470 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 gocth 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 tothe 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. 
