172 DEATH AND RESURRECTION. 



mental idea in all religions because 

 they all suppose that man emanated 

 from God through an original act of 

 creation. That the Christian religion 

 especially has this basic idea Victor 

 Rydberg has fully demonstrated in a 

 treatise entitled "Man's Pre-existence." 



But although we may say that all re- 

 ligions teach a pre-existence we do not 

 mean that this idea has been or even 

 could have been rightly understood. 

 We might expect just the contrary, as 

 pre-existence is connected with the 

 common conception that man's soul as 

 well as the material world was once 

 created in time, in which case pre- 

 existence can only mean an existence 

 extending very far back in time. There 

 was a time when God existed but not 

 man, which latter, as being created, 

 must have an existence separate from 

 God even if he may in other respects be 

 called His image. 



This form of belief in pre-existence 

 shows the same shortcomings and is 

 subject to the same objections as the 



