h language, and carefully read it. In verses 12 and 20 of
the above Psalm, where the passage is found, the translation reads:
"Man that is in honour, and understandeth this not, is like the beasts
that are irrational." In a footnote the word "dumb" is offered as an
alternative for "irrational." Brunton's translation of the Septuagint is
similar, and reads: "Man that is in honour understands not, he is
compared to the senseless cattle, and is like them." Wycliffe's Bible,
which is translated from the Vulgate, reads thus: "A man whanne he was
in honour understood it not; he is compared to unwise beestis, and is
maad lijk to tho." The "Douay" Bible, put forth by the English Catholic
College of Douay and which is received by the Catholic Church in
England, gives the passage: "Man, when he was in honour, did not
understand; he hath been compared to senseless beasts, and made like to
them." Many other versions might be cited, and very few of them even
suggest the idea of annihilation. If, for argument's sake, we suppose
that the word "perish" has been correctly translated, it by no means
follows that annihilation is signified. Read, for example, the tenth
verse of the same Psalm in our authorised translation: "For he seeth
that wise men die, and likewise the fool and the brutish person perish,
and leave their wealth to others." Certainly no intelligent person would
interpret this passage as declaring that the wise and the foolish and
the brutish have no life after the body dies.

It is plain, therefore, that we may dismiss forever the idea that the
Psalmist believed the beasts had no future life, and the citation may be
rejected as absolutely irrelevant to the subject, and the only one that
appears to make any definite statements as to the future life of the
lower animals. Every student of the Bible will at once recognise how
necessary it is that the original meaning of the Hebrew text should be
known, and that the Psalmist should not be accused of setting forth a
doctrine of such great importance, whether true or false, when he may
never even have thought or suggested it.

[Illustration: MEN CRUELLY TAKE THE LIVES OF THESE DENIZENS OF THE
WILDWOOD, REJOICING IN THEIR SLAUGHTER, BUT THE ANIMAL SOUL THEY CANNOT
KILL.]

[Illustration: TWO PALS. THERE IS BETWEEN MAN AND DOG A KINSHIP OF
SPIRIT THAT CANNOT BE DENIED.]

Having disposed of the possibility of a misunderstanding of the real
meaning of the "beasts that perish," le