co-existed with it, it therefore could not survive the dissolution of the body. The one assumed pre-existence, and thence inferred immortal existence, on the principle that what always did exist always must; the other, from a universally acknowledged principle that whatever is born and hath a beginning must also have an end, inferred that souls must die. Thus we see that both reasoned from premises they could not prove; while the one, from an erroneous assumption, made a legitimate inference, the other, from ignorance of the true foundation on which the soul's immortality must ever rest, came to as wrong a conclusion, and both ever found themselves involved in doubt and uncertainty.

We may here ask, If these ancient philosophers could attain no surer knowledge of the soul's immortality than this, can we suppose that any philosophers of any age or country, and denied the light of revelation, would have been more successful than they? It is not sufficient to argue that since their time men have reasoned to a different conclusion: has not the darkness which obscured their mind been dissipated by the light of revelation? It is not sufficient to assert that without revelation men could have reasoned out satisfactorily the truth of the soul's immortality. We ask, Did they ever do so? When, where, and by whom was this feat accomplished? Let us know, that the information may descend to posterity. We call for facts, not theories or proofless assertions. The experiment has been tried, and we have seen something of its complete failure. It is sufficient for us to know that the wisest men of the most civilized, refined, educated, and literary nation of the ancient world, doubted and differed upon this question, ever founding their reasoning on premises they could not prove, came to conclusions which, at the best, were but guesses, the truth of which they themselves doubted. Without referring to their vague, indefinite, selfish, and often contradictory notions respecting the destiny of different classes of men in the future state, always reserving supreme felicity to philosophers, those who had loved knowledge,—we adduce one or two of the opinions on this subject of that wisest man of the heathen world, Socrates. While, as we have seen, he maintained the doctrine of the soul's immortality, he appears to have done so with doubt, and supported it chiefly by moral arguments; as, that it is best for us so to live as if it were true; that then, if it should prove false, we shall lose nothing; while, if it is true, we shall be great gainers. 'If what I advance upon the immortality of the soul prove true, it is good to believe it; and if, after my death, it prove false, I shall still have drawn from it in life this advantage

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of having been less sensible here of the evils which generally attend human life." Again, he afterwards reasons, that "if the soul be immortal," the belief of it "requires to be cultivated with

attention," because of its influence on both the present and future life; for "if death were the final dissolution of being, the wicked would be great gainers by it, as being delivered at once from their bodies, their souls, and their vices; but as the soul is immortal, it has no other means of being freed from its evils, nor any safety for itself, but in becoming very good and very prudent." ."* These are, doubtless, practical lessons, and quite as much as we can expect from any who possessed the limited light and felt the same doubts as Socrates. In reading these, and similar expressions of his, while we admire the wisdom of the man in thus teaching and insisting on the practical lessons that result from a belief of the soul's immortality, we cannot but feel grieved when we witness the doubt and uncertainty which evidently obtained in his mind relative to the truth of the doctrine he taught. In his "Apology before his Judges," he still hesitates: he hopes that death is a good thing, for two reasons; "either the dead man is nothing, and hath no sense of anything, or it is only a change or migration of the soul hence to another place." And again, afterwards, when announcing his belief that "those who live there are both happier in other respects than we, and also in this, that for the rest of their time are immortal," adds by way of caution, lest he should commit himself, "if the things that are told us be true." What "things" these were to which he thus refers, we do not know, unless they were some traditions still remaining touching the future state and the soul's destiny, which were received as divine, and which he hoped were true, but could not be sure. His " Apology" concludes with these remarkable words, expressive of doubt and uncertainty :-" It is now time to depart hence: I am going to die; you shall continue in life; but which of us shall be in a better state is unknown to all but God." This was all the light that the wisdom of Socrates could throw upon the future-all the consolation he could apply to his anxious spirit. How great was that darkness which shrouded his mind on to the last hour of his life!

We have now thus briefly noticed the chief sources of man's knowledge on this subject apart from revelation; we have seen something of the sentiments of the ancients on this question, who had ample opportunity of reasoning out its truth, conclusively if they could; from the survey we have made, we have also seen something of the almost Egyptian darkness and uncertainty which prevailed in the human mind until enlightened by revelation; and, together with the above brief and imperfect reference to the teachings and opinions of the wisest man that ever graced the heathen world, our inquiry leads us to the conclusion that we have not sufficient evidence, apart from scrip

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*See Rollin's "Ancient History," vol. i., book ix., chap. 4, sect. 7; and Note by the Editor: ed. 1833.

ture, to believe in the immortality of the soul," and that revelation alone can or does assure us of the fact.

It now remains for us to see what arguments can be advanced on the opposite side; meanwhile, the practical lesson obviously taught by our view of the question is, gratitude to the Author of our being for not having left us to nature's darkness to doubt and conjecture about our nature and destiny, but that in the written revelation of his will, He has informed us, not only of the truth respecting our existence in the future, as destined to an unending state of being, but how we may obtain that “immortal life" which, in its highest and noblest sense, has been forfeited by sin. CLEMENT.

INSTRUCTION AND EDUCATION. - Instruction has reference solely to the intellect; education extends to all the faculties and capacities of the spirit. The intellect only can be informed; the intellect and all the other powers can be trained. If we confine our view to the intellectual aspects of the mind, it is indeed true that instruction and education, though they may be distinguished in thought, are yet never found separate in fact: the well-instructed man is necessarily well-educated, and vice versâ ; for it is evidently impossible that an ill-trained intellect should be capable of acquiring and retaining much knowledge. But education has a more extensive range the entire domain of mind-the whole nature, spiritual and moral, no less than intellectual, is subject to its power. In its highest sense, it implies the development, in the right direction and in the highest possible degree, of all the powers of the soul, with due reference to their harmonious action. Instruction is valueless, save in so far as it ministers to this elevation of the nature of man. This highest education is, it must be admitted, unattainable without previous instruction; for man cannot be influenced in his moral or spiritual nature by that which is unknown to him. On the other hand, man may know that by which he is yet in his moral and spiritual nature influenced; nay, a man may not only be unaffected by, but he may positively hate, that which he very accurately knows, and this notwithstanding its excellence.

MR. JAMES WILSON, the naturalist of Edinburgh, Mr. Ramsbottom, Mr. Shaw, and other scientific gentlemen, have just succeeded in establishing that the parr, or young salmon, must remain two years in the fresh water before their migration to It is needless (says the Ayr Advertiser) to remark the great change which this discovery must occasion in the laws of the salmon rivers.

the sea.

LIFE is a web, composed of many-coloured yarn, and we must take the shades with the lights, the bad with the good. In short, we must just make the best of things.

History.

IS THE CHARACTER OF QUEEN ELIZABETH
WORTHY OF ADMIRATION?

AFFIRMATIVE ARTICLE.-I.

"Who best

Can suffer, best can do; best reign, who first
Well hath obeyed.”—Milton.

In the consideration of the character of Queen Elizabeth, who lived at a period since the expiration of which there has been as great a revolution in individual feelings and manners as there has been in politics and government, we must endeavour therefore to realize the then general state of thought and opinion. Thus we shall be led to erect a somewhat different standard of perfection to that by which we should judge of one living amongst ourselves, and having the same advantages. And the course of events having so much influence in the formation of character, we should do wrong were we to omit to notice the general aspect of affairs-our foreign relations; the many dangers which menaced the realm from all sides; the internal troubles of the kingdom; the restless disposition of the nobles, those on whom the sovereign should most depend, and who, in many cases, were at this time but leagued against the throne; the disputed title of the monarch to occupy that throne. These would render government perplexing to the sagest ruler, having the interests of his people at heart.

Again, when we consider that a change was to be brought about in the religion of the people; the commons just emerging from the state of being, as it were, a mere blank in the constitution, and beginning to feel their power, requiring the most bold and decisive, while careful and delicate management; our commerce, in place of whitening the oceans with its argosies, confined at the commencement of the reign to the merest operations of barter between neighbours, at the close had entered that path which, vigorously pursued, has made us unrivalled among nations in respect of it,-these point to a time of transition, a period the most difficult in which the ruler of a nation can be placed, as upon the wisdom or folly of his decisions depend the prosperity or ill success of a people.

We would premise that it is not our intention to assert or to endeavour to prove that Elizabeth was irreproachable, or without her faults, and these heavy and manifold: but we do assert

that the talents which she exhibited as a ruler of men, and that not theoretically but practically, commend her to our esteem, employed, too, as they were, and with the happiest results, in raising England to a pitch of power and prosperity scarcely surpassed by any nation. On her accession she found it inferior almost to all; and as we are at a loss to discover any particular elements of success in the bare relations of persons, parties, or nations at that time, we cannot but attribute to her excellent government the brilliant position to which the name of England was raised. Mark, too, the contrast between this and the succeeding and preceding reigns.

To judge of character we must look for its manifestations in the acts of the individual, and to the early impressions and education we may generally trace the foundation of the various traits exhibited in it. In Elizabeth we have no exception to this rule. Anything but the ease and felicity of royalty was attached to her condition in her younger days. The severe treatment which she met at the hands of her sister Mary warned her to be careful. Various were the pretences employed for rendering more harsh the restraint under which she was placed, and even to be in danger of a violent death. She was falsely accused and imprisoned, being indebted for the preservation of her life to the influence and policy of Philip of Spain. Robertson, in his "History of Charles V.," thus speaks of her conduct during this period:-"During Mary's jealous administration, and in a situation extremely delicate, that princess conducted herself with prudence and address far exceeding her years." May we not expect that such treatment would be likely to induce in any, especially in one who was so studious to avoid giving any cause for offence, those failings which later in life Elizabeth exhibited? Thus the jealousy with which she was treated might well beget the same feeling in her. This time was well employed in gaining from Grindal and the celebrated Roger Ascham, not only that knowledge of classic authors and languages for which, as a sovereign, she is remarkable, but those good and wise maxims of government which she so well practised on coming to the throne. She also gained a considerable knowledge of theology. Her speech in Latin to the University of Oxford, when at the age of sixty, is proof sufficient of her familiarity with that language, were it not for her extempore reply to the insolent demands made on her in Latin verse by Philip's ambassador, in which the wit is as conspicuous as its spirit. We subjoin it, as some of our readers may possibly not have met it :-"Ad Græcas, bone rex, fient mandata, calendas." And even after her accession she did not neglect her studies, as we are told by Ascham that five years after coming to the throne "she read more Greek in one day than some prebendaries did read Latin in a week." This is a strong proof of her general industry.

D