p. 1 | IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL by John Norton Loughborough

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 10, 1859

IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.

By John Norton Loughborough

ELD. DORRITY'S DISCOURSE IN CONVIS.

December 26th, by request of friends we listened to a discourse delivered in Convis, Mich., where Bro. Frisbie had just finished a course of lectures, and in the evening gave a brief review before a crowded audience in a large school-house. The above mentioned discourse was delivered by Eld. Dorrity, of the M. E. Church at Marshall, on the immortality of the soul. Knowing by report of the talent of the man, it was expected that something of a show of argument would be made to sustain his position. After listening to the discourse we became more satisfied than ever that talent will not sustain a position against facts. But we will give some of his positions.

In prayer at the commencement he claimed, while speaking of the impenitent, that their bodies would soon be conveyed by their neighbors to the dust, and their spirits be borne away to the judgment-seat to receive their doom. We were somewhat surprised to hear this from a Methodist minister, as one had informed us but a few weeks previous, that the Methodists did not believe men were rewarded at death. At the close of the Eld.'s discourse we inquired whether Methodists believe men are rewarded at death, and were answered in the affirmative.

The Eld.'s text selected as a foundation for his discourse was Job. xiv, 10. "Man giveth up the ghost and where is he?" Without stopping to read the connection, the Eld. proceeded to remark:

"Where are our loved ones? anywhere, or nowhere? By asking nature we should get no reply. Ask the moon, and her pale beams mock you with their silence. Ask the sea, Where are the dead? and as it covers its slumbering millions, its waves and surges roar and it gasps for more. Ask the earth, which has swallowed its thousands until it has become one great Acaldama, Where are the dead? No reply. Ask the wise man amidst his books, maps and crucibles, Where are the dead? He has no reply. No human knowledge can reveal the soul. All nature may be asked, Where are the dead? where is the soul? All nature echoes, Where? 'Life and immortality are brought to light only through the gospel.' Though man die he shall live again. His soul can never die. Nature does not teach the immortality of the soul."

He next inquired, "What is the response of God's word? The Bible asserts that they still live. The Bible teaches that man is composed of two parts: matter and an immaterial spirit." Quoted Gen ii, 7, and remarked, "Here we learn that God gave man an immaterial spirit. God had spoken man into form, but he possessed no life. He then joined a living soul with that lifeless clod and man lived. This proves that the soul is immaterial."

The Eld. has learned something from this text that we cannot read out of it, which has probably led him to so different a conclusion in regard to its meaning; namely, that man has an immaterial spirit.

He next proceeded to prove that the soul could exist after the death of the body. First, he quoted the language used by David prophetically respecting Christ, and afterwards used by Stephen: "Into thy hands I commend my spirit," and claimed it proved that "the soul existed after the death of the body." Our reply to this was: We understand the term spirit in this text signifies life. Both Christ and Stephen were yielding up their lives as a sacrifice to God. Christ was yielding up his life as a sacrifice for sinners. Stephen lost his by contending unflinchingly for his faith. Christ commends his sacrifice to God. Stephen had not sought to save his life for fear of man, but yields it up and commends it to God to be kept to life eternal.

Eld. D. next claimed that Eccl. xii, 7, "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit to God who gave it," proved that the soul could exist separate from the body. Although many deny it, said he, I believe this is an account that agrees with the account of man's creation in Gen. ii, 7. The spirit which God gave returns again to him at death. We believe with the Eld. that this testimony agrees with Gen. ii, 7. But the spirit which was there given was the breath. Man and beasts "all have one breath." Eccl. iii, 19.

Eld. D. proceeds: "In the Bible the immortality of the soul is not so much proved as assumed. It is treated in the same manner as the existence of God. The Bible does not prove that there is a God. The whole system of religion, however, is based on the existence of a God, and yet his existence is assumed. For instance, in the first chapter of Genesis we read, "God created the heavens and the earth."

If the Bible said "the immortal soul" did something, then of course every one would admit that there was such a thing as an immortal soul; but even the term immortal soul is not found in the Bible. If the name of God was not in the Bible, or any language that gave us to understand that there was a God, could men claim that the Bible assumed his existence? If men would really sustain the position that the Bible treats the immortality of the soul as it does the existence of God, then we will yield the point and admit the immortality of the soul. For the Bible not only many scores of times mentions the name of God, but tells us how to designate the true God. "Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion." Jer. x, 11, 12. If the immortality of the soul was thus treated, who could doubt that there was an immortal soul? Instead of its being thus treated, however, we read that God only hath immortality, [1 Tim. vi, 16] and also that we are to seek for it. Rom. ii, 6, 7.

Again he said, "The Bible is as useless as Webster's spelling-book, unless the immortality of the soul is admitted. All the instructions which it gives us concerning the training of our children proceed on the ground that the youth are young immortals. The Bible is meaningless if you take away the idea of a future life."

Thus he tried to place upon us the denial of a future life, and to give the people to understand that the future life taught in the Bible is based on the ground of the immortality of the soul, instead of the doctrine of the resurrection.

He next proceeded to introduce "facts to prove that there is a future life." 1. "It is said of Enoch and Elijah that they were translated; but to deny that there is a future life there is no place to which they were translated. 2. Abraham 'looked for a city,' but did not receive it unless he is to have a future life. 'He gave up the ghost and was gathered to his people,' which is but another form of expressing, 'Into thy hands I commend my spirit.' Abraham was buried far from his people; therefore being gathered to his people could not have reference to his body; but must mean, his soul went to be with them. 3. Moses had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Not the leading of a band of slaves, but a future inheritance. Of Moses and Aaron it is said, 'they were gathered to their fathers.'"

Eld. D.'s claim that being gathered to their fathers has reference to their souls, is assumed; for the same form of expression is used in other texts where it could be applied to nothing else but the body. When Jacob's sons had brought home his son Joseph's coat of many colors, which they had dipped in the blood of a kid, Jacob supposed his son had been eaten by wild beasts, and therefore could not expect to find his body; yet he says on this occasion, "For I will go down into the grave to my son mourning." Gen. xxxvii, 35. Paul says of David, he "fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers

and saw corruption." Acts xiii, 26. For similar instances see Gen. xv, 15; 2 Chron. xxxiii, 33, and chap. xxxiv, 28.

Eld. D. "The Jews believed in the existence of spirits." To sustain this position a number of texts were quoted, the most of them having more of a bearing on the resurrection than on this question.

Eld. D. "The basis of all Christ's discourses is the immortality of the soul."

To sustain this no text particularly new was given. He quotes as one proof text, "He that endureth to the end the same shall be saved," and says, "not struck out of existence." On the case of Moses and Elias, he told us their bodies had slumbered hundreds of years. Said the case of the rich man and Lazarus was a familiar illustration of the immortality of the soul. It is distorted by some because it stands in the way of their hobby. Again, he informed his congregation that "those who believe the soul sleeps till the resurrection teach blasphemous doctrines. This is the result of ignorance."

While commenting on 2 Cor. iv, he made a strange combination of texts and palmed it off as one text. "Paul," said he, "taught that absence from the body is presence with the Lord, and said, I go to inhabit a house of my Father's prepared of Christ in heaven. I have fought a good fight, and I desire to depart and be with Christ. Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

After thus combining texts he exclaimed, "But Paul shouted victory too soon if it is true that the soul sleeps till the resurrection! Paul has received his crown and praised the Lord for eighteen hundred years." He wound up his testimony on this part of the subject by telling us the answer the Bible gave to the question, Where are the dead? was, that dead saints have come to mount Zion, the city of the living God. This language, however, is found in Heb. xii, and was addressed to living men. How did the Eld. learn that it referred to dead saints?

He next inquires, What does the Bible teach respecting the wicked? and gave the following brief answer: They will have everlasting punishment, [Matt. xxvi, 46] which Paul explains to be everlasting destruction. 2 Thess. i, 8, 9. This everlasting destruction is to be always dying and never dead. This everlasting punishment will glorify God as much as the everlasting happiness of the righteous. John saw the dead come forth, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the death that never dies. You may ask, Have you any idea that this is literal fire? I emphatically answer, No. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed 1900 years before the Christian era, and yet Jude tells us they will suffer eternal punishment. And thus he wound up his long catalogue of testimony by telling us that there is scarcely a text in the Bible that could be explained without resorting to the idea that the soul is immortal.

We had good liberty in replying to this discourse, and endeavored to set forth the scripture doctrine of life only through Christ.

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

Battle Creek, Jan. 27th, 1839.