The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 320

28o

THE SINNER TO BE WROUGHT UPON

his soul,

and kept

it

in active operation, not as

ous, but as inherent in

and peculiar

Adam's life originated

something extrane-

to his nature.

which God had established Holy Spirit, it follows that Adam's death resulted from God's act of dissolving that union whereby his soul became a corpse. But this is not all. When the body dies it does not disappear; the process of death does not stop there. As a unit it becomes inIf

between his soul and the

in the union

life-principle of the

capable of organic action, but

its

constituent parts

become capable

producing terrible and corrupting effects. Left unburied in a house, the poisonous gases of dissolution breed malignant fevers of

and cause death to the inhabitants and the community. After this dissolution of flesh and blood, which can not inherit the kingdom of God, the body as such continues to exist, with the possibility of being reanimated and refashioned into a more glorious body, and of being reunited with the soul.

All this can almost literally be applied to the soul. soul dies,

' I

is

severed from

its life-principle,

which

is

When

a

the Holy

Spirit, it becomes perfectly motionless and unable to perform any good work. Some things may remain, like loveliness upon the face of the dead yet, however lovely, it is useless and unprofitable. And as a dead body is incapable of any act and inclined to all dissolution, so is a dead soul incapable of any good and inclined to all

•

j

A !

f

i.e.,

;

•

evil.

]

\

,

But this does not imply that a dead soul is devoid of all activity, any more than a dead body. As the latter contains blood, carbon, and lime, so does the former possess will, feeling, intelligence, and imagination. And these elements of a dead soul become equally active with still more terrible effects, which are sometimes fearful But as the dead body by all its activities can never proto behold. jduce anything to restore its organism, so can the dead soul by all its workings accomplish nothing to restore a harmonious utterance before God. All its utterances are sinful, even as the dead body emits only offensive odors. Yea, the parallel goes

I

stuffed with herbs,

still

further.

and encased as a

A corpse may toe embalmed, mummy.

Its

corruption

is

So do many men with fragrant herbs, and wrap it like a

invisible, all unsightliness carefully concealed.

embalm

the dead soul,

fill it

i

!

1

mummy in

a shroud of self-righteousness, so that of the indwelling

corruption scarcely anything appears.

But as the Egyptians by

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