But God speaks to us of
the spirit of a beast--its natural life--which goes downward, in contrast
with the spirit of man, which goes upward, and returns "unto God who gave
it." It is because of this immortal part, that the life of a man is not to
be compared with, or put beside, that of a beast that perishes.
Put your hand upon your heart for a moment. You can feel something there,
going "beat, beat," and you know that as long as that "beat, beat" goes on
you are alive. If it were to stop you would die, for no man has power to
set it going again. Now, you can also feel the beating of the heart of a
dog, or of a little frightened bird as you hold it in your hand; and you
know that when its heart ceases to move, its little hour of pleasure or
pain is over, for there is nothing in the dead body of a bird, as there is
even in a dry seed, that will make it spring up and grow again--_all_ its
life has gone.
Even as I am writing this for you, a sparrow, picking up crumbs of bread,
comes hopping close to my feet. The crumbs feed his little life, and you
know that he would soon die, starved to death like many a poor birdie in
its cage, if he could get no food. You, too, would die if you had nothing
to eat; that is, your body would, but not what has most right to be
called _you_; that never-dying spirit which has lived in your body as its
house--_it_ would still be alive--alive to God: "for all live unto Him.
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