p. 156 | The Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 14, 1878

The Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

IT HAS NOT GENERALLY BEEN BELIEVED IN ANY AGE OF THE WORLD.

It is commonly asserted by the believers in the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, that this doctrine has been universally believed in all ages by all people. This is regarded as a strong presumptive argument that the doctrine must be true. But granting the premises, such a conclusion is not at all necessary, as we know that the masses of the world have always been in error, while but a very small portion have had the truth. Jesus said, “Fear not, little flock.” Again he said: “Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matt. 7:13, 14.

The way to life is very narrow, and few walk in it; while the way to death is wide, and many walk therein. If men had always decided a thing to be true because the majority believed it, or false because but few received it, truth would have stood but a sorry show. In the days of Noah, all the world was wrong, and but one family right. In the days of Elijah, the prophet mournfully said, “I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.” 1 Kings 18:22. So it has ever been. The truth has generally been in the minority. The great philosopher, John Locke, once said, “An error is not the better for being common, nor truth the worse for having been neglected; and if it were put to the vote anywhere in the world, I doubt, as things are managed, whether truth would have the majority, at least, while the authority of men, and not the examination of the things, must be its measure.” The history of the world shows this to be true.

The worship of idols, the doctrine of many gods, and other confessedly false doctrines have been held by the great majority of mankind. Yet, no Christian regards this as proof that these doctrines are true. So, if it could be proved that the immortality of the soul had been held by the majority of the race, it would not prove that doctrine to be true. The doctrine of the transmigration of souls is manifestly a false doctrine; yet it has been very largely believed. It teaches that the soul lived before it came into this world, and that, when this body dies, the soul will pass into another body, and then into another, till it is finally re-absorbed, into God, from whom it came. We now all readily agree that this is an error; yet it has obtained an extensive belief among mankind. Of this fact there is an abundance of proof.

All heathens, and many Christians who have argued for the immortality of the soul, have, with it, believed in the transmigration of souls. Thus writes an eminent author: “Certain it is that those philosophers who argued for the immortality of the soul universally held its pre-existence before it animated the human body, and laid the stress of the argument for its eternal existence after its departure from the body, upon its existence from times immemorial, or even from everlasting before its entrance into it.”

What will our friends say to these facts? If universal belief would prove the immortality of the soul, it would as clearly prove the transmigration of souls; for the latter has been about as generally believed as the former, as we have shown above.

A FALSE ASSUMPTION EXPOSED.

A belief in a future life does not necessarily prove a belief in the immortality of the soul.

But has the present doctrine of the immortality of the soul been the common sentiment of mankind? It has not. Very few have believed it. Of this there is an abundance of proof, of which I can present but a small part.

Which I can present but a small part.

We know that all nations have generally had some ideas and traditions of a future life of some kind; but this by no means proves that they believed the soul immortal. We firmly believe in a future life, yet we do not believe in the immortality of the soul. When heathens and barbarians are found holding some ideas and traditions of a future life, even though they be the most vague and indistinct, they are immediately claimed as orthodox believers in the soul’s immortality! This does not follow at all, as it often happens that they themselves cannot tell how they expect to obtain such a life; nay, the traditions of most of them show that they expect to live there with the same material persons that they have here, and not simply as immaterial spirits.

From the earliest ages, God has taught the human race that there is to be a life hereafter by means of a resurrection from the dead. Through patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, through all the inspired word, this doctrine has been set before the people. Also, God has said that there shall be rewards for the righteous and punishments for the wicked in the future life, after the Judgment. As all nations have descended from Adam, and from Noah, God’s servants, more or less knowledge upon this subject, through tradition from them, has been retained by all the nations of the earth.

Besides this, men’s consciences, more or less enlightened by the Spirit of God, admonish them that there shall be a future Judgment, where the wicked shall be punished and the righteous rewarded. The love of life is very great in all men, hence the strong desire and hope that there will be a future life. These facts readily account for the extensive prevalence of the idea of a future life, even among barbarous nations.

But when we go among those who have lost the light of God’s revelation, we find that their notions are exceedingly vague as to how they are to live hereafter. The idea of a future life of some kind is almost universal, but upon the manner of that life, whether it is to be through a resurrection or by being born into some other body, or by living without any body, there is utter confusion. Thus a learned advocate for the immortality of the soul is compelled to say, “We concede that the views of most rude heathen nations, both ancient and modern, respecting the state of man after death, are indeed dark and obscure, as well as their notion respecting the nature of the soul itself.” This is just the truth. Their ideas of a future life are so dark and obscure that no proof of a faith in the immortality of the soul can be drawn from them.

But God has clearly settled these things. It is by a resurrection from the dead that men are to live in the future. They are to be the same individual persons that they are in this life; and they are to live on this earth when it is renewed from the curse. Now if we will look carefully into the religious ideas of the different nations and tribes, we shall find that this very idea of a future life is what the most of them still have. They expect to be raised from the dead, and live on this earth with the same bodies which they now have. If we go back into hoary antiquity and examine the faith of the most ancient nations, we find that they looked for a future life and immortality through the preservation of the body and the resurrection of the dead. Of this there can be no question.

D. M. CANRIGHT.

Bowling Green, Ohio, Nov. 1, 1878.