The Nature Of Man In His Present State

By H.M. Riggle

Compared to God man is a very insignificant creature. Of God we read: "To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?" "It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers..Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance...Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance...All nations before him are as nothing;

and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity" (Isa. 40:12-17). In the light of all this no wonder the Psalmist asked, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? (Ps. 8:4).

Yet man is a wonderful creature. God made him for his glory. He possesses unlimited possibilities and is capable of wonderful development. God takes knowledge of him, and even the hairs of his head are numbered. Yes, "Thou art mindful of him" "for thou hast made him" God pays special regard to his creature—man, who is an immortal intelligence possessing personality.

Man has a soul and is capable of religion, hence is quite unique in God's creation. The distance between the highest brute intelligence and the rational soul of the lowest man is so wide, so great, that the chasm can never be bridged. Man was created, not evolved. No lower animal gives evidence of the personality which man possesses. The reason is we are spiritual beings. Right here is where man's superiority is so clearly seen. It is this that lifts him above the brute creation and constitutes him an active, intelligent, responsible agent. This princely power to think places him upon the throne above all material beings: "In his hand is the scepter of dominion, and on his brow the crown of a possible and glorious destiny" "For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea" (Ps. 8:5-8).

This inspired scripture places man upon a distinct plain above the rest of earthly creation. He is divine in his origin and possesses kinship to God. In every man there is something that is akin to God, something which separates him from all other creatures on the face of the earth, so that he can comprehend, know, and love God. No animal possesses this capacity, this high endowment, this power to know and do his Maker's will. Thus man in his moral and rational nature resembles God. Why, we ask? Because man, like God, is a spirit. His Creator made him just "a LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS"

What then, we may ask, is the nature of angels? Inspiration answers: "Who maketh his angels spirits. Are they not all ministering spirits? Heb. 1:7, 14. Angels are spirit beings, not mortal, not flesh and blood, but "SPIRITS" Jesus plainly declares that "a spirit hath not flesh and bones" (Luke 24:39). David assures us that "the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them" The fact is in this dispensation we have come to "an innumerable company of angels" (Heb. 12:22). Unseen to the natural eye there are ever present, angelic beings who minister to and protect God's people. They are not material beings.

It is true that at different times angels have appeared to men in various forms, which it seems they have the power to do, but this does not disprove the fact that they

are immortal spirits. In their nature they stand wholly upon the plain of spirit beings. Man was created but a "little" lower. "There is a spirit in man" (Job. 32:8). "Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (I Cor. 6:20). "Holy both in body and in spirit" (I Cor. 7:34). These texts declare in so many words that we are compound beings, of both "body and spirit." The body is material, hence subject to death: "Your mortal bodies" (Rom. 8:11). But inside these mortal bodies there lives a spirit, for "there is a spirit in man;' and "the body without the spirit is dead" (Jas. 2:26).

God is a spirit (John 4:24), eternal and immortal (I Tim. 1:17). The third person in the trinity is the Holy Spirit, the "eternal Spirit" (Heb. 9:14). Angels are spirits (Heb. 1:7, 14) not subject to natural death, but are immortal beings (see Matt. 22:29-30; Luke 20:35-36). There is a spirit or soul in man (Job 32:8; 14:22; 1 Cor. 7:34), which is not subject to physical death (Matt. 10:28); hence is immortal. Here then we have man's nature clearly defined. The sense in which he stands a little lower than the angels, or as some render it, "a little while lower than the angels;' is in that he now inhabits a mortal body which is subject to physical death whereas the angels are wholly spirit beings, wholly immortal. Man is both spirit and flesh, soul and body. In the resurrection when "that which is sown a natural body shall be raised a spiritual body;' we shall be "equal unto the angels"

The twofoldness of man's nature and being is clearly seen in his creation: "And God said. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Gen. 1:26,27). "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 corporeal part, or physical being, was formed from the dust of the ground. This Paul terms the "outward man" (II Cor. 4:16), our "earthly house" and "this tabernacle" in which we now dwell (II Cor. 5:1). Inside this dust-born body there lives an "inward man" (II Cor. 4:16), the "hidden man of the heart" (I Pet. 3:4), the accountable part of our being. This God created in his own image and likeness, a "LIVING SOUL":

"The first man Adam was made a living soul" (1 Cor. 15:45).

It is well to note the fact right here that nowhere in the Bible is it said that when God created the lower animals he ever breathed into them the "breath of life" No other creature was thus made in "the likeness and image of God" All this is said of man alone. On this point I quote Dr. Adam Clarke—'What is here said refers to his soul. This was made in the image and likeness of God. Now, as the divine Being is infinite...therefore he can have no corporeal after which he made the body of man...His mind, his soul, must have been formed after the nature and perfections of his God. The human mind is still endowed with most extra-ordinary capacities; it was more so when issuing out of the hands of its Creator. God was now producing a spirit, and a spirit, too, formed after the perfections of his own nature. God is the fountain whence this spirit issued, hence the stream must resemble the spring which produced it" (Comments on Gen. 1:26, 27). "In the most distinct manner God shows us that man is a compound being, having a body and soul distinctly and separately created; the body out of the dust of the earth, the soul immediately breathed from God himself. Does not this strongly mark that the soul and body are not the same thing?" (Comments on Gen. 2:7). This is sound reasoning and we believe it gives a true exegesis of these texts. The soul is separable from the body. The Chaldee translates Gen. 2:17: "And it was in man for a speaking spirit"

But what have the materialists to offer? In a work before me entitled Here and Hereafter, by Elder Uriah Smith, one of the ablest writers of the Seventh-day Adventist faith, I read that by "living soul" is simply meant "living creature" That is, as formed from the dust "he was a lifeless man" and after God blew breath into his nostrils he was "a living one:' "The lungs began to expand, the heart to beat, the blood to flow, and the limbs to move" "When the breath of life was imparted, which, as we have seen, was given in common to all the animal creation, that simply was applied that set the machine in motion" He further enlarges on the word "became," endeavoring to prove that the dust-created form simply became a living person. "He became a living soul. He was a soul before, but not a living soul" (pp. 42-44). Further he finds the same Hebrew words here translated "living soul"—nephesh chaiyah—applied to the lower order of animals in Gen. 1:20, 21, 24, 30, and concludes that the souls of animals and man are the same in kind (pg.46).

We readily admit that the term "soul'—Hebrew nephesh, Greek psuche—is a general word and has more than one meaning. In a few scriptures it is applied to the individual, as in 1 Pet. 3:20: "Eight souls were saved by water" The term is so used in our common language today, as "Poor souls, they need our sympathy" That the term is sometimes applied to lower animals we have always known and never denied. That is nothing new. But all this by no means destroys the fact so clearly taught in the Bible that man possesses a spiritual entity called the soul which is separate and distinct in substance from the body and continues to live after the body returns to dust. The following scriptures do most positvely teach this fact: Job 14:22; [I Cor. 4:16; Mic. 6:7; III John 2; Matt. 10:28;

Gen. 35:18; Luke 12:20; 16:19-31; Rev. 6:9,10; II Cor. 5:1-9; and Phil. 1:21-25. The soul of man is the volitional part of his being; it sins against God and needs salvation through the precious blood of Jesus Christ: "Believe to the saving of the soul" (Heb. 10:39). "The salvation of your souls" (1 Pet. 1:9). "Ye have purified your souls" (I Pet. 1:22). Such language is never applied to the brutes.

Elder Smith, on the image and likeness in which God created man, says that "God is a person, and so that man, tho of course in an imperfect and finite degree, may be an image, or likeness, of him, as to his bodily form" (p.34). He then quotes Phil. 2:5, 6, and Heb. 1:1-3 to prove that Christ in human flesh was "in the form of God" and "in the express image of his person" (pp. 35, 36).

To all this we reply: That God is a person we always have taught. That in person he sits upon his throne in heaven the Bible clearly teaches; and that man was made "after the similitude of God" (Jas. 3:9) we readily grant. But to claim that this is all that is meant in Gen. 1:26, 27, we most emphatically deny. God is not a fleshly being, for "a spirit hath not flesh and bones" (Luke 24:39), and "GOD IS A SPIRIT" (John 4:24). He is "eternal, immortal, invisible" (1 Tim. 1:17), wholly spirit. Now, in our creation God "formeth the spirit of man within him" (Zech. 12:1), for "there IS A SPIRIT IN MAN" (Job 32:8). Thus we are 'both body and spirit' (1 Cor. 7:34). This spirit in man is invisible to the natural eye; it is "the hidden man of the heart" (I Pet. 3:4). It survives the death of the body (Eccl. J2:7), hence is immortal.

Now, it was this inward spiritual man that God created in his own moral image and likeness: "Which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Eph. 4:24). Through the fall the human family became morally depraved; but through Jesus Christ the soul is now restored to the likeness and image of the Creator again, and this is a state of "righteousness and true holiness!' Thus "we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to

glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Cor. 3:18). You see in the work of redemption which brings us back into the image of the glory of God, it is not our fleshly body that is thus restored, but "he restoreth MY SOUL" (Ps. 23:3). This is absolute proof that man possesses a spiritual, immortal element, separate and distinct from the body, created in the image of God, defiled by sin, and again restored to a state of purity through the blood of Christ. It now inhabits a mortal body, which is simply the "earthly house of this tabernacle" which will return to dust again, while the former will live forever.

Soul and Spirit

The term soul is from the Hebrew nephesh and from the Greek psuche. The word nephesh occurs 745 times in the Old Testament. It is translated "soul" 473 times, "life" and "lives" 118 times, "person" 29 times, "mind" 15 times, "heart" 15 times, "body" 11 times, "will" 4 times, "appetite" twice, "lust" twice, and "thing" twice. Psuche appears in the New Testament 105 times. It is translated "soul" 58 times, "life" 40 times, "mind" 3 times, "heart" twice, "us" once, and "you" once. From this it will be seen that soul/ in both the Old and New Testament is a generic term. It has a variety of meanings. Then it follows that the signification of the word in any portion of the Scriptures must be determined by the sense in which it is used in the sacred record, and in the light of its context. To do otherwise is to do violence to the Scriptures. Materialists violate this principle by applying "animal life" and "breath of life" to the soul wherever it suits their theory. There are a host of texts, as this book will show, where these terms will not apply at all, but where soul means the real inner man, the moral and spiritual part of our being, the part that survives the death of the fleshly body.

The term spirit is from the Hebrew ruach and from the Greek pneuma. The word ruach occurs in the Old Testament 442 times. It is translated "spirit" 232 times, "wind" 97 times, "breath" 28 limes, "smell" 8 times, "mind" 6 times, and "blast" 4 times. Pneuma occurs in the New Testament 385 times. It is rendered "spirit" 288 times, "ghost" 92 times, "wind" once, and "life" once. Spirit also, as well as soul, is a generic term, with more than one meaning. Its signification must also be determined by the sense in which it is used, and by the context. Materialists have three favorite terms they use for spirit and apply them in a way that makes many texts bend to their peculiar doctrine, namely, "wind" "breath," and "life:' "God is a spirit" (John 4:24). It can hardly be said with consistency that the Almighty is a mere puff of wind, a breath, or a life. Angels are "spirits"(Heb. 1:7, 14). Are they not more than a breath, a wind, a life? I think so. And "there is A SPIRIT IN MAN" (Job 32:8). It is an intelligent entity that can be saved through Jesus Christ (I Cor. 5:5) and survives the death of the body (Eccl. 12:7). Surely this is not our breath, or even the animal life we possess.

I shall now present a number of texts where the term soul does not mean animal life, breath of life, or the mere physical person. Isaac desired Esau to come before him "that my soul may bless thee before 1 die" (Gen. 27:4). "To make an atonement for your souls" (Exod. 30:15). "But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul" (Deut. 4:29). "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul" (Deut. 6:5). "But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn" (Job 14:22). Here is a clear distinction between our flesh and the soul. Note the language, "His soul WITHIN HIM:' This soul is capable of bestowing blessing, of seeking and finding God, and of loving him supremely.

"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul" (Ps. 19:7). "Our soul waiteth

for the Lord" (Ps. 33:20). "My soul shall make her boast in the Lord" (Ps. 34:2). "My soul shall be joyful in the Lord: it shall rejoice in his salvation" (Ps. 35:9). "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, 0 God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God" (Ps. 42:1,2). "Truly my soul waiteth upon God:

from him cometh my salvation" (Ps. 62:1). "He preserveth the souls of his saints" (Ps. 97:10). "Bless the Lord, 0 my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name" (Ps. 103:1). "For he satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness" (Ps. 107:9). How dark and meaningless are all these scriptures from the materialist's standpoint! But what a wreath of heavenly truth to those enlightened to know that we have a soul, a conscious entity within that stands associated with God and things eternal. Will such texts apply to the ox, donkey, or ourangutan? Why not, if man has not a soul different from the brute's?

Man is "both soul and body" (Isa. 10:18). "Hear, and your soul shall live" (Isa. 55:3). "Ye shall find rest for your souls'" (Jer. 6:16). "The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul" (Mic. 6:7). "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). "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? (Matt. 16:26). "But God said unto him. Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee" (Luke 12:20). "His soul was not left in hell (hades), neither his flesh did see corruption" (Acts 2:31). "Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil" (Rom. 2:9). "We have as an anchor of the soul" (Heb. 6:19). "Believe to the saving of the soul" (Heb. 10:39). "The salvation of your souls" (1 Pet. 1:9). "Ye have purified your souls" (I Pet. 1:22). Some of these texts will be examined critically in other parts of this work, but I have here brought together these many references to show that man possesses more than animal life, breath, and his outer physical being. To apply these scriptures to the brutes would be ridiculous in the extreme. But why, we ask? Because man stands upon a higher and a spiritual plane. Materialism cannot be harmonized with these scriptures.

I shall now present a number of texts in which the term "spirit" does not mean animal life, breath, or wind. "My Spirit shall not always strive with man" (Gen. 6:3). "I have filled him with the spirit of God" (Exod. 31:3). "And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him" (Judg. 14:6). "But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul" (1 Sam. 16:14). "I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord" (Mic. 3:8). "Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness" (Matt. 4:1). "The Spirit like a dove descending upon him" (Mark 1:10). "And began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4). "How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?" (Acts 5:9). "Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot" (Ads 8:29). "The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip" (vs.39).

These are but a few of a multitude of texts that could be given to show that a spirit is an intelligent person. In every reference from the Old Testament the Hebrew word is ruach and from (lie New Testament the Greek word is pneuma. All these texts refer to the Holy Spirit. He is a person. Personal actions are ascribed to him (see John 16:7-8, 13-15; 14:16-17). He seal-dies, speaks; makes intercession, distributes gifts, appoints overseers in the church, leads, guides, comforts, reproves, convicts, regenerates, sanctifies, and preserves. He may be resisted, grieved, insulted, lied to, quenched, and blasphemed. Here then is a spirit—ruach—pneuma—that means more than wind, breath, or animal life.

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If spirit means no more than wind or breath, then to substitute these terms for "spirit" ought to make good, sensible reading. Let us try this rule: "It seemed good to the wind and to us" (Acts 15:28). "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the wind and with power" (Acts 10:38). "Be zealous of windy gifts" "The breath itself beareth witness with our breath, that we are the children of God" (Rom. 8:16). Anyone can see that this would be ridiculous, and yet the materialistic argument presents such inconsistencies.

Again—"And there came forth a spirit (much), and stood before the Lord, and said, 1 will persuade him" (I Kings 22:21). "Then a spirit ( ruach)passed before my face;

the hair of my flesh stood up: It stood still, but 1 could not discern the form thereof:

an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying. Shall mortal man be more just than God?" (Job 4:15-17). Who ever heard materialists talk like this? Who ever read such language in their literature? Their teachings do not fit these scriptures at all. Surely it was more than a breath, a puff of wind, or an animal life, that appeared before the Lord, stood there, and spoke. Did Eliphaz suppose he had seen a breath, and this breath actually spoke to him? Incredible, preposterous. The inspired writer of the Book of Kings and Chronicles believed in actual spirits that could speak. Eliphaz believed the same thing.

"When the unclean spirit (pneuma)'\s gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none. Then he saith, 1 will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first" (Matt. 12:43-45). Is this merely wind and breath that Jesus is talking about? Or is it a life? If a life, then Mary Magdalene was delivered from seven lives. There is no way under heaven to harmonize these scriptures with the doctrine of materialism. There are personal, intelligent spirits both good and bad. During the ministry of Christ and the apostles we read of unclean, deaf-and-dumb spirits being cast out of people. Sometimes these spirits cried out and spoke to Jesus. The inspired writers have told us so. They believed in spirits. When Jesus suddenly appeared in the midst of his disciples after his resurrection "they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit (pneuma)" But Jesus said to them, "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 24:37, 39). If the disciples did not believe in spirits, strange it is that they all thought one appeared visibly in their midst. The very fact that they thought they actually saw a spirit proves that they believed in them. And Jesus confirmed their belief in spirits by saying, "A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" Was Jesus here talking about the wind, or a breath?

God himself, as we have seen, is a spirit (pneuma)—not a fleshly person with corporeal frame, but a being wholly spirit. And this eternal God, our Creator "formeth the spirit (ruach) of man within him" (Zech. 12:1). "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit (pneuma)of man which is in him?" (I Cor. 2:11). Paul is not here talking about wind, breath, or animal life, but the real, intelligent inner man, the soul, or spirit. "That the spirit pneuma) may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus" (1. Cor. 5:5). "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man; But I see another law in my members" (Rom. 7:22-23). Here the "inward man" is clearly contrasted and distinguished from the physical "members" or body. The redeemed inward man delights in God's law, because it is spiritual—saved.

Now this inner or hidden man of the heart is termed the soul, or spirit. It may

be asked, "Why the two terms to express the same thing?" I answer, for the same reason that the outward man, the physical part of our being, is expressed by "flesh" and "body;' two words as different as "spirit" and "soul." "Flesh" denotes that the outer man, the "earthly house" and "tabernacle" in which we dwell, is of material substance, mortal and subject to death. "Body" denotes this fleshly substance in its organized form, the physical outward man. "Spirit" denotes that the inward man is not a material, fleshly being, but wholly of spirit substance like God and the angels in heaven. "Soul" denotes this spiritual substance in its organized form, a real inner man, separate and distinct in substance from the body, and yet in our present state living in union with it. While there is a distinction made in I Thess. 5:23 and Heb. 4:12 between the soul and spirit, which is accounted for in that both these terms have a variety of meanings, yet when referring to the inner, spiritual part of our being, the real inward man, the terms soul and spirit are used interchangeably and mean the same thing. In this book I shall thus refer to them when treating on the immortal, spiritual nature of our being.

Death A Separation

Death is a solemn event through which we all must pass. There have been but two exceptions in the history of mankind—in the cases of Enoch and Elijah, who were translated.

Paul shows a mystery, as recorded in I Cor. 15: "We shall not all sleep" Those left unto the arrival of the Lord in his second advent will be exempt from death and "changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump" With these exceptions all must taste the pangs of death. "It is appointed unto men once to die" Our short life here is but a shadow, a dream. "It is soon cut off, and we fly away" Amidst the hurry and whirl of this fast age, the rumbling and rattling of commercial, social, and political life, men are apt to forget this solemn fact, but still, in kindness, we would remind the reader that in the midst of the busiest scenes of life we are in the midst of death.

This truth is depicted in nature. In the spring-time the trees put forth their leaves and during sweet summer days furnish protection to the singing birds in their leafy bowers. But autumn frosts and winds turn the leaves to a golden hue, they fall to earth, and while winter snows cover the earth with a white carpet they molder back to Mother Dust. The flowers fade, the grass withers, the sturdy oak decays, the monuments crumble, and, in fact wherever we look we can see the end of all—death. 0 man, you must die! Death is no respecter of persons. He cuts off the young as well as the old. He comes in childhood's happy hours and plucks the fairest buds. He comes in the bloom of youth and with his sickle cuts down the noble son and daughter. He summons man in his busy days, while his bark of life is dashing through mad breakers and stormy billows, while cares of life are pressing around him. He enters the home, and man must obey the summons. He comes to the few who reach hoary age, and tottering forward, they fall into the grave. Yes, we are bending toward the tomb. Death enters alike the palace of the rich and the hovel of the poor. His silent tread is felt all over the earth, where homes are left with vacancies and hearts are saddened. The hour of death will be the most solemn hour of all our life.

But we cannot linger here. As we pass down through death's valley eternity's scenes loom up before us. The curtain is now lifted and we take a look into the unseen world. As I grasp my pen solemn thoughts flash through my mind. Thank God for the unerring guide of truth, a lamp to our feet, a light to our pathway.

Death is a separation. "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). How plain this declaration from heaven! Death is simply the separation of soul and body. The soul departs when the body dies. Our materialist friends tell us that it is simply the breath, or physical life, that leaves the body when we die. It seems to me that there is more implied in this scripture than that. Surely the inspired writer was speaking of more than the mere exhaling from the lungs, "for as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26). Here we see that it is the body that goes down into decomposition in death. "The body without the spirit is dead!' So when the spirit leaves the body the latter is dead. Death, then, is a separation.

"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it" (Eccl. 12:7). It is impossible to mistake the import of this passage. The returning to the dust is not the same thing as returning to God. And mark the fact that in death it is only the dust—the fleshly body—that returns to dust again. The spirit does not go down into decomposition with the body, but is separable from it, survives the stroke of death, and returns to God. Our materialist friends tell us that spirit here means the breath of life, which of course means the exhaling from the lungs of a puff of wind. Let us examine their position just a moment. Their exposition that the breath returns to God who gave it, really robs the text of its great meaning and importance. The breath is simply the air we breathe. In what sense could the air we breathe return to God at death? It is surely a waste of time to press such matters. All these scriptures teach in the clearest language that the human spirit survives the stroke of death and still lives, understands, and feels either the favor or displeasure of God. The soul of the righteous enters into the immediate presence of the Lord, where there "is fulness of joy;' while the soul of the wicked is forced out from beneath the clay covering into the immediate presence of the Almighty, conscious of his displeasure, to await punishment in the final resurrection.

"But God said unto him. Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee" (Luke 12:20). This man had spent all his time and talents in accumulating wealth. Probably without one thought of God or eternity intruding upon his visions of anticipated bliss he plodded onward toward the goal of wealth. Finally he reached the summit of his worldly ambitions. He had all of earthly goods that heart could wish. He thought to himself, I have labored hard all through life to accumulate this. Now I shall take my ease. "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years" I will "eat, drink, and be merry" What a wretched portion for an immortal soul! God said, "Thou fool!" Oh, foolish man! He had neglected to lay up treasures in heaven. He overlooked the one thing above all things needful.

As the evening shadows gather fast a horror takes hold of him. The whole scene begins to change. Death, like a grim monster, enters his palace and seizes his mortal frame. The night winds moan and howl without, while wafted upon the breezes from the eternal world comes an awful summons: "This night thy soul shall be required of thee"

"He looked all aghast at the sound of that voice Then gazed on his rich earthly store;

But it melted away; he had made a sad choice He was poverty's slave evermore"

How awful was this saying! He had just made the necessary arrangements for the

gratification of his sensual appetites; and in the very night in which he had finally settled all his plans his soul was called into the presence of his Maker. None of his worldly goods could accompany him, and he had not a particle of heavenly treasure!