The Bible Examiner — Vol. 8, No. 6 (June, 1853)

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BIBLE EXAMINER.

NO IMMORTALITY, NOR ENDLESS LIFE, EXCEPT THROUGH JESUS CHRIST ALONE.

VOL. VIII.

NEW YORK, JUNE, 1853.

GEORGE STORRS, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER.

NO.6.

PUBLISHED MONTHLY, At No. 140 Fulton-street. (Up Stairs.)

TERMS.--Single copy, for one year, 1; six copies, 5; thirteen copies, $10; always in advance.

ETERNITAS REVIEWED.

BY REV. WM. G. MONCRIEFF.

"ETERNITAS : or, Glimpses of the Future Destinies of Man: By Wm. Bathgate."

Continued from page 35.

We design on this occasion to consider Mr. Bathgate's doctrine of the human soul: and concerning the soul we read:—

"The human soul is an entity, a being, distinct from the mortal or fleshly part of man. Each day testifies that our earthly life is but a vapor, a dream, a shadow. Unless it can be proved that the soul is an existence distinct from organized bones and flesh, and blood, neither the possibility nor probability of the immortality of mind could be established. Were it not a separate existence, then it could never be a subsequent existence. It might be the former without being the latter, but it could never be the latter without being the former.—Daily we see human bodies mixing with kindred dust. If there be nothing more in man but flesh and blood, then his entire mortality is settled. But is not every human being conscious of a living something within, which moves the limbs and yet is not the limbs—which dictates to the foot, the hand, the tongue, and yet is none of these, though it has the command of all? In the meantime call it by what name you choose, only recognize its veritable distinct existence. Should it be hastily observed, that this vital principle, this living entity, is so incorporated with the human frame, that it necessarily expires when its tenement is rent and shivered, the answer is that it has yet to be proved. The very language used, grants, at all events, that the living entity is not the human frame; and he raves rather than reasons, who asserts that things joined together for a season, must all expire on being separated. All we now ask of the reader, is the remembrance of the important circumstance, that all the world over, human consciousness testifies that there is something more in man than bones, and flesh, and blood. This additional something may or may not have a subsequent existence, may or may not have an immortal existence, but that it has a veritable present existence is undeniable. This fact, though indispensable as a stepping-stone to the probability we wish to establish, is yet no argument on the question.

which all men are conscious, is immaterial. The body is matter. The soul has none of the properties by which matter is distinguished. It cannot be seen, touched, measured, or weighed. It is, in the present economy, dependent on the body for a residence, but is no more to be confounded or identified with it, than the wayfarer is to be identified with the inn which affords him a lodging for the night." p. p. 42, 44.

After the reader has perused this long extract, we would ask him, as a starting query, is there not a great amount of confusion and indefiniteness in it? We read of "the human soul," and what is that?—It is a living something within every human being of which he is conscious, and yet whether it is the thing that has self-consciousness we are not informed,—it is a vital principle, and yet a living entity;—it is no more to be confounded with the body than the wayfarer is to be identified with the inn which affords him a night's lodging,—it is within man, a part of him, and after all it is the man himself, residing in a tenement of clay. This is confusion worse confounded. Had the Sphinx propounded a riddle like this, she would have been sure of immortality. In place of this long array of words, it would have been far better had the author at once told us, he understood the soul to be THE MAN,—the body his house, and that at present man, the immaterial being, is dwelling in a material fabric, like a hermit in his cave. We almost every day meet with the expression, the soul, not the body, is the man; and our author is one of the great throng who approve and endorse such assertions. The soul being the man, it, or rather he, is held to be capable of existing apart from organization, nay, is commonly supposed to be benefited by the expulsion which occurs at death; at any rate he is, on the common theory, held to think and remember, love and hate, joy and suffer, as perfectly after as before that crisis in the progress of his being. Bearing these things in mind, let us throw the passage into the following form, and while it is a fair conversion, does not every mind see that the popular dogmas only become the more absurd the more we try to give them intelligibility,—"The human soul, that is, a man, is an entity, a being, distinct from the mortal or fleshly part of man. Each day testifies that our earthly life, or the earthly life of each soul, is but a vapor, a dream, a shadow. Unless it can be proved that the soul, i.e., the man, is an existence distinct from organized bones, and flesh, and blood, neither the possibility nor probability of the immortality of mind, that is, of soul, or of man, could be established." And over-leaping a few sentences, let us continue: "This distinct something, i.e., the soul, which is the man, of the existence of whom all men are conscious, is immaterial. The body is matter. The soul, i.e., the man, has none of the properties by which matter is distinguished, though we have previously said the fleshly part is a portion of man. It, or rather he, cannot be seen, touched, measured, or weighed.

He is, in the present economy, dependent on the body for a residence, but is no more to be confounded or identified with it, than the wayfarer is to be identified with the inn which affords him a lodging for a night." Thus the confusion, if possible, increases; the irreconcilable contradictions become more apparent. Nothing else could be expected, however, when the whole is based on a palpable misapprehension of scriptural truth, and this we shall endeavor to prove ere long.

We now proceed to examine the argument from consciousness for the distinct existence of the soul; that is, that the man himself is distinct from his members, or more accurately, from his corporeal instrumentality and habitation. Our author asks,—“Is not every human being conscious of a living something within, which moves the limbs, and yet is not the limbs, which dictates to the foot, the hand, the tongue, and yet is none of these, though it has the command of all?” The soul being pronounced the living entity—the human being—we are at a loss to determine what or where the “within” is, in which, it is affirmed, every man is conscious this “living something” exists. Is the “living something” different from each human being? Or does each human being have a living something within himself, so that he does not live save by having this living something within him, like a fire in a room? Has the human being the power to be conscious of this “living something” within him in virtue of a self-possessed life, or in virtue of this “living something” within him? If the human being is conscious of the “living something,” is the same something conscious of him? Or have they mutual consciousness, so that we have substantially two men inwardly residing in the fleshly fabric, after the manner of the well-known Chinese puzzle-box? Then, again, if this “living something” is just the same as the “human being” himself, the whole mystery would seem to be reducible to this simple truth, that every human being is conscious of being alive, and of having capacity to move his limbs according to his own pleasure. On the contrary, if the “human being” is not the same as this “living something,” it will fail to be explained by whomsoever is able, what this “something” is, and how it happens that a living being like man, or, if other language be preferred, how it happens that a soul can hold a “living something” within itself, and of what need there is of such a something, since it is supposed the soul has a life of its own, and depends entirely on God for vitality, and not on any secondary fountain, much less one within the compass of its own being.

We have carried out these ideas and difficulties to this extent, just to show what the consciousness spoken of, in the volume before us, must be. It is incorrect to say, even on the author's own philosophy, that we are conscious of a "living something within," that is, within ourselves, for nothing can live within a soul, and the body cannot be conscious of its mystic inhabitant. He should have added; not that man is conscious of a something living within, using his hands, and eyes, but that as a being having life, and endowed with hands and other members, and powers, he is conscious of calling them into operation and ruling their movements.

Is it true we are conscious our hands, our eyes, our ears, in a word, the visible organization, forms no part of us? We are not conscious of ever having been without this organization. This consciousness may be a product of false teaching, for men can easily get a consciousness of what they are taught they should be conscious of. The limits to the consequence of false education are like those of space, immeasurable and confounding. May not this consciousness be one form of the many deceptions wrought upon men regarding themselves? We believe it, and the sooner it is torn in pieces the better.

What is here confined to the bodily organs, may be applied with no less effect to the mental powers, and the moment the application is made, the deception becomes apparent. Let us read the sentence thus—"Is not every human being conscious of a living something within, which moves his faculties, and is not the faculties,—which dictates to the will, the reason, the memory, the calculating power, and the music power, and yet is none of these, though it has the command of all? The consciousness that teaches what our author affirms in his text, no less delivers what is affirmed in our alteration of his words. When so interpreted both consciousnesses are false. We are conscious of powers, but to affirm that we are conscious these powers and members are none of us, would be contrary to fact properly interpreted, and would indeed involve its own refutation, inasmuch as it is by some of these very powers that we are able to have consciousness at all.

This description, so anxiously laid hold on to sustain the prevailing opinions about man, originates in a misunderstanding of the necessities we are under, obliging us to employ the current phraseology when speaking of ourselves and of our diversified powers. Man is a being having self-consciousness, and owning property in himself, and of course, in all the powers that go to form the complex idea him-self. Hence we are required to use the terminology referred to. For instance, my-self, is me claiming property in self, the same me; the "my," is not different from the "self," but the same being clasping himself as his own and not another's. And so my hands, my feet, my tongue, my reason, my conscience, my will, and the like, is just a being claiming his powers and members as his own, and without these he would be no being at all. He is them, they are him. The foot is at the command of the man to whom it belongs, so is his eye, his tongue, his reason, his wit, and his volition; they are his, and, along with the other parts and functions, go to form him, instead of being things or powers, which are as different from him who claimed them, as the tools of a mechanic are from their owner, or the spurs of a rider from their user. This is what reason teaches, and it will be shown speedily that Scripture fully accords with its voice.

Once more, and then we leave this point; it has often been said the language, my hands, my feet, my arms, &c., all prove that the owner of these is totally distinct from all of them. Then comes the question, to whom do they all belong? and the triumphant reply sounds forth, to the soul, to the soul! The point is of great moment, and we bid the reader study it carefully. If possible to make it plainer, let it be remarked, that according to this view, the antecedent to the "my" in the phrase "my hands" is the lordly soul, and so in all the other expressions we have mentioned, and as long as there is a member or part that claims to be taken into the enumeration.

So be it, now mark the question that follows. In the expression "my soul," which we need not say is a common one and a scriptural one, which is the antecedent to the "my?" Is it a soul within the soul? Is it that "living something" which cries for explanation? In the phrase "my soul," or soul belonging to me, the me is just the soul speaking of itself, because, even on the popular idea concerning the soul, nothing about a man is him except his soul, and it would be gross ignorance were any one by me to indicate anything except himself. "My soul," then, is just a soul affirming self-possession; or a man realizing the idea and giving it expression, that under God, he belongs to himself, and may act as he pleases. Suppose a watch to become miraculously animated and endowed with articulate speech, it might speak thus, my wheels, my chain, my dial, my spring, my hands, my case. The my however is in fact the watch endowed with life and speech; it embraces all the parts completing itself, and what is a watch without wheels, and chain, and dial, and spring, and hands, and case? The watch in this instance simply would express property in itself; and so man declares himself to belong to himself, or his soul announces itself owner of itself, in the phraseology "myself" and "my soul."

Hitherto we have not disturbed our author's assumption regarding "the human soul," and, as in many other cases in philosophy and theology, they are made with singular calmness and self-complacency. They run thus:—"the human soul is an entity, a being distinct from the mortal or fleshly part of man"—and again, "this distinct something, of the existence of which all men are conscious, is immaterial. The body is matter. The soul has none of the properties by which matter is distinguished. It cannot be seen, touched, measured, or weighed." Here are statements put down just as if they were as clear and self-evident as that two halves make a whole, or that things which are equal to the same thing are equal to one another. One would have expected some evidence of all these affirmations, and if they are just equal in value to unproved, it may be undemonstrable, statements, any one may rise up and flatly contradict them, and his assertion will be of the same worth as the author's. They would balance one another, and who shall find fault with our imaginary opponent when the liberty of making affirmation is equal? The volume says, "the soul is immaterial;" the opponent cries no, it is material;—it cannot be seen, the book testifies; but it can, says the opponent, and he adds, yea touched, and measured, and weighed too. So here we are at rest, and who will send us with brave force in that direction of truth! Who shall explain the awful problem—WHAT IS A SOUL? Who shall dissipate the thick darkness by kindling a sun-lamp in this chamber where we find ourselves not knowing what is around, and above and beneath; where only two voices are heard, the one affirming the soul is this, and the other flatly contradicting all that is spoken?

(To be Continued.)

THE LIGHT OF LIFE.

AN EXPOSITION OF ISAIAH IX. 2, 6.

"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined...For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given."

BY REV. J. PANTON HAM.

To understand the rapt utterances of the Hebrew prophets, more particularly of Isaiah, we must, as it were, appropriate their peculiar consciousness—pass into that mental state in which they were when their lips poured forth the inspired thoughts which the Spirit of God kindled within them. The mood, if not the mode, of inspiration may be partially understood by the form which the prophetic utterances sometimes take. Before the mental eye of the seer, when under the divine afflatus or impulse, a vision seems to have been presented of the nature sometimes of a scenic representation. Its diversified imagery are foreshadows of the future, and as the prophet gazes on these apparant realities, he proclaims what he sees, as events then occurring, with that graphic grandeur of speech which the peculiarity of the revelation naturally inspires. It seems necessary to imagine the prophet Isaiah in this particular mental mood when he uttered or penned our text. His eye rests upon a vision of Northern Palestine—“Galilee of the nations.” But it is a vision of “darkness.” In the deep recesses of a bleak barren valley, over which “darkness” broods, he sees “Galilee of the nations,” and this “darkness” is described as “the shadow of death,” fit emblem of the “darkness,” the still deeper darkness of death itself. Death claims that gloomy valley as his own—it is the grim border land of the dark demon’s territory. It is called, “the land of the shadow of death,” and “the valley of the shadow of death,” because it is in the near neighborhood of the dark and dreadful capital where Death himself reigns in absolute and eternal sway. There “people dwell,” and walk in “darkness,” for even the “shadow” of death is darkness, though a darkness which may be dispersed. This “valley,” though under the dominion of death, is not so fully incorporated with his empire as to be unredeemable. As border land it is not so completely under his ebon rule. The “shadow,” not the absolute substance of death, is there, hence there is redemption from the land of the shadow of death.” While penetrating with more than human vision this thick “darkness”—this shade of grim death—and marking the wretchedness and horrible gloom of that dwelling-place of the people, suddenly the darkness begins to fold itself up like a thick black pall, and roll off the face of these gloomy homes. A “light” has broken upon the dreary solitudes of Galilee, and the upward turned faces of the people express their common and heartfelt joy. It is at this moment of time that the prophet speaks,—“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light,” or as Luther has it—“See a great light, &c.,...for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.”

Under the image of a light, a "great light," breaking upon darkness spread over Galilee, does the prophet describe the birth of Christ—the child born—the son given.

This "child," this "son," or Christ, is the "great light."

The prophet speaks of Galilee, not because Galilee was exclusively "the land of darkness and the shadow of death;" but because it was in that particular spot of the world's universal darkness that the "light" first dawned. Galilee was the home of Christ, and the scene of his first and principal public labors. (Matt. 4:13-17.) And while we are not to restrict the "darkness" to Galilee, although this particular province of Palestine is specially mentioned, neither are we to conclude that Christ was a "light" exclusively to the Galileans. Others "sat in darkness" besides "Galilee of the nations;"

"darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people," and the unspeakable goodness of God provided a "light" whose beneficent beams should penetrate to the uttermost ends of the earth. The apostle John says of Christ. "That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." It will be apparent then that our text has no partial, but a world-wide application. Christ, as the light of men, is the light of "every man that cometh into the world." "I am come," he said, "a light into the world that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness." "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

But what are we to understand by this "light"? In what special sense is the Lord Jesus Christ "the Light of the World"? Let us glance again at the prophetic imagery in our text. We have, in this verse, an example of the poetic parallelism, a construction very common in Hebrew poetry. The idea of the first member of this parallelism is repeated and explained in the second member thus—

"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light."

"They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined."

Thus the "darkness" of the first member is represented and explained by the "land of the shadow of death" in the second member. The "darkness," then, is poetically death's gloomy "shadow," and actually the representation of a people living under the dominion of death, a mortal people, a people having no inherent or constitutional deathlessness, no essential life beyond the narrow limits of the present brief span of earthly existence. The poet-prophet repeats in our text the humiliating and affecting truth that man—intellectual and moral man, as well as physical man,—is "of the earth, earthy" that the conscious being descends into "the dust of death,"—that all that characterizes and constitutes the creature man is absolutely mortal. "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

When, therefore, we hear the prophet say that upon such a people a "light" has "shined," and that they "have seen a great light," consistency of interpretation requires us to understand the "light" as the poetical image of life. If the "darkness" is the poetical image of death in our text, then the "light" must necessarily be the poetical image of life. And as this "great light" is the child born, and the son given, who is Jesus Christ, then we obtain the glorious truth that our Lord Jesus Christ is "the Light of men" in the sense of being the LIFE of men. And so writes the apostle John:—"In him was Life and THE LIFE WAS THE LIGHT MEN." And says our Lord himself, "I am the

Light of the World : he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the LIGHT OF LIFE."

Glorious fact! but, alas! how little understood. This "Great Light" which has dawned upon our dark world, has not even yet, in the decline of the nineteenth century, been "comprehended" by the professing church. "The Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended (or embraced) it not." This lament of the devoted John is true to this hour. The false theology of the churches on the subject of man's constitutional immortality is a dense and impenetrable darkness, through which the rays of this Scripture truth cannot penetrate. The churches, one and all, have "comprehended" the heathen philosophy of Plato concerning the immortality and separate state of the soul, hence they have not "comprehended" the "Light" which "shineth in the darkness" of this earthly theology. Nor will they until they turn away from their false teaching to the Scriptures of truth—and losing all confidence in popular creeds, however venerable, shall betake themselves to the true spirit of Christian fidelity "to the law and to the testimony," as the surest "lamp to their feet and light to their path." We have in the Scriptures "a more sure word of prophecy" than the theology of the churches, "whereunto," reader, "ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the DAY dawn (the 'day' of Christ's reappearing as 'the Resurrection and the Life,') and the Day-star arise in your hearts."—Expositor, Edinburgh, Scotland.

"LITTLE LESS THAN GOD."

We copy the following from Bro. Moncrieff's Expositor. In it the blasphemy of immortal-soulism is justly rebuked. "Clement" is Bro. M. himself.

"Helpless immortal! insect infinite! A worm! a God." Young.

The following communication reached us shortly after the publication of No. II. "Clement" has had it submitted to his judgment, and, after presenting it, his remarks will be appended.

Buchanan Street, Glasgow, 2d April,'53.

SIR,—In the Dialogue between Clement and Quartus, in the April number of the Expositor, two lines are quoted from Charles Wesley, viz:

"Nearest the great King of kings,

And little less than God."

These lines—applied by the poet to man—are said in the Dialogue to be "fulsome and impious." Did the writer know that this language is scriptural, occurring in the 8th Psalm, verse 5, Vattichasserechu meghat me-elohim, thou makest him to want but a little of God. Asking you to insert this from a sense of justice to Wesley, in the coming number of the Expositor, I remain yours, &c.

ELIZA HORNE.

CLEMENT answereth as follows :—

By all means, Mr. Editor, let the good lady's words have publication. I confess ignorance as to who was the author of the distich, and having not a very high estimate, yea rather a kind of nausea of hymns and religious poetry in general, was not likely soon to make the discovery for myself.

The ordinary hymns are so full of immortal-soulism, never-dying and over-dying souls, of departings to glory at death, and addresses to the "King of Terrors," as if he was the great deliverer of the faithful, that my heart turns from them with disgust. When I want to read Platonism and Virgilism, give me the Greek and the Roman writer at once, but keep all baptised heathenism out of my sight.

The writer of the lines was a good man, but does this lady think, that because he was pleased to paraphrase the 8th Psalm as he did, at least this part of it, that I am obliged to accept his words, and to speak of them as any thing else than they seem to me to be? Coin bad money, and circulate it who may, reprobate money it was at first, now is, and shall ever be: the more pity that it should have issued from a pious man's mint. When Paul was ignorant he did many foolish things, and spoke many unguarded and impious words, and surely in as much as Mr. C. W. was a disciple of the heathenish dogma that man has an immortal soul; moreover, when the poet was a believer in the Serpent's theology, that even though man might sin he would not, could not die, we need not be astonished that he should have written sentiments both unwise and God-dishonoring. He composed, as he believed, and up to his knowledge; just as the apostle spoke as he believed, and according to his information, and yet he discovered by and bye that his knowledge was profound ignorance, and his anti-Christian zeal "little less" than madness. There is great excuse for Mr. W. He lived in a time when immortal-soulism was undisturbed, when the old Serpent's assertion had not been honestly and boldly confronted with the revelation of God, as it has recently been in America and Britain. After all that has of late been done to expose the deluding dogmas about deathless souls,—after the reiterated demands for one plain verse announcing the doctrine of natural immortality and the imaginary stupendous greatness of man by creation, to which no answer has yet come, a writer requires an amount of courage, and we fear inconsideration of no ordinary extent, who would adopt Wesley's words and apply them to a human being now. Even supposing man to be immortal by nature, and the greatest being ever reared, they are terms of fulsome man-flattery, and just as I would call the dogma of Romanism impious, that represents a communicant to swallow his God as often as he kneels at the altar, so I presume to retain the other appellation given by me to the sentiment contained in the couplet; and consider that he who would employ it in this age errs more lamentably than its originator himself.

But then is it not Scriptural? Does not the passage assert, "Thou hast made him a little lower than the elohim," rendered angels in the common Bible? Sometimes elohim is translated "God," sometimes "Gods," and here, we are convinced with much propriety, "angels." Does your correspondent know, that in the 82d Psalm this term is twice rendered "Gods"? "He judgeth among the Gods" (elohim) v. 1; and "I have said ye are Gods" (elohim) v. 6. The Jewish magistrates are the parties referred to, for we read, v. 2, "How long will ye (i.e., ye elohim) judge unjustly"? and v. 7, "But ye shall die like men." Now a word capable

of being so employed can have its proper rendering and meaning determined only by the circumstances in which on any occasion it is found. Judging, apparently, by this common sense rule, our translation was made to run thus: "Thou hast made him (man, v. 6.) a little lower than the angels." The Septuagint translates elohim in this verse by angelous, angels; and Paul, in Heb. 2:7, when applying this passage to the Lord Jesus, quotes it in this manner,—"Thou madest him (man, v. 6.) a little lower (margin, 'a little while lower') than the angels," (angelous). Another verse, illustrative of our remarks about elohim, is Psalm 97:7, "Worship him all ye Gods" (elohim), where the Septuagint renders elohim by angeloi, angels; and the passage is obviously quoted in Heb. 1:6, thus,—"Let all the angels of God worship him."

Moreover, in the context of the 8th Psalm, we find the writer testifying not about man's unutterable greatness, but his littleness in God's eye. "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and stars which thou hast ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" v. 3, 4. The Psalmist is astonished that God should think of man; had he been a "little less than God,"—a few inches down in the scale of being—would the condescension, extolled so sublimely, have been discoverable? With David agrees his royal son, and he uses language that would have drawn down unmeasured scorn upon my head, had it issued thence. "I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts: even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other, yea, they have all one breath (ruach, breath, or spirit of life); so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast;—for all is vanity. All go unto one place: all are of the dust; and all turn to dust again." Ecc. 3:18-20. In a similar strain Isaiah speaks, "It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers." 40:22. Had Mr. C. W. considered these passages well, and that man is "mortal" and "corruptible," and "vain," and "frail," and requires to "seek for immortality," even he would have startled at his own couplet when it dropt from his pen, and would have deemed it sense, and Scripture, and piety, to abide by the common version.

"Little less than God;" the words tempt me to write a few lines more, and you will indulge my pen. I can understand what is meant by one man, one tree, one island, one globe, one created intellect, being a little less than another; but how any produced being can be spoken of as a little less than God, exceeds my comprehension. It confounds me, it pains me. The created are a little less than the uncreated! the dependent than the absolutely independent! the finite than the infinite! Does not the writer of the note, assuming that she may approve Mr. W.'s language, though I am disposed to give her credit for a better perception of what is due to the majesty of Deity, and a keener insight into the relations and disparities between the created and the Omnipotent Producer—I say with kindness, does she not see that from the finite, however lofty, to the infinite, there must always rise an infinity? Is infinity a fractional sum? Why, it includes all sums, and to us is necessarily incomprehensible.

In the course of ages there have been produced even human beings, allow me to remark, concerning whom it would be deemed immense presumption were any ordinary mortal to affirm, I am a little less than these. What would we think of the man who should tell us, he deemed himself only a small degree inferior to Demosthenes, or Michael Angelo, or Milton, or Bacon? We would pity his weakness, and look on him with anxiety. And of each man—a child of dust, frail as the moth, though frequently endowed with splendid capacities—shall it become wise to affirm that he is but a little beneath the eternal God? Shall we perfume ourselves with the rankest odors of pride, and come before him with the songs of vanity; or shall we, conscious of our weakness and insignificance, lie low in the dust, and suffer ourselves, like the Jewish prophets, to be penetrated and overwhelmed with an awful sense of his immeasurable and incomprehensible grandeur?

There is sense in man's being a little less than the elohim, or the angels; and blessed are they who "by patient continuance in well-doing," shall reach the promised glory and honor and incorruption, for then the words of the Lord Christ shall be realized in their experience, "neither can they die any more, but are equal unto the angels," i.e., the angels "of God in heaven." Luke 20:36, Matt. 22:30.

"Clement" trusts that your correspondent from the West is among the "elect ladies," and that at last she will be "equal unto the angels of God."

"BIBLE VS. TRADITION."

We give another extract from this work, this month, which goes to show something of the strength of the Scripture argument against inherent immortality. Let it be pondered well. It begins to be an admitted fact, by our opponents, that the Bible alone must settle this question. That is the true issue.—EDITOR.

THE WICKED MUST FOR EVER CEASE TO EXIST.

We shall quote a few other passages that, if possible, still more emphatically declare the wicked will be totally blotted out of existence. Ps. 37: 20, "The wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away." 9 v, "For evil doers shall be cut off...For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be." If the place of the wicked is to be in hell, and they are to be there in a conscious state, then they will neither be "cut off" nor "consumed," nor "perish," but will be alive in hell, and David has testified falsely concerning them. But as David has truly testified, and is in perfect agreement with the whole tenor of the word of God, then are modern teachers, who preach to us of 'eternal torments,' found false witnesses before God. Fives times in this Psalm are the wicked said to be "cut off." 34 v, "Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land, (the land promised to Abraham and his seed Christ:) when the wicked are cut

off, thou shalt see it. I have seen the wicked in great power, yet he passed away, and lo, he was not: yea I sought him, but he could not be found." 38 v, "The transgressors shall be (shomad) annihilated together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off." If an "immortal soul" were left, then this language cannot be true. Compare all this with Mal. 4:1-3, where he describes the wicked as being "burned up root and branch." If the soul be either a root, or branch, or part, or whole of the wicked, it is utterly consumed with him.

Ezekiel (26:18) prophesies of the King of Tyre, because of the multitude of his iniquities; "Therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. Thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more." Mat. 3; 12; Luke 3:17. "His winnowing shovel is in his hand; and he will thoroughly cleanse his grain; he will gather his wheat into the granary, and consume the chaff in unquenchable fire." Mark, the unquenchable fire burns up, or consumes the chaff, the wicked; and neither chaff nor the wicked, can exist after they are burned up, burned up root and branch. Isa. 51:8, "For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool." Worms and unquenchable fire alike consume, the fire cannot be quenched till it has thoroughly performed its office; when the carcass is entirely consumed, the fire will of course go out, though it cannot be put out while the fuel lasts. Paul in Heb. 12:29, calls God a consuming fire, not a tormenting fire, fire cannot torment without consuming. In Job 31:12, "It is a fire that consumeth to destruction;" not a fire that preserveth to torment. Isa. 9:19, "Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as maakhesheth, a devouring, or thing to be devoured, for the fire." The margin says meat, but the same word occurs Ez. 21:32, connected with the coming of him whose right it is to reign on the throne of David, and the judgments he will then execute. "I will pour out my indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, skillful to destroy. Thou shalt be for fuel (maakhesheth, a thing to be devoured) for the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the Lord have spoken it." The same word occurs in Ez. 15:4, 6, where it is applied to the wood of the vine tree, and the wicked are compared with it, as fit only to be burned.—And God says, 5 v, "Behold, when it was whole, it was fit for no work: how much less shall it be yet fit for any work, when the fire hath devoured it and it is burned?" But if the wicked have something in them that cannot be burned, such a thing as an "immortal soul," there would be no similitude; that soul would yet be fit for something, if it were only for "eternal torment."

Ps. 73:19, "How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors." 2 Sam. 23:7, They like thorns "shall be utterly burned with fire." 2 Pet. 2:12, They "shall utterly perish in their own corruption." Surely the soul does not escape when the wicked are 'utterly burned,'' utterly consumed,' when they 'utterly perish'!! Is. 47:14, "Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver their souls from the power of the flame.” Is.

10:17, 18, “The Light of Israel (Christ) shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; and shall consume the glory of the forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body.” That is, both flesh and being. Both these texts declare that the soul is burned. To affirm that the soul is not burned up, is equal to saying that the man is not burned up. Yea, God will destroy ‘both body and soul in Gehenna.’ Mat. 10:28. David prays, Ps. 7:9, “Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end.” A prayer dictated by the Holy Spirit is equal to a declaration that the thing shall be. But the wickedness of the wicked will only end when they are destroyed. Were a theologian of these days to utter this idea he would be rebuked by his compeers with the declaration, that “the wicked will increase in wickedness, and blaspheme God to all eternity.” But let us hear David again. Ps. 10:15, “Break thou the arm (or power) of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none. The Lord is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.” When Christ has fully established his kingdom, there will be no wickedness to be found. Why? The Universalist tells us, because God will cleanse the wicked. The believer in eternal torments tells us flatly, ‘It is not so, the wicked will continue to blaspheme God in a hell of eternal torments.’ But the Bible tells us, Rev. 5:13, “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, were heard. saying, Blessing and honor, and glory and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” All that are living at that time will praise the Lamb. But where are the wicked? Ps. 9:5, “Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.” Ps. 69:28. Their name has been blotted out of the book of the living. For says Job 36:6, “He preserveth not the life of the wicked.” For God will not contend for ever, neither will he be always wroth. Isa. 57:16. Ps. 37:10, “For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be.” Is. 41:12, “Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.” See also Isa. 22:14; Ez. 35:5; and Isa. 10:25. “For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.” Thus the controversy between God and the wicked will end, the indignation of God will cease. The wicked will be utterly exterminated. Acts 3:22. “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every (psuche) soul, which will not hear that prophet, (exolothreuthe-setai ek tou laou,) shall be utterly exterminated out of, or out from among the people.” There will exist no wicked, for their very souls, or beings will be exterminated.

Well might Jeremiah pray, 10:24, "O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing." Isa. 41:11, "Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be

ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought." Can a soul, brought to nothing, suffer 'endless misery'? Job 6:18. "The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing and perish." Job 8:22, "The dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought." Margin, not be. So the wicked will have no place to exist in; even God cannot find them, they will have perished out of existence.

Ps. 104:35, "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more." The reader will remember, that "the earth has been given to the children of men;" that the righteous are to be rewarded in the earth; and the wicked are to be punished in the earth.

The invention of an immortal soul, has necessitated the invention of a place to put it in; hence has arisen a fabled heaven "beyond the bounds of time and space," a hell in which to punish and torment the wicked for ever; but in the Bible we find that to root a sinner out of the earth, is made by a parallelism, equal to the destruction of his being.—Ps. 59:13, "Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be." Ps. 119:19, "Thou puttest away (or shovath, thou causest to cease) all the wicked of the earth like (seegeem, cinder or) dross." Ps. 9:5, "Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever." Prov. 10:25, "As the whirlwind passeth, so are the wicked no more: but the righteous are an everlasting foundation." 27 v, "The fear of the Lord prolongeth (or addeth) days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened." But the duration of an immortal soul can neither be increased nor diminished. Prov. 12:7, "The wicked are overthrown and are not: but the house (or family) of the righteous shall stand."—Ez. 32:7, "When I shall (kovoh) extinguish thee, I will cover the heaven and make the stars thereof dark." Lam. 3:66, "Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord."—Job 20:5-9, "The triumphing of the wicked is short...He shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say. Where is he? He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. The eye also which saw him shall see no more; neither shall his place any more behold him." Speaking of Babylon and of the Chaldeans, Isa. 43:16, 17, says, "Thus saith the Lord...who bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow." We know not what language could more emphatically set forth the annihilation of the wicked than the foregoing. Nah. 1:9, "What do ye imagine against the Lord? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.—For while they are folden as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they (his enemies) shall be devoured as stubble fully dry." Amos 8:14, "They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, thy God, O Dan, liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again." Ob. 15-18, "For the day of the Lord is near...For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and THEY SHALL BE AS THOUGH THEY HAD NOT BEEN.

And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it."

We have presented 50 texts that clearly prove the wicked will become extinct; and, in all, 230 plain declarations of the Holy Bible that the wicked will be destroyed without remedy, body and soul, root and branch, all of them will became as nothing, they will have no existence. It is in vain to plead that some of these texts may apply to judgments that have been already executed; it is obvious that they apply to the wicked as a class—and not to the righteous—and speak of the end of their existence.

BIBLE EXAMINER.

NEW YORK, JUNE, 1853.

PROVISIONARY COMMITTEE.—We are glad to find that some interest is waked up on the subject, and to the object of this Committee. Men to engage in the cause are not lacking; good men and true; but they are modest men who do not like to seem to be asking aid to sustain their families while they travel and "preach the word." Our attention has been called to several of this description within a few weeks. Shall they be compelled to "serve tables" to the neglect of the great work we are called to do? It must not be: God will require it at our hands, if these men are left to bury their gifts under the care of providing for their households, while many have more than food and raiment, and are adding house to house, field to field, gold to gold, and withholding that which God demands, and which it ought to be our delight to give to help spread the glorious truths abroad which are to throw down Dagon and the Dragon, with all those God-dishonoring Traditions which have so long filled the Church of God with a gloom that has embittered all its joys, and made it impossible to "rejoice in the Lord always." Men fearing God, ought we not to "hate covetousness," and to show our faith by our works? Shall such a golden opportunity as is now presented to spread the glorious truth of "Life and Immortality through Jesus Christ alone" be suffered to languish for lack of funds which we can neither eat nor drink ourselves, and which if hoarded up will only burden our minds with care, if they do not draw our hearts away from Eternal Life? Let not our appeal come to you any longer in vain—Help—Help, and do it quickly. No time should be lost: the fields are white to harvest. Will you help the laborers immediately? We are assured by a minister in the

Methodist Episcopal Church, in Ohio, that our views are speading in that church in that State, and he himself proclaims the doctrine more or less, and feels determined to do so more fully before long. He expects in a short time to be ready to give himself wholly to the work. In the State of Maine, a brother is commended to our notice for the work who has been much circumscribed by lack of that aid which he is too modest to ask for himself.—Like cases are continually coming to our knowledge, and the cry for light comes up on every side. Once more, we ask, shall help be given? or, will you who have the means still withheld? Soon must we give account of our stewardship. Will not many have to lament in that day that they withheld more than was meet? and will they not find it has tended to poverty? Come now, friends, "as the Lord has prospered you," help the cause you profess to prize and love: help those men of God who have ability to speak, that they may go out feeling that they are cared for by their brethren. If we do not help them we cannot honestly and heartily ask God to bless: such prayers would be mockery. "Be ye warmed, and be ye filled," and yet give them not the things they need is not the way to serve God and Christ in their servants called to proclaim Life—Eternal Life in and through Christ alone. We leave our appeal with you, trusting it will not be in vain. O, may God help us all to open wide our hearts and hands to push forward this glorious work.

RECEIPTS in the Committee's treasury since our last:—

A sister, Williamsburg, N. Y. $1.00

A brother, Washington Co., N. Y. 2.00

Friends in Newark, N. J., by Bro. Blain, 12.00

Friends in Rochester, N. Y., by Br. Blain 8.00

BIBLE VS. TRADITION.—Hundreds of copies of this work have already been scattered; and so far as we have heard, it has fully met the expectations of those who have looked for it. It should be placed in every family in the land immediately. It will help mightily to stay the desolating plague of "Spirit Rappings," and bring men to sober sense; thus saving them from the wild fancies which characterize bigots and fanatics of every class. We have given one more extract from the work this month, which we hope will stir up those who have not yet ordered it to send immediately. It contains 312 pages, 18 mo. Price 75 cents. Postage 15 cents, when sent by mail, if pre-paid; or 23 cents if not. For one dollar, sent us free of expense, we will send a copy of the work, and one copy of each of Ham's works (double Examiner) and pre-pay the postage on them all.

For $5 ten copies of the work will be sent, but it must be at the expense of the purchaser, whether sent by mail or express, in such cases.

BEAUTIFUL.—" Its doctrine of Immortality, fully imbibed, makes the King of terrors an insignificant pretender—nay more, a victim securely chained, nay more, a servant opening the door to endless life."

We cut the above from the Northern Ch. Advocate, in an editorial article on "The Sufficiency of Truth." It is speaking of the "numerous causes of the morbid sensitiveness prevailing among religious people," and says, there "is a totally disproportionate view of the truth as it is in Christ, or that great scheme of salvation known as the gospel. Christianity," it says, "is a liberalizing, quiet-giving, soul-confirming system. But it must be understood. It cannot produce these hallowed effects on minds superficially enlightened." It adds, "The system is ennobling, but it does not ennoble men till they come under its influence." Thus far we fully harmonize with the Advocate: these are true sentiments; but next follows the expressions at the head of this article.

"Christianity's doctrine of immortality," says the Advocate. But in this member of the paragraph there is no fault; because Christianity has its "doctrine of immortality:" and a glorious doctrine it is: that of a gift of God, through Jesus and the resurrection. This doctrine "fully imbided," gives support in death. But the immortality the Advocate contends for is the natural immortality of the soul, which "makes the King of terrors an insignificant pretender"! Ah, Hezekiah, what made you weep sore when this "insignificant pretender" approached you! and Paul, how came you to say, that Epaphroditus being "sick nigh unto death," "God had mercy on him" and restored him! What mercy was it to be delivered from this "Insignificant pretender"? Did Hezekiah and Paul not know that the "King of terrors" was "a victim securely chained—nay more, a servant opening the door to endless life"? What's that weeping about, Hezekiah? What's that mercy, Paul, in God, to keep Epaphroditus out of "endless life"? Why, Paul, you and Hezekiah could not have "understood" Christianity and its teachings!!

In the theology of the Advocate, the "King of terrors" is substituted for, or put in the place of Jesus Christ, who is "the resurrection and the life." The "King of terrors" has the "keys," and attends to "opening the door to endless life;" and Jesus died and rose again in vain! In vain does our Lord declare—"I am he that liveth, and was dead; and

behold I am alive for ever more, and have the keys of death and hades." No, saith the Advocate, the "King of terrors is a servant opening the door to endless life"!

We do not wonder there is a "morbid sensitivity prevailing among religious people" while Christ is thus robbed and the "King of terrors" exalted. The wonder is that there is any Christianity left at all in this degenerate age of fables. Let "Christianity be understood"—let the truth be fully known that there is no league between Christ and the "King of terrors"; and that Christ by a resurrection, and not the "King of terrors" by his foul breath, introduces men into life eternal, and then we may hope to see less "morbid sensitivity prevailing among religious people." "Christianity must be understood," Br. Advocate, to feel its full power and mighty comforts. May you yet understand it.

As MIGHT BE EXPECTED.—The following statement is taken from the "Gospel Banner." The announcement is nothing strange. The fact is, at heart, the greater portion of thinking men who believe in the natural immortality of man are Universalists. How can they be anything else? The doctrine of endless sin and suffering is too horrible and God-dishonoring to be believed except in the darkness and barbarism of the barbarous ages. Such a doctrine cannot endure the light, and is doomed to perish. What shall save the religious community from all becoming Universalists or Restorationists, while they maintain the unscriptural notion of man's natural immortality? We hesitate not to say, they must, inevitably, be swept down those currents unless saved from it by abandoning their false assumption. Man is mortal: and can only have an endless life, or conscious being, by a union with the second Adam, the head of the spiritual and immortal creation: that is God's order, and eternal purpose. He that rejects Christ turns away from life, and utterly perishes in his own natural corruption. But to the statement which has led to these remarks; it is as follows:

The Rev. Dr. Dick, that good Christian and philosopher, who is the author of so many of the best theological and philosophical books in the English language—books that will be standard works as long as the literary world lasts,—is a Universalist—an open, confessed Universalist. He resides in Dundee, Scotland, and has all the frank intelligence of an honest Scotchman. The foreign correspondent of the Boston Post, "Communipaw," who writes so much and so well for that valuable paper, in a letter to his sister, the wife of Br. W. H. Wagoner, of Methuen, Mass., published in the Trumpet, thus speaks of the good old saint:— "I have spent over two weeks at Dundee and Broughty Ferry, during which time, nearly every day, I visited Br.

Thomas Dick, D.D. He is a good old man, thoroughly Scotch, and in religious sentiment a decided Universalist. Such is the fact which I have from his own lips. He wrote father a long letter while I was there."

To this Br. Wagoner adds :

"In this letter [to Br. W.'s wife's father] Dr. Dick gives some very cogent reasons for rejecting the doctrine of endless sin and punishment, and then says, in substance, that he believes all the chastisements of God are intended for the reformation and ultimate benefit of the chastised."

Behold, ye immortal-soulists, the fruits of your system, and prepare to follow your leaders, or else abandon their false theory of natural immortality. That theory is the fruitful source of almost all errors in theology, and of all the corruptions of the word of God. Once be established in the Bible truth—"No Immortality, nor Endless Life except through Christ alone,"—and Universalism, Popery, and all kindred systems of delusion and deception fall. Let the friends of truth bestir themselves, in these days, to spread far and wide the glorious proclamation of Life only through Christ.

, 0

BURNING THE EXAMINER.—A new subscriber writes us:

"I wish you to send me another copy of the Examiner for May, as my wife burnt the one you sent before I read it. Such is the advice of the preacher."

She doubtless had more light than her preacher ever gave her, while the Examiner was burning. We send another cheerfully. If it should meet with a similar fate as the previous one, let us know and we will send again.

"Dishonesty."—The Advent Review for May complains of our censure of it in the April Examiner. Perhaps we were a little too severe; but another paper, at Boston, Mass., had published an article on the same subject, purporting to be a "report" of a discourse of ours delivered in 1843; which "report" we had condemned, and publicly protested against any one publishing as our views, that discourse or any other on the same subject, delivered near that time, because we were satisfied that so far as the literal return of Jacob's posterity was concerned those discourses were incorrect. If any body choose to publish them without our name, or stating honestly the fact that we did not now hold those views, we would not complain: but we thought that a repetition of the Boston act of injustice, by the Advent Review, called for a severe rebuke; but as the editor now says—"We regret that we did not state that George Storrs had renounced a portion *** contained in that discourse,"

&c., we cheerfully forgive him : for our end in administering the rebuke is answered.

The Review complains that we withheld the Examiner from it which contained our charge. "We regret" that we did not send it direct to the Review; but we were negligent in that matter, as it was not on our list of exchanges; yet as the Review did receive it, it has had the benefit of it.

ENCOURAGEMENT.—Br. S. A. Chaplin writes—"The cause of our Redeemer is flourishing in Indiana. The Bible doctrine of Immortality through Christ alone, is making decided progress. In some parts, large numbers are led, by the exhibition of the Word, to embrace this and other important kindred truths. In other places, there is a slow, though constant accession of numbers, who embrace the teachings of Revelation in preference to the dogmas of human origin. You have great cause to rejoice that your labors have not been in vain. Your sermons and other tracts have been the means of spreading the knowledge of man's constitution as a mortal being, and his final destiny—if an unreclaimed sinner—to thousands who now rejoice in knowing that the popular exhibitions upon these subjects, are mere Pagan chimeras, revamped by the man of sin. I say this for encouragement, as I am aware that you have been compelled to sacrifice much for the truth's sake. Hoping that the Great Head of the Church will be with you to the end, I subscribe myself, yours,

In the blessed Hope."

"ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATIONS Concerning the Credibility of the Scriptures, and of the Religious Systems inculcated in them: together with a Historical Exhibition of Human Conduct during the several dispensations under which mankind have been placed by their Creator. By J. H. M'Culloh, M.D., 2 vols., 8 vo. Baltimore, 1852."

Dr. M'Culloh has sent us a copy of this work, for which he will please accept our thanks. We esteem it a valuable acquisition to our library. We have yet had only time to examine it partially. We admire his bold and fearless search after truth; and rejoice that our author has given us a work free from sectarian trammels. His manner of treating the subjects embraced in his work is well calculated to confound if not to convince atheists, deists, sceptics, and self-styled orthodoxy. He has shown conclusively that by "Natural Theology" no certain knowledge of God can be obtained beyond the fact of his intelligence and power; and that the human notions concerning the nature of moral distinctions, such as "that the principles of right and wrong, justice and injustice, are eternal and immutable in their nature,"—is a mere assumption.

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