THE LOGIC OF THE DOCTRINE.
TO the professed Christian who places tradition or the “church” above or equal to the written Word, the ultimate goal is the Roman Catholic Church. To the one who holds to the unscriptural doctrine of the immortality of the soul and the conscious state of the dead, which originated in Eden, tho not from an Edenic character (Gen. 3:4), the ultimate logic is Spiritualism or Roman Catholicism, or both; for Roman Catholicism includes both. Her doctrines on prayers for the dead and the intercession of the saints are essentially the doctrines of Spiritualism. An illustration of this is found in Dr. Charles A. Briggs, but recently occupying a chair of theology in a prominent Presbyterian seminary. Dr. Briggs now expresses his belief in prayers for the dead, in recent articles in the Church Union, and quoted in the Literary Digest of June 25. Here are two sufficient quotations to state the professor’s belief:— Such prayer for the departed friends is a wholesome religious exercise, which enables us in a simple and natural way to commune with them. As we pray for their advancement, we feel reasonably certain that they are joining with us in prayer for our mutual advancement. Since my attention has been called to the matter, I have observed a “considerable amount of such prayer for the dead unconsciously yet logically and no less truly offered, in funeral addresses and prayers, even among the most radical Protestants. . . . Thus prayer for the dead is a privilege and a duty for all who practise prayer for the living; and sacrifice for the dead is a duty for all who practise sacrifice for the living. The dead saints and the living saints are so united in one holy communion that in all religious activities all saints share alike. We do not wonder at the statement in the latter part of the first paragraph. It is the logic of the doctrine. Concerning sacrificing for the dead, a Bible utterance may be of interest, concerning the Gentile nations, who offered sacrifices for the dead and did them honor. When Israel went astray, “they joined themselves unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.” “But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils [demons], and not to God.” See Ps. 106:28, 37; 1 Cor. 10:20. The only antidote for this error is the truth of the Word of God that “the dead know not anything;” that “his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish;” and that all future life depends on the Lord Jesus Christ, and our relation to Him.