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REV. JAMES GOSSET-TANNER, M.A., ON 



I agree with Colonel Alves that the Apostle Paul had regenerated 

 men specially in view when he used the expression " spirit, soul 

 and body," in 1 Thess. v, 23. But we need not conclude from 

 this that there is not a sense in which the threefold division does 

 apply to all men. In fact, this brings us up to the point doubted 

 by some speakers, whether the spirit in the unconverted can be 

 considered dead, or dormant. I still think that both expressions 

 are true ; I have quoted Scripture in proof of both. The spirit 

 is never non-existent, therefore the word dormant best expresses 

 its condition in the unregenerate. The command to all such is 



Awake, thou that sleepest." 



With regard to Mr. Theodore Robert's remark that " the spirit 

 of Napoleon controlled multitudes of men for mischief," I certainly 

 think that it was the soul which was so vigorous. It is a mighty 

 power in the case of thousands of unconverted men, by whose 

 example, influence, or eloquence, large numbers of men are con- 

 tinually moved to action good or bad. 



Dr. Anderson-Berry has called attention to an important point, 

 Avhen he reminds us that our Lord was " troubled in spirit," and 

 St. Paul was " refreshed in spirit," with similar instances. With 

 respect to this, we must remember that in spite of every attempt 

 to classify our nature, its several parts are so interfused and blended 

 that they act together, at any rate in the regenerate. Our Lord 

 evidently had a human spirit in addition to the Divine Spirit by 

 which He was filled. So the definition in the Athanasian creed, 

 *' of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting," is evidently 

 inadequate. 



Some of Mr. Klein's remarks with regard to " the body with its 

 life," appear to refer to the yj^vxr} which is constantly translated 

 life in the New Testament. Apart from this, the body can have 

 neither wish nor instinct. 



I certainly cannot understand how the spirit of man can ever 

 be omnipresent or omniscient. In a glorified condition it may be 

 independent of time or space ; but it cannot claim attributes which 

 only belong to God. Should we not say that the spirit ought not 

 to have freewill of its own, and that its desires ought to be, " Let 

 Thy will be done " ? So too, when Mr. Klein says, " the spiritual 



