The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-05-29
"LlFE AND SOUL"

Constructions Of Texts Containing
Uttcranccs Of Christ In the Gospels.
Main Thought Pointed out by n
Correspondent. ~
To tho Editor OF the Intell!genccr.
S1R:-Apropos Of the subject Of I'm
mortality recently discussed in the
columns Of your paper. l should like
very much to constitute few words
and Ideas as expressed in "The Spirit
OF the Word,' as follows:
THE common Idea Is that the soul
is the immortal part of man. that 1t
can never be destroyed, and that 1t is
mans chief concern to save it. Just
the opposite Of all this is the truth; the
soul is the perishable part OF man, that
Will be destroyed any way, and the very
thing We are not TO do Is to seek to
save It For whosoever shall seek to
save his soul shall lose It, but he that
sral! lose his soul for my sake and the
Gospels shall save It"
This text you Will find repeated no
less than six different times In the four
Gospels. VIZ: Matt. y, SO, and XVl,:25,
Mark VII. 50. Luke IX., "a. and XVIII,
SO. also John XII. %. In ull OF these. pas
sages the word Is rendered life, :"
though the very same word In close
connection is rendered soul" For cx-
ample. see Matt. XVI; 1920; in
the former verse the word Is
raplerpH sslIfo In
SOUL" so also In Mark VIII,
1886. compare these two passages in
the new version, whore the word Is rcn-
dered uniformly life" and In the next
margin soul" This word refers to
the natural life or soul OF man; the first
man an earth-man, 1. G., "a living
soul" 4 mere animal man, having the
animal life, just exactly the same life
that ail the dumb beasts had.
This is clearly taught In the second
chapter OF Genesis, also In the 18th OF
I Corinthians. where Adam and Christ
are contrasted: THE first man Adam
WAS made IL living soul. the last Adam
was made quickcnins spirit: howbeit,
that was not first which Is spiritual. but
that which is natural and afterward
that which Is spiritual" We see from
this passage that soul and spirit are
that the former belongs to the natural
plane. and the latter TO the SPIRITUAL;
still further on the apostle shows that
the soul man was ofrthe earth earthly,
while the second man Is the Lord from
Heaven.
Nature of the Soul.
All this plainly shows the nature and
place OF the soul; 1t belongs to the nat
ural. earthly plane, and to the animal
man, and Is entirely distinct from the
spiritual man. With this msunder-
standing of the soul we can readily
comprehend the Savior's meaning vi
what he says of It's loss and of lis sal>
walton. With the popular idea of the
soul. the Savior's words are entirely
out OF joint. When Jesus says: What
shall it profit man II he gain the
whole world and lose his own seul?" IN
view OF the above explanation. Ills
words nre easily understood. viz.
What shall 1t profit man IL he gain
the whole world and lose his earthly
life. his natural existence, with all that
pertains to this present life; the gaining
of the world at such price would
profit nothing. So when he says. HE
that findeth his soul shall lose It, and
he that IoSeth his soul for my sake
shall find it," In the light of the above
explanation His words are easy to IN
derstand. If the soul IL the natural
life the present earth life. then we can
see what Christ meant by the above
statement, but II the soul IS the immor-
tai part OF man which every one must
seek to save, then Christs words are
perfectly iucxplicable, for he declares
that all souls are to be lost any. way,
MI nv To Il n 10
to seek to save it."
Since the popular View Of the i'm
mortal soul thus clashes with the Saw
ior'S words, that view must be wrong,
and 1t becomes us to drop It. and TO
seek to learn what the Savior did mean.
This will appear palmer when we come
to learn the c6rrecs translation OF these
six passages. will quote only two from
Rotherham: Matt: XVI:25: "Whosoever
may be intending his soul to save shall
lose II, but whosoever shall lose
his soul for my sake shall find It." I'm
der the blind and inscriptural instruc-
ionn OF religious leaders. almost all
Christians are intending to save their
souls" the very thing the Lord warns
us against.
The Main Thought.
John MILES,. reads: He that dearly
loves his soul destroys It, and he that
hates his soul in this world, unto age
abiding life preserves It," This Is exact
ly the thought in connection with the
soul that We have been trying TO bring
out. He that dearly loves hts SOUL Is
the one who sets his affection on the
things OF this life. and gives all his
time and efforts to the obtaining OF
earthly things. Such an one, by his
very efforts to save his soul. shall sure
ly lose It. But he that hates his soul
in this world shall keep it unto life age
abiding.
l will notice In passing that the above
statement cannot be harmonlzed with
the doctrine OF the immortal soul; Just
think of the popular teaching concern
Ing the immortal soul. and then con-
trast that with ChNst's teaching that,
n man should hate his soul; the clause
Fin this world" is still more out of
joint with the popular idea: whatever
Christ meant by the use of the original
word rendered soul or life II Is certain
that 1t was something connected with
this world, for this lie plainly intl-
mites" BlBLIO.
Wheeling, May 25, 1890.