which it dwells, and capable of a separate and independent existence when the body is dissolved; but they assume it as a truth not to be called in question, precisely as the being of a God is everywhere assumed throughout the Bible.

After a brief chapter on the supposed origin of souls, we have proved from the Scripture, that as life began with the infusion of "the living Spirit" into the body of Adam, so death is the reverse of this process-the separation of the soul from the body—a putting off of the fleshly tabernacle—the giving up of the ghost-the departure of the soul-a flying away, to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.

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Next in order we have proved from the same sure word of prophecy," that souls thus separated from the body by death, live on in conscious joy or sorrow, in the place of departed spirits, from death to the resurrection; and that the idea of the cessation of conscious being, or the "sleep" of souls from death to the resurrection, has no warrant in the word of God.

In the chapter on the "Intermediate State," it is shown that instead of implying that souls have no reward or punishment till the second coming of Christ and the resurrection, those Scriptures which speak of rewards and punishments as to be distributed at the resurrection and final judgment, relate solely to the perfection or fulness of both, which will be brought to all men at the revelation of Christ to judge the world. Thus, all such Scriptures are shown to be in perfect harmony with the idea of conscious being, and partial rewards and punishments during the intermediate period, or before the resurrection and final judgment.

In the ninth chapter we have proved that the pen

alty of sin is not annihilation, but conscious suffering, -that Christ did not die to redeem men from nonexistence, but from the "wrath to come," or the endless consequences of sin in another life; and that consequently our immortality or continued existence after death is not dependent upon our faith in Christ. And finally, we have shown that the declarations of the Bible that the wicked are to "perish," "die," "be consumed," "destroyed," "burned up," "slain," "devoured," "blotted out," "hewn down," "cut off," &c., in no wise imply their non-existence; and that the idea of the annihilation of the wicked at the day of judgment is in conflict with the whole tenor of the Sacred Writings.

And here we might close the argument so far as many of our readers are concerned. By the mouth of these many inspired witnesses, every principle of the Christian theory of the soul's separate and conscious immortality is fully established.

But there is another class of reasoners, who, while they admit that the Bible plainly teaches the two-fold nature of man, and the immortality of the soul, claim that Reason and Nature, or in other words, the phenomena of mental and physical development, of life, decay, and death, and of the natural world in general, all point to oblivion as the end of man, and are therefore in conflict with the idea of another life after death.

However complete, therefore, the demonstration from the Scriptures, it is due to the advocate of "Natural Religion," to accompany him also to his favorite field of research, and see if both reason and nature do not respond to revelation, that the soul of man lives on forever.

PART SECOND.

RATIONAL EVIDENCES OF A FUTURE LIFE.

CHAPTER I.

CHARACTER AND VALUE OF THE RATIONAL ARGUMENT.

WE have thus far confined our inquiries to the teachings of the Holy Scriptures. Let us now turn our attention to what are called the rational evidences of man's immortality.

I. By the rational evidences of a future life, we mean such evidences as may be gathered outside of the pages of Divine Revelation, by reflection upon the facts and phenomena of the natural world; the relations of man to the material creation; the powers and susceptibilities of the soul; and the various phenomena of life and death.

"The evidences of a future state," says Dr. Dick, "which the light of reason affords, though not so clear and decisive as those which are derived from Divine Revelation, are worthy of the serious consideration of every one in whose mind the least doubt remains on this important subject. The conviction they are calculated to produce, when attentively weighed, is sufficient to leave every one without excuse who trifles with the concerns of his future destiny, and overlooks his relations to the eternal world."

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'Though the realities of a future world are not presented directly to the eye of sense, yet the faculties with which man is endowed, when properly exercised on all the physical and moral scenes which the universe displays, are sufficient to evince the highest degree of probability, if not absolute certainty, that his duration and his sphere of action are not confined to the narrow limits of the present world, but have a relation to a future and immortal existence. ""*

"I am not sure," says Dr. Erskine Mason, "in these days of physiological research and philosophic pride, that it is a waste of time or labor, or an inappropriate work for the advocate of truth to ransack the analogies of things, to trace the correspondence between the natural and the spiritual, if for no other purpose than to show that a skepticism as to the life to come' has no warrant whatever in any of the things which are seen and known as yet."†

II. The Author of the Bible is the author of nature; hence all true science is in perfect harmony with revealed religion. And the fact that in all the researches and discoveries of modern times, nothing has been found in the realm of nature to contradict any portion of the sacred writings, while all other ancient writings are in perpetual conflict with modern science, is one of the strongest proofs that the Bible is from God, the infinite Creator of all things. So of each particular truth of revelation: if, upon its being announced every fact and phenomena of nature is in harmony with it, this circumstance of itself

* Philosophy of a Future State, Chapter I.

Sermon on the Life to Come, Pastor's Legacy, p. 190.

affords a presumptive and collateral evidence of its truth.

committed, and the sup

A mysterious murder is posed criminal is arrested. A theory of the murder is set forth by the press, or by the states attorney. If that theory is in conflict with any known facts in regard to the supposed criminal or his victim, such conflict goes far to discredit the theory; but if, on the other hand, the theory is in harmony with and explains all the known facts of the case, there at once arises a strong presumption of the truth of the theory.

So of all revealed truth, and especially of the doctrine of a future state. If it is found to agree most wonderfully with all we know of ourselves or of the natural world, such agreement goes far to corroborate the doctrine, and to strengthen in our minds the conviction of its truth.

III. Two errors, we think, have been committed in regard to the nature and value of the rational evidences of man's immortality. First, we deem it a mistake to suppose that such evidence is primary; or in other words that it could be discovered or understood at all, without the light of the Bible first thrown upon the problem of our being, and afterward reflected from all the works of God. Until that "star of eternity" gilds the scene, all natural intimations of immortality are latent. They are like hieroglyphics upon the walls of some dark cavern, existing but undecyphered, till the darkness of ages is dispersed by the flambeau of the curious traveler. Then only can he see and read them.

But suppose a gorgeous chandelier, suspended from