The light. A treatise on man's nature when created, and the design of his creation as revealed in the Holy Scriptures ...

Front matter

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UNITED STATES OF AMEKICA.

THE LIGHT.

Index

CHAP. PAGE

Atheist's Creed — Preface x

I. Creation of Man • 1

Creation of Eve .....••• 3

The Social Position of Adam and Eve while in

the Garden of Eden 4

How is Man the Image of God ? . . . 5 How soon after his Creation Adam Sinned . . 8 Adam's Freedom of Will .... 8

The Law of Paradise 9

The kind of Nature with which Adam was Created 10

Immortality and Mortality Defined . . .11, 12 II. Why Man did not Die the Hour he Sinned . . 15

III. What Spirit Returns to God at Man's Death . 21-42

Solomon's Account of Human Life and Death 24-31 Was the Breath of Life a Rational Being before

it was imparted to Adam . . . .31

Man is not a Spirit 34

Reason says the Spirit that Returns to God, at

Man's Death, is no part of Man . . 35-42

IV. The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus . . 43 V. The Transfiguration of Christ .... 57

VI. Christ on the Resurrection 68

VII. Man's Earthly House, 2 Cor. v., 1 ... 78

VIII. Peter and his Tabernacle, 2 Peter i., 13 ... 88

The Use and Meaning of Language . . 95

IX. Paul's Strait betwixt Two, Phil. 1, 23 ... 97

X. To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise . : 111

God's Plan of Redemption .... 119

XI. Everlasting Punishment . 122

How Christ will Destroy both Soul and Body in

Hell 131

First and Second Death Defined . . . 132

XII. The Different Orders of Resurrection . . . 135

The New Birth Defined 149

XIII. The Retrogression of Human Life * . . 152

THE LIGHT.

Chapter I. Mans Nature When Created And The De- Sign Of His Creation

Adam was not created with a soul, nor for a soul, neither was he created immortal ; but he was created a living soul,

The account which Moses,. " the servant of the Lord," aided by divine inspiration, wrote and promulgated about two thousand years after Adam's creation, reads as follows : " And the Lord God formed man, of dust from the ground, and he breathed in his nostrils the breath of lives, and the man became a living soul" — Gen. 2:7.

This statement is plain and definite, and as the work of the omnipotent Jehovah Elohim, it is very reasonable. The reader will observe, that the man did not receive a living soul, but the man made of dust became a living soul. Nothing seems to have been superadded, but God communicated life to the organized creature by breathing into his nostrils the nish-math chy-yim, the breath of lives. That is, the breath that animated every living, creature nish-math, breath, or respiration ; chy-yim, lives. This being breathed into the organized man, he became a nephesh chy-yah, creature of life, or living soul.

The Hebrew word nephesh, translated soul, is as often rendered creature as soul, in the English Bible, and in many instances it is rendered body, and the peculiar discretion, which the translators evidently observed in reference to this, and many other words, now does, and always must, cause much confusion to the careful, but illiterate reader. The fishes, and fowls, and everything that lives by breathing, are called in the Hebrew Scrips tures, nephesh chy-yah, as well as man ; but from the English translation no one can tell th^t fishes, birds, and creeping worms are living souls, yet the original Scriptures positively declare they are ; and because it is said God breathed into Adam's nostrils " the breath of lives," some men contend that, therefore, every man has dwelling in him a conscious, rational, immortal being, which, they say, was superadded at his creation ; but this is more than any one can reasonably infer from the words of revelation.

Nothing seems to have been superadded to the organized man but life, which is not a being in, or of itself, but the power of animation ; but while the function of life pertains to every living creature, it does not constitute the identity or individuality of any creature to which it belongs, and its continuance in any organized being depends on certain laws — especially breathing the air, and circulation of blood, etc. : for no creature made to breathe can live without air. The statement of divine revelation corroborates this fact : " God formed man of dust from the ground, and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives, and the man became a living soul." How natural and easy of comprehension ?

This was agreeable tto God's design and in harmony with his general plan and usage in the order of creation : for in all the operations of Almighty power, there is order and adaptation. Hence, we read that every plant of the field, and every green herb was made before they grew — Gen. 2 : 4, 5 ; they had form and consistence before they were put in the ground, from whence they were to receive the element of life and nourishment peculiar to them — -just so man in like manner ; he was formed, organized and adapted for life, before God brehated into his nostrils the breath of lives, and he became a nephesh chy-yah, a creature of life.

The garden of Eden was prepared as the royal residence of man, where everything that was delightful to behold and good for food, grew spontaneously under divine cultivation, as a type of what the whole earth should become, through man's skill and cultivating care. In this garden, G-od caused every living creature under heaven to pass in review before Adam, that he may know them all to be creatures of God, and see that among them there was none equal to himself, " but for Adam there was not found an help meet:'' Created with an affectionate and sociable nature, he required a companion with whom he could share these affections freely, but in a whole planet, peopled with good creatures, there was found among them all not one to supply this want.

THE CREATION OF EVE.

" And Jehovah Elohim said (it is) not good the man should exist in his separation. I will make for him an assistant, suitable to him* (this is strictly the meaning of the original), and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept : and he took one of his ribs, and closed the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from Adam, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this now is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man ; therefore, shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh * * *. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be ye fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every

* The idea conveyed in the Hebrew text is, that God having seen that it was not good the man should "he in his separation," that is, alone or by himself, without any other creature of his kind, he said. I will make him a help suitable to him — not to help him in digging, and plowing, and making a living, merely, as some unwisely imagine ; for man in that state did not get his bread by his labor ; but one of his own species or kind, who would help him to procreate their like on earth.

living thing that creepeth on the face of the earth." — Gen. 2 : 18, 24 ; 1 : 28.

I have quoted these passages in this order, both to arrange their historical account, and show what the endowments and requirements of man were, together with the adaptation and true character of his nature, in the day he first exercised the functions of life and thought.

THE SOCIAL POSITION OF ADAM AND EVE IN THE GARDEN

OF EDEN.

The general account of Adam's creation goes to show that he was formed with social and domestic affections, exquisitely tender ; for he and Eve were beheld of God as " very good." He was free from the seed of any bodily infirmity, knowing neither languor nor pain. Every object around him was dressed in all the freshness of youth and beauty, as they came from the hands of the Creator, richly calculated to delight his senses and exhilarate the joy of his serene mind. Everything was in harmony and order. Peace within, joy and beauty without, accompanied, too, as he was, with one who resembled himself in nature, form, and symmetry of parts, and with equal mental endowments. Thus affording free scope for the exercise of his distinguished faculties, and intellectual intercourse, and eminently calculated to awaken and draw forth the tender sensibilities of his pure heart.

How dignified and exalted the position of man in the garden of paradise ? Placed as lord of this creation in the fairest and loveliest spot of all the earth, where nature, adorned in all her primitive beauty and loveliness, appeared but to charm his ravished senses ; yea, even to that degree, that when God beheld, he pronounced it "'very good" Surrounded with every comfort and convenience, holding direct communion with God, in whose goodness and wisdom he confided for present direction and future support; and knowing neither evil nor fear.

man's nature when created, etc.

IN WHAT RESPECT DID ADAM BEAR THE IMAGERY LIKE- NESS TO GOD ?

This living creature was adapted to all the purposes of his creation, which are thus plainly indicated — " Let us make man in our image, and according to our likeness." He was to be made, then, in the image of God. Bat God is a spirit, and man is material, and as there is no analogy between spirit and matter, as regards shape or form, therefore, Adam's likeness to God did not consist in figure of body or symmetry of form.

God, as a spirit, must be illimitable as to location ; as an all-present being, he must fill boundless space. His attributes of Omnipresence, Omniscience snd Omnipotence, require that he must be perfect in all parts of the universe at once. And, being absolutely perfect everywhere, he can make of himself as many bodily manifestations as he pleases, and while each would be as perfect a manifestation of himself as Christ was, jet they could neither diminish or detract from the powei or perfection of the perfectly absolute Jehovah Elohirn; neither can any manifestation, in reference to shape o* form, represent an illimitable spirit ; neither is it possible for God to manifest himself, in the fullness of his leing, to finite capacity, because no finite creature can comprehend an infinite beiug. All forms are circumscribed by outlines ; but God, in the absolute sense of the term, cannot be n the proper of shape nor circumscribed by outlines, and therefore, sense of his being, can have no likeness form. The idea of an illimitable form or inage, is illimitable nonsense. Christ, when arguing wth the Jews, said : ' Ye have neither heard his (God^ voice at any time, nor seen his shape." And, on another occasion, he said : " No man hath seen God at any time" Thns did the Saviour convey to the understanding o? his hearers the truth, that God is not an object of sense, and that he can only be seen intellectually. But man is evermore an object of sense, as bodily organization is essential to his being ; man never did, and never will exist

THE LIGHT.

without bodily organization. It is evident, therefore, that it was not in his corporeal shape or form that Adam bore the imagery likeness to God.

Neither was It in reference to a " state of perfect holiness/' in which some think Adam was created, that he was the image of God. All that in truth and reason can be said of Adam, in reference to that, is that, like all otiier living creatures as they came from the hand of God, he was, as the Hebrew has it, tov-meaod, that is, very good ; which means neither more nor less than that he was perfectly adapted to the end for which he wis created, and that he was free from all guile.

It was in his mental constitution and governmental capacity that Adam bore the imagery likeness to God.

No other earthly being was made with such mental constitution aid force of character as man. And the requirements of Jehovah, after Adam's creation, imply consciousness of moral force and mental energy. He was to have obminion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of tie air, and over all the earth. He was constituted tht head of this creation — the ruler over all animated nature.

To exercise these functions of sovereignty, superiority of station, with ample knowledge, was given him. This was necessary, as otherwise, his authority would be exercised i^norantly, unjustly — nay, cruelly, and consequently, tha creation, which God beheld as very good, would be a sc»ne of confusion and ill-government — inconsistent witi the character, dignity, and goodness with which he intended it. Accordingly, we find God adapted man to tie end for which he designed him. God required inteligent and willing obedience from Adam, as also a wise aad well-informed administration of his governmental capacity, and it was in the discharge of these functions that he was to exhibit the image and likeness of God,

He had received ample intellectual knowledge.of the nature of the vegetable kingdom ; for every seed-bearing plant, and every fruit-bearing tree, on the face of the whole earth, was assigned him for food.

The whole range of the animal kingdom was grasped by his mental power. He intelligently knew and understood the natural history of animals : whether beasts, fishes, insects, or reptiles, of whatever thing that had life : for he gave names to the whole of the fowls of heaven and beasts of the earth ; and the names that he gave them were approved of by Jehovah, because the name which he called each animal distinguished its peculiar species : hence, " whatever name Adam called every living creature" {kol nephesh chy-yah — every creature of life, or living soul, as the Hebrew original has it) that was the name thereof." That was the name it should have, because it was the name which the nature of the creature demanded, and which rightly belonged to itself alone.

The mineral kingdom, also, was open to his vision ; for he was to replenish the earth and subdue it — which required ample skill and knowledge, especially of the operations of the atmospheric influence, as this is necessary to bring the earth into subjection.

The broad ocean, as to the nature of its inhabitants, was also known to him ; for the fishes of the sea were under his dominion. Xow, to understand and govern the whole of this planet, required eminent intelligence and great physical energy ; and Adam's bodily organization was capable of developing both to an incredible extent.

As the supreme and intelligent ruler of the whole earth, Adam did represent God as the Ruler of the universe. Adam's paradise in Eden bore an imagery likeness to the celestial abode in the universe, where the visible manifestation of the Divine glory is perpetually displayed. The Hebrew Scriptures teach that he was placed in Paradise to protect and defend it, and to administer the law that should govern its inhabitants, and provide for their general wants — and in this respect, also, did he represent the Great Administrator and Universal Protector.

Thus we see, that the image and likeness to God, in which Adam was created, had reference to the authority with which he was invested, and the felicity which was suitable to his nature and circumstances, and which he was perpetually designed to enjoy.

HOW SOON AFTER HIS CREATION DID ADAM SIN ?

As to how long Adam maintained his integrity after his creation, I will not attempt to define. Neither shall I stop to notice the many vain speculations of some who have pretended to know all about it. Some would have us believe that he sinned the very hour in which he was created — others, the same day — while others fancy he lived many years in Paradise before, as they think, " his passion for Eve must have led him to sin." Truth generally lies between two extremes. It is as unlikely that Adam sinned the very day on which he was created as that he lived many years in the enjoyment of Paradise before he sinned.

After his creation, Jehovah Elohim said to Adam, " Of every tree of the garden thou mayest eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it ; for in the day of thy eating thereof" — " moth ta-mooth" dying — thou shalt die." The rational inference from these words would lead us to some time subsequent to the day of his creation. But be that case as it may, one thing is definitely settled by this passage, viz. : adam's freedom of will.

While created the monarch of the whole earth, yet he held his position as the representative of God's universal monarchy. He was under the moral government of God ; but while his mental faculties and affections were all to be exercised in accordance with the Divine will, yet his was to be voluntary obedience. His will must have been free, otherwise his service could not be reckoned obedience. Freedom of will is necessary to freedom of choice. The latter implies the former. Free will implies that, of tivo objects presented, a person may and has power to choose one and reject the other. Now, if by any law of his nature or creation, Adam were so restrained that of two objects he was compelled to choose one in preference to the other, then he was not free in the sense which this term implies and is understood.

Bat Adam was not so restricted. He was a free agent, and, therefore, a proper subject of command. Accordingly, he was placed under the law of his Creator, the knowledge of which was intuitively infused into his mind, so that he could not possibly forget or misunderstand his duty and obligations. They are mistaken who think Adam had to learn everything by observation and experience, as our children do. Adam was not created a child.

THE LAW OF PARADISE.

The primitive law of Paradise, under which Adam was created, was simple and easy of comprehension, and, considering the perfection, both of his moral and physical constitution when created, it was easily obeyed. It consisted of two parts, namely, what was required and what was forbidden.

(1.) First, what was required : He was to defend and keep the garden of Eden. He was to eat the fruit which its delightful trees spontaneously produced. He was to love Jehovah Elohim with all his heart. This, as we are informed by Christ, Mat. 22 : 38, was the first and great commandment, i. e., first in point of time and first in magnitude.

(2. ) Second, what was forbidden : There was one tree in the midst of the garden, the fruit of which he was not to eat. This was the test of his obedience, and on the observance of which depended his continued existence ; for God declared that, in the day he would eat of that tree, "dying thou shalt die." Not that he must die on the very day he would sin, as many foolishly contend for. The text demands no such conclusion ; and we shall, in its proper place, show that, in such case, the literal fulfillment of God's warning would be destroyed. The meaning, the original Hebrew conveys, is this : That from the moment Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden tree — the seed of death — which their disobedience should plant in them, would commence its retrograding process, and issue in their dissolution — " moth ta-mooth — dying thou shalt die." This leads us to consider

THE KIND OF NATURE WITH WHICH ADAM WAS CREATED.

And to begin with, we infer from the inspired account, that he was created neither with a mortal, nor yet with an immortal nature. That is, he was not created to die, nor yet so that he could not die. If he were created to die, then his death would not have been made the consequence of his transgression, " In the day of thy eating, dying thou shalt die." And if he were created immortal, then he certainly could not die.

Some think because God breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of lives, that he was, therefore, created immortal. The error lies in attributing immortality to mere life. They define immortality, " life without end — life continued,'" etc. Thus making that, which is the result of immortality, to be immortality itself. This is as sensible, as to assert that the effect is the cause. Others say Adam's immortality was conditional on his obedience. That, so long as he continued obedient, just so long he was immortal, but the moment he disobeyed, that moment he lost his immortality. This evidently is but a second edition of the above theory, and the latter is as foolish as the former. A third party think he was created with " a mortal body and an immortal soul" while a fourth party hold that the breath which God breathed into his nostrils was a part of God himself, and that this is what gave him life or soul, and that this life, soul, or spirit, can never die — hence, the common but unscriptural phrasiology, 4 ' immortal soul, and the never-dying soul"

What I have here mentioned, embodies the common belief of those who are called orthodox or sound in faith. Ask any of them, Do you believe man dies, sir ? " yes. of course I do." What makes you say, then, that man goes to heaven in death ? "I mean his soul goes to heaven ; for I believe that immortal spark, that was breathed into man in Paradise, can never die." And in the next breath, they'll tell you this spark is the soul, and the soul is the man, which reduces the subject to this point, the man cannot die; and, if so, then Satan was truly orthodox in contradicting God, and saying to mother Eve, " ye shall not surely die, but ye shall be as Gods." God said to Adam, that, in the event of his disobedience, he would die. Satan said no — Adam might disobey and not die. Thus, he not only belied God, but also deceived man, by falsely representing to him, that he was in his nature immortal, and therefore, could not die. God is true, but Satan is a liar ; for the Adam that God created did sin, and that which did sin, did most assuredly die.

IMMORTALITY DEFINED.

In reply to the fore-mentioned theories, I remark that the attribute of immortality is something above mere life. It is an attribute or principle of nature on which depends the continued existence or deathlessness of man. Immortality of nature implies necessary existence. It is a state of existence which death cannot possibly reach or affect — a state in which death is not known. Nothing is, of its own nature, immortal but God. Neither can anything possess immortality but that to which the nature of God is imparted, and the being, to whom the divine nature is communicated, and is, by consequence, immortal, can neither sin nor die ; for immortality, being an attribute of Deity, precludes the possibility either of sin or death. If, therefore, Adam were created immortal, he could neither sin nor die. Again, as immortality is an eternal principle of nature, having reference to the past as well as to the future, and as no creature is of eternal existence, therefore, no creature is, by virtue of its creation, or own nature merely, immortal ; for the continued existence of any creature depends on the power and will of Him that gave it existence ; as the power that created is necessary to sustain, and can also destroy. Nothing can have eternal existence that is contrary to the nature and attributes of God. To say that it can, is to suppose that God would create eternal opposition to himself, or that opposition to his nature, attributes, and government having once arisen, he could never put an end to it ; either of which notions is absurd. That Adam was not created immortal, nor yet made immortal after his creation, must, in my opinion, appear self-evidently plain to the reader.

If mere life constitute immortality, then every creature, possessing conscious existence, is immortal while it lives ; but to this, the advocates of natural immortality will not consent, though their theory would go to establish it. We have seen that Adam's life was conditional on his obedience. " In the day of thy eating, dying thou shalt die," but immortality, if possessed, is not conditional on anything, but implies life absolute, unconditional, and eternal. That Adam had not unconditional life, is evident from God's warning to him after his creation ; therefore., Adam was not created immortal.

MOKTALITY DEFINED.

Xow then, if he were created with a mortal or dying nature, then the saying that he was " tov-meod," very good — could not be true, as a creature possessed of mortality is not, in any proper sense of the term, good, much less is it very good. But God said that Adam was very good, therefore, lie was not created with a mortal nature. A mortal nature is a dying nature, that is, a corrupt nature— a nature which is not capable of continued existence by the laws of its own being. The pri mary and simple meaning of mortality is death. A mortal nature is, therefore, a dying nature, and a dying nature is not good. Now, if Adam were created with such nature, the warning, " In the day of thy eating, dying thou shalt die," would be meaningless, as he would die whether he ate or not ; but this warning places the matter beyond the reach of successful cavil, and it conclusively shows that his own act caused the dying process, which finally ended his life.

Once more. If Adam were created immortal, he would not need the tree of life, the use of which, evidently, was to prevent his death by accident, during his state of innocence ; because, when he sinned, he was turned out of Paradise, " Lest he put forth his hand and partake of the tree of life, and live forever" in his state of guilt and sin. We conclude, therefore, that Aclam was created neither mortal nor immortal ; that is, he was not created with a dying nature, such as his sin transmitted to his children, neither was he created with a nature in which it was impossible to either sin or die for sin.

Adam was created with every capability of the most exalted nature ; for God having tested his intelligence and wisdom in the first exercise of his sovereign authority (in reviewing and giving names to the cattle, etc.,) pronounced it perfect in the words, " very good ;" but the fact of his being created with perfect faculties, fully developed, and his clearly understanding the nature and end of all terrestrial objects, only proves, beyond the possibility of extenuation, the guilt of his transgression ; for he had full power to obey God ; perfect freedom of will, as to his eating or not eating of the forbidden tree. But the perfection of his organization, the greatness of his mental energy, the exalted nature of his moral powers — any — all — nay every faculty and power of his mind, reason and intellect did not, because 2 it could not, argue him immortal. His being made a nephesh chy-yah, a creature of life, or " living soul," and God having breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives, does not argue him immortal, because God said to him, " In the day of thy eating, dying thou shalt die' 1

An immortal, undying being could no more understand such warning, than he could appreciate the goodness of Him who gave the tree of life to protect his innocent nature from death. The reasonable, in fact, the only inference that we can draw from God's charge to Adam, is this, that life being now given him, his organization being perfectly developed and adapted to the end for which he was created, so long as he continued obedient, so long would he enjoy the functions of life and thought, with sovereign authority over the whole earth ; but in the day that he would disobey God, by eating of the forbidden tree, in that day he would lose all right and title to life and sovereign authority, and no longer answering the end of his being in such condition, dying he must die.

To a reasonable unbiased mind, there is nothing in Adam's history that indicates the immortality of anything that constituted a part of his individual being ; but, on the contrary, the Bible statement of his creation leads to the conclusion that, having disobeyed the command of his Creator, and, consequently, fallen from the position in which he was placed, and for which he was intended, he was no longer entitled to the life and prerogatives bestowed, and, therefore, must return to the element from which he was created, namely, dust of the ground, and the manner in which this was brought to pass is plainly indicated in the words, " dying thou shalt die."