The Conflict of the Ages Over the Nature and Destiny of Man
By
LEROY EDWIN FROOM
Professor of Historical Theology, Andrews University
Author of Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers
VOLUME 2
From Repression and Obscurity to Restoration, Gathering Momentum and
Status, Accelerated Acceptance and Expansion, Spiritualism Climaxes the Conflict
PREPARED UNDER assignment from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and approved by a representative group of more than sixty recognized scholars—theologians, Bible teachers, editors, historians, scientists, physicians, and librarians.
COPYRIGHT © 1965
BY THE REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION,
WASHINGTON, DC.
GREAT truths that were suppressed and well-nigh forgotten in the period of the great departure following the triumphant expansion of the Early Church have been recovered one by one. And these majestic truths, once restored, have never since been lost. Biblical proofs have been assembled around them. Logical reasoning has buttressed them. Historical evidence has cast confirmatory light upon them. Men of conscience have suffered persecution for promulgating them. Others began more and more to embrace them, and adherents grew and spread.
Thus it has been with the recovery of the vital truth of Conditionalism traced in this volume. The tide of restoration has progressed much as the tide rises on the beach—by a series of alternate Rowings and ebbings. Sometimes an idea seems to lose ground for a time—as when the waters recede—only to return and advance. But gradually and inevitably truth prevails.
This is the continuing testimony of the pages that follow. Along with this is the intriguing thought that books were once men. This is literally true, for books are but the crystallized, abiding expression of the inner convictions of living, thinking men. Books were once thoughts ranging through the minds and hearts of living personalities. From incipient seed thoughts they grew and developed, were roughed out and organized, revised and recast, polished and perfected—and ultimately christened with a name, and sent forth in materialized, permanent, printed form to bear their witness.
Major books are the fruition of years of study, sometimes of a lifetime of research and preparation. The worth-while books of religious history were the product of much prayer and toil and sweat and tears, and often involved the suffering and conflict of men of conviction. They were frequently written under a sense of compulsion, with a feeling of necessity for declaring or illuminating a fresh facet of recovered truth. This men have felt impelled to share with others in printed form, thus to advance the cause of truth and to bless their fellow men.
In times past the writing and issuance of such books resulted in persecution, or perchance the imprisonment, of the writer. At times their issuance led even to martyrdom because of the hostility of those who rejected their message. In other instances these book children of the mind and heart, embodying the very life blood and convictions of their writers, have succeeded in changing the concepts of thousands. At times they have shifted the thought currents of history. Such books have been valiant champions for truth and moulders of thought.
Books of this sort are not dead things—mere paper, ink, and binding, dusty and musty—and should never be regarded as such. They are not merely lifeless objects, with meaningless titles and messages. Each worth-while product is the continuing projection of a personality, who being dead yet speaks—a moulding, motivating force.
In this second volume of Conditionalist Faith, covering the bulk of the Christian era, we have sought to recapture the pulsating life and personality behind the witnesses we here present by resetting them in the framework of their own times and circumstances, and tracing the effect that their writings have produced in the lives of others. We shall seek to invest them with their inherent human interest, and reveal the weight of their influence on the course of human thought and the cause of living truth.
In other words, we shall fit them into their proper biographical and historical settings, humanizing them so their
authors may again speak forth their convictions to us today, and take their rightful place in the line of witnesses to the great truth of Conditionalism that we here trace across the centuries. Its course is onward today.
Leroy Edwin Froom
1965
Part 1—From Repression And Obscurity To Restoration (600 To 1800)
1. Sundry Voices Break General Medieval Silence
2. Horrifics Of Hell And Foibles Of Purgatory
3. Wycliffe Pioneers And Pomponazzi Precipitates Crisis
4. Luther Revives Conditionalism At Reformation Outset
5- Tyndale And Frith Testify: Ethiopia And India Support
6. Vehement Calvinist Positions And Anglican Opposites Develop
7. Persecution Unto Death For Faith Under Queen Elizabeth
8. Poets Milton And Wither—The Whole Man Dies In Death
9. Overton Imprisoned, Canne Exiled, And Chamberlain Derided
10. Seventeenth-Century Voices Augment Conditionalist Witness
11. Brilliant Witnesses On Both Sides Of Atlantic
12. Eighteenth-Century Stalwarts Buttress Conditionalist Positions
Part 2—Gathering Momentum And Status (1800 To 1900)
13. Resurgence Of Conditionalism Characterizes Nineteenth Century
14. Belated Appearance Of Conditionalism In Colonial America
15. American Conditionalists Begin To Appear
16. "Deacon" Grew-George Storrs Line Of Transmission
17. White—Creates New Epoch Of Understanding
18. Constable's Pre-Eminent British Contribution
19. Various Scholars Augment Conditionalist Appeal
20. Periodical Discussion And Pulpit Publicity
21. Farrar—Westminster Sermon Precipitates Crisis
22. Periodicals Reflect Conflict And Advance
23. Conditionalist Association And Extension Library
24. New World Voices Match Old World Witnesses
25. Representative Literature Matched By Able Pulpiteers
26. Spokesmen Of Various Faiths Augment Chorus
27. Prominent Names Added To Conditionalist Roster
28. Various Facets Of Conditionalist Gem Presented
29. Transcends Language Lines, Overleaps National Boundaries
30. Masterful Swiss And Belgian Voices Speak
31. Famous Premier, Pastor, And Scientist Testify
32. Paralleling Second Advent And Conditionalist Movements Merge
33. Emergence Of Seventh-Day Adventists As Conditionalists
34. 1,500,000 Seventh-Day Adventists Champion Conditionalism
35. Presenting The Adventist Case For Conditionalism
Part 3—Accelerated Acceptance And Expansion (Twentieth Century)
36. Twentieth Century—Epoch Of Far-Reaching Expansion
37. Lutheran Bishop, Catholic Cardinal, And Anglican Rector Speak Out
38. Swedish, English, Scottish, And American Voices Attest
39. Group Statements And Individual Utterances Concur
40. Dutch, Scotch, Welsh, English, Swedish, American, Swiss Testify
41. Rectors, Deans, Bishops, Professors, And Editors
42. New And Old World Spokesmen Probe Heart Of Problem
43. Various Accusing Fingers Incriminate Platonism
44. Conservatives, Liberals, Even Catholics Speak Out
45. Sixth Decade Closes With Significant Presentation
46. Augmented Influences Radiate To Ends Of Earth
47. Mass Communications Media Present Conditionalism
48. Important Contributions Conclude Current Survey
49. Recapitulating The Evidence For Individual Conclusions
Part 4—Spiritualism Climaxes The Conflict (A Determining Factor)
50. Spiritualism Invades Our Times
51. Professes To Be Coming World Religion
52. Spiritualism In Basic Conflict With Christianity
53. Peebles' Amazing Assumptions For Spiritualism
54. Parapsychology—Spiritualism's "New Frontier"
55. Involvements Of "Spirit Healing," Mesmerism, And Hypnotism
56. Warnings Of The Word Against The Machinations Of Spiritism
57. Fundamental Fallacies Of Spiritualism's Fellow Travellers
58. Occult Forces Of East Join Those Of West
59. Medley Of Eastern Deviations Penetrates West
60. Utilizing New Techniques—Operating Within The Churches
61. Spiritualism's Role In Earth's Closing Conflict
Epilogue
62. Summing Up The Evidence Of The Centuries
63. Bibliography
64. Subject Index
65. Name Index
Charts And Tabulations
Age-Old Conflict Over Man's Nature And Destiny (Pictorial Chart)
Major Medieval And Pre-Reformation Witnesses To Conditionalism
Major 16th Century Witnesses To Conditionalism
Major 17th Century Witnesses To Conditionalism
Major 18th Century Witnesses To Conditionalism
Major 19th Century Witnesses To Conditionalism—Section A
Major 19th Century Witnesses To Conditionalism—Section B
Major 19th Century Witnesses To Conditionalism—Section C
Major 20th Century Witnesses To Conditionalism—Section A
Major 20th Century Witnesses To Conditionalism—Section B
Major 20th Century Witnesses To Conditionalism—Section C
Since this book deals with a limited number of subjects, this outline of the chapter contents is included in place of a subject index.
A. Jerusalem Patriarch Sophronius Asserts Immortality a Gift
1. Immortality the Grant of God
2. Read Into a General Council Record
B. Arabian Philosopher Averroes Projects Crisis
C. Greek Bishop Nicholas—Immortality Is Gift of God
D. Leading Medieval Rabbis Maintain Final Extinction of Wicked
1. Maimonides Teaches Complete “Excision” of Wicked
2. Nachmanides Also Taught Excision of Soul
3. Abravanel's Second Death Is Annihilation
4. Manasseh: Wicked Souls Cut Off
E. Witness of the Medieval Waldenses of Piedmont
1. Early Historic Backgrounds in Survey
2. Recognized Identity of Antichrist and His Perversions
F. Purgatory Errors Stem From Paganism, Not Scripture
1. Platonic Paganism Source of Purgatory Dogma
2. “Youth Catechism”: Purgatory Against “Commandments of God”
3. “Noble Lesson”: Reward at Day of Judgment
4. “Antichrist” Treatise: No Souls in Purgatory
5. “Now in Heaven” Contention Is Papal Innovation
6. II Maccabees Cited as Papal Ground for Purgatory
7. Papal Inquisitor Confirms Waldenses Rejection of Purgatory
G. John XXII Digresses From Catholic Disposition of Soul at Death
1. The Troubled Reign of Pope John XXII
2. Soul Not in Presence of God Till After Resurrection
3. Disconcerting Questions Arise From Declaration
A. Horrifies of Hell Portrayed in Literature and Art of Middle Ages
B. Historical Development and Involvements of Purgatory
1. Multiple Pagan Sources of Catholic Purgatory
2. Progressive Establishment in Catholic Circles
3. Becomes Powerful Force in Hands of Priesthood
4. Four Scriptural Passages Sometimes Invoked
5. Wherein Purgatory Differs From Hell
6. Summary: Mitigating the Horrors of Hell
A. Agitation During Dominance of Papal Traditionalism
Challenges to Innate Immortality Erupt
B. Wycliffe: Death—Unconscious Sleep, Not Anguish in Purgatory
C. Progressive Developments in Thought and Action
1. Conflicts With Ecclesiastical Authority
2. Breaks Next With Medieval Theology
3. Anticipated Fundamental Principles of Protestantism
D. Soul Sleep and the Myth of Purgatory
1. Led to Identification of Antichrist by Bible Prophecy
2. “Unconscious Sleep” Between Death and Resurrection
3. Immortality Received at the Resurrection
4. No Doctrine to Be Based on a Parable
E. Italian Professor Pomponatius Precipitates a Crisis
A. Revival of Conditionalism Gradually Gathers Momentum
B. Luther Revives Conditionalism at Outset of Reformation
C. The Torments of Hell and the Pains of Purgatory
1. Proclaims Simplicity of the Gospel
2. Crisis Over Releasing Souls From Purgatory
D. Dramatic Break With the Might of Rome
1. Final Rupture by Burning “Bull of Antichrist”
2. Tradition Crowded! Into Background
E. “Immortal Soul” Concept Derived From “Roman Dunghill of Decretals”
1. “Immortal Soul” Included Among Pope's “Monstrous Opinions”
2. Blackburne's Opinion on Luther's Position
3. Kantonen Confirms Luther's Emphasis on “Sleep”
4. Did Luther Later Reverse His Position?
5. Retains “Suspended Consciousness” Concept Till Day of Death
6. Luther's Followers Sought to Conceal Sentiments
F. Counters Purgatory With Unconscious Sleep of Soul
1. Dead Are Unconscious of Passing Time
2. Death a “Deep, Strong, Sweet Sleep”
3. Sleeps in Unconscious Rest and Peace
4. Rests Securely Till Awakener Calls
5. Question of Eternal Torment Left Untouched
G. Anabaptist Often Involved in Conflict Over “Soul” in Death
1. Regeneration Prerequisite to Valid Baptism
2. Distinguish Sound Adherents From Fanatics
3. Five Categories of Anabaptists
4. Principles Held by Sound Anabaptists
5. Characteristics of Geographical Groups
H. Polish Anabaptists—Eternal Life After Resurrection
1. Many Socinians Likewise Hold Conditionalist Positions
A. Clear-cut Stand on the Sleep of the Soul
1. Prophetic Depiction of Papal Perversions
2. Departed Souls Not in Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory
3. Innate Immortality From Paganism and Popery
4. “Saints in Heaven” Destroys Resurrection Argument
5. Does “Master More” Know More Than Paul?
B. Frith—Martyrdom for Denial of Consciousness in Purgatory
C. Twin Causes of Frith's Death by Fire
1. Parable Is Basis of Bishop's Contention
2. Conscious Torment Destroys Resurrection Argument
3. Righteous Rest in Peace, Not in Torment
4. Abraham's Bosom Is Abraham's Faith
5. Denial of Purgatory Becomes Death Warrant
D. Continuous Ethiopian Witness for Thousand Years
1. Frumentius Becomes Bishop of Abyssinia
2. Jesuit Missionaries Discover Dissenting Belief
E. Origin and Witness of Malabar St. Thomas Christians
1. Rise and Spread of the Nestorian Movement
2. Significance of the Nestorian Movement
3. Characteristics of Malabar St. Thomas Christians
F. Malabar Coast Witness—Dead Rest Until Judgment
1. Jesuit Record of Malabar Conditionalism
2. Protestant Record Confirms Conditionalist Beliefs
3. Tampering With the Records
A. Calvin—Foremost Protestant Foe of “Soul Sleep” Postulate
1. Sovereignty of God and Theocracy for Man .
B. Servetus—Conditionalism Included Among His “Heresies”
C. Historical Setting of Calvin's Psychopannychia
D. Hurls Invectives Against Anabaptist Soul Sleepers .
E. The Gist of Calvin's Attack on Soul Sleep
1. Calvin's Definition of the Soul
2. Death of “Soul” is “Abandonment by God”
3. “Dead” Defined as Not “Visibly Existing”
4. “Thoughts Perishing” Construed as “Designs” Dissipated
5. Central Attack Is on “Sleep” of Soul
6. “Sleep” Applies Only to “Body “ Never to “Soul”
7. Acquaintance With Platonism Disclosed
8. Authority of Tradition Is Invoked
9. The Soul Returns to God at Death
10. Freed From Body, Soul Soars Aloft
11. Contends “Rich Man and Lazarus” Not a Parable
12. Christ Intensely Alive During His Death
13. Alleges Jonah Prayed While Dead in Whale
14. Wicked Said to Feel Ceaseless Flame of Eternal Fire
15. Soul Sleep Declared a Fabricated Abomination .—
F. Eternal Torment Not Established Dogma of Anglican Church
1. Earliest Anglican Articles (1553) Condemn “Soul Sleep”
2. Elizabethan Revisions (1563) Reduce Articles to “Thirty-nine”
G. “Mystic” Renato—Soul Sleeps Unconsciously Until Resurrection
A. Terwoort and Pieters Burned for Faith Under Queen Elizabeth
B. Conditionalists Legalt and Wightman Burned at Stake Under James
1. “Rotton Contagious Member” Is “Cut Off”
2. Included “Heresy” of “Soul Sleep”
3. Last Public Burning for “Heresy” by Protestant Monarch
C. 20,000 Baptists Declare “Faith” in Confession of 1660
1. Comprehensive Portrayal of Belief
2. Concept of Nature and Destiny of Man
D. Signatory Caffyn—Immortality Held in “Promise,” Not Present Possession
V. Unitarian John Diddle—Persecuted for Conditionalist Beliefs
F. Immortality for Saints; Utter Destruction for Sinners
1. Eternal Life Limited to Believing Saints
2. Wicked Are Devoured, Pass Away, Perish in “Second Death
3. The Soul to Be Destroyed in Hell
4. First Resurrection for Saints: Second Death for Sinners
A. Milton the Outspoken Proponent of Conditionalism
1. Man a Unit, Not a Compound
2. Death of Body Is Extinction of Life
3. Whole Man Suffers Privation of Life
4. Sentence of Death Executed Upon Whole Man
5. Crown of Righteousness Not Vet Received
6. Souls Not in Heaven During Death
7. Soul of Lazarus Not Recalled From Heaven
8. Natural Propagation, Not Special Creations
B. Conditionalism Even Woven Into Paradise Lost
C. Milton Answers Nine Stock “Objection” Passages
1. Soul Redeemed From Power of Grave
2. Spirit Returns to God, Body to Grave
3. Body, Temporal Life; Soul, Spiritual Life
4. Intervening Time “Annihilated” for Those Who Sleep
5. Grave “Common Guardian of All” Till Judgment Day
6. Souls Under Altar Not Separated From Body
7. Obscure Must Not Override Many Clear Passages
8. Christ Committed Body, Soul, and Spirit to God
9. Not Separation of Soul From Body
D. Poet George Wither—Man a Candidate for Immortality
1. Soul Nonexistent Apart From Body
2. Life “Doth Principally Form the Soul”
A. Overton's Stormy Career as Conditionalist Pamphleteer
B. Samplings of Overton's Conditionalist Contentions
1. During Death Man Ceases to Be Until the Resurrection
2. Mortalized by Adam; Immortalized by Christ
3. All Hope Grounded on Resurrection
4. Paradise Entered by Way of Resurrection
C. Canne Braves Reprisals to Print Overton's Conditionalist Treatise
D. Court Physician—Death a Sleep, With Resurrection Awakening
A. Stegmann of Germany—Dead Restored to Life Through Resurrection
B. Cumulative Argument on Unconscious State of Dead
1. The Immortal-Soulist Position
2. Consciousness in Death Foundation of Purgatory
3. Recalled to Life at Resurrection
4. Was the Apostle Paul in Error?
5. Absurd to Hold Christ and Apostles in Error
6. Disembodied Souls Have No Consciousness
7. Body and Spirit Rejoined at Resurrection
C. Puritan Nathaniel Homes Stresses Resurrection
Significance of Peter Sterry's Endorsement
D. Baptist Richardson Opposes Eternal Torment Dogma
E. Professor Isaac Barrow—Temporal Offenders Not Punished Eternally
F. Philosopher John Locke—Bold Stand Against Innate Immortality
1. Wicked Do “Not Live Forever”
2. Death Not “Eternal Life in Misery”
3. Eternal Life Rests on Promises of God
G. Terse Excerpts From Locke's Arguments
H. Archbishop Tillotson Undercuts Dogma of Eternal Torment
1. Declares Innate-Immortality Assumed, Not “Revealed”
2. Similar Continental Denial by Von Stosch
I. Physician William Coward Denies Separate Entity of Soul
J. Rejects Immortal-Soulism Because of Pagan Origin
1. Wicked Not Yet in Torment, Nor Righteous in Heaven
2. Immortal-Soulism Derived From Heathen Philosophers
3. The Contention of the Philosophers
4. Platonic Philosophy Interwoven Into Early Christian Doctrine
5. Crept Into Church Through Platonic Fathers .
6. Life Interrupted by Death Restored at Resurrection
K. Lawyer Layton Produces Succession of Conditionalist Treatises
L. Scope of Writing Revealed by Twelve Titles
M. Witnesses Span Centuries; Opponents Invoke Same Arguments
A. Blackburne—Historian of Reformation Conflict Over Soul Question
B. Blackburne's Personal Views on Conditionalism
1. The Question of Disembodied Souls
2. Immortality Only Through Resurrection
3. No Separate Intermediate Life of Soul
4. Reformers Lopped “Branches,” Left “Root” of Error
5. Unfairness of Charge of “Heresy”
6. Restoration of “Whole Man” to Life
7. Dead Made Alive Only Through Resurrection
8. Immortal-Soulism “Overturns Whole Christian System”
C. Four Basic Charges Made by Blackburne
D. Scientist Priestley—Total Insensibility Characterizes Death
E. Priestley on the Condition of Man in Death
1. Death Is State of “Absolute Insensibility”
2. Fallacy of “Separate Conscious State”
3. Future Life Based on Resurrection .—
4. “Soul-Sleep” Revival Credited to Bible
5. Time Will Remove Current Prejudices
F. Two Illustrious Questioners of Eternal-Torment Thesis
1. Hymnist Watts—Does Not “Death” Include “Destruction” of Soul?
2. Bishop Warburton—Challenges Proponents of Everlasting Punishment
G. Restorationism Revived as “Universalism” in Post Reformation
A. Baptist Professor Whiston—Holds to Complete Destruction of the Wicked
1. Chaff Is “Burnt Up” in Utter Destruction
2. Flaming Fire to “Utterly Consume” Wicked
3. Eternal Life for Righteous Only
B. Nonconformist Hallett: If “No Resurrection, No Future State”
1. Lost Immortality Restored Through Christ
2. Resurrection for All; Immortality Only for Saints
C. “Anonymous”—Consciousness Utterly Ceases in Death
1. Death Is “Utter Extinction” of Consciousness
2. Flame of Life “Rekindled” at Resurrection
3. Jewish Paradise Unsupported by Scripture
D. Physician Scott—Complete Destruction Awaits the Wicked
1. Destruction. Not “Never-Ceasing Misery,” for Wicked
2. Perpetual Torment Dogma Conflicts With Scripture
E. Bishop Law—Entrance Upon Immortality Only Through Resurrection
1. Life Not Inherent, but a Gift Through Christ
2. Gives Seven Equations of Death
3. Resurrection the Climax of Hope of Immortality
F. Cambridge Master Peckard—Man Mortal; Immortality Solely Through Christ
1. If Immortality Innate, Christ Not Our “Life”
2. Hope of Future Existence Based Solely Upon Christ
3. Object of Christ's Coming to Bring Life
G. Dissenter Bourn—Punishment of Wicked to Be “Total Extinction”
1. Dogma of Eternal Torment “Diabolical”
2. Punishment Is “Proportionate to Guilt”
3. Absolute and “Eternal Destruction” for Wicked
4. Everlasting Life Restricted to “Righteous”
5. Death of Wicked “Total Extinction of Life”
H. Lesser Lights Support Testimony of Major Witnesses
I. “Fringe” Writers Complicate the Controversy
A. Unprecedented Developments Characterize the New Decades
Imposing Array of Talent Champions Conditionalism
B. Reaction to French Revolution Violence Impels Fresh Bible Study
C. Historical Setting for Nineteenth-Century Impetus
1. Hundred Books on Esthatology Appear
2. Parallel Awakening in Old World and New
3. Christendom-wide Resurgence of Premillennialism
D. Little-known Conditionalists Open Witness of Century
E. Congregation Splits Over Immortality and Resurrection Issues
F. Wesleyan Watson—Lost Title to Immortality Regained Through Christ
1. Sinful Man Lost Title to Immortality
2. “Seed” Takes Place of “Tree” as Pledge of Immortality
3. Immortality a Gift, Dependent on Giver
G. Baptist Hall—Eternal Torment Not Essential Article of Faith
H. Bishop Hampden—Brands “Innatism” as Remnant of Scholasticism
I. Taylor—Predicts Unfettered Interpretation of Punishment Will Come
J. Archbishop Whately Expressly Rejects Immortal-Soulist Positions
1. Deals Major Blow Against “Innatist” Theory
2. Philosophy Does Not Establish Immortality
3. Jesus the Source and Assurance of Immortality
4. No Purgatory and No Second Probation
5. “Sleep” the Declared Condition in Death
6. Unconscious of Passing Time in Death-Sleep
7. No “Interval” Between Death and Resurrection
8. Wicked to Be Destroyed, and Cease to Exist
A. Tremendous Shift From Theocratic Puritanism to Advent Expectancy
1. Involvements of the Puritan Theocracy
2. Rhode Island Becomes Haven for Soul Freedom
3. Establishment of Religious Liberty and Bill of Rights
4. Religious Revivals Enter the Picture
5. Multiple Sources of Religious Liberty Principles
6. Resurgence of Eschatology Begins Under Spalding
7. Joseph Lathrop Emphasizes “Time of the End”
B. Revulsion Against Calvinist Extremism Led to Universalism
C. Edwards—^Supreme Exponent of Never-ending Torment
1. Excruciating Torments “Never, Never” End
2. Never Be Delivered From Excruciating Torment
3. Kept in Hell Solely for Endless Suffering
D. Hopkins—Agonies of Damned Add to Joys of Saved
1. Suffering of Damned Said to Give Joy to Redeemed
2. God's Grace Magnified by Eternally Burning Hell
E. Upsurge of Universalism in Colonial and Early National America
1. Universalism Gathers Momentum in Nineteenth Century
2. Battle of Books Over Universalism
F. Significance and Result of the Battle of Pens
1. Belated Appearance of Conditionalist View
2. Comes to Fore in Early Nineteenth Century
A. Bird's-eye Preview of Far-flung Nineteenth-Century Awakening
1. From Grew to Storrs to Advent Movement
2. Prominent Accessions Follow Mid-century
3. Marks the New Period of Extension
B. Anonymous (1795) Precursor of Conditionalists to Follow
C. Bishop White—Mankind Universally Mortal Through Adam
1. Obtained Episcopal Orders for Daughter American Church
2. Turned Away From Calvin's Predestinarianism
3. Mortality Inherited by All From Adam
4. Fall Brought Withdrawal of Privileges
D. Elias Smith—Emphatically Rejects Popular Concept of Hell
1. Rejects Popular Concept of Endless Hell
2. Five “Hells” of Popular Belief
3. Protestant Hell From Pagan Mythology
4. Three Alternatives As to Fate of Wicked
5. Indefeasible Immortality Derived From Platonism
6. Alerted by Book on “Destructionism”
E. Sellon—Impelled to Declare Conditionalist Convictions
1. Punishment Would Not Exceed Sentence
2. Gehenna Denotes “Total and Utter Destruction”
3. Souls of Unbelievers Are Not Immortal
4. Sinner Free to Choose Destruction Rather Than Life
5. Eternal Torture Inconsistent With God's Character
6. Eternal Torment Not Scriptural, Therefore False
7. Gehenna Total Destruction After Death
8. Fire Indicates Total Consumption, Not Eternal Torture
9. Eternal Torture Is “Invention of Man”
10. Four Falsehoods Involved in Eternal Torment
A. “Deacon” Grew—Brings Conditionalism to George Storrs
1. Relinquishes Pastoral Post Because of Convictions
2. Unique Relationship to American Conditionalism
B. Essence of Crew's “Intermediate State” Tract
1. Soul Not Capable of Separate Conscious Existence
2. “Unconsciousness” Marks Period Between Death and Resurrection
3. All Future Existence Depends on Resurrection
4. “Future Felicity” Begins at Second Advent
C. Gist of “Future Punishment, Not Eternal Life in Misery” Tract
1. No “Immortal or Deathless Spirits”
2. Second Death Not “Interminable Miserable Existence”
D. Storrs—Introduces Conditionalism Into Second Advent Movement
1. Becomes a Conditionalist After Three Years' Study
2. Origin of the Famous “Six Sermons”
E. Digest of Storrs's Famous “Six Sermons”
1. Indefeasible Immortality Involves Eternal Suffering
2. Supposed “Indestructibility” of Soul Is Pure Assumption
3. Death Is Total Deprivation of Life
4. Perishing Is Ceasing to Exist
5. Death Is “Extinction of Conscious Being”
6. Fathers Mingled Philosophy With Words
7. Immortal-Soulism Derived From Platonism
8. No Evidence of “Eternal Sin and Suffering”
F. Fitch—Storrs's First Ministerial Convert to Conditionalism
1. Adds Conditionalism to Second Advent Emphasis
G. French—Death an Unconscious State Until Resurrection
1. All Dead in Unconscious State Until Advent
A. Mid-century Begins Attainment of New Stature and Standing
1. Credit Must Be Given to Edward White
2. Pulpiteers and Scholars Give Momentum
B. Foster—Renounced Dogma of Eternal Torment of Wicked
1. Rejected Doctrine of Eternal Torment Half Century Prior
2. Endless Torment a “Slander” Against God
3. Unable to Reconcile Endless Torment With God's Love
C. Dobney—Explicitly Maintains Conditionalist Position
1. Sinners Will Not Live Forever
2. Saints Do Not Go to Heaven at Death
3. Immortality Not Provable From Reason
D. Edward White—Pre-eminent Champion of Conditionalism
1. Troubled in Twenties Over Nature of Man
2. Persuaded of Conditionalism by Fontaine
3. Seven-Year Search Results in Clear Convictions
4. First Book (1846) Creates Storm of Indignation
5. Builds Constituency of Friendship From Hawley Road
6. Honoured With Chairmanship of Congregational Union
7. First Conditionalist Conference in Christian History
8. Made Chairman of Congregational Union of Britain
9. Honored as Pre-eminent Champion of Conditionalism
10. Re-affirmation of Truth and Repudiation of Error
11. Shifted Emphasis From Negative to Positive
E. Presents Positive Conditionalism to World Successfully
1. Larger Significance of Conditionalism
F. Dunn—Doctrine of Eternal Torment Not in Scripture
A. Outstanding Champion of Conditional Immortality
1. His Conditionalist Books Become Standard
2. Conditionalism Augments Every Basic Doctrine
B. Masterful Portrayal of Historical Trilemma (Three Conflicting Positions)
1. Innate Immortality + Eternal Punishing = Eternal Misery
2. Eternal Death of Wicked Involves Ultimate Nonexistence
3. Original Sentence Involved Loss of Existence
4. Priceless Tabulation of Greek Terms Used
5. Opposing Positions Tabulated and Illustrated
6. Scripture Negates Both Eternal Tormentism and Universalism
7. Scripture Asserts Utter Extinction of Evil
8. Challenges Opponents to Controvert View
9. Cites Tustin Martyr and Irenaeus as Conditionalists
10. Tertullian Builds on Athenagoras' Foundation
11. Led to “Forced” Interpretation of Scripture
12. Origen Converts Hell Into “Vast Purgatory”
13. Purification of the “Indestructible” Sinner
14. Spiritualized Scripture to Support Platonism
15. Eternity of Evil Counters Bible Testimony
16. Error's Fatal Gap of Two Centuries
C. Companion Volume Becomes Conditionalist Classic
1. Genesis on True Relation of Body and Soul
2. Man Is One Person, Not Two
3. Relation of Breath of Life to Immortality
4. Distinction Between Soul and Spirit
5. Soul Does Not Survive the Body
6. Gravedom: State of Profound Unconscious Sleep
7. Death Eternal, Except for Resurrection
8. No Perception of Time in Death Sleep
9. Time Annihilated to Those Who Sleep
10. Early Epitaphs Attest “Sleep,” Awaiting Resurrection
11. “Apostolic Fathers” Were Conditionalists
A. Bishop Perowne—Scholarly Advocate of Conditionalism
We Are But “Candidates for Immortality”
B. Thorn—Innate Immortality Inference “Falls to the Ground”
1. Death of the Soul Inevitable
C. Tinling—”Promise of Life” Through Christ Alone
1. Accepted Conditionalism From Bible Alone
2. Eternal Torment a “Stumbling-Block” to World
3. Based Upon Assumptions and Assertions
4. Ethnic Religions Taught Ultimate Loss of Personality
5. Not Left in Ignorance for 1,000 Years
6. No More “Immortal” Than Omnipotent, Omniscient, or Omnipresent
7. Eternal Life Through Christ Alone
8. Everything Depends on Immortality Through Christ
D. Tomlinson—Takes Issue With Bishop of Liverpool
1. Challenges Bishop's Position on Eternal Torment
2. Invokes Bible and Cites Bishop Porteus
3. The Soul “Not Immortal in Itself”
4. “Quotes” Illustrating Line of Thought
5. Protests Alteration of Word and Intent
6. Cites Similar “Bible Standard” Criticism
7. Supreme Conditionalist Is Jesus Christ
8. Fishing in Same Boat With Rome
9. Admonition: Beware of Johoiakim's Penknife Technique
E. Canon Row—Powerful Strokes Against Eternal-Tormentism
1. Athanasian Creed Statement Is Indefinite
2. Philosophy Does Not Prove Immortality of Man
3. Genesis Narrative Favors Conditionalist “Theory”
4. Resurrection, Not Innate Immortality
5. New Testament Symbols Indicate Ultimate Destruction
6. The Twofold Premise of Conditionalism
7. No Creature Has Inherent Endless Existence
8. “Universal Acceptance” Theory Simply Not True
F. Canon Aitken—Champions Conditionalism for Quarter Century
1. Eternal Destruction a State, Not a Process
2. Word and Work Closes Columns to Him
3. Four Questions Propounded by Aitken
4. No “Infinite Penalty” for “Finite Sin”
5. Many Pulpits Sealed Against Him
6. Church Parochial Mission Society Continues to Use Him
7. No Eternal Torment for Brief Earthly Life
8. Death the Forfeiture of Eternal Life
A. Bishop Courtenay—Wicked End in Total Cessation of Being”
B. Leask—Editor of Conditionalist Journal The Rainbow
1. The Rainbow Rides Out Terrific Storm of Criticism
2. Helps Form Conditional Immortality Association
C. Maude—Epochal Rainbow Article Creates Crisis
1. Steps in Adoption of Conditionalism
2. Conditionalist Article Stirs Public Opinion
3. Three Major Contentions of Article
4. Christianity Early Poisoned by Platonism
5. Goes Back to Conflicting Declarations of Eden
6. Full Testimony of Scripture Alone Determinative
7. Three Distinct Classes of Passages
8. Fundamental Fallacy of Universal Salvation
9. Eternal Suffering Involves Character of God
D. Minton—Helps Lift “Life in Christ” From Obscurity
1. Approval and Condemnation for Espousing Conditionalism
2. First Speaker at 1876 Conference on Conditionalism
E. Dale-Conditionalism Makes Christian Fundamentals Invulnerable
1. Highest Honor Within Gift .of Congregationalism
2. Public Stand on Conditionalism in 1873
3. Conditionalism Strengthens Fundamentals of Faith
F. Anglican Test Case of Wilson vs. Fendall Decided in 1864
1. Acquittal Comes at Height of Controversy
2. Discussion Grows in Intensity
3. The Stage Set for Further Events
G. Darby—”Immortality of Soul” Comes From Platonism
1. Earliest Statement: “No Source in Gospel”
2. Position Modified in Later Edition
3. No Immortal Sinners in Divine Plan
4. Historical Note From The Bible Echo
H.. Christadelphians—Likewise Adhere to Main Conditionalist Positions
1. Name Christadelphian Substituted for Christian
2. Epitome of Christadelphian Conditionalist Beliefs
3. Positions Unchanged in Current Writings
A. Dean Farrar—Dramatically Repudiates “Dogma of Eternal Torment”
1. Repudiation Voiced in Abbey, on November 11, 1877
2. Expected Condemnation, but Received Widespread Approval
3. Widespread Publicity Followed by Concentrated Attack
B. Tartar's Written Record of His Tremendous Researches
1. Scriptures Absolutely Silent on “Eternal Torture”
2. Dark Shadow of Augustine Falls on Medieval Theology
3. Deplores Specious Arguments for Endless Torment
4. Condemns Misuse of Texts Out of Context
5. Old Testament Jews Never Taught “Endless Torment”
6. Conditionalist Contentions Confirm Personal Views
7. Invokes Witness of German Scholars
8. Alexandrian Fathers Molded by Plato and Philo
9. Literal Interpretation Leads to Extinctionist View
C. Missionary Impey—Resignation From Methodist Ministry
1. Annual Declaration of Conformity Required
2. Resigns Over “Eternal Torment” Stipulation
3. Takes Stand in Noble Line of Dissentients
4. Restudy Touched Off by Farrar Repudiation
5. Punishment “Everlasting” Because ''Final and Irreversible”
6. Takes Stand, With “So Help Me God”
7. Categorical Answers Required of Impey
8. Resigns Because Cannot Pledge “Silence”
9. Forty Years of Unbroken Service Ends
D. Strang—Virile Conditionalist Editor and Scottish Polemicist
The Messenger a Reflector of Turbulent Times
May, 1878: Agitation Widespread
June, 1879: Macrae Deposed
January, 1883: Two Ministers Expelled
January, 1884: H. H. Dobney Lauded
June, 1884: Removal of Dublin Minister
May, 1884: Laudation of George Storrs
August, 1884: Typical Conference Reported
E. Thorough Investigation Leads to Strong Personal Convictions
1. Immortality of the Soul the Parent Error
2. Platonism Adopted Because of Immortal-Soulism
3. Philosophy Triumphs Over Pure Doctrine
4. Development of Conflicting but Paralleling Schools
F. Laing—Effective Scottish Advocate of Conditionalism
1. Steps in Becoming a Conditionalist
2. Does Not Possess Separate Immortal Soul
G. Ham—Bible Excludes Notion of Independent Immortality
1. Immortality Solely for Believer in Christ
2. Innate Immortality Counter to Inspiration
A. Bible Echo—Panoramic Portrayal of Conditionalist Advances
1. Bible Yields No Support for “Innatism”
2. Abundant Testimony Merits a “Verdict”
3. Address Challenged, and Conditionalist Accession
4. Dale Declaration Received With “Plaudits”
5. Swiss Minister Questioned but Approved
6. Dr. Dale's Declaration of Faith
7. Dale Declaration Attacked by Christian World
8. Christian World Attack Challenged by Echo
9. Great Conditionalist Meeting in Chelsea
10. White on Conditionalist Twenty-three-Year Spread
11. Protests, Accessions, Repudiation, Advance
12. Numerous Tokens of Progress
13. £100-Offer for Missing Text
14. Multiple Provisions of Life” Enshrined in Christ.
15. Summarizing Statement on Conditionalism
B. Homilelic Monthly's “Clerical Symposium on Immortality”
1. Stokes's Strong Case for Conditionalism
2. White: Widespread Contemporary Revival of Conditionalism
3. Host of Contemporary Conditionalists Merit Hearing
C. Active Discussion in Leading Periodicals in -1879
1. Dr. Dale Reaffirms Conditional Immortality Position
2. Contemporary Review Airs All Views
3. Symposiums Appear in Various Journals
D. DennistoD—Jamaican Frontier Conditionalist
1. Apologist for Primitive Gospel in Materialistic Age
2. Endless Suffering Is “Intolerably Oppressive”
3. Man Lost Immortality Through “Fall”
4. Destruction Both a “Process” and a “Termination”
5. Witness of Early Centuries to Conditionalism
E. Binney—In Maturity Repudiates Eternal Torment Thesis
F. Westcott—Innate Immortality “Wholly Insufficient”
G. Rotherham—Immortality Is “Contingent and Dependent”
A. Conditional Immortality Association Formed in 1878
1. Lincoln Conference (September 23-26, 1878)
2. Maberly Conference, London (September 2-4, 1879)
3. Liverpool Conference (September 7-9, 1880)
4. Bradford Conference (September 6-8, 1881)
5. Salisbury Conference (August 30-September 1. 1882)
6. Eastbourne Conference (September 4-6, 1883)
8. Second London Conference (September 1-3, 1885)
9. Edinburgh Conference (September 7-9, 1886)
10. Birmingham Conference (September 6-8, 1887)
11. Second Lincoln Conference (September 2-6, 1888)
12. Dartmouth Conference (September 1-5. 1889)
13. Bacup Conference (September l-4; 1891)
14. Faith Fellowship Founded in 1894
15. Fifty Years of the Association-Mission (1878-1928)
B. Remarkable Conditionalist Faith Library Exerts Widespread Influence
1. Samplings of Titles and Writers
2. Comprehensive Extract From Little-known Writer
3. Historical Recitals Highly Helpful
4. Bible Argument Presented by Expert
5. Defence of Conditionalist Position and Array of Evidence
C. CondStionalism Expounded; and Challenged by Methodism
1. Silencing of Dr. Beet by Methodist Conference Action
2. Perplexing to British Weekly Editor
D. Volume III—New Voices Add Strength and Significance
1. Dr. Clarke Summons Succession of Able Witnesses
2. Soul Is Capable of “Being Made Immortal”
3. Baptist Missionary to China Testifies
4. Engineer, Editor, and Vicar on Ultimate Destruction
5. £1000 Offer Repeated by Clarke for Missing Text
A. Moncrieff—Scottish-Canadian Voice Champions Conditionalism
1. Pioneer of Conditionalism in Scotland
2. Transfers to Canada: Issues Able Book
3. Wicked Return to Non Existence
4. Departs From Conscious Existence
5. Endless Torment Makes “Mockery of Truth”
6. Second Death Is Final Destruction
7. All the Godless Reduced to Ashes
B. Blain—Devastating Blow Against Eternal-Torment Innovation
1. Appeals to Learned and to Prejudiced
2. Cannot Stand Before Light of Word
3. Sevenfold Scope of Book
4. Innate Immortality but Human Assumption
5. Analysis of Twenty “Destruction” Terms
6. No Doctrine Settled by Parables and Symbols
7. Popular Contentions Vitiate Bible Texts
C. Hudson—Lifts Conditionalism to Scholarly Level of Discussion
1. Adoption of Conditionalism Brings Loss of Pastorate
2. Scholarly Works Force Respectful Hearing
3. Believed Himself Called to Allotted Task
4. Penetrates to Heart of Issue
D. Produces the American Conditionalist Classic
1. Divine Justice, and Man's Free Moral Agency
2. Innate Immortality Not Taught or Implied in Scripture
3. Bible Meaning of “Second Death”
4. “Detention” Between Death and Resurrection
5. Accurate Handling of Historical Side
6. Masterful Survey of Witness of Centuries
7. Conditionalism the Coordinated Portrayal of Scripture
E. Abbot—Creator of Indispensable Aid for Evaluating Conditionalism
1. Bible Transcendent in All Doctrinal Issues
2. Matchless Bibliography Serves as Incomparable Check List
F. Physician Ives—Man Mortal: Dead Asleep; Wicked Destroyed
1. How His Book Came to Be Written
2. Scripture Spiritualized to Sustain Immortal-Soulism
3. “Soul” Is “Entire Man” as “Complete Being”
4. Immortality Conferred on “Righteous Alone”
5. Fate of Wicked Is Death, Not Eternal Misery
6. Recapitulation: “Unconscious Sleep”; “Loss of Existence”
G. Additional Features in Enlarged American Edition
1. “Innate Immortality” Derived From Plato
2. “Unconscious” of Passing of Time in Death
3. Use of Protested Term “Annihilation”
4. Ives's Appeal to the Clergy
5. Supplemental Word to Laymen
A. Pettingell—Major American Writer on Conditionalism in 1880’s
1. Gradual Change From Ostracism to Acceptance
B. Able Coverage of Historical, Philosophical, and Biblical Evidence
1. Contrasting Pages of Conflicting Schools' Excerpts
2. Conflicting Views of the Opposing Schools
3. Introduction of Greek Platonism and Persian Dualism
4. Historical Tracement of “Deathless Nature” Concept
5. Origin and Transmission of “Deathless Nature” Theory
6. Three Conflicting Schools Tabulated
7. Arrested Reformation and Analogical Fallacies
8. Second Life Does Not Exclude Second Death
9. New Meanings Placed on Old Terms
10. Man Not Independently Existent
11. Death Is Utter Extinguishing of Life
12. Eternal Life Is Peculiar Glory of Christ
13. Two Classes and Two Destinies
14. First Life Transitory: Second Life Eternal
15. Overthrow and Abolishment of All Evil
C. Life Everlasting Appends “Symposium” With Twenty-one Participants
1. Platonism Penetrates Christianity; Both Are Modified
2. Contrast Between Platonism and Revelation
3. Paul's Warning Unheeded, Resultant Apostasy Subverts
4. Reformation Failed to Repudiate Immortal-Soulism
D. Henry Ward Beecher—Finally Repudiates Dogma of Eternal Torment
E. Lyman Abbott—Denies Innate Immortality and Eternal Torment
1. Rejects Both Universalism and Eternal Torment
2. Repudiates Pagan Teachings on Fate of Wicked
3. God Never Saves Soul Against Its Will
4. Popular Theology Ignores Whole Set of Texts
5. Misconstrues Original Intent and Use
F. Harriet Beecher Stowe—Famous Author in Revolt
1. Harriet's Essay on “Immortality” When Only Eleven
2. In Agony Over Involvements of Calvinism
3. Continuing Struggle Over Eternal Torment Problems
G. Agnostic Ingersoll—Embittered by Eternal Torment Dogma
A. Hendrickson—Truth of “Life in Christ” Unlocks “Hidden Mystery”
1. Conditionalist Position Gives New Grandeur to Preaching
2. The “Soul” Not a Separate Conscious Entity
3. Like “Rosetta Stone, Resolves Hidden Mysteries
B. Professor Butler—Cloud Rolled Away From Face of God
1. Disillusioned by Fiendish “Portrays” in Rome
2. Found Elimination Only Enhanced Gospel System
C. Professor Bacon—Immortality “Conditional Upon the Act of God”
1. Immortality Is Conferred, Not Inherent
2. Rejects Eternal Torment and Innate Immortality
3. Indestructibility of Soul From Platonic Philosophy
4. Immortality a Gift, and Conditional
D. Wilson—Eternal Life Only for Those “In Christ”
1. The Unanswerable Question—Why?
2. God Is Not a “Malignant Fiend”
3. Desperate Involvements of the Dogma
E. Hart—Goes to Very Heart of Provision of Immortality
1. Immortality Centers in Person of Christ
2. Theologians Start From Wrong Assumption Regarding Immortality
3. Deity, Incarnation, and Resurrection Are Basic
4. Paul's Emphasis on Grace, Atonement, Life
5. The Ultimate Destruction of All Evil
6. Weigh the Two Systems—Choose the True
F. Independent Kramer—Immortality Only for Believers in Christ
G. Bishop Mann—Brilliant Midwest Champion of Conditionalism
1. Continuous Line of Dissenters Against Eternal Torment
2. Anglican Articles Contrasted With Other Catechisms
3. Restoration Unsupported by Scripture
4. If Soul Not Immortal, Eternal Torment Theory Collapses
5. Cogent Reasons Against Eternal Torment
6. Defends Position of Ultimate, Absolute “Destruction”
7. Pagan Religions Did Not Teach Immortality of Personality
8. Eternal Existence Only by God's Permission
9. Immortality of Soul Not Taught in Bible
H. Baker—Man Not Inherently Immortal; Wicked Will Perish
1. Man “Not Inherently Immortal”
2. Eternal Life for Saints; Total Destruction for Sinners
3. Destruction Involves Dissolution of Elements
4. Three Conflicting Schools; One Is Right
A. Time Due for Restudy and Settlement of Issues
1. Reformers Left “Middle State” for Present Consideration
B. Rector Huntingdon—Outspoken Champion of Conditional Immortality
1. Huntington Influenced by White and Hudson
2. Conditionalist Views Reaffirmed at Close of Life
3. Immortality a Gift Bestowed on Seekers
4. Ultimate and Utter Destruction of Wicked
5. Conditionalism Implicit in Anglican Formularies
6. Life Only in Christ in Prayer Book and Collects
7. Christ Opened “Gate of Everlasting Life”
C. Boardman—Innate Immortality Negates Resurrection
1. Natural Immortality Not Taught in Bible
2. Man Not Naturally or Inherently Immortal
3. Immortality Tied In With Tree of Life
4. Pagan Dualism Retained in Christian Theology
5. Analogies From Nature Are Deceptive
6. Innate Immortality a Denial of Life as Christ's Gift
7. The Touchstone of Christianity Itself
8. Give Inspired Information About the Hereafter
9. Obligation of the Christian Ministry
10. Summarizing Excerpts on Conditionalism
D. Phelps—Sweeping Portrayal of “Immortal Soul” Issues
1. Immortality of Soul “Has a Bad History”
2. “Heathen Philosophy” Becomes Predominant
3. “Jewish Belief” Corrupted by Association
4. “Christian Compromise'' Effected Slowly
5. “Papal Decree” Formally Officializes Dogma
6. “At Variance” With “Scriptural Account of Man's Creation”
7. “Clashes” With “Bible Statement of Man's Fall”
8. “Opposed” to “Scriptural Doctrine of Death”
9. “Equally Opposed” to “Physiological Facts”
10. “Immortality0 Nowhere Ascribed to Man's “Present State”
11. “Blessing to Be Sought”: Not “Birthright Legacy”
12. “Inherent Immortality” Opposed to “Scripture Doom of Wicked”
13. “Supersedes Necessity for a Resurrection”
14. “Reduces the Judgment” to “Solemn Farce”
15. “Subverts” Bible Doctrine of Second Advent
16. Theory Is “Prolific Source” of “Error”
E. Gordon—Natural Immortality Substituted for Resurrection
1. Death Injected as the Object of Hope
2. Sexton's Bell Has Supplanted Angel's Trump
3. Premillennialism Discredited Under Roman Apostasy
4. Significant Address on “Recurrence of Doctrine”
5. Eschatology to Be Final Battleground
6. Death Substituted for Second Advent
7. Resurrection “Broken From Its Biblical Moorings”
8. Forsaken Doctrines to Be Revived
A. High Scholastic Caliber of Representative Conditionalists
B. Oliphant—Publicly Professes Conditionalism at Installation
1. Potentially, Not Innately, Immortal
2. Death Means Dissolution and Destruction
3. Probation Confined to This Life
4. Christ's Resurrection Is Seal of Immortality
5. Rejects “Innate Immortality” and “Eternal Torment”
6. Denies “Indestructibility of the Soul”
7. Honours “Justice of God” and “Freedom of Man”
8. Conclusion Involves Rejection of Eternal Torment
9. Soul to Suffer, Then to Cease
10. Protests Term “Annihilation” as Misleading
11. After “Disorganization” Man Ceases
C. Episcopal Bishop Hopkins—Denies Eternal Torment Contention
D. Parkhurst—Seeks Insurance Against Eventual Obliteration
E. Moomaw—Life Only in Christ; Total Destruction Without
1. Life of Soul Is Not Self-sustaining
2. Second Death Annihilates Body and Soul
F. Edward Beecher—Scholarly Repudiator of Eternal Torment
1. Restudy of Eschatology Essential and Due
2. Penetration of Persian-Grecian Influence Into Jewry
3. Penetration of Conditionalism Into Christian Church
4. “Enoch's” Theory of Culpability of Fallen Angels
5. Jewish Centers: Babylon, Alexandria, Palestine
6. Eternal Tormentism Becomes Authoritarian Under Justinian
7. Justin, Irenaeus, Arnobius, Hold to “Annihilation”
8. Origen's Restorationism Condemned Under Justinian
9. African Tertullian-Augustinian School of Endless Torment
10. Repudiation of Eternal Torment Only Matter of Time
G. Conditionalism Makes Increasing Friends Among Clergy
A. Olshausen—Immortality of Soul Theory Unknown to Scripture
1. Innate Immortality Utterly Foreign to Bible
B. Nitzsch—Have Only Contingent Immortality: May Cease
1. Perpetual Existence of Damned Not Biblical
2. No “Perpetual Existence” of Damned
C. Schultz—Immortality Contingent; Destruction to Be Total
1. Everlasting Life Only in God
2. Sinful Man Has Only “Transient” Life
3. Immortal Life Gained Solely From Christ
4. Total Destruction for the Reprobate
5. Convinced of Soundness of View in Retrospect
D. High Lights of Dr. Schultz's “Immortality” Treatise of
1. Absolute Immortality Is Possession of God Alone
2. Innate Immortality Not Possessed by Any Creature
3. Mere Creation Did Not Assure Indestructibility
4. To Acquire Immortality Through Second Creation
5. Immortality for Man Possible Through Christ
6. “Second Death” Involves “Death Absolute”
E. Rothe—Suffering Ends in Extinction of the Wicked
1. Principal Conditional Advocate in Germany
2. Immortality Acquired: Personality of Wicked Extinguished
3. Sense of Aionios Is Restricted
4. Idea of Annihilation Is Involved
F. Dqrncr—Destructionist Theory Gaining in Approval
G. Other German Scholars Support Conditionalist View
H. Vinet—”I Do Not Believe in the Immortality of the Soul”
I. Secretan—Rejects Both Eternal Torment and Universalism
1. No Infinite Punishment for a Finite Fault
2. No Impassable Barrier for Divine Power
3. Fatal Weakness of Universal Restoration
4. Predestined Candidate for Conditionalism
5. Annihilation Is Logical Consequence of Fall
J. Sabatier—Not All Are Immortal; Some Head for Dissolution
1. Denies Universal Innate Immortality
2. Death Involves Loss of Personality
K. Philosopher De May—Soul Only Conditionally Immortal; Can Perish
A. Petavel—Greatest Conditionalist Treatise in French
1. Unique Introduction to Fellow Conditionalist White
2. Impelled to Declare Conditionalist Belief Publicly
3. University Lectures Stress Positive Side of Conditionalism
4. Constitutes Unifying Harmonious System
B. Five General Observations on Petavel's Work
1. Masterful Knowledge of Conditionalist Literature
2. Masterful Grasp of Biblical Evidence
3. Clarification of Moral and Philosophical Issues
4. Remarkable Grasp of Philosophical and Historical Evidence
5. Consummation of Conditionalist Investigation
C. Petavel's Masterful Presentation of Case for Conditionalism
1. Purpose: To Defend Doctrine of “Attainable Immortality”
2. “Conspiracy of Silence” Now Broken
3. Conditionalists Not “Innovators” but Continuators
4. Experimental Science Yields No Support for Innatism
5. In Death the Individual Ceases to Exist
6. Challenges Contention of “Universal Consent”
7. Platonism Contained Principle of Pantheism
8. Individualist Immortality Involves Godship
9. Platonism Only a “Hope,” Not “Demonstrated Truth”
10. Fundamental Intent of “Life” and “Death”
11. Creator Provided Conditional Not Inalienable Immortality
12. Innatism Penetrates Jewry Through Alexandria
13. Kabbalah Introduces “Emanation” and “Dualism”
14. Eternity of Life and of Non Existence
15. Immortality Only Through Christ
16. Symbols of Immortality Perverted by Apostasy
17. Death: Final Extinction of All Faculties
18. Conditionalism Among Apostolic and Apologist Fathers
19. Compulsory Immortality in Eternal Hell
20. Revival of Conditionalism in Nineteenth Century
21. Universalism's Fundamental Fallacy Revealed
22. Advantages and Superiority of Conditionalism
23. Multiple Excellencies of Bible Conditionalism
24. Fighting for Great but Still-misunderstood Truth
D. Frederick Ash Freer—Stalwart Supporter of White and Petavel
1. Makes Major Contributions to Conditionalist Cause
2. A Synthesis of the Freer Contribution
E. Byse—First Advocate of Conditionalism in French Journals
A. Gladstone—Immortal-Soulism Entered Church Through “Back Door”
Writings Include Question of Future Life
1. Variant Views Meld in Early Christian Era
2. “Inherent” Immortality Not Ascendant Till Origen
3. “Wholesale” Acceptance by Time of Middle Ages
4. Immortal-Soulism Springs From Plato
5. Led Inevitably to “Eternal Torment” of Damned
6. Eternal Torment Dogma Established Through Augustine
7. Crept Into Church by “Back Door”
8. Immortal-Soulism “Wholly Unknown” to Scripture
9. “Philosophical Speculations” Disguised as Divine Revelation
10. Gladstone's Definitive Description of “Conditionalism”
11. Gladstone's Considered Conclusions in Summation
B. Joseph Parker—Outspoken “Conditionalist” and “Destructionist”
1. Optional: Receive Immortality or Choose Destruction
2. Evil Ends in “Utter. Final, Everlasting Extinction”
3. Indefeasible Immortality Is Palpably Absurd
4. Sodom an Example of “Everlasting Destruction”
C. Stokes-^Man Not Innately Immortal; Only Through Redemption
1. Public Denial of Innate Immortality
2. Source of Immortality and the Intermediate State
3. Man Not Immortal Merely by Creation
4. Unfitted for Immortality, Christ Provides Remedy
5. Endowment With Immortality Only Through Redemption
6. Any “Natural Immortality” Forfeited Through Transgression
7. No Consciousness of Time in Intermediate State
8. Popular Theology Sets Aside Biblical Declarations
9. Assurance of Immortality Only in Christ
A. Two World Movements—Neither Complete in Itself
1. Advent Movement Omits Man's Nature and Destiny
2. Movements Parallel but Do Not Merge
B. Relationships of the Two Major Adventist Bodies
1. Conditionalism Established in Advent Christian Church
2. Advent Christian Church Established in 1861
3. Main Adventist Groups Both Champion Conditionalism
C. World in Ferment in Mid-century Decades
1. Revolutionary World Developments Form Setting
2. Developments in Realm of Religion and Science
3. Mystical Studies Led to Subtle Speculation
4. Diversionary Perils Beset Basic Christian Faith
5. Eschatology Receives Setback From Evolution Theory
6. Theology Trilemma Again Ascendant in Nineteenth Century
7. Conditionalism's Role in Theological Discussion
D. Hastings—Virile American Exponent of Conditionalism
V- Grant—Conditionalist Debater, Editor, and Evangelist
Remarkable Assemblance of Documented Key Statements
F. Taylor—Thumbnail History of Rejecters of Innate Immortality
1. First the Early Church, Then the Medieval Witness
2. Reformation and Post-Reformation Champions
3. The Great Nineteenth-Century Expansion
G. Whitmore—-Writes in Standard Conditionalist Pattern
1. Outline Follows Now-Standard Pattern
H. Wellcome—Publisher of Conditionalist Literature
I. Piper—Popular Historical Sketch of Conditionalism's Vicissitudes
J. Himes—In Later Life Espouses Conditionalism
K. Nonevangelical “Jehovah's Witnesses” Also Adopt Conditionalism
1. Rise and Organized Activities of the “Russellites”
2. Astonishing Publishing and Distribution Achievements
3. Beliefs as to Nature and Destiny of Man
A. Underlying Reasons for Adventist Conditionalist Belief
1. Repudiation of Papal Perversions Imperative
2. Historical Setting and! Motivation for Their Beliefs
B. Progressive Development of Fundamental Beliefs
1. Conferences Result in Unified Movement
2. Eschatology's Part in the Development
3. Fundamental Beliefs Crystallized in “Manual”
C. James White—Organizational Leader Committed to Conditionalism
Word to the “Little Flock” Clearly Conditionalist
D. Bates—With Conditionalist Background Supports Position
1. Clear Concepts in Earliest Adventist Tracts
2. Conditionalist Understanding Safeguards Against Spiritualism
E. Ellen Harmon—Accepts Conditionalist View in 1843
1. Mother Persuaded Soul Not Immortal ”
2. Soundness of Conditionalist View Apparent
F. Andrews—Scholarly Writings Include Conditionalism
1. Eight Guiding Principles in Establishing Doctrinal Platform
G. Canright—Able Compiler of Scholarly Findings
1. Gist of the Argument at a Glance
2. Two Popular Misconceptions Countered
3. Majority Never Accepted Platonism Contemporarily
4. A Summing Up of the Evidence
5. Earliest Hope Through Reliving of Body
6. Plato First Distinctly Taught Immortal-Soulism
7. Received Into Church Through Alexandrian School
8. Immortal-Soulism Not Held by “Apostolic Fathers”
9. Line of Ante-Nicene Fathers Held “Sleep” of Dead
10. Conditionalists From Luther to 1800 AD
11. Modern Revolt Against the Traditional Positions
12. Canright Never Repudiated Scholarly Positions of Centuries
H. Smith—Presents Case for Conditionalism for Seventh-day Adventists
1. Not an Originator but a Perpetuator .
I. Examines Biblical Evidence for Conditionalism
1. Increasing Strength of Conditionalist Adherents
2. Bible Silent on Possession of “Undying Nature”
3. “Image of God” Does Not Involve Immortal Soul
4. “Soul” Not Immortal; “Spirit” Not Deathless
5. “Spirit” Not a Separate Conscious Entity
6. “Spirit” Is the “Principle of Life”
7. Extensive Draft on Conditionalist Authorities
8. Death: Cessation of Life of Whole Man
9. Paramount Place of the Resurrection
10. Relation of Judgment and Resurrection
11. Judgment Precludes Immediate Reward at Death
12. Special Word Zfle Designates Eternal Life
13. Origin of Conflicting Schools on Destiny
14. Punishment Is “Cutting Off” From Life
15. Fire Consumes; Does Not Infinitely Prolong
16. Final Doom Is Oblivion of Sinners
17. Smith a Perpetuator, Not a Pioneer
A. Adventists—Largest Christian Body Holding to Conditionalism
1. Involvements of Conditionalism Listed
2. Fundamental Plank in Adventist Platform
3. Constituent Part of Uniform Baptismal Certificate
4. Line of Conditionalists Spans Christian Era
5. Standing in End Section of Impressive Line
6. Adventism's Most Representative Conditionalist Spokesman
B. Unique Life and Writings of Ellen G. White
1. Her Early Life and Environs
2. Adult Life Tied in With Adventist Church
3. Establishes Remarkable Writing Record
4. Extraordinary Tribute by George Wharton Tames
5. Ten Basic Principles Characterize E. G. White Writings
C. Amazing Time Span, Sheer Output, and Range of Subjects
1. Mere Pagination of Principal Works Impressive
2. Tremendous Circulation of Leading Books
3. Wide Diversity of Subject Matter
4. Greatest Works Written After Sixty-five
D. Scholars Laud Special Writings of E. G. White
1. Columbia University Professor Praises Education Principles
2. Nutritional Counsels Verified by Scientific Advances
3. Better Health Would Result From Teachings
4. Uttered in Advance of Scientific Discoveries
A. “Conflict of Ages” Series Sets Forth Conditionalist Position
1. Man's Free Choice and Moral Accountability
2. Obedience Indispensable Condition of Existence
3. “Doomed to Death” on Day of Transgression
4. Man's Plight Necessitated Plan of Redemption
5. Divine Sentence Involves “Utter Extinction of Sinner
6. Immortality Regained “Only Through Christ”
B. Innate Immortality Concept Rests on “Authority of Satan”
1. Paralleling Eternal Torment Corollary
2. Eternal Torment for Brief Earthly Life Revolting
3. Shocking Involvements of Universalist Alternative
4. Eternal Misery and Universalism Equally Erroneous
5. Unchanging Conditionalist Tenor of Her Teaching
C. Immortality Received at Resurrection After Sleep of Death
1. Wholly Dependent Upon Christ for Immortality
2. Dead Sleep Unconsciously Until Resurrection
D. Basic Fallacy of Immortal-Soul Presumption
1. Innatism and “Eternal Torment” Both Unscriptural
2. Testimony of Old Testament Adduced
3. Witness of Peter and Paul Marshalled
4. Nullifies Need of Previous Judgment
5. Fallacy of Innatism Attacked by Luther
6. Awake From Sleep to Glorious Immortality
E. Full Justification for Sinner's Ultimate Extinction
1. Retributive Justice Accords With God's Character
2. Retribution for Good Both of Universe and Transgressors
3. No Forced Universalism in Divine Plan
4. Contrasting Principles of Life and Death
5. Justice Requires Degrees of Punishment
6. Ultimate Obliteration of Sin and Sinners
F. Three Problem Passages Clearly Expounded
1. Primary Lesson of the Transfiguration
2. Parable Refutes a Second Probation
3. Christ's Assurance to Dying Thief
G. Spiritualism the Consummation of the Lie of Eden
1. Built on Concept of “Consciousness in Death”
2. Spiritualism Constitutes the Perfect “Counterfeit”
3. Exalts Wicked to Honoured Places in Heaven
4. Mysterious Phenomena Not All Trickery
5. Miraculous Events Wrought by Satan's Agents
6. Now Employs More Appealing Approaches
H. Inner Philosophy Based on Principle of Desire for Deification
1. Grave Perils Lurk Behind Pleasing Front
2. Is Merely Revival of Ancient Witchcraft
3. Character Unchanged Despite Modern Camouflages
4. Consummation of the Lie of Eden
5. Spiritualism Makes “Path to Hell” Attractive
6. Among First to Expose Spiritualism's Sinister Character
I. Materialization of “Spirits” Is Deceptive Device
1. Demonic Spirit Impersonated Prophet Samuel
2: Popular Claims Flout Divine Stipulations
3. “Communion With Dead” Is Foundation of Heathenism
4. Evil Angels Simulate “Spirits of Dead”
5. Fraudulent Because Dead Are Incommunicado
6. Apostle Forbids “Fellowship” With Devils
7. Vicious Purpose of Demonic Message
A. Comprehensive Over-all View of Current Living Witnesses
1. Revolt Now Worldwide in Extent
2. Witnesses Presented Chronologically by Decades
B. Archbishop Temple Presents the Case for Conditionalism
1. Annihilation—Not Eternal Torment of Sinners
2. Catholicism's Fourfold Destination of the Soul
3. Purgatory Eliminated From Reformation Categories
4. Heaven and Hell Left as Terrible Alternatives
5. Modern Revulsion Against Eternal Torment
6. Future Life Based on Resurrection
7. The Platonic Concept of Immortality
8. Immortality Offered to Man Conditionally
9. Everlasting Punishment Not Unending Torment
10. Rejecters of God's Offer Are to Be Destroyed
11. Immortality Offered Through Resurrection
12. Man Not Innately but Conditionally Immortal
13. Temple Presents Consistent View of Anglican Church
C. Danish Beck and Teisen—Champions of Conditionalism
1. Beck: Dead Sleep Unconsciously Till Resurrection
2. Teisen: Wicked to Be “Utterly Consumed”
D. Swedish Cleric Ekman—”Unquenchable Fire” Totally Consumes
1. Fires Go Out After Consuming
2. Victims Finally Cease to Be
E. Dean Bennett—Willfully Wicked to Be Completely Destroyed
1. Innatism No Rightful Part of Christianity
2. No Created Being Can Be More Than “Immortable”
3. Fundamental Fallacy of Innate Immortality
4. “Sleep” for Death
5. “Everlasting Fire” Not Endless Duration but “Destruction”
F. Cambridge's Dodd—No Innate Immortality in Bible
G. St. Paul's Dean Matthews—Favors Conditional Immortality
1. Sin Brings Its Own Destruction
2. Self-determination Involves Risk of Disaster
3. Wrong Choice Leads to Destruction
H. Translator Moffatt—Challenges Eternal Torment; Commends Conditionalism
A. Sweden's Bishop Personne—Sweeping Denial of “Eternal Torment”
1. Man's Destiny—”Weakest Point” in Confessional Writings
2. “Intermediate State” Is “Kingdom of Death”
3. Dogma of “Eternal Suffering” Is Wholly “Unbiblical”
4. Augsburg Confession Dictum Not Founded on Bible
5. Anguish of Damned Precludes Joy for Saved
6. Frightful Interpretation Invoked to Sustain Fallacy
B. Cardinal Billot—Dead “Sleep” Until Appointed Awakening
1. Man's Fate Fixed Immovably at Death
2. Sleeps in Death Until General Awakening
C. Anglican Waller—Valuable Handbook for Conditionalists
D. Remarkable Scope of Ground Covered
1. All Faculties and Powers Cease at Death
2. Total Unconsciousness in “Gravedom”
3. Fires of “Gehenna” Only After Resurrection
4. As All Powers Cease, So All Powers Restored
5. Innate Immortality of “Heathen Origin”
6. Death and Mortality From Disobedience
7. No Disembodied “Spirits” Survive Death
8. “Sleep” Implies Unconsciousness and Later Awakening
9. No Resurrection of Lower Animals
10. Man's Pre-eminence Over the Beasts
11. No Immortality Until Resurrection
12. Resurrection Reconstitutes Complete Organism
13. No Consciousness During Intermediate State
14. Samplers From Ten Summarizing Points
A. Bishop Nygren—Scholarly Portrayal of “Innatism” v. Conditionalism
1. Platonism and Christianity in Battle and Compromise
2. Orphic “Soul,” Body-Prison, and “Liberation”
3. “Eros”—Innate Immortality; “Agape”—Resurrection
4. Innate Immortality Concept Held “Not Christian”
5. Origen: Body Is Spirit's 'Prison-House”
6. Irenaeus Rejects Natural Immortality” Concept
B. Bristol's Findlay—Conditionalism Both “Reasonable and Consistent”
1. “Conditional Immortality” and “Destructive Fire”
C. Boston's Knudson—Growing Rejection of Eternal Torment Theory
D. Swedish Bishop Andrae—Resurrection Life, Not Discarnate Existence .
1. Death Means Destruction of Consciousness
2. Resurrection of Body and Soul as “Entity”
E. Edinburgh's Baillie—Admits “Conditionalism May Be Right”
1. Platonism Traced Back to Animistic Sources
2. Conditionalist Position May Be “Right”
3. The Hope of Christian Expectation
F. Scotland's Stewart—Pauline Truth v. Greek and Jewish Errors
1. Antecedents and Consequents of Salvation
2. Fallacy of Surviving Disembodied Spirits
3. “Crass Materialism of Jewish Concepts
4. Twin Blessings of the Second Advent
G. Bible College Forbes—No “Infinite Torture for Finite Sin”
1. Did Christ Suffer “Infinite” Punishment?
2. Testimony of Twelve Conditionalists Cited
3. Christ's “Full Penalty” Precludes Eternal Torment
H. Bowman American Tract—Arrays Plato Against Paul
1. Paul's “Revelation” v. Plato's “Speculation”
2. “Revival” of Dead v. “Survival” of Soul
3. Paul Accords With Scripture; Plato Contradicts It
4. Paul Honours Body: Plato Depreciates It
5. Stock Phrases of ''Platonized Theology” Listed
I. Oxford's Quick—Man Wholly Dies Before Totally Living
1. Immortality Is Gift of Death-conquering Christ
2. “Heavenly Life” Not Through ''Liberation of Soul”
J. Swedish Bishop Cullberg—Soul Is “as Mortal” as Body
A. Archdeacon Guillebaud—Ultimate Extinction for Wicked
1. How “The Righteous Judge” Came to Be Written
2. Outline and Scope of the Manuscript
3. Innate Immortality Not Declared in Scripture
4. “Image of God” Does Not Denote Immortality
5. Hostile Hell “Corner” to All Eternity “Unthinkable”
6. Eternal Punishment May End “Existence” Forever
7. Penal Suffering Not to Continue Forever
8. Ultimate Extinction of Existence for Wicked
9. Memorial of God's “Righteous Judgment”
10. Satan's Existence Shall “Come to an End”
11. Not All “Suffer Equally” in “Second Death”
12. Judgment “Irreversible and Final” in Issues
13. Bowing of “Every Knee” Not Universal Salvation
B. Guillebaud's Summary of Conclusions
1. No Eternal Consciousness of Existence for Wicked
2. Penal Punishment Does Not Involve “Everlasting Torment”
3. A Destruction With No Return
4. God Cannot Tolerate Eternal Rebellion
5. Separate From Sin or Perish With Sin
6. Twofold Basis for Guillebaud's Conclusions
7. Inconsistency of Evolutionists' Objections to Conditionalism
C. Mansfield's Micklem—Innate Immortality Is Greek, Not Biblical
D. Anglican Commission—”Eternal Life” Only for “Believers in Christ”
1. Formal Report of Commission of Fifty
2. Content and Scope of the “Eternal Gospel”
3. Future Life Is of the “Whole Man”
4. Judgment Involves Separation and Destruction of Evil
5. Universal Innate Immortality a “Greek” Concept
6. The Gospel Escape From Everlasting Death
E. Sweden's Kahnlund—Creative Resurrection Bestows Immortality
F. Schoolmaster Gundy—Resurrection, Not Survival of Separated Souls
1. Life Spark Must Come From Outside
2. Bodiless Survival of Soul a “Pagan Notion”
3. Eternal Hell Not Foregone Conclusion
4. Second Death Extinguishes Personality
G. Wesley's Snaith—Innate Immortality Not “Biblical Idea”
1. No Independent Survival Disclosed in Bible
2. All Who Cling to Sin to Be Destroyed
3. No “Immortal Soul” That “Survives Death”
H. Birmingham's Major—Fire Un-Extinguishable Consumes Its Victims
A. Gronigen's Leeuw—Soul Ceases to Exist Until Resurrection
1. Even the Soul Dies in Death
2. Will Receive Immortality at Resurrection
B. Edinburgh's Taylor—Second Death Is “Suicide” Death
1. Rebellious Can Refuse to Respond
C, Beasley-Murray—Survival of Soul Only Would Be Fragmentary
1. Resurrection Is Reintegration of Whole Man
D. Welsh Dean North—Body Necessary for Resurrected Personality
1. Survival Not an Inalienable Right
E. Free Church's Vine—Man Not Immortal, but “Immortizable”
1. Man an “Integrated Unit,” Not a Dualism
2. God Only Has “Natural Immortality”
3. “Natural Immortality” of Man a “Greek Concept”
4. Man “Not a Spirit Inhabiting a Body”
5. Disintegration Ends “Human Biotic Unit”
F. Swedish Bishop Aulen—Immortality Divine “Gift,” Not “Human Prerogative”
1. Greek Dualism vs. Christian Concept of Salvation
2. “Eternal Life” Not Natural “Prerogative” but Resurrection “Gift”
3. Body-Soul Distinction Foreign to “Resurrection Faith”
4. Innate Immortality “Foreign to Faith”
5. Unequivocally Opposed to Spiritualism's Fantasies
G. Lutheran's Heinecken—Man Has No Inherent Immortality
1. Dualistic Concept False; Man a “Unity”
2. Vital Relationship of Creator and Creature
3. Misconceptions Lead to Depreciating the Resurrection
4. Unconscious of Passing Time Till Resurrection
5. “Separable Soul” Unknown to Bible
6. The Way to Eternal Life Set Forth
7. No One Has Life in and of Himself
H. Union's Niebuhr—Sole Hope of Survival Lies in Resurrection
1. Classical Pagan Concept Supplants “Biblical” View
2. Resurrection Teaching Supplanted by Immortal-Soulism
3. Contrast Between “Resurrection” and “Immortality”
I. Harvard's Dean Sperry-Sinners Vanish Into Eternal “Nothingness”
1. Destiny of the “Undeviating Sinner”
A. Rector Simcox—Not a “Guess” About the “Grand Perhaps”
1. Innate Immortality Only a Theory
2. Innatism Not Biblical, Merely Greek Philosophy
3. Man a Unit, Not a Duality
4. Transfers Hope From Man to God
B. Princeton's Ramsey—Immortality Derivative, Not Inherent
1. Platonic Error v. Christian Truth
C. Dean Vidler—”Inherent” Immortality Not Biblical Doctrine
1. Term Not in Bible or Early Creeds
2. Resurrected Men Not “Disembodied Spirits”
3. “Whole Man” Dies, “Every Part of Hun”
D. Caird of McGill—Resurrection Restores “Whole Personality”
E. Woolwich's Bishop Robinson—Fundamental Fallacies of Immortal-Soulism
1. Involves Ultimate Loss of Personality
2. Whole Man Dies; Whole Man Raised
3. Resurrection Does Not Take Place at Death
F. Augustana's Wahlstrom—”Resurrection” Only Hope of Future Life
G. Hartford's Spinka—Rejects “Damned to Eternal Torments”
H. Pike and Pittenger—Not “Indestructible” Nature, but Resurrection
1. “Indestructible” Soul v. Re-created “Body-Soul”
2. “Plausible Theory” v. Resurrection Fact
3. Innatism Defective; Resurrection Complete
I. Temple's Taylor—Denies Presumptive “Deathlessness” of the Soul
J. Rector Davies—Immortal-Soulism Not Biblical but Greek
1. “Created for Immortality” but Became “Mortal”
2. Immortal-Soulism Derived From Greek Philosophy
3. Man a “Unity,” Not “Two Separate Entities”
4. Not “Truncated Creature”—Resurrection of Whole Person
5. Sin Involves “Final Destruction” of Soul
K. Edinburgh's Manson—Resurrection Transforms “Mortal Nature”
L. Stockholm's Bolander—Deliverance Not Through Death, but Resurrection
M. Manchester's Manson—Man Sleeps in Death
1. “Falling Asleep and Waking Up”
2. Continuity of Personality Through Resurrection
N. Tubingen's Heim—No Continuance in “Disembodied State”
O. Canadian Commentator Short—Not “Inherently Immortal”
A. Queen's Shaw—Favours Conditionalism; Rejects Eternal Torment
1. “Embodied Existence,” Not “Disembodied Spirit”
2. “Eternal Fire” Suggests “Ultimate Destruction”
3. Not Immortal by Nature” or “Constitution”
4. Historical Lineage of Conditional Immortality
5. “Ultimate Extinction” for Incorrigible
B. Drew's Craig—Immortality Not Inherent but “Put On”
1. Platonic Immortality Involved “Divination”
C. Boston's De Wolf—No Inescapable “Everlasting Torture”
D. Archaeologist Wright—Eternity Entered by “Resurrection of Body”
E. Theological Debate in Scandinavia Over “Hell” and “Heaven”
1. Bishop Schjelderup Challenges Professor Hallesby
2. Similar Debate Projected by Lindhardt in Denmark
F. Lutheran Kantonen—No Inherent Capacity to Overleap Tomb
1. Historical Vicissitudes of the “Hope”
2. Three Schools Develop as to Eschatology
3. Paganism Penetrates Church in Formative Period
4. Greek View “Entirely Foreign” to “Bible” Position
5. Existence After Death Only by Resurrection
6. “Soul” Is “Destructible” as Well as “Body”
7. Luther's Emphasis on Scriptural “Sleep”
8. Unconscious of Passage of Time in Slumber
9. Fate of Wicked Simply Destruction
G. Richmond's Roberts—Immortality a Gift, Not a Possession
H. Atkinson of Cambridge—Man Not Immortal; Punishing Not Eternal
1. Man Not “Immortal Soul” Imprisoned in a “Body”
2. Old Eden and: New Paradise on New Earth
3. God Gave the Ultimate Criterion of Right and Wrong
4. Sinner Subject to Irremediable Second Death
5. Not “Eternal Torment” but “Everlasting Destruction”
6. Tempting “Serpent” Was Satan Himself
7. Scope of the Serpent's Temptation
8. Death Not Continuing Discarnate Living
9. Divine Provision for Redemption
10. No Eternal Life in Sin and Torment
A. Toronto's Owen—”Greek Dualism” Perverted Christian Theology
1. No “Independent” Soul in a “Corruptible Body”
2. Philosophy of Dualism From Greeks
3. Dualism Is Part of Platonism
4. Biblical Resurrection Opposed to “Orphic Eschatology”
5. “Intermediate State” Leads to Purgatory Concept
6. “Death Knell” of Dualism Sounded
7. “Biblical View” Totally Different From Traditional
B. Zurich's Brunner—Sinner Brings “Eternal Destruction” Upon Himself
1. Platonic Innatism Is Not “Biblical”
2. Sinner Deprives Himself of Eternal Life
3. Pagan Origin of Soul-Survival Concept
4. Platonic Innatism Assimilated by Catholicism
5. Sinister Implications of “Platonic Dualism”
6. Fantasies of Platonism v. Revelation of God
7. Death Springs From Human “Rebellion”
8. Greek Philosophy Irreconcilable With Divine Revelation
9. Created and Destined for Eternal Life
C. Aberdeen's Hunter—Pauline Truth Exposes Platonic Error
1. Revival of Eschatology Unmasks Greek Influences
2. Immortality “Gift of God,” Not Innately Ours
3. Not “Disembodied” Spirits but “Whole Men”
D. India's Bishop Newbigin—Resurrection Not Immortality
E. Disciples' Robinson—”Bodiless Existence” of Greek Innatism Invalid
1. No Warrant for a “Bodiless Existence”
F. Erlangen's Stauffer—Dead “Sleep” Under God's Protective Eye
1. Christian's Resurrection Opposed to Greek Innatism
G. Wesleyan's Spurrier—Rejects Platonic Soul Separation
H. Union's Brown—Not Greek Innate Immortality but Resurrection
1. Greek and Biblical Concepts in Total Conflict
2. Paul's Emphasis on Resurrection, Not Soul Survival
3. “Total Personality” Restored by Resurrection
I. Switzerland's Kraemer—Innatism Not Biblical but Greek
J. Presbyterian Bible Lesson Presents “Immortality Through Christ”
1. Resurrection Is Guarantee of Life to Come
2. Immortality Is From God, Not Man
3. Redemption of the Whole Man
4. Life Because of God, Not of Man
K. Hooke of London—Greek Inherent Immortality Not in Bible
L. Oral Declaration of Late Keswick Teacher, W. Graham Scroggie
A. Switzerland's Cullmann—Eminent Champion of Conditionalism
1. Creative Resurrection Restores Whole Man
2. Body Not Soul's “Prison” but “Temple”
3. Resurrection Not at Death but at “End”
4. Whole Creation to Be Formed Anew
5. Resurrection Does Not Occur at Death
B. Manchester's Rowley—Greek Immortal-Soulism a Deception
C. Edinburgh's Read—Not Something “Released at Death”
D. Catholic Tresmontant—Not Part but “Whole Man” Saved
1. Paul's Frontal Attack on Greek Philosophy
2. The Offence of “Creation” to the Hellenic Mind
3. Mystery Religion “Immortality” v. Judaeo-Christian “Resurrection”
4. Orphic Concept of Souls v. Biblical Resurrection
5. Irreversibility of God and Eternal Returning of Paganism
E. Dominican Tremel—Not “Natural Immortality”: “Resurrection” After “Sleep”
1. Innate “Immortality” Is Relic of Pagan Philosophy
F. Earlham's Trueblood—Disavows an “Eternal Hell”
1. Scientific-Philosophic Evidence Worthless
G. Harvard's Tillich—”Natural” Immortality Not “Christian Doctrine”
H. Harvard's Hocking—Not “Immortality” but “Immortability”
1. Not “Immortality” but “Immortability”
2. Wicked Not “Doomed” to Everlasting Continuance
3. No “Personal Living” Without “Body”
I. Princeton's Homrighausen—Questions Independent Persistence of Spirit
J. Methodist Perry—No “Disembodied Existence” Beyond Death
K. Adventists Reiterate Conditionalism in Statement
L. Colgate-Rochester's Hamilton—Platonic Assurance a “Lie”
M. Drew's Anderson—Mortality of Man v. Greek Immortal-Soulism
N. Chaplain Irion—”Philosophical” Immortality Contradicts Biblical “Resurrection”
O. Marburg's Bultmann—Man a Unified Organism, Not Dualistic
P. Ceylon's Niles—Not “Natural Immortality” but “Resurrection”
A. Moravian's Heller—Immortality Not of Man, but From God
1. Recent Scholarship Challenges Traditional “Dualism”
2. Man Not “Half Mortal” and “Half Immortal”
3. Life After Death “Rests” on “Immortality of God”
4. Life Not “Inalienable” Possession but “Loan” From God
B. San Francisco's Gill—”Discarnate” Spirit Idea Not Sanctioned by Bible
1. Challenges Contention of “Discarnate Souls”
2. Whole Men Die; Whole Men Are Re-created
3. “Discarnates” Not in “Biblical Picture”
C. Canadian “United Church” Committee Report on “Life and Death”
1. Committee “Suspect” “Eternal Punishment”
2. Immortality “Put On” at Resurrection
3. Hope in “Resurrection,” Not in “Natural Immortality”
4. Separable Soul and Body Not Biblical but Platonic
5. Only God “Possesses Immortality” by “Nature”
6. Immortality Not an Inherent Possession
7. Eternal Life Brought to “Perfection” at Second Advent
8. Two Views—”Death-Sleep” v. Resurrection at Death
9. Afterlife Depends on Resurrection
10. Purgatory and Spiritualism Not Biblical
11. Leans Toward TJniversalism on Destiny of Wicked
D. Von Allmen and Associates—Conditionalist Terms Defined
1. “Second Death” and Thief on Cross
2. Death a “Sleep”; No Innate Immortality
3. Eternal Destruction Not Eternal Torment
4. Eternal Life “Wholly New Life”
5. Man Mortal; God Immortal
6. Human Life Is Derived Life
7. Does Not Possess Independent Existence
8. Man “Not Created Immortal”
9. “Gehenna” Connotes the “Second Death”
E. St. Aldate's De Berry—Not Eternal Torment, but “Annihilation”
1. Catholic Position: Eternal Consciousness in Hell
2. Not “Everlasting Torment” but “Annihilation”
F. Handsworth's Strawson—Eternal Life a Gift, Not Inherent
1. Gift of Life and Destruction of Lost
2. Fate at Death “Unchangeable and Final”
3. Sinner Perishes Because Without Innate Life
4. Future Life Not Inevitable Possession
A. New College's Simpson—Man “Immort-able” Not Innately Immortal
1. “Immortal Soul” Neither Biblical Phrase nor Concept
2. Universalism Belittles Fatefulness of Life
B. Amsterdam's Korff and Van Niftrik—Innatism Alien to Bible
1. Van Niftrik Concurs in Denial of Platonism
C. St. Paul's Holden—Dead All “Sleep” Till Second Advent
1. Dead Are in “Place of Waiting”
2. All the Dead in State of Sleep
3. Sleeper Awaits Sound of Angers Trump
D. Baptist Andrews—Hellenic Inroads Neutralize Early “Hope”
1. Blanketing Hellenic “Fog” Envelopes Early Faith
2. Greek Emphasis on “Path of Escape”
3. If Soul in Heaven or Hell No Need of Advent
4. Calvin's Immortal-Soulism Neutralizes “Consummation”
E. Drew's Michalson—No Immortality Apart From Resurrection
1. Souls Do Not Exist Independent of Bodies
2. Not Innate Immortality but Resurrection
F. Swedish-American Princell—Sinner's Punishment Comes to an End
1. Sinner's Punishment Lasts Forever
2. No Eternal Suffering in God's New Universe
G. British Conditionalist Sceats—Veteran Champion of Conditionalism
H. Three Afrikaans Theologians Voice Conditionalist Positions
1. Seminary Professor Keet—No Innate Immortality in Bible
2. Pretoria's Professor Marais—Soul Rests in “Realm of Death”
3. Cape Town Pastor Heyns—Whole Man Is “Prey of Death”
A. Richards—Worldwide Broadcasts Witness to Conditionalism
1. Divine Revelation Instead of Human Speculation
2. Three Views Concerning “Immortality”
3. If Man Is Immortal, Warning Concerning Death Is Invalid
4. Immortal Sinners and Moral Apostasy
5. God, Not Man, Inherently Immortal
6. Immortality Obtained Solely as Gift to Be Sought
7. Gospel Is Good News of Immortality Through Christ
8. Immortality Bestowed by Christ at Second Advent
9. Sole Hope Through the Resurrection
10. Divine Revelation Answers Universal Question
B. Fagal—210-Station Telecasts Include Conditionalism
1. Waiting in Hope for the Resurrection
2. Man Totally Unconscious During Death-Sleep
3. Christian Hope Is in Pledge of Resurrection
4. Spirit Not Entity Capable of Separate Existence
5. Spirit Is Spark or Pnnciple of Life
6. Fires of Hell Not Burning at Present
7. Punished With Destruction at End of World
8. After Punishment Wicked Cease to Exist
9. Mercifully Destroys Spurners of Proffered Life
C. Vandeman—-Covering Whole Regions, Stresses Conditionalism
1. Unmasking the Psychic Masqueraders
2. Gospel Provision of Immortality
3. Hoax Perpetrated by Fallen Angels
4. The Other Side of Death
5. What Happens to Man at Death?
6. Resurrection Promise Rocked Pagan World
D. Remarkable Total Testimony of Entire Denomination
1. Huge Literature Distribution Supports Conditionalism
2. Avowal of Conditionalism Prerequisite to Baptism
3. Educational System Committed to Conditionalism
A. Unique and Valuable Collation by Moses Grouse
1. Growing Group Denies Bible Basis for Innatism
2. Bible Does Not Teach Inherent Immortality
3. Wide Denominational and Geographical Spread
4. Galaxy of Illustrious Names Cited
5. Remarkable Range of Scholarship Represented
6. Greek Origin of Innatism Widely Perceived
7. Ground Swell of Revolt Under Way
8. Resurgence of Bible Study Brings Corrective Swing
B. National Council's Swaim—Immortality a “Gift,” Not “Inherent” Endowment
1. “Notion” of Immortal Soul Not Biblical, but Greek
2. Man Only “Immort-able”; God Alone Immortal
3. Not Native Endowment but Gift of God
C. McCormick's Knight—Innatism Based on Apocrypha Not Bible
1. Resurrection Proffered Hope of “Life After Death”
2. Reformers “Shaken” Away From Medieval Innatism
3. Soul Not Self-existing “Separable” Entity
D. Western's Cocks—Man Lives Again Only by Resurrection
E. Catholic Professor-Editor Davis—Innatism “Alien to Christianity”
F. Princeton's Hendry—Reinterprets “Westminster's” Statements
1. Anglican Origin of Presbyterian Confession
2. Present-Day Reservations Re the Confession
3. Propriety of Taking “Exception” Explained
4. Present-pay “Journey” May Require Revision of “Map”
5. Dogmatism in “Shadowy Region Beyond Death”
6. Not New Confession, but Adjustments of Old
7. Immortality of Soul Derived From Plato
8. Reasons for Questioning Innate Immortal-Soulism
9. “Immediate” Reward at Death Would Nullify Judgment
G. Anglican Rector Bateson—Arraigns Traditionalist Fallacies
1. Five Basic Planks in “Traditional Scheme”
2. Divergent “Interpretation” Added to Bible Truth
3. Supporting Citation From Archdeacon Guillebaud
H. Scientist Schweitzer—Innate Immortality a Greek Derivation
I. Conditionalist Kearney—Assembles Brilliant Quota of French Writers
1. De Pury—-Deliverance at Advent, Not Death
2. Mehl—Christianity Teaches Mortality of Soul
3. De Coppet—Punishment Eternal in Results?
4. Crespy—Not Soul Imprisoned in Body
5. La Morte—Immortality Is Reward of Faith
6. Berdiaeff—Immortality Only in Christ
J. Earth Over Radio Affirms Man Mortal, Not Immortal
1. Position on Immortality Set Forth in Radio Discussion
2. Bible Affirms Immortality Only of God
3. Innate Immortality Not Possessed by Man
4. “Life Beyond” Wholly Dependent Upon God
5. Biblical View Perverted by Platonic Philosophy
6. Man a Unit, Not a Separable Soul
7. Our Only-Hope of Life to Come
8. Eternal Life Only Through Christ
9. The Message of the Word of God
K. Professor Vaucher—Handbook of Continental Conditionalism
L. Japan's Hatano—Resurrection Is From “Nothingness”
1. Death Is Complete “Destruction of Life”
M. Baptist Pastor Hatch Becomes Ardent Conditionalist
1. Two Incidents Start Train of Thought
2. Charges Lead to Revolution of Life
3. Hatch's Views Epitomized in Subheads
4. Not in Spirit-World After Death
5. Death Is Complete Absence of Life
6. “Perish” Is Utter Loss of All Life
7. Eternal Torment Involves Incongruities
8. Eternal Torment Opens Door to Chain of Errors
9. Immortality at Advent the Glorious Prospect
A. Unfolding Panorama of the Centuries Epitomized
1. Platonic Inroads Produce Three-Way Split
2. Dominant Immortal-Soulism Suppresses Opposing Voices
3. Reformation First Restored Fundamentals of Salvation
4. Different Doctrines but Slowly Restored
5. Intense Conflict Over Sleep of Soul in Death
6. Small Groups Retained Conditionalism From Early Times
B. Eighteenth Century Marks Turn in Tide
1. Slowly Gathering Momentum of Eighteenth Century
2. Conspicuous Conditionalist Advances in Nineteenth Century
3. Powerful Conditionalist Literature Makes Appearance
4. Conflict Intensifies in Twentieth Century
C. The Strength of the Case for Conditionalism
1. Value of Testimony of the Witnesses
2. Determining Light of the Centuries
3. Individual Verdict Cannot Be Avoided
D. Perspective Provided for Individual Conclusions
A. The Consummation of the Original Lie of Eden
1. Bolstering Satan's Original Contention
2. Candor and Faithfulness Called For
B. Fox Cottage in Hydesville—Cradle of Modern Spiritualism
1. Raps Develop Into “Code of Communication”
2. European Activities Antedate American Manifestations
3. From Hostile Reception to Phenomenal Spread
4. Sixty Million Adherents Claimed by 1894
5. Conan Doyle Envisions Phenomenal Developments
C. Three Stages in Historical Development of Spiritualism
1. Shifts From Churchly to Scientific Stage
2. Old World Scientists Espouse Spiritualism
D. Organized as World-embracing Religion in 1893
1. Operates Through Sundry Organizations
2. Declaration of Principles a Gradual Development
3. To Give Pre-eminence to Women
E. “Definitions” of Spiritualism as “Science, Philosophy and Religion”
F. Essence of Spiritualism—Survival and Communication
1. Maintain “So-called Dead” Are “Living”
2. Official “Year Book” Confirms Individual Declarations
3. Universal Salvation Fundamental Spiritualist Plank
4. Progressive Passage Through the “Spheres”
5. Spiritualism Consigns Open Rebels to Heavenly Bliss
G. World Triumph of Spiritualism Claimed Under Way
1. Spiritualism's World-conquering Mission
2. Doyle—Spirit's Guidance to Inaugurate Universal Creed
3. Coming Unifier of All Religions
4. One “Scientific Religion” for “Modern Man”
H. Fundamental Place Accorded Andrew Jackson Davis
1. Antedates Fox Sisters' Episode of 1848
2. Memorialized Jointly With Katie Fox
3. Books Written Under “Spirit Control”
4. Rejects Great Verities of Christian Faith
A. “World Federation of Christendom” on Spiritualistic Platform
1. Spirit Messages Call for “Radical Reconstruction”
2. Audacious Claims for Spiritism as Humanity's Saviour
3. Scientific “Spirit Contact” Through Electronic Communications
B. Claims 8 Ushered in New Era for Human Race
1. Claims Christianity Based on Spiritistic Phenomena
2. March 1 (1848) Is Birth Day of Modern Spiritualism
3. Spiritualism the “Coming Universal Religion”
4. New Dispensation Born in 1848
5. Battery of Periodicals Spans First Century
C. Typical Service in a Spiritualist “Church”
1. Features of a Typical Service
2. Spiritualist Hymnal
3. Official Hymnal
D. Occult Episodes in Booth Tarkington Household
1. Heavy Mahogany Table Moves Mysteriously
2. Code of Communication With “Spirits”
3. Grandfather Tarkington Affirms It Is “From the Devil”
4. Remains the Great Unsettled Question
E. Current “Spiritualist Camp” Inducements
1. Cathedral of the Woods'
2. Chesterfield Spiritualist Art Gallery
3. Bangs Sisters' “Precipitation” Paintings Collection
F. Strange Life and Tragic End of Fox Sisters
1. Margaretta's Oscillating Career as Spiritualist
2. Warning Admonition From Dr. Kane to Margaretta
3. Margaretta Purposes to Expose Spiritualism in
4. Joined by Katie in Dramatic Exposure
5. Recants Former Denunciation in 1889
6. Both Sisters Die as Alcoholics
7. Not Troubled Over “Respectability of Origins”
A. Repudiates All Fundamentals of the Christian Faith
1. Based on Internal, Not “External,” Revelation
2. Doyle Denies Sin, Fall, Atonement, Redemption
3. Claims That Salvation Comes From Within, Not Without
4. Thompson Repudiates Atonement, Grace, Forgiveness
5. Manual—Fundamentals of Christian Faith Optional
B. Perverts Basic Facts and Fundamentals of Christianity
1. Claims “Upper Room” Was “Seance” Chamber
2. Such Seances Now Only Outside Christian Church
3. “General Resurrection” Repudiated by Spiritualism
4. “New Heaven and Earth” Simply “Spirit World”
5. Biblical Support Sought From Paul's “Spiritual Gifts”
6. Pauline “Spiritual Gifts” Claimed by Spiritualists
C. Total Departure From “Christian Faith” Platform
1. Spiritualism Not Based on Bible
2. Jesus Held Not Uniquely Divine
3. No Atoning Value in Death of Jesus
4. Jesus Brazenly Declared “Great Medium”
5. Asserts Christianity “Born in a Seance”
6. Substitutes Spiritualism for Holy Spirit as “Comforter”
D. Disdains Bible Support,. Yet Craftily Claims It
1. Invokes Both Antiquity and Modern Scientific Support
2. Claims Bible Permeated With Spiritualism Phenomena
3. President Whitwell Lays Ground for Claim
4. Makes Astonishing Claims for Medium-ship
5. MacDonald Proclaims Independence of Dogmatic Creeds
6. Berry—Spiritualism “Entirely Independent” of Bible
7. Rejects Pauline Theology and Creeds
8. Maneuvered Into Ally for “True Christianity”
9. Maintains Jesus Communicated With Spirit World
10. Asserts Christ Became Medium at Twelve
11. Jesus' “Communication” Cited as Warrant for Spiritualism
12. Grave Involvements of Inescapable Alternatives
E. Spiritualist Manual Presents Official Positions of Spiritualism
1. Mission of Spiritualism to “Revolutionize World”
2. Burial Service: Prayers to Spirits of Dead
3. Quotes Pagan Precursors as Supporters of Spiritism
4. Asserts Bible Honeycombed With Spiritistic Phenomena
5. Fox Sisters' “Raps” Like Telegraph Taps
6. “Evil” Spirits Explained as Merely Ignorant and Undeveloped
7. Emphatic Denial of “Vicarious Atonement”
8. Medieval and Modern Precursors of Spiritualism
9. Claims Regarding Christian Science and New Thought
A. Rehearses Distinctive Principles of Spiritualism
1. Blends Innate Immortality With Godship of Man
2. “Death” Held as Merely Entrance Upon Higher Existence
3. Soul, Spirit, and Angels Differentiated
4. “Man” Considered Part of Evolutionary Pantheistic God
5. “Annihilation” of Wicked Held Impossible
B. Continuing Consciousness and Communication
1. Communication Between “Spirits” and Men Held Basic
2. Continuing Consciousness Supreme Message of Spiritualism
3. New Heavens and Earth to Come Through Spiritualism
C. Modern Spiritualism Central in New World Cycle
1. Predicts Spiritualism World Religion by Close of Century
2. Old “Cycle” Ending; New “Dispensation” Beginning
D. Spiritualism Has Eastern Occult Connotations
1. Spiritualism Lifts “Eastern Curtains”
2. Masters of Past Said to Be Still Preaching to “Spirits in Prison”
E. Spiritualism Equated With Christianity Till Constantine
1. Asserts Early Christianity Was Spiritualist
2. Modern Spiritualism Alleged Revival of “Apostolic” Christianity
3. Christ's Predicted “Signs” Applied to Spiritualist Phenomena
F. Consummating Contention Based on “Revelation 14:6
1. Asserts Angel of Revelation 14:6 Is “Spiritualism”
2. Concealed “Majesty of Immortality”
A. Spiritualism's Scienti6c Front Making Significant Advances
1. Dr. S. G. Soal—British Pioneer in Psychic Research
B. Parapsychology Projects “New Frontiers” in Spirit World
1. Societies for Studying Psychic Sixth Sense
2. Laboratories Converting Scientists Into Spiritualists
3. Man's Mind Said to Be Part of Universal God-Mind
4. Involves Question of Innate Immortality
5. Parapsychology to Help Reunite Christendom
6. New Ally in Spiritual World
7. Used to Diagnose and Heal Disease
C. Parapsychology Concerned With “Life After Death”
1. Indications of Man's “Living Spirit”
2. Testing “Discarnate Spirit Personalities”
3. Medium-Ship Reaches Peak, Then Declines
4. Testing Validity of “Spirit” Claims
5. Quest for Proof Not Yet Conclusive
6. “Burden of Proof” Rests With “Spirits”
7. Some Fresh “Break-through” Still Needed
A. Spiritualism and the Question of Metaphysical Healing
1. “Healing Medium” Relays Energy From Spirit Doctors
2. Spiritualism the Mother of Metaphysical Healing
3. Spiritual Healing” by “Excarnate Spiritual Beings”
4. “Spiritualist Healer” Cures Through “Inherent Powers”
B. Historical Relationships of Mesmerism, Hypnotism, and Spiritualism
1. Theory of “Animal Magnetism” Goes Back to Eighteenth Century
2. “Magnetic Sleep” Developed by Mesmer in
3. Early Nineteenth-Century Revival of Magnetism
4. Mesmerism Revived by Braid, and Called “Hypnotism”
5. Hypnotism Falls Into Disrepute Around
6. Hypnosis Having Current “Spectacular Renaissance”
C. Dr. Davis Writes Under Magnetic-Mesmeric Control
1. Alleged Crest of '“Cosmic Tide” in 1848
2. Unique Place Accorded Dr. Davis
3. Book Dictated Under “Magnetic-Mesmeric” Control
4. Davis' “Medical Revelations” Alleged New Discovery
5. Davis Had Previously Submitted to Mesmeric Control
6. “Mesmerism” at Lily Dale (N.Y.) in 1847
D. “Spirit Healings” Flaunt Explicit Biblical Provisos
1. Modern Counterpart of Occult Healings of Past Centuries
2. Wrought by Power of Unnumbered Spirits
3. Not Wrought in Name or Power of Jesus
4. Modern Counterpart of Pagan Priestcraft Healings
5. True Healing Never Channelled Through Bible-forbidden Mediums
6. Angels in Existence Before First Human Death
E. Invading Citadel of God-given Sacred Individuality
1. Road to Mind Opened to Invading Spirits
2. The Perils of Surrendering the Will
3. Beware of Manipulation by Scheming Men and Devils
4. Hypnosis Not Favoured by Majority of Dentists
F. Hypnosis May Lead to Disastrous Results
1. Insidious Breaching of the Will
2. Inherent Perils of Hypnosis
G. Satan Seeking to Control the Minds of Men
A. Bible Testimony Regarding Satan, Demons, and Occultism
1. Score of Designations Identifying Satan
2. Reality, Personality, and Influence of Demons
3. Evil Activities of the Demons
4. Occult Activities Forbidden Under Punishment
5. Practitioners Become Slaves of Satan
B. Multiple Terms for Variants of Spiritualism
1. “Necromancy”—An Abomination Visited With Death
2. “Witch”—Sorcerer Having “Familiar Spirit”
3. “Wizard”—Alleged Consulter With “Spirits” of Dead
4. Having “Familiar Spirits” Involved Death Penalty
5. “Magic”—Secret Art of the Occult Sciences
6. “Sorcerer”—Ultimate Destruction in Lake of Fire
C. Impersonating Demon Deceived King Saul at Endor
1. Inquired of Woman Having “Familiar Spirit”
2. Impersonating Spirit Answers Illicit Inquiry
3. A Whole Series of Inconsistencies
4. Clearly a Deception Put On by the Devil
D. Fathers Held Samuel Was Impersonated by Demon
1. Tertullian: Samuel Simulated by “Demon”
2. Minucius: Spirits Are Deceiving Demons
E. Warnings Parallel the Claims and Actualities of Spiritualism
1. Ramsey—Spiritualism Is Satanic Delusion
2. A Series of Incriminating Charges
3. Smith—Devastating Exposure of Fallacies and Dangers
4. Biederwolf-Spirits of the “Cloven Hoof”
5. “Diabolical Possession” More Plausible Explanation
F. Investigators Doubt Claimed Identity of “Spirits”
1. Garland Questions Reported Identity of Spirits
2. Evidences of Senses May Mislead
3. Personal Survival Not Demonstrated
G. Various Catholics Hold Phenomena of Satanic Origin
1. Gearon Finds “Diabolic Origin” Theory Persuasive
2. Vaughan—Visitants May Be “Satanic Spirits”
3. Hole—Messages From Personating Evil Spirit
H. Isaiah's Futile Appeal to Disobedient Israel
1. Turned From Author of Life to Author of Death
2. From Subtlety of Demons to Wisdom of God
3. Warned Against Replenishing “From the East”
I. “Covenant With Death” and “Agreement With Hell”
1. Made “Lies” Their “Refuge”
2. Divine Retribution Is Certain
3. Bold and Unholy Alliances Made for Centuries
4. Not “New Revelation”; Simply “Ancient Falsehood”
5. Satan's Device Constitutes Perfect Counterfeit
6. Spiritualism Identical With Ancient Witchcraft
A. Christian Science Built on Dual Errors Enunciated in Eden
1. Traces of Ancient Heresies Appear
2. Every Cardinal Doctrine of Christianity Denied
3. Bible Authoritative Only with “Spiritual” Interpretation
4. Translation Errors “Corrected” by Christian Science
5. Value and Validity of “Literal” Rendering Challenged
6. Sin Disposed of by Denial of Reality
7. Bible Remade Through New “Definitions”
8. God Declared Not ''Person,” but “Principle”
9. Duality Concept of “Father-Mother” God
10. Further “Duality”—Jesus Was Not Christ
11. Mary's Conception of Jesus Only “Spiritual”
B. Innate Godship of Man and Immortality of Soul
1. Main Attack on “Literalism” of Genesis to
2. The Supreme Denial—Jesus Did Not “Die”
3. Vicarious “Atonement” Rejected as “Unnatural”
4. Jesus' Resurrection Only “Reproduction” or “Reappearance”
5. 'Second Appearing” Is Continuance in Christian Science
6. “Emanations” of “Immortal Wisdom”
7. Man Not Made of “Dust” nor Subject to “Death”
8. No Personal Devil or Actual Angels
9. No Final Judgment or Resurrection
10. Man Said to Be “Coexistent,” “Coeternal,” “Indestructible”
11. Man's Eternal Pre-existence Stressed
12. Common Denominator of Most Deviation Groups
C. Mormonism—”Spirits” Eternally Pre-existent Prior to Earthly Embodiment
1. Authoritative Writings Teach Eternal Pre-existence
2. Claim That All Spirits Pre-existed Before Living on Earth
3. All Spirits Existed Before Creation of World
4. Veil of Forgetfulness to Be Lifted
5. At Death All Allegedly Return to “World of Spirits”
6. Claim That All Lived as Spirits in God's Presence
7. Declared Spirit Sons and Daughters of God
8. Unchanged Emphasis in Latest Publication
A. “East's” Crucial Part in Earth's Final Deception
1. Coming Impersonation of Second Advent
2. Twin Lies of Eden Constantly Repeated
3. Pertinence of This Survey
4. Pantheism Is Boldly Taught
5. Reincarnation Likewise Openly Taught
6. India the Spawning Ground of Reincarnation
7. Immortality Sensed in “Seventh Heaven”
8. Jesus Derogated to “Avatar” Status
9. Biblical Portrayal of Inimitable Advent
B. Eastern Occultism's Penetrations and Footholds in the West
1. Spiritistic Origin of Plausible Fantasies
2. Tied in With the Occult and the East
3. Personations Through Reincarnated Agasha Priest
4. New Discoveries to Augment Christ's Teachings
5. New Thought. Stresses Divinity of Man
C. Amazing Conglomerate of Theosophy-related Groups
D. Primitive Animism—Universe Vast Battleground of Spirits
1. Demons Under Master Spirit—Satan
2. Variant Forms Widespread Over the Centuries
3. Medieval Satanism—Compacts With the Devil
4. Demon Possession in New Testament Times
E. Current Pagan Counterpart of Western Occult
1. Animism Based on Immortal “Inner Selves”
2. Communication Between Visible and Invisible
3. Role of Trance-Mediums and Soothsayers
A. Grave Involvements of Variant Eastern Subtleties
1. Nectar of Immortality and Union With God
2. Tie-in With Ancient ''Masters” and Theosophy
3. Theosophy—Immortality by Evolution Through Incarnation
4. The “I AM” Derivative Movement
5. Avowed Purpose Is to Prove Spiritualism
6. Astara—Blending of All Religions
7. Unity—Reincarnation Results in Immortality
8. Significance of “Great Light” From the “East”
B. Bahaism Bears Telltale Spiritualist Marks
1. Wilmette Temple Symbolizes Oneness of Religions
2. Communion of Living With the Dead
3. Constant Intercommunication With Other World
A. Spiritualist Inroads Through “Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship”
1. Reincarnation Naively Taught at Frontiers Conference
2. In Touch With Loved Ones in Spiritual Realm
3. Frontiers Editor on “Methods of Psychic Research”
4. Medium Ford's Adroitly Frank “Talk”
5. “Book Review” and “Notes” on the Psychic
6. “Book Service” Specializes in the Psychic
7. Continuing Emphasis on Psychic and Spiritistic
8. Spiritualist Books Interspersed in List
9. “Third Birth” and “Next Dimension”
B. Fellowship's “Psychic Knock at Church's Door”
1. From Psychic Societies to Church Penetrations
2. Contacts Between Two Worlds Established
3. Persuaded Personally Through Ford “Sittings”
C. African Newspaper Symposium Champions Spiritualism
1. Preponderant View for Spirit Survival and Spiritualism
A. Latter-Day Eruption of Renegade “Spirit” Activities
1. Depraved Spirits Ever Seduce to Destruction
2. Promises Life by Denying Death
B. Spirits of Devils Ascendant in Earth's Final Deception
1. Hitler, Mussolini, and Kaiser Entangled in Toils
2. God of This World Blinds Minds of Men
3. Two Supernatural Forces Bidding for Control
4. Final Conflict Involves Every Individual
C. World to Be Swept Into Final Conflict by Demonic Forces
1. Leagued Into Confederacy by “Spirits of Devils”
2. Final Holocaust Just Before Second Advent
3. Deluded Because Without Protection of Word
4. Two Opposing Forces Face to Face
5. Underlying Cause of the Great Deception
6. Impelled by Forces Beyond Human Control
D. Vindication of God's Truth: Overthrow of Satan's Lie
1. Spiritistic Seances Date Back to Gates of Eden
2. Inevitable Outcome of Conflict of the Ages
3. Destruction for Believers of Satan's Original Lie
A. Build-up and Penetration of Immortal-Soul Concept
1. Triple Origin of Immortal Soul Innovation
2. Becomes Potent Philosophy Under Plato
3. Jewry Split Into Two Schools on Immortality
4. Motley Situation When Christ Appeared
5. Apostolic and Ante-Nicene Conditionalists
6. Eternal Tormentism Established by Tertullian
7. Universal Restorationism Projected by Origen
B. Reformation Sparks Resurgence of Conditionalism
1. Bleak and Largely Silent Centuries
2. Waldensian Adherents and Rabbinical Revolters
3. Ethiopian and Malabar Rejecters of Immprtal-Soulism
4. Pomponatius Forces Declaration of Catholic Dogma
5. Conditionalism Sparks Split in Protestant Ranks
6. Notable Recruits to Conditionalist Cause
7. New World Voices Add Their Testimony
8. Fresh Revolts Add New Impetus
9. Notable Champions Arise in Britain and Continent
10. America Keeps Pace With Old World
C. Brilliant Array of Witnesses Marks Twentieth Century
1. Ground Swell of Revolt Against Traditional Positions
D. Injection of the Culminating Factor
1. Supreme Factor in Last Great Struggle
2. Circumventing the Sentence of Goa
E. Time to Unmask Satan's Masterpiece
1. Adapted to All Ages and Conditions
2. From Universal Penetration to Crowning Deception
3. Spiritualism a Cruel Travesty
4. Adapts Itself to Scientific Age
5. Sweeping World Into Threefold Alliance
6. Built Upon Reiteration of Unchanging Lie
7. Occult Augmentations From the East
8. High Time to Sound the Alarm
By the sixth century the Innate Immortality concept of Tertullian and of Augustine of Hippo had become the preponderant view, particularly in the West. And with it the corollary of unending life in inescapable misery for the unrepentant sinner had become established. Nevertheless, according to Charles A. Swainson, former canon of Chichester and professor of divinity at Cambridge, [1] the teaching of Conditional Immortality persisted in some of the churches for several centuries after the time of fourth-century Athanasius, and sporadically came to the surface.
One notable seventh-century example was SOPHRONIUS (c. 560-638), learned monk of Damascus, who later removed to Palestine. He was noted as an ecclesiastical writer and teacher and tireless champion of orthodoxy, who became patriarch of Jerusalem in 634. He was, in fact, the presiding bishop when Jerusalem fell to the Saracenic Muslims about 637. And it was he who was compelled to sign the humiliating capitulation of the city.
1 Charles A. Swainson, The Nicene and Apostles' Creeds. Their Literary History, pp. 248-252.
Sophronius was conspicuous for his learning, and was the principal opponent of Monothelitism, which held to a single nature for Christ. Soon after his elevation to the patriarchate, Sophronius wrote a lengthy synodical (or pastoral) letter pro testing against the heresies and errors opposed to the purer faith and setting forth his views on the Trinitarian and Christological questions still under discussion at the time. This even included the immortality issues, wherein he denied the Innate Immortality position on the soul. This treatise he sent to the pope, but was reproved therefore [2] Monothelitism, with its involvements, was still a living and divisive issue.
Emperor Heraclius issued an edict—the famous Ecthesis, or "Profession of Faith"—in answer to Sophronius, designed to end the discussion. Sophronius, in turn, promised he would refrain from further public expression and from participation in all public disputes. But before Sophronius' death the emperor sent an emissary to Rome to demand a solemn condemnation of Monothelitism. Two synods at Constantinople (in 638 and 639) adopted the Ecthesis, or "Profession," but in remote provinces it met with considerable resistance. So in 648 the emperor issued an edict commanding silence. Thus the question of Monothelitism was repressed for a time, and Sophronius’ missive lay dormant for several decades.
2 H. J. Schroeder, Disciplinary Decrees of the General Councils, Text Translation, and Commentary, pp. 136, 137.
1. IMMORTALITY THE GRANT OF GOD.
Then in 680 Emperor Constantine Pogonatus, seeking to restore harmony between East and West, called the third Council of Constantinople (the sixth Ecumenical), which was convened in the imperial palace. At this time a certain Macarius was under trial and cross-examination for his belief in Monothelitism, which pertains to the divine and human nature. And in connection therewith the twenty-one-page synodical letter of the former patriarch Sophronius was brought forth and read into the record of the eleventh session. [3] In this Sophronius succinctly stated the true faith concerning immortality to be this: "Men's souls have not a natural immortality, it is by the gift of God that they receive the grant of immortality and incorruptibility." [4] That was a startlingly clear and definitive statement for such a time, and from such a source and place.
2. READ INTO A GENERAL COUNCIL RECORD.
The back ground of the episode is simply this: The elements of Neo-Platonism—with its theology based on the spiritualizing principle of interpretation and its concept of the Innate Immortality—had to some extent also crept into the Greek Church.
But according to Du Pin, Sophronius "opposed the error as springing up at Alexandria," B and attributed to Origen the introduction of such an opinion into the church. Sophronius was apparently one of the first patriarchs to oppose it,6 thus coming under considerable criticism and restriction.
So the question of Conditional Immortality, repressed for a time in this hazy period, now began to be brought out into the open again. And the Conditionalist faith of Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, was read into the record of the General Council of Constantinople in 680.
3 Swainson, op. cit., pp. 249, 250.
4 Ibid., p. 250. (Based on the cited source records of Jean Harduin, Ada Conciliorum, vol. 3, pp. 1258, 1282c; and Philippe Labbe, Concordia Chronologic., p. 881c.) See also Emmanuel Petavel, The Problem of Immortality, p. 243: and F. A. Freer. To Live or Not to Live? p. 105.
5 Lewis Ellies Du Pin, "Sophronius," A New History of Ecclesiastical Writers, vol. 4, p. 17.
6 Ibid., pp. 17, 18. Preserved in J. D. Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova, et Amplissima Collection X, 991 sq.; and Charles J. Hefele, A History of the Councils of the Church From the Original Documents, vol. 5, pp. 158-166.
Then came AVERROES, or Abul Walid Muhammed ben Ahmad ibn Roshd (c. 1126-1198), most celebrated of all medieval Arabian philosophers, of Cordova, Spain. He was equally esteemed in Christian and Arabian circles, and was not only a physician and illustrious commentator on Aristotle but a recognized jurist, as well as author of numerous works. And he was conspicuously competent in both Islamic and Aristotelian philosophy.
As a result he came to exert a marked influence on the "soul" controversy of the centuries, injecting an element into the discussion that continued on to Protestant Reformation times. Averroes was recognized as one of the outstanding thinkers of the day, sometimes being called "the omniscient," because of his learning. (Picture on page 16.) But this Arabian peripatetic (follower of Aristotle) created consternation by challenging the Innate Immortality of the soul, thereby becoming a symbol of the concept that both body and soul "ceased to live when they died." There were other factors, but that was the offensive one. And for more than three centuries almost all who held to the sleep of the soul had the epithet of "Averroist" hurled at them. Scholarly historian Peter Bayle says, "He taught the mortality of the human soul,” and that man does not have an eternal nature that never dies. [7]
Averroes was for a time professor at the University of Morocco, with the brilliant Jewish Maimonides, to be noted shortly, as one of his star pupils. And in his home town (Cordova), as well as in Seville, he held two high offices—chief magistrate and chief religious leader. Furthermore, since he was the outstanding commentator on the philosophy of Aristotle, by the thirteenth century his treatise became the standard textbook not only in Moslem circles, but in Christian universities as well, including the university of Padua, Italy, and the Sorbonne in Paris, then the chief theological school of Christendom. According to Prof. Ezra Abbot, librarian of Harvard a century ago: "The commentaries of Averroes on Aristotle were so famous in the Middle Ages that they gained for him the title of 'the Soul of Aristotle,’ and 'the commentator.' He maintained the unity of the intellectual principle, and rejected the doctrine of individual immortality." [8] It is to be remembered that Arabic, or Moorish, erudition was pre-eminent in the Middle Ages and profoundly influenced the learning of the Western world. [8] It definitely molded the scholasticism of the Middle Ages, for the church was committed to a philosophic faith, and bent her energies to harmonizing faith and reason on that basis. But the reasoning that came from philosophy was received to no small degree through Arabian channels, with religious faith having its acknowledged source in ecclesiastical authority.
7 Peter Bayle, Dictionary Historical and Critical (2d ed., 1734), vol. 1, pp. 552-561; see also William Enfield, The History of Philosophy From the Earliest Periods: Drawn up from Brucker's Historia Critica Philosophiae, pp. 430-432; Ernest Renan, Averroes et I'Auerroesme Essai historique, pp. 119-125.
The challenges of Averroes as to the traditional immortality of the soul postulate created a panic in Islamic circles.
They were, of course, in direct conflict with the Mohammedan concept of a paradise of eternal delights and a hell of endless torment on which the Koran dilates. Averroes was blindly de voted to Aristotle and the Aristotelian doctrine of the soul, more so than to the religion of Mohammed.
Though celebrated for his personal virtues, Averroes was nevertheless charged with heresy concerning the soul. He was condemned by the caliph, and his goods and estate were confiscated. Because of his views he was banished to the Jewish quarters of Cordova. Fleeing to Fez, he was nevertheless quickly seized and imprisoned. Some argued that he deserved death, but milder counsel prevailed, and instead he was placed at the gate of the Mosque, where the devout might spit in his face on the way to their prayers. He was forced under pressure to "recant.” However, the tide turned, and in time he was again made
8 Ezra Abbot, Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life, Appendix to William R. Alger, The Destiny of the Soul. A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life (10th cd., 1880), no. 15.
9 Charles F. Hudson, Debt and Grace as related to the Doctrine of a Future Life, pp. 342-345; also "The Arabs in Spain," Dublin University Magazine, June, 1855.
governor and restored by royal mandate. Such was his strange career.
"Averroism" as related to immortalism was thus a new "heresy" to be refuted in Christian circles. Against it Thomas Aquinas, the "Angelic Doctor," wrote one of his books. But scholastic philosophy was for centuries divided on this very question—the " 'Thomists,' or followers of Aquinas, affirming the soundness of the philosophic form of faith, and the 'Scotists,' " the followers of Duns Scotus, the "Subtle Doctor," denying it. Scotus maintained that immortality is not provable by the light of nature and philosophy alone, but must rest on divine revelation for conclusive evidence. Scotus went so far as to aver that those who reposed the burden for their faith elsewhere were unworthy of the name Christian. Nature and reason offered probabilities but not proofs. On such a basis they might believe but they could not know.10 So it was that the "defection" of Averroes came profoundly to affect scholastic Christianity. But by the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the disciples of Aristotle were divided into two sects—the Averroists and the Alexandrians. Thus it was that finally, in 1513. Leo X felt compelled to issue his epochal bull instructing the philosophers not to teach the mortality of the soul, as will later be noted, declaring that the distinction that had been made between the deductions of reason and the decrees of the church, and which had now come under censure, were invalid. So Leo X, sustained by the Fifth Lateran Council, came to declare the immortality of the soul an article of the Catholic faith. This will take on added significance as we come to Pomponatius of Italy, who lived in the time just preceding Luther. Thus much by way of a flash preview.
Amid the enshrouding darkness of the twelfth century that covered Europe, occasional gleams of light, though faint, continued to shine forth in different places—vestiges of that
10 Hudson, op. cit., p. 344.
earlier faith on the nature of man, reappearing from time to time. One such was NICHOLAS, Greek bishop of Methone, in Messenia, called by Neander "the greatest theologian of his time." [11] Significantly, his principal work was a refutation of Proclus, one of the last of the pagan Neoplatonic philosophers — with all that such a position involved. Nicholas rose above popular opinion to declare against the triumph of Neoplatonic philosophy that had become so widespread, with the tomb of the past primitive faith now virtually sealed by declarations of popes and councils. Here is one of Nicholas' terse utterances breaking significantly out of the general silence: "When any created being is eternal, it is not so by itself, not in itself not for itself, but by the goodness of God; for all that is made and created has a beginning, and retains its existence only through the goodness of] the Creator." [12] And again. "There are souls that perish." [13] (See page 16.)
Turning again to Jewry, we find that some of the greatest lights of the rabbinical succession, spread over the medieval period, denied the indefeasible immortality of all souls, holding that immortality is limited to the righteous only. And they similarly denied the eternal torment of the incorrigibly wicked, believing in their ultimate exclusion from life eternal, and holding that the most dreadful of all punishments is final extinction and deprivation of being.
Most conspicuous among these was MOSES MAIMONIDES or (MOSES BEN MAIMON (1131-1204), greatest of the medieval Jewish rabbis. Born in Cordova, Spain, conspicuous for learning and ability, and master of the intricacies of Jewish theology, he was called the "Eagle of the Doctors," a second Moses. He was skilled in medicine and astronomy as well, was adept in Christian philosophy, and had a special fondness for Aristotle which, is significant. He was likewise versed in the lore of
11 Petavel, pp. at., p. 244.
12 Quoted in K. K. Hagenbach, Compendium of the History of Doctrines, vol. 2, pp. 4, 5.
18 Quoted in Petavel, op. cit., p. 244.
antiquity, and was the star pupil of Averroes, [14] whom he greatly admired—another significant relationship.
After the Mohammedan invasion, Maimonides wandered furtively through Spain, Palestine, and Northern Africa, at times having to conceal his religious identity. He finally settled in Egypt in 1165, and there became court physician to the reigning sultan, as well as serving as Chief Rabbi of Egypt.
Maimonides was called "The Second Lawgiver," and there was a saying that "from Moses [the lawgiver] to Moses [Maimonides] there was none such as Moses." He is also to be remembered for his calendar reforms.
Maimonides established a school in Fostat (Old Cairo), and made a profound and lasting impression upon all Jewry.
He established the right of free investigation, and stood out against the contention of an absolute rabbinical authority. He was the author of numerous works, and his Guide to the Perplexed (in Hebrew, Moreh Nebuchim) was undoubtedly his leading production. In this he sought to harmonize rabbinical teaching with philosophy, particularly of the Aristotelian school.
Another treatise was Repetition of the Law (in Hebrew, Mishnah Torah), a systematic exposition of the Pentateuch, dealing with the main principles of the beliefs and ethics of The Jews. [15]
14 See page 18.
15 Abbot, op. cit., nos. 1931, 1931a.
He was the first to condense the dogmatic tenets of Judaism into Thirteen Articles of Faith—a confession of faith which occupies a position in Jewry similar to that of the Apostles’ Creed in Christendom. Every loyal Jew was expected to repeat it daily, and he who called into question any one of the Thirteen Articles would come under the penalty of excommunication, and would lose all share in the life (world) to come.
Maimonides therefore spoke with unequalled authority.
1. MAIMONIDES TEACHES COMPLETE "EXCISION" OF WICKED.
Maimonides taught that immortality is for the righteous only, with ultimate destruction for the wicked. He believed that the material world is to be destroyed, with the wicked involved in that utter destruction and ending in final deprivation of being. Those unworthy of life would not live forever, but would be "cut off" and "perish," and the soul would ultimately be extinguished.
The worst of all punishments, Maimonides held, is Kareth, which means "excision," or complete destruction. [16] It is a death from which there is no return, a ruin which admits of no reparation. Evil men are to be destroyed body, soul, and spirit. [17] On the contrary, some rabbis, such as Saadia ben Joseph (d. 942), of Sura, Babylonia, had believed in the eternity of hell torments. And there was marked opposition to Maimonides by such.
He was, in fact, denounced as a rationalist by the traditionalists of his day, who held that the commands of God did not have their foundation in reason, but were of purely arbitrary authority. To offer a reason for any divine command was, by such, considered impertinent and impious. The opposition was most violent in France and in parts of Spain. Some of the leaders of the synagogues in France interdicted Maimon ides and burned his books because, among other charges, he
16 F. W. Farrar, Eternal Hope, p. 212.
17 Farrar believes that Maimonides derived his view from the famous passage in the Talmud (Rosh Hashanoh 17), which states "that after twelve months of expiation, the bodies of the wicked cease to exist, their soul is burned, and a wind scatters these cinders under the feet of the just."—Ibid.
opposed the concept of the eternal torment of the wicked. But his position and his influence in general remained unimpeached.
Here are Maimonides' exact words on the fate of the wicked: "The punishment which awaits the wicked man is that he will have no part in eternal life, but will die, and be utterly destroyed. He will not live for ever, but for his sins will be cut off and perish like a brute. It is a death from which there is no return." "The reward of the righteous will consist in this, that they will be at bliss and exist in everlasting beatitude; while the retribution of the wicked will be to be deprived of that future life and to be cut off." [18]
2. NACHMANIDES ALSO TAUGHT EXCISION OF SOUL.
Some of the most learned medieval Jewish teachers staunchly de fended Maimonides, holding with him that the most dreadful of all punishments, assigned to the blackest criminals and the damned, is final extinction and deprivation of being. He was first defended by his friend the noted commentator Nachmanides, [19] who held the same view, and who prepared a lengthy letter vindicating Maimonides from the charge of heresy. He reiterated the opinion that after a stated period of torment the wicked suffer the punishment of "excision,” and perish at last into nothingness. He likewise calls it the "third excision, 'still more severe, by which the body is cut off in this life, and the soul in the life to come.' " [20] To this DAVID KIMCHI (1160-1232), of France, also agreed.
3. ABRAVANEL'S SECOND DEATH Is ANNIHILATION.
The next outspoken defender of Maimonides was DON ISAAC BEN JUDAH ABRAVANEL, or Abarbanel (1437-1508), illustrious Jewish statesman-theologian of Spain, master of the learning of his time, and a financial genius. He was minister of finance under
18 Yad Hachazakah Hilchoth Teshubah, or De Paenitentia iii. 12: viii. 2 (the Latin version appears in Dr. Clavering's Oxford edition), quoted in Edward" White, Life in Christ, p. 222. See also Louis Finkelstein, "The Jewish Doctrine of Human Immortality," Harvard Divinity School Bulletin (vol. XLII, no. 7), March 30, 1945, pp. 31-34.
19 NACHMANIDES, or MOSES BEN NAHHAN (1195-1270), of Spain, practicing physician, as well as rabbi, was a conservative with unbounded respect for Moses and the prophets. He fought the rationalization of the Scriptures. He engaged in a dramatic debate with the Dominican Fra Pablo (a renegade Jew by the name of Paulus Christiani) before King James I of Aragon, on the differences between Jews and Christians—winning the disputation. (L. E. Froom, Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2, pp. 215-217.)
20 Quoted in Hudson, op. cit., p. 341; see also Edward White, of. cit., p. 223; Edward Pocock, Porta Mosis, vol. 1, chap. 6.
Ferdinand and Isabella from 1484 to 1492. It was he who advanced the funds for Christopher Columbus' voyages. Living in an age of discovery and of social and religious ferment, he was not only a Biblical scholar but also a remarkable expositor of the prophecies of Daniel 2 and 7—the sequence of the four world powers (Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome), with the Little Horn as the "rule of the pope," or papal antichrist, and the prophetic time periods on the year- day principle. [21] Abravanel likewise held that the soul would be punished in Gehenna, but only for a time, proportionate to the extent of its faults, and that final annihilation constitutes the “second death." [22] (Pictured on page 22.)
4. MANASSEH: WICKED SOULS CUT OFF.
Still another and later defender of Maimonides was the distinguished MANASSEH BEN ISRAEL (1604-1657), linguist, writer, publisher, and states man, who was also rabbi of the Jewish congregation at Amsterdam. He petitioned Oliver Cromwell for the return of the Jews to England, after their long banishment. He too was a remark able expositor of the prophecies of Daniel, and likewise of chapters two and seven, his treatise being illustrated by Rembrandt, who lettered the names of the four world kingdoms – Babylon, Medo-Persia. Grecia, and Rome on the symbols portraying the great powers of prophecy. [23] Manasseh contended that Maimonides, learned in all the lore of Jewish antiquity, "understood the cutting off of the soul mentioned in the Scripture to be none other than its annihilation. [24] Thus it was that the position of total destruction for the incorrigibly wicked—final extinction and deprivation of being—was maintained by some of the greatest spokesmen of medieval Jewry, [25] than whom there were no higher or more learned authorities in Semitic circles. So there was kinship of belief on this point between certain Jewish, Arabian, and Christian teachers of the Middle
The medieval Waldenses, dwelling for centuries in the Piedmont Alps of northern Italy, were both the spiritual descendants of the early evangelicals and the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. From generation to generation they sallied forth from their Alpine valley retreats to carry the light of the purer gospel to every quarter of bedarkened Europe.
21 See Froom, op. cit., vol. 2, pp. 223-232, for full documentation.
22 Miphalot Elohim via. 6; cf. Rosh Amanah (The Head [Chief Articles] of Faith); see Abbot, op. cit. ,no. 1944-
23 See Froom, op. cit., vol. 2, pp. 232-238, for full documentation.
24 In Sepher Nishmath Chayyim ("Book of the Breath of Life"): quoted in Edward White, op. cit., p. 222.
25 Cf. Pocock, op. cit.; John Alien, Modern Judaism, chaps. 9, 11: Hudson, op. cit., pp. 340, 341; Edward White, op. cit., pp. 221-223; Petavel, op. cit., pp. 109, 110.
Known under various names, [26] they spread their gospel message among the nations, protesting the corruptions of the Roman Church, proclaiming the evangelical faith, and calling men out of the Roman communion. The Italian Waldenses long antedated the French Waldensian Peter Waldo, and always existed independently of Rome. [27] They claimed to be the spiritual link that united Protestantism with the Early Church, back at least to the time of Sylvester and Constantine.
Their antiquity is established (1) by the admissions of their papal enemies, [28] (2) by the claims of their most scholarly leaders, as well as (3) by the concurring testimony of the early Protestant Reformers. They were clearly the Nonconformists of northern Italy between the fourth and fourteenth centuries, and later. In 1658, Sir Samuel Morland suggested the evident generation-to-generation transmission of the "Lamp of their Doctrine," from their valley-dwelling days onward, in the characteristic spelling and phrasing of the time:
26 Vaudois, Piedmontese, Leonists, Cathari, Humiliati, Henricians, Arnoldists, Petrobrusians, Apostohcals, Brethren, etc.—usually named from the locality in which they dwelt, certain special characteristics, or the pioneer Waldensian teacher or leader in a given region—like many branches from a central trunk. Care should be taken, however, not to confuse the genuine Waldenses with certain small alien groups, whom their enemies deliberately classified with them under the one inclusive name "Waldenses," in an endeavour to bring odium upon all. The term was used by Catholics as a synonym for medieval "heretics" in general. But the true should not, of course, be held accountable for the rash acts or positions of certain alien extremists.
27 See Froom, op. cit., vol. 1, pp. 937-952, for documentary evidence: also chaps. 34, 35.
28 Such as the Passau Inquisitors (Reineris), Pilichdorf, Map, Buchard, Thuanus.
Waldenses, Medieval Dissentients—No Souls in Purgatory.
"Thus in the Valleys of Piemont, Claudius Arch-Bishop of Turin, and he to his Disciples, and they to their succeeding Generations in the ninth and tenth Centuries: in another part of the World, Bertram to Berengarius, Berengarius to Peter Brus, Peter Brus to Waldo, Waldo again to Dulcinus, Dulcinus to Gandune and Marilius, they to Wickliff, Hus and Jerome of Prague, and their Schollars the Thaborites to Luther and Calvin." [29]
The Waldenses ever claimed to be the continuators of the true church, preserving the pure faith, with a valid ministry and church organization. And that they exerted a definite influence on the evangelical beliefs of Wyclif, Huss (who even visited their valleys), and Luther is an established fact of history. Their chief mission was to evangelize. So they spread out in every direction, their evangelists traveling two by two on their missions, under the guise of merchants, artisans, physicians, students, and "pedlars" of jewels. Indeed, the Romanists complained that they had poisoned all Europe with their "heresies," since everywhere they went they distributed tractates and portions of Scripture, duplicated by scribes in the Romaunt vernacular, placing them principally among the higher classes.
29 Samuel Morland, "An Introduction to the Following History," eighth page, in The History of the Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of the Piedmont; see Froom, op. cit. vol. 1, Appendix D.
They witnessed against the corruptions of Rome. They permeated not only Italy but Austria, Switzerland, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Moravia, and Bohemia. The Alpine valleys, however, continued to be their home and operating base. They constantly pointed out the contrast between the true and the false churches and doctrines. They repudiated not only the Mass but particularly Purgatory, prayers for the dead, and the invocation of saints, doctrines involving the nature of man.
This persistent exposure of Catholic departures from the primitive faith, and condemnation of the iniquities of the Roman Church, made challenge by Rome inevitable, with persecution following as a matter of course. In fact, Rome sought to blot them out of existence under recurring waves of persecution. But in the face of prison, fire, and sword, their rule of faith was ever the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, without the apocryphal additions. They were well versed in the Word, to which they made inevitable appeal in all arguments and conflicts with their enemies.
In common with the Paulicians—their counterpart of the East, likewise separated from the Roman communion—they did not believe in Purgatory, they would not invoke saints, and they had no prayers for the dead. And in various groups the pagan-papal doctrine of consciousness in death had no place in their teaching. While not all so held, nevertheless among them were those who contended for Life Only in Christ, with sleep in death, and immortality bestowed at the resurrection.
There is no single complete treatise thereon, but portions and expressions scattered through their major writings so attest.
The issue, against which all were united, was the papal dogma of Purgatory and its involvements.
1. EARLY HISTORIC BACKGROUNDS IN SURVEY.
During the early centuries of the Christian Era the archdiocese of Milan, situated in the midst of the plains of Lombardy, at the foot of the Cottian Alps, and extending westward to embrace the mountains and valleys of the Piedmont, was nearly as important as Rome to the south, and was virtually independent of its spiritual control. Beginning with the powerful bishopric of Ambrose, it became a haven for those seeking to preserve purity of faith and worship.
A struggle then began that continued until the eleventh century, when Milan was forced to capitulate to Rome, but not without bloodshed, at which time many dwellers of the plains fled from the lowlands to the mountain fastnesses and valleys of the Piedmont Alps. [30] These valleys then became a mountain fortress for the maintenance of their independence, and were believed by the Waldenses to be a citadel fashioned by Providence (Rev. 12:14, 16) for the preservation of their faith. There the training school for their bards was located and their synods were held.
In the sixth century Pope Pelagius I complained that the bishops of Milan did not come to Rome for ordination as others did, and added that this refusal was an "ancient custom” of theirs. [31] In 590 several bishops of northern Italy refused to accept the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon and the communion of the pope, and reaffirmed their independence of the Roman Church.32 In the ninth century Claudius, bishop of Turin (d. 839), with the same northern community as part of his diocese, fought the advancing papal encroachments and did much to delay the final capitulation of his churches to Rome, with its authority of tradition, prayers for the dead, supremacy of the pope, and image worship. And his diocese remained independent of Rome. But a century or two later all were subjugated save those who fled to the mountain fastnesses.
30 Thomas McCrie, History of the Progress and Suppression of the Reformation in Italy, p. 9.
31 Translated from a fragment of a letter of Pelagius I, in J. D. Mansi, op. cit. IX, col. 730; see also McCrie, op. cit.
32 Peter Allix, Some Remarks Upon the Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont, chap. 5.
2. RECOGNIZED IDENTITY OF ANTICHRIST AND His PERVERSIONS.—
The Waldenses were discerning students of Bible prophecy, as several of their treatises indicate, and knew where they were in God's predictive outline of the centuries. And they held to a sound eschatology. They knew they were living in the period of the domination of the papal Antichrist, or Beast, Babylon, and Man of Sin, portrayed repeatedly by Daniel, Paul, and John, as they affirmed. [33] They recognized the relentless conflict between the woman in scarlet, the great Roman apostasy (of Revelation 17), and the woman "clothed with the sun" (of Revelation 12). And they recognized themselves as embraced within the scope of this symbolic, persecuted woman-church of Revelation 12, being oppressed by the symbolic apostate church of Revelation 17.
1. PLATONIC PAGANISM SOURCE OF PURGATORY DOGMA.—
The learned Sir Samuel Morland, appointed historian of the Waldenses by Oliver Cromwell, made an exhaustive study of their original sources and, in 1658, published his findings in his monumental History of the Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of the Piedmont, which was based on "authentic attestations." [34] It was an official report to the British nation. In the Introduction Morland traces the pagan, Platonic origin of various of the papal dogmas. When he comes to Purgatory, and "Services for the dead," he gives the source as specifically from the "Heathens of old," adopted and transmitted by the Papacy, but denied by the Waldenses. Addressing Roman Catholics, he asks, and answers, pointedly:
33 For documented evidence see Froom, op. cit., vol. 1, pp. 876-886; cf. Morland, op. cit., especially pp. 142-195.
34 Approximately half of this remarkable more than 750-page volume consists of reprints of the original source documents, secured by Morland in the Valleys for transmission to the University of Cambridge, where they are preserved. In the more important documents the original Komaunt and Morland's English translation are placed in parallel columns, and the location of the original "authentic manuscript" given.
"From whence have you received the Doctrine of Purgatory, if not from the same ["pagan"] Source and Fountain? Plato in his Dialogue of the soul instituted Pheedon, speaks plainly in this point. . . .” "It is more then clear that the Heathens were the first that kindled the fire of Purgatory in the world; And the truth is, Bellarmine himself confesses so much, when he proves the Doctrine of Purgatory from the testimony of Plato, Cicero, and Virgil.
"If we do but consider a little your Prayers and Services for the dead, we shall find that you are as much beholding to the Heathen for them, as any of the former." [35]
2. "YOUTH CATECHISM": PURGATORY AGAINST "COMMANDMENTS OF GOD."—
In "The Ancient Discipline of the Evangelical Churches in the Valleys of Piedmont"—in existence in the twelfth century, but according to Morland "written in their own Language several hundreds of Years before either Calvin or Luther"—Article IV of the "Catechism of the ancient Waldenses for the Instructing of their Youth," begins as follows: "The Minister. If one should demand of you, who are you, what would you answer?
"Childe. A Creature of God, reasonable, and mortal." [36] In touching upon the departures, or "seductions," introduced by Antichrist, including Purgatory, which were "forged and contrived" in response to a question concerning that which has been substituted for the true faith and hope, the answer reads: "The seduction of Antichrist to believe in other things beside Christ, that is to say, in Saints, in the power of that Antichrist, in his authority, words, and benedictions, in Sacraments, Relics of the Dead, in Purgatory, which is but forged and contrived, in teaching that faith is obtained by those ways which oppose themselves to the truth, and are against the Commandments of God. . . .
"Forsaking the fountain of living water given by grace, and running to broken cisterns, worshipping, honouring, and serving the creature by Prayers, by Fasting, by Sacrifices, by Donations, by Offerings, by Pilgrimages, by Invocations, etc." [37] The concluding question and answer in the series are:
35 Morland. op. cit., Introduction, seventeenth and eighteenth pages.
36 Ibid., p. 75 (tr. by Morland).
37 Ibid., p. 83.
"Min. Wherein consists eternal life?” "Ans. In a living and operating faith, and in perseverance in the same. Our Saviour says John 17. This is life eternal to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. And he that endures to the end shall be saved." [38]
3. "NOBLE LESSON": REWARD AT DAY OF JUDGMENT.—
Also in the well-known Noble Lesson (a poem that epitomizes the Waldensian faith), for public reading, composed about 1100, [39] and touching on contemporary times and the approaching "end of the world," these sentences appear: "No man living can know the end.
"And therefore we ought the more to fear, as not being certain, "Whether we shall die today or tomorrow. But when the Day of Judgment shall come, Everyone shall receive their full Reward." [40]
Toward the close of the Lesson, after reference again to Antichrist, and the harbingers of the last days, the "Day of Judgment," and rewards and punishments following there upon, these words occur: "Many Signs and great Wonders "Shall be from this time forward until the Day of Judgment, "The Heaven and the Earth shall burn, and all the Living die.
"After which all shall arise to everlasting Life.” "And all Buildings shall be laid flat.” "Then shall be the last Judgment, "When God shall separate his People, according as its written, "To the wicked he shall say, Depart ye from me into Hell Fire, which shall never be quenched. . . .” "He shall say to His Elect without delay; " 'Come hither ye blessed of my Father, " 'Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World." [41]
4. "ANTICHRIST" TREATISE: No SOULS IN PURGATORY.—
In the remarkable treatise, "Concerning Antichrist, Purgatory, Invocation of Saints, etc.," already existent in 1120, Article II deals specifically with Catholicism's "Purgatory Dream,”
38 Ibid., p. 84.
39 See Froom, op. cit., vol. 1, pp. 871-876.
40 Morland, op. cit., p. 99.
41 Ibid., p. 126. (Italics his.)
wherein it is claimed, by Antichrist, that souls are to "endure very sensible pains," in order to be "thoroughly purged after this Life in Purgatory, and that being purged, they come forth thence, some sooner, some later, and others not till Dooms Day." Then follows the significant statement: "And the people are grievously cheated and abused about the matter of their Souls." [42] Discussing the lack of any Scripture basis for Purgatory, and its "most sensible pains, being once departed their Bodies,” Article II continues: "And as to the first part, viz. Scripture proofs, there is none at all to be found throughout the Bible for it; let us peruse the whole Law of God, we shall not meet with any one passage obliging or binding a Christian necessarily to believe, as an Article of Faith, that after this Life there should be such a place as Purgatory, as some aver. There is not one place in all the holy Scriptures, to shew it, neither can there be any evidence produced that ever there entered any one Soul in such a Purgatory, and came out again from thence." [43] The Treatise declares that it was Pope Pelagius, in the sixth century, who instituted Masses for the dead. And it is to be noted that the noncanonical book of Maccabees is Catholicism's only supporting reference, for "neither Christ, nor any of his Apostles, nor any of the Saints, next succeeding and living after them, ever taught any to pray for the dead.” [44]
5. "Now IN HEAVEN" CONTENTION Is PAPAL INNOVATION.
Article II, concerning "Invocation of Saints," says that some of the "Masters and their adherents" claim that "the Saints departed, and being possessed of the heavenly Country, ought to be prayed unto by us. ... But we ought to believe no such matter." [45] The Article declares that there is only one true "Mediator [Jesus Christ] between God and Man." [46] Nor was this doctrine believed, the Article continues, "until the Man of Sin got power to introduce this new Intercession of Saints." [47]
6. II MACCABEES CITED AS PAPAL GROUND FOR PURGATORY.
42 Ibid., p. 161.
43 Ibid., p. 164. (Italics his.)
44 Ibid., p. 166.
45 Ibid., p. 167.
46 Ibid., a. 169.
47 Ibid., p. 172.
Denying that there is a "third place [Purgatory]," beyond Heaven and Hell, which belief was never held by the "Primitive church" until centuries had elapsed after Christ, the Treatise avers: "It is needless to believe the said Purgatory as an Article of Faith, and that there should be such a thing after this Life." [48] Then comes this illuminating declaration of its Apocryphal and noncanonical origin of the related prayers for the dead: "But whence is it then (one might wonder) that People now a days are so much taken with this opinion of assisting the Dead? seeing that in all the Scriptures there is nothing expressly taught concerning it, unless it be in the Book of Maccabees, which doth not belong to the Old Testament, nor is Canonical, and that neither Christ, nor any of his Apostles, nor any of the Saints, next succeeding and living after them, ever taught any to pray for the Dead." [49]
1. PAPAL INQUISITOR CONFIRMS WALDENSES' REJECTION OF PURGATORY.—
Confirmation from the enemies of the Waldenses is also on record. In 1398 Peter the Inquisitor, in listing the "Errors" of the Waldenses, likewise declares that they deny Purgatory, and dismiss as useless, prayers and alms for the dead, together with indulgences. [50] On the other hand, the later Waldensian barbe Georges Morel wrote a letter to Oecolampadius (1530) at the outset of the Reformation, similarly but independently declaring that they had ever asserted Purgatory to have been invented by Antichrist, contrary to truth, and they had therefore rejected it. [51] On this there was no deviation throughout their long and eventful history. Thus the stage was set for the Protestant Reformation rejection.
Such was the explicit and repeated witness and protest of the medieval Waldensian Church against Purgatory and the invocation of saints, as expressly left on record in their own contemporary treatises, when such denials were bound to result
48 Ibid., p. 166.
49 Ibid.
50 See Wilhelm Preger, lungen der historischen Cto: , "Beitrage zur Geschichte der Waldesier im Mittelalter," Abhandlungen
der historischen Classe der königlich bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Munich), vol. 13, pp. 246-249;
Also [Johann J.] Ignaz von Dollinger, Beitrase air Sektenge- schichte del Mittelalters, vol. 2, pp. 305-311.
51 Emilio Comba, History of the Waldenses of Italy, From Their Origin to the Reformation, pp. 291, 292.
in severe persecution. The great repudiation was already under way. It was inevitable that these related errors should come to issue in the great Protestant Reformation, when it broke forth early in the sixteenth century.
The Waldenses thus constituted an indispensable medieval link in the chain of witnesses concerning the soul, leading down to Wyclif, Luther, Tyndale, Frith, and those Reformers who followed.
VII. John XXII Digresses From Catholic Disposition of Soul at Death
Ere we close this pre-Reformation chapter, medieval Pope John XXII should surely receive parenthetical mention, not as another Conditionalist but as a pontiff who forsook the standard Roman Catholic teaching as to the whereabouts of the soul after death, thus breaking with accepted dogma. Because of this, his divergence should be noted, though this fact is not commonly known and is but rarely referred to.
To get the setting one must bear in mind that the Papal Church reached its zenith in the thirteenth century, then began to decline. In the fourteenth century France came to the fore as the dominating civil power. Many of the cardinals were now French, as were several of the popes. And Rome, seat of the Papacy for so many centuries, was for a time abandoned, the French popes taking up their residence from 1309 to 1377 at Avignon instead. Incidentally, this was the period that both Petrarch and Luther referred to as the Babylonian captivity of the church, and that was definitely influenced by the French court.
1. THE TROUBLED REIGN OF POPE JOHN XXII.—
Pope John XXII (1316-1334), formerly bishop of Avignon, then cardinal of Porto, was elected pope in 1316 and fixed his residence at Avignon, where he remained throughout the remainder of his life. He was the most celebrated of the Avignon popes, his reign being filled with theological and political conflicts. Attempting to perpetuate the audacious claims of Gregory VII and Innocent III, John sought to interpose his authority in the contest for the imperial crown being waged between Lewis of Bavaria and Frederick of Austria. Pope John thus touched off a violent literary feud as to the supremacy of the pope over the emperor, or vice versa.
But the papal fortunes had changed. Lewis seized the Vatican and Rome, in 1328, installed an antipope—Nicholas V, a Spiritual Franciscan—who was, however, forced to submit to John two years later. John XXII likewise had trouble in Italy, in the struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. He further complicated his position by attempting to dis solve the Spirituals, whose doctrines he denounced.
Meantime Avignon and southern France were peaceful and prosperous, while Rome and central Italy were in a state of anarchy. At Avignon the pope was relatively free from political pressures, and France was then the centre of European civilization. So he never went to Rome. It should be added that John XXII was long remembered for perfecting the financial system that filled the ecclesiastical offices with financiers rather than with priests. Pursuant to this policy, he accumulated for the papal coffers the enormous sum of 18 million florins of gold.
2. SOUL NOT IN PRESENCE OF GOD TILL AFTER RESURRECTION.—
But the crucial point is this: In his last years John XXII became involved in an acute theological dispute, by maintain- ng that souls do not go immediately into the presence of God (the "beatific vision," or seeing God face to face) until after the general judgment and the resurrection of the body. That, of course, flouted the standard position of the church.
For this revolutionary position he was inevitably accused of heresy by the Dominican theologians and the University of Paris. And this divergent opinion the aged pontiff was forced to retract before his death in 1334. [52] Such an alien view was, of
52 Oswald J. Reichel, The See o/ Rome in the Middle Ages, pp. 421, 422, see Note 1: Archibald Bower, The History of the Popes, vol. 3, pp. 86, 87; M. Creighton, A History of the Papacy, vol. 1, pp. 33-42: Samuel Edgar, The Variations of Popery, pp. 79, 80; also cf. Labbe. History of the Councils, vol. 15. o. 147.
course, a revolutionary departure from the traditional Catholic view. Some authorities even aver that he held the doctrine of the sleep of the soul during the intermediate state, but that is not established. Nevertheless, he was radically out of step with orthodox Catholic teaching. Note the involvements of such a position.
3. DISCONCERTING QUESTIONS ARISE FROM DECLARATION.—
As stated, in the opinion of John XXII the dead—even the saints—do not enjoy the "beatific vision" of God until after the resurrection. Prof. John W. Draper tersely describes the aftermath of his revolutionary position: "At once there was a demand among the orthodox, 'What! do not the apostles, John. Peter, nay, even the blessed Virgin, stand yet in the presence of God?' The pope directed the most learned theologians to examine the question, himself entering actively into the dispute. The University of Paris was involved. The King of France declared that his realm should not be polluted with such heretical doctrines. A single sentence explains the practical direction of the dogma, so far as the interests of the Church were concerned: 'If the saints stand not in the presence of God, of what use is their intercession? What is the use of addressing prayers to them?' [53]
That was a disconcerting involvement, striking at a fundamental Catholic contention. It could not be tolerated.
As to the outcome, Pope John's successor, Benedict XII, adroitly disposed of the question by stating, "It is only those saints who do not pass through Purgatory that immediately behold the Godhead." [54] Thus "orthodoxy" was sustained. Such was the interesting fourteenth-century defection at the very summit of the Papacy—in the Avignon pontificate itself.
53 John W. Draper, History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, vol. 2, p. 94.
54 Ibid.
We should not pass from the Middle Ages to the oncoming Reformation without first noting the horrific side of Immortal- Soulism, which was particularly prominent in the centuries just preceding the Protestant Reformation. While not pleasant to contemplate, it was nevertheless an inseparable part of the teaching of the times, and the emphasis of the dominant church.
Hideous portrayals of the horrors of hell, iterated and reiterated in written and sculptured form, and pictured upon canvas, characterized the oppressive ecclesiastical portrayal all the way from the sixth century to and through the late Middle Ages:* Dante, of Florence (1265-1321), the greatest of Italian poets, in his Divine Comedy filled Purgatory and Hell with the spirits of the departed, but treated the theme so nobly that their horror was almost hidden. Not all writers, however, were that way. In the eighth century the Venerable Bede (673-735) recorded that such portrayals stem from the "Dialogues of Gregory the Great" (590-604), though he notes that there was a fifth- century vision of heretics in Hell recorded by the monk Cyriacus. [1] Later, Thomas Aquinas, Berthold of Regensberg, Herold, Fra Luis de Grenada, and particularly Ignatius Loyola, along
1. The Venerable Bede, Ecclesiastical History fed. J. A. Giles, George Bell), book 5, chap. 12, p. 255.
Throughout this dreary period ecclesiastical art is replete with horrific details. Prof. Percy Dearmer, of King's College, London, in his The Legend of Hell (1929), reproduced an authentic series of these revolting picturizations. These stark cjiaracterizations included:
(1) A Damned Woman Carried Off by a Devil, by Signorelli (1499-1504), in the Ovieto Cathedral.
(2) The Torment of Cold, by Verard (1492)—a biting wind forcing its victims into the more unbearable cold of a frozen river, whence Beelzebub throws them into a lake of fire, and sometimes into the jaws of a monstrous beast, which first swallows and then vomits them up again.
(3) The Ladder of Salvation (c. 1190), in Chaldon Church, Surrey, showing the "harrowing of hell"—a beast devouring the feet of those who sinned by dancing, a dog gnawing the feet of a woman who had been unkind to animals, and souls being pulled off a ladder and plunged into Hell.
(4) Two Devils Roasting a Soul Over Hell-Fire (c. 1250) — a carving in Worcester Cathedral.
(5) The Tortures of the Damned (c. 1416), from Les Tres Riches Heures by Due de Berry, in Chantilly—Satan spewing up damned souls, who afterward gave birth to fiery serpents which in turn devoured them, as in the vision of Tundal. Other devils work bellows under the central grid to intensify the heat, and volcanos belch victims from below.
(6) The Last Judgment (1390), in Bourges Cathedral—a typical sculptured depiction, wrought over the central arch, where all who entered the edifice must see it. Here Christ is pictured as a stern judge, and Michael as mercilessly weighing a soul. Abraham's bosom is portrayed, to which angels conduct the blessed, while the damned are led to Hell's mouth by devils.
(7) Christ Cursing the Lost—detail from The Last Judgment in the capella sistina of the Vatican, by Michelangelo (1534-1541), striking mortal terror to the damned.
These horrific portrayals met the eye with deadly frequency. There was no escape, since they constituted the sustained note of unnumbered literary productions, and were sculptured in stone in many a famous medieval church. These formed the inescapable background emphasis throughout these dismal centuries. And as the Reformation dawned these assuredly helped to create an inevitable revolt against the terrors of such a dogma.
1. MULTIPLE PAGAN SOURCES OF CATHOLIC PURGATORY.—
Purgatory, in historical antecedents, was first projected by pagan philosophers and poets. It was they who first proffered hope for sinners who at death were not fit for the abodes of the blessed.
So a middle state was conceived, with purgatorial pains to purge away the guilt. Neander, in volume one of his Dogmatics, saw one of its sources in the ancient Persian doctrine of a purifying conflagration that must precede the victory of the Zoroastrian Ormazd (god of good and light) and consume away everything that is impure. [2] From the Persians it passed, with modifications, to one segment of the Jews. [3] And from them it came to be accepted by certain Christians—the Gnostics borrowing it via the Neoplatonic philosophical notion that matter is inherently evil. If the body is to rise, it must be purged of evil, with fire as the instrument of purification. Even in Egypt the same sort of purgatorial idea was taught. [4] With this went prayers for the dead and inter position by the priests for pay.
But it appeared in its most highly developed form among the Platonic philosophers and poets of Greece. A purgatorial region and process appeared in Plato's Phaedo, and in his Gorgias [5] nearly four hundred years before the Christian Era.
2 See A. H. Newman, Manual of Church History, vol. 1, p. 37.
3 John M'Clintock, and James Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. 8, p. 798.
4 John Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, vol. 2, p. 94.
5 Plato asserts that some, guilty of curable offenses, are purified through pain and torments.—W. C. Helmbold, Plato's Gorgias, p. 104.
That famous Grecian philosopher divided men into three classes —good, bad, and "middling." He had his Acheron River, from which wretched sufferers might escape after a purgation process.
"Some," he said, when they "have finished their first life, . . .receive judgment. After it some go beneath the earth to places of chastisement and are punished." [6] This thought he embellished with all the skills of imaginative language and striking metaphor. This was later augmented by Cicero's, classic dream of Scipio, likewise drawn from Plato's imagery. And Vergil similarly wove the Platonic speculation into his immortal Aeneid (book iv. l) as one of the compartments in his Elysium, with souls in the infernal world making expiation and obtaining purification through the medium of water, wind, and fire.
So it was paganism that first offered hope after death for sinners who, at the time of "departure," were not yet fit for Heaven. For this purpose a "middle state" was conceived in which guilt would be purged away by purgatorial pains. In Greece, as noted, this was expressly inculcated by the philosophers. Plato held out hope for all, but some must first sustain a deserved punishment, or purification. So Platonism is the immediate origin, just as with Innate Immortality.
As observed, in the Inter-Testament period some of the Jews likewise believed in a purgatorial purification of the soul after death, also derived, it is believed, directly from Platonism.
Such were the multiple sources from which Roman Catholicism borrowed her Purgatory- postulate. And later, even the Moslems adopted the notion of a purgatorial, posthumous punishment and purification, acquired in turn from the Catholic and Jewish systems.
6 W. C. Helmbold and W. G. Rabinowitz, Plato's Phaedrus, p. 32.
2. PROGRESSIVE ESTABLISHMENT IN CATHOLIC CIRCLES.
— The origin of Purgatory as a medieval Catholic doctrine is briefly this: The foundation was laid by Augustine. It was then sanctioned by Pope Gregory the Great (c. 582), supported next by Damian, and consummated under Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas. Augustine, following Plato in his concept of an abode of unending pain, seems to have been the first Chris tian writer to project the idea of purifying the "immortal soul ) while the body lies in the tomb, though he emphatically rejected the idea of a "third" place "as unknown to Christians and foreign to revelation." But he sought some avenue of escape from the fearful pains of an unending hell. He taught that— "there are some who have departed this life, who are not so bad as to be deemed unworthy of mercy, nor so good as to be entitled to immediate happiness." [7] Augustine's high standing in theological circles gave credence to this definite idea, and it found reception among the barbarian tribes in Italy, Spain, and England when the Goths and Lombards invaded Italy, and when France was subdued by the Franks, and the Vandals desolated Spain.
Purgatory, as a burning away of sins, was unknown in East or West prior to Gregory I. And Gregory spoke on the theme with some indecision. He added, however, the idea of tormenting fire, which later came to be associated with indulgences.
Peter Damian (d. 1072), eleventh-century cardinal, added the hot and cold element, to be noted shortly. About the same time, Odilo (d. 1048), famous abbot of the Cluniac monasteries, opened an extensive mart for prayers and masses for souls detained in Purgatory. Nevertheless, according to Otho of Freising (d. 1158), German chronicler of the Middle Ages, the purgatorial novelty had not obtained a general reception by the middle of the twelfth century.
Then it was that these speculations of Augustine, Gregory, and Odilo fell into the hands of Aquinas and other schoolmen, who finished the fabrication. Touched upon at the Council of Lyons (1274), the matter finally came before the General Council of Florence in 1439, received full sanction, and was ratified by Pope Eugenius IV. Thus, after a long succession of variations, it became a dogma of faith in the Latin communion. [8] The Greeks, however, opposed the Latins on the question of the Florentine decision, and thus injected discord. According to the Florentine Council, mankind consists of saints, sinners, and an intermediate class. T-he saints. go to Heaven, the sinners go to Hell, and the middle group to the middle receptacle—Purgatory. [9] In this way the Council of Florence formulated the opinions of the schoolmen into a dogma, which in turn was reaffirmed and established by the twenty-fifth session of the Council of Trent. [10] Roman theologians, however, differed as to the medium of punishment. What one accepted, another rejected. The schoolmen placed it in the bowels of the earth, in the vicinity of Hell. Some even had the alternate variation of water, darkness, tempest, whirlwind, snow, ice, frost, hail, and rain—from icy pool to boiling caldron. These sharp differences Trent sought to compose.
7 Augustine, De Civilale Dei xxi. 13 and 24.
Framing language to represent the wide diversity of opinion, the Council declared in general terms the existence of a middle place—and cursed all who dissented. [11] The Catechism of the Council of Trent declared:
"Among them is also the fire of purgatory, in which the souls of just men are cleansed by a temporary punishment, in order to be admitted into their eternal country, into which nothing defiled entereth." [12] In the Middle Ages the Cathari, Waldenses, and Hussites openly rejected the doctrine of Purgatory, as did the sixteenth- century Protestants. But the majority in the Reformation retained Augustine's Hell, while denying his Purgatory.
8 Philippe Labbe and Gabriel Cossart, 'Sacrosanta Concilia, vol. 18, p. 526; Severin Binius, Concilia Generalia et Provincialia Graco et Latina, vol. 8, p. 568.
9 Labbe and Cossart, op. cit., vol. 18, p. 533; vol. 20, p. 170; Pierre Crabbe, Acta Conciliorum, vol. 3, pp. 476, 939.
10 Catechism of the Council of Trent for Parish Priests, trans. by John A. McHugh and Charles J. Callan, pp. xxiv, 63.
11 Fra Paolo, Historia, vol. 8, pp. 633, 634.
12 Catechism of the Council of Trent, p..63.
3. BECOMES POWERFUL FORCE IN HANDS OF PRIESTHOOD.—
As might be surmised, people lived in mortal terror of the fires of Hell. So Purgatory came to be looked upon as a means of mitigation—an intermediate place wherein those not bad enough for Hell and not good enough for Heaven might make expiation. It was devised to explain the state of immortal souls v between death and the general judgment. But the pressure was alternately applied on Purgatory and then relaxed through proffered indulgences. Thus there was an oscillation between wrath and mercy, with tremendous power vested in the hands of the priests and the hierarchy. Prayers for the dead went hand in hand with Purgatory. But no prayers were efficacious without the interposition of the priest—and priestly functions called for pay.
4. FOUR SCRIPTURAL PASSAGES SOMETIMES INVOKED.—
Catholics rely chiefly on the Apocryphal 2 Maccabees 12:39-45 in support of their doctrine of Purgatory. But four scriptural citations are sometimes invoked:
(1) The "utmost farthing" of Matthew 5:26—Purgatory being the "prison" that detains, the venial transgressor, until he satisfies for his trivial impurities.
(2) Others cite the sin against the Holy Ghost, forgiven "neither in this world. Nor in the world to come" (Matt. 12:32). So, inasmuch as forgiveness can have no application to Heaven or Hell, it must refer to the middle state. (But Purgatory is not considered a place of pardon, but of alleged punishment and expiation; and the statement concerning the irremission of sin against the Holy Ghost does not affect remission of other sins.)
(3) Still another passage is Paul's building of "wood, hay, or stubble." Though his "work shall be burned," "he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire" (1 Cor. 3:15)—in the middle state. The doubtfulness of this exposition is easily recognized.
13 Johann Lorenz von Mosheim, Institutes of Ecclesiastical History (Murdock tr., 1841), vol. 2, p. 291.
(The trial is of works, not of persons. And the purpose is not to purify but to "try”')
-(4) Yet another citation is Christ's preaching to the "spirits in prison" (1 Peter 3:19). Here again there is division. Some claim it is Hell, others the "limbo" of the Fathers, or the bosom of Abraham—the one claim cancelling the other. The interpretation which would make it Purgatory is entirely modern, and unknown to the ancients. In fact, none of the early writers for the first four hundred years of the Christian Era mention such a place. Many of the Fathers—as Augustine, Ephraim, Epiphanius—testify against an intermediate place of expiation.
Significantly, no advocates of this dogma pretend to have the authority of earlier Fathers, such as Barnabas, Clemens, Hermas, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin, Tatian, Irenaeus, Athenagoras, and Theophilus. [14] They make no appeal to writers in the first two hundred years of the Christian Era. It is obvious that the invoking of Bible passages by the Romanists in support of the doctrine of Purgatory involves a malpractice irl exegesis, and the Apocryphal Maccabees offers no evidence of inspiration.
5. WHEREIN PURGATORY DIFFERS FROM HELL.—
The pains of Purgatory are said to be the same as those of Hell, differing only in that they do not last-forever. In other words, Purgatory is set forth as filled with the same fires and the same, torments as Hell, except that those assigned to it remain only for a while.
14 Samuel Edgar, The Variations of Popery (1838 ed.), p. 469.
According to Catholicism few enter Heaven immediately upon departure from this life. A purgation amid the fires of Purgatory is indispensable for most souls—some hold it even embraces pontiffs.
After God has remitted the guilt and eternal punishment, it is held that a temporary punishment remains due, which may be shortened by masses and indulgence. Purgatory does not therefore involve the idea of the future redemption of the impenitent, but only of those who die in a state of grace. It is consequently a place of suffering for imperfect Christians.
Penitence must allegedly be supplemented by penance, in order to ensure salvation. Purgatory is therefore claimed to be the temporary punishment of those souls who die in a "state of grace" but not free from venial sins, and who are thus purified by suffering. [15] It is definitely to cleanse from venial sins, not to convert after death.
It should be noted that Origen, with his Restorationism, conceived of a Purgatory broader than that of Plato or Augustine, from which all should at length be restored to the favor of God. But the underlying principle was the same.
6. SUMMARY: MITIGATING THE HORRORS OF HELL.—
Thus it was that the dual postulate of the Innate Immortality of the soul and the Eternal Torment of the wicked grew more com plex with the passing of the centuries. Springing undeniably from Platonic pagan philosophy origins, then permeating Alexandrian Jewish channels, the doctrine of Purgatory established itself in the great Latin apostasy—the maturing Roman Church.
There it slowly- but surely developed as a logical corollary to this antecedent dual dogma—a purgatorial cleansing of souls in order to ready them for the felicities of Paradise. It was the logical accompaniment of the inherent immortality thesis and its paralleling concept of the eternal punishing of the wicked.
15 See James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1893), pp. 247, 248. See also such popular writers as Rumble and Carty, Conway, et cetera.
Purgatory was designed to mitigate the horrors of Hell and to provide an escape for a vast number from the hopelessness of perpetual Hellfire. It was basically a system of works, whereby the soul purified itself by efficacious suffering, a concept that constitutes the essence of Romanism. It was consequently a negation of the great apostolic and later Protestant doctrine bf justification by faith in an all-sufficient Saviour and His vicarious atonement, and in salvation solely through His grace.
Toward the end of the nineteenth century, however, there developed among some in the Church of England a hankering after Purgatory as a mitigation of Hell, later to be noted. It appeared conspicuously in the Tractatian Movement of the nineteenth century. It was inevitable that the true forerunners of Protestantism —the Waldenses, and the later Lollards and Hussites—should challenge this anti-Christian innovation, as we shall now find to be the case. The Waldensian missionaries spread out in every direction—into Italy, France, Spain, England, Germany, Bohemia, and even Bulgaria and Turkey—denying this innovation. The Wyclifites were definitely influenced by the teachings of these Waldensian barbes, and the Bohemian evangelical faith was greatly indebted to them. Unavoidable conflict between the two basic concepts developed.
Before examining Wyclif's illuminating testimony, let us pause a moment to note the murky medieval atmosphere, heavy with tradition, that had settled down like an obscuring fog, during the Middle Ages, upon Britain and the Continent, making visibility difficult on matters pertaining to the inspired teachings of the Word. These were the Dark Ages.
From the tenth century onward, amid the crystallizing establishment of Roman Catholic theology, until the middle of the sixteenth century men lived in constant fear—fear of man, of the state, of the church, of God, of the devil, of death and of Hell and Purgatory. Roman Catholicism was the only Christianity publicly recognized. Medieval eschatology, as por trayed in the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas, declared that souls fly immediately at death to their appointed places. [1] And the dogma of the soul—its nature and destiny—was at last defined at the Council of Trent. The medieval belief in a future life was largely concentrated in the current concepts of Satan, Purgatory, the Last Judgment, and Hell. God, Christ, grace and Heaven were tragically obscured. The gospel was in eclipse.
1 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica iii, in Suppl. 69.2.
CHALLENGES TO INNATE IMMORTALITY ERUPT.—
But the Middle Ages, though thus shrouded in darkness, were never the less marked by a growing agitation over the immortality issue. It kept coming periodically to the fore. Thus in 1270, Stephen, Catholic bishop of Paris, condemned thirteen propositions allegedly taught by several professors of philosophy and divinity in Paris. The seventh proposition was that "the soul of man ... is corruptible." The eighth was that "the separate soul does not suffer eternal fire"; and the thirteenth stated that God "cannot give immortality or incorruptibility to a mortal and corruptible creature." While the names of the holders of these views were not stated, they are said to have been expelled from the university for their temerity.
And according to the testimony of the eminent Sorbonne professor Lewis E. Du Pin, in 1302 charges were even brought by four French earls against Pope Boniface VIII, alleging that he "did not believe in immortality." [2] Thus rumors and charges were bandied back and forth over the volatile issue of the nature and destiny of man. Various scholastics were involved and numerous names were suspect. But most of the struggles were shrouded in the mists of innuendo and obscured by blurred accounts. The records are neither too clear nor reliable—except that they disclose a growing undercurrent of revolt against the dominant medieval position of the Roman Church on the Innate Immortality of all men and the Eternal Torment of the damned. This growing challenge we will now trace, beginning with Wyclif.
JOHN WYCLIF (c. 1324-1384), acclaimed "the Morning Star of the Reformation," was a star of first magnitude, shining in solitary splendour amid the early grey dawn of the increasing evangelical light. He was unquestionably the most influential religious personage of the fourteenth century. First a student at Oxford, then long a teacher there, he was chaplain to the king and adviser to Parliament. And to him we owe our first Bible in English. His sound scholarship and wide scope of training was acknowledged by all. And he was versed not only in scholastic philosophy and the canons of the church but in civil law, as well. Here the records are reliable and clear.
2 Lewis Ellies Du Pin, New History of Ecclesiastical Writers, vol. 2, p. 492.
Wyclif's knowledge of philosophy enabled him to expose its errors with devastating logic. And his skill in civil and ecclesiastical law prepared him to champion not only religious liberty for all but the civil rights of the crown, and to deny the papal claim of authority over civil rulers. Understanding the tactics of the schoolmen, he was in a position to counter them through his learning and to command the respect of foe, as well as friend. His championship of neglected and forgotten truths consequently compelled a hearing by the leading minds of the nation. Enemies could not cast contempt upon the causes he championed and the positions he espoused by charging either ignorance or weakness. He was acknowledged by all as an intellectual giant.
At the university Wyclif had been strangely drawn toward Sacred Scripture. Dissatisfied with his meagre knowledge of the Word, he entered upon Bible study with characteristic thoroughness. There he found a glorious revelation of Christ, with salvation for men in Him, and only in Him. Wyclif did not at first see the significance of his studies or sense the inevitable conclusions to which they would lead. But this much was clear:
Rome had incontrovertibly forsaken the Word for tradition.
And he saw, further, that the errors of Rome were in basic conflict with the Bible. He felt impelled to accuse the priest hood of withholding the Scriptures from the people, and to demand their rightful restoration. True religion, he contended, is a personal relationship between the individual and God, and should be free from the control of the priests. "Repudiation of papal error was inevitable.
Wyclif lived a crowded life. In 1361 he was master of Balliol College and lecturer on Scripture, resigning to become vicar of Fillingham. In 1365 he was warder of Canterbury Hall, and in 1368 rector of Ludgershall. In 1372 he received the degree of Doctor of Theology. He had already begun openly to censure the corruptions of the Roman Church and to advocate pure doctrine and soul freedom. Because of his ability as a teacher and his eloquence as a preacher, his influence grew.
And his remarkable knowledge of Scripture, together with the clarity of his reasoning and teaching and his exemplary life and personal integrity, won the confidence of the populace. But it also stirred the anger of the priesthood.
In 1374 Wyclif was sent as a member of a royal commission to Bruges, in the Netherlands, to meet with papal nuncios and discuss differences between the British crown and Gregory XI.
There he met ecclesiastics from Italy, France, and Spain, and had opportunity to look behind the scenes. For the first time he saw the stark realities of the Papacy. And upon his return to England he began to speak openly of the "Antichrist" of prophecy [3] and to warn against its abominations and errors.
His trip to the Continent also brought him in contact with the Waldenses, who held the Scriptures to be their sole rule of faith and conduct, and suffered fearful persecution as a consequence. And their Bible was in the Romaunt idiom— the language of Southern Europe at that time. It was this impact that evidently changed Wyclif's emphasis from legal and scholastic to scriptural arguments in subsequent discussions with various dignitaries of the Roman Church. And it was through this visit that he received the conviction that the people must be able to read the Scriptures in their own "modir tonge ["mother tongue"]"—hence his subsequent rendering of the Bible into English.
1. CONFLICTS WITH ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITY.—
Upon his return to England, Wyclif was appointed rector of Lutterworth. But soon, because of his utterances, charges of heresy began to be hurled at him, with demands that he be silenced.
This produced the first great crisis in his life, as he was brought into direct conflict with ecclesiastical authority, and opposed the secularity of the Medieval Church and its abuses, particularly in the monastic system. In 1377 he was summoned by Bishop Courtenay to St. Paul's in London to give an account of his teachings, but was protected by John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster.
In May, 1377, Gregory XI issued five bulls condemning Wyclif's positions, [4] demanding that he answer charges of in subordination and heresy, condemning eighteen propositions in his writings, reproving Oxford for not disciplining him, and ordering his imprisonment. Wyclif, however, paid little attention to the bulls. So there was a second citation. In 1378 he was summoned to the bishop's palace at Lambeth and con fronted with a formidable list of charges. The charges, it should be added, were based on the common controversial device of taking extracts out of context, and without the explanations of the writer. Condemnation seemed inevitable.
3 See Froom, Prophetic Faith, vol. 2, pp. 47-62, for full discussion.
4 Reginald L. Poole, "John Wycliffe, Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 23, pp. 821-824.
Wyclif not only answered his accusers but arraigned them before the bar of truth. It was they who were now on trial, not he—their charges were rebounding on themselves. But a popular uprising of London sympathizers burst into the hall and aborted the proceedings. Wyclif was next summoned to the tribunal of Rome, but illness prevented the journey. So he wrote a masterful letter. Standing practically alone, he fully expected to pay the price of death at the stake.
In 1381 the second crisis came, involving a break with the underlying errors of medieval theology. On these he demanded sweeping reform. In a series of lectures at Oxford he openly attacked transubstantiation. The wafer was "neither Christ nor any part of Him"-—only a sign or symbol of the reality, a spiritual presence. If the priests could not produce the actual body of Christ, then the whole system was hierarchical pretension. He publicly challenged the dictum of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215). That, of course, was an open break with the church.
Such flagrant "heresy" over the Eucharist sealed his doom, as he now stood alone in witnessing to the truth of Scripture.
The chancellor of the university forbade Wyclif's view of the Eucharist to be taught in the university, under pain of sup pression, imprisonment, and excommunication.
Wyclif appealed to the king. But in 1382 the Archbishop of Canterbury summoned a synod of bishops at London. And a group of twelve judges declared Wyclif's opinions heretical, [5] and prohibited their being taught in the university. Under papal pressure Wyclif was expelled from the university after forty years of service. Nevertheless, he remained on as rector of Lutterworth, whence, after his "banishment," tracts continued to pour forth—such as De Potestate Papae ("On the Power of the Pope"), De Veritate Sacrae Scripturae ("On the Truth of "Sacred Scripture"), et cetera—against papal departures and for the truth of the Word. His principles continued to be spread abroad by his followers, the Lollards. And as long as he lived the hierarchy was unable to force his excommunication as a heretic.
5 Alexander Clarence Flick, The Decline of the Medieval Church, vol. 1, p. 350; Gotthard Lechler, John Wycliffe and His English Precursors, pp. 379-385.
Death came to Gregory XI before the papal net could close about Wyclif. Then the Great Schism developed—with rival French Pope Urban IV reigning in opposition to Roman Clement VI—weakening papal power and prestige and causing Wyclif to say, Why give allegiance to either? Rather, they are "two halves of Antichrist, making up the perfect Man of Sin." [6] Thus the Schism provided a breathing spell for Wyclif, but drove him farther away from the Roman Church.
6 Richard C. Trench, Lectures on Medieval Church History, p. 312.
3. ANTICIPATED FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF PROTESTANTISM.—
Wyclif's mind now moved from the abuses of the fourteenth century back to the underlying principles of the conflict and the theological fallacies on which they were based. Wyclif had been professor of theology at Oxford, where he had fearlessly preached the Word. He was called the Gospel Doctor, because of his zeal for the saving truths of Scripture. There he taught the distinctive doctrines of Protestantism—salvation through faith in Christ and the sole infallibility of the Scriptures. In fact, his teaching anticipated all the fundamental principles of Protestantism. And he was much too devoted to restoring the simplicities of the primitive church to be concerned over the approbation or enmity of contemporary churchmen. He now opposed episcopacy as unessential to the legitimate constitution of the church. And the true church is the body of "true men," whose sole head is Christ.
He had struck at such abuses as the payment of tribute to Rome and papal assumption of temporal authority over secular rulers. He had protested the swarms of mendicant friars, with their idleness and ignorance, which had brought them into contempt. He had denounced pilgrimages and relics:
He had even attacked the confessional, denied the priestly power of absolution, and called for the ending of indulgences.
But now he began to strike at the root of the tree—showing that the papal system itself was basically wrong. He began to publish tracts calling men back to the Bible and denying the power of the pope to pardon or excommunicate. He boldly outlined the basic doctrinal reformation actually carried into effect by the Reformers of the sixteenth century. He was a century and a half ahead of his time.
Wyclif was not only a scholar and a controversialist but a preacher of power, and he devised a plan for meeting the appalling spiritual ignorance of the time.
First, he formed a company of "Poor Preachers" who went forth two by two, [7] clad in their russet robes. They distributed tracts and portions of Scripture as the Waldenses had done.
They were to preach a simple saving gospel instead of abstract theories.
Second, he determined that the-Bible must be translated into the language of the people. It must be made accessible to all, and this accomplishment constituted his greatest contribution, and helped give to the English tongue its initial form and beauty. Wyclif's English translation, however, was based on the Latin Vulgate, which in itself was an imperfect translation. But such a work of translation was then regarded as an act of heresy.
As a consequence his version continued to be proscribed until the sixteenth-century Reformation, Word that Wyclif had fallen prey to serious illness was joyful news to the friars. They thought he would speedily repent and recant. So representatives of the various orders hastened to his bedchamber and gathered about the supposedly dying man, now gray with toil and age, and ascetic in appearance. But he told them, "I shall not die, but live!" Abashed, they hurried from the room. And he did live to translate with full mental vigour amid the storm that raged around him. There were no printing presses as yet, so all copies had to be multiplied by hand, and the demand could not be supplied. But their wide distribution brought dismay to the church authorities, and papal leaders determined to silence him.
7 The term “Poor Preachers” did not imply ignorant evangelists, but referred to their literal poverty. They were trained university men, mostly from Wyclif’s classes. When the churches closed against them, they preached in the fields. And his adherents included various noted scholars.
Thus it was that Wyclif launched the great Protestant appeal to Scripture. The heart of his teaching was the infallibility of Scripture and salvation through faith in Christ. He was the first to conceive and to execute the revolutionary plan of putting the whole Bible into the common tongue of the people. He began with the New Testament, Nicholas Hereford assisting with the Old Testament, and John Purvey, his scholarly friend and curate at Lutterworth, helping in the revision.
Wyclif died of a paralytic stroke in 1384.
In 1408 the Council of Oxford forbade the reading of any uncensored book composed by Wyclif. His books were burned at Oxford and at Prague. Reading his translation was forbid den under pain of excommunication, and by 1414 Oxford repudiated Wyclifism. But his teachings lived on. Then the Council of Constance, in 1415, extracted 45 propositions from Wyclif's writings and condemned them, along with all his books, as heresies. Finally, following the mandate of the Council, Wyclif's mouldering bones were exhumed at Lutterworth, in 1428, more than forty years after his death, publicly burned, and his ashes cast into the neighbouring rivulet, the Swift. —
It should never be forgotten that Wyclif lived amid sombre shadows of the early dawn, as men were just emerging from the Dark Ages. He had no precursors. He was the path finder of a new era, a trail blazer with a new message of remarkable evangelical balance and completeness. In fact, few sixteenth-century Reformers surpassed the clarity of his concept of the supremacy of the Bible and the Holy Spirit as its interpreter, in contradistinction to a perverting tradition and the claim of the church to be the only authoritative teacher and interpreter.
1. LED TO IDENTIFICATION OF ANTICHRIST BY BIBLE PROPHECY.—
Like the Waldenses, who influenced him, Wyclif reached his startling conclusions regarding the pope (or the Papacy) as Antichrist from the Bible prophecies of Daniel, Paul, and John.
Indeed, it was the impelling power of these inspired symbols that nerved him for the battle, and finally the break, with Rome. He understood the great prophetic outline of Daniel 2 and 7 as covering progressively the course of the four world powers of Babylon, Media-Persia, Grecia, and Rome—with the Papacy as the lawless, perverting, persecuting Little Horn of Daniel 7. This power Wyclif and his "Poor Preachers" declared to be "the lord pope." [8] The Papacy was also depicted by the "Man of Sin" of 2 Thessalonians 2, and the symbolic woman in scarlet of Revelation 17. He even went so far as to say, "The Pope of Rome is very Antichrist and not Cristis Viker [Christ's Vicar]." [9] That conviction moulded his relationship to anti- Biblical papal innovations and teachings.
2. "UNCONSCIOUS SLEEP" BETWEEN DEATH AND RESURRECTION.—
Papal perversions, he held, included Purgatory. Wyclif's writing was not only scholarly but complex, according to the pattern of the times. But the intent was unmistakable. Wyclif strongly opposed the Roman doctrine of Purgatory, and prayers for the dead, which he called "pious lies." He advanced the 'position that instead of the anguish of the soul in Purgatory, there was "unconscious sleep between death and resurrection."
This concept may have been suggested by the Waldenses, by whom he was influenced, and some of whose positions he held.
8 See Wyclif’s De Veritate Sacrae Scripturae (Rudolf Buddensieg, e d .), vol. 3, pp. 262, 263, 267, 268. For full discussion and documentation see Prophetic Faith , vol. 2, pp. 52-57.
9 Wyclif-Select English Writings (Herbert T . Winn, ed.): see also Sermons, in Select English Works of John Wyclif (Thomas Arnold, ed.), vol. 1, p. 138.
He denounced Masses for the soul, and indulgences and merits, as part of a gigantic system of fraud, and of no avail. In this he introduced an eschatology wholly at variance with the established medieval system of theology.
3. IMMORTALITY RECEIVED AT THE RESURRECTION.—
Though he still believed in the separate existence of the soul, he taught that the state between death and the resurrection is that of sleep! Moreover, he held that the judgment of rewards would not take place until after the resurrection. Furthermore, he believed that the "greatest part" of the reward of the righteous would be "immortality or undying," received at the resurrection. [10] That was indeed revolutionary for his day. He was distinctly a pioneer in advocating the ''sleep of the soul" during death. This is brought out forcefully in The Church and Her Members, where he again maintains that the souls in "purgatory" are "dead," and cannot be benefited by prayers, hence were "clepid sleeping ["called sleeping"]" [11] or "slepen in purgatorye." It was a long stride out of the darkness of medieval theology.
4. No DOCTRINE TO BE BASED ON A PARABLE.—
In his exposition of Luke 16:19-31—on the "parable" of the Rich Man and Lazarus, as he termed it—he refused to base any doctrinal view on a parable, maintaining that it simply had a practical bearing on the duties of daily life. [12] And finally, he declared the ultimate fate of the wicked to be "everlasting punishment."
Thus the witness of John Wyclif, intellectual and spiritual giant, rightly called "Morning Star" of the oncoming Protestant Reformation just then emerging from the darkness of the Middle Ages, blazed the way for the returning fuller light in holding that in death men "sleep"—and are not writhing in purgatorial torment or revelling in heavenly bliss before the day of judgment awards.
10 Wyclif, Select English Works, vol. 1, p. 339; vol. 2, p. 101.
11 Wyclif, Apology for Lollard Doctrine.
12 "A parable is a word or story that has a spiritual meaning ["spiritual witt"]." See Wyclif, Select English Works, vol. 1, p. 1, on "Luke 16."
For some time before the Reformation broke forth, scholastic philosophy was at low ebb. It was then that another episode in the Averroist drama was enacted, this time with a Christian believer as the principal actor. The fourteenth century thus marked the peak of Averroism. PETRUS POMPONATIUS, or in Italian, Pietro Pomponazzi (1462-1524), of Mantua, Italy, came to be one of the most astute scholars and influential thinkers of his day. He taught philosophy at the university at Padua, then at Ferrara and Bologna, and was idolized by his students.
Like Averroes, he held to the ethics of Aristotle. And he too was plunged into trouble, this time by the monks, because of his views regarding the mortality of the soul. Denying the immortality of the soul, he was commonly classed as an Averroist. In fact, he was the leader of a formidable revolt against the immortality concept held by the dominant Roman Church.
Jovius, one of his opponents, had formally accused him of saying, "The soul of man is not immortal, according to Aristotle's opinions." And Jovius added that this was "the most pernicious doctrine that ever was," charging that denial of the immortality of the soul destroys all morality. [13] (Pictured on page 51.)
Pomponatius had simply said, however, that the immortality of the soul cannot be proved by the light of reason, nor by sheer philosophy—which left it, philosophically speaking, an "insoluble problem." He contended that proof of future existence depends on the revelation of Scripture. But he held that the Old and New Testaments prove a future life, and declared his faith upon that. Nevertheless, he was accused of denying a future life, and was charged with having more regard for Aristotle than for the dictums of the church. What he asked for was simply that the schoolmen be consistent. He said:
"No rational arguments can demonstrate either that the soul is mortal or that it is immortal. We must, with Plato, refer the question to the decision of God. The divine verdict is as light itself compared with the darkness of our philosophy." [14]
13 Peter Bayle, Dictionary Historical and Critical (2d ed., 1734), vol. 4, pp. 713-721; also Johann J. Brucker, Historia Critica Philosophiae, vol. 4, pp. 158-168.
Pomponatius had declared, "As a Christian, I believe that which, as a philosopher or scientist, I cannot believe." And to this Boccalini, another adversary, had replied, "Pomponatius should be absolved as a Christian and burnt alive as a philosopher." It is significant that for years Pomponatius' view was the general teaching in scholastic circles in Italy and the theme of special interest and agitation in the Italian universities.
Indeed, by 1500 the immortality problem was the centre around which all philosophical questions revolved. And in the sixteenth century it continued to be one of the favourite themes of student discussion. Indeed, so formidable was the movement among the learned men of Italy that the leaders of the church felt it necessary to intervene. That was why Leo X issued his noteworthy bull of December 19, 1513, designed to suppress the discussion. [15] But, unimpressed by the bull of Leo X, supported by the Fifth Lateran Council, Pomponatius proceeded to publish a book on the immortality of the soul, titled Tractatus de Immortalitate Animae. In this he exposed the futility of the arguments by which the followers of Aristotle had sought to prove the immortality of the soul on the principles of philosophy alone— again declaring that the mortality of the soul could be "proved" thereby as easily as the contrary.
It is a "problematical question," he wrote, and there can be "no assurance of the thing, but from revelation," that is, the canonical Scriptures. And he warned against building upon any other foundation. [16] And all this be it particularly noted was in the year immediately preceding Luther's nailing of the Ninety-five Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg.
14 Pomponatius, Tractatus de Immortalitate Animae (Bononiae: 1516), c. 14, quoted in Hudson. Debt and Grace, the Doctrine of a Future Life, pp. 345, 346.
15 Petavel, The Problem of Immortality, pp. 254, 255.
16 Francis Blackburne, A Short Historical View of the Controversy Concerning an Intermediate State and the Separate Existence of the Soul, between Death and the General Resurrection, pp. 8, 9.
The publication of Pomponatius' book, which was widely read, especially in Italian universities, exposed him to the rage of the Roman priesthood, for it touched on one of the most lucrative doctrines of Rome. As a result, epithets of all sorts were hurled at him—"heretic," "impious," "atheist," "Averroist." But that was not all. Pomponatius was summoned before the Inquisition, where he confessed that he did not believe the current "proofs" of the doctrine, and challenged his judges to show a faith in the gospel equal to his own. However, through the influence of powerful friends, and especially of his defence by sympathetic Cardinal Bembo of Rome, he escaped condemnation and the stake, though his book was publicly burned at Venice by the public executioner.
Pomponatius was vigorously assailed by Contarenus, Javelli, Fornarus, and others. In 1518 he was induced, under pressure, to write an apology—Apologia pro suo Tractatu de Immortalitate Animae, but this was followed in 1519 by a defence of his original position—Defensorium sive Responsiones ad ea quae Augustinus Nophus adversus ipsum scripsit de Immortalitate Animae. [17] Pomponatius still stood upon his original ground.
17 See Abbot, Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life, nos. 572, 576, 578.
SUMMARY OF CONDITIONALISM DURING CENTURIES 7 TO 16
Centuries seven to twelve are the bleak and silent centuries as regards Conditionalism. Catholicism was dominant as was her triple dogma of (1) the universal innate immortality of all souls; (2) the going of the soul, immediately at death, to the felicities of heaven, the torments of hell, or the purifications of purgatory; and (3) the interminable tortures of the incorrigibly wicked in hell. This threefold postulate was practically universal among those professing adherence to her teaching, with opposition virtually crushed and opposers driven underground. During these five silent centuries dissentient voices, if any, were few and far between.
In the twelfth century, and outside her ranks, appeared the Arabian philosopher Averroes, and a Greek bishop, challenging her established innate immortality thesis. At the same time a series of noted Jewish rabbis in Spain, Portugal, and Holland began to contend for the ultimate, utter destruction of the incorrigibly wicked, thereby implying that not all souls are indefeasibly immortal. At the same time, some of the dissentient Waidenses, in the fastnesses of the Piedmontese Alps of Northern Italy—likewise outside the orbit of the Roman Church, and claiming unbroken ancestry back to Early Church times, and to never having accepted this triple dogma of Rome—maintained the mortality of man. Wave after wave of persecution swept over them. Theirs was evidently a perpetuation of Early Church Conditionalist beliefs, rather than a later repudiation of papal innovations formerly held, as with the later Reformers.
As the intrepid Waldensian missionaries penetrated England, their teachings concerning the mortality of man evidently took root in the heart of fourteenth-century pre-Reformer Wyclif, who likewise rejected the triple papal position on the soul, maintaining that immortality is received only at and through the resurrection, and that man sleeps in death awaiting the call of the Life Giver. Finally came the revolt voiced by philosopher Pomponatius of Italy, at the beginning of the sixteenth century—just before Luther's break with Rome.
Such is the setting, and occasion, of the first formal pontifical declaration of the natural immortality of the soul, made by Pope Leo X, in 1513. Thus the stage was all set for the coming revolt over the consciousness of the soul in death, by such Reformation stalwarts as Luther and Tyndale, who like wise broke with Rome over her triple dogma as to the nature and destiny of man. Such is the significance of this bleak period, and the lesson of this chart, assessed from the historical facts.
The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century constituted a progressive revival of lost and largely obscured primitive truths, along with a repudiation of the accretions of papal errors built up to dominance during the Middle Ages. While the restoration was not complete, it was a noble beginning. For example, prominent leaders differed on the nature and destiny of man, as on other doctrines. Reformatory action was resisted here by many, and arrested by certain reactionary forces. However, various leaders broke with several of the flagrant innovations established by the Papacy. And many Reformers went back to fourth-century doctrines and creeds, but not all the way to the original apostolic positions.
It was inevitable that the nature and destiny of man—especially in relation to the papal claims of a purifying Purgatory and an unending Hell, and the matter of the consciousness of the soul in death—was sooner or later to come under challenge and repudiation. And as in the early centuries of the Christian Church, so in Reformation times, some of the finest scholars and most conspicuous characters—veritable intellectual and spiritual giants—were the restorers and champions of Conditionalism. They and their successors were so prominent as to constitute an impressive line of witnesses, the peers of any in their day, as the record will show.
This fact is to be particularly noted: The revival of the largely buried truth of the sleep of man in death, and the resurrection awakening at the second coming of Christ, did not spring out of ignorance or arise from extreme quarters. Neither did it come from small minds and obscure characters, as will shortly be seen. Beginning with Luther in Germany and Tyndale in England, it slowly gathered a growing group of brilliant and godly adherents, expanding with each passing century. The climax of the restoration, however, was reserved for modern times.
In Reformation days we are brought back again to the strange theological trilemma that characterized the divided church of the third, fourth, and fifth centuries. These were (1) an aggressive, growing school of Conditionalists; (2) a militant school of Immortal Soulists, still adamantly in the ascendancy; and (3) a developing school of Universalists, in revolt against the dogma of Eternal Torment. The resultant conflicts were intense, and reactions were inevitable. And now we shall trace the initial revival and partial restoration of Conditionalist principles in Reformation and then post-Reformation times.
MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546), learned in the classics, eminent in Scripture, and intrepid in action, was the master spirit of the Reformation in Germany. Although he broke with the Papacy by nailing his Ninety-five Theses against indulgences on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, it was his appearance before the Diet of Worms, to defend his position from Scripture before the emperor, that made him a national hero. His translation of the Bible into the German tongue ranks him among the masters and moulders of the German language. And his doctrine of justification by faith became the battle cry of the Reformation.
Luther overshadowed all other leaders of the Reformation in sheer courage and audacity, boldly taking his battle for spiritual freedom directly to the highest ecclesiastical and civil authorities, and shaking off the pontifical yoke. He was one of the great preachers of his time and one of the most powerful personalities of the Christian Era. He dared to defy the Papacy, with all of its imposing power, pageantry, and perversions, as well as anathemas, by striking at its unscriptural traditions. And he was the first sixteenth-century Reformer to question and reject the papal dogma of the immortality of the soul, particularly the postulate of consciousness in death amid the pains of Purgatory:
Luther lived in a transition hour, preceded by centuries of blanketing darkness that still profoundly affected the thinking of the time. He received his earlier training at Eisenach, then studied for the law at the famous University of Erfurt, where scholastic philosophy was still the pattern and the dialectic skills were dominant. Here he showed unusual intellectual powers, receiving the highest academic honours. Here likewise he was trained in polemics that fitted him for his stormy lifetime of conflict with prelate, pope, and emperor.
It was here also that he found a complete copy of the Latin Bible, reading it with intense eagerness. He was stirred tremendously, and as a result there started a struggle within his soul that never ceased until there was not only a new Luther but a widespread Reformation.
The unvarying ecclesiastical emphasis of the Middle Ages had been to instil fear of God and unquestioning reverence for the church. Luther knew that he himself was unprepared to meet God. The monastery, looming as a city of refuge, was obviously the place for him, with penance as the method of performance for reaching heaven. So in 1505 he entered the noted Augustinian monastery at Erfurt, with all its cloistered austerities. Taking the name of Augustine, he gave himself to vigils by night, and labours, prayers, and penances by day. Thus he sought the forgiveness of God. and salvation through the penitential system. Coarse garments and the begging cup formed part of the picture. Luther, typical example of a pious monk, was ordained a priest in 1507.
But the awful demands of divine justice and holiness continued to plague him. Death, and the alleviation of its horrors, had been the dominant theme throughout the handbooks of the medieval centuries, and the most sought-after books dwelt on how to escape Hell. Purgatory had been introduced by way of mitigation, the church offering her sacraments and pilgrimages and her indulgences, and the intercession of saints, as a means of relaxing the pressures of Purgatory and reducing its time. Furthermore, the supererogation merits of the saints could allegedly be pooled, with transfer of credits to reduce the purgatorial pains. But while the saved would enjoy an eternity of bliss, the irrevocably damned would suffer everlasting torment, with no mercy of ultimate extinction. The moans of the lost would continue on forever and ever, amid the sulphurous flames.
Luther was tormented with doubts springing from these terrifying portrayals. How could one love a God who was pre-eminently a consuming fire? or an angry Son who was always consigning the damned to the flames of Hell? Only a merciful "Mother" offered hope. God was commonly conceived as so absolute that nothing could be contingent. And moreover, according to St. Augustine, man's fate was decreed from the foundation of the world, with some destined to salvation, others to be irretrievably lost. Luther could not understand it, and revolted against the hopelessness of it.
Having received his B.D., with skills not only in Latin but also in Hebrew and Greek, Luther was encouraged by Staupitz, vicar of the Augustinian Order, to study for a doctorate. This accomplished, he was summoned in 1512 to teach at the new University of Wittenberg, where scholastic philosophy was being replaced by Biblical theology. Luther came to react intensely against the speculative postulates of tradition and philosophy. By this time he was regarded as one of the most highly trained theologians of the Augustinian Order, having been made Doctor of Divinity ad Biblia (Doctor of Holy Scriptures). And now, appointed Professor of the Holy Bible, he vowed to defend the Sacred Book and its doctrines against all errors. The Word was set forth in his classroom as the final authority—above council, church, and pope.
Thus he was already potentially started on his career as a reformer, preacher, and teacher. And in addition to his university teaching, he now preached daily in the nearby parish church, having selected the book of Romans as one of his early teaching areas. Great numbers came to hear the Bible teachings convincingly expounded in contrast with scholastic speculations, and salvation through Christ in place of man's endeavors to attain righteousness.
1. PROCLAIMS SIMPLICITY OF THE GOSPEL.
It is essential to understand this transition. Upon coming to Wittenberg, Luther had set himself truly to understand and expound Scripture. Christ was clearly in the Old Testament, taking_ the iniquity of us all and participating in the plight of estranged humanity. The "All-Terrible" was also the "All-Merciful." And in the New Testament, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. Luther was assured that He who gave His Son unto death and raised Him in triumph will also raise us up at the last day—if we are in Christ. Paul's writings clarified the relationship between sin and salvation, justice and justification. And redemption is all accomplished by faith in Him, not by our human efforts; as a gift, not by achievement.
Luther took the phrase "justification by faith" as epitomizing the whole process of redemption. His thinking was pre-eminently Christocentric—the cross resolving the conflict between wrath and mercy, justice and forgiveness, life and death. So he compassed the gospel in a single phrase, "the forgiveness of sins"—not the sacraments, but divine forgiveness. We are to cease to look to the church for salvation, but to trust only in Christ's life and victory._Such was the simplicity and the efficacy of the gospel Luther taught. And he would go from the professorial chair to his pulpit in the church on the public square and proclaim the same good news in popular form. Thus his fame and influence spread.
2. CRISIS OVER RELEASING SOULS FROM PURGATORY.
Luther's disillusioning pilgrimage to Rome in 1510 had filled him with doubt and disappointment, and Rome lost its enchantment. But the crisis was precipitated by Tetzel's outrageous vending of indulgences to complete the construction 1 of St. Peter's, at Rome, with no mention of repentance and confession—only of payment. Indulgences had been sold for centuries, but the selling of them had now degenerated into a shameful abuse. Remission was promised for sins not yet committed, with the assurance of release from Purgatory. And Tetzel, playing upon the credulity of the people, had openly `urged them to save their "immortal" souls. [1] Luther's indignation was aroused. He protested that the pope could not deliver souls from Purgatory. Three times in 1516 in his sermons he had spoken out against indulgences.
1 Dokumente sum Ablasstreit von 1517, no. 32, p. 132, quoted in Roland H. Bainton, Here I Stand, p. 78.
And now, on October 31, 1517, he posted his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the Castle Church, denying the efficacy of indulgences and the power of the pope. He challenged the church authorities to debate his propositions, offering to maintain them against all corners. The boldness of the act startled the populace. And the attack was especially terrifying to the ecclesiastical authorities, for it struck at the source of revenue, and thus at vested interests.
But Luther's Theses were as applicable to the rest of Christendom as to Wittenberg, and within a few weeks they were being printed in France, Holland, Spain, England, Switzerland, yes, and Italy, creating a crisis. People bought Theses instead of indulgences. And the Theses became a household topic of discussion, read not only by the populace but by the monks in their cells, as well as by philosophers and teachers—and even by Leo X himself. Overnight Luther had become an international figure. And the controversy was soon narrowed to the issue of the Bible as the sole source of authority versus the church and tradition. This very platform would of necessity bring under scrutiny all doctrines that were but human accretions and in conflict with Scripture. Sooner or later such innovations as Purgatory would be exposed as unscriptural and invalid. [2]
Meanwhile, on the basis of Bible prophecy, with its eschatological climax, Luther had come to the irrevocable conclusion that the papal system, with the pope as head, was the Antichrist of the prophetic predictions of Daniel, Paul, and John. This added to the seriousness of Luther's revolt. Leo X sought to silence the bold monk by issuing, on June 15, 1520, the bull Exsurge Domini (named from the opening words) against the "Errors of Luther," saying a "wild boar has invaded thy vineyard," and giving him six months to submit. Soon he was summoned to Rome to recant, but without a hearing, which was tantamount to condemnation without a trial. But the elector of Saxony and the university faculty demanded that Luther be accorded a hearing on German soil.
2 Walter Koehler, Luther: 93 Thesen, quoted in Bainton, op. cit., pp. 79-83.
1. FINAL RUPTURE BY BURNING "BULL OF ANTICHRIST."
In Luther's eighteen-day disputation with Dr. Johann Eck, of Leipzig. in 1519, the German Reformer's convictions had been deepened. He held it to be impudent to affirm that any tenet that Christ never taught is a lawful part of Christianity. And he protested Eck's use of the Apocryphal 2 Maccabees 12:45 as noncanonical and devoid of authority. Luther published his positions in three works: To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation (1520), On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and Concerning Christian Liberty. Thus the populace was kept informed.
The final rupture came when on November 20 Luther brought forth his treatise Against the Execrable Bull of Anti-Christ, and on December 10 dramatically burned in public the papal bull as the "Bull of Antichrist," together with a copy of the decretals. The breach was now irreparable. But by this time Luther regarded excommunication as emancipation from the fetters of the Papacy. That bold act launched the Reformation.
The pope's first bull had anathematized forty-one of Luther's Theses as heretical, scandalous, or false, and ordered his books burned. Now a second bull, Damnatio et excommuni-catio Martini Lutheri . . . (January 4, 1521), placed Luther, his works and followers, under the actual ban of excommunication, pronouncing Luther an incorrigible heretic. Nevertheless, enrolment in his classes increased sharply. Luther declared that Christ, not Peter, was the rock upon which the church rests. Meantime, his studies again focused on the prophecies of Daniel, Paul, Peter, and John, leading on to the last things. Luther was now more than ever convinced that the Papacy, with all of its perversions, was the Antichrist of prophecy which had perverted the gospel.
2. TRADITIONISM CROWDED INTO BACKGROUND.
Luther's stand at the Diet of Worms was based on that concept, as he took his stand on the platform of Holy Scripture. His defence before the brilliant assembly of 210 high churchmen, princes, and nobles from every country of Europe was a truly imposing spectacle—one of the heroics of history, as this lone monk, in coarse brown frock, rose to the occasion, answering for his faith first in Latin and then in German, and brought his declarations to a climax with:
“Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God, I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.” [3] Shortly after the Diet a band of horsemen "captured" Luther (in May, 1521), taking him to the Wartburg Castle, which he regarded as his "Isle of Patmos." This period of retirement resulted in his greatest gift to the Reformation—the translation of the Bible into the German vernacular (for Latin was read only by the educated few)-100,000 copies being distributed within forty years. Everything, he taught, must be built upon the rock of Scripture. Thus the vernacular Bible became a symbol of a return to the primitive gospel. And in proportion to its supremacy, traditionalism was crowded into the background. Thus the Reformation period became pre-eminently the Age of the Book.
Luther's teachings spread in ever-widening circles. At the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, the Augsburg Confession, written by Melanchthon, was adopted. But Luther authored 294 works in German and 71 in Latin, including his Great Catechism for adults and his Little Catechism for children. And his complete k German Bible, in both Testaments, was published in 1534.
3 Deutsche Reichstagsakten, jungere Reihe, vol. 2 (Wrede, ed.), p. 555, quoted in Bainton, op. cit., p. 185. 'The earliest printed version added the words, 'Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise.' "
On November 29, 1520, Luther published a defence of the forty-one propositions that had been condemned by the bull Exsurge Domini, of June 15. This he titled Assertion of All the Articles Wrongly Condemned in the Roman Bull, thus publicly justifying his Theses. On the twenty-seventh item he states the general principle: "It is certain that it is not in the power of the church or the Pope to establish articles of faith, or laws for morals or good works." And he immediately gives as the reason that all true articles of faith are already established in the Word of God.
1. "IMMORTAL SOUL" INCLUDED AMONG POPE'S "MONSTROUS OPINIONS."
With ironical permission Luther grants to the pope the right and power to make special "articles of faith" for himself and his own followers. He lists five in the series, including the "immortality of the soul" as the fifth, all and each of which Luther expressly rejects. The significance of including "the soul is immortal ["animam esse immor-talem"]" in what he denominates "monstrous opinions" and "Roman corruptions,” is, of course, obvious. And he added immediately that these "all" came out of the "Roman dunghill of decretals" [4] thus harking back to the pope's bull of December 19, 1513, wherein he declared the natural immortality of the soul to be a doctrine of the Catholic Church. [5] Here are Luther's exact words:
“But I permit the Pope to make articles of faith for himself and his faithful, such as [1] The Bread and wine are transubstantiated in the sacrament. [2] The essence of God neither generates, nor is generated. [3] The soul is the substantial form of the human body. [4] The Pope is the emperor of the world, and the king of heaven, and God upon earth. [5] THE SOUL IS IMMORTAL, with all those monstrous opinions to be found in the Roman dunghill of decretals, that such as his faith is, such may be his gospel, such his disciples, and such his church, that the mouth may have meat suitable for it, and the dish, a cover worthy of it." [6] The implication is clear: These were distinctive Catholic doctrines, expressing the Roman faith, and consequently consistent with Catholic dogmas. But they were at variance with the Protestant scripturalism proclaimed by Luther, for the Biblical concept of the nature and the destiny of man had been woefully warped by the Papacy.
4 Forthright coarse-sounding language was used frequently by these robust Reformers. To ears accustomed to the suavities and euphemisms of the twentieth century, they sound rough and uncouth. But such phraseology was part of the common parlance of the time, employed by outstanding men of the day who were desperately in earnest. They were fighting a relentless foe at close quarters and against terrific odds, and in so doing they used blunt phrasings.
5 See pages 20, 61, 485. Petavel observes, Native [or innate] immortality there finds itself in very bad company" (The Problem of Immortality, p. 256).
2. BLACKBURNE'S OPINION ON LUTHER'S POSITION.
Archdeacon Blackburne's incisive summation of Luther's position was this:
Luther espoused the doctrine of the sleep of the soul, upon a scripture foundation, and then he made use of it as a confutation of purgatory and saint worship, and continued in that belief to the last moment of his life. [7] Blackburne then adds that Luther's commentary on Ecclesiastes, published in 1532, was "clearly and indisputably on the side of those who maintain the sleep of the soul." [8] Blackburne, the Anglican scholar, is cited here because, having studied deeply into Luther's position nearly two centuries previously, and having searched out all the pertinent source evidences bearing thereon, he recorded this definite opinion: "Luther mentioned the immortality of the soul, as a portentous opinion, supported by nothing but the Pope's decrees." [9]
1. KANTONEN CONFIRMS LUTHER'S EMPHASIS ON "SLEEP."
Dr. T. A. Kantonen, contemporary American Lutheran scholar and professor of systematic theology, Hamma Divinity School, likewise confirms the observations here made concerning Luther's position.
Luther, with a greater emphasis on the resurrection, preferred to concentrate on the scriptural metaphor of sleep. 'For just as one who falls asleep and reaches morning unexpectedly when he awakes, without knowing what has happened to him, so we shall suddenly rise on the last day without knowing how we have come into death and through death.' We shall sleep, until He comes and knocks on the little grave and says, Doctor Martin, get up! Then I shall rise in a moment and be happy with Him forever.' [10]
4. DID LUTHER LATER REVERSE HIS POSITION?
To the question Did Luther "so alter his mind as to recant, and espouse the contrary doctrine?" Blackburne gives an unqualified "No." [11] Luther, he asserted, not only held to "the sleep of the soul" in the decade from 1522 to 1532, when he published his commentary on Ecclesiastes, but his later reflections on the death of John, Elector of Saxony, show that he still believed that the souls of the righteous were "at rest." [12]
6 Quoted in Blackburne, A Short Historical View, pp. 12, 13 (bracketed figures inserted): see also C. F. Hudson, Debt and Grace, p. 346.
7 Blackburne, op. cit., p. 14.
8 Ibid., 15
9 Ibid., 110
Blackburne then alludes to disputes among Luther's followers as to "what becomes of the soul after death" and gives Luther's reply as, "Nothing is revealed to us on that head, and that it is rash to affirm anything about it without the word of God." [13] Nevertheless Luther, it must be frankly stated, was not always consistent. He himself was in the process of clarification, and was subjected to terrific pressures from associates who did not see the issue as he did.
1. RETAINS "SUSPENDED CONSCIOUSNESS" CONCEPT TILL DAY OF DEATH.
Discussing Luther's final view, expressed on the very day of his death (which is cited from Sleidan xvi, p. 488), Blackburne states that Luther averred that friends will see and know each other hereafter, on the resurrection morn, as Adam saw Eve when she "was first presented to him, namely, just [as Adam] awaked out of a deep sleep." Blackburne then observes: "The renewal by Christ cannot possibly mean anything but the resurrection of the dead." Then follows Blackburne's considered conclusion, after all evidence had been painstakingly surveyed: Luther never departed from the sentiments he disclosed to Amsdorf in 1522, but retained to his dying moment, the same uniform idea of a total suspension of thought and consciousness during the interval between death and the resurrection. [14]
10 Quoted in T. A. Kantonen, The Christian Hope (1954), p. 37.
11 Blackburne, op. cit., p. 114.
12 According to Peter Bayle (Critical and Historical Dictionary, art. "Luther"), Luther wrote a letter to Amsdorf in 1522, stating that he was inclined to believe that "the souls of the just sleep to the day of judgment." They "lay in a profound rest and sleep," in which opinion he followed many fathers of the ancient church. We have not been able to locate this in Luther's published writings, but it adds nothing to his accessible statements. It is interesting only for the early timing, for that was ten years before his well-known statement on Ecclesiastes 9:10, in 1532.
13 Blackburne, op. cit., p. 116.
6. LUTHER'S FOLLOWERS SOUGHT TO CONCEAL SENTIMENTS.
Then Blackburne adds: The misfortune was that his more immediate disciples were in another persuasion, and therefore, instead of defending their master's doctrine, set themselves to prove he never held it, wishing "to conceal Luther's sentiments on the intermediate state through a foolish apprehension of their being heretical." [15] In thus "leaving the main root of Popery, in the ground," Blackburne observes, "it is no wonder they should have been unsuccessful in pruning away the corrupt fruits [the "intercession of saints, which led directly to the practice of invocation"] which always have, and always will spring from it." [16]
The oppressive papal dogma of Purgatory. with its inseparable corollary of the conscious torment of anguished souls therein, was the immediate cause of Luther's counter-position on the sleep of the soul. As we will now see by direct quotations, he repeatedly contended that during death the soul is at ret, devoid of consciousness or pain. He stated many times that the Christian dead are unaware of anything, for they see not, feel not, understand not. They are asleep, oblivious of all passing events. [17] More than one hundred times, scattered over the years, Luther declared death to be asleep, [18] and repeatedly asserted that in death there is total unconsciousness, and consequent unawareness of the passage of time. [19] He presses the point that death is a sound, sweet sleep. [20] And furthermore, the dead will remain asleep until the day of resurrection, [21] which resurrection embraces both body and soul, when both will be brought together again." Here are sample statements:
14 Ibid., pp. 124, 125.
15 Ibid., p. 125.
16 Ibid.
17 Blackburne, in 1765, epitomized Luther's position in two sentences: “The soul sleeps in peace, without being tormented," and "Luther's sleeping man was conscious of nothing." (A Short Historical View, pp. 119, 120.)
18 T. N. Ketola, "A Study of Martin Luther's Teaching Concerning the State of the Dead" Master of ArtsThesis, 1946), tabulating Luther's references to death as a sleep—as found in Linnet Sammtliche Schriften, ed. by Johann George Walch, 1904, lists 125 specific Luther references to death as a sleep. Ketola also cites a smaller group of references showing that Luther believed in the periodic consciousness of some. But the main point stressed by Luther is that, while the dead will live again, they are unconscious during this period of sleep, which contention is stated again and again.
1. DEAD ARE UNCONSCIOUS OF PASSING TIME.
First, there is Luther's clear comment based on Ecclesiastes 9:10:
Another roof that the dead are insensible. Solomon thinks, therefore, that the dead are altogether asleep, and think of nothing. They lie, not reckoning days or years, but, when awakened, will seem to themselves to have slept scarcely a moment. [23]
2. DEATH A "DEEP, STRONG, SWEET SLEEP."
The same thought was interwoven by Luther into the prescribed funeral service for the Christian:
But we Christians, who have been redeemed from all this through the precious blood of God's Son, should train and accustom ourselves in faith to despise death and regard it as a deep, strong, sweet sleep; to consider the coffin as nothing other than our Lord Jesus' bosom or Paradise, the grave as nothing other than a soft couch of ease or rest. As verily, before God, it truly is just this; for he testifies, John 11:21: Lazarus, our friend sleeps; Matthew 9:24: The maiden is not dead, she sleeps. Thus, too, St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, removes from sight all hateful aspects of death as related to our mortal body and brings forward nothing but charming and joyful aspects of the promised life. He says there (vv. 42 ff.): It is sown in corruption and will rise in in-corruption; it is sown in dishonour (that is, a hateful, shameful form) and will rise in glory; it is sown in weakness and will rise in strength; it is sown in natural body and will rise a spiritual body." [24]
19 See Auslegung des Ersten Buches Mose (written before 1544), in Schriften, vol. 1, col. 1758; Kirken-Fortille (1528), in Schriften, vol. 11, col. 1143; Schriften, vol. 11, col, 1069; Deutsche Schriften (Erlanger ed.), vol. 11, p. 142 f.; vol. 41 (1525) p. 373.
20 Catechitische Schriften (1542), in Schriften, vol. 10, pp. 14h, 1426.
21 Auslegungen uber die Psalmen [3] (1533), in Schriften, vol. 4, pp. 326, 327.
22 Zweiten Sontage nach Trinitatis," Haus-Postille (1534), in Schriften, vol. 13, col. 2153; "Predigt uber 1 Cor. 15: (54-57)," (1533), Auslegung des neuen Testament, in Schriften, vol. 8, col. 1340.
23 Quoted in Hudson op. cit., p. 258.
24 Christian Songs Latin and German, for Use at Funerals," in Works of Martin Luther, vol. 6, pp. 287, 288.
3. SLEEPS IN UNCONSCIOUS REST AND PEACE.
Luther explains that, unconscious of passing time or surrounding events, the sleeping soul will awake at the call of the Life-giver:
Thus after death the soul goes to its bedchamber and to its peace, and while it is sleeping it does not realize its sleep, and God preserves indeed the awakening soul. God is able to awake Elijah, Moses, and others, and so control them, so that they will live. But how can that be? That we do not know; we satisfy ourselves with the example of bodily sleep, and with what God says: it is a sleep, a rest, and a peace. He who sleeps naturally knows nothing of that which happens in his neighbour’s house; and nevertheless, he still is living, even though, contrary to the nature of life, he is unconscious in his sleep. Exactly the same will happen also in that life, but in another and better way. [25]
4. RESTS SECURELY TILL AWAKENER CALLS.
Death, Luther repeatedly asserts, means lying down in rest, with surcease from life's cares, until the one great awakening call of all the saints at the resurrection, when they all come from the grave together. Thus:
We should learn to view our death in the right light, so that we need not become alarmed on account of it, as unbelief does; because in Christ it is indeed not death, but a fine, sweet and brief sleep, which brings us release from this vale of tears, from sin and from the fear and extremity of real death and from all the misfortunes of this life, and we shall be secure and without care, rest sweetly and gently for a brief moment, as on a sofa, until the time when he shall call and awaken us together with all his dear children to his eternal glory and joy. For since we call it a sleep, we know that we shall not remain in it, but be again awakened and live, and that the time during which we sleep, shall seem no longer than if we had just fallen asleep. Hence, we shall censure ourselves that we were surprised or alarmed at such a sleep in the hour of death, and suddenly come alive out of the grave and from decomposition, and entirely well, fresh, with a pure, clear, glorified life, meet our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the clouds. ...
Scripture everywhere affords such consolation, which speaks of the death of the saints, as if they fell asleep and were gathered to their fathers, that is, had overcome death through this faith and comfort in Christ, and awaited the resurrection, together with the saints who preceded them in death. [26]
1. QUESTION OF ETERNAL TORMENT LEFT UNTOUCHED.
Luther rarely alluded to the question of Eternal Torment. In the immensity of the reformatory task, and separation from Catholic dogma in so many other matters, the early theologians of the Reformation Era did not at first examine the foundations of this Augustinian theory. It was enough for Luther that he stated his convictions on the paramount point of the sleep of the soul. No one in that transition hour had as yet grappled with the problem of the traditional Hell concept. [27] In taking his bold stand on the sleep of the soul, Luther was fully aware that he was placing himself on the side of a despised minority. An imposing succession of learned men—the preponderant voice of past centuries, as well as the majority view of contemporary theologians, bishops, universities, the pope, and even many associates—was ranged against him. But neither numbers nor the genius, dignity, and stature of opponents moved the intrepid Luther. Truth, as he conceived it, compelled him to declare his convictions to the world, there to stand on record as his witness.
25 Ersten Buches Mose. in Schriften, vol. 1. cols. 1759, 1760.
26 A Compendium of Luther's Theology, p. 242.
Luther's stand drew hot fire, and exposed him and those who stood with him to severest reproaches in an age conspicuous for controversial abuse. They were the object of derisive epithets. They were dubbed modern Sadducees, and soon were classed with the, despised Anabaptists, and thus destined to draw the blistering fire of Calvin in his forthcoming Psycho-pannychia. [28] But first we must note the Anabaptists and the Socinians, some of whom suffered persecution for holding to the sleep of the soul in death. We must note them, for they become definite factors in the chapters to follow.
The conflicts of the sixteenth century over the state of the soul in death, together with the correlated fate of the wicked, frequently involved the Anabaptists. [29] It is therefore essential to understand the origin, spread, and teaching of this widely scattered and often misunderstood and maligned group, in order to grasp the reason for much of the misunderstanding wherein it touches the field of our quest. One handicap to be noted at the outset is the fact that much of their contemporary history was written by avowed enemies, not by impartial historians. The facts can only be gathered from their own meagre writings and from unbiased sources. [30]
27 Cf. Hudson, op cit., pp. 346, 347.
28 See pages 119-124.
29 While not all Anabaptists held the doctrine of "soul sleep" in death, it is nevertheless historically true that such a view was held by many among them—by perhaps more than with any other single group of the time.
1. REGENERATION PREREQUISITE TO VALID BAPTISM.
The term "Anabaptist" was applied to those who were rebaptized —Christians who regarded their sprinkling baptism in infancy as unscriptural and invalid, and desired to be rightly baptized according to Scripture. It will be remembered that the early Donatists and Novations rebaptized on occasion. And the later Petrobrusians, Paulicians, Henricians, and Waldenses insisted on regeneration on the part of those baptized. Such groups were thus, in a sense, the spiritual forerunners of the sixteenth-century Anabaptists [31] on this point.
The Anabaptist movement in Switzerland and Germany was actually a logical development of the Protestant principles laid down by Zwingli and Luther, who took the Bible as their only standard of faith and practice and held to justification by faith as the basic principle of the gospel. But it was observed by some that in such communions, church membership, as well as the celebration of the Lord's Supper, continued to be participated in by both the "godly" and "ungodly"—that is, the truly regenerate and the unregenerate. Separation of genuine Christians from the unregenerate, who had merely been sprinkled in infancy, therefore became a requirement among the Anabaptists. Faith, they held, was a prerequisite to true baptism.
2. DISTINGUISH SOUND ADHERENTS FROM FANATICS.
Another vital factor in the over-all picture is recognition of the fact that of the thousands of Anabaptists—scattered over Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, England, Poland, Northern Italy, Moravia, and other lands—a majority had sound and wholesome Biblical backgrounds, as, for example, the Waldensian and Bohemian Brethren bodies. Such were now intent on forming churches that would embody the Anabaptist understanding of Bible truth and would perpetuate their conscientious beliefs and practices.
However, the name Anabaptist was an elastic term, covering both true and false, as there were not only sound Baptist Anabaptists but fanatical Anabaptists and mystical Anabaptists as well. And it is to be particularly noted that it was the presence and proclivities of certain extreme groups—but all classed together as "Anabaptists"—that brought the entire movement into disrepute despite its fundamentally sound majority. It was this situation that brought on bitter opposition and persecution of Anabaptists by other religious bodies.
30 Much helpful data may be found in Cathcart, Cramp, Crosby, Neal, Mills, Mosheim, Newman, Torbet, and similar historians.
31 Robert G. Torbet, A History of the Baptists, p. 35.
3. FIVE CATEGORIES OF ANABAPTISTS.
For convenience, the Anabaptists may be classified as (1) the soundly Biblical majority, embodying and perpetuating the best medieval evangelical thought, such as that of the Waldenses and the Hussites; (2) the Chiliastic Anabaptists, such as the fanatical Munster group and the Zwickau prophets, who were never really Anabaptist; (3) the mystical or speculative Anabaptists who, while allied to the Anabaptists, outlawed all ordinances as incompatible to inner spiritual life; (4) a few from the Beghards and Brethren of the Free Spirit who were tinctured with pantheistic concepts; and (5) the Anti-Trinitarian Anabaptists, of the sounder group, but holding divergent views on the person of Christ. [32] These opposed the Greek and Roman Catholic position and frequently denied the eternal torment of the wicked in hell. Michael Servetus (d. 1553) was in this category.
32 While the Anti-Trinitarian Anabaptists emphasized the propitiatory character of Christ's death, they rejected His absolute equality with the Father. Nevertheless, many of these were called Anabaptists, sometimes being confused with the Socinians.
The impetuous, who had come out of medieval enthusiasms, had bold reformatory schemes and chiliastic hopes, even believing that the Reformation itself was but a halfway measure. The Munster extravagances did more than anything else to discredit the Anabaptists as a whole, despite the limited group involved. In the folly at Munster there was first excitement, then frenzy, then madness. The whole Anabaptist movement was blamed for the misdeeds of a few in Germany, for which the rest were not responsible. Such had been bewildered by the sudden transition from darkness today. But such fringe segments, we repeat, were never really Anabaptist. Nevertheless, they were so considered, and this brought odium on all the rest.
4. PRINCIPLES HELD BY SOUND ANABAPTISTS.
Another divergence was this: To the established churches the support of the civil powers seemed imperative. But the Anabaptists held that the established Protestant churches had sacrificed truth to gain or retain the favour of their civil rulers. And they denied the right of Christians to use the sword to protect the gospel or to resist abuses. They also held that all false doctrine should be rejected, and taught separation of the pure churches from the world in worship, marriage, teachings, et cetera. And, significantly enough, some taught the sleep of the soul in death and eternal life only in Christ received at the resurrection. This inevitably developed into tension with the established churches, which in turn resulted in prohibition of the Anabaptist assemblies. However, the more they were repressed, the more they multiplied. They were thus a disturbing, divisive factor.
5. CHARACTERISTICS OF GEOGRAPHICAL GROUPS.
(1) Of the several component groups, the [33] Swiss group was quite evangelical. In fact, the earliest Anabaptists arose in Switzerland and were at first followers of Zwingli, accepting his earlier view that infant baptism has no scriptural authorization. But when he became reluctant to continue his Anabaptist teaching- for it would disfranchise many and disrupt the state church—they broke with him, about 1525. Pressure and persecution followed. They then challenged the arguments advanced in support of his position—that the tares and the wheat are to grow together in the church until the harvest, and that "he that is not against me is for me."
33 Torbet, op. cit., pp. 36-39.
The Swiss group set forth their views in their Confession of 1527, which was the basis of Zwingli's "Refutation." Their position on separation of "pure" churches from the world resulted in endless conflict. They condemned the support of pastors by taxation and refused obedience to the magistrates whenever such mandates were contrary to their own religious convictions. To them it was a struggle between despotism and soul freedom. They were threatened with banishment, many were imprisoned, and some were martyred by drowning. Thus by 1535 they were suppressed in Zurich. [34]
(2) The Dutch Anabaptists repudiated the lawless acts of the Munster men, maintaining moderation in times of extravagance. Many had come as refugees from Switzerland, and enjoyed a degree of toleration. They had suffered much under the brutalities of the Inquisition, thousands dying at the stake and by the sword before toleration was secured. The early Dutch group, tied in closely with the Mennonites, constituted an important group in the Low Countries. Menno Simons, a converted Catholic priest, was their most prominent leader. With views akin to some of the earlier Anabaptists, he stressed many sound evangelical principles. He, however, denied the true humanity of Christ.
(3) The German Anabaptists embraced certain fanatical radicals. Their attempt at "bringing in the kingdom" by force was repugnant to other groups. But the Munster episode was met with extreme brutality. Hubmaier, though no radical, was burned at the stake. And fines, imprisonment, banishment, and death were widespread. The suppression of the Munster rebellion seemed to be the signal for all Europe to join in persecuting the Anabaptists on the ground that all were a potential menace to law and order. [35] It was a time of great tension.
34 Ibid.
(4) In England, Anabaptist teaching appeared early in the sixteenth century. Large numbers came in 1528, and by 1573 there were said to be some fifty thousand adherents in Britain. In 1530 their book The Sum of Scripture was condemned by an assembly of bishops and theologians, convened by the archbishop at the command of Henry VIII. Edicts were soon issued against them. Such was the situation when Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558. They were often identified and confused with other independents, and were harassed and persecuted out of England under the Tudor monarchs. When the Stuarts in the seventeenth century pursued the same policy, many Anabaptists fled to the Netherlands. [36]
(5) In northern Italy and Austria there were numerous Anabaptist churches, and some martyrdoms.
(6) In Poland the Hussite influences were quite strong. Also in that country Faustus Socinus became leader of a group that agreed with the Anabaptist position on baptism. Thus Socinianism was likewise involved.
It may therefore be said that the term "Anabaptist," often used as an epithet of reproach, was applied to those Christians in the time of the Reformation who, adhering rigidly to the Scriptures as the infallible rule of faith and practice, stressed the obvious incompatibility of infant baptism with regenerate church membership. And they not only rejected infant baptism but began to establish churches of their own on the basis of believers' baptism. Reproached for rebaptizing those already "baptized" in the established churches, they brought on antagonisms by maintaining that baptism of adult believers by immersion, as administered by themselves, was the only valid Christian baptism—the so-called baptism of infants being unworthy of the name. Particular groups held to particular doctrinal views. And Conditionalism was one of the points of contention and condemnation.
35 Ibid. p. 39-48.
36 Ibid. pp. 51-55
The Reformation in Poland, as in Bohemia, was thwarted by the Counter Reformation. Poland had not shown special devotion to the Roman See, and during the Council of Constance had evidenced sympathy with the reforms of Huss. Waldensians, Bohemians, Socinians, and Anabaptists had thus found shelter within her borders. Polish students from Wittenberg introduced Reformation principles, and at the University of Cracow the Reformation made definite progress. But papal reaction and triumph followed. The Consensus of Sendomir in 1570 was based on the Reformation formulas. It was confirmed at Cracow in 1573 and at several other centres. [37]
A Confession of Faith, printed at Cracow in 1574 by certain Anabaptists and others driven thence by both papal and Protestant persecution, contained the following significant statement:
So that being engrafted [by baptism] into the body of Christ he may mortify the old Adam and be transformed into the celestial Adam, in the firm assurance of eternal life after the resurrection. [38] That is explicit.
A Latin copy of the Racovian Catechism (published in Polish in 1605), sent to England with a declaration to James I, was publicly burned in 1614. An English version, by J. Biddle, published at Amsterdam in 1652 was likewise formally burned in 1654 by order of Oliver Cromwell. [39] "Every copy of the Racovian Catechism (an exposition of the Socinian doctrine) that could be found was burned in the streets," and the Index Expurgatorius for Catholic countries was freshly filled each year. [40]
37 Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, vol. 1, pp. 581-588.
38 H. A. Niemeyer, Collectio Confessionum in Ecclesiis Reformalis publicaturum, pp. 565-591. A. Turobini, Catechism and Confession, quoted in A. J. Mills, Earlier Life—Truth Exponents, p. 13.
39 The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, pp. 1135, 1136.
40 Alger, The Destiny of the Soul, p. 445.
Many of the Socinians denied the immortality of the soul, and held to the sleep of the dead and the ultimate annihilation of the wicked after due and just punishment. In common with others they believed in the second coming of Christ, the physical resurrection of the dead, and the day of judgment. [41] The old Religious Encyclopedia makes a succinct statement of their belief in this area. It is adduced here chiefly because current authorities are seemingly not interested in bringing out this aspect of their belief at that time and do not commonly discuss this angle—evidently not considering it of particular concern or importance. But here it is:
Many of them [the Socinians] also reject the spirituality and separate existence of the soul, believing that man is wholly material, and that our only prospect of immortality is from the Christian doctrine of a resurrection. Of course, the notion of an intermediate state of consciousness between death and the resurrection is rejected; for, as the whole man dies, so the whole man is to be called again to life at the appointed period of the resurrection. with the same association that he had while alive; the intermediate portion of time having been passed by him in a state of utter insensibility. [42]
From about the middle of the sixteenth century, Socinianism spread rapidly in Poland, as elsewhere in Europe. Following the lead of their founder, FAUSTUS SOCINUS (d. 1604), [43] the Socinians revolted against the high Trinitarianism of the time, taking the opposite position and denying the eternal deity of Christ. But. significantly enough, as noted, many of them also rejected the Innate Immortality of all souls and repudiated the dogma of the Endless Torment of the impenitently wicked.
41 Mosheim, Ecclesiastical History (Murdock tr.), vol. 3, pt. 4, Ch. III, p. 428; see also Alger, op. cit., p. 429.
42 Religious Encyclopedia, art. "Socinianism."
43 Though born in Italy, FAUSTUS SOCINUS (1539-1604) lived the greater part of his life at Cracow, Poland. The early Socinians erected a college at Racovia, which attained such high repute as to attract students from both Protestant and Romanist ranks. But it was suppressed by the government in 1658, and the followers of Socinus, after protracted persecution, were likewise expelled from Poland. Socinus came to be opposed by Catholics and Protestants alike because of his attacks on certain orthodox teachings. He maintained that no doctrine, even though founded on the Bible, should be retained if it was contrary to reason or moral progress. Charged with sedition, he was forced to withdraw from Cracow, where he had strongly influenced the theology of the developing Polish Unitarian Church, unifying and organizing the budding movement. In 1562 he wrote a treatise on John's Gospel, denying the essential deity of Christ. And in 1563 he denied the natural immortality of the soul.
Thus it was that Conditionalism in time came to penetrate all groups, as we shall see—Trinitarians and Anti-Trinitarian Socinians, Lutherans and Anglicans, Arminians and Calvinists, Anabaptists and Baptists, Presbyterians and sceptics. No lines were drawn concerning Conditionalism, and it appeared in many lands and languages as the Reformation spread.
We now turn to England and William Tyndale.
Ethiopia and India Support
WILLIAM TYNDALE (c. 1490-1536), greatest of the English Reformers, eminent linguist, and first translator of the New Testament from Greek into English, was recognized as one of the finest classical scholars of his time. Trained at both Ox ford and Cambridge, he was thus linked to both universities.
He entered Oxford, from which he received his B.A. and M.A. degrees, with a yearning for spiritual things and a bent toward languages. There he became a master in Greek, Hebrew, and Latin, and skilled in Spanish, French, and English. At Oxford he was influenced by John Colet's lectures in New Testament Greek, which broke with tradition and revolutionized Bible study. [1] (Pictured on page 96.)
Tyndale then went on to Cambridge in 1516. There Tyndale, Frith, and Bilney all studied the Scripture-revealed provisions of regeneration. And there the Book spoke to Tyndale's heart, and he found God in its pages. It was a time of new beginnings, when his inward convictions began to find outward expression. Groups of students gathered to read the Greek and Latin Gospels of Erasmus. Having taken priest's orders in 1521, Tyndale became tutor-chaplain to Sir John and Lady Walsh, of Old Sodbury. There he preached to eager listeners who filled the sanctuary, also in surrounding villages and towns, and at Bristol on the college green. His preaching stirred great interest, but the hostility of the priests was aroused and numerous disputes resulted in which Tyndale used the Greek text with telling effect.
1 Edward Irving Carlyle, "William Tyndale," The Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 19, p. 1351.
He was soon denounced by priests and dignitaries. Quickly the storm broke into the open, and a real struggle was on. The chancellor convoked a conference of the clergy, and Tyndale was severely reprimanded for his growing "heresies." The crisis had come. His course was clear, as arrest and condemnation faced him. He must seek asylum on the Continent.
Rome was then at the pinnacle of its power in Britain, and a pall of midnight darkness, corruption, and superstition covered the land. This Tyndale felt had been brought about by taking away the Key of Knowledge—the Holy Word. There was only one hope for Britain and the world, and that was to restore the Key. Distressed by the ignorance of the priests and monks, he determined to provide the remedy by translating the New Testament into the English vernacular, thus lighting a torch in the midst of the spiritual darkness. From thenceforth he made this noble resolve his life mission. He rebelled against the common concept that the pope's laws were above God's, and declared that if God spared his life, before many years he would "cause a boy that drives the plow" to know more of Scripture than the monks and priests that swarmed the land.
He began his task. But no place was open locally for translation work, so he moved to London. He had hoped for assistance from other scholars, particularly from the bishop of London. But the bishop refused, as did Sir Thomas More, the chancellor. Then a wealthy cloth merchant of London opened his home to him for a year and a half. Tyndale also began to champion many of Luther's positions, and Tyndale's friendship with John Frith deepened. But his increasing sympathy with the teachings of Continental Reformers made further stay in England hazardous. So, because of priestly opposition, he sought asylum in Germany, never to see his native land again.
Arriving in Hamburg, he unpacked his precious Greek text and resumed his task. Later he went to Cologne, where he began to print the Gospels of Matthew and Mark first.
Interruptions forced him to complete the task at Worms, where Luther made his brilliant defence before the Diet, and then at Antwerp. For twelve years he was hounded and hunted.
Forbidden in one city, he fled to another—Wittenberg, Cologne, Hamburg, Worms, Strasbourg, Marburg, and Antwerp—to evade his oppressors. In 1524 he reached Wittenberg in Saxony, where the Reformation had made great progress. There he met Luther and was inspired by his strong faith and dynamic action. Under such environment he joyfully entered upon the completion of his great task. His translation was ready within a year.
Again, a London merchant furnished the funds to secure a printer, and six thousand copies were struck off. But an interdict was issued to prevent copies from entering Britain under pain of excommunication. Although the English ports were guarded, thousands of copies were smuggled into England, concealed in bales and boxes of merchandise, and were quickly circulated everywhere. Church officials seized and burned many, and the bishop of London and Sir Thomas More fought and exposed the translation. But Tyndale brought out a revised edition, and there were seven more printings in the next ten years, all speedily sold. Cardinal Wolsey, who had sought to prevent copies from entering England, ordered Luther's and Tyndale's books burned. And a great bonfire, kindled outside St. Paul's, consumed all the Tyndale Testaments that could be gathered up. [2] But other editions replaced those that were burned, and many were sold on the Continent, as well.
Common errors were corrected. But the bishops were in censed, for Tyndale had used "repentance" for "penance," "acknowledge" for "confess," "image" for "idol," "congregation" for "church," and "love" for "charity"-basing his translation on Erasmus' Greek text and borrowing from Luther's arrangement. Wyclif's Bible was largely obsolete and inaccessible, and had been taken from the faulty Latin Vulgate. Tyndale's was a simple, honest, straightforward translation, shunning the ornate, euphemistic style of the times. The Bible was now available to all and exerted a powerful influence on the English Reformation, as well as setting the pattern upon which most later revisers worked. Indeed, 90 per cent of the Authorized Version of 1611 is attributable to Tyndale. His great learning had been made to serve a great cause. He is thus rightfully established among the literary immortals of England — his style characterized by tenderness, simplicity, and grandeur of phrasing. Indeed, the, persistence of Tyndale's work has been called the "miracle of English letters.” In 1528 Tyndale wrote on justification by faith, under the Parable of the Wicked Mammon, with several editions following. With him there was one uniform principle — the infallible authority of Holy Scripture as the rule of faith and practice and the test of all teaching. This he set forth in The Obedience of a Christian Man, in which he sought to restore Holy. Scripture to its proper place in the hearts of men, holding that the true sense of the Bible — contrary to the scholastic emphasis of the day — is its literal meaning. His view was therefore much more in accord with the view of our day than with that of his own time. Thus the two great principles of the Reformation were brought sharply to the forefront. So while Luther hands opened a closed Bible in Germany, Tyndale had done the same for Britain. And his The Practice of Prelates was an' unsparing indictment of the Roman hierarchy.
2 The only surviving copy of the treasured first octavo edition (Worms: Schoeffer) is housed in a vault in the Bristol Baptist College, England, oldest Baptist institution in the world, founded in 1679.
In 1529 Tyndale repaired to the Low Countries to trans late the Pentateuch. In this he was assisted by Miles Coverdale, who virtually completed the translation. By this time Tyndale had rejected both Catholicism's transubstantiation and Lutherans consubstantiation, regarding the celebration of the Lord’s Sup per as purely commemorative and symbolic. Beginning in 1527, Tyndale crossed swords with Sir Thomas More, [3] and a literary war followed. Back and forth the battle surged. In 1529 More produced his Dialogue of Sir Thomas More, attacking the positions of Luther and Tyndale, and defending Rome. This dealt with the doctrines that divided Christendom—Tyndale championing the Scripture, and More, the church. This Tyndale answered in 1531 with satiric force.
More soon issued The Confutacyon of Tyndale's Answers. The exchange became the classic controversy of the English Reformation. (More pictured on page 96.)
The bishops had burned Tyndale's books. Now they resolved that he too must burn at the stake. This Tyndale had anticipated. Meantime, Cromwell had become privy councillor, and Tyndale was invited to return to England from the Continent, under safe-conduct. But this he felt to be unsafe because of high ecclesiastical resentment. Then Henry VIII turned against him, denounced his writings, and sought to bring him to trial. He asked Charles V to deliver him, but the emperor refused to do so.
Tyndale had found refuge in the home of an English merchant in Antwerp, and thought he was safe. But he was lured from home by an English acquaintance, actually an agent for his enemies in England. Decoyed into another jurisdiction, he was seized by the authorities of Brussels in the name of the emperor, and conveyed to the castle of Vilvorde, near Brussels.
Here, under arrest, he languished in prison for about seventeen months through a protracted trial for heresy. Finally, on October 6, 1536, he was taken outside the castle to suffer death at Brussels, in Flanders. Fastened to a stake, he was strangled by the executioner, who then burned his body.
3 SIR THOMAS MORE (1478-1535), humanist, statesman, and Lord Chancellor of England, first planned to become a monk, and early entered the service of the Archbishop of Canter bury. But he entered Oxford in 1497S studying the classics and law. Gaining eminence at the bar, he entered Parliament in 1504, his home becoming a rendezvous for the intellectuals, such as Erasmus. He became a favourite of Henry VIII, and in 1521 he was made treasurer of the Exchequer and was knighted. By 1523 he was made speaker of the House of Commons and high steward of the University of Cambridge. He defended the Papacy against Luther, and in the same year began to write tracts against him. The Reformation forced the humanists to choose sides. More championed the dogmas of the Roman Church, and he was a militant Immortal-Soulist. In 1529, upon the fall of Cardinal Wolsey, he was appointed Lord Chancellor. He persecuted Protestants, but none were put to death under him for their pestilent dogmas. In 1532 More retired from public life because he refused to sanction Henry's divorce proceedings, ecclesiastical policies, and renunciation of the pope. In 1534 More was committed to the Tower, imprisoned a year, pronounced guilty of treason, and beheaded in 1535. But he was beatified by Leo XIII in 1886 and canonized by Pius XI in 1935.
He had expected just that, and his last words were the prayer. "Lord, open the eyes of the King of England." Significantly enough, the very next year the public reading of the Word of God was authorized by royal decree. And five years later a Bible, allegedly translated by various "learned men," reached the desk of Henry VIII, who ordered that every church in the kingdom be provided with a copy. Tyndale had triumphed. He had left England an unknown exile, and had| lived abroad in poverty, obscurity, and danger; yet before his death his name had become a household word in England and was widely known on the Continent. And the Bible had become known in the common tongue of the people. Truth was established.
1. PROPHETIC DEPICTION OF PAPAL PERVERSIONS.
Tyndale was a keen student of prophecy, holding the pope to be the Antichrist depicted in Revelation 13 and 17, in Daniel 7 and 8, and in the Epistles of Paul. The Antichrist had perverted the gospel and changed the ordinances of God, [4] and perverted Bible truth on the nature of man. Somewhere, sometime, Tyndale had fallen under the spell of Luther's lofty scorn of the papal decretals on natural immortality and Purgatory and the attend ant impostures and excesses of the day, [5] and had come to similar conclusions.
It is significant that the two men—Luther and Tyndale— who spearheaded the Reformation in Germany and in England by translating the Bible into the vernacular of their respective peoples, should both be thus led to detect this distinctive Roman departure on the nature of man and the sleep of the soul, along with related Catholic innovations, both going on record against the Platonic philosophy that had established itself in Roman theology.
4 See Froom, Prophetic Faith, vol. 2, pp. 355-358.
5 See under Luther, pp. 65-79.
2. DEPARTED SOULS NOT IN HEAVEN, HELL, OR PURGATORY.
Sir Thomas More, it will be recalled, had objected to Luther's doctrine that "all souls die and sleep till dooms-day," and strongly objected to the "pestilential sect" represented by Luther and Tyndale. If. such had not been Luther's teaching, Tyndale would surely have denied it. But instead, Tyndale, in his Answer to Sir Thomas More's Dialogue, rose to its vigorous defence as the doctrine not only of Luther but of the Bible Here is the record:
"And ye, in putting them [departed souls] in heaven, hell, and purgatory, destroy the arguments wherewith Christ and Paul prove the resurrection. What God doth with them, that shall we know when we come to them. The true faith puts the resurrection, which we be warned to look for every hour. The heathen philosophers, denying that, did put that the souls did ever live. And the pope joined the spiritual doctrine of Christ and the fleshly doctrine of philosophers together; things so contrary that they cannot agree, no more than the Spirit and the flesh do in a Christian man. And because the fleshly-minded pope consented unto heathen doctrine, therefore he corrupted the scripture to stablish it. And again, if the souls hie in heaven, tell me why they be not in as good case as the angels be? And then what cause is there of the resurrection?" [6]
3. INNATE IMMORTALITY FROM PAGANISM AND POPERY.
This clearly shows that Tyndale did not believe that souls go to heaven at death, but that they sleep till the resurrection. He argues logically that the opposite doctrine destroys the resurrection. He also agrees with Luther, and goes to the heart of the issue in asserting that the Innate Immortality of the soul is a papal doctrine borrowed from "heathen philosophers." Tyndale then quotes More as saying chidingly:
"What shall he care how long he live in sin, that believeth Luther, that he shall after this life feel neither good nor evil, in body nor soul, until the day of doom?" [7] To this Tyndale answers pointedly: "Christ and his apostles taught no other; but warned to look for Christ's coming again every hour: which coming again because ye believe will never be, therefore ye have feigned that other merchandise." [8]
6 William Tyndale, An Answer to Sir Thomas More's Dialogue, book 4, chap. 2, pp. 180, 181. See also Tyndale's Works, p. 324.
7 Ibid., chap. 8, pp. 188, 189.
4. "SAINTS IN HEAVEN" DESTROYS RESURRECTION ARGUMENT.
Tyndale not only denied Purgatory but held that neither the Virgin nor the saints were able to intercede for humankind. He insisted that doctrine should be established on Holy Scripture alone, not on human tradition. Thus, in meeting More's contention that we should pray to the saints who are alive in heaven and can help, Tyndale makes the charge that such a doctrine contradicts the explicit teaching of Christ:
"And when he [More] proves that the saints be in heaven in glory with Christ already, saying, 'If God be their God, they be in heaven, for he is not the God of the dead;' there he steals away Christ's argument, where with he proves the resurrection: that Abraham and all saints should rise again, and not that their souls were in heaven; which doctrine was not yet in the world. And with that doctrine he taketh away the resurrection quite, and makes Christ's argument of none effect. For when Christ alleges the scripture, that God is Abraham's God, and added to, that God is not God of the dead but of the living, and so proves that Abraham must rise again. I deny Christ's argument, and I say with M. More, that Abraham is yet alive not because of the resurrection, but because his soul is in heaven." [9]
5. DOES "MASTER MORE" KNOW MORE THAN PAUL?
Tyndale presses his contention still further by showing the conflict of papal teaching with that of St. Paul, phrasing it in somewhat sarcastic vein:
"And in like manner, Paul's argument unto the Corinthians is nought worth: for when he saith, 'If there be no resurrection, we be of all wretches the miserable; here we have no pleasure, but sorrow, care, and oppression; and therefore, if we rise not again, all our suffering is in vain:' 'Nay, Paul, thou art unlearned; go to Master More, and learn a new way. We be not most miserable, though we rise not again; for our souls go to heaven as soon as we be dead, and are there in as great joy as Christ that is risen again.' And I marvel that Paul had not comforted the Thessalonians with that doctrine, if he had wished it, that the souls of their dead had been in joy; as he did with the resurrection, that their dead should rise again. If the souls be in heaven, in as great glory as the angels, after your doctrine, shew me what cause should be of the resurrection?" [10]
8 Ibid., p. 189.
9 Ibid., book 2, chap. 8, p. 118.
10 Ibid.
Such was the clear witness of the first English Reformer upon the nature of man.
It is important that we understand the character, calibre, and competence of those who have held to, and particularly those who have pioneered in the rediscovery and revival of, the teaching of Conditional Immortality in any given country or period of time. It is essential to know whether they were learned or ignorant, trained or untrained, balanced or erratic, pious or brazen, principled or unprincipled, competent or incompetent in the Bible and Biblical languages, whether they were independent thinkers or mere reflectors of the opinions of others, and especially whether they held to the Word of God as the source of all truth and the arbiter for every doctrinal difference.
Thus at the very outset of the English Reformation and the break with Rome. Conditional Immortality was brought to the forefront by two scholarly Bible translators who followed their convictions to the stake and died for their faith. Because of his importance in our quest we give a companion sketch of John Frith, worthy cochampion of Conditionalism in those crucial years of emerging British Protestantism.
The associate pioneer in this field, JOHN FRITH, or FRYTH (1503-1533), was a brilliant young English Reformer and martyr, and Tyndale's "son in the faith." After leaving Eton, he was highly trained at Cambridge, where Stephen Gardiner, later bishop of Winchester, was his special tutor. Frith was a rising star, unsurpassed in his day for learning. He received his B.A. in 1525 from King's College, where he specialized in Latin and Greek. He then responded to an invitation extended by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey to him and to certain other bright prospects, and transferred his residence to Wolsey's newly founded Cardinal College, Oxford (later Christ Church). Here he taught, and became a junior canon. [11] Here Frith probably met William Tyndale, from whom he received "the seed of the gospel" into his heart, and later assisted him in the translation and publication of the New Testament. Both Wolsey and Henry VIII had ambitious plans for him, but he turned away from them all for the gospel's sake.
His intensive study of the Word in his translation work wrought a tremendous change in his concepts. And because of his zeal in Reformed preaching, he was soon charged with championing Luther's heresies. This led to his arrest and several months of imprisonment in a foul dungeon, actually a fish cellar, at Oxford. Several others were likewise held under duress, from among whom at least three died from the ordeal.
Upon the consent of Wolsey, Frith was released in 1528, with the supposition that he would remain at Oxford. But he fled to the Continent for safety, where for a time he resided in the newly founded Protestant University of Marburg, Germany.
Here he associated with Tyndale in translation work. While at Marburg he made the acquaintance of several other scholars and Reformers of note who confirmed his growing Protestant convictions. Later, both he and Tyndale went to Antwerp, where the New Testament was completed and work was begun on the Old Testament.
11 A. C. Bickley, "John Frith," Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 7, pp. 719. 720; C. H. A. Bulkley, Martyrs of the Reformation, pp. 109-142; The Works of the English Re formers William Tyndale, and John Frith (Thomas Russell, ed.), vol. 3, pp. 190-193, 450-455; Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, pp. 9, 10.
During this time, although suffering from poverty and undernourishment, Frith wrote A Disputation of Purgatory, Divided in to three books. The first book was an answer to John Rastell, the second to Sir Thomas More, and the third to John Fisher, bishop of Rochester. [12] This triple reply was occasioned by two books: One was The Supplication of Souls in Purgatory, made by Sir Thomas More, Knight, printed in 1529. The other was A New Book of Purgatory Divided in to three dialogues. The first dialogue the immortality of man's soul. The third dialogue treats of Purgatory—this last issued in 1530, being by Rastell, brother-in-law of More. In his reply Frith uses what became the standard, well-reasoned Conditionalist arguments against Purgatory, such as the mortal nature of man, the resurrection as the sole hope for a future life only in Christ. And Frith's reply became one of the factors that ultimately cost him his life.
Frith received word from the king that he would be welcomed back to England if he would renounce his heresies. He had been abroad for several years and had a great desire to return and preach the gospel he had found in the Scriptures. Returning to England in 1532 in penury, Frith began preaching.
But he was so disreputable in appearance that he was soon arrested as a vagabond and put in the stocks. He refused to give his name, so food was withheld to force him to disclose his identity. As the town schoolmaster conversed with him in Latin and Greek, his identity was discovered and he was released. After wandering from place to place he was again arrested. This time he was charged with heresy upon order of Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England.
12 It is printed without printer's name, date, or place, but it is believed to have been printed at Marburg in 1531, and reprinted in London in 1533.
Both Vicar General Cromwell and Archbishop Cranmer favoured leniency, but the circulation of a manuscript (Lytle Treatise on the Sacraments) written by Frith at the request of a friend but not intended for circulation aggravated the hostility of his enemies. [13] Tyndale was greatly concerned over his plight, for he looked up to Frith as the rising star and the great hope of the church in England. He counselled Frith to avoid a clash with the authorities, but admonished him to be faithful.
Nothing could now save him. He was accordingly tried before a court of six, of whom Cranmer (who was himself greatly troubled) was one, and found guilty of denying both Purgatory, with its involvements, and transubstantiation as necessary articles of faith. He was condemned to the stocks and plagued with hunger to break his spirit. He was offered an opportunity to escape if he would compromise, but he refused to reverse his views. The decrees and appeals of men carried no weight with him in a matter of conviction. He knew that the Scriptures of truth supported him and were the final source and standard of authority. And he must face God for his convictions.
During his imprisonment in the Tower, though-loaded with chains, he wrote several tracts confuting various charges and winning Rastell, as well as producing his major controversial work, A Book Made by John Fryth, prisoner in the Tower of London answering to M. More's Letter (1533).
Frith, it should be stated, was the first to take the position regarding the symbolic character of the sacraments, later incorporated into the English communion.
Frith's trial took place in Lambeth Palace, before the Archbishop of Canterbury, with Bishop Gardiner of Winchester (Frith's former tutor) now testifying against him. The articles against him were read and acknowledged. He was then sentenced by the bishop of London to be burned at the stake, and was turned over to the secular arm. Pending his burning, he was committed to Newgate Prison. There he was put into a dungeon, laden with chains, his neck circled with an iron collar fastened to a post. It was impossible for him either to lie down or to stand upright. But despite this cruel posture he continued by day and night to write by candlelight.
13 Frith was betrayed by William Holt, who under the pretence of friendship drew out his views on the sacraments, asking Frith to put them in writing for study. Holt then took the manuscript to More, successor to Wolsey, who had Frith committed to the Tower.
Finally, on July 4, 1533, praying that his death might open the eyes of the king, Frith was burned at the stake in Smithfield, just outside of London. Here he reaffirmed his faith, and when the fagots were fired, he embraced them in his arms and committed his spirit to God. The spectators were greatly moved, but the pastor of All Souls Church admonished the people who had gathered not to pray for him any more than for a dog. Frith only besought God to forgive them. So he sealed his life with his blood at the age of thirty.
Twenty-three years after the martyrdom of Frith, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, who had been one of his judges, went to the stake for the same belief. And soon thereafter it became the publicly professed faith of the English nation. [14] Frith's writings exerted a pronounced and lasting influence. To him the church embraced all true members of Christ in every land and communion. Moreover, he believed the church to be the depository of all truth and responsible for its dissemination to the whole world—the embryo of the modern missionary idea. He was also a student of prophecy and wrote effectively on the papal Antichrist.
It was but natural that Frith, as the close literary associate of Tyndale, should jointly share Tyndale's view—that immortality begins only at the resurrection, at the last day, and that none of the dead are as yet either in Heaven or in Hell. Times were tense and persecution rife. It was England's transition hour, with Protestantism in the making, and Frith was a spokesman in the age of Protestant heroics and separation from things papal. He saw more clearly than most in his day that such a break could not be fully effective unless and until the dogma of Purgatory and the concept of immediate conscious rewards at death were abandoned as un-Biblical and untrue.
14 Deborah Alcock, "John Frith," in Six Heroic Men.
That became his unyielding position, and one of the twin causes of his martyrdom.
1. PARABLE Is BASIS OF BISHOP'S CONTENTION.
In his "Answer unto My Lord [Bishop Fisher] of Rochester," Frith steadfastly affirmed that the "word [of God] is the judge," that it is "the perfect touchstone that tries all things"—the true Protestant position. On the bishop's contention that "of the souls that are departed, some are already damned in hell, and some are already in heaven," Frith states that "to prove this true, he [Fisher] alleged the parable of the rich man (Luke 16)." That was the bishop's chief evidence and argument.
But Frith's rejoinder was: "I am sure my Lord [the bishop of Rochester] is not so ignorant as to say that a parable proves anything." Parables only "open and expound dark and hard things." Rather, Frith contends, "we must consider the thing wherefore they be spoken, and apply them only to that they are spoken for." [15]
2. CONSCIOUS TORMENT DESTROYS RESURRECTION ARGUMENT.
Frith then says pointedly that from "this parable" they "should have no such apparitions of the dead," and that they would not believe "although one of the dead should rise again and tell it them." Then for the sake of argument he says:
"Notwithstanding, let me grant in him [the bishop], that some are already in hell, and some in heaven, (which thing he shall never be able to prove by the Scripture, yea, and which plainly destroyed the resurrection, and taketh away the arguments wherewith Christ and Paul do prove that we shall rise) yet, I say, let me grant it him, to see how he will conclude." [16] And this is what the bishop had contended: " 'Neither it is creditable,' (saith he) 'that all which are cast into hell should straightway go to heaven, therefore must we put a purgatory, where they may be purged.' "
15 Works of English Reformers, vol. 3, pp. 190, 191.
16 Ibid., pp. 191, 192. In this Frith concurs with Tyndale.
3. RIGHTEOUS REST IN PEACE, NOT IN TORMENT.
To this Frith answers, "All that live are faithful or unfaithful." And then he declares concerning the faithful that "the righteous man, when he dies, shall rest in peace." This he repeats and amplifies: "Every faithful man shall rest in peace and not be tormented in the pains of purgatory." Then he observes frankly, "And as touching this point, where they rest, I dare be bold to say that they are in the hand of God, and that God would that we should be ignorant where they be, and not to take upon us to determine the matter." [17]
4. ABRAHAM'S BOSOM Is ABRAHAM'S FAITH.
Touching next upon the meaning, in the parable, of "Abraham's bosom" whereon Lazarus rested, Frith answers explicitly, "Abraham's bosom were nothing else than Abraham's faith." Then he observes:
"He that departed in this faith rests in peace, and waited for the last day, when God shall give unto his faithful, that is, to his elect, (for only are the elect faithful, and the faithful elect) the crown of his glory, which he hath prepared for them that love him. This crown, doth Paul say, that he shall receive it in that day. (2 Tim. 4) that is, in the day of judgment. And in the mean season God hath so provided for us, that they shall wait until the number of their brethren which daily suffer and shall suffer for Christ, be wholly fulfilled, and so shall they not be made perfect without us (Heb. 11)" [18]
So, Frith concludes, this is "a clear case." And he repeats, “Of this he can prove no purgatory," for "there is no man so mad as to say that to rest in peace should signify to lie in the pains of purgatory.” Consequently he draws the conclusion, "There is no such purgatory." Of this he was assured, for God will forgive us in Christ "without broiling on the coals in purgatory." [19]
17 Ibid., p. 192.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid., p. 193.
5. DENIAL OF PURGATORY BECOMES DEATH WARRANT.
In his last letter, entitled "The Articles wherefore John Frith Died," penned and signed on June 23, 1533—just ten days before his martyrdom—Frith states, "They examined me but of two articles." The first was, "Whether I thought there were no purgatory to purge the soul after this present life." To this Frith records his explicit answer: "I said that I thought there was none, for man is made but of two parts, the body and the soul," the soul being "purged by the word of God, which we receive through faith, unto the health and salvation both of body and soul." Therefore he declared, "I must deny the Pope's purgatory." [20] The second charge concerned the sacrament, whether it contained Christ's "very natural body, both flesh and blood."
To this Frith also returned answer, "No, said I, I do not so think." He categorically denied the claim of "transmutation" because, he said, "it is false, and can neither be proved by Scripture, nor faithful doctors." And then he repeated the truism that it "cannot be proved true by Scripture" [21]—the standard by which he tested all teachings. These denials were his death warrant. Such was the testimony of Frith the martyr.
Before continuing with the Reformation witnesses, let us now turn briefly from Britain and the Continent long enough to examine a highly significant independent line of testimony— first from African Ethiopia and then from the Malabar Coast on the southwestern tip of India. While these far-flung regions are only remotely related to the territory we have been surveying, they are highly significant, because they introduce a second paralleling line of witness for Conditionalism, which reaches back to the early centuries of the Christian Era.
This testimony is unique because it represents the perpetuation of the original Early Church Conditionalism in these re mote regions, rather than the recovery of the primitive view— important as that is—as was the case with Luther and Tyndale and other European Reformers who once held, and then repudiated, the Roman dogma of the Innate Immortality of the soul, and its corollary concepts of the endless torment of the wicked, and of Purgatory. Because of its bearing on the case for Conditionalism, let us go back to the beginning of Christianity in Ethiopia.
20 Ibid., p. 450.
21 Ibid., pp. 451, 455.
1. FRUMENTIUS BECOMES BISHOP OF ABYSSINIA.
FRUMENTIUS (c. 300-c. 360), recognized apostle of Christianity in the Abyssinian (or Ethiopian) Church, was born in Tyre. When still comparatively young, he and a companion went with his uncle, Meropius, a Greek philosopher of Tyre, to the coast of Abyssinia on a voyage of scientific discovery. Landing on the coast for water, they were captured and made slaves by the Abyssinians. Winning the confidence of the king, and in time set free, Frumentius became the private secretary and tutor of the young Prince Aizanes, and attained influence in state affairs.
Carrying on successful missionary work, he developed a church of native converts and Christian merchants. Then, after the prince attained his majority, Frumentius returned to Alexandria to report to Bishop Athanasius, rehearsing the progress he had made in preparing the way for Christianity in Abyssinia.
About 326 Frumentius was consecrated by Athanasius as bishop of Axum (or Axuma), chief city of Abyssinia. He received the title Abuna (patriarch), which designation was hence forth assumed by the leaders of the Abyssinian Church. After his return to Ethiopia, Frumentius baptized the young king.
And his continuing missionary labours were rewarded with extraordinary success. Like Athanasius, Frumentius was a strong opponent of Arianism. [22] And it was obviously he who taught the Conditionalist view concerning man to the Ethiopians, which teaching was still retained by many in the sixteenth century.
22 See Rufinus i.9; Socrates i.19; Sozomen ii.24; Theodoret i.22; and Athanasius, "Defense Against the Arians," 29-31.
It should be added that after Athanasius was banished from Alexandria in 356, Emperor Constantius persecuted the followers of Athanasius, even into remote regions. Pursuant to this policy, Constantius even demanded that the princes of Ethiopia send Frumentius to Alexandria for examination as to his orthodoxy, and the regularity of his ordination. But the princes refused, and Frumentius continued his work and wit ness in Ethiopia until his death.
2. JESUIT MISSIONARIES DISCOVER DISSENTING BELIEF.
When Portuguese Jesuit missionaries reached Ethiopia, in the latter part of the sixteenth century, they found many of these Ethiopian Christians still holding that the dead remain unconscious until the resurrection, as well as some who were still observing the ancient seventh-day Sabbath as a Christian institution. P. Pero Pais, S.J., in his Historia da Ethiopia, reports subsequent disputations with the principal local scholars in the presence of Emperor Za Denguil, which took place in June, 1604. Pais specifically records that "they [the Ethiopians] deny purgatory," with its characteristic involvements. And he reports that they answered the usual Catholic contentions by stating that they considered such arguments absurd and unsatisfying. [23] Contending that the Ethiopians were holding three errors as regards souls, Pais said that the third error is their belief that the souls of the saints "are in the earthly Paradise, without enjoying the glory, and they are to, wait there until the day of judgment, when they are going to unite with their bodies, and will enter into heaven together." And concerning the wicked, he stated that they believe that the souls of such are not yet in hell and further, that "they are not to be tormented until they unite with their bodies." This, asserted Jesuit Pais, was a general belief, which he, of course, labelled an "error" [24] because it is in mortal conflict with Catholic dogma.
This Jesuit emissary then sought through public disputations and private talks to prove the Roman Catholic contention that immediately upon death the souls of the saints "enter into heaven and enjoy the glory that their works deserve." And further, that "the souls of those that die in mortal sin go immediately to hell, where they are tormented." Some Ethiopic listeners, he adds, accepted the Catholic teaching, while some "remain in their error," as he termed it. And Pais expressly contradicted the contention of Fr. Luiz de Urreta to the effect that the Ethiopians do not hold such "errors."
23 P. Pero Pais, S.J., Historia da Ethiopia, vol. 2, p. 54.
24 Ibid.
Still another Jesuit witness is P. Manuel de Almeida, who, in his Historia de Ethiopia a Alta, concurs in attesting the antiquity of the Ethiopic belief that "the souls of the wicked that die in mortal sin, do not go immediately to Hell," but instead are detained "without suffering any torment until the day of judgment." And, confirming the statement of Pais, he adds that "they did not believe in Purgatory" nor in "indulgences." More important than this, "they believed that the wicked are not to be in hell eternally." [25] This last point is highly significant, for it is distinctly the Conditionalist position, retained from early times. And in sustaining their view, Pais says, these Ethiopians quote Hebrews 11, that none of the saints enter into glory until the resurrection.
Such explicit attestations from the Jesuits of opposite belief, constitute convincing evidence of the retention in the heart of Africa in the early seventeenth century of the ancient Conditionalist belief on the nature of man. And we repeat:
Theirs was not a revival and restoration of a primitive belief by those who had formerly held the contrary Catholic position.
It was, instead, the retention of a belief held from early times, independent of the innovations that had come virtually to dominate the various European Christian bodies during the Middle Ages. Such a distinction and witness is indeed illuminative in our quest of the far-flung witnesses to Conditionalism.
25 P. Manuel de Almeida, Historia de Ethiopia a Alta, lib. 6, pp. 129, 131.
1. RISE AND SPREAD OF THE NESTORIAN MOVEMENT.
It is again essential first to get the historical background of Conditionalism on the great Asian continent. Nestorius, presbyter of the church at Antioch, was made bishop of Constantinople in 428. He denounced errors that had already crept into the church—especially the offensive term "mother of God," as applied to Mary, which title he declared to be a pagan Invention. His fiercest antagonist was Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, who was a violent polemicist. Nestorius held that the two natures of Christ remained distinct, but were closely joined and harmonious. He held that Christ possessed two distinct personalities. So there were sharp differences.
After correspondence between the two patriarchs both par ties agreed to lay their views before the influential Celestine I, bishop of Rome. As a result, in 430 a Roman synod condemned Nestorius' views, and he was commanded to recant on pain of excommunication. Then came the General Council of Ephesus, in 431, when Cyril and the Alexandrian party again triumphed over Nestorius, who was permitted to retire to a cloister. Thus it was that Cyril gained the imperial support for his views.
2. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NESTORIAN MOVEMENT.
As noted, Nestorianism as a movement rose in the fifth century. And despite deterrents it spread into Persia, Armenia, Syria, India, and even China. The Nestorians became known as the Protestants of Eastern Christianity, having always opposed any doctrine that regarded Mary as more than a woman, and in other respects advocated and preserved numerous early doc trines and usages of the primitive church. They claimed that their sect went back before Nestorius, to the apostle Thomas, many calling themselves "Thomas Christians." Their teachers, having been driven from Edessa, settled at Nisibis, which then became the centre of their vast missionary enterprise. They also produced numerous theologians and philosophers.
After the Council of Ephesus in 431 the Nestorians obtained possession of the theological schools of Edessa, Nisibis, and Seleucia. Then, driven by imperial edict into Persia, they firmly established themselves there, later spreading to India, Bactria (in Afghanistan), and even as far away as China. The group in South India had continued on ever since the period of the early migrations, and were commonly known as Syrian Christians, or St. Thomas Christians. Thus it was that when the emperor expelled the Nestorians from the Roman Empire they spread all over the East as a new and independent sect.
Nevertheless, papal emissaries ever sought to subject them to the pope, sometimes by cunning and sometimes by violence.
3. CHARACTERISTICS OF MALABAR ST. THOMAS CHRISTIANS.
The St. Thomas Christians of Malabar were, accordingly, a body of Syrian Christians of Nestorian descent, dwelling in the interior of Malabar and Travancore, in southwestern Hindu stan. They retained the Syriac language, held the validity of but two sacraments—baptism and the Lord's Supper—and were governed by bishops under a metropolitan. They rejected the authority of Peter and neither invoked saints nor worshiped images. And they were subjected to intense persecution as the Inquisition was established at Goa.
Another remnant of these St. Thomas Christians was found by Dr. Claudius Buchanan, in 1807, near Travancore. He found that their church services were still conducted in Syriac, and that they disclaimed the heresies of Arius, Sabellius, Macedonius, Maianus, Julianus, and Nestorius. They allowed three sacraments—baptism, orders, and the Eucharist. But what is more significant, they believed that the souls of the dead do not see God until the judgment day. Let us note this in greater detail.
As noted, this second group of Portuguese Jesuit missionaries found among descendants of the ancient Nestorians in the Malabar communities beliefs similar to those in Ethiopia concerning the nature of man. In addition, they possessed complete copies of the Syrian Scriptures. The Roman Catholic testimony concerning this group was written by Fr. Joao dos Santos, O.P., and is found in Ethiopia Oriental, but deals with Asian as well as African countries. [26] It was published in 1609.
Their beliefs are likewise recorded in Journado do Arcebispo de Goa D. Fr. Aleixo de Menezes (1606). There it is further recorded that at the Synod at Diamper in 1599, [27] a sizable number of these St. Thomas Christians defected, under pressure, to the Catholic Church, surrendered their Nestorian views and espoused the opposite Roman Catholic beliefs. This involved a right about-face on the nature of man.
1. JESUIT RECORD OF MALABAR CONDITIONALISM.
According to the Jesuit Dr. Joao dos Santos they had steadfastly denied the immaculate conception, refused the worship of images, and did not invoke the saints. But what is far more significant is the fact that they believed that at death the righteous "did not see God'' nor "enjoy His glory until at the last universal judgment." And they held, furthermore, that "the wicked that, died in their sins, did not go immediately to hell." Instead, they were held in darkness "until the day of the judgment, in which day all the wicked were to go to Hell together." [28] Here again, then, in this faraway region, we find independent persistence of early Conditionalist beliefs retained by this group from Early Church times. Unquestionably it was another branch in the widespread stream of Conditionalism.
2. PROTESTANT RECORD CONFIRMS CONDITIONALIST BELIEFS.
The Protestant record is provided by Michael Geddes, Angli can chancellor of the Cathedral church at Sarum. In his history of the region he says that the Church of Malabar expressly affirmed the Church of Rome to be "fallen from the true faith."
In the dedication he states his design in publishing, namely: "To satisfy the World, That there has always been a considerable visible Church on Earth, that never believed the doc trines of the Pope's Supremacy, Purgatory, Transubstantiation," et cetera. And the title page adds, "agreeing with the Church of England, in opposition to that of Rome."
26 The only known copy is in the National Library of Lisbon.
27 "Diocesan Synod of the Church and Bishopric of Angamale of the Ancient Christians of Saint Tome das Serras do Malabar of East India, held by Rev. Monsig. D. Fr. Aleixo de Menezes ... in the third Sunday after Pentecost at the 20th day of the month of June in the era of 1599. In the Church of all Saints, in the place ana kingdom of Diamper. In Coimbra, 1606," by Dr. de Antonio de Gouveia. (It is bound in same volume with Journado do Arcebispo de Menez.es, Coimbra, 1606.) See also Michael Geddes, The History of the Church of Malabar (1694, Eng. tr.); George M. Rae, The Syrian Church in India; J. D. D'Orsey, Portuguese Discoveries, Dependencies, and Missions in Asia and Africa.
28 Fr. Joao dos Santos, Ethiopia Oriental, vol. 2, part ii, book 4, chap. 19, p. 353.
The Portuguese Catholic prelates not only introduced the Roman faith but displaced the Church of Malabar's Syriac version of the Bible with the Vulgate. [29] Geddes also attests that the St. Thomas Christians not only denied the dogma of transubstantiation and condemned the worship of "Images" but specifically denied the existence of "purgatory." [30] The Portuguese emissaries had charged that they must "answer for the souls that were now burning in Hell." [31] They stressed the Romanist dogma of "a Purgatory, and that the Souls which are cleansing from their Sins, do receive benefit from the Prayers and Devotions of the Faithful," and that "the Souls of the Just and Faithful, which at their departure out of this Life, have entirely satisfied for the Punishment due to the Sins that they have committed." They declared that the St. Thomas Christians denied the concept that "the Saints now reigning with Christ in heaven, are to be Reverenced, and Invoked." [32]
Geddes records the "persecution and violent methods of the Roman Prelates, to reduce them [the St. Thomas Christians] to the subjection of the Church of Rome," as well as recording the actions of the Synod of Diamper, in 1599, subscribed to by those who defected to Rome. Here a complete reversal took place on the part of those who went over to the Roman Church.
These new converts to the Catholic faith declared that they now "hold and confess" that "there is a Purgatory, and that the Souls which are cleansing from their Sins, do receive benefit from the Prayers and Devotions of the Faithful." They also affirmed that "the Souls of the Just ... do at the moment of their death go immediately into Heaven, where they behold God as he is." The reversal was complete.
28 A Diocesan Synod of the Church and Bishopric of Angamale, pp. 133, 134, in Geddes, op. cit.
29 Geddes, History of the Church of Malabar, Dedication: A Diocesan Synod. Preface.
30 Geddes, History, p. 92.
31 A Diocesan Synod, pp. 110, 111, in Geddes.
And further, Geddes states that they now "condemn, and anathematize the Heresy" of their former associates, who continue to hold that "the Damned are not Tormented" until they "enter into [such "torments"] after the day of Judgment."
They were also compelled to affirm that "the Saints now reigning with Christ in Heaven, are to be Reverenced, and Invoked, and that they offer Prayers to God for us." [33]
There could scarcely be a more revolutionary about-face.
The St. Thomas Christians and the Romanists were diametrically opposed in their concepts regarding the nature of man.
Such was another recorded conflict in the running battle of the centuries.
3. TAMPERING WITH THE RECORDS.
But that is not the whole story. Geddes, writing in 1694, adds that all available ecclesiastical records of this ancient church, found by the Inquisitors, were destroyed "in order that no pretended apostolic monuments may remain." [34] They likewise forced the alteration of the local copies of the Syrian Scriptures of the Thomists, to conform to the Latin version then in use by the Romanists. It is the familiar story of papal tampering. Wherever possible the Jesuits compelled their churches to submit to the Roman ceremonials. Since that time, however, from a segment of St. Thomas Christians; dwelling in the interior valuable early manuscripts were recovered in the language used by Christ and His apostles, who "brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Tim. 1.10). [35] Thus the original witness was preserved.
Thus from the category of their alleged "errors" it is obvious that the Catholic dogma of the inherent immortality of all souls had no place in the earlier Malabar theology which was derived from Early Church times.
33 Ibid., p. 111.
34 Ibid.
35 Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, p. 4.
It is necessary in this chapter to digress long enough to note the origin of the bitter and unrelenting sixteenth-century attack on soul sleep that arrested the trend toward a reviving Conditionalism, which opposition originated with the brilliant John Calvin of Geneva. The background facts must be grasped in order to understand the unprecedented conflict that developed in Protestant ranks over this vital question, for it was this that started an internecine battle of pens that has persisted ever since. We will then turn to contrasting Anglican developments that have moulded her position of moderation for four hundred years.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564), illustrious father of French Protestantism, top-ranking theologian and theocrat, exerted an enormous influence. In many ways he overshadowed Luther, his contemporary. Precocious as a student and brilliant and independent as a thinker, he first studied for the priesthood in Paris, then for the law at Orleans. He thus had a thorough professional training. In Paris his cousin, Robert Olivetan, induced him to search the Scriptures, pointing out a basic conflict between traditional Roman theology and the express teachings of the Word of God.
At Bourges and Orleans, having abandoned theology for the study of law, Calvin nevertheless studied Biblical Greek, which further confirmed him in believing the doctrines of the Protestant faith to be true. So he embraced them, at first privately, but in 1532 he openly professed the Protestant faith and advocated reform of the church. This brought him under the censure of the Sorbonne. At this point it is to be particularly noted that while still at Orleans, in 1534, Calvin published his first theological work, entitled Psychopannychia, a militant treatise against the sleep of the soul between death and the resurrection, and destined to exert a profound influence.
Already under suspicion, Calvin soon had to flee to Switzerland to escape persecution, living at first as a fugitive. It was during this period that he wrote his epochal Institutes of the Christian Religion, which was published in 1536 when Calvin was only twenty-six. It is but fair to state that his theological tenets attained greater international acceptance than those of any other Reformer, his name becoming synonymous with the doctrine of predestination.
Calvin, it should here be added, was never ordained by either Protestants or Catholics, believing himself called of God and needing no ordination. And he was so accepted. His capacity to work was phenomenal. Treatises fairly flowed from his pen, and his legal training enabled him to employ all the turns of polemic argument to support his views, and made effective opposition difficult.
1. SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD AND THEOCRACY FOR MAN.
The cornerstone of Calvin's theology was the absolute sovereignty of God, coupled with the duty of man to submit implicitly to its sway. He held that God has from all eternity elected, or pre determined, an unchangeable eternal salvation or loss for each individual. And the ultimate reason and justification in any particular case is that God wills it so. The elect of God, known only to Him, constitute the church, outside of which elect there is no salvation. Calvin's emphasis was intensely theocentric in contrast with that of Luther, which was Christ-centric. That really epitomizes the basic difference between them.
Arriving in Geneva in 1536, Calvin was urged to stay, and was elected preacher and professor of theology. He accordingly prepared a Confession of Faith, a catechism, and an integrated outline of church government, all three of which were approved in 1537. But the severe doctrines and strict discipline set forth were unpalatable to many, and Calvin was banished from the city in 1538. He withdrew to Strasburg, where he likewise served as pastor and professor of theology.
However, in 1540 the Genevese senate sent a pressing invitation to Calvin to return. So in 1541 he again entered Geneva.
There he spent the remainder of his life—for thirty years preaching in St. Peter's Cathedral and seeking to establish a model theocracy. He also founded the Academy of Geneva, which later became the famous university that attracted students from all parts of Europe. All the ability, intensity, and authority of Calvin were here brought to bear against the concept of the mortality of the soul and the sleep of the dead. And the doctrine of Innate Immortality. As he taught it, came gradually to be considered, the orthodox doctrine of the majority of the Protestant churches. His influence was phenomenal.
Calvin's passion was to set up a disciplined community, with the church's commission asserting itself in state affairs and all committed to God in solemn covenant. A despotic regime was instituted, with punishment for offenders made obligatory and the details of personal life under rigid scrutiny. Catholics were forbidden to hold office, and dissenters were directed to leave the city.
Under the Genevan theocracy, the principle of tolerance was totally absent. As Schaff says, unfortunately, to the worst feature of Catholic oppression—recourse to the civil arm, even to capital punishment for spiritual offences—Calvin coupled the Mosaic code and the theocratic theory. Rome's burning of the innocent was no reason, he held, why Protestants should spare the guilty. [1] As a consequence, fifty-eight executions occurred in four years (1542-1546), and seventy-six dissenters were banished from Geneva.
Under the provisions of this specious theocratic theory, DR. MICHAEL SERVETUS (1509-1553), highly trained Spanish lawyer, physician, and theologian, was put to death. But along with his well-known rejection of the Trinity and of infant baptism— which contravened both Protestantism and Catholicism—Servetus also believed the soul to be but mortal, with immortality bestowed only by the grace of Christ at the resurrection. In other words, he also held to Conditional Immortality. [2] Having been previously arrested and brought to trial be fore Roman Catholic authorities at Vienna, he made his escape and was headed toward Italy. However, on the way he was arrested at Geneva, with the full consent of Calvin, and after a lengthy trial and refusal to retract was condemned for heresy and blasphemy. [3] He was burned at the stake, along with his books, on October 27, 1553. This was Calvin's most tragic deed.
1. Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, vol. 1, p. 464.
2. See Froom, Prophetic Faith, vol. 2, pp. 439-441.
3. Schaff, op. cit.
And Conditionalism, it is to be remembered, was a definite factor in his condemnation.
Calvin relentlessly opposed all the "marginal sects," particularly the Anabaptists, who believed that civil authority had no rightful jurisdiction in spiritual matters, and many of whom believed that "the dead know not any thing" until the resurrection. It may safely be said that, aside from the Roman communion, Calvin was of all the Protestant Reformers the fore most opponent of the doctrine of Conditional Immortality. And with it he was the most ardent Protestant advocate of the in separable dogma of the Eternal Torment of the non repentant non elect. As a consequence, to this day the most intense advocates of these twin dogmas are Calvinists as a group.
As the learned Archdeacon Francis Blackburne, Conditionalist historian, puts it, it was just two years after Luther published his commentary on Ecclesiastes in 1532- — in which the great German Reformer took his stand with those who maintain the "sleep of the soul" upon a Scripture foundation, and then "made use of it as a confutation of purgatory and saint worship” — that John Calvin began to "figure" in the struggle. This came about by his issuing, as noted, his earliest work, Psychopannychia against the sleep of souls, printed at Orleans'. In contrast, in this treatise Calvin contends that the soul is awake "throughout the whole night of death, with all the consciousness and sensibility necessary to the enjoyment of happiness." [4] The timing and place of publication of this tract are both significant, for according to the historian Sleidan, in that very year and in that very city of Orleans the apparition of a "ghost” was making weird and spiteful appearances. It had been "conjured up" by the Franciscans, he records, in support of the doc trine of Purgatory and was "encouraging masses, and bringing large profits to the priests." But-after Luther's teachings became
4. Blackburne, A Short Historical View, pp. 14, 15.
known—that "the souls of the dead are at rest, waiting for the final judgment"—the ghostly "disturbances, frightful noises and phantoms," as Sleidan describes them, began to subside, wreaking havoc on the priests' "trade of apparitions." So, according to Blackburne, Calvin's position promoted the profiteering, whereas Luther's teaching, "consigning all the dead to a state of rest and sleep, left no pretence for the appearance of human souls after death." [5] The intensity of feeling aroused by this question and the strong invectives used by Calvin now came into the open. Blackburne depicts Calvin's treatise as "hot, furious, and abusive." [6] The Genevan calls the advocates of soul sleep "Hypnologists” (from hypnotic sleep), and berates them as "bablers, madmen, dreamers, drunkards." He classifies them as Anabaptists and "Catabaptists" (baptizers who "dip under water")—terms then used to comprehend "all sorts and kinds of wickednesses.” Calvin speaks with alarm of "some thousands" then known to hold to the "sleep of the soul" view, some, however, being "good men; that is to say, not Anabaptists." So, responsibility for the situation could not all be laid to the extravagancies of "enthusiasts." But Calvin charges that soul sleepers "pay no regard to the Scriptures." And, according to Blackburne, Calvin's treatise furnished all later "orators and disputants for the consciousness of the separate soul, from that day to this [1765],” with their arguments, "feeble and sophisticated," as he describes them. In any event, the pattern there laid down has been consistently followed. In this tractate, says Blackburne, Calvin was constantly "labouring and sweating to set aside the force of a great number of texts" that the soul sleepers had used effectively in support of their position. [7]
In disgust, Blackburne says with considerable warmth that it "would be doing too much honour to this contemptible string of quibbles to offer a replication. We therefore bid John Calvin
5. Johannes Sleidan, Commentary L, IX, pp. 239-242; quoted in Blackburne, op. cit. pages 16-17.
6. Blackburne, op. cit., pp. 17, 18.
7. Ibid., pp. 18, 19.
good night." [8] In another place he characterizes the treatise as "an angry, disingenuous, weak performance." [9] Thus deep feelings and convictions were involved on both sides at the time and later. Blackburne also calls specific attention to the fact that Calvin's own commentaries, composed in his mature years, contradict some of the "foolish interpretations of many scriptures” he had employed in the early Psychopannychia. [10]
We now turn to the text of Calvin's militant anti-soul- sleep "tractate/' with its blistering introductory denunciations.
It is this treatise that is credited with checking the spreading acceptance of the sleep-of-the-dead postulate, and with ranging all deniers of soul sleep behind Calvin. It was this document that is believed to have forestalled the espousal of Conditionalisrn as a possible plank in the various Protestant creedal platforms. Ostensibly aimed directly against the Anabaptists, it is basically a "refutation" of the "soul sleep" principle as a fundamental "error" wherever found. Calvin bluntly declared that those who hold such a concept are "unskilled and ignorant.” Attention should also be directed to the illuminating declaration that while Calvin was but twenty-five when his Psychopannychia was published, it was written several years prior thereto, when he was still in his late teens, according to Blackburne, [11] and not yet a full-fledged Protestant. That doubtless accounts for some of its brashness, and its immature, searing strictures. The English rendering of the title is: Psychopannychia: Or a refutation of the error entertained by some unskilled persons, who ignorantly imagine that in the interval between death and the judgment the soul sleeps, together with an explanation of the condition and life of the soul after this present life? [12]
8. Ibid., p. 19.
9. Ibid., p. liv.
10. Ibid., pp. 19, 20.
11 Ibid., p. 16. See Theodore Beza, Life of John Calvin, in John Calvin,
Tracts and Treatises in Defence of the Reformed Faith, vol. 1, pp. 57-88.
12. Calvin, op. cit., vol. 3, p. 413.
In the Preface, Calvin frankly declares that he publishes it "for the purpose of repressing the extravagance" of those who teach soul sleep. Stating that while he had hoped that such an "absurd dogma" would soon vanish, he now sadly admits the contrary, and records, "These babblers have so actively exerted themselves, that they have already drawn thousands into their insanity." Calvin evidently considered the doctrine alarmingly widespread. Referring to Eusebius' references to certain early Arabian philosophers who maintained that "the soul dies with the body," and the later defence of such a position by John, one of the bishops of Rome, Calvin says, in the caustic style he here employs: "It lay smouldering for some ages [centuries], but has lately begun to send forth sparks, being stirred up by some dregs of Anabaptists. These, spread abroad far and wide, have kindled torches." [13] After the Preface, in a candid note "To the Reader," Calvin refers to his admittedly "severe and harsh expressions,” that may offend the ears of "some good men into whose minds some part of this dogma has been instilled," that is, some be sides the Anabaptists. But he explains that his searing strictures were designed primarily for— "the nefarious herd of Anabaptists, from whose fountain this noxious stream did, as I observed, first flow, and against whom nothing I have said equals their deserts." [14] Contending that against them he had "not given immoderate vent" to his bile, but rather had tempered his pen, Calvin maintains that they manipulate the Word of God.
And he continues in the same condemnatory strain: "They proceed obstinately to defend whatever they have once rashly babbled, they begin to consult the oracles of God, in order that they may there find support to their errors. Then, good God! What do they not pervert, what do they not adulterate and corrupt, that they may, I do not say bend, but distort it to their own view? As truly said by the poet, 'Fury supplies armour.’
13. Ibid., p. 415.
14. Ibid., p. 416.
"Is this the way of learning—to roll the Scriptures over and over and twist \them about. . . . O pernicious pest! O tares, certainly sown by an enemy's hand." [15] Urging the reader to shun such teaching as "deadliest poison," Calvin asserts that "Divine Truth is avowedly at tacked," therefore "we must not tolerate the adulteration of one single iota of it." He asserts that they are witnessing "God's light extinguished by the devil's darkness." Hence he urges "their [the soul sleepers'] temerity must be repressed, lest it should prevail over the truth." [16] Such was the crusading introduction to the tract proper.
Reluctant though we have been to cite Calvin's immoderate language we need to be aware of the intensity, yes, even the violence, of Calvin's attack upon what he believed to be the vicious teaching of "soul sleep," and directed against not only Anna-Baptists but such others as Luther and Tyndale —a persisting minority, however, particularly in Britain, that was destined to grow with each passing century. But the effectiveness of Calvin's line of attack is seen from the fact that largely through his instrumentality the doctrine of the soul's immortality and its dependent dogmas of the consciousness of the soul in death and the Endless Torment of the wicked in Hell-fire gradually found their way into most Protestant confessions and creeds.
Here are the leading points of Calvin's classic attack on the doctrine of soul sleep, the revival of which he blames upon the Anabaptists. [17] The arguments here presented, in his Psychopannychia, set the pattern for most of the later champions of Immortal-Soulism in Protestant circles through the centuries that have followed. There has been little deviation. The digressions are chiefly variations within the standard framework.
15. Ibid., pp. 417, 418.
16. Ibid., p. 418.
17. For historical statement on Anabaptists, see chapter four.
Note certain of Calvin's basic definitions.
1. CALVIN'S DEFINITION OF THE SOUL.
Calvin is undeviating and maintains that the "soul" "is a substance, and after the death of the body truly lives, being endued both with sense and understanding." [18] This assertion he repeats in intensified and emphasized form: "The Spirit or soul of man is a substance distinct from the body. THE SOUL, AFTER THE DEATH OF THE BODY, STILL SURVIVES, ENDUED WITH SENSE AND INTELLECT. And it is a mistake to suppose that I am here affirming anything else than THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL." [19]
2. DEATH OF "SOUL" IS "ABANDONMENT BY GOD."
Calvin then defines the "DEATH OF THE SOUL" as being "abandoned by God, and left to itself." "It loses its life when it loses the presence of God." [20]
3. "DEAD" DEFINED AS NOT "VISIBLY EXISTING."
He subsequently defines "not to be" as "equivalent to being estranged from God." Then, he asserts that man is "not said to be absolutely dead, but dead only with reference to men. For they are no longer with men, nor in the presence of men, but only with God." And he repeats, " 'Not to be' is not to be visibly existing." [21] In others words, he says that man does not really die.
4. "THOUGHTS PERISHING" CONSTRUED AS "DESIGNS" DIS SIPATED.
Calvin attempts to dismiss the Anabaptist Biblical argument and phrasing that in death all man's "thoughts perish" (Psalm 146:4) by the statement that "whatever they designed while alive is dissipated and given to the winds.” Every scheme will be "dissipated." [22]
5. CENTRAL ATTACK IS ON "SLEEP" OF SOUL.
Calvin's central attack is upon the Anabaptist contention that the human soul "sleeps in a state of insensibility from Death to The Judgment-day." [23] Instead, he stoutly contends that "after the death of the body" the soul "truly lives, being endued both with sense and understanding." [24]
18. Calvin, op. cit., pp. 419, 420.
19. Ibid., p. 427.
20. Ibid., p. 454.
21. Ibid., pp. 486, 487.
22. Ibid., p. 476.
6. "SLEEP" APPLIES ONLY TO "BODY," NEVER TO "SOUL.”
He seeks to dispose of the constantly iterated Biblical term "sleep" by insisting that it refers only to the "dead body,” and adds, "Nowhere in Scripture is the term sleep applied to the soul, when it is used to designate death." [25]
7. ACQUAINTANCE WITH PLATONISM DISCLOSED.
It is important to note here that Calvin's acquaintance with Platonism, its terms and postulates, is ment that "Plato, in some passages, talks nobly of the faculties of the soul; and Aristotle, in discoursing of it, has surpassed all in acuteness." [26]
8. AUTHORITY OF TRADITION IS INVOKED.
Moreover, Calvin invokes the teachings "handed down to us by addition citing early Christian writers who declare that such "souls are indeed in paradise" — Church Fathers like Tertullian, Chrysostom, and Augustine, [27] champions of Immortal-Soulism.
It is but fair, however, to add that he selects those writers who held to universal Innate Immortality, but is usually significantly silent as to the testimony of those holding to the contrary Conditionalist school in the sharply divided Early, Church testimony. And in insisting on immortality of the soul, he likewise has recourse to the Apocryphal books such as "Baruch" for needed support. [28]
9. THE SOUL RETURNS TO GOD AT DEATH.
Calvin further contends that "when it [the soul] quits this prison-house [the body] it returns to God, whose presence it meanwhile enjoys while it rests in the hope of a blessed Resurrection." [29]
23. Ibid., p. 419.
24. Ibid., pp. 419, 420.
25. Ibid., p. 459.
26. Ibid., p. 420.
27. Ibid., pp. 468, 469.
28. Ibid., p. 484.
29. Ibid., p. 449.
"This rest is its paradise." Thus "they seemed to die, but they are in peace." [30]
10. FREED FROM BODY, SOUL SOARS ALOFT.
He continues by asserting that "the body, which decays, weighs down the soul, and confining it within an earthly habitation, greatly limits its perceptions." It is the "prison of the soul," from which it is "set free" at death, and "loosed from these fetters." Then it "can rise aloft unencumbered with any load" [31] —this allegedly occurring, of course, at death.
11. CONTENDS "RICH MAN AND LAZARUS" NOT A PARABLE.
Calvin early derides the interpretation of the Anabaptists who "make the history [of the Rich Man and Lazarus] a parable." [32] Calvin contends, instead, that it is an actual historical "narrative rather than a parable," and not fiction, concerning the soul when it is "freed from the body." [33] "Let them now go and try to put out the light of day by means of their smoke!" In support, he invokes the testimony of a group of third- and fourth-century Innate-Immortality proponents— such as Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, and Cyril—who early held it to be "history," not "parable." [34] He conveniently omits those of contrary opinion.
12. CHRIST INTENSELY ALIVE DURING His DEATH.
Refer ring to the death of Christ, Calvin asserts, sarcastically: "As the soul of Christ was set free from prison, so our souls also are set free before they perish. Let any one of you now put on a supercilious air, and pretend that the death of Christ was a sleep—or let him go over and join the camp of Apollinaris! Christ was indeed awake when he exerted himself for your salvation; but you sleep your sleep, and, buried in the darkness of blindness, give no heed to his wakening calls!" [35] In another place: "O dreamy sleepers, commune with your own hearts, and consider how Christ died. . . . Could he who has life in himself lose it?” [36]
30. Ibid., pp. 449, 450.
31. Ibid., pp. 443, 444.
32. Ibid., p. 431.
33. Ibid., p. 432.
34. Ibid., p. 431. On the Fathers, see volume 1.
35. Ibid., p. 439.
36. Ibid., p. 436.
13. ALLEGES JONAH PRAYED WHILE DEAD IN WHALE.
Calvin says that "another proof of the immortality of his [man's] soul was given us by our Saviour when he made the confinement of Jonah three days within the whale's belly to be a type of his death." He then asserts: "That belly is death. He therefore had his soul safe in death, and by means of it could cry unto the Lord" [37] while dead.
As to technical arguments, he touches briefly on Christ preaching to the "spirits in prison," Paul's expressions "clothed" and "unclothed." the revelator's portrayal of souls, crying aloud; the case of the thief on the cross, Paul's "in the body" and "out of the body." and the eternal fire and the worm that dieth not. But in these he adds nothing new and does little to elucidate.
14. WICKED SAID TO FEEL CEASELESS FLAME OF ETERNAL FIRE.
As to the death of the wicked, Calvin asks "whether there is to be any end to that death." Then he answers, "Al though dead, they still feel eternal fire and the worm which dies not." This, he affirms, makes "manifest" the "immortality of the soul, which we assert, exists even when it is dead." Consequently, the death of the wicked is not "annihilation," to which the Anabaptists would "reduce it." [38] Such Eternal Torment is inevitable if the soul is indefeasible.
15. SOUL SLEEP DECLARED A FABRICATED ABOMINATION.
Calvin concludes his bristling treatise by stating, "They [the Anabaptists] brandish some other darts, but they are pointless.
They give no stroke." And he closes by chiding them for quoting "irrelevant" passages, even to citing 2 Maccabees, but which treatise, he rightly contends, alludes on the contrary to the teaching of "prayers" for "the dead." In parting he declares that the "famous dogma" of soul sleep is but a "fabricated” abomination. [39] Such are Calvin's main contentions, which quickly became the norm for nearly all Immortal-Soulist contentions in the future, the weapons of continuing attack wherever the battle has been joined in succeeding centuries. The stage was thus set by Calvin's Psychopannychia for the clash of Protestant pens over the soul question that has characterized succeeding generations.
37. Ibid., p. 438.
38. Ibid., p. 453.
39. Ibid., p. 490.
1. EARLIEST ANGLICAN ARTICLES (1553) CONDEMN "SOUL SLEEP."
Turning again to Britain, we find that the earliest purely English formula of public doctrine, called the "Forty-two Articles of Religion" of the Church of England, was begun upon the accession of Edward VI. These were developed and composed largely by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and certain fellow Reformers in 1549. [40] Their issuance had been delayed by Cranmer in the hope of formulating a common Confession with the Lutherans and Swiss Reformed groups.
Correspondence with Melanchthon was conducted to that end, and with Calvin and Bullinger. But the difficulties appeared insuperable, and the contemporary sessions of the papal Council of Trent (1545-1563) spurred the Anglicans to vindicate Protestant truth as they saw it.41 So the framing of the Forty- two Articles was carried to completion, inclining to the Re-farmed Swiss rather than the Lutheran positions The Forty-two Articles were accordingly revised and completed in 1552 and published in 1553. They were commonly referred to as the Edwardine Articles because they were published by "royal authority" in the reign of Edward VI. Significantly, in common with several Continental Confessions, one of these (Article XL), as attested by church historian Philip Schaff, was directed against the "Anabaptist notion of the psychopannychia," or sleep of the soul, [42] which teaching was then rather widespread in England as well as other lands. The quaint original phrasing reads: "The souls of them that departed this life doe neither die with the bodies nor sleep idle." [43] Here it is in full: "They who say that the souls of such as depart hence do sleep, being without all sense, feeling and perceiving until the day of judgment, or affirm that the souls die with the bodies, and at the last day shall be raised with the same, do utterly dissent from the right belief declared unto us in the Holy Scriptures." [44] They thus agreed with Calvinism at first.
40. Philip Schaff, "Thirty-nine Articles, The," The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge,
volume 11, p. 417.
41. William A. Curtis, A History of Creeds and Confessions of Faith, pp. 171-176.
42. Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, vol. 1, pp. 614, 615.
2. ELIZABETHAN REVISIONS (1563) REDUCE ARTICLES TO "THIRTY-NINE."
After the temporary suppression of Protestantism under "bloody" Queen Mary, the Reformed Articles of Religion were restored under Queen Elizabeth, but with certain changes. A work of revision was begun under Arch bishop Parker, aided by bishops Cox, Guest, and others. As a result, the Forty-two Articles were reduced to Thirty-nine, with three articles omitted—Nos. 39, 40 and 42 of the Edwardine series— "denying that the resurrection is already brought to pass, that the souls of the departed die with the bodies or sleep idly, and that all men shall be saved ultimately." [45] There was thus a break with Calvinism.
After examination by both Houses, the Thirty-nine Articles —which omitted those on "immortality of the soul" and "eternity of future suffering"—were ratified and signed by the bishops and members of the Lower House, and published by the royal press in 1563. The English authorized text, prepared by Bishop John Jewel, was adopted in 1571. Since that time the doctrine of Eternal Torment of the wicked has not been an established dogma of the Anglican Church. And this, it should be noted, has remained unchanged since the reign of Elizabeth I.
43. Ibid., page 631.
44. Charles Hardwick, A History of the Articles of Religion; To Which Is Added a Series of Documents,
From A.D. 1536 to A.D. 1615 (1852), App. Ill, pp. 277-333.
45. Curtis, op. cit., p. 181.
It is obvious from all this that there must have been a considerable body of contrary opinion—Lollard, Anabaptist, and others—to now lead within a brief decade to the exclusion of the so-called orthodox view from the Anglican formulas. The framers of the original Forty-two Articles had closed with this declaration: " 'They are worthy of condemnation who endeavour to restore the dangerous opinion that all men, be they never so ungodly, shall at length be saved when they have suffered pains for their sins a certain time appointed by God's justice' (XLII.)." [46]
This background explains why so many prominent Anglicans have publicly championed the Conditionalist position during the past four hundred years—at least four archbishops, including the late Dr William Temple, Archbishop of Canter bury; various bishops; archdeacons, such as Francis Blackburne; unnumbered canons and rectors, principals and professors, and others to this day. In 1864, in a test case (Wilson vs. Fendall)” the decision, rendered by the Judicial Committee of the highest ecclesiastical court in the Church of England, made crystal clear that the Anglican Church takes no position on the nature of man, leaving it to the individual clergyman to form his own conclusions with freedom and to express them without ecclesiastical censure. In the committee the issue was argued by able counsel, and after due consideration the judgment was delivered by the Lord Chancellor that such a doctrine is not a declared doctrine of the Anglican Church.
On the fringes of the main Reformation movement and countries there were similar stirrings over the nature and destiny of man, and especially his condition in death. Mention must here be made of one of these "religious off beats” of the times—CAMILLO RENATO (c. 1500-c. 1572), Italian Spiritual Franciscan of Reform tendencies. Born in the Rhaetian Republic, and later becoming an Anabaptist, he too believed in the sleep of the soul (or cessation of life) between death and the resurrection. (Renato pictured on page 113.):
46. Ibid., p. 176.
47. On this development, appearing in its chronological nineteenth-century setting.
Renato was one of those who sought refuge in Protestant lands among peoples of other tongues. The Rhaetian Republic was allied to the Swiss Confederation and was a meeting place of Germanic and Italian thought. Renato began his tempestuous career in Naples, was trained in theology, and accomplished in classical literature. He sometimes wrote under the pen names of Lisia Phileno and Paul Ricci, [48] appealing to the literati. He has been variously called the "Reborn," a "mystic,” and a "Calvinistic Quaker." [49] Renato was a powerful preacher to popular audiences, as well. Nevertheless, he was arrested in Ferrara, under pressure from Dominican inquisitors. Nine accusations were levelled against him. These included his contention that salvation depends upon divine grace and election, and not on human endeavour. He maintained that baptism is effective only as a profession of faith, and is inadmissible for children. He also held that the souls of all, both righteous and wicked, fall into a "dreamless sleep" until brought back to life under the resurrection. He likewise held that any resurrection of the wicked was only to permit final and utter extinction. [50]
As Dr. George H. Williams, of Harvard Divinity School, puts it: 'Thus, he denied the existence of both purgatory and hell, while paradise was an eschatological event in the future." [51] These were significant positions, comparable to others of his day.
Renato insisted that baptism and the Lord's Supper were "signs" rather than sacraments, holding the Catholic view to be unscriptural. Such Eucharistic innovations could not be tolerated. And his teaching of the temporary extinction, or sleep of the soul, was denominated Psychopannichism in Calvin's terms. Renato's teachings thus undermined the entire ecclesiastical merit system. After trial he was sentenced to life imprisonment in Bologna, from which he escaped in 1541. He corresponded with Swiss Reformer Heinrich Bullinger and held the Swiss Reformers in high esteem, with their "temples in the mountains," as he looked forward to that "Golden age, under the fair auspices of Christ." [52]
48. George H. Williams, Radical Reformation, chapter 22. Frederic C. Church, Italian Reformers, Puritan Radicalism and the Enlightenment," ibid',' Volume 30, December, 1960
49. See Church, op. cit., p. 132.
50. George H. Williams, quoted in Church History, Volume 31, June, 1962, p. 237.
51. Ibid.; see also Church, op. fit., n. 132, where it is similarly stated, "Camillo [Renato] maintained that the soul dies with the body and revives at the Last Judgment.”
By 1548 Renato had repudiated baptism as administered by the "papal Antichrist," [52] openly adopting the Anabaptist position. He distinguished between the regenerate and the animals that perish at death. He went beyond the Averroism of the Italian university towns, holding to the Pauline hope.
Renato thus held views on the soul akin to the Anabaptists of various lands, and was a close friend of Laelius Socinus. In fact, in 1550 he organized in his community "a church of the Anabaptists." [54] The burning at the stake of Servetus, as an Anabaptist, profoundly shocked Renato. He mourned the sad destiny of the free Christians in Italy, [55] and inveighed against Calvin in a Latin poem. In 1547 he was summoned to appear before the Synod of Chur, in Rhaetia. He ignored the summons, but was condemned in absentia and commanded henceforth to keep silence. He disappeared from history in 1555. [56] He became blind in his later years, but his influence lived on. He was another of the fringe rejectors of the Innate Immortality of the soul and the common concept of the soul's conscious continuance as a living entity in death.
52. Williams, The Radical Reformation, p. 551.
53. Ibid., p. 552.
54. Ibid., p. 558.
55. Church, op. cit., p. 215.
56. Ibid., p. 381.
In the latter part of the sixteenth century the Anabaptists, as they were called in derision, began "wonderfully to increase in the land." Strangely enough they were persecuted by all other Christian bodies. The Anglicans and Presbyterians in England, the Lutherans in Germany, and the Reformed in Switzerland, though differing from one another and refusing intercommunion, regrettably were united in persecuting the Anabaptists, who were everywhere spoken against and harassed by confiscation of goods, imprisonment, banishment, and even death. [1] After the dreadful St. Bartholomew's Massacre of the Huguenots in France in 1572^ persecution raged in the Nether lands under the Duke of Alva. As a consequence large numbers, including Anabaptists, fled for refuge to other parts of the Continent and to England. But so great was the severity of Elizabeth's government that Separatists, and particularly the Anabaptists, were marked for expulsion because, along with the "heresies" of their belief, they refused to regard the Church of England as the only true church. As a consequence they were forced to hold their religious meetings in strictest secrecy.
1 Thomas Crosby, The History of the English Baptists From the Reformation to the Beginning of the Reign of King George I, vol. 1, pp. 69, 70.
In 1575 one such group of Flemish (or Dutch) Anabaptists fled to England to escape the mounting pressures in the Low Countries. But they found neither hospitality nor refuge in Protestant England from a Protestant queen and her advisers.
A group of about twenty-seven were arrested on Easter day, April 3, 1575, while assembled for worship in a private house on the outskirts of London, just beyond Aldgate Bars. They were taken before a magistrate and committed to prison. Brought before the commissioner, they presented a carefully drawn Confession of Faith to Queen Elizabeth, which she flatly rejected.
Under duress, four recanted and were released. Eleven were condemned and approximately eight were sent back to the Continent to almost certain death, while five were placed in heavy chains in a damp, filthy dungeon in Newgate. There they were segregated from others, lest they contaminate them by their Anabaptist sentiments. One died in prison, and two of the "most obstinate" were sentenced to burn at Smithfield.
Their signed Confession—dated, "In our prison in Lon don, the 21st of July, in the year of our Lord, 1575. By me, Hendrik Terwoort, By me, Jan Pieters"—consisting of thirteen articles, makes noble reading. After stating that their hope for everlasting life was in the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for their sins, was raised from the dead, and is now seated at the Father's right hand, they affirmed their belief in the teachings of the Old and New Testaments. Article XII then states:
"We believe in the resurrection of the dead, as it is written, Isaiah 26.19, John 11.25, Dan. 12.2, John 5.25, in the first epistle to the Corinthians, 15.22, 1 Thess. 4.16. That we shall rise from the dead in our own bodies, Job 19.25, Isaiah 26.19, 1 Cor. 15, when the Lord shall come in the clouds with His angels, then shall each one be judged according to his works; Matt. 25.34, Rom. 2.6." [2]
Such a statement was virtually identical with other Conditionalist Anabaptist statements of the time.
John Foxe, the martyrologist, "interceded" in their behalf.
2 Quoted in Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, p. 14.
Foxe, addressing Elizabeth as the "ornament of the age," and referring to the group under indictment as a "fanatical" sect, approved the banishment. He only asked that the "sharpness" of the sentence of burning of the two be modified. But he received a "flat denial" from the queen. He also wrote to the prisoners, appealing to them to abandon their errors, but without success. [3] In the "Form of Recantation," those who recanted were compelled to confess that they had been "seduced by the devil, the spirit of error, and by false teachers," and were forced to affirm that they therewith repudiated their "damnable and detestable heresies," from henceforth "utterly abandoning and forsaking all and every Anabaptistical error," including Conditionalism. [4]
3 Crosby, op. cit., pp. 70-74.
4 Ibid., op. cit., pp. 68, 69; Holinshed's Chronicles of England. Scotland, and Ireland, Vol. 4, pp. 326, 327.
The response of the steadfast to the appeal from Foxe was explicit. After refusing to recant they concluded by saying:
" 'Thus they who treat us in this manner, set before us one of two things, temporal or eternal death. Temporal, if we adhere to what our consciences witness to be right and true. Eternal, if we speak contrary to the dictates of conscience. But we have better hope of the Queen's clemency, . . . knowing well, that true faith is a special gift of God implanted in man, not by fire and sword, but by the Holy Ghost, and by the preaching of the pure Word of God.
" 'And we ought indeed to consider, that afore-time we all have been heretics, and if we had then been put to death, both body and soul must have perished. But we will here make an end.' " [5] Since the rest refused to recant, and the queen would not relent, on July 15, in harmony with the supreme penalty ex acted in those days for liberty of faith and conscience, Queen Elizabeth I signed the writ for the execution of the two leaders who signed the Confession, commanding the sheriffs of London to burn them alive at Smithfield." [6]
Thus it was that in "defence of the holy church, her rights, and liberties," HENDRIK TERWOORT, twenty-five-year-old gold smith, and JAN PIETERS were, as "incorrigible" heretics, led to the place of execution on July 22, 1575. Before a great crowd they were bound to the stake. Pieters, middle-aged father of nine, whose wife had been martyred in Flanders, simply said, "We dare not be ashamed of this way, for many prophets went the same way." They were again promised freedom if they would but recant. But they refused, and the torch was applied. [7] It was a black affair. These Anabaptists, being Dutch, were not Elizabeth's subjects. Furthermore, they were refugees and had claimed the queen's protection as exiles from their own land for religion's sake. Moreover, they were living peaceably and causing no disturbance. All they could be charged with was that they would not go to the parish churches and that they worshiped God according to their understanding of the Scriptures—and held to Conditionalism. But Elizabeth's bishops, "Sandys and Whitgift were furious against the Baptists," and had denounced them as professing sentiments incompatible with the well-being of society. [8] So they died for their faith.
5 T. J. von Braght, Het Bloedig Toonel of Martelaers Speigel der Doops-Gesinde of Weereloofe Christenen, pp. 704, 705; quoted in Mills, op. cit., p. 14.
6 See Crosby, Holmshed, Von Braght, Cramp. See also Documentary Annals, vol. 1, pp. 201, 360, 394. According to Prebendary Townsend, Life of Foxe, vol. 1, p. 201: "I have examined the writ, by virtue of which they were burnt: and am sorry to say that it is worded exactly as the old writs for burning the episcopal, and other protestants in the reign of [Catholic) Mary."
7 T. J. von Braght, Bloody Theatre, or Martyrs' Mirror of the Defenceless Christians (tr. by I. Daniel Rupp), pp. 915, 916; also J. M. Cramp, Baptist History, pp. 276-278.
James I was just as despotic as Elizabeth had been. In Scotland, while he was still James VI, he was very zealous for Presbyterianism and severely critical of the king of England and episcopacy. But on becoming king of Great Britain, James reversed his views, championed episcopacy, and threatened to harry the Puritans and Separatists in the land. [9] Sentence of excommunication was pronounced upon any who impugned the true apostolical character of the Church of England or any part of its outline of worship or ceremonies.
Many fled to Leydenand Amsterdam, including Brownists (or Congregationalists) and Anabaptists.
In 1606 the latter group drew up a Confession of Faith in twenty-six articles, and a company of thirty later returned to London, meeting for worship in strictest secrecy. But the fires of persecution had again been lighted, and men were still being burned for "heresy." Thus it was that Bartholomew Legatt (Legat, Legate), "unblameable" in life and "skilled in the Scripture," suffered at the stake in Smithfield, and Edward Wightman (or Thomas Withman) was similarly put to a martyr's death in Litchfield. [10] Note the setting: In 1611, the very year of publication of the epochal Authorized or King James Version of the Scriptures, a work opposing the Conditionalist contentions was like wise issued. It was entitled The Soule is Immortal; or discourse defending the immortality of the soul; against Anabaptists [such as Legal and Wightman], atheists, etc., by John Jackson. The accusations were harsh, in accordance with the times.
8 Cramp, op. cit., p. 278.
9 Daniel Neal, The History of the Puritans, or Protestant Non-Conformists, vol. 2, pp.
10 Cramp, op. cit., pp. 289, 290; see also Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, p. 32.
Astonishing as it may seem today, Anabaptist-Arians BAR THOLOMEW LEGATT and EDWARD WIGHTMAN were burned at the stake at Smithfield and Litchfield, respectively, under man date of King James I of Great Britain. The story is told in A True Relation of the Commissions and Warrants for the Condemnation and Burning of Bartholomew Legatt and Thomas Withman . . . in the Year, 1611. Signed with K. James his own hand? [11] The title page refers to the "most Blasphemous Heresies and false Opinions" of the accused, adding that the document is "Published by Authority."
Next follows the salutation of "James [I] by grace of God, King of England, Scotland," et cetera, and "Defender of the Faith," to Thomas Lord Ellesmere, Chancellor of England.
The recital tells how the bishop of London had proceeded in a "Cause of Heresies" against Legatt of London, accused of "divers wicked Errors, Heresies, and blasphemous Opinions," thirteen in number. He was then publicly pronounced an "obstinate and incorrigible Heretick" and, under sentence of ex communication, was turned over to the sheriff of London for "the execution of justice."
1. "ROTTON CONTAGIOUS MEMBER" Is "CUT OFF."
In the warrant to the sheriff, written in the horrific language of the day, Legatt is "pronounced, decreed, and declared to be an obdurate, contumacious, and incorrigible Heretic," and described as a "rotten contagious Member to be cut off from the Church of Christ." The "Holy [Anglican] Mother Church," having "not further to do" with this "blasphemous Heretic," turned him over to "our secular Power to be punished with condign punishment," to "root out and extirpate," namely, to be "burned with fire." The sheriffs are thereupon commanded to "commit publicly to the Fire," in West-Smithfield, the said Legatt to "be really burned in the same Fire." [12] This was executed amid a vast "conflux of people."
11 Copy in the British Museum; photostat in Immortality Source Collection.
In the bill of particulars Wightman was charged with "wholesale" heresy—that is, of cherishing the combined here sies of the arch heretics Ebion, Cerinthus, Valentinus, Arius, Macedonius, Simon Magnus, Manes, and Photinus, together with the specific deviations of the Anabaptists, [13] which included soul sleep. His name was obviously so blackened as to make him appear hideous, and fit only for the fire. "No sane man could possibly hold all the multifarious" and conflicting opinions imputed to him, and Crosby points out that "many of the heresies they charged upon him are . . . foolish and in consistent." [14] Indeed, Bishop Neile, one of the commissioners who condemned him, later wrote an apology for his death.
2. INCLUDED "HERESY" OF "SOUL SLEEP."
Under the pro vision of rooting out such "wicked Heresies" as the "Anabaptists" hold, it is to be particularly noted that after the com mon charges against the Anabaptists are listed, Wightman is thrice charged specifically with holding to the "heresy" of "soul sleep" and of the saints' not going immediately to heaven at death:
"11. That the Soul doth sleep in the sleep of the first death, as the body, and is mortal! as touching the sleep of the first death, as the body is: And that the Soul of our Saviour Jesus Christ did sleep in that sleep of death as well as his body. 12. That the Souls of the elect Saints departed, are not [now] Members possessed of the triumphant Church in Heaven." [15]
That, of course, is straight Conditionalism. As to other heresies, number thirteen was specifically against the baptizing of infants, and number sixteen "that Christianity is not wholly possessed and preached in the Church of England, but only in part." Therefore, in the writ of execution, pursuant to the king's "Regal Function and Office" and authorized under the "great Seal of England," the warrant to the Lord Chancellor is cited and the commission to the sheriff of Litchfield is given, "according to exigence of the Ecclesiastical Canons, and of the Laws and Customs of this Our Kingdome of England." Wighman, then, as an Anabaptist- Arian holding "cursed Opinions belched by the instinct of Satan," is "Adjudged and Pronounced an Heretic, and therefore is a diseased Sheep out of the Flock of the Lord." And "lest Our Subjects he do infect by his contagion," he is decreed to be "cast out and cut off." [16] As with Legatt, Wightman — charged with every conceivable heresy, including denial of man's inherent immortality — on April 11, 1611, was turned over to the secular power according to law by James I, "Defender of the Catholic Faith," to be "burned with fire" in Litchfield, specifically — "in some public and open place below the City aforesaid, for the cause aforesaid, before the people, and the same Edward Wightman in the same fire cause really to be Burned in the detestation of said Crime and for manifest example of other Christians, that they may not fall into the same crime." [17]
12 A True Relation of the Commissions and Warrants for the Condemnation and Burning of Bartholomew Legatt and Thomas Witkman (1651), pp. 1-6.
13 Ibid., p. 7; see also Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, p. 32.
14 Crosby, op. cit. vol. 1, p. 108.
Such was the cruel fate of these Conditionalists.
15 A True Relation, p. 8, nos. 11, 12. (Italics supplied.)
16 Ibid., pp. 11, 12.
17 Ibid., p. 13.
3. LAST PUBLIC BURNING FOR "HERESY" BY PROTESTANT MONARCH.
Such violent language and action by a Protestant king, in the significant year of our Lord 1611, may to us today seem terrible and unthinkable—and it is, for persecution is an outrage of Protestant principle. But it was the hangover of the custom of the times, brought over from centuries of Roman Catholic violence against "heretics," and such "heresy" included Conditionalism. (Martyrdom pictured on page 136.)
The Protestant Wightman, let it not be forgotten, died under the charge, among other "heresies," of believing and teaching "that the Soul doth sleep in the sleep of the first death, as well as the body, and is mortal as touching the sleep of the first death" (Art. 11). For this aggregation of heresies listed he was deemed worthy of martyrdom, and the decree was duly executed. But this, it should be added, is said to be the last public burning for "heresy" authorized and executed by a Protestant monarch of England.
Around 1549 many Anabaptists fled from Germany to England, some of them holding variant views on the Godhead, thus bringing considerable censure on all Anabaptists. A commission was set up to "search after" and examine all Anabaptists and other "heretics," with power to "excommunicate, imprison, and deliver them over to the secular arm." [18] By 1644 there were no less than forty-seven Baptist congregations in England, with at least seven in London. [19] Many among these held that immortality is not man's inherently, but is to be bestowed at the resurrection, and that man sleeps in death until the resurrection.
Several of these Anabaptists—or Baptists, as they really were— were likewise burned for their faith under the common law of England.
In 1644 these Anabaptists, or Baptists, issued several Confessions of Faith, the most "notable" being published in 1660 and presented to Charles II in printed broadside form (twelve by fifteen inches). This document was titled "A Brief Confession or Declaration of Faith." [20] It states solemnly that it is "Set forth by many of us, who are (falsely) [21] called Ana-Baptists, to inform all men (in these days of scandal and reproach) of our Innocent Belief and Practise; for which we are not only resolved to Suffer Persecution, to the loss of our Goods, but also Life itself, rather than to decline the same."
18 Neal, op cit., vol. 1, pp. 40, 41.
19 Ibid., vol. 2, p. 111.
Then follow twenty-five articles, which are "Subscribed by certain Elders, Deacons, and Brethren, met at London," adopted in March, 1660, "in behalf of themselves, and many others unto whom they belong"—both in London and in several counties of England—"who are of the same Faith with us."
The Confession, signed by forty-one signatories, is followed by the highly informative statement that it is "owned and ap proved by more than 20000." In the publisher's line at the bottom is the statement that it was printed in London "for Francis Smith," one of the signatories and their representative.
And still more illuminating is the fact that the more detailed and explicit views of another signatory, Matthew Caffyn, or Caffen (presented in the next section), help to define the views here set forth in the more general terms of this over-all declaration, designed as a covering statement to which all subscribed.
1. COMPREHENSIVE PORTRAYAL OF BELIEF.
Article I declares belief in "God the Father, of whom are all things, from everlasting to everlasting." Bypassing Article II for the moment, let us note that Article III specifically affirms belief in Jesus Christ, "by whom are all things, who is the only begotten Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary; yet as truly Davids Lord, and Davids root, as Davids Son, and Davids Off-spring," giving "himself a ransom for all, 1 Tim. 2. 5, 6, tasting death for every man, Heb. 3.9, a propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2.2." [22]
20 Original in British Museum; photostat copy in Immortality Source Collection.
21 Parenthetical expression in this form is in the original.
22 That is clearly "General," or Arminian, Baptist belief of unlimited atonement.
Then follow articles that are typically Baptist—the love and grace of God for all men, justification by faith, the operation of the Holy Spirit (clearly Trinitarian), baptism of regenerated adults by immersion, not sprinkling of infants, assembly for the Lord's Supper, the Christian ministry, separation for all heresy, poor members of the church of Christ supported by the church, the resurrection, the second personal advent of Christ, the Holy Scriptures as the rule of faith and practice, liberty of conscience and worship, and separation of Church and state. This they believed to be the "apostolical way." And they denied all dis loyalty to the crown, which attitude they do "utterly abhor, and abominate."
2. CONCEPT OF NATURE AND DESTINY OF MAN.
But scattered among the twenty-five are Articles II, XX, XXI, and XXII, bearing upon the nature and destiny of man. Because of their importance they are here quoted verbatim, in the original form of the 1660 Confession. Article II declares that from man's original sinless state, by "transgression" he fell into a "mortal estate, subject unto the first death." Thus:
"II. That God in the beginning made man upright, and put him into a state and condition of Glory, without the least mixture of misery, from which he by transgression fell, and so came into a miserable and mortal, estate, subject unto the first death. Gen. 1.31. Eccles. 7.29. Gen. 2.17. 3.17, 18, 19."
Next, Article XX states that through Christ, at the resurrection, our "bodies" are to be raised incorruptible from their graves and "united again to their spirits," thenceforth to reign with Christ:
"XX. That there shall bee (through Christ who was dead, but is alive again from the dead) a Resurrection of all men from the graves of the Earth, ha. 26.19. both the just and the unjust, Acts 24.15. that is, the fleshly bodies of men, sown into the graves of the Earth, corruptible, dis honourable, weak, natural (which so considered cannot inherit the Kingdom of God) shall be raised again, incorruptible, in glory, in power, spiritual, and so considered, the bodies of the Saints (united again to their spirits) which here suffer for Christ, shall inherit the Kingdom, reigning together with Christ, 1 Cor. 15. 21, 23, 42, 43, 44, 49."
Further, it is maintained that the rewards both for good and evil follow—and do not precede—the "eternal Judgement" occurring at the future Second Advent:
"XXI. That there shall be after the Resurrection from the graves of the Earth, An eternal judgement, at the appearing of Christ, and his/ Kingdom, 2 Tim. 4.1. Heb. 9.27. at which time of judgement, which is unalterable, and irrevocable, every man shall receive according to the things done in his body, 2 Cor. 5.10."
And finally, Article XXII says that (1) not until the second, personal advent of Christ do the saints enter the eternal kingdom of righteousness, and (2) the wicked "perish for ever." and men say "Where is he?" This follows in full, for the record:
"XXII. That the same Lord Jesus, who shewed himself alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs, Act. 1.3. which was taken up from the Disciples, and carried up into Heaven, Luke 24.51. Shall so come in like manner as he was seen go into Heaven, Act. 1.9, 10, 11. And when Christ who is our life shall appear, we shall also appear with him in glory, Col. 3.4. For then shall he bee King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, Rev. 19.16. for the Kingdom is his, and he is the Governor among the Nations, Psalm 22.28. And King over all the Earth, Zech. 14.9. And we shall reign (with him) on the Earth, Rev. 5. 10 the Kingdoms of this world (which men so mightily strive after here to enjoy) shall become the Kingdoms of our Lord, and his Christ, Rev. 11. 15. for all is yours, (O you that overcome this world) for you are Christs, and Christ is Gods, 1 Cor. 3. 22, 23. For unto the Saints shall be given the Kingdome, and the greatness of the Kingdom, under (mark that) the whole Heaven, Dan. 7. 27. Though (alas) now many men bee scarce content that the Saints should have so much as a being among them; But when Christ shall appear, then shall be their day, then shall be given unto them power over the Nations, to rule them with a Rod of Iron, Rev. 2. 26, 27. then shall they receive a Crown of life, which no man shall take from them, nor they by any means turned, or overturned from it, for the oppressor shall be broken in pieces, Psalm 72. 4 and their now vain rejoicing turned into mourning, and bitter Lamentations, as it is written Job 20. 5, 6, 7. The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the Hypocrite but for a moment; though his Excellency mount up to the Heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet shall he perish for ever, like his own dung; they which have seen him, shall say, where is he?" (Italics as in original.)
These expressions of belief, here quoted at length, are to be read in the light of Mosheim's statement that already in the sixteenth century General Baptists were dispersed in large numbers over many provinces of England, holding as an article of faith that "the soul, between death and the resurrection at the last day, has neither pleasure nor pain, but is in a state of insensibility." [23] The conclusion therefore seems incontrovertible that these carefully phrased articles were subscribed to by many who definitely held to Conditional Immortality, the sleep of the soul in the interim between death and the resurrection, the crown of life and the kingdom to be given to the righteous at the Second Advent, with the wicked destroyed forever and passing out of being. This was the view in 1660 of many General Baptists in England.
MATTHEW CAFFYN (1628-1714), one of the signatories to the authoritative Baptist Confession of Faith of 1660, just noted, was born in England. His father had come from Ger many, and a relative on his mother's side in England had been burned at the stake for his faith under Catholic Queen Mary. Matthew had been adopted in his youth by a Master Onslow as a companion for his son. Onslow sent both men to Oxford for training. But Matthew was later expelled from the university for his religious convictions. He joined the then despised and persecuted Baptists, and in time became one of their well-known and respected preachers and teachers of the Word in Sussex, likewise suffering severe persecution for his faith.
Thomas Lawson and John Slee, two Quaker antagonists, interviewed Caffyn with the purpose of refuting his doctrinal views. Lawson published the results of their interviews under a title couched in the characteristically pompous and harsh phrasing of the time. The long-drawn-out title page reads:
An untaught teacher witnessed against, or the old Bottle's mouth opened, its wine poured forth, drunk of drunkards, denied of them who have tasted the new. That is to say the unsound, unseasoned, unsavoury doctrines and opinions of Matthew Caffyn, Baptist teacher, laid open, who in the County of Sussex is cryed up to be as their Battle Axe, and Weapon of Warre, etc. Crowley, Southwater, 1655.
23 Mosheim, Ecclesiastical History (Murdock tr.) i vol. 3, p. 578.
In the interview Caffyn bore witness to his belief concerning the nature and destiny of man. This was tied in in separably with the personal, visible, second advent of Christ, just as He had ascended visibly into Heaven. This transcendent event was attested by Peter (2 Peter 3:10; 1:14), who declares that Christ will come, and by Paul (2 Tim. 4:6-8), who states that all who love His appearing will then receive their crown of righteousness, along with those holy men of old who have "dyed in the faith," not yet having received the promise (Heb. 11:13). Quoting Caffyn, Lawson records these two significant and basic principles: "The saint is not now in possession of the kingdom. nor have they eternal life [immortality] really in possession, but have it in promise." [24] The hope of being "translated into the kingdom," Caffyn insisted, is based on a kingdom "LAID UP for them in heaven.' His own emphasis is indicated by the capital letters employed. Then they "SHALL [yet future] receive the reward of the inheritance (Col, 3.24)." And he stresses the point that as yet they "not HAVE received, therefore not in possession of the kingdom; which is saints' reward; which they have now by promise." Then Caffyn is quoted as saying specifically as regards the concept of Innate Immortality:
"The apprehension of the present possession of eternal life (which is saints' reward1) destroys the truth of that."
Lawson then charges Caffyn with such general "here sies" as:
"He [Matthew Caffyn] said, he ministered from the Word of Truth, otherwise called the Scriptures, through the assistance of the Spirit of God."
"He said, the means that lead to salvation, is without [outside of] man, that is, not dwelling in his mortal body."
24 Thomas Lawson, An Untaught Teacher Witnessed Against, quoted in Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, p. 24.
Asserting that the Scriptures "guide men to Christ" and reveal Christ, he held that those who accept the provision offered "shall be eternally saved." Then follows the heart of Caffyn's confession of faith regarding Life Only in Christ, according to Lawson—(1) on immortality and (2) on entrance into the kingdom:
"Matthew Caffyn said, no man hath eternal life [immortality] now in him as possessing it, but a promise of it, 1 John 2.25."
"No man is in the kingdom [heaven], and that the chief of saints, have but by promise." [25] And he cites Caffyn on man's dying condition since the Fall.
"He said, Adam did not die the same day he did eat the forbidden fruit, but was in a dying condition, that is growing nearer the time in which he should be put into an hole in the earth." [26] As noted, the name of Matthew Caffyn [27] is the fifteenth signatory to the 1660 Baptist Confession of Faith. This fact is highly significant, for it throws light on the meaning and intent of the more general statements and less explicit phrases bearing on Conditionalism, found in the Baptist articles before cited.
In 1655 the spirit of persecution again broke forth, resulting in unlawful imprisonment of men in the grim con fines of old Newgate prison, and banishment for conscience' sake to the Isle of Scilly for three years for holding, among other "heresies," that in death "the soul of man dies or sleeps when the body is dead." [28] And this, it is to be noted, was done by invoking an abrogated ordinance of the Lords and Commons for "punishing Blasphemies and Heresies," formulated against the Anabaptists. So harassment was by foul means as well as fair.
In this case two men—Unitarian John Biddle and Baptist William Kiffin, pastor of a "Baptised Congregation" in Lon don—were the victims. Kiffin was a signatory to the Baptist Confessions of Faith of 1644, 1646, and 1651, for the heresies of the time included "baptism" as well as "soul sleep." The moving story is recorded in "Two Letters of Mr. John Biddle, late prisoner of Newgate, but now hurried away to some remote island." [29] One, dated July 27, 1655, was addressed to the Lord Protector (Cromwell), and the other to the Lord President. Here Biddle, a man of exemplary life, appeals for justice, "or at least a hearing, or trial." The background of the episode is this:
25 Ibid., pp. 24, 25.
26 Ibid.
27 The next year (1656) after the appearance of the Lawson volume in 1655, Matthew Caffyn published a book in London on the "heresies" of the Quakers, regarding the second coming of Christ, the resurrection from the dead, justification by faith, and eternal judgment. This was issued by Caffyn as "an eye and ear witness."
28 Ibid., note 5, p. 21.
JOHN BIDDLE (1615-1662), Oxford-trained (M.A.) logician and theologian, was a devout Baptist who later became the founder of British Unitarianism. Oft imprisoned for his convictions, he lived a stormy life, and died at the early age of forty-seven, as the result of hardships and suffering in prison.
Precocious as a student and a keen reasoner with a penetrating mind, Biddle became a tutor at his alma mater, Magdalen College, Oxford, as well as master of a grammar school in Gloucester. He was "highly proficient" in Scripture, having memorized all the Pauline Epistles in both English and Greek. He was said to be able to give the location of any verse in the New Testament that was quoted to him. Because of this he was naturally a formidable disputant. [30] In 1647 he issued a pamphlet concerning the deity of the Holy Spirit. Complaint was lodged against him, and Biddle was summoned before Parliament for an accounting. After a protracted trial he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment.
While under duress he wrote Confession of Faith Concerning the Holy Trinity. After the death of Charles I, Biddle was released and he founded the Unitarian Society. But under Cromwell he was twice imprisoned thereafter, and his books were publicly burned. Even after the restoration under Charles II he was again sent to prison, being harried particularly by the Presbyterians.
29 Ibid.
30 Joshua Toulmin, A Review of the Life, Character and Writings of the Rev. John Biddle, M.A., Who Was Banished to the Isle of Scilly, in the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell.
A Parliamentary commission, sitting in Westminster, again put him "in gaol" until he could be brought before the House of Commons. Archbishop Ussher sought to convince him, but failed. Then in 1648 an ordinance was passed inflicting the death penalty upon those who denied the Trinity. Released in 1650, Biddle wrote other tractates. In 1654 he published A Twofold Catechism for adults and for children. Upon acknowledgment of authorship he was once more imprisoned, and in 1655 was banished by Cromwell to the Isle of Scilly for life. However, a Baptist minister interceded and obtained his release in 1658. But again, in 1662, he was sent to prison without bail, dying after six weeks from the ordeal.
In chapter twenty-four of his Catechism, dealing with "The Resurrection of the dead, and the last Judgment; and what shall be the final condition of the righteous and the wicked thereupon," [31] in the customary question-and-answer form Biddle states the standard Conditionalist view of the time, which was one of the "heresies" for which he suffered imprisonment and banishment. In his letter to Lord Protector Cromwell, Biddle set forth the gist of his belief in these explicit words:
"The sum of my doctrine hath bin constantly this, that Almighty God hath by the exceeding greatness of His power, exalted His Son Jesus Christ, to be a Prince and a Saviour, so He is become the author of eternal salvation to none but such as obey Him; and consequently that the power of religion consisted in yielding obedience to the commands of Jesus Christ." [32] That was clearly Conditionalism.
31 John Biddle, A Twofold Catechism (1654), pp. 133-141.
32 Two Letters of Mr. John Biddle, quoted in Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, p. 21. (Italics supplied.)
After Jesus Christ is presented as the Author of life and immortality, these questions and answers appear, limiting the bestowal of immortality to believers in the Son, and denying eternal Hell-torments for the wicked, who instead are to be ultimately and utterly destroyed:
1. ETERNAL LIFE LIMITED TO BELIEVING SAINTS.
"Qu. Shall not the wicked and unbelieving live for ever, (though in torments), as well as the godly and the faithful? or is eternal life peculiar to the faithful?
"An. He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life: but the wrath [sic] of God abides on him. John 3. 36." [33]
2. WICKED ARE DEVOURED, PASS AWAY, PERISH IN "SECOND DEATH."
"Qu. Though this passage which you have cited seem clearly to prove that eternal life agrees to no other men, but the faithful: yet since the contrary opinion is generally held amongst Christians, I would fain know further of you, whether you have any other places that directly affirm that the wicked dye, and that a second death; are destroyed, and punished with everlasting destruction; are corrupted, burnt-up, devoured, slain, pass away, and perish?
"A. The wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life, Rom. 6.23: also [Rom. 8:13; Rev. 21:6, 8; Rev. 2:10, 11; 1 Thess. 5:3; 2 Peter 3:7; 2 Thess. 1:7-9; Gal. 6:8; 2 Peter 2:12; 1 Cor. 3:17 (Greek., corrupt); Heb. 10:39; 2 Peter 3:16; Matt. 3:12; Heb. 10:26, 27 (Greek., fervour or fire); Luke 19:27; 1 John 2:17; 2 Cor. 2:15, 16]." [34]
3. THE SOUL TO BE DESTROYED IN HELL.
"Qu. What is the use that our Saviour himself would have us make of this doctrine touching the destruction of men in hell-fire?
"An. Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Mat. 10:28." [35]
4. FIRST RESURRECTION FOR SAINTS; SECOND DEATH FOR SINNERS.
"Qu. In what manner shall Christ come and administer judgment at the last day?
"An. When the Son of man shall come in his glory. . . . And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. Mat. 25.31, 32, etc." [36]
"Qu. Is there not another resurrection and judgement that shall precede this last and general one, and peculiarly belongs unto the saints that have been slain for the testimony of Jesus, and the word of God? what saith John the Divine concerning this matter?
"A. I saw thrones . . . first resurrection . . . second death hath no power . . . priests of God and of Christ . . . reign with him a thousand years." Rev. 20.4, 5, 6." [37] Such views constituted the standard arguments for Conditionalism. But they were among the terms of incrimination in the case of John Biddle in 1655. The holding of Conditionalist concepts in those still-intolerant times meant persecution, sometimes unto death. This called for men of heroic mould, willing to suffer, and if need be to die, for their faith—even by a scholarly Baptist who became a Unitarian. Conditionalism was not confined to any one group.
33 Biddle. Catechism, pp. 134, 135.
34 Ibid., pp. 135-138. Note: In the original the texts are quoted in full.
35 Ibid., p. 138.
36 Ibid., pp. 138-140.
37 Ibid., pp. 140, 141.
SUMMARY OF CONDITIONALISM DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
At the very outset of the great revolt, or Reformation, two notable declarations were made against the basic positions of Roman Catholic Immortal-Soulism—its purgatory stipulation and the conscious state of the soul in death. These came from Luther in Germany and Tyndale in England. Thus began the revival of the long-suppressed Conditionalism. Other witnesses followed, though a majority of the Reformers did not join in the repudiation. However, numerous Anabaptists and Socinians, scattered over Poland, Switzerland, England, and Holland, espoused the same position, now derisively dabbed "soul sleeping."
So in this century the religious, geographical, and international spread included Lutherans and Anglicans, Trinitarians and Anti-Trinitarians, and Calvinists and Arminians in many lands—and even certain sceptics. Ostracism and often bitter persecution were the lot of some in certain times and sections who espoused the Conditionalist view of the "sleep of the soul" during the interim of death.
But apart from the European phase there was the sixteenth-century discovery of the uninterrupted continuance of Conditionalism from Early Church times, on two other widely separated continents—African Ethiopia and Asian India. This belief had apparently been transmitted from generation to generation. These paralleling Reformation-century discoveries attest the unbroken continuity, in widely separated regions, of the teaching of unconscious sleep between death and the resurrection—likewise paralleling the European transmission among the Italian Waldenses in the fastnesses of the Piedmontese Alps. This was in contrast with the recovery of such beliefs by those Old World Reformers who freshly repudiated the traditional Romanist triple dogma of Immortal-Soulism, consciousness in death, and the Eternal Torment of the wicked.
Another conspicuous element of the century was the violent antagonism of Calvin to the "sleep of the soul," and the contrasting moderation of the Anglican Church, with its optional position as regards the nature of the soul and the fate of the wicked, which attitude has largely continued throughout Anglican history to the present. Nevertheless, the sixteenth century closes with persecution unto death for certain Anabaptist adherents to the Biblical principles of Conditionalism. By now the issue had become acute and volatile.
Such is a summary of Conditionalism throughout the sixteenth century.
(This, and subsequent periodic tables, brings the total testimony for any given period before the reader at a glance.)
The calibre and competence of some of the seventeenth- century champions of Conditionalism are impressive. We cite JOHN MILTON (1608-1674), greatest of English sacred poets, Latin secretary under the Commonwealth, and religious and political polemicist. He was educated for the church, and trained for holy orders at Christ's College, Cambridge, showing remarkable literary talent. But upon graduation, alienated by the tyranny that he felt had entered the church, he contemplated the study of law. However, he turned instead for the next six years to the intensive study of literature, becoming conspicu ously proficient in the classics, Latin and Greek. Along with these languages he obtained a good knowledge of Hebrew, French, and Italian. To this earlier period belong most of his Latin poems, [1] famous for their classical elegance.
In 1638 Milton toured the Continent. He met many notables, such as Grotius, and Galileo, then a prisoner of the Inquisition. Returning to England, Milton began a private school in London. But at the time of the Long Parliament, in 1640, he was drawn into ecclesiastical and political disputes.
He made a brilliant appeal for civic and religious liberty and church reform, writing Of Reformation Touching Church Discipline in England (1641) and The Reason of Church Government Urged Against Prelacy (1642). These were followed by Areopagitica, a masterful plea for a free press. About this time he first drafted the outline of his great epic poem Paradise Lost.
1 John Milton, Ad Patrem, L’Allegro, Il Penseroso, Comus, Lycidas.
As for his personal religious faith, Milton was an Anglican of Puritan leanings, then he became an Independent. He was decidedly not a freethinker or materialist, as charged by some.
After the execution of Charles I and the establishment of the new Commonwealth in 1649 Milton was made Latin secretary to Lord Protector Cromwell and the Council of State, at White hall, serving throughout the turbulent period of the Protector ate. His political writings began at this time.
Three years later, in 1652, his sight gave way and he became totally blind but continued the duties of office of state, with the aid of assistants, until 1659. In 1660, at the Restoration, his prosecution was ordered, and he had to conceal himself in the home of a friend until the peril passed. In his blindness he sought consolation with his harp, and although he lived in darkness he became one of the bright lights of English literature. In 1655, under Cromwell's instruction, Milton dictated the stern letter to the Duke of Savoy protesting the atrocities visited upon the Vaudois, or Waldenses, in the "Bloody Easter” massacre. Milton expressed his own personal feeling in his gripping sonnet, the opening lines of which read:
"Avenge O Lord thy slaughtered Saints, whose bones Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold, Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old, When all our Fathers worship'! Stocks and Stones." [2] It was at this same time that he began the actual writing of Paradise Lost, finishing it in 1665, and receiving for it the tri fling sum of £18. For splendour of concept and majesty of language it is one of the noblest poems in the English tongue, and its fame will endure as long as English literature shall last.
Paradise Regained was completed in 1671.
Milton was a prolific writer of prose as well, and engaged with zest in religious polemics and political controversy all through this time of re-evaluation of church and state. And he was a disputant in his own right. A man of high principles, he possessed a never-failing zeal for truth and freedom. As might be expected, with such a background he too was a stalwart Conditionalist.
1. MAN A UNIT, NOT A COMPOUND.
This is forcefully presented in his A Treatise on Christian Doctrine, written originally in Latin. [3] He went straight to the heart of the issue when he wrote:
“It may be inferred, unless we had rather take the heathen writers for our teachers respecting the nature of the soul, that man is a living being, intrinsically and properly one and individual not compounded or separable, not— according to the common opinion— made up and formed of two distinct and separate natures as of soul and body; but that the whole man is soul, and the soul man; that is to say, a body or substance, individual, animated, sensitive and rational; and that the breath of life was neither a part of the Divine essence, nor the soul itself, but as it were, the inspiration of some Divine virtue fitted for the exercise of life and
reason, and infused into the organic body; for man himself, the whole, man, when finally created, is called in express terms, ‘a living soul.’ ” [4]
2. DEATH OF BODY Is EXTINCTION OF LIFE.
Declaring that the grave is "the common guardian of all till the day of judgment," and denying that the soul of man is separate from the body, with independent and intelligent existence, he adds that such a view is "nowhere said in Scripture; and the doctrine is evidently at variance both with nature and reason." In chapter thirteen, dealing with "Of the Death of the Body," Milton states:
"The death of the body is the loss or extinction of life. The common definition, which supposes it to consist in the separation of soul and body, is inadmissible. For what part of man is it that dies when this separation takes place? Is it the soul? This will not be admitted by the supporters of the above definition. Is it then the body? But how can that be said to die, which never had any life of itself? Therefore the separation of soul and body cannot be called the death of man." [5]
2 Milton, "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont," Complete Poetical Works (ed. H. F. Fletcher), vol. 1, p. 43.
3 J. Milton Angli de doctrina Christiana Libra duo posthumio. Charles R. Sumner, the translator, was bishop of Winchester, and the English translation was published in 1825.
3. WHOLE MAN SUFFERS PRIVATION OF LIFE.
Appealing for a restudy of the soul question, Milton presents the problem and gives his own convictions, based on Scripture:
"Here then arises an important question, which, owing to the prejudice of divines in behalf of their preconceived opinions, has usually been dismissed without examination, instead of being treated with the attention it deserves. Is, it the whole man, or the body alone, that is deprived of vitality? And as this is a subject which may be discussed without endangering our faith or devotion, whichever side of the controversy we espouse, I shall declare freely what seems to me the true doctrine, as collected from numberless passages of Scripture; without regarding the opinion of those, who think that truth is to be sought in "schools of philosophy, rather than in the sacred writings." [5]
4 Milton, The Prose Works of John Milton, vol. 4, p. 188.
5 Ibid., p. 279.
6 Ibid.
4. SENTENCE OF DEATH EXECUTED UPON WHOLE MAN.
Continuing his line of reasoning, Milton insists that the "whole person" dies, and invokes the testimony of patriarch, prophet, and apostle in support:
"Inasmuch then as the whole man is uniformly said to consist of body, spirit, and soul, (whatever may be the distinct provinces severally assigned to these divisions), I will show, that in death, first, the whole man, and secondly, each component part suffers privation of life. It is to be observed, first of all, that God denounced the punishment of death against the whole man that sinned, without excepting any part. For what could be more just, than that he who had sinned in his whole person, should die in his whole person? Or, on the other hand, what could be more absurd than the mind which is the part principally offending, should escape the threatened death; and that the body alone, to which immortality was equally allotted, before death came into the world by sin, should pay the penalty of sin by undergoing death, though not implicated in the transgression.
"It is evident that the saints and believers of old, the patriarchs, prophets and apostles, without exception, held this doctrine." 7
5. CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS NOT YET RECEIVED.
This contention he proceeds to support by many Old and New Testament texts. Here is just one example:
"1 Cor. 15.17-19. If Christ be not raised (which resurrection took place for the very purpose that mankind might likewise rise again) then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ, are perished; whence it appears that there were only two alternatives, one of which must ensue; either they must rise again, or perish: for 'if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable'; which again indicates that we must either believe in the resurrection or have our hope in this life only; v. 29, 30, "if the dead rise not at all, why stand we in jeopardy every hour?' v, 32, 'Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die;' that is, die altogether, for otherwise the argument would have no force. In the verses which follow, from v. 42. to v. 50. the reasoning proceeds on the supposition that there are only two states, the mortal and the immortal, death and resurrection; not a word said of any intermediate condition. Nay, Paul himself affirms that the crown of righteousness which was laid up for him was not to be received before that last day. If a crown were laid up for the apostle, it follows that it was not to be received immediately after death. At what time then was it to be received? At the same time when it was to be conferred on the rest of the saints, that is, not till the appearance of Christ in glory."' [8]
7 Ibid., p. 271. In support Milton cites Jacob (Gen. 37:35), Job (Job 3:12-18; 10:21; 14:10-13; 17:13, 15, 16), David (Ps. 6:5; 88:11-13; 39:13; 146:2), Peter (Acts 2:29, 34), Hezekiah (Isa. 38:18, 19). Also Isa. 57:1, 2; Jer. 31:15. Cf. Matt. 2:18; Dan. 12:2— with many additional texts from the New Testament, citing Christ, Paul, and Peter.
8 Ibid., pp. 272, 273.
6. SOULS NOT IN HEAVEN DURING DEATH.
Eleven pages are devoted by Milton to proving from Job, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Peter and Paul that in death the whole man— body and soul—sleeps unconsciously until the resurrection.
Nine leading texts are cited and analysed in support. Milton here categorically denies that at death the soul is "received immediately into heaven." [9] The souls are in their graves, and "either they must rise again, or perish." [10] So, he concludes, "The soul ... is subject to death." [11] Then he adds:
"Nor do we anywhere read that the souls assemble, or are summoned to judgment from heaven or from hell, but that they are all called out of the tomb, or at least that they were previously in the state of the dead." [12]
7. SOUL OF LAZARUS NOT RECALLED FROM HEAVEN.
Speaking specifically of the Master's calling of Lazarus from his "sleep," Milton asks pointedly:
"It the soul of Lazarus, that is, if Lazarus himself was not within the grave why did Christ call on the lifeless body which could not hear? If it were the soul which he addressed, why did he call it from a place where it was not?" [13]
Milton held consistently to the absolute necessity of resurrection to obtain life immortal and the reward of the righteous at the second coming of Christ. And he repeats: "It is evident that the saints and believers of old, the patriarchs, prophets and apostles, without exception, held this doctrine." [14]
8. NATURAL PROPAGATION, NOT SPECIAL CREATIONS.
Entering into the issues of the hour, Milton held that since the creation of Adam "the human soul is not created daily by the immediate act of God, but propagated from father to son in a natural order"—as Tertullian, Apollinaris, Augustine, and Jerome held. He denied that God continues "to create as many souls daily as there are bodies multiplied throughout the whole world, at the bidding of what is not seldom the flagitious wantonness of man." [15]
9 Ibid., p. 272.
10 Ibid., p. 273.
11 Ibid., p. 275
12 Ibid., p. 278.
13 Ibid., p. 277.
14 Ibid., p. 271.
15 Ibid., pp. 189, 190.
Milton's Conditionalist convictions are even woven into Paradise Lost, as seen in the following excerpt. Milton portrayed man as formed of the dust of the ground; God then "infused" into him the "breath of life" (Ps. 104:29, 30). Thus man received "animation from one and the same source of life and breath" (Job 12:10). As a consequence "man became a living soul" [16]
"He formed thee, Adam, thee, O man, Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breathed. The breath of life; in his own image he Created thee, in the image of God Express, and thou became a living soul." [17]
And "when God takes back to himself that spirit or breath of life," then man ceases "to exist." [18] Man was indeed mortal from the day of the Fall, as forewarned, through he did not die bodily on that same day, rather, death followed as a consequence:
"My sole command Transgressed, inevitably thou shall die, From that day mortal; and this happy state Shalt lose, expelled from hence into a world Of woe and sorrow." [19] Death, he continues, encompasses the "whole of man," each part, "the body, the spirit, the soul"—the spirit "principally off ending”—all suffering "privation of life." So he wrote impressively:
"It was but breath Of life that sinned; what dies but what had life And sin? The body properly had neither. All-of me then shall die: let this appease The doubt, since human reach no further knows." [20]
16 Ibid., p. 188.
17 Milton, Paradise Lost, book 7, II. 524-529, in Complete Poetical Works.
18 Milton, Prose Works, vol. 4. p. 188.
19 Milton, Paradise Lost, book 8, 11. 329-333, in Complete Poetical Works.
20 Ibid, book 10, 11.
In chapter three of A Treatise of Christian Doctrine, "Objections Considered and Explained," Milton answers the com mon contention that "when divested of the body," the immortal soul immediately "wings its way, or is conducted by the angels to its directly to its place of reward or punishment where it remains in a separate state of existence to the end of the world." [21] The proponents of such a view "found their belief principally" in nine scriptures with which he proceeds to deal. These are the gist of his reasoned replies:
1. SOUL REDEEMED FROM POWER OF GRAVE.
"Psalm 49.15, 'God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave,' is cited by some as evidence for Immortal-Soulism. This, on the contrary, "proves rather that the soul enters the grave with the body," whence it "needs to be redeemed, namely, at the resurrection." As for those who are not redeemed, "their redemption ceased forever" (verse 8), [22]
2. SPIRIT RETURNS TO GOD, BODY TO GRAVE.
"Eccl. 12.7, 'The spirit [Heb., ruach] shall return unto God that gave it.' " But the wicked do not return to God at death," rather they "depart far from him." "The Preacher had moreover said before, Eccl. 3.20. 'all go unto one place.'" For God has "given" and will "gather to himself the spirit of every living thing, whilst the body returns to dust." "Every constituent part returns at dissolution to its elementary principle"—the spirit or breath of God, and the body to dust. The dead, during death, are "devoid of all vital existence." [23]
3. BODY, TEMPORAL LIFE; SOUL, SPIRITUAL LIFE.
"Matt. 10.28, 'Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.' " The "body" here "must be taken for the whole human compound," or the "temporal life," and the soul for the "spiritual life" with which it "shall be clothed after the end of the world." [24]
21 Milton, Prose Works, vol. 4, p. 277.
22 Ibid., p. 278.
23 Ibid., pp. 278, 279.
24 Ibid., p. 279.
4. INTERVENING TIME "ANNIHILATED" FOR THOSE WHO SLEEP.
"Phil, 1.23, 'having a desire to depart . . . and to be with Christ,' " that is, to "attaining" the "ultimate object of his being," but not being received immediately into Heaven.
Rather, it is to be with Christ at His appearing. "One who is 'going on a voyage desires to set sail and to arrive at the destined port, . . . omitting all notice of the intermediate passage." In like manner the "intervening time" for those who have fallen asleep is "annihilated to the departed, so that to them to die and be with Christ will seem to take place at the same moment."
The "time at which we shall be with him [Christ]" is when ''I [Christ] will come again and receive you unto myself.” (John 14.1-3). [25]
5. GRAVE "COMMON GUARDIAN OF ALL" TILL JUDGMENT DAY.
"1 Pet. 3.19, 'by which also he [Christ] went and preached to the spirits that are in prison'' literally, "in guard” or as in the Syriac. "in the grave," meaning the same—"for the grave is the common guardian of all till the day of judgment."
What the apostle states plainly in 1 Peter 4:5, 6—that the gospel was "preached also to them that are dead."—he now "expresses in this place by a metaphor, 'the spirits that are in guard' it follows, therefore that the spirits are dead." [26]
6. SOULS UNDER ALTAR NOT SEPARATED FROM BODY.
"Rev. 6.9, 'I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain.' " III "Scripture idiom" the soul "is generally often put for the whole animate body." Here it is "used for the souls of those who were not yet born"—for the fifth seal was not yet opened "in the time of John." Similarly, in the "parable of Dives and Lazarus" (Luke 16), the narrative "speaks of that as present which was not to take place till after the day of judgment and describes the dead as placed in two distinct states," but "he by no means intimates any separation of the soul from the body." [27]
25 Ibid., p. 280.
26 Ibid., pp. 280, 281.
27 Ibid., p. 281.
7. OBSCURE MUST NOT OVERRIDE MANY CLEAR PASSAGES.
"Luke 23.43, 'Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.' " Some would "alter the punctuation" of the passage, placing the comma after ''to-day” the day when Christ seemed the "most despised and miserable of all men." Yet He declared and assured the thief, "Thou shalt hereafter be with me in paradise." One is reminded that "paradise" is not "heaven," neither did the thief "ask to go to heaven when he died," nor did Christ "ascend to heaven that day. Milton then lays down the principle that "so much clear evidence should not be rejected on account of a single pas sage, of which it is not easy to give a satisfactory interpretation." [28]
8. CHRIST COMMITTED BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT TO GOD.
"Luke 23.46, 'Into thy hands I commend my spirit.' But the spirit is not therefore separated from the body, or incapable of death," for in Psalm 31:5 David, who was not about to die, uses the same language—"into thine hand I commit my spirit while it was yet abiding in, and with the body." And Stephen, in Acts 7:59, said the same and "fell asleep." "It was not the bare spirit divested of the body that he commended to Christ, but the 'whole spirit and soul and body' as it is expressed, 1 Thess. 5.23.
Thus the spirit of Christ was to be raised again with the body on the third day, while that of Stephen was to be reserved unto the appearing of the Lord." [29]
9. NOT SEPARATION OF SOUL FROM BODY.
"The ninth passage is 2 Cor, 5.1-20. The object of this passage is not to inculcate the separation of the soul from the body but to contrast the terrestrial life of the whole man with the Spiritual and heavenly." The 'house of this tabernacle' is opposed not to the soul, but to 'a building of God, an house not made with hands,' that is, to the final renewal of the whole man," being "clothed upon"—not for the "separating of the soul from the body, but for the perfecting of both." So the expression "absent from the body" and "present with the Lord" is to be "understood of the consummation of our happiness," and the "body" is to be "taken for this frail life," and the "absence," spoken of, for our "eternal departure to an heavenly world." In verse 9. to be "present" and "absent" "both refer to this life.'' And 2 Peter 1:13-15. "as long as I am in this tabernacle," means "in this life." [30] Thus Milton resolved to his own satisfaction the stock objections. And that was the open witness of the gifted Milton— trained for the cloth, peerless classicist, master poet, effective writer of prose, and conscientious Conditionalist Christian.
28 Ibid., pp. 281, 282.
29 Ibid., p. 282.
We must also note GEORGE WITHER, or WYTHER (1588-1667), a contemporary English poet and satirist. First a student of Magdalen College, Oxford, he then studied law at Lincolns Inn in London, but devoted his life principally to writing. He had been a major general in the Royalist Army, became a Puritan in 1643, and professed adherence to the foundation principles of early Christianity. His English translation of a work, The Nature of Man. [31] by fourth or fifth-century Bishop Nemesius, was significantly on Conditionalism. As previously observed, Nemesius had been a Neo-Platonist, but became bishop of Emesa. (Pictured on page 151.)
Wither's comments on the treatise indicate that his own beliefs were in harmony with those of Nemesius and in conflict with the "orthodoxy" of his day. Moreover, he was the friend of Milton, and of Canne, Qverton, and other Conditionalists of that period—a significant association in those days when pressure and persecution were rife.
Wither was author of numerous works, but his English translation of Nemesius had as its full title The Nature of Man.
A learned and useful tract written in Greek by Nemesius, surnamed the Philosopher; sometime Bishop of a City in Phoenicia, and one of the most ancient Fathers of the Church. Englished, and divided into Sections, with briefs of their principal contents: by Geo. Wither (London: 1636).
30 Ibid., pp. 282, 283.
31 See Abbot, Literature of the Doctrine of Future Life, nos. 7, 8.
1. SOUL NONEXISTENT APART FROM BODY.
Here are tell tale excerpts from Wither's translation, with its quaint spelling, contending that the soul "has not an existence" apart from the body:
"The Hebrews affirm that MAN was made from the beginning, neither altogether mortal, neither wholly immortal, but, as it were, in a state between both those natures, to the end that if he did follow the affections of the body, he should be liable to such alterations as belong to the body; But if he did prefer such good things as pertain to the soul, he should then be honoured with immortality.
"Moreover, it is not to be believed, that God would so hastily have repented Himself, and made Him to be forthwith mortal, who was created absolutely immortal." "When the soul cometh into the body it perfects the living creature. Gen. ii. So then, in a perfect living creature, neither can the soul bee at any time without the body, neither the body without the soul: for the soul is not the body itself; but it is the soul of the body: and therefore it is in the body, yea, and in such a kind of body: for it hath not an existence by itself." [32]
2. LIFE "DOTH PRINCIPALLY FORM THE SOUL."
The close ness with which he identifies the soul with the body, in the functioning of man, is seen by this additional statement:
"For the soul doth not cease to work, even in them that are asleep, but a man even in sleeping, is nourished, and grows, and sees visions, and breathes, which is the chief symptom of life. For, indeed, it is nothing else but life which doth principally form the soul." [33] These excerpts clearly show, first, that Phoenician Bishop Nemesius understood death to be the cessation of life, and that the soul had no separate existence or function apart from the body. But they also show that this early-century view was obviously shared by seventeenth-century Wither, more than a thousand years later, in another transition hour, when ecclesiastical pressures were heavy. It cost something to be a Conditionalist in Wither's day.
32 George Wither, The Nature of Man, pp. 23ff.
33 Ibid.
Persecution's long arm continued to search out and oppress the growing number who had the temerity to express their deep conviction that human philosophy and tradition, rather than Bible truth, still prevailed generally in Protestant circles in this vital matter o£ the nature and destiny of man. There was widespread searching of the Word as the foundation of all faith, and a call sounded for completing the Reformation, which was obviously arrested in this area of doctrine. Note three typical examples in the middle portion of the seventeenth century.
RICHARD OVERTON, or "R. O." (fl. 1643-1659), [1] Baptist pamphleteer and outspoken Conditionalist—whose printer- father had a bookshop in Pope's Head Alley in London— spent his early life in Holland, as many had been forced to do because of religious convictions. The times were tense, and R. O's first publications were anonymous attacks on religious "abuses" by the bishops. He then turned to what he profoundly believed to be abuses or errors in theology. [2]
1 Because there were two writers at this period with the same initials (“R. O.”), A. J. Mills contends that they indicate Robert Overton, not Richard. But authorities such as Dr. W. T. Whitley, secretary of the Baptist Historical Society, in A Baptist Bibliography (1526-1776, vol. 1, pp. 16, 25, 29, 39, and 61), clearly identify him as Richard, as do the two authorities in the scholarly Dictionary of National Biography. He is also so designated in the British Museum, where his works are found.
2 Charles H. Firth, "Richard Overton," Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 14, pp. 1279-1281; William E. A. Oxon, "John Canne," ibid., vol. 3, p. 864.
As a consequence, in 1643 Overton produced Mans Mortality, which for safety was printed in Amsterdam by the exiled Baptist minister-printer John Canne, likewise a Conditionalist, with a second or "corrected and enlarged" edition following twelve years later in London. The title of the treatise was then altered slightly, reading Man Wholly Mortal.
But in both cases it was followed by an identical explanatory subtitle. In fact, in accordance with the custom of the day, the essence of the entire argument is condensed into the extended subtitle appearing on the cover page and reading:
"Or a Treatise Wherein 'tis proved, both Theologically and Philosophically, that whole Man (as a rational! Creature) is a Compound wholly mortal, contrary to that common distinction of Soule and Body. And that the present going of the Soule into Heaven or Hell is a mere Fiction: And that at the Resurrection is the beginning of our immortality, and then Actual Condemnation, and Salvation, and not before."
As already noted, the learned Johann L. von Mosheim, chancellor of the University of Gottingen, and others, record the fact that at this time there were large numbers of General Baptists and other Conditionalists spread over Britain and on the Continent who held "that the soul, between death and the resurrection at the last day, has neither pleasure nor pain, but is in a state of insensibility." [3] Nevertheless, the appearance of Overton's bold treatise, printed for security reasons in Holland, "made a great stir" in England, as the "Bookseller's Note" attested. And the ranks of the "Soul-Sleepers," as they were called in derision, were considerably augmented.
Indeed, so great was the stir that not only did the ecclesiastics demand that "R. O." be apprehended, but on August 26, 1644, the House of Commons ordered "the authors, printers and publishers of the pamphlets against the immortality of the soul" to be "diligently" sought out. Thus Overton first came into conflict with governmental authority over his Conditionalist views. Incidentally, Overton was coupled with Milton as "the most dangerous of critics." And at this time any public denial of the immortality of the soul was visited with severe penalty.
3 Mosheim, Ecclesiastical History (Murdock tr.), vol. 3, p. 578.
Commenting on R. O.'s treatise, the learned Anglican Archdeacon Francis Blackburne, likewise a Conditionalist, in his classic Historical View of the Controversy, two centuries ago declared that Overton "shews himself a master of his subject." And he adds that, following the customary scholastic type of argument of the day, R. O. exhibits no less than nine teen different ancient and modern opinions on the soul, de vised "to uphold this ridiculous invention" of Innate Immortality, which was "inducted from the heathens" and derived from Plato. And Blackburne adds that, examining the system of Aristotle, Overton finds "no less than sixty-nine absurdities of his opponents." [4] It was admittedly a learned treatise.
Sharp replies to Overton's pamphlet were quickly forth coming. In 1645 two vitriolic attacks appeared, one of which was entitled The Prerogative of Man: or His Smile's Immortality, and high perfection defended and explained against the rash and rude conceptions of a later author who hath inconsiderately adventured to impugns it, and bitterly castigated Over- ton's treatise as the "vain cavils of a late worthless pamphleteer." Blackburne also quotes from another "answerer" who "in the warmth of his orthodoxy" and the caustic terms of the times called R. O. "a worthless pamphleteer, a sorry animal, who had stepped into the crowd of scriblers, in defence of an old rotten heresy, condemned and suffocated by the wise almost at the hour of the birth." [5] Such were the intense feelings of the day on the subject.
But Conditionalist-Historian Blackburne's comment was that Overton's antagonist only touched upon "R. O.'s scripture proofs with great delicacy." And he comments that the attacker builds his defence "fortress" with "the untempered mortar of human authority, from a whole cartload of philosophers and divines, poets and schoolmen, pagan, rabbinical, papistical, Mohamed and what not, who in reality were just as much in agreement with each other, as he was with R. O." [6]
4 Blackburne, A Short Historical View, p. 49.
5 Ibid., p. 50, also Abbot, Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life, no. 647.
Twice Arrested and Committed Order of Parliament, First to Newgate Then to Tower of London.
Overton issued several anonymous pamphlets criticizing the actions of the Westminster Assembly, which writings he later acknowledged to have authored. In August, 1646, he was arrested by order of the House of Parliament, and committed to Newgate prison. [7] But friends in the army demanded he be either duly tried or released, and in September, 1647, he was released.
Overton championed civil and religious liberty, and sent numerous petitions to Parliament, some of which he had com posed while in the "most contemptible gaol of Newgate," as he phrased it. In 1649 he was again arrested. Upon refusing to acknowledge the authority of the Council of State, he was committed a second time to prison, on this occasion in the Tower. But he was once more released.
6 Blackburne, op. cit., p. 50.
7 Baptist Bibliography, p. 25.
In 1655 Overton had to flee the country to Flanders, the very year the enlarged edition of his Mans Mortality, now called Man Wholly Mortal, was republished in London. That his views as a Conditionalist were not the passing whim of an enthusiast but the settled conviction of a careful student is attested by the fact that twelve years after the initial printing Overton brought out this materially improved and enlarged edition—also showing that interest in the theme was growing. And there was yet another reprint, posthumously, in 1674.
Overton thus steadfastly maintained his Conditionalist views and risked his reputation and his life in their promulgation. For the third time, in 1659, R. O. was imprisoned for expressing his conscientious convictions. Altogether he was the author of about eighteen treatises, the majority of which, however, were on secular subjects. Such was the stormy life of a militant Conditionalist in 1643-1659.
1. DURING DEATH MAN CEASES TO BE UNTIL THE RESUR RECTION.
Chapter one of this treatise is epitomized thus:
"Of Man's Creation, Fall, Restitution, and Resurrection how they disproved the Opinion of the Soul, imagining the better part of Man immortal: And proved him (quatinus Homo) wholly mortal." [8] And Overton clearly states that, in death, man returns to dust and is without any being, in whole or in part, until the resurrection, when he is restored to being. Thus:
"Death reduces this productio Entis ex Non-ente ad Non-entem, returns Man to what he was before he was; that is, not to be: Ps. 115.17. The Dead praise not the Lord, neither they that go down into silence: And Ps. 146.4. His breath goes forth, he returned to the Earth, in that very Day his thoughts perish, (see more pages. 5. 6. 7. 8.) But the Resurrection restoreth this non-ented Entitie to an everlasting Being, 1 Cor. 15.42. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruptible." [9]
2. MORTALIZED BY ADAM; IMMORTALIZED BY CHRIST.
Mortality is the inheritance of all of Adam's posterity, while conversely, "what was mortalized by the earthly Man shall be immortalized by the Heavenly man." [10] Man thus became wholly mortal, without "his soul" continuing "immortal."
8 R. Overton, Mans Mortality (1643), p. 1.
9 Ibid., p. 3.
And he concludes: "Immortality or the Resurrection cannot be by Propagation or Succession, as mortality from Adam to his Issue." [11]
3. ALL HOPE GROUNDED ON RESURRECTION.
In chapter two Overton marshals the evidence of the Old Testament and the New Testament Scriptures. He quotes from Obadiah 4; Job 3, 4, 14, and 34; Psalms 6, 89, and 103; Ecclesiastes 3; and Isaiah 38, to show that "man is wholly mortal." In death the wicked is not now in torment, but "absolutely is not" until the resurrection. And from the New Testament—such as 1 Corinthians 15; 1 Peter 1; 1 Timothy 4 and 6; and Luke 20— he likewise shows that "all his hope of future life was grounded upon the Resurrection." [12] And he concludes that in death men do not live on "in their souls," but man ceases to be "till the Resurrection." [13] That is his continuing theme.
4. PARADISE ENTERED BY WAY OF RESURRECTION.
In dealing specifically with Luke 23:42, 43, concerning the thief on the cross, Qverton says in the heavy phrasing of the time:
"Then it must be meant, (as the Malefactor desired) when he [Christ] was in his Kingdom, which could not be before his Resurrection: there- fore, the Malefactor could enjoy no such solitary beatitude, as from hence is supposed, and that before he [Christ] had received this Kingdome himself, but must receive the Paradise. as Christ did, by a total Resurrection." [14]
R. O.'s closing words, in this connection, are:
"Thus having found Mans Foundation to be wholly in the Dust, from thence taken, and thither to return: Let this then be the use of all: That man hath not wherewith at all to boast no more then of dirt under his feet, but is provoked wholly out of himself, to cast himself wholly on Jesus Christ, with whom in God our lives are hid, that when he who is our life shall appear, he might also with him appear in glory, to whom be the honour of our immortality for ever, and for ever. Amen." [15] So much for Overton in 1643-1655.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid., p. 5.
12 Ibid., p. 6.
13 Ibid., p. 9.
14 Ibid., p. 32.
15 Ibid., p. 57.
Brief reference must also be made to JOHN CANNE (c. 1590-1667), who first introduced marginal reference notes into our English Bibles, and was a Baptist minister, writer, printer, and bookseller. As just noted, he was the printer, in 1643, of Richard Overton's Mans Mortality, and was in accord with its Conditionalist principles. His name was boldly printed on the title page, when such a procedure courted reprisals. Overton had merely used his initials, "R. O."
Little is known of Canne's early life. Evidently he served for a brief time in the Anglican Church after his ordination.
About 1621 he was chosen as "teacher" of a company of Independents, at "Deadman's Place," Southwark, London, who were forced to meet secretly in private homes in order to avoid persecution. But the pressure became so intense that within a year or two Canne was forced to flee, banned from England for his Baptist convictions. He made his way to Amsterdam where, under "banishment," for seventeen years he served "diligently" as pastor of its "ancient English Church." [16]
"To his pulpit labours" he added writing, printing, and bookselling in Amsterdam, with intermittent visits to England.
But he considered his life mission to be the preaching of the gospel and the founding of churches after God's order.
Canne strongly advocated separation of church and state, and genuine reformation in religion. About the time he printed Mortality for Overton, he published his own A Necessity of Separation from the Church of England, proved by the Non conformists' Principles, written to justify dissent from the Church of England, to show the necessity of separation from religious error and comfortable livings, and to urge the founding of "pure churches." It exerted a wide influence.
About 1640 he again visited England, and was for a time in Bristol. There in 1641 he found a company of Separatists seek ing to worship God according to the requirements of His Word.
10 William E. A. Oxon, "John Canne," Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 3, p. 863; William Cathart, "John Canne," The Baptist Encyclopedia, pp. 180, 181; J. M. Cramp, Baptist History, pp. 411, 412.
As a "baptized man" he formed them, on April 25, 1641, into the Broadmead Baptist church, [17] which has had an illustrious history. [18] Its pastors and members suffered great persecutions under Charles II, often meeting in private homes, and visited with fines and imprisonment, with the arrest of their ministers, who at one time preached to them through a hole in the wall from another room, [19] thus avoiding "apprehension." On another occasion Canne was banished from Hull after being arrested in the pulpit.
But Canne returned to Amsterdam, where he published Overton's Mans Mortality in 1643, which aroused much hostility against him, as well as against Overton. About this time he brought forth his own major contribution—a Bible with marginal notes, the first of its kind to be published, which formed the basis for all later reference Bibles, and for which he is best known. It was dedicated to the British Parliament and was the result of prodigious labour, extending over some twenty-one years. It was designed to help inquirers in search of truth, and was reprinted repeatedly in Amsterdam and in England. Canne's guiding motto was that "Scripture was the best interpreter of Scripture." He also stressed the Baptist principle that "the Bible is everything in religion," and that every human being should study the Sacred Scriptures for himself.
Canne spent many years working on a Bible commentary but did not live to see it completed.20 However, he published some eighteen treatises. Visiting England at intervals, and be coming interested in Bible prophecy, he embraced for a time the current, widespread Fifth Monarchy principles, and in 1657 wrote a treatise on prophecy entitled The Time of the End.
17 “Broadmead Records,” Hanserd Knollys Society, p. 18.
18 It is interesting to note that Deacon Edward Terrill, burdened to see young men trained for the Baptist ministry, left considerable property for the establishment of the Bristol Baptist College, the first of its kind, founded in 1679—for the great universities were closed against them.
19 Cramp, op. cit. pp. 345-347, 427, 428.
20 Cathcart, op. cit., p. 181.
He was arrested and imprisoned in 1658, but was acquitted upon trial. He returned to Amsterdam from each visit to England, and died in exile from his native land.
Canne held to Life Only in Christ, and though he did not write any separate treatise thereon, he was a staunch supporter and helper of those contending for Conditionalism, as was Overton, when printing such a work was fraught with peril.
But his position is evident from various allusions in his works.
He adhered closely to the written Word, and said in the preface to his "Reference Bible"— "It is not the scripture that leadeth men into errors and byways, but the misinterpretations and false glosses imposed upon it; as when men, by perverting the scriptures to their own principles and purposes, will make them speak their sense and private interpretation. Laying therefore aside men's interpretations, and only following the scripture interpretating itself, it must needs be the best way and freest from errors."
He endured suffering and persecution for the cause of conscience. Such was the calibre and character of men advocating Conditionalism in those stormy seventeenth-century times.
Another of the unique Conditionalists of this period, in the professions, was PR. PETER CHAMBERLEN (1601-1683), brilliant court physician to three Stuart kings of England—James I, Charles I, and Charles II, and their queens—beyond which time he still continued as court physician for several years.
Chamberlen was a reformer in medicine and an independent in theology. He was a most colourful figure, taking the lead in spirited discussion and writing numerous broadsides and tractates in both fields. His medical reputation was such that the czar of Russia sought to obtain his services, but Charles II refused to release him from the British court. [21] Chamberlen was highly trained, a graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, then a student of medicine in Heidelberg, Germany, and Padua, Italy. He received the degree of M.D. from the latter university in 1619, and was licensed by Oxford in 1620 and by Cambridge in 1621. He succeeded his father as court physician to James I, and also taught anatomy under the authorization of the Royal College of Physicians. Chamberlen was a medical progressive and pioneered in various scientific advances, including the invention or perfection of the obstetrical forceps. He was a reformer in medical practice and midwifery, lifting professional standards and proposing a system of hydrotherapy. He was regarded as unsurpassed in his field and was in advance of his time.
21 J. H. Aveling, M.D., The Chamberlens and the Midwifery Forceps, pp. 30-124; see also Froom, Prophetic Faith, vol. 4, pp. 908-915.
Chamberlen was also a reformer in his religious views. He was usually classed as an Independent. But for several years he served as a Baptist pastor, though he was baptized an Ana Baptist. At that time the Baptists were commonly classed as Anabaptists, and, as such; Chamberlen was the object of scorn and derision because of his religion. Nevertheless, he boldly entered the arena of religious discussion and participated in spirited debates—some even in St. Paul's Cathedral—for public debates were the order of the day. Chamberlen was author of ten treatises, and was frequently the centre of controversy. [22] His life span covered the troubled times of the Interregnum under Cromwell, and then through and past Charles II.
In 1654, 150 Baptist signatories asked him to become their pastor. So at the age of fifty-three Chamberlen entered the dual role of pastor and court physician. He was likewise a skilled student of Bible prophecy, and in 1677 and 1682 wrote on the prophesied course of world empires as revealed in Daniel 7— impressively fulfilled, he said, in Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome, which fourth world power was in turn divided into the ten kingdoms of modern Europe, with the "Little Triple Crowned Horn," [23] as he phrased it, constituting the Papacy, responsible for the change of the fourth precept of God's law and its Sabbath "time" requirement. [24] Chamberlen began his personal observance of the seventh- day Sabbath in 1651, continuing this practice undeviating for thirty-two years. And for four of these he served as a Seventh Day Baptist pastor, subject again to the inevitable public jibes and jeers directed at all such innovations. Those were the rugged times when John Bunyan was imprisoned for his faith, writing part of Pilgrim's Progress while in Bedford jail.
As a former Anabaptist this celebrated court physician not only rested in the love and mercy of God—and rejoiced in His free pardon and the full remission of sin—but believed in the inheritance of eternal life and immortality solely through Christ. Chamberlen, like many other keen thinkers and able scholars of the time, believed death to be an unconscious sleep —resting in darkness and peace from sorrow and labour. He looked for the glorious resurrection morn when he would be awakened, clothed in eternal light and life. [25] He never wrote a formal treatise thereon, but represented many who personally held this view, reflected only in attitude and incidental expression. The voice of Conditionalism was increasing surely among men in all walks of life.
22 Froom, op. cit., vol. 4, p. 910.
23 This expression, in varying forms, appears in at least four places in his writings— to the Jews, and to archbishops Sheldon and Sandcraft (Aveling, op. cit., pp. 112, 116, 119, 120). Photostats of originals in Conditional Immortality Source Collection.
24 See Froom, op. cit., vol. 4, pp. 910-913, where the sources (Tanner, Ms. No. 36, fol. 147) are given.
Thus in 1684 Dr. Chamberlen wrote An Elegy of that Faithful and Laborious Minister of Christ, Mr. Francis Bampfield. Bampfield was a prominent Anglican clergyman who had likewise become a Sabbatarian, and died for his faith in New gate prison, February 16, 1684. In this printed broadside issued at the time, Chamberlen's Conditionalist convictions are woven into this pensive poem:
"Sleep then (Dear Saint) in Peace and softly Rest.
Till Christ resuscitate thy Quiet Dust, To clothe it with immortal Beams of Light; That with its Brightened Soul it may unite." [26]
And in his own last will and testament Chamberlen looked forward to the "fruition of Eternal Life," received at the great consummation, meantime being buried "in sure and certain expectation of a Joyful Resurrection" at our Lord's return.
Most impressive of all are the final expressions carved on his imposing tombstone at Woodham Mortimer Hall (Essex), with the tiny but significant words chiselled in stone at the close of his epitaph, "Ordered by Doctor Peter Chamberlen, here entered, for his Epitaph." They were therefore of his own composition. Here are the tell-tale expressions excerpted from the lengthy epitaph:
"Death my last sleep . . . ; The end of sorrow—labour and of care, The end of trouble, sickness, and of fear.
25 Ibid., p. 915.
26 Original in British Museum; photostat in Conditional Immortality Source Collection.
Here shall I sin no more—no more shall weep, Here's surely to be found a quiet sleep; . . . entombed in sleep and night."
But that was not all. That was not the end. Here is the "fruition":
"But in the morning we renew our light; And when I wake wrapped in Eternal light, Crowned with Eternal glories ever blest, Oh! happy rest that brings me all the rest." [27]
The calibre and prominence of some of these adherents to Conditionalism are impressive.
27 Aveling, op. cit., pp. 121-124.
Sharp debate over the nature and destiny of man continued to characterize the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, along with bitter antagonism against those contending for Conditionalism. This milder reaction replaced the cruel persecution formerly visited upon its proponents during the previous century. "Innumerable" tracts and books, as one con temporary described them, were issued. There was avid interest, and the battle line of pens swayed back and forth with a slow but definite gain for the advocates of Conditionalism.
Most of the lesser voices were, of course, merely echoes, or restatements, of what had been set forth many times before.
Nevertheless, the question continued under constant debate, covering its many angles and championed by stalwarts on both sides. We will survey a few of the more prominent penmen, and allude to lesser lights who were likewise avowed Conditionalists. Let us first turn to the Continent for an early seventeenth-century Conditionalist there.
In 1628 a Capuchin friar, writing under the name of Valerian Magni, published a work at Prague on the conscious ness of the soul in death. It was entitled De Acatholicorum regula credendi ("Concerning the rule of believing of non Catholics"). [1] This was answered on the Continent by JOACHIM STEGMANN (fl. 1630), German scholar and publisher of Branden burg, and author of some sixty tractates, who had previously produced a new translation of the Greek New Testament into German. [2] So again we see the calibre of some of the Continen tal Conditionalists. Stegmann's reply to the friar, written under the pen name of Alesius, was called Brevis Disquisitio. [3] First published in 1628, it had three editions by 1651, with an English translation by Biddle in 1653.
The English title reads Brevis Disquisitio: or, a brief Inquiry touching a better way than is commonly made use of, to refute Papists, and reduce Protestants to Certainty and Unity in Religion. Fortunately, this translation is preserved in The Phenix (1708), Vol. II, No. XXII. For a time it was thought to have been written by the learned Canon John Hales of Eton. [4] But Historian Blackburne declares that to be a "mistake." It was assuredly by Stegmann, and bears the confirmatory date of the Biddle translation.
The purpose of Stegmann's tractate was to show that Protestants, by adhering to fallacies in the "peculiar systems of Luther, Calvin," et cetera, had in many instances offered weak and in effective arguments against the positions of the Papacy, which "laid them under needless difficulties." Stegmann's specific counsel was to "discard all human authority, and stick to the Scripture only, as explained and understood by right reason, without having any regard to tradition, or the authority of the Fathers, Councils, &c." [5] Dr. Samuel Ward, in a letter to Archbishop Ussher, referred to Brevis Disquisitio as stating that "souls do not live till the resurrection." [6] Bayle had contended that Stegmann's treatise tended to "disparage the reputation" of the early Reformers by breaking in upon their "several systems." But the learned Arch deacon Blackburne asked: "Could more seasonable or whole some advice be given to Protestants? Was this not the very method afterwards adopted by our incomparable Chilling- worth" (that the Bible and the Bible only is the religion of Protestants)? the weighty effects of which contention were felt by the Papacy. And Blackburne adds, "Chillingworth's method will remain an impregnable bulwark" against all papal fallacies. [7]
The heart of Stegmann's contribution, coming from the Continent, is found in his chapter eight, "Whether the Dead properly live," from which liberal quotations are here made because of its Continental origin, again indicating that Conditionalism was spread over various countries. First, Stegmann asserts that those who hold the papal fallacies retained in Protestantism "cannot solidly refute the Papists." In illustrating this point, Stegmann selected one point on which most Protestants retained one of the great errors "that are amongst the Papists"—the "opinion wherein they hold that the dead live."
1 Peter Bayle, Critical and Historical Dictionary (1728), vol. 5, p. 741.
2 Das Newe Testament . . . aus dem Griechischen ins Teutsche versetzet.
3 Blackburne, A Short Historical View, pp. 37, 38.
4 The temporary assignment of Brevis Disquisitio to Canon John Hales (1584-1656) was not so much meant to disparage the work as to express "orthodox" concern that such an "English scholar and Arminian divine,” as well as Oxford graduate, who was canon of Windsor and representative at Dort, should have written it.
5 Blackburne, op. cit., p. 37.
6 Richard Parr, Life of Ussher, p. 473.
1. THE IMMORTAL-SOULIST POSITION.
Stegmann first declares this to be "very absurd, yet they believe it." Then he continues:
"For they suppose that the Souls of Man, in that very moment wherein they are parted from their Bodies by Death, are carried either to Heaven, and do there feel heavenly Joy, and possess all kinds of Happiness, which God hath promised to his People; or to Hell, and are there tormented, and excruciated with unquenchable Fire. And this, as was said before, they attribute to the mere Souls separated from the Bodies, even before the Resurrection of the Men themselves, that is to say, while they are yet dead." [8]
7 Blackburne, op. cit., p. 22[38].
8 Joachim Stegmann, Brems Disguisitio, in The Phenix (1708), Vol. II, No. XXII, p. 333.
2. CONSCIOUSNESS IN DEATH FOUNDATION OF PURGATORY.
This argument Stegmann immediately counters, logically, in these cogent words:
"But those things cannot happen to any thing which is not alive; for that which doth not live doth not feel, and consequently neither enjoyed Pleasure nor endures Pain. Wherefore they believe in effect, that the Dead live: namely, in the same manner that they affirm Peter, Paul, and other dead Men to live in Heaven. Now this is the Foundation not only of Purgatory, but also of that horrible Idolatry practised amongst the Papists, whilst they invocate the Saints that are dead. Take this away, and there will be no place left for the others. To what purpose is the Fire of Purgatory, it Souls separated from the Bodies feel nothing? to what purpose are Prayers to the Virgin Mary, to Peter, and Paul, and other dead Men, if they can neither hear Prayers, nor intercede for you? On the contrary, if you admit this, you cannot easily overthrow the Invocation of Saints." [9]
3. RECALLED TO LIFE AT RESURRECTION.
Stegmann then declares that the contrary thereof is set down in Scripture, and is in conflict with the widespread popular concept. Thus:
"The Argument of Christ, wherein he proves the future Resurrection of the Dead from thence. That God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but is not the God of the Dead, but of the Living whence he concludes, that they live to God, that is, shall be recalled to Life by God, that he may manifest himself to be their God, or Benefactor. This Argument would be altogether fallacious, if before the Resurrection they felt heavenly Joy. For then God would be their God, or Benefactor, namely, according to their Souls, although their Bodies should never rise again." [10]
4. WAS THE APOSTLE PAUL IN ERROR?
Next Stegmann turns to St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, offering this observation:
"In like manner, the Reasoning of the Apostle would be fallacious, 1 Cor. 15.30, 31, 32. wherein he proves the Resurrection by that Argument: Because—Otherwise those that believe in Christ would in vain run hazards every hour; in vain suffer so many Calamities for Christ; which he teaches by his own Example. Again, because otherwise it would be better to sing the Song of the Epicureans, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. In short, of all men Christians would be most miserable. Certainly this would be false, if the Godly presently after death did in their Souls enjoy celestial Happiness, and the Wicked feel Torment.
For they would not in vain suffer Calamities, nor these follow the Pleasures of the Flesh scot-free; and the Godly would be far happier than the Wicked." [11]
9 Ibid., pp. 333, 334.
10 Ibid., p. 334.
11 Ibid.
5. ABSURD TO HOLD CHRIST AND APOSTLES IN ERROR.
On the basis of these two inerrant authorities, to which he also adds .-St. Peter, Stegmann says:
"Since therefore it is the absurd thing in the world, to say that Christ and the Apostle Paul did not argue rightly; is it not clear that the Doctrine is false, which being granted, so great an Absurdity would be charged on Christ and the Apostle Paul? Furthermore, why should Peter defer the Salvation of Souls to the last day? 1 Pet. 1.5. Who are kept by the Power of God thro Faith unto Salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time: And Paul the Crown of Righteousness to the Day of Judgment; 2 Tim. 4.8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give to me at that day, etc.
To what purpose should the Judgment be appointed? How could it be said of the Godly under the old Covenant, that they received not the Promise, God providing some better things for us, that they might not without us be made perfect, Heb. 11.40. if the Soul of everyone presently after death, even without the Body, felt celestial Happiness?" [12]
6. DISEMBODIED SOULS HAVE No CONSCIOUSNESS.
Stegmann then makes his fundamental deduction—that souls apart from the body do not live in death, and have no feeling. And he declares concerning the nature of man:
"But the very Nature of the thing itself refutes it. Is not Living, Dying, Feeling, Hearing, Acting, proper to the whole Man, or the Compound of Soul and Body? Is not the Body the Instrument of the Soul, without which it cannot perform her Functions? as an Artist knows indeed the Art of working, but unless he have Instruments at hand, he cannot produce any Effect. Let the Eye be shut, the Soul will not see, the Power of Seeing be not taken away from it. For as soon as you shall restore the Instrument, a man will presently see. Wherefore Souls separated from Bodies are neither dead nor live, and consequently enjoy no Pleasure, and feel no Pain; for those things are proper to the whole Compound." [13]
7. BODY AND SPIRIT REJOINED AT RESURRECTION.
Then follows Stegmann's conclusion that "the Dead are not" until the resurrection:
"But the Scripture saith, that the Dead are not, that the Spirit return- eth to him that gave it; and of the Spirits of the Godly, that they are in the hand of God, but at the Resurrection they shall be joined with the Bodies.
And then having gotten Instruments, they will put forth their Operations." [14]
12 Ibid., pp. 334, 335.
13 Ibid., p. 335.
14 Ibid.
Such is the close reasoning of the Conditionalist Stegmann of Germany. Such men had a clear Biblical reason for their faith, and expressed it succinctly wherever they lived.
Returning now to England, we find that increasing emphasis appeared at this time on the literal resurrection of the righteous dead, to occur at the second advent of Christ—a teaching that always accompanies a clear Conditionalist emphasis.
An example can be seen in the 1641 treatise by DR. NATHANIEL HOMES, or Holmes (1599-1678), scholarly Puritan divine. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and at Exeter, where he received the successive degrees of B.A., M.A., B.D., and D.D. He was highly skilled in Hebrew. And as a Calvinist he first served as rector of St. Mary Staining, thereafter ministering to several Independent congregations.
Homes was .an ardent premillennialist, his most noted work being The Resurrection Revealed: or the Dawning of the Day-Star (1641). This unique treatise stresses the millennium as still future, thus opposing the Augustinian position.
He avers that it is to be introduced by the literal resurrection of the sleeping saints and the change, or translation, of the living saints at the Second Advent—which transcendent event, he held, will also bring about the destruction of the world by fire, together with Antichrist, the archenemy of truth. In this work, Oliver Cromwell's chaplain, Peter Sterry, wrote the significant and descriptive introduction concerning this rising "Morning Star":
"Like a piece of rich coin, it hath been long buried in the earth, but of late days dug up again; it begins to grow bright with handling, and to passe current with great numbers of Saints, and learned men of great Authority. As the same Star at several seasons is the Evening-star, setting immediately after the Sun, and the Morning-star shining immediately before it; So was this Truth the Evening-star to the first coming of Christ, and giving of the Spirit, setting together with the glory of that Day, in a night of Ani-Christianisme: Now it appears again in our Times, as a Morning star, to that blessed Day of the second effusion of the Spirit, and the second appearance of our Saviour in the glory of the Father."
SIGNIFICANCE OF PETER STERRY'S ENDORSEMENT.
The significance of Sterry's introduction is caught only by noting the character and calibre of the man himself. PETER STERRY (1613-1672), eminent Independent divine, was educated at Puritan Emmanuel College, Cambridge University. This was at a time when the forces in the university were seeking to reinterpret Christianity in the light of Platonic philosophy. Sterry was a profound thinker, with strong religious convictions. He was trained in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Italian. He might have remained as a teacher at Cambridge, but left because he was out of harmony with its religious emphasis.
Sterry was the personal friend and chaplain of Oliver Cromwell, and a strong supporter of the Protectorate. He was likewise a congenial friend of Conditionalist John Milton, joining him in championing toleration and assisting him when the latter was going blind. He was also a friend of the despised Quakers. Sterry was marked for high office and was appointed preacher to the Council of State. He was noted for his poetic eloquence, and frequently preached before each of the Houses of Parliament. He was also responsible for certifying the fitness of ministers. He pleaded against depending upon forms, ordinances, and peculiar ways of worship.
He was also one of the clergymen chosen by the House of Lords for the Westminster Assembly [15] to reorganize the Church of England on a Puritan basis. But after the execution of Charles I, the Westminster Assembly held its last meeting.
Any predominance of the Presbyterian cause in England was thus lost.
15 The Westminster Assembly, originally appointed by Parliament in 1643, with the purpose of reforming the English church, comprised 151 members, laymen, and ecclesiastics. These included Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Independents, and Erastrians. They attempted to revise the Thirty-Nine Articles. But instead, the Westminster Confession, the Directory of Public Worship, and the two Westminster Catechisms resulted.
Sterry's support of Dr. Homes' Resurrection treatise and its basic implications indicates the permeation of the structural principles of Conditionalism and its corollaries into high places at this time. This again attests that during this period certain clerics of prominence held various aspects of this unpopular view of man and his destiny without being ostracized and without forfeiting their clerical posts. In previous times cruel persecution was visited upon its proponents. Thus the pendulum swung back and forth between toleration and ostracism.
About the same time SAMUEL RICHARDSON (fl. 1633-1646), controversialist and former army preacher, was pastor of the first Particular (Calvinistic) Baptist church to be established in London, in 1633. [16] It was one of the seven Baptist churches of the metropolis. Though biographical data is meagre, he was known to be author of eleven works, including a rather re markable treatise for the time entitled Of the Torments of Hell: the Foundations thereof discovered, searched, shaken and removed. With Many Infallible Proofs that there is not to be a Punishment after this Life for any to endure that shall never end. By Samuel Richardson, London, 1658 [17]—with four reprints between 1660 and 1754. [18] This topic was, of course, different from, though related to, the more constantly agitated sleep of the soul in death.
As with many books of the time, the thesis of the volume was really compacted into its extended title. In the Introduction, Richardson says that "the love of truth, and desire to learn, drew me into this search, and caused me to dissent, not for contention, but for truth sake." He asserts that we ought to "seek and embrace" and if necessary to "suffer" for, truth.
"The manifestation of light and love," he observes, "hath overthrown many brave inventions and doctrines of men." After most earnest "seeking" and "diligent search," Richardson was "fully and confidently persuaded" that he was pleading for "truth" on the fate of the wicked in his presentation.
16 His name appears with that of John Spilsbury as signatories to the three editions of the Confession of Faith of the seven London (Particular) Baptist churches, in 1643, 1644, 1646.
17 Attempt has been made to cast doubt on Richardson as author. But historian A. J. Mills personally examined the first edition and attests: "The first edition with title-page intact, has revealed his [Richardson's] name, in Roman capitals, printed across the page. There is thus no doubt as to the authorship of this important work."—Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, p. 26.
18 William A. Shaw, "Samuel Richardson," Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 16, p. 1129; see also Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, p. 26.
First, inquiring into Christ's "descending into Hell," as the creed of orthodoxy puts it, he refers to Bucer's understanding that this referred to Christ's burial. Richardson contends that sheol and hades refer to the grave, while Gehenna con notes Hellfire. The limitations of "everlasting", are also pointed out. Even if the fire be "everlasting," he insists that that-which is cast therein is destroyed, being likened in Scripture to chaff and stubble.
In this way Richardson "shakes" the Eternal-Torment School of teaching of his day, while facetiously suggesting, as an aside, that water is not so scarce in Hell as his opponents would contend—seeing that where there is such weeping there are tears, and where there are tears, there is water! But, in ^most serious vein he shows how the "seven pillars of Hell" are "shaken and removed." Here they are in condensed form:
(1) The Greek Fathers, through ignorance of Hebrew, gave wrong interpretations;
(2) Hebrew and Greek copyists made obvious mistakes, there being now no originals to consult;
(3) expositors misinterpreted sheol for Hell-torment;
(4) consent of preachers and blind belief of the people;
(5) wresting scriptures from their plain meaning;
(6) false arguments and reasons; and
(7) preaching "Hell-torment" as a means of "persuasion to a Holy Life." [19]
Richardson "removes" these "pillars" with a heavy hand.
Then, turning from the negative to the positive, he gives twenty pointed "Infallible Proofs" for his position on the ultimate destruction of the wicked. Proof XVIII reads:
''God, He is just, therefore He will not do anything but that which is just and right: the greatest punishment of the breach of His law is death; e will not inflict another, much less a worser punishment than He hath pressed in His law." [20] Richardson's treatise is a pertinent example of a mid seventeenth-century Conditionalist presentation by an out spoken pastor. Discussion of the issue was widespread, as is evidenced by the fact that the treatise was many times re printed, even as late as 1833 in the United States, and was translated into several Continental languages as well—twice into French, in 1769 and even in 1823.
19 Quoted in Mill, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, p. 26
20 Ibid.
Richardson's treatise, it should be remarked, did not pass unchallenged. A sharp rejoinder was forthcoming in 1678, as John Brandon wrote Everlasting Fire no Fancy. Being an Answer to a late Pestilent Pamphlet [by S. Richardson]; entitled The Foundations of Hell-Torments shaken and removed.
And even in 1720 John Lewis offered another answer to Richardson's tractate, which he named The Nature of Hell, the Reality of Hell-Fire, and the Eternity of Hell-Torments explained and vindicated. [21] So the battle raged.
In the growing list of notable exponents of the various aspects of Conditionalism, we come to DR. ISAAC BARROW (1630- 1677), distinguished English theologian, classical scholar, linguist, mathematician, and Cambridge professor. Educated at Charterhouse and Trinity College, he travelled widely on the Continent, then took Anglican orders. He was first made professor of geometry, then professor of Greek, and finally of mathematics, at Cambridge. This high post he resigned in favour of his noted pupil Sir Isaac Newton, who succeeded him in the professorship in 1669, and who was said to have likewise been a Conditionalist, though not writing on the subject. (Newton was likewise succeeded by a Conditionalist—William Whiston, to be noted later.)
Barrow was then chaplain to Charles II, and became Master of Trinity College in 1672. He was further reputed to be one of the greatest scholars and Arminian preachers of the Church of England in his day. As to his competency in Biblical exposition, Barrow was recognized as one of the finest Greek scholars of his generation. And among his writings was the unique Two Dissertations on the Duration of Future Punishment, a scholarly contribution to Life Only in Christ and contingent truths.
21 Cf. Abbot, The Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life, nos. 3784, 3989, 4160, 4227, also 3792, 3857.
Maintaining that immortality is conditional, and holding to the utter destruction of the wicked, Barrow says such a concept comports with the justice of God—it being inconceivable 'that .He would punish temporal offenses with eternal torments.
Here is a key statement:
"Besides these arguments from express scripture, it may be considered whether this opinion [destruction of the wicked] do not better agree with the justice of God, especially with the great attribute of His mercy, so much magnified in scripture; for sure it is a hard question, never well resolved to the satisfaction of human understanding, how such temporal offences as are committed by men in this world, under so many temptations and infirmities of nature, not generally relieved by a sufficiency of auxiliary grace, as the common opinion is, should be justly punishable with eternity of extreme torments." [22]
22 Sermons and Fragments attributed to Isaac Barrow, D.D. to which are added, Two Dissertations on the Duration of Future Punishment, and on Dissenters. Now first collected and edited from the MSS. in the University and Trinity College Library, Cambridge. By the Rev. J. P. Lee, M.A., pp. 209, 210. (Of the T wo Dissertations Lee says, “It only remains to say, that they are unquestionably in the handwriting of Barrow.”)
Commenting on such a course of unending torture, for which some contend, Barrow calls it “a severity of justice far above all examples of repeated cruelty in the worst of men, there being no man presumably so prodigiously cruel or hard hearted, that could endure to see the worst of men, that had been guilty of the worst crimes imaginable, and the greatest injustice and despite to himself, suffer perpetually in an actual extremity of torment: but would in time be moved to deliver him at last by destruction of his being." [23] "According to the words of our Saviour, 'Fear not them which kill the body, fear Him who hath power to destroy both body and soul in Hell.' And sure no man doth doubt, but that God is able to destroy the soul as well as the body; and to say He can but will not do it, is a begging of the question, and a seeming contradiction of our Saviour's words." [24] Such were the convictions of the scholarly predecessor of Sir Isaac Newton at Cambridge University. They also show that the holding and publishing of such teachings was not, at the time, considered inconsistent with major responsibility in churchly and educational ranks.
As we have seen, men of learning in various walks of life were now adherents to the principle of Conditionalism—clerics, physicians, educators, barristers, scientists, and philosophers.
Among the latter was J.OHN LOCKE (1632-1704), renowned Christian philosopher and foremost defender of free inquiry of the seventeenth century. He was educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford, where he distinguished himself by his talents and attainments. After receiving his M.A. degree, he applied himself to the study of medicine — primarily for the knowledge he would gain, rather than for its practice as a profession. For a time Locke taught Greek, rhetoric, and moral philosophy at Oxford. He also held several political posts, being sent on certain missions of state to the Continent. He was even asked to serve as an envoy to a foreign court, but declined. He was, however, secretary for the Board of Trade and Commissioner of Appeals, and was a friend of many distinguished men of his time.
23 Ibid., p. 210.
24 Ibid., p. 231.
Locke was author of numerous works, several of which exerted a marked influence on subsequent British and American thought. The purpose in all his writings was the advancement of mankind in knowledge, freedom, and virtue. He pleaded for toleration, though personally he held to a severe Puritan morality. His controversial writings, which often became a battle-cry, were marked by clear and cogent arguments, but by fairness and respect toward all opponents. His entire life, in fact, was a warfare against the enemies of freedom of thought and worship. Though he has been lauded by certain freethinkers, he was an earnest Christian, and regarded Holy Scripture with profound reverence, declaring: "It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter."
His famous An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, begun in 1671, was seventeen years in the making. It attacked Platonism, and was directed against various "innate conceptions or intuitions." He, on the other hand, was an Empiricist, believing in the pursuit of knowledge by experiment and observation. He dwelt on how the mind works, its limitations, and the tabula rasa concept. Education owes much to him for the liberalizing engendered by his teachings.
During the political upheaval Locke fled to Holland for security reasons, and there finished his Essay, returning to the homeland in 1689. In his controversial works he sought to remove objections and clear away misapprehensions regarding his fundamental tenets. The Reasonableness of Christianity was his last work, written in 1695, late in life. This brought him into conflict with certain rectors and bishops eager to preserve "orthodoxy."
Locke rejected all theological dogmas that rested upon mere ecclesiastical authority. Thus he took a clear and bold stand against the doctrine of the Innate Immortality and immateriality of the soul, delivering telling blows against such "heathenish fables." as he called them, and thus revealing his thorough acquaintance with their historical origins in the philosophies of Platonism.
1. WICKED Do "Not LIVE FOREVER."
Locke was equally forthright in his opposition to the dogma of the eternal torment of the incorrigible. This appears in various works. To him the punishment for sin is actual death, not eternal life in misery.
Thus, in his Latin treatise Resurrectio et quae sequuntur, he says:
"St. Paul. speaking of the Resurrection, [1 Cor. 15] . . . never comes to the resurrection of the wicked . . . ; so that from verse 27 to the end of the chapter is a description only of the resurrection of the just. . . .
First, that which he here speaks of as raised, is raised in glory, v. 43; but the wicked are not raised in glory. 2dly, He say, we shall bear the image of the heavenly Adam, v. 49 which cannot belong to the wicked. 3rd. We shall all be changed, that, by putting on incorruptibility and immortality, death may be swallowed up in victory v. 51, 52, 53, 54, 57, which cannot likewise belong to the damned. ... I think nobody will say that the wicked have victory over death. . . .
"Two things are plainly declared in Scripture concerning them [the wicked].
"1st. That they shall be cast into hell fire to be tormented there, is so express, and so often mentioned in Scripture, that there can be no doubt about it. Matt. 25.41, 46; 13.42. 50; 18.8.
"2nd. That they shall not live for ever." [25]
2. DEATH NOT "ETERNAL LIFE IN MISERY."
In his celebrated treatise, The Reasonableness of Christianity, Locke began his defence of Christianity by protesting the doctrine of immortal death with this searching question:
"By death, some men understand endless torments in hell fire; but it seems a strange way understanding a law, which requires the plainest and very direct of words, that by death should be meant eternal life in misery. Can anyone be supposed to intend by a law which says, 'For felony thou shall surely DIE,' not that he should lose his life, but be kept alive in exquisite and perpetual torments? And would anyone think himself fairly dealt with that was so used?" [26]
3. ETERNAL LIFE RESTS ON PROMISES OF GOD.
Locke's renowned controversy with Edward Stillingfleet, "Bishop of Worcester, appears in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Stillingfleet held that the common faith in an afterlife would be endangered if the "philosophic proof" (Platonic) of immortality were abandoned. Locke's reply was that our hope of eternal life rests on the revelation and promises of God, not on the subtleties of men. The reply was approved by Jean Le Clerc, celebrated French divine. Locke was not at all impressed by the stock argument of the "majority view," and wisely countered with the statement:
"An error is not the better for being common, nor truth the worse for having lain neglected: and if it were put to the vote anywhere in the world, I doubt, as things are managed, whether truth would have the I majority." [27]
25 English translation in Lord King, Life of Locke, vol. 2. pp. 139-146.
26 John Locke, The Reasonableness of Christianity, in Richard Watson, A Collection of Theological Tracts in Six Volumes, vol. 6, p. 3.
27 John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, book iv, chap. iii, sec. vi., note, p. 465.
Here are typical extracts from The Reasonableness of Christianity, which exhibit Locke's line of reasoning on Conditionalism:
Loss.—"By this fall he [Adam] lost paradise, wherein were tranquillity and the tree of life, i.e. he lost bliss and immortality." [28] EXCLUSION.—"An exclusion from paradise and loss of. immortality, is the portion of sinners." [29] Of the death threatened in Genesis 2:17, Locke says:
CESSATION.—"I must confess, by death here, I can understand nothing but a ceasing to be, (the losing of all actions of life and sense)." [30]
STRANGE.—"But it seems a strange-way of understanding a law which requires the plainest and direct words, that by 'death' should be meant eternal life in misery." [31]
DUST.—"But when man was turned out [of Paradise], he was exposed to the toil, anxiety, and frailties of this mortal life, which should end in dust, out of which he was made, and to which he should return; and then have life no more life or sense than the dust had." [32] To Locke, the philosopher and defender of free inquiry, the resurrection is the only gateway to life and immortality.
JOHN TILLOTSON (1630-1694), Archbishop of Canterbury was of nonconformist background. Educated at Cambridge, he was profoundly influenced by the works of the great Protestant apologist, William Chillingworth, with their basic theme, "The Bible only is the faith of Protestants." Submitting to the Act of Conformity in 1662, he served first as an Anglican curate, then in the rectory of Kiddington. He next became lecturer at St. Laurance's, in the Jewry, where he came to be recognized as such a distinguished preacher that many of the clergy modelled their sermons after his. (Pictured on page 188.)
28 Watson, op. cit., p. 2.
29 Ibid., p. 9.
30 Ibid., p. 3.
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid.
In 1670 Tillotson became prebendary of Canterbury, and in 1689 dean of St. Pauls. He was also a member of the commission to revise the Book of Common Prayer. He held the Zwinglian view concerning the Eucharist, and preached strongly against Popery and Purgatory. Then in 1691 Tillotson was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury, and set about reforming the abuses among the clergy. His hope was to include all Protestant Dissenters, other than Unitarians, in the Church of England.
1. DECLARES INNATE-IMMORTALITY ASSUMED, NOT "REVEALED."
On March 7, 1690, Archbishop Tillotson preached a revolutionary sermon dealing with the "Eternity of Hell Torments," based on Matthew 25:46—one that created great com motion in the theological world. In it he maintained that though God had threatened impenitent sinners with eternal punishment, yet He kept the right of punishing in His own hand, and may remit the penalty. [33] This was recognized as virtually abandoning the traditional certainty of the doctrine of invariable eternal torment for the impenitent, and was so construed.
It was not an open break, but a crack—a noteworthy breach in the solid wall of established "orthodoxy" as to the fate of the damned. It was clearly a denial of the indefeasible immortality of all souls and the universality of eternal punishing for all the wicked. It was the first time an Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England, had so declared. More than that, he openly confessed that the dogma of Innate Immortality is based not on Scripture but on tradition. That too was an epochal confession. Other archbishops would follow, in time, who would make the break complete, as history attests. These will be noted in their chronological sequence. Coming from so high a dignitary, the statement created consternation among the advocates of endless torment in Hell.
33 Abbot, op. cit., no. 3796.
Widespread discussion ensued. Tillotson's position was de fended by the French Arminian theologian, Jean Le Clerc, [34] and condemned by William Lupton, [35] and others. But what disturbed most was Tillotson's admission that the doctrine of the "immortality of the soul was rather supposed, or taken for granted, than expressly revealed in the Bible" [36] Such were the disruptive statements uttered by this prominent prelate near the close of the seventeenth century.
2. SIMILAR CONTINENTAL DENIAL BY VON STOSCH.
It should be added that about the same time, over on the Continent, FRIEDRICH WILHELM VON STOSCH published a work openly denying the doctrine of endless punishment—Concordia Rationis, et Fidei . . . (1692), [37] which caused the author much trouble. The book was suppressed by the government and drew a rebuttal from Johann H. von Elswich. [38] Revolt against eternal torment was on, and was destined to increase.
WILLIAM COWARD, M.D. (c. 1656-1725), practicing physician, theologian, and writer, came of good family background, his uncle being principal and professor of history of Hart Hall, Oxford. William received his training at Wadham College, and then Merton, Oxford, receiving both the M.A. and the M.D. degree. [39] He practiced medicine in Northampton and London, and was a member of the College of Surgeons from 1695 until his death. He wrote four medical and four theological works.
But Dr. Coward had strong theological convictions and was a Biblical scholar in his own right. Becoming intensely interested in the question of the nature of man, he wrote Second Thoughts concerning Human Soul, demonstrating the Notion of Human Soul, as believed to be a Spiritual and Immortal Substance, united to Human Body, to be plain Heathenish Invention, and not consonant to the Principles of Philosophy, Reason or Religion (London, 1702). The title page bears the text: "Man lieth down, and rise not till the Heavens be no more: They shall not awake, or be raised out of their Sleep. Job 14:12."
34 Ibid., no. 3734n; also no. 3823n.
35 Ibid., no. 3832n.
36 John Tillotson, Works (1817 ed.), vol. 1, p. 749; Sermons 100, 166. Elsewhere, the identical thought is stated in other words: "I do not find that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul is anywhere expressly advanced in Scripture, but taken for granted."
37 Abbot, op. cit., no. 3797n.
38 Ibid., no. 104.
39 Leslie Stephen, "William Coward," Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 4, pp. 1298, 1299; Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, pp. 35, 36.
Coward published this treatise under a pen name Estibius Psychalethes, and dedicated it to the clergy of the Church of England. In this he denied the postulate of the consciousness of the human soul independent of the human body, but con tended that the whole man will receive immortal life at the resurrection. He referred to the independent soul theory as the "ground" of "many absurd and superstitious opinions." Coward affirmed that the death of all animal life consists in "privation of life," but the righteous man "will be raised to life again, and be made partaker of eternal happiness in the world to come."
An enlarged second edition was issued in 1704, in which the term "Immortal Substance," in the title, was changed to "Immaterial Substance."
Much opposition was aroused by the publication of Coward's convictions, and printed attacks began to appear, one by a noted Baptist minister, Benjamin Reach, an ardent Immortal-Soulist. There were also caustic replies by Le Wright, Staalkopf, and later by Kahler and Fleming. These attacks led Coward to issue a second volume, Further Thoughts Concerning the Human Soul, in Defence of Second Thoughts (1703).
His strictures in this book against the foibles of philosophy drew ridicule from John Locke, and further rejoinders were soon forthcoming.
In rebuttal Coward published, in 1704, The Grand Essay: or A Vindication of Reason, and Religion, against Impostures of Philosophy, etc. On March 10, 1704, soon after its publication, complaint was lodged in the House of Commons, and an inquiry instituted before which Coward was summoned to testify. As a result, his books were ordered burned by the Common Hangman as offensive doctrine. The resultant notoriety caused the intrepid doctor to issue a fourth volume, The Just Scrutiny; or a Serious Inquiry into the Modern Notions of the Soul. . . . Considered as Breath of Life, or a Power (not Immaterial Substance) united to Body according to Holy Scriptures. . . . With a Comparative Disquisition between the Scriptural and Philosophic State of the Dead (1706). A defence of Coward, by Evan Lloyd, also appeared in 1707, while Henry Layton, noted next, answered several of Coward's critics.
Coward insisted that the "main stress of arguments" must be drawn from the only authoritative "credentials of true and orthodox divinity"—the "holy scriptures." But notwithstanding his unwavering attachment to the Christian Scripture, op ponents sought to discredit him by listing him indiscriminately with such detractors of the Bible as Toland, Tindal, and Collins—"the most rancorous and determined adversaries of Christianity." [40] Using the Bible, Coward refuted the popular contention that "contiguity" of life precludes any intervening period of "sleep" or inactivity, and the contention that upon death the soul is "immediately and instantly clothed with the resurrection body." Such held that "no intervening moments can be admitted. Contiguity admits not a separation either in time or space."
Still another Coward volume, in similar vein, appeared in 1706—Ophthalmoiatria—in which he ridiculed the Cartesian notion of an immaterial soul residing in the pineal gland.
Henry Dodwell's Epistolary Discourse appeared in the same year, which drew Samuel Clarke and Anthony Collins into the conflict. But Coward distinguished his own position from that of Dodwell, and attacked Clarke. Thus the battle of pens continued over the nature and destiny of man.
40 Blackburne, op. cit., pp. 71-74.
In the dedication of Second Thoughts, Coward denies that he was raising a mere "cavil," and like Luther declares he was ready—to "recant" any "error" in his position if it could be shown to be such on the "Authority of the Holy Scriptures.
But his thesis was that "this Life will to the Righteous be changed into Life Everlasting at the Day of the general Resurrection." [41] Then he proceeds to show that the immortality of the soul postulate springs from pagan philosophy, and offers detailed proof (chap, v), Coward contends that the "Human Soul will cease to be when the Body dies, and consequently it cannot be a Substantial Immortal Spirit" (chap, vi). He maintains that "Human Soul and Life are the same thing, and consequently the Notion of a Spiritual Immortal Substance in Man is Erroneous, and according to the Common Course of Providence, Man's Immortality begins not until the Resurrection" (chap. vii). In chapter nine Coward discusses "Purgatory, Prayers for the Dead, Invocation of Saints, Mens going immediately after Death to Heaven or Hell," and "Ghosts," as springing from natural-immortalism.
1. WICKED NOT YET IN TORMENT, NOR RIGHTEOUS IN HEAVEN.
In chapter ten, on the "History" of the soul question, Coward declares:
"After Death the Damned will not be in a full State of Misery, but that their utmost Misery will begin after Condemnation at the General Judgment, when Soul and Body are united again (as the Phrase is) as will also the Initial Happiness of the Soul, immediately after Death, and the Perfect Happiness of it after the Day of Judgment." [42]
2. IMMORTAL-SOULISM DERIVED FROM HEATHEN PHILOSOPHERS.
Coward then charges that the papists "invented a Purgatory, out of which the Souls of the Deceased hereafter will be delivered from Punishment." Then he asks pointedly:
41 William Coward, Second Thoughts Concerning Human Soul, "Epistle Dedicatory," sixteenth page.
42 Ibid., p. 266.
"What can there be more evident than that from these Heathen Philosophers we have imbibed as it were, sucked with our Breast-Milk the Notion of a Spiritual Substance united to the Body, called the Soul of Man? And yet upon Examination we find upon what weak Foundation, unsatisfactory Grounds, and trifling Reasons they build their Notion on, which. Posterity has so greedily devoured." [43]
3. THE CONTENTION OF THE PHILOSOPHERS.
Turning to the Grecian philosophers—Pythagoras, Socrates, Hereclitus, Pindar, et cetera—Coward shows in terse phrases how they taught that "the Body being compounded is dissolvable by death." "The Soul being simple passes into another Life, in capable of Corruption." "The Souls of Men are Divine, to whom, when they go out of the Body, the way to Heaven is open," according to Thales and Pythagoras. "The Souls of the Good after Death are in an happy Estate, united to God in a Blessed inaccessible Place; The Bad in convenient Places suffer condign Punishment"; and "Death to resemble Absolute Annihilation of Soul and Body, making us insensible of Pain and Pleasure." [44]
4. PLATONIC PHILOSOPHY INTERWOVEN INTO EARLY CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE.
Asserting that Plato's philosophy is essentially the same as that of his master, Socrates, and having traced the "Doctrine of the Nature of Immortality of a Human Soul" from ancient times down to the philosophers, Coward makes the connection between the philosophers and the Christian Church:
"I proceed to show how, Plato gave a final and undeniable Stamp to this Doctrine; insomuch, that from him it was delivered down to Posterity interwoven in the Doctrine of Christianity." [45]
5. CREPT INTO CHURCH THROUGH PLATONIC FATHERS.
Reaffirming that Plato derived his philosophy of the soul from Socrates, and he in turn from Egypt. Coward next sought to blend it into Old Testament positions. The "first fathers of the Church . . . were almost all Platonic," he continues— Justin, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Cyril, Basil, et cetera.
43 Ibid.
44 Ibid., pp. 267-271.
45 Ibid., p. 271.
Thus it is "demonstrably plain" — "that this Notion of Human Soul, conceived to be a Spirit united to the Body, crept into the Church by the means of the first Fathers thereof, so heartily espousing the Platonic. Such was the "first foundation of the belief" as found in the "Primitive Fathers," [47] with "Threats of Damnation to the Souls of the Wicked, and the Promise of Salvation to the Souls of the righteous." [48] So such a conception of the soul was derived "Originally and Chiefly from Plato a Pagan or heathen,"
who held that "God created the Soul of Man, and made it Immortal." [49] Aristotle, on the other hand, says nothing of creation, but asserts man to be mortal. Plato held that men would rise again from the dead, while Aristotle held that "life once lost can never be renewed or recovered again." [50] So there was sharp conflict and contradiction in pagan philosophy, especially over the resurrection.
6. LIFE INTERRUPTED BY DEATH RESTORED AT RESURRECTION.
After listing the primitive Christian Fathers, Coward asserts that their teachings concerning the human soul are "pure principles of Platonism," and these in turn were adopted by the Papacy as the "ground" of its "base Practices and Cheats it became the dominant power of the Middle Ages. Coward concludes his position in this summarizing paragraph:
"Lastly, and to conclude this Treatise. Why I have made use of the Words, Cease to be, rather than Corrupt, I have already told you; and why I call it, the renewing of Life in Man, rather than Quickening a Man again, as some perhaps would call it; I do it, as near as I can, to signify my meaning by such Scriptural Phrases and Expressions, because from them I have taken the Grounds of my Definition of the Soul, and not from Philosophy, as may give the best Light I can to the understanding and comprehending my Opinion. Thus Ps. 104.9. Thou hides thy Face, and they are troubled; thou takes away their Breath, and they die. Thus far it is explained how by the Power of God Life ceased to be, and Man . the Subject in which it is, dies, like motion in the thing moved, or Re-projected when it obtains its End or Centre. But when God is pleased Man shall live again, like Motion reconveyed to the thing moved by a second Agent. Thus Ps. 104.30. Thou sends forth thy Spirit, [Breath of Life] they are created, and thou renews the Face of the Earth again. So that as it were by a long Chain, whose Link for some time was broken or interrupted, the present Life is then united, or rather converted by the omnipotent Power of God, in whom it centred, unto Life eternal." [51]
46 Ibid., p. 272.
47 Ibid.
48 Ibid., p. 273.
49 Ibid., pp. 274, 275.
50 Ibid p. 275.
In his Grand Essay : . . Against Impostures of Philosophy (1704), Coward emblazons on the title page that the concept of "the Existence of any Immaterial Substance is a Philosophic Imposture." And in his Preface he says, "Now is the Axe laid to the Root of the Tree." [52]
As previously noted, the latter part of the seventeenth century witnessed a sharp rise in the tempo of the controversy that raged in England over the issue of Innate or Conditional Immortality and the condition of man in the inter mediate state. Numerous works appeared in opposition to the "sleep of the soul" teaching, many merely repeating what had been denounced "a hundred times before." But as many defenders appear.
Doubtless the most voluminous champion of the Conditionalist position, at the time, was HENRY LAYTON (c. 1622- 1705), learned barrister, theological writer, controversialist, and author of twelve books sustaining Conditionalism. He too came of a distinguished and well-to-do family, his father being "one of the masters of the jewel-house" under Charles I and II. [53] Henry was educated at Oxford, then at Grays-Inn, where he studied law, and was "called to the Bar."
Pursuant to the terms of his father's will, he built a chapel at Rawdon. There he also printed tractates on various subjects.
51 Ibid., pp. 340, 341.
52 This third treatise is plainly credited to "William Coward, M.D., C.M., L.C."
53 Alexander Gordon, "Henry Layton," Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 11, pp. 747, 748; see also Blackburne and Mills.
He then became intrigued in investigating the popular contention of the "separate existence" of the soul. According to the scholarly Blackburne, he delved into the question with "utmost avidity," with the one purpose of "coming at the truth, examining everything he could meet with, ancient and modern, on the subject." He engaged in prolonged research.
As a result, he came to reject the "separate existence" position, and "made no scruple of opposing the sentiments" of some of the chief proponents of Innate Immortality of his time. [54]
Against these he wrote twelve "long and laborious disquisitions"—all in the ponderous style of the day.
He had corresponded with several leading clergymen and educators, putting his arguments into manuscript form. Encountering difficulty over getting a publisher to assume the responsibility for printing and promoting his first manuscript taking the unpopular side, Layton put it away in a box, labelling it, "Treatise . . . Concerning the Humane Soul." Finally he printed it at his own expense. It was promptly challenged.
He then began a series of searching analyses of books championing Innate Immortality, his replies continuing to issue periodically from his pen until the very year of his death.
Since his books were not published under the patronage of a regular bookseller, his works are not so well known nor so extensively circulated as some. Nevertheless, they exerted a strong influence. [55] Dr. William Coward's Second Thoughts—charging the popular view of the soul as "plain heathenish invention," "not consonant to the principles of philosophy, reason, or religion," and "derogatory in general to truest Christianity"— had created a furore. Various Immortal-Soulists, such as Manlove, Wadsworth, Nicholl, Broughton, Sherlock, and Turner, sprang to the defence of "orthodoxy." Coward did not bother to answer them, but Layton took on one challenger after another, answering in the characteristically heavy but devastating style of the times.
54 Blackburne, op. cit.. p. 75.
55 Ibid., pp. 75, 76.
Over a spread of thirty-six years (from 1670 to 1706), he produced these twelve volumes. In his very first treatise Layton set forth this short but comprehensive thesis—a position from which he never deviated: "During life, we live and move in Him; and when we die, we rest and sleep in Him, in expectation to be raised at His Second Coming." [56]
The bare listing of Layton's twelve titles indicates the range and intensity of the debate that surged back and forth, both theological and philosophical, as it involved Layton. The climax of his writing activities was the production of a major two-volume work, A Search After Souls: or, The Immortality of/a Human Soul, Theologically, Philosophically, and Ration ally Considered, with the Opinions of Ancient and Modern Authors. It was simply signed, "By a Lover of Truth." But it was written by Layton, and received highly favourable comments from Bishop Edmund Law and Archdeacon Blackburne, both of them stalwart Conditionalists. Note the progressive series:
1. Observations upon Mr. Wadsworth's Book of the Soul's Immortality, and his Confutation of the Soul's Inactivity to the Time of the General Resurrection (London: 1670). Wadsworth's treatise was, "Antipsuchothanasia: or The Immortality of the Soul Explained and Proved by Scriptures and Reason. A Confutation of that Irrational and Irreligious opinion of the Soul's Dying with the Body, and Interruption of its Communion with God from Death, Until the Day of Judgment."
2. Observations on Dr. Charlton's Treatise, intituled, The Immortality of the Humane Soul, Demonstrated by the Light of Nature (London: 1670?). In this Layton simply continues his previous arguments.
3. Observations upon a Sermon intituled, A Confutation of Atheism from the Faculties of the Soul by way of Refutation (London? 1692?).
Richard Bentley's treatise was on, Matter and Motion Cannot Think: or, a Confutation of Atheism from the Faculties of the Soul.
4. Observations upon a Short Treatise written by Mr. Timothy Manlove: intituled, The Immortality of the Soul asserted (London: 1697).
Layton here avers that "the certainty of a resurrection, and last judgments, rests not upon the behalf of the soul's immortality, but upon the strong current and agreement of the gospel."
56 Henry Layton, Observations on Mr. Wadsworth's Book on the Soul's Immortality, quoted in Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, p. 31.
5. An Argument concerning the Human Soul's Separate Subsistence (London: 1699). In answer to a pamphlet called Spira Respirans.
6. Observations upon a Treatise intituled, A Vindication of the Separate Existence of the Soul (1702). An answer to John Turner's "A Brief Vindication of the Separate Existence and Immortality of the Soul" written in opposition to Dr. Coward's Second Thoughts.
7. Observations on a Treatise intituled, Vindiciae Mentis (London: 1703). Vindiciae Mentis was an anonymous work, "Clearing all Doubts concerning the Life and Immortality of our Souls" (London: 1702).
8. Arguments and Replies in a Dispute concerning the Nature of the Humane Soul, viz. Whether the same be Immaterial, separately subsisting and Intelligent; or be Material, Unintelligent, and Extinguishable at the Death of the Person (London: 1703).
9. Observations upon Dr. Nicholl's Book, intituled, A Conference with a Theist (London: 1703). Nicholl's book was allegedly Proof of the Immortality of the Soul, written against Coward.
10. Observations upon a Treatise intitled Psychologia. Written by John Broughton (London: 1703). Broughton's book was toward "establishing the received Doctrine of an Immaterial and consequently Immortal Substance, United to Human Body," likewise against Coward.
11. Observations Upon a Treatise intituled, A Discourse concerning the Happiness of Good Men in the Next World, by Dr. Sherlock (London: 1704). Sherlock's work on the immortality of the soul also dealt with the eternal punishment of the wicked in the next world, and had French, German, and Dutch translations.
12. A Search After Souls: or, The Immortality of a Humane Soul, Theologically, Philosophically, and Rationally considered, with the Opinions of Ancient and Modern Authors. By a Lover of Truth (2 vols., of 278 and 188 pages, London? 1706).
These—treatises, it might be added, are in the British Museum, Harvard, and the Library of Congress, and are accurately listed in Ezra Abbot's Literature of the Doctrine of a Future, Life, or Catalogue of Works.
It should be observed that in all this Layton was not defending Coward, with whose works he had little acquaintance, but was expressing his own convictions and conclusions on the counterargument projected by Coward's opponents. He seriously "answers every argument that had then been advanced in behalf of the immortality of the soul, at full length," including the constantly recurring objection that Conditional- ism is "bold, singular, and heretical." When he started writing, in 1670, Lay ton felt somewhat like Elijah—that he alone held the true view, but he soon found that there were "seven thou sand" others of similar belief of whom he had been unaware.
As to the charge of being "heretical" Layton says:
"The passing an intermediate time between death and judgment, (which time to the dead is nothing) doth no way enfeeble the certainty of, future rewards and punishments; but places the expectation of them upon a right and a firm foot or foundation, maintained by a concurrent testimony throughout the scripture, and fortified by the articles of our several Creeds." [57]
And as to the novelty of Conditionalism, he contends truthfully and significantly that "there have been testimonies all along in the church against the separate subsistence of souls, except in the 600 years wherein the thick darkness of popish ignorance overspread the Christian world, viz., from An. 600 till An. 1200." [58] And he further observes that use was then being made of the same arguments to meet him as were employed against the unpopular Reformers by the papists in the infamy of the Reformation." These were: "The authority of the church, the imputation of heresy, and even of Atheism, the promoting of vice [evil], by taking away the fear of purgatorial pains, etc." [59] This, he said pointedly, is "remarkable," for "the separate existence of the soul, is one of these doctrines which popery borrowed from paganism, and is so necessary to the support of the better half of the popish superstitions, that it is not a little marvellous the re formers should think so little of removing the ground work, when they were so zealously bent upon demolishing what was built upon it." [60] His was a remarkable polemical defence of Conditionalism. He was a notable champion.
57 Quoted in Blackburne, op. cit., p. 78.
58 Layton, A Search After Souls, part ii, pp. 21-23, quoted in Blackburne, op. cit. pp. 79, 80.
59 Ibid., p. 80.
60 Ibid.
Conditionalism in the seventeenth century opens, just as the sixteenth closed, with cruel persecution, even unto death—as with Legatt and Wightman. This was followed by the widely attested Baptist Confession of Faith, "owned and approved" by more than 20,000. Then follows a succession of prominent Conditionalist witnesses, chiefly in England but with Stegmann and von Stosch in Germany.
The British witnesses are about equally divided between Baptists and Anglicans, but also include Puritan, Independent, and even Unitarian adherents.
No Jews are noted. In spread of professional and official proponents, they now embrace preachers, teachers, physicians, poets, writers, statesmen, publishers, philosophers, and barristers—with even an Anglican archbishop. So Conditionalism was not confined preponderantly to any one group or religious persuasion.
In doctrinal emphasis it was distributed rather evenly over the three main points of (1) the mortality of man, (2) the unconscious sleep of the soul between death and the resurrection, and (3) the ultimate and utter destruction of the impenitently wicked. And it must not be forgotten that those who held to the final destruction of the wicked thereby automatically held that not all souls are innately immortal—else such could not ultimately cease to be.
There is now a still slow but steady augmenting of Conditionalist ranks and a diminishing of persecution, so that in the latter half of the century op position is virtually confined to oral and printed attack—with attendant ostracism. Nevertheless, the credibility of Conditionalism is increasingly recognized, as shown by the calibre and growing number of its conspicuous proponents.
Such is the status of Conditionalism during the seventeenth century.
Up to this time no one had ever attempted to give a systematic record of the contentions and conflicts of the proponents of Conditionalism, covering the two-hundred-year span immediately following the launching of the Reformation, and showing its relation thereto. That was left for the scholarly FRANCIS BLACKBURNE (1704-1787), archdeacon of Cleveland, Conditionalist, controversialist, and historian. Thoroughly trained at Cambridge, he was ordained an Anglican deacon in 1728, and was consecrated as a priest in 1739. Blackburne was ever the advocate of civil and religious liberty, never ceasing to champion thorough investigation of truth and its establishment in the church.
He was inducted into the rectory of Richmond in 1739, and resided there for forty-eight years, until his death. Throughout the remainder of his life he gave himself to intensive study and polemic writing. In 1750 Blackburne was made archdeacon of Cleveland, and he held this post until his death thirty-seven years later. He was a decided Arminian, not a Calvinist—which was a definite factor in his concept of the nature and destiny of man.
From the time of his first admission to Cambridge, Blackburne was a close friend and literary associate of Edmund Law, likewise an avowed Conditionalist, who was later Master of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, then archdeacon of Staffordshire, and finally bishop of Carlisle. Blackburne was also a friend of William Warburton, bishop of Gloucester, who was also a Conditionalist. Small wonder that these friendships should stimulate Blackburne's comprehensive study and personal adoption of Conditional Immortality and his extensive writing "concerning the use of the word soul in Holy Scripture, and the state of death.” Blackburne was bent on dispersing the "clouds of folly and superstition." But his presentations were quickly denounced by antagonists as "soul sleeping" and persistently castigated by the more hostile as "heresy." When Dr. Law's Conditionalism was attacked, Blackburne sprang to his defence, publishing a 140 page No Proof in the Scriptures of an Intermediate State of Happiness or Misery between Death and the Resurrection (1756). [1] About the same time he felt compelled to take up the cudgels in behalf of his friend Dr. Warburton, under attack from the bishop of London. So Blackburne produced his 77- page Remarks on Dr. Warburton's Account of the Sentiments of the Early Jews Concerning the Soul (1757). [2] Thus the battle of pens and pamphlets surged on, Blackburne being author of six vigorous discussions in this hotly debated field.
The year 1765 marked the production of Blackburne's epochal 183-page A Short Historical View of the Controversy concerning an Intermediate State and the Separate Existence of the Soul, Between Death and the General Resurrection, deduced from the Beginning of the Protestant Reformation, to the Present Time, with a second and enlarged edition in 1772. [3] The continuing witness of a line of noted clerics was presented, constituting the earliest piece of systematic historical research brought forth on this vital issue. Based on the sources, to which he had full access, Blackburne began with the Council of Florence in 1439 and the period just prior to the Reformation, and the vital part it played in producing the Reformation break under Luther. He continued the recital of the swaying battle line on to his own day.
1 Abbot, The Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life, no. 2560.
2 Ibid., no. 1811.
3 Ibid., no. 2464.
This unique discussion has fifty-eight pages of Introduction, followed by twenty-one sections comprising 108 pages of text. And it concludes with seventeen pages of Appendix material. Blackburne deals with cases and conditions then currently known but now difficult to compass. He had access to all the issues and the arguments, for he lived close to the times and the tensions. Moreover, he had deep personal convictions as to the principles under fire, and went back of the outer acts and utterances to the underlying principles and causes. His treatise compassed Pomponatius, Luther, Tyndale, Calvin and his Psychopannychia, then the Anabaptist, Helvetic, Edwardian, and Scottish confessions—and on through Stegmann, Overton, Bull, Jurieu, Locke, Coward, Layton, Hallett, Law, and many lesser lights who felt impelled to put aside the "incumbrance of superstition.” Blackburne's Historical View remains unsurpassed in the area covered, and offers the most comprehensive coverage available of the conflict over the nature of the soul during the two and a half centuries traversed. In masterly grasp of the issues and sweeping treatment it remains the classic.
That which lay closest to Blackburne's heart was "the perfection [or completion] of the Protestant principle, and the reclaiming of the Church of England" from all departures from Scripture, the great rule of faith and standard of doctrine. Blackburne ever stressed the folly of going to churchly dictums instead of Holy Scripture for sanction or authority. In his treatise The Confessional, or a Full and Free Inquiry into the Right, Utility, and Success of Establishing Confessions of Faith and Doctrine in Protestant Churches (1766) he appealed for the progressive acceptance of truth as it should be discerned, and warned of stultifying, rigid creeds and Rome ward trends. He fought "established follies and absurdities." Intense controversy resulted from his searching exposures.
It was Blackburne's call for further reformation of the Anglican Church that aroused the antagonism of Dr. Seeker, Archbishop of Canterbury, and other powerful church leaders, and forestalled any chance of further ecclesiastical advancement for Blackburne, [4] despite his conspicuous and widely recognized abilities. Nevertheless, The Confessional went through three editions and drew answering volumes from various clerics. [5] Deep conviction of truth, based upon "the Bible only," was the motivating force in Blackburne's life. He held to the in alienable right of private judgment, and was deeply troubled over current encroachments of the Papacy and the devastating perversions she had introduced from paganism into Christen dom. And to him the dogma of the Innate Immortality of the soul and its corollaries was perhaps the most serious of all papal departures, for it is foundational to the whole papal structure. And it sprang from Platonism.
4 Leslie Stephen, "Francis Blackburne," Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 2, p. 538.
5 The seven-volume Works of Blackburne gives all the published items and public correspondence, and covers the entire ground and the issues.
Blackburne left the defensive and took the offensive, showing the inconsistency of some of his antagonists, their recourse to unworthy tactics, and the specious arguments often resorted to—such as reducing "life" and "death" to mere figurative terms. Opponents felt the weight of his blows and his castigation of their "fine spun notions," and of their "art of blowing scholastic bubbles." [6] His was a masterful endeavour.
1. THE QUESTION OF DISEMBODIED SOULS.—
While his chief work had been to chronicle the views of other Conditionalists, Blackburne had his own deep convictions thereon.
To him the entire issue revolved around the question of Innate Immortality and the "separate existence of the soul," and particularly the "intermediate state between death and the resurrection" in "happiness or misery," as contended. He carefully states the problem in the Introduction, phrased in the heavy style of the time: "The question is, whether the scriptures afford any just and solid grounds for the doctrine of the immortality of the soul of man, and particularly, any evidence of its existence, when disunited from the body, in a state of conscious perception; and whether, in consequence o£ this notion, there is not a certain intermediate state of happiness and misery for good and wicked men respectively, between death and the general resurrection?" [7]
2. IMMORTALITY ONLY THROUGH RESURRECTION.—
In answering the questions he had propounded, he said: "They who hold the negative in these points, allege, that according to the scriptures, life and immortality were brought to light by the Gospel of Christ, in a sense exclusive of all other teachers, and all other revelation, at least from the birth of Moses downwards; exclusive likewise of all FAITH information from the light of nature, or the result of philosophical disquisition on the substance or qualities of the human soul. They insist that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, so that no man cometh to (the father [so as to be like him, and to see him as he is in a future state] (but by the mediatorial power of Christ. That the way of coming to God, in the sense, and by the means above-mentioned, is the resurrection of the dead, of which, assurance is given unto all men, by the resurrection of JESUS." [8]
6 Blackburne, A Short Historical View, pp. 106, 107.
7 Ibid., p. xxvi.
3. No SEPARATE INTERMEDIATE LIFE OF SOUL.—
Blackburne states that life and immortality come solely through Christ. He contends that death is the "total deprivation of life," and that there is no "separate or intermediate life for the soul, when disunited from the body." Thus: "They [the Conditionalists] hold moreover, that the sentence pronounced upon our first parents, imported a total deprivation of life without any reserve or saving to the life of the soul; and consequently, that eternal life, or a restoration and redemption from the consequences of this sentence, was effected for, revealed, consigned and insured to man, in and through Christ, and will be accomplished in no other way than that spoken of by Christ and his apostles, who have left no room to conclude that there is a separate or intermediate life for the soul, when disunited from the body." [9]
4. REFORMERS LOPPED "BRANCHES," LEFT "ROOT" OF ERROR.—
Blackburne shows how .the issue strikes at the whole provision of redemption of souls through Christ and the sole purpose of the resurrection (p. xxix). He remarks concerning the Reformers: "While our Reformers were studiously lopping the branches of superstition and imposture, they inadvertently left the stock, with a vigorous root in the ground, which their successors, with a surprising inattention to the pernicious consequences of their misapprehension, have been cultivating to a fresh growth, to the great hazard not only of the protestant religion, but even of Christianity itself, which is at this hour well nigh choaked and obscured under the thick shade of this venomous exotic." [10] To this charge Blackburne adds: "It is remarkable that Protestants, who have on most occasions refused to be governed by tradition, seem to have submitted to it in this matter with the most implicit deference." [11]
8 Ibid., pp. xxvi, xxvii. (Brackets his in original.)
9 Ibid., pp. xxvii, xxviii.
10 Ibid., p. xliii.
11 Ibid., p. xlv.
On another page he adds: "I cannot help commiserating the distress of these poor men, who having once allowed the Saints a conscious existence in heaven, were so hard put to it to keep it clear of the consequences." [12]
5. UNFAIRNESS OF CHARGE OF "HERESY."—
Feeling the sting of unjust criticism, and protesting against the acrimony and bigotry revolving around the issue, he says: "It is not only unfair but inhuman for one sett of her [the Church's] members to brand another with HERESY, merely for holding the negative side of this question." [13]
6. RESTORATION OF "WHOLE MAN" TO LIFE.—
The heart of Blackburne's position is simply this: "The doctrine of the New Testament is, that men shall become immortal by the way of a resurrection of the dead, a restoration of the whole man to life; and the New Testament is far from acknowledging any intermediate consciousness in man, between death and the resurrection, that it always speaks of that interval as a sleep, which implies a suspension of the thinking faculty, a rest from those labours which require thought, memory, consciousness. &c. during which those faculties are useless." [14]
7. DEAD MADE ALIVE ONLY THROUGH RESURRECTION.—
His line of reasoning and his emphasis on the resurrection, is stated thus: "But this is not all. The scriptural system of immortality, supposes that man had forfeited his original title to immortality, and would never have recovered it but for the interposition of a redeemer. The consequence of this doctrine is, that between the time of the forfeiture, and the actual appearance of the Redeemer, the dead could have life in no sense at all: and that neither before nor after the appearance of the Redeemer, dead men were or would be restored to life, otherwise than in the way revealed by, the Redeemer, namely the resurrection, of the dead." [15]
8. IMMORTAL-SOULISM "OVERTURNS WHOLE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM."—
The seriousness of the issue, as it appeared to Blackburne, is stated in these words: "Hence to suppose the souls of dead men to be alive, conscious and active, and capable of happiness and misery, from the death of the first
12 Ibid., p. 24.
13 Ibid., p. 1.
14 Ibid., pp. 68, 69.
15 Ibid., p. 69.
man, to the resurrection of the very last, and to pretend to demonstrate this by reason and philosophy, is plainly to overturn the whole Christian system." [16] Blackburne deeply deplored the "application of certain i passages of scripture torn from their context, and wrested from their true meaning, in order to accommodate them to the pagan accounts of the nature and properties of the human soul." [17] This hostility is aroused because the doctrine of the "sleep of the soul" strikes against the "pride of the philosopher, the enthusiastic visions of the mystic, the lucrative systems of the interested churchman, and the various prejudices and superstitions of their respective disciples." As a result the holders of such Conditionalist views are the recipients of "all the obloquy and scandal which bigoted and provoked adversaries can lay upon it." [18] And Blackburne knew by experience.
Conditionalism is, by such detractors, stigmatized as "an heresy, derogatory to the nature of man, subversive of his future hopes, and savouring not a little of atheism and impiety.” But Blackburne counter charged that defenders of "immortal- soulist" have to depend upon the "weight of tradition . . . for a future state." [19] tradition being the "deciding" factor in the issue. Then he reminds them, pointedly, that if the "soul sleepers" were disposed to seek reprisals upon the "Orthodox, what depredations might they not make," [20] because of their vulnerable positions and arguments.
Near the close of his penetrating history and analysis of nearly three hundred years of conflict over the nature of the soul, Blackburne makes these four basic charges, on pages 93-95, of A Short Historical View: (1) That although introduced into the Christian Church in the early centuries of the Christian Era, "these scholastic subtilties" were accentuated through medieval scholasticism.
16 Ibid., p. 69.
17 Ibid., p. xli.
18 Ibid., p. xliii.
19 Ibid., p. xlvii.
20 Ibid., p. li.
Thus "the notion of the souls immortality" was "bred and nourished among the schoolmen of the twelfth, thirteenth and a great part of the two following centuries.” (2) "That these scholastic subtilties were adopted by the popish divines, as the groundwork of the fable of purgatory, and the idolatrous invocation of Saints." Thus "scholastic immortality" was intermingled with the immortality offered by the Bible, and the two were made to give "light and support to each other," being "equally sanctified by the canons and decrees of the church.” (3) "That though Protestants, on all other subjects, rejected all doctrines which were not built on a scripture foundation, they unhappily contented themselves on this, with the testimony of popish and pagan tradition.” (4) That in disputes with Papists over Purgatory and saint worship, Protestants have "directed their arguments to the wrong object; and instead of insisting that the immortality subsequent to the general resurrection, was the only conscious future state allotted in Scripture, either for saints or sinners, they embarrassed themselves with an hypothesis of departed souls taken either immediately into heaven, or immediately thrust into a place of final torment.” As a result, the Papists take "advantage of this weakness in their adversaries," through Protestant admission of a "middle state." [2l] But Blackburne's conclusion is that according to Scripture "a suspension [of consciousness] actually takes place during the interval between death and the resurrection." [22] He repeats and enforces the thought in the next paragraph, calling it "a total intermission of consciousness in man for a certain interval"—namely, until the resurrection day. Then he adds confidently: "Our foundation stands sure, we know whom we have trusted, and we are persuaded he is able to keep what we have committed to him against the appointed day." [23]
21 Ibid., p. 95.
22 Ibid., p. 106.
23 Ibid.
Such are the mature deductions drawn by this astute and accomplished Anglican scholar, after a really massive survey of the evidence. It cannot be lightly passed by.
Learned scientists, as well as men of other professions, were in the list of champions of Conditional Immortality and its usual corollary, the ultimate destruction of the wicked. And some were in North America. One such was British-born DR. JOSEPH PRIESTLEY (1733-1804). eminent man of science, discoverer of oxygen (reputedly next in significance to Newton's discovery of gravitation), philosopher, and Dissenter theologian.
It is not without significance that while pursuing his theological studies in the Dissenter Academy at Daventry the sleep of the soul was a topic of frequent student discussion. It was one of the live questions of the day. The issue was now inescapable.
Early in his career as a minister Priestley held pastorates in two churches. At the same time he was professor of languages in the Dissenters Academy of Warrington, for he was facile in French, German, and Italian, knowing as well Hebrew, Syriac, and Aramaic. But Priestley came to be known primarily as a scientist. As such he was a member of the Royal Society, and was honoured by the University of Edinburgh. He travelled widely in Europe, where his name and attainments were highly revered. However, in the popular uprisings at the time of the French Revolution, Priestley's home and library were burned, and his life was imperilled by a mob. Soon after, in 1794, he emigrated to the United States, where he resided the rest of his life, and there enjoyed the friendship of such men as Benjamin Franklin and John Adams.
Priestley was a voluminous writer on science, philosophy, and religion, and authored more than three hundred works, many having extensive circulations and exerting a wide influence. One was Disquisitions relating to Matter and Spirit, to which is added the History of the Philosophical Doctrine concerning the Origin of the Soul, and the Nature of Matter; next The History of Opinions concerning the State of the Dead (1782); and then An Inquiry into the Knowledge of the Ancient Hebrews, concerning a Future State (1801)." [24] Priestley's treatises stirred up a veritable hornets' nest of perfervid replies —from Whitehead, Bicknell, Dawes, Gifford, Omerod, Walters, as well as anonymous writers. But the ranks of the Conditionalists continued to have steady accessions.
In a major work, A History of the Corruptions of Christianity (1782), Priestley wrote as a Protestant, charging the Papacy with corrupting the Christian faith. He attacked the Church Fathers and the perverting part that Platonism had played in the corrupting of church dogma. This accusation led, perforce, to intense and prolonged controversy. But many sided with him.
Priestley was fearless and independent as a thinker, but reverent nonetheless. He rejected theological dogmas that rested upon merely ecclesiastical authority. The Bible was the norm and test. And because he came to disbelieve the theory of the Innate Immortality of the soul, Priestley was often bitterly stigmatized as a materialist. Some went so far as to brand him a deist, or even an atheist. Nevertheless, he fought the current infidelity and remained a firm believer not only in God and the Bible faith but in a future life. He based his hope of immortality solely upon a resurrection from the dead instead of on the conscious survival of the soul after death.
Revelation and resurrection were to him inseparable and inescapable. And he held undeviating to the postulate of the sleep of the dead between death and the resurrection. He maintained the "cessation of all individual thought" at the "dissolution of the [human] organism" at death, and challenged the possibility of "thinking" without an "organized body" as being "not only destitute of all evidence from actual appearances," but as "directly contrary to them." From his study of history Priestley knew that Conditionalism was held by not a few in the Early Church, and always by some in the centuries that followed. Thus he declared—
"that the genuine Christian doctrine of the sleep of the whole man till the resurrection, did, however, continue in the Christian Church, and especially among those who had little intercourse with philosophers, there is sufficient evidence." [25]
24 Cf. Abbot, op. cit., nos. 211-213, 1763, 2465.
1. DEATH Is STATE OF "ABSOLUTE INSENSIBILITY."—
In his Introduction to "The History of Opinions Concerning the State of the Dead," Priestley declares, concerning the philosophical origin of the "independent soul" theory, that had penetrated the church: "I think that I have sufficiently proved in my Disquisitions relating to Matter and Spirit, that, in the Scriptures, the state of death is represented as a state of absolute insensibility, being opposed to life. The doctrine of the distinction between soul and body, as two different substances, the one material and the other immaterial, and so independent of one another, that the latter may even die and perish, and the former, instead of losing anything, be rather a gainer by the catastrophe, was originally a doctrine of the oriental philosophy, which afterwards spread into the Western part of the world." [26]
2. FALLACY OF "SEPARATE CONSCIOUS STATE."—
Priestley brands the separate, conscious state of the soul theory as based on a "fabric of superstition." This is the root of the difficulty.
In section 3, "Of the Revival of the Genuine Doctrine of Revelation Concerning the State of the Dead," he says: "Several persons in this country have, in every period since the Reformation, appeared in favour of the sleep of the soul, and it always had a considerable number of followers. . . . But I think the doctrine of an intermediate state can never be effectually extirpated, so long as the belief of a separate soul is retained. . . . But when, agreeably to the dictates of reason, as well as the testimony of Scripture rightly understood, we shall acquiesce in the opinion that man is an homogeneous being, and that the powers of sensation and thought belong to the brain, . . . the whole fabric of superstition which had been built upon the doctrine of a soul and of its separate conscious state must fall at once." [27]
25 Joseph Priestley, The Theological and Miscellaneous Works, vol. 3, p. 374.
26 Priestley, A History of the Corruption of Christianity, p. 132.
27 Ibid., pp. 139, 140.
3. FUTURE LIFE BASED ON RESURRECTION.—
Priestley then presents what to him is the "only satisfactory evidence" of a future life, namely, the resurrection—first of Christ, then of ourselves—which is the heart of the gospel: "And this persuasion will give a value to the gospel, which it could not have before, as it will be found to supply the only satisfactory evidence of a future life. . . . [and] the only method by which it could be brought about, (viz., that of resurrection) we must eagerly embrace that gospel, in which alone this important truth is clearly brought to light. It is in the gospel alone that we have an express assurance of a future life, by a person fully authorized to give it exemplified also in his own person; he having been actually put to death, and raised to life again, for the purpose of giving us that assurance." [28]
28 Ibid., p. 140.
4. "SOUL-SLEEP" REVIVAL CREDITED TO BIBLE.—
Priestley's belief in the unconsciousness of the dead in the "intermediate state," and the modern revival of this early belief of such writers as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Novatian, Arnobius, and Lactantius is set forth thus: "After the long prevalence of the doctrine of the intermediate state, that of the sleep of the soul has of late years been revived, and gains ground, not so much from considerations of philosophy as from a closer sense of the Scriptures. ...
"It has not, however, been considered how much the doctrine of the insensible state of the soul in death affects the doctrine of the separate existence of the soul, which it appears to me to do very materially. It certainly takes away all the use of the doctrine, and therefore should leave us more at liberty from any prejudice in the discussion of the question, since nothing is really gained by its being decided either way. Though we should have a soul, yet while it is in a state of utter insensibility, it is, in fact, as much dead as the body itself while it continues in a state of death." [29]
5. TIME WILL REMOVE CURRENT PREJUDICES.—Priestley believed that in time truth-loving Christians will put away their prejudices on the soul question: "Our calling it [death] a state of sleep is only giving another and softer term to the same thing; for our ideas of the state itself are precisely the same, by whatever name we please to call it. I flatter myself, however, that in time Christians will get over this, as well as other prejudices; and, thinking with more respect of matter, as the creation of God may think it capable of being endued with all the powers of which we are conscious, without having recourse to a principle [innate, independent immortality], which, in the most favourable view of the subject, accords but ill with what matter has been conceived to be." [30] Such were the published views of this celebrated British- American scientist and thinker, who died in hope of a "future state in happy immortality" solely through the resurrection pro vision.
6. Two Illustrious Questioners of Eternal-Torment Thesis
Two other illustrious men of the century should also be noted who went part way toward the Conditionalist position—Nonconformist hymnist Isaac Watts, in the first half of the century, questioning the dogma of eternity of misery, and Anglican bishop Warburton, in the latter half, demanding to know why the teaching of the final annihilation of the wicked "impeached" the character of God, as some had charged.
29 Priestley, Works, vol. 3, pp. 378, 379.
30 Ibid.
1. HYMNIST WATTS—DOES NOT "DEATH" INCLUDE "DESTRUCTION" OF SOUL?—
DR. ISAAC WATTS (1674-1748), world- famous Nonconformist hymn writer and author of many books, must be cited here. Precocious as a child, he started to study Latin at four, Greek at eight, French at eleven, and Hebrew at thirteen. He was an insatiable reader, and began versifying at the age of seven, even his conversation often taking a metrical turn. Besides his books on pedagogy and ethics, and his Logic (used as a text at Oxford, and other universities), he wrote twenty-nine treatises on theology (fifty-two books in all), and was honoured by the Aberdeen and Edinburgh universities, as well as memorialized in Westminster Abbey. His school teacher father was thrice imprisoned for his religious beliefs as an Independent. (Pictured on page 217.) Watts was the beloved minister of the noted Mark Lane Independent Chapel, London, situated in what is now the financial district, near the Bank of London. His congregation included merchant princes and other prominent men and not a few of the so-called "aristocrats" of Puritanism. He was counted among the best preachers of his time.
Watts, called the father of English hymnody, is best known as writer of some of the best-loved and most widely sung hymns in the English language—"When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," "O God, Our Help in Ages Past," "There Is a Land of Pure Delight," "Joy to the World, the Lord Is Come," "Before Jehovah's Awful Throne," "Alas! and Did My Saviour Bleed," et cetera. For eighteen years his congregation sang his hymns as they were produced.
He wrote in revolt against the monopoly of the psalms of David in the hymnody of the Anglican and Dissenting churches, substituting hymns of "human composure" on the theory that hymns are the congregational offering of praise to God. Therefore, the words ought to be their words. He maintained the right of the New Testament church to sing Christ centred hymns. This was in sharp contrast with the Calvinistic theory that only the psalms are a fit offering of praise to God.
Watts won out after long and determined opposition. His mind was saturated with Scripture. In fact, most of his hymns are couched in the thought and modernized phrasings of Scripture —so much so that they have been aptly characterized as "rhymed theology." His views carried weight, especially in Independent circles.
Despite his earlier views on the intermediate state of the soul between death and the resurrection, and his Calvinistic bent, he later put forth the searching proposition as to "whether the word death might not be fairly construed to extend to the destruction of the life of the soul as well as of the body." [31] This caused a reaction among contenders for indefeasible immortality. In his carefully reasoned treatise The Ruin and Recovery of Mankind (1740), written near the sunset of his life, although admitting that God might continue the life of some in order that they might suffer long, he broke with the dogma, of the endless eternity of suffering. Two terse excerpts must suffice.
One of the propositions propounded was: "As human Life often includes not only Existence but all the blessings that attend it, ... so the word Death in the general Notion of it, and in the most obvious and common Sense of Mankind, may reasonably include a Loss of Every Thing which Man possessed, i.e., Existence itself together with all the Blessings of it; and consequently when Death was threatened for Sin, it more obviously appeared to signify, that by Sin Man forfeited every. Thing that he had received from his Maker." [32]
He is likewise reported to have held that infants, dying in infancy without baptism, are annihilated. Moreover, in dealing with Scripture testimony he says further: "There is not one Place of Scripture that occurs to me, where the word Death, as it was first threatened in the Law of Innocence, necessarily signifies-a certain miserable Immortality of the Soul, either to Adam, the actual Sinner, or to his Posterity. . . . That the resurrection of the body to a state of misery is threatened in the Bible for the punishment of Adam's (first sin is what I cannot prove, nor do I know in what text of Scripture to find it." [33]
31 Quoted in Salmond, The Christian Doctrine of Immortality (2d ed.), p. 599.
32 Isaac Watts, The Ruin and Recovery of Mankind, p. 198, n. Cf. Preface to Watts, World to Come, Discourse XIII.
33 Watts, The Ruin and Recovery of Mankind, pp. 228, 230.
Those were fateful admissions. The solid wall of Immortal- Soulism was again breached by this theologian-poet of note.
2. BISHOP WARBURTON—CHALLENGES PROPONENTS OF EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT.—The second to be noted is WILLIAM WARBURTON (1698-1799), English prelate, controversialist, critic, and bishop of Gloucester. He was trained for the law but abandoned it for the ministry. In this new field he advanced from vicar to prebendary, to king's chaplain, to dean of Bristol (1757), and then to bishop of Gloucester (1759).
He was a friend of John Locke, whose positions he approved. [34] And he pressed for toleration of those who differed in doctrine and worship. (Pictured on page 217.) In his Divine Legation of Moses (1738), with various editions and a German translation, he portrayed the despair and inconsistency of the ancients, and the fallacy of exalting Grecian philosophy to the disparagement of the gospel. Bishop Warburton styled the insistent contenders for everlasting misery as the "unmerciful doctors," and demanded: "Doth annihilation impeach that wisdom and goodness which God displayed when he brought the soul put of nothing?" [35] As might be expected, Warburton's position was attacked by many—including Broughton, Turton, Peters, and Tillard.
But he stood his ground without retraction, and his challenge remained unanswered. His question stood for another break away in high ecclesiastical circles.
34 Hudson, Debt and Grace, p. 351.
35 William Warburton, Divine Legation of Moses, book 9, chap. 1, quoted in Hudson, op. cit., p. 352.
7. Restorationism Revived as "Universalism" in Post Reformation
It will be recalled that back in the third century, Clement and Origen, both of Alexandria, projected the theory that the punishments of Hell are purgative and purificatory, and therefore temporary. Consequently, all free moral agents—angels, men, and devils—will share in the grace of salvation and all will ultimately be saved. Originally called Restorationism (Gr., apocatatastasis), it constituted the third of the three schools in the theological trilemma of the third, fourth, and fifth centuries, as regards the nature and destiny of man. [36]
Likewise based on the premise of universal, Innate Immortality, it stressed the triumph of the divine plan for man and the victory of divine love. Origen's scheme, it should be added, involved the pre-existence of souls and the ministry of spirits in the afterlife. Following Origen came Didymus of Alexandria, Diodorus of Tarsus, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Titus of Bostra, and Gregory of Nyssen (380), and others in the sequence. [37] But Restorationism was heavily ^attacked by the Council of Constantinople in 543. and declared heretical. So Restorationism, along with Conditionalism, was largely crushed by the Eternal Torment School, which virtually took possession of the field.
Thus it was that Restorationism, later to be called Universalism, or the "eternal progress of all souls," practically disappeared throughout the Dark Ages. Only sporadic echoes were heard, as with the Greek monk Maximus (seventh century), the Neoplatonic philosopher Johannes Scotus Erigena of France (ninth century), and Raynold of St. Martin's also of France (twelfth century). It was likewise involved in the pan theism of the "Brethren of the Free Spirit" (thirteenth century), and it had a place among the mystic "Men of Understanding" (fifteenth century), in Flanders. But these proponents were as yet neither very militant nor widespread.
However, in the Reformation century Universalism made a definite appearance in Germany, England, and Switzerland.
36 See volume 1 of this work under "Origen.”
37 All covered in volume 1.
It insisted that every soul created by God would sooner or later be saved and inherit everlasting happiness. It taught the final destruction of sin and the reconciliation of all souls to God through Jesus Christ. This was the belief among some of the Anabaptists, such as John Denk. In fact, Article XVII of the Augustine Confession (1530) condemned it.
Also, in the Edwardine Forty-Two Articles of Religion (Anglican) of 1553, Universalism was similarly condemned.
But when the Convocation of 1562 revised and reduced the articles to thirty-nine, the one condemning Universalism was omitted—and not a few Anglicans have since so held. The Presbyterian parliament of 1647 also condemned Universalism, but it was not too effective.
Then in the seventeenth century Huber of Wittenberg and Sonner of Altorf championed it. More emphatic was Johann Wilhelm Petersen of Lunenberg (fl. 1701-1727), with Siegvolck's Everlasting Gospel (five editions). And in 1727 came Haug of Strasburg, and Gerhard of Rostock with his Restoration of All Things (1727). But these endeavours were largely limited to individuals.
Finally, about 1750 a definite organization was formed by James Relly (1759-1776), who organized a Universalist Church in London. However, but few churches followed that bore the name. Elhanan Winchester's The Universal Restoration (1788) must also be noted. There were likewise appearances in Switzerland, France, Scotland, and, of course, in England.
Usually the individuals in England so holding were affiliated with existent communions, not a few merging with the Unitarians. There were likewise various writers who strongly op posed Universalism. There was also an American counterpart, to be noted later, largely stemming from Charles Chauncy and his Salvation of All Men (1782).
Thus the three schools of the Early Church theological trilemma reappeared—Conditionalism, and now Universalism, as well as the predominant Eternal Torment Immortal-Soulism —each continuing its individual way, and each opposing the others.
CHAPTER TWELVE
It should be borne in mind that the eighteenth-century men, here to be surveyed, were keen, capable, representative scholars, acquainted with the contemporary writings and discussions of the day in this field. They knew the issues and the writings under survey as we cannot know them today. They were, moreover, men of courage and forthrightness, when such public declarations inevitably meant attack, and sometimes ostracism. We here continue the survey by traversing the new century with the Old World (largely British) champions of Conditionalism.
In the succession of illustrious eighteenth-century men who championed the cause of Conditional Immortality, we now come to WILLIAM WHISTON (1667-1752), Baptist theologian and outstanding mathematician. In 1703 he became the successor to the renowned Sir Isaac Newton as professor of mathematics at Cambridge. He received an excellent training at Clare College, Cambridge. Also, as a lad he had been an amanuensis to his father, an Anglican rector, and this experience gave spiritual shape to William's entire life.
After his ordination in 1693 he became chaplain to the Bishop of Norwich, then was vicar of Lowestoft. At one time, because of his Arianizing tendency, he was accused of heresy before the Dean's Court, at St. Paul's. But after an extended trial he was acquitted. He remained for years in the Church of England, but in 1737, convinced of immersion, he joined the General (or Arminian) Baptists. Whiston was a tireless worker as a minister, conducting an early service daily in the chapel, preaching twice a day in his church, and giving catechetical lectures frequently. But when he was invited to succeed Newton as professor of mathematics at Cambridge he gave up his vicarage for the classroom for a time, and was one of the first to lecture with experiments. He was finally ejected from Cambridge because of his independent religious views.
Whiston was author of some fifty works, one of which confirmed the Genesis record of Creation on Newtonian grounds. He was also a master of Greek, and made a standard translation of the works of Josephus. Whiston, moreover, was a close student of prophecy, holding to the Historical School of interpretation and the year-day principle for the time prophecies—believing that the 1260 year-days of Daniel and the Apocalypse refer to the period of papal dominance throughout the Middle Ages, as predicted in Daniel 7 and Revelation 13. [1]
1 Froom, Prophetic Faith, vol. 2, pp. 671-674.
Furthermore, like various men of prominence of the time—such as London barrister Sir William Tempest, court physician Dr. Peter Chamberlain, and Commonwealth speaker _of the House of Commons Thomas Bamfield—Whiston became a
Sabbatarian. [2]
In 1715 he started the still-operative "S.P.C.K.," or Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. Later, in 1740, he published his view on The Eternity of Hell-Torments. In this treatise he vigorously opposed the dogma of Eternal Torment and presented the case for Conditionalism. For example, his comments on Luke 3:17; 2 Thessalonians 1:8, 9; and 1 Timothy 6:9, 19, set forth his position on the ultimate, utter destruction of the wicked. Here are his notes expounding these three texts:
1. CHAFF Is "BURNT UP" IN UTTER DESTRUCTION.—
"Luke 3. 17, The chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.
"N.B.—These words are very much of a piece with those already cited from Isaiah the Prophet and others. Only they compare the wicked to chaff, which is not laid up in garners. as wheat is Lor its preservation, but entirely burnt up for its destruction. Which is strong against those that suppose the wicked to have their lives preserved on purpose that they may be subject to never ending pains, and plainly implies that their punishment [in the sense of torment] shall end much sooner, by an utter destruction, or what we should call annihilation also." [3]
2. FLAMING FIRE TO "UTTERLY CONSUME" WICKED.—
"2 Thess. 1.8, 9. In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God; and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall have for punishment olethron aionion, a lasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of His power.
"N.B.—This text is so far from affirming, as is commonly supposed, that the wicked shall, at the last day, be preserved in being, in order to (the enduring everlasting torments that it rather implies the contrary; hat the flaming fire into which they are to be cast at that day, will in some time, utterly consume them."'
3. ETERNAL LIFE FOR RIGHTEOUS ONLY.—
"l Tim. 6. [9 and] 19. Hurtful lusts which drown men eis olethron kai apoleian, in destruction and perdition.—That the good may lay hold aionion zoes, of the lasting life.
2 Seventh Day Baptists in Europe and America, vol. 1, p. 69; also pp. 104, 72, 64, 66.
3 Quoted in Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, p. 41.
4 Ibid.
"N.B.—Since we still find the opposition between the final state of the wicked, and the righteous to be this. To the former utter destruction, and to the latter a lasting life: 'tis very hard that our paraphrases still suppose both to be equally a lasting life or duration." [5]
There can be no mistake as to Whiston's mature views on the fate of the wicked—their utter destruction—thus clearly expressed. So Conditionalism's permeations were deep in high circles as we come toward the middle of the eighteenth century, and both the predecessor and the successor of Sir Isaac Newton are listed as Conditionalists.
Archdeacon Blackburne likewise refers to "innumerable" tractates on the immortality issue, written back and forth over the first quarter of the eighteenth century. But many of these, he also states, were mere "repetitions of what had been said an hundred times before." [6] We therefore pass them by. But we now pause to note the "learned" JOSEPH HALLETT JR. (1691-1744), of Exeter, classmate of John Foxe, the martyrologist. Of "excellent reputation," a keen student and widely read, Hallett was ordained as a Nonconformist minister in 1715, serving the Independent congregation of Exeter.
In 1729 he published A Free and Impartial Study of the Holy Scripture recommended. . . . VII. Of the Soul . . . with the Impossibility of proving a Future State by the Light of Nature. In this treatise he insisted that the Scriptures never speak of the natural immortality of the soul. And he likewise taught the paralleling Conditionalist doctrine of the ultimate destruction of the impenitent wicked. [7] The treatise is described by Blackburne as sufficient to convince those not governed by blind prejudice. [8]
The gist of Hallett's teaching was simply this: If there is no resurrection, there will be no future life even for the soul. [9]
5 Ibid.
6 Blackburne, A Shore Historical View, pp. 80, 81.
7 Ibid., pp. 81-90; see also Joseph Priestley, Works, vol. 3, pp. 314, 315.
8 Blackburne, op. cit., p. 81.
9 Ibid., p. 82.
However, the anger of various antagonists was aroused, and there was much acrimony and frenzied probing for weak spots. Nevertheless, his was a recognized contribution. This was followed in 1731 by a Defence of his previous work, with An Answer to the Reverend Mr. Grove's Thoughts on the same Subject. Grove had charged a contradiction in Hallett's arguments, and had invoked the weight of "tradition" concerning the future state. [10] The essence of Hallett's reply is given here:
1. LOST IMMORTALITY RESTORED THROUGH CHRIST.—
"Christ came to repair the damage that had been done by the fall, and that as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive, i.e. that as all mankind have lost their immortality by the first sin of Adam so all mankind shall be raised from the dead by Christ: and being thus freed from the evil they suffered for Adam's sin, they shall be set upon their own legs, and plead their own righteousness if they have any to plead, in order to be restored to immortal happiness." [11]
2. RESURRECTION FOR ALL; IMMORTALITY ONLY FOR SAINTS.—
"If Mr. G[rove] would carry this matter farther he must produce his proofs. He says, indeed, p. 133, that this immortality which all men lost in Adam, was regained by Christ. But the Scriptures, as far as I can perceive, does not say, that Christ purchased immortality for all men, but only that he purchased [procured] a resurrection for them. And after all men are raised, they shall be judged, and afterward disposed of accordingly as they Were righteous or not. So that some may be condemned to eternal sleep, while others shall be made immortal. . . . The promise was made to all nations upon condition of their believing the gospel, and so is fulfilled only to them that believe." [12]
Thus the searching debate continued to swing back and forth between men of high training and deep conviction. But notable champions of Conditionalism were on the increase.
10 Grove's unpublished tract was titled "The Weight of Tradition Concerning a Future State.”
11 Quoted in Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, p. 38.
12 Ibid.
Apart from writings whose authorship is known by name, some anonymous works of merit appeared from time to time. One was issued from London in 1729, with the title, The Mortality of the Soul of Man, and its Sameness with the Body, asserted and proved from the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. Shewing, that, upon the death of the Body, all Sensation and Consciousness utterly cease, till the Resurrection of the Dead. [13] It was an able treatise, differing from others in that its argument is confined to Scripture evidence alone. First, general objections against Conditionalism are answered. Then some twenty "arguments" founded on Bible texts are examined.
The Preface states that the purpose of the work is to defend the Scripture truth on the nature of the soul and to rescue it "from oblivion and the inventions of Men." Dealing with the common assertion that "the Soul is a principle in Man, distinct from the body," the writer challenges the contention. Here is part of his answer, based on Genesis 2:7:
1. DEATH IS "UTTER EXTINCTION" OF CONSCIOUSNESS.—
"Adam, was altogether unactive, until God had breathed into him the breath or spirit of life. . . . Life only then is the cause of all our operations, under God, who is the fountain of life. And when life ceases, all the properties, powers, passions attributed to the mind and heart of man, cease together with it. For, according to the Holy Scriptures, death is an utter extinction of all consciousness reason wisdom, memory, affection etc." [14] He then cites such supporting texts as Ecclesiastes 9:5 and Psalm 6:5.
2. FLAME OF LIFE "REKINDLED" AT RESURRECTION.—
Continuing his argument, the writer says that in death—"the life, properties and powers of man continue extinct in death (the Holy Scriptures nowhere teaching the contrary), till the resurrection: when the noble flame of life shall be rekindled in him by the breath of God." [15]
13 Abbot, The Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life, no. 2147.
14 (Quoted in Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, p. 39.
15 Ibid., p. 40.
Commenting on the thief and Paradise of Luke 23:43, and the common contention that "the soul survives the body in a state of sensibility," he declares:
1. JEWISH PARADISE UNSUPPORTED BY SCRIPTURE.—" 'The doctrine of the soul's surviving the body in a state of sensibility, etc., is confirmed and explained too by comparing it with the current doctrine of the Jews; which was this, That the souls of the righteous were carried, some immediately, into Paradise; but others waited a longer or shorter time, according as their lives had been here.' What a dream is here!
"I call it a dream, because it has no being in Scripture. And yet a very learned person, who, on another occasion, has thrown the utmost contempt and ridicule upon the Jews for their whims and inventions, embraces them for this, and thinks it gives a notable account and confirmation of his own beloved opinions. But such, indeed, is the practice and the levity of men of learning in general, who are teachers of Christianity: For when they cannot fairly ground a favourite opinion on the Scriptures, they support it with a notion of the Heathens, or the Jews; and though they reason against both, they are glad, on such an occasion, of a helping hand from either." [16] Known or unknown, the witness is similar—and valuable.
Periodically physicians entered the contest of pens and convictions. Another of these was JOSEPH NICOLL SCOTT, M.D. (1703-1769), dissenting minister and theological writer of Norwich, England, where he ministered to large audiences at St. Mary-the-Lees, also attracting many members of the Church of England. But because of changing theological views, he turned to the study of medicine at Edinburgh, graduating in 1744, and becoming a practicing physician back in Norwich. [17] However, he never lost his interest in theology and was ever a strenuous opponent of the predominant doctrine of eternal torment.
16 Ibid.
17 Alexander Gordon, "Joseph Nicoll Scott," Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 17, p. 997; Albert M. Hyamson, A Dictionary of Universal Biography, p. 585.
In 1743, while still in the ministry, he published a series of sermons under the title Sermons, Preached in Defence of All Religions. These affirm his undeviating conviction on the "ultimate annihilation of the wicked," thus anticipating by a few years the position of Samuel Bourn, likewise of Norwich. In volume two, in sermons seventeen and eighteen, he maintains that eternal life is for the righteous only, with complete, ultimate destruction for the wicked. Number seventeen is titled "The Vulgar-Opinion concerning the duration of Future Misery Examined." [18] Here are typical extracts in the characteristically involved phrasing of the day:
1. DESTRUCTION, NOT "NEVER-CEASING MISERY," FOR WICKED.—
"Had the Scriptures ever directly denied, that the reprobate shall die, or be burnt, as it is affirmed in Scripture they shall; had it said in our modern style, that they shall be ever dying, and yet never die, or could one single passage be produced, in which the ideas of immortality, incorruptibility, indissolubility, were applied to them; or had it ever compared them to such substances (if there be any such) that will, without diminution, bear the force of an unquenchable fire, and not compared them to so much chaff, which must, without a continued miracle, be burnt up and destroyed by it, there might have been some colour of argument, and it might have been inferred, that, though a never-ceasing misery is not expressed in so many words, it is still, from the Scripture phraseology, necessarily implied." [19]
2. PERPETUAL TORMENT DOGMA CONFLICTS WITH SCRIPTURE.—
"But when the contrary of all this is true, when it is affirmed, that they shall die. they shall reap corruption. they shall be burnt up, and our God is declared, with reference to this very affair, to be not a perpetually-tormenting. but a consuming fire; and when the ideas of life, immortality, incorruptibility, indissolubility, are constantly restrained to the good and virtuous part of mankind, as their peculiar prerogative, will it not follow from hence, that to affirm the wicked to be continued for ever alive, though in a state of miserable sensation, is not only to affirm that which is not affirmed in Scripture, but which, in reality, contradicts it, and renders the Scripture-account of things inconsistent with itself?" [20]
18 Joseph N. Scott, Sermons, Preached in Defence of All Religions, Whether Natural or Revealed, vol. 2, pp. 329ff.
19 Quoted in Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, pp. 41, 42.
20 ibid., p. 42.
So men in the professions likewise testified publicly to the growing convictions of many in public life. The witness to Conditionalism was constantly augmented.
Another important witness in this crucial hour was Anglican bishop EDMUND LAW, D.D. (1703-1787), noted scholar and educator, theological and philosophical writer, and Bishop of Carlisle. He received a thorough training at St. John's, Cambridge, and then was progressively rector of Greystoke, archdeacon of Carlisle, master of St. Peter's College (Peterhouse), Cambridge, librarian of Cambridge and professor of moral philosophy, archdeacon of Stafford, prebend of Lincoln, and finally bishop of Carlisle. He was highly respected and influential.
Law was the contemporary of a group of intellectual giants, with whom he participated in various important discussions—some involving the question of the nature of man. He was a devoted follower of philosopher John Locke, likewise a Conditionalist, editing one edition of Locke's works. Law was author of numerous treatises, one of which was his Considerations on the State of the World with regard to the Theory of Religion . . . With an Appendix, concerning the Use of the Word Soul in Holy Scripture; and the State of the Dead as there described (1745). Its popularity is attested by the fact that it ran through at least six editions. Significantly, it did not impair his relations with the church. But the issuance of such a treatise by such an illustrious religious leader shook the foundations of complacency in religious circles over the issue of a conscious intermediate state. And it continued to be widely quoted. There was now greater tolerance for Conditionalism.
The bishop stoutly held that Christian belief must go on to perfection, and misconceptions in doctrinal teaching that had been improperly introduced into the church in the period of apostasy should be corrected. And this included the widespread misconception as to the nature of man. He held that the soul, or spirit, is not separable from the man; that death is the complete negation of all life; that there is no intermediate, conscious state; that the human soul and life are the same; and that in the grave is silence, oblivion, and darkness, according to Scripture. [21]
21 Edmund Law, Considerations on the Theory of Religion, pp. 191-194, 196, 197.
Law maintained that the reign of death entered the world at the time of man's first transgression back in Eden. And the time of the deliverance therefrom will be dated from the resurrection, at the Second Advent. Death is "a return to dust," and its reversal is "the resuscitation from that dust." Paul, he said, puts the contrast between the first Adam and Second Adam in these words: "Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection from the dead; and as in Adam all die; even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Law then asserts:
1. LIFE NOT INHERENT, BUT A GIFT THROUGH CHRIST.—
"Life is not an inherent property of our original nature, but a free gift to us, promised and procured by Christ; and accordingly termed the grace, or gift of God, and the gift by grace thro' Jesus Christ our Lord: who on that account is pleased to stile Himself the resurrection and the life; who is called our life; and said to have the keys of hades and of death: who opens for us the true and only way to immortality, through the gate of the resurrection; and without whom there is no admission to it; but the wrath of God abides on us." [22]
2. GIVES SEVEN EQUATIONS OF DEATH.—
In the ''Appendix," Bishop Law equates death, or the state of the dead, with (1) "Sleep," (2) "A negation of all Life, Thought or
Action," (3) "Rest," (4) "State of Silence," (5) "Oblivion," (6) "Darkness," and (7) "Corruption." That, of course, is the
accepted platform of Conditionalism.
3. RESURRECTION THE CLIMAX OF HOPE OF IMMORTALITY.—
In a series of propositions, with proof texts, the bishop holds:
"Prop. I.—That we shall not awake, or be made alive, till the resurrection. Prop. II.—That the wicked shall not be severed from the righteous till the resurrection, the end of the world, the coming, or day of Christ, the day of the Lord, THE day, THAT day, etc. Prop. III.—that, We are upon trial, or in a state of probation, till the resurrection, or the day of Christ. Prop. IX.—that, They shall not have eternal life, or salvation; shall not put on immortality: be received unto Christ; enter into His joy; behold His glory, or be like Him; till the resurrection, etc." [23]
22 Quoted in Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, p. 42.
23 Ibid., p. 43.
The final feature of the treatise is the examination of twenty-eight objections brought against the Conditionalist position, based on Scripture texts, Bishop Law giving scriptural evidence to show the unscriptural character of the so-called "orthodox" contentions. [24] Thus another compelling Anglican voice is heard from, and the Advent hope made central in the redemption of man. It was a voice commanding attention and respect, and influenced not a few.
DR. PETER PECKARD, or PECARD (1718-1797), Anglican clergyman, army chaplain, and Cambridge educator, was trained at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, receiving his M.A. in 1741. He held several responsible Church of England appointments, including the rectorship of Fletton until his death. In 1781 he became master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, was made vice-chancellor of Cambridge in 1784, and received his D.D. in 1785.
But his Conditionalism went back twenty-five years prior, to 1756, when he published his Observations on the Doctrine of an Intermediate State between Death and the Resurrection. [25] This was a critique of Peter Goddard's printed sermon, The Intermediate State, contending for the natural immortality of the soul, and based on Luke 23:43. [26] In his well-reasoned reply Peckard declares such a postulate to be unsupported by Scripture:
"It may be proper to observe here, once for all, that the denial of a natural principle of immortality doth not at all affect the Scriptural, the Christian doctrine of a future state: For the Scripture doth not anywhere assure us of the truth of this doctrine, from such natural principle, but from the redemption by Jesus Christ. andiron] that alone: Nay. the Scripture expressly asserts the mortality of man, and the restoration to life, from that mortality, by the same Jesus Christ." [27]
24 Ibid.
25 Abbot, op. cit., no. 2558.
26 Ibid., no. 2557.
27 Quoted in Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, p. 44.
1. IF IMMORTALITY INNATE, CHRIST NOT OUR "LIFE."—
This treatise was followed, in 1757, by Further Observations on the Doctrine of an Intermediate State, in answer to the Rev. Dr. Thomas Morton's Queries. [28] Declaring Jesus Christ to be both "the resurrection and the life," Peckard challenges the dogma of Innate Immortality:
"The great end of His [Christ's] coming into the world was to bring life and all that will enjoy this life must come to Him for it. But if there be a natural principle of immortality, then Christ is not the life." [29]
And these two works were in turn followed by Observations on Mr. [Caleb] Fleming's Survey of the Search After Souls (1759), [30] issued the year before, in which Fleming does not admit "of a sleeping of the soul."
28 Abbot, op. cit., no. 2565.
29 Quoted in Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, p. 44.
30 Abbot, op. cit., no. 174.
2. HOPE OF FUTURE EXISTENCE BASED SOLELY UPON CHRIST. —
In his first treatise Peckard pressed the point that Conditionalism rests upon the authority of Christ, not on the dictums of philosophy. Here is a key statement:
"The important doctrine of a future state then stands firm upon its own proper foundation, notwithstanding a natural principle of immortality be disallowed. He that builds his hopes of future existence upon this foundation, is like the foolish man who built his house upon the sand; but he who taketh the authority of Christ, and will abide by that, is like the wise man, who laid his foundation upon a rock." [31]
3. OBJECT OF CHRIST'S COMING TO BRING LIFE.—
In answering Dr. Morton, Peckard asserts that if man has natural immortality in and of himself, then "Christ is not the Life." He here brings the two concepts into irreconcilable contrast: "In short, there is no talking about a second life, with any rational satisfaction, but from the revelation of Jesus Christ. He positively declares Himself to be the resurrection and the life." [32]
When Peckard publicly espoused the view of Conditional-ism, or Life Only in Christ, and produced his principal treatise on the subject, the record states that he was subjected to "harsh disciplinary measures." Nevertheless, he was allowed to continue his service to the Anglican Church, and was rector of Fletton at the time of his death. And his high positions at Cambridge were continued long after he became and remained a Conditionalist. Thus another highly trained schoolman declared his convictions and stood his ground.
The controversy over the soul was now passing from what may be termed its philosophical aspect to what was recognized by thoughtful scholars as the Biblical phase of the issue—in reality the only determining factor. This tended to enlarge the interest and to popularize the question in ever-widening circles of discussion.
31 Quoted in Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents. p. 44.
32 Ibid.
This brings us to SAMUEL BOURN (1714-1796), Dissenting minister, of Norwich. Trained at Glasgow University, he became a zealous champion of the original gospel and an opposer of all subsequent error and perversion, as he saw it. He was unwearied in his devotion to truth. Pursuing this principle, erelong he became a vigorous exponent of Eternal Life Only in Christ, and took a strong stand against extreme Calvinism. Between 1758 and 1760 he produced a four-volume set of sermons, A Series of Discourses on the Principles and Evidences of Natural Religion and the Christian Revelation, some of which relate to the future state and clearly set forth the "doctrine of the destruction of the wicked," as against their eternal torment [33] In fact, most discussions now revolved around the issue of eternal torment.
This was speedily attacked by Dr. Samuel Chandler, of Old Jewry, and resulted in a further clash with John Mason—the issue with the latter being over the resurrection. Bourn defended his position in the Appendix to his sermons on the parables. It should be added that Bourn continued to be held in high repute as a preacher, and was regarded as a "masterly writer"—albeit laborious and dry by today's standard. He answered Chandler in A Letter to the Rev. Samuel Chandler, D.D., concerning the Christian Doctrine of Future Punishment (1759). This centred on the scriptural inquiry "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?"
1. DOGMA OF ETERNAL TORMENT "DIABOLICAL."—
Bourn's strong personal convictions are expressed in this virile phrasing:
"Whether the afore-mentioned expressions are intended to convey to us the idea of everlasting torture, or of everlasting destruction, i.e., annihilation?—Perhaps some may be inclined to think, that they serve to convey ideas, both of torment, and of total destruction. With such persons (if there are any) I desire to have no controversy. Because on this supposition, the torments or misery cannot be infinite. And it is only that Mahometan, Pagan, and (as I must confess it appears to me at present) most absurd, cruel anti-Christian, and diabolical doctrine of infinite, or never-ending misery and torment, which I am opposing and endeavouring to eradicate." [34]
33 Abbot, op. cit., no. 3975.
34 Reprinted in R. Barron, Pillars of Priestcraft and Orthodoxy Shaken, vol. 3, pp. 241-261.
2. PUNISHMENT IS "PROPORTIONATE TO GUILT."—
Continuing his discussion of divine punishment, Bourn succinctly states—
"that there are passages in the New Testament which imply, that the sentence of eternal death shall be executed upon criminals with circumstances of ignominy, horrors, and pain, proportionate to their guilt, I readily allow and affirm: yet am not of opinion, that the figures of being cast into unquenchable fire, and the like, are intended to convey to us any idea of torment, but solely that of total destruction, or annihilation, or ceasing to exist. And the passage in the book of Revelations, where it is said, that death and hell (i.e., Hades) shall be cast into the lake of fire, seems to me decisive in this point, For certainly the meaning there is, not that death and Hades shall be tormented (which is ridiculous) but that they shall be abolished." [35]
3. ABSOLUTE AND "ETERNAL DESTRUCTION" FOR WICKED.—
In the earlier work, A Series of Discourses on the Principles and Evidences of Natural Religion and the Christian Revelation, in Discourse X, in volume one, under the title "The Gospel Discovery of a Future State," Bourn says:
"The Condemnation of the wicked to eternal destruction in another state, does not detract from the goodness of the Divine intention and operation in raising mankind to another life. For as the creating all mankind to this life is undoubtedly an effect of Divine beneficence, though some men make themselves wicked and miserable in it, and come to an untimely and tragical end; so much more is the restoration of all mankind to a life after death, an effect of infinite goodness, though some shall afterward perish for ever: and instead of enjoying that eternal life, which is e gift of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, shall undergo the misery and penalty of an absolute and eternal destruction." [36]
4. EVERLASTING LIFE RESTRICTED TO "RIGHTEOUS.''—
Discussing the resurrection, in relation to the question, he continues:
"The redemption which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, considered as a deliverance from the power of death, or a resurrection to another life, is a benefit or privilege bestowed on mankind in general; in like manner as their production into this life: but the everlasting possession of that is peculiar to the righteous: not to any nation, party, or profession of men: but to the virtuous and good of all mankind. For they who have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life; and they who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation." [37]
35 Quoted in Mills, Earlier Life-Truth Exponents, p. 46.
36 Ibid. pp. 46, 47.
37 Ibid. p. 47.
5. DEATH OF WICKED "TOTAL EXTINCTION OF LIFE."—
In Discourse XV, maintaining the doctrine of the ultimate destruction of the incorrigibly wicked, Bourn sums up his view in these comprehensive words:
"Death, when applied to the end of wicked men in a future state, properly denotes their ceasing to exist, or a total extinction of life and being." [38]
By the latter part of the eighteenth century the number of opponents to the natural immortality of the soul theory had so increased that one Immortal-Sou list, Granthem Killingworth, in a work against Conditionalism entitled A Vindication of the Soul's Immortality (1761), complained that the number of such "Cavils and Objections" in his day were "legion." Allowing for exaggeration, we find that the divergent voices had now obviously swelled to a considerable chorus.
38 Ibid.
And now, for the record, brief allusion should be made concerning certain typical, less prominent characters who likewise testified in behalf of Conditionalism, and against eternal torment. Although not so well known, here are nine, for example, scattered over the century:
(1) JOHN Pirrs, Anglican presbyter, wrote anonymously (but clearly identified), on the theme, The Holy Spirit the Author of Immortality, or Immortality a Peculiar Grace of the Gospel, no Natural Ingredient of the Soul: proved from the Holy Scriptures, and Fathers against Mr. Clark's Bold Assertion of the Soul's Natural Immortality. . . . By a Presbyter of the Church of England (1708). At the outset of the century he contends that man is "designed for immortality," but "only as the condition of his obedience, and the reward of it."
(2) JOHN JACKSON (fl. 1735-1747), Anglican rector of Roffington and master of Wigston's Hospital in Leicester, made his contribution with A Dissertation on Matter and Spirit: with some Remarks on a Book (by A. Baxter) entitled, Enquiry into the Nature of the humane Soul (1735); and Belief of a Future State (1745). He explicitly denies the soul can "exist and act" without the body.
(3) JOHN LELAND (1691-1766), learned Nonconformist minister and writer on eschatology, constructively discussed A State of Future Rewards and Punishments (1764); and Discourses (four volumes, 1769). Volume four is on How Christ has abolished Death, and brought Life and Immortality to light —both soundly Conditionalist.
(4) DR. BENJAMIN DAWSON (1729-1814), Scottish philologist and divine, was educated at Kendal and Glasgow. He was first a Presbyterian minister of London, then became an Anglican rector in Suffolk. He issued several works in defense of the noted Conditionalists Archdeacon Blackburne and Bishop Law, including pertinent Remarks on . . . the State of the Soul after Death (1765).
(5) JOHN ALEXANDER (fl. 1736-1765), Presbyterian minister and commentator, and reputedly one of the best Greek scholars of his day, published A Paraphrase upon the Fifteenth Chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians (1766), dealing with "Man's Mortality." Immortality is a "gift."
(6) GEORGE CLARKE (ft. 1789-1792) wrote A Vindication of the Honor of God: in a Scriptural Refutation of the Doctrines of Eternal Misery, and Universal Salvation (1792). Here he effectively maintains the destruction of the wicked by fire, not endless punishing. Immortality is, according to Scripture, only for the penitent and obedient.
(7) WILLIAM KENRICK, of Dublin, issued The Grand Question Debated; or an Essay to prove that the Soul of Man is not, neither can it be, Immortal (1751). It too was a clear Conditionalist voice heard in Ireland.
(8) JOHN MARSOM (fl. 1794) effectively answered two critics, the first with The Universal Restoration of Mankind examined and proved to be a Doctrine Inconsistent with itself, . . . and Subversive of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (1794), [39] and the second with The Scripture Doctrine of Future Punishment Defended (1795). He flatly rejects the doctrine of never-ending misery and torment, maintaining that every unrepentant sinner will be "destroyed," and that there will be no resurrection of such from the "second death."
39 The foregoing titles can all be verified from Abbot's incomparable Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life (1864). The originals are scattered over the libraries of Britain, and have been examined.
(9) JOHN TOTTIE (fl. 1772), canon of Christ Church, Oxford, and archdeacon of Worcester, in his Sermons, preached before the University of Oxford (1772), strongly opposes the doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul. He rejects the position of the philosophers and stresses the resurrection as the gateway to immortality. [40]
Allusion should also be made to Goadby's Bible (1759), in three volumes, published in London, for in the notes the editors advocate eternal life only in Christ and destruction for all the finally impenitent wicked. These are samples of a widespread rejection of Immortal-Soulism among the less-known clergy of various faiths. [41] So, notwithstanding the preponderant philosophical view of the immortality of the soul, the voice of Conditionalism was not only reverberating in Britain but echoing on the Continent. Even in North America an anonymous work appeared at the close of the century—Observations . . . that the Soul is Inactive and Unconscious from Death to the Resurrection, derived from Scripture (New York: 1795.
40 Hyamson, op. cit., p. 656.
41 James Burnley, "Robert Goadby," Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 8, p. 22.
Several "fringe" writers, moreover, appeared during this century. Among the rationalists there was French-born PIERRE BAYLE (1647-1706), professor of philosophy at the Protestant University of Sedan, and after its suppression and his removal, similarly professor of philosophy at Rotterdam. In his celebrated six-volume Dictionaire historique et critique (1695-1697)—which ran through eight editions in forty years, and was twice translated into English—in various places he opposes the doctrine of eternal torment, [42] but from a sceptical viewpoint. Its publication added fuel to the spreading flame.
Then there was the learned professor HENRY DODWELL (1641-1711), Irish-English classicist and theologian, educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was made professor of ancient history at Oxford in 1688. His voluminous and "cumbrous" writings included An Epistolary Discourse (1706). This curious treatise sustained some of the principles of Conditionalism, but on a sacramentarian basis, supposing immortality to be a grace conferred by the effusion of the Holy Spirit, in baptism, and that none have the power of bestowing this immortalizing grace except the bishops. Its issuance created a storm of opposition and intensified the controversy, but it was defended by several writers. So the issues were complicated by certain of these "fringe" writers, not claimed by the Conditionalists. Such was the situation at the close of the eighteenth century.
42 Cf. Abbot, op. cit., no. 3799.
SUMMARY OF CONDITIONALISM DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.—
There is no particular transition point discernible in passing from the seventeenth to the eighteenth century. But there is a growing seriousness and scholarly validity that marks the overall witness of the new century. The scene is again centered chiefly in England—with one noted advocate migrating to the United States about the time of the Revolution of 1776.
The religious spread is again seen to be between Anglican, Dissenter, Baptist, Non-Conformist, and Presbyterian spokesmen. "Fringe" writers, who both help and hamper, are found in France, Holland, and Ireland. The stature of the champions of Conditionalism is again clearly seen by the roster—archdeacons, historians, theologians, clergymen, hymnists, scientists, educators, physicians, commentators, schoolmasters, teachers, and two bishops—and an anonymous Anglican.
Again there is balanced stress of the mortality of the soul, unconsciousness in death, and the total ultimate extinction of the wicked. And for the first time a reliable scholarly history appears, by Francis Blackburne, of the conflict over Conditionalism—tracing it from the beginning of Protestantism up to 1772, a century and a half of the crucial years of the recovery of a hidden and well-nigh abandoned doctrine, so far as the Middle Ages are concerned.
So Conditionalism is now in a far stronger position, is accorded much greater respect by its foes, and is gradually but steadily on the increase in influence and adherents in the eighteenth century. It is approaching the acceleration point in the nineteenth century.
Thus much for Conditionalism in the eighteenth century.
|
Number |
Page |
Name |
Yeear |
Location |
Religion |
|
1 |
205 |
Blackburne, Fran. |
1765 |
England |
Anglican |
|
2 |
214 |
Priestley, Joseph |
1777 |
Eng.-U.S. |
Dissenter |
|
3 |
218 |
Watts, Isaac |
1740 |
England |
Independent |
|
4 |
221 |
Warburton, Wm. |
1738 |
England |
Anglican |
|
5 |
224 |
Whiston, Wm. |
1740 |
England |
Baptist |
|
6 |
227 |
Hallett, Jos. Jr. |
1729 |
England |
Non-Conformist |
|
7 |
228 |
Anonymous |
1729 |
England |
|
|
8 |
230 |
Scott, Joseph N. |
1743 |
England |
Dissenter |
|
9 |
231 |
Law, Edmund |
1745 |
England |
Anglican |
|
10 |
234 |
Peckard, Peter |
1756 |
England |
Anglican |
|
11 |
236 |
Bourn, Samuel |
1758 |
England |
Dissenter |
|
12 |
239 |
Pitts, John |
1708 |
England |
Anglican |
|
13 |
239 |
Jackson, John |
1735 |
England |
Anglican |
|
14 |
240 |
Leland, John |
1691 |
England |
Non-Conformist |
|
15 |
240 |
Dawson, Benjamin |
1765 |
England |
Presbyterian/Anglican |
|
16 |
240 |
Alexander, John |
1766 |
England |
Presbyterian |
|
17 |
240 |
Clarke, George |
1792 |
England |
|
|
18 |
240 |
Kenrick, Wm. |
1751 |
Ireland |
|
|
19 |
240 |
Marsom, John |
1794 |
England |
|
|
20 |
241 |
Tottie,-John |
1772 |
England |
Anglican |
|
21 |
241 |
"Goodby's Bible" |
1759 |
England |
|
|
22 |
241 |
Boyle, Pierre |
1695 |
French-Holland |
Protestant |
|
23 |
242 |
Dodwell, Henry |
1706 |
Ireland-England |
High Church |
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
As we step over the threshold into the nineteenth century we find the spread of Conditionalist proponents increasing, and in time extending even to faraway lands. Soon, instead of solitary voices, we find coordinated choruses, growing larger and more impressive and embracing many of the outstanding religious and educational leaders of the century. Or, to change the figure, the Conditionalist movement began to assume the semblance of a definitely rising tide.
By the latter half of the century special organizations were formed—not merely new Conditionalism-professing denominations, but, for example, an interdenominational Conditionalist Association in Britain. The members, all proponents of Conditional Immortality, were scattered throughout the various churches, and did not sever their regular church memberships. Moreover, the literature produced became increasingly impressive, both in character and in content. A succession of books, pamphlets, periodical articles, and symposiums were sent forth in a steadily increasing stream. Some were scholarly and technical and some popular. In addition, many journals devoted chiefly to promoting the cause of Conditionalism were launched on both sides of the Atlantic. And there was a new and major development—the American counterpart, soon to be noted in detail, and hereafter paralleling the Old World witnesses.
IMPOSING ARRAY OF TALENT CHAMPIONS CONDITIONALISM.
—Conspicuous clerics, teachers, translators, historians, physicians, lawyers, scientists, and even statesmen, entered the discussion to a degree surpassing all previous centuries. Noted expositors and lexicographers, with definitive discussions of terms and usages, contributed to an amazingly diversified and well-rounded literature. A remarkable revival of Early Church Conditionalism was undeniably under way. And scholarship was much in evidence.
The ablest literature on Conditionalism to be found in the annals of the Christian Church was now being produced. As a result, Conditionalism came to assume an unprecedented place in the religious world—a minority view, it is true, but widely respected and competently represented. The roster of champions now included some of the most brilliant and godly religious and educational spokesmen of the century. It was a new day in the history of the church as regards the contraverted question of the nature and destiny of man.
In the very nature of the case, reactionary rationalist developments likewise arose to plague. And the three schools of the Early Church trilemma—Eternal Tormentism, Restorationism, and Conditionalism—were all operating in force, vying for the minds of men. And momentous new developments, like Modern Spiritualism, entered the picture. The pattern had become exceedingly complex. But the issues were sharply drawn and the battle was on anew in intensified form. Certain entire denominations now adopted the Conditionalist position, which was a distinctly new development. And, as stated, the far-flung lines now touched every continent. Thus we will make our way through the decades of the nineteenth century, by far the most momentous period in the history of Conditionalism.
With this preview before us, we now address ourselves to tracing its setting and unfolding in some detail, and to presenting the testimony of its leading witnesses.
The French Revolution, covering the last decades of the eighteenth century, is everywhere recognized as one of the major turning points in history, releasing forces that are not yet spent and wrecking relationships that heretofore were regarded as sacrosanct. Furious clashes with the established order took place. Absolutism had so long reigned supreme in Catholic France, and the church had so long exercised such dominant sway over the populace as a whole, as to be able to crush all dissenting voices and quash all reform movements. But now, violence swept like a tidal wave over the land. The church was deprived of her vast properties and princely incomes. The priesthood was discredited and its teachings challenged. It was a tremendous upheaval.
The frenzy of terror reached almost unbelievable heights as men turned against the only religion they knew. Atheism reached its apex, and not only made a mockery of the rites of the dominant church but vilified the Christian Church itself and repudiated its teachings. On November 10, 1793, the Convention dressed up an ass in sacerdotal habits, tied the Old and New Testaments to its tail, and led the mock procession through the street, two sans-culottes giving the animal sacramental wine to drink, while a dissolute "goddess of reason" received the adulation of the mobs. The worship of God was prohibited as a crime.
For the first time in the annals of Christendom all religious restraint was thrown off and the power of Heaven itself was openly defied. The Papal Church was impotent to stay the forces of violence. But the very sacrilege of the Revolution led to a re-examination not only of the church itself but of her doctrines, including her dogmas of Innate Immortality, purgatorial purification, and endless Hell for the damned, as subsequent decades attest. The nineteenth century that followed marked the beginning of a new and spreading interest in the Biblical evidence in this great area of study.
It was inevitable that a fresh scrutiny of Rome's doctrinal structure, with its Purgatory, Eternal Torment, and universal Innate-Immortality pillars, should come. And this scrutiny would necessarily extend to those Protestant teachings that had been retained from Rome. Let us next turn to the historical setting, that we may better understand the emergence and development of this new impetus.
All through the Old World, at the turn of the century following the French Revolution, there developed a widespread conviction that mankind had entered a new epoch—the era of the "last things," the "last days," or "time of the end," as variantly expressed in Bible terms. This was freely stated on both sides of the Atlantic. As noted, the French Revolution had burst forth like the explosion of the pent-up forces of a volcano. And as a result the Papal Church was shaken to its very foundations. The very suddenness and violence of the shock sent various Protestant scholars back to a restudy of the Word, especially the eschatological prophecies, in order to determine the significance of those tremendous times. A spirit of intense inquiry was abroad in the very air. [1]
As a result there was a definite return to the old Historical School positions on prophecy, with its premillennial Second Advent postulate, and belief in the accompanying literal resurrection, and cataclysmic end-of-the-age positions. There was likewise a repudiation of the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation counterinterpretation positions of Futurism and Preterism, adroitly put forth to parry the incriminating force of Protestant interpretation, which had exposed her own diverting views on Antichrist and the millennium, as well as on the nature and destiny of man. There was a marked revival of Bible study, centering on eschatology and its involvements.
1. See Froom, Prophetic Faith, vol. 2, chaps. 32-35.
1. HUNDRED BOOKS ON ESCHATOLOGY APPEAR.—Such works as George S. Faber's A Dissertation on the Prophecies (1807), William Cunninghame's Dissertations on the Seals and Trumpets (1813), James H. Frere's A Combined View (1815), Lewis Way's A Letter (1818), and John Bayford's Messiah's Kingdom (1820) spearheaded the reaction against the desolating flood of postmillennialism that had swept over the Protestant churches, along with the devastating pestilence of infidelity springing from the French Revolution. From it all came a rebirth of the Advent hope and its attendant resurrection of the righteous, with the new earth following, and related truths. More than a hundred important books on eschatology appeared during the first four decades of the new century. [2]
From prominent pulpits powerful preachers in the Old World and in the New proclaimed the imminence of the Second Advent, warning that the coming of the "day of the Lord" was drawing near. Even in the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church premillennialist voices were heard denouncing the Augustinian theory of the millennium—Pere Lambert, Dominican, of France, and Manuel Lacunza, Spanish Jesuit, of Chile and Italy, were prominent examples. [3]
2 PARALLEL AWAKENING IN OLD WORLD AND NEW.—In all this the Old World Advent Awakening only slightly antedated the New World Advent Movement. There was a close tie-in. One common bond was the magazine Christian Observer, of London. Launched in 1802, it had a Boston edition, running article for article, beginning with the first issue—a remarkable arrangement for the time. It was said to be the most widely read Anglican journal in America. And various Old World societies formed to promote the study of eschatological prophecy had New World branches, or counterparts. Numerous conferences on the prophecies concerning the last things were held to promote these views.
2 Ibid., vol. 3.
3 Ibid., vol. 4.
It was a period of revolutionary study and action. And this inevitably involved the question of the destiny of man.
In both Old and New World Protestantism there had now come a basic clash over millennial views. The issue was evangelical premillennialism versus Whitbyan [4] postmillennialism—a major battle developing in England over this question. Soon a revival of premillennialism swept over Britain. And, added to the issues that already confronted and confused, came the Oxford Tractarian Movement, beginning in 1833. The chief object of the Tract series, and their conspicuous writers, was to de-Protestantize the Church of England, to instill and establish the Futurist view of prophecy, and to contend for a still future Antichrist. In Continental Germany there was the paralleling "neology," or Rationalism, with its Preterist scheme of eschatological prophecy, likewise adopted from Catholicism. The picture was highly complex and confusing.
3. CHRISTENDOM-WIDE RESURGENCE OF PREMILLENNIALISM. —But in Germany, paralleling the British resurgence of pre-millennialism, were such men as Lindl (1826), Sander (1829), Kelber (1817), and Richter (1834). And in Holland there was Heintzpeter (1819), and in Switzerland Nicole and Gaussen (1829). And there were such roving characters as Joseph Wolff, converted Jewish world traveler, and Bishop Wilson in India, and Gobat in Abyssinia—all stressing the approaching end of the age and the premillennial second advent of Christ as drawing near.
4 Daniel WHITBY (1638-1726) originated the enticing theory that the conversion of the world, under the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, constitutes the "first resurrection." He held that the universal reign of paradisaical righteousness, peace, and victory comes before the Second Advent. Thus the accepted eschatology was swept overboard, for postmillennialism placed the Second Advent at the close, instead of at the beginning, of the millennial thousand years. Whitby insisted that under the preaching of the gospel all opposing forces would give way, Christ's kingdom would come, and the times of restitution be completed before Christ returns. Acceptance was widespread in Britain. And in America two eminent divines first embraced it—Jonathan Edwards and Samuel Hopkins. Others followed.
And as noted, from the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church came Lacunza, who moved Catholics and Protestants alike in South America, Inter-America, Britain, and on the Continent, and stirred scholarly groups to restudy the eschatological prophecies. He strongly revived the Early Church teaching on the millennium, and heralded the "new earth," foretold both by Old and New Testament prophets, as impending. Such was the historical setting for the independent but paralleling breaking forth of the principles and involvements of Conditionalism, with new impetus in both the Old World and the New. To this we now address ourselves.
Just after the turn of the century a group of little-known writers spoke out on various aspects of the principles of Conditionalism. We confine ourselves to the briefest reference. Here they are—English, Scottish, and Irish, and of Independent, Anglican, Baptist, and Church of Ireland persuasions.
1. In 1805 TIMOTHY KENRICK (d. 1804), minister of an Independent congregation at Exeter from 1784 to 1804, issued a two-volume collection of Discourses. Sermons II to IV are on the state of the dead, concerning which he specifically maintains that the soul dies with the body, and is restored to life at the resurrection [5]
2. In the same year Glasgow-trained advocate ROBERT FORSYTH (1766-1846) , of Edinburgh, in The Principles of Moral Science, discussing the future state, declares that this boon (immortality) is bestowed only on those who render themselves worthy of it. [6]
JOHN KENRICK, M.A. (H. 1814-1850), scholarly teacher of the classics in Manchester College, Birmingham, was author of several historical works that touch on the nature and destiny of man as held in ancient times. A decided Conditionalist, in 1814 he produced The Necessity of Revelation to Teach the Doctrine of a Future Life. After examining all the arguments put forth in behalf of natural immortality, Kenrick casts them aside as probabilities, presumptions, and "speculations." The Christian's hope is of Life Only in Christ. The true doctrine of a future life is built solely on the Word, and the assurance "Because He lives, we shall live." That is the "Rock of revealed truth." He had no confidence in the shifting sands of "inference and analogy." [7]
5 Timothy Kenrick, Discourses, vol. 1, pp. 21-79; see Abbot, The Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life, no. 2630.
6 Robert Forsyth, The Principles of Moral Science, vol. 1, pp. 470-520; see Abbot, op. cit., no. 991.
4. Then comes an anonymous 240-page work "By a Member of the Church of England," entitled Eternal Punishment proved to be not Suffering, but Privation (1817). His position is expounded in the full title. [8]
5. Next, RICHARD WRIGHT (1764-1836), having broken away from Calvinism, and ministering to a congregation of General Baptists at Wisbeach, published a series of books—An Essay on Future Punishments (1808); An Essay on a Future Life (1819); The Resurrection of the Dead an essential Doctrine of the Gospel; and the Neglect of it by reputed Orthodox Christians, an Argument against the Truth of their System (1820); The Eternity of Hell Torments Indefensible (179—?). In his Resurrection of the Dead, Wright maintains that a "real resurrection must be preceded by the actual death of that which is raised; that which does not die cannot be raised from the dead; the resurrection made known in the Scriptures is a resurrection from the dead; whatever is to be raised from the dead must remain dead until it is raised." [9] This too was Conditionalism.
6. And finally, RUSSELL SCOTT (fl. 1822), in an extensive Analytical Investigation . . . , to which is added an Explanation of the Terms Sheol, Hades, or Gehenna, as employed by the Scripture Writers (1822), [10] is explicit in denouncing Immortal-Soulism as "adopted from the heathen philosophers."
7 A. J. Mills, Life-Truth Exponents of the Early 19th Century, pp. 70, 71; Abbot, op. cit.. nos. 1362, 1729, 2241.
8 Eternal Punishment proved to be not Suffering, but Privation; and Immortality dependent on Spiritual Regeneration; the Whole Argued on the Words and Harmony of Scripture, and embracing every Text bearing on the Subject, pp. xxiv, 40, 240; see Abbot, op. cit., no. 4143.
9 Quoted in Mills, Life-Truth Exponents of the Early 19th Century, pp. 115, 116; see Abbot, op. cit., nos. 1038, 3075, 4071, 4082, 4089, 4113.
10 Abbot, op. cit.. no. 2247.
Scott maintains that all future life is dependent upon the resurrection, whereas a majority have adopted "the heathenish notion of there being a principle in man, which is naturally immortal," but which notion is derived from the "opinions of Alexandrian philosophers who became converts of Christianity."
But this position, he affirms, "subverts the influence and destroys the effect of the death and the resurrection of Christ, the corner-stone of Christianity." And he adds that the concept of the "continuation of existence, by the natural immortality of what is termed the soul of man, is, therefore, in direct opposition to the Scriptures of the New Testament." As to the fate of the wicked, Scott declares they "die utterly," which death involves the "extinction of his being, a return to the same state of non-entity from which he had been taken." [11]
7. Note must also be taken of an anonymous treatise published at Dublin, in 1835, "By a Clergyman of the Church of Ireland," bearing the significant title Christ Our Life; or the Scripture Testimony concerning Immortality. [12] It emphasizes these same Conditionalist views. These are lesser voices.
From the very beginning of the century things began to happen to congregations. In fact, in 1798, just before we enter the nineteenth century, a split occurred in the Parliament Court Chapel, a non-Conformist church in London. Those withdrawing drew up a declaration setting forth the grounds of their separation. Among other things they declared, significantly enough, that they "could not reconcile the teaching of the immortality of the soul with the New Testament doctrine of the resurrection of the dead." So in 1810 they built a meetinghouse in the Crescent, in Aldersgate Street. And for several years they issued a monthly Free-thinking Christians' Magazine. The following extracts, from an early article "On the Nature and Condition of Man," clearly set forth their views.
11 Quoted in Mills, Life-Truth Exponents of the Early 19th Century, pp. 71, 72.
12 Abbot, op. cit., no. 4241.
Here are the alternatives presented—Immortal-Soulism versus the resurrection:
"Suffice it then to say, that the doctrine of the immortality of the 1.7jAoul is at direct and perfect variance with the promise of a resurrection from the dead; the terms of the two propositions are in—deed directly opposed to each other; they contain at once a verbal and an actual contradiction within themselves. That they cannot therefore both be true is apparent; one of them must be false. . . .
"Jesus came to teach a resurrection from the dead, through the will and by the unaided power of the same Being who first called us into existence; but if the soul be immortal, we can have no occasion for such a resurrection; it is an event which can never be required, and which consequently never can take place. Should therefore the soul be proved immortal, Jesus was an impostor, we need no longer to be Christians, no longer to look forward with anxious and trembling hope to the day of restoration into life: the spark of immortality is within us, eternity is mixed up in the very essence of our nature, and it becomes an unalterable law of our being that we should never die!" [13]
That was the Conditionalist witness from the Crescent Meeting House just as the century began.
Now let us note RICHARD WATSON (1781-1833), Wesleyan theologian, who was one of the promoters of the Wesleyan Missionary Society in 1813, and was one of its general secretaries for eleven years, devoting himself to the theological training of candidates for mission service. In 1826 he was made president of the conference, and in 1830 declined the chair of Moral Philosophy in Wesleyan University. Frail of body, but with a remarkable mind and an indomitable will, he was a notable preacher and an effective and logical writer.
13 Free-thinking Christians' Magazine, vol. 3, 1813.
Watson produced the first systematic treatment of Wesleyan theology, and his two-volume Theological Institutes (1824)—running through many editions in Britain and the United States—was long regarded as the standard of Methodist doctrine. Some compared it, in theology, to Blackstone in law. Watson's premature death at fifty-two—a martyr to his intense exertions—was greatly lamented because he left so much unfinished writing. But he was already author of a score of books.
I. SINFUL MAN LOST TITLE TO IMMORTALITY.—In his sermon on "Paradise Shut and Re-opened," Watson makes this significant statement:
" 'The tree of life was a kind of sacrament. As the promise of immortality was given to Adam, every time he ate of this tree by God's appointment, he expressed his faith in God's promise; and God, as often as he ate of it sealed the promise of immortality to man.—In this view, sin excluded man from the tree of life, as he lost his title to immortality.' " [14]
14 Quoted in George Storrs, Six Sermons on the Inquiry, Is There Immortality in Sin and Suffering (3d ed.), p. 36.
And he adds: " 'We find the tree of life spoken of in connection with the life of the soul—not only with immortality on earth, but with immortality in heaven.' " No wonder, Watson says " 'many eminent divines have considered this tree as a constant pledge to Adam of a higher life' "—life now, " and of a higher and more glorious life in a future state, to which man might pass, not, indeed, by death, but by translation.' [15]
2. "SEED" TAKES PLACE OF "TREE" AS PLEDGE OF IMMORTALITY.—This provision, Watson explains, was—"'the reason why the fruit of that tree was prohibited after man had sinned. He had broken the covenant, and had no right now to eat of the sign, the sacrament, the pledge of immortality." [16]
But after the Fall, with the sentence of death passed by God, He—
"'also gives a promise; and man is bidden to hope in another object, "the seed of the woman." That seed [Christ] was henceforth to be his tree of life.' " [17]
1. IMMORTALITY A GIFT, DEPENDENT ON GIVER.—One further important Watson thought must suffice: "'That the soul is naturally immortal is contradicted by Scripture, which makes our immortality a gift, dependent on the will of the giver.' " Watson calls the doctrine of the " 'natural immortality of the soul' an `absurdity.' " [18] Yet Watson was one of Methodism's famous theologians.
Next, we come to ROBERT HALL (1764-1831), one of the most famous Baptist preachers of his generation. He was a precocious youth, becoming a student of the Baptist academy at Bristol at fifteen, and of King's College, Aberdeen, at eighteen. He became associate minister of Dr. Caleb Evans, of Broad-mead Chapel, Bristol, and associate professor at the Baptist academy. However, differences with Dr. Evans led to his transfer to the Baptist congregation at Cambridge (1791-1806), then Leicester (1807-1825), and finally Bristol. He was famed for his absolute mastery of his subject, his style being clear, simple, and unencumbered. His Works comprise six volumes. Volume four deals with the end of man's existence and volume six touches upon "Death the Last Enemy." (Picture on page 257.)
15 Ibid., p. 37.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid., p. 74.
Here again a...prominent Baptist of the time breaks ranks with the predominant view and asserts that the doctrine of eternal misery is not an essential article of faith—just as many others before, and after, contended. Here are his cautionary words:
"I would only add that in my humble opinion the doctrine of the eternal duration of future misery, metaphysically considered, is not an essential article of faith, nor is the belief of it ever proposed as a term of salvation; that if we really flee from the wrath to come, by truly repenting of our sins, and laying hold of the mercy of God through Christ by a lively faith, our salvation is perfectly secure, whichever hypothesis we embrace on this most mysterious subject. The evidence accompanying the popular interpretation (of the doctrine of eternal suffering) is by no means to be compared to that which establishes our common Christianity: and therefore the fate of the Christian religion is not to be considered as implicated in the belief or disbelief of the popular doctrine." [19]
Brief mention must be made of RENN DICKSON HAMP-DEN (1793-1868), bishop of Hereford. After a brilliant university career at Oxford he became successively tutor, public examiner, professor of moral philosophy and divinity, and in 1833 principal of St. Mary Hall, Oxford. He came into sharp conflict with the Tractarians, who sought to prevent his becoming professor of divinity at Oxford. Nevertheless, in 1847 he was consecrated bishop of Hereford—despite heavy High Church opposition, led by Dr. Pusey and John Henry Newman. In 1832 he delivered the famous Bampton Lectures on The Scholastic Philosophy Considered in Its Relation to Christian Theology.
19 Robert Hall, Works, vol. 5, p. 529.
In this he said:
"The notion of the separate existence of the soul has so incorporated itself with Christian theology, that we are apt at this day to regard a belief in it as essential to orthodox doctrine. I cannot, however, help viewing this popular belief as a remnant of scholasticism." [20]
From this position he never retreated. Thus again the holding of the Conditionalist view did not prevent the advancement of a man to a bishopric. Times were changing.
ISAAC TAYLOR, LL.D. (1787-1865), Christian philosopher, philologist, antiquarian, and author, was trained for the ministry as a Dissenter, but became a member of the Established Church and settled down to a literary career. He was granted a civil service pension for his contributions to literature in the fields of history and philosophy. Taylor was author of eighteen volumes, including The Process of Historical Proof (1828), Spiritual Despotism (1835), Physical Theory of Another Life (1836), Ancient Christianity (1839-1840), Man Responsible for His Dispositions (1840), Wesley and Methodism (1851), and Logic in Theology (1859).
In his Wesley and Methodism, Taylor, anent the current agitation over the nature and destiny of man, said almost prophetically:
"When once this weighty question of the after-life has been opened, a controversy will ensue, in the progress of which it will be discovered that with unobservant eyes, we and our predecessors have been so walking up and down and running hither and thither, among dim notices and indications of the future destinies of the human family, as to have failed to gather up or to regard much that has lain upon the pages of the Bible, open and free to our use." [21]
20 Renn Dickson Hampden, Bampton Lectures, p. 310.
21 Isaac Taylor, Wesley and Methodism, p. 289.
This is clarified by a letter received by Dr. Edward White, in 1871, from Rev. Isaac Jennings, learned contributor to Kitto's Biblical Encyclopedia, who states that he was well acquainted with Taylor and could testify positively that Taylor—"differed most decidedly from the popular opinion, and did not believe in the immortality of the soul. I remember once putting the question to him in the company of—Professor Fraser, 'Do you not think that the doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul is a delusion?' He replied most distinctly, 'I do;' Professor Fraser expressing also his assent. I know from intimations he gave in various conversations that he did not believe in eternal torment." [22]
22 Edward White, Life in Christ (1878), p. 458, n.
We close this chapter by considering a towering champion of Conditionalism, quoted again and again throughout the century. RICHARD WHATELY, D.D. (1787-1863), Anglican archbishop of Dublin, famed as a prelate and theologian, was recognized as one of the most profound and original thinkers of his time. He was likewise known as a man of great moral courage. Educated at Oriel College, Oxford, he was successively vicar at Halesworth, principal of St. Albans, briefly professor of political economy at Oxford, and shortly thereafter consecrated archbishop of Dublin. Whately gave the famous Bampton Lectures in 1822, at Oxford, which bore upon the theme we are pursuing. In 1826 he wrote a treatise on Logic and the "syllogism" that injected new life into the study of logic. And his work on Rhetoric, in 1828, was immediately accepted as a text, and was long used in English universities. He was an intellectual leader. (Pictured on page 257.)
During the years 1833-1841 Tractarianism was militant at Oxford. One of its leaders, John Henry Newman (later cardinal), had been Whately's friend. But Whately did not shrink from duty as he saw it, and produced his Cautions for the Times on the hurricane of controversy that was assailing the church. In this he vigorously opposed the Oxford Movement. Another of his works was on the Errors of Romanism. Renowned alike for piety, learning, and logic, he stated the issues as he saw them, with clarity and candor. With him, doctrines to be believed must be proved from Scripture. He was a determined opponent of the doctrines of Plato.
1. DEALS MAJOR BLOW AGAINST "INNATIST" THEORY.—
Perhaps no single individual of the time dealt a heavier blow against the inherent immortality-of-the-soul theory than did Whately. His popularity as a scholar and his high position as a prelate secured for his writings respectful attention and wide circulation. His principal treatise in this field was written when he was still vicar of Halesworth—A View of the Scripture Revelations concerning a Future State (1829), which ran through eight editions, with an American reprint in 1857. [23] It is likewise to be noted that his declarations did not militate against his consecration as archbishop nor his influence in that high post; also, that more Anglicans than any others were Conditionalists.
In the light of his prominence it is desirable that we have Whately's essential statements before us in his own words. Here is a series of his clear and forceful statements.
2 PHILOSOPHY DOES NOT ESTABLISH IMMORTALITY.—Holding that philosophical reasoning does not, and cannot, assure immortality, Whately makes this basic declaration:
"That the natural immortality, again, of man's soul, as distinct from the body, is discoverable by human reason, may be denied on the ground that it has not in fact been discovered yet. No arguments from Reason independent of Revelation have been brought forward, that amount to a decisive proof that the soul must survive bodily death. Indeed, as I shall presently take occasion to show, the arguments by which some philosophers did attempt to prove this, were not sufficient to convince fully even themselves." [24]
23 Abbot, op. cit., no. 2257.
24 Richard Whately, A View of the Scripture Revelation concerning a Future State, p. 16. It first appeared in 1825 as Essays on Some Peculiarities of the Christian Religion.
3 JESUS THE SOURCE AND ASSURANCE OF IMMORTALITY. —Jesus Christ, Whately maintains, is our sole hope of immortality:
"It was then Jesus Christ, who brought 'life and immortality to light,' and founded the doctrine, not on ingenious philosophical arguments, nor on obscure traditions of which no one can tell the origin, but on the authority of his own assertions, established by the miracles He wrought, and especially by that splendid one, of rising Himself from the dead, as 'the first-fruits of them that slept ["Lazarus, and the others, mentioned as raised from the dead before, were merely restored to life—to the natural mortal life on earth—which they had before enjoyed."];' to confirm his promise to his disciples that He would raise up also at the last day, his faithful followers." [25]
4. No PURGATORY AND No SECOND PROBATION.—The gradual introduction of Platonism and Purgatory is expressly dealt with:
"Long after their [the sacred writers'] time, a groundless notion gradually crept into the Church in days of ignorant superstition, concerning an intermediate state of purification of souls by suffering, thence called Purgatory: from which they might be delivered through the prayers of survivors. ["It may be remarked, by the way, that, if this purification or purgatory be a necessary preparation to fit men for entering on a state of heavenly happiness, it would be both foolish and wrong to pray that they should be removed from it. This superstition, as it became a source of profit, was encouraged and sanctioned by those who ought to have taught the people better.
"It is manifestly a presumptuous addition to the Christian Faith; for not only is there no ground for any such doctrine in Holy Scripture, but on the contrary, the Scriptures afford us in many places the most convincing proofs that this life is the whole of our state of probation,—that sentence will be pronounced on every man, according to his life here on earth,—'his deeds done in the flesh;'—and that nothing can take place after his death that can at all affect his future condition." [26]
25 Ibid., p. 27
26 Ibid., p. 48
5 "SLEEP" THE DECLARED CONDITION IN DEATH.—Denying that death is a state of "lively consciousness," he says:
"The style in which the sacred writers usually speak of the deceased is, as of persons who are 'asleep.' For instance, in John's Gospel we read, 'Our friend Lazarus slept; but I go that I may awake him out of his sleep;' so, also, Paul speaks of some witnesses of the resurrection of Christ, who were still living at the time he wrote, and some who are 'fallen asleep:' even as in the Acts, the Evangelist Luke, speaking of the stoning of Stephen, says, 'And when he had said this, he fell asleep.' It may be said indeed that sleep does not imply total insensibility; but it must be allowed to be strange, that the word 'sleep' should so often be applied to the condition of the departed, if they are in a state of as lively consciousness and sensibility as before death, and in the actual perception of more ,unmixed pleasure or pain." [27]
6. UNCONSCIOUS OF PASSING TIME IN DEATH-SLEEP.—During the intermediate state, between death and the resurrection, there is no consciousness of time:
"I believe that, to my own perceptions. the instant death closes my eyes, I shall be awakened by the last trump—the summons to meet my I Lord. And though in relation to you the survivors, my dying this hour or a year hence, makes no difference as to the time, when that day shall arrive to me, it makes all the difference: absolutely, the interval from now to the general resurrection is the same; but relatively to me, it does, to all practical purposes, come the sooner, the sooner I am released from the burden of 'this earthly tabernacle.' " [28]
7 No " I NTERVAL" BETWEEN DEATH AND RESURRECTION.—
"The long and dreary interval. then, between death and the Day of Judgment (supposing the intermediate state to be a profound sleep), does not exist at all, except in the imagination. To the party concerned, there is no interval whatever: but to each person (according to this supposition) the moment of his closing his eyes in death, will be instantly succeeded by the sound of the last trumpet, which shall summon the dead; even though ages shall have intervened.
"And in this sense the faithful Christian may be, practically, in paradise the day he dies, The promise made to the penitent thief, and the Apostle Paul's wish 'to depart and to be with Christ,' which, he said, was 'far better' than to remain any longer in this troublesome world, would each be fulfilled to all practical purposes provided each shall have found himself in a state of happiness in the presence of his Lord, the very instant (according to his own perception) after having breathed his last.” [29]
1. WICKED TO BE DESTROYED, AND CEASE TO EXIST.—Whately is likewise explicit in declaring that the wicked will, after punishment, cease to exist:
27 Ibid., pp. 69, 70.
28 Ibid., pp. 85, 86.
29 Ibid., pp. 83, 84.
"The expressions of 'eternal punishment,' unquenchable fire,' etc. may mean merely that there is to be no deliverance,—no revival,—no restoration,—of the condemned. 'Death,' simply, does not shut out the hope of being brought to life again: 'eternal death' does. 'Fire' may be quenched before it has entirely consumed what it is burning: 'unquenchable fire' would seem most naturally to mean that which destroys it utterly. . . .
"In the parable of the tares, our Lord describes himself as saying, 'gather ye first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my garner as if to denote that the one is to be (as we know is the practice of the husbandman) carefully preserved, and the other, completely put an end to." [30]
This remarkable volume made many converts to the Conditionalist faith, and was soon followed by numerous other books from various ministers in England advocating the same views and drawing heavily from him.
30 Ibid., pp. 183, 184.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
We now leave the Old World to trace the retarded appearance of Conditionalism in the New World. Hereafter we shall trace the paralleling witness of Europe and America in the great expansion. But to get the setting we must go back to Colonial days and the factors that evidently produced the time lag in the appearance of Conditionalist witnesses in the new nation that was forming in the Western World. This calls for a fairly comprehensive background.
The Separatist Pilgrim Fathers, holding to their Calvinist faith, fled from England with the purpose of establishing their own form of congregational churches in Holland. But finding conditions there unfavourable, in time they migrated to New England. Such were the Mayflower Pilgrims. However, several Puritan colonies were likewise established in the New World. The Massachusetts Bay group in particular proceeded to establish a theocracy, with all that that involved, and citizenship was dependent upon church fellowship.
However, shortly thereafter Providence was founded, in 1636, by the Separatist Roger Williams whose opposition to theocratic government so irritated the Massachusetts authorities that his banishment was decreed. So it was that the Rhode Island colony came to be established, affording liberty of conscience and offering refuge for the persecuted minorities of all groups.
1. INVOLVEMENTS OF THE PURITAN THEOCRACY.—The Puritans had fled from Old World persecution that they might worship God in their own way. But they no sooner found asylum for themselves than they began to oppress those who differed with them. In establishing their Puritan theocracy they took the Bible as their civil code, with civil rights contingent upon profession of the Puritan faith. And the Puritans, it should be added, were the chief theologians of seventeenth-century Colonial days—with heavy emphasis on the sovereignty of God and the arbitrary dictums of divine predestination.
The Massachusetts Bay colonists were seeking to purify the Anglican faith and to displace its heavy ritualism. They were unfriendly to the Separatists. Rigidly Calvinistic, the Puritans sought to establish in the New World the Genevan discipline, with its stern intolerance. Moreover, the Puritans regarded themselves as the appointed custodians of righteousness, with power centralized in the hands of the clergy. Because of the bearing of their theocratic concept on our quest, we repeat that under it God was the lawgiver, the Bible the statute book, and the minister the interpreter of the divine law —with dissenters suppressed. Fortunately, there was Connecticut for the Congregationalists, Rhode Island for the Separatists, and Maine for the individualists.
Under the formulas of those rugged days religion was accounted the chief thing. The state was considered really a part of the church, and politics a department of theology, with citizenship restricted to church members. Thought was often regimented and expression circumscribed. Thus with Puritanism came intolerance, and persecution inevitably followed. The power of the Colonial clergy was profound, marked deference being paid to them. Ministers of religion were the chief advisers of state. And the pulpits were high and remote from the congregation, such position typifying the elevated place assumed by the sacred office.
2. RHODE ISLAND BECOMES HAVEN FOR SOUL FREEDOM. —It was in this setting that Roger Williams (d. 1683), provocative antagonist of Puritanism and apostle of religious liberty, became the incarnation of individualism. He stood for the sanctity of the human conscience. Because of controversy with Massachusetts administrators over theocratic pressures, disregard of conscience, and the synodical government of the Congregational churches, he was banished, fleeing to Rhode Island to develop a colony based on the platform of soul freedom and liberty of conscience. Providence thus became an asylum for the oppressed of all creeds, or none—a "shelter to persons distressed for conscience." [1] Meanwhile, in Massachusetts persecution was visited on dissenters, and stripes were frequent. The witchcraft trials were a case in point, with the climax reached at Salem. But all this led to a reaction. The old order was destined to pass. So much for the seventeenth century.
3. ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND BILL OF RIGHTS.—With the eighteenth century came a changing religious outlook and attitude. The groundwork of religious liberty was established, and the gates of the colonies were gradually opened to adherents of the religious faiths of the Old World—Catholics, Separatists, Puritans, Quakers, Presbyterians, and Baptists from Britain, as well as Lutherans, Dunkers, Moravians, Mennonites, Huguenots, and Salzburgers from the Continent. All found sanctuary in the New World.
1 Thomas Armitage, A History of the Baptists, p, 643.
The traditional union of church and state disintegrated under the impact of this revolutionary philosophy of individual freedom of personal rights and beliefs. The experiment of a theocratic Bible commonwealth had been weighed and found wanting. The influence of the clergy in civil matters was consequently weakened and increasingly restricted. And the Declaration of Independence of 1776, and the Constitution, with its Bill of Rights, inaugurated a new era.
4. RELIGIOUS REVIVALS ENTER THE PICTURE.—While the intellectual leadership of the clergy remained high in the eighteenth century, nevertheless religion was at low ebb in the opening decades. The original Puritan fervour had passed, and Arminianism, Deism, and Rationalism made their inroads. The extended religious revival movement had reached its climax in the Great Awakening of 1740. Following certain revivalist pathfinders came Jonathan Edwards (to be noted soon), most conspicuous figure of his generation, but preaching an extreme predestinationist and setting forth God as a Being of wrath, with man as "utterly helpless in his moral strivings." [2] His preaching terrified the people. Samuel Hopkins (d. 1802) took the same positions, along with Edwards, whose pupil he was. [3]
On the other hand, Charles Chauncy (d. 1787), of Boston, cold and prosaic, was the principal critic of the revival. Coolly intellectual, he gravitated into Universalism (see pages 277, 278). Nevertheless, some thirty thousand or forty thousand members were added through the revivals. One hundred and fifty new Congregational churches were formed between 1740 and 1760, with marked increases among the Presbyterians, Separatists, and Baptists.
5. MULTIPLE SOURCES OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY PRINCIPLES.—The principles of religious liberty were derived from many sources—Quakers, Baptists, Nonconformists, Dunkers, and to some degree from Anglicans, Lutherans, and the Reformed. Then there were also the religiously indifferent, embracing such leaders as Jefferson, Madison, and Franklin. Philosopher John Locke made a marked impress. And Voltaire's views on religion found acceptance among many American liberals.
2 James T. Adams, Provincial Society, 1690-1763, pp. 282, 283.
3 See pp. 275, 276.
Thus the political and religious liberation of eighteenth-century France and England exerted a weighty influence in America. And with the coming of the American Revolution the long struggle for religious freedom and separation of church and state was virtually won, and the principle of soul freedom established.
6. RESURGENCE OF ESCHATOLOGY BEGINS UNDER SPALDING.—But there were yet other factors. For example, there was JOSHUA SPALDING (1760-1825), luminous "day-star" of the returning premillennial hope, as he was aptly called. He was a student of theology under Jonathan Edwards and Samuel Hopkins, both postmillennialists, but he broke with their views on the millennium. He was pastor of the Tabernacle Church at Salem. Earnest and studious and a "good reasoner," he was the cause of revivals of a different sort that sprang up wherever he preached. His notable book Sentiments Concerning the Coming and Kingdom of Christ (1796) was staunchly premillennialist, and exerted a far-reaching influence.
Comprising nine lectures, the book was in sharp conflict in an eschatological viewpoint with that of his teacher, Samuel Hopkins. He had reverted to the Early Church positions. The chapters concerning "The Corning of Christ," "The Last Trump," "The First Resurrection," and "The New Heavens and New Earth" were of particular significance. The millennium will not occur, he averred, until after the glorious second advent of Christ. [4] This will bring the redemption of God's people on the one hand and the destruction of the wicked on the other. [5] But that was incipient Conditionalism, soon to break out into the open.
Spalding contended that the final events were drawing near, when the saints would be garnered unto Christ at the sound of the last trump. [6]
4 Joshua Spalding, Sentiments Concerning the Coming and Kingdom of Christ, 1841. Preface to second edition by Himes and Litch, p. 3.
5 Ibid., pp. 14, 15, 16. 19
6 Ibid., pp. 29 46, 37.
The great "Day of the Lord" was drawing near, when He would consume the wicked. And all this would precede the setting up of the millennial kingdom. Then, following the destruction of the old world, would come the new earth and the New Jerusalem, wherein will be no weakness, error, sin, or death. [7] The New Jerusalem would come down from God out of Heaven. [8] The first resurrection and the New Jerusalem were tied together by Spalding. Such was his ringing testimony just as the eighteenth century was closing.
7. JOSEPH LATHROP EMPHASIZES "TIME OF THE END."—There was also a growing eschatological emphasis upon the "time of the end" by such as Congregationalist Joseph Lathrop (d. 1820), in The Prophecy of Daniel, Relating to the Time of the End (1811).
A new day was dawning. It was a vibrant period, a transition hour, leading into a tremendous awakening on the impending return of Christ as the resurrection and the life, about to break forth both in the Old World and in the New. [9] The next developments were inevitable.
7 Ibid., pp. 174, 175.
8 Ibid., pp. 204, 205.
9 See Froom, Prophetic Faith, vol. 3.
But we must go back, briefly, to Edwards and Hopkins.
Both Edwards and Hopkins tau1ht that sin, once introduced, can never be dislodged, expelled, or exterminated. It may, like a raging fire, be localized and circumscribed, but it can never be exhausted and put out—not even by God Himself, for man was held to be indestructibly immortal—and both sin and punishing rage on forever. But this was not to devour and consume but to torment eternally the victims upon whom it preys. These exponents held that as long as God lives and reigns, "holiness and sin, happiness and misery, praises and curses, life and death" will run parallel, throughout the ceaseless cycles of a never-ending future. This was unabashed Dualism.
Hell would thus resound with the groans and curses of the damned throughout eternal ages. The sufferings of the lost were alleged to be absolutely endless—dying forever and ever, without any possibility of final cessation or relief. Death and ,Hell were never to be destroyed. And this exhibition of divine wrath, rolling up like the smoke of a furnace that never goes out, is to be, they alleged, before the eyes of the redeemed saints forever! That was the terrifying emphasis.
But when men came to realize that according to this awful teaching the vast majority of the race were thus doomed—including many of their own kith and kin, even children and bosom companions, and all infants—they became appalled at the unbelievably cruel conclusions to which such a contention led them. It was more than faith in the love and justice of God could stand. Something had to give way. Many then set themselves to find enough evidence to satisfy themselves of the ultimate salvation of all men—thus to escape from the vindictive dogma of Eternal Torment for the wicked. For such, the pendulum had swung to the opposite end of the arc. That explains the tremendous resurgence of Universalism.
JONATHAN EDWARDS (1703-1758), Calvinist pastor of the Northampton, Massachusetts, Congregational church, and short-time president of Princeton before his death in 1758, was recognized as one of the most influential religious leaders of Colonial American history. A child prodigy, Jonathan began the study of Latin at six, and had a good knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew when he entered Yale at the astonishing age of thirteen. Of ultra-Calvinistic convictions, he defended the extreme postulates of election and predestination, struggling to stem the incipient turn toward Arminianism. He rejected freedom of the will, as commonly understood. In it all he was an intense worker, his labours leading to a religious revival, which he analyzed in his Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Words of God (1737).
Edwards was unquestionably the fountainhead of the rigid Puritanism of his time, "shaking all New England over the roaring flames of hell," as one historian phrased it. [10] His Calvinism was postulated on a God of wrath, says Parrington. [11] He profoundly believed that those who are saved are saved only by the arbitrary will of a wrathful God. This appeal to, fear was predominant in his celebrated sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (1741), perhaps his most terrific declaration. But this concept lay back of all his sermons.
It should also be noted that Edwards fell a prey to the new Whibhyan post millennial theory of a figurative resurrection and a temporal millennium, introduced without an antecedent second advent. This seemed to fit in with his concept of the nature and destiny of man. But Rationalism was beginning to rear its head in America. And there was already a growing dissatisfaction over the extremes of Calvinism on the part of not a few. A crisis, yes, a revolt, was in the making.
The almost unbelievable lengths to which Edwards carried his extreme position on unending Eternal Torment may be seen from these three harsh declarations. They must be sensed because of their bearing on our quest.
10 Charles A. and Mary R. Beard The Rise of American Civilization, vol. 1, p. 145.
11 Vernon L. Barrington, The Colonial Mind (1260-1800), p. 148.
1. EXCRUCIATING TORMENTS "NEVER, NEVER" END.- The ghastly horrors of an endless Hell of unmitigated torment are portrayed in these terrifying words:
"Do but consider what it is to suffer extreme torment for ever and ever; to suffer it day and night, from one day to another, from one year to another, from one age to another, from one thousand ages to another, and so adding age to age, and thousands to thousands, in pain, in wailing and lamenting, groaning and shrieking, and gnashing your teeth; with your souls full of dreadful grief and amazement, with your bodies and every member full of racking torture, without any possibility of getting ease;
without any Possibility of God to pity by your cries; without any possibility of hiding yourselves from him; without any possibility of diverting your thoughts from your pain; without any possibility of obtaining any manner of mitigation, or help, or change for the better any way." [13]
2. NEVER BE DELIVERED FROM EXCRUCIATING TORMENT. —The staggering prospect of Edwards' endless-torture scheme for the lost was pressed home in vivid picturizations. It presented sheer, endless hopelessness:
"To help your conception, imagine yourself to be cast into a fiery oven, all of a glowing heat, or into the midst of a glowing brickkiln, or of a great furnace, where your pain would be as much greater than that occasioned by accidentally touching a coal of fire, as the heat is greater. Imagine also that your body were to lie there for a quarter of an hour, full of fire. as full within and without as a bright coal of fire, all the while full of quick sense; what horror would you feel at the entrance of such a furnace! And how long would that quarter of an hour seem to you! . . . And after you had endured it for one minute, how overbearing would it be to you to think that you had to endure it the other fourteen!
"But what would be the effect on your soul, if you knew you must lie there enduring that torment to the full for twenty-four hours! And how much greater would be the effect, if you knew you must endure it for a whole year; and how vastly greater still, if you knew you must endure it for a thousand years!—O then, how would your hearts sink, if you thought, if you knew, that you must bear it for ever and ever! that there would be no end! That after millions of millions of ages, your torment would be no nearer to an end, than ever it was; and that you never, never should be delivered." [13]
12 The Works of President Edwards (1st Am. ed.), vol. 7, p. 418.
13 Ibid., pp. 367, 388.
2. KEPT IN HELL SOLELY FOR ENDLESS SUFFERING.—Cruelty beyond that of any earthly tyrant was ascribed to God in His dealing with the damned:
"Those wicked men who died many years ago, their souls went to hell, and there they are still; those who went to hell in former ages of the world have been in hell ever since, all the while suffering torment. They have nothing else to spend their time in there, but so suffer torment; they are kept in being for no other purpose." [14]
Small wonder that the human mind, with its instincts of common justice and mercy, revolted against such a caricature of God in His alleged fiendishness. And little wonder that many, still under the concept of universal, Innate Immortality, turned to the escape proffered by Universalism.
SAMUEL HOPKINS (1721-1803), likewise a prominent Calvinist Congregationalist, and Yale graduate of 1741, studied theology under Jonathan Edwards, who profoundly influenced his views. He was an indefatigable student. His preaching was severe and dull. Nevertheless, like Edwards, his teacher and friend, he profoundly influenced the New England theology of his generation, carrying Edwards' principles to their logical ultimate. He even went so far as to say that if the fires of eternal torment were to cease—
"It would in a great measure obscure the light of heaven, and put an end to a great part of the happiness and glory of the blessed, and be an irreparable detriment to God's eternal kingdom." [15]
Hopkins, it should be added, likewise adopted the Whitbyan postmillennial view [16] with its spiritualized resurrection and gradual introduction of the millennium, putting Christ's advent at its close. [17] In support of this he wrote his Treatise on the Millennium (1793). Postmillennialism, it should also be observed, had by this time become firmly entrenched, even though it was accepted only by a minority. But it was spreading.
14 Ibid., vol. 2, p. 883.
15 Samuel Hopkins, An Inquiry Concerning the Future State of Those Who Die in Their Sins, pp. 154, 155.
16 Samuel Hopkins, A Treatise on the Millennium, p. 84; cf. A Dialogue Concerning the Slavery of the Africans, pp. iii, iv, 53.
17 Samuel Hopkins, A Treatise on the Millennium, p. 156.
Continuing the same horrific teaching promulgated by Edwards, Hopkins went even further in his portrayals of agony.
1. SUFFERING OF DAMNED SAID TO GIVE JOY TO REDEEMED.—As noted, Hopkins even maintained that if the tortures of the lost—forever in Hell—were to cease, the light of Heaven would be obscured, and the happiness of the redeemed diminished. Here is the full statement:
"The smoke of their torment shall ascend up in the sight of the blessed for ever and ever, and serve, as a most clear glass always before their eyes, to give them a constant, bright, and most affecting view. This display of the divine character and glory will be in favour of the redeemed, and most entertaining, and give the highest pleasure to those who love God, and raise their happiness to ineffable heights." [18]
Then comes the almost unbelievable statement:
"Should it [this eternal punishment] cease, and this fire could be extinguished, it would, in a great measure, obscure the light of heaven, and put an end to a great part of the happiness and glory of the blessed." [19]
2. GOD'S GRACE MAGNIFIED BY ETERNALLY BURNING HELL. —God's sovereign grace was declared to be made more manifest by the endless agonies of the damned in Hell. This was predestination in the ultimate:
"This will be made to appear in the strongest light to the redeemed, when they behold those in everlasting misery, as their just and deserved portion, who are no more ill deserving than themselves, and know that mere sovereign grace hath made the distinction, since, had it not been for this grace, they themselves would infallibly have run on to destruction, and been as sinful and miserable as those who are actually lost, notwithstanding the offers of salvation made to them, and the means and advantages they enjoyed. Nothing can be better suited to keep this in the clearest view forever than this actual distinction made by divine grace in saving some, while others are given over to deserved everlasting destruction. And without this, or were all saved, the manifestation of this would have been comparatively dark, and very imperfect." [20]
Such were the public declarations of the most prominent Calvinists of the day. The inevitable reaction will be noted.
18 Works of Samuel Hopkins, vol. 2, p. 459.
19 Ibid., p. 463.
20 Ibid., p. 470.
A brief portrayal has already been given of the Old World post-Reformation revival of Restorationism, since Reformation times usually called Universalism. It is now essential to trace its paralleling relationship in Colonial and early national America, with its significant and subsequent developments.
Back in 1636, Sir Henry Vane, former member of the British Parliament and governor of Massachusetts, acknowledged himself to be a Universalist. Then in July, 1684, Joseph Gatchell, of Marblehead, Massachusetts, was brought before the county court for teaching that "all men should be saved." He was convicted of the teaching charged, and "sentenced 'to the pillory and to have his tongue drawn forth and pierced with a hot iron.' " [21] Those seem to be the earliest appearances in the seventeenth century.
In the eighteenth century, in 1741, Dr. George de Bonneville came from London to preach Universalism throughout the Eastern seaboard, and had Universalist Siegvolk's Everlasting Gospel published over here. In Episcopal ranks, Richard Clarke, in Charleston, South Carolina, and John Tyler, of Norwich, Connecticut, were pronounced advocates. And Congregationalist Dr. Jonathan Mayhew, of Boston, avowed it in 1762. Then former Wesleyan James Relly's book on Universalism was reprinted in Boston in 1779 and in Providence in 1782. But shortly before this an anonymous pamphlet appeared against Universalism, likewise in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1759; another in Altona, by Basedow, in 1763; and then a third by Croswell, at Boston, in 1775. And there were counterattacks. Thus the battle of pens was under way.
21 The Reverend R. Eddy, "Universalists," M'Clintock and Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. 10, p. 660.
1. UNIVERSALISM GATHERS MOMENTUM IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. — But it was Bostonian Dr. Charles Chauncy's The Salvation of All Men (1784) that created the sensation. He had a profound conviction as to the divine management of the universe. Then in 1770 Methodist John Murray widely proclaimed Universalism, and in 1779 organized a society of Universalists in Massachusetts under the name of The Independent Christian Church. Next, in 1781 Baptist Elhanan Winchester organized a Universalist society, taking the name Universal Baptists. Even among the Dunkers, or German Baptists, at Ephrata, Pennsylvania, Universalism was agitated. Also in New Jersey several Baptist preachers and their congregations became Universalist. And in Pennsylvania Abel Sarjent started the Free Universal Magazine. Restoration-ism was definitely under way in North America.
The Reverend Hosea Ballou, of Vermont, originally a Baptist, but becoming a Universalist preacher in 1790, started the Restorationist Association. He also produced The Ancient History of Universalism (1829), and by 1830 his views were rather extensively held. But this Restorationist Association terminated about 1841, and its organ, The Independent Christian Messenger, ceased publication. So there were ups and downs, but the agitation continued.
2. BATTLE OF BOOKS OVER UNIVERSALISM.—Prior to the appearance of. Universalism, as outlined, the absolute eternity of Hell punishment was almost universally held, with predestinarian Calvinism predominant. Now a barrage of books for and against the upsurging Universalism poured forth for more than half a century. The conflict was intense. To help the reader visualize the amazing number of treatises and tractates for and against, as well as periodicals, we list them in contrasting columns—not to read but to let the eye run down the list (with author's name, place of publication, and date of issuance) [22]—just to sense the vast extent of the barrage of books, periodicals, and discussions flooding this period. (Published debates are centred.)
22 NOTE: UNIQUE AND DEPENDABLE SOURCE OF THE FOLLOWING DATA.-With the characteristic comprehensiveness, exactness, and discernment of a trained librarian and skilled bibliographer, Dr. Ezra Abbot, librarian of Harvard a century ago—with the facilities of the great American libraries at his service, and the supplemented catalogues of the leading Old World libraries at his finger tips—produced the most complete and reliable annotated bibliography covering this whole field of the nature and destiny of man ever published. As already noted, it is titled, The Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life: or a Catalogue of Works Relating to the Nature, Origin, and Destiny of the Soul (1862). To this monumental contribution I here pay tribute and also acknowledge my indebtedness thereto for this tabulation.
From the section covering the "Duration of Punishment of the Wicked" (pp. 926-953, Appendix to The Destiny of the Soul, by Wm. Rounseville Alger [Boston, 1880]), I have carefully extracted the American authors between 1781 and 1850 dealing with this vital question. In the original these are interspersed with the listing of authors of various other lands and languages. In the production of books for and against Restorationism, there was, however, a far greater interest in this country at this time than in the Old World.
|
FOR |
|
|
Servetus, Mordecai |
(Philadelphia: 1781) |
|
Chauncy, Charles |
(Boston: 1782) |
|
Clarke, George |
(Boston: 1782) |
|
Hopkins, Samuel |
(Newport: 1783) |
|
Smith, William P. |
(New York: 1787) |
|
Townsend, Shippie |
(Boston: 1794) |
|
Murray, John |
(Charlestown: 1795) |
|
Huntington, Joseph |
(New London:1796) |
|
The Universalists Miscellany |
(1797-1803) |
|
Winchester, Elhanan |
(Worcester: 1803) |
|
Dobson, Thomas |
(Philadelphia: 1804) |
|
Young, Joseph |
(New York: 1804) |
|
Ballou, Hosea |
(Randolph: 1805) |
|
Thompson, Samuel |
(Charleston: 1809) |
|
Streeter, Russell |
(Keene: 1816) |
|
Peck, John |
(Boston: 1813) |
|
Baker, Samuel |
(Hallowell: 1814) |
|
Burt, Jephthah |
(Vermont: 1814) |
|
Dutton, Salmon |
(Weathersfield: 1814) |
|
Ballou, Hosea |
(Salem: 1816) |
|
Wood, Jacob |
(Worcester: 1818) |
|
Kneeland, Abner |
(Philadelphia: 1818) |
|
Universalist Magazine |
(Boston: 1819-28) |
|
Ballou, Hosea |
(Boston: 1821) |
|
Kenrick, Enoch B. |
(Boston: 1821) |
|
Thompson, John Samuel |
(Utica: 1825) |
|
Hutchinson, Samuel |
(Norway, Maine: 1827) |
|
Parker, Joel |
(Rochester: 1830) |
|
Peck, George |
(Wilkes Barre: 1827) |
|
Allen, William |
(Brunswick, New Jersey: 1828) |
|
Tripp, John |
(Portland: 1829) |
|
Skinner, Dolphus |
(Utica: 1833) |
|
Morse, Pitt |
(Watertown: 1831) |
|
Whittemore, Thomas |
(Boston: 1831) |
|
Universalist Expositor |
(1830-32) |
|
Dean, Paul |
(Boston: 1832) |
|
Dods, John Boveer |
(Boston: 1832) |
|
McClure, A. Wilson |
(Boston: 1832) |
|
Ballou, Hosea 2d |
(Boston: 1833) |
|
The Universalist |
(Boston: 1833) |
|
Paige, Lucius R. |
(Boston: 1833) |
|
Streeter, Russell |
(Boston: 1833) |
|
M'Morris, Spencer J. |
(Charlestown: 1836) |
|
Ballou, Adin |
(Providence: 1837) |
|
Jobst, J. G. |
(Bath: 1838) |
|
Rogers, George |
(Erie: 1838) |
|
Grosh, Aaron B. |
(Utica: 1839) |
|
Skinner, Dolphus |
(Utica: 1840) |
|
Whittemore, Thomas |
(Boston: 1840) |
|
Williamson, Isaac D. |
(New York: 1840) |
|
Fernald, Woodbury M. |
(Boston: 1840) |
|
Skinner, Otis A. |
(Boston: 1842) |
|
Quinby, George W. |
(Saco, Maine: 1843) |
|
Guild, E. E. |
(Boston: 1844) |
|
Universalist Quarterly |
(1844-61) |
|
Kent, Adolphus |
(Bath: 1845) |
|
Burr, Charles C. |
(Troy: 1844) |
|
Todd, Lewis C. |
(Erie: 1845) |
|
Forbes, Darius |
(Boston: 1846) |
|
Brittan, Samuel B. |
(Albany: 1847) |
|
Moore, Asher |
(Philadelphia: 1847) |
|
Skinner, Otis A. |
(New York: 1847) |
|
Austin, John M. |
(Auburn: 1849) |
|
Roberts, Orrin |
(Rochester: 1848) |
|
AGAINST |
|
|
Mather, Samuel |
(Boston: 1782) |
|
Eckley, Joseph |
(Boston: 1782) |
|
Presbytery |
(Boston: 1783) |
|
Thacher, Peter |
(Salem: 1783) |
|
Gordon, William |
(Boston: 1783) |
|
Johnson, Stephen |
(New London: 1786) |
|
Edwards, Jonathan |
(New Haven: 1790) |
|
Andrews, Elisha |
(Boston: 1800) |
|
Foster, Dan |
(Walpole: 1803) |
|
Smith, Elias |
(Boston: 1805) |
|
Spaulding, Josiah |
(Northampton: 1805) |
|
Lacey, William B. |
(Utica: 1812) |
|
Kelly, John |
(Haverhill: 1815) |
|
Dutton, Salmon |
(Boston: 1819) |
|
Isaac, Daniel |
(New York: 1819) |
|
Corrique |
(Boston: 1820) |
|
Crowell, Seth |
(New York: 1821) |
|
Ruffner, Henry |
(Richmond: 1823) |
|
Sabine, James |
(Boston: 1825) |
|
Empie, Adam |
(New York: 1825) |
|
Hawes, Joel |
(Hartford: 1827) |
|
Canfield, Russel |
(Hartford: 1827) |
|
Bacheler, Origen |
(Boston: 1829) |
|
Beecher, Lyman |
(Boston: 1830) |
|
Cooke, Parsons |
(Lowell: 1833) |
|
Todd, Lewis C. |
(Erie: 1834) |
|
Merritt, Timothy |
(New York: 1836) |
|
Lee, Luther |
(Watertown: 1836) |
|
Fuller, Allen |
(Charleston, S.C.: 1836) |
|
Davis, James M. |
(Philadelphia: 1837) |
|
M'Leod, Alexander W. |
(Halifax, N.S.: 1837) |
|
Priest, Josiah |
(Albany: 1837) |
|
Remington, Stephen |
(New York: 1837) |
|
Royce, Andrew |
(Windsor: 1838) |
|
Hatfield, Edwin F. |
(New York: 1841) |
|
Russell, Philemon R. |
(Exeter: 1842) |
|
Smith, Matthew H. |
(Boston: 1842) |
|
Bible Examiner |
(1843-57) |
|
Delancy, William H. |
(Utica: 1843) |
|
Hill, M. |
(Portland: 1843) |
|
Power, John H. |
(Cincinnati: 1843) |
|
George, Nathan D. |
(Boston: 1846) |
|
Hall, Alexander |
(St. Clairsville, 0.: 1846) |
|
Smith, Matthew H. |
(New York: 1847) |
|
Jordan, J. Henry |
(Indianapolis: 1848) |
Here within the compass of approximately sixty-five years some seventy books and five magazines were published advocating the position of Universalism. At the same time nearly the same number of books exposed the fallacies of the Universalists and championed the majority eternal-torment-for-the-wicked position. And there were at least ten discussions and debates between representatives of the two views.
1. BELATED APPEARANCE OF CONDITIONALIST VIEW.—But this sustained conflict led gradually to the development of a third group, addressing themselves belatedly to a restudy of the whole question of the Biblical evidence on the fate of the wicked, and beyond that to the basic nature of man. As a result first one here and then another there, about the beginning of the nineteenth century, began to set forth the dormant Conditionalist view—that instead of being either tortured forevermore or after purification being all restored, the incorrigibly wicked will be ultimately and utterly destroyed, body and soul, and so cease to be.
And, since such souls can be destroyed, therefore the human soul is but mortal, or subject to death. And these positions, it was felt, were clearly attested and founded upon Holy Writ. This group was persuaded that the soul does not at death go immediately to the felicities of Heaven or the pangs of Hell—or to the purifying fires of Purgatory—but rests in unconscious sleep, awaiting the call of the resurrection, the righteous then coming forth unto life eternal and the wicked to receive sentence and to be visited with executive judgment. The end would be total destruction.
That, in others words, was Conditionalism, lost and eclipsed throughout the Dark Ages, slowly affirmed again in pre-Reformation times, and brought out into the open by representative men in the Old World at the very outset of the Reformation in Germany and England. And now it had belatedly reappeared in the New World. Thus the third of the three schools in the theological trilemma was again in evidence in the New World. Yet Conditionalism had been preserved and transmitted from Early Church times by the Old World Medieval Waldenses in Italy, in African Ethiopia, and on the Indian Malabar coast. But in most countries it was a recovery, a new espousal, occurring from Reformation times onward. However, in America there was definite time lag.
2. COMES TO FORE IN EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY.—As already observed, there were growing numbers of scholarly adherents, especially in Britain during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as seen in Part I, but Conditionalism belatedly came to the fore in North America about the beginning of the nineteenth century under such men as Protestant Episcopal bishop William White. of Boston (1800); Elias Smith, of Portsmouth (1805); John Sellon of Canandaigua, New York (1828); Aaron Bancroft, of Worcester, Massachusetts (1828); Walter Balfour. of Charlestown, Massachusetts (1839); Sylvanus Cobb, of Boston, Massachusetts (1833); Henry Grew, of Rhode Island and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1835); George Storrs, of Albany, New York (1841); Calvin French, of Boston (1842); Jacob Blain, of Buffalo, New York (1844); and John H. Pearce, of North Carolina (1844).
Then came a veritable galaxy of books, pamphlets, and periodical articles—and entire periodicals, together with symposiums—setting forth with increasing clarity and persuasiveness the case for Conditionalism. It did not at first compare with the volume of brilliant writings in Britain and on the Continent. But the strangle hold of Immortal-Soulism and its Eternal Torment corollary was broken. Then certain religious bodies began to espouse it. Thus again the three schools of theological trilemma were vying for the minds and hearts of men here in America by the mid-nineteenth century. And the same development was taking place in Germany, Switzerland, France, and Holland—and even out in India, Africa, Australia, and China. A new day had dawned.
It will be profitable to take a brief preview of coming spokesmen, particularly in the American line of Conditionalists, that we may grasp their sequence and relationships.
Just after the turn of the century a religious body arose, called the Christian Connection, that as a body rejected the inherent-immortality-of-the-soul position, along with its corollary the Eternal Torment of the wicked, maintaining that they would be ultimately annihilated. This was a significant group development.
Then in 1808 Elias Smith, in what he claimed to be the "first religious newspaper published to the world"—The Herald of Gospel Liberty—issued at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, maintained that immortality is God's free gift, bestowed on the righteous only, through Christ at the resurrection, that all the wicked would utterly perish and completely die in the second death. Meantime, Episcopalian bishop William White, of Pennsylvania, declared man mortal, not immortal.
Next, in 1828 Protestant Episcopal rector John Sellon, of Canandaigua, New York, issued a 106-page work maintaining the final extinction of the wicked. And in the same year Dr. Aaron Bancroft, Unitarian minister of Worcester, Massachusetts, published a volume of sermons advocating endless life alone through Christ. In 1829-1834 Walter Balfour, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, published a series of books advocating the unconscious sleep of the dead. [1] And there were others. Discussions on Conditionalism now broke out in various places.
Note one particular sequence.
1. FROM GREW TO STORRS TO ADVENT MOVEMENT.—
In the early thirties Deacon Henry Grew, of Rhode Island and Philadelphia, issued two important pamphlets on the subject.
Then George Storrs, Methodist minister of New York, had his attention called to the subject by reading Grew. After thoroughly investigating the question, Storrs completely adopted the doctrine of the mortality of man and the postulate of the destruction of the wicked—in other words, the standard Conditionalist position. In 1841 he issued his first treatise thereon, and in 1842 began to publish his famous Six Sermons, which were thereafter extensively circulated.
In 1843 Storrs started the Bible Examiner, soon devoted largely to teaching Conditionalism. Meanwhile, in 1842 Congregationalist Calvin French published a 54-page pamphlet at Boston contending for immortality only in Christ, the sleep of the dead, and the final annihilation of the wicked. And numerous individuals among the Disciples, or Campbellites, likewise adopted Conditionalism, though not the denomination as a whole. These developments in the New World as well as the Old will each be noted in their chronological sequence.
(Fallowing 1844 the two main divisions of the Adventists embraced the doctrine of the mortality of the soul, the unconscious state of the dead, and the ultimate and utter destruction of the wicked. Those Adventists who did not adopt these views separated into splinter bodies that have dwindled to small proportions and are scarcely in the fraternity of Adventists.)
1 See Abbot, The Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life, under Balfour.
2. PROMINENT ACCESSIONS FOLLOW MID-CENTURY.—
But back in 1828 at Buffalo, New York, came Baptist minister Jacob Blain with a 117-page book entitled Death Not Life.
It had a large sale and numerous editions. And Horace L. Hastings, of Boston, Massachusetts, issued several extensively circulated pamphlets on Conditionalism—to mention but two.
Next appeared Prof. C. F. Hudson, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, with two very important volumes, Debt and Grace, as related to the Doctrine of a Future Life, and Christ Our Life: the Scriptural Argument for Immortality Through Christ Alone. These made a deep impression in religious circles.
In 1863 Professor Hudson reported forty prominent clergymen in the larger denominations—just among his personal acquaintances—who held the Conditionalist view. And by 1860 there were at least one thousand preachers in the United States alone now pleading the cause of Conditionalism. Prominent among men of all faiths advocating the doctrine were Dr. Charles L. Ives, of Yale, author of Bible Doctrine of the Soul; J. H. Pettingell, author of several able works, such as The Unspeakable Gift and The Life Everlasting. Then the names come so fast that one can scarcely keep up with them —such as J. H. Whitmore, with Immortality; Uriah Smith, with Man's Nature and Destiny; D. M. Canright, The History of the Soul (1870).
Writers of other Adventist bodies who embraced the Conditionalist view were John Couch, O. R. Fassett, Edwin Burnham, Albion Ross, A. A. Phelps, H. F. Carpenter, and C. R. Hendricks. And a similar list—James White, J. N. Andrews, J. H. Waggoner, J. N. Loughborough, George I. Butler, S. N. Haskell, and W. H. Littlejohn—is to be found among the early Seventh-day Adventist Conditionalist exponents. By this time there were various journals published by these groups advocating Conditionalism—Bible Examiner, World's Crisis, Review and Herald, Signs of the Times, The Restitution, Herald of Life, et cetera.
3. 1877 MARKS THE NEW PERIOD OF EXTENSION.—
An other interesting international development occurred in the fall and winter of 1877 as Conditionalism was brought prominently before the religious world on both sides of the Atlantic.
In the United States a few previously "orthodox" ministers in different parts of New England publicly rejected the doctrine of immortality of the soul, and especially the Eternal Torment of the lost. This created a tremendous stir in religious circles.
Both the religious and the secular press took up the cudgels, and expatiated upon the question, calling for a general discussion of the subject by the clergy. As a result ministers all over the United States preached simultaneously, on one Sunday, on the question of Hell. In New York City alone it was stated that one hundred ministers preached on that subject, pro and con.
Thus the issue came more and more to the forefront. Symposiums appeared in newspaper, periodical, and book form. Debates were common.
And all this, be it noted, was independent of, but simultaneous with, an even greater awakening in Britain, which is separately handled, with its essential details. 1877 was not only a notable year for fomenting interest and fostering investigation over here, but—though not so extensively or intensively— there was widespread discussion in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Africa, Australia, India, Japan, Jamaica, and even China.
Thus independent studies were conducted, or at least repercussions were heard, in far-flung lands. It was like a wave rolling over the surface of the globe. We will now trace the various American developments, beginning with Bishop William White, about 1800. Watch for the geographical spread and the denominations involved. These will be important.
Just before we cross the threshold of the nineteenth century we must pause long enough to note an anonymous 141- page work published in New York in 1795, entitled Observation .... 4th. Arguments in Support of the Opinion, that the Soul is Inactive and Unconscious from Death to the Resurrection, derived from Scripture. [2] It is consequently a fact that Conditionalism had made its appearance in America just before 1800. This treatise was a precursor of a line of vigorous Conditionalists identified by name, and very vocal, appearing as soon as we enter the new century. It would be interesting to know the identity of this unnamed harbinger of the new day.
2 Ibid., no. 2629.
We now come to WILLIAM WHITE (1747-1836), one of the organizers of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, and first bishop of Pennsylvania. He was graduated from the College (later University) of Philadelphia in 1765, and completed his theological studies in 1770. Going to England, he was ordained an Anglican clergyman in Lon don in 1773, and upon returning became rector of the united parishes of Christ's Church and St. Peters, Philadelphia, which post he held until death.
1. OBTAINED EPISCOPAL ORDERS FOR DAUGHTER AMERICAN CHURCH.—
White played a central part in founding the Protestant Episcopal Church of America. In fact the movement for its organization was started in White's study, where the Episcopal clergy of Philadelphia met to draw up plans for a General Convention. White was designated first bishop of Pennsylvania in 1786, being consecrated in London by the archbishops of Canterbury and York, thus obtaining Episcopal orders for the daughter American church. He presided over fifty diocesan sessions.
White introduced the plan of lay participation with the clergy in all legislation—a novelty in Anglicanism. He was also chiefly responsible for the American Revision of the Book of Common Prayer, which remains largely unaltered to the present. While engaged in much controversial writing, White worked closely with other Protestant groups. He was one of the first to endorse the Sunday school, a new institution, then regarded with grave suspicion and even hostility. And he was long: chaplain of Congress (1777-1801), when it still met in Philadelphia, and was the intimate of many statesmen, some of whom were members of his congregation. He was also president of the American Bible Society.
Bishop White was author of Lectures on the Catechism of the Protestant Episcopal Church (1813), Comparative Views of the Controversy Between the Calvinists and the Armenian’s, 2 vols. (1814-16), and Memoir of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (1820).
He was therefore thoroughly and typically Episcopalian.
2. TURNED AWAY FROM CALVIN'S PREDESTINARIANISM.
White was primarily a theologian, though familiar with the arguments of philosophy and of Platonism as well as the foibles of Deism. Reason, he held, was not to be worshiped but was to serve the mind as a tool. White felt that man must face the problems of Christianity squarely. Thus he came, inevitably, to be interested in the doctrine of man. And in this he was deeply influenced by the writings of John Locke, who was a Conditionalist. [3] White held the doctrine of free will, and con tended strongly against the philosophic necessity that had come to be associated with certain Calvinistic teachings, especially those expressed by Jonathan Edwards, on the Eternal Torment of the wicked.
3 See pp. 187-191.
Chrysostum and other fourth-century Fathers, White held, had considered predestination from the standpoint of questions raised by the philosophers. But Augustine introduced the next step which, still through predestination, excluded a great proportion of mankind from possibility of salvation.
Eleven hundred years later, at the Reformation, the thought of the "final perseverance of the saints" was introduced, which idea again came to be coupled with the philosophic aspect.
White's criticism of Augustine's predestination was based on the chronological lateness of its introduction and its conflict with the teaching of the earlier Fathers. In this he cites Bishop Burnet, who had said, "I follow the doctrine of the Greek Church, from which the St. Austin departed, and formed a new system." [4] White therefore favoured Luther's position rather than Calvin's teachings on the will and predestination, because it went back to the earlier Fathers. He was thus prepared for the Conditionalist position on the nature of man.
Bishop White opposed the doctrine of Hume, who believed in "the development of man from a low state," holding that "the religions of the great prehistoric civilizations were originally monotheistic and that religion, separated from revelation, had degenerated into polytheism." [5]
3. MORTALITY INHERITED BY ALL FROM ADAM.—
On the question of immortality White held that since Adam's fall immortality has been lost to mankind. He referred to "the universality of mortality through Adam." From Adam all men inherited mortality. [6] This was because in the Fall man became mortal when he was found unworthy, by Adam's sin, of immortality. He approvingly cites Bishop Wilson on this point. [7] Bishop White pressed on the fact that "as in Adam all die, so in Christ all are made alive." Through Christ "mortality was squarely met in the crucifixion and was overcome on the third day. The resurrection proved an immortality which might have been hoped for on the grounds of rational deduction, but could never have been assumed without the empirical fact." [8] This placed all men in a new relationship to God. Immortality comes through Christ.
4. FALL BROUGHT WITHDRAWAL OF PRIVILEGES.—
But White also held that when Adam broke the provisions of the original conditions it would be expected that God should withdraw the privileges. [9]
4 William White, Comparative Views of the Controversy Between the Calvinists and the Armenians, vol. 1, pp. 506, 507.
5 Sydney A. Temple, The Common Sense Theology of Bishop White, p. 34.
6 Ibid., p. 33.
7 Ibid., p. 34.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid., p. 33.
"The immediate effect of the first transgression was mortality including liability to all the diseases, to all the violence and to all the other injuries on the body which may be causes of it." [10] Such were the views of America's first Episcopal bishop on the question o£ forfeited immortality and its restoration through Christ—evidently adopted around 1800.
White was quite different from ELIAS SMITH (1769-1846), of Connecticut, schoolteacher, then Baptist minister, and one of the founders of the Christian Connection (or Connexion). [11]
10 Ibid., p. 88.
Springing largely from the Arminian Baptists, and discarding sectarian names, this group simply called themselves Christians, holding to freedom from creeds and traditions and championing not only religious liberty but the inalienable right of private judgment and individual interpretation. As a body they rejected the teachings of Innate Immortality and Eternal Torment, believing the wicked will finally be utterly destroyed. The Christian Connection should not be confused with the later Campbellite Christian Church.
He was also editor of The Herald of Gospel Liberty, which he started in 1808, and continued until 1815. Smith strongly de fended the view that immortality is God's free gift, bestowed on the righteous only, through Christ at His second coming— the wicked utterly perishing at the time of the second death.
Thousands of Smith's followers in the Christian Connection likewise held to Conditional Immortality. This development is to be particularly noted, because it was no longer the belief of a single individual but of thousands in an entire communion. That was new in Conditionalist history.
1. REJECTS POPULAR CONCEPT OF ENDLESS HELL.—
Smith stressed the eschatological prophecies, the Second Advent, and the two resurrections—the second resurrection leading to the complete destruction of the wicked in the lake of fire at the end of the millennium. Then the new earth and the eternal kingdom of God are to be established. [12] Smith emphatically rejected the popular Hell of "everlasting torment" professed by the majority of Christians. He contended, from many passages of Scripture, that the wicked will be completely destroyed, will perish, be devoured, burned up like chaff, and pass out of being. The wicked, both soul and body, will die, and live no more. This second death, Smith averred, is in contrast with, and in opposition to, eternal life. [13]
2. FIVE "HELLS" OF POPULAR BELIEF.—
Smith's first book was The Doctrine of the Prince of Peace and His Serv ants, concerning the End of the Wicked . . . proving that the Doctrines of the Universalists [Restoration] and Calvinists [Eternal Torment] are not the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and His Apostles (1805). A second book of Sermons concerned the "Prophecies to be accomplished from the Present time, until the New Heavens and Earth are created" (1808). In this latter work Smith enumerates the five "hells" of popular belief as: "1. The Pagan's hell. 2. The Mahometan's hell. 3. The Papist's hell. 4. The Protestant's hell. 5. The Scripture hell, or that which is mentioned in the Bible." Under the latter head (Rev. 20:14, 15) Smith interestingly says:
"Hell is described as a place where the souls and bodies of the wicked will be destroyed. . . . How different is this description of hell from the other four which have been mentioned. The heathen's hell is wholly a fiction. The Mahometan's is taken from theirs and coloured with Scripture; but is evidently of the same nature. The Roman Catholics' hell is the Pagan's, revived and named from the Scripture.
"All these mention a place of purgation by fire. This, some of the Universalists hold to, proving it from the Scriptures as the Papists do, from places which say nothing about it. The fourth [or Protestants] hell described, which people in general believe in, is contrary to all the Word of God. It is the same in nature with the other three, as to the punishment being eternal existence." [14]
12 Elias Smith, Sermons, sermons 13, 14, 19-22.
13 Ibid., sermons 15-18.
3. PROTESTANT HELL FROM PAGAN MYTHOLOGY.—
Smith then addresses himself to the "fourth," or Protestant, Hell with this elaboration:
"And it [the Protestant Hell] is taken from the Pagan mythology, not from the Word of God. If the wicked exist tor ever in misery, they must have both life and immortality; for they cannot exist without this in heaven, much more in hell. Lite and immortality are blessings brought to light in the gospel, which none but believers will ever have.
If the wicked die in their sins, they die without any part in Christ: dying thus, they will never see life nor immortality, and will die the SECOND DEATH, being burnt up like the chaff, like the stubble, like the tares, like the tree twice dead." [15]
4. THREE ALTERNATIVES As TO FATE OF WICKED.—
In sermon sixteen, Smith puts forth the three alternatives held by Christians pertaining to the death the disobedient will experience. They are listed as follows:
"1. A state of miserable existence without end; 2. A state of misery for a while and then to be made happy for ever; or 3. An end of their existence after they are raised out of their graves at the last day, and judged according to their works." [l6] He then says:
"The last of these three, I believe, is the truth which Christ and the Apostles preached, and to which the testimony of the prophets agree. This I shall prove from the New Testament; viz., That at the day of judgment, all who are found enemies of Christ, will be destroyed both soul and body, and be no more." [17]
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid., sermon 16, prop. ii.
5. INDEFEASIBLE IMMORTALITY DERIVED FROM PLATONISM.—
After enumerating a dozen familiar New Testament terms used to describe the fate of the wicked—death, second death, destroy, destruction, perish, perdition, damnation, condemnation, vengeance, wrath, consume, devour, burn up, ground to powder—Smith categorically states:
"There is not one place in the Bible which says the soul is immortal."
"This notion that there is life in the soul of the wicked, or a principle that cannot die, was taken from the Platonic Philosophers, and was introduced as Scripture doctrine in the third century, and is exactly contrary to what Christ preached.” John 5.11-12." [18]
Such were Smith's positions in 1808, and those of the Christian Connection.
6. ALERTED BY BOOK ON "OBSTRUCTIONISM."—
It may be of interest to know how Smith was alerted to the error of ever lasting torment. This he states in his Autobiography:
"This year my attention was called to think of the real state of the wicked after the last judgment. Before this time, I had taken for truth the old pagan doctrine of eternal misery for the wicked. In June, 1804, being in Mr. Holmes' book store, in Boston, I asked him if he had any new publications. He handed me Evan's Sketch. [19] On opening the book my eyes first fixed on the word, 'destructionists.' I read one page, and concluded people who held that the wicked should be destroyed fire in a strange error as no such thing eyer before entered my mind.
"I bought the book. Often after that the destruction of the wicked would pass through my mind, though I supposed eternal misery was re corded in the Bible. In April, 1805, I concluded one day to take my Bible and Concordance, and find eternal misery, and not have my mind any longer troubled about destruction.
"I examined the words, misery, miserable, miserably; and found that there was not one place in the Bible where the word was used to describe the state of man beyond death. I then looked at the words destroy, destruction, death, second death, perish, consumed, perdition, ^ burnt up, etc., I examined the similitudes used to describe the end of the wicked such as chaff and stubble burnt up; dry trees cast into the fire, and tares burnt; the fat of lambs consumed, whirlwinds, a dream, and a noise. All these things proved to me that at the last judgment, the wicked would be punished with everlasting destruction, which would be their end." [20] That started Smith on his Conditionalist way—in 1804.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 John Evans, A Sketch of the Denominations in Which the Christian World Is Divided, p. 117. This passage refers by name to certain recent British Conditionalists; namely, John Taylor (1787—on the Future State), Samuel Bourn, of Norwich (1759—on Future Punishment), and John Marsom (1794—Universal Restoration Examined).
It is therefore evident that Smith received his Conditionalist seed thought from England, not from any antecedent Americans. The three British writers mentioned in Evans' book all held to "everlasting destruction" as indicating "eternal death," for no infliction of death is for a "limited period." [21] It will be remembered, of course, that Joseph Priestley had been in this country, and held that the soul slept until the resurrection, though he was not strictly a Conditionalist. And he held to the destruction of many of the wicked. But apparently he made no open converts to his view in America.
JOHN SELLON (d. 1830), scholarly minister of St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church, Canandaigua, New York, preached an important "Series of Sermons, on the Doctrine of Everlasting Punishment," soon published in seventy-five-page book form, with preface dated "June 23, 1828." Refreshingly clear, logical, and Biblical., they were quite comprehensive, and evidently created a deep impression. Their repercussions extended far beyond the confines of the local community, as they were widely noted. Their early date, near the beginning of the century, calls for a survey of the high lights.
1. PUNISHMENT WOULD NOT EXCEED SENTENCE.—
Sermon I dealt with the original sentence imposed by the Creator for Adam's disobedience—"to return to the state from whence he was taken." [22] Sellon then declares that God "would surely not extend the punishment beyond the penalty which he had declared should accompany the transgression of his laws''— namely, death. [23] Then he observes that there is not "one word in the law, the penalty, or the sentence" that could "possibly be construed" to mean endless punishing. [24]
2. GEHENNA DENOTES "TOTAL AND UTTER DESTRUCTION."—
Declaring that there is no probation beyond this life, and that man was made "a free and accountable agent," [25] Sellon next turns, in. Sermon II, to the intent of hades, as the "state of the dead, or a state of death, without reference to endless duration." [26] Gehenna, on the contrary, conveys the "idea of total and utter destruction after death; where all that remained of the dead carcase was totally and entirely destroyed and consumed." This he repeats for emphasis—"utter and entire consumption, and as it were annihilation," "total and endless destruction," [27] destruction of "both body and soul in Gehenna." That, Sellon says, is the "everlasting destruction of both body and soul, after death." [28] This is "at the final judgment." [29] And this he supports from both Old and New Testament texts.
20 Elias Smith, Autobiography, pp. 347, 348.
21 Ibid.
22 J. Sellon, A Series of Sermons, on the Doctrine of Everlasting Punishment, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, p. 8.
3. SOULS OF UNBELIEVERS ARE NOT IMMORTAL.—
Then comes a crucial question and an explicit answer on the immortality of the soul: "But it may be said, if the soul is immortal, how then can it die? What evidence have we, my brethren, that the soul of the unbeliever is immortal? I know indeed, that God hath given unto us eternal life, and I know likewise, that that life is in his Son; and I have therefore yet to learn, that the soul which is not in Christ, is immortal; for we are assured, that to be carnally minded is death, and that God is able to destroy both body and soul in Hell; and that life and immortality were brought to light through the Gospel. That the soul only is immortal then, which lives in Christ; and every soul which does not live in Christ, shall die forever." [30] This is really the key paragraph of the treatise.
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid., p. 9.
25 Ibid., p. 15.
26 Ibid., p. 22.
27 Ibid., p. 23.
28 Ibid., p. 24.
29 Ibid., p. 25.
30 Ibid., p. 26.
4. SINNER FREE TO CHOOSE DESTRUCTION RATHER THAN LIFE.—
In Sermon III Sellon recognizes that such preaching will be "new" to some and in "opposition perhaps to commonly received opinions." But he feels impelled to declare his convictions as in the "immediate presence of my Maker." This statement is made because he conscientiously believed his position "to be the truth of God," not the "opinions of men, which have no foundation" in "Divine Revelation." Otherwise he would be "unworthy of your confidence, as a minister of the Gospel of our Saviour." [31] He warns against the "dictates and opinions of mere human authority" as the "most dangerous to all the arts of priest craft." Wicked man, he holds, as a free moral agent may "choose annihilation, in preference to all the joys of heaven."
The sinner, may make his "own wilful and determined choice," and "choose everlasting destruction, in preference to eternal life." [32]
5. ETERNAL TORTURE INCONSISTENT WITH GOD'S CHARACTER.—
Eternal "living torture," Sellon maintains, is inconsistent with the character of God—His "omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, justice, mercy, love, truth, and sacred word." The popular concept of the "tortures of the damned" is a "human invention." Then he prays: "O heavenly Father, cleanse the hearts of all thy faithful children, from such polluting thoughts/1 Such a word as "torture, or any derivative from it, or any word synonymous with it, never once occurs in the whole of the sacred writings." Thus he bases his "arguments" on the "nature of man and the attributes of God." [33]
6. ETERNAL TORMENT NOT SCRIPTURAL, THEREFORE FALSE.—
Sermon VII (Matt. 25:46—"And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.") opens with the truism: "If any doctrine is taught of man, and not to be found clearly revealed in the holy Scriptures, that doctrine is false." [34] Then he declares:
"Now, I say, that the doctrine of eternal torture, is not to be found in the Scriptures, and therefore it is false. But, that the doctrine of the everlasting destruction of the wicked, is clearly and distinctly, and expressly revealed in the Scriptures, and therefore it is true." [35]
31 Ibid., pp. 28, 29.
32 Ibid., pp. 70, 71.
33 ibid., pp. 72, 73.
34 Ibid., p. 74.
He then proceeds to examine "every important passage which occurs in the sacred writings, having reference to the eternal punishment of the wicked." And he comments "none of which can possibly be construed to imply those eternal tortures." Speaking of Revelation 14:8 torment "in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb"— he asserts that such a Hell would have to be "in heaven." And in Revelation 20:13. on the "lake of fire," which is the "second death," Sellon comments, "We cannot imagine that Death and Hell are cast there, to be tortured." Rather the "passage implies the utter destruction of them all." [36]
7. GEHENNA TOTAL DESTRUCTION AFTER DEATH.—
All other passages may be divided into "three separate classes"(1) punishment by "being cast into hell, or everlasting fire"; (2) the "effect of fire," without reference to "Hell"; and (3) those involving the words "death, destruction, or everlasting destruction." As to the first, Gehenna (Hebrew) was the valley near Jerusalem "where the dead carcases were brought out from Jerusalem to be consumed in this fire." It can therefore "convey to their minds no other idea, than that of total destruction after death," and "never as a place of torture." [37]
8. FIRE INDICATES TOTAL CONSUMPTION, NOT ETERNAL TORTURE.—
The second category deals with the "effect of fire" as with the "tares" of Matthew 13, "burned" in the "end of the world." Then he asks "whether the tares were cast into the fire to be tortured, or to be destroyed?" And as to the bad fish cast away—cast into "a furnace of fire"—did the casting away of the bad fish imply "torture or destruction"? Likewise with the chaff of Matthew 3—to be burned with "unquenchable fire"—he again asks "whether the idea of chaff burnt up, can possibly imply eternal torture." Was it to be "tortured, or to be consumed"? Similarly with the branches of John l5 cast into the fire to be "burned." Here he asserts, "It cannot imply any other idea than destruction." [38]
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid., pp. 74-77.
37 Ibid., pp. 77, 78.
9. ETERNAL TORTURE Is "INVENTION OF MAN."—
As to the expression "Our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12), Sellon inquires, "Does this expression imply a fire which does not consume?" The "instrument" is the means of "entire destruction." Then as to the words "death," "die," "destroy," "destruction," "consume," "perish," "utterly perish," "the doc trine of eternal torture, is not to be found there." [39] Finally he says: "I conclude, then, that the doctrine of eternal torture is not to be found in the holy Scriptures, and therefore it is false; it is the invention of man." [40]
10. FOUR FALSEHOODS INVOLVED IN ETERNAL TORMENT.
—Appealing to men to "search the Scripture" for truth, Sellon concludes with this summarizing statement:
"There are four contradictions which must be got over before we can even form an idea of eternal torture. First: everlasting fire which does not consume. Second: Eternal pain without destruction. Third: continued life, although utterly cut off from the only source and cause of all life. And fourth: present existence, though driven from the presence of the omnipresent God.—Let the mind endeavour to realize any ones of these ideas, and it will find that each implies a palpable contradiction; yet they must all combine, to form the idea of eternal torture." [41] He again appeals to men to "search the Scripture for themselves," for they vindicate the justice, mercy, and love of God, and "his truth and his consistency." [42] This was an Episcopalian rector in 1828.
As far south as Fayetteville, North Carolina, a tractate appeared in 1844, written by JOHN H. PEARCE, titled An Attempt to answer the Question, Has Man a Conscious State of Existence after Death, and previous to the Resurrection? [43] maintaining the "sleep of the soul" position. So there were little stirrings in various sections, as well as major contributions.
38 Ibid., pp. 78, 79.
39 Ibid., pp. 80, 81.
40 Ibid., p. 81.
41 Ibid., p. 84.
42 Ibid., p. 85.
43 Abbot, op. cit., no. 2631.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
A chain of connected witnesses begins with HENRY GREW (1781-1862). He was born in England but came to the United States with his parents at the age of fourteen. His father, a merchant and a Congregationalist, wished his son to pursue a mercantile career, but Henry chose the ministry instead. During the course of preparation he came to believe that the Bible calls for Laptism by immersion, and so was led to join the Baptist church of Providence, Rhode Island. Upon completion of his ministerial training he became pastor of the First Baptist church of Hartford, Connecticut, in 1807. He was an earnest and consecrated Bible student, and a marked revival developed early in his pastorate there, many converts being added to the church.
1. RELINQUISHES PASTORAL POST BECAUSE OF CONVICTIONS.—Then, after considerable study over the intriguing question of the nature and destiny of man, evidently from the Bible alone, he came to believe in Conditional Immortality, thus differing from the majority view of the members of his congregation and of his own denomination. This development brought on tensions. So in 1811 he relinquished his post as pastor. However, he continued to reside in Hartford for several years, where he served first as treasurer of the Hartford Peace Society, and from 1837 as secretary-treasurer of the Connecticut Peace Society.
Meantime, Grew wrote two important tracts setting forth his matured convictions on the nature and destiny of man—The Intermediate State (c. 1835); and Future Punishment, not Eternal Life in Misery (1844). Both Passed through several subsequent editions. [1] Then, after living for a short time in Boston, he moved on to Philadelphia, where he continued to reside until his death. [2]
Grew was a man of strong character and deep convictions, with absolute fidelity to what he believed to be true and right. For example, he was an ardent abolitionist, and during the conflict over slavery, championed the cause of the American slave. He likewise was active in the cause of peace. He was also an effective writer, particularly in the field of his deepest interest—Conditional Immortality. In fact, it was Grew's pamphlet on the final destiny of the wicked that, as we shall see, in 1837 fell into the hands of the talented Methodist minister George Storrs, who, after several years of investigation, adopted his views and introduced them into the major groups of the great Second Advent Movement in North America.
■
2. UNIQUE RELATIONSHIP TO AMERICAN CONDITIONALISM.—Grew thus holds a unique position in American Conditionalism, much akin to that of James Fontaine, of Britain, in relation to Edward White in England. [3] So it was "Deacon" Grew, as he was commonly called, who wrote the leaflet that sparked the interest of Storrs, which, in turn, eventually led to Storrs's break with his own church over his convictions relative to Conditional Immortality.
1 The Intermediate State was reprinted in England in 1851, with notes by William G. Moncrieff.
2 Centennial Memorial of the First Baptist Church of Hartford, Connecticut-1790-1890, pp. 193, 194.
3 See p. 324.
And like Edward White, the English Congregationalist—and at about the same time, though wholly independently—Storrs brought the doctrine of Conditionalism to large numbers through his convincing Six Sermons, which attained a circulation in excess of two hundred thousand, [4] including a ten thousand reprint in Britain. And it should be noted that the total population of the United States in 1840 was only some seventeen million, according to the United States census. Proportionately, then, it reached a large segment of the religious leaders of the day.
Grew's first tract, The Intermediate State (written c. 1835), contended in the explanatory Preface that the "entire man" was "subjected to the dominion of death," and that "hope of all future existence must be founded on the glorious doctrine of the resurrection from the grave." This, of course, involved "entire rejection" of the "popular theory of the soul's independent and never-ceasing consciousness." [5] That was his basic premise. And it was written in a very simple but forthright manner.
1. SOUL NOT CAPABLE OF SEPARATE CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE.—Grew challenged the postulate of the "conscious existence" of the soul "independently of and separate from the body." [6] And in demonstrating the un-Biblical character of such claims, he presented a series of propositions:
"1. The account of the creation of man is opposed to the theory that he possesses a distinct spiritual subsistence which is capable of conscious existence independently of the body." [7]
4 See Bible Examiner, March, 1880, p. 401.
5 Henry Grew, The Intermediate State (1844 ed.), Preface, p. 2.
6 Ibid., p. 3.
7 Ibid.
Supporting this contention, Grew states that the "breath of life" (the "principle of vitality") was "antecedent to its connection with the new formed man," but was not a "conscious, intelligent and immortal substance." And he asks, pointedly, that if it did not possess consciousness prior to connection with the body, "how can it possess it when, at death, it is separated from that organization"? Again, "How can we account for the fact of all omission of the creation of such an immortal soul" in the "inspired record of his original creation"? [8] Those points were foundational.
2."UNCONSCIOUSNESS" MARKS PERIOD BETWEEN DEATH AND RESURRECTION.—Next, Grew deals with original Hebrew and Greek terms for "soul" and "spirit," none of which [9] "signifies an immortal soul which survives the death of the body." [10] His next proposition is that "the Bible teaches that MAN, THE Som.., as well as the body, dies." [11] And he contends that always "death is the opposite of life; the cessation or privation of it." He adds that while the Bible says, "The dead know not anything," have no more reward, their love and their hatred is "perished," the "popular" Immortal-Soul theory, on the contrary, affirms that "the dead know more than they did before." But the Bible teaches that "the state between death and the resurrection" is one of "unconsciousness." [12]
3. ALL FUTURE EXISTENCE DEPENDS ON RESURRECTION. —Grew's next point is that "the Bible teaches that man is dependent on his resurrection from the grave for all future existence." "Our Savior predicates their living, entirely on their resurrection from the grave; consequently, they have no [immortal] life at present." And Paul asserts that if there be no "resurrection," then they "have perished to exist no more." Grew then observes that "to say that an immortal soul can perish is a contradiction in terms." Meantime, the believer's life is hidden "with Christ," to be manifest when He " 'shall appear' the second time.' [13]
4. "FUTURE FELICITY" BEGINS AT SECOND ADVENT.—Point 6 is that "the Bible teaches that the saints are to wait for future glory until Jesus comes to be glorified in His kingdom." [14]
8 Ibid., p. 4.
9 Ibid., pp. 5-7.
10 Ibid., p. 6.
11 Ibid., p. 7.
12 Ibid., pp. 8, 9.
13 Ibid., pp. 9, 10.
14 Ibid., p. 10.
His kingdom is to be established on the earth made "new," following the second coming of Christ—not at death. In other words, our "future felicity" is not to be enjoyed as "disembodied spirits in the intermediate state." [15] Hence (point 7) the "great object of the saints' hope," is "the coming of Jesus Christ, our resurrection from the dead, and our gathering together unto him in his kingdom." [16] Grew also contends (point 8) that "among the innumerable promises, to the saints in general, of future blessedness, not one is to be found of felicity in the intermediate state." [17]
It therefore follows (point 9) that "the saints will not be presented before the presence 'of God' or unto Jesus Christ, until the resurrection from the grave." The apostolic exhortations are enforced, not by the consideration of any judgment at death, but by the coming of our Lord.” [18] And he insists (point 13) that "the intermediate state is a condition of unconsciousness." [19] Grew repeats, in conclusion, that "not in a single instance is man, in the general, declared to be immortal." [20] It was evidently this tract that fell into the hands of Storrs.
1. NO "IMMORTAL OR DEATHLESS SPIRITS.”—Grew's second tract—Future Punishment, Not Eternal Life in Misery, but Destruction—turns from "mystical interpretation" and philosophical speculation to the Word of God, away from "everlasting existence in misery" to "everlasting destruction." [21] Grew again states, "In vain do we search for a single inspired declaration. that man, in the general, is immortal" A creature is dependent upon his Creator for life. No "prophet or apostle" has "ever told men that they have immortal souls for deathless spirits." [22]
15 Ibid., p. 11.
16 Ibid., p. 12.
17 Ibid., p. 13.
18 Ibid., p. 14.
19 Ibid., p. 15.
21 Grew, Future Punishment, Not Eternal Life in Misery, pp. 1, 2.
20 Ibid., p. 16.
22 Ibid., p. 3.
2. SECOND DEATH NOT "INTERMINABLE MISERABLE EXISTENCE."—The fate of the wicked is "not life in misery, but death." [23] The "second death" involves destruction, perishing, coming to an end—"not eternal existence in misery." [24] "Everlasting punishment" does not involve "everlasting existence." [25] The destruction of Sodom is then set forth as "an example" of "suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." [26] The length of suffering is not revealed in the Bible, but it will be "apportioned" with justice. However, it definitely is not "interminable miserable existence." [27] There are "different degrees" of future punishment, which is "perfectly reconcilable with final destruction of being." [28] Such a position also negates the opposite "error" of "universal salvation." [29] That was the essence of the Grew tracts, which likewise had wide repercussions.
Next comes GEORGE STORRS (1796-1867), able Methodist minister, said to have served for a brief time as a presiding elder. He began his ministry under the traveling connection provision in 1825 and continued to preach successfully for them until 1836. In fact, many considered him destined for a bishopric. But the local bishop of the Methodist Church was set against all Abolitionist agitation, and took every means of suppressing its discussion. Because of this and other factors Storrs, who had been active in Abolitionist lines, finally withdrew from the Methodist communion and ministry.
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid., p. 4.
25 Ibid., p. 5.
26 Ibid., p. 6.
27 Ibid., p. 9.
28 Ibid., p. 10.
29 Ibid., pp. 10, 11.
30 See p. 301.
In 1837 Storrs, who had been brought up a Calvinist—with its emphasis on the Eternal Torment of the wicked in Hell—became exercised over the real nature and destiny of man. As before noted, this came about through reading a tract on the question by Deacon Henry Grew [30] of Hartford and Philadelphia. Storrs read the tractate to while away the time on a slow train trip. It first intrigued him and then drove him to an intensive search of the Scriptures thereon.
1. BECOMES A CONDITIONALIST AFTER THREE YEARS' STUDY.—So it was that, after three years of investigation, discussion, and correspondence with some of America's most eminent ministers, he reached the irrevocable conclusion that man does not possess innate, inherent immortality, but receives it only as a gift from God through Christ, at the resurrection. And as a companion truth, he likewise came to hold that after due punishment God will utterly exterminate the wicked through fire at the second death. [31]
31 Bible Examiner, March, 1880, p. 399.
Storrs had been highly esteemed in his denomination and respected by its ministry. He knew that by taking his stand on this delicate doctrine he would sever himself from these congenial relationships. But it had become a matter of conscience, and he deliberately withdrew from Methodism in 1840. Soon after, he expressed his convictions in three letters to an intimate friend, a prominent minister in the Methodist Church, who replied that he could not answer Storrs's arguments. He advised Storrs to publish them anonymously, in order to get the public reaction. This Storrs did in 1841 under the title An Enquiry: Are the Souls of the Wicked Immortal? In Three Letters.
2. ORIGIN OF THE FAMOUS "SIX SERMONS."—The Protestant principle "The Bible and the Bible Only" was his platform. Soon he became pastor of a congregation in Albany, New York, where his views on Conditionalism were known. He did not, however, at first preach on this controversial theme. But by 1842 he felt impelled to speak out clearly. He spent an entire week in the final preparation of the first sermon. To avoid being misunderstood he did the unusual, for him, and wrote out and read his sermon. Deep interest was expressed. So he prepared and presented other vital aspects of the subject in succeeding weeks, until he had preached his sixth sermon thereon.
Friends urged their publication. So Storrs reviewed, revised, and published them as An Enquiry: Are the Souls of the Wicked Immortal? In Six Sermons (Albany: 1842). These soon came to be known as Storrs's Six Sermons. Through this means he became widely known as an effective writer, and before long was the successful editor of the Bible Examiner. He soon was devoted almost entirely to "No Immortality, or Endless Life Except Through Jesus Christ Alone." He was also an able expositor of Bible prophecy. [32] The Six Sermons had reached the twenty-first edition in 1852, and some 200,000 copies had been circulated by 1880. [33]
32 See Froom, Prophetic Faith, vol. 4, pp. 804-809.
33 Bible Examiner, March, 1880, p. 401.
Traveling widely in the Eastern and Midwestern States from 1843 onward, Storrs preached to great crowds, many of whom wished to hear his views on the fate of the wicked, for he held that the concept of an ever burning Hell constituted a blot on the character of God. He could remain silent no longer. Soon certain ministers, like the well-known Presbyterian Charles Fitch and Free-Methodist Calvin French, wholeheartedly accepted his views on Conditionalism. Thus it was George Storrs who introduced the teaching of Conditionalism into the great Second Advent Movement of the time.
But strong opposition also developed on the part of some, such as Dr. Josiah Litch, of Philadelphia, who went so far as to bring out a periodical against it called the Anti-Annihilationist. Later, however, there was widespread acceptance of his teaching in the formative days both of the first-day Adventists (later the Advent Christian Church) and the Seventh-day Adventists. These both received their Conditionalist views chiefly from George Storrs's clear and logical writings on this subject. Because of this we should examine his Six Sermons to get their gist.
1. INDEFEASIBLE IMMORTALITY INVOLVES ETERNAL SUFFER-ING.—Storrs's purpose in his Six Sermons is set forth in the subtitle—to present an answer to the question "Is There Immortality in Sin and Suffering?" Sermon 1 states the question specifically:
"Will the wicked who live and die in their sins, continue eternally, or without end, in a state of conscious existence? Or, once more—Is the punishment God threatened to sinners an eternal state of suffering and sin? This involves the question of immortality. For if all men can be proved to be immortal, it seems to follow from the Bible, that the finally impenitent will be left in a state of endless suffering and sin." [34]
From this Storrs plunges into the usual "arguments in proof of man's immortality" [35] such as that the soul is "indestructible, and therefore immortal." [36]
34 Storrs, Six Sermons, p. 21.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid., pp. 21, 22.
Declaring that such a concept comes from Plato, he quotes from the noted Conditionalist archbishop Whately in support. [37] And after a four-page citation from Whately, Storrs asserts that— "there is no truth in the oft repeated assertion that all nations and people have believed in man's immortality, or an endless conscious survivance of a fancied entity called the soul." [38]
2. SUPPOSED "INDESTRUCTIBILITY" OF SOUL IS PURE ASSUMPTION.—Storrs further declares:
"The attempt to prove the immortality of the soul, from its supposed indestructibility, is without force or truth; and with it falls the whole catalogue of assumptions, with which it is connected. He who created can destroy—'Fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell'—in Gehenna." [39]
Storrs next turns to the Biblical evidence on "eternal," "immortal," and "immortality," [40] making the usual Conditionalist argument, and concludes with:
"Men by sin have been cut off from the tree of life—they were starving, dying. Christ cometh: the bread of life—the feast is spread; hungry, dying souls are invited, without money and without price. Come, eat and Live. If you stay away, you DIE. O come to Christ and live—yea, live forever. and not die. Amen." [41]
3. DEATH IS TOTAL DEPRIVATION OF LIFE.—In Sermon II ("Ye shall not surely die. Gen. 3.4.") Storrs states that the Old Serpent— "commenced his attack on our race by saying they should 'not surely die,' if they did disobey God. He was successful in that game, and has played the same card, in some form, on men, ever since he first swept Paradise with it." [42]
Satan turned the card so as to "insinuate" that man should be "kept alive in eternal and indescribable torments, for sins committed on earth, or hereafter to be committed in the theological hell, where it is impossible for the miserable ones to cease from sin!" [43]
37 Ibid., pp. 23-27. On Whately, see this work, pp. 261-265.
38 Storrs, op. cit., p. 27.
39 Ibid., p. 32.
40 Ibid., pp. 38-43.
41 Ibid., p. 44.
42 Ibid., p. 45.
43 Ibid.
Storrs then comments:
"This doctrine has kept more away from God, and driven them into infidelity, than any other doctrine that was ever promulgated. I am solemnly convinced that it has done more to destroy men than all other errors put together." [44] And he adds:
"The death God has threatened, as the wages of sin, is not immortality in misery, but an actual and total deprivation of life." [45]
This, then, is the "question at issue":
"Is the punishment of the wicked interminable being in sin and suffering? or an eternal cessation from life?" [46]
He insists it is the latter.
4. PERISHING IS CEASING TO EXIST.—Storrs then turns to the "terms employed to denote the punishment of the wicked":
"Perish—Utterly perish—Utterly consumed with terrors—Destroy—Destroyed—Destroyed forever—Destruction—To be burned—Burned UP with unquenchable fire—Burn them up, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch—Perdition—Die—Death—Second Death etc." [47]
For the precise meaning of "perish" he cites Grimshaw— "to cease to have existence—to die—to decay." [48] Then Storrs states, concerning John 3:16:
"Here perishing and life are put in opposition, and the term perish is explained by the apostle himself, to mean death, and not life in misery." [49]
Clearly, perishing is to cease to exist. Storrs next answers stock objections in the usual Conditionalist fashion, maintaining that the fate of the wicked is "deprivation of life." [50] His "Concluding Remarks" are definitive:
"The conclusion is irresistible, that the final doom of all the impenitent and unbelieving, is that they shall utterly perish—shall be 'destroyed forever'—their 'end' is to be 'burned up, root and branch,' with 'fire unquenchable'—they shall not have everlasting life, or being, but be 'punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord,' the universe of God will be purified not only from sin, but sinners—and 'the works of the devil' will be destroyed. exterminated." [51]
This will be followed by the sinless, painless, deathless new earth. [52]
44 Ibid., p. 46.
45 Ibid.
46 Ibid.
47 Ibid., p. 47.
48 Ibid.
49 Ibid., p. 49.
50 Ibid., p. 58.
51 Ibid., p. 63.
52 Ibid.
5. DEATH IS "EXTINCTION OF CONSCIOUS BEING."—Sermon III (on eternal life) deals with further problem texts pertaining to immortality and eternal suffering. Here he again cites from Bishop Watson's Institutes in support:
"That the soul is naturally immortal is contradicted by Scripture, which makes our immortality a gift, dependent on the will of the giver." [53]
Storrs adds that sinful men are afflicted with a "fatal disease" (sin), and that it—
"will result in death, or in utter extinction of conscious being, unless it is removed. All men are dying. The death to which they are hastening is the effect of sin, and sin is the transgression of the law of their moral nature, which will as certainly result in the entire dissolution of the man, so that he will cease to be man." [54]
6. FATHERS MINGLED PHILOSOPHY WITH WORDS.—Sermon IV ("Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 1 Thes. v.21.") deals with the common assertion that "the fathers believed in the endless torments of the wicked." [55] In reply Storrs cites church historian Mosheim who declares that in the "third century" some of the Fathers "degenerated much from primitive simplicity," and resorted to "artifice" and "falsehood." He also cites Enfield, who states that some of the Fathers "seemed intent on uniting heathen philosophy with Christianity," and began "clothing the doctrines of religion in an allegorical dress." [56] He then marshals the Biblical testimony of John the Baptist. Jesus Christ. Peter James, John, Jude, and Paul. [57] And he concludes that in contrast with pagan fable—
"God, has set life and death before us. We are called upon to choose life. God invites, commands, expostulates, entreats, and warns; but God cannot compel man to turn from death without destroying man's moral agency, which would be, in fact, to unman man, and make him as incapable of higher happiness as any other mere animal. Man must turn and live, or he will pass on and die,—die because he would not have life; —die because he is unfit for any purpose of life—wholly disqualified for the employment of life." [58]
53 Ibid., p. 74.
54 Ibid., pp. 82. 83.
55 Ibid., p. 87
56 Ibid p. 88.
57 Ibid., pp. 91-105.
58 Ibid., pp. 105, 106,
7. IMMORTAL-SOULISM DERIVED FROM PLATONISM.—In Sermon V (on searching the Scriptures), referring to various churchly views, Storrs states that "truth lies scattered among all denominations; none of them have the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Some have more than others." [59]
In answering the question "If this doctrine is true, why has it never been found out before?" Storrs replies that he lays "no claim to being the discoverer of it." [60] Citing other Conditionalists before him by name, he comes to Henry Grew's tract, which he found in 1837. First he depreciated it, then studied it for several years, conversed with ministers about it, and finally accepted and began publicly to present the Conditionalist position in 1841 and 1842, when his original Six Sermons were delivered in Albany, New York. [61] Then he says:
"The notion that there is [immortal] life in the soul of the wicked, or a principle that cannot die, was taken from the Platonic Philosophers, and was introduced into the Church, as a Scripture doctrine, in the third century." [62]
In support he again quotes from Mosheim:
"Its [Immortal-Soulism's] first promoters argued from that known doctrine of the Platonic School, which was also adopted by Origin [sic] and his disciples, that the divine nature was diffused through all human souls; or in other words, that the faculty of reason, from which proceed the health and vigor of the mind, was an emanation from God into the human soul, and comprehended in it the principles and elements of all truth." [63]
8. No EVIDENCE OF "ETERNAL SIN AND SUFFERING."—In Sermon VI Storrs brings his series to a close, stressing again that—
"the converts from heathenism seemed intent on uniting heathen philosophy with Christianity. Hence they must find an abundance of mysteries in the Scriptures: and the practice of allegorizing, i.e. making the language to contain something that does not appear in the words, commenced and generally prevailed, before the third century." [64]
59 Ibid., p. 118.
60 Ibid., p. 120.
61 Ibid., pp. 120, 121.
62 Ibid., p. 126.
63 Ibid.
64 Ibid., p. 131.
To this he adds:
"In these sermons I have endeavored to show that man by sin lost 4 all title to immortality; and had it not been for the 'seed of the woman' the race would have utterly perished, or ceased to be, and would have been as though they never had been. There is not a particle of evidence that the original threatening embraced a state of eternal sin and suffering." [65]
And he concludes his series by issuing the call "Come to the LIFE-GIVER,—lay hold on ETERNAL LIFE." [66]
Such were the simple sermons that nevertheless had far-reaching results.
And finally there is CHARLES FITCH (1805-1844), first a Congregationalist minister, then Presbyterian, who was trained at Brown University, and successively served in three pastorates in Connecticut and Massachusetts. From there he went to the Marlboro Congregational church in Boston in 1836, and thence to Newark New Jersey, and Haverhill, Massachusetts. His final post was in Cleveland, Ohio. He was a member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
When Charles G. Finney's giant Broadway Tabernacle Church in New York City, built to seat three thousand, was to be organized in 1836, the famous evangelist asked Fitch to preach the organization sermon. Fitch read the Declaration of Principles, Rules, Confession of Faith, and Covenant, to which they all gave consent. He then pronounced them a church, and offered the dedicatory prayer. [67] This evidences the high esteem in which Fitch was held by Finney. [68] Fitch died from overexposure after conducting a large October baptismal service in cold Lake Erie at Buffalo, in 1844. (Picture on page 306.)
65 Ibid., p. 137.
66 Ibid., p. 152.
67 Susan H. Ward. The History of the Broadway Tabernacle Church, p. 28.
68 On Fitch, see Froom, op. cit., pp. 533-545.
ADDS CONDITIONALISM TO SECOND-ADVENT EMPHASIS.—In 1838 Fitch began preaching the second imminent advent of Christ, as based upon Bible prophecy. He was a cogent reasoner and a powerful preacher, and became the most prominent Advent herald on the western outpost. He held a series of meetings in the famous Oberlin College, in Ohio. Early in 1844 he accepted the doctrine of the mortality of man, the unconscious state of the dead, and the final destruction of the wicked, from George Storrs, becoming Storrs's first ministerial convert to Conditional Immortality. On January 25, 1844, Fitch wrote to Storrs as follows:
"Dear Br. Storrs:—As you have long been fighting the Lord's battles alone, on the subject of the state of the dead, and of the final doom of the wicked, I write this to say, that I am at last, after much thought and prayer, and a full conviction of duty to God, prepared to take my stand by your side." [69]
This decision created intense opposition among opposers of Life Only in Christ teaching. Dr. Josiah Litch especially protested Fitch's preaching it. But in May Fitch wrote to Storrs that he was "fully convinced" and "could no longer withhold" its proclamation without "displeasing my blessed Lord and Master." [70] He was more concerned, he said, with "pleasing Him, than in pleasing all the world besides." Thus the Conditionalist position continued to spread.
CALVIN FRENCH (d. 1844), Free Will Baptist minister of Needham, Massachusetts, was a participant in the great Second Advent Movement in America of the forties, and an able expositor of prophecy. He was awakened concerning the Biblical soundness of Conditionalism by George Storrs, and wrote a treatise titled Immortality the Gift of God through Jesus Christ (1842). The purpose and scope of the treatise is set forth in the introduction. We will confine ourselves to this epitome of his unconsciousness-in-death-until-the-resurrection presentation. Here are key excerpts.
69 Storrs, "A Biographical Sketch," in his Six Sermons (3d ed.), p. 15.
70 Ibid.
ALL DEAD IN UNCONSCIOUS STATE UNTIL ADVENT.—Note these seven points:
"That there shall be a resurrection of THE DEAD, both of the just and the unjust.
"That there will be two resurrections as to time.
"That the righteous will be raised one thousand years before the wicked. Rev. 20. 4, 5.
"That there will be no reward to them that have done good, or to them that have done evil, until their resurrection. Matt. 16. 27.
"That the righteous and the wicked rest together in the grave in an unconscious state until they hear the voice of the Son of Man and come forth to the resurrection of life or damnation.
"That the dead being in an unconscious state, whether they are one hour or thousands of years passing through 'the land of darkness and the shadow of death' (Job 10. 21, 22), it will be to them but a moment; they who sleep in Jesus will awake at the first resurrection, and appear with Christ in glory; the rest of the dead will awake at the second resurrection, and appear before Christ at the judgment.
"That this earth is to be redeemed from the curse which has rested upon it nearly six thousand years (Gen. 3. 17, 18; Isaiah 24. 6), and become the everlasting possession of the saints, with Christ their king. Dan. 7. 18: Matt. 5. 5; Rev. 5. 10." [71]
We will continue the American line after returning to Britain for paralleling developments and marked advances there.
71 Calvin French, Immortality the Gift of Cod Through Jesus Christ, Introduction.
We have seen how, with the stalwart declarations of such acknowledged scholars as Archbishop Whately and his A View of the Scripture Revelation concerning a Future State, the first half of the nineteenth century witnessed a testimony to Conditionalism that carried increasing weight. Whately's popularity as a scholar and his high position as an ecclesiastic secured attention and wide circulation for his works and made many converts to his Conditionalist faith. But this was soon followed by a succession of other books from various ministers in England advocating similar views. It was a further period of seed sowing that was soon to bear much fruit.
However, it remained for the latter half of the century to witness a new awakening on the various questions involved in Christian eschatology, as well as to see much of the long-standing prejudice removed and a host of advocates rise up whose testimony and influence largely lifted the question of Conditionalism out of the assigned category of "heresy." This awakening gave to Conditionalism a recognized place in Christian doctrine, as well as opening the doors for widespread investigation and open candid discussion.
1. CREDIT MUST BE GIVEN TO EDWARD WHITE.—
The beginning of this accelerated movement must unquestionably be dated from the issuance of Congregationalist Dr. Edward White's Life in Christ, first appearing in 1846. White's steadfast and consistent advocacy of the great positive truth he championed, in both oral and written form, forced a respectful hearing and succeeded in attracting advocates of influence.
Thus was brought about a new epoch in Conditionalism.
2. PULPITEERS AND SCHOLARS GIVE MOMENTUM.—
In addition to Dr. White, of England, stalwarts like Prof. Charles Hudson, of America; Dr. Emmanuel Petavel, of Switzerland; and Prof. Richard Rothe, of Germany, together with scores of others of prominence, erelong gave Conditionalism a theological standing and secured for it an ever-widening acceptance heretofore denied. Although they differed on details, they were completely united in the fundamental principle that man is not immortal by virtue of his original constitution, but is made immortal by a special act, or gift, of grace, bestowed by Christ at the resurrection. They all held that the notion of inherent immortality came not from inspired revelation but was borrowed from Greek philosophy, and had prevented understanding of the full glory of Christ as the Life-giver, and the soundness and winsomeness of the Conditionalist faith.
Long confined to the thinker's study, Conditionalism now became a subject of popular discussion, expounded not only in literally hundreds of books and pamphlets but in a number of journals likewise devoted to the advocacy of Conditional Immortality. Moreover, the concurrence of a number of eloquent pulpit apologists Dale, Minton-Senhouse, Constable, Row, Heard, Hobson, Warleigh, Tinling, and others, and renowned scholars like Hebrew specialist Dr. Perowne, Greek masters Drs. Weymouth and Mortimer, scientific authorities like Sir George G. Stokes, president of the Royal Society (treated elsewhere), Prof. T. G. Bonney, [1] president of the Geological Society, Professor Tait, secretary of the Royal Society of Edin burgh—all gave definite impetus at this time.
1 Prof. T. G. BONNEY, D.Sc., F.R.S. (d. 1923), geologist, president o£ the Geological Society, and author of The Influence of Science on Theology (Hulsean Lecture, 1884), on pages 50-54, refused to rest man's hope of immortality on "the law of his being." After discussing the ancient Egyptian belief and that of the Hebrew nation, as well as the Presbyterian Confession of Faith, Bonney gives his explanation of Scripture teaching—that human immortality is only to be had by impartation to the individual of a new and divine life, made possible by the redemption wrought by Christ.
But before we turn to Dr. White let us note two men who greatly influenced him—John Foster and Henry H. Dobney.
JOHN FOSTER (1770-1843), celebrated Baptist minister and essayist, was widely recognized as a profound thinker. [2] He was trained for the ministry at the Baptist college in Bristol and identified himself with the "General Baptists," some of whom were Conditionalists. He preached successively at Newcastle- on-Tyne, Chichester, Frome, and Downend. Then, after preaching for about twenty-five years he decided to devote himself thereafter largely to religious writing. His best-known works were termed Essays (2 volumes) and On the Evils of Ignorance (1820). However, between 1819 and 1839 he contributed 184 articles to the Eclectic Review. He was a close friend of Robert Hall, also of Bristol, and likewise a Conditionalist.
Foster was widely known for his intellectual powers, and gained a permanent place in English literature. But it was his widely publicized Letter . . . to a Young Minister [Edward White] on the Duration of Future Punishment, dated September 24, 1841, that chiefly concerns our quest. It was re printed many times on both sides of the Atlantic.
1. REJECTED DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL TORMENT HALF CENTURY PRIOR.—
The interesting fact is that Foster repudiated the doctrine of Eternal Torment when "in his twenty- fifth year" [3]—therefore back about 1795. And he publicly declared his rejection of the dogma of "endless punishment" the following year, in a letter dated October 17, 1796, to the Reverend Joseph Hughes, founder and secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. [4] And now at the age of seventy one Foster restates and reaffirms his position to Edward White, after nearly half a century of "quiet, thoughtful, avowed maintenance of such views." [5] Through all these years Foster consistently held that Eternal Torment is "not only unwarranted by Scripture, but directly contradictory to the testimony of Scripture." And he continued freely to express that conviction throughout his life. It should be added that he was in no way a Universalist. [6]
2. ENDLESS TORMENT A "SLANDER" AGAINST GOD.—
In his early years Foster had been in a quandary. He had not yet renounced the Platonic immortality-of-the-soul thesis. And he could not accept Origen's theory of Universal Restoration.
2 See North Britain Review, November, J845; Eclectic Review, November, 1846; Christian Review, October, 1846.
3 British Quarterly Review, November, 1846, quoted in A Letter of the Celebrated John Foster to a Young Minister on the Duration of Future Punishment (1849 ed.), Introduction, p. 7.
Neither could he reconcile the concept of Eternal Torment with the revealed character of God. He considered Eternal Torment "a slander against his Maker." He pondered the in consistency of a "lost soul, after countless millions of ages, and in prospect of an interminable succession of such enormous periods," punished "for a few short years on earth." He was deeply troubled over the contention of torment of "millions of ages for each single evil thought or word." It was unthinkable.
4 Introduction to Letter, p. 9.
5 Ibid., p. 7.
6 New York Evangelical, Dec. 17, 1846, quoted in Introduction, ibid., p. 10.
The explanation currently given was that there will be a "continuance of sinning, with probably an endless aggravation, and therefore the punishment must be endless." But this Foster called a "disproportion between the punishment and the original cause of its affliction." "The doom to sin as well as suffer" was, according to the argument, "to sin in order to suffer." "Therefore, the eternal punishment is the punishment of the sins of time." [7] Such reasoning appalled him.
3. UNABLE TO RECONCILE ENDLESS TORMENT WITH GOD'S LOVE.—
This conflict and revulsion led Foster to record these convictions:
"But ENDLESS PUNISHMENT! HOPELESS MISERY, through a duration to which the terms above imagined, will be absolutely NOTHING! I acknowledge. my inability (I would say it reverently) to admit this belief, together with a belief in Divine goodness, that the belief ‘that God is love,’ that his tender mercies are over all his works." [8] In another letter to Edward White, Foster states that he knows of a number of ministers who are now likewise disbelievers of "the doctrine in question"—the eternal punishment of impenitent sinners. [9] The movement of repudiation was already under way in 1841. Foster dropped the hint that the "difference of degrees of future punishment, so plainly stated in Scripture, affords an argument against its perpetuity." [10] Now, Foster was one of the two men who influenced Edward White during his period of investigation of Conditionalism.
7 A "Letter to Edward White," in 1841, in Life and Correspondence of John Foster, vol. 1.
8 Letter of the Celebrated John Foster, p. 17.
9 Life and Correspondence of John Foster, vol. 2, pp. 415ff.
10 Letter of the Celebrated John Foster, p. 24.
Another contemporary was HENRY HAMLET DOBNEY (fl. 1844-1864), able Baptist minister of Maidstone, Kent, who in 1846 published a treatise on The Scripture Doctrine of Future Punishment, which ran through several British and American editions. (Some contained an Appendix reprint of Milton's The State of the Dead.) In this work Dobney maintained the mortality of man, his sleep in death, and the destruction of the wicked—the basic principles of Conditionalism.
This was originally published in smaller tract form in 1844, under the title Notes on Lectures of Future Punishment. [11] Then, in 1864, Dobney wrote a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury protesting a position taken in his Pastoral Letter, which in one place affirmed "the Everlasting Suffering of the Lost." Both of Dobney's publications drew sharp fire from a number of Immortal-Soulists.
1. SINNERS WILL NOT LIVE FOREVER.—
The earlier work comprised a series of seven lectures to his congregation at Maidstone, number seven being "Enquiry concerning the terms of Duration employed in the New Testament on this subject." In this he maintains that the depictions of the fate of the wicked, as given in both Old and New Testaments, instead of indicating that the "sinner will live forever," actually teach the "opposite." Sinners are to be "destroyed." There is to be an "end of them." They are to cease to be. There is an "utter destruction." The destroying fire is "unquenchable because nothing should quench it till it had done its awful work." [12]
2. SAINTS Do NOT Go TO HEAVEN AT DEATH.—
In dealing with the popular contention that at death the saints rise immediately to be with Christ in heaven, Dobney replied that such a concept is "an invention which has not one syl lable in Scripture to give it countenance." [13]
11 Abbot, The Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life, no. 4320n. See also A. J. Mills, Life-Truth Exponents of the Early 19th Century, p. 153.
12 H. H. Dobney, Notes on Lectures of Future Punishment, Lecture VII.
13 Dobney, The Scripture Doctrine of Future Punishment, p. 140.
3. IMMORTALITY NOT PROVABLE FROM REASON.—
As to the futility of appealing to reason to "prove" man immortal, Dobney says:
"Reason cannot prove man to be immortal. We may devoutly enter the temple of nature, we may reverently tread her emerald floor, and gaze on her blue, 'star-pictured ceiling,' but to our anxious inquiry, though proposed with heart-breaking intensity, the oracle is dumb, or like those of Delphi and Dodona, mutters only an ambiguous reply that leaves us in utter bewilderment." [14]
His was another in the growing number of Conditionalist voices heard just at this time.
The latter half of the nineteenth century witnessed a new awakening over the issues of eschatology. The breakdown of hitherto implacable barriers of prejudice and the recruiting of a large number of stalwart advocates take Conditionalism out of the realm of heresy and give to it a respected place in Chris tian doctrine. And the beginning of this new movement is to be dated from the issuance of Edward White's original Life in Christ in 1846. Here is the story.
EDWARD WHITE, D.D. (1819-1898), most widely known British exponent of Life Only in Christ, made a profound impression on his generation and left a distinct mark upon the entire theological world through rescuing from obscurity what he believed to be a great truth. More than any other individual in the nineteenth century, White was instrumental in bringing the principles of Conditional Immortality to prominence and respect by his uniformly Christian, courteous, and scholarly advocacy of them, based upon his broad, lifelong study of the subject. His attitude was recognized as that of a highly effective herald of neglected Biblical truth. [15] White's early training was received at Mill Hill, founded for the education of the sons of Protestant Dissenters. Here he came under the influence of noted teachers who inspired in him a love of languages. White continued his studies at Glasgow, graduating from the university, where he excelled in Greek and logic, with first honours in the latter. He was prominent in the debating society. Here he also formed many valuable friendships.
14 Ibid., pp. 107, 108.
15 This biographical sketch is gleaned from Frederick A. Freer, Edward White, His Life and Works, and numerous other contemporary sources.
-Famous British Cham-
From childhood there had been instilled in him the Calvinistic concept of predestination and the traditional doctrines of Heaven and unending Hell. Although he was a member of the Congregational Church, White was soon torn between the conflicting claims and divergencies of Calvinism and Arminianism. The Arminian Methodists held that man's free will made possible for all who would to escape Hell by the exercise of faith in the Saviour. On the other hand, White understood that the Calvinists taught that only a certain predestined number of those born into the world could be saved, while the rest were foredoomed to suffer Eternal Torment. This greatly concerned and confused him.
1. TROUBLED IN TWENTIES OVER NATURE OF MAN. —
White came of well-to-do parents, and a prosperous commercial life lay before him. But he chose instead to devote himself wholly to the gospel ministry. In conformity with the practice of the times, he continued his specialized study for the minis try under the tutelage of a prominent Congregational clergy man. After this further training he was sent to pastor a small congregation at Cardiff, and thence was transferred to Hereford, where he ministered for nearly ten years.
When still in his twenties he had been troubled over the nature of man, and wrote a remarkable letter to Edward Pryce, declaring that he believed the traditional position was primarily supported by a figurative interpretation of "life" and "death." And in this connection White uttered this penetrating truism:
"If two or three texts [such as the parable of the rich man and Lazarus] are to explain five hundred figuratively, why may not five hundred explain two or three [difficult] texts." [16]
2. PERSUADED OF CONDITIONALISM BY FONTAINE.—
In 1838, while continuing his private study at home, White bought a small volume in a second hand bookstall in Holborn, London. It was titled Eternal Punishment Proved to be not Suffering but Privation, and Immortality dependent on Spiritual Regeneration. Though it was purchased for a trifle, and was issued anonymously by "A Member of the Church of England," the book was readily identified by White as written by James Fontaine. [17] It was this book that led White first to become a profound believer in, and then an effective teacher of, the largely neglected truth of Life Only in Christ for the regenerated only. The concept there set forth came first to colour, and then to mould, White's entire life, until he came to be recognized everywhere as the master advocate of the truth of Life Only in Christ.
White was first awed, and then gripped, by the simple truth unfolded in this modest volume. The crisis hour came one majestic moonlight night in a garden on the bank of the Thames, as White prayed under the starry heavens, seeking for decisive light. He saw that this truth had been thrust aside and lost from view, just as had other gospel truth before and during the Dark Ages. This compelling conviction was followed by seven years of systematic study of the Bible and consultation on the subject. It resulted in the unshakable conclusion that Fontaine was right—(1) that man is mortal; (2) that the Fall brought the sentence of death; (3) that the supreme object of redemption is to renew in man the divine image, with endless life through union with the life of Christ; and (4) that out of Christ man will utterly perish without hope of recovery. The little book had done its work.
16 Freer, Edward White, p. 15.
17 Inside this copy a handwritten letter was attached, addressed to Dr. Herbert Marsh, Bishop of Llandoff, with the same signature inscribed on the title page, thus proving the author to be James Fontaine. (Freer, op. cit., p. 11; also White, "Anniversary Discourses.")
3. SEVEN-YEAR SEARCH RESULTS IN CLEAR CONVICTIONS.—
From his intense, systematic, and exhaustive investigation of the Bible evidence on this whole question, White then pains takingly turned to the history of the great departure, compassing the Church Fathers, and tracing step by step the disastrous role that Platonism had played in it all. He then checked and rechecked with scholarly friends—such as John Foster, already noted. It was this exhaustive study that enabled him finally to issue an authoritative challenge and appeal to the religious world.
As to the Biblical side, it was unreasonable and illogical, he constantly maintained, that four or five obscure passages should set at nought some five hundred clear and explicit texts. White's disarming candour and his solemn sense of responsibility brought his message home to the bar of reason and of conscience, and enabled him to breech the entrenched for tresses of what he firmly believed to be theological error. He presented the full weight of inspired and secular evidence.
It was in 1841, while he was still investigating the question, that White received from the celebrated essayist and veteran in the Baptist ministry, John Foster, of the Bristol Baptist College, that long and important letter in answer to his inquiry regarding the future life of the redeemed and the fate of the unsaved. [18] Yet, as soon as it was published, it was both attacked and defended by the press. Nevertheless, this proved another incentive to spur White on to a continuing study of these questions.
18 See p. 318.
4. FIRST BOOK (1846) CREATES STORM OF INDIGNATION.
White was ordained in 1842, and began lecturing as well as preaching, and then writing for various publications, reviving publicly the Life Only in Christ witness of the past and presenting an imposing array of scriptural and historical evidence. In 1846 he brought out his first book—a four-chapter Life in Christ that in its later enlarged form had a sale of ten thousand copies in the first few years. In this he sought to rescue a great truth from the obscurity in which it had been largely buried under unscriptural theology, spawned, as he put it, by the pagan concept of man's inherent immortality. (He also edited the Christian Spectator for five years.)
But the publication of White's convictions on Conditionalism in book form created a driving storm of indignation. He was immediately castigated as a heretic, and for a time it looked as though his service in the Congregational ministry was ended.
More than that, it seemed that he would be debarred from every Nonconformist pulpit in the land. And, for conscientious reasons, he felt that he could not enter the more liberal National (Anglican) Church. At this time Henry Dunn, [19] revered secretary of the British and Foreign School Society, and likewise, a firm believer in Conditionalism, rose to the defence of young White against the merciless attacks. However, the furore only drove White to renewed and deeper study. He must be absolutely sure of his ground. And this but confirmed his previous convictions.
19 On Henry Dunn, see pp. 335, 336.
5. BUILDS CONSTITUENCY OF FRIENDSHIP FROM HAWLEY ROAD.—
In his extremity and ostracism White went to London, where he was unknown, to seek a new opportunity amid the broader environs and larger populace of the great metropolis. There, in 1852, White found and secured the unused St. Paul's Chapel, Hawley Road, in Kentish Town, North London, in the vast suburban area of St. Pancras. Here, without any constituency, and unacquainted with a single Christian in the community, he started all over again. Some warned all who "valued their immortal souls" not to cross the threshold.
But as soon as the building was renovated and readied for worship, several distinguished ministers participated in the dedication and a number of heroic souls cast in their lot with White in membership.
Slowly White built up an independent congregation.
Then a definite change came, and he developed a widening circle of new friends. These included Dr. Robert W. Dale, of Birmingham; Sir George G. Stokes, of Cambridge; Bishop J. J. Perowne, of Worcester; Dr. R. F. Weymouth of Mill Hill; Dr. Emmanuel Petavel, of Switzerland; Harriet Beecher Stowe, pf the United States; as well as Thomas Binney, David Livingstone, J. F. B. Tinling, Samuel Minton, William Leask, and others. And last, but not least, was William E. Gladstone.
White had a winsome personality, and his public utterances were marked by freshness and originality, often with brilliancy. He attracted an increasing number of listeners, all the way from peers and cabinet ministers to artisans and cab men. His church was filled.
6. HONORED WITH CHAIRMANSHIP OF CONGREGATIONAL UNION.—
In 1870 White wrote three well-reasoned letters to the Christian World expounding his belief in the true destiny of man. These produced an immediate and far-reaching effect, and prepared the way for his 1875 revised and enlarged Life in Christ. Avowed Conditionalist that he was, it was not long until he was honoured with the chairmanship of the London Congregational Union. Tolerance had triumphed. However, controversies continued through the years among religious leaders in England over the issue of Conditionalism.
White undeviating contended that it was through the introduction of the great Platonic falsehood that this doctrine had made its disastrous way into the Early Church. And he set forth what seemed to him to be the inescapable alternative:
"It [Immortal-Soulism] is either a great truth or a great lie, a useful and encouraging doctrine or a pernicious error." And it was inevitable, he held, that a truth that had been lost so early, and which loss had involved Christendom in such confusion and difficulty should logically and inevitably be, followed by the loss of the truths of regeneration and justification. That had occurred. And the Reformation had resulted in their recovery.
In time White came to be recognized as one of the ablest Free Church representatives in England. But of all his friends, Minton and Tinling in England, and Petavel and Byse on the Continent, continued to be White's most effective supporters.
7. FIRST CONDITIONALIST CONFERENCE IN CHRISTIAN HISTORY.—
In 1876 an epochal Breakfast Conference was held at the Cannon Street Hotel, with many leading speakers—White, Minton, Leask, Constable, Heard, Tinling, et cetera—participating. It was apparently the first Conditionalist conference in the history of the Christian Church, and as such was a momentous occasion.
But year by year men of distinction came to hear White preach the Word—and Conditionalism—in Hawley Road Chapel. He was intensely evangelical and had clear and decided convictions. The Bible, he had come to believe, was fundamentally a revelation of everlasting life, offered to "who soever will." And his participation as guest speaker in the 214-year-old Merchants' Guild Lecturers of London, from 1880 to 1882, added to his fame. During his thirty-six-year Hawley Road pastorate unnumbered conferences with scholars of various nations and persuasions were held. He preached for Dr. Dale at Birmingham, who gave sturdy and steady support in the struggle against theological and ecclesiastical prejudice and ostracism. He took part in the Moody revival by assisting in the inquiry room, participated in symposiums on immortality, and fraternized with national and international leaders. He also taught.
8. MADE CHAIRMAN OF CONGREGATIONAL UNION OF BRITAIN.—
Prejudice and ostracism had slowly given way to tolerance in the theological world. Many clergymen no longer preached endless suffering. In 1886 when White was again elected chairman of the London Congregational Union, his opening address was delivered in Conditionalist Joseph Parker's City Temple. [20] White was also one of the directors of the London Missionary Society. He gave numerous addresses at colleges, and for two years occupied the chair of homiletics at New College.
Then in 1887 White was elected to the chairmanship of the Congregational Union of England and Wales—the highest honour within the power of the Congregational churches of Britain. And this, be it noted, was forty years after his public espousal of Conditionalisrn. It was only natural that Conditionalists were justly proud, not only because of the choice of the man but because of the triumph of the "principle of the right of inquiry into "What Is Truth?"; and that its confession, when found, no longer resulted in social, civil, or religious liability. In fact, out of the 790 ballot cards marked, White's name appeared on 506.
9. HONORED AS PRE-EMINENT CHAMPION OF CONDITIONALISM.—
White's Life in Christ was translated into French, in 1880, by the Swiss linguist and theologian Charles Byse, under counsel of Dr. Petavel. It exerted a powerful influence not only on the Continent but in many other lands as well. And few books, it might be added, have fallen into the hands of more able and understanding translators. It was also put into Danish by Countess Bernstorff.
In 1882, at the time of the thirtieth anniversary of the opening of Hawley Road Chapel, in a special service, Dr. White was honoured by his congregation and by many former members who were living at a distance.
20 On Dr. Joseph Parker, see pp. 638-640.
At the conclusion of this memorable service White thanked God for a part in this "latest revival of such a truth," which "brings joy and gladness wherever it shines forth." and "brings intense faith and more personal love to CHRIST," and "more unbroken confidence in God, whose justice and mercy, have alike become more intelligible," and which "brings more solid conviction of the truth of the Gospel as the only light of life beyond, and gilds the tomb itself with the radiance of the blessed hope of resurrection." It was a moving occasion.
10. REAFFIRMATION OF TRUTH AND REPUDIATION OF ERROR.—
Reaffirming his profound belief in Life Only in Christ, as rooted in sound exegesis of the Word, in antiquity, and in modern testimony, White made this declaration:
"I solemnly this day confess the doctrine which was taught here at first, that man is not represented in the divine revelation as immortal since the Fall, but as a being who has lost the hope of everlasting life", which he can regain only by spiritual regeneration and union with the immortal SON OF GOD. And, therefore, I protest again, with all my heart and soul and mind, against what appear to us still those two opposite errors, both springing from the common root of faith in man's natural immortality; first, against the doctrine of endless torments to be inflicted in hell on unsaved men, whether civilised or barbarian; and, second against the now popular doctrine of the absolute final salvation of all men, good-and bad; as directly contrary both to the letter and spirit of the Christian revelation recorded in Holy Scripture." [21] It was the old issue of the trilemma, which had plagued the church through the centuries.
Dr. White had lived to see hostility change into merited recognition and praise. In 1889 he participated in the Ameri can symposium That Unknown Country; and Petavel's classic, The Problem of Immortality, was dedicated to him. His last sermon was preached May 23, 1897, a year before his death.
21 The Faith Extras, No. 12, 1889, p. 20.
The Edward White Scholarship at Mill Hill was established in his honour to encourage Bible study in the original Greek and Hebrew. White was ever known as the pre-eminent champion of Conditional Immortality. Ernest Hampden-Cook, in The Register of the Mill Hill School., records that White was "justly honoured and loved, alike for the acuteness of his intellect, the tenacity with which he clung to his convictions, the enthusiasm of his preaching, the geniality and raciness of his platform utterances, the consistency of his practice with the loftiest standards of duty, and the tender ness and breadth of his social sympathies." [22]
11. SHIFTED EMPHASIS FROM NEGATIVE TO POSITIVE.
Edward White had a compelling sense of mission. He felt that he had recovered a trampled truth with which he had been entrusted. He must be faithful to that trust. And his fidelity to truth was impressive to all who knew him. The record of his conviction is stated thus:
"I was chosen to be one of a little group of men who were called to bring [the Life Only in Christ concept] again into public knowledge, after ages of 'natural immortality' teaching."
Prior to White's approach, Conditionalism had been largely put forth in negative form—as a denial of eternal suffering as the penalty of sin or punishment of the unsaved. And negatives are never constructive or truly successful. It was only when White began to proclaim Life Only in Christ in positive form—in inseparable relation to the fundamental provision of salvation, in Christ, as a doctrine of life made possible through the incarnation of the Life-giver—that it began to attract favourable attention and be widely accepted.
White's mode of presentation proved so effective that after many years of opposition the long-dominant icy barriers began definitely to melt. Other men had presented a doctrine of death; White presented a doctrine of life. And it was un questionably this emphasis that gave standing to the whole subject among theologians and resulted in a galaxy of sup porting nineteenth-century literature in Britain, Europe, and America, and even in India, China, Africa, and other lands. It was obviously because of this approach that it gained recognition and standing in influential centres and seats of learning.
22 Ernest Hampden-Cook, The Register of the Mill Hill School, 1807-1926, pp. 46, 47.
Instead of the presentation of specific quotations from White, which would require too much space, there will be set forth as accurately and succinctly as possible the great principles he enunciated and the provisions he declared — often in his own phrasing — that lifted Life Only in Christ above petty polemics and compelled the religious world to accord it the new stature and standing. The texts he cited, the history he rehearsed, and the expositions he gave, had been presented a hundred times before, in one form or another, by good and scholarly men. He brought them together into focus with new effectiveness.
The new impetus that came was obviously the result of changing the emphasis from the negative to the positive — not simply that there is no Eternal Life of suffering for sinners but that Eternal Life only in Christ the Life-giver is for saints only — with, of course, the inescapable alternative of eternal loss of Eternal Life for the disobedient. This change was largely brought about by Dr. White. Under his skilled hand and voice positive Conditionalism was no longer a dogma of death, but a doctrine of life. That was the essence.
This gave Conditionalism its new stature, standing, and appeal, and obtained for it recognition to a degree hitherto unknown. In increasing numbers men came to see that it explained and harmonized all the known facts and factors in life and destiny. Many bitter opponents modified their attitudes and many new friends were gained. Here are the essential principles White set forth, and the reasoning he employed:
Conditionalism harmonizes scripture with scripture as to "life" and "death." It likewise reconciles the sovereignty of God and the freedom of the human will. It recognizes the second death as an everlasting penalty, and at the same time the final extinction of evil- not by Restoration but by the ultimate cessation of the impenitent.
It meets the contention of spiritual "life" and spiritual "death" by incorporating them as the conditions of actual immortality.
It makes the incarnation, atonement, redemption, and regeneration the basis and means of introducing life to a race that was losing it, the deliverance of life by a Representative Life laid down and the re communication of life through a uniting trust in the Life-giver.
It gives an intelligible place to miracles — the pre-eminent life-demonstrating miracle of Christ's resurrection, as the symbol and sample in the regaining of the human life in forfeiture.
It shows how the sinner, through his sinfulness, is unfit to live. And so God simply withdraws life from him who is unbelieving. It shows that it is the sinner who has broken off the fundamental condition of Eternal Life.
It gives new purpose and significance to the eschatological doctrine of the last things.
It attests that all punishment will be proportionate. The guilty one who has received much will suffer much—because he will lose much.
Conditionalism is thus a synthesis which sets forth the various doc trines of the gospel in their true light and just relation—strengthening, intensifying, and unifying them.
It absolves God from the charge of cruelty, arbitrariness, and vindictiveness, and shows the punishment for sin to be in full accord with His gracious, righteous, and merciful character.
It shows how, freed from the prospect of endless sin and consequent misery for the rejected, the true doctrine of Bible election becomes reasonable and just.
It shows that there is no injustice in the eventual withdrawal of life from those who have no fitness for its endless perpetuation.
It gives to man his true dignity, but takes away from him the assumption of Innate Immortality that he has fallaciously claimed for himself.
Larger Significance of Conditionalism
Man being mortal in this life, a new condition of life is needed to become immortal in the life to come. The entrance into that new condition is a new birth from above, through the Divine Spirit, bringing a rendition of life over which the second death will have no power.
Salvation becomes clearer and more consistent, with a due sense of our dependent relation toward God—salvation being the consecration of the life and the personality, which would otherwise be extinguished in the "second death." Only through a new birth can we enter the kingdom of heaven (John 3:3).
Conditionalism generates a strong belief in the deity of Christ the Saviour. His incarnation was to make expiation for human sin—as a man suffering the death penalty for sin, yet Himself being sinless. So our immortality depends upon the deity of the Son. A creature may be able to give happiness to others, but only the eternal Son of God, the Creator, can communicate Eternal Life to a perishable creature. Therefore if man is to obtain Eternal Life in Jesus, He, Jesus, must be none other than God manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16).
It displaces Innate Immortality by introducing the provision of the resurrection, so widely obscured in Christian circles. It makes the resurrection central in the divine scheme of redemption—first the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and then of those who are His. If Jesus had remained the prey of death, He could never have provided, or introduced others to, the necessary condition of immortality.
Conditionalists thus deal with the supreme question—to live or not to live. It is a question of our eternal destiny involving the character of God, the destiny of man, and the future state of the universe. It is therefore not on the periphery but at the very centre of Christian revelation and doctrine. That is the logic, the soundness, the truthfulness, the winsomeness of Conditionalism—according to Edward White.
HENRY DUNN (1801-1878), lay theologian, was long the highly esteemed and successful secretary of the British and Foreign School Society. He became an able writer, and was for some time editor of The Interpreter. A thinker with an almost Socratic power of finding out an opponent's weak point, he was a master in exposing half truths that often pass unchallenged in popular theology. A lucid style and originality of ex pression made his writings distinctive. About 1858 he retired from public life, feeling that he had a special work to do for God. He thenceforth devoted all leisure time to the production of literature on religious themes, and travelled widely.
Dunn had a spiritual insight into the heart and intent of Scripture. He sought for basic principles, feeling that the excessive emphasis of some upon mere words had often detracted from more important truths as a whole. He was primarily concerned with the plain meaning of the English Bible, recognizing that his generation had inherited the controversies—along with many of the retained errors—of former ages. He denied that the Eternal Torment of unbelievers is taught in Scripture, or that it could be reconciled with the highest concept of God. That terrible dogma, he held, was inherited from early corruptions of the Christian Church, employed to support a religion of terror, and formed the basis of the Roman Catholic dogmas of endless Hell, Purgatory, priestly absolution, masses for the dead, and kindred errors.
Dunn was one of the first to plunge into the controversy created by the publication of Edward White's Life in Christ, and H. H. Dobney's On the Scripture Doctrine of Future Punishment. The issuance of these books by comparatively young writers had created a furore in the religious world, and resulted in vitriolic attacks in the Eclectic Review. Dunn was able to show the Nonconformists how unfairly those writers had been treated and placed under proscription. His leading writings were titled The Destiny of the Human Race, a Scriptural Inquiry (1863); The Churches: a History and an Argument (1872); and Christianity irrespective of Churches (1873)—translated into French as Le Christianisme sans Eglises (Paris: 1878).
Dunn was not a Universalist, but believed in "Life in Christ Alone." He believed in the provision of restoration for the race, but only in the salvation of the reclaimed individual.
He was typical of new recruits to Conditionalism now on the increase.
Most conspicuous Conditionalist of his day, HENRY CONSTABLE (1816-1891), of Cork and London, and son of a surgeon, was born in Ireland. He was a graduate of the University of Dublin. In 1850 he was ordained an Anglican priest by the famous Richard Whately, archbishop of Dublin, himself an outstanding Conditionalist. After serving as a curate in Kilgarriffe and then at Cork, Constable was made prebend (or canon) of Desertmore, in which post he served from 1859 to 1872.
Soon after he went there a friend questioned him on the subject of eternal future torment for the wicked. This discussion marked the turning point in his life.1 He took his He brew, Greek, and English concordances and, after prolonged study, reached the unwavering conclusion that neither eternal misery nor Universal Restoration is taught in Scripture. All alone and unaided he groped his way out of tradition and mis conception. That immortality is for God's redeemed alone, became his profound belief, with eternal death or destruction, for the lost. Text was now seen to buttress text, and the Bible became virtually a new book to him—a mighty chain of coordinated truth on the nature and destiny of man. This not only brought great relief to his own soul but confirmed and strengthened his faith in the basic evangelical doctrines of the Word.
Henry Constable (d. 1891), Canon of Cork Cathedral—Writer of Classics on Conditionalism.
1. His CONDITIONALIST BOOKS BECOME STANDARD.—
Soon after this, despite his known views on Conditionalism, Constable was made canon of the cathedral at Cork. This gave him more time for study and writing. In 1868 he made his first published pronouncement on Conditionalism, his book being entitled Duration and nature of Future Punishment. This brought the issue squarely before the public, and soon became a standard work in the field, running through at least six editions. In 1872 he began writing for the London Conditionalist journal, The Rainbow, advocating the thought that death is an unconscious sleep, and that the dead know nothing until the resurrection.
This, however, aroused such opposition and led to such pressure from readers that the editor stopped publication of his series before they were completed. However, the editor, Dr. William Leask, soon adopted Constable's view—persuaded by the evidence. In fact, it came to be widely held. And in 1873 Constable's Hades; or, the Intermediate State of Man was published, with two editions by 1875. Meantime he was contributing to The Bible Echo in similar vein. A clear and logical thinker and writer, Constable came to be regarded as one of the outstanding British champions of Conditional Immortality of the century. But he preferred the pen to the platform.
2. CONDITIONALISM AUGMENTS EVERY BASIC DOCTRINE.
To permit of greater freedom for study, Constable relinquished his Cork canoncy in 1873. Transferring to London, he became chaplain, to the City of London Hospital, and continued to write. He later participated in the important Conditional Immortality conferences of 1879 and 1880, holding steadfastly to his Conditionalist views until death, having nothing to retract and constantly strengthening his positions. He also held, with deep conviction, that the Life Only in Christ view fully vindicated the character of God. And he insisted that, instead of undermining a single great doctrine of the Christian faith, it strengthened, sustained, and gave greater force to them all. He was ever known as an unwavering champion of truth as he saw it. He also contributed to The Faith Library (No. 1—"Man and Immortality") and produced various periodical articles.
Constable's Duration and Nature of Future Punishment (1868) states, in the Preface to the Sixth (1886) Edition, that "the lapse of time has only confirmed" his original opinion— that is, that "upholders of Divine Truth" on the fate of the "Ungodly" must "contend alike against both these errors/1' namely, "Eternal Suffering" and "Universal Restoration." [1]
1 Henry Constable, Duration and Nature of Future Punishment (6th ed.), p. v.
Constable refers to the gratifying circulation of the book Future Punishment in Britain, the British Colonies, and the United States. It unquestionably had a wide distribution, and was constantly quoted. Taking the position that "Eternal Death" is the Biblical "everlasting punishment," Constable traverses the entire testimony of the Old and New Testaments, the intent of the Greek terms employed, and the involvements of the resurrection of the wicked, as well as the application of divine justice, the extinction of evil, and all the leading problem texts.
In the latter chapters he compasses the historical witness of the Apostolic Fathers, then of Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, and the rise of the theory of "Eternal Life in Hell." He next analyses Tertullian's Eternal Torment postulate and Origen's theory of Universal Restoration. [2] The representative importance of Constable's treatise demands a fairly full summary.
Its value is enhanced by citation of such British and American Conditionalists as Whately, Foster, White, Perowne, Minton, Hudson, Blain, and Denniston.
It is a highly readable work. And it is so filled with vital principles, facts, and gem statements that it is difficult to choose what must be left out in order to keep within space limits.
1. INNATE IMMORTALITY + ETERNAL PUNISHING = ETERNAL MISERY.—
Chapters one and two maintain that "Eternal Death" is indeed eternal. It is the eternal "loss of eternal life or existence," which death process involves "various degrees of pain." The same word, he shows, is used for the duration of the "opposite states"—everlasting life and everlasting death.
"Eternal death," he holds, is a state of "utter death and destruction." Even a majority of the ancient philosophers held that death was an "eternal sleep." It was Platonism that wrought the change. Connect the concept of the "immortality of the soul" ("inalienable existence") with the theory of the eternity of punishing, and you have the "eternal life in misery" of Augustine's Hell. But Constable states emphatically: "The expression 'immortality of the soul’ so common in theology, is not once found in the Bible from beginning to end." [4]
2 Ibid., pp. iii., iv.
3 Ibid., pp. 1-8.
2. ETERNAL DEATH OF WICKED INVOLVES ULTIMATE NON-EXISTENCE.—
Because of man's sin in Eden "immortality was alienated: this priceless gift was thrown away and lost."
So "sinful man is not by nature immortal, but mortal." And redemption by Christ bestows immortality on "some only of the fallen race"—those who accept its conditions and provisions. [5] The "eternal death" of the wicked, Constable insists, involves "future non-existence." It is indeed "everlasting destruction." [6]
3. ORIGINAL SENTENCE INVOLVED Loss OF EXISTENCE.—
In chapter three Constable again stresses the fact that the death "penalty which God originally pronounced against hu man sin," means "Joss of life or existence," not "eternal existence in agony." And he stresses the elemental principle of jurisprudence that the "parties" in Eden, under law, had a right to know the intent of the penalty threatened, which was loss of life and returning to nonexistence [7]—not endless torment. The Old Testament teaches "dissolution of that organized form which constitutes man," or "resolution into its original parts, its becoming as though it had never been called into existence." Such is the fate of the sinner. Then he says:
"While the redeemed are to know a life which knows no end, the lost are to be reduced to a death which knows of no awaking for ever and ever. Such is the testimony of God in the Old Testament." [8] He disclaims the term "annihilation" in its philosophical sense, as a term not used by Conditionalists, but one put upon their lips by opponents. "Destroyed" and "destruction" are the terms commonly used. For "the destruction of the wicked is the testimony of the Word." [9]
4 Ibid., p. 10. 7 Ibid., pp. 16-21.
5 Ibid., p. 11. 8 Ibid., p. 23.
6 Ibid., p. 15. 9Ibid., pp. 23-25. (Italics his.)
4. PRICELESS TABULATION OF GREEK TERMS USED.—
Turning to the New Testament, in chapter four, Constable shows its "perfect agreement" with the Old Testament teaching—namely "loss of existence," or "putting out of existence."
In support he canvasses the Greek words used, and declares, "We challenge their [the opponents'] contradiction of what we have written." [10] He could so do, for he was a scholar in his own right, and knew his ground. In chapter five, on the precise Greek terms, Constable covers all key words used, quoting their classical use, then their New Testament use.
Next he shows how Platonic usages have supplanted the New Testament intent. [11] Then (in chapter six) he gives a priceless "Table of Greek Words and Their Meaning," [12] in which the fourteen basic Greek terms are given, with their variant uses.
It is excellent for reference, and reliable.
5. OPPOSING POSITIONS TABULATED AND ILLUSTRATED.—
To this is added a six-page Table with three paralleling columns on (1) the "Augustinian Theory"; (2) the "Scripture" position; and (3) the "Theory of Destruction." [13] In the first column terse extracts from ancient and modern Immortal- Soulists appear, contrasted in column three with gem statements from past and present Conditionalists—with the determining Scriptures of truth texts set in the column between.
These tables cover "Life" and "Live," "Death" and "Die," together with "destruction," "destroy," "perish," "consume," loss of "being," and "corruption." They are tremendously impressive and conclusive.
10 Ibid., pp. 26-36.
-11 Ibid., pp. 45-51.
-12 Ibid., pp. 58,59.
-13 Ibid., pp. 62-67.
6. SCRIPTURE NEGATES BOTH ETERNAL TORMENTISM AND UNIVERSALISM.—In chapter seven ("The Illustrations of Scripture") Constable shows that all the expressions of Scripture used concerning "future punishment" are "not merely unsuitable but they are positively false," if applied to the Eternal Torment or Universal Restoration theories. And the Scripture illustrations are "fatal to both views alike." [14] In chapter eight ("The Resurrection of the Wicked") no immortalizing "change" transforms the wicked at their resurrection, as with the righteous. They do not receive an "immortal body" or '"immortal soul.” They are raised in sinful state in order to be punished. Paul's "we shall be changed" does not apply to the wicked. [15]
7. SCRIPTURE ASSERTS UTTER EXTINCTION OF EVIL.—
Coming to chapter ten ("The Extinction of Evil"), Constable insists that "evil is not to be eternal." A time will come when all "iniquity shall have an end"—but not by Universal Restoration. And the Biblical truth likewise contradicts [16] the Eternal Torment theory. Then in chapter eleven ("Examination of Particular Texts") Constable deals with the problem passages —Mark 9:44-48; Isaiah 33:14; Revelation 14—showing that instead of supporting Eternal Torment they in reality contradict it. He refers to supporting authorities like Hudson and Trench. [17] In Biblical proof Constable uses Jude 1.7 showing that the fire is "eternal" because it is "eternal in its effects.” That is the classic Biblical example of the "destruction" to be visited upon the wicked. [18]
8. CHALLENGES OPPONENTS TO CONTROVERT VIEW.—
Constable next (in chapter fifteen) reviews the testimony of the Apostolic Fathers, taking Clement of Rome as an example.
Then follows this impressively clear and accurate declaration:
"From beginning to end of them [the writings of the Apostolic Fathers] there is not one word said of that immortality of the soul which is prominent in the writings of the later fathers. Immortality is by them asserted to be to the redeemed. The punishment of the wicked is by them emphatically declared to Tie everlasting. Not one stray expression of theirs can be interpreted as giving any countenance to the theory of restoration after purgatorial suffering." [19]
14 Ibid., pp. 70-73. 17 Ibid., pp. 136, 137.
15 Ibid., pp. 79-83. 18 Ibid., pp. 141, 142.
16 Ibid., pp. 123, 124. 19 Ibid., p. 167.
But he goes further, and again says: "We challenge our opponents to controvert our view of them in a single particular." [20] No one, apparently, was able to take up his challenge.
9. CITES JUSTIN MARTYR AND IRENAEUS AS CONDITIONALISTS. —
In chapter sixteen Constable discusses Justin Martyr, claiming him as "among our [Conditionalist] supporters." He shows that Justin expressly teaches ultimate "cessation of existence or being" for the wicked. Immortality is a "gift of God" received by the redeemed only, at the "resurrection." [21] Man, he reiterates, does not have Innate Immortality. Justin clearly taught the "utter destruction of existence in hell." [22] Then follows Irenaeus (chapter seventeen), teaching the mortality of man, with immortality to be bestowed as a gift through Christ.
Irenaeus thus confines immortality to the redeemed, or "just."
And he likewise asserts that the wicked will "perish," being reduced to "non-existence." The punishment is eternal because it is the "loss of blessing which is eternal." [23] The utterances of these historical characters are all carefully documented. Here is a terse recapitulation, which speaks volumes: "The second, death cuts off from an eternal life, and is therefore an eternal death." [24]
10. TERTULLIAN BUILDS ON ATHENAGORAS' FOUNDATION.
Chapter eighteen deals with the "Rise of the Theory of Eternal Life in Hell." Here Constable cites Athenagoras as the very, first" Christian philosopher to bring forward the concept of universal Innate Immortality. [25] Then Tertullian (chapter nineteen) builds up the Eternal Torment theory into a system. His watchword was, "Every soul is immortal." Man's soul, he held, is made out of "some part of God," and is therefore "immortal" and "incorruptible." And he maintained that for this "eternal anguish," a supernatural fire is necessary." [26]
20 Ibid. 24 Ibid., p. 189.
21 Ibid., pp. 171-173. 25 Ibid., pp. 195, 196.
22 Ibid., p. 178. 26 Ibid., pp. 205-208.
23 Ibid., pp. 180-188.
Here, in the words of Constable, was his horrific picture:
"The devouring flame supplies its inexhaustible fuel! Roaring, crackling, raging, scorching, paining, in the lurid vaults of hell, it supplies the bones, and marrow, and blood, and flesh, round which it roars, and crackles, and rages, with a noise as loud as the shrieks and wailings of the damned. Such was the philosophical theory which forced Tertullian to his view of future punishment. Men now laugh at the philosophical dogma. They accept the diabolical conclusion which was based upon it!" [27]
11. LED TO "FORCED" INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE.—
Such were Tertullian's philosophical figments of the immortality of the soul and the nature of what was called "divine or secret fire." [28] But such a theory compelled Tertullian "knowingly and confessedly, to alter the proper sense of some of the most common terms of Scripture to a non-natural and improper sense"—such as "kill" and "destroy" as indicating merely "some change or condition of life," so as to be suitable to his theory. [29] Constable's comment is emphatic. Tertullian, he says, "put a forced, improper, unsuitable sense on the words of Scripture," and then justified this "by saying that the theory of Scripture demanded that its words should not be under stood in their suitable sense, but in an improper, forced, un natural, and unsuitable sense!" [30] He did this because "he supposes the loss of existence by one who might have had it for ever as no punishment!" [31] So he resorts to a "figurative and allegorical" meaning. But the "source of this new language" was to be "found in a new doc trine"—Platonism. So with Tertullian "hell was a scene where endless slaughtering (aeterna occisio) was being endlessly enacted." [32]
27 Ibid., p. 209. 30 Ibid., p. 213.
28 Ibid., pp. 210, 211. 31 Ibid., p. 214.
29 Ibid., pp. 212, 213. 32 Ibid., p. 217.
12. ORIGEN CONVERTS HELL INTO "VAST PURGATORY."
In chapter twenty (Origen's "Theory of Universal Restoration") Origen is shown to have rebelled against such a fearful picture of God, and takes this turn:
"Origen converts hell into a vast purgatory, and sends men and devils forth from it, purified and humbled, to the feet of the Great Father, and to the joys which are at His right hand for evermore. It is the old story of human thought passing from one extreme to its opposite." [33]
Then Constable tritely observes, "The truth always lies "Between the two." [34] Origen had laid hold of the truth of the "final extinction of evil," while at the same time retaining the "very same dogma of the immortality of the soul which had led Athenagoras and Tertullian to this endless life in hell." [35] So Plato's Innate Immortality was the root of both errors. The result was perversion in both cases.
13. PURIFICATION OF THE "INDESTRUCTIBLE" SINNER.—
As noted, Origen's element of truth was the ultimate "abolition of evil." But he erred in misunderstanding the way it was to be brought about—actually by the destruction of evil. Origen felt that the soul was "indestructible." His scheme was to convert "hell into a universal purgatory, where evil was destroyed and the evil-doer purged, where sin was blotted out while the sinner was preserved." [36]
14. SPIRITUALIZED SCRIPTURE TO SUPPORT PLATONISM.—
Constable repeats that Platonism was therefore responsible for both divergent views. "Heathen philosophy had given his idea to Origen, but he had, as a Christian teacher, to apply it to the language of Scripture." So he simply spiritualized its interpretation, weaving around it a "cobweb veil of allegory, because the foundation of his system was always the "inalienable immortality of all souls." [37]
15. ETERNITY OF EVIL COUNTERS BIBLE TESTIMONY.
—Thus it was that the three basic theories of future punishment became established in the church, ever after to continue in relentless conflict. And in the battle between the opposing concepts of the ultimate extinction of evil versus the eternal existence of evil, Origen erred fatally as to the "means” of extinction. His false premise "compelled him to promise life where God had sent death." [38]
33 Ibid., p. 219. 35 Ibid., p. 220. 37 Ibid., pp. 221-225.
34 Ibid. 36 Ibid., p. 221. 38 Ibid., p. 229.
But Constable closes on the Biblical note of the ultimate "termination of moral evil." It will "have an end." "It is not from eternity, and it will not be to eternity." Eternity of evil, Constable declares, is "not a doctrine of the Bible." "Evil is a thing of time, and is not an essential part of the constitution of God’s universe." [39] Thus he likewise disposes of Tertullian Augustinianism. This leaves the ultimate and utter destruction of sin and sinners as the truth.
16. ERROR'S FATAL GAP OF Two CENTURIES.—
Constable's final Table impressively shows how Tertullian's theory of Eternal Torment was not projected until A.D. 235, and how Origen's Universal Restoration was not introduced until 253— and he was its "earliest known advocate." The lapse of time represented by the "blank span" between the apostles and Tertullian and Origen is "fatal to both" of the latter. [40] The Tablei3royides a powerful visual portrayal of his logical argument. The truth of Conditional Immortality and the ultimate, utter destruction of the wicked goes back to Christ and the apostles. The other two theories were later innovations, and clearly not apostolic. Constable's is a classic argument.
The position taken in his second major treatise, Hades: or the Intermediate State of Man (1873)—dealing with the condition of man in death—Constable considered as basic to Conditionalism. Several editions indicated the deepening interest in the question. The popular false view of accentuated consciousness in death, of the immortal soul, Constable held to be the root of a "very large portion of the doctrinal error of the Church of Rome." Moreover, "Upon it Spiritualism depends as the foundation of its falsehoods." [41]
39 Ibid., p. 230.
40 Ibid., pp. 227-229.
41 Constable, Hades: or the Intermediate State of Man (3d ed., 1893), p. 3.
It is similarly the justification: the theory of a second probation. But more than these, it neutralizes the very necessity and profit, to souls alleged already in heaven, of the resurrection and the Second Advent. [42] Periodically throughout his work Constable cites such other Conditionalists as Courtenay, White, Hall, Perowne, and Heard in support of his own positions.
1. GENESIS ON TRUE RELATION OF BODY AND SOUL.—
All but the last four of the twenty-seven chapters in his 383-page book set forth the Biblical evidence for his contention. The last four are historical. The high lights, now noted in sequence, involve, first in chapter 1, the origin of man. Of this Constable logically declares:
"The Maker of man is the One who is best able to inform us as to the, nature of the creature of His hands. One verse of the Bible on the nature of man, on the source of his life, on the meaning of his death, must outweigh a whole treatise of Plato, Aristotle, or Epicurus." [43]
Constable turns at once to the Genesis record, and stresses the "two distinct stages" in the creation of man: (1) "The organized body and figure in a lifeless state," formed of the "dust of the ground," but still "lifeless and thoughtless." Yet he was called man "before he could think, or feel, or breathe," which phenomena came "after the breath of life was breathed into him." Thereafter man had spirit, and was a living soul, until be.re-ft of the spirit, or breath, through death. Platonism, on the contrary, says that the real man is not dust, but soul, be coming united to a body—which union was evil. Hence death, dissolving that union, is a blessing. Under such a postulate "death was . . . not a cessation of existence to man," but a change of condition in life, to great betterment. Platonism permeated the church and has largely supplanted the Biblical view. These positions Constable buttresses by multiple Old and New Testament passages, including the declarations of Christ. [44]
42 Ibid., p. 4.
-43 Ibid., p. 8.
-44 Ibid., pp. 9-15.
2. MAN Is ONE PERSON, NOT Two.—Constable contends, in chapter two ("Man One Person"), that man is "one person," not two—and is not a soul or spirit in a body, as Platonism con tends. The Bible "persists in calling that body, when dead, the man." Platonism, on the contrary, maintains the "absurdity of supposing that death has turned one person into two!" [45] But (in chapter three) it was through infusion of the "breath of life" that man became a "living soul." The ''lifeless figure becomes full of life. The inanimate frame becomes instinct with animation." [46] The "original man made of earth" was inbreathed with-the "divine spirit, or breath of life," and "as a consequence the original man becomes a living soul." [47]
But with the "withdrawal of the breath of life" "man is then no longer a living soul, but the lifeless figure he was at the first. He is dust, and dust only. He has not any longer spirit, and he is no longer living soul. . . .
"The organisation is destroyed: the figure crumbles into its essential dust. The death of man produced by the withdrawal of the spirit is followed by the destruction and disorganisation of his form and shape." [48]
3. RELATION OF BREATH OF LIFE TO IMMORTALITY.— Chapter four ("The Breath of Life") deals with the breath of life "breathed directly from God." This breath of life or spark of life is "an attribute of God" Himself, for the ''breath of the Almighty hath given me life" (Job 33:4; cf. Isa. 42:5). But this breath is "only a gift to man"—"whose breath is in his nostrils" (Isa. 2:22). "Life is dependent on its presence" (see Job 27:3), for when God gathers "unto himself his spirit and his breath; all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto the dust" (Job 34:14, 15). [49] But this breath of life "does not of itself confer immortality upon that creature."
The breath of life "is separable from the creature in whom it may reside," and death results from the "separation" of this breath "from man." [50]
-45 Ibid., pp. 18, 19. 48 Ibid.
46 Ibid., p. 23. 49 Ibid., pp. 27-30.
47 Ibid., p. 25. 50 Ibid., p. 32.
And this "breath of life" is the "spirit of God," as "his spirit and his breath" (Job 27:3; 34:14; Isa. 42:5) So the breath of life is God's "breath, given to man by his maker," "proceeding from God" and "returning” to God when He pleases. It is "not the essential property of man, but the essential property of God." So there is marked distinction between the soul and spirit of man. [51]
4. DISTINCTION BETWEEN SOUL AND SPIRIT.—In chapter five ("The Spirit of Man") Constable contrasts this divine pro vision with the teachings of Pantheism, which hold that "God is in everything" and “everything is God." [52] He likewise emphasizes the "distinction of soul and spirit" as being "just as definite as the distinction of both from the body" (1 Thess. 5:23). [53] Then, in chapter six, he takes up the Greek term pneuma, corresponding to the Hebrew ruach, and shows that "spirit" and pneuma are identical. It is this "spirit" that is the "source of life to man," for the "body without the spirit is dead" (James 2:26). Death is the yielding up of the spirit (Luke 23:46; Acts 7:59)—commended to the hand and safekeeping of God at death. And it is given "with a view to its restoration," for the Christian parts with it to "receive it back for ever" at the resurrection. [54]
5. SOUL DOES NOT SURVIVE THE BODY.—
Turning in chapter seven to the Hebrew nephesh, or "soul" of man, Constable says first that "the soul of man is not a second entity, a second person, a second inner ethereal man existing within an outer and grosser man." [55] And the soul is not itself immortal. The proper meaning is "life." "animal life," or "living person." The soul can be killed (Lev. 23:30; Joshua 10:28, 30, 39). The soul goes to the grave (Job 33:22). [56] The soul dies at the death of man.
51 Ibid., pp. 34-36. 54 Ibid., pp. 56-59.
52 Ibid., p. 38. 55 Ibid., pp. 71, 72.
-53 Ibid., p. 51. 56 Ibid., pp. 72-79.
"It does not survive the body: both together cease to exist, to live together again when the spirit of life re-enters the body and reproduces the soul within it." [57]
And in death the soul is in the grave—sheol. (Heb.), or hades (Gri). Constable again points out that the "inbreathing of the breath of life," "which produced within man his soul," "made him become a living soul." "Soul had no existence in man until the spirit entered into him." So the existence of the soul, produced by the presence of the spirit, must always de pend upon the presence of the spirit (Ps. 146:4). It is a case of "cause and effect." So at death the soul goes to hades, while the spirit goes back to God. [58] That is the Biblical portrayal.
6. GRAVEDOM: STATE OF PROFOUND UNCONSCIOUS SLEEP.— Constable turns, in chapters nine and ten, to the Greek hades and Hebrew sheol which alike mean the grave, the "place of death," [59] or gravedom—hades and death being regarded as synonyms—"the land of the shadow of death," from which the resurrection is the only redemption. [60] Hades is the state of "pro found sleep, of utter insensibility," [61] where the dead await the glorious Second Advent. Hades is therefore "identical with the grave." [62] The soul has not "gone to heaven" at death. Thus "David is not ascended into the heavens (Acts 2:34)." At death the soul of Christ went into the grave, or hades (Acts 2:31). [63] The risen and ascended Christ has the "keys of hades and of death (Rev. 1:18)," and at His return "death and hades de livered up the dead which were in them (Rev. 20:13)." [64]
7. DEATH ETERNAL, EXCEPT FOR RESURRECTION.—
Turning next to "death" (chapter eleven), Constable asserts that the sentence of death passed upon all men is real. It would be "eternal" had no deliverance been provided through Christ. [65]
57 Ibid., p. 79. 62 Ibid., p. 129.
-58 Ibid., pp. 80-84. 63 Ibid., pp. 133-135.
-59 Ibid., p. 107. 64 Ibid., pp. 138-140.
-60 Ibid., p. 111. 65 Ibid., pp. 150, 151.
-61 Ibid., p. 127.
On the-day Adam sinned he fell under the sentence of death. And death remains "in force until their [people of God] resurrection to eternal life." [66] So death visits every person, irrespective of his character, and reigns in full power until the spirit of life is restored. [67] Consequently, life and death are "opposite states” (chapter sixteen), with life terminated by death, and death broken by resurrection. [68] Then in chapter seventeen ("The Resurrection") Constable says unequivocally: "With out resurrection there would be no future life of any kind for the believer at all." [69]
That was the hope of the church. So he says: "Viewed in the light of resurrection, death and destruction become a sleep, because at a coming day their power and sway will be broken for ever." [70]
8. No PERCEPTION OF TIME IN DEATH SLEEP.—
The sleep of death (chapter eighteen, "Time and Sleep") is not a "gloomy" view, for the "deep, unbroken sleep" of death "has no perceptible duration. Time, to the sleeper, is nothing."
"When he awakes, it seems as though but only a moment before he had gone asleep." [71] "There is no interval whatever," he quotes approvingly from Whately. "The moment of closing his eyes in death will be instantly succeeded by the sound of the last trumpet. . . . The dead cannot note the progress of time, and therefore it does not exist for them." [72] Thus the "sole hope placed before the mind of the Church" is the Second Advent and its attendant resurrection. [73] Moreover, this places the Second Advent, in relation to the sleeping saints, "as near to every individual and every generation of the Church as it is to any other." [74] Thus:
"Instead of this view putting a long blank space between the believer's death and resurrection, it practically obliterates the actual space that intervenes. . . . He sleeps—he wakes up from sleep—this is his experience." [75]
66 Ibid., p. 154
67 Ibid., p. 202
68 Ibid., p. 208
69 Ibid., p. 227
70 Ibid., p. 238
71 Ibid., p. 240
72 Ibid., p. 245
73 Ibid., p. 248
74 Ibid., p. 254
75 Ibid., p. 255
9. TIME ANNIHILATED TO THOSE WHO SLEEP.—Constable stresses this point:
"To him who sleeps, time is annihilated. To him who sleeps, a century is as short as a moment; ten centuries as short as the twinkling of an eye. To the sleeper, to be at home in the body is to be absent from the Lord—to depart is to be with Christ—to die is to rise again—to sleep is to awake—to lay aside the corruptible body is to put on the incorruptible body—to lay aside the earthly house of this tabernacle' is to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven; for between the time that he sleeps and the time that he awakes, between the time of his death and of his resurrection, is to him a briefer period than would elapse while an angel winged his way from earth to heaven." [76] For both good and evil the death period is "alike, a blank."
The "twilight of its departure is at once succeeded by eternal day, or the sentence to everlasting night." [77]
10. EARLY EPITAPHS ATTEST "SLEEP," AWAITING RESURRECTION.—
After effectively answering problem passages from the Old and New Testaments (chapters twenty to twenty-three)— namely, the witch of Endor, Djves and Lazarus, the penitent thief, and Paul's desire to depart—showing them to be actually in harmony with the principles of Conditionalism—Constable turns to the historical Apostles' Creed and the Ancient Epitaphs, in contrast with most modern anti-Biblical epitaphs. [78] The Early Church recognized the grave as the place of sleep, the temporary resting place of the redeemed. They sleep, but only for a while. [79] There is nothing of death as a "state of glory," no confusion of death with life. Their epitaphs were in, sharp contrast with the hopeless pagan epitaphs—and many modern Christian inscriptions. [80] The early Christians slept "in peace"; they rested in "peace" and "hope." Later (c. 400), the resurrection note disappears; they "live with God." The "glorified condition" [81] of the dead takes the place of the earlier Biblical sentiments. The change has come.
76 Ibid., p. 256. 80 Ibid., p. 331.
77 Ibid., p. 259. 81 Ibid., p. 343.
78 Ibid., pp. 323-361. 82 Ibid., p. 362.
79 Ibid., p. 329.
11. "APOSTOLIC FATHERS" WERE CONDITIONALISTS.—
We are "never for one moment to set aside the plain teaching of Scripture in deference to any or all of them,"82 nevertheless it is helpful to know the Early Church teachings. Of this Constable says:
"If then we can find the Apostolic Fathers agreeing with our view, that in death the entire man dies, and that Hades is the land of death, we may be perfectly certain that such was their real opinion." [83] Constable surveys Clement, Polycarp, Barnabas, Ignatius, Hermas, and Clement of Rome, and shows they taught that the saints were "asleep during the state of death," waiting for the resurrection as their hope. They were to "awake" from the sleep of death when "raised from the grave at resurrection." [84] It is "a blank of sleep to interpose between the believer's life here and his life hereafter." [85] So the intermediate state is "a state of death for man, not one of life," awaiting the "second coming of the Lord, and the resurrection of the dead." [86]
Such is the substance of Constable's Hades: or the Inter mediate State. It is a Conditionalist classic, exerting a moulding influence out to the ends of the earth, and widely quoted in succeeding decades.
83 Ibid., p. 363.
84 Ibid., p. 370.
85 Ibid., pp. 376, 377.
86 Ibid., pp. 382, 383.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The caliber of some of the conspicuous Conditionalists of the time is again illustrated by the illustrious Dr. J. J. STEWART PEROWNE (1823-1904), Anglican bishop of Worcester, eminent Hebrew and Greek scholar. Of Huguenot origin, he was trained at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and ordained in 1848. He became canon of Llandaff and rector of Llanlislio. He also served as master of St. Edward's School, and was in turn tutor, lecturer, preacher, and vice-principal at Lincoln's Inn. He was similarly vice-principal and professor of Hebrew at St. David's College, then prebendary of St. David's, and master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, prior to his consecration as bishop. (Portrait on page 373.)
In 1870 Perowne served as a member of the Old Testament Revision Committee. Then in 1875 he succeeded Dr. J. B. Lightfoot as Hulsean professor of Greek at Cambridge, which post he held with distinction until his death in 1904. Meantime, in 1878, he was named dean of Peterborough, and consecrated bishop of Worcester in 1891. Furthermore, back in 1877 he was appointed general editor for the New Testament section of the renowned Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. [1]
1 Each volume was prepared by a specialist, and included such names as Mottle, Findlay, Humphreys, Plumptre, and Farrar. They extended from Carr on Matthew, to Simcox on the Revelation. In the general preface Perowne, as editor, stated the editorial policy—to leave each author "unfettered" in the expression of his personal views, adding that he differed personally from many of these views so expressed, and was not to be held responsible for the variant concepts of the scholars who had prepared the notes. His own contribution was on the Epistle to the Galatians. He also produced a two-volume new translation and commentary on the Psalms.
WE ARE BUT "CANDIDATES FOR IMMORTALITY."—Perowne became a Conditionalist after thoroughly investigating the facts, and gave expression to his views in the Hulsean Lecture [2] on "Immortality," at Cambridge, in 1868. In this address Perowne plainly states that in the Bible "the immortality of the soul is a phantom which eludes your eager grasp." [3] And he frankly adds that, instead, "we are candidates for immortality." [4] He is definitely listed as a Conditionalist by Petavel, White, Freer, Pettingell, and others. Pettingell quotes him as saying, "The immortality of the soul is neither argued nor affirmed in the Old Testament." [5]
DAVID Thom, D.D., Ph.D. (fl. 1828-1867), was author of Soul and Spirit (1867), but long before that, of Three Questions proposed and answered, concerning the Life forfeited by Adam, the Resurrection of the Dead, and Eternal Punishment (1828, 1835, 1849, 1855). In his earlier treatise Thom asks:
"Is there any authority in Scripture, or in reasonings legitimately derived from Scripture, for the ordinary doctrine that the wicked shall be eternally punished, in a state of existence succeeding the present?" [6]
His answer is very incisive, emphasizing that Eternal Life is only in Christ. And he asserts that the postulate of the "natural immortality of man" has "vanished into the air."
2 The Hulsean Lectures, at Cambridge, were on the evidences of Christianity, and sprang from the will and provision of John Hulse (d. 1790).
3 J. J. S. Perowne, Immortality. Four Sermons Preached before the University of Cambridge, Being the Hulsean Lectures for 1868, p. 31.
4 Ibid., pp. 31, 33.
5 Quoted in J. H. Pettingell, The Life Everlasting: What is It? Whence is it? Whose is It? p. 65.
6 Quoted in Mills, Life-Truth Exponents of the Early 19th Century, p. 127.
DEATH OF THE SOUL INEVITABLE.—Asked concerning the immortality of the soul, Dr. Thom denies the assumption, declaring that man had "conditional immortality conferred" upon him. "But the condition was violated. Gen. 3. 1-6. Of this violation, the death of soul was the immediate and necessary result." And he states categorically that man "is mortal." [7] On the next page he adds that "the supposed inference that it [the soul] is naturally and essentially immortal, falls to the ground with the premises upon which it is erected." [8]
This he augments with the statement that the "soul by its very nature depending on body, must share its fate." [9]
J. F. B. Tinling (1841-1933) was educated at Liverpool Collegiate and St. John's College, London, studying for the ministry in the Church of England. But he became increasingly convinced that he should become a Free Churchman, and as part of a practical preparation Tinling made a six months' gospel tour of India among English-speaking Hindus. Returning to England, he became pastor of the Bethesda church in Bristol, near the George Muller orphanage center.
1. ACCEPTED CONDITIONALISM FROM BIBLE ALONE.—Although he enjoyed more than thirty years of close friendship with Conditionalist Edward White, prior to this association he was led by the Bible alone to accept the position of Life Only in Christ. It came neither by man nor through literature. Following a frank public statement of his inability any longer to subscribe to the doctrine of natural immortality and endless suffering for the wicked, he was subjected to severe censure on the part of some in influential positions. In fact, he, with two others, was put "out of fellowship" by George Muller, who exercised a dominating influence in the community.
7 David Thom, Soul and Spirit, p. 33.
8 Ibid., p. 34.
9 Ibid.
Tinling ministered for five years at Reading, then took the pastorate of Albion Chapel, Hull, which was followed by a period at Eastbourne. And in 1886 he went to East Finchley, London. Beginning in 1889 he devoted himself to evangelistic work, the work he loved best of all. His most prominent published work was The Promise of Life, or Revelation of Conditional Immortality, which ran through several editions. He was one of the speakers at the important Conditionalist Breakfast Conference of 1876, at the Cannon Street Hotel in London. He was one of the effective heralds of Life in Christ.
2. ETERNAL TORMENT A "STUMBLING-BLOCK" TO WORLD. —Tinling's 139-page closely reasoned The Promise of Life, or Revelation of Conditional Immortality, first issued in 1881, was reprinted in 1903 upon the urging of Dr. Petavel, whom Tinling describes as "the most lucid and scholarly exponent of the doctrine herein advocated." [10] In his first chapter ("The Modern Revolt From an Ancient Creed") he alludes to con temporary widespread rejection of the "traditional view" of Eternal Torment of the wicked as the "penalty of earthly sin," and declares that the subject involves both "the destiny of man and the character of God." He calls the theory of eternal punishing the greatest stumbling-block of the world, and the greatest difficulty of the church." [11] Here are some of the high lights.
Tinling first of all denies the contention of universal acceptance of the doctrine until the "modern revolt," and declares: "Protests against it by the most distinguished Christian teachers reach back to the earliest age in which it was asserted." [12] And after reciting, as an example, the historical controversy in the Church of England, and the decision of 1864, he declares that "everlasting torment was not a doctrine of the Church of England." [13] Furthermore, "the Church has never agreed upon this question." [14]
10 J. F. B. Tinling, The Promise of Life, or Revelation of Conditional Immortality, Preface.
11 Ibid., pp. 9, 10.
12 Ibid., p. 12. He refers to such contemporaries as Professor Dorner of Germany, Stewart Perowne, Horace Bushnell, Thomas Binney, Drs. Mortimer and Weymouth, R. W. Dale, and W. H. M. Hay Aitken, as Conditionalists. In addition he lists such Restorationists as F. A. Tholuck, Augustus Neander, Samuel Cox, Henry Dunn, Canon Farrar, and Baldwin Brown—though some of them aver that they are not Restorationists.
13 Ibid., p. 18.
14 Ibid., p. 22.
3. BASED UPON ASSUMPTIONS AND ASSERTIONS.—In his next chapter ("The World's Beliefs Respecting Immortality") Tinling is compelled to "dispute what has so long been taken for granted that it has grown into the semblance of self-evident truth"—but which rests only on the "assertions of the learned or the arrogant in times of ignorance." [15] Carefully distinguishing between an after-death resuscitation of all men "through resurrection," and the postulate of "natural immortality," Tinling challenges the thesis that "there is a human nature, apart from the operations of redeeming grace, a soul or spirit that must live for ever." [16]
4. ETHNIC RELIGIONS TAUGHT ULTIMATE LOSS OF PER SONALITY.—Not all the ethnic religions teach an "individual immortality." For example, in India the Rig-Veda teaches that the soul returns to, and loses individuality "in, God, like a drop of water returning to the ocean.” [17] And Greek philosophy, springing from Chaldea and Egypt, likewise had "transmigration, and final absorption of souls." [18] So Innate Immortality "finds neither proof nor illustration among the master-thinkers of the past." [19] One fifth-century writer implies that the "preponderating belief of the Jews was the destructibility of the soul." [20] And only as apostasy made fatal inroads into the Chris tian Church did Immortal-Soulism take possession of one large wing of the church. The other, and earlier, group taught the mortality of man, and immortality only through Christ.
5. NOT LEFT IN IGNORANCE FOR 4,000 YEARS.—After showing that Innate Immortality and Eternal Torment have no basis in Scripture, Tinling chides advocates of Innate Immortality for their preference for settling its "orthodoxy" by "philosophical reasonings" rather than by revelation, and warns against the "vicious circle of sophistry" involved in such reasoning. [21]
15 Ibid., p. 25.
16 Ibid., p. 26.
17 Ibid., p. 30.
18 Ibid., pp. 32, 33.
19 Ibid., p. 34.
20 Ibid., p. 35.
21 Ibid., pp. 43. 45.
On the Biblical side, as to the intent of the term "everlasting," he cites Gesenius' Hebrew Lexicon as stating that "the extent of duration is restricted or not according to the subject of which it is predicated." Tinling holds that the word "everlasting" does not therefore support the doctrine of endless suffering, except on the theory of "natural immortality." Such a premise must be based on "the doctrine of the eternal existence of all men," and the supposition that "death" does not mean death. But if eternal torment be the fate of the wicked, Tinling declares:
"The obvious but incredible implication of this theory is that, during four thousand years of human history, Divine revelation, which at that time was chiefly conveyed in the form of law and its sanctions, did not inform the world of the final consequences and therefore of the real character of sin; that is, that God not only allowed men for forty centuries to remain helplessly ignorant of the terrific doom which hung over them as sinners, but that this discovery of eternal woe was concealed from the age of severity and reserved as a fit background of revelation—for the glorious gospel of the love of God. Anything more dishonouring to God
or revolting to Christian conscience than such a representation of Divine government and grace it would be difficult to imagine."
Tinling boldly asserts that the Bible "does not contain a single passage in which immortality is directly attributed to the human race." [24]
This, he comments pointedly, is a "very remarkable omission," for one single authoritative statement would have settled forever the "vast amount of ancient speculation and modern assertion which it [such omission] has occasioned." [25] And no fundamental truth of such "unsurpassed practical importance" should ever be established "upon the narrow and indefinite basis of questionable inference." [26]
6. No MORE "IMMORTAL" THAN OMNIPOTENT, OMNIS CIENT, OR OMNIPRESENT.—Turning to the record of man's creation in Genesis, Tinling declares: "It is entirely arbitrary to sup pose that because God formed man in His own image He communicated to him His own attribute of immortality" [27]—any more than any other divine attribute, such as omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, or perfect holiness. Furthermore, the term "living soul" is "in no way suggestive of immortality." [28] Otherwise, according to Genesis, it would also apply to the lower animals. The term means living being.
22 Ibid., pp. 46, 49.
23 Ibid., pp. 54, 55.
24 Ibid., pp. 55, 56.
25 Ibid., p. 56.
26 Ibid., p. 57.
27 Ibid., p. 59.
Man was made for immortality. And immortality for fallen man comes by redemption, not by creation. It is brought about "by union with the sinless Son of God." The tree of life was a "provision for the maintenance of man's physical life"—in the time of his innocence—"from the use of which he was cut off as soon as he became unworthy to live." [29] So "neither the creation of man nor his connections as described in the Book of Genesis prove human nature to have been originally immortal, but tend powerfully to establish the opposite conclusion." [30]
7. ETERNAL. LIFE THROUGH CHRIST ALONE.—Discussing the "second life," in chapter four, Tinting says that since man does not have natural immortality, he is "short-lived." [31] Immortality is brought to light through the Gospel. God "only hath immortality" (1 Tim. 6:16). He is "immortal" (1 Tim. 1:17). Immortality is something we are to "seek for" (Rom. 2:7). And its reception is brought about through the resurrection, when our corruption will put on incorruption, and our mortality will put on immortality." [32] And all this is through Jesus, the "Desire of all nations." He is the "full answer of God to the cry of man, the infallible Teacher whose words were to supersede all tentative philosophies." [33]
He is our "life" (John 1:4). Eternal life is in Him, the Self-existent, Imperishable One. And from Him it is "communicated" to us. It is with the uplifting of the Son of man that there is "gracious restoration of forfeited life." In John 4 eternal life is made dependent upon Him as the "living water."
28 Ibid., p. 61.
29 Ibid., p. 62.
30 Ibid., p. 63.
31 Ibid., p. 64,
32 Ibid., p. 71.
33 Ibid., p. 72.
In John 5 His power to quicken the dead and give life is revealed—a "new right and power of existence." In John 6 He is the "bread of life"—a term expressing "continuance" and the "meat which endured unto everlasting life," which if one eat he shall "not die" but "live forever"—i.e., "eternal continuance in contrast with destruction." In John 11, by the "opened grave of Lazarus," the life to be bestowed is through the "resurrection." Tinling holds that in John 12 the whole issue involves "continuance, or non-continuance." [34]
The "primary meaning of life throughout the Gospel of John is the principle of imperishable existence, in contrast with the present life of dying men"—and this life centers solely in the life of the Son of God. And our "boon of eternal existence" is "by participation in the life of the incarnate God." [35] Thus it is also with Paul's teaching, [36] and John's. [37]
34 Ibid pp. 73-76,
35 Ibid p. 76.
36 Ibid pp. 79-84.
37 Ibid pp. 84, 85.
8. EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON IMMORTALITY THROUGH CHRIST.—Passing much similar valuable material, we come to his statement:
Everyone who ultimately perishes dies for his own sin, having been raised up from the death in which he was in-volved by Adam to stand or fall according as he has or has not secured immortality through Christ. [38]
But it is "equally clear" that while "the wicked rise," they do not rise to "immortality." Their portion will be the second death. [39] The "second death, which is the doom of the finally impenitent, must be the destruction or extinction of body and soul." From the beginning to the close of Scripture that fate is presented as "the extreme penalty for sin." That is the "loss of life." [40]
That is a conspectus of Tinling's message.
Let us step now into the arena of current discussion long enough to observe how a rector takes up the cudgels with his bishop over the now hotly controverted issue of the nature of man and the destiny of the wicked. Feelings run deep and words are forthright.
WILLIAM ROBERT TOMLINSON (1811-1899), scholarly Anglican rector of Sherfield English, was a graduate of St. John's, Cambridge. After ordination in 1835 he became curate at Pres ton and Hove, and then in 1837 he was inducted into the vicar-ship of Whiteparish, and finally was given the rectorship of Sherfield English. Conversing with a fellow rector, Mark Cooper, of St. Mary's, Southampton, Tomlinson made a casual remark concerning the "immortal soul," to which Cooper quietly replied, "The soul is not immortal!" The rejoinder startled Tomlinson. It was a new thought, and started a train of study that ultimately brought light, understanding, and re lief to his mind. Immortality is actually conditional! It seemed so reasonable," and was clearly supported by Scripture. [41] It should surely appeal to the thoughtful and open-minded, he thought. (Portrait on page 362.)
38 Ibid., p. 99.
39 Ibid., p. 100.
40 Ibid., pp. 101, 102.
1. CHALLENGES BISHOP'S POSITION ON ETERNAL TORMENT.—In the current controversy of the time the bishop of Liverpool had called Conditionalism "a modern theory." But Tomlinson had found, on the contrary, that ever since Reformation times it had been held by an unending succession of able scholars—actually "thousands" in all—though for some time it had been kept "under a bushel." He also discovered that to preach his convictions was to go against stern contemporary "forces of authority."
One of Tomlinson's contributions was The Undying Worm and the Human Soul. But his best-known work on Conditionalism was his courageous reply to a chapter on "Conditional Immortality," appearing in Thoughts of Immortality (1886), authored by John Charles Ryle, bishop of Liverpool, his ecclesiastical superior. Tomlinson published his reply in Thoughts on "Everlasting Death" (1886), in which he took decided issue with the bishop, who had flatly asserted that "the future misery of those who are finally lost is eternal," holding that future bliss and future misery were coextensive, and that one cannot be less than the other. Said he, "I fail to see how you can distinguish the du-ration of the one from the duration of the other." [42]
Tomlinson's avowed object, in rebuttal, was to show that all future life, or death, is conditional, and that "everlasting death"—the "antithesis" of everlasting life—is the cessation of life. The bishop had complained that "Conditional Immortality" had "lately found great favour in some quarters," but was "specious." [43] Tomlinson's reply afforded an insight into his view of the fallacy of the reasoning of such a stricture.
41 William R. Tomlinson, Thoughts on Everlasting Death," p. 13, in "The Faith" Extras, No. 4. See also Cyrus E. Brooks, Reminiscences, 1878-1888, pp. 59, 60.
42 Tomlinson, op. cit., p. 5.
43 Ibid., p. 6.
2. INVOKES BIBLE AND CITES BISHOP PORTEUS.—The Old Testament, insisted Tomlinson, neither declares nor "assumes the natural immortality of the soul." Rather, it teaches that "the soul is mortal by nature." [44] And he adds: "Let us never forget that it was not God who said, 'Thou shalt not surely die,' but the devil, who was a liar from the beginning." [45]
The writer of Genesis, and David (Ps. 49:12, 14, 15), Solomon (Prov. 12:28), and Ezekiel (Eze. 18:20-27), are all alike crystal clear. Life and death are thrown into direct contrast. And in the New Testament "Conditional Immortality is brought out in a marked manner." It declares, according to Christ Himself, that God is "able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt. 10:28). [46]
Tomlinson then cites Bishop Beilby Porteus (d. 1808), [47] bishop of London—another Conditionalist—who declared that the soul is "formed for immortality," can be "killed," "kill and destroy" being "synonymous." It was indeed fitted for immortality, Tomlinson insists, but was not of itself immortal, and might be lost irrevocably. The rector further held that "if the soul is to exist in misery forever, it must be made immortal for the purpose." [48] It must "put on" immortality, just as much so as if it were to live in joy forever. But that is not God's provision.
2. THE SOUL "NOT IMMORTAL IN ITSELF."—We must not call death "life," Tomlinson urges, nor destruction "immortality." "We must not put bitter for sweet, black for white, or darkness for light," especially with the view of robbing God of His attributes of enduring mercy. [49] Summarizing he says: "The soul is not immortal in itself. It is only 'formed for immortality.' It can be lost, and it can be kept, as demonstrated profusely in the Holy Scriptures." [50]
44 Ibid., pp. 6, 7.
45 Ibid., p. 7.
46 Ibid., p. 9.
47 BEILBY PORTEIJS (1731-1808), bishop of London, was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge. After various parochial appointments he became bishop of Chester (1776), then of London in 1787. He championed the ideals of the rising Evangelical School, furthering many of their reforms. But he was theologically out of sympathy with the Calvinism of most Evangelicals. He was a strong supporter of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Cf. Porteus, Sermons on Several Subjects, vol. I, pp. 98-170 ("Scriptural Evidences of a Future Life, and a Future Retribution"); Death: a Poetical Essay (1759); The Day of Judgment: a Poetical Essay (1758). See Abbot, The Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life, nos. 874a, 2416, 3245a.
48 Tomlinson, op. cit., p. 11.
49 Ibid., pp. 11, 12.
4. QUOTES ILLUSTRATING LINE OF THOUGHT.—Here are some choice Tomlinson quotes that epitomize his line of thought:
"Surely 'everlasting death' cannot mean 'everlasting life.' " [51]
”Death, dying, perishing, destruction.' and the like . . . can only mean cessation of existence." [52]
“I protest against the words, 'death,' dying, perishing,' and 'destruction,' being used contrary to their true signification, to suit party purposes, or, to keep men's souls in bondage." [53]
5. PROTESTS ALTERATION OF WORD AND INTENT.—Referring to Mark 9:43, 44, Tomlinson seriously protests Bishop Ryle's changing a word in a quoted text of Scripture—putting a pronoun for an article—a change that "entirely alters the meaning of that sentence." [54] And he adds:
How strange it is that people will not see that it is not the souls that die not, but their punisher, God's avenging angel, under the title of 'their worm that dies not.' The worm is not the soul, but the typical tormenter and final destroyer of the soul, its subject.... 'The executioner lives; the culprits die, and he is their executioner [55]
6. CITES SIMILAR BIBLE STANDARD CRITICISM.—Tomlin son refers to an incisive editorial in the Bible Standard (for September, 1887), likewise criticizing Bishop Ryle's confusion of the "everlasting duration of the sinner's punishment with its nature," and insists instead that the "unbeliever's death and extinction is endless." Then on Revelation 14:9-11, Tomlin son observes that "it is the smoke," not the "torment," which ascends up forever and ever. Mention is made of the outgrowth of Immortal-Soulism—the "Will-o'-the-Wisp" of Spiritualism, "leading traveller's to a quagmire," without ever helping them out. And in Daniel 12:2 the "many" and the "some" sound to Tomlinson like "Conditional Immortality."
50 Ibid., p. 1.4.
51 Ibid., p. 19.
52 Ibid., p. 20.
53 Ibid., p. 21.
54 Ibid., p. 23.
55 Ibid., p. 24.
And further, is the contempt that is everlasting, not the contemptible; the despising, not the despised." [56]
7. SUPREME CONDITIONALIST IS JESUS CHRIST.—The greatest argument for Conditional Immortality, Tomlinson continues, comes from the lips of our Lord Himself. Here is the Biblical evidence:
In Matthew 7:13 "destruction" is put over against "life."
In John 3:16 it is "everlasting life" versus "perish."
In John 5:40 and 10:28 it is "life" versus "perish."
In Matthew 21:44 "grind him to powder," in allusion to the wicked.
And in Luke 20:16 He will come and "destroy" the husbandmen.
In Matthew 16:26 a man can "lose his own soul."
In John 12:25 to "lose" and "keep" the life are put in contrast.
In John 8:51 some "never see death."
In John 10:28 those having "eternal life" "never perish."
In Luke 20:36 they do not "die anymore."
In John 3:36 "hash everlasting life" versus "not see life."
In John 4:14, 36: 5:24. 39: 6:27. 40, 47, 54; 17:1, 2—all those classified have "eternal life" or "everlasting life." [57]
These multiple declarations all teach that "life" and "death" are the real and only ultimates of humanity." And these all take place "after the final judgment," not in the "intermediate state." [58]
3. FISHING IN SAME BOAT WITH ROME.—The "very lack of Scripture" evidence in "upholding a beloved dogma" drives men who are "furthest from the Church of Rome in their usual tenets" to fish in the same boat with the Romanists, as Tomlinson puts it, and to "dabble with the 'adherents of the Apostasy' in ordinarily forbidden waters, when it suits their purpose," as they cite supporting Catholic precedents and authorities in buttressing their own position. [59]
56 Ibid., pp. 29-33.
57 Ibid., pp. 35-37.
58 Ibid., p. 37.
59 Ibid., p. 40.
He continues: "If man is mortal Conditional Immortality is true, for that is its prime contention, since CHRIST alone can make man immortal." [60]
Tomlinson is extraordinarily candid in his strictures about the bishop's distortion of the intent of Scripture phrases, and censures the "heresy" of reading the Scripture word punishment as though Goo had written suffering, misery, or torment—which Divine wisdom has never written, in conjunction with the word eternal or everlasting, in regard to mortal man. The Divine connection always is punishment, destruction, and kindred words implying eternal death—'The wages of sin is death'—not life in torment.' [61]
9. ADMONITION: BEWARE OF JEHOIAKIM'S PENKNIFE TECHNIQUE.—"Beware," admonishes Tomlinson, "of constantly talking of 'everlasting misery,' when there is not a word in the Bible to support the term." [62] Laying hold of the bishop's allusion to "Jehoiakim's penknife" and "cutting God's Word to pieces," Tomlinson turns it into an inquiry:
What else—we say in return,—is calling 'death,' dying, perishing, and the like, 'eternal life in misery?' and what else is calling 'destruction,' keeping our component parts together for ever in order to be tormented for ever, but 'cutting GOD'S Word to pieces,' if not with a penknife, yet with a deplorable spirit of malversation? Destruction means pulling a structure to pieces. not keeping it together." [63] Thus deeply did Tomlinson feel and speak. For him this was no mere academic discussion. To him vital truth was at stake. And it was typical of the times, for men had moving convictions and expressed them candidly, yet were respected and were now able to continue their ministry notwithstanding.
Another vigorous Anglican voice that was heard was that of C. A. Row (1816-1896), Canon of St. Paul's Cathedral. Trained at Oxford, he gave the famous Bampton Lectures [64] on "Christian Evidences Viewed in Relation to Modern Thought" at Oxford in 1882. Row was author of several works, including Future Retribution Viewed in the Light of Reason and Revelation (1887; new enlarged ed., in 1889). This was the essence of his Bampton Lectures, so they first had a special scholastic audience before their general distribution. Everyone knew the Canon's position on the nature and destiny of man.
60 Ibid., p. 44.
61 Ibid.
62 Ibid., p. 46.
63 Ibid.
64 The Bampton Lectures (created by Canon John Bampton in 1780) comprised a series of eight divinity-lectures" annually, at Oxford, on Christian evidences, the authority of Scripture, the faith of the primitive church, the creeds, or the Fathers, and heresies. Notable speakers marked the years—including Whately and Hampden (1832)., They must be Anglicans. graduates of Oxford or Cambridge, and the same person must never be chosen twice. Some series have provoked great controversy, as that by Nott, in 1802, directed against Wesley and Whitefield.
1. ATHANASIAN CREED STATEMENT IS INDEFINITE.—Canon Row felt that the "awfulness" of the theory of Eternal Torment—"an existence without end, in a state of misery which will never cease" [65]—involving as it does the character of God and the fate of man, called for definite restudy. Added to this was the confusion over the postulates of Universalism and Conditionalism. Undertaking this, Row went back to the Athanasian Creed, venerated by the Western Church. Taking the creedal expression, "perish everlastingly," he makes the declaration:
It [the Athanasian Creed] nowhere defines what is the meaning intended by 'perishing everlastingly,' or 'going into everlasting fire.' For anything which it affirms to the contrary, these expressions may mean annihilation: and so far they are consistent with the theory called 'conditional immortality,' or 'life in Christ.' But it is no less certain that the meaning which is attached to them by the overwhelming majority of those who read them or hear them recited, is 'endless existence in never-ending torment.' [66]
2. PHILOSOPHY DOES NOT PROVE IMMORTALITY OF MAN.—Coming to the common argument of alleged "all but universal belief that there is something in man which will survive the stroke of death," and the "un-satisfactory character of the reasonings of the ancient philosophers on this subject," [67] Row makes this observation:
Let it be observed that none of the above [philosophical] reasonings are adequate to prove the immortality of man. All that they really prove is that his personality will survive the dissolution of his body. It is generally assumed that reasonings which avail to prove man's survival after death are equally valid to prove his immortality; or, as it is commonly conceived, that the righteous will continue to exist in happiness and the wicked in misery for evermore. But this is a conclusion which the premisses [sic] will not justify. On the contrary, judging by analogy, as disease destroys the body, so sin may be ultimately destructive of the being of the sinner. The whole question of immortality depends on the will, purposes, and character of God." [68]
65 C. A. Row, Future Retribution Viewed in the Light of Reason and Revelation (1887), p. 15.
66 Ibid., pp. 4, 5. 67
67 Ibid., p. vi.
3. GENESIS NARRATIVE FAVORS CONDITIONALIST "THEORY." —After referring to the inferences and assumptions often drawn from the Genesis record, Row says that "whole mountains of theories have been erected and read into it, as though they were so many Scriptural truths; and thus it has been made the basis of a number of very complicated systems of theology." [69] But "putting aside" all "theories and conjectures and poetic imaginations," he says that the specifications of the narrative "favour the theory of conditional immortality, that the words used seem to imply that man was created mortal, but capable of attaining immortality by eating of the fruit of the tree of life." [70]
4. RESURRECTION, NOT INNATE IMMORTALITY --After noting the Old Testament evidence, Row comes to the New Testament positions and the resurrection factor, and makes this significant statement:
Such is the position which the resurrection holds in the New Testament in relation to a future state. In thus resting the realisation of the highest aspirations of man on the promise of a resurrection instead of on the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, or even on its survival after the death of the body, the [New Testament] writers ran counter to the entire course of ancient philosophic thought. Oriental philosophy, and the various systems connected with it, viewed the cessation of personal existence and absorption into the sum total of all things, which was the only deity recognised by Pantheism—as the highest object of human desire. It therefore viewed the separate existence of the soul and its union with a material organism—for according to its principles matter was the source whence all evil sprang—as a dire misfortune.' [71]
68 Ibid., pp. 84, 85.
69 Ibid., p. 153.
70 Ibid., p. 154.
71 Ibid., p. 179.
SCHOLARS AUGMENT CONDITIONALIST APPEAL 371
Greek philosophy, he adds, viewed the body as the soul's prison house," and considered any future reunion, "after once liberated from it," as the "greatest of calamities." [72]
5. NEW TESTAMENT SYMBOLS INDICATE ULTIMATE DE STRUCTION.—Chapters nine and ten are devoted to technical Greek terms for body, soul, and spirit, and also especially to aion and aionios, which "denote periods not of unlimited but of limited duration.' And he stresses that the six or more Greek terms used for the fate of man "convey the idea of destruction." [74] Taking up the stock problem texts Row says:
There is nothing in the symbols used which suggests the idea that the fate of such sinners would be a conscious existence in torments which would never end. On the contrary, the imagery suggests that of ultimate destruction." [75]
And he declares that the Dives and Lazarus recital is a parable, not a "history of actual occurrences." Then he concludes: “The narrative being a parable, it is impossible that its imagery can have been intended to be a revelation of the secrets of the underworld. If we accept one part of it as such we ought in consistency to accept the whole. and this none of its expositors do." [76]
6. THE TWOFOLD PREMISE OF CONDITIONALISM.—Chapter fourteen contrasts the "theories of Universalism, and Conditional Immortality." Citing Edward White as the "most powerful advocate" of Conditional Immortality, Row epitomizes White's positions.
7. No CREATURE HAS INHERENT ENDLESS EXISTENCE.—Row subjoins his own convictions in these words:
No being that has been brought into existence by the will of another can have endless existence inherent in itself. Of One only, whose being has had no beginning, can it be said with truth that His existence must be everlasting. Inasmuch, therefore, as man is destitute of self-existence, the length of the period during which he will continue to exist must be dependent on the good pleasure of Him who by His all-powerful energy maintains him in being every moment.” [77]
72 Ibid., p. 180.
73 Ibid., p. viii.
74 Ibid., p. 227.
75 Ibid., p. 245.
76 Ibid., p. 257.
77 Ibid., pp. 408, 409.
And the reason is added:
It has been necessary to draw attention to this particular point be-use the doctrine of the inherent immortality of the soul, as it is commonly understood, is supposed to carry along with it, as a necessary consequence, that evil spirits and evil men must continue to exist for ever-in torments which will never terminate." [78]
8. "UNIVERSAL ACCEPTANCE" THEORY SIMPLY NOT TRUE. —In conclusion, Row disposes of the so-called "universal be lief" idea with this recital of simple historical fact:
"It is a matter of absolute certainty that in all ages of the Christian Church, as far as our historical evidence extends, there have been eminent theologians who have been unable to accept as a Christian verity the commonly accepted doctrine known by the name of eternal damnation. This being so, the affirmation that it is a doctrine which has been accepted always everywhere by the Catholic Church of Jesus Christ is untrue, and therefore the theory which has been erected on the assumption of its truth is invalid." [79]
But even if it were so— 'once[ it was an all but universal belief, if not an actually universal one, that the sun moved round the earth, and that to affirm the motion of the latter was a most flagrant denial of the truth of Scripture; and when those appeared who openly controverted the truth of this belief, the position taken by them was pronounced a heresy." [80]
Little wonder that scholarly Conditionalist Freer wrote: "Canon Row, in his Bampton Lectures on Future Retribution, has powerfully advocated the doctrine." [81]
78 Ibid., p. 409.
79 Ibid., p. 422.
80 Ibid.
81 Freer, To Live or Not to Live? A Popular Discussion of the Conditions of Human immortality, p. 112.
WILLIAM H. M. HAY AITKEN (1841-1927), Canon of Norwich Cathedral, England, was educated at Wadham College, Oxford. Ordained in 1866, he served as curate of St. Judes, London (1865-1871). Then, following an incumbency in Liverpool, he became a mission preacher in 1875. He was appointed General Superintendent of the Church Parochial Missionary Society, and made canon of Norwich Cathedral in 1908. [82] Aitken was author of seventeen volumes, [83] published between 1875 and 1905, including Eastertide (1889) and Temptation and Toil (1895). He was also a contributor to the Clergyman's Magazine. But it is to be particularly noted that he was advanced to his canoncy twenty-five years after his undeviating espousal of Conditionalism.
After years of intensive systematic study, Aitken devel oped a revulsion against the doctrine of the eternal suffering of the wicked. He thought it was inconsistent with divine love. He further felt that he could no longer preach it. This resulted in inevitable controversy and opposition. To him the essence of the gospel was nothing less than "salvation from sin itself, and only secondarily from the consequences of sin." He came to urge "positive acceptance of Divine love," rather than "a negative escape from Divine wrath," for the "two lines of ap peal" were obviously "poles apart." Believing the gospel to be the "gift of the eternal life," and "eternal life imparted only as a gift," dependent upon man's "voluntary acceptance." he concluded that "the terrible, inescapable opposite of life must be death—death as absolute and annihilatory as life is indestructible, endless, and ever-abounding." [84]
82 Crockford's Clerical Dictionary.
83 Included were Newness of Life (1877), The School of Grace (1879), God's Everlasting Tea (1879), In Glory of the Gospel (1882), The Highway of Holiness (1883), Around the Cross (1884), The Revealer Revealed (1885), The Love of the Father (1887), et cetera, which titles reveal the emphasis of his writings.
Aitken saw "that this conclusion negatived the orthodox belief in the natural immortality of the soul." But he was convinced that there is nothing in man that is "inalienably and essentially divine," except his "potentiality for divinity." He has "a capacity for being made into an immortal being." He is "not essentially immortal, but he may be immortalized. Eternal life is not his actual possession until he has linked himself voluntarily and by faith to his proper life-centre, God." [85] Its enjoyment must "depend upon the maintenance" of its true "relations with the Creator."
Contrariwise:
The soul who dies impenitent is as a branch cut off from the parent tree. It cannot live, for it has broken contact with the source of life. To conceive of such an one as persisting through all eternity in hideous—useless—undisciplinary torment is a blasphemy against Universal Love such as can only arise by an ignorant misreading of certain scriptural passages, which are equally capable of being interpreted in another way. [86]
84 Charlotte E. Woods, Memoirs and Letters of Canon flay Aitken, with an introductory memoir of his father the Rev. Robert Aitken of Pendeen, pp. 170, 171.
85 Ibid., pp. 171, 172
86 Ibid., p. 172.
1. ETERNAL DESTRUCTION A STATE, NOT A PROCESS.—Aitken put his convictions into a paper, prepared about 1883, for private circulation in his Council of the Church Parochial Mission Society, which had become un-easy over his Conditionalist concepts. The two irreconcilable views of "eternal destruction" were here set forth in contrast—either it is "a process of destruction going on for ever and ever, or a state of ruin everlastingly maintained." The former, he insisted, "involves a contradiction of terms," for "the conservation of identity indefinitely extended is the negation of the idea of destruction," which is "utter dissolution and extinction of the object to which it is applied." [87]
Aitken then placed Conditionalism over against the orthodox position, and that of the Universalists, or Restorationists. And he supported his position by an appeal to the declarations of Jude, James, Peter, John, John the Baptist, and Christ Himself—"utterances which are difficult to explain in any other sense than that of their literal meaning, which is annihilation of the wicked." [88]
2. "WORD AND WORK" CLOSES COLUMNS TO HIM.—Early in 1883 a leading Evangelical journal, Word and Work, opened its columns to a "long and acrimonious discussion of conditional immortality." It was occasioned by the dismissal by the Church Missionary Society of one of its ablest men for adopting and teaching this postulate. Aitken wrote a long letter to the editor proposing a "calm, dispassionate discussion" in Word and Work. But this was sharply declined, and Aitken's "heresy" was strongly condemned without opportunity of reply. [89]
2. FOUR QUESTIONS PROPOUNDED BY AITKEN.—Canon Aitken then asked a series of questions: (1) If the "terror of eternal torment" is backed by divine revelation, "should we not expect that it would be revealed in precise and unequivocal language?" (2) "Is it not surprising that there is no distinct and categorical statement, from Genesis to Revelation, to the effect that all the wicked shall suffer torment for ever, whether of body or mind?" (3) "Does it not seem passing strange that no indication of such doom is to be met with in the Old Testament canon?" Would God "spring" such a "horrible doom without due warning?" And (4)— Is it not passing strange, since this doctrine of eternal suffering is (as you teach) of such immense importance that we ought to be denied Christian fellowship for not holding it, that we find no mention of it in the Epistles of St. Paul. St. James. St. John and St. Jude? (I protest in common honesty against St. Paul's 'eternal destruction' being quoted as a negative instance.) It is to the Epistles that we usually go for our doctrinal conclusions upon subjects of a theoretical character. Why are we not taught the Platonic doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and the 'Catholic,' or, as I prefer to call it, the 'mediaeval' corollary of its eternal sufferings? Is it not wonderful that St. john, the author who above all others deals with, destiny, makes no mention of eternal suffering in his Gospel, nor does St. Luke in either his Gospel or the Acts?
Is it not a thing most astonishing that, if the immortality of the soul is a great fundamental verity, it is nowhere stated in Holy Scripture: while. on the other hand, modern Christians who believe it can hardly ever preach a sermon or pray a prayer without using the non-scriptural, if not unscriptural phrase, 'immortal souls,' never-dying souls'? [90]
90 Ibid., pp. 175-177.
91 Ibid., p. 176-177.
92 Ibid., pp. 178-180.
4. No "INFINITE PENALTY" FOR "FINITE SIN."—Aitken then challenges the editor to "find anything between the covers of your Bible" to sustain the "terrific theory of an infinite penalty for finite sin"—for "any punishment that is eternally inflicted is infinite in extent, though not necessarily in degree." [91]
5. MANY PULPITS SEALED AGAINST HIM.—As a result, a "storm of controversy" ensued among men of learning over the issue, and Aitken now had his "first taste of the rancour of the dogmatic spirit." The rector of Cheltenham cancelled Aitken's appointment to conduct a mission in his parish. Other pulpits were soon "sealed against him." But Aitken had taken his stand against the "protracted tortures of the lost through periods so vast that geological ages of this planet are a mere watch in the night as compared with them." So, one after another turned against him and released him from standing appointments, as correspondence of 1883 discloses." However, this phase passed.
6. CHURCH PAROCHIAL MISSION SOCIETY CONTINUES TO USE HIM.—Canon Aitken was given full opportunity to state his views before the Council of the Church Parochial Mission Society, where he told of his change of view, and gave the "scriptural grounds upon which it was supported." The Council, while dissociating itself from the doctrine of Conditional Immortality, "refrained from condemning the holders of that doctrine," and declined to dismiss him." [93] Nevertheless, ostracism continued in various quarters. One American university that had purposed to confer the degree of D.D. upon him during his first American mission, and which attracted great crowds, [94] withdrew it when it learned that he was a Conditionalist." [95]
Aitken's final declaration on Conditionalism was his Fore word to Eric Lewis' Life and Immortality, written in 1924. Here, in discussing the "ultimate doom of the impenitent" and the variant interpretations of the Scripture terms, Aitken ap peals to the reader to "lay aside all prejudice" and "patiently pursue a process of critical enquiry" by— "comparing Scripture with Scripture, and honestly discriminating be tween their original and natural meaning and any traditional significance that for one cause or another may have become attached to them." [96]
7. NO ETERNAL TORMENT FOR BRIEF EARTHLY LIFE.—Commending the "thoroughness and transparent honesty" of Lewis, which had led to his "conclusions" on scriptural grounds only, and alluding to the "palpable sophistries" of popular arguments and the "misuse of the word 'annihilation,' " Aitken then refers to the "grievous and God-dishonouring error" of Eternal Torment. He states:
"The doctrine of Eternal Torment has lost its hold on the common sense and moral sensibilities of mankind. People don't and won't believe that an infinitely good End merciful God can consign His own offspring (Acts 17. 28. 29) to measureless aeons of torture in retribution for the sins and weaknesses of a few swiftly passing years here on earth." [97]
93 Ibid., pp. 180, 181.
94 The Christian, Aug. 10, 1880.
95 Ibid., p. 182.
96 Eric Lewis, Life and Immortality, Foreword.
97 Ibid.
8. DEATH THE FORFEITURE OF ETERNAL LIFE.—Declaring the dogma of Eternal Torment to be "positively demoralizing," he appealed for a restudy of the question, "untrammelled wit traditions of the past." And he adds:
“Must not reasonable men feel in their own hearts that if they wilfully refuse the offer of life, made to them at the cost of a Saviour's death. they certainly deserve to forfeit that which they have thus despised?'" [98]
Aitken urges men to "buy the truth" at "whatever price," and says, commending the Lewis presentation: "I have not succeeded in finding any flaws in his logic or any wresting of Scripture to suit his theories." [99]
Summarizing thought is that it is the "same Di vine revelation that tells us all we know of God's great mercy in Christ Jesus, that solemnly affirms that the wages of sin is death." That was the testimony of the noted Anglican mission, for nineteen years the canon of Norwich Cathedral.
98 Ibid.
99 Ibid. On Lewis see p. 459.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Certain periodicals committed to the principle of Conditionalism played an important part in the spread of this teaching in its various aspects. One of the first was The Rainbow, of London. But first let us note Bishop Courtenay, of Britain, living in Jamaica, in the West Indies.
Bishop REGINALD COURTENAY, D.D. (fl. 1843-1865), of Kingston, Jamaica, is worthy of note because of his location in the Caribbean, in the Western World. He was an Oxford graduate, and when rector of Thornton Watlass, Yorkshire, issued a 430-page book called The Future States, . . . on Principles Physical, Moral, and Scriptural. Typical quotations must suffice. First, the wicked are to be "extinguished for eternity" [1]
"Everyone certainly would wish to believe, were it possible, that the future state of the unrighteous, their 'second dead,' was an utter destruction, total cessation.sd being. The mind naturally is appalled from the bare conception of hopeless eternal misery. And it has been observed, that many of the images employed in Scripture to portray [sic] the future punishment are such as would lead us to expect an annihilation. Thus the wicked are called 'wandering stars, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever;'—who shine, as it were, with baleful light for a time, to be extinguished for eternity." [1]
1 Reginald Courtenay, The Future States, Their Evidences and Nature Considered, on Principles Physical, Moral, and Scriptural (1843), p. 352. The last sentence, in quotes, is from Archbishop Whately, of Dublin, from his Future State.
The wicked will be utterly consumed, devoured, destroyed:
The image most commonly used is that of fire. Now fire both causes acute pain, and destroys or consumes that which is exposed to it. In which sense then is it used in Scripture? Is 'everlasting fire' a flame that torments forever,—or a flame that utterly destroys? There are certainly some reasons for preferring the latter sense. When, at the end of the world, God shall gather his wheat into his garner,—to be preserved, 'He shall burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire;' with a flame which cannot be extinguished, till the chaff has been utterly consumed. Such shall be the case also of the 'tares,' and of the 'unprofitable branches.' In like manner, as it would seem. God is called 'a consuming fire.' The Gehenna then, 'where the worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched,' may mean, it would seem, a place of destruction, into which whatever is thrown shall be 'utterly devoured." [2]
There will be no deliverance, no revival, no restoration:
"Again, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are said to be 'suffering the vengeance of eternal fire:' where it is certainly intended that fire which the Lord rained upon them of old, and which destroyed them utterly. Not the future 'everlasting fire,' for these cities, and their past fate, are-'set forth for an ensample;' as a warning to the ungodly of what they are to expect hereafter. The expressions 'eternal death,' and even 'everlasting punishment' might be interpreted, did the language of Scripture in other places allow it, in a similar manner. 'They may mean merely that there shall be no deliverance, no revival, no restoration of the condemned.' " [3]
Such were the bishop's published beliefs.
2 Ibid., pp. 352, 353.
3 Ibid., p. 353.
WILLIAM LEASK, D.D. (1812-1884), Congregational scholar and editor, was born in the Orkney Islands. In child hood he was brought up amid rugged scenery and the hard ships of poverty, where popular beliefs regarding ghostology and witchcraft were rife. Rising above delicate health in infancy, he developed into a precocious child. He had a fondness for Bible narration, and long wanted to become a minister and missionary. Leask left home for Edinburgh, arriving there almost penniless. He worked hard for his education by representing a benevolent society, and acquired a rich fund of critical and general knowledge.
He was ordained to the Congregational ministry in 1839. Then a pastorate opened for him in an Independent church at Chapmanslade, Wiltshire. Though short of stature, he had unusual height in intellectual attainments, and was dominated by an unswerving loyalty to the integrity of Scripture —that it means just what it says. After several smaller pastorates he became minister of the important Maberly Chapel, London, where he served for about twenty years, until his death.
1. "THE RAINBOW" RIDES OUT TERRIFIC STORM OF CRITICISM.—His reputation was enhanced through editing The Rainbow, launched in London as a journal on prophecy. This he conducted ably for twenty years—from 1864 to 1884. Starting out as a forum for discussion of opinion, the journal soon became a veritable battleground of effective debate. And Maberly Chapel likewise became the scene of wide discussion and growing fame, as Leask became an avowed exponent of the tenet of Conditional Immortality.
One of his earliest ventures in this field was to take up the cudgels with Henry Smith Warleigh, rector of Ashchurch. Eternal life is of gift of sovereign grace, Leask held, while the concept of an innate, conscious, separate immortal soul is a heathen notion. But the issue was brought sharply to the forefront by publication, in the March, 1869, number of The Rainbow, of William Maude's forthright article, "Immortality," in the beginning of which he asks, "Is Man by Nature an Immortal Being?" The die was thereby cast, and the battle was on. Epithets of reproach were hurled at the journal. Article after article by the daring editor appeared, followed by some by other able writers, such as Canon Henry Constable.
But the unanticipated cancellation of five hundred subscriptions, and the withdrawal of a number of well-known writers—who thought that the appearance of their names therein would jeopardize their good standing—brought on a crisis. Leask was called a "fallen star." For a little time it was feared that The Rainbow would founder in the storm. Suspension seemed inevitable. But it proved able to ride out the waves of criticism and recovered from the shock of attack. Fresh subscriptions more than compensated for former losses. New writers of prominence appeared. In fact, it soon came to exert an influence greater than ever before. But it was the center of one of the great controversies of the time.
2. HELPS FORM CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY ASSOCIATION. —Leask was a writer of charming style, as seen in his Royal Rights, his Struggles for Life, and even in his earliest book, The Hall of Vision. He believed profoundly in the separation of church and state and in the infinite justice of God. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Jefferson College.
Along with Canon Constable and William Maude he was one of the speakers at the epochal 1876 London Breakfast Conference on Conditional Immortality, in the Cannon Street Hotel. And growing out of his vigorous advocacy of Conditionalism, in 1878, at the Mint Lane Baptist Chapel, in Lincoln, the Conditional Immortality Association was formed, with such charter members as Leask, Vasey, Ward, Waylen, Warleigh, and Brown. The Bible Standard, edited by George A. Brown, was chosen as the official organ. Leask was vice-president of the association for a time and was a regular attendant at the annual Conditionalist conferences.
WILLIAM MAUDE (1827-1883), though born in Cape Town, went to Liverpool at the age of ten, where he spent most of his life. His ancestors were of the Society of Friends, but he received his early training among the Calvinists. An omnivorous reader with a bent toward literature and theology, at twenty he wrote a devotional booklet, The Christian's Daily Portion. About the same time he was attracted to the study of prophecy by Hugh M'Neile, [4] who presided over the Albury Park Prophetic Conference of 1826, which was part of the resurgence of emphasis on the Second Advent and eschatology.
4 See Froom, Prophetic Faith, vol. 3, pp. 449-455.
1. STEPS IN ADOPTION OF CONDITIONALISM.—While visiting friends in Wales, Maude was discussing the awful state of the eternally wicked when a German woman protested, "Don't believe that of the good God!" For two years he pondered the arresting thought, asking many close friends for their best arguments on Eternal Torment. Though he told no one at the time, he had secretly rejected the doctrine of the indefeasible immortality of the soul and the concept that it was impossible for the Creator to extinguish, in the creature, the consciousness of existence. He came to regard it as a purely philosophical contention, opposed by Scripture and reason alike.
Prostrated by an illness, he promised God that if he was re stored to health he would openly meet the libels of those who misconceived His character. Soon after this he found a copy of Edward White's Life in Christ in a secondhand bookstall, which gave him an added incentive. As he read he remembered how Luther had found truth buried under human accretions, and pondered how it had been recovered by the hand of a monk, through the neglected Volume in the library at Erfurt.
But because of expressing his new convictions on the final destruction of the wicked, Maude found himself expelled from the large circle of his former friends. At times he felt lonely in his isolation, but soon formed a smaller circle of fellow believers in Conditionalism, and began to make new converts to that view.
2. CONDITIONALIST ARTICLE STIRS PUBLIC OPINION.—Frail of body but strong in mental vigor, Maude soon became a stalwart defender of truths now under assault, and was often ahead of others in his thinking. In 1864 The Rainbow was launched, with the avowed purpose of bearing testimony to neglected Bible truth. Maude contributed an article in the April issue, with many more to follow. During the first five years the major theme of the journal was the glorious coming kingdom of our Lord and the approaching crisis. At the outset it was more of a forum for the expression of variant views, and many in Liverpool and Birmingham confessed their faith in the Second Advent.
About this time Dr. White rewrote and enlarged his Life in Christ. And William Leask, editor of The Rainbow, asked Maude to write an article on Conditionalism, which appeared in March, 1869. To his surprise it greatly stirred public opinion. It was like a ground swell that swayed the foundations of orthodoxy. Maude's presentation evidenced thorough investigation, a masterly grasp of the subject, and an orderly arrangement of the material. [5]
The article gave him prominence as a Conditionalist and placed The Rainbow at the head of a new reformation. On the other hand, the publication of this article entailed the loss of five hundred subscriptions by irate readers, followed by years of reproach and recrimination. There was consternation and anger among the "orthodox." It was a critical period. But White, Constable, and Minton entered the lists as defenders, and new readers soon took the place of those who canceled out.
3. THREE MAJOR CONTENTIONS OF ARTICLE.—Because of its importance we give the gist of Maude's epochal article. Listing ten Anglican and Nonconformist Rublications that had appeared within the previous four year [6] which had called in question the popular concept of Innate Immortality, Maude asks, "Are they [the writers] right, or are they wrong?" He in sists that this vital catestion can no longer be ignored or stifled by the cry of heresy. The issue must be faced, for it had become a crucial topic of the time. And the importance of the issue is apparent because it involves the further question "What is the nature and duration of the future punishment of the lost?"
Referring to the growing criticism and widespread current hostility against the "rigid dogma" of the past concerning hu man destiny, and the new trend of the times, Maude asserts that truth on this topic can no longer be evaded by the thoughtful and candid mind. He then summarizes three main points on which these ten writers agree.
5 pp. 382, 389.
6 These were
James William Barlow, Eternal Punishment and Eternal Death (1865);
William Ker (Anglican), The Popular Ideas of Immortality, (1865);
Edward Falconer Litton (Barrister), Life or Death; the Destiny of the Soul in the Future State (1866);
Thomas Davis (Anglican), Endless Suffering Not the Doctrine of Scripture (1866);
Robert Reynoldson, Everlasting Punishment Not Everlasting Pain (1867);
Thomas Burgh (revision), Christ Our Life: or, the Scripture Doctrine concerning Immortality (1835);
Samuel Minton, The Glory of Christ in the Creation and Reconciliation of All Things (1868);
H. H. Dobney, A Letter to His Grace, the Archbishop of Canterbury, "The Everlasting Suffering of the Lost" (1864);
Henry Constable, The Duration and Nature of Future Punishment (1868).
These are listed in Maude's article in The Rainbow, March. 1869, p. 115.
a. That "man is, as to his whole nature, a mortal creature," with no satisfactory proof from either revelation or reason of the immortality of the soul and the necessarily "eternal existence of all men." Pertinent supporting excerpts are cited from Dobney, Davis, Constable, Minton, and others.
b. That immortality is had in, and only in, Christ. This "sublime truth," as Maude denominates it, makes more radiant , the provisions of salvation only in Christ—involving the Incarnation, atonement, regeneration, resurrection, and eternal judgment. In support he draws from Burgh, Dobney, and Davis.
c. That the question of future punishment of the wicked can be "interpreted in harmony with the preceding two propositions." He again drafts upon William Ker and George Sidney Smith, and shows the fallacy and unscripturalness of such charges as those leveled by James Grant in The Religious Tendencies of the Times (1869).
4. CHRISTIANITY EARLY POISONED BY PI.ATONISM.—The [Platonic philosophy of endless continuity necessitates a past eternity of the soul as definitely as an eternity of futurity. Cicero declared of the soul that it can neither be born nor can lit die. Failing to heed Paul's warning against the subtle philosophies of the time, the Christian Church early accepted this basic fallacy—merely shunning the first concept while adopting the second. Thus it was that Christianity was early poisoned by the infusion, and "eternal punishment" soon came to be regarded as "eternal life spent in eternal pain."
5. GOES BACK TO CONFLICTING DECLARATIONS OF EDEN.-Maude cites Dobney as establishing the fact that the old generalities that "everybody believes it," that the arguments of philosophers "demonstrate" it, and Scripture "abundantly proclaims it." no longer bear the test of scrutiny. The logic of the schoolmen does not prove the immortality of man, and the fallacy of Plato and his successors is now apparent. Moreover, the Articles of the Church of England leave the clergy and the
communicant free io follow Scripture, and the Bible is absolutely silent on the unconditional immortality of all men. The whole issue stems back to the two conflicting declaration of Eden: "ye shall,” and "Ye shall not," surely die. The Scriptures have been consistent in opposition to the assumption of “universal and uncontingent immortality." Constable likewise traces the inherent immortality thesis to Platonic philosophy, as applicable to all souls, good and bad, and necessarily eternal, with no possible end. Burgh insists that it applies only to the saved—who are seeking for immortality; and immortality is something brought to light through the gospel, not by natural constitution.
Dobney holds that eternal life is more than mere endless existence. Those only who do the will of God abide forever. / It is held forth to those who are "capable" of immortality, and thus become partakers of the divine nature of the very life of God Himself. Davis says that such a doctrine "exalts the Redeemer of men." We derive our life from Him—eternal life, and with it, never-ending existence. Only he that "hath the Son" hath life, eternal life.
6. FULL TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE ALONE DETERMINA TIVE.—It is the full testimony of Scripture that constitutes the determinative evidence—not the definition of certain single words or the arbitrary interpretation of two or three selected texts. Such few texts, if they stood alone, might seem to afford proof for the salvation of all men, or the eternal torture of the wicked (such as Matt. 25:41, 46; Rev. 20:10; 14:9, 11). Those are the "sheet-anchors" for all proponents of Eternal Torment. But in contrast with these, Maude places 1 John 3:8; Rom. 5:15,18, 19; Eph. 1:9, 10; Rev. 20:3-5; 1 Cor. 15:24, 28.
In addition, there are the passages that explicitly teach that the doom of the wicked is death: Matt. 10:28—"destroy both body and soul in hell"; 2 Thess. 1:7, 9—"punished with everlasting destruction"; Rom. 6:21. 23—"the wages of sin is death"; 2 Cor. 2:15—"them that are perishing"; Gal. 6:7 8—"shall of the flesh reap corruption"; Rev. 2:11, and 20:6, 14— "the second death." And these are reinforced by numerous similes indicating that they shall come to an end—the chaff " 'burnt up' " 'thorns burned in the fire' 'trees cut down,' 'rooted up,' burned in fire' 'taken and destroyed' as " 'a light put out' 'waters melting away' 'ashes under the feet' 'powder' ground down" 'vessel dashed in pieces' 'garment eaten by the moth' 'consumed into smoke' as 'tow' and ‘tares' burned in the fire.' "
7. THREE DISTINCT CLASSES OF PASSAGES.—These "three distinct classes of passages," interpreted literally and grammatically, are impossible to reconcile with the postulate of everlasting torment. Maude therefore comments that man, "mortal by nature." becomes "immortal only in Christ." On such a platform there is reconciliation of all "Scripture testimony." It therefore follows that "mortal man" would have to be ''made immortal in order to so suffer," and that is "morally inadmissible"—that a "mortal creature should be made immortal to be punished forever." Such a punishment could never be just, for (citing Dean Sherlock) "Rich punishments as exceed the pro portion of nature, must exceed the proportion of justice also."
Moreover, the fact of man's ''natural mortality" affords the key by which the difficulties may be "unlocked." Thus the Greek word aionios ("age-lasting:) and the expression eis tous aionas ton aionan ("unto ages of ages) depend on the subject Ito which they are applied—"a duration co-incident with that of the subject spoken of." Thus George Sidney Smith, of Trinity College, defines aionios as "continuous duration as long as the subject is capable of." As pertains to God, it is "equivalent to eternity." for God ever did and ever must exist. In like manner, to the "saved" it likewise means unending future existence. But the lost, they "do not and cannot signify an eternal duration," for that is not man's natural inheritance, but God's supernatural gift, conferred only on those who are "in Christ."
8. FUNDAMENTAL FALLACY OF UNIVERSAL SALVATION.— Again, the class of passages seemingly indicating universal salvation are obviously intended to express the "final deliverance of God's universe from all sin and suffering," not "that every individual of Adam's race will and must share in the glory of — that sublime consummation." Moreover, there is a basic difference "between the destiny of the human race and the destiny of every individual of the race."
There are those who turn away from the proffered life, to whom the Life giver says, "Ye will not come unto me, that V ye might have life." They perish, while the righteous abide forever. Thus there is complete harmony—the "suffering of the lost" will terminate with their loss of consciousness. And not being immortal, "the sinner's final doom is destruction, and not eternal torment."
9. ETERNAL SUFFERING INVOLVES CHARACTER OF GOD.—Maude maintains that the dogma of "eternal suffering" in volves nothing less than the "moral character of God." Since God is love, a large proportion of His intelligent creatures could not reasonably "exist to all eternity in extreme misery." Both concepts cannot be true. If the first is true, the second must be false. Ansi contrariwise, if the second be true, then the first is not. Maude's final point is on Grant's misuse of the term "annihilation" versus his inconceivable torment for countless "millions of years"—neither of which positions is held by the Destructionist. Such alternatives are not those of the Conditionalist.
That was the essence of Maude's epochal article that stirred such widespread discussion.
SAMUEL MINTON, later Minton-Senhouse (1820-1894), Anglican, of London, received his academic training at Rugby, and his M.A. from Worcester College, Oxford, to which he had won a scholarship. He was ordained in 1843, his first curacy being that of St. Silas church, Liverpool.
In 1857 Minton transferred to Percy Chapel, London, where Haldane Stewart had pre-sided. Then in 1864 he was called to Eaton Chapel, where he ministered for ten years. It was here that he confessed publicly and henceforth openly championed Conditional Immortality, in which he had become interested through reading Edward White's Life in Christ twenty years before. Upon the occasion of his declaration he was surprised to find that eight members of his congregation had already adopted similar views. Soon there was wide acceptance among his members—more than half professing Conditionalism.
1. APPROVAL AND CONDEMNATION FOR ESPOUSING CONDI-TIONALISM.—As his views became known, letters of commendation were received from all parts of Britain, expressing hearty approval and support. On the other hand, he was, by others, called a heretic and an apostate and was repudiated by not a few of his former friends. Up until this time he had been regarded as one of the rising stars in the Church of England's ecclesiastical firmament. As a consequence of Minton's courageous stand, many who had published or spoken on Life Only in Christ, and had been rebuffed, took fresh courage and renewed their witness. There was now a widespread "lifting up of the trumpet."
It should be added that at the time many early Conditionalists still believed in a conscious intermediate state but not in the Eternal Torment of the wicked. This was now steadily replaced by belief in the unconscious sleep of the dead.
2. FIRST SPEAKER AT 1876 CONFERENCE ON CONDITIONALISM.—In 1860 Minton launched a successful innovation—evangelism in the Victoria Theatre, to reach those who would not come to a church. He there proved to be a successful soul-winning missioner. Minton was also the introductory speaker at the epochal 1876 Breakfast Conference on Conditional Immortality, held in the Cannon Street Hotel in London, with Lieu tenant General Goodwyn as chairman. He there set forth the main positions on which all were in agreement, couching his strong message in kindly terms. He was also one of the speakers, in 1888, at the retirement of his close friend, Dr. Edward White. In this he was joined by various other noted speakers—clergy men, scientists, and educators—from other parts of Britain and abroad.
In his earlier writings Minton had dealt largely with prophecy and the Tractarian Movement. Then he turned to Conditionalism and replied effectively, in The Christian World, to J. Baldwin Brown's attack on "The Miserable Doc trine of Annihilation." Six of his leading works were: The Glory of Christ; A New Bible; The Eternity of Evil; Immortality; The Way Everlasting; and The Harmony of Scripture on Future Punishment. Minton was thus one of the prominent participants in the last third of the nineteenth-century revival of the ancient testimony on Conditional Immortality, an ever faithful advocate of an unpopular truth. He was a cogent thinker and a persuasive writer and speaker, and helped to lift the great Life Only in Christ truth from the obscurity under which it had been largely hidden for centuries.
ROBERT WILLIAM DALE, D.D. (1829-1895), Congregationalist leader of Birmingham, England, and acclaimed on both sides-Di the Atlantic as a pillar of evangelical Christianity, was a recognized scholar and front-rank theologian. He was, in fact, the principal representative of English nonconformity of his day, his theological works being widely consulted. Dale studied theology at Spring College, Birmingham, but received his M.A. from the University of London in 1853.
Carr's Lane Congregational Church, Birmingham—Scene of Dr. Dale's Epochal Ministry. Inset: Dr. Robert W. Dale (d. 1895), President of International Congregational Union—Conditionalism Strengthens Christian Fundamentals.
His ministry was unique in that he was pastor of one church in one city all his ministerial life. Becoming copastor of the renowned Carr's Lane Congregational church of Birming-Ilam in 1854, and sole pastor in 1859, he remained in that post until his death in 1895. In 1863 he studied further in Heidelberg, and was lecturer on philosophy and homiletics at Spring College.
Possessed of a well-disciplined mind, he became a preacher and writer of distinction. His pulpit at Carr's Lane grew in influence, and he had the ear of the great. Known as a careful thinker and a competent critic, Dale was recognized as the leading man of his community. To spread his helpfulness he instituted a church extension plan, with branch congregations in neighboring towns. He was invited to transfer his ministry to other congregations, but his church refused to release him, and he remained. And in 1869 he was honored with the chairmanship of the Congregational Union of England and Wales.
In 1873 Dale toured Egypt and Palestine, and in 1877 the United States, where he gave the Yale lectures on preaching, and received a D.D. degree. And in 1883, at the University of Glasgow, he was capped as an LL.D. Not until then was he willing to be called Doctor, and he was averse to the designation "Reverend." In 1887 he traveled and preached in Australia.
As a theologian Dale exerted a wide influence, and he was a powerful platform speaker and controversialist. He edited The Congregationalist from 1872 to 1878, and had seventeen major volumes to his credit, notably those on the atonement and the Pauline Epistles. [7] His theological works were studied by Anglican and Free Churchmen alike. He declined the principalship and chair of theology at New College, feeling himself to be primarily a preacher. He was a theological pioneer of the open Bible—"Back to the Source of Faith" being his favorite maxim.
7 There are nearly six columns of individual items listed under Dale's name in the British -Museum Catalogue.
1. HIGHEST HONOR WITHIN GIFT OF CONGREGATIONALISM. —In 1891 Dale was chosen president of the first International Congregational Council, the highest honor within the gift of his denomination. He held rigidly to the sanctity of the church and the separation of church and state, and contended that public money should not be used for teaching religion. That was the responsibility of the churches. On the Sunday after his death, in churches of all denominations—and notably in St. Paul's, by the archdeacon of London, and in Westminster Ab bey, by Canon Gore—he was lauded as a great leader, a clear thinker, and one of the outstanding theologians of his age. Such was his standing.
2. PUBLIC STAND ON CONDITIONALISM IN 1873.—As early as 1873, while traveling in Egypt and the Holy Land, and after much study, Dale first rejected the dogma of eternal conscious torment of the wicked, and definitely adopted Conditionalism. Upon his return to Britain he committed himself publicly to the Life Only in Christ position in his message as chairman to the Congregational Union of Britain. And it is to be particularly noted that the knowledge of this stand in no way handicapped his elevation to the presidency of the international union.
Dale likewise took a strong stand against Universal Restorationism, which was then growing in popularity. He stamped it as devoid of all solid foundation, considering it unthink able that it should become a valid article of Christian faith. This he repeated later in his address at the anniversary service for Dr. Edward White, in 1877, upon the latter's completing twenty-five years at Hawley Road Chapel.
Dr. Dale's open and consistent Conditionalism did much to silence the misrepresentation and slander that in religious circles had frequently been directed against believers in Life Only in Christ. He never hesitated to make known his convictions, and deplored the general evasion of the subject. In fact, back in 1875 he wrote the preface for Dr. Petavel's La Fin du Mal (republished in English as Struggle for Eternal Life), thus bringing to that work the backing of his weighty name and in fluence.
3. CONDITIONALISM STRENGTHENS FUNDAMENTALS OF FAITH.—Dr. Dale maintained that revision of view of a major doctrine, as with Conditionalism, involves reorganization of its relationship to all other major doctrines. But he staunchly held that Conditionalism, instead of enfeebling the fundamentals of Christian faith and doctrine, made them all the more conclusive and invulnerable. The traditional theory of endless sin and suffering, he held, had lost its authority.
As previously noted, [8] the original Forty-two Articles of Religion of the Anglican Faith, of 1553, included one on "the mysterious question of the eternity of final punishment." [9]
8 See pp. 125-127.
9 Wilson v. Fendall, in Law Times Reports, Vol. IX, New Series (Feb. 20, 1864), p. 792.
But ten years later, in 1563, the Convocation deleted three of the Forty-two Articles, reducing the number to Thirty-nine. After its formal exclusion from the Thirty-nine Articles, the question of everlasting punishment did not come up for test, officially, until 1862. The setting for the events that followed is briefly this:
In 1860 a book titled Essays and Reviews was published by the Reverend H. B. Wilson, former professor at Oxford, which gave expression to hope for all, especially hope of the ultimate salvation of infants. Thus was denied the fixed endlessness of future punishment. Wilson was brought to trial for his utterance, and in 1862 an adverse judgment was rendered against Wilson by Dr. Lushington, dean of the Court of Arches, that is, the court of appeal for the province of Canterbury. An ap peal from that decision was then carried to the higher Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which included the two archbishops and the bishop of London, as well as the Lord Chancellor of England.
1. ACQUITTAL CONIES AT HEIGHT OF CONTROVERSY.—After due deliberation Dr. Lushington's decision against Wilson was reversed by the Judicial Committee in 1864 and the case dis missed without costs to Wilson. Thus it was that, in the current jest of the time, "Hell was dismissed with costs.” [10] To have affirmed the judgment of the lower Court of Arches would have been tantamount to reinstating the expelled Article, which, they said, "we have no power to do." The Lord Chancellor delivered the concurrent judgment of the high Judicial Committee and, after referring to the withdrawal of the Forty-second Article, said:
"We are not required, or at liberty, to express any opinion upon the mysterious question of the eternity of final punishment, further than to say that we do not find in the formularies, to which this article refers, any such distinct declaration of our Church upon the subject as to re quire us to condemn as penal the expression of hope by a clergyman, that even the ultimate pardon of the wicked, who are condemned in the day of judgment, may he consistent with the will of Almighty God." [11]
10 Percy Dearmer, The Legend of Hell, p. 121.
11 Law Times Reports, ibid.
This acquittal came when the mid-nineteenth-century controversy over Eternal Torment was at its height. Belief in a literal eternal Hell had by 1865 largely disappeared in certain circles. And the hideous pictures of a lurid, unending Hell had been replaced by vague expressions regarding "perdition."
2. DISCUSSION GROWS IN INTENSITY.—But the reversal only accentuated the controversy. According to Dr. Percy Dearmer, King's College professor, the majority still held the dogma of Eternal Torment, and some eleven thousand clergymen signed a declaration against the judgment of the Judicial Committee acquitting Wilson. On the other hand, Dr. E. B. Pusey headed a movement to support it, comprising both high and low churchmen, and preached a university sermon strongly de nouncing the dogma of eternal punishing, seeking to have it brought up at the next general election. [12] Dr. F. W. Farrar, dean of Westminster, declared, "By no single formulary of the Church of England is such a dogma required." [13]
Numerous books appeared on both sides of the Atlantic, including Dr. William Alger's noteworthy Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Punishment (1864), condemning the traditional view. W. E. H. Lecky, in his History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe (1865), thrust himself into the battle of peers with the Tractarians. Many noted clerics repudiated the medieval position, and the conflict grew in intensity. Soon Dean Stanley, Bishop Magee, Dr. Perowne, and other churchmen, including Dr. Tait, Arch bishop of Canterbury, entered the fray.
12 Dearmer, op. cit., p. 122.
13 Frederic W. Farrar, The Eternal Hope (1878), p. 182.
In 1867 Andrew Jukes published a strong plea in behalf of Universalism, in The Second Death and the Restitution of All Things. And Dr. Plumptre, chaplain of King's College and member of the Old Testament Revision Committee, protested when Dr. F. D. Maurice was forced to resign from his professor ship at King's College for denying Eternal Torment. Dr. Samuel Cox, with his Salvator Mundi (1877), was still another advocate of the "larger hope.” [14] The battle was intense and diversified.
3. THE STAGE SET FOR FURTHER EVENTS.—In the same year Canon F. W. Farrar preached his famous five sermons in West minster Abbey on the "Eternal Hope," which appeared in book form in 1878—to be noted shortly. These aroused tremendous popular interest, as well as concern, on both sides of the Atlantic. Dr. Pusey published an answer, What Is of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment? (1880), and Farrar replied with Mercy and Judgment (1881). It was a tense, embattled period. There were constant recruits to the lists. Thus it was that John Henry Newman entered the fray on one side, and the celebrated Dr. Richard Littledale on the opposite. It was the theological talk and the tension of the day. The stage was set for further major events.
14 Dearmer, op. cit., pp. 124-127.
For the record it will also be well to note JOHN NELSON DARBY (1800-1882), Plymouth Brother and founder of the "Darbyites," at Plymouth. For a brief time he was an Anglican priest. The original Brethren had been founded by A. N. Groves, who rejected all church order and outward forms. But in 1845 a quarrel within the body caused a local schism at Plymouth, and in 1847 at Bristol. They split into the Exclusive and Open Brethren, and Darby became leader of the stricter Brethren, which was organized as a separate body, often called "Darbyites." He wrote countless controversial, doctrinal, and devotional books, collected into thirty-two volumes. The Breth ren teaching combines elements of Calvinism and Pietism, with stress on the millennium. In spite of their emphasis on Chris tian unity as a principle, they have tended from the first to split into separate groups, now numbering "VIII" divisions, through controversies over the nature of Christ, church government, et cetera. The Darbyites are "No. I."
1. EARLIEST STATEMENT: "No SOURCE IN GOSPEL."—In the first edition of The Church's Present Hope (1842), based upon his early Geneva lectures of 1840, Darby likewise stated that the "immortality of the soul" postulate had "no source in the Gospel." Instead, it came from Platonism—introduced in the time of Origen, when the Second Advent truth was being eclipsed—and was replacing the resurrection. Here is the original statement:
"But before coming to direct proofs, I would express the full conviction, that the idea of the immortality of the soul, has no source in the Gospel; that it comes, on the contrary, from the Platonists. Indeed it was just when the coming of Christ was denied in the church, or at least began to be lost sight of, that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul came in to replace that of the resurrection. This was about the time of Origen. It is hardly needful to say that I do not doubt the immortality of the soul; I only assert that this view has displaced the doctrine of the resurrection of the church, as the epoch of its joy and glory." [15]
2. POSITION MODIFIED IN LATER EDITION.—In a later edition, under a changed title (Hopes of the Church of God), this statement was considerably modified—though by whom, or with Darby's consent or not, we do not know. And just why he changed from his early "conviction" we do not know. Here is the revision:
"I would express the conviction that the idea of the immortality of the soul, [16] although recognized in Luke 12. 5 and 20. 38, is not in general a gospel topic; that it comes, on the contrary, from the Platonists; and that it was just when the coming of Christ was denied in the Church, or at least began to be lost sight of, that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul came in to replace that of the resurrection. This was about the time of Origen. It is hardly needful to say that I do not doubt the immortality of the soul; I only assert that this view has taken the place of the doctrine of the resurrection of the Church, as the epoch of its joy and glory." [17]
15 J. N. Darby, The Church's Present Hope (1842), p. 34.
16 Darby's footnote: "In the expression (2 Tim. i.10) —'Brought life and immortality to light,'—'immortality' signifies the incorruptibility of the body, and not the immortality of the SOUL"
17 Darby, The Hopes of the Church of Cod (new ed., rev.), pp. 47, 48.
3. No IMMORTAL SINNERS IN DIVINE PLAN.—However, in the Preface to his New Translation of the Holy Bible, Darby makes this significant statement regarding the Fall, and its aftermath:
"But from that time forth man was fallen; he had disobeyed, and renounced his allegiance to God, dreading Him, hiding from Him if that had been possible; and then was driven out of the garden, deprived of all those blessings through which he had enjoyed God's goodness and was able to own Him and even to enjoy His presence, for God came to walk in the garden. Self-will and lust had entered into his nature, guilt and the dread of God into his position; and then, too, he was judicially driven out from a place which was no longer suited to his condition. and, morally out of God's own presence. What a horrible thing, if he had been able to eat of the tree of life, and fill the world with immortal sinners, having no more fear of death than of God! God allowed it not." [18]
4. HISTORICAL NOTE FROM "THE BIBLE ECHO."—According to a note in The Bible Echo, of 1874, the early Plymouth Brethren gave serious study to this question of "destruction":
"At a very early period of their history, it was a matter of discussion among them whether the doctrine of destruction should not be among their points of special testimony. . . . But soon after Mr. Darby joined them they became rapidly systematised. A rigid scheme of prophetic interpretation, and a Calvinistic form of doctrine were propounded." [19]
18 Darby, New Translation o/ the Holy Bible, Preface, p. x.
19 The Bible Echo, vol. 1, Sept. 18, 1874, p. 261.
20 JOHN THOMAS, M.D. (1805-1871), was the son of an English dissenting Baptist clergyman. Educated as a physician, in 1831 he began to study the creeds and to investigate the question of immortality, writing thereon in The Lancet. On his first trip to the States, in 1832, he joined the Camebellites, continuing to practice medicine. Publishing a journal called The Apostolic Advocate, ne maintained the ultimate annihilation of the wicked. This led to a break with the Campbellites.
Lecturing meanwhile at the Franklin Medical College, he continued preaching. In 1843 he began publishing The Herald of a Future Age. After fourteen years of search he was satisfied that he had found the truth. Returning briefly to England, he came back in 1850 and resumed publication of The Herald of a Future Age. One of his earlier works was The Apostasy Unveiled (1838). His The Things of the Spirit of God (1845) portrays the "Unscriptural Character, and Heathen Origin, of Popular Traditions of the Age, concerning Immortality, Heaven, and Hell." (See Abbot, The Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life, no. 2298a.)
Mention should also be made of the Christadelphians (meaning "Christ's brethren"), founded by Dr. John Thomas [20] in 1848. Having previously come from England, Thomas first joined Alexander Campbell and the Disciples of Christ. Later he became convinced that they had likewise retained corrupt doctrines. Curiously enough, he held that while Christ is the Son of God, He is not God the Son. He also rejected belief in a personal devil—"devil" being regarded as the personification of sin. Thomas formed his followers into societies, but they took no distinctive name until 1864. They have no church edifices but meet in hired "upper rooms."
1. NAME CHRISTADELPHIAN SUBSTITUTED FOR CHRISTIAN.— The name Christadelphian was substituted by Thomas for Christian, because he believed that apostasy had honeycombed the Christian church at large. He sought to return to the beliefs and practices of primitive Christianity, as he understood them. This investigation also led to the belief that man is mortal, as a consequence of Adam's sin, with Christ as man's only means of salvation. Eternal Life is only for the righteous, and the wicked will all ultimately be annihilated.
The Christadelphians are strong millenarians, and believe that Christ will soon come to bestow immortality upon the righteous and destroy the wicked. The second resurrection comes at the close of the thousand years, when judgment will be pronounced and executed. They hold that at the outburst of divine judgment the approved are immortalized while the rejected are destroyed. Sin and death will then be abolished. None will remain but the righteous, who will inherit the earth forever.
2. EPITOME OF CHRISTADELPHIAN CONDITIONALIST BELIEFS. —Christ, they say, holds immortality in trust for the obedient. They teach that in the Bible "soul" means creature, but never involves the idea of immortality. "Spirit" stands for breath or vitality. The doctrine of inherent immortality is, they aver, a pagan fiction, attainable immortality being the Bible view. And this results from resurrection and the change then supernaturally wrought upon the believer. Immortality is not therefore a right, or an inherent possession, but a bestowal. And it will be enjoyed upon the earth, which will become the habitation of the saints.
Death is the penalty of sin, and in death man is utterly un conscious. The theory of Hell as a place of Eternal Torment is untrue. But the wicked will be committed to utter destruction, and the second death will eventuate in an endless sleep. They believe that after the death of the apostles men turned from the Bible to pagan philosophy, and the apostolic prediction of apostasy was fulfilled. That is why they felt impelled to separate. [21]
3. POSITIONS UNCHANGED IN CURRENT WRITINGS.—One of the current Christadelphian writers, W. L. Bedwell, makes four significant statements:
a. "When living persons die and return to dust, they cease to exist; all the functions associated with life disappear. A dead soul is unable to praise God and is without thought, work, knowledge or wisdom." [22]
b. "When the organism is disrupted by death, it ceases to exist and no part survives as a conscious entity. This is the plain teaching of Scripture and of modern biological science on the nature of man. Neither offers any hope of survival after death." [23]
c. "His [Lazarus'] death, as we have already seen, was likened by Jesus to sleep, a period of unconsciousness with awakening to life." [24]
d. "The resurrection from the dead is thus of supreme importance in the Christian hope of life everlasting.... The importance of the resurrection is only appreciated when it is realized that without it men and women perish in death." [25]
So the Christadelphians, who are not reckoned among the orthodox Christian bodies, likewise adhere, in general, to Conditionalism.
21 See A Declaration of the Truth Revealed in the Bible (rev. ed.), 1956.
22 W. L. Bedwell, The Nature and Destiny of Man (1956), p. 10.
23 Ibid., p. 12.
24 Ibid., p. 16.
25 Ibid.
MAJOR 19TH CENTURY WITNESSES TO CONDITIONALISM-SECTION A
|
NAME |
Date |
Place |
Religion |
Role |
|
Kenrick, Timothy |
1805 |
England |
Independent |
Minister |
|
Forsyth, Robert |
1766-1846 |
Scotland |
|
Advocate |
|
Kenrick, John |
1814 |
England |
Anglican |
Teacher. |
|
Mem. Ch. of Eng. |
1817 |
England |
Anglican |
|
|
Wright, Richard |
1808-20 |
England |
Gen. Baptist |
Minister |
|
Scott, Russell |
1822 |
England |
|
|
|
Clgy., Ch. of Ireland |
1835 |
Ireland |
Ch. of Ireland |
Clergyman |
|
Crescent House |
1810-13 |
England |
Non-Conform. |
(Congregation) |
|
Watson, Richard |
1824 |
England |
Wesleyan |
Theol.-prof. |
|
Hall, Robert |
1831 |
England |
Baptist |
Preacher-prof. |
|
Hampden, Renn D. |
1832 |
England |
Anglican |
Bishop-prof. |
|
Taylor, Isaac |
1836-51 |
England |
Anglican |
Philos.-hist. |
|
WHATELY, R. |
1822-29 |
Ireland |
Anglican |
Archbp.-theol. |
|
Anonymous |
1795 |
U.S.A. |
|
|
|
White, William |
1817 |
U.S.A. |
Prot.-Epis. |
Bishop-rector |
|
Smith, Elias |
1805-15 |
U.S.A. |
Christ. Conn. |
Ed. (Herald-Gosp.) |
|
Selion, John |
1828 |
U.S.A. |
Prot.-Epis. |
Rector |
|
Pearce, John H. |
1844 |
U.S.A. |
|
|
|
Grew, Henry |
1835-44 |
U.S.A. |
Baptist |
Minister |
|
STORRS, GEORGE |
1841-52 |
U.S.A. |
Methodist |
Author-ed. (Examiner) |
|
Fitch, Charles |
1844 |
U.S.A. |
Presby.-Cong. |
Pastor |
|
French, Calvin |
1842 |
U.S.A. |
Free W. Baptist |
Minister |
|
Foster, John |
1796-1841 |
England |
Gen. Baptist |
Minister-essayist |
|
Dobney, Henry H. |
1846 |
England |
Baptist |
Minister |
|
WHITE, EDWARD |
1846-75 |
England |
Ch. Cong. Un. |
Pastor-author |
|
Fontaine, James |
|
England |
Anglican |
|
|
Dunn, Henry |
1858-72 |
England |
Anglican |
Secy. B & F B Soc. |
|
CONSTABLE, HENRY |
1868-73 |
Ireland |
Anglican |
Canon-author |
|
Perowne, J. J. S. |
1868 |
England |
Anglican |
Bishop-prof. |
|
Thom, David |
1828-67 |
England |
Anglican |
Author |
|
Tinling, J. F. B. |
1881 |
England |
Free Church |
Pastor-evangelist |
|
Tomlinson, W. R. |
1886 |
England |
Anglican |
Rector |
|
Row, C. A. |
1882 |
England |
Anglican |
Canon (St. Paul's) |
|
Aitken, William. H. M. |
1875-83 |
England |
Anglican |
Canon (Norwich) |
|
Courtenay, Reginald |
1843 |
Jamaica |
Anglican |
Bp. (Kingston) |
|
Leask, William |
1864-84 |
England |
Cong.-Independent. |
Min.-Ed. (Rainbow) |
|
Maude, William |
1869 |
England |
Independent. |
Author |
|
Minton, Samuel |
1876 |
England |
Anglican |
Minister |
|
DALE, ROBERT W. |
1873 |
England |
Congregational. |
Pastor-theol.-prof. |
|
Anglican Test Case |
1864 |
England |
Anglican |
High. Eccl. Court |
|
Darby, John Nelson |
1842 |
England |
Plymouth Brethren. |
Organizer |
|
Thomas, John |
1843 |
England |
Christadelphian. |
Founder |
|
NAME |
Date |
State Dead |
Punishment of Wicked |
|
Kenrick, Timothy |
1805 |
Mortal Sleeps till res. |
|
|
Forsyth, Robert |
1846 |
Immortality conditional |
|
|
Kenrick, John |
1814 |
Immortality conditional |
|
|
Mem. Ch. of Eng. |
1817 |
(Mortal) Wholly dead |
Total privation |
|
Wright, Richard |
1808-20 |
Immortality at res. Unconscious |
Utter destruction |
|
Scott, Russell |
1822 |
Immortality conditional Not alive |
Utter extinction |
|
Clgy., Ch. of Ireland |
1835 |
Immortality conditional |
|
|
Crescent House |
1810-13 |
Immortality conditional |
|
|
Watson, Richard |
1824 |
Immortality a gift "Tree"—pledge of future |
|
|
Hall, Robert |
1831 |
(Mortal) |
No eternal misery |
|
Hampden, Renn D. |
1832 |
Conditional No separate exist. |
|
|
Taylor, Isaac |
1836-51 |
No natural immortality. |
No eternal torment |
|
WHATELY, R. |
1822-29 |
No innate Immortality Unconscious sleep |
Destr.—cease to exist |
|
Anonymous |
1795 |
(Conditional) Unconscious till res. |
|
|
White, William |
1817 |
Man univer. mortal Restored through Christ |
Rejects ever!. misery |
|
Smith, Elias |
1805-15 |
Not immortal |
Complete destruction |
|
Selion, John |
1828 |
Immortality only in Christ |
Total, utter destr. |
|
Pearce, John H. |
1844 |
(Conditional immortality.) Unconscious sleep |
|
|
Grew, Henry |
1835-44 |
Immortality conditional No conscious exist. |
Total final destr. |
|
STORRS, GEORGE |
1841-52 |
No Immortality in sin No consciousness |
Eternal cess. of life |
|
Fitch, Charles |
1844 |
Mortal Unconscious |
Final destruction |
|
French, Calvin |
1842 |
Immortality a gift Unconscious till Advent |
|
|
Foster, John |
1841 |
(Conditional) |
No eternal torment |
|
Dobney, Henry H. |
1846 |
Mortal Sleeps in death |
Utter destruction |
|
WHITE, EDWARD |
1846-75 |
LIFE ONLY IN CHRIST |
No endless torment |
|
Fontaine, James |
|
Immortality only (righteous) |
Utterly perish |
|
Dunn, Henry |
1858-72 |
Immortality conditional. |
Utter destruction |
|
CONSTABLE, HENRY |
1868-73 |
Immortality conditional. Unconscious sleep |
Ultimate non exist. |
|
Perowne, J. J. S. |
1868 |
Candidate for immortality. |
|
|
Thom, David |
1828-67 |
Immortality conditional. |
Ultimate destruction |
|
Tinling, J. F. B. |
1881 |
Made for immortality. |
Ultimate extinction |
|
Tomlinson, W. R. |
1886 |
Formed for immortality. |
Cessation of exist. |
|
Row, C. A. |
1882 |
No innate Immortality No conscious survival |
Extinction |
|
Aitken, William. H. M. |
1875-83 |
Immortality a gift |
Utter extinction |
|
Courtenay, Reginald |
1843 |
(conditional immortality.) |
Extinguished eter. |
|
Leask, William |
1864-84 |
Immortality a gift |
Utter destruction |
|
Maude, William |
1869 |
Man mortal creature No conscious exist. |
Final destruction |
|
Minton, Samuel |
1876 |
Immortality conditional. Unconscious sleep |
Utter destruction |
|
DALE, ROBERT W. |
1873 |
Immortality conditional. |
Rejects eter. torment |
|
Anglican Test Case |
1864 |
Left Optional to Clergy |
|
|
Darby, John Nelson |
1842 |
Immortality of Soul from Platonism |
No Immortality sinners |
|
Thomas, John |
1843 |
Immortality attainable Utterly unconscious |
Utter destruction |
SIGNIFICANCE OF EVIDENCE REVEALED BY CHART A
A new and significant development marks the nineteenth century—Conditionalist witnesses appear for the first time in the Western World. Thenceforth the two groups parallel and collaborate on both sides of the Atlantic.
The introduction of specific Conditionalist periodicals—Herald of Gospel Liberty, Examiner, Rainbow—in both Old World and New. Their recurring contacts give fresh impetus to the message of Conditionalism. (Five additional periodicals appear on Chart B; others on Chart C.)
The launching of organizations, for the first time, designed to unify, intensify, and promote the cause of Conditionalism. The introduction of popular symposiums—newspaper, periodical, and book—proves effective and successful. Entire congregations, and finally whole denominations, begin to adopt Conditionalism in their statements of belief, thus giving new group status.
The spread of Conditionalism to overseas continents and countries—Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Jamaica—is likewise a new development. It now becomes a world movement. The caliber of Conditionalist proponents takes on impressive proportions and stature, according Conditionalism a new place and power. Concurrently a wave of ecclesiastical repression by established religious bodies leads to the expulsion of numerous Conditionalists from their ministries. On the other hand, greater freedom is accorded in certain other groups.
The Conditionalist movement parallels, but is distinct from, the great Second Advent Awakening, or movement, of the Old and New world. Each remains independent of the other until nearly midcentury. One is based on Bible prophecy; the other on Bible promises. Then they begin to merge, in mid-century, in the witness of certain bodies.
Halfway through the century, under Edward White, of London, Conditionalism takes on a new form, force, and influence, as it changes from a negative to the positive approach, and scholars of Britain and the Continent rally around the new emphasis. This marks the turning of the tide in Conditionalist advance.
II. Certain Conditionalist literature—such as Canon Henry Constable's books—now surpass in scholarship, comprehensiveness, and effectiveness, any previous literature on the subject.
The year 1877—Canon Farrar's Westminster sermon—marks a turning point, as is developed on Chart B. A majority of Conditionalists now stress unconscious sleep between death and the resurrection (or the intermediate state), and practically all emphasize the utter, ultimate destruction of the incorrigibly wicked.
Technical and Statistical Aspects of Section A
Certain statistical aspects revealed by Chart A are illuminating. In denominational spread, eighteen of the forty-two witnesses are Anglican (or Episcopalian), six are Baptist, four are Independent or Non-Conformist, three are Congregationalist, two are Methodist (or Wesleyan), and one each are of the Church of Ireland, Presbyterian, Free Church, Christian Connection, Plymouth Brethren, and Christadelphian bodies.
Geographically, twenty-eight lived in England, nine in North America, two in Ireland, and one each in Scotland and Jamaica. Practically all are writers of books—with a few restricted to periodical articles.
As to leadership and influence, the group includes one archbishop, four bishops, three canons, six university or college professors, fourteen ministers (or pastors or rectors), three editors, two founders of religious bodies, one advocate, one essayist, and one evangelist, one secretary of British and Foreign Bible Society—yet all are uniquely and consistently united on Conditionalism. The picture unfolds in Charts B and C, covering the remainder of the century.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
We now turn to a noted Anglican cleric who was neither a Conditionalist [1] nor yet a Universalist, [2] but who turned completely away from the Eternal Torment postulate, and whose epochal repudiation of that age-old dogma was dramatically declared in the impressive environs of historic Westminster Abbey, on November 11, 1877. It was in a sermon entitled "Hell—What It Is Not." It resulted in a tremendous restudy of the entire question. And, as a by-product, it stimulated a resurgence and extension of the Conditionalist position. That is why the story is given considerable space here.
No such sermon had ever been heard in the venerable Abbey in its six long centuries. Moreover, it contravened a popular belief of fifteen centuries' standing. It created a tremendous stir on both sides of the Atlantic. I refer, of course, to the epochal sermon of the then Canon F. W. Farrar, of Westminster, later Dean of Canterbury, and one of the most highly esteemed of British clerics. Let us first note the man.
1 Farrar, Eternal Hope (1878), pp. xxiv, 176, 179.
2 Farrar, "Present-Day Beliefs on Future Retribution," in That Unknown Country or What Living Men Believe Concerning Punishment After Death, p. 275. ("I have never been a Universalist.")
FREDERIC WILLIAM FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S. (1831-1903), celebrated Dean of Canterbury, was trained at the University of London and then at Cambridge. First headmaster of Marlborough, then Canon of Westminster (1876) and rector of St. Margaret's, as well as chaplain of the House of Commons(1890-1895) and to the queen, he was finally made Dean of Canterbury (1895). Dr. Farrar was author of numerous scholarly works, and was Hulsean lecturer at Cambridge and Bampton lecturer at Oxford. He admittedly exerted a profound influence on the thinking of the religious world. Hence his public questioning of the dogma of eternal punishing for the wicked provoked intense and prolonged controversy.
His chief books in this field were his Eternal Hope (1878) and Mercy and Judgment (1881)—both of them the outgrowth of his celebrated sermon. They will be noted later. He was also a contributor to the well-known 960-page American symposium—That Unknown Country (1889).
1. REPUDIATION VOICED IN ABBEY, ON NOVEMBER 11, 1877. —His own story of the epochal episode is detailed in chapter thirteen of That Unknown Country, from which I draft. He had been "stirred" to the "inmost depths" by "contemplating the brutal and unmitigated horrors of the doctrine of 'Eternal torments.' " He was acquainted with the views of Universalists and of leading Conditionalists, several of whom he names. And he knew that many who had expressed "doubts or hesitations" as to Eternal-Tormentism had been ostracized "from their brethren by their opinions on this subject." Some had been "stalwartly denounced" by Charles Spurgeon, and some had been ejected, as was the case with Prof. F. D. Maurice, who lost his professorship at King's College. [3]
At last Farrar felt it his duty to express his convictions "unmistakably," and publicly. The occasion was thuswise: On a dull, drizzling day—November 11, 1877—the dean "walked in the rain from his residence to the Abbey," perfectly well aware of the gravity of what he intended to do. Hear him:
"I had to repudiate a doctrine which had been more or less universally preached by the majority of Christians for fifteen hundred years. I knew that to do so was an act which would cost me dear. I knew that during six centuries of the history of the present Abbey it was probable that no sermon had been preached which even greatly modified, much less repudiated with indignation, that popular teaching about hell which seemed to me a ghastly amalgam of all that was worst in the combined errors of Augustinianism, Romanism, and Calvinism." [4]
And he adds, soberly:
"The teaching of Jonathan Edwards, of Father Furniss, of Mr. Spurgeon, seemed to me to represent God as a Moloch for all except an infinitesimal fraction of the human race." [5]
Such was the setting.
3 Ibid., p. 268, 269.
4 Ibid., p. 269.
5 Ibid.
2. EXPECTED CONDEMNATION, BUT RECEIVED WIDESPREAD APPROVAL.—It was a courageous act, and Dr. Farrar spoke "with something perhaps of passion, but certainly with no ambiguity, and no reservation." He was aware that such a sermon "could not escape the most savage animadversion" and that he could "hardly hope to escape paying the penalty of martyrdom in some form or other." He was therefore not prepared for "the sort of electric thrill which that sermon flashed through two worlds." [6] He had "smitten a chord of feeling, rarely touched at all, which vibrated sympathetically in a hundred thousand hearts." Within a week "letters began to pour in upon me from every part of the United Kingdom, as they soon did from every part of the world." [7]
3. WIDESPREAD PUBLICITY FOLLOWED BY CONCENTRATED ATTACK.—Without Farrar's knowledge or consent the sermon had been "taken down by reporters," and was published in the same way in the Christian Age. In that and other "unauthorized forms" it had a circulation in excess of "100,000copies." [8] As a result, "denunciations" began to descend upon him. Farrar was— "assailed in scores of pamphlets; annihilated in hundreds of reviews; lectured against by university professors; and anathematized by Anglicans, Baptists, and Methodists in (perhaps) a thousand sermons." [9]
Farrar himself published the offending sermon in authorized form as Sermon III in his book Eternal Hope, with more than twenty-six thousand copies in England, plus many thousands in America and Australia, and with translations in various languages. One leading London clergyman told the canon, "You have spoken out what nearly every one of us secretly thought." [10]
Then the equivalent of a whole "library" full of "sermons," "refutations," "replies," "examinations," "reviling," and "defense" soon piled up. But, he observes, "not a single voice of any real authority was raised in my condemnation in my own or any other branch of the church." [11] Despite the agitation, the sermon marked a turning point in toleration. And Farrar adds, "I left the attacks made upon me unnoticed, and the books written against me unanswered." He was conscious that he had both "time," and "the conscience and reason of mankind," on his side. [12]
6 Ibid., p. 270.
7 Ibid., p. 271.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid. (Parentheses his.)
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid., p. 272.
12 Ibid., p. 273.
1 . SCRIPTURES ABSOLUTELY SILENT ON "ETERNAL TORTURE."
—Dean Farrar's Eternal Hope (1878) comprises the five sermons preached in the Abbey in November and December, 1877, including the famous "Hell—What It Is Not." At their close is a "Brief Sketch of Eschatological Opinions of the Church." His opening sentence states significantly that "the Scriptures" are "absolutely silent as to 'endless torture.' " [13] Then he reviews the opinions of the early Fathers, many of whom taught the "total destruction of sinners," and that "all evil will ultimately disappear." [14] Some, on the contrary, taught ultimate restoration. Also, he told how, under Augustine, "we find the first distinct outline of that doctrine of Purgatory which robs the opinion of endless torments of its most pressing horrors." [15] He further states that—
"'none of the first four General Councils lay down any doctrine whatever concerning the everlasting misery of the wicked, or directly or indirectly give any interpretation of the Scriptural expressions which describe their condition.' " [16]
2. DARK SHADOW OF AUGUSTINE FALLS ON MEDIEVAL THEOLOGY.—But it was the " 'dark shadow of Augustine,' " wrote Farrar, that was " 'thrown so powerfully over the current theology that there was little question about the endlessness of the torment.' " From Gregory "the Great" (d. 605) till Anselm, "the theology of Western Christendom slept her winter sleep." But "the Reformers mostly held to the old Augustinian conceptions, except in so far as they rejected Purgatory." "Abandoning the doctrine of the infallibility of the Church, they took refuge in the infallibility of Scripture." Nevertheless there was a constant raising of the "voice of reason and conscience" in "revolt against a doctrine [Eternal Torments] which they found irreconcilable with the love of God."
13 Farrar, Eternal Hope, p. 155.
14 Ibid., p. 159.
15 Ibid., p. 164.
16 Ibid., p. 166.
But "the Reformers did not follow up their negation by an affirmative doctrine." [17]
3. DEPLORES SPECIOUS ARGUMENTS FOR ENDLESS TORMENT. —Then Farrar speaks of Conditionalists Archbishop Whately, Bishop Law, Dr. Watts, Isaac Taylor, and others. [18] And in a technical point in his Notes, at the close he declares that Greek and their Hebrew equivalents in all combinations, are repeatedly used of things which have come and shall come to an end." [19]
4. CONDEMNS MISUSE OF TEXTS OUT OF CONTEXT.—Farrar views with "sorrow" and "almost of indignation" the "constant perversion by the attempt to build up infinite systems out of the metaphorical expressions and isolated texts and by "texts torn from their context," rather than by the "whole scope and tenor of revelation." Texts have been "perverted" for "unworthy purposes." Such, he says, was the method used I against Columbus, Copernicus, Galileo, and against Wyclif and Luther. [20] Then Farrar observes:
"If the doctrine of endless torment, with all its Calvinistic and popular accretions, be true, it is incredible that there should be no trace of it in the entire Old Testament, except by putting on the Hebrew phrase 'for ever' a sense which it cannot and does not bear. Those who insist on doing this put themselves at once out of court as incompetent and biassed [sic] critics." [21]
5. OLD TESTAMENT JEWS NEVER TAUGHT "ENDLESS TORMENT."—The dean asserts that the Old Testament Jews "never held or taught the doctrine of endless torment as any part of their religion." [22] And he cites such leading rabbis as Adler, Deutsch ("There is not a word in the Talmud that lends any support to that damnable dogma of endless torment"), Marks, Weill ("Nothing, therefore, seems more incompatible with the true Biblical tradition than an eternity of suffering and chastisement")."
17 Ibid, pp. 167-172.
18 Ibid. pp, 174-176.
19 Ibid. p. 197.
20 Ibid. p. 205.
21 Ibid. p. 206, 207.
22 Ibid. p. 207.
23 Ibid. pp. 207-209. (Italics his.)
That, Farrar adds, is generally admitted.
6. CONDITIONALIST CONTENTIONS CONFIRM PERSONAL VIEWS.—In his larger (485-page) work Mercy and Judgment, Farrar amplifies and traces "Past and Present Opinions." He cites Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Isaac Watts ("There is not one place of Scripture where the word 'death,' as it was first threatened in the law of innocence, necessarily signifies a certain miserable immortality of the sour). [24] And with this agree contemporaries Prebendary Henry Constable, Dr. R. W. Dale, and Dr. Edward White. [25] Farrar enlarges on the views of champions of Conditional Immortality and annihilationism, who hold that "the soul is not immortal," and that the "agonies of retribution will end for all, because extinction of being will be the fate of the finally impenitent. [26] Though not himself a Conditionalist, Farrar nevertheless says:
"Believing that much of the popular eschatology is founded on misinterpretation, I feel confirmed in that opinion by seeing how many devout, able, and earnest men [Conditionalists] have come to the same conclusion, and are unable to accept as Scriptural the 'hell' of the Revivalist." [27]
7. INVOKES WITNESS OF GERMAN SCHOLARS.—After citing the view of Isaac Watts (d. 1748)—"utter destruction of the . . . life of the soul, as well as that of the body" [28]—Farrar turns to modern German scholars. He cites such authorities as Ols-hausen ("The Bible knows nothing of the modern dogma of the immortality of the soul"); Nitzsch ("The soul, being dependent on the Creator, does not possess immortality. As sin increases the soul faces destruction in hell and its death"); and Rothe ("The sufferings endured in hell by the reprobate will in reality end, but that the end will consist in the destruction of the guilty. This idea is very ancient in the Church. This opinion alone seems capable of satisfying all the conditions") [29]—and gives references.
24 Farrar, Mercy and Judgment: Last Words on Christian Eschatology with reference to Dr. Pusey's "What Is of Faith?" p. 30.
25 Ibid. pp. 50, 51
26 Ibid., p. 54.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid., p. 56.
29 Ibid., pp. 56, 57
8. ALEXANDRIAN FATHERS MOLDED BY PLATO AND PHILO.—Covering again the Jewish evidence in the Apocryphal books, Josephus, and the Targums, Farrar states that for the Jews Gehenna was "terminable; terminable, indeed, by annihilation." [30] This is the "very antithesis of endless torment." [31]
Farrar comes to the "uncertainty," the "fallibility," and "variance" of the Fathers. Chapter after chapter is devoted to a painstaking rehearsal of what the various Fathers thought and taught on the nature and destiny of man—many believing in "annihilation," others in Eternal Torment, or in restoration.
Farrar stresses the influence of the "Alexandrians" and their "accommodationism," and how "the doctrine came to them from Plato, who allows the use of falsehood as a kind of moral medicine. Philo borrowed from Plato the same notion." Again, "From Plato and Philo this unwholesome tendency . . . was inherited by the great Alexandrian Fathers." [32] And then Farrar delves definitively into the intent of the Greek terms involved—such as that aionios "by itself" "never means endless." [33]
9. LITERAL INTERPRETATION LEADS TO EXTINCTIONIST VIEW.—Finally, in commenting on the positions of the Conditionalists, such as White and Minton, Farrar says:
"The devout believers in conditional immortality are perfectly1 right in insisting that if we bind ourselves by the literal meaning of the greatest number of Biblical expressions there is ten times more in the Bible which points to extinction as the final doom of the wicked than there is which points to their future existence in everlasting agonies." [34] And he adds concerning the twenty six texts in which it is alleged that "eternal torments" are "indisputably taught" that— "they are not indisputably taught in so much as one. So far as I can see I say, with Dr. Isaac Watts, that I cannot find one single 'text' in all Scripture which, when fairly interpreted, teaches, as a matter of faith, or in a way even approaching to distinctness and decisiveness, the common views about 'endless torments.' " [35]
30 Ibid., p. 184.
31 Ibid., p. 187.
32 Ibid., p. 296.
33 Ibid. See pp. 379, 380.
34 Ibid., p. 374.
Then comes this parting word:
"I believe that among the punishments of the world to come there are 'few stripes' as well as 'many stripes,' and I do not see how any fair interpretation of the metaphor ‘few stripes,' can be made to involve the conception of endlessness for all who incur future retribution." [36]
Farrar himself held to some sort of future probation. That was his "larger hope." But he was adamant against the dogma of Eternal Torment—and his voice carried far and wide. In his conclusion he admits that "the ultimate extinction of the being of sinners appears to be taught by the literal meaning of many passages of Scripture." But he again disavows the Universalist idea "that all men will attain to everlasting felicity." [37]
WILLIAM IMPEY (1818-1896), for forty years a Wesleyan minister and missionary to South Africa, was long chairman and general superintendent of the Grahamstown District. Impey was highly esteemed and able. In the fateful year 1878 he reached a crisis in his relationship to Methodism over the question of Eternal Torment, just when there was agitation and crisis in many lands and faiths. Because of matured convictions he was constrained to resign from the Wesleyan ministry in order to preserve his freedom of conviction and expression of view. The background was as follows. (Photo on page 416.)
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid., p. 484.
37 Ibid., p. 481.
1. ANNUAL DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY REQUIRED.—The constitution of the Wesleyan Church not only required "strict conformity" to its Doctrinal Standards (found principally in Wesley's Notes on the New Testament and the first four volumes of his Sermons, and the Disciplinary Regulations of the Wesleyan Catechism), but stipulated annual examination of every minister before the meeting of the district in which he resides, and before the General Conference. This examination involved four questions, No. 2 being, "Does he believe and preach our [the Wesleyan] doctrines?" and No. 3, "Does he 'observe and enforce' the Wesleyan Discipline?"
Among these declared doctrines is that of "eternal punishment as interpreted in Wesleyan theology." [38] Specifically, it involves eternal "punishment" as well as "reward"—punishment in "hell fire, which will not consume, but preserve him from a cessation of being," with "sin and its punishment running parallel throughout Eternity itself," [39] and "without intermission," so that when "millions of days, of years, of ages elapsed, still we are only on the threshold of eternity." Again, "neither the pain of body nor of soul is any nearer an end than it was millions of ages ago." [40]
2. RESIGNS OVER "ETERNAL TORMENT" STIPULATION.—Those are the Wesleyan Connexional Standards, along with those of the Wesleyan Catechism. So in personally repudiating such a dogma, Impey felt impelled to make this significant public statement:
"This Doctrine I do not `believe,' and therefore cannot 'preach.' The Wesleyan Church applies no such test to its Members as it does to its Ministers, and because I cannot 'believe' and therefore do not 'preach' the Doctrine of Eternal Punishment as set forth in the Wesleyan system of Theology, the Conference declines to retain me as one of its Ministers, and that is the sole reason why I leave the Wesleyans." [41]
3. TAKES STAND IN NOBLE LINE OF DISSENTIENTS.—Impey had made thorough study of the question, as well as of the history of the noble line of dissentients. First, he found no mention of such dogma in either the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene. Second, it had been a debatable question through the ages. He was well acquainted with the line of scholars throughout the Christian Era who had rejected it. And he cites a succession of typical examples in this comprehensive paragraph:
38 William Impey, Why I Leave the Wesleyan Methodist Church (1878), p. 3.
39 Ibid., p. 4.
40 Ibid., p. 6.
41 Ibid., p. 7.
"The names of such men as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and Arnobius, in the early ages of Christianity,—and in later times of Dr. Isaac Watts, Isaac Taylor, John Foster, Archbishop Whately, Bishop Hampden, the Rev. R. W. Dale, Rev. Edward White, Dr. Parker, Rev. S. Minton, Dr. Petavel of Geneva, Professor Stokes of Cambridge, Professor Hudson of Cambridge, U.S., Dr. Huntingdon of Worcester, Mass., U.S. and a host of others in both the Established and Nonconformist Churches who repudiate the unscriptural dogma of endless misery. are certainly sufficient evidence that it does not come into the category of those truths which have been taught and received 'at all times, everywhere and by everyone,' and also that those who reject it are not summarily to be dismissed amongst infidels and sceptics." [42]
4. RESTUDY TOUCHED OFF BY FARRAR REPUDIATION.—He was likewise aware of the seventeen articles, written on this question by men of note, that appeared in the Contemporary Review for April, May, and June, 1878. These had been touched off by Canon Farrar's treatise Eternal Hope, which simply repeated his crucial Westminster Abbey sermons of November, 1877, repudiating the dogma of Eternal Torment. Impey was also aware of Wesley's own denial of Calvinistic pre-destination because of its misrepresentation of the character of God, and because it could not be "found in Scripture." But the Wesleyan test on Eternal Torment was "rigid." It allowed no latitude. It was "this or nothing." That was the "Doctrinal Test!" And Impey said, understandingly: "It is not what I do believe, but what I do not believe that places me outside the Wesleyan Conference." [43]
5. PUNISHMENT "EVERLASTING" BECAUSE "FINAL AND IRREVERSIBLE."—Impey's resignation followed an exchange of letters with Dr. W. M. Punshon, of London, in September. In his first letter, dated September 7, Impey said:
"That the future 'punishment' of the wicked is 'everlasting' in the sense that in itself it is final and irreversible, but that such punishment consists in the conscious and Eternal agony or suffering of a living soul, I cannot believe. I do not believe that the general teaching of God's word warrants such a doctrine, nor do I believe that this doctrine is consistent with the revealed character of God." [44]
42 Ibid.
43 Ibid., p. 8.
44 Ibid., p. 10.
6. TAKES STAND, WITH "SO HELP ME GOD."—After referring to Wesley's own rejection of "predestination" because it contradicted Revelation itself and clearly impugned the character of God, Impey made this declaration of faith and statement of relationship to Methodism:
"If the Discipline of the Connextion allows me liberty of thought here, well and good! Most gladly will I continue, for the few possible remaining years of my life [he was then sixty], to serve to the best of my power a Church and cause that I have ever loved; but if I am required to 'believe and teach that the ever-and-all-loving God will consign to ceaseless conscious TORMENT, throughout all the countless ages of an incomprehensible Eternity, any soul that He has made, then, with Mr. Wesley, I must again say, 'Here I fix my foot.' I cannot do it; and with a greater than John Wesley. I must say, 'I can do no other, so help me God.” [45]
He was "fully conscious of the gravity of the position." [46]
7. CATEGORICAL ANSWERS REQUIRED OF IMPEY.—Dr. Punshon pressed Impey to categorically answer four questions, which he did under date of December 13. In this Impey re-affirms his belief in a "just and final Retribution" "excepting always that of a literally ceaseless, conscious and eternal torment, which I cannot accept." [47]
But he reaffirmed his undeviating adherence to all the basic, saving doctrines stressed by Methodism, including the Fall of man and the Atonement, about which he was asked.
8. RESIGNS BECAUSE CANNOT PLEDGE "SILENCE."—But Impey refused to be "pledged to silence." [48] And furthermore, as a district chairman with responsibility for examining the "preachers of the district," and the "probationers for the ministry," he declared that inasmuch as his own views had "undergone an important change" on this disputed point of Eternal Torment, he would be unable to require their adherence to such a dogma. But without waiting for his reply, Dr. Punshon ordered Impey to proceed at once to England for consultation. [49] After going immediately to England, and consulting with the conference leaders, he states: "I found no course open but to resign my position as a Wesleyan Minister, for the reasons above stated." [50]
45 Ibid.
46 Ibid.
47 Ibid., p. 13.
48 Ibid.
9. FORTY YEARS OF UNBROKEN SERVICE ENDS.—This was his resignation, dated April 11, 1878:
"Having by the Grace of God (as I think), and under the guidance of His Blessed Spirit been led to entertain convictions on the Doctrine of Eternal Punishment which are at variance with the Standards of Wesleyan Theology, and as there appears to be no prospect of such liberty of thought being allowed as may enable me consistently to retain my position as a Minister in the Connexion, I beg very respectfully, through you, to tender to the President and Conference my resignation.
"I cannot but deeply regret that after forty years' unbroken service in the Wesleyan Church, the rigidity of Connexional rule renders such a step necessary. It is taken, however, in the fear of God, whose teachings, rather than those of any creed, or of any Church, demand my supreme allegiance." [51]
49 Ibid., pp. 14, 15.
50 Ibid., p. 15.
51 Ibid., pp. 15,
This resignation was then accepted by Dr. W. B. Pope, president of the conference. And this was but an example of similar resignations or expulsions in different lands and among different faiths.
After leaving the Wesleyan faith Impey became an Episcopalian clergyman, serving as rector of St. John's church, East London (South Africa), and as vicar of St. George's Cathedral, Grahamstown.
M. W. STRANG (d. 1908), of Glasgow, for eight years editor of The Messenger, was competently trained for the ministry, and was an able preacher of the gospel. However, his refusal to accept the Platonic philosophy of the inherent immortality of the soul, which undergirds the creed of the Scottish Presbyterian Church, was an insuperable bar to his entering her ministry. So he founded The Messenger, which he published in Glasgow and edited from 1876 to 1884. This journal heralded the imminent Second Advent and advocated eternal Life Only in Christ. Strang was also author of numerous tracts and poems, and was a participant in the Symposium in The Life Everlasting, by J. H. Pettingell.
Convinced that immersion is the true form of baptism, he was thus baptized in 1870 and cast his lot with a small company of some fifty fellow believers from various churches who were united on (1) the doctrine of the premillennial Second Advent, (2) Conditional Immortality and the ultimate destruction of the wicked, and (3) baptism by immersion. On this basic platform they had organized as a company in Dundee, in 1857. Special annual conferences of representatives of like-minded churches were part of the plan, collaborating with other Conditional Immortality groups that were now springing up in various cities in Britain.
The Messenger a Reflector of Turbulent Times
The vicissitudes of the cause of Conditionalism are reflected in the columns of Strang's The Messenger, which ever stressed the fact that "immortality is not a quality inherent in man, but the gift of God." Note a few of the newsworthy high lights from various issues.
MAY, 1878: AGITATION WIDESPREAD.—"Among all the burning questions exercising men's mind, none occupies so large a portion of public attention as the Doctrine of Destiny of the Wicked. The old theory of eternal suffering is not now unhesitatingly accepted and believed as a matter of course, but is being subjected to a searching analysis." Reference is made to increasing numbers of adherents to Conditional Immortality; to the ever-widening circulation of Conditionalist literature; to the opening of the pages of the Christian World to the discussion of the doom of the wicked; to Canon Farrar's famous discourses in Westminster Abbey, in "impassioned rhetoric," challenging the doctrine of eternal misery; to the American Christian Union opening its pages to clergymen in the New World to express their views; to the renowned Dr. R. W. Dale's espousal of Conditionalism.
JUNE, 1879: MACRAE DEPOSED.—The trial of the Reverend David Macrae, of Gourock, Scotland, by the United Presbyterian Synod, for challenging the Westminster dogma of Everlasting Torment, the questions put to him by the interrogating committee, his deposition, and his farewell speech with its imposing array of Scripture evidence. [52] The synod declared him "cut off" from the denomination.
52 "The whole story is told in two books in the Dundee reference library. One is The Macrae Case (1879). It was also widely discussed in the Glasgow North British Daily Mail, particularly of July 19, 1879.
JANUARY, 1883: Two MINISTERS EXPELLED.—There is recital of the excommunication of Pastor Charles Byse, of Brussels, by the Belgian Evangelical Church Synod for preaching Conditionalism—the first church on the Continent to take such a step. The activity of Dr. Petavel in his behalf is detailed. Also noted is the expulsion by the Church Missionary Society of one of its ablest missionaries in Japan, the Reverend W. Dening, for his denial of inherent immortality; and the formation of a committee of Conditionalists (including Dean Perowne, Professor Stokes, and Canon Swanson of Cambridge) to enable him to carry on his work.
JANUARY, 1884: H. H. DOBNEY LAUDED.—The death of H. H. Dobney is noted, his book being one of the early volumes (in the forties) to advocate Conditionalism. It was condemned by Dr. Morrison in the Evangelical Magazine, but lauded by Dr. Pye Smith and Dr. Vaughan in the British Quarterly. Also is noted the work of the Italian Baptist evangelist, Oscar Cocorda, in Torre Pellice, Italy (of Waldensian fame), who was asked to resign for preaching the doctrine of Conditional Immortality and Life Only in Christ in the chief towns of Italy.
JUNE, 1884: REMOVAL OF DUBLIN MINISTER.—The removal, by the Evangelical Alliance, of the Reverend J. S. Whitmed, of York Street Chapel, for holding the doctrine of Life Only in Christ.
MAY, 1884: LAUDATION OF GEORGE STORRS.—The death of the noted American Conditionalist George Storrs, editor of the Bible Examiner, is noted, who in 1842 was ostracized for preaching that destruction will be the doom of the finally impenitent.
The many editions and the influence of his famous Six Sermons are rehearsed.
Then follow reports of the various branches of the parent Conditional Immortality Association [53]—established in Glasgow, Auckland, Brisbane, Dundee, Edinburgh, Halifax, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Montreal, New York, et cetera, many of them with annual conferences and reports, such as the Glasgow Conference. There is also a list of thirteen prominent Conditionalists scattered over Britain.
53 Founded in 1878.
AUGUST, 1884: TYPICAL CONFERENCE REPORTED.—This is the conference in the Hamilton Street Congregational Chapel. Chairman, Henry J. Ward, president of the Association; speakers, Signor Oscar Cocorda, of the Vaudois Valleys; George Mackay, of the Lincoln Baptist church; Charles Underhill, of Oxford, and others. Alfred Watson, of Salisbury, speaking on "The Great Theological Stumbling Block," declared:
"Belief in man's natural and inherent immortality and the necessary sequence, the eternal suffering of the wicked, has turned the fair Gospel garden like a withering blight and fruitfulness into sterility. Belief in man's natural immortality and in eternal suffering is a stumbling block because it gives a false view of the atonement and robs the work of Christ of its chief glory." And that was but one of a half-dozen influential Conditionalist journals.
Strang likewise gives us an insight into the habit of thorough investigation, and the resultant strong convictions of these Conditionalist spokesmen. Going back to the apostolic warning to "beware of the leaven of false teaching" seeking to corrupt the young church, and especially Paul's warning that the time would come when they would "not endure sound doctrine," but be turned to "fables" and the "tradition of men," he speaks of those germs of error that came to fullness in the Dark Ages, when gospel truth was buried "under the accumulative corruptions of the Greek and Roman Churches." [54]
1. IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL THE PARENT ERROR.—Then he declares:
"We believe, indeed, that one gross parent error, which serves as a foundation for nearly all the abominations of the Papal teaching, requires still to be banished, with all its progeny, from the creeds of Protestantism, where it holds a place of almost equal honour as the accredited basis of all true religion.
"This error is the belief in the IMMORTALITY OF THE sow, and the inalienable destiny of every man to live forever in some condition or other. This doctrine we solemnly declare to be no part of the doctrine of Christ, but, on the contrary, to be opposed thereto, and to be derived directly from that very 'philosophy' against whose encroachments Paul raised a voice of warning." [55]
54 M. W. Strang, "Despoiled Through Philosophy," in J. H. Pettingell, The Life Everlasting, pp. 719, 720.
2. PLATONISM ADOPTED BECAUSE OF IMMORTAL-SOULISM. —Invoking historians like Dr. Mosheim, he quotes:
" 'Towards the close of this [third] century a new sect of philosophers arose of a sudden, spread with amazing rapidity throughout the greatest part of the Roman Empire, swallowed up almost all the other sects, and was extremely detrimental to the cause of Christianity. Alexandria, in Egypt, . . . gave birth to this new philosophy. Its votaries chose to be called Platonics,' because 'though attached to no particular sect, yet they preferred the sublime Plato to all other sages, and approved of the most of his opinions concerning the Deity, the universe, and the human soul." [56]
He calls attention to the fact that the Christian eclectics —Athenagoras, Clement, Alexander, et cetera—preferred Platonism to the other schools of Greek philosophy—Epicurean, Academic, Aristotelian, Stoic—which either openly scorned or flatly denied the notion of the immortality of the soul, whereas Plato made it the basis of his teaching. And from Plato it was incorporated into Christianity. [57]
3. PHILOSOPHY TRIUMPHS OVER PURE DOCTRINE.—This was the origin of the teaching that began in the third century concerning "the state of the soul after the dissolution of the body." [58] Thus philosophy triumphed over the pure original Christian teachings. And then Origen, with his Neo-Platonism, added to the departures, releasing a "torrent of allegory" which overwhelmed the church, [59] and then depreciated the literality of Scripture. And by the fourth century other embellishments began to be added, such as prayers to dead saints, worship of relics, and other papal dogmas and practices.
55 Ibid., p. 721.
56 Ibid., p. 722.
57 Ibid.
58 Ibid p. 723.
59 Ibid., p. 727.
Plato taught that death was only apparent—that there really was no death, only a transition, and "that immortality was inherent in the deathless indivisible soul." Then mysticism was added to extenuate the "sluggish body" which "restrains the liberty of the immortal spirit." [60]
4. DEVELOPMENT OF CONFLICTING BUT PARALLELING SCHOOLS.—Then came the division of the Immortal-Soulists into two schools—the Eternal-Torments, holding that "sinners are destined to be preserved forever in hopeless misery," and the Restorationists, or followers of Origen, holding that all purified sinners will ultimately be saved and find an eternal "dwelling-place among the ransomed." [61]
The church was "engulfed and borne away in that torrent of allegory which philosophy let loose upon the Church." Thus it was, Strang declared, that the church was "deprived" of the "pole star of the Church's destiny," and left "adrift without due guide," headed toward the "rocks and quicksands of the perilous latter days." [62] Then he admonishes:
"Restore the true doctrine of immortality, and you have the most potent weapon ever forged for the defeat of that Rationalism and its twin Agnosticism which are eating the vitals out of our modern Christianity." [63]
And he closes by appealing for "liberation from the chains of centuries."
In Scotland, WILLIAM LAING (1826-1900) was born in Edinburgh, and became a member of the Secession Church. Throughout his youth God was to him an object of terror, for he had been taught that Eternal Torment is to be the lot of the main portion of the human race. Nevertheless, he had a strong desire to become a preacher of the gospel.
60 Ibid. pp. 724, 725.
61 Ibid. p. 729.
62 Ibid. pp. 730.
63 Ibid.
But he was puzzled over the differences between various Christian bodies, particularly their appeal to a Confession of Faith rather than the Bible.
Laing became especially troubled over chapter 3, section 3 of the Westminster Confession—that, irrespective of their conduct, God had, for His own glory, predestined some men and angels to everlasting misery. He felt that he could not subscribe to such a concept. He was then given a book to read on Predestination, but it only drove him further from Calvinism.
Laing became persuaded that God wants all men to be saved, and that Jesus died for all. Only personal rejection of God's provisions and entreaties causes the loss of the soul. Just then, in Musselburgh, he saw an announcement of a sermon on the "Extent of the Atonement," at Victoria Place Chapel, by Conditionalist William Glen Moncrieff. He attended, and was deeply impressed with what was to him a new and satisfying view of God and His salvation as relates to man. So in 1845 he left the Secession Church and joined Moncrieff's congregation.
1. STEPS IN BECOMING A CONDITIONALIST.—He soon felt a strong desire to become a preacher of that fuller salvation, and entered the Theological Academy at Kilmarnock. Being of a logical turn of mind and an omnivorous reader, he had the ability to penetrate to the heart of an issue. With an insatiable thirst for knowledge he read widely in the Church Fathers. As a result he became suspicious of their authority and reliability. Many of their minds, he was persuaded, had been steeped in heathen philosophy, and this had moulded their later Christian theological concepts. The view of many of the Fathers on the immortality of the soul and its attendant notions had clearly been derived from Platonic philosophy.
He soon gave up completely all belief in the natural immortality of the soul, coming to hold that immortality begins at the resurrection—clearly the hope of the Early Church—when this mortal shall put on immortality and this corruption shall put on incorruption. This, he found, was likewise Moncrieff's belief.
By 1850 he had given up the idea of consciousness in the intermediate state. But for a time he still retained the idea that man was a compound being, that his body was inhabited by an immaterial principle called the "soul." And although it required an organism through which to manifest itself, he thought the soul was independent of that organism for existence, and preserved its identity through all the changes of life and death, and that it was this immaterial principle which produced thought and volition in man.
2. DOES NOT POSSESS SEPARATE IMMORTAL SOUL.—In 1851, after carefully reviewing the whole question, which had agitated his mind for about six years, the matter became clear. He joined with John Milton in holding that—
"'man is a being, intrinsically and properly one and individual, not compound or separable, not, according to the common opinion, made up and framed of two distinct and different natures, as of soul and body, but the whole man is soul, and the soul man; that is to say, a body or substance, individual, animated, sensitive, rational.' " [64]
In studying the Scripture account of the creation of man, he found no mention of the putting of a soul into the body of Adam in order for him to become a man. Rather, "God formed MAN," he read, "of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul"—that is, he became alive, a living being. Throughout the Bible he found no statement that man possesses a separate, independent soul. The arguments from reason in support of the immateriality of the soul are, he held, to be noted for their ingenuity rather than their soundness. Some of such arguments would prove that all animals, even animalculae, are endowed with this immortal, independent, thinking principle. That goes too far.
Such was the origin and development of Laing's Conditionalism, as he became one of its early advocates in Scotland. He was author of numerous articles and papers thereon, chiefly, "Life Only in Christ," "Immortality the Gift of God," "A History of the Corruption of the Scripture Doctrine of a Future Life," "The Thief on the Cross," "The Perverted Parable (the Rich Man and Lazarus)," and "Universalism Examined in the Light of Scripture." [65]
64 Quoted in William Laing, Papers on Life and Advent Truth and Other Bible Themes (1901), pp. 14, 15.
Shortly before this came JAMES PANTON HAM (1819-1902), Congregationalist, who was trained at Cheshunt College, Cambridge, then ministered at Maidenhead and then Bristol. Beginning in 1847, he was for a time minister of the Lodge Street Congregational Chapel, Bristol. But his adoption of differing doctrinal views led him to accept the pastorate of the Cooper's Hall Congregational Free church," likewise of Bristol (1855-1859). Ham was author of Life and Death; or, the Theology of the Bible, in Relation to Human Immortality (1849); and Generations Gathered and Gathering; or The Scripture Doctrine Concerning Man in Death (1850). In this he "maintains that man has no conscious existence between death and resurrection. [67] Because he ran into heavy opposition, it is said that he finally became a Unitarian.
1. IMMORTALITY SOLELY FOR BELIEVER IN CHRIST.—Ham appeals to the Scriptures as the sole criteria in the matter of human immortality and future retribution. The following extract from Life and Death presents his position clearly:
"The doctrine which I have been endeavouring to inculcate in this lecture, and which appears to me to be the plain, unequivocal voice of the Bible, is, that life, eternal life, literally understood, is the privilege of NO MAN but the believer in Jesus Christ, through whom it is bestowed as the sovereign gift of God. Now, the popular view of the theory of redemption excludes this cardinal doctrine of immortality alone in Christ; it builds its theory upon a philosophic conceit, it erroneously assuming that we have eternal life as a proper attribute of our human nature." [68]
65 Later assembled in Papers on Life and Advent Truth.
66 This was the famous Dissenting Congregation established by Henry Newcomb, who had been ejected in 1662 from the Collegiate church under the Act of Uniformity.
67 Abbot, The Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life, no. 2632, n. Also reprinted in Aaron Ellis, Bible vs. Tradition (New York. 1853) and Bible Examiner, May and June, 1852 (vol. 7, pp. 65-92).
426 CONDITIONALIST FAITH
2. INNATE IMMORTALITY COUNTER TO INSPIRATION.—Striking at the popular philosophical concept of independent immortality, derived from Plato, Ham continues:
"He, then, who teaches that man is immortal, independently of Jesus Christ, introduces a distracting element into the system of the Christian religion. It is to render its plain and obvious teachings obscure and inappreciable, except upon a system of interpretation, which affixes to words ideas which they have nowhere else in the writings and commerce of mankind. It is to flatter human pride, by unduly exalting human nature. It is to commingle with the teaching of God the doctrines and commandments of men, and eminently to deprive the Christian redemption of its chief lustre, and Christ himself of his mediatorial dignity as the Life-Giver. This is the record, that—Mid-lath given to us eternal life; and this life is in His San. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.' The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [69]
Ham's was but one voice of many speaking similarly in the mid-century period. (Photo on page 416.)
68 J. Panton Ham, Life and Death; or, the Theology of the Bible, in Relation to Human Immortality, pp. 85, 86.
69 Ibid., p. 86.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The Bible Echo, a "Weekly Religious Newspaper," edited by WILLIAM KELLAWAY, of London, was launched in 1874, several years before the organization of the Conditional Immortality Association. Militantly Conditionalist, it placed in the very first issue, in its editorial masthead, its stated purpose, and repeated it in each issue:
"To restore to prominence the many truths of the Bible which have long been set aside by superstition and tradition, and which, therefore, are almost forgotten by the Church of God. Reference is made more especially to the truths of the thorough mortality of man; and the Gospel of Immortality and the Kingdom of God to be received and inherited by Christ only. It will also teach the Apostolic truth of the everlasting punishment of the ungodly in their excision from life, under which ban they will remain for eternity." [1]
1 The Bible Echo, vol. 1, May 1, 1874, p. 8.
It sought faithfully to "echo" the message of the "Book of God."
1. BIBLE YIELDS NO SUPPORT FOR "INNATISM."—In the initial issue the leading editorial was titled "Is Man Eternal by Nature? The Bible Silent on the Inherent Eternity of Man." Challenging at the outset the contention that man is "inherently eternal," and "imperishable" and "indestructible," Kellaway says incisively:
"The first fact we notice is that the Bible does not call man immortal.
"We assert that the Bible is wholly silent on the innate and inherent eternity of man. Nowhere does it teach the doctrine of human immortality as a present fact. It does not frame a single argument for it. It does not take it for granted, in any reasoning. It does not urge it as a motive for repentance or reformation. It does not darkly hint it. No; nor does it even incidentally, accidentally, casually refer to it. From Genesis to Revelation, there is not a single verse which speaks of man as immortal. No prophet, king, apostle, nor the Christ, speaks such a word. Neither directly nor indirectly, expressly nor inferentially, by parable or symbol, nor in any style of language or mode of conveying ideas, do the inspired writers let slip such a thought." [2]
Seeking out and bringing "together every passage on 'man,' soul, "spirit, "mind,' " et cetera, the editor lists a hundred texts on "man," in sequence. Then he comments pointedly:
"It will be observed that God does not once call man immortal; but on the contrary, man is spoken of as 'mortal,' corruptible,' and even 'dead.' So that the affirmative side of the Scripture is for human mortality and against the human fancy of deathlessness." [3]
The same issue carries a strong article by Canon Henry Constable, [4] and another by W. Dashper on "Punishment Eternal, but Not Eternal Torture." [5] Dr. Petavel is likewise a participant in this initial number. [6] It has scholarly contributors.
2. ABUNDANT TESTIMONY MERITS A "VERDICT."—In the issue for May 8, along with three articles by contributors on "Hades," as the grave or resting place of the dead, "The Rich Man and Lazarus," and "Jesus the Resurrection and the Life," [7] Editor Kellaway continues with all pertinent texts on "soul," "spirit," and "mind," and concludes:
"We think, after adducing the testimony we have, we are entitled to ask for this verdict,—That God does not teach that man, the spirit, the soul, or the mind, is either of them an intelligent immortal being." [8]
2 Ibid., p. 9.
3 Ibid., p. 10.
4 Ibid., p. 11, 12.
5 Ibid., p. 12.
6 Ibid., pp. 13, 14.
7 Ibid., p. 18.
8 Ibid., p. 25.
He quotes from a letter sent to Edward White from a missionary in India. Then he notes the accession of prominent Baptist Arthur Mursell, of Stockwell Chapel, London, to the ranks of the Conditionalists. [9] There is a letter from a Congregationalist minister who had known Dr. Thomas Binney for a quarter of a century, stating that Binney, in his last sermon at Weighhouse, took his stand publicly with Dale, Bevan, Braden, Raleigh, White, Hall, Mursell, and others, as "a believer in the ultimate destruction of the wicked, after punishment according to their works, but not in their eternal or never-ending torment." They are "to be destroyed." [10]
3. ADDRESS CHALLENGED, AND CONDITIONALIST ACCESSION. —The May 15 number reports a lecture at Chelsea Vestry Hall by Baptist minister Barker, presenting the usual "inherent immortality of all men" postulate. At the conclusion of the lecture, in the designated "discussion" period, James Waylen issued a direct challenge to meet Barker "at any time or place, and fairly fight the battle out on Biblical grounds." [11] Conditionalism was not at all pacifist.
An editorial on "The Pharisees and Immortality" and an article by Miles Grant, of America, on "Spiritualism the Work of Demons" [12] are followed by an extended statement by Canon Constable on "Thomas Binney and Life in Christ." [13] Back in 1869 Constable had sent Binney a copy of his Duration and Nature of Future Punishment. This was acknowledged by Binney, together with the statement that he was simultaneously reading the books of several other Conditionalists—and then and there declared his own acceptance of Conditionalism. [14]
9 Ibid., p. 19.
10 Ibid., p. 26.
11 Ibid., p. 31.
12 Ibid., pp. 32, 33.
13 Ibid., pp. 34-36.
14 Binney noted separately at the close of Bible Echo series.
4. DALE DECLARATION RECEIVED WITH "PLAUDITS."—The rejection of the Eternal Torment dogma, declared by Birmingham's Dr. R. W. Dale at a Congregationalist ministerial gathering, is reported in "Note on Passing Events," of May 22:
"At the Cannon Street Hotel, on Friday evening last, a Conversation took place, Samuel Morley, Esquire., M.P., in the chair, when the noted R. W. Dale, of Birmingham, distinctly, and at some length, avowed his rejection of the dogma of never-ending torture, and his belief in the Scriptural and reasonable doctrine of the destruction of the wicked. The spread of this important truth among the Congregationalists and others is remarkable. To show the feeling of the community, we are glad to be able to state that, instead of this profession being received with hisses by the auditory, the address was honoured with plaudits from all parts of the room. Surely truth wins." [15]
Likewise on May 22, in an editorial on "Death Compared to a Sleep," each of the four divisions developed is buttressed by a battery of texts. Here are the four:
"1. Dying Is Represented as Falling Asleep." (Texts follow, with key words emphasized.)
"2. The State of Death Analogous to Sleep."
"3. While the Dead Sleep, It Is Night to Them."
"4. The Resurrection the Waking and Standing up of Those Asleep." [16]
5. SWISS MINISTER QUESTIONED BUT APPROVED.—In the May 29 issue, under the section "Spread of the Truth," a report appears—"Progress of Truth in Switzerland." It quotes a letter from a Protestant pastor examined at great length by a church "commission of inscription"— "chiefly upon eternal punishment. I fully explained my opinions:—negation of the necessary immortality of the soul, but separation of the righteous and the wicked in the future state; the meaning of the word aionios; destruction of the soul or second death for the impenitent; life in Christ only." [17]
15 Ibid., p. 29.
16 Ibid., pp. 45, 46.
17 Ibid., p. 55.
He was heard with "great attention," thanks to the circulation of Dr. Petavel's book La Fin du Mal ("The Non-eternity of Evil"), a summary of which had been given in a theological society meeting by a Conditionalist. This Protestant pastor, under questioning, was nevertheless "admitted unanimously and welcomed most kindly," and inscribed in the "register of pastors and ministers." Then, seeking appointment as pastor to a particular congregation, he was again questioned rigorously, and gave "anew an exposition of my opinions upon a future state." After some dissenting voices he was "unanimously appointed." [18]
Five other items—an editorial on the groundlessness of the argument in behalf of natural immortality; Constable on "Mr. Spurgeon on the Intermediate State"; a Bible study on "Where Do the Dead Sleep?" answered by "IN THE DUST" (with supporting texts), "IN THE EARTH," and "IN THE GRAVE"; further comment on R. W. Dale's recent speech at the Congregational Soiree, in the Cannon Street Hotel, against the notion of eternal conscious suffering; and finally, an announcement that Samuel Minton, of Eaton Chapel, would deliver a lecture at Chelsea Vestry Hall on "Immortality in Christ Alone," to an assembly of ministers. [19]
6. DR. DALE'S DECLARATION OF FAITH.—These excerpts from Dale's speech will prove illuminating:
"'Again and again He [Jesus] spoke of the doom of the impenitent . . . ; and by Him that doom was uniformly represented as involving a condemnation that will never be reversed, . . . a ruin for which there is no remedy. The chaff is to be burned up, the dead and corrupting soul is to be utterly consumed and destroyed.'
"'We have reached the conclusi1on that eternal life is the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ; that this life is not given to those who reject the gospel, but given in the new birth to_ those who believe, and who are thereby made partakers of the Divine nature. . . .
"'In the world to come they [the impenitent] will not . . . hear from the lips of Christ the words, "Come, ye blessed of My Father;" but that He will say to them, "Depart from Me, ye cursed;" words extinguishing all hope . . . ; that their punishment will not regenerate, but destroy them; that in the fires to which they are destined they will not be purified, but consumed, and that from the second death there is no resurrection.' " [20]
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid., pp. 57-61.
20 Ibid., p. 61.
Then he adds: "'I wish, with the greatest possible emphasis, to state that in my own experience the reception of this doctrine has not only not enfeebled my belief in the great doctrines of the evangelical faith, but has given all those doctrines [Incarnation, atonement, regeneration] a firmer hold on my intellect, my conscience, and my heart." [21]
7. DALE DECLARATION ATTACKED BY "CHRISTIAN WORLD."
— In the June 5 issue A. W. Warner discusses the technical Hebrew and Greek terms for "Hell," and illustrates their meanings and occurrences. [22] And on June 12 note is taken of a new Christian World attack on Dr. Dale's address before the Congregationalist clergy gathering, and his declaration on Conditionalism. [23] Mention is made of another Baptist minister—R. Stevenson, of Broad Street Chapel, Nottingham—declaring 1, against Innate Immortality and Eternal Torment. [24] Then a sevenfold answer (with texts) is given to a sevenfold question, “When Do Saints Receive Eternal Life?" the seven being: (1) At the resurrection; (2) at the last trump; (3) at the end of the Christian course; (4) in the day of rewards and punishments; (5) at the harvest of the world; (6) in the world to come; and (7) in the time of re-genesis. [25] And American Conditionalist C. F. Hudson is cited relative to everlasting contempt—"the eternal contempt of their companions." [26]
8. "CHRISTIAN WORLD" ATTACK CHALLENGED BY "ECHO."
— A second attack on Dr. Dale, this time in the Christian World of May 29, is then noted. [27] And a simultaneous attack on Congregationalist Dale by the Christian Standard admits: " 'The doctrine of the ultimate annihilation of the ungodly is making astonishing progress, at least among Nonconformists.' " [28]
But the Standard is excoriated by the Echo because of its misrepresentations. Editor Kellaway says:
"Believers of the truth of [Conditional] immortality in the British Isles are to be counted by thousands, and, we believe, tens of thousands. They are in nearly every town and village, and in some places have In-creased to companies; indeed, the churches are few which have not some private or avowed holders of the doctrine; and in America we think they would not fall far short of a hundred thousand. Besides this, there are many in Australia, Cape Colony, and India; and in Switzerland there is a very large return to primitive faith." [29]
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid., p. 66.
23 Ibid., p. 75.
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid., p. 79.
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid., June 12, pp. 80, 81.
28 Ibid., p. 82.
29 Ibid.
Defending Conditionalism, Kellaway adds: "We do believe in the aionian punishment, and will not let his falsehood pass without branding it as false. We are sorry we have to write so strongly of any author and his productions; but Mr. [editor] Grant is a very great offender, and the truth must be spoken." [30]
In fact Kellaway challenges Grant, editor of the Standard, to debate the whole question of "torment or death" in the Bible Echo and the Christian Standard. [31] The battle was intense. Stirrings in Scotland also are reported over Eternal Punishment. [32]
9. GREAT CONDITIONALIST MEETING IN CHELSEA.—A Supplement to the issue of June 12 is devoted to the "Great Meeting in Chelsea Vestry Hall, on Immortality Only in Christ," [33] with some five hundred assembled to hear the Reverend Samuel Minton, of Eaton Chapel. The gathering included numerous prominent clergymen—Constable, Boardman, Hitchens, Rotherham, May, Waylen, Mursell, Farre, Hartley—with Edward White as chairman. Dr. Joseph Parker, of the City Temple, unable to be present, sent this message:
"'I am more and more persuaded that the argument which you intend to uphold is, so far as I can understand it, thoroughly sound and conclusive; and therefore I trust your work to-night will be thoroughly successful.' " [34]
Minton is declared to have given a masterful address. Two quotations must suffice:
"Scripture not only withholds any support to natural immortality, but that in every page, in every variety of language, and by every form of imagery, it distinctly, positively, and dogmatically denies it, and says the opposite. From beginning to end it labours to impress upon us that we are not immortal, and shall not live for ever unless we are partakers of the life of Christ; and if we will have eternal life we must accept it as the gift of grace through the Only-begotten of the Father; that if we long for immortality we must seek for it." [35]
"God is able to destroy man. Destroy is stronger than kill. You may kill a living creature without destroying it; but you cannot destroy without killing it. God can destroy the sinner. He can separate and dissipate his component particles and the elements of his entire being; and this is His threat to the wicked. He can separate part from part as no man can. Some say we believe in annihilation. We do not. Annihilation, as scientifically understood, means reducing something to nothing. This we do not believe. But we do believe in the destruction of the ungodly." [36]
30 Ibid.
31 Ibid. p. 83.
32 Ibid. p. 85.
33 Ibid., p. 87.
34 Ibid.
35 Ibid., p. 88.
Then the Reverend Arthur Mursell, recent Baptist convert to Conditionalism, proposing a vote of thanks, said:
"I believe ours is the view that will ultimately obtain throughout Christendom. I am certain it is winning its way in all Churches; and I hope I may not be accused of a want of charity in saying that there is only lacking more boldness for many to confess themselves believers of immortality only in Christ. Speaking or my own case, I had convictions on the question for years, but could not until lately command courage to speak out. The truth we hold is so rational and scriptural that I cannot see any reason why it is not the popular view. I feel that those who teach the natural immortality of the soul, only give Jesus half a crown, and it is my desire to crown Him Lord of all." [37]
10. WHITE ON CONDITIONALIST TWENTY-THREE YEAR SPREAD.—In the same June 12 Supplement extended notice is taken of Dr. Edward White's "Doctrines and Principles"—an address on the twenty-third anniversary of the dedication of his St. Paul's Chapel. At the outset he cites Whately's well-known statement: "Never once, from Genesis to Revelation, is man addressed by prophets or apostles as an immortal being possessed of a never-dying soul, or in any equivalent language." [38]
White then says that "life, however it was clothed upon . . . , never lost . . . its primary meaning of conscious existence, and that the threat of destruction never lost its primary meaning of extinction of that existence." [39] And at the close he reports, "Since those days [twenty-three years ago] these views of divine truth have spread wonderfully, both at home and abroad." [40] Specifically, he says they have— "won the assent of men whose scholarship and piety no one questions. Dr. Weymouth, Head Master of Mill Hill School, Dr. Mortimer, late Head Master of the City School, Archbishop Whately, Bishop Hampden, Professor Stokes of Cambridge, Mr. Sheppard of Frome, the late John Foster, author of 'Essays on Decision of Character,' Mr. Dale, Mr. Warleigh, Rector of Ashchurch, Mr. Davis, Vicar of Roundhay; Professor Hudson of Boston, President Trafford, Mr. Wm. Maude, Dr. Parker, Mr. Minton, and many others less known but equally weighty thinkers and critics have made no secret of their assent." [41]
36 Ibid. pp. 88, 89
37 Ibid. p. 92.
38 Ibid. p. 95.
39 Ibid.
40 Ibid. p. 94.
Conditionalism attracted and won some of the finest minds in Britain.
11. PROTESTS, ACCESSIONS, REPUDIATION, ADVANCE.-On June 19 a letter from Bible translator Joseph B. Rotherham, written to the Christian World, is reprinted. It protests the Eternal Torment position, and states that "the Destructionist view is able to assert itself with invincible cogency." [42] Because of Bible declarations, Rotherham says he is—
"'constrained to disbelieve the theological dogma of man's natural and unconditional immortality. It is enough for me that the Bible does not teach it. Had it been true, I must have found it there. As a consequence, I am free to accept the everlasting punishment of the incorrigible as their everlasting destruction.' " [43]
The editor comments on recent ministerial accessions—some courageously stepping out, and many being snubbed by associates and reactionary organizations. [44] Dr. William Leask also has a lengthy article, "The Scripture Doctrine of a Future Life." [45] He logically contends, "A mortal creature cannot give birth to an immortal." And in the midst of his article Leask says: "The dogma of eternal torments, which has sprung out of the dogma of natural immortality, must be rejected along with the huge delusion which gave it birth." [46]
12. NUMEROUS TOKENS OF PROGRESS.—In the July 3 issue Miles Grant again writes on "Spiritualism the Work of Demons," and "G.A.H." on "Tormented but Killed at Last." [47] Kellaway, the editor, notes several new ministerial accessions to the ranks of Conditionalism. [48] And in an editorial on "How Believers Have Eternal Life Now," he says the Christian has it in promise," "in faith, which credits the promise," "consequently in hope," and "in pledge." Each is supported with texts. He summarizes by stating:
"God has given to the Christ for us eternal life. It is today in his power and keeping. It is in transit to us. We are promised we shall have it in possession. We believe God and lay hold of it. We hope and with patience wait for it. Aid for our assurance that we shall have it. we have an earnest of it by way of a change into the divine moral image: But eternal life will be actually bestowed at the resurrection, when this mortal shall put on immortality." [49]
41 Ibid.
42 Ibid. p. 98.
43 Ibid.
44 Ibid. p. 100.
45 Ibid. p. 101-103.
46 Ibid. p. 102
47 Ibid. p. 120, 121.
48 Ibid. p. 124.
There is also a letter from John Leslie, of Canada, on Dr. Thomas Binney's position, declared before a group of sixty, that the wicked "would be destroyed, or perish forever." It also cites Dr. Fraser, of the Free Presbyterian Church of London, and Dr. Eadie, of Glasgow—all maintaining the Conditionalist position!" [50]
13. £100-OFFER FOR MISSING TEXT.—The July 10 issue notes J. N. Darby's early Conditionalist positions, [51] later abandoned, and July 24 records Congregationalist Robert Ashcroft, avowing "his belief in the non-immortality of the soul." [52] Then there is the account of a £100-offer in Liverpool, broadcast through circulars and local papers, for "a single passage of Scripture proving the natural and inherent immortality of the soul." [53] And finally there is an item, "Above a Hundred Wesleyan Methodists Believing in Life in Christ," with a resultant "great stir" in one of the "northern circuits." [54] The August 21 issue tells of School Chaplain C. A. Greaves' letter to the Rock, on "No Immortality out of Christ." [55]
49 Ibid. p. 125.
50 Ibid. p. 128.
51 Ibid. p. 135.
52 Ibid. p. 155.
53 Ibid. p. 159.
54 Ibid. p. 164, 165.
55 Ibid. p. 203.
56 Ibid. pp. 252, 253.
14. MULTIPLE PROVISIONS OF "LIFE" ENSHRINED IN CHRIST. —The September 18 issue begins a continuing series of articles by Dr. Emmanuel Petavel, translated from his current French book La Fin du Mal. [56] And in the September 25 issue a new
Baptist ministerial accession to Life Only in Christ is noted from the Christian World. [57] On October 9 editor Kellaway, defending their "Contention With Popular Belief," quotes from a little tract Immortality only in Christ, on Christ our life:
"'He is spoken of as—our Life—the Life—the Word of Life—the Prince of Life—the Lord of Life—the Giver of Life—the Bread of Life—the Water of Life—the Way of Life—the Resurrection and the Life. He gives the Promise of Life—Justification of Life—Newness of Life—the Spirit of Life—the Grace of Life—the Light of Life—the Crown of Life—right to eat of the Tree of Life, and to drink of the River of the Water of Life—and writes our' names in the Book of Life. All Scripture testifies to the doctrine, that immortal Life is the gift of God, through the Christ.' " [58]
This is followed by a thirteen-point declaration against evil being eternal. [59] In the "Discussion Department," "Alpha" and "Beta" discuss the nature and destiny of man. [60] And four separate Conditionalists answer the "Eternal Fire" contention. [61] Then on October 16 and 23, under "Brethrenism and Excommunication," the moving story of the expulsion of E. W. P. Taunton is told—expelled because he refused to give up "his view of eternal punishment"—together with the withdrawal of George W. Barber, who gives a masterful answer to the strictures against him. [62] There is also the recital in the October 23 Echo of the laying of the cornerstone of the Progressive Christian church (of Atherton), by Captain Henry J. Ward on October 17. The entire congregation held to Life Only in Christ. [63] They were impelled to separate in order to have freedom of conscience to believe life is derived from Christ and to disbelieve in Eternal Torment.
57 Ibid. p. 263.
58 Ibid. p. 292.
59 Ibid. pp. 292-294
60 Ibid. pp. 294-296.
61 Ibid. pp. 297, 309.
62 Ibid. pp. 301-303. 313-315.
63 Ibid. p. 317.
15. SUMMARIZING STATEMENT ON CONDITIONALISM.—We close this survey of this first volume of the Echo by noting a sevenfold answer by Robert Pegrum, in the issue of November 20, to the question "Is Man Immortal?" His seven points in the negative (each buttressed by numerous scriptures), with the Greek and Hebrew terms involved, follow:
"1. THE BIBLE STATES THAT GOD ALONE IS IMMORTAL, THEREFORE, MAN CANNOT BE IMMORTAL." [Scriptures in original.]
"2. THE BIBLE TREATS MAN, NOT AS IMMORTAL, BUT AS A CANDIDATE FOR IMMORTALITY."
“3. THE BIBLE DECLARES THAT DESTRUCTION WILL BE THE DOOM OF THE UNGODLY."
"4. THE BIBLE ASCRIBES THE SOUL (Heb., Nephesh; Gr., Psyche) TO THE LOWER ANIMALS, AS WELL AS TO MAN: THEREFORE, THE SOUL CANNOT BE IMMORTAL.
"5. THE BIBLE FREQUENTLY AND PLAINLY AFFIRMS THE MORTALITY OF THE SOUL."
"6. THE BIBLE APPLIES THE EXPRESSION 'LIVING SOUL (Heb., Nephesh Chajah) TO THE LOWER ANIMALS AS WELL AS TO MAN."
"7. THE BIBLE ALSO ASSERTS THAT SPIRIT (Heb., Ruach; Gr., Pneuma) IS POSSESSED IN COMMON BY MAN AND BEAST: THEREFORE, THE POSSESSION OF SPIRIT DOES NOT PROVE THAT MAN IS IMMORTAL." [64]
Man is not, therefore, inherently, innately, indefeasibly, immortal. That is a gift through Christ, received at the resurrection, and only by the righteous.
64. Ibid., pp. 362. 363.
A highly illuminating "Clerical Symposium on Immortality" ran through the "Theological Section" of the Homiletic Monthly during 1884 and 1885, and dealt with both the theological and the historical aspects. Famous scholars presented both sides of the question. Conditionalist Canon Row opened the series, and at least a dozen distinguished men contributed. The over-all theme was "The Foundations of the Belief in the Immortality of Man."
1. STOKES'S STRONG CASE FOR CONDIT1ONALISM.—One noted participant was Prof. (Sir) George G. Stokes, of Cambridge, and secretary of the Royal Society. Ably presenting the Conditionalist side, he covered the physical, metaphysical, teleological, moral, and Bible argument put forward for natural immortality. He says the "physical evidence" is "notoriously negative." In death "all traces of organization are lost." Any so-called evidence of natural immortality is a "mere suspicion," and the "most probable inference" is perishing "at death." [65] One by one Stokes dismisses the points as "assumptions," and without the "slightest weight." On the teleological argument, he says:
65 Homiletic Monthly, March, 1885, p. 150.
66 Ibid., p. 152.
"We have clearly no right to assume that man's destiny in his fallen state corresponds with aspirations which may have been implanted in him in his natural, i.e., unfallen condition. The desire of immortality no more proves that a man will be immortal, than the desire of happiness proves that he will be happy." [66] Then, turning to the Biblical side, Stokes declares:
"In the scriptural account of the creation and fall of man, there is nothing to indicate that man was by creation an immortal being. On the contrary, his immortality is represented as depending, not on his condition by creation, but on something outside of him, his right to the use of which [the tree of Life] was contingent on his obedience, and from which he was cut off at his fall, 'lest he should live for ever.' " [67]
He adds that "there is nothing to indicate that the 'death' which his disobedience entailed affected one part only of his nature, or was anything short of utter abolition." [68]
Professor Stokes states that "over and over again in the “New Testament," "eternal life" is offered on "conditions." Clearly, he says, it "would not be offered as a gift" if it is already our inherent "possession." To the Christian, "immortality rests upon its promise as a gift, a gift supernatural in its nature," and it "involves resurrection." If we "once accept the scriptural account of the fall," and that "disobedience forfeited immortality," then it is reasonable to believe that it is only "restored" under the provisions of redemption and "complete righteousness." That view, of "very early times" has of "late years" been revived. [69] Stokes closes with two important statements:
"Man's whole being was forfeited by the fall, and the future life is not his birthright, but depends on a supernatural dispensation of grace. Man must not look into himself but out of himself for assurance of immortality." [70]
67 Ibid.
68 Ibid.
69 Ibid. p. 153.
70 Ibid. p. 154.
2. WHITE: WIDESPREAD CONTEMPORARY REVIVAL OF CONDITIONALISM.—In the March, 1885, issue, the "Symposium on Immortality" included a strong article by Dr. Edward White, constituting an over-all survey of contemporary Conditional-ism in France and other lands. He reports that in October, at a Synod meeting at Montpellier, some fifty Reformed Church of France clergymen listened to a paper presented by M. Babut, prominent Protestant leader, denying inherent immortality. In this position he was supported by Professors Bonnet of Frankfort and Sabatier of Montpellier. Then in December the noted Prof. T. G. Bonney, British scientist and preacher. in his Hulsean lecture at Cambridge, similarly took the position of Life Only in Christ, and denied the Innate Immortality of all souls. [71] He had declared: "There is not even one single mention in any of the books of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, covering a space of 1500 years." [72]
White also challenged the common contention of "general belief," among ancient nations, of natural immortality. "Nothing can be farther from the fact," he replied. The Egyptians, for example, held to a "restricted immortality," with eternal life only for the good, and only a "temporary survival of the wicked." [73]
White cites Edouard Naville, of Geneva, as concurring that the "Egyptian belief" was the "destruction" of the wicked —not to mention the same view held by Egyptologists De Rouge, Lichtenberger, and Lenormant, with R. S. Poole, of the British Museum, all agreeing that the Egyptians held only to "the immortality of the good," with the wicked at last "utterly destroyed." Such, he said, is the consensus of belief among the "most learned authorities on Egypt." White then turns to Jewish writers—such as Grand Rabbi Stein—adducing the statement that "man searches in vain" for a declaration of natural immortality in the Mosaic writings." [74]
3. HOST OF CONTEMPORARY CONDITIONALISTS MERIT HEARING.—White then alludes to Dr. Cairns's discussion of the Presbyterian Confession of Faith (which holds to Innate Immortality and Eternal Torments for the wicked). But Cairns admits that there is "no mention of eternal misery" in the Old Testament. Then White refers to the "determined effort" in Germany, Switzerland, France, England, and America, to restudy "Death, Life, and Immortality" in the light of Life Only in Christ. And he declares that "many of the ablest scholars and theologians" in these lands, taking their stand upon "Divine Revelation alone," are contending that Christ the Incarnate Word is the "true author of everlasting life for sinful man"- and that "eternal life" was "lost for the race by the sin of Adam." [75]
71 Ibid., p. 2.
72 Ibid.
73 Ibid.
74 Ibid., pp. 2, 3.
White closes by asserting that some of the "very greatest" are "lending their sanction" to the Conditionalist Movement, of going back to Early Church emphasis, later suppressed for long centuries but now being strongly revived. White names a number—Dorner, Byse, Rothe, Gess, Bonnet, Dale, Cesar Malan, Hudson, Babut, Lotze, Schultz, Jonker, Petavel, Bushnell, and Renouvier. [76] And there are many others. Because of this, Dr. White claims that Conditionalism has a right to "at least a respectful treatment from its adversaries." [77] While Conditionalists are still a "minority," he reminds his readers that— "majorities are formed of persons, nine-tenths of whom have never been persuaded to examine with care the evidence for traditional opinion; so that the authorities pro and con must, in the early stages of a controversy, be weighed rather than counted." [76]
1. DR. DALE REAFFIRMS CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY POSITION.—Almost continuous discussion over the nature and destiny of man continued during 1878-1879. Dr. R. W. Dale, writing in The Christian World of April 5, 1878, on "The Future Destiny of the Wicked," sketched the background of the current discussion, which he said was started by the writings of two clergymen, Baptist H. H. Dobney (On the Scripture Doctrine of Future Punishment) and Congregationalist Edward White (Life in Christ). Dale then referred to the Congregationalist novelist, George Macdonald, even stating that his religious fiction had done perhaps even more to destroy "the traditional faith in the endlessness of Future Punishment than my friend Mr. White by his logic and exegesis."
75 Ibid., pp. 8, 9.
76 Ibid., p. 12.
77 Ibid.
78 Ibid.
Believing that "the time has come" for "settlement of the controversy," Dale speaks of the widespread "anxiety" and "restlessness" over the question in the religious world. The Congregationalists and Baptists, he says, are "open" on the issue, while the Wesleyan Methodists and Presbyterians hold rigidly to the "traditional position." He refers to four schools of thought on the fate of the wicked—those who cling to Eternal Torment, those who believe in a second chance, the Restorationist of the Universalists, and those teaching Conditional Immortality, which latter, Dale adds, "I have publicly preached for many years." Eternal Life, he maintains, is only for the regenerate. The unregenerate "will come to an end." This he declared to be the "teaching of Holy Scripture." He had also expressed similar views in the New York Christian Union. So it was a transatlantic discussion.
2. "CONTEMPORARY REVIEW" AIRS ALL VIEWS.—The April Contemporary Review began the first in a series of papers by "eminent writers" dealing with "Future Punishment," presenting the three variant views. Canon Farrar's rejection of Eternal Torment opened the discussion. Professor Jollett, Bishop Butler, and William Arthur contended for the old view. Baldwin Brown and John Hunt discussed the annihilation of the wicked, and Edward White restated his Conditionalist view of the ultimate and utter destruction of the impenitent. Dr. Salmond, meanwhile, maintained a neutral position.
3. SYMPOSIUMS APPEAR IN VARIOUS JOURNALS.—In the next year or two, at least four journals—North American Review and Christian Union of New York, and the London Contemporary Review and the Homiletic Magazine—published symposiums, or series of articles, on the question, various writers expressing their several points of view. And there was a growing recognition of the propriety of such expression.
About four years before the periodical The Bible Echo was launched in London, the book The Perishing Soul appeared in Jamaica, B.W.I., pressing on the same major points. JAMES M. DENNISTON (d. 1895) , Scottish Presbyterian missionary to Jamaica, was a graduate of the University of Glasgow. Throughout his life he maintained the careful study habits acquired, becoming noted for his accurate scholarship. As a result, in 1880 his help was sought in connection with the work of the English Revision Committee of the Bible. He had many friends among the scholars of the day. And his scholarship gives weight to the contentions of his own book.
Denniston had a burden for less-favoured lands. So he sailed for Jamaica in 1839. His first sermon, significantly enough, was on the "Free and Gracious Offer of Eternal Life"—a forecast, as it proved to be, of his later theological interests. He then went to Montego Bay and founded St. Paul's Presbyterian church. Denniston had an intense longing to find and follow the full will of God, and ever sought to present Bible themes of transcendent importance. In 1843, with a group of Seceders, he left the Church of Scotland to become one of a band of Evangelical preachers. His goal was twofold—to reach scholars through private gatherings in his home and to reach the untutored in his public meetings.
1. APOLOGIST FOR PRIMITIVE GOSPEL IN MATERIALISTIC AGE.—Possessed of independent means, he travelled in Europe in 1848, visiting Budapest in the interest of the Jews, and for a time he laboured in Constantinople as a missionary to the Jews. He then returned to Plymouth, England. Becoming convinced of the truth of baptism by immersion, he went to the East End of London and built his own church, the Victoria Park Chapel, where he laboured for the teeming multitudes of the great metropolis. All this time he was studying and writing on the nature and destiny of man, as well as preaching. He produced The Perishing Soul, together with several other works in related fields.
Returning to Jamaica, and using his private income, he devoted the remainder of his long life to promulgating the gospel and fostering education among the poor in the country of his adoption. Being a lover of young men, he sponsored a "temperance house" in Mandeville for their protection, as well as conducting a twice-a-week night school for about forty of them. He also conducted evangelistic meetings in Kingston. Denniston broke away from the staid Presbyterian psalm-hymns and introduced the great moving hymns of the church. His ministry was marked by fidelity to the Word as he understood it, without fear of consequences or concern over losing the approbation of men.
Inflexible loyalty to Christ and His Word characterized his opposition to the current wave of religious liberalism, with its denials of the deity of Christ, spiritual regeneration, blood atonement, and the literal resurrection—"without which," he insisted, "we have no gospel for dying sinners." He was an apologist for the simple primitive gospel in a materialistic age, and was pre-eminently a Bible preacher. This led him to pro-claim the positions of Conditionalism. He was ever a fearless and uncompromising foe of the perversions of Romanism, as well as an eloquent and persistent champion of the fundamentals of Protestantism.
2. ENDLESS SUFFERING IS "INTOLERABLY OPPRESSIVE."—In his thirty-one-chapter, 360-page The Perishing Soul, written in Jamaica, Denniston starts, as many had done before him, with the trilemma of the three schools of thought on the fate of the wicked—Endless Suffering, Universal Restoration, and the Ultimate Destruction of the Wicked, which latter position he championed as the truth. In his preface Denniston quotes approvingly from the British and Foreign Educational Review (October, 1872, page 702), as saying: "The idea of permanent and unrelieved, not to say endless suffering, is intolerably oppressive, and every one longs to see some escape from it.” [79]
79 J. M. Denniston, The Perishing Soul; or, The Scriptural Doctrine of the Destruction of Sinners (2d ed., 1874), p. vi.
Although the bulk of his book presents the "Scriptural View" on the fate of the wicked, the last seven chapters deal with the "Historical View." Denniston disposes at the outset of the common contention that most ancients believed in the indestructibility of the soul, by one vote from Plato (Phaedo, secs. 68-70): " 'Most men assert that the soul, when separated from the body, will be immediately dispersed and destroyed "' That, he says, was the majority view of old.
3. MAN LOST IMMORTALITY THROUGH "FALL."—Starting with the Old Testament and the Creation narrative, Denniston shows that no Innate Immortality is indicated in the Inspired Record. Rather, "from the moment of his eating" Adam became a "mortal, perishing, ruined creature." The tree of life "pointed to the grant of immortality, as promised to Adam," but which he "forfeited." Denniston also quotes from the Memoir of Dr. John Duncan (p. 230), that Adam was "designed for immortality," but "by the fall, man lost immortality." And to die means to "cease to be." " But recovered life is provided through grace.
4. DESTRUCTION BOTH A "PROCESS" AND A "TERMINATION." —The New Testament teaches that all life is vested in Christ. Immortality is a "special bestowment of grace," not a "natural endowment" of man. Thus the apostolic teaching was wholly contrary to the later popular position of "endless life in death, or an endless death in life" concept." However, the bulk of Denniston's volume, appropriate to its title (The Perishing Soul), deals with the Biblical uses of the Greek terms for "destroy," "perish," et cetera, first in the Septuagint (Old Testament), and then in the Gospels and Epistles as meaning to "bring to an end," and "come to an end"—involving_ both a process and a termination.' Denniston similarly shows the fallacy of Universalism. Since his testimony parallels the witness of many other able Conditionalists we need not repeat in detail.
5. WITNESS OF EARLY CENTURIES TO CONDITIONALISM.—In the historical section Denniston deals with the Jewish Apocryphal writings—about equally divided between truth and error on the nature and destiny of man. Then, coming to the
80 Ibid., p. 10.
81 Ibid., p. 22.
82 Ibid., p. 25.
83 Ibid., pp. 28, 29.
84 Ibid., p. 34.
85 Ibid., p. 79.
Christian Era, and the Apostolic and Ante-Nicene Fathers, he shows wide reading and accurate conclusions. The Apostolic Fathers, he insists, were Conditionalists, with no "trace of universal immortality" [86] and so were the later Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and others, who taught the destructing of the wicked. Irenaeus said the wicked are "utterly bereft of immortality and continuance." [87] Athenagoras, on the other hand, introduced the Platonic Immortal-Soulism of Greek philosophy with "no appeal to the authority of Scripture." [88] Denniston closes his able discussion with:
"We cannot but thank God for the testimony—furnishing, as it does, another and so valuable a proof of how the men of that [early Christian] age could speak of the everlasting punishment of those whom they never forgot to represent as not immortal." [89]
The wicked, Denniston concludes, are utterly bereft of immortality, or deathless continuance. Their loss is "eternal and endless." The sinner's existence is definitely "terminable," however indefinite its period. Such was the word from the British West Indies in 1874.
As previously noted, THOMAS BINNEY, D.D., LL.D. (17971874), noted Congregational minister and controversialist, first held a five-year pastorate at Newport, where he began his career as an author. He then transferred to a church at Weigh-house, in London, where for forty years he laboured with untiring vigour and effectiveness. He was a man of commanding presence and unusual powers. In his later years he was also professor of homiletics at New College.
86 Ibid. P. 291
87 Ibid. P. 356
88 Ibid. P. 3231
89 Ibid. P. 356
Binney was an independent thinker, putting all teaching to the test of God's Word. With him, it must "square" with the Book to be approved. He was author of numerous works, and was also a Conditionalist. In his very last sermon at Weighhouse he again declared his personal belief in the "ultimate destruction of the wicked, after punishment according to their works, but not in their eternal or never-ending torment." Here are other expressions:
"'Anything that has a beginning may have an end . . . All enemies are to be destroyed . . . they are not destroyed yet . .. But he that doeth the will of God abides for ever.' " [90]
Canon Constable, who greatly admired Binney, sent a presentation copy of his Duration and Nature of Future Punishment [91] to him, and received a letter back from Binney dated March 5, 1869, stating that he had long held similar opinions. He stated further that he had read similar books by Dunn, Litton, Minton, White, and other Conditionalists. Then he gave this as his "deliberate testimony":
" 'The subject is one which very much engrosses the minds of thoughtful men just now, and one, too, which it will not be possible for preachers long to ignore. The tendency in most, I think, is to take your [Constable's] view. The difficulty of conceiving that evil, in the form of either sin or suffering, is to be as eternal as the holy and glorious One,—this is an argument which seems to deaden the sound even of the most distinct and loudly speaking texts.' " [92]
When Binney had this doctrine first brought to his attention he "gave himself no rest until he was satisfied that he had penetrated to the very foundation of the case." As a result "he abandoned the teaching of his early years," rejecting the views of many associates and adopting the teaching of Scripture. He held that in a world ruled by such a God as ours, evil could not be eternal. [93] This is the testimony of an unpublicized Conditionalist.
The movement had already spread to an extent not commonly realized, and included the names of many notables. Conditionalism now had the respectful ear of a host of scholars who pondered its claims.
90 A Congregational Minister, "The Late Rev. Thos. Binney," The Bible Echo, May 8, 1874, p. 26.
91 On Constable, see pp. 337-354.
92 Henry Constable, "Thomas Binney and Life in Christ," The Bible Echo, May 15, 1874, pp 35, 36
93 Ibid., p. 36.
Bishop BROOKE Foss WESTCOTT, D.D., D.C.L. (1825-1901), English prelate and Biblical scholar, was canon of Peterborough, then professor of divinity at Cambridge, 1870-1890. In 1883 he was appointed canon of Westminster by Gladstone, and was consecrated Bishop of Durham in 1890. His fame rests on his joint editorship, along with F. J. A. Hort, of the celebrated Westcott and Hort critical edition of the Greek New Testament.
While still professor of divinity at Cambridge, Bishop Westcott went on record in his excellent book on the resurrection, as recognizing the "purely philosophical" origin of the Innate Immortality concept. Thus:
"Gradually we have been led to dissociate faith in the resurrection of the body from the actual Resurrection of Christ, which is the earnest of it. And not unfrequently we substitute for the fulness of the Christian creed the purely _philosophic conception of an immortality of the soul, which surrenders, as we shall see hereafter, the idea of the continuance of our complete personal existence." [94]
And in a summary, on a later page, he adds this:
"It has been seen that our present self is essentially twofold; and I/ that we cannot in any way conceive that we can remain the same if either of the elements of which it is made up wants its proper representative. The doctrine of the 'immortality of the soul' is therefore wholly insufficient to satisfy that desire for a life hereafter for which man naturally craves.” [95]
That is Bishop Wescott's word—the theory of Innate Immortality is "wholly insufficient."
94 Brooke Foss Westcott, The Gospel of the Resurrection: Thoughts on Its Relation to Reason and History (1884 ed.), pp. 6, 7.
95 Ibid., pp. 187, 188.
JOSEPH B. ROTHERHAM (1828-1910), Hebrew and Greek scholar, and for thirty-seven years a technical editor for publishers, was born of 'Wesleyan parents, his father being a local preacher. While still in his teens Joseph wanted to preach. At twenty-one he sought formal college training. In 1850 Rotherham entered the ministry of the Wesleyan Methodist Association, which later merged with the United Methodist Free Churches. But in the attendant theological examination questions, one on baptism troubled him. This appeared so serious that he later left the Methodists to join the Baptists, and became pastor of the General Baptist Church at Market Harborough, then of the Particular Baptist Church at Wem, in Salop. (Photo on page 439.)
Driven on by further study, he was much impressed by the stand of the Disciples on the design and mode of baptism, and fraternized closely with them. The next fourteen years were spent in effective preaching, teaching, and evangelism in England, Wales, and Scotland. A master of both Hebrew and Greek, Rotherham, in the twenty-five years following, gave himself largely to study and research, and held literary posts in London that required a technical knowledge of Biblical languages. Rotherham's translation of the New Testament (1872), to give the exact force of the originals, became widely recognized. In 1868 there appeared a review of this translation by William Maude, in the Conditionalist journal The Rainbow. In connection with this Rotherham leaves this record:
"Availing himself of the acquaintance thus formed, Mr. Maude, about this time enquired of me by letter, whether I could name a single passage which taught man's natural and necessary immortality. My reply was the frank admission that I knew of no such passage, and that manifestly the only immortality in which Adam was created was contingent and dependent—contingent on his obedience, and dependent on his eating of the fruit of the tree of life. Probably I had never so expressed myself before; but I have never wavered from that reply since." [96]
Rotherham was himself editor of The Rainbow during the last two years of its publication, and was one of the speakers at the London Conference on Conditional Immortality in 1885. He was clearly a Conditionalist.
96 The Rainbow, June 1, 1868. Quoted in Cyrus E. Brooks, Reminiscences, 1878-1898, p. 76.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Prior to 1878 there had been no organized or group testimony for Conditionalism in Britain, only individual voices like those of H. H. Dobney, Edward White, William G. Moncrieff, William Leask, Henry Constable, Samuel Minton, and such, except for the Breakfast Conference by a group in the Cannon Street Hotel, London, in 1876, and one in the Town Hall at Cheltenham. And there had been no common or agreed designation, or name, for their position, or witness. [1] Dr. William Morris [2] called it "Immortality Through Faith." Dr. Edward White used the phrase "Life in Christ," or "Immortality through the Incarnation." Dr. William Leask, editor of The Rainbow, had adopted the expression "Conditional Immortality," while Cyrus Brooks, editor of The Faith, preferred "Life Only in Christ." However, they were identical in concept.
1 Brooks, Reminiscences, pp. 3, 4.
2 Dr. WILLIAM MORRIS (d. 1884) became known as the "boy-preacher" of Plymouth, later having charge of the Batter Street Congregational Church. When he discovered the truth of Life Only in Christ, difficulties developed in his ministry. So he left the Congregational communion and was for ten years connected with the Plymouth Brethren, periodically preaching on Conditional Immortality. The largest halls were too small for the numbers that thronged to hear him. There was rejoicing in the teaching of Life Only in Christ. But when they discovered that this also implied Eternal Death to all out of Christ, bitter opposition developed, and he was excluded from the ministry of the Plymouth Brethren. He came to America, where he studied medicine, and continued to bear the same faithful Conditionalist testimony. Returning to Plymouth, he preached until his death in 1884. His last sermon in October, was "I Have Kept the Faith." He was author of What Is Man? (Brooks. op. cit., pp. 26-28).
1878 was a time of widespread agitation and investigation concerning the nature and destiny of man. Canon Farrar had but recently delivered his revolutionary sermon in Westminster Abbey. Literature was appearing for and against the issue. The time seemed propitious for united action. So the Reverend George A. Brown, [3] Baptist pastor of Mint Lane Chapel, Lincoln, and editor of the Bible Standard, who had strongly championed Conditionalism, proposed an organization.
3 Rev. GEORGE A. BROWN (d. 1907), of Lincoln, accepted the principle of Conditionalism from H. L. Hastings while visiting in the United States. Returning to England in 1877, he became the minister of the Mint Lane Baptist Chapel, Lincoln—one of the oldest in Britain. His congregation grew until it was one of the largest in the city. He was also editor of the Bible Standard, and was the leading spirit in calling the first conference and forming the association. He then became traveling evangelist for the association. Later he went to Auckland, New Zealand, forming a church there and starting the New Zealand Bible Standard. Later he went on to Australia and South Africa. He returned to Lincoln in 1905 and participated in the Glasgow Conference of 1906, then undertook the editing of Words of Life (R. K. Strang, in Souvenir of the Jubilee Year of the Mission, pp. 18, 20, Conditional Immortality Mission).
4 Rector HENRY S. WARLEIOH (d. 1892) of Ashchurch, near Cheltenham, was educated for the medical profession but abandoned it for the ministry. He was trained at St. Bees, and ordained in 1838. After a curacy he was for fifteen years Her Majesty's chaplain at Parkhurst, Isle of Wight. He next transferred to St. Andrew's Church, Hertford, then to Ashchurch, and finally Castleton. While at Ashchurch he published Twelve Discussions on the Extinction of Evil Persons and Things, and Genesis in advance of present Science—the result of fourteen years of profound research. He participated in the first Conditionalist Association Conference, in 1878 (Brooks, op. cit., pp. 104, 106).
5 Captain HENRY J. WARD (d. 1890), of Liverpool, was well known for his philanthropic and Christian activities. Having fully accepted Conditionalism, he was elected first president of the Conditional Immortality Association in 1878, for the fostering of a united testimony of men of like faith—and was annually elected to that post for eleven years, until his death in 1890. He was of commanding presence, and was regarded as a tower of strength to the Conditionalist cause and the war of Truth against Tradition. He was held in highest esteem. At his funeral were representatives of many civic bodies (ibid., pp. 21, 22).
Thus it was that a few friends of Life Only in Christ—Rev. Brown, of Lincoln; Rector H. S. Warleigh, [4] of Ashchurch; Captain Henry J. Ward, [5] of Liverpool; General Henry Goodwyn, [6] of Reading; and Rev. William Leads, of Maberly Chapel, London— moved by a “common impulse,” called for a conference at Lincoln, September 23-26, 1878, to form a permanent organization, that pulpit, platform, and press might bear a more effective and united witness to the truth of “Life in Christ at His Coming and Kingdom.”
This conference and those following were comprised of clergymen and distinguished laymen of many faiths— Baptist, Anglican, Congregational, Methodist, Plymouth Brethren. It was not a new denomination, but an interdenominational organization, the members usually remaining in their respective communions. We will now give in rapid succession a few high lights of some of the annual conferences, held in various cities, beginning in Lincoln.
1. LINCOLN CONFERENCE (SEPT. 23-26, 1878) .—The conference was called by Rev. George A. Brown, pastor of the Baptist Mint Lane Chapel (by notice in his journal, the Bible Standard), and such Conditionalists as Rector H. S. War-leigh of Ashchurch, Canon W. S. Hobson, Dr. William Leask, Capt. Henry J. Ward, Rev. Thomas Vasey, [7] Rev. Silas Henn, [8] and others. Strong public addresses marked the meeting. "Life and Immortality Through Christ Alone" was the basic theme of the Conference.
By common consent the expression "Conditional Immortality" was adopted. largely because it had come to be so designated by the public as representing their belief. It was decided to have a press organ, and the Bible Standard was adopted and taken over by the Association. Officers were chosen. Captain Henry J. Ward was appointed president; Dr. William Leask, vice-president; and Cyrus E. Brooks, [9] secretary, with Rev. Brown as editor of the Association journal.
6 General Henry Goodwyn (d. 1886) served successfully in India in the Royal Engineers, becoming a full general in 1871 and retiring in 1877. He was soundly converted, and held to the premillennial return of Christ. Someone pressed home the question of natural im-mortality, and placed in his hand a copy of What Is Man? by Dr. William Morris. Three years of earnest study led him to write Truth and Tradition. This brought antagonism from many clerical advocates of Immortal-Soulism. The compulsive force of his conviction made him a stalwart champion of Conditionalism. He was a participant in the Conditional Immortality Association from its founding, and was a frequent contributor to the Bible Standard (ibid., pp. 52-56).
7 THOMAS VASEY (d. 1906). of Wesleyan background, put in thirty-three years in the Baptist ministry. While pastor of the Baptist church at Bridgnorth he became a firm believer in the premillennial Second Advent. Then in 1868-1869, through reading The Rainbow, he was gripped by the truth of Conditionalism. In 1880 he severed his Baptist connections that he might more fully proclaim his convictions on Life Only in Christ and the Second Advent. He felt that there was no alternative course. He was one of the founders of the Conditional Immortality Association in 1878, a frequent platform speaker, and pastor of the Maberly church in London (ibid., p. 26).
8 SILAS HENN (fl. 18731878), Methodist evangelist of Dudley, preached extensively in Britain, Canada, and the United States. He publicly accepted Conditionalism in 1873, and participated in the first conference in 1878. His pamphlet, Truth Set Free, had a wide circulation. Because of refusal to stifle his convictions on Conditionalism or future punishment he was "removed from the preachers roll" of the Methodist Church (ibid., p. 87).
9 CYRUS E. BROOKS (fl. 1873-1899), of Cheltenham, was in the "traveling ministry" (a circuit rider) of the Methodist Church. first of Blyth, then Bristol, and then Liverpool. In 1873 he was appointed to the large Metropolitan Chapel at Finsbury, London, followed by a period at Cheltenham. Coming, in 1876, to reject the teaching of Innate Immortality and Eternal Torment, he resigned from the ministry in the Methodist denomination and founded the Free Church of Cheltenham. Then in 1879 he gave over his pastorate to become secretary of the Conditional Immortality Association, at Malvern Link (ibid., pp. 127, 128).
It was also decided to establish the Association in London, and Editor Brown established offices in Paternoster Row, the heart of the publishing business, and secretary Brooks transferred there also. [10]
2. MABERLY CONFERENCE, LONDON (SEPT. 2-4, 1879).—Upon invitation of Dr. Leask, the second conference was held in Maberly Chapel, London, where he was pastor. Canon Constable, General Goodwyn, William Laing, and many others were present. The editor of the newspaper Christian World sent three reporters to write up the public meetings, and brought out an "Extra," many thousands of which were distributed. Dr. Leask was appointed editor of the Association's Bible Standard, as Rev. Brown was leaving to establish a "life in Christ" witness in New Zealand. But financial reverses came, and the London office had to be closed. Secretary Brooks carried on from Malvern. [11] Nevertheless, the storm was weathered.
3. LIVERPOOL CONFERENCE (SEPT. 7-9, 1880).—This conference was held in the Washington Hotel Hall, with about the same group of participants, plus M. W. Strang, of Glasgow; Major Van Someren, of India; and representatives from various other countries present. A large public meeting was held in Pembroke Chapel, and Cyrus Brooks was made editor of the Bible Standard. [12]
2. BRADFORD CONFERENCE (SEPT. 6-8, 1881).
3. SALISBURY CONFERENCE (AUG. 30-SEPT. 1, 1882).—Two ministerial expulsions were noted in 1882. Charles Byse, of Brussels, the French translator of White's Life in Christ, was expelled from the Belgian Evangelical Society in Brussels for preaching Conditional Immortality. His church seceded with him. And soon Rev. W. Dening, able missionary in Japan, was likewise expelled by the Church Missionary Society for teaching Conditionalism.
10 Ibid., pp. 6, 7.
11 Ibid., pp. 7-9.
12 Ibid., pp. 9, 10.
But real advances were reported in India by General Goodwyn, Major General Armstrong, and Major Von Someren, and especially by Captain James Spence, who had established a monthly magazine. [13]
6. EASTBOURNE CONFERENCE (SEPT. 4-6, 1883).—Held in the fashionable New Hall, this conference was attended by nearly all the "veterans," plus others like the Reverend J. F. B. Tinling and Thomas Walker, former editor of the London Daily News. [14]
7. GLASGOW CONFERENCE (AUG. 31-SEPT. 2, I884).—The Glasgow Conference was held in the Congregational chapel, with Signor Oscar Cocorda, [15] of the Waldensian Valleys, as one of the speakers. Miles Grant, from America, was also welcomed as a visitor, and the usual delegates were present. Report was made of an affiliate American Association at Winchester, Virginia, and another in Toronto, Canada. [16]
13 Ibid., pp. 11, 12.
14 Ibid., pp. 12, 13.
15 OSCAR COCORDA (1833-1916), of Torre Pellice, at the entrance to the Vaudois Valleys, was first a Waldensian minister, then a pioneer Evangelical Conditionalist in Northern Italy. As such, he suffered much opposition and ostracism for his faith on the nature and destiny of man. Cocorda wrote numerous tracts and booklets on prophecy and Conditionalism. He also edited a monthly periodical, L' Abe biblica, and published his first book in 1833— Por Immortalitate. Lecturing in Milan and Turin, he defended Edward White, and his book Life in Christ, against false charges. He was a frequent contributor to The Faith magazine. His most important work was the 300-page L'Immartalite Condisionata ed it Materialismo (ibid., p. 56).
16 Ibid., p. 13.
17 See pp. 433, 435, 449, 450.
8. SECOND LONDON CONFERENCE (SEPT. 1-3, 1885).--This was held in Neumeyer Hall, Bloomsbury, with numerous speakers, including J. B. Rotherham," Bible translator of London, and Mayor Charles Underhill, of Oxford. Spring meetings in May were arranged for and carried out, so there were two meetings annually thereafter. [18] The Conference was justly proud that veteran Conditionalist Dr. Edward White had been elected chairman of the Congregational Union of Britain and Wales. A publishing department was authorized, called The Faith Press.
9. EDINBURGH CONFERENCE (SEPT. 7-9, 1886).—The next conference was held in Freemason's Hall and attended by the usual group, along with new faces, including Rev. Richard Webb, of Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. [19] The first May meeting was held in London, Miles Grant of Boston (U.S.A.) being one of the speakers.
10. BIRMINGHAM CONFERENCE (SEPT. 6-8, 1887).—At this conference the name "Association" was changed to "Mission." [20]
11. SECOND LINCOLN CONFERENCE (SEPT. 2-6, 1888).—The conference returned to Lincoln just ten years after the initial meeting. The speakers included Rev. Tinling, and Dr. E. Wood Forster, of Darlington. Artist James Waylen [21] was likewise a participant. [22] (Forster picture on page 456.)
12. DARTMOUTH CONFERENCE (SEPT. 1-5, 1889).—With May meetings now an established procedure, and equalling the autumnal meetings in size and importance, the momentum of the conferences was increased.
13. BACUP CONFERENCE (SEPT. 1-4, 1891).—At the May meeting in London (May 19), Cyrus Brooks resigned as secretary in order to serve better The Faith Press, and thus to increase Conditionalist literature production and distribution by means of books, pamphlets, periodicals, and tracts—with colporteur salesmen, and free literature. [23]
18 Ibid., p. 15.
19 Ibid.
20 Jubilee Year, p. 16.
21 JAMES WAVLEN (d. 1894) of London, artist, historian, and traveller—intimate friend of Thomas Carlyle, and on good terms with Spurgeon—was a member of the "Zoe" Society, a band formed for the study of Life Only in Christ. Other members included Dr. R. F. Weymouth, Dr. Edward White, and Dr. William Leask, and Rev. Samuel Minton. Waylen was a participant in every conference from the founding of the Association in 1878 (Reminiscences, pp. 107, 108). (Waylen picture on page 458.)
22 Ibid., p. 16.
23 Ibid., pp. 17, 18.
14. FAITH FELLOWSHIP FOUNDED IN 1894.—Annual conferences from 1894 to 1898 were held in London, Darlington, Skip-ton, Brighton, Birkenhead, Reading, Bournemouth, and Plymouth—the Faith Fellowship being closely associated with the parent organization in joint conference. Among participants were Rev. Edward White, Dr. E. Wood Forster, translator and editor Frederick A. Freer, and many faces new and old. Conditionalist evangelists were authorized. "Members" and "Subscribers" were developed, the colportage work intensified, and a heavy distribution of Conditionalist literature undertaken. Large numbers of Christians were now espousing the Conditionalist faith, coming from Universalist, as well as the traditionalist, ranks. [24] There was widespread revolt against the traditional doctrine of "everlasting torment in Hell-fire." [25]
15. FIFTY YEARS OF THE ASSOCIATION-MISSION (1878-1928).—A few statistical high lights concerning the first fifty years of the Association are interesting. These conferences were spread, geographically, over twenty-six cities—several, such as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Lincoln, and London, having several conferences. In all, ninety speakers participated, including, in addition to regular speakers appearing frequently, such men as J. B. Rotherham, Dr. R. F. Weymouth, Frederick A. Freer, Canon Henry Constable, Evangelist A. J. Mills, Missionary Eric Lewis, Rev. J. B. F. Tinling, and Oscar Cocorda.
24 Mid pp. 18 -21.
25 Jubilee rear, p. 10.
Its periodicals were, successively, the Bible Standard (1878-1889), The Faith (1889-1892), The Life and Advent Journal (1892-1893), and Words of Life (from 1897 to the present). In addition there were The Bible Echo, launched in 1872, and edited by William Kellaway, in London, and The Messenger, started in 1876 by M. W. Strang, serving the Scottish churches. [26] The Rainbow stated that about one hundred works on Immortality Only in Christ had been issued in the three years—totalling twenty-five million pages in distribution.
The Faith Library was issued in the years 1897-1907. Singly, and bound together in volumes, the leaflets comprise a remarkable aggregation in number and quality, from varied and learned writers. The editors skimmed the cream, as it were, of the Conditionalist literature, and broadcast it everywhere. Some items were specifically prepared for the series. Others were chapters from books, outstanding periodical articles, public addresses, reports of conferences, reprints from out-of-print books, and from the regular monthly issue of The Faith. They were of convenient pocket size, and ranged in pages from sixteen or thirty-two, up to eighty. As such they attained wide circulation and covered nearly every aspect of the question.
26 Ibid., pp. 22-30.
1. SAMPLINGS OF TITLES AND WRITERS.—The Contributions embraced some of the ablest writers of the Old World, and some from the New. For example, No. 1 ("Man and Immortality") was by Canon Henry Constable; No. 28 ("The Sinner's Doom") by F. A. Freer; No. 13 ("The Rich Man and Lazarus") and No. 15 ("What Is Man?"), were by Miles Grant, of America; No. 18 ("Soul; or, the Hebrew Word Nephesh, and the Greek Word Psuche"), more technical, was by William G. Moncrieff, of Scotland and Canada; Nos. 19, 24, and 32 (on immortality) were from Dr. Petavel, of Switzerland; No. 20 ("Hear the Church of England") by Rector H. S. Warleigh; No. 21 ("Spiritualism—True or False") by Cyrus E. Brooks, editor of The Faith; and No. 22 ("The Two Doctrines of Human Immortality Contrasted"), a highly helpful series, by J. H. Pettingell, of America.
2. COMPREHENSIVE EXTRACT FROM LITTLE-KNOWN WRITER. —There is citation and quotation from eminent Conditionalists like Dr. Dale, of Birmingham; Dr. White, of London; Professor Stokes, of Cambridge; et cetera. A summarizing extract from G. W. Winckler, a less-known writer, in No. 11 ("Is Man Immortal?") will illustrate the content:
"1. A living man, or a living soul, is an organized being, made of the dust of the ground, having the breath or spirit of life. A dead man or a dead soul is the same being, without the breath or spirit of life.
"2. By man came death. In Scripture it is called 'sleep.' By Man [Jesus Christ] came also the resurrection of the dead.
"3. Sleeping souls, both just and unjust, will all be raised from the dead.
"4. The judgment will determine, whether to eternal life, or to suffer the eternal punishment of the second death.
"5. The nature of this second death is described in Rev. 20. It will not preserve, but it will 'destroy both soul and body in Gehenna,' in the 'lake of fire.'
"6. Immortality, is the great reward forfeited by the fall, but offered now to all 'who will seek for it by patient continuance in well doing.' The source of immortality is He, who is the 'Bread of Life,' and although we may die the first death, which is appointed unto men, yet, the promise is sure 'I will raise him up again at the last day.' If we reject this Life Giver, then 'there remained no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
"7. The answer to the question, Is man Immortal? will determine the nature and duration of eternal punishment. If man is immortal by nature then eternal punishment must mean eternal conscious torment."
27 G. W. Winckler, "Is Man Immortal?" in The Faith Library, No. 11, p. 23.
That is multum in parvo.
3. HISTORICAL RECITALS HIGHLY HELPFUL.—Anglican H. S. Warleigh contributes an important historical statement in his "Hear the Church of England" (No. 20). Here the important facts regarding the reduction of the forty-two Anglican articles of 1552, to the thirty-nine of 1562, [28] and their significance, are clearly and reliably set forth, together with the test case of "Wilson v. Fendall," in 1864. [29] No. 27 is a report of twenty years (1878-1898) of the annual conferences of the British Conditional Immortality Association, by Cyrus Brooks, editor of The Faith monthly. And No. 29 is the 1899 Worcester Conditional Immortality Conference Report, with the six leading addresses.
2. BIBLE ARGUMENT PRESENTED BY EXPERT.—NO. 32 ("Immortality According to the Bible"), by Dr. Emmanuel Petavel, is unique. It is a basic series of texts quoted in full, grouped under several comprehensive headings, with terse explanatory footnotes. The leading headings are:
"1.—Man Is Not Born Immortal; Immortality Is an Attribute of God Alone."
"2—Immortality Is a Privilege Granted to the Righteous, and a Favour Offered to the Penitent Believer."
28 See full statement on pp. 125-127.
29 On the see pp. 394-396.
"3.—Immortality Is a Conditional Privilege: The Bible Never Speaks of the Immortality of the Soul."
"4.—The Sinner Is Threatened With Death; That Is, a Gradual Destruction of Body and Soul."
"5.—Partial Losses of the Guilty, Even Though Penitent."
"6.—God Takes No Pleasure in Punishing, and His Chastisements, Which Are Always Proportionate to the Guilt, Are Chiefly the Withdrawal of His Favours."
"7.—Final Destruction of the Impenitent."
"8.—End of Satan and of the Reign of Evil." [30]
That covers the case, and comes from an expert.
Petavel's notes are scholarly, and are often buttressed with quotations from recognized experts. His own comments are incisive and mature. The notes are full and documented. Here are three terse samples:
Note 2: "That [Innate Immortality] dogma is, then, of diabolical origin [Satan, "father of lies"] for which the sentence of death pronounced against the sinner substitutes eternal life in torments. Satan thus appears as the earliest and the most skilful advocate of unconditional immortality." [31]
"4. The wicked, too, will be raised, but they will have to die again; this is called in the Revelation 'the second death.'" [32]
"9. These words, 'few stripes,' can scarcely be reconciled with the idea of eternal suffering." [33]
These examples illustrate the character of the literature.
30 Emmanuel Petavel, "Immortality According to the Bible," in The Faith Library, No. 32, pp. 3-25.
31 Ibid., pp. 3, 4. (Italics his.)
32 Ibid., p. 8.
33 Ibid., p. 22.
5. DEFENSE OF CONDITIONALIST POSITION AND ARRAY OF EVIDENCE.—In No. 33 (an open letter to Rev. Frank Ballard), Dr. Petavel refers to the "contemptuous expressions" concerning Conditional ism and Conditionalists which questioned whether men with "Christian intelligence" can "entertain" such a "view." Petavel replies, with devastating effect, that Ballard's "taunts" reflect on such men as Dogmatician Richard Rothe; Dr. Plitt, an editor of the Herzog Encyclopaedia; Superintendent Gess and Prof. Hermann Schultz, of Germany; Prof. Charles F. Hudson, Horace Bushnell, Henry
Ward Beecher, and Dr. Lyman Abbott. of America; French philosophers Alexandre Vinet, Charles Secretan, Charles Renouvier, and Francois Pillon; and in England on Drs. Dale and Weymouth, Bishop Perowne, and Professors George G. Stokes, T. G. Bonney, Balfour Stewart; and Archbishop Tait and Prime Minister Gladstone. [34]
Then Petavel marshals a list of brilliant witnesses—Vinet, Bois, Rothe, Schultz, Menegoz—all attesting, by quotation, the Conditionalist view as Biblical and the Immortalist view as of Platonic, pagan origin. [35] It is a searching survey of the whole field—philosophical, Biblical, technical, semantic. It is a truly scholarly coverage.
Volume two, comprising Nos. 35 to 70, continues the established pattern, with its parts published between 1900 and 1902. Passing No. 38 ("Christ the Source of Immortality") by A. G. Wilkinson, we come to No. 40, a searching review of Bishop J. E. C. Welldon (Metropolitan of India), and his "The Hope of Immortality," written by an Anglo-Indian. It was reprinted from The Calcutta Statesman of 1899, and marshaled the witness of twelve prominent British Conditionalists, together with four American and six Continental Conditionalists, and a missionary from Madagascar. And on a later page there is a list of twenty well-known proponents of Life Only in Christ. [36]
In No. 42, W. G. Moncrieff deals with the technical Hebrew and Greek terms involved. No. 44 ("The Resurrection of the Dead") is a convention address by Pettingell. No. 51 ("A Lie: Its History, Mystery and Destiny") is by Editor Brooks. And No. 53 is an Edward White contribution, drawn from one of his smaller works.
34 Petavel, "Where Are You?" in The Faith Library, No. 33, pp. 4, 5.
35 Ibid., pp. 13, 14.
36 J. E. C. Welldon, "The Hope of Immortality," in The Faith Library, No. 40, pp. 44, 45.
No. 58 is a review of Prof. J. Agar Beet's Expositor articles, later issued in book form as The Immortality of the Soul—a protest against the innate postulate.
No. 59 is a "Manifesto," a personal statement of "The Tenets of True Conditionalism." The unnamed writer is an M.D., a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, as well as lecturer in a noted school of medicine. He was an Anglican of forty years' standing, and for thirty years was a church warden. He writes as a Christian physician, and states— "that death is a sleep; that when a man dies—wicked or righteous—he falls 'on sleep' and awakes not until the trumpet summons him to ap-pear before the Judgment Seat. Life being dependent on a suitable organism for its manifestation in thought, word, and action, it is perfectly reasonable to conclude that, when the connexion is severed between the spirit and body, a man cannot think or act until such time—as by the Resurrection—a re-union of both takes place. Thus the first death is an intermediate condition, a waiting time between natural or organic life an the final extinction of that life, on the one hand, in the Second Death, or the glorious realities of the Eternal State on the other." [37]
He adds that in death— "there is complete unconsciousness; the mind, in all its functions has been, as it were, suspended or dead until the blood returns again to the brain; and the awakening is without any remembrance of what has occurred in the interval—all is a blank." [38]
I. SILENCING OF DR. BEET BY METHODIST CONFERENCE ACTION.—No. 69 ("Methodism and Immortality") is a twenty-two-page discussion of the relation of Dr. J. Agar Beet, well-known professor of theology at the Western Theological Institution, [39] to the 1902 Wesleyan Conference over the question of Innate Immortality, which he had vigorously protested in his book The Immortality of the Soul, stating that it forms no part of the true teaching of the Bible," and is inseparably connected with the "Doom of the Lost" and the ultimate "elimination of evil from the universe."
37 "The Tenets of True Conditionalism . . . A Manifesto." in The Faith Library, No. 59, pp. 3, 4.
38 ibid., pp. 4, 5.
39 On Dr. Beet, see pp. 463-465.
40 A. G. Wilkinson, "Methodism and Immortality," in The Faith Library, No. 69, p. 3.
A. G. Wilkinson frankly discusses Beet's position in relation to the renewal of his teaching appointment as a theological professor, and Beet's statement that he had deliberately issued his book so all might " 'know exactly the doctrinal questions at issue,' " and thus determine whether to " 'elect or reject me.' " [41]
The difference between Dr. Beet and the out-and-out Conditionalists was so slight—"destruction" v. "ruin"—that Dr. Petavel, of Lausanne, appealed to Beet to take the "one step further." [42] In fact, in a second appeal Petavel referred to it as "only a half-step further." [43] There was a tense session at the Wesleyan Conference at Manchester as the special committee rendered its report, stating: "The Committee find that this teaching falls short of and contravenes the doctrines held and taught in our [Methodist] church.” [44]
2. PERPLEXING TO "BRITISH WEEKLY" EDITOR.—The conference thus went on record as adhering to the doctrine of the universal Innate Immortality of the Soul and the endless suffering of the wicked. And Dr. Beet was restrained as to his freedom of expression in the pulpit, the press, and the classroom. Yet strangely enough his widely circulated offending book was left untouched. This led Dr. Robertson Nicoll, editor of the British Weekly, to write: "We understand neither the silencing of Dr. Beet by the Conference nor his submission to that silencing." [45]
Conditionalism was under searching scrutiny and challenge, and the situations were ofttimes tense. The Faith Library kept abreast of such developments.
41 J. Agar Beet quoted in The Faith Library, ibid., p. 4.
42 Ibid., p. 5. (Italics his.)
43 Ibid. See Methodist Recorder report for Aug. 7, 1902, also Nos. 19 and 24 of The Faith Library.
44 The Faith Library, No. 69, P. 19.
45 Quoted in The Faith Library, No. 69, p. 16.
Volume three covers the years 1903-1905, and comprises Nos. 71-106 of The Faith Library. These were authored by familiar British names, together with Pettingell and Grant, from America, and Petavel, of Switzerland. New contributors add strength and significance to the series. This volume contains four important numbers (72, 75, 82, and 106) by Dr. Thomas Clarke," and two (Nos. 95 and 97) by Lieut. Col. V. F. Rowe, R.E. Dr. Clarke's first tractate, No. 2 ("Religio Christi, or a Scientific Theology"), is an epitome of his larger work, A Life's Thought on Christ.
1. DR. CLARKE SUMMONS SUCCESSION OF ABLE WITNESSES.—In addition to Biblical evidence, Clarke has sections on the early Conditionalist Fathers, in which he lists Barnabas, Her-mas, Ignatius, Clement of Rome, Polycarp, and the later Theophilus and Irenaeus. Of these he says: "Now, all these men were Conditionalists; and, as Olshausen testifies, denied the Immortality of the Soul." [47]
Dr. Clarke next quotes certain "Later Witnesses," including philosopher Locke, Archbishop Whately ("No such doctrine as the immortality of the soul is revealed"), Bishop Watson ("The natural immortality of the soul is contradicted by Scripture"). Then he introduces such contemporaries as Sir G. G. Stokes, Sir Andrew Clark, M.D., Prof. Franz Delitzsch ("From the Biblical point of view, the soul can be put to death —it is mortal"), Bishop Westcott (on the "ultimate disappearance" of sin and evil from the universe), Archbishop Thompson, in the Bampton Lecture on the Atonement (that "life to the godless must be the beginning of destruction"), and J. H. Scholten ("The life which the sinner loses is his very existence"; he is "destined to perish"). Clarke ably discusses the Biblical terms involved, answers objections, and shows how in the final lake of fire, or second death, "death itself becomes dead." [48] It is a strong number.
46 THOMAS CLARKE, M.D., Anglican layman of Interlaken, member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and formerly Lecturer on Materia Vedica and Therapeutics in the Leeds-School of Medicine, was author of A Life's Thought on Christ; The Fate of the Dead: A Gauntlet to the Theologian and Scientist; A Layman's Theology; What Is the Soul? et cetera. Dr. Clarke was a veteran believer in Life Only in Christ of many years' standing, and was a vigorous personality. He was a painstaking student of the complete New Testament evidence from the Greek.
47 Thomas Clarke, "Religio Christi, or a Scientific Theology," in The Faith Library, No. 72, p. 9.
48 Ibid., p. 43.
2. SOUL IS CAPABLE OF "BEING MADE IMMORTAL."—Again, in No. 82, Dr. Clarke deals with "Man and His Eternal Destiny, or The Early Faith Revived." This is a comprehensive coverage in eleven sections, contending emphatically that the soul is "immortal-able; i.e., capable of being made immortal." But this is "in and by and through Christ" only. And in section eight he addresses himself to "The Scriptural Eschatology or The Fate of the Dead." It is saturated with Scripture.
3. BAPTIST MISSIONARY TO CHINA TESTIFIES.—Another new voice is heard in No. 91 ("The Value of a True Eschatology"), by Frank Madeley, missionary of the Baptist Mission, Shensi, China. He holds that a true eschatology not only puts Christ's advent as central but "reveals to us the real character of Death" [49] and the "resurrection"—citing Conditionalist Dr. Bullinger. [50] Conditionalism "gives the death blow to Spiritism." [51]
4. ENGINEER, EDITOR, AND VICAR ON ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION.—Lieut. Col. V. F. Rowe's two contributions (Nos. 95 and 97) are on "Natural Immortality of Man—The Devil's Lie," and "Are the Holy Dead in Paradise? or Can Death_ Really Be Life?" Both are heavily and effectively Biblical. Still another new voice is that of A. C. Johnson, editor of Prophetic and Mission Record, on "Eternal Life: How and When Obtained." And yet another (No. 100) is by Vicar Edward Bell, of St. Stephen's-by-Saltash, on "The Second Death: What Is It?"—an address presented before the Three Towns Clerical Society. In this he contends that "the punishing of the wicked will not go on for ever; but their punishment will be irreversible, and eternal in its duration and effect." [52] This results in "the disappearance of sin. The rooting out of everything that offends, and of all who work iniquity.” [53]
49 Frank Madeley, "The Value of a True Eschatology," in The Faith Library, No. 91, p. 13.
50 Ibid., p. 17.
51 Ibid., p. 20.
52 Edward Bell, "The Second Death," in The Faith Library, No. 100, p. 26.
53 Ibid., p. 38.
5. £1000 OFFER REPEATED BY CLARKE FOR MISSING TEXT.—The series closes (No. 106) with "Some Questions and Reflections," by Dr. Thomas Clarke. Twelve searching questions are propounded. Then comes the "13th," which we quote:
"13th.—The words 'immortal soul,' everlasting soul,' eternal soul,' 'undying soul,' deathless soul,' deathless sinner,' are constantly in our ears; but we venture to repeat the offer to pay £1000 to anyone who will show us where any of these expressions are to be found in the Bible; nay, who will even show us where the word 'immortal' applies to anyone but God 'who alone hath Immortality,' the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,' and those who are one with Him in Christ." [54]
This is followed by eleven pages of "Some serious Reflections"—a most earnest summation and appeal.
Those are the leading components of the third volume in The Faith Library. Twenty-two other numbers (Nos. 107-120) were issued subsequently, including "Spiritism—Demonism" (No. 111), "Life in Christ" (No. 115), "The Platonic Torch" (No. 122), by E. W. Browne, and "Concerning Them Which Are Asleep" (No. 121), by J. Furnezux. This makes a total of 128 items comprising this unique and highly effective library.
54 Clarke, "Some Questions and Reflections," in The Faith Library, No. 106, p. 5.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
We now return to North America to continue the Conditionalist witness on the west side of the Atlantic, which testimony matches the Old World witness in cogency of reasoning and clarity of presentation. It is now a paralleling story.
Born in Scotland, but later residing in Canada, WILLIAM GLEN MONCRIEFF (1816-1893), gifted Scottish Presbyterian minister, was the son of the professor of Hebrew in the Andersonian University of Glasgow. After a thorough training for the ministry, he was graduated from the University of Glasgow, where he specialized in Greek and Latin. He was a forceful writer and persuasive speaker, with high scholastic attainments. In fact, he was known as an orator of brilliance, and was a contributor to various journals. Moncrieff formed a bridge, as it were, between Britain and America.
His first pastoral appointment was in Musselburgh, followed by Edinburgh (1852-1854). Meantime H. H. Dobney's book, The Scripture Doctrine of Future Punishment, had convinced him of Immortality Only in Christ. As a result he published, in 1848, a forty-eight-page pamphlet, Dialogues on Future Punishment. Its appearance caused an unexpected commotion, not only locally but throughout Scotland. His pastoral relationships became highly strained, for his associates in the ministry sided against him, some going so far as to say that he had "gone mad," or had become an "infidel."
1. PIONEER OF CONDITIONALISM IN SCOTLAND.—In 1849 a series of articles by the Reverend John Kirk appeared in The Christian News, attacking the Dialogues. These articles were circulated in pamphlet form. Moncrieff sought to reply in the same journal, but the editor refused. At that time the doctrine of Conditionalism was as yet advocated by only a few stray voices in Scotland. Thus Moncrieff was a Conditionalist pioneer in his native land. But in spite of the opposition, a succession of treatises continued to issue from his pen, one being Soul: or, the Hebrew word Nephesh, and the Greek word Psuche, in 1852. And in 1853 he even started a Conditionalist monthly called The Expositor of Life and Immortality. Erelong his works came to be well known on both sides of the Atlantic.
2. TRANSFERS TO CANADA; ISSUES ABLE BOOK.—But because of the intense opposition to his belief in the ultimate destruction of the wicked, prejudice continued to run so high and conditions became so unpleasant that he decided to resign his charge.
So he terminated his services at the Victoria Place Chapel and emigrated to Ontario, Canada, in 1854. There he opened a private finishing school in London, Ontario, and gave himself to literary pursuits.
Tall and dignified in appearance, he was recognized as a speaker of persuasive power, an effective writer with a sober, solid, and fruitful mind, and a master of logical argument. In 1861, at the outbreak of the American Civil War, he became editor of the London [Ontario] Daily Times. He was also a historian, and was considered one of Canada's ablest orators. Because of this, he was chosen to give the address at the Lincoln Memorial Services, in 1865, in the large Methodist church of London. His later works include Man's Only Hope of Immortality, and Future Probation—Is That Awaiting Any of the Unrighteous? (1891).
1. WICKED RETURN TO NONEXISTENCE.—Most of Mon-crieff's contributions were in periodical article or tractate form. [1] One example, from the latter category, must suffice—a tract first published in Bristol in 1852 (and reprinted in Boston) titled The Question of Questions. It was based on Luke 9: 25—"For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or be cast away?" After dealing with "THE GAIN" side, [2] Moncrieff turns to "THE Loss" aspect. This he defines as the loss of "himself, his very being in the universe," so as to become "as if he had never been." This he amplifies as "returning to non-existence, whence he originally came." To lose one's soul, then, "most emphatically conveys the idea that the unholy shall ultimately cease to exist." [3]
1 Such as for The Faith Library, Nos. 18 and 42.
2 W. G. Moncrieff, The Question of Questions, p. 1.
3 Ibid., p. 4.
4. DEPARTS FROM CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE.—Moncrieff expands this thought in these clarifying words:
"The idea of a man and a soul are substantially one. To make a man, you must produce a soul; for there cannot be a man without a soul and to make a human soul is to make a human being, capable of all responsible functions as a moral agent, and susceptible also of suffering and pleasure. For a man then to lose his own soul, is, in other words, a soul losing itself; or, as it is in the text, a man losing himself; his being departing from conscious existence. A man might lose happiness, and yet keep his soul; a man might lose heaven, and the mercy and favor of God, and yet retain his soul: but he, cannot lose his soul and yet continue a soul; for that would be losing a soul and keeping a soul at the same moment! Losing consciousness, an essential attribute of a living soul or a living self, and yet preserving it! Losing self, and yet preserving self; which is utterly impossible." [4]
Stating that the Qrsek word for "soul" is elsewhere in the New Testament translated "life," he adds:
"So rendered, it conveys the idea which is given in the text. The man is to lose his life; and when a man loses his life, is he not as if he had never been? Can he lose his life, and yet in any sense be alive? Can he be conscious of having lost that which is essential to consciousness itself? To lose the life, then, is to cease to be, not here simply, but anywhere in space; and losing life, losing his soul, and losing himself, are only different modes of expressing the same awfully solemn thought, that the doom of the godless is that they shall be finally swept from conscious existence as unfit for being." [5]
2. ENDLESS TORMENT MAKES "MOCKERY OF TRUTH."—Addressing himself to the contention of "prevailing theology," that in death the wicked are eternally alive in "ceaseless torments in hell"—with agony waxing "more and more intense," "tossing there on the boiling flood," with "every moment producing a more intense consciousness" "—Moncrieff says:
"Lost his life, and yet living in agony! Lost his soul, and he, the man, the soul, tormented! 0 mockery of truth! 0 insult to language! 0 daring perversion of his threatening who is ordained to be the Judge of quick and dead! Popular theology affirms the wicked man shall not lose himself, but shall last perpetually, condemning himself, and enduring the vengeance of sulphur fires." [7]
Ibid., p. 5.
Ibid., pp. 5, 6
Ibid., p. 6.
Ibid.
On the contrary—
"God says the unholy shall lose themselves, they shall cease to be capable of pain or pleasure: in a word, they shall die. 'The wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume, into smoke shall they consume away.' Ps. 37:20. How great the contrast! How mournful to think that millions are believing a lie, and myriads are preaching it from day to day!" [8]
6. SECOND DEATH IS FINAL DESTRUCTION.—Turning then to the expression "Be cast away," Moncrieff comments, "This is the same idea under a slightly different aspect." "He loses himself by being cast away." [9]
"Since life is to be withdrawn from the impenitent by the divinely appointed agents of destruction: God will burn them up, root and branch.
"To our view, the verse perfectly harmonizes with the alarming passage 2 Thess. 1:9: 'Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord;' that is, a destruction to issue from the Lord, or a destruction of which he is the author." [10]
Then he adds:
"Now the self-loss here spoken of is eternal; they are to be punished everlasting destruction, not an everlasting preservation in torment. but destruction, and one that is never in the lapse of ages to be repaired. No resurrection follows the second death; the end is destruction; they shall never see life." [11]
1. ALL THE GODLESS REDUCED TO ASHES.—Moncrieff climaxes his presentation with this paragraph:
"All the godless shall be reduced to ashes, and no eye shall ever see them more. They shall be blotted from the roll of being, from the page of life. They had their portion in this life, and of this life; they preferred the Now to the After, present enjoyment to immortal being and felicity. Streams may be dried up and again murmur along their ancient channels; trees that have been long reckoned dead may send forth green shoots to wave in the sunshine; the land that has apparently been cursed with sterility may anew bloom like Paradise; stars that cease to shine in the high places of the firmament may afresh be kindled: but no forth-putting of Divine reviving energy shall restore to being the condemned and consumed: the long moonless and morningless night of forgetfulness is their unalterable portion." [12]
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid., pp. 6. 7.
10 Ibid., pp. 7.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid., pp. 8.
The significance of Moncrieff's presentation is increased by its geographical location—Canada.
JACOB BLAIN (1812-1880), Baptist minister of Buffalo, New York, was another influential American challenger of the postulate of Eternal Torment. About the middle of the century he published a seven-chapter book titled Death Not Life: or the Destruction of the Wicked (commonly called Annihilation) Established, and Endless Misery Disproved by a Collection and Explanation of All Passages of Future Punishment (1853). There were fifteen editions by 1870, so it was rather widely read. To it was added "A Review of Dr. E. Beecher's Conflict of Ages," and a reprint of "John Foster's Letter." Four significant texts appear on the title page:
"For all the wicked will God destroy:—Ps. 145:20.
'For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be:—Ps. 37:10.
'They shall be as though they had not been.'—Obadiah 1:16.
For they 'shall be punished with everlasting destruction.'-2 Thess. 1:9."
1. APPEALS TO LEARNED AND TO PREJUDICED.—In his Introduction, Blain contends that the "teaching of endless woe," \ which "slanders our Maker," has driven men "into Universalism and infidelity." Consequently, his appeal is to two classes—those "learned in the original languages" and those who have not investigated but nevertheless "denounce and ridicule" those who challenge the Eternal Torment thesis. Blain charges certain ministers with being the "leading enemies to reform," [13] and refers to some who have hurled "missiles of abuse." He contends that the "endless duration" theory is not proved "from reason, nor yet from the Bible." But it is because it has been taken for granted that "all men are immortal" that they contend that "the wicked must exist in endless misery." [14]
13 Jacob Blain, Death Not Life: or the Destruction of the Wicked (7th ed., 1857), p. iv. "
14 Ibid. , p. v.
3. CANNOT STAND BEFORE LIGHT OF WORD.—Blain refers to a rising tide of witnesses—George Storrs (with one hundred thousand copies of his book, to date, which first aroused Blain's own mind"), H. H. Dobney, Edward White, William G. Moncrieff, J. Panton Ham. He refers to some twenty recent writers, several periodicals, and some six hundred preachers so holding in the United States, with certain entire Baptist congregations wholly committed thereto. Such, he says, is the current status of the discussion.
In fact, the number is now "so large," and they are "so decided in spreading light, that all efforts to stop its progress must be in vain." He predicts "a general investigation must soon take place." And he declares, "The doctrine of endless woe must soon fall," for it cannot "stand before the light of God's Word." [15] "re-examination" is "imperiously demanded. [16] Prof. C. F. Hudson's Debt and Grace is cited as "the most learned work of this age" in this field in America. [17] Blain then proceeds to examine "all passages" pertaining to "future punishment."
15 ibid., p. vi.
16 Ibid., p. iv (12th ed., 1868), n.
17 Ibid., p. viii.
3. SEVENFOLD SCOPE OF BOOK.—The scope of his book is set forth in the annotated Index. Chapter one—the term "immortal soul" is "not in the Bible." About two hundred uses of twenty such terms as "die," "perish," "destroy," "burn up," prove only "destruction." "Life and death" are literal, not "figurative." In chapter two the "metaphysical proof of immortality" is "exploded." Chapter three discusses the misconceptions concerning the "four [Hebrew and Greek] terms" translated "hell."
Chapter four examines the texts "supposed to teach endless woe," "unquenchable fire," et cetera, but which are in reality proofs of "destruction." Chapter five deals with all remaining "figurative" texts bearing thereon—"aion," "everlasting fire," "everlasting punishment." Chapter six is on the "smoke of torment," which is explained. And chapter seven re-examines texts that "seem to teach endless woe" but are actually "proving destruction."
4. INNATE IMMORTALITY BUT HUMAN ASSUMPTION.—Note the high points of chapter one. Blain here declares that "not a text in the Bible says man is immortal, or has an immortal soul, or deathless spirit." Such assumptions, he asserts, are "men's additions to the Bible," for "God only hath immortality." And "of course the wicked are not immortal, if the Bible declares they are to be literally destroyed . . . and finally burned up." [18] Blain then lists twenty terms pertaining to destruction, giving all texts and making trenchant comments on pertinent points.
1. ANALYSIS OF TWENTY "DESTRUCTION" TERMS.—Note his list in some detail:
(1) "Die" (20 texts)—meaning "extinction of conscious existence." If death is merely "separation of soul and body," then "what is the death of a soul?" [19]
(2) "Death" (33 texts)—Did all the prophets conspire to blind the people by failing to teach death to be "eternal misery"? Yet commentators say that in the "second death" the "body will die again, and the soul live on in misery." " Such "assumptions," he opines, "deserve ridicule instead of an answer."
(3) "Destroy" (42 texts)—not "preserved forever," with endless misery, hatred, and cursing. We must learn the meaning from "Bible facts," not from "theologians," Think of Sodom as an example.
(4) "Perish" (31 texts)—If "perish and destroy means loss '`of life in this world," they mean "the same in the world to come."
(5) "Perdition" (8 texts)—"to be ended."
18 Ibid.. pp. 11, 12.
19 Ibid., pp. 10, 11.
20 Ibid.. pp. 11, 12.
21 Ibid.. pp. 12, 13.
(6) "Consume" (6 texts)—not merely "shut up somewhere."
(7) "Devour" (2 texts)—a "final doom."
(8) "Slay, slain, kill" (8 texts)—at the time of the "judgment."
(9) "Blot Out" (4 texts)—they will be "no more."
(10) "Hewn down" (2 texts)—"Do we cast trees into the fire to preserve them?" "
(11) "Lose Life" (8 texts)—No doctrine is more plain than this.
(12) "End" (5 texts)—"If the wicked are immortal, then they have no end, and this language is absurd."
(13) "Not Be" (5 texts)—they "come to naught."
(14) "Cut off" (5 texts)—they cease to be.
(15) "Corruption" (1 text).
(16) "Ground to Powder" (2 texts)—crushed.
(17) "Tear in Pieces" (2 texts).
(18) "Put Away as Dross" (1 text)—in the judgment.
(19) "Nothing and Naught" (3 texts)—brought to "nothing."
(20) "Burn and Burn Up" (2 texts)—"The Old Testament begins with the threatening of death, and ends with the doom of being 'burned up root and branch.' " "This tells us what 'to die' means." [24]
Then in the Old Testament eighty-five texts threaten "utter destruction," and not one forecasts "endless suffering." The New Testament begins with "burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire"—and chaff is not "put into fire to be preserved!" [25]
22 Ibid., pp. 13- I 6.
23 Ibid., p. 17.
24 Ibid., pp. 18, 19.
25 Ibid., pp. 19.
6. No DOCTRINE SETTLED BY PARABLES AND SYMBOLS
Chapter five deals with fifteen parabolic, figurative, or symbolic texts that are usually invoked, and quotes them. But,
Blain says, What are these against 210 opposing plain texts? He then reminds us that no doctrine can be "settled by parables and symbolic language." [26] It must be expressed in "plain terms." Then he again asks:
"Where in the book of God" is it said, "in plain terms," that the "wicked shall suffer endless misery or torment after the final judgment?" [27] He next appeals to men to emulate "Luther's courage" in rejecting papal error, applying that courage to "tear endless woe from all creeds." [28] And on the same page he gives a catalog of twenty-four "Eminent Men Who Reject Endless Woe," [29] and none of whom taught Universalism. And on a supplemental page he refers to John Foster (d. 1843), a "profound thinker and powerful reasoner," a "Baptist minister of England, who, for over forty years rejected the doctrine of endless misery, yet remained in good standing in that denomination."
7. POPULAR CONTENTIONS VITIATE BIBLE TEXTS.—On another page Blain contrasts, in parallel columns, the "popular teaching" with the plain intent of a dozen Bible texts. Here are some of the popular contentions, which he emphatically rejects.
(1) That God breathed into man's nostrils "an immortal soul," and man became a dual "mortal-body-man, with an immortal-soul-man" within.
(2) That the wages of sin is "separation of the soul-man from the body-man."
(3) That the soul that sinned shall live on in sin forever.
(4) That the dead "know more than all the living."
(5) That He will not burn up the chaff, but will keep it burning "forever."
(6) That the wicked will not perish, but "live forever in misery."
That "none of the wicked will God destroy, but will burn them forever." It is in this way, Blain insists, that men "make the word of God of none effect through their traditions," and cause "many to stumble at the law." [30]
26 Ibid. p. 67.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid. p. 112.
29 Ibid., p. 113.
We come now to the most important and scholarly American Conditionalist voice of the century—that of Prof. CHARLES FREDERICK HUDSON (1821-1867), as he was always known. He was graduated with honors from Western Reserve College of Cincinnati, then from Lane Seminary in 1847, where he acquired a taste for contemporary Old World literature. [31] During a short but successful pastorate at the Congregational church of Sycamore, Ohio, he became interested in the Biblical teaching on the nature and destiny of man—eternal death for the wicked, instead of endless misery, and immortal life only for the righteous. It was the silence of Scripture on Innate Immortality that first aroused his curiosity and drove him to intense study. (Pictured on page 470.)
1. ADOPTION OF CONDITIONALISM BRINGS LOSS OF PASTORATE.—Hudson's espousal of Conditionalism while in Sycamore as the result of his extensive study, and his stand against Eternal Torment, together with a sermon preached on "The True Doctrine of the Divine Penalty," and the "End of Evil," soon led to his dismissal from the Sycamore Congregational church. For a time he was forced to preach wherever doors opened, irrespective of denominational lines. He also served as professor of languages at Central College, New York, a post for which he was well equipped, for he was recognized as an able scholar and thinker.
30 Ibid., p. 42.
31 In addition to helpful sources in Boston, doubtless the most competent study of Charles F. Hudson and his contributions available is the able doctrinal dissertation (Northwestern University), by Dr. Moses Corliss Crouse, of Aurora College, Illinois. It is titled, "A Study of the Doctrine of Conditional Immortality in Nineteenth Century America, with Special Reference to the Contributions of Charles F. Hudson and John H. Pettingell" (1953). It has corroborated and enlarged my own findings.
Thus freed for more concentrated study, he devoted ten whole years to the painstaking, critical searching of the Scripture evidence on this vital subject, along with the history of scholarly opinion, through the centuries, on the nature and destiny of man. [32] This extended research led him to certain irrevocable conclusions, and gave him, he believed, a sure basis for a sound faith thereon. He was a conscientious and indefatigable student, and emerged as one of the most skilled advocates of Conditionalism in North America in his generation.
Opponents of Hudson had thought that the loss of his pastoral position would silence him, but they found that it had the opposite effect. It only drove him to further independent study. For two years he traveled widely, visiting libraries and consulting with other scholars. At the close of this period he reported that fifty clergymen of various faiths had become convinced of Conditionalism.
2. SCHOLARLY WORKS FORCE RESPECTFUL HEARING.—Hudson was competent in research, accurate in expression, and able in controversy. His great burden was to get people to think. He was convinced that Conditionalist truth, crushed to earth, would rise again. He felt a compulsion to help bring this about. Hudson's extensive research resulted in the publication of three books: his masterful 480-page work, Debt and Grace, as Related to the Doctrine of a Future Life, issued in 1857; [33] Human Destiny: a Critique on Universalism, 1862; and Christ Our Life, in 1867. Debt and Grace was widely noted in the contemporary press, and was recognized even by its critics as a thoroughly scholarly work, bearing the stamp of meticulous research and solid, logical thinking. Many, of course, considered it "heretical." But while invoking hostility it nevertheless challenged admiration. And it appeared at the very time of growing reaction against the rising tide of the Universalist teachings.
32 See Crouse, "A Study of the Doctrine of Immortality," pp. 103-105.
33 Hudson was seven hundred dollars in debt on the day of publication of Debt and Grace, and actually first sold his own books, chiefly to clergymen and other scholars, in order to recoup financially, lecturing while he traveled. One such foray was into "Canada East" (Hudson, "My Trip to Montreal," The World's Crisis, Nov. 17, 1858, p. 41).
After Hudson entered the arena of debate, derisive tongues that had castigated the proponents of Conditionalism as "ignorant" and "unlearned" were forced to pause and pay attention to his thesis. Not only was the question given fresh impetus, but it was now lifted to a high level of consideration and discussion. His were powerful strokes in behalf of Life Only in Christ, coming at the right time. Dr. Petavel, scholar of Switzerland, called Debt and Grace a "precious arsenal." Dr. Huntington called it the "classic authority."
3. BELIEVED HIMSELF CALLED TO ALLOTTED TASK.—Behind his writing was the deep conviction that this was light from the Word, and must be made known to men. He sought to be a torch in the night, through which light might be shed abroad. Hudson believed profoundly that he had an allotted task. Driven, as noted, from his pulpit at the outset, and disavowed by his earlier denominational associates for teaching what they termed this "heresy," he soon came to be recognized as a master workman and skilled polemicist, effectively upholding an unpopular belief. Many who in their hearts believed the same but had remained silent confessed their acceptance to him. Many others were inspired to take an open stand.
34 It had the endorsement of such scholars as Canon Westcott, Bishop Lightfoot, Dr. Philip Schaff, and many others.
Perhaps Hudson's best-known work was Human Destiny: a Critique on Universalism, in 1862. But his major scholastic contribution was his Critical Greek Concordance, [34] which ran through seven editions, and was considered a monument to contemporary Christian scholarship. And it buttressed Conditionalism.
In his public discussions Hudson proved himself to be a penetrating thinker, a forceful advocate, and a stalwart controversialist. In him the Christian philosopher, the lettered divine, and the skilled polemicist met their match. He could not be answered by a sneer or confuted by sophistries. He was a worthy opponent, for his were keen and scholarly arguments, based on deep research. His learning and logic sobered the scholarly as he exposed false philosophy and theological error. And his fairness of statement won highest praise from learned opponents as he dealt with tremendous themes that vindicated the mercy, justice, and government of God. Slowly but steadily he won friends and adherents for Conditionalism among the clergy.
4. PENETRATES TO HEART OF ISSUE.—Hudson penetrated to the heart of the issue at the very outset of his Debt and Grace. Note it:
"Is man's immortality contingent, or absolute? Was man created strictly immortal, or as a candidate for immortality? Is this his destiny, or his privilege? Is it the stamp of his very being, or is it the sign of his maturity? Is it the retribution, either of holiness or of sin, or is it the gift of divine favor? Is it of law, in the economy either of natural or moral government? or is it of grace, and never to be charged as debt, though the offered boon should be refused and come to naught?" [35] That compasses the issue.
Hudson in his Debt and Grace opened, as had others, with a statement of the theological trilemma that developed over the fate of the wicked—whether of Eternal Torment, Universal Restoration, or Ultimate Destruction. These rival schools reached back to early times, after the fatal confusion injected in the third century. Hudson ably championed the last of the three. [36] He showed how the first two sprang from Platonism, though partly channeled through Philo into the Christian Church. [37] Then he established the point that the notion of Eternal Torment was but the introduction and perpetuation of Persian dualism—"immortal evil," [38] presenting "Evil" as a power coexistent with "Good," or God, and never to be banished from the universe. His tracing of its history, and its introduction into Christianity, together with its penetration of the pristine faith of the Church, is devastatingly accurate, [39] for Hudson was master of his subject. [40]
35 Hudson, Debt and Grate, p. 2.
36 Ibid., pp. iii, iv.
37 Ibid., pp. 3, 4, 33.
38 Ibid., pp. 12, 30.
1. DIVINE JUSTICE, AND MAN'S FREE MORAL AGENCY.—In chapter three, dealing with the "vindication of divine justice," Hudson presses on the principles of justice, man's free moral agency, [41] and his choice of two infinities—with the punishment matching the reward. [42] Then he deals with our matchless redemption through Christ. [43] Chapter four shows, on the contrary, that evil is temporary. It is not inevitable, and the triumph of faith is sure.
2. INNATE IMMORTALITY NOT TAUGHT OR IMPLIED IN SCRIPTURE.—Chapter five comes to "The Scriptural Argument," which testifies that the postulate of the Innate Immortality of the soul is neither "assumed" nor "implied" in Scripture. It is not to be found in the basic Creation recital. On the other hand, man was clearly made "for immortality," but such immortality was "forfeited" by man through sin. Hudson clearly shows that "death" is not "endless existence." Adam came "under sentence of death" the "day that he sinned," and the execution of the sentence gives no credence to the idea of endless being. [44] Had there been no redemption, Adam would have utterly perished. But a Redeemer was compassionately provided, and life was again given for those who accept the divine provision.
BIBLE MEANING OF "SECOND DEATH."—In dealing with the "second death," Hudson shows that it means "excision," "destruction," "perished," "corruption," "consumed," being "burned" up—all expressions meaning the same. All points are heavily buttressed with texts. [45] Then he disposes of the "Passages Supposed to Prove the Immortality of the Lost," supporting his reasoning with Scripture, the witness of history, and the expert testimony of other great Conditionalist scholars. [46] Finally, he discusses the lack of any authority residing in the Jewish Apocryphal books, [47] often invoked in behalf of Immortal-Soulism and the dualistic fallacy of the Pharisees. [48]
39 Ibid., p. 25.
40 Ibid., pp. 35-41.
41 Ibid., p, 101.
42 Ibid., p. 103.
43 Ibid., pp. 107-110.
44 Ibid., pp. 160-171.
45 Ibid., pp. 179-185.
4. "DETENTION" BETWEEN DEATH AND RESURRECTION. —Chapter six discusses "The Rational Argument"—metaphysical, psychological, moral, and analogical. Then, coming in chapter seven to "Soul and Body," Hudson competently discusses the Hebrew and Greek terms involved, and the period of "detention" that comes before glorification—that is, between death and the resurrection. In this connection he painstakingly scrutinizes the voice of the Early Church (quoting such noted writers as Justin Martyr and Irenaeus), and the later Reformer, William Tyndale. [49] He deals with the judgment and the Second Advent, with the concurrent translation of the righteous living and resurrection of the righteous dead. [50] He then adduces the testimony of the Anabaptist Declaration of Cracow, made about 1568, [51] and the violent reaction of Calvin against the teaching of the "sleep of souls." [52] Thus the battle is portrayed that was now on afresh.
1. ACCURATE HANDLING OF HISTORICAL SIDE.—Hudson's treatment of the "Historical Argument" (chapter eight) is thorough and reliable. Dealing with the ancient Eastern (Indian) "metempsychosis," Persian "dualism," and Egyptian "transmigration," [53] he comes to the conflicting schools of Grecian philosophy. [54] He then presents Plato, the master, and his doctrine of the "soul's eternity," past and future, and the "migration of souls." [55] Next he handles Aristotle, who held the body to be mortal, with the soul probably immortal. But Hudson pointedly brings out the deceptive "double doctrine" employed by the Platonists—one for the common people and one for the savants. [56]
46 Ibid pp. 185-216.
47 Ibid pp. 220.226.
48 Ibid pp. 221-226.
49 Ibid pp. 250-256.
50 Ibid pp. 256-258
51 Ibid pp. 259.
52 Ibid p. 260.
53 Ibid pp. 265-268.
54 Ibid pp. 269-272.
55 Ibid pp. 272. 273.
56 Ibid pp. 276-283.
Then he shows how Platonism began to corrupt Christianity, and how evil came to be declared eternal, according to the claims of Gnostic dualism. [57]
6. MASTERFUL SURVEY OF WITNESS OF CENTURIES.—Hudson's masterful survey of the witness of the early Fathers is impressive. First he marshals the Apostolic Fathers (all Conditionalist), [58] then notes the negative testimony of the early creeds and liturgies. [59] Next he presents Ante-Nicene Justin Martyr (teaching the annihilation of the wicked), and Irenaeus (setting forth conditional immortality), [60] and Arnobius (presenting man as a candidate for immortality), [61] and then Athanasius (with immortality as the aim of the soul). [62] Next Hudson turns to the revolutionary conflict introduced by Athenagoras and Clement of Alexandria, and by Tertullian with his Eternal Torment postulate, together with those who followed him—climaxing with the powerful Augustine [63] but noting lesser lights as well.
Next comes the "destructionist" view of the medieval Jewish rabbis, like Maimonides, and the Arabian philosopher Averroes, and his stress of "soul sleep." [64] Then follow the protests of Pomponatius, the Italian philosopher, charged with denying the immortality of the soul, [65] Pope Leo X's Bull of 1513 affirming it. [66] This bull placed the Roman Church irrevocably on record as the great champion of Innate Immortality. Next came Luther, holding to the "sleep of the soul" between "death and the resurrection," thus breaking with the traditions of a thousand years. [67] And this was swiftly followed by Calvin's vehement denial of "soul sleep," countered by the Socinian denial of Eternal Torment. [68] Then John Locke protests the doctrine of an immortal, living death. [69] It compasses tremendous territory.
57 Ibid., pp. 279-282.
59 Ibid., pp. 289-295.
59 Ibid., pp. 295-297.
60 Ibid., pp. 298-302.
61 Ibid., pp. 302-305.
62 Ibid., pp. 305-308.
63 Ibid., p. 310.
64 Ibid., pp. 335-344.
65 Ibid., pp. 345, 346.
66 Ibid., p. 345.
67 Ibid., pp. 346-349.
68 Ibid., p. 350.
69 Ibid., p. 351
Hudson then adduces the impressive witness of the great Conditionalists Blackburne, Warburton, Dodwell, Watts, Bourn, Scott, Taylor, Fontaine, [70] and the modern stalwarts like Whately, Ham, Dobney, White, Hinton, Smith, and Storrs, [71] as examples of many more. It takes in the sweep of the centuries.
7. CONDITIONALISM THE COORDINATED PORTRAYAL OF SCRIPTURE.—Chapter ten, on the "Harmony of Christian Doctrine," impressively shows how Conditionalism presents the true and nobler view of human dignity, harmonizes the sovereignty of God with the permission of evil, and the trial and triumph of faith. Hudson stresses the necessity of subordinating "reason" to Revelation, and the imperative requirement of consistency in interpreting Scripture. [72] He reaffirms the evidence that man is a candidate for immortality, [73] and shows the relationship of sin and punishment, pardon and justification. [74] Finally, chapter eleven shows how the "sufferings of every death are the agonies of departing life," [75] and that the gospel is pre-eminently a message of life, [76] glorious immortal life through Christ. Some three hundred writers are cited in all—the most important of the centuries. Such, in short, was Hudson's epochal contribution.
Dr. EZRA ABBOT (1819-1884), distinguished Harvard scholar, Greek specialist, and master of Textual Criticism, after graduating from Boudoin College, taught for a period, then moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1856 he became assistant librarian at Harvard, as well as a member of several learned societies. His M.A. degree was from Harvard, followed by an LL.D. In 1872 he received the degree of S.T.D., with a D.D. conferred by the University of Edinburgh.
70 Ibid., pp. 351-353.
71 Ibid., pp. 353, 354.
72 Ibid., p. 377.
73 Ibid., p. 382.
74 Ibid., pp. 389-394.
75 Ibid., p. 420.
75 Ibid., p. 421.
Coming from scholarly backgrounds, Abbot was precocious as a child, early displaying the bent of a scholar—ceaseless diligence, patience, thoroughness, and accuracy. He was devoted to duty, and worked congenially with others. He enjoyed not only the satisfaction of tangible accomplishment but also the joy of combat in an era of controversy. He was primarily a teacher and writer rather than a public speaker.
1. BIBLE TRANSCENDENT IN ALL DOCTRINAL ISSUES.—Dr. Abbot was pre-eminently a man of the Book, his supreme goal being to find and follow the truth. The study of the New Testament, to which he gave every possible hour, became the dominant passion of his life. His greatest accomplishments were in the realm of Biblical science, in which he sought to grasp its great basic principles. He was an expert in Biblical languages and their cognates, and had a profound sense of the incomparable transcendence of Holy Writ as the final authority in all doctrinal and spiritual issues.
In 1871 Professor Abbot became the university lecturer on textual criticism, and the next year was appointed professor of New Testament criticism and interpretation of Harvard Divinity School. About the same time he was made a member of the New Testament company for the revision of the English Bible, serving with distinction.
Abbot was also a bibliographical expert, seeking to record what was of permanent interest and value on great themes. A lover of books, he was author of seven, and of thirty-three major periodical and encyclopedia articles. He contributed many sections to Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. With a consuming desire to know the truth, he rejected the "thick darkness of a dreary skepticism" that overshadowed so many intellectuals of his time.
2. MATCHLESS BIBLIOGRAPHY SERVES AS INCOMPARABLE CHECK LIST.—His History of the Doctrine of a Future Life, issued in 1862, was doubtless his greatest literary contribution. It is a scrupulously prepared, classified, [77] and chronological catalog of 5,300 books and pamphlets dealing directly and indirectly with the nature, origin, and destiny of the soul—with annotations and alphabetical index, including a section on Spiritualism. Since that time the number of such treatises has grown to at least seven thousand.
Such amazing figures indicate the interest and importance that mankind attaches to the question of a future life. The ebb and flow of conflicting views has stretched across the centuries. But for the past 150 years the number of those assailing the traditional dogma of Innate Immortality has steadily increased on both sides of the Atlantic. Skepticism and modern materialistic science have also had their bearing, also the complex movement called "modern thought."
77 Abbot's comprehensive classifications include Nature of the Soul. Origin of the Soul, Destiny of the Soul, Doctrine of the Soul and Future Life Among Nations and Sects not Christian—Ancient Egyptians, Persians, Hindus, et cetera; Ancient Greeks and Romans; Jews, Mohammedans, et cetera; Doctrine of the Soul and Future Life in Christian Theology—Eschatology; Biblical Psychology; Death: Intermediate State: Sleep of the Soul; Purgatory; Resurrection; General Judgment; Rewards and Punishments; Hell; Duration of Future Punishment; Modern Spiritualism—compassing 5,300 titles, indexed by author and title, and including the anonymous.
Abbot's own leanings toward Conditionalism are reflected in the periodic annotations. He was a keen analyst.
In the preparation of his treatise Abbot spent three full years in the public and private libraries of America and Europe, accurately recording author, title, date, place of publication, size, frequently the standing of the author, with annotations of importance, as well as the location of the rare works. It is thus not only a comprehensive history of opinion but an indispensable tool and reliable check list for anyone studying the subject. It has been constantly used in the preparation of this work. Allibone rightly called it "one of the marvels of bibliography."
CHARLES L. Ives, A.M., M.D. (1831-1879), of New Haven, was in 1867 made professor of the theory and practice of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, from which he had graduated in 1852. Then in 1873 he became professor of diseases of the mind and nervous system in the University Medical College in New York City. But he was also deeply interested in theology, and was known for his "fearless devotion" to the advocacy of what he deemed to be truth. Ives traveled for more than a year in Europe. Early in 1871 he had Constable's The Nature and Duration of Future Punishment republished in this country. [78] So his convictions on Conditionalism were obviously formed before that. Among his extracurricular activities Dr. Ives taught a Sunday school adult Bible class. One week he made the startling statement that—
"immortality, as an essential attribute of the soul, is not only nowhere affirmed in the Bible, as theologians confess, but that it is in fact positively denied." [79]
78 Charles L. Ives, The Bible Doctrine of the Soul (1877, Am. ed.), p. 291. There were also British printings.
79 Ibid. (1900, London ed.), Preface, p. v.
Great surprise was expressed at such an assertion, one member insisting that the "Bible declared that the soul should never die, though he could not name chapter and verse." At the request of the class, discussion was continued the following week, with the understanding that meantime each member was to study the question during the interim. But at the next assembly "no proof of the soul's inherent immortality had been discovered." Then he, as teacher, "presented a carefully selected list of references," and promised for the following week "to bring each a written slip containing these references." [80]
1. How His BOOK CAME TO BE WRITTEN.—However, the class was so large and the interest so great that it seemed easier to have the material printed, with the proof texts quoted in full, and an explanation of misunderstood passages. So the compilation developed into a book manuscript, and ultimately was made available for all Bible students. Dr. Ives's sole desire was to "lead the reader back to the Bible, to study for himself the teachings of that inspired Guide. [81] Then he comments: "If such return to the Biblical standard of our faith was demanded in Luther's day, it is likewise sadly needed at present." [82]
Declaring that the prophesied "falling away" from the apostolic faith had occurred in the Christian Church, as predicted, he speaks of the departure as involving "the deeply important question of the soul's immortality." Then he adds:
"Paul declares that immortality is given 'to those who, by patient continuance in well doing, seek for it' (Rom. ii:7). Our teachers assert that it is already the inalienable possession of every man!" [83]
That, he maintains, is the heart of the issue.
2. SCRIPTURE SPIRITUALIZED TO SUSTAIN IMMORTAL-SOUL-ISM.—Asserting that we have no need to fear "for the truth, if the Bible be but permitted to speak for itself, untrammelled by human traditions," [84]
80 Ibid., pp. v, vi
81 Ibid., pp. vi
82 Ibid.
83 Ibid., pp. vii
84 Ibid., pp. viii
Ives then lays down this basic rule of interpretation: "Written language must invariably be taken as literal, except the fact of its being figurative be beyond all question." [85]
He then plainly states:
"A false dogma has crept into the teachings of the Church, and is unthinkingly and generally accepted. Every soul is immortal, it is taught, though the Bible says, 'The soul that sins it shall die.' " [86]
In accommodating the Bible to his "traditional belief," the Immortal-Soulist does not "reject" Scripture passages, as does the infidel, but "declares such passages are figurative." [87] Thus the intent is vitiated. "Away with such a mockery!" Ives urges. [88] And he appeals to Protestants not to "uphold the Popish dogma."
3. "SOUL" IS "ENTIRE MAN" AS "COMPLETE BEING."—Then follow eleven sections, each with a declarative statement, and each supported with a series of texts. Dealing with the "difference" between man and beast, Dr. Ives says, first of all "we are to live again, they are not." [89] And such restoration to life is through the "resurrection," for "without a resurrection the dead cannot live again." [90] He discusses the scriptural use of "soul," stating that it commonly "applies to the entire MAN as one complete being," which scriptural conception is "totally at variance with that of our popular theology!" [91]
4. IMMORTALITY CONFERRED ON "RIGHTEOUS ALONE."—Coming next to "immortality," Ives contends that absolute immortality is the possession of God alone. And conferred immortality is restricted to the righteous alone, through Christ, in contrast with the claim of the "proud philosophers of this world," that it is the "inalienable possession of the whole human family." Immortality must be "put on" (1 Cor. 15:53, 54, 57) . IT is the "special portion of the righteous." [92]
85 Ibid.
86 Ibid., pp. viii, ix.
87 Ibid., p. ix.
88 Ibid., p. x.
89 Ibid., pp. 12, 13.
90 Ibid., p. 14.
91 Ibid., p. 18.
92 Ibid., p. 29.
And this is not alone the New Testament teaching, but- "immortality for the righteous alone is the truth originally revealed [in the Old Testament] to the race. Is it not time for the church to return to the good old paths?" [93]
5. FATE OF WICKED IS DEATH, NOT ETERNAL MISERY.—The fate of the wicked, says Ives, is "everlasting punishment" —"death—the loss of life." [94] Moreover, the "soul" is the "organized being," and is not immortal by "creation." [95] And the "organized being" of the wicked is to be "totally destroyed." When he is destroyed, "the individual, as such, no longer exists." [96] But this question must always be decided by the Bible, not by "tradition" or "human authority." [97] "Immortality is not yours by right; yet most freely is it offered to you." [98]
6. RECAPITULATION: "UNCONSCIOUS SLEEP"; "LOSS OF EXISTENCE."—In a sort of recapitulation Dr. Ives covers the extended evidence in condensed form, and makes this statement:
"It cannot be denied that the Old Testament represents the Intermediate State, or the interval between death and—the Judgment, as an unconscious sleep, where 'the wicked cease from troubling and the weary be at rest.'" [99]
And as to the "second death," he reiterates: "How it could properly be called a 'second' death, unless it be a repetition of the same loss of existence which was the 'first' death, we cannot understand." [100]
We will not give further details of Dr. Ives's theological evidence, which largely coincides with that of scores of other writers in the second half of the century. We will simply note a few of his striking statements in the larger American printing, and will then turn to his searching appeal to the clergy to align themselves with Bible truth, and thus help to complete the reformation that was arrested in this particular field.
93 Ibid., p. 32.
94 Ibid pp. 32, 33.
95 Ibid pp. 37, 38.
96 Ibid p. 63.
97 Ibid p. 40.
98 Ibid p. 78.
99 Ibid p. 111.
100 Ibid p. 124.
1. "INNATE IMMORTALITY" DERIVED FROM PLATO.—Of the tragedy of the "great departure," Ives says:
"Ensnared by the more subtle influence of the most civilized nation of the age, they bowed before the intellectual power of that philosopher [Plato] whose commanding genius has swayed the world of thought to this day. They yielded up the Bible doctrine of conditional immortality, and from Plato accepted the pagan doctrine of universal immortality...
"But it was the original lie of the great adversary—that enemy of all truth—that they thus accepted. And having begun by losing the accessory truths of revelation, erelong the darkness of 'The Dark Ages' came down upon them, and again priest and people bowed before the idolatrous shrines of their graven images." [101]
2. "UNCONSCIOUS" OF PASSING OF TIME IN DEATH.—AS to the interval between death and the resurrection, Ives says this:
"The intervening time between his death and his resurrection, be it actually centuries or but moments, is virtually the same to the believer of every age. It is a period of unconscious sleep till the awakening at the resurrection of the just, which thus comes to each as the next conscious moment after his falling asleep in death." [102]
3. USE OF PROTESTED TERM "ANNIHILATION."—Ives deals with the protested term "annihilation" in this way: There are 4, two different meanings to the term—(1) the particles of which matter is composed are totally destroyed and cease to exist; and (2) the present form under which matter exists as an organized object is destroyed. The first, he comments, is an abstract conception of the return of matter to nothing out of which it was spoken into being. The second is illustrated by the destruction of a "tree"—often symbolizing the doom of the wicked—in which the existence and individuality of the "tree" is totally destroyed, or annihilated, or, the destruction of a marble statue, which is ground to powder and annihilated as a statue. In that sense the term "annihilation" is proper and permissible. But "destroyed" is the common term, not subject to misunderstanding.
101 Ibid. (1877, Am. ed.), p. 286.
102 Ibid., p. 295.
4. IVES'S APPEAL TO THE CLERGY.—After stating that the "doctrine of universal immortality" is the "great, all-pervasive error" that has permeated the church, Dr. Ives appeals to the "minister of God's Word," because of his "position of peculiar responsibility." [103] He urges him not to be influenced by the fear that his "usefulness will be greatly impaired" should he espouse such views, or by the economic jeopardy into which he might be placed by "ecclesiastical authorities" who may seek to "thrust" him out. He urges him not to maintain positions that would compel him to "explain away the natural meaning of Scripture," and warns pointedly, "The Bible contradicts the devil's lie; the church creed upholds it!" [104]
Then he makes the prediction:
"If each, who has doubts of the theology he has been taught, were, without waiting for others, to investigate the teachings of God's Word on these points, and declare the convictions at which he arrives, he would soon find himself not one alone. He would be one of a mighty host to do battle for the truth, and to drive into its merited darkness that flaunting lie of Satan's device." [105]
5. SUPPLEMENTAL WORD TO LAYMEN.—And to "Christian laymen" he says essentially the same:
"If you find the Bible denies the universal immortality which modern theology teaches, then it is your duty, within the sphere of your influence, freely to declare so important a fact. It is your duty to stir up your friends and neighbors to study the neglected Word of God, and to disseminate the knowledge of his truth, till a correct public sentiment in our churches will uphold their pastors and religious teachers in breaking away from the trammels of a corrupt past, and in standing boldly for the truth, as God has revealed it to man." [106]
That was what Dr. Ives presented to his adult Bible class while teaching at Yale, and spread to the world in book form.
103 Ibid., pp. 303, 302.
104 Ibid., p 304.
105 Ibid., p 305 .
106 Ibid., pp. 310, 311.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
JOHN HANCOCK PETTINGELL (1815-1887), son of a Congregationalist minister, was graduated from Yale in 1837 and studied further at Union Theological Seminary. After a period of teaching in New York City came pastorates in Congregational churches in Massachusetts and in Connecticut, from 1847 to 1852. He next served as district secretary of the American Board of Foreign Missions, visiting numerous mission stations in Asia Minor, Serbia, Turkey, and Greece as part of his assignment.
Pettingell was again abroad from 1866 to 1872, stationed in Antwerp, Belgium, as chaplain of the American Seaman's Friend Society, and traveling extensively on the Continent in behalf of the society. It was during this period in Europe, after he had been in the ministry more than twenty years, that Pettingell became convinced of the soundness of Conditional-ism, and wrote out his new-found faith, bringing back to the United States the manuscript for his first book. In London he met Dr. Charles L. Ives, of Yale, and called his attention to Life Only in Christ. Ives later became a convert. [1] And while in Europe, Pettingell became well acquainted with Old World Conditionalist literature, which in turn definitely influenced his thinking. He also became thoroughly conversant with Con-ditionalism's historical and philosophical backgrounds and with the Biblical evidences.
1 On Ives, see pp. 489-494.
As stated, in 1872 Pettingell returned to America, residing thenceforth in New York and Philadelphia, where he produced most of his books. He was a prolific writer and came to be known as an author of distinction, with a clear grasp of his subject and blessed with a lucid style. He was a diligent student and an able critic. Indeed, he brought out some of the most important Conditionalist literature to be produced in North America since Hudson's contributions. It was widely recognized as of permanent value, and was constantly quoted.
GRADUAL CHANGE FROM OSTRACISM TO ACCEPTANCE.—Pettingell steadfastly maintained Conditional Immortality to be the only apostolic and scriptural view of the nature and destiny of man. He had little time for the philosophical approach, his interests being focused on the eschatological aspect. Pettingell contended that Conditionalism was widely held in the Early Church, until it was corrupted by Greek Platonism. However, his well-buttressed views were at first rejected, and there was acute religious and social ostracism. Pulpits of most denominations were closed to him, as well as the columns of leading religious journals. So he was compelled to return to his former profession of teaching, in New York and Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, he was incessantly studying and writing, and in time contributing articles to the Bible Banner and World's Crisis, and producing tracts for the Scripture Publication Society. He also contributed certain brochures to the Conditional Immortality Association's The Faith Library in England—No. 22 ("The Two Doctrines of Human Immortality Contrasted," 1898); and No. 44 ("The Resurrection of the Dead," 1900). Although he had had great difficulty in getting his first book printed, [2] he lived to see a marked change and a steady acceptance of Conditionalism in ever-widening circles.
Pettingell's principal books included The Theological Tri-lemma, published in 1878, though written six years prior; Platonism versus Christianity (1881); Bible Terminology (1881); The Life Everlasting (1882); and The Unspeakable Gift (1884). His works came to have a large circulation on both sides of the Atlantic. And on the Continent they were translated into German, French, and Italian. (Pettingell had crossed the Atlantic eight times in his travels, and was known in Conditionalist circles in Britain.) His best-known book was The Unspeakable Gift, with two British editions. But his The Life Everlasting, written earlier, contained an impressive "Symposium" in which twenty-one representative evangelists, clergymen, scholars, and teachers of Europe and America participated. Pettingell was particularly concerned that Conditionalists around the world uphold one another's hands, and he laboured to that end.
2 A committee was appointed by the Congregational Association of Pennsylvania to read and report on his book The Theological Tri-lemma. The report was adverse, and the columns of The Congregationalist were closed to him. So Pettingell transferred to Philadelphia early in 1879 and returned to his profession of teaching, to pay expenses while he wrote his later hooks. He was sometimes impatient over what seemed at the time the slow progress of the cause of Conditionalism. (See Crouse, "A Stud), of Conditional Immortality," pp. 107-120.)
Pettingell's The Unspeakable Gift was written after fourteen years of further study, wide reading, and consultation since he had prepared his first treatise, in 1870, while in Belgium. At that time he had not seen any American book on the subject. [3] The Introduction to The Unspeakable Gift was written by the noted Conditionalist Edward White, of St. Paul's Chapel, London, rehearsing how great a company of able scholars were in "full revolt" against the Innate Immortality perversion, with a new tolerance developing for dissenters. Its acceptance was already widespread in Britain, North America, France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Australia, and somewhat even in India, China, and Japan.
Especially was its penetration true at the University of Cambridge, where Professors Stokes and Adams and Canon Jamieson (head of Christ's College) were "avowed adherents." [4] White here reaffirms his own conviction, now buttressed "by forty years of study," that Eternal Torment is "absolutely groundless," and "contrary to every line of the Bible." [5]
Interspersed with excerpts from more than seventy-five noted Conditionalists, the book opens with a citation from Dr. R. W. Dale, and closes with a unique "Supplement"—an assemblage of contrasting "passages" facing each other on opposite pages presenting the "pro and con" of the question by means of key quotations from scholars. Of this Pettingell says:
"By comparing these opposing views with each other and with the Word of God, he [the reader] will be able easily to decide for himself which of these two conflicting theories has the sanction of Scripture, and which is in conflict with it." [6]
It is a unique device.
3 I. H. Pettingell, The Unspeakable Gift. The Gift of Eternal Life Through Jesus Christ Our Lord, p. 4.
4 Ibid., pp. 18-21.
5 Ibid., p. 22.
6 Ibid., p. 307.
1. CONTRASTING PAGES OF CONFLICTING SCHOOLS' EXCERPTS.—The opposing views (pages 308 and 309) are respectively headed " 'Thou Shalt Surely Die'—JEHOVAH," and " 'Ye Shall Not Surely Die'—SATAN." Then follow contrasting definitions of Conditionalism and unconditional Immortal-Soulism, followed by key statements of the opposite viewpoints, but with Bible texts (Old and New Testament) forming the first Conditionalist pages, matched by the statements of Platonic philosophers, poets, and theological speculators holding to the indestructibility of the human soul, pre-existence, transmigration, and ultimate reabsorption, and particularly Platonism. [7] Then follow, on paralleling pages, the Apostolic and Ante-Nicene Fathers who held to Conditional Immortality and the destruction of the wicked—Barnabas, Clement, Hermas, Ignatius, "Twelve Apostles"—but with an absence of names, on the opposite page, for none had as yet adopted Platonism. [8]
2. CONFLICTING VIEWS OF THE OPPOSING SCHOOLS.—Then, on the left, appear the statements of Conditionalists Justin Martyr, Theophilus, Irenaeus, Arnobius, and Lactantius (pages 314, 316), opposed on the right by citations from Athenagoras, Tertullian, and Hippolytus. Next come the Re-formers Tyndale and Luther, contravened by Leo X, the Koran, Calvin, the "Presbyterian Confession of Faith," and Jonathan Edwards. [9] And now follow modern Conditionalist representatives, with quotes from Rothe, Olshausen, Board-man, Warleigh, Thom, Thompson, Abbot, Perowne, Alford, Tulloch, Dale, Dobney, Davis, Parker, and Weymouth, which are opposed by excerpts from Edwards, Ambrose, Hopkins, Baxter, Rutherford, and Whitaker. [10] He skims the cream of their testimony.
7 Ibid., pp. 308-311
8 Ibid., pp. 312, 313.
9 Ibid., pp. 314-319.
10 Ibid., pp. 319-327.
Then appear citations from Conditionalists Ker, Litton, Taunton, Scott, Ellicott, Foster, Watson, Whately, Mortimer, Newton, Petavel, Kramer, Wilson, Phelps, Graham, Hart, Leask, Chase, Lambert, Renouvier, Strang, Schultz, and Butler—faced by opposing declarations from Spurgeon, Whitaker, Brown, Young, South, Taylor, Erskine. [11] And finally follow Conditionalists Hendrickson, Walker, White, Graff, Dennis-ton, Jennings, Ferguson, Macrae, Ashcroft, Phelps, and Con-stable, faced by Taylor, Erskine, Parker, Mountford, Muller, Moore, Collier, Scott, Lytton, Davidson, Spurgeon, Newman, Pollock, Winslow, Hedge, Martineau, and Garland [12]—each with a key quote. It is a unique, imposing roster of names and of contrasting statements of the opposing positions held concerning this paramount issue.
3. INTRODUCTION OF GREEK PLATONISM AND PERSIAN DUALISM.—Part I of the main text of the book deals with immortality in the light of history, reason, and philosophy. In chapter one Pettingell goes back to the source and ground of our hope of immortality, and of the nature and destiny of "man himself," not simply of the "soul," stressing not merely future punishment but the priceless gift of Eternal Life through Christ, and loyalty to the plain letter of God's Word. [13]
4. HISTORICAL TRACEMENT OF "DEATHLESS NATURE" CONCEPT.—The prevalence of the theory of the "indestructible soul independent of the body," [14] he shows to be but perpetuated Platonism. And the concept of the continuance of eternal sin and the perpetual sinning of the wicked, forever paralleling the purity and blessedness of the immortally righteous, is but the extension of "Persian dualism," [15] which crept into the creed through the "philosophic schoolmen of the dark ages," perpetuated "through the medium of an apostate Church." [16]
5. ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION OF "DEATHLESS NATURE" THEORY.—Chapter two treats on the origin and history of the dogma of the "deathless nature" of man, "first whispered" in Eden, [17] with traces among the ancients.
11 Ibid., pp. 324-331.
12 Ibid., pp. 330-341.
13 Ibid., pp. 25-36.
14 Ibid., p. 27.
15 Ibid., p. 31.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid., p. 37.
Then comes the philosophy of the Jews, [18] Life Only in Christ, which He and the apostles taught, perpetuated by the earliest Fathers, up to Justin. [19] Next, the entrance of Platonic philosophy through Athenagoras, Origen, and others. This resulted in a split of the Christian Church into three schools of thought as to the nature and destiny of man. [20]
6. THREE CONFLICTING SCHOOLS TABULATED.—TWO of these schools taught immortality of the soul as the "natural endowment of all men from Adam." [21] This was made possible by the spiritualizing and allegorizing of Scripture, discarding the literal sense and adopting a metaphysical sense of life, death, and destruction, resulting in the triumph of the positions of Platonic philosophy. [22]
Pettingell closes this chapter with a valuable Table on "The Three Theories of Immortality"—Conditionalist, Immortal-Soulist, and Universal Restorationist, with the names and dates of the early advocates of all three groups. [23] The Table brings out the fact that Christ and the apostles are the progenitors of Conditionalism, and shows the fatal gap of 190 years before the initial introduction of Innate Immortality as the foundation of the Endless Torment and Universal Restoration theories.
7. ARRESTED REFORMATION AND ANALOGICAL FALLACIES.—Chapter three on the "Disastrous Influence of This False Dogma," shows how the root of this theological error was not extracted at the time of the Reformation. [24] The grosser perversions of scholasticism, priestcraft, and ecclesiasticism were repudiated. But the majority still retained the philosophic dogma of the immortality of the soul and an eternally burning Hell, though Purgatory was rejected. The doctrine of Life Only in Christ was preserved by a line of witnesses throughout the subsequent centuries, but only recently has it come sharply to the forefront. [25] The chapter closes with a valuable two-page supporting quote from Constable. [26] Chapter four shows the fallacies of analogies from nature and the peril of relying on human reason instead of divine revelation. Pettingell shows that the "whole argument for the immortality of man founded on the nature of his soul, rests upon a pure assumption." [27] The analogies of the seed and the chrysalis are fallacious because there is no actual loss of life in any of them. [28]
18. Ibid., pp. 38. 39.
19. Ibid., pp. 40-42.
20 Ibid., pp. 4448.
21 Ibid., p. 44.
22 Ibid., pp. 45-47.
23 Ibid., pp. 48.
24 Ibid., pp. 49-52.
8. SECOND LIFE DOES NOT EXCLUDE SECOND DEATH.—Chapter five, on "The Natural and Rational Argument," shows that the doctrine of universal immortality has "not been the general belief of the heathen world." [29] He stresses further the point that "the idea of a second life does not exclude that of a second death, and final extinction of being." [30] He reminds us that the Nirvana of the multiplied millions of Hindus is "utter extinction of conscious, personal being." [31]
9. NEW MEANINGS PLACED ON OLD TERMS.—Part II deals with "Human Immortality in the Light of Revelation." Chapter six is curiously titled "Logodxdaly," which means playing with words, or verbal legerdemain. Here he deals with the Platonic "new meanings" placed on Bible terms concerning the nature of man. These affect destruction, death, and life, giving them a sense never found in the classical Greek—as "death" meaning "eternal life in misery." [32] (Pettingell, it should be added, frequently uses lengthy notes from Constable, Whately, Tillotson, Tinling, Minton, Dale, Locke, White, Baker, Huntington, Boardman, and Hobbs to buttress his positions.)
10. MAN NOT INDEPENDENTLY EXISTENT.—Chapter seven ("The Creation of Man") shows that man was not given the "attribute of independent existence." [33]
25 Ibid., pp. 50-61.
26 Ibid., pp. 63, 64.
27 Ibid., p. 70.
28 Ibid., pp. 76, 77. See Note, p. 77.
29 Ibid., p. 80.
30 Ibid., p. 81.
31 Ibid., p. 83.
32 Ibid., pp. 113-115.
33 Ibid., p. 125.
He was "amenable to the law of his Creator," and was "dependent on His [the Creator's] will for the continuance of his life." [34] By the "impartation of this breath of life, Adam becomes a living soul," with man as a unit. [35] In death "this process is reversed." [36] Man was a candidate for immortality. [37] Immortality was therefore conditional, and "holiness is essential to the immortality of all of God's creatures," if they are to abide? [38]
11. DEATH IS UTTER EXTINGUISHING OF LIFE.—Chapter nine stresses the "Silence of the Scriptures" regarding "natural immortality, [39] with Boardman, Olshausen, Tillotson, and a Presbyterian Quarterly extract (1860, page 600) concurring. [40] True immortality is the glorious consummation of Christianity. [41] Chapter ten ("The Death Incurred") deals with Adam's "alternative possibilities," namely, Life or Death. These result in either a "Second Life" or a "Second Death." [42] Pettingell shows that death means "utter ruin and extermination and extinction." It is the "loss or ending or extinguishment of whatever life is in question." [43] This he proves from a vast array of Old Testament texts. [44] And the same is followed with the New Testament witness. [45] But the great deceiver makes a "flat contradiction" of God's Word, and teaches "the immortality of the sinner." [46]
1. ETERNAL LIFE IS PECULIAR GLORY OF CHRIST.—Chapter eleven ("The Life Given") is "Life Eternal Through Christ." The New Testament is a "new revelation," fuller and clearer than the Old—involving the New Birth and the Resurrection and the final "Destruction of all evil through the almighty power" of Christ. [47] It presents a "new and higher life"—the zoe life, spiritual, undying, supernatural life, running all through the Gospel of John. [48]
34 Ibid., p. 126.
35 Ibid., p. 129.
36 Ibid., p. 130.
37 Ibid., p. 135.
38 Ibid., p. 137.
39 Ibid., p. 163.
40 Ibid., pp. 171, 172.
41 Ibid., p. 168.
42 Ibid., pp. 175-177.
43 Ibid., p. 179.
44 Ibid., pp. 181-185.
45 Ibid., pp. 185-189.
46 Ibid., p. 191.
47 Ibid., pp. 195-197.
48 Ibid., pp. 198-207.
"Christ is the only “Source" of this “Eternal Life." [49] This is His "peculiar glory." And Paul, Peter, James, Jude, and John all affirm the same. [50]
13. TWO CLASSES AND TWO DESTINIES.—Chapter twelve ("Life versus Death") contrasts the two opposites, "death and destruction" and "Life Everlasting." [51] And a series of two classes are "brought into juxtaposition"—"sinners and saints," "the wicked and the righteous," "believers and unbelievers," "reprobates and heirs," "enemies of God and friends of God," "the foolish and the wise," "the tares and the wheat," "the dross and the gold," "the children of the world and the children of the kingdom." [52] The righteous will be resurrected to a life that shall never end, [53] but the resurrection of the wicked is to a second death and final extinction. [54]
This is amplified and enforced in the New Testament—always the two classes and the two destinies, with carnality, sin, and death, in contrast with spirituality, holiness, and Life Everlasting. So it is "everlasting destruction," or Everlasting Life, [55] not simply eternal happiness and eternal misery, with both classes living eternally. Because Christ arose, we will all rise, irrespective of the outcome, to our respective destiny, which is Eternal Life or Eternal death. [56]
14. FIRST LIFE TRANSITORY; SECOND LIFE ETERNAL.—Chapters thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen deal with leading problem texts and arguments (Dan. 12:1, 2; Matt. 25:46; Mark 3:28, 29; 9:43-50. Luke 16:19-31: Rev. 14:11: 19:3: 20:9. 10, 20). These are answered in superior Conditionalist fashion. The "punishment" is "deprivation." [57] The handling of the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is particularly effective. [58] Chapter sixteen ("The Exodus of Sin and Death") brings on a series of couplets—"the two Adams, two progenitors, two births, two classes of men, two kingdoms, two divine Advents, two lives, two deaths." [59]
----The second birth is supernatural. It results in a spiritual, deathless life, ingenerated by the Spirit—unto Life Everlasting. [60] But if man is already an immortal being "there is no place for a second death." [61] The first life is physical, earthly, and transitory; the second is spiritual, heavenly, and eternal. [62] Pettingell then says tritely: "Of course if there be no actual death in the first instance, there can be no actual resurrection from the dead." [63]
49 Ibid., p. 206.
50 Ibid., p. 208.
51 Ibid., p 215.
52 Ibid., p. 216.
53 Ibid., p. 219.
54 Ibid., pp. 219-221.
55 Ibid. pp. 221-225.
56 Ibid., p 225-232.
57 Ibid., p. 248.
58 Ibid., pp. 257-267.
15. OVERTHROW AND ABOLISHMENT OF ALL EVIL.—Then comes the "Exodus of Sin and Death"—a "heaven without a hell somewhere to balance it," the "King of glory with His holy angels" without "the Devil and his angels also." [64] No sin will be existent anywhere, no sorrow, darkness, death, devil, o Hell. The concept of two eternal principles in conflict, both without beginning and both without end, and eternally in conflict, Pettingell insists, is simply Persian dualism. [65] But evil had a beginning, and it will have an end. It is but an "episode" in God's eternal plan. It began "in time," and will end "in time." [66] In eternity, "beyond the second death there is to be neither sin nor suffering." [67] The prophecy of the "crushing" of the head of the serpent will be accomplished. Satan and death will be destroyed forever. That is the "overthrow and abolishment of all evil." [68]
Then follows the "Supplement," already described.
59 Ibid., p. 283.
60 Ibid., p. 285.
61 Ibid., p 287.
62 Ibid., p. 288.
63 Ibid., p. 289.
64 Ibid., p. 292.
65 Ibid. pp. 293, 294.
66 Ibid., p 294.
67 Ibid., p. 297.
68 Ibid., pp. 299-304.
Pettingell's first major work, The Life Everlasting, is an eight-hundred-page volume, which concludes with a significant two-hundred-page "Symposium" in which twenty-one representative men of various Evangelical Churches, from Eu-rope as well as America, participate, each with a section or chapter. [69] This was a distinctive contribution, augmenting the value of the work and broadening its scope and effectiveness. Inasmuch as Pettingell's later volume is more comprehensive as to his own coverage, we will virtually restrict this sketch to a resume of his "Conclusion," appearing in chapter five. [70]
1. PLATONISM PENETRATES CHRISTIANITY; BOTH ARE MODIFIED.—The prevailing doctrine in the church on the "individual, personal immortality for all men" [71] was, Pettingell affirmed, the result of the fatal penetration of Platonic principles into the Christian faith. No such teaching is found in divine revelation itself. However, Platonism has undergone such changes at the hands of Christian theologians that Plato would scarcely recognize the result as his own, for it has become a compromise composite—a blend of the pagan formula in a Christian framework. Pettingell takes issue with Platonism's contention that "the souls of all men" have "an eternal existence independent of their bodies," and will "never go out of being." He insists that, according to the Word, souls "having had a beginning, they may have an end; having been created, they may be destroyed, and that sin when finished will work the destruction of any soul." [72]
69 The leading participants in the "Symposium" are considered separately a little later.
70 J. H. Pettingell, The Life Everlasting: What Is It? Whence Is It? Whose Is It? (2d ed.), pp. 537-600.
71 Ibid., p. 537.
72 Ibid., p. 538.
2. CONTRAST BETWEEN PLATONISM AND REVELATION.—Plato founded his system of the future life on the independent nature of the soul; whereas revelation makes future life de-pendent upon the work of Christ in redemption, consummating in the resurrection of the body. Plato based his philosophy on the "intellectual nature" of man, good and bad alike being considered equally "immortal." Revelation, on the contrary, "bases its promise of immortality on man's moral fitness to enjoy it—being "made fit" by "the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3:5). Again, modern philosophical Christianity holds that "immortality is an attribute of- nature and not the gift of God through redemption in Christ." [73] Those are irreconcilable positions. But Pettingell maintains that the Word teaches— "that there is, indeed, a life for all men beyond the present, by a resurrection from the dead, for the purpose of judgment and retribution; but it is a resurrection to the Life Everlasting for those only who shall be fitted for such a boon; and those who shall not be found worthy, after being judged and condemned, will perish in the second death, from which there is no recall." [74]
Those are the fundamental contrasts.
3. PAUL'S WARNING UNHEEDED, RESULTANT APOSTASY SUBVERTS.—The apostle Paul expressly warned of coming apostasy in the church. He admonished, "Lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty" (2 Cor. 11: 3). [75] This text leads us back to the original challenge over the nature of man in Eden. And Paul further warns against the peril of a subverting Philosophy" and the deviating "tradition of men" (Col. 2:8), which would pervert the teaching of Christ and the apostles. Pettingell has this to say of the tragic outcome:
"But before many centuries had elapsed, all open opposition had been silenced, by authority, if not by argument; and the Christian doctrine of Immortality through Christ only, had become completely subverted, and the Platonic doctrine of the immortality of all men by nature, had taken its place, and had been declared, by the Lateran Council, to be the true doctrine of the Christian Church. It was declared to be Heresy to deny it." [76]
73 Ibid., p. 539.
74 Ibid., p. 540.
75 Ibid., p. 541.
76 Ibid., p. 542.
4. REFORMATION FAILED TO REPUDIATE IMMORTAL-SOULISM.—The Reformation went only part way. The Reformers did a noble work but not a complete one. The problem was this:
"This philosophical error had so entrenched itself at the very foundation of the Christian system, and so insinuated itself into all its essential doctrines; entering by education into all their forms of religious thought and expression, that they could not be expected to see it as clearly, and extirpate it as easily, as they could see and lop off the superficial branches of error [such as salvation by works, and purgatory], that had sprung from the same source. Yet Luther, and others of his time, did see it [the error of consciousness in death], and protest against it; and so have many since his time." [77]
This perversion over the nature and destiny of man, Pettingell calls the "most popular and widely-prevalent [error] of any that has ever opposed itself to the Gospel of Christ. [78] It has entered into all the ramifications of the nominal Christian faith.
HENRY WARD BEECHER (1813-1887), noted Congregationalist pulpit orator, author, and editor, was trained at Amherst and at Lane Theological Seminary (of which his father, Lyman Beecher, was president). Henry Ward Beecher was pastor of the famous Plymouth Congregational church, of Brooklyn, for forty years-1847-1887. During this period he was one of the founders and editors of the Independent, a politico-religious journal, and in 1870 assumed editorship of the Christian Union, later continued as The Outlook.
77 Ibid., p. 543.
78 Ibid.
Popular preacher and author that he was, in his later years he became frankly committed to some of the basic principles of Conditionalism, according to Dr. Lyman Abbott, his successor at Plymouth, and who followed Beecher as editor of The Outlook. Beecher was outspoken in his denunciation of the doctrine of Endless Torment, as various of his sermons testify. But this did not, it is to be observed, affect his pulpit standing and relationships. One citation must suffice:
"'He that lives to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption—shall. It is sure to come. What shall it be? Future torment? No; I do not mean that; I mean that he that cultivates his lower nature, mere animal nature, with the animal perishes.... It is to my mind a relief that if a man never rises any higher than the animal life, the universe will never see a God enthroned that looks down upon the infinite and prolonged torments of an unconceived number of men shut up simply for the purpose of suffering, If there be anything more infidel than that I do not know what it is, or anything which more effectually blots out the possibility of respecting and loving any God than this—continuing to create men with some foresight of their perpetual suffering.' " [79]
Thus the renowned Beecher was another in a growing chorus of noted American pulpiteers and theological teachers, paralleling those of the Old World in the latter half of the nineteenth century, openly breaking with the traditional tenet of Eternal Torment.
Dr. LYMAN ABBOTT (1835-1922), Congregationalist churchman, editor, and author, originally studied for the law, but after three years he abandoned its practice for the ministry. He received his education at New York University. He became the successor of Henry Ward Beecher, both as editor of Christian Union and The Outlook and as pastor of the famous Plymouth church, Brooklyn (1888-1899). Abbott was a prolific writer, and became widely known for his public rejection of the dogma of endless conscious punishment and for holding the doctrine of the final extinction of the wicked.
79 Henry Ward Beecher, quoted in F. L. Piper, Conditionalism, Its Place in Eschatology, History and Current Thought, pp. 211, 212.
1. REJECTS BOTH UNIVERSALISM AND ETERNAL TORMENTISM.—Because of his well-known religious liberalism, one might expect that Dr. Abbott would lean toward the view of Ultimate Restorationism, or Universalism. But that surmise is set at rest by his frank but admirable address before the Universalist Association on "Why I am not a Universalist," and the "fatal objection to the 'Larger Hope' theory." His view of man's mortal nature and ultimate destiny, and the basis for such views, may be seen from his specifically prepared contribution to the widely circulated 943-page Symposium—That Unknown Country.
"The notion that the final punishment of sin is continuance in sin and suffering is also based in part on, what seems to me, a false philosophy as to man. This philosophy is that man is by nature immortal. The conviction has grown on me, that, according to the teaching both of science and Scripture, man is by nature an animal, and like all other animals mortal; that immortality belongs only to the spiritual life; and that spiritual life is possible only in communion and contact with God; that, in short, immortality was not conferred upon the race in creation whether it would or no, but is conferred in redemption, upon all those of the race who choose life and immortality through Jesus Christ our Lord.
"Let me add, what may be regarded as rather a sentiment than a reason, that while the thought of eternal suffering might perhaps be endured, the thought that there is to be any corner in God's universe where sin, lawlessness, rebellion, selfishness, deceit, malignity, shall continue eternally is a thought which has grown to me spiritually not only unbearable but unthinkable: not any longer to be reconciled with faith in, I will not say the love, but even the purity, of God." [80]
2. REPUDIATES PAGAN TEACHINGS ON FATE OF WICKED. —Abbott held what he considered to be "a Return to the Scriptural as Against Pagan Teachings" on the fate of the wicked, and repudiated the theory of "Unending Conscious Sin and Torment" as "Not a Bible Doctrine." [81] All our knowledge of the future life is derived from Revelation," he reminds us. [82] Regarding "God and His government," he declares his revolt against "Puritan theology" thereon, and commends— "the theology of Paul and the primitive church, from which we have been carried away by the incursion of Pagan thought into religious philosophy, as the church was carried away from the simplicity of Christian worship by the incursion of Pagan rites into church worship." [83]
80 Lyman Abbott, in That Unknown Country, or What Living Men Believe Concerning Punishment After Death, together with Recorded Views of Men of Former Times, pp. 72, 73.
81 Ibid., p. 65.
82 Ibid., p. 66.
83 Ibid., p. 68.
3. GOD NEVER SAVES SOUL AGAINST ITS WILL.—Taking his stand against "universal salvation," he denies that "salvation" is ever "independent of character." But "salvation is character, and character lies in the free act of a free will."
Then he adds, "I am not a Universalist because I believe in the absolute free will of man." The Scripture points to the "possible choice of death against all gracious influence." [84] Then, he adds, "They have not persuaded me that it is within the power of omnipotent love to save a soul against its own will." [85]
4. POPULAR THEOLOGY IGNORES WHOLE SET OF TEXTS. —As to the alternative contention "that some of God's creatures will continue in conscious sin and suffering forever," Abbott chides the "orthodox" scholars for ignoring or explaining away a whole set of texts that declare there will ultimately be a clean universe, wholly without sin, suffering, and death. The concept of the Eternal Torment of the damned is not the only alternative. Though "I once reluctantly held" it, he declares, "I hold no longer." To him such a position is based partly on a false view of God" and "partly on an ignoring of some passages of Scripture, and a misconstruction of others; and partly in a false philosophy both of human nature and of redemption." [86]
84 Ibid., p. 70.
85 Ibid., p. 71.
86 Ibid.
87 Ibid., pp. 71, 72.
3. MISCONSTRUES ORIGINAL INTENT AND USE.—Popular theology has misconstrued into "images of torment what were clearly in their original use and to the original hearers images of destruction." [87] For example, Christ's warning of "the worm that dies not" was "clearly a symbol not of torture but of destruction." Then follow the main paragraphs, before quoted, that man is not by nature immortal, but that immortality is conferred only upon those "who choose life and immortality through Jesus Christ our Lord." Then he adds, in summary:
"I can only say, as the result of a quarter of a century's study of the New Testament, that in my judgment there is very little in it to warrant belief in endless conscious sin and suffering, and much in it to warrant the belief that the end of sin is death, that life and immortality are the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord, that when God shall have finished the work of redeeming grace, and the song of triumph shall ascend from his redeemed children, no groan and no rebellious and despairing discords shall mingle with and mar the hymns of praise." [88]
Several members of the famous Beecher family accepted Conditionalism in whole or in part. This even included Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), famous writer and daughter of Dr. Lyman Beecher, [89] president of Lane Theological Seminary. She was the wife of Dr. Calvin Stowe, professor of theology at Lane, Dartmouth, and Andover, as well as sister of the noted Henry Ward Beecher and Edward Beecher, and four other preacher brothers. (Pictured on page 496.)
She is known the world over as the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), which ran through forty editions and was translated into twenty languages. But she was author of some twenty other works. She was acutely sensitive to the theological discussions that characterized the Beechers, some of whom were at that very time "breaking out of the prison house of the traditional orthodoxy," as one biographer puts it.
88 Ibid., p. 73. The book was copyrighted in 1888, hence this was written before that date.
89, Harriet's father, Dr. Lyman Beecher, "spent his days in weathering theological cyclones" in the midst of the great revivals and the new foreign missionary, temperance, and abolition movements, and also in riding out the revolt against, and split over, ultra-Calvinism, as well as the rise of the theological opposites—Arminianism and Deism. Dr. Beecher, who was of the new-school theology and found much in ultra-Calvinism that was untenable, was accused of "heresy" and brought to trial, but was acquitted.
1. HARRIET'S ESSAY ON "IMMORTALITY" WHEN ONLY ELEVEN.—Harriet grew up in the vortex of a theological whirlpool of discussion. The dinner table was a religious forum, often in the fatalistic Calvinist tradition. She was acquainted with her father's Toplady on Predestination, and Jonathan Edwards' Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, which her father had read aloud to the family, and she was used to hearing her brothers argue with her father over Jonathan Edwards. On Sunday mornings she listened, upon occasion, to sermons on damnation. And on Sunday afternoons recited the Assembly Catechism, from which she learned what she must do to "escape eternal punishment" and be in submission to God, whether He chooses to "redeem or damn." [90] She was also aware of the deepening conflict between Calvinism and Arminianism.
Meanwhile, she was attending the Litchfield Female Seminary, learning to express herself in composition. When only eleven she wrote her first essay. The theme was on the sort of topic they "talked of at home" [91]—"Can the Immortality of the Soul Be Proved by the Light of Nature?" Her presentation was remarkably mature—logical, succinct, convincing, a premonition of her future writing gifts. She deals with none other than the destiny of the soul, the nature of the mind, the question of destruction, the matter of rewards and punishments, the theory of progress, and the necessity of a revelation. In this essay she states that reason— "affords no proof that the same omnipotent power which created cannot by another simple exertion of power again reduce it to nothing. We do not know but the destruction of the soul may, in the government of God, be made to answer such a purpose that its existence would be contrary to the dictates of wisdom." [92]
And she was only eleven!
2. IN AGONY OVER INVOLVEMENTS OF CALVINISM.—In her youth Harriet was profoundly influenced by her brother Edward, who came to repudiate the dogma of Eternal Torment. [93] She wrote to him, "You were my earliest religious teacher." [94] In her struggle over the involvements of New England Calvinism that her father had preached, she once wrote to Edward:
"I feel as Job did, that I could curse the day in which I was born. 1 wonder that Christians who realize the worth of immortal souls should be willing to give life to immortal minds to be placed in such a dreadful world." [95]
90o Catherine Gilbertson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, p. 26.
91 Ibid., p. 27.
92 Ibid.
93 See Edward Beecher, History of Opinions on the Scriptural Doctrine of Retribution.
94 Charles E. Stowe. Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe Compiled From Her Letters and Journals by Her Son, p. 512.
95 Charles E. and Lyman B. Stowe, Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Story of Her Life, p. 48.
3. CONTINUING STRUGGLE OVER ETERNAL TORMENT PROBLEMS.—Harriet reveals her continuing struggle to find the way out of the implications of traditional "orthodoxy," in her letters to Lady Byron in 1858. They had become fast friends on one of her trips to Europe, corresponding thereafter. She wrote:
"I think very much on the subject on which you conversed with me once,—the future state of retribution. It is evident to me that the spirit of Clui6tianity has produced in the human spirit a tenderness of love which wholly revolts from the old doctrine on the subject, and I observe the more _Christ-like any one becomes, the more impossible it seems for him to accept it; and yet, on the contrary, it was Christ who said, 'Fear Him that is able to destroy soul and body in hell,' and the most appalling language on this subject is that of Christ himself. Certain ideas once prevalent certainly must be thrown off. An endless infliction for past sins was once the doctrine that we now generally reject. Is there any fair way of disposing of the current of assertion, and the still deeper undercurrent of implication, on this subject, without one which loosens all faith in revelation, and throws us on pure naturalism?" [96]
In her extremity she was even tempted to think of some sort of future probation. In any event, Eternal Torment was unthinkable. Harriet Beecher Stowe was part of the widespread revolt of the times. But she had not yet found the way out.
It was the fearsome dogma of the Eternal Torment of the wicked that caused Robert G. Ingersoll (d. 1899) [97] to write in protest in the North American Review in 1881: "A Being of infinite wisdom has no right to create a person destined to everlasting pain." [98] And he adds: "Only from the lowest and post debased could come this most cruel. heartless. and absurd of all dogmas." [99]
96 Charles E. Stowe, op. cit. pp. 339, 340. (Italics supplied.)
97 ROBERT G. Ingersoll. (1833-1899), renowned agnostic, was Illinois State attorney general and politician and army colonel, but he was known chiefly for his lectures against the Christian faith. Among his published works are The Bible; the Gods, and other Lectures (1876), and Some Mistakes of Moses (1879).
98 Robert G. Ingersoll, "The Christian Religion," in North American Review, November, 1881, p. 503.
99 Ibid., p. 509.
The facts reveal that this belief sprang from pagan, not originally Christian or Old Testament Jewish, sources, as literally hundreds of scholars through the centuries attest. Ingersoll's was an off-key infidel voice in the chorus of revolt, otherwise largely comprised of devout believers in the Inspired Word. This was another tragic angle in the current conflict.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
We now come to the period of the definite spread of the Conditionalist faith among clergymen and teachers of various faiths—Baptist, Episcopalian (Reformed and Protestant), Congregational, Independent, and Presbyterian. Note a few.
C. R. HENDRICKSON, D.D. (1820-1881), able Baptist minister, held pastorates in Philadelphia, Norfolk, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Memphis. His last pastoral post was in Jackson, Tennessee. He was also chairman of the board of the then Southwestern Baptist University, as well as of the Board of Ministerial Education. Excerpts from his writings were brought together to form the closing section of the Symposium, The Life Everlasting, published just after his death, and here epitomized. It was published "In Memoriam," bordered in black.
1. CONDITIONALIST POSITION GIVES NEW GRANDEUR TO PREACHING.—Keenly aware of changes then taking place in the theological world, especially in the field of eschatology and the final disposition of sin, Dr. Hendrickson was watching with concern the rise of Restorationism, which he considered to be a "rebound" against the traditional postulate of Eternal Torment. "The truth," he held, "lies between these extremes." [1]
To both groups he commended the Conditionalist position of "immortality Only in Christ," which he looked upon as a shining "star amid the blackness of midnight." He urged it as "a solvent for the profoundest problems that perplex the human mind," [2] pertaining to the question of the nature and destiny of man. Said he:
"I know of no subject that so magnifies Christ. How it exalts His Power, wisdom and majesty. 'God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.' Redemption in this sense is a thousand times greater than that which merely saves an immortal soul from sin and misery, It bestows the inestimable boon of life, as well as pardon and bliss. This view gives a new meaning to the grand old coronation hymn, 'All hail the power,' etc. To me it gives a new power in preaching. It is like standing on the Mount of Transfiguration, rather than on Golgotha—it is life instead of death, glory instead of shame." [3]
2. THE "SOUL" NOT A SEPARATE CONSCIOUS ENTITY.—Dr. Hendrickson insisted on the "unconscious state of the dead." Such a position, he held, destroys all ground for Spiritism, / Purgatory, saint worship, and a ghostly Heaven. He contended that the whole man dies, and the whole man will be raised. It is the "man" all the way through. He declared that—
"the great mistake is to suppose and teach that the Soul is an entity, possessing a separate consciousness and an independent existence. In the Bible the term Soul is the synonym of man. A living man is a living soul, and a dead man is a dead soul." [4]
3. LIKE "ROSETTA STONE," RESOLVES HIDDEN MYSTERIES. —Hendrickson declared that a new spirit of inquiry is abroad, and that long-accepted doctrines are being re-examined. He believed that a candid restudy of the whole question of im-mortality would soon be forced upon the Christian world, and that the truth of Conditional Immortality in Christ would bring relief to vast multitudes, as it had to him. He considered that " 'Life in Christ' is the Rosetta stone to reveal the hidden mystery so long concealed from the men of this world." [5]
1 "In Memoriam of Rev. C. R. Hendrickson," in J. H. Pettingell, The Life Everlasting, p. 761.
2 Ibid., p. 754
3 Ibid., p. 759.
4 Ibid., p. 756.
5 Ibid., p. 761.
In the same period was CLEMENT MOORE BUTLER, D.D. (1810-1890), a graduate of Trinity College and of General Theological Seminary (Episcopalian), of New York City. He served as rector of churches in Boston and Washington, D.C. During the latter appointment he was also chaplain of the United States Senate, beginning in 1849. After a further period as rector of Christ Church in Cincinnati, Butler served in a similar post as rector of Grace Church in Rome, Italy. Returning to Washington, D.C., he was for a time rector of Trinity Church (1861-1864). In 1864 he became professor of ecclesiastical history of the Divinity School of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Philadelphia.
Dr. Butler was author of numerous books, including The Book of Common Prayer Interpreted by Its History (1846); Old Truths and New Errors (1848); St. Paul in Rome (1865); Inner Rome (1866); and Manual of Ecclesiastical History, 2 vols. (1868-1872). Becoming a firm Conditionalist during his three-year assignment in Rome, he wrote in 1881 with considerable feeling:
"I have long ago, to my great peace of heart, given up the doctrine 'of the eternal torture by God of any of His creatures. Since I reached and rested in the conclusion that the ultimate doom of the impenitent is 7 death, and not eternal life in agony, a great black cloud seems to have rolled away from the face of God, and I sew, not only as my loving Father, but as the loving Father of all His creatures." [6]
The candid story as to how, when, and where Dr. Butler came to adopt the Conditionalist position and repudiate the dogma of an imperishable life in torment for the wicked is of sufficient human interest to warrant its recital here.
6 Clement M. Butler, "A Letter," in Pettingell, The Life Everlasting, p. 739.
1. DISILLUSIONED BY FIENDISH "PORTRAYS" IN ROME.—In a statement to the compiler of the Symposium, in which he expresses his "accordance" with both its "argument" and its "conclusion" concerning the ultimate and utter destruction of the wicked, Butler writes:
"The circumstances in which this conviction came to me were some-what peculiar. The doctrine of endless life in torture was always so exceedingly painful to me that I locked it up, as it were, in my mind and labelled it 'orthodox,' and refused thereafter to take it out and use it. But during my three years residence at Rome, nearly twenty years ago, I was so horrified and disgusted at the mediaeval pictures —and with the great painting of the judgment, by Michael Angelo, in the Sistine Chapel, and with many other pictures which represented the doomed in their agony and depicted fiends plying instruments of torture in the midst of the flames, that my mind was forced into the consideration of the question whether that could indeed be the doctrine of the Bible, which warranted these harrowing, revolting and realistic, but not illogical horrors? I began anew a study of the New Testament, and to my immense relief I came to the distinct conclusion that death and destruction did not mean imperishable life in torment." [7]
2. FOUND ELIMINATION ONLY ENHANCED GOSPEL SYSTEM. —Continuing, C. M. Butler says:
"I found my mind proceeding on several of the same lines of thought which I see you have followed, and I examined myself with anxious care to ascertain whether the removal of this doctrine shook my faith in the slightest degree in the great truths of the evangelical system which I had always held, and which were dearer to me than life. On the contrary, the blessed scheme of salvation through a God-man Redeemer seemed to me to stand out in a light that was more glorious and tender, as well as brighter than before. I found that the removal of this dreadful dogma was not the striking out of a stone from the complete arch of truth through which we enter into the eternal life, which would weaken and deface the structure, but rather the removal of a stone of stumbling before that arch which prevented multitudes from entering in." [8]
So Professor Butler reached his conclusions not from reading arguments thereon, but by an inner revolt against the fiendish horrors of the "dreadful dogma." He further states his belief that the "clarified Christian Consciousness" of the church, and its "spiritually enlightened moral sense," will lead the church to "gradually drop this dogma of eternal torture, as it seems to be doing." In closing he reiterates the conviction that he feels "bound" to express his "opinion freely, when the occasion calls for it, on this very momentous question." [9]
7 Ibid., pp. 739, 740.
8 Ibid., p. 740. See the chapter "Horrifics of Hell," pp. 39-48, of this work.
9 Ibid., p. 741.
LEONARD WOOLSEY BACON (1830-1907), Congregationalist minister and physician, was known for his numerous theological writings. He was trained in theology at Andover and at Yale, and was also a graduate in medicine from Yale. He served as pastor in Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. And for five years he was pastor of the American Church at Geneva, Switzerland. Brilliant and versatile, with a bent for historical investigation, he was both a forceful speaker and a vigorous writer. A born controversialist, he sought diligently for facts and exposed error. The decade from 1892 to 1902 was devoted to intensive study and writing.
Dr. Bacon was a skilled debater. He never feared to do his own thinking, and was loyal to his convictions. He was likewise well known in Europe, where as stated he resided for a time. While there he became a personal friend of Dr. Emmanuel Petavel, of Lausanne, who held pronounced Conditionalist views—"optional immortality." Bacon shared these views on the nature and destiny of man. [10] He set forth his views in print on numerous occasions, as for example in his Simplicity That There Is in Christ volume of sermons.
10 Petavel twice refers to Bacon as an American Conditionalist. (Problem of Immortality, pp. 18, 501.)
1. IMMORTALITY IS CONFERRED, NOT INHERENT.—In the widely circulated Symposium, The Life Everlasting, Dr. Bacon maintained that future existence is conditional upon "the act of God." Unending life will be had only as "conferred by the act of God who raises from the dead, and not by the soul's intrinsic tenacity [Innate Immortality] of life." "
This thesis, Bacon held, would withstand "attack from any quarter"—"Orthodoxy," Universal Restoration, or Materialism. And he noted with satisfaction the definite shifting of many away from these older positions, and admission of the fallacy of many of the traditional arguments. He said, "May the truest reason and the clearest Scripture win." "
2. REJECTS ETERNAL TORMENT AND INNATE IMMORTALITY.—In a later contribution to another Symposium, That Unknown Country (1890), Bacon openly rejects the dogma of Eternal Torment, declaring it to be "flatly contradicted by the authority of Jesus Christ, who teaches the opposite doc-trine." He likewise rejects "the notion that the human soul, or life, is essentially indestructible, in its own nature immortal." "
1. INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF SOUL FROM PLATONIC PHI-LOSOPHY.—As to the origin of Immortal-Soulism, Bacon cites its source as "the Platonic doctrine of the essential indestructibility of the soul," which had been "imported into Christian theology." In support he cites Conditionalist Edward White's Life in Christ. Bacon declares that this "argument of the eternal conscious existence of the soul in flames and anguish" is a baseless "philosophical assumption." "
3. IMMORTALITY A GIFT, AND CONDITIONAL.—And after discussing the fallacies of hypothetical Universalism, he closes with the declaration:
11 Leonard W. Bacon, "The State of the Question," in Pettingell, The Life Everlasting, p. 608.
12 Ibid., p. 609.
13 Bacon, "Positive Disbeliefs and Positive Beliefs Concerning Future Punishment," in That Unknown Country, p. 116.
14 Ibid., p. 124.
"No created spirit has immortality in and of itself. It lives forever only as it 'lays hold of the eternal life' of God. The sons of God alone are heirs of their Father's immortality" [15]
This is from a respected professor at Yale.
JOSEPH DAWSON WILSON, D.D. (1841-1923), a chair man of the faculty of the Philadelphia Seminary of the Reformed Episcopal Church, was graduated from St. Stephens College in 1863, and received his Master's from the Episcopal General Theological Seminary of New York City. After ordination to the Episcopal ministry he served as rector of Calvary Protestant Episcopal church of Pittsburgh from 1867 to 1874.
Challenged on one occasion over the question of Endless Torment for the wicked, by the rector of St. Andrews' church of the same city, he painstakingly "studied the question," and came to the conclusion "that the Scriptures uniformly promise life, eternal life, to those in Christ, and destruction, perdition, and death to the impenitent." Then he went on record with this fundamental statement:
"The more I have studied the subject the more confident have I become that the notion of the immortality of the wicked is a pagan notion, which crept into the church along with other errors when Greek philosophy saddled itself upon Christian truth. That melancholy error has descended to us through the papal communion, and has, I am persuaded, done great harm." [16]
In 1874 he transferred to the Reformed Episcopal Church and was successively rector of Christ Church, Peoria, Illinois, St. John's Church, Chicago (in 1879), and the Emmanuel Church, St. Louis, Missouri. In 1884 the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him, and in 1901 he was called to the chair of church history at the Philadelphia Theological Seminary of the Reformed Episcopal Church, later becoming chairman of the faculty. He was author of Studies Upon the Words from the Cross, with an Inquiry concerning Hades. He contributed chapter five of the Symposium in The Life Everlasting.
15 Ibid., pp. 129, 130.
16 Joseph D. Wilson, "Is Immortality Compulsory?" in Pettingell, The Life Everlasting, p. 632.
1. THE UNANSWERABLE QUESTION—WHY?—The dogma of Eternal Torment raises doubt, he says in the Symposium, as to the justice of God. And because of this it has "arrayed many thoughtful men against Christianity altogether." Increasing numbers have come to the conviction that "there must be some mistake about the whole matter." [17] Declaring that this "notion" is "an assault upon the Divine character," Dr. Wilson asks:
"Why should God keep a soul forever and ever in a condition of sin? Nothing is without Him, for by Him all things exist. Why can He not withdraw His sustaining hand and let the sinner perish? All He has to do is to take away His upholding energy, and back the sinner goes into the non-existence out of which he came. Why should God disfigure His universe with millions of suffering wretches forever, and for no purpose—for what purpose can be conceived? Shall Gehenna be full of agonizing shrieks eternally as a warning to the glorified? Surely not!" [18]
No, he says, "Such a spectacle would turn heaven into a place of torment for the saved." [19]
2. GOD IS NOT A "MALIGNANT FIEND."—Continuing his reasoning, he says:
"To Am/ that God creates myriads of beings for eternal agony, when He could either forbid their birth or terminate their being, seems to me to make Him a malignant fiend. The only escape from so horrible a conclusion is the plea either that God cannot forbid a human being's creation, or that, being created, He cannot destroy him. Neither part of such a plea can stand." [20]
Dr. Wilson does not consent to the proposition that, "having given life to human souls, He can never recall it, the soul being a thing so indestructible that even Almighty power cannot terminate its being." He adds, "The irreverence is not in these inquiries, but in those arguments for endless woe," [21] and their implications.
17 Ibid., pp. 632, 633.
18 Ibid., p. 633.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid., p. 634.
21. Ibid.
He then declares: "All theories of endless misery assume necessarily the endlessness of sinning, and make God the minister of sin in that He is represented as denying the agonized prayer of the damned to be allowed to die." [22]
3. DESPERATE INVOLVEMENTS OF THE DOGMA.—Of the frequent assertion that "God cannot destroy a soul," Wilson declares:
"The wickedness of this assertion is equalled only by its arrogance. The cause which is driven to such a shift is desperate. In reply to it we hold up the word of the Lord testis.: He is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.' Matt. 10:28. The defenders of Conditional Immortality find no occasion to deny that or any other word of Scripture. They find no occasion to limit Omnipotence." [23]
Such was the predicament created by the assertion as to the soul's immortality—"The soul is necessarily immortal, and therefore God cannot destroy it." It is to be observed that such a published statement, in 1882, did not affect Wilson's later high Theological Seminary appointments, even his chairmanship of the Seminary faculty.
Well-trained laymen likewise made their contributions. One such was WILLIAM R. HART (fl. 1882), businessman of Philadelphia, who was also a Bible student of no mean attainments and a writer, one of his books being titled Eternal Purpose. To catch the calibre of his contributions, we will find it profitable to survey the high lights of his chapter eight in the same Symposium, The Life Everlasting. It deals with the basic principles of salvation and immortality. Deploring the negative character and speculative popular emphasis on the "destiny of the lost," he presses on the reverse side—the "positive" and "reciprocal" relations between Christ and the saints, based upon their reception of His life. Then he observes:
"The non-immortality of those who do not possess this life is a corollary, and necessary result of the doctrine, but is by no means the substance of the doctrine itself." [24]
22 Ibid., p. 636.
23 Ibid.
1. IMMORTALITY CENTERS IN PERSON OF CHRIST.—Contending that the Bible is "not a compendium of abstract doctrine," but is rather the revelation of a "Person" in whom all truth centers, he states:
"The truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ is, therefore, the be-ginning of the Scripture doctrine of Immortality. All truth centres in Him. He is the Truth; that is to say, He is the personal, living embodiment of all that God has to say to His creatures. In Him all truth is harmonized, and each separate statement forms part of a resplendent and harmonious whole. It is just here that Christianity has missed the key to Revelation. Revelation is about Him, and all its disclosures centre in Him." [25]
2. THEOLOGIANS START FROM WRONG ASSUMPTION REGARDING IMMORTALITY.—Theologians, Hart says, have regrettably taken "isolated statements," and have "built up clashing and inconsistent theories." But "their starting-point has been wrong; hence their exegesis and dogmatic induction have led to wrong results. [26] That is why the various commentators are in conflict. Then he pinpoints his generalities:
"The most fruitful source of error in this respect has been the assumption that the Bible history of man assumes his native and inherent immortality. The Unity of the Faith which centres in Him as the Life, as well as the Way and Truth, is shattered when immortality is claimed to be, instead of His possession and His gift, the inherent and inalienable possession of the creature." [27]
Such a misconception, Hart adds, changes the whole "divine economy" as regards atonement, God's sovereignty, faith, regeneration, and hope. All are radically affected. The "popular doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul" is the "foundation" of a "heterogeneous religion," whereas the "doctrine of Immortality derived from Christ only is the central fact in a homogeneous Christianity." In the former, the roots are cut as to our "common immortality," achieved through vital union between "Christ and His saints," as revealed in the New Testament. [28]
24 William R. Hart, "The Unity of the Faith," in Pettingell, The Life Everlasting, p. 655.
25 Ibid., p. 656.
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid.
3. DEITY, INCARNATION, AND RESURRECTION ARE BASIC.—Hart then sets forth three vital principles, or provisions, that undergird the entire question. We quote his introductory statement:
(1) "The central fact in this Unity of the Faith is the essential Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from this it is impossible to rightly understand the Scripture teaching concerning Immortality [God's redemptive work in manifesting Himself to His creatures]. . . . This manifestation is made in a Person, through whom Immortality is conferred on the worthless and perishing. Now if this Person were less than God, He could not be the expression of God.... God only can be the absolute and complete expression of Himself." [29]
He is all the "fulness of the Godhead."
(2) "The next essential element in this Unity is that God became Man." humbling Himself, not only by taking the form of a man but by becoming obedient to death, even the "death of the cross." [30]
(1) "The third essential is Resurrection." Christ Jesus, the "Second Man," successfully met every test "imposed upon Him." He "lived, suffered, and died." He went down into death. "One sin would have kept Him there, but His perfect victory was demonstrated by His resurrection from the dead." [31] This exaltation demonstrated His "Essential Immortality."
And in "fulfillment of the Divine Purpose" the "gift of Immortality—the resurrection life of the Man Jesus Christ—is imparted to other men." "They are one body, because they have a common life." And "this life is deathless" and "incorruptible"—"words never applied to men out of Christ." [32]
28 Ibid., pp. 656, 657.
29 Ibid., p. 657.
30 Ibid.
31 Ibid., pp. 657, 658.
32 Ibid., p. 658.
4. PAUL'S EMPHASIS ON GRACE, ATONEMENT, LIFE.—And running all through the Pauline Epistles is a "triple cord of 9 ruth, viz., Grace, Atonement, Life." "Grace is the sovereign, unpurchaseable, unchangeable love of God which saves, immortalizes, and exalts helpless and worthless sinners." [33] It is "defined in the words, The gift of God is eternal life." A gift must by its very nature be gratis—bestowed through the Son upon those whose names are "catalogued in the 'Lamb's Book of Life.' " [34]
"From this very sovereignty springs the freedom of grace" —the gift of "eternal life." What God gives He gives freely, absolutely. Its "conscious reception" is brought about simply by believing God's "message about the free gift." And the "consciousness of reception is not until after the gift has been bestowed and received. The believing is the first function of the new life." [35]
"But before the object of Grace can become its subject,— before immortality can be bestowed,—sin must have been taken out of the way." This was effected by the atoning work of the cross. " The Son of God hung there, under the frown of Infinite Justice." There "infinite Wisdom and Mercy" met. [36] "The penalty of sin descended upon His head." And "the believer is not only reckoned of God as having died with Christ, but he is also risen with Him. As thus risen, and only because he has thus risen, he possesses Eternal Life." "Its source is the Second Adam, the immortalized Man," who hath " 'life in Himself.' " [37]
5. THE ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION OF ALL EVIL.—"Finally," Hart adds, "the doctrine [Life Only in Christi teaches the ultimate destruction of all Evil. Nothing is Eternal but Good." The reconstituted universe will be headed up in Christ. The last enemy will be "destroyed." In the new heavens and the new earth there will be no more sorrow, pain, or death. "The saints will be with and like Christ" to all eternity. [38]
33 Ibid., pp. 658, 659.
34 Ibid., p. 659.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid.
37 Ibid., p. 660.
38 Ibid., p. 662.
6. WEIGH THE TWO SYSTEMS—CHOOSE THE TRUE.—Contrast all this, Hart appeals in his conclusion, with the theory that man is innately "immortal," that "Evil is eternal," and khat "the death of Christ is but the partial remedy, for the great misfortune that befell the Universe when Evil began to be"—and that, "notwithstanding this mighty sacrifice, countless millions must suffer in hell forever." [39] Which of the two positions, he asks, is in harmony with the witness of Scripture? He believes there is but one answer—let God be true.
GEORGE R. KRAMER (fl. 1882), pastor of the (Independent) Household of Faith church, in Wilmington, Delaware, was formerly pastor of a large Methodist Episcopal church in that city. But he could not stifle his convictions, and would not preach what he did not believe and what he was convinced was erroneous concerning the nature and destiny of man—the popular position of Immortal-Soulism. He therefore resigned his charge. But a large segment of his church decided to follow him, and in 1880 they erected and dedicated their own edifice. Here are terse, typical excerpts taken from his chapter four of the 1882 Symposium.
"Christ died a literal death and rose to a literal life to give the eternal life of the gospel."
"The first death is literal—so shall be the second, for it is a death after the resurrection; for only the believer rises to immortality."
"Man is mortal, and he receives immortality only in Christ, upon the condition of believing in Him."
"But we look away to the shining of the regeneration when the Life-giver shall come; when the effulgence of immortality shall gleam through Hades [the grave], and when all who believe in Him shall 'die no more.' There is a blessed time for redeemed man upon the regenerated earth."
"But coming years are radiant. The saints are to glow with immortal beauty. The time will come when glowing wing may go from horizon to horizon and from zenith to nadir, and find evil nowhere. Christ shall destroy the works of the devil." [40]
39 Ibid., p. 663.
40 George R. Kramer, "Length of Days Forever and Ever," in Pettingell, The Life Everlasting, pp. 629, 630.
Thus another lesser voice is in tune with the larger chorus of conspicuous names.
Another forthright contender for the Conditionalist faith was Dr. CAMERON MANN (1851-1932), Protestant Episcopal bishop of North Dakota, and then of southern Florida. He graduated from Hobart College, received his S.T.D. from General Theological Seminary, and an LL.D. from Rollins College. Ordained in 1876 as a Protestant Episcopal clergyman, he was first curate of St. Peter's, Albany, and then rector of St. James church, Watkins. He next served as rector of Grace church, Kansas City, from 1882 to 1901. Dr. Mann was consecrated bishop of North Dakota in 1901. In 1913 he was transferred to the bishopric of South Florida, which was raised to a full diocese in 1922 chiefly because of his effective labours. [41]
A man of striking personality, Mann was known for his executive ability and scholarly attainments. In the House of Deputies of the General Convention he was for many years, before his elevation to the House of Bishops, chairman of the Committee on Constitution and Canons. Mann was author of several volumes, including Five Discourses on Future Punishment (1888), published while he was still rector of Grace church, and thirteen years before his elevation to the bishopric. This is significant, as well as the fact that Mann continued for thirty years in the episcopate. His position on the nature and destiny of man did not hamper his promotion or leadership. He refused to be silent. (Photo on page 520.)
41 The Palm Branch, vol. 31, No. 2 (February-March), 1932; also Who Was Who in America (1897-1942), vol. 1.
1. CONTINUOUS LINE OF DISSENTERS AGAINST ETERNAL TORMENT.—After referring to "monstrous notions" that have "overlaid the Gospel doctrine of retribution," with the "finespun arguments of Plato," and the "pitiful gropings" of others,
as well as gross distortions "by omission and additions" that twist the truth, [42] Dr. Mann lists the current "four theories" as to the fate of the wicked—Universal Restorationism, Endless Probation, Ceaseless Torture, and Annihilation, or Destruction, of the wicked. He is careful to state that neither the Anglican nor the American Episcopal Church has ever "officially pronounced upon them," leaving the individual free to adopt whichever view he elects, without being charged with heresy. [43] He then calls attention to the unchallenged fact that— "from the very dawn of Christian history down to the present day, we find men, prominent in the Church's hierarchy and foremost in her assemblies, who did not believe in everlasting torment." [44]
And he names a number, including "men who died for the faith, like Justin [Martyr]." [45]
2. ANGLICAN ARTICLES CONTRASTED WITH OTHER CATECHISMS.—Dr. Mann next alludes to the fact that "not one" of the "four great Ecumenical Councils" (of A.D. 325, 381, 431, and 451) "put out any dogma about the mode or duration of future punishment." [46] He told how Origen's theory of Universal Restoration was condemned. Nevertheless, the Home Synod refused to adopt even Emperor Justinian's recommendation of censure "for thinking that the woe of the damned might come to an end." [47] And the Articles of the Church of England, in their final form of Thirty-Nine, leave the matter open. [48] This, he remarks, is in contrast with the "voluble" statements of the Augsburg Confession, the Wesleyan Catechism, and the Larger Catechism of the Westminster Assembly, each of which maintains that "the torments of hell will last for ever and ever." [49] The Anglican Church does not so declare.
42 Cameron Mann, October Sermons. Five Discourses on Future Punishment (1888), pp. 12-17.
43 Ibid., pp. 28-30.
44 Ibid., p. 37. (Italics supplied.)
45 Ibid.
46 Ibid., p. 38.
47 Ibid., pp. 38, 39.
48 Ibid., p. 40.
49 Ibid., pp. 40-42.
3. RESTORATION UNSUPPORTED BY SCRIPTURE.—First taking up the "Final Restoration," or Universalist theory, Dr. Mann says pointedly that "before we embrace Universalism we must demand its proofs." Then he adds, nature gives no support, and Scripture does not bear it out. [50] Next he goes on record explicitly: "I cannot find a single text in the Bible which, considered with due regard to its context, seems to me to plainly teach Universalism." [51]
On the other hand, he adds, the Scriptures do teach that some will be destroyed, referring to such terms as "destruction" and the "second death," and in the parables to such expressions as "gathered and burned," "cast into outer darkness," [52] and the like. And he similarly concludes: "That all men will be saved I do not find distinctly stated anywhere in the Bible." [53]
As to the "Eternal Probation" idea, Dr. Mann says that it is simply a modification of the other. "It comes to pretty much the same thing as Universalism," and is therefore open to the same objection. [54] Thus he disposes of the first two theories.
4. IF SOUL NOT IMMORTAL, ETERNAL TORMENT THEORY COLLAPSES.—Turning next to the widely held "doctrine of everlasting torment," [55] Mann states that this inevitably involves the idea— "that this life will last forever, so that always in God's universe there will be a tract of lurid gloom from whose miserable inhabitants He shall receive only the enforced homage of mutinous slaves." [56]
Referring to the lurid portrayals of the "exquisite agonies," and the common reference to such symbols as "volcanic fire," "engulfing slime," and "piercing cold"—of which doctrine the "Romanists and Puritans have been its warmest defenders" [57] —Mann says their argument is in essence this:
"Inasmuch as the soul of man is naturally immortal, and inasmuch as there is no prospect of redemption after the last judgment, the souls of the damned must continue in misery forever." [58]
50 Ibid., pp. 44.50.
51 Ibid., p. 52.
52 Ibid., pp, 52, 53.
53 Ibid., p. 53.
54 Ibid., pp. 62-64.
55 Ibid., p. 86.
56 Ibid., p. 87.
57 Ibid., pp. 86-98.
58 Ibid., p. 99.
And he adds, "There is no flaw in this reasoning if the premises are true." But these he denies. Dr. Mann then asks, and answers, the question as to whether every human being—irrespective of character— "must continue to exist in one and the same distinct personality forever and ever and ever, as long as Almighty God Himself. And to that question I reply in the negative." [59]
Then he adds, with devastating logic: "But if man be not naturally immortal, the arguments for endless misery based on the assumption of such an immortality at once disappear." [60]
As to whether Eternal Torment has Bible support, Bishop Mann responds with "a point-blank denial." He repeats, for emphasis, that any supposed proof is built "only upon the supposition of the inherent immortality of man," which no Scriptural authority." On the contrary, the Bible declares that the sinner's doom is "complete and irrevocable." [61]
5. COGENT REASONS AGAINST ETERNAL TORMENT.—Dealing with the original Greek term aionios, for everlasting, Mann maintains that "it is not a word of precise and limited significance" and that the New Testament never uses certain available Greek words that indicate unending eternity. Then he adds, with impressive logic:
"If-you do take the word as applied to future punishment to mean that this punishment is endless. it does not follow that it is endless torment. It might be annihilation, for that would be an endless doom." [62]
Again, he says, fire inflicts pain, "but only for a time." In the end fire "dissolves what is cast into it." [63] "A little heap of ashes is all that remains." Then in addition there is the grave "injustice of such a doom" of Endless Torment. "Men have but a brief life here, and for misuse of it are hurled into undying woe. This is shocking to our moral sense." [64] He adds emphatically: "It is wild to maintain that millions of ages of suffering cannot begin to be ample chastisement for the sinner, ample vindication of the divine law." [65]
59 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
60 Ibid., p. 100.
61 Ibid.
62 Ibid., p. 102.
63 Ibid., p. 103.
64 Ibid., p. 104.
65 Ibid., p. 105.
The endless torture concept "contradicts the very [Bible] idea of God, who is Almighty Love. It is simply a form of Dualism, or Manichaeanism—in which there are "two gods, one good, the other evil," with the evil ever "coeval with God." [66] This he labels as "utterly absurd and unchristian."
6. DEFENDS POSITION OF ULTIMATE, ABSOLUTE "DE-STRUCTION."—Coming lastly, in Sermon V, to "The Theory of Final Destruction," Mann maintains that it is suggested by the course of nature and revealed in Holy Scripture, and that in addition it conforms to "our moral sense." [67] This he is prepared to "explain and defend" as the "most reasonable and best supported." [68] And he then states that "the theory of the final destruction of the wicked" is otherwise known as, and is involved in the position called, "conditional immortality." [69] is simply— "that men are not created with inherent immortality, with a soul, or body, or both, such as cannot be destroyed, but that immortality is a superadded gift which man's nature is capable of receiving and which God bestows in such Cases as He wills and that He does not so will in the case of impenitent sinners; hence, it of course follows, that at some time all such offenders will cease to exist." [70]
This is because the sinner— "failing to become partaker of the Divine nature and to escape the corruption of the flesh, the sinful mortal endures only for the allotted term, and then passes back into the impersonal elements from which his nature was first shaped." [71]
And the meaning of "eternal death" is that— "his entire nature is broken up, dissolved, all individual characteristics vanishing, all personality lost. The component parts may still continue in the universe, but the man is no more." [72]
66 Ibid., p. 108.
67 Ibid., p. 113.
68 Ibid., p. 114.
69 Ibid., pp. 115, 116.
70 Ibid., p. 116.
71 Ibid.
72 Ibid., p. 117.
7. PAGAN RELIGIONS DID NOT TEACH IMMORTALITY OF PERSONALITY.—Mann recognizes that such a theory "is not the popular one," because it is commonly believed that all men are "naturally immortal." [73] He then refers to the Buddhist idea of the soul lapsing "back into Nirvana, losing all distinct personality and consciousness." [74] And the same concept is essentially true of philosophical paganism, whether "Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Indian." All such are tinctured with " pantheism." Mann then comments:
"And pantheism, making all forms of mind and matter mere transient bubbles upon the one great ocean of the divine, which glitter for a time, then break and are reabsorbed by the universal waters. utterly negatives all that we mean by the immortality of man." [75]
Theirs is not genuine "immortality," the endless existence of a personality. Because of this fact Mann asserts: "It is idle to appeal to any general [ancient] belief in human immortality. There is no such belief covering the nations and lasting through the ages." [76]
8. ETERNAL EXISTENCE ONLY BY GOD'S PERMISSION.—As to depreciating remarks about "annihilation," and to the charge that it is "inconceivable," he answers, effectively, that "annihilation is no more inconceivable than creation." Then he reiterates that to argue for the "essential immortality of the soul" is "a defiance of established principles," and is "mere guesswork." [77] In support, he quotes from Archer Butler:
"'The notion is itself absurd of any created thing existing for a single instant by any title but the will of its Creator; all existence must be purely permissive but that of God: nothing can be essentially eternal for the future but that which has been eternal from the past.' " [78]
2. IMMORTALITY OF SOUL NOT TAUGHT IN BIBLE.—Declaring again that "neither in the Old Testament nor in the New, is there a single statement that men are naturally and inherently immortal," Mann takes his stand by the side of British Conditionalist Edward White, and reaffirms that Christ is the sole basis for human immortality. [79] The wicked perish, and are destroyed forever. This mortal must "put on immortality." And— "nowhere does the New Testament say that Christ came to deliver man from an unending torment." [80]
73 Ibid.
74 Ibid., p. 122.
75 Ibid.
76 Ibid.
77 Ibid.
78 Ibid., p. 124.
79 Ibid., p. 126.
"What would anyone naturally infer from . . . [John 3:16] except that without Christ's aid the doom of all men would be absolute destruction, and that such as rejected His aid must undergo that doom." [81]
Dr. Mann closes his series by referring to the line of Conditionalists stretching across the centuries—apostolic and Ante-Nicene Fathers, and then in medieval and modern times. Mann concludes with:
"God says, 'If you will so live as to be fit for life you shall live with Me forever; if not, you shall pass to the unconscious dust from whence you came.' " [82]
Such were the high lights of Dr. Mann's remarkable lectures in 1887. Conditionalism was not lacking for effective champions.
Another voice was that of Princeton-trained LEWIS CARTER BAKER (1831-1915), editor and author. Ordained in 1860, he became pastor of the Presbyterian church of Camden, New Jersey. From 1885 to 1892 he was editor of Words of Reconciliation, wherein he frequently set forth his views on the immortality question. He also authored The Mystery of Creation and of Man (2d ed., 1884). In 1888, while still editor, he was brought to trial for his views on "the unseen spiritual world," and was allowed to withdraw from the Presbytery. [83] Then in 1895 he entered the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church, serving two Philadelphia congregations. And from 1901 to 1912 he was chaplain of Christ Church Hospital, Philadelphia. (Pictured on page 520.)
80 Ibid., p. 128.
81 Ibid., p. 129.
82 Ibid., p. 136.
83 Minutes of West Jersey Presbytery, April 18, 1888, pp. 78-80.
1. MAN "NOT INHERENTLY IMMORTAL."—It was while he was editor of Words of Reconciliation that Baker contributed chapter six to the Symposium in That Unknown Country. In an epitome at the head of the chapter his fuller statement is condensed into these succinct sentences:
"Man not Inherently Immortal, but a Future Life secured for all through Resurrection from the Dead.—. . . Endless Torment not one of the Alternative States of Future Existence Announced by Christ.—The Soul Perishable as well as the Body, and Torment Can Continue only during such Process of Destruction." [84]
2. ETERNAL LIFE FOR SAINTS; TOTAL DESTRUCTION FOR SINNERS.—Concerning the Conditionalist position, he writes:
"Man, the sinner, is a perishable creature and can receive eternal life only as the gift of God through Jesus Christ. It shows how a destruction of body and, after bodily death, of soul, awaits him, unless the soul be saved in Christ." [85]
1. DESTRUCTION INVOLVES DISSOLUTION OF ELEMENTS. —In his Mystery of Creation Baker took a positive stand against the Eternal Torment theory. Thus: "The punishment of sin is to suffer destruction in this abyss of creation's fire; the dissolution of the elements out of which we have been built up into this highest form of created life. It is to sink back out of this realm of life and light into utter darkness and chaos." [86]
2. THREE CONFLICTING SCHOOLS; ONE IS RIGHT.—In harmony with others, Baker lists three conflicting positions held on the fate of the wicked—only one of which can be true:
"1. Restorationism, or the doctrine that all men, after adequate punishment, will obtain eternal life and happiness.
"2. The doctrine of conditional immortality, which affirms that wicked men, failing of eternal life, will be eternally destroyed.
"3. The doctrine of eternal conscious misery, an endless torment." [87]
Baker held to the second, or Conditionalist, position. A growing company held to the same.
84 L. C. Baker, "The Solvent Principle.—Resurrection, as the Recovery of Man from that Death-State which is the Wages of Sin, has Always a Redemptive Value," in That Unknown Country, p. 133.
85 Ibid., p. 146.
86 Baker, The Mystery of Creation and of Man, p. 176.
87 Ibid., pp. 181, 182.
No. Page NAME Date Place Religion Position Nature of Man Intermediate State Punishment of Wicked
1 404 FARRAR, F. W. 1877-90 England Anglican Dean (Westminster) Champions condit. Ultimate extinction
2 412 Impey, Wm. 1878 Eng.-Afr. Wesleyan-Ang. Gen. Supt. (Dist.) (Conditional immort.) No eternal torment
3 417 Strang, M. W. 1876-84 Scotland Independent Ed. (Messenger) Not inher. immortal Ultimate destruction
4 422 Laing, William 1850-51 Scotland Secession Author No immortal soul Unconscious in death
5 425 Ham, Jas. Panton 1849-50 England Congregational Pastor-author Immort. only in Christ No consciousness
6 427 Kellaway, Wm. 1874 England Independent Ed. (Bible Echo) No natural immort. Death a sleep Extinction
7 438 Homiletic Mthly. 1884-85 England All faiths (Stokes & White) No natural immort. Utter abolition (Symp.)
8 437 SYMPOSIUMS 1878 Brit. & U.S. Christian World—Contemporary Review—NA Review—Christian Union—Homiletic Magazine (Conditionalist)
9 443 Denniston, J. M. 1874 Scot.-Jam. Presby. Miss.-author (Conditional immort.) Ceases to be
10 447 Binney, Thos. 1869-74 England Congregational Pastor-prof. Conditional immort. Utterly destroyed
11 449 Rotherham, J. B. 1868 England Disciples Bible tr.-ed. (Rainbow) Contingent & dependent
12 451 Morris, Wm. 1878 Eng.-U.S. Independent Minister-physician Life only in Christ Death eternal
13 451 COND. IM. ASSN. 1878- England All faiths Heralds of Conditional ism—Annual Conferences—Bible Standard (Official Organ)
14 452 Brown, Geo. A. 1877 Eng.-N.Z. Baptist Ed. (Bible Standard) Conditional immort. Utter destruction
15 452 Warleigh, H. S. 1878 England Anglican Rector (Mortal) Total extinction
16 453 Ward, Henry J. 1878-90 England Pres. Cond. Imm. Assn. Conditional immort. Complete destruction
17 453 Goodwyn, Henry 1878-86 England Layman-author Conditional immort. Total destruction
18 454 Vasey, Thos. 1868 England Bapt.-Ind. Minister Life only in Christ Utter destruction
19 454 Henn, Silos 1873-78 England Meth.-Ind. Evangelist Conditional immort. Total destruction
20 454 Brooks, Cyrus 1876 England Meth.-Free Ch. Min.-Ed. (The Faith) Immort conditional Total destruction
21 456 Cocorda, Oscar 1883 Italy Waldensian Evangelist Conditional immort. Complete destruction
22 457 Forster. E. W. 1873 England Anglican Solicitor-Examiner Conditional immort. Total destruction
23 457 Waylen, Jas. 1878 England Anglican Hist-artist Life only in Christ Total destruction
24 459 "THE FAITH" LIB. 1897-1907 England All faiths 128 Condit.
25 460 Winckler, G. W. England Layman-author Immort. conditional Asleep in death Complete destruction
26 463 Bonney, T. G. 1885 England Anglican Scientist-prof. Life only in Christ
27 466 Clarke, Thos. England Anglican Surgeon-prof. Conditional immort. Complete unconsciousness Total destruction
28 467 Madeley, Frank Eng.-China Baptist Missionary Conditional immort. Total destruction
29 467 Rowe, V. F. England Layman Immort. conditional Dead not in heaven Total destruction
.30 469 Moncrieff, Wm. G. 1852-91 Scot.-Can. Scott. Presby. Minister-author Immort. conditional Complete unconsciousness Ultimate non-exist.
31 474 Blain, Jacob 1853 U.S. Baptist Pastor No innate immort. Total destruction
32 479 HUDSON, C. F. 1857-67 U.S. Cong.-Ind. Pastor-prof. Candidate for immort. Unconscious detention Second death-destr.
33 489 Ives, Chas. L. 1877 U.S.Physician-prof. Immort. conferred Complete unconsciousness Totally destroyed
34 495 PETTINGELL, J. H. 1878-84 U.S. Cong.-Adv. Chr. Minister-author Candidate for immort. Utter extinct. life
35 505 SYMPOSIUM (21) 1882 U.S.- Brit.-Cont. All faiths—The Life Everlasting—P esentation of Case for Cond itionalism Total destruction
36 508 Beecher, H. W. 1875 U.S. Congregational Minister-ed. Conditional immort. Total destruction
37 509 Abbott, Lyman 1888-90 U.S. Congregational Pastor-ed.-author Mortal Utter destruction
38 512 Stowe, Harriet B. 1858 U.S. Congregational Author Rejects etern. torment
39 516 Hendrickson, C. R. 1882 U.S. Baptist Pastor Immort. only in Christ Not conscious in death Total destruction
40 518 Butler, C. M. 1865-90 U.S. Episcopalian Rector-prof. Conditional immort. Total death
41 520 Bacon, L. W. 1882-90 U.S. Congregational Pastor-prof.-ed. Immort not inherent No eternal torment
42 521 SYMPOSIUM (52) 1890 U.S. That Unknown Country (52 participants)—All three views of trilemma presented
43 522 Wilson, Jos. D. 1882 U.S. Ref. Epis. Rector-prof. Immort. conditional Returns—non-exist.
44 524 Hart, Wm. R. 1882 U.S. Layman-businessman No innate immort. Ultimate destruction
45 528 Kramer, Geo. R. 1882 U.S. Meth.-Ind. Pastor Immort after resurrec. 2d death—no resur.
46 529 Mann, Cameron 1888 U.S. Prot.-Epis. Bishop Not inherently immort. Ultimate destruction
1. In 1877 a fresh revolt began against Eternal-Torment that made a worldwide impact, and resulted in a widespread restudy of the issue in Britain, the Continent, America, and beyond, and setting off a chain of developments.
2. Dean Farrar's epochal Westminster Abbey sermons, in November, 1877, marked a turning point in the consideration of Conditionalism, forcing it to the fore as the centre of controversy, investigation, and pulpit discussion, not only in England but out to the ends of the earth, more so than upon any single previous occasion.
3. This resulted in a succession of symposiums—newspaper, periodical, and book—both in Britain and in America, bringing the conflicting positions before multitudes for scrutiny and evaluation. The periodicals were the Homiletic Monthly, Christian World, and Contemporary Review in Britain, and the North American Review, Christian Union, and Homiletic Monthly in the United States. Two of the leading book symposiums were The Life Everlasting (twenty-one contributors), and That Unknown Country (fifty-two participants, pro and con).
4. One abiding result was the formation of a Conditional Immortality Association in Britain—an intradenominational organization, with an official organ (The Bible Standard), and having annual and then semi-annual conferences, with noted participants, printed reports, and exerting a marked influence.
5. A large group of able men of all persuasions—not only theologians, but teachers, scientists, historians, physicians, editors, Bible translators, and missionaries, not to mention bishops and deans—affirmed their acceptance of Conditionalism and commanded respect because of their erudition, accomplishments, and prominence.
6. Nevertheless, the awakened interest resulted in a wave of repression and ostracism in some sections, extending out to many lands—not only in Britain and Scotland but in Belgium, South Africa, Japan, China, and the United States—bringing the issue before multitudes from yet another angle.
7. Five additional Conditionalist periodicals in Britain and America—The Messenger, Bible Echo, Rainbow, Bible Standard, and The Faith—provided the medium for contacting large groups of readers.
8. The production of a remarkable pamphlet literature (The Faith Library) with 128 separate items—comprising special contributions, addresses, reprints of choice book chapters or periodical articles, discussions, and research findings—provided choice inexpensive literature for wide distribution.
9. Various publishers arose who continued to give wings to new books, periodicals, pamphlets, and tracts in different lands, but chiefly in Britain and America.
10. Two American writers produced books of exceptional merit—Prof. Charles F. Hudson and Rev. John H. Pettingell—comparable to the writings of Constable in Britain, and lifting the level of Conditionalist scholarship and appeal in North America.
11. Noted American names likewise appear on the Conditionalist roster—like Dr. Lyman Abbott and world-known author Harriet Beecher Stowe. And famous preachers now back the Conditionalist position in a spreading revolt against the dogma of Eternal Torment.
Technical Aspects of This Period
The denominational spread in this time section (B) is more diversified—nine Anglican (or Episcopal), nine Congregational, seven Independent or Non-Conformist, four Presbyterian, two Methodist (or Wesleyan), and one each of Disciple, Waldensian, and Advent Christian.
In geographical distribution there was also a marked shift. While nineteen were in Britain, Fourteen were now in America, with the rest spread over Italy, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, Japan, and China.
And as to positions or vocations of these spokesmen, there were one bishop, one dean, a general superintendent, twelve university, seminary, or college professors, twelve pastors or rectors, six editors, four physicians, and four missionaries, as well as a Bible translator, an evangelist, a lawyer, a scientist, prominent laymen, and military men—and all of them authors. These take up the cudgels, producing books of merit as well as unnumbered periodical articles.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
As we have seen again and again, the seventies and eighties constituted a period of marked restlessness and concern in theological circles, both in the Old World and in the New. Even among those not personally participating in the discussion over the nature and destiny of man there was widespread conviction that a re-examination of the whole question was now called for. And unquestionably there was a far-flung revolt. against the traditional dogma of the Eternal Torment of the wicked, as multiplied scores of books on the issue testify.
And as we have noted, this thought was frequently voiced by leaders in the growing Conditionalist Movement, which awakening now embraced many of the finest scholars of the day. It was just at this time that internationally known Dr. Philip Schaff was moved to express his deep-seated conviction that it was time to take up the unfinished business of the Reformation and bring it to completion. And in this category Schaff definitely included the "middle state," or state of man in death—upon which Luther's lone voice had touched, as the Reformation broke—and of course, involving the true eschatology of Scripture. Note Schaff's phrasing in its setting.
1 DR. PHILIP SCHAFF (1819-1893), Swiss-born American theologian and church historian, was educated at Tubingen, Halle, and Berlin. He became professor of history at the German Reformed Seminary in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania (1844) and professor and finally president of Union Theological Seminary in New York (1870). His twelve-volume History of the Christian Church (1883-1893), and The Person of Christ (1865), were matched by his editing of the Schaff-Herzog Religious Encyclopedia (1882-1884), The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (twenty-eight volumes, 1877) and The Creeds of Christendom (1877). In 1870 he was made president of the American Committee for the Revision of the authorized version of the Bible.
REFORMERS LEFT "MIDDLE STATE" FOR PRESENT CONSIDERATION.—In 1883 [1] Schaff distinguished president of Union Theological Seminary, theologian, historian, author, and editor, went on record with this statement as to the Reformers' having left the "Middle State" problem "for our days to reconsider":
"While they [the Reformers] rooted out the mediaeval doctrine of Purgatory, they failed to substitute a better theory of the middle state, and left it for our days to reconsider this whole question and to reach positive results. The Protestant creeds almost wholly ignore the middle state, and pass from death immediately to the final state after the general judgment, and the old Protestant theologians nearly identify the pre-resurrection state of the righteous and wicked with their post-resurrection state, except that the former is a disembodied state of perfect bliss or perfect misery. By this confusion the resurrection and the general judgment are reduced to an empty formality." [2]
This was precisely the case. This aspect of the larger question of the nature and destiny of man, his state during death, was largely untouched by the Protestant Reformer group as a whole. They rejected Purgatory. But aside from Luther and Tyndale and a few others, they left the basic problem, inherited from Catholicism, largely unresolved. And this was specifically what was now being challenged with increasing vigour on both sides of the Atlantic, in this second half of the nineteenth century. This search, and often struggle, for a true solution unfolds before our eyes in the chapters of this section.
2 Philip Schaff, "Studies in Eschatology," The Presbyterian Review (New York), October, 1883, p. 737.
3 CHARLES AUGUSTUS BRIGGS (1841-1913) was trained at Union Theological Seminary and in Berlin. After pastoral work he became professor of Hebrew at Union Seminary, anti was made editor of The Presbyterian Review (1880-1890). In 1899 he took orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church.
Similar views were echoed by other prominent non-participating theologians. One was Dr. Charles A. Briggs, [3] one of the managing editors of The Presbyterian Review at the time Schaff's conviction was voiced in its pages. Briggs likewise recognized the crucial hour to which the Christian faith had come, and expressed the need of a restudy of eschatology, which is inseparably associated with the nature and particularly the destiny of man. His statement appeared in his book Whither? A Theological Question for the Times (1889). Hear it:
"All the faults of Traditionalism converge at this point [of eschatology]. Here we find extra-confessional errors, infra-confessional errors, and contra-confessional errors; and the entire Church is in a condition of great perplexity." [4]
This problem, he believed, needed to be studied through. And we are witnessing in these chapters the momentous struggle of earnest men to reach sound conclusions on these basic issues. We now continue the testimony of scholarly American witnesses. Note especially the tie-in with Section V, by A. J. Gordon.
WILLIAM REED HUNTINGTON, D.D., LL.D. (1838-1909), rector of All Saints church, Worcester, Massachusetts, for twenty-one years (1862-1883), then of Grace church in New York City, was trained at Norwich University, Vermont, and at Harvard. He became one of the most widely known clergymen of his time. He was elected bishop of Iowa, but declined in order to continue his parish work. [5] While rector at Worcester he gave a memorable series of sermons on various aspects of Conditional Immortality, which position he had frankly espoused. These addresses he later published in book form under the same title Conditional Immortality (1878).
4 C. A. Briggs, Whither? A Theological Question for the Times, p. 195.
5 Worcester [Mass.] Telegram, July 27, 1909.
Dr. Huntington frankly states that his purpose in publishing was twofold: (1) To offer a Biblical alternative for those who cannot accept the horrors of the dogma of the Eternal Torment of the wicked; and (2) "to test the right of a clergyman thinking as I thought to keep a standing place in the ministry of the Episcopal Church." [6] This explanation he wrote in 1881. Then he states, "Having accomplished the last object, and done what little I could towards the former end, I am content." His plan was successful. His Conditionalist views did not affect either his churchly standing or his influence.
1. HUNTINGTON INFLUENCED BY WHITE AND HUDSON.—In Suter's Life and Letters of William Reed Huntington (1925), in a letter dated August 1, 1878, in connection with a statement as to his own belief in Conditional Immortality, Huntington alludes to Conditionalist Edward White as "author of the best book there is on 'Conditional Immortality.' " Suter also refers to the earlier influences leading to Hunting-ton's espousal of the teaching of Life Only in Christ, and the vicissitudes resulting therefrom:
"Presentations of this subject had strongly influenced Dr. Huntington, even in the years before he entered upon the work in Worcester, especially Charles Frederick Hudson's book entitled, 'Debt and Grace.' Furthermore, it is of interest to remember that it was in relation to the 'doctrine of the last things' that young Huntington, the candidate, was thought to be unsound by Bishop Eastburn, and possibly one to whom ordination should be denied." [7]
But he was ordained, nevertheless. Suter then makes this pertinent observation: "It is to be noted that this theory of conditional immortality appears to have had a certain fascination, for preachers and leaders in the Episcopal Church." [8]
The truth of this statement is attested again and again on both sides of the Atlantic.
6 W. R. Huntington, "Letter," quoted in J. H. Pettingell, The Life Everlasting, p. 749.
7 John Wallace Suter, Life and Letters of William Reed Huntington, A Champion of Unity, p. 176.
8 Ibid., p. 177.
2. CONDITIONALIST VIEWS REAFFIRMED AT CLOSE OF LIFE. —Toward the close of Dr. Huntington's life, in a letter written in 1906, he reiterates his unchanged conviction of Life Only in Christ in these explicit words quoted by Suter:
"I have never changed my conviction that eternal life in Christ and no eternal life away from Him is the real New Testament teaching. It can be set forth without lurid accompaniments, and yet in a way to startle the conscience, and certainly the conscience needs startling now and then. It certainly is a very curious fact in theology that, among all the voices in the Bible, that of the mild and gentle Jesus is the one most eloquent of doom. There is much more about hell in the Gospels than in the Epistles, and very much less in the Old Testament than in either Gospels or Epistles. The sulphurous symbolism of the Apocalypse, of course, stands by itself as a thing apart, but even there I seem to discern more hints of spiritual death and destruction than of everlasting consciousness of torment." [9]
3. IMMORTALITY A GIFT BESTOWED ON SEEKERS.—In Conditional Immortality (1878), in commenting on 1 Peter 4:17 ("What shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?"), Huntington refers to three views commonly held: (1) That the soul is mortal and perishes with the body; (2) that the soul is immortal and cannot die, and continues to exist forever; and (3) that the soul, subject to death in consequence of sin, may by the grace and gift of God become immortal and live forever—which belief is Conditional Immortality. This he considered the true position. He maintains that a— "never-ending existence is not the common heritage of all men in virtue of their having been born into this world, but is rather to be regarded as a gift bestowed on those who seek it from the Eternal Himself." [10]
4. ULTIMATE AND UTTER DESTRUCTION OF WICKED.—On page 47 Huntington refers to the six prevalent concepts as to the fate of the wicked, which might be listed as: (1) Extinction of being at death; (2) immediate admission to state of blessedness at death; (3) restoration after a season of punishment; (4) happiness or unhappiness, according to conduct, in present world; (5) never-ceasing torment; and (6) final extinction of the unrepentant wicked after an appropriate period and degree of punishment—the position that he holds.
9 Ibid., pp. 446, 447.
10 Huntington, Conditional Immortality, p. 124.
As to the fate of the wicked, there are three major schools of thought, constituting a theological trilemma, just as devel-oped in the Early Church. These are: (1) Never-ending Punishment—which rests on antecedent belief that man is immortal; (2) Universal Restorationism; and (3) Conditional Immortality, with ultimate and utter destruction for the incorrigibly wicked. In championing the last of these schools, Huntington again concurs with all Conditionalists. Then he turns to the attitude of Anglicanism.
5. CONDITIONALISM IMPLICIT IN ANGLICAN FORMULARIES. —In chapter twenty of The Everlasting Gospel, an appendix to his volume Conditional Immortality is republished. Dr. Huntington there discusses the Conditionalism implicit in the Anglican formularies, set forth by the revisionists from Edward's to Elizabeth's day. [11] The reduction of the Forty-two Articles to Thirty-nine was, he avers, "in consequence of the perfectly loyal adherence of those sixteenth-century scholars to the early Christian tradition." [12] And "because the Prayer-Book faithfully reflects Scripture," it "presents conditional immortality as the likeliest purport of our Lord's teaching about the future of man." [13] Then he comments:
"When it is remembered how thoroughly the popular theology of the Reformation period, both Roman and anti-Roman, was committed to the doctrine of endless torment, it seems little short of miraculous that the revised service-book of the national Church [in 1562] should have been kept clean from so great a blemish." [14]
6. LIFE ONLY IN CHRIST IN PRAYER BOOK AND COLLECTS. —Huntington then refers to the judgment rendered by the ecclesiastical court of 1864. [15] But passing the legal precedent, he comes to the plain English of the Prayer Book concerning "endless life through Christ," and declares that one "could not frame one [a liturgy] better adapted to the purpose than that which already exists under the name of The Common Prayer." Discussing the Latin aternus and the Greek aionios, he declares the terms do not necessarily "connote endless duration," and contends that life is "given to us only in Christ." And consequently, "all life which is cut off from Christ's life is a non-everlasting, perishable thing." [16]
11 See chapter six of this work.
12 Quoted in Pettingell, The Life Everlasting, p. 745.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 Pettingell, op. cit., p. 746.
16 See pp. 394-396.
Discussing the Litany, "From everlasting damnation, Good Lord, deliver us," Huntington refers to "everlasting damnation" as "inevitable loss," or deprivation of "his very existence." [17] Then, in the Morning Prayer, and others, appeal is made that we be brought "to everlasting life." And in the first of the Advent collects, we pray that " 'in the time of this mortal life,' we may so cast away the works of darkness that in the last day we may 'rise to the life immortal:' while in the second we ask that 'we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life which Thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ.' " [18] Then Dr. Huntington declares: "The whole doctrine of conditional immortality may be said to be contained in these two collects." [19]
7. CHRIST OPENED "GATE OF EVERLASTING LIFE."—"On the Sunday before Easter we are bidden to pray that we may . . . be 'made partakers of His resurrection.' " And on Easter, the opening collect refers to the Resurrected Christ as the One who has "'opened unto us the gate of everlasting life,' " and by His death and resurrection "hath restored to us everlasting life." [20] Thus we may "come to the land of everlasting life." [21] So it is through the Son of God that we are "strengthened and built up into that life which alone is permanent and abiding."
Such is Dr. Huntington's argument on the Anglican formularies, placing their evidence before his readers. He closes with the thought that the Anglican manual of worship reflects "the great central truth of the revelation of Jesus Christ: 'I am come that ye might have life, and that ye might have it more abundantly.' " [22]
17 Ibid, pp. 746, 747.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid., p. 747.
21 Ibid., p. 748.
22 Ibid., p. 749.
GEORGE DANA BOARDMAN, D.D., LL.D. (1828-1903), gifted Baptist clergyman, and for thirty years pastor of the First Baptist church of Philadelphia, was the son of Baptist missionaries to Burma, his mother being the second wife of Adoniram Judson. After graduating from Brown University and Newton Theological Seminary, Boardman was ordained in 1855. Then, after an eight-year pastorate in Rochester, New York, he went to Philadelphia, where he ministered in one church for the remainder of his life. (Pictured on page 543.)
A man of sterling integrity, large-minded, great hearted, and beloved by all, he stood in the front rank of the Baptist ministry. Indeed, in many things he was far ahead of his day, blending "doctrine with doing" and "creed with character." His purpose was "not to argue but inquire, not to destroy but to upbuild." [23] He was also a frequent lecturer in various colleges and religious congresses.
1. NATURAL IMMORTALITY NOT TAUGHT IN BIBLE.—TO Dr. Boardman the Bible was ever supreme. And his Philadelphia pastorate was unique in that he preached 931 expositor sermons that traversed the whole of the Old and the New Testament. It was estimated that these would be the equivalent of sixty-four volumes of 350 pages each. And many were put into printed form. Such is an expositional procedure probably without a parallel in the annals of modern preaching. And it was out of such a background of Bible study that he espoused Conditionalism. In his Studies in the Creative Week, one of his best-known works, he expressly states:
23 Kerr Boyce Tupper, George Dana Boardman, p. 11.
24 George D. Boardman. Studies in the Creative Week, pp. 215. 216.
25 Boardman, Immortality. p. 11.
"Not a single passage of Holy Writ, from Genesis to Revelation, teaches, so far as I am aware, the doctrine of Man's natural immortality. On the other hand, Holy Writ emphatically declares that God only hath immortality (1 Tim. 6. 16)." [24]
Here are a few other samples: "Belief then in Jesus Christ is the pivotal condition of securing the gift of immortality." [25]
"I fear that in our preaching we do not make enough of this pivotal doctrine of Christianity [the resurrection], this distinguishing revelation of the gospel, this divine announcement from the Lord of the worlds, to wit, that Jesus and Jesus only is the resurrection and the life." [26]
There was likewise a statement in his Epiphanes that is revealing:
"In the first Adam life existed as in a receptacle; from the Second Adam [Christi life flows as from a fountain. Having life in Himself inherently, and not as a gift, the Second Adam touches life in its very origin and spring, being Himself the Resurrection and the Life." [27]
2. MAN NOT NATURALLY OR INHERENTLY IMMORTAL.—It should be explained that Dr. Boardman's Studies in the Creative Week were originally delivered as Sunday night sermons. Then, upon request, they were given a second time as fourteen noon lectures in a Philadelphia hall in 1878, and finally put into book form. So they had three public presentations—two oral and one printed. These sermons deal with Creation, Eden, the tree of life, the Fall, and the plan of redemption. One of Boardman's key statements is that the "Tree of Life" was called such "because it was the symbol of bestowed immortality." [28] And there is this further explicit statement: "man is not naturally, inherently, constitutionally, in the original make-up of his being, immortal." [29]
He then adds that he is speaking of "the doctrine of im-mortality as indicated in the [Genesis] Archive of Eden." Here is his full, lucid statement concerning the Biblical witness as to man's nature, from which an excerpt is quoted:
"I must add that not a single passage of Holy Writ, from Genesis to Revelation, teaches, so far as I am aware, the doctrine of Man's natural immortality. On the other hand, Holy Writ emphatically declares that God only hath immortality (1 Tim. 6. 16): that is to say: God alone is naturally, inherently, in His own essence and nature, immortal. He alone is the I AM—having this as His name forever, His memorial to all generations (Ex. 3. 13-15). If, then, Man is immortal, it is because immortality has been bestowed on him. He is immortal, not because he was created so, but because he has become so, deriving his deathlessness from Him Who alone hath immortality." [30]
26 Ibid., p. 14.
27 Boardman, Epiphanies of the Risen Lord, p. 266.
28 Boardman, Creative Week, p. 215.
29 Ibid.
30 Ibid., pp. 215, 216.
3. IMMORTALITY TIED IN WITH TREE OF LIFE.—Dr. Boardman concludes with this related question and statement:
"If Man is inherently immortal, what need was there of any Tree 'Of Life at all? This much, then, seems to be clear: Immortality was some-how parabolically conditioned on the eating of this mysterious Tree, and the Immortality was for the entire Man—spirit and soul and body." [31]
4. PAGAN DUALISM RETAINED IN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY. —Boardman deplores the fact that Zoroastrian Dualism was injected into Christianity, and remarks, "It is amazing that a notion so thoroughly heathen was not long ago uprooted out of Christian theology." Then, turning to another angle, he adds, "It seems impossible" that "the spirit should consciously exist without a body." [32] That was the witness of his Creative Week. "Heaven is a place as well as a state, a locality as well as a character. Thus in a sense, the two worlds—the present and the future—are related to each other as means to ends." [33]
5. ANALOGIES FROM NATURE ARE DECEPTIVE.—Next, in a remarkable sermon on "Immortality," preached by Dr. Boardman before the North Philadelphia Baptist Association, an assembly of ministers, on October 1, 1891, and "published by order of the Association," he answers the transcendent question, "If a man die, shall he live again?" Dr. Boardman says that we cannot get any true answer from nature, meta-physics, reason, instinct, philosophy, or even the analogies of nature. As to the latter, he states convincingly:
"Very beautiful are the poetic interpretations of the re-emergence of the spring-leaves; the transformation of the caterpillar into the butterfly; the classic legends of the Phoenix and the Psyche. Alas, the analogy fails just at the point where it ought to win. Neither the tree nor the caterpillar actually died. But uproot the tree, so that the stump is actually dead; crush the caterpillar, so that its life is absolutely extinguished: think you that the tree will ever put forth spring-leaves, or that the caterpillar will ever flutter in the golden sunlight?" [34]
31 Ibid., p. 216.
32 Ibid., p. 286.
33 Ibid., p. 287.
34 Boardman, immortality, p. 6.
6. INNATE IMMORTALITY A DENIAL OF LIFE AS CHRIST'S GIFT.—To Jesus, then, we must go, and the New Testament. In His talks with Mary and Martha, Jesus declares that He Himself "in His own person and character and work, is the resurrection-force itself." [35] And this resurrection of the sleeping saints will take place when He comes back again. Then Boardman adds:
"Jesus Christ is the source and means of the life as well as of the resurrection. . .. He is the resurrection because He is the life." [36]
"Jesus Christ then is the source, the means, the giver of eternal life; the life which is spiritual, blessed, immortal." [37]
But this sweeps aside the postulate of innate "personal immortality." Then comes this striking statement:
"There is on the part of the church itself such a belief in the doctrine of the natural immortality of all men as to amount to a virtual denial of the doctrine that immortality or eternal life is the gift of Christ alone." [38]
7. THE TOUCHSTONE OF CHRISTIANITY ITSELF.—In answering the question "Do you believe that the Son of man is the sole giver of eternal life, and that he gives eternal life to none but his followers?" Boardman says:
"It is a fundamental question, lying at the very basis of Christian theology. It is the very touch-stone of Christianity. It is the gospel itself. Christ's own evangel; his good news from above; his glad tidings from the far off country. Eternal life in Jesus Christ, blissful immortality in and through the Son of man—this is Christ's own positive contribution the literature of immortality, to the philosophy of the hereafter." [39]
8. GIVE INSPIRED INFORMATION ABOUT THE HEREAFTER. —After declaring that it was Christ who "abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel"—to preach which is our responsibility as heralds and teachers—he makes this solemn appeal to his "brethren of the ministry":
"When we come into our pulpits, it is not to soothe our listeners with brilliant conjectures, hopeful surmises, elaborate attempts at demonstration concerning immortality—that kind of preaching we leave to heathen teachers and pagan philosophers in Christian lands. But when we come into our pulpits, it is to give to our listeners positive, divine information about the hereafter." [40]
35 Ibid., p. 8.
36 Ibid., p. 9.
37 Ibid., p. 11.
38 Ibid., p. 13.
39 Ibid.
40 Ibid., p. 14.
9. OBLIGATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY.—And he clinches his address with these words:
"It is our blessed privilege to say to the dying sinner: 'The wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.' It is our blessed privilege to announce to all men saints and sinners; 'Our testimony is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.' Dearly beloved, pardon me for the utterance, but I must say it: I fear that in our preaching we do not make enough of this pivotal doctrine of Christianity, this distinguishing revelation of the gospel, this divine announcement from the Lord of the worlds, to wit, that Jesus and Jesus only is the resurrection and the life. It is precisely here that the Christian Religion comes out in most striking contrast with heathen philosophies." [41]
We are to fall back upon the Word of God when "storm-tossed by materialistic doubts, philosophical speculations, satanic assaults." [42]
1. SUMMARIZING EXCERPTS ON CONDITIONALISM .—Boardman then sums up his Conditionalist position with these terse phrases:
"Out of Christ death; in Christ life. He who touches Christ's cross, and none but he, lives for ever. The way to the true Tree of Life is now open. He [Christ] is the true Elixir Vitae; He alone is the heavenly nectar and ambrosia of the true immortality." [43]
41 Ibid.
42 Ibid., p. 15.
43 Ibid., p. 16.
Amos AUGUSTUS PHELPS (1805-1874) was graduated from Yale Divinity School in 1830. In due time he entered the Methodist ministry, wherein he continued to preach success-fully for twelve years, following the traditional teachings of the church, including the orthodox position on the nature and destiny of man. But a growing dissent regarding this teaching, resulting from a painstaking review of the Bible witness, brought such censure and opposition from his superiors and fellow ministers that he withdrew in order to be free faithfully to preach his new-found convictions regarding Christ as the only Source of life for man.
He continued his preaching as an evangelist among different churches in various parts of the country. He was an effective writer, and for several years edited a religious weekly, The Bible Banner, of New York. Finally he affiliated with the Congregational Church in Rochester, New York, labouring effectively as city missionary under the direction of the Union Missionary Society of the city.
Inasmuch as his contribution is one of the most com-prehensive chapters in The Life Everlasting Symposium, we will epitomize the entire presentation, in order to provide an over-all conspectus. It is one of the most penetrating summaries, historically, Biblically, and logically, of his time. Phelps knew well the sting of such epithets as "heretic" and "infidel," and what it was to receive the anathema of some of the clergy. But he rejoiced in the fact that "hundreds of pious and scholarly men" had already repudiated this relic of "baptized Platonism." He introduced his stand in this way:
"Having given the whole subject a careful and prayerful investigation—examining alike the strongest rational and Scriptural arguments used to support the dominant view—I am compelled to reject the current doctrine of inherent immortality, for the following twelve reasons." [44]
1. IMMORTALITY OF SOUL "HAS A BAD HISTORY."—Here ✓ is the initial paragraph in his series of indictments:
"1. Satanic origin. This doctrine can be traced through the muddy channels of a corrupted Christianity, a perverted Judaism. A pagan philosophy and a superstitious idolatry to the great instigator of mischief in the garden of Eden. The Protestants borrowed it from the Catholics, the Catholics from the Pharisees, the Pharisees from the Pagans, and the Pagans from the old Serpent, who first preached the doctrine amid the lovely bowers of Paradise to an audience all too willing to hear and heed the new and fascinating theology—'Ye shall not surely die.' " [45]
44 Amos A. Phelps, "Is Man by Nature Immortal?" in Pettingell, The Life Everlasting, p. 640.
45 Ibid., pp. 640, 641.
Then, he says, "Satan patched up his system by inventing the double-entity theory," that man is a "dual being," with a "material body and an immaterial soul" constituting the "real man," with the soul leaving the body at death, and continuing to exist as a "conscious personality," "through all eternity, in happiness or misery." [46] When this theory is accepted, he adds, God is "discredited and Satan believed." [47]
2. "HEATHEN PHILOSOPHY" BECOMES PREDOMINANT.—Next, "Satan's oily argument" was adopted by the pagans down the "stream of time," especially by the Egyptians, with the added element of "transmigration." Among the Greeks it became a philosophy rather than a religion, accompanied by "endless confusions and speculations." Then "Plato, the leading defender, coupled the doctrine of immortality with that of pre-existence and transmigration." [48]
3. "JEWISH BELIEF" CORRUPTED BY ASSOCIATION.—Not until after long association with the heathen did the Jews adopt these extraneous views—after the Babylonian captivity. Then the Pharisees tried to "couple the Scriptural doctrine of resurrection with the pagan doctrine of natural immortality, while the Sadducees rejected both." Jesus warned His disciples "not to accept the doctrine of either." [49]
2. "CHRISTIAN COMPROMISE" EFFECTED SLOWLY.—Following the Conditionalist teaching of Christ and the apostles, all five Apostolic Fathers held to the clear "Gospel of life and death." But at the end of the second century the penetration began:
"While Theophilus, Polycrates, Irenaeus, Lactantius, and some others proclaimed life only in Christ, Athanagoras, Tertullian, Augustine, and others affirmed the doctrine of immortality for all men, and endless torments for the wicked." [50]
This last feature was "so revolting" that others began to contend that "all" will be ultimately and "eternally saved." Thus the "commingled systems of Christianity and Platonic philosophy" permeated the church—the "unholy leaven" working "until nearly the whole lump was at last infected." [51] It is but fair to state that Phelps evidences a remarkable grasp of the historical facts. [52] And he was but one of many on both sides of the Atlantic at this time making independent studies of background facts, thus lifting the whole question out of the realm of surmise and misconception.
46 Ibid., pp. 639, 640.
47 Ibid., p. 641.
48 Ibid.
49 Ibid., pp. 641, 642.
50 Ibid., p. 642.
5. "PAPAL DECREE" FORMALLY OFFICIALIZES DOGMA.—Finally, to affix the "seal of the church" upon the dogma of the "natural immortality" of the soul, Leo X, in 1513, affirmed that the soul is "immortal," and decreed those who asserted otherwise to be "heretics." [53] Nevertheless, "most of the Reformers" retained this papal dogma, the Helvetic Confession echoing the papal position by declaring: " 'We condemn all who scoff at the immortality of the soul, or bring it into doubt by subtle disputations.' " [54]
6. "AT VARIANCE" WITH "SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT OF MAN'S CREATION."—"The history of man's origin" sheds light on his "nature." Formed of the dust, he was "vitalized with 'the breath of life.'" The "whole man, thus vitalized, 'became a living soul.' Not a word is said about an 'immortal soul.' " The prevalent theory could never be deduced from Genesis 1 and 2. [55]
7. "CLASHES" WITH "BIBLE STATEMENT OF MAN'S FALL."—Our first parents were placed "between two possible destinies mortality and immortality." From the day of the Fall, Adam "became a dying man." He "subjected himself to a death-destiny." He was excluded from Eden lest, as a sinner, he might live forever. He was thus cut off from all possibility of becoming immortal in misery." [56]
51 Ibid.
52 See Part 1 of this volume.
53 Phelps, "Is Man Immortal?" in Pettingell, The Life Everlasting, pp. 642, 643.
54 Ibid., p. 643.
55 Ibid., pp. 643, 644.
56 Ibid., p. 644.
8. "OPPOSED" TO "SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE OF DEATH."— "Popular theology" transforms death into a "blessing," an "emancipator," a "gate to endless joy," a "glorious coronation." But the Bible represents the dead as having "gone to a land of darkness, of silence, of sleep, and of absolute unconsciousness" (Eccl. 9:10; Ps. 6:5; 115:17; 146:4; Eccl. 9:5; 1 Cor. 15:17, 18). It is a "negation of life," a state of complete inaction, in contrast with "uninterrupted" survival and "conscious existence." But the Bible represents the dead as having "ceased to live," and as "absolutely dependent upon the resurrection for future life." [57]
9. "EQUALLY OPPOSED" TO "PHYSIOLOGICAL FACTS."—Science shows that the "mind is not a separate entity," but an "attribute of the living man—the result of vitalized organization." The brain is the "organ of thought," as the eye is the "organ of vision." A head injury, indenting the skull, may produce "sudden unconsciousness," which may continue for "days, weeks, or months," until the skull is trepanned and the piece of bone lifted that compressed the brain. Then consciousness is restored, and a "blank in personal history" is ended. It is "a gratuitous assumption to say that though one blow may reduce the soul to a state of unconsciousness, two or three blows will thrill it into a more vigorous life than it ever knew before!" [58]
1. "IMMORTALITY" NOWHERE ASCRIBED TO MAN'S "PRESENT STATE."—Turning next to the Biblical testimony, Phelps declares that the term immortality does not occur in the Old Testament, and occurs only five times in the New Testament. "Immortal" is applied only to the "Eternal King," not to man in whole or part (1 Tim. 1:17). As to "immortality," God alone "possesses it" (I Tim. 6:16); Christ "brought it to light," not as an "attribute of man," but as a "glorious possibility through Himself" (1 Tim. 1:10). To obtain it we must "seek" for it (Rom. 2:7). And this mortal "must put on immortality" (1 Cor. 15:53). And it cannot be put on "till the resurrection morning." Thus the Bible "does not teach the immortality of the soul." [59]
57 Ibid., p. 645.
58 Ibid., pp. 645, 646.
59 Ibid., p. 646.
11. "BLESSING TO BE SOUGHT"; NOT "BIRTHRIGHT LEGACY."—Jesus is revealed as the "world's Life-Giver." To a "race of dying sinners" He uttered the "sorrowful lament: 'Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.' " This implies that (1) "men are dead, either in fact or in prospect"; (2) Christ is the "appointed source of life, spiritual and eternal"; and (3) to obtain it men "must make personal and earnest application" (John 5:26; 1 John 5:11, 12). Eternal life is "in his Son." It is ours "by promise." We "now have it by faith and hope," and those who seek endless life will in "due time" receive it." [60]
12. "INHERENT IMMORTALITY" OPPOSED TO "SCRIPTURE DOOM OF WICKED."—According to Scripture, he continues, they shall "die" (Rom. 8:13; Deut. 30:19; Eze. 18:4; 33:11; John 6:50; Rom. 6:23; James 1:15; 5:20; Rev. 2:11; 21:8). They shall “perish" (Ps. 37:20; Luke 13:3, 5; John 3:14, 16; Rom. 2:12; 2 Cor. 2:15). They shall be "destroyed" (Ps. 145:20; 37:38; Matt. 7:13; 10:28; Phil. 3:18, 19; 2 Thess. 1:7-9). They shall be "burnt up" (Mal. 4:1; Ps. 11:6; 21:8, 9; Isa. 66:15; Matt. 3:12; 13:40-42). The logic is inexorable: "If sinners were immortal they could not perish"; but since they will "perish," they are therefore "not immortal." [61]
13. "SUPERSEDES NECESSITY FOR A RESURRECTION."—Those who stress "immortality of the soul" logically place little emphasis upon the "resurrection," as the two do not "coalesce." One vitiates the other. Even Tyndale saw this three centuries ago—that those who send men to "heaven, hell, or purgatory at death" "destroy the argument by which Christ and Paul prove the resurrection." [62]
14. "REDUCES THE JUDGMENT" TO "SOLEMN FARCE."—The Bible teaches, Phelps continues, that the judgment will render the verdicts of "human destiny." They will be "righteously rendered and faithfully executed."
60 Ibid., p. 647.
61 Ibid., pp. 647, 648.
62 Ibid., p. 648.
That "does not occur at death." There are not innumerable "judgment days scattered along the history of the race." There is an appointed "day" when all will "stand before the judgment-seat of Christ." But if "disembodied" spirits are rewarded at death, such a tribunal would be "nothing less than a solemn farce." They are not brought back from heaven or a "penal hell" to have the verdict pronounced upon them. God's way is just. [63]
15. "SUBVERTS" BIBLE DOCTRINE OF SECOND ADVENT.—Moreover, if man has "an immortal soul capable of living -without a body," there is no necessity for a resurrection of the "physical organism." If the saints go to Heaven and sinners to Hell at death, there is "no need" of Christ retuning to lift the curse and purify the earth for the saints inheritance." [64]
16. THEORY IS "PROLIFIC SOURCE" OF "ERROR."—A tree is judged by its fruits. Think of the harvest of grievous errors such a dogma has brought forth—Mohammedanism, Sharer-ism, Swedenborgianism, Spiritualism, Purgatory, Mariolatry, Universalism, Eternal-Tormentism. All these and more are "built upon the assumption" that "dead folks are alive." That is the centre and circumference of Spiritism. That is the basis of all the money extracted from the Romanist to "help his dead friends through the pains of purgatory." And Universalism is only a "natural rebound" from the "doctrine of endless torment." Those who start with the "assumption of natural immortality" are "compelled to adopt a spiritualizing system of interpretation" that "turns the Bible upside down and opens up the floodgates of damaging error." [65]
63 Ibid., pp. 646. 649.
64 Ibid., p. 649.
65 Ibid., pp. 649. 650.
ADONIRAM JUDSON GORDON (1836-1895), pastor of the Clarendon Street Baptist church, Boston, was a descendant of the renowned Pilgrim pastor, john Robinson. Adoniram's father, John Calvin Gordon, named after John Calvin, was a hyper-Calvinist. And his son, born in the modern foreign mission epoch, was accordingly named Adoniram Judson, after the missionary apostle to Burma. Such was his background.
Gordon was graduated from Brown University and New-ton Theological Seminary, and later became a trustee of both institutions. Though living in a controversial era, he was not a polemicist but a proclaimer of the gospel. Revivals were frequent in his church. He emphasized the phrases "errant man" and "Inerrant Book," and regarded the concordance as his best commentary. He was pre-eminently a spiritual preacher, as his writings attest: The Ministry of the Spirit; In Christ; Grace and Glory; Ecce Venit: Behold He Cometh; and The Two-Fold Life. To him the Bible held the place of incomparable pre-eminence.
From a six-year pastorate in Jamaica Plains Baptist church, in 1869 he was called to the important Clarendon Street church, where he ministered until his death about twenty-five years later. He lived during a predominantly negative period of unbelief and Gnosticism. Unitarian transcendentalism and the "lavender-water theology" were then flourishing in Boston, in the midst of which Gordon proclaimed a saving gospel. He was even arrested in 1885 for preaching on the Boston Commons to the unchurched. "Ruin and redemption" were the two poles of his theology, and "Back to Christ" his battle cry as he opposed the new theology of liberalism, which subtly employed the familiar phrases of orthodoxy.
To Gordon, Christianity was not a system of philosophy, but a revelation of faith, for philosophers had often made theology "dark with excess of light." And all heresies, he observed pointedly, have been invented by learned scholars, and speculations "brooded in theological schools." "Primitive faith" and the "primitive hope" were favourite expressions and objectives. He was one of the Northfield Conference speakers.
Gordon believed that the end of the age was near, and was deeply concerned over eschatology. "We are living," he said, "at the terminal point of the old and the germinal point of the new," when the "return of Christ" and the "renovation of the world" impends. Adhering to the Historical School of prophetic interpretation, held from Reformation times on-ward, [66] he believed the Papacy to be the Antichrist of prophecy, destined to be destroyed at Christ's second advent (2 Thess. 2:8). He was convinced that it was the only power that "answered to the prophecy of antichrist," which had in many areas turned the truth of God into a lie, and had effected fatal substitutions for the gospel.
1. DEATH INJECTED AS THE OBJECT OF HOPE.—Tremendous events, Gordon held, were to mark Christ's coming. Among others, the day of the Advent is also "the day of the resurrection—'that blessed last of deaths, when death is dead.' " His biographer-son makes this significant statement:
"His beliefs were those of the early church untainted by Hellenisms. Those two errors of an earthly theology, 'that the world is the Christian's home and that the grave is the Christian's hope,' were unqualifiedly rejected." [67]
Adoniram Gordon also significantly stated: " 'As the earlier martyrs must wait for the later martyrs before they can receive their full consummation of blessedness, so must the renewed soul wait for the renewed body in order that it may be perfected.' " And his revealing words concerning erroneous eschatological concepts are highly significant:
"'Because our eschatology has so generally overlooked this great fact and substituted the doctrine of the immortality of the soul for the scriptural doctrine of the resurrection of the man, the eye has been fixed on death as the object of hope.” [68]
66 See Froom, Prophetic Faith, vols. 2, 3, 4.
67 Ernest B. Gordon, Adoniram Judson Gordon—a Biography, p. 328. The value of the biography is enhanced because it is replete with "extracts drawn from unpublished or uncollected sermons and addresses."
68 Quoted in Gordon, loc. cit.
2. SEXTON'S BELL HAS SUPPLANTED ANGEL'S TRUMP.—Denying that death is the great "sanctifier," Gordon insisted that— "it is only when the glorified soul is united to the glorified body that we shall awake satisfied in his likeness the predestined purpose of redemption, that we should be conformed to the image of his Son, consummated at last in a flash of Advent glory." [69]
Modern concepts, he declared, have supplanted the primitive doctrine of resurrection. Gordon contended that— "instead of holding that at the sound of the last trump God 'will quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you,' it is becoming very common to maintain that at death a spiritual, incorporeal substance is released from the body. Thus one's death is his resurrection, since in that event an imprisoned spiritual body breaks its shell and comes forth like the butterfly from the chrysalis. It is not, therefore, the angel's trumpet calling the dead from the grave that ushers in the resurrection, but the sexton's bell tolling the dead to the grave." [70]
Such a concept Gordon totally rejected.
3. PREMILLENNIALISM DISCREDITED UNDER ROMAN APOS-TASY.—He held that premillennialism was the "orthodox faith of the church in the primitive and purest ages," but that it began seriously to be discredited when the church passed under the shadow of Roman apostasy, which in turn threw the most vital truths of the gospel "into eclipse." Premillennial-ism was "only partially revived at the Reformation, but for the last half-century has been reasserting itself with such power that it may be safely affirmed that nine-tenths of the best European biblical scholarship now stands solidly for its defence." [71]
Gordon held that premillennialism had been the faith of the Anabaptists, more than of any other reformed group, and then of the Baptists from their very beginning. And although there had been a "gradual disappearance of chiliasm before the advancing corruptness of the Roman Catholic Church," there was, nevertheless, ever a "hidden stream of doctrine in which this faith still flowed on." [72] However, Luther and his associates "failed fully to revive this doctrine" at the Reformation.
69 Ibid.
70 Ibid., p. 329.
71 Ibid., p. 356.
72 Ibid., p. 357.
4. SIGNIFICANT ADDRESS ON "RECURRENCE OF DOCTRINE."—In an impressive address to the alumni of Newton Theological Seminary, given June 10, 1885, on "The Recurrence of Doctrine," Gordon spoke impressively of the "pro-cession," or "recurrence," of doctrinal emphases—one truth receiving powerful emphasis for a time, followed by another coming into prominence, so that "cycles of doctrine" are characteristic of the Christian Era. Thus it is that the "warmer zone of Christology" has succeeded the "frigid latitude of Theology." It is by this "fresh uncovering of a doctrine," he added, that "great revivals and reformations have been effected" and heresies that have developed have been met.
Now comes the heart of his address. A century passed between Huss and Luther, each name standing for a great religious movement. Another hundred years elapsed between Luther and John Owen, a century from Owen to Wesley, and a hundred years between Wesley and Spurgeon. Developing this line, Gordon pointed out that the Bohemian revival had as its watchword, "The Eucharist for the people." It was a mighty uprising against the papal mutilation of the sacrament. "The Hussites were called Calixtines, or defendants of the chalice," as vast congregations met "in open fields, on the mountain tops, and in groves," to celebrate the "communion in both kinds"—a sacramental revival and a protest against priestly assumptions and perversions.
The Lutheran watchword was "justification by faith," the emphasis shifting from the "vindication of a sacrament to the vindication of faith!" A century later, under Oxford's vice-chancellor, John Owen, central figure in the Puritan Movement, the watchword was "Personal Righteousness," stressing the paralleling works emphasized by James as a mighty counterpoise—not nullifying the doctrines of grace but buttressing them by law and works.
Then a century later came Wesley, leader of a new spiritual revolution, with the watchwords "Free Grace" and "The witness of the Spirit." In an age of "barren externalism" came his plea for "interior piety," resulting in a "world-wide renovation of formal Christianity." But in time the prescribed spiritual exercises became a burden, and it was deemed presumptuous to "cherish the slightest hope that we had passed from death unto life." So there came a swing back to preaching the "objective Christ" under the revival movement of Spurgeon and Moody—"salvation by the objective work and the objective word of Christ"—not the "wounds of penitence in the sinner's heart; but the wounds of penalty in the Saviour's body"; not simply "Christ within us as the ground of our salvation, but Christ for us on the cross and on the throne."
"Truth," said Gordon, is commonly stressed "in two extremes." Predestination and free-will are both true, and justification by faith and by works, and salvation by Christ's work both in us and for us. One aspect must not be stressed out of proportion to the other, for that is how heresies have arisen and extravagances have come to pass.
5. ESCHATOLOGY TO BE FINAL BATTLEGROUND.—Then Gordon quotes Prof. R. D. Hitchcock's predictive statement, that "the one field of Christian truth which yet remains to be explored is eschatology, or the doctrine of the Last Things." These were prophetic words. On this point Gordon stated his agreement with Professor Hitchcock. He quotes Hitchcock as saying further that "eschatology is destined to be the battle-ground of theologians" in the period just before us. But eschatology centres and stands together with the second coming of Christ and is soon to assume "an unwonted prominence"—a revival of the "primitive doctrine of our Lord's second coming."
6. DEATH SUBSTITUTED FOR SECOND ADVENT.—Next comes this correlated statement bearing upon the destiny of man:
"By a ghastly anachronism, death has been largely substituted for the coming of Christ, in the common teaching; and thus a false centre has been set up in our eschatology, by which the doctrines pertaining to the last things have been thrown into eccentric relation." [73] This involves the disposition of the wicked, in relation to the Second Advent.
7. RESURRECTION "BROKEN FROM ITS BIBLICAL MOORINGS." —Speaking of the common "notion that a Christian's resurrection takes place immediately upon his death," Gordon declared, "I must characterize such a view as a practical denial of the resurrection"—a "doctrine which has broken from its biblical moorings." He then refers to such "faulty eschatology" as appears in works like Munger's Freedom of Faith, "where death is made practically identical with the coming of Christ, and the immortality of the soul has taken the place of bodily resurrection." This, Gordon asserted, is "an utter rejection of the scriptural doctrine of resurrection." It is the "denial or the neglect of the doctrine of Christ's personal advent that has tended powerfully to bring in this perversion."
He then calls for putting the "central truth" of eschatology back into its proper place, and comments: " 'Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures! On this single thread of revelation all the doctrines of Soteriology are strung together,—atonement, justification, sanctification. . . .
" 'This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.' On this single thread, all the doctrines of eschatology, are strung together—resurrection, reward, eternal glory." [74]
73 A. J. Gordon, The Recurrence of Doctrine: An Address delivered before the alumni of Newton Theological Seminary, June 10, 1885, p. 16.
74 Ibid., p. 19.
8. FORSAKEN DOCTRINES TO BE REVIVED.—Gordon is emphatic against such heresies as death-resurrection:
"An atonement which does not centre in Christ crucified is no atonement; a resurrection which does not centre in Christ glorified and coming in the clouds of heaven, and calling all that are in their graves to come forth, is no resurrection. Resurrection means a standing up again of those who have fallen down under the stroke of death, in bodies fashioned like unto Christ's resurrection body; and no butterfly elimination affected by the dissolving chemistry of death can at all answer to the meaning of this great word." [75]
He closed his address with this assurance: "Doctrines which have fallen into neglect and disuse are sure to revive and take their place once more in the belief and affection of the church." Such was the expectation, in 1885, of Baptist A. J. Gordon, of Boston.
75 Ibid., p. 18.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
It is again to be remarked that the men we have been surveying in these chapters were men of scholastic attainments, graduates of institutions of higher learning, with trained minds and balanced viewpoints. They were neither ignorant nor gullible, but sound, sensible, and stable. And it is to be noted that for the most part they continued, after avowing Conditionalism, to minister to intelligent congregations or to student bodies in institutions of higher learning without serious challenge or censure. There were, of course, flagrant exceptions to such treatment. And these spokesmen were not confined to any one denomination, sect, language group, or nation, but were scattered throughout all major religious bodies in many lands. It was a worldwide awakening.
Furthermore, many were highly accomplished in Biblical languages, as well as in Latin, history, and philosophy, and were well acquainted with the principles of sound exegesis. They were not inclined to fasten upon some fanciful or irresponsible theory. They understood the involvements. They were exacting, yes, demanding in their scholarship, and came to their conclusions on the basis of substantial evidence and years of painstaking, competent study. It is therefore obvious that their expressed opinions, as champions of Conditionalism, are entitled to due weight and respectful consideration. Let us note still others, just as they come chronologically.
CHARLES HENRY OLIPHANT (1852-1926), after his earlier schooling, served for a while as a newspaper reporter, taught high school for a time, and studied law. Believing himself called to the ministry, Oliphant then attended and graduated from Yale Divinity School. In 1876 he was ordained to the Congregational ministry. After serving briefly as pastor of churches in New Jersey and Connecticut he became pastor of the First Congregational church in Methuen, Massachusetts, remaining there continuously for thirty-three years—from 1884 until his retirement in 1917. From then until his death he was pastor emeritus.
At the time of his induction in Methuen, Oliphant presented a unique and well-rounded Statement of Theological Opinion before the Council of Installation, at which time he publicly declared, at the very outset of his ministry there, his Conditional Immortality views on the nature and destiny of man. Indeed, these lay at the heart of his doctrinal belief and moulded his entire ministry. From this initial platform he never swerved.
In 1889 he translated from the French three of Dr. Emmanuel Petavel's important theological essays—La Fin du Mal. He wrote an introductory twenty-five-page chapter before Freer had translated Petavel's Problem of Immortality, in 1892. This valuable volume bore the English title The Extinction of Evil. Here Oliphant's views are further presented in his chapter. It is to be particularly noted that these openly declared convictions did not jeopardize his relationships either with his congregation or with his denomination.
In 1887 Oliphant formed the Christian League of Methuen, said to be the first federation of interdenominational churches in America. He was an active member of school and town committees, lecturer on Christian Theism at Abbot Academy, of which he was a trustee, and a contributor to various religious and philosophical publications, as well as compiler and editor of several hymnbooks. He was likewise a member of the American Board of Foreign Missions and president of Yale Divinity School Alumni Association of Eastern Massachusetts, 1903-1904 and 1913-1914. [1]
On "The Christian Revelation," in his Statement of Theological Opinion at the time of his installation, Oliphant set forth Christ as God incarnate, the centre and circumference of his faith; and God in Christ, as mediator, reconciling the world unto Himself. "All other doctrines," he held, "find their harmony and true proportion in the doctrine of Christ." The Scriptures are the record of God's revelation, centring in Christ, the Old Testament constituting the "dawning" and the New Testament the "afterglow" of His light. Thus the Bible both brings God to man and lifts man to God, with "the promise and the power of an endless life."
1. POTENTIALLY, NOT INNATELY, IMMORTAL.—At the very outset, answering the question, "What [is] that eternal purpose which is purposed toward us in Christ Jesus?" Oliphant declared:
"I believe that man is a spiritual organism of whom life and death are predicable. I do not believe in the natural and necessary immortality of man but in his potential immortality;—to coin a word—in his im-mortalibility. 'This is the record: that God hath given to us everlasting life, and this life is in his Son. Whoso hath the Son hath the life; and whoso bath not the Son hath not the life.' They who have not the Son have a life, but that life is probationary and perishable. 'The life which is life indeed' is a life 'hid with Christ in God.' I believe the indispensable condition of eternal life to be conscious communion with, and obedience to God. All our springs are in him. In him we live,—if we live,—and move and have our being." [2]
1 Data from Yale Obituary Record, Yale Divinity School Library, New Haven, Connecticut.
2 Charles H. Oliphant, A Statement of Theological Opinion, p. 8.
1. DEATH MEANS DISSOLUTION AND DESTRUCTION.—Challenging the popular misconception concerning death, he declares, as he continues:
"Disobedience to the laws of organic life involves the penalty, first, of disease, and then of dissolution. So I think that 'sin, when it is full-grown, bringeth forth death.' " [3]
After "years of perplexity" regarding the destiny of the wicked, the simple yet profound conclusion here set forth brought to him clarity and understanding of the issue:
"Retribution is the inevitable portion of those who sin, and of this retribution, always painful, the event sooner or later will be everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord." [4]
Although he recognized that no one knows the length of retributive suffering to any individual sinner, yet he believed that the end will come when "the last enemy shall be destroyed." But Oliphant carefully avoided the term "annihilation" as inaccurate. He then referred with regret to the fact that the "entirely irrefutable teaching of Immortality through Christ only has been sadly retarded and obscured." [5]
3. PROBATION CONFINED TO THIS LIFE.—Declining to deal with theories, but only with the fact of the atonement, he held that mercy was thus brought to bear and made "operative for human salvation." Then he observes: "The eternal purpose purposed toward us in Christ Jesus is that we be clothed upon with the Life of God; a life happy, holy, everlasting; and the record is that whoso hath the Son hath the Life, and whoso hath not the Son hath not the Life." [6]
The condition of appropriating God's "Unspeakable Gift" is belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the office work of the Holy Spirit is to bring this to pass, and all within this life. Thus: "There can be but one probation. A second is unthinkable; for, by definition, probation, once ended, can never recommence. If it recommence it either was not probation or it did not end. In my belief, probation begins at the moment when the Christ life is presented to a soul and continues until that soul is finally determined for or against it." [7]
3 Ibid. p. 8.
4 Ibid. p. 9.
5 Ibid. p. 10.
6 Ibid. p. 13.
7 Ibid. p. 14.
Then he concludes, "There is no warrant in Scripture that probation will be accorded the hearers of the gospel beyond the grave."
4. CHRIST'S RESURRECTION IS SEAL OF IMMORTALITY.—Now the "supreme sign and seal" of this assurance to all is the "Resurrection of Jesus"—the "sign of the prophet Jonas." It is this great fact that explains the "stability and zeal of the apostles." Otherwise "immortality" would "have remained to this day only a dogma, or a promise, or a hope." The resurrection of Christ was therefore— "the proof of his divinity and the establishment of assurance among the disciples that because he lived they should live also. Death's dominion once so palpably destroyed, its sceptre was broken for ever." [8]
Such was the "Installation" declaration of Charles Oliphant when he was first inducted as Congregationalist pastor of Methuen in 1885.
5. REJECTS "INNATE IMMORTALITY" AND "ETERNAL TORMENT."—Later, in his Introduction to his translation of Petavel's The Extinction of Evil, Oliphant begins by stating his mature conviction that— "human life can acquire endless duration only through conformity to the Law of Eternal Life declared in the Christian revelation. We believe that immortality must be sought at the feet of Him 'who only hath' it. The traditional dogma that endless life is the inherent and necessary attribute of every human soul, is repudiated; and with it the two mischievous corollaries to which it lends support,—the doctrines of Eternal Torment and of Universal Salvation." [9]
8 Ibid., p. 16.
9 Oliphant, in Petavel, The Extinction of Evil. Three Theological Essays, p. 13.
6. DENIES "INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF THE SOUL."—Oliphant maintains that a created being "can have only that term of duration which its creator affixes to it; if it began, it may also end." Discussing the Platonic origin of the Innate Immortality postulate, Oliphant states that "we detect the pagan lineage" of the "Platonic argument for immortality," and the "philosophic doctrine of the soul's indestructibility" [10] in popular Christian positions.
7. HONORS "JUSTICE OF GOD" AND "FREEDOM OF MAN." —Oliphant reached his conclusions through intensive personal study:
"It was through such study, provoked, of course, by a degree of mental unrest, but preceding the perusal of any controversial work, that the writer reached a conclusion upon the main question which has been confirmed by all subsequent investigation, and which satisfies at once the demands of Scripture, of reason, and of the moral consciousness,—a conclusion which honours both the justice of God and the freedom of men; the conclusion that he only can live forever who will live unto God." [11]
8. CONCLUSION INVOLVES REJECTION OF ETERNAL TORMENT.—AS a result— "this conclusion involves the rejection of the terrific dogma of eternal torment, which drives half the church to morbid despair and the other half to a maudlin hope." [12]
9. SOUL TO SUFFER, THEN TO CEASE.—The distinction and contrast between his own view and that of traditional theology is succinctly stated: "Traditional theology says, the soul that sinned shall suffer; Conditionalism, affirming as much, goes further and declares that it shall also cease." [13]
He then declares "the immortality of all souls" to be "an unverified hypothesis, not taught by Scripture, not proved by Plato, not held by all, either in ancient or in modern times." [14] As such, he affirms, it is wholly untenable and untrue for Christian acceptance.
10. PROTESTS TERM "ANNIHILATION" AS MISLEADING.—
Oliphant also registers his protest against the employment of the term "annihilation," for the destruction of the wicked and the consequent "odium attached to a misleading word." He insists, "Another designation is preferred." The wicked will "return in the course of nature to nonentity, as conscious personalities."
10 Ibid., pp. 15-19.
11 Ibid., pp. 26, 27.
12 Ibid., p. 27.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
He defends the term "Conditional Immortality" as being "upon the whole the one most descriptive of the doctrine here set forth." [15] And he pleads for "a return to the simplicity which is in Christ, and to the purity of apostolic doctrine" [16] concerning the nature of man.
11. AFTER "DISORGANIZATION" MAN CEASES.—Concerning "eternal punishment," he adds that, "If it is punishment, it is surely eternal." But he makes this clarifying distinction: "Its suffering is protracted; its loss is eternal." [17] "Man is an organism," he states. If, because of "incorrigible sin" he is "disorganized," then "in that process of disorganization HE ceases." Such was his concept. In closing, Oliphant listed a score of outstanding early Christian and modern writers in Britain, the Continent, and America who likewise hold to Conditional Immortality. He knew full well that he did not stand alone.
JOHN HENRY HOPKINS, S.T.D. (1792-1868), bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Vermont, was born in Ireland, and came to the States as a child. In 1817 he entered the legal profession, but soon abandoned the bar for the pulpit. In 1824 he was ordained and became rector of Trinity church, Pittsburgh, later transferring to the Boston Trinity church. He also served as professor of divinity in the Episcopal Seminary of Massachusetts. Then in 1832 he was consecrated bishop of Vermont. But he retained the rectorship of St. Paul's church, at Burlington, Vermont, until 1856. He likewise sponsored the Vermont Episcopal Institution, a semi theological institution.
15 Ibid., p. 28.
16 Ibid., p. 33.
17 Ibid., pp. 33, 34.
A rugged individualist, Bishop Hopkins was one of the most learned clergymen of his church in his generation and was a persevering and successful student in the field of theology. His voluminous writings included The Primitive Creed Examined and Explained (1834), and History of the Confessionals (1850). He contributed chapter twenty-five in the Symposium, That Unknown Country, dealing with what living men believe concerning punishment after death.
In this chapter Bishop Hopkins asks whether the words "the life everlasting" of the Apostles' Creed and "the life of the world to come" of the Nicene Creed assert the "everlasting life of the wicked as well as of the righteous, and the eternity of the punishment of the lost as well as the unending joys of the blessed." [18] He thus penetrated to the heart of the current agitation. After a number of pages of careful historical review and erudite opinion, he concludes with this declaration:
"It may be said, in brief, that the 'life everlasting' of the Creeds is clearly asserted of the righteous. It is not equally clear that those words are meant to apply to the wicked. The Universal Church has never made, in any General Council, any decisive statement on that point: and therefore there is full liberty among us for the private interpretation of such passages of Holy Writ as bear upon it. Nor is there the slightest probability that this existing liberty will ever be curtailed by any dogmatic decision of the Church upon the subject." [19]
He endorses Canon Farrar's expression that " 'Endless torments' is an expression for which there is not one iota of direct Scriptural authority." [20] Hopkins also cites approvingly Professor Olshausen, Bishop Rust, and others, in similar vein. Thus another prominent Episcopal voice challenges the majority view of the Eternal Torment of the wicked. These strictures now appear with rhythmic regularity on both sides of the Atlantic. (Portrait on page 574.)
18 John H. Hopkins, "Everlasting Life a Dogma of the Catholic Church. Everlasting Death an Opinion, not a Dogma," in That Unknown Country, p. 477.
19 Ibid. p. 492
20 Ibid. p. 486
CHARLES HENRY PARKHURST (1842-1933), well-known pastor of the Madison Square Presbyterian church, in New York City, was graduated from Amherst College, then studied theology at the University of Halle in 1869-1870. For a time he served as a professor in the Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Massachusetts, then pursued further theological studies in the University of Leipsic in 1872-1873. For six years he served as pastor of the Congregational church of Lenox, Massachusetts, and finally as the successful pastor of the Madison Square Presbyterian church of New York City from 1880 to 1918 —thirty-eight years.
Parkhurst was prominent in various organizations. He was president of the Society for the Prevention of Crime. He was also author of several well-known works. Dr. Parkhurst, in his pulpit, on several occasions boldly challenged the premise of natural immortality, and advocated the view of the final extinction of the wicked. In a recorded sermon in 1892 he said:
"'There is no warrant from Bible or from nature for supposing that a soul carries within itself a policy of insurance against its own eventual obliteration. . . . We ought certainly to spend as much thought and effort in getting ready to be immortal as we spend in getting our bodies ready to survive the threescore and ten.' " [21]
21 Quoted in F. L. Piper, Conditionalism, Its Place in Eschatology, History and Current Thought, pp. 219, 220.
Among lesser groups were voices like B. C. MOOMAW (fl. 1875-1892), minister of the German Baptist (Dunkard) church, [22] of Buena Vista, Virginia. He was the contributor of chapter fifty-two, the last in the widely publicized Symposium, That Unknown Country. Contending that the Bible is the only source of reliable information, and that God through Christ is the "Only Source of Life," Moomaw affirms that the soul is not independently immortal. And further he holds to the "Total Destruction of the Finally Impenitent and Incorrigible." [23] A few key excerpts must suffice. (Pictured on page 574.)
1. LIFE OF SOUL IS NOT SELF-SUSTAINING.—The heart of Moomaw's position is compressed into this terse paragraph:
"It the soul is not self-sustaining. It does not possess within itself the springs of immortality. It hath not 'life in itself.' These attributes belong to God alone. Only 'as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.' In every creature existence is dependent and conditional,—dependent upon God, and conditional upon conformity with his law. Sever the branch from the vine and it slowly but surely withers. 'And men gather them and burn them in the fire.' This is not for punishment but for destruction. When sin therefore separates the soul from God death begins because it is cut off from the only source of life." [24]
23 The Dunkards (from the Old German Sunken, "to dip"), as German Baptists, were a Protestant sect, practicing trine immersion. Originating in Germany in 1708 with Alexander Mack, they gained adherents in Germany, Holland, ana Switzerland. Persecution in the Old World compelled them to emigrate to America about 1719. In 1880 the Dunkards divided into Progressives and Conservatives. They all reject infant baptism and practice the ordinance of foot washing before the Lord's Supper. Much of their theology was derived from the Pietist. They practice simplicity of life, and since 1908 have been known as Church of the Brethren.
23 B. C. Moomaw, "Certain Destruction of the Wicked in the World to Come; but Much of the Purpose of God Toward Man, Concerning either Mercy or Judgment, is Reserved for the Coming Dispensation of the Millennium,'' in That Unknown Country, p. 947.
24 Ibid., p. 950.
2. SECOND DEATH ANNIHILATES BODY AND SOUL.—Elaborating on man's hopeless condition, as far as his own power and volition are concerned, as pertains to future life, Moomaw presents Christ as our only hope for eternal life. Then, turning to the fate of wilful rejectors of God's overtures of life, he declares:
"The great predominance of Scriptural testimony points to an extermination, a blotting out of the finally impenitent and ungodly, as though they had not been. For them remains that 'lake of fire,' that 'second death,' which was prepared for the devil and his angels.' Nothing could be more terrible than these familiar symbols of total annihilation. The terms 'destroy' and 'destruction' are frequently used in this connection in the most unequivocal sense. Death is not a kind of life. The first death compasses the destruction and disintegration of the body. The second death destroys both body and soul....
"From the profound and eternal silence of this death there shall be no awakening, no resurrection. In the very nature of things there can be no continuity of being in sin. The doctrine of an endless conscious existence in sin is false in philosophy, and monstrous in religion. It is the supreme mission of Christ 'to finish the transgression and make an end of sins.' It cannot be eternal. The dread experiment of apostasy and transgression will never be repeated. Its awful history will be a sufficient lesson for all the eternities to come." [25]
He adds that outside the provisions of God there is no hope when "the angel of the gate" "closes the portals of life." Moomaw then asks: "What of those who are left without? Ahl ask the unfathomable abyss whose vast profound no arm of help can reach, or wing explore. Ask the eternal midnight upon whose threatening brow is seen no star, or dawn." [26]
His point is clear. His was a voice from among the lesser Christian bodies.
25 Ibid., p. 959.
26 Ibid., p. 958.
EDWARD BEECHER, D.D. (1803-1895), Congregationalist pastor, college president, and seminary professor, was a graduate of Yale, Andover, and New Haven. He was also an editor and an author. After tutoring for a time at Yale, he became pastor of Park Street Congregational church, Boston (1826-1830). He then served as president of Illinois College for fourteen years—from 1830 to 1844. And after pastoring the Salem Street church of Boston for a time, he served as minister of the Galesburg, Illinois, Congregational church from 1855 to 1870. At the same time he was for years professor of exegesis at the Chicago Theological Seminary. He was likewise a constant contributor to periodicals, particularly The Christian Union, and was founder of The Congregationalist, and its senior editor from 1864 to 1870.
Between 1835 and 1878 Dr. Beecher wrote eight books, the last being his noteworthy History of Opinions on the Scriptural Doctrine of Retribution. This volume, recognized as the work of a trained mind and an able teacher, was given respectful consideration by his contemporaries and was widely quoted. Edward, it will be remembered, was a Beecher, the son of Dr. Lyman Beecher and brother of Henry Ward Beecher, who similarly repudiated Eternal Torment, as did his sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe. [27] Edward was similarly brought up amid avid discussions of Calvinistic Immortal-Soulism and the Jonathan Edwards Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God type of literature. The incentive for this meticulous examination can easily be imagined.
1. RESTUDY OF ESCHATOLOGY ESSENTIAL AND DUE.—Dr. Beecher's erudite History of Opinions on the Scriptural Doc-trine of Retribution (1878) was remarkably thorough and helpful. It was not a popular treatise but rather a reference type. Contending that much turns on the Greek word aionios, [28] he painstakingly searched the historical record for evaluating two of the three main schools on the destiny of the soul— (1) Endless Torment, (2) Ultimate Restoration, and (3) Ultimate Annihilation. [29] The result is a classic argument against Eternal Torment. Beecher here covers the history of the conflict as completely as any other American writer of the century, and often more convincingly. Beecher believed a fundamental discussion and decision of the issue to be inevitable, and cites Dr. Philip Schaff's penetrating statement:
"'Each period of Church history is called to unfold and place in a clear light a particular aspect of doctrine to counteract a corresponding error; till the whole circle of Christian truth shall have been traversed in its natural order.' " [30]
This principle Schaff applies: "Finally, Eschatology, or the Doctrine of the Last Things, will have its turn." [31]
27 On these latter two see pp. 508, 509, and 512-514.
28 Edward Beecher, History of Opinions on the Scriptural Doctrine of Retribution (1878), p. iii.
29 Ibid., p. iv.
30 Ibid., p. 2.
31 Ibid., p. 3.
And by "last things" he includes death, the Second Advent, the last judgment, and retribution in the world to come. Such is Beecher's prologue.
2. PENETRATION OF PERSIAN-GRECIAN INFLUENCE INTO JEWRY.—Beecher first deals, in chapter one, with the teaching of the Old and New Testaments on "Retribution." Then in chapter two he takes up the extra-Biblical views adopted by the Jews in the "Age of the Maccabees. [32] This involves the inroads of foreign influences in the Egyptian, Persian, and Grecian periods, extending over some fifteen centuries." During the third, or Grecian era, they came into perilous contact with the intriguing theory of philosophical Innate Immortality, including its transmigration of souls, and pre-existence of souls concepts, based on their divine nature thesis, and climaxing in Platonism. [33] Beecher shows that the preponderant Jewish view, nevertheless, remained that of utter destruction, as seen in the Wisdom of Solomon [34]—"like smoke dissipated by a tempest." Chapter three ("Character and Historic Documents of the Age of the Maccabees") traces the development of the three schools on the fate of the wicked—Eternal Punishing, Utter Annihilation, and Final Restoration. Of the first he says:
"A conflict between two eternal and self-existent gods; one good, the other evil, each creating a system of his own—a conflict which involved in its issues the eternal duration of evil; though good was, on the whole, to be victorious in the conflict. This view, though promulgated by men claiming the Christian name, was generally regarded as extra-Christian and heretical." [35]
Beecher then pictures the influence of "philosophers, historians, poets," radiating out from the "great luminaries" of Greece and Rome, with Alexandria and its incomparable library as the great centre of influence. [36] The resultant impress was seen in the "Apocalyptic literature" of the period. [37] And Persian Zoroastrianism muddied the entire stream. [38]
32 Ibid., p. 13
33 Ibid., pp. 12, 13.
34 Ibid., pp. 16-18,
35 Ibid., p. 20.
36 Ibid., pp. 21, 22.
37 Ibid., pp. 23, 24.
38 Ibid., pp. 28, 29.
3. PENETRATION OF CONDITIONALISM INTO CHRISTIAN CHURCH.—Chapter four ("Source of Jewish Opinions") stresses the polluting influence of Persian theology and its Dualism on Jewish theology. [39] Chapter five is on Jewish beliefs, reflected in the Apocrypha, and chapter six on the Egyptian doctrine of future retributions. Then in chapter seven Beecher touches on the Platonic basis for belief in immortality, [40] together with the Zoroastrian dualism elements. [41] Chapter eight turns to the early Christian centuries and the marked influence of the Jewish Apocryphal writings. [42] Beecher then comes to the three schools in the Christian age, particularly as influenced by Philo, the "admirer of Plato," but who still held to annihilation [43]—which destructionist view was sustained by Justin Martyr and Irenaeus. [44] Chapter nine ("Development of Universal Restoration") deals primarily with Origen and Theodore of Mopsuestia, [45] and the dissolving of the world into ashes. But back of them lay the Sibylline Oracles, with their "Final Restoration," [46] and their "great theocratic view." Their concept of the medium for the punishment of the wicked was that of literal fire.
1. "ENOCH'S" THEORY OF CULPABILITY OF FALLEN ANGELS. —Chapter ten ("Development of the Doctrine of Future Eternal Punishment") deals with the Apocryphal "Book of Enoch," and its theory that it was the fallen angels that corrupted mankind, [47] through seduction of the daughters of men. And being "immortal," the punishment of these fallen angels would be eternal. [48] "Sinners shall disappear and perish, while those who seduced them shall be bound with chains forever." [49] In chapter eleven, on Ezra, Beecher shows that the "doctrine of future eternal punishment is retained, but this basis of the system disappears. [50] There is now no reference to "evil angels."
39 Ibid.
40 Ibid., p. 58.
41 Ibid., pp. 60, 61.
42 Ibid., pp. 68-70.
43 Ibid., pp. 72-76.
44 Ibid., p. 77.
45 Ibid., pp. 78. 79.
46 Ibid., pp. 79-86.
47 Ibid., pp. 89, 90.
48 Ibid., pp. 91-93.
49 Ibid., p. 94.
50 Ibid., p. 98.
But there is "resurrection" and "judgment," and the "furnace of hell" is placed alongside the "paradise of joy." [51] The "day of doom is the end of this state and the beginning of immortality." [52] Thus there was added "a new horror to the doctrine of endless punishment." [53]
5. JEWISH CENTERS: BABYLON, ALEXANDRIA, PALESTINE. —In chapter twelve ("The Contemporaries of Christ") Beecher notes the three "Jewish Centres"—Babylon, "exposed to Persian and Oriental influences"; Alexandria, "under the influence of Greek philosophy"; and Palestine, holding to "the original and unaltered institutions of Moses." [54] The Pharisees, according to Josephus, adopted the postulate of the "eternal punishment of the wicked." [55] In chapter thirteen ("Christian Ages") Beecher discusses the development of the three schools, and notes approvingly the researches of Constable and Hudson. [56]
In chapter fourteen Beecher takes up the contention that Aristotle taught aion and aionios as involving "eternity" in the "absolute sense." [57] But Beecher labels that argument an "utter absurdity," [58] involving "self contradiction." Chapter fifteen discusses aion among "The Ancients," and chapter sixteen in the "Later Ages," with chapter seventeen on aion in "The Septuagint," showing it means an "age," or "dispensation," [59] which is "consistent and harmonious." Chapter eighteen ("The Peshito") attests that "eternal torment is now only one supposition out of three." [60]
6. ETERNAL TORMENTISM BECOMES AUTHORITARIAN UNDER JUSTINIAN.—Beecher then shows, in chapter nineteen ("Prof. Lewis—The Creeds—The Fathers"), that it was not until the time of Justinian that the teaching of "endless punishment for the wicked" took its place alongside "endless life" for the righteous. [61] The earlier creeds of the Early Church use " 'aionios' to qualify life."
51 Ibid., p. 102.
52 Ibid., p. 105.
53 Ibid., p. 107.
54 Ibid., p. 108.
55 Ibid., p. 115.
56 Ibid., pp. 119-122.
57 Ibid., p. 126.
58 Ibid., p. 131.
59 Ibid., p. 150.
60 Ibid., p. 156.
61 Ibid., p. 165.
The later creeds substitute the idea of "the world to come"—such as in the Nicene Creed. [62] After dealing with the "free Thought" of the Gnostics (chapter twenty), [63] Beecher comes to the great "luminary," Origen, and his Universal Restoration of all fallen beings (chapter twenty-one). It was thus Origen who "interrupted" the "annihilation of the wicked" view taught by Irenaeus. [64] Origen also introduced the concept of the "conversion of the empire to Christianity," rather than the formerly held destruction at the coming of Christ. And Origen, who lived in Alexandria, developed this into a system of theology. Beecher then observes:
"The two great foundations of this system were pre-existence and universal restoration. Without pre-existence he could not explain and defend the state of things in this world in accordance with the benevolence and the justice of God. Without universal restitution he could not bring the system to a final issue worthy of God." [65]
That was the crux of his scheme of Universal Restoration. Origen also rejected the idea of "punishment by literal fire." [66] However, by the time of Justinian "all questions were settled by authority," not by "free enquiry," with the "fires of hell" still held to be material. "In the hands of the clergy the doctrine of eternal punishment had thus become an instrument of degrading terrorism." [67] Thus it was that the theory of Eternal Punishment developed into its "most despotic and debasing form." [68]
7. JUSTIN, IRENAEUS, ARNOBIUS, HOLD TO "ANNIHILATION." —Reverting to Irenaeus, in chapter twenty-three, Beecher catalogues him as holding to the restoration of harmony in the universe by the doing away of "all evil." [69] And thus all sin and pollution would be brought to an end. The sinner who casts away the gift of life thus deprives himself of "eternal existence." [70] And creatures can exist only "so long as God wills them to have existence and being." [71]
62 Ibid., pp. 159-162.
63 Ibid., pp. 173, 174.
64 Ibid., pp. 177, 178.
65 Ibid., p. 180. (Italics supplied.)
66 Ibid., p. 183.
67 Ibid., p. 184.
68 Ibid., p. 186.
69 Ibid., p. 199.
70 Ibid., p. 201.
71 Ibid., pp. 201, 202.
Beecher then cites Philip Schaff as likewise concluding that Irenaeus held -the doctrine of the final annihilation of the wicked . . . , and the end of all evil thereby." [72] In chapter twenty-four ("Justin and Arnobius on Annihilation") investigator Beecher says:
"That Justin did hold and teach the final annihilation of the wicked the most eminent scholars concede. In the number of such Mr. Hudson appeals to Grotius, Huet, Ropler, Du Pin, Doederlein, Munscher, Munter, Daniel, Hase, Starck, Kern, Otto, Ritter, J. P. Smith, Bloomfield, and Gieseler." [73]
And he adds, concerning a disputed passage on aionios: "It is only by assuming. without reason. that in this passage aionios means eternal, instead of for ages, that eternal punishment can be proved." [74] Further, Arnobius taught the same as Irenaeus and Justin—that souls "need God in order to secure eternal existence." [75] This he emphasizes by stating: "Arnobius believed the fact to be that the wicked will be annihilated, in the manner above stated." [76]
8. ORIGEN'S RESTORATIONISM CONDEMNED UNDER JUSTINIAN.—Chapter twenty-five ("Origen and Theodore of Mopsues-tia") is devoted to Final Restorationism, though they differed on the pre-existence issue. [77] They both held, however, that in the future state God will "bring ALL to immortality and immutability." [78] Chapter twenty-six is concerned with the Nestorians, who apparently adopted the doctrine of Universal Restorationism. They rejected the doctrines of eternal punishing and Purgatory, transubstantiation, and the celibacy of the clergy. [79] In these chapters Beecher invokes the testimony of various renowned scholars. Then chapter twenty-seven deals with "The Fate of Origen's Doctrine of Universal Restoration," which was by the sixth century "regarded as heretical and dangerous." [80] It had been periodically assaulted until its final condemnation in the sixth century under Justinian and his council. [81]
72 Ibid., p. 205.
73 Ibid., pp. 211, 212.
74 Ibid., p. 215.
75 Ibid. p. 216.
76 Ibid.
77 Ibid., pp. 220, 221.
78 Ibid., p 224.
79 Ibid., p. 237.
80 Ibid., p. 238.
81 Ibid., pp. 243-246.
9. AFRICAN TERTULLIAN-AUGUSTINIAN SCHOOL OF ENDLESS TORMENT.—DT. Beecher opens chapter twenty-eight ("The School of Africa and Aionios") by contrasting the Ultimate Annihilation School of Asia Minor with the Latin-speaking school of Northern Africa (Tertullian, Cyprian, Minucius Felix, and Augustine), and its Eternal Torment avowal. [82] It was this Latin theology that later gave rise to the Calvinistic system in Protestantism. And this African school held that " 'the torments of the wicked will be extreme and endless.' " [83]
Origen, on the contrary, had held that "aionios did not denote an absolute eternity," [84] whereas Atigustine maintained that aionios always means endless. [85] Beecher's concluding observation is incisive:
"It so happened that the Latin school of Augustine, in Africa, in which the leading writers were not Greek scholars, was mainly Instrumental in establishing the doctrine of endless punishment on this false basis. Even if the doctrine were true, the basis on which they placed it was false." [86]
2. REPUDIATION OF ETERNAL TORMENT ONLY MATTER OF TIME.—Chapter twenty-nine touches on Clement of Alexandria, who taught that "all punishment is remedial, and that God uses means to reform and purify man after death" [87]—and extending even to the "devil himself." Jerome was likewise a "universal restorationist," [88] as was Eusebius, the admirer of Origen. [89] Several chapters then retrace the ground from different angles. Then in chapter thirty-three Dr. Beecher reveals the fact that back as early as 1827, while still pastor of his first charge, the Park Street church of Boston, he became convinced that "the doctrine of future eternal punishment would have to be given up." [90] And now in 1878, he reasserts that— "on one point I have undergone no change, and that is, in the belief that the doctrine of eternal punishment cannot be sustained or defended on the ground on which it is placed by the orthodox generally." [91]
82 Ibid., pp. 247, 248.
83 Ibid., p. 249.
84 Ibid.
85 Ibid., p. 250.
86 Ibid., pp. 256, 257. (Italics supplied.)
87 Ibid., pp. 258, 259.
88 Ibid., p. 261.
89 Ibid., p. 264.
90 Ibid., p. 294.
91 Ibid., p. 296.
And he repeats, for emphasis: "The doctrine of endless punishment, in my judgment, admits of no defence." [92] Beecher maintained that the matter of ultimate punishment was still an "open question" in the early centuries. It was not, as some seek to aver, "the established doctrine of the Church, the only catholic doctrine." [93] His deliberate conclusion is: "After a careful investigation, I have come to the conclusion that the fact alleged does not exist." [94]
"The doctrine of eternal punishment is . . . a crushing burden that cannot be borne. The Lord will remove such a burden in his day. It is only a question of time." [95]
This from a highly trained Congregationalist divinity school professor and college president, voiced in 1878.
Many were the ministers around the turn of the century who expressed sympathetic interest in, if not outright espousal of, the principles of Conditionalism. For instance, there was DR. GEORGE W. SHINN, [96] rector of the Episcopalian Grace church, Newton, Massachusetts, who declared:
"'Eternal' is not always the attribute but the result. Thus 'eternal redemption' means eternal in its results. The act of redemption was accomplished on the Cross in a day the results are eternal. Sodom and Gomorrah are spoken of as the prey of eternal fire, yet the fire does not continue. It is the result of the fire which is spoken of." [97]
"The doctrine of conditional immortality makes it necessary to deny the natural immortality of the human soul. This is a most important point, for if the soul may cease to be, then eternal death means a dissolution which continues eternally. It is boldly declared by those who hold this view that the Scriptures speak nowhere of immortality apart from Christ; that there is no permanent life except for the believer. There are many things connected with this doctrine of conditional immortality which would make almost any one wish he could accept it." [98]
92 Ibid., p. 299.
93 Ibid., p. 301.
94 Ibid., p. 307.
95 Ibid., p. 315.
96 Dr. GEORGE W. SHINN (1839-1910), Protestant Episcopal clergyman, and graduate of the Philadelphia Divinity School (1863), was pastor of churches in Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts. He was author of seven books.
97 Theology at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century, p. 166.
98 Ibid., p. 167.
About the same time Dr. CHARLES A. DICKINSON, pastor of the Berkeley Temple, Boston, wrote significantly in this same work:
"If, however, a man should tell me that in the far-off aeons of eternity the vast asylum of the lost shall be depopulated because the madness of sin has spent itself and its victims have dropped away into that eternal unconsciousness which is 'the blackness of darkness,' and 'the second death,' I should be more willing to agree with him, for I am more and more convinced that the final end of sin is death, and that life and immortality are the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord." [99]
And shortly before these two, HENRY THEODORE CHEEVER, D.D. (1814-1897), [100] Presbyterian-Congregationalist minister of Worcester, Massachusetts, in his Biblical Eschatology (1890), left these words on record:
"Christianity needs to base its hope of immortality for man more distinctly upon the fact that Christ is risen, and that perishable man is to not because of his inherent immortality, but because God has provided that in Him, the Christ, ALL shall be made alive. And this new resurrection-life for the race of man through—its second Adam, the ideal perfect man, must be viewed as but the consummation of a creative process and promise begun from the foundation of the world." [101]
Again we see that these individual leanings were not confined to any one denomination.
99 Ibid., p. 188.
100 HENRY THEODORE CHEEVER, D.D. (1814-1897), Congregationalist, was a graduate of Bowdoin College, then of Andover and Bangor Theological seminaries. He held pastorates in New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts, and was for a time editor of the New York Evangelist, and author of several volumes, including Biblical Eschatology.
101 Henry T. Cheever, Biblical Eschatology: Its Relation to the Current Presbyterian Standards and the Basal Principles that muse underlie Their Revision: Being a Review of the Writings o/ the Presbyterian Divine, L. C. Baker, pp. 53, 54.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Extending far beyond the confines of the English tongue, and British and American borders, the clearest and most widespread emphasis on Conditionalism was in the German language. Here is the testimony of some of her great scholars in the nineteenth century who are clearly on record.
Prof. HERMANN OLSHAUSEN (1796-1839), noted German Protestant exegete, was trained at Berlin. He became professor of theology at Konigsberg (1821-1834), then at Erlangen (1834-1839). His main interest was New Testament exegesis, and between 1830 and 1840 he wrote his famous four-volume commentary on the New Testament. Olshausen was one of the most eminent nineteenth-century writers on the laws of Biblical interpretation. He especially criticized the superficial use of the word life, maintaining that life is "the normal union of the forces which maintain the existence of the living being," while "death is the abnormal dislocation of those same forces." [1]
1 Opuscula Theologica, Vol. VIII, under "Zoe" in the New Testament.
Olhausen definitely inclined to the Conditionalist view, for he said:
"The Bible knows neither the expression 'the immortality of the soul' nor the modern doctrine of immortality." [2]
" 'The fact should be borne in mind that the apostle does not admit the_ j possibility of the soul apart from a bodily organism. The doctrine of the V immortality of the soul is totally foreign to the teaching of the Bible; neither the name nor the thing can be found there._ Corporal limits have been assigned to all created spirits.' " [3]
Commenting on the early Ante-Nicene church writers, Justin Martyr, Tatian, and Theophilus of Antioch, he declares that they were all Conditionalists, all three maintaining the proposition, "of ill repute in our days," that "the soul is naturally mortal." Thus also did Irenaeus, he added, and Arnobius a century later.
KARL IMMANUEL NITZSCH (1787-1868), Lutheran theologian and profound thinker, was trained at Schulpforta and Wittenberg. After pastoral work in the cathedral at Wittenberg, he became professor at Bonn (1822) and then at Berlin (1840), where he taught church history and then theology. Caught in the conflicting cross currents of the thought of his time, he became an opponent of contemporary rationalism and speculative interpretation. Systematic theology was his major field, his chief work being System der Christlichen Lehre ("System of Christian Doctrine"), 1829. Nitzsch was the university preacher, and exerted a potent influence on the entire life of the institution. Students came from all over Germany to sit at his feet. He had positive convictions on the nature and destiny of man, and clearly expressed them.
1. PERPETUAL EXISTENCE OF DAMNED NOT BIBLICAL.—
2 Olshausen, Commentary on Luke 16:24-26 (tr. from the German).
3 Ibid., on 1 Corinthians 15:19, 20 (tr. by Petavel).
Nitzsch, for example, denies that man has "absolute immortality," holding that—
" 'the sinner invokes, provokes, and invites death. It is certain that the question is not one of purely spiritual death, but of the fact that evil towards non-existence, to the violation and suppression of all life. The soul is dependent upon the Creator, it has not an absolute immortality. It is certain that it has been created and constituted with a view to obtaining an eternal life; but it loses the life that is personal to it in the measure in which it becomes a stranger to the truth, to love, and to salvation. It follows that with the progress of sin the soul advances towards the destruction that awaits it in hell; in other terms, towards its death.' "[4]
2. No "PERPETUAL EXISTENCE" OF DAMNED.—Nitzsch stresses the ultimate "cessation of existence" of the wicked:
"'There is nothing in the Word of God, or in the conditions of the kingdom of God, to require the admission of the perpetual existence of the damned, the indestructibility of an individual incapable of becoming holy and happy.... The notion of annihilation is evident in the passage which represents death and hell as being cast into the lake burning with fire and brimstone. There, in fact, death and hell cease absolutely to exist. Further, as the first death puts an end to the existence of the, body, the analogy implies that the second death is the cessation of the existence of the soul.' " [5]
4 Karl I. Nitzsch, System der Christlichen Lehre (5th ed.), secs. 121, 122, quoted in Petavel The Problem of Immortality, pp. 203, 204. (Italics supplied.)
5 Ibid., p. 204.
Professor Twesten, colleague of Nitzsch, likewise held to final annihilation of personal consciousness for the wicked.
HERMANN SCHULTZ (1836-1903), well-known Lutheran theologian, was trained at the universities of Gottingen and Erlangen. He was successively professor of theology at Basel (1864), Strasburg (1872), Heidelberg (1874), and at Gottingen for the remainder of his life. Schultz made a profound study of the Christian teaching concerning immortality. Author of important German works, he also contributed to the American Symposium, The Life Everlasting.
1. EVERLASTING LIFE ONLY IN GOD.—In 1861 Professor Schultz published Die Voraussetzungen der Christlichen Lehre von der Unsterblichkeit ("Presuppositions of the Christian Doctrine of Immortality"). In this carefully reasoned treatise he maintained that immortality, in the strict sense, is the absolute possession of God alone, and that in its relative sense it is acquired. only as the gift of God. Writing in retrospect in 1881, he repeats that—
"this [natural immortality] doctrine is not derived from Christian origins, but from the dogmas of Greek philosophy which made God and the world equals, and naturally would find the source of -divine and immortal life in nature, especially in the nature of man. The Gospel, teaching us that there is no life except from God's will, compels us to think that there can be no everlasting life but only in God and in those natures which are got from him." [6]
2. SINFUL MAN HAS ONLY "TRANSIENT" LIFE.—God made man in His image, as the "heir of immortality, . . . but he did not give him to have life in himself, separated from his Creator." [7] This Schultz expands in these words:
"He made man heir of God's own immortal life, but on condition of his remaining bound to his Lord in love and obedience (the tree of life in Eden). But man in his sinful separation from God has not this life. He is given to death, and only for his salvation or his judgment, he was gifted with a transient life." [8]
1. IMMORTAL LIFE GAINED SOLELY FROM CHRIST.—Life Only in Christ was Schultz's steadfast belief.
"Only one of men has life in Himself—God's Son. . . . Only from Him, and saved by Him, we may accept it and have it as our own. Whoever has God's love has passed from death to life.
"Whoever has not yet accepted God's mercy has transient life, as long as he is capable of salvation or judgment. When he is saved he gains immortal life." [9]
1. TOTAL DESTRUCTION FOR THE REPROBATE.—Schultz was likewise explicit on the point of the ultimate, utter destruction of the wilfully reprobate, and expressed satisfaction that this truth is spreading in various lands. He continues:
"Whoever is forever separated from God's love in Christ is in the dominion of death. . . .
"The Gospel teaches us that there will be a Second Death, and that God will give the reprobate, with hell and death and the devil, to the eternal flames of His wrath—i.e., that he will destroy them as fire will destroy straw and wood thrown into it. That is what I think to be the doctrine of the Gospel, and I am glad to hear that this doctrine is now spreading fast in Christian countries." [10]
6 Hermann Schultz, "A Letter," in Pettingell, The Life Everlasting, pp. 737, 738.
7 p. 738.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid.
Dr. Ezra Abbot's bibliographical annotation on his main treatise is, "Denies the natural immortality of the soul; favours the doctrine of the destruction of the incorrigibly wicked." [11]
5. CONVINCED OF SOUNDNESS OF VIEW IN RETROSPECT.—In a letter to Frederick A. Freer in 1890, Dr. Schultz stated that in retrospect he was "more than ever assured of the correctness of the main thesis of that [1861] work." [12]
As noted, in 1861 Dr. Schultz released a profound study of the Old Testament doctrine of Immortality. In 1890 Frederick Ash Freer made an analysis of its main argument, called "The First Foundations of the Christian Doctrine of Immortality." This he presented, on June 9, [13] as a paper before the Theological Society of the Canton de Vaud. And, as already observed in a letter to Freer, subsequent to its publication, Schultz said that he felt more than ever assured of the correctness of his main thesis. Hence this epitome, translated by Freer, was personally approved by the author. Here are the high lights of Freer's summary, from his English translation, appearing in Petavel, The Problem of Immortality. [14]
10 Ibid.
11 Abbot, The Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life, no. 2363 b.
12 Freer, To Live or Not to Live? p. 119, note 24.
13 It subsequently appeared in the July, 1890, issue of the Revue de Theologie et de Philosophic.
14 It appears as "Supplement No. I," in Petavel, The Problem of Immortality, pp. 413ff.
1. ABSOLUTE IMMORTALITY IS POSSESSION OF GOD ALONE.—
Throughout his treatise Schultz uses the word "immortality" in the strict sense of "a life beyond the reach of death or destruction," not a mere "survival beyond bodily death." In this strict sense, according to Schultz, immortality is "the absolute possession of God alone." In its "relative sense" it can be "acquired by man only through constant communion with God." Schultz divides his book into several leading divisions. The first deals with "human nature in the light of experience"; others deal with "human immortality in relation to creation, sin, and grace." [15]
2. INNATE IMMORTALITY NOT POSSESSED BY ANY CREATURE. —In the first division Schultz shows that "immortality cannot be a native quality in any created being"; that "God is the possessor and only source of life." [16] Then he states:
"If, therefore, any being who is not God has life, and especially if that life be indestructible, that can be so only by virtue of some relation with God. All beings in the universe, visible and invisible, are in relation with God as creatures with their Creator. Man is no exception; his life is not inherent: it is derived, and therefore may be destroyed. That which God has created cannot be a part of God, and consequently cannot have in itself the source of life. The creature must, therefore, be always dependent upon that divine source for the continuance of its THE and—cannot be essentially immortal, even though its life should be prolonged to eternity by a power outside itself." [17]
After examining the various arguments—metaphysical, ontological, and teleological—used by various schools of philosophy, ancient and modern, he declares that "they are all insufficient to prove the native and absolute immortality of the human soul." [18]
3. MERE CREATION DID NOT ASSURE INDESTRUCTIBILITY.—"The second division discusses human nature as it was before the fall." Here Schultz says, "By creation man became a living, but not an immortal, being." Man was "susceptible of immortalization; but it [the Creation record] certainly does not teach that the human soul is indestructible. . . . God alone is the source of life, and that the fact of having been created does not suffice to assure immortality to the creature. If man's life were to be "maintained through eternity," he would still not be innately "immortal, since his life would always come from with-, out, and might at any time be withdrawn from him." [19]
15 Ibid. p. 413.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid. p. 414.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid.
"Some special relation with God must be open to him whereby he may become partaker of the divine life." It is made "possible for him by his own choice to become a sharer in the divine life," and this calls for the "exercise of the creative power." This is a special provision, or "creation," on which "rest all our hopes of immortality." It is described in Genesis 2, and is referred to in the New Testament. [20]
4. TO ACQUIRE IMMORTALITY THROUGH SECOND CREATION. —God is "the Supreme personality; man, who is a subordinate personality and an image of God, was not created" immortal, but was so "endowed" that he might "attain" to immortality. [21] "He is destined for union with God, but the union can only be voluntary and moral." There must be a "second creation." There was nothing in man's original creation that gives him Innate Immortality, but the "purpose of his creation" was to "acquire immortality." [22]
"But it is the whole man. not any separate portion of his being, that can become immortal. If he fails to attain the assigned purpose of his being, he also fails in his immortality." [23]
This failure, he adds, occurred when "Adam was driven forth from the garden and from access to the tree of life." [24]
5. IMMORTALITY FOR MAN POSSIBLE THROUGH CHRIST.—" 'According to the New Testament,' says Dr. Schultz, . . man can become immortal by his relation with the Aceros, the creative Word' "—that "in the Son of God he should have eternal life." Immortality is thus "accessible to created beings." [25] The conclusion therefore naturally follows that "the creation of man did not confer immortality upon him, but made him capable of acquiring it by continuing in filial relation with God." [26]
20 Ibid.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid., pp. 414, 415.
23 Ibid., p. 415.
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
6. "SECOND DEATH" INVOLVES "DEATH ABSOLUTE."—Schultz's third division pertains to "man and immortality as affected by sin and outside of the economy of grace." Sin was "not a necessity of man's nature. In his original and normal condition he needed only to avoid wilful disobedience." He had only to withstand temptation "in order to become immortal." [27]
Death was the "consequence" of Adam's "moral failure. This self-chosen separation from God leaves him [mans subject to the law of mortality." And the "death of the body cannot be regarded as a liberation of the soul." When the fires of " 'divine judgement' " have completed their work, the soul " 'will itself become the prey of utter destruction.' This second death will be the completion of the death penalty of sin." It is the "last stage of the long road that leads to death absolute." [28] "When God is all in all, when sin and death are no more, there will be no place for beings who are without moral relation with -' God." [29]
Those were the high points in Dr. Schultz's penetrating analysis as to the nature and destiny of man.
RICHARD ROTHE (1799-1867), another noted Lutheran theologian, was successively professor at Wittenberg (1828), Bonn (1849), and Heidelberg (1854). A disciple of Schleirmachca and Neander, he combined a devout spirit with a keenly historical and critical sense, and emphasized the inseparable relationship between religion and morals. He was noted for his devotional works. His chief treatises included Theological Ethics, The Beginnings of the Christian Church, and his famous Dogmatics.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid., p. 416.
29 Ibid.
30 Ibid., p. 291, note 1.
1. PRINCIPAL CONDITIONALIST ADVOCATE IN GERMANY.—"The great Rothe was a Conditionalist," said Dr. E. Petavel. [30] And the learned Dr. S. D. F. Salmond, professor of theology, Free Church College of Aberdeen, makes this interesting observation concerning Rothe, and his Conditionalist position:
"It is, however, in the writings of Richard Rothe of Heidelberg that this doctrine [Conditionalism] obtains, perhaps, in briefest terms its most scientific exposition. He is its principal advocate among the theologians of Germany, and it is a singular circumstance that a thinker of such rare insight as Rothe could have committed himself to a dogma which we should have judged a priori so little likely to satisfy him." [31]
3. IMMORTALITY ACQUIRED: PERSONALITY OF WICKED EXTINGUISHED.—The concept that immortality is to be acquired forms the foundation of the Rothe system—and Rothe was called the "most powerful dogmatic
of our 19th century." Back in 1870 he had written: "It is no longer maintained that the human soul possesses immortality by virtue of a supposed simplicity of substance." [32]
Rothe also reached the conclusion of the ultimate extinction of the personality of the wicked, as did many other Continental theologians. But Rothe held that the duration of the chastisement of a soul would be in proportion to its guilt.
"We are obliged to admit that the sufferings endured in hell by the reprobate will in reality end, but that the end will consist in the destruction of the guilty. This idea is very ancient in the church. . . . This opinion alone seems capable of satisfying all the conditions. It has nothing to fear from contemporary philosophy, for men have ceased to maintain that the human soul possesses a natural immortality." [33]
31 S. D. F. Salmond, The Christian Doctrine of Immortality (2d ed.), P. 607.
32 Rothe, Dogmatik (Heidelberg, 1870), vol. 3, p. 158, quoted in Petavel, The Problem of Immortality, p. 17.
33 Ibid., quoted in Piper, Conditionalism, p. 203.
2. SENSE OF "AIONIOS" IS RESTRICTED.—Inasmuch as Professor Rothe teaches the "eventual extinction" of the wicked, let us note how he answers objections:
"At the first glance. Jesus appears to teach the endless punishment of all who enter Gehenna. This however is not the fact. The word aionios which occurs in Matt., 25:41, 46, is used in the Scriptures in a more lax sense. It signifies, not an indefinitely long time, but the longest time which can belong to an object. in accordance with its nature. There are many examples of this restricted meaning: e.g., Ex., 21:6; Deut., 15:17. In Jude (ver. 6, cf. 2 Pet., 2:4), a stronger term . . . is applied to a terminable period.
"As to the opinion of the Jews, in the time of Christ, respecting the duration of future punishment, they were not agreed on this point; and, if they had been, this does not authorize us to conclude that he followed the popular view. Eternal life and eternal death are spoken of together; but if 'eternal’ denotes the longest time which the conception, or nature, of an object admits of, that fact presents no difficulty. Of the wicked it is only said, in Matt., 25:41, 46, that 'during the continuance of their stay in Gehenna, their pain will not cease, without any determination of the question whether that stay will, or will not, be endless.' The statements of Jesus in Matt., 5:26; 12:32 (cf. Mark, 3:29), oblige us to restrict the sense of aionios." [34]
4. IDEA OF ANNIHILATION IS INVOLVED.—The unpardoned will "gradually be deprived of sense and being."
"The terms by which the apostles denote perdition ... most naturally signify annihilation of soul, as well as of body; especially as Paul (Tit., 1:2; Rom., 16:25; Eph., 3:9) uses aionios. in the looser sense of the term. Rev. 14:11; 20:10 must be understood in the light of Rev. 20:14; 17:8. The idea of annihilation is involved in many passages of the New Testament both in the gospels and the epistles, such as Matt. 10:28, 30; 7:13; John, 3:15, 16; 10:28; Phil. 1:28; Gal., 6:8; Heb., 10:27, 39; 2 Pet., 2:1, 3, 12, 19; 1 John, 3:15 and many others. . . .
"No conceivable reason can be given why the hopelessly wicked should be kept in being: the notion that their endless suffering is required as a warning is groundless. . . . The only satisfactory solution of the problem is found in the supposition of a gradual wearing out and extinction of their being." [35]
34 Summarized in That Unknown Country, p. 59.
35 Ibid., pp. 59, 60.
Prof. ISAAK AUGUST DORNER (1809-1884), yet another renowned Lutheran theologian, was educated at Tubingen, then travelled in Holland and England. He was successively professor of theology at Tubingen (1838), Kiel (1839), Konigsberg (1843), Bonn (1847), Gottingen (1853), and Berlin (1862). Dorner took a prominent part in the ecclesiastical discussion of his time, stressing justification by faith and the authority of Scripture. His last treatise was his System of Christian Theology (1881).
However, his most noted work was the History of the Development of the Doctrine of the Person of Christ (1859)—doubtless the most learned discussion of the theme ever undertaken. Significantly, he presses on the persistent freedom of the will in the hypothesis of final extinction. In his comment on the spread of the "destructionist" postulate, he refers to the fact that the—
"third [destruction] theory seems now to meet increasing approval, . . . the hypothesis of the annihilation of the wicked, which likewise thinks it can attain categorical statement respecting the question of persons." [36]
Several other German scholars should be briefly noted: Dr. FRANZ DELITZSCH (d. 1890), Lutheran Hebraist and exegete, of Rostock, Erlangen, and Leipsig, asserted that "the whole of Scripture knows nothing of an immortality founded upon the nature of the soul." [37]
Prof. WOLFGANG E. GESS (d. 1814), of Breslau, taught that— "we are evidently finite, limited beings, for example in relation to intelligence and power. But if our capital of life is limited as to its intensity, how can it be unlimited as to duration?" [38]
And in his book The Eschatology of Paul, R. KABISCH asserts that in Paul's writings— "those who are perishing always appear not as being condemned to eternal torment but as on the way to extinction. Extinction (vernichtung) is the word chosen all through to denote the fate of the unrighteous; but the process is accompanied by anguish and pain." [39]
The learned Dr. Petavel has this to say about the German Conditionalists:
"The great Rothe was a Conditionalist. . . . Baader, Weisse, Olshausen, Twesten, Karsten, Hermann, Schultz, Von Rudloff, Gess, Glaubrecht, F. Ecklin, the preacher, Otto Funcke, have adhered more or less explicitly to the same general views." [40]
We now turn to a group of French writers.
36 Isaak A. Dorner, The Future State, quoted in That Unknown Country, p. 61.
37 Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on Gen. 3:22, tr. in Freer, To Live or Not to Live? p. 120.
38 Wolfgang E. Gess, in Preface to L'Imtnortalite Conditionelle, p. xix, tr. in Freer, To Live or Not to Live? pp. 120, 121.
39 R. Kabisch, Die Eschatologie des Paulus, p. 250, tr. in Freer, To Live or Not to Live? p. 120.
40 Petavel, The Problem of Immortality, p. 291, note 1.
Late in life ALEXANDRE VINET (1797-1847), in a series of letters, [41] expressed his opposition to Plato, Descartes, and the ecclesiastical dogma, and formally denied the immortality of the soul separate from the body. Instead, he made immortality dependent upon the resurrection of the body.
41 Leteres d'Alexandre Vinet (Lausanne, 1882).
He contended that God alone is immortal, and communicates His immortality to such as are in conformity with Him, and to such as are united to Him. Here is Vinet's statement of March 16, 1845:
"I do not believe in the immortality of the soul, but in the immortality of man, whose body and soul, a complete complex whole; that is to say that I believe, with St. Paul, in the resurrection of the body, a dogma more reasonable than the other. Nor do I believe, or at least I have no proof, that God cannot dissipate this breath, efface this personality, destroy this ego composed of body and soul (if, indeed, it is composite)." [42]
In this he broke away from Plato and traditional dogma.
Vinet was groping toward Conditionalism, and warned of the dangers of Universalism. He also spoke of an absolute death for the wicked—that that which is lost is "destroyed," and "no longer has the integrity of its parts and its qualities, that has perished and is no more." [43] But Vinet did not think the hour had "arrived for an open rupture with traditional dogma." [44]
CHARLES SECRETAN (1815-1895), eminent professor of philosophy at the University of Lausanne, and member of the Institute of France, wrote a prefatory statement for Dr. Emmanuel Petavel's new Le Probleme de l'Immortalite ("The Problem of Immortality"). In this he placed on record a series of statements that reveal his major agreement with Petavel's militantly Conditionalist position. Secretan likewise logically agrees that "life must mean life and that death must mean death." (Pictured on page 597.) And he warns against Innate Immortality's kinship to pantheism. Thus:
"The idea of an immortality essential to spirit substance, making it impossible to assign to the existence of the creature either beginning or end, is a very near approach to pantheism, or else to polytheism." [45]
1. No INFINITE PUNISHMENT FOR A FINITE FAULT.—Secretan then gave his reason for rejecting eternal punishing:
"We need to believe in the end of evil, in the death of death, in the absolute triumph of God. The sentiment of justice implanted in our hearts by God—himself does not allow us to accept an infinite punishment as the penalty of a finite fault." [46]
42 Ibid., vol. 2, p. 278, Letter cc, tr. in Petavel, The Problem of Immortality, p. 420.
43 Petavel, The Problem of Immortality, p. 422. See note 2, where Vinet says that loss is "complete and consummated."
44 Ibid., p. 426.
45 Charles Secretan, "Letter," in Petavel, The Problem of Immortality, p. ix.
46 Ibid.
2. No IMPASSABLE BARRIER FOR DIVINE POWER.—Turning to the question of eternal torment, Secretan declares:
"Under the influence of tradition, I endeavoured in my youth to explain the possibility of eternal torments by the possible persistence of rebellion; but that infinite persistence in the bad use of a free-will always maintained is only an unrealizable abstraction. Besides, this conception, itself a considerable deviation from orthodoxy, had the serious disadvantage, from the properly religious point of view, of imposing upon the divine power an impassable barrier, since it might happen that after all the world would never be that which the divine goodness wishes it to be. No; contingent evil may be explained by the positive value of liberty, but the religious consciousness cannot be reconciled to the presence of evil, unless it is affirmed that it has had a beginning and that it will) come to an end." [47]
1. FATAL WEAKNESS OF UNIVERSAL RESTORATION.—Professor Secretan disposes of the claims of Universalism in this logical way:
"At one time I inclined towards this [Universalist] hope, certainly not imagining that God could ever allow a rebel to enter paradise, nor that for the sake of reaching an end he would convert the rebel against his will, but thinking that at last, by means of chastisement and patience, he would be able to lead all souls to conversion, thus subordinating the hour of the glorious consummation of the obstinacy of a single soul. It was not long before I perceived the moral weakness and the logical fault of this point of view, which at the same time asserts and denies the moral liberty of the creature." [48]
2. PREDESTINED CANDIDATE FOR CONDITIONALISM.—The foregoing considerations led him to this declaration:
"I was, in fact, a predestined candidate for your [Petavel's Conditionalist] doctrine, since I had always seen in evil not merely an insufficiency, a defect of being, like the logicians to whom we owe infernal metaphysics, but a direction of the will—that is to say, of the very being—towards annihilation. I reproach myself for having failed to carry out my principle to its logical consequence." [49]
"It seems to me that you effectually extinguish the eternal fires, which are no longer believed in, since, as you say, they are no longer preached, and to dissimulate while believing in them would be to incur a most fearful responsibility." [50]
47 Ibid., p. x.
48 Ibid.
49 Ibid., pp. x, xi.
50 Ibid., p. xii.
5. ANNIHILATION IS LOGICAL CONSEQUENCE OF FALL.—Elsewhere, Secretan reiterates the position that annihilation is the logical consequence of the Fall. And he adds: "The possibility of a fall is inherent in the best possible creation." Furthermore, "the fall is a determination of the creature's will in a direction contrary to God's will." In such a collision of wills, he maintains that the inevitable result is the annihilation of the creature. But we can use the will to side with God. [51]
Dr. Petavel elsewhere includes Charles Babut, Cesar Malan, D. H. Meyer, and Ad. Schaeffer as among defenders of Conditionalism. [52]
Not only in English- and German-speaking countries but also in France, Switzerland, and Belgium do we hear the voice of Conditionalism in varying degree of clarity. Nor were these all theologians. One voice was that of DR. ARMAND SABATIER, a noted man of science, and dean of the Faculty of Sciences of the Zoological Institute of Montpellier, and director of the zoological station at Cette. In 1894 Dr. Sabatier delivered a series of lectures on immortality at the University of Geneva, and repeated them at the Sorbonne in Paris.
3. DENIES UNIVERSAL INNATE IMMORTALITY.—In the sixth lecture he declares immortality will not be universal:
"What are we to think as to the aptitude for immortality of these moral personalities which are so different? Must we believe that every human being, whatever his place in the moral scale, is destined to im-mortality, merely because he is a human being? My reason and examination of that which is going on in the domain of earthly life forbid such a conclusion." [53]
4. DEATH INVOLVES LOSS OF PERSONALITY.—AS to the end of some, he adds that for the end of those given over to evil there is "dissolution" and loss of personality.
51 Ibid., Supplement IV, pp. 428, 429.
52 Ibid., p. 26.
53 Armand Sabatier, Essai sur l'Immortctlite, pp. 191. 192. tr. in Freer, To Live or Not to Live? p. 141.
"The moral being that is destined to live must be complete and coherent. I see no reason why a conscient being should enjoy the privilege of immortality if he has constantly enfeebled, relaxed, decomposed, the bundle of psychic forces which might have made of him a moral personality. If in the case of the virtuous and upright man there is an integrity which defies disintegration, there is in the debilitated and bestial man a fatal dissolution." [54]
"What then can be the penalty reserved for those who have marched in the contrary direction, allowing their personality to remain incomplete, feeble, misdirected, or giving it over to dissolution? It can only be definitive death, that is to say the loss of the personality." [55]
Those were the convictions of a Frenchman of science. He, with others, was on the road to Conditionalism.
HENRY DE MAY (1818-1871), Swiss philosopher and profound thinker, met with a crippling accident. Then began years of intense study that led to the production of The Universe, Visible and Invisible. In this he says:
" 'We do not admit the necessity for any soul to live for ever; the life of a soul depends upon its conduct. Nature teaches us that every soul may perish, and that the higher is a soul in rank the more fragile it is. Thus it is only conditionally that we are either mortal or immortal. . . . One of the most prominent laws for the soul . . . is that of its mortality— that is to say, the possibility of dying if it fails to fulfil the editions to e which life is attached. . . . Each reasonable and responsible being has been created with the power to live eternally if he does well, and to if he does ill.' " [56]
This view he shared with numerous other French writers.
54 Ibid., p. 192, tr. in Freer, To Live or Not to Live? p. 142.
55 Ibid., p. 223, tr. in Freer, To Live or Not to Live? p. 142.
56 Henry de May, The Universe, Visible and Invisible, pp. 235, 316, 259, quoted in Freer, To Live or Not to Live? p. 140.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Dr. EMMANUEL PETAVEL—OR PETAVEL-OLIFF (1836-
1895), eminent Swiss theologian and author, was the best-known Continental Conditionalist of the century, and materially influenced the thought of his time, attracting and winning many scholars in various lands to his view of Life Only in Christ. His father, Prof. Abraham-Francois Petavel, was a specialist in Hebrew, and one of the founders of Neuchatel University. Emmanuel studied theology at Neuchatel and Geneva, with special studies under Dr. Frederic Godet, noted Swiss commentator, and Prof. Perret-Gentil, Old Testament translator. He was also markedly influenced by the lectures of Prof. Louis Gaussen and Dr. Merle D'Aubigne. After his ordination in 1858 and a period of ministerial service in Switzerland, Petavel became pastor of a Swiss congregation in Endell Street, London, at which time he formed the acquaintance of Conditionalist Edward White.
While still a student in college Petavel was required to preach an assigned sermon on Matthew 10:28—"Fear him who is able to cause the loss of both body and soul in Gehenna" (Ostervald tr.)—and with reluctant loyalty he presented the traditional dogma of Eternal Torment in Hell. Soon afterward, however, he found that Ostervald had mistakenly translated the Greek verb apolesai as "to cause the loss of," but that it actually signified "to destroy." Like a flash the thought came, "Then the soul is capable of perishing!" As he pursued this line of thought the entire Bible became illuminated with a new radiance and meaning. And this text became the base from which he began to undermine the whole argument for Innate Immortality, along with the dogma of the indestructibility of the soul that he had formerly championed.
1. UNIQUE INTRODUCTION TO FELLOW CONDITIONALIST WHITE.—Shortly after this, on a visit to London, he was in the home of the foundress of an organization of Bible women. Looking over her library, he chanced to see a small volume entitled Life in Christ: Four Discourses (1846), which he discovered to be a masterly exposition of the very viewpoint he had secretly espoused.
Inquiring concerning the author, Edward White, he was astonished to learn that he was none other than the brother of his hostess, whose library he was scanning. He quickly arranged to meet White. They had each come independently to identical conclusions—that the end of the impenitent must be complete destruction, not eternal suffering, and the paralleling postulate that the life offered to dying men is life through union with Christ. Thus a common belief brought the two men together in lifelong intimate friendship.
2. IMPELLED TO DECLARE CONDITIONALIST BELIEF PUB-LICLY.—Petavel's conviction developed into an inner mandate to declare his belief publicly. Upon leaving England, he spent a year and a half in Paris and Versailles, writing for La Croix and serving as secretary for a society to publish a translation of the Holy Scriptures which by its philological accuracy would have the support of Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish scholars alike. But strong Catholic ultramontane (papal superiority and supremacy) opposition developed, and the project came to nought. It was during this period that Petavel brought out his first book, Bible en France, a history of the various French versions, which earned for him a D.D. degree.
Petavel's accuracy of scholarship, literary skill, and personal zeal made a profound impression on the French-speaking theological world. From then on he became the apostle and principal proponent in Switzerland of Conditional Immortality. His first publication on Conditionalism was a lecture in 1869 in Neuchatel, his home town. His next was a paper before the Neuchatel Theological Society, in 1870, with re-plies to objections, and published in Switzerland in 1872 as La Fin du Mal. This launched his public campaign.
An English translation, made by Charles H. Oliphant, of Massachusetts, appeared under the title The Struggle for Eternal Life, with preface by Dr. Robert W. Dale, noted Congregationalist of Birmingham. Meantime a succession of articles came from his pen for La Revue Theologique, of Montauban, and Le Critique Religieuse, of Lausanne, and evidencing indisputable writing talent.
3. UNIVERSITY LECTURES STRESS POSITIVE SIDE OF CON-DITIONALISM.—In 1878 Petavel delivered a series of ten lectures on Conditional Immortality at the University of Geneva, attended not only by students but by many pastors. The next year White visited France and Switzerland, and in Lausanne visited Petavel, who was living in the former home of the historian Sismondi. White saw Petavel again in 1885, at his chalet in Nauchatel.
In 1886 Petavel gave a notable series of twelve lectures in the same University of Geneva, repeating them in Neuchatel. In the Neuchatel lectures Petavel had challenged his auditors to test the thesis he was setting forth, not as a negation but as an affirmation, and bearing not merely upon z this single doctrine but touching, vivifying, and reorganizing all Bible truth. The primary purpose of the Incarnation, the atonement, and the resurrection was, he insisted, to make 1 eternal life possible for repentant believers. That was the • positive, effective side of Conditionalism. It was similar to White's emphasis.
4. CONSTITUTES UNIFYING HARMONIOUS SYSTEM.—These lectures formed the basis of his greatest work, the two-volume Le Probleme de limmortalite, published in Paris in 1891-1892. White took a deep interest in this remarkable work, then only in French, encouraging its translation into English. This was done by Frederick A. Freer, friend of both Petavel and White, and published in England in 1892 as The Problem of Immortality. While this almost six-hundred-page treatise was systematic and scholarly, it was nonetheless warm and persuasive. It was unquestionably the most far-reaching single piece of Conditionalist literature to appear in the nineteenth century. It was widely studied and constantly quoted on both sides of the Atlantic.
Petavel's previous study of White's revised and enlarged Life in Christ (1878), which had been translated into French in 1880 by Charles Byse (editor of Le Journal du Protestantisme Francais) [1] under the title L'Immortalite Conditionnelle, had strengthened Petavel's personal convictions and confirmed his own conclusions that only by this doctrine can the entire evangelical system of the New Testament be unified as a complete and harmonious synthesism "capable of satisfying the demands of modern thinking."
1 Byse had discussed the theme in his journal under the title L' Immortalitie Conditionnell on la Vie en Christ, likewise issued in Paris. This, together with White's volume, caused a sensation among French-speaking theologians, and was followed by much discussion.
Petavel succeeded in winning prominent men to his view, and from his villa near Geneva he continued to exert an ever-widening influence. A Hebrew scholar like his father, he was accurate in exegesis and logical and persuasive in deduction. He was an able polemicist and a brilliant speaker. Thus it was that Petavel's life was closely interwoven with the controversy over Conditionalism that waged without intermission throughout his generation both on the Continent, and in Britain, and in North America, and out to the far reaches of earth.
1. MASTERFUL KNOWLEDGE OF CONDITIONALIST LITERATURE.—Petavel's intimate acquaintance with the Conditionalist literature of the nineteenth century (Continental, British, and American) surpassed that of any other investigator, as his copious references attest. His two major lists (pages 18-26 and 500-501) [2] of contemporary Conditionalists and their works are the most complete and thorough produced by any investigator, except that of his translator, Frederick A. Freer, who continued the tabulation in sequence beyond the Petavel list. [3]
Facile in German and English, and of course in French, his mother tongue (and in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin), he had personally examined and analyzed the Continental writers as no one else had attempted to do. He knew their content, and exhibited their strength and exposed the weakness of some of their arguments as no one else had done. [4] That established his mastery of the field. He was not speaking as a lone investigator.
2 There are reprints of these lists in some of his periodical articles and brochures.
3 See Freer, To Live or Not to Live? pp. 109-124.
4 This ability is shown in the text of his treatise, and especially in certain of the Supplements.
2. MASTERFUL GRASP OF BIBLICAL EVIDENCE.—Petavel's mastery of the Biblical evidence is impressive. First, the evidence of all texts bearing thereon was collected and correlated under a series of appropriate headings (with annotations). This is unique, for this tabulation gets the total pertinent Biblical evidence before the reader, that he may evaluate and draw his own conclusions. And in the process of assemblage, Petavel first formulated and then established his own views. And in technical semantics he was unsurpassed.
Then his mastery of the technical intent and significance of the Hebrew and Greek terms involved was remarkable. In this he was strengthened and safeguarded by a careful exchange of findings and views with other great specialists, such as Dr. R. F. Weymouth, of Mill Hill School. And this was all put to test by polemical jousts with scholarly critics. But Petavel was adroit in seeking out the chinks in the foeman's armour and exposing their fallacies. Sometimes he was devastating.
3. CLARIFICATION OF MORAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES.—One of Petavel's greatest contributions was his probing and analysis of the moral, philosophical, and ethical issues involved. Here was a shadowland for most writers that was often murky and confused. Moral government, free will, the excesses and inconsistencies of Calvin's predestinarian positions, the errors and inconsistencies of Universalism, and the inhumanities and injustices of Eternal Torment came under the fire of his keen, analytical mind, buttressed by a mastery of the Biblical evidence.
Petavel helped to settle some of these moot points and to expose half truths and clever artifices. These were among his major contributions. By overthrowing error he exalted and established truth. All in all, he was an extraordinary contender for the faith of Conditionalism, with a scholarly touch that few men had and none surpassed.
4. REMARKABLE GRASP OF PHILOSOPHICAL AND HISTORICAL EVIDENCE.—Petavel's intimate knowledge of the contentions of Platonic philosophy and of the testimony of the Church Fathers enabled him to challenge and discredit the sweeping generalities frequently indulged in by the proponents of Immortal-Soulism. Only by knowing the evidence better than his adversaries could he know whether their contentions were true or false. And only thus could he be sure of his own ground.
Finally, Petavel's grasp of the historical facts not only of pagan Platonic philosophy but of Jewish history and early Christian Church literature made him invulnerable to the sophistries of men whose main burden was to sustain a position, and in so doing seek out expressions (often out of context) that seemingly supported their philosophical view of pagan, Jewish, and early Christian Church testimony. This, added to his competence in related fields, made him unique in contemporary Conditionalism.
5. CONSUMMATION OF CONDITIONALIST INVESTIGATION.—As mentioned, unquestionably Petavel's The Problem of Immortality was the greatest Continental treatise on—Conditional-ism produced in the nineteenth century. And many features surpass any British or American production. Petavel grappled with the great philosophical, moral, and historical issues, as well as with the Biblical aspects. And he dealt ably with the semantics of the question.
Since his conclusions were based upon the same basic facts and principles accessible to all scholars, it was inevitable that the general outline of his book and its major conclusions would be similar. But its grasp of the entire question, its penetration into the underlying principles, its grappling with basic issues, and its skill in relating part to part surpass any other single treatise of which we have knowledge.
Petavel had the advantage of access to the most scholarly Conditionalist findings of the centuries, in addition to proximity to the greatest libraries of Continental Europe and Britain. He knew personally many of the greatest contemporary investigators in the field of Conditionalism, and he lived late enough to have the advantage of both past and present findings.
But Petavel's product was not a mere assemblage of the thoughts of others or simply a rehash of others' reasonings. His was a fresh investigation of the whole subject, conducted by a highly trained mind, fortified by the knowledge of what had been done before him. And with the technical qualifications and equipment for doing superb work, more was therefore to be expected of him—and he did not disappoint.
In his 597-page volume with its twelve large chapters and its twenty-three supplements every major angle is compassed and all fundamental problems and objections are examined. It is more complete in coverage than any other treatise before it —or since. With some minor matters others will, of course, disagree. But with the great fundamental verities all Conditionalists must agree, as they are drawn from unassailable premises, acknowledged and proclaimed by the ablest Conditionalists of the centuries.
In a sense, then, Petavel's is the consummation of the Conditionalist investigative study up to his day. The timing, 1890, makes this logical when produced by a well-equipped mind, with all the facts and findings immediately accessible, and association and correspondence with the other great Conditionalists of the time as a safeguard and stimulus. Let us now survey the essentials of The Problem of Immortality in some detail.
1. PURPOSE: TO DEFEND DOCTRINE OF "ATTAINABLE IMMORTALITY."—Petavel consistently contended that "Eschatology, the science of the last things" is the "keystone of the arch . . . of Christian dogmatics." [5] He declares that a revolt is on against the old concepts, and says picturesquely: "The nets of the old doctrine being broken, we need to sit down awhile on the shore to mend them." [6]
5 Petavel, The Problem of immortality, p. 6.
6 Ibid., P. 13.20
That he proceeds to do. Recognizing with all others the three primary schools of thought—the traditional Eternal Torment, Universalism, and Conditional Immortality theories—he charges the first two with having a "Platonic origin," which endows mankind with "imperishable personality." He epitomizes the difference between them and Conditionalism as death involving "perpetuation of life" versus "cessation of life." Christian Conditionalism presents man as a "candidate for immortality." [7] And Petavel states his writing purpose plainly: "Our purpose is to defend and to recommend this doctrine of attainable immortality." [8]
This, he avers, is "entitled to be rescued from the oblivion in which . . . it has long been buried." [9]
2. "CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE" NOW BROKEN.—The "conspiracy of silence" has now been broken. In support he cites a brilliant list of names: Rothe, Weisse, Schultz, Ritschl, and Gess in Germany." [10] In England and America there are "hundreds of volumes and pamphlets," with specific titles (and dates)—such as Dodwell, Watts, Whately, White, Dale, Aitken, Minton-Senhouse, Constable, Row, Heard, Hobson, Warleigh, Griffith, Tinling, Perowne, Mortimer, Weymouth, Dunn, Clarke in Britain. [11] And in America by Abbott, Beecher, Baker, Bacon, Hastings, Potwin, Oliphant, Huntington, Hudson, Bushnell, Pettingell. [12] He lists separately such "scientific celebrities" as Stokes, Bonney, Adams, Geikie, and Tait. [13] And then he cites Phillips Brooks as saying, " 'We are on the verge, I believe, of a mighty revolution' in theology." [14] Numerous other names—such as Parker, Dorner, Byse—are added on pages twenty-two to twenty-six, including Cocorda of Italy and Jonker in Holland.
7 Ibid., p. 14.
8 Ibid., p. 15.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid., pp. 16, 17.
11 Ibid., pry. 18, 19.
12 Ibid.,
13 Ibid, pp. 19, 20.
14 Ibid., p. 21
3. CONDITIONALISTS NOT "INNOVATORS" BUT CONTINUATORS. —Petavel, urging a true eschatology, declares: "A system of dogmatics without eschatology is like a building without a roof, liable to be damaged by every change of weather." [15]
And he refers to the "traditionalist hammer" and the "Universalist anvil" with Conditionalism between them. [16] Petavel closes chapter one by declaring, "We repudiate the name of innovators with which we are often reproached." [17] And he avers that the status quo cannot long be maintained in the religious world. "Conditionalism must soon be either generally accepted or rejected." [18] But he adds, "For the present the discussion continues."
4. EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE YIELDS NO SUPPORT FOR INNATISM.—Chapter two ("Immortality as Viewed by Independent Science") deals with the evidence of biology, comparative physiology, geology, and paleontology, and declares that "experimental science, fails to supply any proof of the immortality of the soul." [19] From these, he observes, it is impossible to affirm the "exclusive immortality of man on the ground of attributes which are common to him and all living beings." Again, "Life independent of an organism cannot be scientifically demonstrated." [20] And, "The mind seems to be one of the various manifestations of life." Dr. Petavel says that "Ie lsgitimate conclusion" is "that the soul dies with the body." [21]
5. IN DEATH THE INDIVIDUAL CEASES TO EXIST.—Dealing with the soul and the involvements of death, Professor Petavel states:
"If our prospect of a future life depends upon the possession of a soul, we must either be resigned to share that immortality with all our collaterals of the animal kingdom, or else forego our own hopes, admitting that we are mortal, like them." [22]
"So far as science can perceive, there is no exception to the general law of death. After a brief life of a few hours, days, or years, all the denizens of earth, water, and air 'return to their dust'; their constituent elements are dissipated, and go to form parts of new chemical combinations, but the individual as such, ceases to exist. Death is cessation of the organic functions." [23]
15 Ibid., p. 34.
16 Ibid., p. 35.
17 Ibid., p. 37.
18 Ibid
19 Ibid., p. 90.
20 Ibid., p. 41.
21 Ibid., p. 42.
22 Ibid., p. 45.
23 Ibid., p. 46.
6. CHALLENGES CONTENTION OF "UNIVERSAL CONSENT."—The doctor challenges the commonly accepted theory of the "almost universal consent" of "unconditional immortality," and observes:
"One half of the human race believes in annihilation, and aspires no higher! The teaching which has come to us from ecclesiastical tradition inclines us to allow the Platonic hypothesis of the imperishability of individual souls to pass without examination." [24]
he says we must "stop it [the universal acceptance theory] as it goes, stare it in the face, demand its title to acceptance." [25] And he refers to the great sages, the founders of Stoicism and Criticism, as highly skeptical. Neither did the Egyptians believe in the "indestructibility of individual souls," but rather in the "annihilation of the being" for the "wicked." [26]
7. PLATONISM CONTAINED PRINCIPLE OF PANTHEISM.—Coming to the metaphysical, ontological, and teleological proofs, Petavel says the Platonists "felt it necessary to suppose that the soul is essentially divine." [27] To Plato, the "dogma of pre-existence and that of immortality were inseparable from each other." [28] But this is simply "covert pantheism." [29] Then he says:
"No doubt the spirit of God gives to man his vital force; but that does not mean that the creature forms part of the Creator, and on that Account possesses the immortality of God himself. The created soul has had a beginning; it may, therefore, come to an end; it will come to an end unless an express purpose of the Creator perpetuates its existence." [30]
8. INDIVIDUALIST IMMORTALITY INVOLVES GODSHIP.—Then Petavel observes:
"If the soul possessed an independent and absolute immortality, it would not be a creature, but would form part of God himself. If the soul were of the divine essence, that would not prove the immortality of any individual, but merely the imperishable of a substance without individual character; the perpetuation of a vital principle does not at all imply the perpetuity of individuals who are its ephemeral manifestations." [31]
24 Ibid., p. 50.
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid., p. 51.
27 Ibid., p. 52.
28 Ibid., pp. 52, 53.
29 Ibid., p. 53.
30 Ibid.
31 Ibid.
Rather, on that thesis "man returning in death to the universal spirit at once loses its individuality; but it is with personal immortality that we have to do." [32] The concept that "man can set up his own will, can be in insurrection against God and defy him eternally" is simply "dualism." [33] Petavel's conclusion is that the so-called "traditional proofs of the absolute immortality of individual souls" lead only to "the admission that man is susceptible of immortalization." [34]
9. PLATONISM ONLY A "HOPE," NOT "DEMONSTRATED TRUTH."—Platonism was only a "hope," not a "demonstrated truth." Seneca and Cicero doubted it. There is "no true immortality without the maintenance of the individual identity." [35] Discussing the proponents of Conditionalism sustaining these points, he names and quotes from a score of Continental and British savants, and concludes:
"If a key is handed to us which fits the lock and opens the door we shall be disposed to admit that it has come from God himself. This very key the Gospel claims to bring to us. We will try it." [37]
10. FUNDAMENTAL INTENT OF "LIFE" AND "DEATH."—Chapter three concerns "Immortality According to the Old Testament and in Judaism." Petavel's opening observation is:
"Under the powerful influence of Platonic philosophy the Scriptures and the God therein revealed have been calumniated; they have been obscured by the dismal tint of the darkened glass through which they have been regarded." [38]
Everything turns on the two words "life" and "death." They are the "two poles of the biblical sphere. Everything turns upon these great antitheses. [39] These he defines as follows:
"Life in the historic and grammatical sense is an existence composed of action and sensation; death is the cessation of that existence, the end. of all action and all sensation." [40]
32 Ibid. p. 54.
33 Ibid.
34 Ibid. p. 56.
35 Ibid. p. 59.
36 Ibid., p. 62.
37 Ibid. p. 78.
38 Ibid. p. 80.
39 Ibid. p. 81.
40 Ibid.
Popular theology holds that "the life of the soul cannot possibly cease," and that "death" is understood in "the sense of perpetual life in the midst of sin and sufferings without end." But he avers that this "traditional exegesis is false." Instead, "Life and death are opposites, like black and white." [41] If death were a certain state of life, it would be a manifestation of life: the contradiction is evident." [42]
11. CREATOR PROVIDED CONDITIONAL NOT INALIENABLE IMMORTALITY.—In the Genesis record, man is set forth as a "candidate for immortality." He is "subjected to a test." "If he revolts, he will lose life." Thus:
"To man the Creator gives existence and offers immortality. So long as Adam remains in the garden of Eden he is allowed to eat the fruit of the tree of life; but his immortality is conditional: as soon as he infringes the condition laid down he is devoted to death, and he no longer has access to the tree which alone could render him immortal." [43]
"He does not enjoy a native and inalienable immortality." [44] And disobeying would end in "dissolution," or "cessation of individual existence." Thus man became "mortal." [45] As to the Old Testament, he says:
"The Old Testament never mentions a native and inalienable immortality. The expression immortal soul, that favourite formula of ecclesiastical phraseology, is not there to be found." [46]
12. INNATISM PENETRATES JEWRY THROUGH ALEXANDRIA.—In certain Apocryphal, or extra-canonical, books the doctrine of Innate Immortality did creep in—in the Alexandrian branch. Outside of Palestine, Platonism got a foothold. Yet others were clearly Conditionalist. [47] So we find "a hybrid compendia of contradictory opinions." [48] But the Mishna "speaks neither of native immortality nor of eternal torments." [49] Rather, it is of "absolute extermination" of the sinful soul. [50]
41 Ibid., p. 82.
42 Ibid., p. 83.
43 Ibid., p. 85.
44 Ibid.
45 Ibid., pp. 86, 87.
46 Ibid., p. 88.
47 Ibid., pp. 102, 103.
48 Ibid., p. 102.
49 Ibid., p. 105.
50 Ibid., p. 106.
And the great Talmudists—Deutsch, Hamburger, Benisch, Phillipson, Marks, Adler, Lowe, Mosse, and Weill—all deny the "eternity of torments" in the Talmud. [51] Many other supporting authorities are cited in footnotes.
13. KABBALAH INTRODUCES "EMANATION" AND "DUALISM."—This is sustained by medieval rabbis, Maimonides and half a dozen other celebrities, down to Manasseh ben Israel, and there are no higher Jewish authorities. [52] The theosophic Kabbalah is pantheistic in character, and asserts that the soul is "an emanation of the Divinity; therefore every human soul is both pre-existent and imperishable by nature." [53] And some held an "eschatological dualism" of "an eternal hell and an eternal paradise"—"two eternal and incompatible principles," [54] utterly foreign to original Hebrew. Petavel here cites an important statement from M. Auguste Sabatier:
"'A theology which derives everything from a single principle, from God alone, can only conceive of evil as an accident, and cannot possibly issue in an eternal dualism. There is a necessary correspondence between the principle of absolute creation and the complete restoration of all things.' " [55]
Then Petavel concludes:
"Taken as a whole, the Synagogue has remained faithful to the eschatology of the Old Testament. The Israelites are in principle Conditionalists. Their great mistake has been in refusing to recognize in Jesus the supreme condition and the mediator of life eternal. By his resurrection the Christ has illuminated the grave; the hope of the Israelites is but an uncertain glimmer." [56]
14. ETERNITY OF LIFE AND OF NONEXISTENCE.—Chapter four ("Immortality According to the New Testament") opens with the words: "Immortality, which in the Old Testament is conditional, is conditional also in the New." [57]
51 Ibid., pp. 106. 107.
52 Ibid., p. 110.
53 Ibid., p. 113.
54 Ibid., p. 114.
55 Ibid.
56 Ibid., p. 115.
57 Ibid., p. 116.
Then follows this comprehensive statement:
"In both Testaments immortality appears as the result of a personal faith in the personal and living God: the redeemed righteous shall live; the obstinate sinners shall be for ever destroyed. Still, the horizon becomes wider; the New Testament prolongs the lines; it clearly extends to the future life the temporal promises and threatening of the Old Testament. The eternity of life and the eternity of non-existence, veiled under the Old Covenant, are revealed and made prominent in the New." [58]
In Jesus Himself are found the "conditions of immortalization." He "offers in his own person the only bridge" to "righteousness" and an "imperishable life." [59] That is the aim of the gospel. He came to offer life and to save from death. And—
"by death we understand the contrary of life: the deprivation of all sentiment, the end of all activity, the extinction of all individual faculties. Death without any restriction, expressed or understood, death absolute, sometimes called second death, will be the definitive and complete end of life as just described." [60]
Since the New Testament area has been so often covered, we forbear to dilate on Petavel's "attainable immortality" through Christ alone. [61] As to the fate of the wicked, he says:
"The New Testament predicts a total extinction of the irreconcilable wicked; to signify this it employs the same terms that Plato uses in the Phaedo to indicate annihilation. There are no stronger terms. The obstinate sinner will be as the rivers separated from their sources, as the trees with neither roots nor branches, as the dry bundles of tares, as the corpses eaten by worms; he will go to destruction, to Gehenna, the refuse-heap of souls." [62]
15. IMMORTALITY ONLY THROUGH CHRIST.—In chapter five ("Jesus Christ the Only Source of Immortality") Petavel discusses "conscience" and "spirituality," and he adds:
"To awaken sleeping consciences, to set before them the torch of revealed truth, to put them into communication with the Spirit of God, this will be the preliminary operation, indispensable if they are to be immortalized." [63]
Dealing with the relationship of immortality to the atonement and expiation, reconciliation, and ransom, Petavel says: "The way of immortality traverses Gethsemane and Golgotha." [64]
58 Ibid., p. 117.
59 Ibid.
60 Ibid., p. 118.
61 Ibid., p. 136.
62 Ibid., pp. 142, 143.
63 Ibid., pp. 147, 148.
64 Ibid., p. 151.
Discussing the "new birth" as the "fruit of faith," he adds: "Conditional in its principle, immortality remains conditional, even to our last breath." [65] And this involves our resurrection, and the "certitude of our resurrection" rests in Christ. [66] "Life and death, death and resurrection, the new birth and the future life" are all inseparably bound together. [67]
16. SYMBOLS OF IMMORTALITY PERVERTED BY APOSTASY.—In chapter six ("Baptism and the Lord's Supper, Symbols of Immortality") the Lord's. Supper is "an emblem of the sustenance of the new life" provided by Christ. [68] Blood "is the symbol of life." [69] But this symbolism was lost through perversion of the Supper into transubstantiation and partly retained in "consubstantiation.” [70] Similarly, immersion, a "symbol of death and resurrection" unto life, [71] was originally for "believers only." But the rite was changed to sprinkling, and the "divine symbolism" lost. [72] So in a corrupted church, with its ritualism, sacerdotalism, and sacramentalism these expressive symbols of death and restored life "lost their meaning.” [73] But they bear on Life Only in Christ. This thought was unique with Petavel.
2. DEATH: FINAL EXTINCTION OF ALL FACULTIES.—ID chapter seven ("The Second Death, or Future Punishment") Petavel discusses the symbolism of "fire" and "worm," "two agents of destruction," and shows the punishment to be "deprivation of all faculties." "Death indicates a suppression, never a manifestation of life." [74] Here are two key statements: "Total destruction is then, according to the Scripture, the final lot of obstinate sinners." [75]
As to "eternal punishment," he says:
"It should be observed that when the word eternal qualifies an act, the eternity is the attribute not of the act itself, but of the result of the act. It then denotes the perpetuity of the effect produced by the act or by the agent." [76]
65 Ibid., p. 156.
66 Ibid., p. 163.
67 Ibid., p. 167.
68 Ibid., p. 168.
69 Ibid., p. 187.
70 Ibid.
71 Ibid., p. 177.
72 Ibid., pp. 178, 184.
73 Ibid., p. 188.
74 Ibid., p. 189.
75 Ibid., p. 193.
76 Ibid., p. 194.
Asked to define "annihilation," he says:
"The gradual diminution of the faculties possessed by the individual ego, and the final extinction of that master faculty by which we take possession of the other faculties." [77]
18. CONDITIONALISM AMONG APOSTOLIC AND APOLOGIST FATHERS.—In chapter eight ("Conditional Immortality in the Writings of the Earliest Fathers of the Church") Petavel opens with "the apostolic Fathers never speak of a native immortality." [78] And the punishment of the wicked consists "in a gradual destruction of their being, which finally becomes total." Nor do they teach "universal salvation." He repeats, "They all with one accord appear to be Conditionalists." [79] (Their testimony he skilfully examines in detail.) Coming then to the "apologist Fathers," Petavel surveys Justin Martyr, Tatian, Theophilus, Irenaeus, Arnobius, Athanasius, and Lactantius, and declares them all to be Conditionalists [80]—believing in "attainable," not Innate, Immortality, and the passing of the wicked back into nonexistence, "relapsing into nothingness. [81] But this testimony was "drowned in the rising tide of the Platonic theory," "made to triumph" under Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Cyprian, Jerome, and Augustine. [82]
19. COMPULSORY IMMORTALITY IN ETERNAL HELL.—Chapter nine ("The Deviation of the Churches, and the Doctrine of Compulsory Immortality in an Eternal Hell") treats on the "infiltration of heathen dualism." Special mention is made of Athenagoras. Petavel shows how three North Africans, Tertullian, Origen, and Augustine, "secure the triumph of the Platonic doctrine." [83] It was at this time that Catholic error was developed, which has been largely retained in Protestantism. [84] Athenagoras sought to show the accord between Plato and Christianity, subordinating Christianity to Platonism. [85]
77 Ibid., p. 202.
78 Ibid., p. 229.
79 Ibid., p. 230.
80 Ibid. pp. 234-243.
81 Ibid., pp. 240-242.
82 Ibid., p. 242.
83 Ibid., pp. 246, 250.
84 Ibid., p. 246.
85 Ibid., p. 249.
But it was Tertullian who conceived a Hell with a "special kind of fire, a secret or divine fire, which does not consume that which it burns. but while it burns it repairs." [86] And Augustine was followed after many centuries by Calvin, with the "predestination of the wicked," "condemned to the eternal fire of hell." [87] And all this involved the "dualism" of Persia, with its "two contrary principles, both eternal," perpetuated through the Gnostics and Manichaeans. [88] And this was all based on the idea of the indestructibility of the soul. On the contrary— "annihilation is the logical consequence of sin as viewed from either the metaphysical, the juridical, or the moral standpoint. He who revolts against God puts himself outside of life." [89]
20. REVIVAL OF CONDITIONALISM IN NINETEENTH CENTURY.—The remainder of the chapter traces the issue through the Renaissance—Duns Scotus, Pomponatius, and Leo X, and thence to Luther, and Archbishop Parker and the Anglican Church in 1562, together with Calvin's opposition—and down to the nineteenth century and Ami Bost, who wrote the first Conditionalist tract in France, The Fate of the Wicked in the Other Life (1861). [90] Then come the Standards and Confessions, with the Calvinists in particular holding to the dogmas of Innate Immortality and Eternal Torment. Then appear the many Conditionalists of the nineteenth century. [91]
2. UNIVERSALISM'S FUNDAMENTAL FALLACY REVEALED. —Chapter ten ("The Theory of Universal Salvation") reveals the basis of Origen's fallacy, which likewise holds to "indefeasible immortality." "There will be an end of evil," but it will be accomplished through the "destruction of obstinate sinners." [92] But Universalism involves "enforced immortality." [93] "Salvation is inevitable; it cannot fail of accomplishment." Sinners are "doomed to salvation." [94] That makes the Biblical "to destroy, and to save" to be "synonymous terms."
86 Ibid., p. 250.
87 Ibid., p. 251.
88 Ibid., p. 252.
89 Ibid., p. 253. note.
90 Ibid., pp. 254-258.
91 Ibid., pp. 268.276.
92 Ibid., pp. 283, 284.
93 Ibid., p. 289.
94 Ibid., p. 300.
But the second, or "final death," is a "complete and definitive death." There is no "third," or subsequent, life." "Universalism shows itself generous at the expense of justice and liberty." [96]
22. ADVANTAGES AND SUPERIORITY OF CONDITIONALISM. —Chapter eleven deals with the "Principal Arguments Adduced Against Conditionalism." These Petavel answers in a masterful way, drafting upon the writings of other Conditionalists. As these have been answered many times before, we need not repeat them here. Chapter twelve deals with the "Harmonies and Benefits of the True Biblical Teaching." It is a recapitulation of the evidences marshalled in the preceding chapters. In Conditionalism we are "freed" from the "fetters of scholasticism." [97] Here are some statements:
"Bestowing life upon all as a provisional gift, he does not impose upon any one the perpetuity of that boon." [98]
Conditionalism leaves "intact the liberty of man." [99] Eternal life is imparted solely through Christ, the "Author of life" that is His "unique glory." [100]
"Punishment will be strictly proportional. Guilt will be measured exactly by responsibility." [101]
There is an "ever-exact equilibrium between these three factors: gifts, responsibilities, retribution." [102]
"God has established an exact and infallible correlation between sin and its punishment." [103]
Conditionalism "restores to resurrection the predominant place assigned to it in Scripture." [104]
95 Ibid., p. 301.
96 Ibid., p. 304.
97 Ibid., p. 372.
98 Ibid., p. 376.
99 Ibid., p. 378.
100 Ibid., p. 380.
101 Ibid., p. 302.
102 Ibid., p, 383.
103 Ibid., p. 384.
104 Ibid., p. 389.
23. MULTIPLE EXCELLENCIES OF BIBLE CONDITIONALISM. —Here is Petavel's comprehensive summation of Conditionalism as he closes the text of his treatise:
"This is a doctrine which uses neither palliation nor dissimulation; it rests straight and square upon the Bible. bringing all the biblical declarations into harmony; it was maintained by the earliest Fathers; it is in conformity with universal analogy, it satisfies the instinct of self-preservation, an instinct which is also a duty; within the sphere of liberty it is the crowning of the great scientific law of the survival of the fittest, the graft of the Gospel upon the vigorous but wild tree of evolution.
"It humiliates the presumptuous child of the dust; it glorifies Jesus Christ- it is the basis of a new theodicy; it keeps the golden mean between the Manichaean pessimism which makes evil eternal and the optimism which sees no serious danger in evil. By removing the stumbling-block of eternal torments. it shows a God always faithful to himself, and merciful even in the terrible chastisement wherewith he threatens obstinate sinners. By re-establishing the notion of irreparability, it restores to the preacher a weapon that he had lost." [105]
"Conditionalism boldly declares the irreparable consequences of sin; the pardon that it offers is not impunity. Its mathematical morality deals out future retributions in exact proportion to the use made here below of the resources put within reach. A doctrine so clear and so just is a well-sharpened sword wherewith the defenders of the Gospel will be able to resume the attack, quitting the position of the besieged for that of conquerors." [106]
24. FIGHTING FOR GREAT BUT STILL-MISUNDERSTOOD TRUTH. —Conditionalism thus consequently is "not at the circumference, but at the centre of Christian dogma." [107] It is "the gravest question the world," for it involves not only "our eternal destinies" but the "character of God" and the "future of the Christian religion." [108] And "upon the Churches this testimony lays a certain responsibility from which they can free themselves only by a serious response to the challenge." [109]
Petavel agrees with a Christian thinker who says: "I know no greater delight than that of fighting for the triumph of a great truth that is still misunderstood." [110]
105 Ibid., pp. 100, 401.
106 Ibid., p. 401.
107 Ibid., p. 401, note.
108 Ibid., p. 403.
109 Ibid., p. 405.
110 Ibid., p. 404.
FREDERICK ASH FREER (1837-1917), of Bristol, England, gifted advocate of Conditional Immortality and learned author of To Live or Not to Liver (1900), was the translator from the French of Dr. Emmanuel Petavel's classic, The Problem of Immortality. He also wrote the biography of Conditionalist Dr. Edward White—Edward White: His Life and Work (1902). He was the son of a Baptist minister. Freer was facile in French, German, and Italian, as well as Hebrew and Greek. He had travelled widely. At one time he had been a civil service Inland Revenue official. In the 1850's he espoused the teaching of Life Only in Christ. More at home with the pen and in the editorial chair than on the public platform, he was nevertheless a pleasing speaker, and presented able papers before various Conditional Immortality Conferences in England. He was a contributor of merit to several Conditionalist journals, such as The Rainbow, The Faith, and Words of Life.
Having gone to London in 1855, pursuant to his government appointment, and hearing of Dr. Edward White's unique teaching and preaching concerning Life Only in Christ, Freer moved to the vicinity of White's church, St. Paul's Hawley Road Chapel, in London. Finding White's teaching to be Biblically sound and irrefutable, he joined White's church. Freer's conviction became established that only God has absolute immortality inherent in Himself; that man is mortal, and must die the second and eternal death if not rescued by our divine Saviour. By union with Christ the believer obtains eternal life as the free gift of God, which is the glad message of the gospel. Through this concept scripture became harmonized with scripture as never before, and the gospel was made clear and harmonious. Indeed, this concept produced an entire revolution in his attitude toward the gospel.
1. MAKES MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO CONDITIONALIST CAUSE.—Although Freer left London in 1877, his friendship with Dr. White deepened through the years, and he was finally asked to prepare White's biography, which was published in 1902. Freer chose the modest position of a strong behind-the-scenes supporter of Dr. White, of London, and Dr. Petavel of Lausanne, on the Continent, the outstanding Conditionalists of the time. He, like Aaron of old, was staying up Moses' hands (Ex. 17:12). (Pictured on page 625.)
Freer helped Petavel in the preparation of his masterful two-volume work Le Probleme de l'Immortalite ("The Problem of Immortality"), published in 1891 and 1892. Then he translated it at the author's request for the English public in 1902. Dr. Weymouth, of Mill Hill, pronounced it a very "scholarly work." The first of Freer's numerous periodical articles appeared in The Rainbow in 1883, the last in Words of Life in 1916. [111] He lived for a time in Bristol, where he was a member of the Committee of Management of the oldest Baptist College of England. He was an able and dedicated advocate of Conditionalism.
Freer's own To Live or Not to Live? is a veritable multum in parvo. A popular treatise, only 164 pages in length, it is nevertheless packed with facts and condensed philosophic, historical, and Biblical information. It scintillates with veritable gem statements. He also deals effectively with objections. And his tabulation and evaluation of all the Conditionalist writers of his day in Britain, on the Continent, and in America, are invaluable. His writings bear all the marks of accurate, documented scholarship.
2. A SYNTHESIS OF THE FREER CONTRIBUTION.—Freer's To Live or Not to Live? comprises twelve terse chapters. Its scope and objective can perhaps be seen at a glance from the chapter headings:
"What Is Meant by Conditionalism"
"Philosophic Conditionalism"
"Christian Conditionalism"
"Biblical Interpretation and Conditionalism"
"Biblical Data and Conditionalism"
"Augustinianism and Conditionalism"
"Universalism and Conditionalism"
"Indecision and Conditionalism"
"Objections Urged Against Conditionalism"
"Representatives of Conditionalism"
"Religion and Science Harmonized in Conditionalism"
"Advantages of Conditionalism."
111 Andrew S. Cunningham, in Words of Life, July, 1916, and May, 1917.
Freer's treatise is characterized by impressive expressions.
For instance, he stresses the distinction between "an endless life of loss [eternal torment], instead of an endless loss of all life [destruction]." [112] And speaking of Augustinianism, Freer says penetratingly, "When once the assumption of man's innate immortality is put aside, the fabric founded upon it crumbles to pieces." [113] As to the claims of Universalism, he comments:
"From the Conditionalist point of view, therefore, it is evident that the 'restitution of all things' when God shall be 'all in all' may be attained by the elimination of all uncongenial elements, the destruction of all impenitent human beings." [114]
Note some gem statements:
As to the eternal punishment of the wicked, it is a question only of "whether its endless duration is that of a process never to be completed or of a work irreversible and complete.” [115]
"The eternal punishment mentioned here [Matt. 25:46], and here only, like the 'eternal judgment'; and the 'eternal redemption' of Heb. 6.2 and 9.12, is eternal, not as an unfinished process but as a finished work." [116]
Conditionalism, Freer explains, "combines and harmonizes all the passages which are so often supposed to be irreconcilable with each other as well as with other Scripture teaching." [117]
As to the penalty for sin, "The sufferings, however, are not themselves the penalty of sin; the penalty is the death in which these issue." [118] Again: "The second death cannot be totally unlike the first, or it would not be a second." [119]
"The fundamental position of Conditionalism as to the constitution of man" is that he is "capable of either destiny, immortality or death." [120]
And this he stresses:
"Notwithstanding the predominance of the philosophical theory of immortality of all souls, the belief that endless life is to be had through Christ alone was never utterly extinguished in the Christian Church." [121]
112 Freer, To Live or Not to Live? p. 46.
113 Ibid., p. 55.
114 Ibid., p. 54.
115 Ibid., p. 62
116 Ibid., p. 61.
117 Ibid., p 67
118 Ibid., p. 72.
119 Ibid., p. 73.
120 Ibid., p. 96.
121 Ibid., p. 108.
The change came in the "middle of the [nineteenth] century" from a "negation of eternal life in suffering as the penalty of sin," to a "positive form" as a "doctrine of life." [122] And sagely, he further states that Conditionalism is "a synthesis which sets the various doctrines of the gospel in their true light and their just relations." [123] That was Freer's contribution. He shared White's and Petavel's views.
Next we turn to CHARLES BYSE (1835-1885), [124] learned French linguist of Brussels and Lausanne, who was born in Switzerland. He was an expert not only in modern languages and ancient Biblical tongues but in Oriental language as well. He received his training in Berlin and Erlangen, and studied theology at the Free Church College, Lausanne, from 1854 to 1858, tutoring to pay expenses. In 1861 he began his ministry in Paris, in the Free Church of France, continuing in Nesmes and Bex, and in the Englise Cretinenne Missionaire Belge, of Brussels. He also edited Archives of Christianity and Journal of French Protestantism.
122 Ibid., p. 109.
123 Ibid., p. 148.
124 Brooks, Reminiscences-1878-1898, pp. 48-51.
The years 1872-1873 were spent in England, where he met Dr. Emmanuel Petavel and Edward White. Persuaded of the truths they taught, from thenceforth he championed the doctrine of Conditional Immortality, and is believed to have been the first advocate of Life Only in Christ to appear in French journals. Then in 1879 he was visited by White in Paris, where he was editing a weekly religious newspaper. Inasmuch as he was an accomplished linguist and competent theologian, White asked him to translate his Life in Christ into French, Petavel promising to help. This he accomplished. It was titled L'Immortalitie Conditionnelle ou la Vie en Christ.
In 1883, while Byse was translating White's volume, he was put on trial by his own denomination for holding and preaching the "heresy" of Conditionalism, and was dismissed from its ministry by action of the Synod of the Belgian Missionary Church. He was also compelled to relinquish his post as pastor of a congregation. As a consequence, a large proportion of his indignant congregation, a substantial majority of whom believed as he did, followed him, and for two years he preached to them independently. This was believed to be the first church on the Continent to take such a position, and was watched with intense interest in French Protestant circles. However, ecclesiastical persecution and social ostracism became so great that Byse finally left Brussels for Lausanne, Switzerland, where he continued to preach, lecture, and teach with freedom. There he came to be highly respected and honoured.
Byse rendered conspicuous service to Conditionalism by his competent and judicious translation of White's volume, to which he wrote the preface. His grasp of the issues involved may be seen in this paragraph:
" 'Our principal thesis is not at the circumference but at the centre of Christian dogma. It is a vit4 germ. a principle of regeneration for contemporary theology and reaching. . .. Thus rejuvenated and transfigured in its fundamental conception, the religion of the Christ will be able afresh to manifest its legitimacy as the best explanation of our troubled world, as the divine answer to our most agonizing questions. To many sincere and reflective minds, driven in spite of themselves by the parching wind of doubt towards atheism and despair, it will bring an untold peace and a sublime hope.' " [125]
125 Charles Byse, quoted in Freer, To Live or Not to Live? p. 151.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Britain's illustrious Prime Minister Gladstone also thrust his thoughtful pen into the widespread discussion, still on in earnest toward the end of the nineteenth century. His was a conspicuously objective study. He wrote as an investigator seeking historical and Biblical facts, methodically analysing both arguments and evidence with his trained mind. Then he impressively recorded his conclusions. This was a unique development, worthy of study. First note the man.
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE (1809-1898), eminent British statesman, financier, orator, and author, was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, graduating in 1831 with highest honours both in the classics and in mathematics—achieving the rarity of a "double first in classics." He was elected to Parliament in December of 1832, where his exceptional abilities were quickly recognized. Here he became distinguished for his financial skill, and was soon made under treasurer for the colonies under Sir Robert Peel. Next he was appointed master of the mint, and then president of the Board of Trade, in 1843, with a seat in the cabinet. In 1845 Gladstone was named Secretary of State for the colonies, developing into a political Liberal, and in 1847 represented Oxford University in Parliament.
In 1852 Gladstone first became chancellor of the exchequer, and again from 1859 to 1866. He was considered to be the greatest of British financiers. Then he was made leader of the House of Commons. Finally, on December 4, 1868, he was accorded the highest honour attainable by a British subject—that of Prime Minister. This distinguished post Gladstone held four times-1868-1875, 1880-1885, 1886, and 1892-1894. Then England's Grand Old Man, as he was commonly called, retired from public office, giving himself to writing. Besides being Prime Minister and first lord of the treasury, he was sometimes concurrently chancellor of the exchequer. His budgets were recognized as marvels of financial statesmanship. In fact, the history of his various ministries is really the history of the British Empire in his generation.
With the exception of a year and a half, Gladstone sat continuously in the House for sixty-two years—from 1833 to 1895. He cared little for power, several times being offered a peerage but each time declining the honour. He was by far the most prominent personage in the political arena of his time, but he preferred to remain the Great Commoner.
WRITINGS INCLUDE QUESTION OF FUTURE LIFE.—Gladstone was considered without a superior as an orator, having great persuasive gifts and a magnetic voice. He was a scholar of the Old School. It is amazing how he found time for his periodic literary productions, including, among others, The State in Its Relations with the Church (1838); Studies on Homer (1858); and The Vatican Decrees (1874). His issuance of books ranged in time spread from 1838 to 1896. His later studies took him deeply into the realm of the Christian faith.
For years Gladstone pondered the question of the future life, and in 1896 he published his significant 370-page treatise, Studies. Subsidiary to the Works of Bishop Butler—his last major work. Part II contains ten chapters. The first five are entitled, "A Future Life," "Our Condition Therein: History of Opinion," "The Schemes in Vogue," "Concluding Statement," and a "Summary of Theses." This was painstakingly produced toward the close of his full life, although some forty years prior, in his Studies on Homer (1858), he devoted a number of pages to the doctrine of the future state. [1] These later Studies were the result of many years of wide research, careful analysis, and mature thought. Because of its significance we trace it with some fullness.
The scope, grasp, and penetration of the "Future Life" section of this treatise is remarkable for one whose life had been devoted chiefly and brilliantly to affairs of state and finance. In addressing himself to the postulate of Bishop Joseph Butler's famous Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature (1736), [2] Gladstone declares that Butler contends as "a man who has to fight with one of his hands tied up," because of restricting his arguments to the analogies from nature. The validity of Butler's "argument on a future life" is "entirely wanting," Gladstone avers, for by his chosen limitations he was "precluded from referring to Divine authority," and is dependent chiefly upon reason, logic, and philosophy. [3] That is fundamentally unsound and unsafe in a religious issue.
1 See Abbot The Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life, no. 1544.
2 Ibid., no. 771.
But before tracing Gladstone's discussion we may well note this contemporary statement of G. W. E. Russell, who records an interview with the great statesman: "Never shall I forget the hour when I sat with him [Mr. Gladstone] in the park at Hawarden, while a thunderstorm was gathering over our , heads, and he, all unheeding, poured forth, in those organ-tones of profound conviction, his belief that the human soul is not necessarily in-destructible, but that Immortality is the gift of God in Christ to the believer. The impression of that discourse will not be effaced until the ablets of memory are finally blotted out." [4]
1. VARIANT VIEWS HELD IN EARLY CHRISTIAN ERA.—The second half of Gladstone's examination of Butler's Analogy centres on his claim of the natural and indefeasible immortality of the soul "apart from the body," [5] which the bishop asserts is ours as an "absolute possession." After discussing the varying views of Greek philosophy, and the notions of pre-existence and transmigration of souls often involved, Gladstone turns to Jewish teaching in the time of Christ—from the Sadducees, who denied a continuation of personal existence beyond the grave, to the Essenes (or Ultra-Pharisees), who believed in the natural immortality of the soul. [6]
3 W. E. Gladstone, Studies Subsidiary to the Works of Bishop Butler (1896), part 2, chap. I, p. 142.
4 George W. E. Russell, The Household of Faith, Portraits and Essays, p. 37. Identical statement also appeared in English Review of Reviews, June, 1898, p. 557.
5 Gladstone, op. cit., pp. 147, 156.
6 Ibid., p. 172.
Then follows chapter two, on the "History of Opinion." Here Gladstone declares according to F. Nitzsch the "immortality of the soul was the subject of free and open discussion among the early Fathers," with men like Justin Martyr, Tatian, Theophilus, Irenaeus, and Lactantius denying the Innate Immortality of the soul, but with Tertullian and others, on the contrary, teaching that the soul is "indivisible and imperishable." Gladstone then cites Flugge as likewise pointing out that "there was as yet no dogma of the church upon the subject." [7] It was the same concerning the punishment of the wicked. Some affirmed the process of punishment to be eternal, "others regarded the souls of the wicked as destined to annihilation." [8]
2. "INHERENT" IMMORTALITY NOT ASCENDANT TILL ORIGEN.—Gladstone describes the open-discussion attitude of the Early Church in this way:
"The secret of this mental freedom, the condition which made it possible, was the absence from the scene of any doctrine of a natural immortality inherent in the soul. Absent, it may be termed, for all practical purposes, until the third century; for, though it was taught by Tertullian in connexion with the Platonic idea was not given forth as belonging to the doctrine of Christ or His Apostles." [9]
That is a vital point. Then the thought is repeated for emphasis:
"It seems to me as if it were from the time of Origen that we are to regard the idea of natural, as opposed to that of Christian, immortality as beginning to gain a firm foothold in the Christian Church." [10]
The time of Origen, steeped as it was in the lore of Platonic philosophy, and seeking Platonic "buttresses for the Christian faith," is thus set forth by Gladstone as the actual time of introduction of the "natural immortality" concept, in contrast with the true and original "Christian" view. Then he adds:
"The opinion, for which he [Origen is now most generally known to have been finally condemned, is that which ii called Restorationism or Universalism; an opinion which harmonizes with, and presupposes, the natural immortality of the soul. But the idea of restoration was only one amidst a crowd of his notions, all of which had the natural immortality, of the soul for their common ground." [11]
Gladstone presses the point that, prior to Pope Vigilius, "the immortality of the soul had heretofore been a question open and little agitated." While Origen's "complex group of opinions" had been "organically founded" on the premises of Innate Immortality and had been condemned, Gladstone notes, "Of the immortality of the soul there was [at the time] neither condemnation or approval." But he adds, accurately, that the "extension of opinion" became "more obvious, perhaps more powerful, from the time of St. Augustine." [12]
7 Ibid., pp. 182, 183. See C. W. Flttgge, Gesehichie des Glaubens an Unsterblichheit, Aufersiehung, Gerieht and Vergeltung, part 1, p. 237; cf. Abbot, op. cit., no. 553.
8 Gladstone, op. cit., p. 183.
9 Ibid., p. 184. (Italics supplied.)
10 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
11 Ibid.
3. "WHOLESALE" ACCEPTANCE BY TIME OF MIDDLE AGES. —The revolutionary change of view that came as the result of slow but steady accretion resulted finally in the wholesale acceptance of the natural immortality postulate—a "revolution of opinion" that, Gladstone declares, was established by the Middle Ages. Thus:
"It seems indisputable, that the materials for the opinion that the soul is by nature immortal, whether we call it dogma or hypothesis, were for a long period in course of steady accumulation; though this was not so from the first. After some generations, however, the mental temper and disposition of Christians inclined more and more to its reception. Without these assumptions it would be impossible to account for the wholesale change which has taken place in the mind of Christendom with regard to the subject of natural immortality." [13]
The sweeping "revolution of opinion" that was effected over the course of centuries is then described:
"It would be difficult, I think, to name any other subject connected with religious belief (though not properly belonging to it) on which we can point to so sweeping and absolute a revolution of opinion: from the period before Origen, when the idea of an immortality properly natural was unknown or nearly hidden, to the centuries of the later Middle Ages and of the modern times when, at least in the West, it had become practically undisputed and universal." [14]
4. IMMORTAL-SOULISM SPRINGS FROM PLATO.—Gladstone then traces Immortal-Soulism back through Augustine and Origen to Alexandria and Plato, for Aristotelianism was "negative" while Platonism was "congenial." Hence Plato's pre-eminence:
"But Plato had been supreme in Alexandria; and Alexandria was the parent of Christian philosophism in the persons of Clement and of Origen. He had also a high place in the mind of St. Augustine, and he probably did much more among Christians than he had ever achieved among pagans, in establishing as a natural endowment that immortality of the soul which was already ineradicably fixed as fact for Christian souls (although upon a ground altogether different in the mind of the Church), so far as it touched the destination of the righteous." [15]
12 Ibid., p. 187.
13 Ibid., pp. 188, 189.
14 Ibid., p. 189.
5. LED INEVITABLY TO "ETERNAL TORMENT" OF DAMNED. — This "new doctrine" of natural immortality for the righteous led inevitably to a corollary position of vast proportions — that of the Eternal Torment of the damned, held increasingly as a threat over the sinner:
"The question of their [the "godless' "] destiny in the world to come, which had been but infinitesimal in the first apostolic days, now came to assume grave, and even vast, proportions. And here it was that the new doctrine, as I shall call it, of natural immortality played so material a part. The sinner had to be persuaded. He had also to be threatened; and threatened with what? If the preacher only menaced him with the retribution which was to follow the Day of Judgment, the force of the instrument he employed materially depended on what he could say as to the duration of that penal term, a subject which, in the earliest teachings of the Church, it had been found unnecessary minutely to explore." [16]
The Eternal Torment postulate therefore indisputably enhanced the power of the "priesthood as a caste," as it was more and more stressed as a deterrent.
6. ETERNAL TORMENT DOGMA ESTABLISHED THROUGH AUGUSTINE.—II was ultimately Augustine's "acceptance of the Platonic philosophy" that brought it, with modifications, into the teachings of the Latin Church. And from Augustine onward the dogma of the "never-ceasing" and "eternal punishment of the wicked" came to prevail for the sins of a brief, finite life—a dogma that Gladstone calls "an horrible decretum." [17] And in all this, Flugge says, the "Latin Church led the way." Gladstone then adds that the "formation of the ecclesiastical dogma . . . closes with the Schoolmen." [18] They supplied "the Western Church with its formal eschatology," with distinction to be noted between the Western and Eastern churches, but the motive force "was drawn from the works of St. Augustine." [19] Thus Peter Lombard found "the natural immortality of the soul, in possession of the field of thought, and, perhaps, accepted it simply as part of the common heritage." [20] Finally, the Bull of Leo X, in 1513, "issued with the assent of a Lateran Council," now condemned all those who denied the postulate of natural immortality. [21]
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid., pp. 190, 191.
17 Ibid., pp. 192, 193.
18 Ibid., p. 193.
19 Ibid., p. 194.
7. CREPT INTO CHURCH BY "BACK DOOR."—Thus "the reserve of the early Church has been abandoned. Even the recollection of it has faded from the popular mind." So it was that the "Western tone had prevailed over the Eastern." [22] And now follows one of Gladstone's most significant conclusions, in contrasting natural and Christian immortality:
"With the departure of the ancient reserve there had come a great practical limitation of the liberty of thought possessed by the individual Christian. The doctrine of natural, as distinguished from Christian, immortality had not been subjected to the severer tests of wide publicity and resolute controversy, but had crept into the Church, by a back door as it were; by a silent though effective process; and was in course of obtaining a title by tacit prescription." [23]
How true that was! Then he adds this pointed observation on the non-Biblical basis of the teaching:
"The evidence of the change may perhaps be most properly supplemented by the observation of the noteworthy fact that, when arguments are offered for the purely natural immortality of the soul, they are rarely, if ever, derived from Scripture. For it will be borne in mind that, logically 'viewed, resurrection is one thing, and immortality another." [24]
Two pages farther on he repeats the thought of its surreptitious entrance: "The natural immortality of the soul did not become the subject of free and general discussion in the Church. It crept onwards in the dark." [25] Then he draws the sweeping conclusion:
"It appears indisputable that the tenet never was affirmed by the Councils, never by the undivided Church, never by either East or West when separated, until, towards the death of the Middle Age, the denial was anathematized under Leo X on behalf of the Latin Church." [26]
20 Ibid., pp. 193, 194.
21 Ibid., p. 194.
22 Ibid., pp. 194, 195.
23 Ibid., p. 195. (Italics supplied.)
24 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
25 Ibid., p. 197. (Italics supplied.)
26 Ibid.
8. IMMORTAL-SOULISM "WHOLLY UNKNOWN" TO SCRIPTURE.—But that is not all. Gladstone now emphasizes the fundamental point of Immortal-Soulism's total lack of foundation in Scripture. It is, he asserts, only "philosophical opinion." Thus:
"Another consideration of the highest importance is that the natural immortality of the soul is a doctrine wholly unknown to the Holy Scriptures, and standing on no higher plane than that of an ingeniously sustained, but gravely and formidably contested, philosophical opinion." [27]
9. "PHILOSOPHICAL SPECULATIONS" DISGUISED AS DIVINE REVELATION.—Gladstone then warns against "philosophical speculations," as in this case, insinuating themselves in disguise into the sacred "precinct of Christian doctrine," but in reality gaining entrance as a false pretension under an "abuse of authority."
"And surely there is nothing, as to which we ought to be more on our guard, than the entrance into the precinct of Christian doctrine, either without authority or by an abuse of authority, of philosophical speculations disguised as truths of Divine Revelation. They bring with them a grave restraint on mental liberty; but what is worse is, that their basis is a pretension essentially false, and productive by rational retribution of other falsehoods." [28]
In the light of all this evidence, Gladstone soberly concludes, "We have ample warrant for declining to accept the tenet of natural immortality as a truth of Divine Revelation." [29]
10. GLADSTONE'S DEFINITIVE DESCRIPTION OF "CONDI-TIONALISM." — In chapter three, on "The Schemes in Vogue," Gladstone gives the following definitive statement of the Conditional Immortality position as he understood it, which view he says is "entitled to claim some kindred" with what is "usually called orthodox." This inevitably involves the question of the ultimate extinction rather than the endless torment of the wicked, for the two are inseparable:
27 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
28 Ibid., pp. 197, 198.
29 Ibid, p. 198.
"It [Conditionalism] begins by renouncing the opinion of natural immortality, and takes firm ground when denying to it authority or countenance from the Holy Scriptures. On the other hand, it renounces also the conception of an existence prolonged without limit in the endurance of torment. But it neither teaches nor approximates to the notion of an extinction immediately consequent either upon death or upon the Day of Judgement. It does not attempt to find a particular limit for the ordained period of suffering; but holds that it is bounded by the nature of the subject to which it is applied, and that sin is a poison to which the vital" forces of the soul must in the end give away, by passing into sheer extinction." [3]
Death, Gladstone continues, means ultimate "cessation of existence":
"It [Conditionalism] protests against the current method of interpretation, which assigns to death in the New Testament the meaning not of a cessation of existence, but of an existence prolonged without limit in a state of misery. And it insists upon recovering for the word sz that idea of a termination, which dwells in it as a central essence. Ethically, the destructive nature of sin against God is taken as the basis of this scheme of ideas; and it claims to work according to natural laws, in propounding, as the eventual solution of the problem, not suffering without any end for the wicked, but the disappearance or extinction of their being at such time as the providence of God shall prescribe." [31, 32, 33]
30 Ibid., p. 218. (Italics supplied.)
31 Gladstone's notes aionios.
32 R. J. Campbell's statement in the British Weekly of February 14, 190t, is to be understood in the light of Gladstone's clear definition of terms. Campbell said: "The 'conditional immortality' view held by many at the present day, championed by the late Dr. Dale and favoured by Mr. Gladstone, is that the life after death is only for those who are in Christ, and that for the rest of mankind death is annihilation." (Quoted in F. A. Freer, Edward White, p. 75.)
33 Gladstone, op. cit., p. 218.
11. GLADSTONE'S CONSIDERED CONCLUSIONS IN SUMMATION.—In chapter five, "Summary of Theses on the Future Life," Gladstone tabulates an elaborate series of cumulative conclusions, of which the following are the most pertinent, as they appear on pages 260 to 267:
1. Is Unscriptural.—"That the natural immortality of the soul is not taught in Holy Scripture."
2. Restricted Acknowledgment.—"Neither is it commended by the moral authority of quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus [that is, always, everywhere, and by everyone acknowledged]."
3. Unaffirmed by Councils.—"Neither is it affirmed or enjoined by any of the great assemblies [General Councils] of the undivided Church, or by any unanimity, actual or moral, of Decrees and Confessions posterior to the division of the Church into East and West."
4. Immortality a Gift.—"The immortality of the soul is properly to be regarded as . . . a gift or endowment due to the Incarnation of our Lord."
5. Limited to Righteous.—"If we set out from the belief that Christ both reveals and gives immortality, which is exemption from death, and is life without an end, it is plain that the first application of this doctrine is to the righteous."
6. Differing Opinions.—"In regard to future punishment, it is plain that great differences of opinion have prevailed at different periods of the history of the Church, the first centuries presenting a view of a different colour from that which may be said to have prevailed over others from about the time of St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine."
7. Traditional Theology.—"It does not appear safe to apply the term traditional theology to the largely developed opinions of later ages on future punishment, as compared with the more reserved conceptions of an earlier period."
8. Impugns Justice.—"There can be no such thing as suffering, of whatever kind, through eternity except by God's departing from a principle of justice."
9. Death Is Extinction.—"The ordinary and principal description of the future state of the unrighteous is that conveyed in the word death. This word in its ordinary signification bears the sense of an extinction or cessation of some kind. It might mean cessation for the wicked of life itself."
10. Distorts Meaning.—"The popular definition of death . . . takes away from death that idea of cessation and extinction: ... It adds an idea of suffering, amounting largely to misery and torment, which the original sense of the word in no manner contains."
11. Strikes at Probation.—"It [Restitution] . . . strikes at what all believers in a future state consider as the grand and central truth of the subject, this, namely, that we are living in a state of probation. . . . But under Restitutionism all idea of essential quality as a distinctive mark disappears, and therefore all idea of genuine probation."
12. Restitutionism Unsupported.—"The notion of Universal Restitution is, then, not supported by Scripture, or by Christian tradition, or by any sound philosophy of human nature."
13. Gradual Assumption.—"The metaphysical doctrine of a natural indefeasible immortality of the soul, as an immaterial existence, has come, unawares and gradually to reckon, or be assumed, as a doctrine of Faith, and no longer as only a philosophical opinion."
14. Justice of God.—"The central and final stronghold of believers is faith in the indefeasible and universal justice of the Divine Being."
Such were the considered conclusions of England's Grand Old Man, the Great Commoner, and four-time Prime Minister of Britain, after his mature, intensive study of the history of the soul question. These were the ultimate convictions of this learned Anglican layman.
Among London preachers who rose to eminence in the last quarter of the nineteenth century two were conspicuous above others—Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Baptist pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, and Joseph Parker, Congregationalist minister of the City Temple. Both drew immense audiences, and both were widely quoted in the secular as well as the religious press. They were alike symbols of pulpit oratorical power. Each had a worldwide following, both being regarded as master preachers and able Bible expositors.
But there the similarities ended. Their views in the area of eschatology were radically different. And they consequently held opposite views on the nature and destiny of man. Charles Spurgeon almost fiercely maintained the Innate Immortality of the soul, and the eternal, agonizing punishing of the unsaved, reminiscent of Jonathan Edwards and Dante. Dr. Parker, on the contrary, neither held nor taught the immortality of the soul, nor the endless punishment of the wicked. He maintained that the terms "destroy" and "destruction" were to be taken literally, and indicated utter, ultimate destruction. He even declared that none among the clergy of the Independent Churches at that time preached the doctrine of Eternal Torment. [34] Let us note the positions of Parker, the Conditionalist.
JOSEPH PARKER, D.D. (1830-1902), Congregationalist divine, was for a little time a Wesleyan preacher, but in 1852 he returned to Congregationalism, ministering in Banbury, Manchester. In 1869 he became pastor of the Poultry Street Chapel, London, where his pulpit power attracted large congregations. He had the gift of investing old themes with a new lustre. Then, in 1874, in the newly completed City Temple, he ministered uninterruptedly, with great influence, until his death twenty-eight years later. He was pre-eminently a Bible preacher, and his popularity never waned. Many ministers of various churches were seen in his congregation.
His numerous publications include the People's Bible (25 volumes); The Pulpit Bible; and Ecce Deus; a Preacher's Life (1899). He was a strong advocate of temperance, and in 1901 became chairman of the Congregational Union of Britain and Wales. Here are some of his clear positions on record.
34 Petavel, The Problem of Immortality, p. 22.
1. OPTIONAL: RECEIVE IMMORTALITY OR CHOOSE DESTRUCTION.—Man is "constituted" for immortality, wrote Parker, but must and does choose eternal life—or death. This is distinctively man's prerogative and inescapable responsibility:
"Glorious to me is this idea (so like all we know of the Divine goodness) of asking man whether he will accept life and be like God, or whether he will choose death and darkness for ever. God does not say to man, 'I will make you immortal and indestructible whether you will or not; live for ever you shall.' No; he makes him capable of living; he constitutes him with a view to immortality; he urges, beseeches, implores him to work out this grand purpose, assuring him, with infinite pathos, that he has no pleasure in the death of the sinner, but would rather that he should LIVE. A doctrine this which in my view simplifies and glorifies human history as related in the Bible. Life and death are not set before any beast; but life and death are distinctly set before man—he can live, he was meant to live, he is besought to live; the whole scheme of Providence and redemption is arranged to help him to live—why, then, will ,ye die?" [35]
2. EVIL ENDS IN "UTTER, FINAL, EVERLASTING EXTINCTION."—No eternal Hell, but final extinction of sin and sinners, and a clean universe, is the divine program: "By destroying evil I do not mean locking it up by itself in a moral prison, which shall be enlarged through ages and generations until it shall become the abode of countless millions of rebels, but its utter, final, everlasting extinction, so that at last the universe shall be 'without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing'—the pure home of a pure creation." [36]
3. INDEFEASIBLE IMMORTALITY IS PALPABLY ABSURD.—All God's gifts, including life, are conditional. Man cannot defy God to destroy him. It is not true that— "having once given you life you are as immortal as he himself is, and you can defy him to interfere with his own work! The doctrine seems to me to involve a palpable absurdity, and hardly to escape the charge of blasphemy. Throughout the whole Bible, God has reserved to himself the right to take back whatever he has given, because all his gifts have been offered upon conditions about which there can be no mistake." [37]
4. SODOM AN EXAMPLE OF "EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION." —Sodom's destruction, says Dr. Parker, resulted in the "utter end of its existence":
"In this case [of Sodom] we have an instance of utter and everlasting destruction. We see here what is meant by 'everlasting punishment,' for we are told in the New Testament that 'Sodom suffered the vengeance of eternal fire,' that is of fire, which made an utter end of its existence and perfectly accomplished the purpose of God. The 'fire' was 'eternal,' yet Sodom is not literally burning still; the smoke of its torment, being the smoke of an eternal fire, ascended up for ever and ever, yet no smoke now rises from the plain,—'eternal fire' does not involve the element of what we call 'time': it means thorough, absolute, complete, final: that which is done or given once for all." [38]
That was the clear published position of this great Congregationalist preacher just before the turn of the century.
35 Joseph Parker, The People's Bible: Discourses Upon Holy Scripture, vol. 1, p. 126.
36 Ibid., p. 160.
37 Ibid., p 222
38 Ibid., p 221.
Sir GEORGE GABRIEL STOKES, M.P. (1819-1903), illustrious mathematician and physicist, was educated at Bristol College and then at Pembroke, Cambridge. In 1849 he was appointed professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, Sir Isaac Newton's old chair, [39] which post he held until his death. His scientific contributions dealt with abstruse problems in mathematical physics—hydrodynamics. He developed the modern theory of the motion of viscous fluids, and his discussions on the refrangibility of light made him famous. He also made notable contributions to the science of optics.
Professor Stokes was special lecturer at Aberdeen and Edinburgh. In 1851 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Britain (for the Advancement of Science), was its secretary from 1854 to 1885 and president from 1885 to 1889. In 1887 he became a member of Parliament for Cambridge University, and in 1889 was made a baronet. He left five volumes of mathematical and physical papers.
1. PUBLIC DENIAL OF INNATE IMMORTALITY.—An Anglican in faith, he was especially interested in the relationship of science and religion, or natural theology, particularly in the field of Christian evidences. He was an earnest churchman and competent theologian and gave a noted "Lecture on the Immortality of the Soul," in 1890, at the Finsbury Institute, later published, at which time he publicly reaffirmed his denial of the inherent immortality of the soul.
39 Several previous holders of this chair had been Conditionalists—Priestley, Whiston, and, it is said, even Sir Isaac himself.
Reported widely in the press, this public declaration made a profound and lasting impression in high circles. In this stand in a controversial field he was supported by three Anglican bishops. To Professor Stokes, death is a suspension of life and all its activities, a period of rest and "sleep" until the resurrection. He was long a warm friend of Conditionalist Edward White.
In 1897 Stokes published his treatise Conditional Immortality, but prior to that he was a contributor to the well-known Symposium That Unknown Country and to Immortality—a Clerical Symposium. He enjoyed marked success in placing his convictions on Life Only in Christ before scientific doubters and in quashing their principal objections. His courageous public avowal of Conditionalism had a most salutary effect in moderating the previous harsh and indiscriminate criticism of all Conditionalists. Until his death he continued to be an unfailing witness at Cambridge.
2. SOURCE OF IMMORTALITY AND THE INTERMEDIATE STATE.—Introducing his chapter (XLIV) in That Unknown Country, Scientist Stokes declares his conviction that man is not by nature immortal but that immortality is made possible through redemption. Furthermore, he states his belief that "the intermediate state between Death and Resurrection may be regarded as a state of unconsciousness." [40]
3. MAN NOT IMMORTAL MERELY BY CREATION.—Approaching the question from the scientific angle, Sir George said, "Consciousness, as we know it, is intimately bound up with the state of our material organism." But he declares that the idea of "man's immortality" as in some way "inherent in his nature" is "beyond the ken of science." For true information man must turn to the "teaching of revelation"—the "Scriptural account of creation." Comparing man's nature with that of the animal creation, Professor Stokes declares that man alone has a spiritual nature, but that this does not "supersede it [the animal nature], but is superadded to it." [41, 42] Then, coming to the question of immortality by creation, and the origin of man, Sir George succinctly states:
"In the Scriptural account of the creation of man, there is nothing to lead us to suppose that he is by creation an immortal being. Quite the contrary. His attainment of immortality is represented as contingent upon the use of something outside of him. Whatever the 'Tree of Life' may mean or symbolize, it is clearly indicated that it was upon his use of it that his possession of immortality depended; and that when, by disobedience, he fell from his primeval state of innocence, access to it was denied him. Scripture, therefore, leads us to the same conclusion as that to which we should have been led by all outward appearances—that so far as depends on anything in man's original nature, at death there is an end of him." [43]
40 George Gabriel Stokes, "The Scientific and Moral Arguments Concerning a Future Life Supplemented by the Teachings of Revelation," in That Unknown Country, p. 823.
41 Ibid., p. 824.
42 Ibid p. 825.
4. UNFITTED FOR IMMORTALITY, CHRIST PROVIDES REMEDY.—Thus it is that "unaided by revelation, man can only offer conjectures as to a conceivable solution." [44] Then follows this illuminating paragraph:
"But if we frankly accept the Scriptural account of the fall of man, we at once obtain a solution of the teleological enigma. We learn that, unlike the lower animals, man is not in the condition in which he was created. If they have instincts suited to their mode of life, while he has aspirations which have no natural fulfillment so far as can be seen, it is that he alone is in an unnatural state,—in a state, that is, different from that for which he was originally fitted." [45]
Professor Stokes then discusses not only the Fall, which rendered man unfit for immortality, but the means of recovery through Christ:
"By the fall, our first parents lost their primal condition of innocence, a loss which, so far as natural means are concerned, was irretrievable. Not only so, but their progeny, having, by natural descent, inherited a nature which was fallen from the primal condition, were rendered unfit for immortality, and the whole race passed under the law of death. But restitution to a condition of sinlessness by natural means being impossible, God in his mercy provided supernatural means, by which restoration to a state of innocence became possible, and the recovery of the forfeited immortality permissible, for those for whom the provided means shall take effect.
"By the incarnation, the human nature was taken into the divine; and, though sinless himself, the Son of God suffered death, the appointed penalty of transgression, in order that through his blood we might have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. But the human and the divine natures being united in him, it was not possible that he should be held down by death, and he rose from the dead, the first fruits of them that slept: rose, however, not to the natural human life in which he was crucified, but to a mysterious, supernatural, higher life, of which the redeemed are in due time to be partakers." [46]
43 Ibid.
44 Ibid., p. 826.
45 Ibid.
5. ENDOWMENT WITH IMMORTALITY ONLY THROUGH REDEMPTION.—Thus it is through this "scheme of redemption" that we have— "a solution of the moral enigma which has already been referred to. While it is only the redeemed to whom immortality is promised, all, we are told, are to be raised from the dead, and all are to be judged." [47]
Thus what is "involved in the death of Christ will form the touchstone by which some will be so drawn that their characters will be finally established for righteousness, and they will be endowed with immortality." On the contrary, others, through rejection, will become so "utterly hardened" as to be "fit only for destruction" and will be "condemned to the second death, from which there is no resurrection." Therefore in this life the gospel is "a savour of life unto life or of death unto death." [48]
6. ANY "NATURAL IMMORTALITY" FORFEITED THROUGH TRANSGRESSION.—Stokes states that "the advocates of the natural immortality of the soul seem to be nearly unanimous in the belief that, at death, man passes into some different state of conscious existence, which undergoes a further change at the resurrection." [49] But Sir George comments:
"No argument for the natural immortality of the soul, that the writer has seen, appears to him to be of any value; and, as to a prevalent belief among uninstructed nations, if it be true that man was created in a condition in which, if he had continued, he would have been fit for immortality, and was endowed with aspirations after immortality, it was natural that, after the forfeiture of immortality through transgression, man should seek to satisfy his craving for immortality by imagining that he had something immortal in his nature. It is, then, to revelation that we must look, if we are to find out something about man's condition in the intermediate state." [50]
7. NO CONSCIOUSNESS OF TIME IN INTERMEDIATE STATE.—Contending that it is "through the gospel that life and immortality were brought to light," Stokes states:
46 Ibid., pp. 826, 827.
47 Ibid., p. 827.
48 Ibid.
49 Ibid., pp. 828, 829.
50 Ibid., p. 829.
"It has been well said that Scripture bases our hopes of a future life, not upon the immortality of the soul, but upon the resurrection of the body. There are comparatively few passages in which the intermediate state even appears to be referred to at all. Of these, two or three are so dark that their real interpretation is quite uncertain. There are two or three in which, at first sight, the intermediate state seems to be referred to as one of consciousness, but which, on further examination, are seen to be, as the writer thinks, perfectly and naturally explicable on the opposite supposition. It is not in accordance with the plan of this collection [Symposium] that the writers should enter into argument, but it is wished that they should state their own opinions; and, in accordance with this desire, the writer of the present article ventures to say that his own mind leans strongly to the view that the intermediate state is one in which, as in a faint, thought is in abeyance; one which, accordingly, involves a virtual annihilation of intervening time for each individual in particular." [51]
8. POPULAR THEOLOGY SETS ASIDE BIBLICAL DECLARATIONS.—Then Professor Stokes closes his chapter with this trite observation: "In the popular theology and popular hymns the intermediate state receives an expansion utterly unlike what we find in Scripture; an expansion which goes far towards banishing from view the resurrection state and the day of judgment, though, as to the latter, so prominent a place did it occupy in the minds of apostles and those to whom they wrote, that they frequently speak of it simply as 'the day,' or 'that day.' " [52]
Such was Professor Stokes's public witness.
9. ASSURANCE OF IMMORTALITY ONLY IN CHRIST.—In another symposium Sir George Stokes buttresses the foregoing by the supporting statement: "Man's whole being was forfeited by the Fall, and the future life is' not his birthright, but depends on a supernatural dispensation of grace. To look to man's bodily frame for indications of immortality, to look even to his lofty mental powers—lofty, indeed, but sadly misused—is to seek the living among the dead. Man must look not into himself, but out of himself for assurance of immortality. Christ is risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." [53]
51. Ibid., pp. 829, 830. (Italics supplied.)
52 Ibid., p. 830.
53 Stokes "The Foundations of the Belief in the Immortality of Man," in "A Clerical Symposium on Immortality," Homiletic Monthly, April, 1884.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Before we take up the two major Adventist bodies of America, let us first go back and note certain relationships of two paralleling world movements that form their background and setting.
1. ADVENT MOVEMENT OMITS MAN'S NATURE AND DESTINY.
—At the beginning of the nineteenth century the conviction was widespread on both sides of the Atlantic that mankind had entered the latter days, or time of the end, with the hour of God's judgment impending and the second premillennial advent of Christ drawing near. But, except for occasional individuals, the Second Advent movement of the early decades of the century did not go into the question of man's nature and destiny, and thus of the disposition of the wicked. It did not raise the issue of the mortality or immortality of man, and whether the final disposition of the wicked is terminable or interminable.
We repeat, for emphasis, that the worldwide Second Advent movement, with all its last days, last things, eschatological emphasis, never grappled with this related problem. Its impelling concern was Bible prophecy—the eschatological prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse. It was marked by a great revival of prophetic study. Literally hundreds of books were produced on both sides of the Atlantic, many written by Christendom's outstanding scholars. But there it ended. And as a movement its momentum had waned by mid-century.
2. MOVEMENTS PARALLEL BUT Do NOT MERGE.—On the other hand, the great Conditional Immortality movement, which we have been surveying in detail here in the nineteenth century, was a distinctively separate awakening, likewise very active on both sides of the Atlantic and progressively spreading out to various other continents. It paralleled the great Second Advent movement in geographical spread and volume, and brought the issue of the nature, and particularly the destiny, of man, sharply to the forefront. It drew ever larger numbers into the study and acceptance of Conditionalism. And it is also to be noted that this Conditionalist awakening was likewise an integral yet independent part of the over-all field of eschatology, largely overlooked by the Advent Awakening group.
That was the fundamental difference and relationship. Both movements emphasized aspects of eschatology but not the V complete coverage. They paralleled but did not merge. Only in subsequent developments did they blend, and unite with other neglected or abandoned truths, together constituting a full-rounded body of belief.
Uniquely enough, both movements were directed toward the same all-embracing eschatological goal, with its Second Advent climax—one looking for the consummation of all prophecy, the other to the reception of immortality at the resurrection accompanying the Second Advent. Neither concept was complete without the other, and the total emphasis and scope of eschatology would be complete only when they merged. That would have to come before full coverage of the "last things" would be compassed, as many noted Bible students had envisioned. That fact now began to be recognized.
1. CONDITIONALISM ESTABLISHED IN ADVENT CHRISTIAN CHURCH.—In the great North American Second Advent movement of the 1840's some began to present the Conditionalist position in 1841 and 1842. Slowly the concept took root. Around 1845 the teaching that immortality is not a natural possession of the human soul, but is a gift of God through Christ alone, came to the fore and brought on a crisis. In 1841 Storrs had issued An Enquiry: Are the Souls of the Wicked Immortal? which he enlarged into his Six Sermons on Conditionalism in 1842. But these, which were now rather widely scattered, precipitated the crisis.
In the Midnight Cry of May 23, 1844, William Miller "disclaimed" any sympathy or support of Storrs's views on the unconscious intermediate state of the sleeping saints, and the end of the wicked as that of utter destruction. Dr. Josiah Litch even issued his militant Anti-Annihilationist in protest. Joshua V. Himes, the great publicist and organizer, likewise opposed this development at first, but later embraced it.
The Albany, New York, Conference was convened in April, 1845, in the hope of formulating a bond of unity among the Adventists. But there seemed to be no effective "binding cord." Storrs, estranged by the majority antagonism to his advocacy of Conditionalism, was not present. Several other prominent Adventists likewise absented themselves. As a result, the doctrine of unconsciousness in death and immortality only through Christ the Life-giver was avoided by the conference, with the vague statement that the righteous do not receive their reward until Christ comes. This issue brought the parting of the ways. The Advent Herald closed its columns to Conditionalism, so the World's Crisis became the mouthpiece. But in time the dominant party, believing in the conscious state of the dead, disappeared. And the Advent Christian group, formally established a decade later, outgrew and superseded the parent body. Let us note it in greater detail.
2. ADVENT CHRISTIAN CHURCH ESTABLISHED IN 1861.—By 1858 the dominant body became known as "evangelical Adventists," distinguished by adherence to the doctrines of consciousness in death and an eternally burning Hell. However, they steadily declined in numbers and influence. J. V. Himes deserted them in 1864, and started The Voice of the Prophets, then joined the Advent Christian group, but finally took orders in the Episcopalian Church.
There were pitfalls aplenty. Conditionalist George Storrs had established his clear position in the Bible Examiner, in New York City. But one excess was advocated by John T. Walsh, who went so far in his advocacy of annihilationism as to teach that the wicked would never be raised again—that their first death was their last and that the millennium was in the past. This developed into a splinter movement called the "Life and Advent Union." The "Age to Come" concept also sought entrance. So there were numerous perils.
But the major secession came under Jonathan Cummings, who started The World's Crisis. In 1860 the Advent Christian Church was formed, and became the predominant body among the first-day Adventists, taking up the cudgels in the wake of the line of early nineteenth-century American advocates of Life Only in Christ—Smith, Grew, Storrs, Fitch, and French—and matching their Old World counterparts—Constable, White, et cetera.
3. MAIN ADVENTIST GROUPS BOTH CHAMPION CONDITIONALISM.—Thus it was that the first-day Adventists, principally the Advent Christian group, gave major emphasis to the nature and destiny of man, just as the Sabbatarian Adventists did to the Sabbath. As the main tenet of the former body, Conditionalism received special stress. They also developed an earlier Conditionalist literature, with remarkably large circulation, as, for example, Storrs's Conditionalist Bible Examiner, and his Six Sermons, with a distribution of two hundred thousand copies. There were also the publications of H. L. Hastings, D. T. Taylor, and Isaac C. Wellcome, to name but three. Several were publishers, with extensive coverages. Stalwarts like C. F. Hudson and J. H. Pettingell were aligned with them.
Paralleling them in the time of their rise, the Seventh-day Adventists, as concerns Conditionalism, believed essentially the same as the Advent Christian group. But with the Sabbatarian Adventists this was but one of about seven coordinated
fundamentals which they believed to be equally important, and due for emphasis. Conditionalism was held by all members as a matter of Bible-based faith. But as other doctrines were under greater fire, they received the greater immediate attention. However, Conditionalism was never submerged or weakened. Such were the relationships.
Together the witness of the two bodies was impressive in its impact. Furthermore, they had both received the Conditionalist teaching largely through the same channel—namely from George Storrs, who in turn derived it from Deacon Grew. [1] Nevertheless, there were a number of ministers of the Christian Connection, and even of other persuasions, joining voices in the great Second Advent movement, who likewise held to Conditionalism. They did not, however, make an open issue of it at the time, because of majority opposition. But they nevertheless attested its truth. It was destined to come to the forefront.
But there is yet another aspect that needs to be borne in mind—momentous world conditions and subversive movements that had an inevitable bearing upon the outlook and developments. After noting them, we will take up the early Advent Christian witness.
1 On Grew and Storrs see pp. 300-314.
1. REVOLUTIONARY WORLD DEVELOPMENTS FORM SETTING.—The late forties and the whole of the fifties were years of world stress and upheaval. The year 1848 in particular was marked by numerous revolutions in Europe. Around this period England had its Chartist (social reform) agitation and its Rome-ward Oxford Movement. France turned republic, and Germany and Austria felt the impact of the French Revolution aftermath, and were plagued with internal riots and rebellion. Italy had her war of independence.
Russia's aggression against Turkey resulted in the Crimean War. And in the Orient, Japan was opened by Perry, while the Sepoy Mutiny occurred shortly afterward in India. Then in the Western World there was the 1846-1848 war with Mexico. Meanwhile the Abolition movement was boiling in the United States, with the resultant Fugitive Slave Law and the underground railway, as the nation moved toward its epochal Civil War. The world was like a seething caldron.
2. DEVELOPMENTS IN REALM OF RELIGION AND SCIENCE.—The Shakers with their celibacy and the Mormons with their plurality of wives both came to the fore about this time. And in 1848 Spiritism appeared and took permanent root in Christendom's belief in the consciousness of the dead. Likewise in the realm of science, the revolutionary evolution hypothesis was yet another force, brushing aside the historic claims of Creationism. It was, in fact, virtually a faith, or religion. It soon penetrated the thinking, the texts, and the teaching of the educational and religious worlds. And along with it came the mental sciences and philosophies, which likewise challenged the historic fundamentals of Christianity. So agitation, transition, and ofttimes disintegration, were all about.
3. MYSTICAL STUDIES LED TO SUBTLE SPECULATION.— Special areas of study clamoured for attention. One was metaphysics—that branch of philosophy that deals with speculatively "first principles." It was concerned with the science of being, reality, substance, time, space, beginning, change, eternity, cause, et cetera, especially that which is beyond the realm of human consciousness. It thus involves God, the world, and the human mind. It claims to be the philosophy of the ultimate nature, cause, or reason of things. It purported to be the answer to the materialism of the mid-century. But this speculation often led astray.
Then there was ontology, that department of metaphysics that investigates and explains the nature and essential properties and relations of all beings, or the principles and causes of being. And many followed such reasonings into unprofitable speculation, often being diverted from the simplicity that constitutes the essence of the gospel revealed in the Word.
4. DIVERSIONARY PERILS BESET BASIC CHRISTIAN FAITH. —Cognizance must also be taken of the philosophical and theological trends of the time, and of their different frames of reference, and the rival theodices struggling for first place. One of these confusing elements was a revival in some quarters of pantheism, the doctrine that there is no God but the combined forces and laws that are manifested in the existing universe as a whole.
Then there was theosophy, a system of mystic philosophy that claims to have intercourse with God and superior spirits, and consequent superhuman knowledge. It purports to have special knowledge of God by means of mystical insight into the processes of the divine mind. Such knowledge of God is allegedly obtained through spiritual intercommunication. In ancient times it included Neo-Platonism. In modern times the Buddhistic and Brahmanic theories are involved, including a pantheistic evolution and the doctrine of reincarnation. All these were alluring, but subtle and misleading.
1. ESCHATOLOGY RECEIVES SETBACK FROM EVOLUTION THEORY.—We should remember that the climax of the Conditionalist emphasis needs to be studied in the light of the perspective of the ages. Conditional or unconditional immortal-ity constitutes the heart of the age-old controversy over the nature and destiny of man. Thus the resurgence of Biblical theology at the close of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century involved the realm of eschatology. And eschatology embraces death, immortality, resurrection, the Second Advent, the millennium, judgment, and future existence. Eschatology therefore provides the perspective from which the end events of Conditionalism should be viewed.
It is also to be noted that through the widespread adoption of the evolution theory, eschatology was reduced by many of the former's ardent proponents to a mere principle of progress. Thus the discussion was shifted from the centre to the periphery. And as no new issues or perspectives advanced, in large circles the interest waned as to its challenge. There was definite deterioration in study. Like tired champions, not a few of the former stalwart Conditionalists retired from the conflict. And Conditionalism's prominence was lost with the passing of some of the giants that have been noted.
6. THEOLOGICAL TRILEMMA AGAIN ASCENDANT IN NINETEENTH CENTURY.—From the three schools developed in the church of the fourth and fifth centuries as regards the nature and destiny of the wicked, and the theological trilemma which they created, lines of continuity persisted throughout most of the Christian Era. But with Conditionalism and Restorationism both heavily repressed during the Middle Ages, the triangular discussion did not again break forth fully until after the Reformation was launched. Then it grew in intensity throughout the succeeding centuries.
As we have seen, in North America, Universal Restorationism had an early start. But at last, from the beginning of the nineteenth century onward, Conditionalism came to the fore in scholarly ecclesiastical circles, though not as extensively as in Britain. The old theological trilemma was once more ascendant, with Conditionalism making its impact, along with its stern realistic note of justice and transcendent holiness, blended with God's gracious proffer of life, and holding tenaciously to the coming total end of all sin. This was the situation in the mid-nineteenth century.
7. CONDITIONALISM'S ROLE IN THEOLOGICAL DISCUSSION. —While Conditionalism never attained a dominant voice, it did win a respectful place and hearing. It emerged in the nineteenth century as one of the significant alternatives to the demands of Calvinism, and was unquestionably one of the factors in forcing a modification of Calvinism. Conditionalism is very clearly cast in the Arminian tradition. The doctrine. of the redemption of free moral agents lies at the very heart of the issue. And in Conditionalist methodology the Bible is not an argument but a revelation—a revelation that utters irrefutable truths. It states basic facts and reveals foundational principles. It constitutes the supreme and only authority, superseding all the speculations of philosophy and unaided human reasoning. To the Conditionalist the Bible is supreme. This, then, constitutes the other side of the picture as we come to the emergence of the two Adventist bodies. First note the Advent Christians.
One prominent Advent Christian publisher and writer was HORACE L. HASTINGS (1831-1899), editor, author, lecturer, and preacher. He was preceded by four successive generations of preachers. He began to preach when he was only eighteen, following in his Methodist preacher-father's footsteps. He was a prodigious reader and diligent student. With an urge to write, and interested in the nature and destiny of man, he soon produced such tracts as Future Punishment; Intermediate State; Destiny of the Wicked; Will All Men Be Saved? They were well received because Hastings was a clear, forceful, and fearless writer, and hundreds of thousands of copies were circulated. Hastings' major work was his Pauline Theology, or The Christian Doctrine of Future Punishment (1853). Other titles were The Old Paths; or, the Primitive Doctrine of the Future Life (1855), and Retribution, or The Doom of the Ungodly, after the Resurrection of the Dead, Just and Unjust. On all counts he was a strong contender for Conditionalism. (Pictured on page 650.)
In 1860 Hastings was elected president of the Advent Christian Publication Society. He acknowledged no denominational name but "Christian." His motto was "No creed but the Bible, no master but Christ, no name but Christian." In 1865 he established the Scriptural Tract Repository, and started a monthly called The Christian, which attained a circulation of thirty-five thousand. He issued an enormous number of papers, tracts, and books, utilizing, it is said, a total of some eight hundred tons of paper in the process. [2]
Another major Hastings interest was in the field of Christian evidences, in which he conducted an intensive campaign with anti-infidel literature, and through preaching on Boston Commons. Pursuant to his work, he travelled and preached widely in different lands. His most noted booklet was The Inspiration of the Bible, or Will the Old Book Stand? nearly three million copies having been issued up to 1898. It was translated into eighteen or so languages. [3] Hastings was an effective publisher of Conditionalist literature.
In early life MILES GRANT (1819-1911) was a sceptic and infidel, characteristic of the times. First he taught in a public school, then in an academy, and later in a seminary. In 1842 he was tremendously impressed by a Methodist minister's exposition of Bible prophecy, and became convinced that the Bible is truly the Word of God. He continued teaching until 1850 when he entered the ministry. He was first pastor of a Boston church, and from 1856-1860 served as editor of the World's Crisis and Second Advent Messenger.
2 Our Hope and Life in Christ, Nov. 15, 1899, pp. 6, 7.
3 A. C. Johnson, Advent Christian History, p. 399.
He became an ardent believer in Conditional Immortality, the unconscious sleep of the dead and the complete destruction of the wicked. That was the heyday of the debate, and Grant accepted many a challenge to debate on Conditionalism and Spiritualism—about one hundred discussions in all. He won the decision on most of them. Some of his opponents were distinguished disputants, one being the scholarly Dr. Josiah Litch. In 1858 he debated for four nights in Boston Music Hall. Grant was a real polemicist. (Pictured on page 650.)
Grant again became editor of the World's Crisis from 1861 to 1876. From then on he engaged in evangelism. Pursuant to this, he travelled from five thousand to fifteen thousand miles a year by stagecoach, packet, steamer, and train—even by lumber cart and afoot—and was fond of it. He travelled not only throughout the United States and Canada but in Great Britain and on the Continent, visiting England annually from 1884 onward. It was on these trips that he made contact with British Conditionalists, and visited Conditional Immortality Association conferences. Grant held that the twin truths of the premillennial Advent and Conditional Immortality constitute the very core of the gospel. His major work was his unusual Positive Theology (1895), though he published various pamphlets on Conditionalism—What Is Man? The Soul, What Is It? The Spirit, What Is It? et cetera. He was a vigorous proponent.
REMARKABLE ASSEMBLAGE OF DOCUMENTED KEY STATEMENTS.—Grant devotes twelve long chapters in Positive Theology (four to fifteen) to a comprehensive coverage of Conditional Immortality—life, death, Hell, hades, Gehenna, Tartarus, the wages of sin, the thief on the cross, Rich Man and Lazarus, and thirteen other problem passages and major objections. He quotes from nearly two hundred Conditionalist authorities—attesting his wide investigation. While sections of each chapter comprise his own presentation, logically and lucidly presented, his work is to no small extent an assemblage and coordination of the key statements of the ablest scholars—the pith of their contributions—grouped under a series of categories covering the field, giving the sources with documented footnotes, and all in condensed form.
His compilation represents an exhaustive search for sources and authorities that cannot be gainsaid, and shows an exceptional organizational and condensational ability. These are brought together in sequence, with definitions from the best lexicographers, extracts from experts, and proper references. Altogether it is an impressive reference work.
DANIEL T. TAYLOR (d. 1899), [4] in his The Immortality of the Soul, Not a Doctrine Universally Believed (c. 1870), gave a multum in parvo sketch of the historical development of the controversy over the Conditional Immortality question. Gleaned and brought together from other investigators, it traces tersely the leading witnesses to Conditionalism scattered over the centuries of the Christian Era—men who have "held to the soul's mortality, the sleep in death, and have also denied the doctrine of eternal, conscious torment in a future world." [5] As the ground has been covered again and again, we simply list Taylor's witness, by groups, across the centuries.
4 DANIEL T. TAYLOR (1823-1899), was first a Methodist but withdrew in 1844 to herald the imminent, premillennial Second Advent. Following a period of school teaching, he began preaching in Canada in 1846. While in the ministry of the Advent Christian communion he preached some four thousand sermons in New England, New York, and Canada, and served as pastor of several churches. His major works were on prophecy and the Second Advent—The Voice of the Church on the Coming and Kingdom of the Redeemer (1855), enlarged into The Reign of Christ on Earth (1881), with a succession of lesser works. One was the helpful The Immortality of the Soul, Not a Doctrine Universally Believed (c. 1870)
5 D. T. Taylor, The Immortality of the Soul, Not a Doctrine Universally Believed (1871 reprint), p. 165.
6 Ibid., pp. 165-170.
1. FIRST THE EARLY CHURCH, THEN THE MEDIEVAL WITNESS.—Taylor shows how Justin Martyr, Tatian, and Irenaeus sustained the Conditionalist position in the Early Church. Then he noted the Arabian Christians (c. 230), Methodius, Arnobius, Athanasius, and Hilary. In each case Taylor gives the essence of their Conditionalist positions. [6] Next he cites fifteen early Restorationist churchmen (beginning with Origen) who were "Deniers of Endless Misery," [7] as held by the majority.
After showing how Gregory the Great (c. 590) complains that some still held to the unconscious sleep of the dead, Taylor next deals with medieval rabbi Maimonides, and Arabian philosopher Averroes (1106), schoolman Robert Pullus, and certain professors in the University of Paris (c. 1270) who asserted the mortality of man and denied Eternal Torment for the wicked. Then he cites schoolman John Pick, and philosopher Peter Pomponatius, charged with denying the immortality of the soul. [8] The essence of their views is also given. [9]
2. REFORMATION AND POST-REFORMATION CHAMPIONS.—Next comes Protestant Reformer Martin Luther, holding the sleep of the dead. [10] Later follow John Locke (d. 1704), John Whitefoot, R. Overton, Samuel Richardson, John Milton, Archbishop Tillotson, F. W. Stosch of Germany, Peter Bayle, Henry Dodwell, Isaac Watts, Bishop Warburton, J. N. Scott, C. L. de Villette, Bishop Law, Samuel Bourn, E. J. C. Walter, Eberhard, Berrow [sic], Priestley, Taylor, Clarke, and Marsom. [11] Data and teaching of each are given.
1. THE GREAT NINETEENTH-CENTURY EXPANSION.—And for the nineteenth century Taylor names Timothy Kendrick, Robert Forsyth, Elias Smith, Aaron Bancroft, J. Sellon, John Thomas, Calvin French, Reginald Courtenay, T. C. Cowan, J. H. Pearce, H. H. Dobney, George Storrs, Edward White, J. P. Ham, Sir James Stephen, Moncrieff, McCullow, Chandler, Schultz, C. F. Hudson, John Foster, Bishop Whately, and Samuel Minton [12]—referring to some of them as "giant minds." And he speaks of widespread current discussion in various Conditionalist periodicals, hundreds of clergymen, and one hundred thousand adherents. [13]
7 Ibid., p. 170.
8 Ibid., pp. 171, 172.
9 Ibid. pp. 173, 174.
10 Ibid., pp. 174, 175
11 Ibid., pp. 176-180.
12 Ibid., pp. 180-184.
13 Ibid., p. 184.
It is an impressive list—one of several produced just about this time, all attempting to trace the historical line across the centuries. The indisputable fact is that these all spring from the indelible records of history, available to all who search for them. One list checks against the other, and thus balances and rounds it out. Each played its part. Taylor, though brief, and touching only the leading characters, was nevertheless quite accurate and discerning. There was increasing consciousness of historical antecedents. These men constantly denied the charge that they were innovators. They were, instead, continuators.
We must not omit JAMES H. WHITMORE (1838- ), who was a graduate of Albany Law School, but "exchanged Black-stone and Kent for Paul and John," leaving the bar for the pulpit. He was won to the Conditionalist faith by reading Hudson, Hastings, Grew, and Blain on the immortality question. Each chapter of his carefully documented book, The Doctrine of Immortality (1870), is concluded with a point-by-point summary of the argument presented. His legal training and his logical thought processes are here evident. He writes from Michigan.
OUTLINE FOLLOWS NOW-STANDARD PATTERN.—The outline followed has now become almost a standard pattern. Since the facts are the same, the major outline is naturally similar. The scope, and consequently the conclusions, approximate those of many predecessors on both sides of the Atlantic. He traces the historical beginnings of Immortal-Soulism from Egypt into Greek Platonic philosophy. Then comes the deflection of Jewish belief, accomplished through Platonism. Next, the early Christian Church split into three conflicting schools, followed by the bleak medieval period. Finally, the Reformation and post-Reformation partial revival of Conditionalism, by some, is parried by the countering Calvinist and Helvetic reactions.
The argument from reason, with logical syllogisms, is particularly forceful. But the basic argument is from Scripture, with Creationism and the Adamic penalty—and mortality, life and death, and the intermediate state. The vital Greek terms concerned are noted. And all are carefully documented. Whitmore closes his treatise with the Christian doctrine of redemption and the resurrection as the gospel of hope.
His list of authorities includes such standard names as Blackburne, Carmichael, Courtenay, Dodwell, Hall, Ham, Kennicott, Locke, Luther, Moncrieff, Parkhurst, Taylor, Tillotson, Tyndale, Vinet, Warburton, Watson, Watts, Whately, and White. It is a creditable array, and constitutes a valuable contribution.
ISAAC C. WELLCOME (1818-1895), publisher and Advent Christian historian, was a voracious reader when he was a lad. His father had been a zealous Universalist, but Isaac early became sceptical, feasted on infidel books, and denied any god but nature. However, astonished at the transformation wrought in some of his companions by conversion, he again turned to the Bible for light. But his father's Universalist books, easily available, led him first to profess Universalism for about four years—particularly because of their arguments on the immortality of the soul. But in 1840 he was soundly converted and joined the Methodist Church, in which he was an active member for five years. (Pictured on page 650.)
Then, becoming fully convinced of the imminence of Christ's premillennial return, he ran into grave difficulties, receiving denunciations and threats of dismissal. So he be-came persuaded that he must separate from the Methodist Church, which he did in 1844. He then became sceptical over the popular teaching of the soul going to Heaven or Hell immediately at death. Taking his Bible and concordance, he checked on every passage "on life, death, soul, body, spirit, heaven, hell, punishment, judgment, eternal life, destruction, perish, and their equivalents." He then records that he— "was obliged, against his previous views, to accept the clear, unequivocal, and universal testimony of the Scriptures that man is wholly mortal; that death suspends all power of action and thought of body and soul; that the spirit is not an entity, but the principle of life] that man is wholly dependent on Christ's defor a resurrection, and on the return of Christ and 'the first resurrection' for eternal life; that the wicked will rise in the second resurrection and receive the wages due them, which is to 'utterly perish' in 'the second death.' " [14]
Ordained in 1850, he travelled and preached. Then he began to write and publish. In 1872 he and his co-workers organized the Scriptural Publication Society and Home and Foreign Tract Mission. Elder Wellcome served as manager until his death in 1895. In 1874 he published his History of the Second Advent Message. In 1884 he brought out J. H. Pettengill’s The unspeakable Gift, and other works.
"It was estimated that from 1872 to 1895 he had published ten million tracts, over one hundred fifty thousand books and pamphlets and about two hundred thousand copies of the Berean Quarterly, which was the organ of the Scriptural Publication Society." [15]
FREDERICK LEROY PIPER (1858-1940) is best known as editor of The World's Crisis. In 1881 Piper helped to initiate the foreign mission enterprise of the Advent Christian Church, first by wide distribution of literature among Protestant missionaries in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and the islands of the sea. In all this, the Second Advent was stressed. He also edited Working and Waiting, and aided the China Inland Mission.
14 Isaac C. Wellcome, History of the Second Advent Message, p. 570; Berean Quarterly (vol. 11, no. 3), July, 1895.
15 Johnson, op. cit., pp. 396, 397; World's Crisis, Jan. 6, 1886, p. 13.
In 1891 he was elected secretary of the American Advent Mission Society, and in 1892 launched a quarterly called To All Nations. This was merged into the Prophetic and Mission Quarterly. Copies were sent to two thousand mission stations throughout the world, and in April, 1900, he sent out 24,000 copies of a forty-eight-page issue on Conditional Immortality. The mailing list included eight thousand Protestant ministers in North America and several hundred missionaries overseas. The cordial reception of these publications indicated that many were already impressed with the claims of Conditionalism.
In 1900 Piper was elected editor of The World's Crisis, which post he held until 1922, when he was released from his secretaryship of the mission board. In April, 1902, another special Conditional Immortality issue was put out and extensively distributed. In 1903 the name was changed to Prophetic and Mission Record, and in 1904 still another special appeared.
Piper's most permanent contribution was doubtless his 231-page Conditionalism: Its Place in Eschatology, History and Current Thought (1904). This twenty-five-chapter popular portrayal of Conditionalist principles, with its terse historical sketch of its vicissitudes but persistence through the centuries, is noteworthy. He touches on the leading Conditionalists across the Christian Era, and writes up the most important. It is only to be regretted that the typical quotations assembled were not consistently documented. This seriously detracts from its authority. But his historical outlook is sound and conforms to fact.
It is not commonly known that JOSHUA V. HIMES, [16] in the Advent Christian Quarterly for July, 1869, tells how, about 1860, he began to restudy the "Life and Death question," particularly the doom of the wicked. As a result, he came to accept the position of Conditionalism, and states at the close of his article: "Every frank examination of any branch of this great question of life and death eternal strengthens my convictions that eternal life is 'the gift of God,' while 'the wages of sin is death.'" And J. V.'s son, William Himes, editor of the journal, adds in an illuminating editorial:
"But he has left cavillers without an excuse by his frank and interesting exposition on the Life and Death question. While many of his coadjutors have become conservative he [J.V.] has been growing more radical [Conditionalist] with age." [17]
16 JOSHUA VAUGHN MINES (1805-1895), remarkable publicist, promoter, and organizer of the North American Advent Movement, was powerful in the desk, but more so in the editorial chair and publisher's office. First a minister in the Massachusetts Christian Connection, he became pastor of the noted Chardon Street Chapel, Boston. A crusader by nature, he attacked the evils of the day—the liquor traffic, slavery, et cetera. His church was the headquarters of all sorts of social and religious reforms. Starting the Signs of the Times in 1840, and later the daily Midnight Cry, he produced charts, tracts, books and hymnals. He fostered the notable succession of camp meetings and Second Advent conferences. He finally became an Episcopalian clergyman.
Strangely enough, the Conditionalist teaching was adopted by still other groups not classed among evangelical Christians. The story of that adoption is a matter of historical record and will be given as a part of the over-all historical picture.
The Jehovah's Witnesses, although holding flagrantly un-evangelical positions—that is, rejecting the Trinity, the eternal pre-existence, incarnation, and deity of Jesus Christ, His infinite atonement, His literal resurrection, and literal, personal second advent [18]—nevertheless adopted the essential Conditionalist positions on the nature and destiny of man, which we must therefore note. However, they militantly denounce "organized religion," and state that they are not a church but a society, meeting largely as "companies" in "Kingdom Halls." [19]
17 Advent Christian Quarterly. vol. 1, No. 1 (July, 1869) pp. 6, 9, 10, 77.
18 Jehovah's Witnesses arc here classified as non-Christian because, as stated. they deny the basic doctrines of the Christian faith—the Trinity, the eternal pre-existence and deity of Jesus Christ regarding Him merely as a creature, only "a God"; denying His literal resurrection (He arose a "mere Spirit-Creature"), and His literal second advent (returning as an "invisible spirit Creature a presence and already here), and rejecting the personality of the Holy Spirit as the second person of the Godhead (but rather the impersonal power of Jehovah as an "invisible active force"); together with a restricted rather than an infinite atonement (simply "for many'' ). (See Let God Be True, pp. 81-104 185-196; Studies in the Scriptures, vol. 5, pp. 55, 60, 84, 134, 169, 210, 453, 454; Reconciliation. p. 115; The Harp of God [1922), pp. 101, 125, 170; Make Sure of All Thinks (1953), pp. 207-210, 241, 273, 360, 386-390.)
19 Later exceptions are the Brooklyn Tabernacle, New York Temple, London Tabernacle, Chicago Temple, and Washington Temple.
Their opposition to the laws of the State, and refusal to salute the flag, have resulted in repressive action, especially in Communist countries. It is consequently incumbent upon us to note when, how, and from whom such Conditionalist views were derived, and are still held in such an alien setting.
To understand this strange combination we must go back to their founder, or organizer, as they prefer to call him. Then we will find the background and relationship of Russell's views on the nature and destiny of man, adopted before the development of his system.
1. RISE AND ORGANIZED ACTIVITIES OF THE 'RUSSELLITES."—"Pastor" CHARLES TAZE RUSSELL (1852-1916) was brought up a strict Presbyterian, rigidly indoctrinated in the Catechism. Stumbling over the dogma of Eternal Torment—the "morbid pictures of a sizzling hell," as one described it—he became a member of the Congregational Church. But soon he lost confidence in all creeds, becoming highly cynical and denouncing the errors of "organized religion." He became an actual agnostic.
Then, through contact with an Advent Christian preacher, [20] Ionas Wendell, as he identifies him, faith was restored in the inspiration of the Bible. [21] And from Conditionalist George Storrs, already noted, he learned concerning Conditional Immortality [22] that the saints must come forth from the it grave to "gain everlasting life in Christ." [23] Finally, from N. H. Barbour, likewise an Advent Christian minister, Russell came to believe that Christ would return in 1874. [24] Out of these early contacts he developed his own revolutionary system of time sequences and events, with emphasis upon 1914. But he continued to believe that all through the Gospel Age the death of God's children "has been followed by unconsciousness- "sleep." This, however, he came to believe, has not been the case since 1878. [25] That was his own distinctive deviation.
20 Not from Seventh-day Adventists, as J. H. Gerstner (The Theology of the Major Sects, page 29) and J. K. Van Baalan (The Chaos of the Cults, p. 217) contend. They have confused two separate Adventist bodies.
21 The Laodicean Messenger (Memoirs of C. T. Russell), p. 12; The Watchtower, July, 1906. See also Johnson, op. cit., pp. 201, 203.
22 Laodicean Messenger, p. 13.
23 Ibid., p. 14.
24 Ibid., pp. 14-17. It should be added that no Seventh-day Adventist engaged in such time setting. This is another case of mistaken identity.
2. ASTONISHING PUBLISHING AND DISTRIBUTION ACHIEVE-MENTS.—In 1872 Russell organized an independent "Bible Class" in Pittsburgh, and in 1876 was elected "pastor" of the group—though he had had no ministerial training and was never ordained. His followers were first called Russellites, then Millennial Dawnists, and International Bible Students. In 1879 he founded the Zion's Watch Tower Society, and launched and edited the Watchtower. The organization was reorganized in Pittsburgh as The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. One major work published was Russell's Studies in the Scriptures, with a claimed distribution of fifteen million copies. His Watchtower journal zoomed from an initial edition of six thousand they state, to an almost unbelievable circulation of one million monthly by 1950.
In 1909 the headquarters were transferred to Brooklyn, New York, where a huge printing establishment has allegedly produced a half-billion pieces of literature. Russell was also an extensive traveller and an incessant lecturer. But the seventh volume of Russell's Studies in the Scriptures (published posthumously) caused a split, the larger group following Judge J F. Rutherford, with the name changed to Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931. By 1938 it was a world organization. Rutherford was author of more than a hundred pamphlets and books, some translated into eighty languages. [26] They had entered a new phase. Even during World War I many were sent to prison because of their intractable attitude.
25 Ibid., p. 21.
26 The Witnesses keep no membership records. But it is claimed that they have more than 3,000 companies, with a membership of more than 300,000 in the United States, and a world membership of some 3,000,000. Their activities are almost fantastic. Each "witness" ("pioneer," or 'publisher") is required to put in a stated number" of hours. In 1948, 180,000 of these workers distributed, so they state, 20,000,000 pamphlets and books, 12,000,000 magazines, and 18,000,000 tracts. In 1959, according to their present president, Nathan H. Knorr, they were operating in 128 countries. Eight hundred seventy thousand laymen "ministers" placed 92.3 million copies of the Watchtower (issued in fifty-four languages) and Awake (in nineteen languages). And they report having conducted 600,000 weekly "Bible Studies" in homes, operating in 128 languages. In their huge annual conventions there was a claimed attendance. in New York, in 1950, of 100,000. (See Frank S. Mead, Handbook of Denominations in the United States [1951], pp. 100-102; Nathan H. Knorr, in The American People's Encyclopedia Yearbook for 1959, col. 623).
3. BELIEFS AS TO NATURE AND DESTINY OF MAN.—Jehovah's Witnesses maintain that man was a combination of the "dust of the ground" and the "breath of life," which resulted in a "living soul, or creature called man." [27] The common claim that man has an "immortal soul" is, they say, not scriptural. [28] On the contrary, the soul is but "mortal." It is not eternal and indestructible, for "the soul that sinned, it shall die" (Eze. 18:4)—and a truly immortal soul could not die. [29] It was Satan who originated the doctrine of the inherent immortality of the soul. [30] In death man enters into unconsciousness—"utter cessation of intellectual or physical activity." The natural destiny of the sinner is death, but through turning to Jesus Christ man can gain eternal life. [31] This, of course, is similar to what multiplied thousands of Conditionalists of all faiths have believed. But in the case of the Jehovah's Witnesses it was derived from the Advent Christian group.
Jehovah's Witnesses also teach that the Bible "hell" (that is hades) is the tomb, or grave [32]—the "common grave" of mankind (Heb., Sheol, a place of rest, where the departed sleep until the resurrection. This in contrast with the Gehenna (also translated "hell"). [33] Man does not go into "fiery torment" after death. The concept of eternal torment is a "God-dishonouring religious doctrine." [34] "Eternal punishment" is a punishment of which there is no end, but it is not "eternal torment" of living souls. Annihilation, through the "second death," is the lot of the wicked. And it is eternal. The doctrine of an eternally burning hell, where the wicked are tortured forever, is rejected, they say, because it is "unscriptural," "unreasonable," "contrary to God's love," and "repugnant to justice." [35] In that they agree with all soundly evangelical Conditionalists.
27 Let God Be True (Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, rev. ed.), p. 59.
28 Ibid., pp. 59, 60.
29 Ibid., p. 61.
30 Ibid., p. 66; "Make Sure of Al! Thing?' (Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society), p. 87.
31 Let God Be True, p. 67.
32 Ibid., pp. 72, 73.
33 Ibid., pp. 63, 75-78, 80.
34 Ibid., p. 68.
35 Ibid., p. 80. See also Make Sure of All Things, pp. 154-164.
It should perhaps be added that the very fact that a religious body holding such un-Christian positions as do the Jehovah's Witnesses, in likewise contending for the positions of Conditional Immortality, has tended to throw a cloud over the validity of the entire Conditionalist postulate on the nature and destiny of man. It is perhaps sufficient to answer that the Advent Christian Church, from which Russell derived his Conditionalist views, is wholly sound on the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the bodily resurrection, and the infinite atonement of the cross. Consequently, the Conditionalist position of the Jehovah's Witnesses is not, therefore, logically to be discounted on that score, for the overwhelming majority of the multiplied thousands of cham-pions of Conditionalism across the centuries have been singularly sound on the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. There should be no confusion here.
In common with thousands of Christians throughout the world, Seventh-day Adventists, from their rise, had a profound conviction that, according to the Word, mankind had entered the period known as the “last days,” or “time of the end.”
They believed that mankind was soon to be summoned before the Judge of all the earth, that all who would should prepare to meet the returning Christ as King of kings at His second advent. They believed, furthermore, that this transcendent event called for complete preparation of mind and heart in order to meet their Lord with joy and acceptance. And this, they were convinced, called for thorough reformation of life and rectification of belief.
1. REPUDIATION OF PAPAL PERVERSIONS IMPERATIVE
They profoundly believed that the truths proclaimed by the primitive church must all be restored to their rightful place. This meant that all perversions introduced by the Papacy during her development and centuries of dominance must now be set aside. They therefore believed that such reformation of doctrine included repudiation of the philosophical dogmas that the Papacy had taken over from the widespread adoption of Platonism by the church—the fourfold postulate of universal Innate Immortality, consciousness in death, Eternal Torment of the wicked, and the later innovation of Purgatory.
Purgatory had, of course, been rejected at the Reformation. But the majority of the Reformation leaders and their followers had retained the first three. The Calvinistic bodies were especially insistent on these points, whereas the Anglicans left the question open, many of its illustrious sons from the Reformation onward espousing Conditionalism. And there was an increasing number and continuity of individual scholars in the various churches or denominations who likewise championed the principles of Conditionalism. The Adventists were well aware that they were not alone.
2. HISTORICAL SETTING AND MOTIVATION FOR THEIR BELIEFS
Seventh-day Adventists considered their platform to be a recovery of neglected or abandoned truths, not a discovery or a new deviation. They regarded it as a retention, not an invention; a restoration, not an innovation. They consequently considered themselves to be champions of age-old positions, not projectors of new theological contentions. They took their stand as upholders of apostolic orthodoxy, not as purveyors of a modern heresy. Their conclusions were born of deep conviction. As a consequence, their attitude was positive, not negative; aggressive, not defensive.
They profoundly believed that they had been raised up to help complete the arrested Reformation and to aid in the establishment of truths now due the world, late in time’s hour. This gave them a sense of mission, and of urgency in proclaiming the unchanged and unchangeable everlasting gospel. This very platform of timeless and timely principles led inevitably to the recognition and adoption of the doctrine of Conditionalism, which had been rescued from the perversions foisted upon the Christian Church by the great apostasy of the Middle Ages. That was the motivating basis of their Conditionalism.
1. CONFERENCES RESULT IN UNIFIED MOVEMENT
A series of five conferences in 1848, spread over New England, drew the Sabbatarian Adventists together in unity and set the pattern of the doctrinal framework adopted. The foundations were thus securely laid for a growing and expanding church, formally organized in 1863 as the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Their first journal, the Present Truth, launched in 1849, was joined by the Advent Review in 1850, and succeeded by the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, as the official church paper of the upspringing movement. And these all promulgated the Conditionalist contentions.
2. ESCHATOLOGY’S PART IN THE DEVELOPMENT
A restudy of the eschatological involvements of the “last things” had indicated a sequence of events leading up to, and following, the Second Advent, with its attendant resurrection of the saints, the second resurrection (of the wicked) not coming till the close of the millennial thousand years. Then followed, in turn, the pronouncement of the irrevocable sentences of judgment, and finally the execution of these sentences upon the wicked, with destruction not only for all incorrigible sinners but of the devil himself and all his evil angel cohorts. This was recognized as the grand outline. Then, with the last vestige of sin and sinners destroyed, there would come the promised re-creation of “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1-4), to be the eternal home of the saved forevermore. Such were their considered conclusions, based upon the eschatological outline of Holy Writ.
3. FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS CRYSTALLIZED IN “MANUAL.”
This basic outline, progressively adopted in group study and conferences, then published in periodical article, tract, and book form, was finally crystallized in the statement of the twenty two Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists,” appearing annually in the Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, and in their official Church Manual. We here quote articles nine to twelve, and twenty-two, that their positions as a whole, on life, death, and destiny, may be on record. We will then go back and note certain major steps in their development.
For the full development of these positions see Froom, Prophetic Faith, vol. 4.
“9. That God ‘only hath immortality.’ (1 Tim. 6:16.) Mortal man possesses a nature inherently sinful and dying. Eternal life is the gift of God through faith in Christ. (Rom. 6:23.) ‘He that hath the Son hath life.” (1 John 5:12.) Immortality is bestowed upon the righteous at the second coming of Christ, when the righteous dead are raised from the grave and the living righteous translated to meet the Lord. Then it is that those accounted faithful ‘put on immortality.’ (1 Cor. 15:51-55.)
“10. That the condition of man in death is one of unconsciousness. That all men, good and evil alike, remain in the grave from death to the resurrection. (Eccl. 9:5, 6; Ps. 146:3, 4; John 5:28, 29.)
“11. That there shall be a resurrection both of the just and of the unjust. The resurrection of the just will take place at the second coming of Christ; the resurrection of the unjust will take place a thousand years later, at the close of the millennium. (John 5:28, 29; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Rev. 20:5-10.)
“12. That the finally impenitent, including Satan, the author of sin, will, by the fires of the last day, be reduced to a state of non existence, becoming as though they had not been, thus purging the universe of God of sin and sinners. (Rom. 6:23; Mal. 4:1-3; Rev. 20:9, 10; Obadiah 16.) .
“22. That God will make all things new. The earth, restored to its pristine beauty, will become forever the abode of the saints of the Lord. The promise to Abraham, that through Christ he and his seed should possess the earth throughout the endless ages of eternity, will be fulfilled. ‘The kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.’ Christ, the Lord, will reign supreme, and every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, ‘will ascribe’ blessing and honour and glory and power, unto ‘him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.’ (Gen. 13:14-17; Rom. 4:13; Heb. 11:8-16; Matt. 5:5; Isaiah 35; Rev. 21:1-7; Dan. 7:27; Rev. 5:13.)”
That is the accepted faith of Seventh-day Adventists. Now let us examine the individual faith of the founders.
Seventh-day Adventist Church Manual (1959), pp. 31, 32, 35, 36.
JAMES WHITE (1821-1881), preacher, editor, publisher, and resourceful administrator, was one of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. His father, Deacon John, was of Baptist background, then of Christian Connection fellow ship. James was baptized into the Christian Connection, and prepared for teaching. But he turned to the Christian Connection ministry, and not only preached for them but was frequently invited to speak to the Freewill Baptists and Methodists. Of fine presence and dynamic character, White was a born leader, possessing marked executive ability.
White wrote no book exclusively on Conditionalism. But from his first brochure in 1847 onward, he interwove incisive paragraphs and portions of editorials on vital aspects of the Conditionalist view on the nature and destiny of man. These reveal his unvarying position. Conditionalism runs like a golden thread throughout his writings. And in his key position as editor of the three earliest Seventh-day Adventist periodicals he encouraged and published strong articles on the question by others. (Pictured on page 672).
White’s thinking was bold, clear, and logical, and he was an able disputant. He always sought anchorage in unassailable facts and sound principles. He was progressive in his planning, had acute perceptions of right, and would not yield to discouragement. He was a wise builder, and was the father of church organization and ecclesiastical polity among the Sabbatarian Adventists. He thus played a major role in setting the doctrinal pattern of the movement.
He had a statesmanlike vision of the future, and fostered the first in a series of publishing, educational, and medical institutions that have now encircled the globe. He launched the Sabbath schools and the foreign missionary enterprise of the Adventists, who sent out their first overseas missionary, J. N. Andrews, in 1874. White’s writings were therefore thoroughly representative of early Adventist leadership. Here are his earliest statements.
Seventh-day Adventists now operate 42 publishing houses, issue more than 287 periodicals and thousands of books, totalling $28,606,603.50 in sales in 1962. (Since their inception they have issued more than 10,000 titles—book, pamphlet, and tract.) They operate 4,772 educational institutions, 383 colleges and secondary schools, and 4,389 elementary schools, together with two universities. They conduct 124 sanitariums and hospitals (37 in North America, and 87 overseas, with 28 schools of nursing), as well as 132 clinics and dispensaries. They have sent out 9,957 missionaries since 1901, and conduct work in 189 countries, operating in 928 languages [700 orally, 228 with literature]. They have more than 1,000 radio broadcasts per week and telecasts in over 159 outlets. Their 23,799 Sabbath schools have 1,931,265 members. They are all conditionalists.
James White, Joseph Bates, and Mrs. E. G. White, A Word la the “Little Flock,” p. 3.
“WORD TO THE ‘LITTLE FLOCK“ CLEARLY CONDITIONALIST
In the opening article of his initial twenty-four-page tract, “Word to the “Little Flock” (1847), White speaks of the saints as still “in their mortal state.” This he repeats, saying that “the saints are in their mortal state.” The next article (“The Voice of God”) concerns the Second Advent, when Jesus will “send his angels to ‘gather the elect,’ from the four winds,” and describes how the “voice of God” raises the saints (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17). This event is to be followed by the simultaneous translation and immortalization of the living saints. Then article three (“The Time of Trouble”), commenting on Daniel 12:1, 2, speaks of “the resurrection of the just, to everlasting life,”‘ and again refers to “the deliverance [and immortalization] of the living saints” at the time of the “first resurrection.’“
Finally, in the article on “The Judgment,” in speaking of the resurrection, White states succinctly:
“The event which will introduce the Judgment day, will be the coming of the Son of Man, to raise the sleeping saints, and to change [through immortalization] those that are alive at that time.”
He then turns to “the end of the 1,000 years, when the wicked dead will be raised” to receive “sentence by the King,” with the words:
“ ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,’ Mat. 25:41. If this is not the final sentence of the judgment on the wicked, I think we shall not find it in the bible. There fore the wicked are not sentenced before Christ comes; but they will hear their sentence after they are raised, at the close of the 1000 years.”
The next event, White continues, will be the “execution of the final judgment,” after the wicked have lain “silent in the dust, all through the 1000 years.” Then the “fire” will “come down ‘from God, out of heaven’ “ and devour them. “This will be the execution of the final judgment on all the wicked.”
White then comments, “That will be at the second death,” and adds: “Then God will have a clear Universe; for the Devil, and his angels, and all the wicked, will be burnt up ‘root and branch.’ “
Ibid., p. 4.
Ibid., p. 8.
Ibid., p. 9.
Ibid., p. 24. (Italics supplied.)
Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
This all conforms to the Conditionalist position—and this was his earliest brochure. White’s periodic editorial comments in the Present Truth, Advent Review, and Review and Herald will be noted later.
Captain JOSEPH BATES (1792-1872), former ship captain, temperance advocate, abolitionist, and intrepid travelling preacher, was another Seventh-day Adventist pioneer and leader of pioneers. Earlier he was a member and then administer of the Christian Connection. He wrote the first tract (1846) issued by Seventh-day Adventists, and was the oldest of the group of founding fathers of the Sabbatarian Adventists, often affectionately being called “Father Bates.” He too was a builder of solid foundations. And coming from the Christian Connection, he was likewise a believer in Conditional Immortality andjts corollary positions. The outcome was not hard to foresee.
1. CLEAR CONCEPTS IN EARLIEST ADVENTIST TRACTS
In Bates’s tract The Opening Heavens (1846)—one of the earliest tracts issued by the Sabbatarian Adventists—he decries the blight of Swedenborgianism and Spiritualism that was “settling down all over the moral world,” and the spiritualizing tendency that would destroy the literality of the resurrection and the new heavens and new earth prophesied in the Book of God as the eternal home of the saved. And he speaks of God’s people in the New Jerusalem as “immortal saints.”
And in his Second Advent Way Marks (1847) Bates stressed the two resurrections, the first limited to “the dead in Christ,” occurring at the Second Advent, along with the translation of the living saints, at the last trump. Then he speaks of “another resurrection, at the expiration of a thousand years,” and of events that will come “after immortality.”
Joseph Bates, The Opening Heavens, p. 22.
Ibid., pp. 23-25.
Ibid., p. 34.
Bates, Second Advent Way Marks and High Heaps, p. 36.
Ibid., p. 42.
Ibid., p. 49.
These expressions are only inklings, but undeniable ones, of his considered belief that the gift of immortality is not bestowed until the Second Advent and its attendant resurrection. It will thus be seen that the two dynamic leaders of the Sabbatarian Adventists—James White and Joseph Bates—as well as Ellen Harmon White, were already committed to Conditionalism before the formal organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It was therefore inevitable that Conditionalism should be one of the fundamental doctrines of the newly formed church.
2. CONDITIONALIST UNDERSTANDING SAFEGUARDS AGAINST SPIRITUALISM
Through holding to the Conditionalist immortality only in Christ positions—the unconscious sleep of the dead,
the conferring of immortality only at the resurrection, and the ultimate and utter destruction of the wicked—the Adventists were prepared against the delusions of Spiritism, as it sprang up in 1848, holding that the phenomena were not the spirits of the departed dead but were simulating evil, or demonic, spirits.
The nineteenth-century upsurge of Spiritualism first appeared in the form of a mysterious signal code of spirit rappings in the home of the Fox family near Rochester, New York, and soon became a “spectral cult,” is the modern form of the ancient necromancy forbidden in the Pentateuch. Beginning in crude form, with rappings, levitations, and slate tracings, it changed to subtle forms, assuming a religious garb, and soon penetrated the Protestant churches. Finally, it developed into spiritualistic organizations, eventuating in Spiritualist “churches.” But from the very outset both groups of Adventists were fortified by Scripture against susceptibility to Spiritualism’s baleful teachings, and they never ceased to expose its demonic source.
Inasmuch as the witness of Ellen Gould Harmon will be comprehensively presented later, no sketch will be given here. For a full discussion of Spiritualism in the twentieth century, see chapters 50-61. But note should be taken of her acceptance of Conditionalism in her teens, back in 1843, a position from which she never veered throughout her long and eventful life. In 1842, when Ellen was fifteen, with her family she at tended a series of revival meetings on the imminence of Christ’s second advent, held in the large Casco Street Christian (Connection) church, in Portland, Maine, of which Lorenzo D. Fleming was pastor. Several thousand persons witnessed the baptism of the converts, conducted on the Bay Shore.
It was during these meetings that Ellen became convinced that the second coming of Christ was drawing near. But there was another development. It has been pointed out that most of the Christian Connection ministers and members held the Conditionalist view on the nature and destiny of man. And it was evidently while attending the other meetings in this church that Ellen and her mother, heard the sermons on Conditionalism which persuaded them as to its Biblical soundness. But let us go back.
1. MOTHER PERSUADED SOUL NOT IMMORTAL
The Harmon family were Methodists—members of the Pine Street church in Portland. The presiding elder of the district held the postmillennial view of the Second Advent, popular at the time, and deprecated the rising emphasis on the premillennial and imminent second coming of Christ, then becoming widely accepted. One day, early in 1843, when Ellen was sixteen, she listened to a conversation between her mother and a friend concerning a discourse which they had recently heard to the effect that “the soul had not natural immortality.” They discussed the proof texts used by the minister, which specifically included: “ ‘The soul that sins it shall die.’ Eze. 18:4. ‘The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything.’ Eccl. 9:5. ‘‘. . . the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality.’ 1 Timothy 6:15, 16. ‘To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life.’ Rom. 2:7.”
Ellen G. White, Christian Experiences and Teachings, p. 35. See also Ellen G. White,
Testimonies for the Church], vol. 1, pp. 39, 40.
Ellen G. White. Christian Experiences, p. 39.
Ibid., pp. 39, 40.
Ellen was impressed by her mother’s pointed observation, “Why should they seek for what they already have?” These were “new ideas” to Ellen. Upon asking her mother whether she really believed that the soul is not immortal, her mother replied that she “feared we had been in error” on that question. Pressing as to whether she really believed “that the soul sleeps in the grave until the resurrection” and that “the Christian, when he dies, does not go immediately to heaven, nor the sinner to hell” the mother’s reply was: “The Bible gives us no proof that there is an eternally burning hell. If there is such a place, it should be mentioned in the Sacred Book.“
2. SOUNDNESS OF CONDITIONALIST VIEW APPARENT
Ellen first thought this was a “strange theory.” And during the months that followed, her mind was “much exercised” over the subject. Then she herself “heard it preached” and “believed it to be the truth.” From that time on the “light in regard to the sleep of the dead,” and the purpose of the resurrection became clear and “assumed a new and sublime importance.” It resolved questions that had puzzled her, such as, “If at death the soul entered upon eternal happiness or misery, where was the need of a resurrection of the poor mouldering body?” Here is the record of her conclusion:
“ ‘But this new and beautiful faith taught me the reason that inspired writers had dwelt so much upon the resurrection of the body; it was be cause the entire being was slumbering in the grave. I could now clearly perceive the fallacy of our former position on this question. The confusion and uselessness of a final judgment, after the souls of the departed had already been judged once and appointed to their lot, was very apparent to me now. I saw that the hope of the bereaved was in looking forward to the glorious day when the Life-giver shall “break” the fetters of the tomb and the righteous dead shall arise and leave their prison-house, to be clothed with glorious immortal life.”
Ibid., p. 40.
Ibid.
Ibid., p. 41.
James White, Ellen G. White, Life Sketches, pp. 171, 172.
That was the time and circumstance of Ellen Harmon’s acceptance of Conditionalism. Married to James White in 1846, she became one of the most prolific and forceful writers in the denomination, and dealt constantly with Conditionalism, from every aspect, beginning with her first article in 1847. Her representative witness will be presented in the twentieth-century section.
Note should also be taken of JOHN NEVINS ANDREWS (1829-1883), theologian, author, editor, and missionary, one of the younger men in the founders’ group among the Adventists. Scholarly and a keen, logical reasoner, he early characteristically declared, “I would exchange a thousand errors for one truth.” And in this he spoke for his associates. He was versed in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Ever in the forefront of activity, he was author of a number of books, the most notable being his History of the Sabbath.
As early as 1851 he was on the publishing committee of the Review and Herald, and was a frequent contributor. For a time he was president of the General Conference of Seventh- day Adventists, then was sent as the first Adventist missionary to Europe. So his writings were likewise representative. He too was a forceful Conditionalist.
EIGHT GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN ESTABLISHING DOCTRINAL PLATFORM
The guiding principles followed by the founding fathers of the Sabbatarian Adventists in establishing their plat
form were eightfold: They sought
(1) To restore and re-establish the various primitive truths of the Early Church, largely recovered in the Protestant Reformation, but which a divided Christendom failed to complete or had let slip;
(2) To retain and apply all sound principles held by various individual scholars of the nineteenth century—Old World, as well as New;
(3) To complete and consummate, by carrying to their logical conclusion and application, those final phases of truth now due;
(4) To revise and clarify details of truth perceived to be out of harmony with basic principles and outlines, which time had shown to be erroneous;
(5) To harmonize and synthesize all truths so as to form a systematic whole; (6) to discern and differentiate between basic primaries or essentials, and secondaries upon which there were bound to be different views;
(7) To recognize and present Christ and His two advents, setting Him forth as the central figure and power of all redemption, and His two advents as the focal points of time and eternity; and
(8) To stress the consummation of the conflict of the ages between Christ and Satan, and good and evil, from Eden lost to Eden restored, and the final eradication of all sin and sinners. This meant the reinstatement of all lost, forgotten, and forsaken truths, many of which had been partially covered over and obscured by the accumulated debris of error. In this way they would be definitely helping to prepare a people for the coming King and kingdom.
Canright’s A History of the Doctrine of the Soul was one of the unique American surveys of Conditionalist testimony of the time. Utilizing the historical approach, he traced the conflict over the nature and destiny of man from ancient pagan times down to his own day (1870). Its purpose, as stated in the Preface, was to show “how this doctrine [of innate immortality] came into the church, who has believed it, and who has not.” As to the first point he succinctly reports the results of his extensive quest: “The facts plainly show that the doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul is purely a heathen dogma.”
And to this he adds, concerning the earlier Christian writers:
“The mortality of the soul, the sleep of the dead, and the destruction of the wicked, were doctrines held by all the apostolic Fathers, and after them by many of the most eminent of the early Fathers. Since that time it brings to light a host of pious men who have rejected the pagan doctrine of man’s immortality.”
D. M. Canright, A History of the Doctrine of the Soul (2d ed.), Preface, p. iii.
Ibid., p. iv.
Ibid.
This, of course, had been stated hundreds of times before him. But he concurred on the basis of personal investigation.
1. GIST OF THE ARGUMENT AT A GLANCE
Canright “studied long, and read extensively” to bring together the multiform evidence published in his first edition (1870). Then he put in several additional years of “reading and gathering material to perfect” his later (1882) edition. His History evidences a commendable search of authorities in his twenty-five-century historical survey. Its scope can perhaps best be seen by noting the chapter headings:
“1. The Bible does not Teach the Immortality of the Soul.”
“2. The Most Ancient Faith Taught that Immortality Was only to be Obtained through the Resurrection of the Body.”
“3. The Immortality of the Soul not Believed by the Ancient Philosophers.”
“4. Modern Nations who do not Believe in the Immortality of the Soul.”
“5. The Earliest Hope of a Future Life Was through a Reliving of the Body.”
“6. The Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul Originated in Egypt and Was Carried into Greece by Grecian Philosophers.”
“7. The Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul Received into the Christian Church Through the Alexandrian School.”
“8. Evil Effects of the Platonic Philosophy upon the Christian Church.”
“9. Teaching of the Apostolical Fathers Concerning the Nature of Man.”
“10. The Early Fathers.”
“11. During the Reformation.”
“12. Extent of the Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul at the Present Time.”
Ibid., pp. v-x.
Ibid., pp. 11-16.
2. TWO POPULAR MISCONCEPTIONS COUNTERED
Canright begins chapter one (on the( testimony of Scripture) by citing Professor Olshausen, Bishop Tillotson, Richard Watson, Archbishop Whately, Bishop Lowth, and Edward Beecher, all of whom declare that the doctrine of natural immortality is not only not found in Scripture but is contradicted by the Bible. He then summons scholars like Bullinger, De Wette, Parkhurst, Herder, and Greenfield on the technical “Scriptural Meaning of Hell,” particularly of hades, gehenna, and tartaroo.
Chapter two exposes the false assumption that majorities are presumably right (usually the reverse is true), and the loose generality that all ancients believed in the immortality of the soul. Examining the views of the ancient Egyptians, Persians, and Arabians, the ancient Peruvians, and Chibchas of South America, and Negro tribes in Central Africa, he contends that a “confused, indistinct idea of a future life” is revealed, but not proving belief in the “immortality of the soul.”
3. MAJORITY NEVER ACCEPTED PLATONISM CONTEMPORARILY
Chapter three is devoted to the beliefs of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and shows that most of the older Greek philosophers did not hold the Platonic-Socratic concept of Innate Immortality. Tracing the evidence to, and through, the times of the Caesars, he finds the same rejection by the contemporary masses. And the same is true of Aristotle and the Peripatetics, and more especially of the Epicureans, the Academics, the Pyrrhonians, the Stoics, and the Heracliteans. Canright then discusses the doctrine of “emanation” and “absorption”—and thus the loss of “all personality and conscious existence,” which view “virtually amounts to annihilation of the personal soul.” And there was also the ancient belief in the “periodical destruction of all things,” including the soul. Canright closes the chapter with the testimony of Vergil, Horace, and Seneca, who all disbelieved in the immortality of man. All of this he documents from authorities, and shows a good grasp of the facts.
Ibid., pp. 17-22.
Ibid., pp. 30-41.
Ibid., pp. 42-44.
Ibid., p. 47.
Ibid pp. 47.51.
Ibid., pp. 51-53.
Ibid. pp. 53, 54.
Ibid., pp. 54, 55.
4. A SUMMING UP OF THE EVIDENCE
Chapter four deals with modern pagan nations who do not hold to the universal immortality of the soul. Canright cites certain peoples in India, China, Polynesia, Africa, Central and South America, and certain Eskimos and Indian groups, as well as many Christian scholars, who do not hold such a belief. And for each he gives documentation from authorities. His summary is so important that we quote it entirely, lengthy though it is:
“We confidently [sic] believe that the facts we have presented fully explode the oft-repeated argument that the immortality of the soul has been universally believed. Facts are against it. We have shown that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul was first taught by the Egyptians; that there is no trace of it in the early history of ancient nations; that it was denied by most men in the time of Socrates; that the masses did not believe it in the time of Polybius; that the contrary of the soul’s immortality was the prevailing opinion in the time of Cicero; “That this disbelief was full [fully] as extensive in the first century; that nearly all the great [Greek] schools of philosophy openly denied it; that even those who professed to believe it held it only on the principle of emanation and re-absorption, which virtually annihilates all individuality; that none of the ancients could possibly believe it, as they all held to a great periodical destruction of all things; that the Arabs were ignorant of the doctrine: that the [ancient] Jews did not believe it; “That the Hindus and Buddhists, comprising fully one-third of the human race, implicitly hold to the annihilation of all men; that the Chinese do not believe it; that many of the Mohammedans believe in the sleep of the dead; that many of the natives of Asia, of Polynesia, of Africa, and of the Western Continent have no such doctrine among them.”
It is a comprehensive coverage.
5. EARLIEST HOPE THROUGH RELIVING OF BODY
In chapter five Canright shows that— “the idea that after the body dies, the soul, as an immortal, immaterial, conscious, and active personality, goes immediately to Heaven or hell, was not arrived at immediately, but grew up gradually out of the imagination, the poetry, and the speculations of many ages.”
He traces this, for example, among the heathen poets, like Homer. Then comes this important conclusion: “All evidence, both ancient and modern, points to Egypt as the mother of this doctrine.”
Ibid., p. 66.
Ibid., p. 67.
Ibid., pp. 69-72.
Ibid., p. 75.
Canright shows how even there it was believed that the life of the soul was “dependent upon the preservation of the body,” which doctrine is “quite different from the present doctrine of the soul’s immortality.”
6. PLATO FIRST DISTINCTLY TAUGHT IMMORTAL-SOULISM
Chapter six shows that Immortal-Soulism, originating in Egypt, was brought into Greece by returning Grecian philosophers, as Pherecydes, Pythagoras, and Anaxagoras at test. It was Plato, one of the greatest philosophers of antiquity, who, Canright insists, first “distinctly taught the doctrine of the immortality of the soul,” having adopted it in his travels in Egypt. Plato made “matter” the “source and origin of all evil,” and placed “his doctrine of the human soul at the head of his philosophy.” And from Platonism as the fountain, this doctrine found its way into the Christian Church, particularly the Roman Church.
7. RECEIVED INTO CHURCH THROUGH ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL
Chapter seven shows that Immortal-Soulism was “Received into the Christian Church Through the Alexandrian School,” over the opposition of the other schools of philosophy. Canright then elaborates on the Alexandrian School, and shows how Plato’s doctrine was perpetuated by the Neo-Platonic School, as it forged to the fore and Platonized one great wing of early Christianity though opposed by many. Then he shows that through “Allegorical Interpretation of the Scriptures” the resurrection was so interpreted as to “fit their immortal-soul theory.” For this Origen was chiefly responsible. Thus it was that “the doctrine of the immortality of the soul came in to replace that of the resurrection.
Ibid., p. 79.
Ibid.
Ibid., pp. 80-84.
Ibid., pp. 84-86.
Ibid., p. 88.
Ibid., p. 90.
Ibid., pp. 91, 92.
Ibid., pp. 92-100.
Ibid., pp. 102, 105.
Ibid., p. 104.
Ibid., pp. 108.
8. IMMORTAL-SOULISM NOT HELD BY “APOSTOLIC FATHERS.”
Chapter eight deals with the “baleful fruits” of the Platonic philosophy in the developing Roman Church—celibacy of priests, worship of saints and relics, Purgatory, and Restorationism or Universalism, the Origenic scheme, along with the magnifying of the “Heathen Hell” by the other wing. Chapter nine then deals with the “Testimony of the Apostolic Fathers”—Barnabas, Clement, Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp—and shows that up to that time “the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and eternal torment, had not found its way into the church of Christ.” The dead were regarded as asleep, and the wicked would be destroyed.
9. LINE OF ANTE-NICENE FATHERS HELD “SLEEP” OF DEAD
Chapter ten concerns the early Ante-Nicene Fathers—Justin Martyr, Tatian, Irenaeus, and Polycrates—showing
that they did not believe that the soul alone is the man, or that it could live “separate from the body,” or went to heaven at death. Justin taught the “utter extinction of the wicked.” And Tatian plainly taught the “sleep of the dead.” Even Athanagoras still seemed to hold to the “sleep of the dead.” And Theophilus maintained that man is a candidate for immortality, capable of receiving it.
Irenaeus taught the mortality of man and the ultimate cessation of the wicked. Polycrates taught the “sleep of the
dead.” And Arnobius also taught the ultimate and “perpetual extinction” of the wicked. Hence, many noted Fathers in the first three centuries taught the mortality of man, the sleep of the dead, and the destruction of the wicked. On the contrary, historians say that Tertullian, along with Cyprian and others, “expressly asserted the unending torments of the damned.” And Augustine held the same, maintaining that aionios signifies endless.
Ibid., pp. 111-119.
Ibid., pp. 120-128.
Ibid., pp. 128-132.
Ibid., p. 134.
Ibid., pp. 134, 135.
Ibid., pp. 135, 136.
Ibid., pp. 136-138.
Ibid., pp. 138, 139.
Ibid., pp. 142, 143.
Ibid., pp. 143, 144.
Ibid., p. 145.
Ibid., p. 146.
Thus we are brought to the Middle Ages, when dissentient voices like Maimonides, and particularly Averroes, are heard rejecting the doctrine of “individual immortality.” Maimonides held the final excision of being for the wicked.” The Canright outline accords with the facts.
10. CONDITIONALISTS FROM LUTHER TO 1800
Chapter eleven deals with the Reformation, following the Immortal- Soul declaration of Leo X in 1513.” Luther, Tyndale, the early Baptists, and the Socinians are then presented. Luther believed in the profound unconscious sleep of the soul in death, and insisted that the theory of inherent immortality is the “child” of the Papacy. Canright cites authorities who believed that it was the opposition and power of Calvin that prevented the greater spread of Luther’s doctrine. Canright indicates that by 1534 “thousands” had embraced and defended the doctrine of the sleep of the dead, and denied Innate Immortality. Tyndale held with Luther that all men sleep until the resurrection. But the Helvetic Confession maintained that there is an “immortal soul” in this “mortal body.” On the contrary, the “General Baptists,” scattered over England, believed in the “sleep of the soul,” and the Socinians similarly taught the “sleep of the dead and the annihilation of the wicked.” Many denied the “separate existence of the soul.”
Coming to the seventeenth century, Canright cites Richard Overton, John Locke, John Milton, Bishop Jeremy Taylor, and Archbishop Tillotson as all denying the Innate Immortality of the soul, and rejecting the Eternal Torment dogma. And in the eighteenth century Dr. Coward, Lawyer Layton, John Pitts, the learned Dodwell, Dr. Isaac Watts, Bishops Warburton and Law, Archdeacon Blackburne, Joseph Priestley, and others, are presented as all denying natural immortality and Eternal Torment. Many maintained the sleep of the dead. These and numerous other witnesses are all documented.
Ibid., pp. 147, 148.
Ibid., p. 149.
Ibid., pp. 149-152.
Ibid., p. 152.
Ibid, pp. 152-154.
Ibid., p. 156.
Ibid., p. 157.
Ibid., pp. 158, 159.
Ibid., p. 159.
Ibid., pp. 160-164.
Ibid., pp. 154, 155.
11. MODERN REVOLT AGAINST THE TRADITIONAL POSITIONS
Canright’s final chapter twelve impressively portrays the breaking forth on both sides of the Atlantic of advocates of Life Only in Christ and deniers of Eternal Torment—Bishop Kendrick, Dr. Whately, H. H. Dobney, Edward White, and Henry Constable—and the great outburst of Conditionalism in the latter half of the nineteenth century in the Old World and in the New, now with scores of new names, such as Drs. Richard Weymouth and Theodore Parker, J. B. Heard, Dr. R. W. Dale, Prof. George Stokes, Henry Dunn. And specifically, in the United States he names a constant succession of men—including Elias Smith, Henry Grew, George Storrs, Jacob Blain, Charles Hudson, Horace L. Hastings—from 1800 on to his day. These included C. L. Ives and J. H. Pettingell. And he concludes with an impressive roster of Conditionalists of all lands and persuasions, particularly in Britain and America, but reaching out to France, Switzerland, Belgium, Africa, China, Ceylon, and Australia—evidently drawn from Edward White. He concludes with the statement: “With all the foregoing facts before us, it is evident that a great theological revolution upon this doctrine has already begun.”
12. CANRIGHT NEVER REPUDIATED SCHOLARLY POSITIONS OF CENTURIES
This must be said in closing: As noted, Canright, in his investigations, had become acquainted with, and drafted upon, the great scholars of the centuries. And he knew of such British Conditionalist periodicals as The Rainbow, The Bible Echo, and the Glasgow Messenger, and Storrs’s Bible Examiner in New York. Canright was an able compiler of the, findings of research scholars, and his acquaintance with Conditionalist literature was remarkable. This testimony of the Conditionalist stalwarts of the centuries Canright never abandoned or repudiated. His was basically a record of the inexorable facts of history, not a personal Biblical exposition. It is a valuable documentary record.
Ibid., pp. 164-170.
Canright’s statements are buttressed by 390 footnotes, scattered over all chapters. These attest that, apart from sources, he leaned heavily on such recognized authorities as Blackburne, Hudson, Abbot, Alger, and Beecher.
Ibid., pp. 171-184.
Ibid., pp. 182-185.
Ibid., p. 186.
Ibid., pp. 173, 176.
In fact, the Seventh-day Adventist scholar, Uriah Smith, in 1884, calls Canright’s History of the Doctrine of the Soul “an admirable and comprehensible little work,” so much so that Smith’s own “Historical View” chapter (36), in his book Here and Hereafter, is almost entirely condensed from Canright’s historical tracement. He cites 110 Conditionalists by name who were covered by Canright, and Smith declared him self in fullest sympathy with its witness to Conditionalism.
URIAH SMITH (1832-1903), Seventh-day Adventist editor, author, and Bible teacher, turned away from a lucrative offer, in 1853, to join the meagre editorial staff of the newly founded Advent Review and Sabbath Herald. He also taught Bible for a time in the denomination’s first college at Battle Creek, Michigan. He similarly served as secretary of their General Conference for a while. His writings were therefore representative. In fact, Smith was editor in chief of the Review most of the time for nearly half a century. His best-known contribution was Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation (1867-1872), running through many editions and widely circulated even to this day. He was author of several other works, including Modern Spiritualism (1897).
But it is his Man’s Nature and Destiny (1873) with a later title prefix, Here and Hereafter, that is of immediate concern to us. (Photo on page 673). In the formative days of the church Smith joined James White, John Andrews, and others in a critical study of Bible doctrine in an endeavour to formulate and place the views of Seventh-day Adventists convincingly before the world. Smith’s pen was a potent instrument, for he had a logical mind and an incisive and graceful literary style. Polemics being the order of the day, he engaged in many a duel of pens, one in particular being a sharp exchange with the Spiritualists. Sometimes his rebuttals were devastating.
Uriah Smith, Here and Hereafter, or Man’s Nature and Destiny (4th ed.), p. 420. Its circulation totals some 600,000, with translations into various languages.
NOT AN ORIGINATOR BUT A PERPETUATOR
It cannot be too strongly stated that Smith was in no sense a pioneer in the field of Conditionalism. Nor did he consider himself such. In stead, he was simply a continuator and coordinator of principles, facts, and arguments that had been stressed hundreds of times by clear-thinking Bible students before him, presented in this form and that. He was not introducing something new, peculiar, or heterodox, but simply reiterating what had been enunciated by a galaxy of the ablest and most reverent scholars before him, spread over all faiths on both sides of the Atlantic.
There was not a major fact that Smith presented nor a vital principle set forth, nor an exposition of a text, nor explanation of a perplexing question that had not been put forth over and over again through the years. He was familiar with the names and writings of the leading Conditionalists back to Reformation times, for he cites more than a hundred and fifty of them by name. He was well aware of the antiquity of Conditionalism, and knew well the distinguished company with which he fellowshipped. He considered himself as simply carrying on the torch transmitted from their hands.
He was likewise persuaded that the hour had come for ibis minority view to come to the forefront and for the un
completed Reformation to be completed in this area. To that end he made his contribution, based upon Scripture, buttressed with history and logic, and attested by the declarations of ecclesiastics, teachers, linguists, historians, editors, and pulpiteers. His was the representative voice of Seventh-day Adventists on this question for the latter quarter of the nineteenth century. Here is a digest of his 37 chapter 443 page book.
1. INCREASING STRENGTH OF CONDITIONALIST ADHERENTS
Smith alludes in his Preface to “a daily-increasing agitation in the theological world” over the involvements of Conditionalism, in “England and Germany” as well as in North America, alleging that the viewpoints of many are in a “state of transition.” He states that the “array of adherents” is now “so strong in numbers, so cultivated in intellect, and so correct at heart” that a new recognition is being accorded it. In chapter one (“Primary Questions”) Smith says “nature is silent” and science and logic helpless as to proof of immortality. In support he cites Baptist Conditionalist H. H. Dobney, of England: “Reason cannot prove man to be immortal.” Smith wisely adds:
“To the Bible alone we look for correct views on the important subjects of the character of God, the nature of life and death, the resurrection, heaven, and hell.”
2. BIBLE SILENT ON POSSESSION OF “UNDYING NATURE.”
Turning then to the Bible, in chapter two (“Immortal and Immortality”), Smith stresses two facts: (1) “The terms ‘immortal’ and ‘immortality’ are not found in the Old Testament.” On the contrary, it is actually from the devil’s declaration, “Thou shalt not surely die,” that support is found for the popular view of “natural immortality.” And (2) “The term ‘immortal’ is used but once in the New Testament, in the English version, and is then applied to God” (1 Tim. 1:17). Smith next launches into a discussion of the Greek terms aphthartos, athanasia, and aphtharsia, as establishing the fact that “the Bible contains no proof that man is in possession of an undying nature.”
Ibid., p. iii.
On Dobney, see chapter 17.
Uriah Smith, op. cit., p. 11.
Ibid., p. 12.
Uriah Smith, op. Cit., p. 11.
Ibid., p. 12.
Ibid., p. 17.
Ibid., pp. 18-24.
3. “IMAGE OF GOD” DOES NOT INVOLVE IMMORTAL SOUL.
In chapter three (“The Image of God”) Smith goes on to show that being made in God’s “image” does not involve man’s immortality any more than it would his omnipotence, omnipresence, or omniscience—a standard argument. The image, destroyed by sin and restored in Christ, is “righteousness and true holiness” (Eph. 4:24). The “image of God does not, therefore, confer immortality. And in chapter four (“The Breath of Life”) he takes up the Genesis record, dealing with the “constituent elements” involved in the creation of man. Instead of an immortal soul being “immediately breathed [into man] from God himself,” as Innatists contend, it is rather frail “principle of life,” “easily extinguished.” More than that, if the “breath of life” involves immortality, then all creatures must have the same, according to the Old Testament record, but this line of argument, of course, goes-altogether too far.”
4 “SOUL” NOT IMMORTAL; “SPIRIT” NOT DEATHLESS
Chapter five (“The Living Soul”) deals with the claim of the “superadded soul.” However, that which was formed of the., dust was “the man himself” lifeless before, and living afterward, set in motion by the “vitalizing principle of the breath of life.” Then man “became a living soul.” A “living soul” is an “animated being.”
In chapter six (“What Is Soul? What Is Spirit?”) Smith deals with the Hebrew terms nephesh, ruach, and n’shah-mah, showing that “nephesh is mortal,” and giving their definitions as found in Gesenius, Parkhurst, Taylor, Greenfield, and Robinson. Next he reiterates the “stupendous fact” that the Hebrew-and Greek words translated “spirit” and “soul” occur seventeen hundred times, but “not once” is the soul said to be “immortal” or the “spirit deathless.” He then issues the challenge:
“Let now the advocates of the soul’s natural immortality produce one text where it is said to have immortality, as God is said to have it (1 Tim. 6:16), or where it is said to be immortal, as God is said to be (1 Tim. 1:17), and the question is settled. But this cannot be done.” No one took up the challenge.
Ibid., pp. 25-29.
Ibid., p. 34.
Ibid., p. 35.
Ibid., p. 36.
Ibid., p. 37.
Ibid., pp. 38, 39.
Ibid., p. 43.
Ibid., p. 44.
Ibid., p. 45.
Ibid., p. 49.
Ibid., pp. 59-61.
Ibid., p. 65.
5. SPIRIT NOT A SEPARATE CONSCIOUS ENTITY
In chapter seven (“The Spirit Returns to God”) Smith examined “every text in which the word ‘spirit’ is used in a way which is supposed to indicate its separate, conscious existence.” Taking Ecclesiastes 12:7, Smith probes the contention that in man is a “constituent element” which is “an independent entity,” and which continues on in “uninterrupted consciousness,” with an even higher degree of “intelligence and activity” after the death of the body, and is destined to “live so long as God Himself exists.” Undeniably the “spirit leaves the body,” and it “returns to God.” But “spirit” and “breath” are identical; according to Job 34:14, 15. And Solomon is explaining the “dissolution of man by tracing back the steps taken in his [man’s] formation.” This surely shows that man became inanimate ,when deprived of the “vitalizing principle.” And Smith adds: “In the same sense in which God gave it [the “breath” or spirit”] to man, in that sense it returns to him.”
Smith disposes of the problem by asking, “Was it [the spirit] an independent, conscious, and intelligent being before it was put into man, as it is claimed that it is when man gets through with it, and it returns to God? He presses the query, Was there a “conscious pre-existence?” One other feature is noted—that Solomon’s declaration is “spoken promiscuously of all mankind,” “alike to the righteous and the wicked.” Then, “Do the spirits of the wicked go to God also?” According to popular theology their immediate destination is the “lake of fire.” But the Bible declares that the determining ‘‘judgment” is “in the future,” not at death. Do the wicked therefore go to heaven for a time, and to “hell afterward”?
Ibid
Ibid., pp. 66-68.
Ibid., pp. 68, 69.
Ibid., p. 70.
Ibid
Ibid., pp 70 71.
Ibid., p 71.
Ibid., pp. 72, 73.
6. “SPIRIT” IS THE “PRINCIPLE OF LIFE.”
Chapter nine (“Who Knows?”) shows that at death Christ commended His spirit to the Father (Luke 23:46). And .Stephen the martyr said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). It was the life, not a separate, distinct, “conscious entity,” that was committed to God for “safe keeping.” Nowhere in Holy Writ—is this described as a “separate entity, “conscious in death.” Rather, it is “the principle of life residing in the breath, breathed into man from God, and again returning to God.” Thus it is “hid with Christ in God.” And “when Christ, who is our Life, shall appear,” at His second advent, then “Stephen will receive from his Lord that which, while dying, he besought him to receive.” And similarly, all who die in Christ will receive again this “principle of life.”
7. EXTENSIVE DRAFT ON CONDITIONALIST AUTHORITIES
Chapters eleven to twenty-four deal with problem texts covered over and over again by other Conditionalists. Smith’s replies were essentially the standard Conditionalist ones, set forth upon a solid Biblical basis and supported by lexicographers and authorities on technical terms and semantics—Parkhurst, Greenfield, and so on. In some cases he had recourse to such recognized Conditionalists as Bishop Law, Bishop Kendrick, John Crellius, and Joseph Priestley. Close reasoning and careful exposition mark his handling of such problems as “The Spirits in Prison,” the “Departure and Return of the Soul,” “Can the Soul be Killed?” “The Souls under the Altar,” “Gathered to His People.” “Samuel and the Woman of Endor,” “The Transfiguration,” “The, Rich Man
and Lazarus,” “With Me in Paradise,” “Absent from the Body,” and “Departing and Being with Christ.” No vital problem was side-stepped. And all were shown to be in demonstrable harmony with the principles of Conditionalism. His were not new arguments, but the tried and trusted.
In his citation of prior and contemporary Conditionalists,
Ibid., pp. 88-90.
Ibid., p. 91.
Smith drafted upon Constable (3 times), Dobney (4), Hudson (2), Law (3), Locke (4), Olshausen (3), Priestley (3), Tillotson (2), Warburton (2), Whately (2), and White (2). However, most citations were single references—with a remarkable total of 186 authorities quoted in his 427 pages of text! He well knew the leading Conditionalist predecessors.
8. DEATH: CESSATION OF LIFE OF WHOLE MAN
In chapter twenty-five Smith goes back to “The Death of Adam” to consider to “what condition death was designed to reduce the human family.” First, he notes how the body of man was formed “wholly of the dust of the ground,” with the body “quickened into life by the breath which the Lord breathed into its nostrils.” Thus there resulted “physical life and mental action.” Man was then placed on “probation to test his loyalty to his Maker.” The Lord commented: “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eats thereof thou shalt surely die.” Smith observes:
“Before Satan could cause his temptation to make any impression on the mind of Eve, he had to contradict this.[diving] threatening, assuring her that they should not surely die. A question of veracity was thus raised between God and Satan.”
He then remarks that a majority in the theological world have “virtually . . . .sided with Satan.” Adam’s was a death from which he could be released only by Christ. Yet Satan had said that man would “not surely die,” but “shall be as gods.” So—“the heathen have all along deified their dead men, and worshiped their departed heroes; while modern poets have sung, ‘There is no death; what seems so is ‘transition.’ “Smith insists that “nothing will meet the demand of the sentence but the cessation of the life of the whole man,” and “in the dissolution of death,” man’s soul “goes back to dust again.” He then asserts: “Christ died the same death for us which was introduced into the world by Adam’s sin.” And in support of his contention, Smith quotes John Locke, Isaac Watts, and Dr. Jeremy Taylor.
Ibid., p. 244.
Ibid., p. 245.
Ibid.
Ibid., p. 246. (Italics supplied.)
Ibid p. 248
Ibid.
9. PARAMOUNT PLACE OF THE RESURRECTION
Turning next, in chapter twenty-six, to “The Resurrection;’ Smith cites William Tyndale’s defence of Luther, and his pungent inquiry ‘If the souls be in heaven, tell me why they be not in as good case as the angels be? and then what cause is there of the resurrection?’
This, Smith follows with a quote from Andrew Carmichael’s Theology of Scripture (vol. 2, p. 315), as follows: ‘It cannot be too often repeated: If there be an immortal soul, there is no resurrection; and if there be any resurrection, there is no immortal soul.’
The resurrection, says Smith, is a necessity. “Death is compared to sleep”—”unconscious” sleep (numerous texts are cited). The dead are, for a time, “in a condition as though they had not been.” They have “no knowledge,” no “thoughts,” and would remain so without a resurrection (texts are given). They have “no remembrance,” and cannot praise God during the death period. They have “not ascended to the heavens” (Acts 2:29, 34, 35). Those who have fallen asleep in Christ “are perished” (1 Cor. 15:16-18); If there is no resurrection. Human existence is not “perpetuated by means of an immortal soul.” There is “no future life” without a resurrection from the dead. In support Smith cites Conditionalist Bishop Edmund Law, his views thereon coinciding, in turn, with great Conditionalist scholars.
Ibid., p. 255.
Ibid., p. 256.
Ibid., p. 263.
Andrew Carmichael also wrote An Essay on Such Physical Considerations as are connected with Man’s Ultimate Destination, pp. vii, 172. See Abbot, The Destiny of the Soul, no. 265a.
Uriah Smith, op. cit., p. 264.
Ibid., pp. 265, 266.
Ibid., p. 266.
Ibid., pp. 267-270.
Ibid., p. 270.
Ibid., p. 271.
Ibid., p. 273.
10. RELATION OF JUDGMENT AND RESURRECTION.
Turning to the “Bible Testimony.” “Smith shows the resurrection to be the “great object of their hope” both for Old and New Testament saints (with texts). It is the “day of their reward” to which prophets and apostles looked. It is the basis of the “promises of Scripture.” Several authorities are cited. Smith castigates as a “delusion” the idea that the wicked will not be resurrected. They will all come forth “irrespective of character.” They are to be “brought by Christ out from this condition of Adamic death, into which they fell through no fault of their own, once more to the plane of life.”
And the purpose is that they may — “answer, for their own course of conduct, and receive such destiny as shall
be determined thereby, — if guilty, through, their own sins to suffer the same penalty for their sin that Adam suffered for his, which is death, and which to them is the second death, and will be eternal.”
11. JUDGMENT PRECLUDES IMMEDIATE REWARD AT DEATH.
Coming next to (chapter seventeen) to “The Judgment,” Smith asserts that the judgment and the “theory of the
conscious state of the dead, cannot exist together.” “There is,” he asserts, “an antagonism between them, irreconcilable, and irrepressible.” He states:
“If every man is judged at death, as he indeed must be if an immortal soul survives the dissolution of the body, and enters at once into the happiness or misery of the eternal state, accordingly as its character has been good or bad, there is no occasion and no room for a general Judgment in the future; and if, on the other hand, there is to be such a future Judgment, it is proof positive that the other doctrine is not true.”
The general judgment was future in Paul’s day (Hebrews 9:27; Acts 24:25). Peter and Jude assert the same (2 Peter “The Judgment also stands, not as taking place as each member of the human family passes from the stage of mortal existence, but as the great event with which the probation of the human race is to end.”
Ibid., p. 280.
Ibid., p. 281.
Ibid., p. 283.
Ibid., pp. 286-296.
Ibid., p. 300.
Ibid., pp. 300, 301. (Italics supplied.)
Ibid., p 305.
Ibid., pp. 305, 306.
Ibid., p 309.
Then Smith asks: “If every human being at death passes at once into a state of reward or punishment, what occasion is there for a future general Judgment, that a second decision may be rendered in their cases? Is it possible that a mistake was made in the former decision? Possible that some are now writhing in the flames of hell, who should be basking in the bliss of heaven? Possible that some are taking their fill of happiness in the bowers of paradise, whose corrupt hearts and criminal life demand that they should have their place with friends in the lowest hell? And if mistakes have once been made in the sentence rendered, may they not be made again?”
Such a contingency would challenge “God’s omniscience.” It would accuse God of “imperfection,” and His government of grave “mistakes.” In support Smith sub joins a strong statement from Baptist H. H. Dobney (Future Punishment, pp. 139, 140), of England.
12. SPECIAL WORD “Zoe” DESIGNATES ETERNAL LIFE
In chapter twenty-eight Smith makes a strong positive presentation of “The Life Everlasting,” showing that— “life everlasting is the great theme of the gospel; and the careful student will notice that inspiration has chosen a special word ‘zoe’ to designate “One particular term seems to be consecrated to be the vehicle of expression whenever this higher and more lasting life is referred to.”
Zoe occurs 130 times, and is rarely used to “designate any thing else but the everlasting life to be conferred by the Son of God upon his people.” This is the “hope of the gospel” is different from psuche, which designates “physical, animal, transitory life common to all living creatures.” And psuche is “never coupled with the adjectives ‘eternal’ and ‘everlasting.’ Smith repeats: “The psuche-life is never said to be eternal or everlasting; the zoe-life is always everlasting.”
The zoe-life is “the life of God, through which alone we become partakers of the divine nature.” Zoe is the “true
antithesis” of thanatos (death), according to Archbishop Trench, whom Smith cites.”5 Smith closes the chapter with these words:
Ibid., pp. 309, 310.
Ibid., p. 310.
Ibid., p. 311.
Ibid., p. 312.
Ibid.
Ibid., p. 311.
Ibid., p. 315.
Ibid.
“Christ becomes the second Adam, sustaining the same relation to the multitudes endowed with eternal life that the first Adam sustains to the inhabitants of this world, possessed of their temporary, physical, and mortal life. He is the great Life-giver, the author of eternal salvation to all them that believe.”
13. ORIGIN OF CONFLICTING SCHOOLS ON DESTINY
Coming to chapter twenty-nine, Smith deals with “The Wages of Sin.” Here he discusses the second life versus the second death, and states:
“A resurrection to a second life is decreed for all the race; and now the more momentous question, what the issue of that existence is to be, presents itself for solution.”
The “natural, or temporal, death we die in Adam” is visited upon— “all alike, irrespective of character. The sincerest saint falls under its power as inevitably as the most reckless sinner. This cannot be our final end; for it would not be in accordance with justice that our ultimate fate should hinge on a transaction, like the sin of Adam, for which we are not responsible. Every person must be the arbiter of his own destiny.”
Blinded by the universal Innate Immortality postulate, two conflicting schools developed—Augustine’s “terrible conclusion” of Eternal Torment for the immortally wicked, and Origen’s Universal Restoration, based on the Scripture declaration “that a time comes when every intelligence in the universe, is heard ascribing honour, and blessing, and praise to God.”
Starting with a denial of indefeasible immortality, Smith maintains that the “future punishment threatened to the wicked is to be eternal in its duration. The establishment of this proposition of course overthrows both Origenism and Augustinianism. “It is the results,” Smith holds, “not the continuance of the process,” that are eternal.” It is the “everlasting fire,” of Matthew 25:41, that is eternal—not the “victims cast therein” which will be “consumed.” “Once having plunged into its fiery vortex, there is no life beyond.”
Ibid., p. 316.
Ibid., p. 318.
Ibid., pp. 318, 319.
Ibid., pp. 319, 320.
Ibid., pp. 320, 321.
Ibid., p 324
Ibid., p 325.
14. PUNISHMENT IS “CUTTING OFF” FROM LIFE.
—Chapter thirty (“Everlasting Punishment”) asks, “Is death punishment?” If so, when a death is “inflicted from which there is to be no release, that punishment is eternal or everlasting.” The original for “punishment” (kolasis) means “a curtailing, a pruning,” from eternal life, of course. It therefore follows that “the loss of it, inflicted as a punishment, is eternal or everlasting punishment.” Again, “the Bible plainly teaches degrees of punishment”—”not only degrees in pain, but in duration also,” “accurately adjusted to the magnitude of his [sinner’s] guilt.” On this point Smith cites a supporting statement from Professor Hudson’s Debt and Grace (p. 424), the last sentence of which reads: ‘The agony ends, not in a happy consciousness that all is past, but in eternal night—in the black ness of darkness forever!’ “
15. FIRE CONSUMES; DOES NOT INFINITELY PROLONG
Chapter thirty-one (“The Undying Worm and Quenchless Fire”) maintains that the “expressive imagery” means that the fire “invariably consumes that upon which it preys.” The fires feed “not upon the living, but the dead.” It is the “carcasses” always that are consumed. It is ever “in connection with death”—the “very opposite of the idea of eternal life in misery.” “The language . . . designed to convey, to their minds, complete extinction of being, an utter consumption by external elements of destruction.”
Chapter thirty-two (“Tormented Forever and Ever”) shows that aion and aidnios may denote a “limited period.
Smith cites Greenfield, Schrevelius, Liddell and Scott, Parkhurst, Robinson, Schleusner, Wahl, Cruden, and Clarke in support. These say that “it takes in the whole extent of the duration of the thing to which it is applied. The forever of Gehazi was till his posterity became extinct.” It is not arbitrarily endless. “The existence of the wicked is at last to cease in the second death.” “The suffering of the wicked ... is to come to an end ... by the extinction of that life which has in it no immortality, and because they have refused to accept of the (zoe) life freely offered to them.”
Ibid., p. 327.
Ibid., pp. 328, 329.
Ibid., p. 331.
Ibid., p. 332.
Ibid., p. 333.
Ibid., p. 334.
Ibid., p. 338.
Ibid.
Ibid., pp. 347-353.
Ibid., p. 351.
16. FINAL DOOM IS OBLIVION OF SINNERS
Finally, in chapter thirty-three (“The End of Them That Obey Not the Gospel”) Smith counters the “horrid picture of perverted imagination” portrayed by the Eternal Tormentists. He invokes a strong quotation from Canon Henry Constable (The Duration and Nature of Future Punishment, p. 12), which presents the summarized evidence of Scripture with supporting texts, that the wicked are to be “destroyed,” to “perish,” to “go to perdition,” to “come to an end,” to become “as though they had not been,” to be “consumed and devoured by fire.”
Smith closes with the statement that they will be—“remanded back to the original elements from which they sprung; and strict justice will write upon their unhonoured and unlamented graves that the Judge of all the earth dealt impartially and mercifully with them, and that they themselves were the arbiters of their own fate, the authors of their own hapless doom.”
On the justice of “God’s Dealing With His Creatures” (chapter thirty-four), Smith cites Bishop Newton, Isaac Taylor, and Professor Olshausen, with whom he is in accord. And on “The Claims of Philosophy” (chapter thirty-five), he drafts upon Conditionalists W. G. Moncrieff, John Locke, H. H. Dobney, J. Panton Ham, Archbishops Whately and Tillotson. He closes by commenting on the contention of the “impossibility of annihilation,” that “we simply affirm that they will be annihilated as living beings, the matter of which they are composed passing into other forms.”
17. SMITH A PERPETUATOR, NOT A PIONEER
Smith’s note worthy chapter thirty-six (“Historical View”) is expressly declared to be “mostly condensed from an admirable and comprehensive little work entitled, ‘A History of the Doctrine of the Soul’ published at REVIEW AND HERALD Office,” with which conclusions he declared himself to be in “fullest sympathy.” This was, of course, Canright’s historical tracement. In fact, Smith’s chapter is largely a paraphrase of Canright, with six pages in direct quotes from a historical address by Edward White in 1880, cited by Canright. Smith’s chapter constitutes an admirable summation.
Ibid., p. 352.
Ibid., p. 353.
Ibid., pp. 359, 360.
Ibid., p. 369.
Ibid., pp. 359, 360.
Ibid., pp. 360, 366.
Ibid., pp. 369.
Ibid., pp. 376-379
Ibid. pp. 389-40l.
Ibid., p. 402. (Italics supplied.)
So there was obvious oneness of view between the two treatises. It is to be particularly noted that in this single chapter Smith cites 109 antecedent and contemporary Conditionalists by name, and evidences a remarkable grasp of the historical background. We repeat: Smith in no sense regarded himself as a pioneer but rather as a coordinator and perpetuator of the established Conditionalist positions of the centuries. He here proclaims both his acquaintance and his oneness with those views. And he here writes as a spokesman for Seventh-day Adventists. That was their view.
Ibid., p. 420.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Conditional Immortality is the unvarying view of Seventh-day Adventists, and has been from the time of their rise. There are no exceptions to the rule in the ranks of this Christian body, now numbering almost one and a half million baptized members, scattered all over the earth. [1] Wherever you find them, in the 189 countries in which they are established, out of the 223 countries listed by the United Nations, and the 928 languages and dialects in which they operate, [2] all Seventh-day Adventists, without exception, hold that immortality for man is a gift of God, reserved for the righteous only, and is conditional upon faith and obedience. They believe it will be bestowed upon the righteous at the resurrection of the "dead in Christ" (1 Thess. 4:16), which is to take place con currently with the Second Advent (1 Cor. 15:51-57). And this Advent they believe to be imminent, according to all the signs of the times and the unerring prophetic outline of the ages as unfolded in the inspired prophecies of Holy Writ.
1 One Hundredth Annual Statistical Report of Seventh-day Adventists (1962) .
2 Orally in 700 languages and dialects and with publications in 228.
1. INVOLVEMENTS OF CONDITIONALISM LISTED.—Such a view of Conditional Immortality was held from the very first by their founding fathers a century and a quarter ago. It was, in fact, professed individually by the most prominent of their
early leaders before they organized into a separate church body. Conditionalism, as held by Seventh-day Adventists, embraces the correlated doctrines of the mortality of man, the unconscious sleep of all the dead until the awakening call of Him who is the "resurrection and the life" (John 11:25), and the ultimate utter destruction of all the incorrigibly wicked in the fiery elements at the close of the "great day of the Lord." This is just prior to the establishment of the prophesied new heaven and new earth as the eternal dwelling place of the righteous (Rev. 21; 22).
2. FUNDAMENTAL PLANK IN ADVENTIST PLATFORM.—Conditionalism was one of the original "foundation stones," "pillars," or "old landmarks," as variously called, that formed an integral-part of the earliest platform of Adventist belief. So it can indisputably be called a foundational teaching of Seventh-day Adventists. As such it is incorporated into the heart of their established statement of Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists (articles 9 to 12), clearly expressed as follows:
"9. That God 'only hath immortality.' 1 Tim. 6:16. Mortal man possesses a nature inherently sinful and dying. Eternal life is the gift of God through faith in Christ. Rom. 6:23. 'He that hath the Son hath life.' 1 John 5:12. Immortality is bestowed upon the righteous at the second coming of Christ, when the righteous dead are raised from the grave and the living righteous translated to meet the Lord. Then it is that those accounted faithful 'put on immortality.' 1 Cor. 15:51-55.
"10. That the condition of man in death is one of unconsciousness. That all men, good and evil alike, remain in the graves from death to the resurrection. Eccl. 9:5, 6; Ps. 146:3, 4; John 5:28, 29.
"11. That there shall be a resurrection both of the just and of the unjust. The resurrection of the just will take place at the second coming of Christ; the resurrection of the unjust will take place a thousand years later, at the close of the millennium. John 5:28, 29; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Rev. 20:5-10.
"12. That the finally impenitent, including Satan, the author of sin, will, by the fires of the last day be reduced to a state of nonexistence, becoming as though they had not been, thus purging God's universe of sin and sinners. Rom. 6:23; Mal. 4:1-3; Rev. 20:9, 10; Obadiah 16.” [3]
3 Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (1962), p. 5; Church Manual (1959), pp. 31, 32.
3. CONSTITUENT PART OF UNIFORM BAPTISMAL CERTIF ICATE.—This foundation teaching is, in fact, on the uniform Certificate of Baptism subscribed to by every candidate for baptism into membership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. That declaration reads:
"16. Immortality comes only through the gospel, and is bestowed as a gift from God at Christ's second coming. (1 Cor. 15:21, 22, 51-55; Ps. 146:3, 4; Eccl. 9:5, 6, 10; 1 Tim. 6:15, 16; 2 Tim. 1:10; 1 John 5:11, 12.)
"17. The condition of man in death is one of unconsciousness. All men, good and evil alike, remain in the grave from death to the resurrection. (Eccl. 9:5, 6; Ps. 115:17; 146:3, 4; Job 14:10-12, 21, 22; 17:13; John 11:11-14; 1 Thess. 4:13; John 5:28, 29.)
"12. . . . (b) the wicked dead will be resurrected for final judgment (Rev. 20:11, 12); (c) the wicked will receive the final wages of sin when fire comes down from God out of heaven to consume them (Rev. 20:7-10, 14, 15); and (d) this fire, which destroys the works of sin, will purify the earth. (2 Peter 3:10-14; Mal. 4:1, 3; Rev. 20:8, 4.)
"13. The earth, cleansed by fire and renewed by the power of God, will become the eternal home of the redeemed. (2 Peter 3:9-13; Isa. 65:17 25; 35:1-10; 45:18; Matt. 5:5; Mal. 4:1-3; Prov. 11:31.)" [4]
4 Church Manual (1959), pp. 49-56.
4. LINE OF CONDITIONALISTS SPANS CHRISTIAN ERA.—Seventh-day Adventists hold this view to be the original teaching of Christ and the apostles, perpetuated by the earliest Christian writers, the Apostolic Fathers, and then by a continuing line of Ante-Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers such as Justin Martyr, Tatian, Irenaeus, Novatian, Arnobius, Lactantius, et cetera, as already presented.
They hold that there has been a continuing line of in dividual Conditionalists from medieval times onward, particularly beginning with the great Protestant Reformation and such noted Reformers as Martin Luther and William Tyndale. They recognize, of course, that this view was not adopted generally by the Reformed bodies as such. The majority retained the Roman Catholic dogmas of the universal Innate Immortality of the soul and the Eternal Torment of the wicked. Nevertheless, there has been a steadily augmented line of Conditionalists, growing in number and prominence of adherents among all Protestant bodies, as this volume testifies in documented form.
5. STANDING IN END SECTION OF IMPRESSIVE LINE.—Seventh-day Adventists therefore regard themselves not as dis coverers or as innovators or initiators of this view, but as the recovering and perpetuators of this Conditionalist belief of our spiritual forefathers of various faiths back through the centuries. They maintain that they are now simply helping to re-establish and carry on to consummation this original teaching of the primitive church. Such is their consistent concept and undeviating position. In other words, they are inheritors, standing in the end section of the impressive line of the wit nesses of the centuries, clasping hands, as it were, with that great galaxy of advocates of Conditionalism throughout the ages.
In the very nature of the case all the Adventist writers teach, and the preachers preach, Conditionalism. The literature of Seventh-day Adventists, from their inception as a church, has been saturated with it. We have already set forth two of their prominent early writers, one being Uriah Smith, who wrote Here and Hereafter. And there have been various writers scattered over the twentieth century, such as Carlyle B. Haynes, with his The Other Side of Death (1916).
6. ADVENTISM'S MOST REPRESENTATIVE CONDITIONALIST SPOKESMAN.—We now present the most prominent, prolific, and authoritative writer among Seventh-day Adventists, one of their principal spokesmen on this great theme—the author of about 73 books, large and small, and writer of 4,500 published periodical articles. Ellen G. White (d. 1915) stands forth unquestionably as the unique and most representative writer among Seventh-day Adventists on this question.
She wrote no single volume devoted exclusively to this theme, but it runs like a golden thread throughout her numerous works, and entire chapters in her most prominent books set forth this doctrine with a comprehensiveness and a sweep un-matched by any other Adventist writer. Let us turn to the witness of this unique spokesman.
1. HER EARLY LIFE AND ENVIRONS.—ELLEN GOULD HARMON (1827-1915) was born of Puritan stock and Methodist parents, near Portland, Maine. After a sound conversion in 1840 she was baptized by immersion in the waters of Casco Bay, at the Methodist baptizing place, in front of the poet Longfellow's old home in Portland, and joined the Methodist Church. But while still in her teens, and a member of the Methodist Church, she became troubled over the popular concept of an angry God consigning His wayward children to the flames of an eternal Hell, and an enveloping wall of dark ness seemed to separate her from such a God.
Just at that time the far-flung Great Second Advent Movement, which powerfully stirred hundreds of thousands both in the Old World and in the New, was nearing its crest. The Harmon family, including Ellen, were deeply stirred by it. As a result the sublime truth of the premillennial second coming of Christ became thereafter the guiding star of her faith and her hope throughout life.
Some of those proclaiming the message of the imminent Second Advent also taught the Conditionalist view of the nature and destiny of man—that immortality is only for those "in Christ," that in death all men sleep until the resurrection morn, and that the incorrigibly wicked will be ultimately and \utterly destroyed. Ellen Harmon accepted that teaching as Bible truth in the spring of 1843, [5] and never veered from it. The remainder of her long life paralleled, and was tied in separably with, the developing Seventh-day Adventist Church, which she helped to found.
5 See this work, pp. 677, 678.
It may be well to remember that Ellen Harmon grew to womanhood during a period of turbulent forces in a critical era of American history—a time when strong men and women emerged who played a definite role in resolving its various conflicts. The Abolitionist Movement was nearing high tide, followed by the tragic years of the Civil War and its aftermath. Woman suffrage was an-other area of ardent discussion, and the temperance cause was just emerging. At the same time there were heated religious discussions, with some groups bordering on fanaticism. Such was the background setting and the timing of the earlier decades of her life.
2. ADULT LIFE TIED IN WITH ADVENTIST CHURCH.—Ellen Harmon married James White in 1846, and in 1848 participated in a series of six important Bible conferences in New England and New York, at which time the coordinated doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist Church were established. And as noted, one of the cardinal tenets of the emerging church, seeking to restore all fundamental truths of the early Christian faith, was that of Conditionalism.
In her public speaking Ellen White developed into a convincing and eloquent speaker, gifted with deep spiritual in sights. Her voice in public address carried to multiplied thousands in ringing tones and impressive phrasing. There was a compelling power in her speaking. The novelty of a woman speaker, then not so common as now, often gave her an initial audience, but they were held and brought back by the vital content of her messages.
While her themes were chiefly religious, she was equally persuasive as a speaker in the fields of health and temperance and other important reforms. But though her spoken words charmed thousands, her published writings have reached millions.
3. ESTABLISHES REMARKABLE WRITING RECORD.—In her earlier days her platform addresses were better known than her writings. She held great audiences spellbound, speaking on one occasion to some twenty thousand—and that without benefit of loud-speakers. [6] But as we shall see, her writings live on with increasing, rather than diminishing, influence. With the pen of a ready writer, Mrs. White established a writing record unmatched by few if any other authors.
Her theological and expositional writings, represented chiefly by her five-volume Conflict of the Ages series—beginning with Creation and ending with a vivid portrayal of earth's last events, the Second Advent, and the eternal home of the redeemed—are noted for their grasp and portrayal of the great principle that God rules in the affairs of men, that righteous ness will triumph, and for the lessons drawn from the past to guide the present and illuminate the future. Midway in the series (which begins with Patriarchs and Prophets and closes with The Great Controversy), stands The Desire of Ages, her unexcelled life of Christ, regarded by many as her masterpiece.
Much of her writing, it is interesting to note, was done during two years of travel and lecturing in Europe, from 1885 to 1887, and especially during a nine-year period in Australia, from 1891 to 1900, where two or three of her greatest books were produced. So it was that Ellen White became the most prolific writer and one of the pre-eminent spokesmen of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
6 Arthur Whitefield Spalding, Origin and History of Seventh-day Adventists, vol. 2, pp. 13, 14.
4. EXTRAORDINARY TRIBUTE BY GEORGE WHARTON JAMES. —Viewed from any angle, Ellen Gould White was a woman of extraordinary endowments. Even by the time of her husband's death in 1881, she was already lauded in the Lansing [Michigan] Republican as "one of the ablest platform speakers and writers in the West." [7] And the Detroit Commercial Advertiser and Michigan Home Journal similarly remarked on "her gifts as a writer and especially her power as a public speaker." [8] But her best writing extended into the last years of her life. Near the close of her long life the explorer, writer, and lecturer, George Wharton James, in his California—Romantic and Beautiful (1914), made the extraordinary statement that "this red markable woman," then residing in California, "has written and published more books in more languages, which circulate to a greater extent than the written works of any woman of history." [9]
5. TEN BASIC PRINCIPLES CHARACTERIZE E. G. WHITE WRITINGS.—Certain basic principles characterize all of Ellen G. White's writings. Specifically: They ever exalt the Bible as the Word of God in a day of emasculating higher criticism. [10] They affirm the doctrine of Creation and deny evolution. [11] They deal with the satanic origin of sin and death [12] and with Life Only in Christ. They comprehensively and persuasively present the divine plan of redemption. [13] They set forth this redemption as .f accomplished solely through Christ and made possible to all who wish to experience it through faith and obedience. [14] They present the Holy Spirit as making such salvation effectual in the individual. [15] They ever exalt the moral law of God and its perpetuity. [16]
7 Lansing [Michigan] Republican, Aug. 9, 1881.
8 Detroit Echo, Aug. 11, 1881: also Detroit Commercial Advertiser and Michigan Journal, Aug. 12, 1881.
9 George Wharton James, California—Romantic and Beautiful, pp. 319, 320.
10 See Christ's Object Lessons, pp. 126, 128; The Great Controversy, pp. vii, 69; Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 264.
11 See Counsels to Parents and Teachers, p. 52: Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 44, 45; Education, pp. 128-130.
12 See The Great Controversy, pp. 492, 493; Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 52, 55, 59, 61.
13 See Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 63, 64; Counsels to Parents and Teachers, pp. 13, 14; The Desire of Ages, p. 330; The Great Controversy, p. 486.
14 See Christ's Object Lessons, p. 117; Steps to Christ, p..61; Testimonies. vol. 8, T. 178.
15 See The Desire of Ages, pp. 669, 671, 805.
16 See Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, pp. 47-51; The Great Controversy, p. 66; Christ's Object Lessons, p. 314.
But they always present abounding grace as the basis of salvation. [17] The gift of righteousness is derived solely through Christ, in accordance with Scripture. [18] And they depict the glorious consummation brought to pass through the second coming of Christ and its attendant events. [19] Such are the undeviating characteristics.
17 See The Ministry of Healing, pp. 115, 161; Steps to Christ, pp. 72-74: Counsels to Parents and Teachers, p. 60; Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, p. 18.
18 See Ellen G. White, in Review and Herald, Nov. 4, 1890; July 12, 1892; June 4, 1895; Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing (1900 ed.), p. 64.
19 See Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 342; The Desire of Ages, p. 26; Education, pp. 302, 303.
As stated, the literary life of Ellen G. White was truly remarkable. The actual span of the years of her writings is in itself extraordinary, while the voluminous output of books and periodical articles is practically without a parallel. The diversified range of subjects is similarly amazing. Ellen White's earliest published article appeared in an Ohio journal in 1846, when she was eighteen. The last of her 4,500 periodical articles was printed in 1915—sixty-eight years later, at the age of eighty-seven, the year of her death.
While Mrs. White's first book was published in 1851, her seventieth work was issued in 1915—a time spread of sixty-four .years. And some thirty volumes have been published posthumously from materials she had written during her long life. These include various valuable compilations on special topics drawn from the wide range of her periodical articles and un published manuscripts. The E. G. White books in current circulation in 1961 numbered fifty-four, with a total of 23,184 pages. This itself is remarkable.
1. MERE PAGINATION OF PRINCIPAL WORKS IMPRESSIVE.—
The mere size of her more important works in this long line is likewise noteworthy, along with their continuity of issuance. These range from one of 219 pages in 1858, to another of 304 pages in 1864, and yet another of 414 pages in 1870. Next came a steady succession of other volumes—of 396 pages in 1877, 442 in 1878, 334 in 1883, 492 in 1884. Then follows a continuing output of her most important books—of 745 pages in 1889, 471 pages in 1892, 835 pages in 1898, 421 pages in 1900, 602 pages in 1911, 556 pages in 1913—and two books, of 520 pages and 254 pages, respectively, published in 1915, the year of her death.
Of volumes written prior to 1915 but printed posthumously, the leading ones are Prophets and Kings (733 pages) in 1916, Fundamentals of Christian Education (540 pages) in 1923, Messages to Young People (466 pages) in 1930, Medical Ministry (355 pages) in 1932, Counsels on Diet and Foods (498 pages) in 1938, Evangelism (707 pages) in 1946, The Adventist Home (583 pages) in 1952, Child Guidance (570 pages) in 1954, Sons and Daughters of God (383 pages) in 1955, Selected Messages, book one (448 pages); book two (512 pages), in 1958, and The Faith I Live By (384 pages), in 1958.
2. TREMENDOUS CIRCULATION OF LEADING BOOKS.—In ex tent of circulation and translation, her devotional Steps to Christ (153 pages), first issued by the Fleming H. Revell Company in 1892, has had a distribution of more than ten million copies and has been issued in eighty-three languages. It is one of the most precious gems in the diadem of Christian literature on the plan of redemption and God's promises and provisions for partaking of its benefits. Others, such as The Great Controversy, translated into forty languages, have had a distribution of more than one and a half million copies, while The Desire of Ages has had a circulation of well over a million.
3. WIDE DIVERSITY OF SUBJECT MATTER.—The wide diversity of subject matter in Mrs. White's writings is similarly astonishing. As we have seen, some books were descriptive, doctrinal, and expositional—as found in the Conflict of the Ages series, which presents the great sweep of the ages in their historical and Biblical settings. Others are devotional and inspirational. Some fall into the category of admonition, warning, and searching counsel, plumbing the depths of Christian morality and dedicated service. Some are Bible biographies. Others deal with the more personal fields of marriage, parenthood, homemaking, and child guidance. And as mentioned, perhaps her greatest work, The Desire of Ages, is an amazingly beautiful and impressive life of Christ.
In sheer total volume there are now 23,184 pages in the current E. G. White books. And if the 4,500 articles that have appeared periodicals were reduced to book pages, they would total another 20,000 pages, or a total of 43,184 pages in all. It might be added, parenthetically, that there was frequently a difference of opinion between Mrs. White and the publishers regarding the size of her books. She wanted to present the subject very fully, while the publishers usually desired condensation so as to reduce their size and cost. Sometimes she yielded to their urging. At other times she insisted on the incorporation of the full text of her manuscript. Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing and Christ's Object Lessons were the overflow, as it were, from The Desire of Ages.
4. GREATEST WORKS WRITTEN AFTER SIXTY -FIVE.— It might also be stated that many of her greatest works were published after she was sixty-five years of age—Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing; The Desire of Ages; Christ's Object Lessons; Education; The Ministry of Healing; The Acts of the Apostles; Gospel Workers; and Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students. Some were posthumously published, such as Prophets and Kings, Counsels on Health, Medical Ministry, and numerous lesser works. Such is the record. Clarity, force, beauty, and incisiveness mark these writings. They have a merit that is more than literary. Many of them are classics in their respective fields.
1. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR PRAISES "EDUCATION" PRINCIPLES.—An example of the esteem in which certain of Mrs. White's specialized treatises are held may be seen in the appraisal of the book Education (1903) made by Dr. Florence Stratemeyer, professor of education of Teachers College, Columbia University. The statements were first made orally before a group of educators in a study conference at Potomac University, in January, 1959. She stated the same in a periodical article a little later in the same year:
"Written at the turn of the century, this volume [Education] was more than fifty years ahead of its time. . . .
"The breadth and depth of its philosophy amazed me. Its concept of balanced education, harmonious development, and of thinking and ling on principle are advanced educational concepts.
"The objective of restoring in man the image of God, the teaching f parental responsibility, and the emphasis on self-control in the child are ideals the world desperately needs." [20]
And on the other side of the globe Prof. Tsunekichi Mizuno, of Tamagawa University, and former director of social education for the Ministry of Education of Japan, likewise strongly commended the book to the educators of Japan. The brother of the emperor wrote the foreword to the Japanese translation of Education (Kyoiku).
2. NUTRITIONAL COUNSELS VERIFIED BY SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES.—About the same time, a well-known authority in the field of nutritional research, Dr. Clive M. McCay, for the past twenty-three years professor of nutrition, Cornell University, originally gave an address on April 9, 1958, before the Men's Club of the Ithaca New York) Unitarian Church, titled, "An Unusual Nineteenth-Century Woman, Mrs. E. G. White." It was then put into the form of three periodical articles published in February, 1959. The closing sentence of Dr. McCay's significant summary in his closing article reads:
"In spite of the fact that the works of Mrs. White were written long before the advent of modern scientific nutrition, no better over-all guide is available today." [21]
20 Florence Stratemeyer, "What a Non-Adventist Authority on the Training of Youth Says About the Book Education," Review and Herald, Aug. 6, 1959, p. 13.
21 Clive M. McCay, Ph.D., "A Nutrition Authority Discusses Mrs. E. G. White," Review and Herald, Feb. 12, 19, 26, 1959.
3. BETTER HEALTH WOULD RESULT FROM TEACHINGS.—Tracing the history of foods and nutrition from Athenaeus
(2d cent.) through Petrus Hespanus (thirteenth cent.) and Liugi Cornaro (d. 1556), Dr. McCay shows how all these early, works were "a curious mixture of truth and error." Then, tracing the modern processes of destroying the value of natural foods, and the resultant diseases that are but the reflection of deteriorated foods, Dr. McCay says:
"When one reads such works by Mrs. White as Ministry of Healing [1905] or Counsels on Diet and Foods he is impressed by the correctness of her teachings in the light of modern nutritional science. One can only speculate how much better health the average American might enjoy, even though he knew almost nothing of modern science, if he but followed the teachings of Mrs. White." [22]
4. UTTERED IN ADVANCE OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES.—After depicting the food situation during the nineteenth century, and Mrs. White's singular knowledge of sound health principles uttered in advance of scientific discovery and experiment, Dr. McCay states, "Mrs. White was a remarkable woman, particularly in terms of her health views." [23] He refers to her early counsels against animal fats, devitalized white bread, over eating, excessive use of salt, the evils of smoking, the loss of food values when converted into meat, and writes of how "her basic concepts about the relation between diet and health have been verified to an unusual degree by scientific advances of the past decades." [24]
22 Ibid., Feb. 22, p. 24.
23 Ibid., Feb. 19, p. 7. 21
24 Ibid., Feb. 26, p. 10.
The same penetrating grasp of basic principles marks the E. G. White five-volume Conflict of the Ages series, especially Patriarchs and Prophets, The Desire of Ag.es, and The Great Controversy. This has been recognized by many Bible expositors and church historians of various faiths. And while the championing of Conditionalism has characterized Ellen White's writings from the very first, it is in these three major volumes that Conditionalism has been most completely developed. We therefore select principally from these fuller presentations her over-all portrayal. Key expressions, typical excerpts, and paraphrases will be used to present her uniform witness.
1. MAN'S FREE CHOICE AND MORAL ACCOUNTABILITY.
Ellen White begins, logically and methodically enough, with the inspired record of the creation of man, recorded in Genesis, the "Book of Beginnings," and the first great deception that followed. These are the primary facts. Man, she maintains, was created "a being worthy of the hand that gave him life." [1] And in immediate connection are noted the basic principles of .free choice and moral accountability with which our first parents were endowed. These basic endowments are foundational to the entire question of the origin, nature, and destiny of man.
1. Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets (1913 ed.), p. 45.
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"Our first parents, though created innocent and holy, were not placed beyond the possibility of wrong-doing. God made them free moral agents, capable of appreciating the wisdom and benevolence of His character and the justice of His requirements, and with full liberty to yield or to with hold obedience." [2]
2. Ibid., p. 48.
Furthermore, "before they could be rendered eternally secure, their loyalty had to be tested." [3] That was primary. Man was created a candidate for immortality.
2. OBEDIENCE INDISPENSABLE CONDITION OF EXISTENCE.
God "placed man under law," with willing obedience as the "indispensable condition of his very existence." He was not made a "mere automaton," but was endowed with sovereign freedom of choice. [4] This was conditional to his continuing "ac cess to the tree of life." [4] It comprised the principle of "probation." And this principle is constantly reiterated for emphasis.
For example: "The dwellers in Eden had been placed upon probation; their happy estate could be retained only on condition of fidelity to the Creator's law.
"They could obey and live, or disobey and perish. The tree of knowledge had been made a test of their obedience and their love to God." [5]
3. "DOOMED TO DEATH" ON DAY OF TRANSGRESSION.
The temptation in Eden came through the medium of the talking serpent, and took place at the forbidden "tree of knowledge of good and evil." Note the subtlety of the tempter's line of reasoning, and his misleading insinuations:
"By partaking of this tree, he ["the tempter"] declared, they would attain to a more exalted sphere of existence, and enter a broader-field of knowledge. He himself had eaten of the forbidden fruit, and as a result had acquired the power of speech. And he insinuated that the Lord jealously desired to withhold it from them, lest they should be exalted to equality with Himself. It was because of its wonderful properties, imparting wisdom and power, that he had prohibited them from tasting or even touching it. The tempter intimated that the divine warning was not to be actually fulfilled; it was designed merely to intimidate them.
How could it be possible for them to die? Had they not eaten of the tree of life? God had been seeking to prevent them from reaching a nobler development, and finding greater happiness." [6] It was an enticing approach.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid., p. 49.
5. Ibid., p. 53.
6. Ibid., p. 54.
Thus it was that curiosity, the concept of progression, and fatal distrust of God, along with the idea that men would be "gainers by breaking the law of God," resulted in Eve's yielding to the temptation. She actually "believed the words of Satan” and "disbelieved the words of God" as she partook of the forbidden fruit. This act of disobedience, in which Adam deliberately joined, led to their expulsion from Eden and the resultant sentence of judgment upon them. From its consequences of "ruin and degradation" man must be redeemed if he were not to perish. The divine warning had been clear. Immortality for man was conditional upon obedience. But the condition was flaunted. As to the execution of the sentence, Mrs. White explains:
"In the day that thou eats thereof thou shall surely die, did not imply that they were to die on the very day when they partook of the forbidden fruit. But on that day the irrevocable sentence would be pronounced. Immortality was promised them on condition of obedience; by transgression they would forfeit eternal life. That very day they would be doomed to death." [7]
Expelled from Eden, Adam and Eve could no longer eat of the tree of life. There would be no "immortal sinners.”
"None of the family of Adam were permitted to pass that [angelic] barrier to partake of the life-giving fruit; hence there is not an immortal sinner." [8]
4. MAN'S PLIGHT NECESSITATED PLAN OF REDEMPTION.—
As a result of this tragic experience "the world that God had made was blighted with the curse of sin, and inhabited by beings doomed to misery and death." []9 This necessitated a plan of redemption involving the infinite sacrifice of Christ and the provision of His all-sufficient atonement for sin, if man was to be saved from the fatal results of his transgression. And this specifically involved and included the recovery of man's opportunity to seek and obtain immortality. Thus: "As Adam's transgression had brought wretchedness and death, so the sacrifice of Christ would bring life and immortality. . . .
7. Ibid., p. 60.
8. Ibid, (italics supplied.)
9. Ibid., p. 63.
"Christ, by His sacrifice paying the penalty of sin, would not only redeem man, but recover the dominion which he had forfeited. All that was lost by the first Adam will be restored by the second." [10] Thus it was that "sin brought separation between God and man," while "the atonement of Christ alone could span the abyss." As a result, "a star of hope illumined the dark and terrible future, and relieved it of its utter desolation." More’ than that, the plan of redemption would also "vindicate the character of God before the universe." [11]
5. DIVINE SENTENCE INVOLVES "UTTER EXTINCTION" OF SINNER.—
This impressive recital is continued in The Great Controversy. Here Mrs. White picks up the thought that the tempter had asserted that man "would become like God, possessing greater wisdom than before, and being capable of a higher state of existence." Along with this, Satan discounted the declared penalty for sin—that man should die and "return to the ground whence he was taken." [12] Mrs. White continues: "When he [man] sinned, he was cut off from partaking of the tree of life, and he became subject to death. The divine sentence, 'Dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return,' points to the utter extinction of life." [13]
6. IMMORTALITY REGAINED "ONLY THROUGH CHRIST."
Now comes the key paragraph on the Conditionalist principle of immortality and Christ's relation to its bestowal: "Immortality, promised to man on condition of obedience, had been forfeited by transgression. Adam could not transmit to his posterity that’ which he did not possess; and there could have been no hope for the fallen race had not God, by the sacrifice of His Son, brought immortality within their reach. While 'death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned,' Christ 'hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.' And only through Christ can immortality be obtained." [14]
10. Ibid., pp. 66, 67.
11. Ibid., pp. 67. 68.
12. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy (1911 ed.), p. 532. (Italics supplied.)
13. Ibid., p. 533. (Italics supplied.)
14. Ibid.
Along with the foregoing is placed the paralleling origin of the alien Innate Immortality of the soul theory. Its source, its authority, and its aftermath are placed squarely on Satan: ''The only one who promised Adam life in disobedience was the great deceiver. And the declaration of the serpent to Eve in Eden, — 'Ye shall not surely die,'—was the first sermon ever preached upon the immortality of the soul. Yet this declaration, resting solely upon the authority of Satan, is echoed from the pulpits of Christendom, and is received by the majority of mankind as readily as it was received by our first parents.
The divine sentence, 'The soul that sins, it shall die,' is made to mean, The soul that sins, it shall not die, but live eternally. We cannot but wonder at the strange infatuation which renders man so credulous concerning the words of Satan, and so unbelieving in regard to the words of God." [15]
1. PARALLELING ETERNAL TORMENT COROLLARY.
The inception of the age-old conflict over the final destiny of man is then portrayed: "After the fall, Satan bade his angels make a special effort to inculcate the belief in man's natural immortality; and having induced the people to receive this error, they were to lead them on to conclude that the sinner would live in eternal misery. Now the prince of darkness, working through his agents, represents God as a revengeful tyrant, declaring that He plunges into hell all those who do not please Him, and causes them, ever to feel His wrath; and that while they suffer unutterable anguish, and writhe in eternal flames, their Creator looks down upon them with satisfaction." 10
2. ETERNAL TORMENT FOR BRIEF EARTHLY LIFE REVOLTING.
Satan is consequently the malign instigator of this revolting theory, for "cruelty is satanic. God is love." Satan is unmistakably its author. Nevertheless— "the great deceiver endeavours to shift his own horrible cruelty of character upon our heavenly Father." [17]
"How repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy, and even to our; sense of justice, is the doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented with fire and brimstone in an eternally burning hell; that for the sins of a brief earthly life they are to suffer torture as long as God shall live. Yet this doctrine has been widely taught, and is still embodied in many of the creeds of Christendom." [18]
15. Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
16. Ibid., p. 534. (Italics supplied.)
17. Ibid
18. Ibid., p. 535.
3. SHOCKING INVOLVEMENTS OF UNIVERSALIST ALTERNATIVE.
Such a vicious concept involves the "indifference of the stoic" and the "cruelty of the savage." Nevertheless, the theory of Eternal Torment, stemming originally from paganism, penetrated Catholicism. And Protestantism, in turn, has "received it from Rome." That was the historical sequence and channel of transmission. But this appalling dogma has given rise to "universal salvation" as an alternative, or opposite, view.
"A large class to whom the doctrine of eternal torment is revolting, and driven to the opposite error. They see that the Scriptures represent God as a being of love and compassion, and they cannot believe that He win consign His creatures to the fires of an eternally burning hell. But holding that the soul is naturally immortal, they see no alternative but; to conclude that all mankind will finally be saved." [19]
Thus three major concepts as regards the nature and des tiny of man appeared and have persisted throughout the ages.
These constitute the great trilemma that we have been tracing and studying throughout the chapters of this volume. But Universalism, the third, involves the shocking position that ultimately "the vilest of sinners,—the murderer, the thief, and the adulterer,—will after death be prepared to enter into immortal bliss." [20]
These warnings are examples of the broad groundwork laid by Ellen G. White in her writings on the nature and destiny of man.
4. ETERNAL MISERY AND UNIVERSALISM EQUALLY ERRONEOUS.
Back in 1858, it may be added, Mrs. White wrote of the two extremes held as concerns the destiny of man: (1) The alleged "eternal misery" of the wicked, suffering "unutterable anguish" as they "writhe in eternal flames," and (2) the idea that "all, both saint and sinner, will at last be saved." But she, on the contrary, contended that those who reject God's gracious offer of salvation will be ultimately and utterly destroyed and become "as if they had not been." They will be "consumed by fire, and return to dust again." [21] That she declared to be the undeviating Bible truth.
19. Ibid., p. 537.
20. Ibid., p. 538.
21. Ellen G. White, Early Writings, pp. 218-221.
5. UNCHANGING CONDITIONALIST TENOR OF HER TEACHING.
It might be added that, from the appearance of her earliest periodical articles onward, Ellen White uniformly maintained that there are no "immortal sinners," and that persistent sinners will at last die "an everlasting death; a death that will last forever, where there will be no hope of a resurrection.” She further stated that "the same fire that will devour the wicked, will purify the earth." In fact, back in 1850 she concludes a letter-article with the expression, "In hope of immortality at the appearing of Jesus." [22]
Never did she deviate from this position. In November of the same year she placed the "execution of the judgment" at "the close of the 1,000 years." And this joint consuming of the wicked and the earth is to be followed by the "glorious and beautiful" "earth made new" as the eternal inheritance of the redeemed. [23]
1. WHOLLY DEPENDENT UPON CHRIST FOR IMMORTALITY.
Ellen White ever set forth the eternal, self-existent Christ as the sole source of life and immortality for mortal man." Here is a characteristic statement published in an article in 1897:
"In him was life; and the life was the light of men' (John 1:4). It is not physical life that is here specified, but immortality, the life which is exclusively the property of God. The Word, who was with God, and who was God, had this life. Physical life is something which each individual receives. It is not eternal or immortal; for God, the Life-giver, takes it again. Man has no control over his life. But the life of Christ was not borrowed. No one can take this life from Him. 'I lay it down of myself’ (John 10:18), He said.
"In Him was life, original, not borrowed, underived. This life is not inherent in man. He can possess it only through Christ. He cannot earn it; it is given him as a free gift it he will believe in Christ as his personal Saviour. 'This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent' (John 17:3). This is the open fountain of life for the world.” [24]
22. Ellen G. White, Letter "To the 'Little Flock," The Present Truth, April, 1850, p. 72.
23. Ellen G. White, Letter, ibid., November, 1850, p. 86.
24. Ellen G. White, "Christ the Life-giver," The Signs of the Times, April 8, 1897, p. 214. Reprinted in Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 296, 297.
And as to man's complete dependence upon Christ for immortality and his avoidance of the second death she adds: "No man can have an independent spiritual life apart from Him.
The sinner is not immortal; for God has said, 'The soul that sins, it shall die' (Ezekiel 18:4) This means all that it expresses. It reaches farther than the death which is common to all; it means the second death." [25]
Thus by nature "man is only mortal." And as long as he feels himself too self-sufficient to accept Jesus, "he will remain only mortal." [26] Immortality is bestowed at the resurrection, which truth has been so generally "lost sight of by the Christian world." [27]
2. DEAD SLEEP UNCONSCIOUSLY UNTIL RESURRECTION.
Death is consistently presented as a period of wholly "unconscious rest" and untroubled "sleep." Such, she repeatedly states, is the position of the Bible (Job 7:21; Psalms 13:3; Deuteronomy 31:16; Matthew 9:24; John 11:11).
Consequently— "to the Christian, death is but a sleep, a moment of silence and darkness." [28]
"Christ represents death as a sleep to His believing children. Their life is hid with Christ in God, and until the last trump shall sound those who die will sleep in Him." [29] Death is the complete reversal of the animation of man in the beginning. [30]
1. INNATISM AND "ETERNAL TORMENT" BOTH UNSCRIPTURAL.
Probing the fallacy of the popular contention of universal Innate Immortality, Ellen White asserts its threefold conflict with Scripture, reason, and human compassion: "Upon the fundamental error of natural immortality rests the doctrine of consciousness in death,—a doctrine, like eternal torment, opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures, to the dictates of reason, and to our feeling of humanity." [31]
This accentuates the fact that were the righteous dead in heaven from death onward they would be acquainted with all the grief, disappointments, and anguish of their friends still on earth. But that is not all. It is opposed to all feelings of humanity:
"How utterly revolting is the belief that as soon as the breath leaves the body and the soul of the 'impenitent is consigned to the flames of hell! To what depths of anguish must those be plunged who see their friends passing to the grave unprepared, to enter upon an eternity of woe and sin! Many have been driven to insanity by this harrowing thought." [32]
25. Ibid., pp. 297, 298.
26. Ibid., p. 298.
27. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 547.
28. Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 787.
29. Ibid., p. 527.
30. One function of human life is thought — and the dead are incapable of thinking (Psalm 146:4; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6). And to thought must be added activity — and the dead have not "any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun, no work, nor device, Psalm 6:5). Death is therefore the complete antithesis of life in every respect.—L. E. F.
2. TESTIMONY OF OLD TESTAMENT ADDUCED.
Marshalling the supporting testimony of Scripture, she writes that in the Old Testament—
"David declares that man is not conscious in death. 'His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.’ (Psalm 146:4.) Solomon bears the same testimony: 'The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything.' 'Their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.' 'There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goes." (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10.) [33]
And Hezekiah adds: " 'The grave cannot praise Thee, death cannot celebrate Thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day.' (Isaiah 38:18, 19.) Popular theology represents the righteous dead as in heaven, entered into bliss, and praising God with an immortal tongue; but Hezekiah could see no such glorious prospect in death. With his words agrees the testimony of the psalmist: 'In death there is no remembrance of Thee; in the grave who shall give Thee thanks?' 'The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.'" (Psalms 6:5; 115:17.)M
3. WITNESS OF PETER AND PAUL MARSHALED.
And to these the New Testament witness of Peter and Paul is added: "Peter, on the day of Pentecost, declared that the patriarch David 'is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.’
31. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 545.
32. Ibid.
33. Ibid., p. 546.
34. Ibid.
'For David is not ascended into the heavens.' (Acts 2:29, 34.) The fact that David remains in the grave until the resurrection, proves that the righteous do not go to heaven at death. It is only through the resurrection, and by virtue of the fact that Christ has risen, that David can at last sit at the right hand of God.
"And said Paul: 'If the dead rise riot, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." (1 Corinthians 15:16-18.) If for four thousand years the righteous had gone directly to heaven at death, how could Paul have said that if there is no resurrection, 'they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished'? No resurrection would be necessary." [35]
4. NULLIFIES NEED OF PREVIOUS JUDGMENT.
But there is yet another factor. Entrance into heaven necessitates a judgment.
"Before any can enter the mansions of the blest, their cases must be investigated, and their characters and their deeds must pass in review before God. All are to be judged according to the things written in the books, and to be rewarded as their works have been. This judgment does not take place at death. Mark the words of "Paul: 'He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.' (Acts 17:31.) Here the apostle plainly stated that a specified time, then future, had been fixed or the judgment of the world.
"Jude refers to the same period 'The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.' And again he quotes the words of Enoch: 'Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all.' (Jude 1:6, 14, 15.) John declares that he 'saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; . . . and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books.'" (Revelation 20:12.) [36] Then the question is pertinently asked: "But if the dead are already enjoying the bliss of heaven or writhing in the flames of hell, what need of a future judgment?" [37]
35 Ibid., pp. 546, 547.
36. Ibid., pp. 548, 549.
37. Ibid., p. 549.
5. FALLACY OF INNATISM ATTACKED BY LUTHER.
Ellen White ties in this whole issue with the mighty stirrings of the Reformation and Luther's recognition of the issues, as has al ready been noted in detail in a previous chapter. [38] "The theory of the immortality of the soul was one of those false doctrines that Rome, borrowing from paganism, incorporated into the religion of Christendom. Martin Luther classed it with the 'monstrous fables that form part of the Roman dunghill of decretals.' Commenting on the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes, that the dead know not anything, the Reformer says: 'Another place proving that the dead have no feeling. There is, said he, no duty, no science, no knowledge, no wisdom there. Solomon judges that the dead are asleep, and feel nothing at all. For the dead lie there, accounting neither days nor years, but when they are awaked, they shall seem to have slept scarce one minute.' " [39]
6. AWAKE FROM SLEEP TO GLORIOUS IMMORTALITY.
Mrs. White supports this sound position in this summarizing paragraph: "The Bible clearly teaches that the dead do not go immediately to heaven. They are represented as sleeping until the resurrection. In the very day when the silver cord is loosed and the golden bowl broken, man's thoughts perish. They that go down to the grave are in silence.
They know no more of anything that is done under the sun. Blessed rest for the weary righteous! Time, be it long or short, is but a moment to them. They sleep; they are awakened by the trump of God to a glorious immortality." [40]
The issues of the nature and destiny of man are brought squarely before the reader.”
Mrs. White sets forth the sinner's rejection of Christ's perfect atonement on the cross of Calvary as complete justification for the "guilt and punishment" to be visited upon the incorrigible sinner: "Every soul that refuses to become a partaker of the atonement provided at such a cost, must bear in his own person the guilt and punishment of transgression." [42]
38. See this work, chapter four.
39. White, The Great Controversy, p. 549. In these citations she gives the references for these statements.
40. Ibid., page 550.
41. Out of the Garden of Eden appeared two hopes. One was true the other false. One presented life by escaping death via the resurrection. The other offered life through death via immortal soul and paganism. The whole pagan system is based in communication with the dead.
42. Ibid., page 540.
1. RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE ACCORDS WITH GOD'S CHARACTER.
The foundational "conditions" of life and immortality are "specified." [43] For rebellious refusal to accept them, the un repentant sinner will be excluded from "right to the tree of life" in the coming kingdom (Revelation 22:14, 15), and cut off from life. [44] God— " 'will by no means clear the guilty.' (Exodus 34:7.) 'All the wicked will He destroy.' 'The transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.' (Psalms 145:20; 37; 38.) The power and authority of the divine government will be employed to put down rebellion; yet all the manifestations of retributive justice will be perfectly consistent with the character of God as a merciful, long-suffering, benevolent being. God does not force the will or judgment of any." [45]
2. RETRIBUTION FOR GOOD BOTH OF UNIVERSE AND TRANSGRESSORS.
God desires obedience on the basis of "an intelligent appreciation of His wisdom, justice, and benevolence"—in "admiration of His attributes." [46] Thus it is that— "God executes justice upon the wicked, for the good of the universe and even for the good of those upon whom His judgments are visited. . . .
"The Lord bears long with their perversity; but the decisive hour will come at last, when their destiny is to be decided." [47]
3. NO FORCED UNIVERSALISM IN DIVINE PLAN.
But God will not "chain these rebels to His side." He will not "force them to do His will." They will not "enter heaven, to dwell forever with those whom they despised and hated on earth." [48] There is no universalism in the divine plan. "A life of rebellion against God has unfitted them [the wicked] for heaven." They would be unhappy there. The "purity, holiness, and peace" of heaven "would be torture to them, the glory of God would be a consuming fire." They would "welcome destruction." [49] So "the destiny of the wicked is fixed by their own choice. Their exclusion from heaven is voluntary with them- selves, and just and merciful on the part of God." [50]
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid., p. 541.
45. Ibid.
46. Ibid.
47. Ibid., pp. 541, 542.
48. Ibid., p. 542.
49. Ibid., p. 543.
Thus God's "verdict," based on their own actions, will call for the wicked to be "blotted out." So, "in mercy to the universe" God "will finally destroy the rejecters of His grace." [51]
4. CONTRASTING PRINCIPLES OF LIFE AND DEATH.
Eternal life is a gift, whereas eternal death is something earned.
The distinguishing principle involved is vital: " 'The wages [something earned] of sin is death; but the gift [something bestowed] of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ (Romans 6:23.) While life is the inheritance of the righteous, death is the portion of the wicked. Moses declared to Israel, 'I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.' (Deuteronomy 30:15.) The death referred to in these scriptures is not that pronounced upon Adam, for all mankind suffer the penalty of his transgression. It is the 'second death' that is placed in contrast with everlasting life." [52]
And the distinction between the "first" and the "second” death is basic: "In consequence of Adam's sin, death passed upon the whole human race. All alike go down into the grave. And through the provisions of the plan of salvation, all are to be brought forth from their graves. 'There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust' (Acts 24:15); 'for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.’ (1 Corinthians 15:22.) But a distinction is made between the two classes that are brought forth. 'All that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.' (John 5:28, 29.) They who have been 'accounted worthy' of the resurrection of life, are 'blessed and holy.' 'On such the second death hath no power.' “ (Revelation 20:6). [53]
5. JUSTICE REQUIRES DEGREES OF PUNISHMENT.
While the penalty of transgression is death, justice requires degrees of punishment for the guilty—ending in final extinction: "They [the wicked] suffer punishment varying in duration and intensity, 'according to their works,' but finally ending in the second death.
Since it is impossible for God, consistently with His justice and mercy, to save the sinner in his sins, He deprives him of the existence which his transgressions have forfeited, and of which he has proved himself unworthy."
51. Ibid.
52. Ibid., p. 544.
53. Ibid.
53 Ibid.
6. ULTIMATE OBLITERATION OF SIN AND SINNERS.
This execution of the judgment ends in the complete obliteration of sin and sinners: "Says an inspired writer, 'Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shall diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.” And another declares, 'They shall be as though they had not been.” (Psalms 37:10; Obadiah 1:16.) Covered with infamy, they sink into hopeless, eternal oblivion." [55]
And this destruction ends in a clean universe: "Thus will be made an end of sin, with all the woe and ruin which have resulted from it. Says the psalmist: 'Thou hast destroyed the wicked, Thou hast put out their name forever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end.' (Psalms 9:5, 6.) John , in the Revelation, looking forward to that eternal state, hears a universal anthem of praise, undisturbed by one note of discord. Every creature in heaven and earth was heard ascribing glory to God. (Revelation 5:13.) There will then be no lost souls to blaspheme God, as they writhe in never-ending torment; no wretched beings in hell will mingle their shrieks with the songs of the saved." [56] Justice and mercy are both now satisfied.
1. PRIMARY LESSON OF THE TRANSFIGURATION.
"Like a tired warrior" Moses "lay down to rest," dying in the land of Moab (Deuteronomy 34:5, 6). But Christ Himself called forth the sleeping saint. While this "invasion" was disputed by Satan, "Christ did not stoop to enter into controversy with Satan." [57] He simply said, "The Lord rebuke thee" (Jude 1:9). Here is Mrs. White's graphic depiction of the scene: "The Saviour entered into no dispute with His adversary, but He then and there began His work of breaking the power of the fallen foe [Satan], and bringing the dead to life. Here was an evidence that Satan could not controvert, of the supremacy of the Son of God. The resurrection was forever made certain. Satan was despoiled of his prey; the righteous dead would live again." [58]
55. Ibid., pp. 544, 545.
56. Ibid., p. 545.
57. Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 478.
58. Ibid., p. 479.
Then, upon the "mount of transfiguration, Moses was present with Elijah, who had been translated." Like Enoch before him, the "first among men" to enter heaven, [59] Elijah was similarly translated without seeing death. Of Enoch the record stands: "And he was not; for God took him" (Genesis 5:24).
These men, then, were twin types of the glorious truth that although "through Adam came death, so through the promised Redeemer would come life and immortality." [60] They were to kens of the truth that "we shall not all sleep, but we [the living, and the resurrected saints at the Second Advent] shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump" (1 Corinthians 15:51, 52).
"The dead in Christ shall [at the first resurrection, concurrent with Christ's Second Advent] rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17).
2. PARABLE REFUTES A SECOND PROBATION.
In dealing with the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, Ellen White maintained its primary lesson to be that "in this life men decide their eternal destiny," and that "the time is coming when the position of the two classes will be reversed." [61] Christ was setting forth the basic principle "that it is impossible for men to secure the salvation of the soul after death." [62] Here is its fundamental import: "In this parable Christ was meeting the people on their own ground.
The doctrine of a conscious state of existence between death and the resurrection was held by many of those [Jews] who were listening to Christ's words. The Saviour knew of their ideas, and He trained His parable so as to inculcate important truths through these preconceived opinions. He held up before His hearers a mirror wherein they might see themselves in their true relation to God. He used the prevailing opinion to convey the idea He wished to make prominent to all—that no man is valued for his possessions; for all he has belongs to him only as lent by the Lord. A misuse of these gifts will place him below the- poorest and most afflicted man who loves God and trusts in Him." [63]
58 Ibid., p. 87.
59. Ibid., p. 88.
60. Ellen G. White, Christ's Object Lesions (1941 ed.), p. 260.
61. Ibid., p. 263.
62. Ibid.
The main thought was "the hopelessness of looking for a second probation." [64] Of the "figurative" character of the parable, she adds: "The conversation between Abraham and the once-rich man is figurative. The Lesson to be gathered from it is that every man is given sufficient light for the discharge of the duties required of him. Man's responsibilities are proportionate to his opportunities and privileges. God gives to everyone sufficient light and grace to do the work He has given him to do. If man fails to do that which a little light shows to be his duty, greater light would only reveal unfaithfulness, neglect to improve the blessings given." [65]
"The parable of the rich man and Lazarus shows how the two classes represented by these men are estimated in the unseen world." [66] Christ thus "lifted the curtain and presented this picture before priests and rulers, scribes and Pharisees." [67] The parable does not imply consciousness or torment after death.
3. CHRIST'S ASSURANCE TO DYING THIEF.
The last cheering word heard by Christ just before His vicarious death on Calvary was the remarkable confession of faith by the dying thief. For agonizing hours Jesus had listened to the "jeers and curses,” the "reviling and mockery," of the soldiers and the mob. Even His disciples had for a time doubted that He was the Redeemer. But this penitent thief on the "brink of eternity" and in the extremity of his eleventh hour called Christ Lord and acknowledged Him as his Sin-Bearer and Saviour.
All who were gathered at the foot of the cross waited for Christ's response. With authority He spoke the words that brought to the suppliant "perfect peace of acceptance with God," as Christ said, "I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). He spoke as the Conqueror of death.
Here was His clear intent: "Christ did not promise that the thief should be with Him in Paradise that day. He Himself did not go that day to Paradise. He slept in the tomb, and on the morning of the resurrection He said, 'I am not yet ascended to My Father.' John 20:17. But on the day of the crucifixion, the day of apparent defeat and darkness, the promise was given. 'Today’ while dying upon the cross as a malefactor, Christ assures the poor sinner, Thou shall be with Me in Paradise." [68] That was the divine assurance—Christ's unbreakable pledge. Such was the intent and the content of His response.
64. Ibid.
65. Ibid., p. 265.
66. Ibid., p. 266.
67. Ibid., p. 267.
In dealing with the unavoidable issue of Spiritualism, Mrs. White first touches on popular confusion over the beneficent role of the angels. Then, with sweeping strokes she traces Spiritualism back to its origin: "The doctrine of natural immortality, first borrowed from the pagan philosophy, and in the darkness of the great apostasy incorporated into the Christian faith, has supplanted the truth, so plainly taught in Scripture, that 'the dead know not anything.' Multitudes have come to believe that it is the spirits of the dead who are the 'ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.' And this notwithstanding the testimony of Scripture to the existence of heavenly angels, and their connection with the history of man, before the death of a human being." [69]
1. BUILT ON CONCEPT OF "CONSCIOUSNESS IN DEATH."
It is the prevailing concept of "man's consciousness in death” that laid the foundation for the fallacies of Spiritualism.
Thus: "The doctrine of man's consciousness in death, especially the belief that the spirits of the dead return to minister to the living, has prepared the way for modern Spiritualism. If the dead are admitted to the presence of God and holy angels, and privileged with knowledge far exceeding what they before possessed, why should they not return to the earth to enlighten and instruct the living as taught by popular theologians, the spirits of the dead are hovering about their friends on earth, why should they not be permitted to communicate with them, to warn them against evil, or to comfort them in sorrow? How can those who believe in man's consciousness in death reject what comes to them as divine light communicated by glorified spirits? Here is a channel regarded as sacred, through which Satan works for the accomplishment of his purposes. The fallen angels who do his bidding appear as messengers from the spirit world." [70] The fallen angels are the source and the channel of Spiritualism.
68. Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 751.
69. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 551.
2. SPIRITUALISM CONSTITUTES THE PERFECT "COUNTERFEIT.”
Satan professes to bring the living into communication with the dead, for— "he has power to bring before men the appearance of their departed friends. The counterfeit is perfect; the familiar look, the words, the tone, are reproduced with marvellous distinctness." [71]
3. EXALTS WICKED TO HONORED PLACES IN HEAVEN.
The appealing sophistries of Spiritualism are noted: "Satan causes those to appear who went into the grave unprepared. They claim to be happy in heaven, and even to occupy exalted positions there; and thus the error is widely taught, that no difference is made between the righteous and the wicked." [72]
But Spiritualist teachings directly undermine faith in the Scriptures. They "insinuate the most dangerous errors." [73] Specifically: "The law of God has set aside, the Spirit of grace despised, the blood of the covenant counted an unholy thing. The spirits deny the deity of Christ, and place even the Creator on a level with themselves. Thus under a new disguise the great rebel still carries on his warfare against God, begun in heaven, and for nearly six thousand years continued upon the earth." [74]
4. MYSTERIOUS PHENOMENA NOT ALL TRICKERY.
Ellen White then sets forth the demonic source of Spiritualism's phenomena, and its consequent peril: "The mysterious rapping with which modern Spiritualism began was not the result of human trickery or cunning, but was the direct work of evil angels, who thus introduced one of the most successful of soul- destroying delusions. Many will be ensnared through the belief that Spiritualism is a merely human imposture; when brought face to face with manifestations which they cannot but regard as supernatural, they will be deceived, and will be led to accept them as the great power of God." [75]
70. Ibid., pp. 551, 552.
71. Ibid., p. 552.
72. Ibid.
73. Ibid.
74. Ibid., pp. 552, 553.
75. Ibid., p. 553.
5. MIRACULOUS EVENTS WROUGHT BY SATAN'S AGENTS.
The source and the significance of the marvels of Spiritualism are likewise set forth: "It was by satanic aid that Pharaoh's magicians were enabled to counterfeit the work of God. Paul testifies that before the second advent of Christ there will be similar manifestations of satanic power. The coming of the Lord is to be preceded by 'the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of un righteousness.' And the apostle John, describing the miracle-working power that will be manifested in the last days, declares: 'He doeth great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceives them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do.' No mere impostures are here fore told. Men are deceived by the miracles which Satan's agents have power to do, not which they pretend to do." [76]
6. NOW EMPLOYS MORE APPEALING APPROACHES.
Spiritualism has changed from its earlier and cruder forms to "more refined and intellectual" approaches. [77] Its subtlety is set forth in these words: "He who could appear clothed with the brightness of the heavenly seraphs before Christ in the wilderness of temptation, comes to men in the most attractive manner, as an angel of light. He appeals to the reason by the presentation of elevating themes; he delights the fancy with enrapturing scenes; and he enlists the affections by his eloquent portrayals of love and charity. He excites the imagination to lofty flights, leading men to take so great pride in their own wisdom that in their hearts they despise the Eternal One. That mighty being who could take the world's Redeemer to an exceedingly high mountain, and bring before Him all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them, will present his temptation to men in a manner to pervert the senses of all who are not shielded by divine power." [78]
G. Based on Principle of Desire for Deification
The inner philosophy of Spiritualism and its power of at traction are stated thus: "Satan beguiles men now as he beguiled Eve in Eden, by flattery, by kindling a desire to obtain forbidden knowledge, by exciting ambition for self-exaltation. It was cherishing these evils that caused his fall, and through them he aims to compass the ruin of men. 'Ye shall be as
76. Ibid.
77. Ibid., p. 554.
78. Ibid.
gods,' he declares, 'knowing good and evil.' Spiritualism teaches 'that man is the creature of progression; that it is his destiny from his birth to progress, even to eternity, toward the Godhead.' And again: Each mind will judge itself and not another.' 'The judgment will be right, because it is the judgment of self. The throne is within you.' Said a Spiritualistic teacher, as the 'spiritual consciousness' awoke within him, 'My fellow-men, all were unfallen demigods.' And another declares, 'Any just and perfect being is Christ." [79]
So, some are enticed by the "refined and intellectual" approach, others through its "grosser forms." [80]
But again we are brought back to the foundational fallacy of Spiritualism: "The theory which forms the very foundation of Spiritualism is at war with the plainest statements of Scripture. The Bible declares that the dead know not anything, that their thoughts have perished; they have no part in anything that is done under the sun; they know nothing of the joys or sorrows of those who were dearest to them on earth." [81] That is the crux of the issue.
1. GRAVE PERILS LURK BEHIND PLEASING FRONT.
The insidious peril of Spiritualism is that it flouts the prohibition laid down by God: "God has expressly forbidden all pretended communication with departed spirits. In the days of the Hebrews there was a class of people who claimed, as do the Spiritualists of to-day, to hold communication with the dead. But the 'familiar spirits,' as these visitants from other worlds were called, are declared by the Bible to be the 'spirits of devils.’ The work of dealing with familiar spirits was pronounced an abomination to the Lord, and was solemnly forbidden under penalty of death." [82]
2. IS MERELY REVIVAL OF ANCIENT WITCHCRAFT.
Noting the widespread "contempt" in which "witchcraft" is now held, and how "intercourse with evil spirits" is often considered a vestige of the "Dark Ages," Ellen White declares its kin ship to ancient witchcraft: "Spiritualism, which numbers its converts by hundreds of thousands, yea, by millions, which has made its way into scientific circles, which has invaded churches, and has found favour in legislative bodies, and even in the courts of kings,—this mammoth deception is but a revival, in a new disguise, of the witchcraft condemned and prohibited of old." [83]
79. Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
80. Ibid., p. 555.
81. Ibid., p. 556.
82. Ibid.
3. CHARACTER UNCHANGED DESPITE MODERN CAMOUFLAGES.
After rehearsing Spiritualism's frequent contention that there is "no difference between righteousness and sin,” that the "Bible is a mere fiction," that "the Book that is to judge" men has been cast aside, and that man's only Saviour is to be regarded as no more than a "common man," Ellen White says: "It is true that Spiritualism is now changing its form, and, veiling some of its more objectionable features, is assuming a Christian guise.
But its utterances from the platform and the press have been before the public for many years, and in these its real character stands revealed. These teachings cannot be denied or hidden." [84]
4. CONSUMMATION OF THE LIE OF EDEN.
But this very change of form makes its "delusive pretensions" only the more dangerous. Then comes this final warning, and exposure of purpose and plan: "Satan has long been preparing for his final effort to deceive the world. The foundation of his work was laid by the assurance given to Eve in Eden, 'Ye shall not surely die.' 'In the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.' Little by little he has prepared the way for his masterpiece of deception in the development of Spiritualism." [85]
Its "full accomplishment" will be "reached in the last remnant of time." [86] It is pre-eminently a present peril.
5. SPIRITUALISM MAKES "PATH TO HELL" ATTRACTIVE.
In this connection this point should be added. .Back in 1874 Mrs. White pointed out that Spiritualists make the "path to hell" attractive. "Men are praised who have travelled the broad path to hell, and after they die are exalted to the highest positions in the eternal world." [87] She also tells how they "triumph in their freedom in sin," in violation of the moral law. In bondage to Satan's power themselves, they nevertheless promise "liberty" to those who follow the same course in sin. [88] Such is the anomalous enticement of Spiritualism. She then adds two incriminating indictments: "They are in rebellion against the law of God, and they dispose of the blood of Christ." [89]
83. Ibid.
84. Ibid., pp. 557, 558.
85. Ibid., p. 561.
86. Ibid.
87. Ellen G. White, Redemption [no. 2], or The Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness, p. 89.
6. AMONG FIRST TO EXPOSE SPIRITUALISM'S SINISTER CHARACTER.
It is interesting to note that less than a year after the Spiritualist rappings first broke forth in Hydesville, New York, in 1848, and then continued as the Rochester knockings, Ellen White not only declared that they were produced by the ''powder of Satan" but predicted that such manifestations would become "more and more common," and in time would be "clothed in a religious garb." This was repeated in her first published book in 1851 and amplified in 1854.
She likewise spoke of how Spiritualists would claim that "all the mighty works" of Jesus were actually accomplished by the instrumentality of Spiritualism. Such claims have since characterized their literature. She especially pointed out that "appearance of forms purporting to be our relations or friends,” even characterized by the "same tone of voice," but actually the personating "spirits of devils," would mark the continuing course of Spiritualism.
She likewise told of its contravention and depreciation of the Bible and of its making no difference "between the precious and the vile." This she illustrated by their setting forth the deceased Thomas Paine as now highly exalted and actually "teaching in heaven." Spiritualism would likewise, she said, deny the miraculous "birth, death, and resurrection" of Jesus.
This too has since become a commonplace charge. Mrs. White soberly declared Spiritualism to be the "masterpiece of Satan." [90] She was thus one of the first to expose the sinister character and malign origin of Spiritualism.
88 Ibid., p. 93.
89. Ibid., p. 95.
90. Ellen G. White, Early Writings, pp. 43, 59, 86-92, 262-266.
1. DEMONIC SPIRIT IMPERSONATED PROPHET SAMUEL.
The episode of Saul and the "sorceress of Endor," in league with a "familiar spirit," is trenchantly discussed and the personating agency unmasked. Here is the key paragraph: "It was not God's holy prophet that came forth at the spell of a sorcerer's incantation. Samuel was not present in that haunt of evil spirits. That supernatural appearance was produced solely by the power of Satan. He could as easily assume the form of Samuel as he could assume that of an angel of light, when he tempted Christ in the wilderness." [91]
2. POPULAR CLAIMS FLOUT DIVINE STIPULATIONS.
Mrs. White comments on the fact that "the first act of the evil spirit [the "pretended prophet"] which personated the prophet, was to communicate secretly with this wicked woman, to warn her of the deception that had been practiced upon her" by King Saul. [92] Noting that "there are some who take the position that Samuel was actually present at the interview with Saul," she states, "But the Bible itself furnishes sufficient ground for a contrary conclusion." [93] If Samuel had actually been in Heaven, on such a premise he must have been summoned thence "either by the power of God or by that of Satan." She then pointedly observes: "None can believe for a moment that Satan had power to call the holy prophet of God from heaven to honour the incantations of an abandoned woman. Nor can we conclude that God summoned him to the witch's cave; for the Lord had already refused to communicate with Saul, by dream, by Urim, or by prophets. These were God's own appointed mediums of communication, and He did not pass them by to deliver the message through the agent of Satan. The message itself sufficient evidence of its origin." [94]
3. "COMMUNION WITH DEAD" IS FOUNDATION OF HEATHENISM.
Mrs. White then comments on a related factor: "Nearly all forms of ancient sorcery and witchcraft were founded upon a belief in communion with the dead. Those who practiced the arts of necromancy claimed to have intercourse with departed spirits, and to obtain through them a knowledge of future events. This custom of consulting the dead is referred to in the prophecy of Isaiah: 'When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mutter; should not a people seek unto their God? For the living to the dead?" [95]
And she adds that "this same belief in communion with the dead formed the corner-stone of heathen idolatry." [96]
81. Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 679.
82. Ibid., p. 680.
83. Ibid., p. 683.
84. Ibid.
4. EVIL ANGELS SIMULATE "SPIRITS OF DEAD."
Connecting this with Spiritualism, Mrs. White then observes, "Under the name of Spiritualism the practice of communicating with beings claiming to be the spirits of the departed, has become wide-spread." But while there is much "trickery" connected with Spiritualism, it is not all imposture. There are "genuine manifestations" in its phenomena, and "marked evidences of supernatural power." And "when confronted with manifestations which they cannot account for upon this ground [of trickery]," many are "led to acknowledge its claims." [97]
Then comes this incisive statement as to its ancestry and origin: "Modern Spiritualism, and the forms of ancient witchcraft and idol worship,—all having communion with the dead as their vital principle,— are founded upon that first lie by which Satan beguiled Eve in Eden: 'Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that m the day ye eat thereof, ye shall be as gods.' Alike based upon falsehood and perpetuating the same, they are alike from the father of lies." [98] Applying this principle, she declares: "The 'familiar spirits' were not the spirits of the dead, but evil angels, the messengers of Satan." [99]
5. FRAUDULENT BECAUSE DEAD ARE INCOMMUNICADO.
The Biblical reason for the fraudulency of "communion with the dead" is stated thus: "The Hebrews were expressly forbidden to engage, in any manner, in pretended communion with the dead. God closed this door effectually when He said: 'The dead know not anything. Neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun' (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6). 'His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish' (Psalms 146:4). And the Lord declared to Israel: 'The soul that turns after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people' (Leviticus 20:6)." [100]
95. Ibid., p. 684.
96. Ibid.
97. Ibid., pp. 684, 685.
98. Ibid.
6. APOSTLE FORBIDS "FELLOWSHIP" WITH DEVILS.
Citing the apostle Paul's admonition not to "have fellowship with devils" (1 Corinthians 10:20), Mrs. White plainly states: "Modern Spiritualism, resting upon the same foundation, is but a revival, in a new form, of the witchcraft and demon-worship that God condemned and prohibited of old. It is foretold in the Scriptures, which declare that 'in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." [101] As to the peril of Spiritualism, Ellen White said that "one of the marked characteristics of Spiritualist teachers" is that "they refuse to acknowledge Christ as the Son of God," [102] and adds: "Spiritualism, by denying Christ, denies both the Father and the Son, and the Bible pronounces it the manifestation of antichrist. [103]
7. VICIOUS PURPOSE OF DEMONIC MESSAGE.
Mrs. White then adds that it is Satan's purpose to destroy men's confidence in God." And reverting to Saul, she says, "The demon's message to Saul, although it was a denunciation of sin and a prophecy of retribution, was not meant to reform him, but to goad him to despair and ruin." [104] Such are the out- workings of Spiritualism.
100. Ibid., p. 685.
101. Ibid., p. 686.
102. Ibid.
103. Ibid.
104. Ibid., pp. 687, 688.
8. SIGNIFICANCE OF EVIDENCE REVEALED BY CHART C
1. In the Old World the last quarter of the century saw scientists like Sir George Gabriel Stokes, Cambridge professor and president of the Royal Society, and illustrious Prime Minister Gladstone, each with truly remarkable treatises, on the roster of aggressive Conditionalists. Famous City Temple pastor Joseph Parker, of London, takes a strong stand.
2. Dr. Emmanuel Petavel, of Switzerland, produced doubtless the most impressive Conditionalist treatise of the century. And a half dozen renowned German theologians, with reputations encircling the globe, are matched with about the same number of French savants, now championing the Conditionalist position.
3. The last half of the century saw the emergence of entire denominations—the Advent Christians and Seventh-day Adventists—alike espousing Conditionalism. All members of each body hold tenaciously to this tenet, and Conditionalism is thus extended all over the globe.
4. At least a dozen new periodicals, issued by the two groups within the century—principally the World's Crisis, The Christian, Messiah's Advocate, The Review and Herald, and the Signs of the Times—constantly promulgate the Conditionalist position.
5. A publishing work of exceptional proportions issues literally millions of pieces of Conditionalist literature during the closing decades of the nineteenth century.
6. The paralleling, but separate, Second Advent and Conditional Immortality movements of the third and fourth decades now meet and merge in the fifth decade in Adventist faith. Prior thereto they had had largely independent emphasis. Now they combine and blend in coordinated emphasis, while the original separate movements wane and fade out of the picture.
7. The most complete and balanced concept of the tenets of Conditionalism is now to be found, surpassing that of any previous period.
8. Even the militantly anti-Evangelical Jehovah's Witness group also adopts and publicizes widely the essential Conditionalist positions.
9. Spiritualism, starting crudely just before the middle of the century assumes new and appealing forms, and comes to exert an increasing influence in the churches, penetrating intellectual and scientific circles, and especially the metaphysicists. This takes on unprecedented proportions in the twentieth century, and will be discussed there.
9. TECHNICAL AND STATISTICAL ASPECTS OF SECTION C
The preponderant shift to the New World is impressive. The Conditionalist witnesses in this section (C) are spread as follows: North America, twenty- six; Switzerland and France, seven; Germany, six; England, four; and Belgium, one.
In religious affiliation in this latter portion of the century, they now stand as Seventh-day Adventist, seven; Advent Christian, six; Anglican or Episcopalian, six; Lutheran, five; Baptist, three; Congregationalist, three; Methodist, two; Christian Connection, two; and one each among the Presbyterians, Independents, Free Church, Reformed, Dunkard, and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Finally, as to vocations or positions held by the Conditionalists, they stand, in addition to one prime minister, one bishop, and one baronet scientist, university professors, thirteen; pastors and rectors, eleven; editors, six; publishers, five; founders of religious movements, three; and one college president, one translator, one historian, and one missionary. This presents a new picture.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
As we turn from that long and illustrious line of former champions of Conditionalism who are themselves now "sleeping in Jesus," we will, in the remaining chapters, attempt to present a comprehensive panoramic view of the living witnesses—the men who are writing and testifying today on the nature and destiny of man. A few who have recently died must, of course, be included, but the majority are still living as of this writing (January, 1962). Because of their number, however, and the relentless pressure of space limitations we must for the most part confine ourselves to briefer sketches and more terse excerpts. The deceased have gone on record forcefully but the living are still speaking. And they continue to testify just as effectively. The cumulative witness of the two groups in this twentieth century is most impressive.
The corroborative word of less-known current spokesmen will be presented more as indicative straws in the wind, as it were, than as systematic presentations, primarily to show that the expanding witness of Conditionalism continues unabated. Some of the more important sketches must necessarily be fairly full, to indicate the strength of current testimony. Or, to change the figure, this final assemblage of witnesses will show that the tide of Conditionalism is still rising steadily. Or, to draft upon yet another figure, they will attest the growing ground swell of revolt in many lands and languages, and among practically all faiths. As we progress, it will become evident that there are no longer any geographical, language, or churchly barriers here. The voices are ringing out.
REVOLT NOW WORLDWIDE IN EXTENT.—We will present the evidence of this undeniable revolt on the part of a surprising number of scholars that has been taking place against the traditional positions on the nature and destiny of man, especially within the past two decades. In the Old World there has been a significant stir in high ecclesiastical circles in Scandinavia. Voices have similarly been raised in the Low Countries and in Germany. The same is true of France and Switzerland. And in England there is a remarkable disavowal both in Anglican and in Free Church circles, as we shall see. In fact, out to the ends of the earth word keeps coming of declarations, here and there, of Protestant missionaries who no longer subscribe to the concept of the Innate Immortality of the soul and the Eternal Torment of the wicked. Sometimes difficulties with their ecclesiastical superiors resulted because of their convictions.
The same may definitely be reported of North America—to some extent in Canada but more especially in the United States. These will all be noted in wide-ranging survey. The spread is so broad and the calibre of these men is so impressive that the fact of a distinct and continuing trend in favour of the basic positions of Conditionalism cannot be gainsaid.
WITNESSES PRESENTED CHRONOLOGICALLY BY DECADES. —The simplest way to compass the twentieth-century testimony, which increases impressively as we come to the past two decades, is for the most part to present these champions of Conditionalism largely in historical sequence, roughly by decades.
The same Tabular Charts scheme, used in previous parts, will bring the evidence of the entire group, together with their salient features, into convenient conspectus for our customary analysis and summarizing conclusions.
One of the clearest notes on Conditionalism in the twentieth century was struck by Dr. WILLIAM TEMPLE (1881-1944); eminent Archbishop of Canterbury. He was educated at Rugby and Oxford. He became president of the Oxford Union in 1904, then lecturer in philosophy at Queen's College, Oxford, from 1904 to 1910. Later he was ordained deacon and then priest in the Church of England. From 1910 to 1914 he was headmaster of Repton School, then rector of St. James, London, 1914-1918. Next he was canon of Westminster, 1919-1921, after which he was consecutively bishop of Manchester, 1921-1929, Archbishop of York, 1929-1942, and from 1942 to 1944 Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest post in the Anglican episcopate. There was no more prominent cleric in Protestantism.
Temple, a leader in social reform and ecumenical movements, was a delegate to the Jerusalem Conference of 1928. He presided over the Edinburgh Conference of 1937. He was Gifford Lecturer in Scotland and the United States, and author of eight books, including The Faith and Modern Thought (1915); Nature, Man and God (1934); and Christianity and the Social Order (1942). He was, moreover, chairman of the commission that produced the report Doctrine in the Church of England (1938). He was an independent thinker and a philosopher of some significance. Since Temple was one of the most distinguished of the primates of England, what he had to say on Conditionalism and its corollaries is unusually significant. There are three discussions, issued in 1931, 1932, and 1934 (and running through various editions), that enter the field of our quest.
ANNIHILATION—NOT ETERNAL TORMENT OF SINNERS.—In February, 1931, while Archbishop of York, Dr. Temple gave a series of eight addresses at St. Mary's church, Oxford, which were published in April as Christian Faith and Life. In Lecture (or chapter) V, on "The Meaning of the Crucifixion," he contrasts the power of creation and the power of redemption that cost Christ's "agony and the bloody sweat and the death upon the cross." He shows how the atonement and the cross must both "start from the love of God," and explains how the cross "makes righteous the forgiving love of God." Temple then observes that the "propitiation," or "mercy seat," is the "meeting-place of God's holy love and man's sin." And the resultant forgiveness is "the cancelling of the alienation and the bringing us into true fellowship and communion." [1]
1 William Temple, Christian Faith and Life, pp. 73-80.
Temple then mentions "the bewildering subject of the ultimate fate of the soul which refuses the love of God" and exercises the freedom of man's will, for "it seems clear that we have the power to refuse, and He [God] will not override it." Leaving the final solution of the "problem" to God, as "one which peculiarly belongs to the eternal world," he makes this significant observation on the punishment of the wicked:
"But one thing we can say with confidence: everlasting torment is to be ruled out. If men had not imported the Greek and unbiblical notion of the natural indestructibility of the individual soul, and then read the New Testament with that already in their minds, they would have drawn from it a belief, not in everlasting torment but in annihilation, It is the fire that is called aeonian, not the life cast into it. But what the New Testament does most surely teach is the reality of 'abiding consequences' of all we do." [2]
CATHOLICISM'S FOURFOLD DESTINATION OF THE SOUL.—While still Archbishop of York, [3] Dr. Temple contributed an important article to The Congregational Quarterly, in January, 1932, entitled, "The Idea of Immortality in Relation to Religion and Ethics." Its appearance in a Free Church journal gave it wider circulation than simply in Anglican circles. It also indicated that there was no antagonistic attitude in Congregational circles. Opening with the statement that we are at the end of the "period of reaction from the Middle Ages," Temple observes that the "medieval scheme" is still "presented by the Roman Catholic Church." This is their fourfold destination of the human soul:
"Universal immortality is assumed; for those who are beyond pardon there is Hell; for those who are pardonable, Purgatory; for those whose pardon is accomplished, Paradise. And alongside of these, FOR THE un-awaked there is Limbo." [4]
2 Ibid., pp. 81, 82. (Italics supplied.)
3 The article is signed "William Ebor," Ebor being the old name for York. But on p. iv it reads "William Temple. . . . See York, Archbishop of." And under "York, The Archbishop of . . . 'The Idea of Immortality in Relation to Religion and Ethics.' " And on p. vii, of "Our Contributors," we read, "The Archbishop of York, the Most Rev. William Temple, M.A., D.D., Author of The Faith and Modern Thought, etc."
4 William Temple, "The Idea of Immortality in Relation to Religion and Ethics," The Congregational Quarterly X (January, 1932), p. 11.
PURGATORY ELIMINATED FROM REFORMATION CATEGORIES.—After discussing the "overwhelming" difficulties in "drawing a sharp line between the awakened and the un-awakened, and again, between the pardonable and the un-pardonable," Temple sets forth the "modern reaction" to an eternally burning Hell:
"How can there be Paradise for any while there is Hell, conceived as unending torment, for some? Each supposedly damned soul was born into the world as a mother's child; and Paradise cannot be Paradise for her if her child is in such a Hell. The scheme is unworkable in practice even by omniscience, and moreover it offends against the deepest Christian sentiments." [5]
Then he immediately observes, "What happened at the Reformation was very different." And he adds, concerning the elimination of Purgatory:
"The doctrine of Purgatory was the focus of many grave abuses—sales of indulgences and the like. These called for remedy, and thus set moving the normal method of the Reformers—the method of referring whatever was found to call for remedy to the touchstone of Scripture. And Scripture supplied no basis for a doctrine of Purgatory. So the doctrine was not freed from its abuses but was eliminated, and the Protestant world was left with the stark alternatives of Heaven and Hell." [6]
HEAVEN AND HELL LEFT AS TERRIBLE ALTERNATIVES. —But when the Reformers left out Purgatory and Limbo there was left only the "terrible alternative" of "torment in Hell" or "Unending bliss in Heaven." Temple then comments on the shift of emphasis from Purgatory to Hell:
"The new form of the scheme gave a new prominence to Hell, and whereas the popular mind in the Middle Ages was mainly concerned with Purgatory and with ways of shortening or mitigating its cleansing pains, it was now Hell that alone supplied the deterrent influence of belief in a future life. And this, while it lasted, reacted on the conception of God. For punishment which is unending is plainly retributive only in the long run; it may have a deterrent use while this life lasts, but from the Day of Judgment onwards it would lose that quality, and it obviously has no reformative aim. And it requires much ingenuity to save from the charge of vindictiveness a character which inflicts forever a punishment which can be no other than retributive." [7]
MODERN REVULSION AGAINST ETERNAL TORMENT.—Coming to the modern revulsion against such a vindictive punishment, indicated in many eighteenth-century sermons, Temple declares concerning this change of beliefs:
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid., p. 12.
"Steadily the conviction has gained ground that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ cannot be conceived as inflicting on any soul that He has made unending torment. So Hell has in effect been bushed from popular belief; and as Purgatory had been banished long before, we are left with a very widespread sentimental notion that all persons Who die are for with in Paradise or Heaven. And this seems to involve a conception of God as so genially tolerant as to be morally indifferent, and converts the belief in immortality from a moral stimulant to a moral narcotic. There is g very strong case for thinking out the whole subject again in as complete independence as possible alike of medieval and of Protestant traditions." [8]
This call for rethinking is highly significant, coming from such a source. This he proceeded to do.
FUTURE LIFE BASED ON RESURRECTION.—Passing to the thought that "the hope of immortality is strictly dependent on and subordinate to faith in God," Temple repeats that "our hope of immortality is . . . a necessary consequence of our faith in God." After these introductory thoughts, and allusions to unwarranted ecclesiastical accretions added to the teaching of Scripture, Temple presents these conclusions:
"The authentic Christian doctrine of the future life is free from the objections which lie against the general notion of Immortality, while it contains all which in that notion is of religious value or of ethical utility. This Christian doctrine has three special characteristics: It is a doctrine, not of Immortality, but of Resurrection. It regards this Resurrection as an act and gift of God not an inherent right of the human soul as such. It is not a doctrine of rewards and punishments, but is the proclamation of the inherent joy of love and the inherent misery of selfishness." [9]
That is the heart of Temple's position.
THE PLATONIC CONCEPT OF IMMORTALITY.—Remarking that "the method of all non-Christian systems is to seek an escape from the evils and the misery of life," he observes that while the "Stoics teach an indifference to death; the Gospel teaches victory over it." Temple next discusses the Platonic concept of immortality:
8 Ibid., pp. 12, 13. (Italics supplied.)
9 Ibid., pp. 15, 16. This is reprinted verbatim in William Temple, Nature, Man and God, p. 461.
"Plato had sought to demonstrate the inherent immortality of the individual soul. In the Phaedo he fashioned an argument which seems for the moment to have satisfied him. But in fact it is invalid. What Plato proves in the Phaedo is that the soul cannot both be, and be dead; he does not prove that it cannot pass out of existence altogether. In the Republic he advances an argument of which the minor premise seems to be simply untrue. He says that what perishes does so by its own defeat; but the essential disease of the soul—injustice--does not cause, or tend towards, the decay of the soul; therefore the soul is imperishable. But there is every reason to deny the second proposition. . . .
"It is in the Phaedrus that Plato first reaches the clear conception of the soul as characterized essentially by self-motion, and argues from this its indestructibility. But not each individual soul is completely self-moved, and the argument, supposing it to be valid, as I think it is, only establishes the indestructibility of the spiritual principle in the universe, not the immortality of each individual soul. Plato seems to have accepted that result, for in the Laws, where we find his final conclusion, he declares that only God is immortal in His own right, and that He of His bounty bestows on individual souls an immortality which is not theirs by nature." [10]
IMMORTALITY OFFERED TO MAN CONDITIONALLY.—Taking his stand on the inspired declaration, "who [God] only hath immortality," Temple adds that immortality is offered only "conditionally" to man:
"That this is the prevailing doctrine of the New Testament seems to me beyond question as soon as we approach its books free from the Hellenistic assumption that each soul is inherently immortal in virtue of its nature as soul. But its prevailing doctrine, as I think, is that God alone is immortal, being in His own Nature eternal; and that He offers immortality to men not universally but conditionally." [11]
Denying as an "unwarrantable assumption" that "the survival of physical death is the same thing as immortality," Temple succinctly states: "Quite clearly it is not; for a man might survive the death of his body only to enter then upon a process of slow or rapid annihilation." [12]
EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT NOT UNENDING TORMENT.—Coming to the issue of Eternal Torment for the lost, Temple next clearly sets forth his matured convictions:
10 Ibid., pp. 16, 17. Cf. Nature, Man and God, p. 462, where it is repeated.
11 Ibid., p. 17. (Italics supplied.) See Nature, Man and God, p. 463.
12 Ibid., p. 18.
"Are there not, however, many passages which speak of the endless torment of the lost? No; as far as my knowledge goes there is none at all. There are sayings which speak of being cast into undying fire. But if we do not approach these with the-supposition that what is thus cast in is indestructible, we shall get the impression, not that it will burn for ever, but that it will be destroyed. And so far as the difficulty is connected with the terms eternal and everlasting, as in Matt 25 (eternal punishment' it must be remembered that the Greek word used is, which has primary reference to the quality of the age to come and not to its infinity. The word that strictly means 'eternal' is not frequent in the New Testament, but it does occur, so that we must not treat the commoner word as though it alone had been available, and when a vital issue turns on the distinction it is fair to lay some stress upon it. And after all, annihilation is an everlasting punishment though it is not unending torment.” [13]
REJECTERS OF GOD'S OFFER ARE TO BE DESTROYED.— After stressing the individual's power of choice and the freedom of the human will, Temple refers to man's "response to and communion with the eternal God, which makes these capable of receiving from God the gift of His own immortality." Temple then concludes:
"On the one hand is the supreme significance of human freedom, which seems to involve the possibility for every soul that it may utterly and finally reject the love of God; and this must involve it in perdition. Since sin as to become truly identified with it, God must destroy him.” [14]
Then Temple remarks, "He asserts His supremacy by destruction of the wicked."
IMMORTALITY OFFERED THROUGH RESURRECTION.— After telling why he could not accept Universalism, and commenting on the superiority of the motive power of love rather than fear as the impelling motive, Temple sums up his contentions thus:
"And the core of the doctrine is this: Man is not immortal by nature or of right; but there is offered to him resurrection from the
dead and life eternal if-he will receive it from God and on God's terms. There is nothing arbitrary in That offer or in those terms, for God is perfect Wisdom and perfect Love. But Man, the creature and helpless sinner, cannot attain to eternal life unless he Lives himself to God, the Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier, and receive from Him both worthiness for &life eternal and with that worthiness eternal life." [15]
13 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
14 Ibid., p. 20. (Italics supplied.)
MAN NOT INNATELY BUT CONDITIONALLY IMMORTAL.—Two years later, in the academical year 1933-1934, in the Gifford Lectures at the University of Glasgow, Dr. Temple there used the substance of his 1932 article as Lecture XVIII, on "The Moral and Religious Conditions of Eternal Life." He simply restates his position, without change of view. The entire series was immediately put into book form by Macmillan and Co. Limited, London, in 1934, under the title, Nature, Man and God. This has already run through five editions. The second and third editions were issued while Temple was still Archbishop of York, and the last three after his elevation to the archbishopric of Canterbury, as primate of England.
This indicates that Temple's oral presentation in academic circles, and then in published form in three other editions (1949, 1951, and 1953), was not considered incompatible with the teachings of the Anglican Church, of which he became titular head. And in the summarization of the chapters, which appears under the "Contents," the epitomizing sentence says expressly, "Man is not by nature immortal, but capable of immortality." [16] Here are two added expressions reaffirming his positions: "God alone is immortal, being in His own Nature eternal"; and "He offers immortality to men not universally but conditionally." [17] Again, "Eternal life is always the gift of God," and not the "natural property of human nature." [18]
15 Ibid., p. 21. (Italics supplied.) See Nature, Man and God, p. 472.
16 Temple, Nature, Man and God (1953 ed.), p. xxx. (Italics supplied.)
17 Ibid., p. 463. (Italics supplied.)
18 Ibid., p. 464.
TEMPLE PRESENTS CONSISTENT VIEW OF ANGLICAN CHURCH.—Such was the explicit and repeated testimony of the highest prelate of the Anglican Church in 1942-1944, compressed into a sentence, on Conditional Immortality and the consequent corollary, the final utter destruction of the wicked. In this he concurs with three previous archbishops of Canterbury. Comparison of Dr. Temple's address of 1931 with the book of 1934, and its subsequent editions, shows that they all parallel almost paragraph for paragraph, and sometimes word for word, except that in the Gifford Lectures a few comments or amplifying paragraphs are added without altering the original thought or phrasing. Two deductions are to be drawn from this: (1) Archbishop Temple never changed his view, and (2) neither was he considered as being at variance with the doctrinal position of the Anglican Church.
We also call to the witness stand two well-known Danish theologians, the Lutheran clergyman VILHELM BECK and Prof. N. TEISEN, a few years prior, who deal with two aspects of Conditionalism. Thus far we have not touched upon Scandinavian writers. Let us go back then, for a moment, to two voices in Denmark to introduce this geographical witness.
1. BECK: DEAD SLEEP UNCONSCIOUSLY TILL RESURRECTION. —Pastor Beck, as quoted in Et Ord i rette Tid, by J. C. Raft, testifies to his belief in the unconscious state of the dead—that is, that in death man sleeps unconsciously until the resurrection, with the contrary traditional view held to be "unknown to the Holy Scriptures" and merely "founded on human inventions." Here is Beck's explicit statement in a lecture at Randers:
"The condition between death and the resurrection is, as I understand the Scriptures, a quiet night, where the believing person is a sleeping person until the resurrection. A conscious stale between death and the resurrection, a conscious human life with growth and development, with conversion and apostasy, is unknown to the Holy Scriptures, and they tell us nothing about it, and all that is held and taught concerning it, as far as I understand, is founded on human inventions, discovery of a land and a human life, which had not been discovered when the Holy Scriptures were written." [19]
19 Vilhelm Beck, in J. C. Raft, Es Ord e rate Tid, pp. 471, 472. Translated from L. Muderspach, Bag Dod og Gray, p. 97. (Italics supplied.)
That was Beck's view. Moreover, the theory of consciousness in the "intermediate state" is, he adds, found neither in "Luther's Catechism nor in the Augsburg Confession." On the contrary— "it is rationalism in its various forms that has brought this doctrine into the church, and which always has united itself with selfishness, at times in a coarse materialistic form, and at times in a fine spiritual form. The doctrine of the Lutheran Church knows nothing about such an intermediate state. There is not one word about it in Luther's Catechism nor in the Augsburg Confession." [20]
2. TEISEN: WICKED TO BE "UTTERLY CONSUMED."—And Prof. N. Teisen, likewise of Denmark, commenting on the Parable of the Tares and the Wheat (Matt. 13:30), declares that the wicked are to be utterly "consumed," not endlessly tormented. Here is his declaration:
"Anyone who has a slight knowledge of Greek knows that the Greek verb here used means to burn up (to be consumed), which is given correctly in the Danish Bible translation—opbraende. But how 'to burn up' can mean to suffer endless torment, will be inconceivable, for any expositor who holds to the true meaning of words. That anything can be said to burn up which burns throughout all eternity without being consumed, that is to unite the incompatible and to make 'No' out of 'Yes'." [21]
Commenting on Hebrews 12:29 ("For our God is a consuming fire"), Teisen further states emphatically:
"By this the author wishes to say, that if God in the days of the old covenant (cf. Deut. 4:24) was a consuming fire, He is that no less under the new covenant, and the expression—katanalisko—is the strongest word the Greek language can use to indicate a complete annihilation. The verb analisko means, as we already have seen, consume, annihilate; the added preposition strengthens the idea that the word conveys, so that the meaning will be: Annihilation from the foundation, from top to bottom." [22]
20 Vilhelm Beck in Den indre Missions Tidende, Oct. 3, 1886. Translated from Muderspach, op. cit. (Italics supplied.)
21 N. Teisen, in Betingetudedlighet, p. 48. Translated from Muderspach, op. cit., p. 180.
22 Teisen, op. cit., p. 50. Translated from Muderspach, op. cit., p. 181.
Professor Teisen also observes that it would be most highly "improbable" for Christ and the apostles to be in conflict with the uniform teaching of "death and destruction" for the wicked as "taught throughout the Old Testament." Christ did not bring "a new doctrine into the world" [23] on the destiny of man. That is the record of Teisen's view.
Similarly on the fate of the wicked, Dr. E. J. EKMAN, [24] celebrated Swedish clergyman, in 1910 contended that the "unquenchable fire" of Scripture is fire that consumes until it completely destroys. His declaration is both lucid and convincing.
1. FIRES GO OUT AFTER CONSUMING.—Bishop John Personne, likewise of Sweden, in a pastoral letter to his diocese of Lindkoping, in 1910, tells how Ekman "turned against the doctrine of eternal suffering" when his very relationship to the Lutheran Church was "at stake." [25] Here is Ekman's summarizing word, to which reference was made:
"In conclusion we will remark that the Greek word (asbestos- which
23 Teisen, op. cit., p. 46. Translated from Muderspach, op. cit., p. 178.
24 E. J. EKMAN (1842-1915), Lutheran, was educated at Uppsala University, and was ordained in 1864. He protested the propriety of a state church and organized the Svenska Missionsf8rbundet (Swedish Missions Covenant) in 1878, separating from the state church in 1879. He edited Mistionsforbundet, and served three terms in the Swedish Riksdag, or Parliament.
25 Bishop John Personne, "Pastoral Letter to Clergy in the Diocese of Linkoping," 1910, pp. 30, 31.
is translated by unquenchable, does not have the meaning that some ascribe to it. On the contrary it occurs in the profane Greek language, especially in Homer, qualifying such words that show that it does not concern something which never ends. For example it is used concerning 'honour,' laughter, cry, and the violent but short fire which consumed the Greek fleet. And Eusebius says twice in his 'Church History, vol. 6, p. 41, that the martyrs were consumed by an unquenchable fire. This fire certainly was extinguished, but the word is used to emphasize the force and violence of this fire." [26]
2. VICTIMS FINALLY CEASE TO BE.—Ekman's statement on "aion" is equally forceful. Aion does not mean "without end":
"The word 'aion' occurs in the Greek literature with the meaning time, period, age, lifetime, but in no glace with the meaning of a time without end. Now if the root word aion does not mean without end, it follows that the derived adjective aionios cannot mean something without end, which is also evident from the fact that the word is used concerning things, which have already ceased to be." [27]
Such are voices from Scandinavia.
Let us turn again to Britain. In 1929 F. S. M. BENNETT, Anglican Dean of Chester, brought forth a volume titled The Resurrection of the Dead, which he first thought to call "Conditional Immortality with Organic Resurrection." That gives an inkling of the position he will present. Dean Bennett affirms that the doctrine of the Innate Immortality of the soul was "not so accepted at the beginning [of the Christian Era], and ought not so to be regarded today." He quotes W. E. Gladstone, who asserts that it is " 'a doctrine wholly unknown to the Holy Scriptures.' It stands, says Gladstone, " 'on no higher plane' " than that of contested " 'philosophical opinion.' " (Bennett photo on page 759.) [28, 29, 30]
26 E. Ekman, Evangelii Fullhet, p. 63. Translated from Muderspach, op. cit., pp. 191, 192
27 Ibid., p. 68. Translated from Muderspach, op. cit., p. 197.
28 F. S. M. Bennett, The Resurrection of the Dead, p. 7. (Italics supplied.)
29 Ibid., pp. 7, 8. (Italics supplied.)
30 Ibid., p. 8.
1. INNATISM NO RIGHTFUL PART OF CHRISTIANITY.—Tracing its historical intrusion into the Christian Church, Dr. Bennett again agrees with Gladstone, who says that it "never way,' affirmed by the Councils, never by the undivided Church, never by East or West when separated." In fact, it was not affirmed until the time of Leo X (d. l521) And along with it came the concept of the "fixedness for eternal bliss or woe at the hour of death." [31, 32] Bennett epitomizes his own view in these strong words:
"No doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul has a rightful place within the precinct of our Christian Faith. It is a philosophical doctrine and cannot claim to be part of revealed truth." [33]
2. No CREATED BEING CAN BE MORE THAN "IMMORTABLE." —Bennett's view of the restrictiveness of the term "immortal" is succinctly stated in these sentences:
"My own belief is that S. Paul would not himself have used the word immortal of any created being. 'God only hath immortality' (1 Tim. 6. 16). No created being can ever be more than immortable. God holds all souls in life, whether that life be for a brief span or for eternity. That before the Fall man was immortable, was in the way which leads to perfection and eternal life—this, I think, S. Paul did clearly hold and teach. Immortality in the sense of indestructibility cannot, surely, by any theist, be attributed to any creature." [34]
That is very explicit.
3. FUNDAMENTAL FALLACY OF INNATE IMMORTALITY.—Ben-nett penetrates to the very heart of the question of immortality. Primitive Christianity, he said, held that salvation was from "loss of eternal life," not a "life of eternal loss 'The difference is basic. Here is his forthright statement of the case:
"Far from being a Christian doctrine, the doctrine of natural immortality is hardly compatible with traditional Christianity at all. Christianity is essentially a way of salvation. Its first adherents embraced and proclaimed it as a way of salvation, not from eternal punishment, but from eternal death; and by eternal death they meant, not a life of eternal loss, but the loss of eternal life." [35]
This is effective phrasing, and states the case in a single sentence.
31 Ibid., p. 32.
32 Ibid., p. 34.
33 Ibid., p. 55.
34 Ibid., pp. 83, 84.
35 Ibid., p. 116. (Italics supplied.)
4. "SLEEP" FOR DEATH.—After noting that "in man mind and body are inextricably interlocked," that man is an "integrated organism," [36] Bennett turns to the interim period of death, noting the Biblical term "asleep." For example:
"'They which are fallen asleep in Christ'; they 'that are fallen asleep in Jesus' (1 Cor. 15. 18 and 1 Thess. 4. 14) is Saint Paul's regular phrase for death, reminding us of our Lord's use of the same figure, 'our friend Lazarus is fallen asleep.' " [37]
5. "EVERLASTING FIRE" NOT ENDLESS DURATION BUT "DESTRUCTION."—After observing that "disintegration" is simply "a longer way of spelling death," Bennett comes to the figure of "everlasting fire." On this he says:
"Everlasting fire is a great and terrible figure, a figure of destruction: That which is thrown into a fire is not therein horribly conserved, but speedily consumed." [38]
To this he adds a series of statements: "Evil must be eliminated by that which is figured by everlasting fire." "Nothing can be left when the everlasting fire has done its purging work." "It is not asserted [in the Athanasian Creed] that those who go into everlasting fire are to stay there for ever." [39] Bennett summarizes his thoughts as to the fate of the wicked in these terse words:
"The only sort of life, of which we have any knowledge, is organic, life; and no organism can permanently survive in an environment with which it cannot correspond. No organism can correspond with that is best figured by fire. It is a figure of destruction, and of destroying swift and complete." [40]
Thus each soul, endowed with the power of sovereign choice, has, according to Bishop Gore, "the awful capacity to make or destroy himself." [41] These were Dean Bennett's recorded positions on the nature and destiny of man.
36 Ibid., p. 153.
37 Ibid., p. 182; see also p. 191.
38 Ibid., p. 202.
39 Ibid., p. 203.
40 Ibid., p. 204. (Italics supplied.)
41 Ibid.
Prof. CHARLES H. DODD, [42] of Cambridge University, in discussing the "future life," likewise stated that it was in the "strongly Hellenized book," The Wisdom of Solomon, that the "Platonic doctrine of the immortality of the soul" emerged among the Jews. He then comments that while the New Testament is "full of the assurance of everlasting life," there is "no discussion of immortality as a philosophical theory" what is, of Innate Immortality. Paul is not attempting in 1 Corinthians 15:12-58 to "prove the immortality of the soul." [43]—Professor Dodd adds that Paul teaches—
"A dead man really is dead and done for unless and until God makes him alive by an act of creative power in the resurrection and that this miracle will take place when the New Awe dawns." [44]
In Dean WALTER. R. MATTHEWS, [45] of St. Paul's Cathedral, we find another prominent voice, in 1930, favouring "conditional or conferred immortality," as against the traditional "inherent immortality" postulate. This view of man, the dean believes, harmonizes best with God's "moral government." He too places resurrection over against Innate Immortality, considering them to be irreconcilable. He likewise notes the relation between mind and body. Man, he holds, is a unity. (Matthews' photo on page 759.)
42 CHARLES HAROLD DODD, trained at Magdalen College, Oxford, was ordained to the Congregational ministry in 1912. After a period of pastoral ministry he was called to teach New Testament at Mansfield College. He then was elected professor of Biblical criticism and exegesis at Manchester, and in 1935 was elected professor of divinity at Cambridge. His major published works are nine in number, various of which are widely known and esteemed as Christian classics.
43 C. H. Dodd, The Authority of the Bible (Harper and Row), p. 217.
44 Ibid., p. 218.
45 WALTER R. MATTHEWS, Anglican, was trained at King's College, London, of which he became dean (1918-1931). He was then successively dean of Exeter Cathedral (1931-1934), and of St. Paul's Cathedral, London (1934-). He has been lecturer at Oxford and Harvard, and is author of several works.
Writing in The Hibbert Journal, he says:
"The alternative view to the inherent immortality of the soul is some kind of conditional or conferred immortality. This view would appear to be most in harmony with the fundamental assumption of Theism, and as we shall see later, will probably best conform to what we may conceive to be the moral government of the universe. But the contrast usually drawn is that between immortality and the resurrection of the body. The latter doctrine, it has been frequently pointed out, is the characteristic feature of Christian teaching of the New Testament.
"The old problem of the relation of mind and body has not indeed been solved, but it becomes clear thit the sharp antithesis between them is not tenable. This does not mean that we are being insensibly carried towards materialism. Perhaps the tendency is really in the other direction. It does mean, however, that we are discovering that the distinction between mind and body is one which is made within the unity of the personal life and experience, which therefore includes what we mean by body as well as what we mean by mind." [46]
1. SIN BRINGS ITS OWN DESTRUCTION.—Turning then to the destiny of the wicked, Matthews rejected both Calvin's abhorrent Eternal Torment and Origen's Universalism as alike unsound. The dean saw ultimate "destruction" as the fate of the finally "incorrigible sinners." In this connection the power of "self-determination" must be recognized, and the "risk" that it entailed. The first retribution of evil is "destruction of the self." Because of the importance of his testimony we quote Dean Matthews at some length:
"The idea that eternal punishment of the wicked is somehow implied in the belief in the divine justice seems to me one of the strangest aberrations of the human mind, and the idea of Calvin that hell shows forth the glory of God by showing His justice, no less than Heaven by showing His mercy, one of the most horrible. Are we then led by our 'fundamental assumptions as Christian Theists to the conclusion of universalism? Must all souls in the end be saved? Many of us no doubt would rather err with Origen than be right with Augustine. But I do of think that either extreme is forced upon us by the thought of God on which we rest, indeed neither view seems to me to be really in harmony with it." [47]
2. SELF-DETERMINATION INVOLVES RISK OF DISASTER.— Dean Matthews continues his line of reasoning thus:
"The Creator, when He brought into existence spirits with the power of self-determination, brought into being a sphere in which real risk and possibilities were present. It would surely be a puerile conception of God which would regard Him as allowing the game of freedom to go on for a time and then, like a parent who has had enough of the confusion, bringing it to a stop—, giving everyone a present. Life is no game, and freedom involves real decisions. We must therefore hold to the Apostolic doctrine that the wages of sin is death.” [48]
46 Walter R. Matthews. "The Destiny of the Soul," The Hibbert Journal, January, 1930, pp. 199ff. (Italics supplied.)
47 Ibid.
3. WRONG CHOICE LEADS TO DESTRUCTION.—The inevitable outcome of such a wrong choice, Matthews holds, is destruction:
"But we shall be giving only a mythological version of-the truth if we think of God as dealing out destruction from above upon incorrigible sinners. Just as the reward of goodness is the opportunity for further developments along the same line, so the retribution of evil is the opportunity of further evil.
" 'God gave them up. to a reprobate mind,' says the Apostle. He left them to themselves. Here, then, are the two ways: on the one hand, the response to The call of that ideal which is indeed beyond our petty selves, but the utterance at the same time of the deepest reality of the self; on the other, the assertion of the self and its immediate claims. Since the first is in harmony with the moral structure of the universe, it opens before the soul unending vistas of life, and since the other is in ultimate conflict with the nature of reality, it leads through self assertion to the destruction of the self." [49]
That was the position of Dean Matthews in January, 1930.
In 1930 the view of DR. JAMES MOFFATT, [50] famous Bible translator-scholar, while serving as a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, was set forth in an article appearing in the then-standard weekly, The Literary Digest. He questioned the preponderant view of Eternal Torment for the wicked—as well as that of the "another chance" concept. He stated, in fact, that the soul's fate might be "annihilation" but not Eternal Torment. He challenged the allegation that the human "personality" is by nature "an undying possession."
48 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
49 Ibid.
50 JAMES MOFFATT (1870-1944), of the Free Church of Scotland, New Testament scholar, taught at Mansfield College, Oxford (1911-1915), United Free Church College, Glasgow in New York City (1927-1940). Author (1915-1927), and Union Theological Seminary of several volumes, as well as a seventeen-volume commentary on the New Testament. His most widely known work is his complete translation of the Bible into colloquial phrasing, which made full use of modern studies in Hellenistic Greek.
He even spoke with favour of Conditional Immortality—and by name at that—which is the complete antithesis of Platonism, and which latter he placed over against the concept of Scripture. Here were his frank words, reported in the Digest:
"But hell may not be a soul's damnation in that terrible torment which an older generation was wont to picture, or another chance for purification and redemption, or the acute agony of a remorseful soul. It may be annihilation. Prof. James Moffatt, translator of the Bible into modern speech and a professor at Union Theological Seminary, recalls those words of Christ to His disciples: 'Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.' What do such words imply? asks Professor Moffatt:
"A God of awful authority, no doubt. But perhaps more than that. Is the soul capable of reaching an immortal value, or is it immortal essentially? On the scheme of Christian faith, may it be annihilated? Is personality an undying possession, or is it attained through obedience to the creative will of God alone? The implications of the Christian view of faith are not incompatible with the latter, and it is, I think, a fair question whether the view commonly called Conditional Immortality may not gain corroboration in the future. It is contrary to Platonism, but there is—not so much evidence against it in the message of Christianity as some appear to take for granted." [51]
Thus another scholarly voice, who taught on both sides of the Atlantic, at the beginning of the fourth decade of the twentieth century challenged the Platonic view of the soul as an undying entity, placing such over against the teaching of Scripture.
51 James Moffatt, "Hell," Literary Digest, April 5, 1930, p. 22. (Italics supplied.) There is no record of any challenge of this statement or any denial or modification by Dr. Moffatt. It stands on record.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Even more remarkable, up in the European Northland, just as the first decade of the twentieth century was closing, Swedish Lutheran Bishop JOHN PERSONNE, [1] of the diocese of Linkoping, wrote with characteristic Norse forthrightness that the traditional "doctrine of eternal suffering" for the damned is "both unbiblical and unreasonable."
This he affirmed in his printed "pastoral letter" to the clergy of his diocese. It was an obvious attempt to influence the views of both the clergy and the laity under his jurisdiction. It expressed his candid convictions and his deep concern. He was discussing orthodoxy's relationship to the Lutheran confessional writings. This notable communication from this leading cleric is so pertinent to the record of the early Continental witness of the century that I quote from it at some length.
JOHAN WILHELM PERSONNE (1849-1926), Lutheran received his training in the University of Uppsala. He became dean of the cathedral at Linkoping in 1897, and was consecrated bishop of Linkoping in 1910. In 1885 he was made secretary of the Bible Translation Commission, and from 1910 to 1917 was chairman until the Bible was translated—now the Standard Version. He regarded the Bible as the "eternally deciding" standard. He was critical of concepts and dogmas that did not square with its content. He authored about six major works, including a New Testament Commentary, and wrote more than five hundred articles for the standard encyclopedia Nordisk Familjebok. His 1910 "pastoral letter" created a tremendous stir.
1. MAN'S DESTINY—"WEAKEST POINT" IN CONFESSIONAL WRITINGS.—Questioning the validity of the traditional doctrine "concerning the state of the dead," and its relation to the "doctrine of the final things," Bishop Personne wrote candidly concerning the vague and unsatisfactory position of the confessional writings on the "intermediate state":
"'As pertains to these our confessional writings, there is a very important doctrine, which is treated very briefly, vaguely and unsatisfactorily. I mean the doctrine concerning the state of the dead, and in general the doctrine of the last things. This was, and still is, the weakest point of the Lutheran confessional writings. This is due to the Reformers' - fear of the Roman doctrine of purgatory and indulgence. In view of this, the "orthodox" presentations relative to the state of the dead and the final things are very ambiguous. I understand that it is still "orthodox" to teach that the destiny of man is decided when he dies, so that he then goes [immediately] to heaven or hell. The doctrine of an intermediate std between death and the final judgment is really yet considered heretical. But how shall we "orthodoxly" consider the final judgment? Shall the spirits of the dead be summoned together from heaven and hell to be clothed with their bodies and again be judged? Why they have already at death received their final judgment according to the old "orthodox" doctrine.' " [2]
2 John Personne, Till Prasterskapet i Linkopings stilt ("Pastoral Letter," 1910), p. 20. (Italics supplied.)
2. "INTERMEDIATE STATE" IS "KINGDOM OF DEATH."—Calling for a change in the confessional writings on this point, the bishop continues:
"'It is evident that we must think of an intermediate state between death and the judgment, which the Bible quite clearly teaches, namely "Hades" or "Kingdom of death". If in this doctrine there shall be order or reason—and that we Lutherans, both clergy and laity, have a right to demand—then our writings on this point must be considered in accordance with the teachings of the old [ancient] church. Indirectly this began twenty-eight years ago when in the New Testament and the apostolic confession of faith, the of Lutheran translation of "Hades" by "hell" was changed to the correct translation, "kingdom of death." ' [3]
3. DOGMA OF "ETERNAL SUFFERING" IS WHOLLY "UNBIBLI-CAL."—Personne next strikes heavy blows at the disputed "doctrine of eternal suffering" as being "unbiblical" and subject to legitimate challenge, according to the latitude accorded by the Form of Concord:
"'As far as I am concerned, I would wish further to change the doctrine concerning the state after death, for I must honestly confess, that I cannot believe the doctrine of an eternal suffering, because I consider it both unbiblical and unreasonable. And therefore I consider —with the privilege the Form of Concord gives me—the whole doctrine concerning the state of the dead and the final events, only as historical documents, which "show how the Holy Scriptures in various eras (here: in the period of the Book of Concord), as pertains to disputed articles within the church of God, were understood and interpreted by the teachers who lived then." [4]
"'The general theory of the confessional writings, that after death follows "the blessed state" or "damnation," I consider binding even on the orthodox Lutherans of the twentieth century, because this view is Biblical. On the contrary I do not consider that the twentieth century, loyal Lutherans are obliged to believe the doctrine of the Augsburg Confession regarding an eternal suffering—when "eternal," in harmony with our general usage of language, is taken to mean "without end"—because I consider this doctrine unbiblical.'"
3 Ibid., pp. 20. 21. (Italics supplied.)
4 Ibid., p. 21.
4. AUGSBURG CONFESSION DICTUM NOT FOUNDED ON BIBLE. —Challenging the Augsburg Confession's declaration "concerning the damned" as un-Biblical linguistically, the Bishop continues his contention, dealing with the limitations of the Greek words aion and aionios:
" 'The merciless words of the Latin Augsburg Confession concerning the damned in sec. 17 ("that they may be tormented without end") are not, according to my belief, founded on the Bible. In the first place the Biblical philology, according to the sharpened philological knowledge of our time, supports my view. Because in linguistic Bible questions it is the original language of the Bible, not any of our translations, that decides the matter. Regarding this, all informed Bible friends must agree.
" 'It is a fact that both the Hebrew and the Greek, the New Testament Greek as well as the classical, lack words to express our conception of eternity. The word is translated by eternal (both as pertains to "life" and "eternal death," etc.) is, as is known, in Greek aionios. This adjective is formed from the noun aion which does not mean "eternity” ever thus translated in the New Testament, but it means "age" or "period of time." This word is used both as pertains to the present time or age and the future time or age.
"'For example, when Jesus in Matt. 12:32 says: "It shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age, neither in the world to come," aion is used in both places. Our old church Bible and the 1883 translation translate this less correctly "this world and the world to come.". . . It is sufficient to know that the meaning of eternity is not contained in aion, which is the Latin a eugm. But then it is also evident, that the meaning of eternity cannot properly be contained in the adjective aionios formed from aion. Literally it means "belonging to a time period," "lasting during a time period," "time age," if there were such a word in our language.' "[5]
5 Ibid., pp. 21, 22.
5. ANGUISH OF DAMNED PRECLUDES JOY FOR SAVED.—Personne poses a formidable question concerning any joy for the saved, if there is "endless torment and agony" for the damned, and particularly for one's "nearest of kin":
"'For me it is inexplainable how a person, who holds that orthodox view, can at any time have a glad moment in this life. He is constantly mingling with people whose final destiny will be to be "tormented eternally without end": and if he lives in a large community he hears almost daily the church bells announce—according to his "orthodox" view—that a human soul has been cast into the eternal torment, without end. To me it is even more inexplainable, that such an "Orthodox" person can expect even a happy moment to eternity, when he knows that contemporaneous y with his blessed estate, continue the endless torment and agony of innumerable millions of the accursed. Can he, if he loves his neighbours as himself, yes, even if he has just a little bit of human love and is not solely a selfish wretch, have even a single happy moment? For, according to such an orthodox person's doctrine, death would often be the door to eternal damnation and to endless agony for his nearest of kin. for his parents, his brothers and sisters, for his companion, and his children. How can such a person, unless he is extremely wanton, have a single happy moment?' " [6]
6. FRIGHTFUL INTERPRETATION INVOKED TO SUSTAIN FALLACY.—Bishop Personne closes this section of his amazing "pastoral letter" to the clergy by castigating the "miserable" exegesis sometimes invoked to sustain the eternal "agony of the lost" assumption.
Note the bishop's searching words:
" 'The exegesis, that for example in Rev. 21:4 "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes," etc., sees a guarantee that God shall cause the saved to forget the agony of the lost, that exegesis is so miserable that I am almost ashamed to mention it. And when I hear of a clergyman who rejects the apprehensions of his members concerning the eternal suffering with the exhortation: "Do not think about that, just see to it that you yourself will be saved," I have difficulty in not thinking mean things of him. Yes, one can even yet hear the old, frightful interpretation: when the blessed think about or hear the wailing of the lost, it augments their joy at the thought that they could have been in the same flames, but were saved; and in that feeling they drown with their songs of praise the wailings of the damned.
"'If in a fire a person were saved, while his parents, brothers and sisters, wife and children, and a multitude of others perished in the flames, and he, happy that he was rescued, would begin with songs of praise to drown the wailings of the others—what would we rightly say or think about such a person? Yet here it concerns only a suffering of short duration, not concerning an eternal fire and endless agony.' " [7]
Such, up in the far Northland, was the voice of one of Sweden's leading bishops, speaking out, back in 1910, against the unconcealable fallacy of the dogma of Eternal Torment, which—he viewed as but a holdover of the fabricated dogma of the dominant pre-Reformation, Medieval Church. His plea was not without effect.
6 Ibid., pp. 24, 25. (Italics supplied.)
7 Ibid., p. 25.
Even in the higher echelons of Catholicism unexpected statements have appeared that are singularly out of tune with the traditional papal positions on the nature and destiny of man. These constitute fringe voices in the far-flung chorus that knows no creedal boundaries. One such declaration was made by no less a personage than a cardinal in the very city of Rome —highly trained Cardinal Lunovico BILLOT, [8] who for twenty-five years taught dogmatic theology at the Gregorian Pontifical University in Vatican City, a graduate institution. He was therefore thoroughly acquainted with Catholic theology and Roman tradition.
In a book titled La Parousie ("The Parousia”, issued in 1920, the cardinal touches on two points coming within the scope of our quest. We do not set Billot forth as a Conditionalist, but as having taken a long step in that direction—away from the traditional papal position shared by many Protestants. Here is a succession of illuminating statements appearing in his volume dealing with the Second Advent in relation to every individual's unchanged condition between the time of death and the time of the judgment.
8 Lunovico (Louis) BILLOT, S.J. (1846-1931), French cardinal, was trained at the Seminary of Blois. After occupying the chair of dogmatic theology at Angers, he taught dogmatic theology for twenty-five years at the Pontificia Universitas Gregoriana in Rome. He was active in the controversy against Modernism. Named Cardinal-deacon in 1911, he re-signed in 1927, and retired to a Jesuit novitiate at Rocca di Papa. He had adopted the principles of Action Francaise, and when they were condemned in 1926, he left the college. His book La Parousie, was consequently written in the midst of his cardinalate. He was author of a dozen works.
1. MAN'S FATE FIXED IMMOVABLY AT DEATH.—Billot declares that everyone's destiny is settled forever at the moment of death. His condition will continue unchanged to the day of judgment at the end of the world. It will not have varied when the Son of man comes later in the clouds of heaven. That, Billot says, is the dictum of Scripture. Note three of his explicit statements:
"'Thus, death fixes us forever in the moral state in which it finds us, without leaving us any possibility of ever changing it. Thus, before the tribunal of Jesus Christ, the inquiry will deal solely with that which we have done, whether good or whether evil, while in the body. Thus, at the precise instant when the soul is separated from the body, takes place the particular judgment of which the last judgment will be but a repetition or solemn confirmation.
"'Thus, for each one of us who dies, everything is, with regards to the salvation of the soul, exactly as it would be if the entire interval between the last day of our life and the moment of the Parousia were eliminated, exactly as it would be if the one coincided punctually and mathematically with the other, and we were seized by death only to be immediately cast at the feet of the Judge, before the face of the Son of man arriving in the clouds of heaven with the great power and great majesty described to us in the Gospel. This is what has always been believed in the Church.
"'This is what is formally taught in the Scriptures—in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament. This is what no one has ever attempted to refute with any resource of critique—no, not even in the recent Modernist school any more than in all the schools whose heritage it has gathered and whose procedures of demolition it has perfected.' " [9]
A few pages farther on he repeats the same thought:
"'Death, in seizing him, fixes him in the state, whether of grace, whether of damnation, in which the great day of universal judgment will find him.' " [10]
The thought is similarly expressed on an earlier page. It is so reiterated that there is no possibility of misunderstanding. Thus:
"'In the state in which man is found on the last day of his life, in this very state will he be found on the last day of the world, and that, as he was on the day of his death, so will he be judged on this day.' " [11]
That, of course, contravenes the common Catholic position of the purification wrought by the fires of Purgatory. But according to Billot, there is no change during the interim between death and the Second Advent.
9 Ludovico Billot, La Parousie, p. 143. (Italics supplied.)
10 Ibid., p. 166. (Italics supplied.)
11 Ibid., p. 141. (Italics supplied.)
2. SLEEPS IN DEATH UNTIL GENERAL AWAKENING.—Cardinal Billot also significantly stresses the related fact that death, in Scripture, is denominated "sleep"—sleep until the hour of final awakening. Here are two statements:
"'Who does not know, after all, that in the Scriptures of the New Testament death is constantly presented as a sleep? That therein the dead are currently called those that sleep, and those who die those who fall asleep? (Matt. 27:52; John 11:11; 1 Cor. 7:39, and 15:6, 18, 20; 1 Thess. 4:12-14; etc.).— " [12]
"'And this is what, in all hypotheses, will put them in a category altogether apart from that of the other dead, who go down into the grave there to sojourn and sleep until the happy hour of the general awakening.' " [13]
This is likewise a most remarkable position for a Roman Catholic, and a prelate at that, to take. It is actually one of the three basic postulates of Conditionalism. One wonders whether these declarations had any bearing upon his resignation.
Soon after the turn of the century Anglican Rector G. WALLER [14] produced a very valuable handbook, it might be called, containing nearly sixty tabular charts listing and classifying all the Hebrew and Greek words for soul, spirit, life, breath, grave, hell, immortality, sleep, asleep, punishment, et cetera, involved in the immortality question. The tabulated texts are conveniently printed in sequence, with paralleling original-language and matching English verses in their variant forms. These form the basis for his conclusions and observations. Nothing that the present writer has seen is quite comparable to it. (Photo on page 768.)
12 Ibid., p. 164. (Italics supplied.)
13 Ibid., p. 184. (Italics supplied.)
14 GEORGE WALLER (c. 1857-1912), Anglican, was trained at Trinity College, Dublin. He was successively curate of Havant, Seaforth, Liverpool, Leamington, and Welling, and then rector of St. John the Baptist, and St. George's, Stamford England. His marriage in 1882 into a family of some means evidently made it possible Tor him to retire from full-time service in 1891 to devote himself to research writing and publication of Biblical View of the Soul and Biblical Concordance on the Soul.
Equipped with an excellent knowledge of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and endowed with an analytical and logical mind, as well as advantaged by having before him the over-all evidence of Scripture—obtained from his unique tables and classifications of all key Hebrew and Greek words or phrases bearing on the subject—and motivated by a reverent loyalty to the sovereignty of the Inspired Word, Waller came to remarkably sound major conclusions. These conclusions provide tangible support for the principles and precepts of Biblical Conditional-ism. And these tabular comparisons, it might be added, sometimes include supplemental evidence from the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate usages.
Waller's philological skills, his proficiency in the areas of etymology, grammar, and semantics—as well as his acquaintance with the historical developments involved in the great Christian deviation resulting from the adoption of Platonic Immor-tal-Soulism—have resulted in an unusual contribution in this field. Conditionalist literature is the richer, and the case for Conditionalism the more invulnerable, because of his valuable production. Exegesis, interpretation of problem passages, and pertinent challenges of faulty K.J.V. translations are interspersed throughout his scholarly tables, these features helping to make it a reference classic for Conditionalists.
Waller's Biblical View of the Soul is divided into five parts: (1) The Biblical View of Soul, with appropriate subdivisions; (2) The Biblical View of Sheol (Hades, Infernus, Inferus—The Place of the Dead, or Gravedom); (3) The Biblical View of Spirit; (4) The Biblical View of the Mortality of Man; and (5) A Summary. Part I includes the "Mortality of the Soul" and "Subject to Death." Part II is on where "Nephesh Goes After Death," and "The Place of the Dead or Gravedom." Part IV deals with "The Mortality of Man." And Part V presents The Summary, stressing "The Resurrection of the Dead, the Great Central Hope of the Christian Church." Now let us continue.
1. ALL FACULTIES AND POWERS CEASE AT DEATH.—Let US now note a series of illustrative excerpts. For instance, under man as a person, or living organism, Waller says that in death all the faculties and powers of mind and body cease to function. No separate entity persists:
"In the following twenty-two places in the Old Testament Scriptures, where the Hebrew word Nephesh occurs, it is translated in the English Authorised Version -by the word soul; and has reference to a living material Organism or body, possessed of the faculties and powers of mind and body, as existing in a living person or man, which God threatens to cut off, or destroy by death; when all the faculties and powers of mind and body heretofore exercised through the brain, blood, nerves, and senses of the living material Organism or body naturally cease, and the whole material Organism or body, deprived of life, returns to dust and corruption." [15]
Man, he states, "is capable of death or destruction, unless saved or delivered, and is therefore clearly mortal, being subject to death." [16]
2. TOTAL UNCONSCIOUSNESS IN "GRAVEDOM."—Unconsciousness in death is set forth under "The Place of the Dead, Gravedom." After listing and quoting the sixty-five occurrences — of Sheol and Hades, with their Latin equivalent Infernus, Waller comments:
"From the above translations it is clear that Sheol and Hades, Infernus and Inferus, to which the soul and body are said to go after \ death, is not a place of life or of consciousness, of happiness or misery, but of darkness and death; it is said to be in the dust, with the worms under and covering those in it, where death feeds on those who are there.; a place of silence, in which there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, no remembrance of God, no power of praising God, or hoping for his truth; What can this place be but gravedom, as it is so frequently translated, the grave? and what can hell [shed] of the Old "Testament be but the hole or grave in which the dead are buried?" [17]
1. FIRES OF "GEHENNA" ONLY AFTER RESURRECTION.—Coming to the contrasting Gehenna (hell-fire, hell), he tersely observes: "It [Gehenna] is described as the place into which the impenitent will be cast body and soul, in a living state after the Resurrection.'
But Waller's main emphasis is not on the fate of the wicked, but on that of the righteous. He occasionally quotes from authorities like Bishop B. F. Westcott (d. 1901), formerly professor of divinity at the University of Cambridge, as on pages 41 and 42.
15 G. Waller, The Biblical View of the Soul, p. 7.
16 Ibid., p. 16.
17 Ibid., p. 38. (Note: All italics are Waller's in this and all succeeding quotations.)
18 Ibid., p. 41.
4. As ALL POWERS CEASE, So ALL POWERS RESTORED.—In a prefatory statement on the Hebrew word ruach, for wind, breath, spirit, and the Greek, Latin, and English equivalents, Waller states:
"As, then, under the word Soul in the former part of this work it has been shown that every Being in a living Organism or body is possessed more or less of the powers of Breathing, Thinking, Moving, through living powers inherent in that Organism or body, so it is reasonable conclude that when that Organism or body is deprived of life all these powers should cease, till, as in the case of Man, he is raised again, as all the dead, according to the teaching of Scripture, will be raised again, at the Resurrection, at the last day. Nor is there in any of the 1,143 places where the words Soul and Spirit are used in the Old Testament Scriptures, nor in the 491 places where the words Soul and Spirit are used in the New Testament, any reference to their existence or to their happiness or misery, in any Intermediate State, outside of a living Organism or body, as will be more fully referred to. Man goes to death for want of breath, and he rises to life, by God v/ imparting breath to the organism recreated." [19, 20]
5. INNATE IMMORTALITY OF "HEATHEN ORIGIN."—Doubtless the most striking and forceful section in the book is Part IV, on "The Mortality of Man." Here is the comprehensive introductory paragraph:
"'The Immortality of the Soul' is a doctrine of Heathen Origin. It was held by the Pagan Priests of Chaldea, Babylonia, and Egypt, centuries before the Christian Era; and by Pythagoras the Philosopher, who taught the pre-existence and transmigration of souls. After him it was taught by Socrates, a most celebrated heathen philosopher, and after him by Plato and the Platonists, from which sect sprang some of the earliest heresies of the Christian Church of the first four centuries. The doctrine of the existence of the soul or spirit of man in happiness or misery after death, independent of the body, is nowhere to be found in the Old or New Testament Scriptures; whilst in the New Testament the Resurrection of the body is everywhere held up as the great central hope or the Christian Church." [21]
19 Ibid., p. 44.
20 Ibid., p. 111.
21 Ibid., p. 65.
4. DEATH AND MORTALITY FROM DISOBEDIENCE.—Turning to the Biblical account of the origin of man in Genesis 2, and the temptation and Fall in chapter 3, Waller makes this important comment:
"From the above quotation we learn, that man was created from dust, a material Organism or body, perfect in every part, fitted for he exercise of all the powers and faculties of mind and body for which he was created, through the means of the senses, of seeing, hearing, etc., with which he was endowed, and which were in the body; but, different from the lower Animals, he was gifted with the power of Reason, by which he would be able to know and understand, and follow tie will of his Creator, when revealed. But this Organism or body was lifeless, until 'God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life;' then, and not till then, life and motion became apparent in every part, and man 'became a living soul,' or person; capable of exercising all those powers of mind and body with which God had endowed this Organism, and would have continued to use them, and for ever, but for the sin of disobedience, by reason of which he was to be deprived of the perpetual use and exercise of them, and was to realize the dreadful sentence of the curse, in being driven out of the Paradise of Eden, with death and mortality begun." [22]
7. NO DISEMBODIED "SPIRITS" SURVIVE DEATH.—On death, as involving the complete cessation of all life in the intermediate state, Waller repeats and then declares further:
"The Biblical view of death, therefore, is a perfect cessation of all the powers and faculties of mind and body, as they have been exercised in a living material Organism or body, when 'the dust shall return to the earth as it was; and the spirit,' that is the breath or life of all men (good or bad), 'shall return unto God who gave it,' Eccl. 12.7." [23]
Now note:
"Nor, on the other hand, is there any mention of the existence of the righteous or of the souls, or of the spirits of the righteous, in any place of happiness after death apart from their bodies until their Resurrection." [24]
8. "SLEEP" IMPLIES UNCONSCIOUSNESS AND LATER AWAKENING.—As to the Biblical term "sleep," Waller says succinctly:
"The sleep of man in death is referred to in sixty-eight places; the figure sleep implying a state of unconsciousness, of all the powers and faculties of mind and body, death being a long sleep; and pointing, necessarily, to an awakening and resuscitation of them." [25]
22 Ibid., p. 67.
23 Ibid., p 68.
24 Ibid., p. 69.
25 Ibid.
9. No RESURRECTION OF LOWER ANIMALS.—Continuing the analysis of the four Hebrew words for lying down in sleep, Waller adds:
"The figure sleep implying not only a state of unconsciousness of every part and power, of Body, Soul, and Spirit; but also a future Awakening, or Resurrection, or Resuscitation of the man, with the restoration of all his faculties and powers; but there is no Resurrection of the Lower Animals referred to in any of the books of the Old or New Testament Scriptures?" [26]
10. MAN'S PRE-EMINENCE OVER THE BEASTS.—An example of comment on a given text, such as Ecclesiastes 3:19, is the following, comparing and contrasting man and beast:
"All animal life has apparently one breath. In one respect the death a man and beast is alike; they both return to dust, and perish (Ps. 49.12). But there is a difference between them. The spirit or breath, or life of man, 'returns to God who gave it' (12.7), to imply that man shall be raised again to life, to eternal reward or punishment, which is not said of beasts; so chat man has pre-eminence over a beast, though apparently in death he has none." [27]
11. No IMMORTALITY UNTIL RESURRECTION.—Coming to Immortal, Immortality, Incorruption, and Incorruptible in the New Testament, as to man, he says these provisions are only for the righteous, and then only after the resurrection. The righteous are "promised a Resurrection to immortality or eternal life, but not until the Resurrection and Judgment, or separation of all men at the last day." [28]
12. RESURRECTION RECONSTITUTES COMPLETE ORGANISM.—Continuing with the New Testament terms, Waller reiterates for emphasis:
"Man is said to sleep in death (not his body, for matter is never said to sleep, but his person); the figure sleep implying, not only a state of unconsciousness of every power and faculty of body, soul, and spirit; but also a future awakening, or resuscitation of the man, with the restoration of all his faculties and powers of mind and body in a living material Organism or person: and necessarily excludes any capability of reward or punishment,7rhappiness or misery, until the Resurrection, when all these faculties and powers of mind and body will re-exist in a living material Organism or Person." [29]
26 Ibid., p. 97.
27 Ibid p. 107.
28 Ibid., p. 112.
29 Ibid., p. 113.
13. No CONSCIOUSNESS DURING INTERMEDIATE STATE.—Waller closes this section of Part IV, on Hades in The Apostles' Creed, with this emphatic comment:
"Hades has already been referred to in this work, as 'the state or place of the dead, gravedom'; and it is a most powerful and unanswerable argument in favour of this assertion, as the teaching of Scripture, from cover to cover, that there is not any instance in the Old or New Testament Scriptures of any person who was raised from the dead, having any consciousness of any existence in soul or body or spirit, in the intermediate state, or Hades." [30]
14. SAMPLERS FROM TEN SUMMARIZING POINTS.—Part V, "The Summary," gives a comprehensive epitome of the detailed evidence of the major sections of the volume. Space forbids adequate coverage of the ten major points that are presented in four pages. But here the evidence is finalized along with strictures on inadequate English translations. Three excerpts must suffice:
"Now from these [OT] passages it must be clear, that the existence of the living soul depends upon the blood as well as upon the breath, in a living Organism or body, so that when the blood ceases to circulate in Man or in the Lower Animals, all the faculties and powers of soul and body necessarily cease. But how could this Biblical truth, distinctly stated in these passages, be gathered from the text of the English Authorised Version, when the Translators have in each of these seven quotations substituted life as the translation of Nephesh (soul) without any marginal note of the fact?" [31]
"Hence the popular opinion, that Christ's soul was not poured out unto death, as being incapable of death; some affirming that it went after death to happiness in heaven; others supposing that it went to happiness after death to that part of Hades, reserved, as they hold, for the souls of the righteous; others affirming that it went to Paradise with the soul of the penitent thief, for which there is no authority in Scripture; whilst others affirmed that it went to another part of Hades; in which the spirits which were disobedient in the days of Noah were imprisoned, and 'preached to them' as supposed by them to be referred to in 1 Pet. 3. 16; but in no case did they accept the fact, that it was 'poured out unto death'; though it is distinctly stated in each of these New Testament quotations in the use of the Greek word Psukee." [32]
"The words Sheol (Hades) and Gehenna are completely different in their character; in Sheol (Hades), all men are said to sleep alike, the wicked resting there from their troubles till the Resurrection, but with‘ out hope; the righteous resting there 'in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life'; whilst Gehenna is referred to as the place of punishment, for the lost, and is frequently associated with fire." [33]
30 Ibid., p. 122.
31 Ibid., p. 124.
32 Ibid.
33 Ibid., p. 126.
In the closing sentence under point ten, Waller stresses again the principle of "the complete cessation of all the powers and faculties of mind and body in man at death till the Resurrection." [34]
That is the gist of Waller's contribution, here given for reference. He emphasizes the two principles of the nature of man and his state in death.
34 Ibid.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
We must banish from our minds any impression that forceful discussion of Bible evidence on the nature and destiny of man is largely confined to Anglo-Saxon treatises formulated in Britain and North America. One of the ablest published discussions in this third decade was produced by a noted Swedish bishop. In fact, this chapter includes the witness of three Swedish bishops—Nygren, Andrae, and Cullberg. We will open with the first. Then we will swing back and forth across the Atlantic in the chronological sequence of the published items.
As intimated, a remarkable contribution in the field of our quest was made by scholarly Bishop ANDERS NYGREN, [1] of Lund, Sweden. His book, Agape and Eros, [2] appearing in 1938-1939, is the most systematic treatise in the area produced by any modern Swedish theologian. Outstandingly scholarly and thoroughly documented, the book was translated into English in 1951 by the able Dr. Philip S. Watson, of Handsworth Methodist College, of Birmingham, England. The reprinting from this new translation shows that the volume is regarded as having permanent value.
1 ANDERS NYGREN (1890-1958) was trained at the University of Lund. After a period of pastoral ministry he became professor of systematic theology at Lund in 1924, was president of the Lutheran World Federation (1947-1952), and was consecrated Bishop of Lund—in-1924. He has been active in several Ecumenical councils, and is a member of the Study Department of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches. He has written several theological works, some of which are translated into other languages.
2 These two Greek words for love "represent two quite distinct ideas of love"—one (Eros), "prevalent in the ancient Hellenistic world."
1. PLATONISM AND CHRISTIANITY IN BATTLE AND COMPROMISE.—Bishop Nygren first contrasts the Platonic "Eros" with the New Testament "Agape," and then traces their "life-and-death struggle," and final "settlement by compromise" in the Christian Church. They belong, he says, to "two entirely separate spiritual worlds." [3] Then comes this important statement on the "Eros" penetration into Christianity:
"At a later stage Christianity received through Platonism (or Neo-Platonism) what we might call an official contribution from the Eros motif. When Platonism found its way into Christianity, or—to put it another way—when Christianity tried to express itself in Platonic terms, the Agape motif inevitably underwent a transformation." [4]
That was the great compromise.
3 Anders Nygren, Agape and Eros (tr. by Philip S. Watson. Published 1953. The Westminster Press. Used by permission.), pp. 30, 31.
4 Ibid., p. 54.
2. ORPHIC "SOUL," BODY-PRISON, AND "LIBERATION."— Turning next to the Greek "Orphic doctrine of salvation"—the "way of purification," with its "goal" as the "final reunion of the soul with the Divine and its absorption into it" [5]—Nygren says concerning the Greek dualism:
"This conception of the double nature of man, of the Divine origin and quality of the soul, *its liberation from the things of sense, and its ascent to its original Divine home, is the common basis on which every theory of Eros rests." [6]
This includes the widespread "conception of the body as the prison-house of the soul, the idea of the transmigration of souls, belief in the soul's natural immortality." [7] This divine spark, this "fragment"—man's "essential being"—is to be retrieved, and returned to its "heavenly home." According to Greek philosophy— "the soul is a pearl which has sunk into the darkness at the bottom of the sea. It is this immortal, divine, essential being of man that the Mysteries seek to redeem. These scattered Divine sparks are to be led back and absorbed into the primal Divine fire. Man is the offspring of God; the rational part of his nature is a fragment of the Divine cosmic reason. What he needs, therefore, is to be made aware of the degradation of his present state, put off the earthly trappings that prevent his true nature from coming to light, and being thus purified ascend to his heavenly home." [8]
According to such, "the human soul is fundamentally a Divine being." [9] That is the Greek Eros concept.
3. "EROS"—INNATE IMMORTALITY; "AGAPE"—RESURREC-TION.—Discussing next the "Platonic dualism" and its notion of the "pre-existent state of the soul," Nygren dwells on the conflicting "two sets of ideas" that are "connected with the Eros motif and the Agape motif." [10] They are, in reality, fundamentally opposite, though often confused. Note carefully that innate "immortality" is the essence of the Platonic concept of the soul:
"When Plato speaks of the soul, the thought of the immortality of the soul is always present. Immortality is a natural endowment of the soul, which bespeaks its Divine origin. All that is required is that the soul should purify itself and set itself free from its bondage to sense in order to return to its Divine origin. The Divine life of immortality is its normal condition." [11]
5 Ibid., p. 164.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
8 Ibid., p. 165.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid., pp. 169, 172, 224.
Next note the vital Agape "resurrection" contrast: "This idea of the natural immortality of the soul is completely foreign to the Agape motif. Instead, we find a belief in the resurrection of the dead. In the course of history these two—belief in die immortality of the soul and belief in the resurrection of the dead—have constantly been blended together; yet in fact they belong to two opposite religious and ethical worlds." [12]
The contrast is impressive. "Eternal Life" is not based on any human "endowment," but on the "act of God":
"Wherever the natural immortality of the soul becomes the fundamental religious dogma, we can be fairly certain that we are within the sphere of Eros. But where the Agape motif is dominant, it regularly expresses itself in belief in the resurrection of the dead. If participation in the eternal life of God is possible for man, the possibility is not based on any natural quality or endowment of man, but simply and solely on) a mighty act of God. Just as it is God who makes the sinner righteous; so it is God who makes the dead to live." [13]
Then Nygren remarks that man is an "entirety":
"Resurrection is the sign-manual of the Divine Agape. It has nothing to do with the contrast between soul and body, as if one part of man's being were by nature divine and immortal while the other was impure and perishable. Death is the judgment of God upon human life in its entirety, and resurrection is the renewal of human life, likewise entirety, by God's love." [14]
That is the heart of the Nygren contention.
11 Ibid., p. 224. (Italics supplied.)
12 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid., pp. 224, 225.
4. INNATE IM MORTALITY CONCEPT HELD "NOT CHRISTIAN." —The basic destination and provision of the Christian goal is the "resurrection." This principle is emphasized by Tatian and Justin. Innate Immortality and resurrection are opposites. Nygren's historical build-up is not only impressive but soundly accurate:
"The ancient Church differs most of all from Hellenism in its belief in Resurrection. Christian tradition affirmed the 'Resurrection of the flesh,' which the Apologists opposed to the Hellenistic doctrine of the 'Immortality of the soul.' The antithesis was conscious and intentional, for at no point so much as this was their opposition to the Hellenistic spirit felt by the early Christians. The Platonic, Hellenistic doctrine of the Immortality of the soul seemed to the Apologists a godless and blasphemous doctrine, which above all they must attack and destroy. Their motto in this regard might well be Tatian's word: 'Not immortal, 0 Greeks, is the soul in itself, but mortal. Yet it is possible for it not to die.'
"The difference between Christian and non-Christian in this matter was so great that belief in the 'Resurrection of the flesh' could become a shibboleth. One who believes in the 'Immortality of the soul’ shows thereby that he is not a Christian. As Justin says: 'If you have fallen in with some who are called Christians and who say that there is no resurrection of the dead, but that their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven; do not imagine that they are Christians.' " [15]
Moreover, Greek innatism is a "blasphemous" assault on "God's divinity":
"In the Platonic, Hellenistic view, immortality is a native possession of the human soul. But such a doctrine, from the Christian point of view, is in line with the Fall; it is man's attempt to make himself like God, to make himself God; it is an assault on God's divinity. Instead of taking eternal life from God's hand as a gift of his unmerited Agape, man insists that he possesses it in his own right in virtue of the divine nature of the soul. That is why the idea is godless and blasphemous." [16] Justin, on the contrary, insisted "God alone is eternal and incorruptible." Life for man is ever and always a "gift':
"The human soul lives, not because it is life, as God, but because it has life, because God imparts life to it. Life does not belong to the soul as it belongs to God. If man that dies does not remain in death, that can only be due to an act of the Divine will." [17]
And Tatian held a similar view. But not all so believed. There was a growing division of view.
15 Ibid., pp. 280, 281. Nygren gives the precise documentation for all quotations.
16 Ibid., p. 281.
17 Ibid., p. 282.
18 Ibid., p. 284.
5. ORIGEN: BODY IS SPIRIT'S "PRISON-HOUSE."—After noting again the "Hellenistic view" that "the body is the prison and tomb of the immortal, divine spirit, [18] Nygren comes to Tertullian's pronounced "Catholic Faith," and his eternal retribution-suffering emphasis. Speaking of the Alexandrian "philosophical syncretism," Nygren says: "The fusion of the Eros and Agape motifs, which had occurred personally in Clement of Alexandria, is systematically worked out by Origen." [19]
This "Platonic philosopher," Origen, "pours the content of the Christian faith into Greek moulds, but he produces a real religious synthesis." [20]
Origen never deviated from Dualism. On this Nygren is emphatic. He cites Origen:
"Man has thus a dual nature: on the one hand, the fallen spirit, on the other, the body which is the spirit's prison house. It is indisputable that Origen holds the Hellenistic belief in the 'Immortality of the soul.' Thus, in Origen, primitive Christian eschatology is replaced by a spiritualizing evolutionary process." [21, 22, 23]
6. IRENAEUS REJECTS "NATURAL IMMORTALITY" CONCEPT. —Turning, in contrast, to Irenaeus, Nygren stresses his fidelity to the primitive Agape faith. Life is not inherent in man. Such a view is a "rejection" of God:
"The heretics, following Hellenistic tradition, spoke of the 'Immortality of the soul' as something inseparable from its 'nature' or essence; but to Irenaeus this is vain conceit, ingratitude to God and rejection of Him—'as if we had life from ourselves.' [24]
In contradistinction to Greek "natural immortality" Irenaeus stoutly affirms:
"Our life, present and future alike, is absolutely dependent on the will of God. Our whole being therefore, spirit, soul, and body, possesses life because and for so long as God wills that we shall live; and when He sometime recalls us to life in the Resurrection, even then we shall live only because it is His will, and not by reason of any given necessity of our nature.’ [25]
19 Ibid., p. 368.
20 Ibid., p. 369.
21 Mid, p. 384.
22 /bid., p. 385.
23 Ibid., p. 386.
24 Ibid., p. 404.
25 Ibid., p. 405.
26 Ibid., p. 406.
Thus Irenaeus "in the interests of the idea of Agape . . . combats the idea of 'Natural Immortality.' " [26] Nygren's considered conclusion is:
"When mortal and corruptible flesh becomes, in the Resurrection, immortal and incorruptible, obviously this transformation is not due to its own nature, but to the operation of the Lord, who can give the mortal immortality and the corruptible incorruptibility. If man's body represents the very essence of mortality, it in particular is the object of the deed of Divine might, the Resurrection." [27]
Such is the remarkable witness of Bishop Nygren of Sweden. It reminds one of the stalwart championship of Petavel of Switzerland, in 1890.
We now turn to England. Professor JAMES ALEXANDER FINDLAY, [28] noted educator, was for thirty years professor of New Testament at Didsbury College, at the University of Bristol. In The British Weekly, of May 4, 1933, in a column called "The Correspondence of Prof. J. Alexander Findlay," he discusses the propounded question "Is Immortality an Inalienable Possession of Man?" and makes several valuable statements.
"CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY" AND "DESTRUCTIVE FIRE."—Commenting on a "very remarkable book" by Dr. J. Y. Simpson, professor at New College, Edinburgh, titled Man and the Attainment of Immortality, and answering several inquiries on the "fundamental" question of Conditional Immortality, Find-lay declares man to be "capable of becoming sons of God" but not being such "by nature." True life, he holds, depends upon entering into "fellowship with God." It is brought about by the individual "response to the gift of grace." If man fails to enter into that relationship he will ultimately "become extinct." Find-lay stressed the destructive reality of the fire that will consume the wicked. The issue before man is, in a word, "immortality or extinction," and man must make the "ultimate choice."
27 Ibid., pp. 407, 408.
28 JAMES ALEXANDER FINDLAY, Methodist pastor and teacher, was trained at Magdalen College, Cambridge University. He was minister successively at Wrexham, Birmingham, Cardiff, and Wakefield. From 1919 to 1949 he taught New Testament at Didsbury College, a Methodist institution affiliated with the University of Bristol. He was author of several books, chiefly commentaries on the Gospels, acts of the apostles, and the teachings of Jesus.
It is in this setting that Findlay says:
"The more closely I study my Bible, the more convinced I am that this is the substance of its teaching, and that the doctrine of conditional immortality thus understood is both entirely reasonable and consistent with the mercy as well as the justice of God. It gives a meaning to some of the sterner words of Jesus, which we are only too ready to explain away as merely figurative. Against all such sentimental dilutions of our Lord's most solemn warnings I protest with all the force at my command: we must take them seriously. The 'quenchless fire' of which He so often speaks is not a tormenting, but a destructive, fire, and is a terrible reality." [29]
"Some men may so persistently refuse the call of God in Jesus on this side and the other that they may be incapable of response, and then the kindest thing is to let them become extinct." [30]
Thus, Findlay adds, they will have "actually perished." [31]
A passing word must be given to Dean ALBERT C. KNUDSON, of the Boston University School of Theology, who states that there is a growing feeling that the notion of eternal punishing is inconsistent with the goodness of God.' The Eternal Torment tradition does not adequately take into account the fact of human freedom. And Knudson dissents from the view that if all are not saved, God's purpose in creation is therefore thwarted—because of this very element of man's freedom. [32, 33, 34]
29 James Alexander Findlay, "Is Immortality an Inalienable Possession of Man?" British Weekly, May 4, 1933 p. 84.
30 Ibid.
31 Ibid.
32 ALBERT C. KNUDSON (1873-1953), Methodist, was trained at Minnesota, Boston, Jena, and Berlin universities. He was professor at Boston University School of Theology (1906-1943), and was dean. Author of about eighteen volumes, he stressed the Arminian position.
33 See Albert C. Knudson, The Doctrine of Redemption, pp. 403, 503.
34 Ibid., pp. 503ff
As mentioned, the international scope of the revolt against the Platonic Innate Immortality postulate as a pagan intrusion —and its corollary, the Eternal Torment of the wicked—is impressive. We note another witness, again in Scandinavia. According to Prof. Dr. Hjalmar Lindroth, in 1929 a Swedish association for a new reformation (Sveriges religiosa reform-forbund) was founded by Emanuel Linderholm. In fact, the organization published a journal, Religion och kultur. Various men of eminence gave support to its objectives and emphasis. For example, there was Bishop TOR JULIUS ANDRAE, [35] of Linkoping, Sweden.
1. DEATH MEANS DESTRUCTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS.—In his book Det Osynligas Varld ("The Unseen World"), Bishop Andrae wrote concerning "consciousness" in death: "If death means the dissolution of the cell formation that constituted our personality, it must mean the destruction of our consciousness." [36]
Deploring the widespread acceptance of Spiritualism as "depressing," the bishop places upon Platonism responsibility for the popular belief in Innate Immortality:
"Plato's thoughts concerning the soul have become determinative for the thought and belief of millenniums, the foundation for the doctrine of the Christian Church, and the basis for the philosophical speculation." [37]
2. RESURRECTION OF BODY AND SOUL AS "ENTITY."—Bishop Andrae likewise expresses concern over the connection of Innate Immortality with primitive animism and its implications, fearing it will alter the concept of continuing "human personality." [38] He also notes the intrusion of Dualism. Then, turning to the positive and scriptural side, the Bishop feels it to be his "duty" to state "why the resurrection appears to me to give the deepest expression for the Christian belief in eternal life." It provides "real life in a real world." This is based on the resurrection, and of body and soul as an "entity," not with the soul as an emaciated shadow with a discarnate-soul existence.
35 TOR JULIUS E. ANDRAE (1885-1947), Swedish Lutheran bishop, was professor of comparative religions in Stockholm in 1927, and at Uppsala in 1939. He became minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs and Public Instruction in 1936, and bishop of Linkoping, in the same year. A specialist in comparative religions and the psychology of religion, tie was a member of the Swedish Academy.
36 Tor Julius E. Andrae, Del Osynligas Varld (tr. by H. O. Olson), pp. 56, 57.
37 Ibid., pp. 85, 86.
38 Ibid., p. 89.
As to the Biblical truth, Bishop Andrae says:
"It [the Bible] tells us that the life which we expect in the coming age, will be a real life in a real world. The belief in the resurrection grants the right to the clear and inescapable view of the natural, non-confused sense concerning the human being as an entity of soul and body. It delivers us from the gloomy conception of an eternally brooding, enfeebled, non-productive soul-existence, an existence without being or doing, which is more terrifying than death itself." [39]
So, wherever we turn we find essentially the same concern and virtually the same developing concepts and expressions. There is an undeniably harmonizing chorus of dissent against the traditional view of the nature of man.
The book And the Life Everlasting (1934), by Scottish Dr. JOHN BAILLIE, [40] professor of divinity at the University of Edinburgh, was originally a course of lectures at the Colgate-Rochester Divinity School in America, in 1932. Baillie's was yet another voice in the growing "current discussion" on the immortality question." [41] He begins with the source of the traditional view—the "primitive," or animistic, concept of "some kind of survival," with its "second self, or ghost, which, being released from the corpse at death, goes on to live a life of its own," with its "belief in immortality." [42]
1. PLATONISM TRACED BACK TO ANIMISTIC SOURCES.—Turning next to Platonism's postulate that the "soul is immortal and indestructible," [43] Baillie terms Plato's philosophy a "defence of animism"—that "all natural processes are ultimately due to the agency of souls." [44] To such, "to think of a soul as dying" is a "contradiction." But Platonic immortality was "an entirely disembodied kind"—a "shadowy second self," or "double." [45]
39 Ibid., p. 105.
40 JOHN BAILLIE, Anglican, was trained in the universities of Edinburgh, Jena, and Marburg. He was subsequently professor of Christian theology at Auburn Seminary, professor of systematic theology at the University of Toronto, and at Union Theological Seminary, then principal of New College, and dean of the faculty of divinity (1950-1956). He has been special lecturer in various universities and seminaries, and has authored a dozen works.
41 John Baillie, And the Life Everlasting (Yale University Press), p. v.
42 Ibid., p. 77.
43 Ibid., p. 79.
44 Ibid., p. 80.
45 Ibid., pp. 81, 92.
Out of all this there developed "Western monasticism" and "the doctrine of the immortality of the discarnate soul." [46]
Further, what the concomitant "doctrine of eternal punishment" does is "to make evil an eternal element in the universe," which Baillie labels as "Manichean dualism." This position he refers to as "repellent," with its "chamber of horrors eternally present." [47]
2. CONDITIONALIST POSITION MAY BE "RIGHT."—Professor Baillie thus comes to the question of choice between two "alternatives"—namely, innate or "conditional" immortality—and makes this important statement:
"If we reject the [pagan] doctrine of eternal evil, then we have to choose between the alternatives of conditional survival and universal restoration. And this choice is likely to be determined by our judgment 'on a single issue. The conditionalist holds that complete annihilation is the natural fate of souls from which every trace of the divine image has been effaced, and it may be that in this the conditionalist is right." [48]
In passing, Baillie speaks doubtingly of "universalism." [49]
3. THE HOPE OF CHRISTIAN EXPECTATION.—Recapitulating, Baillie refers to primitive "tribalism with its purely corporate ethic and immortality," and "Brahminism with its . . . reabsorption of all finite spirits into one general fund of spiritual life." Eliminating these, we are faced with "two remaining alternatives"—"pessimism," or the "hope of everlasting life with God." There is little solace in inherent "life," before described. "If we ourselves have indeed passed ... into the marvellous brightness of the Christian expectation, the praise is not to us but to the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ." [50] The implication is clear.
46 Ibid., p. Ill. (Italics supplied.)
47 Ibid., 13. 244.
48 Ibid., pp. 244, 245. (Italics supplied.)
49 Ibid., p. 245.
50 Ibid., pp. 286, 287.
51 JAMES S. STEWART (1896-), of the Church of Scotland, was trained at St. Andrews, Bonn, and New College. After a series of pastorates in 1947 he became professor of New Testament language, literature, and theology at the University of Edinburgh. He is author of seven volumes.
Church of Scotland's DAMES S. STEWART, [51] well-known professor of New Testament language, literature, and theology at the University of Edinburgh,
in his A, Man in Christ, likewise points out the error of the Greek concept of Innate Immortality—a spiritual entity persisting without a body, with death as the "escape" of the soul from its body prison. He stresses, instead, the Biblical necessity of the resurrection. He says, "Paul could not thus conceive a realm of disembodied spirits." Here is Stewart's key statement:
"Philosophy had taught the Greek to believe in a purely spiritual immortality, without a body of any kind. Wise men regarded the body as a tomb in which the living spirit lay buried. . . . Death was the imprisoned soul's escape. But Paul could not thus conceive a realm of disembodied spirits. To him, the very idea would have been repugnant: witness the earnestness of his desire that he should 'not be found naked' after death, but 'clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.' The real point at issue, of course, as Paul saw very clearly, was the continuance of personal identity. Some sort of body there must be, if the soul's essential individuality was to survive." [52]
Next note the antecedents he lays down.
1. ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENTS OF SALVATION.—Stewart speaks of "the fact of death," and how it must be "destroyed," "else Christ's work remains incomplete." He tells how the "very principle of death" will ultimately be "eliminated and cease to be." And he speaks of how the "universe itself" will be "remade." Then he takes up the "coming resurrection" and the "destiny of believers"—and cautions that Paul's "all shall rise" declaration "cannot be conclusively proved" to mean that "all in the end must enjoy salvation" [53]—the premise of Universalism. (Stewart photo on page 783.)
52 James S. Stewart, A Mart in Christ. The Vital Elements of St. Paul's Religion (Harper and Row), p. 267. (Italics supplied.)
53 Ibid., pp. 265, 266.
Stewart emphasizes the fact that the Christian has "passed from death to life. Hence the resurrection of the hereafter is simply God's seal set upon the life in Christ which the believer now possesses." Stewart then points out that to the Greek mind "the whole conception of a resurrection was strange and novel and puzzling." [54]
] But it is God's plan and glorious provision.
2. FALLACY OF SURVIVING DISEMBODIED SPIRITS.—Dr. Stewart then examines the erroneous Greek contention of "disembodied spirits" surviving death, as already depicted. He presents the fundamental clash with Paul's inspired portrayal of the afterlife, and its "continuance of personal identity" and "essential individuality." [55]
1. "CRASS MATERIALISM" OF JEWISH CONCEPTS.—Dr. Stewart next deals with the basic difference between Paul's portrayal of the resurrection and the concept of the Jews, and emphasizes the contrasting twin errors of the Greeks and the Jews:
"But if Paul differed from the Greek conception of immortality, he differed equally from the Jewish. Resurrection was a familiar enough idea to the Jews, but it was marked by a crass materialism. The very body which had died was to rise again. Even if its elements had been dissolved and its particles scattered, they would be reassembled and made to live by a miraculous act of God. This, too, Paul rejected. His own position was one midway between the Greek and the Jewish. And it seems to have been the direct consequence of the vision that came to him at his conversion. There Christ had appeared to him with His resurrection body.
"It was the same Jesus who had died. On the question of identity there could be no doubt whatever. And yet there was a difference. A change had happened: 'The body of humiliation' had become 'the body ,of glory.' . . . The Greek view of immortality safeguarded spirituality, but endangered personal identity. The Jewish view safeguarded identity, but endangered spirituality. Paul's view preserves both spirituality and personal identity. And this is what gives it its surpassing influence and appeal." [56]
54 Ibid., p. 267.
55 Ibid., pp, 267, 268.
56 Ibid.
2. TWIN BLESSINGS OF THE SECOND ADVENT.—Coming to the "indwelling" Christ as the "believer's security," the sobering scenes of the "judgment," and the glorious Second Advent that will break upon the world "like dawn in the eastern sky," Stewart speaks of the twin blessings it will bring— (1) "the life of glory" for the "individual believer," when "this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality," and (2) for "the cause of God" there will be "victory, final and complete." [57] Such was Dr. Stewart's graphic depiction.
Sometimes the pressures were intense. In 1936 Prof. AVARY HOLMES FORBES," long-time professor at All Nations Bible College, of London, published a brochure titled The Last Enemy, which "caused such a storm" that he was compelled to resign at the end of the academic year." It had repudiated the doctrine of the Eternal Torment of the wicked as "derogatory to God's character," for it involved the basic fallacy of "infinite torture for finite sin." Forbes had taken the precaution of submitting his manuscript to a number of theologians, such as Samuel H. Wilkinson, recognized Hebrew scholar and head of the Mild-may Mission to the Jews, who called it "a clear interpretation" in harmony with the "Supreme Authority." [57, 58, 59, 60, 61]
1. DID CHRIST SUFFER "INFINITE" PUNISHMENT?—Forbes's investigation was begun by a request to discuss eternal punishment at a YMCA meeting. This drove him to a fresh review of the whole question. In seeking to formulate his own conclusions he asked a number of scholarly friends the following question:
"If our Lord paid the full penalty for the worst of sinners, yet the 'orthodox hell' was not in that penalty (which is the teaching all through the Bible); how can a hell of endless torment remain for mankind? Does not this contradict the whole teaching of Scripture?" [62]
57 Ibid., p. 272.
58 AVARY HOLMES FORBES (1853-1938) was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, then took law at Lincoln's Inn. He became a member of the Council of the All Nations Missionary Union—an interdenominational missionary body. founded in 1892, with Dr. F. B. Meyer as president. In the same year the All Nations Bible College was also established in London, likewise with Meyer as principal, where missionaries could be trained "free from the enervating influence of Modern Theology and religious Rationalism." (The Missionary Review of all Nations.)
From the outset Forbes was a lecturer on church history, Roman controversy, and Christian evidences. In 1923 a "Doctrinal Basis" was drawn up. signed by all members of the council and all teachers in the college. Article 9 read, "We believe in . . . the eternal punishment of those who have ignored or rejected the offer of salvation." It was over this article that Forbes's separation came in 1936. He was author of some twenty books and pamphlets.
59 Printed open letter, "Mr. Avary H. Forbes and All Nations Bible College," dated October, 1936.
60 Avary H. Forbes, The Last Enemy, p. 4.
61 Forbes's Letter.
62 Forbes, The Last Enemy, p. 1
His own answer to this specific question was this: "It is true we can never measure the greatness of the sufferings of Christ: what we can measure is its duration. Does anyone maintain that our Lord's sufferings lasted after He was 'received up into glory'? If the `suffering was finite, how could the punishment be infinite?" [63]
In his Foreword he added another provocative thought: "As Heaven had not yet begun for the dead in Christ, so 'Hell' had not begun for the dead in Satan." [64]
From a book The Tent and the Altar Forbes quotes approvingly the phrase "When we die may we sleep in Jesus." [65] That indicated his view on the intermediate state.
2. TESTIMONY OF TWELVE CONDITIONALISTS CITED.—Discussing the contention that "all" evangelical leaders have held to the notion of Innate Immortality and Eternal Torment, Forbes states clearly:
"TYNDALE and LUTHER seem to have held a conditional immortality only; i.e., that, as 'the gift of God is eternal life,' immortality does not belong to the soul at all, until it is conferred upon it by God; and that it is conferred only upon the righteous, and then only after the resurrection." [66]
In substantiation he quotes from both. He also cites excerpts from the ten additional well-known Conditionalists—Dean Farrar, Bishop Perowne, Professor Olshausen, Archbishop Whately, Dean Alford, Dr. R. W. G. Dale, Dr. Joseph Parker, Dr. R. F. Weymouth, Prime Minister Gladstone, and Canon Dearmer of Westminster. [67] The latter is quoted as saying at Westminster Abbey:
"The wicked and monstrous doctrine of hell, which had been fastened upon Christendom more than a thousand years before by St. Augustine, had only been shaken off by intelligent people in quite modern times. (The Times, 7th December, 1931.)" [68]
63 Ibid., p. iii.
64 Ibid., p. 2.
65 Ibid., p. 10.
66 Ibid., p. 7. On Luther and Tyndale see pp. 65-79, 88-100.
67 Ibid., p. 8.
68 Ibid.
The collective testimony of this noted group includes denial of any Biblical basis for Innate Immortality, man declared a candidate for immortality, the wicked not kept alive but forfeiting life, and "destruction" not meaning everlasting wretched existence. Such was the consensus.
Even Charles Spurgeon is quoted as saying, in later life, "I have no quarrel with the Conditional Immortality doctrine." [69]
3. CHRIST'S "FULL PENALTY" PRECLUDES ETERNAL TORMENT.—After dilating on the great apostasy of the Middle Ages, with its "doctrine of hell-fire (buttressed by the invention of 'Purgatory')," as exploited by Rome, [70] Forbes reverts to the determining relationship of atonement and Eternal Torment, and says:
"The whole faith of the Evangelical Church is built on this doctrine of the vicarious suffering of Christ, Who paid the full penalty for our sin. Now, dear Reader, where, in Christ's payment of the full penalty, does [an eternal] 'hell' come in? And if hell was not in the penalty He paid, how can it be in ours?" [71]
Forbes closes his brochure with the telling words "The last enemy that shall be abolished is death" (Rev. 20:14). [72] So fidelity to conviction on the nature and destiny of man cost Forbes his teaching position.
A stimulating American tract, presenting a series of cogent contrasts, was issued by W. H. BOWMAN in 1937. It says so much in such a small compass, and is so pertinent, that we quote five key paragraphs, as a sample of lesser writings circulating in North America on this issue in this fourth decade. Paul, the Christian apostle, and Plato, the heathen philosopher, are set forth as in irreconcilable conflict in their teaching. Here is Bowman's lead-off paragraph.
69 Ibid.
70 Ibid., p. 13.
71 Ibid., p. 14.
72 Ibid., p. 30.
1. PAUL'S "REVELATION" V. PLATO'S "SPECULATION."—In terse phrasings it begins with the problem of "human destiny":
"The great theological question now agitating modern Christendom whether they will take Paul or Plato for a standard in settling the question of human destiny. Paul teaches that immortality is conditional; (Plato, that it is unconditional. Pauline theology gives immortality on account of character, while Platonic philosophy gives it without character. The immortality that Plato teaches becomes a system of woe; that of Paul, one of happiness. Plato's was speculation; Paul's was REVELATION." [73]
2. "REVIVAL" OF DEAD V. "SURVIVAL" OF SOUL.—Again, "philosophic assumption" is set over against "a divinely revealed fact":
"Paul teaches that immortality is conferred on us by a resurrection; Plato, that we have it without a resurrection, Paul teaches that a resurrection from the dead is an absolute necessity in order to have future life; Plato teaches us that death liberates our immortal (?) souls, and gives us more freedom than we could have in the body. Plato teaches that the body is non-essential; Paul declares that unless it (the body) is raised from the dead, all who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. Paul taught the revival of the dead: Plato taught the survival of the soul. Plato's theory is a philosophic assumption; Paul's, a divinely revealed fact." [74]
The conflict is irreconcilable.
3. PAUL ACCORDS WITH SCRIPTURE; PLATO CONTRADICTS IT. —The scriptural basis and agreement of Paul with Scripture and its perversion and defiance by Plato are next portrayed:
"Plato contradicted Bible writers; Paul agrees with them. Plato's theory necessitates the change of plain statements of Scripture into figurative language; while Paul's harmonizes with the entire Bible. Plato teaches that men are judged at death; Paul, that the executive judgment is at the second coming of Christ. Paul taught the gift of God was eternal life. Plato taught that we had it already. Paul teaches that we are to put on immortality at the resurrection; Plato teaches that we are to put off mortality at death-'Paul teaches that death is an enemy; Plato teaches that it is a friend. Paul teaches that Christ brought immortality to light; Plato claims to have discovered it beforehand. Paul teaches that 'the wages of sin is death;' Plato teaches that the man can never die, no matter how much he sins.'
4. PAUL HONORS BODY; PLATO DEPRECIATES IT.—Platonic Dualism is then placed in contrast with Paul's treatment of the unity of the "whole man":
"Plato teaches that all men are naturally immortal and as incapable of dying as God himself. Paul teaches that the 'first man was of the earth, earthy;' Plato, that the real man is a spirit and not material. Plato taught that the body was a clog, a shackle, a prison house, and to be dropped at death; Paul taught that the body was for the Lord, a temple for the Holy Spirit, a subject of redemption, and to be raised from the dad—in glory, honour, incorruptibility, and immortality. Plato taught that the soul was immortal, and could not die, could not perish, could not be destroyed and would exist forever; Paul taught that the whole man, soul and body, was mortal and corruptible, could die, could perish, could be destroyed, and, in agreement with St. John, that only 'he that does the will of God abides forever." [76]
73 W. H. Bowman, Paul or Plato?—A Comparison of Their Teachings on the Question of Immortality pp. 3, 4.
74 Ibid., p. 4.
75 Ibid., pp. 4, 5.
Bowman thus lifts his voice against "Platonized theology." [77] And he proceeds to list a whole regiment of Platonic phrases that appear in popular theology in conflict with the terms of Holy Writ.
5. STOCK PHRASES OF "PLATONIZED THEOLOGY" LISTED.—Here is Bowman's tabulation of common phrases echoing Plato's contentions and flaunting Paul's inspired teachings, in an attempt to show how far popular theology has drifted from the Bible platform. They form an imposing array, and are extracted from religious books, periodical columns, prayer books, hymnals, ministers' manuals, tombstones, and such:
"'Death is the gate to glory,' the soul can never die,' immortal soul,' 'never dying soul,' disembodied souls,' immortal spirit,' glorified spirits,' 'deathless spirit,' spirit world,' glory land,' the upper fold,' the brighter home above,' the upper and better kingdom,' the home of disembodied souls,' gone to the spirit land,' is safe in heaven,' has passed over to the other side,' has gone to be an angel,' our baby is now a little cherub in heaven,' there is no death,' death is another life,' the body is only a cage,' friends of yore have flown to heaven, springing from their house of clay,' the remains,' what is in the coffin is not the man,' his soul is now burning in hell,' sinner if you don't repent you will go to hell when you die, and burn there forever,’ repent, and you can go to heaven when you die,' eternal hell,' never ending torment,' eternal misery,' endless pain,' everlasting torture,' eternal sorrow,' the place where memory never fades, and conscience always stings,' and a multitude of such phrases." [78]
76 Ibid., pp. 5, 6.
77 Ibid., p. 6.
78 Ibid., pp. 6, 7.
The clash of such with Scripture cannot be gainsaid, according to Bowman.
Note must also be taken of British Dr. OLIVER C. QUICK, [79] professor of divinity at Oxford, and his Doctrines of the Creed, originally given as lectures to the theological students of Durham. [80] All the way through his scholarly and conservative treatise Quick contrasts the foibles of Greek Platonic philosophy with the certainties of Biblical revelation as relates to immortality." Like many, many others he contrasts Bible truth as to man's life and destiny with Buddhism's futilely "undying cycle of birth and death and temporal becoming." [81, 82, 83]
Presenting the "atonement" as providing victory "not merely over death, but also through death," [84] Quick declares that Christianity alone makes death "a positive and necessary contribution to the perfection of created life." Other "philosophies of immortality" make death "unreal"—"a release for the spirit through the dropping off of the material body." But with Christianity "life must be lost before it can be fully won." [85] Quick brings the issue before us through this truism:
"Many believers in God reject belief in the [innate] immortality of the soul. And on the other hand some have believed in the immortality of the soul, while rejecting belief in God.” [86]
He then asks the question, "Is the human soul by nature such as to survive the death of the body?" [87] His repeated answer, in varying forms, is No!
79 OLIVER CHASE QUICK (1885-1944), Anglican. was educated at Harrow and Corpus Christi colleges, Oxford. After serving as curate, chaplain, and vicar in several appointments, he became canon of Newcastle and then Carlyle, next of St. Paul's Cathedral, and finally professor of divinity and ecclesiastical history at the University of Durham and then of the University of Oxford (1939.1943). He was author of twelve major books.
80 Oliver C. Quick, Doctrines of the Creed, p. X.
81 Quick's large bibliography lists such scholars (and their works) as Aulen, Baillie, Berdyaev, Brunner, Dodd, Farmer, Gore, Nygren, Ramsey, Taylor, and Temple—names now familiar to us through these pages.
82 Ibid., pp. 90, 91.
83 Ibid., pp. 213, 214.
84 Ibid., p. 197.
85 Ibid., p. 263.
86 Ibid.. p. 212.
87 Ibid.
1. IMMORTALITY IS GIFT OF DEATH-CONOUERING CHRIST.—Turning in chapter 24 to "The Teaching of the Bible on Life After Death," Quick states that in the Old Testament "there are many passages which roundly deny that the human soul continues after life in any life worth having." And as to the New Testament, "its emphasis" is "on the glorious hope of resurrection." [88] Then he remarks:
"From first to last the Bible is chiefly concerned to teach us that our faith and hope must be in God, chat it is on God's Kingdom, not on personal survival and its articular phases and circumstances, that our aims and affections should be set." [89]
Then comes his crucial statement:
"This is the great conclusion which the Bible reaches. The immortality of man is the gift of the living God who conquers death. Of that the Bible assures us; but it does not answer our questions about what happens to the soul when the body dies. And it would be difficult to cite any text outside the Apocrypha which suggests that the soul of man is by the necessity of its own created nature immortal." [90]
The canonical Scriptures give no support to any Innate Immortality. Resurrection, Quick affirms, "is perhaps the most characteristic feature of the Christian gospel." [91] That is the means of receiving immortality.
2. "HEAVENLY LIFE" NOT THROUGH "LIBERATION OF SOUL."—Noting the weakness of the "Hellenic doctrines of immortality," Quick says of the Biblical truth:
"The change from earthly to heavenly life is not and cannot be a gradual process of ascension, in which the falling away of the material body is merely a further liberation of the soul; rather it is a process of increasing tension and conflict leading to a crisis in which the earthly man must wholly die in order wholly to receive life." [92]
And how is this provided? "The gateway to the heavenly and eternal life is the self-sacrifice which Christ first accomplished only through his death, and in which he enables Christians to follow him." [93]
88 Ibid., p. 264.
89 Ibid.
90 Ibid., p. 266. (Italics supplied.)
91 Ibid.
92 Ibid., p. 268. (Italics supplied.)
93 Ibid.
There is, Quick observes, an "essential difference" between believing in "resurrection" through Christ and innate "immortality of the soul." [94] It is a gift to be received, not an inherent possession.
Returning again to Sweden, we note briefly the position of Lutheran Bishop JOHN OLOF CULLBERG (1895- ). After seven years of study in the University of Gothenburg and an additional seven of study and research in the University of Uppsala, he became a member of the faculty of Uppsala, and served as rector in three dioceses in Sweden. In 1940 he was made bishop of the diocese of Vasteras. He was author of Kyrkan och tiden ("The Church and the Time"). It is noteworthy that in his 1940 "pastoral letter" to the clergy of his diocese he wrote that of itself the "soul" is by nature as "mortal" as the "body." It is through the resurrection, he held, that we receive "eternal life." This leads to a deathless life of "eternal communion" with God. Here are his precise words:
"'The nature of man does not account for the belief in the resurrection but only the sovereign creative power of God's love gives us the assurance of a life after death. There is nothing in me which deserves to survive death. In itself my soul is as mortal as my body. But the eternal life, which God even here can create in my heart, encircles the promise of a new, personal existence, which does not know of death and corruption, a life in eternal communion with God and those whom His unfathomable love has saved. Thus also rings the resurrection faith in the apostolic words: "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, . . . shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." ' [95]
So spoke the bishop of the Vasteras diocese in 1940. (Photo on page 783.)
94 Ibid., p. 269.
95 John Olof Cullberg, "Dogmernas Insida," Herdabreb till Vasterch stilt.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
This chapter begins with an exceptionally cogent presentation, written about1940, by Anglican Archdeacon Guillebaud. This treatise is still in manuscript, from which we have excerpted liberally, by permission. Another noteworthy contribution is the 1945 report of the Anglican Commission, which has the weight of a group statement. These, and the remaining items, all speak for themselves.
The late HAROLD ERNEST GUILLEBAUD (1888-1941) was trained at Marlborough, and then at Pembroke College, Cambridge. After a period as rector of St. Michael's, Bath, he went to Africa in 1925 under the Church Missionary Society, serving in Uganda and Ruanda. He returned to England in 1933 for a time, then went back to Ruanda in 1936 to continue his important translation work. In 1940 he was made archdeacon of Ruanda-Urundi.
Guillebaud was a brilliant Bible translator. The C.M.S. magazine Outlook stressed his scholarship and his "linguistic" skills, which enabled him to translate the greater part of the Bible, the Prayer Book, a hymnbook, and Pilgrim's Progress, and to produce a grammar. [1]
1 Church Mission Society Outlook, June, 1944, p. 3.
This journal regarded Guillebaud's death as a great loss to the work of the church. His theological views were influenced by the exacting demands of his translation of the Scriptures, and his were usually mature conclusions. He returned to Cambridge for four years, serving as curate of St. Paul's. During this period he wrote Why the Cross? (1937), United Bible Study (1939), and Some Moral Difficulties of the Bible (1941).
1. How "THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE" CAME TO BE WRITTEN.—Guillebaud was a keen analyst, a cogent reasoner, and an able Bible expositor—particularly of theproblem passagespertaining to the nature and destiny of man.Both Dr. and Mrs. Guille-baud were deeply troubled over the "traditional views" of "everlasting torment in the fires of hell" for the wicked, but they both accepted this view under the impression that it was taught by the Word of God. It was a doctrine, however, that Mrs. Guillebaud rejected with her mind,because it was irreconcilable with the character of God. It appeared to be a "mystery" which she "could never hope to understand on this earth." So for a time she attempted to "lock it away in the inner recesses" of her mind—"like a skeleton in the cupboard, not even to be thought about, much less spoken of." [2]
2 H. E. Guillebaud, "The Righteous Judge" (book ma., 1940). Foreword, by Mrs. M. G. Guillebaud, p. i.
Just at that time Mrs. Guillebaud was deeply impressed by a sermon preached in Holy Trinity church, Cambridge, setting forth the "eventual annihilation of the lost." She shared this new idea with her husband, hoping he would accept it. But in this she was disappointed.
Soon after, her husband learned that the well-known Evangelical scholar, Dr. Basil F. C. Atkinson, of Cambridge University, likewise held the "ultimate destruction" view concerning unrepentant sinners. This led Guillebaud to put aside all preconceived ideas and to restudy the whole question again from the Scriptures.
About this time one of the university students asked, "If God is 'all in all,' how can there remain any territory into which He can never enter?"—i.e., an eternally burning Hell. So the work on his book Some Moral Difficulties of the Bible, which Mr. Guillebaud was writing at this time, was set aside, and the manuscript of a new book, "The Righteous Judge," came to be largely written just before his return to Ruanda, Africa. In fact, it was finished on shipboard, en route again to the mission field. [3]
2. OUTLINE AND SCOPE OF THE MANUSCRIPT.—Decrying traditionalism and wishful thinking, Guillebaud in his Introduction insisted that "any valid doctrine of future punishment must rest upon the Word of God at every point." Then follow the fourteen chapters, the outline and scope of which can be seen from a glance at the chapter headings:
"Part I. What Does the Bible Teach?
"1. Is Every Soul Immortal?
2. Will Evil Exist Forever?
3. The Meaning of the Word 'Eternal.'
"4. The General Trend of Bible Teaching.
"5. Four New Testament Passages.
“6. The Problem of Unequal Opportunity.
"7. A Second Chance After Death?
"8. Universalism.
"9. Conclusions Summarized."
"Part II. Objections Answered
"10. Objections From the Traditional Side.
"1I. Why Should This Life Be Decisive?
"12. Objections to the Extinction of Existence.
"13. Objection to Penal Suffering.
"14. General Conclusion."
3 Ibid., p. 2
3. INNATE IMMORTALITY NOT DECLARED IN SCRIPTURE.—He reasoned logically that if the soul is indestructible, then "every reference to its death or destruction must of necessity be understood to mean an intolerable existence." [4] But he immediately adds, "It is significant that the words 'immortal soul' are never found in the Bible." "A 'life' or 'soul' which can be forfeited or lost does not at all naturally suggest an immortal soul, but rather the opposite." [5]
God alone is "absolutely immortal," and "there is not a single statement anywhere in the Bible" that suggests He has "bestowed immortality on every soul." Moreover, a "living soul" is "not an immortal soul," for God said that if man "disobeyed God he 'should surely die.' " And Paul says "that the 'death' introduced by the fall affects 'not the body only but the soul in the life beyond.' " The "living soul" in Genesis 2:7 is rendered "living creature" in Genesis 2:19; 9:12, and elsewhere includes the "brute creation." [6]
1. "IMAGE OF GOD" DOES NOT DENOTE IMMORTALITY.—Immortality is a, "gift" from God to believers, "not something which He has ordered to be a natural possession of humanity." Nor does the fact that man was made in the "image" of God prove his immortality, for "immortality is no more an essential quality of God than omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence, which He certainly never imparted to man." In any case, that term "tells us nothing by itself as to his [man's] immortality." And anyway, man fell "and defaced the image," and Adam's son, begotten "after his 'Adam's] image (Gen.5:3), was subject to 'death.' " [7]
4 Ibid., p. 1.
6 Ibid.
5 Ibid., p. 2.
7 Ibid., p. 3.
5. HOSTILE HELL "CORNER" TO ALL ETERNITY "UNTHINKABLE."—In chapter two ("Will Evil Exist Forever?") Guille-baud declares pointedly:
"It seems unthinkable that after it [the end], and to all eternity, there will still be beings hostile to God existing in His universe, still a corner of it subdued by force, and not one with Him in love." [8]
1. ETERNAL PUNISHMENT MAY END "EXISTENCE" FOREVER. —In "The Meaning of the Word 'Eternal' " (chapter three) Guillebaud says that "eternal" means "more than endless." Citing Sodom and Gomorrah as examples of "suffering eternal fire" (as in Jude 1.7), he says: "Eternal punishment may mean a punishment which ends for ever the existence of the persons punished." [9]
2. PENAL SUFFERING NOT TO CONTINUE FOREVER.—The for problem passages in this area ("Matt. 18:34, 35; Mark 9:4348; Rev. 14:10, 11; 20:10") must be understood in the light of the "general teaching," of the Bible. And he adds:
"Penal suffering therefore certainly forms a part of Bible teaching about the doom of the lost, but there is no statement that this suffering will continue for ever." [10]
To burn up implies "total destruction," such as the "chaff," "utterly destroyed by fire." "The word 'unquenchable' means simply 'that which nothing and no one can quench,' which cannot be prevented from accomplishing its destructive purpose." [11]
3. ULTIMATE EXTINCTION OF EXISTENCE FOR WICKED.—It is clear that the wicked must "suffer in the process of destruction." Nevertheless, their doom is "destruction" [12]—ending in the "end of existence." These texts are not intended to mean "an eternity of conscious torment," but rather "destruction." In other words, they indicate "ultimate ending of existence.” [13]
8 Ibid., p. 8.
9 Ibid., p. 14.
10 Ibid., p. 16.
11 Ibid., p. 17.
12 Ibid., p. 21,
13 Ibid., p. 23.
"We submit that the life of any living thing is necessarily ended by fire, unless God supernaturally provides otherwise: therefore, where fire is in question, the verb 'destroy' is not ambiguous at all, but definitely implies the ending of life." [14]
Discussing the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Matt. 18:34, 35), he pointedly observes:
"A prisoner who never comes out of prison does not live there eternally. The slave who was delivered to the tormentors till he should pay two million pounds would not escape from them by payment, but he would assuredly die in the end." [15]
9. MEMORIAL OF GOD'S "RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT."—AS to Mark 9:43-48, which is based on Isaiah 66:24, Guillebaud says, "The spectacle of corpses," in the process of "corruption and burning," becomes a "perpetual memorial of the righteous wrath of God, and His judgment against sin." [16] Similarly with the "smoke of their torment," it will be—"a perpetual memorial of the righteous judgment of God, which will continue after it has achieved the destruction of the wicked." [17]
And as to Revelation 14:10, 11:
"Are we to understand that the torment will continue for ever and ever? . . . The words 'the smoke of their torment goes up unto ages of ages' do at first appear to say this, but this is not at all necessarily the meaning. In considering Mark 9:43-48 we saw that the meaning there is that there will be a perpetual memorial of the righteous judgment of God, which will continue after it has achieved the destruction of the wicked." [18]
10. SATAN'S EXISTENCE SHALL "COME TO AN END."—Coming to Revelation 20:10, and the punishment of the devil, Guillebaud holds that this text needs to be understood in the light of Ezekiel 28:11-19, where of Satan—under the symbol of the "King of Tyre," who was once " 'the anointed cherub that covered,' and was in Eden the garden of God"—it is said, "thou shalt never be any more" (Eze. 28:19), indicating "his existence shall come to an end." [19]
2. NOT ALL "SUFFER EQUALLY" IN "SECOND DEATH."— Under "The Problem of Unequal Opportunity" (chapter six), after an able discussion of the whole question and the matter of "degrees of punishment," Guillebaud concludes:
"The penal suffering of the lost is not endless. And this being so, degrees in the severity of the suffering would probably imply varying durations of it. But here we are in a region of speculation, for time itself is of this world. One thing is clear, that not all the condemned will suffer equally in the second death, and in view of the immense differences in opportunity and guilt among men, this conclusion is one which we may very thankfully accept." [20]
14 Ibid., p. 24.
15 Ibid., p. 29.
16 Ibid., p. 30.
17 Ibid., p. 33.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid., p. 35.
12: JUDGMENT "IRREVERSIBLE AND FINAL" IN ISSUES.—AS to "A Second Chance After Death?" (chapter seven), Guillebaud affirms:
"The whole trend of Scripture teaching, and especially that of our Lord, is entirely opposed to any such opportunity being given after the Judgment. As Hebrews 6:2 says, it is an 'eternal judgment,' irreversible and final in its issue to all eternity." [21]
That, he says, is clearly the general sense of Scripture. And as to two obscure disputed passages sometimes cited, Guille-baud sagely says:
"It is very unwise to build an important doctrine on the sole authority of two very obscure passages, as to the meaning of which the ablest expositors have offered a wide variety of explanations. We must leave the 'hard cases' to God, sure that whatever His decision is it will be absolutely just." [22, 23]
13. BOWING OF "EVERY KNEE" NOT UNIVERSAL SALVATION. —Chapter eight deals with the theory of "Universalism," which Guillebaud defines as the contention that— "although those who have rejected Christ will have to pass through a period of penal suffering in the next world, proportionate to their guilt, and to their obstinacy in refusing to turn to Him, all will eventually be saved." [24]
Reverting to the "eternal punishment," already discussed, Guillebaud defines it as "a punishment with endless results, a doom from which there is no return," as carrying the "dreadful implication of finality." [25] Then he continues by examining the passages (1 John 2:2; 1 Tim. 4:10; 2:4,6; Titus 2:11) most frequently invoked by Universalists. Guillebaud states that these "texts simply express the universal love of God, and the universal offer of His salvation to those who persist in rejecting it." [26]
20 Ibid., p. 44.
21 Ibid., p. 45.
22 Ibid., p. 46.
23 Ibid., p. 48.
24 Ibid., p. 49.
25 Ibid.
Commenting on the expression "every knee shall bow," he adds that while all lost souls will one day rightly acknowledge Jesus as Lord, "it should be noticed that Paul does not say `their Lord,' and that there is no mention of salvation." Again, in Philippians 2:9-11 the same apostle states that every "knee" and "tongue" will pay homage to the Judge. The "main thought is the divine glory of the Lord Jesus." But "not a word is said as to the saving effect of the homage." [27]
The wicked are impelled "to acknowledge His divine glory, and offer Him an unwilling homage." Having examined Isaiah 45:23; Romans 14:11; and Philippians 2:9-11; Guillebaud remarks, "Not one of the three passages, considered with its context, suggests any idea of the ultimate salvation of those who have died without Christ." [28] Guillebaud concludes with:
"We claim that these [Universalist] interpretations are contrary to the natural use of language, and that there is nothing in the Bible to justify them. Salvation is salvation, offered here and now, to be accepted now, and delivering the soul from death, and there is no other salvation than this." [29]
1. No ETERNAL CONSCIOUSNESS OF EXISTENCE FOR WICKED.—In chapter nine ("Conclusions Summarized") Guillebaud "summarizes the conclusions reached in the foregoing chapters," and considers "the doctrine as a whole." [30] His first conclusion is:
"An inquiry into the meaning of the word 'eternal' showed that, though permanence is an essential part of it, this does not necessarily prove that eternal punishment must be a punishment which the condemned endure in a conscious existence for ever and ever. The Bible speaks of 'eternal salvation,' eternal judgment,' an eternal sin' (Heb. 5:9; 6:2; Mark 3:29 R.V.). But these expressions do not mean a salvation which is eternally being effected, or a judgment which is eternally being pronounced, or a sin which is eternally repeated: they mean a salvation, a judgment and a sin which have eternal results. So then just as we are saved for ever, we are not for ever being saved, so we believe that the term 'eternal punishment' does not mean that the condemned will for ever be in a state of being punished, but rather that they will be punished for ever, i.e. that they will be for ever separated from God, and their existence will be ended for ever." [31]
26 Ibid., p. 52.
27 Ibid., p. 57.
28 Ibid., pp. 58, 59.
29 Ibid., p. 59.
30 Ibid., p. 60.
2. PENAL PUNISHMENT DOES NOT INVOLVE "EVERLASTING TORMENT."—His next conclusion declares suffering to be part of penal punishment:
"Apart from four or five passages, there is not even an appearance of teaching everlasting torment in the Bible. What it does teach is that He who had said 'Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,' and 'Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out,' will say to those whom He condemns, 'Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity,' and they will be driven into the outer darkness, separated by an eternal judgment from God's presence. The Lord Jesus and John the Baptist compare them to useless weeds or chaff, thrown into the fire to be burned up, or again to barren branches of the vine, which men gather, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. It will be observed that it is the destructive function of fire which is emphasized here, but of course destruction by fire is a very awful thing, and it is made clear that there will be penal suffering." [32]
3. A DESTRUCTION WITH No RETURN.—Guillebaud then turns to the "end of existence" for the wicked, as a denial of universal restoration:
"God only has immortality, and eternal life is His gift, bestowed on the believer through Jesus Christ, but the wages of sin is death. Thus the general drift of the teaching both of our Lord and His apostles about future punishment is that it will be a final exclusion from God's presence, a destruction for ever (Ps. 92:7), from which there can be no return. The Bible nowhere gives any ground for hope that any who have been condemned will ever be restored to eternal life with God. The judgment, the punishment, the destruction are eternal." [33]
The purpose of Matthew 18:34, 35 is— "to emphasize the finality of the judgment, and close the door to any hope of restoration. Sin is compared to an unpayable debt: a slave handed over to the tormentors till he should pay two million pounds would never come out free, and would suffer awful things, but in the end he would assuredly die." [34]
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid., pp. 60, 61.
33 Ibid., p. 61.
34 Ibid., p. 62.
4. GOD CANNOT TOLERATE ETERNAL REBELLION.—Piercing to the heart of the whole issue of sin, salvation, and the ultimate disposition of sin, Guillebaud draws these important conclusions:
"It is impossible even to begin to understand Eternal Punishment, if it is considered in isolation from the problem of evil and the doctrine of the atonement. Why evil was allowed to come into the universe is an insoluble mystery: but it is certainly here, and it is certain that a holy God cannot have fellowship with it, and must wilt its destruction.
"But because God is Love He longs to save man from destruction, and the Bible tells us that through the Cross He found a way of condemning sin and yet saving the sinner, away infinitely costly to Himself. But the purpose of that Sacrifice was not only to save the sinner from death, but also to save him from sin. The sinner must repent—that is, he must desire to be delivered from sin—and he must believe in his Saviour. Those who refuse God's salvation on God's conditions are not saved by the sacrifice of the Cross, they come before His judgment with their sin, and the wages of sin is death." [35]
5. SEPARATE FROM SIN OR PERISH WITH SIN.—AS to "what is ultimately to happen to the evil which has defiled God's creation," Guillebaud sagely observes:
"God provided a way of redemption, and thereby many of His sin-defiled creatures have been and are being separated from their sin, and He has given to them eternal life that they may be with Him for ever. But for those who choose evil, and reject God's way of deliverance from it there is nothing left but to share the doom of that evil principle which they have made their own. It must be destroyed when the kingdom of God becomes supreme, for evil cannot be permanent in the universe, and as they have refused the only way of becoming separated from it, they must be destroyed with it." [36]
This, he affirms, is the uniform testimony of the Word. Guillebaud's general conclusion on the "principle of eternal punishment" is cogently stated:
"This we believe to be the fundamental principle of eternal punishment, that evil must ultimately be destroyed out of God's universe, and that the sinner who rejects God's way of salvation, whereby he might be separated from his sin, must perish. This is primary and fundamental: all else, even the awful fact of penal suffering in the process of destruction, is secondary." [37]
35 Ibid., p. 63.
36 Ibid., pp. 63, 64.
37 Ibid., p. 64.
6. TWOFOLD BASIS FOR GUILLEBAUD'S CONCLUSIONS.—AS to the charge that Conditionalists, in adopting the destruction-of-the-wicked position, have "deserted the old paths," Guillebaud replies with, "The old paths are good, . . . when they are Bible paths." Then he adds, tellingly:
"We Evangelicals, who criticize the Roman Church for putting tradition on a level with the Bible, must be very careful that we ourselves do not unwittingly fall into the same snare." [38]
He soundly states: "The only question that really matters is whether or not he [the expositor] has rightly interpreted the Word of God" for "only God knows the facts." [39]
He defends the Conditionalist position in this terse statement:
"The fundamental reasons which led the present writer to abandon the doctrine of everlasting torment are two, both founded on the Word of God itself. First, the Bible teaching that God will sum up all things in Christ, and that ultimately He Himself will be all in all, seems incompatible with the external existence of sin and sinners in hell. Secondly, the belief that the Bible teaches everlasting torment rests mainly upon the notion that every soul, good or evil, is immortal; and this latter idea is entirely lacking in Bible authority." [40]
Guillebaud then makes this pertinent appeal:
"We would appeal to those who accept the doctrine of everlasting torment to consider very carefully whether, quite unconsciously, their belief has been resting more on tradition than on the Word of God. No Protestant should object to being asked to re-examine any traditional belief in the light of the Word of God, searching the Scriptures to see whether these things be so." [41]
1. INCONSISTENCY OF EVOLUTIONISTS' OBJECTIONS TO CONDITIONALISM.—As to the bearing of the widespread theory of evolutionary progression on the question, and the notion that "sin is simply the victory of man's inherited beast instincts over the higher nature which evolution has produced," Guillebaud answers:
"Anyone who takes this position is most inconsistent in objecting to Conditional Immortality, if he believes in God and a future life at all.
38 Ibid., p. 67.
39 Ibid., p. 66.
40 Ibid., p. 68.
41 Ibid., p. 70.
According to such a belief, God did not give man the clean sheet which the Bible says He did, but allowed him to start his career with the inheritance of animal instincts from the beasts, against which a slowly evolving higher nature must constantly struggle. If he can believe this of God, it is more than strange that he should insist that God gave man an immortal soul, and that without even making the immortality conditional on man's submission to Himself.” [42]
It is a telling point.
Guillebaud closes his impressive treatise with this com-prehensive statement: "We can look forward, with Paul, to a future when God shall be all in all, and evil shall not only be conquered but shall have ceased to exist." [43] Such is the candid testimony of another competent witness—archdeacon, missionary, Bible translator.
We here inject a paragraph from Dr. NATHANIEL MICKLEM, [44] principal of Mansfield College, Oxford. It is another in the far-flung chorus of voices charging that the postulate of Innate Immortality is of Greek origin, and is not Biblical. This concept of natural survival he places over against that of Biblical resurrection. The soul is not in itself immortal. Micklem's charge and his analysis are both explicit. The significance of life and death is set forth in his The Doctrine of Our Redemption, first published in 1943. Observe his words:
"The immortality of the soul is a Greek doctrine; it is not biblical. The Hebrews and the Christians spoke of resurrection. That is the language, not of survival, but of victory. The idea that the human soul is indestructible and therefore immortal may, or may not, be true, but there is little comfort in it. Thoughtless people often surmise that they will survive death and hope that, if they do, they will find existence somewhat less trying beyond the grave. But death means much more than the extinction of physical life; it is bondage to corruption, to sin, to self, to circumstance, to hopelessness; it has a spiritual as well as physical aspect.
42 Ibid., p. 79.
43 Ibid., p. 97.
44 NATHANIEL MICLEM (1888- ), received his training at Queen's University, Ontario, Canada, and Glasgow. He was principal and professor of dogmatic theology, Mansfield College, Oxford (1932-1953). He lectured on comparative religions, and was author of seven volumes.
"We are apt to argue that Christ's resurrection, if we can believe it, assures us of our own survival. But that is to see in Christ's resurrection little more than the return of Lazarus from the grave. It is to fall-far short of the triumphant conviction of the early church that Christ had won the victory not merely over physical death but also over sin and despair and every kind of spiritual bondage." [45]
As has already been noted, doubtless more Anglican leaders, from William Tyndale onward, have championed aspects of Conditionalism, particularly repudiation of the eternal-torment-of-the-wicked dogma, than those of any other major religious group. These include at least four archbishops and numerous bishops, archdeacons, canons, deans, rectors, and educators. These have been noted in their chronological sequence. One of the most conspicuous was, of course, the late Dr. William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, and already presented, who was an out-and-out Conditionalist." With this as a background let us note the following.
1. FORMAL REPORT OF COMMISSION OF FIFTY.—A highly significant report was published in Britain, in 1945, bearing on our quest. In 1943 the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, pursuant to an authorizing resolution passed by the Church Assembly, appointed a representative Commission on Evangelism. It comprised fifty prominent theologians and churchmen of the Church of England. Their report was titled Towards the Conversion of England. (Is has since had at least nine reprints.) The caliber of the Commission may be seen by the fact that it embraced five bishops, a provost, eight canons, and two prebendaries, along with other prominent clergymen and laymen—with the bishop of Rochester, Christopher Chavasse, as chairman.
45 Nathaniel Micklem, The Doctrine of Our Redemption (Am. ed., 1948), pp. 78, 79.
46 On Archbishop Temple, see this work, pp. 749-757.
The 172-page report, noted on the cover as "a plan dedicated to the memory of Archbishop William Temple," comprises six chapters. In connection with each chapter heading is a direct quotation from Dr. Temple—himself a Conditionalist. As to the format, the Foreword says:
"The captions from his [Archbishop Temple's] writings which introduce the chapters of the Report, indicate what we discovered, namely, that on every aspect of evangelism he [Dr. Temple] had already said better what we wished to say." [47]
In his opening address to the Commission, Archbishop Temple—in the year before his death—had said:
"The message of the Church is the Eternal Gospel. This remains fundamentally the same, from first to last. The Gospel could not alter, although the setting in which it was given, and the method of its presentation, could and did." [48]
Now let us get the setting.
47 Towards the Conversion of England, p. ix.
48 Ibid.
2. CONTENT AND SCOPE OF THE "ETERNAL GOSPEL."—The Temple excerpt at the beginning of chapter two (on "The Gospel") reads, "The Gospel is true always and everywhere, or it is not a Gospel at all, or true at all." After dealing with the content and presentation of the gospel, the report places stress, in the section "The Eternal Gospel," on "The Nature of God," His "redemptive action in human history," "Sin," "The work of Christ," "The Kingdom of God," "Man's Response, Faith, and Repentance," and "God's acceptance of man's faith and repentance"—then on "The fellowship of the Church," "The fellowship of the Holy Ghost," "The Church the Body of Christ," "Personal Power through the Holy Spirit," "Eternal Life," "The Risen Life," and "The Future Life," "Judgment," "The End of All Things." [49] That is the outline.
Our "Eternal Life," the report states, is a new kind of life, a "quality of life," that "cannot be destroyed by death," with our resurrection "pledged" by the "resurrection of our Risen Lord."
3. FUTURE LIFE IS OF THE "WHOLE MAN."—AS to the "risen life," the Commission report says of the "future life," that it is— "a life in which, though changed, we remain ourselves, recognisable as such by those whom we have known and loved upon earth; a life with greater powers and opportunities of service than any we have possessed here; a life freed from the limitations which restrict and hamper us while yet in this mortal frame."
"It is this truth which is enunciated, and preserved, in the Christian doctrine of the Resurrection of the body"—"the risen life of the whole man." [50]
49 Ibid., pp. 17-23.
50 Ibid., p. 23.
3. JUDGMENT INVOLVES SEPARATION AND DESTRUCTION OF EVIL.—Then, following the subheading "The gospel is the good news of redemption to Eternal Life," the report makes this important statement:
"Involved in this truth and essential to it, is the fact of judgment to come. Judgment is the ultimate separation of the evil from the good, with the consequent destruction of all that opposes itself to God's will. Such must be the precursor and condition of unfettered life with God. The truth is enshrined in the Christian doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ in judgment. Judgment is committed to Him because He is the Truth, the norm by which all judgment must be made. Of this He speaks in terms which are symbolical (as all terms must be which deal with ultimate truth) but of tremendous gravity: a gravity which runs through all the pages of Holy Scripture and, indeed, through all Christian thought. Judgment is no superstition or fiction. It is a tremendous and solemn truth. Ultimately all that is found valueless in God's sight must and will be abolished, that that which He can use may be set free, and 'God may be all in all.' " [51]
5. UNIVERSAL INNATE IMMORTALITY A "GREEK" CONCEPT. —And now follows, in section 53, this tremendously significant paragraph contrasting the Biblical truth as opposed to the Greek contention of "inherent indestructibility." And this, be it remembered, is the large Commission's report, not the viewpoint of an individual:
"Revelation and reason alike point to this inevitable consummation. ' The idea of the inherent indestructibility of the human soul (or consciousness) owes its origin to Greek, not to Bible, sources. The central theme of the New Testament is eternal life, not for anybody and everybody, but for believers in Christ as risen from the dead. The choice is set before man here and now. Though the announcement of impending judgment may not at first sight appear to be 'good news,' yet it is integral to the Gospel. It is the assertion of the final triumph of good and of the abolition of evil. Further, the Gospel is the good news that no man need fall under judgment, if he will accept the redemption freely offered to F.im in Jesus Christ: 'There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.' " [52]
6. THE GOSPEL ESCAPE FROM EVERLASTING DEATH.—Then follows the summarizing conclusion of the section, appearing in bold type for emphasis:
“The Gospel is the good news of the final triumph of the good, and that Jesus Christ has opened the way of escape from the power of sin, from the fear of judgment and from everlasting death." [53]
51 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
52 Ibid., pp. 23, 24. (Italics supplied.) The sentence on "inherent indestructibility," owing its origin to "Greek, not to Bible, sources," is buttressed in the report by a footnote reference to Bishop Gore's Belief in God, page 130, footnote. Gore held a similar view.
53 Ibid., p. 24.
Such is the declaration of the Anglican Commission's report of 1945. [54]
Rector STEN KAHNLUND, [55] of the state church of Sweden, recognized as an authority in theology, dealt forthrightly with the immortality question in 1945, in Vardagsteologi ("Everyday Theology"). He here places the Platonic immortality of the soul in opposition to the Bible position of eternal life only through a creative resurrection. He likewise contrasts Platonic Dualism, with man as an "undivided being." Here is his initial paragraph:
"Eternal life comes under the sign of creation. The Bible does not speak of the immortality of the soul. This is a conception derived from Platonic philosophy, with which modern natural and mental (soul) science find reconciliation difficult. Body and soul constitute a unit. The human being is an undivided being, which cannot be subdivided into body and soul. If the body dies, the soul dies. The two are one." [56]
Then follows this paragraph on Life Only in Christ, not as an innate possession of man, but as wholly dependent on God:
"The Christian does not permit himself to be terrified by such thoughts [of death of the soul]. He knows that the Bible does not speak of an innate eternal life which the soul of itself possesses. But he knows that Jesus is the resurrection and the life and that he, who believes on Him, shall live even though he dies. And the resurrection of the dead and the eternal life is dependent on God. Without Him we are dead and remain under the power of death. But God can raise us from the dead. He can create life anew. He can cause the flame of life to be ignited by His Spirit and cause man with body and soul to arise renewed." [57]
The similarity of position of the men of different lands and different churches is both impressive and significant. (Photo on page 804.)
54. Chaplain of Lambeth Palace, G. B. Andrew, in a personal letter to the author (Jan. 10, 1962) says that the report "is held in very high regard in the Church of England as having been adopted and having come through the will of a critical Church Assembly," which took action "that the report be commended to all parochial church councils [equivalent to the vestry] for their study and action."
55 STEN KAHNLUND (1903- ), Lutheran rector, was trained first in philosophy, psychology, and history of religion at Lund University, and then in theology. Ordained in 1933, he became a minister in the Catharene Church of Stockholm, and in 1936 was made rector, which position he still holds. He is author of four books.
56 Sten Kahnlund, Vardagsteologi (tr. by H. O. Olson), p. 24.
57 Ibid.
In another treatise appearing in the same year, The Faith of a Christian (1945), issued by the Inter-Varsity Press in England, Dr. H. MARTYN CUNDY, mathematician and master of the public school of Sherborne, makes the foundational statement that "God is eternally self-existent. He owes His being to no other, and all else owes its being to Him." [58] Man, at his creation, received "self-consciousness" and "personality." [59] But through Eve's act of transgression "death was the penalty of her act." [60] Eve, who was a "free moral agent," succumbed to Satan's seductive assurance, "Thou shalt not surely die." But—
"God's words were no idle threat. Their assertion of independence meant a life of independence; a life independent of Him in whom all live and move and have their being; a life that was but a living death. 'Man, being in honour and abiding not, is made alike unto the beasts that perish' (Ps. 49.12). The natural tendency of his body to decay now runs its uninterrupted course; death is his end, and death his present state." [61]
Master Cundy rejects both Dualism and Spiritism. [62] He holds that the "Christian doctrine of Creation carries with it as a corollary the doctrine of God's sovereignty and of His final victory." [63] (Cundy photo on page 804.)
1. LIFE SPARK MUST COME FROM OUTSIDE.—In allusion to the second suggestion of the evil one, "Ye shall be as gods," Dr. Cundy says:
"There is no more subtle error than that which talks of the divine spark within us which only needs fanning to burst into flame. The New Testament tells us unequivocally that we are dead, and that the spark of life must come to us from outside. We have the materials for spiritual life, but life itself we have not; God must give it us, and this gift is a miracle of creative Power (2 Cor. 4.6)." [64]
58 H. Martyn Cindy, The Forth of a Christian (6th ed., 1956), p. 30.
59 Ibid., p. 32.
60 Ibid., p. 33.
61 Ibid., p. 35.
62 Ibid., pp. 10, 24.
63 Ibid., p. 14.
64 Ibid., p. 57 (Italics supplied.)
Concerning "The Fall," Cundy stated: "Through a specific act of self-assertive rebellion early in his history, man has forfeited his authority and broken his fellowship with his Creator, thereby experiencing physical and spiritual death." [65]
Redemption is imperative.
2. BODILESS SURVIVAL OF SOUL A "PAGAN NOTION."—And now comes Dr. Cundy's key statement in the field of our quest—that the "survival of the soul" apart from the body is of "pagan" origin:
"It is important that we understand clearly what Christians mean by the resurrection of the dead. We do not mean mere survival of the soul. That is a pagan notion, and the Bible has practically nothing to say about the souls of men apart from their bodies." [66]
3. ETERNAL HELL NOT FOREGONE CONCLUSION.—As to Eternal Torment, Cundy says: "Many Christians have believed that it involves everlasting conscious suffering. Some of our Lord's words seem to point to this, but possibly not conclusively." [67] And on the resurrection, he wrote: "The Resurrection. The dead, good and evil, will be raised in bodily form, not merely survive in spirit, and will stand before God as Judge." [68] These statements, first made in 1945, are more or less incidental to his theme, but they are indicative for us.
4. SECOND DEATH EXTINGUISHES PERSONALITY.—In a per-sonal letter to the author, written in 1961, Dr. Cundy reiterates the foregoing views in these words:
"I still hold to my view of there being no conscious interval between death and resurrection. . . . As to eternal punishment, I hold the Conditionalist view—that man is not inherently immortal (a Greek idea, foreign to the Bible) but holds his life solely by the will of God. Immortality has been brought to light through the gospel, and is in Christ. The second death then means to me what it so obviously seems to imply—extinction of personality in circumstances of great anguish." [69]
This from Mathematician and Schoolmaster Cundy.
65 Ibid., p. 60.
66 Ibid., p. 91. (Italics supplied.)
67 Ibid., p. 93.
68 Ibid., p. 97.
69 Martyn Cundy, personal letter to the author, dated Jan. 3, 1961.
Dr. NORMAN H. SNAITH, [70] of Wesley College, Leeds, England, writing as "a Methodist for Methodists," likewise denies man's inherent immortality—that is, that man is constitutionally unable to die, which, of course, is the meaning of "immortal." This notion, he declares, is "not a Biblical idea at all." In writing of the Old Testament, in one of his books, he says:
"We find two passages only which speak of a resurrection life beyond ' the grave, and none at all of any immortality of the soul, which is not a ' Biblical idea at all." [71]
1. NO INDEPENDENT SURVIVAL DISCLOSED IN BIBLE.—In chapter 17 of I Believe In . . . (1949), which first appeared in the Methodist Recorder as one in a series of articles on the Nicene Creed, Dr. Snaith says, significantly, concerning "Life After Death": "The creeds all speak of a resurrection and not of a survival." [72]
He notes that the earliest "Christian thinkers kept so very clear of the Greek doctrine of the immortality of the soul." [73] Then he says pointedly:
"I find nowhere in the Bible any doctrine of the necessary survival of the individual, that is, of the immortality of the soul in the sense that there is a part of every man which can never die." [74]
1. ALL WHO CLING TO SIN TO BE DESTROYED.—After referring to man's sovereign freedom and power of choice and the fateful results of that choice, Dr. Snaith says concerning the destiny of the incorrigibly wicked:
"If he ["the sinner"] does not repent, then he dies. God has given to man this freedom to choose, and it is a real freedom. It is, in fact, a freedom to live or to die. And not even God can have it both ways." [75]
He then adds:
"It seems to me that it is nothing but muddled, sentimental thinking to say that if one man is lost, then God is defeated. God's victory is a victory over sin. Sin will at the last be destroyed, and with it all that cling to it." [76]
70 NORMAN H. SNAITH (1898- ), Methodist, was trained at Mansfield College, Oxford. After a series of pastorates he taught for years at Wesley College, Leeds. He is author of about twenty-four books.
71 Norman H. Snaith, The Distinctive Ideas of the Old Testament (Copyright 1946, W. L. Jenkins. The Westminster Press. Used by permission.), p. 112. (Italics supplied.)
72 Norman H. Snaith, I Believe In . . . (1957 ed.), p. 115.
73 Ibid., p. 120.
74 Ibid.
75 Ibid., p. 121.
3. No "IMMORTAL SOUL" THAT "SURVIVES DEATH."—A year later, in the American journal Interpretation, Dr. Snaith summed up a scholarly article entitled "Life After Death—The Biblical Doctrine of Immortality" in these explicit words:
"Neither here nor anywhere else in the Bible is there any suggestion of an immortal soul which survives death. Nothing survives unless it be raised up by God, and the condition is that the man must be 'in Christ' and so 'born of the spirit.' " [77]
Anglican Canon H. D. A. MAJOR, [78] of Birmingham Cathedral, England, is similarly emphatic in maintaining that the Bible does not teach that man is indestructible by nature. Thus he writes of the "eternal fire" of Mark 9:43-49—concerning the fate of the irreformably wicked:
"The phrase Gehenna, which is used here symbolically, is derived from a notable passage with which Isaiah concludes (66.24).
"In this passage the Old Testament prophet predicts the abhorred fate of the apostates. Having been slain, their bodies shall lie amidst heaps of corrupting refuse in the desecrated Valley of Hinnom. This valley, which had formerly been used in the period of the later kings of Judah as the scene of child sacrifice, had been deliberately desecrated in the period after the return from the Exile. The sewage of Jerusalem was cast there. There the corrupting worm crawled and fires were kept continually burning for the purpose of destroying the refuse.
"The word Gehenna is an actual transliteration of the Hebrew phrase, Valley of Hinnom. Unquenchable fire does not mean fire which burns for ever, but fire which cannot be extinguished until that which it has taken hold of is utterly consumed. The undying worm is not the symbol of a soul which cannot die, but is the symbol of corruption which cannot be purged.' " [79]
76 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
77 Norman H. Snaith, "Life After Death—the Biblical Doctrine of Immortality," Interpretation, I (July, 1947), p. 324.
78 HENRY DEWSBURY A. MAJOR (1871.1961), Anglican was trained at St. John's College and University of New Zealand, then at Exeter College, Oxford. After several curacies and vicarates in New Zealand, he became rector of Copgrove, then principal of Ripon Hall, Oxford. and canon of Birmingham. He was also editor of The Modern Churchmcrn (from 1911), and author of eleven books.
In this way God will "dismiss them from existence," as it has been effectively phrased. Thus we have heard from more Anglican, Lutheran, and Wesleyan spokesmen in Britain and on the Continent.
79 H. D. A. Major, T. W. Manson, and C. J. Wright, The Mission and Message of Jesus (1956), p. 123. (Italics supplied.)
CHAPTER FORTY
The wide diversity of the witnesses includes university professors, a church council secretary, a bishop, and two deans. The leading witnesses of this chapter embrace Dutch Reformed, Anglican, Methodist, Congregational, Lutheran, Evangelical, and the Swiss Reformed faiths. That is the denominational spread. These all take their place on the witness stand in chronological sequence, covering this fifth decade. First comes a professor from the Netherlands.
DR. GERARDUS VAN DER LEEUW, [1] of the Netherlands, long a professor at the University of Gronigen, in 1947 issued his well-named book Onsterfelijkheid of Opstanding ("Immortality or Resurrection"). This scholarly educator likewise places the issue squarely before his readers—that the traditional dualist concept of the "corruptible body" and "immortal soul" is of Grecian origin and at variance with the true Christian faith. Here is his clean-cut statement:
"Many preachers of recent times are rather hesitant to preach about immortality. But in former days, when preaching about eternal life, it was without effort that they dwelt upon imaginations of a corruptible body and an immortal soul. The older devotional books and church hymns are full of it. Even now people in the house of bereavement and on the graveyards are being comforted from the same source—yet these representations are not in any respect Christian, but purely Grecian and contrary to the essence of Christian faith." [2]
1 GERARDUS VAN DER LEEUW (1890-1950), Dutch Reformed, was trained at the universities of Leyden, Berlin, and GOttingen. AfFeTbrief period of pastoral work he became professor of religious history and phenomenology at the University of Gronigen. He also served as Minister of Education after World War II. He was author of thirteen major volumes between 1916 and 1939, some of them translated into English, French, Italian, and German.
1. EVEN THE SOUL DIES IN DEATH.—After quoting Ecclesiastes 3:19-21, Dr. Van der Leeuw states that as the "whole life of man" dies, so the whole man will be raised up. Resurrection is our hope. Thus: "[Innate] Immortality is a conception which fits into the philosophy of pantheism. With death belongs not immortality, but Resurrection." [3]
Here is the essence of his position:
"The Church has—no matter how much Hellenized it may be in doctrine and practice—always maintained the resurrection of the body. . . . The body dies, death is not being denied at all. Even the spirit, the soul that I am, will not exist. The soul will also die. But the whole life of man will be renewed by God. God will raise me up 'in the latter day.' " [4]
2 Gerardus van der Leeuw, Onsterfelijkheid of Oostanding, p. 20.
3 Ibid., p. 30.
4 Ibid., p. 32. (Italics supplied.)
2. WILL RECEIVE IMMORTALITY AT RESURRECTION.—Only God is intrinsically immortal. Man acquires immortality as a gift at the resurrection. Hear it:
"Only God is immortal (1 Tim. 1:16). To men He gave the promise of resurrection. Creation will change into re-creation. And re-creation is resurrection, a raising up by God." [5]
Dutch theologian Leeuw thus agrees with numerous other Continental, British, and American Conditionalists scattered out to the ends of the earth at this time.
In Scotland, DR. ALFRED E. TAYLOR, [5] long professor of moral philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, discussing the somber fate of the wicked, insists that the "persistently rebellious sinner," who by "his very impenitence" thereby insists on "walking over a precipice," as it were, into the "second death," consequently dies a "suicide's death." Man has the power of "refusal to re pond" to the love of God, and thus to exclude himself from eternal life. This is how Taylor puts it:
"Shelley may have meant to be flippant—though flippancy was not congenial to him—when he wrote that 'It is a lie to say God damns,' but there was truth at the bottom of the words. God does not cast into Hell as an Eastern sultan might cast a wretch, who has provoked his anger, to the lions; it is the persistently rebellious sinner who casts himself into the darkness by his very impenitence, just as it is I myself who dash myself in pieces if I insist in walking over a precipice. The 'second death' is a suicide's death." [7]
5 Ibid., p. 36. (Italics supplied.)
6 ALFRED E. TAYLOR (1869-1945), Anglican philosopher, was educated at Oxford, then taught in Manchester, McGill University, ana St. Andrews, and was professor of moral philosophy at Edinburgh. Though a rationalist, he maintained a theistic belief in personal religious experience. He authored a dozen volumes.
7 A. E. Taylor, The Christian Hope of Immortality, p. 105. (Italics supplied.)
REBELLIOUS CAN REFUSE TO RESPOND.—The sinner can cut himself off from God's provision of life:
"St. Paul's tells us, in one of his most famous outbursts, of his confidence that 'neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come . . . nor any other creature can separate us from the love of God.' But there is one thing which he does not say, he does not say that we ourselves cannot, by our own refusal to respond to that love, effect the separation which is beyond the united powers of all things else in heaven and in earth.
"Even we ourselves, I have ventured to say, cannot put ourselves beyond that lovingkindness of our Creator which is over all His works; but we can cut ourselves off from that more intimate and special 'love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord' towards those who are being re-made in His likeness; that self-separation is the 'outer darkness' of those who are excluded from eternal life. If we dare not affirm of any of our fellows that he has brought that exclusion on himself, neither dare any of us affirm of himself that he may not yet do so." [8]
DR. G. R. BEASLEY-MURRAY [9] is yet another who recognizes the long-standing predominance of the view of "eternal survival of the soul" through Innate Immortality, and then in contrast presents the Biblical view of the resurrection as the means of reuniting both body and soul. The discarnate soul view, he avers, would involve the "survival of a maimed man." God's provision is for the whole man,
RESURRECTION IS REINTEGRATION OF WHOLE MAN. -According to Beasley-Murray the survival of the soul only would be but a fragmentation:
"All this leads us to the realization that the Christian hope is not the eternal survival of the soul. which is the popular conception of immortality, but the uniting of soul and body in resurrection. The idea of dividing sharply between the physical and spiritual elements of our nature . . . The Bible avoids both extremes and consistently treats man as a 'body-soul'; not a soul in a body but a soul so much at one with the body that the term 'body' can often stand for the person. 'Your bodies are members of Christ' is one such instance (1 Cor. 6:14). It is clear, then, that if man is fundamentally a body-soul, survival of the soul only would be the survival of a maimed man. Paul referred to this when he told how he shrank from becoming 'naked' in death; he wanted to be 'clothed' in resurrection (2 Cor. 5:4). The Christian resurrection, accordingly, has been well termed 'the reintegration of man,' i.e., it is the making of him into a whole man again." [10]
8 Ibid., p. 110.
9 GEORGE RAYMOND BEASLEY-MURRAY (1916- ), Baptist, was trained at King's College, University of London, and Jesus College, Cambridge. After tutoring at Spurgeon's College (1950-1956), he became professor of New Testament interpretation at Baptist Theological Seminary, lunch (1956-1958), then principal of Spurgeon's College (1958-). He is author of four major books.
10 G. R. Beasley-Murray, Christ Is Alive (1947), pp. 156ff. (Italics supplied.)
A similar strain was heard in Wales—that in the Bible it is not discarnate immortal souls but resurrected men who are set forth, with the resurrected body requisite to the continuance of "human personally." This was presented briefly by Methodist CHRISTOPHER R. NORTH [11] professor of Hebrew and dean of the faculty of University College, North Wales, in a lecture to teachers in 1947. He was dealing with the faith of the Old Testament, preceding the rise of Christianity. Having spoken of "moral retribution" and "retributive righteousness," North turns to the "future life" as set forth in the Old Testament. [12]
SURVIVAL NOT AN INALIENABLE RIGHT.—After referring to a "resurrection from the dead," as disclosed in Isaiah 26:19 and Daniel 12:2. Professor North says:
"We have seen that the Old Testament did not think of man as an incarnated, immortal soul, but as an animated body; that the body, for it, was an essential constituent in human personality. Hence, when the Jews did at last come to believe in life after death they spoke in terms of the resurrection of the body, not, in Greek fashion, of the immortality of the soul. That is. historically, the reason why, when we recite the', Creed, we say, not 'I believe in the immortality of the soul,' but 'I believe in the resurrection of the body.' " [13]
Dr. North concludes with the supporting statement that "according to the thought of the Old Testament any life to come is of God's grace, not an inalienable portion of human nature." [14] So the "life to come" was, according to Professor North, definitely "in terms of resurrection." [15]
11 CHRISTOPHER R. NORTH (1888- ), Methodist, was educated at Didsbury and the School of Oriental Studies. After ministry in several churches he held the chair of Old Testament in Bansworth College, Birmingham, and was professor of Hebrew at University College, North Wales, and then dean of the Faculty of Theology. He wrote three books on the Old Testament.
12 Christopher R. North, The Thought of the Old Testament, pp. 53, 55.
13 Ibid., p. 57. (Italics supplied.)
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid., p. 58.
In 1948, Dr. AUBREY R. VINE, [16] secretary of the Free Churches Federal Council of Britain, made a distinct contribution to our quest in his An Approach to Christology. He was formerly professor at Yorkshire United Independent College and for years editor of The Congregational Quarterly. His experience in classroom, editorial chair, pulpit, and administrative office gives weight to his words. His chapter on "Man" is packed with gem statements. At the outset Dr. Vine sets forth this fundamental principle of man's total dependence on God for continuance:
"God is the only self-existent, and though perfected man live for countless aeons in harmony and unity with God, man's being will always depend for its continuance on God's being." [17]
1. MAN AN "INTEGRATED UNIT," NOT A DUALISM.—Emphasizing "God's grace and man's choice," Dr. Vine stresses the fact that man is an "integrated unit"—"from his birth to his death man is a natural unit." He was brought into being "by integrating a spirit into a suitable body." [18] Then he hastens to add:
"His spirit is not like the tenant of a house or the driver of a vehicle. The tenant can leave and return, the driver can get out and in. But the spirit cannot act like that. The spirit is utterly committed to the body and cannot leave it except in accordance with natural law, and once having left cannot return." [19]
As to man's "spirit," Vine says that man appeared— ' "differing from all else in the scheme of creation by the possession of a spirit. a spirit which was in some special way different both in nature and origin from all else in the material universe." [20]
16 AUBREY R. VINE (1900- ), Congregationalist, was educated at the University of Dublin, and New College, London. After ministry in Greenwich and Reading he became professor of church history and Greek at Yorkshire Union College. In 1957 he was made General Secretary of the Free Churches Federal Council of Britain and Wales. and has been president of two Congregational unions. He received training in both science and theology. He is author of four works, including his monumental study on the Person of Christ in relation to modern physics, biology, psychology, and philosophy. It is the accepted definitive statement of orthodox Christology.
17 Aubrey R. Vine, An Approach to Christology, p. 299.
18 Ibid., p. 303.
19 Ibid., pp. 303, 304.
20 Ibid., p. 305
"It is derived from God in some way intentionally different from the way in which all else in the material Universe has been brought into being." [21]
Thus it was that man came— "into being in a different way from that in which all else in the Universe had come into being, and which was integrated into the new unit, man, in a way in which no other integration had ever taken place." [22]
GOD ONLY HAS "NATURAL IMMORTALITY."—Stressing that man is "immortizable," [23] not innately immortal, Dr. Vine develops the point: "Immortal' should only be applied to a human spirit if we clearly recognize that it is only immortal at God's grace and pleasure. Only God is immortal by His own nature and without qualification." [24]
"NATURAL IMMORTALITY" OF MAN A "GREEK CONCEPT."—After declaring that "the natural immortality of the spirit is a Greek rather than a Christian concept," Dr. Vine comes to the question of whether it is "by nature indestructible or eternal," and reminds us that only "God can destroy (disintegrate) spirits; and no spirit continues to exist except by the good-will of God." [25, 26] He again emphasizes this important truth:
"Against the idea of the natural immortality of the spirit we must set the fact that God is the only self-existent and that nothing exists or continues to exist except by His grace and will, within this schema or within any other. God only is exo-schematic. When we use the word 'immortal,' therefore, of anything but God, we must always realize that none but God is immortal by His own nature and without qualification." [27]
He repeats, for emphasis, man is "only immortal at God's grace and pleasure." (Vine photo on page 826.) [28]
MAN "NOT A SPIRIT INHABITING A BODY."—Dr. Vine begins the section "The Life of Man" with the reiterated thought "Man thus begins his life as the result of an integration which makes him a biotic unit of a special kind." [29]
21 Ibid., p. 306.
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid., p. 311.
24 Ibid., p. 311, n.
25 Ibid., p. 314.
26 Ibid., pp. 314, 315.
27 Ibid., p. 315.
28 Ibid.
29 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
Then he adds: "Man is a system, because he is a complex integration of many parts. Man is a unit, because the many parts are integrated into one auto-centricity." [30]
This he expands:
"Man is not a spirit inhabiting a body. He is a spirit naturally integrated into a body, which is a very different matter. While a man lives he is not a spirit: he is a man, and 'man' includes body just as certainly as it includes spirit. He is a complex, and he reacts as a complex, though that complex is a natural unit and therefore acts as a unit." [31]
And Dr. Vine had already warned against imagining that "the spirit is a kind of tenant occupying a material body and then leaving it to live disembodied or re-embodied." [32]
DISINTEGRATION ENDS "HUMAN BIOTIC UNIT."—In the section "The death of man" Dr. Vine next states that "a time comes when the human biotic unit disintegrates"—at death. This he expands: "Death is the end of the biotic unit man, and he disintegrates into his constituents. Those constituents are in the main three: body, centrum vitae and spirit." [33]
The "centrum vitae" he defines as "the conscious centre of vital force." [34] Then, reverting to "disintegration," Dr. Vine says:
"The disintegration of man is a natural disintegration, that is, it takes place in accordance with inevitable laws. It is therefore beyond man's control, except in so far that he can place himself or others in circumstances in which the natural laws will operate which will cause the disintegration to occur." [35]
Moreover, death is irreversible. That is why it is dreaded. This leads to the statement with which we conclude this survey: "Death is the end of man. The human biotic unit begins at conception and ends at death. When the spirit has disengaged from the dying body it is no longer a man." [36]
It takes a creative act of God, the resurrection, to reconstitute man in immortality. Such is the important witness of Dr. Vine, of the Free Churches Federal Council of Britain.
30 Ibid.
31 Ibid., p. 322.
32 Ibid., pp. 300, 301.
33 Ibid., p. 334.
34 Ibid., p. 335.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid., p. 336.
Another noted Swedish Lutheran bishop making a major contribution at this time is GUSTAF AULEN, [37] of Strangnas—theologian, educator, lecturer, and author. This is found in his The Faith of the Christian Church (1948), translated into English by Augustana's Dean Eric H. Wahlstrom and G. Everett Arden, and issued by the Muhlenberg Press. Its excellence has been acclaimed beyond the borders of the Swedish Church by such scholars as Dr. Henry P. Van Deusen, president of Union Theological Seminary.
1. GREEK DUALISM VS. CHRISTIAN CONCEPT OF SALVATION.
—Aulen first notes the familiar "dualistic" concept as "emanating from the Greek mystery religion and philosophy which divide man into the two parts [soul and body], a higher, spiritual self issuing from the world of divine infinity, and a lower, sensual, and finite self." The first, while in this life, is "confined in the prison of finite and material existence." [38] Under this specious theory "salvation consists in the release of the higher self from this prison." But Aulen adds that "these ideas have during the ages exercised an influence upon Christianity," leading first to— "an inclination to regard salvation as an ascending movement of the soul. In the second place, by reference to the divine element existing in men, the attempt has been made to bring about a rational motivation for the possibility of salvation by claiming that man possesses an 'untainted core' or something similar." [39]
These, the bishop declares, "stand in sharp contrast to the Christian concept of salvation." [40] And he adds, "Christian faith must . . . reject" this "dualistic starting point." [41]
37 GUSTAF E. H. AULEN (1879-1952), bishop of the Church of Sweden, was trained at the University of Uppsala, was professor of systematic theology at the University of Lund (1913-1933), then bishop of the Strangnas diocese (1930-1952). He wrote seven major theological works, including History of Dogma and The Faith of the Christian Church (1948), several being translated into other languages. With Bishop A. Nygren, he was a leader in the movement seeking to see the essential truth behind a given doctrine rather than to stress the mere form in which it is presented.
38 Gustaf Aulen, The Faith of the Christian Church (Fortress Press), p. 165.
39 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
40 Ibid.
41 Ibid., p. 179.
Aulen identifies this as the theory which maintains that the " 'immortality of the soul' is something axiomatically given." [42] His designation is clear.
2. "ETERNAL LIFE" NOT NATURAL "PREROGATIVE" BUT RESURRECTION "GIFT." — Now comes the heart of Aulen's contention:
"This line of thought [innate immortality of the soul], which has emanated from a philosophical and idealistic matrix, stands in sharp contrast to the characteristic viewpoint of Christian faith. For Christian faith 'eternal life' is not a self-evident prerogative of man, but is rather a gift which is given in and with man's fellowship with God and is realized in and through the 'resurrection.' " [43]
3. BODY-SOUL DISTINCTION FOREIGN TO "RESURRECTION FAITH."—Aulen presses this point by declaring further: "It is evident that the primitive Christian resurrection faith is of a different nature from the philosophical doctrine which regards the 'soul' as in itself immortal, and immortality as the liberation of the soul from the prison house of the body. Such a distinction between 'soul' and 'body' is absolutely foreign to the resurrection faith of the early church." [44]
There is no ambiguity here, and his declaration is historically true.
4. INNATE IMMORTALITY "FOREIGN TO FAITH."—Contending that "sin" means "death," and "salvation" means "life," [45] Aulen now leads up to the New 'Testament witness on "life and immortality." [46]
42 Ibid.
43 Ibid , pp. 179, 180. Malin supplied.) In support Aulen cites Carl Stange (with references). who has likewise brought out the essential differences 'between the Christian conception of resurrection and the philosophical and idealistic idea of immortality" (p. 180, footnote).
44 Ibid., p. 248. (Italics supplied.)
45 Ibid., pp. 301, 302.
46 Ibid., p 303.
Here he contrasts the "naturalistic" and the "Christian" ideas of salvation, and says, "The Christian idea of salvation is certainly not 'naturalistic.' " Then he observes:
"Two factors seem to have been the cause of the neglect of this idea of salvation as life. In the first place, the starting point has generally been the idea of 'the immortality of the soul' as a quality belonging to the 'nature' of man, an idea which is foreign to faith." [47]
Its serious effect on the Christian faith is thus described by Aulen:
"It is easy to understand that from this idealistic point of view the idea of salvation as life would be minimized. Death in this sense has lost the profound seriousness which it has in Christian faith. The passing from death to life has become something natural and self-evident. In the second place, this tendency represents a negative conception of the forgiveness of sins. The insight that forgiveness implies primarily the establishment of fellowship with God is not recognized." [48]
again buttresses this point by saying:
"Christian hope is, therefore, throughout the hope of faith. It does not rest on any theories of the indestructible nature of man or on 'the immortality of the soul,' but entirely on faith's encounter with God." [49]
5. UNEQUIVOCALLY OPPOSED TO SPIRITUALISM'S FANTASIES.—Aulen next touches on Romanism's system of "merits" and Spiritualism's attempts at communication:
"All those conceptions which are characteristic of the Roman church and which are based upon the idea of merits are invalidated. Likewise, the spiritualistic attempts to effect an external connection with the dead are foreign to Christian faith.” [50]
Aulen enlarges upon these basic propositions in these words: "If 'immortality' is not simply a rational idea for faith, that is to say, does not have its basis in idealistic theories about the indestructible nature of man . . . and if, instead; 'eternal life' is based entirely upon the relationship between God and man, in the creative and life-giving work of divine love, then faith can make no assertions about the relation between the quick and the dead which are not entirely determined by the Christian concept of the relationship between God and man." [51]
47 Ibid., p. 304. (Italics supplied.)
48 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
49 Ibid., p. 325. (Italics supplied.)
50 Ibid., p. 437. (Italics supplied.)
51 Ibid., p. 439. (Italics supplied.)
He again speaks out against Spiritualism's proclivities in these explicit words: "Since Christian faith must oppose all such Roman conceptions which are based upon the impure idea of merits and are therefore foreign to the Christian relationship between God and man, it must also unequivocally oppose all spiritualistic attempts to establish a direct connection between the living and the dead." [52]
Aulen's repudiation of Spiritualism is unequivocal: "When spiritualism attempts to become the representative spokesman for religion, Christian faith is compelled to repudiate it, for spiritualism leads away from that which is absolutely decisive for faith, namely, the relationship between God and man." [53]
Such is the impressive testimony of Bishop Aulen, of Strangnas.
MARTIN J. HEINECKEN, [54] professor of systematic theology at the Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, takes a similarly stalwart stand on the issue of Innate Immortality. This he discusses repeatedly in his Basic Christian Teachings (1949), a text in the Lutheran Leadership Courses. [55] Note his impressive statements. (Heinecken photo on page 826.)
52 Ibid., p. 440. (Italics supplied.)
53 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
54 MARTIN J. HEINECKEN, United Evangelical Lutheran, was trained at Wartburg College and Seminary, Minnesota and Nebraska universities. After pastoral posts in Wisconsin and Nebraska, and instructor and chaplaincy work in Wager College he has since 1945 been professor of systematic theology at Philadelphia Lutheran Theological Seminary. He is author of several volumes.
55 Martin J. Heinecken, Basic Christian Teachings, p. 3.
56 Ibid., pp. 36, 37.
1. DUALISTIC CONCEPT FALSE; MAN A "UNITY."—First of all, man is not a "soul" temporarily inhabiting a "body." Man is a "unity":
"In the biblical account of creation we are told that God formed man of the dust and of the earth, and that he then breathed into his nostrils and man became a living soul. This is usually interpreted to mean that God made a soul, which is the real person, and that he then gave this soul a temporary home in a body, made of the dust of the earth. But this is a false dualism. Man must be considered a unity." [56]
"We are dealing with a unified being, a person, and not with something that is called a soul and which dwells in a house called the body, as though the body were just a tool for the soul to employ, but not really a part of the person." [57]
2. VITAL RELATIONSHIP OF CREATOR AND CREATURE.—Furthermore, immortality comes from God through the resurrection. Man has "no life or immortality within himself." Here is Heinecken's wording:
"It is held by some people that there is within every man an unchanging and indestructible core, immortal in its own right. It is unaffected by time; it had no beginning, neither can it have an end. It has always been and always will be. It came into this world of changing things from the realm of eternity and will return to it. The Christian view is by no means to be identified with the above belief in the immortality of the soul. The Christian belief is in the immortality of the God-relationship, and in the resurrection. The Christian dualism is not that of soul and body, eternal mind and passing things, but the dualism of Creator and creature. Man is a person, a unified being, a centre of responsibility, standing over against his Creator and Judge. He has no life or immortality within himself. He came into being through God's creative power. He spends as many years on this earth as in God's providence are allotted to him. He faces death as the wages of sin." [57]
3. MISCONCEPTIONS LEAD TO DEPRECIATING THE RESURRECTION.—Platonic Dualism concerns itself only with redemption of the "soul":
"Men have speculated like this: At death the soul is separated from the body. It appears then before God in a preliminary judgment (mentioned nowhere in Scripture) and enters into a preliminary state either of blessedness or condemnation. Then, when the last trumpet sounds, the body is resurrected and rejoined with the soul, and complete once more, the reunited body and soul appear for the final, public judgment scene, from there to enter either into final bliss or final condemnation. It is no wonder that, with this view, men have had little use for a resurrection, and have finally dropped the notion altogether and have been satisfied with the redemption of only the soul." [59]
57 Ibid., p. 38.
58 Ibid., pp. 133, 134. (Italics supplied.)
59 Ibid., p. 135. (Italics supplied.)
4. UNCONSCIOUS OF PASSING TIME TILL RESURRECTION.—To Heinecken the resurrection and the judgment come "at the end of time." The dead are unaware of the passage of intervening time:
"To die then means to pass to the resurrection and the judgment at the end of time. Even if someone should say that all men sleep until the final trumpet sounds, what is the passage of time for those who are asleep? The transition from the moment of death to the resurrection would still be instantaneous for them. It would be no different from going to bed at night and being waked in the morning." [60]
"SEPARABLE SOUL" UNKNOWN TO BIBLE. —A decade later, in God in the Space Age (1959), Dr. Heinecken consistently maintained the same view of the non-immortality of the soul, with man as a "unity" and the "resurrection" as the door to eternal life:
"Strange as this sounds in some ears, the Bible knows nothing of the immortality of the soul separable from the body. It knows only of a resurrection of the total man from the dead. Man in the Bible is a psychosomatic unity, and as such he passes through death to the resurrection and the judgment to the fulfillment, from faith through death and resurrection to sight. This makes all speculations about a place of the departed spirits absolutely futile." [61]
THE WAY TO ETERNAL LIFE SET FORTH.—Likewise in his The Moment Before God (1956) Heinecken says that without the "resurrection" "death must be viewed, as far as any human possibility is concerned, as the complete and final end." [62] As to survival he says:
"If there is not one who is the Lord of life and an inexhaustible fountain of life, then a man must resign himself to the inevitable drop into the abyss of nothingness. The only other alternative is the living God who can bring life out of death. The corollary to the absolute miracle of the creation ex nihilo which stands at the beginning of existence is the absolute miracle of the resurrection from the dead which is a re-creation. Everlasting blessedness is not something which is everyone's destiny as a matter of course and which he will eventually achieve." [63]
60 Ibid., p. 136. (Italics supplied.)
61 Heinecken, God in the Space Age p. 113. (Italics supplied.)
62 Heinecken, The Moment Before God, p. 157.
63 Ibid.
No ONE HAS LIFE IN AND OF HIMSELF.—One final statement must suffice. Eternal life is provided for man as a "mortal being" only in and through God:
"Though death is the constant reminder to man of the fact that he does not have life in and out of himself and is upheld over the abyss of nothingness only by the power of another, though each man faces this most shocking of realizations that he could also not be, yet, at the same time, this mortal being, once he has been called into being by the other, can never escape this relationship. No man escapes God by dying. He, therefore, who was not eternal, who had a beginning, enters into a life that has no end. He who is not eternal is nevertheless eternal." [64]
Such is God's provision.
Dr. REINHOLD NIEBUHR, [65] of the Evangelical and Reformed Church, one of the renowned theologians of America and longtime professor at Union Theological Seminary, as well as author of numerous works, expressly affirmed that if man is to be made immortal he must receive it from God, "who only hath immortality" (1 Tim. 6:16). Niebuhr's views are explicit—immortality depends solely on the grace and power of God. Along with this he stresses the "unity of body and soul."
1. CLASSICAL PAGAN CONCEPT SUPPLANTS "BIBLICAL" VIEW. —After contrasting the "classical" view of man, of Greco-Roman antiquity, and the "Biblical" view, Niebuhr states that the two "were actually merged in the thought of medieval Catholicism." The classical view, that the "mind," or "spirit," is "immortal," was inseparably tied to the dualistic "body-mind" concept of man." But among the Hebrews, he observes, "the concept of an immortal mind in a mortal body, remains unknown to the end." Furthermore, "Origen's Platonism completely destroys the Biblical sense of the unity of man." [66, 67, 68]
64 Ibid., p. 158.
65 REINHOLD NIEBUHR (1892- ), of the Evangelical Synod trained at Yale, was professor of applied Christianity at Union Theological Seminary from 1928 to 1961. He has stressed a return of American Protestantism, from the liberalism of the nineteenth century, to Biblical and Reformation insights into the nature of man and history, with emphasis on the "social gospel." Author of a dozen books, his major work remains nis two-volume The Nature and Destiny of Man (1941-1943)—the Gifford Lectures of 1939.
66 Reinhold Niebuhr, The Nature and Destiny of Man (Scribner's), vol. 1. "Human Nature," P. 5.
67 Ibid., p. 7.
68 Ibid., p. 13.
RESURRECTION TEACHING SUPPLANTED BY IMMORTAL-SOULISM.—Here are Niebuhr's strictures on the traditional inherent immortality view. Note two excerpts:
"The idea of the resurrection of the body is a Biblical symbol in which modern minds take the greatest offense and which has long since been displaced in most modern versions of the Christian faith by the idea of the immortality of the soul. The latter idea is regarded as a more plausible expression of the hope of everlasting life." [69]
"The Christian hope of the consummation of life and history is less absurd than alternate doctrines which seek to comprehend and to effect the completion of life by some power or capacity inherent in man and his history." [70]
CONTRAST BETWEEN "RESURRECTION" AND "IMMORTALITY."—Now observe Niebuhr's clear contrast between "resurrection" and "immortality":
"In this answer of faith the meaningfulness of history is the more certainly affirmed because the consummation of history as a human possibility is denied. The resurrection is not a human possibility in the sense that the immortality of the soul is thought to be so. All the plausible and implausible proofs for the immortality of the soul are efforts on the part of the human mind to master and to control the consummation of life. They all try to prove in one way or another that an eternal element in the nature of man is worthy and capable of survival beyond death. But every mystic or rational technique which seek to extricate the eternal element tends to deny the meaningfulness of the historical unity of body and soul; and with it the meaningfulness of the whole historical process with its infinite elaborations of that unity." [71]
In this connection Niebuhr quotes Prof. John Baillie (And the Life Everlasting, chapter four) to the effect that the Platonic concept of immortality is but a philosophic version of the "animistic sense of a shadowy survival after death." [72]
The late Congregationalist WILLARD L. SPERRY," dean of Harvard Divinity School, where he was also professor of Christian morals, believed that the "undeviating sinner," bent on committing "spiritual suicide," will finally come to "nothingness"—to a "moral vanishing point." That, Sperry says, was the risk of granting "moral freedom" to man.
69 Ibid., vol. 2, "Human Destiny," p. 294.
70 Ibid., p. 295. (Italics supplied.)
71 Ibid., p. 298.
72 Ibid.
73 WILLARD L. SPERRY (1882-1954), Congregationalist, was trained at Olivet, Oxford (as a Rhodes scholar), and Yale. After certain pastorates he became professor of theology at Andover and at Harvard Divinity School, becoming dean at Harvard in 1922, and chaplain to the university. Fourteen books are listed among his more important writings. He was one of the Old Testament revisers for the R.S.V.
DESTINY OF THE "UNDEVIATING SINNER."—Here are Sperry's words:
"We have had to witness a great deal of coldly rationalized, relentlessly pursued, positive evil in the last few years. What about the destiny of the men who conceived and executed it? Well, the mercy of God is infinite, the patience of God untiring, and the most evil of men may experience some 'irresistible grace.' But I have never been able to see why a man who is deliberately set upon committing spiritual suicide should not be allowed to do so. All that you and I mean by life, by the good life, shrinks, dwindles and falls away when evil is made the good and goal of living. I cannot see why the destiny of the undeviating" sinner may not be, ought not to be, naked nothingness. Hell, so construed, would be merely zero.
"It is said that the objection to this idea of the possible self-annihilation of the evil man is to be found in the reflection that under such circumstances the only one who suffers is God. The man himself knows nothing, feels nothing; he is blacked out at some moral vanishing point. But through all eternity God will have to realize that at one of his ventures with mankind he has failed. The idea that God should fail at anything and have to admit that he has failed is to many minds intolerable. I have never been able to feel the force of this objection. God took that chance when he gave us our genuine moral freedom, and he has prepared for his own reflective pain as well as for his joy." [74]
74 Willard L. Sperry, Man's Destiny in Eternity, p. 216.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Again there is wide diversity of personnel in this chapter, but with an underlying unity of emphasis. Religiously, six witnesses are Anglicans or Episcopalians, three are Lutherans, with the rest Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Orthodox. By profession or vocation eight are university professors, three are editors, two are rectors, two deans, and two bishops, with the remainder as pastors and a philosopher. Geographically, five are from Britain, five from the United States, two from Canada, and there is one each from Scotland, France, Sweden, and Germany.
The approaches vary, as do the points of emphasis. But there is a uniform denial of any Biblical foundation for the Innate Immortality position, and an incrimination of Greek Platonism as the source. Immortality is not inherent but is a gift to be bestowed. Fundamental fallacies are frankly exposed, and there is definite rejection of the Eternal Torment theory. Man's hope lies in the resurrection at the Second Advent. Such is the over-all testimony of this chapter.
1 CARROLL E. Simcox, Episcopalian pastor, teacher, editor, and writer was trained at the University of North Dakota, Oberlin School of Theology, and the University of Illinois. For years he was Episcopal chaplain on the campus of the universities of Illinois and Wisconsin, and is now a rector. For several years he was also book editor of The Living Church (Episcopalian), and is author of several books, including Is Death the End? (1950).
Episcopalian CARROLL E. Simcox, [1] former book editor of The Living Church, then rector of Zion Church, Manchester Center, Virginia, in discussing "the Doctrines of the Apostles' Creed," and specifically The Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting, speaks of the "vast conspiracy of silence about death." [2] Following a discussion on "The Christian View of Death," he first of all contrasts "immortality and resurrection." [3]
1. INNATE IMMORTALITY ONLY A THEORY.—Here is Dr. Simcox' incisive opening statement:
"Our first logical step is to make a distinction between two very different things: immortality and resurrection. Most non-Christians have always believed in some kind of immortality of man and hence in some life beyond the grave. Many have envisioned a life to come that is indeed beautiful and glorious. But they have based their hope for this life to come entirely on the theory of the immortality of man. The essence of this theory is that there is some imperishable something in man himself which death cannot destroy: so long as this something cannot die, man himself cannot die. This theory of the imperishable-something in man has commended itself to the reason of most of the wisest men. Yet it can never be anything more than a theory. If the theory is false, man's hope for life beyond death is grounded in a bad guess." [4]
On the contrary—
"the Christian has an entirely different reason [or believing in the life to come. He believes in resurrection, and he believes that he has sufficient reason to consider resurrection not so much a theory as an established fact." [5]
2. INNATISM NOT BIBLICAL, MERELY GREEK PHILOSOPHY. —Simcox points out that the "basic idea" of such "immortality" is that "man is made up of two elements, soul and body," [6] which is, of course, straight Dualism. And the corollary is that— "while man is in this present life, his soul and his body are in a temporary working partnership. Soul is by its very nature immortal: it cannot die. It is the imperishable-something. Body is mortal and must die. What happens, then, at death? The partnership of soul and body is dissolved. The body disintegrates into dust, and for all practical purposes ceases to be." [7]
2 Carroll E. Simcox, The Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting, p. 3.
3 Ibid., p. 5.
4 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid., pp. 5, 6. (Italics supplied.)
This theory Simcox attributes to Plato. This "grand surmise" rests, he says, simply on the "high authority" of Plato. [8] Then Simcox immediately declares:
"Nevertheless, it is all a guess about the Grand Perhaps, whether we think it a reasonable guess or not. It can never be established as a certainty. We must understand that it may be nothing more than what the psychologists call a wish-projection: a fantasy of pure wishful thinking." [9]
Simcox then stresses the following point as "very important":
"This doctrine of immortality is not distinctly Christian. Most Christians have believed it, but not on Biblical and Christian grounds. The Bible does not teach it. The Bible knows no such sharp distinction and radical cleavage between soul and body. This doctrine in its familiar form comes down to us, not from the people of Israel and the early Christians, but from the philosophers of Greece: the most brilliant guessers in all history, but still guessers." [10]
3. MAN A UNIT, NOT A DUALITY.—Turning now to "The Christian Doctrine," Simcox denies the Dualism theory and stresses the unitary character of man—man as a "single," or "whole," being. Thus:
"One important difference between it and the immortality doctrine is this: the resurrection doctrine thinks of the whole man as a whole. It does not divide man into two or more parts. It allows us to call something in man 'soul,' something else in man 'mind,' something else 'body'; but the Bible never theorizes about that. If man lives, the whole man lives: if man dies, the whole man dies; if man suffers, the whole man suffers—soul, mind, body, all of him. Whatever elements together make up a human life, their togetherness—rather than their differentness—is the important fact about them. Man is a single being, in life and in death." [11]
1. TRANSFERS HOPE FROM MAN TO GOD.—And what is more important, under the resurrection our hope is centred in God, not in man. Thus:
"If we base our hope for life after death on the theory of immortality, we are putting our faith in man, in this immortal something in man. If we base our hope on the Christian ground of resurrection, we are placing our faith in God rather than in man, in the divine power and goodness rather than in human nature. Surely this makes a tremendous difference, if we believe in God at all. The theory of immortality says that we shall live beyond the grave because we are incapable of dying. The Christian claim of resurrection (it is a claim, not a theory, as we shall see later) asserts that we shall live beyond the grave because God, in His mighty love and loving might, raises us from death to life. In whom do we put our trust: in God, or in ourselves?" [12]
8 Ibid., p. 6.
9 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
10 Ibid., pp. 6, 7. (Italics supplied.)
11 Ibid., p. 7. (Italics supplied.)
It is not, therefore, a "disembodied" part of a person that lives on. [13] Through the resurrection, man—the whole man—is raised by divine power from death. This section closes with the affirmation: "I affirm that the whole person—as we might say today 'the complete personality'—is raised by God's power from death to life eternal." [14]
Methodist scholar PAUL RAMSEY, [15] professor of Christian ethics at Princeton University, in his Basic Christian Ethics says the early Christians regarded the "Platonic doctrine of the inherent, substantial immortality of the soul" a "species of robbery of God"—because immortality is "derivative," not inherent. [16] We do not possess divinity. This is clearly brought out in chapter 8 ("This Human Nature"), in the sections "The Image of God" and "After His Kind."
Here Dr. Ramsey alludes to the deceptive concept of the "divine spark" in man—the "eternal fire"—and the fact that man has been regarded as "a fragment of God," a "part of Him." Ramsey repeatedly speaks of the part Platonism played in it—influencing Augustine, for instance [17]—and how "immortal life" was one of the alleged attributes emphasized. There has, he says, been a "proneness to blur the distinction between man and God." [18]
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid., pp. 7, 8.
14 Ibid., p. 8.
15 R. PAUL RAMSEY (1913- ) was trained at Millsaps College and Yale Divinity School. He taught successively at Millsaps, Yale, Garrett, and Northwestern before connecting with Princeton in 1947, becoming professor of religion in 1954. He has been special lecturer at University of Chicago, Union Theological Seminary, Southern Methodist University, and Pacific School of Religion, as well as at Colgate. He is author of four books.
16 Paul Ramsey, Basic Christian Ethics (Scribner's), p. 277.
17 Ibid., pp. 255, 275, 279, 287.
18 Ibid., p. 252.
But Ramsey immediately goes on record with this clear statement: "The third [alleged] image of God, immortality, man possesses neither by creation nor by acquirement. Man is not inherently immortal, as he is now inherently rational and as he was completely happy as long as he remained obedient. Immortality comes as an eschatological gift. always more God's possession than man's even when it is given him." [19]
PLATONIC ERROR V. CHRISTIAN TRUTH.—After touching upon the various claims and the deceptive fallacies of the positions assumed, Professor Ramsey discusses this "attempt to view man in the light of God":
"In the first place, from viewing man as a theological animal we are driven to regard all truly human worth as derivated, not inherent. Chris-A tian interpretations of man's dignity affirm something about man in relation to God, not just something about man per se. The Platonic doctrine of the inherent, substantial immortality of the soul endowed the soul with such power of outwearing bodies as to amount to divinity, and the early Christians guile properly regarded this viewpoint as a species of robbery of God. The same is true of many of our notions of the inherent sacredness of human personality. For the Christian both 'the immortality of a mortal' and his personal worth are derivative, derivative from God's appointment." [20]
Such is Ramsey's faith.
19 Ibid., p. 263. (Italics supplied.)
20 Ibid., p. 277. (Italics supplied.)
Men of both liberal and conservative schools have alike challenged the traditional Innate Immortality view as having no Biblical basis. The liberal ALEC R. VIDLER, canon of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and since 1956 dean of King's College, Cambridge—as well as for many years editor of the Anglican Theology—refers to the Genesis records of "creation" and the "fall" as "myths." [21] Nevertheless, he is keenly aware of the current widespread interest, in these "tumultuous times," concerning "eschatology." This term, he says, embraces the " 'four last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell.' " [22] Then he notes the preoccupation of many "with the question of their own survival of death or with the immortality of the soul." [23] That introduces the question.
1. TERM NOT IN BIBLE OR EARLY CREEDS.—Dr. Vidler then makes this sweeping statement on the pagan nature and origin of the Innate Immortality presumption:
"The immortality of the soul—if it means that there is a part of every man, a kind of soul-substance, that is immortal—It not a Christian doctrine, though it has often been supposed to be and is still frequently confused with the Christian doctrine. The expression 'immortality of the soul' does not occur in the Bible or the [early] creeds, though admittedly some [early] theologians have made use of it. The Bible is preoccupied', with God and his relation to mankind. It does not speak about any...) inherent capacity of the human soul to survive death." [24]
Vidler quotes Dr. O. C. Quick's cryptic statement in Doctrines of the Creed, page 263:
" 'Many believers in God reject belief in the immortality of the soul. And on the other hand, some have believed in the immortality of the soul, while rejecting belief in God.' " [25]
1. RESURRECTED MEN NOT "DISEMBODIED SPIRITS."—Like hundreds of others, Vidler contrasts "immortality" and "resurrection."
"It is not of the immortality of the soul but of the resurrection of the body that Christian belief, like the Bible, speaks. In God's new, immortal creation men are not ghosts; they are not disembodied spirits; they are not absorbed into an unconscious cosmic soul. They retain their personal identity, for God's purpose for them is an inheritance in which nothing will be lacking to a fully personal relationship. The work of Christ is to bring not only souls but whole men into a complete and eternal relationship with God." [26]
21 Alec R. Vidler, Christian Belief, pp. 30, 31.
22 Ibid., p. 103.
23 Ibid., p. 111. On Quick, see this work, pp. 800.802.
24 Ibid., p. 110.
25 Ibid., pp. 110, 111. (Italics supplied.)
3. "WHOLE MAN" DIES, "EVERY PART OF HIM."—Vidler deprecates such terms as "passing on" in speaking of death, when instead it is "the whole man, every part of him," that dies. To the Canon, death is ever an enemy, not a welcoming friend. He speaks strongly:
"There is another point about the doctrine of the resurrection of the body, as distinguished from that of the immortality of the soul, which should not be overlooked. The word 'immortal' means not subject to death, and applied to man it must mean that there is at any rate part of a man which need not and in fact cannot die. The word 'resurrection' on the other hand presupposes the death of the whole man, every part of him. And this is in line with the whole tenor of the New Testament, for there the fact of universal death is taken seriously. 'In Adam all die.' It does not use euphemisms such as 'passing on' or 'passing over' which are popular nowadays. Death with all that it entails of separation, tragedy and mystery is a bitter necessity. The death of a man is not only natural like the death of animals or vegetables; it is also unnatural. We rebel against it.' [27]
Canadian professor of New Testament, G. B. CAIRD, [28] of McGill University (Montreal, Quebec), deals with the Greek fallacy of a "fragmented man" in the "afterlife"—as it has been aptly phrased—as opposed to the "whole personality," embraced in the Biblical teaching of a "unitary being" through the resurrection:
"There are many people who believe firmly in an afterlife who would rather not be troubled with so complicated a doctrine as the resurrection of the body, particularly if they have had enough trouble with the body itself through ill health. They would prefer to believe that at death the soul leaves the body behind like an old suit of clothes, and goes unencumbered to heaven. Now there is plenty of support for this belief in Greek philosophy, but none in the Bible. For some of the Greeks at least believed that the body is the root of all evil, that it is a prison in which the soul is incarcerated until its release at death.
"The Hebrews believed that the body is good, since God made it. To the Hebrew, therefore, a belief in the immortality of the soul would mean that only part of the human personality survived death. In teaching the resurrection of the body the Bible is asserting that the whole personality survives."
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid., pp. 112. 113. (Italics supplied.)
28 G. B. CAIRD (1917- ), Congregationalist. was trained at Mansfield College Oxford. He was professor of Old Testament of St. Stephen's College, Alberta, and from 1949 to 1954 professor at McGill University. He returned to Mansfield College, Oxford.
This is another Canadian stroke against the presumptions of Greek philosophy.
Bishop JOHN A. T. ROBINSON [30] bares the basic fallacies of certain modern Eastern "Mystery cults," declaring them to be hangovers of Platonic and Neo-Platonic Immortal-Soulism, and showing their undeniable kinship to Hinduism and Buddhism. Here is his indictment, appearing in In the End, God . . . (1958), wherein he points out that they actually involve the principle of reabsorption and the ultimate disappearance of personality:
"The starting point of all their doctrines is that the spirit of man is a part of the eternal, universal, Divine Spirit, and is therefore by nature immortal. There is a 'spark of divinity' in every man, to be identified with the highest, rational, cultural part of him—the spirit or nous or soul. The soul (which is here quite different from the 'breath' or 'ghost' of a man, which is what animism meant by the term) is temporarily imprisoned in matter, in the body which is its tomb. At the dissolution of the flesh, the soul returns intact, 'as the sparks fly upwards,' to be reunited to the Absolute, the Brahma, the World-Soul." [31]
29 G. B. Caird "The Truth of the Gospel," A Primer of Christianity (Oxford University Press), pp. 122ff. (Italics supplied.)
30 JOHN A. T. ROBINSON, Bishop of Woolwich, was trained at Cambridge, then served in a British parish, and taught and was chaplain at Wells Theological College. He next became dean of Clare College, Cambridge, and is now bishop of Woolwich. He is author of several books.
31 John A. T. Robinson, In the End, G
od, p. 78. (Italics supplied.)
1. INVOLVES ULTIMATE Loss OF PERSONALITY.—Bishop Robinson believes that such teachings are actually "pantheistic":
"Because its fundamental theological presupposition is pantheistic (the real, immortal part of a man is a 'bit' of divinity), this doctrine never really succeeds in establishing a personal immortality. The end of man is always reabsorption, the overcoming of individuality, which is generally viewed as evil. 'When pressed to its limits in the religions of the East, the doctrine promises a state of bliss for the individual which is indistinguishable from his annihilation." [32]
The parallelism to the traditional thesis of Christian Immortal-Soulism is obvious. (Photo on page 846.)
2. WHOLE MAN DIES; WHOLE MAN RAISED.—Robinson points out another fatal omission in such "theories of survival"—the fact of the "judgment." Such theories imply that immortality is in itself salvation. Robinson places the theory of the Innate Immortality of the soul in direct contrast with the Biblical provision of the "resurrection of the body." Thus:
"Neither the doctrine of the immortality of the soul nor theories of survival (whether primitive or modern) have any place for an element of judgment. For, ultimately, their conception is not of life with God, but of life with self and other selves. Indeed, such doctrines can be, and have been, argued apart from any belief in God. But, for the Bible, life eternal is essentially and ineluctably to know God and to be with Him. The exponent of [innate] immortality assumes too simply that immortality is in itself salvation. But that is to reckon without God and without sin. To be raised to live with God, without any possibility of surcease, may be the most unendurable torment.
"But God wills nevertheless to have it so. For resurrection is His destiny for every man, whether he is worthy of it or not, whether he likes it or not. For it depends on God's unconditional love. . . . There is a further great point of difference between the doctrine of immortality and that of resurrection which requires a more extended treatment. As, for the latter, the whole man dies, and not only the material part of him, so likewise the whole man will be raised and not merely the 'spiritual' in him. The Bible opposes the immortality of the soul with the resurrection of the body." [33]
3. RESURRECTION DOES NOT TAKE PLACE AT DEATH.—In another work, The Body, Bishop Robinson also warns against the misconception that the resurrection takes place at the "moment of death":
"It is a mistake to approach Paul's writings with the modern idea that the resurrection of the body has to do with the moment of death." [34]
32 ibid. (Italics supplied.)
33 Ibid., p. 82.
34 John A. T. Robinson, The Body, p. 78.
"Nowhere in the New Testament has the resurrection of the body anything specifically to do with the moment of death. The key 'moments' for this are baptism and the Parousia. Death is significant, not for the entry into the new solidarity, but for the dissolution of the old." [35]
So speaks the bishop of Woolwich.
Scholar after scholar in America, around this time, dwells on the fallacy of the Greek immortality-of-the-soul concept, placing it "over against" the Biblical certainty of the Jewish-Christian concept of the resurrection as man's sole hope of the future—resting on faith in God and assured by the resurrection of Christ. Here are the words of Lutheran Dean ERIC H. WAHLSTROM, [36] of Augustana Theological Seminary:
"It was natural that Paul's hope for the future should be expressed in terms of the resurrection from the dead. That was the traditional Jewish conception as over against the Greek idea of the immortality of the soul. It was inevitable also because the hope of the future rested on the resurrection of Christ. But here again Paul is not concerned about the exact manner in which this resurrection is to take place. He used the traditional figures of Jewish apocalypticism (1 Thess. 4:16, 17).
"But in the great resurrection discussion (1 Cor. 15:35 ff.) he is content to use the beautiful allegory of the wheat that falls into the ground and dies only to rise to a more glorious existence. In this miracle of renewed life Paul saw the power of God at work, and he is content to let his own resurrection rest on the assurance that 'God gives it a body.' His certainty of the resurrection, as his certainty of his present status as 'a new creature,' rests on his faith in God 'who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were' (Rom. 4:17)." [37]
35 Ibid., p. 79.
36 ERIC HERBERT WAHLSTROM (1892-) Lutheran, was born in Sweden, but came to the United States in 1910. He received his training at Luther College, Augustana Seminary, and Yale Divinity School with graduate studies in Union Theological Seminary and the University of Uppsala. He was definitely influenced by Tillich and Niebuhr at Union, and by Gustaf Aulen and Anders Nygren of Sweden, as well as Gore and Temple of England—all of whom wrote on aspects of Conditionalism. Wahlstrom is author of two works.
37 Eric H. Wahlstrom, The New Life in Christ (Fortress Press), pp. 277ff.
38 MATTHEW SPINKA (1890- ), Congregationalist, was trained in the universities of Chicago and Prague. He taught church history in Central, Chicago, and Hartford theological seminaries. He was editor of Church History from 1932 to 1949, and is author of six volumes.
Dr. MATTHEW SPINKA, [38] church historian and editor, discusses the final disposition of the "unyielding" sinner—whether annihilated or what. He touches on the logic of the position "that once a human spirit that has shown itself incorrigibly opposed to God, it annihilates itself." In 1950, discussing Nicholas Berdyaev's position, Spinka wrote:
"Annihilation, under certain conditions, would be a blessing. The God of love, who desires not the death of a sinner, who inflicts no torture, would still remain a God of love even if he allowed evil to take its natural course—that of self-destruction. Berdyaev, to the best of my knowledge, does not specifically affirm such a conclusion. He definitely rejects any thought of metempsychosis on the earthly plane as well as Origen's notion of the ultimate redemption of all men.
"Nevertheless, he passionately asserts as an article of his 'larger faith' that 'the final victory of God over the forces of hell cannot be a division into two kingdoms—divine and diabolic, the saved and the damned to eternal torments—it must be only one kingdom. The juridical division of the world and humankind is a this-worldly, not otherworldly, concept. Christian eschatology was accommodated to the categories of this world, to the time and history of this world; it did not pass over into the other aeon. Such is my faith.' " [39]
Spinka does not therefore support the "eternal torments" theory.
Impressive emphasis is given by Episcopal Bishop JAMES A. PIKE, [40] of the diocese of California, and Prof. W. NORMAN PITTENGER, [41] professor of apologetics at General Theological Seminary, New York City, in The Faith of the Church (1951) —a joint production. The "innately indestructible" immortality of Platonic philosophy is strikingly placed over against the Biblical revelation of a re-created life through the promised resurrection of the "whole personality"—just as scores of other contemporaries have declared in recent years.
39 Matthew Spinka, Nicolas Berdyaev: Captive of Freedom, p. 188. (Italics supplied.)
40 Bishop JAMES A. PIKE (1913- ), Episcopalian, was trained in law and then theology at the universities of California, Southern California, and Yale, then Virginia Theological, General Theological, and Union Theological seminaries. He was successively an attorney and teacher. Changing to the ministry, he was in turn rector, chaplain, dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, professor of religion, and bishop of the California diocese. He is author of numerous books and articles.
41 W. NORMAN PITTENGER (1905- ), Episcopalian, was trained at General and Union Theological seminaries, and has been professor of apologetics at General Theological Seminary since 1936. He is author of at least ten works.
1. "INDESTRUCTIBLE" SOUL V. RE-CREATED "BODY-SOUL."— The Pike-Pittenger presentation, which represents the "common beliefs" of the "Anglican Communion,” [42] is effectively stated in these words:
"Immortality implies that there is in man a soul which is innately indestructible, eternity being of its very nature. But resurrection implies that God, by a gift will raise up and continue in life the whole man, including a medium of expression, i.e., a body. In short, the belief in immortality is conceived in terms of nature: resurrection is to be conceived in terms of grace. Immortality asserts an indestructible life for the soul; resurrection promises a re-created life for the whole personality, body and soul." [43]
2. "PLAUSIBLE THEORY" V. RESURRECTION FACT.—Stating forthrightly "Immortality is of nature, resurrection of grace," the authors note that "philosophers have concluded that there is something in man that is above physical process, something which will outlive it, something which is immortal." [44] As to this they state that Christianity insists:
"God alone is the source and sustainer of all life and it ("Christianity"] proclaims that he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken [our] mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us (Romans 8:11). The indestructibility of the soul has no necessary place in the Christian teaching of the life to come; the determining fact on man's side is sin which separates us from God: Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24). If eternal life is merely continuation without an action from God’s side to bridge the gulf between Himself and men, who are sinful and inadequate, it would then simply mean projecting sin and inadequacy into all eternity. Obviously that cannot be. Our confidence in eternal life rests not upon the plausibility of a theory but upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." [45]
Eternal life is dependent on "God's action," not on man's inherent continuation. [46]
42 James A. Pike and W. Norman Pittenger, The Faith of the Church (1960 ed., vol. 3) of the six-volume The Church's Teaching, 1951 (The Seabury Press), Preface, p. 3.
43 Ibid., pp. 164, 165. (Italics supplied.)
44 Ibid., pp. 166, 167.
45 Ibid., p. 166.
46 Ibid., p. 172.
1. INNATISM DEFECTIVE; RESURRECTION COMPLETE.—The authors then make this important distinction between fragmentation and entirety: "The belief in immortality concerns life for the soul; faith in resurrection promises a life for the whole personality—body and soul." [47] Christianity's provision is therefore totally different from Hinduism's "merger of the individual soul with the universal soul," for example, with the loss of "personal fulfillment for the individual." "If the individual is absorbed into universality as a drop of water is absorbed into the sea," [48] personal fulfillment is impossible.
"God's action will re-create those who live in and by God's Spirit, bringing them through death to the perfect life of the Spirit with an appropriate embodiment, a spiritual body." [49]
In the end the "consummation of Christ's reign includes more than human fulfillment: it involves the whole natural order." [50] That is the Christian goal and the Bible assurance.
47 Ibid., p. 168. (Italics supplied.)
48 Ibid., pp. 168, 169.
49 Ibid., p. 172.
50 Ibid., p. 183.
51 FRANCIS JOHN TAYLOR (1912- ) Anglican, educated at Queen's College, Oxford. After a curacy, he became chaplain of Corpus Christi College, Oxford then lecturer and chaplain at Wycliffe Hall. After lecturing at St. Aidan's and William Temple colleges, he became principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford (from 1950). He is author of two books.
Numerous Old World theologians now vigorously challenge the Greek notion that only the body dies, while the soul —set free at death—lives on after finding release from the hampering, outworn body. For example, F. J. TAYLOR, [51] of the faculty of William Temple College, Hawarden, England, denies this presumptive "deathlessness" of the soul, and includes the "whole man" in the work of redemption. In contrast with the commonly held erroneous view of death, Taylor stresses the New Testament position, with death as the— "death of the whole man, and such phrases as 'freedom from death,' 'imperishability' or 'immortality' could only properly be used to describe what is meant by the phrase the eternal or living God . . . 'who only hath immortality' (1 Tim. 6:16). Man does not possess in himself this quality of deathlessness but must, if he is to overcome the destructive power of death, receive it as the gift of God, 'who raised Christ from the dead,' and put death aside like a covering garment (1 Cor. 15:53-54). It is through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that this possibility for man (2 Tim. 1:10) has brought to light and the hope confirmed that the corruption (Rom. 11:7) which is a universal feature of human life shall be effectively overcome." [52]
Under the whimsical title The Art of Dodging Repentance Anglican Rector DAVID R. DAVIES, [53] of St. Mary Magdalen church, St. Leonards-on-Sea, England, delivered a series of sermons to his own congregation, and later published them. In these he flatly declares that the widespread notion of the innate "immortality of the soul is not a biblical doctrine," but was derived instead from "Greek philosophy." [54] And in one sermon, interestingly titled "Dead Souls," based on Matthew 16:26—"For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"—Davies maintains that the text "clearly implies that the loss of the soul is a possibility." [55]
1. "CREATED FOR IMMORTALITY" BUT BECAME "MORTAL."—Davies makes a series of important statements regarding the mortality of the soul, showing that it can be destroyed. He keeps emphasizing these two main points. For example:
"The soul of man is not necessarily automatically immortal. It is capable of being destroyed. The Bible offers no ground whatsoever for believing that the soul is immune from death and destruction. The soul can be destroyed.
"The immortality of the soul is not a Biblical doctrine, but Greek philosophy. The Biblical doctrine about the soul is the resurrection from the dead. Man is a created being. God created him out of nothing. Man was created for immortality, but by his own rebellion against God he made himself mortal." [56]
52 Francis J. Taylor, "Immortal, Immortality," in A Theological Work Book of the Bible, ed. by Allan Richardson, p. 111. (Italics supplied.)
53 DAVID R. DAVIES (1917-1958), Anglican, was educated at University of Edinburgh, and United College, Bradford. After several curacies and vicarages he served as rector of St. Mary Magdalen, St. Leonards-on-Sea (1948-1958).
54 David R. Davies, The Art of Dodging Repentance, p. 84.
55 Ibid., pp. 83, 84.
56 Ibid., p. 84.
2. IMMORTAL-SOULISM DERIVED FROM GREEK PHILOSOPHY. —Rector Davies then quotes a supporting excerpt from the Jewish Inter-Testament Wisdom of Solomon [57] concerning Conditional Immortality:
"'For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity. Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it' (2. 23-24)." [58]
Davies then comments, "Man is no longer inherently, natively immortal, but now only conditionally immortal." This, he adds, is sustained by the clear evidence of the New Testament, that "death involves the soul as well as the body. Man —his whole being—is mortal. Just as sin has corrupted the whole of man, so, too, has mortality affected him wholly." Concerning this, he affirms, "The teaching of Scripture is crystal clear," [59] This thought Davies expands, discussing the Greek hades and the Hebrew Gehenna, and the Greek origin of the popular misconception, including Dualism.
57 Ibid.
58 Ibid.
59 Ibid.
"The idea of the immortality of the soul derives from Greek philosophy which conceived the afterlife of Hacks, a ghostly, shadowy underworld, in which the soul lived a twilight existence. We have translated the Greek word, Hades, by our English word Hell, which we think of as a place of pain and torment. But the Greek Hades was not a place of torment. Hell as torment is derived more from the Hebrew Gehenna than from the Greek Hades which was a lower, shadowy existence, denuded of passion and suffering. It was the product of the Greek view of men as a compound of matter and soul, which death severed, releasing the soul from the prison-house of matter into an independent existence." [60]
3. MAN A "UNITY," NOT "TWO SEPARATE ENTITIES."—Stressing the basic "unity" of man, embracing "both body and soul," he holds that the soul consequently partakes of "mortality"—a "unity that is mortal." [61] Here is his full statement:
"The Hebrew view of man was entirely different. In the Bible man is regarded as a unity of 'life' or spirit, which manifests itself as both soul and body. Since man has made himself mortal, his soul, in consequences, also partakes of mortality. Man is not a compound of two separate entities, matter and spirit, but a unity of spirit functioning as matter and soul. It is the unity that is mortal." [62]
In order better to grasp the intriguing statements of Rector Davies it is essential to understand the "catalytic experience" of his short-time pilgrimage into atheism and Communism, before his "spiritual rebirth." Born the son of a Welsh miner, he was brought up in a Christian home—but a home of dire poverty, rigid nonconformity, and frustrations. He became a Congregationalist minister, with a passion for pressing the social gospel —hoping to translate the kingdom of God into the "political, economic and social life of his times." But he developed more and more leftist tendencies, until for a time he became an out and out atheist and Communist. It all climaxed in a sense of utter "frustration," "depression and disillusionment." He even thought to end it all by suicide, when the realization came to him that "only God could bring in His Kingdom. Man's part is to submit to God's will and, in repentance and service, to co-operate with God for the fulfillment of divine purposes." [63]
61 Ibid. Ibid., pp. 84, 85.
62 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
63 I am indebted for this insight to Dr. John Short, in Britain's Bible Magazine XVI (February, 1962), pp. 8, 18.
Passing through a soul-searching spiritual crisis, Davies retraced his steps and prepared himself for the Anglican ministry. In fact, he was later ordained by none other than the late Archbishop William Temple—himself an outspoken conditionalist. This very fact doubtless had a bearing on Rector Davies' views on the nature and destiny of man. In fact, Davies' life is a kind of "transcript of the times." In his In Search of Myself he tells of his intense interest in history and of his concern over the growing neglect of the Bible, until its reading and study is all too much limited to the ministry—becoming the "preserve of a profession." And he adds earnestly:
"That part of the essence of Roman Catholicism is thus occupying —unobserved—the citadels of Protestantism. The neglect of the Bible by the layman is preparing a rich harvest for Rome, to say nothing of the present-day impoverishment of preaching." [64]
This return to the searching of the Word led to his stand on the nature of man.
4. NOT "TRUNCATED CREATURE" — RESURRECTION OF WHOLE PERSON.—Davies took the same position in his first book, [65] back in 1939. In chapter six of On to Orthodoxy he states that he believes in the "immortality of persons." This, he maintains, is "different" from the "immortality of the soul" which, he says, is the "Greek idea" of "disembodied consciousness." Davies immediately states that such a view is "not a Christian idea." He insists that the "essential truth of immortality lies in the symbolism of the resurrection of the body." [66] He emphasizes the "unity of man," rejecting the Oriental idea of a soul "enmeshed" in an evil, material body, having to "work out its Karma." But matter is "not the source of sin," but rather the "spirit." And that which "survives death," through resurrection, is "not a truncated creature [mutilated, with part cut off], but the whole man, who is a unity of soul and body." [67]
64 Ibid.
65 Davies, On to Orthodoxy, p. 7.
66 Ibid., p. 149.
67 Ibid., p. 150.
5. SIN INVOLVES "FINAL DESTRUCTION" OF SOUL.—Davies goes on to state that the concept, or notion, of the immortality of the soul panders to "human pride," and fosters the delusion of independence of God. [68] Then he observes: "Immortality of soul makes man of infinite value in himself. This is not a Christian idea at all, but Greek." [69]
And now comes Davies' concluding observations on the possibility of "final destruction" of the soul:
"Sin, then, has involved the soul, no less than the body, in the responsibility of death and final destruction. We must abandon the Greek delusion that the soul is immune from the possibility of final death." [70]
Such was the forthright testimony of an Anglican rector to his parish congregation in 1952.
In Scotland, Dr. WILLIAM MANSON, [71] professor of Biblical criticism at the University of Edinburgh, likewise anticipates our "change" at the Second Advent as embracing (1) the "rising from the dead" of those who "sleep," and (2) a complete "transformation," or translation, of the living saints. Man, he says, is but "mortal." His "immortality" is received at the Second Advent.
"It must be noticed, however, that the apostle did not find it easy to adjust his mind to the idea of an intermediate state (2 Cor. 5:1-8). As a Christian of the first generation he looked for everything that is mortal to be at the earliest date 'swallowed up in life.' With the Parousia the resurrection-body would in some way be superinduced on our existing mortal nature. In any case, whether with or without death and the intermediate state, there will come at the Second Advent a change which in the case of those who 'sleep' will be a rising from the dead, and in the case of the living a complete transformation of our mortal nature into an immortal state of being.” [72]
68 Davies, The Art of Dodging Repentance, p. 85.
69. Ibid.
70 Ibid.
71 WILLIAM MANSON (1882-1958), Presbyterian, was trained at Oxford, and United Free College, Glasgow. After several charges he became professor of New Testament language and literature at Knox College, Toronto, then professor of New Testament, New College, Edinburgh, and professor of -Biblical criticism, Edinburgh University. He was vice-president of the British Council of churches, and author of six major books. Also President of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas.
72 William Manson, "Eschatology in the New Testament," Eschatology, "Scottish Journal of Theology, Occasional Papers," No. 2, 1952, p. 14. (Italics supplied.)
Of similar import was the word of Bishop NILs FREDERIK BOLANDER, [73] in Stockholm's Tidningen, in 1952.
"At times one encounters a vague piety which speaks of death as a redemption and a release. In the deliverance through death, they say, man goes home to God. But this is not true. In any case, the Bible does not teach it. It states clearly and definitely that it is not death but the day of Jesus Christ which comes swish the resurrection from the dead and redemption....
"Death is our enemy. together with sin.... Death followed sin. The sinner who was driven out of paradise was told by the Lord: 'Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.' " [74]
But Christ takes the sting out of death. Christ is with us through the dark valley of the shadow. Thus:
"Death is a cruel majesty, and we shudder to get him as a guest in our home. ... Man before the unscrupulous king of corruption is a very lonely person. But this is not the whole truth. There is Someone besides death at a person's deathbed—Christ. the Prince of life, the King of the resurrection.
"Death is painful and unnatural for a Christian. but he knows something that fills his heart with songs of victory in the valley of the shadow of death. Death can take his life, but death cannot rob him of God and His grace. We must attain to a personal faith in Christ. Jesus says: 'I am the resurrection and the life: He that believed] in me. though he were dead, yet shall he live.' . . . Where this simple, artless, and blessed faith flames up in a lonely human heart, a new light falls upon one's being." [75]
Such was Bishop Bolander's witness, and his break with Platonism. (Photo on page 856.)
Restudy of the nature of man and of the interim of death has led an increasing number to recognize that death is an unconscious sleep, from which one awakens on the resurrection morning, with continuity of personal identity and personality. This is the view affirmed by Presbyterian professor of New Testament, THOMAS W. MANSON, [76] of Manchester University, England. This Biblical concept of "sleeping and waking" explains how we pass over the "dark gulf of unconsciousness."
73 NILS FREDERIC BOLANDER (1902) succeeded Bishop Nygren in Lund in 1958.
74 Frederik Bolander, "Ingen dad kan doda oss." Tidningen (Stockholm), Sept. 28, 1952
75 Ibid.
1. "FALLING ASLEEP AND WAKING UP."—Here is Dr. Man-son's general statement:
"The nearest thing in our ordinary experience to the Jewish and early Christian idea of death and resurrection is falling asleep and waking up; and it is a very significant fact that the first unmistakable reference to the resurrection of the dead in the Old Testament is made in terms of sleeping and waking: 'And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth Shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.' And equally, when there is no expectation of a resurrection the natural way to express it is in terms of a sleep from which there is no awakening: "'Man lies down and rises not: Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, Nor be roused out of their sleep.' " [77]
2. CONTINUITY OF PERSONALITY THROUGH RESURRECTION. —Dr. Manson says we take up life again upon the resurrection-morn awakening:
"Now one of the standing wonders of life is just the fact that when I come out of oblivion any fine morning, I am at once aware that I am the same person that lived in my home yesterday and went to sleep there last night. The task I left unfinished yesterday is still there, still my task, and I can take it up where I left off. The plans I was making yesterday are still there waiting for further consideration and elaboration. This continuity of personality and life is a great marvel: and it is only excessive familiarity with it that hides its wonder from us.
"When we try to think of death and resurrection, as the first Christians thought of them we cannot do better than think in terms of sleeping and waking, and the wonderful way in which the self contrives every night to leap the dark gulf of unconsciousness and arrive safely on the other side complete with all its hopes and fears, joys and sorrows, memories of the past and plans for the future." [78]
76 THOMAS W. MANSON (1893-1958), Presbyterian, studied at Glasgow and Cambridge. He served as professor of New Testament at Mansfield, Oxford (1932-1936), and at Manchester University (1936- ). His publications number six.
77 Thomas W. Manson, The Servant-Messiah (1953), pp. 90ff. (Italics supplied.)
78 Ibid.
A passing allusion must suffice for KARL HEIM, [79] distinguished German Lutheran theologian, who deals with the relationship of Christian faith and natural science. Discussing similarities and contrasts between Platonic and Pauline (or New Testament) concepts, and the question of an "interval of body-lessness," Heim says that "here they [Plato and Paul] part company." [80]
"The divergence between the apostles' thought and Plato's human understanding is to be found at two points. Firstly, according to the Indian and Platonic belief in metempsychosis, the ego can change its abode as often as it likes and settle repeatedly in new bodies; whereas in the New Testament this change can take place only once, namely at the dawn of a new aeon, which began with the resurrection of Christ but will achieve its consummation only at the end of the world." [81]
Continuing, Heim says that the "apostles"—"do not believe that the ego can be simply separated from the physical world by means of a 'concrete detachment' and continue to exist in a disembodied state." [82]
Brief reference must be made to another Canadian scholar —Congregationalist JOHN SHORT, [83] of the United Church of Canada. In his "Exposition," in "The First Epistle to the Corinthians," he affirms categorically that man is not, according to the New Testament, innately immortal. Note it in setting:
"Christian doctrine is not one of immortality but of resurrection. We shall do well to get this point clear. As expounded by the apostle Paul, whom we believe to have entered more deeply into the mind and spirit of his Lord than any other, man's hope of survival depends not on the inherent immortality of his soul, but on the act of God. His immortality is involved in his resurrection, not his resurrection in his immortality. There is nothing in Paul's writings nor in the N.T. to suggest that the soul is inherently immortal." [84]
79 KARL Hem, Lutheran theologian, was trained at Tubingen. After a period as pastor and schoolmaster he was for years professor of theology at Munster and then Tubingen. Of Pietistic background, he opposed paganizing tendencies and emphasized the transcendence of faith. He is author of six books.
80 Karl Heim, Christian Faith and Natural Science (1957 ed.), p. 120.
81 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
82 ibid. (Italics supplied.)
83 JOHN Sumer, Scottish Congregationalist, trained at the University of Edinburgh and Scottish Theological College. He also has a teacher's certificate. His pastoral ministry has included Bathgate, Hamstead (London), Bournemouth, and since 1951, St. George's United church, Toronto. He also served as a chaplain under the YMCA in World War II, and was chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales, 1949-1950. He is author of three works, and was a contributor to the Interpreter's Bible (1953).
Short then adds that immortality is the gift of God, and is dependent upon the activity and grace of God:
"Everything, so far as life hereafter is concerned, depends on the activity of God as that activity is made available for man through man's faith. This is precisely what is meant when we emphasize the fact that life hereafter is a specifically religious interest. Immortality is the gift of God's grace in response to man's faith. Everything depends on the nature and purpose of God." [85]
Beyond question, emphasis on this basic principle knows no national or denominational boundaries.
84 John Short, "The First Epistle to the Corinthians," vol. 10 of The Interpreter's Bible (Abingdon Press), p. 253. (Italics suppled.)
85 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
EVIDENCE DISCLOSED BY CHART A—FOR FIRST HALF OF 20TH CENTURY
1. In denominational spread there are 17 Anglican, 10 Lutheran, 8 Congregationalist, 4 Methodist, 2 Church of Scotland, as well as Dutch Reformed, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Eastern Orthodox champions of Conditionalism covered in Chart A. And nationally, they include British, Scottish, Welsh, Danish, Swedish, German, Swiss, Dutch, French, African, and American and Canadian advocates.
2. The impetus of the nineteenth century Conditionalist expansion continues unabated in the twentieth, but with increased geographical and numerical spread, out to the ends of the earth. As a consequence, for space reasons we must divide the tabulation of the 137 witnesses of the first six decades into three sectional charts—designated A, B, and C.
3. The list tabulated in Chart A contains numerous nationally and internationally known names in religious circles, none being surpassed in eminence in their respective fields. The roster begins in Britain, with the highest prelate of the Anglican faith—Dr. William Temple, the Archbishop of Canterbury. His is an impressive lead-off presentation. There is also the testimony of the deans of St. Paul's and of Chester, and the canon of Birmingham. Similarly a prominent Bible translator, and a number of university professors (Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, Manchester, and Wales), and the principals of two colleges (Mansfield and Wycliffe). There is also a remarkable group statement from an Anglican Commission of fifty. The secretary of the Free Churches Federal Council of Britain is likewise a declared Conditionalist.
4. Scandinavian Lutheran clerics in the northland are similarly outspoken—five bishops (two of Lund, and of Linkoping, Vasteras, and Strangnas)—also pastors, rectors, and professors who broke with the traditional position, which announcement was attended by much publicity.
5. Nor is America one whit behind, with professors in Harvard, Princeton, Boston, Augustana, Union Theological, General Theological, and Lutheran Seminary. There are also deans, editors, and a bishop, and Canadian professors in Queen's and Trinity. Then there are two German professors (at Gronigan and Tubingen) and a French Eastern Orthodox leader.
6. As to the three basic principles of Conditionalism—the nature of man, the intermediate state, and the punishment of the wicked-48 of the 52 declare, in one form or another, that man is not innately immortal. But he is "immortable," with immortality a gift bestowed by God. It is conditional, not inherent. It is contingent, not natural, received at the resurrection. Man is subject to death, and is not indestructible. There are no conscious, disembodied souls or spirits that survive. The notion of Innatism comes from pagan, not Biblical, sources. The soul is not indestructible and deathless. That is the composite view.
7. As to the intermediate state, 37 of the 52 hold that man sleeps during the interim of death. He awaits the resurrection, which is his sole hope. They hold that in death there is no consciousness of the passing of time; that in death man is not in Heaven or Hell, but in gravedom; and that the whole man will be raised through the resurrection at the Second Advent. That is the central thought.
8. As to the punishment of the wicked, 24 of the 52 go on record as holding that the incorrigibly wicked will be wholly consumed, become extinct, be eliminated, the life ended, abolished, vanished into nothingness—and thus that there is no Eternal Torment, endless misery, or indefeasible persistence in an ever-agonizing, conscious, everlasting Hell.
9. Conditionalism is thus definitely on the gain among clerics and educators of learning, prominence, and influence. It is not confined to the obscure, the Biblically illiterate, the unknown. Just the reverse. These witnesses are the peers of any of their contemporaries. Conditionalist advocates move in high circles. And when one leaves a written record of his Conditionalist views, in book or periodical, numerous others, though they leave no published record, declare themselves orally. There are, of course, many witnesses of lesser fame.
10. A remarkable increase in Conditionalist literature has marked the years, right up to today. To mention but one organization, and only as to publishing activities, Seventh-day Adventists operate 43 publishing houses and issue 282 periodicals, with book and periodical sales totalling approximately $29,000,000 annually. And all statements in these books and periodicals, bearing on the nature and destiny of man present, without exception, the Conditionalist position. And there are many Conditionalist publishers now found on every continent.
Such is the eloquent testimony of the first half of the 20th century.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Eight scholars are here set forth as witnessing in the years 1953 and 1954—Shaw, of Queen's Theological College, Canada; Craig, of Drew Theological Seminary; De Wolf, of Boston University; and Wright, of Harvard, in the United States; then Bishop Schjelderup, of Norway; and Lindhardt, of Denmark; next, Kantonen, of Hamma Divinity School in the United States; and last. Dr. Atkinson, of Cambridge University, in Britain. Some of these men—particularly Shaw of Canada, Kantonen of Ohio, and Atkinson of Cambridge—probe to the heart of the problem of the question of the nature and destiny of man. Their witness is competent, relevant, and convincing. We go first to Canada, and Dr. Shaw.
Another ringing Canadian voice was that of Dr. JOHN MACKINTOSH SHAW, [1] professor of systematic theology at Queen's Theological College, Ontario, in his outline of Christian belief, in Christian Doctrine. After dealing with the sinlessness of man, as created in the image of God, and then the Fall, and sin as an intrusion, [2] Shaw comes to the question of death in its relation to life. On this he makes an important statement on "immortable":
1 JOHN MACKINTOSH SHAW, Anglican, was trained at Edinburgh and Marburg. He was successively professor of systematic theology at Pine Hill Divinity Hall, Halifax, Nova Scotia (1919-1927), Auburn Theological Seminary, Auburn, New York (1927-1929), and Queen's Theological College, Kingston, Ontario (1929-1952), then professor emeritus. lie is author of several books.
2 John Mackintosh Shaw, Christian Doctrine, pp. 107, 109.
"It is not that man was created immortal and through sinning lost his immortality. It is rather that man was created cable of becoming immortal—'immortable' to use an expressive if somewhat less than euphonious adjective that has been suggested in this connexion—which capability or possibility he forfeited through disobedience to God's purposes." [3]
1. "EMBODIED EXISTENCE," NOT "DISEMBODIED SPIRIT."— Dr. Shaw opens chapter twenty-two, dealing with the question of "Continued Personal Existence After Death," with the arresting statement: "No section of Christian doctrine more requires rethinking and restatement to-day than the doctrine of life after death." [4]
Dr. Shaw rejects both the ancient Platonic philosophy and the claims of Modern Spiritualism as to a "personal survival of bodily death"—a "future discarnate life." [5] And in chapter twenty-three ("The Future Life of Those in Christ at Death") his first proposition is that— "this future life for those in Christ at death will be a life of embodied existence, and not one of merely disembodied spirit. This is the position usually spoken of as the Christian doctrine of a bodily resurrection." [6]
3 Ibid., p. 123. In support Shaw cites A. B. Davidson, The Theology of the Old Testament. (Italics supplied.)
4 Ibid., p. 309.
5 Ibid., p. 310, note 2.
6 Ibid., p. 319.
In this connection Shaw calls "impossible and untenable" the popular concept of an "intermediate state," with conscious "disembodied" souls "waiting for reunion with the body which has been laid in the grave," to stand "before the judgment seat of Christ." The Greeks held to such "a disembodied or purely spiritual immortality." [7]
2. "ETERNAL FIRE" SUGGESTS "ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION." —Coming to chapter twenty-five ("The Future Life of Those Not in Christ at Death"), Shaw deals with the three schools of thought. The first is the "traditional doctrine"—that at death all are separated into "the saved and the unsaved," the former going immediately to glory, the others to "conscious torment" in everlasting punishment. This is traceable to non-canonical Inter-Testament Jewish writings and to certain New Testament parables, such as that of the judgment of Matthew 25:32-46. Shaw adds that the term "eternal fire" suggests "ultimate destruction or annihilation rather than the everlasting continuance of that which is evil or corrupt." In any event, to build a doctrine "upon so slender a foundation" as a parable, like Matthew 25, and Dives and Lazarus is "precarious."
Moreover, such "hopeless and unending torment" is "irreconcilable with the character of God," and irreconcilable with "the very principles of moral justice itself." [8] It is this that gave rise to the concept of a future probation, or a future chance. Shaw then observes:
"This theory or doctrine finds no place in any of the great [early] Creeds of the Church. It has no place in the Apostles' Creed or in the Nicene Creed, not indeed in any of the Creeds commonly reckoned as ecumenical, not appearing in any Creed until the Athanasian Creed in the sixth or seventh century." [9]
Passing the medieval theologians and the Roman Catholic modification" of the harshness of Hell by injecting Purgatory, haw pointedly observes that the Reformers " 'kept Rome's hell and thrust out Rome's purgatory.' " [10]
7 Ibid., pp. 320, 321. 9 Ibid., p. 348.
8 Ibid., pp. 342-346. 10 Ibid.
3. NOT IMMORTAL BY "NATURE" OR " CONSTITUTION. "—Taking up next Origen's "Universal Restoration or Salvation" school—that "the destiny of the individual is not finally determined at death"—Shaw notes the inconsistency of interpretation on the part of its advocates. He then turns to the third school—that of "Conditional Immortality," sometimes known as "Potential Immortality." This, Shaw says, involves the "Ultimate Extinction or Annihilation of the finally unrepentant." [11] This school he introduces with this definitive statement:
"Man is not immortal by nature or inherent constitution. Immortality is not a natural endowment but a spiritual attainment or achievement: an achievement or attainment conditional on the possession of certain moral and spiritual qualities. What man has by nature is not immortality but, to use a somewhat expressive word that has been coined in this connexion, ‘immortability,' the ability or power to become immortal. Only those who use their natural gifts or trust so as to realize moral and spiritual fellowship with God do really attain to immortality or eternal life. All others are destined ultimately to extinction or annihilation. But if against all such future chances and ministries of grace, there be any who finally persist in the rejection of the Divine grace and love and become irremediably unrepentant or perverse, the destiny of such according to this theory is to suffer ultimate extinction or annihilation, `eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord.” [12]
1. HISTORICAL LINEAGE OF CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY.—Shaw then traces the historical lineage of Conditionalism—through Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, of the second century, in whose writings there are suggestions of this view, and Arnobius of the fourth century, who was the first to give "clear and emphatic expression to this view." Then he cites sixteenth-century Faustus Socinus. But greater expansion of this doctrine came in the nineteenth century. Here he names, as typical, White and Dale in England; Bushnell, Beecher, and Abbott in America; Rothe, Ritschl, and Haering in Germany; and Petavel and Sabatier in Switzerland and France.
11 Ibid., pp. 350-355.
12 Ibid., pp. 355, 356. (Italics supplied.)
He also notes S. D. McConnell and J. Y. Simpson, and quotes from Prof. A. S. Pringle-Pattison, that "immortality is not to be thought of as an inherent possession of every human being." Then he adds immediately "that there is considerable ground in Scripture for such a view." In the New Testament it is "the only kind of immortality with which the New Testament writers are concerned"—"that which is based on men's relation to God in Christ." [13] Further:
"It is an immortality set forth not as a natural inherent possession of humanity but as a Prize to be won through fellowship with a risen, living Christ. 'the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ' (Phil. 3:14)." [14]
But for the wicked it is "perishing or destruction by fire" —"annihilation or ultimate extinction." [15]
5. "ULTIMATE EXTINCTION" FOR INCORRIGIBLES.—TO Paul's testimony involving resurrection as the prerequisite to immortality, Shaw adds our Lord's own teaching on the "resurrection of those in fellowship with God through Him." And as to Jesus' pronouncement on the "ultimate fate" of the wicked, it is that of "perishing or destruction by fire." [16] That, says Shaw, is—
"language which, it may be contended, lends itself more naturally to the thought of annihilation or ultimate extinction than to that of unending existence in a condition of hopeless torment." [17]
The apostle Paul's "ultimate fate" of the wicked is like-wise "destruction"—"language which more naturally suggests complete extinction or annihilation than unending continuance in existence.' [18]
Such, Shaw says, seem to be "in line with the general Scriptural view." [19]
13 Ibid., pp. 356-358.
14 Ibid., pp. 358, 359. (Italics supplied.)
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid., p. 359.
17 Ibid., pp. 359, 360.
18 Ibid., p. 360.
19 Ibid.
20 CLARENCE T. Qum (1895-1953), Methodist, was trained at Boston, Harvard, Basel, and Berlin universities. After two pastorates he was successively professor of New Testament at Oberlin and Yale Divinity schools, then became dean of Drew Theological Seminary (1949). He was on the Translation Committee of the A.S.V., and has been a participant in Faith and Order Councils. He was author of six books.
The distinguished Methodist scholar Dr. CLARENCE T. CRAIG, [20] of Drew Theological Seminary, likewise stresses the point that "immortality is not something which belongs to man by nature," as the Platonic "fantasy" contends. Immortality is "put on" when he is raised from the dead. [21] Immortal-Soul-ism was adopted by the Hellenistic Jews in the Inter-Testament period. It is not man's "by nature":
"In our letter [1 Cor. 15:52, 53] the trumpet seems to be the signal for the twin events of the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the transformation of the living members of the church. But the relation of this to the period of messianic rule assumed in vss. 24-27 is not at all clear.
"Paul repeats again in other language the necessity for the coming change. He reiterates the distinction between the perishable and the im-perishable and then adds another word which occurs in Paul only here and in the next verse. In contrast to the mortal are those who have put on immortality. The term (athanasia) was a key word in Hellenic thought. The gods were believed to be immortal (cf. I Tim. 6:16), and, according to the Platonic school, so was the soul of man." [22]
21 Clarence T. Craig, "The First Epistle to the Corinthians," vol. 10 of The Interpreter's Bible, p. 251.
22 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
PLATONIC IMMORTALITY INVOLVED "DIVINIZATION."—The basic clash between Platonists and Biblical teaching is next portrayed:
"Though the craving for immortality was widespread in the ancient world, the assurance of it was not. Satisfaction was sought in the mysteries and in other forms of religion. Immortality meant not simply a continuation of life but the divinization of man. Belief in the existence of an elixir of immortality played a role in fantasy.
"The O.T. contains no equivalent for the word immortality, for Jewish thought conceived of man as essentially mortal. But in the Hellenistic-Jewish literature is found (Wisdom Solomon 3:4; 15:3; IV Macc. 14:5; and often in Philo). There we see the adoption of the Greek idea of immortality. But even when Paul uses the word here it is in a quite different sense: immortality is not something which belongs to man by nature: it is put on when God raises him from the dead." [23]
Then there is Dr. L. HAROLD DE WOLF, [24] professor of systematic theology at Boston University, who, after discussing God's judgment as inseparable from His love—together with the element of our wills in relation to Christ and His purpose for man—has thus gone on record against "everlasting torture":
"Because even His judgment is an aspect of His love we can be sure that there is no such retributive, inescapable hell of nonredemptive everlasting torture as has been traditionally pictured. God loves us more than any of us love one another." [25]
Archaeologist G. ERNEST WRIGHT, [26] professor first at Mc-Cormick Theological Seminary and then at Harvard Divinity School, gives the important historical sweep and "perspective" —man's creation, Christ's death and resurrection, and then eternity, which latter man enters not through the escape of an innately immortal soul apart from the body but by the resurrection of the body. The final "death" of the wicked, he holds, is the "annihilation of the 'soul.' "
23 Ibid.
24 L. HAROLD DE WOLF (1905- ), Methodist, trained in Nebraska Wesleyan and Boston universities. Beginning in 1933 he taught philosophy and logic at Boston University, and since 1944 has been professor of systematic theology at Boston University School of Theology. In theology he is an Arminian Evangelical, and is a personalistic theist.
25 L. Harold De Wolf, A Theology of the Living Church (Harper and Row), p. 286.
26 G. ERNEST WRIGHT (1909- ), Presbyterian archaeologist, was trained at Wooster, McCormick, and Johns Hopkins. He taught archaeology at Haverford was field secretary of the American Schools of Oriental Research, and then taught at McCormick Theological Seminary. He is founder and editor of The Biblical Archaeologist, and author of about seven volumes.
Here is how he phrases it: "The Biblical perspective of time thus carries back before Abraham to the creation. It leads forward to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as its mid-point, and beyond that to the end of present history and the dawn of eternity. This eternity is not a timeless existence which men enter through the dissociation of soul from body by a natural process of transmutation. Death is taken much more seriously as the end of life, and annihilation of the 'soul' (nephesh). Eternity is the redemption of the present time and its extension. It is time stretched out, and one enters it by a miracle of God's creation, the resurrection of the body."'
A much-publicized example of the extending ground swell of revolt against the traditional Eternal Torment concept occurred in 1953 and 1954, when controversy rocked the established Lutheran Church in Norway and Denmark over the question of Hell and Heaven. A series of editorials and news column reports in The Christian Century, of Chicago, epitomized this Scandinavian agitation.
1. BISHOP SCHJELDERUP CHALLENGES PROFESSOR HAL-LESBY.—In Norway the well-known conservative theologian, Prof. OLE HALLESBY, of the Lutheran Inner Mission, in a broadcast over the state radio, warned unbelievers that "the minute you drop dead you drop right down to hell." [28] This was immediately denied by Bishop KRISTIAN SCHJELDERUP, of Hamar, who declared that such a "doctrine of eternal punishment" does not comport with the character of God; that it came, instead, from Persian teaching.
27 G. Ernest Wright, God Who Acts, pp. 116ff. (Italics supplied.)
28 Editorial, The Christian Century, Jan. 13, 1954, p. 35.
Then, appearing before the minister of church affairs,
the backers of Hallesby charged the bishop with "unfaithful-ness to his ordination vows." Next, Bishop Eivind Berggrav tried to smooth things over by declaring, in Kirke og Kultur, that Lutheranism does not require a "legalistically literal interpretation of historic confessions." [29]
The incongruity of the situation, says The Christian Century—discussed under the heading "Hell Outlawed in Norway"—appears in the fact that the case was brought to the secular cabinet of the nation through the Minister of Church Affairs, Birger Bergersen. But Bergersen in turn asked the bishops and theological professors for their opinions. These were, however, divided. The majority view was presented by the professor of constitutional law, Castberg, at the University of Oslo, who declared the state must define the doctrine. The cabinet then backed Bishop Schjelderup, who had "outlawed" Eternal Torment. This, in turn, led Bishop Eivind Berggrav, the former primate, to challenge the cabinet's opinion. [30]
So there was widespread division and conflict. The Norwegian press "reverberated with the controversy," which in-volved both theologians and laymen. In fact, some of the strongest criticism of Bishop Schjelderup came from the Free Faculty at Oslo, where Dr. Hallesby was a professor. [31]
2. SIMILAR DEBATE PROJECTED BY LINDHARDT IN DENMARK.—About the same time, Denmark was also torn by theological debate over the question of Eternal Life and Heaven. It began when Dr. Lindhardt, professor at the University of Aarhus, ridiculed the ideas of Heaven frequently expressed in funeral sermons. Protests in the press demanded that Dr. Lindhardt not be allowed to continue preaching in the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church. But when the complaint was carried to the nine bishops of Denmark, none of the nine would vote to keep him from preaching. [32] So this storm likewise subsided.
29 Ibid., p. 36.
30 Ibid., March 10, 1954, p. 293. See also issue of March 25, 19532 p. 366.
31 Ibid., June 24, 1953, p. 748.
32 Ibid., Feb 3, 1954, p 155.
One of the ablest recent books in this field to appear in America was written by Dr. TAITO A. KANTONEN, [33] professor of systematic theology in the Lutheran Hamma Divinity School, of Springfield, Ohio. It is titled The Christian Hope, and was first given as the Knubel-Miller Foundation Lectures. Taking the position that "Christian eschatology" rests squarely upon "Christology," Kantonen says that this is "the key to all other doctrines." [34] Discussing the "hope" in the Old and New Testaments, and the nature and destiny of the soul, Kantonen refers with conviction to the "risen Christ" as "the constant pivot of the Christian message, the living centre of the Christian hope." [35] (Photo on page 871.)
1. HISTORICAL VICISSITUDES OF THE "HOPE."—Coming now to the "Hope in the Thought of the Church," Dr. Kantonen makes this arresting statement:
"The influence of Hellenic philosophy, represented by the Alexandrian fathers in particular, tended to spiritualize eschatology into a continuing inner purification and immortality of the soul." [36]
Nevertheless, the apostolic emphasis was retained in the creeds at Nicaea and Constantinople—namely, "the resurrection of- the dead and the life of the world to come." But Augustine came to identify the present church with the "kingdom of God" and the "millennial reign." The resurrection was already taking place, for the new life was being "obtained through the gospel." This, Kantonen adds, "exerted tremendous influence upon the growth of the medieval papacy." This put the "hope" into an "eclipse." And along with these developments arose the sacrifice of the mass, and Catholicism's "teaching on purgatory." [37] But this was followed by the Reformation, with its restorations and rejections. This involved man's nature and destiny.
33 TAITO A. KANTONEN (1900- ), Lutheran, trained at Minnesota, Harvard, and Boston. After twelve years of pastoral work, in 1932 he became professor of systematic theology, Hamma Divinity School. He is author of five volumes.
34 T. A, Kantonen, The Christian Hope, p. 2.
35 Ibid., p. 16.
36 Ibid., p. 201.
37 Ibid., p. 21.
"The Reformation marks the beginning of a new epoch also in Christian eschatology. In restoring the gospel, Luther restored also the perspective of eternity. Rejecting purgatory, he [Luther' taught that man's destiny, eternal life or eternal damnation, would be decided on the last day on the basis of his personal relation to Christ in the present time of grace." [38]
"The end of the world, the last judgment, and the resurrection adds little to the content of the Christian hope beyond uniting the soul to its resurrected body." [39]
2. THREE SCHOOLS DEVELOP AS TO ESCHATOLOGY.—The rationalistic "Age of Enlightenment" marked a return in interest to the "history of the race" and the "present world." But it was accompanied by a "secularization of the kingdom of God" and a "weakening of specifically Christian hope." However, today eschatology is coming into its own as embracing the "essence of the Christian message." Three trends have developed. One is the "futuristic trend." The second looks to "present fulfilment rather than future expectation"—"realized eschatology." The third refuses the "simple alternatives of present or future." but seeks to combine "both aspects." [40] For this Kantonen mentions Althaus, Otto, Heim, and Tillich. That brings Kantonen to his basic discussion.
3. PAGANISM PENETRATES CHURCH IN FORMATIVE PERIOD. —In chapter 2 ("If a Man Die") Kantonen says, concerning Job's classic question: "The state of man after death has been the object of endless speculation, philosophical and religious, scientific and popular." [41]
38 Ibid.
39 Ibid., p. 22.
40 Ibid., p. 22-26.
41 Ibid., p. 27.
42 Ibid.
Christian theology has, alas, gone beyond the "boundaries of revelation" and has incorporated "elements drawn from non-Christian sources"—pagan Animism and Platonism. [42] Here is Kantonen's depiction of Platonism's penetration and establishment as a dogma, just before the Reformation:
"Primitive animism with its notion of a detachable ghost-soul which continues after death to lead a shadowy existence and to enter interaction with the living still underlies much of popular religious thinking on the subject. More important and influential from the theological point of view is the Greek idea of the immortality of the soul which found its classical formulation in Plato's dialogues four centuries before Christ. Since Platonism furnished the sublimest thought forms for the formative period of Christian theology, it is not surprising that many of the Fathers identified the Christian doctrine of eternal life with Platonic immortality and that finally the Fifth Lateran Council (1512-1517) adopted it as a dogma of the church." [43]
And added to this, Kantonen says, "Zoroastrian dualism with its eternal separation of the kingdoms of light and of darkness and its legalistic rewards and punishments"—and even "Hindu ideas of retribution and transmigration" [44]—found lodgement.
4. GREEK VIEW "ENTIRELY FOREIGN" TO "BIBLE" POSITION. —Turning to the relationship of "Soul and Body" and the subversive influence of Platonism in this area, Kantonen says of this foreign influence:
"It has been characteristic of Western thought ever since Plato to distinguish sharply between the soul and the body. The body is supposed to be composed of matter, and the soul of spirit. The body is a prison from which the soul is liberated at death to carry on its own proper nonphysical existence. Because of its immaterial spiritual nature the soul has been considered indestructible. Hence the question of life after death has been the question of demonstrating the immortality, the death-defying capacity, of the soul. The body is of little consequence.
"This way of thinking is entirely foreign to the Bible. True to Scripture and definitely rejecting the Greek view, the Christian creed says, not 'I believe in the immortality of the soul,' but 'I believe in the resurrection of the body.' " [45]
The "body," Kantonen adds, is a "necessary instrument of human living." Then he remarks, "The soul is not a separate part of man, constituting a substance of its own." [46] And he cites Prof. A. Nikolainen, of Helsinki, that "man is an indivisible whole." [47]
5. EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH ONLY BY RESURRECTION.—Considering next the subject "Death," Kantonen cites the Animist and Platonic views, with their concepts of the "protracted existence of the departed soul in a disembodied state."
43 Ibid.
44 Ibid., pp. 27, 28.
45 Ibid., p. 28. (Italics supplied.)
46 Ibid., p. 29.
47 Ibid., p. 30.
There is also the concept that "death is not a state but an event, not a condition but a transition." [48] He then cites Paul Althaus, Die Letzten Dinge, page 126, as soundly saying: "Death is more than a departure of the soul from the body. The whole person, body and soul, is involved in death.' " [49]
Kantonen adds, quoting [50] further from Althaus:
"'The Christian faith knows nothing about an immortality of the person. That would mean a denial of death, not recognizing it as judgment of God. It knows only an awakening from real death through the power of God. There is existence after death only by way of awakening, resurrection.'" [51] And now Kantonen continues with the clear statement:
"There is no immortality of the soul but a resurrection of the whole person, body and soul, from death. The only immortality which the Bible recognizes is the immortality of a personal relationship with God in Christ." [52]
6. "SOUL," Is "DESTRUCTIBLE" AS WELL AS "BODY."—Con-tending that God can destroy as well as resurrect, Kantonen says the Innate Immortality concept has supplanted the Scripture testimony on the destructibility of the soul:
"The Bible does not distinguish between man and the beasts on the ground that man has an immortal soul while the beasts do not. Men, beasts, even plants, are alike in death. We do not need to concern ourselves about spiritualism or hypotheses of any kind concerning future existence. The whole matter of death and life after death is simplified when our only concern is faith in God who can destroy and who can resurrect. Life makes no sense and holds no hope except in terms of Christ's victory over death and the assurance that we share in that victory.
"There is considerable support in Scripture for the view that the soul as well as the body is destructible. This evidence has been obscured because the Greek conception of the inherent immortality of the soul has supplanted the teaching of Scripture." [53]
So Kantonen concludes that "it is impossible to hold that the soul is by its very nature indestructible." [54]
48 Ibid., pp. 31, 32.
49 Ibid.. p. 33.
50 PAUL ALTHAUS, Lutheran, studied at Gottingen, Tubingen, and Hannover. After a chaplaincy he taught at Rostock (1920-1925) and since 1925 has been professor of New Testament theology at Erlangen. A specialist in dogmatic theology and ethics, he is author of nine major volumes, the chief being Die Letgten Dinge (5th ed., 1949).
51 Kantonen, op. cit., p. 33.
52 Ibid., p. 34. (Italics supplied.)
53 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
54 Ibid., p. 35.
7. LUTHER'S EMPHASIS ON SCRIPTURAL "SLEEP."—Coming next to the "State After Death," Kantonen observes:
"There are two indisputable realities in the scriptural doctrine, the fact of death and the fact of resurrection from the dead at Christ's second coming. But between the death of an individual and the return of Christ is an interval, which from the human point of view, in the case of most men, is a long period of time." [55]
"Against such speculation [of Roman Catholic paradise, purgatory, Limbo, etc.] Protestant orthodoxy has, on the whole, denied all conceptions of a neutral state of waiting and held that souls pass immediately into a state of misery or of blessedness." [56]
He then presents Luther's position:
"Luther, with a greater emphasis on the resurrection, preferred to concentrate on the scriptural metaphor of sleep. 'For just as one who falls asleep and reaches morning unexpectedly when he awakes, without knowing what has happened to him, so we shall suddenly rise on the last day without knowing how we have come into death and through death.' 'We shall sleep, until He comes and knocks on the little grave and says, Doctor Martin, get up! Then I shall rise in a moment and be happy with Him forever.' " [57]
"In Luther's view, so far as the dead person himself is concerned, the intermediate state is reduced to an unconscious moment When soul-sleeping is denied and sleep is regarded only as an euphemistic metaphor for death, it is logical to deny the intermediate state altogether." [58]
So Kantonen observes: "If death means entrance into heaven, then resurrection and judgment lose their significance." [59]
8. UNCONSCIOUS OF PASSAGE OF TIME IN SLUMBER.—In the closing chapter, "The End of All Things," with emphasis on the resurrection as the "sole foundation of the hope of life beyond the grave," [60] Kantonen says the "end-result" of "Christ's triumph over death" is the "resurrection of all the dead." Recapitulating, he adds, adverting to Luther:
"The soul has no existence apart from the body. The whole man, body and soul, dies, and the whole man, body and soul, is resurrected on the last day. At death man proceeds directly to the final resurrection and judgment. There is no period of waiting, for waiting implies time, and beyond death time no longer has any significance. From our own temporal point of view we may speak of the dead as being asleep and then say with Luther that for one in deep slumber the passage of centuries is as an instant. We may even say that departed believers are at home with the Lord in the sense that their striving and waiting are over and they have reached their final goal." [61]
55 Ibid., p. 36.
56 Ibid., p. 37. On Luther, see pp. 65-79.
57 Ibid.
58 Ibid., p. 38. (Italics supplied.)
59 Ibid.
60 Ibid., p. 93.
9. FATE OF WICKED SIMPLY DESTRUCTION.—After discussing the claims of Universalism Dr. Kantonen suggests that ultimate destruction meets the demands of the New Testament—ultimate nonexistence, final "lapse into nothingness":
"An alternative solution is that the fate of the wicked is neither eventual redemption nor endless torment but simply annihilation. Eternal death would conform to the New Testament connotation of death in general, apoleia, destruction. Proponents of this view claim that the idea of eternal punishment rests on the Platonic conception of the inherent indestructibility of the soul and that the reasoning used to disprove it applies here also. On this ground the nature of God also appears to be vindicated. When Christ, then, in the end destroys 'every rule and every authority and power,' he will wipe out every visage of opposition to God, both human and superhuman. This view, unlike universal restoration, preserves the twofold judgment taught in Scripture. And to be completely cut off from God, the source of life, would seem logically to imply nonexistence. Such a lapse into nothingness of all of life's hopes and values makes perdition a terrible reality even without the added feature of prolonged torture." [62]
Kantonen sums up his able discussion in these words: "The hope of the individual Christian at death does not lie in man's power to defy death but in God's power to raise man from the dead. Death is real, and man has no inherent capacity to leap over the grave into another existence." [63]
Dr. HAROLD ROBERTS, [64] professor of systematic theology and philosophy of religion at Richmond College, Surrey, England, gave the Fernley-Hartley Lecture for 1954, which immediately after was published as Jesus and the Kingdom of God. In this he sets forth man's hope of immortality to be as a "gift of God," not through an inherent or "natural immortality of the soul." It is dependent upon the grace of God and received through the resurrection. Here is Roberts' succinct statement:
61 Ibid., pp. 96 97. (Italics supplied.)
62 Ibid., pp. 107, 108. (Italics supplied.)
63 Ibid., p. 111. (Italics supplied.)
64 HAROLD ROBERTS (1896- ), Methodist, trained at University College, Bangor, and Wesley House. Cambridge. After pastoral work he became professor of systematic theology and philosophy, Wesley College. He then became dean of the Faculty of Theology, University of London (1953- ). He was on the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (1954- ), president of the Methodist Conference (1957-1958), and principal of Richmond College, Surrey, since 1955.
"Life in the Kingdom of God is the gift of God. It cannot be claimed or earned. It is a gift to be received in humility and gratitude—'Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven' (Mt 18'). If the teaching of Jesus can be interpreted as implying universal survival, it has nothing to do with the belief that man by nature inherits eternal life. The doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul, when advanced by Christian thinkers, is the outcome, not of reflection upon the Christian revelation of God, but upon the nature of the soul considered apart from that revelation.
"Eternal life, or life in a divine dimension, in this world and in the world to come is dependent on the grace of God. We are not born by nature into this life, but raised to it by the power of God. What Christianity offers is not the promise of immortality through the possession by man of some element within his constitution which is imperishable, but the assurance of being raised together with Christ through the complete submission of mind and body to God's kingly Rule. The Christian doctrine of the future life is a doctrine of resurrection, and resurrection is the free gift of God." [65]
Dr. Roberts repudiates Universalism, and does not preclude the "annihilation" of the wicked, or the concept of "conditional immortality." He insists that "eternal life is the gift of God." [66]
65 Harold Roberts, Jesus and the Kingdom of God, pp. 107, 108. (Italics supplied.)
66 Ibid., pp. 105, 106.
67 BASIL F. C. ATKINSON (1895- ), Protestant Evangelical Conditionalist, was trained at Belmont, Tonbridge, and Magdalene College, Cambridge. He was under librarian of university library. Cambridge, from 1925 to 1960, and is author of numerous scholarly books and many articles and pamphlets. His Pocket Commentary series has won high acclaim from many well-known scholars.
Special note should be taken of the excellent "Genesis" number in the Pocket Commentary of the Bible (1954) series by Dr. BASIL F. C. ATKINSON, [67] Protestant Evangelical scholar of Cambridge University. In Part I (Genesis 1-9), starting with "the beginning of time and of all things," Atkinson deals briefly but adequately with the creation of the world and the origin of human life. Then comes the recital of the "making of man."
Mention is made of the fact that "material already in existence" was used in the formation of man—the "dust of the ground." But the use of the paralleling term "create," implies that "man had no physical relationship with any creature that preceded him." [68] Man was made in "God's image," and "after His likeness"; God spoke him into being, and man had a "corresponding gift of language." He was capable of thought, including "abstract thought." He was "self-conscious," as well as God-conscious. He-had the power of choice, and knew the difference between what is "morally good" and "morally evil." Man is "therefore as different from the lower animals which preceded him, as they are from the plants." [69]
But the original image was "marred." And if man was not to be lost he must be renewed through redemption—"renewed in the image of Christ, the God-man, his Creator and Redeemer." [70] Moreover, man was "made in two sexes," with "power of reproduction." This unity of the race, in Adam, made it possible for "the one act of redemption performed by Christ to become effective towards the whole human race," just as the whole race was affected by the "one act of disobedience on Adam's part." Furthermore, the "power of reproduction" made possible the "incarnation of Christ, which was essentially preparatory to the act of redemption." He assumed human nature as "the true child of Mary, through whom He took human nature from Adam." [71] The portrayal to this point lays the foundation. Now comes the crucial section.
68 Basil F. C. Atkinson, The Pocket Commentary of the Bible. Part I (Genesis 1-9), pp. 20, 30, 31.
69 Ibid., p. 22.
70 Ibid.
71 Ibid., p. 23.
1. MAN NOT "IMMORTAL SOUL" IMPRISONED IN A "BODY."—Man was "formed," or "moulded," of the "dust of the ground." He did not develop through a long line of "lower animals," and "behind them from primitive life forms." Man is essentially a "creature of this earth." But "the image of God does not lie in the physical." "When the First-begotten came into the world, He said, 'A body hast Thou prepared for me' (Heb. 10.5). It was not in the womb of the virgin that this body was prepared. It was down the generations from Adam to Mary." Evidently Adam's body was "formed with a view to the incarnation." [72] Then God "breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life"—the "principle of natural life." And now comes this key thought by Atkinson—man was not made immortal. Such an impression was a concept introduced by Greek philosophy in direct conflict with the Inspired Record. Here is Atkinson's incisive statement and his cogent reasoning:
"It has sometimes been thought that the impartation of the life principle, as it is brought before us in this verse, entailed immortality of the spirit or soul. It has been said that to be made in the image of God involves immortality. The Bible never says so. If it involves immortality, why does it not also involve omniscience, or omnipresence, or any other quality or attribute of the Infinite? Why should one alone be singled out? The breath of life was not breathed into man's heart, but into man's nostrils. It involved physical life. Throughout the Bible man, apart from Christ, is conceived of as made of dust and ashes, a physical creature, to whom is lent by God a principle of life. The Greek thinkers tended to think of man as an immortal soul imprisoned in a body. This emphasis is the opposite to that of the Bible, but has found a wide place in Christian thought." [73]
Man is not "an immortal soul imprisoned in a body."
72 Ibid., p. 31
73 Ibid., p. 32, on Gen. 2:7. (Italics supplied.)
74 Ibid.
2. OLD EDEN AND NEW PARADISE ON NEW EARTH.—The "combination of the clay with the life principle made the man a living sour—denoting "man's natural life." [74] Later, in the New Testament the "last Adam" is contrasted with the "first man," Adam—a "living soul" —while the "last Adam" is "a quickening spirit" (1 Cor. 15:44-46):
"Thus man is made unlike the animals a moral and spiritual being, but like the animals a creature of the earth. His creation was a preparation for the incarnation and may in itself have been a step towards the ultimate redemption of the universe." [75]
Again:
"The garden of Eden is a type and picture of the garden, or paradise of God, which will be on the new earth created by God for the redeemed in the world to come" (Rev. 2.7).
"The old Eden was planted in a corner of the earth. The new paradise will cover the whole earth." [76]
"The eternal Paradise will be a creation and gift of God." [77]
That is the plan and provision of God.
3. GOD GAVE THE ULTIMATE CRITERION OF RIGHT AND WRONG.—Man was tested by the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil." It was a "negative" moral test—man was not to do a certain thing. Yet God "made" the tree. He is the "source of right and wrong and the sole arbiter of creation." Notice: "A thing is right if God commands it, and wrong if He forbids it, and there is no other ultimate criterion." [78]
So "God set up a test of relationship with Himself." This is the test that faces every responsible human being. It is the "ultimate test of the Gospel." [79] Moreover— "God gave him [Adam] a clear warning of the consequences of disobedience, and here we have the first expression of the great scriptural principle that death is inseparable from sin. It is expressed in Ezek. 18.4, 20: 'the soul that sinned, it shall die,' or again in Rom. 6.23: 'the wages of sin is death.' It means that God and sin are incompatible, that where God is, there ultimately sin cannot be." [80]
75 Ibid.
76 Ibid.
77 Ibid.
78 Ibid., p. 35.
79 Ibid.
80 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
4. SINNER SUBJECT TO IRREMEDIABLE SECOND DEATH. —Moreover, "in the day" that he ate, man would come under the death decree:
"We shall see in the words thou shalt surely die the equivalent of 'subject to death.' To us has been revealed the truth that physical death is not the end, but that one day 'all that are in the graves' shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall come forth (Jo. 5.28, 29), and that the dead will stand before Christ's throne (Rev. 20.12). After this there remains for the unrepentant sinner the second, final, irremediable eternal death (Rev. 20.14, 15)." [81]
5. NOT "ETERNAL . . . TORMENT" BUT "EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION."—AS to the nature of that "second death," Dr. Atkinson says:
"It is well to notice that it was not said to Adam, 'In the day that thou eats thereof, thou shalt suffer eternal conscious torment.' If this is what the Lord God meant, surely here of all places He would say it clearly. On the contrary if we think for a moment of the analogy on which Adam would understand the word 'death' (as explained above), we shall see more clearly the nature and meaning of the second death, which is 'everlasting destruction' (2 Thess. 1:9)." [82]
This point is likewise vital.
2. TEMPTING "SERPENT" WAS SATAN HIMSELF.—Discussing the "temptation and fall" of chapter 3, he says the serpent was no ordinary snake, but is identified in Revelation 12:9; 20:2 as the "devil" and "Satan"—the "original serpent." [83] Of him Atkinson writes:
"The devil was a creature of God, whose creation fell in the period referred to in Gen. 1.1. He was a moral being of exalted nature, and the first in whom moral evil manifested itself. We read of his creation and life before his fall, his fall itself and his final annihilation in Ezek. 28.11-19. His name Satan means that he is the adversary and accuser of the people of God, and his Greek name of 'devil' emphasizes his part in separating God and man. It seems impossible to assemble all that the Bible says about him [Satan] without coming to the conclusion that he is a super-human personal being of high order, created perfect like all God's creatures, but the author of evil through the conception of an evil thought and the formation of an evil choice in his will. Indeed it is impossible to conceive of the entrance of moral evil into God's creation apart from the existence of such a personality." [84]
SCOPE OF THE SERPENT'S TEMPTATION.—Suggesting that the serpent may have appeared to Eve as a "shining angel," and conversed in that form, Atkinson remarks concerning the tempter's question, and Adam and Eve's "wrong moral choice":
81 Ibid., p. 36.
82 Ibid.
83 Ibid., p. 40, on Gen. 3:1.
84 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
"Yea, hath God said? This was not a genuine question, but a suggestive sneer, 'So God has said you are not to eat, has He?' This was the first shot in a campaign of lies. The question threw doubt on God's goodness. The devil has taken this line ever since." [85]
As to Satan's lie, "Ye shall not surely die," and the doubt implanted in Eve's mind, Atkinson adds: "This lie of the devil's is widely believed among sinners today, and has been so believed in every generation. Apart from the convicting power of the Holy Ghost acting upon his heart no one can believe that he is perishing." [86]
And as to the sweeping involvements of that temptation, Atkinson says of Eve:
"She saw that the tree was good for food. This was the 'lust of the flesh' (1 Jo. 2:16). She saw that it was pleasant to the eyes. This is ‘the lust of the eyes' (ibid). She saw that it was a tree to be desired to make one wise. This is 'the pride of life’ (ibid). So that by one sinful, perhaps hesitant, look Eve brought into being the whole corrupt wicked world and enthroned the devil as the prince of it. Eve's look at the tree of knowledge, fraught with such catastrophic consequences, is in contrast to the look of faith that the sinner may take at the tree of Calvary, a look that by virtue of the Saviour's propitiatory death and in conformity with God's promise by the Gospel repeals and reverses the harm done by Eve and procures everlasting life." [87]
8. DEATH NOT CONTINUING DISCARNATE LIVING.—Concerning "death," and "returning to the ground," Atkinson says:
"Till thou return unto the ground. Here is the fourth, the saddest, indeed the supreme witness to the fan of man. No one can avoid hearing its voice. Its incidence is universal. 'The wages of sin is death' (Rom. 6:23). The description of death in this verse is in harmony with the whole general outlook of the Bible upon the nature of man and the meaning of death. Here is God's original explanation to man of the fact of death.
"No word is said about any separation of man's person from his body to go on living discarnate in a state of steering, or on repentance of [sic] blessedness. If that is what death means it is difficult to understand why it was not mentioned and clearly explained here. Man was taken from the ground. He is dust and returns to dust. The book of Ecclesiastes, describing the same event with obvious reference to the present passage, adds, 'And the spirit shall return unto God who gave it' (Eccl. 12.7). At death the life principle, breathed into man at the first (Gen. 2.7), returns to the Giver, and man is left a lifeless corpse to disintegrate and mingle once more with the ground." [88]
85 Ibid., p. 42.
86 Ibid., p. 43.
87 Ibid., pp. 43, 44.
But that is not the end for man: "Of course provision is made for the final resurrection of all the dead on the day of judgment, whether buried or not (Rev. 20.13). Lack of burial does not affect resurrection." [89]
9. DIVINE PROVISION FOR REDEMPTION.—But man was not left without hope:
"Adam and Eve made a wrong moral choice. They sold themselves to do evil, became guilty before God and separate from His fellowship, and justly deserving of eternal death. But having said that, we must further say that, whether or not they could have resisted, in actual fact they did not, and God knew from eternity that they would not. Without, therefore, for one moment abandoning a full belief in the volition and guilt of Adam and Eve, it is possible to see in the fall of Adam a further step in the hidden eternal purpose of the God Who 'works all things together for good to them that love' Him (Rom. 8.28)." [90]
And in the "coats of skins" of the sacrificial animals is the symbolism of the "robe of Christ's righteousness and the garment of salvation." Thus:
"Coats of skins. Here is the second essential. The provision of skins had necessitated the death of an animal, so that we have a complete illustration in practice of the fundamental biblical principle that 'without shedding of blood is no remission' (Heb. 9:22). The death of this animal was the first picture of the death of Christ, in virtue of which alone the believer is justified, clothed, set in his right mind and given access to God. The coats provided by God to clothe the guilty pair are the picture of the robe of Christ's righteousness and the garment of salvation, won for the people of God by Christ on the cross, applied through the Gospel, and appropriated by faith." [91]
1. No ETERNAL LIFE IN SIN AND TORMENT.—As death closes life, so resurrection renews the life of the believer. Man will not live forever in sin. Atkinson says:
"Live for ever. Had man been able to eat of the tree of life, the sentence of death, pronounced in verse 19, would presumably have been nullified. An eternal life in sin would be an offence to God and a misery to any who lived it. Death mercifully closes the corrupt life of fallen man. But though man in flesh and blood is debarred from the tree of life (1 Cor. 15.50), the believer may eat of it now in his—heart by faith (Jo. 6.54), and one day in a glorified body will enjoy its fruit for ever.” [92]
88 Ibid., pp. 51, 52. (Italics supplied.)
89 Ibid., p. 52.
90 Ibid., p. 41.
91 Ibid., p. 53.
One further quotation must suffice in the Atkinson testimony. The final fires of judgment—the "eternal fire," as with Sodom and Gomorrah—completely destroy the sinner at last:
"This [the illustration of Sodom and Gomorrah] is the Scriptural picture of eternal fire, and ought to make quite plain to us that eternal fire consumes once for all with an irrevocable result, and does not continue burning for ever. Not only does our Lord select the destruction of these cities as an illustration of the final judgment (Lk. 17.28-30), but the language of this passage is taken up in the Apocalypse to describe the same thing (Rev. 14.10; 19.20; 20.10; 21.8)." [93]
That is Dr. Atkinson's simple but adequate recital of the origin, nature, and destiny of man, in contradistinction to the popular notion of an indefeasibly immortal soul and endless torment for the incorrigible sinner.
92 Ibid., p. 54.
93 Ibid. Part II (Genesis 10-21), p. 181, on Gen. 19:24. (Italics supplied.)
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
The geographical spread of the twelve spokesmen in this chapter ranges from Canada and the United States in the West, to faraway India in the East—along with England, Scotland, Switzerland, and Germany in the Old World. They include a provost, eight university professors, a bishop, an Institute director, and a Keswick speaker. They include men of international renown. And in religious affiliation they run all the way from Anglican to Swiss Reformed, Church of Scotland, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, Episcopalian, and Disciple. The remarkable harmony of affirmation on one or more of the three major features of Conditionalism continues, along with relentless exposure of the Platonic fallacies and foibles that have penetrated and perverted the church. The momentum of the movement has not slackened. First we turn to Canada.
Dr. DERWYN R. G. OWEN, [1] provost of Trinity College, University of Toronto, issued an impressive volume in 1956 titled Body and Soul, with the subtitle, "A Study on the Christian
1 DERWYN R. G. Owes (1914- ), Anglican, was trained at the University of Toronto and Union Theological Seminary. He was the son of Archbishop D. T. Owen, late Primate of the Church of Canada. After teaching and army chaplaincies, he joined the staff of Trinity College, of which he is now executive head. It is interesting to note that Owen studied under both Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich, whose positions on the current discussion are sketched elsewhere in this twentieth-century section.
View of Man." Leading off with a penetrating contrast be-tween the Greek "religious" and the true "Christian" concepts, Owen asserts, in his thoroughly documented work, that— "the 'religious' anthropology is not Christian but Greek and Eastern both in origin and in nature, and that it is this view of man, and not the Christian, that the scientific evidence refutes." [2]
1. NO "INDEPENDENT" SOUL IN A "CORRUPTIBLE BODY."— Professor Owen stresses the fact that the "religious," as he calls the traditional Greek view, ever presents a "dualism"—an "immortal soul" in a perishing body.
"The points at issue revolve around the concepts of 'body' and 'soul.' The 'religious' anthropology [in contradistinction to the Biblical] adopts an extreme dualism, asserting that the body and the soul are two different and distinct substances. It claims that the soul is divine in origin and immortal by nature and that the corruptible body is the source of all sin and wickedness. It recommends the cultivation of the soul in detachment from the body, and advocates the suppression of all physical appetites and natural impulses. It regards the body as the tomb or prison of the soul from which it longs to get free. Finally, it tends to suppose that the soul, even in its earth-bound existence, is entirely independent of the body and so enjoys a freedom of choice and action untrammelled by the views that reign in the physical realm." [3]
On the contrary, Owen holds that man is a "unified psychosomatic whole" and that "there can be no detachable part of man that survives physical death." [4]
2 D. R. G. Owen, Body and Soul, p. 26.
3 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
4 Ibid., p. 27.
2. PHILOSOPHY OF "DUALISM" FROM GREEKS.—Holding that the Christian belief teaches the full mortality of man, Owen adds that it assuredly does not teach that "some one part of human nature is inherently immortal." Owen also says that "many of our hymns are nothing but thinly disguised Orphic poems." [5] Then he states:
"If we turn to the Bible, however, as we shall later, we find that a quite different view of man is assumed throughout. Here there is no dualism and scarcely any idea of the immortality of a detached and independent soul." [6]
"The Bible," he states, "assumes that human nature is a unity; in the New Testament it teaches that man's ultimate destiny involves the 'resurrection of the body.' [7] The Greek, or religious, concepts, he adds, are an "intrusion." [8]
3. "DUALISM" IS INTEGRAL PART OF PLATONISM.—Tracing the Greek origin of the body-soul dualism, which came to a head under "the Orphic," and reached its peak under Plato, Owen points out that it involved transmigration, with the body a "prison" for the soul. Man's "earthly existence" was thus a "living death"—a soul "trapped in a body." [9] Thus the body was despised. Moreover, Plato held that the soul "always has existed and always will exist." [10] Professor Owen then states:
"Plato remains to the end an anti-physical dualist. It is he, and his followers, who most of all are responsible for imposing the 'religious' anthropology on Western thought." [11]
"This latter belief especially—the idea that the soul can exist apart from the body—obviously implies some form of the body-soul dualism. . . . This body-soul dualism was a necessary implicate of the Greek doctrine of the immortality of the soul." [12]
4. BIBLICAL "RESURRECTION" OPPOSED TO "ORPHIC ESCHATOLOGY."—Dr. Owen shows how there was a similar strain in the Indian teaching, likewise involving "dualism" and "transmigration," and "disembodied blessedness." [13]
5 Ibid., p. 28.
6 Ibid., p. 24.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid., p. 33.
9 Ibid., pp. 33-36.
10 Ibid., p. 38.
11 Ibid., p. 41.
12 Ibid., p. 59.
13 Ibid., pp. 45-48.
Then he traces the fatal transfer from pagan Greek philosophy to Christian Neoplatonism, and thus into the Alexandrian wing of Christianity [14]—protested however by Justin Martyr and others but developed by Tertullian and those who followed his lead. [15] Owen then observes:
"Now there are a few isolated Scriptural passages that may suggest the idea of the immortality of the soul in the Greek sense, but the normal-Biblical point of view is quite different: in the New Testament it is the resurrection of the body that is stressed, and this doctrine is almost a direct contradiction of the 'Orphic' eschatology. Why, then, did the Fathers lean toward this largely un-Biblical notion?" [16]
"The fact is that the Fathers' adoption of the 'religious' idea of the immortality of the detachable soul forced them into the doctrine of body-soul dualism." [17]
5. "INTERMEDIATE STATE" LEADS TO PURGATORY CONCEPT. —Out of this background developed the "intermediate state" concept for the "detachable soul," and eventually the "purgatory doctrine"—with its wide repercussions:
"The idea of the intermediate state eventually developed into the doctrine of purgatory." [18]
"The Fathers were no doubt impressed by the force of the arguments advanced by Greek philosophy to prove the immortality of the soul. And, finally, of course, the idea of an intermediate state gave the human being another chance to be purged of his sins before the last judgment. It was the development of this notion that led to the doctrine of purgatory, with all the superstitions and objectionable practices that eventually made up the purgatorial system and, in the end, furnished part of the immediate cause of the Reformation." [19]
Owen says further, concerning the Church Fathers:
"Their [the Church Fathers'] resulting anthropology was a mixture of Biblical and Greek ideas. They added to the New Testament doctrine of the resurrection of the body the idea of an intermediate state in which the soul exists apart from the body, awaiting its recovery at the end." [20]
14 Ibid., pp. 50-52.
15 Ibid., pp. 54-58.
16 Ibid., p. 59.
17 Ibid., p. 61.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid., p. 62.
20 Ibid., p. 77. (Italics supplied.)
1. "DEATH KNELL" OF DUALISM SOUNDED.—Owen then shows how the controversy continued through the Middle Ages, involving men like Aquinas. It was characterized by the revival of the "Aristotelian theory of the soul," but with the Greek philosophy predominant.' Touching on the Renaissance, Owen then notes the Reformation conflict between Luther and Calvin "—Luther holding that the dead are "asleep," or "at rest," and Calvin maintaining that disembodied souls survive in intense consciousness. Space forbids following further Owen's interesting and factual historical tracement, but he consistently affirms that man is a "unitary being." [21, 22, 23] Owen then makes the trenchant observation:
"Dualism hears its death knell sounded. And if dualism has to be abandoned, we can no longer suppose that the soul is a detachable part that can survive bodily death by itself. The old doctrine of the immortality of the separated soul must now itself be gently ushered into the place of departed spirits. Similarly, we can no longer regard the body as a second separable part of man, the source of all temptation and sin, which must be sternly suppressed. Repressive moralism is given its obituary notice." [24]
7. "BIBLICAL VIEW" TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM TRADITIONAL.—Turning to the "Biblical" view of man, Dr. Owen recapitulates:
"The 'religious' anthropology, as far as Western thought is concerned, is Greek and not Biblical in origin. It is also typical of Eastern religions in general, such as Hinduism and Buddhism. It seems to be characteristically 'religious,' and for this and other reasons has tended to creep into and corrupt the Christian view of man. This happened, as we saw, in the patristic and medieval periods, and modern Catholicism and Protestantism have tended to perpetuate this early mistake." [25]
But, he repeats, "The Biblical view of man is entirely different from the 'religious.' " [26] And once again Owen pins the Innate Immortality postulate squarely upon the Alexandrian School in the Inter-Testament period:
"The idea of the immortality of the soul in the Greek sense may be suggested in some passages in the wisdom literature and is definitely found in places in the Apocrypha. This line of thought was later developed in the Hellenistic Judaism of the Alexandrine School, in the inter-Testament period, of which the religious philosopher Philo is the outstanding example." [27]
21 Ibid., pp. 62-68.
22 Ibid., pp. 70-74.
23 Ibid., p. 75.
24 Ibid., p. 98. (Italics supplied.)
25 Ibid., p. 163.
26 Ibid., p. 164.
27 Ibid., p. 178.
Such is the masterful survey made by this Canadian educator.
Eminent Swiss scholar, Dr. EMIL, BRUNNER, [28] professor of systematic theology at the University of Zurich, believes ultimate, complete extinction of being to be the fate of the sinner. Though created "for eternity," the wilful sinner's "eternal destruction," which deprives him of life, is brought about by his own choice. He has the power to turn away from the "eternal destiny" desired of God for him. But first Brunner deals with Platonic Immortal-Soulism.
I. PLATONIC INNATISM IS NOT "BIBLICAL."—Platonic Immortal-Soulism has, he holds, replaced the Biblical truth as to man's nature and destiny. But man determines his own "des-tiny" by his own choices:
"It is true that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul as a sub-stance is of Platonist and not of Biblical origin. It is a result of the view that the human spirit is essentially 'divine.' But if we start from what God has given us in His self-revelation, this idea of an immortal soul is replaced by the truth of man's destiny for eternal communion with God. The essential destiny of man is not substantial immortality, but eternal life. This eternal destiny is, however, to this extent, part of the essential structure of man, in that what man is, can never be understood apart from his relation to this destiny. Man never ceases to be a being created for eternity, even when he misses his true destiny by turning away from God and from his eternal destiny. Just as man does not cease to be a responsible being when he sins, so too he does not cease to be a being destined for eternity." [29]
28 Emil BRUNNER (1889- ), Swiss Reformed dialectical theologian, was trained at Zurich, Berlin, and Union Theological. After a period of pastoral and teaching work, he became professor of theology at Zurich (1916-1924), then at Christian University. Tokyo. He supported Karl Barth in protesting Christian mysticism, and has lectured widely in European and American universities. He was guest professor at Princeton (1938-1939) and Gifford Lecturer in 1947 and 1948 in Scottish universities. His more important books total nine.
29. Emil Brunner. The Christian Doctrine of Creation and Redemption (vol. 2 of Dogmatics, tr. by Wyon), p. 59. (Italics supplied.)
2. SINNER DEPRIVES HIMSELF OF ETERNAL LIFE.—The sinner, Brunner says, brings "eternal destruction" upon him-self:
"Just as sin deprives man of true humanity, true responsibility, and the love of God, so also sin deprives him of that eternal life for which he has been destined. As a sinner he lives no longer in the love of God, but he comes under the divine wrath. This divine wrath, however, does not destroy his eternal destiny. In depriving himself of eternal life he brings upon himself eternal destruction." [30]
3. PAGAN ORIGIN OF SOUL-SURVIVAL CONCEPT.—In chapter 11, "The Mystery of Death," in Eternal Hope (1954) , after noting the "pathos" of many "funeral orations," Brunner states, concerning the "phenomenon" of death:
"Man does not die like other higher animals, any more than he lives like them. Human existence is an exception in the world of living beings; for man is the only living being who is a person. Hence his death is something other than the death of animals." [31]
Touching on "dissolution," and whether a man is "finished when he dies," and the "relation of soul and body," [32] Brunner points out the pagan view of soul survival as coming from animism, as well as from Indian and Egyptian sources:
"Widely spread among all peoples and at all times is the idea of a survival of the soul after death, i.e. the view that death means the separation of soul from body. This view appears in many varied forms from primitive animism to the philosophical doctrine of immortality. It assumes the form of the Indian teaching of Karma about the reincarnation of the soul in another life in a state corresponding to its ethical worth. Again it appears in the idea, first found in ancient Egypt, of an otherworldly judgment, in which some souls will be assigned to a joyful and radiant world, others to a dark, joyless, and tormented existence in the beyond." [33]
4. PLATONIC INNATISM ASSIMILATED BY CATHOLICISM.—The penetration of Platonism into dominant Catholic dogma, and through Calvin incorporated into post-Reformation theology, is next noted—along with recent restudy:
"For the history of Western thought, the Platonic teaching of the immortality of the soul became of special significance. It penetrated so deeply into the thought of Western man because, although with certain modifications, it was assimilated by Christian theology and church teaching, was even declared by the Lateran Council of 1512 [1513] to be a dogma, to contradict which was a heresy, and likewise from Calvin onwards it was assumed in post-Reformation Protestantism to be a part of Christian doctrine. Only recently, as a result of a deepened understanding of the New Testament, have strong doubts arisen as to its compatibility with the Christian conception of the relation—between God and man, and its essentially pre-Christian origin has been ever more emphasized." [34]
30 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
32 Ibid., pp. 98, 99.
31 Brunner, Eternal Hope, p. 97.
33 Ibid., p. 100. (Italics supplied.)
Brunner observes, logically:
"If the soul is immortal in the sense and for the reason which Plato and his successors teach, then the problem of death is solved because death has no power over the deeper side of man as a person." [35]
Then this would be true: "Death can affect the immortal soul as little as the waves of the tossing sea the lighthouse." [36]
5. SINISTER IMPLICATIONS OF "PLATONIC DUALISM."—The essence of Platonism and its Dualism is this:
"The body is mortal, the soul immortal. The mortal husk conceals this eternal essence which in death is freed from its outer shell." [37]
"That this dualistic conception of man does not correspond to the Christian outlook can be shown from various angles. The contrast stands out most clearly in the two following points. The effect of this Platonic dualism is not merely to make death innocuous but also to rob evil of its sting." [38]
6. FANTASIES OF PLATONISM V. REVELATION OF GOD.—Grave encroachment of Platonism upon the divine prerogatives of God is also involved. It claims man is "divine":
"The second aspect of the contrast to the Christian view is as follows. Man in his spiritual and higher being is divine, not creaturely. God is not His creator, God is the all of which the human spirit is but a part. Man is a participator in the divine in the most direct and literal sense. Hence, since this mode of robbing evil of its sting runs necessarily parallel with the rendering innocuous of death through the teaching about immortality, this solution of the problem of death stands in irreconcilable opposition to Christian thought. One believes either in the immortality of the soul—and it is only necessary to believe so long—as—one has not mastered the proof—immortality being essentially demonstrable—or one believes in the God of revelation." [39]
34 Ibid.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid.
37 Ibid., p. 101.
38 Ibid.
39 Ibid., pp. 101, 102. (Italics supplied.)
7. DEATH SPRINGS FROM HUMAN "REBELLION."—The Bible knows nothing of the "bi-section," or dualism, of man, says Brunner. Death must be taken "seriously," for the "wages of sin" is death, and sin is the revolt of the creature against the Creator:
"The guilt of sin separates him from God and robs man of the life which lay ready for him in God. For God Himself is life; whosoever is separated from Him is cut off from the sources of, life." [40]
Brunner then declares concerning death:
"Death is therefore for the Christian understanding an ordinance of God, but it is not an original element of the divine order in creation; on the contrary, it has arisen from disorder. It is the reaction of the divine anger to human rebellion." [41]
8. GREEK PHILOSOPHY IRRECONCILABLE WITH DIVINE REVELATION.—Recapitulating, and reiterating the irreconcilable conflict between Platonism and Inspiration, Brunner records:
"Let us cast a glance once again at the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. It cannot be explained by weakness of faith on the part of the church that it took over a point of view which stemmed from such a different source—that of Greek philosophy, and was so utterly foreign to its own essential teaching. Somewhere in the Christian faith there must have been some opening through which this foreign doctrine could penetrate. Assuredly, from the Biblical standpoint, it is God alone who possesses immortality. The opinion that we men are immortal because our soul is of an indestructible, because divine, essence is, once for all, irreconcilable with the Biblical view of God and man." [42]
Our sole hope and life are therefore in Christ.
9. CREATED AND DESTINED FOR ETERNAL LIFE.—Declaring that man was "created and destined for eternal life," though God's plan was "marred" by sin, Brunner says:
"There is here no possibility of a Platonic-Socratic anamnesis as a result of which we might find our way back to this eternal destiny. There is in us no eternal unimpaired, indestructible essence to which in face of evil and death we might have recourse. All that is the Platonic idealistic Vedantic outlook, not the Christian one." [43]
40 Ibid., p. 102.
41 Ibid., p. 103.
42 Ibid., pp. 105, 106. (Italics supplied.)
43 Ibid., p. 106.
We are to have "a genuinely Biblical Christo-centric faith in immortality. Not in the way we are made but in God's creative summons have we our eternal life." [44] This, then, is Brunner's depiction of Platonism:
"The philosophical belief in immortality is like an echo, both re-producing and falsifying the primal Word of this divine Creator. It is false because it does not take into account the real loss of this original destiny through sin." [45]
Scottish theologian Dr. ARCHIBALD M. HUNTER, [46] of King's College, Aberdeen University, gave the James Sprunt Lectures at Union Theological Seminary in America in 1954. [47] These were published under the title Interpreting Paul's Gospel. Chapter five, "The Hope of Glory," it should be added, was first published in Interpretation. In the key chapter, early in the lecture series, Hunter made this statement:
"Paul holds that the life to come is a gift of God, not (as the Greeks held) a natural possession of man. Not the immortality of the soul but the resurrection of the body is his concern and hope." [48]
The distinction is vital.
1. REVIVAL OF ESCHATOLOGY UNMASKS GREEK INFLUENCES.—In his final lecture Dr. Hunter emphasizes the contemporary revival of the "Christian eschatology" phase of "biblical theology," with a resultant awakening to the fact of the strong influence that "Greek views of time and eternity" had exerted upon the church over the centuries. Here are Hunter's exact words:
"We have witnessed in this generation a notable revival in biblical theology, which has led us to rethink many of our cardinal doctrines. Christian theologians, long more deeply influenced than they knew by Greek views of time and eternity, are beginning to study again the biblical conceptions of these things. And it is growing clear that the time is ripe for a fresh approach to the whole subject of Christian eschatology." [49]
44 Ibid., p. 107.
45 Ibid.
46 ARCHIBALD MACBRIDE HUNTER (1906- ), Presbyterian. was trained at Glasgow and Oxford. After ministry in several churches he became professor of New Testament at Mansfield College, Oxford, and professor of Biblical criticism, Aberdeen University (1945- ). He was also Master of Christ's College, Aberdeen. He is author of ten books.
47 Archibald M. Hunter, Interpreting Paul's Gospel (1954), Preface, p. 9.
48 Ibid., p. 54. (Italics supplied.)
This very exposure of Platonic innatism by Hunter is simply part of the restudy conducted by scores of other contemporary scholars.
2. IMMORTALITY "GIFT OF GOD," NOT INNATELY OURS.—In the significant section "The Heart of the Christian Hope," Dr. Hunter makes "two simple points." The first is that "immortality" is a gift, not a natural possession:
"As 'God alone hath immortality,' immortal life for St. Paul, as for all the New Testament writers, is the gift of God in Christ. We are not immortal beings in our own right, so to speak. Just as St. John says, 'He that hath the Son hath life,' so Paul holds that our hope of immortality is bound up with belonging to Christ—with 'Christ in us, the hope of glory.' " [50]
1. NOT "DISEMBODIED" SPIRITS BUT "WHOLE MEN."—The second point is closely akin—that the Platonic fallacy has all too often set aside the historic faith. The two concepts are totally opposed:
"Plato's hope was set on the immortality of the soul. Paul's is set on the resurrection of the body—'the spiritual body,' as he explains in 1 Cor. 15, for manifestly our present frame of flesh and blood is doomed to dissolution. Soma, 'body,' as Paul uses it, has its nearest English equivalent in the word 'personality.' It is not as disembodied souls but as whole men, Paul would teach us, that we shall live hereafter. But this 'body,' this 'frame'—call it what you will—will be marvellously transformed in the world to come." [51]
These are significant statements and constitute highly competent testimony.
Even in far-flung Southern India, Bishop LESSLIE NEW-BIGIN, [52] active in World Council of Churches affairs, adds his voice to the growing chorus of witnesses around the globe, advocating that man be "treated as a living whole," and his "eternal future" be conceived of in terms of the "resurrection of the body," not in the framework of the "immortality of the soul." In 1954, in The Household of God, [53] Dr. Newbigin stated:
"In the Bible salvation is concerned with the whole created order. The whole visible world is ascribed to God, and it is, in its essential nature, good. Though the fall of man has mysteriously corrupted nature also, yet nature itself is not evil. Nor is it merely the neutral setting of man's spiritual life. It has its own part to play in glorifying God. And its renewal is part of the consummation for which at present the whole creation groans and travails in longing. In particular man's physical frame is not treated as the merely temporary envelope of an immortal spirit. Man is treated as a living whole and his eternal future is conceived of in terms of the resurrection of the body rather than of the immortality of the soul. The final consummation of all things is conceived to include the renewal of the whole created universe, and of man's body, and the restoration of its lost harmony in the joy of God's service." [54]
49 Ibid., p. 123.
50 Ibid., p. 133. (Italics supplied.)
51 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
52 Leslie NEWBIGIN, of the Church of Scotland, was educated at Cambridge University, receiving his theological training at Westminster College. Going at once to the Madras Mission in South India, he served until 1947 when be was elected bishop of South India, for the diocese of Madura and Ramnad. He has been active in World Council of Churches work.
53 First given as the Kerr Lectures in Trinity College, Glasgow, in 1952.
54 Lesslie Newbigin, The Household of God (Copyrighted 1954 by Friendship Press, New York. Used by permission.), pp. 66, 67. (Italics supplied.)
Prof. WILLIAM ROBINSON [55] of the Department of Theology and Christian Doctrine of the Disciples of Christ Butler University, likewise distinguishes sharply between the Greek "immortality of the soul" thesis and the Christian view of "resurrection." It is through resurrection that there is "continuance" of personality. There is no "bodiless existence." Robinson also rejects Spiritualism's contentions. Thus:
"We go on to ask what the symbol of the general resurrection up-holds as part of the Christian faith. First, it makes clear the difference between the Greek notion of immortality of the soul and the Christian view of death. The Christian view does not point to the gruesome doctrine of the resurrection of this physical integument. That is denied by Paul most clearly, especially when he says that 'flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.' The Christian view of death does affirm the continuance of real personality. Second, the symbol of the general resurrection) preserves reverence for the body even after death." [56]
55 WILLIAM ROBINSON, Christian Church (Disciples), was trained at Dublin, Oxford, and Liverpool universities, then at Drake and Butler in America. After serving as principal of Overdale College, Birmingham he was professor of doctrine at Selly Oak College, Birmingham, then professor of theology and doctrine at Christian Theological Seminary, and Butler University (1951-1956). He is author of thirteen books and monographs.
NO WARRANT FOR A "BODILESS EXISTENCE."—The dead are not simply "absorbed into the Eternal." Nor are the "spooks" of Spiritualism valid:
"The spiritual body will have some relationship to the physical body in which our personality moves, just as our Lord's resurrection body had a real relationship to his physical body, for he was 'the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.' We may put the matter in a paradox: the body which was placed in the tomb left the tomb, though it was not the same body. It makes clear that in death the Christian is not just absorbed into the Eternal. The general resurrection assures us that we shall not depart to a bodiless existence: that death means life eternal and not a kind of pseudo-life which would be more intolerable than this life. The spooks which Spiritualism gives us are as unlike what Christianity offers as can be." [57]
German Lutheran professor of New Testament, ETHEL-BERT STAUFFER, of the University of Erlangen, likewise stresses the "sleep" (of-the-dead) concept—as they rest "under God's eyes" and "protection." Commenting on 2 Corinthians 5: 6-10 and Philippians 1:23, he writes:
"Later writings display a considerable development of the problem together with copious additions of traditional material. But the basic formula is the same in all the changes of concepts and thought forms and is: the dead 'sleep' (Dan. 12:2, 13; Test. Zeb. 10:4ff.; 4 Ezra 7:95; S. Bar. 21:25; 1 Thess. 4:13ff.; 2 Pet. 3:4). They sleep under God's eyes and in his protection. Jesus commends his spirit into God's hands, with the words of the early Biblical evening prayer (Psa. 31:5; Luke 23:46; cf. 1 Pet. 4:19; 1 Cl. 27:1); and Stephen, with the same words, commends his spirit into Jesus' hands (Ch. 25)." [58]
CHRISTIAN RESURRECTION OPPOSED TO GREEK INNATISM.—Stauffer likewise makes sharp distinction between the doctrine of the "resurrection" and the Greek concept of Innate Immortality:
"The resurrection of the saints which is a part of the picture of the parousia has nothing whatever to do with the Greek belief in the essential immortality of the soul (Ch. 32). It happens because Easter happened, and it is exclusively confined to those who confess Christ (I Cor. 15:23). But it must not be conceived as a resurrection of the flesh, as though the conditions of our life before death were to be reconstituted (Ch. 58), but is to be associated with a change from which even those who remain alive are not exempt." [59]
56 William Robinson, The Evanston Theme: Christ The Hope of the World (The Bethany Press), pp. 22ff.
57 find. (Italics supplied.)
58 Ethelbert Stauffer, New Testament Theology, p. 212. (Italics supplied.) Note that Stauffer cites several Apocryphal references.
Brief note must be taken of theologian WILLIAM A. SPURRIER, [60] of the Wesleyan University, in Connecticut. He likewise rejects both Platonic immortality, with its dualistic separation of body and soul, the soul being freed from the body at death; and the Hindu concept as well, that of the soul as fading out at death and being reabsorbed into the Universal Soul. According to Scripture, man is, instead, a unitary organism. Here is Dr. Spurrier's view:
"Christianity does not believe in immortality in the Platonic sense of the word. Christianity does not believe that man, after death, is raised up and absorbed into some divine mind. We do not believe that the` body and soul are two absolutely distinct entities which are separated at death. Immortality in much of Greek philosophy usually means that the soul or mind is thus freed from the body and is then united with the divine soul or mind of the universe. Immortality, for Plotinus, for example, means absorption into the divine mind or, for Plato, man achieves the role of a thinking spectator above and beyond the earthly life." [61]
Such, Spurrier points out, is the "basic difference" be-tween the Platonic and Christian views. Neither does Christianity accord with the Oriental concept of reabsorption, and becoming "lost in immortality, even lost in God." Biblical eternal life definitely retains "the individual, unique personality." [62] Here, then, is another Episcopalian scholar thinking along similar lines with a host of others.
59 Ibid., p. 217. (Italics supplied.)
60 WILLIAM A. SPURRIER (1916- ), Episcopalian, was trained at Williams College and Union Theological Seminary. After a period as instructor in religion at Amherst he became instructor and then professor of religion at Wesleyan University (1956- ), and also college pastor at the university. He was an Army chaplain in World War II. He is author of two books.
61 William A. Spurrier, Guide to the Christian Faith (Scribner's), p. 157. (Italics supplied.)
62 Ibid., pp. 157, 158.
Presbyterian ROBERT MCAFEE BROWN, [63] of Union Theo-logical Seminary, in his The Bible Speaks to You, in chapter seventeen, "The Facts of Life—and Death," has a significant section titled "Why Not 'Immortality of the Soul'?" This, Brown urges, should be "examined," because many people "confuse it with the Christian answer." Concerning the subtleties of Greek Immortal-Soulism, he states:
"It ["immortality of the soul"] comes from the Greeks, and when Greek thought and Hebrew-Christian thought came into contact in the Early Church, the Greek view often seemed to predominate. This view says, in effect, that there is a portion of me, my soul, that will continue to exist. During my lifetime here on earth this immortal soul is lodged in my mortal body. What happens at death is that my body dies and turns to dust, while my immortal soul is released and made free so that it can continue its immortal existence without being hamstrung by confinement in a body." [64]
1. GREEK AND BIBLICAL CONCEPTS IN TOTAL CONFLICT.—The Greeks considered the body a "nuisance," "the prison house of the soul." Earthly life was regarded as "an unpleasant interlude in the life of the soul," to be done with "as quickly as possible." In fact, the whole "aim of life" was to "get rid" of the body "in order to resume a free and unfettered existence in eternity." But, says Brown, according to the Bible, "we have been created by God for fellowship with him"—and "eternal relationship with him." [65] Then he adds:
"The Bible also takes it for granted that something has gone wrong. Our sin, that is, our persistent desire to place ourselves rather than God at the centre of life, has disrupted the relationship and seriously hampered its fulfillment both as a present reality and as a future possibility. It is for this reason that the Biblical writers stress a notion that is difficult for us to understand—the connection between sin and death. Sin is a way of talking about the fact that our relationship with God has broken to pieces. Death is a way of talking about the fact that life itself has broken to pieces, life which was God-given. Both sin and death thus stand as threats to the relationship between man and God." [66]
63 ROBERT McAfee BROWN (1920- ), Presbyterian, was trained in Amherst. Union Theological, Columbia, and then Oxford. After a period as Navy chaplain in the Pacific, he taught philosophy at Amherst, then systematic theology at Union. was chairman of the Department of Religion at Macalester, and then went to Union Theological Seminary as professor of religion. He is author of The Bible Speaks to You, and other works.
64 Robert McAfee Brown, The Bible Speaks to You (Copyright 1955, W. L. Jenkins. The Westminster Press. Used by permission.), p. 331.
But beyond the grave comes resurrection. That changes everything.
2. PAUL'S EMPHASIS ON RESURRECTION, NOT SOUL SURVIVA L.—Turning then to the message of St. Paul, Brown says:
"He [Paul] does not talk about 'immortality of the soul' as though only part of us were significant to God. He talks about 'resurrection of the body,’ suggesting that our bodies are important in God's sight. I am not a total personality without my body. Neither are you. The body is a part of et what makes me me, and you you." [67]
65 Ibid., pp. 221, 222.
66 Ibid., p. 222.
67 Ibid., p. 226. (Italics supplied.)
68 Ibid., p. 228.
Stressing the fact that "eternal life" is by "resurrection" Brown adds:
"Rather than speaking of immortality of the soul, the New Testament, as we have seen, speaks of eternal life as something that will be accomplished by the power of God: who will raise up and transform the total personality of the individual. not just the soul, but all that is distinctive about him. Both Old and New Testament agree that the body and soul cannot be split apart. They are not two very different ingredients, poorly fused together. They form a unity, We are 'psychosomatic' persons (psyche-soul, stoma-body). We are not just one or the other; we are both, together and indissolubly." [69]
We have a "foretaste" of eternal life now, because "eternal life is a partial reality here and now" "—the "new life" in Christ in preparation for eternal life forever. Such was Brown's view. [70]
Dutch theologian and linguist HENDRIK KRAEMER, for years director of the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey, Switzerland, has linked man's immortality with the "restoration of the image" of God in man through the "resurrection." This he holds to be the "only ground" of "eternal life." Stressing the "indissoluble unity" of man's nature, he arraigns the current popular "indestructibility of the soul" contention as not Biblical, but Greek in origin. Kraemer is very explicit concerning the terms of this conflict.
69 Ibid., p. 229. (Italics supplied.)
70 Ibid., p. 230.
"The belief in immortality, in the way it is held now almost universally in Christendom, is not Biblical. It is of Greek origin and is, accordingly, always taken in the sense of the soul being indestructible, whereas the body is destined to decay. This is contrary to the teaching of the Bible, for two reasons. In the first place because it ignores entirely the Biblical assumption that man as soul and body is an indissoluble unity.
"In the second place, because it is said plainly in the Bible that God 'is that blessed and only Potentate, King of kings, and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality' (1 Tim. 6:16). This indestructibility of the soul rests on the Greek idea that the soul is of divine essence, which conflicts again with the Biblical teaching of man, created in the Image of God, as a created soul and body." [71]
Dr. MURRAY NEWMAN, [72] of the faculty of the Protestant Episcopal Seminary of Alexandria, Virginia, impressively presents the true nature and source of our immortality and the time of its reception. This he does in Lesson 14 ("The Life of the World to Come"), in the Westminster Uniform Lessons, for September 30, 1956. It was thus prepared for widespread Bible-class study and appeared in Crossroads, denominational organ of the Board of Christian Education of the Presbyterian Church in the United States.
1. RESURRECTION IS GUARANTEE OF LIFE TO COME.—Discussing the "triumph of life over death," Newman comes to the section, "The Foundation of Eternal Life," and its "essential nature." [73] He first lays down this premise for the lesson:
"The foundation of the life to come is God's act in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. "Because Christ died and rose again, the Christian believer who dies will also be raised again." [74]
foundation of the Christian faith is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This validates everything that went before—his life, his ministry, his death. How is it, therefore, that any Christian can deny the resurrection of the dead? (V. 12.) Those who through faith are united with Christ can never be separated from him; they will certainly be raised in a resurrection like his. The resurrection of Christ is God's guarantee of life in the world to come for the faithful." [75]
71 Hendrik Kraemer, Religion and the Christian Faith, p. 327. (Italics supplied.)
72 MURRAY NEWMAN (1924- ), Episcopalian, received his training in Phillips University, Union Seminary, and the universities of Basel and Heidelberg. He has held professorial positions at Vassar and Smith colleges and Union Seminary. He is a contributor to the Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible.
73 Murray Newman "Lesson 14—The Life of the World to Come," Crossroads, July-September, 1956, p. 80. (copyright 1956, W. L. Jenkins, Board of Christian Education, Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. Used by permission.)
74 Ibid.
75 Ibid.
2. IMMORTALITY IS FROM GOD, NOT MAN.—Coming to the crucial section, "Resurrection vs. Immortality," Dr. New-man sets forth the mutually destructive conflict between Greek innatism and the Biblical truth of life through resurrection. He says:
"It is of real significance that the Christian view of the future life is that of resurrection rather than of [inherent] immortality. The Apostles' Creed reads: 'I believe ... in the resurrection of the body.' In so doing, it keeps faith with the Biblical tradition. The idea of [innate] immortality comes from Greek philosophy and has its rootage in the assumption that the world is comprised of a good spiritual realm and an evil material realm. Man, according to this interpretation, is essentially a good soul imprisoned in an evil body. Man's highest end in life, therefore, is to escape the evil body. The Christian faith would have none of this. The New Testament Christians, following in the Old Testament tradition, viewed the entirety of the world—spirit and matter—as created by God and therefore good. The most profound expression of this faith is the Creation story in Genesis, chapter 1." [76]
3. REDEMPTION OF THE WHOLE MAN.—Contrasting next the Greek depreciation of the body, Newman presents the New Testament position and the relation of sin and redemption thereto:
"Man as created by God is good—body and soul. True, the Biblical tradition knows the corruption that sin has brought to man, but this cannot be simply identified with the fact that he has a body. Sin has corrupted the total man, body and soul, and the total man stands in need of redemption. With Christ this redemption has come, and through Christ the whole person will experience a transformation in the future life. This transformation the New Testament calls resurrection." [77]
4. LIFE BECAUSE OF GOD, NOT OF MAN.—The fundamental fallacy of the Greek concept of innate, indefeasible immortality is then depicted, and God is presented as the sole source of life and immortality:
"For the Greeks the soul of a man was regarded as an eternal sub-stance, and consequently it contained within itself the power for tart-an-a life after the dissolution of the body. For Christians such an idea was unthinkable. 'Only God is eternal by nature, and man is his creature, completely dependent upon his power. God alone has the power to grant life in this world and in the world to come. If there is eternal life, it will be because of what God is and not because of what man is." [78]
76 Ibid., pp. 80, 81. (Italics supplied.)
77 Ibid., p. 81.
78 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
Such was the clear scriptural teaching of the Presbyterian Sunday school lesson for September 30, 1956, in Crossroads, written by Dr. Newman.
Former professor of Old Testament studies at the University of London, S. H. HOOKE, [79] after stressing the Biblical emphasis on the resurrection-life, concurs with Prof. H. Wheeler Robinson (Inspiration and Revelation in the Old Testament, pp. 101, 102), and pinpoints the first appearance of the Greek Innate Immortality doctrine in Jewish circles as found in the apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon. He likewise declares it to be not only unscriptural but also missing from the early creeds:
"The form in which the Church received and has continued to hold the belief in resurrection was, and has remained, Jewish. The late Professor H. Wheeler Robinson has well remarked, in this connection: 'It is a life on earth, however new its conditions, and it is a resurrection-life, involving the restoration of the dead body. This form of belief is seen to have been inevitable, once we have grasped the Hebrew idea of personality; a resurrection of the body was the only form of triumph over death which Hebrew psychology could conceive for those actually dead. Even St. Paul shrinks from the thought of bodiless existence.' (Inspiration and Revelation in the Old Testament, p. 101-2.)" [80]
Innate Immortality has no support in Scripture:
"The Greek doctrine of immortality, which finds its first Jewish expression in the Wisdom of Solomon, and which conceives of an immortality of the soul apart from the body, does not occur in the New Testament, nor in the Creeds. Even the Alexandrian Fathers appear to assume the identity of the 'spiritual body' spoken of by St. Paul with the earthly body, without, however, explaining the nature of the identity." [81]
79 SAMUEL HENRY HOOKE was trained at Oxford, Glasgow, and Uppsala. He became professor of Old Testament studies, University of London, and president of Society for Old Testament Studies. He is author of thirteen books.
80 S. H. Hooke, The Siege Perilous, p. 201.
81 Ibid.
I close this chapter with the recital of a cherished personal visit to the home of Dr. W. Graham Scroggie, at Wimbledon, on the outskirts of London. It was on December 22, 1957, a little more than a year before his death. But let me first sketch the life of this outstanding Bible teacher. Dr. Scroggie was trained for the Baptist ministry at Spur-geon's College. This was followed by pastorates at Leyton-stone (1889-1903) and Halifax (1902-1905). Then, after two years of intensive personal study of the Word, he passed through a spiritual crisis—his "Arabia" he called it—which became the turning point in his lifework. There he learned and experienced "the vital distinction between the Saviour-ship and the Master-ship of Jesus Christ."
Dr. Scroggie emerged, in 1907, to enter upon a Bible-teaching ministry for which he became known throughout the English-speaking world. After ten years at the Bethesda Free church, in 1916 he began his memorable ministry at Charlotte Chapel, Edinburgh—a city noted for outstanding preachers—with his famed Bible schools, from which one hundred lay preachers emerged. This was followed by extensive preaching tours in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States and Canada. His final pastorate was a seven-year period in the famous Spurgeon Metropolitan Tabernacle in London (1938-1944).
82 The Keswick Conventions are annual gatherings of Evangelical Christians for prayer. Bible study, and addresses. The plan started in 1875. Each convention lasts for a week and attracts visitors from many countries. Their purpose is to promote practical godliness and the deeper spiritual life. Their motto is "All One in Christ Jesus." They are similar to the Northfield Conferences in North America, started by Dwight L. Moody.
Meantime, Dr. Scroggie was in increasing demand as a Bible teacher to the thousands who thronged the annual Keswick Conventions. [82] His first appearance at Keswick was in 1912. And at these he was the leading speaker for no fewer than twelve conventions—more than any other participant in Keswick history. He was likewise a special lecturer at Spurgeon's and other colleges. He was also a prolific writer, with some thirty books and pamphlets to his credit.
I had known Dr. Scroggie for some time, having visited in his London home in 1948. Periodically we exchanged letters. He was very fond of my Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers volumes, being personally instrumental in placing sets in the hands of several religious leaders in Britain. Learning of this new intensive research writing assignment on the nature and destiny of man, in which I was already engaged, he asked for more information about my early findings.
Accordingly he was sent a copy of Questions on Doctrine, in which I had marked the section headed "Champions on Conditionalism Span the Centuries." It gave terse citations from more than sixty leading Conditionalists, from Luther and Tyndale onward to contemporary times. These sketches deeply interested Dr. Scroggie, and he asked for samples of larger write-ups, which were sent to him. One was a comprehensive sketch on Archbishop William Temple's remarkable witness. He had followed the developing evidence with keenest interest.
Upon reaching London again, in December of 1957, I telephoned Dr. Scroggie at his home to tell him that I was in the city for a time, intensively searching for the works of other Conditionalist writers in the British Museum and other libraries. When the message was relayed to him Dr. Scroggie said, "Tell him I want to see him." I promised to come the next Sunday afternoon, December 22. Reaching his home at the stated hour, I was soon ushered into his bedroom. He was elderly, ill, and in bed. But his mind was crystal clear and the warmth of his greeting was touching.
He was sitting up in bed with the marked copy of Questions on Doctrine on his updrawn knees, opened to the "Conditionalist Champions" section. He knew what these men believed and stood for. As I approached him Dr. Scroggie grasped my hand and said with deep earnestness: "Brother Froom, I believe that God has raised you up for this great task. I am praying for you every day. You may quote me whenever and wherever you please as being a believer in Conditionalism."
The words were etched into my memory. His statement was spontaneous, clear, and voluntary. It was unexpected, as there had been no discussion. We had not yet begun our conversation, nor had I made any further report on my findings. His declaration sprang from the evidence marshalled in that chapter and expanded in the larger write-ups sent him. He listened with intense interest to the story of my further findings to date. Never shall I forget the parting prayer of this godly man as I knelt by his bedside while he besought God's guiding hand to be over me and my task, giving me strength to complete it —and then to make the printed presentation a great blessing to the church at large, when it should be sent forth. And how eagerly the good doctor awaited it, as he bade me Godspeed!
Such is the cherished testimony of this great Baptist Bible teacher. This is the first time the story of this interview has been put into print, though it has deeply impressed those to whom it has been related orally. How he longed to see the completed volume. He was assuredly one of the Conditionalist witnesses of this decade, though reaching his conclusions late in life." [83]
Had Dr. Scroggie lived, he would doubtless have declared himself in print on the basic principles of Conditionalism, which were now a matter of conviction with him.
83 It is desirable to note that Dr. Scroggie's interest in Conditionalism began prior to May 31, 1956, for on that date he wrote the president of the British Conditional Immortality Association, and editor of Words of Life, F. W. Sceats, asking for his tracts, the Teachings of Conditionatism, the Source of Immortality, the Rich Man and Lazarus, and the Roman Catholic Doctrine of Hell. Dr. Scroggie also stated in his letter that the Comditionalist book by Eric Lewis Life and Immortality, -should not be allowed to be out of print." (Letter from W. Granam Scroggie to F. W. Sceats, dated "31/05/1956; 15 Belvedere Drive, Wimbledon S.N. 19"). The able book by Lewis, with which Scroggie was obviously acquainted, was printed in Boston. So Dr. Scroggie was actively interested in Conditionalism at least a year and a half prior to his contacts with me, and had a reading acquaintance with its tenets, according to historical record.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
In the brief three-year period covered by this chapter-1956 to 1958—in addition to the words of internationally known figures like Cullmann, of Basel and the Sorbonne; Tillich, of Harvard; and Bultman, of Marburg, we note the unusual statements of two Roman Catholics—an unexpected source for the expressions they record. Again, as to the religious spread, it embraces Reformed, Baptist, Church of Scotland, Quaker, Methodist, Evangelical, and Lutheran, along with a Seventh-day Adventist denomination-wide declaration, as well as certain Roman Catholic expressions. Geographically, they come from Switzerland, England, Scotland, France, North America (to the number of ten), Germany, and faraway Ceylon.
Vocationally, these witnesses include eight university professors, two priests, two deans, two chaplains, a superintendent, and an editor. In emphasis they stress the pagan origin and character of natural immortality and inveigh against the claims of Spiritualism. The majority, however, emphasize the conflict between Greek Immortal-Soulism, with its "discarnate souls" theory, and the Christian resurrection of the "whole man." Disavowal of Eternal Torment likewise appears, and the Conditional, or "immortability," aspect, together with the unitary in contrast with the dualistic character of man. Such is the scope. We first turn to Dr. Cullmann, of Switzerland.
We now come to one of the best-known Old World Protestant theologians—Prof. OSCAR CULLMANN, [1] since 1938 professor of New Testament and early Christianity of the theological faculty of the University of Basel, and since 1949 concurrently of the Sorbonne in Paris, as well. He is, in fact, the only Protestant professor of religion in the Sorbonne. He has lectured in many theological centers and is author of at least six books, including Christ and Time (1951) and The Early Church (1956). A number are translated into English.
In 1955 Dr. Cullmann gave "The Ingersoll Lecture on the Immortality of Man," in Andover Chapel, Harvard. [2] This was published under the title Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead? He stresses the fundamental differences between the Christian doctrine of the resurrection and "the Greek concept of the [innate] immortality of the soul." [3] A "whole abyss" separates the two. And Cullmann states at the outset that "no other publication of mine has provoked such enthusiasm or such violent hostility." [4]
1 OSCAR CULLMANN (1902- ) was trained at the University of Strasbourg. After teaching for a period at the University of Strasbourg, in 1938 he became professor of New Testament exegesis and early Christianity at the University of Basel. Besides teaching in Basel he lectures at the Sorbonne in Paris, and has for years been an annual lecturer at the Waldensian Seminary and the university at Rome. He was knighted by the French Government. He is author of numerous works, many of which have been translated into English.
2 Oscar Cullmann, "The Immortality of the Soul and Resurrection of the Dead," Harvard Divinity School Bulletin (1955-1956), pp. 5-36.
3 Oscar Cullmann, Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead? pp. 15, 16.
4 Ibid., p. 5.
1. CREATIVE RESURRECTION RESTORES WHOLE MAN.—The basic question here discussed by Cullmann is, Does the New Testament teach that man is innately immortal, or is man's only hope of a life beyond based on a resurrection from the dead? Contrasting the death of Socrates with the death of Christ, Cullmann says significantly of Christ, as the "Mediator of Salvation":
"He must indeed be the very one who in His death conquers death itself. He cannot obtain this victory by simply living on as an immortal soul, thus fundamentally not dying. He can conquer death only by actually dying.”
"Whoever wants to conquer death must die; he must really cease to live—not simply live on as an immortal soul, but die in body and soul, lose life itself, the most precious good which God has given us." [5]
Dr. Cullmann then notes the basic contrast between Christian truth and Platonic philosophy:
"If life is to issue out of so genuine a death as this ["body and sour', a new divine act of creation is necessary. And this act of creation calls back to life not just a part of the man, but the whole man —all that God had created and death had annihilated. For Socrates and Plato no new act of creation is necessary. For the body is indeed bad and should not live on. And that part which is to live on, the soul, does not die at all." [6]
For the Greek philosopher, believing that the body is a garment shed by the soul at death, liberating the soul, there would be no object in the conquest of death. Christian truth and Platonic philosophy are therefore totally opposite. Then Cullmann adds: "Death is the destruction of all life created by God. Therefore it is death and not the body which must be conquered by the Resurrection." [7] Mere "immortality" is negative —simply that we do not die; resurrection is thoroughly "positive."
2. BODY NOT SOUL'S "PRISON" BUT "TEMPLE."—After showing the connection "between death and sin," [8] Professor Cullmann touches on the fundamental fallacy of the Greek dualism of body and soul:
"The Greek doctrine of immortality and the Christian hope in the resurrection differ so radically because Greek thought has such an entirely different interpretation of creation. The Jewish and Christian interpretation of creation excludes the whole Greek dualism of body and soul." [9]
5 Ibid., pp. 25, 26.
6 Ibid., p. 26.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid., p. 28.
Ibid., pp. 29, 30.
Cullmann then immediately adds: "The body is not the soul's prison, but rather a temple. The basic distinction lies here." Furthermore, "behind the pessimistic interpretation of death stands the optimistic view of creation." [10]
3. RESURRECTION NOT AT DEATH BUT AT "END."—He points out that Jesus says "the soul can be killed. The soul is not immortal. There must be a resurrection for both" [11]—a divine act on God's part—Dr. Cullmann reasons:
"Because resurrection of the body is a new act of creation which embraces everything, it is not an event which begins with each individual death, but only at the End. It is not a transition from this world to another world, as is the case of the immortal soul freed from the body; rather it is the transition from the present age to the future. It is tied to the whole process of redemption." [12]
Cullmann contends that "deliverance consists not in a release of soul from body but in a release of both from flesh. We are not released from the body; rather the body itself is set free." [13] Previously he had said, in resurrection "the whole man, who has really died, is recalled to life by a new act of creation by God." [14]
"Therefore the Christian belief in the resurrection, as distinct from the Greek belief in immortality, is tied to a divine total process implying deliverance. Sin and death must be conquered. We cannot do this. Another has done it for us; and He was able to do it only in that He betook himself to the province of death—that is, He himself died and expiated sin, so that death as the wages of sin is overcome." [15]
Thus, Cullmann says, "Faith in the resurrection of the New Testament becomes the cardinal point of all Christian belief." [16]
1. WHOLE CREATION TO BE FORMED ANEW.—We live, Cullmann says, in "the interim time, between Jesus' Resurrection, which has already taken place, and our own [resurrection], which will not take place until the End." [17] There is therefore a "time lapse" between death and the resurrection.
10 Ibid., p. 30.
11 Ibid., pp. 36, 37.
12 Ibid., p. 38.
13 Ibid., p. 36.
14 Ibid., p. 27.
15 Ibid., p. 38.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid., p. 44. This is emphasized and expounded in Cullmann's Christ and Time.
"Men still die; even after Easter and Pentecost men continue to die as before. Our body remains mortal and subject to sickness. Its transformation into the spiritual body does not take place until the whole creation is formed anew by God." [18]
Then "death will be destroyed with finality." It is the "last enemy."
"Let us make no mistake: this is certainly not the Greek sense of bodiless Ideal A new heaven and a new earth! That is the Christian hope. And then will our bodies also rise from the dead." [19]
To Paul the interim condition is an "imperfect state," which idea is in contrast with the Greek concept that death is the perfect state.
5. RESURRECTION DOES NOT OCCUR AT DEATH.—In a previous work, The Early Church (1956), Cullmann similarly states that the resurrection is not concurrent with death, and that the New Testament teaching squarely contradicts the concept that the dead enter into bliss before the Second Advent and the resurrection of those who "sleep." The stock passages—the thief on the cross, and the highly figurative rich man and Lazarus, and, Paul's desire to depart—usually invoked, do not support the idea of immediate entrance into rewards at death, prior to the resurrection. On this Dr. Cullmann declares:
"Our bodies will not rise immediately after death, but only at the end of time. This is the general expectation of the New Testament which, in this respect, differs not only from the Greek belief in the immortality of the soul, but also from the view that the dead live even before the parousia beyond time, and thus at once enjoy the fruits of the final fulfillment. Neither the saying of Jesus, 'Verily, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise' (Luke 23.43), nor the story of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus who, after death, was carried by the angels 'to Abraham's bosom' (Luke 16.22), nor the desire of Paul ‘to depart and be with Christ' (Phila 1.231), nor his account of the state of 'nakedness' (2 Cor. 5.1f.) supports the idea that those who die in Christ before the parousia are immediately clothed with a resurrection-body." [20]
18 Ibid., p. 45.
19 Ibid., p. 46.
20 Cullmann, The Early Church (1956, The Westminster Press), p. 165.
Paul had an intense desire to share in the transformation at Christ's second advent. It was not a wish for death but for translation.
"These passages simply state that belonging to Christ has consequences also for those who sleep, and 2 Corinthians 5.1f. shows in particular that the 'earnest of the Spirit' (verse 5) given to believers removes from the state of nakedness of the dead who die before the parousia every cause of fear. Through the avEiii.ta [pneuma] they will be 'with the Lord' already during this intermediate period, which is described as 'sleep' (1 Thess. 4.13) or as a place of privilege 'under the altar' (Rev. 6.9). The whole account in I Thessalonians 4.13f. of the lot of those who die in Christ before the parousia is deprived of any meaning if we attribute to Paul the idea of a resurrection of the body following the death of each individual believer." [21]
To have Christ in life is to be nearer to Him in death than before. These passages simply express a "special nearness to God."
Such is the position of Dr. Cullmann, of Basel and the Sor-bonne—that man is not innately immortal. [22]
The noted Baptist theologian and historian, Dr. HAROLD H. ROWLEY, [22] now professor emeritus of Hebrew language and literature at the University of Manchester, England, similarly charges Platonic Immortal-Soulism with "deceptive" conflict with the New Testament declaration of "resurrection." Immortality springs not from the nature of man, but the nature and grace of God.
21 Ibid.
22 Since this sketch was written, Dr. Earle Hilgert, professor of New Testament literature at Andrews University, Michigan, has given an excellent review of Cullmann's Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead? (These Times, February, 1962, pp. 28-30). He has made practically the same analysis that I nave made in the foregoing. And Dr. Hilgert knows Cullmann well, having studied under him in Basel. Another book review, by Prof. E. W. H. Vick, of Canadian Union College, giving much the same evaluation, appears in The Ministry (April, 1962).
23 HAROLD H. ROWLEY (1890- ), eminent Baptist, trained at Bristol Oxford and Mansfield. After teaching in the Shantung Christian University in China (1924-1929), he taught Semitic languages at University College, and was for years professor of Hebrew at the University of Manchester. He is author of about fourteen works.
Here is a brief word from Professor Rowley:
"It should be observed at the outset that it is not primarily a belief in the immortality of the soul, as in Greek thought. Plato puts into the mouth of Socrates in the Phaedo the words 'After I drink the poison I shall no longer be with you, but shall go away to the joys of the blessed you know of.' Here the thought seems to be that the soul is the enduring element of man's being, and that he can cast aside the body and mount on the wings of the spirit. In Biblical thought the idea of immortal bliss is based on the conception of God." [24]
Dr. DAVID H. C. READ, [25] chaplain of the University of Edinburgh, likewise differentiates sharply between a surviving "life beyond" and God's power and provision of "resurrection" —the popular misconception being of "an eternal something," possessed by all and "released at death." Scripture calls for a "re-creation." After discussing the "spiritual body" of 1 Corinthians 15, Read says:
"The importance of the doctrine of the Resurrection is that it means that our life beyond is a fully personal life, dependent on the power of God to raise us up. This is a quite different teaching from that of the 'immortality of the soul' which suggests that all human beings possess an eternal something which is released at death to form part of some greater whole. The Christian Faith speaks always in personal terms. The eternal life which it promises is a re-creation of all that we mean by a 'person' here and now." [26]
Rather exceptional is the voice of the French Roman Catholic scholar CLAUDE TRESMONTANT, [27] O.P. (b. 1925). The idea has obviously gained ground even among certain Roman Catholic scholars that the traditional concept of natural immortality is not grounded in Holy Scripture. [28]
24 Harold H. Rowley, The Faith of Israel (Published 1957. The Westminster Press. Used by permission.), pp. 170ff. (Italics supplied.)
25 Dr. DAVID H. C. READ (1910- ), Church of Scotland, studied at Edinburgh, Paris, Strasburg, and Marburg. He became first chaplain to Edinburgh University (1949), and is author of three books.
26 David H. C. Read, The Christian Faith (Scribner's), p. 168. (Italics supplied.)
27 CLAUDE TRESMONTANT (1925- ) was trained in philosophy at the Sorbonne and in Hebrew at the Ecole pratique des Hautes Eterdes. His thesis was on New Testament and Palestinian Judaism. He is author of five books.
28 See also Dominican Y. B. Trimel, this work, p. 921, and Charles Davis, p. 1004.
Rehearsing the "familiar" Innate Immortality postulate, found in the "mystery" religions —with its "soul set free from the body" corollary—Tresmontant presents the contrasting Biblical "resurrection" teaching of Scripture, the salvation of "the whole of man," and the error of aspects of the traditional view. His statements are meaningful. Tresmontant is "renowned on the Continent for studies which probe the indebtedness of contemporary science and philosophy to Biblical rather than to Greek thought." [29]
1. PAUL'S FRONTAL ATTACK ON GREEK PHILOSOPHY.—Tresmontant's unique life of Saint Paul (1957) comes, in sequence, to the episode of Mars' Hill ("The Word of God and the Philosophers"). Of this he says, "Paul's meeting with the philosophers at Athens has a significance beyond that of the simple historical fact." [30] This he explains as— "the confrontation of Jerusalem and Athens, of the wisdom of God expressed by the nabhis of Israel and the wisdom of men, of the theology of the living God which was made known to his beloved people and the theologies of paganism, idolatries, mystery religions, Gnosticisms, of the metaphysic of the Bible and the metaphysic of the Gentiles." [31]
Tresmontant then explains:
"Greek mythology was well peopled with divinities, but all the same this profusion of gods and goddesses does not seem to have satisfied the Greek soul: need was sometimes felt to dedicate altars to 'unknown gods.' " [32]
But it left an unsatisfied "gap." Paul then proceeded to declare the fact of the "Creation":
"By declaring, in the very heart of Athens, that God created the cosmos, St. Paul made a frontal attack on the fundamental principle of all the philosophy of antiquity. According to that philosophy, the cosmos is God, uncreated, existing from eternity; it has no need of a creator, it is all-sufficient, necessary, it is consistency itself." [33]
29 Claude Tresmontant, St. Paul and the Mystery of Christ (Harper and Row, tr. by Donald Atwater, 1957), back cover. This volume has the required nihil obstat and imprimatur, dated 1957.
30 Ibid., p. 130.
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid., p. 131.
33 Ibid., p. 132.
2. THE OFFENSE OF "CREATION" TO THE HELLENIC MIND. —He then refers to the Greek concept that "the stars are gods, 'distinct substances,' eternal, outside any 'becoming' "—"un-created stars" that can never "perish." To them life is "cyclic, recurring," with "endless returning" of the "cosmogonies and mythologies of pagan antiquity." Tresmontant then comes to the heart of the conflict:
"When it affirms that the world was created, the Bible is contradicting all 'star-worship': the stars are not divinities but thigs that have been created: they are not eternal, but came into being at a given moment; and at a given moment God is able to bring them to an end; the world had a beginning, and it will have an end. All these propositions were scandalously offensive to the Hellenic mind." [34]
3. MYSTERY RELIGION "IMMORTALITY" V. JUDAEO-CHRIS-TIAN "RESURRECTION."—Turning next to the resurrection—raising up from the dead—Tresmontant says, contrasting Innate Immortality with the resurrection:
"The Jewish doctrine of the resurrection of the dead was still more incomprehensible (if that were possible) to a Greek philosopher than the idea of creation. The mystery religions had done something in those days to make the idea of an immortality of the soul familiar: the soul set free from the body to which it had had the misfortune to be bound." [35]
Tresmontant contrasts the salvation of the "whole of man," rather than merely the soul:
"But the Judaeo-Christian teaching on the resurrection is quite a different matter. It does not mean that a part of man—his soul—will be freed by discarding the other part—his material body; Biblical teaching implies that the whole of man will be saved." [36]
4. ORPHIC CONCEPT OF SOULS V. BIBLICAL RESURRECTION.—There is total conflict between the Orphic theory and the Bible fact:
"It [the Bible] is particularly opposed to the Orphic theory of a fall of souls into evil bodies, to that of the existence of souls anterior to their bodily life, and to metensomatosis. transmigration or re-embodiment of souls. Immortality of the soul is nothing but the soul's return to its previous state, its primitive condition before it had fallen into evil matter. The Bible does not regard matter as evil, and the resurrection of men is parallel to the prophetical idea of a renewal of the whole universe: See where 'I create new heavens and a new earth' (Isa. 65:17)." [37]
5. IRREVERSIBILITY OF GOD AND ETERNAL RETURNING OF PAGANISM.—That is why Greek anthropology "could not understand or accept the doctrine of the resurrection of man."
34 Ibid.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid., pp. 132, 133. (Italics supplied.)
37 Ibid., p. 133.
Such was the "incompatibility" between "pagan thought and that of the Bible." Tresmontant mentions one other point—"the irreversibility of God's creative deed which tends towards an end, as against the 'eternal returning' of paganism." [38] So the antagonisms were recognized.
Even French Roman Catholic Dominican Y. B. TREMEL, in a periodical article in 1957, which appeared originally in a French journal, makes a remarkable admission as to any assumed New Testament basis for the "natural immortality" position, with "life to come" dependent on the "will of God," and the "victory of Christ" at His second advent, and the resurrection:
"The New Testament obviously does not conceive of man's life after) death philosophically or in terms of the natural immortality of the soul. The sacred writers do not think of the life to come as the term of a natural process. On the contrary, for them it is always the result of salvation and redemption; it depends on the will of God and on the victory of Christ.
"The New Testament links the resurrection of the dead with the glorious coming of Christ at the end of time to judge all mankind. Christ's resurrection and His entrance into glory at the right hand of the Father are, according to the apostles, a guarantee and a pledge of this second coming. For St. Paul, the victory of the First Born among the dead will not be complete until it overcomes death itself and reveals itself in the risen bodies of those who have been asleep in death." [39]
INNATE "IMMORTALITY" IS RELIC OF PAGAN PHILOSOPHY.—
Tremers closing words, "those who have been asleep in death," are especially significant in the light of his emphasis on the "resurrection" at the Second Advent. In the same article he reports the view of several European scholars—Bultmann, Von Allmen, and Menoud—on death as a "sleep." This is worthy of a somewhat extended quotation.
38 Ibid.
39 Y. B. Tremel, "Man Between Death and Resurrection," Theology Digest, Autumn, 1957, p. 151; taken from Lumiere et Vie (1955), pp. 33-37. (Italics supplied.)
Here, along with the concept of death as a "sleep"—and waiting for subsequent "awakening" at the resurrection—note is taken as to the conflict between the pagan Greek philosophy of "natural" immortality and the Biblical view of the "mortality" of man, with life after death as an "act of God." Here is Tremel's illuminating statement:
"Many critics think that the Bible teaches rather the mortality of the soul, and that the idea of immortality is a relic of pagan philosophy. Positions vary when it comes to interpreting particular texts. Rudolph Bultmann, for example, does not think that the New Testament contains any formal affirmations concerning this intermediary state: it is a 'sleep.' P. Menoud, in his book on The Destiny of the Dead, gives a more precise meaning to this sleep. It certainly signifies a period of waiting for the resurrection, but a period in which the soul is already in communion with Christ.
"Von Allmen in his Biblical Vocabulary adopts similar conclusions. The sleep, according to him, does not rob the sleeper of his identity. It will end in awakening. Those who die in Christ are not abandoned by Him, nor are they far from Him even though they have not reached the fullness of beatitude. Some mention of the Greek idea of the immortality of the soul is made by Menoud, He says that the New Testament does not teach the natural and certain immortality of the soul which the Greek philosophers taught. Christianity, he says, must deny that the destiny of man depends on his physical or psychological structure. Rather it depends on God Whose creature man is. If the creature lives after death, it is by an act of God." [40]
Awareness of conflicting views and study into the actual nature of man are obviously widespread—even in circles where it is not expected.
Dr. DAVID ELTON TRUEBLOOD, [41] Quaker professor of philosophy at Earlham, in discussing "Immortality" (chapter twenty, in his Philosophy of Religion, 1957), adds his voice in disavowal of an "eternal hell."
40 Ibid., pp. 151ff. (Italics supplied.)
41 DAVID ELTON TRUE BLOOD (1900-) Quaker, was trained at Penn, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins. After teaching in Guilford and Haverford he was transferred to Harvard, and was visiting professor at Garrett and Wabash. He was next professor of philosophy at Stanford, and then professor of philosophy at Earlham (1946-1954). He is author of ten books.
Discussing the nature of "ultimate reality," the possibility of "extinction," and the futility of "depersonalized immortality," [42] he turns to the "Christian teaching of the resurrection of the body." He holds that "the individuality, which the organic unity of the body represents, will be maintained." [43] Then he states, concerning the "resurrection faith":
"The resurrection faith is that we shall have concrete ways of knowing one another and that we are not to be dissolved into a general pool of spirituality.
"It need not be supposed that, in centring the attention on per-sonal survival, it is necessary to adopt any particular scheme of life after death, such as that which became standardized in the medieval world picture. The rigid system of hell, of purgatory and of heaven is thoroughly intelligible, but it involves many difficulties, some of which appear to be insuperable, and in any case there is a manifest lack of evidence.
"The very idea of enduring torment, in which there is the absence not only of the hope of reformation but even of the intention of reformation, is inconsistent with the conception of God as One—whose nature is that of the love which never ends. The Agape which bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things and which, furthermore, never ends is not compatible with vindictiveness, and it is really impossible to absolve from vindictiveness the author of endless torment." [44]
So to the "contemporary mind" "the medieval picture of the next world lost its sharpness." "First we lost belief in purgatory, because it has no apparent New Testament basis; second we lost belief in [endless] hell, for reasons just indicated." [45]
SCIENTIFICO-PHILOSOPHIC EVIDENCE WORTHLESS.—Declaring that science and philosophy give "no positive argument for immortality" and that "the Platonic and Kantian evidences for immortality have little persuasiveness," [46] Trueblood states: "The scientific evidence for immortality is practically worthless, the philosophical argument is inconclusive, but the religious' argument is fruitful." [47] For the Christian, "the belief in immortality" is based on "faith in God." [48]
42 David Elton Trueblood, The Philosophy of Religion (Harper and Row), pp. 291-294.
43 Ibid., p. 295.
44 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
45 Ibid., p. 296.
46 Ibid., p. 302.
47 Ibid., p. 303.
48 Ibid., pp. 303, 304.
Note should also be taken of the clear statement on the mortality of man from the dynamic voice of Dr. PAUL TILLICH, [49] long-time professor of philosophic theology at Union Theological Seminary, and now professor of theology at Harvard. He is recognized as a profound and independent thinker. Professor Tillich maintains that man is "naturally mortal." The notion of Innate Immortality is, he holds, "not a Christian doctrine, though it is possibly a Platonic doctrine." The true Biblical symbols are, he contends, far removed from the "popular image of immortality." Man must receive eternal life from outside of himself. Tillich goes to the heart of the issue in these words in his famed Systematic Theology:
"Estranged from the ultimate power of being, man is determined by his finitude. He is given over to his natural fate. He came from nothing, and he returns to nothing. He is under the domination of death and is driven by the anxiety of having to die. This, in fact, is the first answer to the question about the relation of sin and death. In conformity with biblical religion, it asserts that man is naturally mortal. Immortality as a natural quality of man is not a Christian doctrine, though it is possibly a Platonic doctrine.
"In the biblical story of paradise a quite different interpretation of the relation of the Fall and death is given. The biblical symbols are even farther removed from the popular image of immortality. According to the Genesis account, man comes from dust and returns to dust. He has immortality only as long as he is allowed to eat from the tree of life, the tree which carries the divine food or the food of eternal life. The symbolism is obvious. Participation in the eternal makes man eternal; separation from the eternal leaves man in his natural finitude." [50]
Clearly then, according to Dr. Tillich, sinful man is not of himself immortal.
49 PAUL TILLICH trained in Berlin, Tubingen, and Halle, became professor of theology at Marburg, Dresden, Leipzig, Frankfort-am-Main. Coming to the United States in 1933, he became professor of philosophical theology at Union Theological Seminary (1933-1954), and in 1954 became professor of theology at Harvard. He is regarded as one of the leading exponents of modern Protestantism, and has been much influenced by Barth. A prolific writer, he has a dozen books to his credit in German (between 1921 and 1926) and half a dozen in English (1936 onward). His most important work is his two-volume Systematic Theology (1951-1957). Tillich is an Existentialist, with concern for the individual rather than abstract reasoning or the philosophical doctrine of Platonism.
50 Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology, vol. 2, pp. 66, 67. (Italics supplied.)
DR. WILLIAM E. HOCKING, [51] long-time Harvard professor, looks upon man as an immortable creature—that is, capable of becoming, or receiving, immortality. He likewise stresses the conditional phase of eternal survival, striking against Platonism's innate Immortal-Soulism. This he does in The Meaning of Immortality in Human Experience:
1. NOT "IMMORTALITY" BUT "IMMORTABILITY."—The soul is not necessarily "doomed to everlastingness," he says. Immortality is but potential:
"It may well be that the survival of death is not a foregone conclusion, as if each person with or against his will were doomed to everlastingness. The soul is certainly not endowed, as Plato thought, with the fixed, substantial degreeless reality of the atom. It possesses, we think, not immortality but immortability. It depends upon itself what degree of realness it comes to possess. Immortality may be 'put on'; one may also put on mortality. The soul may resolve to take the present, partial scene of things as final, and may by determined action upon that hypothesis make it true for its own experience." [52]
2. WICKED NOT "DOOMED" TO EVERLASTING CONTINUANCE. —Hocking holds that man has a choice as to whether he will have a future immortal life:
"In my own view, this is the case: survival of death is a possibility but not a necessity of destiny. We have begun this present existence without our prior consent.... If there were a soul in whom living had bred a genuine aversion, through conscious cultivation of a distaste for life—if there were such a soul, I cannot think it doomed against its will to go on.
"Or, what is more imaginable, if one became determined to deal with this life as a unique and completed whole, coinciding with the career of the body, satisfied to define himself as the rational animal ending in nothing—I can hardly think survival a necessity for such a soul (though I suspect in most who profess this attitude subconscious counter currents which may eventuate in an agreeable disappointment!). In any event, the quality of the human self, as I conceive it, is not immortality but immortability, the conditional possibility of survival." [53]
51 W. E. HOCKING was trained at Harvard and in Germany. He taught in California, Yale, and Harvard (1914-1943). He then lectured extensively in England, Scotland, Holland, Germany, Syria, India, China, and the Near and Far East. He is author of eighteen books and two hundred articles.
52 William E. Hocking, The Meaning of Immortality in Human Experience, p. 154. (Italics supplied.)
53 Ibid., pp. 73, 74. (Italics supplied.)
3. No "PERSONAL LIVING" WITHOUT "BODILINESS.''—There is no surviving soul separate from a "perishing body," says Dr. Hocking:
"Let me also note that we are not speaking of the possible survival of a 'soul,' as distinct from the perishing body. This body disappears beyond recovery; and with it all power of communication through present effect with the existing assemblage of human associates. Yet, without bodiliness of some sort there can be no personal living.” [54]
There must be a resurrection of the body.
Presbyterian dean of Princeton Theological Seminary, Dr. ELMER G. HOMRIGHAUSEN, [55] has devoted most of his life to Christian education. Here is his added testimony in revolt against the Greek concept. Man is a "unity," not an incongruous compound of an undying soul and a dying body:
"Man is a unity. The Greek emphasis upon immortality is also being challenged in favour of the emphasis upon the resurrection of the body. The so-called persistence of man's spirit—as though it could be dissociated from his life in this world—is questioned. It casts aspersions on the body which God has made and which, for the 'new being in Christ' is called the temple of the Holy Spirit." [56]
54 Ibid., p. 188. (Italics supplied.)
55 ELMER G. HOMRIGHAUSEN (1900- ), Presbyterian, was trained at Princeton, Butler, Rutgers, Chicago, and Geneva universities. After a period of pastoral service he taught in Princeton, Dubuque, Occidental, and Butler. He is author of six volumes.
56 E. G. Homrighausen, "Discussion," Pastoral Psychology June, 1957, p. 27.
57 EDMUND PERRY (1923- ), Methodist, was trained at the University of Georgia and Emory and Northwestern universities. After teaching in the Georgia State College for Women and the Georgia Military College he became chairman of the department of the history of religions. He is a member of several commissions and committees and professional societies. He is author of two books, and is Old Testament editor of Biblical Research.
At Northwestern University, Methodist professor of history of religions, EDMUND PERRY, [57] putting the Biblical view over against the Greek philosophy of survival, contends that at man's demise the "whole man" dies. He likewise stresses the "organic unity" of man, and challenges any Biblical basis for the popular notion of a "disembodied existence" of an imperishable soul. Death destroys the whole man; and the resurrection of the body is involved in the restoration of man. And with it comes a "new heaven and a new earth." Here is his statement:
"The Biblical writers do not hold the Greek view that man is a union of a perishable mortal body and an immortal soul which survives the body's death. Biblical writers view man as a created organic unity whose death is the death of the whole man. The body cannot be severed from that unity without destroying the whole man. Hence, the Biblical writers do not conceive of life after death as disembodied existence. They rather speak of a new creation, a new genesis, in which we creatures are wholly recreated, including recreated bodies. 'Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven (i. e., the Risen Christ)' (I Cor. 15:49).
-The resurrection of Jesus was a miracle, a mysterious and irreducible work of God, beyond human comprehension. We do not know what his resurrected body was, but we do know he was recognized in it. That suffices, particularly if we already know him through the preaching, sacraments and community of the Church. And finally, we must observe, that the Christian doctrine of the bodily resurrection of Jesus is consonant with the Messianic prophecies which promised not that the spiritual realm alone, but the whole natural order, including the physical world, would be redeemed and changed." [58]
Another contribution in the field of our quest, issued in the sixth decade, is found in the book Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine (1957). This volume, representing the united views of one and a third million Adventists, is the most representative statement issued by this Christian group on the various phases of their faith—including Conditionalism. [59] Section nine, on "Questions on Immortality," comprises the answers to five questions asked by a group of leading
58 Edmund Perry, Confessing the Gospel Mark Preached, pp. 121ff. (Italics supplied.)
59 Written by an appointed team of three experienced Adventist ministers ana educators, it was first checked and passed by a committee of fourteen top-level leaders at the denominational headquarters. The manuscript was then read and approved by an additional 250 of the most representative Adventist leaders around the world, including their ablest Bible teachers and most experienced editors and writers, as well as the administrative leaders carrying the major church responsibilities around the circle of the globe. No book published by Seventh-day Adventists ever had such careful preparation, scrutiny, editing, and wide approval, to make it truly representative of the body view.
Evangelicals. They deal respectively with "innate, or Conditional Immortality," "The Condition of Man in Death," "The Punishment of the Wicked," "The Rich Man and Lazarus," and a unique section on "Champions of Conditional Immortality Span the Centuries."
This volume, which soon had a distribution of some 140,000 copies has been placed in the leading libraries of the world and in the hands of tens of thousands of clergymen not of the Adventist faith, that they might have a thoroughly dependable statement of fundamental Adventist beliefs—including those covered in the five chapters on Conditional Immortality and the ultimate and utter destruction of the wicked. This presentation on Conditionalism, which accords with their official Statement of Faith, cited on pages 21-25, only now in elaborated form, will not be reiterated here. It is a clearly stated presentation.
It might be added that the section on champions of Conditionalism was really the forerunner of this present volume. Framed to answer the question "Who are these 'Conditionalists' across the centuries?" it gives thumbnail sketches of the views of sixty-six conspicuous Conditionalists, from the time of Martin Luther and William Tyndale down to the present. They are marshalled by centuries, with terse illustrative excerpts from their writings—eight in the sixteenth century, eight in the seventeenth, twelve in the eighteenth, forty-eight in the nineteenth, and the remaining witnesses as current samples in the twentieth century.
The interest created by this assemblage of some of the most representative spokesmen for Conditionalism, with key excerpts from their writings, led to a request for this fuller and more comprehensive presentation, not only of these sixty-six men but also of the testimony of thousands of witnesses, all the way from 900 B.C. to the present, with the documented record of their key statements. It comprises a history of the battle of the centuries over Conditionalism, framed in biographical settings.
Inherent immortality is likewise denied by Dr. WILLIAM HAMILTON, [60] of the Department of Christian Theology and Ethics at the Baptist Colgate-Rochester Divinity School of Rochester, New York. He forthrightly denominates the Pla-tonic assurance of Innate Immortality "a lie"—the "first lie recorded in the Bible." There is no "independent" "eternal life." Our hope is solely in Christ.
"This is still a world that has, for each of us, death as the end of one part of the story. We all will die. The promise that we shall not die is the Platonic hope; it is a lie, the first lie recorded in the Bible.
"For Paul the Christian hope is not a hope that we will be spared death. It is the hope, the conviction, the faith, that God will not break the relationship he has given us in Christ through faith. We are not the immortal ones; the relationship we have laid hold of by faith, that is what is 'immortal' in Paul's version of hope. What we might say is this: the basis for hope in Paul is faith and love. There is no independent proof for eternal life here; the Christian hope is intelligible only as part of the whole story, the partly unknown, partly known extension of the past and present parts which we do in fact know." [61]
Methodist dean and professor of Biblical theology, Dr. BERNHARD W. ANDERSON, [62] liberalist, of the Theological School, Drew University, likewise places the doctrine of the "resurrection of the body" at the end of the age, over against the "Greek doctrine of the immortality of the soul." Here is his declaration, based on Daniel 12:2, 3:
"This doctrine of the future life, one of the great contributions of apocalyptic literature, was late in coming. And yet, unlike the Greek doctrine of the immortality of the soul, it is infused with the Israelite sense of history. According to Israel's way of thinking about the future, the individual cannot experience the fullness of life without participating in the redeemed community, the Kingdom of God. Therefore, the resurrection of the body (that is, the self) is portrayed as occurring in the end-time, at the very consummation of the historical drama, when God's victory over the powers of evil is complete." [63]
60 WILLIAM HAMILTON (1924- ), Baptist, was trained at Oberlin and at Union Seminary and St. Andrews University. After teaching at Hamilton College, since 1953 he has been professor of religion and ethics at Colgate-Rochester Divinity School. He is author of three books.
61 William Hamilton, "A Theology for Modern Man," Interpretation, October, 1957, p. 402. (Italics supplied.)
62 BERNHARD W. ANDERSON (1916- ), Methodist, was trained at College of the Pacific, Pacific School of Religion, and Yale. After several years of pastoral experience he began teaching at Colgate, later teaching Biblical Literature at the University of North Carolina. His next post was professor of Old Testament interpretation at Colgate-Rochester Divinity School (1950-1954), after which he became dean of Drew Theological School, Drew University, in 1954. He is author of three works.
More than that, "man is mortal." There is no "deathless" surviving entity, no discarnate spirit that survives death, according to Ecclesiastes:
"Ecclesiastes does not evade the problem by affirming the survival of the individual beyond death, for he knows too well the limitations of human nature. Man is a mortal being. There is nothing in him that is immortal or 'deathless.' In this respect. man, is no better than the animal (3:18-22), for at death 'all go to one place' (3:20). Only in this life is there hope. for 'a living dog is better than a dead lion' (see 9:5-6). Because Ecclesiastes takes death seriously, he takes-life seriously.” [64]
Evangelical and Reformed chaplain Dr. PAUL E. IRIION [65] of the Deaconess Hospital of St. Louis, Missouri, charges the anonymous poetic lines which he quotes to introduce his own comments with being "deceptively out of step with New Testament teachings" as to death and resurrection. Here again "resurrection" is differentiated from and placed over against the concept of inherent immortality. Dr. Irion's view was expressed in 1957 in a periodical article for clergymen:
" 'You call it death—this seeming endless sleep, We call it birth—the soul at last set free. 'Tis hampered not by time or space—you weep, Why weep at death? 'Tis immortality.' —Anonymous
63 Bernhard W. Anderson, Understanding the Old Testament, p. 530. (© 1957. Used by permission of Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.)
64 Ibid., p. 482.
65 PAUL E. IRION (1922- ), Evangelical and Reformed, was trained at Elmhurst College, Eden Theological Seminary and University of Chicago. After a period as chaplain he is now professor of pastoral theology at Lancaster Theological Seminary (1959- ).
"These lines are deceptively out of step with the New Testament teaching of the Christian view of death and resurrection. The poet's implication is that this immortality is a natural result of what we call death. Rather than being the gift of God in redemption, it is inferred that this is a portion of the basic nature of man.
"I say that this is deceptively out of step with the New Testament view because this same notion appears again and again in funeral literature and has so often been uncritically accepted for popular usage. Yet if one stops for careful analysis, it is apparent that this is a promulgation of a philosophical concept of immortality rather than the uniquely Christian concept of resurrection."'"
The "unity" of man is increasingly recognized by leading theologians, along with a corresponding recognition of the fallacy of the Greek concept of an undying soul fettered by the clog of the inferior physical body—from which it is released at death. That such a view is alien to Scripture is repeatedly declared on both sides of the Atlantic. Another example is Dr. RUDOLPH BULTMANN;" German Lutheran professor, and one of the most provocative religious thinkers of the day. He denies that Paul taught any such Dualism:
"The investigation of Paul's use of soma has already shown that he does not dualistically set body and soul in opposition to each other. Just as Paul does not know the Greek-Hellenistic conception of the immortality of the soul (released from the body), neither does he use psyche to designate the seat or the power of the mental life which animates man's matter, as it had become the custom to do among the Greeks." [66]
Another angle is touched upon in faraway Ceylon, where Methodist superintendent DANIEL T. NILES denies that Christ's resurrection was simply the persistence of His "natural im-mortality." Niles speaks, in Living With the Gospel, appearing in the World Christian Books series, of some who "naïvely think of physical death as simply death of the body, and therefore think of the soul as automatically continuing to exist beyond death." Because of this common misconception such are tempted "to understand the story of the resurrection [of Jesus] in terms of the natural immortality of Jesus." [69] But the resurrection of Christ was not, Niles holds, a "natural but a supernatural event." Jesus came "back again among men." Hear it:
"To us who so naïvely think of death as simply death of the physical body, and therefore think of the soul as automatically continuing to exist beyond death, the temptation is great to understand the story of the resurrection in terms of the natural immortality of Jesus. But what the Gospels assert is not simply that Jesus is alive, but that Jesus is here, back again among men.
"There are some today who seek to restate the fact of the resurrection in terms that would fit in with our modern knowledge. They find that the story of the resurrection is told in words and ways of thinking which do not correspond to our normal ways of thinking. They forget that any attempt to restate the fact of the resurrection in this way must necessarily turn that fact into a natural event, that is, an event which could happen again and again in nature. But that is not at all what happened: only Jesus has risen; his resurrection is not something that has ever been repeated.” [70]
66 Paul E. Irion, "The Ministry to the Bereaved," Pastoral Psychology, November, 1957, p. 761.
67 RUDOLPH K. BULTMANN, Lutheran, studied at Tubingen, Berlin, and Marburg. He taught New Testament at Breslau, Giessen, and Marburg. He is author of eight books. A liberal and a higher critic, he has a penchant for "demythologizing" the gospel story.
68 Rudolph Bultmann. Theology of the New Testament (Scribner's), vol. 1 (tr. by Kendrick Grobel, 1951), pp. 203, 204.
And because He rose, we also shall be raised—if we are "in Christ."
69 Daniel T. Niles, Living With the Gospel (Association Press), p. 84.
70 Ibid., pp. 84, 85. (Italics supplied.)
No. Page NAME Dote Place Religion Position Nature of Man Intermediate State Punishment of Wicked
1 866 Shaw, John M. 1953 Canada Anglican Prof. (Queen's) Not immortal by nature No disembodied exist. Ult. extinction
2 870 Craig, C. T. 1953 America Methodist Dean (Drew) No natural immort. Immort. at res.
3 872 DeWolf, Harold L 1953 America Methodist Prof. (Boston) No everlast. torture
4 872 Wright, G. E. 1953 America Presbyterian Prof. (McCormick) No separated soul Immort through res. Annihilation
5 873 Schjelderup, K. 1953 Sweden Lutheran Bishop No eternal torment
6 875 Kantonen, Taito A. 1954 America Lutheran Prof. (Hamma) No innate immort. Asleep in death Ult. destruction
7 880 Roberts, Harold 1954 England Methodist Prof.-pres. No natural immort. lmmort through res.
8 881 Atkinson, B. F. C. 1954 Britain Evangelical Librarian (Cambridge) Not made immortal No discarnate life Irrevoc. consumed
9 889 Owen, D. R. G. 1956 Canada Anglican Provost (Trinity) No independent soul Immort through res.
0 894 Brunner, Emil 1954 Switzerland Swiss Ref. Prof. (Zurich) Soul not immortal Extinction of being
1 898 Hunter, Arch. M. 1954 Scotland Presbyterian Prof. (Aberdeen) No innate immort. Immort through res.
2 899 Newbigin, Lesslie 1954 India Ch. of Scotland Bishop Man a living whole Immort through res.
3 900 Robinson, Wm. 1954 America Disciples Prof. (Butler) No immortal soul No bodiless existence
4 901 Stauffer, Ethelbert 1955 Germany Lutheran Prof. (Erlangen) No innate immort. Sleep until res.
5 902 Spurrier, Wm. A. 1955 America Wesleyan Prof. (Wesleyan) No Platonic immort. No discarnate soul
6 903 Brown, kobt. M. 1955 America Presbyterian Prof. (Union) No independent immort. Total personality res.
7 905 Kraemer, Hendrik 1956 Switzerland Director (Institute) No "Greek" immort. Restoration through res. Soul destructible
8 906 Newman, Murray 1956 America Episcopalian Prof. (Union) No innate immort. Immort. at resu.
9 908 Hooke, Sam. H. 1956 England Prof. (London) No inherent immort. No bodiless existence
20 908 Scroggie, W. G. 1957 Britain Baptist Keswick speaker No innate immort. Awaits call of Life-giver No eter. torment
21 913 Cul !mann, Oscar 1958 Switzerland Prof. (Basel) Soul not immortal No rewards at death Destroy with final.
22 917 Rowley, H. H. 1956 England Baptist Prof. (Manchester) No immortal soul
23 918 Read, D. H. C. 1956 Scotland Ch. of Scotland Chaplain (Edinburgh) No eternal something Life beyond through res.
24 918 Tresmontant, C. 1957 France Rom. Catholic Incom. with Gr. Phil. Salvation of whole man
25 921 Tremel, Y. B. 1957 France Dominican No natural immort. Sleep, end. in awakening
26 922 Trueblood, D. E. 1957 Amercia Quaker Prof. (Earlham) No evidence of immort. Immort through res. No eternal hell
27 924 Tillich, Paul 1957 Amercia Prof. (Harvard) No natural immort. Immort. from without
28 925 Hocking, Wm. E. 1957 Amercia Prof. (Harvard) Immortable, not imm'tal No bodiless living No everlast. tor.
29 926 Homrighausen, E. 1957 Amercio Presbyterian Dean (Princeton) No independ. persist. Man a unit
30 926 Perry, Edmund 1957 Amercia Methodist Prof. (Northwestern) No imperishable soul No disembodied exist.
31 927 Seventh-day Adv. 1957 World-Wide SDA Author. statement Immort. is conditional Sleeps till res. Utter extinction
32 929 Hamilton, William 1957 Amercio Baptist Prof. (Colgate-R) No independ. immort.
33 929 Anderson, B. W. 1957 Amercia Methodist Dean (Drew) Man is mortal No deathless survival
34 930 Irion, Paul E. 1957 Amercia Ev. and Ref. Chaplain (Deaconess) No inherent immort. Immort. through res.
35 931 Bultmann, R. 1951 Germany Lutheran Prof. (Marburg) No immort. of soul Man unified organism
36 931 Niles, Daniel T. 1957 Ceylon Methodist Superintendent No natural immort. No continuance of soul
COVERAGE ATTESTED BY CHART B—MIDDLE PORTION OF CENTURY
1. In the middle period of the twentieth century America has the largest segment of witnesses—embracing the deans of Princeton, Drew, and a Moravian College. There are professors at Harvard, Princeton, Colgate, McCormick, Hamma, Boston, Butler, Union, and San Francisco Theological. Also a chaplain.
2. In Canada the provost of Trinity and a professor at Queen's speak. And there is an authorized group statement, expressive of three religious bodies in Canada.
3. In the far-flung range there is a Lutheran Bishop in Sweden. In Switzerland a professor at Zurich, Prof. Cullmann at Basel, Prof. Brunner at Zurich, the director of an Institute, and a team of three scholars in a group reference work. In India a bishop speaks out. In Germany professors at Erlangen and Marburg hold to Conditionalism; and in Ceylon a Methodist superintendent is on record.
4. In England there is a Methodist professor, a librarian-professor at Cambridge, professors at the universities of London and Manchester. Also a prominent Keswick speaker, author, and pastor.
5. In denominational spread they embrace Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Evangelical, Reformed, Swiss Reformed, Church of Scotland, Disciples, Baptist, Quaker, Evangelical Reformed, Moravian, Seventh-day Adventist, and even Roman Catholic. In the widening geographical spread Asia is now included—a Church of Scotland bishop in India and a Methodist superintendent in Ceylon.
6. On the nature of man practically all declare, in variant phrasing, that man has no natural, inherent, innate immortality; no separate, independent, imperishable soul that persists; that man is a living unit or organism. They repudiate Greek Platonism. They hold that there is no eternal something, no independent persistence of discarnate souls. Man is mortal, but immortable or immortizable.
7. On the intermediate state the vast majority declare there is no independent, disembodied existence, that in death man is in unconscious sleep until the resurrection, when the death sleep ends in awakening—the whole man, a unified organism, responding.
8. Concerning the punishment of the wicked, there is ultimate, utter extinction, final annihilation for the unrepentant wicked. They are to be utterly consumed, resulting in excision of being. There is therefore no everlasting torment, no eternally burning hell, no endless suffering, but final, total destruction.
9. It is to be noted that these tabulations are confined to religious and educational leaders of prominence. But hundreds of thousands of laymen of intelligence and attainment are likewise involved. Entire congregations and whole denominations that are worldwide in operation must not be overlooked. The present adoption of Conditionalism around the globe by men in all walks of life and professions represents the abiding gains of the Conditionalist concept. These must be added to this galaxy of ministerial pathfinders we have listed in those tables.
10. The extent of witness provided by Seventh-day Adventists alone is worthy of note, for in 1963 they numbered 1.4 million adult baptized members, led by 21,562 ministerial workers, all of whom (clergy and laity) are full-fledged Conditionalists. They are a world organization, and now conduct their work in 928 languages and dialects-228 with literature and 700 orally. And this is spread over 189 of the world's 223 countries. Their accessions total more than 114,000 annually—all converts becoming Conditionalists. And there are other denominations that are similarly one hundred per cent Conditionalist.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
This chapter, completing the testimony of the sixth decade, introduces a Moravian voice, as well as continuing with the frequent Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregational, and Anglican stalwarts. Then comes an Advent Christian spokesman —the Advent Christian Church constituting another denomination holding without exception to Conditionalism. Vocationally these writers are university professors, a former editor and seminary president, and a rector. There is also the unique group statement of a Committee of the United Church of Canada—Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregational.
Spiritualism, with its brief for discarnate spirits, or souls, comes in for exposure at the hands of an incisive liberal. And destructionism is stoutly upheld by an Anglican rector. Thus an impressive group of current writers, in revolt against the traditional Innate Immortality position, and its corollaries, closes the sixth-decade discussion. We begin with Dr. Heller, the Moravian.
JAMES J. HELLER (1921- ) Moravian, was of Presbyterian background and training. He received his education at Texas Christian University and Princeton Theological Seminary, with graduate study under Dr. Otto Piper. He was professor of New Testament theology at Moravian Theological Seminary (1950-1961), and since then has been vice-president and dean of Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
A meaningful note was struck by JAMES J. HELLER, [1] dean and professor of Old and New Testaments at the Moravian Theological Seminary, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, established in 1742. Originally given at a Pastors' Conference at the Methodist DePauw University in Indiana, these lectures then appeared in Princeton's scholarly Theology Today! [2] After alluding to the ancient "philosophic, spiritualistic, or quasi-scientific speculations about life after death," Dr. Heller refers to the popular "vague hope that some indefinable part" of one's personality is "indestructible and may somehow go on living after death has claimed the body." He then speaks of certain significant "new insights" which throw "fresh light" upon the question by "modern Biblical scholarship." [3] These he clearly spells out.
1. RECENT SCHOLARSHIP CHALLENGES TRADITIONAL "DUALISM."—Heller cites approvingly the modern "unified psychosomatic" concept of being—that "the soul is not a detachable part of man's nature capable of independent life and activity." [4] Of the traditional position he says significantly:
"Almost axiomatic to the traditional formulations of the Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is the belief that man is a being composed of two separate and distinct elements: a material body and an immaterial soul. The latter is believed to survive the death of the body and live on in an active disembodied condition until at the Last Day it is once again joined to its resurrected body. It is precisely this' radically dualistic view of man which is challenged by modern science and, on quite independent lines, by recent Biblical scholarship as well." [5]
This, of course, is in direct conflict with the traditional notion of an "intermediate state" of intensified conscious activity. But Heller refers to "a growing number of Biblical scholars" who believe such a view to be "unscriptural." [6] He refers to it as "the insupportable assumption that the human soul can separate itself from the body and has the capacity for independent life and activity." Heller then states that the soul is "something which a man is, not something which he has." That places the gist of his position before us. [7]
2 H. T. K., Editorial, "The Strange Story of Our Times," Theology Today, XV (July, 1958), p. 164.
3 James J. Heller, "The Resurrection of Man," Theology Today, XV (July, 1958), pp. 217, 218.
4 Ibid., p. 219.
5 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
2. MAN NOT "HALF MORTAL" AND "HALF IMMORTAL."—Such a position challenges the "traditional dualism of religious anthropology and creedal formulations." He then gives expression to these pertinent convictions:
"Man is not a dichotomy, half mortal and half immortal, but a being whose total psychosomatic existence is at every moment depending upon God. And if we are to give proper expression to the Biblical teaching about the life to come we shall not speak of a disembodied soul being reunited with its resurrected body, but rather of the restoration of the whole man to the fullness of personal life." [8]
He concludes, concerning man as an "indivisible whole":
"If it is as an indivisible whole that man lives, dies, and is raised to live again, it is then a misnomer to speak of the 'resurrection of the body,' for this implies, to the modern mind at least, that only man's physical nature is involved. We would do better to speak of the 'resurrection of man,' or, to use the Scriptural phrase, ‘the resurrection of the dead,' for the proper object of the resurrecting power of God is nothing less than the whole man." [9]
6 Ibid., p. 220. On this Heller cites D. R. G. Owen, Body and Soul. Owen's position is presented on pp. 889-894 of this work.
7 Heller, op. cit., p. 221.
8 Ibid., p. 222. (Italics supplied.) On this point Heller cites Finnish Scholar Nikolainen and Dr. Kantonen.
9 Ibid., p. 223.
3. LIFE AFTER DEATH "RESTS" ON "IMMORTALITY OF GOD."—Heller then refers to another traditional assumption that has been challenged:
"Traditional definitions of the Christian doctrine of the life to come assume not only that the human soul is a distinct and separable entity but also that it has an inalienable and unlimited capacity to sustain its own life even after death has claimed the body. This assumption, too, is challenged both by modern science and by recent Biblical research." [10]
Heller expressly states that "man in the entirety of his being is a mortal creature." He is mortal "by nature." He is dependent "upon God for the gift and continuance of life." He "receives from God the gift of immortal life through faith in Jesus Christ." [11] Then comes this impressive declaration:
"Life after death in the New Testament is not a corollary of the doctrine of man, but of the doctrines of God and salvation. It is not rooted in the nature and capacities of man, but in the character and saving power of God. The Christian's hope of eternal life rests not on the immortality of his own soul, but on the immortality of his God and Saviour, who, refusing to let him sink into nothingness, holds him in unbroken fellowship with himself until the day of resurrection when he shall be restored to a life that is fully personal, truly human, and in a body of glory suited to the conditions of that realm." [12]
LIFE NOT " INALIENABLE" POSSESSION BUT "LOAN" FROM GOD.—Citing Hamma Divinity School's Dr. T. A. Kantonen—that " 'the decisive consideration is not, are you a man and therefore an immortal being, but, are you in Christ and therefore assured that not even death can separate you from him?' " [13]—Heller states that "man's life" is "a trust or a loan which he receives from God, and not a natural and inalienable property." [14] Repeating for emphasis that the Bible "holds that man is mortal," Heller states: "God, by the exercise of his own power, will restore to full personal and embodied life the man who, in the entirety of his being, has succumbed to death." [15] Thus it is that "man's hope for life after death rests, not upon his own frail nature and feeble capacities, but upon the power and love of God which are made available to him in Jesus Christ." [16]
Such is Moravian Dr. Heller's testimony.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid., pp. 224, 225.
12 Ibid., p. 225. (Italics supplied.)
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid., p. 226.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid., p. 229.
Dr. THEODORE A. GILL, [17] formerly managing editor of the liberal Christian Century magazine, and now president of the San Francisco Theological Seminary, of California, in a book review discussion in The Christian Century of August 13, 1958, takes a forthright position against the concept of any detached "discarnate" souls and the body-and-soul dualism so commonly held. Under the heading "Everything So Strange," Editor Gill was reviewing Nothing So Strange (1958), the biography of Spiritualist medium and lecturer Arthur Ford, who had championed clairvoyance, clairaudience, and all the other phenomena of Spiritualism, along with parapsychology and extrasensory perception. Gill says the book is "sure to confuse Christians" who are not secure in their thinking and conceptions concerning the soul.
1. CHALLENGES CONTENTION OF "DISCARNATE SOULS."—In vigorous terms Gill challenges Ford's arguments and contentions. Here is his first charge:
"They interpret their bewilderment in the archaic terms of body-mind dualism. Body and mind are detachable units in the human being, according to an old view, so minds can swing free of living bodies, and do swing free of dead bodies, and persons thus rarefied continue to be as 'dis-incarnates.' " [18]
Attacking the "gimcrack fantasy" of their "supposedly buttressed facts," Gill states that there is "no footing" for their "ideas." Rather— "they are betrayed by that unquestioned dualism with which they be-gin. In the main streams of science and of biblical teaching there is no footing for any idea that body and mind can ever be separated." [19]
17 THEODORE ALEXANDER Gill. (1920- ), Presbyterian, received his training under Barth, Brunner, Niebuhr, and Tillich at the universities of Basel and Zurich. After a period of pastoral work he was managing editor of The Christian Century from 1955 to 1958, and then became president of the Presbyterian San Francisco Theological Seminary. He is a dynamic and controversial figure.
18 Theodore A. Gill, "Everything So Strange," The Christian Century, Aug. 13, 1958, p. 923. (Copyright 1958, Christian Century Foundation. Reprinted by permission from The Christian Century.)
19 Ibid.
2. WHOLE MEN DIE; WHOLE MEN ARE RE-CREATED.—Declaring there is neither scientific nor Biblical support for such a dualistic position, Gill continues:
"Science then knows no nonphysical entity which disengages itself from the body at death and carries on. Neither does the Bible, as Oscar Cullmann's 1954-1955 Ingersoll Lectures (Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead?) . . . are now reminding us. Biblical anthropology knows no mortal body-immortal soul distinction: it knows only whole men who die entire and who will finally be re-created whole men by God who 'alone has immortality' (1 Tim. 6:16)." [20]
3. "DIS-INCARNATES" Nor IN "BIBLICAL PICTURE."—Discussing the interim state "between the death" of the "whole per-son" and his "restoration," Dr. Gill says men "sleep." There are no roving "dis-incarnates." Allusions to a "naked soul," or "inner man, divested of the body," still "smell of dualism." [21] "Between the death that is really death of the whole person and his restoration by God to life that is really life, embodied and personal, men 'sleep.' " [22]
Then he adds pungently:
"Whatever earnest of the whole man spans the time between death and re-creation, waits. We sleep. Detached minds, immortal souls, dis-incarnates wandering and thinking and talking and materializing things—these have no place in the biblical picture." [23]
Such are Gill's strong words. And he repeats for emphasis that God "did not create immortal souls or spirits or detachable minds, but the whole, embodied men whom he will recreate." [24] He thus disposes of "the utterly alien elaborations so far attempted by spiritualists on their always fascinating, sometimes real experience." [25]
Important as may be the statement of any individual religious leader, the significance of a representative group statement—speaking in behalf of, or reporting to, an entire denomination, and especially for a union of religious bodies—is multiplied proportionately. It is vastly more significant than a one-man opinion.
20 Ibid. Gill's appeal to Cullmann's treatise would indicate that he shares at least some of Cullmann's views.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid.
We have already covered the report of the Anglican commission, in England, rendered in 1945." We now turn to a similar "Study of the Christian Hope" prepared by the "Committee on Christian Faith," authorized by the sixteenth General Council of the United Church of Canada in 1954. After five years' work on the report, the resultant 126-page statement of a committee of forty, under the chairmanship of Dr. D. M. Mathers—and including the principals of eight theological colleges—was released in 1959. Titled Life and Death, it had three printings in 1959, and received the "general approval" of the appointing body—the General Council of the United Church of Canada." This union comprises the Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist bodies of Canada.
1. COMMITTEE "SUSPECT" "ETERNAL PUNISHMENT."—The book comprises twenty-one chapters. The first thirteen have the following headings:
"1. What is the Christian Hope?
"2. What Is the Meaning of Death?
"3. Why Should We Bother About Life After Death?
"4. Why Do We Believe in Life After Death?
"5. What Is Eternal Life?
"6. What Happens When We Die?
"7. What Is Meant by the Resurrection of the Body?
"8. Is There a Purgatory?
"9. Is There Opportunity for Repentance and Salvation After Death?
"10. What Do We Mean by Heaven?
"11. What Do We Mean by Hell?
"12. What Fellowship Have the Living With the Departed?
"13. What Is the Last Judgment?"'
26 See Towards the Conversion of England, pp. 22, 23.
27 Life and Death—a Study of the Christian Hope, pp. 2, 123, 124.
28 Ibid., p. 3.
The Introduction tells of widespread concern over the "final destiny of man," and mounting interest as to the "Last Things—death and the hereafter." Intensive investigation led the Committee to "suspect certain traditional beliefs, for example, eternal punishment." [29, 30]
2. IMMORTALITY "PUT ON" at RESURRECTION.—Considering death to be the "tragic shattering of life," the committee takes note of the belief of primitive peoples as to the survival of the soul and fancied escape from "their bodies as outworn shells." It emphasizes the relationship of sin, death, and judgment—death being recognized as "an enemy and robber of man." [31] In chapter four the committee turns to "life after death." After affirming faith in Christ and His resurrection, it points out that "over against the [popular] belief in the natural immortality of the soul the Christian message asserts the reality of death." [323] Then follows this arresting statement:
"The word 'immortality' means 'deathlessness' and in the New Testament is not used of man except to describe his life aper the resurrection. Paul did not say that man does not die, but that 'the dead shall be raised imperishable' (or immortal). He did not say that the soul naturally survives death, but that 'this mortal must put on immortality.' " [33]
3. HOPE IN "RESURRECTION," NOT IN "NATURAL IMMORTALITY."—After declaring that the frequently repeated ex-pression "There is no death" is a "lie," the report continues:
"Deathlessness is not a quality of the human soul any more than it is a quality of the human body. Indeed, this division of man's being into an immortal soul and a mortal body does not come from the Bible and actually clashes with the Christian teaching that life beyond death is a work of God's grace, not a natural unfolding of man's constitution, and that the Christian hope is in resurrection, a being raised from the dead, rather than in a natural immortality." [34]
29 Ibid., pp. 5, 6.
30 Ibid., p. 7.
31 Ibid., pp. 15. 16.
32 Ibid., p. 22.
33 Ibid.
34 Ibid., pp. 22. 23.
4. SEPARABLE SOUL AND BODY NOT BIBLICAL BUT PLATONIC. —The source of the non-Biblical concept of soul and body is then declared:
"The idea that man consists of two separable parts, soul and body, does not come from the Bible; it comes from the Greek philosophers. And while we would be more than ungrateful if we did not value their magnificent insights and their patient, fearless pursuit of truth through reason, we cannot accept the typical view as expressed by Plato that death is 'the separation of soul and body,' and that 'to be dead is the completion of this, when the soul exists by itself and is released from the body.' " [35]
It came, then, from pagan, human philosophy, not divine revelation.
5. ONLY GOD "POSSESSES IMMORTALITY" BY "NATURE."—After noting the truth of the Apostles' Creed—that the resurrection of the body is the "Bible's point of view"—the committee adds, "Life beyond death is not thought of in the Bible as disembodied." [36] The following impressive declaration is then made:
"It is only God, the living and eternal One, who possesses immortality or deathlessness by nature. If man is to share in an immortal or eternal life, he can do so only through a gift from God; he must be raised by grace from the dead. In this resurrection we believe, on the basis of the Bible's testimony, that the essential unity of body and spirit in the personality will be preserved, though of course under the new conditions of a 'heavenly' existence. That this is to be man's destiny is revealed in that mighty climax of the Gospel—the resurrection of Jesus from the dead." [37]
6. IMMORTALITY NOT AN INHERENT POSSESSION.—In chapter five, discussing eternal life, the committee asserts that "survival beyond death" is not the result of an innate or constitutional element. The report is packed with such Biblical truisms as:
"The Bible does not teach the natural immortality of the soul. It does not assure us that survival beyond death is a result of our natural constitution. In the Bible the word 'soul' really means 'life.' Man is a living soul. But he may be just as well described, from the point of view of the Bible, as a living body. It does not occur to the Biblical writers that 'soul' is a part of human personality which is somehow more sacred than the body and which may exist apart from the body. Man is distinguished from other living creatures not by the possession of an immortal soul, but because he is made in the image of God, that is, he is capable of knowing God, of receiving God's revelation, of responding to God in worship, obedience and service. Eternal life does not mean the natural immortality of the soul. We are not immortal until God makes us so. Eternal life is inseparably linked with the resurrection of the body." [38]
35 Ibid., p. 23. (Italics supplied.)
36 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
37 Ibid.
7. ETERNAL LIFE BROUGHT TO "PERFECTION" AT SECOND ADVENT.—Defining "eternal life" as a "sharing in the life of God," the report adds:
"Eternal life does not mean the natural immortality of the soul. It is a new creation, the result of a new birth. It is the resurrection-life." [39]
"Eternal life, then, is the life of the world to come. But it is begun here in Baptism and brought to its perfection at the return of Christ, when the new creation, the final fulfilment of God's purpose, shall be disclosed." [40]
8. Two VIEWS—"DEATH-SLEEP" V. RESURRECTION AT DEATH.—Stating that the "act of dying, by itself, does not give any advantage to the dead over the living," the committee notes two concepts of the intermediate state:
"There are some who point to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, and say that after death the Christian 'sleeps' until the return of Christ, and then is raised from death to be with Christ forever. By 'sleep' Paul means, of course, simply 'death', so that this passage seems to say that between his death and the return of Christ the Christian remains in death, although his resurrection is a sure and certain hope because he is 'asleep in Christ', or is one of 'the dead in Christ'." [41]
Other statements of Paul seem to imply that "far from being in a death-sleep awaiting the resurrection, the 'dead in Christ' are closer than ever to him [Christ], enjoying a conscious communion with him." [42]
Such passages seem to imply that the believer's resurrection "takes place at his death." [43] The committee frankly recognizes the difficulty of reconciling these two views." [44]
38 Ibid., p. 24. (Italics supplied.)
39 Ibid., p. 25. (Italics supplied.)
40 Ibid., p. 26. (Italics supplied.)
41 Ibid., pp. 29, 30. (Italics supplied.)
42 Ibid., p. 31.
43 Ibid.
44 Ibid., p. 32.
45 Ibid., p. 33.
9. AFTERLIFE DEPENDS ON RESURRECTION.—Turning in chapter seven to the resurrection, the committee states: "The Bible does not recognize any division of the human personality into body and soul." " These united refer to "the total personality," also "the possibility of life after death depends on resurrection." Further, God's "gift of a new body" still “maintains our identity." The distinction is this: "While the body of flesh is perishable, the new body is imperishable." [46] And it adds, "There can be no question of the reality of judgment." [47]
10. PURGATORY AND SPIRITUALISM NOT BIBLICAL.—Declaring that "the Roman Catholic conception of Purgatory is not Biblical," [48] and referring to the two classes of mankind—one group destined for eternal punishment, the other for eternal life— the committee states: "It is not at the death of individuals but 'when the Son of man comes in his glory' that the separation of souls takes place." [49]
Turning then to the conflicting views of universal salvation and eternal punishment, and avoiding clear definitions of "heaven" and "hell," as to the intent of the parable of Dives and Lazarus, the committee says: "We have no right, on the basis of this parable, to go further than this and, for example, to interpret Hell as the place of everlasting fiery torment." [50]
As to the claims of Spiritualism, and communication with the departed, the committee goes on record with this statement: "Spiritualism finds no support in the Bible. It is forbidden in Deuteronomy 18:10-11." [51]
Also rejected is the Roman Catholic idea of "prayer for the souls in Purgatory" and "praying souls out of Purgatory." [52]
46 Ibid., p. 34.
47 Ibid., p. 36.
48 Ibid., p. 37.
49 Ibid., p. 41.
50 Ibid., p. 53.
51 Ibid., p. 56.
52 Ibid., pp. 57, 58
53 Ibid., pp. 71, 72.
54 Ibid., p. 72.
11. LEANS TOWARD UNIVERSALISM ON DESTINY OF WICKED. —Turning to the fate of the wicked, the committee treads lightly. It recognizes, from John 3:16, the "possibility of perishing." But it leans toward Universalism? [53] While it recognizes the grave warnings of our Lord in Matthew 13:41, 42, it adds: "We cannot conceive at all of everlasting physical torment in fire." But in the very next sentence it says, "We can conceive of final and absolute extinction and loss." [54] It then adds:
"We cannot see how the repentance [sic] that would be involved in this state of mind [weeping and gnashing of teeth] could fail to lead to salvation, since God is eternal love." [55]
The committee frankly says that it can "not arrive at any completely satisfactory conclusion." But on the nature of man it is refreshingly clear. [56]
Special mention must be made of the unique 479-page A Companion to the Bible (1958), [57] a composite volume written by thirty-six well-known French and Swiss Protestant scholars, with DR. JEANJACQUES VON ALLMEN, [58] of Neuchltel, as general editor, he himself writing on twelve major subjects. It is a "reference work in which the major theological terms and ideas are defined and explained." [59] The Introduction is by Dr. H. H. Rowley, of the University of Manchester.
1. "SECOND DEATH" AND THIEF ON CROSS.—Under the topics "Man," "Sin," "Death," "Judgment," "Life," and "Gehenna," appear key statements of particular interest to those concerned with Conditional Immortality. First, under "Death," Dr. Von Allmen says: "What Christians fear is the 'second death' which will shut out not only from temporal life, but from eternal life (Rev. 2:11; 20:6, 14f.; 21:8)." [60]
55 Ibid.
56 Ibid.
57 Originally published as Vocabulaire Biblique (1954), by the well-known French publishers, Delachaux and Niesde.
58 JEAN-JACQUES VON ALLMEN (1917. ), Reformed Church of Switzerland, was trained at the universities of Lausanne. Basel, and Neuchatel. After pastoral work in parishes of Neuchatel and Lucerne (1941-1958), he has served as professor of practical theology at the University at Neuchatel. He is author of four volumes and numerous articles in theological journals, and is active in various Faith and Order conferences and commissions. He was general editor of the 479-page A Companion to the Bible (1958), with thirty-five associate authors.
59 A Companion to the Bible (1958), English translation by seven English scholars. published by Oxford University Press. See inside front flap of jacket; see also page 4, and preface by J.-J. von Allmen, page 10, where he defines eschatology" as "the complex of biblical doctrines concerning the end of the world and the life of the world to come." (See page 475 for tabulation of authors and subjects covered by each.)
60 J. J. von Allmen, "Death," in A Companion to the Bible (Oxford University Press), p. 82.
61 Ibid.
Recognizing that the resurrection occurs at the "return of Christ," Von Allmen discusses "where the dead are to be found until that moment arrives." " He says concerning Luke 23:43 (Christ's promise to the thief on the cross):
"It is often thought that the paradise of which Lk. 23:43 speaks is the same as 'Abraham's bosom' or, what comes to the same thing, the 'eternal habitations' (Lk. 16:9). But one may ask whether it is not preferable to translate as follows: 'Truly, I say to you, today, that is to say, on this cross where I seem to have been deprived of all power—you will be with me in paradise'—that means, I still have power over eternal life and eternal death, and I promise you life—paradise having here its eschatological connotations as in Revelation 2.7." [62]
2. DEATH A "SLEEP"; NO INNATE IMMORTALITY.—Discussing death as "compared to a sleep"—and noting Mark 5:39; John 11:11ff.; 1 Corinthians 15:18; 1 Thessalonians 4:13ff.; 5:10; cf. Matthew 25:5—Von Allmen says:
"This sleep is only temporary and will be followed by an awakening; and, secondly, in the sense that sleep does not destroy the identity of the sleeper: while he is unconscious, he remains himself. The absence of the idea of the immortality of the soul in the N.T. does not therefore point to the view that in death there is a [final] suppression of human existence, for he who is to be raised is the same as he who has died (cf. Lk. 24: 39f.; Jn. 20:26ff.)." [63]
He then states:
"Despite the Judaism of the diaspora, which taught this, the N.T. does not allow the infiltration in any way of the Greek idea of the im-mortality of the soul. Why? In the first place because man has not the guarantee of his existence in himself (God alone is immortal, 1 Tim. 6: 16); and also because, believing that salvation does not suppress but transforms the creation of God, the N.T. does not envisage an eternal existence other than on a new earth (2 Pet. 3:13) and in a new body (1 Cor. 15:55ff.)." [64]
Von Allmen concludes this section with:
"Biblical teaching does not countenance the idea of a dualism of incompatibility between that which is 'material' and that which is 'spiritual’: on the contrary, it affirms the incarnation (Jn. 1:14). To reject the realism of the resurrection in favour of the spiritualism of the immortality of the soul implies either that God is not the Creator or that He can save only a portion of His work." [65]
62 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
63 Ibid., p. 83.
64 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
65 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
1. ETERNAL DESTRUCTION NOT ETERNAL TORMENT.—Under "Judgment, N. T." Dr. J. BURNIER states that the judgment would "ensure the triumph of the divine will through the overthrow of every resistance which it encounters." Then he adds:
"This present world will itself be convulsed (Matt. 24:29) and destroyed (Matt. 24:35; 2 Pet. 3:7-12); this will be the 'end of the world' (Matt. 13:29; 24:3). A new world will replace the present one (2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1)." [66]
Coming to the "irremediable condemnation" and the contrasting life eternal, immortality, et cetera, Burnier says significantly:
"The adjective eternal which is used with some of these terms does not indicate, as in our language, an infinite duration, but denotes that we are dealing with matters resulting from the final intervention of God, when He will establish the new world. If life in the Kingdom is without end and participates in the perpetuity of God, it does not follow that the suffering of the reprobate must be prolonged indefinitely." [67]
4. ETERNAL LIFE "WHOLLY NEW LIFE."—Under "Life, O. T.," F. MICHAEL] speaks of the "deep, unshakeable unity of the living being." Thus:
"Life in the first place implies the idea of a deep unshakeable unity of the living being. Our own distinctions between physical, intellectual and spiritual life do not exist at all. Man is a whole, completely unified. His body and his mind, his breathing and his soul are so closely linked together that one of the parts can without difficulty denote the totality." [68]
Michaeli adds, "Life and death are a question of obedience and disobedience to the will of God." Also, "Life is a gift of God, a grace which He bestows freely and generously on those who love and obey Him." [69] And speaking of eternal life he says:
"This eternal life will not consist in the survival of the spiritual aspect of man's being, for the whole man passes through the experience of death. It will be a wholly new life dating from the resurrection at the last day and eternal in character." [70]
66 J. Burnier, "Judgment, N. T.," in A Companion to the Bible, p. 212.
67 Ibid., p. 213. (Italics supplied.)
68 F. Michaeli, "Life, O. T.," in A Companion to the Bible, pp. 231, 232.
69 Ibid., P. 233.
70 Ibid., p. 234. (Italics supplied.)
5. MAN MORTAL; GOD IMMORTAL.—Under "Man, O. T.," Ed. Jacob states at the outset:
"At the root of the O.T. teaching on the subject of man lies the assertion that he is a creature. As such he is characterized by weakness and mortality, while God enjoys strength and eternal life (Job 14:1f.; Ps. 103:15.). Man was created mortal, and the fall of the first man resulted in no change in this state beyond that of making final a condition which God had possibly reserved the right to alter, had man persevered in obedience (Gen. 3:22). To look to man for salvation and life, therefore, is to delude oneself (Isa. 31:3; Jer. 17:5). This condition of creatureliness man shares with the animals: the fate of each is the same (Eccl. 3:19; Ps. 49:12)." [71]
6. HUMAN LIFE IS DERIVED LIFE.—Coming to creation and the formation of man, Jacob says:
"This text [Gen. 2:27] clearly asserts that life is the exclusive possession of God, and that man exists only in so far as he receives the breath of life, which God gives him by an act of His sovereign grace (cf. Ps. 104:291.). The body and the breath of life, both coming, as they do, from God, are not two elements that may be isolated and treated separately." [72]
So he adds: "The Hebrew term (nephesh) translated 'soul' in the modern versions denotes a psycho-physical totality, corresponding to that which we mean when we talk of a living being and its different modes of expression." [73]
So man, made in the " 'image of God.' " is a "psycho-physical totality." [74]
71 Ed. Jacob, "Man, O. T.," in A Companion to the Bible, p. 247.
72 Ibid. p. 248.
73 Ibid.
74 Ibid., p. 249.
75 H. Menl-Koehnlein, "Man, N. T.," in A Companion to the Bible, pp. 250, 251.
76 Ibid., p. 251.
7. DOES NOT POSSESS INDEPENDENT EXISTENCE.—Dr. H. MEHL-KOEHNLEIN, dealing with "Man" in the New Testament, and "the make-up of the human being," states that man is "a complex organism, a whole, a unity." Again, "There is no human existence which is not bodily existence.' Then she says:
"But, in contrast to Greek thought, the 'body' connotes a reality much more extensive than the biological unity that is a man, his visible, tangible, sensible body. It denotes man, the human person in his entirety. Thus the apostle Paul cannot conceive of a future human existence, beyond both death and resurrection, without a body." [77]
And as to "soul," she says:
"Nor does the soul, any more than the body, denote a part of man, but the whole man in one particular aspect. To be more precise, it is—as in the O.T.—man in his character of a living being." [78]
Then comes this important statement:
"The 'soul' is human life regarded as the life of an individual being with consciousness and will (Matt. 10:28; 16:26; Lk. 9:56; 12:19f.; Jn. 12:27; 2 Cor. 1:23; 12:15; Phil. 1:27; 1 Thess. 2:8). But living man does not possess the source of life and the possibility of continued existence in himself. Adam became a living soul, when God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. It is God who determines the extent of each man's life (Matt. 6:26-30; 1 Cor. 15:45)." [79]
And as to "soul," she says:
"Man, being a creature, is dependent on God (Matt. 6:26-30; 10: 28; Acts 17:25-28). He possesses a body and a soul and God alone sustains him in being. Moreover, he is a person, self-conscious, free, and self-determining solely because, in one way or another, he is answerable to God; because he is, by God's act, a responsible being in God's sight." [80]
8. MAN "NOT CREATED IMMORTAL."—G. Pidoux, in discussing "Sin" in the Old Testament, after stating that "the sin of man consisted, then, in his desire to become God's equal," says concerning the nature of man:
"What, then, are we to think of life and death? Was the first man mortal or immortal by nature? The sin resulted in denying man access to the tree of life whose fruits would allow him to nourish the life force. Man was not created immortal. He had to return to the earth whence he had been drawn, but his earthly condition was suspended during the period when he was able to live near to the tree of life." [81]
77 Ibid.
78 Ibid.
78 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
88 p. 252. (italics supplied.)
81 G. Pidoux, "Sin, O. T..' in A Companion to the Bible. p. 407. (Italics supplied.)
82 F. Baudraz, "Gehenna,' in A Companion to the Bible, p. 135.
9. "GEHENNA" CONNOTES THE "SECOND DEATH."—Under "Gehenna," Dr. F. BA UDRAZ states that the original Old Testament Gehenna was a place "for the burning of refuse and the disposal of corpses." [82] And "in the N.T. Gehenna designates eternal punishment." He next states that "Gehenna has numerous synonyms"—eternal fire, unquenchable fire, or fire and brimstone, the fire and the worm, furnace of fire, lake of fire, and eternal punishment—like the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah—each term with its supporting texts. [83] Baudraz then says:
"We must distinguish between 'Gehenna' and 'the abode of the dead' [hades], also called 'hell' to the latter go all souls after death to await the resurrection, whereas Gehenna is the place to which the wicked are delivered after the last judgment to undergo their punishment; it is 'the second death' (Rev. 20:6, 14)." [84]
Baudraz then adds: "Jesus Christ confronts every man with a life or death decision; each must decide for himself what his eternal portion is to be." [85]
Such is the composite testimony of Von Allmen and his associates.
KEITH DE BERRY, [86] since 1956 rector of St. Aldate's, Oxford, has likewise spoken out through his The Making of a Christian (1959). Discussing "the Nature of Man," in chapter four he emphasizes "Man's Freedom to Choose," and comments, "Freewill presupposes the possibility of its misuse." [87] After noting that man is "a fallen creature, and hopelessly lost," [88] De Berry adds: "Man cannot free himself and get back to the original relationship. God cannot overlook sin." [89] Help must come from outside.
1. CATHOLIC POSITION: ETERNAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN HELL. —De Berry alludes to the barrenness of Hinduism and Buddhism, which faiths "say the ultimate destiny for man is the dissolution of personality, separateness is ended in the eternal nothingness of Nirvana." [90] He then comes to the question of the fate of the wicked, but first speaks of the righteous in these words: "The Christian hope is therefore a certainty of being in His Presence in a transformed resurrection body." [91] Then, speaking of those who reject the offer of eternal life, he alludes to Roman Catholic—and certain Protestant—positions on eternal torment:
"The Roman Catholic teaching on Hell as a place of eternal agonising torture where no one ever loses consciousness is completely contrary both to the character of God and the teaching of the Bible on Eternal Life and Eternal perishing. Many of the cruder Protestant Sects have 4g-reed with Roman Catholic teaching regarding eternal punishment." [92]
NOT "EVERLASTING TORMENT" BUT "ANNIHILATION."—De Berry rejects this view, and takes the position of Archbishop William Temple on the utter destruction of the wicked, which he quotes as representing his own view:
"'One thing we can say with confidence: everlasting torment is to be ruled out. If men had not imported the Greek and unbiblical notion of the natural indestructibility of the individual soul, and then read the New Testament with that already in their minds, they would have drawn from it a belief, not in everlasting torment, but in annihilation. It is the fire that is called aeonion, not the life cast into it. But what the New Testament does most surely teach is the reality of "abiding consequences" of all we do.' " [93]
God will destroy the wicked, "both soul and body in hell" (Matt. 10:28).
In a personal note to the author dated May 30, 1960, Rector De Berry commented on the foregoing views as now "widely held by many people." Then he added: "They seem to me to be the only views which square both with the scriptural evidence and what we know of the character of God as perfect love."
91 Ibid., p. 81.
92 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
93 De Berry, op. cit., pp. 81, 82, quoting from William Temple, Christian Faith and Life, p. 81.
Brief mention should be made here of WILLIAM STRAWSON, [94] of the theology department of the Methodist Handsworth College of Birmingham, England, in his Jesus and the Future Life. First given as the Fernley-Hartley Lectures for 1959, they were at once put into book form. Fleeting glances must suffice. Note his terse expressions such as, "Man calls it death—but from the divine point of view it is a sleep," and, "it is a sleep from which God will awaken the dead in His own time. [95] Again, the term "Gehenna" became "associated with the idea of destruction, both by worms and by fire." [96] And, "everlasting fire" is "fire which lasts as long as matters." [97]
2. GIFT OF LIFE AND DESTRUCTION OF LOST.—Contrasting the "destruction of the lost" and the "gift of eternal life to the saved," Strawson remarks: "If man is not naturally immortal, but can receive from God the gift of eternal life, the question of the refusal of that gift must arise." [98] Again, noting Cullmann's clear distinction between Greek Innate Immortality and the New Testament resurrection, Strawson adds: "The typically Greek content of the idea of immortality as a quality inherent in the human soul, was not influential among the Jews." [99]
3. FATE AT DEATH "UNCHANGEABLE AND FINAL. Turning to the main point of the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, he states that "the division among men made at death" is "an unchangeable and final division." [100] He then observes: "This incidentally removes any possibility that 'Abraham's bosom' is a description of an intermediate state." [101] The second point Strawson makes is: "Our Lord's use of the traditional material is that no external or undeniable proof of the fact of life after death can be found or erected." [102]
4. SINNER PERISHES BECAUSE WITHOUT INNATE LIFE.—Returning to the fate of the lost, Strawson says: "The chief emphasis is upon the idea of extinction, rather than everlasting punishment." Also: "The sovereignty of God can be expressed in the extinction of life just as much as in its origin." [103]
94 WILLIAM STRAWSON, Methodist, was trained at Richmond College, University of London, and University of Cambridge. He then served as minister in several churches in London, and chaplain in the Royal Air Force. He is presently on the faculty of theology at Handsworth College, Birmingham (1955- ).
95 William Strawson, Jesus and the Future Life, p. 84.
96 Ibid., p. 143.
97 Ibid., p. 151.
98 Ibid., p. 155.
99 Ibid., p. 210.
100 Ibid., p. 211.
101 Ibid.
102 Ibid.
In this connection Strawson remarks, "If he is lost man's destiny depends on his own choice." Then he adds:
"Also arising out of this view that God offers to man the gift of eternal life is the implication that if a man refuses the gift, he has no life in himself and must perish." [104]
4. FUTURE LIFE NOT INEVITABLE POSSESSION.—Next comes an important statement concerning God's gift of eternal life:
"It is clear from the teaching of Jesus that the future life is not regarded as the inevitable possession of everyone. Throughout our Lord's teaching there is a continual emphasis upon the urgent need to meet the conditions which God requires for entry into eternal life. The teaching of Jesus clearly envisages the possibility that some will remain outside. But our Lord's chief energies were directed to persuading his hearers to fulfil the conditions laid upon them so that they may have God's gift of eternal life." [105]
In his summary Strawson insists that "the future life depends upon belief in God," and then states: "Man's future destiny does not depend on himself, his needs or qualities, but upon God." [106] It is thus that man can rise to everlasting life.
103 Ibid., p. 225. (Italics supplied.)
104 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
105 Ibid., p. 226. (Italics supplied.)
106 Ibid., p. 227.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
The impact of the various features of Conditionalism has now been felt to the farthest reaches of Christendom. The in fluence of certain of its more prominent witnesses has radiated beyond their lands of origin to the ends of the earth. There is often to be found, however, a definite tie-in of interrelation ship between these men when the facts come to be known.
Many of the new voices are discovered to be the reverberating echoes of the witness of former champions of Conditionalism —frequently with amplified power and penetration.
Sometimes this chain reaction has been initiated through some personal contact. More often it has resulted from reading a persuasive book or periodical article bearing on the question.
A line of thought was thereby started, and serious re-examination of the whole problem undertaken—with a new submission to the determinative testimony of the Word and a restudy of the inexorable evidence of history.
In multiplied instances this new investigation has led to a definite shift from positions found to be resting on the dubious sands of human tradition over to a stand based on the solid rock of Inspired Scripture. The result is, as we have seen, that new voices are constantly being added to the growing chorus of Bible-based testimony on the true nature and destiny of man. Let us start the recitals of this chapter with one of these stimulative earlier writers—a Presbyterian scientist-theologian of England, back in 1922.
Inasmuch as several whom we have surveyed have cited the late Dr. JAMES Y. SIMPSON [1] professor of natural science at New College, Edinburgh, as having influenced them to adopt Conditionalism, let us pause long enough to examine certain key excerpts from his Man and the Attainment of Immortality, first issued in 1922. In his chapter thirteen ("The Scriptural Doctrine of Immortality") of this predominantly scientific work, published when evolutionism was running strong, in discussing the popular claim of the "continuity of personal existence," Simpson astutely asks whether man is not "immortable rather than immortal, and can only realize his true des tiny as he fulfils his place in the moral order?" [2] In answering, Simpson explicitly states that there is "no suggestion in the Old Testament that man was created immortal," with a continuing life "independent of God." [3] He contends, instead, that "immortality" is a "result" of "correspondence with God." Thus:
"Immortality then, in the Old Testament sense, is morally conditioned. 'The essential thing is the relation of men to God. This contains in it the fate of men.' " [4] Simpson adds pointedly that—"to speak of 'a doctrine of immortality' in connection with an existence in which there is neither remembrance of God, nor of former things, seems like playing with words." [5] Simpson refers to the resurrection, portrayed in Daniel 12:2, as "a selective resurrection of the good and of the evil."
And he refers to the "destiny of the wicked" with the expression that ultimately "they simply cease to be." [6]
1 JAMES YOUNG SIMPSON (1873-1934), Presbyterian, was trained at Edinburgh, Christ's College, Cambridge, and further at New College, Edinburgh. Professor of natural science at New College, Edinburgh, he was author of several books, including Man and the Attainment of Immortality (1922). He also served as president of the Latvian-Lithuanian Frontier of Arbitration in 1921.
2 James Y. Simpson, Man and the Attainment of Immortality (Harper and Row), p. 275.
3 Ibid., p. 279. (Italics supplied.).
4 Ibid., p. 280.
5 Ibid., pp. 281, 282
6 Ibid., p. 281.
1. "IMMORTAL SOUL" NEITHER BIBLICAL PHRASE NOR CONCEPT.—Coming to the New Testament teachings of Christ, Simpson declares similarly that "there is nowhere any unequivocal suggestion in His teaching of the inherent immortality of the soul." [7] And he adds, without qualification, that the term "immortality of the soul" "is not a Biblical phrase: It is not even a Biblical conception." [8] Then, in speaking of the "strength" of the "Conditionalist position," Simpson says plainly:
"The idea that such a great thing as immortality can be a merely contingent and accidental quality is surely out of the question." [9]
" On the point that men are "immortable—potentially immortal," through "moral relationship to God," he adds trenchantly: "Those who are in this relationship cannot really die: those who are not, do die, if there is any truth in the Bible." [10]
7 'Ibid., p. 284. (Italics supplied.)
8 Ibid., p. 285. (Italics supplied.)
9 Ibid., p. 296.
10 Ibid., pp. 296, 297.
2. UNIVERSALISM BELITTLES FATEFULNESS OF LIFE.—Simpson dismisses the contentions of "Universalism" with this incisive statement:
“Nothing so robs life of its tremendous seriousness and meaning, reducing it to the level of a marionette-show, and belittling man's fateful capacity to choose life or death, as the amiable outlook of Universalism." [11] He also notes Paul's contention that God alone has immortality (1 Tim. 6.16), [12] and repeats the principle that "eternal life is the natural result of a vital relationship with God, or with God through Jesus Christ." [13] Further, if we flaunt these principles, "in the end" we may have "destroyed ourselves." [14]
Such are some of the typical Simpson expressions that obviously have influenced others. Let us go next to two Dutch Reformed clerics in the Netherlands.
In the Netherlands, in addition to Dr. G. van der Leeuw, already noted, there were two other professors, likewise of the University of Amsterdam, who made similar statements as to the pagan Platonic origin of the Innate Immortality theory.
First, there was Dr. F. W. A. KORFF, [15] who wrote on the unity of man in contrast with the dualism of Platonism. Note these key statements:
"The doctrine of the immortality of the soul, which we find in our theology, does not come from a belief in Christ, but from the Greek philosophy, especially that of Plato. . . .
"The doctrine of the immortality of the soul is based on a separation of the body and the soul, but the Bible does not teach this.”
"That the cross means victory is evident in the resurrection. Cross and resurrection belong together; the resurrection is the other side of the cross. . . . The resurrection is the beginning of a new life. . . .
"Both our body and soul become decomposed. But Christ shall raise body and soul and He will give us new, real life." [16]
11 Ibid., p. 284.
12 Ibid., p. 288.
13 Ibid., p. 289.
14 Ibid., p. 301.
15 FREDERIK WILI.EM A. KORFF (1887-1942), Dutch Reformed, was trained at the University of Utrecht and at Gronigen. After twenty years of pastoral work he became professor of dogmatics, ethics, and church law at the University of Leyden. He was author of thirty-six books ana many important articles.
16 F. W. A. Korff, Onsterfelijkheid, pp. 8-15. (Italics supplied.)
That, of course, is precisely what other scholars were teaching in Sweden, Switzerland, France, Britain, and America.
That is the unity of the revolt.
VAN NIFTRIK. CONCURS IN DENIAL OF PLATONISM.—The other Amsterdam professor was Dr. G. E. VAN NIFTRIK, [17] who, writing in periodicals in 1948 and 1949, took essentially the same position. First he stresses the Biblically declared mortality of man in conflict with the contention of "heathen, Greek philosophy." He first wrote in the church paper De Gereformeerde Kerk:
"That anybody is so obstinate as to speak about the mortal remains, only shows that the world and the church fell away from the Bible.
"Only a few people seem to understand that this complexity of thoughts [about an immortal soul] is absolutely contrary to the Holy Scriptures. This whole line of thought is heathen, Greek philosophy—but in no case Biblical." [18] Then, a few months later, in another journal, De Jongeman, Van Niftrik likewise stresses the mortality of the "whole man" and the Bible resurrection provision as against the traditional concept of the natural immortality of the soul and Greek dualism. Note it:
"We have to be very careful so that our Christian convictions are not adopted from history and judgment rather than from the Bible. Much too long has theology remained connected with certain conceptions of the world and man. We need Scriptural theology. . . .
"The Bible teaches us to profess the resurrection of the flesh, and this is something quite different from the immortality of the soul. . . .
"When the Bible speaks about the flesh this means not only the body, but also the whole man, with everything belonging to him, his soul included. The soul is not something mysterious, not a spiritual entity which lives inside of me; no, the soul is the life of my entire being. . . .
"Everything that is human is mortal. I am mortal. I am the soul of my body (the soul of my body) am mortal. God only, the Bible teaches, is immortal." [19]
So the same overtone of rejection of the Innate Immortality postulate is heard unequivocally in Holland as in the other countries of the Old World and the New. And now we go back to Britain and an Anglican Keswick chairman.
Keswick leader and devotional writer, Anglican JOHN STUART HOLDEN, [20] of St. Paul's Church, Portman Square, Lon don, in an article in the Canadian Evangelical Christian, of April, 1953, pages 177-179, discusses the keen current interest in the question "Where Are the Dead?" He then refers to the variant materialistic, philosophical, and "Christian faith" answers that are offered, showing that the first two are invalid.
Here is his statement of the basic question involved: "Are the dead now in a state of active enjoyment, or active suffering?
Are further opportunities of accepting Christ granted to them?
Are they influenced by our prayers?" [21]
1. DEAD ARE IN "PLACE OF WAITING."—Dr. Holden's explicit rejoinder on death as a "place of waiting" then follows:
"The answer of the Scriptures is that they [the dead] are in a place of waiting, waiting for the great consummation, or resurrection, and judgment. Only then will the finally-impenitent be exiled, and only then will the faithful enter upon the fulness of their reward. The entire conception of Purgatory, on which the idea of Prayers for the Dead is based, is altogether out of harmony with the teaching of the New Testament." [22] Holden thus denied immediate entrance upon eternal re wards or punishments at death. Inasmuch as he was associated as parochial mission preacher for five years (1901-1905) with the ardent Conditionalist Canon Hay Aitken, "one of the greatest mission preachers of our age," [23] one can but wonder whether that early connection may not have directed his thoughts to ward Conditionalism at that time. [24]
20 JOHN STUART HOLDEN (1874-1934), Anglican, was trained at Liverpool College and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. After serving briefly as a curate he was invited by Conditionalist Canon Hay Aitken to the Church Parochial Mission (1901-1905), and was long vicar of St. Paul's Cathedral, Portman Square, London (1905-1934). He was also chairman of the London Council of the Christian Missionary Society (1914-1928), and six times chairman of the Keswick Convention. He was also editor of "Ike Christian (1915-1920), and author of twenty major books, many of them devotional.
21 John Stuart Holden, "Life Beyond the Grave," Evangelical Christian (vol. 49, no. 4), April 15, 1953, p. 178. (Italics supplied.)
22 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
23 Eric Lewis, Life and Immortality, p. 1.
2. ALL THE DEAD IN STATE OF SLEEP.—Dr. Holden then sets forth the inevitable "further query that arises," pertaining to the intermediate state:
"If the dead are in a place of waiting: if they are in a state where prayer does not reach them, are they conscious of what is going on here on earth? Or are they in a state in which all progress is suspended until that great Day of God?" [25] Holden's answer to this is equally candid. Note it:
"The answer of the Scriptures seems to be—and again I would re mind you that this is not an article of faith, but a matter of interpretation —the great preponderance of the evidence of the Scriptures, points to the fact that both the believing and the unbelieving dead are asleep. We find that in both the Old and New Testaments alike." [26] That is as strong a statement on the intermediate state as any uttered by a cleric in the decade.
3. SLEEPER AWAITS SOUND OF ANGEL'S TRUMP.—Rehearsing the Old and the New Testament descriptions of death, Dr.
Holden notes how Daniel, Jesus, and Paul uniformly designate death as a "sleep." Holden observes that throughout Scripture this place of rest is called Hades, which simply means the "hidden place." It stands for the "place of rest." "They are resting against the day when the trump of the Lord shall sound, when the sea shall give up the dead, and they shall stand before God." [27] He then affirms:
"Our dead are there, yours and mine, in that place of rest, waiting the sound of the archangel's trump: and they are there with Christ. We shall never meet them again on earth: but only the place of our meeting is changed. They sleep in Christ: we live in Him. 'Death can hide, but cannot divide, if we are on Christ's side.' It may well be that the believing and the unbelieving will not be raised together. It may be that those who fall asleep in Jesus, and are resting until the resurrection of the dead, will be raised first at the Coming of Christ: and that the unbelieving will not be raised until after the millennial reign of Christ. That, at any rate, seems to be tolerably clear from the Scriptures." [28]
24 On Canon W. H. M. Hay Aitken, see this work, pp. 372-378.
25 Holden, op. cit., p. 179. (Italics supplied.)
26 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
27 Ibid.
INFLUENCES RADIATE TO ENDS OF EARTH 963
"The dead," he adds, "without us, will not be made perfect." [29] Such is the unique testimony of Dr. Holden, vicar of St. Paul's Church, Keswick chairman, and editor of The Chris tian. Next we turn to a Baptist pastor in the United States.
In the January, 1957, issue of Princeton's Theology Today, the Reverend CHARLES R. ANDREWS, pastor of the Oak Lawn Community Baptist church in Rhode Island, writing under the title "A Baptist Looks Backward and Forward," refers to the current revival of "Biblical theology." Under the suggestive subhead "An Exuberant New Testament Hope Meets the Greek World," Andrews speaks of the early Christian hope of "Christ and his coming in glory," and a "renovation of the universe, a new heaven and a new earth." [30] This, he says, involved "New Testament eschatology," and "what Jesus Christ is going to do." He cites William Manson's statement: " 'Jesus is the subject of the New Testament religion. Eschatology is the predicate.'" The early Christians, Andrews adds, believed themselves to be "on the verge of a new age." [31]
1. BLANKETING HELLENIC "Fog" ENVELOPES EARLY FAITH. —With that setting, Andrews first notes that— "basically the hope of both living and dead was for a corporate resurrection into a newly renovated heaven and earth, a society of God in the fellowship of Christ. Thus was the doctrine of the resurrection of the body important; the whole man, the whole personality, was involved in God's ultimate plan for the complete society of love on the scene of God's recreation." [32] Then, as the church advanced into the "noxious fog" of Hellenism, Andrews adds:
"So pervasive was the Hellenistic atmosphere that it enveloped and all but smothered the unsophisticated Christian faith. The history of the post-Apostolic Church is a history of the partial dissolution of the Chris tian hope." [33]
28 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
29 Ibid.
30 Charles R. Andrews, "A Baptist Looks Backward and Forward." Theology Today XIII (January, 1957), p. 507.
31 Ibid., p. 508. See William Manson, in Eschatology, "Scottish Journal of Theology, Occasional Papers," No. 2, 1952, p. 2. On Manson see this work, p. 859.
32 Andrews, of. cit., pp. 508, 509. (Italics supplied.)
This obscuration involved the "dualistic" Greek concept of " 'spirit' over against 'matter,' " and Andrews cites Cullmann in support." [34]
2. GREEK EMPHASIS ON "PATH OF ESCAPE."—The basic Greek concept, Andrews continues, was "escape" of the soul, or spirit, from the world. Note it. Under this new notion— "Christ could have no future to offer the world, no final re-creation to effect upon it. His 'return in glory' could have no real meaning or purpose to a Greek, and his work in Greek minds became that of opening a path of escape whereby men's spirits might ascend from the material world to the timeless kingdom of spirit." [35] So Christian eschatology came to be definitely recast by the Greek view.
3. IF SOUL IN HEAVEN OR HELL No NEED OF ADVENT.— This leads to Andrews' key paragraph on what "Hellenism bequeathed to the Church":
"If the theme of salvation is the ascent of the soul to God, then the state of the individual soul after death becomes all-important, while the eventual 'new heaven and earth' becomes anti-climactic. If the soul is already blissfully in heaven (or is already justifiably roasting in hell), what need is there for anything further? What point could there possibly be to Christ's return or the renovation of the universe? This inner contra diction has remained to plague Christians throughout the centuries." [36] So the revamped "last things" concept which— "emerged from the Hellenist-Christian confrontation, and which came to characterize the later Christian outlook, although familiar to us, is rather different from the Biblical hope. The normal picture rests in a Hellenistic frame. Heaven is 'above,' to be attained after death by the soul who 'lives right.' " [37]
"In this framework the notion of a New Age to come seems quite peripheral; the future state of the material universe is of no great concern to the spirit which leaves it all for his heavenly home. This is a radical change from the view which found heaven and earth waiting 'with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God,' 'groaning in travail together until now' (Rom. 8:19-22), with even the saints in heaven looking ahead to the Day of the Lord, praying, 'O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long?' (Rev. 6:10)." [38]
33 Ibid., p. 509. (Italics supplied.)
34 Ibid. See Cullmann, Christ and Time, p. 32.
35 Andrews, op. cit., p. 509. (Italics supplied.)
36 Ibid., p. 510. (Italics supplied.)
37 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
Despite the "devotion and skill of the second-century Chris tians," says Andrews, they were "not able to prevent"—"a development which they themselves furthered—albeit unwillingly and unconsciously—with ramifications which extend through the Dark Ages into the age of the Reformation, and thence to us." [39]
4. CALVIN'S IMMORTAL-SOULISM NEUTRALIZES "CONSUMMATION."—Andrews refers to the Reformation return to the Bible as a "slashing behind the Greek-medieval world to the Hebraic-Christian world." He says that since the Reformation "hope in the purposes of God,—lost throughout the medieval period—naturally revived among Reformed Chris tians." Andrews cites T. F. Torrance at this point:
" 'The Reformation stands for the rediscovery of the living God of the Bible, who actively intervenes in the affairs of men. . . . and with that comes a powerful realization of the historical relevance of eschatology. Here we have a return to the realist, historical perspective of Biblical eschatology which envisages both a new heaven and a new earth, an ultimate end in which the fulness of the creation is maintained unimpaired in union with a heavenly consummation.' " [40] After noting the conflict between the positions of Rome, Luther, and Calvin, Andrews pointedly remarks as to Calvin:
"For all his excellences Calvin could not free his mind from that Hellenist individualism with regard to the afterlife which finds the 'immortal soul' slipping off at death into 'heaven' for such a full life with the Lord that little point or purpose remains in the universal con summation of creation. This tragically weakened his hope for the future, since it is in clear contradiction to the Biblical view (which, in his loyalty to Scripture, Calvin also tried to hold). [41] This, Andrews adds, was a "source of great weakness in the Reformed tradition." [42] His concluding observation is:
'Since our initial Baptist error was, following Calvin's Hellenistic view of 'the end,' theological, our correction must begin with theology." [43] Such are the searching suggestions of this frank Rhode Island Baptist pastor. Next we hear from a Methodist university professor.
38 Ibid., p. 511. (Italics supplied.)
-39 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
40 Ibid. Quoting T. F. Torrance, in Eschatology, ''Scottish Journal of Theology, Occasional Papers," No. 2, p. 38, 1952.
41 Ibid., p. 512.
-42 Ibid., pp. 512, 513.
Another Methodist pastor and professor spoke out in 1958 in the closing chapter of his Faith for Personal Crises. He is CARL MICHALSON, [44] professor of systematic theology and philosophy of Drew University. Five of the lectures were first given as the Willson Lectures at Southwestern University in 1957. Lecture eight was titled "The Crisis of Death." Contrasting the vital difference between a man simply dying with his dying "in Christ," Michalson says of the latter that such "has already conquered the second death." [45] For, he says significantly, "death for the Bible is not simply the last moment of life; it is the last enemy." [46] This leads to the point of our quest.
1. SOULS Do NOT EXIST INDEPENDENT OF BODIES.—After referring to "sentimental views about the imperishability of the soul," Michalson first declares that "there are no instances of souls existing independently of nervous systems." [47] There are no discarnate souls. "Naturalism," he observes, "maintains that when the body dies man dies." [48] And, Michalson adds, Christianity sustains this very view. The soul does not live on, apart. Note his clear statement:
"It [Christianity] does not hold out the hope of the immortality of the soul. All flesh is grass, it withers. When a man dies, he dies completely. Only God is immortal. (John 5:26) We carry the sentence of death within us, as Paul the Apostle said, in order not to trust in our selves. (2 Cor. 1:9) The Bible knows nothing of the existence of souls independent of bodies." [49]
43 Ibid., p. 517.
44 University, Japan, then at Southern Methodist University, and is now professor of systematic theology at Drew University (1943- ). He is author of four works and has also done editorial and translation work.
45 Carl Michalson, Faith for Personal Crises, pp. 158, 159.
46 Ibid., p. 159.
47 Ibid., p. 176.
48 Ibid., p. 177.
Michalson remarks that, as to this, materialist Thomas Hobbes, of the seventeenth century, "is on more solid exegetical ground than many Christians when he says 'that the soul of man is in its own nature eternal, and a living creature in dependent of the body; or that any mere man is immortal, otherwise than by the resurrection in the last days, except Enos and Elias, is a doctrine not apparent in Scripture.' " [50]
2. NOT INNATE IMMORTALITY BUT RESURRECTION.—Michalson is very explicit in declaring that all future life for man is-"contingent upon the resurrection of His followers. Here is his impressive statement:
"What the Bible professes is not the immortality of the soul but the resurrection of the dead. A man dies completely. If he lives again, it is through the same power that brought him to life in the beginning. The sign of the Christian's hope of resurrection is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Because he lives, we shall live. Our future life is contingent not upon some spark of life within us which death never extinguishes. It is contingent upon the resurrection of our Lord who, in conquering sin in the world has thereby conquered death. If there is an immortality, it is not the immortality of the soul but 'the immortality of the God relation.' " [51] That, Michalson remarks, is the glory of the "Christian faith." It is centered in Christ. Note it:
"Each man's death can be substituted for—by the death of Jesus Christ. Because he died and rose from the dead, no man needs to die the second death. When we die, we die fully. When we rise, it will be because he died and rose." [52]
Michalson reiterates: "The continuity of our life resides not in us but in Him who by His grace has given us the promise of life in Jesus Christ." [53]
49 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
50 Ibid., quoting Hobbes. Leviathan, ch. 38.
51 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
52 Ibid., p. 178. (Italics supplied.)
53 Ibid., pp. 177, 178.
We must not fail to note a significant agitation over the question of Eternal Torment appearing among the Swedish Free Churches in the United States some time previous. Presi dent JOHANN G. PRINCELL, [54] of Ansgarii College, in Illinois, participated in a prophetic conference at Rockford, Illinois, April 21-26, 1891, at which gathering one of the topics was "Is the Future Punishment of the Wicked Limited or Unlimited (Endless and Conscious)?" Princell maintained that when the death penalty is invoked "it has in view to render a criminal harmless and to promote universal safety." This principle he then extends to God's dealing with the wicked.
1. SINNER'S PUNISHMENT LASTS FOREVER.—Princell interestingly maintained that divine punishment may be everlasting and at the same time "come to an end." This is how he expressed it, as he harmonized the two expressions:
"Where no reform is possible, there God will annihilate the sinner. The final punishment is the lake of fire, but there I believe ft goes step by step to annihilation for the sinner. The being comes to an end but the punishment has not in a real sense ended. The very circumstance, that the being is gone, and is not permitted to "live with God, is indeed a punishment and when this circumstance continues without an end, one can say that the punishment is of equal length. This annihilation of soul, spirit and body in the lake of fire may take a longer or shorter time, transpire under longer or shorter periods, but it moves toward that goal." [55]
64 JOHANN GUSTAV PRINCELL (1845-1915), of the Swedish Evangelical Free Church, was trained in the Augustana Synod Seminary and the German-American College of Philadelphia. After serving as pastor of Lutheran churches in Massachusetts and New York, he became president of Ansgarii College. In 1884 he became editor of Chicago Bladel, a Free Church periodical. From 1903 to 1908 he taught in the Swedish Bible Institute—a Free Church theological school—and from 1908 to 1914 was its president. He spoke at Bible and prophetic conferences, and was author of a history of the Jews in Swedish
65 Josephine Princell, J. G. Pringells levnadsminnen ("Biography"), 1916, (Italics supplied.) This was published at the request of the Swedish Evangelical angelical Free Church. p. 184, 185.
2. No ETERNAL SUFFERING IN GOD'S NEW UNIVERSE.—The punishment thus lasts forever, says Princell, but not the suffering. Follow him farther:
"When God eventually will be all in all, it appears impossible to me to believe, that He could feel happy and know, that somewhere in His Creation were found a multitude of suffering beings, whose extreme torment would continue without an end. With what I have said, I would not convey the thought that the suffering is over in the twinkling of an eye. It could last a forever and ever. But I want to emphasize, I cannot believe otherwise, than, however long the suffering continues, that sometime during the course of eternity there will be an end to the suffering creature, so that in reality there shall be no more curse, but God will be all in all and everywhere." [56] Princell never abandoned his conviction that "the punishment of the wicked would cease by the creature coming to an end." [57] And that, of course, is one of the fundamentals of Conditionalism.
And back again we turn to a veteran British Conditionalist, with a half-century record of active witness.
For more than thirty years FRANK W. SCEATS, [58] of Gloucester, England, was president of the Conditional Immortality Association of Britain—an interdenominational organization which, by voice, effective literature, and annual conferences, championed the cause of Conditionalism, quietly spreading its principles far and near. For more than a score of years editor of Words of Life, as well, Sceats has for fifty years been affiliated with the Methodists, Baptists, Congregationalists, and other denominations in the public presentation of Life Only in Christ. He is author of a dozen standard Conditionalist tracts and brochures.
Under Sceats's leadership a steady stream of literature has flowed forth to many lands from scores of witnesses of various faiths. A glance at the titles of his own personal writings will indicate their broad scope:
The Gospel of the Resurrection
The Rich Man and Lazarus
A Concise Statement of the Teaching of Conditional Immortality
Concerning Them Which Are Asleep
Purgatory, Rome's Fatal Error
Eternal Life in Possession, Promise and Prospect
The Source of Immortality: Adam or Christ?
Shall We Know Our Friends in Heaven?
Papers on Life and Immortality
56 Ibid., pp. 185, 186. (Italics supplied.)
57 Ibid., p. 186.
58 FRANK W. SCEATS (1883- ), of Brethren background, in 1906 began preaching under Methodist auspices. He was also leader of a men's Bible class, until he espoused Conditionalism. This resulted in his being expelled by the Brethren. Becoming a member of the Conditional Immortality Mission in 1908, and speaking for the first time at their annual conferences in 1909, and writing for Words of Life, he advanced in responsibility until at length he was elected its president in 1928. This post he held for thirty-one years, or until 1959, when he retired. And from 1937 onward he was concurrently editor of the Conditionalist journal Words of Life, until he resigned for health reasons in 1960, after a period of twenty- three years. He is author of a series of smaller works on Conditionalism. He possesses one of the best libraries of Conditionalist works to be found in the Old World.
We can conclude this chapter with a trio of excerpts from three representative Afrikaans writers in South Africa, spread over a period of fifteen years. Here again we find striking sim ilarity of statement on the part of these Dutch Reformed leaders. They are in line with the Christian spokesmen of other lands, languages, and faiths, whom we have been surveying.
Note these key statements:
1. SEMINARY PROFESSOR KEET—No INNATE IMMORTAL ITY IN BIBLE.—First, Dr. BENNIE B. KEET, professor at the Dutch Reformed Seminary at Stellenbosch Theological Semi nary, declared in 1945 that the soul is not immortal, for at death the whole man dies:
"When a man dies, it is not only the body that dies, but the whole man dies, so that his body and soul is in the state of death. Thus says the Scriptures in several places where it speaks of the soul that dies. "THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL AS SUCH IS NOT SPOKEN OF IN THE SCRIPTURES." [59]
59 B. B. Keet, Ons Redelike Godsdiens ("Our Reasonable Religion"), p. 215.
2. PRETORIA'S PROFESSOR MARAIS—SOUL RESTS IN "REALM OF DEATH."—Writing in 1957, in Die Brandwag ("The Watchman"), Prof. BEN MARAIS, professor of theology at Pretoria University, in the Union of South Africa, asks and answers a related question in a Dutch Reformed periodical article, denying that discarnate souls go to heaven at death:
"But where exactly does the soul go after death? Does it directly go to heaven? No. If we understand the Bible correctly it goes to the place designated in the Old Testament as sjeol [sheol], and in the New Testament as hades and is translated in the Afrikaans Bible as 'Doderyk' (Realm of Death)." [60]
3. CAPE TOWN PASTOR HEYNS—WHOLE MAN Is "PREY OF DEATH."—The final excerpt, dated 1960, is from Dr. J. A.
HEYNS, Dutch Reformed pastor at Rondebosch, Cape Town.
He says that the entire man falls a "prey" to death: "Further, as sin was not limited to a part of man, but brought the whole man under its power, so man falls—body and soul—as the prey of death." [61] That calls for resurrection of the whole man as his only hope. So the mortality of man and the tarrying of the whole man (soul and body) in the intermediate state of death, avowedly Conditionalist positions, are stressed by these three Afrikaans spokesmen.
60 B. Marais, in Die Brandwag ("The Watchman"), March 29, 1957, p. 4.
61 J. A. Heyns, Die onsterflikheid van die Siel ("The Immortality of the Soul"), p. 87.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
There are three large-coverage, air-borne mass communication media presenting the Conditionalist faith—sponsored by the Seventh-day Adventist organization—that must not be omitted. First, there is the worldwide Voice of Prophecy radio broadcast, daily and weekly, that has an amazing coverage. Second, there is the Faith for Today telecast, released over more than two hundred TV outlets. And third, there are the impressive It Is Written telecast films for intensive community impact, that are covering the major sections of North America.
Harold M. S. Richards is the "Voice" for the first program. William A. Fagal is the telecaster on the second sequence. And George E. Vandeman is the preacher-on-the-air for the third procedure. All three, it should be added, identify their denominational affiliation with each air-borne program. They will be surveyed in the order listed.
Heretofore individual clergymen, and university, college, and seminary professors, principals, and presidents, archdeacons and deans, bishops and archbishops, physicians, scientists, and librarians—and various other categories—have been covered. A radio broadcaster, with millions of listeners in his unseen audience, who teaches and has taught Conditionalism over the air for thirty years, has not been presented previously. A case in point is now brought forward.
HAROLD M. S. RICHARDS (1894-), originator and speaker of the Voice of Prophecy broadcast, of Glendale, California, with its international coverage, is one of the unique radio personalities of our time. Richards comes of a preaching ancestry, one of his forebears being an associate of John Wesley. He is known the world around for his distinctive broadcasts. Graduating in theology from Washington Missionary College (now Columbia Union College) in 1919, he later received a Divinity doctorate from Andrews University. After a period of successful early evangelistic experience, with preliminary local radio broadcasting tryouts beginning in 1929, Richards increased his coverage to a small network of eight California stations in 1937.
Then came the great expansion. Despite heavy handicaps, by 1942 a network of 225 Mutual stations was carrying his weekly gospel broadcasts. And by 1945 there were 570 station outlets, utilizing thirteen languages by that time, with a staff of 120 to care for its unique Bible correspondence courses, [1] which even included Braille.
By 1947 the total had increased to 608 stations, including some of the strategic outlets in Europe. In 1949 the American Broadcasting Company network was added. And in 1956, 91 stations of the National Broadcasting Company were added, with a potential listening audience of more than a million. This now required a budget of a million and a half dollars annually.
1962 marked thirty years of continuous radio ministry for Richards—then utilizing three coast-to-coast networks, and with Bible correspondence schools in more than seventy languages. The Voice of Prophecy coverage at the close of 1962 was 506 stations in North America and 499 stations overseas, broadcasting in some twenty languages.
The significant point for us in it all is that Dr. Richards preaches the Bible with a fidelity and a simplicity that has captivated the hearts of millions. And this includes full salvation through Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He undeviatingly teaches that immortality is a gift, bestowed by Christ upon the believer at His second coming, with its attendant resurrection of the righteous dead and concurrent translation of the righteous living.
From his very first broadcast Richards has consistently set forth Life Only in Christ as God's wondrous provision, whenever the nature and destiny of man comes into his recurring series of broadcasts, which cover the full-rounded gospel for his hearers annually.
1 Voice of Prophecy Bible School enrollees yield impressive totals—more than one million to date, with over one hundred thousand in 1962 alone. These lessons, wherein they deal with the nature and destiny of man, likewise hold to the Conditionalist position. So, the over-all commitment of the Voice Of Prophecy is to Conditionalism.
1. DIVINE REVELATION INSTEAD OF HUMAN SPECULATION.
—Out of scores of sermons on life, death, and destiny, one will exemplify Richards' simplified approach in presenting this Biblical evidence on the perennial question of immortality that agitates so many minds:
"Sooner or later, into every mind there will come three great questions: Where did I come from? Who am I? and Where am I going? To put this into one sentence, At some time in our lives we all think deeply about the origin, nature, and destiny of man." [2]
After thousands of years human wisdom is still baffled by the "unanswerable riddle, Where did I come from? and What is the origin of man?" Despite the advances of science and philosophy the question remains unanswered.
"And when we ask the third question, Where am I going? What is the destiny of man? the wisest men on earth give us only guesses as they stand before the locked door of the tomb, behind which mysterious silence reigns."
Declaring that "there is only one dependable source of information on these questions," and that is "divine revelation," Richards affirms that Holy Scripture alone "reveals the truth about the origin of man, his nature and destiny," which we "cannot discover . . . by any amount of speculation." So, he says, we "turn to the Book of God for light and find it in the Bible's greatest text"—John 3:16—God's provision that we "should not perish, but have everlasting life" through believing faith in Jesus Christ. Thus: "According to this scripture, everlasting life is not natural with man. It is received as a gift by those who believe in Christ."
2. THREE VIEWS CONCERNING "IMMORTALITY." —
Turning to the terms immortal and immortality, Richards first lays a broad Biblical groundwork. After stating that "immortal means not subject to death," he notes one view concerning immortality for man:
"Some have taught that all people, good and bad, have immortality; that everlasting life is inherent in man's nature. They believe that man has something about him that God Himself cannot kill, and that when a man dies, the 'real man'—the soul—goes on living endlessly. If the man is a good man, they believe he goes to be with the Lord at death; but if he is bad, he goes to a bad place, but continues to live."
Richards then presents the second concept:
2 H. M. S. Richards, 25 Sermons. The sermon "Immortality" appears on pages 71-79.
"There is a second belief very similar to the first. Those who hold it believe that man naturally possesses immortality, but they differ from the so-called orthodox view in that they believe that even the worst of men will ultimately be saved and that, even though we do not understand how this can take place, they will eventually be restored to divine favor. Those who hold this view are termed Universalists."
He next presents the third view, which he develops:
"The third view is that man is not naturally immortal but mortal, and therefore subject to death. Those who hold this view deny that immortality is the natural inheritance of all men, but declare that it is a free gift from God; that it comes only through Jesus Christ and is revealed in His gospel. (2 Timothy 1:10.) They teach that the good alone will live forever."
That gets the three views, or schools of thought, before the listener.
IF MAN IS IMMORTAL, WARNING CONCERNING DEATH Is INVALID.—
3. Turning now to the Biblical portrayal, Richards continues:
"Before man sinned, God warned him about death as something to be feared and avoided. He told him that disobedience would bring death. If man is naturally immortal and cannot die, why warn him about death? That death referred to was spiritual, moral, and physical death of the complete man. Adam did not have immortality then, because death was threatened. The word immortal means 'not subject to death.' Adam was not immortal because he was subject to death, and God warned him that he would 'surely die' if he disobeyed."
There is, he adds, only one logical conclusion:
"Therefore, since man was subject to death before sin entered the world, he was not immortal; and those who do not accept the gospel never can have immortality. Since Adam was not immortal, he could not transmit to his posterity that which he himself did not have. But Adam was a candidate for immortality, and so are we."
4 IMMORTAL SINNERS AND MORAL APOSTASY.—
Reverting to the Genesis recital of how man was driven out of Eden with its tree of life, to "prevent man from being a sinner and living forever," Richards reiterates how, after man was driven from the Garden, a guard was placed at the gate to "keep the way of the tree of life." Then he states:
"God has declared that no man can live in sin and live forever. An immortal sinner is an anomaly in God's moral universe, and as soon as man sinned God excluded him from the tree of life. The Creator thus made it impossible for man to partake of that life-giving tree and thus live forever in sin. The only way in which man can live forever is to break away from sin and be washed in the 'fountain opened to the house of David . . . for sin and for uncleanness.' (Zechariah 13:1.) The only way for man to live forever is to receive the gift of life through Jesus Christ, the great antitypical Tree of Life."
Commenting on Romans 5:12, and how all men have "inherited the tendency to sin," with death as a consequence, Richards repeats the truism:
"Not having immortality himself, Adam could of course not bring forth immortal sons and daughters. So, friends, death passed upon all men, for all have sinned."
5 GOD, NOT MAN, INHERENTLY IMMORTAL.—
Turning to the terms immortal and immortality, the contention of some that all men possess deathlessness, or Innate Immortality, Richards says:
"The Bible states that 'death passed upon all men,' and if it has, then all men, being subject to death are. not immortal. If they are not immortal, they are mortal and subject to death. You cannot evade that. Job says, 'Shall mortal man be more just than God?' (Job 4:17.)"
Pointing out that the word immortal occurs only once in all of Scripture (1 Tim. 1:17), and is there restricted to God, he presses the point: "So you see, friends, the only text in the entire Bible in which the word immortal is found attributes it to God and not to man."
6 IMMORTALITY OBTAINED SOLELY AS GIFT TO BE SOUGHT. —
Similarly with the word immortality, it is likewise restricted to God (1 Tim. 6:15, 16). Richards then adds:
"Here we find no reference to the immortality of man, but on the contrary are told that God 'only hath immortality.' The only way in which we mortals who do not possess immortality can ever have it is by a gift from God who alone possesses immortality."
But that is not all:
"Not only do the Scriptures say that God alone has immortality, but we are told that it is to be sought for by men. `To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life.' (Romans 2:7.) God will reward with eternal life all those who by patient continuance in well doing seek His immortality. If man already possesses immortality, why should he seek for it? Jesus said, 'Seek, and ye shall find' (Matthew 7:7), but where shall we seek to find immortality? We must seek it in the gospel. . . . (2 Timothy 1:10.)"
7. GOSPEL IS GOOD NEWS OF IMMORTALITY THROUGH CHRIST.—
Richards explains the gospel as— "the good news that Jesus Christ came from heaven to die for men and thus give them the right to have eternal life. Immortality, promised to man on condition of obedience, had been forfeited by disobedience. Adam could not give to his descendants that which he himself did not possess. There would have been no hope for the fallen race had not God, by the sacrifice of His Son, brought immortality within their reach."
The witness, then, of the gospel is this:
"Through the gospel, the good news of salvation, Christ has brought to light the fact, not that all men are by nature in possession of immortality, but that a way has been opened whereby they may obtain possession of this attribute of God."
8 IMMORTALITY BESTOWED BY CHRIST AT SECOND ADVENT.—
Continuing the Biblical coverage with an examination of 1 Corinthians 15:53, 54, Richards asserts that when "this mortal (subject to death) will put on immortality (undying existence)," then "release from the bondage of mortality" will be brought about, through Christ, for those who accept the power of His victory. Thus:
"Death is the last enemy to be destroyed and then God's people will receive immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:26.) We need have no fear for those who are asleep in Jesus. Their life 'is hid with Christ in God.' (Colossians 3:3)."
Immortality as a "gift of God" is then stressed:
"Immortality is the gift of God. It is given to His faithful followers at the second coming of Jesus, and not before. At that time He confers immortality upon His people and calls them to inherit the kingdom to which hitherto they have been only heirs."
9 SOLE HOPE THROUGH THE RESURRECTION.—
Only in Christ's resurrection have we "hope of final resurrection and thus of immortality." And then comes the glorious "change."
This will occur simultaneously, as we shall "all be changed" together:
"This occurs at the return of our Lord, as we read in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17: 'For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.' This is called the 'blessed hope' in Titus 2:13: 'Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.' "
10. DIVINE REVELATION ANSWERS UNIVERSAL QUESTION.—
Richards closes by quickly summarizing the evidence in this simple statement:
"Divine revelation thus brings clear answers to the universal question covering the origin, nature, and destiny of man.
"Where did I come from?—God created me.
"Who am I?—A candidate for immortality.
"Where am I going?—To be forever with the Lord!"
Such is Richards' simple, unadorned, Bible-based exposition of man's life, death, and destiny, given over the ether waves. It has a heart-to-heart appeal that brings conviction. And after thirty years on the air, Richards is reaching more millions than ever in his unique ministry.
Faith for Today is the oldest continuous, denominationally sponsored, religious TV program in North America, launched in May, 1950. It remains in the forefront of religious telecasting, at the close of 1962 going out weekly over 210 stations, with a vast viewing audience. These outlets cover every section of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, as well as various other countries, large and small—Australia, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Guam, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico. It was the first religious telecast to be shown in Australia, Brazil, and Nigeria.
During 1962, for greater appeal it added color, and was the first religious telecast to do so. Its half-hour format is slanted so as to appeal to the nonreligious viewer. In this it has been highly successful. It has had more than one million applications for its accompanying Bible correspondence school courses, with more than four million lessons sent out. Its records show some seventy thousand graduates of courses by the close of 1962.
The speaker, WILLIAM A. FAGAL (1919-), of New York State, focuses his program on God's Word as the complete answer to every human problem. After graduating in theology from Atlantic Union College, and further work at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, Fagal served as pastor in Buffalo, then in New York City. There for seven years he had a concurrent radio program. In May of 1950 he began his telecast venture over station WJZ in New York City. This has grown steadily until, as stated, it is now released over 210 stations. It is really a team program, Mrs. Fagal appearing by his side in every telecast.
In his approach Fagal has endeavored to follow the Master's parabolic method—a dramatized story followed by satisfying Bible answers to life's great problems, in the form of a six-minute sermonette. This format has reached people in all levels of society—all the way from Sing Sing's death row to high circles of influence.
Since Faith for Today seeks to present Christ's answer to every human problem, this, of course, includes the perennial question of man's origin, nature, and destiny. In his Bible-buttressed sermonettes Pastor Fagal presents such topics as "What Happens at Death?" "Hope Beyond the Grave," "Waiting for the Resurrection," "Will God Punish Sinners?" "Heaven Is My Home," "I Will Soon Travel in Space," "Can God Eliminate Evil?" and others. Here are representative excerpts from three of Fagal's sermonettes, taken from his television scripts.
1. WAITING IN HOPE FOR THE RESURRECTION.—
Alluding to Benjamin Franklin's epitaph on the stone marker in an old cemetery in Philadelphia, which declares that Franklin's hope after death lay in the resurrection, Fagal declares:
"The resurrection, with its subsequent hope of eternal life, brings order and reason out of what might otherwise seem to be chaotic and unreasonable. Death was not God's original plan for man. . . . Man, by disobedience, has brought death upon himself as a natural consequence of his wrongdoing. But someday death will be no more: 'The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.' (1 Cor. 15:26.) Then man will once again be restored to the 'first dominion.' (Micah 4:8.) God's beautiful plans, hopes, and dreams for us, His beloved children, will then be carried out eternally."
The resurrection, he says, is the focal point of human history:
"The Bible points to the resurrection of the dead at the second coming of Christ as the great moment when this change will come. Bible writers have all looked forward to that moment of the focal point of human history. 'If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.' (Job 14:14.) Job knew that in the normal course of events death would finally claim him, just as it has all others down through history. After that he pictures himself as waiting for the resurrection. And where would he spend this waiting time? 'If I wait, the grave is mine house.' (Job 17:13.)"
Asserting that man sleeps during this "waiting time," Fagal continues:
"How did Job picture the condition of the waiting ones? 'So man lieth down, and rises not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.' (Job 14:12.) He pictures death as a dreamless sleep, the same as every other Bible writer does, and the same as Jesus Christ Himself pictured it. Jesus said, 'Our friend Lazarus slept; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. .. . Howbeit Jesus spoke of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.' (John 11:11-13.) The Bible record very plainly brings out that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead."
2. MAN TOTALLY UNCONSCIOUS DURING DEATH-SLEEP. —
Despite popular misconceptions, the Bible's positive declaration is that man is totally unconscious during death:
"How much conscious thought goes on during this waiting period of deep sleep? None! The Bible's teachings are absolutely unmistakable on this point: 'His breath goes forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.' (Ps. 146:4.) 'For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything. . . . Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.' (Eccl. 9:5, 6.) The Bible even states that a man who has died knows nothing about the subsequent activities of his children. 'His sons come to honor, and he knows it not; and they are brought low, but he perceives it not of them.' (Job 14:21.) And yet despite these clear teachings of God's Word, this is not what many believe and teach in Christendom today."
Man must seek for, and put on, immortality:
"The Scriptures definitely declare that God 'only hath immortality' (1 Tim. 6:16) and that men, 'by patient continuance in well doing seek for ... immortality, eternal life.' (Rom. 2:7.) And, according to the Scriptures, we will receive this immortality at the resurrection when 'this mortal must put on immortality.' (1 Cor. 15:53.) Why should Christians preach an un-Biblical doctrine first presented by Satan in the Garden of Eden when he contradicted God and lied to Eve in the words, 'Ye shall not surely die'?"
3. CHRISTIAN HOPE IS IN PLEDGE OF RESURRECTION.—
Fagal then declares:
"How much better is God's plan, which simply allows him to sleep, not knowing anything of his family or the needs and grief of his dear companions. Someday they will have a happy reunion and meet Jesus together, being made perfect at one and the same time in His presence. Read thoughtfully the tremendous words written by the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians. (1 Thess. 4:13, 14, 16-18.)
"A few years ago a submarine sank off Cape Cod. When divers descended to the sunken wreck, they walked around the disabled ship, endeavored to find some signs of life within. At last they heard faint tapping and recognized it to be the dots and dashes of the Morse Code. The words spelled out were, 'Is there hope?' This is the constant cry of humanity. Everyone wants to know, Is there hope for us to escape? The Christian answer is, Yes, there is hope, because Jesus died and rose again. He paid the price for every sinner. He broke the power of the tomb by rising the third day and ascending to heaven, where He lives and dwells at the right hand of God."
4 SPIRIT NOT ENTITY CAPABLE OF SEPARATE EXISTENCE.—
Discussing the common concept that there is "something" that returns to God, Fagal observes, in "What Happens at Death?":
"Does not the Bible say that something 'goes back to God'? Yes, it does. 'Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.' (Eccl. 12:7.) But here is where many people read something into the Scriptures that simply is not there. Great care must be exercised that we do not give to this word 'spirit' a meaning which the Scriptures do not give to it.
"The Hebrew word here translated 'spirit' is ruach. This word appears 379 times in the Old Testament and is translated in a number of ways, such as 'breath,' wind," ‘courage,' and 'anger.' It is also used to denote the life principle, the seat of the emotions, the mind, the heart, and even the moral character. The almost amazing thing, in view of the popular misconception of our day, is that this word ruach in all of its 379 times of use is never used to note an intelligent entity capable of existence apart from a physical body so far as man is concerned. Such a concept is entirely without foundation in the Bible."
5. SPIRIT IS SPARK OR PRINCIPLE OF LIFE.—
Analyzing the Hebrew word ruach for "spirit," Fagal explains:
"Note how this word ruach is used elsewhere in this same book: 'For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even one thing befalls them: as the one dies, so dies the other; yea, they have all one breath [ruach]; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast. . . . Who knows the spirit [ruach] of man that goes upward, and the spirit [ruach] of the beast that goes downward to the earth?' (Eccl. 3:19, 21.)
"According to this verse both men and animals each have a ruach, with no difference seen between them. If then the ruach, or 'spirit,' of man were to become a disembodied, conscious entity at death, the ruach of beasts must do the same thing. But the Bible nowhere claims such for man, and no Christian, to my knowledge, claims this for animals."
The "spark of life," Fagal adds, will be kept safe until the resurrection morn:
"The ruach, which goes back to the God who gave it, is the life principle, the spark of life, which God breathed into man's nostrils at his creation. This life from God—which no man, incidentally, has been able to duplicate—at death goes back to the God who gave it. He keeps it safe with Him until the resurrection morning when He will return it to man.
"We who have Christ Jesus in our hearts have hope in the face of the finality of death. We are able to look through our tears beyond present darkness and see future brightness in Christ's second coming and reunion which will be a part of the resurrection day."
6 FIRES OF HELL NOT BURNING AT PRESENT.—
Turning to the question "Will God Punish Sinners?" and will that punishment be everlasting torment, Fagal introduces the problem with these words:
"How will God punish the wicked, and for how long? The ancient pagans conceived of an underground place where evildoers went after death for a period of regeneration. Everyone knows that the early Christian church rather quickly drifted into apostasy and adopted many of the teachings and outlooks of paganism. This idea of the fate of the wicked drifted into the Christian church in the early centuries, and out of it come the concepts of limbo, purgatory, and an ever-burning hell."
No soul, Fagal declares, is at present burning in the fires of hell:
"Now let me perhaps startle you with what might appear to be a bold and even brash statement. According to the Bible there is not a single, solitary soul burning in the fires of hell at present. Here is a scriptural reference to prove it, in the words of Jesus Himself: 'As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.' (Matt. 13:40-42.)"
7 PUNISHED WITH DESTRUCTION AT END OF WORLD. —
Asserting that the resurrection of the wicked must take place before their punishment, Fagal says:
"The wicked, then, will be punished at the end of this world.... Peter teaches that the wicked are being reserved until the day of judgment to be punished. 'The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.' (2 Peter 2:9.) And that makes sense. Surely God would not punish a man before he went to judgment.
"The Bible also teaches that the wicked will be raised from the dead before they are punished. 'But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burned with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.' (Rev. 21:8.) It should be clear that if this punishment of hell-fire results in the second death, the wicked must have been raised from their first death."
8 AFTER PUNISHMENT WICKED CEASE TO EXIST.—
This destruction of the wicked will take place on this earth at the close of the thousand years of Revelation 20, when the resurrected wicked will attempt to capture the Holy City, and fire comes down "from God out of heaven" and devours them (v. 9); that is "hell-fire." And as to the results:
"What will this fire do to the wicked? Read these plain teachings from God's Word: 'For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. . . . And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.' (Malachi 4:1-3.) How can these words be misunderstood? Plainly they tell us that the wicked will be reduced to ashes. For them this will be the 'second death.' "
Fagal expressly denies an eternally burning hell:
"The psalmist also makes the matter very clear in the words, 'For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.' But the wicked shall perish . . . : they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.' (Ps. 37:10, 20.) These words do not teach an ever-burning hell; they do not teach that the wicked will be tortured eternally."
The wicked will ultimately cease to exist:
"The Scriptures teach that the time will come when the wicked will no longer exist. They state that even diligent searching for the place of the wicked—hell—will reveal only that it exists no more. The fires will have done their work and gone out. All through the Bible we find words and expressions like these applied to the wicked: 'shall die,' perish, melt away, fade away,' wither, ‘be as nothing,' be no more,' be destroyed,' 'consumed utterly,' cut asunder.' And there are others equally strong.
"The Bible teaches that 'the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.' The contrast is between eternal death and eternal life, not eternal life in both cases with suffering for the one and bliss for the other. . . . Only the righteous, those who accept Jesus Christ, are to have everlasting life. The fate of the wicked is to 'perish.' "
9. MERCIFULLY DESTROYS SPURNERS OF PROFFERED LIFE. —
Summing up his presentation, Fagal stresses the marvelous blending of God's justice and mercy:
"God, then, will punish the wicked, but He will punish them in keeping with His own justice and love. He calls it His 'strange act,' because it is so contrary to the long-suffering and mercy which He has always bestowed on the human family. He will mercifully destroy those who would not want to live eternally in the presence of God and the redeemed."
Such are samples of the Faith for Today witness to Conditionalism.
GEORGE EDWARD VANDEMAN (1916-), born in a minister's home in the shadow of Pikes Peak, with a bent for preaching while still a boy, received his training at Washington Missionary College (now Columbia Union College) and Emmanuel Missionary College (a unit of Andrews University), and the University of Michigan. He began his ministerial activity in pastoral and evangelistic lines, then joined the staff of Emmanuel Missionary College, teaching theology and ministerial methods. (Photo on page 973.)
This was followed by a successful period as a trainer of preachers on an international level, along with major evangelism in various cities—including two years in London at the New Gallery Evangelistic Centre. His subsequent activities have been with religious telecasting, he having developed a sequence of unique television films called It Is Written, also in color. These have been viewed by millions over leading TV channels throughout the United States, Canada, and Hawaii, with remarkable results.
Vandeman has developed an unusual approach in presenting the gospel of Christ for today, covering entire regions by means of TV mass communication. In it all he forcefully and winsomely presents, as an integral part of his program, the principles of Life Only in Christ, man's true condition in death, and the Biblical evidence on the ultimate fate of the transgressor. It has proved highly effective. Here are representative excerpts.
1. UNMASKING THE PSYCHIC MASQUERADERS.—
Speaking on the present day "Psychic Masquerade," with its plausible, bewildering appeal, Vandeman says:
"Psychic research has put on its laboratory coat and crept into our universities. It is tugging at the edges of the medical profession. The hypnotist is attempting to probe deeper and deeper into the secrets of life." [3]
3 George E. Vandeman, Touch and Live. The sermon "Psychic Masquerade" appears on pages 99-107.
Then he counsels:
"We have come to a time when we dare not trust our five senses. Issues can no longer be safely decided by our eyes and our ears and much less our feelings. Some revelation from God is needed to guide the sincere seeker for truth."
He cites Isaiah 8:19, 20:
" 'When they tell you to consult mediums and ghosts that cheep and gibber in low murmurs, ask them if a nation should not rather consult its God. Say, Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Consult the message of the counsel of God.' (Moffatt tr.) That is a straight, clear message from God. Isaiah is the gospel prophet. His message reaches through to the end of time. It was the Isaiah scroll, you remember, found in the Dead Sea cave, in 1947, that surprised an unbelieving world with its vindicating evidence for the Word of God."
2. GOSPEL PROVISION OF IMMORTALITY.—
Buttressing his positions with Scripture, Vandeman insists that it is— "on the resurrection morning—not at death—loved ones torn from us will be united with us again. In fact, the entire structure of Christianity rests upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and the final resurrection of His followers in the last days."
After citing Psalm 146:3, 4 and Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, Vande-man tells us: "The dead know nothing. They cannot remember. They cannot love or hate or envy."
When will the glad reunion with our loved ones be? He tells us:
"There is an hour coming when all the dead will hear His penetrating, life-giving voice. And then, not at death, but on the resurrection morning, God's waiting ones will come forth with the priceless gift of immortality. That's the gospel, pure and simple!"
And, supported by Scripture, he adds:
"One of the sweetest and most beautiful truths in all of God's Book is that when a man dies he rests quietly, undisturbed by memories of a troubled life or by concern for his loved ones, until the promised resurrection day."
3 HOAX PERPETRATED BY FALLEN ANGELS.—
Turning to prevalent misconceptions of what happens at death, Vandeman says:
"Why would we need a resurrection at the end of time if men go to their reward immediately at death? Why would Jesus need to return to this earth a second time, as He has promised, to gather His people, if they are already with Him now in Paradise? Why do the Scriptures teach a judgment down in the last days if men are already judged at death?"
Then he asks pointedly:
"Who gives the ["spirit"] messages in the darkened room? Who is masquerading in the disguise of those loved and lost? What are the powers that are unquestionably operating in the psychic world? We have seen what they are not. Then what are they? Who are they?"
He answers succinctly, quoting Revelation 16:14 and 2 Corinthians 11:13, 14:
"According to the Word of God, these spirits which come to us and claim to be the dear ones taken away by death are not dead people. They are not living people. They are not people at all. They are fallen angels masquerading in the form of our loved ones."
Vandeman then adds the assurance:
"Man's hope is not in psychic phenomena, not in messages from a cold, filmy spirit land, not in the dead at all, but in the living Christ. . . .
"Seeing our Lord face to face, joining our loved ones in the glorious light of never-ending day, nevermore to part—this is the promise! This is the gospel!"
4. THE OTHER SIDE OF DEATH.—
In another address, On "The Other Side of Death," Vandeman declares: "I offer you God's clear and unmistakable Word—the only satisfying answer to the question of the ages, 'Where are our beloved dead?' " [4]
And he warns:
"To stray from the Scriptures for counsel on this vital question is to make a dangerous mistake. If we turn from this Book we leave behind the only infallible arbiter of divine truth."
Going back to the creation of man, Vandeman says: "Man became a living soul as the result of the union of the body with the breath of life."
4 Ibid., pp. 82-90.
Then he explains:
"If the union of the dust of the ground and the breath of life renders man a conscious personality and makes him a living soul, what happens to that soul, that personality, at death? The conscious personality ceases to exist as such until the Life-giver reunites the body and the breath of life on the morning of the resurrection."
Speaking of Creation, he says:
"In the beginning God formed man of two things—the dust of the ground and the breath of life. As a result of the union of these two man became a living, loving, acting soul. When he dies the two separate. The living, loving, acting soul ceases to be a conscious personality until the resurrection morning. Friend, that's Scripture pure and simple!"
5. WHAT HAPPENS TO MAN AT DEATH?—
Answering the question as to where man goes at death, Vandeman explains:
"According to the Scriptures, death does not mean to go to heaven. Death does not mean to go to hell-fire. Death does not mean to go to purgatory. Death does not mean to go to the spirit world. Death does not mean to go anywhere. Death simply means a cessation of life until the resurrection."
And this is the conclusion: "When a Christian dies he can know that in the resurrection morning not only will his life be restored but immortal life will be given him."
6 RESURRECTION PROMISE ROCKED PAGAN WORLD.—
In yet another address, on the resurrection—"Thy Dead Too Shall Live"—Vandeman climaxes by declaring:
"Here is a hope for men to live by—a hope that took a pagan world by surprise when it was first spoken. It rocked an entire civilization, and its effects have rumbled down through the centuries with increasing power. This faith which has strengthened and sustained men for 19 centuries can do the same for you."
Then he appeals:
"Will you just now allow the truth of it, the exhilarating, unshackling, redeeming truth of it, to penetrate every corner of your soul? If you do, you will live. This is the promise. This is the gospel. This is life—eternal life!" [5]
Such is the simple directness, based upon Scripture, that marks the Vandeman presentations on life, death, and destiny.
5 Script, "Thy Dead Too Shall Live.'
But that is not all. In addition to the mass communications media of the foregoing sections, we must present, as a fitting close, the more than eighteen thousand evangelistic workers forming the ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church—which sponsors the aforementioned major radio and television programs. Each and all of these hold to, and teach, Conditionalism. There are no exceptions. Moreover, they conduct their worldwide work in 189 of the 223 countries and subdivisions (of the United Nations' listing), and operate in 928 languages —228 with publications. [6]
In addition to the national ministry indigenous to each country, they maintain a constant staff of some 2,300 foreign missionaries in these overseas lands, under Mission Board direction. [7] In all of the lands represented they uniformly teach Conditionalism.
1. HUGE LITERATURE DISTRIBUTION SUPPORTS CONDITIONALISM.—
It is impressive to note, first of all, that their 42 publishing houses—scattered strategically over the globe, issuing 285 periodicals, listing some 1,500 separate book titles in North America alone in 1962, and totaling more than $28,000,000 annual book and periodical sales [8]—do not publish a single item that deviates from the Conditionalist position. [9] That likewise is a remarkable record and testimony.
This is the largest Christian body (with a total baptized [10] membership of one and a third million) in which all adherents, without exception, subscribe to and teach Conditionalism without reservations. And such profession is solely on the basis of Scripture evidence, buttressed by the testimony of history.
6 All figures based on One-Hundredth Annual Statistical Report of Seventh-day Adventists (1962), p. 27.
7 W. R. Beach, "General Conference Report, No. 2," Review and Herald, July 29, 1962, p. [21] 5.
8 Statistical Report, p. 27.
9 The cumulative listing of book and periodical sales from 1863 to 1962 reaches the amazing total of $467,208,255.32 (ibid., p. 32)—and every dollar's worth is in support of the Conditionalist position wherever under discussion.
10 Unbaptized children are included in the 1,931,265 Sabbath school membership enrollment (ibid., p. 19). But they, too, are similarly taught the principles and provisions of Condi-tionalism.
2. AVOWAL OF CONDITIONALISM PREREQUISITE TO BAPTISM. —
Again, the Seventh-day Adventist uniform Certificate of Baptism to which each candidate for membership individually subscribes and which is given to the candidate, contains seven articles pertaining to Conditional Immortality. [11] To these the candidate must subscribe as a prerequisite to baptism and church membership. The result is a total worldwide body of one and a third million adherents to Conditionalism. In transferring membership to any other of the more than 13,000 churches in this sisterhood of churches encircling the globe, the individual member finds no deviation in belief as regards Conditionalism.
3 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM COMMITTED TO CONDITIONALISM. —
Then, there is yet another unique phase—the Adventist denominational educational system. The 383 Seventh-day Adventist colleges and secondary schools (with 5,140 teachers and 59,583 students), as well as their 4,389 elementary church schools (with 9,143 teachers and 258,224 pupils), [12] are all just as staunchly Conditionalist. And this adherence is appropriately intensified in their two universities. There the teachers and students similarly subscribe, with augmented emphasis.
This uniformity of emphasis—through grade school, high school, college, and university—is a record without parallel in educational annals. It shows how completely committed to Con-ditionalism is the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its component parts. It registers a witness that is consistent and undeviating. And this constitutes an integral part of the worldwide testimony of Conditionalism to mankind today. Altogether, it presents a contemporary witness unprecedented in coverage and uniformity of testimony. Such is the commitment of a dedicated Christian denomination to the Conditionalist faith of their forefathers, back across the centuries.
11 In the Certificate's "Summary of Doctrinal Beliefs," twenty-seven in number, seven (nos. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17) are devoted to life, death, and destiny, in relation to the transcendent events of the Second Advent as the key to it all. This indicates the vital place accorded to it.
12 Ibid., p. 4.
This chapter must remain unfinished—so far as the re cording of the most recent Conditionalist voices is concerned.
Additional spokesmen will have gone into print with new books or periodical articles before this volume will have come from the presses, and following that time, as well. The tide of Conditionalism is on the rise. Convictions are being constantly expressed, and will continue to be put forth. Revolt against the traditional view is spreading.
As this present work joins the already available literature on this important question—as a historical tracement of the growing discussion and cumulative testimony o£ the centuries over the nature and destiny of man—we are persuaded that it too will make its impact on the thinking o£ the scholars of Christendom, creating an even greater interest, stimulating inquiry, and resulting in still more forthright expressions of Bible-based truth as to the nature and destiny of man.
The Tabular Chart, begins on pages 864, 865, after the close of our last recorded witness, will afford an over-all picture of the twentieth-century revival of study in the area of our quest. The gist of the testimony of these writers, recorded in chronological sequence—with nationality, religious affiliation, post of responsibility, and stated positions on the three main features of Conditionalism—will enable the reader to reach his own conclusions as to the over-all evidence, and thus to evaluate the summarizing conclusions presented by the author.
Then will follow a summing up of the total evidence of the century in the light of the conspectus brought before us by the Tabular Chart, based upon the larger write-ups that lie back of them. We now turn to these most recent writers.
We introduce the witnesses of this chapter by citing a unique and valuable contribution—a survey of recent writers in this field, made by Dr. MOSES C. CROUSE/ professor of theology and history at the Advent Christian College, Aurora, Illinois. This appears in the form of a well-documented eighty page brochure, Modern Discussions of Man's Immortality. (1960). It is the only other work of its kind with which I am acquainted, assembling the statements of scholars of recent years under convenient and logical chapter groupings.
1 MOSES C. CROUSE received a thorough training at Aurora College, Central Baptist Theological Seminary, Garrett Biblical Institute, and Northwestern University, from which he received his Ph.D. in 1953. He is a member of learned societies in the fields of theology and church history.
This check list, produced by a competent scholar, who has made a careful, independent investigation, has proved valuable. Though the coverage in this volume is considerably more extensive than Dr. Grouse's, the findings are, in not a few in stances, remarkably similar. This is but natural, inasmuch as the writings of the scholars cited are common property through publication, and thus available to any who take the pains to search them out. (I have also had the advantage of having a number of scholars in England, on the Continent, and in other sections of the world, spotting such book and periodical items for me.)
1. GROWING GROUP DENIES BIBLE BASIS FOR INNATISM.
Dr. Grouse accurately shows that, despite the common concept of the soul as an innately immortal entity, living on in dependently after a man dies, there are a growing number of prominent contemporary theologians who now challenge this traditional belief in Innate Immortality. Grouse notes the fact that "the Platonic view of the soul as an undying entity is now widely believed to be a concept foreign to the Holy Scriptures." [2] This meaningful turn of events, Grouse holds, is clearly "related to the revival of Biblical Theology that has taken place since World War I." And with it have come a "renewed interest in and concern for eschatology (the doctrine of the last things). The shift in viewpoint on the nature and destiny of man was an inevitable result. So this important book was published to "establish the fact that the doctrine of natural immortality is [by this growing group] no longer thought to be grounded in the teachings of the Bible." [3]
2 Moses C. Grouse, Modern Discussions of Man's Immortality, p. 6. (Italics supplied.)
3 Ibid.
2. BIBLE DOES NOT TEACH INHERENT IMMORTALITY.
The citations assembled have been gathered into progressively arranged chapters, "somewhat akin to the development of the general study of eschatology." Not all men cited are out-and out Conditionalists, though some are. But their "primary affirmation" is that "the Bible does not teach that man is by nature an immortal being." [4] That is a basic Conditionalist contention, though in negative form. The scope of the Grouse brochure may be seen by scanning the first twelve chapter headings, with supporting testimony from scholars:
"1. Mortal Man—Immortal God."
"2. Immortality, a Gift."
"3. Man Is Mortal."
"4. Man, a Unified Organism."
"5. The Whole Man Dies."
"6. Death as Sleep."
"7. Resurrection, Not Immortality."
"8. The Resurrection of the Body
A Spiritual Body
Guarantor of Personal Identity
A Whole Man."
"9. Resurrection, Parousia, and Judgment."
"10. Resurrection to Life."
"11. Man's Ultimate Destiny
Is It Eternal Torment?
Is It Universalism?
Is It Conditionalism?
A Rationalist Approach
A Theological Approach
A Scriptural Approach
Destruction
Criticism of Conditionalism."
"12. The Consummation." [5]
3. WIDE DENOMINATIONAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL SPREAD.
Scanning the sweep of the Grouse assemblage and the calibre of the witnesses presented, one sees that this stirring is largely among recognized scholars, often with national and even international fame. There is also wide denominational and geo graphical spread. For example, as to man's mortality, Grouse quotes, in chapter one, from the Anglican scholar Dr. F. J. Taylor, of William Temple College, Hawarden, England; and Dutch theologian Hendrik Kraemer, director of the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey, Switzerland.
4 Ibid., p. 9.
5 Ibid., p. 4.
On "Immortality, a Gift" (chapter two), Grouse cites Prof. Reinhold Niebuhr (Evangelical and Reformed), of Union Theological Seminary; and Lutheran Church bishops Gustaf Aulen and Anders Nygren, of Sweden; Methodist Harold Roberts, professor of systematic theology and philosophy of religion of the University of London; Baptist Dr. Harold H. Rowley, professor emeritus of Hebrew language and literature at the University of Manchester; Episcopal bishop James A. Pike, of California; Methodist dean Clarence T. Craig, of Drew Theological Seminary; as well as Evangelical and Reformed chap lain Dr. Paul E. Irion; and Methodist Dr. Paul Ramsey, professor of Christian ethics at Princeton University.
On "The Whole Man Dies" (chapter five), excerpts are drawn from Methodist Prof. Edmund Perry, chairman of the department of history of religions, Northwestern University; Anglican Alec R. Vidler, canon of St. George's Chapel, Windsor; and Prof. Paul Tillich, professor of philosophic theology, Union Theological Seminary and Harvard University.
4. GALAXY OF ILLUSTRIOUS NAMES CITED.
On "Death as Sleep" (chapter six) Grouse draws upon Presbyterian Prof. T. W. Manson, of Manchester University; Lutheran Dr. Ethelbert Stauffer, professor of New Testament at the University of Erlangen, Germany; and professor of Biblical criticism, Dr. William Manson, of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
On "Resurrection, Not Immortality" (chapter seven) Grouse drafts on Methodist superintendent D. T. Niles, of Ceylon; again on Lutheran Prof. Ethelbert Stauffer, of Erlangen; and Congregationalist Prof. C. H. Dodd, of the universities of Manchester and Cambridge; and Canadian John Short.
On the "Resurrection of the Body" (chapter eight) versus the immortality of the soul, Grouse brings on the witness of Methodist dean and professor of Biblical theology, Bernhard W. Anderson, of Drew Theological Seminary; and archaeologist Dr. G. Ernest Wright, professor of Old Testament at McCormick Theological Seminary and Harvard: along with Canon Vidler, of Windsor, and Lutheran Eric H. Wahlstrom, of Augustana Theological Seminary; Prof. Christopher R. North, dean of the faculty of theology of the College of North Wales; and Dr. J. A. T. Robinson, dean of Clare College, Cambridge; and Presbyterian William C. Robinson, professor of ecclesiastical history, Columbia Theological Seminary, of Decatur, Georgia.
5. REMARKABLE RANGE OF SCHOLARSHIP REPRESENTED.
To these are added Oxford professor of divinity, H. R. Goudge; Disciples of Christ Dr. William Robinson, professor at Butler University; chaplain David H. Read, of the University of Edin burgh; German Lutheran Prof. Karl Heim; and the celebrated Dr. Oscar Cullmann, professor of New Testament exegesis at the University of Basel and the Sorbonne; along with Lutheran Dr. T. A. Kantonen, professor of systematic theology at Hamma Divinity School. And on "Man's Ultimate Destiny" (chapter eleven) draft is again made on Lutheran Dr. Kantonen; on Methodist dean A. C. Knudson, of Boston University; Quaker Dr. D. Elton Trueblood, professor of philosophy at Earlham College; and canon of Birmingham Cathedral, H. D. A. Major. A real contribution to knowledge of the field has therefore been made by this collation.
6. GREEK ORIGIN OF INNATISM WIDELY PERCEIVED.
In his concluding chapter Dr. Grouse sums up his investigation by stating that "modern Christianity has significantly faced up to the fact that one of the tenets of orthodoxy is not a Biblical doctrine but rather is rooted in Greek philosophy. In attempting to establish this point the author has quoted from many different branches of the Christian Church, though not all. The very conservative wing of the Church has not been able to see non-Biblical elements in their teachings about man and his destiny." [6]
7. GROUND SWELL OF REVOLT UNDER WAY.
Noting "that there always has been a significant number of thinkers who have believed that eternal life is mediated to mortal men only through the grace of God," Grouse refers to a distinct current "ground swell of opinion rising up to proclaim that the Biblical doctrine is concerned with the resurrection, through God's merciful purpose, and not with some theory of immortality grounded in man's nature." [7] He rightly contends that "God's truth is not validated by a majority vote of the populace, or of the scholars." He sagely says: "Truth is not more true because a larger number pro claim it than when it is held only by a few, or even when it is lost for a time in oblivion." [8]
But such testimony does establish the fact that Conditionalism is not to be associated with Jack of Biblical scholarship and intellectual training, and not to be castigated as a heresy- for many of Christendom's most widely esteemed orthodox scholars so hold. It is not the penchant o£ the naive and the incompetent. That charge is laid low for all time.
6 Ibid., p. 77.
8. RESURGENCE OF BIBLE STUDY BRINGS CORRECTIVE SWING.
It was following World War I that there came a "resurgence of Bible study in Europe, England, and finally around the world." Grouse then makes this observation:
"With this renewed emphasis upon Biblical Theology (particularly in contrast to the philosophically grounded theology of the liberal tradition) came a sharp reaction against many of the presuppositions of the liberalism of that day." [9]
Following a recognition that "the Bible should be interpreted in terms of its own claim of being a revelation of the living God," came the widespread conviction "that it should be interpreted not through the categories of Hellenistic thought, but that Biblical proclamations be seen as developing from the thought-forms of the Hebrew-Jewish traditions." [10] So, along with this revolution in thought has come "a re-examination of many Scriptures that have been considered closely akin to Hellenistic thought." [11] One of the results has been that insistence on the "eternal torment of the wicked" has been "greatly curtailed." The tendency of some has, of course, been to swing to the opposite extreme of Universalism.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid., p. 78.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
But a far larger number have come to adopt staunch Conditionalist convictions—that of the ultimate and utter destruction of the impenitently wicked. Such is the valuable contribution of Moses Grouse.
We now turn to individual witnesses. In the International Journal of Religious Education [12] for April, 1960, Dr. J. CARTER SWAIM, [13] of its editorial board, had an illuminating article titled "Life and Immortality," which exemplifies the present growing denial that immortality is an inherent possession of man, but springs instead from Greek philosophy and involves the common dualistic concept of body and spirit.
1. "NOTION" OF IMMORTAL SOUL NOT BIBLICAL, BUT GREEK.
Declaring that it was Christ who "brought immortality to light," Dr. Swaim exposes the Greek origin of the popular concept of Innate Immortality:
"The notion that every human being comes into the world possessed of an immortal soul is Greek rather than biblical. The Greeks held that man was composed of two parts, body and spirit. The body is subject to decay, but the spirit is eternal." [14]
The Hebrews, on the other hand, he says, did not so divide man, but "regarded him as a person." Referring to 1 Timothy 6:16, stating that God "alone has immortality," Swaim adds: "This runs counter to the popular notion that every human being is 'an immortal soul.' "[15]
2. MAN ONLY "IMMORT-ABLE"; GOD ALONE IMMORTAL.
Answering poet Hawthorne's inquiry as to whether we were not "meant to be immortal," Swaim says pertinently: "The answer is that man is immortable—that is to say, capable of attaining or receiving immortality. Our normal state is one of lifelessness." [16] Then comes this careful distinction:
"God 'alone has immortality'—and this by reason of his own being and nature. He is the self-existent one. This is what he meant at the burning bush: 'I am who I am' (Exodus 3:14). God is the only one inherently immortal. Any other being who possesses immortality must receive it as a gift. That is precisely the good news of Easter. Christ has brought life and immortality to light." [17]
12 "An official publication of the Division of Christian Education, National Council of Churches."
13 J. CARTER SWAIM (1904- ) United Presbyterian, was trained at Washington and Jefferson colleges, Western Theological Seminary, and University of Edinburgh. A period of teaching at American University, Beirut, was followed by fourteen years of pastoral work in Edinburgh, New York, and St. Louis. After ten years as professor 'of New Testament at Western Theological Seminary he became executive director of the Department of English Bible of the Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
14 J. Carter Swaim, "Life and Immortality," International Journal of Religious Education, April, 1960, p. 18. (Italics supplied.)
3. NOT NATIVE ENDOWMENT BUT GIFT OF GOD.
Dr. Swaim continues by placing the Greek dualism in contrast with the Biblical portrayal:
"The contrast is evident when we consider again the Greek notion that immortality applied to one part of man's being. Another part of him was held to be inherently evil and subject to decay. There was indeed a Greek epigram that a body is a tomb. The inadequacy of this doctrine is revealed in one of their own legends." [18] Swaim concludes by declaring impressively that eternal life is ever a "gift" of God:
"Eternal life is not something with which we are natively endowed, nor to which we are naturally entitled. It is a gift which God, who alone possesses it, bestows upon us. But it is in the nature of a gift that we do not have to accept it. We can reject it if we like." [19] Furthermore, "this gift is mediated to us through a Per son [Jesus Christ], not through abstract reason nor wonderful philosophical schemes." [20] Such is Dr. Swaim's clear statement of position in the International Journal of Religious Education for April, 1960. [21]
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
18 Ibid., p. 19. (Italics supplied.) This, Swaim states, concerned the goddess Aurora, and Tithonus, and Zeus, and the gift of everlastingness," which faded.
19 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
20 Ibid.
21 Inquiry of Dr. Swaim elicited the response that there had been practically no "unfavorable reaction” from readers to the position taken. On the other hand, request came from another publication for permission to reprint. Similar word comes from the editor of Theology Today.
Over in Britain, at the April, 1960, Annual Meeting of the National Bible Society of Scotland, Prof. GEORGE A. F. KNIGHT, [22] then of St. Andrews University, Edinburgh, but now of McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, spoke on "The Message of the Reformation." After referring to the noncanonical books of the Apocrypha, which were introduced into the Septuagint in the Inter-Testament period, Knight indicted "four doctrines"—including innate "immortality of the soul" and Purgatory—as without foundation or authority either the Old or the New Testament. Not all of the four, however, were rejected by the church of the Reformation. Here is Knight's charge:
"I would mention four doctrines that have arisen from the Apocrypha which are not in the Old Testament nor in the New Testament. First, the immortality of the soul, as understood by the Greek philosopher Plato. Second, the pre-existence of the soul, an idea that came out of the East and not from the Old Testament. Third, Purgatory, which is not found anywhere in the Bible, and Fourth, prayers for the dead. These are all in the Apocrypha.” [23] is interesting that the Church rejected some of these, but kept some of the others." [23] Platonic Innate Immortality, then, according to Knight, is not found in the Bible.
1. RESURRECTION PROFFERED HOPE OF "LIFE AFTER DEATH."
Referring back to Jerome's Vulgate translation of the Bible, Knight states that Jerome, finding himself unable to translate the Old Testament from the Septuagint, turned to the Hebrew original, which, Knight notes, is "without the addition of the four doctrines" mentioned. Then, turning to the "positive element" in the Reformation "rediscovery of the Bible," Knight stresses the resurrection as the "great hope of life after death." Note his searching words:
"I want to mention a positive element in the Gospel which the Reformation rediscovered that has nothing to do with the Apocrypha, but comes straight to us from the Old Testament and the New Testament, It is the great hope of life after death. The Bible, without the Apocrypha, has nothing to say about the immortality of the soul, nothing about the pre-existence of the soul, nothing about Purgatory, nothing about praying for the dead; the Resurrection is the doctrine that comes to us from the Old and New Testaments—the Resurrection of the body." [24]
That is vitally important.
22 GEORGE A. F. KNIGHT (1909- ), Church of Scotland, was trained at the University of Glasgow. He first saw mission service in Budapest, Hungary, and was then minister to two Scottish churches. He was next professor of Old Testament in Knox College, New Zealand, then lecturer in Old Testament at St. Andrews University, Scotland, and is currently professor of Old Testament at McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago. He is author of several volumes.
23 George A. F. Knight, "The Message of the Reformation,” For All Nations (Record of the National Bible Society of Scotland), October, I960, p. 3. (Italics supplied.)
2. REFORMERS "SHAKEN" AWAY FROM MEDIEVAL INNATISM.
Declaring that the term "body" is used to designate the "whole person." Knight sets forth the contrast between the resurrection and the traditional survival concept, through immortality of the soul. Here are important words, fraught with meaning:
"Our wholeness can only be known and expressed through our bodies as part of the whole persons that we are. Our physical bodies may be changed but in the Resurrection it will be the whole of each one of us that is concerned—body, soul and spirit. This is His promise to us in the Bible, and not just the survival of the soul. That is Good News; that is part of the Good News that the medieval Church could not preach. No wonder that scholars before the Reformation were afraid of the Hebrew Bible. They were afraid that by going back to it that it might shake their faith, because they were preaching the immortality of the soul. When the Reformers came, returning to the original Hebrew or Greek of the Bible, their faith was shaken, but it was shaken into finding the Gospel!" [25] That is true. But, alas, not of all. Luther, Knight says, went "back to the original Bible." And our students today learn Greek and Hebrew "in order to understand the authority of the Gospel." [26] So, even in the Scottish Bible Society meeting in 1960 the significance of the Bible witness on life after death is touched upon.
24 Ibid., p. 4. (Italics supplied.)
25 Ibid. (Italics supplied.) And Luther, it will be remembered, at the dawn of the Reformation discovered the fallacy of Innate Immortality and of the theory of consciousness in death. On Luther see this work, pp. 65-79.
26 Ibid.
3. SOUL NOT SELF-EXISTING "SEPARABLE" ENTITY.
In his A Christian Theology of the Old Testament, published while Knight was still at Knox College, New Zealand, he wrote of the creation of man and the unity, or single "entity," of his being:
"The result of God's [creative] action was not a soul within a body, one that could later be extracted from that body and which could then continue to exist apart from the body, when the body finally crumbled in the dust. Man is not an amalgam of two separable entities dust and the breath of life. He is one entity." [27]
And in chapter twenty-six ("New Heavens and a New Earth"), under "Life After Death," Knight wrote of the attitude of the Reformers and of the Reformation "return to authority of Scripture."
"It is natural that they [the Reformers] should have approached the OT at that time from the background of philosophical thought which they had inherited with all Europe, and that emerged from the renewed study of the Greek philosophers that was one cause of the Renaissance.
Amongst other conceptions that were 'in the air" at that period was the universally accepted doctrine of the immortality of the individual soul.
It has been the modern study of the OT itself, however, which has offered the Christian Church a wholly different basis for the Christian hope of a life beyond death, and one that is fully in accord with the hope which the NT proclaims." [28]
And, Knight adds, concerning the nephesh, or soul, in the Old Testament: "The 'Greek' notion that God addresses merely the human soul, as if the latter were an entity separable from the body, is therefore an idea alien to the Bible." [29] This "alien" idea came, he repeats from the "philosophy of Greece." Knight thus accords with multiplied scores of other awakened scholars.
27 George A. F. Knight, A Christian Theology of the Old Testament, p. 34. (Italics supplied.)
28 Ibid., p. 334. (Italics supplied.)
29 Ibid., p. 337. (Italics supplied.)
And now this terse word from Principal H. F. LOVELL COCKS, [30] of Bristol's Western College, England, who likewise holds that man is not "naturally immortal." He lives again only by "resurrection from the dead." That, says Cocks, is the "message of the Bible":
"The Bible teaches that God created man by breathing His Spirit into the dust of the earth, and so bringing into existence the nephesh, or living personality. When God withdraws His Spirit man dies and re turns to the dust. Thus man's life is lived by favour of God. Nowhere in the Bible is the human soul regarded as naturally immortal. The only way in which man can live again after death is by a resurrection—a miracle." [31]
"Apart from the grace of the forgiving God, there is no hope for him.
For he can be saved only by being raised from the dead. Not a natural immortality of the soul, but resurrection from the dead by the power of God, is the message of the Bible." [32] This point has been repeated so often that it is now almost a refrain.
As previously noted, the current agitation regarding the immortality question has likewise appeared within Roman Catholic circles. We have already taken note of scholarly Cardinal Billot at Rome and the two French clerics, Tresmontant and Tremel, [33] in France, each giving expression to similar sentiments. We will now listen to an English priest, CHARLES DAVIS, [34] professor of dogmatic theology at St. Edmund's College in Ware (Hertfordshire), England, and since 1960 editor of Clergy Review, as well.
30 HARRY FRANCIS LOVELL COCKS (1894- ), Congregationalist, was trained at New College, University of London. He was minister successively at Winchester, Hove, Hudingley Hill, and Leeds then professor at Yorkshire United College (1932-1937), principal of Scottish College (1937-1941), and principal of Western College (1941- ). He was chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales (1950-1951), and is author of seven major books.
31 H. F. Lovell Cocks, A Handbook of Christian Theology, p. 76. (Italics supplied.)
32 Ibid., p. 78. (Italics supplied.)
33 On Billot, Tresmontant, and Tremel see this work, pp. 772-774, 918-922.
34 CHARLES DAVIS (1923-), Roman Catholic priest was educated at St. Brendan's and St. Edmund's colleges, and the Gregorian University at Rome. He was first professor of apologetics (1949-1952), and since 1952 has been professor of dogmatic theology at St. Edmund's. He is also editor of The Clergy Review.
In Easter week of 1957 Davis presented a paper at the Conference of Ecclesiastical Studies. This subsequently appeared in printed form in the March and April issues of his Clergy Review for 1958, and in 1960 was reprinted in Theology Digest. In this paper, and subsequent article, Davis declared that the immortality of the soul concept is not "Biblical," but is actually "alien to Christianity." Like many Protestant scholars, he likewise sets the Innate Immortality and resurrection positions over against each other as irreconcilables that "cannot be harmonized." Here is his key paragraph:
"It is possible for the clear grasp we now have of the spirituality and natural immortality of the soul to lead us unwittingly to adopt a world- view that is not Christian—that is in fact incompatible with the Biblical and Christian world-view. The idea that death is the liberation of the soul from the body, and that immortality or the after-life is the blossoming into full flower of the natural life of the soul, now no longer impeded by matter, is alien to Christianity. In this sense one can say that immortality of the soul and resurrection of the body represent two out looks on the meaning of life and two accounts of man's destiny that cannot be harmonised."
The similarity of these views, occasional Catholic as well as Protestant, is more than coincidental.
One of the more recent portrayals of changing concepts in Presbyterian ranks was issued in 1960 by Dr. GEORGE STUART HENDRY, [36] professor of systematic theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. In this impressive paperback (John Knox Press) Professor Hendry presents "a contemporary interpretation" of The Westminster Confession for Today, as it is titled.
35 Charles Davis, "The Resurrection of the Body” Clergy Review (vol. 43), March and April, 1958, p. 138. See pp. 137-150; 205-216. (Italics supplied.) In a footnote he refers favourably to the Cullmann volume. On Cullmann see this work, pp. 913-917.
36 GEORGE STUART HENDRY (1904- ), Presbyterian, was born in Scotland and educated in the universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh, with graduate work in Tubingen and Berlin.
From 1930 to 1949 he was minister at Bridge of Allan, and then on the faculty of the University of Edinburgh (1931-1934). Since 1949 he has been professor of systematic theology at Princeton. He is author of a number of books. First of all, the fundamental declaration should be noted as to the supremacy of the Word over that of any confession or creed:
"The Word of God is the only infallible rule of faith and life. No other document—not even one published under the best auspices of the church—can be regarded in the same light." [37] So, on the premise of "this cornerstone of Protestant faith" (the Holy Bible), Hendry builds his "present-day interpretation of the Westminster Confession of Faith." [38] On this premise he explains the many contemporary calls for revision, including re-examination of the question of the immortality of the soul. The reason for this needed reinterpretation is stated thus, on a summarizing page:
"Although the [Westminster] Confession is formally accepted by Presbyterian Churches, many individuals have called for revision, others for an entirely new Confession." [39] And the reason given is this:
"The crux of the difficulty is that the Confession comes from the 17th century, an age of legalism, individualism, and clearly defined boundaries between good and evil. Today, new insights from the Bible and new social, economic, and political conditions require us to reinterpret ancient truths." [40] That gets the matter before us.
1. ANGLICAN ORIGIN OF PRESBYTERIAN CONFESSION.
The significance of this "reinterpretation" can best be understood in the light of Hendry's illuminating "Introduction." After alluding to the ancient Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, and the Reformation attempt to draw up a "Protestant" confession, Hendry comes to the Westminster Confession, "held by the Presbyterian Church as their principal 'standard.'" [41] He explains that the Confession was originally drawn up by "an assembly of divines," commissioned in 1643 "by the English Parliament in order to prepare a scheme for uniformity of religion in the recently united kingdom of England and Scotland." [42] This assignment was "completed" in 1646, and was like wise "adopted by the General Assembly of the Church of Scot land in 1649." [43] It was subsequently "brought to America by the early settlers, and was adopted by the General Synod of the Presbyterian Church in 1729," and then by the United Presbyterian Church, and finally the Presbyterian Church in the United States. Dr. Hendry then wryly observes:
"It is surely one of the ironies of history that Presbyterian Churches throughout the English-speaking world should hold as their standards a group of documents which were almost entirely the work of an episcopal ordained clergymen of the Church of England." [44]
37 George S. Hendry, The Westminster Confession for Today—a Contemporary Interpretation, back cover summary. (Italics supplied.)
38 Ibid.
39 Ibid.
40 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
41 Ibid., p. 9.
2. PRESENT-DAY RESERVATIONS RE THE CONFESSION.
But, Hendry continues, "the [Westminster] Confession of Faith was not intended to serve as a text for instruction in the Chris tian faith." That, he says, was the "function" of "the two Catechisms which accompanied it." [45] But, "since the Catechisms have largely fallen into disuse," he states that this catechetical "function has tended to devolve on the Confession." Now comes the crucial point: "The propriety of using the Confession as the basis of an exposition of the church's faith at the present day" demands "further consideration" because, frankly "the Confession no longer holds the same place in the mind of the church as it did in the past.
"While most Presbyterian Churches on both sides of the Atlantic continue formally to accept the Confession, they do so with certain expressed and unexpressed qualifications and reservations." [46] Some have "introduced changes in the text of the Confession itself," by alteration, elimination, or addition. Some have "taken formal action to define the sense," so as to "preclude certain inferences." Others have adopted "brief statements of faith" as "interpretations of, and supplements to," the Confession. [47]
42 Ibid., pp. 9, 10.
43 Ibid., p. 10.
44 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
45 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
46 Ibid., p. 11. (Italics supplied.)
3. PROPRIETY OF TAKING "EXCEPTION" EXPLAINED.
Speaking of the anomaly of accepting and at the same time criticizing the Confession, Dr. Hendry appeals to the "central principle of the Reformed faith," "that the Word of God is the only infallible rule of faith and practice," and that "no other document—not even one produced under the best ecclesiastical auspices—can be regarded in the same light." [48] The Reformers' "break with the Roman Church" was because the humanly devised Roman Church " 'dogmas' " were held to be " 'divinely revealed,' " and therefore " 'infallible and irreformable.' " The Westminster Confession, on the contrary, "explicitly and emphatically" affirms that " 'all decrees of councils' and 'doctrines of men' are subject to the judgment of 'the Supreme Judge' "—the " 'Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.' " Therefore creeds and confessions are "open to correction." [49] Hendry then states:
"Immunity from criticism is the last thing its authors would claim for the Confession. Their main endeavor is to refer us to the Word of God; if continued study of the Word of God (and it has been under continuous study in the church during the three centuries that have elapsed since the Confession was drawn up) leads us to take exception to some statements in the Confession, this is not to show disrespect for it; on the contrary, it is to treat it with the highest degree of respect." [50] This highly important and illuminating statement ex plains certain modern trends and actions in Presbyterian ranks.
4. PRESENT-DAY "JOURNEY" MAY REQUIRE REVISION OF "MAP."
Dr. Hendry discusses how "acceptance" of the Confession can properly be "combined with exception to some of its statements"—that acceptance of a "system of doctrine" "does not imply acceptance of every single doctrine in it." [51] Even the "ordination formula" of the Church of Scotland declares the propriety of "recognising liberty of opinion on such points of doctrine as do not enter into the substance of the faith." And Hendry adds, "Doctrines are not faith," but are "statements of faith in prepositional form." Professor Hendry interestingly compares "faith" to "a journey, or a pilgrimage," while "doctrine may be then compared to a map." [52] Then he adds:
47 Ibid.
48 Ibid.
49 Ibid., p. 12.
50 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
"New conditions under which the journey of faith has to be made, require that the maps of doctrine, which did good service to our fore fathers in their journey, must be revised and amended if they are to fulfil that service for us." [53]
5. DOGMATISM IN "SHADOWY REGION BEYOND DEATH.”
He points out that the Westminster Confession was "a product of the seventeenth century," and consonant with the understanding and temper of the times, that it was "excessively legalistic," [54] as was characteristic of the period. Moreover, it was designed "to prepare a form of church government" rather than to determine "matters of doctrine." It was more "a constitutional than a confessional document." [55] Furthermore, it sought to give "categorical answers to all questions." And this, significantly, was— "particularly evident in the two final chapters, in which the Confession takes us, so to speak, on a conducted tour of the shadowy region beyond death, and not only does it know how to distinguish the stages of the journey we shall have to take there, but it predicts the issue of the final judgment with a confidence hardly befitting those who will be neither judge nor jury, but judged." [56] Everything, Hendry explains, is presented in "terms of black and white," with no "intermediate shades of gray." And it deals with election in such a manner that "it becomes impossible to follow it." [57]
51 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
52 Ibid., p. 13.
53 Ibid., p. 14. (Italics supplied.)
54 Ibid.
55 Ibid., p. 15.
56 Ibid.
57 Ibid., p. 16.
6. NOT NEW CONFESSION, BUT ADJUSTMENTS OF OLD.
Dr. Hendry's own attitude is clearly stated thus:
"Should any reader interpret these observations as a plea to the church to consider whether the time has not come to trade in the Confession for a new one, the writer would not take serious exception. He would point out, however, that until a new and better Confession is forthcoming, we must continue to use the old one, with such adjustments and repairs as may be necessary to keep it in a roadworthy condition.
The present commentary has been written in the belief that the Confession of Faith, if it is treated with care and discrimination, can still render valuable service to the traveller on the road of faith." [58]
7. IMMORTALITY OF SOUL DERIVED FROM PLATO.
With this indispensable background before us we are now prepared for Professor Hendry's discussion of the crucial chapter thirty- four—"of the state of man after death, and of the resurrection of the dead," and the area of "eschatology" and its "limitations" as to defining and spelling out "the last things." [59] "Christian hope," Hendry says, is "founded on faith in Christ," and "especially His resurrection." He then warns of the "danger of wishful thinking" as concerns "continuance after death." [60] And he adds:
"The inexorable finality with which death closes off all earthly prospects and severs all earthly ties has prompted men to seek some way to prove to themselves that death is not the absolute end and to discover some prospect of a continuance after death." [61] Then he specifies, pointing out the Platonic origin of the "immortality of the soul" theory:
"One of these, which is of great antiquity and which is endorsed by the Confession, is the theory of the immortality of the soul; according to this theory it is only the body that dies, the soul does not die; indeed, the soul is incapable of dying, 'having an immortal subsistence’—this argument is derived from Plato, who reasoned that since only things that are composed of parts can fall to pieces, the soul, being a simple and uncompounded essence, as he thought, cannot be dissolved." [62] That statement should not be forgotten—"this argument is derived from Plato."
58 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
59 Ibid., p. 243.
60 Ibid., p. 244.
61 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
62 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
8. REASONS FOR QUESTIONING INNATE IMMORTAL-SOULISM.
Hendry explains the matter in this way: "The idea of the immortality of the soul was received in the Christian church very early, and there it was combined with the idea of the resurrection of the body." Thus the common concept of the "immortality of the soul provides a basis" for the "continuing identity of the individual." [63] But he adds:
"On the other hand, however, there are several reasons which have led many people to question whether the immortality of the soul should be considered an integral part of the Christian hope." [64] Dr. Hendry then lists these three considerations:
(1) The Bible "gives no support to the idea that the soul is immortal, i.e., incapable of dying." Such a position "would tend to blur the distinction, so important in the Bible, between man, who has his 'appointed time' (Job. 7:1), and God, 'who only hath immortality' (1. Tim. 6.16)." [65] It likewise conflicts with the Biblical portrayal of man and death.
(2) "If death means the separation of an immortal soul from a mortal body, and if the soul is the bearer of the self, man cannot really be said to die at all; he merely 'shuttles of this mortal coil!' This hardly seems to accord with the Biblical attitude toward death. From the Biblical point of view the theory of the immortality of the soul looks like a sophisticated attempt to take the sting out of death." [66]
(3) It is "too fragile" to support hope in the "life to come":
"The idea of the immortality of the soul is too fragile and precarious a foundation to support the hope of the life to come. The Christian hope is based, not on human prospects for survival, but on the promises of God, which are more sure." [67]
Such are Hendry's points.
9. "IMMEDIATE" REWARD AT DEATH WOULD NULLIFY JUDGMENT.
Noting the problem of the "intermediate state" the "interval" between the end of one's own life and the "end of the world"—Dr. Hendry writes: "The focus of the Christian hope in the New Testament is on the end of the world; the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the last judgment, and the final disposition of mankind all belong here." [68]
63 Ibid., pp. 244. 245.
64 Ibid., p. 245. (Italics supplied.)
65 Ibid.
66 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
67 Ibid., pp. 245, 246. (Italics supplied.)
Hendry next raises this question, and then observes:
"Does the individual come into the enjoyment of this hope immediately at his own death, or does he have to wait for the end of the world? The Confession answers that the soul passes to its final and eternal destiny immediately after death, while the body awaits the end of the world; the soul has only to wait for its reunion with the body." [69] But Dr. Hendry says pointedly:
"The obvious objection to this ingenious theory is that, if the souls of the righteous and the souls of the wicked are assigned to their ap pointed places immediately after death, there would seem to be. no meaning left to the last judgment (which is the theme of the next chapter); for if the sentences are already executed on the souls, what need is there for them to be pronounced on the souls-reunited-with-their- bodies?" [70] Hendry summarily disposes of the Roman Catholic limbus infantium and limbus patrum for unbaptized infants and Old Testament saints:
"These conceptions deserve to be repudiated, not merely because they lack a basis in Scripture (a lack they share with some of the notions advanced by the Confession), but because they detract from the finality of death and the decisiveness and sufficiency of the work of Christ." [71] Hendry concludes this section by stating that "the Chris tian hope does not look for a mere continuation of the present form of existence." Again, "The life of the world to come is of a different order" from the present life, and "in passing from this side to that we must 'be changed.' " And this involves the "resurrection of the body." [72] Such are some of the considerations in Dr. Hendry's con temporary interpretation. It too recognizes the Platonic, non- Biblical, traditional basis for Immortal-Soulism. It is a significant statement, now used in seminaries and officers' training classes.
68 Ibid., p. 246.
69 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
70 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
71 Ibid., p. 247.
72 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
Another stalwart current contender for the Conditionalist faith is the Reverend BERNARD L. BATESON," currently rector of Holton, Somerset, England, and periodic contributor to the Conditionalist Words of Life. In a searching article titled "Hu man Tradition or Biblical Truth?" in the August, 1961, issue, Bateson begins with this truism:
"During the course of the Church's history times have come when the tradition of the centuries has had to be examined and set aside as unscriptural, despite its prevalence. Such was the case at the time of the Reformation, when many long-standing traditional teachings of the Church had to be swept away under the clear light of Biblical truth, including such dogmas as Transubstantiation and Purgatory." [74]
Then he adds:
"But there has always been, on the other hand, a tendency to hold on to traditions at all costs, and a refusal to re-examine them afresh in the light of the Bible. For example, it was only in the last century that the Church of Scotland ventured to repudiate the idea of the eternal torment in hell of non-elect infants who died in infancy. Yet to-day such an idea is revolting and abhorrent to the last degree to the Christian believer." [75]
1. FIVE BASIC PLANKS IN "TRADITIONAL SCHEME."
Noting the tendency among many Evangelicals to regard the Reformation as "complete and final," with no further light to come, Bateson cites Pastor John Robinson's memorable fare well sermon to the Pilgrims in 1620—that more light was to "break forth" from the Word, and be received. He comments on the blessings that would have come had this sound counsel been heeded. On the contrary, ostracism has been the usual reward. This has been specifically true of the doctrine of "Life only in Christ." ™ Bateson then lists five basic planks in the "traditional Scheme of Salvation," as generally held. These are:
"1. Adam was created an immortal being"—the term "living soul," being understood as indicating an "immortal soul."
"2. He was placed in paradise on probation for everlasting life"—the death warning for disobedience referring only to the "body," not to the "immortal soul," which would "go on living for ever."
"3. By his fall he brought upon himself and all mankind" the "prospect of eternal misery of the soul," whether "through imputation to them of Adam's sin, or by possession of a sinful and corrupt nature."
"4. The curse of breaking God's law being death, Jesus Christ came to bear that curse through death upon the cross."
Incongruously it is held that "in the case of mankind this death means conscious eternal torment in hell fire."
"5. For those who receive Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord, there is ... eternal happiness," while for rejecters there is "everlasting life in torment." [77]
73 BERNARD LIONEL BATESON (1907-), of Methodist background, after studying various faiths and lecturing for a time, attended Clifton Theological Seminary, Bristol, in preparation for the ministry. He was ordained to the ministry of the Church of England and became curate of All Saints church, Woodford, and then rector of Holton. His attention was first directed to Conditionalism through reading Edward White's Life in Christ.
74 Bernard L. Bateson, "Human Tradition or Biblical Truth?" Words of Life, LXV (August, 1961), p. 170.
75 Ibid.
Such, Bateson holds, is a fair statement of the "traditional teaching of the churches." [78] But he earnestly avers that in each of these "traditional" positions a "human interpretation" has been "added" to the "plain teaching of the Bible." These additions he proceeds to examine with care and effectiveness. Note them.
76 Ibid., p. 171.
77 Ibid.
78 Ibid.
2. DIVERGENT "INTERPRETATION" ADDED TO BIBLE TRUTH.
(1) The Bible nowhere teaches that man became "an immortal being," for God "only hath immortality" (1 Tim. 6:16).
Man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7). The animals also are said to be "living souls" (Gen. 1:21, 24), and to have "spirit."
If "man is immortal," then the "animals are immortal too." That goes too far.
(2) The Bible nowhere states that man's "immortal soul" goes on "living for ever." Nor is the "spirit which returns to God some immortal, living, personal entity." "At death" man truly "returns to the dust"—for "dust thou art" (Gen. 3:19).
In support Bateson cites Principal J. Stafford Wright's [79] What Is Man? (1955, page 151), on "spirit, or breath" as the "life- principle," which at death returns to God, who gave it.
(3) The Bible nowhere states that "because of Adam's sin all were made liable to everlasting misery"—except by twisting the Biblical expression, "death," to mean "everlasting misery."
(4) The death that Christ died on the cross, in payment of the "wages of sin," is literal "DEATH." Jesus Christ "actually and literally took the wages of sin." "He bore the threatened penalty—DEATH!" [80]
(5) For those who fail to heed the gospel the punishment is not, according to Scripture, "everlasting life in torment" but "destruction." It means going into "eternal fire," just as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah—"not because they are still burning, but because the fire burnt them with eternal results." In support, Bateson this time cites Dr. Basil Atkinson's Pocket Commentary of the Bible. [81] Here is the Atkinson quotation:
"This [the illustration of Sodom and Gomorrah] is the Scriptural picture of eternal fire, and ought to make quite plain to us that eternal fire consumes once for all with an irrevocable result, and does not continue burning for ever. Not only does our Lord select the destruction of these--cities as an illustration of the final judgment, but the language is taken up in the Apocalypse to describe the same thing." [82]
79 J. Stafford Wright is principal of Tyndale Hall, Bristol.
80 Bateson, lac. cit. (Full capitals his.)
81 On Atkinson, see this work, pp. 881-888.
82 Basil F. C. Atkinson, Pocket Commentary of the Bible, Part II, on Gen. 19:24, p. 181, quoted by Bateson, op. cit., p. 174.
3. SUPPORTING CITATION FROM ARCHDEACON GUILLEBAUD.
Bateson closes his illuminating and logical article by quoting three pertinent paragraphs from the late Archdeacon H. E. Guillebaud, able missionary to Rwanda, [83] on the relation of the traditional doctrine of Eternal Torment to the sound preaching of the gospel. The venerable archdeacon contends that the supreme question is " 'What does the Bible really say?' " He stoutly denies that fear of the " 'eternity of endless torment' " is the " 'mightiest motive of soul-winning,' " and challenges anyone to find a single text that " 'connects soul- winning with even a seeming suggestion of the doctrine of endless torment.' " Paul, with all his " 'driving force' " as an evangelist, never used such an argument. Guillebaud suggests that the proponents of " 'eternal torment' " consider whether they have " 'been resting more on tradition than on the Word of God.' " [84] Bateson closes with Guillebaud's earnest appeal:
" 'No Protestant should object to being asked to re-examine any traditional belief in the light of the Word of God, searching the Scripture to see whether these things be so.' " [85] So, vigorous and respected voices continue to ring out in the new decade in defense of Conditionalism and in denial of the dogma of the eternal torment of the incorrigibly wicked.
It is refreshing to note the interest and convictions of professional men outside the ranks of the clergy as concerns this matter of the nature and destiny of man. For example, there is a research radiochemist, Dr. GEORGE K. SCHWEITZER, [86] professor of chemistry at the University of Tennessee, also connected with the Atomic Energy Commission at Oak Ridge, and director of health physics for the Nuclear Service Laboratory.
83 On Guillebaud, see this work, pp. 803-814.
84 Bateson, op. cit., p. 175.
85 Ibid., p. 176.
86 GEORGE K. SCHWEITZEK (1924-)A Baptist, was trained at Central College, Columbia University, the University of Illinois, and New—York University, and is now professor of chemistry at the University of Tennessee and research radiochemist with the Atomic Energy Commission at Oak Ridge. He is author of a textbook and numerous scientific papers in the spheres of science, philosophy, and religion. He is active in church work ana seminars in religion. Already having a Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry, he is now completing a doctorate in religion.
He is an active Baptist, and his special religious interests lie in natural science and its relations to Christian faith. Dr. Schweitzer has lectured at more than fifty college and university religious conventions. Interested in this present quest, in letters to the author dated November 2, 1961, and January 17, 1962—from which I quote by permission—Dr. Schweitzer wrote:
"As I see the innate immortality idea, it is distinctly a Greek derivative. There would appear to be little from the strict Hebrew tradition inherent in the concept; and further, the New Testament writers succumb very little, if at all, to the temptation to 'baptize' the idea. I feel that innate immortality fails to do justice to the Creator-creature separation which is such a dominant theme of the Hebrew-Christian historical stream. That which is immortal is divine; and you and I are not divine! The Hebrew-Christian tradition, as I understand it, does not teach the immortality of the soul, but the resurrection of the total man."
He cites Dr. Cullmann's book in confirmation. (On Cullmann, see pages 913-917.)
"It is very interesting to note that all the creeds of the historic Church look forward to 'the resurrection of the body,' not to the immortality of the soul."
A fruitful search into contemporary French writers on aspects of Conditionalism has just been completed by CLARENCE J. KEARNEY [87] veteran writer and editor. It was suggested that these findings be published in periodical article form, which could be quoted from directly. This has been done. A real contribution has thus been made, now giving contemporary French and Swiss voices their rightful place along with Conditionalist writers of other lands. These have appeared in serial form in the Advent Christian Present Truth Messenger, of Live Oak, Florida. [88] All translations from the French have been made by Mr. Kearney, himself an ardent believer in Conditional Immortality. The credit for the witness of this section therefore goes to collaborator Kearney.
87 CLARENCE J. KEARNEY (1894-), Advent Christian, was trained at the French Canadian Baptist Institute Feller, McGill University, and Aurora College. After a period as journalist in New England and the Midwest he was for fifteen years on the editorial staff of the Chicago Herald-Tribune. He then turned to Christian relations work, and later became editor of The Present Truth Messenger. Deeply interested in French-speaking Protestantism, he discovered a strong Conditionalist testimony, as here presented.
88 Present Truth Messenger, March 1, 8, 15, 22, 1962.
The nineteenth-century French and Swiss Conditionalist writers—among whom Dr. Emanuel Petavel was pre-eminent —have already been presented in Part II. Kearney mentions De Pury, De Coppet, Antomarchi-Doria, Mehl, Mehl-Koehnlein, Bourget, Crespy, De Sassure, Hering, La Morte, Von Hoff, Berdiaeff, Bertoud, Carrel, LaVelle, and Vaucher. Many of these are also noted by Dr. J. Cruvellier, in his La notion de chdtiment eternal ("The Concept of Eternal Punishment").
It is an impressive list, and attests a growing chorus, for there are many others, not cited, who share these views. We can give only samplers here, which authenticates the contemporary French Protestant witness to the various facets of Conditional- ism. We have elsewhere cited Barth, Brunner, and Cullmann.
Here are others. For example, Dr. Marc Boegner, president the French Protestant Federation, also first president of the World Council of Churches, is a Conditionalist. Now note six in sequence.
1. DE PURY—DELIVERANCE AT ADVENT, NOT DEATH.
First observe the powerful advocacy of Prof. ROLAND DE PURY, climaxing a profitable ministry in Lyon, with service in a West African Protestant Seminary in the Cameroons. In his Presence de I'Eternite he warns against the "ravages" of the Platonic "doctrine of the immortality of the soul," and says searchingly:
"If our soul is by nature immortal; if it is in no way touched by death; if death is not it’s wages ... who then is this Saviour who saves us from a death that only seems like death, who gives us only what we already possess?" [89] He adds earnestly that Immortal-Soulism "nullifies the Cross," "cheapens the love of God," and brings "confusion."
Here is another De Fury statement, uttered with startling forthrightness:
"We are forced to this conclusion: the Christian is a man who does not believe in the immortality of the soul. He believes God created him body and soul; that God, has condemned him to death, body and soul, and that God, through Jesus Christ, will resurrect him, body and soul. . . .
To believe in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is to believe in the mortality of our soul and to wait on Him alone for deliverance, which our soul needs as much as our body. . . .
"In Christ is our help and not in ourselves, certainly not in our soul, of which there is not the least spark which does not succumb to death." [90] Then comes this classic:
Never speak of the life which death lifts up, but of the Life which raises the dead.
"It is not death that delivers us, but the death of death, the resurrection. It is not death that reunites us with Christ, but His Return. We do not 'fly away to eternal dwellings'; we wait for the Bridegroom." [91]
2. MEHL—CHRISTIANITY TEACHES MORTALITY OF SOUL.
Dr. ROGER MEHL, professor at the University of Strasbourg, writing in 1953 in Notre vie et noire mort ("Our Life and Our Death"), maintains that the "life beyond" is entered only through the gateway of the resurrection. For example:
"The soul is not an islet of divinity which finds itself shut up in the human body. The soul shares the fate of the entire person. A sinner, it needs salvation, for without this it will die. It is therefore the mortality of the soul that Christianity teaches. . . .
"Let us reflect also that the doctrine of the soul's immortality is an elimination of the problem of salvation, because it becomes in itself a salvation. What need is there of a Saviour if salvation comes so naturally?
. . . But all the Scriptures testify to our inability to save ourselves. And it is precisely at this point that in our pride, in our passion to be like God . . . we have invented the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. . . . One cannot be truly a Christian and believe in the immortality of the soul." [92]
89 Roland de Pury, Presence de Eternite, pp. 129, 130.
90 Ibid., pp. 132, 133.
91 Ibid., pp. 133, 134.
92 Roger Mehl, Notre vie et noire mort, pp. 56, 57.
It should be noted that Dr. Mehl's wife, Mme. Herriade Mehl-Koehnlein, likewise on the faculty at Strasbourg, in 1951, in L'homme selon I'apotre Paul ("Man According to the Apostle Paul"), takes the same position—that immortality is never attributed to man but springs from Greek philosophy.
3. DE COPPET—PUNISHMENT ETERNAL IN RESULTS?
Passing the clear statements of Pierre Bourget, in his Problem of Death and the Beyond (1956), we note "PASTOR DE COPPET,"
as he was known, in The Great Problems of the Beyond, which went through thirteen printings, who candidly confesses:
"For a long time I have been committed to this last-named opinion [Conditionalism], with an ever-increasing conviction that it is the only one which conscience and reason can accept and which, at the same time, can conform to the teachings of God's Word." [93] Holding that those who persist in evil will be "annihilated" and the soul will "perish," along with the body, he says:
''The word 'eternal' [in Matt. 25:46] often signifies irreparable, irrevocable. definite. Here it deals with the destruction of sinners, their second death as opposed to the eternal life of the Elect. This punishment obviously is eternal in its results, that its consequence. For it is thus, that it speaks of eternal redemption." [94] De Coppet summarizes by saying:
"The doctrine of Conditional Immortality restores things to their right places and their right time. Salvation remains always free, without question: eternal life is always a gift, but nevertheless there is a condition attached to obtaining this gift." [95] Such expressions are crystal clear.
4. CRESPY—NOT SOUL IMPRISONED IN BODY.
Scholarly GEORGES CRESPY, in Le probleme d'une anthropologie theologique ("The Problem of a Theological Anthropology"), published under the auspices of the Montpellier Protestant Seminary (1950), contends:
"The man of Genesis is not a soul exiled in a body, as Platonists hold; neither is it the scholastic's 'union of two distinctive substances.' He does not have a soul and body ... he is. He is in a created world, a creature of a world made by the Creator, a creature with special and distinctive form, with a specific destiny. . . .
"It is hard to explain how theologians were led to profess the original immortality of man. But it seems to have arisen from two errors . . . the first in accepting Platonist pronouncements; the second, a faulty exegesis." [96]
93 M. de Coppet, Les grands problemes de I'au-dela pp 185 186.
94 Ibid., pp. 201, 202.
95 Ibid., p 283.
5. LA MORTE—IMMORTALITY Is REWARD OF FAITH.
Passing over the converted Roman Catholic priest, Antonio Antomarchi-Doria, and his Fins dernieres et peines eternelles a la lumiere de I'Evangile ("Final Ends and Eternal Punishment in the Light of the Scriptures," 1949), with its repudiation of eternal torment, we come to ANDRE LA MORTE, in La Bible et le probleme de I'au dela ("The Bible and Problems of the Beyond"), who charges Innatism with being "a pagan idea, or more explicitly, a Platonism." Hear him:
"It is absolutely contrary to all good sense that that which had a beginning should have no end. Animals have a soul, but that soul does not render them immortal. No more is our soul, however admirably it may be endowed, immortal except on a condition that it unite itself by faith to Him Who said: 'I am the resurrection and the life.' . . . Otherwise it is lost, for immortality is the reward of faith." [97]
6. BERDIAEFF—IMMORTALITY ONLY IN CHRIST.
Alluding, in passing, to Dr. Eugene von Hoff and his The Teachings of the New Testament on the End of the World, the Return of Christ and Eternal Life (1952), who holds to "the dissolution or extinction of the entire being" of the sinner, we next note Russian-born theologian NIKOLAI ALEXANDROVISCH BERDIAEFF who, in Esprit et liberte ("Spirit and Freedom," 1933), likewise insists:
"Natural man . . . does not enjoy immortality as an inherent quality. Only the spiritual life deserves immortality; only the spirit possesses the qualities of eternal life. Immortality is penetration into the spiritual life . . . the source of immortality is in God and not in nature. One cannot conceive of immortality outside of life in God. The road to life which is eternal and immortal is given us in Christ." [98] Space forbids quoting from Aloys Bertoud on the "State of the Dead According to the Bible" (L'etat des marts d'apres la Bible, 1910, page 115), and the world-famous physician, Dr. Alexis Carrel, who, insists that "the soul is not independent of the body" (Reflexions sur la conduit de la vie, 1950, page 86). Such are some of the "clouds of witnesses" that assuredly include French-Swiss testimony.
96 Georges Crespy, Le probleme d'une anthropologie theologique; etudes theologique et religieuses, pp. 55-57.
97 Revue de theologie et faction evangelique, pp. 42, 43.
Swiss Reformed DR. KARL BARTH (b. 1886), world renowned theologian, was trained in the universities of Bern, "Berlin, Tubingen, and Marburg. He was professor, successively, at Gottingen, Munster, and then Bonn—when expelled by Hitler's gestapo in 1935. Since then he has been professor of theology at Basel. Barth has sought to lead Protestant thinking away from the erroneous outlook of modern religious philosophy back to a Biblical basis, and the principles of the Reformation.
Barth's many writings—beginning in 1919, and now over 30 in number—show his transition from an existentialist position to a "theology of the pure Word of God." In the first phase of his activity he uttered a condemning protest against the complacency of theology and the church, questioning everything that was man-made. In this he was supported by Emil Brunner, Friedrich Gogarten, and others. In the second phase, beginning about 1925, the growing influence of Calvinism upon his thinking is seen. Theological differences led to a break with Brunner and Gogarten.
Barth holds that since man is utterly dependent upon divine grace, all his boasted cultural achievements are rooted in sin. He stresses that the sole revelation of God is in Jesus Christ and the Word, as His means of communication with man. He opposes natural theology by Scriptural theology. Such is the Barthian position.
98 Alexandrovisch Berdiaeff, Esprit et liberte, p. 63.
1. POSITION ON IMMORTALITY SET FORTH IN RADIO DISCUSSION.
In a radio discussion of "Immortality," four distinguished participants spoke over a station in Beromunster, Ger many. These were Norbert M. Luyten, a Jesuit; Adolphe Portmann, a biologist; Karl Jaspers, a philosopher, and the distinguished Protestant theologian, Dr. Rarl Barth.
The four addresses, given in German, were published originally by the firm of Friedrich Reinhardt, in Basel, Switzerland, under the title of Unsterblichkeit ("Immortality"). A French translation was published in 1958 by Delachaux and Niestle, producers of evangelical literature (including various books, such as by Oscar Cullmann, with a Conditionalist viewpoint), of Neuchatel, Switzerland. The following translation of Dr. Barth's message from the French text, titled Immortalite, is by C. J. Kearney. Here are the crucial paragraphs in Earth's presentation, presented with some fullness without comment.
2. BIBLE AFFIRMS IMMORTALITY ONLY OF GOD.
"They say 'He is immortal' of a being who will not die, a being of such a species that he could not and, in consequence, would not die. The question which I am to answer here briefly is, then, this: Should man consider himself immortal, and in what sense?
"The assignment to express myself as a Protestant theologian implies that my answer will be inspired by the Bible. It follows that if I am to speak with a clear conscience, I must make certain statements which will surprise many of you, because they run counter to accepted ideas.
Do you know that the word 'immortality' is not found in the Old Testament, and only twice in the New Testament? That in itself is very significant. And the sense in which the word is used in these two passages makes it all the more striking!
"It is used of God (1 Tim. 6:16) and not of man. This Scripture pro claims that He possesses immortality and, even more, that He the Sovereign Lord is the only One who has it."
3. INNATE IMMORTALITY NOT POSSESSED BY MAN.
"It is obviously implied that man does not possess it—-neither as an individual entity, nor as a part of his being, nor through his origin, nor by acquisition of any sort.
"Moreover it is not a matter of human ideas or works, or of posthumous influence of extraordinary men. Immortality cannot be the acquisition of man (of any man) except as a new and unmerited gift; a free gift from Him who alone possesses it, who only, by nature, is immortal.
"It is with this latter concept that the second passage deals (1 Cor. 15:53). It proclaims the resurrection as a divine act, free and unprecedented, dealing with all men. By grace of this act this 'mortal body' (men themselves, since they are mortal through and through) will 'put on' immortality as a garment which was not there before and which is in no way their own."
4. "LIFE BEYOND" WHOLLY DEPENDENT UPON GOD.
"We must look the facts in the face. Man, in himself and as he is, and all his works with him is mortal, according to the testimony of the Bible. 'Mortal'—that means that his life is limited by temporal boundaries which have been assigned to him. He lives within these time limits. He did not exist before; he will not exist after. He will not live beyond the limits that have been fixed and which will be marked by his death.
"Beyond this death, is the immortal God and He alone will be the 'Life Beyond' of man, his future and his hopes. If God is not there in front of him, in his death and consequently in his end, he will have nothing to which he can look forward and with death everything will be ended. And there remains nothing to tell him except that all flesh is like the herb which dries up, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
"But, also, in that moment when his life is finished, God will be to him in exact relation to his existence as it was lived within the appointed limits. God, then becomes both his future and his present. The future even as it is here and now; in the present which is now, and until he dies.
And all that remains to him is the hope which shines over his limited existence which is already terminating. Now he depends on God, and on Him alone, that this mortal body may put on immortality."
5. BIBLICAL VIEW PERVERTED BY PLATONIC PHILOSOPHY.
"This view, so clear, so firm and—if it is well understood—so comforting, the Christian church early chose to dilute by limiting the domain of death to man’s physical nature, to his body. It reserved immortality for his soul and it chose to, look on death as the liberator of the soul, penned up in the body as in a prison.
"In this framework the significance of Platonic thought on the death of Socrates, so triumphantly described, is beyond question. But never lose sight of the fact that the Bible, in speaking of perishable man (even during his earthly life), depicts man in his unity, in his entirety, his soul, ^;hat is personal life, which can be distinguished from his body, but not separated from it, just as the body can be distinguished from his soul, but not separated from it."
6. MAN A UNIT, NOT A SEPARABLE SOUL.
"The Bible does not speak in a materialistic manner, neither in an idealistic sense. It expresses, if you will, realism. Indubitably it addresses itself to the soul, but to the soul which is incarnated in the human body, which eats and drinks, which wakes and sleeps, which works and fights, which suffers and rejoices, which is a man either young or old, and the life of the soul is exactly like the life of his body.
"Precisely, in this unity and in this totality it points to death, that is, it reaches the end of its temporal existence, after which God is its Beyond, its future, its hope.
"It is not a soul deprived of its body nor is it a body deprived of its soul, but it is a complete man who is, at the same time, the soul of his body and the body of his soul (or who, after death, is a 'was'). It is the man who reaches the last boundary, beyond which there is for him neither time nor the means of spending it, neither spiritually nor corporeally.
It is at that point that the immortal God stands and enters the 'game' for him, for his finished work and for actions during his lifetime. It is now that this intervention of God signifies for him that salvation which de livers him from death and brings him to eternal life—not just a prolongation but as an eternalization of that earthly life which is his in its unity and totality, by whose operation that which is totally mortal is totally clothed in immortality.
"I cannot refrain from a further remark, my dear listeners. Please note that from the Biblical point of view, it cannot be implied that the immortal God is no more than the Beyond and the future of man who dies in his totality and his unity. It does follow that He is also his hope and that God will intervene in his death, for him, so that consequently, this meeting with God will save him from death; and will bring him eternal life."
7. OUR ONLY HOPE OF LIFE TO COME.
"According to the Biblical, or Christian, conception of the human state—which is also in that respect the realist conception—the relation between God and man is a condition broken by pride, by slothfulness and by bad faith, in which every one of us has a part and which none of us can re-establish.
"Is man good? In his behaviour toward God, and—this necessarily goes with it—toward his neighbour is he perfect? Certainly not. What will hap pen to us when God, who is also the God of our neighbour, finally becomes our Beyond? When our life has definitely ended? What will be the consequence of our present when in Him alone is our future? Could this encounter have any other prospect, or signify anything else than a fearful truth that each of us, in the limits of time which had been assigned to us, showed us to be useless workers, even enemies of God?
"And God, who is our only life to come, our future, will He not obviously be against us? And does that not mean that we will be cast off by Him, with all that we are and have done, lost, facing eternal death, at our end, which is the limit of our earthly life? Plato did not enter that line of discussion, neither have many other serious and deep thinkers.
"Nevertheless I can change nothing and I do not wish to disguise what the Bible says—the mortal nature of man holds within itself this terrible menace—a menace which comes from God inasmuch as He is the judge."
8. ETERNAL LIFE ONLY THROUGH CHRIST.
"What can we do to meet this menace? By ourselves, nothing at all! But God Immortal, and in this I am standing on the undisputed testimony of the Bible—He can face it.
. . . For it is He who, in Jesus Christ, became mortal man, and as such His obedience has healed the breach in relations between man and Him.
And His death has so worked that He assumed the sins of man and their consequence. The eternal death of man—of all men—He has taken on Himself, He has removed them from us. Yes, it is He who has done this— He who loved man, this useless workman, even an enemy, and He loved him totally, actively, powerfully.
"It is He, this Immortal God, the only One with whom man has to deal in the hour of death. It is He, the Judge before whom man must present his life which has been terminated by its assigned boundaries which He has appointed. It is He, who is the Beyond of our 'Here Below,' the future of our present. But God is also obviously man's hope. In the human and unique person of Jesus Christ, God has no longer rejected man, He has chosen him, toward Him he is just and compassionate. He has already saved him from death', He has accepted him, mortal that he is, He has already given him eternal life—and all this as a free and unmerited gift, but at the same time achieved and unchangeable."
9. THE MESSAGE OF THE WORD OF GOD.
"Such is the attitude of God toward mortal man—and thereby is defined the attitude of mortal man toward the immortal God. It may be defined as an attitude of hope, cautious but confident, serious but joyful, . . . based on Him who alone possesses immortality and who can bestow it, on Him who has already promised it to us as a gift in the person of His only Son, our Brother
"Dear listeners, I have tried in these final phrases and in answer to the question assigned to me, to announce the gospel, that is, the good news of Him who has made it clear, as the Son of God and as our Brother, in these words: 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whosoever believeth in me, will live, even though he be dead.' Do you know what to do with this news? One thing is certain, it is that He who is the purpose and plan of all Bible testimony—to which I have sought here to hold myself—He will know what to do with you, and will do it at the proper moment.
"As a 'Protestant theologian'—since it is in that capacity that I must speak to you—I might have preferred not to talk on this theme, but I could offer you no other on the question of immortality. It is not the word of a theologian, whatever that might be, but the Word of God, who lives eternally." [99] That is the unique public testimony of Karl Barth on Immortality. And that is his exposure of the fallacy of the assumptions of Platonism.
99 Italics supplied.
One of the most valuable contributions to come from French-Swiss sources is Prof. ALFRED VAUCHER'S [100] collation of key excerpts from French and Swiss Conditionalists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Issued in 1957, this 111 page book is the most complete assemblage of Romance- language statements on Conditionalism on record. Because of its completeness and excellence, Vaucher has been called the Swiss "Encyclopedist of Conditionalism." (Photo on page 1018.)
Titled Le probleme de I'immortalite ("The Problem of Immortality"), the book first deals with the witness of the New Testament on the nature and destiny of man, according to some of the ablest Old World scholars. It then sets forth the historical development of the Innate-Immortality theory, as unfolded through revealing historical extracts. Next follows innatism's penetration into Jewish church ranks in the Inter- Testament period, and finally its intrusion into one wing of the Christian church—along with the paralleling witness of a line of loyal Early Church Conditionalists.
Vaucher then presents the significant nineteenth- and twentieth-century French and Swiss witnesses—documented extracts that parallel many of the fuller portrayals of this larger work and including most of the contemporary witnesses cited by C. J. Kearney, beginning on page 1017. Vaucher's is a price less assemblage of choice testimony, conveniently arranged. It is an indispensable handbook for all who wish to compass the testimony of the Conditionalist witness of Southern Europe.
Professor Vaucher's Introduction is so apt and graphic in its over-all portrayal that we quote it entirely:
"The option is not between affirmation or denial of immortality, but between two affirmations: the affirmation of immortality which is natural or native, inherent in the human soul, which is that of Roman Catholic theology, and the affirmation of optional or Conditional Immortality, which is that of Biblical theology.
100 ALFRED FELIX VAUCHER (1887- ), Seventh-day Adventist minister, educator, chaplain, and administrator, was trained at Paris Bible School and University of Turin. He was Bible teacher at Collonges Seminary (1921-1941) and president (1945-1951). He was also editor of La Revue Adventiste and Les Signes des Temps, and is currently secretary of Sources and Defence. He is author of several works, the most noted being Manuel de Lacunza T Diaz.
"The clear waters of the Rhone and the muddy waters of the Arve meet at Geneva. They struggle to keep their independence and their homogeneity, and for a certain distance beyond their junction one can see the two distinct streams of different colours. . . . Then, little by little, the mixture begins. Soon the two streams . . . give birth to a new river with troubled waters. This is the Rhone, but it is modified in its appearance by the deposits of its tributary.
"Nothing can illustrate better the vicissitudes of the doctrine of immortality. Across the pages of the Old and New Testaments the clear waters of revealed truth flow like a majestic river. It is God, who only hath immortality, offering to men and communicating to the believer His divine, imperishable life.
"But paralleling this stream flows the muddy river of pagan philosophy, which is that of human soul, of divine essence, eternal, pre-existing the body and surviving it.
"After the death of the apostles the two streams merged to make unity of the troubled waters. Little by little the speculation of human philosophy mixed with divine teaching.
"Now the task of evangelical theology is to disengage the two incompatible elements, to dissociate them, to eliminate the pagan element which has installed itself as a usurper in the center of traditional theology; to restore in value the Biblical element, which only is true, which alone conforms to the nature of God and of man, His creature." [101] What a multum in parvo simile of the graphic story of the centuries that we are both portraying.
Even in Japan, in the Far East, an echo of dissent from the traditional concept of life and death was heard from the noted Japanese Christian scholar SEIICHI HATANO," [102] late professor of Christianity at the University of Kyoto. He too is on record as contrasting the customary Innate Immortality theory of both East and West with the Biblically Christian doctrine of resurrection as the beginning of our immortality. Dr. Carl Michalson, in his Japanese Contributions to Christian Theology (1960), quotes Professor Hatano as saying:
" 'In Buddhism and in Western philosophies of immortality, life after death is understood at a purely cultural level. There, life after death is regarded as a continuation of this life, a condition of interminable successiveness, hence viewed as something painful, in the nature of punishment. The Christian doctrine of life after death, by contrast, is a doctrine of resurrection. In^ resurrection, man regains a life that has been lost. He ' comes into being from nothingness.' " [103]
101 Alfred Vaucher, Le probleme de I'immortalitt, p. 6.
102 SEIICHI HATANO (1877-1950), Presbyterian, Japanese philosopher and theologian, was trained at the University of Tokyo. Because of his recognized scholarship he was made the first professor of the Christian religion in a state University of Japan. His last post was as president of the Tamagawa University. Among other works he was author of Philosophy of Religion ("Shükyö Tetsugaku”), and Time and Eternity ("Toki to Eien”).
DEATH Is COMPLETE "DESTRUCTION OF LIFE."
As to death, Hatano asserts that death is not continuance in life, but "destruction of life," from which must come resurrection:
"Death for a Christian does not mean a shifting from one mode of being to another but the very destruction of life, the drifting of being into nonbeing. 'All the thinkers of Christianity have been trying to evade this notion of death as the complete destruction of life. Where they succeed the notion of resurrection means next to nothing.' " [104] Resurrection, then, is from "nonbeing" into life. Otherwise resurrection is meaningless. The implication is obvious.
We close our impressive line of Conditionalist witnesses, spanning the centuries, by presenting the recent testimony of Rev. SIDNEY A. HATCH, of Portland, Oregon. A glimpse into his personal background is essential to an understanding of the revolution of concept on the immortality question that came into the life of this well-trained Baptist minister—along with its aftermath. Fortunately, he has left record both of the process and the results:
"Upon graduation from a State university [University of California] I felt God was calling me to the ministry. Training for this work was begun, and then completed after military service during World War II. A B.D.
degree was secured [from California Baptist Theological Seminary] in 1948, and a Th.M. degree [from Dallas Theological Seminary] in 1953, followed by two more years of graduate study, primarily in Hebrew [for a Th.D. at Dallas Theological Seminary]." [106]
103 Carl Michalson, Japanese Contributions to Christian Theology (1960), p. 123, quoting Seiichi Hatano, Time and Eternity ("Toki to Eien," 1949), p. 214. Dr. Michalson, while in Japan as visiting lecturer on theology at the Aoyama Gakuin (University), made a special study of Japanese theologians and their fundamental contributions.
104 Ibid.
1. Two INCIDENTS START TRAIN OF THOUGHT.
Two developments took place during his seminary days that started a train of thought from which Hatch could not escape. First, a student in class asked the professor of theology whether it was necessary for a minister of the gospel to believe in the traditional position of "eternal hell-fire torment of the lost." The professor admitted that the "traditional view did seem harsh," but added lamely that after all it was the "orthodox" view. This equivocal answer raised a question that persisted.
The second factor was Hatch's special study of Hebrew, particularly of the Pentateuch, and of such words as nephesh ("soul"). As a result, the traditional structure began to weaken and crumble. Gradually the light of "Life Only in Christ" began to dawn, and a satisfying solution was found for his problems over the nature and destiny of man. Erelong his doubts were resolved. He came firmly to believe that—
"Conditional Immortality is a very simple and clear doctrine, and it resorts to no difficult theological or philosophical gyrations. It is the belief that man may become immortal on one condition and that is that he believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. This immortality, or everlasting life, shall then be put on at the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the believers, not before. On the negative side it is the belief that man does not possess any innate, inborn immortality of his own. Such can only be 'the gift of God.' This precious doctrine is sometimes simply called 'life only in Christ.' " [106]
This strengthened his faith and gave him assurance.
2. CHARGES LEAD TO REVOLUTION OF LIFE.
Meantime Hatch had become pastor of a Baptist church in Los Angeles. In the years that followed, Life in Christ became a vital part of his ministry. But, in time, outside pressures led some in his congregation to charge him with being a "soul-sleeper" and an "annihilationist" because he did not believe in persisting consciousness after death, and in Eternal Torment. The upshot of it all was this:
"Ultimately, it led to several things: a change of pulpits, a change of denominations, a change of friends, the misunderstanding of many; even for a time it meant a change of vocation. But it also meant new light on the word, a clearer grasp of the gospel, a greater appreciation of and dependence on our Lord Jesus Christ, a new and greater fervour to preach the true gospel, new friends, new fellowship, and a newly opened door of ministry. And through it all, never for a moment did I doubt the truth of this glorious message; rather, faith and devotion to it became stronger." [107]
3. HATCH'S VIEWS EPITOMIZED IN SUBHEADS.
In two major articles in Words of Life (official organ of the Conditional Immortality Association of Britain) appearing in 1962, Hatch epitomizes his conclusions in a series of topical subheads. He tells how
1. "Conditional Immortality Explains What Man Is."
2. "Conditional Immortality Explains Where Man Goes at Death
3. "Conditional Immortality Explains What the Gospel Is."
4. "Conditional Immortality Explains Why Christ Must Return,
5. "Conditional Immortality Explains What God Is."
106 Sidney A. Hatch, "Why I Believe in Conditional Immortality," Words of Life, August, 1962, p. 174.
107 Ibid., p. 175.
Under the first heading, Hatch, in commenting on Genesis 2:7, says:
"The Word of God says he [man] is a creature formed from the dust of the ground into which God breathed the breath of life. The result of this creative action is 'a living soul' or 'a living being.' Not an 'immortal soul!' Nowhere is this expression found in Scripture.
"Nor does it say that God breathed into Adam a soul, whether immortal or not. The verse must be read carefully God 'breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.'" [108] That was foundational.
4. NOT IN SPIRIT-WORLD AFTER DEATH.
Under number two—"Where Man Goes at Death"—contending that "the first four chapters of Genesis are the theological seed-plot of the Bible," Hatch declares: "There is nothing here to suggest that Adam would find himself, after death, in some sort of spirit world." [109]
107 Ibid.
108 Ibid., p. 176. (Italics supplied.) This point Hatch develops with technical evidence, and citation of authorities.
109 Ibid., p. 177,
The Conditionalist "chooses to believe" Genesis 3:19.
5. DEATH Is COMPLETE ABSENCE OF LIFE.
After dealing incisively with certain stock problem passages — such as the "parable of Lazarus" (Luke 16), the "thief on the cross" (Luke 23:40), and Paul's "absent from the body" statement (2 Cor. 5:8) — Hatch next discusses the basic "death" and "life" issue of Romans 6:23. Here is his forthright position:
"Death here means death, and life here means life. But in the popular way of presenting this verse 'death' is supposed to mean life somewhere in time or space in separation from God. And 'life' here is supposed to mean a. life in the presence of God.
"But the issue here is not life in one place or life in another place. The issue is life or death, the complete possession of life or the complete absence of it. The definition that eternal death is a form of eternal life in separation from God is not in the Bible.” [110] That likewise is foundational.
6. "PERISH" Is UTTER Loss OF ALL LIFE.
Turning next to the fate of the wicked, Hatch is very specific:
"Perish means the utter loss and destruction of any form of life, death. What right have we to read into this word some pagan notion of life in a spirit world of the damned? The Greek word here is apollumi, which means to kill, or to destroy, or to utterly destroy." [111] The wicked are not "kept alive somewhere and tortured forever":
"According to conditional immortality the gospel issue is very simple. Life or death. To sav that it is life in one place or another place is to reduce our Lord to nothing more than assort of universal housing administrator, assigning 'immortals' to one place or another. It is to deny our Lord’s claim that He is the resurrection and the life, for men would already have life. In short, it is to succumb to the Satanic lie that men do not really die (Genesis 3:4)." [112] Logic and consistency are invoked:
"I therefore also believe in conditional immortality because it preserves the clear-cut gospel issue from Genesis to Revelation. For example, if eternal torment, not death, is the penalty of sin then the great promise. Of Genesis 3:15 would have to read, 'And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall torture forever thy head, and thou shalt torture forever his heel.' " [113]
110 Ibid., September, 1962, p. 195.
111 Ibid.
112 Ibid.
7. ETERNAL TORMENT INVOLVES INCONGRUITIES.
Pressing this point to its logical conclusion, Hatch asserts:
"If eternal torment, not death, is the penalty for sin, many other [Biblical] types, illustrations, and parables would have to be changed. The sacrificial animals of the Old Testament should never have been slain and burned; rather, they should have been kept alive, caged up and subjected to some type of unending torment. David should never have slain Goliath and cut off his head. He should have brought him back alive, imprisoned him somewhere, and tortured him indefinitely. In the parable of the wheat and tares the tares should never be bound in bundles to be burned up; rather they should simply be bound." [114] He adds such telling points as that Christ, who paid the full penalty for our sin, did not suffer "unending everlasting torture or- torment." Thus, he holds, Conditionalism "preserves the clear-cut and simple issue of the gospel and of the ages, life or death—complete perishing." [115] And Hatch states, incisively, that God does not "maintain a chamber of horrors somewhere in the universe throughout eternity." [116] These are samplings of his views.
8. ETERNAL TORMENT OPENS DOOR TO CHAIN OF ERRORS.
Hatch closes the section with these telling words:
"Everlasting destruction does not mean everlasting torment, for then nothing is destroyed; it is simply preserved, kept alive, in torment. Let destruction mean destruction is the plea of the Conditionalist." [117] "Finally, let the evangelical Christian consider that if he persists in his eternal torment theory, which includes the pagan idea of the immortality of the soul, he opens the door to all sort of vagaries such as reincarnation, transmigration of souls, spiritism, purgatorial theories, or universal reconciliation." [118] That is a truism well stated. Space forbids reproducing his strong "Conclusion," with supporting citations.
9. IMMORTALITY AT ADVENT THE GLORIOUS PROSPECT.
In an earlier article in an American journal, Present Truth Messenger, written while Hatch was still in the Baptist ministry, he said this of the "Blessed Provision":
"Our everlasting and immortal God [1 Tim. 1:17; 6:16] has provided for mortal man a way of securing this immortality. We do not already possess it. Death is very real and still in our midst. But there is a way to achieve victory over death and the grave." [119] Then, turning to the "Blessed Prospect" he declares:
"It is at His [Christ's] coming again that the provision of life and immortality' shall be realized in its fulness. So we have the blessed prospect:
Awaking from the sleep of death and putting on this glorious resurrection life. How clear the Bible is! How glorious our prospect!" [120] Discussing further the "Blessed Hope" of "resurrection from the dead at the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,"
Hatch closes with this thought: "Everything hinges on His coming again. It is at that moment that we shall stand up again in resurrection glory." [121] These are some of the reasons why Baptist Sidney A. Hatch became an ardent Conditionalist, and why multiplied thousands of other sincere and thoughtful truth seekers are traversing the same pathway and steadily coming to similar conclusions. It is a definite trend. There is an unquestionable, widespread ground swell of revolt under way against the un-Biblical traditional position of innate Immortality of the soul and the Eternal Torment of the wicked.
113 Ibid.
114 Ibid.
115 Ibid., p. 196.
116 Ibid.
117 Ibid., p. 197.
118 Ibid.
119 Hatch, Present Truth Messenger (vol. 63, no. 27), Dec. 8, 1960, p. 3.
120 Ibid.
121 Ibid.
FACTS REVEALED BY CHART C—ENDING WITH 1963
1. The same general diversity in geographical spread continues in segment C, in Old World and New, Africa, the Far East, and even Australia. Specifically, it involves the United States and Canada, Britain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, France, South Africa, and Japan.
2. Denominationally, it embraces Anglican, Church of Scotland, Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational, Reformed, Dutch Reformed, Baptist, Lutheran, Advent Christian, Evangelical, Moravian, Seventh-day Adventist, and even Roman Catholic.
3. There are Conditionalist Dutch professors at Amsterdam, British editors and authors, and rectors at Holton and St. Algates, with professors at Headsmouth and Edinburgh, and a principal at Western. There are American pastors, editors, a San Francisco Seminary president, professors at Drew, Aurora, and Tennessee, and an Institute president. To these are to be added Swiss and French professors, a Japanese Christian University president, and South African professors at Stetlenbosch, Pretoria, and Rondebosch. They constitute an impressive company.
4. A special noteworthy item is a Canadian authorized report by a Methodist-Presbyterian-Congregational Committee. Radio and television now play their part. And such a noted figure as Dr. Karl Earth makes a significant statement.
5. A new mass communications feature for Conditionalism? noteworthy. For example, the radio work of Seventh-day Adventists is now conducted over 1,710 stations throughout the world, with 2,371 broadcasts weekly in 31 languages. And whenever the nature and destiny of man is presented it is invariably the Conditionalist position. Their television programs are likewise carried over 249 TV stations. And their paralleling Bible correspondence courses operate in 72 languages, with approximately a half million enrolees annually. Such is one mass communications feature of current Conditionalism.
6. On the nature of man side, practically all witnesses stress the total mortality of man. He is not innately, inherently immortal, has no independent spirit existence, was not created immortal. His soul is not indestructible, but it was created for immortality. His immortality is consequently conditional.
No soul is imprisoned in a body. And man's life is a derived life. The testimony is clear.
7. On the intermediate state aspect, there is no surviving entity, no separate existence of soul or spirit. All the dead are in unconscious sleep. They sleep until the resurrection awakening, and are not now in Heaven or Hell. Our rewards come not at death, but at the Second Advent. As the whole man dies so the whole man is made alive at the resurrection. Greek Innatism and Persian Dualism are both declared un-Biblical.
8. As to the punishment of the wicked feature, there is to be total destruction and loss of all life—ceasing to be, extinction of the entire being, ultimate annihilation, with the fate fixed at death. It is the effects that are eternal.
9. SUMMARIZING: It will be seen that the combined testimony of all three twentieth-century charts—A, B, and C—is in continuing harmony. The phrasing varies but the essence is essentially the same. There is not only harmony of position geographically, on both sides of the Atlantic, but also in the Far East, "down under" in Australia, and in South Africa as well—some 18 countries being cited. In other words, wherever Conditionalism is found it is basically the same. Some stress all three major principles of Conditionalism. Some in their presentations, press on only one or two of the determining features. But it is the Conditionalist concept.
10. Moreover, it makes little difference with which denomination the witness is affiliated—and there are some 22 in all. The Conditionalist speaks essentially the same fundamental language. And similarly with the various professions or vocations represented—some 26 in all.
11. The testimony here presented is not, of course, complete. We had to terminate our quest with 1963. But new voices are continually breaking forth. And we are aware that we have not covered all of those who have gone on record. Moreover, many lesser witnesses always echo the prominent testimony of others before or about them. The evidence is broader than the charts might at first seem to indicate.
The Shape of Things to Come Turning from the past and present to the future, we believe that Conditionalism is bound to grow. But so will persistent opposition thereto. A portentous conflict is bound to come—and that before long. The eerie forces of Spiritualism, augmented by the Eastern occult (covered in succeeding chapters), building upon the traditional postulate of Immortal-Soulism entrenched in the churches, will increasingly penetrate the ranks of nominal Protestantism, as well as Roman Catholicism, in a fatal union of deception. But truth is destined to triumph in the end. That is obviously the shape of things to come.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
We have now completed the sweeping survey of the centuries in our quest for the leading advocates of Conditionalism across the Christian Era. As we have seen, the continuing conflict over the nature and destiny of man began, outside of pagan ranks, in the Jewish Church in the Inter-Testament period, when Platonism began to infiltrate and alter the Jewish faith. As a result, the Apocryphal and pseudepigraphical writers of the last three centuries B.C. were split into two opposing schools.
One group maintained the Biblical positions of Moses and the other inspired Old Testament writers, as presented at some length in volume one. The other school, adopting the subtle Platonic philosophy of universal, Innate Immortality, sought, chiefly through Philo, to reconcile the two antagonistic and mutually exclusive positions of Plato and Moses, but actually accepting Plato's view of the soul. This was likewise set forth in volume one.
PLATONIC INROADS PRODUCE THREE-WAY SPLIT.—
Then, following the authoritative testimony of Christ, the supreme embodiment and spokesman of truth and life, together with that of the inspired apostles, whose united teachings accord with Old Testament patriarchs and prophets—similarly set forth with fullness in volume one—we traced the irruption of the same basic conflict of views into the expanding Christian Church, not beginning, however, until toward the close of the second century.
This belated conflict was likewise created by the injection of the same pagan Platonism, continued as Christian Neo-platonism, in a similar attempt to reconcile and set forth the terms and positions of Platonism in a Christian framework. This was accomplished through spiritualizing and the explaining away of the obvious original intent of the canonical writers of both the Old and the New Testament.
This development produced a cleavage that divided the Christian "fathers" into three opposing theological schools, and thus created a theological trilemma, as pertains to the nature and destiny of man. This reached its climax in the third and fourth centuries. And the subsequent battles of the centuries have been between these three irreconcilable concepts. Ours has been the task of tracing this conflict across the years, with primary attention, of course, to the champions of Conditionalism.
DOMINANT IMMORTAL - SOULISM SUPPRESSES OPPOSING VOICES.—
The School of Universal Innate Immortality became dominant by the fifth century. By the sixth century it had largely suppressed the Conditionalist and Universal-Restoration schools, which situation prevailed for several centuries thereafter. Those were the bleak and largely silent centuries so far as the Conditional Immortality position was concerned. But even then there were occasional dissentient voices. These were quickly subdued.
It was not until the late Middle Ages that a series of forceful protests arose, challenging the dominant view. These were first uttered by illustrious Jewish rabbis. But these were joined, and then surpassed, by respected Christian spokesmen of stature and Christian philosophers breaking with the established tradition. Conditionalism was on its way to a slow comeback.
There were enough dissentients to show that not all subscribed to the Platonic view of the soul. And these pathfinders were forerunners of a coming challenge, the impact of which was to be increasingly felt in steadily widening circles.
REFORMATION FIRST RESTORED FUNDAMENTALS OF SALVATION.—
The task of the great Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century was so vast in scope that although nearly all great Christian doctrines were involved in the revival and restoration of apostolic truth, not all restorations could be brought to the forefront at the same time. And not all had the same reception. The great papal perversion had not only corrupted every essential Christian doctrine but had struck at the primary principles and provisions of salvation itself.
Luther and his associates, and the Reformers of other lands, had first to restore the foundation of Christian faith itself—salvation through Christ alone, by grace, and justification through faith in Him, not by human works and penance. That was basic, and must and did come first. It was a tremendous step, and was foundational to all related doctrinal reforms. Christ had first to be restored to His rightful place, and justification by faith in Him re-established. Upon this primary emphasis there was general agreement among all Protestant leaders, though with varying emphases.
DIFFERENT DOCTRINES BUT SLOWLY RESTORED.-
On various structural doctrines of the faith there was greater divergence, and slow restoration—if not, indeed, opposition. On baptism, for example, there was no uniformity—a majority still clinging to sprinkling, while the upspringing Baptists contended that immersion was the original Christian form over a period of centuries. They held that its abandonment should be repudiated as a papal departure. That was typical of other doctrinal receptions.
The question of the Sabbath was likewise left largely untouched, except as Seventh Day Baptists in Britain and on the Continent challenged the observance of the first day as similarly a papal innovation, without scriptural warrant, and began slowly to re-establish the original seventh-day Sabbath that they championed. But that issue was largely bypassed, and was adopted only by a small minority. Its wider acceptance was delayed until the nineteenth century.
INTENSE CONFLICT OVER SLEEP OF SOUL IN DEATH.—
The same hesitancy obtained with reference to the three-pronged question of the nature and destiny of man—that is, of Conditional Immortality, of man's unconscious sleep in death until the resurrection at the Second Advent, and of the ultimate and utter destruction of the incorrigibly wicked. Consideration of this multiple question was likewise circumscribed, both in discussion and in action by the early Reformers. Purgatory was repudiated, but the vast majority still held to the pagan-papal immortality-of-the-soul dogma and the Eternal Torment-of-the-wicked postulate.
Stalwarts like Luther and Tyndale recognized the importance of the issue, and took their stand. But the bulk of their associates did not. And while individuals, and then groups, began to espouse the positions of Conditionalism, powerful voices like Calvin violently challenged the view of the sleep of the soul, and championed the traditional Platonic-papal teaching of Innate Immortality, sentient continuance of the soul after death, and the eternal agony of the wicked.
On the other hand, many Anabaptists, general Baptists, and others, including not a few Anglicans, challenged these traditional Catholic positions retained by the majority of Protestants. The battle was joined in earnest, and was fought out on Biblical grounds. But gradually, during the seventeenth century, more outstanding religious leaders in Britain and some on the Continent began to break with the traditional positions and to take their stand on Conditionalism.
SMALL GROUPS RETAINED CONDITIONALISM FROM EARLY TIMES.—
Moreover, certain dissentient groups on the geographical fringes of Catholic Christendom—including some among the Waldenses in the fastnesses of the Piedmontese Alps, others down in the heart of African Ethiopia, and still others over on the Asian Malabar coast of India—had retained certain aspects of the Conditionalist concept from early times, that is, that man is mortal, and sleeps between death and the resurrection. This was an added angle.
But in due course agitation broke out in high places, in different lands, and in the various Protestant faiths or denominations, eventuating in a growing chorus of respected voices individually advocating the Conditionalist position. These remained, however, largely personal or individual views. Nevertheless, their number and prominence increased throughout the eighteenth century.
SLOWLY GATHERING MOMENTUM OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.-
By the eighteenth century voices even in the New World, likewise contending for Conditionalism, began to be heard. This marked the beginning of a new and expanding era for Conditionalism. The caliber of these witnesses now became impressive. It included the testimony of archbishops, bishops, deans, archdeacons, professors, pastors, theologians, linguists, scientists, philosophers, physicians, and administrators with Conditionalist convictions. Witnesses of such stature characterized the times.
But these still remained isolated or independent voices. There were as yet no denominations, as such, that had espoused Conditionalism, though there were now certain congregations that shared the views of their Conditionalist pastors. Coordinated testimony was yet to come. Nevertheless, the number and the geographical and denominational spread of the advocates of Conditionalism continued to increase. There was a slowly but steadily gathering momentum.
CONSPICUOUS CONDITIONALIST ADVANCES IN NINETEENTH CENTURY.-
It was not, however, until the nineteenth century that really conspicuous advances were made. A new impetus was given when certain denominations adopted Conditionalism. And in Britain, in the latter quarter of the nineteenth century, certain Conditionalist organizations were formed of clergymen of various faiths to actively and unitedly promote the neglected and often despised truths of Conditionalism.
A growing coordination of effort and interchange of view and support now took place between such spokesmen in Britain and on the Continent, and between the Old and New World advocates—yes, reaching out to India and Ceylon, down into South Africa, even out to China and Japan, as well as the Caribbean area of Inter-America, with champions in many lands. Conspicuous witness was given. And again it is to be noted that these recruits embraced prominent men of all Christian faiths.
POWERFUL CONDITIONALIST LITERATURE MAKES APPEARANCE.—
Another augmenting factor was the production of a powerful Conditionalist literature by such men as Edward White of Britain, Emmanuel Petavel of Switzerland, Henry Constable of England, Charles Hudson and John Pettingell of the United States, and William Moncrieif of Canada. Numerous periodicals heralded the cause of Conditionalism, and on both sides of the Atlantic impressive symposiums were published in book form. The issue was thus forcefully and persuasively brought before the Christian Church in many lands.
Stalwarts on every continent continued to arise, including some of the ablest Christian scholars of the day. As a result, the conflict widened, and the old trilemma of the three schools of the Early Church was again in full swing—Immortal-Soulism, Universalism, and Conditionalism, with the lines sharply drawn and the stress of conflict stepped up.
CONFLICT INTENSIFIES IN TWENTIETH CENTURY.—
Such was the situation at the dawn of the twentieth century. The discussion intensified, the literature multiplied, and the enlarging number of devotees of Conditionlism became more aggressive. Recent decades have been marked by a ground swell of revolt against the traditional position. So Conditionalism has steadily shifted from the defensive position of an ostracized view to a recognized school of Christian teaching in a vital field, coming to the fore through the sheer caliber and standing of its advocates.
Some went all the way and were full-fledged Conditionalists. Others came out but part way, having broken with one or more of the major positions of Immortal-Soulism, and the correlated dogma of eternal torment for the wicked. But together they gave a witness growing in volume and influence.
Let us view the question from another angle. Let none gain the impression that we believe that mere numbers or sheer training or position or brilliance are to be considered as determinative evidence of truth and right. Majorities have often, if not usually, been wrong on various moral and Biblical questions. Indeed, not a few of the most erudite have been guilty of gravest error. But the array of trained godly scholars here presented does show that Conditionalism is not the product either of ignorance of Bible doctrine or of Biblical languages.
It is not guilty of flouting the testimony of history. It does not involve the trampling of logic, indulgence in palpably faulty reasoning, or the quashing of the canons of sound exegesis. The ranks of Conditionalists embrace some of the finest minds of any given generation—the peers of any of their fellows. Nor do they stand in lonely isolation. They are a goodly company. They were not effectively answered. And their right to a respectful hearing must be conceded.
VALUE OF TESTIMONY OF THE WITNESSES.—
The vale of this array of witnesses lies in their cogent presentations of Biblical and historical truth, set forth in varying degrees of fullness and from various angles, with multiple forms of approach and argument. Thus, through candid expression of reverent conviction, based on deep study of the Word and the history of doctrine, the basis of their faith and the soundness of their conclusions may be evaluated. And the cumulation of such evidence gives it impelling force and appeal.
Moreover, through tracing these witnesses back across the centuries, we see that Conditionalism is not some strange, belated innovation or fantasy of recent times. Rather, it is a consistent teaching reaching back to the Early Church and springing to new vitality at the very beginning of the Protestant Reformation,_ when the recovery of pristine truth and the repudiation of the papal accretions of the centuries were under way, though it started but slowly.
But, far more significant than the Reformation-inception aspect, Conditionalism goes back (as traced in volume one) to apostolic times, showing that it was the original faith of the earliest Christian writers (the Apostolic Fathers), and was the persisting position of a line of strong Ante-Nicene witnesses —and this at the very time when the purity of the Christian faith was being polluted by subversive Greek philosophy, and devious digressions were undermining the original faith.
Conditionalism is consequently seen to be the perpetuation, or recovery, of the original Christian belief that was well-nigh crushed to earth during the dominance of early medieval departures. It is therefore not an innovation or a doctrinal deviation. It bears sound historical credentials. It has the stamp of authentic apostolic doctrine.
DETERMINING LIGHT OF THE CENTURIES.—
By tracing the pagan origins and the devastating penetrations of the alien Platonic philosophy, first into the Jewish and then into the Christian faiths—bringing about the perversion of the majority—we have before us the full picture of the inception of the conflict of the centuries over the nature and destiny of man. At the same time it becomes an omen of the destined revival and triumph of truth.
With this unfolding panorama thus spread out systematically before us, we can reach sound and considered conclusions as we stand in the determining light of the centuries. The historical approach to the study of any facet of Biblical truth is not only most illuminating but also the most comprehensive and the safest method of obtaining the verdict of the centuries. It constitutes the key to sound historic truth.
INDIVIDUAL VERDICT CANNOT BE AVOIDED.—
This sweeping investigation, with documentation here shared with the reader, has been one of the most rewarding and stimulating experiences of decades of research-inquiry into various great areas of truth. The evidence gleaned from the most significant writings of the centuries is now in the hands of the reader. We here rest our case. A right individual verdict, we need scarcely add, is all important.
The issues are basic and tremendous. The conflict of gathering forces in the battle between truth and error is intensifying. It has been shown that the subtleties of philosophy are deceptive, and the arguments of tradition and majority practice or opinion are alike untrustworthy and misleading. The mandates of Holy Writ alone are determinative. The Inspired Scriptures are the only safe criterion in an open-minded search for truth. The Biblical revelation constitutes Heaven's final authority.
That is why I, as a reverent investigator of the over-all evidence, am persuaded, in the light of the witness of the centuries, of the soundness and the verity of the Conditionalist position. I could not in honesty reach any other conclusion.
It has been the purpose of this work to provide a comprehensive, over-all historical perspective, that the conflict of principles and issues may be clearly understood, with part related to part, and vicissitudes and advances placed in true relationship and perspective. In that way a sound basis may be had for intelligent decision by the individual investigator of the great issues involved.
The tabular charts, appearing periodically throughout volumes one and two, give the names of the most prominent spokesmen, their nationality or location, religious affiliation, and official position, as well as their stand on the three great aspects, or angles, of Conditionalism. The summarizing statements that accompany, which analyze and epitomize the facts, should aid the reader in reaching his own conclusions with confidence.
The two large chronological charts, appearing at intervals in sections, visualize in outline the sweep of the centuries, and portray in tangible form the major conflicts of the past which are covered in detail in the text of these two volumes of The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers. All this should aid the student in his quest for truth. If these objectives are achieved, and sound conclusions are reached, the purpose of the author will be achieved, and the tremendous toil compassing some seven years of intensive investigation will be fully compensated.
We have reserved until now the portrayal of the most significant development in the mounting conflict of the centuries over the nature and destiny of man. It is a development that is destined to dominate in time's last hour. It began to erupt a century and a quarter ago with little fanfare, but it burgeoned to amazing proportions within a relatively short time. Its appearance both intensified and complicated the age-old issues. Not only did it embroil the Old World and the New in the controversy but it has been augmented by occult forces from the East that have now penetrated the West to an amazing depth. Its coming inaugurated a new epoch, fraught with new problems and beset by new perils—new, we said, and yet as old as the race.
Its appearance—or more accurately its modern revival—was a matter not only of divine prediction but of inspired characterization and identification. It burst forth as foretold at the time forecast, and has met every specification depicted. It has withheld its real identity, operating in disguise, concealing its actual character. It is destined to assume an increasingly determining place in the last great struggle between truth and falsehood, involving fidelity to God or treason to truth.
Because of the inescapable issues and alignments involved, mankind will in the end range itself into two great camps. No one will be able to avoid the crucial issues involved. None can remain neutral. The tremendous scope and significance of the involvements we will now seek to present in their historic perspective and stark reality. But to do so we must go back to the beginning. Only thus can we comprehend the present and fathom the future. We therefore take leave at this point of the tracing of the faithful witnesses to Conditionalism that have marked the centuries, and which have comprised the bulk of this volume. We shall enter a new world—one not pleasant to compass but imperative to have clearly before us and to under stand.
It was the alluring assurance of the Old Serpent, uttered in the beginning in the Garden of Eden—that man would "not die" should he violate the divine prohibition regarding the forbidden fruit—that enticed and emboldened Adam and Eve to transgress and thus to bring death upon themselves and in turn upon the entire human race.
1. BOLSTERING SATAN'S ORIGINAL CONTENTION
Since the Fall, all along the death-strewn pathway of mankind across the ensuing centuries, Satan has been seeking to vindicate and validate that fateful lie, first in heathen lands, then among God's ancient people, Israel, and finally throughout the checkered career of the Christian Church. All through the early centuries and the medieval period, during Reformation and post-Reformation times, this original contention has been maintained. It finally reached its climax in modern history. But we have also portrayed the paralleling witness of those who believed God's pronouncement and denied Satan's conflicting claim. That is the historical background to date.
We now come to the climactic portion of this basic conflict of the ages. And it involves Satan's stellar role in the consummation of the lie of Eden as mankind approaches history's great finale. Because of its vital importance this portion of the conflict will necessitate an unusually full presentation of Spiritual ism's character and major part in the climax of the ages, along with the complete vindication of God's solemn declaration in Eden, "Thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17), and the establishment for eternity of the Bible-revealed truth on the mortal nature and final destiny of man.
2. CANDOR AND FAITHFULNESS CALLED FOR
The presentation will be candid but fair. It will be thorough yet Christian, tracing the emergence, the stages of development, and the climax of the modern Spiritualistic Movement that is destined soon to affect every soul on earth. The origin, rise, history, teachings, fruitage, and perils, together with the Biblical warnings and exposures concerning Spiritualism will be traced. Spiritualism will be tested by the standard of the Word. And to conclude, the searchlight of divine prophecy will be focused upon Spiritualism's eleventh-hour manoeuvres in connection with mankind's final struggle over truth and error—a conflict that will involve all the heavenly and demonic agencies as well. We will close with a portrayal of the triumph of truth. With such a foreword let us turn first to the historical side.
Strange things began to happen on March 31, 1848, in the secluded village of Hydesville, New York, in the humble cottage home of the teen-age Fox sisters. These became known as the "Raps of Hydesville." Methodist John and Margaret Fox and two of their younger daughters, Margaretta (fifteen) and Katie (twelve), were living at the time in this cottage while their own home was under construction. That particular night they were awakened by mysterious sounds—distinct rappings, or knockings—that could be heard all over the house.
1. RAPS DEVELOP INTO "CODE OF COMMUNICATION."
The children quickly imitated the raps by clapping their hands, Katie calling out, "Mr. Splitfoot do as I do." For every clap there was an answering rap. She then held up her fingers—a different number each time—asking "Splitfoot" to tell the number of fingers indicated. As correct answers were rapped out Katie observed, "It can see as well as hear." Margaretta said, "Count 1, 2, 3, 4," and the raps responded correctly. They had discovered that the cause of the mysterious rappings was intelligent, and would respond with raps as requested. They were sobered.
Mrs. Fox then asked the "noise" to tell how many children she had (six living and one dead) and their ages. These were given, including the one who had died. So a "code of communication" was developed. The unseen intelligence then indicated that it was the “spirit" of a murdered peddler whose body had been buried in the cellar. It was seeking a human instrument through whom to acquaint the world with the facts of the man's mysterious disappearance—and to prove that his spirit still lived. Such was the beginning of Modern Spiritual ism in America.
2. TWOFOLD CHARACTER OF SPIRITUALISM MEMORIALIZED
In 1948 the National Spiritualist Association of the United States of America celebrated the 100th anniversary of the famed rappings involving the Fox sisters, of Hydesville, New York. Its high lights were chronicled in the Centennial Book of Modern Spiritualism in America—Spiritualism's own account of the birth, development, and significance of Modern Spiritual ism.
As "appropriate souvenirs" the association adopted two matching statuettes of Andrew Jackson Davis who introduced intellectual Spiritualism, and of Katie Fox who introduced phenomenal Spiritualism. The sequence in listing is significant. And to "complete the picture" there was an accompanying "wall plaque" visualizing the famous Hydesville, New York, cottage, "birth-place of Modern Spiritualism."
These complementary statuettes emphasize the twofold character of Spiritualism—one the basic essence; the other the outward manifestations and early phenomena of Spiritualism. The intellectual side is the philosophy, the basic principles, the cardinal teachings of Spiritualism—its inner heart. These are in contrast to the outward manifestations, or phenomenal features. The first stands on record as its abiding essence; the second is ever changing, subject to challenge, duplication, and In many instances to fraud and successful imitation. The difference is fundamental.
The early phenomenal aspect was spectacular and controversial, and was gradually superseded by the permanent structure of Spiritualist teachings that constitute its abiding essence. These cannot be explained away and have never been denied. Spiritual ism does not stand or fall upon its early, passing, physical, or natural phenomena, but upon its basic contention of the survival of the human personality and the avowal that the discarnate spirits of the departed can and do communicate with persons in the flesh, living on earth today, accomplished through intermediary mediums.
That is the essence of Spiritualism. It is by its declared philosophy that Spiritualism is to be evaluated and judged. The psychic phenomena of the Fox sisters merely accorded with the primary principles enunciated by Davis. That places the difference and the sequence before us in historical perspective. Statuettes of A. J. Davis and Katie Fox, Adopted by National Spiritualist Association as Appropriate Souvenirs, to Memorialize the Two Individuals Who Introduced, Respectively, Intellectual and Phenomenal Modern Spiritualism.
3. EUROPEAN ACTIVITIES ANTEDATE AMERICAN MANIFESTATIONS
It should be stated, however, that a century or more before the modern American phase of Spiritualism appeared, Germany and Switzerland witnessed a similar outbreak of spiritistic phenomena, with spirit writing and alleged intercourse with spirits. Although according to one writer the roots of Spiritualism "are found in primitive animism," George Whitehead maintains that Spiritualism really received its modern impetus from Emanuel Swedenborg (d. 1772). And Galvani and Volta, with their emphasis on "animal magnetism," paved the way for the acceptance of Spiritualism. This magnetism was believed to perform wonders, and became the subject of investigation all over Europe. This, he says, was the forerunner of an "epidemic of table turning," which "spread from the Continent to England, becoming particularly acute about 1847," just about the time of the Fox sisters.
George Whitehead, An Inquiry Into Spiritualism, pp. 40, 41.
However, in America about this same time Andrew Jackson Davis (d: 1910), of Poughkeepsie, New York, had published a book entitled Nature's Divine Revelation, which set forth the fundamentals and the philosophy of the incipient Spiritualism. The seances of the Fox sisters merely substantiated his writings. All this, Whitehead maintains, prepared the way for the news that "uncanny raps" had been heard in Hydesville, New York, in the spring of 1848, followed by the establishment of a "code of communication" with the "spirits." Then followed a "veritable contagion of rappings," which spread all over New York State within a few months.
John W. Ring, "Andrew Jackson Davis—the Poughkeepsie Seer," in Centennial Book of Modern Spiritualism in America, pp. 56, 57.
Whitenead, lac. cit.
3. FROM HOSTILE RECEPTION TO PHENOMENAL SPREAD
These crude communications were at first generally regarded by the public largely as fraud or a trick, a humbug and delusion, that would soon die out and quickly be forgotten. At the time, Spiritualism was regarded by churchmen with aversion, and had no semblance of a religion, much less any form or organization as a church. Though given hostile reception at first — for mobs gathered, violence was threatened, and the Fox family was castigated as "sensational fakers" seeking notoriety— tremendous changes soon took place. By 1854, in six short years, Spiritualism had extended to every part of the United States and was active in Europe.
The spread was indeed phenomenal. At the close of another decade the claimed number of mediums practicing in the United States was thirty thousand. Judge J. W. Edmonds, of the New York Supreme Court, who became a Spiritualist in 1853, computed the number of American followers to be some three million. By the 1880's Spiritualism had reputedly "spread over the entire surface of the earth." Erelong it excited the wonder of many jurists, scientists, philosophers, physicians, editors, poets, clergymen, statesmen, and educators. Such was its American inception and spread.
Spiritualists claimed that never in the history of the race had any movement of a "religious" character gained so wide and so deep a foothold among men and women of so many classes in so many lands, bringing about such a revolution of thought, as had Modern Spiritualism within the span of half a century. Even the eleventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica states that Spiritualism has "spread like an epidemic."
4. SIXTY MILLION ADHERENTS CLAIMED BY 1894
Algernon J. Pollock, commenting on the amazing number of adherents of Modern Spiritualism in Germany, North America, and the world by 1910, says that Dr. F. Maack, of Hamburg, then reported ten thousand Spiritualists in Berlin alone, with four hundred mediums and perhaps twenty societies. He estimated sixteen million in North America, and said that even in 1894 Spiritualists claimed sixty million adherents in the world, with two hundred journals propagating their teachings. There are, of course, no precise figures.
The "yellow pages of nearly every city telephone directory today will yield the names of various practitioners of the occult art, listed in one form or another, to answer inquiries or to create curiosity.
Victoria Barnes, "The Birth of Modern Spiritualism," and "The Fox Family," Centennial Book, pp. 8-12; Verna K. Kuhlig, "Modern Spiritualism," Spiritualist Manual, pp. 74-77.
Ernest Thompson, The History of Modern Spiritualism, p. 11.
Emma Hardinge Britten, Nineteenth Century Miracles, pp. 554, 555.
Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick, "Spiritualism," Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th ed.), xxv, 705.
Algernon J. Pollock, The Fundamentals, vol. 10, p. 111.
5. CONAN DOYLE ENVISIONS PHENOMENAL DEVELOPMENTS.
In 1918 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote enthusiastically about the potentialities of Spiritualism, and considered it the coming world marvel:
"The lowly manifestations of Hydesville have ripened into results which have engaged the finest group of intellects in this country during the last twenty years, and which are destined, in my opinion, to bring about far the greatest development of human experience which the world has ever seen."
As we have seen, the phenomenal phase of the Spiritualist Movement in the United States began in 1848, with spirit rappings, mediums, seances, ouija boards, table tipping, and such. These manifestations soon attracted multiplied thousands of men and women eager to communicate with their "departed" loved ones. Groups formed into what were called circles. But in 1893 Spiritualism shifted to a religious basis, and declared itself to be a church. As more and more church people accepted Spiritualism, this religious phase became predominant and inevitable.
Though the first Spiritualist congregation, as an individual church, was established in Sturgis, Michigan, in 1858, it was not until 1893 that action was taken declaring the entire movement to be a church. Thenceforth Spiritualist congregations, spread everywhere, with ordained ministers, church manuals, hymnals, yearbooks, et cetera—and even a sort of seminary.
Arthur Conan Doyle, Metropolitan Magazine, January, 1918, p. 69.
1. SHIFTS FROM CHURCHLY TO SCIENTIFIC STAGE
Thus, beginning with Spiritualism's crude phenomena in the earlier decades—shot through and through with fraud and trickery, but with some inexplicable realities—this early secular period was followed, as noted, by the avowedly religious (though not Christian) stage. Then, after several decades in that form Spiritualism developed a distinctively "scientific" aspect, matching the tempo of the times. It was marked by new emphases and new tests, with a new vocabulary suited to the demands of this nuclear era. It is now stressing the scientific laboratory side of Spiritualistic phenomena. As Alson J. Smith aptly put it:
"Psychical research rode into the camp of science on the coattails of psychology and when it got there it changed its name to 'parapsychology'' (a study of the phenomena that are beyond the present scope of psychology)."
Now the psychic phenomena are tested in the laboratory, where they are weighed, measured, dissected, and counted by the apparatus of science.
2. OLD WORLD SCIENTISTS ESPOUSE SPIRITUALISM
During the course of its history Spiritualism has won over to its cause hundreds of scientists. Not a few of these were of European fame, such as Sir William Crookes, inventor of the Crookes tube; Pierre Curie, discoverer of radium; Cesare Lombroso, founder of the science of criminology; Sir Oliver Lodge, biologist; Morselli, psychologist. It has had a brilliant roster of adherents. Also included are numerous poets like Tennyson and Longfellow, or so the Spiritualists claim. It was the latter who wrote:
"There is no Death!
What seems so is transition;
This life of mortal breath
Is but a suburb of the life elysian,
Whose portal we call Death."
It is to be observed that Spiritualism has adroitly changed its form, and veiled some of its earlier, cruder, and more objectionable secular features. But while it assumed a churchy guise and then took on a scientific front, its basic utterances are identical and its key teachings have remained unchanged.
Alson J. Smith, Immortality, the Scientific Evidence (Prentice-Hall), p. 138.
Fremont Rider, Are the Dead Alive? pp. viii, ix.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Resignation”
On September 27, 1893, the first Delegate Convention of Spiritualist Societies of the United States of America was held in Chicago, and there the National Spiritualist Association of Churches of the U.S.A. was organized to "establish" Spiritualism as a "religion." This step was taken with the declared purpose of "converting the world to Spiritualism."
1. OPERATES THROUGH SUNDRY ORGANIZATIONS
In North America the National Spiritualist Association furnishes literature for the movement and trains its mediums and ministers. This latter phase includes an institute for the training of licentiates, lecturers, mediums, and "ordained ministers." Its mediums may baptize. This is the "orthodox" body of American Spiritualism.
The National Christian Spiritual Alliance, founded in 1913, stresses intercommunication with the spirit world through progressive development, with emphasis on "perpetual evolution." The Progressive Spiritual Church was also founded in 1913 to establish Spiritualism on a more religious basis. It believes in the communion of spirits, God as the supreme spirit, the angels as departed spirits of the dead, and communication with the living by means of mediums. It claims that Jesus Christ is a medium, controlled by the spirits of Elias, Moses, and John the Baptist.
Joseph P. Whitwell, "Organization and Progress." Centennial Book, pp. 30, 31, also p. 13.
Centennial Book, pp. 59, 60.
Ibid., p. 157.
A National Colored Spiritualist Association was founded in Los Angeles in 1925." And in 1945 a Ministerial Association of the N.S.A. was founded.15 Montague Summers tells of similar organizations in Italy, Germany, France, Scotland, and England. However, the two leading Spiritualist bodies are (1) the National Spiritualist Association, with its standard Spiritualist Manual, and (2) the International General Assembly of Spiritualists, organized in 1936. There is also the International Federation of Spiritualists, made up of representatives from forty-one countries, with which the National Spiritualist Association is affiliated. This organization publishes the journals The National Spiritualist and the Psychic Observer.
The National Spiritualist Association adopted a "Declaration of Principles" to "represent their religious belief and teaching to the world at large." The platform was made so "broad and liberal," according to the N.S.A. president emeritus, Joseph P. Whitwell, that it embraced "all religious Belief and Doctrine of all ages throughout the entire world"—so as to include "those outside the Christian Faith."
2. DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES A GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT
Their nine-point Declaration of Principles was built up gradually over the years. Sections 1 to 6 were adopted in
1899, sections 7 and 8 in 1909, and section 9 in 1945. The complete text is as follows:
"1. We Believe in Infinite Intelligence.
"2. We believe that the phenomena of Nature, both physical and spiritual, are the expression of Infinite Intelligence.
"3. We affirm that a correct understanding of such expression and living in accordance therewith constitute true religion.
"4. We affirm that the existence and personal identity of the individual continue after the change called death.
"5. We affirm that communication with the so-called dead is a fact, scientifically proven by the phenomena of Spiritualism.
"6. We believe that the highest morality is contained in the Golden Rule. 'Whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you, do ye also unto them.
"7. We affirm the moral responsibility of the individual, and that he makes his own happiness or unhappiness as he obeys or disobeys nature's physical and spiritual laws.
"8. We affirm that the doorway to reformation is never closed against any human soul, here or hereafter.
"9. We affirm that the Precepts of Prophecy contained in the Bible are scientifically proven through Mediumship.”
Ibid., p. 31.
Ibid.
"Declaration of Principles," Centennial Book, p. 23.
Ibid.; see also Spiritualist Manual, p. 34: National Spiritualist Association Year Book (1961), pp. 6-8.
Certain of these "principles" will be noted elsewhere.
3. TO GIVE PRE-EMINENCE TO WOMEN
As a side light, it is interesting to observe that when the National Spiritualist Association was organized in 1893, Chairman Milan C. Edson said: "It has been the peculiar province of Spiritualism to bring prominently before the world—Woman,—as a minister, teacher, counsellor, and guide."
And it is noticeable that the preponderant number of Spiritualist "ministers" and other leaders are women—eighty-five being prominently played up in their Centennial Book (1848-1948). This is to inaugurate "women's golden era," "the hope of the future." This explains the preponderance of women mediums. Chairman Edson then urged all to go for ward with "the work of converting the world to Spiritual ism." They were organizing, he declared, under the "hovering hosts of beloved spirits," and at the "flood-tide" of a "great Spiritual wave." Such was Spiritualism's avowed goal in 1893.
"Formation of the National Spiritualist Association," Centennial Book, p. 13.
Ibid., p. 14.
Ibid., p. 13.
Ibid.
A series of "Definitions," adopted by the National Spiritualist Association in 1914, and reaffirmed in 1919 and 1930, stresses the alleged threefold nature of Spiritualism. These definitions are likewise essential to an accurate understanding of their viewpoint and claims, so they are here given verbatim:
"1. Spiritualism is the Science. Philosophy and Religion of continuous life, based upon the demonstrated fact of communication, by means of medium-ship with those who live in the Spirit World.
"2. A Spiritualist is one who believes, as the basis of his or her religion, in the communication between this and the spirit world by means of medium-ship, and who endeavours to mould his or her character and conduct in accordance with the highest teachings derived from such communication.
"3. A Medium is one whose organism is sensitive to vibrations from the spirit world and through whose instrumentality intelligences in that world are able to convey messages and produce the phenomena of Spiritualism.
"4. A Spiritualist Healer is one who, either through his own inherent powers, or through his medium-ship is able to impart vital, curative force to pathologic conditions."
" 'Spiritualism Is a Science' because it investigates, analyzes and classifies facts and manifestations demonstrated from the spirit side of life.
" 'Spiritualism Is a Philosophy' because it studies the laws of nature both on the seen and unseen sides of life and bases its conclusions upon present observed facts. It accepts statements of observed facts of past ages and conclusions drawn there from, when sustained by reason and by results of observed facts of the present day.
" 'Spiritualism Is a Religion' because it strives to understand and to comply with the Physical, Mental and Spiritual Laws of Nature, 'which are the laws of God.' "
These, in combination, outline the scope and essence of Spiritualism.
According to the twofold definition of C. E. Bechhofer Roberts—
"a Spiritualist is a person who is convinced (1) that human personality survives beyond bodily death, and (2) that the surviving spirits can, and constantly do, communicate with living people through the intermediacy of especially endowed individuals known as 'mediums.' "
This is in harmony with principles four and five of the official "Declaration of Principles" of the 1955 National Spiritualist Association's Manual, page 34, and the 1961 Year Book, pages 6, 7. All Spiritualists are agreed that this is cardinal.
More women have that susceptibility than men, according to Spiritualists.
"Definitions," Centennial Book, p. 22. (Italics supplied.)
Ibid.
C. E. Bechhofer Roberts, The Truth About Spiritualism, p. 13.
1. MAINTAIN "SO-CALLED DEAD" ARE "LIVING."
Famous British Spiritualist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (d. 1930) declared that Spiritualism's primary lesson is to "teach us of the continued life of the soul, of the nature of that life," and of how Spiritualism is the "very essence" of religion. And Prof. Alfred Russell Wallace pressed the same point — that "it demonstrates, as completely as the fact can be demonstrated, that the called dead are still alive." And with this Emma Hardinge
Britten, another prominent Spiritualist, likewise concurs, adding:
"We found our so-called dead were all living, aye, and living so near to us that they breathe our very atmosphere, share our very thought."
2. OFFICIAL "YEAR BOOK" CONFIRMS INDIVIDUAL DECLARATIONS
The authoritative N.S.A. Year Book (1961) confirms and expands this principle in its official explanation of Spiritualism, adding the assurance of inevitable progression. "Spiritualism is God's message to mortals, declaring that There Is No Death. That all who have passed on still live. That there is hope in the life beyond for the most sinful.
"That every soul will progress through the ages to heights, sublime, where God Is Love and Love Is God."
3. UNIVERSAL SALVATION FUNDAMENTAL SPIRITUALIST PLANK
The two main planks, then, in Spiritualism's platform, as repeatedly stated, are: (1) that those who have "passed on" are conscious, and can communicate with us; and (2) that there is hope for the most sinful, and that every spirit, however wicked, will progress eventually to the realms of light. So. ultimate universal salvation is likewise one of its fundamental tenets. This needs ever to be borne in mind. Errant sinners are lauded as on their destined way to highest heaven. Here are certain details.
Alfred Russell Wallace, On Miracles and Modern Spiritualism, p. 212.
Britten, op. cit., p. 555. 30 N.S.A. Year Book, p. 13. (Italics supplied.)
4. PROGRESSIVE PASSAGE THROUGH THE "SPHERES."
The soul is alleged to progress through a graduated series of spheres to a higher and ever higher existence. The lower spheres allegedly purify and prepare for the higher realms. Most of the "departed" are affirmed to be in the third sphere, called the Summer Land. Above this are said to be the Philosopher's
sphere, the Advanced Contemplative and Intellectual spheres,
the Love sphere, and the Christ sphere. But all are assured of
reaching the higher spheres eventually, as Spiritualists do not
believe in Heaven or Hell, or that any are to be lost, as will
later, be seen.
5. SPIRITUALISM CONSIGNS OPEN REBELS TO HEAVENLY BLISS
This is one of the gravest aspects of Spiritualist teachings. It asserts that the most notoriously ungodly, who died in open rebellion against God, are either already in the higher heavens in enjoyment of bliss or are on their way there in their passage through the heavenly spheres. Spiritualism thus makes void the basic distinction between righteousness and sin, and the godly and basest of men as to their ultimate destination. But the Word of God solemnly declares, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for
darkness" (Isa. 5:20).
Spiritualism's audacious claim concerning the significance of the event of March 31, 1848, followed by the "Code of Communication" established by the Fox sisters with the "spirits," is voiced by Dr. B. F. Austin in his A.B.C. of Spiritualism:
"There was a mighty outpouring of spirit power upon the world resulting in the development of a large number of Mediums all over America and the general spread of the knowledge that life is continuous after death, and that communication between the mortal and the spirit realm is possible and actual."
Then comes the assertion: "A mighty tide of thought and sentiment in favour of the main propositions of Spiritualism, is sweeping over the world." And he adds: "The churches are saturated with the spirit and teachings of the Spiritualist religion."
B. F. Austin, The A.B.C. of Spiritualism, Question No. 5. (The pages are not numbered.)
Ibid., No. 52.
Ibid., No. 95.
These are typical of similar assertions that it is sweeping onward toward its goal.
1. SPIRITUALISM'S WORLD-CONQUERING MISSION
But the climax in boldness is put forth in the final question on the "Future of Spiritualism" where Austin says: "The Teachings of Spiritualism under the organizations, through the press; through Psychic Research . . . will go on and on, conquering and to conquest [sic], until the whole world shall know and rejoice in the great truth: "There is no death' and all God's great family are linked in glad communication and fellowship."
2. DOYLE—SPIRIT'S GUIDANCE TO INAUGURATE UNIVERSAL CREED
This view is supported by many Spiritualist writers. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, for example, foresaw Spiritualism
breaking down the barriers between the sects and combining "real" Christianity with direct spirit guidance rather than receiving its authority from bygone "documents"—in other words, from the Bible. Here are his exact words concerning a simplified universal religion on a Spiritualist basis:
"The ultimate merit of that revelation [spiritualism] which came in so humble a shape [to the Fox sisters], will be the simplification of religion, the breaking down of the barriers between sects, and a universal creed which will combine the ethics of real Christianity with direct spiritual communication, receiving our teaching not from bygone traditions and documents, but from actual contact with beings higher than ourselves. I pray that God may bless you, and that the great cause which is committed to your care may ever progress, discarding its lower manifestations and extending its higher ones, until the divine purpose has been fulfilled."
Ibid., No. 100.
3. COMING UNIFIER OF ALL RELIGIONS
Sir Arthur else where envisioned Spiritualism as the great unifier of all religions. Here is one of his anticipations, published in an American journal:
"If such a [Spiritualist] view of Christianity were generally accepted, and if it were enforced by assurance and demonstration from the New Revelation [alleged spirit messages] which is, as I believe, coming to us from the other side, then I think we should have a creed which might unite the churches, which might be reconciled to science, which might defy all attacks, and which might carry the Christian faith on for an indefinite period."
Such was his sweeping "vision of hope" for the future—through Spiritualism.
4. ONE "SCIENTIFIC RELIGION" FOR "MODERN MAN."
Spiritualists are more recently seeking to demonstrate by new "spirit" communications and developments that Spiritualism is the one "scientific religion" that will be accepted by modern man. Spiritualists are avowedly working for a complete break down of the "barriers” between the two worlds. They are seeking to sweep the whole world into their revolutionary persuasion. Shaw Desmond declares that "the veils are falling between the worlds"—"the worlds of the visible and the invisible." He pins his hope for this ambitious accomplishment on the "potencies of the psychic."
Arthur Conan Doyle Letter, quoted in John Mulholland. Beware Familiar Spirits. p. 283.
Doyle, in Metropolitan Magazine, January, 1918, p. 75.
Shaw Desmond, Psychic Pitfalls, p. 267.
There is a more fundamental and significant side to Modern Spiritualism that not only parallels but slightly precedes the phenomenal rappings of the Fox sisters in 1848 that must not be overlooked. It constitutes the inner essence of Spiritualism, and was projected by previously mentioned ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS (1826-1910), called the "Poughkeepsie Seer."
The chronological relationship between Davis' "revelation" and the audible happenings at the home of the Fox sisters was explained by Robert J. Macdonald, fifth president of the National Spiritualist Association of Churches, in the recent What Is Spiritualism? He refers to the Davis phase as "the revelation first realized by Andrew Jackson Davis in the modern era, continued through the Fox family and countless mediums since their day." (See statuette on page 1054.)
As a consequence, Davis has frequently been called the "John the Baptist." or "forerunner of Modern Spiritualism." And Davis antedated the Fox sisters' rapping episode by some four years.
1. ANTEDATES FOX SISTERS' EPISODE OF 1848
To grasp the significance of this statement it is essential to have a brief biographical glimpse of Jackson, who was born in New York State in 1826. Back in January, 1844, mesmerist William Levington began to develop Davis' extraordinary clairvoyant powers. This continued until 1849. But in March, 1844—four years before the Fox incident of 1848—Davis, in a "prolonged trance,'' claimed to hold converse with "spirit beings"—specifically the "spirits" of Galen (Greek physician, c. A.D. 200) and-Swedenborg (Swedish scientist, d. 1772).
Robert J. Macdonald, "Faith, and Works," in What Is Spiritualism? p. 35. (Italics supplied.)
M. E. Cadwallader, "There Is No Death—There Are No Dead," in Centennial Book, p. 68.
Under the influence of these alleged mentors from the "spirit world," Davis—with little formal education—conversed on abstruse subjects in the fields of medicine and psychology, even diagnosing and prescribing for the sick. It was Davis who first set forth the precise teachings and philosophy of Modern Spiritualism. And it was in 1845 while still a youth, during hours of induced magnetic sleep, that Davis dictated his major book to the Reverend William Fishbough. It was titled Principles of Nature, Nature's Divine Revelations, and A Voice to Mankind, and totalled some five hundred printed pages. It is still recognized as definitive by Spiritualists.
And according to John W. Ring, authority on A. J. Davis, on the morning following the rappings of March 31, 1848, Davis, though many miles away from the Hydesville Fox cottage, made mention of the exceptional happening that had occurred there." Likewise, before the Fox episode, in 1847 Davis founded one of the earliest Spiritualist journals, Univercoelum, which continued for two years. And in 1849 he started the popular Spirit Messenger, and later launched the Herald of Progress in 1860.
2. MEMORIALIZED JOINTLY WITH KATIE FOX
The prominent place accorded Davis in Modern Spiritualism is indicated by the fact already noted that during the 1948 centennial of Modern Spiritualism, Katie Fox and A. J. Davis were memorialized in the form of a pair of "statuettes of Andrew Jackson Davis who introduced intellectual Spiritualism and of Katie Fox who introduced phenomenal Spiritualism." That was the basic distinction. And Jackson was named first. These statuettes were widely distributed. (See page 1054.) And M. E. Cadwallader, writing of Davis' early activities, said: "Many times it is claimed that the Advent of Modern Spiritualism should be dated from his [Davis'] vision of Galen, who gave him the Magic Staff."
John W. Ring, "Andrew Jackson Davis—the Poughkeepsie Seer," in Centennial Book, p. 56; also p. 46.
Sarah P. Thompson, "Spiritualist Publications 1847-1947, in Centennial Book, p. 66.
"Centennial Souvenirs," in Centennial Book, p. 37. (Italics supplied.)
Cadwallader, op. cit.
3. BOOKS WRITTEN UNDER "SPIRIT CONTROL."
In 1849 there was a "change in Mesmeric control," as a Dr. S. S. Lyons took the place of Levington, with "control and subject" moving to New York City. There, "while in complete control of the manipulator," Davis dictated his most noted book. There-after, from 1849 until 1885, a "steady stream of books issued from his pen"—about forty-six books in all, large and small, philosophical and scientific." These were all allegedly written under "impressions received from the Spirit World." It is also essential to note that Otis affirms that Davis' Principles of Nature are "necessary to have a correct under standing of Modern Spiritualism." M Otis stresses the accuracy of Davis' "description of physical death and what takes place then as well as his statements regarding the formation of and life in the spirit world." They are standard statements of Spiritualist belief." That is why Davis' contribution is called the abiding "intellectual" phase, in contrast with the phenomenal" aspect perceived through the senses, and which has changed with the years as well as being subject to much fraud and challenge. It should perhaps be added that in 1883 Davis received the degree of M.D. from the United States Medical College of New York City, afterward practicing medicine in Boston. (Inasmuch as question has been raised as to the standing of this medical college, authoritative information is placed in the appended footnote.)
4. REJECTS GREAT VERITIES OF CHRISTIAN FAITH
But there was also an anti-Christian angle to Davis' teachings that must not be overlooked, as seen in his Beyond the Valley (1885). In chapter forty-four ("Christianity and Modern Spiritualism") Davis, answering a question as to "spiritual" or "eternal causes," and whether they are the "decrees of a personal God." answers bluntly. "No." They are, he affirms, "the unchangeable vital currents of the very essence of the Infinite Spirit." Denying "creation" as not being a "correct term," Davis substitutes "formation." Then, dividing the faith of the early Christian Era into that of "distinguished Pagans," "practical Stoics," and "spiritualistic Christians," Davis states that Christianity taught "certain indescribable and everlasting punishment." By Christianity Davis did not mean "the doctrines of theology,—such as the 'Fall of Man,' 'The Atonement,' 'Heaven for the Believer,' and 'Hell for the Disbeliever.' " These are all rejected.
William F. Otis, "Andrew Jackson Davis," in Centennial Book, p. 89.
Ibid.
Ibid., p. 90.
Ibid.
Davis dismisses the "Second Advent" by referring to "the second (also the millionth [sic]) coming of every Truth that can elevate." Then comes his basic contention that "Modern Spiritualism is a great revival of evidences of a future life and spirit intercourse." It is designed to "convert skeptics to a belief in personal immortality." That is its unchanging, basic purpose. As to the churches, and whether they will "adopt Spiritualism," Davis says, "Nothing can be more certain." In support he cites the "adoption by the clergy of the existing evidences of personal immortality" which they have been "preparing their congregations to receive." Such were some of the basic contentions of Davis, pioneer in Modern Spiritualism. Certain definitions might be added. Davis asserts that "Spirit, covered by both body and soul, is the ultimate—man, spiritually individualized forever." The "human spirit," he adds, is "drawn from the infinite spiritual ocean." "Death" is described as a "backward and downward movement by which the spirit is enabled to leap into the Summer-Land." And "Life in the next world is substantially the same as is life" in our present existence." Such are typical Davis definitions from his "summary of our [Spiritualist] teachings," in 1885. Those are the abiding principles enunciated by Davis.
Andrew Jackson Davis, Beyond the Valley, p. 360. (This volume is called "The Life of a Seer," p. 3.)
Ibid.
Ibid., p. 361.
Ibid., p. 362.
Ibid., p. 363.
Ibid., p. 364.
Ibid., p. 30.
Ibid., p. 31.
Ibid., p. 30.
Spiritualism boldly asserts that the basic reason for the divisions o£ Christendom has been man's failure to maintain the Early Church communication with the "spirit-world."
Thus Johannes Greber, a former Catholic priest, asserts that a spirit gave him the following message:
"Since the time when communication with God's spirit-world as the sole road to truth was dispensed with, errors of the most varied and far-reaching nature have crept into Christianity." [1]
The most conspicuous division in Christendom is doubt less the historic split between Protestantism and Catholicism, which breach has thus far remained unhealed. This breach Spiritualism aspires to heal.
1. SPIRIT MESSAGES CALL FOR "RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION."
Recent Spiritualist spokesmen assure us that Spiritualism's doctrines alone "represent the true teachings" of the Early Church. They therefore hold that a return to the guidance of Spiritualism provides the sole remedy for these divisions. Spirit guidance, they insist, constitutes the primary source of truth—for the spirits, they avow, are the "messengers of God." This comports with the previously noted assertions of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that the spirits are bringing
1. Johannes Greber, Communication, With the Spirit World, pp. 358, 359.
a "new revelation" from the "other side" that calls for a radical "reconstruction" of traditional Christianity. In other words, Spiritualism professes to provide the basis for World Federation of Christendom, under an all embracing "spirit-synthesis" of religion. Thus Protestantism and Catholicism can be reunited by, and upon, a spiritistic platform—a universal religion of "scientifically demonstrated" "survival." Such is Spiritualism's frank objective. It is a three fold union.
2. AUDACIOUS CLAIMS FOR SPIRITISM AS HUMANITY'S SAVIOR.
As indicated, Conan Doyle contends that Spiritualism is actually the "central teaching" of Christianity itself, the
"most powerful ally" of all the creeds. Spiritualism is thus set forth as an angel of light, a Saviour of humanity. It is even asserted that the results of Pentecost will pale into insignificance in comparison with what Modern Spiritualism is prepared to bring to pass.
Spiritualism envisions converting Christian churches into seance chambers for the demonstration of life after death, with materialized "direct-voice" spirit teachers and preachers. [2] Shaw Desmond goes so far as to predict that "the Atomic World will be riddled with the psychic, steered by the psychic." [3]
2. Shaw Desmond, Psychic Pitfalls, p. 269.
3. Ibid., p. 270.
3. SCIENTIFIC "SPIRIT CONTACT" THROUGH ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS.
Some psychic experimenters are now seeking to so harness "supersonic" rays, or vibrations, as to establish electronic communication with the spirit world on the "Other Side." Some in the Spirit Electronic Communications Society envision a "super-ray" so sensitive that it will pick up the "spoken-word" vibrations in the "etheric sound-waves," in order that one may tune in on spirit conversations without a medium, much as one tunes in on a radio or television conversation from a broadcast station. This device they call an "electroencephalograph" (not to be confused with the medical instrument of the same name), which they hope will develop into an "etheric speech microphone." [4] That is one of the current "scientific" anticipations.
This is similar to the radical "new outlook" envisioned by Ernest Thompson—"scientific spirit communication" unit ing humanity with spirit beings much as radio now unites the Eastern and Western hemispheres. [5] Such are the avowed goals of current psychical scientism and its fantastic experiments.
Mrs. M. E. Cadwallader (d. 1934), one of the organizers of the National Spiritualist Association in 1893, erected a stone marker in Hydesville, New York, designating the exact spot where the Fox cottage stood at the time of the Hydesville raps of 1848. She was likewise largely responsible for erecting the shrine placed by the Spiritualists of the world in the Churchyard of the Plymouth Spiritualist Church in Rochester, New York. [6] Author of Hydesville in History, she was also editor of the Spiritualist journal The Progressive Thinker. She therefore speaks with some authority. She here discusses some points not often understood as to actual positions of Spiritualism.
4. Reginald M. Lester, In Search of the Hereafter, p. 213.
5. Ernest Thompson, quoted in Lester, op. cit., p 216.
6. The National Spiritualist, February, 1935; Centennial Book, p. 216.
1. CLAIMS CHRISTIANITY BASED ON SPIRITISTIC PHENOMENA.
In a widely quoted editorial, "There Is No Death—There Are No Dead," in her Progressive Thinker, Mrs. Cadwallader wrote of how the various "Bibles [sacred books] of the ages" show that "belief in spirits is the foundation of all religions of the world," and declared that the centuries have been "filled with manifestations of the spirit." Then she boldly states:
"A medium foretold the birth of Jesus whose brief life on earth was filled with the performance of many so-called miracles which in reality were spiritualistic phenomena." [7]
2. MARCH 31 (1848) IS BIRTH DAY OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM.
Among Spiritualists, she says: "By common acceptance March 31, 1848, is the date that has officially been celebrated as the day when the raps at Hydesville, New York, in the home of the Fox Family, heralded to the world the stupendous message:
“There is no death; there are no dead." [8]
Just as millions of Christians celebrate the natal day of Jesus, so, Mrs. Cadwallader declares:
"March 31 is the day when Spiritualists celebrate the dawn of a new era-which has changed the thought of the world: when they celebrate the anniversary of the rappings at Hydesville, which told the world that death is but a change from the physical to the spiritual world; that the personality still persists in the world of spirit; that those who have left the scene of their earthly labours can return to those still on earth." [9]
That, she adds, is "why we jubilate," "why we celebrate." To the Spiritualist 1848 is a division point in history.
3. SPIRITUALISM THE "COMING UNIVERSAL RELIGION."
Referring to Modern Spiritualism as "one of the greatest Movements the world has ever known," she remarks: "We are struck with the magnitude of the Movement which in less than a century has attained such gigantic proportions." [10] She again emphasizes the significance of March 31, 1848:
"March 31, 1848 ushered in a new era for the human race, an era which had its beginning with the tiny raps at Hydesville and will culminate only in the distant cycles of the future." [11]
And she adds that with the first public Spiritualist meeting in Corinthian Hall, Rochester, New York, in 1849, Spiritual ism entered upon "the beginning of a world-wide investigation by prominent people everywhere." [12] Then comes this prediction: "Spiritualism is the coming universal religion. It is the life blood of Christianity; in fact, it is Christianity plus." [13]
7. Reprinted in Centennial Book. p. 68.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid., p. 69.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
She states, significantly, "We are spirit here and now, a part of God." This too is a constantly recurring claim.
4. NEW DISPENSATION BORN IN 1848.
With this declaration regarding 1848, Spiritualist Dr. B. F. Clark agrees: "From this [the phenomena at the Fox home in 1848] a new dispensation was born." [14] And he likewise adds that the movement spread from Hydesville to Corinthian Hall in Rochester in 1849, followed by a conference in 1851. The United States Congress was petitioned by fifteen thousand in 1854 to appoint a commission to investigate Modern Spiritualism. [15] Then he appends a roster of illustrious adherents and stresses its remarkable growth. Such are Spiritualism's claims.
5. BATTERY OF PERIODICALS SPANS FIRST CENTURY.
A large number of Spiritualist periodicals marked its first century (1848-1948), beginning in 1849 with The Present Age and Spirit Messenger. Then came the Spiritual Telegraph in 1852, followed by Spiritual Age, The Spiritual Clarion, The Spiritual Universe, The American Spiritualist, Banner of Light (1857), and the Progressive Age, edited by Moses Hull; also The Spiritual Scientist, The Light of Truth, The Progressive Thinker, The National Spiritualist, official organ of the National Spiritualist Association (1919), The Lyceum Spotlight, and The Psychic Observer. [16]
A paralleling battery of British publications included the British Spiritual Telegraph (1857), Spiritual Messenger
(1858), Spiritual Magazine (1860), Spiritual Times, Spiritual Notes (1878), official organ of the British National Association of Spiritualists, Light, The Two Worlds, Borderland, Spiritualist Review, Spiritualist Quarterly Magazine, and Psychic News. These were but part of the list. And there were Continental journals as well. [17]
14. B. F. Clark, "Special Events," in Centennial Book, p. 98.
15. Ibid.
16. Sarah Parker Thompson, "Spiritualist Publications 1847-1947," in Centennial Book, p. 66.
17. Ibid., p. 67.
1. ROBERTS OUTLINES FEATURES OF TYPICAL SERVICE.
How Spiritualism operates in its churchly role is told by C. E. Bechhofer Roberts, in The Truth About Spiritualism. Here he describes a typical Spiritualist service, with its Spiritualist hymn (such as "Home in the Spirit-Land"), prayer, offering, and address, stressing the point that at last the "barrier" of death has been broken and spirits have returned to tell of the fuller life in the Spirit-Land—a "truth" that is to "revolutionize the world." Finally, the public clairvoyant brings "messages" from the "spirits" to various persons in the audience, identifying the individuals by describing them. Then the chair man calls upon the audience to rejoice over this further example of "spirit" intervention, and prays that eyes may be opened to see the great "truths" of Spiritualism, to bless the mediums who communicate the messages and to "hasten the day when Spiritualism shall triumph throughout the earth." [18]
2. EARLY SPIRITUALIST HYMNALS STRESS "SPIRIT" CONCEPTS.
As to hymns, one of the early Spiritualist hymnals was Spiritual Songs for the Use of Circles, Camp Meetings, and Other Spiritualist Gatherings, compiled by Mattie E. Hull, wife of Moses Hull. It affords a clear picture of the predominant note. Here are typical hymn titles: "Death's Stream Bridged"; "Beautiful Shore"; "Spirit Greetings"; "Sweetly Falls the Spirit's Message"; "Light Ahead"; "To Our Risen Friends"; "Rap, Rap, Rap" (to the tune of "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp"); "In the Still Hours of Night"; "Sweet Spirit Land"; "There's a Good Time Coming"; "I Cannot Trace the Way"; and "The Angels' Presence." And there was a perverted doxology, appealing for spirit guidance:
"O, blessed Ones from upper Spheres
Now as we separate, draw near.
Guide us while in earth's path we rove,
And bind our souls in perfect love."
18. C. E. Bechhofer Roberts, The Truth About Spiritualism, pp. 18-22.
In another collection, The Golden Echoes, with words and music by S. W. Tucker, appear such other hymn titles as "Angel Visitants"; "Beyond the Weeping"; "Heavenly Portals"; "My Spirit Home"; "The Homeward Voyage"; "The Unseen City."
3. OFFICIAL HYMNAL MAINTAINS SPIRITUALIST CONCEPTS.
The current official Spiritualist Hymnal, of the National Spiritualist Association of Churches of the United States of America [19] includes the following, which sustain the typical Spiritualist contention:
"Beautiful, Beckoning Hands"; "Come, Gentle Spirits"; "Come, Thou All Transforming Spirit"; "Hand in Hand With Angels"; "He Heals Me! O Blessed Thought"; "Make Channels for the Streams"; "Message From the Spirit Land"; "O Life That Makes All Things New"; "O Spirit, Source of Light"; "Spirit Calls Us"; "Sweetly Falls the Spirit Message"; "The Great Over Soul"; "The Other World"; "There Is No Death"; "Till I See Death's Lifted Curtain"; "Trust in the Spirit"; "Under the Guidance of Angels"; "What Is Death?"; "Whisper to Us of Spirit Life."
Outside the named Spiritualist circles there is widespread dabbling into the occult in every strata of society. Curiosity is often the motive, or adventure into the mystic. Those who thus tamper with the commonly known phenomena of Spiritualism may not come to any conclusion as to origins, but they are usually left wondering whether valid communication with those who have "gone beyond" is a possibility. Here is a case in point.
19. The inside font cover contains the Declaration of Principles" of the National Spiritualist Association has a "Prayer for Spiritual Healing” to be used daily at 8 o’clock in the evening for all members of the N.S.A.
For years reputable journals have periodically published articles from well-known men—such as novelist Booth Tarkington—bearing on the occult. In a "Where Do We Go From Here?" recital, appearing in The Saturday Evening Post for August 9, 1941, as one in a series of reminiscences, Tarkington tells of a teen-ager episode in the family household where a "force unknown" began to operate. It is a casual recital, detached in tone, but it is significant.
1. HEAVY MAHOGANY TABLE MOVES MYSTERIOUSLY.
The family had all scoffed at "table tippings and inexplicable rappings on walls and tables," and "ghost stories." And Tarkington states that he had been the "loudest in scorn of all spectral bugaboos." But, just as a prank, a group of six young people one day thought they would see if they could "make a table move" in the Tarkington drawing room—by the finger-tips-on-the-edge technique. They took their places, standing around the heavy mahogany table. Before long it began to move slowly but erratically, zigzagging several feet at a time across the thick Brussels carpet. Young Tarkington, only four teen, was merely looking on.
Removing their finger tips, one person at a time, in order to discover which one was the "sensitive," they found that it was Booth's frail sister. When her fingers were withdrawn the movement stopped. But when she replaced them, the table moved against her, pushing her backward. They simply looked upon it as something "queer," for the sister was weakly, and never of herself could have moved the heavy table. But the table did move. Later she several times caused it to move in the same way.
2. CODE OF COMMUNICATION WITH "SPIRITS."
Then came "tapping and thumping" developments from its smooth surface—and there were no drawers or any loose parts. Grand father and Grandmother Booth were watching the developments intently. Then Tarkington's father worked out a "code of communication" as they contacted the "ghost" of Hum Riley who had died young. There were loud thumping, and young Tarkington was annoyed. People would think them crazy.
Later, Booth's "dead uncles, Walter and Lucian," allegedly manifested themselves as "supposedly with us." None could explain the phenomenon—"unless they served to establish the tremendous fact that the dead were present" and "were leading interesting lives." There were many similar episodes, with friends and relatives present. Family secrets were revealed, and many became convinced that they were "communicating with the dead." "What else can it be?" they asked.
3. GRANDFATHER TARKINGTON AFFIRMS IT IS "FROM THE DEVIL."
The one disbelieving exception was Grandfather Tarkington, who "didn't think the dead made the raps." But he thought "something else did," The family had come from orthodox Episcopalian, Methodist, Congregational, and Presbyterian backgrounds, but now few any longer believed in a "personal Satan." The "old orthodoxies were fading." Had these happenings established "A Bridge to Eternity"? Booth's father inquired of his own Methodist preacher father, the Reverend Joseph Tarkington. In response he drove forty miles to see what was happening. After sitting sternly throughout "an hour of afternoon rapping," he declared flatly: "Those sounds are not made by human trickery, but they cannot be from spirits in heaven. There is no countenance for them in the Bible. They are from the Devil." And, Booth added, "One didn't argue with Grandfather Tarkington."
4. REMAINS THE GREAT UNSETTLED QUESTION.
Nevertheless, these sittings continued for about three years in the Tarkington household. Sometimes the "raps did freakish things," resounding thumps coming from the walls and floor and ceiling of Grandmother Booth's room. Even voices were heard. The household sought to penetrate behind the veil to the "life beyond," but were told they "couldn't possibly under stand." These phenomena likewise seemed to centre about the sister, and affected her to the extent that her mother took her to the family physician. But in time, after her marriage, the raps passed and the "apparent communications with the dead," the "unseen visitors," ceased.
The episodes remained unexplained. The Tarkingtons never tried to settle the question. It always remained the great "perhaps"—"If perhaps there is no death." But Tarkington adds that this "perhaps" was "to be with us the rest of our lives." That was all. He tells it nonchalantly, just as a tale in his life. He hadn't participated in it. However, it indicates how such episodes have occurred in respected circles. [20]
The best-known American "Spiritualist Camp" is at Lilydale, New York, near Hydesville, but a close runner-up is the Chesterfield (Indiana) Camp, which claims that it is the "largest phenomenal centre in the world," the "Hub of World Spiritualism," and "a fine religious centre." [21] The descriptive brochures, publicizing recent annual convocations, which have continued for seventy-five years, yield the following data: The main attractions listed are the Art Gallery, Cathedral of the Woods, Garden of Prayer, Congress of Religions shrine, a Grotto—"where you can go into silence and feel the touch of the vanished hand." You can allegedly gain "understanding of immortality" as you visit with the mediums. A seminary is also conducted. There is a bookshop, selling books on "Theosophy and allied subjects." "Special Summer School Classes" are listed for "those who are aspiring to be mediums," [22] and a lyceum for children. The seminary offers "courses in Spiritual ism, Medium-ship and its Development, Bible History and Interpretation, Public Speaking, Spiritual Healing, Metaphysics, Occultism and Allied Subjects." [23]
20. Booth Tarkington. "As I Seem to Me," in The Saturday Evening Post, August 9, 1941, pp. 27, 48-51.
21. Chesterfield Spiritualist Camp (1961), front and back of cover.
22. Ibid., p. 6.
23. Ibid., p. 16.
24. Ibid.
These are "taught by a distinguished faculty." [24] Here at the camp is offered alleged "proof of survival" through "positive demonstration." [25] That is the scope. In 1959 there were twenty-seven staff mediums at the camp—"Direct Voice, Clairvoyant, and Materialization"—as well as "healers," and instructors in the production of "spirit pictures" and "spirit card writing," along with "materialization mediums" and "apport mediums." [26]
25. Ibid., p. 19.
26. Ibid. (1959), pp. 5, 6.
Here Are Housed Portrayals of the Return of Spirit, Examples of Alleged Spirit Paintings by the Bangs Sisters, Lizzie and May, Relics of the Fox Sisters, and Exhibits of Psychic Art, Including Spirit Photography.
1. CATHEDRAL OF THE WOODS.
The covering description of the Cathedral of the Woods states that "inside its walls is the most holy of holies where Angel voices are heard." [27] Here the "philosophy" of the "religion of Spiritualism is given." [28] And the camp in general is described as the "hallowed spot where spirit communion is found," where "Heaven and earth join together." [29] "The Thinker sees that star of hope that reveals, man lives on forever." [30]
27. Ibid., p. 17.
28. Ibid. (1961), p. 5.
29. Ibid. (1959), inside first cover.
30. Ibid., p. 19.
2. CHESTERFIELD SPIRITUALIST ART GALLERY.
The "East," or "Biblical Room" of the Art Gallery boasts "life size paintings that portray the return of Spirit found in the Christian Bible." These are declared to have come into being "through the medium-ship of the old prophets." The centre room displays "spirit paintings" by the "famous Bangs sisters," relics of the Fox family and Andrew Jackson Davis, and other noted mediums and speakers. The West Room contains samples of alleged "Psychic art." [31]
31. Ibid. (1959), p. 15; (1961), p. 3..
One of the descriptive captions in the West Room states that the sitter brings a package of photographic paper. The lights are dimmed. Then the individual holding the packet feels an agitation within the packet. Upon completion of the process the "spirit" signals by raps. A 50-watt red light is used in developing, as in customary photographic manner. Usually the faces and messages are said to be recognized by the sitter.
3. BANGS SISTERS' "PRECIPITATION" PAINTINGS COLLECTION.
According to an article by Art Gallery Curator Ralph Hicock, in the "psychic monthly" Chimes, for July, 1963, the Chesterfield Gallery houses twenty-six Bangs sisters' "precipitation" paintings allegedly produced by "Spirit Artists." [32]
These are set forth as "evidence for survival." Lizzie and May Bangs operated around the turn of the century, having been mediums since "early childhood." This early period, it is claimed, was marked by "spirit raps, voices, and the moving of pieces of furniture," as well as the "materialization of hands," and "automatic writing," followed by automatic typewriter writing—the customary phenomena. In 1894 the sisters became "staff mediums" at the Chesterfield Spiritualist Camp, where they "demonstrated" the "wonderful truth of Spirit return." [33]
According to claim, in precipitation painting the canvas was tacked to a wooden frame, as for ordinary portraits. This was placed in a locked box in "darkness," to "prove there had been no tampering with the canvas." Later the work was done in broad daylight. Within fifteen to forty-five minutes the "finished portrait" of "one who had walked on the earth in a vehicle of flesh" [34] would allegedly appear upon the canvas. Here is Hicock's recital of the alleged procedure:
32 Ralph Hicock, "Spirit Portraits of the Bangs Sisters," Chimes, July, 1963
("22d year of continuous publication"), pp. 34, 6. 7.
33 Ibid., p. 6.
34. Ibid.
"The canvas to be used always was selected by the sitter, then placed on a small table before a well-lighted window. The room was shaded sufficiently to cause all the light from the window to pass through the rear of the canvas, enabling the sitter to witness the progress of the portrait minutely and to detect the slightest change. The sisters placed themselves on each side of the table facing the sitter, placing their hands lightly on the edge of the frame holding the canvas. No two sittings were exactly alike. The outer edges of the canvas would become shadowed; different coloured lines would appear until the full outline of the shoulders and head would be seen. At times these lines would disappear, then re appear as though the unseen artist were making a preliminary sketch. The space within the outline would be a clear white, gradually changing to natural flesh tints, meanwhile forming small shadow spots for the ears, nose, and mouth. In many cases the eyes would be the last to be completed, then gradually they would open before the startled gaze of the beholder. Needless to say, this never failed to present most life-like realism. It is safe to state this is without parallel in all the annals of material art, contemporary or otherwise." [35]
This, it is stressed, was all offered as "proof of survival." The prices charged by the Bangs sisters for the exercise of their "sacred spiritual gift" ranged from $30 to $50, and the size of the paintings ranged from "life-size bust to seven feet." The sisters, who lived in Chicago, appeared before "crowned heads, investigative scientific societies and diverse groups."
Specimens of their work were taken to England by Admiral Moore of the British Admiralty, Hicock states, as "evidential results of this marvellous proof of the continuity of life." Moore was leader of the British Psychical Research Society. [36] The paintings were the alleged production of "Spirit Artists." So the Camp Chesterfield Gallery "has become a Mecca to those in search of survival." [37] (See page 1083.)
Such are some of the current claims of contemporary "phenomenal" Spiritualism, along with the retention of the
"religious" and "philosophy" phases, paralleling the contemporary scientific emphasis in other environs. Thus the older materialistic contentions continue, along with the newer and more subtle approaches. The undercover operations, that are increasingly effective today, are described elsewhere. Thus Spiritualism adapts itself to all classes, clients, and conditions.
35. Ibid., p. 7.
36. Ibid.
37. Ibid., p. 34.
We close this chapter on a sombre note, but one that must be considered. Despite charges of fraud and trickery, the Fox sisters were looked upon as the most highly gifted of the early mediumistic fraternity. But it is incumbent upon us to look a little more closely into the lives and public declarations of the three Fox sisters—Leah, Margaretta, and Katie. Leah (after ward Mrs. Underbill) was the oldest of the three. Katie, the youngest, continued uninterruptedly in her medium-ship for some thirty years. On the contrary, Margaretta (afterward Mrs. Kane) gave no sittings from about 1856 to 1867." [38]
1. MARGARETTA'S OSCILLATING CAREER AS SPIRITUALIST.
Margaretta had married Dr. Elisha Kane, an Arctic explorer. But after his death she turned away from Spiritualism for a time, and in August, 1858, joined the Roman Catholic Church. [39] However, she continued to associate occasionally with the Spiritualists. And, "pressed by the spirits," after a while she stood again before the world with undiminished powers as a spirit medium. [40] English Spiritualist James Burns, editor of The Medium, after Margaretta's tragic death in 1893, referred to a— "twofold spiritual spectacle; we have a woman giving spiritual manifestations to others, while within herself she is spiritually lost and misdirected. All moral sense, and control of mind and desire were gone. But when the medium makes a trade of it and puffs the thing up as a commodity for sale, then farewell to all that might elevate or instruct in the subject." [41]
2. WARNING ADMONITION FROM DR. KANE TO MARGARETTA.
One of the early warnings against the degrading influence of the Spiritistic phenomena of the Fox sisters was penned by none other than Dr. Kane, Arctic explorer husband of Margaretta, in his intimate letters to her, inspired by his
38. C. E. Bechhofer Roberts, op. cit., p. 47.
39. The Lone-Life of Dr. Kane, p. 284; Herbert Thurston, The Church in Spiritualism, pp. 33, 34.
40. Spiritual Magazine, July, 1867.
41. James Burns, in The Medium and Daybreak, April 28, 1893, p. 258.
love and concern for her. After his death Margaretta published these letters in The, Love-Life of Dr. Kane—a book now exceedingly rare. In these missives these pertinent appeals and admonitions from the doctor appear:
"Oh, Maggie, are you never tired of this weary, weary sameness of continual deceit? Are you doomed thus to spend your days, doomed never to rise to Setter things?"
“Do avoid "spirits." I cannot bear to think of you as engaged in a course of wickedness and deception. Maggie, you have no friend but me whose interest in you is disconnected from this cursed rapping. Pardon my saying so; but is it not deceit even to listen when others are deceived?" [42]
3. MARGARETTA PURPOSES TO EXPOSE SPIRITUALISM IN 1888.
In 1888 something sensational happened. For weeks there had been rumours of a forthcoming exposure of the frauds of Spiritualism. When Margaretta Fox Kane returned to New York from Europe she indicated to an interviewer her intention of exposing the whole Spiritistic fabrication. She had had a bitter quarrel with her older sister, Leah, who had shortly before published a book entitled The Missing Link in Modern Spiritualism (1885). This purported to be a history of the early manifestations at Hydesville and Rochester, in which the three sisters were at first concerned.
Margaretta had by this time come to despise Spiritualism, and had decided to denounce it. Her intense feelings were expressed in the New York Herald of September 24, 1888.
There she declared that she was going to lay bare the very foundations of Spiritualism. For some years she had contemplated this action, and had now come to "loathe" Spiritualism and all it stood for. She had said to those urging her to conduct seances, "You are driving me to hell." She had also sought to drown her troubles in drink, but to no avail. She remained bitter toward Leah, who, she said, made her and Katie "tools" so as to make money for her.
42. Quoted in C. E. Bechhofer Roberts, op. cit., pp. 47, 48.
4. JOINED BY KATIE IN DRAMATIC EXPOSURE.
About the same time Katie (Mrs. Jencken) also returned from Europe. She too told a reporter that she would take part in the exposure. Here are Katie's words:
"I regard Spiritualism as one of the greatest curses that the world has ever known. The worst of them all (the Spiritualists) is my eldest sister Leah, the wife of Daniel Underbill. I don't know why it is, she has always been jealous of Maggie and me; I suppose because we could do things in Spiritualism that she couldn't." [43]
On October 21, in a large assembly in the New York Academy of Music, after a Dr. Richmond had, by sleight of hand, successfully imitated the slate writing and thought reading of the seance room, Margaretta Fox Kane arose and, in her sister's presence, read a statement repudiating their whole super normal phenomena. In this she said:
"That I have been chiefly instrumental in perpetrating the fraud of Spiritualism upon a too-confiding public, most of you doubtless know. "
"The greatest sorrow in my life has been that this is true, and though it has come late in my day, I am now prepared to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God! "
"I am here tonight as one of the founders of Spiritualism to denounce it as an absolute falsehood from beginning to end, as the flimsiest of superstitions, the most wicked blasphemy known to the world." [44]
The New York Herald reported:
"By throwing life and enthusiasm into her big toe Mrs. Margaret Fox Kane produced loud spirit-rapping in the Academy of Music last night and dealt a death-blow to Spiritualism, that huge and world-wide fraud which she and her sister Katie founded in 1848. Both sisters were present and both denounced Spiritualism as a monstrous imposition and a cheat.
"The great building was crowded and the wildest excitement prevailed at times. Hundreds of spiritualists had come to see the originators of their faith destroy it at one stroke. They were greatly agitated at times and hissed fiercely. Take it all in all, it was a most remarkable and dramatic spectacle." [45]
5. RECANTS FORMER DENUNCIATION IN 1889.
Notwithstanding all this, a year later, in the home of Henry J. Newton, prominent New York Spiritualist, Margaretta made a formal recantation of her previous denunciation, declaring that it had no foundation in fact, and asserted, "Those charges were false in every particular." [46] Katie likewise, in a way, repudiated her share in the "exposure" by a letter to the Spiritualist journal Light.
43. New York Herald, October 9, 1888.
44. R. B. Davenport, The Deathblow to Spiritualism, p. 76;
See also the New York Herald and the New York Daily Tribune, for October 22;
New York World, October 21, 1888.
45. New York Herald, October 22, 1888.
6. BOTH SISTERS DIE AS ALCOHOLICS.
But there was a tragic finale. Dark shadows marked the closing years of both Fox sisters. Katie (Mrs. Jencken) died of alcoholic excesses in June, 1892. And Margaretta (Mrs. Kane), last survivor of the sisters, had a pitiable and tragic end in March, 1893. She too died a confirmed inebriate. Here is the dismal record:
"The tenement house of No. 456 West 57th Street, New York, is deserted now, except one room, from cellar to roof. The room is occupied by a woman nearly 60 years of life, an object of charity, a mental and physical wreck, whose appetite is only for intoxicating liquors. The face, though marked by age and dissipation, shows unmistakably that the woman was once beautiful.
"This wreck of womankind has been a guest in palaces and courts. The powers of mind, now almost imbecile, were the wonder and study of scientific men in America, Europe, and Australia. Her name was eulogized, sung, and ridiculed in a dozen languages. The lips that utter little else now than profanity once promulgated the doctrine of a new religion which still numbers its tens of thousands of enthusiastic believers." [47]
The moral degradation of Spiritualists Margaretta and Katie Fox stand on record for all time.
Thus there was confession of fraud, followed by retraction within a year. What is the explanation? Spiritualism was riddled with imposture. But it was not all trickery. It was not all fraud. There were genuine manifestations of actual "spirit" contacts that could not be gainsaid. But of what "spirits"? That is the crucial question. And that will be examined later.
46. The account of this incident, with facsimile of signature of Mrs. Kane and witnesses, appeared in The Medium and Daybreak, December 27, 1889. Cf. Light, December 20, 1889, p. 614.
47. Washington Daily Star. March 7, 1893; see also The Medium and Daybreak, April 7, 1893, p. 212.
7. NOT TROUBLED OVER "RESPECTABILITY OF ORIGINS."
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in his History of Spiritualism (1926), sought to "palliate the stigma" that the tainted careers of Margaretta and Katie had placed upon Spiritualism.
He did not believe their statements. His theory was that "Maggie's raps" were caused by the protrusion, from some part of her person, of a long rod of "ectoplasm," a substance invisible to the eye but capable of so conducting energy as to make sounds and strike blows at a distance. But neither Conan Doyle nor Oliver Lodge, scholars that they were, troubled themselves about the "respectability of origins." Doyle did, however, say that "'the entities with which the Fox circle were at first in contact were not of the highest order." [48] But "to this day the Fox sisters are spoken of by ardent Spiritualists in the highest term and are regarded by them as endowed with a special mission to humanity." [49]
Henry J. Newton, president of The First Spiritual Society of New York, said:
"Nothing that she [Margaretta] could say in that regard would in the least change my opinion, nor would it that of anyone else who had become profoundly convinced that there is an occult influence connecting us with an invisible world. [50]
48. Quoted in Thurston, op. cit., p. 44.
49. C. E. Bechhofer Roberts, of. cit., p. 48.
50. Quoted in John Mulholland, Beware Familiar Spirits, p. 283.
1. BASED ON INTERNAL, NOT "EXTERNAL," REVELATION.
Spiritualist Ernest Thompson, in his History of Modern Spiritualism (1948), in setting forth Spiritualism as the "new science" of psychics, presents it as "a fundamentally different spiritual approach to God, human destiny and morality." He frankly states that Spiritualism is "contradictory to orthodox -beliefs." He expressly states that while it is "primarily a religious movement," it "differs from orthodox religions chiefly because it is basically a spiritual revelation from within." It does not, he adds, receive its authority from "external" revelation; that is, its credentials are not from the inspired canon of Scripture.
Thompson then makes the further claim that "it is not a religion, it is religion." This, he admits, is in "direct opposition to the attitude of orthodoxy which condemns spirit communications, on biblical authority, as the work of the Devil." [1] In the light of these declarations let us note some of the basic conflicts, inevitable because of repudiating the fundamental provisions of the Word and the gospel. First listen to Conan Doyle.
1 Ernest Thompson, The History of Modern Spiritualism (1M8), pp. 11, 12.
2. DOYLE DENIES SIN, FALL, ATONEMENT, REDEMPTION.
The gravely anti evangelical and indeed anti-Christian character of Spiritualism is revealed in the following statement from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, one of its prominent British protagonists. Writing in the American Metropolitan Magazine in 1918, he boldly asserts:
"One can see no justice in a vicarious sacrifice, nor in the God who could be placated by such means. Above all, many cannot understand such expressions as the 'redemption from sin,' 'cleansed by the blood of the lamb,' and so forth. Never was there any evidence of a fall. But if there were no fall, then what became of the atonement, of the redemption, of original sin, of a large part of Christian mystical philosophy?" [2]
This is a common declaration on the part of the most prominent of the Spiritualist fraternity, and it is a frequent utterance among its leading writers. This contention is officially sanctioned, in principle, in their official Manual and in the current N.S.A. Year Book, both of which, in the "Interpretation" of the "Declaration of Principles," state that "remorse" for sin "can only be relieved by the individual's own efforts if not here, then in the hereafter." [3]
3. CLAIMS THAT SALVATION COMES FROM WITHIN, NOT WITHOUT.
In 1908, on the "60th anniversary of Modern Spiritualism," Dr. Hiram Corson, professor emeritus of English literature at Cornell University, similarly said that Spiritualism—
"Is destined to transform. If not, perhaps, in time, do away with, theology, which has been maintained by a hierarchy, and to make THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT the all in all in religion, as it was the all in all with the founder of Christianity. Jesus taught Salvation comes from WITHIN, not from without. There could be no such thing, in the nature of things, as a vicarious atonement for the sins of the world. Man, can be AT ONE with the Universal Spirit only through his own spiritual vitality. That alone is Salvation." [4]
2. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in Metropolitan Magazine, January, 1918, p.
3. Spiritualist Manual (1955), p. 36; N.S.A. Tear Book (196lJ, p. 8.
4. Centennial Book, p. 50. (Italics supplied.)
4. THOMPSON REPUDIATES ATONEMENT, GRACE, FORGIVENESS.
That Spiritualism is alien to the very essence of the Protestant principles of justification by faith and salvation by grace is likewise attested by Thompson in this startlingly frank declaration that "our spiritual progress is only the net result of our own efforts, and that our sins cannot be forgiven or remitted by the vicarious atonement of a Saviour." [5]
5. "MANUAL"—FUNDAMENTALS OF CHRISTIAN FAITH OPTIONAL.
Nevertheless, despite these declarations, attempted scriptural support for Spiritualism is sought in the Year Book and Manual by citing 1 John 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21; 1 Corinthians 12:1, 7-10, 28; 14:1, 3, 31, 32, 39, and other texts. [6] And an attempt is constantly made to identify Biblical incidents with the phenomena of Spiritualism. Moreover, the well-known position that Spiritualism embodies "the foundation stones of all ancient faiths" is attested by the intermingled quotations from Zoroaster, Moses, Homer, Plato, Buddha—and Jesus, the latter being just one in the assemblage of illustrious religious figures through the ages.
Total repudiation of the fundamentals of the Christian faith is provided for in that a Spiritualist may, if he chooses, "omit the tenets of the Christian Church," and in the further official declaration that there is no "vicarious atonement," as "each must work out his own salvation." [7] Each makes his own atonement. Note the supporting evidence.
5. Ernest Thompson, op. cit., p. 12.
6. N.S.A. Tear Book p. 15: Spiritualist Manual, pp. 167, 168.
7. Spiritualist Manual, p. 189.
Converse E. Nickerson, chosen to represent Spiritualism at the 1939-1940 World's Fair in New York City, says that "all ages" have added "links to the chain of definite truth that man's immortality is secure." This, he says, the sacred books of the ages attest. In this way, he explains, "the Bible is one of the central books which have brought courage and inspiration. It recognizes and emphasizes the oneness of this world and the next." Referring to Jesus as "a great spiritual teacher," whose teachings, properly understood, are of "supreme importance to the student of Spiritualism," Nickerson states: "He [Jesus] identified himself after physical death, confirming immortality's definite place in the scheme of man's thoughts and philosophy." [8]
1. CLAIMS "UPPER ROOM" WAS "SEANCE" CHAMBER.
Nickerson openly asserts that "the first message concerning the continued existence of the Christian founder—Jesus—was brought by an exalted spirit." A spirit, he contends, "in shining garments" at the empty tomb on the resurrection morn "declared that death had been conquered and that their loved teacher still lived." [9] But the climax of Nickerson's story comes in connection with the "upper room," which he converts into a seance chamber: "The seance room was a very sacred place to the disciples of Jesus.
Coming through the darkness and bringing with it its own hallowed light, the spiritualized body of Mary's son revealed itself to the wondering gaze of those who thus received their first definite knowledge of spirit manifestation." [10] Other Spiritualists have made the same contention. It is a standard position.
2. SUCH SEANCES NOW ONLY OUTSIDE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
Then follows the significant admission that "such a seance today can be found only outside the pale of the Christian followers of Jesus the Christ."
8. Converse E. Nickerson, "The Bible and the Spiritualist," Centennial Book, p. 154.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
But aside from the seance, Nickerson claims "there is no other avenue of connection between this mortal existence and our spiritual habitation." [11]
3. "GENERAL RESURRECTION" REPUDIATED BY SPIRITUALISM.
As to the resurrection, Nickerson asserts that "one by one we enter into the spirit life which concludes the mortal impersonation." This, he adds— "means to exclude any thought of a general resurrection. Such a [general] resurrection would hold even Peter asleep in his grave till its crashing dawn. Jesus taught the individual resurrection of the soul from the mortal body." [12]
So according to Nickerson the resurrection occurs individually, at death. It is on such a basis that the New Testament becomes a convenient "working textbook for the Spiritualist." [13] The device is obvious.
4. "NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH" SIMPLY "SPIRIT WORLD.”
St. John's apocalyptic description of the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21:22) is, Nickerson holds, simply "the spirit world with all its wonderful counterpart of this earth experience." "Death will work the change" and provide the opportunity for us to "continue our celestial pilgrimage." [14] It is death, then, he avers, that brings the new heaven and the new earth, and it comes to pass individually. It is not by divine interposition but through Innate Immortality, according to Spiritual ism.
5. BIBLICAL SUPPORT SOUGHT FROM PAUL'S "SPIRITUAL GIFTS."
Nevertheless, further attempt is made to obtain Biblical support for Spiritualism by frequent appeal to St. Paul's chapter on spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12), with its "diversities of gifts" and "operations," which include "healing," "miracles,” "prophecy," and "tongues." These are subtly set forth as all fulfilled in, and only in, Spiritualism's modern operations, for they have adopted these terms. Such are some of the specious arguments invoked in a twisted attempt to secure a certain Bible support, completely ignoring the true and historical intent and fulfilment of Holy Writ.
11. Ibid., pp. 154, 155.
12. Ibid., p. 155
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
6. PAULINE "SPIRITUAL GIFTS" CLAIMED BY SPIRITUALISTS.
The scope of claimed Spiritualist phenomena is listed in the general "Definitions" adopted by the National Spiritualist Association of Churches in 1914. Definition 5 reads: "The Phenomena of Spiritualism consists of Prophecy, Clairvoyance, Clairaudience, Gift of Tongues, Laying on of Hands, Healing, Visions, Trance, Apports, Levitation, Raps, Automatic and Independent Writings and Paintings, Voice, Materialization, Photography, Psychometry and any other manifestation proving the continuity of life as demonstrated through the Physical and Spiritual senses and faculties of man." [15]
The depart-from-the-faith—the Bible faith—aspect of Spiritualism is all-inclusive. In support we quote four questions and their amazingly candid (and incriminating) answers from Dr. B. F. Austin's The A.B.C. of Spiritualism, issued by the National Spiritualist Association of Churches. Note them most carefully. They offer irrefutable proof of total departure.
1. SPIRITUALISM NOT BASED ON BIBLE.
Spiritualism's un equivocal repudiation of any Bible basis is declared in answer No. 11:
"11. Is not Spiritualism based upon the Bible?
"No. The Bible so far as it is inspired and true is based upon Mediumship and therefore, both Christianity (the simple and beautiful teachings of Jesus—real primitive Christianity) and Spiritualism rest on the same basis.
"Spiritualism does not depend for its credentials and proofs upon any former revelation." [15]
It is unequivocally not Bible based.
2. JESUS HELD NOT UNIQUELY DIVINE.
Next, holding that Jesus is divine only as one believes "in the divinity of all men," [17] Spiritualists expressly deny the Trinity and coequality of Christ with the Father:
15. "Definitions," Spiritualist Manual, p. 37. (Italics supplied.)
16. B. F. Austin, The A.B.C. of Spiritualism, No. 11. (The pages are not numbered.)
17. Ibid., No. 16.
"17. Does Spiritualism recognize Jesus as one person of the Trinity, co-equal with the Father, and divine in a sense in which divinity is un attainable by other men?
"No. Spiritualism accepts him as one of many Saviour Christs, who at different times have come into the world to lighten its darkness and show by precept and example the way of life to men. It recognizes him as a world Saviour but not as 'the only name' given under heaven by which men can be saved." [18] Spiritualism totally rejects Jesus Christ as the sole Saviour of men.
3. NO ATONING VALUE IN DEATH OF JESUS.
Again, denying any "special atoning value" in Christ's death, Austin answers, similar to others already noted:
"19. Does not Spiritualism recognize special value and efficacy in the death of Jesus in saving men?
"No. Spiritualism sees in the death of Jesus an illustration of the martyr spirit, of that unselfish and heroic devotion to humanity which ever characterized the life of Jesus, but no special atoning value in his sufferings and death. The world has had uncounted illustrations of men who have died for the truth. All such deaths have a moral value and influence but not in a sense of a ransom price for the souls of others, as taught by the so-called orthodox churches." [19] Man is thus left without any redemptive atonement.
4. JESUS BRAZENLY DECLARED "GREAT MEDIUM."
Austin presumptuously characterizes Jesus as a "great Medium," prac ticing the fundamental principles of Spiritualism:
"21. From the standpoint of Spiritualism how is the character and work of Jesus to be interpreted?
"Jesus was a great Mediator, or Medium, who recognized all the fundamental principles of Spiritualism and practiced them. The existence of a Supreme Power; the Spiritual nature of man; man's continued life after death; the open door between the two worlds; the efficacy of prayer; the power of healing; the gifts of clairvoyance and clairaudience; and the practice of communion with angels and spirits, are all to be found in the teachings and examples of Jesus." [20] "Jesus himself communed with angels and spirits and took his favourite disciples to a seance on the Mount, where Moses and Elias appeared and communed with them." [21]
18. Ibid., No. 17. (Italics supplied.)
19. Ibid., No. 19.
20. Ibid., No. 21.
21. Ibid., No. 22.
5. ASSERTS CHRISTIANITY "BORN IN A SEANCE."
The ultimate in the daringly distorted claims of Spiritualism's relation to Christianity is stated in these words: "How—it may be asked—could Christianity be opposed to Spiritual ism when the Christian Religion was really born in a Seance? The real beginning of Christianity, its motive power, its great impetus, came—not from the birth or death of Jesus—but from Pentecost, the greatest Seance in history." [22] What daring sacrilege!
6. SUBSTITUTES SPIRITUALISM FOR HOLY SPIRIT AS "COMFORTER."
Austin actually implies that the functions of the Holy Spirit have their fulfilment in "Spiritualism as a World Teacher, Inspirer and Comforter of humanity." [23] These are the very terms applied by Christ to the work of the Holy Spirit.
In one of Spiritualism's late attempts to answer the question What Is Spiritualism? Emil C. Reichel, secretary of the National Spiritualist Association of Churches, has brought together a compact assemblage of terse, authoritative statements, including pronouncements from two presidents of the association (Joseph P. Whitwell, 1925-1943, and Robert J. Macdonald, 1955- ) and other typical representatives. The result is tremendously revealing and calls for scrutiny.
The latest schema is here revealed. It is contradictory, for in places it proclaims Spiritualism's independence of Bible authority or support but at the same time craftily seeks support from that same Bible. This it does by depreciating the major Pauline-portion of the New Testament, yet claiming Christ's implied support. It seeks to play "churchianity" over against genuine Spiritualist Christianity by pressing the devious device of picturing Christ as a Spiritualist medium and the miracles of the New Testament as actually the phenomena of Spiritualism—which, it alleges, are to be restored and become dominant in this age. It is a clever strategy, designed to entrap the unwary. Note the various claims.
22. Ibid., No. 23.
23. Ibid., No. 65. (Italics supplied.)
1. INVOKES BOTH ANTIQUITY AND MODERN SCIENTIFIC SUPPORT.
Spiritualism's classic essence is frankly reasserted to be twofold—belief in the immortality of the soul of man and "spirit return." Even the booklet's attractive autumnal foliage cover, with its living evergreen trees, is put forth as symbolizing "the immortality of the soul of man." [24] To invoke antiquity, it starts with a quote from the Greek poet Homer, 850 B.C.—"man though dead, retains part of himself; the immortal mind remains" [25] then sweeps on past "super-human beings not ordinarily visible to man," to Swedenborg (d. 1772) as "one of the greatest lights which history records," who, it is claimed, "received revelations from celestial beings." [26] Thus it attempts to compass the centuries. It stresses the twin phrases "continuity of life and the workings of invisible forces." The names of scientists like Crookes, Wallace, Lodge, Stead, Aksakoff, Lombroso, Denne, and De Rokche are adduced as establishing Spiritualism's contentions. This is allegedly through "contacting the celestial world." [27] Thus the presentation is under way.
2. CLAIMS BIBLE PERMEATED WITH SPIRITUALISM PHENOMENA.
Under the section "Spirit Manifestations of the Bible," the frankly revealing opening sentence reads: "From Genesis to Revelation, the nearness of the spirit world, and the intercommunication of spirits and mortals runs like a golden strand." [28] The obvious strategy is to thrust Spiritualism's manifestations into the Bible story. Twelve packed pages are employed in a laboured attempt to show that— "Spiritualism furnishes the key whereby the mysteries of the Bible and its miracles are explained with a clearness commentators have not been able to attain for want of knowledge it furnishes." [29] Then follows a presumptive attempt to show that the Bible is filled with medium-ship, materializations, clairvoyant appearances, trances, spirit writing, levitation, clairvoyance, clairaudience, visions, trumpet speaking, healing, and spirit voices—with a dozen pages of claimed Bible references, Pauline and all! [30] Thus the Bible is actually claimed as a Spiritualist handbook!
24. Description on title page.
25. What Is Spiritualism? Foreword.
26. Ibid., p. 1.
27. Ibid., pp. 2, 3.
28. Ibid., p. 6.
29. Ibid.
3. PRESIDENT WHITWELL LAYS GROUND FOR CLAIM.
Joseph P. Whitwell, for eighteen years president of the Spiritualist Association, and long editor of The National Spiritualist, after reaffirming that "the soul never dies," asserts that Spiritualism proves that "the soul lives on in a natural state after the change called death, and has the opportunity of advancing in the world of spirit." [31] Again: "In entering the Spirit World there is no great or radical change. . . . Life after death means activity." [32] Further, in an "Interpretation" of the standard Spiritualist "Declaration of Principles," Whitwell asserts: "Communication with the so-called dead is a fact, scientifically proven by the phenomena of Spiritualism.” "The doorway of reformation is never closed against any human soul, here or hereafter." [33] Rejecting as terribly wrong the traditional teaching of "eternal damnation," Whitwell accepts and presents the thought of "continuity of life beyond the change called death." [34] Thus the groundwork is believed established for Spiritualism's assumptions.
4. MAKES ASTONISHING CLAIMS FOR MEDIUMSHIP.
Exalting medium-ship as demonstrating immortality in "life beyond the incident of death," E. W. and M. M. Wallis explicitly declare: "To mediums—the modern mediators—therefore, belong the office and the honour of rolling back the stone from the tomb and establishing faith upon the firm basis of knowledge (scientifically ascertained and proven) of the continued intelligent existence in spiritual realm of those who went forth through the death change into light and liberty 'over there!'" [35] So mediums today allegedly parallel the "old-time seers and prophets." [36]
30. Ibid., pp. 6-17.
31. Ibid., p. 18
32. Ibid., p. 19.
33. Ibid., p. 25.
34. Ibid., p. 26.
5. MACDONALD PROCLAIMS INDEPENDENCE OF DOGMATIC CREEDS.
Next, claim is made that Lincoln was a Spiritualist. [37] Then the present National Spiritualist Association president, Robert J. Macdonald, in "Faith and works," makes a bold declaration for Spiritualism that should never be forgotten: "Dogma, creed and religious symbols of a by-gone day means nothing to the truly enlightened Spiritualist." [38] Then he adds: "The Spiritualist is now engaged in the process of making our present age aware of the potential in man." [39] It is in this connection that Macdonald pays tribute to pioneer Spiritualist Andrew Jackson Davis, and reveals his source of authority as "the revelation first realized by Andrew Jackson Davis in the modern era, continued through the Fox family and the countless mediums since their day." [40]
6. BERRY—SPIRITUALISM "ENTIRELY INDEPENDENT" OF BIBLE.
Another Spiritualist pastor, the Reverend D. Mona Berry, boldly declares Spiritualism to be "entirely independent of any other system of philosophy or religion." She makes this sweeping disclaimer: "Its proofs and evidences do not rest on the truth or falsity of the Bible or of the Christian Faith." [41] Spiritualism's "great postulates," the article continues, include "continuity of life after death, the power of disincarnate souls to manifest to mortals." These are declared to be a "part of nature's divine revelations, demonstrable to all." [42]
7. REJECTS PAULINE THEOLOGY AND CREEDS.
Then comes this strangely daring and contradictory claim by the same writer:
"SPIRITUALISM and TRUE CHRISTIANITY are SISTER religions; by true Christianity we mean the simple unpolluted teachings of the Nazarene before it was weighted down and largely hidden by Pauline theology—and—creedal accumulations." [43]
35. Ibid., p. 27.
36. Ibid.
37. Ibid., pp. 28-33.
38. Ibid., p. 35. (Italics supplied.)
39. Ibid., p. 36.
40. Ibid., p. 35. On Davis, see this work, pp. 1067-1071.
41. What Is Spiritualism? p. 37. (Italics supplied.)
42. Ibid.
8. MANEUVERED INTO ALLY FOR "TRUE CHRISTIANITY."
Decrying "churchianity," Berry then builds up a supporting "similarity" between "primitive Christianity and Modern Spiritualism." She contends for their "close affinity" by this specious strategy: "By a slight change of name, 'medium' for 'prophet,' 'clairvoyance’ for 'discernment of spirits,' 'psychic phenomena' for 'miracles,' 'spirit lights' for 'tongues of fire,' the close affinity of the two systems becomes apparent to all sincere investigators and students." [44] Under this scheme the "miracles of New Testament Christianity" are "therefore possible today under the name of psychic phenomena." [45] So she contends that— "modern Spiritualism is a powerful ally of true Christianity, a system of religion which will never die if purged of its unscientific theology, its irrational concepts of God, of man, of life and death and the hereafter." [46] Then she reaffirms her postulate: "Modern Spiritualism, and TRUE Christianity are essentially one in their teachings." [47]
9. MAINTAINS JESUS COMMUNICATED WITH SPIRIT WORLD.
Stressing the "intercommunication of the mortal and the spiritual worlds," Berry insists: "Jesus claimed to be in frequent contact with people in the spirit world, they ministered to Him and were alert to His needs. His whole history, if true, implies that the door of communication was open between the two worlds and that through this door, ministering angels (departed spirits) repeatedly manifested in His life." [48] In other words Jesus was allegedly a Spiritualist medium! Therefore medium-ship is proper!
43. Ibid., p. 38.
44. Ibid.
45. Ibid.
46. Ibid., p. 39.
47. Ibid.
48. Ibid.
10. ASSERTS CHRIST BECAME MEDIUM AT TWELVE.
From this asserted similarity between "Primitive Christianity and Modern Spiritualism," Berry asserts: "According to the facts and teachings of the New Testament and those of Modern Spiritualism, it is undoubted that man survives the change called death, retaining consciousness, memory and character; that disincarnate men can, under certain circumstances and in the presence of endowed and awakened individuals, manifest in form, voice, spirit impression, inspiration and control." [49] So this Spiritualist spokesman concludes that "Modern Spiritualism" not only "furnishes the KEY to the Bible," but to "the life and ministry of Jesus and of His disciples." This knowledge is "exhibited in the seance room," as explained by Andrew Jackson Davis. [50] Thus it is that— "the life of Jesus, as taught by Modern Spiritualism becomes luminous with an ineffable light of truth. His medium-ship at twelve years of age, is amply corroborated by the child mediums of this and past times.
His healing power, marvellous as it must have been, does not put Him in an exclusive class. Appolonius of the past, Harry Edwards and Edgar Cayce of today are declared to have had experiences in healing the sick paralleling the Bible narrative. Nor does His resurrection and manifestation to His followers after death require us to deify Jesus, since great multitudes of discarnate spirits have given similar proofs of resurrection, life and power." [51]
So Christ is not to be deified, for multitudes have been resurrected. Such is the evaluation of Jesus that Berry put forth.
11. JESUS' "COMMUNICATION" CITED AS WARRANT FOR SPIRITUALISM.
Secretary of National Spiritualist Association, Emil C. Reichel, sums up the case for Spiritualism, "In Closing," in these words: "Some of the things which he [Jesus] did shows he held communication with the so-called dead as recorded in the Christian Bible. Since He promised we could do the things He did then we too should attempt to hold communication as He demonstrated on the Mount of Transfiguration before His death. After death His spirit returned and manifested a number of times which fully demonstrates again the possibility of spirit communication." [52] That is the claimed authority for Spiritualism. Accepting Christ's words as true, Reichel says, "We shall also be able to communicate." [53] Thus Spiritualism rests its case. It is an adroit plea.
49. Ibid.
50. Ibid., pp. 39, 40.
51. Ibid., p. 40.
12. GRAVE INVOLVEMENTS OF INESCAPABLE ALTERNATIVES.
But the sweeping declarations of Spiritualism controvert every fundamental of the gospel and of Holy Writ. It brashly repudiates the express teachings of Scripture concerning the nature and destiny of man. Yet it inconsistently, with one breath, denies the validity of the bulk of the New Testament (particularly the Pauline Epistles), while with the next breath, as it were, it seeks desired support from that same Book—even drawing, in the attempt, upon those disclaimed Pauline portions. But such a manoeuvre is sheer perfidy—to disown and discard and yet at the same time to invoke and draft upon the Bible to bolster Spiritualism's contentions.
However, most shocking and serious of all, it audaciously attributes the work of the Holy Spirit and heavenly angels, directly operative in the life of Christ, to discarnate human spirits—a most grave imputation, against which Jesus Himself utters solemn warning.
These efforts are, of course, designed to influence those who revere the Bible. But such devious attempts to somehow obtain Biblical support for the assumptions of Spiritualism involve duplicity, distortion, and actual sacrilege, and will assuredly draw divine retribution.
The official Spiritualist Manual, the highest authority in Spiritualist ranks, issued by the National Spiritualist Association of Churches of the United States of America (9th revision, 1955), records its basic "Declaration of Principles" (page 34), and its "Interpretation" of that "Declaration," by Joseph P. Whitwell, president of the association from 1925 to 1943 (pages 35, 36). It likewise gives its official "Definitions” (page 37), and is therefore thoroughly representative. Here is recorded its belief in "The Evolution of Man" (page 41), and in perpetual inspiration (page 44)—that is, perpetuated through Spiritualism. Let us take a brief survey of the leading teachings set forth in this most authoritative statement of the movement.
52. Ibid., p. 41.
53. Ibid
1. MISSION OF SPIRITUALISM TO "REVOLUTIONIZE WORLD.”
The Manual contains fourteen Spiritualist services ("Invocation and Reading"), along with its annual "Anniversary Services," for March 31, commemorating the Hydesville episode. The Manual then blandly asserts: "It is the mission of Spiritualism to revolutionize the world; to sweep away the ac cumulated rubbish of centuries of ignorance and superstition." [54] Then it adds the frequently recurring contention, "There is within each a spark of divinity." [55]
2. BURIAL SERVICE: PRAYERS TO SPIRITS OF DEAD.
In the "Burial Service" the stated "Invocation" begins: "O Great Over-soul of All, we turn at this hour in our human weakness, to those beyond the veil, asking strength, understanding and guidance for those who today, through the transition of this beloved spirit from its tenement of clay, are suffering the pain of mortal separation." [56]
This appeal is actually a prayer to "those beyond the veil to the spirits of the dead.
3. QUOTES PAGAN PRECURSORS AS SUPPORTERS OF SPIRITISM.
The Manual deals with the "Definition of Clairvoyance” (pages 114, 115) and "Spiritual Healing" (page 116). It then presents twenty-eight pages of "Selected Quotations" from ancient and modern alleged supporters of Spiritualist principles.
These include Homer, the Zend-Avesta, the Buddhist scriptures, Pythagoras, Seneca, Cato, Socrates, Plato, Cicero, and Plutarch—with Jesus as one in the series (pages 119-122). It unabashedly presents Spiritualism as the composite of all religions, past and present. It discusses "Trance-Medium-ship” (pages 151, 152) and "Prophecy" (pages 156, 157).
54. Spiritualist Manual, p. 79.
55. Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
56. Ibid., p. 107. (Italics supplied.)
4. ASSERTS BIBLE HONEYCOMBED WITH SPIRITISTIC PHENOMENA.
In the section "Spirit Manifestations of the Bible” (pages 158-169) the allegation is flatly made that the Bible is largely the record of Spiritualistic phenomena. In support it lists physical manifestations (such as the iron gate opening for Peter. Acts 12:7-10): speaking with unknown tongues (as at Pentecost); clairvoyant appearances (as of Moses and Elias on the Mount, and of Christ after the resurrection); trances (as of Paul, 2 Corinthians 12:2, 4); direct spirit writing (as on the palace walls of Babylon, Daniel 5:5); Invitation (as when Philip was caught away, Acts 8:39, 40), clairvoyance and clairaudience (as with the voice heard by Saul the persecutor, Acts 9:4, 7); healing (as by Jesus, Peter, and Paul); and dreams and visions (as with Daniel and John the revelator)." All are astutely put forth as Spiritualistic phenomena operative in Bible times.
5. FOX SISTERS' "RAPS" LIKE TELEGRAPH TAPS.
In the "Questions and Answers" section, as to the question "Why was spirit communications not established long ago?" the illuminating answer given is: "Because at no time in history have the people at large been ready to receive it, until now. Spirit communications have been constantly given during thousands of years, but only the priesthood of each nation were sufficiently educated to recognize and receive them." [57] And in justification of the crude early rappings in 1848 the appealing answer is: "As the rappings of a telegraph instrument, when properly interpreted, carry messages of vital import from nation to nation and around the world, so rappings from the spirit world, when properly interpreted, carry messages of vital import and of highest philosophy from the inhabitants of the spirit world to man on the earth plane, by the use of natural forces." [58]
57. Ibid., pp. 158-162.
58. Ibid., p. 181.
6. "EVIL" SPIRITS EXPLAINED AS MERELY IGNORANT AND UNDEVELOPED.
As concerns the "evil spirits" that constantly seek to obtrude into the good spirit messages and plague the mediums, the Manual's recorded answer is that so-called evil spirits are but "undeveloped" and "ignorant" "spirits of those [human beings] who have lived on the earth plane." [60] But it adds, naively, that "even the most degraded personality can in time attain to the greatest heights." [61] Ultimate restoration is a constantly recurring note.
7. EMPHATIC DENIAL OF "VICARIOUS ATONEMENT."
Coming to specific doctrines, as to whether the spirits come back from "a Heaven, a Purgatory or a Hell," we find the explicit answer is, "We do not believe in such places." [62] And as to whether Spiritualists "believe in 'Vicarious Atonement,' ” the negative response is equally emphatic. In fact, it is printed in capital letters, for emphasis: "NO. Each must work out his own salvation; each has an equal opportunity to do this when he shall have atoned for the wrongs and overcome the temptations and allurements to the sense gratifications of earth life." [63]
8. MEDIEVAL AND MODERN PRECURSORS OF SPIRITUALISM.
The Manual also lists a number of asserted precursors of Spiritualism, including Joan of Arc, Emanuel Swedenborg, Edward Irving. with mention of the Shakers, from 1837 to 1844—just before the Fox sisters' episode of 1848. [64]
9. CLAIMS REGARDING CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND NEW THOUGHT.
In addition, Spiritualists call attention to the fact that Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science, was a practicing medium in Boston for a time. They look upon the Christian Science Movement as an off-shoot of Spiritualism. And the New Thought Movement is likewise regarded by them as an indirect result of Modern Spiritualism." At least, there are strong affinities.
59. Ibid., pp. 181, 182.
60. Ibid., pp. 186, 187.
61. Ibid., p. 189.
62. Ibid., p. 188.
63. Ibid., p. 189.
64. Ibid., p. 74.
65. Austin, op. cit., Nos. 73, 76. On Christian Science, see this work, chapter 57, pp. 1176-1192.
66. Ibid., No. 77. New Thought also discussed later.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Thus far our portrayal of Spiritualism has been a composite, built around representative citations drawn from numerous accredited Spiritualist writers. We close our survey by bringing together the basic positions of Spiritualism as set forth by a single representative spokesman, Dr. JAMES MARTIN PEEBLES, [1] and chosen chiefly from one of his remarkable volumes. [2] It was written when he was seventy-four years old and still keen of mind. He died just a few days before his hundredth birthday.
His unusual volume, The Demonism of the Ages, gives us the essence of reputable Spiritualist views and contentions. It comes from a trained mind—a graduate in medicine and surgery from the University of Philadelphia, a teacher, president of a college for four years, owner and editor of several newspapers, a member of several learned societies, editor of one of the leading Spiritualist journals, author of a dozen Spiritualist books, and a world-traveling exponent of Spiritualism. We can properly quote him as a representative spokesman. [3]
1 JAMES MARTIN PEEBLES (1822-1922) came of Calvinistic Presbyterian backgrounds. Revolting against the dogma of Eternal Torment. But he found no satisfying substantiation for Universalism's claims of universal salvation. Introduced to Spiritualism in 1852, he embraced it, becoming one of its outstanding earlier exponents. He was for years editor of Banner of Light. And thrice he travelled around the. globe as world missionary for the National Spiritualist Association. He was the first public lecturer on Modern Spiritualism in England, Australia, New Zealand, and India. See Centennial Book, pp. 227, 228.
2 Peebles was author of a dozen books, including The Seers of the Ages; What Is Spiritualism? Immortality, and the Employment of Spirits; and Reincarnation Discussed.
3 Who Was Who in America (1960), vol. 1 (1897-1942), p. 953: J. M. Guinn, A History of California . . . Los Angeles and Environs (1915), vol. 3, pp. 527-533.
Incidentally, the book was published in Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1904. [4]
In our quest we shall range back and forth through Peebles' volume in order to bring his positions together in logical sequence for our survey. He often touches upon the same point, from different angles and in various places. These are simply brought together in sequential relationship, to get the whole picture compactly before us. First of all let us note the basic principles. or premises, that according to Peebles constitute the essence of Spiritualism. Here is the first of these primary propositions.
1. BLENDS INNATE IMMORTALITY WITH GODSHIP OF MAN.
—The opening sentence of Peebles' Introduction sets forth his basic belief that "Spirits . . . are simply human beings released from their mortal bodies." [5] That is foundational with him. It undergirds all other propositions. Consequently, he periodically repeats this contention in varying forms throughout his book. In fact, it is the essence of his credo.
His second and corollary contention is the asserted godship of man, which he places alongside the dogma of Innate Immortality. Note them in combination here:
"The spirit [of man] is the enthroned king. It is a potentialized portion of God; it is immortal. It is beginningless and endless. The body is its outward vehicle, as matter in its varied grades of refinement is the garment of God." [6]
4 To balance the picture it must, in fairness, be recorded that Peebles had a brush with the courts over improper claims made in connection with a "mail order healing" angle put forth by the Peebles Medical Institute. (See Malcolm Bingay, Of Me 1 Sing, pages 60-62.) His personal ethics and morals likewise came under challenge. According to Hobart and Mather, Biographical Review of Calhoun County, Michigan (p. 241) in 1904 Peebles was a communicant of the Episcopal Church, "yet a believer in Spiritualism in its broader and religious sense."
5 J. M. Peebles, The Demonism of the Ages, Spirit Obsessions, So Common in Spiritism, Oriental and Occidental Occultism (1904), p. 3. (Italics supplied.)
6 Ibid., p. 233.
The expression "potentialized portion" would seem to be a favourite term with Peebles. Thus: "The martyr Stephen, it will be remembered, when dying, commended his spirit (not his soul) to God. This spirit so 'commended' was a potentialized portion of God." [7]
This twofold contention is the essence of Peebles' Spiritualism—the Innate Immortality and potential godship of man. But these audacious presumptions are simply Spiritualism's modern echo of the original twin lies first projected in Eden—"Ye shall not surely die" and "Ye shall be as gods' (Gen. 3:4, 5). These clinging contentions have not changed, except in phrasing. They are usually tied together. In a quotation taken approvingly from Dr. E. D. Babbitt, Peebles makes Babbitt's words his own: "Every human soul is a spark of the Divinity incarnated, only humanity in general has far less of the Divine Life than had Jesus, the Christ." [8]
And in the closing pages of his book Peebles still stresses the claim of the innate godship of man in these flowing words: "Under the roughest mortal exterior there lies the ego, the divine spark, the buried image of God, awaiting the resurrection word 'Awake, come up higher! ' " [9]
But Peebles here equates "resurrection" with death. Notice his concept of death.
2. "DEATH" HELD AS MERELY ENTRANCE UPON HIGHER EXISTENCE.—
As to death, Peebles assures us in florid phrasing that it is the "glad hour of deliverance" for "a death spasm is but an uplift to a higher and better stage of existence. Dying is as enchanting as bird-music in leafy June,—golden as a sunset in a sapphire sea of evergreen isles. As my years lengthen, and I come nearer the translation, my heart sings like a wind-harp in calm, complacent joy." [10]
Such is the enamouring phantasma of death, according to Peebles. Now for some further definitions.
7 Ibid., p. 20. (Italics supplied.)
8 Ibid., p. 332.
9 Ibid., p. 376.
10 Ibid., p. 373.
3. SOUL, SPIRIT, AND ANGELS DIFFERENTIATED.—
In chapter XXX Peebles declares that soul and spirit are "not synonyms." This is to be especially noted. They should, he says, "Never be used interchangeably." Then, using Professor Porter's words, he adds this further interesting statement:
"The phrase 'immortal soul' occurs nowhere in the Biblical writings. But its destruction is spoken of several times in passages similar to this: 'The soul that sinned it shall die.' This, remember, is never stated of the spirit." [11]
And angels, he avers, are human spirits. This is his definition: "All angels were doubtless once men inhabiting this planet, or some of the others that stud the deepening depths of heaven." [12]
4. "MAN" CONSIDERED PART OF EVOLUTIONARY PANTHEISTIC GOD.—
But Peebles' god is actually an impersonal pantheistic "Force," of which man and all creation are integral parts. Hear it:
"It ["Spiritualism"] teaches that there is one eternal omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent. all-energizing Force at work, in an evolutionary and orderly way in cosmic dust, in the mineral, the vegetable, the animal, the man, the spirit, and all pointing unerringly to the upper regions of angelic and seraphic blessedness." [13]
And he adds: "Evolution is tireless. Leading, it shouts from every moral mountain top, 'come up higher.' “ [11]
That is, of course, simply stark pantheism—spiritualistic pantheism, evolutionary pantheism. Now as to "annihilation."
5. "ANNIHILATION" OF WICKED HELD IMPOSSIBLE.—
Consonant with his views of life, death, and destiny is his contention against the utter-extinction-of-the-wicked concept. He says: "Absolute annihilation is unthinkable. Nothing can be lost out of existence."
So again, as to the ultimate fate of the wicked, Peebles takes a position totally at variance with the uniform declarations of Holy Writ—that the end of the wicked will be total destruction (2 Thess. 1:9; Luke 13:3; Matt. 3:12; Mal. 4:1, 3; Obadiah 1:16; Matt. 10:28).
11 Ibid., p. 324. (Italics supplied.)
12 Ibid., p. 325.
13 Ibid., p. 371.
14 Ibid., p. 377.
15 Ibid., p. 376.
Thus the irreconcilable conflict between the assertions of Spiritualism and the inspired doctrines of the Word are seen in this as in every other major doctrinal issue.
1. COMMUNICATION BETWEEN "SPIRITS" AND MEN HELD BASIC.—
Turning now to communication between the living and the "dead," or allegedly released spirits, Peebles explicitly states:
"This heaven-born all-inclusive Spiritualism, not only strenuously affirms that men are spirits now, but that existing consciously hereafter will be capable of loving converse with their friends still vestured in fleshly bodies." [16]
That contention is likewise constantly in the forefront. It is emphasized perhaps more than any other single point.
2. CONTINUING CONSCIOUSNESS SUPREME MESSAGE OF SPIRITUALISM.—
The central place given by Spiritualism to the postulate of continuing, conscious immortality must not be lost upon us. Spiritualism poses as the sole means of establishing proof of spirit life and communication:
"It may be affirmed with emphasis that Spiritualists constitute the only body of thinkers in the wide world who make it a point to prove and present—and who actually do present the direct, the most irrefragable evidence of a conscious life beyond the grave." [17]
Note the emphasis: "This, then, is the message [that of continuing consciousness], the blessed message of all messages." [18] Words could not be plainer nor the assumption of responsibility for the claim more specific and grave. But that is not all.
16 Ibid., pp. 379, 380.
17 Ibid., p. 370.
18 Ibid.
3. NEW HEAVENS AND EARTH TO COME THROUGH SPIRITUALISM.—
Peebles' concept of "the new heaven and the new earth," and how they will be brought into being, is tied in with his "everlasting gospel" claim for Spiritualism. It is expressed in these audacious words:
"But Spiritualism—this 'everlasting gospel' being of God and aflame with the divine spirit of love does this by arousing the spiritual nature, quickening the inmost self, thereby laying the foundation stones for the 'new heaven and the new earth.' " [19]
So, according to Peebles, it is Spiritualism that will bring about the predicted new heaven and new earth. That is a bold claim, a revolutionary assertion. But it stands on record and calls for scrutiny.
1. PREDICTS SPIRITUALISM WORLD RELIGION BY CLOSE OF CENTURY.—
Peebles boldly prognosticated in 1904, when he published his book, that—"Spiritualism . . . the tethering and cementing of the finite to the infinite—humanity to Divinity . . . is destined to become the universally acknowledged religion of the world before the close of this wonderful century." [20]
Such a "prophecy," he adds, "thrills my being's depths." But that is a prediction made without warrant of Holy Writ. Spiritualism is, however, "destined" to play a crucial part in the approaching windup, of human affairs, as noted elsewhere.
19 Ibid., p. 378.
20 Ibid., p. 380.
21 Ibid., p. 3. (Italics supplied.)
2. OLD "CYCLE" ENDING; NEW "DISPENSATION" BEGINNING.—
In his Introduction, Peebles explicitly states another fundamental Spiritualist contention—that "we are in the closing years of a great cycle," when the final "battle" between the "demon hosts of . . . atheistic spiritism, and the Christ-angel of Spiritualism" are destined to "meet face to face for the final conflict." [21] As the basis for this grim declaration Peebles affirms that this coming crisis involves "the end of the world, age, or aion, the end of the world's great cycle and the opening of a new dispensation." Then, drafting upon familiar Biblical terms, he further defines it as "the day of resurrection, and the day of judgment, when every man's work must be tried by fire." [22] But his concept of these terms and their involvements is totally at variance with the Biblical view, as will be seen. Such expressions simulate the Biblical declarations that we have entered the "latter times," "last days," or "time of the end." (See 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:1; Dan. 12:4; Matt. 24:13.) But Peebles' assertions are based upon a totally alien source for his conclusions—the "cycle" concept of Spiritualism. It is upon such a premise that he says impressively:
"We are struggling between the outgoing and the inflowing tides. We are at a turning point in history. A revolution is pending. The grey mists of the morning are over and about us." [23]
This widespread belief is the setting for his concluding prediction:
"But see—the sun is rising! A great enlightening, revivifying force —a mighty revival of the Spirit—is about to break upon the world. It is coming—coming! Tarry; tarry then, that sublime Spiritualism which is from above.... The new time is at hand." [24]
Such is the alluring but nevertheless unsound and un-Biblical basis for his subsequent foray into Bible exposition, based on Revelation 14:6, to be noted shortly. But first observe a significant admission.
1. SPIRITUALISM LIFTS "EASTERN CURTAINS."—
Spiritualism, says Peebles, "simply lifts the Eastern curtains and quietly lets in the morning radiance." Then he adds the sweeping generalization that "in no possible way does Spiritualism antagonize true and pure Christianity." [25] The purported reason makes his contention obvious. According to Peebles, unpolluted, original Christianity was "pure Spiritualism." And his allusion to the "Eastern curtains" has obviously occult implications that should not be missed, for Peebles had definite theosophical affiliations, as well." [26]
22 Ibid., p. 8.
23 Ibid., p. 9.
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid., p. 378.
24 See Who Was Who in America (1960), vol. 1, p. 953.
However, despite his assertions Spiritualism completely nullifies every fundamental of the true Christian faith. as has been shown elsewhere. [27] Here is more on the Eastern angle.
2. MASTERS OF PAST SAID TO BE STILL PREACHING TO "SPIRITS IN PRISON."—
Peebles' depiction of the continuing activities of the great masters of the East, in an after-death teaching capacity in the nether spheres, is likewise explicit. In this connection Buddha is characteristically placed al on with Christ. Observe first this general statement: "The philosophers and reformers of all ages, when passing into higher spheres, continue their teaching and preaching to spirits in prison." [28]
It is into this category that Peebles not only puts "Jesus," but likewise "Buddha, the light of Asia," who, he says, "doubtless preached for centuries to Asiatic spirits in prison." [29] That relationship is characteristic of Spiritualism.
But in discussing Chinese, Hindu, Greek, and aboriginal "demonism," as well as Judean obsessions in New Testament times, Peebles continues to place "Spiritism and Demonism" over against "Spiritualism and Angel Ministries." [30] From this he never deviates.
21 See this work, chapter 52.
22 Peebles, The Demonism of the Ages, p. 377.
23 Ibid.
24, Ibid., p. 318.
1. ASSERTS EARLY CHRISTIANITY WAS SPIRITUALIST.—
Peebles made such an amazing claim for Spiritualism, on an unprecedented expositional basis, that his assumptions thereon must be examined. As mentioned, Peebles steadfastly maintained that the crass pagan "spiritism" of the centuries—of India, Africa, Oceanica, et cetera, whose peoples likewise believe in "spirit communication"—is "NOT Spiritualism." On this he is emphatic and unchanging. The two are in mortal conflict. It is the latter, he insists, that provides the "key that unlocks the mysteries of the ages." [31] This he further defines as "religious" Spiritualism. And he boldly maintains that the Christianity of the first three centuries of the Christian Era was actually Spiritualist in essence. Note it closely:
"Spiritualism, with its signs, wonders, visions, and healing gifts was the religion of the Apostles; of the post-apostolic fathers, and the primitive Christians up to the reign of Constantine." [32]
In other words, as claimed by many leading Spiritualists, as well as by Peebles, Christ and the apostles were allegedly mediums, with the upper room of Pentecost really a séance chamber, and the religion of the Early Church virtually identical with the recently revived Modern Spiritualism. That is a tremendous assumption. But it is a totally unsubstantiated claim. Nevertheless, it is the premise for Peebles' unsound conclusions to come.
2. MODERN SPIRITUALISM ALLEGED REVIVAL OF "APOSTOLIC" CHRISTIANITY.—
In support of his own claim that Modern Spiritualism is the revival and restoration of characteristic early Christianity, Peebles quotes from British Spiritualist Dr. B. F. Austin:
"'Spiritualism is a revival of that Christianity which centred around and in that ideal Man of Palestine. It is a revival of the Spiritual, so alive and so potent, in Apostolic times.' " [33]
Peebles elsewhere cites Dr. Crowell similarly to the effect that "Primitive Christianity and Modern Spiritualism" are one "in essence and purpose." [34] But he goes further.
31. J. M. Peebles, "Spiritism Is NOT Spiritualism," Centennial Book, p. 115.
32 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
33 Peebles, The Demonism of the Ages, p. 335.
34 Ibid., p. 330.
3. CHRIST'S PREDICTED "SIGNS" APPLIED TO SPIRITUALIST PHENOMENA.—
Peebles claimed that Spiritualism is the fruition, the fulfillment, the "complement of Christ's Christianity." And he applies Christ's prediction of numerous "signs" to come, to the phenomena of Spiritualism:
"It [Spiritualism] is the rounding up, the filling out, or the fulfilling of the Nazarene's prophetic words, 'These signs shall follow them that believe,' and greater works than these shall ye do.' And 'lo, I am with you always,' He exclaimed, 'even unto the end of the world.'" [35]
That is the authority presumptuously invoked for the phenomena of Spiritualism.
35 Ibid., p. 378.
1. ASSERTS ANGEL OF REVELATION 14:6 Is "SPIRITUALISM." —But it is in his climactic chapter—"Spiritualism as It Is, and the Message It Has for the World"—that Peebles launches into one of the most audacious claims ever made for Spiritualism on a "Biblical" basis. It is this chapter that makes this volume unprecedented. Quoting in full Revelation 14:6—"I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel, to preach unto them that dwell upon the earth, and every nation. and kindred, and tongue, and people" [36]—Peebles then boldly asserts:
"This could have been no other angel than the angel messenger of a pure Spiritualism. Such angels are the heralds, the advance guards of new cycles, or new and noble dispensations." [37]
This symbolism, he explains, is the "enchanting message of angels, the sweet inspiring ministries [sic] of spirits." In other words, he applies it to Modern Spiritualism, sweeping over the earth in its triumphant course. And "What," he asks, "is the message of Spiritualism to the world?" This he answers "emphatically" and explicitly. Note his words: "Briefly stated it is this—Immortality—a future, conscious existence—perfectly and satisfactorily demonstrated." [38]
That is the heart, the essence, the core, of Peebles' Spiritualism. And the promulgation of Spiritualism, he avers, is the intent of the symbolism of the flying angel of Revelation 14:6.
Repeating for emphasis, he asserts, "This, then, is the message, the blessed message of all messages!" From this position he does not veer. Peebles then introduces his next wordy paragraph with these words:
"But this angel messenger of demonstration [phenomenal Spiritualism] in planting the tree of life in Hydesville [home of the Fox sisters and the 1848 episode], the new Bethlehem." [39]
According to Peebles, Spiritualism restored to man the Edenic "tree of life" through the confirming message of the raps of Hydesville in 1848. Through Spiritualism man has received back what had been removed by God, after our first parents' transgression in Eden (Gen. 3:22-24), when they believed and received Satan's lie ("Ye shall not surely die"), and partook of the forbidden fruit. And Peebles calls Hydesville the "new Bethlehem"—birthplace of a new "saviour" of humanity.
36 Ibid., p. 369.
37 Ibid., pp. 369, 370.
38 Ibid., p. 370.
40 Ibid.
2. CONCEALED "MAJESTY OF IMMORTALITY."—
Peebles tells first what Spiritualism is not, and then puts it forth as the essence of the "everlasting gospel"—the fulfilling of all its promises and the restoring and completing of the primitive gospel. His "everlasting gospel [of Revelation 14:6] sees in every cemetery an uprising harvest of souls." [40] But it is, instead, the everlasting counter gospel of error, paralleling and counterfeiting the true. Peebles climaxes this key section by bursting forth with the peroration:
"Tarry not, O beautiful death angel, for under your mask is the majesty of immortality. Often the restful face of the corpse is wreathed in a subdued smile, caused by a rift in the cloud, a glimpse of loving, waiting spirit friends. This is the glorious victory of Spiritualism." [41]
Victory over the sentence of God in Eden of old! That is the actual claim of Spiritualism.
Peebles closes his book with the brash declaration that when Spiritualism—"becomes a living knowledge and a practical power the wide world over, as prophesied of and promised by the hosts and the potent hierarchies above us [not by the Bible], then will the will of God truly be done upon earth as it is in heaven." [42]
40 Ibid., p. 372.
41 Ibid., p. 373. (Italics supplied.)
42 Ibid., p. 382. (Italics supplied.)
Such is Peebles' audacious foray into the field of New Testament exegesis, premised on the productions and potentialities of the spirits of Spiritualism, with its undergirding twofold error. It has been promulgated with such skill that it constitutes Satan's hoary masterpiece of deception, old as the race.
Peebles' use of the term "everlasting gospel," as applied to Spiritualism, is wholly misleading. It is instead but the perpetuation of the age-old errors injected into the Garden of Eden, which Peebles nevertheless dubbed the "everlasting gospel." Satan had introduced the assurance of Innate Immortality and of rising to godship in conjunction with man's transgression and fall in Eden. But it was to save man from the resultant ruin that the true everlasting gospel was projected. A Saviour was provided—Jesus Christ, the Resurrection and the Life. The gospel is designed to save from Spiritualism, and all other isms and errors and transgressions.
NOTICE
The essence of these fuller chapters on Spiritualism and its affiliates, —has been brought out separately, in popularized form, in two companion paperback brochures—Spiritualism Today and Fellow Travelers of Spiritualism (Review and Herald Publishing Association, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.)—for wide distribution.
As ofttimes stated, man has from of old sought to penetrate the mysteries of death and to communicate with the denizens of the "spirit world." Today the approach has been altered to accord with the demands of the Atomic Age, and the vocabulary has been revised to comport with the nuclear era.
Spiritualism is now operating in a scientific-laboratory setting.
But its essence and its goal remain unchanged—"to convince skeptics of the immortality of the soul," as one noted exponent has frankly put it. More than ever in the new format Spiritual ism still claims to constitute the master key, the only key, that unlocks the mysteries of the invisible world.
Many men of science have been intrigued by the phenomena of parapsychology research. The then-managing editor of The Ministry brought together in the July and August issues of 1958 some highly important statements, two of which are here cited. Dr. Hereward Carrington, director of the American Psychical Institute, says, "Many of us regard psychical re search as 'the most important work being done in the world today.' [1] And the late Harry Price, noted English researcher, similarly held that "the investigation of parapsychical phenomena" is the " 'most important of all work.' " [2]
1 Hereward Carrington, Mysterious Psychic Phenomena (1954), p. 155.
2 Harry Price, Search for Truth (1942), p. 296.
DR. S. G. SOAL—BRITISH PIONEER IN PSYCHIC RESEARCH.—
One of the British pioneers was Dr. SAMUEL G. SOAL, of Queen Mary College, London University, and president of the Society for Psychical Research, long-time teacher of mathematics. His interest in psychic research was first aroused by the loss of a brother in World War I. For a quarter of a century he pursued this study with such devotion that he acquired international fame and distinction in the field. One of his publications is Experiments in Precognitive Telepathy (1943), as well as numerous scholarly periodical articles. He received the degree of D.Sc. in Psychology from the University of Lon don (1945), and lectured widely in the United States. His pioneering work inspired the development of Dr. J. B. Rhine's researches at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina, noted later.
Soal investigated Spiritualist mediums with their "luminous cards," "sepulchral voices," "floating trumpets," and "ghostly fingers" and other phenomena. In his investigations he sought to "eliminate the possibility of fraud," and to place "psychical research, particularly work on telepathy on a thoroughly sound basis." [3]
3 S.L.G. "Know Your Staff No. 21—Dr. S. G. Soal," The Cub (Queen Mary College paper), Oct. 2, 1951.
Dr. J. B. Rhine, Testing for Discarnate Spirits, and Duke University, Scene of Parapsychology Laboratory Experiments on "Scientific" Basis.
A whole new vocabulary has been developed within the past few decades to describe the wave of experiments in "extra sensory perception"—commonly abbreviated to ESP. Building upon the basic theory of evolution, its proponents set it forth as the essential countering influence to materialism and the mechanistic theory of the world. They now profess to harmonize religion and science on the very issues that separated them a century ago. So contends Dr. J. B. Rhine, director of the Parapsychology Laboratory of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, in his The Reach of the Mind. Through parapsychology and emphasis on the spiritual nature of man he seeks to succeed where the bald Spiritualism of the past was dis counted as mystic phantasma or crude fabrication.
1. SOCIETIES FOR STUDYING PSYCHIC SIXTH SENSE.—
These experiments began decades ago. In 1882 a Society for Psychical Research was formed in England, followed in 1885 by the American Society for Psychical Research. There are now many groups and organizations in different lands devoted to the study of parapsychology. James W. Osborn has rightly emphasized the fact that "the gathering and screening of psychic data is becoming- a major science. [4] A critical study of clairvoyance and telepathy and other paranormal experiments now seeks to determine the inherent capabilities of the human mind, particularly impressions through other than the five senses — that is, a psychic sixth sense. This area includes "thought transference" (telepathy), "ability to see the invisible" (clairvoyance), "foretelling events" (precognition), and "controlling the movement of physical objects" (psychokinesis). Controlled experiments are being conducted in the university laboratory and classroom to determine the operation of supernatural powers coming from extra physical sources but working through human beings.
They are frankly believed to attest a "spirit invasion of the mind." [5]
2. LABORATORIES CONVERTING SCIENTISTS INTO SPIRITUALISTS.
The claim is made that parapsychological evidence indicates that men have "inherent paranormal abilities," similar to the higher perceptions of a god. Psychic investigators believe they have developed controlled conditions that eliminate fraud and the occult phenomena of magic. And the parapsychology laboratory has converted many psychic scientists to Spiritualism's claims. This very attempt to safeguard in itself provides a favourable conditioning for deception — when the phenomena prove to be more than human and normal.
Psychic science has changed the emphasis as pertains to the nature of man. It works on the theory that "the human mind can bridge time and space, and control matter by thought." [6]
Parapsychologists are probing the extra-physical frontiers of the mind on the premise that man is not "brain-centred" but "spirit-centred"— that is, psychocentric. But the spirit-soul is, by such, commonly considered a spiritual entity in its own right.
4 James W. Osborn, "Experiments in Extrasensory Perception," The Ministry, July, 1958, page 13.
5 Ibid. p. 15.
6 Osborn, "Parapsychology and Modern Thought," The Ministry, August, 1958.
3. MAN'S MIND SAID TO BE PART OF UNIVERSAL GOD-MIND.
One trend in this philosophy is to regard God as a "Universal Intelligence" and man's mind as an integral part of the supreme God-mind. Men are thus maneuvered into the position of believing that a supernatural new birth is not needed -since man already allegedly has the "divine mind" by natural birth, and, thus inherently possesses divine powers. Prayer is likewise naturalized—construed to be "telepathic" contact with the Divine Mind. Indeed, by such, telepathy is regarded as a "means of communication between our minds (or spirits) and the Creator's mind (or spirit)." [7] Thus Dr. Norman Vincent Peale considers "telepathic" prayer as the sending out of vibrations to God, employing a force inherent in the spiritual universe that brings about the objectives prayed for. [8]
4. INVOLVES QUESTION OF INNATE IMMORTALITY.
J. B. Rhine, of Duke University, makes this significant statement as to the relation of all this to "immortality."
"Now, all that immortality means is freedom from the effects of space and time; death seems to be purely a matter of coming to a halt in the space-time universe. Therefore the conclusion that there is at least some sort of technical survival would seem to follow as a logical derivation from the ESP [extrasensory perception] research." [9]
And in this connection Smith says: "Parapsychology brings hope—hope for world peace, hope for more brotherly relations among men, hope for new unity of religious faith." [10] A new world religion has, of course, been Spiritualism's undeviating goal for decades.
5. PARAPSYCHOLOGY TO HELP REUNITE CHRISTENDOM.
Dr. Alson J. Smith also stresses the part ESP research will play in reuniting science and religion, and particularly in reuniting Christendom. Here are his significant words:
"Doctrine, dogma, and form of organization all become secondary to the witness and power of the inner, super-sensory life. Parapsychology will help unite Christendom by emphasizing that supernormal element that all denominations have in common and minimizing those divisive elements that have their roots in time obsession." [11] So, as with the distinctively religious phase of former decades, parapsychologists today envision this new scientific approach as helping to bring about a new "world religion"— on a psychic basis.
7 Alson J. Smith, Religion and the flew Psychology, pp. 163, 164. (Alson J Smith. Reprinted by permission of Doubleday & Company, Inc.)
8 Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking, p. 61.
9 J. B. Rhine, The Reach of Mind, p. 213.
10 Alson J. Smith, op. cit., p. 151.
6. NEW ALLY IN SPIRITUAL WORLD.
Vast claims are made for parapsychology's beneficent results in medicine (noted later), statesmanship, and human welfare. Thus the occult in parapsychology is regarded as our new ally in the spiritual world, with its revolutionary concepts of God and the soul, and all in the setting of the evolutionary progression of mankind.
Here again is Smith:
"It would be a sane guess that the way is now open for a tremendous leap forward in the evolutionary scale. And this leap will bring us closer to the high place where the mind of man can comprehend the basic secrets of the cosmos and have fellowship with the Creator Mind of which it is a part." [12]
Parapsychology's relation to the concept of a new united Christendom is therefore based on the postulate that all men are spiritually part of the Supreme Mind.
7. USED TO DIAGNOSE AND HEAL DISEASE.
But there is yet another angle. Parapsychologists likewise believe that psychic power will soon be used to diagnose and cure disease. Thus Alson J. Smith adds:
"Consciously directed clairvoyance may now rival the X-ray machine in diagnostic importance, and consciously directed psychokinesis may now permit the tremendous energy locked up in the mind to be used to heal the body." [13] In the minds of some of its devotees, spirit-centred psychic healing will replace both medical healing and God centred divine healing. But of that, more soon.
11 Ibid., p. 174.
12 Ibid., p. 183. (Italics supplied.)
13 Ibid., p. 155.
Before turning to healing and hypnotism, let us note a remarkably candid article by Dr. J. B. Rhine. This appeared in The American Weekly for December 8, 1957, a syndicated weekly newspaper magazine appearing simultaneously in some thirty metropolitan newspapers strategically scattered over the United States of America, with a combined weekly circulation of more than eight million. It therefore had a large reading.
This revealing article is titled "Survival—Science Looks at Life After Death." Dr. Rhine, with his "scientist wife," Dr. Louisa E. Rhine, had, when this article appeared in 1957, engaged in experimental research in "extrasensory perception (ESP)" for about thirty-five years, beginning his inquiries back in the late twenties. [14]
1. INDICATIONS OF MAN'S "LIVING SPIRIT."
Dr. Rhine frankly states that his article was not written either for those who already firmly believe in "some sort of hereafter" or for those who believe that "no manner of life after death is possible," but rather for the "large in-between group" who are not "satisfied either way." The question is "Has Science found any reliable evidence of post-mortem survival?" That is the crux. Rhine's scope of investigation is described as follows:
"Researches in extrasensory perception (ESP) which include telepathy (thought transference from one mind to another), clairvoyance (the ability to receive information from objects rather than people), and precognition (knowledge of the future). We also have investigated what is popularly called the influence of 'mind over matter' and technically referred to as psychokinesis or PK." [15] That, of course, enters the claimed area of Spiritualism.
The experiments have all been designed to "investigate indications that man is not just a physical body, a machine, as many modern scientists contend, but that he has powers which, in a limited way, operate beyond the reach of his senses and muscles." [16]
14 Rhine, "Survival—Science Looks at Life After Death," The American Weekly, Dec. 8, 1957, pp. 7, 32. See also his The Reach of the Mind (1947).
15 Rhine, The American Weekly, Dec. 8, 1957, p. 7.
16 Ibid.
Dr. Rhine then states at the outset that "these studies have been encouragingly successful and indicate the presence of—an extra physical or spiritual power in what might be called man's living spirit." [17]
2. TESTING "DISCARNATE SPIRIT PERSONALITIES."
He then states frankly that "the principal aim was to test the world-wide belief in the realm of discarnate spirit personalities." And he observes:
"If that claim could be validated, we believed, it would bring with it extremely important knowledge of the nature of the living human being. Here would be dramatic proof of spiritual realities in everyday life that Science had failed so far to find. The machine theory would be wrecked once and for all." [18] Such is Rhine's candid statement of purpose.
3. MEDIUMSHIP REACHES PEAK, THEN DECLINES.
Referring to the many attempts to "prove contact with the world be yond," Rhine states:
"It was about the middle of the last century that men turned their investigations to the claims and practices of mediumship and a new religion known as Spiritualism developed. It flourished for 75 years and was still strong in the 1920s when we began our researches, though it has gone through a sharp decline since then." [19] And near the close of the article he adds:
"When we began our inquiries in the early 1920s there were many great names in Europe and in America associated with a frank and active interest in the evidence of mediumship. All that has changed. The movement toward oblivion has gone far since the first quarter of the century." [20]
4. TESTING VALIDITY OF "SPIRIT" CLAIMS.
Detailing laboratory experiments, beginning in 1934 with British medium Mrs. Eileen J. Garrett, and her "control," Uvani, Rhine tells of how they "made every effort to keep these scientific stances proof against error." [21]
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid., p. 32. NOTE: Dr. Rhine's references to "decline" are evidently to Spiritualism in its older, cruder forms. There is clearly a recrudescence of the newer form, or school.—L. E. F.
21 Ibid., p. 7.
The procedure was repeated with twenty other persons, checking with a mathematically de "scoring system." Then Rhine adds: "The big question, of course, was whether or not the information came from the spirit world." [22] The very real problem was this:
"In order to prove that a medium's messages came from spirit personalities we would have to be able to prove that there was no other possible way in which she could get the information. In other words, it would have to be proved that the medium's messages were due to telepathy from the dead instead of from the living. But, in scientific investigation, so long as the investigator is able to take either one of two choices, nothing can be declared proved." [23]
5. QUEST FOR PROOF NOT YET CONCLUSIVE.
Rhine frankly asserts that "the very notion of mediumship had a fatal logical flaw at the start—one to which the eagerness for proof blinded us all in the earlier investigations." [24] Turning then to apparitions, and "visions and voices" purporting to come from "discarnate persons," he cites various episodes, some simple and some complicated. Of these he says, "There are some instances that do look very much like spirit intervention" —the operation of a "discarnate spirit." Dr. Rhine then records this cautious statement:
"Based on our present findings, we at the Parapsychology Laboratory do not feel that it is safe to conclude that, because one's loved ones [seemingly] appeared and even gave useful warnings, they were indeed the surviving spirits they seemed to be. The most that can be said is that the spirit interpretation is in some cases apparently the more plausible one." [25]
He then frankly confesses:
"If I am correct, the scientific investigation of the survival question has, after all these years, reached a critical point. We have at present no properly decisive test. We may need a whole new approach to find one." [26] Stating that they must "dismiss some old methods" of solving the problem, he continues:
"The survival hypothesis itself is still before us. It has not been disproved. It has merely been shown that the evidence for it can be interpreted in another and equally tenable way. In my opinion we have reached what might be called the point of desperate timeliness. Our investigations need to be pushed to the point of exhaustive study." [27]
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid., p. 8. (Italics supplied.)
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid., p. 32.
26 Ibid.
6. "BURDEN OF PROOF" RESTS WITH "SPIRITS."
Dr. Rhine closes with the wistful declaration that not only must they redouble their efforts to solve the question, but:
"Is it not equally important, too, for those who believe they are in touch with a cooperating world of spirit agency to elicit for the research every possible aid from that world which can be obtained?
"In a word, if there are spirits, isn't there something more convincing they can do? Does not some of the burden of proof rest on their side of the operation?" [28] Stressing the necessity of "combining all forces in trying to solve this problem to the satisfaction of Science," because of the waning interest in the past thirty-six years, Rhine makes this pointed observation concerning the "personality of man":
"The concept of an indivisible mind-body unity has almost, if not, quite completely, been substituted for the older picture of a separate spirit that could do at least something in its own right, even with its body returned to the soil of the earth.” [29]
7. SOME FRESH "BREAK-THROUGH" STILL NEEDED.
Declaring that "some fresh break-through is needed," Dr. Rhine states: "Proof of survival would squelch forever the dreadful error of the materialistic view of man on which Communism and other gross misconceptions about humanity rest. On the other hand, certainty about it could revitalize religion itself and give to all human life a new dimension." [30]
This last suggestion is significant and appealing. He is still looking for some "fascinating discovery ahead" that will "revitalize religion." If that can be accomplished Spiritualism's battle will be won. We next turn to healing, mesmerism, and hypnotism.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid.
29 Ibid.
30 Ibid.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
"Spirit healing," often called "magnetic healing," plays such a major role in the current phase of Modern Spiritualism—and has from the very first—that we must examine its claims as well as its backgrounds, its vital place, and its declared modus operandi. It is in no sense a thing apart, an optional adjunct. It forms an inextricable part of Spiritualism. Then we shall examine the clear kinship between Spiritualism, mesmerism, and hypnotism.
"HEALING MEDIUM" RELAYS ENERGY FROM SPIRIT DOCTORS.—
Russell S. Waldorf, first president of the Spiritualist Healers' League, of the N.S.A., says, "If we visit a Spiritualist Healer, the required energy is supplied in usable form." This, he explains, comes from "doctors in the Spirit world." Note:
"The energy or vital curative force supplied by a healer is received by him in his capacity as a medium, relayed to him by those doctors in the spirit world who continue their work in their chosen field." [1]
1 Russell S. Waldorf, "Spiritual Healing," Centennial Book, p. 204. (Italics supplied.) 1134
The implication is that they were practicing physicians in their earthly state before "passing on."
SPIRITUALISM THE MOTHER OF METAPHYSICAL HEALING.—
Dr. B. F. Austin, previously quoted, in his A.B.C. of Spiritualism, under Question 69, answers this query on metaphysical healing:
"69. Has Spiritualism practiced Metaphysical Healing?
"Yes, and in a great variety of efficient forms. Historically Spiritualism may justly be regarded as the Mother of the many cults of Metaphysical Healing now spread over America. Long before Dr. Quimby and Mrs. Eddy and Evans of the Mind Cure, long before the New Thought Movement was organized, Dr. Andrew Jackson Davis taught and practiced healing by the mind and spirit forces."
It is to be noted that Dr. Davis is credited with being Modern Spiritualism's first "healer." Austin then adds that—"nearly every medium of the early days of Modern Spiritualism was a healer and the verified accounts of many of their healings read like Miracles of the olden time." [2]
In illustration he eulogistically refers to "devout Spiritualist" Dr. J. R. Newton as "in many respects the most noted, popular and successful healer who ever walked the earth." [3] Austin then makes the astonishing claim that "according to statistics furnished by representative committees in the various cities he visited," Newton "laid his hands on and healed in about 20 years 150,000 people." Austin even asserts, "No more astounding cases of healing are found in the world's history." [4]
Now, this "healing by laying on of hands," which is "extensively practised in all Spiritualist Societies," is, he specifies, by means of "magnetic forces."' That angle is to be particularly noted, and will be discussed in section two.
2 B. F. Austin, The A.B.C. of Spiritualism, Answer to Question 69.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid. See also The Modern Bethesda; Or the Life of Dr. J. R. Newton.
5 Austin, op. cit., Question 71.
"SPIRITUAL HEALING" BY "EXCARNATE SPIRITUAL BEINGS."—
A five-part "Definition of Spiritual Healing," adopted by the N.S.A. Convention in Rochester, New York, in 1909, appears in the Spiritualist Manual. Definition 1 states:
"I. It is the sense of this convention that Spiritual Healing is a gift possessed by certain Spiritualist mediums, and that this gift is exercised by and through the direction and influence of excarnate spiritual beings for the relief, cure and healing of both mental and physical [sic] diseases of humankind." [6]
This series of Definitions then outlines the procedure. It is—"by the spiritual influences working through the body of the medium and thus infusing curative, stimulating and vitalizing fluids and energy into the diseased parts of the patient's body." [7]
The modus operandi is further explained: "Spiritual beings combine their own healing forces with the magnetism and vitalizing energy of the medium and convey them to the patient." [8]
According, then, to this authoritative statement, the "healing" comes from (1) spiritual beings, or "spirit beings," and (2) the "magnetism" of the medium.
"SPIRITUALIST HEALER" CURES THROUGH "INHERENT POWERS."—
The Manual then states that "Spiritual Healing," which has been a "tenet of ancient and modern religions . . . is now a tenet of the religion of Spiritualism and is practiced by and among Spiritualists in conformity with their religious belief and knowledge of the power of spiritual agencies." [9]
Again, in the same Manual, in the general "Definitions" adopted by the N.S.A. in 1914 and reaffirmed in 1919 and 1951, Definition 4 reads:
"4. A Spiritualist healer is one who, either through his own inherent powers or through his mediumship, is able to impart vital, curative force to pathologic conditions." [10]
That states the Spiritualist case—healing is through the "inherent" or imparted "powers" of the medium.
6 "Definition of Spiritual Healing," Spiritualist Manual (1955) of the N.S.A., p. 116. (Italics supplied.)
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
10 Ibid., P. 37.
1. THEORY OF "ANIMAL MAGNETISM" GOES BACK TO EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.—
AS to the terms "magnetism" and "magnetic forces," so frequently employed by Spiritualists, George Whitehead states that it was the theory of "animal magnetism," elsewhere described as an "electric fluid"—and first expounded back in the eighteenth century by the discoveries of two Italian physicists, Galvani [11] and Volta [12]—that "really paved the way to the acceptance of Spiritualism in later years." [13] All over Europe, Whitehead adds, in the decade prior to 1780 "animal magnetism was engaging the interest of many men and women." This interest then "spread from the Continent to England, becoming particularly acute about 1847." [14] Let us now probe into these beginnings a bit—back to Mesmer and mesmerism.
2. "MAGNETIC SLEEP" DEVELOPED BY MESMER IN 1775.—
In 1775 Dr. Friedrich A. Mesmer (d. 1815), [15] Austrian physician, developed what he called "animal magnetism," magnetic sleep, and the inducing of the "magnetic trance" sleep, which came to be known as "mesmerism," then later as hypnotism. Mesmer first made this public in 1775 through a published "Letter to a Foreign Physician on Magnetism." In this document he claimed to be able to cure various diseases through this means. Disease, he held, was due to an imbalance of "universal fluids," which can be readjusted through "magnetic" force. In 1778 he settled in Paris, creating a sensation as a practitioner of mesmerism. He also discovered that artificial or magnetic somnambulism " could be induced. Somnambulism is a sleeplike state in which acts, such as walking, are performed.
11 Galvani (d. 1798), Italian physician, physicist, and professor at Bologna, was the discoverer of galvanic electricity.
12 Count Alessandro Volta (d. 1827)1 Italian physicist and professor at Como and Pavia, and famous for researches and inventions in electricity, devised the first voltage battery.
13 Whitehead, An Inquiry Into Spiritualism, p. 40. (Italics supplied.)
14 Ibid.
15 Dr. Friedrich A. Mesmer (1733-1815), Austrian founder of Mesmerism, received the degree of M.D. from the University of Vienna. He asserted the curative power of "animal magnetism," creating a sensation in Paris. He later fell under censure.
16 Egyptian, Chaldean, and Hindu conjurers and sorcerers had long before produced artificial somnambulism. In fact, some in all ages have made use of hypnotism in variant forms long before it was brought to the fore by Mesmer in the eighteenth century.
Mesmerism was widely recognized as having definite kinship to Spiritualism and clairvoyance. In its subsequent practice increasing claims were made, not only of mesmeric trance or sleep but of reading the contents of unopened letters, seeing through physical barriers, discerning the thoughts of others, reading the past, and foretelling the future. Such were included in its phenomena. It obviously was supernormal.
Mesmer's success, which carried him into fashionable circles, led to the appointment in Paris of a royal commission of eminent physicians and scientists for the investigation of his claims. An adverse report was rendered in 1784, stating that the commission could not accept the evidence for Mesmer's claims. It did not, however, discuss the nature of the "magnetic sleep."
EARLY NINETEENTH-CENTURY REVIVAL OF MAGNETISM. —
Later, in the early nineteenth century, there was a revival of interest in "magnetism," and in 1831 a committee of the Academy of Medicine, of Paris, reported favorably upon "magnetism" as a therapeutic agency. In fact, it came to be employed by many European physicians. In France, in 1821, the first surgical operation under magnetic-sleep anesthesia was performed. About the same time Dr. James Esdaile, a surgeon practicing in a government hospital in Calcutta, performed a number of major operations, such as amputations—painlessly—by the aid of "magnetic sleep."
MESMERISM REVIVED BY BRAID, AND CALLED "HYPNOTISM."—
About 1841 Dr. Tames Braid, Scottish physician in Manchester, England, revived mesmerism, renaming it "hypnotism," seeking to place it on a recognized basis. He also proved the absolute dependence of the mesmeric (or hypnotic) phenomena upon the cooperation of the patient. During this hypnotic state consciousness was either diminished or dormant. But many bizarre practices developed, and considerable quackery and exploitation followed. So it was again condemned by the medical profession.
HYPNOTISM FALLS INTO DISREPUTE AROUND 1848.—
But another element should be noted in regard to hypnotism's fall into disrepute The Encyclopedia Britannica states:
"This was due to the coincidence about the year 1848 of two events of some importance, namely—the discovery of the anaesthetic properties of chloroform and the sudden rise of modern spiritualism." [17]
The former—the discovery of chloroform—took the place of hypnotism for the inducing of anesthesia during surgical operations. And the latter—the rise of Spiritualism—became involved in a mass of fraud and superstition, and was widely considered at the time to be a branch of the "black art." The Britannica then says:
"From this time onward there took place a gradual differentiation of the 'animal magnetism' of the 18th century into two diverging branches, hypnotism and spiritualism, two branches which, however, are not yet entirely separated and, perhaps, never will be." [18]
Thus a certain relationship to Spiritualism was, and is, recognized by many.
HYPNOSIS HAVING CURRENT "SPECTACULAR RENAISSANCE."—
According to Robert Coughlan, "hypnosis is enjoying a spectacular renaissance." [19] Hypnotherapy has recently become an established technique on the part of hundreds of doctors, obstetricians, surgeons, anesthesiologists, dentists, and psychiatrists, who have received training in it. Several medical schools have introduced graduate courses into their curricula, and societies have been formed for its promotion, one being the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis.
17 William McDougall, "Hypnotism," The Encyclopedia Britannica (11th ed.), vol. 14, p. 202.
18 Ibid.
19 Robert Coughlan, "Pathway Into the Mind," Life, March 7, 1960; see also "Out of Ancient Magic Comes New Medical Tool: Hypnosis," Life, Nov. 3, 1958.
Andrew Jackson Davis, M.D.—Earliest Enunciator of the Teachings of Modern Spiritualism. Wrote Principles of Nature in Trance, Under Influence of "Spirits."
1. ALLEGED CREST OF "COSMIC TIDE" IN 1830-1848.—
John W. Ring, national superintendent of Spiritualist Lyceums, maintains that there are crests, or "periods," in the "flow" of the "cosmic tide" as pertains to the special activities
of the spirits. And according to his curious theory every seventh wave in this ebb and flow is "exceptional." Ring then affirms that the time "from about 1830 until 1848 was one of those 'exceptional' Periods" in "the out-pouring of the Spirit," [20] and he cites several examples.
UNIQUE PLACE ACCORDED DR. DAVIS.—
It is within this "'exceptional' Period," and immediately before the breaking forth of the phenomena of the Fox sisters and the rappings of Hydesville in 1848, that Ring places the special case of Dr. Andrew Jackson Davis (d. 1910), already noted. Davis claims to have written his leading book, Nature's Divine Revelations and A Voice to Mankind, by means of the "spirits." This, he asserted, was produced while under the specific control of two previously mentioned "invisible helpers," namely, Greek physician Claudius Galen (fl. 200 A.D.), and Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, famous founder of the "New Jerusalem Church." [21] That is both explicit and indicative. And Swedenborg himself had believed in the "magnetic theory."
20 John W. Ring, "Andrew Jackson Davis," Centennial Book, p. 56.
21 Ibid.
BOOK DICTATED UNDER "MAGNETIC-MESMERIC" CONTROL.—
Ring's statement is amplified by William F. Otis, who says that Davis' writing was done while "under the magnetic influence [or "mesmeric control"] of Dr. Lyons." Note his exact statement:
"While in complete control of the manipulator [Lyons], he [Davis] dictated what is by many considered his greatest book, Principles of Nature, Nature's Divine Revelations, and A Voice to Mankind." [22]
This book was completed in 1849, the very next year after the recognized birth date of Modern Spiritualism. And Otis asserts further that an understanding of Davis' book is "necessary to have a correct understanding of Modern Spiritualism" and "life in the Spirit World." Otis closes by declaring Dr. Davis to be "one of the greatest if not the greatest Spiritualist of Modern Spiritualism." [23] Indeed, according to Mrs. M. E. Cadwallader: "Many times it is claimed that the Advent of Modern Spiritualism should be dated from his [Davis'] vision of Galen, who gave him the Magic Staff." [24] She calls Davis the " John the Baptist'—the forerunner of modern. Spiritualism." [25] So, in the light of Davis' pioneering prominence the "mesmeric" angle takes on added significance.
Davis, it will be recalled, is alleged to have introduced "intellectual Spiritualism," just as Katie Fox introduced "phenomenal Spiritualism." On Davis' unique place see also John C. Leonard, The Higher Spiritualism, chapter two.
DAVIS' "MEDICAL REVELATIONS" ALLEGED NEW DISCOVERY.—
According to Spiritualist P. A. Jensen, Davis' "medical revelations" in the "art of healing" amounted to "a new discovery," "that all disease has its origin in the soul, not . . . in the physical body." [26] But Jensen adds the cautionary note that "Magnetic Healing" has "evil influences associated with it" unless rightly applied. [27]
22 William F. Otis, "Andrew Jackson Davis," Centennial Book, p. 89.
23 Ibid., p. 90.
24 M. E. Cadwallader, "There Is No Death—There Are No Dead," Centennial Book, P. 68.
25 Ibid.
26 P. A. Jensen, "Medical Discoveries of Andrew Jackson Davis," Centennial Book, p. 175.
27 Ibid., p. 176.
DAVIS HAD PREVIOUSLY SUBMITTED TO MESMERIC CONTROL.—
In this connection it is essential to bear in mind that Davis had previously submitted to an experiment in mesmerism with William Levington as "mesmerist." And in this experiment Davis was recognized as an "outstanding" mesmeric subject. This "mesmeric control" was then taken over by the "magnetic influence" of Dr. Lyons, [28] under whom Davis wrote this aforementioned book. That gives the sequence. Such was the beginning of the Davis role in Spiritualism.
It is stated that the Lily Dale Assembly Camp of the N.S.A. was first established for the specific purpose of studying the "new science of mesmerism." [29] from which developed the "greater study of Spirit return." Note this in greater detail.
"MESMERISM" AT LILY DALE (N.Y.) IN 1846-1847.—
This is borne out in the 75th Anniversary of the Lily Dale Assembly (1879-1954)—a condensed history by Merle W. Hersey. "Interest in Spiritualism" and "Spirit communication," he records, led the residents of the community in the winter of 18464847—just before the "rapping" episode of the Fox sisters in 1848—to listen to a ''course of lectures" on "animal magnetism and mesmerism,- by a Dr. Moran.
The local residents were soon discussing the "merits and mysteries of mesmerism." One William Johnson proceeded to act as "operator," with Jeremiah Carter as "subject." The venture was pronounced a "perfect success." Then Hersey says, "On subsequent occasions features of the mesmeric, magnetic or hypnotic state were used." Carter named dates on coins, identified articles, et cetera—typical Spiritualist procedure. Hersey adds:
"During these trance periods it became evident that an intelligence other than his [Carter's] own was at work. Later, Mr. Carter was able to enter the trance state without the aid of mesmerism." [30]
28 Otis, loc. cit.
29 "Lily Dale Assembly (N.S.A.)," Centennial Book, p. 180.
30 75th Anniversary of the Lily Dale Assembly (1879-1954), p. 8.
Hersey then states: "Through the influence of Mr. Carter, many people in western New York were converted to Spiritualism." [31]
Thus the camp at Lily Dale—established in 1877, upon the suggestion of Carter—was the outgrowth, the grove being dedicated to "the use of the Spiritualists." [32] That is the historical tie-in.
We must now revert to the question of spirit, or psychic, healing. There is a fundamental difference between Biblical "divine healing" and spirit-induced parapsychological "spirit healing," though ofttimes they are unwittingly confused. Actually, a vast separating gulf exists between genuine faith healing, divinely wrought in answer to prayer in Christ's name, and emotional or functional improvement, or alleviation of symptoms, resulting from psychic healing, hypnotherapy, or the "spirit doctor" healings in civilized and heathen lands, respectively. Divine healing rests upon submission to the transcendent power and beneficent will of God. Psychic healing, on the contrary, is an avowed exercise of interrelated, inherent, finite powers, and the interposition of "spirit powers."
1. MODERN COUNTERPART OF OCCULT HEALINGS OF PAST CENTURIES.—
As noted, "Spirit healing" has experienced phenomenal growth in various countries in recent times. And "spirit therapy" has resulted in a resurgence of occult healings. There are now Spiritualist "hospitals," staffed with Spiritualist "doctors and nurses." And this development is attracting attention in medical science. Their appeal, however, is not to Christ or to the operation of the Holy Spirit, but to the "discarnate spirits of the spirit world." The difference is basic.
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid., pp. 8, 9.
In England, Harry Edwards and other Spiritualist healers claim thousands of cures. Edwards boldly asserts that man can "invoke the aid of the spirit healing agencies through mediumship," and asserts that, for these results, "wiser intelligences than man are responsible." [33] But these modern paranormal cures, effected by invoking the powers of the "spirit world" and commanding the will of the patient, are but a modern counterpart of the recorded practices of occult healers through the centuries, extending back to ancient paganism.
This, incidentally, is as old as civilization. The priests of ancient Egypt brought the afflicted to the temples, and using a form of hypnosis, told them the gods would cure them while they slept. Even in heathen lands today there is constant recourse to similar "spirit healing," only in cruder form—cures by wonder workers, invoking magical formulas and constituting the open operation of "spirit entities."
2. WROUGHT BY POWER OF UNNUMBERED SPIRITS.—
Edwards frankly states, "We couldn't work without the spirit friends." And he adds that sometimes his "hands absolutely vibrate" because of "a power beyond me." [34] And again, "It is all by the power of spirits that these changes take place." [35]
33 Harry Edwards, The Evidence for spirit Healing, pp. 12, 13.
34 Into the Unknown. Report of an investigation into psychic forces by a panel of independent experts (London: 1950), p. 127.
35 Ibid.
Such, then, constitutes the source, and the channel of conveyance.
Another English "trance healer," J. J. Thomas, claims to be controlled by the "spirit" of a dead German physician (Dr. Robert), who allegedly returns during his healing seances. Reporting to a "panel," Thomas claims to have the cooperation not only of "spirit doctors" but of "hundreds of thousands of spirits helping." [36] Spirit possession is also admitted. That too is highly significant.
NOT WROUGHT IN NAME OR POWER OF JESUS.—
It is to be particularly noted that here again there is complete absence of any claim or acknowledgment that these alleged miracles of spirit therapy are wrought in the name or by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, as were true divine healings in apostolic times, but expressed recognition goes instead to the "spirit agencies" of the "Unseen World." Edwards frankly says that this power comes from "discarnate sources," and that they have learned how to "invoke the aid of the spirit healing agencies through mediumship." The "operating mind must be a spirit one." "These spirit operators we call the 'healing guides.' " [37] Again, "It is all by the power of spirits that these changes take place." [38] That is the declared technique and source.
36 Ibid.
37 Harry Edwards. loc. cit.
38 Ibid.
MODERN COUNTERPART OF PAGAN PRIESTCRAFT HEALINGS.—
It is to be remembered that the ancient world likewise had its spiritistic healing. The Egyptian goddess Isis was alleged to have made apparition appearances when performing cures. Joseph Ennemoser describes the sorcery and demonology prevailing when in Egyptian priestcraft the procedures of healing received greater emphasis than that of religion. The temples were really hospitals, with their mysteries tied in with their healing art. Ennemoser writes, "That wonderful cures were often performed in the temples, is an undisputed fact." [39] Again, in speaking of "soothsaying," he says, "Priests were consecrated who practised religion associated with the healing art." [40] Modern psychic healing is consequently but a reversion to much of the phenomena of former ages.
All through recorded history there have been occult healers employing magic words and formulas. But these have ever been marked by ritualistic incantation for the fulfillment of human desires—thus completely ignoring the true attitude of prayerful submission to the infinite will of God and the true purpose of divine healing.
TRUE HEALING NEVER CHANNELED THROUGH BIBLE-FORBIDDEN MEDIUMS.—
Concerning healing, this can truly be said: The faith healer who ignores the "reality of death," and who looks for healing powers to "disembodied spirits," is not practicing scriptural, Christ-centered, genuine faith healing, but "spirit-centered" healing instead, with faith not in Christ but in the human healer and his "spirit helpers." The truth is inescapable and sobering, that when one turns from Christ-centered divine healing to the parapsychological phenomenon of "spirit healing," he places his trust in Spiritualism, not in God.
It is equally true that the genuine healing power of God is never channeled through Bible-forbidden, spirit-controlled mediums. The mystic occult power of mediumistic, spiritistic healings and the varied forms of mass hypnotic healings are "as far from true healing as darkness is from light," as someone has well phrased it.
39 Joseph Ennemoser, The History of Magic (tr. from the German by William Howlett). vol. 1. pp. 353, 231 232.
40 Ibid., p. 557.
ANGELS IN EXISTENCE BEFORE FIRST HUMAN DEATH.—
This additional point needs to be noted. Spiritualists sometimes cite the text concerning "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation" (Heb. 1: 14), declaring that these are the spirits of the departed dead.
But the preceding verse 13 limits this expression to the heavenly "angels." They are here called "spirits"—"Who [God] maketh his angels spirits" (Ps. 104:4). Moreover, the angels were an order of beings brought into existence by the Creator before the death of a single human being (Job 38:4, 7; Gen. 3:24). They are created beings. Therefore, angels cannot be the discarnate spirits of the dead.
We close this chapter by adverting to another angle—the question of the moral aspects of the practice of, and submission to, mesmerism or hypnotism. This is of major importance. Note the involvements.
ROAD TO MIND OPENED TO INVADING SPIRITS.—
The question has been well asked, "When the subconscious mind, under hypnosis, becomes susceptible to outward suggestions, how can we be sure that some astral interloper of the spirit world will not intrude upon the subconscious mind, in its hypnotic trance-state, and ply its occult arts, as it does with an entranced medium?" Some careful psychic researchers have cited instances of such operations by such discarnate entities. [41] Whether the mediumistic trance is induced by autohypnosis or by spirit hypnosis, it constitutes a surrender of the unconscious mind to the controlling impressions of the invading spirit, which sometimes takes over. The kinship of such operations to Spiritualism has been well described by Hereward Carrington in The Case for Psychic Survival. [42]
41 De Witt Miller, Reincarnation, p. 37.
42 Hereward Carrington, The Case for Psychic Survival, pp. 142, 143.
THE PERILS OF SURRENDERING THE WILL.—
But as mentioned, hypnosis is based on submission to another's will and authority. In hypnotism one mind is brought under the control of another so that the individuality of the weaker is merged with that of the stronger mind. Thus the one hypnotized acts out the will of another. And in the deep somnambulistic trance the subject can be made to do anything the hypnotist suggests.
When one tampers with the mind—the divinely created seat of intelligence, reason, conscience, and moral control—he is invading the citadel of God-given, sacred individuality intended by God to be sovereign and inviolate. Such an invasion, and corresponding surrender, is alien to the Biblical concept of man's free moral agency and his personal accountability to God alone. But from of old this very "technique of control" has been part of the "necromancer's repertoire." [43] And it is today. Many, such as Andrew Salter, warn of the moral dangers of hypnotism in relation to antisocial behavior. [44]
BEWARE OF MANIPULATION BY SCHEMING MEN AND DEVILs.—
Dr. Jack W. Provonsha, of the faculty of Loma Linda University, utters this timely warning:
"Bathed as we are in a constant atmosphere of suggestion of all kinds from all sides, any practice increasing the effectivity of suggestion aids the loss of the most priceless of man's possessions and hastens the day when freedom is exchanged for determinism, when the person becomes a mere 'thing' to be manipulated by scheming men and devils. In this event hypnotism must be opposed as a factor in the depersonalization of other men." [45]
And Dr. J. A. Whieldon, director of the Mental Hygiene Clinic of Ohio State University Hospital, Columbus, likewise warns against the perils of psychic hypnosis. He states, "Psychic hypnosis is the heaviest kind of suggestion." It is "the imposition of the 'will' of another over one and the surrender of one's ego to another." The one hypnotized gives up his "discriminative capacity and surrenders his self-determinism." And after one has been once hypnotized, Dr. Whieldon adds, it is "easier to be hypnotized a second time." Such an individual is "more vulnerable to suggestion and less independent."
43 D. H. Rawcliffe, Illusions and Delusions of the Supernatural and the Occult, pp. 66-74.
44 Andrew Salter, What Is Hypnosis? pp. 13, 14.
45 Jack W. Provonsha, M.D., "Ethical Implications of Medical Hypnosis," in Medical Arts and Sciences (Vol. XIV, No. 4), Fourth Quarter, 1960, p. 130.
Whieldon calls it "harmful" to "emotional independence and personal responsibility." [46]
4. HYPNOSIS NOT FAVORED BY MAJORITY OF DENTISTS.
According to a recent article titled "Psychological Evaluation of Hypnosis in Dentistry," in the January, 1961, Journal of the American Dental Association, Drs. Loren R. Borland and Sidney Epstein, both of the faculty of the School of Dentistry of the University of California, indicated that there is a definite trend away from the clinical use of hypnosis on the part of the majority of dentists. Their joint findings were based on a poll. Here are six key sentences that speak for themselves:
"The vast majority of practicing dentists feel it is possible to render adequate service without employing hypnosis." [47]
"Even men who were known to be using hypnosis and were active in study groups would not admit using it." [48]
"Within this group of stable, productive individuals, not one ardent advocate of hypnosis is to be found." [49]
"Hypnosis is an unsatisfactory and, perhaps, unsavory technic, judging from how its advocates are seen." [50]
"The hypnosis users, in general, learned hypnosis in a commercial one to three day seminar which had no university sanction." [51]
"Hypnosis, in general, is not yet held in high esteem by the dental profession." [52]
And they add: "Most dentists who use hypnosis agree that it can be dangerous if applied to certain patients." [53]
46 J. A. Whieldon, "The Peril of Hypnosis," paper presented at Institute of Mental Hygiene, Nov. 12-15, 1956, at the Harding Sanitarium, Worthington, Ohio.
47 Loren R. Borland, D.D.S., and Sidney Epstein, D.D.S., "Psychological Evaluation of Hypnosis in Dentistry," The Journal of the American Dental Association, January, 1961, p. 69/55
48 Ibid., p. 76/62.
49 Ibid., p. 75/61.
50 Ibid.
51 Ibid.
52 Ibid.
53 Ibid., p. 78/64.
At the risk of repetition we wish to express again a word of earnest warning and appeal. It is recognized that not all use of hypnosis is tied in with Spiritualism. Not all hypnotists are Spiritualists. And while the nonhuman forces of Spiritualism assuredly use this technique, numerous professionally trained men in the medical field employ it as well. But the point that must never be forgotten is that the use of hypnosis by non-spiritists may well play into the hands of the evil one and his cohorts and lead to disastrous results. This danger is ignored only at grave peril.
INSIDIOUS BREACHING OF THE WILL.—
Hypnotism is, of course, sometimes used by sincere persons for worthy purposes. But at the same time it should never be forgotten that any invasion of the defenses of the mind, any submission of its sovereignty to another, thereby insidiously weakens its powers of sovereignty and resistance, even though it be temporary and for worthy purposes. Such a procedure is an actual breaching of the soul's defenses, even though the participants be unaware of the involvements. The mind belongs to God. Only He can read its thoughts and intents. Not even angels have that power or privilege. To surrender that citadel of the soul to another human being, for however commendable a reason, may in the end have devastating consequences, for it is an invasion of the mind.
INHERENT PERILS OF HYPNOSIS.—
Professional men using hypnosis are not usually involved in direct spiritualistic phenomena, and would undoubtedly shy away from anything resembling such. However, the psychophysiological changes produced through hypnosis are universally recognized by physicians and psychiatrists to be based on a form of "capitulation" of one person's will to that of another after strong suggestion. Moreover, the possibility of antisocial or criminal acts under hypnosis has been documented by numerous authorities.
For example, Dr. Paul J. Reiter, lecturer on psychotherapy and psychosomatic medicine at the University of Copenhagen, refers, in a detailed case history, to a "guardian spirit" which ordered numerous criminal acts. By direction of this guardian spirit the patient actually became a member of a spiritualist society and of the "Society for Psychical Research." [54]
54 Paul J. Reiter, M.D., Antisocial or Criminal Acts and Hypnosis—A Case Study, pp. 16-19. See also The Present Status of Hypnosis, "Impressions from the 116th Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Atlantic City, May 9-13, 1960," in Documenta Geigy. Also Pastoral Psychology, March, 1962, pp. 53, 54.
The patient had perceived the guardian spirit not as an auditory hallucination but as part of "hypnotic and mediumistic seances" carried on later in the form of suggestion while he was awake. Such is the potential peril of hypnosis.
Biblical counsel and admonition, just here, is specific and vital. The apostle Paul warns of the oppositions of "science" [55] falsely so called" (1 Tim. 6:20), and again of being spoiled through specious "philosophy" [56] and vain deceit" (Col. 2:8). The "science" of mind controlling mind opens the way for Satan and his evil minions to insinuate themselves into minds that have been rendered passively receptive. Paul foretells how "evil men and seducers," "in the last days," will "wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived" (2 Tim. 3: 1-8, 13). That is our present-day situation. It calls for constant watchfulness.
The "philosophy" of such seductive "science" is part of Satan's masterpiece of deception of the ages in its varied forms. No one should yield his mind and will to the control of another, for Paul reminds us that "to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey" (Rom. 6:16). Satan is obviously seeking to captivate and then to capture the minds of men in these latter times. Spiritualistic hypnosis opens the way for Satan and his agents to gain control of both the controlling mind and the mind so controlled. That is the gravity of the involvements of hypnotism. Christians should keep off this danger area of enchanted ground. This will become increasingly evident in the next chapter.
55 Spiritualism, in its official "Definitions," insists that "Spiritualism Is a Philosophy"; "Spiritualism Is a Science." (See Spiritualist Manual, p. 37.)
56 Spiritualism even calls itself the "Philosophy of Philosophies," and the "science of Sciences." (Cora L. V. Richmond, "Parliament of Religions," Centennial Book, p. 28.)
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
It is imperative that we know the identity and the character of the forces that we are surveying. We need to have clearly before us God's view of them, His attitude toward them, and His warning prohibitions against them. Only thus can we be protected from deception, and the dire retribution that will come from recourse to them.
Explicit information and unmistakable warnings are spread throughout the Old and New Testaments regarding Satan, demons, evil spirits, familiar spirits, necromancy, sorcery, witchcraft, divination, and wizardry. Of these we need to be fully cognizant, for there is no excuse for ignorance as to the character of the sinister forces described, and no justification for being deceived. The Word is clear thereon. Let us first consider Satan and his legions of demonic followers.
1. SCORE OF DESIGNATIONS IDENTIFYING SATAN.—
AS to Satan, he is variously named Lucifer, fallen cherub, accuser of the brethren, adversary, Beelzebub, devil, enemy, evil spirit, father of lies, liar, lying, spirit, murderer, old serpent, power of darkness, prince of this world, prince of devils, prince of the power of the air, god of this world, Satan, spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience, tempter, unclean spirit, wicked one. What an unsavoury and incriminating array! The supporting scriptures are here listed for reference. [1]
Satan was once an angel of light, his name being Lucifer, meaning "Light-bearer" (Isa. 14:12-14; Eze. 28:13-19). But rebellion against God changed him into a demon of darkness. And the angels who sided with him and were cast out of heaven with him (Rev. 12:7-12, 4) henceforth have their abode in the realms of darkness (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). "Darkness" represents satanic evil and symbolizes its author.
2. REALITY, PERSONALITY, AND INFLUENCE OF DEMONS.—
As to demons, the New Testament constantly testifies to the reality and personality of demons. They are called "spirits," "unclean spirits," "wicked spirits" (Matt. 8:31; 10:1; 12:43; Mark 6:7; 7:25, 26; Luke 10:17, 20; Eph. 6:12 [margin]). In the Gospels "unclean spirits" is used interchangeably with "devils" (Matt. 8:31; Mark 1:27, 34; 3:11, 15; 6:7). They are the devil's "angels" (Matt. 25:41), and are so numerous as to make Satan's power operative practically everywhere (Mark 5:2, 8, 9). They are capable of entering and controlling both man and beast (Mark 5:8, 11-13). Satan and his fallen angels have the ability to impart information, to change their appearance, and to personate others (Matt. 4:1-11; 2 Cor. 11:1315). Satan sometimes appears as an "angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:14).
Demon influence and possession are constantly portrayed in the New Testament. [2] These demons are unclean, sullen, violent, malicious. [3] They know Jesus to be the most high God, and are compelled to recognize His authority. [4] They inflict physical maladies (Matt. 12:22; 17:15-18; Luke 13:16), and cause those disorders of the mind induced by demon control.
1. Isa.14:12; Eze. 28:16; Rev. 12:10; 1 Peter 5:8; Matt. 13:28; Luke 4:2, 6; 1 Sam. 16:14; John 8:44; 1 Kings 22:23; Rev. 12:9, 20:2; Col. 1:13; John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; Eph. 2:2; John 13: 27; Acts 5:3; Matt. 4:3; 1 Thess. 3:5; 2 Cor. 4:4; Matt. 12.43; 13:19, 38.
2 Matt. 4:24; 8:16, 28, 33; 9:32; 12:22; Mark 1:32; 8:7; 16:16,
3 Matt, 8:28; 9:32; 12:45; Mark 1:23, 24; 5:3-5; 9:17, 18, 20; Luke 8.36; Acta 8:7; 16:16; Luke 6:18; 9:39.
4 Matt. 8:31, 32; Mark 1:14; Acts 19:15; James. 2:19.
They know they are to be tormented (Matt. 8:29; Luke 8:28). Christ while on earth cast out devils by the Holy Spirit of God (Matt. 12:28).
3. EVIL ACTIVITIES OF THE DEMONS.—
While devils, or demons, were constantly worshiped by the heathen of old, that worship was strictly forbidden among the people of God .(Lev. 17:7; Zech. 13:2). A succession of instances of demon possession appear in the New Testament—the two Gergesenes, the dumb man, the blind and dumb man, the Syro-Phoenician's daughter, the lunatic child, the man in the synagogue, and Mary Magdalene. These were cast out by Jesus (Matt. 4:24; 8;16; Mark 3:22; Luke 8:2). Power over demons was also given to His disciples, and they too cast them out.
Demons are ever the adversaries of man (Matt. 12:45), and bear false messages. Nevertheless, they "believe and tremble" concerning heavenly realities, and are to be judged (James 2:19; Matt. 8:29) and punished (Matt. 8:29; Luke 8:28; 2 Peter 2:4). Of this they are fully aware. They exist in an atmosphere of desperation.
4. OCCULT ACTIVITIES FORBIDDEN UNDER PUNISHMENT.—
Of the various occult activities operative in Bible times sorcery was most widely named as practiced among the nations. Sorcery was divination through the assistance of evil spirits. It was practiced among the Egyptians (Isa. 19:3, 11, 12), by the Ninevites (Nahum 3:4, 5), and also the Babylonians (Isa. 47:9-13; Eze. 21:21, 22; Dan. 2:2, 10, 27). It was likewise exercised by such individuals as Balaam (Num. 22:5, 6; 23:23) and Jezebel (2 Kings 9:22). In New Testament times it was practiced by Simon Magnus (Acts 8:9, 11), Elymas (Acts 13: 8), the damsel at Philippi (Acts 16:16), and the sons of Sceva (Acts 19:14, 15).
Consulting with "familiar spirits" was expressly forbidden (Lev. 19:31; 20:6, 27; Deut. 18:10, 11; Isa. 8:19; 19:3), as was also necromancy (Deut. 18:11; 26:14; Isa. 8:19; 29:4). Witchcraft was similarly prohibited (Ex. 22:18; Lev. 19:31; 20:6, 27), and under the theocracy witches were to be destroyed (1 Sam. 28:3, 9).
Their occult messages were false (Eze. 21:29; Zech 10:2; 2 Thess. 2:9), and all divination was strictly proscribed (Lev. 19:26-28, 31; 20:6; Deut. 18:9-14). All intercourse of this sort was denounced (Isa. 8:19; Mal. 3:5), as was all divining by means of "familiar spirits" (Lev. 20:27; 1 Chron. 10:13; 2 Chron. 33:6; Isa. 8:19; 19:3; 29:4). And it is ultimately to cease forever (Eze. 12:23, 24; 13:23; Micah 5:12; 2 Thess. 2:8, 9).
5. PRACTITIONERS BECOME SLAVES OF SATAN.—
According to Scripture, many in ancient Israel "sold themselves" to do evil in the sight of the Lord (2 Kings 17:17), by means of necromancy, witchcraft, sorcery, familiar spirits, and the like. But such practitioners thus became the servants of the demoniacal powers behind the occult and mysterious rites. They were thenceforth slaves of Satan. That was the terrible seriousness of it all.
As just noted, in Bible times "necromancy," "sorcery," "witchcraft" (kashaph), "wizardry," "magic," "soothsayer," and "familiar spirits" were common terms for the sternly forbidden occult practices that sought to infiltrate the Jewish church and commonwealth. It is therefore essential for us to understand what was involved in this entire overlapping series, that we may identify their modern counterparts, and understand God's undeviating attitude toward each and all, and thus avoid their defiling and abominating influences.
1. "NECROMANCY" —AN ABOMINATION VISITED WITH DEATH.—
"Necromancy," or consulting with the "dead," periodically plagued the Jewish church of old. It was the same as consulting with "familiar spirits." And because of their evil influence and the reliance of some upon the "spirits," witchcraft and wizardry were sternly proscribed in Old Testament times as a form of necromancy or divination. Here are Inspiration's solemn prohibitions and forewarned penalties under the theocracy of Israel:
"Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them" (Lev. 19:31).
"The soul that turned after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people" (Lev. 20:6).
"A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death" (Lev. 20:27).
The peril must have been profound. And dire punishment is spelled out even more explicitly in Deuteronomy 18, where they are castigated as "abominations":
"There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that used divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee" (Deut. 18:10-12).
Later, in the time of the prophet Isaiah, the same charge and appeal was given:
"And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep [margin, "chirp"], and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?" (Isa. 8:19).
This will be noted later.
5 In the preparation of the following categories and their supporting scriptures, about twelve of the ablest works in the field have been drafted upon—Bible dictionaries, religious encyclopedias, and other scholarly works. There is certain unavoidable duplication of various reference texts because of the overlapping of terms and the inclusion of many similar categories in a single verse.
2. "WITCH"—SORCERER HAVING "FAMILIAR SPIRIT."—
In Old Testament times a witch [5] was either masculine or feminine. This usage continued on into the Christian Era, up to the thirteenth century. Since then this term has been used more and more to denote a woman who had a compact with the devil, or with evil spirits, by whose aid she cast spells or did exploits. But in Old Testament times the "witch" (as in Ex. 22:18 and Deut. 18:10) was a "sorcerer," practicing the occult art of secret communication with the "spirit" world. Thus the "witch of Endor," in 1 Samuel 28, was "a woman that hath a familiar spirit," who could allegedly command a departed spirit to return and answer questions. She was likewise called a necromancer. This too will be noted separately.
3. "WIZARD"—ALLEGED CONSULTER WITH "SPIRITS" OF DEAD.—
A wizard was reputed to have supernatural knowledge gained from pretended ability to consult with the "spirits" of the dead (Isa. 8:19). The wizard chirped and muttered in simulation of the voice of the "spirit." The term wizard, it should be noted, is not used alone but in connection with those that have "familiar spirits," because he belonged to the same class of questioners of the dead. God expressly "abominated" those who practiced this demonic art (Lev. 19:31; 20:6; Deut. 18:10). And, as noted, in the Hebrew theocracy the offense of wizardry was likewise punished with death (Lev. 20:27). The LXX renders it "enchanter," used thirty-one times in the Old Testament, and refers to the practice of Spiritualism, as it is called today.
4. HAVING "FAMILIAR SPIRITS" INVOLVED DEATH PENALTY. —
In Bible times those who had "familiar spirits," or companion spirits, were "spirit mediums," or "necromancers." The "familiar spirit" impersonated the dead and claimed to put the living in communication with the spirits of the departed. The Hebrew word 'ob indicated a hollow sound, which the Septuagint renders "ventriloquist"—the power of producing sounds that might represent the voice of the dead. The Mosaic law similarly carried the death penalty for anyone exercising such powers (Lev. 19:31; 20:6, 27; Deut. 18:11, 12). The classic example is the visit of King Saul to the witch of Endor, in 1 Samuel 28:7-16, discussed in the next section. But Saul died for his transgression in asking counsel of a familiar spirit instead of inquiring of the Lord (1 Chron. 10:13, 14).
5. "MAGIC"—SECRET ART OF THE OCCULT SCIENCES.—
Magic, in Bible times, was the secret art of the magician, sorcerer, enchanter, wizard, or witch. Through certain rites and formulas forces were believed available to the performer of magic that enabled him to harm or to benefit. These preternatural powers were gained from the study of the occult sciences, in connivance with evil spirits. As noted, such evil arts were deeply entrenched in Egypt and Babylonia (Gen. 41:8; Ex. 7:11; Dan. 1:20; 2:2), countries with which ancient Israel had close connections and by which she was influenced. The Mosaic law similarly condemned such magical practices under pain of death (Lev. 20:27; Deut. 18:10-12). In New Testament times sorcerers, or magicians, were similarly spread over the whole Greco-Roman world (Acts 8:9-13; 13:6-8). And they constituted a similarly grave peril to the Christian Church and appeared throughout the Christian Era.
6. "SORCERER"—ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION IN LAKE OF FIRE. —
Finally, a sorcerer was one who professed to possess supernatural power, or knowledge, gained through the connivance of evil spirits. As seen, sorcerers were active in Egypt (Ex. 7:11), Assyria (Nahum 3:4), and Babylon (Isa. 47:9; Dan. 2:2), and had penetrated Israel (2 Kings 9:22). But they were rigidly forbidden (Ex. 22:18; Deut. 18:10-12), with warnings against their deceptions (Jer. 27:9), and their punishment was foretold (Micah 5:12; Mal. 3:5; Rev. 21:8). The term sorcerer is sometimes rendered "witch" and "witchcraft." It is ever to be remembered that God classifies sorcery with the vilest of sins (Gal. 5:20, R.S.V.), and warns of ultimate destruction in the lake of fire for those who practice it (Rev. 21:8). This too has appeared in all ages.
Such was the seriousness of trafficking with this whole series of forbidden practices in Bible times. [6] Now let us turn to the episode of Saul and the witch of Endor.
6 Robert B. Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament (1953 ed.), pp. 296-302. Also Nave, Orr, Davis, etc.
The episode of King Saul and the medium of Endor is constantly put forth as evidence of the reappearance, or materialization, of the immortal soul of the prophet Samuel. But let us candidly examine the facts, for the evidence belies such a contention. Note the circumstances.
1. INQUIRED OF WOMAN HAVING "FAMILIAR SPIRIT."—
Saul had "put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land" (1 Sam. 28:3). He had ordered this evil craft to be banished, for it was an abomination before the Lord, and its practice carried with it the death penalty (Lev. 19:31; 20:27). However, the gathering hosts of Philistines brought terror to Saul, who had drifted away from God. And by this time "the Lord answered him not" when he "enquired" (1 Sam. 28:6), because of his apostasy. In desperation for guidance Saul said to his servants, "Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her" (v. 7). And they told him, "Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor."
So King Saul came to this woman by night in disguise, and requested, "Divine unto me by the familiar spirit" (v. 8), and "bring me up [not down, or forth] Samuel" (v. 11). She was apprehensive. Saul assured the medium that she would not be betrayed or harmed for complying, and the record is that "the woman [not Saul] saw" the materialization of a "spirit" seeming to be Samuel. But observe particularly that first of all the medium was made aware of the identity of her distinguished visitor in disguise, for the first thing the alleged "Samuel" did was to put this forbidden practitioner on her guard. Surely it is but pertinent to ask, Would the true, real Samuel have done that, and then proceed to aid her in her unholy practice of divination? The answer is obvious.
2. IMPERSONATING SPIRIT ANSWERS ILLICIT INQUIRY.—
In the darkness of the night Saul asked, "What saw thou?"
She responded with this description: "An old man [not a spirit] cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle" (v. 14). Now, this mantle was obviously the robe commonly worn by the prophet.
A second question may properly be interjected at this point, Does an immortal soul, or spirit, still wear a mantle? However, the record simply states that "Saul perceived" (yada', "to perceive with the mind, to be made aware of")—that is, he understood from what the medium stated that it was Samuel who supposedly had appeared. Saul saw nothing. He had to ask the medium, "What saw thou?" (v. 13. And she answered, "I saw gods ascending out of the earth" (v. 13).
The apparition was clearly a satanic spirit impersonating Samuel. The Lord had "departed" from Saul, hence his illicit inquiry. He was clearly on Satan's territory, and the message imparted had its origin with Satan or his agents, not with God. God would surely not answer in a form that He had expressly forbidden—and Samuel had been dead two years. Nor was the demon's message meant to reform Saul, but to goad him to despair and ruin. Saul was now at the devil's mercy. And soon after this clandestine episode Saul took his own life (1 Sam. 31:4)—a suicide who died for his transgression—because he asked counsel of one who had a "familiar spirit" rather than of the God of heaven. That was the cause of his death (1 Chron. 10:13. 14)
3. A WHOLE SERIES OF INCONSISTENCIES.—
But let us press the inquiry a bit further: Why did the pretended "Samuel" come "up"—out of the earth? Do immortal souls dwell in the earth? On the other hand, if it were actually a bodily resurrection from the earth then the conscious-soul theory has to be abandoned. It cannot be both. Moreover, if it had been the resurrected Samuel, Saul himself would have seen him, just as with Lazarus in the New Testament.
Again, if Samuel had really been resurrected, how could he have come up out of the earth at Endor, near the sea of Galilee, when he was buried in distant Ramah (1 Sam. 25:1), near Jerusalem? Moreover, if Samuel were raised, it must have been either by the act of God or the act of the devil. But Satan cannot raise the dead. And it is inconceivable that God would have raised him in response to an evil agency that He had forbidden under pain of death, in order to talk with Saul on the devil's own ground, where the scene, or séance, assuredly took place.
Moreover, it is incredible that Samuel himself, who held witchcraft to be a heinous sin (1 Sam. 15:23), would hold converse with this abandoned woman in the midst of her incantations, and alert her before delivering his message. Nevertheless, she supposed the apparition to be Samuel. And Saul likewise supposed it to be Samuel—on the basis of appearance, despite all its incongruities and inconsistencies. Both were deceived.
4. CLEARLY A DECEPTION PUT ON BY THE DEVIL.—
The conclusion must be sound that this was unquestionably a manifestation induced by necromancy, sorcery, witchcraft—the work of a "familiar spirit," or in other words, spiritism. And "familiar spirits" are the spirits of "devils." (See 1 Cor. 10:20, 21; cf. Num. 25:1-3; Ps. 106:28.) The witch of Endor episode was a deception put on by the devil, who pretended to bring Samuel up from the ground. An evil angel clearly played the role of Samuel. Let no one be duped by the episode of Endor.
In this connection it is well to note that various early Church Fathers believed that the appearance of the "spirit" of Samuel was but a demon impersonating him. In fact, throughout the early Christian centuries there are many statements in the Fathers warning against the various forms of occultism that had become increasingly prevalent as the Roman Empire decayed. The synod of Ancyra (314) forbade all such magic. For example, Tertullian and Minucius Felix maintained that such spirits were "demons." Note them.
1. TERTULLIAN: SAMUEL SIMULATED BY "DEMON."—
Tertullian (died c. 220), of Carthage, refers to the alleged bringing up of the "soul of Samuel" as a "lying wonder," the speaking being contrived by ventriloquism, through the "sorceress." Tertullian then says: "God forbid, however, that we should suppose that the soul of any saint, much less of a prophet, can be dragged out of (its resting-place in Hades) by a demon." [7]
7 Tertullian, A Treatise on the Soul, chap. 57 (tr. by Dr. Peter Holmes), in ANF. vol. 3, p. 234.
Tertullian called that which purported to be the spirit of Samuel a_ "phantom" and an "apparition," and adds: "The fact that Hades [the grave] is not in any case opened for (the escape of) any soul, has been firmly established by the Lord." [8]
2. MINUCIUS: SPIRITS ARE DECEIVING DEMONS.—
Then there is Minucius Felix (third century), celebrated Latin apologist and contemporary of Tertullian. Prior to his conversion to Christianity, Minucius was a Roman lawyer, noted for his elegant Latin. His well-known treatise Octavius was a dialogue between the Christian Octavius and the heathen Caecilius over the comparative merits of their two religions, then struggling for supremacy. Octavius won the debate. Minucius' arguments regarding demons are similar to those of Tertullian. After discussing "evil spirits," who are set to ruin and deprave others and separate them from God, he recorded these words:
"The poets know that those spirits are demons; the philosophers discourse of them; Socrates knew it, who, at the nod and decision of a demon that was at his side, either declined or undertook affairs. The Magi, also, not only know that there are demons, but, moreover, whatever miracle they affect to perform, do it by means of demons; by their aspirations and communications they show their wondrous tricks, making either those things appear which are not, or those things not to appear which are." [9]
8 Ibid.
9 The Octavius of Minucius Felix, chap. 26, in ANF, vol. 4, p. 189.
As soon as the eruption of Modern Spiritualism began in America a series of solemn warnings began to appear against its evil origin and its malign character. The teachings and practices of Spiritualism have been exposed by a succession of leaders in all branches of the Christian church, from the time of its inception onward. Here are a few samples, taken at intervals:
1. RAMSEY—SPIRITUALISM IS SATANIC DELUSION.—
A typical early warning, uttered by Presbyterian Dr. William Ramsey, in 1856, was titled Spiritualism, a Satanic Delusion. This treatise portrays Spiritualism's emergence as a last-day "sign of the times," fostered by demonic agencies under the lead of Satan.
Ramsey presents the witness of the Old and New Testaments, with their demon possessions. And he shows that the same was true in ancient and modern pagan India. He deals with the phenomena of Modern Spiritualism and its mediums, the vicious teachings of the "spirits," and their rejection of the Bible. He shows that angels are not the spirits of the dead. His chapter four ("The Truth") proves that the "spirits" of Spiritualism are "not the spirits of the dead,” [10] but the "Emissaries of Satan." [11] He gives a devastating exposure of the claims concerning Saul and the witch of Endor and the prophet Samuel, making eight effective points, showing that the apparition was not the "spirit" of Samuel, but an impersonating demon." [12]
2. A SERIES OF INCRIMINATING CHARGES.—
In 1866 J. H. Waggoner, in The Nature and Tendency of Modern Spiritualism, warned against Spiritualism as denying the Bible, the deity of Jesus Christ, and His atoning death and second coming, with buttressing contemporary documentation. He showed how Spiritualism destroys all basic distinctions between right and wrong, and how it denies the moral law, human accountability, and coming punishment for sin. He also pointed out its demonic origin and identity.
Also in 1866 W. Mc'Donald similarly declared the then-rampant Spiritualism to be but a revival of ancient demonology, with striking similarity. [13] In 1895 G. H. Pember also declared it to be an exercise of satanic power, a sign of the latter times, when false prophets would arise, putting forth great signs and wonders. [14]
10 William Ramsey, Spiritualism, a Satanic Delusion, and a Sign of the Times, p. 84.
11 Ibid., p. 100.
12 Ibid , pp. 116-118.
13 W. Mc'Donald, Spiritualism, p. 74.
14 G. H. Pember, Earth's Earliest Ages, pp. xxv, xxvi.
In 1920 an editorial in The Cumberland Presbyterian likewise declared it to be a satanic form of communication. After referring to "its blinding and corrupting influence," the editor concluded with the warning "Beware of 'familiar spirits,' so speaks the word of God." [15] A paralleling series of strong warnings appeared in Great Britain.
3. SMITH—DEVASTATING EXPOSURE OF FALLACIES AND DANGERS.—
In 1896 Uriah Smith, in his exposure of Modern Spiritualism, produced a carefully reasoned treatise, documented with more than 120 separate source quotations—all from recognized writers in the field. His chapter five ("What the Spirits Teach") includes documented evidence on "They Deny God" as a personal Being; "They Deny [the deity of] Jesus Christ"; "They Deny the Bible"; "They Deny All Distinction Between Right and Wrong"—such as showing how many were led to commit suicide in order to join a loved one or friend on the "other side." All points are buttressed with contemporary quotations. It constitutes one of the most comprehensive exposures up to that time. Its strongest and most constructive feature is the Bible truth on the true nature and destiny of man. And his basic premise is that the "spirits" of Spiritualism are demons, or fallen angels.
1. BIEDERWOLF—SPIRITS OF THE "CLOVEN HOOF.''—
We must terminate this list of typical declarations with that of the well-known evangelist W. E. Biederwolf, who declared that the appearance of Spiritualism is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Note it:
"This modern revival of Spiritualism, therefore, not only seems to lend evidence that we are living in what Paul calls the 'latter times,' but Paul seems to intimate rather strongly that the spirits which are around in the seances and sittings of the present day, or rather night, are not the spirits of our loved ones at all, but spirits whose distinguishing features ,are a cloven hoof and a forked tail and a lying tongue. Demon possession does not, of course, always manifest itself in the same way, but always with one purpose, and that is to seduce man from the worship of God.
15 Editorial, Cumberland Presbyterian (Nashville, Tennessee), Sept. 30, 1920.
"The old devil is as cunning as ever, and these demons of his, like angels of light, often disguise the real purpose of their action by a pretended zeal for the truth, even by the reading of the Bible and encouragement to the Christian life; but this is only to gain confidence and a firmer hold on the victim, and back of it all is the sinister motive of enthralling mankind under the dominion of their lord and master, Satan, the arch-enemy of God. The Bible says distinctly that the air which envelops our earth is full of evil spirits, and, if that is so, we cannot be surprised at their attempt to communicate with man and to influence him for evil." [16]
So the "last day" aspect of Spiritualism's modern appearance, as a sign of the times, along with its demonic origin, has been frequently stressed.
5. "DIABOLICAL POSSESSION" MORE PLAUSIBLE EXPLANATION.—
A continuing succession of witnesses across the centuries have insisted that it does not follow that the talking personalities of the occult world are necessarily the discarnate spirits of the dead. Even Corliss Lamont sagely observes that "the traditional belief of the Church in diabolical possession, still held in many quarters, is possibly more plausible than the theories of Spiritualists." [17]
1. GARLAND QUESTIONS REPORTED IDENTITY OF SPIRITS.—
Not all who have dabbled deeply in Spiritualism accept the "spiritist interpretation" of "psychic phenomena." After forty years of investigation Hamlin Garland still questioned "the identity of the manifesting intelligences" [18]—that is, the claim that they are discarnate spirits of dead human beings.
16 William E. Biederwolf, Spiritualism, pp. 21, 22. (Italics supplied.)
17 Corliss Lamont The Illusion of Immortality (2d ed. 1950), p. 159.
18 Hamlin Garland, Forty Tears of Psychic Research (1936), pp. 385-387.
2. EVIDENCES OF SENSES MAY MISLEAD.—
George Whitehead points out the perils of "misleading impressions" and "faulty inferences" from sight and senses—such as the fact that "an oar half immersed in water appears to be bent," or that "thirsty travellers in the desert are confident that they see an oasis," though it is but an "illusion." [19] The testimony of the senses" may obviously mislead in psychic phenomena.
3. PERSONAL SURVIVAL NOT DEMONSTRATED.—
Corliss Lamont, while recognizing the undeniable phenomena of Spiritualism, likewise questions its "interpretation," contending that it does not necessarily prove the personal "survival of the dead"—the favourite expression being "existence beyond the grave." Here are his words:
"The Spiritualists, however, are very far from having demonstrated that the hypothesis of personal survival is the sole and certain explanation of the data they have gathered." [20]
He calls attention to the undeniable duplication of the phenomena by such professional magicians as Harry Houdini and Joseph Dunninger. The appealing phenomena do not thereby prove that one has been in touch with "an immortal soul."
1. GEARON FINDS "DIABOLIC ORIGIN" THEORY PERSUASIVE.
—Even certain Catholic writers, according to P. J. Gearon, believe Spiritism's "abnormal happenings are due to Satan." And he adds that to such "the Diabolic Theory is exceedingly persuasive," citing the fact that—"he medium sometimes utters blasphemies, propounds immoral doctrines, and, in general, exhibits certain signs which would seem to point to the direct action of Satan." [21]
Gearon also observes that some cite the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore in support of the "diabolic origin" view. He says further: "We find in Holy Scripture an express condemnation of the practice of consulting the dead through sorcerers, necromancers, magicians and similar agencies." [22]
19 Whitehead, Art Inquiry Into Spiritualism (1934), p. 43.
20 Lamont, op. cit., pp. 156, 157.
21 P. J. Gearon, Spiritism: Its Failure, pp. 116, 117.
22 Ibid., p. 126.
2. VAUGHAN—VISITANTS MAY BE "SATANIC SPIRITS."—
Another Catholic warning voice is that of Bernard Vaughan, who refers to the "menace of spiritualism" and the "ruin wrought" upon many by "this insidious form of necromancy." He refers to it as "a snare trapping you into communion with devils," and adds that since "no one" can "prove that their spiritual visitants [at a "seance"] are the creatures they claim to be," "how can anyone disprove them to be satanic spirits?" And he solemnly warns against being "sucked into such a vortex." [23]
3. HOLE—MESSAGES FROM PERSONATING EVIL SPIRIT.—
Still another Catholic writer, Donald Hole, likewise refers to many Catholics who feel that "spirit-messages" are "produced by the agency of the devil," and that the purported message is not from any "departed friend but from an evil spirit personating him." And he twice adds that this "diabolic theory" is certainly one that would "cover all the facts." This, he says, leads us to "infer diabolic agency." [24]
23 Bernard Vaughan, Foreword in Elliot O'Donnell, The Menace al Spiritualism, PP. 1-3.
24 Donald Hole, Spiritualism and the Church, pp. 66, 67.
But to return to ancient Israel.
In the course of time, darkness had deepened about the nation. The Assyrians had come, and in alarm and panic the people again betook themselves to seeking guidance from occult sources. Thus it had been with Saul, as we have seen, when he forsook God and consulted the witch of Endor in his difficulties. But the lesson was not learned.
The prophet Isaiah denounced the sources upon which Israel was relying for counsel and guidance—upon those that had "familiar spirits" (Isa. 8:19). By their iniquities the children of Israel had again turned away from God even as Saul had done. And like Saul they had turned to demonic spirits for guidance and help. In other words, Spiritualism was prevalent then, as now, and the people had turned to the spirits for guidance—"unto wizards that peep, and that mutter" (v. 19). "Peep" means "chirp," "cheep." But they were not the spirits of the dead. The personating spirits were demons, or fallen angels. [25] They were seducing, deceptive spirits. [26]
1. TURNED FROM AUTHOR OF LIFE TO AUTHOR OF DEATH.
—Isaiah urged the people to seek unto their God. That was the alternative to resorting to Spiritualism—to search the revelation of God through His prophets. But they deliberately sought the subtleties of necromancy, consulting the "dead" instead of the living God. Such was Israel's tragedy in Isaiah's day—of turning from the God and Author of life to seek help from Satan, the author of death and misery.
Isaiah asks, On behalf of the living should they consult the dead? God had expressly declared that the dead "know not anything" (Eccl. 9:5). It is therefore obvious that any response from the "dead" must be a simulating deception and a perilous fraud. A clear understanding of the unconscious state of the dead is imperative for protection against the subtle attempts of Satan's legions to convince through spiritualist mediums and supposed communications with the "departed."
2. FROM SUBTLETY OF DEMONS TO WISDOM OF GOD.
—Seek the law (torah), said Isaiah—the revealed word and will of God, the inspired writings, particularly those of Moses. And Moses was instructed to condemn necromancy, sorcery, witchcraft, trafficking with "familiar spirits." [27] The prophet Isaiah makes the sorrowful declaration: "Thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines" (Isa. 2:6). Turn, the prophet appealed, from the subtlety of demons and the folly of man to the wisdom of God through His appointed spokesmen, the prophets. That is the source of revealed truth and the guide to life for God's people. Too late, many in Israel saw their errors. But their lesson is for us.
25. 2 Peter 2:4; Rev. 12:9; Jude 1:6; Rev. 16.14.
26 1 Tim. 4.1-3; 2 Tim. 3:13; 2 Thess. 2:10.
27 Lev. 19:31; 20:6, 27; Deut. 18:10, 11
3. WARNED AGAINST REPLENISHING "FROM THE EAST."—
Coupled with this question of "familiar spirits" is the expression "replenished from the east"—its astrologers, soothsayers, and sorcerers (Dan. 2:2, 27; 4:7; 5:7, 11). It was because Israel turned from the Lord God to dabble in the occult religions of the East that they forfeited His favour. The pagan inhabitants had been driven out of Palestine because of their "abominations"—because they "hearkened unto observers of times," and diviners (Deut. 18:14; 1 Sam. 6:2).
Nevertheless, the professed people of God proceeded to follow their fateful example. Instead of going to God for their light, they were consulting with those who were in league with the prince of darkness. But these warnings to Israel of old are "written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world have come" (1 Cor. 10:11). The lesson is crystal clear. The issues are identical. Satan is ever seeking to manipulate the affairs of men through his multiple evil channels.
It is essential that the Biblical side of this tremendous issue be clearly understood. Therein lies our only safety—the authoritative written counsels of Inspiration—the Holy Scriptures. The prophet Isaiah presents the classic example and gives its warning lesson. Ancient Jerusalem had been plagued with a "spiritistic cult of the dead." But the prophet denounced it as making a "covenant with death" and as being an "agreement with hell" (sheol, "the unseen world, the grave").
1. MADE "LIES" THEIR "REFUGE."—
But in so doing, according to the prophet, this cult had "made lies our refuge," and had "hid" themselves under "falsehood." But, declared the prophet, God will erelong "sweep away the refuge of lies," and then your "covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell [sheol, "the grave"] shall not stand." Destruction would assuredly come upon them. Here is the Biblical statement in full:
"Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement, when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it" (Isa. 28:15-18).
2. DIVINE RETRIBUTION IS CERTAIN.—
This covenant with death and agreement with the unseen world has been the earmark of Spiritism's cults of the "spirits of the dead" throughout the ages. And it cannot be overemphasized that our only safety lies in following the authoritative written counsels of Inspiration. To the Word we must ever go. And specific guidance is given in Old Testament episodes. We ignore these only at our peril.
Here the prophet Isaiah portrays the fatal folly of ancient Jerusalem's attitude toward the "cult of the dead," twice called by Inspiration the "covenant with death," and the "agreement with hell" (sheol, "the grave"). As a matter of fact, this has ever been the earmark of Spiritism's cults of the "spirits of the dead," spread in varied forms over the centuries. Open necromancy is a "covenant with death" and witchcraft an "agreement" with sheol ("the grave").
Isaiah had forewarned that they would "fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken" (v. 13). But they only scoffed, and insisted that through their "covenant with death" they would not die for their sins (as in Gen. 3:4). They openly jeered at the inspired counsels of truth and righteousness. Nevertheless, their covenant would assuredly be "dis-annulled." Such is the lesson of Israel. Divine retribution is certain for disobedience in tampering with the occult.
1. BOLD AND UNHOLY ALLIANCES MADE FOR CENTURIES.—
Such bold and unholy alliances can only be formed in defiance of God on the part of those who openly (or secretly) enter into such a covenant. As stated, the covenant of "self-attainment of deified immortality" is effected through the mysteries of Spiritualism in its various forms. That is the essence of every spiritistic religion. They are all based on the twofold postulate of spirit existence, spirit communication and intervention.
Sometimes this has been held openly, in brazen defiance of God, as by the Satanists, or Luciferists, as they have sometimes been called, who knowingly and willingly gave themselves over to the worship of Satan and his fallen angels, entering into actual pacts with Satan. These have been graphically described by Shaw Desmond, Frederick Kaigh, and others in their histories, also involving the fearsome "black" and "white" magic and black mass. Such is demonism and the debasing degeneracy of Animism. That is the extreme. But for the most part it is in more subtle forms.
4. NOT "NEW REVELATION"; SIMPLY "ANCIENT FALSEHOOD."—
For thousands of years heathen lands were the primary habitat of Spiritism. In Asia, Africa, China, and Oceania we see its baleful fruits—degradation, with debasing superstitions and evil practices, under the mediumship of thousands of priests, mediums, conjurers, magicians, and witch doctors. And these are still operative. Ancient Greece and Rome, though advanced in civilization, were likewise hotbeds of spiritistic manifestations. Now it operates in refined, scientific forms. But it stems from the same source. It is identical in essence. No, Spiritualism is not a "new revelation." It is simply the ancient falsehood in continuity.
Frank champions of the occult, state that Modern Spiritualism duplicates all the essential principles and phenomena of the magic, witchcraft, and sorcery of the past—the same powers and intelligences operating as of old, only in polished, genteel form. Instead of the open avowed demon worship of the past, the prince of darkness now operates under the guise of an angel of light. But the heathen oracles of old have their full counterpart in the Spiritualist mediums and clairvoyants of today.
5. SATAN'S DEVICE CONSTITUTES PERFECT COUNTERFEIT. —
It was the postulate of man's consciousness in death and the consequent belief that the spirits of the dead return to hover over and minister to the living that prepared the way for Spiritualism, both ancient and modern. It may be difficult to reject what purports to come from "glorified spirits." But they are instead, as we have seen, only fallen angels, doing Satan's bidding, appearing as messengers of light from the spirit world. This astute device constitutes a perfect counterfeit. It is Satan's masterpiece. Thinking they are listening to their departed loved ones, those who heed the seductions of Modern Spiritualism are, instead, actually giving ear to "seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils"—devils, or demons, who are "speaking lies in hypocrisy" (1 Tim. 4:1, 2). It is a cruel, yes, a tragic deception.
In these sophisticated times the term "witchcraft" is generally held in contempt, and the claim that men can hold intercourse with evil spirits is usually regarded as a relic of the Dark Ages. Modern Spiritualism, in new and cunning guise, and with adherents now numbering millions, has invaded the churches and made its way into high scientific circles, yes, into the courts of kings and the ranks of warriors and statesmen. Nevertheless, it is simply a revival, in fascinating disguise, of the witchcraft and sorcery condemned and prohibited of old. With such an adroit vehicle at his command Satan is deceiving multitudes and is making increasing numbers captive to his masterpiece of deception.
6. SPIRITUALISM IDENTICAL WITH ANCIENT WITCHCRAFT. —
That the phenomena of Modern Spiritualism are identical with those of ancient witchcraft and sorcery has been forthrightly attested by Spiritualist J. J. Morse in his Practical Occultism. We should note his question carefully, that its significance be not missed:
"Shall we . . . come down to the plain, simple truth, that the phenomenal aspects of Modern Spiritualism reproduce all the essential principles of the Magic, Witchcraft, and Sorcery of the past? The same powers are involved, . . . the same intelligences are operating." [28]
This candid admission and its import cannot be overemphasized. These are the same evil forces and powers that God forbade in His repeated prohibitions of old. We tamper with them only at gravest peril.
28 J. J. Morse, Practical Occultism (1888), p. 85. (Italics supplied.)
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
Spiritualism has certain conspicuous fellow travellers. Because of two of its openly declared and constantly repeated positions, Christian Science must be examined in this connection. In approximately a century (beginning in 1866) it has spread to every part of the globe. It now lists more than eleven thousand practitioners of metaphysical healing and reputedly has a million adherents. MARY BAKER EDDY (d. 1910) was a lifelong student of metaphysics. And her basic textbook and supreme authority for the movement—Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, first issued in 1875—has had an astonishing distribution, which attests to the formidable spread of the movement. It requires attention.
We are not here concerned with the healing aspect. Nor are we interested in the stormy controversy as to whether Mary Baker Eddy borrowed her basic principles from Phineas P. Quimby. But rather, we are interested in the published declarations of her authorized teachings as they concern our quest. Neither are we impugning the lives or the moral integrity of the adherents of the system. We are dealing solely with their departures from the Word of God, their doctrinal deviations, primarily as they pertain to the origin, nature, and destiny of man, and their championship of the age-old dual fallacies of the Innate Immortality of the soul and the innate deity of man.
Left: Joseph Smith, Founder of Mormonism—Held All Spirits Pre-existed in Presence of God, Awaiting Earthly Bodies. At Death They Return to God. Right: Mary Baker Eddy—Built System on Categorical Denial of Every Cardinal Doctrine of Evangelical Christianity.
However, the various strands in the complex doctrinal fabric of Christian Science are so tightly interwoven that it is impossible to separate those pertaining to the origin, nature, and destiny of man without considering the over-all pattern and weave. That particular part can be understood and evaluated only in the light of the whole. We must first consider, perforce, those larger aspects.
1. TRACES OF ANCIENT HERESIES APPEAR.—
It should be noted, however, in passing, that it reveals certain undeniable traces of ancient Gnosticism, as well as the pantheistic mysticism of Hinduism. There is striking similarity to those features of Hindu philosophy which assert that the only reality is the Cosmic Soul, with man's highest ideal being the reaching of complete union with this impersonal Cosmic Entity. Mrs. Eddy also revives ancient Docetism in denying the reality of our Lord's human nature. And there is also the dualism of the "Father-Mother" God concept of Hinduism and of Shakerism. But first note the broader background of basic repudiation of Christian fundamentals ere we turn to the question of man.
2. EVERY CARDINAL DOCTRINE OF CHRISTIANITY DENIED. —
Christian Science is built on a series of categorical denials, repudiating every cardinal doctrine of evangelical Christianity. It nullifies every saving provision of the plan of redemption. ' By denying the inspiration and authority of the Bible, the personality of God, the incarnation and deity of Christ, the actuality and efficacy of the atonement, the death, resurrection, ascension, and second advent of Christ, the reality of matter, 'sin, suffering, and death, the existence of a personal Satan, and the need of salvation—as well as the Biblical record of the Fall, and thus the need for regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification—the way is thrown wide open for the acceptance of a whole system of grave errors based upon metaphysical and occult concepts. That is the justification for this examination.
3. BIBLE AUTHORITATIVE ONLY WITH "SPIRITUAL" INTERPRETATION.—
Mary Baker Eddy claims to have taken the Bible as her "sole guide," her "only authority," [1] and "only textbook." [2] But she declares that it must be understood in its "spiritual meaning," [3] and with "metaphysical interpretation,” [4] because otherwise it abounds with "metaphors" and "allegory," [5] as well as "myth" and "fable" [6] that confuse and mislead.
4. TRANSLATION ERRORS "CORRECTED" BY CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.—
The Bible, Mrs. Eddy asserts, is marred by mistranslations which are corrected by the renderings of Christian Science. [7] She goes so far as to affirm that Scripture has many thousands of variant renderings and copyist errors.
1 Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health (1934), pp. viii, 126.
2 Ibid., p. 110.
3 Ibid., p. 319.
4 Ibid., p. 579.
5 ibid., pp. 177, 320, 527, 533, 537, etc.
6 Ibid., pp. 523, 530, 544.
7 Ibid., p. 506.
"Mistakes" have crept into "ancient versions," thus "darkening" the "inspired pages." [8] The "spiritual sense," supplied by Christian Science, is consequently said to be essential to right understanding. In fact, this "spiritual sense," or "metaphysical interpretation," is claimed to constitute the "new tongue referred to in the last chapter of Mark's Gospel [Mark 16:17]." [9] That is why Science and Health is called the "Key to the Scriptures." The position is maintained that there are two meanings in Scripture—"literal" and "spiritual," and the "spiritual" must be followed to avoid "misinterpretation." [10] Here is the method.
5. VALUE AND VALIDITY OF "LITERAL" RENDERING CHALLENGED.—
The authority of the Scripture is swept away by setting aside, as invalid, the literal and obvious intent. Moreover, the "literal rendering" is declared to be fraught with peril. Hence a "metaphysical rendering" is substituted. Thus:
"The literal rendering of the Scriptures makes them nothing valuable, but often is the foundation of unbelief and hopelessness. The metaphysical rendering is health and peace and hope for all." [11]
Fearful is the depreciation and discard of the validity of the natural, literal Biblical record, as couched in these amazing words: "The material record of the Bible," she said, "is no more important to our well-being than the history of Europe and America." [12]
6. SIN DISPOSED OF BY DENIAL OF REALITY.—
Christian Science disposes of the sin problem by simply denying its reality. And by denying the reality of sin it removes the necessity of righteousness by faith in, and salvation through, a personal Saviour. It presents, instead, a doctrine of man's inherent goodness and self-sufficiency. Hear it:
"Evi has no reality. It is neither person, place, nor thing, but is simply a belief, an illusion of material sense." [13]
8 Ibid., p. 139.
9 Ibid., p. 272.
10 Ibid., pp. 320, 319. See also p. 579.
11 Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings (1883-1896), p. 169. (Italics supplied.)
12 Ibid., p. 170.
13 Eddy, Science and Health, p. 71.
"To get rid of sin through Science, is to divest sin of any supposed mind or reality." [14]
"Man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death." [15]
Salvation is related to it in this way, as defined in the official Glossary: "SALVATION. Life, Truth, and Love understood and demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness, and death destroyed." [16]
Now look at the over-all picture thus provided.
7. BIBLE REMADE THROUGH NEW "DEFINITIONS."—
The Glossary in chapter seventeen of Science and Health presents a "substitution of the spiritual for the material" in definitions, "the metaphysical interpretation of Bible terms." [17] Here are striking samples:
"ANGELS. God's thoughts passing to man." [18]
"BAPTISM. Purification by Spirit; submergence in Spirit." [19]
“BURIAL. Corporeality and physical sense put out of sight and hearing; submergence in Spirit; immortality brought to light." [20]
"DEATH. An illusion. the lie of life in matter. . . . Any material evidence of death is false, for it contradicts the spiritual facts of being." [21]
"DEVIL. Evil; a lie; error; neither corporeality nor mind." [22]
"God. The great I AM; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence." [23]
"RESURRECTION. Spiritualization of thought; a new and higher idea of immortality, or spiritual existence; material belief yielding to spiritual understanding." [24]
The resultant concepts are revolutionary.
In the foregoing definitions Mrs. Eddy substitutes a whole series of new meanings for the recognized historic terms, obscuring the real intent and setting aside the testimony of the senses. Biblical terminology is redefined until its major teachings lose all logical sense by spiritualizing away the obvious import. Yet Mrs. Eddy claims hers to be the only qualified interpretation. Thus Christian Science proclaims itself the supreme authority and final interpreter of the Christian religion, with self salvation as the means of attainment.
14 Ibid., p. 339.
15 Ibid., p. 475.
16 Ibid., p. 593.
17 Ibid., p. 579.
18 Ibid., p. 581.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid., p. 582.
21 Ibid., p. 584.
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid., p. 587. (Italics supplied.)
24 Ibid., p. 593.
8. GOD DECLARED NOT "PERSON," BUT "PRINCIPLE."—
Mary Baker Eddy repeatedly asserts that God is "not a person" but a "Principle" (capitalization indicating Deity), and admits that in a sense God is "identical with nature." [25] Here are sample statements:
"God is definitely individual, and not a person." [26]
"An individual God, rather than a personal God." [27]
"God is Love; and Love is Principle, not person." [28]
"Infinite and divine Principle of all being." [29]
"All-pervading intelligence . . . divine, infinite Principle." [30]
This tallies with the reiterated definitions in Science and Health. For example:
"God: Divine Principle, Life, Truth, Love, Soul, Spirit, Mind." [31]
“In divine [Christian] Science the terms God and good, as Spirit, are synonymous." [32]
God is thus portrayed as divested of all personality, but embracing "all substance,” [33] and thus presenting a virtually pantheistic concept—denials to the contrary notwithstanding. It must be observed, just here, that the god of Christian Science is strikingly similar to the pantheistic concept held in Hinduism, where matter is likewise unreal, with the only reality the Cosmic Soul, and man a part of God. Terminology almost identical with that of Christian Science is likewise employed in several contemporary metaphysical cults. [34]
25 Ibid., p. 119.
26 Eddy, Rudimental Divine Science, p. 2.
27 Ibid.
28 Eddy, No and Yes, p. 19. (Italics supplied.)
29 Eddy, Rudimental Divine Science, p. 3. (Italics supplied.)
30 Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 16. (Italics supplied.)
31 Eddy, Science and Health, p. 115. See also pp. 87, 465.
32 Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 27.
33 Eddy, Science and Health, pp. 587, 469, 259.
34 Unity similarly holds that God is Principle, Law, Being, Mind, Spirit, All-Good, Father, Cause, Source. And likewise in Theosophy, God is an impersonal pantheistic actuality, "wave after wave pushing its way up through matter," as it has been phrased. God is "in all and through all," beyond the "bounds of personality." The similarity is obvious.
1. DUALITY CONCEPT OF "FATHER-MOTHER" GOD.—
Twenty-two times, according to the concordances of her writings, Mary Baker Eddy stresses the "Father-Mother" duality concept of God. It is worth noting, however, at the outset, that in early life she lived not far from a Shaker colony.' She must have been familiar with the characteristic Shaker term "Father-Mother God" " constantly used in their literature. The designation evidently seemed to her more adequately to express the character of God than the single Biblical term "Father," for she explains the component terms in this way:
"FATHER. Eternal Life; the one Mind; the divine Principle, commonly called God." [37]
"Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which indicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation." [38]
"MOTHER. God; divine and eternal Principle; Life, Truth, and Love." [39]
Mrs. Eddy accordingly reconstructed the opening clause of the Lord's Prayer in the "spiritual sense" to read, "Our Father-Mother God, all harmonious," et cetera. [40] Further, her concept of the "triune" God, the "triply divine Principle" is stated thus:
"God the Father-Mother; Christ the Spiritual idea of sonship; divine Science [Christian Science' or the Holy Comforter. These three express in divine Science the threefold, essential nature of the infinite." [41]
One more citation must suffice: "Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God." [42]
35 Braden, They Also Believe, p. 201.
36 English-born Shaker Ann Lee (d. 1784) taught the strange form of Eternal Father-Mother dualism of God, with the creation of male and female, “In Our image," construed as proving the bisexuality of the Creator. Jesus was said to be the male manifestation of the Creator in the early Christian church. And Ann Lee was alleged to be the female manifestation, or incarnation, in the latter-day Christian church. In her, as the female counterpart of Jesus, the promises of His second appearing were supposedly fulfilled.
It should also be noted that the Shakers did not believe either in the deity of Christ or in a bodily resurrection. They held to Innate Immortality and believed in a series of heavens and hells. The Shakers were Spiritualists, as was Ann Lee, and regarded the spiritistic movement as preparing the people to receive their doctrines. They denied every major Christian doctrine—the deity of Christ, the authority of Scripture, the Trinity, the vicarious atonement, and the resurrection of the body. This similarity is at least interesting.
37 Eddy, Science and Health, p. 586. (Italics supplied.)
38 Ibid., "Glossary," p. 332. (Italics supplied.)
39 Ibid., p. 590. (Italics supplied.)
40 Ibid., p. 16. (Italics supplied.) See also pp. 256, 335. 516. 530. 577.
41 Ibid., pp. 331, 332. (Italics supplied.)
42 Ibid., p. 516. (Italics supplied.)
So the coeternity of man with God is tied in with the infinite "duality" concept. Hence the pertinence of these observations to our quest. But the Father-Mother concept, it should be remembered, reaches back to Hindu origins. And it should also be added that Theosophy and New Thought—which in certain ways resemble Christian Science—and Unity, together with certain other similar groups, stress the same omnipotence of man and share essentially the same Father-Mother concept of the Godhead. The term, therefore, was by no means original with, or confined to, Christian Science.
10. FURTHER "DUALITY"—JESUS WAS NOT CHRIST.—
Christian Science also makes sharp distinction between Christ and Jesus, referring to it as "the duality of Jesus the Christ." [43] Note these statements:
"The Christ is incorporeal, spiritual," whereas, "the corporeal man Jesus was human." [44]
"The spiritual Christ was infallible; Jesus, as material manhood, was not Christ." [45]
"Jesus. The highest human corporeal concept of the divine idea, rebuking and destroying error and bringing to light man's immortality." [46]
"The invisible Christ was imperceptible to the so-called personal senses, whereas Jesus appeared as a bodily existence. This dual personality of the unseen and the seen, the spiritual and the material, the eternal Christ and the corporeal Jesus manifest in the flesh, continued until the Master's ascension, when the human, material concept, or Jesus, disappeared, while the spiritual self, or Christ, continues to exist in the eternal order of divine Science." [47]
Elsewhere, speaking of this "dual nature." Mrs. Eddy refers, significantly, to "the personal and the impersonal Jesus." [48]
11. MARY'S CONCEPTION OF JESUS ONLY "SPIRITUAL."—
As to the stupendous fact of the Incarnation, which undergirds the whole provision of the gospel, according to Mrs. Eddy there was no actual, miraculous conception. Hear it specifically:
"Mary's conception of him [Jesus] was spiritual." [49]
43 Ibid., p. 473.
44 Ibid., p. 332. (Italics supplied.)
45 Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 84. (Italics supplied.)
46 Eddy, Science and Health, p. 589.
47 Ibid., p. 334. (Italics supplied.)
48 Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 161. (Italics supplied.)
49 Eddy, Science and Health, p. 332. (Italics supplied.)
"The Virgin-Mother conceived this idea of God, and gave to her ideal the name of Jesus." [50]
“Jesus was the offspring of Mary's self-conscious communion with God." [51]
"A portion of God could not enter man; neither could God's fulness be reflected by a single man, else God would be manifestly finite, lose the deific character, and become less than God." [52]
Answering a related question, "Has Christ come again on earth?" Mrs. Eddy said: "Christ never left." "Christ is Truth, and Truth is always here,—the impersonal Saviour." [53]
So, according to Christian Science, there was no union of the Godhead with humanity, of the Infinite with the finite, of the Creator with the creature, that God and man might be united in one Person, in order that the God-man might live a completely sinless life and die a vicarious, atoning death, to make possible man's redemption, and all as the outgrowth of the divine plan and provision of the Incarnation.
1. MAIN ATTACK ON "LITERALISM" OF GENESIS 1 TO 3.—
Mrs. Eddy's chief attempt at "exegesis" is focused on the opening chapters of Genesis. [54] This, of course, is vital to our quest. Chapter fifteen of Science and Health (on "Genesis") presents the "Scientific interpretation," according to the opening words. This is repeatedly explained as "spiritual interpretation according to the teachings of Christian Science," or "spiritual understanding," [55] for "Creation" is first defined as the "unfolding of spiritual ideas and their identities." [56] And in this connection God is not only set forth as "creative Principle," but "man and woman" are explicitly presented as "coexistent and eternal with God.” [57] This latter point will be noted later.
50 Ibid., p. 29. (Italics supplied.)
51 Ibid., pp. 29, 30. (Italics supplied.)
52 Ibid., p. 336.
53 Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 180. (Italics supplied.)
54 Eddy, Science and Health, pp. 501, 505.
55 Ibid., pp. 502, 505. (Italics supplied.)
56 Ibid., p. 503. (Italics supplied.)
57 Ibid., pp. 502, 516. (Italics supplied.)
Christian Science Denies Literal Creation, Fall, and Atonement.
On the basis of this "spiritual understanding," Mrs. Eddy professes to see a clash between "human concept" and "divine idea." These two, she claims, have been "confused by the Bible translator. [58] Mrs. Eddy actually calls the resultant Biblical record—the portrayal of Genesis—a "history of error." [59] Here is her startling charge concerning the chapter:
"The second chapter of Genesis contains a statement of this material view of God and the universe, a statement which is the exact opposite of scientific truth as before recorded." [60]
Referring to the "falsity" of the "erroneous theory,” [61] "based" on the "hypothesis of error"—about "Spirit as supposedly co-operating with matter in constructing the universe" [62]—she twice denominates it as a "false claim," and five times boldly labels it a "lie." She also disparages it as a "myth" [63] and an "allegory." [64] Mrs. Eddy employs such slighting terms as "legendary" and "metaphor," [65] whereas "inspired" interpretation demands a "spiritual" interpretation instead of a "literal" one. [66]
58 Ibid., p. 506.
59 Ibid., p. 521. (Italics supplied.)
60 Ibid.
61 Ibid., p. 522.
62 Ibid.
63 Ibid., pp. 523, 524, 527, 530.
64 Ibid., pp. 533, 537.
65 Ibid., pp. 526, 527.
66 Ibid., p. 537.
In Genesis 3 the Inspired Record of the temptation is dubbed "the fable of the serpent"—a "mythical serpent" in an "allegory," or "metaphor." [67] And this is followed by the charge:
"The translators of this record of scientific creation entertained a false sense of being. They believed in the existence of matter, its propagation and power." [68]
With literalism thus swept away she presents the "spiritual" view, which sets aside the understanding of "popular theology" [69] and vitiates the essence of the record of Genesis.
2. THE SUPREME DENIAL—JESUS DID NOT "DIE."—
The distinctiveness of Christian Science is its categorical denials. One of these is uniform denial of the death of Christ, that the disciples only "believed" Christ died. Actually, Mrs. Eddy says, He did not "die" at all. In the grave He simply took refuge from His foes, performing His supreme work in the three days in the tomb. Hear it in this quartet of statements:
"The lonely precincts of the tomb gave Jesus a refuge from his foes, a place in which to solve the great problem of being. His three days' work in the sepulchre set the seal of eternity on time. He proved Life to be deathless and Love to be the master of hate.” [70]
"His disciples believed Jesus to be dead while he was hidden in the sepulchre, whereas he was alive, demonstrating within the narrow tomb the power of Spirit to overrule mortal, material sense." [71]
"Jesus' students, not sufficiently advanced fully to understand their Master's triumph, did not perform many wonderful works, until they saw him after his crucifixion and learned that he had not died." [72]
"In Science, Christ never died. In material sense Jesus died, and lived. The fleshly Jesus seemed to die, though he did not." [73]
This is to be understood in the light of the Glossary definition of "Death": "DEATH. An illusion, the lie of life in matter; the unreal and untrue; the opposite of Life." [74]
And this: "The crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eternal Life.” [75]
67 Ibid., pp. 544. 529.
68 Ibid.
69 Ibid., p. 557.
70 Ibid., p. 44 (Italics supplied.)
71 Ibid. (Italics supplied).
72 Ibid., pp. 45, 46. (Italics supplied.)
73 Eddy, Unity of Good, p. 62, in Prose Works. (Italics supplied.)
74 Eddy, Science and Heald, p. 584.
75 Ibid., p. 497.
It thus established the "allness" and endlessness of life.
3. VICARIOUS "ATONEMENT" REJECTED AS "UNNATURAL." —
Another basic denial is that of the vicarious atonement made by Christ on the cross. She claims that not only was His incarnation not actual and His conception only "spiritual," but salvation is not by a Person, it is through principle. On the atonement note these daring utterances:
"One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires constant self-immolation on the sinner's part. That God's wrath should be vented upon His beloved Son, is divinely unnatural. Such a theory is man-made." [76]
"The eternal Christ, his spiritual selfhood, never suffered." [77]
"The material blood of Jesus was no more efficacious to cleanse from sin when it was shed upon 'the accursed tree,' than when it was flowing in his veins as he went daily about his Father's business." [78]
That is incriminatingly explicit. If this be true, then the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary never paid the debt of sin!
4. JESUS' RESURRECTION ONLY "REPRODUCTION" OR "REAPPEARANCE."—
As to the resurrection of Jesus, it was said to be not a resurrection but a "reproduction" after His burial. Hear this:
"When Jesus reproduced his body after his burial, he revealed the myths or material falsity of evil." [79]
"Our Master appeared to his students,—to their apprehension he rose from the grave,—on the third day of his ascending thought, and so presented to them the certain sense of eternal Life." [80]
The transcendent event of this "third day" was, according to Mrs. Eddy, His "ascending thought." The ascension of Christ therefore was, on this premise, the ascension of an idea and nothing more.
76 Ibid., p. 23.
77 Ibid., p. 38.
78 Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 201. (Italics supplied.)
79 Ibid., p. 25.
80 Eddy, Science and Health, p. 509. (Italics supplied.)
81 Ibid., p. 117. (Italics supplied.)
5. "SECOND APPEARING" IS CONTINUANCE IN CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.—
After referring to Jesus' "mighty, crowning, unparalleled, and triumphant exit from the flesh," [81] Mrs. Eddy comes to the "Leaven of Truth." Speaking of Jesus' parable of the "leaven" in the "meal," which leavens the "whole," Mrs. Eddy categorically states that the "spiritual leaven signifies Science of Christ [Christian Science] and its spiritual interpretation." [82] Then she asks, "Did not this parable point a moral with a prophecy, foretelling the second appearing" of Christ, as "Truth, hidden in sacred secrecy from the visible world" [83] Then follow the words: "Ages pass, but this leaven of Truth is ever at work. It must destroy the entire mass of error, and so be eternally glorified in man's spiritual freedom." [84]
More than that, at the "ascension" the perceptible Christ "disappeared, while the spiritual self, or Christ, continues to exist in the eternal order of the divine [Christian] Science," [85] with its special functions. While not expressly stated, the implication is surely there that the "second appearing" is in the continuation of Christian Science.
6. "EMANATIONS" OF "IMMORTAL WISDOM."—
The characteristic neo-Platonic and Gnostic term "emanation" [86] is likewise employed. For example:
"The spiritual creation was the outgrowth, the emanation, of His infinite self-containment and immortal wisdom." [87]
"The spiritual man's consciousness and individuality are reflections of God. They are the emanations of Him who is Life, Truth, and Love." [88]
The term is surely suspect, but it is employed. The implications are there.
82 Ibid., pp. 117, 118.
83 Ibid., p. 118. (Italics supplied.)
84 Ibid.
85 Ibid., p. 334.
86 Emanation was the basis of the religions of India, wherein the cause of all things was found in a universal World-Soul, with all out flowing from this mysterious source of all life, not from the conscious will of God. The religion of the Parsees was likewise based on emanation. In the West it was found in Egypt, with traces in the writings of Plato and Philo. It was a prominent feature of the Neo-Platonic School, and later in Gnosticism. It was similarly found in the philosophy of the Arabs, which was largely an admixture of Aristotelian and Neo-Platonic views.
87 Ibid., 519.
88 Ibid., p. 336.
7. MAN NOT MADE OF "DUST" NOR SUBJECT TO "DEATH." —
And now we come to the crux of the whole question of creation—that of the origin, nature, and destiny of man. In harmony with previous denials of any material creation, of the reality of sin and the unreality of death, Mrs. Eddy boldly asserts five things:
1. "Man originated not from dust, materially, but from Spirit, spiritually." [89]
2. "Body is not first and Soul last." [90]
3. "Immortal spiritual man alone represents the truth of creation." [91]
4. "God, or good, never made man capable of sin." [92]
5. "Soul is the divine Principle of man and never sins,—hence the immortality of the Soul." [93]
Then, as to man's deathlessness, she alleges: "Death is but a mortal illusion. . . . Matter and death are mortal illusions." [94]
That is the gist of Mary Baker Eddy's contention concerning man, in contradistinction to the historic Biblical understanding.
8. No PERSONAL DEVIL OR ACTUAL ANGELS.—
Related thereto are two supplemental points. First, there was and is no personal devil. He is deftly disposed of as merely "another illusive personification, named Satan." [95] Omit the "d" from devils and you have "evils"—"wrong traits," [96] said Mrs. Eddy. And the second point pertains to the angels who, according to Genesis 3:24, drove man from the Garden of Eden: "Angels are pure thoughts from God, winged with Truth and Love." [97] Thus the record of Eden and the Fall undergo a complete alteration.
89 Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 57. (Italics supplied.)
90 Eddy, Science and Health, p. 207.
91 Ibid., p. 263.
92 Ibid., p. 480.
93 Ibid., p. 481. (Italics supplied.)
94 Ibid., p. 289.
95 Ibid., p. 187.
96 Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 191.
97 Eddy, Science and Health, p. 298.
98 Ibid p. 291.
99 Ibid, pp. 476. 478.
100 Ibid., pp. 291, 296.
101 Ibid., P. 593.
9. No FINAL JUDGMENT OR RESURRECTION.—
And still further, she claims, "No final judgment awaits mortals," [98] for there are no mortals " and there is no resurrection. [100] Resurrection is declared to be "Spiritualization of thought; a new and higher idea of immortality, or spiritual existence." [101] And as to Lazarus: "Jesus restored Lazarus by understanding that Lazarus had never died, not by an admission that his body had died and then lived again." [102]
Now let us pursue Mrs. Eddy's ideas concerning man's nature further.
10. MAN SAID TO BE "COEXISTENT," "COETERNAL," "INDESTRUCTIBLE."—
Still more is involved in man's alleged "immortality." He is not only declared to be "God's image or idea," and "the infinite expression of infinite Mind," but—
"Immortal man is coexistent and coeternal with that Mind [God]." [103]
"Man is indestructible and eternal." [104]
"Man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death." [105]
"Any material evidence of death is false, for it contradicts the spiritual facts of being." [106]
It might be added that the repeated declarations of man's oneness with God and his eternal coexistence with God surely lead to the conclusion that, according to Christian Science, man is embraced within God. "In divine Science, God and the real man are inseparable as divine Principle and idea"—"God is the Principle of man, and man is the idea of God." [107]
The twin lies of Eden—the immortality of soul and the godship of man—are thus iterated and reiterated in the system. Such is the constant dual emphasis of the writings of Mary Baker Eddy's Christian Science.
102 Ibid., p. 75.
103 Ibid., p. 336. (Italics supplied. Cf. "Glossary," p. 591.)
104 Ibid., p. 402. Italics supplied.
105 Ibid., p. 475. Italics supplied.
106 Ibid., p. 584. Italics supplied.
107 Ibid., p. 476.
108 Ibid., p. 266. (Italics supplied.)
11. MAN'S ETERNAL PRE-EXISTENCE STRESSED.—
Let us follow through Mrs. Eddy's further testimony on man, his eternal coexistence with God and the universe, seven times declared in Science and Health and nine times in her remaining writings, according to the respective concordances. This point is tremendously significant. Here is another explicit citation: "Man is deathless, spiritual. . . . He coexists with God and the universe." [108] This insistence on eternal coexistence with God, as God's image, appears again and again. Here are further examples:
"Man is the eternal idea of his divine Principle, or Father. . . . He is spiritual and eternal.... Man is the image and likeness of God, coexistent and coeternal with Him.” [109]
"Man coexists with and reflects Soul, for man is God's image." [110]
"Immortal man, spiritual, and eternal, is found to be the real man." [111]
"Because man is the reflection of his Maker, he is not subject to birth, growth, maturity, decay." [112]
Words could not be plainer. But that is not all. Eternal pre-existence is affirmed. Note it:
"Let us remember that harmonious and immortal man has existed forever." [113]
"The evidence that God and man coexist is fully sustained by spiritual sense. Man is, and forever has been, God's reflection." [114]
That is unequivocal—eternal in both past and future, like God!
Once more:
"If God is upright and eternal, man as His likeness is erect in goodness and perpetual in Life, Truth, and Love. If the great cause is perfect, its effect is perfect also. ... The spiritual man is that perfect and unfallen likeness, co-existent and co-eternal with God." [115]
That would surely seem to mean that man, like God, had no beginning and will have no end. He is placed in the same category with God. Thus the second of the twin lies of Eden is here reaffirmed.
109 Eddy, No and Ter, p. 25. (Italics supplied.)
110 Eddy, Science and Health, p. 120.
111 Ibid., p. 190. (Italics supplied.)
112 Ibid., p. 305.
113 Ibid., p. 392. (Italics supplied.
114 Ibid., p. 471. (Italics supplied.
115 Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 79. (Italics supplied.)
12. COMMON DENOMINATOR OF MOST DEVIATION GROUPS. —
Nearly every deviation group holds the dual common denominator of the innate divinity of man and the Innate Immortality of the soul. Most of these groups have either a spiritualistic or occult background, or active element—or both. But whether Western or Eastern, the intertwining and the common element of the metaphysical constitute imposing witness to the far-flung spread and worldwide ramifications of the modern espousal of the twin lies of Eden, with either avowed or unwitting Eastern accent. It is this development that lays the groundwork for that great last deception soon to sweep over the world, prepared for by the holding of these basic errors of the centuries, now in subtle and varied modern forms.
Thus in Christian Science have reappeared the twin errors first proclaimed by the great deceiver in Eden—the god-ship of man and the immortality of the soul. Indeed, they undergird the whole structure of the movement, being repeatedly set forth as fundamental in its basic treatises. That is why Christian Science must be prominently included in this recital.
In order to have a comprehensive picture of Immortal-Soulism's present-day ramifications and involvements, it is likewise necessary to note Mormonism's similarities to the other groups we have surveyed, because of their contention concerning the eternal pre-existence of all souls, spirits, or intelligences. It turns out to be another of Spiritualism's fellow travellers. Latter-day Saints leader James E. Talmage, at the time one of the "Council of Twelve Apostles," put it succinctly: "Man in his mortal state is the union of a pre-existent spirit with a body composed of earthly elements." [116] Some such view, it will be remembered, was held by Origen and his Restorationist School of thought, beginning in the third century A.D. So it is not a new concept. But it is a basic Mormon principle.
116 James E. Talmage, The Articles of Faith (1962 ed.), p. 475. (Italics supplied.) See also D. M. McAllister, Life's Greatest Questions, pp. 1-13; John Morgan, The Plan of Salvation, pp. 3-6.
1. AUTHORITATIVE WRITINGS TEACH ETERNAL PRE-EXISTENCE.—
Mormonism holds, moreover, that the number of these pre-existent spirits is predetermined and fixed. And when the sum total of all spirits appointed to take fleshly form has been
FALLACIES OF FELLOW TRAVELERS 1193
reached, "then, and not until then, shall the end come" [117]—that is, the end of the course of this present world. Mormonism's authoritative The Pearl of Great Price, which they regard as inspired, along with the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants, expressly states that spirits "have no binning; they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are gnolaum, or eternal." Mention is likewise made of "intelligences" that were "organized before the world was." [118] And there are paralleling declarations in The Doctrine and Covenants. Here is an excerpt:
"Ye were also in the beginning with the Father. Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be." [119]
So pre-existence is unquestionably and repeatedly taught in Mormonism's most authoritative writings. [120]
117 Talmage, op. cit., p. 194. See also Braden, These Also Believe, p. 442.
118 Joseph Fielding Smith, The Pearl of Great Price (1952 ed.), Abraham 3:18, 22, p. 37.
119 The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1952 ed.), sec. 93:23, 29, pp. 159, 160.
120 It is similarly asserted in the 1960 Latter-day Saints Reference Encyclopedia, written and compiled by Melvin R. Brooks:
"Before coming to this earth to take upon themselves mortal bodies, our spirits existed in a spiritual world Et and prepared for their development and progress. . .
"Before this earth was created, we dwelled with God. He is the Father of our spirits. We are his begotten sons and daughters in the spirit." (Page 391.)
121 Le Grand Richards, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder (1961 rev. ed.), p. 283. "235,000 copies sold."
122 Ibid., title page.
2. CLAIM THAT ALL SPIRITS PRE-EXISTED BEFORE LIVING ON EARTH.—
Contemporary Mormon leaders likewise teach that "the intelligences of men"—their "spirits" or "souls"—existed as spirits before the creation of the world; that they are "without beginning" and "can have no end." [121] They constantly affirm a "pre-existent life." And after their mortal sojourn here, they contend, they return at death to the "world of spirits." So states Le Grand Richards, "Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," who was "Ordained One of the Twelve Apostles, April 10, 1952.” [122] Note his opening declaration in the section "Man in the Spirit World," in chapter 20 ("Whence Cometh Man?") of his A Marvelous Work and a Wonder: "All men lived with God and his Son, Jesus Christ, in the spirit world before they came here upon the earth." [123]
This concept has even been enshrined in lyric form in their famous hymn "0 My Father." While written by Eliza R. Snow, it is based upon the last words of Joseph Smith as he was dying in a Carthage, Illinois, jail, after being shot during a mob attack in 1844. In this hymn Mormons sing about regaining their former estate and again beholding God's face, where their spirits once resided, with recollection of "former friends" in their "first primeval childhood." We have space but for three lines:
"When shall I regain Thy presence, and again behold Thy Face?
In Thy holy habitation, did my spirit once reside;
In my first primeval childhood, was I nurtured near Thy side." [124]
Building upon the declaration of Joseph Smith in 1833, Bishop Richards writes: "Since the intelligences of men are, therefore, without beginning, they also have no end." [125]
Eternally pre-existent, they will never cease to be—according to Mormonism. That is pressing immortality to the nth degree.
3. ALL SPIRITS EXISTED BEFORE CREATION OF WORLD.—
Using the terms "intelligences," "souls," and "spirits" interchangeably, Richards repeats for emphasis:
"The intelligences or spirits of men existed with God, before the world was created." [126]
"The spirits of all men were in the beginning with God." [127]
That is unequivocal. This pre-existent life he calls the "first estate," in contrast with the present, or so-called "second estate." On the other hand, Satan and a "third of the hosts of heaven" who followed him in rebellion, and were cast down to earth, were "deprived of the privilege of taking upon themselves bodies, remaining bodies of spirit only." [128]
123 Ibid., p. 282.
124 Ibid.
125 Ibid., p. 283.
126 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
127 Ibid., p. 284. (Italics supplied.)
127 Ibid., p. 285.
4. VEIL OF FORGETFULNESS TO BE LIFTED.—
This spirit pre-existence is set forth as parallel to Jesus' being the "Creator of this world before he was born in the flesh." [129] Richards also affirms that we have only "vague recollection of our pre-existent life," as we now "see through a glass darkly," and here know but "in part." [130] Then he adds:
"But ultimately the veil of darkness, or forgetfulness, that deprives us of the recollection of our existence in the spirit world before this world was made and of the acquaintances we had there, will be lifted." [131]
But while Satan and his fallen angels did not take "bodies of flesh," they were "not deprived of the knowledge they had while in the spirit world." [132] That gives them a distinct advantage.
5. AT DEATH ALL ALLEGEDLY RETURN TO "WORLD OF SPIRITS."—
The logical conclusion of such a position is clearly stated: that "Death Marks Man's Return to the World of Spirits," [133] for "our spirits leave our bodies in death." [134] Then comes Richards' comment (based on Ecclesiastes 12:7):
"Thus the spirit shall return to God, which it could not do if it had never been with him, just as the body shall return to the earth, which it could not do if it had not been taken therefrom." [135]
Such is his novel explanation of "Whence Cometh Man?" which, Richards avers, Mormonism alone, with its special insights, is prepared to make. [136] This is, however, only Immortal-Soulism in an extended form. It is nonetheless a constituent part of the world-encircling Innate Immortality dogma that, as we have seen, undergirds so much of both Eastern and Western thought on the soul, and is the essence of Spiritualism.
129 Ibid., p. 291. (Italics supplied.)
130 Ibid.
131 Ibid., p. 292.
132 Ibid., p. 293.
133 Ibid., p. 300.
134 Ibid.
135 Ibid.
136 Ibid., p. 301.
6. CLAIM THAT ALL LIVED AS SPIRITS IN GOD'S PRESENCE. —
Another standard current work is Joseph Fielding Smith's Doctrines of Salvation. Smith is reputedly one of Mormonism's leading scholars. His chapter four which is titled "Our First and Second Estates," puts it this way:
"WE LIVED AS SPIRIT BEINGS. We lived in the presence of God in the spirit before we came here. We desired to be like him, we saw him, we were in his presence. There is not a soul who has not seen both the Father and the Son, and in the spirit world we were in their presence; but it became necessary for us to gain experiences which could not be obtained in that world of spirits, and so we were accorded the privilege of coming down here upon this earth." [137]
That is Mormonism's unchanged contention in both their early and current writings.
7. DECLARED SPIRIT SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD.—
But there is more, according to "Prophet Joseph Smith" in 1832. "All Mankind are Begotten Sons and Daughters Unto God," [138] is the bold subhead in Richards' chapter. And he adds: "Being literally his sons and daughters, we are endowed with the possibilities of becoming like him." He is the "Father of spirits," and we are His "offspring." [140] We are His "spirit children." [141] Such is the second of the familiar historic contentions—the actual or potential godship of man, harking back to Satan's false declaration, first made to mankind in Eden, "Ye shall be as gods" (Gen. 3:5).
8. UNCHANGED EMPHASIS IN LATEST PUBLICATION.—
One of the latest Mormon publications—a sixty-two-page compendium, Mormonism (1962), by Hugh B. Brown, high church authority—tersely reaffirms the historic position:
"Our earth life is but one stage of a continuing and eternal journey. The birth of the mortal body does not mark man's beginning nor will physical death mark the end of his progress." [142]
137 Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation (compiled by Bruce R. McConkie), vol. 1, p. 56. (Italics supplied.) Cf. pp. 58-75.
138 Richards, op. cit., p. 297. (See also Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 76:22-24.)
139 Ibid., p. 298.
140 Ibid., pp. 298, 299.
141 Ibid., p. 301.
142 Hugh B. Brown, Mormonism, p. 37.
Brown's final summary of Mormon essentials places emphasis on the "pre-mortal existence of the spirit," and the "eternal nature of man—immortality." And inseparably coupled therewith is the "god-like status" of man.'" These are Mormonism's undeviating fundamentals.
Such are the far-flung ramifications of the Mormon doctrine of the immortality of all souls: (1) eternally pre-existent as spirits, (2) then living an embodied earthly life here in the flesh, and (3) at death the spirit returning to God forever. With such declared positions, Mormonism must take its inescapable place with Christian Science and other Western forms of Immortal-Soulism that match and blend with the essential postulates of the Eastern occult, and the modern revival in the West of worldwide Spiritualism in its sundry forms. These involve the unvarying premises of the Innate Immortality of the soul and the essential godship of man. It is clearly a fellow traveller of Spiritualism.
143 Ibid., pp. 61, 62.
Isaiah's intriguing expression "replenished from the east" (Isa. 2:6), with its related "soothsayers" involvement, assumes new significance in the light of predicted developments to come during the latter period of Spiritualism's modern revival.
Among the climactic "last times" developments in coming events, as foretold in the New Testament, will be the appearance of deceptive forces from the "east," according to Revelation 16:12. This is in immediate connection with the sinister emergence of the "unclean spirits" of verse 13—these coming from three all-embracing categories: (1) a resurgent pagan ism, (2) a world-influencing Papacy, and (3) the growing apostasy in Protestantism. According to the inspired outline of Bible prophecy, the "east" is destined to play a definite part in Spiritualism's unprecedented eruption and final deceptions.
1. COMING IMPERSONATION OF SECOND ADVENT.—One of the most daring, grandiose, and blasphemous aspects of Spiritualism's last-day schemes will evidently be an imposing attempt to impersonate the second coming of Christ in simulated grandeur. With that in mind, let us turn briefly to India and the East. Jesus has long been set forth, and personated, as one of the great Avatars [1] of India—an incarnation, embodiment, epiphany, or exaltation—repeatedly manifesting himself, allegedly, among the masters of the East.
-1 "Avatar" is the Hindu term for an alleged divine incarnation or manifestation of a deity visiting earth for some beneficent or retributive purpose. Thus Vishnu has supposedly manifested himself through nine great Avatars. Buddha it is claimed, was one of these Avatars, and Jesus" another. The Hindus allege that, when the tenth and last Avatar comes, he will destroy the earth.
In 1894 BAIRD T. SPALDING [2] an American research engineer, began a series of journeys, he states, seeking to trace the "Great Masters of Himalayas"—the Avatars of India and Tibet. This quest he has left on record in his five-volume Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East (1937). [3] In the three-and-a-half-year period of his reported travels he recorded five alleged messages that a materialized "Jesus" gave as one of the mystic Avatars, designed to impress the American traveller. [4] These Avatars assertedly appear and disappear at will, and travel invisibly and instantaneously, [5] and this included "Jesus." [6] His alleged words are recorded. But their subtlety and speciousness become increasingly apparent under scrutiny.
2. TWIN LIES OF EDEN CONSTANTLY REPEATED.—All through Spalding's volumes the devil's twin lies of Eden are affirmed in varying forms—(1) "Ye shall be as gods," and (2) "Ye shall never die" (Gen. 3:4, 5). These paralleling and related concepts are stressed again and again.' There can be no mis take as to the intent of these multiple assertions. From previous discussions it is obvious that the spirit being calling himself "Jesus," and whom the Masters of the East are fellowshipping with and following, is a fraud and a deceiver.
2 BAIRD T. SPALDING (1858-1953), research engineer and metaphysician, was born in India, as was his father. He lived for a time in Cocanda. according to his own statement, and attended Calcutta University. (Life and leaching, vol. 5. pp. 30, 103, 104.) Widely travelled and prominent in the metaphysical field, he wrote books that are still the best sellers of DeVorss and Co., the publishers, their popularity growing and not diminishing by 1962—after thirty-eight years. The author of a study course based on Spalding's writings and tape recordings of his lectures states that travellers from the Far East have tola DeVorss, manager of his later lecture tours and his traveling companion, of being in India while Spalding was there, and of having seen him there. (Personal letter to author from author of Lessons, May 7, 1962.)
3 Baird T. Spalding, The Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East, vol. 1, Foreword, p. 7. For the original sources see the standard fifty-volume Sacred Books of the East (1899-1910), translated by twenty-one scholars, and edited by Frederick Max Muller. It was published by Oxford, Clarendon Press.
4 Ibid., (1) vol. 3, pp. 44, 45; (2) 52-56; (3) 140-146; (4) 148-157; (5) 181-186. See also vol. 2, pp. 160-164.
5 Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 73,74, 76.
6 Ibid., vol. 2, p. 19.
7 Ibid., vol. 1, p. 31 (“the divinity within man"); p. 32 ("within me there is the form Divine"); p. 122 (you of yourself are always Christ); vol. 3, p. 52 ("that he is god: that he is merged wholly or amalgamated with god"); vol. 3, pp. 32, 36, 53-55, etc.: p. 140 ("together you and I [Christ] are god"); vol. 5, p. 52 ("ye are gods, and sons of the Most High"); p. 92 (the "Divinity within"); p. 160 ("God is really you, the entire being of you";, etc.
The Eastern Vedantic (Hindu) philosophy, with its postulate of the transmigration of souls and its pantheism, holds that the spirits of the dead—including the Avatars, born hundreds of years prior—pervade all things. Numerous references put forth the contention that "ye are gods." And similarly, the thesis of Innate Immortality is stressed by a succession of unequivocal declarations. [8] For example, Spalding speaks of "the Central Spark which is God in us all," [9] and how all contain "the one life, the life of God." [10]
3. PERTINENCE OF THIS SURVEY.—This survey of Spalding's portrayals is germane to our quest both because of its Eastern aspect and involvements and because of its undeniable relevance to the basic positions of Spiritualism. As just noted, both emphasize the alleged "deity" of man and the Innate Immortality of the soul. Both teach the ability of the subject to appear and disappear, to materialize and dissolve from view, the latter with special emphasis on the Avatars, and with "Jesus" placed in that category. Both discard the supreme and final authority of the Bible, with Spalding commending the Buddhist Sacred Books as superior for the East.
Again, both extol Christ—the Spiritualists regarding Him as an outstanding "Medium," Spalding setting Him forth as a great Avatar, who has periodically appeared in India and expatiated on various subjects. Spalding, however, goes further, and boldly asserts the postulate of pre-existence and reincarnation. And the Avatar contention prepares the way for an expectation of Christ's spectacular return, but in a false and deceptive form, thus beguiling and misleading all who accept his artifice. Here are a few specifics. Spalding says:
"The ten commandments are not the objectified law of God at all." [11]
8 Ibid., vol. 1, p. 62 ("we will never experience death, or any change called death"); pp. 30-32, 90, 96, 123 ("The Tree of Life is located in the very depth of our own soul"): vol. 5, p. 158 ("all humanity is eternal and immortal").
9 Ibid., vol. 1, p. 127. 10
-10 Ibid., p. 135.
-11 Ibid., vol. 4, p. 95.
The Trinity is depreciated, [12] as well as the virgin birth of Christ.
The Buddhist scriptures and the Bible are both considered as guides, but with a disparagement of the Bible not levelled against the other. The authority of the Bible is disposed of by declaring, "There are many mistakes in translation as well as many false prophecies." [13] Further: "Our [Western] Bible is of greater importance to the Western World for we do not understand the Bhagavad Gita," which is "best" for "the East." [14]
And this telltale statement:
"The translation of the Bible is in error where it says that man was created in the image of God. The 'in' should be left out so that it reads, 'Man IS the image of God.' " [15] The deity of man and his immortality are outspoken basic tenets.
4. PANTHEISM Is BOLDLY TAUGHT.—Moreover, Pantheism is boldly asserted. Note it: "You cannot make any differentiation between the individual soul and the Universal Soul, or the Over-Soul." [16] "He will know that God dwells within him, and not only within him, but in everything about him, every rock, every tree, every plant, every flower and every created thing; that God is in the very air he breathes, the water he drinks, the money he spends; that God is the substance of all things. When he breathes, he breathes God as much as he does air; when he partakes of food, he partakes of God as much as he does of food." [17]
"God is all life. I am inspired with life with every breath, and my lungs take in life with every breath, and it fills my blood stream with vitalizing life." [18] Spalding refers to God as "Universal Force," or the primal "Universal Energy," and says, "This Divine Principle has residence within and permeates everything." " It is "permanent, everlasting, all-encompassing." That "energy" is called "God." [20]
12 Ibid., p. 101. -17 Ibid., vol. 1, p. 140.
13 Ibid., vol. 3, p. 169. -18 Ibid., vol. 5. p. 178.
-14 Ibid., vol. 4, p. 104. -19 Ibid., p. 48.
-15 Ibid., p. 112. -20 Ibid., pp. 48-50.
-16 Ibid., p. 120.
"God is the principle by which we abide." [21] Further, the Avatar "merely lives close to Principle." [22]
"God is that Supreme Intelligent Power that permeates every form and every atom of the whole universe." [23]
5. REINCARNATION LIKEWISE OPENLY TAUGHT.—Reincarnation is likewise explicitly taught—that men " 'go out and return through birth into life, . . . then through death again and again, until the lesson is finally learned.' " [24] Again: " 'Reincarnation is but a guiding light on the blind trail of death. When this light leads, death may be overcome through round after round of earthly experiences.' " [25] Before continuing let us probe a bit into the real significance of reincarnation.
6. INDIA THE SPAWNING GROUND OF REINCARNATIONISM.— The doctrine of reincarnation is so vital in this survey of East ern occultism and its penetrations into Western thought that an understanding of its origins, involvements, and historical ramifications is essential. It presupposes the immortality of the soul, and goes back to remote antiquity. It teaches that souls migrate from one body to another until complete purification has been achieved. It is fundamental in accepted Hindu thought, being held both in Brahmanism and Buddhism.
Coupled with the Law of Karma, it teaches that each new birth is determined by the deeds of the previous life. It in volves belief that souls emanate from the Supreme Spirit, and are then born on earth as separate existences. The soul thus separated from the real source of its life is bound to return to it and become merged again into that divine entity with which it was originally one. But, having become contaminated by sin, it must strive to free itself from guilt and become fit for its heavenly career.
21 Ibid., p. 98. -23 Ibid., p. 54. -25 Ibid., p. 168.
-22 Ibid., p. 100. -24 Ibid., vol. 3, p. 167.
The doctrine of reincarnation and transmigration of souls was also found in Egypt as well as in Persia before the time of Zoroaster. But it was derived from Indian sources. In Greece the belief was confined to the philosophers, who like wise received it from Egypt, and thence from India. Pherecydes so held. But it was developed by Pythagoras and Plato, at which time it had a remedial function. And the Neoplatonists adopted it as a natural inheritance. In the Christian Era, Origen held to the pre-existence of the soul. It was accepted by some of the Gnostics and Manichaeans. It was also found in certain obscure sects in Europe during the Middle Ages. It likewise survives among various savage tribes in Africa. But India was its spawning ground. And, as here noted, it has been brought sharply to the fore in the West by Spiritualism and Theosophy. Such is the historical sweep of the doctrine. It is thus traceable back to the old original lie in Eden.
7. IMMORTALITY SENSED IN "SEVENTH HEAVEN."—When we reach the consciousness of the "Seventh Heaven," it is held, we " 'take on immortality; where we know that man is immortal, sinless, deathless, unchangeable. eternal, just as God is and as God sees man.' " [26] That, says Spalding, is "the way to Eternal Life." [27] " 'To such a race, death does not exist nor can it again exist.' " [28]
8. JESUS DEROGATED TO "AVATAR" STATUS.—Spalding un abashedly places Buddha and Jesus together as Avatars, or Masters of the East, with Jesus exalted slightly. Jesus is declared to be in no different "category than ourselves"— 'He is no different. He never claimed to be." [29] And Buddha is alleged to be "the Way to Enlightenment," while "Christ IS Enlightenment." [30] Spalding denies that Christ suffered physically on the cross. [31] And he claims that "the teachings of Osiris, Buddha, and Jesus" have "many similarities." [32] He asserts, "Christ is God flowing through the individual." [33] Spalding constantly says we are to apply to ourselves the term "I AM," descriptive of Deity, and commonly employed by Jesus in reference to Himself—I AM the way, the truth, the life, the door, the shepherd.
26 Ibid., vol. 1, p. 155. 30 Ibid., vol. 1, Foreword; vol. 5, p. 126.
27 Ibid., p. 157. 31 Ibid., vol. 5, p. 128.
28 Ibid., vol. 3, p. 167. 32 Ibid., vol. 2, p. 12.
29 Ibid., vol. 5, p. 119. 33 Ibid., vol. 5, p. 153.
This much must be said: The vacuous inanities allegedly uttered by Spalding's "Christ" are puerile, degrading, and misleading. They are as darkness in contrast with dazzling light when placed alongside our Saviour's words enshrined in the New Testament. Such is the essence of Spalding's investigation of the concepts and contemplations of the East with reference to immortality, the deity of man, the pantheistic notion of God, the claim of reincarnation, and the derogation of Christ—and expectation of a future appearance. It is the Eastern counterpart of Western Spiritualism. So, while East is East and West is West, they clasp hands across the undeniable basic tenets of Spiritualism.
9. BIBLICAL PORTRAYAL OF INIMITABLE ADVENT.—Let none be deceived. The New Testament is explicit and detailed.
The second advent of Christ will be with transcendent power and great glory (Matt. 24:30, 31; 25:31; Mark 8:38; Luke 21:27).
Christ will descend visibly from the clouds of heaven, just as He ascended into heaven (Matt. 26:64; Mark 14:62; Acts 1:11; 1 Thess. 1:10; 4:16; 2 Thess. 1:7; Rev. 1:7). He will come in flaming fire for the destruction of sinners (2 Thess. 1:8, 9) and the redemption of His saints (Luke 21:28; Rom. 8:23). He will come with all His holy angels (Matt. 16:27; Mark 13:26, 27). These accompaniments cannot be simulated or duplicated. But a false appearance will be attempted in some form.
The Master Himself said that false christs would come (Matt. 24:5, 24; Mark 13:6; Luke 21:8), showing great signs and wonders, with the intent of deceiving, "if it were possible," the "very elect" (Matt. 24:24). They will say "Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there" (Mark 13:21); but we are to "believe it not." Some will say He has come in the desert (Matt. 24:26). But the true second coming of Christ will be seen "as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west"; "so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (v. 27). The Second Advent will raise the righteous dead and gather the living saints from all over the earth (Matt. 24:31; 1 Cor. 15:51, 52; Mark 13:27; 1 Thess. 4:15-17). These specifications cannot be duplicated or simulated. Let no one be deceived.
Tangible evidence of the penetrations and footholds of East ern occult concepts into Western thought is further illustrated by the Book of Destiny publications, issuing from Tarrytown, New York. Two of these, by GORDON COLLIER [34]—Will You Be Alive in 1975? with a circulation of eighty thousand copies, and Make Your Own World (three volumes), with a further distribution of fifty thousand—are representative. Their significance will become progressively apparent.
1. SPIRITISTIC ORIGIN OF PLAUSIBLE FANTASIES.—Note Collier's first book. Along with numerous helpful features, such as good health counsels and success pointers, this first volume is surcharged with occult teachings and alleged revelations from the astral world. In chapter two Worth Smith says, "Immortality, the dream of man for ages will be a reality, here and now," and every soul is to become a "golden shrine for the Eternal Verities." [35] It sounds impressive. "Reincarnation" is likewise emphasized repeatedly. It is presented as "a way to reach God which man had now lost," [36] with assurance of "daily direction" from "above." Such are some of its characteristic features.
34 GORDON COLLIER (1915- ), educated at Kollins and at Florida Southern colleges, has for thirty years studied metaphysics, Yoga, Spiritualism, and the Occult. He is manager of the Robert Collier Publications. As noted, his Make Your Own World, and Will You Be Alive in 1975? (Where Will You Be in the Coming Age?) have had extensive circulations for such
35 Worth Smith, in Gordon Collier, Will You Be Alive in 1975? p. 101.
-36 James "A" List, ibid., p. 108.
The "proportions and symbols" of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh are dwelt upon at length. The designers were ancient wise men who had a dependable "knowledge of the past" and "clear vision of the future." [37] The Great Pyramid is alleged to indicate the "Divine Plan of the Ages," and to "augur the exact date of the birth of Jesus Christ." [38] Then Collier sets forth phantasms such as the tale of "Atlantis," the submerged "lost continent," with its "sunken cities" and their alleged "super men" (the "Atlanteans"), assertedly revealed through occult revelations. [39] This intriguing "continent" is supposed to have become submerged at the time of the Flood, as graphically told by Spiritualist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in his fictional The Maracot Deep (1929), and by Cyrus Headley and others." [40]
2. TIED IN WITH THE OCCULT AND THE EAST.—This story of Atlantis is amplified in the fanciful Dweller on Two Planets (1952), a "metaphysical masterpiece," given through "automatic writing" to F. S. Oliver, from the "spirit of Phylos." [41] Following this come allusions to the "Masters of the Far East," [42] "New Thought and Metaphysics," [43] and the recitals of Baird T. Spalding (just surveyed). Then there is a long list—New Thought, Unity School of Christianity, Divine Science, Religious Science, Metaphysics, Psychiana, [44] and Rosicrucianism." [45]
37 Browne Landone, ibid., p. 19.
38 Worth Smith, ibid., p. 92.
39 Collier, ibid., pp. 126-135.
40 Ibid., pp. 130-133.
It is well to note that the legend of Atlantis is first referred to by none other than Plato, appearing both in his Timaeus and Critias, in the fifth century B.C. The tale concerned the world of remote antiquity and a vast island-continent to the West and a fabulous race who were its masters. It is a mythical story of primeval conflict, back when the earth was allegedly partitioned by the gods: Atlantis was supposedly inhabited by a royal race and a powerful dynasty of kings, who were the offspring of Poseidon (Neptune), a Greek god of the sea, and Cleito, a mortal woman of the original earthborn inhabitants, who bore him five pairs of twins. These multiplied until they filled the island. But at length the divine element in their nature was supposedly overpowered by the continual admixture of the human. So they sank into depravity, for which they were punished by Jove, god of the sky. Atlantis was then submerged, following great earthquakes and floods—swallowed up beneath the ocean. That is the gist of the legend.
There have been ingenious variations by later writers as to this "golden age," and the mythical "Islands of the Blest" and the supposed conflict of the Atlanteans with the peoples of the old world. In modern times the story appeared in the Appendix of Christoph Cellarius (d. 1707), in his works on ancient geography '(De Nova Orbe), and in Alexander von Humbolt's critical history of the Geography of the New World (1834). (See Wm. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1834), vol. 1, pp. 314-316.)
41 Ibid., pp. 135-138.
42 Ibid., p. 139.
43 Ibid., p. 153.
44 Psychiana was founded in 1929 by Frank B. Robinson. It has been called a "mail order" faith, its members being recruited entirely by press and radio advertising. It is a form of New Thought, and was sparked by the catch phrase, "I talked with God." Within fifteen years it claimed a million adherents.
45 Rosicrucianism is an ancient mystic philosophy stressing a "sixth sense,” which its adherents hold enables them to understand the secrets of nature and to investigate the realm of the superphysical where the dead dwell. They make much use of astrology, and believe in reincarnation. They stress the metaphysical mysteries of the ancient Egyptians, emphasize the Universal Soul, and hold that the mind can travel away from the body ana witness events in far-off places.
And along with these is the Psycho-Metaphysical Research Society, and the Aquarius School of the Masters, with branches of the various groups constantly being opened in the cities of America. The old and the new are thus being blended, and East and West commingled. And be it remembered that the occult forms the undergirding for it all.
3. PERSONATIONS THROUGH REINCARNATED "AGASHA" PRIEST.—Then comes a play-up of the "world-famous medium" Richard Zenor, with his trances and messages from the "great spirit Agasha," [46] claiming to disclose the metaphysical secrets of the universe. One of the messages allegedly comes from Ravine Aum Tate, of Egypt, in the long ago, with whom Zenor had, according to the medium, been associated during one of his incarnations, as "one of the high priests of Agasha."
Ravine Aum Tate is also declared to have formerly been "one of the builders of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh." He prophesied that Collier "would write books to ... help spread the wisdom of Agasha," and the Agashan philosophy. [47] According to Collier, who attended Zenor's meetings in Agasha Temple in Los Angeles, not only was the spirit of Mary Baker Eddy heard but that of "Jesus," who allegedly spoke through Zenor. [48] Agasha constantly stresses "reincarnation," with mention of "materialization," seance appearances from the "spirit world," with "departed relatives materialized," trances under a "control," [49] and other "psychic phenomena."
Dilating on the "Psychic Age," Zenor claims that “flying discs," or "flying saucers," have "astral" significance, according to the Master Agasha, and are "created by those who dwell in the etheric world." [50] Along with this is stressed "God-consciousness," and the forces of "occult science," with "souls" once living on "Atlantis" being "reborn [through reincarnation] into this country." [5l] Then, according to James Crenshaw, tied in with all this are strangely familiar contentions that we are now living in time's "Latter Days," when "great changes" are to be "wrought," [52] with nature "on a rampage." This "Latter Days" point is, of course, patterned after the clear Biblical teaching, which is widely held among Evangelical Christians. So error and truth are commingled. And all this is according to "Agasha, the Master Teacher." [53]
46 Ibid., p. 157. -49 Ibid., pp. 163-168.
47 Ibid., p. 158. -50 Ibid., pp. 174, 180, 187, 193.
48 Ibid., p. 159.
4. NEW DISCOVERIES TO AUGMENT CHRIST'S TEACHINGS.— Richard Zenor likewise predicts "strange things" to appear in the "heavens" and the "vast etheric worlds," along with "mysterious manifestations,"" and "millions of truth-seekers" "turning to the occult." Reference is again made to "Agasha, the Master Teacher," and Richard Zenor, and the prediction is repeated of the appearance of "unprecedented phenomena" in this new "Psychic Age." [55] The arresting claim is then put forth that "more authentic Biblical records will be found," which will furnish supplemental evidence as to "the original statements of the Master Jesus." "His [Jesus] own writings" will yet come to light, [56] he avers. And again there is stress of the "Psychic Age," wherein that special "sense" which "has been lying dormant for generations" will be "awakened" through occultism. It will "explain everything," and is des tined to come to the "attention of mankind." [57] Then again the claim is boldly made:
"Parchments will be found in Palestine that will clarify much that is in the Old and New Testaments, particularly in reference to Jesus. Writings by Jesus Himself will be found." [58] These are the "wonders of the future." The significance of these statements must not be missed—"archaeological" discoveries will be produced, allegedly giving the endorsement of Jesus Himself to these psychic claims, thus preparing the way for tremendous deceptions to follow, wherever such endorsements are accepted. Thus it is that the occult East is progressively penetrating and influencing the susceptible West.
51 Ibid., pp. 181-184. -55 Ibid.
52 Ibid., pp. 182-184, 192. -56 Ibid., p. 194.
53 Ibid., pp. 191, 193. -57 Ibid., pp. 202, 203.
54 Ibid., p. 191. -58 Ibid., p. 205.
This first Collier volume closes with more forecasts by the Master Agasha through Zenor. Allusions are made to the "return of the Atlanteans," "psychic force," the power of appearing and disappearing, "strange things"—and all in alleged "completion of the Cycle Seven," and the development of the "sixth sense." [59] There is further evidence in the other Collier three-volume treatise, which we will trace in the next chapter. But let us first advert to Collier's periodic reference to New Thought, and note its involvements. Here Eastern impulses are adapted to Western thought.
59 Ibid., pp. 218, 219.
60 PHINEAS PARKHURST QUIMBY (1802-1866), founder of the cult of metaphysical healing, in 1840 became interested in mesmerism, mental phenomena, and suggestion, which he used in treating his patients. He practiced mental and physical healing for a quarter of a century. In 1862 Mary Baker Patterson (later Mary Baker Eddy) went to Quimby for healing. This episode became the turning point in her life. Following this she too became a healer and teacher, organizing the Christian Science movement in 1875. Acrimonious dispute still continues as to how much Mrs. Eddy is indebted to Quimby for the ideas and techniques she incorporated into Christian Science. That she had access to his writings, and that he evidently supplied the theory, are seen from Horatio Dresser's, The Quimby Manuscripts (p. 388), and other writers. There is vast literature on the Question. And there is obviously a definite tie-in. (See Livingston Wright, Sibyl Wilbur F. W. Peabody, E. F. Dakin, Ernest Holmes, et cetera.)
5. NEW THOUGHT STRESSES "DIVINITY OF MAN."—New Thought holds that the-universe is spiritual, man is a spiritual being, and good is universal and everlasting. The group recognizes PHINEAS P. QUIMBY [60] (d. 1866) as their founder, and in
many ways New Thought is closely akin to Christian Science.
Its adherents teach the "Divinity of Man" and his "infinite possibilities" through the power of "creative thinking" and the voice of the "Indwelling Presence." The constitution of the International New Thought Alliance, adopted in 1916, states the purpose of the Alliance to be:
" 'To teach the infinitude of the Supreme One, the Divinity of Man and his Infinite possibilities through the creative power of constructive thinking and obedience to the voice of the Indwelling Presence, which is our source of Inspiration, Power, Health, and Prosperity.' " [61] The concept of being "as gods" is a constantly recurring thought in these kindred groups.
As stated, the New Thought movement sprang from the work of Phineas P. Quimby, who practiced mental and spiritual healing and allegedly "healed" Mary Baker Eddy. As Quimby created no organization, many splinter groups developed under such names as Divine Science, [62] Unity (noted later), Practical Christianity, Liveable Christianity, Home of truth, Church of the Higher Life, et cetera. In 1908 the name National New Thought Alliance was adopted, and in 1914 it became the International New Thought Alliance."" It is one of the milder adaptations of Eastern thought on Western soil.
61 Charles S. Braden, "New Thought Movement," An Encyclopedia of Religion (1945), edited by Vergilius Ferm, p. 533. (Italics supplied.)
62 Divine Science is a healing group started by Mrs. Malinda E. Cramer in 1885. Its periodical is Aspire to Better Living. Religious Science and Philosophy was founded in 1927 by Ernest Holmes, and is associated with New Thought.
63 See H. W. Dresser, History of the New Thought Movement (1919); also Braden, op. cit.
Few are aware of the amazing number and variety of modulations and developments of Theosophy and the Eastern occult that have infiltrated and established themselves in the West during the past century. These all, to greater or lesser degree, draw upon the basic principles of Theosophy—often stressing reincarnation, all holding the concept of Innate Immortality, and relying on the principle of self-salvation.
They comprise an amazing list, springing from the East and penetrating the West. The leading groups include Psychiana (founded by Robinson), Father Divine's Peace Mission, the I AM Movement (Ballard), and the Unity School (Fillmore)I They have much in common.
Then there is the bizarre array of the less-known Vedanta Society (founded in Vivekananda), the Self-Realization Fellowship (Yogananda), Rosicrucianism, the Church of Illumi nation (with man's soul part of the Cosmic Soul), the Liberal Catholic Church (Leadbeater), the Church of the Radiant Light (Schaefer), the Institute of Mentalphysics (Dingle), the Temple of Yahweh (Jeffers), the Church of Truth Universal (Bounier), the Brotherhood of the White Temple (Dqreal), the Brotherhood of Light, the Order of the Cross (Ferrier), and the Institute of Religious Science and School of Philosophy. Their names often indicate their special emphasis. But all are theosophic.
But these are not all. There is also the Mayan Temple group (with reincarnation and continuity), the Humanity Benefactor Foundation (Lawson), the Life Study Fellowship, the Altruist Church, the Mazdaznan Philosophy (Hanisch), the Metaphysical School of Health, the Fellowship of the Order of Christian Mystics (Curtis), the Modern Church (a syncretism of all religions with Spiritualism), the Fellowship Following of Buddha (Goddard), and the Maha Bhodi Society (following the Yoga path). [64] Each attracts a certain following, and they have similar concepts of the soul.
64 See F. E. Mayer, The Religious Bodies of America (1961 rev. ed.); Charles S. Braden, These Also Believe (1949); Frank S. Mead, Handbook of Denominations in the United States (1961 ed.); Vergilius Ferm, An Encyclopedia, of Religion: Ferm, Living Schools of Religion (1961); M. C. Poinsat, Encyclopedia of Occult Sciences (1939).
65 For comparison the following extracts from recent Indian masters concerning man, God, immortality, reincarnation, et cetera, reveal the Indian concept of the godship of man and the immortality of the soul:
Swami Vivekananda: “Chit, the soul, is the same as God” (In spired Talks, 1938, p. 116). “ You are God, and whatever else you may think is wrong” (p. 120). “The highest worship there is, is to worship man, for example, men like Krishna, Buddha, and Christ” (p. 150). “We can have no conception of God higher than man; so our God is man and man is God” (p. 79 ). “ The soul is the unity of all personalities, and because it is at rest, eternal, unchangeable; it is God, Atman [“ the life principle, the universal Ego whence all individual selves arise” ] (p. 60 ). “ Fearlessness is not possible as long as we have even God over us; we must be God” (p. 104).
Swami Ramakrishnananda : “ Studying man’s nature, we can see that he cannot but be immortal and eternal. . . . Hence the Rishis [Sages] of India have written that the soul is not transitory, that it does not disappear with the death of the body. . . . It is Sachchidananda, eternal, all knowing” (The Message of Eternal Wisdom , 1938, p. 63). “ As no action is possible without a body and a mind, the soul must have had a similar body and mind previous to the present embodied condition” (p. 102). “ We must have to take up bodies after bodies until we shall be able to realize our all-perfect nature” (p. 103). “ This eternal and infinite Soul goes by the name of God” (p. 106). “ Man lives in the world, while the soul lives in man or in any other living organism, whether animal, celestial or infernal. Man has birth and death, but the soul takes countless births and dies as many times” (p. 152). “ Our scriptures teach us that the greatest sin is to call a man a sinner” (p. 191). “ So life cannot be transformed into death, nor death into life. Therefore if man is living, he cannot die” (p. 194).
“ Christ realized the Kingdom of Heaven inside himself. If that Kingdom is inside you, God is inside yourself. The process taught both by Moses and Christ, therefore, was also the same as that taught by Sankara and others. You must go inside yourself to realize God. The same thing was preached later by Mohammed” (p. 12). “ Thus, after analysing the various religions of the world, we see that they all lead to the same goal. There are as many paths leading to God as there are individuals in the Universe. Every man has to select his own path” (p. 18). “ Buddha realized Nirvana inside himself. Christ has taught: ‘The Kingdom of God is within you.’ Mohamet saw God in the seventh Heaven, and so he must have seen Him inside himself” (p. 168).
Sri Ramakrishna: “A man’s rebirth is determined by what he has been thinking about fust before death.” (Sayings of Sri Ramakrishn a, 1943, p. 37.) “ An imperfect man, has to be born again and again until he becomes a Siddha” [one who has attained perfection] (p. 38).
It is a conglomerate array. But it indicates how susceptible the restless West is to the occult overtures of the East, [65] and how
widespread are its penetrations. With the accepted Innate Immortality postulate as basic and often the soul as part of the All-Soul, and the constant reincarnation affirmations, the ground is well laid for the last great deception.
There is one more angle. For a full-rounded picture, be fore going on to coming events let us advert briefly to primitive animism, which was unquestionably a form of ancient Spirit ism. It is essential to have this background that we may under stand the contemporary pagan aspect of Spiritualism, which is to play its part in future developments. Animism has held that all nature is consciously indwelt by soul or spirit. This crude concept was widespread among many ancient heathen peoples, but was rather more of a philosophy than a religion. These early pagan groups were deeply exercised over the difference between a living body and a dead one. They were concerned over what causes our waking, sleeping, trances, diseases, and death. They also wanted to know what those apparitions are that appear in dreams and visions.
The animists regarded "soul" as the vitalizing principle of the universe. The primitive pagan conceived of the ghost-soul as leaving one individual and entering into another person, or animal, or even an inanimate object. He also believed in the transmigration of the souls of the dead, which continue to exist in a separate state. [66] Animism was definitely a crude form of Spiritism, and still exists among certain pagan peoples today.
1. DEMONS UNDER MASTER SPIRIT—SATAN.—To the animist the world and its surrounding atmosphere is a vast battle ground for good and evil spirits, with all spirits ranged under either a supreme good god or an equally powerful evil entity seeking to frustrate the purpose of the good. This concept reached its highest development under the dualistic concept of Persia. It even appeared among certain Grecian and Roman writers. Demonism thus formed a definite part of ancient heathen religion and worship.
Such a concept of demonism has characterized the centuries—demons operating under their master spirit, Satan. There were believed to be multitudes of such evil spirits, capable of bringing good or ill to pass. They were usually tied in with the notion of the ghosts of the dead influencing the living, sometimes including the worship of ancestors, and at times even animal worship.
2. VARIANT FORMS WIDESPREAD OVER THE CENTURIES.— This concept was found in varying forms among the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. It was especially pronounced in pagan Africa, China, and India. [67] These demons either possessed, or obsessed, their victims. This in turn called for exorcism, which became a paralleling characteristic.
66 See E. B. Taylor, Primitive Cultures; George W. Gilmore, Animism. Also Frederick Kaigh, Montague Summers, and William Seabrook.
67 See also Sir James G. Frazer, The Golden Bough {one-volume ed., 1951).
The animist theory was also often tied in with the notion of familiar spirits likewise operating under the control of their master spirit, Satan. This was even found in varying forms among the later Celts and Teutons as well as among certain Slavonic peoples. Even in Moslem countries there were the Jinn, of similar concept.
3. MEDIEVAL SATANISM—COMPACTS WITH THE DEVIL.— Many are the records of actual medieval compacts with the .devil (a pact satanica), sometimes written in blood, by which a person gave away his soul to Satan in exchange for wisdom, power, wealth, or other gratification to be enjoyed for a specified time. Satanism still persisted in the Middle Ages, with malevolent fiends allegedly more powerful than the forces of good. It had its notorious "Black Mass" and its blasphemous "Black Credo," but it was actually a survival of early demon worship. It is said to have continued under cover, in pockets, up to and including modern times and in various lands. [68]
4. DEMON POSSESSION IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES.—As we have already seen, the demonology of Biblical times involved demon possession by denizens of the unseen world. They were evil entities, belonging to the kingdom of Satan, whose power it was the mission of Christ to destroy and thus to free its victims. The Gospels are replete with accounts of the release of such victims from Satan's power. [69] Such is the picture of this older yet persisting form of Spiritism. Spiritism in the raw was very real.
68 See Richard Bovet, Pandaemonium.
69 See Matt. 4:24; 8:16; 10:8; Mark 1:32, 34; 6:13; 16:17, 18; Luke 4:40, 41; 9:1; 13:32; Acts 19:12.
Black Africa's contemporary counterpart of the current occult manifestations of the West was graphically portrayed by investigator Robert Coughlan in a 1961 Life magazine article. It appeared under the title "Black' Magic: Vital Force in Africans. New Nations," with the subtitle reading, "Today's presidents and kings still pay homage to the ancestral rituals of witchcraft and sorcery." Africa's devotion to magic is, he says, entirely serious, profoundly affecting the masses. In fact, Africa is characterized by a "Christianised magic involving such embellishments as ecstatic trances, ritual chants and speaking-with-tongues." [70]
1. ANIMISM BASED ON IMMORTAL "INNER SELVES."—In black Africa—Ghana, the Belgian Congo, Bakuba, Buganda, the Ivory Coast, and former French Africa—magic is experiencing a marked resurgence. Its rootage is in animism, meaning "soul," and is described by Coughlan in this way:
"Animism, as the basic belief is often called from the Latin word anima meaning soul, Holds that all things alive or lifeless—a stone, a tree, an animal—have not merely a visible self but an inner, essential self that makes them what they are. These inner selves are conscious; they have feelings, and—within a logical range of relative strengths— they can take revenge if they are disturbed.”
"Believing in this universal inner reality, the African naturally takes human immortality for granted. After physical death, the human soul goes to heaven for a while but then returns to reside in or near the family hut until it is reincarnated in the same family group as a baby. In African society the new child does not 'take after' his late relative; he is that relative. While awaiting reincarnation, [71] souls expect to be honoured ceremonially and to be notified of matters affecting the welfare of the group. If treated with proper reverence they bring luck. If neglected or offended, they punish the living by causing misfortune." [72]
This is current pagan animistic reincarnation—very active and very powerful.
-70 Robert Coughlan, “ Black Magic: Vital Force in Africa’s New Nations,” Life magazine (© 1961, Time Inc. All rights reserved), April 21, 1961, pp. 118-132; reprinted in condensed form in Reader’s Digest, September, 1961, pp. 154-160.
-71 This concept of reincarnation comports with the European Spiritism.
-72 Coughlan, op. cit., p. 124. (Italics supplied.)
2. COMMUNICATION BETWEEN VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE.— Stating that the African believes that "the spirits of dead chiefs have a crucial role" in contemporary affairs, Coughlan explains:
"With such a busy and complex pantheon, the African faces a chronic problem in communications between the visible and invisible worlds. Even the chief, the interpreter between the tribe and the gods, often needs the help of specialists. These may include priests who are in the service of some particular god, trance-mediums through whom the spirits speak, and soothsayers who answer difficult questions and foretell the future." [73]
That, of course, is pagan Spiritualism in resurgence.
3. ROLE OF TRANCE-MEDIUMS AND SOOTHSAYERS.—Citing Sir James G. Frazer, well-known "investigator of primitive beliefs," [74] and Prof. Geoffrey Parrinder, "authority on Africa religion," Coughlan tells how "the sorcerer sometimes has ani mal allies and subhuman assistants." Then he adds:
"Threatened from every side with the forces of evil, the African would live in constant fright except for the countervailing forces commanded by the witch doctor or nganga. Outsiders tend to confuse the witch doctor's role with that of the sorcerer, but actually it is almost~ always the opposite: his magic is protective, beneficent and 'white’ whereas that of the sorcerer and witch is 'black.' (The terms are those applied by the Africans themselves and have nothing to do with skin colour.) For obvious reasons the nganga is a man of prestige in the community, almost the equal of the chief. Frequently he is a trance- medium, almost always a soothsayer." [75] Then comes this significant statement:
"The psychological mechanism involved is the same as that which accounts for the spectacular 'cures' associated with hypnosis and faith healing in other societies." [76] Such are some of the comparisons and the contrasts in different continents. Thus the prevalence of the occult is world wide. With the situation in Protestantism we are already well aware.
73 Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
74 Frazer, op. cit.
75 Coughlan, op. cit., p. 130. (Italics supplied.)
-76 Ibid., p. 132. (Italics supplied.)
Gordon Collier's three-volume Make Your Own World (1960) illustrates even more sharply the penetration of the metaphysics and philosophies of the East into the consciousness of the West. This set emphasizes the "power within," the divinity of man,. and his Innate Immortality, along with rein carnation, Spiritualistic phenomena, and the like.
In volume one Collier refers approvingly to certain of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale's teachings as "closer to the metaphysical ideas I have presented here than any other orthodox preacher in America today." [1] In this initial volume there are many helpful health and success hints, principally, however, through self help. But in volume two, after disposing of the devil by saying that Satan is simply "the sum total of the mortal minds and wills on this earth as opposed to the Will and Mind of God," [2] and making several allusions to the contributions of Spiritualist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Collier launches forthrightly into a section dealing with "Cosmic Consciousness," the "Universality of God," and "Reincarnation," or "The Mystery of Life's Cycle," [3] as stressed, for example, by the International Society of Seekers of the Truth.
1 Gordon Collier, Make Tour Own World, vol. 1 (4th ed., 1960), p. 48.
2 Ibid., vol. 2, p. 15.
3 Ibid., p. 47.
And it is to be noted that "Healing Through Vibration" is tied in therewith. [4]
1. NECTAR OF IMMORTALITY AND UNION WITH GOD.— Collier then turns unabashedly, in chapter nine, to the mysteries of the East, and presents Paramhansa Yogananda, who wrote Metaphysical Meditations, Cosmic Chants, and Whispers From Eternity [5] The Yogis are discussed, and soul liberation and "divine bliss through Yoga," and the assertion is made:
"Yoga has produced, in every age in India, men who are truly free, true Yogi-Christs." [6] Collier then cites Swami (Master, Religious Teacher) Sivananda on "spiritual energy," and the "Nirvikalpa," "the state of super-consciousness," "the Goal of life," with "supreme peace and infinite, indestructible bliss." Then follows Swami's telltale statement, "The Yogic student drinks the nectar of immortality." [7] And further, "Yoga is the Science that teaches, the method of joining the human spirit with God."[8]
2. TIE-IN WITH ANCIENT "MASTERS" AND THEOSOPHY.— Chapter ten is devoted to the Rosicrucians and the "Mysteries of the Egyptians" and the ancient wonders in which the "Old Meets the New." [9] Collier says the Rosicrucians "tell us there is only a single soul in the universe, which they term the universal soul or universal consciousness of God. Each of us possesses a part of the universal soul." Again, they believe that "the human mind can travel from the body to far-off places and witness the events happening there." [10]
4 Ibid., p. 48.
5 Ibid., pp. 85, 96, 99. Yoga, an Indian philosophy, is a technique or system of discipline by which the human soul may professedly attain permanent union—with—the—Supreme Spirit; "by contemplation and concentration, it stresses the dualistic doctrine of the separateness of matter and spirit, and Holds that at first every spirit was individually eternal. It sets forth eight stages in the process, climaxing with complete liberation, and with matter and spirit wholly apart. The Yogis are reported to have marvellous powers, with knowledge of past and future. But the ultimate is attained only through a succession of rebirths. There is, however, now in some quarters a tendency to substitute a system of health culture for the original teachings.
6 Ibid., p. 99.
-7 Ibid., p. 102. (Italics supplied.)
8 Ibid., p. 105.
-9 Ibid., pp. 106-113
-10 Ibid., pp. 111, 112.
Collier then comes, in chapter twelve, to "Astara and the New Age," which is inseparably tied in with "Mediums and
the Development of Mediumship." [11] The "Brotherhood" and "Church" of Astara is described as a "Modern Mystery School, teaching Ancient Wisdom under the direct guidance of Masters" of the spirit, using "trumpet mediumship" and trance techniques.
Such Masters are alleged to "leave behind their physical bodies and travel in the astral to Astara." [12] They seek to lead souls to the "Gateway of Initiation." Their followers are called Astrians. These include "Master Teachers" like "Rama," from the Gobi Desert, and "Kut-Hu-Mi," of Tibet, "who helped establish Theosophy." [13] Also named are "Doctor Teachers,"
and "Philosophers," like "Pythagoras" and "Plato," as well as "Master Jesus." [14] Let us pause to scrutinize Theosophy, here mentioned, and observe its characteristics and claims and its operating principles.
3. THEOSOPHY—IMMORTALITY BY EVOLUTION THROUGH INCARNATION.—It should ever be remembered that Theosophy is an esoteric religion, or philosophy, based on the claim of special occult insight into divine nature—intuitive knowledge and direct communications transmitted by mahatmas, or sages. It is of distinctly Eastern origin, and is Buddhist and Hinduist in "theology." It derives its teachings from the Indian sacred books. In its modern form it was founded in 1875 by Russian-born Helena Petrova Blavatsky (d. 1891), who sought out and correlated the mystic in Tibet, India, and Egypt. Her leading work, The Secret Doctrine (three volumes), is a classic among Western Theosophists. It is claimed that she had transcendent psychic powers.
-11 Ibid., p. 118.
-12 Ibid., p. 119.
-13 Ibid., pp. 120-122.
-14 Ibid., pp. 123-125.
-15 Annie Besant, Mm's Life in Three Worlds, p. 3.
Her successor in America was Annie Ward Besant (d. 1933), who declared man to be a “spark of Divinity encased-in Matter." [15] She believed in reincarnation, wrote of the "seven planes of progression" on the way to the Happy State, and of absorption of soul and personality into the World Soul. She likewise held a pantheistic view of deity. Her views were distinctly Hinduistic and Buddhistic.
Theosophy teaches an immortality based on evolution by reincarnation. Mrs. Besant wrote that we all have "innate Divinity ... so that in time all men become Christ." [16] The brotherhood of initiates were to be scattered all over the world—West as well as East. This is being done. The heart of Theosophy is the doctrine of Karma—the Way, or Path, to ward enlightenment and emancipation. It is defined as the "cyclic process of emanation and evolving ascension," or ascending the astral way by the aid of "secret divine wisdom." That is Theosophy. It is clearly a grafting of pagan Eastern thought upon the West. Its international headquarters are at Adyar, India.
16 Besant, Is Theosophy Anti-Christian? p. 16.
4. THE "I AM" DERIVATIVE MOVEMENT.—One derivative should perhaps be noted—the "I AM" movement, or emphasis, mentioned by both Collier and Spalding. It was founded by Guy W. Ballard and his wife, Edna, in 1934, through "revelations" from "Ascended Master St. Germain." These experiences are told in a book called Unveiled Mysteries (1934). It claims the "Mighty I AM Presence" as "the source of all life and power," made known through certain Ascended Masters, of whom "Jesus" was simply one. It is a conglomerate of Hinduism, Theosophy, Spiritualism, and New Thought, and the "Great White Brotherhood" of the Himalayas. Salvation is put forth as "Ascension," or becoming Ascended Masters. I AM stresses the Great Cosmic Being and the "god within."
"Decrees" directed to the Ascended Masters allegedly- re lease forces necessary to produce the desired results. Such take the place of prayer in the "I AM" groups. After a complete round of transmigrations the devotee becomes merged with the Eternal. The movement thus derives its teachings from Theosophy and Spiritualism, and anchors its beliefs in the messages of the Mahatmas. (In 1940 the movement was indicted for mail fraud and forbidden to use the mails.) [17] Such are the groping of restless human hearts that become susceptible to such occult mysticism.
5. AVOWED PURPOSE Is TO PROVE SPIRITUALISM.—Collier then comes, in sequence, to the important "Master Hilarion," "this Master who [allegedly] fostered the movement of Spiritualism over a hundred years ago." [18] In a claimed materialization, "Hilarion," working through Astara, gave this frank statement of purpose that none can gainsay:
"My purpose has been, for many years now, to bring to the minds of men, through the religion of Spiritualism, a greater knowledge of immortality; to prove, chiefly through psychic phenomena, the existence of other worlds around you; to prove that those who have stepped out of their physical bodies and live on in the spirit realms can return to prove the immortality of the soul.
"My major concern has been to prove that your immediate family lives on after the transition called death. Bringing Spiritualism into reality has been my goal." [19]
17 Charles S. Braden, "I Am" in An Encyclopedia of Religion, edited by Vergilius Perm, p. 355; Braden, "The I AM Movement," in These Also Believe, pp. 257-307: Gerald B. Bryan, Psychic Dictatorship in America. See also the various writings of the Ballards, Germain Press.
18 Collier, Make Your Own World, vol. 2, p. 125. (Italics supplied.)
Hilarion declared that he devotes himself to "establishing a universal belief in psychic phenomena," [20] and designated "Robert" to "demonstrate communication with the world of spirit." [21] Such language admits of no misunderstanding. Such connections and relationships are inconcealable. It is the lie of Eden boldly reasserted. It is simply unmitigated Spiritualism, which we have discussed in depth.
6. ASTARA—BLENDING OF ALL RELIGIONS.—After touching on the "mighty Law of Karma," Collier reverts again to Master Rama, from the Gobi Desert, who declares to the Astarians:
"Astara is a home of all religions. Holding to no exoteric dogma, Astara embraces the esoteric teachings of all religions. Astara follows after the leadership of Jesus, but pays reverent homage to the Saints of all religions." [22] That specifically includes the Eastern occult. Rama also dwells on a "Yogic exercise" for "spiritual power." Then there is Zo-Ser, of "Egyptian antiquity," purportedly "once a ruler of Egypt," gifted with the "powers of healing," stressing the "Great Cosmic Sun," [23] with counsel to the "Disciples of the Flame." [24] And along with these are other emissaries from the "realms of spirit," who bring "sensitized vibrations." [25]
After a chapter (14) on "Psychiana," the "mail-order, religion," and its"" I talked with God" key phrase, founded by Frank Robinson in 1929, and boasting a phenomenal spread, [26] Collier notes in chapter 15 how the late Douglas K. DeVorss (d. 1953) built up one of America's largest "Metaphysical publishing houses," the "largest metaphysical book wholesaler in the world"—with six thousand retail outlets, emphasizing "Unity," for example, and publishing such works as Spalding's Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East, already noted. This work of DeVorss, Collier says, has now made Los Angeles the "metaphysical hub of the world.” DeVorss printed more than one thousand different books for the metaphysically minded. [27]
19 Ibid., p. 126. (Italics supplied.)
-20 Ibid., p. 131.
21 Ibid.
-22 Ibid., p. 132.
-23 Ibid., p. 127. (Italics supplied.)
-24 Ibid., p. 134.
-25 Ibid., pp. 127, 128. (Italics supplied.)
-26 Ibid., pp. 145-148.
In Collier's volume three, with its "Light from the East," extensive excerpts from Spalding appear. [28] Here he "quotes"
the purported materialized "Jesus" as saying that as "God is divine," so "man, His true son, born in His image and likeness, is as truly divine as the Father is divine." Further, that "this divinity is the true Christ that every man sees and perceives, as in himself and in all of God's children." [29] That is the other of the twin lies of Eden.
It is therefore obvious that penetrations of the pagan occultism of the East are aggressively permeating and intermingling with the metaphysicism of the West, both being based on the common denominator of Spiritualism's contentions of the divinity of man, the immortality of the soul, and the return of the disembodied spirits of the dead. Thus the net is being' woven that is destined to ensnare all who are not rooted and grounded in the writings of the Inspired Word as to the true origin, nature, and destiny of man.
7. UNITY—REINCARNATION RESULTS IN IMMORTALITY.— The Unity School of Christianity was founded in 1889 by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, and is really a cross between, New Thought and Christian Science. It relies on the power of the press and speaks through millions of tracts, pamphlets, and magazines. It now claims two million members, with "five million readers for its various periodicals." It is America's biggest "mail-order religion." It is eclectic, drawing from all faiths and philosophies, particularly the Eastern. The Fillmores studied New Thought, Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, Christian Science, Spiritualism, and Hinduism.
27 Ibid., pp. 149-153.
28 Ibid., vol. 3. pp. 112-117.
-29 Ibid., pp. 116, 117. (Italics supplied.)
Unity was the result—a complex of ancient concepts but moving in a new direction. Fillmore, who had been "healed" by Christian Science, launched a journal in 1889 called Modern Thought. In 1890 it was changed to Christian Science Thought, which title was protested by Mary Baker Eddy. So it continued simply as Thought. But its affinity is more with New Thought, with current emphasis increasingly on health, prosperity, and happiness. It finally developed into a church, or sect.
But let us peer into the heart of Unity. It teaches that all thought goes back to God, who is impersonal "Principle, Law, Being, Mind, Spirit, All Good, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Unchangeable, Creator, Father, Cause, and Source of all that is."
In the mind is found the "meeting ground for man and God."
Man is declared to be a son of God, filled with Christ-conscious ness. God exercises His attributes "through the inner conscious ness of the universe and man." [30] A true spiritual body replaces the physical body when man actually becomes like Christ. This transformation takes place through a series of reincarnations and regenerations.
Unity helpfully stresses avoidance of anything that injures the body, and encourages good health habits. But it re duces Jesus to the level of a mere man, who had within him the "perfect Christ idea," and declares "the same Christ idea is in every man." So all men are miniature Christs. But it boldly teaches reincarnation, resulting in immortality. Note it:
"We believe that the dissolution of spirit, soul and body, caused by death, is annulled by rebirth of the same spirit and soul in another body here on earth. We believe the repeated incarnations of man to be a merciful provision of our loving Father to the end that all may have the opportunity to attain immortality through regeneration, as did Jesus. "This corruptible must put on in corruption." [31]
This too is a thoroughly pagan Eastern occult view, which has successfully penetrated the West and is widely professed.
30 Metaphysical Bible Dictionary (Unity School of Christianity, Kansas City, Missouri),
31 Unity's Statement of Faith, Art. 22. (Italics supplied.)
A glance at the church-service pages of most Sunday newspapers discloses the number and the variety of the Occult groups locally.
8. SIGNIFICANCE OF "GREAT LIGHT" FROM THE "EAST."— Collier closes volume three by adverting again to Egypt's "Great Pyramid" and its measurement "forecasts," calling it a matchless "Bible in Stone," with the story set forth in The Miracle of the Ages. The Pyramid is eulogized as embodying an "imposing list of prophecies of historical events." [32] That is the parting glimpse of Collier's portrayal of the "Great Light in [and from] the East." [33]
The 1840's appear to have been the launching point not only of Modern Spiritualism but of certain related movements in other lands that have definite Spiritualist connotations. For instance there was Baha'ism—a movement for religious and social reform launched in Persia in 1844, with an Islamic back ground. But Baha'ism was first called Babism, [34] after an earlier Reader who claimed to be the forerunner of the coming prophet, much as John the Baptist preceded Jesus. Babism gained so much momentum that both the Persian government and the church became alarmed and took drastic action. The Babist leader, called the "Bab" (Arabic for gate or door), was thrown into prison and later martyred in 1850, and his followers, called Babis, were subjected to mass murder.
But the Bab had foretold the coming of a "Greater One" to carry forward the cause. So they regrouped, and changed the form and the name to Baha'is in 1863, under the leadership of Baha'u'llah (the glory, or splendour, of God), as the last and greatest of "God's manifestations."
32 Collier, Make Your Own World, pp. 199, 200.
-33 Ibid., page 201.
34 About 150 years ago many in Persia looked for the imminent reincarnation of the twelfth Imam, or prophet. In 1819 Mirza Ali Muhammed claimed to be the Bab to the knowledge of divine truth, and the forerunner of the coming Imam.
The Baha'is, or followers of this new prophet, believed that the last dispensation in the history of the world began in 1844—the "new day of God"— with Baha'u'llah as the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecies of the sacred books concerning the coming of the Messiah. [35]
1. WILMETTE TEMPLE SYMBOLIZES ONENESS OF RELIGIONS.
—From Baghdad, Baha'ism began to take on international dimensions, spreading to Turkey, China, India, Arabia, and Europe. It is now operating in "nearly every country of the world," and claims more than a million adherents. [36] In 1921 an American headquarters was established at Wilmette, near Chicago, Illinois, where a Baha'i Temple was erected [37] overlooking Lake Michigan. They have centres in some one thou sand five hundred cities and towns in the United States, and their official organ is Star of the West.
35 J. E. Esslemont, Baha'u'llah and the New Era, pp. 261ff. See also William M. Miller, Baha'ism; J. R. Richards, The Religion of the Baha'is; Bahai World Faith, Selected Writings.
36 Jan K. Van Baalen, The Chaos of the Cults, p. 130.
37 Mirza Ahmad Sohrab. "The Bahai Cause,” in Vergilius Perm, Living Schools of Religion, pp. 309-314. See also F. E. Mayer, The Religious Bodies of America (4th ed.), "The Bahai Faith," pp. 567, 568; Baha'i World.
The Wilmette Temple is a combination of mosque, cathedral, and synagogue. It is nonagonal in form, its structural number being nine—having nine piers, nine pillars (symbolizing the nine living religions of the world), and nine arches. It is situated in a park with nine sides, nine avenues, nine gateways, and nine fountains. [38] It is designed to visualize the "oneness” of the great religions of the world, and of mankind, merged through Baha'ism. It holds that all are of God. By entering any one door of the temple and walking straight forward, one meets at the centre under a great dome all others who enter by the other doors. Baha'ism is thus a syncretism asserting the "unity of all religions." Moreover, on two of the nine sides of the temple the words are inscribed, "The earth is but one country; and mankind its citizens—I have made Death a Messenger-of-joy, wherefore does thou grieve." [39] That affords an inkling of its emphasis.
2. COMMUNION OF LIVING WITH THE DEAD.—The essence of Baha'ism, of primary concern to us, is embodied in a series of principles of "unity"—unity of thought, truth, religion, mankind, the two worlds, and science. Baha'ists hold, that the world was produced by divine "emanation," with man as the product of a long process of evolution. They assert that death is merely a new birth through which the soul enters into the larger life, where it continues its growth until it reaches perfection. The body is but a temporary housing for the soul.
Baha'ism holds to a pantheistic, impersonal God as the source of everything. And since God is all in all, there is no room for evil—evil being but the absence of good. Again, evil is only imperfection. It all has a strangely familiar ring. Moreover, truth is held to be a progressive revelation through the ages, manifested through all creeds. Thus God is said to have spoken through Zoroaster, Mohammed, Buddha, Moses, and Christ—all of whom are equally revered. But Moses and Christ had not yet reached full and complete knowledge in the revelation of truth. That was reserved for Abdu'l-Baha'.
38 Frank S. Mead, Handbook of Denominations in the United Slates, art. "Bahi'i." pp. 24, 25.
39 John W. Ring, "Andrew Jackson Davis—The Poughkeepsie Seer," in Centennial Book of Modern Spiritualism in America, p. 56.
So they add to Jesus' words. Such is Baha'ism's exotic flair. It is Eastern mysticism, though in America it is largely decked in Western garb. Just note:
"The collective centre has always appeared in the Orient. Abraham, Moses, Christ, Muhammad were collective centres of their day and time, and all arose in the east.
Today's Baha'u'llah [Baha'ism's founder] is the collective centre of unity for all mankind, and the splendour of His light has likewise dawned from the east. He founded the oneness of humanity in Persia!" [40]
3. CONSTANT INTERCOMMUNICATION WITH OTHER WORLD.
—Baha'ism specifically teaches that the spirit of man proceeds from a pantheistic god, and establishes the union of each spirit with the eternal spirit. The body, discarded at "death," is held to be simply the covering of the "indestructible" soul.
And the liberation of the spirit is declared to be entrance upon a "limitless" experience. Life after death is believed to be the intensified continuation of this life. And progression in salvation is promised after death—"infinite progress in perfections through the limitless worlds of God." [41] This proffered perfection is attained, allegedly, by a continual evolutionary process after death, with hope and assurance for all.
But, far more significant, there is believed to be constant and inevitable communion between embodied and disembodied souls. These authoritative Baha'ist quotations, in support, must suffice:
"All those living on earth, and those who have passed through the change of death, belong to one and the same organism. Separation from those we love is, therefore, a bodily separation only. Between the seen and the unseen there is a constant intercommunication." [42] "When we are in receptive condition . . . when the soul is lightly tethered to the body, messages can reach us from the other world, and are flashed into the waking consciousness." [43] Such the Baha'ists call the "oneness of the two worlds."
40 Shoghi Effendi, God Is Man's Goal, p. 4. (Italics supplied.)
41 Florence Pinchon, Baha'i Teachings on Life After Death, p. 13.
42 Ibid.
43 Ibid., p. 14.
And again: "The soul continues its life and activity after its separation from the physical body, in worlds where time and space, as sense impressions, cease to exist." [44] That is Baha'ism. Its close kinship to Spiritualism is apparent. So again we see the intermingling of East and West. It is unquestionably a Spiritualist affiliate.
44 Ibid., p. 15.
We now return to developments in Christendom, and particularly in North America. Spiritualism is adroitly adapt able to changing conditions and contingencies. It either operates in the open or goes underground, as occasion indicates. It functions both outside the churches and manoeuvres from within. It can be secular, religious, or scientific. It is equally effective in benighted pagan lands and in Christendom, in Catholic countries and Protestant strongholds, where ignorance prevails and where erudition is at its peak. Utilizing its multiple forms and channels, it sweeps on with increasing success.
There is nothing quite like it.
One of its recent adaptations, a seemingly innocuous but actually subversive movement spiritually, is the recently established Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship, [1] founded in March, 1956. Its frankly stated purpose, in the editorial masthead of its official journal, is: "To encourage the study within the Churches of psychic phenomena as related to personal immortality, spiritual healing, and prayer." [2] With officers and an executive council of twenty-four, more than half of whom are clergymen of the Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregationalism Episcopalian, Baptist, and other Christian churches, it is really a front organization, or fringe movement, for the inculcation of spiritistic principles and practices in the established churches. It operates through conferences, seminars, and lectures, with research groups and recommended literature. A single issue of its journal, Spiritual Frontiers (May-June, 1958), reporting the "Spring Conference" of 1958, contains the following startling features.
1. The Fellowship was launched by "three men in particular—Albin Bro, missionary and educator, Paul Higgins, Methodist pastor, and Arthur Ford, ordained clergyman and international known psychic medium.
2. Editorial Statement, Spiritual Frontiers (vol. 3, no. 3), May-June, 1958, p. 2. (Italics supplied.)
1. REINCARNATION NAIVELY TAUGHT AT FRONTIERS CONFERENCE.
The 1958 conference, held in a Methodist church in Chicago, first heard an address on "Man's Spiritual Quest," [3] by Hugh L. Cayce, who teaches reincarnation. Said Cayce: "We are in a physical body." A "psychically sensitive person” can move out into "the realm of mind, and spirit while in an unconscious state," and "report back on conditions anywhere in the world." [4] Man, he maintained, was "created" to be a "spiritual being." He was "not made for Earth and not limited to Earth." Moreover, he was "created long before he came to this world and was caught here in physical life for only a comparatively short time," the soul then "returning to the consciousness of God and to the spiritual realm." [5] He likewise refers to "memories of lives farther back than this life," and speaks of "a world of higher mind, a super-conscious or Over- Soul." [6] That, of course, is simply reincarnation.
2. IN TOUCH WITH LOVED ONES IN SPIRITUAL REALM.
The then-president of the Fellowship, Methodist pastor Dr. Paul L. Higgins, speaking on "The Communion of Saints,” boldly stated that "even death cannot separate us from our dear ones who have gone to the heavenly realms, for we can be in touch with them." [7] He cited Tertullian as advocating "actual communion with the souls gone to the heavenly realm." This was, he added, "part of the life of the early Church." [8] He said he was "aware” of the "presence of loved ones, though they were not visible to the physical eye." [9] He claims that "many great saints of the church have had communication with the spirit world." [10]
3. Ibid., p. 5.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid., pp. 5, 6. (Italics supplied.)
6. Ibid., p. 6.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid., p. 7.
3. "FRONTIERS" EDITOR ON "METHODS OF PSYCHIC RESEARCH."
Reverend Dr. Edmond G. Dyett, editor of Spiritual Frontiers, speaking on psychic research, discussed candidly "the survival of human personality after death" [11] and "the life be yond the physical." He referred to Dr. Rhine's parapsychology researches [12] and "life beyond the physical," [13] and also to Here- ward Carrington's "psychic survival," "trance control," and "the possibility of self-conscious survival after death." [14] The "case” is being built up, he held, for "personal continuity of life." [15]
4. MEDIUM FORD'S ADROITLY FRANK "TALK."
Internationally famous American Spiritualist medium Arthur Ford made the following uninhibited points in one of the high lights of the conference: "When we explore the psychic faculties we are not dabbling in some thing new and strange. We are just trying to remind the people in the churches of something that has always been part of the Christian Gospel, but has been neglected for centuries." [16]
The "basic meaning" of "psychic" is "breath of God,” "that which makes man a living soul." It is "a common endowment of the human race.” "Mediums are not unique people." All spiritual people "may truly be called mediums.” "Christianity began with psychic phenomena in the experience of the disciples on the Day of Pentecost." They are the "gifts of the Spirit.” The "real 'Communion of Saints' " is "between the two sides of life.” "We have a spiritual body as well as a physical body. In this spiritual body we rise from earth when death releases it from the physical. That is what the resurrection of the body means to me. In that spiritual body as our vehicle of expression we go on through eternity." [17]
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid., p. 8.
12. On Rhine, see this work, chapter 54.
13. Spiritual Frontiers, May-June, 1958
14. Ibid. IB
15. Ibid., p. 9.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid. (Italics supplied.) , p. 8.
"Our continued life" will go on "with ever increasing fellowship with God.” In a Cleveland area seminar Ford demonstrated extra sensory perceptions in "getting messages from the unseen world for various persons in the audience of about 150." [18] Many were "impressed" by the demonstration. And with all of these gatherings healing services are conducted.
5. "BOOK REVIEW" AND "NOTES" ON THE PSYCHIC.
The "Book Review" was on Nothing So Strange, the autobiography of Spiritualist Arthur Ford, with Margueritte H. Bro as collaborator. "Excommunicated" from the Baptist Church at six teen, Ford early became— "aware of his peculiar ability to foresee things that would come about; and this puzzled and alarmed him, because he suspected if people knew about it, he would be regarded as a touch peculiar." [19] Developing his "particular abilities," he gives his "philosophy of life," and— "stoutly maintains we are all psychic, and that we may develop the ability to use extra-sensory perceptions much as he has, by following his suggestions which come from his own lifetime of practice in the field." [20]
The "Notes on Books" for lending includes The Power of Faith Healing, Psychic and Divine, by Shaw Desmond, the British psychic; Healing the Mind, on "Extra-Sensory Perception," by Dr. R. Connell and Geraldine Cummins; Towards the Hereafter, by R. M. Lester; The Case for Psychic Survival, by Hereward Carrington, dealing with "psychic research," the "medium" and the "control"; and Unbidden Guests, by W. O. Stevens, on "psychic phenomena." [21]
6. "BOOK SERVICE" SPECIALIZES IN THE PSYCHIC.
The "Book Service," on the back page, lists, among others, for sale: The Case for Psychic Survival (Carrington) You Will Survive After Death (Sherwood Eddy) Nothing So Strange (Ford and Bro) Psychical Research, and The Imprisoned Splendour (R. C. Johnson) The Psychic Message of the Scriptures (T. Rowland Powel) Immortality, The Scientific Evidence (Alson J. Smith) You Will Live After Death (Sherman) [22] Such is the startling interpenetration of the churches with metaphysical precepts and practices that are but thinly veiled Spiritualism. Its acceptance is very widespread, and goes hand in hand with open and avowed Spiritualism.
18. Ibid., p. 10.
19. Ibid., p. 11.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid., pp. 12, 13.
7. CONTINUING EMPHASIS ON PSYCHIC AND SPIRITISTIC.
Three years later (September, 1961) Spiritual Frontiers reported on its annual conference at Chicago. Four extracts must suffice, showing the unchanging emphasis. Presbyterian editor of Church Management, the late Dr. William H. Leach, speaking on "The Relationship of Psychic Research in the Church," and touching on "outer space and inner man" and "extra-sensory perceptions" and "psychic communication," declared:
"If two people can use telepathy on earth, as so many do, then communication should be possible between the living and those who survive after death.
"For these reasons I say the Church needs much research in these realms—prayer, spiritual healing and psychic communications. It will not be an easy battle to get the Churches to accept this." [23]
But, he adds, the message of Spiritual Frontiers Fellow ship is "gaining recognition," and such studies will "eventually establish" themselves in the thinking of the churches. [24] Physician John W. Aitken, becoming interested through Spiritualist Arthur Ford's book, started a study group, believing that "communication with the dead is possible." He had Ford "spend some time with the group," giving "messages” and discussing communications with the "other side."
22. Ibid., p. 16.
23. Ibid. (vol. 6, no. 6), September, 1961, p. 4. (Italics supplied.)
24. Ibid.
Aitken says frankly that evidence of the "psychic" has "tremendous implications for all religions." He states that— "it proves that a man has spiritual nature and that death does not end one's life. And I am grateful to Spiritualists for keeping this realization alive through the years." [25] What candour! What clearer acknowledgment of common ground with Spiritualism could be made!
Metaphysical teacher George C. Le Gros, speaking on "Metaphysical Prayer," and reaching up into the "ocean of God," candidly remarked: "Our immediate lesson is to move out into the world of spirit, and out of the world of matter. How can anyone doubt that there is continuation of life for the true self, the divine self, after it throws off the physical body? Many of us hold this conviction based on psychic experiences which to us seem sufficient proof of continuing life." [26] Here again the innate divinity of man is linked to the immortality of the soul. The two are constantly in conjunction.
And Engineer John R. Haile, at a Los Angeles meeting of "members only," declared that we are "on the threshold of a great new age if the human soul has only half a chance to really come into its own." [27]
8. SPIRITUALIST BOOKS INTERSPERSED IN LIST.
After an announcement that Dr. Harmon H. Bro and "Rev. Arthur Ford" (Spiritualist) would be the speakers at the "Midwest Fall Seminar," the "Library Notes" lists in its "New Additions," The Evidence for Survival From Claimed Memories of Former Incarnations (1961), by Ian Stevenson. [28] And the "Book Service List" includes two volumes by Spiritualist W. Stainton Moses—Spirit Teachings and More Spirit Teachings; also Leslie D. Weatherhead's The Case for Reincarnation. The tenor of the list may be judged by such titles as More Than We Are (Bro); Life Beyond the Sunset (Buell); The Supreme Adventure (Crookall); The Bible as Psychic History (Elliott); Life After Death (Harlow); and The Un-obstructed Universe (White). [29] It is significant that certain of these books are advertised in standard Spiritualist literature.
25. Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
26. Ibid., p. 5. (Italics supplied.)
27. Ibid., p. 7
28. Ibid., p. 10.
9. "THIRD BIRTH" AND "NEXT DIMENSION."
In the May, 1962, issue, the address of vice-president Rev. Roy A. Burkhart, at the 1962 annual conference, on "A Faith Greater Than Life," refers to "the experience we erroneously call death." [30] This "greater faith" is to see death as the "third birth," the "next dimension"—an expression thrice used. And he cites the resurrection of Christ on Easter morning as proving that "death is a lie." [31] And in the report of the retiring president (Rev. George Wright) Arthur Ford is referred to as a "speaker and sensitive." [32] Such are the current penetrations of Spiritualism within the churches.
B. Fellowship's "Psychic Knock at Church's Door”
Further confirmation of the growing interpenetration of the churches with the psychic appeared in a syndicated Associated Church Press article, released July 15, 1962. Written by a successful "writer-editor in religious education," Frances Dunlap Heron, the article is revealingly titled, "Psychic Knock at Church's Door." It attests the growing conviction concerning the "immortality" of the "human spirit." The author became fully persuaded through friends on both sides of the Atlantic, but chiefly through the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship, that her 19-year-old deceased son, Don, "is alive!" [33]
The focal point of this widespread group study by clergy men and laymen in the churches, with its "thousands of seekers," is frankly "psychic research." Such groups have come to look upon the Bible as "a record of man-and-God communion" through extrasensory perception (ESP), and hold that a great many with spiritual aptitudes "can become 'mediums’ or 'sensitive minds,' capable of communication with 'disincarnates.' "
29. Ibid., p. 12.
30. Ibid. (volume 7, number 5) May, 1962, p. 3.
31. Ibid., p. 4.
32. Ibid., p. 5.
33. Associated Church Press release, July 15, 1962, pp. 1, 2.
34. Ibid., pp. 2, 3.
Telltale terms like "recognition," "clairvoyance," "clairaudience." and "telepathy" punctuate the article. The press, Mrs. Heron states, has moved from exposing "mediums" to "inter viewing a sensitive," like Arthur Ford, or Peter Hurkos, the psychometrist. [35] Big-name publishers are producing books on the psychic, [36] which are sedulously studied in these circles. And all this is outside the distinct Spiritualist organization.
1. FROM PSYCHIC SOCIETIES TO CHURCH PENETRATIONS.
Mrs. Heron declares that the "Church itself was born at Pentecost in a rush of wind and a flame of spirit utterances. [37] She reminds us that Queen Victoria's belief in "spirit communication" was established "through trance medium Robert James Lees." She then rehearses the founding of the British Society for Psychical Research in 1882, by Cambridge scholar F. W. H. Myers, who held that human personality survives bodily death, and how men like Sir William Crookes, Sir Oliver Lodge, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle became full- fledged believers in spirit communication. Then came the American Society for Psychical Research, in 1888. Shortly after, J. B. Rhine, of Duke University, was "exploring human survival after death." [38]
But the climax is reached with the formation of the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship in 1956, constituting the "psychic knock" at the "churches' Door." The Fellowship seeks to sponsor and explore this "mystical experience within the church, wherever these experiences relate to personal survival” and all that such involves. It has already passed the fifteen-hundred-member mark, and is, established within all major de nominations. Mrs. Heron gives a listing of certain leading members—nationally and often internationally known men, such as Sherwood Eddy.
35. Ibid., p. 3.
36. Psychometry is defined in Webster as "divination of facts concerning an object or its owner through contact with, or proximity to, the object.”
37. Ibid., p. 4.
38. Ibid., pp. 4, 5.
Marcus Bach, Hornell Hart, Henry Leiper, Harmon Bro, and Roy Burkhart, together with the internationally known psychic medium, or "sensitive," Rev. Arthur Ford, whom she praises as the "spiritual-awareness apostle to the churches." [39] His "control personality," named Fletcher, "takes over his body and voice and transmits messages between disincarnates and earth dwellers"—with the "psychic gift" referred to as "the breath of God in each person." [40] As to "how" the communication "takes place," it is an "out-of-the-body process.” Mrs. Heron asserts: "Telepathy, on which the psychic door hinges, holds the key." [41] Then the question is posed: "If, as Jesus demonstrated, the personality survives physical death, then cannot there be communication between a personality in our world and one in the spirit world?" [42] Her answer is an unequivocal Yes.
2. CONTACTS BETWEEN TWO WORLDS ESTABLISHED.
Referring to the "physical body" and the "spiritual body," the one interpenetrated by the other, and "vibrations" and "aura- radiations," [43] Mrs. Heron asserts, using Ford as an example: "When the physical body dies, the spirit is believed to inhabit the etheric body, dwelling in a spirit world that interpenetrates our physical field of consciousness, on higher rates of vibration than are normally perceptible to our senses. Arthur Ford, in trance, projects with his spiritual body and makes contact with the invisible." [44]
She refers to "hunger for faith based on knowledge," in this field, as being "far more widespread than is commonly publicized," and illustrates it by telling of how— "in Greenwood, South Carolina, recently 174 men turned out for a 7 A.M. breakfast to hear Arthur Ford speak on psychic phenomena and religion. In that Bible Belt town every Protestant minister and the Roman Catholic priest were present!" [45] Such, Mrs. Heron says, is its "revitalizing influence.”
39. Ibid., p. 6.
40. Ibid.
41. Ibid., p. 7.
42. Ibid. "
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid.
45. Ibid., p. 8.
3. PERSUADED PERSONALLY THROUGH FORD "SITTINGS."
Mrs. Heron asserts that "only an open-minded attitude" will "speed the progress of psychic research within the churches.” She tells how personal "sittings with Arthur Ford, corroborated by two gracious Christian women sensitive mediums in Britain, have proved that our son is still a living personality." [46] And she adds, "In Ford's day lit room our Don joins us with loving, unselfish concern." [47] There "he" admonishes them, "Don't ever think of me [Don] as being in a cemetery." [48] And he further counsels them to learn to "communicate directly" with him, without having to use Ford. And he urges Mrs. Heron to "tell people there's life after death. Everything before is preliminary. I'll be here to wait for you." [49] And, "Don" says significantly, on the broader aspect: "Some of us [in the spirit world] are bombarding the minds of the UN delegates. It's easier to get through to the Africans than to some of the] Europeans." [50]
That too is significant—not only church but state con tacts. It is actual, but thinly veiled Spiritualism—Spiritualism's Trojan horse.
Such are some of Spiritualism's successful current procedures and penetrations under the sponsorship of the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship. Revolutionary changes are obviously taking place within the churches, of which most Christians are scarcely aware. The far-reaching significance of these current developments must not be overlooked. Spiritualism is farther advanced toward its goal of universal penetration and per suasion than most of us realize. We are in an hour of fateful transition. The coming crisis, which we have already surveyed, impends. It constitutes a call to awaken to a realization of its bearing on earth's last events. It is a summons to recognize, repudiate, and expose Spiritualism in all its forms.
46. Ibid. (Italics supplied.)
47. Ibid., p. 9.
48. Ibid., p. 10.
49. Ibid.
50. Ibid.
C. African Newspaper Symposium Champions Spiritualism
Agitation on the popular level breaks out frequently, even in faraway places. For example: The Salisbury (Rhodesia) Sunday Mail of April 8, 1962, carried a front-page feature story quoting the Anglican Dean of Salisbury, the Very Reverend G. A. French-Beytagh, as declaring that he "did not believe in spirit existence after death," or in "life after death for the non baptized." He asserted, furthermore, that "there was no spirit body that would go drifting up to heaven." And he stated flatly that he "did not believe in Spiritualism," and did not think that there were "any Anglican bishops who believe in Spiritualism." [51] The declaration caused quite a furore, with a wave of dissent resulting.
1. PREPONDERANT VIEW FOR SPIRIT SURVIVAL AND SPIRITUALISM.
The next week the Sunday Mail (April 15) presented a clerical symposium headed, "Now the Churches Answer the Dean," referring to his assertions of the previous week. Methodist, Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Presbyterian clergymen, as well as the Salvation Army leader, together with the three Spiritualist representatives, answered the Dean. Without exception they all held to continuing life after death. One Spiritualist cited the British "Churches Fellowship for Psychical Study,” with the bishop of Southwark as vice-president, and twelve other bishops among its patrons. These were enumerated, as of Bath, Wells, Birmingham, Carlisle, Chichester, Exeter, Peterborough, Sheffield, Truro, Wakefield, Worcester, Pittsburgh (U.S.A.), and London.
Another Spiritualist referred to the Church of England Report on Spiritualism, and stated that the late Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Cosmos Lang, at a seance after his death, allegedly appeared and expressed his personal belief in Spiritualism. And the third Spiritualist claimed to be "the reincarnation of an Egyptian Priestess of 4,500 years ago." [52] These voices were from "religious leaders.”
51. Salisbury (Rhodesia) Sunday Mail, April 8, 1962.
52. Ibid., April 15.
The following week, upon invitation, Sunday Mail readers took up the "Big Debate"—with more than one hundred responses. One held that "reincarnation" is the "most likely theory" of continuing life. Two others told of having received "spirit messages," one being "convinced we all live again in another world." Another wrote that "messages through Spiritualism have helped me a great deal." Still another asserted that "psychic research" has proved the case for "immortality." [53] So the debate continued. The preponderant view was that of continued life after death—with approval of Spiritualism. Thus the majority newspaper view, in Salisbury is Immortal-Soulist—with Spiritualism sanctioned.
53. Salisbury (Rhodesia) Sunday Mail, April 22, 1962.
"Now the Spirit [singular, the Holy Spirit] speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils" (1 Timothy 4:1).
This text locates the time, identifies the character, and pictures an onslaught of "spirits" in a momentous "latter-times” development. Their influence is seductive and disastrous, for they have departed from "the faith." A sweeping departure, by such, from "the faith"—note the definite article, the true Bible-based Christian faith—is to characterize the "latter times" of earth's history, the epoch that culminates in the Second Advent. And that is the period in which we now live. The supreme apostasy of the ages is to manifest itself in the church just before the return of Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:3-10). And this departing from the revealed truths of Scripture is bound up with the paralleling dissemination of "lies in hypocrisy” (1 Timothy 4:2). Such is the prophetic picture.
As we have already seen, Spiritualism has radically de parted from the Christian faith. It has renounced every fundamental tenet and provision of Christianity Note this departure again, for it is fundamental, and fatal. It has rejected the Bible as the Inspired Word of God. It has departed from belief in God as a Person, substituting pantheism. It has spurned the deity of Christ, His atonement, His second advent, the resurrection of the body. It has repudiated the moral law, in dividual accountability and punishment for sin, and Life Only in Christ—to list but a few of the more flagrant digressions.
Christians are therefore warned against these supernatural "principalities" and "powers," against the "rulers of the darkness of this world," identified as "wicked spirits" (Ephesians 6:12, margin). For warfare with such, it is imperative that we have the "truth" of God, His "righteousness," His "gospel of peace," the "shield of faith," the "helmet of salvation," and the "word of God"—in other words, the "whole armour of God" (Ephesians 6:12-17). That is our only hope of victory and survival in this final conflict with error.
1. DEPRAVED SPIRITS EVER SEDUCE TO DESTRUCTION.
These "spirits" are not good spirits, but depraved, "seducing spirits,” bent on deception and operating with the sinister intent; of drawing as many as possible down to destruction. According to Inspiration they are in fact "devils" (daimonid), or demons, and their teachings are consequently "doctrines of devils," sedulously propagating "doctrines" or tenets inspired by Satan.
And whatever is opposed to Scripture is of the adversary. We are also forewarned that incontrovertible miracles will be wrought in a supreme effort to deceive the elect. The Scriptures repeatedly predict an increase in supernatural manifestations in the last days to implement their deceptions and give them plausibility (Matthew 7:22, 23; 2 Thessalonians 2:9; Revelation 13:13, 14; 16:14).
The message of 1 Timothy 4:1 comports with that of Revelation 16:14, which predicts earth's great final deception, as these "spirits of devils, working miracles," "go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world" to suck them into the last great whirlwind of destruction that will eventually sweep over the world. This development constitutes Satan's consummating assault against the human race. It is clearly foretold in Holy Writ, so all may be forewarned, and avoid the disaster of deception. This will be noted separately. But, we repeat, Spiritualism, with its attendant occult wonders, is simply the consummation of Satan's original twofold lie of Eden —"Ye shall not surely die," and "Ye shall be as gods" (Genesis 3:4, 5). The two ever go together.
2. PROMISES LIFE BY DENYING DEATH.
Ever since that first lie in Eden ("Ye shall not surely die"), when Satan denied that death would result from man's sin, he has sought to persuade men that death is only a transition to a fuller, more exalted life ("as gods")—that the dead are not dead, that men do not die. Nearly all false religions, be it observed, deal prin cipally with the question of death, which in itself affords the clue to their nature. They promise life by denying death. That is basic, and that is pre-eminently true of Spiritualism. It seeks to sustain Satan's lie by the machinations of evil angels repre senting themselves as the spirits of the dead and speaking lies.
But it is all a cruel deception. It is the masterpiece of seduction, coming to consummation in the "latter times.”
Many Spiritualists, along with numerous other proponents of the occult, are today emphasizing the second of Satan's original twin lies—"Ye shall be as gods" along with the "Ye shall not surely die" (Genesis 3:4, 5). As before stated, both open and covert statements by Protestant clerics frequently stress the thought of the "god within," the "divine in human nature.” This concept is coming more and more to the fore. But it is in direct antithesis to God's latter-day call, "Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come" (Revelation 14:7).
However, this divine directive falls as an idle tale upon those seeking self-glory and their own self-deification. Spiritualism proclaims the "personal transcendence of the undying spirit from its earthly bondage," as it has been well phrased. Some have gone so far as boldly to declare, "I am none other than God"; others simply say, "I am like God." While the deification of the dead has been held by most systems of heathenism, together with supposed communication with these dead, it is not limited to heathenism. It extends to the living, and that in modern times.
1. HITLER, MUSSOLINI, AND KAISER ENTANGLED IN TOILS.
In World War II Hitler allegedly referred to himself as God, and declared, "Man is becoming God." He had turned to the occult, and succumbed to the subtle "spirit philosophy" of self- deification. Becoming entangled in the meshes of captivity to evil spirits, he became the helpless prey of the powers of darkness, and in desperation summoned mediums and necromancers as counsellors. Many of his confederates did the same. The results are well known. [See Ernest Jack, The War for Man's Soul; also H. G. Bayness.] Shaw Desmond says the same spirit consultation marked the tragedy of Mussolini and certain of his confreres who sensed that he was led by a demon. And back in World War I some of Kaiser Wilhelm's generals habitually consulted the "spirits," particularly in the tragic closing stages of the war.
From these episodes it is apparent that the "spirits" are quite agreeable to the destruction of the human race whenever it is opportune. Thus it will be in the final war of Armageddon.
2. GOD OF THIS WORLD BLINDS MINDS OF MEN.
But these occurrences of the past are but an earnest of the dread finale that will come to human history under the impulse of Satan's last deception. Indeed, the sweep of the ages can be understood only in the light of Satan's age long rebellion against God and the gospel provision through Christ for the redemption of man and the eradication of sin. On the contrary, Spiritualism's philosophy ever exalts man and condones sin, and denies the ultimate destruction of sin and sinners, demonic and human.
The Bible indicates that in the last great conflict the "spirits of devils," disguised as angels of light, will seek to deceive the world's leaders in time's last hour. According to Inspiration, all through the centuries "the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine upon them" (2 Corinthians 4:4). It has been well said that "brilliant minds without the light of the gospel of Christ become darkened minds, blinded by the god of this world." That is the particular peril of today.
3. TWO SUPERNATURAL FORCES BIDDING FOR CONTROL.
Two unseen supernatural forces are unquestionably struggling for control of the minds and hearts of men today. These are Satan and his evil spirits, or fallen angels, and Christ and the Holy Spirit and the unfallen, or holy, angels. And it is ever to be remembered that good angels never operate through mediums and necromancers or under the darkness of the seance chamber.
With such a background we can sense the fateful significance and eternal consequences of the intensifying cosmic war that impends, together with its fatal outcome. Two invisible forces are pitted against each other, and the prince of darkness has vast legions under his control—confederates in his unholy rebellion. Nevertheless, Christ will be the victor, and Satan and his hosts will be vanquished. Such is the assuring testimony of the Word.
The sole hope of the world lies in the all-powerful Christ, who alone can redeem and hold the human heart in complete security. Unaided, man is not able to hold his own against these tremendous superhuman forces that confront the world.
But we cannot ignore these demonic forces and pressures. Man must take shelter in the conquering power of Christ, His Word, and His promised Spirit. Only thus can he stand against the swirling tide destined to sweep the multitudes on to destruction in these latter times.
4. FINAL CONFLICT INVOLVES EVERY INDIVIDUAL.
This war affects every individual. There are no neutral zones, no un affected areas. Satan is attempting to enthrone himself as the god of a rebel race. He is seeking to rally men around him by pressing anew the age-old dual lies of "no death" and "like god"—the human-deification apologue. The Innate Immortality philosophy is permeating practically all religions. It has been a common denominator in most Christian creeds. And, strange as it may seem, instead of the occult practices of necromancy disappearing in this age of enlightenment, they are, in refined forms, more aggressive now than at any time in history.
There is, however, a noble company of stalwarts who have rejected the fallacy of Immortal Soulism, and all that goes with it.
Throughout the ages Satan has been developing his master plan for the final deception of the "whole world" at the end of the age. The climax of this age-old design will be marked by an irruption of demonic spirits—"unclean spirits," expressly identified as the "spirits of devils" in the closing book of Scripture (Revelation 16:13, 14). These will foment earth's ultimate cataclysm. As repeatedly stated, the trouble all began back with the devil's initial lie in Eden—"Ye shall not surely die" (Genesis 3:4, 5). Step by step the evil one has prepared the way for his wily masterpiece of deception—the final delusions of Spiritualism. These will reach their climax in the dramatic scene portrayed in the Apocalypse: "I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty" (Revelation 16:13, 14).
1. LEAGUED INTO CONFEDERACY BY "SPIRITS OF DEVILS."
From this scripture it is plain that it is the "spirits of devils” that foment the final winds of strife in the climax of human history. Fallen angels and fallen men league together in the last desperate confederacy of evil, moved by a compulsive power from beneath. The leaders of earth are involved, and participate. That is the inspired portrayal. According to the Word, this threefold union embraces the "dragon" (commonly identified as paganism, or the non-Christian world), the "beast" (widely recognized as the Papacy), and the "false prophet" (which many believe to be apostate Protestantism).
These embrace the three great divisions of the human race—a threefold union of ominous import. And only those Christians whose minds have been fortified by the protective of the Word of God will be able to recognize and resist this overwhelming deception fostered by the evil one, which will sweep practically the "whole world" into this seductive delusion.
2. FINAL HOLOCAUST JUST BEFORE SECOND ADVENT.
The foregoing scene is laid in time's last hour, just before the second coming of Christ (Revelation 16:15). It culminates in earth's final holocaust—the world-destroying war of Armageddon. Dreaded through the centuries and now an approaching actuality, and inspired by these "unclean spirits," or "spirits of devils," the nations of the "whole world" are drawn into the final, decimating conflict. It occurs as man's probation ends and world apostasy is about to receive the outpouring of God's final judgments (vs. 19-21).
So, in earth's climactic hour it is the "spirits of devils, working miracles" that seek to engulf the leaders of men and nations. Supernatural powers and wonders will be used to deceive. Unable to account for Satan's "miracles," they will mistakenly attribute them to the power of God, and mankind will thus be led captive. The apostle Paul declares that the Second Advent will bring about the destruction of "that Wicked” "whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders" (2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10). These developments are even now under way. So, when these final miracles are performed by "spirits" purporting to be those of our dead friends, we may know, instead, that "they are the spirits of devils, working miracles" (Revelation 16:14).
3. DELUDED BECAUSE WITHOUT PROTECTION OF WORD.
One of the saddest, most tragic utterances of the Apocalypse is that confused, drifting Christendom will finally become the habitation "dwelling place"] of devils," and the "hold ["prison, ward, cage"] of every foul spirit" (Revelation 18:2). These are, of course, the same as the "unclean spirits” or "spirits of devils" of Revelation 16:4. By that time Spiritualism will have saturated what is denominated Christendom, or "Babylon." Statesmen and churchmen are thus both affected.
And the apostle John adds, concerning the final delusion in Christendom: "By thy sorceries were all nations deceived” (Revelation 18:23). The entire chapter presents a most sobering picture, with its tragic finale. Through the denial of the basic doctrines and provisions of salvation, those so deceived have with one stroke swept away the whole redemptive plan and purpose of God for man, as well as man's sole source of protec tion against the "wiles of the devil." Scientists who have denied the reality of the imponderable demonic forces under Satan's control, will be overwhelmed by the evidence of inexplicable phenomena. And the widespread denial, in religious circles, of the personality of Satan has likewise well-nigh swept away
the protective provisions of the Word.
4. Two OPPOSING FORCES FACE TO FACE.
Two opposing powers stand face to face in the last great conflict—Christ, the Creator and Redeemer of man, and those loyal to Him; and the prince of darkness, and those who have rallied to his banner. These represent two opposing kingdoms contending for the mastery—God's rightful government, and Satan's rebel government, expelled from heaven and now about to make its last stand here on earth in these very days. But, as mentioned, the end of the conflict has been foretold by Inspiration—the ab solute defeat and overthrow of Satan and all who follow him, demonic and human. This is the burden of the closing chapters of the book of Revelation.
5. UNDERLYING CAUSE OF THE GREAT DECEPTION.
It is thus clear that Spiritualism is seeking to take the world captive and is making alarming progress. The reason for its success is obvious: The foundations for the successful spread of Spiritual ism have been laid by the promulgation in both Protestant |and Catholic pulpits of the doctrine of consciousness after death and the possibility of communion of the dead with the living—the basic twofold platform of Spiritualism.
This false teaching has opened the way for the "spirits of devils" to deceive mankind by representing themselves as the spirits of the dead. But it is, instead, satanic agents who personate the dead, and multitudes are captivated by their subtle deceit. They teach that their dead friends are now radiant angels in the higher spheres. It is this that lays the foundation for the last great spiritistic deception now forebodingly under way.
6. IMPELLED BY FORCES BEYOND HUMAN CONTROL.
We stand upon the threshold of tremendous events. The nations are in increasing turmoil. Leaders are being swept onward to ward appalling conflict by forces they do not understand, carried along by a tide they cannot stay. The nations of earth are marshalling their legions, impelled by unrecognized powers be yond their control. In the inerrant portrayal of Scripture the world is approaching the brink of the great last crisis, impelled by the actual "spirits of devils." That is Spiritualism's stellar role in earth's closing events. And the adherents of Spiritualism are themselves duped, just as the nations are being victimized by demonic master minds bent on the destruction of mankind. Let us heed the counsels of the Word. Let us escape the ensnarement of Satan's age-old masterpiece, now entering its final phase—his crowning stratagem.
1. SPIRITISTIC SEANCES DATE BACK TO GATES OF EDEN.
We have seen that Spiritualism is as old as the race. In fact, the spiritistic seance dates back to the beginning of human history—back to the very gates of Eden. Satan himself was the first to employ paranormal phenomena, using the serpent as the medium through which to speak to Eve. According to Holy Writ it was through the talking snake that the tempter made his first intrusion into human thinking—and that over the specific issue of death (Genesis 3:1-6).
Spiritistic phenomena thus made their debut in history through a deliberate attempt to deceive the race concerning the nature of life and death and human destiny. The conflict over this original issue has never ceased. It has persisted in all ages without a pause. History attests that the spread of Spirit ism among primitive pagan nations was appalling. And the climax of the ages has come in our day. But the outcome is as sure as the integrity of God and the adequacy and finality of His power. Look at the end of the controversy.
2. INEVITABLE OUTCOME OF CONFLICT OF THE AGES.
God's last fearful warning against sorcery, and all the kindred abominations for which it stands, is recorded in the closing chapters of the last book of the inspired Canon. Here is the record. The—"unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).
Here sorcery stands for the long category of kindred evil arts, now known under the modern term of Spiritualism. And it is to be visited with "death"—the final, inexorable, predicted "second death," from which there is no recovery. This brings the ultimate end of the issue of Eden, the close of the continuing controversy of the ages.
God and His Word are now proved forever true, and the devil is proved a "liar" from the beginning (John 8:44), the deceiver of mankind, with his siren promise, "Ye shall not surely die" (Genesis 3:4). Now his deceit is exposed and over thrown. Now Satan and his angels, and all human incorrigibles who have refused to believe God and have sided with Satan, are also punished with ultimate, total, irrevocable destruction in the lake of fire, prepared for the devil and his confederate angels (Matthew 25:41). God is proved forever true, and Satan an unmitigated liar. God's word is forever established and His will inexorably executed. Such is the great finale of all history—the conflict of the ages over the origin, nature, and destiny of man.
3. DESTRUCTION FOR BELIEVERS OF SATAN'S ORIGINAL LIE.
The bright side of this tragic picture is the everlasting salvation of the redeemed, who have believed God, heeded His warnings, and accepted His promises. They have obeyed His commandments, and at last dwell forever in the earth made new and again "have right to the tree of life," from which our forefathers were banished for accepting Satan's original controverting lie in Eden. Now they "enter in through the gates” into the city of God, their eternal home (Revelation 22:14). But again is rehearsed the tragic overthrow of Satan's demonic and human followers: "For without are . . . sorcerers, and whore mongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie" (v. 15)—unquestionably including Satan's first and continuing supreme lie of the ages.
That is the inspired depiction of the end of the controversy and the ultimate obliteration of all rejecters of the Word of God and its precepts and promises. Surely the lesson is: Let us believe God and adhere to His Word, and receive eternal life; let us reject Satan's lie—his masterpiece of deception— and the inevitable visitation of eternal death for those who follow his great deceit.
And now this sweeping portrayal of the centuries is before us—the age-old conflict over man's origin, nature, and destiny. the unceasing battle of conflicting schools of thought across the years. With rapid summarizing strokes let us epitomize this vast pageant that has been spread before us in documented detail in these two volumes.
Let us spotlight the leading witnesses to Conditionalism, epoch upon epoch, so as to get the panoramic picture compactly before us. In this way we may fairly and faithfully evaluate the evidence and arrive at a verdict that will be sound and true. And this must be reached upon the basis of revealed Bible truth—the only dependable norm for evaluating the evidence, the lie detector for all testimony, the basis for all right conclusions, the authority for any sound verdict. This revelation gives us assurance of the triumph of truth and the destined overthrow of error. We will thus find our own individual relation to it all.
While we are but distant spectators of the past, we are close-up observers of the present. Yes, we are more than observers, we are inescapable participants in the final clash between truth and error. The continuing conflict of the centuries is to reach its consummation in our day. We are to witness the climax of the struggle. And, on the basis of the Word, the out come is assured. Nor is this some vain speculation or empty, groundless hope. It is founded upon the covenanted Word of the living God, who formed man. He has guided man's destiny across the ages, and according to the inviolable pledge of His promise, He is soon to overthrow all error and establish truth forever.
He will end the controversy. He will overthrow Satan, the father of the twin lies spawned in Eden. He will expose those deceptions that have marred and scarred the centuries. He will crush this masterpiece of deception that has brought the conflict of the ages to the peak of the life-and-death struggle between God's truth and the devil's lie. The conflict will end at the personal return in the clouds of glory of Him who is the Truth and the Life, the Creator and the Redeemer, the Resurrection and the Restorer. Let us go back, then, and first seek the main import of volume one.
Volume one presented the Biblical norm by which we are to test all testimony and to weigh all evidence. We examined the multiple declarations of the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures—the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. We compassed the amplified evidence presented in the New Testament—the explicit declarations of Christ and the apostles, which started the newborn Christian Church on its fateful way, outlined its course and its conflicts together with the triumph of truth restored ere the second advent of our Lord. That is the inspired basis of the Christian faith, the source of all truth concerning the origin, nature, and destiny of man.
1. TRIPLE ORIGIN OF IMMORTAL-SOUL INNOVATION
We then traced the alien origin of the postulate of universal Innate Immortality. Springing out of Orientalism—with its pantheism, pre-existence, emanations, transmigration, and reabsorption concepts—it was joined by the Egyptian version of Immortal-Soulism, and by the gross perversion of Persian Dualism. These elements began, around 900 B.C., to penetrate the thinking of the pagan Greek poets, cults, and mysteries. Thus Hesiod came to hold to the separate survival of the soul, the Dionysiac cults to transmigration, and the Orphic Mysteries to their pantheism and reincarnation, and the Eleusinian Mysteries to their reincarnation, and the concept of the body as the prison house of the soul, longing to be freed.
Thence, around 640 B.C., this composite notion was espoused by the Greek speculative schools of philosophy—the Ionic, Pythagorean, Eleatic, Atomist, and the Compromisers. Despite their divergent views on emanated sparks, pre-existence, pantheism, reincarnation, transmigration, and Dualism, they had one common denominator—the Innate Immortality of the soul. But the intense reaction of the Sophists checked this speculative phase. Meantime the Old Testament canon had closed, about 425 B.C., and we entered the shadowy twilight zone of the Inter-Testament period.
2. BECOMES POTENT PHILOSOPHY UNDER PLATO
In the fourth century before Christ, under Socrates and Plato, we entered the era of systematic philosophy, likewise with its pre-existence of the soul, its successive incarnations, with the soul acclaimed immortal and indestructible. And, significantly enough, Greek philosophy's four problems were: (1) the origin of the world, (2) the nature of the soul, (3) the existence of God, and (4) the criteria of truth. Immortal Soulism thus lay at the heart of its speculation.
But Aristotle abandoned the idea of personal immortality, and denied Plato's pre-existence and reincarnation postulates. The reactions of the Stoics set in, with their materialistic philosophy, along with the licentious Epicurean notions of unbridled indulgence, followed by permanent oblivion, and the Sceptics with their quibbles. The Roman writers carried on from here.
3. JEWRY SPLIT INTO TWO SCHOOLS ON IMMORTALITY
That was the situation when something happened among the Jewish Inter-Testament writers of apocryphal and pseudo-graphical fame. First came the maintainers of Conditionalism, holding to the Old Testament teachings. These included Tobit, Serach, the Sibyllines (with man mortal and the wicked turning to ashes), the Ethiopic and Slavonic Enochs (likewise with the wicked reverting to ashes), the Syriac Baruch (with the righteous sleeping in death, and punishment terminating), the Essene Dead Sea Scrolls (with the righteous living for ever, but the wicked ceasing to exist, and with wrong disappearing forever), and the Second Esdras (with the sleepers called forth and the wicked extinguished). These represented one school, beginning about 200 B.C.
Then, starting about 150 B.C. a second school appeared, adopting and adapting the Platonic philosophy—Second Maccabees (proclaiming Innate Immortality and introducing prayers for the dead); the Jubilees (with the soul surviving, and the resurrection abandoned); Wisdom (with its contradictions); followed by the famous Philo, who allegorized the Old Testament, taught emanationism, pre-existence, incarnations, embodied souls, and eternal punishing. And Philo's career largely paralleled the life of Christ. Jewry had been split into two irreconcilable schools through the inroads of Platonism and other Hellenizing influences. This created a grave and continuing dilemma in Jewry.
4. MOTLEY SITUATION WHEN CHRIST APPEARED
Mean time, among the Roman writers pantheistic despair became preponderant. Manilius, with his pantheism, Cicero holding to pre-existence, and Vergil, with his "world soul," composed the discordant picture painted by these writers. Horace held to eternal sleep, Ovid to the divine spark, but Cato believed that death was the utter end. Seneca the Stoic with his pantheism, Epictetus with refusion, Plutarch with his Platonism, Juvenal and his everlasting sleep, and Aurelius with his reabsorption, present a motley Roman picture.
Such was the situation among the Jews and the Romans, with their recovering and regrouping eclecticism, when Christ appeared on the scene and reaffirmed the Conditionalism taught in the Old Testament, and expanded the truth to sublime proportions. Without pausing to rehearse the clear Conditionalism taught by Christ and the apostles, we note that in the pagan Neoplatonic School, the last stand of pagan philosophy was taking place. Lucius Apuleius held to the world-soul, Numensius to his incarnations and punishments, Plotinus to emanation, Dualism, and reabsorption, and Porphyry to the universal-soul notion. And finally Proclus, in the fifth century A.D., likewise taught emanation, reabsorption, and mysticism, tinctured with Orientalism. Such was the situation when these pagan teachings were forbidden by Justinian in A.D. 529.
5. APOSTOLIC AND ANTE-NICENE CONDITIONALISTS
That forms the setting for the spreading Christian Church. The first group of writers, the Apostolic Fathers, were largely Conditionalist—Clement, with immortality as a gift; Ignatius, with death as a sleep; Barnabas, with ultimate death eternal; Hermes, with the wicked consumed; Polycarp, with the resurrection as the supreme question; and Diognetus, with the wicked terminated.
That brings us to the Ante-Nicene Fathers and Justin Martyr, with man a candidate for immortality, and utter de
struction for the wicked. Next came Irenaeus, with eternal life bestowed, and eternal loss for the wicked, who cease to exist. Then came Novatian, Arnobius, and Lactantius, with immortality as a reward, and presenting a true eschatology. But under the pressures that followed, the Conditionalist voices waned, and in a developing trilemma only an occasional testimony was heard from this first school. Three competing schools of eschatology existed from now on. These were: (1) Conditionalism, (2) Eternal Tormentism, and (3) Universal Rgstorajtionism—the latter two with their false eschatologies. Such was the trilemma that was to confuse and plague the Christian Church until the end of the age.
6. ETERNAL TORMENTISM ESTABLISHED BY TERTULLIAN
Now recall the second school. After a fatal time gap, Athenagoras, about A.D. 188 (first Christian Father to use the term "immortal Soul"), contended that the soul is immortal and imperishable. Tertullian then developed this into a system. His argument was: Since all souls are immortal, the punishment of the wicked must be eternal. He stressed a sacred fire that never consumes but renews as it burns, eternally killing but never terminating. Following Chrysostum and Jerome, Augustine finally added his great prestige to the postulate of inherent immortality for all men, and conscious torment for the wicked forever. This soon became the predominant faith of the dominant church, continuing largely unchallenged through the medieval centuries. Meanwhile, Gnosticism and Manichaeism, with its Dualism and fantastic postulates, plagued the church and complicated the situation.
7. UNIVERSAL RESTORATIONISM PROJECTED BY ORIGEN
But the great name of the third school was Qrigen of Alexandria, home of Philo the Jew. Adopting the view of indefeasible immortality for all, Origen rejected the contention of Eternal Torment for the wicked, holding the fires to be purgative and restorative. His was a determined revolt against the Eternal-Torment thesis. He contended for pre-existence, transmigration, a spiritual resurrection, and the ultimate restoration of all the wicked—though it involved a forced salvation. His principle of allergisation—with a spiritual resurrection, a figurative advent, and a false eschatology—was maintained by many in the developing Catholic Church. But his Restorationism was condemned by the Second Council of Constantinople in A.D. 544, and went into oblivion.
So with Conditionalism largely strangled, and Universal Restorationism suppressed, Augustinianism, with its universal Innate Immortality and its Endless Torment of the wicked, became the dominant faith of the controlling church for a thousand years. The radical departures from the apostolic platform were crystallized and established. That was the essence of the story unfolded in volume one.
1. BLEAK AND LARGELY SILENT CENTURIES
The sweep of volume two covers the conflict over this theological trilemma from the sixth century on to 1963. Restorationism is banned and quiescent all through the Middle Ages. Not until after the Protestant Reformation was under way did it, under the name and concept of Universalism, become active again, first in Europe and then in Colonial America. But its real resurgence was reserved for modern times.
The dogma that all men are Innately Immortal, along with paralleling insistence on the Eternal Torment of the
wicked, was relentlessly imposed by the dominant Papal Church for a thousand years. To this had now been added the innovating concept of Purgatory, based upon the Apocrypha, to mitigate the horrifies of Hell. Classically portrayed by Dante, these concepts prevailed until the time of the Renaissance.
Meantime Conditionalism—the original Christian school of conviction in the age-old conflict over man's nature and destiny—had passed through its bleak and largely silent centuries. Only voices like those of seventh-century Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem; twelfth-century Greek bishop Nicholas; and certain Parisian professors, gave life to Conditionalist sentiments. These were followed by Wycliffe, in Britain. But they made scarcely a ripple in the vast ocean of Immortal-Soulism.
2. WALDENSIAN ADHERENTS AND RABBINICAL REVOLTERS.
There were, however, certain medieval exceptions—definite connecting links traceable back to Early Church times and its Conditionalism. The Waldenses of the Piedmont Alps, in northern Italy, left record of holding to the mortality of man, which view they had preserved from early times, along with rejection of the consciousness of souls in Purgatory. Averroes, noted twelfth-century Arabic philosopher, had openly denied the Innate Immortality of the soul, and all who similarly denied the papal dogma were castigated as Averroists.
The most notable medieval break with Eternal Tormentism was among the most celebrated of the medieval rabbis, beginning with Maimonides, then Nachmanides, and Abravanel, who took their stand on the complete, ultimate excision of the wicked. Theirs was a repudiation of the divergent Jewish tenet introduced by Philo. And this dissent continued on to Protestant Reformation times, when the burden was taken up by Christian leaders.
3. ETHIOPIAN AND MALABAR REJECTERS OF IMMORTAL-SOULISM
Meanwhile, in Ethiopian Africa and over on the Malabar coast, among the St. Thomas Christians of Southern
India, the positions of their founding fathers, pioneering missionaries from Europe, were perpetuated. Like the Waldenses, they had never accepted the papal innovations, but held that man sleeps in the interval between death and the resurrection.
4. POMPONATIUS FORCES DECLARATION OF CATHOLIC DOGMA
But in Italy celebrated philosopher-teacher Petrus Pomponatius revived and pressed the dormant concept that man does not possess an undefeasibly immortal soul. This thought spread among scholars of different lands and forced Pope Leo X to declare, in his famous Bull of 1513, the Catholic position on the natural immortality of the soul. The die was thus cast. The Papal Church was now officially committed to Immortal-Soulism and Eternal-Tormentism—and this just before Luther's break with Rome. That meant war upon all challengers.
5. CONDITIONALISM SPARKS SPLIT IN PROTESTANT RANKS.
Then, beginning with Luther in Germany and Tyndale in England, certain conspicuous Protestant leaders advanced the position that in death man sleeps until the awakening call of Christ the Life-giver on the resurrection morn, at His second advent. Likewise among the Anabaptists of Poland, England, and the Continent—and the Socinians of Poland—there was further challenge of Immortal-Soulism. A number were burned at the stake for holding the Conditionalist position, along with other views considered anathema to Rome. There were other Protestants however, who insistently retained the dominant Roman Catholic position—such as Calvin with his violent attacks against the "sleep of souls."
Thus a split developed among Protestant bodies, though most Protestant creeds incorporated Innatism and Eternal Torment. The Anglican Articles, however, reduced from forty-two to thirty-nine, left the issue of the nature and destiny of man to the conviction of the individual clergyman. Then the conflict intensified as ministers and teachers, physicians and poets, philosophers and scientists, statesmen and publishers, and barristers of prominence unsteadily increasing numbers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, took their stand for Conditionalism and left their ringing testimony on record.
6. NOTABLE RECRUITS TO CONDITIONALIST CAUSE
Richard Overton went to prison for his Conditionalist faith. Man, he held, is wholly mortal, with immortality bestowed as a gift at the Second Advent. The celebrated seventeenth-century poet-statesman John Milton so held. And Dr. Peter Chamberlen, physician to James I, Charles I, and Charles II, likewise maintained the Conditionalist view. A whole succession of witnesses in England and on the Continent so professed. High clerics, like Archbishop Tillotson, took their stand on the Conditionalist platform. The battle raged, with steadily increasing recruits to the Conditionalist cause, with its threefold position of immortality only in Christ, sleep in the grave during death, and ultimate and utter destruction of the wicked.
In the eighteenth century scholars like William Whiston, poets like Isaac Watts, physicians like Dr. Scott, clerics like bishops Warburton and Law, scientists like Priestley, educators like Dr. Peter Peckard, swelled the growing chorus. Conditionalist Archdeacon Blackburne produced his priceless history of the witnesses, extending from the Council of Florence on to his own day in the mid-eighteenth century.
7. NEW WORLD VOICES ADD THEIR TESTIMONY
Mean-time, in the New World, along with the conflict over revived Universalism and such avid champions of Eternal Torment as Jonathan Edwards and Samuel Hopkins, there developed a revulsion against Calvinism. In 1795 the first North American treatise appeared maintaining that after the sleep of death, man's immortality is conferred at the resurrection.
And as the nineteenth century dawned, the chorus of Conditionalists grew stronger, and the parts were augmented by noted scholars. The calibre of the proponents created respect. Bishops such as Porteus and Hampden, and Free Churchmen like Watson and Hall lent the lustre of their names. Archbishop Whately became a standard-bearer. A Conditionalist congregation—attending the Crescent Meeting House—was the first of its kind. (Prior to this, Conditionalism was confined to individual adherents.) There was wide denominational spread.
8. FRESH REVOLTS ADD NEW IMPETUS
Meantime, in North America, Bishop William White, who arranged for the New Episcopal daughter church of Anglicanism, held to Conditionalism. Elias Smith, founder of the Christian Connection, gave impetus to Conditionalism. Man after man joined the ranks in the New World. Shortly after, in the Old World, beginning about 1877, there was a fresh revolt against Eternal-Tormentism that forced the issue to the fore, and spread it to overseas continents. Various Conditionalist journals were launched, and both a scholarly and popular literature developed—along with a wave of reprisals. Laymen were ostracized and clergymen were severed from their denominations for espousing Conditionalism.
9. NOTABLE CHAMPIONS ARISE IN BRITAIN AND CONTINENT.
In England, Congregationalist Dr. Edward White became a shining figure with his emphasis on Life Only in Christ. Canon Constable produced classic books in the field, and noted Congregationalist Dr. R. W. Dale declared his Conditionalist faith. Dean F. W. Farrar startled the religious world in 1877 by his famous sermons in Westminster Abbey denouncing Eternal Tormentism. Scores, yes, hundreds of clergymen took up their positions, pro or con. An interdenominational Conditionalist Association was formed in Britain, with members comprised of clergymen of all faiths.
Symposiums appeared in periodicals and books. Numerous journals, such as The Rainbow, the Messenger, the Bible Echo, and the Standard, championed the Conditionalist cause. A whole library of Conditionalist works was produced. Out standing scholars stood up and were counted. Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Holland, and Italy contributed their witnesses. Missionary leaders in Australia, Africa, India, China, and Japan added their voices, and sometimes were sent home as a consequence.
Statesmen like Prime Minister Gladstone wrote with singular soundness, and scholars like Dr. R. F. Weymouth and Bishop Perowne lent their support. Famous preachers such as London's Joseph Parker voiced their convictions. Great Conditionalist classics, like Dr. Emmanuel Petavel's French work, soon translated into English, stand on record for all time, as do the writings of Dr. E. W. Bullinger. Well-known missioners like Hay Aitken gave strong impetus. So closed the nineteenth century in the Old World. But because these men championed an unpopular cause, their witness is not well known. But it has been given voice in this volume.
10. AMERICA KEEPS PACE WITH OLD WORLD
We must also bear in mind the paralleling American testimony. In the mid-nineteenth century Deacon Henry Grew inspired George Storrs, who, with his Bible Examiner, gave great impetus to this then-unpopular testimony. The widespread revival of the study of Bible prophecy and eschatology in the early decades of the nineteenth century had laid the foundation for the awakening interest. Professor Hudson produced several American classics on Conditionalism. Physician Dr. Charles Ives, of Yale Medical School, made a notable contribution. Pettingell produced important books, and clergymen like Bishop Mann, and J. M. Denniston in Jamaica, Dr. G. D. Boardman of Philadelphia, Moncrieff in Canada, Dr. A. J. Gordon, and many others added their influential voices in emphasizing various aspects of the Conditionalist truth and exposing the errors of the traditional position. The stage is now set for greater advances in the twentieth century.
As the nineteenth century saw certain entire denominations adopt Conditionalism, so in the twentieth century the past three decades have witnessed augmenting radio and television mass communication coverages present the Conditionalist faith on occasion. At the same time an increasing number of outstanding scholars in Britain and on the Continent, as well as in the United States and Canada, have become champions of Conditionalism. Anglican and Free Church leaders have adopted the Conditionalist faith, endorsing it in whole or in part.
GROUND SWELL OF REVOLT AGAINST TRADITIONAL POSITIONS
A group of some six Swedish and Norwegian bishops repudiated the dogma of Eternal Torment amid heated debate. In truth, a wide-ranging ground swell of revolt against the traditional positions has swept over large sections of Christendom. The issues are being more sharply defined and the battle lines drawn between the three great schools concerning this age-old theological trilemma—Eternal-Tormentism, Universalism, and Conditionalism. Men are choosing sides—and changing sides—in harmony with what they discern to be truth.
The spread is impressive. In this twentieth century, scholarly Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, German, French, British, American, Canadian, and Japanese voices have broken forth. University professors, college presidents, archbishops, deans and canons of cathedrals have spoken—such as in Canterbury, St. Paul's, and Birmingham. Bible translators, commentators, editors, rectors, and pastors have borne witness. And these voices have appeared in Anglican, Episcopalian, Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Reformed, Congregational, Methodist, and various other communions.
Many hold high posts in famous universities—such as Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, London, Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham, Erlangen, Zurich, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, McGill, Toronto. And they are found in such theological seminaries as Union, General, Augsburg, Drew, Hamma, and Butler, for example. Books and periodicals have been augmented by the use of radio and television channels. Conditionalism is growing, spreading through largely unpublicized contemporary development.
In the group of chapters immediately preceding we have seen that the culminating factor of the centuries was injected into the conflict in the mid-nineteenth century—the irruption of the titanic forces of Modern Spiritualism. Its appearance and spread constituted the most momentous factor, the climactic element, marking off the final phase of the age-old conflict. First it penetrated the ranks of Protestantism and built upon the entrenched Immortal Soul and paralleling discarnate spirits concepts. Thus the stage was all set for the same penetration into Roman Catholicism, which is completely committed to the identical Immortal Soul and separate-from-the-body-upon-death dogmas. Then, under the resultant "three fold union," as it has been aptly phrased, the final battle will be joined.
1. SUPREME FACTOR IN LAST GREAT STRUGGLE
This is Satan's supreme factor and force thrown into the last great struggle. The current machinations of Spiritualism are by no means new. Spiritism is as old as the race. But all through the past it has operated in cruder, more constricted forms. Its approach has been less adroit; its forms have been more brash and repulsive. Now, through subtler methods, the original error of the ages is making its supreme bid. Its imposing spread has been in the Western World. And now its older allies of the occult East have joined it, and have already taken their place among the metaphysical cults of the West. They hold in common the basic lies introduced back in Eden—lies that induced the Fall; namely, the Innate Immortality of the soul and the innate deity of man. And, more successfully than ever, they are now working within the framework of the established churches.
The significance of it all must not be lost. The "spirits" of Spiritualism are in verity "spirits of devils"—which are actually fallen angels—doing the bidding of the arch deceiver, Satan himself. They are already far along in going forth into the "whole world" (Rev. 16:13, 14), recruiting as many as they can for reinforcements for the coming crisis that is about to burst upon the world with mounting fury.
That is why we are impelled to lift our voice in warning against this supreme delusion, and appeal to every lover of revealed truth to brace against the intensified error of the ages, now massing for its last assault. Irrespective of their methods, the multiple forms of Spiritualism are one and the same in essence. Spiritualism is the sworn enemy of God and His truth. And its assaults are concentrated on the nature and destiny of man. We are therefore constrained to appeal to all to range themselves under the banner of God, and to resist Satan and all his enticements. The issues are clearly before us through the testimony in these two volumes. It is incumbent upon all to choose sides. Neutrality is unthinkable with the evidence of the issues clearly before us.
2. CIRCUMVENTING THE SENTENCE OF GOD
First, under the panoply of the twin lies of Eden men have been led to believe that they can circumvent the sentence of God—"Thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17). They have been told that they can escape the threatened penalty and consequence of sin—under the ruse that men do not and cannot actually die, but are really more alive than ever after the "transition" called death. But it is a trick.
Second, through the alluring promises of Spiritualism men are led to believe that they have access to all the magic resources of the spirit world—that they are joining the advancing spirits of the living "dead" in their onward journey to the upper spheres in evolutionary progression toward deification and ultimate union with God, and this with no ultimate punishment for the sinner. Men are led to believe that all, no matter how vile, will yet become as the angels of God—yes, even like God Himself. That strikes at the divine dictum that "the wages of sin is death."
Never are we to forget that Spiritualism repudiates every fundamental principle of Christianity and salvation. It destroys the basic distinction between right and wrong. It strikes at the moral law and divine government of God. But it is also beset with conflicting claims regarding God, the spirit life, and the hereafter. The vacuities and banalities of the "spirit" communications are disillusioning. And these personating spirits seek only to mislead and destroy. Even Spiritualists themselves admit that in their operations they are plagued by the intruding spirits of "devils." Coupled with this is the failure of Spiritualism's roseate predictions and the gross impostures that have marked its years. In the light of all the evidence adduced, we solemnly aver that it is time to unmask Satan's masterpiece. So, in conclusion, this is our indictment.
Spiritualism is incontrovertibly the oldest, most persistent, most cruel, most ruinous, most subtle, and most widespread deception ever foisted upon mankind. It is as old as the race, and as evil as its malign originator. At the beginning of time it was conceived in the mind of the devil himself, the father of all lies (John 8:44). It is therefore uniquely the original lie, told to the forebears of humanity in Eden, and accepted by them with disastrous results.
The foundation and essence of Spiritualism are a lie with intent to deceive. The goal is to lead men away from God—to reject the Word and flout the warning of God. Its method of propagation has always been deception. Offering life, it brought death. Offering light, it brought darkness. Offering exaltation, it brought degradation. Offering kinship to God, it brought estrangement and separation. It is the world's most hoary and yet most virile falsehood today. It is a wily stratagem that successfully ruined the entire human race and, though the fact is persistently denied, it has brought death and woe to every son and daughter of Adam and Eve since the beginning of time.
1. ADAPTED TO ALL AGES AND CONDITIONS
Spiritualism is also the most adaptable and adjustable deception ever spawned on earth. Like a chameleon, it has accommodated it self to the changing conditions of men of all ages and situations, and adjusted itself to all races and cultures and colours. From basest savage paganism with its gross animism, and pantheism with its all-embracing godship, to the highest civilizations and cultures, such as the intellectual glory that was Greece, it has established its sinister claims and credentials. It thrived amid the pluralities of polytheism, and entrenched itself in monotheistic groups as well. It swept over Asia, Africa, Oceania, and Europe—the Old World and the New, Orient and Occident alike. It has been virtually universal in its spread and appeal. It is unmistakably Satan's masterpiece.
2. FROM UNIVERSAL PENETRATION TO CROWNING DECEPTION
It has survived all changes, civilizations, and cultures—and rides higher today than ever before. From entrenchment in the raw heathenism of ancient nations, it penetrated the two true religions—the chosen Hebrew faith of ancient times and the succeeding Christian Church. It plagued the Early Church and persisted throughout the Dark Ages. It manifested itself in gross Satanist and Luciferian cults, with their revolting secret mysteries.
It has built with equal facility upon pagan, Catholic, and Protestant concepts of a never-dying soul that persists after the death of the body, and that somehow communicates with the living on earth. It prevails today to an alarming degree. And it is destined to become the crowning deception in the closing drama of all time—even to presumptuously seeking to simulate the second coming of Christ in the final deception of the race.
But its "father" and its followers alike, its demonic propagators and its human devotees, will all at last be destroyed in the lake of fire at the close of the millennium. In this retributive holocaust not only will the devil and his angels be burned up but all "liars" and "sorcerers" will be destroyed with them forever (Rev. 21:8). That is the destined finale according to Holy Writ.
3. SPIRITUALISM A CRUEL TRAVESTY
Spiritualism is a cruel hoax, a mocking travesty, a cunning cheat. It preys upon pious human hopes and fears, but leads only to disillusionment and despair. It promises endless life, but leads to eternal death. It promises communication with departed loved ones, but substitutes the pretence of masquerading demons. It promises exaltation, only to disappoint and degrade. It promises that all who hear and heed its siren voice will be like God, only to lead them into fellowship with devils, and to partake of their sinister characteristics. It is a fiendish hoax devised for the unwary.
4. ADAPTS ITSELF TO SCIENTIFIC AGE
As stated, it adapts itself to all cultures. In crude, materialistic, superstitious forms and in vaunted religious garbs and pretensions it flourished for a time—and still functions—in "churches," with ministers and hymns, prayers and doxology. But it adroitly adjusted itself to this scientific age, donning the laboratory coat with emphasis on Extrasensory Perception and Parapsychology—appealing to scientists, physicians, and savants. It succeeds in duping the elite and the astute in this nuclear age.
It publishes no membership lists. When no longer able to function in the open as a separate movement, it goes under ground, as it is largely doing today, and seeks entrance into the popular Protestant churches by captivating and utilizing the susceptible among their ministers and scientific laymen. It likewise seeks to mould statesmen and military leaders through mediums that function in high places. But in and through it all it leads inevitably on to disaster. The ultimate end in this earthly phase will be the holocaust of Armageddon.
5. SWEEPING WORLD INTO THREEFOLD ALLIANCE
There is nothing comparable to Spiritualism in the history of the human race. It is the doctrine of devils and the incantation of "seducing spirits" (1 Tim. 4:1). We repeat, it has survived every passing age and changing epoch, and is going strong to day. It will reach its imposing climax in what are denominated the "last days." It is destined to sweep vast multitudes into earth's final ensnarement, as it penetrates, infiltrates, and integrates itself into both Protestantism and Catholicism in the final threefold union of apostasy, deception, and disaster, master-minded by Satan himself and implemented by his evil cohorts. The outcome is familiar ground to the discerning student of the Word—and so is the triumph of truth and the deliverance of the elect.
Such is the amazing, age-old record of Spiritualism. It turned the Garden of Eden into the first seance chamber, as it were, with the subservient serpent as the first medium. It spoke persuasively through that medium. But the voice of the talking serpent was the voice of Satan. And its seductive message was his dual lie persuasively told to man. Its format and its approaches vary through the ages, but its essence and its undeviating objective never change. And its success persists despite all obstacles.
6. BUILT UPON REITERATION OF UNCHANGING LIE
The stone marker that identified the site of the original Fox sisters' cottage in Hydesville, New York, in 1848, bore the legend, "There Is No Death; There Are No Dead." The obelisk by the side of the later Spiritualist church, in Rochester, New York, carried the same falsification—"There Is No Death; There Are No Dead." And today, in the scientific garb and phrasing of its new frontier, in disguised tones it reiterates the same unchanging lie—"There Is No Death; There Are No Dead." That is the essence of Spiritualism. It never changes.
Its foundation is universal Innate Immortality, and consequent communication between the visible and the invisible worlds. Whoso believes it is believing a lie. Whoso receives it is accepting a deception. But far more disastrous, whoso gives himself over to the devil's master deception will soon share the devil's final fate in the lake of fire—the second death. Whoso propagates it is a rebel against the government and Word of God. And whoso believes it makes God, perforce, a liar and a deceiver, and the devil the fountainhead of "truth" and beneficence. But God is true, and the devil a liar from the beginning.
7. OCCULT AUGMENTATIONS FROM THE EAST
Satan has now brought on his reserves from the East to augment his legions in the West. "Wicked spirits" out of the "mouth of the dragon" of paganism are now joining forces with those of the Beast and the False Prophet, whose identities are well known to Bible students. The final conflict is drawing near. Eerie astral hands from the Orient join the spectral fingers and figures of the West in seeking to entice and then enmesh the masses of the globe in the great final deception that leads to the closing cataclysm of earth.
Theosophy, with its mahatmas and reincarnations, New Thought and its divinity of man, Astara, Psychiana, Unity, Baha'ism, and such—with their varied metaphysical meditations, Yogic exercises, and the contention that man is a "spark of the divine fire"—are some of the multiple reinforcements derived in whole or part from the Orient. They are now making kindred cause with Spiritualism in the West. Such are the augmentations from the East. Together they form a formidable phalanx, having already gained an amazing foothold in the Old World and in the New today, with the climax soon to come.
8. HIGH TIME TO SOUND THE ALARM
In the light of all this, it is high time to sound the alarm to all mankind. It is high time to unmask the devil, and to identify and expose his cohorts and his dupes. It is time to rescue those who are willing to be delivered from the subtlest, crudest, most devastating fraud ever perpetrated upon gullible man. It preys upon the unsuspecting, the trusting, the groping. Its modus operandi is guile, craft, and cunning. And its end is tied to destruction.
Spiritualism is, and always has been, a cheat, a swindle, a trick, an imposture, a hoax, a deception of the gravest kind. We repeat: It is Satan's masterpiece of deception and desecration. Its purpose is to subvert and destroy. It is the old original, and the most modern, the first and the last, and ever-diabolic lie. Beware of its subtleties and escape its inevitable overthrow. It will drag down to ruin all whom it can entice. Sound the warning to all men everywhere. The Bible truth will make men free.
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Since this book deals with a limited number of subjects, this outline of the chapter contents is included in place of a subject index.
A. Jerusalem Patriarch Sophronius Asserts Immortality a Gift
1. Immortality the Grant of God
2. Read Into a General Council Record
B. Arabian Philosopher Averroes Projects Crisis
C. Greek Bishop Nicholas—Immortality Is Gift of God
D. Leading Medieval Rabbis Maintain Final Extinction of Wicked
1. Maimonides Teaches Complete “Excision” of Wicked
2. Nachmanides Also Taught Excision of Soul
3. Abravanel's Second Death Is Annihilation
4. Manasseh: Wicked Souls Cut Off
E. Witness of the Medieval Waldenses of Piedmont
1. Early Historic Backgrounds in Survey
2. Recognized Identity of Antichrist and His Perversions
F. Purgatory Errors Stem From Paganism, Not Scripture
1. Platonic Paganism Source of Purgatory Dogma
2. “Youth Catechism”: Purgatory Against “Commandments of God”
3. “Noble Lesson”: Reward at Day of Judgment
4. “Antichrist” Treatise: No Souls in Purgatory
5. “Now in Heaven” Contention Is Papal Innovation
6. II Maccabees Cited as Papal Ground for Purgatory
7. Papal Inquisitor Confirms Waldenses Rejection of Purgatory
G. John XXII Digresses From Catholic Disposition of Soul at Death
1. The Troubled Reign of Pope John XXII
2. Soul Not in Presence of God Till After Resurrection
3. Disconcerting Questions Arise From Declaration
A. Horrifies of Hell Portrayed in Literature and Art of Middle Ages
B. Historical Development and Involvements of Purgatory
1. Multiple Pagan Sources of Catholic Purgatory
2. Progressive Establishment in Catholic Circles
3. Becomes Powerful Force in Hands of Priesthood
4. Four Scriptural Passages Sometimes Invoked
5. Wherein Purgatory Differs From Hell
6. Summary: Mitigating the Horrors of Hell
A. Agitation During Dominance of Papal Traditionalism
Challenges to Innate Immortality Erupt
B. Wycliffe: Death—Unconscious Sleep, Not Anguish in Purgatory
C. Progressive Developments in Thought and Action
1. Conflicts With Ecclesiastical Authority
2. Breaks Next With Medieval Theology
3. Anticipated Fundamental Principles of Protestantism
D. Soul Sleep and the Myth of Purgatory
1. Led to Identification of Antichrist by Bible Prophecy
2. “Unconscious Sleep” Between Death and Resurrection
3. Immortality Received at the Resurrection
4. No Doctrine to Be Based on a Parable
E. Italian Professor Pomponatius Precipitates a Crisis
A. Revival of Conditionalism Gradually Gathers Momentum
B. Luther Revives Conditionalism at Outset of Reformation
C. The Torments of Hell and the Pains of Purgatory
1. Proclaims Simplicity of the Gospel
2. Crisis Over Releasing Souls From Purgatory
D. Dramatic Break With the Might of Rome
1. Final Rupture by Burning “Bull of Antichrist”
2. Tradition Crowded! Into Background
E. “Immortal Soul” Concept Derived From “Roman Dunghill of Decretals”
1. “Immortal Soul” Included Among Pope's “Monstrous Opinions”
2. Blackburne's Opinion on Luther's Position
3. Kantonen Confirms Luther's Emphasis on “Sleep”
4. Did Luther Later Reverse His Position?
5. Retains “Suspended Consciousness” Concept Till Day of Death
6. Luther's Followers Sought to Conceal Sentiments
F. Counters Purgatory With Unconscious Sleep of Soul
1. Dead Are Unconscious of Passing Time
2. Death a “Deep, Strong, Sweet Sleep”
3. Sleeps in Unconscious Rest and Peace
4. Rests Securely Till Awakener Calls
5. Question of Eternal Torment Left Untouched
G. Anabaptist Often Involved in Conflict Over “Soul” in Death
1. Regeneration Prerequisite to Valid Baptism
2. Distinguish Sound Adherents From Fanatics
3. Five Categories of Anabaptists
4. Principles Held by Sound Anabaptists
5. Characteristics of Geographical Groups
H. Polish Anabaptists—Eternal Life After Resurrection
1. Many Socinians Likewise Hold Conditionalist Positions
A. Clear-cut Stand on the Sleep of the Soul
1. Prophetic Depiction of Papal Perversions
2. Departed Souls Not in Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory
3. Innate Immortality From Paganism and Popery
4. “Saints in Heaven” Destroys Resurrection Argument
5. Does “Master More” Know More Than Paul?
B. Frith—Martyrdom for Denial of Consciousness in Purgatory
C. Twin Causes of Frith's Death by Fire
1. Parable Is Basis of Bishop's Contention
2. Conscious Torment Destroys Resurrection Argument
3. Righteous Rest in Peace, Not in Torment
4. Abraham's Bosom Is Abraham's Faith
5. Denial of Purgatory Becomes Death Warrant
D. Continuous Ethiopian Witness for Thousand Years
1. Frumentius Becomes Bishop of Abyssinia
2. Jesuit Missionaries Discover Dissenting Belief
E. Origin and Witness of Malabar St. Thomas Christians
1. Rise and Spread of the Nestorian Movement
2. Significance of the Nestorian Movement
3. Characteristics of Malabar St. Thomas Christians
F. Malabar Coast Witness—Dead Rest Until Judgment
1. Jesuit Record of Malabar Conditionalism
2. Protestant Record Confirms Conditionalist Beliefs
3. Tampering With the Records
A. Calvin—Foremost Protestant Foe of “Soul Sleep” Postulate
1. Sovereignty of God and Theocracy for Man .
B. Servetus—Conditionalism Included Among His “Heresies”
C. Historical Setting of Calvin's Psychopannychia
D. Hurls Invectives Against Anabaptist Soul Sleepers .
E. The Gist of Calvin's Attack on Soul Sleep
1. Calvin's Definition of the Soul
2. Death of “Soul” is “Abandonment by God”
3. “Dead” Defined as Not “Visibly Existing”
4. “Thoughts Perishing” Construed as “Designs” Dissipated
5. Central Attack Is on “Sleep” of Soul
6. “Sleep” Applies Only to “Body “ Never to “Soul”
7. Acquaintance With Platonism Disclosed
8. Authority of Tradition Is Invoked
9. The Soul Returns to God at Death
10. Freed From Body, Soul Soars Aloft
11. Contends “Rich Man and Lazarus” Not a Parable
12. Christ Intensely Alive During His Death
13. Alleges Jonah Prayed While Dead in Whale
14. Wicked Said to Feel Ceaseless Flame of Eternal Fire
15. Soul Sleep Declared a Fabricated Abomination .—
F. Eternal Torment Not Established Dogma of Anglican Church
1. Earliest Anglican Articles (1553) Condemn “Soul Sleep”
2. Elizabethan Revisions (1563) Reduce Articles to “Thirty-nine”
G. “Mystic” Renato—Soul Sleeps Unconsciously Until Resurrection
A. Terwoort and Pieters Burned for Faith Under Queen Elizabeth
B. Conditionalists Legalt and Wightman Burned at Stake Under James
1. “Rotton Contagious Member” Is “Cut Off”
2. Included “Heresy” of “Soul Sleep”
3. Last Public Burning for “Heresy” by Protestant Monarch
C. 20,000 Baptists Declare “Faith” in Confession of 1660
1. Comprehensive Portrayal of Belief
2. Concept of Nature and Destiny of Man
D. Signatory Caffyn—Immortality Held in “Promise,” Not Present Possession
V. Unitarian John Diddle—Persecuted for Conditionalist Beliefs
F. Immortality for Saints; Utter Destruction for Sinners
1. Eternal Life Limited to Believing Saints
2. Wicked Are Devoured, Pass Away, Perish in “Second Death
3. The Soul to Be Destroyed in Hell
4. First Resurrection for Saints: Second Death for Sinners
A. Milton the Outspoken Proponent of Conditionalism
1. Man a Unit, Not a Compound
2. Death of Body Is Extinction of Life
3. Whole Man Suffers Privation of Life
4. Sentence of Death Executed Upon Whole Man
5. Crown of Righteousness Not Vet Received
6. Souls Not in Heaven During Death
7. Soul of Lazarus Not Recalled From Heaven
8. Natural Propagation, Not Special Creations
B. Conditionalism Even Woven Into Paradise Lost
C. Milton Answers Nine Stock “Objection” Passages
1. Soul Redeemed From Power of Grave
2. Spirit Returns to God, Body to Grave
3. Body, Temporal Life; Soul, Spiritual Life
4. Intervening Time “Annihilated” for Those Who Sleep
5. Grave “Common Guardian of All” Till Judgment Day
6. Souls Under Altar Not Separated From Body
7. Obscure Must Not Override Many Clear Passages
8. Christ Committed Body, Soul, and Spirit to God
9. Not Separation of Soul From Body
D. Poet George Wither—Man a Candidate for Immortality
1. Soul Nonexistent Apart From Body
2. Life “Doth Principally Form the Soul”
A. Overton's Stormy Career as Conditionalist Pamphleteer
B. Samplings of Overton's Conditionalist Contentions
1. During Death Man Ceases to Be Until the Resurrection
2. Mortalized by Adam; Immortalized by Christ
3. All Hope Grounded on Resurrection
4. Paradise Entered by Way of Resurrection
C. Canne Braves Reprisals to Print Overton's Conditionalist Treatise
D. Court Physician—Death a Sleep, With Resurrection Awakening
A. Stegmann of Germany—Dead Restored to Life Through Resurrection
B. Cumulative Argument on Unconscious State of Dead
1. The Immortal-Soulist Position
2. Consciousness in Death Foundation of Purgatory
3. Recalled to Life at Resurrection
4. Was the Apostle Paul in Error?
5. Absurd to Hold Christ and Apostles in Error
6. Disembodied Souls Have No Consciousness
7. Body and Spirit Rejoined at Resurrection
C. Puritan Nathaniel Homes Stresses Resurrection
Significance of Peter Sterry's Endorsement
D. Baptist Richardson Opposes Eternal Torment Dogma
E. Professor Isaac Barrow—Temporal Offenders Not Punished Eternally
F. Philosopher John Locke—Bold Stand Against Innate Immortality
1. Wicked Do “Not Live Forever”
2. Death Not “Eternal Life in Misery”
3. Eternal Life Rests on Promises of God
G. Terse Excerpts From Locke's Arguments
H. Archbishop Tillotson Undercuts Dogma of Eternal Torment
1. Declares Innate-Immortality Assumed, Not “Revealed”
2. Similar Continental Denial by Von Stosch
I. Physician William Coward Denies Separate Entity of Soul
J. Rejects Immortal-Soulism Because of Pagan Origin
1. Wicked Not Yet in Torment, Nor Righteous in Heaven
2. Immortal-Soulism Derived From Heathen Philosophers
3. The Contention of the Philosophers
4. Platonic Philosophy Interwoven Into Early Christian Doctrine
5. Crept Into Church Through Platonic Fathers .
6. Life Interrupted by Death Restored at Resurrection
K. Lawyer Layton Produces Succession of Conditionalist Treatises
L. Scope of Writing Revealed by Twelve Titles
M. Witnesses Span Centuries; Opponents Invoke Same Arguments
A. Blackburne—Historian of Reformation Conflict Over Soul Question
B. Blackburne's Personal Views on Conditionalism
1. The Question of Disembodied Souls
2. Immortality Only Through Resurrection
3. No Separate Intermediate Life of Soul
4. Reformers Lopped “Branches,” Left “Root” of Error
5. Unfairness of Charge of “Heresy”
6. Restoration of “Whole Man” to Life
7. Dead Made Alive Only Through Resurrection
8. Immortal-Soulism “Overturns Whole Christian System”
C. Four Basic Charges Made by Blackburne
D. Scientist Priestley—Total Insensibility Characterizes Death
E. Priestley on the Condition of Man in Death
1. Death Is State of “Absolute Insensibility”
2. Fallacy of “Separate Conscious State”
3. Future Life Based on Resurrection .—
4. “Soul-Sleep” Revival Credited to Bible
5. Time Will Remove Current Prejudices
F. Two Illustrious Questioners of Eternal-Torment Thesis
1. Hymnist Watts—Does Not “Death” Include “Destruction” of Soul?
2. Bishop Warburton—Challenges Proponents of Everlasting Punishment
G. Restorationism Revived as “Universalism” in Post Reformation
A. Baptist Professor Whiston—Holds to Complete Destruction of the Wicked
1. Chaff Is “Burnt Up” in Utter Destruction
2. Flaming Fire to “Utterly Consume” Wicked
3. Eternal Life for Righteous Only
B. Nonconformist Hallett: If “No Resurrection, No Future State”
1. Lost Immortality Restored Through Christ
2. Resurrection for All; Immortality Only for Saints
C. “Anonymous”—Consciousness Utterly Ceases in Death
1. Death Is “Utter Extinction” of Consciousness
2. Flame of Life “Rekindled” at Resurrection
3. Jewish Paradise Unsupported by Scripture
D. Physician Scott—Complete Destruction Awaits the Wicked
1. Destruction. Not “Never-Ceasing Misery,” for Wicked
2. Perpetual Torment Dogma Conflicts With Scripture
E. Bishop Law—Entrance Upon Immortality Only Through Resurrection
1. Life Not Inherent, but a Gift Through Christ
2. Gives Seven Equations of Death
3. Resurrection the Climax of Hope of Immortality
F. Cambridge Master Peckard—Man Mortal; Immortality Solely Through Christ
1. If Immortality Innate, Christ Not Our “Life”
2. Hope of Future Existence Based Solely Upon Christ
3. Object of Christ's Coming to Bring Life
G. Dissenter Bourn—Punishment of Wicked to Be “Total Extinction”
1. Dogma of Eternal Torment “Diabolical”
2. Punishment Is “Proportionate to Guilt”
3. Absolute and “Eternal Destruction” for Wicked
4. Everlasting Life Restricted to “Righteous”
5. Death of Wicked “Total Extinction of Life”
H. Lesser Lights Support Testimony of Major Witnesses
I. “Fringe” Writers Complicate the Controversy
A. Unprecedented Developments Characterize the New Decades
Imposing Array of Talent Champions Conditionalism
B. Reaction to French Revolution Violence Impels Fresh Bible Study
C. Historical Setting for Nineteenth-Century Impetus
1. Hundred Books on Esthatology Appear
2. Parallel Awakening in Old World and New
3. Christendom-wide Resurgence of Premillennialism
D. Little-known Conditionalists Open Witness of Century
E. Congregation Splits Over Immortality and Resurrection Issues
F. Wesleyan Watson—Lost Title to Immortality Regained Through Christ
1. Sinful Man Lost Title to Immortality
2. “Seed” Takes Place of “Tree” as Pledge of Immortality
3. Immortality a Gift, Dependent on Giver
G. Baptist Hall—Eternal Torment Not Essential Article of Faith
H. Bishop Hampden—Brands “Innatism” as Remnant of Scholasticism
I. Taylor—Predicts Unfettered Interpretation of Punishment Will Come
J. Archbishop Whately Expressly Rejects Immortal-Soulist Positions
1. Deals Major Blow Against “Innatist” Theory
2. Philosophy Does Not Establish Immortality
3. Jesus the Source and Assurance of Immortality
4. No Purgatory and No Second Probation
5. “Sleep” the Declared Condition in Death
6. Unconscious of Passing Time in Death-Sleep
7. No “Interval” Between Death and Resurrection
8. Wicked to Be Destroyed, and Cease to Exist
A. Tremendous Shift From Theocratic Puritanism to Advent Expectancy
1. Involvements of the Puritan Theocracy
2. Rhode Island Becomes Haven for Soul Freedom
3. Establishment of Religious Liberty and Bill of Rights
4. Religious Revivals Enter the Picture
5. Multiple Sources of Religious Liberty Principles
6. Resurgence of Eschatology Begins Under Spalding
7. Joseph Lathrop Emphasizes “Time of the End”
B. Revulsion Against Calvinist Extremism Led to Universalism
C. Edwards—^Supreme Exponent of Never-ending Torment
1. Excruciating Torments “Never, Never” End
2. Never Be Delivered From Excruciating Torment
3. Kept in Hell Solely for Endless Suffering
D. Hopkins—Agonies of Damned Add to Joys of Saved
1. Suffering of Damned Said to Give Joy to Redeemed
2. God's Grace Magnified by Eternally Burning Hell
E. Upsurge of Universalism in Colonial and Early National America
1. Universalism Gathers Momentum in Nineteenth Century
2. Battle of Books Over Universalism
F. Significance and Result of the Battle of Pens
1. Belated Appearance of Conditionalist View
2. Comes to Fore in Early Nineteenth Century
A. Bird's-eye Preview of Far-flung Nineteenth-Century Awakening
1. From Grew to Storrs to Advent Movement
2. Prominent Accessions Follow Mid-century
3. Marks the New Period of Extension
B. Anonymous (1795) Precursor of Conditionalists to Follow
C. Bishop White—Mankind Universally Mortal Through Adam
1. Obtained Episcopal Orders for Daughter American Church
2. Turned Away From Calvin's Predestinarianism
3. Mortality Inherited by All From Adam
4. Fall Brought Withdrawal of Privileges
D. Elias Smith—Emphatically Rejects Popular Concept of Hell
1. Rejects Popular Concept of Endless Hell
2. Five “Hells” of Popular Belief
3. Protestant Hell From Pagan Mythology
4. Three Alternatives As to Fate of Wicked
5. Indefeasible Immortality Derived From Platonism
6. Alerted by Book on “Destructionism”
E. Sellon—Impelled to Declare Conditionalist Convictions
1. Punishment Would Not Exceed Sentence
2. Gehenna Denotes “Total and Utter Destruction”
3. Souls of Unbelievers Are Not Immortal
4. Sinner Free to Choose Destruction Rather Than Life
5. Eternal Torture Inconsistent With God's Character
6. Eternal Torment Not Scriptural, Therefore False
7. Gehenna Total Destruction After Death
8. Fire Indicates Total Consumption, Not Eternal Torture
9. Eternal Torture Is “Invention of Man”
10. Four Falsehoods Involved in Eternal Torment
A. “Deacon” Grew—Brings Conditionalism to George Storrs
1. Relinquishes Pastoral Post Because of Convictions
2. Unique Relationship to American Conditionalism
B. Essence of Crew's “Intermediate State” Tract
1. Soul Not Capable of Separate Conscious Existence
2. “Unconsciousness” Marks Period Between Death and Resurrection
3. All Future Existence Depends on Resurrection
4. “Future Felicity” Begins at Second Advent
C. Gist of “Future Punishment, Not Eternal Life in Misery” Tract
1. No “Immortal or Deathless Spirits”
2. Second Death Not “Interminable Miserable Existence”
D. Storrs—Introduces Conditionalism Into Second Advent Movement
1. Becomes a Conditionalist After Three Years' Study
2. Origin of the Famous “Six Sermons”
E. Digest of Storrs's Famous “Six Sermons”
1. Indefeasible Immortality Involves Eternal Suffering
2. Supposed “Indestructibility” of Soul Is Pure Assumption
3. Death Is Total Deprivation of Life
4. Perishing Is Ceasing to Exist
5. Death Is “Extinction of Conscious Being”
6. Fathers Mingled Philosophy With Words
7. Immortal-Soulism Derived From Platonism
8. No Evidence of “Eternal Sin and Suffering”
F. Fitch—Storrs's First Ministerial Convert to Conditionalism
1. Adds Conditionalism to Second Advent Emphasis
G. French—Death an Unconscious State Until Resurrection
1. All Dead in Unconscious State Until Advent
A. Mid-century Begins Attainment of New Stature and Standing
1. Credit Must Be Given to Edward White
2. Pulpiteers and Scholars Give Momentum
B. Foster—Renounced Dogma of Eternal Torment of Wicked
1. Rejected Doctrine of Eternal Torment Half Century Prior
2. Endless Torment a “Slander” Against God
3. Unable to Reconcile Endless Torment With God's Love
C. Dobney—Explicitly Maintains Conditionalist Position
1. Sinners Will Not Live Forever
2. Saints Do Not Go to Heaven at Death
3. Immortality Not Provable From Reason
D. Edward White—Pre-eminent Champion of Conditionalism
1. Troubled in Twenties Over Nature of Man
2. Persuaded of Conditionalism by Fontaine
3. Seven-Year Search Results in Clear Convictions
4. First Book (1846) Creates Storm of Indignation
5. Builds Constituency of Friendship From Hawley Road
6. Honoured With Chairmanship of Congregational Union
7. First Conditionalist Conference in Christian History
8. Made Chairman of Congregational Union of Britain
9. Honored as Pre-eminent Champion of Conditionalism
10. Re-affirmation of Truth and Repudiation of Error
11. Shifted Emphasis From Negative to Positive
E. Presents Positive Conditionalism to World Successfully
1. Larger Significance of Conditionalism
F. Dunn—Doctrine of Eternal Torment Not in Scripture
A. Outstanding Champion of Conditional Immortality
1. His Conditionalist Books Become Standard
2. Conditionalism Augments Every Basic Doctrine
B. Masterful Portrayal of Historical Trilemma (Three Conflicting Positions)
1. Innate Immortality + Eternal Punishing = Eternal Misery
2. Eternal Death of Wicked Involves Ultimate Nonexistence
3. Original Sentence Involved Loss of Existence
4. Priceless Tabulation of Greek Terms Used
5. Opposing Positions Tabulated and Illustrated
6. Scripture Negates Both Eternal Tormentism and Universalism
7. Scripture Asserts Utter Extinction of Evil
8. Challenges Opponents to Controvert View
9. Cites Tustin Martyr and Irenaeus as Conditionalists
10. Tertullian Builds on Athenagoras' Foundation
11. Led to “Forced” Interpretation of Scripture
12. Origen Converts Hell Into “Vast Purgatory”
13. Purification of the “Indestructible” Sinner
14. Spiritualized Scripture to Support Platonism
15. Eternity of Evil Counters Bible Testimony
16. Error's Fatal Gap of Two Centuries
C. Companion Volume Becomes Conditionalist Classic
1. Genesis on True Relation of Body and Soul
2. Man Is One Person, Not Two
3. Relation of Breath of Life to Immortality
4. Distinction Between Soul and Spirit
5. Soul Does Not Survive the Body
6. Gravedom: State of Profound Unconscious Sleep
7. Death Eternal, Except for Resurrection
8. No Perception of Time in Death Sleep
9. Time Annihilated to Those Who Sleep
10. Early Epitaphs Attest “Sleep,” Awaiting Resurrection
11. “Apostolic Fathers” Were Conditionalists
A. Bishop Perowne—Scholarly Advocate of Conditionalism
We Are But “Candidates for Immortality”
B. Thorn—Innate Immortality Inference “Falls to the Ground”
1. Death of the Soul Inevitable
C. Tinling—”Promise of Life” Through Christ Alone
1. Accepted Conditionalism From Bible Alone
2. Eternal Torment a “Stumbling-Block” to World
3. Based Upon Assumptions and Assertions
4. Ethnic Religions Taught Ultimate Loss of Personality
5. Not Left in Ignorance for 1,000 Years
6. No More “Immortal” Than Omnipotent, Omniscient, or Omnipresent
7. Eternal Life Through Christ Alone
8. Everything Depends on Immortality Through Christ
D. Tomlinson—Takes Issue With Bishop of Liverpool
1. Challenges Bishop's Position on Eternal Torment
2. Invokes Bible and Cites Bishop Porteus
3. The Soul “Not Immortal in Itself”
4. “Quotes” Illustrating Line of Thought
5. Protests Alteration of Word and Intent
6. Cites Similar “Bible Standard” Criticism
7. Supreme Conditionalist Is Jesus Christ
8. Fishing in Same Boat With Rome
9. Admonition: Beware of Johoiakim's Penknife Technique
E. Canon Row—Powerful Strokes Against Eternal-Tormentism
1. Athanasian Creed Statement Is Indefinite
2. Philosophy Does Not Prove Immortality of Man
3. Genesis Narrative Favors Conditionalist “Theory”
4. Resurrection, Not Innate Immortality
5. New Testament Symbols Indicate Ultimate Destruction
6. The Twofold Premise of Conditionalism
7. No Creature Has Inherent Endless Existence
8. “Universal Acceptance” Theory Simply Not True
F. Canon Aitken—Champions Conditionalism for Quarter Century
1. Eternal Destruction a State, Not a Process
2. Word and Work Closes Columns to Him
3. Four Questions Propounded by Aitken
4. No “Infinite Penalty” for “Finite Sin”
5. Many Pulpits Sealed Against Him
6. Church Parochial Mission Society Continues to Use Him
7. No Eternal Torment for Brief Earthly Life
8. Death the Forfeiture of Eternal Life
A. Bishop Courtenay—Wicked End in Total Cessation of Being”
B. Leask—Editor of Conditionalist Journal The Rainbow
1. The Rainbow Rides Out Terrific Storm of Criticism
2. Helps Form Conditional Immortality Association
C. Maude—Epochal Rainbow Article Creates Crisis
1. Steps in Adoption of Conditionalism
2. Conditionalist Article Stirs Public Opinion
3. Three Major Contentions of Article
4. Christianity Early Poisoned by Platonism
5. Goes Back to Conflicting Declarations of Eden
6. Full Testimony of Scripture Alone Determinative
7. Three Distinct Classes of Passages
8. Fundamental Fallacy of Universal Salvation
9. Eternal Suffering Involves Character of God
D. Minton—Helps Lift “Life in Christ” From Obscurity
1. Approval and Condemnation for Espousing Conditionalism
2. First Speaker at 1876 Conference on Conditionalism
E. Dale-Conditionalism Makes Christian Fundamentals Invulnerable
1. Highest Honor Within Gift .of Congregationalism
2. Public Stand on Conditionalism in 1873
3. Conditionalism Strengthens Fundamentals of Faith
F. Anglican Test Case of Wilson vs. Fendall Decided in 1864
1. Acquittal Comes at Height of Controversy
2. Discussion Grows in Intensity
3. The Stage Set for Further Events
G. Darby—”Immortality of Soul” Comes From Platonism
1. Earliest Statement: “No Source in Gospel”
2. Position Modified in Later Edition
3. No Immortal Sinners in Divine Plan
4. Historical Note From The Bible Echo
H.. Christadelphians—Likewise Adhere to Main Conditionalist Positions
1. Name Christadelphian Substituted for Christian
2. Epitome of Christadelphian Conditionalist Beliefs
3. Positions Unchanged in Current Writings
A. Dean Farrar—Dramatically Repudiates “Dogma of Eternal Torment”
1. Repudiation Voiced in Abbey, on November 11, 1877
2. Expected Condemnation, but Received Widespread Approval
3. Widespread Publicity Followed by Concentrated Attack
B. Tartar's Written Record of His Tremendous Researches
1. Scriptures Absolutely Silent on “Eternal Torture”
2. Dark Shadow of Augustine Falls on Medieval Theology
3. Deplores Specious Arguments for Endless Torment
4. Condemns Misuse of Texts Out of Context
5. Old Testament Jews Never Taught “Endless Torment”
6. Conditionalist Contentions Confirm Personal Views
7. Invokes Witness of German Scholars
8. Alexandrian Fathers Molded by Plato and Philo
9. Literal Interpretation Leads to Extinctionist View
C. Missionary Impey—Resignation From Methodist Ministry
1. Annual Declaration of Conformity Required
2. Resigns Over “Eternal Torment” Stipulation
3. Takes Stand in Noble Line of Dissentients
4. Restudy Touched Off by Farrar Repudiation
5. Punishment “Everlasting” Because ''Final and Irreversible”
6. Takes Stand, With “So Help Me God”
7. Categorical Answers Required of Impey
8. Resigns Because Cannot Pledge “Silence”
9. Forty Years of Unbroken Service Ends
D. Strang—Virile Conditionalist Editor and Scottish Polemicist
The Messenger a Reflector of Turbulent Times
May, 1878: Agitation Widespread
June, 1879: Macrae Deposed
January, 1883: Two Ministers Expelled
January, 1884: H. H. Dobney Lauded
June, 1884: Removal of Dublin Minister
May, 1884: Laudation of George Storrs
August, 1884: Typical Conference Reported
E. Thorough Investigation Leads to Strong Personal Convictions
1. Immortality of the Soul the Parent Error
2. Platonism Adopted Because of Immortal-Soulism
3. Philosophy Triumphs Over Pure Doctrine
4. Development of Conflicting but Paralleling Schools
F. Laing—Effective Scottish Advocate of Conditionalism
1. Steps in Becoming a Conditionalist
2. Does Not Possess Separate Immortal Soul
G. Ham—Bible Excludes Notion of Independent Immortality
1. Immortality Solely for Believer in Christ
2. Innate Immortality Counter to Inspiration
A. Bible Echo—Panoramic Portrayal of Conditionalist Advances
1. Bible Yields No Support for “Innatism”
2. Abundant Testimony Merits a “Verdict”
3. Address Challenged, and Conditionalist Accession
4. Dale Declaration Received With “Plaudits”
5. Swiss Minister Questioned but Approved
6. Dr. Dale's Declaration of Faith
7. Dale Declaration Attacked by Christian World
8. Christian World Attack Challenged by Echo
9. Great Conditionalist Meeting in Chelsea
10. White on Conditionalist Twenty-three-Year Spread
11. Protests, Accessions, Repudiation, Advance
12. Numerous Tokens of Progress
13. £100-Offer for Missing Text
14. Multiple Provisions of Life” Enshrined in Christ.
15. Summarizing Statement on Conditionalism
B. Homilelic Monthly's “Clerical Symposium on Immortality”
1. Stokes's Strong Case for Conditionalism
2. White: Widespread Contemporary Revival of Conditionalism
3. Host of Contemporary Conditionalists Merit Hearing
C. Active Discussion in Leading Periodicals in -1879
1. Dr. Dale Reaffirms Conditional Immortality Position
2. Contemporary Review Airs All Views
3. Symposiums Appear in Various Journals
D. DennistoD—Jamaican Frontier Conditionalist
1. Apologist for Primitive Gospel in Materialistic Age
2. Endless Suffering Is “Intolerably Oppressive”
3. Man Lost Immortality Through “Fall”
4. Destruction Both a “Process” and a “Termination”
5. Witness of Early Centuries to Conditionalism
E. Binney—In Maturity Repudiates Eternal Torment Thesis
F. Westcott—Innate Immortality “Wholly Insufficient”
G. Rotherham—Immortality Is “Contingent and Dependent”
A. Conditional Immortality Association Formed in 1878
1. Lincoln Conference (September 23-26, 1878)
2. Maberly Conference, London (September 2-4, 1879)
3. Liverpool Conference (September 7-9, 1880)
4. Bradford Conference (September 6-8, 1881)
5. Salisbury Conference (August 30-September 1. 1882)
6. Eastbourne Conference (September 4-6, 1883)
8. Second London Conference (September 1-3, 1885)
9. Edinburgh Conference (September 7-9, 1886)
10. Birmingham Conference (September 6-8, 1887)
11. Second Lincoln Conference (September 2-6, 1888)
12. Dartmouth Conference (September 1-5. 1889)
13. Bacup Conference (September l-4; 1891)
14. Faith Fellowship Founded in 1894
15. Fifty Years of the Association-Mission (1878-1928)
B. Remarkable Conditionalist Faith Library Exerts Widespread Influence
1. Samplings of Titles and Writers
2. Comprehensive Extract From Little-known Writer
3. Historical Recitals Highly Helpful
4. Bible Argument Presented by Expert
5. Defence of Conditionalist Position and Array of Evidence
C. CondStionalism Expounded; and Challenged by Methodism
1. Silencing of Dr. Beet by Methodist Conference Action
2. Perplexing to British Weekly Editor
D. Volume III—New Voices Add Strength and Significance
1. Dr. Clarke Summons Succession of Able Witnesses
2. Soul Is Capable of “Being Made Immortal”
3. Baptist Missionary to China Testifies
4. Engineer, Editor, and Vicar on Ultimate Destruction
5. £1000 Offer Repeated by Clarke for Missing Text
A. Moncrieff—Scottish-Canadian Voice Champions Conditionalism
1. Pioneer of Conditionalism in Scotland
2. Transfers to Canada: Issues Able Book
3. Wicked Return to Non Existence
4. Departs From Conscious Existence
5. Endless Torment Makes “Mockery of Truth”
6. Second Death Is Final Destruction
7. All the Godless Reduced to Ashes
B. Blain—Devastating Blow Against Eternal-Torment Innovation
1. Appeals to Learned and to Prejudiced
2. Cannot Stand Before Light of Word
3. Sevenfold Scope of Book
4. Innate Immortality but Human Assumption
5. Analysis of Twenty “Destruction” Terms
6. No Doctrine Settled by Parables and Symbols
7. Popular Contentions Vitiate Bible Texts
C. Hudson—Lifts Conditionalism to Scholarly Level of Discussion
1. Adoption of Conditionalism Brings Loss of Pastorate
2. Scholarly Works Force Respectful Hearing
3. Believed Himself Called to Allotted Task
4. Penetrates to Heart of Issue
D. Produces the American Conditionalist Classic
1. Divine Justice, and Man's Free Moral Agency
2. Innate Immortality Not Taught or Implied in Scripture
3. Bible Meaning of “Second Death”
4. “Detention” Between Death and Resurrection
5. Accurate Handling of Historical Side
6. Masterful Survey of Witness of Centuries
7. Conditionalism the Coordinated Portrayal of Scripture
E. Abbot—Creator of Indispensable Aid for Evaluating Conditionalism
1. Bible Transcendent in All Doctrinal Issues
2. Matchless Bibliography Serves as Incomparable Check List
F. Physician Ives—Man Mortal: Dead Asleep; Wicked Destroyed
1. How His Book Came to Be Written
2. Scripture Spiritualized to Sustain Immortal-Soulism
3. “Soul” Is “Entire Man” as “Complete Being”
4. Immortality Conferred on “Righteous Alone”
5. Fate of Wicked Is Death, Not Eternal Misery
6. Recapitulation: “Unconscious Sleep”; “Loss of Existence”
G. Additional Features in Enlarged American Edition
1. “Innate Immortality” Derived From Plato
2. “Unconscious” of Passing of Time in Death
3. Use of Protested Term “Annihilation”
4. Ives's Appeal to the Clergy
5. Supplemental Word to Laymen
A. Pettingell—Major American Writer on Conditionalism in 1880’s
1. Gradual Change From Ostracism to Acceptance
B. Able Coverage of Historical, Philosophical, and Biblical Evidence
1. Contrasting Pages of Conflicting Schools' Excerpts
2. Conflicting Views of the Opposing Schools
3. Introduction of Greek Platonism and Persian Dualism
4. Historical Tracement of “Deathless Nature” Concept
5. Origin and Transmission of “Deathless Nature” Theory
6. Three Conflicting Schools Tabulated
7. Arrested Reformation and Analogical Fallacies
8. Second Life Does Not Exclude Second Death
9. New Meanings Placed on Old Terms
10. Man Not Independently Existent
11. Death Is Utter Extinguishing of Life
12. Eternal Life Is Peculiar Glory of Christ
13. Two Classes and Two Destinies
14. First Life Transitory: Second Life Eternal
15. Overthrow and Abolishment of All Evil
C. Life Everlasting Appends “Symposium” With Twenty-one Participants
1. Platonism Penetrates Christianity; Both Are Modified
2. Contrast Between Platonism and Revelation
3. Paul's Warning Unheeded, Resultant Apostasy Subverts
4. Reformation Failed to Repudiate Immortal-Soulism
D. Henry Ward Beecher—Finally Repudiates Dogma of Eternal Torment
E. Lyman Abbott—Denies Innate Immortality and Eternal Torment
1. Rejects Both Universalism and Eternal Torment
2. Repudiates Pagan Teachings on Fate of Wicked
3. God Never Saves Soul Against Its Will
4. Popular Theology Ignores Whole Set of Texts
5. Misconstrues Original Intent and Use
F. Harriet Beecher Stowe—Famous Author in Revolt
1. Harriet's Essay on “Immortality” When Only Eleven
2. In Agony Over Involvements of Calvinism
3. Continuing Struggle Over Eternal Torment Problems
G. Agnostic Ingersoll—Embittered by Eternal Torment Dogma
A. Hendrickson—Truth of “Life in Christ” Unlocks “Hidden Mystery”
1. Conditionalist Position Gives New Grandeur to Preaching
2. The “Soul” Not a Separate Conscious Entity
3. Like “Rosetta Stone, Resolves Hidden Mysteries
B. Professor Butler—Cloud Rolled Away From Face of God
1. Disillusioned by Fiendish “Portrays” in Rome
2. Found Elimination Only Enhanced Gospel System
C. Professor Bacon—Immortality “Conditional Upon the Act of God”
1. Immortality Is Conferred, Not Inherent
2. Rejects Eternal Torment and Innate Immortality
3. Indestructibility of Soul From Platonic Philosophy
4. Immortality a Gift, and Conditional
D. Wilson—Eternal Life Only for Those “In Christ”
1. The Unanswerable Question—Why?
2. God Is Not a “Malignant Fiend”
3. Desperate Involvements of the Dogma
E. Hart—Goes to Very Heart of Provision of Immortality
1. Immortality Centers in Person of Christ
2. Theologians Start From Wrong Assumption Regarding Immortality
3. Deity, Incarnation, and Resurrection Are Basic
4. Paul's Emphasis on Grace, Atonement, Life
5. The Ultimate Destruction of All Evil
6. Weigh the Two Systems—Choose the True
F. Independent Kramer—Immortality Only for Believers in Christ
G. Bishop Mann—Brilliant Midwest Champion of Conditionalism
1. Continuous Line of Dissenters Against Eternal Torment
2. Anglican Articles Contrasted With Other Catechisms
3. Restoration Unsupported by Scripture
4. If Soul Not Immortal, Eternal Torment Theory Collapses
5. Cogent Reasons Against Eternal Torment
6. Defends Position of Ultimate, Absolute “Destruction”
7. Pagan Religions Did Not Teach Immortality of Personality
8. Eternal Existence Only by God's Permission
9. Immortality of Soul Not Taught in Bible
H. Baker—Man Not Inherently Immortal; Wicked Will Perish
1. Man “Not Inherently Immortal”
2. Eternal Life for Saints; Total Destruction for Sinners
3. Destruction Involves Dissolution of Elements
4. Three Conflicting Schools; One Is Right
A. Time Due for Restudy and Settlement of Issues
1. Reformers Left “Middle State” for Present Consideration
B. Rector Huntingdon—Outspoken Champion of Conditional Immortality
1. Huntington Influenced by White and Hudson
2. Conditionalist Views Reaffirmed at Close of Life
3. Immortality a Gift Bestowed on Seekers
4. Ultimate and Utter Destruction of Wicked
5. Conditionalism Implicit in Anglican Formularies
6. Life Only in Christ in Prayer Book and Collects
7. Christ Opened “Gate of Everlasting Life”
C. Boardman—Innate Immortality Negates Resurrection
1. Natural Immortality Not Taught in Bible
2. Man Not Naturally or Inherently Immortal
3. Immortality Tied In With Tree of Life
4. Pagan Dualism Retained in Christian Theology
5. Analogies From Nature Are Deceptive
6. Innate Immortality a Denial of Life as Christ's Gift
7. The Touchstone of Christianity Itself
8. Give Inspired Information About the Hereafter
9. Obligation of the Christian Ministry
10. Summarizing Excerpts on Conditionalism
D. Phelps—Sweeping Portrayal of “Immortal Soul” Issues
1. Immortality of Soul “Has a Bad History”
2. “Heathen Philosophy” Becomes Predominant
3. “Jewish Belief” Corrupted by Association
4. “Christian Compromise'' Effected Slowly
5. “Papal Decree” Formally Officializes Dogma
6. “At Variance” With “Scriptural Account of Man's Creation”
7. “Clashes” With “Bible Statement of Man's Fall”
8. “Opposed” to “Scriptural Doctrine of Death”
9. “Equally Opposed” to “Physiological Facts”
10. “Immortality0 Nowhere Ascribed to Man's “Present State”
11. “Blessing to Be Sought”: Not “Birthright Legacy”
12. “Inherent Immortality” Opposed to “Scripture Doom of Wicked”
13. “Supersedes Necessity for a Resurrection”
14. “Reduces the Judgment” to “Solemn Farce”
15. “Subverts” Bible Doctrine of Second Advent
16. Theory Is “Prolific Source” of “Error”
E. Gordon—Natural Immortality Substituted for Resurrection
1. Death Injected as the Object of Hope
2. Sexton's Bell Has Supplanted Angel's Trump
3. Premillennialism Discredited Under Roman Apostasy
4. Significant Address on “Recurrence of Doctrine”
5. Eschatology to Be Final Battleground
6. Death Substituted for Second Advent
7. Resurrection “Broken From Its Biblical Moorings”
8. Forsaken Doctrines to Be Revived
A. High Scholastic Caliber of Representative Conditionalists
B. Oliphant—Publicly Professes Conditionalism at Installation
1. Potentially, Not Innately, Immortal
2. Death Means Dissolution and Destruction
3. Probation Confined to This Life
4. Christ's Resurrection Is Seal of Immortality
5. Rejects “Innate Immortality” and “Eternal Torment”
6. Denies “Indestructibility of the Soul”
7. Honours “Justice of God” and “Freedom of Man”
8. Conclusion Involves Rejection of Eternal Torment
9. Soul to Suffer, Then to Cease
10. Protests Term “Annihilation” as Misleading
11. After “Disorganization” Man Ceases
C. Episcopal Bishop Hopkins—Denies Eternal Torment Contention
D. Parkhurst—Seeks Insurance Against Eventual Obliteration
E. Moomaw—Life Only in Christ; Total Destruction Without
1. Life of Soul Is Not Self-sustaining
2. Second Death Annihilates Body and Soul
F. Edward Beecher—Scholarly Repudiator of Eternal Torment
1. Restudy of Eschatology Essential and Due
2. Penetration of Persian-Grecian Influence Into Jewry
3. Penetration of Conditionalism Into Christian Church
4. “Enoch's” Theory of Culpability of Fallen Angels
5. Jewish Centers: Babylon, Alexandria, Palestine
6. Eternal Tormentism Becomes Authoritarian Under Justinian
7. Justin, Irenaeus, Arnobius, Hold to “Annihilation”
8. Origen's Restorationism Condemned Under Justinian
9. African Tertullian-Augustinian School of Endless Torment
10. Repudiation of Eternal Torment Only Matter of Time
G. Conditionalism Makes Increasing Friends Among Clergy
A. Olshausen—Immortality of Soul Theory Unknown to Scripture
1. Innate Immortality Utterly Foreign to Bible
B. Nitzsch—Have Only Contingent Immortality: May Cease
1. Perpetual Existence of Damned Not Biblical
2. No “Perpetual Existence” of Damned
C. Schultz—Immortality Contingent; Destruction to Be Total
1. Everlasting Life Only in God
2. Sinful Man Has Only “Transient” Life
3. Immortal Life Gained Solely From Christ
4. Total Destruction for the Reprobate
5. Convinced of Soundness of View in Retrospect
D. High Lights of Dr. Schultz's “Immortality” Treatise of
1. Absolute Immortality Is Possession of God Alone
2. Innate Immortality Not Possessed by Any Creature
3. Mere Creation Did Not Assure Indestructibility
4. To Acquire Immortality Through Second Creation
5. Immortality for Man Possible Through Christ
6. “Second Death” Involves “Death Absolute”
E. Rothe—Suffering Ends in Extinction of the Wicked
1. Principal Conditional Advocate in Germany
2. Immortality Acquired: Personality of Wicked Extinguished
3. Sense of Aionios Is Restricted
4. Idea of Annihilation Is Involved
F. Dqrncr—Destructionist Theory Gaining in Approval
G. Other German Scholars Support Conditionalist View
H. Vinet—”I Do Not Believe in the Immortality of the Soul”
I. Secretan—Rejects Both Eternal Torment and Universalism
1. No Infinite Punishment for a Finite Fault
2. No Impassable Barrier for Divine Power
3. Fatal Weakness of Universal Restoration
4. Predestined Candidate for Conditionalism
5. Annihilation Is Logical Consequence of Fall
J. Sabatier—Not All Are Immortal; Some Head for Dissolution
1. Denies Universal Innate Immortality
2. Death Involves Loss of Personality
K. Philosopher De May—Soul Only Conditionally Immortal; Can Perish
A. Petavel—Greatest Conditionalist Treatise in French
1. Unique Introduction to Fellow Conditionalist White
2. Impelled to Declare Conditionalist Belief Publicly
3. University Lectures Stress Positive Side of Conditionalism
4. Constitutes Unifying Harmonious System
B. Five General Observations on Petavel's Work
1. Masterful Knowledge of Conditionalist Literature
2. Masterful Grasp of Biblical Evidence
3. Clarification of Moral and Philosophical Issues
4. Remarkable Grasp of Philosophical and Historical Evidence
5. Consummation of Conditionalist Investigation
C. Petavel's Masterful Presentation of Case for Conditionalism
1. Purpose: To Defend Doctrine of “Attainable Immortality”
2. “Conspiracy of Silence” Now Broken
3. Conditionalists Not “Innovators” but Continuators
4. Experimental Science Yields No Support for Innatism
5. In Death the Individual Ceases to Exist
6. Challenges Contention of “Universal Consent”
7. Platonism Contained Principle of Pantheism
8. Individualist Immortality Involves Godship
9. Platonism Only a “Hope,” Not “Demonstrated Truth”
10. Fundamental Intent of “Life” and “Death”
11. Creator Provided Conditional Not Inalienable Immortality
12. Innatism Penetrates Jewry Through Alexandria
13. Kabbalah Introduces “Emanation” and “Dualism”
14. Eternity of Life and of Non Existence
15. Immortality Only Through Christ
16. Symbols of Immortality Perverted by Apostasy
17. Death: Final Extinction of All Faculties
18. Conditionalism Among Apostolic and Apologist Fathers
19. Compulsory Immortality in Eternal Hell
20. Revival of Conditionalism in Nineteenth Century
21. Universalism's Fundamental Fallacy Revealed
22. Advantages and Superiority of Conditionalism
23. Multiple Excellencies of Bible Conditionalism
24. Fighting for Great but Still-misunderstood Truth
D. Frederick Ash Freer—Stalwart Supporter of White and Petavel
1. Makes Major Contributions to Conditionalist Cause
2. A Synthesis of the Freer Contribution
E. Byse—First Advocate of Conditionalism in French Journals
A. Gladstone—Immortal-Soulism Entered Church Through “Back Door”
Writings Include Question of Future Life
1. Variant Views Meld in Early Christian Era
2. “Inherent” Immortality Not Ascendant Till Origen
3. “Wholesale” Acceptance by Time of Middle Ages
4. Immortal-Soulism Springs From Plato
5. Led Inevitably to “Eternal Torment” of Damned
6. Eternal Torment Dogma Established Through Augustine
7. Crept Into Church by “Back Door”
8. Immortal-Soulism “Wholly Unknown” to Scripture
9. “Philosophical Speculations” Disguised as Divine Revelation
10. Gladstone's Definitive Description of “Conditionalism”
11. Gladstone's Considered Conclusions in Summation
B. Joseph Parker—Outspoken “Conditionalist” and “Destructionist”
1. Optional: Receive Immortality or Choose Destruction
2. Evil Ends in “Utter. Final, Everlasting Extinction”
3. Indefeasible Immortality Is Palpably Absurd
4. Sodom an Example of “Everlasting Destruction”
C. Stokes-^Man Not Innately Immortal; Only Through Redemption
1. Public Denial of Innate Immortality
2. Source of Immortality and the Intermediate State
3. Man Not Immortal Merely by Creation
4. Unfitted for Immortality, Christ Provides Remedy
5. Endowment With Immortality Only Through Redemption
6. Any “Natural Immortality” Forfeited Through Transgression
7. No Consciousness of Time in Intermediate State
8. Popular Theology Sets Aside Biblical Declarations
9. Assurance of Immortality Only in Christ
A. Two World Movements—Neither Complete in Itself
1. Advent Movement Omits Man's Nature and Destiny
2. Movements Parallel but Do Not Merge
B. Relationships of the Two Major Adventist Bodies
1. Conditionalism Established in Advent Christian Church
2. Advent Christian Church Established in 1861
3. Main Adventist Groups Both Champion Conditionalism
C. World in Ferment in Mid-century Decades
1. Revolutionary World Developments Form Setting
2. Developments in Realm of Religion and Science
3. Mystical Studies Led to Subtle Speculation
4. Diversionary Perils Beset Basic Christian Faith
5. Eschatology Receives Setback From Evolution Theory
6. Theology Trilemma Again Ascendant in Nineteenth Century
7. Conditionalism's Role in Theological Discussion
D. Hastings—Virile American Exponent of Conditionalism
V- Grant—Conditionalist Debater, Editor, and Evangelist
Remarkable Assemblance of Documented Key Statements
F. Taylor—Thumbnail History of Rejecters of Innate Immortality
1. First the Early Church, Then the Medieval Witness
2. Reformation and Post-Reformation Champions
3. The Great Nineteenth-Century Expansion
G. Whitmore—-Writes in Standard Conditionalist Pattern
1. Outline Follows Now-Standard Pattern
H. Wellcome—Publisher of Conditionalist Literature
I. Piper—Popular Historical Sketch of Conditionalism's Vicissitudes
J. Himes—In Later Life Espouses Conditionalism
K. Nonevangelical “Jehovah's Witnesses” Also Adopt Conditionalism
1. Rise and Organized Activities of the “Russellites”
2. Astonishing Publishing and Distribution Achievements
3. Beliefs as to Nature and Destiny of Man
A. Underlying Reasons for Adventist Conditionalist Belief
1. Repudiation of Papal Perversions Imperative
2. Historical Setting and! Motivation for Their Beliefs
B. Progressive Development of Fundamental Beliefs
1. Conferences Result in Unified Movement
2. Eschatology's Part in the Development
3. Fundamental Beliefs Crystallized in “Manual”
C. James White—Organizational Leader Committed to Conditionalism
Word to the “Little Flock” Clearly Conditionalist
D. Bates—With Conditionalist Background Supports Position
1. Clear Concepts in Earliest Adventist Tracts
2. Conditionalist Understanding Safeguards Against Spiritualism
E. Ellen Harmon—Accepts Conditionalist View in 1843
1. Mother Persuaded Soul Not Immortal ”
2. Soundness of Conditionalist View Apparent
F. Andrews—Scholarly Writings Include Conditionalism
1. Eight Guiding Principles in Establishing Doctrinal Platform
G. Canright—Able Compiler of Scholarly Findings
1. Gist of the Argument at a Glance
2. Two Popular Misconceptions Countered
3. Majority Never Accepted Platonism Contemporarily
4. A Summing Up of the Evidence
5. Earliest Hope Through Reliving of Body
6. Plato First Distinctly Taught Immortal-Soulism
7. Received Into Church Through Alexandrian School
8. Immortal-Soulism Not Held by “Apostolic Fathers”
9. Line of Ante-Nicene Fathers Held “Sleep” of Dead
10. Conditionalists From Luther to 1800 AD
11. Modern Revolt Against the Traditional Positions
12. Canright Never Repudiated Scholarly Positions of Centuries
H. Smith—Presents Case for Conditionalism for Seventh-day Adventists
1. Not an Originator but a Perpetuator .
I. Examines Biblical Evidence for Conditionalism
1. Increasing Strength of Conditionalist Adherents
2. Bible Silent on Possession of “Undying Nature”
3. “Image of God” Does Not Involve Immortal Soul
4. “Soul” Not Immortal; “Spirit” Not Deathless
5. “Spirit” Not a Separate Conscious Entity
6. “Spirit” Is the “Principle of Life”
7. Extensive Draft on Conditionalist Authorities
8. Death: Cessation of Life of Whole Man
9. Paramount Place of the Resurrection
10. Relation of Judgment and Resurrection
11. Judgment Precludes Immediate Reward at Death
12. Special Word Zfle Designates Eternal Life
13. Origin of Conflicting Schools on Destiny
14. Punishment Is “Cutting Off” From Life
15. Fire Consumes; Does Not Infinitely Prolong
16. Final Doom Is Oblivion of Sinners
17. Smith a Perpetuator, Not a Pioneer
A. Adventists—Largest Christian Body Holding to Conditionalism
1. Involvements of Conditionalism Listed
2. Fundamental Plank in Adventist Platform
3. Constituent Part of Uniform Baptismal Certificate
4. Line of Conditionalists Spans Christian Era
5. Standing in End Section of Impressive Line
6. Adventism's Most Representative Conditionalist Spokesman
B. Unique Life and Writings of Ellen G. White
1. Her Early Life and Environs
2. Adult Life Tied in With Adventist Church
3. Establishes Remarkable Writing Record
4. Extraordinary Tribute by George Wharton Tames
5. Ten Basic Principles Characterize E. G. White Writings
C. Amazing Time Span, Sheer Output, and Range of Subjects
1. Mere Pagination of Principal Works Impressive
2. Tremendous Circulation of Leading Books
3. Wide Diversity of Subject Matter
4. Greatest Works Written After Sixty-five
D. Scholars Laud Special Writings of E. G. White
1. Columbia University Professor Praises Education Principles
2. Nutritional Counsels Verified by Scientific Advances
3. Better Health Would Result From Teachings
4. Uttered in Advance of Scientific Discoveries
A. “Conflict of Ages” Series Sets Forth Conditionalist Position
1. Man's Free Choice and Moral Accountability
2. Obedience Indispensable Condition of Existence
3. “Doomed to Death” on Day of Transgression
4. Man's Plight Necessitated Plan of Redemption
5. Divine Sentence Involves “Utter Extinction of Sinner
6. Immortality Regained “Only Through Christ”
B. Innate Immortality Concept Rests on “Authority of Satan”
1. Paralleling Eternal Torment Corollary
2. Eternal Torment for Brief Earthly Life Revolting
3. Shocking Involvements of Universalist Alternative
4. Eternal Misery and Universalism Equally Erroneous
5. Unchanging Conditionalist Tenor of Her Teaching
C. Immortality Received at Resurrection After Sleep of Death
1. Wholly Dependent Upon Christ for Immortality
2. Dead Sleep Unconsciously Until Resurrection
D. Basic Fallacy of Immortal-Soul Presumption
1. Innatism and “Eternal Torment” Both Unscriptural
2. Testimony of Old Testament Adduced
3. Witness of Peter and Paul Marshalled
4. Nullifies Need of Previous Judgment
5. Fallacy of Innatism Attacked by Luther
6. Awake From Sleep to Glorious Immortality
E. Full Justification for Sinner's Ultimate Extinction
1. Retributive Justice Accords With God's Character
2. Retribution for Good Both of Universe and Transgressors
3. No Forced Universalism in Divine Plan
4. Contrasting Principles of Life and Death
5. Justice Requires Degrees of Punishment
6. Ultimate Obliteration of Sin and Sinners
F. Three Problem Passages Clearly Expounded
1. Primary Lesson of the Transfiguration
2. Parable Refutes a Second Probation
3. Christ's Assurance to Dying Thief
G. Spiritualism the Consummation of the Lie of Eden
1. Built on Concept of “Consciousness in Death”
2. Spiritualism Constitutes the Perfect “Counterfeit”
3. Exalts Wicked to Honoured Places in Heaven
4. Mysterious Phenomena Not All Trickery
5. Miraculous Events Wrought by Satan's Agents
6. Now Employs More Appealing Approaches
H. Inner Philosophy Based on Principle of Desire for Deification
1. Grave Perils Lurk Behind Pleasing Front
2. Is Merely Revival of Ancient Witchcraft
3. Character Unchanged Despite Modern Camouflages
4. Consummation of the Lie of Eden
5. Spiritualism Makes “Path to Hell” Attractive
6. Among First to Expose Spiritualism's Sinister Character
I. Materialization of “Spirits” Is Deceptive Device
1. Demonic Spirit Impersonated Prophet Samuel
2: Popular Claims Flout Divine Stipulations
3. “Communion With Dead” Is Foundation of Heathenism
4. Evil Angels Simulate “Spirits of Dead”
5. Fraudulent Because Dead Are Incommunicado
6. Apostle Forbids “Fellowship” With Devils
7. Vicious Purpose of Demonic Message
A. Comprehensive Over-all View of Current Living Witnesses
1. Revolt Now Worldwide in Extent
2. Witnesses Presented Chronologically by Decades
B. Archbishop Temple Presents the Case for Conditionalism
1. Annihilation—Not Eternal Torment of Sinners
2. Catholicism's Fourfold Destination of the Soul
3. Purgatory Eliminated From Reformation Categories
4. Heaven and Hell Left as Terrible Alternatives
5. Modern Revulsion Against Eternal Torment
6. Future Life Based on Resurrection
7. The Platonic Concept of Immortality
8. Immortality Offered to Man Conditionally
9. Everlasting Punishment Not Unending Torment
10. Rejecters of God's Offer Are to Be Destroyed
11. Immortality Offered Through Resurrection
12. Man Not Innately but Conditionally Immortal
13. Temple Presents Consistent View of Anglican Church
C. Danish Beck and Teisen—Champions of Conditionalism
1. Beck: Dead Sleep Unconsciously Till Resurrection
2. Teisen: Wicked to Be “Utterly Consumed”
D. Swedish Cleric Ekman—”Unquenchable Fire” Totally Consumes
1. Fires Go Out After Consuming
2. Victims Finally Cease to Be
E. Dean Bennett—Willfully Wicked to Be Completely Destroyed
1. Innatism No Rightful Part of Christianity
2. No Created Being Can Be More Than “Immortable”
3. Fundamental Fallacy of Innate Immortality
4. “Sleep” for Death
5. “Everlasting Fire” Not Endless Duration but “Destruction”
F. Cambridge's Dodd—No Innate Immortality in Bible
G. St. Paul's Dean Matthews—Favors Conditional Immortality
1. Sin Brings Its Own Destruction
2. Self-determination Involves Risk of Disaster
3. Wrong Choice Leads to Destruction
H. Translator Moffatt—Challenges Eternal Torment; Commends Conditionalism
A. Sweden's Bishop Personne—Sweeping Denial of “Eternal Torment”
1. Man's Destiny—”Weakest Point” in Confessional Writings
2. “Intermediate State” Is “Kingdom of Death”
3. Dogma of “Eternal Suffering” Is Wholly “Unbiblical”
4. Augsburg Confession Dictum Not Founded on Bible
5. Anguish of Damned Precludes Joy for Saved
6. Frightful Interpretation Invoked to Sustain Fallacy
B. Cardinal Billot—Dead “Sleep” Until Appointed Awakening
1. Man's Fate Fixed Immovably at Death
2. Sleeps in Death Until General Awakening
C. Anglican Waller—Valuable Handbook for Conditionalists
D. Remarkable Scope of Ground Covered
1. All Faculties and Powers Cease at Death
2. Total Unconsciousness in “Gravedom”
3. Fires of “Gehenna” Only After Resurrection
4. As All Powers Cease, So All Powers Restored
5. Innate Immortality of “Heathen Origin”
6. Death and Mortality From Disobedience
7. No Disembodied “Spirits” Survive Death
8. “Sleep” Implies Unconsciousness and Later Awakening
9. No Resurrection of Lower Animals
10. Man's Pre-eminence Over the Beasts
11. No Immortality Until Resurrection
12. Resurrection Reconstitutes Complete Organism
13. No Consciousness During Intermediate State
14. Samplers From Ten Summarizing Points
A. Bishop Nygren—Scholarly Portrayal of “Innatism” v. Conditionalism
1. Platonism and Christianity in Battle and Compromise
2. Orphic “Soul,” Body-Prison, and “Liberation”
3. “Eros”—Innate Immortality; “Agape”—Resurrection
4. Innate Immortality Concept Held “Not Christian”
5. Origen: Body Is Spirit's 'Prison-House”
6. Irenaeus Rejects Natural Immortality” Concept
B. Bristol's Findlay—Conditionalism Both “Reasonable and Consistent”
1. “Conditional Immortality” and “Destructive Fire”
C. Boston's Knudson—Growing Rejection of Eternal Torment Theory
D. Swedish Bishop Andrae—Resurrection Life, Not Discarnate Existence .
1. Death Means Destruction of Consciousness
2. Resurrection of Body and Soul as “Entity”
E. Edinburgh's Baillie—Admits “Conditionalism May Be Right”
1. Platonism Traced Back to Animistic Sources
2. Conditionalist Position May Be “Right”
3. The Hope of Christian Expectation
F. Scotland's Stewart—Pauline Truth v. Greek and Jewish Errors
1. Antecedents and Consequents of Salvation
2. Fallacy of Surviving Disembodied Spirits
3. “Crass Materialism of Jewish Concepts
4. Twin Blessings of the Second Advent
G. Bible College Forbes—No “Infinite Torture for Finite Sin”
1. Did Christ Suffer “Infinite” Punishment?
2. Testimony of Twelve Conditionalists Cited
3. Christ's “Full Penalty” Precludes Eternal Torment
H. Bowman American Tract—Arrays Plato Against Paul
1. Paul's “Revelation” v. Plato's “Speculation”
2. “Revival” of Dead v. “Survival” of Soul
3. Paul Accords With Scripture; Plato Contradicts It
4. Paul Honours Body: Plato Depreciates It
5. Stock Phrases of ''Platonized Theology” Listed
I. Oxford's Quick—Man Wholly Dies Before Totally Living
1. Immortality Is Gift of Death-conquering Christ
2. “Heavenly Life” Not Through ''Liberation of Soul”
J. Swedish Bishop Cullberg—Soul Is “as Mortal” as Body
A. Archdeacon Guillebaud—Ultimate Extinction for Wicked
1. How “The Righteous Judge” Came to Be Written
2. Outline and Scope of the Manuscript
3. Innate Immortality Not Declared in Scripture
4. “Image of God” Does Not Denote Immortality
5. Hostile Hell “Corner” to All Eternity “Unthinkable”
6. Eternal Punishment May End “Existence” Forever
7. Penal Suffering Not to Continue Forever
8. Ultimate Extinction of Existence for Wicked
9. Memorial of God's “Righteous Judgment”
10. Satan's Existence Shall “Come to an End”
11. Not All “Suffer Equally” in “Second Death”
12. Judgment “Irreversible and Final” in Issues
13. Bowing of “Every Knee” Not Universal Salvation
B. Guillebaud's Summary of Conclusions
1. No Eternal Consciousness of Existence for Wicked
2. Penal Punishment Does Not Involve “Everlasting Torment”
3. A Destruction With No Return
4. God Cannot Tolerate Eternal Rebellion
5. Separate From Sin or Perish With Sin
6. Twofold Basis for Guillebaud's Conclusions
7. Inconsistency of Evolutionists' Objections to Conditionalism
C. Mansfield's Micklem—Innate Immortality Is Greek, Not Biblical
D. Anglican Commission—”Eternal Life” Only for “Believers in Christ”
1. Formal Report of Commission of Fifty
2. Content and Scope of the “Eternal Gospel”
3. Future Life Is of the “Whole Man”
4. Judgment Involves Separation and Destruction of Evil
5. Universal Innate Immortality a “Greek” Concept
6. The Gospel Escape From Everlasting Death
E. Sweden's Kahnlund—Creative Resurrection Bestows Immortality
F. Schoolmaster Gundy—Resurrection, Not Survival of Separated Souls
1. Life Spark Must Come From Outside
2. Bodiless Survival of Soul a “Pagan Notion”
3. Eternal Hell Not Foregone Conclusion
4. Second Death Extinguishes Personality
G. Wesley's Snaith—Innate Immortality Not “Biblical Idea”
1. No Independent Survival Disclosed in Bible
2. All Who Cling to Sin to Be Destroyed
3. No “Immortal Soul” That “Survives Death”
H. Birmingham's Major—Fire Un-Extinguishable Consumes Its Victims
A. Gronigen's Leeuw—Soul Ceases to Exist Until Resurrection
1. Even the Soul Dies in Death
2. Will Receive Immortality at Resurrection
B. Edinburgh's Taylor—Second Death Is “Suicide” Death
1. Rebellious Can Refuse to Respond
C, Beasley-Murray—Survival of Soul Only Would Be Fragmentary
1. Resurrection Is Reintegration of Whole Man
D. Welsh Dean North—Body Necessary for Resurrected Personality
1. Survival Not an Inalienable Right
E. Free Church's Vine—Man Not Immortal, but “Immortizable”
1. Man an “Integrated Unit,” Not a Dualism
2. God Only Has “Natural Immortality”
3. “Natural Immortality” of Man a “Greek Concept”
4. Man “Not a Spirit Inhabiting a Body”
5. Disintegration Ends “Human Biotic Unit”
F. Swedish Bishop Aulen—Immortality Divine “Gift,” Not “Human Prerogative”
1. Greek Dualism vs. Christian Concept of Salvation
2. “Eternal Life” Not Natural “Prerogative” but Resurrection “Gift”
3. Body-Soul Distinction Foreign to “Resurrection Faith”
4. Innate Immortality “Foreign to Faith”
5. Unequivocally Opposed to Spiritualism's Fantasies
G. Lutheran's Heinecken—Man Has No Inherent Immortality
1. Dualistic Concept False; Man a “Unity”
2. Vital Relationship of Creator and Creature
3. Misconceptions Lead to Depreciating the Resurrection
4. Unconscious of Passing Time Till Resurrection
5. “Separable Soul” Unknown to Bible
6. The Way to Eternal Life Set Forth
7. No One Has Life in and of Himself
H. Union's Niebuhr—Sole Hope of Survival Lies in Resurrection
1. Classical Pagan Concept Supplants “Biblical” View
2. Resurrection Teaching Supplanted by Immortal-Soulism
3. Contrast Between “Resurrection” and “Immortality”
I. Harvard's Dean Sperry-Sinners Vanish Into Eternal “Nothingness”
1. Destiny of the “Undeviating Sinner”
A. Rector Simcox—Not a “Guess” About the “Grand Perhaps”
1. Innate Immortality Only a Theory
2. Innatism Not Biblical, Merely Greek Philosophy
3. Man a Unit, Not a Duality
4. Transfers Hope From Man to God
B. Princeton's Ramsey—Immortality Derivative, Not Inherent
1. Platonic Error v. Christian Truth
C. Dean Vidler—”Inherent” Immortality Not Biblical Doctrine
1. Term Not in Bible or Early Creeds
2. Resurrected Men Not “Disembodied Spirits”
3. “Whole Man” Dies, “Every Part of Hun”
D. Caird of McGill—Resurrection Restores “Whole Personality”
E. Woolwich's Bishop Robinson—Fundamental Fallacies of Immortal-Soulism
1. Involves Ultimate Loss of Personality
2. Whole Man Dies; Whole Man Raised
3. Resurrection Does Not Take Place at Death
F. Augustana's Wahlstrom—”Resurrection” Only Hope of Future Life
G. Hartford's Spinka—Rejects “Damned to Eternal Torments”
H. Pike and Pittenger—Not “Indestructible” Nature, but Resurrection
1. “Indestructible” Soul v. Re-created “Body-Soul”
2. “Plausible Theory” v. Resurrection Fact
3. Innatism Defective; Resurrection Complete
I. Temple's Taylor—Denies Presumptive “Deathlessness” of the Soul
J. Rector Davies—Immortal-Soulism Not Biblical but Greek
1. “Created for Immortality” but Became “Mortal”
2. Immortal-Soulism Derived From Greek Philosophy
3. Man a “Unity,” Not “Two Separate Entities”
4. Not “Truncated Creature”—Resurrection of Whole Person
5. Sin Involves “Final Destruction” of Soul
K. Edinburgh's Manson—Resurrection Transforms “Mortal Nature”
L. Stockholm's Bolander—Deliverance Not Through Death, but Resurrection
M. Manchester's Manson—Man Sleeps in Death
1. “Falling Asleep and Waking Up”
2. Continuity of Personality Through Resurrection
N. Tubingen's Heim—No Continuance in “Disembodied State”
O. Canadian Commentator Short—Not “Inherently Immortal”
A. Queen's Shaw—Favours Conditionalism; Rejects Eternal Torment
1. “Embodied Existence,” Not “Disembodied Spirit”
2. “Eternal Fire” Suggests “Ultimate Destruction”
3. Not Immortal by Nature” or “Constitution”
4. Historical Lineage of Conditional Immortality
5. “Ultimate Extinction” for Incorrigible
B. Drew's Craig—Immortality Not Inherent but “Put On”
1. Platonic Immortality Involved “Divination”
C. Boston's De Wolf—No Inescapable “Everlasting Torture”
D. Archaeologist Wright—Eternity Entered by “Resurrection of Body”
E. Theological Debate in Scandinavia Over “Hell” and “Heaven”
1. Bishop Schjelderup Challenges Professor Hallesby
2. Similar Debate Projected by Lindhardt in Denmark
F. Lutheran Kantonen—No Inherent Capacity to Overleap Tomb
1. Historical Vicissitudes of the “Hope”
2. Three Schools Develop as to Eschatology
3. Paganism Penetrates Church in Formative Period
4. Greek View “Entirely Foreign” to “Bible” Position
5. Existence After Death Only by Resurrection
6. “Soul” Is “Destructible” as Well as “Body”
7. Luther's Emphasis on Scriptural “Sleep”
8. Unconscious of Passage of Time in Slumber
9. Fate of Wicked Simply Destruction
G. Richmond's Roberts—Immortality a Gift, Not a Possession
H. Atkinson of Cambridge—Man Not Immortal; Punishing Not Eternal
1. Man Not “Immortal Soul” Imprisoned in a “Body”
2. Old Eden and: New Paradise on New Earth
3. God Gave the Ultimate Criterion of Right and Wrong
4. Sinner Subject to Irremediable Second Death
5. Not “Eternal Torment” but “Everlasting Destruction”
6. Tempting “Serpent” Was Satan Himself
7. Scope of the Serpent's Temptation
8. Death Not Continuing Discarnate Living
9. Divine Provision for Redemption
10. No Eternal Life in Sin and Torment
A. Toronto's Owen—”Greek Dualism” Perverted Christian Theology
1. No “Independent” Soul in a “Corruptible Body”
2. Philosophy of Dualism From Greeks
3. Dualism Is Part of Platonism
4. Biblical Resurrection Opposed to “Orphic Eschatology”
5. “Intermediate State” Leads to Purgatory Concept
6. “Death Knell” of Dualism Sounded
7. “Biblical View” Totally Different From Traditional
B. Zurich's Brunner—Sinner Brings “Eternal Destruction” Upon Himself
1. Platonic Innatism Is Not “Biblical”
2. Sinner Deprives Himself of Eternal Life
3. Pagan Origin of Soul-Survival Concept
4. Platonic Innatism Assimilated by Catholicism
5. Sinister Implications of “Platonic Dualism”
6. Fantasies of Platonism v. Revelation of God
7. Death Springs From Human “Rebellion”
8. Greek Philosophy Irreconcilable With Divine Revelation
9. Created and Destined for Eternal Life
C. Aberdeen's Hunter—Pauline Truth Exposes Platonic Error
1. Revival of Eschatology Unmasks Greek Influences
2. Immortality “Gift of God,” Not Innately Ours
3. Not “Disembodied” Spirits but “Whole Men”
D. India's Bishop Newbigin—Resurrection Not Immortality
E. Disciples' Robinson—”Bodiless Existence” of Greek Innatism Invalid
1. No Warrant for a “Bodiless Existence”
F. Erlangen's Stauffer—Dead “Sleep” Under God's Protective Eye
1. Christian's Resurrection Opposed to Greek Innatism
G. Wesleyan's Spurrier—Rejects Platonic Soul Separation
H. Union's Brown—Not Greek Innate Immortality but Resurrection
1. Greek and Biblical Concepts in Total Conflict
2. Paul's Emphasis on Resurrection, Not Soul Survival
3. “Total Personality” Restored by Resurrection
I. Switzerland's Kraemer—Innatism Not Biblical but Greek
J. Presbyterian Bible Lesson Presents “Immortality Through Christ”
1. Resurrection Is Guarantee of Life to Come
2. Immortality Is From God, Not Man
3. Redemption of the Whole Man
4. Life Because of God, Not of Man
K. Hooke of London—Greek Inherent Immortality Not in Bible
L. Oral Declaration of Late Keswick Teacher, W. Graham Scroggie
A. Switzerland's Cullmann—Eminent Champion of Conditionalism
1. Creative Resurrection Restores Whole Man
2. Body Not Soul's “Prison” but “Temple”
3. Resurrection Not at Death but at “End”
4. Whole Creation to Be Formed Anew
5. Resurrection Does Not Occur at Death
B. Manchester's Rowley—Greek Immortal-Soulism a Deception
C. Edinburgh's Read—Not Something “Released at Death”
D. Catholic Tresmontant—Not Part but “Whole Man” Saved
1. Paul's Frontal Attack on Greek Philosophy
2. The Offence of “Creation” to the Hellenic Mind
3. Mystery Religion “Immortality” v. Judaeo-Christian “Resurrection”
4. Orphic Concept of Souls v. Biblical Resurrection
5. Irreversibility of God and Eternal Returning of Paganism
E. Dominican Tremel—Not “Natural Immortality”: “Resurrection” After “Sleep”
1. Innate “Immortality” Is Relic of Pagan Philosophy
F. Earlham's Trueblood—Disavows an “Eternal Hell”
1. Scientific-Philosophic Evidence Worthless
G. Harvard's Tillich—”Natural” Immortality Not “Christian Doctrine”
H. Harvard's Hocking—Not “Immortality” but “Immortability”
1. Not “Immortality” but “Immortability”
2. Wicked Not “Doomed” to Everlasting Continuance
3. No “Personal Living” Without “Body”
I. Princeton's Homrighausen—Questions Independent Persistence of Spirit
J. Methodist Perry—No “Disembodied Existence” Beyond Death
K. Adventists Reiterate Conditionalism in Statement
L. Colgate-Rochester's Hamilton—Platonic Assurance a “Lie”
M. Drew's Anderson—Mortality of Man v. Greek Immortal-Soulism
N. Chaplain Irion—”Philosophical” Immortality Contradicts Biblical “Resurrection”
O. Marburg's Bultmann—Man a Unified Organism, Not Dualistic
P. Ceylon's Niles—Not “Natural Immortality” but “Resurrection”
A. Moravian's Heller—Immortality Not of Man, but From God
1. Recent Scholarship Challenges Traditional “Dualism”
2. Man Not “Half Mortal” and “Half Immortal”
3. Life After Death “Rests” on “Immortality of God”
4. Life Not “Inalienable” Possession but “Loan” From God
B. San Francisco's Gill—”Discarnate” Spirit Idea Not Sanctioned by Bible
1. Challenges Contention of “Discarnate Souls”
2. Whole Men Die; Whole Men Are Re-created
3. “Discarnates” Not in “Biblical Picture”
C. Canadian “United Church” Committee Report on “Life and Death”
1. Committee “Suspect” “Eternal Punishment”
2. Immortality “Put On” at Resurrection
3. Hope in “Resurrection,” Not in “Natural Immortality”
4. Separable Soul and Body Not Biblical but Platonic
5. Only God “Possesses Immortality” by “Nature”
6. Immortality Not an Inherent Possession
7. Eternal Life Brought to “Perfection” at Second Advent
8. Two Views—”Death-Sleep” v. Resurrection at Death
9. Afterlife Depends on Resurrection
10. Purgatory and Spiritualism Not Biblical
11. Leans Toward TJniversalism on Destiny of Wicked
D. Von Allmen and Associates—Conditionalist Terms Defined
1. “Second Death” and Thief on Cross
2. Death a “Sleep”; No Innate Immortality
3. Eternal Destruction Not Eternal Torment
4. Eternal Life “Wholly New Life”
5. Man Mortal; God Immortal
6. Human Life Is Derived Life
7. Does Not Possess Independent Existence
8. Man “Not Created Immortal”
9. “Gehenna” Connotes the “Second Death”
E. St. Aldate's De Berry—Not Eternal Torment, but “Annihilation”
1. Catholic Position: Eternal Consciousness in Hell
2. Not “Everlasting Torment” but “Annihilation”
F. Handsworth's Strawson—Eternal Life a Gift, Not Inherent
1. Gift of Life and Destruction of Lost
2. Fate at Death “Unchangeable and Final”
3. Sinner Perishes Because Without Innate Life
4. Future Life Not Inevitable Possession
A. New College's Simpson—Man “Immort-able” Not Innately Immortal
1. “Immortal Soul” Neither Biblical Phrase nor Concept
2. Universalism Belittles Fatefulness of Life
B. Amsterdam's Korff and Van Niftrik—Innatism Alien to Bible
1. Van Niftrik Concurs in Denial of Platonism
C. St. Paul's Holden—Dead All “Sleep” Till Second Advent
1. Dead Are in “Place of Waiting”
2. All the Dead in State of Sleep
3. Sleeper Awaits Sound of Angers Trump
D. Baptist Andrews—Hellenic Inroads Neutralize Early “Hope”
1. Blanketing Hellenic “Fog” Envelopes Early Faith
2. Greek Emphasis on “Path of Escape”
3. If Soul in Heaven or Hell No Need of Advent
4. Calvin's Immortal-Soulism Neutralizes “Consummation”
E. Drew's Michalson—No Immortality Apart From Resurrection
1. Souls Do Not Exist Independent of Bodies
2. Not Innate Immortality but Resurrection
F. Swedish-American Princell—Sinner's Punishment Comes to an End
1. Sinner's Punishment Lasts Forever
2. No Eternal Suffering in God's New Universe
G. British Conditionalist Sceats—Veteran Champion of Conditionalism
H. Three Afrikaans Theologians Voice Conditionalist Positions
1. Seminary Professor Keet—No Innate Immortality in Bible
2. Pretoria's Professor Marais—Soul Rests in “Realm of Death”
3. Cape Town Pastor Heyns—Whole Man Is “Prey of Death”
A. Richards—Worldwide Broadcasts Witness to Conditionalism
1. Divine Revelation Instead of Human Speculation
2. Three Views Concerning “Immortality”
3. If Man Is Immortal, Warning Concerning Death Is Invalid
4. Immortal Sinners and Moral Apostasy
5. God, Not Man, Inherently Immortal
6. Immortality Obtained Solely as Gift to Be Sought
7. Gospel Is Good News of Immortality Through Christ
8. Immortality Bestowed by Christ at Second Advent
9. Sole Hope Through the Resurrection
10. Divine Revelation Answers Universal Question
B. Fagal—210-Station Telecasts Include Conditionalism
1. Waiting in Hope for the Resurrection
2. Man Totally Unconscious During Death-Sleep
3. Christian Hope Is in Pledge of Resurrection
4. Spirit Not Entity Capable of Separate Existence
5. Spirit Is Spark or Pnnciple of Life
6. Fires of Hell Not Burning at Present
7. Punished With Destruction at End of World
8. After Punishment Wicked Cease to Exist
9. Mercifully Destroys Spurners of Proffered Life
C. Vandeman—-Covering Whole Regions, Stresses Conditionalism
1. Unmasking the Psychic Masqueraders
2. Gospel Provision of Immortality
3. Hoax Perpetrated by Fallen Angels
4. The Other Side of Death
5. What Happens to Man at Death?
6. Resurrection Promise Rocked Pagan World
D. Remarkable Total Testimony of Entire Denomination
1. Huge Literature Distribution Supports Conditionalism
2. Avowal of Conditionalism Prerequisite to Baptism
3. Educational System Committed to Conditionalism
A. Unique and Valuable Collation by Moses Grouse
1. Growing Group Denies Bible Basis for Innatism
2. Bible Does Not Teach Inherent Immortality
3. Wide Denominational and Geographical Spread
4. Galaxy of Illustrious Names Cited
5. Remarkable Range of Scholarship Represented
6. Greek Origin of Innatism Widely Perceived
7. Ground Swell of Revolt Under Way
8. Resurgence of Bible Study Brings Corrective Swing
B. National Council's Swaim—Immortality a “Gift,” Not “Inherent” Endowment
1. “Notion” of Immortal Soul Not Biblical, but Greek
2. Man Only “Immort-able”; God Alone Immortal
3. Not Native Endowment but Gift of God
C. McCormick's Knight—Innatism Based on Apocrypha Not Bible
1. Resurrection Proffered Hope of “Life After Death”
2. Reformers “Shaken” Away From Medieval Innatism
3. Soul Not Self-existing “Separable” Entity
D. Western's Cocks—Man Lives Again Only by Resurrection
E. Catholic Professor-Editor Davis—Innatism “Alien to Christianity”
F. Princeton's Hendry—Reinterprets “Westminster's” Statements
1. Anglican Origin of Presbyterian Confession
2. Present-Day Reservations Re the Confession
3. Propriety of Taking “Exception” Explained
4. Present-pay “Journey” May Require Revision of “Map”
5. Dogmatism in “Shadowy Region Beyond Death”
6. Not New Confession, but Adjustments of Old
7. Immortality of Soul Derived From Plato
8. Reasons for Questioning Innate Immortal-Soulism
9. “Immediate” Reward at Death Would Nullify Judgment
G. Anglican Rector Bateson—Arraigns Traditionalist Fallacies
1. Five Basic Planks in “Traditional Scheme”
2. Divergent “Interpretation” Added to Bible Truth
3. Supporting Citation From Archdeacon Guillebaud
H. Scientist Schweitzer—Innate Immortality a Greek Derivation
I. Conditionalist Kearney—Assembles Brilliant Quota of French Writers
1. De Pury—-Deliverance at Advent, Not Death
2. Mehl—Christianity Teaches Mortality of Soul
3. De Coppet—Punishment Eternal in Results?
4. Crespy—Not Soul Imprisoned in Body
5. La Morte—Immortality Is Reward of Faith
6. Berdiaeff—Immortality Only in Christ
J. Earth Over Radio Affirms Man Mortal, Not Immortal
1. Position on Immortality Set Forth in Radio Discussion
2. Bible Affirms Immortality Only of God
3. Innate Immortality Not Possessed by Man
4. “Life Beyond” Wholly Dependent Upon God
5. Biblical View Perverted by Platonic Philosophy
6. Man a Unit, Not a Separable Soul
7. Our Only-Hope of Life to Come
8. Eternal Life Only Through Christ
9. The Message of the Word of God
K. Professor Vaucher—Handbook of Continental Conditionalism
L. Japan's Hatano—Resurrection Is From “Nothingness”
1. Death Is Complete “Destruction of Life”
M. Baptist Pastor Hatch Becomes Ardent Conditionalist
1. Two Incidents Start Train of Thought
2. Charges Lead to Revolution of Life
3. Hatch's Views Epitomized in Subheads
4. Not in Spirit-World After Death
5. Death Is Complete Absence of Life
6. “Perish” Is Utter Loss of All Life
7. Eternal Torment Involves Incongruities
8. Eternal Torment Opens Door to Chain of Errors
9. Immortality at Advent the Glorious Prospect
A. Unfolding Panorama of the Centuries Epitomized
1. Platonic Inroads Produce Three-Way Split
2. Dominant Immortal-Soulism Suppresses Opposing Voices
3. Reformation First Restored Fundamentals of Salvation
4. Different Doctrines but Slowly Restored
5. Intense Conflict Over Sleep of Soul in Death
6. Small Groups Retained Conditionalism From Early Times
B. Eighteenth Century Marks Turn in Tide
1. Slowly Gathering Momentum of Eighteenth Century
2. Conspicuous Conditionalist Advances in Nineteenth Century
3. Powerful Conditionalist Literature Makes Appearance
4. Conflict Intensifies in Twentieth Century
C. The Strength of the Case for Conditionalism
1. Value of Testimony of the Witnesses
2. Determining Light of the Centuries
3. Individual Verdict Cannot Be Avoided
D. Perspective Provided for Individual Conclusions
A. The Consummation of the Original Lie of Eden
1. Bolstering Satan's Original Contention
2. Candor and Faithfulness Called For
B. Fox Cottage in Hydesville—Cradle of Modern Spiritualism
1. Raps Develop Into “Code of Communication”
2. European Activities Antedate American Manifestations
3. From Hostile Reception to Phenomenal Spread
4. Sixty Million Adherents Claimed by 1894
5. Conan Doyle Envisions Phenomenal Developments
C. Three Stages in Historical Development of Spiritualism
1. Shifts From Churchly to Scientific Stage
2. Old World Scientists Espouse Spiritualism
D. Organized as World-embracing Religion in 1893
1. Operates Through Sundry Organizations
2. Declaration of Principles a Gradual Development
3. To Give Pre-eminence to Women
E. “Definitions” of Spiritualism as “Science, Philosophy and Religion”
F. Essence of Spiritualism—Survival and Communication
1. Maintain “So-called Dead” Are “Living”
2. Official “Year Book” Confirms Individual Declarations
3. Universal Salvation Fundamental Spiritualist Plank
4. Progressive Passage Through the “Spheres”
5. Spiritualism Consigns Open Rebels to Heavenly Bliss
G. World Triumph of Spiritualism Claimed Under Way
1. Spiritualism's World-conquering Mission
2. Doyle—Spirit's Guidance to Inaugurate Universal Creed
3. Coming Unifier of All Religions
4. One “Scientific Religion” for “Modern Man”
H. Fundamental Place Accorded Andrew Jackson Davis
1. Antedates Fox Sisters' Episode of 1848
2. Memorialized Jointly With Katie Fox
3. Books Written Under “Spirit Control”
4. Rejects Great Verities of Christian Faith
A. “World Federation of Christendom” on Spiritualistic Platform
1. Spirit Messages Call for “Radical Reconstruction”
2. Audacious Claims for Spiritism as Humanity's Saviour
3. Scientific “Spirit Contact” Through Electronic Communications
B. Claims 8 Ushered in New Era for Human Race
1. Claims Christianity Based on Spiritistic Phenomena
2. March 1 (1848) Is Birth Day of Modern Spiritualism
3. Spiritualism the “Coming Universal Religion”
4. New Dispensation Born in 1848
5. Battery of Periodicals Spans First Century
C. Typical Service in a Spiritualist “Church”
1. Features of a Typical Service
2. Spiritualist Hymnal
3. Official Hymnal
D. Occult Episodes in Booth Tarkington Household
1. Heavy Mahogany Table Moves Mysteriously
2. Code of Communication With “Spirits”
3. Grandfather Tarkington Affirms It Is “From the Devil”
4. Remains the Great Unsettled Question
E. Current “Spiritualist Camp” Inducements
1. Cathedral of the Woods'
2. Chesterfield Spiritualist Art Gallery
3. Bangs Sisters' “Precipitation” Paintings Collection
F. Strange Life and Tragic End of Fox Sisters
1. Margaretta's Oscillating Career as Spiritualist
2. Warning Admonition From Dr. Kane to Margaretta
3. Margaretta Purposes to Expose Spiritualism in
4. Joined by Katie in Dramatic Exposure
5. Recants Former Denunciation in 1889
6. Both Sisters Die as Alcoholics
7. Not Troubled Over “Respectability of Origins”
A. Repudiates All Fundamentals of the Christian Faith
1. Based on Internal, Not “External,” Revelation
2. Doyle Denies Sin, Fall, Atonement, Redemption
3. Claims That Salvation Comes From Within, Not Without
4. Thompson Repudiates Atonement, Grace, Forgiveness
5. Manual—Fundamentals of Christian Faith Optional
B. Perverts Basic Facts and Fundamentals of Christianity
1. Claims “Upper Room” Was “Seance” Chamber
2. Such Seances Now Only Outside Christian Church
3. “General Resurrection” Repudiated by Spiritualism
4. “New Heaven and Earth” Simply “Spirit World”
5. Biblical Support Sought From Paul's “Spiritual Gifts”
6. Pauline “Spiritual Gifts” Claimed by Spiritualists
C. Total Departure From “Christian Faith” Platform
1. Spiritualism Not Based on Bible
2. Jesus Held Not Uniquely Divine
3. No Atoning Value in Death of Jesus
4. Jesus Brazenly Declared “Great Medium”
5. Asserts Christianity “Born in a Seance”
6. Substitutes Spiritualism for Holy Spirit as “Comforter”
D. Disdains Bible Support,. Yet Craftily Claims It
1. Invokes Both Antiquity and Modern Scientific Support
2. Claims Bible Permeated With Spiritualism Phenomena
3. President Whitwell Lays Ground for Claim
4. Makes Astonishing Claims for Medium-ship
5. MacDonald Proclaims Independence of Dogmatic Creeds
6. Berry—Spiritualism “Entirely Independent” of Bible
7. Rejects Pauline Theology and Creeds
8. Maneuvered Into Ally for “True Christianity”
9. Maintains Jesus Communicated With Spirit World
10. Asserts Christ Became Medium at Twelve
11. Jesus' “Communication” Cited as Warrant for Spiritualism
12. Grave Involvements of Inescapable Alternatives
E. Spiritualist Manual Presents Official Positions of Spiritualism
1. Mission of Spiritualism to “Revolutionize World”
2. Burial Service: Prayers to Spirits of Dead
3. Quotes Pagan Precursors as Supporters of Spiritism
4. Asserts Bible Honeycombed With Spiritistic Phenomena
5. Fox Sisters' “Raps” Like Telegraph Taps
6. “Evil” Spirits Explained as Merely Ignorant and Undeveloped
7. Emphatic Denial of “Vicarious Atonement”
8. Medieval and Modern Precursors of Spiritualism
9. Claims Regarding Christian Science and New Thought
A. Rehearses Distinctive Principles of Spiritualism
1. Blends Innate Immortality With Godship of Man
2. “Death” Held as Merely Entrance Upon Higher Existence
3. Soul, Spirit, and Angels Differentiated
4. “Man” Considered Part of Evolutionary Pantheistic God
5. “Annihilation” of Wicked Held Impossible
B. Continuing Consciousness and Communication
1. Communication Between “Spirits” and Men Held Basic
2. Continuing Consciousness Supreme Message of Spiritualism
3. New Heavens and Earth to Come Through Spiritualism
C. Modern Spiritualism Central in New World Cycle
1. Predicts Spiritualism World Religion by Close of Century
2. Old “Cycle” Ending; New “Dispensation” Beginning
D. Spiritualism Has Eastern Occult Connotations
1. Spiritualism Lifts “Eastern Curtains”
2. Masters of Past Said to Be Still Preaching to “Spirits in Prison”
E. Spiritualism Equated With Christianity Till Constantine
1. Asserts Early Christianity Was Spiritualist
2. Modern Spiritualism Alleged Revival of “Apostolic” Christianity
3. Christ's Predicted “Signs” Applied to Spiritualist Phenomena
F. Consummating Contention Based on “Revelation 14:6
1. Asserts Angel of Revelation 14:6 Is “Spiritualism”
2. Concealed “Majesty of Immortality”
A. Spiritualism's Scienti6c Front Making Significant Advances
1. Dr. S. G. Soal—British Pioneer in Psychic Research
B. Parapsychology Projects “New Frontiers” in Spirit World
1. Societies for Studying Psychic Sixth Sense
2. Laboratories Converting Scientists Into Spiritualists
3. Man's Mind Said to Be Part of Universal God-Mind
4. Involves Question of Innate Immortality
5. Parapsychology to Help Reunite Christendom
6. New Ally in Spiritual World
7. Used to Diagnose and Heal Disease
C. Parapsychology Concerned With “Life After Death”
1. Indications of Man's “Living Spirit”
2. Testing “Discarnate Spirit Personalities”
3. Medium-Ship Reaches Peak, Then Declines
4. Testing Validity of “Spirit” Claims
5. Quest for Proof Not Yet Conclusive
6. “Burden of Proof” Rests With “Spirits”
7. Some Fresh “Break-through” Still Needed
A. Spiritualism and the Question of Metaphysical Healing
1. “Healing Medium” Relays Energy From Spirit Doctors
2. Spiritualism the Mother of Metaphysical Healing
3. Spiritual Healing” by “Excarnate Spiritual Beings”
4. “Spiritualist Healer” Cures Through “Inherent Powers”
B. Historical Relationships of Mesmerism, Hypnotism, and Spiritualism
1. Theory of “Animal Magnetism” Goes Back to Eighteenth Century
2. “Magnetic Sleep” Developed by Mesmer in
3. Early Nineteenth-Century Revival of Magnetism
4. Mesmerism Revived by Braid, and Called “Hypnotism”
5. Hypnotism Falls Into Disrepute Around
6. Hypnosis Having Current “Spectacular Renaissance”
C. Dr. Davis Writes Under Magnetic-Mesmeric Control
1. Alleged Crest of '“Cosmic Tide” in 1848
2. Unique Place Accorded Dr. Davis
3. Book Dictated Under “Magnetic-Mesmeric” Control
4. Davis' “Medical Revelations” Alleged New Discovery
5. Davis Had Previously Submitted to Mesmeric Control
6. “Mesmerism” at Lily Dale (N.Y.) in 1847
D. “Spirit Healings” Flaunt Explicit Biblical Provisos
1. Modern Counterpart of Occult Healings of Past Centuries
2. Wrought by Power of Unnumbered Spirits
3. Not Wrought in Name or Power of Jesus
4. Modern Counterpart of Pagan Priestcraft Healings
5. True Healing Never Channelled Through Bible-forbidden Mediums
6. Angels in Existence Before First Human Death
E. Invading Citadel of God-given Sacred Individuality
1. Road to Mind Opened to Invading Spirits
2. The Perils of Surrendering the Will
3. Beware of Manipulation by Scheming Men and Devils
4. Hypnosis Not Favoured by Majority of Dentists
F. Hypnosis May Lead to Disastrous Results
1. Insidious Breaching of the Will
2. Inherent Perils of Hypnosis
G. Satan Seeking to Control the Minds of Men
A. Bible Testimony Regarding Satan, Demons, and Occultism
1. Score of Designations Identifying Satan
2. Reality, Personality, and Influence of Demons
3. Evil Activities of the Demons
4. Occult Activities Forbidden Under Punishment
5. Practitioners Become Slaves of Satan
B. Multiple Terms for Variants of Spiritualism
1. “Necromancy”—An Abomination Visited With Death
2. “Witch”—Sorcerer Having “Familiar Spirit”
3. “Wizard”—Alleged Consulter With “Spirits” of Dead
4. Having “Familiar Spirits” Involved Death Penalty
5. “Magic”—Secret Art of the Occult Sciences
6. “Sorcerer”—Ultimate Destruction in Lake of Fire
C. Impersonating Demon Deceived King Saul at Endor
1. Inquired of Woman Having “Familiar Spirit”
2. Impersonating Spirit Answers Illicit Inquiry
3. A Whole Series of Inconsistencies
4. Clearly a Deception Put On by the Devil
D. Fathers Held Samuel Was Impersonated by Demon
1. Tertullian: Samuel Simulated by “Demon”
2. Minucius: Spirits Are Deceiving Demons
E. Warnings Parallel the Claims and Actualities of Spiritualism
1. Ramsey—Spiritualism Is Satanic Delusion
2. A Series of Incriminating Charges
3. Smith—Devastating Exposure of Fallacies and Dangers
4. Biederwolf-Spirits of the “Cloven Hoof”
5. “Diabolical Possession” More Plausible Explanation
F. Investigators Doubt Claimed Identity of “Spirits”
1. Garland Questions Reported Identity of Spirits
2. Evidences of Senses May Mislead
3. Personal Survival Not Demonstrated
G. Various Catholics Hold Phenomena of Satanic Origin
1. Gearon Finds “Diabolic Origin” Theory Persuasive
2. Vaughan—Visitants May Be “Satanic Spirits”
3. Hole—Messages From Personating Evil Spirit
H. Isaiah's Futile Appeal to Disobedient Israel
1. Turned From Author of Life to Author of Death
2. From Subtlety of Demons to Wisdom of God
3. Warned Against Replenishing “From the East”
I. “Covenant With Death” and “Agreement With Hell”
1. Made “Lies” Their “Refuge”
2. Divine Retribution Is Certain
3. Bold and Unholy Alliances Made for Centuries
4. Not “New Revelation”; Simply “Ancient Falsehood”
5. Satan's Device Constitutes Perfect Counterfeit
6. Spiritualism Identical With Ancient Witchcraft
A. Christian Science Built on Dual Errors Enunciated in Eden
1. Traces of Ancient Heresies Appear
2. Every Cardinal Doctrine of Christianity Denied
3. Bible Authoritative Only with “Spiritual” Interpretation
4. Translation Errors “Corrected” by Christian Science
5. Value and Validity of “Literal” Rendering Challenged
6. Sin Disposed of by Denial of Reality
7. Bible Remade Through New “Definitions”
8. God Declared Not ''Person,” but “Principle”
9. Duality Concept of “Father-Mother” God
10. Further “Duality”—Jesus Was Not Christ
11. Mary's Conception of Jesus Only “Spiritual”
B. Innate Godship of Man and Immortality of Soul
1. Main Attack on “Literalism” of Genesis to
2. The Supreme Denial—Jesus Did Not “Die”
3. Vicarious “Atonement” Rejected as “Unnatural”
4. Jesus' Resurrection Only “Reproduction” or “Reappearance”
5. 'Second Appearing” Is Continuance in Christian Science
6. “Emanations” of “Immortal Wisdom”
7. Man Not Made of “Dust” nor Subject to “Death”
8. No Personal Devil or Actual Angels
9. No Final Judgment or Resurrection
10. Man Said to Be “Coexistent,” “Coeternal,” “Indestructible”
11. Man's Eternal Pre-existence Stressed
12. Common Denominator of Most Deviation Groups
C. Mormonism—”Spirits” Eternally Pre-existent Prior to Earthly Embodiment
1. Authoritative Writings Teach Eternal Pre-existence
2. Claim That All Spirits Pre-existed Before Living on Earth
3. All Spirits Existed Before Creation of World
4. Veil of Forgetfulness to Be Lifted
5. At Death All Allegedly Return to “World of Spirits”
6. Claim That All Lived as Spirits in God's Presence
7. Declared Spirit Sons and Daughters of God
8. Unchanged Emphasis in Latest Publication
A. “East's” Crucial Part in Earth's Final Deception
1. Coming Impersonation of Second Advent
2. Twin Lies of Eden Constantly Repeated
3. Pertinence of This Survey
4. Pantheism Is Boldly Taught
5. Reincarnation Likewise Openly Taught
6. India the Spawning Ground of Reincarnation
7. Immortality Sensed in “Seventh Heaven”
8. Jesus Derogated to “Avatar” Status
9. Biblical Portrayal of Inimitable Advent
B. Eastern Occultism's Penetrations and Footholds in the West
1. Spiritistic Origin of Plausible Fantasies
2. Tied in With the Occult and the East
3. Personations Through Reincarnated Agasha Priest
4. New Discoveries to Augment Christ's Teachings
5. New Thought. Stresses Divinity of Man
C. Amazing Conglomerate of Theosophy-related Groups
D. Primitive Animism—Universe Vast Battleground of Spirits
1. Demons Under Master Spirit—Satan
2. Variant Forms Widespread Over the Centuries
3. Medieval Satanism—Compacts With the Devil
4. Demon Possession in New Testament Times
E. Current Pagan Counterpart of Western Occult
1. Animism Based on Immortal “Inner Selves”
2. Communication Between Visible and Invisible
3. Role of Trance-Mediums and Soothsayers
A. Grave Involvements of Variant Eastern Subtleties
1. Nectar of Immortality and Union With God
2. Tie-in With Ancient ''Masters” and Theosophy
3. Theosophy—Immortality by Evolution Through Incarnation
4. The “I AM” Derivative Movement
5. Avowed Purpose Is to Prove Spiritualism
6. Astara—Blending of All Religions
7. Unity—Reincarnation Results in Immortality
8. Significance of “Great Light” From the “East”
B. Bahaism Bears Telltale Spiritualist Marks
1. Wilmette Temple Symbolizes Oneness of Religions
2. Communion of Living With the Dead
3. Constant Intercommunication With Other World
A. Spiritualist Inroads Through “Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship”
1. Reincarnation Naively Taught at Frontiers Conference
2. In Touch With Loved Ones in Spiritual Realm
3. Frontiers Editor on “Methods of Psychic Research”
4. Medium Ford's Adroitly Frank “Talk”
5. “Book Review” and “Notes” on the Psychic
6. “Book Service” Specializes in the Psychic
7. Continuing Emphasis on Psychic and Spiritistic
8. Spiritualist Books Interspersed in List
9. “Third Birth” and “Next Dimension”
B. Fellowship's “Psychic Knock at Church's Door”
1. From Psychic Societies to Church Penetrations
2. Contacts Between Two Worlds Established
3. Persuaded Personally Through Ford “Sittings”
C. African Newspaper Symposium Champions Spiritualism
1. Preponderant View for Spirit Survival and Spiritualism
A. Latter-Day Eruption of Renegade “Spirit” Activities
1. Depraved Spirits Ever Seduce to Destruction
2. Promises Life by Denying Death
B. Spirits of Devils Ascendant in Earth's Final Deception
1. Hitler, Mussolini, and Kaiser Entangled in Toils
2. God of This World Blinds Minds of Men
3. Two Supernatural Forces Bidding for Control
4. Final Conflict Involves Every Individual
C. World to Be Swept Into Final Conflict by Demonic Forces
1. Leagued Into Confederacy by “Spirits of Devils”
2. Final Holocaust Just Before Second Advent
3. Deluded Because Without Protection of Word
4. Two Opposing Forces Face to Face
5. Underlying Cause of the Great Deception
6. Impelled by Forces Beyond Human Control
D. Vindication of God's Truth: Overthrow of Satan's Lie
1. Spiritistic Seances Date Back to Gates of Eden
2. Inevitable Outcome of Conflict of the Ages
3. Destruction for Believers of Satan's Original Lie
A. Build-up and Penetration of Immortal-Soul Concept
1. Triple Origin of Immortal Soul Innovation
2. Becomes Potent Philosophy Under Plato
3. Jewry Split Into Two Schools on Immortality
4. Motley Situation When Christ Appeared
5. Apostolic and Ante-Nicene Conditionalists
6. Eternal Tormentism Established by Tertullian
7. Universal Restorationism Projected by Origen
B. Reformation Sparks Resurgence of Conditionalism
1. Bleak and Largely Silent Centuries
2. Waldensian Adherents and Rabbinical Revolters
3. Ethiopian and Malabar Rejecters of Immprtal-Soulism
4. Pomponatius Forces Declaration of Catholic Dogma
5. Conditionalism Sparks Split in Protestant Ranks
6. Notable Recruits to Conditionalist Cause
7. New World Voices Add Their Testimony
8. Fresh Revolts Add New Impetus
9. Notable Champions Arise in Britain and Continent
10. America Keeps Pace With Old World
C. Brilliant Array of Witnesses Marks Twentieth Century
1. Ground Swell of Revolt Against Traditional Positions
D. Injection of the Culminating Factor
1. Supreme Factor in Last Great Struggle
2. Circumventing the Sentence of Goa
E. Time to Unmask Satan's Masterpiece
1. Adapted to All Ages and Conditions
2. From Universal Penetration to Crowning Deception
3. Spiritualism a Cruel Travesty
4. Adapts Itself to Scientific Age
5. Sweeping World Into Threefold Alliance
6. Built Upon Reiteration of Unchanging Lie
7. Occult Augmentations From the East
8. High Time to Sound the Alarm
Abbot, Ezra
Abbott, Lyman
Abdu'-Baha'
Abravanel, Don Isaac Ben Judah
Adams, John
Adams, John Couch
Adler, Rabbi
Agasha
Aitken, Dr. John W.
Aitken, William H. M. Hay
Aizanes. Prince
Aksakoft, M
Alesius
Alexander, John
Alexandria
Alford, Dean
Alger, William
Allen, William
Althaus, Paul
Alva, Duke of
Ambrose
Anabaptists
Anaxagoras
Anderson. Bernhard W.
Andrae, Tor Julius
Andrews, Charles R.
Andrews, Elisha
Andrews, John Nevins
Anglican Commission
Antomarchi-Doria, Antonio
Appoljinaris
Apuleius. Lucius
Arden, G. Everett
Aristotle
Arius
Armstrong, E.
Arnobius
Arthur, William
Ashcroft, Robert
Athanasius
Athenaeus,
Athenagoras
Atkinson, Basil F. C.
Augustine
Aulen, Gustaf
Aurelius
Austin, B. F.
Austin, John M.
Averroes
Bab. The
Babbitt, E. D.
Babut, Charles
Bach, Marcus
Bachelor, Origen,
Bacon, Leonard Woolsey
Baha'u'llah
Baillie, John
Baker, Lewis Carter
Baker, Samuel
Balfour, Walter
Ballard, Guy W.
Ballou, Adin
Ballou, Hosea
Bampfield, Francis
Bancroft, Aaron
Bangs sisters
Barber, George W.
Barbour, N. H.
Barker,
Barnabas (apostolic father)
Barrow, Isaac
Barth, Karl L.
Basedow, J. B.
Basil,
Bates, Joseph,
Bateson. Bernard L.
Bath, Bishop of,
Baudraz, F.
Baxter, Richard,
Bayford, John,
Bayle, Peter,
Beasley-Murray, G. R.
Beck, Vilhelm,
Bedwell, W. L.
Beecher, Edward
Beecher, Henry Ward,
Beecher, Lyman,
Beet, J. Agar,
Bell, Edward,
Benedict XII (pope),
Benisch, Dr.
Bennett, F. S. M.
Benney, George,
Berdyaev, Nicholas (Berdiaeff, Nikolai),
Bergcrsen, Birger,
Berggrav, Eivind,
Bernstorff, Countess,
Berrow (sic),
Berry, D. Mona,
Berthold of Regensberg
Bertoud, Aloys
Besant, Annie Ward
Best, Ami
Bevan, Llewellyn
Bicknell, Alex
Biddle, J.
Biederwolf, W. E.
Billot, Ludovico,
Bilney,
Binney, Thomas,
Birmingham, Bishop of
Blackburne, Francis,
Blain, Jacob,
Blavatsky, Helena Petrova,
Boardman, George Dana,
Boccalini,
Boegner, Marc,
Bois, Charles,
Bolander, Nils Frederik,
Boniface VIII (pope),
Bonnet, Louis
Borland, Dr. Loren R.
Bounier, Nina,
Bourget, Pierre,
Bourn (e), Samuel,
Bowman, W. H.
Braden,
Braid. Dr. James,
Brandon, John,
Britain, Samuel B.
Britten, Emma Hardinge,
Bro, Albin,
Bro, Harmon H.
Bro, Margueritte H.
Brooks, Cyrus E.
Brooks, Phillips,
Broughton, John,
Brown, George B.
Brown, Hugh B.
Brown, J. Baldwin,
Brown, Robert McAfee,
Brown, Thomas,
Browne, E. W.
Brunner, Emil,
Bucer,
Buchanan, Dr. Claudius,
Buddha,
Buell, D. C.
Bull. Bishop,
Bullinger, E. W.
Bullinger, Heinrich,
Bultmann, Rudolph,
Bunyan, John,
Burgh, William,
Burkhart, Roy A.
Burnham, Edwin
Burnier, J.
Burns, James,
Burr, Charles B.
Burt, Jephthah,
Bushnell, Horace,
Butler, Bishop Joseph,
Butler, Clement Moore,
Butler, George I.
Byse, Charles,
Cadwallader, Mrs. M. E.
Caecilius,
Caffyn, Matthew,
Caird, G. B.
Cairns, Dr.
Calvin, John
Campbell, Alexander,
Canfield, Russell.
Canne, John,
Canright, D. M.
Canterbury, Archbishop of
Carlisle. Bishop of,
Carmichael, Andrew
Carpenter, H. F.
Carrel, Alexis
Carrington, Hereward,
Carter, Jeremiah
Castberg,
Cathari,
Cato
Cayce, Hugh L.
Celestine, Bishop of Rome
Cerinthus
Chamberlen, Peter
Chandler, Samuel
Charles I
Charles II
Charles V
Chase, D. H.
Chauncy, Charles
Chavasse, Christopher
Cheever, Henry Theodore
Chesterfield Camp
Chichester, Bishop of,
Chillingworth, William,
Christadelphians
Chrysostum
Cicero
Clark, Andrew,
Clark, B. F.
Clarke, Adam
Clarke, George
Clarke, Richard,
Clarke, Samuel,
Clarke, Thomas,
Claudius, Bishop of Turin,
Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Rome
Cobb, Sylvanus,
Cocks, H. F. Lovell,
Cocorda, Oscar
Collier, Gordon
Collier, Jeremy
Collins, Anthony
Columbus,
Connell, Dr. R.
Constable, Henry
Constantine, Pogonatus,
Constantius,
Contarenus,
Cook, James M.
Cooke, Parsons,
Cooper, Mark,
Copernicus,
Cornaro, Liugi,
Corrique (Boston),
Corson, Dr. Hiram,
Couch. John,
Coughlan, Robert
Courtenay, Reginald
Coverdale, Miles
Coward, T. C.
Coward, William,
Cox, Bishop
Craig, Clarence T.
Cranmer, Archbishop
Crellius, John
Crenshaw, James
Crespy, Georges
Cromwell. Oliver, J.
Crookall, Robert,
Crookes, Sir William
Crosby, Thomas,
CroswelL A.
Grouse, Moses C.
Crowell, Seth
Cruden.
Cruvellier, J.
Cullberg, John Olof,
Cullmann, Oscar,
Cummings, Jonathan,
Cummins, Geraldine,
Gundy, H. Martyn
Cunmnghame, William,
Curie, Pierre,
Cyprian
Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria
Dale, Robert W
Damian,
Daniel (prophet)
Dante
Darby, John Nelson,
Dashper, W.
D'Aubigne, Merle,
David (king),
Davidson, William,
Davies, David R.
Davis, Andrew Jackson
Davis, Charles
Davis, James M.
Davis, Thomas
Dawes, Matthew
Dawson, Benjamin,
De Almeida, P. Manuel,
Dean, Paul
Dearmer, Percy
De Berry, Keith
De Bonneville, George
De Coppet, M.
De Grenada, Fra Luis
Delachaux,
Delancy, William H.
Delitzsch, Franz
De May, Henry,
Dening, W.
Denk, John,
Denne, Leon,
Denniston. James M.
De Pury, Roland
De Rokche, Professor
De Rouge, Viscount E.
De Sassure,
Descartes,
Desmond, Shaw,
De Uretta, Fr. Luiz,
Deutsch, Rabbi,
De Villette, C. L.
DeVorss, Douglas K.
De Wette, W. M. L.
De Wolf, L. Harold
Dickinson, Charles,
Didymus of Alexandria,
Dingle, Edward J.
Diodorus of Tarsus,
Diognetus,
Dobney, Henry H.
Dobson, Thomas,
Dodd, Charles H.
Dodds, John Boveer,
Dodwell, Henry
Doederlein, J. C.
Dominican of France,
Boreal, Maurice,
Dorner, Isaak August
Dos Santos, Fr. Joao
Doyle, Conan
Duke of Lancaster,
Dunn, Henry
Dunninger, Joseph,
Du Pin, L. E.
Dutton, Salman,
Dyett, Edmond G.
Eadie, Dr. of Glasgow,
Eberhard,
Ebion,
Eck, Dr. Johann,
Eckley, Joseph,
Eddy, Mary Baker
Eddy, Sherwood,
Edmonds. J. W.
Edson, Milan C.
Edward VI,
Edwards, Harry,
Edwards, Jonathan
Ekman, E. J.
Elias (prophet)
Elizabeth, Queen of England
Ellesmere, Thomas Lord,
Elliott, G. Maurice,
Ely, Ezra S.
Empie, Adam,
Ennemoser, Joseph
Epictetus
Epstein, Dr. Sidney
Erasmus
Erigena, Johannes Scotus
Erskine, Ebenezer
Erskine, Ralph
Esdaile, Dr. James
Eugenius IV (pope)
Eusebius
Evans, Caleb
Evans, Warren Felt.
Exeter, Bishop of
Faber, George S.
Fagal, William A.
Farrar, Frederic William
Farre, Dr.
Fassett, O. R.
Father Divine,
Ferguson, Fergus
Fernald, Woodbury M.
Ferrier, J. Todd
Fillmore, Charles
Fillmore, Myrtle
Findlay, James Alexander
Finney, Charles G.
Fishbough, William
Fisher, John
Fitch, Charles
Fleming, Caleb,
Fleming, Lorenzo D.
Fletcher,
Flugge, C. W.
Fontaine, John,
Forbes, Avary Holmes
Forbes, Darius
Ford, Arthur
Fornaiis,
Forster, E. Wood
Forsyth, Robert.
Foster, Dan
Foster. John,
Fox, John,
Fox, Katie
Fox, Margaret
Fox, Margaretta
Fox sisters
Foxe, John
Francis, Eben
Franklin, Benjamin,
Fraser, Dr. of London,
Frazer, Sir James G.
Freer, Frederick Ash
Ffrench-Beytagh, G. A.
French. Calvin
Frere, James H.
Frith, John
Frumentius, Bishop of Abyssinia,
Fuller, Alien,
Furnezux, J.
G. A. H.
Galen, Claudius,
Galileo,
Galvani
Gardiner, Stephen
Garland, D.
Garland, Hamlin,
Gatchell, Joseph,
Gaussen, Louis
Gearon, P. J.
Geddes, Michael.
Geikie,
Gesenius,
George, Nathan D.
Gerhard of Rostock,
Gess, Wolfgang E.
Gieseler,
Gifford, Richard,
Gill, Theodore A.
Gladstone, William E.
Gobat,
Goddard, Peter
Godet, Frederic,
Goodwyn, Henry,
Gordon, Adoniram Judson,
Gordon, John Calvin
Gordon, William,
Gore. Canon
Goudge, H. R.
Graft, J. F.
Graham, Alfred,
Grant, James,
Grant, Miles,
Greaves, C. A.
Greenfield W.
Gregory XI (pope),
Gregory the Great,
Gregory of Nyssen,
Grew, Henry
Griffith, Rev. W.
Grosh, Aaron B.
Grotius
Groves, A. N.
Guest, Bishop,
Guild, E. E.
Guillebaud, Harold Ernest
Guillebaud, Mrs. M. G.
Haering,
Haile, John R.
Hales, John,
Hall, Alexander
Hall, Robert,
Hallesby, Ole
Hallett, Joseph
Ham, James Panton
Hamburger, Dr.
Hamilton, Dr. William,
Hampden, Bishop
Hanisch,
Harlow, S. R.
Harmon, Ellen Gould
Hart, Hornell,
Hart. William R.
Hartley,
Hase, C.
Haskell, S. N.
Hastings, Horace L.
Hatano, Seiichi.
Hatch, Sidney A.
Hatfield, Edwin F.
Haug of Strasburg,
Hawes, Joel,
Haynes, Carlyle,
Headley, Cyrus,
Heard, J. B.
Hedge, Dr.
Heim, Karl,
Heinecken, Martin J.
Heintzpeter,
Heller, James J.
Hendricks, C. R.
Hendrickson, C. R.
Hendry, George Stuart
Henn, Silas,
Henry VIII
Heraclius,
Herder,
Hereclitus,
Hering,
Hernias,
Hermes,
Herold,
Heron, Frances Dunlap
Hersey, Merle W.
Hespanus, Petrus,
Heyns, J. A.
Hicock, Ralph,
Higgins, Paul L
Hilarion, Master,
Hilary,
Hill, M.
Himes, Joshua V.
Himes, William,
Hinton, J. H.
Hippolytus,
Hitchcock, R. D.
Kitchens,
Hitler,
Hobbes, Thomas,
Hobbs, W. A.
Hobson, W. S.
Hocking, William E.
Holden, John Stuart
Hole, Donald,
Holmes, David,
Homer,
Homes, Nathaniel
Homrighausen, Elmer G.
Hooke, S. H.
Hopkins, John Henry
Hopkins, Samuel
Horace,
Hort, F. J. A.
Houdini, Harry,
Huber of Wittenberg,
Hubmaiert
Hudson, Charles F.
Huet, Pierre Daniel,
Hughes, Joseph,
Hull, Mattie E.
Hull, Moses.
Hume, David.
Hunt, John,
Hunter, Archibald M.
Huntington, Joseph,
Huntington, William Reed
Hurkos, Peter,
Huss
Hussites
Hutchinson, Samuel,
Ignatius,
Impey, Wirfiam
Ingersoll, Robert,
Irenaeus
Irion, Paul E.
Irving, Edward,
Isaac, Daniel,
Isaiah (prophet),
Ives, Charles L.
J
Jackson, John,
Jacob, Ed.
James (apostle)
James, George Wharton,
James I (James VI of Scotland)
Jamieson. Canon.
Jaspers, Karl,
Javelli,
Jeffers,
Jefferson, Thomas
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jennings. Isaac
Jensen, P. A.
Jerome
Jewel, Bishop John,
Joan of Arc,
Jobst, J. G.
John (apostle)
John the Baptist
John, Elector of Saxony,
John the revelator
John XXII (pope).
Johnson, A. C.
Johnson, R. C.
Johnson, Stephen,
Johnson, William,
Jollett,
Jonker
Jordan, J. Henry,
Jovius.
Jude (apostle),
Jukes, Andrew,
Julianus,
Jurieu,
Justin Martyr,
Justinian,
Juvenal,
Kabisch, R.
Kahler,
Kaigh, Frederick,
Kahnlund, Sten,
Kaiser Wilhelm,
Kane, Dr. Elisha
Kantonen, T. A.
Keach Benjamin,
Kearney, Clarence J.
Keet, Bennie B.
Kelber,
Kellaway, William
Kelly, John,
Kennicott,
Kendrick, Timothy
Kenrick, Enoch B.
Kenrick, John,
Kenrick, Timothy,
Kenrick, William,
Kent, Adolphus,
Ker, William
Kern,
Kiffin, William,
Killingworth, Granthem,
Kimichi, David,
Kirk, John,
Kneeland, Abner,
Knight, George A. F.
Knudson, Albert C.
Korff, F. W. A.
Kraemer, Hendrik
Kramer, George R.
Kut-Hu-Mi,
Lacey, William B.
Lactantius,
Lacunza, Manuel
Laing, William.
Lambert, Charles,
Lambert, Pere,
Lament, Corliss
La Morte, Andre
Lang, Dr. Cosmos,
Latham, Alanson,
Lathrop, Joseph,
LaVelle.
Law, Edmund
Lawson, Alfred,
Lawson, Thomas
Layton, Henry,
Leach, William H.
Leadbeater,
Leads, William
Leask, William
Lecky, W. E. H.
Le Clerc, John
Lee, Luther,
Lees, Robert James,
Legatt, Bartholomew
LeGros, George C.
Leiper, Henry,
Leland, John,
Lenormant,
Leo X
Leonard, John C.
Leonard, John C.
Leslie, John,
Lester, R. M.
Levington, William,
Lewis, Eric
Lewis, John,
Le Wright,
Liddell,
Lightfoot, J. B.
Lily Dale Camp,
Linderholm, Emanuel,
Lindhardt, Dr.
Lindl,
Lindroth, Hjalmar,
Litch, Josiah,
Litchenberger,
Littledale, Richard,
Littlejohn, W. H.
Litton, Edward,
Livingstone, David,
Lloyd, Evan,
Locke, John
Lodge, Sir Oliver
Lollards,
Lombard. Peter
Lombroso, Cesare
London, Bishop of,
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth,
Lotze, H.
Loughborough, J. N.
Lowe,
Lowth, Bishop,
Lupton, William,
Lushington, Dr.
Luther, Martin
Luyten, Norbert M.
Lyons, Dr. S. S.
Lytton, Bulwer,
Maack, F.
Macarius,
Me Cay, Olive M.
Me Clure, A. Wilson,
McConnell, S. D.
McCullow.
Macdonald, Robert, J.
M'Donald, W.
Macedonius
Mackay, George,
M'Kee, Joseph,
M'Leod, Alexander,
M'Morris,
M'Neile, Hugh,
Macrae, David
Madeley, Frank,
Madison, James,
Magee, Bishop,
Magni, Valerian,
Maianus,
Maimonides. Moses.
Major, H. D. A.
Malan, Cesar
Manasseh ben Israel
Manes,
Manford, Erasmus,
Manilius,
Manlove,
Mann, Cameron
Manson, Thomas W.
Manson, William,
Marais, Ben
Marks, Rabbi,
Marsom, John
Martineau, James,
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mason, John
Mather, Samuel,
Mathers, D. N.
Matthews, Walter R.
Maude, William
Maurice, F. D.
Maximus,
Mayhew, Jonathan,
Mehl, Roger
Mehl-Koeinlein, H
Melanchthon,
Menegoz Professor E.
Merritt, Timothy
Mesmer, Friedrich,
Methodius,
Meyer, D. H.
Michaeli, F.
Michalson. Carl,
Micklem, Nathaniel
Miller, William.
Mills, A. J.
Milton, John
Minton (Minton-Senhouse), Samuel,
Minucius Felix
Mizuno, Tsunekichi,
Moffatt, James
Mohammed.
Moncrieff, William Glen,
Moody, Dwight L.
Moomaw, B. C.
Moore, Asher,
Moore, Hannah,
Moran, Dr.
More, Sir Thomas,
Morris, William
Morrison, Dr.
Morse, J. J.
Morse, Pitt,
Morselli,
Mortimer, W. F.
Morton, Thomas
Moses (prophet),
Moses, W. Stainton,
Mosheim,
Mosse, Chief Rabbi,
Mountford,
Muller, George,
Munscher,
Munter,
Murray, John
Mursell, Arthur,
Mussolini,
Myers, F. W. H.
Nachmanides
Naville, Edward,
Neile, Bishop,
Nemesius,
Nestorians
Nestorius
Newbigin, Lesslie
Newman, John Henry
Newman, Murray
Newton, Henry J.
Newton, I. R.
Newton, Sir Isaac,
Nicholas, Bishop,
Nicholas V (pope),
Nicholas of Methone,
Nicholl,
Nickerson, Converse E.
Nicole,
Nicoll. Robertson,
Niebuhr, Reinhold,
Niestle,
Nikolamen, A.
Niles, Daniel T.
Nitzsch, F.
Nitzsch, Karl Immanuel. .
North. Christopher R.
Novatian,
Numensius,
Nygren, Anders
Octavius,
Odilo,
Oecolampadius,
Oliphant, Charles Henry
Oliv«r, F. S..
Olivetan, Robert,
Olshausen, Hermann
Omerod,
Onslow, Master,
Origen
Osborn, James W.
Ostervald,
Otis, William F.
Otto, Rudolf
Overton, Richard
Ovid,
Owen, Derwyn R. G.
Owen, John,
Paige, Robinson,
Paine, Thomas,
Pais, P. Pero
Parker, Archbishop,
Parker, Joel,
Parker, Joseph
Parker, Theodore,
Parkhurst, Charles Henry
Parrinder, Geoffrey,
Paul (apostle),
Peale, Norman Vincent
Pearce, John H.
Peck, George,
Peck, John,
Peckard, Peter
Peebles, James Martin
Peel, Sir Robert,
Pegrum, Robert,
Pelagius I (pope),
Pember, G. H.
Perowne, j. J. Stewart,
Perret-Gentil, Professor
Perry, Edmund,
Personne, John
Petavel, Abraham-Francois,
Petavel, Emmanuel
Peter (apostle)
Peterborough, Bishop of,
Peters,
Petersen, Johann Wilhelm.
Pettingell, John H.
Phelps, A. A.
Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart,
Pherecydes,
Phileno, Lisia,
Philip (apostle),
Phillipson,
Philo
Photinus,
Pick, John,
Pidoux, G.
Pieters
Pike, James A.
Pillon, Francois,
Pindar,
Pingree, Ernest M.
Piper, Frederick L.
Pittenger, W. Norman
Pitts, John. .
Plato
Plitt, Dr.
Plotinus,
Plumptre, Dr.
Plutarch
Pollock, Algernon J.
Polycarp,
Polycrates.
Pomponatius, Petrus
Poole, R. S.
Pope. W. B.
Porphyry,
Porter, Professor
Porteus, Beilby
Portmann, Adolphe,
Potwin,
Powel, T. Roland,
Power, John H.
Price, Harry,
Priest, Josiah,
Priestley, Joseph
Princell, Johann G.
Pringle-Pattison, A. S.
Proclus
Provonsha, Jack W.
Pryce, Edward
Psychalethes, Estibius
Pullus, Robert
Punshon, W. M.
Pusey, E. B.
Pythagoras,
Quick, Oliver C.
Quimby, Phineas P.
Quinby, George W.
Raleigh,
Rama. Master
Ramakrishna, Sri
Ramakrishnanda, Swami,
Ramsey, Paul,
Ramsey, William
Rastell, John
Raynold of St. Martin's,
Read, David H. C.
Reichel, Emil C.
Reinhardt, Friedrich,
Reiter, Dr. Paul,
Relly, James
Remington, Stephen,
Renato, Camillo
Rhine, J. B.
Rhine, Louisa E.
Ricci, Paul,
Rice, N. L.
Richards, H. M. S.
Richards, Le Grand
Richardson, Samuel,
Richmond, Dr.
Riley, Hum,
Ring, John W.
Ritcher,
Roberts, C. E. Bechhofer
Roberts, Dr. Harold,
Roberts, Orren
Robinson, Frank B.
Robinson, Pastor John,
Robinson, J. A. T.
Robinson, Wheeler
Robinson, William
Robinson, William C.
Rogers, George,
Ross, Albion,
Rothe, Richard,
Egtherham. Joseph,
Row, C. A.
Rowley, Harold H.
Royce, Andrew,
Ruffner, Henry,
Russell, C. T.
Russell, Philemon,
Ryle, John Charles
Saadia Ben Joseph,
Sabatier, Armand
Sabatier, M. Auguste,
Sabellius,
Sabine, James.
St. Thomas Christians
Salmond, S. D. F.
Salter, Andrew,
Samuel (prophet),
Sander,
Sandys, Bishop,
Saul (king)
Savoy, Duke of,
Sceats. Frank W.
Schaefer, James B.
Schaff, Philip,
Schaeffer, Ad.
Schjelderup, Kristian,
Schleusner.
Scholten, J. H.
Schrevelius,
Schultz, Hermann
Schweitzer, George K.
Scott, Joseph Nicoll
Scott, Russell,
Scott, Walter,
Scott, Wardlaw,
Scotus, Duns
Scroggie, W. Graham
Seeker, Archbishop of Canterbury,
Secretan, Charles
Sellon, John
Seneca
Servetus, Michael
Servetus, Mordecai (Philadelphia),
Seventh-day Adventists-
Shaw, John Mackintosh
Sheffield, Bishop of,
Sheppard, John,
Sherfock,
Sherman,
Shinn, George W.
Short, John, .
Siegvolk
Simcox, Carroll E.
Simons, Menno,
Simpson J. Y.
Sivananda, Swami,
Skinner, Dolphus,
Skinner, Otis,
Slee, John,
Smith, Alson J.
Smith, Elias
Smith, Joseph
Smith, J. P
Smith, Matthew H.
Smith, Pye,
Smith, Sidney,
Smith, Uriah -
Smith, William R.
Smith, Worth,
Snaith, Norman H.
Snow, Eliza,
Soal, S. G.
Socinians,
Socinus, Faustus
Socinus, Laelius,
Socrates,
Solomon, King,
Sonner of Altorf,
Sophronius
South, Robert,
Southwark, Bishop of,
Spalding, Baird T.
Spalding, Joshua,
Sperry, Willard
Spinka, Matthew
Spiritualism,
Spurgeon, Charles
Spurrier, William A.
Stallkopf
Stanley, Dean,
Starck,
Stauffer, Ethelbert
Stead,
Steen, Grand Rabbi,
Stegmann, Joachim
Stephen, Catholic bishop of Paris,
Stephen, James,
Stephen (martyr),
Sterry, Peter
Stevens, W. O.
Stevenson, Ian,
Stevenson, R.
Stewart, Balfour,
Stewart, James
Stillingfleet, Edward,
Stokes, George
Storrs, George
Stosch, F. W.
Stowe, Calvin
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Strang, M. W.
Stratemeyer, Dr. Florence,
Strawson, William
Streeter, Russell,
Swaim, J. Carter
Swainson, Charles A.
Swanson, Canon,
Swedenborg, Emanuel,
Tait, Archbishop
Talmage, James E.
Tarkington, Booth
Tarkington, Joseph,
Tate, Ravine Aum,
Tatian
Taunton, E. W.
Taylor, Alfred E
Taylor, Bishop Jeremy
Taylor, D. T.
Taylor, F. J.
Taylor, Isaac,
Teisen, N.
Tempest, Sir William,
Temple, Dr. William
Tennyson, Alfred Lord,
Tertullian
Terwoort
Tetzel
Thacher, Peter
Thales
Theodore of Mopsuestia,
Theophilus of Antioch
Thorn, David.
Thomas, Abel C.
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas, John
Thomas, J. J.
Thompson, Archbishop of York
Thompson, Ernest,
Thompson, John Samuel,
Thompson, Samuel,
Tillard,
Tillich, Paul,
Tillotson, Archbishop
Tinling, J. F. B.
Titus of Bostra
Todd. Lewis C.
Tomlmson, William Robert
Torrance, T. F.
Tottie, John
Townsend, Shippie
Trafford, Professor
Tremel, Y. B.
Trench, Archbishop
Tresmontant, Claude
Tripp John
Trueblood, David Elton
Truro, Bishop of
Tucker, S. W.
Tulloch, J.
Turner, John
Turton
Twesten
Tyler, John
Tyndale, William
Underbill. Charles
United Church of Canada
Ussher, Archbishop
Valentius,
Vandeman, George E.
Van der Leeuw, Gerardus
Van Deusen, Henry,
Vane, Henry,
Van Niftrik, G. E.
Van Someren, G. J.
Vasey, Thomas
Vaucher, Alfred,
Vaughan, Bernard
Venerable Bede,
Vergil,
Victoria, Queen,
Vidler, Alec R.
Vigilius,
Vine, Aubrey R.
Vinet, Alexandre
Vivekananda, Swami
Volta
Von Allmen, Jean-Jacques
Von Hoff, Eugene
Von Mosheim, Johan L.
Von Stosch, Fnedrich Wilhelm,
Wadsworth
Waggoner, J. H.
Wahl
Wahlstrom, Eric H.
Wakefield, Bishop of
Waldenses
Waldorf, Russell S.
Walker, Thomas
Wallace, Sir Alfred Russell
Waller, G.
Wallis, E. W.
Wallis, M. M.
Walsh, John T.
Walsh, Sir John,
Walter, E. J. C.
Walters,
Warburton, William
Ward, Dr. Samuel,
Ward, Henry J.
Warleigh, Henry Smith
Warner, A. W.
Watson, Alfred,
Watson, Philip S.
Watson, Richard
Watts. Isaac
Way, Lewis,
Waylen, James
Weatherhead, Leslie D.
Webb, Richard,
Weill
Weisse, Professor H.
Wellcome, Isaac C.
Welldon, J. E. C.
Wendell, Jonas,
Wesley John,
Westcott, Brooke Foss,
Weymouth, R. F.
Whately, Richard
Whieldon. Dr. J. A.
Whiston William
Whitaker. John,
Whitby, Daniel,
White, Deacon John.
White Edward
White, Ellen Gould
White, James
White, William
Whitefoot. John,
Whitehead, George
Whitgift, Bishop,
Whitmed, J. S.
Whitmore, James H.
Whittemore, Thomas
Whitwell, Joseph P.
Wightman, Thomas
Wifltinson, A. G.
Williams, Dr. George H.
Williams, Roger
Williamson, Isaac D.
Wilson, Bishop
Wilson, H. B.
Wilson, Joseph Dawson
Wilson vs. Fendall
Winchester, Elhanan
Winckler, G. W.
Winslow, Hubbard,
Witch of Endor,
Wither, George.
Wolff, Joseph
Wolsey, Cardinal Thomas
Wood, Jacob,
Worchester, Bishop of,
Wright, G. Ernest
Wright, J. Stafford,
Wright, Richard,
Wycliffe, John
Yates, Freeman,
Yogananda, Paramhansa
Young, Joseph (New York)
Za Denguil, Emperor
Zenor, Richard
Zoroaster
Zo-Ser
Zwingli