Untitled article by R. F. Cottrell

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 26, 1864

Are the Dead Conscious? No. 4.

By R. F. Cottrell

"We believe in the immortality of the soul," is in almost every creed. That man has such a soul, is thought to be sufficiently proved from the frequent occurrence in the Scriptures of such expressions as, my soul, thy soul, his soul, &c., for when David says, for example, "My soul," he represents himself as possessing something, and that something is his soul. It is settled, then, that man has a soul; and if that soul is immortal, such expressions as "save a soul from death," James v, 20, must mean to save "the immortal principle in man" from eternal misery; for an immortal soul cannot die, therefore death must be used in a figurative sense.

The greatest defect in this reasoning is, that the thing to be proved, namely, the immortality of the soul, is only assumed; and this assumption is all that creates the necessity of making those texts figurative which represent the soul as subject to death, and consequently prove that it is not immortal. If the Bible only said that "mortal man" has an immortal soul, it would supply the deficiency and stop the greatest leak in the argument. But this desideratum is totally wanting, and the ship must sink.

The Scriptures represent the soul as liable, not only to die, but to go down into the grave. Souls are represented as being brought up from the grave, redeemed from its power, and delivered from a pit of corruption. Ps. xxx, 3; xlix, 15; Isa. xxxviii, 17. The resurrection of Christ from Joseph's new tomb, was the subject of that prophecy which says, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in sheol, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption." Ps. xvi, 10.

Do I hear you say that the term soul, in these passages, means no more than person or life? Be it so. And will you be so kind as to point out a passage where it means the "immortal principle in man"? Perhaps you refer me to Mark viii, 36. "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" In turn I refer you to Luke ix, 24, 25. "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?" This passage is precisely parallel to the other, and it is evident that no more than person or life is meant by the term soul. The place where it means that "immortal principle" is not yet found. Who will find it?

But to the question of man's state in death. One more quotation from the words of Job, will show that the dead are ignorant of what is passing among the living, and that consequently they are not our guardian spirits. Of the dead man he says, "His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not: and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." Job xiv, 21. The heart of the dying parent is intensely solicitous concerning the future course and condition of his children, and if it were possible, would still exercise a guardian care over them; but death closes his guardianship, and he knows no more about them. The double entity swivel will not explain away the force of this passage. The dead either know what is transpiringing [sic] upon the earth, or they do not. Those who believe the text will believe they do not.

We pass to the testimony of the sweet singer of Israel, another holy man of old who spake as he was moved by the Holy Spirit. Said he, "Return, O Lord, deliver my soul; oh save me for thy mercies' sake. For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" Ps. vi, 4, 5.

In this text the Psalmist prays the Lord to deliver his soul. From what? From death and the grave. Why? Because in death there is no remembrance of the Lord; the living may give him thanks, but those in the grave cannot. The soul is the person. To deliver one's soul is to deliver himself, or to save his life. When life departs, the person goes down into the grave, where there is no knowledge, no giving of thanks, no remembrance, but all is forgetfulness.

You may define death as you please. Call it a state of separation of soul and body, if you will. In that state called death there is no remembrance of God. This could not be true, did any part of man retain the faculties of a living person. This testimony is inexorable. There is no way of evading its force, but to deny that man passes into a state called death. This cannot be done, without denying the Bible. In death, let death mean what it will, there is no remembrance of God. Do you see its force? What way is there of evading the conclusion that man is unconscious in death, without coming in absolute collision with the inspired word? Such positive declarations of the word will aid us, if we are willing to be helped, in the understanding of parables and figures of speech, where the dead are represented as speaking, &c. These do not testify what is the state of man in death; but with the understanding that that is well understood, both from observation and revelation, they represent them, by a figure of speech, as feeling, acting, and speaking. Were it the acknowledged prerogative of dead men to speak, Paul would never have said in a figure, "He being dead yet speaketh."

But the texts we are examining affirm something of the real state of man in death. There is no figure here. That from Job affirms man's unconsciousness of what is passing among the living in this world; this from the Psalms asserts as positively his unconsciousness of God, and, of consequence, of the heavenly world.

Reader, will you accept of the testimony of the word? Will you adopt the motto of an apostle, "Let God be true and every man a liar?" Or will you reject the unequivocal assertions of his word, and from unnecessary inferences endeavor to sustain the first lie that was ever uttered to our race? Need you be told that it is infidelity to disbelieve, and cowardly skepticism to doubt, the positive assertions of the great Author of all truth? It is better to believe the Lord's truth than to be carried with the strong delusions of these last days.

R. F. COTTRELL.