teach the world the truths which relate to a future existence, and attest them, by his resurrection from the dead, etc. It is our duty to go to Jesus Christ, and from his gospel, as preached by his disciples and apostles, to obtain the testimony in this inquiry.

What term or terms, has the Lord Jesus Christ and his disciples and apostles used, when they have spoken of man, or of the life, or of the soul of man? I will quote a passage, where our Lord speaks of man, in a sense which could not easily be mistaken, if the translators had rendered the original honestly. The present reading, is eminently calculated to deceive the English reader; and also, to furnish designing clergymen with means to deceive their hearers, and pervert the Scriptures to base purposes. "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake, shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt. xvi. 25, 26.) The original Greek term x, (psuchen) is twice rendered life in verse 25; and soul, twice, in verse 26. It will require no arguments to convince the intelligent, candid reader, that the translation should have been uniform in both verses, of this term psuchen, and life in all four instances. Or, if it is thought best, for the sake of variety, to render psuchen soul, as well as life, let a rule be adopted, and render this term uniformly, wherever it occurs more than once in connexion, etc. Then, the English reader understanding this rule, no deception could be practised; as in the present unauthorized use of the word in the translation, and its use in alarming, or revival sermons. Now the idea of a man losing an immortal soul, and finding it, is rather a gross idea.*

Parkhurst refers to one text, to prove that psuchen signifies, (at least in this instance,) the soul of man as distinguished from the body; and out of the body, I presume, viz: Matt. x. 28. "And fear not them which kill

* Parkhurst says, this Greek term signifies "breath; animal life; a living animal that lives by breathing; the human body though dead; the human soul or spirit as distinguished from the body; the human animal soul; the mind, disposition, particularly as denoting the affections; a human person; and the souls of those who were slain for the word of God." It should be remembered that Parkhurst is orthodox. Mr. Balfour in his Essays remarks of psuchen, that it occurs in the New Testament over ninety times. A Lexicographer, as a matter of course, will construe psuchen, provided he is orthodox, as he understands it!

the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." The reader is requested to examine the connexion. Jesus cautions his disciples against the fear of man. If they will be afraid, there is only one being, God, whose great power will excuse any one who shall be afraid of Him. But, says Jesus, Fear not! As if he had said, Notwithstanding His great power, you have no cause to fear evil at His hand. Our Saviour alludes to the sacrifice, by the idolatrous Jews, of their children to Moloch, in Geenna, the valley of Hinnom; which they understood. Christ's declaration to his disciples, signifies as follows: Fear not them which kill the body; i. e. which are not able to kill the soul,-they cannot prevent your resurrection in the heavenly image, to life and immortality. They cannot, in reality, destroy your life, in the sense of a sacrifice. But rather, if you will fear, fear Him, God, who is able, in the sense of a sacrifice, as the idolatrous Jews sacrificed their children to the idol Moloch, to destroy both soul and body. In a word, To annihilate you. For the sacrifice of the children was in toto as regarded their bodies, and God has the power to destroy you root and branch, as respects the present life, and also, the resurrection from the dead. But, says Jesus, Fear not. The reason assigned by Jesus, why God will not destroy his sentient offspring, in the sense of a sacrifice, is both beautiful and conclusive. It is because God has a regard for all his creatures, in a strict relation to their value. He regards even sparrows! But you my disciples, "the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. How true is the principle of goodness, as developed by Jesus! If the idolatrous and cruel Jews, had been imdued with this spirit, if they had regarded sparrows, they would never have sacrificed their children to an idol. I therefore, so far from admitting that this passage proves that psuchen signifies the soul of man, as a living, sentient intelligence, distinct from, and out of the body, in a separate state, would ask the reader to understand, that I quote it for the express purpose of showing that it proves, and conclusively, too, the reverse. And this passage, is the strong hold of orthodoxy!

The next, and I may add, the only Greek term, in order, is πveõμa, (pneuma.) See John iii., where pneuma is ren

dered Spirit.* Parkhurst says, "The leading sense of the old English word Ghost is breath-that Ghost is evidently of the same root with gust of wind." He also affirms, that "pneuma signifies the human soul, or spirit breathed into man immediately by God himself." Well, if this were admitted, what follows? I answer-We again begin at the beginning; and will try the question fairly. What is the legitimate signification of psuchen? Ans. Life, in all possible acceptations, as it stands in its relation to man, in the present world, a worm of the dust, a mortal-a being of flesh and blood, sown in corruptionin bondage to corruption. This is certainly giving all the latitude of construction that any candid, honest man should desire. What is the legitimate signification of pneuma? I answer, wind, or the air of the atmosphere of the globe we inhabit. My authority is the Lord Jesus Christ, (John iii. 8,) a greater than Parkhurst, or any lexicographer living. Now I ask, How will you manufac ture an immortal soul from such materials? Viz: The dirt we tread on, and the air we breathe? Pray, do we inspire immortality with every inspiration of our lungs? Methuselah, methinks, must have been very immortal, after inspiring immortality constantly, for the term of 969 years. Why not ascend from the murky regions of

* Mr. Balfour, who took the job of counting every passage where this term occurs in the New Testament, says it occurs over three hundred times; and is applied over two hundred times to God, etc. Vide Bal. Essays.

† After all is said, poor pagan orthodoxy must stick, as usual, to the Greek term ux rendered soul in Matt. xvi. 25, 26, for proof that a mortal man has an immortal soul. Then Christ's apostle Paul comes, 1 Cor. xv. 46, and destroys all their logic: "Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, vevμarikov, [pneumatikon,] but that which is natural, vxikóv, [psuchikon,] and afterward that which is spiritual," pneumatikon. Here is a death blow to the pagan dogma of the immortality of the soul. The original is full of emphasis. The adversative particle ¿λλà, occurs after a full negation-but on the contrary, that which is psuchikon is first-afterward that which is spiritual; to pneumatikon. Parkhurst, with his spiritual soul, disappears like chaff, before the truth of Christ's gospel, as taught by Paul. But the psuchen, how fares that? Reader, what think ye? Will orthodoxy in this instance resort to the old practice, as in the case of aion, and aionios, of making the adjective more powerful and significant than the substantive? They are welcome to apply their miserable logic in this instance, and shall be entitled to all the benefit of their contrivance. Alas! for error, what a fall was there! Where now is your immortal soul? Surely, orthodoxy, stupifying as its influence is, cannot disqualify its votaries from understanding the relative terms first, and afterward. So, after all your immortal soul,

error, into the sunny region of light and truth? The inspired writers illustrated the great truths of Heaven by natural figures, and spoke metonymically. The invisible and subtile air we breathe, and without which we cannot exist as animals, is the medium. The relation of things is seen, by those who are not blinded by error. It is therefore consistent to speak of the life of man metonymically, and express the idea by the term pneuma. We put for the thing, that which operates as a cause to produce, or to sustain the thing. The relations which exist, govern our conceptions; and we are aided in our ideas, in our comparison, in our estimates, and in our views. In a cold, frosty morning, when our neighbour accosts us with the remark, "It is a very sharp morning," we surely do not criticise the expression, nor conclude that the first part of the day has an edge like a razor; or that the day has begun by a very thin portion of it protruding into existence, like a sheet of paper. When several members of a family are sick at one time, and we hear the remark, "A very sick house, this!" We do not understand that the brick and mortar, wood and iron, etc. of the building, but the persons, who are its inmates, are diseased. No arguments can persuade a man that bricks can be sick of fever, or iron of cholera. And if the same reason and common sense governed men in theology, no man would believe that Adam was made immortal, because pneuma, as a figure, means Spirit. Man is so constituted, that the atmospheric air is to him the breath of life; for the unanswerable reason that he breathes it, and cannot live without it. But the grand difficulty in the way of orthodoxy is, he, man, cannot live with it, by its aid and agency, only under certain peculiar circumstances. As Paul said of the law, "The commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death." (Rom. vii. 11.) So the orthodox immortal soul, dies of

is psuchikon, natural, only flesh and blood! and the pneumatikon is afterward, in the order of time, when man shall be raised from the dead psuchen! Are you not by this time, ashamed of your pagan doctrine? If any farther testimony or evidence is needed, we have it from James iii. 15, full to the point; as follows-"This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish." In the original of this passage, for sensual, we have the adjective psuchike! So the orthodox psuchen, or immaterial and immortal soul, is in its very nature, natural, and of the flesh, sensual. Hence Paul's declaration, that "in his flesh dwelleth no good thing." Surely an immortal soul would be a very good thing!

the very stuff that made it, the soul immortal! Poor Yorick."

"Alas! AMEN.

NOTE. There is a fact connected with the subject, as respects the terms used by Inspired writers to designate life, in contradistinction to psuchen and pneuma, which deserves our attention; for orthodoxy has not yet been able to coerce it to subserve any of their idolatrous or heathenish purposes. It will never submit to be moulded into an immortal soul, a la mode orthodoxy. Viz: Zwǹ, (zoe.) life. In the New Testament this Greek term zoe, is uniformly used to designate the life of believers, and is qualified by the adjective aviov, etc. (aioniou.) It is the life of knowledge. This phrase, zoe aionios, (varied in case, etc.) and rendered everlasting life, etc. occurs 43 times in the N. T. It therefore does not signify a succession of time, but the knowledge that results from being born from above, (John iii; xvii. 3,) by the agency of the invisible Pneuma. There are no psuchen or pneumatos aioniou's to bolster up orthodoxy! But the zoe, life of faith, stands in opposition to the darkness-the carnal mindedness that is moral death.