ANIMALS PROMISED A PARADISE IOI 



commonly limited to two, but these when rightly 

 interpreted fail to form a conclusive argument 

 against the immortality of animals. 



Solomon, in one of his despondent moods, iron- 

 ically asks the question, " Who knoweth the spirit 

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

 beast that goeth downward to the earth ? " This 

 is as much as to say that such a doctrine might be 

 taught, but who knows it, or would dare advocate 

 it? We can, with like propriety, propound the 

 same question to-day : who knows it ? And the 

 answer should be, no one. Solomon did not say he 

 knew it or that he believed it. 



Theologians insist that a passage of Scripture 

 must be interpreted by the preceding and following 

 passages and by the context of the whole idea in- 

 tended. By reading the two passages preceding 

 the one quoted, it can be proven conclusively that 

 the question was ironically asked and that Solomon 

 believed that animals shared alike the same future 

 condition as man. If immortality is the lot of one, 

 it is of all ; as they are composed of like dust and 

 have the same breath. Solomon says : " That 

 which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts ; 

 as the one dieth, so dieth the other ; yea, they have 



