountable warnings of conscience, or sudden internal promptings to do or not to do certain things, as also some startling ideas which "strike" us unaccountably, and appear to have no connection with our own train of thought -may not these be some of the methods of communication between the spiritual and the material? and, if so, why may not these be legitimately termed "inspirations" and "revelations"? The difficulty which Mr. Greg falls into seems to be in first assuming that all inspirations must be supernatural; and, secondly, that they must be direct communications from the Almighty to man. Surely the millions

of beings in the next life are just as much God's creatures as we are? "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" So says St. Paul; and, if we assume that God employs great men on earth-like Christ, Confucius, Buddha, Socrates, Plato, &c.-as prophets or messengers, through whom to elevate and improve His creatures on earth, why may He not continue to employ them, after death, as ministering spirits? Is it unlikely that Christ ceases to take any interest in humanity now on this earth? We profess to be believers in the immortality of the soul, and yet we forget very often, that Christ is as much alive and in our midst now-a-days as he was eighteen hundred years ago. It seems to me much more reasonable to suppose that God reaches all men through those who are immediately above them in spiritual growth; and that the love of humanity which prompts men to do good is a Divine prompting, percolating, it may be, through infinite grades of "ministering spirits" in a descending scale of development, from the highest to the lowest.

Be this as it may, I wish to show that Mr. Greg has himself admitted all that I contend for. Here are his words: "We are all conscious of thoughts which come to us—which are not, properly speaking, our own-which we do not create, do not elaborate; flashes of light, glimpses of truth, or of what seems to us such, brighter and sublimer than commonly dwell in our minds, which we are not conscious of having wrought out by any process of inquiry or meditation. These are frequent, and brilliant in proportion to the intellectual gifts and spiritual elevation of the individual: they may well be termed inspirations—revelations; but it is not such as these that we mean when we speak of the Revelation by Christ."

Here we have, in Mr. Greg's own words, an admission of the possibility of our receiving thoughts from without, which, it seems to me, entirely fits in with the Spiritualists'