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 musele in our bosom. Surely the devil himself would blush at such a ridiculous position. 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 scopes 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.

In the face of all the foregoing facts and truths, it must be a desperate case of will-worship, when a man will set aside the plain teaching of the gospel and cling to such a deceptive doctrine. With the sweet witness of God in our soul, and a knowledge of his blessed truth, we unhesitatingly declare that the whole doctrine is antichrist. It blights the souls of all who accept it, and they, with a few exceptions, are blind to the real experience of full salvation in this life. "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, should shine unto them." 2 Cor. 4:3, 4.

The doctrine of materialism was the doctrine of the ancient sect of the Sadducees. "For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit." Acts 23:8. A great many modern Sadducees stand on the common ground of their ancient brethren. But a few, the Adventists, for instance, differ from their ancient brethren in that they have taken up the doctrine of a future resurrection of the dead. But with respect to the "angel and spirit," they with the Sadducees deny both. They deny that angels are immortal beings, and also deny that man. possesses a spirit, an immortal part, which is not subject to physical death.

This was the doctrine of the Sadducees in toto. But Jesus struck at the very root of their heresy. "Have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by

God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." Mat. 22:31, 32.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had long since died. Their bodies are mouldering in the tombs. But Christ declares that his Father was still their God. "Not the God of the dead [those mouldering bodies], but of the living;" namely, "the God of the spirits of all flesh." Num. 27: 15, 16. So while their bodies. were dead, their spirits lived. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-not the God of the dead (bodies), but of the living (spirits). The fact that their spirits live, is a proof that their bodies will again be raised. This argument put the Sadducees to silence (Mat. 22:34), and should silence their modern brethren.

As we shall hereafter prove, the orthodox Jews believed that man possessed a spirit or soul separate and distinct in substance from the body, and that the same remains alive after the dissolution of the flesh-born body. Also we shall prove that this was the doctrine of Christ and the apostles. Dr. Adam Clarke in his commentary says, "The vile doctrine of materialism is not apostolic." See comments on 2 Cor. 4:16. So teaches the Word, and our redeemed soul says amen.

THE NATURE OF MAN IN HIS PRESENT STATE.

In order to arrive at a correct understanding of the nature of man's being, it will be necessary to go back to his original creation.

"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." Psa. 8:4-8.

From this we learn that man, in his nature, stands on a much higher plane than the beasts, and but a little lower than the angels. We have already seen in the previous chapter that angels stand wholly upon the plane of spirit beings, being immortal. Heb. 1: 7, 14; Mat. 22: 29, 30; Luke 20: 35, 36.

Now let us consider the nature of man, who is declared to be but "a little lower." "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing