p. 131 | Man in Death

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 22, 1863

Man in Death.

THE following is from the Herald of Gospel Liberty, a paper published in Newburyport, Mass., by the Christian denomination:—

"Paul once stood upon an island, allegorically representing truth, and shook a viper from his hand. While standing upon such a foundation, no error could hurt him. Our modern Pauls stand upon a continent of error. How shall they free themselves from the viper, Spiritualism, that has fastened upon them? Yea, they stand upon the very corner-stone and foundation upon which it is built, viz., that the soul is immortal, and has conscious existence separate from the body. Hence the danger; if Spiritualism fails, their own structure will come tumbling about their heads. Once get the Bible idea of no future life out of Christ, and without the resurrection, fully established, and where is Spiritualism? At a spiritual circle in the city of Washington, in 1853, the following question was asked: 'What good can result from these manifestations?' 'It is to draw mankind together in harmony; and convince skeptics of the immortality of the soul.' So said John C. Calhoun. The same question being put to what purported to be the spirit of W. E. Channing, the same answer was returned as before.

"Now tell me, candid reader, is not this the foundation on which they are built and by which they have succeeded? And yet these sticklers for man's natural immortality, deny the divine authenticity of most of the Bible. And why? Because, forsooth, it does not teach the doctrine they wish, but instead bases all hopes of a future life upon Christ and the resurrection."