This idea being preposterous, one question more remains: Which of these two is the immortal part? Is it the soul or the spirit? It cannot be both; and it matters not to us which is the one chosen. But we want to know what the decision is between the two. If they say that what we call the soul is the immortal part, then they give up such texts as Eccl. 12:7: “The spirit shall return to God who gave it;” and Luke 23:46, “Into thy hands I commend my spirit,” &c. On the other hand, if they claim that it is the spirit which is the immortal part, then they give up such texts as Gen. 35:18: “And it came to pass as her soul was in departing (for she died);” and 1 Kings 17:21, “Let this child’s soul come into him again.” And, further, if the body and soul are both _essential_ parts of man, as Mr. B. affirms, how can either exist as a distinct, conscious, and perfect being without the other? Foreseeing these difficulties, Smith, in his Bible Dictionary, distinguishes between soul and spirit thus: “Soul (Heb. _nephesh_, Gr. ψυχὴ). One of three parts of which man was anciently believed to consist. The term ψυχὴ, is sometimes used to denote the vital principle, sometimes the sentient principle, or seat of the senses, desires, affections, appetites, passions. In the latter sense, it is distinguished from πνευμα [_pneuma_], the higher rational nature. This distinction appears in the Septuagint, and sometimes in the New Testament. 1 Thess. 5:23.” Then he quotes Olshausen on 1 Thess. 5:23, as saying: “For whilst the ψυχὴ [soul] denotes the lower region of the spiritual man,--comprises, therefore, the powers to which analogous ones are found in _animal_ life also, as understanding, appetitive faculty, memory, fancy,--the πνευμα [_pneuma_] includes those capacities which constitute the true human life.” So it seems that, according to these expositors, while the Hebrew _nephesh_, and Greek _psuche_, usually translated soul, denote powers common to all animal life, the Hebrew _ruach_, and the corresponding Greek _pneuma_, signify the higher powers, and consequently that part which is supposed to be immortal. Now let us inquire what meaning the sacred writers attach to these terms. As already stated, the original words from which soul and spirit are translated, are, for soul, _nephesh_ in the Hebrew, and _psuche_ in the Greek, and for spirit, _ruach_ in the Hebrew, and _pneuma_ in the Greek. To these no one is at liberty to attach any arbitrary meaning. We must determine their signification by the sense in which they are used in the sacred record; and whoever goes beyond that, does violence to the word of God.