This language is addressed to the real, living, intelligent, responsible man; and how could it be plainer? On the hypothesis of the commonly believed distinction between the soul and the body, this must be addressed to the soul; for the body considered as the mere material instrument through which the soul acts, is not supposed of itself to know anything. The body, as a body, independent of the soul, does not know that it shall die; but it is that which knows, while one is alive, that it shall die—it is that same intelligent being that, when dead, knows not anything. But the spirits in Spiritualism do know many things in their condition; therefore they are not those who have once lived on this earth, and passed off through death; for such, once dead, this scripture affirms, know not anything—they are in a condition in which there is “no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom.” This is a plain, straightforward, literal statement; there is no mistaking its meaning; and if it is true, then it is not true that the unseen agents working through Spiritualism, are the spirits of the dead. 2. _The Spirit Returns to God._—Another passage from the same writer and the same book, may recur to the mind of the reader, as expressing a different and contradictory thought. Eccl. 12:7. “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” A careful analysis of this passage reveals no support for Spiritualism; for it does not say that the spirit, on returning to God, is conscious, or is capable of coming back and communicating with mortals. It is not denied that different component parts enter into the constitution of man; and that these parts may be separated. Solomon himself may therefore tell us what he means by the term “spirit” which he here uses. He employs the same word in chapter. 3:21 of this same book, but says that beasts have it as well as men. And then in verse 19, he explains what he means, by saying that they (man and the lower animals) _all_ have one _breath_. The record of man’s creation in Gen. 2:7, shows that a vitalizing principle, called the “breath of life,” was necessary to be imparted to the organized body, before man became a living being; and this breath of life, as common to man and to all breathing animals, is described in Gen. 7:21, 22, by the term רוח (_ruahh_), the same word that is used for “breath,” in Eccl. 3:19, “spirit,” in verse 21, and “the spirit,” which God gave to man, and which returns to God, in chapter 12:7. Thus it is clear that reference is here made simply to the “breath of life” which God at first imparted to man, to make him a living being, and which he withdraws to himself, in the hour of man’s death. Job states the same fact, and describes the process, in chapter 34:14, 15: “If he [God] set his heart upon man, if he gather _unto himself_ his [man’s] spirit [same word] and his breath; ... man shall turn again unto dust.” No one