The Sabbath-School by Ellet Joseph Waggoner

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 30, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 41.

The Sabbath-School.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

LESSON FOR THE PACIFIC COAST—NOV. 22.

What is the meaning of the word "immortal"?
Quote three texts which prove positively that man is not immortal.
Who alone has immortality?
May man ever become immortal?
What must he do in order to receive immortality?
Can we earn immortality, or do we receive it as a gift? Give proof.
Where must we look for immortality?
Can you prove from the Bible that eternal life will not be given to the wicked?
For what purpose did Christ come to earth?
Who alone does Christ say have everlasting life?
In what sense do we have it now?
When shall we come into possession of it? Give proof.
In the Bible, by what figure are the dead often represented? Give instances.
In what place are they asleep?
Until what time do they sleep?
Is there any business carried on in the grave? Quote proof.
Do the dead know what their friends on earth are doing?
Do any of the dead praise the Lord?
State in Bible language just how much the dead do know.
At what point of time do men thus lose all consciousness?
From what does this breath of life come?
To whom does it return at death?
What is the difference, if any, between the breath of man and that of beasts?
Of what is man composed?
To what does he return at death?
What is the difference between the death of men and that of beasts?
Then what is it that makes a man's life so much more valuable than that of a beast?
Give two texts of Scripture that you have already learned, which prove that men can derive no benefit from praying to the Virgin Mary.

THE lesson for this week being a review of the subject of immortality, it will be in place to make the notes of a general nature. From our previous study we have learned that the terms "immortal" and "immortality" do not occur in the Bible so frequently as is commonly supposed. In hymns and sermons and essays we find such expressions as "immortal soul," "immortal spirit," "undying spirit," "deathless soul," "the immortal part of man," etc., very frequently. In the Bible we look for them in vain. Query: If the Bible does not contain any of these expressions, by what authority do Christian teachers use them? Where are we to look for information concerning the nature of man? Shall we look to our own experience and observation? That would lead us to conclude that man is mortal, for we see death on all sides. We do not need the words of inspiration to convince us that man's life is "even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." Death and decay are the lot of all earthly beings. If we turn to history, we find that such has ever been the case. The biographies of all men end with the statement, "And he died." Shall we go to heathen authors? If we do we shall find them contradicting one another, one affirming that man has a principle within him that cannot be destroyed, another declaring that death ends all; and by this very diversity of opinion they proclaim their own ignorance of the subject. And yet these very heathen "philosophers" are the ones to whom Christianity is indebted for its dogma of inherent immortality.

It is indeed strange that professed followers of Christ should turn from the statements of "holy men of God," who "spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," to the conjectures of men who "when they knew God, glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened;" to those who, while professing themselves to be wise, became fools; who, because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, were given over "to a mind void of judgment." Yet this is what is done. The words of Plato and Socrates are preferred above those of Job, Isaiah, David, Luke, Peter, and Paul. For when we turn to Holy Writ, where alone wisdom dwells, we find no record of "the immortal part of man," but perfect unanimity in declaring that "it is appointed unto man once to die," that there is no man that liveth that can deliver his soul from the hand of the grave, and that God only hath immortality.

IF we look for the origin of the anti-scriptural doctrine of natural immortality, we find that it sprung from the mind of Satan, the father of lies. The archdeceiver said to the mother of the race: "Ye shall not surely die," but "ye shall be as gods," or, as God. The same trait that prompted the acceptance of this doctrine, has perpetuated it. Vanity, love of self, is that through which Satan has deceived the world. It was flattering to Eve's vanity to be told that she had the principles of life within herself, so that she could maintain her own existence as well as God can. It was for this reason that heathen philosophers seized upon the idea, and it is largely for this reason that the Catholic Church adopted it from them. From the Catholic Church, Protestant bodies have received it as a sacred legacy. When we realize the practical effect of the doctrine—to make one self-confident, and regardless of God as the Author of life, and of Christ, as the one through whom it is vouchsafed to man, we can understand something of the far-reaching policy of Satan.

There are but few Catholic abominations for which this dogma is not responsible. Out of it grew purgatory, and the sale of indulgences, by which the popes of Rome waxed rich at the expense of the purses and the morals of the people of Europe. Without that doctrine, the worship of so-called saints, and of the Virgin Mary, would find no place in the Catholic Church. And Spiritualism, that masterpiece of deception, would make no headway but for the prevalence of the belief that departed ones are not really dead. It is a fact that so long as Protestants hold to the doctrine of inherent immortality, they have no weapon with which to successfully meet the errors of Catholicism, or the deceptions of Spiritualism. But the unlearned peasant, who relies on the Bible as God's holy word, and who understands its simple and harmonious truths, may, with the help of God, withstand the assaults of learned prelates or blasphemous infidels. E. J. W.