.A.  
HISTORY  
DOCTRINE OF THE SOUL,  
ALL RACES AND PEOPLES,  
ANCIENT AND MODERN,  
INCLUDING THEOLOGIANS, PHILOSOPHERS, SCIENTISTS,  
AND UNTUTORED ABORIGINEES;  
CAREFULLY BROUGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME.  
Br ELD. D. M. CANRIGIIT.  
'Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after  
the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and  
not after Christ.  "—PAUL.  
SECOND EDITION, REVISED.  
BATTLE  CREEK, MICHIGAN:  
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION.  
1882.  

OF THE  
A M 0 N G


Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882,  
BY D. M. CANRIGHT,  
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at  Washington.


(  
IT is with earnest prayer to God that I send forth this lit- 
tle book, hoping that it may be useful in the cause of truth.  
Yery many candid and pious minds are coming to be satisfied  
that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul is not taught 
in the Bible; yet it is quite generally held by Christians. It 
is, therefore, both interesting and important to know how  
this doctrine came into the church, who has believed it, and 
who has not. To answer these questions is the object of these  
pages.  
I have studied long, and read extensively, to gather the  
facts herein presented. I have been brief in my comments 
and quotations, to avoid making a bulky book. Other labors  
and lack of opportunities to obtain access to libraries, have  
not allowed me to be as full and make the points as strong 
in some places as I would like to have done, and as I know 
can be done. If the Lord will, I shall do this in a future  
edition. Much care has been used in these quotations and  
references, so they may be relied upon.  
It seemed to me that such a work as this was needed.  
While much has been written upon the Bible argument con- 
cerning the nature of man, very few and meager have been 
the productions upon the historical argument. Indeed, I have  
never seen anything written upon several of the points here 
noticed. I hope, therefore, it may be of some b'ttle use to  
the friends of truth.  
D. M. CAKRIGHT.  
MONROE, IOWA, 1870. (iii)  

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.


PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.  
THE previous edition of this work being exhausted, many  
inquiries have been made for a new edition. For years the  
author has been reading and gathering material to perfect 
what was only begun in the former issue. Perhaps few other 
subjects require so extensive reading as this, in order to  
get at all the truth in the case. It must be gleaned, a little 
here and a little there, from histories, travels, biographies,  
essays, sermons, and all kinds of literature.  
The author has been particular to give full and careful ref- 
erences to works quoted, so that the  reader can satisfy him- 
self of their correctness, if he desires. The facts plainly 
show that the doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul  
is purely a heathen dogma. These pages point out its origin, 
its gradual development, the course by which it came into 
the Christian church, and the baleful effects which it there  
produced. They also show that the mortality of the soul,  
the sleep of the dead, and the destruction of the wicked, were  
doctrines held by all the apostolic Fathers, and after them  
by many of the most eminent of the early Fathers. Since 
that time it brings to light a host of pious men who have  
rejected the pagan doctrine of man's immortality.  
May the God of truth grant his blessing upon this work,  
and may it open many eyes to see that our only hope of a  
future life is through the Lord Jesus Christ and the resur- 
rection of the dead.  
D. M. C.  
OTSEGO, MICH., JANUARY, 1882. (iv)


ONE,  
The Bible does not Teach the Immortality of  
the Soul.  
TESTIMONY OF EMINENT MEN, 11 
THE DOCTRINE UNREASONABLE, 13  
FALSE DOCTRINES WHICH GREW OUT OF IT, 14  
CONTRADICTS THE BIBLE, 15 
SCRIPTURAL MEANING OF HELL, 17  
GEHENNA, 20  
TARTAROO, 22  
JOSEPHUS UNRELIABLE, 22 
TESTIMONY OF VARIOUS AUTHORS ON THIS POINT, 23  
HIS "DISCOURSE" ABOUT "HADES," A FORGERY, 27  
CHAPTER; TWQ.  
The Most Ancient Faith Taught that Immortality  
Was only to be Obtained through the  
Resurrection of the Body.  
MAJORITIES NOT ALWAYS RIGHT, 29 
A FALSE ASSUMPTION EXPOSED, 30  
THE EGYPTIANS, WHY THEY EMBALMED, 32  
THE ANCIENT PERSIANS, 34  
[v]


vi  CONTENTS.  
THE ANCIENT ARABIANS, 
THE MOHAMMEDANS, 
THE JEWS, 
CHRISTIANS, 
ANCIENT PERUVIANS,  
SOUTH AMERICANS,  
AFRICANS,  
THE HAWAIIANS,  
ORIGIN OF BURYING ARTICLES WITH THE DEAD,  
THE CUSTOM OF VARIOUS TRIBES AND RACES,..  
CHAPTER frail  
The Immortality of the Soul not Believed by the  
Ancient Philosophers.  
THE ANCIENT GREEKS AND ROMANS,  
IN THE TIME OF THE C^SARS, 
THE PERIPATETICS, 
EPICUREANS, 
ACADEMICS, 
THE PYRRHONIANS, 
THE STOICS, •. 
THE HERACLITEANS, 
THE DOCTRINE OF EMANATION AND ABSORPTION, 
PERIODICAL DESTRUCTION,  
EMINENT MEN WHO REJECTED IT,  
EMAPTER FOUR®  
Modern Nations who do not Believe in the Immor- 
tality of the Soul.  
THE HINDOOS,  
THE CHINESE,.


CONTENTS. vii  
OTHER ASIATIC NATIONS, 60 
THE POLYNESIAN RACES, 60  
AFRICAN RACES, 62 »  
TRIBES OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT, 63  
THE ESQUIMAUX, 64 
THE INDIANS, 64  
CHRISTIANS, 65  
SUMMARY, ' 66  
mA&rm PWI.  
The Earliest Hope of a Future Life Was through a  
Reliving of the Body.  
FIRST IDEAS OF A SEPARATE SOUL WERE THAT IT WAS  
A MERE SHADOW, 67  
HOMER'S ILIAD, 69 
HERODOTUS, 72 
ONLY FABLES, 72  
INVENTED BY PRIESTS AND LAWGIVERS, 74  
EGYPT THE MOTHER OF THE DOCTRINE, 75  
THE FUTURE LIFE OF THE SOUL DEPENDENT UPON A  
PRESERVATION OF THE BODY, 77  
©mapvib SDK.  
The Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul Orig- 
inated in Egypt and Was Carried into Greece  
"by Grecian Philosophers.  
INVENTED IN EGYPT, 80 
PHEBECYDES FIRST TAUGHT IT TO THE GREEKS, 80 
PYTHAGORAS THE NEXT WHO TAUGHT IT, 82


viii CONTENTS.  
ANAXAGORAS CARRIES IT FURTHER, 83  
PLATO COMPLETES THE DOCTRINE, 84  
« PLATO'S DOCTRINE, 87  
HISTORY OF THE PLATONIC SCHOOL, 89  
CHAPTER*SiVIN.  
The Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul Re- 
ceived into the Christian Church through  
the Alexandrian School.  
THE DOCTRINE CARRIED TO POME, 91 
THE ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL, 92  
PLATO'S DOCTRINE OF THE SOUL ADOPTED BY THIS  
SCHOOL, 96  
GREAT POPULARITY OF THE ECLECTIC SCHOOL, 98 
PLATONISM OPPOSED BY THE MORE PIOUS, 102  
ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE SCRIPTURES  
ADOPTED, 103  
EVIL EFFECTS OF THE PLATONIC PHILOSOPHY UPON THE  
CHRISTIAN CHURCH.  
PRODUCED THE HERMITS, ILL  
CELIBACY, 113 
WORSHIP OF SAINTS AND RELICS, 114 
PURGATORY, 115 
RESTORATIONISTS AND UNIVERSALISTS, 116  
THE PAGAN HELL INTENSIFIED, 118


CONTENTS. ix  
GMAPTSR mm.  
Teaching of the Apostolical Fathers Concerning the  
Nature of Man.  
BARNABAS, 121  
CLEMENT, 122 
HERMAS, 124 
IGNATIUS, 126  
POLYCARP, 128  
CHAPTER TIM.  
THE EARLY FATHERS.  
JUSTIN MARTYR, 129  
TATIAN, 132 
ATHENAGORAS, 134  
THEOPHILUS, 135 
IREN^EUS, BISHOP OF LYONS, 136 
POLYCRATES, 138  
THE LUCIANISTS, 139 
THE HERMOGENIANS, 139  
THE ARABIANS, 140 
ARNOBIUS, 142  
THE FATHERS IN GENERAL, 143 
FROM THE THIRD CENTURY TO THE REFORMATION, 144  
CHAPTER ELEVEN,  
DURING THE REFORMATION.  
LUTHER, 
THOUSAND'S EMBRACE THE FAITH, 1&2  
WILLIAM TYNDALE, 1  154


X  CONTENTS.  
OPPOSITION IN ENGLAND, 156  
THE EARLY BAPTISTS, 157  
SOCINIANS, 158  
JOHN LOCKE, I6I  
JOHN MILTON, 162  
BISHOP TAYLOR, 163 
ARCHBISHOP TILLOTSON, 163  
STOSCH, I63  
DR. COWARD, 164  
LAWYER LAYTON, 164  
JOHN PITTS, 165 
HENRY DODWELL, 165  
ISAAC WATTS, 165  
WARBURTON,.., 166  
BISHOP LAW, 167  
JOSEPH PRIESTLY, 169 
MANY OTHERS, 170  
QMAPTKR VWILVI.  
EXTENT OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE  
SOUL AT THE PRESENT TIME.  
LARGE NUMBER IN ENGLAND TEACH IT, 171  
INTRODUCED INTO THE UNITED STATES, 175 
PROMINENT MEN  INDORSE  IT, 178  
OLD VIEWS GIVING WAY, 181


J\ HISTORY  
OF THE  
DOCTRINE OF THE SOUL,  
CHAPTER I.  
1Sft* boe>3- not 'is&aclv 3-mwottctfi  
oj; tlW Soi^-C  
learned men who believe in the im- 
tM^^lfl mortality of the soul, have frankly con- 
fessed that it is not taught in the Bible.  
Olshausen, in his comments on 1 Cor.  
15 :13, says: " The doctrine of the immor- 
tality of the soul, and the name, are alike  
unknown to the entire Bible."  
Bishop Tillotson says: " The immortality of the  
soul is rather supposed, or taken for granted, than  
expressly revealed in the Bible." 1  
The celebrated Richard Watson corroborates, thus:  
" That the soul is naturally immortal, .... is con- 
tradicted by the Scripture, which makes our immor- 
tality a gift dependent on the will of  the giver.'"2  
Archbishop Whately says: " To the Christian, in- 
deed. all this doubt would be instantly removed, if he  
1 Tillotson's Sermons, Vol. IT., Sermon 100. 
a Theological Institutes, Vol. II., Part 2, Chap. 18, p. 83.


12  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
found that the immortality of the soul, as a disem- 
bodied spirit, were revealed in the word of God. .  
. In fact, however, no such doctrine is revealed to  
us; the Christian's hope, as founded on the promises 
contained in the gospel, is the resurrection of the  
body."3  
Bishop Lowth, in his "Lectures on Hebrew Po- 
etry," says, " We there find no exact account, no ex- 
plicit mention of immortal spirits." *  
This is a significant  confession, since the bishop  
was a firm believer in the soul's immortality. Dr.  
Meander says, " It was an old Jewish notion that im-
mortality was not founded upon the nature of the  
soul, but a peculiar gift of divine grace."5  
Here is another good admission from an orthodox  
writer: " We would express our conviction that the  
idea of the immortality of the soul has no source in the  
gospel; that it conies, on the contrary, from the Pla- 
tonists."6  
Says Gibbon, "We discover that the doctrine of  
the immortality of the soul is omitted in the law of  
Moses."7  
In his note on this passage from Gibbon, the ortho- 
dox Milman thus admits the same: " Modern writers  
have accounted in various ways for the silence of the  
Hebrew legislator on the immortality  of the soul."8  
Nemesius, bishop of Emesa, in the fifth century,  
thus states the doctrine of the Jews: " The Hebrews  
say that originally man was evidently neither mortal  
nor immortal; but on the confines of either nature; 
so that, if he should yield to the bodily affections, he  
should share also the changes of the body; but if  
he should prefer the nobler affections of the soul,  
he should be deemed worthy of immortality."9  
This plainly shows the faith of the ancient He- 
3Quoted by Home in the " Watch Tower," p. 8. 
•Id., p. 12. ® Church History, p. 444.  
"Darby s Hopes of the Cliurch. 'Decline and Fall, Vol. 1., Chap. 15, ». 530.  
•Ibid., note. 9 Hudson Debt and Grace, p. 310.


WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES.  13  
brews, as well as the doctrine of the Bible on this  
point. Dr. Edward Beecher, in a late excellent work 
upon the subject of Scriptural Retribution thus frankly 
confesses that the Bible does not teach the natural  
immortality of the soul: "But before doing this, it  
will be expedient to consider the real foundations of  
any reliable belief in immortality. Plato sought to  
find them in the inherent nature of the deathless soul,  
existing from eternity to eternity. Others have  
sought them in the aspirations of the soul, and the  
imperfect development of retribution in this life. But 
the fundamental positions of the system of the Bible  
are not of this kind. It does not recognize, nay, it 
expressly denies, the natural and inherent immortal- 
ity of soul. It assures us that God only hath immor- 
tality. 1 Tim. 6:16."10  
Again he says: "There are passages in the Old  
Testament which were regarded of old, and still are  
by many, as teaching the ultimate annihilation  of the  
wicked."11  
So manifestly true are the foregoing statements  
that many pious and learned Christian men who 
have carefully examined the Bible upon this subject,  
have become thoroughly satisfied that it does not  
teach the immortality of the soul. Hence they have  
written many books, abundantly showing that no  
such doctrine* is taught in the Bible, but the reverse.  
They have rejected the popular doctrine of man's  
natural immortality  for many reasons which to us  
seem conclusive against it.  
1. IT IS UNREASONABLE.—It is not reasonable that  
the all-wise Creator should bestow unconditional  im- 
mortality upon all the race without regard to their 
moral character, and before any of them had been 
tested to see what they would develop. What good  
could come of it ? jSTone at all; but much evil. The 
Scriptures plainly teach that man was placed upon  
wDoctrin« of Scriptural Retribution, p. 58.  11 Id., p. 72.


14  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
probation. Good and evil were set before him. He 
was left to develop his own character, and determine  
his own destiny for eternity. The Creator certainly  
knew that it was possible for man to develop an evil 
character. If, then, he should first make him immortal,  
sin and evil would thus become immortalized. God  
would then have an eternal foe of his own creating.  
Through the endless cycles of eternity this evil, cor- 
rupt, and God-hating creature must continue to insult  
Heaven and pollute the fair universe of God. Such a  
supposition, to our mind, impeaches the wisdom of  
the Creator. Besides, it is answerable for the follow-
ing erroneous doctrines:—  
(1.) Eternal Misery.—Growing out of the supposi- 
tion of man's natural immortality, is the horrid doc- 
trine of an endless hell of torment for the lost. The 
Bible plainly teaches that a large share of men will  
be damned, being found utterly unworthy of the 
kingdom of God. Just as plainly it declares that all  
such shall go into a lake of fire. Now if all men are  
immortal by their very nature, then, all who are lost 
must continue to live in unutterable anguish and  
eternal burnings through unending ages. And this  
is the very doctrine that is professed by the churches  
of the day. We believe it to be a reproach on God,  
and a stone of stumbling to thousands of thoughtful  
people. We do know that large numbers are driven  
into infidelity by this very doctrine.  
(2.) Universalism.—The  unscriptural and unrea- 
sonable doctrine of universal salvation has grown out  
of the doctrine of man's natural immortality. As-
suming that all men must, by their very nature, live 
eternally, the Universalists,  being shocked by the  
horrors of the endless-hell  theory, have tried to twist  
the Scriptures to justify themselves in believing that  
all men, without regard to character, or faith in  
Christ, will ultimately be saved.  
(3.) Spiritualism.—The  very corner-stone of Spir-


WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES. 15  
itualism, tlie foundation on which it rests, the very 
tap-root which supplies it with nourishment and  
vigor, is the theory of the natural immortality of the  
soul. Assuming that the soul is the real man, that it  
lives when the body dies, they ask why this living  
soul cannot come back and communicate with men in  
the flesh. Granting these premises, their conclusion 
is a reasonable one, and hence has grown up the  
abominable system of modern Spiritualism, with all  
its blasphemous assumptions  and moral pollutions.  
The doctrine of the immortality of the soul is respon-
sible for the whole thing.  
(4.) Purgatory.—At the door of this same theory  
of natural immortality,  may be laid all the abomina- 
tions of the papal purgatory. It supposes that when 
the body dies the soul goes into a place of suffering  
w^here it is purified from its sins. The prayers, the 
money, the sacrifices of its friends on earth can aid in  
releasing it from this horrible place. Hence, the  
Romish purgatory.  
All the above and some other abominable doctrines  
which have cursed the world, have had their root in  
this theory of natural immortality. If man is mortal, 
if the dead are unconscious, then all the above theo-
ries fall to the ground in a moment.  
2. IT CONTRADICTS SOME OF THE FUNDAMENTAL  
DOCTRINES OP THE BIBLE.—The common theory is 
not only that the dead are  conscious, actually living,  
but that the wicked go straight into hell at death,  
and the righteous immediately into heaven. Now  if  
this be so, it virtually nullifies the doctrine of a future  
judgment. One of the plainest doctrines of the Bible  
is that there is to be a future, definite, grand day of 
Judgment, in which all men, good and bad, will be  
arraigned before God and judged for the actions of  
this life. But we ask, "What would be the use of a 
future judgment if men are sent immediately to Heaven  
or hell when they die ? Shall God torment a man a


18 DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
thousand years and then call him up to be judged to  
see whether he should be punished or not? ' Shall 
God reward a man in heaven for ages, and then call  
him down to earth and judge him to see what his  
doom should be? How utterly unreasonable is all  
this! We repeat that it virtually nullifies the future  
judgment.  
Moreover, if the soul is the real man, the thinking,  
intelligent,  active man; if it can live as well or better  
without the body than with it; if the body is only a 
prison, a cage, a clog; then what is the use of a future 
resurrection ? If the soul is ever freed from this old  
body, why should God ever put it back again ? Why  
raise this clog of clay and again imprison the immor-
tal soul within it? Such a theory naturally leads to 
the rejection of the Bible doctrine of the resurrection  
of the body, than which nothing is more plainly  
taught throughout the Holy Scriptures.  
Furthermore, if the saints go immediately to Heaven  
at death, if they become like angels, and dwell in the  
presence of God, what will they care for the second  
advent of Christ to earth? It can be of no account  
to them. They are with him already, safe, immortal,  
and unspeakably happy. Why should they long for  
the return of the Master ? This doctrine, it will be  
seen, throws its whole weight directly against the  
literal return of Jesus to this earth. But on turning  
to the Bible, we find the second advent of Christ to  
be the grand, central theme, the all absorbing hope 
of every Bible writer, while all of them are entirely 
silent with regard to the immortality  of the soul.  
These two doctrines do not naturally go together;  
hence we invariably find that the stronger a man be-
lieves in the immortality of the soul, the less he cares  
for the Judgment, the resurrection, and the second  
advent. These facts alone should lead us to look with 
suspicion upon that theory.


SCRIPTURAL MEANING OF HELL.  17  
Scriptural Meaning of Hell.  
To the popular mind at the present day the word  
" hell," wherever found, conveys the idea of a vast  
burning, smoking pit of eternal fire, in which are  
devils and damned souls suffering in unutterable  
agony. This is its exclusive meaning as now used.  
Hence, when the word "hell" is found in the Bible,  
the common reader immediately associates that idea 
with it, supposing that this is what it must necessarily 
mean. But every well-informed person knows that  
there is no foundation for this popular error.  
But the original Hebrew and Greek terms most  
frequently translated hell, which are used to repre- 
sent the place or state of the dead, never have the  
meaning of our modern word "hell." In the Hebrew  
original of the Old Testament we have the word sheol  
occurring sixty-five times. It is translated hell  
thirty-one times; grave, thirty-one times; and pit,  
three times. The corresponding Greek term is hades.  
It occurs in the New Testament eleven times, and is  
rendered hell ten times, and grave once. The revised 
version always renders it hades. Neither of these 
terms, sheol or hades, ever means the place of future  
punishment  or a lake of fire. They simply mean the  
grave or realm of the dead.  
In proof of this we will offer testimonies from the  
most eminent authors upon the point.  
"A new and critical Lexicon and Concordance to  
the English and Greek New Testament," by E. W.  
Bullinger, thus defines hades:—- 
" Hades, therefore, denotes the realm of the invis- 
ible, the kingdom of the dead, graveland, gravedom,  
all the graves in the world viewed as one; the place  
where the declaration of God is fulfilled,  1 Dust thou  
art and unto dust shalt thou return.' Hades is the  
grave of the human race; not the grave of the individ- 
ual (for which other words are used), but of all the  
2


18  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
dead, whether they lie in the sepulcher, or are torn  
by beasts (Gen. 37:35), or consigned to the deep." 
Ko better definition of the word could be given. It  
means the place or region of the dead, good and bad.  
Another high authority in defining hades says,  
" For the same reason, the ideas entertained even by  
God's people upon the subject, were predominantly  
somber and gloomy. Sheol wore no inviting aspect  
to their view, no more than hades to the superstitious  
heathen; the very men who  believed that God would  
accompany them thither, and keep them from evil, 
contemplated the state as one of darkness and silence, 
and shrunk from it with instinctive horror, or gave  
hearty thanks when they found themselves for a time  
delivered from it." *  
Yes, hades is the dark and silent realm of the dead.  
The late popular work,  " Smith's Dictionary of the  
Bible," Art. Hell, truthfully says of the word hell:—  
" This is the word generally and unfortunately  
used by our translators to render the Hebrew sheol.  
"We say unfortunately, because although, as St. Au-
gustine truly asserts, sheol, with its equivalents inferni  
and hades, is never used in a good sense, yet the En-
glish word hell is mixed up with numberless associa- 
tions entirely foreign to the minds of the ancient He- 
brews. It would perhaps have been better to retain 
the Hebrew word sheol, or else render it always by  
the grave, or the pit. Ewald accepts Luther's word  
holle; even 'underwelt, which is suggested by De 
Wette, involves conceptions too human for the pur- 
pose. Passing over the derivations suggested by 
older writers, it is now generally agreed" that the 
word comes from the root sha-al, 'to make hollow,'  
(Comp. Germ, holle, 'hell,' with hohle 'a hollow,') and  
therefore means the vast hollow subterranean resting  
place of the dead." " Generally speaking, the He-
brews regarded the grave as the final end of all sen-
tient and intelligent  existence, the land where all  
things are forgotten."


SCRIPTURAL MEANING 01 HELL. 19  
Even the old English word hell formerly had no  
such meaning as is now attached to it. It simply 
meant a dark, concealed, or hidden place, or what 
was out of sight. So I)r. Parkhurst says: " Our 
English, or rather Saxon, word hell, in its original 
signification,  exactly answers to the Greek word  
hades, and denotes a concealed or unseen place; and  
this sense of the word is still retained in the Western  
countries of England; to hele over a thing is to cover  
it."  
Again, McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia says,  
on the word hell, it is "a term which originally cor- 
responded more exactly to hades, being derived from 
the Saxon helen, to cover, and signifying  merely the  
covered or invisible place, the habitation of those who 
have gone from this visible terrestial region to the  
world of spirits. But it has so long been appropriated  
in common usage to the place of future punishment  
for the wicked, that its earlier meaning has been lost  
sight of." This is the simple historical truth in the  
case. We must remember this when we read the 
Bible.  
Mr. Alger, in his "Critical History of the Doctrine  
of a Future Life," a very able work indeed, uses this  
language: "The term rephaim is used to denote the  
manes of the departed. The etymology of the word, 
as well as its use, makes it mean the weak, the re- 
laxed. '1  am  counted as them that go down into  
the under world; I am as a man that hath no  
strength.' This faint, powerless condition accords  
with the idea that they were destitute of flesh, blood, 
and animal life.—mere umbrse. These ghosts are de- 
scribed as being nearly as destitute of sensation as  
they are of strength. They are called 'the inhabi-
tants of the land of stillness.' They exist in an in- 
active, partially torpid state, with a dreamy con- 
sciousness of past and present, neither suffering nor  
enjoying, and seldom moving. Herder says of the 
Hebrews: 'The sad and mournful images of their


20  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
ghostly realm disturbed them, and were too much  
for their self-possession.'  Respecting these images,  
he adds: 1 Their voluntary force and energy were de-
stroyed. They were feeble as a shade, without dis-
tinction of members, as a nerveless breath. They 
wandered and flitted in the dark nether world.' This  
' wandering and flitting,' however, is rather the spirit  
of Herder's poetry than that of the Hebrews; for the  
whole tenor and drift of their representations in the 
Old Testament show that the state of disembodied  
souls is deep quietude. Freed from bondage, pain, 
toil, and care, they repose in silence. The ghost sum-
moned from beneath by the witch of Endor, said:  
' Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up? ' It  
was indeed, in a dismal abode that they took their  
long quiet; but then it was in a place ' where the  
wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at 
rest.'" 12  
A careful examination of the Old Testament will  
show that these statements are correct. Hence, the  
Jews had no idea that the souls of the dead were in  
Heaven, or that they were alive and intelligent.  Such  
was the idea wThich the Jews had of the dead in the  
Old Testament times. How different from the mod- 
ern idea! Now the liberated soul immediately enters  
a world of life, glory, and happiness!  
Gehenna.  
The Greek wrord gehenna, translated hell in the  
NewT Testament, always refers to the place of punish- 
ment of the wTicked. It never means the grave.  
The following is its complete use:—  
Matt. 5:22, shall be cast into hell fire.  
29, whole body should be cast into hell.  
30, whole body should be cast into hell.  
10:28, to destroy both soul and body in hell.  
12 Chap. 8, pp. 153, 154.


GEHENNA.  21  
Matt. 18: 9, two eyes to be east into hell fire.  
23:15, more the child of hell than yourselves.  
33, can ye escape the damnation of hell ?  
Mark 9:43, having two hands to be cast into hell.  
45, having two feet to be cast into hell.  
47, having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.  
Luke 12:5, hath power to cast into hell. 
James 3:6, is set on fire of hell.  
The reader will readily see that every passage re- 
fers to the place of punishment, or hell, properly so  
called.  
Greenfield, in his Greek lexicon, thus plainly gives  
its origin and meaning:—" Gehenna, pr. the valley of 
Hinnom south of Jerusalem, once celebrated for the  
horrid worship of Moloch, and afterward polluted  
with every species of filth, as well as the carcasses of  
animals, and dead bodies of malefactors; to consume  
which, in order to avert the pestilence which such a  
mass of corruption would occasion, constant fires were  
kept burning."  
The word gehenna, as used in the Greek, occurs in  
the New Testament twelve times, as already given. 
It is always translated hell. As Greenfield says, the  
apostate Jews once celebrated the worship of Moloch  
in the valley of Hinnom. When they put away  
their idolatry, in order to show their contempt of 
Moloch and of his worship, they made that place a 
depository for all the filth and refuse of the city.  
Carcasses of beasts and malefactors were thrown  
there. Constant fires were kept burning, into -which  
these carcasses were cast. But sometimes a carcass 
or some part of one was left out of the fire to be de-
voured by the worms. There were, therefore, two  
agents of destruction in the case,—the fire and the  
worms. It was a most repulsive picture of utter de- 
struction. Jesus used this as an illustration to the  
Jews of how God would finally destroy the wicked.  
They will be cast into fire, and be consumed, the  
same as in the valley before them. Thus it became


22  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
a very forcible illustration of the utter destruction of  
the wicked.  
Tartaroo.  
This word occurs only once in the Bible, and is in  
that case applied to the fallen angels. " For if God 
spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them  
down to hell, and delivered them into chains of dark- 
ness, to be reserved unto judgment." 2 Peter 2 : 4.  
This requires but a short notice. Mr. Parkhurst,  
in his Greek Lexicon, says, "Tartarus, in its proper 
physical sense, is the condensed, solid, and immova- 
ble darkness which surrounds the material universe." 
Probably it refers to those etherial regions surround- 
ing this fallen planet, which Satan as the "prince of 
the power of the air" is said to inhabit.  
The parallel text in Jude says, "And the angels  
which kept not their first estate, but left their own  
habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains 
under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."  
Jude 6.  
From this it appears to be a place of darkness  
somewhere in the etherial regions. It has no refer-
ence to a lake of fire or to the final place of punish- 
ment, either of men or devils. It will be noticed 
that although the devils were in this place already 
in the days of Christ, yet they were not in torment  
then, for they said to Jesus, "Art thou come hither  
to torment us before the time?" Matt. 8 : 29. This  
is sufficient to show that tartaroo is not the place of 
torment. As it has no reference to the punishment 
of men, we leave it here.  
Josephus Unreliable.  
To the foregoing Scriptural facts it is objected that  
Josephus says that the Pharisees did believe the im- 
mortality of the soul. To this we answer, 1. What


JOSEPH US UNRELIABLE.  23  
Josephus does say about it is evidently intended by  
himself to be very vague, and capable  of two mean- 
ings,—one to harmonize with the real doctrine of the 
Jews, the other to look like what the heathen phil- 
osopher taught. Wo will notice the reason for this. 
2. If we interpret him to mean that the Jews did  
really hold to the proper immortality of the soul, it 
rests alone upon his assertion. No other ancient au-
thor can be brought to support him. Perhaps a  
passage in Tacitus may be construed as agreeing  
with Josephus; yet even this is quite susceptible of  
another meaning. It is supposed by some learned  
men that Tacitus drew his history of the Jews from 
Josephus; if so, of course he would follow him.  
Hence it stands alone upon Josephus' authority. 3.  
We have seen by the Old and New Testaments that  
the Jews did not believe the doctrine of the immor-
tality of the soul. Hence, Josephus would directly  
contradict them. Which would be the more reliable ?  
4. Josephus wrote his books after the destruction of  
Jerusalem and the Jewish nation. He wrote them  
among the Eomans, and for the Bomans to read;  
hence there was a temptation for him to bend and  
color Jewish doctrines to suit his heathen conquerors.  
There is but too much proof that he did this in many  
points.  
Here are a few testimonies  from eminent men upon  
this point. Says the " New American Cyclopedia:"  
" Pride in the ancient glories of his nation, awe of the  
greatness and power of Borne, personal vanity, and a  
tendency to unbounded flattery of the Flavian family,  
appear with equal prominence in his writings."13 
This criticism is none too severe on him. The learned  
Dr. Knapp, in his "Christian Theology," says: "Jo-
sephus, in his usual manner, so designedly represents  
the Jewish doctrine, that the Greeks and Bomans, to  
whom the resurrection of the body appeared absurd,  
13 Article Josephus.


24  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
should suppose the transmigration of souls to be in- 
tended, while at the same time, the Jews should un- 
derstand that the resurrection of the dead was spoken  
of." Again: "Josephus carefully avoids the words 
anastasis and anistemi when he describes the doctrine 
of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and expresses himself 
ambiguously, in order not to displease the Greeks and 
Romans, for whom he principally wrote, and to whom  
the doctrine of the resurrection of the body would ap-
pear, not only new, but according to the principles  
of the philosophy prevailing among them, offensive 
and absurd." u  
By this we see that there was a strong temptation  
for Josephus to dissemble and prevaricate on the sub- 
ject before us. That he did this is clearly proved.  
How much confidence can we place in the testimony 
of such a man? Mosheim says that Josephus "is  
very inconsistent  with himself in the account which  
he gives of them [the Pharisees], as may easily be  
perceived by any one who will compare the different 
passages relating to them in his works. It would  
also prove a task of some difficulty to reconcile every- 
thing which he says concerning the opinions of the 
Pharisees, with what is recorded of them in the writ-
ings of the New Testament."15 He tries to reconcile 
it by supposing that the Pharisees were not fixed and  
settled in their opinions; but evidently the real facts  
are, Josephus was trying to cover up the truth.  
Dr. Jorton also remarks: " In his antiquities, Jose- 
phus takes too great liberties with sacred history, and  
accommodates it too much to the taste of the Gen- 
tiles, which yet probably he did to recommend his  
oppressed and unhappy nation to the favor of the 
Greeks and Romans." " May it not have been the  
time-serving  policy which suggested the flattery  
which he addressed to Vespasian, as before related,  
and even induced him in spite of his accurate knowl- 
«Pp. 530, 531.  15  Commentaries, Vol. 1, Chap. 2, Sec. 11, note 2, p. 64.


JOSEPH US UNRELIABLE.  25  
edge of the Scriptures, to represent his patron, though 
a heathen and a stranger, as the promised Messiah?"16  
A man who will so grossly pervert God's word is  
not to be relied upon. Dr. A. Clarke, in giving Jose-
phus' account of the pharisees' doctrine of the soul, 
says: "But it is very likely that Josephus has not  
told the whole truth here! " 17 The great Bocbart, re-
ferring to Josephus' "AVars of the Jews," Book 6,  
• Chap, x, Sec. 1, says: " There are in this clause of Jo- 
sephus as many mistakes as words."18 Dean Prideaux  
thus observes: " Sacred writ, as being dictated by the 
Holy Spirit of God, must ever be of infallible truth, 
which cannot be said of the writings of Josephus.  
For they have in them many great and manifest mis- 
takes For  therein he frequently varies from  
Scripture, history, and common sense." 19 Another  
writer observes: " It must be owned that in his ac-
count of the Scripture times, he has taken a bold lib-
erty to vary from the Bible, to add, alter, retrench, 
and even sometimes contradict it."20 Pococke re- 
marks: " If we have not cited Josephus, it is no won- 
der; since, in giving the views of the sects he names  
respecting the other world, he seems to have used  
words better suited to the fashions and the ears of 
the Greeks and Romans, than such as a scholar of the  
Jewish law would understand, or deem expressive of  
his meaning.  
His character is thus set forth in McClintock s and  
Strong's Cyclopedia. " Holding in the main, the ab-
stract doctrine of a Pharisee, but with the principle  
and temper of a Herodian, he strove to accommodate 
his religion to heathen tastes and prejudices; and this  
by actual commission, no less than by a rationalistic 
system of modification. . . . ' In spite of his constant 
assertions,' says Fawar,  ' he can have had no real re- 
16 Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 1, p. 21 and note.  
Commentary on John 9:2. is Whiston's Josephus, p. 761.  
19Connection of Old and New Testaments, Vol. I, Part 1, B. 5, p. 302.  
Quoted in Hudson's Future Life, p.  335.


26  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
spect for the writings which he so largely illustrates. 
If he had felt, as a Jew, any deep or religious appre-
ciation of the Old Testament history, which he pro- 
fesses to follow, he would not have tampered with it  
as he does, mixing it with pseudo-philosophical  fan- 
cies. . . . The worst charge, however, against him is  
his constant attempt, by alterations and suppressions 
(and especially by a rationalistic method of dealing  
with miracles, which contrasts strangely with his  
credulous fancies) to make Jewish history palatable *  
to Greeks and Romans.' " 21  
Numerous testimonies to the same effect might be  
given. Every careful reader of Josephus must see 
that these testimonies are true. Hence, little or no  
confidence can be placed in him on such a subject as  
the one before us. It was the very subject above all  
others upon which Josephus would be anxious to rep- 
resent the ideas of his brethren as in harmony with 
the doctrines of those Romans who believe in a future 
life. These philosophers mocked at the idea of a res-
urrection of the dead, but held that there'would be a  
future life through the immortality of the soul.  
Hence, as Dr. Knapp says, Josephus " so designedly 
represents the Jewish doctrine, that the Greeks and 
Romans, to Avhom the resurrection of the body ap- 
pears absurd, should suppose the transmigration  of  
souls to be intended, while at the same time, the Jews 
should understand that the resurrection of the dead  
was spoken of."  
Now hear what Josephus does say of the Pharisees:  
<< They also believe that souls have"an immortal vigor  
in them, and that under the earth there will be re- 
wards or punishments, according as they have lived  
virtuously or viciously in this life; and the latter are 
to be detained in an everlasting prison, but that the  
former shall have power to revive and live again." 22 
And, " They say that all souls are incorruptible, but  
31 Article, Josephus.  23 Antiquities, B- 18, Chap. 2, Sec. 3.


JOSEPH US UNRELIABLE.  27  
that the souls of good men are only removed into  
other bodies,—but that the souls of bad men are sub- 
ject to eternal punishment."  23  
The reader will notice the following points: 1. These  
souls are " under the earth," not in heaven. 2. What  
he means by the " immortal vigor " which souls have  
in them he explains to mean that they " have power 
to revive and live again." This is the resurrection.  
Carefully examined, this is all the immortality he at- 
tributes to the soul, viz., that it shall revive and live  
again. We believe in this kind of immortality. But  
the Sadducees denied all this. They said that there  
was no future life of any kind. The whole man ut- 
terly perished in death. There would be no re-living  
of the soul, spirit, or body—no resurrection. But the  
Pharisees said that death was only a sleep. The soul 
would revive and live again. This is just what Jose- 
phus says, only he colors it some with philosophical,  
instead of scriptural language. 3. The phrase "im-
mortality of the soul" among ancient authors fre- 
quently means only a future life, without any refer-
ence to what we now mean by the technical term,  
"the immortality  of the soul." As we have seen, all  
the philosophers who taught a future life, taught it 
through the immortality of the soul. So it came to 
pass among the heathens that to deny the immortality  
of the soul was to deny a future life. Hence, to ac-
commodate themselves to the understanding of the  
heathens, some of the early fathers used the term,  
" immortality of the soul" to represent the future life  
which Christians hoped for through the resurrection.  
Josephus plainly uses it in that accommodated sense.  
The " Discourse Concerning Hades," found in his  
works, it should be remarked, is unquestionably  spu- 
rious. Kitto, in his " Cyclopedia of Biblical Litera-
ture," says: " Josephus himself, in the discourse as- 
cribed to him on hades, speaks of a subterraneous  
S3 Wars of the Jews, B. 2, Chap. 8,  Sec. 14.


28  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
region, a lake of unquenchable fire, everlasting pun- 
ishment, and of a worm never dying (Sees. 2, 6); but 
that homily, as Whiston calls it, abounds with other  
evidence that its author was a Christian." Alger 
says: " The fragment entitled, ' Concerning Hades,'  
formerly attributed to Josephus, is now acknowledged  
on all sides to be a gross forgery." u  
It is a well-settled fact, then, that the writings of  
Josephus are not to be implicitly relied upon as giving 
a correct account of Jewish belief, especially when it 
was for ^his interest to dissemble to please the Ro-
mans, as it very manifestly was on the question of 
the nature of the soul. We must therefore go to the  
sure word of God, to find what was the faith of God's  
people at that time.  
Future Life, Part 9, Chap. 8, p. 103.


I  
CHAPTER II.  
^fte most fiU^ciewt cFait^v Wcw tfWfc ^JHI.- 
wuytXalWxj ^W^a^ -to &e ou^t/j- •fclWow-g-ft tlW  
oHe^ti-r-^ection. oj-< t^ve cSobvj-.  
T is commonly asserted by the believers in the  
doctrine of the immortality of the soul, that this  
doctrine has been universally believed in all 
ages and by all people. This is regarded as a 
strong presumptive argument that the doctrine 
must be true. But granting the premises, such  
a conclusion is not at all necessary, as we know  
that the masses of the world have always been in er- 
ror, wThile but a very small portion have had the truth.  
Jesus said, " Fear not little flock."  
The way to life is very narrow, and few walk in it;  
while the way to death is wide, and many walk  
therein. If men had always decided a thing to be 
true because the majority believed it, or false because  
but few received it, truth would have stood but a  
sorry show. In the days of Noah, all the wTorld was 
wrong, and but one family right. In the days of 
Elijah, the prophet mournfully said, " I, even I only, 
remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets  
are four hundred and fifty men." 1 Kings 18: 22. 
So it has ever been. The truth has generally been  
in the minority. The great philosopher, John Locke,  
once said, "An error is not the better for being com-
mon, nor truth the worse for having been neglected;  
and if it were put to the vote anywhere in the world,  
[29]


30  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
I doubt, as things are managed, whether truth would  
have the majority, at least, while the authority of  
men, and not the examination of the things, must be 
its measure."1 The history of the world shows this  
to be true.  
The worship of idols, the doctrine of many gods,  
and other confessedly false doctrines have been held  
by the great majority of mankind. Yet no Christian  
regards this as proof that these doctrines are true.  
So, if it could be proved that the immortality of the 
soul had been held by the majority of the race, it  
would not prove that doctrine to be true. The doc-
trine of the transmigration of souls is manifestly a  
false doctrine; yet it has been very largely believed.  
All heathens, and many Christians who have ar- 
gued for the immortality of the soul, have with it, 
believed in the transmigration  of souls. Thus writes  
an eminent author: " Certain it is that those philoso- 
phers who argued for  the immortality of the soul  
universally held its pre-existence before it animated  
the human body, and laid the stress of the argument 
for its eternal existence after its departure from the 
body, upon its existence from times immemorial, or  
even from everlasting, before its entrance into it."2  
What will our friends say to these facts? If uni- 
versal belief would prove the immortality of the soul, 
it would as clearly prove the transmigration  of souls;  
for the latter has been about as generally believed as 
the former.  
A False Assumption Exposed.  
A belief in a future life does not necessarily prove a  
belief in the immortality of the soul.  
But has the present doctrine of the immortality of  
the soul been the common sentiment of mankind'? It  
1 Essay on Human Knowledge, Book IV., Chap. 3, Sec. 6, note.  
aLeland's Revelation, Vol. II., Part 3, Chap. 5, p. 328.


A FALSE ASSUMPTION EXPOSED.  31  
has not. Very few have believed it. Of this there is  
an abundance of proof, of which I can present but a  
small part.  We know that all nations have generally  
had some ideas and traditions of a future life of some  
kind; but this by no means proves that they believed 
the soul immortal. We firmly believe in a future life, 
yet we do not believe in the immortality of the soul.  
When heathens and barbarians are found holding 
some ideas and traditions of a future life, even though  
they be the most vague and indistinct,  they are im- 
mediately claimed as orthodox believers in the soul's  
immortality ! This does not follow at all, as it often  
happens that they themselves cannot tell how they  
expect to obtain such a life; nay, the traditions of  
most of them show that they expect to live there 
with the same material persons that they have here,  
and not simply as immaterial spirits.  
From the earliest ages, God has taught the human  
race that there is to be a life hereafter by means of a 
resurrection from the dead. Through patriarchs, 
prophets, and apostles, through all the inspired Word, 
this doctrine has been set before the people. Also,  
God has said that there shall be rewards for the  
righteous and punishments  for the wicked in the fu- 
ture life, after the Judgment. As all nations have  
descended from Adam, and from Noah, God's serv- 
ants, more or less knowledge upon this subject,  
through tradition from them, has been retained by  
all the nations of the earth.  
Besides this, men's consciences, more or less en- 
lightened by the Spirit of God, admonish them that  
there shall be a future Judgment, where the wicked 
shall be punished and the righteous rewarded. The 
love of life is very great in all men, hence the  
strong desire and hope that there will be a future life.  
These facts readily account for the extensive preva- 
lence of the idea of a future life, even among barba-
rous nations.  
But when we go among those who have lost the


32  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
light of God's revelation, we find that their notions,  
are exceedingly vague as to how they are to live  
hereafter. The idea of a future life of some kind is  
almost universal, but upon the manner of that life,  
whether it is to be through a resurrection or by be- 
ing born into some other body, or by living without  
any body, there is utter contusion. Thus a learned  
advocate for the immortality of the soul is compelled 
to say, " We concede that the views of most rude  
heathen nations, both ancient and modern, respecting  
the state of man after death, are indeed dark and ob-
scure, as well as their notion respecting the nature of  
the soul itself."3 This is just the truth. Their ideas 
of a future life are so dark and obscure that no proof  
of a faith in the immortality of the soul can be drawn  
from them.  
But God has clearly settled these things. It is by  
a resurrection from the dead that men are to live in  
the future. They are to be the same individual per-
sons that they are in this life; and they are to live 
on this earth when it is renewed from the curse.  
Now, if we will look carefully into the religious ideas  
of the different nations and tribes, we shall find that  
this very idea of a future life is what the most of  
them still have. They expect to be raised from the  
dead, and live on this earth with the same bodies  
which they now have. If we go back into hoary an- 
tiquity and  examine the faith of the most ancient  
nations, we find that they looked for a future life and 
immortality  through the preservation of the body  
and the resurrection of the dead. Of this there can  
be no question.  
The Egyptians.  
The Egyptians were among the most ancient of  
nations. It is a well-known fact that they were cel- 
sMcClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia, Art. Immortality.


THE EGYPTIANS.  33  
ebrated for embalming the dead. This they did at  
great expense, and so effectually that many bodies, 
called mummies, are preserved in quite a perfect con- 
dition to the present day.  
Their object in thus embalming their dead was to  
preserve the body for the resurrection. This is ad- 
mitted by the ablest scholars, as will be seen by the  
following testimonies  which are from the very best  
authorities. The first is from Calmet's Dictionary of 
the Holy Bible: "The ancient Egyptians, and the  
Hebrews in imitation of them, embalmed the bodies 
of the dead. . . . The art of physic was by the  
Egyptians ascribed to Isis, and in particular the rem-
edy which procured immortality, which, in my opin- 
ion, was no other than that of embalming bodies, and  
rendering them incorruptible."4 This ' language is  
remarkable. Their first idea of immortality  was to  
preserve the body from decay till it should live again  
and thus become immortal.  
Our next testimony on this point is from that cele- 
brated work, "Kitto's Biblical Cyclopedia." "The  
feeling which led the Egyptians to embtalm the dead, 
probably sprung from their belief in the future re-
union of the soul with the body. Such a reunion is 
distinctly spoken of in the <Book of the Deadand ob- 
scure as is the subject, probably on account of the  
obscurity of the details of the Egyptian belief, the 
statements are sufficiently  positive to make this  
general conclusion certain."5 Thus we see that this 
critical author considers it certain that embalming  
was practiced to preserve the body from decay till its  
reunion with the soul, or till it should live again. 
What is more natural than this conclusion? and if  
this were not their object in embalming their dead 
what could it have been ?  
We will now introduce another witness, Mr. Bun- 
sen, whose testimony on this subject should be deci- 
* Art. To Embalm. » Art. Embalming.  
3


34 DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
give. No author could be better prepared to judge 
than he is. "The real meaning," he says, "of the  
celebrated passage in Herodotus (ii. 135) about the 
reason why the Egyptians bestowed so much care on 
the preservation of the body, and as it were, on pre- 
venting it from passing away, must have been this:  
The belief in a resurrection of the body Man  
justified is one with God, the eternal Creator, self- 
created. His bodily organ, therefore, is holy. This  
doctrine we may now read in every page of the sacred 
books. Hence the popular notion in Egypt, that un- 
less its old human envelop were preserved, the soul  
would be subject to disturbances and hindrances in 
performing its destined course The Greeks  
and Romans had an equal faith in burial as necessary  
to insure the entry of the soul into the invisible  
world of spirits."6  
Another able author says: "The practice of em- 
balming was not peculiar to Egypt. It was practiced  
among many nations of the Old World, and is in use  
among some people even at the present day."7  
Thus the earliest doctrine of a future life was that  
it must be obtained through the resurrection of the  
body.  
The Ancient Persians.  
The ancient Persians were among the oldest na- 
tions of antiquity, the immediate descendants of Noah.  
It is well known that they, too, hoped for a future  
immortality  through the resurrection of the body.  
Says Alger, stating their doctrine: "But at last  
Ormuzd will rise in his might, and put an end to  
these awful scenes. He will send on earth a saviour,  
Sosiosch, to deliver mankind, to wind up the final 
period of time, and to bring the arch-enemy to judg- 
6 Egypt's Place in Universal History, Vol. IV, pp. 641, 642.  
1 Egyptian Antiquities, Vol. II, p. 121.


THE ANCIENT ARABS.  35  
ment. At the sound of the voice of Sosiosch the  
dead will come forth. Good, bad, indifferent,—all 
alike will rise, each in his order. Kaiomorts, the  
original single ancestor of men, will be the firstling.  
JSText Meschia and Meschiane, the primal parent pair, 
will appear. And then the whole multitudinous  
family of mankind will throng up. The genii of the  
elements will render up the sacred materials intrusted  
to them, and rebuild the decomposed bodies  
'At the appointed epoch, Ahriman shall be subdued,'  
and 'men shall live again, and shall be iihmortal.'"8  
Here, again, the same primitive faith in a future  
immortality through the resurrection is expressed.  
The Ancient Arabs.  
Between Egypt and Persia lived the Arabians, one  
of the most ancient of the nations. They believed in 
a future life, but not in the immortality of the soul. 
So says the very learned Dr. Good, who was himself 
a believer in. the doctrine that the soul is immortal.  
He writes thus: "If we turn from Persia, Egypt, and 
Hindoostan, to Arabia, .... we shall find the entire  
subject left in as  blank and barren a silence as the  
deserts by which they are surrounded; or, if touched  
upon, only touched upon to betray doubt, and some-
times disbelief. The tradition, indeed, of a future  
state of retributive justice seems to have reached the  
schools of this part of the world, and to have been  
generally, though not perhaps universally, accredited; 
but the future existence it alludes to is that of a res- 
urrection of the body and not of a survival of the soul  
after the body's dissolution."  "x\nd the same gen- 
eral idea has, for the most part, descended in the same  
country to the present day."9  
8 The Doctrine of a Future Life, Alger, Part I, Chap, i, pp.  1ES, 1SS.  
9 Book of Nature, Series 3, Sec. 2, p. 372.


36  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
This is another good proof as to what was the an- 
cient faith of men.  
The Mohammedans.  
The Mohammedans arose in Arabia in the seventh  
century, and now number over 160,000,000, more  
than one-tenth of the entire population of the world.  
Says Alger: "A very prominent doctrine in the Mos- 
lem creed is that of the resurrection of the body.  
This is a central feature in the orthodox faith."10  
_ " They are  not agreed on  the subject of the condi- 
tion of the soul between death and the resurrection.  
.... Some maintain that their souls and those of  
the impious will alike sleep in the dust until the end,  
when Israfil's blast shall stir them into life to be  
judged."11  
The Jews.  
The Jews were the near neighbors and contempora- 
ries of the Arabians. We have the history of their  
ancestors from Adam. God directly and frequently  
instructed them concerning a future life. That, as a 
nation, they were firm believers in the resurrection  
of the dead, is well known to all readers of the Bible.  
We need not argue that point here. Even many  
learned men who believe in the immortality of' the  
soul have frankly confessed that nothing is said upon  
this subject in the Bible.  
Christians.  
It is well known that, with isolated exceptions,  
simply £ere and there one, the great body of the  
Doctrine of *. Future Life, p. 201.  " Ibid.


THE ANCIENT PERUVIANS.  37  
Christian nations have from first to last firmly held  
to the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. This  
is true of the Greek church numbering about 70,000,- 
000; the Catholic church, about 170,000,000; and the  
Protestant churches, about 90,000,000, about one „ 
quarter of the race. We mention this to show how  
large a place the doctrine of the resurrection has al-
ways had in the faith of men; and it is because this  
is what God taught men from the very beginning of 
the world. Since that time, they have corrupted this  
simple doctrine by a thousand speculations of their 
own.  
Ancient Peruvians.  
The Peruvians were among the oldest and most  
civilized of the nations of South America at the time 
of its discovery by the Spaniards. A high authority  
thus states their faith: "They did not understand  
that the future life was spiritual, but believed it to be  
corporeal, like this one." " The Incas believed in a 
universal resurrection, not for glory or punishment, 
but for a reward of this temporal life. They took  
extreme care to preserve the nail-pairings and the  
hairs that were shorn off or torn out with a comb,  
placing them in holes or niches in the walls; and if  
they fell out, any other Indian that saw them picked  
them up and put them in their places again. I very  
often asked different Indians, at various times, why  
they did this, in order to see what they would say; 
and they all replied in the same words, saying,  
' Know that all persons who are born must return to  
life, and the souls must rise out of their tombs, with  
all that belonged to their bodies.' "12  
They believed in the sleep of the dead and the res- 
urrection.  
lsGarcilasso de la Vega, First Part of the Royal Commentaries of the Ineas  
[1609J, London. Book II,, Chap. 2.


38  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
The Cliibchas.  
The Chibchas were another nation of South Araer- 
* ica. They believed the same as the Peruvians on  
this point.  
" These Indians had the tradition from their an- 
cestors that there would be a universal judgment.  
They believed that the dead were then to be raised  
and to live forever in this earth in the same way as  
they live now." 13  
They received these doctrines from tradition, and  
how remarkably their views harmonize with the  
Bible!  
The Africans.  
Even among some of the degraded negro tribes of  
Central Africa, the notion of a resurrection is still  
held from tradition.  
" The negroes in Ardrach carefully preserve nails  
and hair which have been cut off, in order that souls,  
which on rising out if their graves have to be united  
with their former bodies, may not need to search 
long for them."14  
The Ashantees " supposed that their friends live  
over again in the other world the lives which they  
led on earth."15  
The Bushmen regard death as a sleep. One of  
their proverbs is, " Death is only a sleep."16  
The Hawaiians.  
These Islanders believe in the resurrection of the  
dead. Mr. Ellis relates a long conversation with  
them upon this point, in which he says they told him  
13 Descriptive Sociology, by Spencer, No. 2, p. 43.  
14 Bastian Mensch, II.," p. 357. 
16 Beecham, p. 180.  
16 Descriptive Sociology, No. 4, p. 28.


THE HAWAIIAN'S.  39  
that " all the people who had died would be restored 
to life," and live in Hawaii again.17  
Thus it will be seen that traditions of the resurrec- 
tion of the dead are still to be found in all parts of 
the world, even among the most barbarous nations.  
This was the ancient and true doctrine. In many  
cases this doctrine of the resurrection has been lost 
sight of, while the idea of a future life by some means 
has been retained. If we bear this in mind, it will be  
readily seen that the proof of a universal belief in the 
immortality of the soul is much less than is generally  
claimed. Indeed, a careful investigation  shows that  
most barbarous nations have only an undefined idea  
of a future life of some kind. On this slender founda- 
tion is based the bold assumption that all nations be- 
lieve the soul is immortal.  
The custom so universally  observed, among barba- 
rous nations particularly, of burying with the dead 
valuables, implements, weapons, food,  and money, in- 
dicates that they had some indistinct  idea that in  
some way the bodies would live again, and these ar- 
ticles would be used. Even if these practices are 
kept up simply from custom, as may be the case in  
some instances, it is still evident that the custom 
originated in the idea that the dead would need these  
things. They certainly did not suppose that weapons  
of war,  implements of husbandry, and articles of food,  
have spirits which could go with their departed  
friends. Hence it is evident that the sentiment that  
underlies this practice points to the resurrection.  
Thus the Ostyaks, of Africa, bury with their dead  
a tinder-box, pipe, and tobacco. The Samoieds inter  
with the dead his dresses, his bows, his arrows, and  
whatever belongs to him, because they say he will  
need them in the next world. The Damaras lay the  
arms and property of the deceased on the grave.  
The Kaffirs bury household utensils with the dead.  
"Polynesian Researches, by Wm. Ellis, Vol. IV., Chap, vi, pp. 110, 111.


40  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
The Congo people embalm their dead. The Coast  
negroes take great care in wrapping up their dead, 
and a large share of their property is buried with  
them.  
The Australians also bury the property of the de- 
ceased with him. The'Sandwich Islanders bury pro- 
visions with the body. They think the future life is  
like the present. The Tahitians embalm the bodies  
of their chiefs, clothe them, and take great care of  
th em. The Samoans also embalm the body. The  
Dyaks bury the property of the deceased with him.  
The Tasmanians bury their spears with the dead,  
whom they believe to be asleep.  
The Ancient Mexicans buried, with the corpse,  
slaves and all kinds of property, saying that they  
were going to keep house in the other world.  
The early inhabitants of Britain buried weapons of  
war, jewelry, and food with the deceased. In later  
times the Saxons buried valuable articles with their  
dead. The Normans, about the year 1000, embalmed  
their dead.  
It is well known that all the Indian tribes of Amer- 
ica bury various articles with the dead bodies of their  
friends.  
Indeed, this universal custom of which we have  
been speaking is so well known that we need not 
mention more instances. The great care that has al-
ways been bestowed not only upon the dead body,  
but upon the tomb or grave where it is deposited!  
points to the same idea, the resurrection of the dead'  
The world over, without an exception, the notion has  
always obtained that the ghost, or phantom, of the  
deceased hovers around the grave. All these facts  
indicate the universal sentiment of the race that in  
some way the future life is connected with the dead  
body.  
While searching into the doctrines of the various  
nations and tribes of the earth concerning the future 
life, I have been struck with the fact that most of the


THE HAWAIIAN'S.  41  
barbarous nations which are set down by Christians  
as believers in the immortality of the soul, have only  
very confused ideas of the future life. They do ex- 
pect to live hereafter in some way, but that is all that  
can truthfully be said about it. The advocates of the  
doctrine that the soul is immortal, seizing upon the  
slightest notion of a future life held by these people,  
immediately report them as believers in the immortal 
soul. But in fact there is no ground for such an as-
sertion. A confused, indistinct  idea of  a future life  
by no means proves a faith in the immortality of the  
soul.


7  
CHAPTER III.  
^fte (iwwioztaf.itij o^ c5o-u,-E not c^efieueb  
E shall now show by overwhelming evi- 
dence that the doctrine of the immortality 
of the soul, as at present held, has not been 
generally believed by the human race.  
Let us bear in mind, however, what the  
present orthodox doctrine of the immortal- 
ity of the soul is, for which universal belief  
is claimed. It is that eveiy man is born with an im-
material, spiritual, immortal soul, which simply lives  
in this body as  in a house or cage. This soul, whether  
righteous or wicked, will live eternally as an individ- 
ual, personal, conscious soul. It will never die, neither  
will it lose its personality. Such a doctrine, it is  
claimed, has been the common sentiment of mankind.  
This we deny, and now offer the proof. Paul says of  
the Gentiles that they were without God, and having 
no hope. Eph. 2 :12. Had they believed the soul 
immortal, they would have had a hope of a future  
life. But they had no such hope, hence no such faith.  
The Ancient Greeks and Romans.  
When we go back to a period a few centuries be- 
fore the birth of Christ, to the early ages of the 
world, we find no evidence that in the infancy of such  
nations as the Greeks and Bomans the doctrine of the  
immortality of the soul was believed among them.  
[42]


THE ANCIENT GREEKS AND ROMANS.  43  
It cannot be proved that they did believe it. All 
their ideas and traditions of a future world, so far as 
they had any, represented it as a material place, and  
the people as material, corporeal beings, the same as  
in this world.  
On this point the learned Dr. Priestly says: " It is  
expressly asserted by Aristotle and others, says Mr.  
Toland (Letters to Serena, p. 22), that the most an- 
cient Greek philosophers did not dream of any prin- 
ciple or actuating spirit in the universe itself, no  
more than in any of the parts thereof; but explained  
all the phenomena of nature by matter and local mo- 
tion, levity and gravity, or the like; and rejected all  
that the poets said of gods, demons, souls, ghosts,  
Heaven, hell, visions, prophecies,, miracles, etc., as 
fables invented at pleasure, and fictions to divert their  
readers"^  
Says a learned author: "The Greeks sometimes  
depicted death and sleep as twin boys, one black, one  
white, borne slumbering in the arms of their mother, 
night."2 This was their idea of death,—a deep sleep.  
Many ages passed away before Ave learn of any one 
who had a notion of the immortality  of the soul. It  
first originated with a few priests and lawgivers, was 
taken up by poets and philosophers, and finally was  
partly believed by many.  
Herodotus, the oldest historian, says: "The Egyp- 
tians also were the first who asserted the doctrine 
that the soul of man is immortal."3 Other nations  
did not believe it till they learned it of the Egyptians,  
as we will show in another place. This was not till a  
few centuries before Christ, about the time of Socra-
tes and Plato, both of whom advocated that doctrine.  
They lived about B. C. 400. These philosophers con- 
fessed that their doctrine was not generally believed,  
One of Socrates' disciples, Cebes, told him that the  
1 Disquisitions Relating to Matter and Spirit, Vol. I., pp. 318, 319. 
SAlg'er, p. 18. 3 Herodotus Uterpe, 2, See. 123, p. 144.


44  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
doctrine he taught concerning the immortality of the  
soul and a future state, " met with little credit among  
men ;" that " most men seemed to think that the  
soul was immediately dissolved at death, and that it  
vanished and was dissipated like the wind or smoke,  
or became nothing at all; and that it needed no small  
persuasion and faith to believe that the soul exists 
and has some power and intelligence after the man is 
dead." Socrates himself had said the same thing just  
before,—that his doctrine was not believed by the  
generality of the people.  
Simmias, another of the dialogists in the Phsedo,  
represents it as the opinion of many that the soul is  
dissipated when a man dies, and that this is the end  
of its existence. And Socrates, speaking of the soul's  
being blown away, and perishing with the body, de-
clares that this was what was said by most men.4  
" From these testimonies it plainly appears," says  
Leland in his admirable work on the " necessity of a 
Divine Revelation," Vol. II., p. 383, " that the mor- 
tality of the soul was a doctrine which prevailed  
among the Athenians in the time of Socrates, who  
were looked upon as the most learned and polite of 
all the Grecians."  
Plato complained that his argument on the subject  
met with little credit. But did not Socrates and Plato  
succeed in converting all men to their new ideas of  
the soul ? By no means. The above author, on page 
384, continues: " There is no great reason to think  
that the state of things among the Athenians grew 
better afterward, but rather the contrary."  
In the Time of the Caesars.  
We noAV come to the time of Polybius, who was  
born B. c. 203. " There is a remarkable passage by 
Polybius," says Leland, " which shows that the disbe- 
4Plato, Translated by Clay, Bohn's Class. Lib., Vol. I., pp. 68, 69, 79, 83.


IN THE TIME OF THE C.ESARS.  45  
lief of a future state had in his time become very- 
common and fashionable, both among persons of su- 
perior rank and among the lower kind of people."5  
The doctrine of the immortality  of the soul was, then,  
far from being universally believed as yet.  
We next come to the time of Cicero, who wTas born  
B. c. 107. Perhaps this doctrine had gained greater  
credence by that time. Hear our learned author  
again: "What that great man Cicero says of the  
philosophers in his time is remarkable. In that cel- 
ebrated treatise where he sets himself to prove the  
immortality  of the soul, he represents the contrary,  
as there were crowds of opponents; not the Epicu- 
reans only, but, which he could not well account for,  
those that were esteemed the most learned persons  
had that doctrine in contempt."6  
Mr. Watson, speaking of the same time, says:  
"Both philosophers and poets regarded them as vul- 
gar fables Nor was skepticism and unbelief of 
of the wise and great long kept from the vulgar,  
among whom they wished to maintain the old super-
stitions as instruments  by which they might be con- 
trolled. Cicero complains that the common people in 
his day mostly followed the doctrine of Epicurus."7 
Epicurus denied the immortality of the soul. This 
testimony is worthy of consideration. The mass of 
the common people followed Epicurus, that is, they  
totally denied the doctrine that the soul is immortal. 
And the poets and philosophers taught them this!  
Then who believed the doctrine at that time? It  
was generally disbelieved.  
Caesar represents the same thing as being true in  
his day.8 So  it was in the time of Plutarch, who was  
born about the middle of the first century. " He in-
timates that these things were not commonly be- 
lieved." Not only the philosophers, but the mass of  
«Idem., p. SS5. 8Idem., p. 285. 
'Theological Institutes, Vol. I., Chap. 0, p. 54.  
•L«land'» Revelation, Vol. II., Part 3, Chap. 8, p. S8T.


46  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
the Roman people, had no faith in the doctrine of fu-
ture rewards and punishments.  
Of the popular religion Mr. Jones says: " The Ro- 
mans in general knew the whole to be an imposition,  
and many of them ridiculed the pretense that the in- 
stitution was divine." 9 Again he says: " The doc- 
trine of the immortality of the soul, and of a future  
state of rewards and punishments, was but little un- 
derstood, and of course, only very partially acknowl- 
edged. Hence, at the period when Christ appeared,  
any notions of this kind found little or no acceptance 
among the Greeks and Romans, but were regarded  
in the light of old wives' fables, fit only for the  
amusement of women and children."10  
The learned Mr. Milman bears this decided testi- 
mony: " One class of fables seems to have been uni- 
versally exploded, even in the earliest youth,—those  
which related to another life. The picture of the un- 
rivaled satirist may be overcharged, but it corre- 
sponds strictly with the public language of the orator,  
and the private sentence of the philosopher:—  
" ' The silent realm of disembodied ghosts,  
The frogs that croak along the Stygian coasts, 
The thousand souls in one crazed vessel steer'd, 
Not boys believe, save boys without a beard.'  
" Even the religious Pausanius speaks of the im- 
mortality of the soul as a foreign doctrine, introduced  
by the Chaldeans and the Magi, and embraced by 
some of the Greeks, particularly by Plato. Pliny,  
whose Natural History opens with a declaration that 
the universe is the sole Deity, devotes a separate  
chapter to a contemptuous exposure of the idle notion  
of the immortality of the soul, as a vision of human  
pride, and equally absurd, whether under the form of  
existence in another sphere or under that of transmi- 
gration."  11  
9 Church History, p. 21.  
101 hid, 21. See also Mosheim's Commentaries, Vol. I., pp. 24 25  
11 History of Christianity, Chap. 1, p. 34.


THE PEEII'A TETJCS.  47  
Gibbon, the celebrated historian, thus confirms this  
statement of the case: "We are sufficiently  acquainted  
with the eminent persons who flourished in the age  
of Cicero and of the first Caesars, with their actions,  
their characters, and their motives, to be assured that  
their conduct in this life was never regulated by any  
serious conviction of the rewards or punishments of  
a future state. At the bar and in the senate of Borne  
the ablest orators were not apprehensive of giving  
offense to their hearers by exposing that doctrine as  
an idle and extravagant opinion, which was  rejected  
with contempt by every man of a liberal education 
and understanding."12 Nearly all the celebrated  
philosophers of Greece and Bome, and of the schools 
founded by them, rejected the doctrine that the soul is  
immortal.  
The Peripatetics.  
<  
Aristotle, a Greek, born B. c. 384, stands first  
among the philosophers. He founded a flourishing  
school called the Peripatetic, which through many  
ages had numerous followers. That he rejected the  
idea of the soul's immortality  is abundantly proved.  
The Encyclopedia of Beligious Knowledge, art, Aris- 
totle, says of him: " The soul of man he considered as  
an emanation from the Deity, but he says nothing of  
its immortality."  Tatian says, "But Aristotle im- 
pugns the immortality of the soul." 13 Watson says,  
" The doctrine of Aristotle and the Peripatetics gives  
.no countenance to the opinion of the soul's immor- 
tality, or even of its existence after death." 14  
The learned Bitter, who has carefully investigated  
the whole subject, says of Aristotle: "No passage m  
his extant works is decisive; but from the general  
lsMilman's Gibbon's Rome, Vol. I., Chap. 15. p. 528. 
18 Address to Greeks, Chap. 25. See also Alger's Future Life, p. 191.  14 Theological Institutes, Vol. I., p. 53. See also Dmne Legation of Moses,  
Vol. II., Part 3, Sec. 3, p. 167; Leland's Revelation, Vol. II., Part 3, Chap. 3,  
p. 284.


48  DOC THINE OF THE  SOUL.  
context of his doctrine it is clear that he had no con- 
ception of the immortality of any individual, rational  
entity."15 Mosheim bears this testimony: "There- 
fore Aristotle's opinion was not a whit better than  
that of the Stoics, nor are those in error who consider 
that the prince of the Peripatetics augured ill of souls,  
and meant them to be perishable and mortal."16  
The believers in the immortality  of the soul were  
few and far  between, and their speculations  upon the  
subject were passed by unheeded, as not worthy of  
notice, by the mass of men both learned and unlearned.  
Epicureans.  
Epicurus, a Greek, born B. c. 341, was the founder  
of this school. " The Epicureans .... continued to  
flourish through a long course of years under the Ro- 
man emperors."17 Paul met them at Athens. Acts  
17:18. To their doctrine he refers, 1 Cor. 15:32,  
when he says: " If the dead rise not, let us eat and 
drink; for to-morrow we die." They said that  
would be the end of man; that death was an eternal 
sleep; that there was no future life of any kind.  
These facts are so well known that I need offer lit- 
tle proof upon them. Buck, in his Theological Dic- 
tionary, art. Epicureans, says: "They denied the  
immortality of the soul, and the existence of angels."  
Alger says: " Pliny, in his Natural History, affirms 
that death is an everlasting sleep. The whole great 
sect of the Epicureans united in supporting that be- 
lief by the combined force of ridicule and argu- 
ment." 18 Of their numbers in the first century Mos- 
heim says they were " everywhere so immensely  
great in the age to which we allude that whole  
armies might have been  formed of them."19  
15 History of Ancient Philosophy, Part 3, Book 9, Chap. 4.  
I'Cudworth's Intellectual System, Vol. I., Chap. 1, p. 99, note. 
'"Enfield's History of Philosophy, p. 869. 18Future Life, p 198  
"Commentaries, Vol. I., Chap. 1, See. 26, note 2.


- THE ACADEMICS.  49  
Here, then, was another whole sect, great, popular,  
and numerous, spread over the civilized world, a>nd  
flourishing through many ages, which arrayed itself  
against the doctrine of the immortality  of the soul.  
Academics.  
This school originated with Socrates and Plato.  
In time it was divided into the Old, the Middle, and 
the New. We might naturally expect that" they 
would teach the immortality  of the soul, but they did  
not. Mr. Leland justly remarks: "It is remarkable  
that though there wrere several sects of philosophers 
which professed to derive their origin from Socrates,  
scarcely any of them taught the immortality of the  
soul as the doctrine of their schools, except Plato and 
his disciples, and many even of these treated it as ab-
solutely uncertain."20 They held everything to be  
uncertain, and this with the rest. " This they held 
to be the case even in the most important subjects,  
such as the soul; and in the most interesting ques- 
tions concerning it, as whether it was, in its nature, 
mortal or immortal."21 Says the learned Bishop of  
Gloucester, " The sect was thoroughly skeptical."  
The Religious Encyclopedia bears this testimony:  
"Among the Academics, the existence of God, the  
immortality of the soul, the preferableness of virtue 
to vice, were all held as uncertain. This sect and 
that of the Epicureans were the chief that were in  
vogue at the time of Christ's appearing, and they  
were embraced and supported by persons of high  
rank and wealth." Then at that time the immortal-
ity of the soul must have been generally disbelieved.  
20 Leland's Revelation, Vol. II., Part 3, Chap. 4, p. 319. 
« Divine Legation of Moses, Vol. II., pp. 123,124.  
2


4  
50 DOCTRINE OF THE SOUL.  
The Pyrrhonic Sect.  
The Pyrrhonic sect was founded by Pyrrho about  
B. c. 340. (Smith's Classical Dictionary, art. Pyrrho.)  
The desciples of Pyrrho doubted everything, and be- 
lieved nothing. They were purely skeptical. War-
burton remarks: "The Eleatic line [of philoshophers] 
was wholly composed of atheists of different kinds, as 
the Democratic, the Pyrrhonian, the Epicurean, etc.,  
so these come not into the account" as believers in  
the soul's immortality. "So highly was he [Pyrrho]  
valued by his fellow-citizens  that they made him  
their high-priest,  and erected a monument to him  
after his death."22 Here is another whole school of  
philosophers who not only did not believe in the  
soul's immortality, but utterly repudiated it.  
The Stoics.  
The Stoics, founded by Zeno, a Greek who died B.  
c. 264, was another very celebrated and numerous 
sect of philosophers. Enfield says that "the Stoic as 
well as the Academic school was patronized by many  
eminent men in the Eoman republic. The most dis- 
tinguished lawyers were, as we have seen, inclined  
toward this sect."23 Like those above mentioned, 
they rejected the soul's immortality. Mr. Jones says,  
" The Stoics denied the immortality of the soul."2i  
Warburton remarks of Zeno: "We know, too, that  
the philosophical principle of this school was that the  
soul died vnth the body."25 Mosheim confirms this  
testimony thus: "It is well known to the learned 
world that this [Stoic] sect denied the immortality  of  
the soul."26  
Smith's Classical Dictionary, art. Pyrrho. 
History of Philosophy, p. 304. 24 Church History, p. 24.  
® Divine Legation of Moses, Vol. II., Book 3, Sec. 3, p. 168.  
26 Commentary, Vol. I., p. 30.


EMANATION AND ADSORPTION.  51  
Enfield says of this sect that it "became so popular  
as to threaten the destruction of the Platonic sys- 
tem."27 Again he says, "From these and other 
causes, the Stoic sect, in the time of Juvenal, pre- 
vailed almost through the whole Roman empire."28  
The Heraclitean Sect.  
This sect was founded at Ephesus by Heraclitus  
about 504 B. C. He had many followers who took up  
and taught his doctrine. He taught that souls were  
perishable. Thus Enfield says: "Human souls are  
liable to perpetual changes, and when they are loaded 
with moist vapors, they pass into the watery mass  
and perish; but if they are purified from these, they  
return into the soul of the universe."29  
Thus it will be seen that nearly all the philosophi- 
cal sects of ancient times avowedly rejected the no- 
tion of the immortality  of the soul.  
The Doctrine of Emanation and Absorption.  
We have now seen that of the different sects of  
philosophers, the Aristotelians,,the  Epicureans, the  
Stoics, the Academics, the Pyrrhonists, and the Her- 
acliteans denied the immortality of the soul; and that  
the great mass of the people agreed with them on  
this subject. This leaves only the Platonics and  
Pythagoreans, and these sects, it is claimed, did be- 
lieve the soul immortal. We know that they talked  
about the immortality of the soul, and argued about  
it, and professed to believe in it; but the doctrine  
they discussed was only that of emanation and im-
manation, or absorption. That is, they thought the  
soul a part of God, an emanation from him, separated  
from him for a short time, but destined finally, either  
S7 History of Philosophy, Book 2, Chap. 8, Sec. 2, p. 142.  
88 Idem., Book 3, Chap. 2, Sec. 7, p. 357.  
29Idem., Book 2, Chap. 14, p. 256.


52  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
at the death of the body or at some future time, to  
return to him, be re-absorbed into his being, and thus 
lose all personality and conscious existence. This 
view, it will be seen, virtually  amounts to annihila- 
tion of the soul. It is not at all like the present doc-
trine of the immortality of the soul.  
On this point Bishop Warburton remarks: "But  
when the ancients are said to hold the pre and post  
existence of the soul, and therefore to attribute a  
proper eternity to it, we must not suppose that they  
understood it to be eternal in its distinct and peculiar 
existence; but that it was discerped from the sub-
stance of God, in time, and would, in time, be rejoined  
and resolved into it again. This they explained by a  
closed vessel tilled with sea-water, which, swimming  
awhile upon the ocean, does, on the vessel's breaking,  
flow in again, and mingle with the common mass.  
They only differed about the time of this reunion  
and resolution, the greater part holding it to be at  
death; but Pythagoreans, not till after many trans- 
migrations. The Platonists went between these two  
opinions, and rejoined pure and unpolluted souls im- 
mediately to the Universal Spirit; but those which  
had contracted much defilement were sent into a suc- 
cession of other bodies, to purge and purify them, be- 
fore they returned to their parent substance "80 Then  
he justly adds: " Thus we see this very opinion of the 
soul's eternity, which hath made modern writers con- 
clude that the ancient sages believed in a future state  
of rewards and punishments,  was, in truth, the very  
reason why they believed it not."31  
This was the doctrine of the Platonists  and Pytha- 
goreans.  
Speaking of this subject, Mr. Watson in his Theo- 
logical Institutes remarks:—  
" Thus philosophy refined upon the doctrine of im- 
mortality until it converted it into annihilation itself;  
so Divine Legation of Moses, Vol. XT., Book 3, Sec. 4, pp. 214, 215.  
si Idem., p. 216.


PERIODICAL DESTRUCTION.  53  
for so it is, in the most absolute sense, as to distinct  
consciousness and personality. The prevalence of this  
notion under different modifications is indeed very 
remarkable."32  
Of the belief of the philosophers in the immortality  
of the soul, the Encyclopedia Britannica says:—  
" This, however, appears by no means to have  
been the case with the systems of any, as far as we 
can learn, of those ancient philosophers who contended  
the most strenuously for the immortality of the soul.  
For not only do they seem to have agreed that no  
suffering could be expected by the wicked in another 
life, on the grounds that the gods were incapable of  
anger, and therefore could not punish; but the very  
notion of the soul's immortality, as taught by them,  
involved the complete destruction of distinct, personal  
existence."  33  
What will our friends say to these facts? Not one  
of the ancients believed in the eternal, personal, ex- 
istence of the soul. All souls were finally to lose  
their separate existence, and be re-absorbed into God.  
Certainly, these will not be claimed as orthodox be- 
lievers in the immortality of the soul! With these 
views they could not possibly believe in the eternal 
misery of the wicked.  
Periodical Destruction.  
There was another point universally held by the  
ancients which utterly forbade their believing in the  
soul's immortality. They held to a periodical de-
struction of all things, not excepting the soul.  
Thus writes Mr. Leland: " It was a notion which  
generally obtained among them, [the philosophers],  
that at certain periods which the Stoics termed con-
flagrations, and which were to happen at the end of  
38Theological Institutes, Vol. I., p. 50.  
33Encyclopedia Britannica, 8th Edition, Vol. I., p. 459.


54  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
what they, as well as the Pythagoreans and Platon-
ists, called the great year, there should be an utter  
end put to the present state of things; and the souls 
of all men, and even of those of them which had be-
come gods, demons, or heroes, were to be resumed 
into the universal soul, and thereby lose their indi- 
vidual existence."34  
Watson confirms this testimony thus: "Another  
notion equally extensive and equally destructive of 
the original doctrine of the immortality of the human  
soul, and a state of future rewards and punishments, 
which sprung up in the Egyptian schools, and was  
from thence transmitted into Greece, India, and 
throughout all Asia, was that of a periodical destruc-
tion and renovation of all things."  35  
Then none among them could possibly believe in  
the immortality of the soul as a separate personality.  
Eminent Men who Rejected the Soul's  
Immortality.  
On examination we find that most of the eminent  
orators and authors of antiquity have recorded them-
selves as unbelievers in the soul's immortality. Among  
these, Cicero stands prominent as a great orator and  
statesman. Though in some of his writings he argues  
for the immortality of the soul, yet after all he con-
fesses that he did not really believe it. Of him War- 
burton says, "lie professes his disbelief of a future  
state of rewards and punishments  in the frankest and  
freest manner."36  
Virgil, Horace, and Seneca were all disbelievers in  
the immortality of man.37  
After showing that Cicero was full of doubts on the  
« Leland's Revelation, Vol. I., Part 3,  Chap. 5, p. 341.  
& Theological Institutes, Vol. L, Part 1, p. 52.  
86 Divine Legation, Vol. II., Book 3, Sec. 3, p. 182.  
« See Eniield, History of Philosophy, pp. 310-313.


REJECTED BY EMINENT MEN.  55  
subject, Dr. Horne says: "All which gave Seneca just  
occasion to say that < immortality, however desirable, 
was rather -promised than proved by these great men.'  
While the followers of these great philosophers were  
thus perplexed with doubts, others of the heathen en-
tertained the most gloomy notions.—either imagining 
that they should be removed from one body to another,  
and be  perpetual wanderers; or contemplating the  
grave as their eternal habitation, and sadly complain-
ing that the sun and stars could rise again, but that  
man, when his day was set, must lie down in dark- 
ness, and sleep a perpetual sleep."38  
JSo wonder Paul said that the heathen had no hope;  
for it was really true.  
So, then, the belief of the ancients was against the  
immortality  of the soul.  
38 Home's Introduction, Vol. L, p. 18.


CHAPTER IV.  
Sltobc'Zi'V fyCa-kioi^ -uvfvo bo not c^e-fie-De- -wo. tfae- 
eli4^i44o/ilciiii-i^ the So\\X.  
Belief of the Hindoos.  
J!O-DAY the doctrine of the soul's immortality  
is not universally nor even generally believed,  
' " though it has been industriously propagated  
for over two thousand years, from the time  
of the school of Plato down to that of the  
modern theological seminaries. Nearly the  
whole of the  Asiatic nations reject it, and  
hold to the total annihilation of all souls! That this  
is not merely our assertion will be seen from the fol- 
lowing testimonies, all from men who hold to the im- 
mortality of the soul. Mr. Watson's testimony will 
not be questioned. Hear him:—  
" With us, this [the soul's immortality] is a matter of  
general belief; but not so with the generality of either an-
cient or modern pagans. The same darkness which 
obscured the glory of God, proportionately diminished  
the glory of man,—his true and proper immortality.  
The very ancient notion of an absorption of souls back  
again into the divine Essence was with the ancients  
what we know it to be now in the metaphysical sys- 
tem of the Hindoos, a denial of individual immortal- 
ity; nor have the demonstrations of reason done any- 
thing to convince the other grand division of meta- 
physical  pagans into which modern heathenism is di- 
vided, the followers of Buddha who believe in the total  
[56]


BELIEF OF THE HINDOOS.  57  
annihilation of both men and gods after a series of ages, 
•—a point of faith held probably by the majority of the  
present race of mankind."  1  
This is valuable testimony, especially coming from  
one who is such good authority. This alone- gives a  
majority at the present day against the doctrine of 
the soul's immortality.  
Mr. Davy says: "The religion of Buddha is more  
widely extended than any other religion. It appears  
to be the religion of the whole of Tartary, China, Ja-
pan, and their dependencies, and of all the countries  
between China and Brahmapootra They ap-
pear to be materialists  in the strictest sense of the  
term, and to have no notion of pure spirit or mind. .  
. . . Ordinary death is merely a change of form, and  
this change is almost infinite, bounded only by anni-
hilation, which the}' esteem the acme of happiness."2  
Then a majority of the race are materialists, instead  
of immortal-soulists  !  
. Our next witness is that candid author, Henry  
Howe. He writes: " Boodhism, the religion of Bur- 
mah, has the greatest number of disciples of any on  
the globe, among whom are half of the people of China,  
Laos, Cochin China, and Ceylon, all of Cambodia, Siam, 
Burmah, Thibit, Tartary, and Loo-Choo; and a great  
part of Japan, and most of the islands'of the Southern  
seas."3  
"Existence and sorrow are declared to be necessary  
concomitants: and therefore 'the chief end of man ' 
is to finish this eternal round of changes and be anni- 
hilated. The great doctrines of this faith are five; viz,  
1. The eternal existence of the universe and all things;  
2. Metempsychosis; 3. Nicban, or annihilation, etc."4  
Of this religion, Alger says: " It is the basis and mo- 
tive of the most extensive disbelief of individual im-
mortality the world has known."5 Koepen, in his  
»Theological Institutes, Vol. I., Part 1, Chap. 4, p. 22. »Ibid. 
3Travels of Celebrated Travelers, p. 598. 4Idem., pp. 597, 598.  
* Future Life, Part 5, Chap. 8, p. 615.


58  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
work on  the "Religion of Buddha," says: "Buddh- 
ism is the gospel of annihilation."  6  
In the Methodist of April 16, 1870, Bishop Thomp- 
son published a sermon, in which he says: "As to the 
existing systems of India, China, and Japan, Hindoo- 
ism, Confucianism, and Buddhism are all, as every in-
telligent man knows, decaying and ready to perish, 
without satisfying  the wants of mankind. They hin- 
der human development, and must be swept from the  
earth by human progress. Nor need we lament; nay,  
we should rejoice in the prospect, for they offer no 
salvation to man in this life, but by the extinction of 
all interests in this life,—its duties, responsibilities, 
and possibilities,—and  no salvation beyond the grave  
but annihilation, the blowing out of the soul as the blow- 
ing out of a candle."  
Then the bishop understood them to teach the an- 
nihilation of the soul after death.  
This is the faith held by the majority of the human  
race to-day. Is this the doctrine of the immortality  
of the soul ? It is just the opposite. Do not our or- 
thodox friends know these facts? How, then, can 
they have the face to claim a universal belief in their 
notion of  the soul's immortality—when  all the facts  
are the other way ?  
Belief of the Chinese.  
The Chinese, a very numerous people, do not be- 
lieve the doctrine of the soul's immortality. They 
are materialists in the broadest sense. Confucius  
was their great teacher and lawgiver. For thousands 
of years his doctrines have been implicitly received 
by at least one-fourth of the race.7 He taught noth- 
ing about the future state.8 He did not claim to know  
anything beyond this life.9  
6Mem., Part 2,  Chap. 6, pp. 111-127.  
7New American Cyclopedia, art. Confucius.  
8 Howe's Travels of Celebrated Travelers, p. 200.  
BEncyclopedia Britannica, art. Confucius,


BELIEF OF THE CHINESE.  59  
Says Home, " Eeligion as a system of divine wor- 
ship, as piety toward God, and as holding forth future  
rewards and punishments,  can hardly be said to ex- 
ist among the Chinese."10 Dr. Morrison says that the 
learned sect among the Chinese are " entirely silent 
respecting the immortality of the soul." 11  
Says John Leland, "It is observed by the cele- 
brated Mons. de Montesquieu 'that the religion of  
Confucius denies the immortality of the soul;' " 12 and  
he indorses the statement. He cites several eminent  
men who had spent a long time in China, and who  
declare that the Chinese have no idea of the immor- 
tality of the soul.13 He says that " Confucius being  
asked by some of his disciples what angels or spirits 
are, answered that they are air. And this is the no- 
tion that the Chinese have of the soul. They look upon  
it to be a material thing, though highly rarified, and  
that then the soul separated from the body, both of them  
lose the individual being they had before, and nothing  
remains but the substance of heaven and earth, which  
had before concurred to the composition of man." u  
The religion of the Japanese is the same as that of  
the Chinese. Of them Mr. Seward says, " The Jap- 
anese, under the influence of Confucius, have become  
a nation of doubters." 15  
The New American Cyclopedia says of China: " Its  
population may be estimated approximately at 500,- 
000,000 Indifference to religious matters is a  
prominent national trait of character. They have 
not even a general term corresponding to the term  
religion. Kiao, the word that comes nearest to it, 
means only doctrine or creed. The belief in the im- 
mortality of the soid has never taken firm root among  
them."16  
Introduction, Chap. 1, p. 21.  
11 Quoted by Prof. Hudson, in Future Life, Chap. 8, p. 266. 
12 Leland's Revelation, Vol. II., Part 3, Chap. 3, p. 297. 
13 See Idem., pp. 297, 300. u I bid., p. 30'J. 
15  Seward's Travels, p. 102. 16  Art, China.


60  DOC THINE OF THE SOUL.  
Here, then, is a whole great nation, comprising  
one-fourth of the entire human race, who have not  
the slightest idea of the immortality  of the soul, nor  
did they ever have. Our readers must begin to see 
how groundless have been the assertions of our ortho-
dox opponents upon this subject.  
• Other Asiatic Nations.  
Of these the following may be mentioned as hold- 
ing no ideas of the immortality  of the soul:—  
The Santals. A learned author says, " Of a future  
life of blessedness the Santal has no idea. . . . After  
death all is a blank." 17  
" The Siamese hold annihilation  to be the greatest  
reward of virtue."18  
Polynesian Races.  
Mr. Ellis, who spent several years among the Poly- 
nesians, and particularly inquired into their doctrine 
of the soul, says of them,:—  
"We afterward endeavored to learn from them  
something respecting their opinion of a state of exist-
ence after death; but all they said upon the subject 
Avas so contradictory and mixed with fiction that it 
could not be discovered whether they had any defin- 
ite idea of the nature or even the existence of such a  
state. Some said that all the souls of the departed 
went to the Po, place of night, and were annihilated 
or eaten by the gods there."  
" The Fijian gods eat the souls of those who are de- 
stroyed by men. The gods roast the souls. Some 
souls are  killed by men." " Especially bachelors are  
liable to be seized and killed by smashing against a  
17 Spencer's Descriptive Sociology, No. 5, table 36, p, 37  
18McClintJck and Strong's Cyclopedia, art. Annihilation. 
18Polynesian Researches, Vol. IV., Chap. 14, p. 2,667,


POLYNESIAN MACES.  61  
stone'by one of the gods. The spirit is liable to be  
thus smashed, annihilated."20 " The belief in a future  
state is universal in Fiji; but their superstitious  no- 
tions often border upon transmigration,  and some- 
times teach an eventual annihilation."  21 Poor believ- 
ers in the immortality of the soul are these!  
The Tahitians have "vague ideas of death  
Some spirits are eaten by the gods, others deified; no 
belief in future punishments."  22  
" The Land Dyaks have not any decided notions of  
the immortality of the soul."23  
Of the Tasmanians our author says, " The more  
western portion of the aborigines had no idea of a fut- 
ure existence. They were like the kangaroo." 24  
The Fuegians. A traveler among them says, "I  
never witnessed or heard of an act of a decidedly re- 
ligious nature, neither could 1 satisfy myself of their  
having any idea of the immortality of the soul."23  
The Andamans. " The Andaman Islanders ' mani- 
fest no notions of a Supreme Being, or of a future ex- 
istence.' "26  
" The Veddas have no idea of a future state of re- 
wards and punishments."  27  
The Tonga,ns. J' The Tonga Islanders think that  
the lower classes of men have no souls." 28  
This is about the way with the most of these bar- 
barous nations. They are often claimed as full be- 
lievers in the immortality  of the soul, while the real  
fact is they have only the most confused ideas even  
of a future life of any kind.  
80Descriptive Sociology, No. 3, p. 38. 2' Idem., p. 37.  
28Idem., table 10. 83Lows Sarawak, p. 203. 
34 Bjnwie's Daily Life of Tasmania, p. 182. 
15 Voyages of the Adventure and Beasrle, Vol. II., p. 179. 
M Transactions of the Ethnological Society, new series, Vol. II., p. 35. 
Klie.ii., Vol. II., p. 300. ^Martin's Tonga Islands, Vol. I., p. 55, note.


62  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
African Races.  
The Damaras, one author says, " have no expecta- 
tion of a future state."29 The reader will see that 
there is no countenance for the immortal-soul doc-
trine here.  
Mr. Moffat, speaking of the Bechuanas,  says,  
" Man's immortality was never heard of among that  
people."80 The East Africans have "no notion of a  
soul, or spirit." 31  
" The Bulloms and Timmanus have no fixed opin- 
ion respecting a future state; for, though they speak 
of future rewards and punishments, their ideas on  
this head are vague and fluctuating. They do not 
believe that the spirits of their deceased friends re-
turn to visit their former abodes, nor have they any 
word in their language to express a spirit, or appari-
tion." 32  
The faith of the  inland negroes is shown by the  
following:—  
"The negresses of Matiamba throw the corpses of  
their husbands into  the water, in order that along  
with the body they may drown the soul, by which  
they would otherwise be troubled."33 " The Wanikas  
of East Africa ' have neither god, nor devil, nor  
heaven, nor hell, nor soul, nor idol.' "34  
Of the people of Madagascar, Mr. Ellis says:—  
" Still more vague and indefinite are the ideas they  
entertain respecting the human soul and its future 
existence. They have no knowledge of the doctrine  
of the soul as a separate, immaterial, immortal prin-
ciple in man, nor has their language any word to ex- 
press such an idea. They speak of the saina, but 
mean by this the intellectual powers The next  
question is, What becomes of the saina, or mind,  
29 Gal ton, p. 189. 30 Spencer's Descriptive Sociology, No. 4, p. 29.  
Idem., table 23. s- Winterbottom, Vol. I., p. 226.  
^Bastian Mensch, Vol. III., p. 378. « Descriptive Sociology, No. 4, p. 30.


TRIBES OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT.  63  
when a person dies? to which the Malagasy re- 
plies, It is a part of the body. But does it return to  
dust with the body in the grave? No; the body re- 
turns to dust and the saina becomes levona, i. e., van- 
ished, invisible. And the aina, or life, becomes rivota.  
—air, or wind, not retaining its individuality;  but  
absorbed and lost in mere aura—a mere breeze—a  
breath in the general mass of air floating around."33  
Tribes of the Western Continent.  
As we have seen, the Chibchas of Central America  
expect a future life through a resurrection.36 The 
Peruvians hold the same doctrine.37 " With respect  
to the soul, the barbarous Otomies, as they tell us, 
believed that it died together with the body."38  
The inhabitants of Guatemala "were persuaded  
that to die by any other than a natural death was to  
forfeit all hope of life hereafter; and therefore left the  
bodies of the slain to the beasts and vultures."  39  
They had no idea of the immortality of the soul; for  
they believed that some utterly perish, and that those  
who do obtain a future life gain it by a resurrection  
of the body.  
The people of Nicaraugua being asked what about  
the future state replied, " We only know that infants  
who die before they have tasted maize, or are weaned, 
will be raised again, and return to their fathers' house;  
and their fathers will recognize and provide for them. 
Old people who die will not return nor be raised 
again." Being asked where Indians go when they  
die, they replied that they go beneath the earth,  
where "they are buried; and all is over." 40 A few 
just and brave warriors are exceptions, as they as- 
cend, to live somewhere else.  
85History of Madagascar, by Rev. Wm. Ellis, Vol. I., Chap. 14, pp. 392, 393. 
38 Descriptive Sociology, No. 2, table. 37 Idem., p. 45. 
88 History ot Mexico, by Clavigero, Book 6, Chap. 1. 
89The Myths of the New World, by D. G. Brinton, p. 246.  
« Nicara'ugua, by E. G. Squire, Vol. II., pp. 357, 358.


64  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
The Esquimaux of Alaska.  
Some important facts with regard to these tribes  
are stated in the following quotation. Mr. Dall has  
traveled among them extensively, and hence is well 
prepared to state their belief. He says: " Many In- 
dians, in fact all the Tinneh that I have conversed  
with who have not been taught by the English or 
Russian missionaries,  do not believe in the immor- 
tality of man. Of those who have a dim notion of  
the kind, none have any idea whatever of a future  
reward and punishment, of any Supreme Deity or  
power, of good and evil in a moral sense, or of any- 
thing which can be called a religion. Assertions to 
the contrary proceed from the ignorance or poetic li- 
cense of the author, or from Intercourse with the  
tribes that have derived their ideas from the mission- 
aries." 41  
Fes; many of the assertions so confidently made  
concerning the faith of different barbarous tribes and  
nations in the immortality of the soul, proceed, as 
Mr. Dall remarks, from the ignorance or poetic license  
of the author, or from intercourse with those who  
have been taught by missionaries.  No such doctrine  
was held among them when first found. Thus upon 
a little inquiry, we find that there are scores of bar- 
barous tribes who have never dreamed that the soul 
is immortal.  
The Indians.  
I know it is often asserted that the different Indian  
tribes of America all believe the soul immortal; but I  
have looked in vain for the proof. They have some  
vague ideas of a future life, but their ideas are all 
very gross and material indeed. They expect to be  
« Alaska and its Resources, by Wm. H. Dall, Director of the Scientific Corps  
of the Late W. U. Telegraph Expedition.


CHRISTIANS.  65  
in the next world much as they are here,.—to take  
their dog, and knife, and arrows with them,- and use 
them there the same as here. This is far from indi- 
cating a belief in an immortal, immaterial soul. The  
least hint that they have any idea of a hereafter has 
been taken as positive proof that they believe the soul  
immortal. But this is an unwarranted assumption.  
There are no facts to sustain it.  
Christians.  
From the days of the apostles to the present time,  
there have been more or less Christians who have re- 
jected the dogma of the natural immortality of man.  
Of late their numbers are rapidly increasing. They  
are found in large numbers both in Europe and  
America. With a very few exceptions, the whole 
body of Adventists are  of this faith; so also are thou- 
sands in other churches. They believe the Bible im- 
plicitly, and believe in future rewards and punish-
ments, and eternal life for the saints; but they do not 
believe in the immortality  of the soul nor in the con- 
scious state of the dead. They hope for a future life  
through the resurrection.  
Another class must be counted out, as non-believers  
in man's immortality.  We have traveled from the  
Atlantic to the Pacific, from Minnesota to Alabama,  
and preached the doctrine of the mortality of man.  
Wherever we go, we find a large class of persons  
who say that they were never satisfied about the im- 
mortality of the soul, and never could really believe  
it. We find these persons both in the churches and  
out of them; yet they are commonly counted- as be- 
lievers in that dogma. Again, there are many thou- 
sands of intelligent  skeptics who do not believe the  
soul immortal.  
5


66  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
Summary.  
We confidantly believe that the facts we have pi*e- 
sented fully explode the oft-repeated argument that 
the immortality of the soul has been universally be-
lieved. Facts are against it. We have shown that  
the doctrine of the immortality of the soul was first  
taught by the Egyptians; that there is no trace of it 
in the early history of ancient nations; that it was  
denied by most men in the time of Socrates; that the  
masses did not believe it in the time of Polybius;  
that the contrary of the soul's immortality was the 
prevailing opinion in the time of Cicero; that this dis- 
belief was full as extensive in the first century; that  
nearly all the great schools of philosophy openly de-
nied it; that even those who professed to believe it  
held it only on the principle of emanation and re-ab- 
sorption, which virtually annihilates all individuality;  
that none of the ancients could possibly believe it, as  
they all held to a great periodical destruction of all  
things; that the Arabs were ignorant of the doctrine;  
that the Jews did not believe it; that the Hindoos  
and Buddhists, comprising fully one-third of the human  
race, implicitly hold to the annihilation of all men; 
that the Chinese do not believe it; that many of the  
Mohammedans believe in the sleep of the dead; that  
many of the natives of Asia, of Polynesia, of Africa,  
and of the Western Continent have no such doctrine 
among them; that it is not proved that the native 
Indians believe it; that there are many Christians  
who deny it; and that, finally, there are thousands of  
others who have no faith in this doctrine. These  
facts show that only a small portion of the race have  
ever believed in the immortality  of the soul.


CHAPTER V.  
©cnjfoeat 9Cope of ci- frutu^e,  
•fcJWot^ft- a- cftzliviny of the- cf£>oby.  
)F the reader supposes that the first ideas  
which the ancients had of the soul were the  
same as those popular among us now, he needs 
to be undeceived. The idea that after the  
body dies, the soul, as an immortal, immaterial,  
conscious, and active personality, goes immedi-
ately to Heaven or hell, was not arrived at im- 
mediately, but grew up gradually out of the imagina-
tion, the poetry, and the speculations of many ages. 
It is interesting  to trace its gradual development.  
The first idea that the ancients conceived of the  
soul, or spirit, as existing separately from the body  
after death, was that of a shadow, or shade, resembling  
the body in shape, but' larger. This shade was sup-
posed to be a very thin, misty, aerial, material sub- 
stance. At first the shades of all, both good  and bad,  
were F aid to be gathered together under ground in  
hades, or sheol. They were not permitted to visit the  
upper world among the living. They were said to be  
in a dreamy, sleeping condition. Gradually, by po- 
etic imagination, they were invested with more life  
and intelligence, and were assigned employments in  
hades like those they had led on earth. Then a few 
were said to come up from their dreary abode, and  
appear to the living. They represented hades to be 
a damp, chilly, dismal place. They sighed to return  
to earth. The scene gradually changed, and they  
[67]


68  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
were invested with still more activity, power, and in-
telligence, and placed in a region of greater light, till  
a few privileged ones were raised to dwell on the sur- 
face of the earth, then higher in the air, and at last 
to Heaven. They then began to be invested with 
mighty power as demons, demi-gods, and gods, and  
were supposed to rule over the living. At last, after 
long ages, all the good were supposed to go to Heaven  
at death.  
They had similar ideas with regard to the punish- 
ment of the wicked in hades. At first only a very few  
were punished, then certain crimes in all, and at 
length all the wicked were punished there at death.  
But this change in the minds of the people was very  
slow, and many ages passed before it was effected. 
Many testimonies  could be presented on these points;  
but I can offer only a few here. The first conception  
of these ideas is thus stated by Alger:—•  
" The origin of many notions touching a future  
state found in literature, is to be traced to those ram- 
bling thoughts and poetic reveries with which even  
the most philosophical minds, in certain moods, in- 
dulged themselves." " Two general sources have now  
been described of the barbarian conceptions in rela- 
tion to a future state. First, the natural operation of  
an earnest recollection of the dead; sympathy, regret,  
and reverence for them, leading the thoughts and 
heart to grope after them, to brood over the possibil-
ities of their fate, and to express themselves in rites  
and emblems. Secondly, the mythological or ai'bi- 
trary creations of the imagination, when it is set  
strongly at work, as it must be by the solemn phe-
nomena associated by death. But beyond these two  
comprehensive statements, there is, directly related 
to the matter and worthy of separate illustration,  a  
curious action of the mind, which has been very ex- 
tensively experienced, and fertile of results. It is a  
peculiar example of the unconscious imputation of ob- 
jective existence to mental ideas. With the death of


HO MEW 8 ILIAD.  69  
the body, the man does not cease to live in the re- 
membrance, imagination,  and heart of his surviving  
friends. By an unphilosophical  confusion, this inte£  
nal image is credited as an external existence. The  
dead pass from their customary haunts in our society  
to the imperishable domain of ideas." "Fancy and  
reason, thus set to work, speedily construct a thou- 
sand theories filled with details. Desire fathers  
thought, and then thought wooes belief."1  
. This was the real origin of the notion that the soul  
lives after the body dies—imagination  and desire.  
Dr. Knapp, in accounting for  this doctrine amono- 
the ancients, says: " They often had dreams, in which 
the dead appeared to them, speaking and acting; and 
in this way they-found their wishes, and the&tradi- 
tions they had received from their fathers, confirmed  
anew." 2  
Even now, wishes, dreams, and death-bed scenes  
are the best proof which many have for the immor- 
tality of the soul.  
Homer's Iliad.  
Turning to Homer, the oldest of the heathen poets,  
who wrote about nine hundred years before Christ'  
we find that the ideas then entertained of death were  
that it was a sleep-, and of hades, or the state of the  
dead, that it was a dark, gloomy, cold place under  
ground, where the mere powerless shadows of the  
dead existed in a half-unconscious  state. Read a few  
quotations:—  
" Silent they slept and heard of wars no more.''  
"And death in lasting slumber seals his eyes." 
"The soul, indignant, seeks the realms of night."  
" Oppress'd, had sunk to death's eternal shade."  
" Add one more ghost to Pluto's gloomy reigu."  
l™4"^ P^rt 2> ChaP- x> P- 81 i and Part I, Chap. 3, p. 38.  2 Christian Theology, p. 519. H


70  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
" Thy hector, wrapt in everlasting sleep,  
Shall neither hear thee sigh, nor see thee weep."  
" And seeks the cave of Death's half-brother, Sleep." 3  
Such expressions are frequent all through the Iliad.  
Homer always describes hades as a dreary, gloomy  
place, thus:—  
"When  to grim Pluto's gloomy  gates he went."  
" Go, guide thy darksome steps to Pluto's dreary hall." 
"By thy black waves, tremendous Styx! that flow  
Through the drear realms of gliding ghosts below." 4  
The soul s there are described as feeble, shadowy,  
and voiceless.  
" Then the wan shades and feeble ghosts implore." 
" To all the phantom nations of the dead."5  
Finally, Homer, in his Odyssey, relates the descent  
of Ulysses into hades, and his interview with the souls  
of the dead. We give a few quotations:—  
" Now the wan shades we hail,  
When lo! appeared along the dusky coasts,  
Thin, airy shoals of visionary ghosts."  
Of the soul of his mother he says:—  
" Now a thin form is all Anticlea was.  
Still in the dark abodes of death I stood,  
When near Anticlea, moved and drank the blood.  
Straight all the mother in her soul awakes,  
And owning her Ulysses, thus she speaks:  
Comest thou, my son, alive to realms beneath,  
The dolesome realms of darkness and of death? 
Comest thou alive from pure ethereal day? 
Dire is the region, dismal is the way." 6  
"Thrice in my  arms I strove her shade to bind,  
Thrice through my arms she slipp'd like empty wind."  
Ulysses complaining of  this, his mother replies:—  
spope's Homer's Iliad, pp. 58, 85, 91, 101, 123, 259, 306. 
* Pope's Homer's Iliad, pp. 151, 265, 269.  
6Pope's Homer's Odyssey, p. 601. 6Idem., pp. 605, 606, 608, 609.


INFLUENCE OF THE POETS.  71  
' All, all are such when life the body leaves;  
No more the substance of the man remains,  
While the impassive soul reluctant flies,  
Like a vain dream, to these infernal skies. 
But from the dark dominion speed thy way, 
And climb the steep ascent to upper day;  
To thy chaste bride the wondrous story tell,  
The woes, the horrors, and the laws of hell." 7  
Of the great king, now dead, he says:—  
"His substance vanish'd, and his strength decay'd;  
Now all Atrides is an empty shade." 8  
The soul of the mighty Achilles says:—  
" Talk not of ruling in this dolorous gloom,  
Nor think vain words (he cried) can ease my doom.  
Rather, I'd choose laboriously to bear 
A weight of woes, and breathe the vital air; 
A slave to some poor hind that toils for bread,  
Than reign the sceptered monarch of the dead." 9  
He would rather be a slave and live on earth than  
be a king in the land of spirits! How different, how  
exactly the reverse, of the modern ideas of the spirit  
land!  
We cannot fail to observe that the ancients, instead  
of having a clear and well-defined doctrine of the im-
mortality of the soul and the conscious state of the 
dead, gradually developed these ideas, not from an 
early and clear tradition, but from the causes already  
given, and from others yet to be named. This is an 
important fact in our investigation,  and it should be  
well weighed. 
Influence of the Poets.  
The influence of the poets and  poetry aided greatly  
in the development of early conceptions concerning  
the state of the dead. The poets have always had a  
great influence in shaping the ideas and traditions of  
^Idem., p. 609.  8Idem., p. 614.  9Idem., p. 616.


72  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
rude nations. No subject ever furnished a better  
theme for poetic fiction and imagination than that of  
the place and condition of men after death; and in 
none has greater liberty of fancy been taken than in  
this. Whoever wishes proof of this statement may 
look into the pages of Homer, Virgil, Dante, etc.  
These poets have given loose reins to their warm im- 
aginations, to revel in the most horrid scenes. Their  
productions have been eagerly listened to by the peo-
ple, and the effect has been marked and lasting.  
These poets were the ones who first taught the an- 
cient heathen their religious tenets.  
Thus writes Herodotus: " For I am of opinion that  
Hesoid and Homer [poets] lived four hundred years  
before my time, and not more, and these were they 
who framed a theogony for the Greeks, and gave 
names to the gods, and assigned to them honors and  
arts, and declared their several forms." 10  
History abundantly shows that the fancy of poets  
has done more than anything else to build up this  
visionary doctrine of a hell and heaven of departed  
ghosts. Says Enfield: "Every poet enlarged and  
molded the ancient fables according to the fertility or  
luxuriancy of his own fancy; so that they were not  
only increased from time to time without limit, but  
in many particulars so materially altered that their 
original features could scarcely be perceived." 11 Says  
another: " It is a common saying that the license of  
the poets caused greater injury to the ancient the- 
ology than all other things put together."12  
Only Fables.  
That the popular descriptions of hell were mere fa- 
bles of poets, designed to scare the common people  
into obedience, was freely confessed by all writers.  
10Herod, Euterpe 2, 53, p. 116. "History of Philosophy, p. 63.  
KCudworth's Intellectual System, Vol. I., p. 619, note.


ONLY FABLES.  73  
That great historian and geographer, Strabo, thus  
gives the reason why the torments of hell were in-
vented by the lawgivers. He also shows the influ- 
ence poets have had in the matter. He writes thus:—  
" The great mass of women and common people  
cannot be induced by mere force of reason to devote  
themselves to piety, virtue, and honesty. Supersti- 
tion must therefore be employed, and even this is in-
sufficient without the aid of the marvelous and the  
terrible. For what are the thunderbolts, the segis, 
the trident, the torches, the dragons, the barbed  
thyrses, the arms of the gods, and all the parapher-
nalia of antique theogony but fables employed by the  
founders of States as bug-bears to frighten timorous  
minds? Such was mythology." 13 Yes, indeed, such it 
was, a mass of frightful fables and bug-bears to scare  
the people into submission.  
Of the ancient Brahmins, this writer says, " They  
invent fables also after the manner of Plato, on the  
immortality of the soul, and on the punishment  in  
hades, and other things of this kind."u What Plato  
. and others said about the immortality  of the soul,  
punishments in hades, etc., were understood to be  
only fables. Another eminent Greek historian, Polyb- 
ius, B. c. 203, bears a similar testimony thus: "Since  
the multitude is ever fickle, full of lawless desires, ir- 
rational passion, and violence, there is no way to keep 
them in order but by fear, and terror of the invisible  
world, on which account our ancestors seem to  me to  
have acted judiciously, when they contrived'to bring  
into the popular belief these notions of the gods, and  
of the infernal regions." 15  
Gibbon, the historian, says: " The description of  
the infernal regions had been abandoned to the fancy  
of painters and poets, who peopled them with so  
many phantoms and monsters who dispensed their  
13  Strabo, Book 1, Chap. 2, Sec. S, p. 30.  
14Idem., Vol. III.,  Book 15, Chap. 1, Sec. 59. 15Book p. 56.


74  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
rewards and punishments with so little equity that a  
solemn truth, the most congenial to the human heart,  
was oppressed and disgraced by the absurd mixture 
of the wildest fictions. The doctrine of a future state  
was scarcely considered among the devout polytheists 
of Greece and Kome as a fundamental article of  
faith."16  
Priests and Lawgivers.  
Another cause, and perhaps the chief one, which  
aided in developing and supporting a belief in this  
doctrine, was the interest and authority of priests and  
lawgivers. Commonly these two  offices were united  
in one person. Of course, the more importance the  
priest could attach to the soul, and to rewards and 
punishments after death, the greater influence he  
would have with the people, and the more readily 
would they support him. Hence it was for the inter-
est of the priests to build up this doctrine at every 
opportunity, and history shows that from the Egyp- 
tians to the Boman Catholic priests they have not 
been slack in doing this. So also the magistrate  
found that to threaten the people with the wrath of 
the gods and future torments for disobedience to his 
laws, greatly aided him in controlling them, and in 
keeping them under. " Hence also," says Dr. Horne,  
"the most celebrated legislators of antiquity, Zoroas- 
ter, Minos, Pythagoras, Solon, Lycurgus, JNuma, etc., 
all thought it necessary to profess some intercourse  
with Heaven in order to give the greater sanction to  
their laws and institutions,  notwithstanding  many of  
them were armed with secular power.  Hence he also  
united his interest with the priests in helping forward 
this doctrine."17 Volumes might be and have been 
written showing that this was the case.  
The very learned bishop Warburton, in his "Di- 
16Decline and Fall, Vol. I., p. 529.  "Introduction, Vol. I., p. 16.


EGYPT THE MOTHER OF THE DOCTRINE. 75  
vino Legation of Moses Demonstrated," has abun- 
dantly proved by copious quotations from ancient  
writers that what was said about the infernal regions,  
elysium, etc., was all invented by the priests and law- 
givers to frighten the people, and keep them in sub- 
jection.  
Mr. Alger thus sums up the causes which operated .  
to establish the heathen nations in these doctrines:  
" Finally," says he, " by the combined power, first of  
natural conscience affirming a future distinction be-
tween the good and the bad; secondly, of imperfect  
conceptions of God, as a passionate avenger; thirdly, 
of the licentious fancies of poets drawing awful imag-
inative pictures of future wToe ; fourthly, of the 
cruel spirit and ambitious plans of selfish priest- 
hoods; and fifthly, of the harsh and relentless theories 
of conforming metaphysicians,-—the  doctrine of hell  
as a located place of manifold terrific physical tortures,  
drawing in vast majorities of the human race, became  
established in the ruling creeds, and enthroned as an  
orthodox dogma." 18  
Egypt the Mother of the Doctrine.  
That such a doctrine is now largely believed is well  
known. That it is not taught in the Bible has been  
fully shown many times; hence it did not originate  
there. Then where was its birth ? All evidence,  
both ancient and modern, points to Egypt as the  
mother of this doctrine. Here are a few testimonies.  
The first is from the historian Herodotus, than whom  
there could be no higher authority on this question.  
He was a Greek, born B. C. 484, and is regarded as  
the father of profane history.19 He traveled in Egypt  
and many other countries, and carefully studied the  
customs and doctrines of those ancient nations; hence  
is Doctrine of a Future Life, pp. 39, 512.  
19 Classical Dictionary, art. Herodotus.


76  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
ho was well qualified to speak the truth on these  
points. He says, " The Egyptians were also the first  
who asserted the doctrine that the soul of man is im- 
mortal." 20  
Bunsen, in his learned and elaborate work on  
Egypt, says: " The Egyptians were the first who  
taught the doctrine of the immortality of the soul,—  
a fact mentioned by all Greek writers from Herodotus  
to Aristotle, and one brilliantly  confirmed by the  
monuments."21  
This declaration from such high authorities should  
be well considered by all lovers of truth. Bishop  
Warburton confirms these testimonies  thus : " The  
Egyptians, as we are assured by the concurrent testi- 
mony of antiquity, were among the first who taught  
that the soul survived the body, and was immortal."22  
Ealph Cudworth, D. D.,  is probably the highest  
authority we could quote on this subject. Mosheim  
says of him that he had all the ancient authors by 
heart. In his immortal work, " The True Intellectual 
System of the Universe," he says of the Egyptians, 
" They were the first assertors of the immortality  
of souls, their pre-existence, and transmigration."23  
Again: "The immortality, pre-existence, and trans- 
migration of souls, which doctrine was unquestiona-
bly derived from the Egyptians."24  
Here, then, is the fountain-head from whence the  
doctrine of the immortality  of the soul first flowed.  
Its origin is heathen, not divine; Egyptian, not Bib- 
lical. He that denies this assertion must do it with 
all the evidence from history against him.  
20 Herodotus, Euterpe II., Sec., 123.  
si Egypt's Place in Universal History, Vol.  IV., p. 639.  
22  Divine Legation of Moses Demonstrated, Vol. II., p". 239.  
** Vol. I., p. 527. 24vol. I.,  p. 553.


THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.  77  
The Life of the Soul Dependent upon the Pres- 
ervation of the Body.  
Generally, no error is born into the world fully  
grown and perfectly developed; but it has a gradual 
growth, and passes through different stages of devel- 
opment. till it becomes a regular system. Some truth, 
either natural or revealed, is always taken as the 
foundation on which to build up a system of error.  
The counterfeit must at first be very nearly like the  
genuine, or it would not be received as all would de- 
tect the fraud; so we may expect to find this the case  
with the doctrine under consideration.  
It is a doctrine relating to future life. .Let us look  
a moment at the doctrine of a future as revealed in  
the word of God. The Lord told man in the begin- 
ning that if he sinned he should surely die. (Gen. 2:  
17.) When man had sinned, God said to him, " Dust  
thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Gen. 3:  
19. Christ came into the world, died, went into the  
grave, and rose again, that man might have a res-
urrection from the dead. (Rom. 14:9; 1 Cor. 15.) 
A future life could only be had by a resurrection.  
For this resurrection all the ancient worthies, from 
Abel to Paul, looked with earnest anticipation. (Heb.  
11: 4-13, 32-40; Phil. 3 :10, 11.) This resurrection,  
the angel in the bush taught Moses. (Luke 20 : 37.) 
Job, and David, and in short all the ancient people of  
God, rested all their hopes upon it. (Job 19 : 25-27;  
Ps. 17 :15.) This was the first and true doctrine of a 
future life as revealed by God to man.  
Now it is an undeniable fact that the first theory  
which finally led to the doctrine of the immortality  
of the soul was that the soul would live as long as the 
body was preserved. If the body perished, then the  
soul was destroyed too. If the body could be pre-
served, it would be resurrected, and live again some  
time in the distant future. The}7 thought the soul


78  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
would live in the body again; hence the immense ex- 
pense and untiring pains to embalm the dead  body so  
that it should not decay. It is a well-known fact  
that the ancient Egyptians, and after them many  
other nations, embalmed the dead.  This they did at  
great expense, and so effectually that many bodies  
are preserved in quite a perfect condition to the pres- 
ent day. Their object was to preserve the body so  
that it would live again. On this point all the best  
authors agree, as witness the following:—  
Calmet, in his Dictionary of the Bible, article " To  
Embalm," says: " The ancient Egyptians, and the  
Hebrews in imitation of them, embalmed the bodies 
of the dead The art of physic was by the 
Egyptians ascribed to Isis, and in particular the rem- 
edy which procured immortality, which in my opin- 
ion, was no other than that of embalming bodies, and  
rendering them incorruptible."  
Bunsen, in his elaborate work on Egypt, bears the  
decisive testimony: "The real meaning of the cele- 
brated passage in Herodotus (II. 123) about the rea-
sons why the Egyptians bestowed so much care on  
the preservation of the body, and as it were, on pre- 
venting it from passing away, must have been this:  
The belief in a resurrection of the body This  
doctrine wo may now read in every page of the sa- 
cred books. Thence the popular notion in Egypt  
that unless its old human envelope was preserved, the 
soul would be subject to disturbances and hindrances  
in performing its destined course." The soul was im- 
mortal; but its happiness, if not the possibility of its 
continuing to live, depended on the preservation of the  
body. The destruction of the body, consequently in- 
volved the destruction of the soul. We assuredly owe  
the stupendous fabric of the pyramids to a supersti- 
tious fear of the destruction of the body, rather than 
to mere vanity or love of display on the part of the  
builders This inability, combined with the ar- 
tistic impulses of the Egyptians, led to the colossal


THE LIFE OF THE SOUL.  79  
preservatories which arose out of a superstitious ad-
herance to the notion of the value of the- body, and 
which clung with a rigid grip to the materialistic  
principle."25  
Several facts worthy of attention are stated in the  
above testimonies:—  
1. " The belief in a resurrection of the body" was  
what led the Egyptians to embalm the dead.  
2. The belief that the soul would return to the  
body, and thus begin a new life as man. This shows  
that they connected the idea of a future life insepara-
bly with the life of the body.  
3. It was " a popular notion in Egypt that unless  
the old human envelope was preserved," the soul  
would not be happy. Here, again, the soul depended 
upon the body.  
4. The preservation of the body from destruction  
was connected with the doctrine of immortality,  there  
being no immortality without the preservation and  
reliving of the body. " The soul was immortal; but  
its happiness, if not the possibility of its continuing to 
live, depended on the preservation of the body. The de- 
struction of the body, consequently, involved the destruc- 
tion of the soid." The soul was immortal only as con- 
nected with an immortal body! This is so near the  
scriptural idea of immortality that we may easily  
recognize its origin. We have reason to thank God 
that in those early ages we can find so clear an idea  
still retained of the divine doctrine of a future life  
only by the resurrection of the body.  
5. These writers say that the pyramids looked to  
the same object,—a preservation of the dead.  
6. The old Egyptians were materialists.  
Here, then, we have the object of embalming, the  
object of the pyramids, and the first idea of the im- 
mortality of the soul as taught by the Egyptians, 
quite different from the nresent doctrine of the soul's  
immortality.  
25 Egypt's Place in Universal History, Vol. IV., pp. (MI, 642, 651, 652.


CHAPTER VI.  
'Site Doc-l/zsine- oj-' -tfie- 3mmotl'afit"t^ llW Scrnf  
©ri^i-vi-a-teb  i-H- Sg^pfc a-M-b (Ba/t/t-t-e c>  
•Ivi/to (^eec-e- tfve- (^-r-ecici-vi- 
UfVt f o^oplVe^^.  
uHE evidence is clear and abundant that the  
Greeks obtained their first notions of the soul's  
immortality from the Egyptians, though, as  
we shall soon see, they altered this doctrine  
and added to it. The doctrine of the immor- 
tality of the soul, as we have seen, was a 
leading notion in the Egyptian religion. The  
received this with the rest, but at a later  
date than most other parts of their system. Says 
Herodotus: " The Egyptians also were the first who  
asserted the doctrine that the soul of man is immor- 
tal Some of the Greeks have adopted this  
opinion, some earlier, others later, as if it were their  
own." 1  
This is very plain testimony as to where the Greeks  
obtained this doctrine; also that it was not known 
among them till learned from Egypt; and that even  
then all did not at once receive it. Pherecydes, who  
lived about six hundred years before Christ, was the 
first who taught the Greeks the notion. He received  
his learning and doctrine from the Egyptians. Jose- 
phus, in his book " Against Apion," says: " But then 
for those that first introduced philosophy [among the  
Greeks], and the consideration of things celestial and  
1 Herodotus, Euterpe IT. 123, p. 144.  [80]


EG YPTIAN PHILOSOPHY.  81  
divine among them, such as Phereeydes the Syrian, 
and Pythagoras, and Thales, all with one consent 
agree that they learned what they knew of the Egyp- 
tians and Chaldeans, and wrote but little. And these  
are the things which are supposed to be the oldest of 
all among the Greeks. And they have much ado to  
believe that the writings ascribed to those men are 
genuine."2  
The reader will notice that the teachings of Pher- 
eeydes and Thales are among the oldest things taught  
the Greeks, and that they hardly knew whether to 
believe them or not. This was only six hundred 
years before Christ. Moses had legislated for Israel  
about one thousand years before that, and even Da- 
vid and Solomon had slept with their fathers for  
about four hundred years when this philosopher  
first taught the Greeks about the soul's immortality.  
So this doctrine was not very ancient among them. 
Enfield says: " Another tenet which is by the univer-
sal consent of the ancients ascribed to Phereeydes is  
that of the immortality of the soul, for which he was,  
perhaps, indebted to the Egyptians. Cicero says that  
he was the first philosopher in whose writings this  
doctrine appeared."3  
Thus history points out the very first man who  
wrote in favor of this heathen dogma. Phereeydes 
not only borrowed the doctrine of the immortality  
and transmigration of souls from the Egyptians, and  
taught it to the Greeks, but he added to it a refine- 
ment of his own, which was unknown till he first  
broached it; this was the idea that the soul is a pai't  
of God.  
Mr. Warburton has argued this point at some  
length, and shown that this doctrine was of Grecian,  
and not of Egyptian, origin,'and that Phereeydes and  
his contemporary, Thales, were the inventors of it.  
He says, "The Greeks having thus given the soul one  
sBook I., Sec. 2.  8 History of Philosophy, p. 210.  83


82  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
of the attributes of the Divinity, another Egyptian  
doctrine soon taught them to make a perfect God of  
it."4  
Here we find the date of another important step in  
the history of this doctrine. All agree that the Greek 
philosophers much improved the doctrines which they 
learned from Egypt. This"'was one of the first of 
these improvements. 
Pythagoras.  
i 3 
The next great name in antiquity that appears in  
the history of this doctrine, is Pythagoras. He was  
a Greek, born about B. c. 550; the exact date is not  
certain. He was a disciple of Pherecydes. He passed 
twenty-two years in Egypt, and used great diligence  
in learning the doctrines of the priests. After trav- 
eling through many cities of Greece, he finally went  
to Crotona, in Magna Grcecia, where he established a 
flourishing  school, which was attended by hundreds.5  
The school, or sect, thus founded by him, was called  
the Italic or Pythagoric sect.  
Of his visit to Egypt, and the result, Warburton  
says: " The result of all was, and it is worth our ob- 
servation, that from this time the Greek sophists  
(now called philosophers)  began to cultivate the be- 
lief of a future state of rewards and punishments."6  
Yes, these observations are important. 1. Pytha- 
goras went into Egypt. 2. There he and Plato 
learned the doctrines of the priests. 3. The result  
was, that from that time the Greek philosophers be- 
gan to cultivate this belief. Then they Jiad not cul- 
tivated that belief before, much less had the people.  
There is an abundance of evidence to show that he is  
correct in these statements.  
We will now briefly inquire into Pythagoras' doc- 
4Divine Legation, Vol. II., Book III., Sec. 4. p. 240.  
6 Enfield's History, p. 212. 6 Divine Legation, Vol. II., pp. 10S, 109.


ANAXAGORAS.  83  
trine concerning man and the soul. He seems to  
have made some advancement upon the doctrine of 
his master, Pherecydes. He taught that God was  
the great fountain, or the universal mind, from 
whence emanated the minds, or souls, of all intelli-
gent beings; that the soul existed before it animated 
this body; that it will transmigrate through different  
bodies till it returns to God, its original source, and is  
reabsorbed into his essence. Like all before him, he  
still held the soul to be material. With regard to his  
idea of God, Enfield says, " He does not seem to have  
had the idea of a pure spirit."  
Enfield has thoroughly discussed the whole subject,  
so I glean the following facts from him: 1. We learn  
that Pythagoras retained all the advance steps which 
his master, Pherecydes, had made on the ancient  
faith. 2. He added much of his own theorizing. 3.  
He introduced a subtile mode of philosophizing,  
which confused the  mind more than it enlightened it.  
He used many subtile divisions and distinctions,  
which were unknown before. He was the first one 
who assumed the name of philosopher. 4. He began  
to decry " gross matter" as corrupt, and far removed  
from God. 5. Yet he still held God, demons, and  
souls to be material; but they were of subtile, ethe- 
real substance.7  
Anaxagoras.  
The discovery that mind is entirely independent of  
matter was reserved for another philosopher, born  
about fifty years later than Pythagoras. This was  
Anaxagoras, one of the successors of Pythagoras in 
the Ionic school. Of this fact Enfield testifies thus:—  
" Anaxagoras affirmed that a pure mind, perfectly  
free from all material concretions, governs the uni-
verse. From these and other concurrent testimonies,  
"History of Philosophy, p. 223.


84 DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
it clearly appears that Anaxagoras was the first  
among the Greeks who conceived of mind as detached  
from matter, and as acting upon it with intelligence  
and design in the formation of the universe."  8  
These facts are worthy of our notice. They show  
the gradual tendency among the ancients to condemn 
matter, separate the mind from all dependence upon  
it, and finally to "arrive at the conclusion that it is 
purely spiritual and immaterial. But it required  
ages of philosophizing  to arrive at this conclusion.  
Anaxagoras broached his opinion, as above stated,  
about 450 J>. c. Even he did not arrive at the notion  
that the soul of man is purely spiritual and immate-
rial. This was reserved for another great philoso-
pher, as we shall soon see. These things show what 
thorough materialists all the ancients were, and how 
long it took to philosophize them out of it. It was  
not till common sense and sober reason were laid  
aside for " vain philosophy " and subtile sophistry,  
that they arrived at this sublime conclusion!  
Plato.  
The greatest name that appears in the history of  
the doctrine of the immortality of the soul is that of  
PLATO. He was a Greek, was born B. c. 428, and 
was one of the greatest philosophers of antiquity.  
" The influence of'this sublime autocrat in the realms  
of intellect, has transcended calculation. However 
coldly his thoughts may have been regarded by his 
contemporary countrymen, they soon obtained cos- 
mopolitan audience, and surviving the ravages of 
time and ignorance, overleaping the bars of rival  
schools and sects, appreciated and diffused by the 
loftiest spirits of succeeding ages, closely blended 
with their own speculations by many Christian the-
ologians, have held an almost unparalleled dominion  
8 Mem., p. 87.


PLATO.  85  
over the minds of millions of men for more than fifty  
generations."9  
Those who believe the soul immortal, now quote  
his views on that subject with great satisfaction. So  
much did he do for that doctrine, that he is often  
called the father of it. Mr. Anthon expresses the 
sentiment which has led so many Christians to put  
Plato almost on a level with the Bible when he says:  
" Whoever studies Plato is treading on holy ground.  
So heath ens always felt it; so even Christians con- 
fessed."10  
The reason why Plato is thus honored by believers  
in the immortality of the soul is because he was the  
first of the ancient philosophers who distinctly  taught  
the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. That it  
was not very plainly taught before, we have already  
seen. It needed the genius of a Plato to invent ar- 
guments to prove the soul immortal; and Christians, 
in their defense of this doctrine, have only been able  
to take up and repeat his arguments. This fact Dr.  
Knapp thus honestly confesses: "In the varied web 
of proof [of the immortality of the soul] in our mod- 
ern philosophical schools, the chief threads, and, as it 
were, the entire material, are of Grecian origin." 
" The followers of Socrates, however, did the most  
for this doctrine, and especially Plato."11 Enfield  
says, " Even to the present day Plato has many fol- 
lowers; his writings still give a tincture to the spec- 
ulations and language of philosophy and theology." 12  
This is true; hence we shall be interested to learn  
about Plato and his doctrine of the soul. At the age  
of twenty Plato became the disciple of Socrates. At 
the end of eight years, Socrates dying, he left Greecc 
in search of wisdom. " He first visited that part of 
Italy called Magna G'rcecia, where a celebrated school  
of philosophy had been established by Pythagoras,  
9 Doctrine of a Future Life, p. 185. 
11 Christian Tueolog\, pp. 521, 522.  
1°Classical Dictionary, art. Plato,  
is History of Philosophy, p. 115.


86  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
and was instructed in all the mysteries of the Pytha- 
gorean system, and subtilties  of which he afterward  
too freely blended with the simple doctrine of Soc- 
rates." 13  
Thus at an early period we find Plato a disciple of  
the Pythagoreans, and freely receiving their doc- 
trines, the chief of which was the immortality of the  
soul. Then he traveled into Egypt. Of this event 
Enfield says, " Wherever he came he obtained infor- 
mation from the Egyptian priests."14 " Whilst studi- 
ous youth wore crowding to Athens from every  
quarter in search of Plato for their master, that phil-
osopher was wandering along the banks of the Nile, 
or the plains of a barbarous country, himself a dis-
ciple of the old men of Egypt."15  
Returning to Greecc, laden with all the theories of  
Socrates, Pythagoras, and the Egyptian priests con-
cerning the nature of the soul, he proceeded to re- 
model and refine their doctrine according to his own  
fancy, and he brought it much nearer the present  
view on that subject than it had before been. Mos- 
heim says, "Plato falsely attributed to Socrates what  
he had either learned from the Pythagoreans, or  had  
himself feigned, in order to obtain for it greater cur- 
rency."16 What Plato represents Socrates as saying  
in the Phsedo about the immortality of the soul, is 
only Plato's own words  and ideas put into the mouth  
of Socrates; hence these sayings afford no proof that 
Socrates ever held  or taught that doctrine.  
Says Enfield " When he [Plato] was twenty years  
old he became a stated disciple of Socrates, and re- 
mained with him in that relation eight years. Dur- 
ing this period he frequently displeased the followers  
of Socrates, and sometimes gave Socrates himself  
occasion of complaint, by mixing foreign tenets with  
those of his master, and grafting upon the Socratic  
13Idem., p. 116. "History of Philosophy, p. 116. 
15 Valerius Maximus, Book 8, Chap. 7. 
'°Cudworth's Intellectual System, Vol. I., p. 264, note.


PLATO'S DOCTRINE.  87  
system opinions which were taken from some other  
stock."17  
"It is remarkable," says Leland, "that though  
there were several sects of philosophers which pro-
fessed to derive their origin from Socrates, scarcely 
any of them taught the immortality  of the soul as  
the doctrine of their schools, except Plato and his  
disciples, and many even of these treated it as abso-
lutely uncertain."18  
Plato's Doctrine.  
Having found the fountain whence Plato drew his  
doctrines, we  will now briefly examine his theory of  
the soul. We find him agreeing with his master, 
Pythagoras, in the following particulars: 1. The pre- 
existence of the soul; 2. That it was an emanation  
from God; 3. That it was immortal; 4. That it trans- 
migrated through different bodies; 5. That it would  
finally be reabsorbed into Deity. We shall also find  
that he further improved and spiritualized this doc-
trine.  
1. Plato made the soul more ethereal than his  
predecessors had considered it, though he still held it 
to be material.  
2. He made the soul the real man.  
3. He made the body a prison, a real hindrance to  
the soul.  
4. Death was simply the freeing of the soul from  
gross matter, that it might act with more freedom.  
5. Plato made the transmigration  of the soul a  
moral doctrine instead of one of necessity, as it had 
been held before.  
Enfield thus describes Plato's doctrine of God and  
matter: " Plato supposes two eternal and independ- 
ent causes of all things: one, that by which all things  
"History of Philosophy, p. 116.  
18Necessity of Revelation, Vol. 11., p. 139.


88  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
were made, which is God; the other, that from which  
all things are made, which is matter,"19  
Plato held that God did not create matter, but  
simply molded it. He taught that baneful doctrine  
that matter is the source and origin of all evil.  
Says a learned author: "it was also a doctrine of  
Plato that there is in matter a necessary, but blind  
and refractory, force; and that hence arises a pro-
pensity in matter to disorder and deformity, which is  
the cause of all the imperfections which appear in 
the works of God, and the origin of evil."'20 This is  
the cause of the mixture of good and evil which is  
found in the material world. The effect of this doc- 
trine is to degrade matter and exalt mind, or the 
soul.  
"Still further he taught," says the historian, "that  
the body is a prison, from which the soul must be  
released before it can arrive at the knowledge of  
those things which are real and immutable."2' In  
answer to the question how they should bury him,  
Plato makes Socrates say, "Just as you please, if only  
you can catch me." And do not "say at my inter- 
ment that Socrates is laid out, or is carried out, or is  
buried."-"2 How many Christian funeral sermons  
have been modeled after this old heathen philoso- 
phizing!  
One fact is worthy of special attention; viz., that  
Plato places his doctrine of the human soul at the head 
of his philosophy. Thus testifies Enfield: "Plato re- 
fers to the head of the philosophy of nature his doc- 
trine concerning the human soul,—a doctrine which  
he treats obscurely on the ground of his assumed  
hypothesis concerning spiritual emanations from the  
divine Nature. lie appears to have taught that the 
soul of man is derived by emanation from God; but  
Shat this emanation  Avas not immediate, but through  
10 History of Philosophy, p. 129. so Idem., p. 130.  
21 Idem., p. 136. 22 Phaedo, Bohn's Library, pp. 124, 125.


HISTORY OF THE PL ATONIC SCHOOL. 80  
the intervention  of the soul of the world, which was  
itself debased by some material admixture, and con-
sequently, that the human soul, receding further  
from the first intelligence, is inferior in perfection to  
the soul of the world Plato held that the soul 
was a spiritual emanation from God; that the source 
of all evil is in matter; that the body is a prison for 
the soul; that by contemplation the soul may return  
to God, etc. Lastly, Plato teaches, in express terms,  
the doctrine of the immortality  of the rational soul;  
but he has rested the proof of this doctrine upon  
arguments drawn from the more fanciful parts of  
his system."23  
Plato tried to prove the immortality of the soul by  
its spirituality, though by this he did not mean pure  
immortality,  as is now taught. This was the first  
trace of that idea which moclern Christian philosophy  
has carried on. This shows the origin of that doc-
trine. Plato was its legitimate father.  
Plato held that the soul was a part of God. Thus  
writes Bishop Warburton: "Plato, without any soft- 
ening, frequently calls the soul God, and a part of  
God."2i This is one of his strongest proofs of the  
soul's immortality. As a part of God  it will be re- 
absorbed into him either at death or as soon as it is 
sufficiently  purified by transmigration.  With Plato,  
the soul was immortal only M S *<\) part of God, into  
whom it would finally be re-absorbed, and lose all  
personal existence.  
History of The Platonic School.  
We will now briefly notice the history and in- 
fluence of Plato's teachings and followers. After fin- 
ishing his travels, Plato returned to Greece, where he  
established a philosophical school, in which he taught  
his theory of the human soul, etc. This school was  
23History of Philosophy, p. 135.  2-* Divine Legation, Vol. II., p. 220.


90  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
largely attended, and became very famous and influ- 
ential. Contemporary with the sect which Plato 
established, there were several other schools of phil- 
osophy, as the Stoics, Epicureans, Peripatetics, etc.;  
but as none of them taught the immortality of the  
soul, we are not now interested in them.  
It was through Plato and his disciples that this  
doctrine came into the church; hence Ave are inter-
ested in their history. Enfield says: " The school of  
Plato long continued famous, but passed through  
several changes, on account of which it was success- 
ively distinguished  into the Old, the Middle, and the  
New Academy. The Old Academy consisted of those  
followers of Plato who taught the doctrine of their 
master without mixture or corruption."25  
The Old Academy continued till about three hun- 
dred years before Christ. Then, under the teaching  
of Arcesilaus, it passed into the Middle Academy. It  
differed from the Old in asserting that " everything  
is uncertain to human understanding, and conse- 
quently, that all confident assertions are unreasona- 
ble." This school tended strongly to skepticism. It  
continued less than one hundred years, and met with  
much opposition. The New Academy succeeded it.  
Carneades, bom B. c. 214, was the first teacher of  
the New Academy. Its doctrines came back nearer  
to those of Plato. It allowed that a strong probabil- 
ity of truth might be attained by sufficient evidence.  
This school continued about one hundred years.  
" The last preceptor of the Platonic school in  
Greece was Antiochus of Ascalon He resigned  
the academic chair B. c. 80. After his time, the pro- 
fessors of the academic philosophy were dispersed by 
the tumults of war, and the school itself was trans- 
ferred to Rome." 26  
Platonism, having found its way to Rome, soon  
made its Avay into the Roman Church, as may be  
easily shown.  
45 History of Philosophy, p. 137.  86 Idem. pp. 142-146.


CHAPTER VII.  
^Pvo QocfoA-n-c- o| tlW 3 wtm-o vtalit ij of tJW Sow-^  
cHcceiueb into -tl-vc- (BIWial'iavv (SFn^z-cfi- 
tfvfcou.cj^v tlW flL-feccan-b't-iavv Softool.  
^OMB was founded about seven hundred years  
before Christ; but for centuries the Romans  
were a barbarous, warlike people, taking lit-
tle interest in theology or speculative philos- 
ophy. Enfield says it was not till the year  
156 B. c. that philosophy began to be studied  
at Rome. It was then introduced by Gre-
cian philosophers. At first it met with strong- 
opposition from the leading men of the nation; but  
Avhen Rome conquered Greece, and the two nations 
began to mingle, it was but a short time before the  
Grecian religion and philosophy were transplanted to  
Rome. Here they began to  flourish with new  
life. "Hence," says the historian, "Greece, which  
had submitted to the arms, in her turn subdued the  
understandings of the Romans; and contrary to that  
which in these cases commonly happens, the conquer-
ors adopted the opinions and manners of the con- 
quered." 1  
That the Romans received their religion mostly  
from Greece, is attested by all writers who treat of  
the subject. " The religion  of the Romans," says a  
learned author, " appears to have been that of Greece,  
—a mixture of Syrian and Egyptian fables. The  
principal gods of both people were the  same." 1 " The  
1 Enfield's History of Philosophy, p. 296. 2 Elements of Mythology, p. 244.  
[91]


92  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
religious system of the Romans," says Mr. Fisk,  
" gives clear evidence of its Grecian descent, being in  
scarcely any part of it a native growth, but borrowed  
chiefly from the Greek colonies in Italy."3 Dr. Good 
says, " The philosophers of Rome present us with  
nothing new; for they merely followed the dogmas  
of those of Greece."4  
Very  soon every Grecian sect of philosophy had its  
patrons among the Romans. The Epicurean, the  
Stoic, the Pyrrhonie, and other schools, which openly 
denied the soul's immortality, had numerous follow-
ers. But Platonism also was embraced by others.  
Among the most noted of these was Cicero, who was 
born B. c. 106. He was a great admirer of Plato, and  
said and wrote much to prove the immortality  of the  
soul. He did for that doctrine among the Romans  
what Plato had done for it among the Greeks. Yet  
even he confessed that he felt sure of the soul's im- 
mortality only while he was arguing for it; in his  
hours of sober reflection he doubted it. Nevertheless,  
a goodly number adopted this view, at least in 
theory.  
The Alexandrian School.  
About this time a singular school was started at  
Alexandria in Egypt, then a part of the Roman em-
pire. It was called the Eclectic or New Platonic  
School. The origin of it was this: Certain philoso- 
phers, seeing the endless disputes and contradictions  
among the many different sects of philosophy and re- 
ligion, formed the plan of gleaning from all whatever  
was good and consonant to reason, and rejecting the 
rest. Platonism was the basis of this school, and the  
doctrine of the immortality  of the soul held a conspic- 
uous place in it. It was through this school, further 
improved in the second century by Ammonius Saccas,  
3Classical Antiquity, p. 86.  * Book of Nature, p. 380.


THE ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL.  93  
a Platonic Christian, that this doctrine came into the 
church; hence we are interested in its history. It is 
not certain just when it started; hut probably not far 
from the time of the birth of Christ. So says Dr.  
Mosheim, Enfield, and the Encyclopedia of Religious 
Knowledge.5  
Referring the reader to the above authors for a full  
history of this school, I will only select a few facts 
bearing directly on my subject. " Upon the founda- 
tion of the Platonic Philosophy," says Enfield, "with  
an abundance of heterogeneous materials collected  
from every other sect, was erected an irregular, cum- 
brous and useless fabric called the Eclectic School."  
One Potamon, a Platonist, is supposed to have been  
its founder.6 Says the Encyclopedia of Religous  
Knowledge, " They held Plato in the highest esteem,  
but did not scruple to join with his doctrine whatever 
they thought conformable to reason in the tenets of  
other philosophers."  7 " Potamon endeavored to rec- 
oncile the precepts of Plato with those of other mas-
ters." 8  
The Christian religion, too, which had now found  
its way to Alexandria, became incidentally the occa- 
sion of encouraging and  promoting this coalition of  
opinions; for when the heathen philosophers per- 
ceived that this new establishment,  supported by the  
splendor of its miracles and the purity of its doctrines,  
was daily gaining credit even in the school of Alexan- 
dria; and saw that, like the rising sun, it was likely  
soon to eclipse every inferior light; despairing of be- 
ing able either to refute its claims by argument, or to  
stem its progress by authority, they determined to 
oppose it by every effort of ingenuity  and artifice. In  
order to support the declining credit of their own  
schools, they incorporated Christian ideas and princi- 
6Mosheim's Commentaries, Vol. I., p. 38; Enfield's History of Philosophy, p.  
343; Encyclopedia Religious Knowledge, art. Eclectics.  
flMosheim's Commentary, Vol. I., p. 33. r Article Eclectics.  
SEniield's History of Philosophy, p. 327.


94  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
pies into their new system. Several fathers of the  
Christian church themselves, such as Pantaenus, 
Clemens, Alexandrinus, and the author of the work  
called the Shepherd of Hernias, by studying philos-
ophy in the Alexandrian school, injudiciously favored  
the views of their opponents, and from their sacred  
magazine contributed their share toward that con-
fused mass of opinions, Egyptian, Oriental, Pytha-
goric, Platonic, and Christian, which, about the close  
of the second century, rose up into the Eclectic Sys- 
tem." 9  
Alas that the church of Christ should have left the  
simple truth of the Holy Bible to learn wisdom and  
doctrine from the "vain philosophy" of heathenism!  
But such was the sad fact. Prom this time we find  
innumerable errors mixing in with the pure truth of 
the Bible. This Eclectic School was started about  
one hundred years after the death of the last apostle,  
toward the close of the second century.  
That the main object of this school was to recon- 
cile and unite Christianity and heathen philoso- 
phy, particularly Platonic philosophy, is abundantly  
proved by the historians treating upon the subject.  
The learned Dr. Mosheim thus speaks of this school: 
" This [Eclectic] mode of philosophizing  was changed  
near the close of the [second] century, when Ammo- 
nias Saccas, with great applause, opened a school at  
Alexandria, and laid the foundation for that sect 
which is called the New Platonic. This man was 
born and educated a Christian, and perhaps made 
pretensions to Christianity  all his life. Being pos- 
sessed of great fecundity of genius, as well as elo-
quence, he undertook to bring all systems of philos- 
ophy and religion into harmony; or, in other words,  
to teach a philosophy by which all philosophers, and 
the men of all religions, the Christian not excepted,  
might unite together and have fellowship." " The  
B Enfield'g History of Philosophy, p. 326.


THE ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL.  95  
grand object of Ammonius, to bring all sects and  
religions into harmony, required him to do much  
violence to the sentiments and opinions of all parties, 
—philosophers, priests, and Christians; and particu- 
larly, by means of allegorical interpretations, to re- 
move very many impediments out of his way." 10  
Of this scheme Enfield says: " By combining into  
one system all the important tenets, both theological 
and philosophical, which were at that time received,  
either in the pagan or  the Christian school, they  
hoped to confirm the heathen in their attachment to  
their old superstitions, and to reconcile the Christians  
to paganism."  
" In the infancy of the Alexandrian school, not a  
few among the professors of Christianity  suffered  
themselves to be so far deluded by the pretensions of 
this sect as to imagine that a coalition might, with 
great advantage, be formed between its system and  
that of Christianity;  and this union seemed the more  
desirable as several philosophers of this sect became 
converts to the Christian faith. But the consequence  
was, that pagan ideas and opinions were by degrees 
mixed with the pure and simple doctrine of the gos- 
pel; the fanatical philosophy of Ammonius corrupted 
the pure religion of Christ; and his church became a 
field of contention, and a nursery of error." 11  
The effect of this was soon manifest. Mosheim  
says: " Hence it came to pass that the greater part 
of these Platonists,  upon comparing the Christian re- 
ligion with the system of Ammonius, were led to im- 
agine that nothing could be more easy than a transi- 
tion from the one to the other, and, to the great det- 
riment of the Christian cause, were induced to em- 
brace Christianity without feeling it necessary to aban-
don scarcely any of their former principles." 12  
19Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I., pp. 111-113.  
11 History of Philosophy, p. 344.  
12 Commentaries, Vol. jt, Cent. 2., Sec. 32, p. 366.


96  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
To us at  this day it seems incredible that such a  
scheme should ever have been formed, or that any  
Christians would have listened to it a moment. But  
when we remember that the apostles had been dead  
one hundred years, that the church had already de-
generated to an alarming degree, that nearly all the  
Christian converts had themselves been pagans, that  
they brought into the church with them more or less  
attachment for their former pagan notions, and that  
their nearest friends and relatives were still pagans,  
it is not so remarkable that they were induced to look  
favorably upon such an effort. But it was the most 
fatal step the church ever took; it opened the doors  
for a flood of error to pour into the pure stream .of  
gospel truth, and, alas! they have never been wholly 
separated since.  
Plato's Doctrine of the Soul Adopted by  
this School.  
That Plato's doctrine of the immortality of the  
soul was adopted by this New Platonic school as the  
corner-stone of its system, is plainly declared on all  
hands. It will be remembered, as we have shown,  
that Plato refers to the head of the philosophy of  
nature his doctrine concerning the human soul. This  
was the corner-stone of his system, wherein it dif- 
fered from all other systems of  philosophy. The fol- 
lowing testimonies are from that eminent historian,  
Mosheim, and show that Plato's doctrine of the soul  
was received by the Alexandrian school:—  
" They assumed therefore the name of Eclectics.  
But although these philosophers were really the par- 
tisans of no sect, it appears from a variety of testi- 
monies that they much preferred Plato, and embraced 
most of his dogmas concerning God, the human soul,  
and the universe."  18  
13Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I., Cent. 2, Part 2, Chap. X, p. 59.


PLATO'S DOCTRINE ADOPTED.  97  
These testimonies  are plain and decisive. The  
consequences to Christian doctrine and practice we 
shall soon see. The same author, in another critical  
history, says, " Those AVIIO originated this species of  
philosophy took their leading principles from the 
system of Plato; considering almost everything 
which he advanced respecting the Deity, the soul,  
the world, and the demons as indisputable ax- 
ioms." u  
" Every one who laid claim to the character of a  
wise man, was strictly enjoined by him [Ammonius  
Saccas] to assert the liberty of his divine and immor- 
tal part, by extricating it, as it were, from all con- 
nection with the body In fine, to shrink from  
no exertion that might tend to free the immortal 
spirit from all corporeal influence."  15  
Again: "And that he might the more readily pro- 
cure for this part of his system an acceptance with  
the world, he endeavored, as far as possible, by means 
of strained interpretations, or rather perversions, to  
enlist on his side the tenets of the Christians respect- 
ing the Deity, the human soul, the world," etc.16  
" The restoration or resurrection of the dead was so  
interpreted as to accommodate it to  the tenets of the  
Grecian sages." 17  
Ammonius probably died about A. D. 243. 11 The  
school of Ammonius was continued, and the Eclectic 
system completed by the most celebrated of his dis- 
ciples, Plotinus, the chief of the Alexandrian Pla- 
tonists, from whom the school afterward took its  
name." 18 He was born A. D. 204. On account of his  
great abilities, the school became very famous, and  
was successful in the accomplishment of its object, as 
we shall see. Plotinus implicitly received Plato's  
doctrine of the immortality  of  the soul. The follow- 
ing, from Enfield, will illustrate this: " It was an- 
WHistory of Christ in th« First Three Centuries, Vol. I., p. 38.  
15  Idem., pp. 357, 358. 10Idem., p. 302.  
"Idem., p. 275, note. 18History of Philosophy, p. 828.


98 DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
other proof of the fanatical spirit of Plotinus that,  
though well skilled in the medical art, he had such a 
contempt for the body that he could never be pre-
vailed upon to make use of any means to cure .... 
or alleviate his pain. He had learned from Pytha-
goras and Plato that the soul is sent into the body  
for the punishment  of its former sins, and must, in  
this prison, pass through a severe servitude before it 
can be sufficiently  purified to return to the divine  
fountain from which it flowed When he found  
his end approaching, he said to Eustochius, 'The di- 
vine principle Within me is now hastening to unite 
itself with that divine Being which animates the uni- 
verse; ' herein expressing a leading principle of his  
philosophy, that the human soul is an emanation from  
the divine nature, and will return to the source 
whence it proceeded." 19 This shows what a prom-
inent place Plato's doctrine of the human soul held in 
this system.  
Plotinus died A. D. 270. The succession of the Pla- 
tonic, or Eclectic, school in Alexandria terminated in  
Damascius, a native of Syria.  
It would seem that very little penetration is  
needed to discern in this the original of the modern  
theological doctrine of the immortality of the soul,  
going to Heaven at death, etc. With this school, the  
resurrection of the body was either of little impor-
tance or denied entirely. This would naturally fol- 
low from their view of the impurity of matter.  
These facts I think sufficient  to give a clear idea of  
the doctrines of this celebrated school concerning 
man, both soul and body.  
Great Popularity of the Eclectic School.  
We will briefly notice how popular and extensive  
this school became. All agree that it acquired a  
18Idem., p. 330.


POPULARITY OF THE ECLECTIC SCHOOL. 99  
wonderful degree of eminence, and soon extended 
itself over most of the Roman empire and eclipsed  
the glory of all other sects. To this effect writes Mos- 
heim: "The school of Ammonius, the origin and  
dogmas of which have been already stated, gradually 
cast all others into the, background. From Egypt it 
spread in a short time over nearly the whole Roman 
empire, and drew after it almost all persons inclined  
to attend to metaphysical studies."20  
" It is almost incredible what a number of pupils,  
in a short time, issued from the school of this man  
[Ammonius]. But among them no one is more cele- 
brated than Porphyry, a Syrian, who spread over  
Sicily and many other countries the system of his  
master, enlarged with new discoveries and sedulously  
polished. At Alexandria, almost no other philosophy  
was publicly taught from the time of Ammonius  
N down to the sixth century."21  
The first step which was taken toward apostasy  
was attending the school and cultivating a taste for 
its philosophy.  
The reason why that heathen doctrine spread so  
widely and so rapidly in the church, is shown by the  
following from the same eminent historian: "Many 
from the different sects of philosophers, especially from  
the Platonists, and also from among the rhetoricians,  
embraced Christianity;  and they were honored for  
their erudition and talents by being made bishops and 
presbyters."32 The learned Platonic Christians, be- 
ing,now made teachers and ministers in the various  
churches, soon disseminated their Platonic doctrine 
of the soul everywhere throughout the Christian  
church.  
And the same author says: " In fact, there are but  
few points of Christian theology which the teachers  
who were inflamed with this eager desire to produce  
20Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I., p. 161; Commentary, Vol. II., p. 103.  
« Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I., Cent. 3, Chap. 1, pp. 161, 16^.  
22 Mosheim's Commentaries, Vol. II., Cent. 3, Sec. 26, p. 140.


100  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
a union between Christianity and philosophy left un- 
touched." 28  
Another historian bears this testimony: " Very  
soon after the rise of Christianity, many persons who  
had been educated in the schools of the philosophers  
becoming converts to the Christian faith, the doc- 
trines of the Grecian sects, and especially of Plato- 
nism, were interwoven with the simple truths of pure 
religion. As the Eclectic philosophy spread, hea-
then and Christian doctrines were still more inti-
mately blended, till at last both were almost entirely 
lost in the thick clouds of ignorance and barbarism  
which covered the earth."24 Of the Eclectic school  
he says: "The muddy waters sent forth from this  
polluted spring were spread through the most cele- 
brated seats of learning, and were even permitted, as  
we shall afterward see, to mingle with the pure  
stream of Christian doctrine."25 Once more, of the  
teachers of the church, he says: "Through several  
centuries they partook of the spirit of the Alexan- 
drian school, and the Eclectic method of philosophizing  
Platonized Christianity."26  
Though this is astonishing beyond measure, yet  
we readily see how it was accomplished. All the 
sects of heathen philosophers, except the Platonic,  
denied any future life to man; but Plato strongly  
contended for a future state of rewards and punish- 
ments. This naturally led the Christians to regard 
the Platonists as friends and allies upon this great  
question of the fact of a future life, though they dif- 
fered as to how it was to be obtained. Christians 
rested their hope upon the resurrection of the dead  
as promised in the Bible. At this the heathen phil-
osophers mocked as being unreasonable and unphilo-
sophical, as they cared nothing for what the Bible  
23Idem., Vol. I., Cent. 2, Sec. 34, p. 373.  
« ^field's History of Philosophy, p. 8. 
26 idem., Book 3, Chap. 2, Sec. 4," p. 331. 
20Idem., Book 6, Chap. 2, p. 453.


POPULARITY OF THE ECLECTIC SCHOOL. JQl  
said. See their answer to Paul at Athens in Acts 17.  
Now the Platonists  came in with their philosophical  
argument to meet their antagonists, and to prove a  
future life by means of the soul's immortality.  In  
this way reason and philosophy could be made to  
support the hope of the simple-minded Christians, 
Avhich before rested solely upon the promise of the 
Scriptures. The promise of relief and help, and of 
having a more philosophical faith, was a very flat- 
tering one. As Eve listened to, and was beguiled by,  
the serpent, so they listened to these philosophers, 
were flattered with their praises, accepted their help,  
adopted their notions, and finally united with them.  
Reader, here is the origin of the present orthodox  
doctrine of immortal souls, disembodied spiri ts, ghosts,  
eternal hell, etc. Thus the learned commentator on 
Cudworth's Intellectual  System says: " The Platonic  
philosophy, indeed, which was approved by the an- 
cient Christians, has been abandoned, and another  
substituted in its place; but the dogmas and conclu- 
sions derived from it have been retained by most 
men in all their pristine integrity; and any one con- 
versant with the ancient philosophy, might write a  
long and copious commentary upon the relics of the  
Platonic philosophy among Christians. Thus hap-
pens it with mortals. The primary and fundamental  
doctrines of a sect are very often repudiated by those  
who preside over communities;  while they either are  
unwilling to interfere with the consequences and in- 
stitutions that proceed from them, owing to their ig- 
norance of their origin, or are unable to do so, because 
the people are not easily prevailed upon to abandon 
inveterate customs. In the course of time, many  
opinions and rites are held sacred, which those who  
are addicted to them would hold in far different esti- 
mation if they were thoroughly aware of their  
origin."27  
27 Cudworth's Intellectual System, Vol. III., p. 265, note.


102  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
Yes; the immortal-soul theory is a relic of Platonic  
philosophy which thousands would quickly drop did  
they know its origin.  
Platonism Opposed,  
But was all this heathen philosophy and pagan  
doctrine received into the church without opposition? 
No, indeed. Many, nay, all of the more pious men 
warmly opposed it, for they foresaw its effects.  
Mosheim thus records the controversy: " The rise, 
however, of this taste for philosophical speculation' 
and the ascendency which they perceived it grad- 
ually acquiring in the minds of so many of their  
teachers, became a source of the most poignant regret 
to all such as continued steadfastly attached to that  
ancient and simple species of piety which had been 
delivered down by the apostles and their disciples,  
inasmuch as they saw reason to fear that the cause 
of celestial truth might be thereby materially injured',  
as in reality proved to be the case, and that divine  
wisdom would not long retain either its proper value 
or dignity in the estimation of mankind. In conse- 
quence of this, the Christian church became divided  
into two parties, which opposed each other with the 
utmost warmth The issue of this dispute,  
which lasted for a considerable while, at length was, 
that victory declared itself in favor of the patrons of 
philosophy, and that those teachers came to be most 
respected, who, in unfolding the doctrines of religion,  
called in the aid of philosophical principles and pre-
cepts."28 This was the very thing against which  
Paul had warned the church: " Beware lest any man  
spoil you through philosophy." Col. 2: 8. The bet- 
ter class of Christians remembered this, and were  
opposed to receiving this heathen philosophy into the  
church.  
23Commentaries, Vol. I., Cent.  2, Sec. 21, pp. 843, 344.


ALLEGORICAL INTERPRET A TION. 105  
In his "Ecclesiastical History," Mosheim, after  
naming the class who were in favor of introducing 
Platonism into the church, adds: u But a great ma- 
jority thought otherwise." 29 " But gradually the  
friends of philosophy and literature acquired the as- 
cendency. To this issue Origen contributed very  
much; for, having early imbibed the principles of the 
new Platonism, he in auspiciously applied them to the- 
ology, and earnestly recommended them to the nu- 
merous youth who attended on his instructions.  
And the greater the influence of this man, wThich  
quickly spread over the whole Christian world, the  
more readily was his method of explaining the sacred  
doctrine propagated."30 Hence, in a short time,  
Bible truth and those who advocated it were put 
down and held in contempt. Says our author: 
"There were various persons of this sort in the  
fourth century, who were disgusted with the prog- 
ress of superstition and of ' errors respecting the  
true nature of religion, and who opposed the general 
current; but the only fruit of their labor was, that  
they were branded with infamy."31 Rome came in  
and condemned them as heretics, and thus silenced  
all opposition.  
Allegorical Interpretation of the Scriptures  
Adopted.  
How could these Platonic doctrines be harmonized  
with the Bible? How could the doctrine of the im- 
mortality of the soul, conscious state of the dead, etc., 
be reconciled with the opposite doctrine everywhere 
taught in the Scriptures ? This was, indeed, a seri- 
ous difficulty; but the genius of these Platonizing  
teachers devised a mode of harmonizing the two. It  
was this: They assumed that all the Bible was to be  
29 Vol. I., Book 1, Part 2, Chap. ], p. 115.  
so Idem., p. 162. si idem., p. 274.


104  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
understood, not literally, or according to its plain,  
obvious meaning, but allegorically, or as metaphors  
under which the truth was concealed. By this  
method, of course, they could make it teach any doc-
trine they pleased ! Clement and Origen, especially 
the latter, were the chief movers in this work.  
So plainly and fully has the learned Mosheim, in  
his Ecclesiastical History, treated this part of my  
subject, that I have only to quote him. He says:  
« One of the earliest evils that flowed from this im- 
moderate attachment to philosophy, was the violence  
to which it gave rise in the interpretation of the  
Holy Scriptures. For, whereas the Christians had,  
from a very early period, imbibed the notion that  
under the words, laws and facts, recorded in the sa- 
cred Yolume, there is a latent sense concealed—an 
opinion which they appear to have derived from the 
Jews—no sooner did this passion for philosophizing  
take possession of their minds, than they began, with  
wonderful subtilty, to press the Scriptures into their  
service in support of all such principles and maxims  
as appeared to them consonant to reason; and  at the  
same time most wretchedly to pervert and twist  
every part of those divine Oracles which opposed  
itself to their philosophical tenets or notions." Of  
Clement he says: " Whatever, therefore, appears to 
him just and consonant to reason in the maxims or  
tenets of the philosophers, he is sure to discover laid  
down somewhere in the books of the Old Testament;  
and this leads him, not unfrequently to strain and 
distort, in a  most extraordinary manner, the words  
of Moses and the other sacred writers, in order  to  
make them, apparently, speak one and the same lan- 
guage with Plato and the rest of the philosophers of  
Greece."82  
He also says they tried to make the Bible doctrine  
of the resurrection fit their immortal-soul  theory.  
82  Ecclesiastical History, Vol. T., Cent. 2, Sec. 33, p. 368, and note 2.


ALLEGORICAL INTERPRET A TION.  105  
" The restoration, or resurrection of the dead, was so  
interpreted as to accommodate it to the tenets of the  
Grecian sages."33  
Origen, who lived in the close of 1he second and  
the first half of the third century, was a disciple of 
Clement, and also for a long time*sat under the teach- 
ing of Ammonius. These teachers he followed, and  
carried their Platonic doctrines still further, especially  
with respect to  the immortality of the soul.  
The following quotations from Mosheim will clearly  
show all. this: " Origen's new method of explaining  
and illustrating  religious truths by means of philos- 
ophy, required also a new method of expounding the 
Sacred Scriptures; for, meeting with many things in  
the Scriptures repugnant to the decisions of his phil- 
osophy, he deemed it necessary to devise some  
method of removing this disagreement. And as it 
would add confirmation to his opinions if he could  
make it appear that they were supported by the au- 
thority of the Scripture, some plausible way was to  
be devised which should make his speculations ap- 
pear to be taught in the holy Oracles."84 Hence,  
" perceiving that many of the facts and declarations  
of the Bible conflicted with the principles of his phil- 
osophy, he felt the necessity of resorting to some 
means of escaping their force; and he could'find none  
more easy and effectual than this assumption: What-
ever in the sacred books conflicts with my philos-
ophy must not be taken literally, but must be con- 
verted into allegory. Safely posted behind this rule, *  
he could easily resist whatever the Scriptures might  
oppose to his opinions."  35  
Was the Platonic, or Ammonian, doctrine of the  
soul among those errors which he wished to make the  
Bible uphold? Yes; hear our historian on this  
point: " The foundation of all his faults was, that he  
33Commentaries, Vol. I., Cent. 2, Sec. 34, p. 373, note 1.  
34Idem., Vol. IT., p. 165. 85Idem., p. 170.


106  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
fully believed nothing to be more true and certain 
than what the philosophy he received from Ararao- 
nius taught him respecting God, the world, SOULS,  
demons, etc.; and therefore he, in a measure, recast 
and remodeled the doctrines of Christ after the pat-
tern of that philosophy."36 Here we have the doc- 
trine of Christ recast and remodeled, and the Bible  
distorted, to make them fit the heathen doctrine of  
the soul, and other errors. Our author continues:  
" He could not discover in the sacred books all that ^ 
he considered true, so long as he adhered to the lit-
eral sense; but allow him to abandon the literal sense, 
and to search for recondite meanings, and those books  
would contain Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, and the whole 
tribe of philosophers. And thus nearly all those who  
would model Christianity  according to their own  
fancy, or their favorite system of philosophy, have 
run into this mode of interpreting Scripture."37 Be- 
hold here the origin of the figurative interpretation  
of the Bible! It was invented expressly to harmo- 
nize that book with Plato's doctrine of the soul.  
So thoroughly was Origen possessed with Plato's  
doctrine of the immortal soul, that, though he pro- 
fessed to be a Christian and to believe the Bible, yet,  
says Hagenback, in his " History of Christian Doc- 
trine," " Origen teaches that a belief in the doctrine  
of the resurrection of the body is not absolutely es- 
sential to the profession of Christianity, provided the 
immortality of the soul be maintained.''''  38  
This is but the natural fruit of that doctrine. If  
the soul is immortal and lives without the body, 
what is the use of a resurrection ?  
The influence and authority of Origen extended  
far and wide, so much so that Mosheim says: "It  
would therefore be no mistake to say, that, as Con- 
stantine the Great imparted a new form to the civil  
36Idem., p. 159, note 8. 
® Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I., Cent. 3, Part 2, p. 181. 
38 Idem., Vol. II., p. 404.


ALLEGORICAL IjYTULIP 11 ETA TION.  107  
state, so this Egyptian imparted a new form to the  
theology of Christians Origen introduced the 
Academy almost entirely into the church."39 Thus  
we have traced the history of the old heathen dogma  
of the immortal soul from Egypt, through all its de- 
velopments, till it was received into the church. As  
we have seen, the last move was not accomplished 
without much opposition from the old-fashioned  
Christians, and a terrible distortion of the Scriptures  
on the part of its Platonic advocates. Platonism  
continued to obscure more and more the light of the  
Gospel, till it deepened into the midnight of the Dark  
Ages.  
Of the fifth century the same author remarks: " As  
no one in those times objected to Christians retaining  
the opinions of their pagan ancestors respecting the soul,  
heroes, demons, temples, and the like, and then trans- 
ferring them into their devotions; and as no one pro-
posed utterly to abolish the ancient pagan institu-
tions, but only to alter them somewhat and purify 
them,—it was unavoidable that the religion and wor- 
ship of Christians should in this way become  cor- 
rupted." 40  
Will the reader mark well the fact here recorded,  
that the pagan converts were allowed to retain and  
bring into the Christian worship the opinions of their 
pagan ancestors respecting the soul? When were 
those pagan opinions ever cast out of the church?— 
Never; they are cherished to this day, and the man  
who now undertakes to reject them is branded as op-
posing the Bible ! Alas, how hard it is to uproot an  
error when it has once been allowed to grow among  
the tender plants of truth!  
But I need not pursue this painful subject further.  
The evidence is overwhelming that Christianity,  in  
the third century and onward, was grossly corrupted  
39Commentary, Vol. IT., Cent. 3, See. '27, p. 145, note.  
40Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I., pp. 342, 343.


108  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
by Plutonic philosophy; and that here was whcro 
Plato's doctrine of the soul found its way into the  
church. 1 will close with the following candid con- 
fession from an able orthodox writer: " We would  
express our conviction that the idea of the immor- 
tality of the soul has no source in the gospel; that it  
comes, on the contrary, from the Platonists; and that  
it was just when the coming of Christ was denied in  
the church, or at least began to be lost sight of, that  
the doctrine of the immortality of the soul came in to  
replace that of the resurrection. This was about the 
time of Origen." 41  
Inspired men foresaw and forewarned the church  
of this apostasy. To the elders of the Ephesian  
church, Paul said: " For I know this, that after my  
departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you,  
not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall  
men arise, speaking perverse things t-o draw away  
disciples after them."42 This apostasy from the  
truth was to begin, then, even in the days of the  
apostles, and was to arise among their own disciples.  
To the Thessalonians,  Paul wrote: " For the mystery  
of iniquity doth already work."43 Even while the 
apostles were alive had this delusion begun. Paul  
warned his brethren not to be deceived by any man, 
but to " prove all things,'' and " hold fast that which 
is good."44 Yet men now think that the teachings  
of any professed Christian who lived as early "as  
that, or even two hundred years later, are about as 
good as the Bible, and not to be questioned. Hence,  
notwithstanding  Paul's warning, many have been de- 
ceived. Some were so far deceived by vain philoso- 
phy, even in a large and flourishing church which  
had long enjoyed the watchcare of the apostle, as to 
deny the resurrection. Hence Paul's inquiry of the  
Corinthians, " How say some among you that there  
41 Darbv's Hopes of the Church. 
432 Thess. 2:7.


ALLEGORICAL INTERPRET A TION.  109  
is no resurrection of the dead ? "45 As we have seen,  
ad the authority of the apostles was not able to 
crush this false doctrine: so of other heresies. Of  
these early corruptions, Mr. Dowling, in his " History  
of Romanism," thus remarks: " There is scarcely 
anything which strikes the mind of the careful stu-
dent of ancient ecclesiastical history with greater 
surprise than the comparatively early period at 
which many of the corruptions of Christianity  which  
are embodied in the Romish system took their rise.-'  
Robinson, author of the " History of Baptism,"  
thus writes: " Toward the latter end of the second  
century, most of the churches assumed a new form,  
the first simplicity disappeared; and insensibly, as 
the old disciples retired to their graves, their chil- 
dren, along with new converts, both Jews and Gen- 
tiles, came forward and new-modeled the cause." 46  
Y"es; and this new-modeling was done to make it fit  
their old pagan doctrines. Archibald Bower, in his  
valuable " History of the Popes," has clearly demon- 
strated that Catholicism is only paganism with an-
other name. This he repeatedly declares and proves. 
He says that the Christians of Rome, in the fifth cen- 
tury, who had come over from heathenism, " were  
yet but half Christians, and had only grafted the  
Christian religion on the old stock of pagan super-
stition."  47  
Of the influence of heathen converts upon Christi- 
anity, Mr. Bower says: " For those rites and cere- 
monies, however heathenish, instead of ever being- 
given up by them, were by degrees adopted by the  
Christian inhabitants of the countries where the new- 
comers settled. And thus the half Christians, for 
they were no better, remained half Christians, while 
the true Christians became half pagans. Thus we  
may well account for the many errors and corrup- 
ts 1 Cor. 15 :12. 
47 Vol. I., p. 288, Gela«iuj.  
46 Ecclesiastical Researches, Chap. 6.


110  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
tions that overspread and disfigured the whole face  
of the church, after the irruption and conversion of  
the barbarous nations that broke into the empire in  
the fourth and fifth centuries. Their usages were  
first connived at, and afterward adopted by the  
church."48  
Can any one wonder that pagan doctrines came  
into the church and supplanted the doctrines of  
Christ?  
In those facts all Protestants are agreed. They  
show clearly how terribly Christianity had become 
corrupted with heathen doctrines before the rise of  
the Reformation. But Protestants who came out  
from the papal church at the time of the Reformation  
did not rid themselves of every false doctrine received  
by their fathers from the pagans. It was too much 
to expect that they would cast off all their errors,  
and adopt all the truth. Hence there has been need  
of a continual reformation ever since, by such men as  
Wesley, Whitefield, and others. Very many Romish  
errors were retained, if I mistake not, by the re- 
formers.  
With regard to the doctrine of the immortality of  
the soul and eternal misery, most of the Protestant  
churches have retained nearly all the tenets received 
by the Catholics from the pagans. With a few mod-
ifications, the orthodox Protestants still hold the  
same as the papists in their belief respecting the im-
mortality of the soul. Hence, in proving the heathen  
origin of this doctrine among the Roman Catholics,  
we' have shown its origin among all Christians.  
«Idem., p. 4X6.


CHAPTER VIII.  
Sull Sj^ecte tCve ffflcUo-nic  tElvifo^vopfn^.  
soon as Plato's doctrine of the soul's im- 
mortality was accepted by the church, its 
baleful fruits began to  appear in the wildest  
tgsjI^Sj, forms of fanaticism. The body was held in  
T JTL T the greatest contempt, and everything was  
done to  weaken and emaciate it, that the  
immortal spirit, the spark of divinity with- 
in, might be exalted. A great crop of her- 
mits, monks, anchorites, and the like, was the first  
evil resulting from this teaching. Says the histo- 
rian: " This new species of philosophy . . . . produced 
that gloomy set of men called mystics, whose system, 
if divested of its Platonic notions respecting the origin  
and nature of the soul, will be a lifeless and senseless  
corpse. It laid a foundation, too,  for that indolent  
mode of life which was afterward adopted by many,  
and particularly by numerous tribes of monks." 1  
Enfield, in his " History of Philosophy,"  shows the  
same thing at some length. He says: "Another  
principal cause of the corruption oi'the Christian doc-
trine of morality was, that it was very early tinc-
tured with the enthusiastic spirit of the Alexandrian  
philosophy This corruption chiefly discovered  
itself in a peculiar species of fanaticism, consisting in  
a certian mystical notion of perfection which origi-
nated from a principle common to Platonists,  Orien- 
talists, and Gnostics: that the soul of man is impris- 
oned and debased in its corporeal habitation, and in  
1 Mosheim Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I., Cent. 2, Part 2, p. 115.  
[HI]


112  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
proportion as it becomes disengaged from the incum- 
brance, and purged from the dregs, of matter, it is  
prepared for its return to the divine nature."2  
Then he relates how this led them to retire into  
deserts and afflict their bodies, in order to purify the 
soul. " For it is well known," again writes Mosheim,  
"that the true and genuine mystics adopted, as the  
very basis and groundwork of their discipline, those 
principles respecting the Deity, the world, the soul,  
and the nature of man, which the Christians had bor- 
rowed from the Egyptian and modern Platonic philoso- 
phy Hither, also, may we refer the origin of 
monks, hermits, and cenobites, whose rules and in- 
stitutions are uniformly grounded upon the principle  
of delivering  THE IMMORTAL SPIRIT from the oppres- 
sion under which it groans in being connected with  
the bod}*, of purifying it from the corruptions of 
sense, and of rendering it fit to be admitted into the  
presence of the Deity in the realms of everlasting- 
light and life."3  
Again, when Christians adopted the philosophical  
doctrines respecting the nature of the soul, and of 
bodies, when Ascetics adopted the belief that every 
endeavor was to be used to set free the divine spark 
that lay imprisoned within the body, .... it was  
but natural for them to renounce the society of men, 
and devote themselves to a life of seclusion and soli- 
tude. Hence originated monasteries, abbeys, her- 
mits, and anchorites. Can any one fail to see here  
from whence the Christians obtained the doctrine of  
an immortal spirit in man? The monks and hermits  
spoken of, were the most wild, fanatical, and miser- 
able set of men that have ever disgraced humanity. 
They left the society of men, went into the mount-
ains and deserts, lived on grass like beasts, stood on  
the tops of pillars for years, emaciated their bodies in  
all possible ways,—by hunger, thirst, nakedness, and  
2 Pasre 453.


CELIBACY.  113  
filthiness. They wore their clothes till they literally  
rotted off, and acted like wild beasts.  
Human invention was exhausted in self inflicted  
torments. The Indian faquir was rivaled in the va-
riety of distorted postures and of agonizing exercises. 
Some lived in clefts and caves; some in huts into  
which the light of day could not penetrate; some 
hung huge weights to their arms, necks, or loins; 
some confined themselves in cages; some, on the tops  
of mountains, exposed to the sun and weather. The  
most celebrated hermit, at length, for life condemned  
himself to stand in a fiery climate, on the narrow top  
of a pillar.  
For further description of these miserable fanatics,  
see Gibbon, Bower, or any history of the church. All  
this was done to weaken and wear out the sinful body,  
and free the immortal soul within!  
Celibacy.  
The celibacy of  the Bomish priests, which has been  
such a scandal to Christianity, also grew out of the 
same idea. The most lewd and shameful practices 
sprang from this fanatical heathen notion that the  
immortal soul was everything and the material body 
nothing.  
Such was the fruit which naturally grew out of  
this Platonic doctrine of the pure, immortal spirit 
within the prison of a corrupt material body. All 
this was but a repetition of what the same doctrine 
had previously produced among the pagans. Por- 
phyry assures us that the " ancient Pythagoreans 
were distinguished  for their attachment to this mode  
of life."4 Indeed, large number^of the heathen Pla- 
tonists had retired into deserts and solitary places,  
and there lived just as these hermits did after them. 
The latter only copied the former.  
4 Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, p. 100, note  2  
8


114  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
Worship of Saints and Relics.  
The worship of saints and their relics was another  
appalling evil which immediately sprung up from the  
belief in the doctrine that death is only the freeing of 
the real man, the immortal soul, from its prison; that  
saints after the death of the body are more active  
and powerful than they were  before; and that they  
have free access to Heaven and to the presence of  
God.  
These martyrs, hermits, and noted saints, who had  
gained a great reputation for sanctity by their aus- 
tere lives, were supposed to go directly to Heaven and  
have great favor and influence with the Lord. As  
these were their own relatives, special friends, and  
brethren, it was a natural thought that they would 
intercede with God  for their friends on earth, who  
were still in the flesh. What is more reasonable  
than that a sainted mother should plead for her chil- 
dren who were still exposed to peril, or that a faith-
ful pastor should pray for his beloved flock now left 
on earth without his aid? Hence, offerings at the 
tombs of these dead saints began to be made. Im- 
mediately miracles were said to be wrought in an- 
swer to these, and this encouraged the pious thought.  
Next, churches were built in honor of these saints,  
and dedicated to them. Here their bones were sa-
credly deposited and rich offerings made to them, 
which went to the clergy. Now miracles and an- 
swers to these petitions became frequent.  
The great question was settled; the dead were  
alive, and bad power with God. It was better to 
pray to these than directly to God himself, or even 
to Christ, as they were more like us, and would sym-
pathize with us more readily. Hence, patron saints  
rapidly multiplied, till every town and almost every  
household had its special saint to whom all prayers 
were offered. God and Christ were left out, and the


PURGATORY INTRODUCED.  115  
Virgin Mary, St. Peter, and a host of dead  men, took  
their places. Images to these saints were erected  
everywhere, and their votaries bowed before them in  
supplication. Behold paganism re-established through  
the devil's lie of the soul's immortality!  
Purgatory Introduced.  
Another of  the most baneful doctrines of the  
Roman church with which the world was ever 
cursed, grew directly out of the Platonic theory of  
the soul's immortality; viz., the popish doctrine of  
purgatory. The case is thus stated.by Dr. Knapp  
in his excellent book on "Christian Theology:"  
" The foundation for the doctrine of purgatory is found  
even in the second and third centuries. Its origin  
may be traced back to the Pythagorean Or Platonic  
philosophy. Souls, according to Plato, are a part of  
the divine nature, which, however, are confined in  
the body as in a prison. Now, even after the soul of  
man is disembodied, there still cleaves to it much sin  
and impurity acquired from its contact with the  
body; and this impurity is regarded by Plato as a  
natural sickness. It cannot, therefore, immediately  
on leaving the body, return again to its original 
source. With some the disorder is incurable] and  
these are the lost, who at once go to Tartarus-, with  
others it is curable, and these are purged and purified  
in Hades This with many other Platonic doc-
trines and fables, was early transferred to Chris- 
tianity."  5  
The cunning priests soon saw in this an opportu- 
nity to benefit themselves. So they diligently incul- 
cated it as an undoubted fact, supported "by the word 
of God, that while a few of the most holy went di- 
rectly to Heaven at death, the large majority of  
Christians had to pass through purgatory, in order  
6 See. 160, p. 526.


116  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
to bo cleansed from sins committed since conversion 
or baptism. But their sufferings there could be  
shortened and greatly lessened by the prayers of  
saints on earth and in Heaven, especially by masses  
and prayers of the priest. But for every mass, so  
much money must be paid; for every prayer of the  
priest, so much more. If it was the case of a very 
wicked person, it would take a great deal of praying,  
and hence a great deal of money. But if only money  
enough were given, the hardest case could be freed  
from purgatory. Specially had the Popo power to  
let them out; hence the notorious plan of indulgences.  
For such and such considerations, the pope would  
pardon out offenders of different kinds.  
So the poor and the rich came with their money to  
buy their suffering friends out of purgatory. What  
untold millions have flowed into the popish coffers  
through this pagan lie! It was this wicked imposi- 
tion on the credulity of the people that stirred the  
soul of Luther, and started the Reformation.  
What was the foundation of all these terrible de- 
ceptions? It was the assumption that the dead are 
not really dead; that the soul can live separate from  
the body, and is immortal. Had they believed the 
Lord, that the dead are asleep and know nothing,6 it  
would have shielded them from all this delusion.  
Restorationists and Universalists.  
It is also noticeable that a large number of those  
in the Christian church who first began to believe  
and teach the Platonic notion of the immortality  of  
the soul, with it also taught the restoration, or uni- 
versal salvation of all souls. This fact is so well 
known that I do not stop to give the proof here. If  
any wish the evidence in full, they can read it in the  
"Ancient History of Universalism,"  by Hosea Ballou;  
6 Eccl. 9:5, 6.


RES TOR A TIGNIS TS AND UNIVERSALIS TS. H7  
or in "Debt and Grace," by C. F. Hudson; or in  
" Scriptural Doctrine of Future Retribution," by Ed- 
ward Beecher.  
This view was held by Origen, A. D. 230; Gregory  
Thaumaturgus,  A. D. 243; Pierius and Theognostus,  
A. D. 282; Methodius, A. D. 290; Pamphilus, A7D. 294; 
Eusebius, A. D. 320; Titus, A. D. 362; Didymus, A. D.  
370; Jerome, A. D. 380; Gregory Nyssen, A. D. 371:  
Diodorus, A. D. 378; Theodore, A. D. 394; Maximus,  
A. D. 662; and Nicholas, A. D. 1096. All these, and 
probably others, held to restorationism.  
Origen went so far as to hold that the devil him- 
self would finally be saved. Others held to the same.  
Indeed, restorationism and Universalism  appear to  
have been the popular faith during the labors of 
Origen in the third century, and for some time after. 
Universalists  admit that they can find but few traces  
of their doctrine in the church till the close of the 
second century.7 The fact is, there is no trace of it  
until the Platonic doctrine of the soul was introduced.  
That Origen, who was thoroughly in love with  
Platonism, and who, as all agree, did more than all  
others to corrupt the simple doctrines of the gospel 
by introducing Platonic philosophy, was the man 
who introduced the doctrine of universalism  into the  
church, is confessed even by Hosea Ballou. He says  
"It appears that Origen introduced the doctrine of  
universalism and that of the pre-existence of souls  
together."8 He then quotes Origen as saying of the  
doctrines he was introducing, "Indeed, they "are ad- 
vanced by us with much hesitation, and more in the  
way of investigation  and for the sake of discussing  
them, than as pronouncing them certain and indis- 
putable."9  
Here, in the beginning of the third century, was  
the origin of universalism in the Christian church.  
? Preface to Ancient History of Universalism, p. 19. 
8 Ancient History of Universalism, p. 86.  9 Ibid.


118  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
This doctrine came in naturally with that of the im- 
mortality of the soul; but finally the doctrine of an  
eternal hell and endless suffering crowded it out, and  
it was condemned as heretical.  
The Heathen Hell Magnified.  
Finally, the most horrid of all the results of receiv- 
ing Plato's dogma of man's natural immortality was,  
that with it also came the heathen theory of the tor-
ments of the damned in Tartarus, or hell. Had even  
this view been left as the old pagans taught it, it 
would not have been so fearfully horrid. But getting 
the idea from thence, the Romish priests, aided by the  
ignorance and superstition  of the people, added  
greatly to the doctrine, increased its dimensions, and  
intensified all its infernal horrors. The number of  
those who went there was vastly larger than the  
number of those sent there by the pagans. They  
only doomed some of the worst cases; but now all 
out of the church must go there, together with her- 
etics and apostates from the church. Plato's hell  
only lasted till the periodical renovation of all things,  
as we have seen. This was a very long time, yet it  
was only a drop in the ocean compared to an actual  
eternity. But the Romanists made it eternal, sure,  
without hope of end. All the strong words the lan- 
guage knew, all the illustrations  ingenuity could in- 
vent, were exhausted to convey the idea of its un- 
ending duration.  
Plato had described hell as a place of great suffer- 
ing; but now these sufferings were multiplied  and  
intensified a hundred-fold. With Plato, hell was  
only a speculative idea, which affected nobody; but  
with the Romanists it was an ever-present, almost  
visible reality. The first thing the prattling child  
learned was to fear hell. The mother talked of it,  
the father warned of it, the teacher described it,


HEATHEN HELL MAONIGIED.  119  
and the priest threatened it. " Never," says Michelet, 
" can we know in what terrors the Middle Age lived. 
There was all abroad a living fear of men, fear of the  
State, fear of the church, fear of Grod, fear of the  
devil, fear of hell, fear of death. Preaching consisted  
very much in the invitation, ' Submit to the guidance 
of the church while you live,' enforced by the threat, 
' or you shall go to hell when you die.'' V  
G-hosts and specters walked on every hand, and  
lurked in every dark corner. The devil, with his  
cloven feet, long tail, horns, and breathing fire, was 
often seen. He made special contracts with desperate  
men to serve him for so long for certain worldly 
prosperity. Souls from purgatory frequently ap- 
peared, and told of their awful sufferings and who  
were there with them. They warned their surviving 
friends to believe the church and obey the priests. 
Now and then the door of hell was opened, and cer-
tain persons saw the smoke and the flames, and heard 
the cries and moans of the damned. Hell was no  
myth, no merely symbolical place, not simply a 
guilty conscience. No; hell was a dread reality, a  
real place, a lake of burning, literal fire. The belch- 
ing of a volcano was the vomit of uneasy hell. If a  
man wishes to get a correct idea of the popular feel- 
ing touching hell in the Middle Ages, let him read 
the " Divine Commedia" of Dante. The transactions  
of hell were thought of and spoken of as familiarly as 
we now speak of the business of a neighboring city  
from which come the cars and the papers daily!


CHAPTER IX.  
^IW oj? the, filpcy^tofic oFcvtfvct^.  
ijE now come in the history of our subject to  
inquire into the faith and teachings of those  
who in the Christian church were the im- 
mediate successors of the apostles. In the 
Apocryphal New Testament we have the  
writings of the "Apostolic Fathers."  
Saj^s Archbishop Wake, these epistles  
are a full and perfect collection of " all the  
genuine writings that remain to us of the apostolic 
fathers, and carry on the antiquity of the church 
from the time of the Holy Scriptures of the New  
Testament to about a hundred and fifty years after 
Christ. Except the Holy Scriptures, there is nothing  
remaining of the truly genuine Christian antiquity 
more early. They contain all that can with any cer-
tainty be depended upon of the most primitive 
fathers."1  
It is not claimed that these writings are all genu- 
ine and reliable; for it is generally agreed that they  
are not. Some of them, no doubt, were written by  
the men whose names they bear, and at a very early  
date; and all of them were probably written some- 
time during the first two centuries. They simply  
show the faith of the writers at that time. As they 
are all the Christian writings that have come down  
to us from the time immediately following that of the  
apostles, they are important. Wo now inquire what  
1 Preface to Archbishop Wake's Apostolic Fathers, p. 15.  [120]


BARNABAS, A D. 71.  121  
they taught upon the subject in hand. Do we find 
them all teaching the immortality of the soul, the  
conscious state of the dead, endless torment, etc.? If 
so, this fact should have some weight with us. But  
if, on the other hand, we find them all harmonizing 
wTith the Bible in teaching the mortality of man, the  
sleep of the dead, and the destruction of the wicked,  
then we shall have further evidence that wTe have un- 
derstood the inspired writers correctly upon this  
subject.  
Let us examine these writings, and see if as late as  
one hundred and fifty years after Christ the immor- 
tality of the soul, or eternal misery, was taught by  
any of the Christians.  
Barnabas, A. D. 71.  
The first writer is Barnabas, A. d. 71. We will lay  
before the reader every passage of his that relates to 
our subject. He says, " There are, therefore, three 
things ordained by the Lord,—the hope of life, the  
beginning and the completion of it." 2  
Life, then, was what they hoped for. He teaches  
that the wicked will perish. "A man will justly  
perish, if, having the knowledge of the way of truth,  
he shall nevertheless not refrain himself from the  
way of darkness."3 Again: "Because ye shall all  
wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat you up." 4  
Of Jesus he says, "They that put their trust in him, 
shall live forever." 5 He says that those who arc 
wicked are " adjudged to death." 6 And the wicked  
" are as the dust which the wind scattereth away  
from the face of the earth." " Thou shalt not cleave 
to those that walk in the way of death." " The  
mouth is the snare of death." 7 " But the way of  
darkness is crooked and full of cursing; for it is the  
2 Chap. 1 : 7.  
6 Chap. 7 :7.  
3 Chap. 4:6.  
6 Chap. 9:6.  
^ Chap. 5:1.  
i Chap. 14 :6,17.


122  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
way of eternal death, with punishment, in which  
they that walk meet those things that destroy their  
own souls." Here he says eternal death, not eternal 
misery. " But he that chooses the other part shall  
be destroyed, together with his works. For this 
cause there shall be both a resurrection and a retri- 
bution." " For the day is at hand in which all things  
shall be destroyed, together with the wicked one. 
The Lord is near, and his reward is with him."8  
This is a good witness, showing the faith of the  
church at that time. He represents that the wicked 
shall die, perish, be destroyed, be blovm away as dust,  
and eaten by a moth; that souls will be destroyed; 
and he speaks of the sleep of the dead, the coming of  
the Lord, the resurrection, and retribution thereafter.  
But, on the other hand, he does not, in all his writ- 
ings, so much as once hint that man has an immortal  
soul. He never intimates anything about an endless  
hell. Dr. Beecher admits that Barnabas, perhaps,  
taught the annihilation of the wicked. He remarks,  
" What he says may be understood of the annihila- 
tion of the wicked." 9  
Clement, A. D. 91-100.  
The next writer is Clement, A. D. 91-100, in his  
two letters to the Corinthians. He was a disciple of  
Peter, and bishop of Rome. He exhorts us to lay  
"aside all vanity, and contention, and envy which  
leads unto death."10 Simple death is the doom of the 
sinner, according to Clement. Again: " The trans-
gressors shall perish from off the face of it Tthe 
earth]."  
He attaches great importance to the resurrection.  
" Let us consider, beloved, how the Lord does con- 
tinually show us that there shall be a future resur- 
8 Chap. 15 :1, 8, 10.  
l«l Cor. 5:1.  
6 Doctrine of Scriptural .Retribution, p. 281,


BARNABAS, A. D. 71.  123  
rection."11 Once more: " And again, Job says, Thou  
shalt raise up this flesh of mine, that has suffered all 
these things."  13 He teaches that the time of reward  
is at the second advent. "Let us, therefore, strive  
with all earnestness, that we may be found in the  
number of those that wait for him." 13  
He represents immortality as a gift from God.  
"How blessed and wonderful, beloved, are the gifts 
of God. Life in immortality! " M And again he says  
to the same effect, " By him would God have us to  
taste the knowledge of immortality."  15 It is through  
Jesus, then, that we obtain immortality. He repre- 
sents man as mortal, made of the dust. " But what  
can a mortal man clo ? Or what strength is there in  
him that is made out of the dust? "16  
Of the punishment  of the wicked, he says, "They,  
therefore, who do anything which is not agreeable to  
his will, are punished with death."17 In his second let- 
ter to the Corinthians, he says, "What think ye, then,  
that he shall suffer, who does anything that is not  
fitting in the combat of immortality?"18  He places  
himself squarely against universalism', or any hope of  
repentance in the future world. " For after we shall  
have departed out of this world, we shall no longer 
be able either to confess our sins or repent in the  
other."19 Ho teaches that when the wicked are once  
destroyed, it will be forever. There will be no res- 
toration from it. For he says, "Nothing shall de- 
liver us from eternal punishment if we shall disobey  
his commands."20  
The wicked are destroyed. This is their punish- 
ment. And as they never come to life again, their  
punishment  is eternal. Thus in the writings of Clem- 
ent we find nothing of the immortality of the soul,  
nothing of purgatory, nothing of deathless spirits,  
11X Cor. 11:16. 12 Chap. 12 :9. 13 Chap. 17 :6.  14 Verses 1, 2. 15 Verse 18. 10 Chap. IS : 2.  
17 Verse 21. 18 2 Cor. 3 :12. M Verse 16. 
20 Chap. 3:8.


124  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
nothing of going to Heaven at death, nothing of 
eternal torment, or anything like this. Clement  
teaches that immortality is a gift of God, to be ob- 
tained through the resurrection, and that the wicked  
are utterly to perish in the second death. He ex-
horts us to "lay hold on eternal life." And again: 
"Keep your bodies pure, and your seal without spot,  
that ye may receive eternal life."21  
The next in order of time is Hermas, who wrote  
about A. D. 100. He is supposed to have been a com- 
panion of Paul."22 He has spoken very clearly on 
the subject in hand. He very plainly teaches the  
utter destruction of the sinner. "For the remem- 
brance of evil worketh death."23 Again: "Happy  
are all they that do righteousness. They shall not bo  
consumed forever."2* He represents the dead as  
being asleep. Of certain ones he says they "are  
those which are fallen asleep, and have suffered for  
the sake of the Lord's name." 25  
The second book of Hermas is called his "Com- 
mands." In that he says, "Thou shalt live to God,  
if thou shalt keep this commandment."26 Again: " By 
so doing, thou mayest attain unto life."27 And again:  
"They who do such things, follow the way of  
death."28 Of the way of evil he says, "It is rugged 
and full of thorns, and leads to destruction."29 He  
represents that there is no life out of the Lord.  
Thus: "Whosoever shall fear him, and keep his  
commandments, their life is with the Lord; but they  
who keep them not, neither is life in them."30  
Of sin ho says, "It is very horrible and wild; and  
by its wildness consumes men. And especially if a  

Hermas, A. D. 100.  
21 2 Cor. 3 : 7, 18. 
24 Verse 2S.  
27Idem., 3:9.  
30Idem., 7:6.  

23 Rom. 16:14.  
so Vision, 3:54.  
28Idem., 4 : •>,  

w Vision, 2:23.  
20 Commands, 1:5.  
2«Idem., 6:4.


BEBMAS, A. D. 100.  125  
servant of God shall chance to fall into it, except he  
be very wise, he is ruined by it; for it destroys  
those who have not the garment of a good desire,  
and are engaged in the affairs of this present world, 
and delivers them unto death."31 Again he says that  
the wicked "shall die forever."32 That is, there is  
no resurrection from that death. His death is eter- 
nal. Again he says, God "is able to save and to de-
stroy you."33  
The third book of Hermas is called his "Simili- 
tudes." In this he deals largely in illustrations. 
After showing how certain dry trees were cast into 
the fire, and utterly burned up, he says that these  
represent the wicked. " For the other kind of men, 
namely, the wicked, like trees which thou sawest dry,  
shall as such be found dry and without fruit in that 
other world; and like dry wood shall be burned."34 
Here their utter destruction is plainly taught. Again  
he says, " If thou shalt defile the Holy Spirit, thou 
shalt not live." 35 Again: "This kind of men are or- 
dained unto death.""36 Sinners "shall bring death  
upon themselves."37  Once more: " They render  
themselves liable to death." 3S "But for those who 
repent not, death is prepared."39 " They shall pur- 
chase death unto themselves."40 " If they shall not 
repent, they shall die." 41 Again: "These have ut-
terly lost life."42 The following testimony is very 
plain: " For before a man receives the name of the 
Son of God, he is ordained unto death; but when he 
receives that seal, he is freed from death, and assigned  
unto life." 43 Of the wicked he says: " These are con-
demned to death."44 This statement he repeats a  
large number of times, so many that we do not try  
to quote them all.  
Idem., 12: 2. 32 Verse 6. 83  Verse 33.  
Similitudes, 4 : 4. »Idem., 5 :59. * Idem., 8 :13.  
87 Verse 44. as Verse 3?. » Sim. S : 55. 
-*1 Verse 64. 41 Verse 67. Verse 68. 
« Sim. 9:152. « Verse 179.


126  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
This is the whole testimony of Hermas upon the  
nature of man. He sets before the people life and  
death. In all his writings, life is held out as the re- 
ward of obedience, and death as the punishment  
everywhere threatened. He gives no hint of con-
sciousness between death and the resurrection. He 
says nothing of going to Heaven or hell at death. 
He says nothing of eternal torment. As to the im- 
mortality of the soul, the deathless spirit, and the like, 
he is totally silent. Hermas, then, plainly believed  
in the mortality of man, the sleep of the dead, and the  
destruction of the wicked.  
Ignatius, A. D. 107.  
Ignatius was bishop of Antioch about A. JD. 107,  
and is the next of the apostolic Fathers. Thei'e are 
several epistles ascribed to him.  
EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.—In this epistle ho  
says the Lord suffered " that he might breathe the  
breath of immortality unto his church." 45 Evidently,  
then, immortality comes alone through Christ. Hence 
he says again: " Why do we suffer ourselves foolishly  
to perish, not considering the gift which the Lord has  
truly sent to us?"46 Then he says: "Forasmuch as  
he designed to abolish death."47 And again in the  
same strain, speaking of the Lord's supper, he says:  
" AVhich is the medicine of immortality,  our antidote,  
that we should not die, but live forever in Christ 
Jesus." 48  
These testimonies are very plain. Death is the  
portion of the sinner; immortality comes through  
Christ. With the New Testament, ho says that the  
sinner " shall depart into unquenchable fire." 49 They  
will be burned up in a fire that cannot be extin-
guished.  
«Chap. 4:4. 
« Verse 16.  
Verse 0.  
* Verse 3.  
47 Verfie \4.


IGNATIUS, A. D. 107.  127  
EPISTLE TO THE MAGNESIANS.—In this epistle he  
says: "Seeing, then, all things have an end, there  
are these two indifferently  set before us, death and  
life." 50 Here he is in harmony with the whole Bible,  
as we have shown. He says that when the sinner is  
rewarded according to his deeds, he will cease to  
exist. " For should he have dealt with us according  
to our works, we had not now had a being."51  
EPISTLE TO THE TRALLIANS.—Of Christ he  says,  
" "Who died for us, that so believing in his death, ye  
might escape death."52 Again: "I retrain myself, 
lest I should perish in my boasting."  53  
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.—He here rests all upon  
the resurrection. Speaking of his martyrdom he  
says: " For it is good for me to set from the world,  
unto God, that I may rise again unto him."54  
There is no reference to this subject in his epistle  
to the Philadelphians, nor in that to the Smyrnseans.  
EPISTLE TO POLYCARP.—In this epistle he says, " Be  
sober, as the combatant of God; the crown proposed  
to thee is immortality and eternal life."55 He plainly 
teaches the sleep of the dead and the destruction of 
the wicked, thus: " Labor with one another; contend  
together, run together, suffer together, sleep together,  
and rise together, as the stewards, and assessors, and 
ministers of God."56 He thus exhorts these ministers  
to suffer together in their warfare, to sleep together 
in death, and to rise together in the resurrection.  
This is the whole of Ignatius's testimony. Like  
all the others, he is utterly silent with regard to the 
immortality of the soul, or anything looking in that  
direction. Of the writings of this Father, Dr. Beecher  
says: " In some cases the idea of annihilation is sug-
gested." 5  
Chap. 2:1.  
63 Verse 12.  
wchap. 2:13.  

" Chap. 3:7. 62 Chap. 1 : 5.  
M Chap. 1:8. 65 Chap. 1:12.  
67 Scriptural Retribution, p. 283.


128  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
Polycarp, A. D. 166.  
The last of the apostolic Fathers is Polycarp, who  
wrote about A. D. 166. We have his letter to the  
Philippians. He plainly teaches the resurrection of  
the dead. " But he that raised up Christ from the  
dead, shall also raise up us in like manner."58 Again:  
And whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to  
his own lusts, and says there shall neither be any  
resurrection, nor judgment, he is the first-born of  
Satan."59 Again: " Charity delivereth from death."60  
This venerable Father, who had been a companion  
of the apostle John, suffered martyrdom A. D. 169. 
His prayer at the stake, as given by Eusebius, shows  
what his faith was. He says, " I bless thee that thou  
hast thought me worthy of the present day and hour,  
to have a share in the number of the martyrs and in 
the cup of Christ, unto the resurrection of eternal life,  
BOTH OP THE SOUL AND BODY, in the incorruptible fe- 
licity of the Holy Spirit."61 Polycarp hoped for  
eternal life through the resurrection of both soul and 
body.  
Thus we have the teachings of all the apostolic  
Fathers, reaching down to the middle of the second  
century. Header, on which side is their testimony?  
They are totally silent about the immortal soul, end- 
less hell, eternal torment, deathless spirit, or any  
such terms. On the contrary, they all along hold  
out immortality  as a thing to be sought for, and to  
be gained only in Christ and at the resurrection.  
The dead  are said to be asleep. They constantly  
affirm that the wicked shall die, perish, be consumed, 
destroyed, burned, blown away, etc. So we are safe  
in saying that to their time the doctrine of the im-
mortality of the soul and eternal torment, had not  
found its way into the church of Christ.  
88 Chap. 1:8. 69 Chap. 3:2. «o chap 3 : 1L  
«i Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, Book 4, Chap. 15, p. 148.


CHAPTER X.  
me oj? the, Sar-fij eFa-tfoezo.  
E must now introduce a different class of  
witnesses,—the Early Fathers. We cannot  
place as much reliance upon them as upon  
the apostolic Fathers, as they began about  
this time to be more or less corrupted by  
heathen notions; yet many of them still  
held to the old landmarks for a long time.  
Justin Martyr, A. D, 164.  
Justin Martyr, about A. D. 164, comes first after  
the apostolic Fathers. He was a heathen philosopher, 
and after his conversion to Christianity, he still re- 
tained some of his old heathen notions.1 He was a  
learned man, and wrote much. We will quote enough 
to show his faith upon this question.  
_ 1- He  earnestly contended for the literal resurrec- 
tion of the dead, and tried to meet all objections to it.  
" They who maintain the wrong opinion say that  
there is no resurrection of the flesh." 2 This doctrine 
he then refutes.  
2. The doctrine of the second advent of Christ is  
prominent in all his writings.  
3. He did not believe that the souls of men went to  
Heaven at death. He says: " If you have fallen in 
with some who are called Christians, but who do not  
1 Enfield's History of Philosophy, Book 6, Chap. 3, pp. 454-7. 
2 On the Resurrection, Chap. %' I quote from Justin's works as published in  
the " Ante-Nicene Christian Library," Vol. II.  
9 [129]


130  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
admit this [the resurrection], and venture to blas- 
pheme the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac,  
and the God of Jacob; who say there is no resurrec- 
tion of the dead, and that their souls, when they die,  
are taken to Heaven, do not imagine that they are  
Christians." 3 Here we have it plainly stated that it  
was heresy in that age to teach that men's souls went 
to Heaven at death. Yet this is the very thing that 
the so-called orthodox denominations now generally 
teach, and the great mass of the common people  
among them never suspect but that this was always  
the faith of the church. But history shows it to be  
quite the contrary, as witness wThat Justin says above.  
4. He refutes the heretical doctrine, just then be- 
ing introduced, that the soul alone is the man, and can  
act without the body. He says: "What  is man but  
the reasonable animal, composed of body and soul ?  
Is the soul, by itself, man ? No; but the soul of man. 
Would the body be called man ? No ; but it is called  
the body of man. If, then, neither of these is by  
itself man, but that which is made up of the two to- 
gether is called man, and God has called man to life  
and resurrection, he has called, not a part, but the  
whole, which is the soul and body."4 Again: " How,  
then, did he raise the dead? Their souls or their  
bodies? Manifestly both.7'5 Once more: " For as in  
the case of a yoke of oxen, if one or the other is  
loosed from the yoke neither of them can plow alone;  
so neither can soul or Dody alone effect anything if  
they be unyoked from their communion." 8 Can this  
be misunderstood? The soul without the body can  
do nothing; it remains inactive till the body is raised 
again.  
5. He denies the immortality of the soul. Thus:  
" For he ordained that if he [Adam] kept this [God's 
command], he should partake of immortal existence;  
s Dialogue with Trypho, Chap. 80.  
' Id., Chap. 9.  
4 On the Resurrection, Chap. 8.  
«Id., Chap. 8.


JUSTIN MARTYR, A, D. 16£  131  
but if be transgressed it, the contrary should be his 
lot. Man, having been thus made, and immediately  
looking toward transgression, naturally became sub- 
ject to corruption." 7 Hear him state the subject:  
" Now that the soul partakes of life, since God wills  
it to live, thus, then, it will not even partake [of life] 
when God does not will it to live. For to live is not 
its attribute, as it is God's; but as a man does not live 
always, and the soul is not forever conjoined with the  
body, since, whenever this harmony must be broken  
up, the soul leaves the body, and the man exists no  
longer; even so, whenever the soul must cease to ex-
ist, the spirit of life is removed from it, and there is  
no more soul, but it goes back to the place from 
whence it was taken."8  
This is so clear that the most bigoted must yield  
the point and admit that Justin did not believe the  
soul could live separate from the body.  
6. Justin teaches the utter extinction of the wicked.  
" Wherefore," says he, " God delays causing the con- 
fusion and destruction of the whole world, by which 
the wicked angels, and demons, and men shall cease to  
exist, because of the seed of the Christians, who know  
that they are the cause of preservation in nature."9  
The wicked will cease to exist. This is unequivocal,  
and cannot be misunderstood. He did not believe in  
eternal misery. Again: "Thus, some which have 
appeared worthy of God, never die ; but others are  
punished so long as God wills them to exist and to be 
punished."  10  
Much more to the same end might be given from  
him, but it is not needed. Justin frequently says  
that the wicked shall suffer " everlasting punish-
ment," "eternal punishment," "in eternal fire," etc.,"  
yet he positively declares that they shall cease to ex- 
1 o.' y • • • xvto.iv/g  "Fust Apology, Chaps. 8, 12, 28, 45, 52, etc.  

' Fragments, No. 11.  
'Second Apology, Chap. 7.  
8 Dialogue with Trypho, Chap. 0.  
10 Dialogue with Trypho, Chap. 5.


132  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
ist. So here we have a good example of the limited  
use of those terms. They are often so used by all  
the Greeks. Dr. Kitto says that Justin Martyr  
" held that punishments, at least sensible ones, would  
sometime cease." 12 Prof. Bush says he held to the 
sleep of the soul.13 Hagenbach, in his " History of  
Doctrines," says Justin believed the soul to be mortal,  
and to perish with the body; that immortality was a  
reward to be acquired.14 Ballou says he held to an- 
nihilation. Thus: "In another place, however, he  
states his opinion upon this last point more particu- 
larly, and represents that the wicked will be, event- 
ually, annihilated."  15 Of the faith of this Father, Dr.  
Edward Beecher says, " That Justin did hold and 
teach the fihal annihilation  of the wicked, the most  
eminent scholars concede. In the number of such,  
Mr. Hudson appeals to Grotius, Huet, Ropier, and  
Dupin, Doederlein, Miinscher, Munter, Daniel, Hase, 
Stork, Kerns, Otto, Ritter, J. B. Smith, Bloomfield,  
Gieseler."16 Gieseler, the church historian, says, 
"Justin appears to regard it as possible that the souls  
of the ungodly will be at some time wholly annihi-
lated." Sec. 45.  
_ Another historian says of him: "Justin did not be- 
lieve in endless torment, but in the final annihilation  
of the wicked." 17  
Tatian, A. D. 172, the Disciple of Justin  
Martyr.18  
Tatian, who was the disciple of Justin, seems to  
have believed about the same as Justin concerning  
the soul. He plainly denies that it is immortal, thus":  
12Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, art. Soul.  
I3Bush on the Resurrection, pp. 2o3, 254. 
14 Vol. I., pp. 162-164, art. Immortality. 
15 Ancient History of Universalism, p. 58. 
16Doctrine of Scriptural Retribution, pp. 211, 212.  
17 Origin and History of the Doctrine of Endless Punishment, p. 195  
"Home's Introduction, Vol. I., Chap. 2, Sec. 2, p. 43.


TATI AN, A. B. 172  133  
" The soul is not in itself immortal, O Greeks, but  
mortal. Yet it is possible for it not to die. If. in- 
deed, it knows not the truth, it dies, and is dissolved  
with the body, but rises again at the last end of the  
world, with the body, receiving death by punishment  
in immortality. But, again, if it acquires the knowl- 
edge of God, it dies not, although for a time it be dis-
solved." 19 We must then set down Tatian as another  
believer in the mortality of man and the sleep of the  
dead.  
"He denies," says Dupin, "the immortality  of  
souls, affirming that they die, and that they shall 
hereafter rise again with their respective bodies." 20  
Dr. Adam Clarke says he believes " that the soul can-
not be immortal without union with the Holy Spirit;  
but, partaking of the nature of flesh while living 
without God, dies with the body."21  
Another historian speaking of the writings of Ta- 
tian, says: "He represents that such souls as have  
not the truth, or knowledge of God, die with the  
body, and with it rise to judgment at the end of the 
world, when they are to undergo ' a death in immor- 
tality,' by which he perhaps means annihilation. To 
the sinful demons he assigns the same final doom."22  
There is a remarkable passage in this author's  
writings showing what several scholars have sug- 
gested, viz., that many of the early Fathers used the  
term " immortality of the soul " very loosely, only  
meaning by it that there will be a future life for man.  
Thus Tatian, reasoning with a Greek, says, You say 
" that the soul alone is endowed with immortality,  
but I say that the body also is endowed with it." 23 
Does Tatian mean to say that the flesh is now im- 
"> Address to the Greeks, Chap. 13, Vol. III. of the Ante-STicene Christian Li- brary.  
20History Ecclesiastical Writers, Vol. I., p. 69. 
21 Sacred Literature, Vol. I., p. 102.  
22  Ancient History of Universalism, p. 60.  
^ Tatian's Address to the Greeks, Chap. 25, p. 31. Ante-Nicene Christian  Library, Vol. III.


134  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
mortal? Certainly not. He simply means that the  
flesh will be raised up, and live in the future, which 
the Greeks denied. In this sense we find the term  
" immortality of the soul" used among some of the 
early Christian Fathers.  
Tatian plainly teaches the sleep of the dead. Thus  
he says: " For just as, not existing before I was born,  
I knew not who I was, and only existed in the poten- 
tiality of fleshly matter, but being born after a former  
state of nothingness,  I have obtained through my  
birth a certainty of my existence, in the same way,  
having been born, and through death existing no  
longer, and seen no longer, I shall exist again, just as  
before I was not, but was afterward born/'24  
This language cannot be mistaken. He teaches  
that in death there is no more knowledge than there  
was before a man was born.  
Athenagoras, A. D. 180.  
Of this Christian Father, Horne says, He "  is the  
most polished and elegant author of Christian an- 
tiquity."25 The following passages show that he  
held to the sleep of the dead: "And let no one 
think it strange that we call by the name of life a  
continuance of being which is interrupted by death  
and corruption I suppose some call sleep the  
brother of death, not as deriving their origin from the  
same ancestors and fathers, but because those who  
are dead, and those who sleep, are subject to similar  
states, as  regards, at least, the stillness and absence of  
all sense of the present or the past, or, rather, of ex- 
istence itself and their own life." 26 Hence, he nat- 
urally hangs all hope of a future life on the resurrec-
tion. Of man, he says: " The cause of his creation is  
24Tatian's Address to the Greeks, Chap. 6, pp. 10,11. Ante-Nicene Chris- 
tian Library, Vol. III.  
25Introduction, Vol. I., p. 43. 
s° On the Resurrection of the Dead, Chap. 16,


THEOPHIL US, A. J). 185.  135  
a pledge of his continuance forever, and this continu- 
ance is a pledge of the resurrection, without which 
man could not continued 27 Again: " But it is impos-
sible for him to continue unless he rise again; for, if 
no resurrection were to take place, the nature of men,  
as men, would not continue."  28  
Athenagoras, then, still held the Bible doctrine of  
the sleep of the dead, and also taught, as Paul did, 
that if there is no resurrection, there can be no future  
life.29  
Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, A. D. 181.  
Theophilus takes this position: " For man had been  
made a middle nature, neither wholly mortal, nor al- 
together immortal, but capable of either."30 Again:  
" But some will say to us, Was man made by nature  
mortal? Certainly not. Was he, then, immortal?  
Neither do we affirm this. But one will say, Was he, 
then, nothing? Not even this hits the mark. He  
was by nature neither mortal nor immortal; for if He  
had made him immortal from the beginning, He 
would have made him God. Again, if He had made 
him mortal, God would seem to be the cause of his  
death. Neither, then, immortal nor yet mortal did  
He make him, but, as we have said above, capable of  
both; so that if he should incline to the things of im- 
mortality, keeping the commandments of God, he  
should receive, as a reward from Him, immortality, 
and should become God; but if, on the other hand, he 
should turn to the things of death, disobeying God, 
he should himself be the cause of death to himself."31  
I commend the above to the careful attention of  
the reader, both as showing the faith of the church  
at that time, and as a very reasonable doctrine.  
V Id., Chap. 13. 28 Id., chap.  15. See 1 Cor. 15 :32.  
80  To Antolicus, Book 2, Chap. 24, Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol. Ill,  
31  Id., Chap. 27,


136  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
What could be more reasonable than this, that God  
made Adam of a middle nature, capable of gaining  
immortality  or of losing life? This is just what the  
Bible itself represents. See Genesis, second and  
third chapters. This we know was the faith of at 
least several of the prominent church Fathers.  
The church at Antioch was raised up by the apos- 
tles, and here the disciples were first called Chris- 
tians.32 Theophilus was the sixth bishop of that  
church, which was one of the largest in all the world 
at that time. Besides this, says his editor, he  " had  
a profound acquaintance with the inspired writ- 
ings." 33 Hence, we may safely conclude that what  
he teaches from so high a station was the received  
orthodox doctrine of the church in that age. No  
one at that time censured him for thus teaching, so  
the doctrine of the immortality  of the soul was not  
yet received by the church of God.  
Irenseus, Bishop of Lyons, A. D. 185.  
That the wicked will not always continue to exist,  
he states thus: " For life does not arise from us, nor  
from our own nature, but it is bestowed according to  
the grace of God. And, therefore, he who shall pre- 
serve the life bestowed upon him, and give thanks to 
Him who imparted it, shall receive, also, length, of 
days forever and ever. But he who shall reject it,  
and prove himself ungrateful to his Maker, inasmuch  
as he has been created, and has not recognized Him 
who bestowed [the gift upon him], deprives himself  
of [the privilege of] continuance forever and ever."34  
Again he says: To those who "are full of hypocrisy,  
and covetousness, and all wickedness, has he assigned 
everlasting perdition by cutting them off from life."35  
He says that Christ revealed " God to men through  
32 Acts 11:22-26. 
34 Against Heresies, Book 2, Chap. 34.  
33 See Preface to his Works,  
8®  Idem., Book 4, Chap. 11,


IREN^TJS, A. D. 185.  137  
many dispensations, lost man, falling away from God  
altogether, should cease to exist."36  
Of his faith Dupin says: "But he seems to have  
believed, as well as St. Justin, that they [souls] are 
immortal only through grace, and that those of the  
wicked shall cease to be, after they have been tor- 
mented for a long time." 37 The author of the An- 
cient History of Universalism  confirms this statement  
of Irenseus's faith thus: "Here he appears to think  
they will be annihilated."  38  
Another historian says of the doctrine of Irenreus,  
" And yet he did not believe that they would be pun- 
ished endlessly; for he undoubtedly adopted the doc-
trine of the final annihilation  of the disobedient and  
unrighteous."  39  
In another place he argues that immortality is a  
gift of God through Jesus Christ. Thus he says:  
" The friendship of God imparts immortality to those  
w-ho embrace it." 40 This plainly shows his faith that 
none will have immortality except those who are the 
friends of God. Once more he says to the same  
effect: "Men, therefore, shall see God; that they  
may live, being made immortal by that sight."41  
Dr. Edward Beecher, in his late book on the doc- 
trine of Scriptural Retribution, frankly confesses that 
Irenseus taught the annihilation  of the wicked. Thus  
he says: "What, then, are the facts as to Irenaeus? 
Since he has been canonized as a saint, and since he  
stood in such close connection with Polycarp and  
with John the apostle, there has been a very great 
reluctance to admit the real facts of the case. Mas- 
suetus has employed much sophistry in endeavoring  
to hide them. Nevertheless, as we shall clearly show  
hereafter, they are incontrovertibly  these: That he  
taught a final restitution of all things to unity and  
ssIdem., Book 4, Chap. 20. ® History, p. 75. 38 P. 65, Second Edition. 
39 Origin and History of the Doctrine  of Endless Punishment, p. 193.  
40 Writings of Irenijeus, Book 3, Chap. 19, p. 416. Ante-Nicene Christian  
Library, Vol. I. «Idem., p. 443.


138  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
order by the annihilation  of all the finally impenitent.  
Expressed statements in his creed, and in a fragment 
referred to by Prof. Schaff, on universal restoration  
(History, Yol. I., p. 490), and in other parts of his  
great work against the Gnostics, prove this beyond  
all possibility  of refutation He held that  
wicked men and devils would be consigned to the  
punishment of the world to come; and that this, at a 
time to be decided by the wisdom and justice of God, 
would result in their annihilation,  and thus in the  
cleansing of the Universe from every form of sin."42  
" It is therefore the more remarkable that the doc- 
trine of future eternal punishment  was not taught by  
any of this school so far as we know, nor the doctrine  
of universal restoration; but on the other hand, the 
doctrine of the final annihilation  of the wicked was  
clearly taught by so eminent a man as Irenseus.  
Thus, in five out of six of the early theological schools  
we do not find the doctrine of eternal punishment."43  
From these statements, it appears that Irenseus did  
not believe in the natural immortality of man, nor in  
the eternal conscious existence of the wicked. He  
was one of the most famous church Fathers, and 
bishop of a noted church. He was instructed by the  
venerable Polycarp, who had conversed with the  
apostle John; hence he was well acquainted with the  
doctrines of the apostles. The fact, then, that he  
taught the mortality of man and the annihilation  of  
the wicked is an important item in this history  
Poly crates, Bishop of Ephesus, A. D. 196.  
Polycrates bears this interesting  testimony: In  
Asia, great lights have fallen asleep, which shall rise  
again in the day of our Zord's appearing, in which he  
will come with glory from Heaven, and will raise up  
all the saints; Philip, one of the twelve apostles, who  
V Pages 163, 164.  « Pages 194, 195.


THE HERMOGENIANS.  139  
sleeps in Hierapolis, and his two aged virgin daughters;  
. . . . moreover, the blessed Papirius, and Melito,  
the eunuch, whose walk and conversation were to- 
gether under the influence of the Holy Spirit, who 
now rests at Sarais, awaiting the episcopate from  
Heaven, when he shall rise from the dead." u Here we  
have this ancient bishop of a church which Paul had  
planted and Timothy watered, and where John died,  
bearing a good witness to the faith of the church 
in that age in the sleep of the dead, the advent  
of Christ, and the resurrection. These saints were  
not in Heaven, but asleep, waiting for Christ.  
The Lucianists.  
Buck, in his " Theological Dictionary," mentions a  
sect, about this time, called the Lucianists,  who de- 
nied the immortality  of the soul. Of their leader he  
says, " He denied the immortality  of the soul, assert- 
ing it to be material." 45  
In all stages of the history of the church we find  
witnesses for God's truth on this subject.  
The Hermogenians.  
Neander, in his "History of the Christian Re- 
ligion," mentions the Hermogenians, who denied the  
immortality of the soul. Of their leader he says:  
" At all events, Ilermogenes denied the natural im- 
mortality of the soul, and regarded immortality  only  
as a consequence of the new divine life imparted by  
Christ; hence he considers believers only to be im- 
mortal. All evil, evil spirits, and men who have not  
become partakers of the divine life, were finally to be 
resolved into the matter from whence they originally  
44 Eusebius, Book 5, Chap. 2.  •<5  Art. Lucianists,


140  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
sprang." 46 Here we have still another evidence that  
this doctrine always had adherents in the Christian  
church.  
The Arabians, A. D. 244-249.  
As we have shown in another chapter, the doctrine  
of the immortality of the soul began quite largely to 
be received by professed Christians in the first half of  
the third century. The primitive Scriptural doctrine  
of the mortality of man and the sleep of the dead, 
was now quite largely abandoned. Yet here and  
there we find, as late as this, those who had not yet  
apostatized from the Bible faith, though they were  
so few as to be counted heretics. Thus of the Ara- 
bians, A. D. 244-249, Eusebius writes:—  
"But about this time, also, other men sprung up  
in Arabia as the propagators of false opinions. These 
asserted that the human soul, as long as the present  
state of the world existed, perished at death and died  
with the body, but that it would be raised again with  
the body at the time of the resurrection. And as a  
considerable council was held on account of this,  
Origen, being again requested, likewise here discussed  
the point in question with so much force that those 
who had been before led astray, completely changed  
their opinions."47  
1. They denied all consciousness  of the dead till the  
resurrection. 2. Both soul and body were to live  
again at the resurrection. 3. The believers in this  
doctrine were so numerous as to require " a consider-
able council" to put them down; hence their num- 
ber and influence must have been large. 4. " Ori- 
gen, being again requested, likewise here discussed  
the point in question," says Eusebius. This shows  
that Origen had, in other places and before this, been  
w Vol. II., p. 018.  
47 Eusebius Ecclesiastical History, Book 6, Chap. 37, p. 253.


THE ARABIANS, A. JD.  141  
called upon to defend his doctrine of the immortality 
of the soul. We have seen that it was chiefly  
through his great influence that it came into the 
church. The learned Dr. JSTeander thus candidly 
states the facts in the above case: "We must, how-
ever," he says, " still mention that among the Chris- 
tians of Arabia at that time, a party had caused a 
controversy, by maintaining that the soul died with  
the body, and that it would be raised again only at  
the general resurrection, at the same time with the  
body. It was an old Jewish notion that immortality 
was not founded upon the nature of the soul, but was  
a peculiar gift of divine grace; a representation which  
had been transferred from Judaism to Christianity,  
traces of which we find in the theory of the Gnostics  
about the nature of the Psychici, in the doctrine of  
Clementine, and in the opinions of Justin and Tatian.  
Perhaps, also, in this district, the position of which  
placed it in close connection with the Jews, it was no  
new doctrine, but the predominant one from ancient  
times; and perhaps the influence of Origen (in whose  
system the doctrine of the natural immortality of the 
soul necessarily obtained a place) first effected the 
change that this latter should obtain universal accept- 
ance among the church teachers of that district; 
and that the smjill party, which still maintained the 
old opinion, should appear heretical, although the  
predominant opinion had previously really pro-
nounced itself against it (the new opinion). Hence, 
we may understand how the convocation of a great 
synod was considered necessary in order to allay  
these controversies. When they were unable to  
agree, Origen was  invited by the synod, and his in- 
fluence prevailed upon the opposers of the doctrine of  
the^ natural immortality  of the soul, to acknowledge  
their error and renounce it."48  
These admissions from such an eminent historian  
45 Noanrler's Church History, Vol. I., Sec. 5, p. 444.


142  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
as Dr. Neander fully confirm all I have claimed on  
this question. It will be remembered that Neander  
was a converted Jew, and hence well qualified to 
state what was the original Jewish doctrine of im- 
mortality. The Arabians held to the old and ancient  
doctrine of the people of God, the sleep of the dead, 
and denied the immortality  of the soul. It was not  
till the middle of the third century, and even then  
only by a mighty effort, that they were drawn from  
it. Dr. Good confirms Meander's statements, by say-
ing that the Arabians never believed in the immor-
tality of the soul.49  
Arnobius, A. D. 300.  
This author, in his large work, "Against the  
Heathens," shows that he still holds to the old faith;  
for he says that the wicked will " be thrown into tor-
rents of fire, amidst dark caverns and whirlpools,  
where they shall at length be annihilated, and vanish 
in perpetual extinction." 50 He held that man was of  
a middle nature, neither mortal nor immortal, but  
capable of either condition.51  
Of Arnobius, Dupin remarks: "He takes occasion  
from thence to discourse of the nature of souls; he 
pretends that they are of a middle quality between a  
spirit and a body, that they are by nature mortal,  
but that God of his goodness immortalizes the souls 
of those who repose their confidence in him. He 
confutes Plato's notions concerning the soul's immor- 
tality^ and its excellency, dignity, exile, or imprison-
ment in the body. He supposes that it is corporeal  
and extraduce; that man is but very little different  
from the beasts ; that his soul is mortal by nature,  
but that it becomes immortal by the grace of God."52  
49Book of Science, Series 3, Lecture 2, p. 372.  
Book 2, pp. 52, 63, quoted in  Ancient. History of Uniyersalism, Chap. 6,  
P- 152. 61 Book 2, Chaps. 35, 36.  
KHistory of Ecclesiastical Writer*, Vol. I., p. 147.


THE FATHERS IN GENERAL.  143  
Thus Arnobius writes: " Wherefore, we should not  
be deceived or deluded with vain hopes, by that  
which a new class of men, elated with an extravagant 
opinion of themselves, tell us that souls are immortal,  
next in rank of dignity to the Supreme God, derived  
from him as Creator and Father, divine, wise, in- 
spired with knowledge, and free from stain of gross  
matter."53  
Here is a square condemnation of the whole doc- 
trine of the soul's immortality as now taught. Arno- 
bius condemns it as an extravagant opinion of man's  
nature. He says it was then being introduced by a 
new class of men, which shows that it was not the 
old doctrine of the church.  
That he taught the annihilation  of the wicked is  
admitted by that great scholar, Prof. Shedd. He  
says: " The annihilation  of the wicked was taught  
by Arnobius."  54  
Thus we see the leading men in the church all  
through the first centuries denying the immortality  
of the soul, but teaching the annihilation of the  
wicked.  
Dr. Beecher says of Arnobius, " We now come to  
Arnobius; but his case need not detain us long as to  
the historic fact; for it is denied by no one that he  
taught the doctrine of the annihilation of the  
wicked."55  
The Fathers in General.  
Of the early Fathers and their faith, Dr. Priestly,  
LL. D., F. JR. S., says: "It was  the opinion of most  
of the early Fathers that the world was to be de-
stroyed by fire, and also that all men were  to pass  
through this fire; that the good would be purified by 
it, and the wicked consumed." He further says:  
M Adv. Gentes, 1, 2, cc. 14, 15. 
M The Doctrine of Scriptural Retribution, by Edward Beecher, p. 131. 
68 Idem., p. 216.


144  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
" The Gnostics are said to have maintained that the  
greatest part of mankind would be annihilated at the  
day of Judgment, which was probably the same thing  
that was meant by those who said that they would 
be consumed in the fire that was to destroy the  
world."56 " The ancient fathers only thought that  
when this world would be destroyed by fire, that fire 
would purify the good, and devour the wicked."57  
It was the faith of the early church, as this learned  
author says above, that the wicked will be destroyed  
by the fire that finally purifies the earth. This is the  
teaching of Peter.58  
Thus we have traced the history of the doctrine of  
the immortality of man, the sleep of  the dead, and  
the annihilation  of the wicked from the days of  the  
apostles down through the first, second, and third  
centuries, and even into the beginning of the fourth 
century. During these three centuries we have  
found many of the most noted Christian writers, 
fathers, and bishops of the church, holding these doc-
trines, and teaching them as the common faith of the  
church in those days. It is noticeable that the advo- 
cacy of these doctrines called forth no opposition or 
words of censure from any party, as being new or 
heretical. The effort of Origen against it is the first  
of the kind on record. No public disapproval of the  
doctrine is met with for several ages, though it was  
extensively  held and taught, as we have seen. This  
shows that it was not regarded as heterodox in those  
days.  
From the Third Century to the Reformation.  
From the close of the third and the beginning of  
the fourth century, the doctrine of the immortality  
of the soul seems to have become quite generally es- 
56Corruption of Christianity, Vol. I., pp. 411-^13. 
67 Idem., p. 414. »8 2Pet. 3.


THIRD CENTURY TO THE REFORMATION. 145  
tablished in the ehureh as an orthodox dogma, though  
very many of the doctrines growing out of it were 
not at once seen and believed. Several learned his-
torians sa}r that Tertullian, A. D. 200-220, was the  
first Christian writer who expressly asserted the  
unending torments of the damned.59 He was  
originally a pagan in belief', and by birth an Afri-
can. He was of a fierce, fiery, rigid temper,—a fit  
man to father such a doctrine. He thus exults 
over the prospect of the pagans burning in hell:  
" How shall I admire, how laugh, how rejoice, how 
exult, when I behold so many proud monarchs, so  
many fancied gods, groaning in the lowest abyss of  
darkness ; so many magistrates who persecuted the  
name of the Lord liquifying  in fiercer fires than they  
ever kindled against the Christians; so many sage  
philosophers blushing in red-hot flames with their  
deluded scholars."60 After quoting this, Gibbon ex-
claims: " The humanity of the reader will permit me  
to draw a veil over the rest of this infernal descrip- 
tion.'' 61 But even this description has been surpassed 
in modern times by believers in the same awful doc-
trine.  
Cyprian, the disciple and successor of Tertullian,  
zealously advocated the same doctrine. By their  
authority it obtained a firm foothold in the church  
Of them an eminent historian says: ;£ In order to as- 
certain the degree of authority which the zealous  
African [Tertullian] had acquired, it may be sufficient 
to alleo- e the testimony of Cyprian, the doctor and 
guide of all the "Western churches, xls often as he  
applied himself to his daily study of the writings of 
Tertullian, he was accustomed to say, 4 Give me my  
master.'"62 •  
Says Meander, " Indeed, in many respects Tertul- 
m Ancient History of Uliiversalism' Chap. 3, p. SO; Origin and History of the  
Doctrine of Endless Punishment, Chap. 6, p. 198; and Prof. Hudson, Debt and 
Grace, Chap. 8, p. 326.  
«Gibbon's Decline and Fall, Vol. I., Chap. 15, p. 538. 01 Ibid. ««lbid  10


146  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
lian stands generally at the line of deraarkation be- 
tween the old and the new time of the Christian 
church." 63 This was certainly true with regard to  
the doctrine of the future punishment  of the wicked,  
to which he gave an entirely new idea.  
Augustine, A. n. 415, was the first writer who at- 
tempted to prove that the Greek word aiuviog, aionios,  
everlasting, strictly signified endless, and hence to  
conclude that sinners would be eternally tormented!  
Says the historian: " Augustine who flourished about  
A. D. 400-430, was the first to argue that aionios sig-
nified endless."64  
Dr. Edward Beecher says on  this point: " It is aiso  
worthy of note that, although this [an African school] 
is a Latin school, yet it was in this that the argument,  
now so familiar, for eternal punishment,  from the  
necessary meaning of the word aiuvioc, aionios, was first  
distinctly propounded by Augustine."65  He then  
gives the occasion which called forth this argument 
from Augustine. This was as late as the year 413.  
Strange to say, Augustine,  the author of this famous  
criticism on the Greek word aiuvioc, aionios, was al- 
most wholly ignorant of the Greek, as he himself con- 
fessed! He says, " I am not so accustomed to  the Greek  
language that 1 am at all competent to read and un- 
derstand books on such subjects" (De Trinitate, iii., 
Proem)-, and again: "I have learned very little of  
the Greek language," (Contra litems Petiliani, I., ii.,  
c. 38066  
Thus, step by step, history points out the birth and  
growth of these heathen doctrines in the church of  
Christ.  
From this time the fogs and mists of what deepened  
into the gloom of the Dark Ages began to settle  
down upon the church and the world. The light of  
Bible truth was almost wholly obscured. Errors and  
63  Church History, p. 110.  
64 Origin and History of Endless Punishment, p. 204.  
65Doctrine of Scriptural Retribution, Chap. 28, p. 249.  ®®  Idem., p. 251.


THIRD CENTURY TO THE REFORMATION. 147  
heathen doctrines grew luxuriantly.  Hence, for sev- 
eral centuries after this we find but few traces of the  
Scriptural doctrine of man's nature and destiny.  
Here and there are historical references which show  
that there were some all along the ages who had 
more or less light upon the subject. But the church  
was now in the wilderness (Eev. 12 :14), and God's 
servants were hidden away in the mountains, where 
they were seldom heard from.  
Gregory the Great (a pope), in A. I>. 590, in one of  
his books, says Dupin, " undertakes to treat of the  
state of the soul after death, and to refute the opinion  
of some, who, without separating from the church, 
doubted whether the soul lived after its separation  
from the body." By this we may suppose that nu-
merous believers, in standing in the Christian church,  
held to the doctrine of the unconscious state of the  
dead. ]STo names are given, and we are not told that  
the believers of this sort wrote books in defense of 
their views.67  
John, of Damascus, who died about A. D. 750, refers  
to a sect that flourished in his day, called the Thnet- 
opsychites, "who," says Dupin, " believe men's souls  
to be like the beasts, and that they die with them."68  
The name of these believers is one given by John 
himself, and it is not stated that they formed a sect.  
Maimonides, a very learned Jewish doctor, A. D.  
1131-1202, taught that the wicked would finally be  
cut off from life eternal, and suffer excision, 01* anni- 
hilation of being. This extermination of being is re- 
garded as the greatest of all punishments.  He de- 
nied the immortality of the soul, though he held that  
the righteous would live forever. Some of the other  
Jewish doctors believed in the eternity of hell tor-
ments; but Prof. Hudson asserts that this view was  
never " an accepted Jewish doctrine." The Mishna 
makes no mention of the soul's immortality, nor of  
«See Dupin, Vol. I., p. 581.  68Idem., Vol. II., p. 37.


148  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
eternal pain; on the contrary, the soul, body, and  
spirit of evil men were finally to be totally de-
stroyed.69  
Averroes, a famous Arabian philosopher in A. D.  
1160, "rejected," says Ezra Abbot, in Alger's "Fu- 
ture Life," "the doctrine of individual immortality."  
Further than this, we do not know his views. He 
was persecuted for his belief. His views may have  
been the fruit of the seed sown very early in the days 
of the Arabian soul-sleepers, won over by the learn- 
ing and subtlety of Origen.  
Pope Boniface VIII., chosen to the papal see in  
1294, appears to have questioned the soul's immor- 
tality. In June, 1302, at an assembly of prelates and 
nobility, in presence of the king of France, "William  
Du Plessis and four French earls charged upon the  
pope " that he was an heretic; that he did not believe  
in the immortality of the soul, nor in eternal life;  
and that he doubted the reality of our Lord's body in  
the eucharist." 70  
Pope Leo X. had, by the Lateran Council of 1513,  
declared the human soul immortal, and this belief to 
be an article of the Christian faith. All who rejected  
it were heretics.71  
These references all along show that some persons  
were teaching views contrary to the doctrine of the  
soul's immortality, though no names are given.  
60 Debt and Grace, pp. 335, 342. 
70 See Dupin, Vol. II., p. 492; also Bower, Vol. II., p. 53.  
71 For several of the above quotations, I am indebted to Eld. D. T. Taylor, in  
the appendix to the first edition of my work on the Immortality of the Soul.


CHAPTER XI.  
D-u/fcin-cj. tfve- 
3HIS brings us to the time of the Reformation,  
when, once more, we find the doctrine of the  
soul's immortality,  purgatory, eternal tor- 
ivmv) ment, conscious state of the dead, etc., called  
in question and rejected.  
From a canon enacted in the Lateran Coun- 
2P oil, under Leo X., 1513, it appears that some  
persons were denying the immortality of man. Thus  
says the Council: " Whereas, in these our days, some  
have dared to assert, concerning the nature of the  
reasonable soul, that it is mortal, or one and the same  
m ail men; and some, rather philosophizing  declare  
this to be true, at least according to philosophy, we, 
with the approbation of the sacred council, do 'con-
demn and reprobate all those who assert that the in- 
tellectual soul is mortal."1 This shows that the ques-
tion was being discussed. We also see how ready  
Rome was to defend its pet child.  
Luther.  
In 1520, Luther published forty-one propositions in  
favor of his position. In the twenty-seventh,  he says  
thus: " I permit the pope to make articles of faith  
tor himself and his faithful; such as, the bread and  
win© are transubstantiated  in the sacrament; the es- 
sence of God neither generates nor is generated; the  
1 Historical View of the Controversy Concerning an Intermediate State, bv  
Archdeacon Blackburne, London, 1772, Chap. 2, p. 6.  
[149]


150  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
soul is the substantial form of the body; the pope is  
the emperor of the world, and the king of Heaven,  
and God  upon earth; the soul is immortal; with all  
those monstrous opinions to be found in the Roman  
dunghill of decretals." 2  
This indicates very plainly that the great reformer  
believed the immortality of the soul to be only a child 
of the pope. I think it can be shown that Luther  
did embrace the doctrine of the sleep of the dead. I  
will present some of the evidence for the reader's con- 
sideration:—  
1. We see that Luther calls the doctrine of the  
soul's immortality a " monstrous opinion." 2. Cardi-
nal Du Perron says: " Luther held that the soul died 
with the body, and that God would hereafter raise  
both the one and the other." 3 3. A Lutheran min- 
ister denied this charge, and in refuting it, said: " The  
origin of this calumny is a letter he [Luther] wrote 
to Amsdorf in the year 1522, in which he appears 
much more inclined to believe that the souls of the  
just sleep to the day of Judgment, without know- 
ing where they are. He does not pretend to say  
that they are dead in this interval, but only lie in a  
profound rest and sleep, in which opinion he followed 
many Fathers of the ancient church."4  
We could ask no better confession than this to  
Luther's faith in the sleep of the soul. It also con- 
fesses that this was the faith of the ancient Fathers. 
4. Another learned writer, speaking of the appear- 
ance of ghosts in 1534, says: " But after Luther's 
doctrine came to be understood, and had gained a lit- 
tle strength, this kind of specters by degrees vanished  
away. For Luther teaches from the Scriptures, that 
the souls of the dead are at rest, waiting for the final  
day of Judgment."  5 Here is another witness exactly  
2Idem.,  Chap. 4, pp. 13, 14.  
3 Perroniana au Motte (Luther), quoted in Historical View, p. 344.  
* Idem., p. 347; also Bayle's Dictionary, art, Luther.  
6Sleidan Comment., L. 9, pp. 239-242, quoted in Historical "View, Chap. 6,  
p. 23.


LUTHER.  151  
harmonizing with the others. 5. Dr. Priestly says:  
" The Helvetic convention condemns all those who  
believe the sleep of the soul, which shows that a con- 
siderable number must have maintained it. Luther  
himself was of this opinion, though whether he died 
in it, has been doubted."6 6. Dr. Alger says of  
Luther: "It is probable that the great reformer's  
opinion on this point was not always the same; for  
he says distinctly, ' The first man who died, when he 
awakes at the last day, will think he has been asleep  
but an hour.' " 7 7. The papists accused Luther, and  
said that he taught thus: "We can now find out a  
better way to abolish purgatory, the mass, and the  
Eoman pontiff, than by saying that the soul and  
body die together." Such was the opinion of this 
gentleman. And then, afterward, to confirm this  
doctrine, came out public theses, printed and disputed  
in Geneva, in the year 1558, wherein were these  
words: "All that is said concerning the immortality  
of the soul," said this proponent, " is nothing else but  
an invention of Anti-christ, to make his pot boil."8 
8. Luther's comment on Eccl. 9 : 10 plainly shows  
that he believed in the sleep of the dead. These are  
his words: " For in the grave is no work, etc.—an-
other condition, because the dead know nothing.  
Therefore Solomon thinks that the dead are wholly  
asleep, and utterly unconscious. There the dead will  
rest, not remembering the days or the years; but when  
raised up they will seem to themselves to have slept  
scarcely a moment," Again, commenting on Gen.  
25 : 8, he says: " So the spirit, after death, enters the 
abode of its rest, and, sleeping, is unconscious of its  
slumber; and yet God preserves the watchful spirit.  
God is able to raise up Elias and Moses, etc., and thus  
to ordain that they shall live. But in what way we  
6Corruptions of Christians, Vol. I., Lond., 1782, Sec. 3,'p. 424.  
* Doctrine of a Future Lire, Part 4, Chap. 3, p. 431, Note.  
8 Bayle's Dictionary, art. Luther,


152  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
do not know. The likeness of corporeal sleep suffices, 
and that God declares the sleep to be quiet and repose."  
We might quote other comments from him to the  
same effect; but these plainly show that he believed  
in the sleep of the dead. Put these facts and testi- 
monies together, and it clearly appears that the great  
reformer believed in the mortality of the soul, and 
the unconscious state of the dead. He used this truth, 
too, against the Romish doctrines of purgatory and  
saint worship. Archdeacon Blackburne, of the Epis-
copal church, in the appendix to his "Historical  
View," has given many quotations from Luther upon 
this subject, to which the reader is referred, if he de- 
sires further proof'.  
Moreover, Blackburne, Priestly, and others are of  
opinion that Luther's doctrine would have been gen- 
erally received by Protestants, had it not been" for  
the opposition and authority of Calvin.  
Thousands Embrace the Faith.  
Yery many of the early reformers embraced the  
doctrine of the sleep of the dead, and defended it in  
books and arguments. This appears from what Cal-
vin was stirred up to write against them, which he  
did at first in a very harsh, violent style, in a tract  
called " Psychopanny chia" In the preface, he says: 
"Long ago, when certain pious persons invited, and 
even urged me, to publish something for the purpose  
of suppressing the extravagance of those who alike 
ignorantly and tumultuously  maintain that the soul  
dies or sleeps, I could not be induced by all their urg-
ing, so averse did I feel to engage in that kind of dis- 
pute. At that time, indeed, I was not without ex- 
cuse. partly because I hoped that that absurd dogma  
would soon vanish of its own accord, or at least be  
confined to a few triflers The result, however,  
has been different from what I hoped. These bab-
blers have so actively exerted themselves, that they


THOUSANDS EMBRACE THE FAITH.  15.3  
have already drawn thousands into their insanity."  
" They are said to circulate their follies in a kind of  
tracts, which I have not happened to see." This is  
dated, Orleans, 1534.  
From the above, we see that, 1. This doctrine had  
been advocated "long" before he wTrote. 2. It was  
not confined to "a few triflers." 3. Its advocates  
"actively exerted themselves"  in spreading the doc- 
trine, by publishing books, etc. 4. It was gaining  
ground so fast that " thousands "had already received  
it. But it seems that Calvin himself did not yet re- 
alize how extensively  it had spread, and that " some  
good men" had received it. Hence, his book gave 
much offense. So, in another edition of his book,  
dated Basil, 1536, he says: "On again reading this 
discussion, I observe that, in the heat of argument,  
some rather severe and [harsh expressions have es-
caped me, which may perhaps give offense to delicate 
ears; and as I know that there are some good men into  
whose mind some parts of this dogma have been in- 
stilled, either from excessive credulity, or ignorance 
of Scriptures with which, at the time, they were not 
armed so as to be able to resist, I am unwilling to  
give them offense so far as they will allow me, since  
they are neither perverse nor malicious in their  
error." Says Dr. Priestly: " It was, however, the  
firm belief of so many of the reformers of that age,  
that had it not been for the authority of Calvin, who 
wrote expressly against it, the doctrine of an inter-
mediate state would, in all probability, have been as  
effectually exploded as the doctrine of purgatory it-
self." 9  
Duke George, of Saxony, wrote to his brother  
Frederick, complaining that, in consequence of Lu- 
ther's teachings, this doctrine was spreading among  
his people. Says Milner, in his " Church History:"  
" In a letter written with his own hand, he [George]  
9 Corruptions of Christians,  Vol. T., Sec. 8, p. 424.


154  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
complains heavily to this prince of the heretical  
transactions at Wittemberg and Zwickau, and of the  
remissness of his brother, the elector. The faithful  
clergy were insulted, and even pelted with stones, 
while those of the Lutheran sect married wives, and  
wrote books in defense of the marriages of the monks.  
There were even some who were destitute of all re- 
ligion, and denied the immortality of the soul. All  
these evils, said he, proceed from the moral doctrines  
of the arch-heretic [Luther]; and gave him the more  
pain, since he had found the contagion spreading  
among his own subjects."10 Here again we see the  
denial of the immort ality of the soul spreading among  
the reformers, and it is, by all, ascribed to Luther.  
The same doctrine, also, was advocated by certain  
Protestants in Italy.11  
William Tyndale.  
William Tyndale, the great English reformer and  
translator of the Bible, was a believer in the sleep of  
the dead. In 1530 he answered Sir Thomas More's 
Dialogue. More objected to Luther that he held  
"that all souls lie and sleep till doomsday." We  
would expect that, if this were not Luther's doctrine,  
Tyndale would have denied it. Instead of that, how- 
ever, he proceeds to defend it, both as the doctrine of 
Luther and of the Bible, thus: "And ye, in putting  
them [departed souls] in Heaven, hell, and purgatory,  
destroy the arguments wherewith Christ and Paul  
prove the resurrection. What God doth with them, 
that shall we know when we come to them. The 
true faith putteth the resurrection, which we  be  
warned to look for every hour. The heathen phil- 
osophers, denying that, did put, that the souls did  
ever live. And  the pope joineth the spiritual doctrine  
of Christ, and the fleshly doctrine of philosophers  
10 Vol. II., p. 356.  11 Bayle's Dictionary, art. Luther.


WILLIAM TYNDALE.  155  
together, things so contrary that they cannot agree,  
any more than the spirit and the flesh do in a Chris- 
tian man. And because the fleshly-minded  pope con- 
senteth unto heathen doctrines, therefore he corrupt-
eth the Scripture to establish it." " If the souls be 
in Heaven, tell me why they be not in as good case 
as the angels be. And then, what cause is there of  
the resurrection ? " 12  
This shows that Tyndale did not believe that souls  
go to Heaven at death,  but that they sleep till the  
resurrection. He argues correctly that the opposite  
doctrine destroys the resurrection. He also agrees  
with Luther that the immortality of the soul was a  
popish doctrine borrowed from the heathen. Again, 
More says:»" What shall he care how long he live in 
sin, that believeth Luther, that he shall after this life  
feel neither good nor evil in body nor soul, until the 
day of doom?" Tyndale answers: "Christ and his  
apostles taught no other, but warned to look for 
Christ's coming again every hour, which coining  
again, because ye believe will never be, therefore  
have ye feigned that other merchandise."13 This  
plainly shows what was the doctrine of the first re- 
formers upon this subject.  
But all the ability and authority of Calvin were  
brought to bear against the doctrine of the mortality  
of the soul and sleep of the dead. He established a 
school of theology at Geneva, which became very fa- 
mous, and attracted students from all parts of Eu- 
rope; and the doctrine of immortality,  as there taught,  
gradually came to be considered the orthodox doc- 
trine of the various Protestant churches. Many  
things conspired to bring this around. The reformers 
were accused of overturning and denying all religion. 
Hence, many doctrines and practices of Bome, which  
they were at first inclined to reject, were finally re- 
12 Tyndale's Works, published by Pox, 1573, p. 324.  13Idem., p. 327.


156  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
tained to avoid offense. In all but what they con- 
sidered vital points, they took this compromising  
course. Melancthon, especially, was noted for this.  
Opposition in England.  
11 The honor of first condemning this tenet [the  
sleep of the soul] was reserved for our English re- 
formers, who, in the fortieth of King Edward's  
articles, composed in the year 1552, and published  
the year following, expressed themselves thus:—  
"' They who say that the souls of such as depart  
hence do sleep, being Avithout all sense, feeling, and 
perceiving, until the day of Judgment, or affirm that  
the souls die with the bodies, and at tfie last day,  
shall be raised up with the same, do  utterly dissent  
from the right belief declared unto us in the holy  
Scriptures.' " u  
This shows that the doctrine had become suffi- 
ciently extended to claim the attention of that hon-
orable body. In the year 1566, was published the  
second Helvetic confession, fabricated entirely upon  
the Calvinistic plan. A part of Article XV runs  
thus: " We hold that man consists of two, and those 
different, substances in one person : of an immortal 
soul, seeing that, being separated from the body, it  
neither sleeps nor dies; and of a mortal body which  
yet, at the last Judgment, shall be raised from the  
dead, that the whole man, from thenceforward, may  
remain to eternity, either in life or death. We con- 
demn all who scoff at the immortality of the soul, or 
bring it into doubt by subtle disputations, or who say 
that the soul sleeps."15  
This shows that all previous efforts had failed to  
put down those who denied the immortality of the  
soul. Article XXVI of the same confession says:  
l4Blackburne's Historical View, Chap. 8, p. 34. I5 Idem., Chap. 9, p. 37.


THE EARL Y BA PTISTS.  157  
" We believe that the faithful migrate directly from  
their corporeal death to Christ We also be- 
lieve that the wicked are directly precipitated into 
hell." This is the first public avowal, by a Protestant 
church, of the belief that the saints go directly to 
Heaven at death. Thus, they directly contradicted 
Tyndale, Luther, the early Fathers, and the Bible.  
The Early Baptists.  
Mosheim mentions the " General Baptists," who  
flourished in England in the sixteenth century. In  
enumerating the articles of their faith, he says: " VI.  
They believed that the soul, between death and the  
resurrection at the last day, has neither pleasure nor 
pain, but is in a state of insensibility."  Of their  
number, he says that they " are dispersed in great  
numbers over many provinces of England." 16 Here we  
have the whole of a large sect of the early Protestants 
believing in the sleep of the soul. And even in Scot- 
land we find that there were believers in the sleep of 
the dead, who had made some stir there. In the  
year 1560, the Scotch drew up a confession of faith  
which was ratified by Parliament. Article XYII 
reads thus:—  
" The elect departed are in peace, and rest from  
their labors, not that they sleep and come to a cer-
tain oblivion, as some fanatics do affirm." 17 This  
shows that " soul sleepers" were well known in Scot- 
land, as well as in England, Germany, Switzerland,  
Italy, and throughout Christendom. Indeed, from  
that time forward until the present, an animated dis- 
cussion upon the subject of  the nature of the soul,  
condition of the dead, and the punishment  of the  
wicked, has been carried forward in the church and  
out, among all the civilized nations. Every few  
l6Murdock's Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, Vol. III., Book 4, Cent. 16,  
p. 218. 17 Blaokburne's Historical View, p. 39.


158  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
years books by different authors, issued from differ- 
ent places and in different languages, advocating the  
sleep of the dead and the destruction of the wicked,  
both upon philosophical and Scriptural grounds, have  
been put forth. Many of these authors were learned  
men in high positions in the church and in the State  
They spoke out boldly against the heathen doctrine  
of the immortality of man. These works, in turn,  
have called forth answers from the other side, advo- 
cating the immortality of the soul. Quite a complete  
list of these works, with a brief notice of their authors, 
may be found in a catalogue of works upon this sub- 
ject, by Ezra Abbott, in an appendix to "Alger's  
Doctrine of a Future Life."  
The Socinians.  
Another large sect of the early reformers, called  
the "Socinians," also denied the immortality of the  
soul, and held to the sleep of the dead and the anni- 
hilation of the wicked. Of the good character of this  
sect, Bayle says: "It is a matter of public notoriety  
that, in respect to morals, no sect has approached 
more nearly to the simplicity and strictness of the  
early Christians than the Socinians."18 Mosheim 
says that they taught that " those who obey the voice  
of this divine teacher,—and all can obey it, if so dis- 
posed,—being clad in other bodies, shall hereafter  
forever inhabit the blessed abode where God resides ; 
those who do otherwise, being consumed by exquisite  
torments, will at length sink into entire annihila- 
tion." 19 Alger, in his " History of the Doctrine of a  
Future Life," says of them: " The Socinian doctrine,  
relative to the future fate of man, .... declared  
that the wicked, after suffering excruciating agonies,  
18Quoted by Hudson, Debt and Grace, p. S50.  
19Murdock's Moslieim's Ecclesiastical History, Vol. III., Book 4, Cent. 16, p.  
288. See also, Adam's View ot all Religions, p. 259, art. Socinians.


THE SOCINIANS.  159  
•would be annihilated. Respecting the second coming  
of Christ, a physical resurrection of the dead, and a 
day of Judgment, the Socinians believed with the 
other sects.'''20 This sect originated in the time of 
the Reformation. Says Mosheim: "Few are unap% 
prised that the first originators of the Socinian  
scheme possessed fine talents and much erudition."21  
They also held to the sleep of the dead. The Re- 
ligious Encyclopedia thus states their faith upon this 
point: " Many of them also reject the spirituality and  
separate existence of the soul, believing that man is  
wholly material, and that our only prospect of im- 
mortality is from the Christian doctrine of a resur- 
rection. Of course, the notion of an  intermediate  
state of consciousness between death and the resur- 
rection is rejected; for, as the whole man dies, so the  
whole man is to be called again to life at the ap- 
pointed period of the resurrection, with the same  
association that he had while alive; the intermediate  
portion of time having been passed by him in a  
state of utter insensibility."22  
This is the Bible doctrine, exactly and well stated.  
The New American Cyclopedia23 gives the following 
facts in the rise and history of this denomination:  
" L. Socinus was an Italian theological writer of the  
noble house of the Sozzini, born 1525. He was  
highly educated, accomplished in the original lan- 
guages of the Bible, an acute critic, and fearless in  
the pursuit of truth. He was also very wealthy."  
Of him Mosheim says: He was " a man of uncommon  
genius and learning; to which he added, as his very 
enemies were obliged to acknowledge, the luster of a  
virtuous life and unblemished manners." 2* He trav- 
eled over all Europe, and received the friendship of  
2">Part 4, Chap. 3, p. 428.  
Murdock's Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, Vol. III., Part 2, Chap. 4, p.  
240. Also, Havwood's Book of  All Religions, art. Socinians.  
i"-  Art. Socinian ism. 23 Art. Socimis.  
2i Ecclesiastical History, Book 4, Sec. 3, Chap. 4, p. 502.


160  DOG THINK OF THE SOUL.  
Melancthon, Caloni, and other reformers. He died  
at Zurich, 1562.  
His nephew, Faustus Socinus, born 1539, embraced  
the views of his uncle, and in 1577, at Basle, began  
publicly to proclaim them. Of course, he met with  
opposition. He went into Transylvania, and finally 
into Poland, where he married into a noble family.  
Here the ruling families embraced his views, and gave  
power, influence, and protection to his converts. Says 
Mosheim: " Under the auspicious protection of such 
a spirited and insinuating  chief, the little flock, that  
had been hitherto destitute of strength, resolution,  
and courage, grew apace, and suddenly rose to a  
high degree of credit and influence. Its number  
was augmented by proselytes of all ranks and orders. 
Of these, some were distinguished  by their nobility,  
others by their opulence, some by their address, and  
many by their learning and eloquence."25 A univer-
sity for theological training was founded at Cracow, 
and endowed by the owner of the city. From thence  
went out many learned missionaries to other parts of  
Europe. A strong foot-hold was obtained in Tran- 
sylvania, where numerous churches were raised up.  
Many of these continue to this day, and are protected 
by law.  
Unfortunately,  the Socinians embraced extreme  
Unitarian views on the nature of Christ. This 
served largely to hinder the propagation of the Bib- 
lical truths which they held concerning the state of 
the dead and the nature of man.  
A Book.  
In 1644, an excellent little work came out, having  
this title: "A Treatise, wherein it is Proved, both  
theologically and philosophically, that the Whole  
Idem., p. 50S.


locke.  161  
Man is a Compound wholly Mortal," etc. It was 
signed, R. O. It provoked considerable controversy.  
A second edition was printed at London, 1655.  
Locke.  
In the last half of the seventeenth century flour- 
ished that great Christian philosopher, John Locke,  
of England. In religious principles he was a Puri- 
tan. He was one among the few intellectual giants  
of the world, a ripe scholar, a profound reasoner, a  
friend and companion of the most renowned men of  
his time, a voluminous writer, and a man of world- 
wide fame. Of him the New American Cyclopedia 
says: "Early embued with a zeal for liberty and  
with the principles of a severe morality, his whole  
life was a warfare against the enemies of freedom in  
speculation, freedom in worship, and freedom from 
every unnecessary political restraint."26  
This great man took a bold stand against the im- 
mortality of the soul, and its immateriality.  He  
made a clear and forcible argument against these  
heathen fables, and against the conscious state of the  
dead, as any one may see in his excellent book, " The  
Reasonableness of Christianity."  We quote only a  
few sentences.  
Thus he says: "And by this fall, he [Adam] lost  
paradise, wherein were tranquility and the tree of  
life, that is, he lost bliss and immortality."27 Again: 
"'But an exclusion from paradise, and loss of immor- 
tality, is the portion of sinners."28 Of the death  
threatened in Gen. 2 : 17, he says: "I must confess,  
by death here, I can understand nothing but a ceas- 
ing to be (that is, the losing of all actions of life and  
Art. Lock. 27 Reasonableness of Christianity, Sec. 1, p 3.  
Sf  Idem., p. 12.  
11


162  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
sense)."29 Again: "But it seems a strange way of  
understanding a law (which requires the plainest  
and directest words), that by death should be meant 
eternal life in misery."30 Again Mr. Locke says: 
"But when man was turned out [of paradise], he was 
exposed to the toil, anxiety, and frailties of this mor- 
tal life, which should end in dust, out of which he 
was made, and to which he should return, and then  
have no more life or sense than the dust had."31  
This was a heavy blow in the right place, and it  
had its effects.  
John Milton.  
In the middle of the seventeenth century lived  
that eminent Christian poet, the great John Milton,  
author of "Paradise Lost." Whoever has read that  
work must feel that, as a man, he was largely im-
bued with the Spirit of God. He wrote many other 
works besides this. In 1655-58 he wrote his " Trea- 
tise on Christian Doctrine." In Chap. 12, Yol. I., he  
devotes a lengthy argument to proving the total un- 
consciousness of man from the time of death until the  
coming of Christ and the resurrection. He sustains 
his argument by sound reasoning and abundant  
quotations from the Scriptures. His works have had  
a wide circulation, as all know; and this treatise on  
the "State of the Dead" has enlightened many souls  
upon this subject. It has been republished in Amer-
ica, both in the East and in the West, and hundreds  
of thousands of copies have been sold. The reader 
will notice, as we proceed, that some of the greatest 
minds, the ripest scholars, and the most devoted  
Christians in the world have been believers in the 
sleep of the dead.  
29Idem., p. 5. Idem., p. 4. mIdem., p. 6.


STOSCH.  163  
Bishop Taylor.  
_ Bishop Jeremy Taylor, of the Episcopal church,  
did not believe in the natural immortality of the soul,  
as maybe seen by the following: "Whatsoever had  
a beginning can also have an ending, and it shall die,  
unless it be daily watered from the stream flowing 
from the fountain of life, and refreshed with the dew  
of Heaven; and therefore God had prepared a tree  
in paradise, to have supported Adam in his artificial  
immortality. Immortality was not in his nature."82  
Archbishop Tillotson.  
In 1690,  Archbishop Tillotson preached a famous  
sermon on the eternity of hell torments. This ser- 
mon created a great commotion in the theological 
world. He maintained that, though God has threat-
ened impenitent sinners with eternal punishment, yet 
he keeps the right of punishing in his own hand, and  
may remit the penalty. This, as all saw, was virtu- 
ally abandoning the doctrine of eternal torment.  
And it was so construed. Coming from so high a  
dignitary, it produced a great commotion among the  
advocates of an endless hell. He admitted that the 
doctrine of the "immortality of the soul was rather  
supposed, or taken for granted, than expressly re-
vealed in the Bible."33  
Stosch.  
On the continent, Frederick W. Stosch published,  
at Berlin and Amsterdam, in 1.692, a work of 124 pages,  
which " maintains the materiality of the soul, and  
Quoted in Hudson's Debt and Grace, p. 311.  
33Sermons, Vol. XI., p. 4S92.


164  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
denies the doctrine of endless punishment," The  
book was suppressed by the government, and was  
the cause of much trouble to the bold author.  
Dr. Coward.  
In 1702, Dr.  "William Coward, London, published a  
book with this title: " Second Thoughts concerning 
Human Soul, demonstrating  the Notion of Human  
Soul, as Believed to be a Spiritual, Immortal Sub-
stance United to  the Human Body, to be a Plain  
Heathenish Invention." Of this able scholar and  
Christian, Alger says: " The famous Dr. Coward, and  
a few supporters, labored with much zeal, skill, and  
show of learning to prove the natural mortality of  
the soul." 34 In 1706, Coward published another book  
for the same purpose. These works stirred up furi-
ous attacks from the churchmen, and he was de- 
nounced as a heretic. Of these books Mr. Abbot  
says: They " were ordered by Parliament to be burnt  
by the common hangman. The result was the im-
mediate publication of a second edition." Thus the 
truth of God has always fared. It has been perse- 
cuted and interdicted, but this has only caused it to 
spread the wider.  
Lawyer Laytoii.  
In 1706, Henry Layton, a rich gentleman and a  
lawyer, came to the aid of Dr. Coward, and published  
a book entitled, "A Search after Souls," in which he  
answers, at full length, the arguments used to prove  
the soul immortal. His book, however, seems not to  
have had an extensive circulation. These books  
brought out numerous answers from the orthodox,  
and so gave the doctrine a wide circulation.  
» Doctrine of a, Future Life, p. ISO.


WATTS.  165  
In the year 1703, Jonathan Edwards preached a  
sermon on the end of the wicked as contemplated by  
the righteous, in which he advocated the abominable  
doctrine that " the sight of hell torments will exalt  
the happiness of the saints forever." We are sorry  
to say that such blasphemous views have found other  
advocates in later times.  
Pitts.  
In 1708, John Pitts, of London, issued an able work  
against the immortality of the soul, vindicating, from  
Scripture and reason, the sleep of the dead. He was  
a presbyter of the Church of England. In the same  
year, Mr. Pitts published another book advocating  
the same views.  
The Learned Dodwell.  
In the same year, Henry Dodwell sent out another  
book, in which he brings forward testimony from the  
Scriptures and the Fathers against the immortality of  
man. This was answered, in the following year, by  
a Mr. Whiston on the opposite side.  
In 1720, an anonymous writer in London published  
a book maintaining  the-mortality of the soul and the  
unconscious state of the dead. The frequency with 
which these books were published shows that there  
was much controversy upon the subject, and that 
this doctrine had able advocates in the learned Avorld  
at that time.  
Watts.  
Dr. Isaac Watts, 1733, the great church poet,  
whose hymns are sung throughout the world, taught 
the annihilation of infants who died without bap-


166  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
tism.35 Says Buck, in his " Theological Dictionary,"  
" The great Dr. Watts may be considered, in some  
measure, a destructionist;  since it was his opinion  
that the children of ungodly parents, who die in in- 
fancy, are annihilated."86 It further appears that he 
was strongly inclined to believe in the utter destruc- 
tion of all the wicked. Hear him:—J  
" Let us consider it [death] as it relates to the soul  
of man. The soul is an immaterial and thinking  be- 
ing; it has in itself no natural principles of dissolu- 
tion; and, therefore, so far as we can judge, it must  
be immortal in its own nature. But who can say  
whether the word death might not be fairly construed 
to extend to the utter obstruction of the life of the  
soul, as well as the body, if God, the righteous gov-
ernor, should please to sicze the forfeiture. For man,  
by sin, has forfeited all that God had given him; that 
is, the life and existence of his soul, as well as his  
body. All is forfeited, by sin, into the hands of God;  
and why might not the threatening declare the right  
that ever a God of goodness had to resume all back  
again, and utterly destroy and annihilate his creat- 
ures forever? There is not one place of Scripture,  
that occurs to me, where the word death, as it was  
first threatened in the law of innocency, necessarily  
signifies a certain miserable immortality of the soul, 
either to Adam, the actual sinner, or to his posterity."  
This clearly shows the faith of this great man.  
Warburton.  
Bishop William Warburton, in his " Divine Lega- 
tion of Moses," London, 1738-41, styled the believers 
in everlasting misery, "the unmerciful doctors; " and  
seriously inquires, " Doth annihilation impeach that  
85 Ruin and Recovery of Mankind, Ques. 18, Prin. 3. 
36 Art. Destructionists.


BISHOr LAW.  167  
wisdom and goodness which God displayed when he 
brought the soul out of  nothing? "  
Thus mtq see that many of the most devout and  
learned writers in the church all along, if they have  
not openly advocated the annihilation  of the wicked,  
have looked with favor upon that view.  
J. N. Scott, a minister of London, in 1743, in two  
volumes of published sermons, maintained " the doc- 
trine of the destruction of the wicked." On the other  
hand, in 1746, J. Btildieke, Berlin, issued a book in 
which he maintains the dotrine that "the torments 
of the damned sprung from pure benevolence in the  
Deity, because the happiness of the elect wall be so 
heightened and intensified by the contemplation of  
their sufferings."  Thus, while light upon this ques- 
tion was  spreading all around, there were still found  
some in the midnight darkness of barbarism, uttering  
against God such blasphemies as this.  
Bishop Law.  
In 1755, another bishop in England startled the  
Episcopal church with his views on the state of the  
dead. He advocated the sleep of the dead, taking  
the same views that John Milton had before him. Of  
his book the historian says :—  
"Bishop Law's Appendix to his Considerations on  
the Theory of Religion, etc., made its first appearance  
in the year 1755. In this Appendix were examined,  
under several heads, all or most of the texts where 
the words soul or spirit occurred in the Scriptures,  
and the significations  of them in the original lan- 
guages explained from the several contexts to which  
they belonged. The cause of the conscious intermedi- 
ate state was so shaken from its very foundations by 
the Scriptural testimonies brought together in this


168  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
Appendix, that numbers of its partisans ran in a  
hurry to lend a hand to support the tottering edifice."37  
About this time William Kenrick, Dublin, put  
forth a book entitled, " The Grand Question Debated,  
or an Essay to Prove the Soul of Man is not, neither 
can it be, Immortal; the Whole Founded upon the  
Arguments of Locke, Newton, Pope, Burnet, Watts,"  
etc.38  
We simply refer to these books that the reader  
may see that the doctrine of the sleep of the dead 
and the mortality of the soul has had a history, and  
that it has had plenty of advocates all along. So  
many books upon this subject would never have been  
published had there not been a large demand for 
them; and there would have been no such demand 
for them unless there had been many believers in 
the doctrines thus defended.  
In 1757, J. Robinson issued a book disproving the  
immortality of the soul.  
In 1759, there was published in England, in three  
volumes, "Goadby's Bible." The editors of this  
work, in their notes, advocate eternal life only in  
Christ, and destruction for all the finally impenitent.  
Samuel Bourn, of Norwich, England, in four vol- 
umes of sermons printed in 1760, argued the doctrine 
of the destruction, in the lake of fire, of all the incor- 
rigibly wicked. He was a faithful and pious minis-
ter.39  
In 1765, Mr. Blackburne, A.  M., archdeacon of  
Cleveland, England, issued his well-known and valua- 
ble book, " An Historical Yiew of the Controversy  
concerning an Intermediate State." In this he gives 
an account of the various works written on this  
question, from the Reformation till his own time. He 
reviewed and answered the main arguments advanced  
sr Historical View of the Controversy Concerning the Intermediate State, by  
Archdeacon Blackburne, 2d edition, pp. 200, 201.  
38  Abbot in Algier, No. 10. 39  Sermons, Vol. 1., pp. 371-415.


JOSEPH PHIE STL T.  169  
to sustain the immortality of the soul. He was a 
zealous and able advocate of the mortality of man,  
sleep of the dead, etc. In 1772, he published the  
second edition of his book, which has had a good cir-
culation, and has given much help to the cause of 
truth.  
Joseph Priestly.  
1777, Joseph Priestly, a very learned philosopher  
and divine, wrote two volumes, "Disquisitions  Relat- 
ing to Matter and Spirit," in which he-discussed the 
relation of matter and spirit, and maintained the  
sleep of the soul in death. Being a profound scholar 
and a vigorous writer, and his writings having an ex- 
tensive circulation, his influence in favor of the sleep  
of the dead was widely felt. The following sketch 
of his life is epitomized from the American Encyclo- 
pedia:—  
" He was born in England, in 1733, of Calvinistic  
parents. He learned Hebrew in his holidays, and 
with little instruction made good progress in the  
Chaldaic, Syriac, Arabic, French, Italian, and Ger- 
man. From his youth, he was naturally religious.  
He was a great student all his life. He was minis- 
ter first to a congregation in Suffolk, next in Cheshire,  
. and in 1761 he was chosen professor of belles lettres in  
Warrington Academy. He was an intimate friend of  
Dr. Franklin, by whose advice he wrote the history 
of electrical discoveries, which had a wide circulation. 
In 1768, he was a pastor of a large church in Leeds. 
He received the title of LL. D. from the University 
of Edinburg. In 1772, he received a medal from the 
Royal Society for his philosophical discoveries. His  
name as a man of science was now honored through- 
out Europe. He traveled upon the continent, and 
was introduced to the most celebrated scholars of the  
age. In 1780, he was pastor of the congregation in


170  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
Birmingham. He wrote extensively in favor of the  
American Revolution. In 1794, he settled in Amer-
ica, where he became the intimate friend of John 
Adams and other prominent men. He was remarka-
ble for  his soundness of reason, for patience and zeal  
in public life, and for kindness in domestic relations. 
He was one of the first scholars and philosophers of 
his age. His writings embrace many volumes, which  
are still published and read extensively.  
Thus the reader will see that the doctrine we advo- 
cate has been supported by many of the ripest schol-
ars and greatest philosophers of the Christian age.  
In 1772, at Leipzig, J. E. Walter published a book  
in German, maintaining the destruction of the 
wicked.  
In 1789, at Newcastle, Edward Homes wrote a  
book to " prove the materiality of the soul, by reason  
and Scripture."  
George Clark, London, 1792, in a book of 284  
pages, gave a " Vindication of the honor of  God, in a  
Scriptural Refutation of the Doctrine of Endless Mis-
ery and Universalism."  
John Marsom, in 1794, in two volumes issued at  
London, vigorously refuted the restorationism  of Dr.  
Chauncy, and maintained the destruction of the lost,  
who would never receive immortality, but utterly die.  
A second edition of his works was called for, and 
issued.  
This doctrine had found many believers and able  
advocates in America before this time, though it had  
not attracted so much attention as in England and 
on the continent. In 1795, an anonymous author  
published a book of 141 pages, in New York, under  
the title of "Observations,"  in which he advocated  
the sleep of the dead.


CHAPTER XII.  
fdxt&nk tfW Doctv'ww, o{> tJW Sltoztci/Citi^  o^  
the Sotif at tfW tyz-aacwt 'tsime.  
fflBpajzOMING- down to the present century, we find  
Bishop Timothy Kendrick, in two volumes of  
f5§§|| sermons issued at London, 1805, devoting ser- 
mons two, three, and four to proving that the 
soul of man dies with the body, and is restored  
to life at the resurrection and the second ad- 
vent of the Lord. This was a bold effort for  
a bishop of the Episcopal church, but the reader will  
observe that several other bishops and high dignita- 
ries of the church have publicly taught that doctrine.  
But perhaps 110 man has dealt a heavier blow against  
the immortality of the soul than the eminent and  
learned Dr. Whately, archbishop of Dublin. His 
popularity as a scholar, and his high position as an  
ecclesiastical dignitary, have secured to his writings  
both attention and a wide circulation. His work en- 
titled, " A View of the Scripture Revelations Con- 
cerning a Future State," evidently made many con- 
verts to his faith; for it was soon followed by many 
other books from different ministers in England, ad- 
vocating the same views.  
In 1805, Robert Forsyth, of Edinburg, in a work  
on Moral Science, advocated no future immortality 
and endless life, except for the good alone, who ren-
der themselves worthy of it.  
A "Member of the Church of England," in 1817,  
in a work of 240 pages, printed in London, entitled,  
" Eternal Punishment proved to be not Suffering, but  
[171]


172 DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
Privation; and Immortality dependent on Spiritual  
Regeneration," etc., set forth the better view of man's 
nature, and the destiny of evil.  
In 1834, Dr. John Thomas advocated, in this coun- 
try, in a journal called " The Apostolic Advocate," 
the above doctrines, and that neither Adam  nor his  
posterity possessed immortal souls. Immortality was 
our Lord's gift, and evil souls would die.  
The next year these views were presented in a vol- 
ume entitled, " Christ our Life," published anony- 
mously by a clergyman of the church of Ireland, at  
Dublin; author unknown.  
Rev. Reginald Courtenay, D. D., a rector of the  
church of England, in a London volume of 438 pages, 
ably written and set forth in 1843, maintained the 
sleep of the soul, and argued against its natural im- 
mortality. A second edition came out in 1857.  
This brings us to a time in the history of this con- 
troversy in England when these views began to  
spread rapidly through all parts of the kingdom. 
Several books in each year have been issued, advo-
cating in some way the mortality of man, the sleep 
of the dead, and the annihilation  of the wicked.  
Tracts, pamphlets, volumes, and other publications  
have been many. We could not even name the dif- 
ferent authors who have accepted these views. Men- 
tion may be made of a few of the more prominent  
ones.  
Rev. H. H. Dobney, an able Baptist minister of  
England, first published his " Scripture Doctrine of  
Future Punishment,"  in 1844. A second edition was  
struck off in the United States in 1856. He main- 
tained the mortality of man, his sleep in death, and 
the destruction of the wicked.  
About the same time, Edward White, Congrega- 
tional minister at Hereford, England, put forth a vol- 
ume in defense of the same doctrine, entitled, " Life  
in Christ."


EXTENT OF THE DOCTRINE.  173  
Ministers in Edinburgh, and in Bristol, and in Ply- 
mouth, have spoken out boldly and well in defense of 
the unpopular doctrine of the mortality of man, sleep  
of the dead, and destruction of the wicked. J. Pan- 
ton Ham has done good execution this way. A dis- 
tinguished advocate of this doctrine has appeared in 
the Bight Honorable Sir James Stephen, Prof, of 
History, Cambridge, England. Advocates of this  
doctrine are now springing up all over Great Britain.  
One paper, The Rainbow, published by Win. Leask.  
D. D., 31 Sundringham Road, Kingsland, London,  
and another, The Bible Echo, Hankow Villa, Birk-
beck Road, Leyton Stone, E. London, advocate this 
long-neglected truth. Also, in Scotland, The Mes- 
senger, published by W. M. Strang, Glasgow, does 
the same.  
In a late article, the English correspondent of The  
Presbyterian, Philadelphia, Pa., says: "There is, and 
has been for some time, a good deal of discussion 
among a limited number of both churchmen and non-
conformists on the awful question of everlasting pun- 
ishment, and it is gradually revealing opinions and  
arguments which are sure to do much mischief. It 
lias come to pass that the church of England and the 
Congregational body have men of mark who hold  
that the wicked and impenitent will not be consigned  
to endless torment; but will be utterly extinguished  
and literally destroyed." He then names several  
ministers who hold these views. Says The Advance,  
a Methodist paper, " The doctrine of the annihilation 
of the wicked is receiving increased attention in Great  
Britain and in America."  
An editorial in The Christian World (Congregation- 
alist), London, England, 1868, says:—  
" The many books and pamphlets that have been  
published of late upon the subject of the future pun-
ishment of the wicked confirm the conviction, to 
which we gave expression a few months ago, that a


174  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
great number of the most devout and thoughtful per-
sons in our churches are deeply exercised regarding  
it, and are anxiously desirous of ascertaining the real  
teaching of the Holy Scripture thereupon It  
is not a little startling to find the extent to which  
this opinion is spreading in our evangelical churches.  
Several well-known ministers, whose orthodoxy on  
other points is as firmly fixed as ever, have ventured 
to brave the opposition, sure to arise, by writing 
boldly and earnestly in support of this new reading  
of the many declarations of the new Testament, to  
the effect that life and immortality come only by-ac-
cepting the gospel of Christ. These names include a  
Baptist, the Eev. William Miall; Congregationalist,  
the Eev. E. White, Eev. Dr. Leask, and many others;  
and it is stated that one of the rising leaders of this  
section of non-conformists  is about to issue a book on  
the same side, that will certainly arouse the attention  
of the whole church to which he belongs. Of the  
Episcopalian clergy, quite a host have declared them-
selves on this side, of late. The Eev. Wrilliam Ker,  
M. A., Vicar of Tipton, has published a very elabo-
rate argument; and more recently the Eev. Samuel 
Minton, M. A., minister of Eaton Chapel, Eaton 
Square, has penned a powerful letter to Mr. Eobt.  
Baxter."  
Eev. Henry Constable, late prebendary of Cork,  
Ireland, has lately published two excellent volumes  
on the subject, one on Future Punishment, and one 
on Hades. In the last ten years, the light upon this 
subject has been spreading so rapidly that now there 
are believers raised up, missionaries sent out, and  
churches established in England, Scotland, Denmark,  
Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, Switzerland, 
Italy, and Egypt. So the good work goes forward.


j y THE UNI TED STATES.  175  
In the United States.  
It is in the United States that this doctrine is tak- 
ing the deepest root and spreading the fastest.  
In the early part of the present century, publica- 
tions upon this subject began to make their appear-
ance, and a few here and there embraced the doctrine  
of the mortality of the soul and the sleep of the dead.  
In 1803, a church sprung up simultaneously  in  
many parts of the United States, calling themselves  
Christians. They rejected the immortality of the  
soul, eternal misery, etc. Of them, the historian  
says: "They declared that the atonement-was full;  
that the wicked at death were to be annihilated,"x  etc. ;  
that is, at the second death. This, however, was not  
a prominent article of their faith; hence, at present,  
some of them hold to it and others do not. But as  
many of their ministers publicly advocated these 
views, and a large share of their members believed 
them, it served to arouse discussion upon the point.  
In 1808, Eev. Elias Smith, in the " first religious  
newspaper published in the world," viz., The Herald 
of Gospel Liberty, issued at Portsmouth, N. H., de- 
fended the view that immortality was God's free gift  
bestowed on the good alone through Christ at their  
resurrection, all the wicked utterly perishing and  
truly dying in the day of the second death. Thou-
sands of his followers in the Christian connection 
held the same opinion.  
Aaron Bancroft, D. D., an author and able Unita- 
rian minister at Worcester, Mass., in sermons pub- 
lished in 1828, advocated endless life alone through  
Christ. The same year J. Sellon, in a work of 106  
pages, issued at Canandaigua, 1ST. Y., maintained the  
extinction of the wicked. Walter Balfour, in 1829,  
1 The Religions of all Nations, art. Christians, p. 175.


176  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
at Chariest own, Mass., published a book advocating  
the sleep of the dead.  
Calvin French, a deacon of the Congregational  
church, and afterward a minister, published a pam- 
phlet of 54 pages at Boston, 1842, in which he de- 
fended immortality as coming only through Christ, 
the annihilation of the wicked, and the sleep of the  
dead.  
Very many of the denomination called '' Disciples,"  
or " Campbellites," believe in the sleep of the dead 
and the destruction of the wicked, though generally, 
as a denomination, they do not hold these sentiments.  
In the providence of God, this subject was brought  
prominently before the Advent people in the great re- 
ligious movement of 1840-44.  
In 1837, Mr. Geo. Storrs, a Methodist preacher,  
first had his mind called to this subject by reading a 
pamphlet put out by Henry Grew, of Philadelphia.  
After thoroughly studying the subject for some three  
or four years, he adopted the doctrine of the mortal-
ity of man, the destruction of the wicked, etc. In  
1841, he published "Three Letters" to prominent  
ministers, in which he advocated his views of this  
doctrine. In 1842, he preached to a congregation in 
Albany, 1ST. Y., "Six Sermons" on this subject.  
These he soon after published, and scattered exten- 
sively. In the fall of 1842, he embraced the doctrine  
of the soon coming of Christ, as taught by Adventists.  
The next year he traveled and preached very exten- 
sively among them, and freely distributed his "Six  
Sermons" among his hearers. His views met with  
much opposition at first; yet some prominent men  
embraced them. In 1843, he started the Bible Ex- 
aminer, as an occasional issue, mainly for the pur-
pose of disseminating  light upon these subjects.  
Later, it was made a monthly.  
After 1844, the Adventists almost as an entire body  
embraced the doctrine of the mortality of the soul,


j y THE UNI TED STATES.  177  
the unconscious state of the dead, and the final anni- 
hilation of the wicked. Those who did not embrace  
these views were left as a separate party, which has  
since dwindled to very small proportions, and they  
have nearly lost their position as Adventists.  
About this time Eld. Jacob Blaine, Baptist minis- 
ter, Buffalo, N. Y., put out a book of 117 pases, en- 
titled, "Death not Life." This had a wide and rapid  
sale, soon running through many editions. The ar- 
guments being very plain and pointed, it made a  
powerful impression on the minds of thousands. H.  
L. Hastings, of Boston, Mass., also dealt some heavy 
blows against the doctrine of eternal torment. He  
wrote several stirring pamphlets upon the subject, 
which were extensively  read.  
Mention should be made in this connection of the  
writings of the late Prof. C. F. Hudson, of Cam- 
bridge, Mass. During the latter part of his life he be- 
came interested in the subjects of future punishment,  
nature of man, etc., and traveled extensively, visiting  
libraries and consulting with literary men; and some 
of the fruits of his research were given to the world  
in an elaborate volumn entitled, " Debt and Grace, as 
related to the Doctrine of a Future Life;" which was  
followed by "Christ our Life: The Scriptural Argu- 
ment for Immortality through Christ Alone;" and  
some minor works. "Debt and Grace" is a volume  
of several hundred pages; and "Christ our Life" is 
an able work of 164 pages.  
During the last thirty years so many ministers and  
scholars have written pamphlets and volumes advoca- 
ting the Scriptural view of the subject, that we could  
not undertake to name them all.  
In answer to inquiries upon the extent of the  
spread of these views, Eld. D. T. Taylor writes the 
author thus; "In 1860,1 made a partial census of the  
beliefs of the so-called Adventist ministers and others  
on these questions. I collected the names and ad- 
12


178  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
dresses of 600 ministers residing in nineteen different 
States, and in Nova Scotia and Canada. I estimated  
the whole number of Advent believers under the 
ministry and influence of these 600 clergymen to be  
54,000, and the population of the community gener- 
ally attending Adventist meetings as numbering 150,-
000. Since this census and estimate was made—now 
eighteen years ago—the total number of preachers 
has increased, I judge, to over 1,000, and I think the  
believers have doubled. . . . Thousands and tens of  
thousands in the denominations also hold the doctrine 
in question."  
We consider the above estimate too low rather  
than too high.  
Prominent among those advocating this doctrine  
may be mentioned Prof. Chas. L. Ives, M. D., late of 
Yale College, and author of "Bible Doctrine of the  
Soul," an able and scholarly work of several hundred  
pages; Rev. J. H. Pettengill,  M. A., author of a mas- 
terly volume of 285 pages, called " The Theological  
Tri-lemma;" Rev. John Miller, of Princeton College, 
and Rev. A. G. Pease, of Rutland, Vt., both of whom 
have written able works defending the doctrine of 
immortality through Christ alone; Eld. J. H. Whit-
more, a clear and forcible writer, the author of a  
book entitled, "Immortality."  Eld. D. T. Taylor, of  
Rouse's Point, N. Y., has written many powerful ar- 
ticles on the subject. Eld. Uriah Smith, for a quar-
ter of a century editor of The Advent Review, Battle  
Creek, Mich., and author of several volumes, has cast 
a heavy influence on the right side of the question.  
Besides articles and small tracts, he has written an  
excellent book on this subject, entitled, " Man's Na- 
ture and Destiny." Eld. J. N. Andrews, a critical  
scholar and a deep reasoner, the editor of a French  
paper, has written several tracts and many telling  
articles upon the subject. The following among  
many other Seventh-day Adventist ministers, have


j y THE UNI TED STATES.  179  
publicly preached this doctrine through the length  
and breadth of the United States; Elders James 
White, J. H. Waggoner, J. N. Loughborough, Geo.  
I. Butler, S. N. Haskell, and W. H. Littlejohn. Of 
the other bodies of Adventists who have preached  
the same doctrine, Elders John Couch, 0. R. Fassett,  
J. V. Himes, Edwin Burnham, Albion Ross, A. A.'  
Phelps, H. F. Carpenter, Geo. R. Kramer, and C. R.  
Hendricks, are among the most noted.  
The Seventh-day Adventists have twenty organized  
Conferences, extending from Maine on the East to  
Washington Territory on the West, and from Minne- 
sota on the North to Texas on the South. They  
have about 400 preachers, 700 churches, and about  
20,000 believers. They publish nine periodicals. Of  
these, one is in French, one in Swedish, one in Hol- 
land, and two are in Danish. Their list of publica- 
tions now runs up to about two hundred, embracing  
those from a volume of 500 pages down to a penny  
tract. They have foreign missions in England, Den-
mark, Norway, Sweden, Germahy, France, Switzer-
land, Italy, and Egypt. They have a fine college at  
Battle Creek, Mich., with an attendance of over 300  
students. At the same place they have the largest  
and best conducted Sanitarium in America. Their  
publishing facilities are very great, their house at 
Battle Creek having a capital of over $125,000. Some  
weeks they send out over 300 bushels of printed mat- 
ter, which is scattered to all parts of the world.  
The great body of the Adventists having zealously  
embraced these views about 1844, as above stated,  
they immediately began to publish them with great  
energy. Numerous small tracts, many pamphlets, 
and finally bound volumes, were soon scattered all 
over the country, like leaves in autumn. Believers 
were raised up everywhere, and among them many  
able speakers and writers. This subject was preached  
upon, debated both orally and through the papers,


180  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
and numerous churches were raised up in all parts of 
the United States largely upon this one issue.  
In this country alone there are now issued about  
a dozen periodicals which advocate this doctrine. 
The leading ones are: The Review and Herald, Battle 
Creek, Mich.; The Signs of the Times, Oakland, Cal.; 
The World's Crisis, Boston, Mass.; The Bible Banner, 
506 Minor St., Philadelphia, Penn.; The Restitution, 
Chicago, 111.; the Herald of Life, New York; Bible  
Examiner, New York; The Tidende, (Danish) Battle  
Creek, Mich.; The Harold, (Swedish), and Stimmeder  
Wahrheit, (German), same place. Nor is this ques- 
tion confined to the Adventists; but some in every  
denomination are receiving these views. On this  
point, the Methodist Home Journal, for March 26,  
1870, says: "There are many candid minds in the  
churches that are more or less unsettled, and hon- 
estly and eagerly seeking for new measures of light 
upon the question." In 1862, Prof. Hudson reported  
over forty evangelical clergymen of the great denom-
inations, among his personal acquaintances, who held 
these views.  
For fourteen years the author has traveled and  
preached upon this subject, from Maine to California,  
and from Minnesota to Alabama. In every commu- 
nity he has found persons, both in the church and 
out, who say that they have never been able to be-
lieve the popular doctrine on this question.  
But, as might be expected, these attacks upon the  
old doctrine of an immortal soul and an endless hell  
have brought out numerous publications on the oppo-
site side, advocating the " orthodox " theory of the  
immortality of the soul, and eternal misery of the  
wicked. Evidently this is becoming a leading theo- 
logical question of the times. Bare assertions will no  
longer be taken as satisfactory upon it: the people  
demand proof and investigation.  Debates upon it be- 
tween different ministers are of almost weekly occur-


j y THE UNI TED STATES.  181  
rence. The horrid descriptions of hell and the eter- 
nal torments of the damned, which were once so  
shockingly  common, are now seldom heard from any  
pulpit.  
During the last ten years it has become no uncom- 
mon thing to hear of ministers in the different ortho- 
dox denominations who have espoused these views, 
and have come out boldly to advocate them. Indeed,  
scarcely a month passes without our attention being 
called to some case like this. Hundreds of cases  
among the laity are noted every year. Probably no  
less than one hundred churches have been raised up  
within the last year of those who have accepted these 
views. Among the believers in this doctrine in the  
United States there are able scholars, professors in  
colleges, principals in academies, and other influential 
men. From these, critical and learned books are sent 
forth answering all the objections that can be raised  
to the doctrine, both from Scripture and philosophy.  
In the fall and winter of 1877, this doctrine was  
brought very prominently before the religious world.  
A couple of orthodox ministers in different places  
in New England came out and publicly rejected the  
doctrine of the immortality  of the soul and eternal  
torment. This created great excitement in certain  
circles. Both the religious and the secular press took  
it up and commented upon it, which called universal  
attention to the subject. Then ministers of all de- 
nominations in nearly every city in the United States  
almost simultaneously  preached upon the subject of  
"Hell." The New York Herald stated that on one 
Sunday, in New York City alone, one  hundred minis- 
ters preached upon that subject.  
On the whole, it seems evident that, in the provi- 
dence of God, the time has fully come for the fables  
and errors connected with this important question to  
be exposed, and for the glorious truth of the Bible  
once more to shine out.


182  DOC THINE OF TIIE SOUL.  
This age  of free thought, of general intelligence,  
and of careful scientific inquiry, is certain death to  
the old heathen dogma of an eternal hell of burning  
fire and tortures for the wicked, which flourished so 
triumphantly during the Dark Ages. Even those 
who still claim to hold to the old theory of an endless 
hell have so modified it that its old friends of two  
centuries ago would not recognize it! Of late years  
the popular ministry say but little about hell tor- 
ments anyway, and when they do, it is more to ex- 
plain them away than to advocate them. In most of  
the orthodox churches, members are no longer ex- 
pelled for renouncing the doctrine of eternal torment.  
Recently, Edward White, a well-known Congrega- 
tienalist minister of England, who has already been 
mentioned in this book, delivered a lecture to the  
" Artizans of London," in which he very fully sums  
up the wide range which the doctrine of " Life only 
through Christ," enjoys at the present time. His  
lecture was headed, "The Churches, the Outsiders  
and Theological Reform," and was given May 2,1880.  
He said:—  
" But the Bible truth on Life only in Christ and on  
the natural mortality of man, is held to my certain  
knowledge by the following persons, whose names are  
at least a counterweight to  any opposite authorities:  
The Bev. Samuel Minton is well known to have  
sacrificed his living and promotion to this cause.  
Prebendary Constable, late of Cork, is also known as 
one of its ablest advocates. Dr. Weymouth, Head  
Master of Mill Hill School, and one of the finest  
G-reek scholars in the country, says that his ' mind  
fails to conceive a grosser misinterpretation  of lan- 
guage, than when the five or six strongest words 
which the Greek tongue possesses, signifying  "de- 
stroy," or "destruction,"  are explained to mean—main- 
taining an everlasting but wretched existence.' The  
late Dr. Mortimer, Head Master of the City School,


j y THE UNI TED STATES.  183  
spoke in the same sense. The late eminent Professor  
of Hebrew at Cambridge, author of a well-known 
critical Commentary on the Psalms, in answer to the  
inquiry whether he knew any reason why the corre- 
sponding Hebrew words of the Old Testament should  
not be taken in their literal and obvious sense, replied 
in these words, 'None whatever.' The Archbishop  
of York, Dr. Thompson, says, in his ' Bampton  
Lectures,' ' Life to the godless must be the beginning  
of destruction, since nothing but God, and that which  
pleases him, can permanently exist.' This doctrine  
has advocates in all our chief cities. In London it is 
held by Dr. Parker of the City Temple; by the Eev.  
J. B. Heard, M. A., author of the work on 1 The  
Tripartite Nature of Man.' and by not a few ministers  
of all denominations.  In Birmingham it is taught by  
Dr. R. W. Dale. In Liverpool by the Rev. Hugh  
Stowell Brown. In Cambridge it is maintained by  
Professor Stokes, F. R. S., Secretary to the Royal So- 
ciety, who holds the Mathematical Chair of Sir Isaac  
Newton, and is one of the foremost scientific  men in  
Europe. In Edinburgh it is held by several of the  
leading clergy of all Churches, and by Professor Tait,  
perhaps the first mathematical reasoner in Scotland.  
In other parts of England it is held by the Rev.  
Thomas Davis, M. A., Yicar of Roundhay; the Rev.  
W. Hobson, M. A., of Douglas, two most able sup- 
porters; the Rev. J. Hay Aitken, the earnest Mis- 
sioner; by the Rev. W. Ker, (author of a cheap In- 
troduction to the study of this question, called ' Im-
mortality: Whence? and for Whom?' intended for  
plain people); by Professor Stevenson of Nottingham, 
Professor Barlow of Dublin; Professor Barrett of the 
Royal College of Science in Dublin; by the Rev. W.  
Griffith of Eastbourne; by Dr. Morris of Plymouth;  
by Mr. Maude of Holloway, several of whom have 
written largely on the question, and all of whom are  
"excellent biblical scholars. It is held by the celebrated


184  doctrine of the soul  
physicians. Dr. Andrew Clark and Dr. Farre. and by 
a long array of Christian medical men in all parts of  
the country. It is held by Mr. Thomas Walker, late 
editor of the Daily News, a man of firm faith and un- 
common literary attainments.  It was held by the  
late Mr. John Sheppard of Frome, and by the late  
Mr. llenry Dunn, both of whom published works on  
Human Destiny. Among American writers may be  
mentioned the names of the late Dr. Horace Bushnell,  
author of "Nature and the Supernatural," who re- 
cently died in this faith; Dr. Huntington  of Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts; the late Professor Hudson of 
Cambridge, U. S. A., author of the Concordance to the  
Greek Testament, and ' Debt and Grace, in relation  
to a Future Life,' one of the most accurate and ac-
complished scholars of our time; the Rev. J. H. Pet- 
tmgell of Philadelphia,  author of the '< Trilemma-'  
Mr. H. L. Hastings of New York. Dr. Leonard  
\Y  oolsey Bacon of Newhaven, and many others. In  
Jamaica we have the Rev. J. Denniston, M. A author 
of the work called < The Perishing Soul.' In India 
we have Mr. Skrefsriid, the Missionary to the Santhals,  
and one of the greatest linguists in Asia, speaking  
nearly twenty languages; and the Rev. W. A. Hobbs 
of Calcutta, an experienced Missionary, who writes  
that it is < astonishing  how this view of' Divine Truth  
commends itself to the almost instant appreciation of  
the unprejudiced native Christian mind. I never 
thrust it to the front, but nevertheless it is silentlv 
and rapidly spreading.'  
"Again in Paris it is held by M. Decoppet, pastor  
of the Oratorie; M. Bastide, head of the French  
Religious Tract Society; M. Pascal, pasteur, M. Hol- 
lard, and Professor Sabatier of the Protestant College,  
one of the foremost theological scholars of France'  
It is also held by three of the pastors in the Church 
at Lyons. In Brussels it is held and taught by M 
Charles Byse, who has just published a French trans-


j y THE UNI TED STATES.  185  
lation of 'Life in Christ,' a man of wide and accurate  
scholarship in Oriental languages. In Germany it 
was held by Eothe, Nitzsch, Olshausen, Hase, Eitschl,  
and Twesten. It is taught by Professor Gees of  
Breslau, who was theological tutor of Dr. Godet of 
Neuchatel, and by Professor Schultz of Gottingen.  
In Geneva it is valiantly defended by the accomplished  
scholar Dr. Petavel ofChene Bougeries, by Professor  
Thomas of D'Aubigne's College, by M. Mittendorff,  
late editor of the Semaine Beligieuse, by MM. Walthur  
and Chatelain, two of the most active evangelists,  
and by M. Caesar Mai an.  
In Africa it is held by Rev. Mr. Impey, Superin- 
tendent of the Caffve Mission of the Wesleyan body, 
who was two years ago ejected from his high office  
after 40 years' labor, because he could no longer teach  
the endless misery of the poor black Zulus and other  
heathens of Africa. In China it is held by several of 
the ablest Missionaries; in Ceylon by the Rev. Mr.  
Clark, M. A., of the Church Tamil Mission; in Sydney  
it was held by Mr. Ridley, the leading journalist of 
Australia, and an eminent scholar, whose fame has 
reached his fatherland; and it is held by many of the 
Australian Pastors.  
"I have cited these names of learned believers  
of all Protestant Churches,—Scholars, Writers. Preach- 
ers; Professors of Divinity, Criticism, and Physical 
Science; Literary Men, Mathematicians, Barristers,  
Journalists, Evangelists, Missionaries,—some  of them  
men of the first rank; all of them men of high educa- 
tion, who have carefully studied this question, under 
the conditions of prayerful inquiry and adequate  
learning,—men who have no object to serve except  
the maintenance of truth,—men who represent all  
varieties of modern knowledge and training in nearly  
every department of study—for a special purpose—to  
encourage general investigation,  against the attempts  
of many persons, both clerical and lay, to suppress


186  JJOCTHIXE OF THE SOVL.  
inquiry by the assertion that no one of any conse- 
quence agrees with us. My own extensive acquaint-
ance enables me to add that not a few other persons  
of eminent ability agree in this view of Divine Truth, 
but are constrained to silence by the menaces of igno-
rant men and fanatical women—especially the latter 
—who threaten them with the fatal charge of heresy  
if they avow their convictions."  
With all the foregoing facts before us, it is evident  
that a great theological revolution upon this doctrine 
has already begun. May the providence of a merci-
ful God speed it on to a rapid and happy consum-
mation.