THE TRANSGRESSOR'S FATE:
By M. Hull
OR A SHORT ARGUMENT ON THE FIRST AND SECOND DEATHS.
But I must pass to the examination of another question, viz., Does man die more than one death for the Adamic transgression? I might quote a host of modern authors to prove that he does; but such testimony is not final with the Bible student. I will therefore only give a few extracts to show the position of the theological world, after which we will examine scripture testimony. Dr. Clarke says, "Thou shalt surely die." Mot tamuth; literally, a death thou shalt die; or, dying thou shalt die. Thou shalt not only die spiritually, by losing the life of God. But from that moment thou shalt become mortal. Clarke's Com. on Gen. ii, 16. Benson says, "The death here threatened is evidently to be considered as opposed to the life (or lives, rather) which God had bestowed on him. This was not only the natural life of his body, in its union with his soul, but the spiritual life of his soul in its union with God, and the eternal life of both. The threatening then implies, Thou shalt not only lose all the happiness thou hast, either in possession or in prospect, and be liable to the death of the body, and all the miseries which precede and accompany it. But thou shalt lose thy spiritual life and become dead to God—dead to God and things divine, and shalt even forfeit thy title to immortality: and be liable to death eternal, and all this in the day thou eatest thereof." Benson's Com. Buck says, "The covenant of works was made with Adam; the condition of which was his perseverance during the whole time of his probation. The reward annexed to his obedience was the continuance of him and his posterity in such perfect holiness and felicity as he then had, while upon earth, and an everlasting life with God hereafter. The penalty threatened for the breach of the commandment was condemnation terminating in death, temporal, spiritual and eternal." Theological Dictionary, under Covenant of works. The Westminster Confession of Faith, pp. 45, 46, says, "Every sin, both original and actual, being a transgression of the righteous law of God, and contrary thereunto, doth in its own nature bring guilt upon the sinner, whereby he is bound over to the wrath of God, and curse of the law, and so made subject to death, with miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal." The Shorter Catechism (bound in the same volume), p. 384, says, "All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and the pains of hell forever." The above is the voice of the wisdom of this world; but where has the Bible said anything about a threefold death? Where has it threatened more than one death for Adam's transgression? The law says, "Thou shalt surely die." If this is not plain enough for our comprehension, we will take the penalty as pronounced by the supreme Judge. Gen. iii, 17-19. "And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy207life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Here the elements are all arrayed against man. The ground is cursed, thorns and thistles grow spontaneously to war against him. He enters upon a toiling stage—sweat spontaneously gushes out of his pores. Decomposition has commenced, and must continue until his toil and sweat are ended by his returning to the dust. Dear reader, is not this plain enough? Can you not now understand the penalty of Adam's sin? If not, follow his history a few centuries and you will find his obituary. Gen. v, 5. "And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died." Thus the penalty of God's broken law has been executed upon Adam, and his history is wound to a close. Permit me here, dear reader, to exhibit the glaring absurdity of the three-fold-death system, by using a familiar illustration: Suppose that Mr. A., of this State, is guilty of petit larceny, for which the law says he shall be imprisoned in the county jail any length of time the court may decide, not exceeding twelve months. He is thrust into prison according to the letter of the law. After he has suffered the penalty prescribed by the law, the officer comes to take him out. As the officer is engaged in loosing his fetters, A. says, "Well, I have broken the law and paid the penalty." "No, no," says the officer, "we are not done with you yet. You have now got to go to the State prison, and be confined to hard labor for five years." "What for?" says A. "Petit larceny," responds the officer. But Mr. A. pleads that "the law does not say I shall go to the penitentiary." "It means it," says the officer. A. asks why the law does not say so if that is its meaning? "O," says the officer, "that is the hidden, or secret meaning. I guess you never studied theology; if you had you would have learned that books say one thing and mean another." The fiat has gone forth and is unalterable. To the State prison he must go. He goes grumbling along, relating the cause of his complaint to every one he chances to meet, and all say that his complaints are just. After he has served out his time he expects to be released. But the executor informs him that he must now be hanged by the neck until he is dead. "What are you going to hang me for?" says A. "Petit larceny," responds the officer. "The law does not say so," says A. But as the officer is fastening the rope around his neck he informs A. that this is the meaning of the law. I ask in all candor, Would not every citizen of the State rebel against such a procedure as the above? And yet we are gravely informed that this is the way God deals with the human family on account of Adam's sin. First, we must die a spiritual death, i. e., lose all desire to do good. Second, a temporal death, i. e., separation of soul and body. Third, an eternal death, i. e., eternal life in misery. And if you deny it you are charged with heresy, infidelity, and "not being able to discern things of the Spirit." But the most glaring absurdity of all is a plan of redemption from a three-fold death. They tell us that a plan of redemption has been provided—that we are redeemed by virtue of the vicarious sufferings of Jesus Christ. If that be true, then Christ must die a three-fold death before man can be redeemed! Thus, Christ must come into the world a good and holy being, after which he must die a spiritual death (get into "that awful state of ignorance, insensibility and disobedience which mankind are in by nature," Buck) and have a spiritual resurrection (be converted) before man can be redeemed from the first death. After that he must die a corporeal death and have a corporeal resurrection in order to redeem man from a physical death. But after this is done his work is only commenced, for he has yet to redeem man from the dominion of eternal death, which he can only do by suffering the same himself. Thus in the attempt to get up a plan of redemption, this theory consigns Christ and the whole family of men to endless perdition! As the reader is tired of following us through the absurdities of modern theology, we pass from them to investigate the Bible doctrine of the nature of the death we die in consequence of Adam's transgression. In examining this subject I shall first consider the word "Man," and see if I can determine its meaning; or what man is made of; whether he is a compound of mortality and immortality, part of dust, and part of some kind of a vital fluid which can never die; or whether he is "but dust and ashes." Gen. xviii, 27. In 1 Cor. xv, 45, Paul says, "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." The first man Adam is declared to be a living soul. That living soul is of the earth, earthy. The writing referred to is found in Gen. ii, 7. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Here man (the whole being) was made of dust; and an immortal soul put into him? No. The breath of life breathed into him, and man, that which was made of dust, became a living soul. Paul says in 1 Cor. xv, 47, "The first man is of the earth, earthy." Not part of the earth, and a part from heaven, as immortal-soulists claim. Here I might ask, If man has in his nature a principle which survives the death of the corporeal structure, what is it? Man as a whole is said to be mortal. Job xiv, 17. If a part of man survives death, the Bible would somewhere make the exception. This it does not do. But it everywhere treats man as a unit. Man was man before the breath of life was put into his nostrils, and he was only man afterwards. The Bible teaches that man must die. It talks about living men and dead men, so that man is as really man after his death as he was before he died. The difference being, that with one the vital functions are performing their work, while with the other they have ceased. Who will say that a mill is not as really a mill when it has stopped as it is when grinding wheat or corn? If the above position be true, viz., that man is a unit, (and its truthfulness cannot be disputed), it follows that if a part of man is immortal, all is; and if a part dies, all the parts die, unless the Scriptures have made the exception. The Bible nowhere excepts any part of man, but abounds in declarations like the following: "Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble." "Man dieth and wasteth away." "If a man die shall he live again?" "Man shall turn again to the dust," &c., &c. I have often heard ministers say that man (the man proper) does not die. In funeral discourses I have heard them say that "John is not dead. Here is the shell in which John lived, but John is in heaven." See the following extract from an obituary published in the Christian Advocate: "Little Jane was a lovely child, and young as she was, she loved to pray, and though we call her dead, she is not dead, she is alive, "Trying the powers of her little voice,
While the angels listen—many now rejoice,
And join with her in the praise of God,
Who washed her young spirit in Jesus' blood." But no such idea can be found in the Scriptures. On the contrary, the Bible says, "Moses, my servant, is dead." "Lazarus is dead," &c. Again, when the Savior calls Lazarus from the dead, he does not call a body from the grave, and an immortal soul from heaven, to unite them together. But after the stone was rolled away from the grave [John xi, 41] he "cried with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth, and he that was dead came forth,' bound hand and foot with grave clothes." John xi, 43, 44. So it will be in the resurrection. "All that are in their graves (not their immortal souls in heaven) shall hear his voice and shall come forth." John v, 27, 28.