could transmute into itself every effort and utterance of those who diligently seek it.

A story is told by Albulfargius of "John the Grammarian" the famous peripatetic philosopher, 640 A. D., who being in Alexandria at the time of its capture, by Amru the Arab, that he begged of the Caliph Amru, that he would give him the great library containing seven hundred thousand books, but that Amru replied, "that if the books contained the same doctrine with the Koran (or Mohammedan Bible) they could be of no use, since the Koran contained all necessary truth, but if they contained any thing contrary to that book, they ought to be destroyed and therefore whatever their contents were, he ordered them to be burnt and pursuant to this order they were distributed among the many public baths of Alexandria where for six months they served to supply the fires." While there are few, who, like Amru, would proscribe all literature outside the Bible, it must be eviIdent that where the truths contained in this book become the standard, or North Star of all literature and a consuming love for its teachings, concerning truth, and our fellow man, its chart and compass, of this kind of literature we cannot have too great a supply, even though the books of the future be printed according to a late prediction of Edison, on "thin sheets of steel," for it is in the "midst of counsel" that wisdom is found, whether our subject be of the laws governing the stellar universe, combating as did Copernicus and Galileo the ignorance and bigotry of their time; of the geological survey of those who would trace the progress of our

planet from its earliest existence to the time of James Hutton, who taught that in the material from which geological evidence is to be compiled, there can be no traces of a beginning, no prospects of an end, of the flora and fauna of the jungles of Africa, where Dr. Livingston won immortal fame by giving his life, a loving sacrifice, for its benighted children; or of the walrus and polar bear of the frozen regions of the North, where Dr. Cook made of himself a hiss and by-word, not because of his failure to reach the pole, but for the falsity of his statements; and where Peary forfeited his right to the glory he so painfully earned, by his bitter and acrimonious spirit; and like their statements all literature whether the supply be great or small, that is based on falsity or want of the spirit of the golden rule is worthless and must eventually come to naught.

But lest I be misunderstood, I wish to say that that only is false which is intended to deceive. There is perhaps no phase of truth known to the human mind, that has not been enriched and enlarged through the pages of fable and of fiction, of poetry and of humor, where the imagination, unfettered by the limitations of time and sense, soars aloft into the azure blue of heaven, and dreams dreams, and sees visions, that no language can fully express; and poor indeed would be the field of literature if robbed of this avenue, in which the muse delights to revel; but not to tire you, I shall refer to only one of these, to Shakespeare, perhaps the most illustrious star of literature's great constellation, and who next to the writers

of sacred story, seems to have spoken a universal language, and to have depicted every emotion known to the human heart, and to whom has been accorded that highest meed of praise, in that it is conceded, that his delineations of character are true to life even in the minutest details, and it was Shakespeare who in attesting to the highest truth of one of his own assertions, speaks of that "confirmation" which is "strong as Holy Writ.”

(Read at Woman's Club, January 3rd, 1912, by Mrs. Lizzie Avirett.)

XVIII.

INHERENT IMMORTALITY FROM A

BIBLE STANDPOINT*

So universal is the belief in inherent immortality that to challenge the statement is to invite not only adverse criticism but probably ridicule as well. Be that as it may, it is of little consequence compared with the possibility of being able to strike a spark of divine truth whose gleam may aid some one with greater gifts and opportunities to lead onward to those sunlit heights where the truth- as it is in Jesus Christ -shall shine with undimmed glory and effulgence.

Painfully conscious of the limitations occasioned by a knowledge of English only, and aware of the inadequacy of many translations, I still believe it possible to prove my point, using the King James version of the Bible as a basis on which to predicate such arguments as seem necessary. For a firm foundation is quite as essential when the object is to uplift the spiritual conception as was that of Archimedes who said he could "uplift" the earth (physically) if he "had a fulcrum on which to rest."

*When I wrote this article I had not noticed that the marginal reading of the Hebrew word translated "life" in Genesis 1:20 was "soul," and this article shows the efforts put forth in the absence of that basic fact; to prove that of which I was so thoroughly convinced was the truth, if I could only find it, and which is so fully established in this verse-that "life" is used as synonymous with "soul"-which the "moving creatures" have in common with man; and if immortal in one, must be so in the other.

Going back then to the "beginning," it is not denied that there are two accounts of Creation recorded in Genesis. Of that given in the first chapter, wherein man is created in the likeness and image of God and the entire account is pronounced finished and good by God Himself, we know absolutely nothing more than is here stated. But of the second account, beginning in Genesis 2:5, be it allegorical, fact or figure, we do know that it is in strict accordance with the statements therein contained, and all subsequent history, both sacred and profane. It is here stated that God breathed into man the breath of life and he "became a living soul" and while it is true that God also formed of the dust of the ground, the beast of the field and the fowl of the air, they became living creatures, the manner in which they were given breath is not stated, nor is there any reference to immortality made of one more than the other; but this is not all. When Adam was driven from the garden of Eden the reason given in Scripture for this is: "Lest he put forth his hand and eat of the 'tree of life' and live forever"-in a state of sin and its awful consequences-an act of mercy and not, as is so often explained, a punishment for disobedience. Had he been able to stand the test and refused to be tempted there would have been no need of Adam's expulsion from paradise, nor for the sacrifice on Calvary's cross of Him who knew no sin, that we through Him should not perish, but should have one more opportunity to obtain eternal life. And since it is "God who only hath immortality" and it is He who bestows it on us only as a gift