on of the existence of the disembodied
spirit, we are able, to some extent also, to reason upon the laws and
limits of that separate and secluded life.

We are, no doubt, in so doing, dealing with a profoundly mysterious
subject. But it does not therefore follow that we are thereby really
intruding into things which ought not to be enquired into. For the
questions raised in the search concern us very closely; and, moreover, it
is a matter about which GOD has made a revelation. And to know more
about it than many people even care to know is a safeguard against many
an unwholesome fear, against many a mischievous deceit.

On the very threshold of this enquiry we are confronted with this
question: "Is the soul the same thing as the spirit? If not, what is the
soul, and what is the spirit?" That the Bible regards them as distinct
is sufficiently clear from the language used by S. Paul in his first
Epistle to the Thessalonians: "I pray GOD your whole spirit, soul, and
body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
{34a} The same distinction is marked in the Epistle to the Hebrews: "The
word of GOD is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit." {34b} It is
thus that we understand the contrast which S. Paul enforces between
things of the spirit and things of the soul. "The _natural_
man,"--_i.e._, the psychical man, the man who yields to the sway of the
soul,--"receiveth not the things of the spirit of GOD." {34c} And again,
speaking of the resurrection, he writes: "It is sown a natural
body,"--_i.e._, literally a psychical body, a body which is subject to
the sway of the soul,--"it is raised a spiritual body,"--_i.e._, a body
subject to the sway of the spirit. "There is a natural body, and there
is a spiritual body." {35a} When again S. James says: "This wisdom . . .
is earthly, _sensual_, devilish,"--the word translated "sensual" is the
same word "psychical," _i.e._, subject to the sway of the soul. {35b} S.
Jude speaks of those who are "sensual," _i.e._, psychical, "not having
the spirit." {35c} Enough has been said to show that, according to the
Bible, the soul is the seat of the senses, the desires, the will, the
reasoning and intellectual faculties, the thoughts of the mind. What
then is the spirit in man? We seem to have the answer given to us in the
account of man's creation, when we are told that "GOD forme