The Souls Under the Altar.
By B. F. Snook
"And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice saying, How long O Lord holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth. And white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled." Rev. vi, 9-11. This scripture is looked upon by the believers of the immortality of the soul, as being clear and unmistakable proof of the truth of that dogma. We will give a brief and critical examination of this text in which we will show that so far from its teaching the immortality of the soul and man's consciousness in death, it teaches just the opposite view. We will notice, 1. That these souls are not said to be immortal nor of a never-dying nature. 2. Their place. Where are they seen? The popular theory says, in Heaven; for all the righteous go to Heaven as soon as they die. The text however does not give us any intimation that they were in Heaven. It merely says they were under the altar. The altar is a place of sacrifice. Is there such a place in Heaven? If so, then these souls are in Heaven under it; and if so, they cannot be around the throne of God praising his name, as the immortal-soul advocates would have us believe. But this altar is not in Heaven: Dr. A. Clarke gives us a good note upon this point. He says: "A symbolical vision was exhibited in which he saw an altar; and under it the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God, martyred for their attachment to Christianity, are represented as being newly slain as victims to idolatry and superstition. The altar is upon earth, not in Heaven." John saw these souls in prophetic vision under the earth or the altar. They are the martyrs who were put to death by the popes from the assumption of their power in A. D. 538, to the Reformation by Luther. 3. It is objected that as they are represented as crying with a loud voice, therefore these are immortal souls and in a state of conscious existence. This conclusion does not follow legitimately from the premise. We will show that this argument proves too much. God said to Cain, "The voice of thy brother's blood cried unto me from the ground." Gen. iv, 10. Habakkuk says, "For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it." Chap. ii, 11. The above argument would prove that as the blood of Abel spoke from the ground, and as the stone and beam of timber spoke out of the wall, that therefore they are all conscious. It proves too much and hence proves nothing. This is a figure of speech, often used in the Scriptures, in which life is attributed to an inanimate object. 4. White robes were given to every one of them. A. Clarke says on this, "The emblems of purity, innocence and triumph." 5. We will now prove most clearly that these souls had been killed, and hence there is no possibility of their having been immortal. It was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season until their fellow servants and their brethren also that should be killed as they were (killed), should be fulfilled. These souls were therefore killed. An immortal soul cannot be killed; therefore these were not immortal souls. This is one of the strongest texts supposed to favor that theory; but it fails to do so; and if it fails, we may justly conclude that upon a fair examination the rest will all fail in like manner, and testify in harmony with God's word, that God only hath immortality, 1 Tim. vi, 16, and hence that man does not now possess it; that it is neither brought to light in man's creation nor by pagan philosophers, but by our Lord Jesus Christ through the gospel, 2 Tim. i, 10. If man would have immortality he must seek for it. Rom. ii, 7. If he does patiently seek for it, he will put it on in the resurrection at the last trump, when the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed. 1 Cor. xv, 51, 54. B. F. SNOOK.