of the human soul and to a past
Karma which had created inequality in condition.

David begins the ninetieth _Psalm_ with a verse which only a belief in
reincarnation can explain:

"Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations...."

The dwelling-place of the soul, at death, is in heaven, whence it
returns to earth when the hour of rebirth has struck; thus, in all
generations, that is, from life to life, "the Lord is our
dwelling-place."

In Chapter 8 of the _Book of Wisdom_, Solomon says in more explicit
language:

"For I was a witty child, and had a good spirit, yea, rather, being
good, I came into a body undefiled."

This clearly points to the pre-existence of the soul and the close
relation that exists between the conditions of its rebirth and the
merits or demerits of its past.

Verse 5 of the first chapter of _Jeremiah_ is similar to verse 23 of
the twenty-fifth chapter of _Genesis_:

"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest
forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a
prophet unto the nations...."

It is the deeds done in the past lives of Jeremiah that accompany him
on his return to earth; God could not, in an arbitrary fashion, have
conferred on him the gift of prophecy had he not acquired it by his
efforts in a past life; unless, here too, we altogether abandon reason
and go back to a capricious or unjust--consequently altogether
impossible--God.

THE KABALA.

Contact with the Babylonians, during the Captivity, brought about a
rapid development in the Hebrews, who were at that time far more
advanced souls than those that animated the bodies of their
fathers,[156] and taught them many important details of religious
instruction. It was then that they learned the doctrine of rebirth and
that the Kabala came into being.[157]

In it the cycle of rebirths is called Gil'gool'em[158] or the
"revolving of the Incorporeal" in search of the "promised land." This
promised land, the Christian Paradise, or Buddhist Nirvana, was
symbolised by Palestine; the soul in its pilgrimage was brought to
this abode of bliss,[159] and, according to the allegory, "the bodies
of Hebrews buried in a foreign land contained an animistic principle
which only found rest when, by the 'revolving of the Incorporeal,' the
immortal fragment had returned to the promised land."[160]

There are other aspects from which this "revolution of souls" may be
regarded. Certain