he came to the years of accountability and got a knowledge of God's law, "Sin revived and I died." Rom. 7:9.

Paul did not die a physical death when he sinned against God's law. So Paul was more than a mere physical being. Neither did he simply pass under the sentence of death. But he actually declares, "I died."

But it may be asked, What part of Paul's being suffered death? We answer, That part which sinned against God. "Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Micah 6: 7. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Ezek. 18:4. It was the spiritual part of Paul's being that died. "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth." 1 Tim. 5:6.

These scriptures plainly show that the death of the soul incurred by sin is not the destruction of its conscious being, but the forfeiture of the bliss of divine favor. "Dead while she liveth;" that is, the carnally minded are dead, yet desire, hope, and fear; in fact, they are still conscious of a moral and spiritual existence, but are also conscious of the fact. that their soul is not in its proper attitude toward God, nor in its normal state of righteousness. "He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." I John 3:14.

Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life." John 10:10. This could not be natural, physical life, for sinners do have that.

"Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thec light." Eph. 5:14. This can not refer to the natural sleep of the body, nor to men in the grave; but the apostle was addressing people in this world who were. dead in sin. This is an experience of the soul, not of the body.

"Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live." Isa. 55:3. But is this quickening of the soul into life a present experience? Do men now actually possess eternal life in Christ? Yes, thank God! "We know that we have passed from death unto life." 1 John 3:14. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." John 5:24. "And you hath he quickened [made alive], who were dead." Eph. 2: 1. This was the present experience of the Ephesian brethren.

This life is received by faith, for, says Jesus, "He that believeth on me hath everlasting life." John 6: 47. The apostles and early Christians actually possessed this spiritual, eternal life, as John testifies: "God hath given to us eternal life. . He that hath the Son hath life." 1 John 5: 11, 12. Neither was this mere conjecture or speculation, but the apostle confirms them in this truth by saying, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God: that ye may know that ye have eternal life." Ver. 13.

Strange that men in these last days have become so wise in their own craftiness that they have discovered that the mission of Christ was not accomplished, and the apostles and early Christians were badly mistaken when they believed the testimony of the Spirit in their hearts, and then by divine inspiration testified that they were made alive in Christ and possessed eternal life as a present experience of the soul. But if the Bible is of any weight, eternal, spiritual life is a present experience. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." John 17:3.

Comment is not necessary. Materialism must fall in the light of these scriptures. Spiritual life and spiritual death being present conditions of the human. family prove that man possesses a spiritual, conscious entity, separate and distinct in substance from the body. Sixth. The doctrine of materialism is wrong, because it makes scripture meaningless. It is impossible to harmonize the Bible with this doctrine. Many plain texts of Scripture would be nonsensical. For example:

"The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide." Psa. 37:31.

"I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." Heb. 8: 10.

"Written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart." 2 Cor. 3:3.

"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." Psa. 119: 11.

"Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts." Psa. 51: 6.

What sense would be attached to the preceding scriptures if man were only flesh and blood and breath and intellect? To say that the heart in the preceding texts simply means the organ in our bosom which pumps the blood through our system, were the height of ignorance and folly. If this were true, a literal copy of the word or law of the Lord would have to be put inside this muscle in our bosom. Surely such a position would be extremely ridiculous, to say the least. But what other conclusion could we come to in the face of the above texts, and hold the doctrine of materialism?

And to say that it simply means the mind, contradicts the Scripture, for heart and mind are both enumerated as covering different parts of man's spiritual being. See Mark 12: 30; Heb. 8:10. The law was to be written in both the heart and mind. Thought is not a property of matter, but in man it is evidently a faculty of the soul. But man is a moral and spiritual as well as an intellectual being. A man may have the Word of God so stored away in his mind that he could repeat from memory the whole book, but that would not effect for him what the preceding texts declare. That would not keep him from sin. It is in man's spiritual and moral being that God puts his law when he saves the soul from sin.

In the darkness of materialism the following texts would be meaningless:

"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." Prov. 4: 23.

"For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders," etc. Mark 7:21.

The heart in these texts can only refer to our soul, the inner real man. It is not our physical body that is accountable to God for sin. If my hand steals, is it to blame? If you look upon a woman to lust after her, does God hold your eyes accountable? Preposterous! "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." 1 Sam. 16: 7.

The members of the physical body are only the instruments of the soul. The soul is the accountable part of man's being. It is that which really in the sight of God sins (Micah 6:7), and that which must be saved. Jas. 1:21.

The Bible speaks of the heart of man being "evil," "deceitful," "desperately wicked." And again it speaks of a "clean heart," "perfect heart," "honest and good heart," and "pure heart." "Purifying their hearts by faith;" "purifying your souls," etc. It is further declared that "your heart shall live forever." Psa. 22: 26. All these expressions can only apply to man's spiritual and moral being, which shall live forever.

In whatsoever light we view the doctrine of materialism, it stands in square contradiction to the Bible.