was open to the reception of all who died in Christ, that is, of all faithful believers, though to that of none besides.

Origen, in the following passage from his De Principiis, ii. xi. 6. Operr. i. 106. c-f, advances a conjecture, respecting the employment of souls in Paradise, during the intermediate state, according to which Paradise is an auditorium or school of souls, and the proper occupation of its inmates is the confirmation or explanation of all the knowledge previously acquired through the medium of their senses, with fresh accessions of light and information in certain proportions, concerning things to come. Puto enim quod sancti quique discedentes de hac vita permanebunt in loco aliquo in terra posito, quem Paradisum dicit Scriptura divina, velut in quodam eruditionis loco, et, ut ita dixerim, auditorio vel schola animarum, in quo de omnibus his quæ in terris viderant, doceantur, indicia quoque quædam accipiant de consequentibus et futuris, sicut in hac quoque vita positi indicia quædam futurorum, licet per speculum et ænigmata, tamen ex aliqua parte conceperunt, quæ manifestius et lucidius sanctis in suis et locis et temporibus revelentur.

Prudentius has the following beautiful description of Paradise, or Abraham's bosom, as the locality of the intermediate state to the soul of the good Christian, awaiting the appointed time of its rising again. Operum, i. 77. Cathemerinen, x. 149. Hymnus circa Exsequias defuncti.

Sed dum resolubile corpus

Revocas, Deus, atque reformas,

Quanam regione jubebis

Animam requiescere puram?

Gremio senis addita sancti

Recubabit, ut illa Lazari,
Quem floribus undique septum
Dives procul adspicit ardens.

Sequimur tua dicta, Redemptor,

Quibus atra e morte triumphans,
Tua per vestigia mandas

Socium crucis ire latronem.

Patet ecce fidelibus ampli

Via lucida jam Paradisi,

Licet et nemus illud adire,

Homini quod ademerat anguis.

Illic, precor, optime ductor,

Famulam tibi præcipe mentem
Genitali in sede sacrari,
Quam liquerat exsul et errans.

Nos tecta fovebimus ossa

Violis et fronde frequenti :
Titulumque et frigida saxa

Liquido spargemus odore.

Basil, from Isaiah v. 14. a text which we have had occasion to quote, collects the following notion of Hades, as the proper locality of reprobate souls after death, τάχα δὲ ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος ἐνδείκνυται κοινόν τινα τόπον TW ἐσωτάτω τῆς γῆς ἐπίσκιον πανταχόθεν, καὶ ἀλαμπῆ, τὸ τοῦ "Αιδου χωρίον εἶναι· στόμα δέ τι ἐπὶ τὰ κοῖλα καθήκον, δι ̓ οὗ τὴν κάθοδον εἶναι ταῖς πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον κατεγνωσμέναις чuxaïs. K', T. λ. Operum i. 962. D.

ἐν

AN HYMN".

GLORY to Thee, whose lofty state,

And everlasting rest,

Before all time were uncreate,

Before all time were blest:

Some lower world Thy footstool, heaven Thy throne; The universal King, eternal and alone.

GLORY to Thee, the Lord of hosts

And hierarchies high;

Whose armies fill the lucid coasts,

And people all the sky:

Thick scattered as the stars, in bright array,
Each in his order due, to serve Thee and obey.

GLORY to Thee, whose angel train,
That crowd Thy presence shrine,

In favour and in place to reign

Were formed, as gods, divine:

Advanced full high in pomp, to man unknown,
With glory and with bliss; but far beneath Thine own.

a No apology, the author of the present work is persuaded, can be necessary for subjoining to the conclusion of it, the following ascriptions of praise and glory to God. With regard to the Hymn itself, he wishes to observe, that each stanza is intended as a kind of integral poem, after the model of those remains of antiquity which are called Scolia; of all which it is characteristic to contain some one idea briefly expressed, though with a sweetness and simplicity, almost inimitable.

GLORY to Thee, whose spirits go,
On highest errands bent,
Familiar journeying to and fro,

As bids Thy wise intent :

Nor day nor night they rest, but far and near
Roam all the earth abroad, unseen, unheeded here.

GLORY to Thee, who makest them seen,

Revealed to human ken,

In stature and in outward mien,

As of the sons of men:

Their visages as man's, and seeming gait ;
But more than man's divine, majestic and elate.

GLORY to Thee, who bidst them wear
The snow-white plume confest;
And graceful braid the flowing hair,

And graceful spread the vest:

Where, in etherial grain and tinctured light,
Their immaterial form conceals its essence bright.

GLORY to Thee, whose throne is placed

Above the clouds on high;

Pavilioned midst the watery waste,

And darkness of the sky:

Where thunder, hail, and storm, and lightnings sealed, Within Thine armory lie, till Thou their fury wield.

GLORY to Thee, whose native light

No darkness can surprise;

Nor sleep, nor slumber, e'er invite

To rest Thy wakeful eyes,

That good, where good is found, well pleased behold; Nor pass the evil o'er, unpunished, uncontrolled.

GLORY to Thee, whose bounteous will

By mercies past was shewn;

Whose goodness, unexhausted still,

By blessing yet is known:

Our fathers felt Thy love, and sang Thy praise;
And now their grateful sons shall emulate their lays.

GLORY to Thee, whose tender care,
With wings paternal spread,
Broods o'er Thy creatures every where,

That call to thee for bread :

Perpetual feast to all Thine hand supplies;
Unbidden opes its stores, and antedates their cries.

GLORY to Thee, whom angels see,

And disembodied sprite,

Disclosed in Thine own majesty,

Ineffable and bright:

While but its utmost skirts are shewn to men ;

That blaze in mercy veiled, to spare their weaker ken.

GLORY to Thee, who givest to know

Beatitude on high;

And openest, through the vales of woe,

A pathway to the sky:

Where Faith, on eagle wings, sublime may soar;
And Hope, with ardent glance, her prospect dart before.

GLORY to Thee, who laidest on man

Some portion of Thy might;

And placedst him in the subject plan,

Vicegerent of Thy right :

All else for man, but man Thou madest for Thee;

Himself to brutes as God, and Thou his God to be.