ON WHAT AUTHORITY? by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 15, 1881

ON WHAT AUTHORITY?

By Editor

The Christian Union has the following in regard to the hypothetical immortal soul, and seems to consider the matter settled:—

"Either we have an immortal soul or we have not. If we have not then we are beasts. The first and wisest of beasts it may be, but still true beasts. We shall only differ in degree and not in kind; just as the elephant differs from the slug. But by the concession of the materialists of all the schools, or almost all, we are not of the same kind as beasts; and this also we say from our own consciousness. Therefore, methinks, it must be the possession of a soul that makes the difference."

"And this we say from our own consciousness." Exactly so. How else could it be said? Certainly not from the Bible, for that gives no authority for an inherent immortal soul. "If we have not, then we are beasts." Not necessarily. There are many, no doubt, to whom this will apply, but not to all. The psalmist has made the distinction for us: "Man that is in honor, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish." The "understanding," which in Bible usage is a very broad term, makes all the difference. The wise man also has told us that in the matter of dying, "a man hath no pre-eminence over a beast." But then those men wrote three thousand years ago, and couldn't be expected to understand the wants of this advanced age. There are "philosophers" now who can satisfy the wants of the people in a far more pleasing manner. Consider 2 Tim. 4:3, 4.