“THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIANITY.”
THE following letter has been received from St. Andrew’s Island, Colombia, S. A., written under date of Aug. 1, 1902:— DEAR SIR: A friend gave me your paper to read (June 18). On page 8 (392) in the article, “Protestant Prayers for the Dead,” you say, “Only they who believe in the immortality of the soul, etc., can pray for the dead.” Now I would like to know what in the world is the matter with you? Your paper is supposed to be the organ of a specified Christian denomination, and here you deny the fundamental principle of Christianity, viz., the immortality of the human soul, and with it the life hereafter. Please explain yourself. Respectfully, Briefly, there is not one word in Holy Writ affirming the immortality of the soul. There is not one passage in which immortality in this life, or deathlessness, is ascribed to man, save that spoken by the old serpent, “the deceiver of the whole world,” “Ye shall not surely die.” Gen. 3: 4; Rev. 12: 9. On the other hand, it is repeatedly and positively affirmed that man forfeited eternal life by sin, and that the only means of its restoration is through Jesus Christ. Eze. 18: 4; Rom. 6: 23. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” “He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life.” John 3: 16, 36. “He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life.” 1 John 5: 11–13. Immortality will not be bestowed upon men till the second coming of Christ. 1 Cor. 15: 51–54. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul was devised by the devil to take from Christ His glory and destroy souls by deceiving them. See Eze. 13: 22; John 10: 10.