47 Life and Immortality. 



referred to from Ecclesiastes, reads : " Who knoweth the 

 spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast 

 that goeth downward to the earth ?" Now, it is upon the 

 strength of these two passages that we are called upon to 

 believe that when a beast dies its life, like that of an expired 

 lamp, goes out forever. Nothing is more dangerous in the 

 exposition of Scripture than attempting to explain a pas- 

 sage, however simple it may seem to be, without reference to 

 the original text, for the translator may have mistaken the 

 true sense of the words, or he may have inadequately 

 expressed their signification, or, owing to a change in meaning, 

 the words of a passage may now bear an exactly contrary 

 sense to that conveyed when they were first written. 



But laying aside this point for the present, and accepting 

 the passage as it stands, as well as the literal meaning of the 

 words as generally understood, there can be no doubt that 

 we must believe that beasts are not possessed of immortal 

 life. If, however, we are to take the literal sense of the 

 Bible, and no other, we are equally forced to believe that 

 man has no life after death. The book of Psalms is full of 

 examples. Let us take a few from the many that might be 

 given : " In death there is no remembrance of thee : in the 

 grave, who shall give thee thanks? " " The dead praise not 

 the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." " His 

 breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth ; in that very 

 day his thoughts perish." Taken solely in their literal sense, 

 there can be no doubt of their meaning. Nothing more 

 gloomy, dreary or more despondent can be found in the 

 entire range of heathen literature than these passages, and 

 others that might be quoted from the inspired Psalmist, in 

 the contemplation of death. In the very book from which 

 the single passage was taken, which is claimed to deny immor- 

 tality to the lower animals, there are five times as many passages 

 that proclaim* the same sad end to the life of man. We are 

 distinctly and definitely told therein that those who have 

 died have no remembrance of God, and cannot praise Him. 



