The Light Is Spreading by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 16, 1870

The Light Is Spreading.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

THAT the doctrine of the mortality of man, the sleep of the dead, destruction of the wicked, &c., is spreading and gaining ground, we have good evidence. Says a writer in the Methodist Home Journal, March 26, 1870.

“There are many candid minds in the churches that are more or less unsettled, and honestly and eagerly seeking for new measures of light upon the question.”

The following article is from the English correspondent of The Presbyterian, of March 26, published at Philadelphia, Pa.:

EXTINCTION OF THE WICKED.

There is, and has been for some time, a good deal of discussion among a limited number of both churchmen and nonconformists on the awful question of everlasting punishment, and it is gradually revealing opinions and arguments which are sure to do much mischief. It has come to pass that the Church of England and the Congregational body have men of mark who hold that the wicked and impenitent will not be consigned to endless torments, but will be utterly extinguished and literally destroyed. The Rev. Samuel Minton, the incumbent of Eaton Square, London, and as thoroughly evangelical in his general discourses as ever, has embraced these views, and has written strongly in their defense. The same opinions are held by the Rev. Mr. Dale, of Birmingham, the successor as pastor there of the late John Angel James, and the present chairman of the Congregational Union. Another Congregational pastor, the Rev. Edward White, a man of piety and scholarship, is now publishing letters defending the doctrine of death by sin, and life in Christ alone—a doctrine which is “now maintained by a large number of Christian scholars, as well as less learned believers in this country and elsewhere.”

Here is another article to the same effect from The Advance, of April 21:

ANNIHILATION.

“The doctrine of the annihilation of the wicked is receiving increased attention in Great Britain and in America, in connection with the discussion of future retribution. The tendency to adopt it arises from the desire of certain good men to find, if possible, a middle ground between orthodoxy and universalism. Shuddering at the idea of eternal punishment, yet clearly perceiving that the Bible does not teach the doctrine of universal salvation, they hope to relieve both their feelings and their critical difficulties by a strictly literal interpretation of the predicted doom of the impenitent.”

This is encouraging. The truth is spreading. England now has a journal, The Rainbow, advocating this unpopular doctrine. America has about a dozen periodicals which are sustaining this doctrine, while there are several hundred ministers who preach it; and from 75,000 to 100,000 who believe it. It can no longer be ignored as a theological question of the day. May the Lord speed it on.

D. M. CANRIGHT.