cordance with strict justice, in the direction of attracting the
reincarnating soul to a body, and conditions, in accordance with the
tendencies of the past life, the parents also attracting to them a soul
bound to them by some ties in the past, the law being universal,
uniform, and equitable to all concerned in the matter. This is a general
statement of the doctrine as it is generally held by the most
intelligent of its adherents.

E. D. Walker, a well-known English writer on the subject, gives the
following beautiful idea of the general teachings: "Reincarnation
teaches that the soul enters this life, not as a fresh creation, but
after a long course of previous existences on this earth and elsewhere,
in which it acquired its present inhering peculiarities, and that it is
on the way to future transformations which the soul is now shaping. It
claims that infancy brings to earth, not a blank scroll for the
beginning of an earthly record, nor a mere cohesion of atomic forces
into a brief personality, soon to dissolve again into the elements, but
that it is inscribed with ancestral histories, some like the present
scene, most of them unlike it and stretching back into the remotest
past. These inscriptions are generally undecipherable, save as revealed
in their moulding influence upon the new career; but like the invisible
photographic images made by the sun of all it sees, when they are
properly developed in the laboratory of consciousness they will be
distinctly displayed. The current phase of life will also be stored away
in the secret vaults of memory, for its unconscious effects upon the
ensuing lives. All the qualities we now possess, in body, mind and soul,
result from our use of ancient opportunities. We are indeed 'the heir of
all the ages,' and are alone responsible for our inheritances. For these
conditions accrue from distant causes engendered by our older selves,
and the future flows by the divine law of cause and effect from the
gathered momentum of our past impetuses. There is no favoritism in the
universe, but all have the same everlasting facilities for growth. Those
who are now elevated in worldly station may be sunk in humble
surroundings in the future. Only the inner traits of the soul are
permanent companions. The wealthy sluggard may be the beggar of the next
life; and the industrious worker of the present is sowing the seeds of
future greatness. Suffering bravely endured now will produce a treasure
of