MAN NOT IMMORTAL: by D. P. Hall

Publishing Committee · Rochester, N. Y. · Sep 19, 1854

MAN NOT IMMORTAL:

By D. P. Hall

THE ONLY SHIELD AGAINST THE SEDUCTIONS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. BY D. P. HALL. (Continued.)

THE word spirit, like the word soul, in popular style, has one stereotyped and definite idea attached to it. In theology, spirit is defined to be the soul; and the "immortal soul" is defined to be the "deathless spirit." Spirit is soul, and soul is spirit; and so we might play from one term to the other everlastingly, and who would be the wiser.

The spirit, then, is the same little embryotic angel, the same deathless, intelligent entity, that the soul was in our previous investigations. Has man, then, connected with his visible and tangible, material entity, another invisible, intangible, immaterial, spirit entity? so that he is two men in one man? two entities, and yet but one man? dead and alive at the same time? in heaven and in the grave, or in hell and in the grave, at one and the same time? These would seem to be very curious queries to one unlearned in the sublime inconsistencies of popular theology.

Man has a spirit, it is confidently urged; therefore the unity and mortality of man cannot be true. That man has a spirit, be it distinctly remembered, is admitted on all hands. The controversy does not turn upon this point. Those who hold to the immortal soul, or deathless spirit, would be glad to have this recognized as the issue, and they do very frequently represent it as such; but this is not the truth! I should be glad to see the minds of the honest disabused upon this point. Popular theologians would like to fix no-soulism, no-spiritism, upon those who call upon them to prove the soul immortal, and the spirit deathless. They find it much more convenient to turn to the word spirit, in their Bibles, than to find proof that the spirit is an intelligent and deathless creature, separate from the body.

The query, then, is not whether man has a spirit, but what does the word spirit so frequently used in the Old and New Testaments, mean? The word spirit, like other words in the Bible and other books, does not invariably convey the same shade of meaning. The signification is to be determined by an examination of the subject, and context. Before tracing this word through the Bible, and trying to ascertain its various significations, we will examine its original import. Ruah is the original Hebrew, and pneuma the original Greek word translated spirit. Ruah is derived from ruah, "to blow," and nesme, "to breathe," and signifies, primarily, wind, air, breath. Pneuma is derived from pneo, "to breathe," "to blow," and signifies the same as the Hebrew ruah.

There is nothing, then, in the original import of these terms, to favor the idea of the spirit's being an intelligent creature, much less an immortal or deathless one, but quite the contrary.

We will note the fact in the first place, that not only man, but the beasts have a spirit. "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" Eccl. iii, 21. If the spirit is an immortal or deathless creature, capable of existing out of, and independently of, the body, then beasts are in possession of such a nature: the only observable difference is, the place of destination: man's spirit goes up, and the beast's goes down. It is the same spirit: they pass, it is true, into different localities at death. The same is urged of the spirits of men: all do not go to the same place; so we must not only have a heaven and hell for the spirits of good and bad men, but we must have another place for the spirits of beasts; and why send them all to one and the same locality, seeing their characters in life are quite different: some are disobedient and vicious, while others are mild and obedient.

In the original phrases, applied to all creatures, there is no distinction. Gen. vi, 17. "And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the (ruah chayim—spirit of lives, or) breath of life, from under heaven: and every thing that is in the earth shall die." Gen. vii, 15. "And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh wherein is the (ruah chayim—spirit of lives) breath of life." Verse 21. "And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man." Verse 22. "All in whose nostrils was the (nesmeth ruah chayim—breath of the spirit of lives), breath of life, of all that was in the dry land died." Verse 23. "And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things." All without distinction are classed together. The same spirit animates all. If it is a living creature in one, it is in all; and more than this, if the spirit be a living creature, it died also; for all the living creatures in the earth died, except Noah and his family, and those in the ark with him.

1. THE TERM SPIRIT SIGNIFIES BREATH. James ii, 26. "For as the body without the spirit (margin, breath) is dead, so faith without works is dead also." The body is made alive by the breath, (spirit), so faith is made alive by works. Job xxvii, 3. "All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils." (Margin, the breath which God gave him.) Rev xi, 11. "And after three days and an half the Spirit of life (breath of life) from God entered into them." Isa. xlii, 5. "Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein." In this parallelism spirit and breath mean the same.

Eze. xxxvii, 5. "Behold I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live." Verse 6. "And put breath in you and ye shall live." " 8. "But there was no breath in them." " 9. "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live." " 10. "And the breath came into them, and they lived." Verse 14, is an explanation of all these occurrences of breath. "And shall put my spirit in you and ye shall live."

Eccl. iii, 21. "Who knoweth the spirit (breath) of man that goeth upward, (is breathed out upward) and the spirit (breath) of the beast, that goeth downward (is breathed out downward towards the earth) to the earth." The spirits of these two classes, man and beast, are declared in verse 19, to be breath: "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 (ruah—spirit, or) breath." The same word (ruah) occurs in the three instances, and should have been uniformly translated. Numerous instances of like import might be adduced under this head, these are brought forward as samples merely.

2. THE TERM SPIRIT SIGNIFIES LIFE. Job xxxiv, 14, 15. "If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit (life) and his breath; all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust." Eccl. xii, 7. "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit (breath or life) return unto God who gave it"—as it was. "And man go to his long home"—into the grave. Eze. i, 20. "For the spirit (life) of the living creature was in the wheels." (Margin, life.) See the same in verse 21. See the same in Eze. x, 17. Luke viii, 54, 55. "And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. And her spirit, (life,) came again, and she arose." Ps. xxxi, 5. "Into thine hand I commit my spirit. (Life.)

We will notice all the places where the death of Christ is recorded: See Matt. xxvii, 50. "Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost." Mark xv, 37. "And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost." Luke xxiii, 46. "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit; (life;) and having said thus, he gave up the ghost." John xix, 30. "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished; and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost."

We have cited four instances of giving up the ghost, and now inquire what it means. Parkhurst in his Greek and English Lexicon says, "And it may be worth remarking that the leading sense of the old English word ghost, is breath, and is from the same root with gust of wind; and that both these words are plain derivatives from a Hebrew word signifying to move with violence; whence also gust." Bible vs. Tradition, giving up of the ghost, (margin,) Parkhurst translates, a puff of breath; Good, a scattered breath; Prof. Pick, "Breathed out the breath. To give up the ghost, is to breathe out the breath, the life." Acts vii, 59, 60. Stephen calls upon the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit, (life,) but Stephen fell asleep (or died.) Numerous instances where the sense of spirit is life, might be cited. To give up the spirit, to commend the spirit into the hands of God, is to resign the life. The life of the christian is hid with Christ in God, and when he who is our life shall appear, they will also appear with him in glory.

3. THE TERM SPIRIT, STANDS FOR MIND, THOUGHTS, AFFECTIONS, TEMPER, DISPOSITION. Gen. xli, 8. "And it came to pass in the morning, that his spirit was troubled. (His mind perplexed.)" Ex. vi, 9. "But they hearkened not unto Moses, for anguish of spirit, (of mind.)" 1 Kings xxi, 4, 5, 7. The circumstance which occurred between Naboth, and Ahab king of Israel and Jezebel his wife. Verse 3. "And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. And Ahab came into his house, heavy and displeased. But Jezebel, his wife, came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad?" Verse 7. "Arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry." Place the expressions, "heavy and displeased," "spirit so sad," and "heart be merry," side by side, and I think no one will fail to see the signification of spirit in this case. 1 Tim. iv, 12. "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." In spirit, (in temper, disposition, &c.) Col. ii, 5. "For though I be absent in the flesh yet I am with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order; and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ." "With you in spirit." Does this teach that the Apostle's deathless, thinking spirit left his body and went to another locality on a visit, and there rejoiced with the brethren, &c. If so, Paul must have been a dead man during the interval; for James says, The body without the spirit is dead. The idea I apprehend to be simply this: Paul's mind, thoughts, &c., were with them: he remembered them, though absent from them. This phrase, any other book could be very easily understood; but the Bible some people apprehend is not to be dealt with in a rational manner! sad mistake!! If in addressing my friend by letter, I should say, though absent from you many hundred miles, yet am I with you in spirit, no one would dream of any possible misunderstanding. Ps. li, 10. "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit, [disposition,] within me." Rom. viii, 9. "Now if any man have not the spirit [disposition] of Christ, he is none of his." Prov. xvi, 32. "He that ruleth his spirit, [temper,] than he that taketh a city." Eph. iv, 23. "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind." (Renewed in disposition.) Many more such instances might be brought under this head, but these will suffice for samples.

4. THE TERM SPIRIT, STANDS FOR THE WHOLE PERSON. John iv, 24. "God is a Spirit." God is certainly a personal being. See Heb. i, 3. "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person." Whose person? God's. See verses 1 and 2. The Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, is a Spirit! 1 Cor. xv, 45. "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." The angels are spirits. Heb. i, 14. "Are they not all ministering spirits?" The angels are certainly personal beings. See Ps. lxxviii, 25. "Man did eat angel's food." Gen. xix, 1. And there came two angels to Sodom. "Lot saw them, asked them to tarry over night, and wash their feet." They did eat, they lay down, they took hold of the hand of Lot, &c. Read the chapter. Gen. xxxii, 1. "And Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him." "He said, This is God's host." The whole history of angels, shows most conclusively that they are personal beings. They are called spirits.

The saints when born again, will be spirits. John iii, 6. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, [not a compound of flesh and spirit;] and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (Not a compound of flesh and spirit.) Again, Christ is a quickening spirit, an immortal and incorruptible person, or being. The saints at the first resurrection are to have bodies like his glorious body; i. e., immortal and incorruptible. Again, see Luke xx, 35. "But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, [out from among the dead ones,] neither marry nor are given in marriage: neither can they die any more; [or again;] for they are equal unto the angels." They too are spirits.

1 John iv, 1-5. "Beloved, believe not every spirit, [person,] but try the spirits, [persons,] whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world." The false prophets, are the spirits referred to. They are not invisible or intangible. You may see them any day in these times. Heb. xii, 9. "Shall we not rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live." 1 Pet. iii, 18-21. "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which also [i. e., by the same Spirit which made Jesus alive] he went and preached to the spirits in prison." (Persons in the prison house of death.) When did this same Spirit that quickened Jesus preach to the persons now dead? When once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah. The recorded transaction runs like this: God by his Spirit moved upon righteous Noah, who by the Spirit of God in him, warned the wicked anteduvians of their coming doom. They were destroyed. The spirits in prison, are those wicked ones in death, in the prison house of death.

In concluding upon this topic we will notice three other instances of the word spirit where it has evidently another signification: Matt. xiv, 26. "And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear." Mark vi, 49. "But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out." Luke xxiv, 37. "But they were terrified, and affrighted, and supposed they had seen a spirit." Verse 39. "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me and see: for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." In the three instances above quoted, the word spirit is from the Greek, phantasma, not pneuma, as in other places, and signifies a phantom; that is, an appearance, an optical illusion, or an apparition. Parkhurst in giving the significations of pneuma, mentions a great variety of uses. 1. The material spirit, or air in motion. 2. The human soul or spirit. 3. Temper, disposition of the soul, &c. The Spirit of God, of Christ, of adoption; the Spirit of grace, of truth, of promise; the spirit of the law; and so on to almost any extent.

Now from the various uses of the word spirit, we would like to know which is the little embryo-angel in man? Is there a single instance in which the word spirit points out an entity in man's body? This is the first request, and the mildest form in which it can be presented. If spiritualists cannot point us to one thus saith the Lord, for this, if this cannot be proved, every thing built upon it must of course fall. A great many get the cart before the horse, to use a homely phrase. They talk very largely and fluently about the immortality, deathlessness, intelligence, responsibility, powers, and attributes of the spirit, without so much as offering one single proof, touching the existence of such a spirit entity. Let such do one thing at a time, and commence at the right place. First, prove the existence of such an entity in man; then prove its intelligence, immortality and deathlessness; and lastly, that it can leave the body and carry off all its intelligence, responsibility, &c., and exist as an intelligent creature, independently of the body. Here is work enough to last such some time. The significations of the word spirit as it is used in the Bible, will certainly furnish them little aid. Every single instance is a death blow to such a view.

In closing our remarks upon the signification of the word spirit, we invite attention to the fact that the word spirit is frequently used in scripture to point out a principle, or essence, which pervades the atmosphere, and perhaps all space, giving life and energy to all created intelligences. It is the vital principle in the breath or atmosphere which when inhaled magnetizes the blood, and imparts to it its life. It is not the air itself, but it is in it. It is not the life itself, but the cause of it. It is not the mind, the thoughts, &c., but it is the principle which operates upon the brain, and causes all mental phenomena. It is not the life, intelligence and sensation, but that which, when brought in contact with the organized man, produces all these.

After having examined the words soul and spirit as faithfully as my limits will allow, I am confident that not the slightest countenance to the popular soul and spirit can be found in the Bible. Its origin must be traced to some other source. Its true source is easily determined. We will inquire after its origin in another place: suffice it to say just now, that it does not find its origin in the teachings of holy writ.

The words soul and spirit are frequently used, and we believe all that the prophets, Jesus and the apostles, affirmed of them, most willingly and faithfully; but we are by no means bound to believe all that the heathen, unenlightened by wisdom from above, may affirm; nor all that a corrupt Roman Catholic, or Protestant church may attach to them in their catechisms and creeds: especially seeing that they cannot adduce one single thus saith the Lord for their entire theory upon this subject. We do most earnestly and candidly ask for one single text of scripture which declares the soul or spirit to be an intelligent creature in man, or one single text which declares the soul to be immortal, or the spirit deathless. If no such scripture can be adduced, why will the honest and conscientious believers in the perfection of the holy Scriptures, longer cling to this Heathen and Roman Catholic tradition! [To be Continued]