moral being, accountable to God. The Lord takes knowledge of him. He becomes morally defiled by sin, and morally purified by the cleansing blood of Christ.

Solomon, in Eccl. 3:19, 20 mentions a few things in which man “has no preeminence above a beast." All have one breath; that is, man breathes the same atmosphere that the beasts of earth do. As the one dieth, so dieth the other. Just as all creatures die and return to mother dust, so mortal man “returns to the earth as it was." All turn to dust again—all go to one place.

This is all true with respect to man's physical being, but the same writer informs us of man, that at the very time the dust returns to dust, the spirit returns to God, who gave it, and "man goeth to his long home." See Eccl. 12: 5, 7. Nowhere in the Bible is this said of the beasts "that perish."

When God made man he made him only a little lower than the angels. "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands." Heb. 2: 7.

What then, we may ask, is the nature of angels? Inspiration answers: "Who maketh his angels spirits. Are they not all ministering spirits?" Heb. 1:7, 14. Angels are spirit beings, not mortal, not flesh and blood, but spirits, "ministering spirits." And Jesus plainly declares that "a spirit hath not flesh and bones." Luke 24:39.

In this dispensation we have "come to an innumerable company of angels." Heb. 12:22. "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him.” Unseen to the natural eye, there is ever present angelic beings, who minister to and protect the people of God. These are not material beings, else we could behold them, but they are spirits.

In order to support their fallen structure, materialists even deny the immortality of angels. If angels are not immortal, then they are mortal. If mortal, they are subject to death. If not subject to death, they are immortal.

What saith the Scripture? "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." Mat. 22:29, 30. "But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels." Luke 20:35, 36. Here the hammer of truth knocks out one prop which supports the heresy of materialism.

In the resurrection, after the corruptible body has put on incorruption, and this mortal flesh has put on immortality, then we shall stand wholly upon the plane of immortal beings, being "equal unto the angels." The result of their being equal unto the angels is stated in these words: "Neither can they

die any more. If these scriptures do not teach that angels stand wholly upon the plane of spiritual and immortal beings, then it would be difficult indeed to convey such an idea in our language.

Having seen the nature of angels, that they stand wholly upon a plane of spirit beings, being immortal, we will now consider the nature of man, who is declared to be but "a little lower."

"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Cor. 6:20. "The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit." 1 Cor. 7:34. "There is a spirit in man." Job 32: 8.

Without comment these texts declare in so many words, that man is a compound being of "both body and spirit," for "there is a spirit in man." The body is material, an organic structure; spirit is not of material substance, for "a spirit hath not flesh and bones." Luke 24:39. So man is not wholly a material being, on a level with the beasts that perish. Neither is he wholly a spiritual being, on an equal with the angels. Our body or flesh is mortal. "Your mortal body." Rom. 6:12. "Your mortal bodies." Rom. 8:11. "Our mortal flesh." 2 Cor. 4:11. But inside these mortal bodies there is a spirit: "There is a spirit in man.”

Spirits are not mortal. God is a spirit (John 4:24), hence he is eternal and immortal. 1 Tim. 1: 17. The Holy Spirit, the third person in the trinity,

Angels are

is an "eternal spirit." Heb. 9:14. spirits (Heb. 1:7, 14), hence are not subject to natural death, but are immortal beings. See Mat. 22:29, 30; Luke 20:35, 36.

There is a spirit or soul in man (Job 32:8; 14: 22; 1 Cor. 7:34), which is not subject to physical death (Mat. 10: 28); hence, immortal. Here then we have the nature of man's being clearly defined. see in what sense he stands a little lower than the angels. Angels are wholly spirit beings, wholly immortal; while man is both spirit and flesh, soul and body. He yet inhabits a mortal body, which is subject to physical death. This places him a little lower than the angels until "that which is sown a natural body shall be raised a spiritual body"; then we shall be "equal unto the angels."

But man being a spiritual and moral being as well as a physical being, places him on a much higher plane than the beasts of earth. The spirit of man is destined to range in unlimited spheres of activity long after the world is put in ashes. In the face of the foregoing facts, materialism must fall.

Second. The doctrine of materialism is wrong, because it denies experimental salvation in this life. If a man were wholly a material being, and possessed no spiritual entity, he could not undergo a spiritual change. All the change that could be wrought upon him by his Creator would be material. The brute creation can not undergo a spiritual work, for they are wholly upon the plane of material beings. But

the very fact that the work of salvation is a spiritual work proves beyond question that man is more than a material being; he is "both body and spirit." 1 Cor. 7:34.

In the work of salvation it is not the fesh, bozes, or blood that is regenerated or ecnverted to God; neither is it the breath we breathe, nor is it simply the mind: for men may intellectually be eonverted to the truth without any moral change being wrought in their natures. For a Jew or Mohammedan to simply see that his religion is wrong, and that the Christian faith and religion is right, and accept the Christian belief that Christ is the Son of God, will not change his moral nature. It takes more than this. A man may with his mind endorse the whole truth, and yet be a sinner. Salvation goes deeper than the mind.

The materialist will ask, What part of man's being, then, undergoes the great work of salvation? Answer, "The hidden man of the heart." 1 Pet. 3:4. Proof: "Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls." Jas. 1:21. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” Psa. 19:7. "Believe to the saving of the soul." Heb. 10:39. "The salvation of your souls." 1 Pet. 1:9. "That the spirit may be saved." 1 Cor. 5:5. Having "purified your souls." 1 Pet. 1: 22. "Purifying their hearts by faith." Acts 15: 8, 9. "Blessed are the pure in heart.” Mat. 5:8.

What a beautiful wreath of heavenly truth! It