SOUL come into him AGAIN.

And the Lord

heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of THE CHILD came into him AGAIN, and he revived'. Here, beyond instances of the resurrection of the body, to this life, we have the immortality of the soul, beyond all contradiction, implied and affirmed. Nor is this all that may be gathered from these records. After a ministry of more than ten years, during which signs and miracles were rejected by Israel, which we might have thought (did we not know the heart of man, now and always the same) would have terrified the most hardened into faith and obedience, the Lord took up Elijah INTO HEAVEN:- It came to pass as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind INTO HEAVEN 2. What else can we gather, from this fact, than that the faithful were to triumph over death-that this mortal body was to put on immortality through the mercies of the Redeemer? An ex

1 1 Kings xvii

2 2 Kings ii.

ample, recorded in their history (and that not the first), was thus given to the Nation, of this great truth, for it would have been folly to urge that this affected Elijah alone, unless they were prepared to gainsay the whole tenor of the Divine Law, by denying the very Attributes therein ascribed unto their God. Every page of their Law described the Deity as an Eternal Being, of Infinite Mercy, and Justice and Truth; and it, therefore, could never be believed, that Elisha, and Jeremiah, and all those Holy servants of the Lord, who endured too often lives of wretchedness, and deaths of torment, would have been allowed to sink for ever, unrewarded, in the dust, from whence they came. The sufferings, the extreme misery of their wandering lives, through the persecution of the wicked, is every where attested. Even this highly-favoured of the Lord, Elijah, requested for himself, worn out with affliction, that he might die1. In common reason, why was it, that the greater part of the Prophets bore this, their fate, in

1 Kings xix.

patience, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, wandering in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth; being stoned, being sawn asunder, being tortured, NOT accepting deliverance 1; but that they well knew, both by precept and example, that there was a life Eternal? And in this case, could the Nation, ever have been ignorant, during their ministries, of this first doctrine of Revelation?

From these signal proofs, which occupy nearly the whole of the intermediate period, we proceed to the writings of Solomon and David; and here, we discover the same doctrine constantly alluded to, in almost innumerable instances, and in some cases, plainly preached. The close of the book of Ecclesiastes proclaims the future judgment, and in positive terms, asserts the immortality of the soul: Man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be

Heb. xi. 35. 38. This most remarkable chapter is nothing less than one general summary, and chronological stream of proofs, of Faith in Eternal Life, from the very Fall of Man, even unto the days of St. Paul.-With this Scripture before us, every doubt is annihilated.

it.

broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit, unto God that gave The spirit of man, perisheth not, as the body. Let us hear, then, the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing (that has escaped man's notice in this life), whether it be good or whether it be evil. Hell' and destruction (saith the same writer in the Proverbs,) are before the Lord, how much more then the hearts of the children of men'? Her house (saith he of the harlot,) is the way to Hell', going down to the chambers of death; the dead ARE there, and her guests ARE in the DEPTHS of Hell1; none that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of Life; so difficult is it, to return from lust, to purity. Again, urging the sore travail, the extreme difficulty of repentance, he saith, the man, that wandereth out of the

1 Hades. LXX.

2

2 xxiii. 13.

way of understanding, shall remain in the congregation of the (XIII.) DEAD. My son, keep sound wisdom and discretion, so shall they be LIFE unto thy SOUL. The spirit of the beast goeth downward to the earth, but the spirit of man goeth upward. The labour of the righteous tendeth unto LIFE. The fruit of the righteous is a TREE (XIV.) OF LIFE, (conferring, that is, immortality) and he that winneth souls is wise1. way of righteousness is Life, and in the pathway thereof there is No death; for righteousness delivereth from death. The wicked is driven away in his wickedness, but the righteous hath hope IN his death*. Again, the way of Life is above to the wise, that he may depart from Hell beneath.

In the

Precisely the same spirit breathes through the instructions of the Psalmist. The wicked shall be turned into Hell", and all the Nations that forget God'. But, reasons he, I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I