[Continued from No. 2.]
Having investigated the nature of the penalty of God's law for original sin, and having shown that it reduces the whole man to the dust of the earth, I now propose showing that all the plain, literal teachings of the Bible in reference to the condition of the dead harmonize with this view.
Read the history of the death of all the patriarchs and prophets, (except Enoch and Elijah,) and you will find no intimation of any distinctive entity such as the immortal soul, or deathless spirit, which survived death. But, they lived, they died, and that is all is said about them, save what is recorded of what they said and did. Compare the simple record of the death of those holy men who died in faith with the obituaries of the present day. See Gen. v, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27, 31; ix, 29; xxiii, 17-20; xxv, 8; xxxv, 29; xlix, 29-33; l, 24-26. Sleep is the most common term to denote the condition of the man in death. Read the following texts. Deut. xxxi, 16; 2 Sam. vii, 12; 1 Kings ii, 10, 11, 21, 43; 2 Chron. xi, 31; 2 Kings xx, 21; 2 Chron. xxxii, 33; xxvi, 23; Job iii, 13; vii, 21; xiv, 12; Ps. lxxvi, 5; Matt. xxvii, 52; Acts vii, 60; xiii, 36; 1 Cor. xv, 6, 18, 20, 51; 1 Thess. iv, 13-15; v, 10; 2 Pet. iii, 4. A more beautiful and appropriate symbol of death could not be found. In profound slumber there is no consciousness—no knowledge. Worn down with the labors and anxieties of the day, the weary traveler prostrates his aching frame upon a bed to sleep; mark that pilgrim, how sweetly he sleeps, how quietly he rests—eight hours elapse—he awakes—it is a blank to him—he wakes up just where he went to sleep; he commences thinking just where he left off the evening before. A dreamful state is a state of partial wakefulness. In profound slumber a person never dreams; the blood retires from the brain, it becomes inactive. All the organs of thought, of memory, being entirely inactive, of course, he cannot think; or even if he could, the organs of memory being paralyzed, how could he call to mind the result of such action? He could not. Transfer the quietude of unconscious sleep to the condition of all the dead, and you have the Bible view.
How quietly they sleep! "They shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep" "till the heavens be no more." The heavens may thunder and the earth quake, the sea and the waves may roar, nations may rise, and empires may crumble to dust, and yet they hear not the sound thereof—they know it not. The rich and the poor, the small and the great are there, "with kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves; or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver: as infants which never saw light. There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest. There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master." Job iii, 14-19. No one associates pain, or trouble, or anxiety, with sleep; these belong to the succession of events connected with conscious existence. But in the grave there are no days, or weeks, or months, or years; the past, present, and future are a blank. The time which shall have elapsed from the death of Abel to the resurrection, will be no more than that of the last saint who shall die. They will be judged, raised, rewarded if righteous, at the same time; and thus dispense with the necessity of a double judgment, and of rewarding or punishing men before they are judged: or if wicked, they will be raised and receive their recompense at the same time.
I will now investigate those portions of holy writ which speak in explicit language of man's condition in death. All the figures, parables, and metaphors must in all cases be harmonized with the plain teachings of the Bible. With this old Protestant rule for our guide, let us enter upon the investigation of this subject, having a desire to ascertain just what the Scriptures teach in reference to the dead; not what we would have them teach. What saith the Scriptures, and not what saith our creeds, or ministers, should be the motto of every Christian. "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Isa. viii, 20. Amen. Then to the testimony let us go.
Job says, [Chap. vii, 21,] "And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be." He declares that he would sleep in the dust, ["Unto that shalt thou return,"] and that his Maker should seek him in the morning, but he should not be. "To be," signifies to exist. Why should Job not exist? Because he would return to dust. The Bible gives no account of but one Job, hence if Job is asleep in the dust, there can be no other Job awake in Paradise at the same time.
Again he says, "O that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not been," &c. Job x, 18, 19. Here Job wishes he had died in infancy, and declares, had such been the case, he would have been as though he had not been. What would have been Job's condition, had he never existed? Would he have been conscious, or intelligent? No. Then had he died in infancy, he would not have been conscious or intelligent. Does not death place adults in the same condition it does infants? Let Job answer for himself. "Are not my days few? cease then, let me alone, that I may take comfort a little, before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness, and the shadow of death. A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness." Here Job tells us in plain terms his views of the place to which he expected to go at death, and how unlike all the descriptions we have ever read of Paradise, or the place to which the pious of the present day expect to go. They represent it as a place of order, and of ineffable light, from which its glorified visitants may return at pleasure, to minister to their surviving friends on earth.
Again he says, "For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branches thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet through the scent of water, it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant." Chap. xiv, 7-9. Not so with man, he dieth, and wasteth away, and all the skill of earth cannot extort from the cold and lifeless clay any signs of life. "But man dieth and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fall from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up; so man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep." Verses 10-12. This implies that they shall awake, and be raised out of their sleep when the heavens be no more.
"O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!" Verse 13. He then asks one of the most important questions ever propounded to dying man: one that the philosophy of the world has never been able to answer. "If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come." Verse 14. Job, having propounded this important question in the form of an affirmation, (as if he had affirmed, If a man die, he shall live again,) expresses his resignation—"all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come." Now, if we can ascertain the place where Job waits, we may know with certainty, where all the righteous wait from death to the resurrection; for Job was a righteous man; and if any would be permitted to enter upon their rewards at death, it would be he. Let Job answer for himself. "If I wait, the grave is mine house." He then describes the nature of his habitation. "I have made my bed in darkness." Chap. xvii, 13. He next describes his nearest relation, and associates: the spirits of departed saints, of course. Not exactly. "I have said to corruption, Thou art my father; to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. And where is now my hope?" Verses 14, 15. Ans. In the resurrection. "Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands." Chap. xiv, 15. Job was not an infidel, although he believed in the unconsciousness of the dead. He would have his hope in the glorious doctrine of the resurrection, written in a book, and lead in the rock forever; that the latest generations might read it. Hear the language of triumphant and all-conquering hope: O that my words were now written! O that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen, and lead in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, &c.' Chap. xix, 23-27. Note, first, worms were to destroy him, i. e., after &c. worms destroy this body &c. Verse 26. Second, he is to see the Lord with the eyes of the identical body that worms have destroyed. Third, his seeing God is predicated, not of death, but the resuscitation of the eyes and flesh, which worms had destroyed. Verse 26. Fourth, he expected to see God, not at death, but at the latter day, i. e., at the second advent and resurrection. Verse 25.50David's testimony harmonizes with Job's. Ps. vi, 5. "For in death there is no remembrance of thee:
in the grave who shall give thee thanks." Is memory an attribute of the soul, or spirit? then that an intelligent part ceases at death. What! the righteous dead not remember their Creator? "For in death there is no remembrance of thee." Shall not they give him thanks for all his acts of kindness? "In the grave who shall give thee thanks." Heaven, without thanks, or remembrance of God, would not be a very desirable place for a Christian! Yet, such is the state of all the dead, according to the above text.
Paul, speaking of David, [Acts xiii, 36,] says, "For David after he had served his own generation, by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his father's, and saw corruption." A short time before he fell asleep (or died and saw corruption) he expressed his hope. "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake with thy likeness." Ps. xvii, 15. When will David awake in his (God's) likeness? When the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised. See 1 Thess. iv, 13-18; Phil. iii, 20, 21.
Read Peter's testimony in reference to David, written near two thousand years after his death. "Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day." Acts ii, 29. But the theology of the present day teaches that good men ascend to heaven at death. Who would be permitted to ascend to heaven, if David would not?—and yet, an inspired Apostle informs us, that David had not ascended into the heavens, in his day. Acts ii, 34. "For David is not ascended into the heavens, &c."
Again, David asks the following questions, in reference to the condition of the dead, and leaves them for us to answer: "Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?" Notice, first, it is necessary that the dead should arise in order to their praising God. Ps. lxxxviii, 10. Second, his loving kindness shall be declared in the grave, (in the resurrection of the dead,) verse 11, first clause. Third, death, the grave, and destruction, are synonymous terms. Compare the last clause of verse 11 with verses 10 and 11. Fourth, the dead are in a state of darkness and forgetfulness. Verse 12. We are taught that the pious dead praise the Lord more than the living. The poet responds to this sentiment, in the following touching strains:
"And when my voice is lost in death,
Praise shall employ my nobler powers."
But the pious Psalmist says, "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Ps. cxv, 17. Why cannot the dead praise the Lord? Ans. Because they go down into silence—the grave. Death is represented as the great deliverer, whose errand of mercy is to loose the galling fetters, to break the cruel chains, and set the captive spirit free: to enfranchise the immortal mind, and give its nobler powers a wider, loftier range. But what saith the Scriptures? "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help." Ps. cxlvi, 3. Why not put our trust in princes? Who could protect us if princes (who sway their iron sceptres o'er all the world) could not? He gives the reason. "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Verse 4. Observe, first, when a prince's breath goeth forth, he has no more power to protect us than the poorest peasant. "Kings and counsellors, . . . the small and great are there." Job iii, 14, 19. Second, "In that very day his thoughts perish." That the thoughts constitute the intelligence of the man, all admit. They perish, i. e., come to an end, cease to be, die. If we must have a heaven or hell for our departed friends or foes, we must be contented with a heaven, or hell, without thoughts. "Their memory and their sense are gone."
Solomon inherited his father's sentiments, in reference to the condition of the dead. He draws the analogy between a living dog and a dead lion, and shows the pre-eminence of the former over the latter. "For to him that is joined to all the living, there is hope; (while there is life there is hope;) for a living dog is better than a dead lion." Eccl. ix, 4. So utterly powerless is a lion, (the king of beasts,) under the dominion of death, that even a living dog is better. From this comparison, he shows us the disparity between a living and a dead man; thereby teaching that there is as much disparity between a living and a dead man, as there is between a living dog and a dead lion. "For [because] the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything." Verse 5, first clause.
The same part that has knowledge in a living man, knows nothing [has no knowledge] in a dead man. Just as certainly as living men have knowledge, just so certainly dead men know nothing. Are love, hatred, and envy, attributes of the mind, or soul? If so, they perish. "Also their love, and their hatred and their envy, is now perished, &c. Verse 6. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Think of happiness, or misery, consciousness, or intelligence, without work, or device, or knowledge, or wisdom. These being attributes, of the organism, perish with it. As man dieth, so dieth the brute; they all go to one place. Eccl. iii, 19, 20. Isaiah tells us what would have been his condition, had he died. Chap. xxxviii, 17-20.
The foregoing evidences must suffice from the Old Testament. I will divide the New Testament evidences into two classes. First, those texts which represent the hopes of the primitive Christians, as being centred in the resurrection of the dead, and the second advent of Christ, instead of a transfer to heaven at death; which ought not to be the case, if all that is capable of happiness or misery, rewards or punishment, enter upon their respective rewards at death. Hear the motive our blessed Redeemer places before the minds of his people. "But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." Luke xiv, 13, 14. Why wait until the resurrection of the just, if they had immortal souls which would go to heaven when they died? Certainly they would receive ample pay for a few meals of victuals before the resurrection. This text proves, as positively as if our Saviour had actually affirmed it, that no part of man will receive any portion of its rewards between death and the resurrection.
Paul, having enumerated all the ancient worthies, Patriarchs and Prophets, Apostles and Martyrs, and having recounted their sacrifices and sufferings, tells us where, and when, they expected to receive their rewards; "that they might obtain a better resurrection." Heb. xi, 35. Read the entire chapter. Why must those faithful servants of the Most High, wait so many hundreds of years for their rewards, if the popular view be correct?
Having investigated, first, the nature of the atonement, second, the difficulties in the way of man's salvation, which render atonement necessary, I propose considering.
III. The nature of these difficulties; viz., the nature of the deaths to which man is exposed for the sin of Adam, and for his own personal sins. This proposition involves the nature of the penalty of the law of God; or, the condition in which those deaths place man. Does the responsible and intelligent man die? or does all that is noble, intelligent and responsible about man, escape death, while the unintelligent, and irresponsible part of man's nature alone, is subject to death? or does the whole man, as an intelligent and responsible being, suffer the same penalty; i. e., death?
In the investigation of the atonement, much depends on the answers to these questions; for if death, as modern theologians vainly teach, be the separation of soul and body, while the body is remanded back to dust, and the soul doomed to an endless life in conscious misery, then Christ in suffering the penalty of the law, (as the Bible plainly teaches he did,) must have lost himself, soul and body, to redeem man. But if, as I shall endeavor to prove, the whole man, as an intelligent, responsible being, is subject to death, literal death, then all that the law demanded of Christ, as our substitute, was a literal death—the death of the whole, intelligent, responsible being.
But in order to a right understanding of the nature of the death man dies, it is necessary we should have correct views of the nature of man. Our views of death will, in all cases, harmonize with our views of man's nature. If we believe man to be a compound of mortality and immortality, we must give death a two-fold meaning, and understand the same term as having two distinct significations at the same time. If any part of man's nature be immortal, that part cannot die; hence death, when addressed to that part, must be understood in a figurative sense: that which is mortal must die; hence death, when applied to that part, must be understood in its obvious and literal sense. In the investigation of the nature of man, I will view man,
1. In his creation. Where, in man's history, might we expect to find the origin and existence of such a distinct, spiritual nature, as the "immortal soul," if not in the history of his creation; and what must be our astonishment, not to find, in the entire Bible record, such an intimation. In Gen. i, 26, God makes known his intention to make man. In chap. ii, 7, he tells us the material out of which man was made. The record reads thus: "And the Lord God formed man (not man's body only) of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his (man's) nostrils the breath of life; and man (formed of the dust of the ground) became a living soul." It was the man formed of the dust of the ground who became a living soul, person, or man. Read Paul's inspired commentary on this text, written more than four thousand years afterwards. 1 Cor. xv, 45. "And so it is written, (where was it thus written? in Gen. ii, 7, was the only place,) The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven." Verse 47. Mark well the language: "The first man Adam was made a living soul; the first man is of the earth, earthy;" thereby teaching, 1st. That the first man, and the first living soul, are synonymous terms. 2d. That the first man Adam, the first living soul, was of the earth; i. e., made of earth; "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground." What can be plainer? In the entire record of man's creation, we fail to find any intimation of his being in possession of any nature apart from the organism formed of the dust of the ground.
2. In his relation to the law of God. What was his nature, morally, physically and intellectually? Was he mortal, immortal? or was he neither? Ans. He was neither. That he was not mortal, is evident. 1st. From the fact that the penalty was death. Mortal signifies dying. To pass sentence of "dying thou shalt die," upon a dying man, would be no penalty at all. 2d. The reward of obedience was eternal life. Now, if Adam was mortal, he must, from his very nature, die, whether he obeyed, or disobeyed; but that he was not mortal is evident from the fact, that he had the privilege of eating of the tree of life, and living forever. That he was not immortal is evident, 1st. From the fact, that the penalty for disobedience was death, which could not have been executed, had man been immortal; for every definition of immortality excludes the possibility of death. Immortal—deathless; deathlessness, &c. 2d. From the relation man sustained to the tree of life. See Gen. iii, 22, 23. "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever: therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden." &c. If Adam was naturally immortal, why was it necessary to plant a tree in the garden for the perpetuation of his existence? Why was it necessary to drive him from the garden, and guard the tree of life, lest he should eat and live forever, if he was immortal and would live forever, whether he ate or not? What, then, was his nature? Ans. It was neither mortal nor immortal, but susceptible of either. Adam was placed upon probation. He was an undeveloped being. His nature, as well as his character, was suspended upon his action towards law. Hence he was susceptible of either good or evil, mortality or immortality. Two trees were placed before him, and he was left51free to choose between them. These trees represented two distinctive natures and destinies. To eat of one, he would become mortal and die: to eat of the other, he would become immortal and live forever. He did eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; consequently incurred a mortal, corruptible, dying nature. This brings me to notice man
3. In his relation to the execution of the penalty of God's law. The law and its penalty read thus: "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die," or dying thou shalt die. See margin. The eating and dying are both represented, in the marginal reading, as a gradual work. See the margin of "thou mayest freely eat," verse 16; and "thou shalt surely die," verse 17. You cannot fail to see that the penalty, according to the marginal reading, requires two conditions: 1st. A dying condition: "dying thou &c.," 2d. A dead condition: "dying thou shalt die."
When Adam is adjudged guilty, and God proceeds to pronounce the penalty of his law, will he give us a correct exposition of the nature of the penalty? He certainly will. All earthly judges in issuing their verdicts against condemned criminals, either use the precise language of the penalties they denounce, or language synonymous. Will the Judge of all the earth be less reasonable, in his mode of procedure against the transgressors of his law, than fallible human judges in the execution of human laws? To threaten one thing, and to inflict another, would be unjust; because in that case, the subjects of the law could have no warning against the punishment to be inflicted. But our Judge is a just Judge, and will leave all his subjects without excuse; hence he will make the penalty of his law so plain and explicit, that no one can fail to understand it, unless by the most palpable neglect, or consummate wickedness. With these preparatory remarks, enter, kind reader, with me, upon the investigation of this deeply interesting subject, the nature of that penalty we all suffer for Adam's transgression.
No need of witnesses to convict: they both confess their criminality; and God proceeds to pronounce the penalty. "And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Gen. iii, 17, 19. We will note,
1. The perfect analogy between the penalty itself, and God's own exposition of it. Penalty—"dying thou shalt die." Exposition—"in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life: in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." From this, we learn that Adam was to be in a sorrowing, sweating, toiling, dying condition, until he returned unto the ground; i. e., until he was dead. Thus God not only denounced the penalty of his law, but actually employed the agents for its execution. He arrayed the elements of heaven and earth against him, and doomed him to wear out his constitution by toil and sorrow. Then to complete the work, and make the execution of the sentence absolutely certain, the Lord drives him from the garden, and guards the tree of life by a flaming sword. Mark the language of Jehovah: "And now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; therefore, the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, &c." He had just partaken of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also; (in addition, or likewise) which shows that he had not eaten of the tree of life. That tree now being guarded, there remains no hope for Adam: he must die. He did die. "And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died." Thus was literally fulfilled the penalty—"dying thou shalt die." He was in a dying condition nine hundred and thirty years: and has been in a dead condition for about five thousand years.
2. The condition in which the execution of the penalty places man; i. e. the returning of the man back to the dust: "For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." The reason here given why man returns to dust, is, that he was made of dust; "for, (because,) dust thou art, &c." Compare this with chap. ii, 7. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground." Death being the reverse of life, resolves man into his original elements; hence was man composed of any other elements, death would resolve him back into these elements; but, being composed wholly of earth, or dust, death, as a matter of course, will return him back to dust. David's description of death harmonizes with this view: "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, &c." Ps. cxlvi, 3, 4. God made man of earth, and constituted him a living man, by giving him breath. In death the order is reversed. "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth." "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." "For that which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast; for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all return to dust again." Eccl. iii, 19, 20. By these plain texts of scripture, we learn that death, or the penalty threatened our first parents, reduces the whole human family to their original element; i. e., to the dust of the earth. Man, being unconscious and unintelligent before he was created, will as a natural consequence, be in the same condition, when resolved into his original elements; "he will be as though he had not been;" and without a resurrection from the dead, he would remain in that condition in all eternity.
The following objections will be urged against the views presented in this article.
1. Man is in the image of God. God has no form; hence, the image man sustains to God, cannot consist in form; it must, therefore, consist in nature; God is immortal; hence, that portion of man's nature which is in the image of God, must be immortal.
This objection is predicated upon a false premise; remove the premise, therefore, and the objection will be removed. It grows out of the anti-Bible statement, that God has no form. The text quoted to sustain the objection, is a strong proof text that God has form, or personality. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, &c." Gen. i, 26. Here God proposes to make man in his image; not to make man, and then put his image into him, or stamp the image upon him; but to make him in his image. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground; [chap. ii, 7,] hence, a being formed of the dust of the ground was in the image of God. The simplest definition of image, is, form; hence, man, made of the dust of the ground, was in the form of God; but for man to be in the form of God, God must have form. That Christ was in the form of man, all admit; and the Scriptures teach that he was in the form of God the Father. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." If God has no form, how can Christ be in the form of God? but that God has form is evident from the fact, that Christ is in the form of God. With this view, we are prepared to understand the meaning of Christ's language: "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." John xiv, 9. Christ being the form, or representative, of the Father, by seeing Christ, they saw the Father. But what of Christ could be seen? Nothing, save his form. The term, image, signifies form in the following texts: Gen. i, 26; v, 3; ix, 6; 1 Cor. xi, 7; James iii, 9.
2. Man alone, of all the creatures God created, is denominated a living soul; therefore, man must possess a nature which the inferior animals do not possess; this nature we denominate the immortal soul.
This objection, being founded also upon a false statement, must fall with the statement. The first time the term living soul occurs in the Bible, it is applied to every thing that moves and breathes. See Gen. i, 20. "And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein is living soul," see margin. Also Rev. xvi, 3. "And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man; and every living soul died in the sea." It was the man, made of the dust of the ground, became a living soul, not that God made a living soul and put into him. Compare 1 Cor. xv, 45, 47.
3. Of man alone, it is asserted, that God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; hence, there must be something about man superior to the beasts; that something we call the deathless Spirit, the breath, (that is, a part) of God.
This, too, is a mistake, equally fatal to the objection. The same term is applied to every beast, bird, fish and insect. "And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, &c." "And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land died." Gen. vi, 17; vii, 15, 22. It was literal air and literal life. See Isa. ii, 22; Job xvii, 3; Eccl. iii, 19.
4. How can matter think? Ans. By the power of God. God can as easily make matter think as anything else.
5. God decreed, that in the day Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he should die. He did not die a literal death, for more than nine hundred years after that day; hence, the death threatened must be understood in a spiritual or figurative sense. This departure from the literal signification of the term death, grows out of a supposed necessity; if, therefore, it can be shown that no such necessity exists, the reason for such a departure will be removed. The proper rendering of the Hebrew terms translated, "thou shalt surely die," is, "dying thou shalt die." (See margin of Gen. ii, 17.) This language demands two conditions: 1st. A dying condition: 2d. A dead condition. The first condition must precede the second. The first commenced when Adam commenced dying: he commenced dying in the day that he eat thereof. In that day he became a mortal, dying, and being continued in the first condition nine hundred and thirty years; when he passed into the second condition; and he will continue in the last condition until the trump shall sound and the dead be raised. 1 Thess. iv, 16.
(To be Continued.)