CHAPTER XII.

The Same Continued Scriptural Evidences-Mosaic Account Considered-Spirit Breathed into Adam one of the Lost― Man's Spiritual Eyes Closed and Memory Suspended-1 Cor. 15: Considered in Connection with Mark 4-The Spirit Passes into the Body as the Grain of Corn into the Stalk, and so Becomes Identified with it-That the Soul is not a Newly Created Essence, but a Fallen Angel, Revealed to St. Paul-Never Spoken of by Christ but in Parables.

WE will now refer back to the biblical history of the creation of man, and see what we find said there as to the soul, or vital part.

In the first chapter of Genesis, mention is made of the creation of man in a general way; but nothing is said there of his soul. But, in the second chapter and seventh verse, it is said: "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."

Here we have the whole question in a nutshell. What was it that God "breathed" into Adam? It was something which was in existence at the time it was put into him. Nothing is said of its having been made then, as is of the body. It must, therefore, have existed before; or, at least, that is the legitimate inference.

Mr. Henry, in this place, says of the soul: "It takes its rise from the breath of heaven, and is produced by it." And again: "It takes its lodging in a house of clay, and is the life and support of it."

Mr. Watson, under the head, Adam, and on this text, says: "It is manifest from the history of Moses, that human nature has two essential constituent parts-the BODY, formed out of pre-existing matter, the earth; and a LIVING

SOUL, breathed into the body by an inspiration from God." "Whatever was then imparted to the body of man, already formed,' and perfectly finished in all its parts, was the only cause of life; and the whole tenor of Scripture shows that this was the rational spirit itself, which, by a law of its Creator, was incapable of death even after the body had fallen under that penalty," meaning the penalty of death.

These authors are quoted for the purpose of showing the most commonly received opinion as to the union but different natures of the soul and body, and that it is not pretended the sOUL was then created, "FORMED."

From the use of the expression, "It takes its lodging in a house of clay," by the former, and "was incapable of death even after the body had fallen," etc., by the latter, it is evident that they considered the soul and body as being so perfectly separate and distinct, the one from the other, as to be comparable to a house and its occupant. This is the common, not to say the universally received view of the nature of the soul and body, as related to each other, by all who admit that the soul is immortal. It is, as I entertain no doubt, also, the correct view, as far as it goes. The only difference between the writer and others of the class of Henry and Watson is, that they stop here, and I proceed a few steps further, to see what it was that God breathed into that newly made body, and which had such wonderful effect upon it, and I find it was a pre-existent spirit—a fellow angel!

And, for

If it was

But some doubting Thomas may ask me, Is it not possible that YOU are mistaken as to what it was? To that interrogatory my answer would be, I think not. further answer, I would propound this question: not that sort of spirit, what was it? And before my suspicious friend could frame an answer to that, which would be satisfactory to himself, I could have some half dozen or more of the same sort prepared and ready for him.

Let us now look and see what Moses says about the soul of our Grandma Eve. But, as I am rather pressed for time at present, reader, please excuse me, and look that up at

your leisure. And, should you fail to find it, we will take it as granted that she had a soul; for without it she would not have been "an help meet" for Grandpa. Her body appears to have been made of a rib taken from Adam's side, when he was asleep. But, should we fail to find it so stated by Moses, we will not suppose that her soul was made of the same rib. As well might God have made the soul of Adam "of the dust of the ground," as that of Eve out of one of his ribs. The rib was as much matter as the dust, and the soul of Eve, if she had one, was as pure spirit as was that of Adam; and, as God did not make the soul of Adam of the same material of which he made his body, we should not infer, in the absence of all evidence and without reason, that he did make the soul of Eve out of the same substance of which her body was made. Then, what and whence was her soul, and how was she possessed of it? I answer, it was a kindred spirit of the same origin and nature as that which was "breathed" into Adam, and was from the same place, or condition, taken by God, and “breathed” into her body, as was the former into his. Is not this the best hypothesis? If not, please, reader, give us a better.

The word "breathed," as used to convey the idea that man was endowed with a living soul, is quite a suggestive one, if we understand it as applied to one of the outcast angels. That which is said so to have been "breathed" in, Dr. Clark says, was, in the original, "ruach chayam," and literally signifies the "breath of lives."

The soul is the life-the breath-the living principle of When it is said, then, man. It is the LIFE of our LIVES. that God "breathed into man the breath of LIVES, may we not consider it as equivalent to having said, God breathed into him a soul that was living? or, one of the living souls? I think it amounts to about the same thing. This view gains strength by observing the result of that breathing "into his nostrils," which was that "man became a living soul." A living soul! That expression requires modification. He was not all soul; for, in the nineteenth verse of the next chapter, we learn that God said to Adam,

"Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." The soul was not of dust, or, as we are elsewhere informed, liable to become dust, but was intended to live forever. Yet both these remarks are applied to the same creature, as one individual. By a fair and consistent rendering of these several expressions, we will find all difficulty as to the true intent and meaning of each entirely obviated. The words, "and man became a living soul," may safely be construed as if written, "and man became possessed of a never-dying soul." Or thus, "and the soul which was BREATHED INTO MAN was a LIVING SPIRIT." Then construe the curse, "dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," as applying to the body only, and perfect harmony is secured.

The expression, "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," is one divinely appropriate, if we imagine that when God had "formed" the body of Adam, and it was fully prepared and ready for occupation, He called the spirit elect for whom it was prepared, and bade him come and live; that quickly he, as the caged lark, which a whole, long, dreary winter a prisoner's life had lived, is on Mayday let loose; quick up, as thought, she darts and flies away-high up she mounts, and higher still she goes, and soon is lost to sight-so, too, he quits his dark Tartarian cell, and on the wings of morn (rejoiced no less, but more, as his cause was more great), so mounted he, and up he fled away-away sped he-the further, faster still, till he in Paradise arrived, and with the first drawn breath of that new body, well and fitly made, softly, gently was, as man, "breathed in.”

What a happy change was that! But in the wisdom and mercy of an all-wise Providence, he was not permitted to enjoy it to the full extent. His spiritual eyes were closed, and his memory suspended. He was only able to know what his physical senses taught him. His astonishment, therefore, at himself and what he witnessed around him, must have been bewildering indeed. The imagination of Milton, in his Paradise Lost, as to what he, Adam,

thought, and said, and did, on that interesting occasion, I think well founded.

This may be thought but a loose rein of the imagination, and therefore of doubtful propriety, without some evidence to justify the remark that Adam's spiritual eyes were closed, and his memory suspended. And as this is an interesting subject of inquiry, and to some extent connected with that now under discussion, I will pause here and give it some attention.

We are not so well informed as to the amount of understanding which was allowed our first parents as we are as to that of their descendants. But from the fact that they were subject to be, and were deceived and led into sin by Satan, we must infer that they were of much less capacity than was their deceiver. In fact, the brief account we have of the transaction shows clearly that they did not understand the nature of the threatened penalty to be incurred by eating of the forbidden fruit. If they had known all the consequences of their transgression and had the power to resist the temptation (and which they indubitably had), it is not so much as probable that they would have yielded to the tempter.

Without belaboring the question further as to them, it would be safe to conclude that we are not so much unlike them as that they should have known and remembered all the thrilling incidents of the eventful state of being through which they had passed.

If God had put the question to Adam: "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?" the day before or after his fall, he could not have answered it any more than Job could, as we have every reason to believe. And we have the same grounds for believing that the identical cause which disqualified the one from answering that interrogatory from the Divine lips would have been just as effectual with the other.

Job was informed in the same discourse why he could not answer it, when he was told that "from the wicked their light is withholden."-Job 38: 4, 15. That they were both wicked, none will dispute. And that their light was with