alled, is but old matter dressed
In some new figure, and a varied vest.
Thus all things are but alter'd, nothing dies,
And here and there the unbodied spirit flies."

The Jews undoubtedly learned this doctrine after they had been subdued
by, and become acquainted with other nations; and the writer of this
story, whoever he may have been, was evidently endeavoring to strengthen
the belief in this doctrine--he being an advocate of it--by inventing
this story, _and making Jacob a witness to the truth of it_. Jacob would
have been looked upon at the time the story was written (_i. e._, after
the Babylonian captivity), as of great authority. We know that several
writers of portions of the Old Testament have written for similar
purposes. As an illustration, we may mention the book of _Esther_. This
book was written for the purpose of explaining the origin of the
festival of _Purim_, and _to encourage the Israelites to adopt it_. The
writer, _who was an advocate of the feast_, lived long after the
Babylonish captivity, and is quite unknown.[44:1]

The writer of the seventeenth chapter of Matthew has made Jesus a
teacher of the doctrine of Transmigration.

The Lord had promised that he would send Elijah (Elias) the prophet,
"before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord,"[44:2] and
Jesus is made to say that he had already come, or, _that his soul had
transmigrated unto the body of John the Baptist_, and they knew it
not.[44:3]

And in Mark (viii. 27) we are told that Jesus asked his disciples,
saying unto them; "Whom do men say that _I_ am?" whereupon they answer:
"Some say Elias; and others, one of the prophets;" or, in other words,
that the soul of Elias, or one of the prophets, had transmigrated into
the body of Jesus. In John (ix. 1, 2), we are told that Jesus and his
disciples seeing a man "_which was blind from his birth_," the disciples
asked him, saying; "Master, who did sin, _this man_ (in some former
state) or his parents." Being _born_ blind, how else could he sin,
_unless in some former state_? These passages result from the fact,
which we have already noticed, that some of the Jewish and Christian
sects believed in the doctrine of Metempsychosis.

According to some Jewish authors, _Adam_ was re-produced in _Noah_,
_Elijah_, and other Bible celebrities.[44:4]

The Rev. Mr. Faber says:

"Adam, and Enoch, and Noah, might in outward appearance be
_different_ men, but they