life, and this life is in his Son.-John. We have no need of any such record or information, for we have this life in us of ourselves, and it is not in his Son.-Man. But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.-Paul. Christ hath not brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for a man knows that he hath life and immortality abiding in him without Christ or his gospel.-Man.

O the wickedness of human tradition. Who art thou O vain man, that repliest against God? Know this, therefore, that God only hath immortality. 1 Tim. 6: 15, 16.

Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;

Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see ; to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.

What contradiction, yea what blasphemy, to address. poor mortal, dying man, as having immortality or as pos sessing an immortal soul! If man had an immortal soul, he could see and approach into the light and presence of this blessed and only Potentate. But he has no such immortality, therefore Christ gives it to all the saints-that have sought it by faith and obedience-at the resurrection, that they may behold and enter his glory and presence, and dwell with him for ever. 1 Tim. 1: 17. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. How will this lan

guage sound to apply it to man? Now unto the eternal, immortal man; or to his eternal and immortal soul. Does it not sound like words of blasphemy, and like a lie ?— Verily, it does. When you and I find inspiration addressing man as possessing immortality, then, and not till then, can we be justified in addressing man as an immortal being or soul.

Rom. 2: 7. To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory, honor, immortality, [aphtharsian] eternal life. How do we obtain immortality, eternal life? By patient continuance in well-doing, seeking for it. But this is only for the body, we are not to seek immortality for the soul. Hold! All that God and the apostles calls man, is destitute of it, and must seek it, or all that is called man perishes. To them. Who? Let us not add to God's word. We, our identical selves, must seek by patient continuance in well-doing for immortality, because we are destitute of it, and must perish for ever without it. Christ offers it to us. He says, ye will not It is a matter of

come unto me that ye might have life. hope and promise to the Christian. Titus 1: 2. In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. 3: 7. That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs, according to the hope of eternal life. The saints hereafter then will partake of this divine quality and attribute of God. Then will they shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, crying, sorrow, or pain. Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER III.

OBJECTIONS.

We will now notice those passages that are generally urged as objections to the doctrine of the unconscious state of the dead, and no reward till the judgment. Let it, however, be kept in mind, as we have heretofore remarked, that unless we can find the Scriptures to positively assert to the contrary, the doctrine we have advanced must stand. In its defense we have brought forward numerous texts that positively assert the doctrine, and it is not in accordance with any just rule of interpretation or scriptural exegesis, to draw an inference from certain other texts to contradict positive inspired assertions. Inferential testimony will therefore not be admitted.

The first passage we shall notice is found in Matthew 10: 28: 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. The word that is translated soul in this passage is not psuche, the proper word for soul, but psuken, which should be rendered life. To read the passage correctly, we should read, not able to kill the life, but rather fear him that is able to destroy both life and body in hell. Again, to take the passage as it is,

how many of you are taught or believe that you must fear God lest he would destroy your bodies and souls in hell. You say that the soul is immortal, and do not believe God will destroy it. Then you cannot fear God on that account, But to take the true rendering and meaning of the text, it is true God will destroy both body and life in Gehenna, or hell. 2 Thess. 1:9: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. Rev. 20: 14: And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire. Their names were in the book of death, and they were destroyed both body and life in the lake of fire, or Gehenna-hell. Matt. 16: 25:

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

For what is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

The word translated soul in the 26th verse, is psuken, and is translated soul in the previous verse, and is the same word also that is translated soul in the tenth chapter under our notice. With what propriety or authority the translators have called this word life at one time and soul at another, the reader can judge as well as myself. They were believers in the immortal soul theory, and have shown their faith by their works. The text should read, lose his own life, or what will a man give in exchange for his life. Therefore, this passage in the tenth chapter is not an objection to the unconscious state of the dead and the final destruction of the wicked, but a supporter of those doctrines. The soul, as we have seen, is the body-the organism. And a living soul is the union of the spirit of life with the body. Man can kill the body—can mangle and obstruct the operations of this principle of life, so as to produce

death a separation-but he cannot destroy or kill this spirit or power of life, or soul if you wish to call it so this is not subject to man's power, but to God, and goes to God. Now, in all this, the reader can see that there is not a particle of proof of consciousness in death. The spirit of life is no more a rational mind and conscious after it goes out of a man, than it was before it came into him. Luke 16: 19. The

RICH MAN AND LAZARUS.

Some deny that this is a parable, and declare it to be a historical fact, because it says there was a certain rich man, and there was a certain beggar. There was a sower also that went forth to sow-the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea-a certain man had two sons, &c., &c. This is no proof, because it says there was a certain rich man, that it is not a parable; and no welldisciplined mind and Bible scholar, unless greatly warped by prejudice, and a theory, will dispute this.

A parable is a fable, or an allegorical illustration of some point, or moral, in a discourse. The parable, therefore, should never be taken instead of the subject or moral for which it is introduced to illustrate. The first thing, then, to understand the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, is, to find out who our Saviour was addressing, and what was the subject of that address, and the point or moral in the subject to be illustrated by this parable.

14th v And the Pharisees, also, who were covetous, heard all these things, and they derided him. And he said unto them, Ye are they that justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. They justified themselves by claiming to be the children ́