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of our flesh."1 Again, the prophet Isaiah represents God as speaking of "the souls which I have made.”2 There are some references to man in the Book of Job that seem to repeat the story of the creation as recorded in Genesis. In the thirty-second chapter we read "There is a spirit (πveûμa) in [mortal] man: and the inspiration (von) of the Almighty giveth them understanding"; and in the thirty-third chapter, "The spirit (πveûμa) of God hath made me, and the breath (von) of the Almighty hath given me life."4

We gather then from reason, as well as from revelation, that, since all life comes from God, so especially must that conscious, personal, spiritual life that differentiates man from the lower animal creation. This life of the spirit comes from God not only as a gift, but as a gift from out of His own Divine Being. All life is God's gift, but the life of the spiritual soul is a gift of the life of God. It is therefore usually believed that each soul is a special creation, and that consequently the soul is not generated with the body. It cannot be said that the Church has ever condemned the Traducianist theory, i.e. that the soul is begotten with the body (ex seminis traduce), but the weight of orthodox opinion is in favour of Creationism, i.e. that

1 Heb. xii. 9. 3 Job xxxii. 8. Another rendering is, breath of the Almighty, that giveth . . ." Whose hand is the soul (vxǹ) of every (πVEUμα) of all mankind."

4 Ibid. xxxiii. 4.

2 Isa. lvii. 16.
"It is a spirit in man, and the
In Job xii. 10 we read: “In
living thing, and the breath

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the soul is created by God and infused into the body.1 In Holy Scripture the immaterial part of man is sometimes called the soul and sometimes the spirit. The Greek word for soul is used in the Bible in various senses. Often it stands for the whole immaterial part of man, as in the Book of Revelation where we read of the "souls (vxàs) of them that were slain for the word of God."4 In other passages of Scripture "soul" is the word used to signify the life of the body,5 whereas the word "spirit" is used of the Holy Ghost and of purely spiritual beings such as the angels: when it is used with reference to man it usually conveys the idea that man in his innermost being is spirit, gifted with spiritual gifts and brought into relationship with God."

1 I have gone into all these questions as to the soul much more fully in my book, The Soul Here and Hereafter.

2 St. Matt. x. 28, 29.

3 Eccles. xii. 7.

4 Rev. vi. 9. It may be that this is merely a figurative expression, and that as 66 the blood is the life"- -so here by "the souls of them that were slain" is meant their life-blood poured out as in sacrifice appealing to God for vengeance. 5 St. Matt. ii. 20.

❝ St. Augustine writes: "There are three things whereof man consists— spirit, soul, and body; which again are called two, because often the soul is named together with the spirit, for a certain reasonable part of the same, which beasts are without, is called the spirit: that which is chief in us is the spirit; next, the life whereby we are joined to the body is called the soul; finally, the body itself, since it is visible, is that which in us is last."-De fide et Symbolo. St. Cyril of Jerusalem says: "Know that thou art a twofold man, consisting of body and soul." See also DELITZSCH, Biblical Psychology. Dr. Liddon says: "It cannot be concluded that man consists of three essentially distinct elements. Man's soul is not a third nature, poised between his spirit and his body. . . . It is the outer clothing of the spirit, one with it in essence yet distinct in functions."-Some Elements of Religion.

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souls in man, one merely The soul is one, but it is

There are not however two animal and another spiritual. looked at in a two-fold aspect. St. Paul in one or two passages in his epistles uses language that seems at first sight-but not in reality-to support those who assert that the soul and spirit are quite distinct: “I pray God your whole spirit (πveûμa) and soul (vxý) and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." The same Apostle makes a similar distinction when he speaks of men as either natural. (ûxikós), or spiritual (πvevμâtikós), or carnal (σαρKIKós): "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things.'

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Spirit is probably the highest faculty in man—that which is peculiar to man, and enables him to become the recipient of the Holy Spirit. The soul may thus be looked upon at one time as the principle of bodily life, and at another as the principle of rational life by which man is made capable of communion with God. The man whose reason is elevated by faith may well be called spiritual, while the man whose life is merely earthly is fitly called natural, and he who gives himself up to sensuality is rightly spoken of as carnal.1

1 I Thess. v. 23.

2 I Cor. iii. 3.

3 I Cor. ii. 14, 15.

* I have not attempted here to discuss at all fully this subject as to the soul and spirit. These chapters are merely introductory to those that follow, and only aim at stating briefly the doctrine of the soul, before considering what may be thought as to its life after death.

III.

Is the Soul Immortal?

"We have the germ of endless life; and death, like birth, is the starting-point of a new and rapid development, an indispensable transformation like those living organisms which are so marvellously metamorphosed before our eyes.

We carry each one within us a hidden treasure of powers; which surge and eddy here, but will find their vent elsewhere. It is this hidden treasure which death reveals."— PÈRE GRATRY.

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