t us consider the quotation from
Ecclesiastes, the only one that refers to the future state of animals.
"Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the
beast that goeth downward to the earth?" We find an admission here that,
whether the spirit ascends or descends, man and beasts alike have the
immortal spark. The Hebrew version is precisely the same as our
authorised translation. Read, not an isolated verse, but the entire
passage:

"I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of man, 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 the one
thing befalleth them; as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they
have all one breath; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast:
for all is vanity.

"All go to one place; all are of the same dust, and all turn to dust
again.

"Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the
beast that goeth downward to the earth?

"Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better than that a man
should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion; for who shall
bring him to see what shall be after him?"

These verses tell their own story. It matters little whether Solomon
wrote this book in his later years; it is, in any event, the confession
of one who has had all the good things of this world, and who saw the
emptiness of them all, and who sums up life with the words "Vanity of
vanities, all is vanity." Finally the author ironically advises his
readers to trust only in the good of their labour.

Thus it is shown that the quotation from the Psalms in no way justifies
the belief in the annihilation of beasts, and that the one from
Ecclesiastes has been entirely and wrongfully misunderstood and
interpreted. In no way do the Scriptures deny future life to the lower
animals, but in all ways, if intelligently understood, imply that man
and beasts have, equally, a share in a future life beyond the grave.

As we have found out that the Scriptures, contrary to the popular
belief, do not deny a future life to our lower brethren, the animals,
let us see if they actually declare a future world for them in the same
way that they do for man. Man's immortality, as we know, is taught in
the Old Testament rather by inference than by direct affirmation. This
is possibly due to the fact that the writers of the manifold books,
whi