THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 29, 1879

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

THE SOCINIANS.

Another large sect of the early reformers, called the “Socinians,” also denied the immortality of the soul, and held to the sleep of the dead and the annihilation of the wicked. Of the good character of this sect, Bayle says: “It is matter of public notoriety that, in respect to morals, no sect has approached more nearly to the simplicity and strictness of the early Christians than the Socinians.” Mosheim says that they taught that “those who obey the voice of this divine teacher,—and all can obey it, if so disposed,—being clad in other bodies, shall hereafter forever inhabit the blessed abode where God resides; those who do otherwise, being consumed by exquisite torments, will at length sink into entire annihilation.” Alger, in his “History of the Doctrine of a Future Life,” says of them: “The Socinian doctrine, relative to the future fate of man, . . . declared that the wicked, after suffering excruciating agonies, would be annihilated. Respecting the second coming of Christ, a physical resurrection of the dead, and a day of Judgment, the Socinians believed with the other sects.” This sect originated in the time of the Reformation. Says Mosheim: “Few are unapprised that the first originators of the Socinian scheme possessed fine talents and much erudition.” They also held to the sleep of the dead. The Religious Encyclopedia thus states their faith upon this point: “Many of them also reject the spirituality and separate existence of the soul, believing that man is wholly material, and that our only prospect of immortality is from the Christian doctrine of a resurrection. Of course, the notion of an intermediate state of consciousness between death and the resurrection is rejected; for, as the whole man dies, so the whole man is to be called again to life at the appointed period of the resurrection, with the same association that he had while alive; the intermediate portion of time having been passed, by him, in a state of utter insensibility.”

This is the Bible doctrine, exactly and well stated. The New American Cyclopedia gives the following facts in the rise and history of this denomination: “L. Socinus was an Italian theological writer of the noble house of the Sozzini, born 1525. He was highly educated, accomplished in the original languages of the Bible, an acute critic, and fearless in the pursuit of truth. He was also very wealthy. Of him Mosheim says: He was “a man of uncommon genius and learning; to which he added, as his very enemies were obliged to acknowledge, the luster of a virtuous life and unblemished manners.” He traveled over all Europe, and received the friendship of Melancthon, Caloni, and other reformers. He died at Zurich, 1562.

His nephew, Faustus Socinus, born 1539, embraced the views of his uncle, and in 1577, at Basle, began publicly to proclaim them. Of course, he met with opposition. He went into Transylvania, and finally into Poland, where he married into a noble family. Here the ruling families embraced his views, and gave power, influence, and protection to his converts. Says Mosheim: “Under the auspicious protection of such a spirited and insinuating chief, the little flock, that had been hitherto destitute of strength, resolution, and courage, grew apace, and suddenly arose to a high degree of credit and influence. Its number was augmented by proselytes of all ranks and orders. Of these, some were distinguished by their nobility, others by their opulence, some by their address, and many by their learning and eloquence.” A university for theological training was founded at Cracow, and endowed by the owner of the city. From thence went out many learned missionaries to other parts of Europe. A strong foothold was obtained in Transylvania, where numerous churches were raised up. Many of these continue to this day, and are protected by law.

Unfortunately, the Socinians embraced extreme Unitarian views on the nature of Christ. This served largely to hinder the propagation of the Biblical truths which they held concerning the state of the dead and the nature of man.

A BOOK.

In 1644, an excellent little work came out, having this title: “A Treatise, wherein it is Proved, both theologically and philosophically, that the Whole Man is a Compound wholly Mortal,” etc. It was signed, R. O. It provoked considerable controversy. A second edition was printed at London, 1655.

LOCKE.

In the last half of the seventeenth century flourished that great Christian philosopher, John Locke, of England. In religious principles he was a Puritan. He was one among the few intellectual giants of the world, a ripe scholar, a profound reasoner, a friend and companion of the most renowned men of his time, a voluminous writer, and a man of world-wide fame. Of him the New American Cyclopedia says: “Early imbued with a zeal for liberty and with the principles of a severe morality, his whole life was a warfare against the enemies of freedom in speculation, freedom in worship, and freedom from every unnecessary political restraint.”

This great man took a bold stand against the immortality of the soul, and its immateriality. He made a clear and forcible argument against these heathen fables, and against the conscious state of the dead, as any one may see in his excellent book, “The Reasonableness of Christianity.” We quote only a few sentences.

Thus he says: “And by this fall, he [Adam] lost paradise; wherein were tranquility and the tree of life: that is, he lost bliss and immortality.” Again: “But an exclusion from paradise, and loss of immortality, is the portion of sinners.” Of the death threatened in Gen. 2:17, he says: “I must confess, by death here, I can understand nothing but a ceasing to be (that is, the losing of all actions of life and sense).” Again: “But it seems a strange way of understanding a law (which requires the plainest and directest words), that by death should be meant eternal life in misery.” Again Mr. Locke says: “But when man was turned out [of paradise], he was exposed to the toil, anxiety, and frailties of this mortal life; which should end in dust, out of which he was made, and to which he should return; and then have no more life or sense than the dust had.”

This was a heavy blow in the right place, and it had its effects.

JOHN MILTON.

In the middle of the seventeenth century lived that eminent Christian poet, the great John Milton, author of “Paradise Lost.” Whoever has read that work must feel that, as a man, he was largely imbued with the Spirit of God. He wrote many other works besides this. In 1655–58 he wrote his “Treatise on Christian Doctrine.” In chap. xii, vol. 1, he devotes a lengthy argument to proving the total unconsciousness of man from the time of death until the coming of Christ and the resurrection. He sustains his argument by sound reasoning, and abundant quotations from the Scriptures. His works have had a wide circulation, as all know; and this treatise on the “State of the Dead” has enlightened many souls upon this subject. It has been republished in America, both in the East and in the West, and hundreds of thousands of copies have been sold. The reader will notice, as we proceed, that some of the greatest minds, the ripest scholars, and the most devoted Christians in the world have been believers in the sleep of the dead.

BISHOP TAYLOR.

Bishop Jeremy Taylor, of the Episcopal church, did not believe in the natural immortality of the soul, as may be seen by the following: “Whatsoever had a beginning can also have an ending, and it shall die, unless it be daily watered from the stream flowing from the fountain of life, and refreshed with the dew of Heaven; and therefore God had prepared a tree in paradise, to have supported Adam in his artificial immortality. Immortality was not in his nature.”

ARCHBISHOP TILLOTSON.

In 1690, Archbishop Tillotson preached a famous sermon on the eternity of hell torments. This sermon created a great commotion in the theological world. He maintained that, though God has threatened impenitent sinners with eternal punishment, yet he keeps the right of punishing in his own hand, and may remit the penalty. This, as all saw, was virtually abandoning the doctrine of eternal torment. And it was so construed. Coming from so high a dignitary, it produced a great commotion among the advocates of an endless hell. He admitted that the doctrine of the “immortality of the soul was rather supposed, or taken for granted, than expressly revealed in the Bible.”

STOSCH.

On the continent, Frederick W. Stosch published, at Berlin and Amsterdam, in 1692, a work of 124 pages, which “maintains the materiality of the soul, and denies the doctrine of endless punishment.” The book was suppressed by the government, and was the cause of much trouble to the bold author.

DR. COWARD.

In 1702, Dr. William Coward, London, published a book with this title: “Second Thoughts concerning Human Soul, demonstrating the Notion of Human Soul, as Believed to be a Spiritual, Immortal Substance United to the Human Body, to be a Plain, Heathenish Invention.” Of this able scholar and Christian, Alger says: “The famous Dr. Coward, and a few supporters, labored, with much zeal, skill, and show of learning, to prove the natural mortality of the soul.” In 1706, Coward published another book for the same purpose. These works stirred up furious attacks from the churchmen, and he was denounced as a heretic. Of these books Mr. Abbot says: They “were ordered by Parliament to be burnt by the common hangman. The result was the immediate publication of a second edition.” Thus the truth of God has always fared. It has been persecuted and interdicted, but this has only caused it to spread the wider.

LAWYER LAYTON.

In 1706, Henry Layton, a rich gentleman and a lawyer, came to the aid of Dr. Coward, and published a book entitled, “A Search after Souls,” in which he answers, at full length, the arguments used to prove the soul immortal. His book, however, seems not to have had an extensive circulation. These books brought out numerous answers from the orthodox, and so gave the doctrine a wide circulation.

In the year 1703, Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon on the end of the wicked as contemplated by the righteous, in which he advocated the abominable doctrine that “the sight of hell torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever.” We are sorry to say that such blasphemous views have found other advocates in later times.

PITTS.

In 1708, John Pitts, of London, issued an able work against the immortality of the soul, vindicating, from Scripture and reason, the sleep of the dead. He was a presbyter of the Church of England. In the same year, Mr. Pitts published another book advocating the same views.

THE LEARNED DODWELL.

In the same year, Henry Dodwell sent out another book, in which he brings forward testimony from the Scriptures and the fathers against the immortality of man. This was answered, in the following year, by a Mr. Whiston on the opposite side.

In 1720, an anonymous writer in London published a book maintaining the mortality of the soul and the unconscious state of the dead. The frequency with which these books were published shows that there was much controversy upon the subject, and that this doctrine had able advocates in the learned world at that time.

WATTS.

Dr. Isaac Watts, 1733, the great church poet, whose hymns are sung throughout the world, taught the annihilation of infants who died without baptism. Says Buck, in his “Theological Dictionary,” “The great Dr. Watts may be considered, in some measure, a destructionist; since it was his opinion that the children of ungodly parents, who die in infancy, are annihilated.” It further appears that he was strongly inclined to believe in the utter destruction of all the wicked. Hear him:—“Let us consider it [death] as it relates to the soul of man. The soul is an immaterial and thinking being; it has in itself no natural principles of dissolution; and, therefore, so far as we can judge, it must be immortal in its own nature. But who can say whether the word death might not be fairly construed to extend to the utter destruction of the life of the soul, as well as the body, if God, the righteous governor, should please to seize the forfeiture. For man, by sin, has forfeited all that God had given him; that is, the life and existence of his soul, as well as his body. All is forfeited, by sin, into the hands of

God; and why might not the threatening declare the right that ever a God of goodness had to resume all back again, and utterly destroy and annihilate his creatures forever? There is not one place of Scripture, that occurs to me, where the word death, as it was first threatened in the law of innocency, necessarily signifies a certain miserable immortality of the soul, either to Adam, the actual sinner, or to his posterity.” This clearly shows the faith of this great man.

WARBURTON.

Bishop William Warburton, in his “Divine Legation of Moses,” London, 1738–41, styled the believers in everlasting misery, “the unmerciful doctors”; and seriously inquires, “Doth annihilation impeach that wisdom and goodness which God displayed when he brought the soul out of nothing?”

Thus we see that many of the most devout and learned writers in the church all along, if they have not openly advocated the annihilation of the wicked, have looked with favor upon that view.

J. N. Scott, a minister of London, in 1743, in two volumes of published sermons, maintained “the doctrine of the destruction of the wicked.” On the other hand, in 1746, J. Bödicke, Berlin, issued a book in which he maintains the doctrine that “the torments of the damned sprung from pure benevolence in the Deity, because the happiness of the elect will be so heightened and intensified by the contemplation of their sufferings.” Thus, while light upon this question was spreading all around, there were still found some in the midnight darkness of barbarism, uttering against God such blasphemies as this.