non-existence between death and judgment would break the chain of eternity. The soul that is dead for a time, may remain so for ever.

This, Reason plainly teaches and though her province is now to be limited only by what ought to limit all human researches; yet, in the same manner as we availed ourselves of the analogies of nature concerning a resurrection, so will the suggestions of reason be listened to, and reverenced, as they are co-incident with Scripture. Though they produce not "confirmation strong as proofs of Holy Writ," they will, subordinately, corroborate those proofs, even in the mind of a believer: and, to that of an infidel, if they do not carry positive conviction, they will not be directed entirely in vain.

But, as propriety dictates, and, as their dignified character requires, let us first attend to the Oracles of Inspiration on this subject.

At the close of the Penteteuch, we are informed that Moses, the Servant of

the Lord, went up from the plains of Moab, unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, and died there. We are also informed, that he was buried in the valley of Moab; though no man knoweth of his sepulchre to this day.* The death and burial of this distinguished lawgiver are here related, in a manner that leaves no doubt respecting the certainty of those solemn events. The uncertainty respecting his place of burial was, perhaps, ordained to exist by Divine Wisdom, to prevent the Jews, a people prone to idolatry, from desecrating his remains, by any impious rites of adoration. It is as historically true that he died and was buried, as that Solon, Lycurgus, or any other celebrated person, has paid the debt of nature. Whatever could die of Moses, did die, and was buried. Yet, that some part of him did not die, is evident, if we are to believe the Scriptures; and they are the Oracles of Truth. Speaking of that transcendantly-grand circumstance, Christ's * Deuteronomy xxxiv.

transfiguration, the evangelist says, "there appeared Moses and Elias, talking with him.”* The soul or spirit, therefore, of Moses must have been existent at the time of this conference, independently existent of the body; for that, the sacred page tells us, was dead and buried. Therefore, if this were the only instance of the kind recorded in the scriptures, an unprejudiced mind would be convinced that the soul dies not with the body,

The next instance, according to chronological order, is that of the child, the son of the widow of Zarephath, restored to life, in compliance with the prayer of Elijah. To relate the circumstance, in any other words than those of the sacred text, would only weaken it. "And it came to pass, after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah, what have I to do with thee, O thou man of * Matt. xvii,

God! Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? And he said unto her, give me thy son and he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord, my God! hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord, my God! I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother; and Elijah said, See! thy son liveth. And the woman said to Elijah, now, by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth."*

* I King, xvii.

The case of the Shunammite's son is so similar, that, although the beautiful simplicity of the narrative might authorize the citation of it, I beg leave to refer to the Holy Volume for its perusal.* In both instances the soul or spirit evidently survived the body. Else why, in the former instance, did the prophet pray that the child's soul might come into him again? If it were in the dead body, or constituted a part of that body, or died with that body, the prayer was absurd. In this case the meaning of the inspired person who uttered the prayer, was clearly the same as that of Moses, when speaking of the dissolution of Rachael, he said, "it came to pass, as her soul was departing (for she died) that she called his name Benoni."+ In the same sense we are to understand the Royal Preacher, where he says, "Who knoweth the spirit of man, that goeth upward." And again," As thou knowest not the way of the Spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb; even so, thou know