PROOF OF IMMORTALITY by L. A. P.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 22, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 34.

PROOF OF IMMORTALITY.

By L. A. P.

THERE is in the Word of God a revelation of two important doctrines. The first is that in death man rests, as it were, in sleep, wholly unconscious, until the resurrection at the personal second coming of Christ to the earth, when the righteous will be changed from the mortal to the immortal state. This is the positive teaching. The second is the doctrine that man does not really die; that the soul is now immortal; that what seems to be death is only transition. And the Word informs us that the author of this doctrine is the devil.

This second doctrine originated in a deception, and the single object in its propagation is, on the part of its author, that the minds of men may be made susceptible to the reception of error of all descriptions, and thus be kept from a knowledge of the truth that would save them from the destruction of the wicked. The doctrine is somehow popular, but, as it lacks Bible proof, except as to its unsavory origin, we are hearing more and more these years of scientific research looking towards some physical proof of immortality. To the believer in the Word of God these attempts appear worse than useless, and yet scientists, laymen, theologians, and otherwise are watching the movement with hopeful eyes, and lending their influence wherever possible.

One of the latest items adduced as "evidence" in this direction appears in a late issue of the New York Observer. Under a heading similar to the caption of this article, reference is made to information imparted at the late Ecumenical Conference by Mr. Grubb, missionary among the South American Indians. Concerning these Indians and their belief the article says:—

These people are pure pagans, living under that terrible tyranny of fear which oppresses the pagan world, that of injury by evil spirits. Every act of their lives is influenced by this dread, and no part of Mr. Grubb's talk was more interesting than his description of the results of that influence upon himself. The natives believe that during sleep, consciousness, or the power that directs us when awake, may wander about, and may even take possession of another sleeping body whose guiding intelligence is similarly absent. This intelligence may thus become conversant with the thoughts passing in the mind in a dreaming state of the other body, and may thus know what that body intends to do when its controlling consciousness returns, and the body

awakes. In the same way they believe that the spirits of the dead return to plague or help the living.

Then follows the account of an attempt to kill Mr. Grubb, made by a native, who had dreamed that his spirit had occupied the missionary's body and learned of sinister attempts toward himself. This, the Observer remarks, illustrates anew the fact "that superstition and degradation are the natural order in the heathen world." Then it proceeds to say:—

But it was enlightening also in the evidence it gave that these pure pagans had gotten hold, however unconsciously, of one of the best of physical proofs of the immortality of the soul. This is that the directing power of the mind and body—the consciousness, or soul—may leave the body during sleep—does, in fact, do so—to return when the body awakes. We know that in sleep this controlling force is relaxed, the body lying inert, and the mind, if acting at all, doing so in such erratic fashion as to preclude the possibility of guidance at all. The instant the body awakens, the directing intelligence, or soul, resumes its sway. Is it not a reasonable conclusion, then, that the soul is not present save in the waking body; that it is not tied to the body, is in no sense material? It waits outside, as it were, during sleep or the physical disease we call insanity, ready to re-enter when waking or recovery comes. But if it does that, what is to prevent it living on when death renders the body no longer habitable?

Truly, what a remarkable "evidence" in proof of immortality! Those poor, pure pagan heathen attempt to kill a man because of their superstition and degradation; but this same superstition is nevertheless "one of the best proofs of the immortality of the soul"! And then, if the Observer's position is tenable, why was not the pagan Indian right, after all? Did not his soul really occupy Mr. Grubb's body while Mr. G.'s soul was out? Perhaps it wasn't a dream at all, and Mr. Grubb's subconsciousness thought an evil thought in an unfortunate moment. But the Observer continues:—

Nothing is more certain than that it [the soul] does leave the body, and return. Why, then, should it not continue to exist without the body?

"Nothing more certain" than this for which the tangible proof does not exist, and for which such profound search is being made? Nothing? What unreal creatures we all are, and what a world of unrealities we are living in! Surely the Observer is not in earnest. Well, if the thing is true, why, indeed, should not the soul continue to exist without the body? And why should it remain here with its earthly clod at all? Why not fly away and be at rest? Why shouldn't there be a general exodus of souls from these disease-racked and earth-bound shells? But we are curious to know where the proof is that the above statement is true. We may gain some clue to it from the next statement, which is as follows:—

It is true that the soul alone is not perceived by other intelligence occupying bodies unless itself inhabiting a similar body. But that is no more proof of its non-existence than the removal of Brown from his present home would be evidence that he had ceased to live. Even Mr. Grubb's pagans would regard it as inadequate.

That is to say, there are two ways of perceiving a soul alone; first, when the observer is occupying his own body, and the observed soul is at the same time in its proper body. That is good, providing the individuals presided over by souls are awake and in their right minds. That is first-class and legitimate. By that method we are all perceiving lots of souls—yes, a world full of them daily. That is the ordinary flesh-and-blood, wide-awake, eye-to-eye way, and no one would think of using this commonplace method to prove the immortality of the soul. The Observer remembers that, and immediately attempts to correct any diverse conclusion that might be drawn from its statement by the unfortunate reference to the "removal of Brown." Now Brown, outside of his house, is a "soul alone," and, according to the statement preceding the reference to him, he ought to be invisible to any one in a house, even tho the other party were looking through the window, and in his direction; he can only be perceived when he is inside his house, with the door closed, and then only by observers nicely shut up in their own houses! We believe even Mr. Grubb's pagans would find some flaw in this theory.

The other way is only inferential, it is true, from the statement of how souls are perceived. But it is when both souls are out of the body and chance to meet, or, perhaps, when a returning soul is obliged to wait outside until some usurper can be ousted. Herein, then, must lie the proof that the soul "does, in fact," leave the body, and return, for the proof seems to be nowhere else. This is the universal proving-ground,—this extra-corporeal field, where discarnate souls meet and perceive each other, clasp ghostly hands, and agree to vouch for each other's immateriality and immortality! This is the meaning of the dominant consciousness that speaks from within, from the fulness of its experience in astral wanderings, asserting that the soul is immortal. For it is the "something within," the "universal desire for immortality," the "universal belief in the doctrine," and like reasons that are wheeled into line by the popular theology as "facts" in proof of the soul's immortality. These go hand in hand with the "proofs" furnished by spiritistic phenomena, and the whole is destined to work untold evil for every "soul" that is not firmly fortified with the true and everlasting facts of God's Word in reference to this important subject.