Man's Preeminence. 475 



a declaration that the wise and fool and brutish had no exist- 

 ence after the death of the body. 



That the last verse of the Psalm is a summary of the whole 

 poem, seems not improbable. A vivid picture of the true 

 object of man's life in this world is drawn by the Psalmist, 

 and also of his tendency to lose sight thereof. In it he sets 

 forth the shortness of human existence, and shows that 

 neither riches, station in life, nor fame, which appertain to 

 the mere earthly career of man, can endure after his death. 

 He, therefore, reasonably concludes that men who fix their 

 hearts upon these earthly vanities ignore the honor of their 

 manhood, and degrade themselves to the plane of the dumb 

 beasts, whose operations are, as far as we know, restricted to 

 this present world. 



From what has been adduced it will at once be evident 

 that the idea that beasts are said by the Psalmist to have no 

 future life may be dismissed from our minds, and that the 

 passage may be rejected as totally irrelevant to the subject. 

 This is of the greatest importance, as the passage in question 

 is the only one which even appears to make any definite 

 statement as to the condition of the lower animals after death. 

 Every reasonable person will now see how essential it is that 

 the true meaning of the Hebrew text should be known, and 

 that the Psalmist should not be charged with the introduction 

 of a doctrine to which, whether true or false, he makes not 

 the slightest reference. 



Having settled beyond the possibility of refutation the 

 true meaning implied by the " beasts that perish," we 

 will now turn to the passage in Ecclesiastes, which, as has 

 been seen, is the only one which contains any direct refer- 

 ence to the future of the lower orders of animal existence: 

 " Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and 

 the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" 

 exclaimeth the Preacher. Here we have an admission that, 

 whether the spirit ascend or descend, both man and beasts do 

 have spirits, and these are undoubtedly the same in essence, for 



