Daniel expressly declares the resurrection of the dead, and a future judgment.

Chap. xii. 2. “ And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."

Amos, not very obscurely, alludes to the same doctrine. "Prepare to meet thy God; O Israel." Chap. iv. 12.

Upon the whole, from this collection of evidences from the Hebrew scriptures, we think that every unbiassed reader will agree with us in the opinion, that the existence of another world, and the immortality of the soul, were truths distinctly and repeatedly alluded to, and recognized by the Old-Testament writers, as articles of popular belief, from the creation of the first man, when God breathed into him the breath of life, to the entire cessation of prophecy in the Jewish church.*

II. Proofs of the immortality of the soul from the New Testament.

In this part of the divine oracles, the important doctrine of the soul's immortality is expressed in the plainest manner, and shines with all the lustre of a sunbeam.

Our Lord in his expiring moments adopted the

The reader is referred to the fourth chapter of this work, for examples of soul prosperity in the holy patriarchs and prophets, as a further evidence that they believed their souls to be immortal, and that, therefore, from such a conviction, the concerns of their souls engrossed their chief attention, and were deemed, "the one thing needful."

words of David, in Ps. xxxi. 5. and said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit ;" and his holy martyr Stephen, with the opening heavens in his view, and when he beheld Jesus standing on the right hand of God, exclaimed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." (Luke xxi. 46. and Acts vii. 59.) These passages must doubtless have a real meaning, and those who uttered this remarkable language must have understood that meaning, and doubtless, the language was used in a manner strictly proper, being adopted by our Lord himself, and by Stephen, a man full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith." It might then, be asked, what does the word spirit mean, in these passages? It cannot signify the body, it cannot mean merely the breath, which is nothing but common air. It must, therefore, beyond all reasonable doubt, denote the immortal principle, the soul that thinks, wills, desires, rejoices, and is sorry; of all which passions, matter is totally incapable.

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"He gave up the ghost," was language in ordinary use, when any person died; and signified beyond dispute, the yielding up the immortal spirit into the Creator's hands.

In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the Redeemer informs us, that Lazarus, after his death, was in Abraham's bosom, and was borne thither by angels. Thus, like Abraham," he was gathered to his people," had still a conscious existence, was happy in the assembly of the blessed, partook of their joys, and joined in the general song of glory and praise to God and the Lamb.

This parable is most certainly intended to teach us, in the most explicit manner, the doctrine of a

future state, and implies the immortality of the intellectual part of man-of that soul which is of more value than the whole world. The rich man and Lazarus, are both said to have died, and, as separate spirits, to have entered into a future world; while the five brethren of the rich man were still living; and while their own bodies were turning to corruption and dust. Upon every principle of fair interpretation, the doctrine we here maintain is as certainly declared as any thing is capable of being expressed by language.

Remarkable are the words of the Saviour to the penitent thief, just ready to expire on the cross: "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." This language could not mean his body, for that was, that day, either on the cross, or in the grave. His immortal soul, then, must have been intended. It was this which went to Paradise, with the Redeemer who shed his blood to save it.

How vain is the gloss of the enemies of this doctrine, when they pretend that the word "To-day" refers merely to the time when our Lord was speaking, and not to the time when the thief was to be with him in Paradise! Those who raise this objection can hardly be serious, or believe the correctness of it themselves. The dying Saviour, doubtless, spoke to the dying penitent, in language that he should comprehend and understand. This was his usual manner, and, beyond all doubt, his words revived the heart of the malefactor in his expiring moments. Jesus "spake as never man did," with "authority," with inimitable simplicity, and " with power."

In 2 Cor. v. 6. we meet with this remarkable language, "Therefore we are always confident, knowing, that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. We are confident, I say, and willing, rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." Here Paul declares in the plainest manner, that to be "at home in the body," is to be "absent from the Lord;" and on the contrary, that to be "absent from the body," is to be "present with the Lord." If there be nothing but the body, this language is without meaning. But here we learn that man is something besides body, and that there is a part of man, wholly distinct from it, capable of being separated, and of being "present with the Lord" in a state of the highest conscious enjoyment; for to be "with Christ is far better," than merely to be in this present evil world, filled at it is with afflictions and sorrows. The soul of a holy person, when it leaves the body, is instantly" with the Lord," beholding his glory, and singing his praises. The soul is an immaterial spirit, for as it has been well remarked, "besides body, or matter, there is nothing except spirits."

In Matt. x. 28. we hear Him who died to redeem the souls of men, saying, " Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." The soul is indestructible in its own nature, and no being can destroy it but he who is the Father of spirits. The body and soul being destroyed, in hell, does not mean annihilation in the grave, but that which involves the body and soul of the sinner in everlasting ruin and misery; which

Paul calls, “an everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord."

In Paul's second epistle to Timothy (chap. i. 10.) we have this language. "Who hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light by the gospel." We may well exclaim, then, “O death, where is thy sting, O grave, where is thy victory?" The gospel lights us into eternity, by declaring the immortality of the soul, and hence we wait for "that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God," even "our Saviour Jesus Christ," who has said to death, " I will be thy plague;" to the grave, "O grave! I will be thy destruction!" This he will surely accomplish, and will bring all his redeemed to the mansions prepared for them before the foundation of the world.

In the 4th chapter of Revelations, John saw four and twenty elders around the throne of God. In the seventh chapter he tells us, that he "beheld a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palms in their hands." These united with the angels, the elders, and the four living ones, in unceasing ascriptions of praise and glory to God and the Lamb. John asked, with a holy and commendable curiosity, who these persons were. The answer was, 66 They are those who came out of great tribulation, and who have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; and therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more," &c. It