Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1873-12-11

grave at death, and not to heaven,
as the masses teach; aud this also
agrees with another statement Of
Job, where he SAYS: MAN that is
born of woman IS of few DAYS and
is full of trouble; he cometh forth
like flower, and is cut down; he
feeth also as a shadow, and con-
tinUeth not, '-2-3. But this could
not be true if the real man went to
heaven at death, and thus became
susceptible of all consciousness and
knowledge; snd, as we are told,
knows what is going on on the
earth--that when a man (if good
dies he goes to heaven, whence he
can see the place of his former
abode on earth, and If he has any
children he can see how they are
getting along Why not know
things on earth as well as in heaven
ii possessed with such heavenly
knowledge But bark! "Thou
preTailest forever against him (man)
and passeth; thou chapgest his
comten2nce and sendest him away.
His sons come to honor, and he
knoweth il not, and they are brought
low, but he peroeiveth it not Of
them. "-~2O-2l. Can any one con-
ceive Of a fairer contradiction of
inspiration than this! There is no
place in the bible which tells of men
g ne to heaven at any period of
time, but to the opposite. Hear the
Savior on the subject: No man
hath assembled up to aven."-John
3; -. 1t does not avail anything
to say that the body only is here
referred te, It is the man that does
not go to heaven, and if it is not
the man that departs, what IS it! 1t
is just what Solomon says, it is in
the 18th chapter of Eccl.: 1.-The
ranch the breath of life" We will
next adduce testimony from David,
he says: 'All they that be put
upon the earth shall eat and wor-
ship, and they that go down to the
dust shall bow before him, and none
can keep alive the soul. "-Ps. % !;
%. "He made away to his anger;
he spared not their soul from death"
-Ps. rs: 80. The most of the
people think that the death here
referred to is eternal tolment,-a
spiritual death,-a death that never
dies. But when they so to the
bible to find such death, they meet
with just as sad disappointment
as when looking for the immortal
soul. 4 death that never dies is
Just as reasonable as a life that new
er lives. Death is the extinction of
life, just the opposite of life. While
we witness a death-bed, we behold
the patient while in the agonies of
despair, and say of him that he is
dying; but while there is life there
is hope. As soon as he expires life
has become extinct, and not until
that point Of time can it be said
that he is dead. And this fullils the
words Of the Psalmist on this point,
for he says: "Put not your trust III
princes, nor III the son of man.
Why? For his breath goeth forth !;
he returneth to his earth in that
very day his thoughts perish, >
l46; 81. ''The dead praise not the
Lord, neither any that go down into
silence" -1l5; Il. What is death
Webster defines thus: "That state
of a living being IN which there is
a total and permanent cessation of
the vital functions, when the organs
have not only ceased to act, bat
have lost the susceptibility Of re-
newed action This definition,
simple as it is, is in sti"t accord
ance with the laws of life, and the
concurrent testimony of observa-
ton and facts. Then why not adopt
it az there is nothing III the bible to
contradict it! "God viii redeem
my soul from the power Of the
grave, for he shall receive me."--Ps.
10; 10. We will now hear Solomon
describe the nature OF man, he says:
II said in mine heart concerning
the estate of the sons of men, that
God might manifest them, and that
they might see that they themselves
are beasts, for that which befalleth
the sons of men befalleth beasts !;
even one thing befalleth them; as
the one dieth, 50 dieth the other !;
yea, they have all one breath, so
that man hath 40 pre-elninence
above a beast. Why! For all is
vanity" Can immortal souls, if
such exist, be, with propriety, called
vanity! There is a mistake some
where, and we think it is in creeds,
and not in inspiration. "All 80 to