318 Life and Immortality. 
nephesh, breathing frame, is put for xeshemet ruach chayin, 
which, when in motion, causeth the frame to respire. Hence 
nephesh signifies not only dreath and soul, but also “fe, or 
those mutually affective, positive and negative principles in 
all living creatures, whose closed circuits cause motion of and 
in their frames. By Moses these principles, or qualities of 
the same thing, are apparently styled the Ruach Elohim, or 
by Timothy the Spirit of Him “who only hath immortality, 
dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom 
no man hath seen, nor can see,” and which, when the word 
was spoken, first moved upon the face of the waters, and 
afterwards disengaged the light, evolved the expanse, gath- 
ered the waters together, brought forth the green vegetation, 
manifested the celestial universe, vitalized the breathing 
frames of the dry land, the firmament and the seas, and 
formed man in His own image and likeness. This rach, or 
spirit, was the instrumental principle commissioned by the 
glorious Increate for the elaboration of the natural world, 
the erection of this earthly house, and its equipment with 
living souls of every species; and it is this same instrumen- 
tally formative power that, together with the weshemeh, or 
breath, that keeps them from perishing, or returning to the 
dust. “If God set his heart against man, He will withdraw | 
to himself ruachu veneshemetu, that is, His spirit and Hts 
breath ; all flesh shall “ perish together, and man shall turn 
again to dust.” “ By the xeshemet el,” or breath of God, “ frost 
is given.” Speaking of reptiles and beasts, David saith, 
“thou withdrawest ruachem—their spirit—they die; and to 
their dust they return. Thou sendest forth ruheck—thy 
spirit—they are created.” 
From this cumulative evidence it is manifest that the rwach 
is all-pervading. It is in heaven, in sheol, or in the dust of the 
deepest hollow; in the uttermost depths of the sea; in the 
darkness as well as in the light; in all things animate and 
inanimate. In the broadest, or I may say, in an illimitable 
sense, it is an wzzversal principle. It is the substratum of all 
