ording to philosophical dogma not
derived from the teaching of Scripture, immortality is regarded as a
principle, or innate quality, in virtue of which the human soul is
exempt from the experience of death or annihilation. On this account
Greek and Roman philosophers speak of "the immortality of _the soul_,"
and even in the present day the same terms are used, the soul being
regarded as _per se_ immortal. But neither in the Scriptures, nor in
the Apocrypha, is "immortality" qualified by the adjunct "of the soul;"
the reason for which may be that since death, as far as our senses
inform us, is an _objective_ reality, the writers judged that mortality
and freedom from mortality could only be predicated of _body_. It
must, however, be taken into account that according to the doctrine of
Scripture there is "a spiritual body" as well as "a natural body," so
that while the natural body is, as we know, subject to the law of
death, it may be true that the spiritual body is capable of
immortality. This point will be farther discussed in the course of the
essay.

To account for the absence of any direct announcement of man's
immortality in the Old Testament, and for its being sparingly mentioned
in the New {3} Testament, the following argument seems legitimate and
sufficient. These Scriptures, as already intimated, give no
countenance to the idea that the soul of man possesses any innate
principle of immortality; on the contrary, they reveal immortality by
revealing _the means_ by which the spirit of man is _made_ immortal.
As, according to natural science, the external world, both the animate
part and the inanimate, has become such as we now perceive it to be by
processes of generation and development, so there is reason from
Scripture to say that a spiritual world is being created in an
analogous manner, and that to this creation all other creations are
subordinate and contributory. Moreover, we, the subjects of this
creation, are so constituted that we are conscious of, and can
ourselves take cognizance of, the means by which it is effected. These
considerations may be applied to account for the mode in which
immortality is treated of in the Bible. It concerns us, above all
things, to discern and feel the operations whereby our spirits are
formed both intellectually and morally for an immortal existence; and,
accordingly, Scripture is full of instruction, addressed both to the
understanding and the heart, concerning t