sent me, hath everlasting life."

"This is life

eternal that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." 1

It would seem that all human beings possess a spiritual as well as an animal nature; and that a state of spiritual advancement, or, as some would express it, of spiritual development, is what is meant in Scripture by having everlasting or eternal life; also, that to be in a state of spiritual inactivity or inertness, is what is meant by being in a state of death. (See Chap. vi.) This death, however, is no where, in the Scriptures, denominated "eternal" or "everlasting."

As regards the position that no one will have immortal life who does not first obtain eternal life, it may be observed that were this proved, it would by no means follow, Scripturally, that any are to be annihilated; for

In the same chapter where we read that "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned," we truly may also read, that "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin hath reigned to death, even so might grace reign, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." 2 As the one, even so the other. As extensive as is the reign of sin, even so extensive shall be the reign of grace. Eternal life, then, is ultimately to be the inheritance of all.

1 John v. 24; xvii. 3.

2 Rom. v. 20, 21.

CHAPTER X.

THE DEATH OF THE SOUL.

It has been taught, as a Christian doctrine, that the human soul or spirit is specifically mortal, so that, on the death of the body, all which constitutes man what he is, dies; (a doctrine none the less true, nor any more so, because thus much of it was believed, of old, by the Sadducees ;) and that mankind, thus dying, body and spirit, will remain thus dead until some period yet future, when all will be made alive simultaneously.

The doctrine of the literal death of the human spirit, though attended, as a compensatory consideration, with that of the spirit's revivification, I can not receive, because of the following, among other reasons:

1. Viewed in the light of the above-stated doctrine, life after death is the same as a new creation is equivalent to the making of new beings. And since this is not at all calculated to gratify one's own inherent love of individual, personal life, the prospect of a future life, contemplated thus, loses nearly all its interest. To me, therefore, this doctrine seems very little like gospel.

The giving of existence to that which has no existence, is clearly an act of creation; and this

would be equally true, whether the recipient of existence had, or had not, existed previously. Thus, unless it is indeed true that the mortal body once inhabited by Adam, is now in existence, as a corpse, or, at least, as a mummy, the creating of that body at the first, was no more certainly a creative act, than would be the giving of existence to that same body now. But it is a

contradiction in terms, this speaking of Adam's body, supposedly now created, as being the same. one he had in the days of his flesh, and which, doubtless, was dissolved thousands of years ago. In order for the body of a man to live a second time and be the same body it was at first, it must constantly have retained its previous existence.

So, also, with the spirit. If the spirit dies, and will afterward live, and be the same spirit it was, its existence, as a spirit, must remain perfect and entire in the interim. But I have never seen or heard an argument from either Scripture or nature demonstrating that the spirit of man, if literally dead, would necessarily continue to exist for even a moment.

To assert that the soul or spirit of man is material, which is to say that it is composed of matter; and to assert also that matter, in all circumstances, is positively indestructible; and to argue thence that the soul or spirit must always exist; would be an argument of no force whatever, even though the premises were indubitably proved. In precisely the same way, and with quite as much propriety, might be argued the endless existence of every thing material, — which would be glaringly absurd. For though it were demonstrable, and even self-evident, that not a particle of matter ever was, or ever will be annihilated, this could not neutralize, much less

annihilate the fact, that material structures are undergoing annihilation every day.

2. In the second place, as I understand the Scriptures, the opposite of this doctrine is taught therein in the clearest manner. To me, the Saviour, in His conversation with the Sadducee Doctors, "as touching the dead," &c., lays down. the position, as being both an Old and a New-Testament doctrine, that there are no human dead in any other than a merely physical sense, for that all the so-called dead are spiritually "living."

The Sadducees, as we have before seen, held that the souls or spirits of men die with their bodies. Our Lord, having replied to their question, introduces a Scriptural incident as a ground of argument; and it is apparent that His afterremarks are intended as a refutation of their distinguishing opinions, rather than as an answer to any thing they are reported to have then said :

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"As touching the dead, that they rise: [or are raised: "] have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?' He is not the God of the dead, but of the living: ye therefore do greatly err." Mark xii. 26, 27. (See also the parallel passages in Matthew and Luke.)

When Jehovah, through an angel, said to Moses, "I am the God of Abraham," &c., it was after those patriarchs had died, in the ordinary sense of speaking. And yet He did not say, "I was their God," but "I am," in the then present tense. Now the term "God" denotes an object of worship; and it as truly, and as necessarily, implies worshipper, as master implies servant. The fact, then, that God said to Moses, "I am," &c., using the present tense, (or rather that which, in Hebrew, is fully equivalent to it—the ellipsis of the verb, as, "I

the God," &c.,) shows incontestibly that, according to the Scriptures, Abraham and the other patriarchs named in the account, though at that time dead, as to their bodies, were nevertheless truly living. Not merely existing, but living, or alive. And if they, why not others? why not all? Indeed, as we learn indisputably from Luke, the Saviour himself actually applied His argument to the whole race, declaring, "For HE is not a God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to HIM." 1

I claim, then, that the doctrine in question is disproved by Scriptural facts, as presented and illustrated by Him who "brought life and immortality to light."

I know of but few Scripture texts which can be brought in proof of this doctrine with any show of applicancy. It is indeed said, "Man dieth; and as the word man may include in its meaning both body and soul, this text may be thought to teach the doctrine of total death. But it is proper to observe that the text reads, "man dieth, and wasteth away." Does Job here mean that the soul or spirit dies with the body? If so, he must also mean that, after its death, the soul or spirit wastes away as does the body, and so becomes dissolved.

The latter half of the verse claims a moment's attention, as being explanatory of the former half, by the parallelism common in Hebrew poetry. The whole reads thus:

"But man dieth and wasteth away;

Yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?"

To die, in the first line, is the same as giving up the ghost in the second; and as that which yields

Luke xx. 38.