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Religion is the maintenance of a real bond between God and the individual man. Its object is God, but its subject is the soul.

I. WHAT IS THE SOUL? Man is not his accidents; not those things with which we associate him when we speak of any one man. But he is a person — something separate and distinct from all others, and whose identity can be traced, year after year, all through life. And of all this we are conscious. The lower animals do not possess this sense of personality. But man is a personal spirit, separate from all others. Now, this consciousness is not the result of our physical constitution. Thought, after all, is not merely phosphorus. But we are conscious of the spirituality of the soul. The Bible takes it for granted, and appeals to it. Christ cares not for the outward, but for the spirit of a man. And because we have this soul we are capable of religion But —

II. WHENCE COMES THIS SOUL? There are the ideas —

1. Of the East, which tell of the transmigration of souls.

2. Of the West — especially of — which teach that the soul has had a former existence, and is here as a penalty for former sin. This doctrine travelled to , is found in Philo, and in the , and in the Gnostics.

3. The Church opposed it, for it has no basis in Scripture; it contradicts the doctrine of original sin, which tells that its consequences devolve on those who had not sinned as Adam had. And it is equally at variance with the account of the Creation, which teaches the simultaneous creation of both soul and body. And experience is against it. We have no memory of such pre-existence.

4. Whence, then, came the soul? Is it begotten by the parents? and leant to this view, the latter finding in it explanation of the transmission of sin. But when asked, "From which parent came the soul, or was it from both?" no answer could be found. And, as a fact, the child resembles the parent in temperament, that which is of the body, but not in genius or will. Is the soul, then, created by an immediate act of God? In favour of this is the consideration that so the truth of the spirituality of the soul is maintained, and of the simultaneous creation of both. But against it it is urged —

(i) That God ceased creation on the seventh day. But, in reply, we have new species of animals.(ii) That it binds the Creator to create a human soul at the will of man, perhaps an adulterer. But man cannot sin without Divine assistance. He is dependent for everything.(iii) That there can be no transmission of sin. But sin is a defect of the soul rather than a positive quality. Therefore, on the whole, the creative theory is to be preferred. And it agrees emphatically with the Scripture distinction between the "fathers of our flesh" and the "Father of our spirits." But both teach that God creates the soul. Then —

III. WHAT IS THE DESTINY OF THE SOUL? Some say, "We cannot tell; the dead return not." But when death comes near us this reply will not serve. We cannot believe that our loved ones cease to be. The moral argument is, after all, the strongest. Justice demands a future state. Is the soul's growth to stop? The Bible takes the truth for granted. The doctrine of Sheol, the sayings of the prophets, the heroism of the Maccabees all countenance this truth. We have the resurrection of Christ as the great argument for the resurrection of the body as well as of the soul. Both are necessary to complete life.

IV. RELIGION IS BASED ON THE SENSE OF IMMORTALITY. It is impossible without it. Suicide would be reasonable, and, indeed, has been advocated as wise. Seneca contends for it, but the Church by her teaching of the value of each soul counteracted all such views. Our main business, therefore, is to save our soul.

(H. P. Liddon, D. D.)

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KJV: When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

WEB: When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;