1st. the Soul is an Emanation from God.

It is a part of His own eternal essence conveyed into, and become a part of man’s being.

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.—Gen. 2:7.

The physical, or lower order of man’s existence, was formed out of the ground. But in the constitution of his spiritual and moral being, the Creator drew from his own substance. Either the physical or spiritual may be denominated man. Hence, as formed out of the ground, he was called man: but, after the infusion of spiritual life from God, “man became a living soul.” That is, the divine infusion pre–emanating over the material formation, became the real man, his chief distinction from the lower animal kingdom. Materialists may say what they will about psuche—soul—being used in connection with animals, etc., they cannot deny this fact, that there is a marked distinction between the inspiration of life in man, and in the “beasts that perish.” It is only recorded of man that God breathed in him and he became a living soul. Nor do we read of any beast possessing an inner and outer beast, as man’s compound being is described.

2d. The Soul of Man is the Citadel of All His Eternal Well-Being.

Hence, it is that against which Satan and his works make war. Therefore, “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.”—1 Pet 2:11.

3rd. Its Functions and Passions.

According to the Scriptures, the soul is that which knows, loves, desires, fears, is vexed, troubled, sorrowful and joyful. Materialists, in their attempts to deny, the spiritual, indestructible part of man, alternate between the breath and the physical body. But neither the air we respire nor corporeal matter is capable of the above functions and passions.

4th. The Soul is Not Simply the Mind.

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment,—Mark 12:30. Soul and mind are both here enumerated as covering different scopes of man’s spiritual being. Since thought is not a property of matter, it is evidently a faculty of the soul. But man is a moral and spiritual being as well as all intellectual. Hence, soul and mind are not identical, though the latter adheres in the former as one of its constituent functions.

5th. The Soul is an Indestructible Element.

Indestructible by any physical agent. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.—Matt. 10:28.

And I say, unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.—Luke. 12:4, 5.

If the soul were the body, men could kill it, and that would also destroy the breath. If, as some say, it were the whole man, and he possessed no spiritual entity, man could kill the whole man. Again, if the soul be called the life and that were only animal life, it were just the thing that men are able to kill. So there is no way under heaven to evade the plain truth taught in the about texts. The body and the soul are distinct substances. The former is material and can therefore be destroyed by ponderable forces; the latter, a spiritual and indestructible element. Man can kill the body, but can go no farther. The invisible soul eludes all his power. True, God can destroy both soul and body in hell. But even that destruction is not an obliteration of the soul’s being, but it is clearly declared to be a punishment of everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. 2 Thess. 1:9. “And these shall go away into everlasting—eternal—punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.” Matt. 25:46. Any materialization of the soul, any identification of it with the body, or, in short, any denial of the soul’s spiritual nature, is a square contradiction of the two positive proof texts at the head of this lesson.

6th. Man is a Compound Being. An Inner and an Outer Man.

For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.—2 Cor. 4:16.

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing, that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (for we walk by faith, not by sight:) we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.—2 Cor. 5:1–9.

Yea I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.—2 Pet. 1:13–15.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith.—Phil. 1:21–25.

“In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” And here is the testimony of four positive scriptures, from two inspired apostles, that man is a compound being possessing an inner and outer man. How beautiful the harmony of divine truth! “God made man out of the dust of the ground,” that is, the outer man. “And he breathed in his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, i. e., the inner man. The perverse, and, in the fear of God we must say, the ungodly Advent lecturers, reason thus: “God made man out of the dust, and he breathed in him the breath of life, and man—the same thing that was made out of dust—became a living soul.” But this reasoning is demolished by the fact that the “living soul” is another man than that of the dust–formed body.

Furthermore, we are clearly taught that when the earthly house dissolves, the inner man is not involved in the ruin, and does not go down with its decomposing house into the grave, but removes immediately into another building,—another mode of existence—a house not made with hands. And, being clothed with this new house, “mortality is swallowed up of life.” Namely, the inner or real man, is relieved from all connections with mortal elements, and is now swallowed up in purely spiritual and immortal conditions. These four scriptures should stop the mouths of every Adventist Sadducee on earth. The fact that dwelling in this body is comparative absence from the Lord, and “to be absent from the body” is to be more fully “present with the Lord” proves positively that the soul remains conscious after removal from the body. Otherwise, this presence with the Lord could not be enjoyed. How utterly dark and Godless the leaven of Adventism! They usually deny that we can walk with God in holiness and perfect purity here, and after their decease they expect to be entirely banished from God in unconscious slumber.

But the voice of inspiration leaves no possible chance to bring in a period of unconscious soul-slumber between the dissolution of the “earthly house” and the possession of the “building of God,” for “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord”—immediately. “Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him.” This is absolute proof of the consciousness of the soul after death. The knowledge of its acceptance with God, whether in the body or out of the body. So also the passage in Phil., “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” What possible gain in death if it puts an indefinite period to all the enjoyment of God’s presence and blessings, yea, and to existence itself? Nay, “to live is Christ,” promotes his cause on earth, but “to die is gain,” promotion to a higher plane of bliss and spiritual blessedness. And, mark you, that living is defined as “living in the flesh,” “to abide in the flesh,” and to “continue with you:” and “to die” is described as a “departure to be with Christ,” and the apostle tells us that he was “in a strait betwixt two,” namely, whether to choose a longer sojourn in the flesh, or “to depart and be with Christ which is far better.” Now it must be plain to all reasonable minds, that if natural death involved the soul in an unconscious state until the resurrection, he could not gain that desired presence with the Lord until that great day, whether he died soon or lived long in the flesh. Hence, from the standpoint of non–immortality, there could be no possible occasion for his indecision for a time whether to choose a longer stay on earth or to yield to the fervent “desire to depart and be with Christ which is far better.” But the apostle did not stand on the Sadducee nor Adventist’s creed. Nothing can be more positive and clear than the fact that the inspired apostles understood and believed that the natural death of the body was the instant of the soul’s departure into a higher and far more glorious plane of conscious presence with the Lord. Neither was this a whim or tradition of their own. For says Peter, “I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up, by putting you in remembrance; knowing shortly I must put off this tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me.” So the Lord Jesus had showed him that very thing. And, this putting off his earthly tabernacle in the next verse, he calls his “decease.” Surely it must be a soul that has a covenant with death and loves darkness who willfully believes in an unconscious sleep of the soul in the grave, when the sure word of God sets forth such a strong foundation for the glorious hope of moving out of these earthly temples, and at once occupying another dwelling in the glorious presence of the Lord, “which is far better” than all the rich blessings of his kingdom and grace on earth.

7th. What is This Inner Man?

We have seen plainly by the scriptures that the outer man is the body. What is the inner?

And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.—2 Kings 4:27.

But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.—Job 14:22.

When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.—Jonah 2:7.

The inner man is the soul. Then man is a compound of soul and body. The fact is clearly implied from the foregoing scriptures. But, to the direct testimony of the Word that man is

8th. Soul and Body.

And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standard–bearer fainteth.—Isa. 10:18.

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?—Micah 6:7.

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.—I Thess. 5:23.

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.—3 John 2.

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.—Matt. 10:28.

Here again we have the testimony of five positive texts that man is both a spiritual and a physical being. A soul as well as a body. Even in the prophets, the two–fold manhood is recognized. In Thess. the apostle is eager to impress the brethren with the perfection of divine salvation; that it extends to and sanctifies wholly and preserves blameless the entire man, even the “spirit and soul and body.” Both spirit and soul are doubtless mentioned here for emphasis, to express the apostle’s intense conception of full salvation. Wishing to make very positive the great fact that the sanctifying grace of God extends to the entire being of man’s physical and spiritual nature, he asserts the fact in the use of both the terms usually applied to the spiritual part of man. Just as if a person were to use both flesh and body to emphasize the fact that the whole physical realm of man were included. It is true the apostle might have here used the spirit in the sense of life, animation, activity, a shade of difference from the soul, but to our mind, the whole lesson bears on the face of it a desire to emphasize the all renewing and pervading grace of God.

We all know what it is to be in physical health, and the context of 3 John 2 shows that the soul prosperity of Gaius consisted in “the truth that was in him” even as he “walked in the truth.” The language shows there is such a clear distinction between soul and body that the former may prosper when the latter is under affliction. As the Savior has shown us that man cannot destroy our soul, we also learn that physical sickness does not injure it, though it may break down “the earthly house of its tabernacle.” The above five texts all clearly add their testimony that man is a compound being.

9th. The Soul is the Responsible Element in Man.

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them. Lev. 4:2.

And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity. If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the Lord; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the Lord a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of sliver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering.—Lev. 5:1, 15.

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.—Ezek. 18:4.

Wilt the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?—Micah 6:7.

In the above passages from Lev. the soul might be explained as meaning the man, in which sense it is frequently used, because the soul is the most important part of man. But the last two texts cannot be fairly interpreted in any other light than in the Gospel sense of man’s immortal part. “The soul of the son that sinneth,” evidently means the inner man, the spiritual, mental, volitional part of man. The passage in Micah is absolute proof, “The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul.” Both soul and body are distinctively spoken of and sin is ascribed to the soul.

10th. The Body is Only the Instrument of the Soul.

The body is corporeal matter; and thought, volition, and moral responsibility are no properties of matter. But the members of the body are the instruments or tools of the soul in the commission of good or evil. One text is sufficient to make this plain. “Neither yield ye your members as instruments—in the margin “arms or weapons”—of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” Rom 6:13. This text beautifully and clearly teaches the distinction between the real man and the physical members, and shows that the inner man is responsible and the body only the arms or weapons of his good or evil warfare, the “instruments of sin” or “instruments of righteousness.” Therefore, the twofold admonition “yield yourselves—the soul or real man—unto God” and your [ physical ] members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” It is a fact that the powers of the body are employed in that which is good or evil, according to whether the soul is devoted to God or abandoned to sin. The tongue and lips, for instances of the depraved are employed to blaspheme, lie, etc., and when the inner man turns to God, these members straightway become his instruments in the praise of God. The soul is, therefore, that which is responsible, that sins and does good, whereas the body is but the agent or instrument of the soul.

11th. Sin Produces Death to the Soul.

That has, already been seen in Ezek. 18:4, and is also seen in the warning given to our first parents. 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—Gen. 2:17. This death is not a cessation of conscious existence, but an alienation from God, whose favor is the normal sphere of the soul’s happiness. “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”—Isa. 59:2.

But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.—I Tim. 5:6.
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.—Rom. 8:6.

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.—Rom. 8:13.

These scriptures plainly show that the death of the soul incurred by sin, is not the destruction of its conscious being; but the forfeiture of the bliss of the Divine. She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she yet liveth, that is the carnally minded are dead, yet, desire, hope, and fear, in fact, are still conscious of a moral spiritual existence. But are also conscious of the fact that their soul is not in its proper attitude towards God, not in its normal state of righteousness. And the fact that souls have yet a conscious existence still continues after their spiritual death carries them on into eternal banishment from the glory and presence of God. Ignorance may sneer and scoff at the idea of life coexisting with death, but it is God’s word that affirms it, “Dead while she liveth.” The life is physical and the conscious existence of the soul and of its moral responsibility. The death, its alienation from God now, and in the future world its further banishment, or second death, in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone. Mark 9:43–48; Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 14.

12th. The Soul Must Seek God.

Because the soul is that which sins and thereby incurs spiritual death, separation from God, the soul must also seek God. “Now set your heart—affections—and your soul to seek the Lord your God.” I Chron. 22:19.

13th. The Soul Must be Converted.

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.—Psa. 19:7.

14th. Quickened or Raised to Life.

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. —Eph. 5:14.

Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.—Isa. 55:3.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth in him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and, they that hear shall live.—John 5:24, 25.

This resurrection unto spiritual life by hearing the word of God is an experience of the soul.

15th. The Soul Must be Saved.

But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.—Heb. 10:39.

Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.—Jas. l:21.

Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.—Jas. 5:20.

Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. —I Pet. 1:9.
Surely in these scriptures the soul does not mean the body, nor yet the breath, but the real inner man, that which incurs guilt and moral death in sinning, and realizes grace and peace in believing.

16th. The Soul Restored.

Since the fall involves the loss of the soul’s normal condition, redemption restores the soul to its primitive moral state. That original condition was the image of God. Gen. 2:7. And the same image is restored through the redemption that we have in Christ Jesus.
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.—Col. 3:10. And that new man which bears the image of the Creator, is our new sanctified nature; “the divine nature”—2 Peter 2:4, and that image is “righteousness and true holiness.”—Eph. 4:23, 24. Redemption does not leave the soul on a lower moral plane than was Adam before the fall, nor yet raise us to a higher plane, which would imply a defect in God’s original creation. So, while redeemed souls have an advantage over Adam in the knowledge of sin and its remedy, we bear the same image he did.

17th. The Soul Must be Purified.

Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently. —I Pet. 1:22.
Surely this does not mean that they had purified their breath, nor yet cleansed their body.

18th. The Soul’s Eternal Loss.

Having seen that the plan of salvation provides for the conversion, spiritual resurrection, restoration, purification, and salvation of the soul, if this great salvation is neglected and rejected, in the day of judgment when the Lord comes, the soul will fully realize that it is eternally lost, cut off from the favor of God, the condition of its happiness.

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.—Matt. 16:26, 27.

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Mark 8:36–38.

19th. Death is Not Annihilation but Separation.

Having seen man is a compound of soul and body, we now proceed to prove that natural death is a separation of those two parts.

And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.—Gen. 35:18.

There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.—Eccle. 8:8.

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall he required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?—Luke 12:20.

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shall thou be with me in paradise.—Luke 23:43.

These scriptures are too plain to need comment. They imply and unequivocally affirm that the soul or spirit comes out of and leaves the body in the moment of man’s decease. Paradise is a general term denoting a place of rest, delight and happiness. It is used with reference to the third heaven, or heaven itself, 2 Cor. 12:4, but it will also apply properly to Abraham’s bosom where the righteous are comforted until the resurrection.

20th. When Restored to the Natural Life the Soul Returns Back into the Body.

And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and revived.—I Kings 17:21, 22.

21st. After the Dissolution of Natural Death, the Soul Remains in Conscious Existence.

And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.—Rev. 20:4.

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?—Rev. 6:9, 10.

From the former of those two scriptures and the context, an imaginary millennium has been created in the past ages. The idea that Christ will set up a literal kingdom, resurrect the righteous, who shall reign on earth a thousand years, and then resurrect the wicked, is wholly without scriptural foundation. Nothing is said in this scripture, nor anywhere else in the Bible, about a literal kingdom of Christ, nor is there a single text that asserts a coming thousand years reign of saints on the earth, nor is there one verse in the whole Bible which asserts a thousand years interval between the resurrection of the righteous and the wicked. All these things are the result of a misinterpretation of some deep symbolic apocalypse, and are without the support of one plain New Testament declaration.

The first resurrection, Rev. 20:5, is not the literal resurrection of those who reigned with Christ a thousand years; for during their reign they are yet spoken of as the souls of those that had been beheaded; they were yet in a disembodied state. Neither is the first resurrection applied to those souls to the exclusion of the “rest of the dead” which are imagined to be the sinners, but the rest of the dead are brought forward and summed in with the first resurrection. Read verse 5 and see for yourself that both the reigning souls and the rest of the dead are spoken of, before it is said, “this is the first resurrection.” Therefore it is plain that both are included in the first resurrection, which simply means those resurrected unto spiritual life. That the first resurrection is spiritual, see John 5:24, 25, and the second resurrection is the literal resurrection of “all that are in their graves,” both they which have done good and they which have done evil, both of which shall come forth in the same hour, read on to include the 29th verse. The souls that reigned with Christ a thousand years, were those whose bodies had been put to death over a thousand years ago, and the rest of the dead are those who are now being quickened by the power of God, and both together are the first or spiritual resurrection. This is made plain by reference to the 6th of Rev. At the opening of the fifth seal, the same souls are seen again, and they were not resurrected bodies reigning on the earth, but they were disembodied souls “under the altar.” And right over in chapter 8:3 we are told the “golden altar which was before the throne” “which is before God.”—9:13. This beautifully corresponds with what the inspired apostle informs us, that “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord”—under the golden altar which is before the very throne of God.

Moreover, it is seen that the thousand years reign of these souls under the altar was to extend to the time that their brethren—the rest of the dead that should be counted into the first or spiritual resurrection—yea, their brethren, and not sinners—should be killed as they were. This shows that in the peril of the last days martyrdom will again revive. And this must come shortly, because we must have already passed the fifth seal, under which those souls, having waited a long time, yea, even about a thousand years, were seen and the sixth seal, see Rev. 6:12–17, opens up with the present great earthquake, moral upheaval, and the falling of the stars, the great number of holiness luminaries who rejected the present truth and fell with the fall of Babylon, and under this seal we are carried forward to the great day of his wrath. But we cannot here explain all that pertains to this lesson, only enough to show that these scriptures do mean what they teach, that souls consciously existed after their bodies had been “beheaded,” “slain.”

In Luke 16:19–31 we have the Savior’s narrative of the rich man and Lazarus. Say what materialists may about this, it teaches the conscious existence of the inner man after natural death. If it be a narrative and there is no such conscious existence after death, then the Savior plainly taught a falsehood, and if we call it a parable, then the basis of the parable is a lie unless, indeed, such a state of things do exist after our earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved. One of two things must be admitted. Either men still exist after leaving the body; they also remember, suffer and enjoy in that disembodied state, or the Savior taught what is not true. For after all the twisting men may give the words of Christ, they still recognize and teach such a state of things. Therefore, one antichrist writer—an Adventist I think—whose words were quoted some months ago in the “Trumpet,” actually pronounced the above narrative of the Son of God a “fable;” that is, fiction, fabrication, falsehood. The man evidently felt that either Christ taught a falsehood, or his creed did, and of course, like all creed worshipers, he would impugn the Son of God rather than abandon his sect. But Paul says “let God be true and every man a liar.”

22d. Where are The Souls After Death?

We have seen that the souls were under the altar which is before the throne of God; and that Lazarus was in “Abraham’s bosom” and that the rich man, according to the common version, “lifted up his eyes in hell.” The word here translated “hell” is “Hades,” a word that is never used in the New Testament in speaking of the final place of the punishment of the wicked after the day of judgment. That word is Gehenna. See Mark 9:43–45. It is always used when the final punishment is spoken of. “Hades,” is translated “under–world” in the Bible Union version and by similar words in other versions. It is defined in Young’s Concordance as the “unseen world.” “Sheol,” its Hebrew counterpart, the “unseen state.” It therefore includes within it that unseen world or state into which all spirits go after absent from the body. “My flesh also shall rest in hope; for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell—“Sheol”—neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption”—decomposition. Psa. 16:9, 10.

“He—David—seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell,—hades—neither his flesh did see corruption.” Acts 2:31. See also verses 26, 27. “Hades” is here declared to be the place where the soul of Christ was during the time that his body was in the tomb. The rich man also lifted up his eyes in “hades,” being in torment. The mind naturally revolting at the idea of Christ’s soul going to the same place where the rich man was in torment, has led some people to teach that hades sometimes means the grave, and does so in this instance of Christ. But this would do if it referred to the place of his flesh, but it is directly referred to as the place of his soul, in contradistinction to his body. The solution of the matter is this, “Hades” is a word of broad meaning, and covers all conditions of all men who have gone out of the body into a world and state unseen by us. One part of it is called “Abraham’s bosom” where the righteous go, and the other part contains the spirits of the wicked. They are in torment of course, for the flames of hell are already kindled in the bosom of the lost in this life. We are told when Christ was “put to death in the flesh” by and in the Spirit, “He also went and preached unto the spirits in prison,” which were disobedient when the long–suffering of God waited in the days of Noah. I Pet. 3:19, 20. Namely, “the gospel was preached to them that were dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” I Pet. 4:6. People who are fearful of these scriptures, endeavor to explain them away, but we need fear nothing in God’s book. They lay no shadow of foundation for a chance of salvation following this dispensation. For the apostle adds, “But the end of all things is at hand.” The present gospel is the last chance of escape from sin and hell, as, indeed, the entire New Testament teaches. But these texts do positively represent disembodied spirits as capable of hearing the gospel preached to them by Christ in the spirit. They are called the “dead” in contradistinction to “men in the flesh,” and those disembodied spirits having lived disobedient in the flesh, are held in a “prison.” That is like the Savior’s description of the rich man’s condition. Hence

23d. The Dead are Yet the Living.

But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.—Matt. 22:31, 32.

And Moses spake unto the Lord, saying, Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation.—Num. 27:15, 16.

That Sadducee sect denied that man had a spirit, and also denied the resurrection from the dead, and the Savior struck right at the root of their heresy. He asserted both the fact of the resurrection and that of man’s spiritual existence; yea, the conscious living existence of the spirit after the body had mouldered back to dust. “I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” This language was spoken to Moses by the voice of God in the burning bush. Ex. 3:6. But those patriarchs had all been gathered to their fathers hundreds of years before that time. Is he then the God of the dead? No, he is the God of the living. What can be more positive and clear? Jesus Christ refers to the declaration of his Father, that he was the God of the patriarchs after they were dead, and then declares that he is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Does not this positively prove from the lips of Jesus that the dead are yet living? that their bodies, only, have perished, and that their spirits yet live? yea, live unto God? For he is declared “the God of the spirits of all flesh.” This language in Num. 27:16 also positively proves that all flesh—which is used in the Bible to denote all human beings, “I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh,” not animals, but all human flesh—are indwelt with a spirit, which we will show is the same as the soul.

The Savior’s reasoning with that ancient no-soul sect, also proves that the living, conscious existence of the spirit, is the pledge of the resurrection of the body. And how true the words of the apostle, “Our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” 2 Tim. 1:10. It does not say that Christ is the author of immortality or the imparter of the same; but that he has brought immortality to light. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had been living right on with God ever since their bodies fell asleep, but no text in the Old Testament clearly stated that fact. But Jesus in the gospel brings the fact to light. And the same blessed fact of the soul’s immortality, is taught in many texts of the New Testament. “Who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.”—1 Thess. 5:10. Sleep is a term frequently used in the New Testament to take the place of physical death. See Matt. 27:52; John 11:11; Acts 13:36; 1 Cor. 11:30; 15:51. So it is positively affirmed that whether we wake—remain in the body—or sleep—be absent from the body, or what is called dead—we shall live together with Christ. Therefore, if any be disposed to object to the above head, “The dead are yet the living,” they in so doing criticize the word of God. But, for a comment on the above text in Thess., we cite you to Romans 14:8, 9. “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ both died, and arose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.” We are the Lord’s whether dead,—separated from the body—or alive. He is Lord of the departed because they are yet living with him, because he is not the God of the dead but of the living. Not the God nor Lord of decomposed matter, but “the God of the spirits of all flesh.” Amen.

24th. The Soul a Spiritual Substance.

If then, as we have seen, there is in man an element that is indestructible by material forces, it must be an immaterial, a spiritual substance. But do the scriptures teach that man is part spirit? They certainly do. “There is a spirit in man.” Job 32:8.

The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretched forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.—Zech. 12:1.

This is a wonderful declaration. It proves that as only God, the Great Spirit and the Father of all spirits could breathe a spiritual element into man, and thereby make him, his inner and real man, a living soul, so only he can impart to every human embryo the spiritual part. While natural procreative laws develop the body, God himself “formeth the spirit of man within him.”

With my soul have I desired thee in the night, yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early.—Isa. 26:9.

Here we see clearly that there is a spirit within man and it is identical with the soul. The soul and spirit being used with reference to the same thing.

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.—1 Cor. 2:11.

This is very precious truth. It is by the indwelling of the human spirit that we know the things of a man. Knowing how the varied circumstances and conditions of our spirits affect our own mind and body, we can tell whether our fellow creatures are happy or sorrowful, etc., by the manifestation of those various passions in them. And just as the spirit common to man in us enables us to know the things of man, even so, and only so know we the things of God by his spirit in us.

The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.—2 Tim. 4:22.
To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.—1 Cor. 5:5.

Here again man is clearly defined as flesh and spirit. Do not all these scriptures mean what they so clearly teach? And this kind of testimony might be much increased from the sacred Word. But, six plain positive statements of God’s truth that there is a spirit that is in man, which is a part of his own existence, is surely enough to establish the fact.

25th. What is a Spirit?

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.—Luke 24:39.

A spirit is not a material substance, so man possesses an immaterial part. For instance, “God is spirit,” John 4:24, and man is a physical body and a spirit combined.

26th. By His Spirit Man is Associated with God.

Man is a wonderful being: he is classified with two worlds. By his fleshly nature he takes his place in the animal kingdom, and by the extreme abuse and subversion of his appetites and passions, he renders himself scarcely fit for the companionship of the dumb brutes. And yet, by his spiritual existence, he is placed on the plane of God and the holy angels, and when his soul is saved from sin, he is counted fit for heaven’s society. Now it is only by the spirit in man that he comes in contact with God who is also a spirit.

But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.—Job 32:8.

Here we learn that it is through the spirit that is in man, that God can inspire him with spiritual wisdom.

The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.—Prov. 20:27. Were it not for this indwelling candle, God could not set him on fire with the flames of his love and spiritual life.

For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but will bring down high looks. For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.—Psa. 18:27, 28,

The commission of sin puts out the lamp of life and leaves the soul in darkness; but still the candle, the “spirit in man remains,” and by the match of God’s love and grace, by the spirit of life, he lights that candle again when the sinner repents and believes on the Lord. The spirit of man is the point of contact between God and man, and the means of all divine inspiration. And the lighting of this candle by the Lord himself is identified with salvation. “That (Christ was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” John 1:9. This is first by convicting, and they that obey the light of conviction will have their lamps lit by regeneration, and a further obedience to the Word will eliminate all that smothers the fire and obscures the light in entire sanctification.

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are born of God.—Rom. 8:16.

Here again is clearly seen that it is by man’s spiritual nature that he is made conscious of God. His Spirit communicates with our spirit and imparts a consciousness of our acceptance with him. And it is only because of man’s spiritual being that he can walk with and associate with his Maker. If man were not a physical being he could not feed on material substances, and were he not a spiritual being he could not derive spiritual food, life, peace and happiness from God. So we represent two worlds, until that which is “sown a natural body shall have been raised a spiritual body” then man’s sphere will be wholly on the plane of spiritual beings.

Under this head, we have cited four more texts that assert that there is a spirit in man which is not foreign to him, but his original being. These added to the former make a testimony of ten texts.

27th. The Soul and Spirit Identical.

Though the word soul, “Psuche” is many times used out of its regular meaning, and is even in some manner applied to animals, this cannot overthrow the foregoing facts that it properly denotes a spiritual and indestructible “inner man” that continues to live after leaving its “earthly house.” And so of the Spirit, “Pneuma,” though it is sometimes used out of its ordinary meaning, to denote life, energy, activity, etc., nevertheless its proper meaning is that of an invisible, indestructible, living and life giving entity. “A spirit,” saith Christ, “hath not flesh and bones.” “And there is a spirit in man.” Our “spirit”—Pneuma—is the same thing in essence, as “God who is a spirit.”—Pneuma.

Now we shall prove by the Word that soul and spirit, when speaking of a constituent part of man, mean the same thing. That which is affirmed of one, is affirmed of the other.

28th. The Spirit Distinct From the Body.

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.—I Cor. 6:20.

The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit.—1 Cor. 7:34.

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.—James 2:26.

In all these three texts the spirit is spoken of as a part of man, and yet distinct from his body. Exactly the same thing; we have proved is true of the soul. In summing up man in the two chief divisions of his being, sometimes the scriptures express them as being “body and soul,” and other times, “body and spirit,” thus using soul and spirit as convertible terms, and denoting the same thing.

29th The Spirit Leaves the Body at Death.

And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.—Luke 23:46.

And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.—Acts 7:59.

The spirit leaves the body at death, which is just what we have proved true of the soul. See articles 6th and 19th. These with other facts that will follow identify the two.

We have seen that the soul is that responsible inward man which sins, feels guilty, etc., and which is converted, cleansed, renewed, and by grace made righteous, etc. The same moral qualities are said to belong to the spirit. Hence we read of “a faithful spirit.”—Prov. 11:13; “He that is hasty of spirit,”—14:29; “An haughty spirit.”—Prov. 16:18; “Humble spirit.”—16:19. Many other texts could be cited to prove that the spirit of man is the real man which sins, or does good, which is proud or humble, which is the seat of moral responsibility. One text more we give which is very clear. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.”—Psa. 32:1–2.

When a man’s sins are forgiven, and covered, the Lord does not impute iniquity; because being purged from his sins there is no guile in his spirit. So the spirit here is the real man whose sin is covered, and who thereby becomes guileless.

The soul is that which is saved by the grace of God. Heb. 10:39; Jas. 1:21; 1 Pet. 1:9. And salvation is also ascribed to the spirit. “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”—1 Cor. 5:5. Here the spirit is spoken of in contradistinction to the flesh. And the spirit is the real man that is guilty of sinning, and which must be saved from sin. The same conditions and responsibilities being ascribed to the spirit of man, that are affirmed of the soul, is, to say the least, good circumstantial evidence that they are identical.

But why the two terms if both are one and the same? We answer why do we find two terms in common use in the Bible to represent the physical part of man? Namely, the flesh, and the body. These terms have their distinct shades of meaning, and yet both denote the corporeal part of man. And we remark, that the same shade of distinction that exists between these two words, also exists between the two terms commonly used to represent the invisible part of man. The term flesh, denotes animal matter as a substance, while body refers to the organic form of that matter. So the word spirit refers to the immortal part of man as a mere spiritual and invisible substance; while soul refers to the same substance in its organic form, the real inner man, or spiritual body. For “there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” I Cor. 15:44.

30th. Does the Soul Sleep After Death?

No, the sleep ascribed to the departed only applies to the body. This we shall now prove by the Word.

And the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints which slept, arose, and came out of their graves.—Matt. 27:52, 53

Only the bodies of the saints slept in the grave. The term sleep is applied to the dead, because of the resemblance between a person lying in natural slumber and the silent house of a departed spirit. Both are motionless and both unconscious of what is passing on around them, and both shall awake and arise to consciousness again.

31st. Where Do They Sleep?

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.—Dan. 12:2.

The place where the dead sleep is in the dust of the earth.

32d. What Part of Man Goes to the Dust at Death?

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. 3:19.

We have seen that only the body of Adam was formed out of the dust of the earth, and, only that which came out of the dust shall return to dust, which does not include the inner man, the living soul which is an inspiration from God.

In Eccle. 12 we have a sublime description of man’s decline and death. “Man goeth to his long home and the mourners go about the streets.”—Verse 5. “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”—Verse 7.

Can language be more plain and conclusive than this? The “outer man” which God made out of the dust of the earth, returns to the earth as it was. The “inner man,” which God breathed in Adam and which he forms in all men, and raised him above the mere animal, to the plane of a “living soul,” is here called the spirit, proving again that the soul and spirit denote the same thing in man. And, just as we are plainly taught in the New Testament, when our earthly house is dissolved, the real man or spirit goes to God who gave it, and is “present with the Lord.” So, since only that part of the man which goes to the dust, is said to sleep, and the soul or spirit does not go into the earth, therefore it does not sleep. Only the body which goes into the grave sleeps, and not the soul which goes to God.

So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.—I Kings 2:10.
And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.—1 Kings 11:43.

And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David.—I Kings 14:31.

So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria: and Ahab his son reigned in his stead.—1 Kings 16:28.

Only the part that was buried, is said to sleep. We might extend this list of evidences clear through the line of Kings and many other instances in the Old Testament, all proving that the sleep of the dead is only associated with the grave, and the spirit of man does not go there, but “returns unto God who gave it.” But this fact being abundantly substantiated in the New Testament, we need draw no farther from the Old. Only the bodies of the saints slept in the graves we have already seen in Matt. 27:52.

Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.—I Cor. 15:51–53.

Only the body is here spoken of. It is mortal and corruptible and shall be changed to immortality and incorruptibility. But all bodies will not go into the grave and be thus raised a spiritual body, because we shall not all sleep, but when the last trumpet shall sound and the dead—all the dead—shall be raised, they who are then alive shall also be changed. Sleep is here clearly referred to the bodies that go to the grave, and not to the spirit. To the mortal part of man and not to the immortal. But, what part of man is mortal? Let the Word answer.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.—Rom. 6:12.

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.—Rom. 8:11.

For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.—2 Cor. 4:11.

Here are three plain statements that mortality, when ascribed to man, is confined to his body, his flesh. The very language, “mortal body,” “mortal flesh,” naturally implies that the other part of man, the inner soul or spirit, is immortal. Materialists base an argument in favor of their no–soul animalism on the fact that the Bible no where says immortal soul or immortal spirit. But it should be remembered, that God gave the Bible to men of common sense, and all such readily perceive that a spirit is not a thing of flesh and bones that it should yield to the law of material decay and decomposition. To expect the Book of God to speak of an immortal spirit, is to look for a superfluity in the volume of perfect wisdom. The whole volume draws a clear line of distinction between the material and the immaterial, and that only the material and visible is perishable. God’s book tells us there is a spirit in man, or a soul, which men cannot destroy. Did you ever see a spirit? No, all spirits are invisible to these material eyes. The Word of Truth tells us that “the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.’’—2 Cor. 4:18. The spirit of man is then eternal. God says there is a man living inside these bodies, these earthly houses. Did anyone ever see him? No, the dissecting knife has never yet exposed him to view. This inner man is really invisible. Then he is eternal. When the voice of inspiration confines man’s mortality to his flesh. We should have wisdom enough to do likewise, and when all truth shows us plainly that spirits are of an immortal, imperishable and eternal nature, and that man is all a spirit being, except the mortal body in which he now tabernacles, how can any fair and sensible mind call for a text which says in so many words, immortal soul or immortal spirit? The scriptures confine man’s mortality to his body. Can you prove anything else is mortal? While you demand a “thus saith the Lord” for an immortal soul, we demand of you a “thus saith the Lord” for a mortal soul or mortal spirit. You cannot give it. We cannot furnish you the language you demand. What shall we then do? We answer, leave the matter rest where the Word does, i. e., the body is “mortal” but the spirit is invisible and eternal. The body sleeps in the grave, but the spirit goes to God who gave it.

33d. Does The Soul Ever Sleep?

Yes, in a present life of sin.
“His watchmen—professed ministers of the gospel in formal sectism—are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping,—in the margin, “dreaming or talking in their sleep”—lying down, loving to slumber.” Isa. 56:10.

An awful picture, and yet too awfully and generally true. Just think of nearly all of our sectarian pulpits being filled every Sabbath morning and evening with preachers who are only dreaming or talking to the people in their sleep. What real spiritual instruction could be expected from them? No wonder the people are nearly all asleep in Babylon, when instead of the living gospel, they only hear the dreams of sleeping preachers, “the visions of their own heads.” And the souls of some of these ignorant dogs are in such deep sleep that they do not even know they have a soul.

Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.—1 Thess. 5:6–8.

They that sleep naturally, sleep in the night, and they that sleep spiritually, sleep in the night of sin. Thank God we have been translated from darkness—the night of sin—into the kingdom of God’s dear Son and are made “partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.”

But, plainly, whose souls are sleeping in this life? Here is an answer. Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame. 1 Cor. 15:34. Whoever sins is admonished to awake to righteousness, and sin not. All preachers and sect members who commit sin with all other sinners, are asleep. The cause of that sleep is their want of the knowledge of God. That corresponds with the testimony of 1 John 3:6—“Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not: whosoever sinneth, hath not seen him neither known him.” “I speak this to your shame,” says the inspired apostle. Oh what a shame for men to live in sin, since “Christ has been manifest to take away our sins.” Yea, what a double shame for even preachers and professors of Christ to disgrace his name by sinning daily in word, thought and deed, as many admit, and many more practice.

How forcible these words fall on our ears, who have come to the very end of time. “And that knowing the time that now it is high time to wake out of sleep.”—Rom. 13:11.

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.—Eph. 5:14.

So then it is only in this world that souls sleep. All sinners are soul–sleepers, and soul–sleepers are sinners. But after death, the souls of all sinners are awake to their miseries, and all the righteous are “comforted” in a nearer presence with Christ than could be enjoyed while “at home in the body,” and relatively—“absent from the Lord.”

34th. Some Soul–Sleepers’ Arguments.

What have the no–soul wranglers to offer in opposition to the many New Testament scriptures which so clearly and positively teach that man is a compound being, an “outer man” and an “inner man,” and that at death this inner man which is called the soul, and the “spirit of man,” leaves the decaying house of clay and goes into a conscious nearer presence of the Lord, “goes to the God who gave it.” They usually seek shelter in some texts of the Old Testament, which they can misconstrue to the support of their dark creed. In the gospel, where Christ has brought life and immortality to light, they find little they can make any use of. One of their; props is Psa. 30:3; 49:15. “Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave,” “God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave.” By consulting Young’s Concordance or any reliable authority, it will be seen that the regular Hebrew word for grave is “Geber.” So it is defined, and so it is usually translated. But the Hebrew word from which “grave” is rendered in the above instances in Psalms, is “sheol” which, so far as we know, is universally admitted to be a counterpart of “Hades” in the Greek, and that word represents the dwelling place of all departed spirits, between this probation and the final judgment. Sheol is defined by Young, as “the unseen state.” Hades, “the unseen world.” The above and other instances of sheol rendered “grave,” should have been “under world,” or the “unseen state,” and refers to the actual abode of the soul. But it is not the grave at all.

Another text is Eccle. 9:5, 6.—For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

This is used to prove the unconscious state of the soul. But it only refers to the “dust that has returned to the earth as it was.” “The dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward.” Now this would not apply to that inner man, Paul, who was in a strait whether to depart out of the body and to be present with the Lord, or to abide in the flesh; for when he was about to depart, he declared, “henceforth there is a crown—a reward—laid up for me,” etc. But it only applied to the mouldered body in the grave. Dead bodies know not anything. “Their love, their envy and their hatred is now perished.” This is only true of the decomposed body, but the rich man that was in hades, the abode of spirits, yet had love for his five brethren who were back in the world. Only the dead bodies in the grave “know not anything,” but the spirit knows and remembers.

The doleful picture of Eccle. 3:18–21 is also resorted to by those who claim “no pre–eminence above a beast, for all is vanity.” But a doctrine is bad off for arguments that is driven for support to these dark poetical speeches. The Advent’s view of man’s non-pre–eminence over the beast, conflicts with the whole Bible. But if men did not have dark heresies to prop up, they would take Bible expressions in the light of Bible qualifications. The above language simply asserts that man’s physical life is the same as that of lower animals, and his death just as inevitable. Both go to the dust, but “the spirit of man goes upward,” “returns to the God who gave it.” As to the life of the beast, poetically called the “spirit” of the beast, because man’s living and quickening element had just been properly called “the spirit of man,” it does not ascend. No, the beast, body, life, and all goes down into the earth. So that man, after all, has a preeminence over the beast. But not in the few things here spoken of, i. e., “They have all one breath,” both breathe the same air. Both die, and so far as man is taken from the dust, he, in common with the beast, returns to the dust. How can men make out from this text that man has no spirit or soul, when it says his spirit “goeth upward,” and in chapter 12, verse 7 the article of death is plainly described by a separation of the spirit and body, the dust returning to the earth as it was, and the spirit to God.

Let all remember that highly figurative and poetical expressions of the Old Testament must not be brought forward to overthrow plain, positive teaching of the New. For, it is not in the old law, but in the gospel of Christ, that immortality is fully brought to light.

To prove that men do not consciously exist after death, this text is also resorted to. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.—Psa. 146:4.

This does not prove the extinction of the soul and mind after the dust returns to dust. It simply means that the thoughts, intentions and purposes of worldly minds perish in the day of their natural dissolution. “Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity.” Isa. 59:7. “God is not in all their thoughts.” They have a thousand covetous and sinful schemes and lusts which they have thought out, but they are all cut off and defeated by death. So their thoughts perish, and are never carried out. The overthrow of their thoughts and plans is no proof that their ability to think has perished. The mind is one thing and its thoughts another. The rich man’s thoughts and plans of a sumptuous life perished, but his mind was still in exercise after he went to hades. He remembered his brethren.

“Seek for glory, and honor, and immortality,” Rom. 2:7, is cited as evidence that man is all mortal. But there is no difficulty in harmonizing this with all other scriptures that plainly teach the indestructible soul of man. We have seen that man yet inhabits a “mortal body,” “ mortal flesh.” And, so long as any part of man has not been raised to an immortal state, immortality is yet in prospect for that part. An object of hope to be sought after. Yea, says the same writer, “The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed.” To what part of man is immortality yet to be attained? That part which, is to be raised from the grave, which is only the “earthly house of this tabernacle.” Again we ask, for what part of man must immortality yet be sought as a future attainment? Hear this, “For this corruptible—decaying flesh—must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” But what is this mortal? What part of man is said to be mortal? Thus saith the Word: “your mortal body,” “mortal flesh,” see Rom. 6:12; 8:11; 2 Cor. 4:11. Only the body, the flesh of man is declared mortal, and “this mortal [flesh] must put on immortality.” The immortality to be sought and yet experienced, is only that of the body, and it therefore has not the weight of a shadow against the immortality of the soul. In exact keeping with this seeking for immortality, which Paul associates with the resurrection of the body in 1 Cor. 15: he informs us in Phil. 3 that he pressed toward the mark of the high calling, namely, “If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” Meaning a resurrection unto eternal reward, and not that unto damnation. To “seek for immortality,” then is to so live that we may have a glorious resurrection of the body. Thus, scripture explains itself, and cuts off the no–soul doctrine, and likewise the erroneous doctrine of conditional soul immortality.

But one more text is cited by sleeping souls. “The King of kings and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality,” etc. 1 Tim. 6:15, 16. This, if taken in an unqualified sense, would deny the immortality of angels. But it must be understood in a specific and qualified sense. It evidently means that he is the firstfruits of those who rise from the dead. “Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more: death hath no more dominion over him.” Rom. 6:9. We are all yet mortal in body and must die, but “Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more.” Therefore, he only, the elder brother of the household of God, is wholly immortal. “For, in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.” Since when is Christ all immortal? The answer above is, having “died once” and being raised from the dead, he “dieth no more.” Then, the sense in which he only is immortal, is that of a resurrected, immortal body. This again proves nothing against the immortality of man’s soul. Here on the solid word of God we stand again and defy our enemies. Let us repeat the foregoing facts in other words. We ask, could it have been said of Christ before he died and was risen, that he was all immortal? By no means. His actual death proved the contrary. It was only after he was raised from the dead that “death had no dominion over him.” Then, the immortality which is peculiar to him only, is that of the resurrected state. But the resurrection is no where said to impart immortality to the soul. But it is only the “mortal,” “mortal body,” “mortal flesh,” which “puts on immortality.” So here we prove again that Christ’s exclusive immortality is that of a resurrected body, and it no more proves that our spirits are mortal than his spirit was mortal before his death and resurrection. In fact, there is no allusion in the text to the spiritual part of either Christ or mankind. It simply means that He has passed the portals of death and resurrection, and attained the “immortality of His body which we are yet to seek and press forward to.

35th. Immortality Not Conditional or Acquired.

Here let us introduce you to these words: Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Jesus Christ before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.—2 Tim. 1:9, 10.

He has abolished spiritual death by giving life to the soul, life which is freedom from sin, the cause of death, and the possession of divine favor and peace, which is life. Yea, the very indwelling of Christ who is our life. And he has abolished all the dread of natural death by bringing to light the immortality of the soul. The fact that the inner and real man does not perish with the body, but enjoys a more glorious “presence with the Lord” after this earthly house is dissolved, abolishes all the terrors of death. “The sting of death is sin.” But the blood of Christ “cleanseth us from all sin.” And the Holy Spirit quickens the soul into such a precious knowledge of our eternal life, and spirit’s immortality, that death, so much dreaded before, is now entirely abolished. And this victory over death is not by the impartation of immortality to the soul, but only bringing fully to light, by the gospel, that the soul is immortal. He through the gospel, salvation, and illumination of the Spirit of God, has brought to light that which was always true, i. e., that the soul is immortal. But, like many other great truths, it was not as clearly revealed in the Old Testament as it is in the Gospel. In the name of Jesus we maintain that this is a positive proof of man’s immortal spirit. If man, in his spiritual nature, were not immortal, there would be no immortality to bring to light in him. If immortality is conditional and only imparted by divine grace, the Word would read that Christ gave men immortality. But the testimony of heaven is, that he brought to light that which existed. Mr. Wilson, the translator of the Emphatic Diaglott, was a first–day Adventist, hence, believed in soul sleeping. He translated it, “who hath illustrated life and incorruptibility.” But, in the direct from the Greek he renders it correctly, “hath illuminated,” etc. Could Christ illuminate a thing that does not exist? That this is correct, we can make plain by an appeal to the original word. It is Photisantos. Its root is Phos, which means light, and occurs in such texts as Matt. 4:16; 5:14, 16; John 1:4, 5, 7, 8, 9, etc. That Photisantos means having illuminated or shed light on something, will be made plain by examining its use. “I will bring to light—photizo—the hidden things of dishonesty.” 1 Cor. 4:5. “The shining of a candle doth light.”—Photizo—Luke 11:36. “And the earth was lightened—Photizo—with his glory.” Rev. 18:1. “The glory of God did lighten—Photizo—it.” Rev. 21:23. Photizo is clearly seen to mean to lighten, and as surely Photisantos means, “having lightened” or “having illuminated,” “hath brought immortality to light.”

Most people who hold that the soul is only conditionally immortal, that it is imparted to it in salvation or in the resurrection, etc., confound a condition of the soul, with its nature. Namely, they see a transition from death unto life by the grace of God, and with this life, they identify the soul’s immortality. But this is confusion and error. Spiritual death incurred by sin is only a condition of the soul. It still lives, as we have proved by the Word. The sinner is yet conscious of the moral law written in man’s being, is conscious that all actions are good or evil. And since, as we have proved, it is the soul that sins, he yet has a conscious soul. Spiritual death is a forfeiture of righteousness and God’s favor and peace, not a destruction of the conscious moral being, or of the soul in man. It is only the consciousness of a wretched condition of the soul. So spiritual life in Christ Jesus is not the impartation of an indestructible nature to the spirit or soul of man; for that only and essentially is the nature of any spirit. But it is a change of the condition of that immortal element in man, its restoration to divine favor, righteousness and peace. Death, the fruit of the soul’s sin, is so called because it separates man from the enjoyment and glory of God. He is dead to the object of his creation. Life, given by the Word and spirit of God, reunites the soul to God and makes it alive to his glory. But immortality is an inherent and inseparable nature or property of all spirits. So there is a vast difference between Zoan—“life,” “motion,” “activity,”—the ability to act in harmony with the divine will, and Athanasia—“deathlessness,” “immortality,” “incorruptibility.” The former, when applied to the soul, is a moral condition; the latter, describes an endless existence, that which is in its nature imperishable.

That the soul does not pass a period of unconscious slumber between death and the resurrection is also positively proved by such scriptures as the following:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.—John. 6:47–51.

Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.—John 6:54.

Eternal life signifies life, action and conscious enjoyment in the service and favor of God without end or termination. “Shall not die,” implies that there shall be no interruption of this spiritual enjoyment. To “live forever,” means the same thing. And yet, in both verses 40 and 45 the death of the body is clearly implied; for, saith the Lord, “I will raise him up at the last day.” How reconcile the two facts, “he shall live forever,” and yet shall die and go to the grave, if we do not recognize the fact that man is a compound of soul and body? On any other basis, the word of God contradicts itself. But, all taken together, there is no conflict. The “live forever” and “not die” is true of the “inner man,” the death and resurrection pertain to the body, the “outer man.” Nothing but an utter subversion of the inspired book can give countenance to the gloomy and debasing doctrine that all of man goes into the grave and is unconscious until the resurrection. In fact, to assert it, is to squarely contradict the Teacher that came from Heaven. To live forever and yet the body die, proves that man is something more than an animal body. The same thing is expressed in these words, “Who died for us that whether we wake—remain in the body—or sleep—in the dust of the earth—we shall live together with him.” I Thess. 5:10. That is, our souls shall live right on in a glorious presence with the Lord. The fact is we live forever even though our bodies decompose in the grave. So teaches the word of God, and let the wisdom of this world be dumb before the bar of truth.

It should, perhaps, be explained what is meant by the spirit going to God who gave it. With regard to the righteous, it means just what the apostle said, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” A heightened spiritual bliss in the nearer presence of God. But with the unsaved, the disembodied state is an increase of wretchedness arising from a more immediate approach into the divine presence, an awakening of the soul’s sensibilities and responsibilities in the sight of God. Dropping off its mortal covering, the soul of the sinner passes into the spirit world where he is more dreadfully conscious of the all–searching eye of God beholding all his past sin and iniquity. The dreamy slumber of sin suddenly changes into the awful realization of the fact that God is, and that the righteous frowns of the Almighty are the irrevocable fruits of his impious life of rebellion. And now the wretched soul is forced out from beneath its sin–defiled clay covering, into the open arena of spirit being, with no place to hide from the eyes of Him that sitteth on the throne; while memory, more active than ever, recalls the last life of sin and guilt, portrays, in a sense and already inflicts the awful flames of torment that await the unhappy wretch beyond the judgment of the great day. Thus, the spirits of all go to God who gave them, the righteous to enjoy him, the wicked to writhe beneath his piercing gaze. [ The End ]