085. CHAPTER 39 - IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL- THE DOCTRINE ESTABLISHED
CHAPTER 39 - IMMORTALITY OF THE HUMAN SOUL- THE DOCTRINE ESTABLISHED THE doctrine of immortality is emphatically a doctrine of revelation. To whatever extent the mere hope of a future state may be enkindled by the paler light of nature, yet it is now generally admitted by the best-informed Christian philosophers, that the doctrine of immortality can only be established by a direct revelation from Heaven. Nature may impart the hope - revelation alone can give the assurance. And while we are far from agreeing with those who teach that the doctrine of immortality is not embraced in the Old Testament, and constituted no part of the Jewish religion, yet we freely admit that it remained for the clearer revelations of the gospel to bring this doctrine fully to light. Christ, by his luminous teachings, and especially by his triumphant resurrection, “hath abolished death, and brought, life and immortality to light.” But the great question now before us is this: Is that immaterial, spiritual essence, which, as shown in the preceding chapter, dwells within us, destined to die with the body, and sleep with it in the tomb? Or, will it triumph over the ravages of death, and live on forever? Skepticism has scoffed at the doctrine of the soul’s immortality; pagan philosophy, in its most enlightened and virtuous phase, has trembled between hope and despair on the question; but Christianity, upon the authority of a direct revelation from Heaven, has exultantly asserted the truth of the doctrine. But let us look at the evidence by which it is sustained.
I. WE NOTICE SOME PRESUMPTIVE ARGUMENTS DERIVED FROM NATURE AND REASON.
1.The soul’s immortality may be argued from the pernicious tendency of the rejection of this doctrine. The system of truth is symmetrical and cohering. All its elements hang together like links in a chain, as consistent parts of an harmonious whole. We assume it as an unquestionable axiom, that one truth can neither be inconsistent with another in its nature, nor productive of evil in its tendency. If it can be shown that a belief in immortality and the retributions of an hereafter is necessarily, a safeguard to virtue and morality, and of real beneficial tendency, this fact will be a presumptive argument in favor of the doctrine, of great weight with all sober-minded thinkers. That the adoption of skepticism in reference to a future state is of demoralizing tendency, is a position so clearly palpable to the unbiased mind, that we consider it scarcely a debatable point.
It is a principle extensively recognized by the jurisprudence and civil tribunals of enlightened Christendom, that the testimony of a disbeliever in future rewards and punishments is scarcely to be admitted in a court of justice. And why is this the case? It results from the general conviction that he whose actions here are not, in some degree at least, molded, influenced, or restrained, by a belief in an hereafter, is not to be trusted, even upon oath. What gives to the oath of the citizen before the civil magistrate its authority and force? It is that reference to the holy volume, and the solemn appeal to God, the final judge of all, which the oath implies. The solemnity of the oath, giving to every citizen confidence in judges, legislators, jurors, and all the officers of government, from the chief executive down to the impanneled juryman, is based upon the doctrine of man’s immortality - a belief in the retributions of an hereafter. Let but the principles of skepticism which antagonize this doctrine gain that firm footing in public sentiment which the belief in immortality now holds, and how direful the consequences that would ensue! Let it be the first lesson of the nursery and the revered motto of every school and seminary of learning throughout the land; let it be proclaimed from every tribunal, every platform, and every pulpit, that there is no hereafter! and what mind can conceive, or what heart could endure, the speedy result? All confidence between man and his fellow would be destroyed; harmony and peace would give place to discord and strife; the flood-gates of vice and immorality would be lifted, and a deluge of evil would overflow the land! The strongest bulwarks of virtue, morality, and religion, would be demolished, and crime and outrage, bloodshed and violence, would everywhere prevail!
Look at what was the condition of France when that frenzied nation denounced the truths of revelation - proclaimed it as their national creed that “death is an eternal sleep,” and that “there is no God but reason!” and in blasphemous derision, had the holy book of God dragged through the streets of Paris at the tail of an ass! It was, indeed, the reign of terror! Friend could not meet friend in the street without fearing his dagger! The lanes and avenues of the city, and the highways and by-paths of the country, were dyed with the blood of the assassinated citizens, till the very heart of humanity shuddered and grew sick at the spectacle, ready to rush into the arms of despotism as an asylum from the furies of infidel anarchy! And such would soon be the disorder and ruin everywhere, if the doctrine of the soul’s immortality were discarded. Better blot the sun from the heavens above us, than this doctrine from the hearts of the people!
2.Our next argument is founded on the fact that the doctrine of immortality has been recognized, with greater or less clearness, by the wisest and best of mankind in all ages. An examination of accredited history shows that the united voice of ancient nations is in favor of this doctrine. It was acknowledged by the Egyptians, the Phenicians, the Persians, the Scythians, the Assyrians, the Celts, and the Druids, as well as the Greeks and the Romans.
“Never,” says Dr. Blair, “has any nation been discovered on the face of the earth so rude and barbarous that, in the midst of their wildest superstitions, there was not cherished among them some expectation of a state after death in which the virtuous were to enjoy happiness.”
Plato says: “When, therefore, death comes upon a man, what is mortal in him perishes, as it is seen to do; but what is immortal withdraws itself from death, safe and uncorrupted.”
Cicero says: “If I am wrong in believing the souls of men immortal, I please myself in my mistake; nor while I live will I ever choose that this opinion with which I am so much delighted, should ever be wrested from me. But if at death I am to be annihilated, as some philosophers suppose, I am not afraid lest those wise men, when extinct too, should laugh at my error.”
We may add, there is not a nation, or tribe, of whom history furnishes an account, that did not, with greater or less clearness, believe in a future state. Though the views of most of them were obscure and unsatisfactory, embracing much that was ridiculous and absurd, yet their hopes penetrated the gloomy future, giving evidence of an internal consciousness of the insufficiency of this world to satisfy the aspirations of their souls. But how shall we account for this universal persuasion of mankind? “If it was a local tradition, we might refer it to some local cause. If it had been limited to some one age, we might attribute it to some peculiar development or bias of the mind of that age resulting from a temporary cause, But what shall we say when we find it bounded by no clime, and limited to no age, but one of the deepest and most universal sentiments of humanity? There can be but one answer. The sentiment is inspired with the very consciousness of life, and therefore, appeals to the great Author of life as its source. It must, then, be true. A belief thus originated, so universal, cannot be without a substantial basis in truth. In a word, it is proof sublime of immortality. It is demonstration that death works only the change, not the destruction, of the soul.” (Dr. D. W. Clark’s “Man all Immortal.”) 3.Our next argument is founded on the innate desire of the soul for immortality. The thirst for a continued pursuit of knowledge appears almost universal. But in this intellectual chase, who has reached the desired goal?
“But whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality? Or whence this secret dread and inward horror Of falling into naught? Why shrinks the soul Back on herself, and startles at destruction?
‘Tis the divinity that stirs within us.
‘Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter, And intimates eternity to man.”
Unless we admit that this desire has been impressed upon the constitution of our nature by the hand of our Maker, how can we account for its general prevalence? And can we suppose a God of infinite wisdom and goodness has imparted these pleasing hopes merely to be ended in disappointment? Will God mock his creatures, and light up a star of hope only to go out in endless night? No!
“The soul, secure in her existence, smiles At the drawn dagger, and defies its point: The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years; But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the war of elements, The wreck of matter, and the crash of worlds.”
4.Our next argument for the immortality of the soul is founded upon the unequal distribution of rewards and punishments in this life. A glance at the history of the world, and a little attention to the state of things around us, will evince that rewards and punishments are not meted out in the present state in exact accordance with the actions of individuals. How frequently have the wicked and abominable been permitted to pass unpunished! The tyrant, while crushing thousands of the innocent and the unoffending beneath his iron heel of power, has feasted upon the richest luxuries of life, and drank to satiety at every fount of worldly pleasure. The proud and the licentious, the avaricious and the cruel, have too frequently occupied the high places of the earth, and escaped in this life the punishment due to their crimes. On the other hand, those celebrated for virtue and piety have often been the most afflicted of our race. Abraham, the father of the faithful, was most sorely tried. Moses, the meek servant of God, met the scoffs and reproaches of his ungodly countrymen, and “endured as seeing him who is invisible.” Job and Daniel, Isaiah and Jeremiah, the apostles and martyrs - in a word, the good of every age, have generally been called in this life to pass through the furnace of affliction. For their “patience of hope, and labor of love,” an ungrateful world has requited them with bonds, imprisonment, tortures, and death. But justice will not forever sleep. The wicked will not always escape, nor the righteous go forever unrewarded. A future state is necessary to rectify these disorders, and to exhibit to an intelligent universe that he who reigns over all is a God of justice.
5.Our next argument for the soul’s immortality is founded upon its vast powers. The utmost capacity of the human intellect has never yet been exhibited. The shortness of human life, together with the innumerable hindrances with which the most highly favored must necessarily contend, in their intellectual pursuits, has ever precluded the possibility of testing, by example, what the human intellect, under more favorable circumstances, might accomplish. Yet the achievements of mind, in the various departments of knowledge, have been truly astonishing. The mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, have passed under philosophic review. The penetrating genius of a Locke has scanned the powers of the human intellect, and described the laws of mind in so clear and forcible a manner as to win an immortality of fame. The capacious intellect of a Bacon has surveyed the entire circle of human science, and marked the appropriate line of intellectual pursuit for succeeding generations. Nor has the research been restricted to the globe we inhabit. The towering mind of a Newton has soared from world to world, estimated the magnitudes and distances of those immense orbs, and expatiated on the laws binding them together and guiding them in their harmonious revolutions.
Contemplating the soul as the center and source of all mental achievement and all moral emotion, how transcendently great must be its powers! It stands confessed as the greater, the nobler, part of our nature. It is as much superior to the body as heaven is higher than earth. A material of finer texture than the body, it is wrought up to a higher state of perfection. All that is profound in the researches of intellect - all that is attractive or picturesque in the creations of fancy - all that is grand or sublime in the visions of imagination - all that is heroic in patriotism, angelic in virtue or godlike in devotion, is but the goings forth of the inner nature - the outbreathings of the soul. The body has to do with things of earth. As the instrument of the soul, it can reach forth its hand and grasp the treasures of the world, it can open its eye and ear upon all the beauty and melody that surround it; but the soul can take a nobler flight, and hold converse with spiritual things; she can spread her wings abroad, and soar aloft to the heights of heaven; she can mingle with seraphim and cherubim in gazing with wonder and admiration upon the outshining power, and wisdom, and goodness, and glory, of the Supreme Ruler of the universe. The utmost capacity of the human soul has never yet been fully tested on earth. We have witnessed the exploits of talent and genius in their various departments. We have seen something of what the powers of the soul have accomplished; but we know not the extent to which those powers might be conducted. Philosophy, in all her departments, has spread open her wide fields for the range of the human soul. The deep mysteries of nature have been explored, and her most subtle agencies tamed by the genius of man, and rendered obsequious to his bidding, and tributary to his comfort. The sublime doctrines of revelation have been surveyed, and the rich promises of an endless life have been grasped by the human soul, as the pledge of an undying hope and a blissful immortality. Can it be that powers so noble, so lofty and capacious, are destined just to begin to unfold themselves on earth, and then, like a bubble bursting on the bosom of the sea, disappear forever? Has infinite Wisdom and Power created an intelligence so highly endowed, merely to flutter a brief moment on the surface of the earth, and then to sink back into nonentity? Philosophy, reason, every thing within and around us, revolts at the idea! Can we suppose that all that has ever been exhibited great and majestic in the human soul, has passed into eternal unconsciousness? Look at the electric genius and Attic splendor of Homer; the struggling hopes of Plato; the incorruptible integrity of Aristides. Look at the heroic patriotism of Moses; the unyielding patience of Job; the angelic devotion of David; the glowing pathos of the prophets, and the dauntless zeal of the apostles. Can it be that those choice and noble spirits, in whom these heavenly qualities once shone with such luster, like the flitting shadow, have vanished from existence forever? Reason and every ennobling hope within us, and every attribute of God above us, forbid the hypothesis that this lofty nature is born to-day to perish forever to-morrow!
“Who reads his bosom reads immortal life; Or nature there, imposing on her sons Has written fables - man was made a lie!”
II. WE NOW APPEAL TO THE TEACHINGS OF SCRIPTURE, ON THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.
Having called attention to some of the principal arguments in favor of a future state, derived from nature and reason alone, we now proceed briefly to examine the Scripture evidence on the subject. This is one of those leading and important doctrines which find their support on almost every page of the Bible. Indeed, if we discard the doctrine of an hereafter, no part of the Scriptures can be satisfactorily construed: the entire volume, as a whole, will be an unintelligible enigma. To such as believe in the truth of divine revelation, a few of the many quotations that might be presented, of a direct and pointed character, will be quite as satisfactory as a great number of texts could be; therefore we shall be brief in our presentation of proof.
1.We first bring our testimony from the Old Testament.
We here premise that all those scriptures which speak of the resurrection of the body, establish also the immortality of the soul. These two doctrines hang together, imparting to each other mutual support and confirmation. “The body without the spirit is dead;” and to suppose a resurrection of the material part of our nature, without connecting with it the immaterial conscious self by which it is now inhabited, would overthrow every thing connected with the resurrection, of which we can conceive as desirable, or of any substantial benefit. If my soul - my conscious self - is to pass into nonentity when my body dies, of what consequence can the material particles laid in the grave then be to me? They could be no more to me, either then or now, than the dust beneath my feet. And according to that hypothesis, the idea of deriving any encouraging hope from such a resurrection is perfectly preposterous. But let us inquire, What were the views and hopes of the Old Testament worthies on this subject?
Hear the solemn strain of triumph poured from the lips of the afflicted saint of Uz: “O that my words were now written! (for they are too weighty to be allowed to perish with the voice as it dies away upon the air;) O that they were printed in a book! (that they might be circulated throughout all lands and among all peoples.) That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever! (that they might remain an enduring monument to testify to the latest generations this solemn confession of my faith and hope.) For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” Job 19:23-27. On this subject, hear also the exultant language of the sweet singer of Israel: “My strength and my heart faileth; (that is, my body tendeth to the tomb;) but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.”
Psalms 73:26. That is, when my body dies, God will still be the comfort and the “portion” of my soul. Again: “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.”
Isaiah 17:15. “My flesh also shall rest in hope; for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, (the grave,) neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.”Psalms 16:9-11.
Once more: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and (after the dissolution of my body) I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”Psalms 33:4; Psalms 33:6. “Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.” Psalms 73:24. In reference to the passages already quoted, we undertake to say that no sane, unbiased mind, willing to be governed by common sense, can understand them to teach otherwise than that these Old Testament saints comforted their hearts amid the afflictions and tribulations of this life, with the hope of happiness in the next. Hence, if these hopes were not all delusive, which the fact of their inspiration will not admit, then it inevitably follows that the soul of the Christian does not go out like an extinguished taper at death, but will live on in a state of endless fruition.
We next adduce the testimony of the Prophet Daniel: “They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.”Daniel 12:3. Now, as the body cannot live here “forever and ever,” this must refer to the future state. Many Other proofs of the point in question might be brought from the Old Testament; but if those offered are not satisfactory, more would be useless.
2.We now turn to the New Testament.
(1) We present testimony from the words of our Lord.
“Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
It is plain, from this text, that though men have power to kill the body, they cannot kill the soul. From this it follows that the soul is neither a function of the brain, nor does it die with the body; for if so, men, in killing the body, would necessarily kill the soul also, which the text denies them the power to do.
“But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Matthew 22:31-32.
It is undeniable, from this text, that the soul still lives after the body dies. The bodies of these patriarchs had been buried for centuries, and yet our Saviour teaches that their souls were still living, and that God was still their God. The account given by our Saviour of the “rich man” and Lazarus, (Luke 16:22-23,) whether we view it as a parable or a history demonstrates the existence of the soul, in a state of conscious happiness or misery, after the death of the body. The words of Christ to the thief on the cross, “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise,” (Luke 23:43,) are proof to the same effect, it was not the dead body, but the surviving soul, that went immediately to paradise. Our Saviour’s discourse, in the sixth chapter of John, is most palpable proof of the immortality of the soul. Among other expressions, note the following: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.” Many more proofs equally conclusive might be adduced from our Lord’s discourses, but it is needless: we have given enough to satisfy such as are willing to be governed by his sayings. Yet we must be allowed to add one more: “In my Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:2-3.
(2)Evidence on the subject given by the apostles.
“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.” “We are confident, I say, willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:1; 2 Corinthians 5:6; 2 Corinthians 5:8.
We cannot conceive how language could be framed to prove more explicitly the point in question, than do these words of St. Paul. After the earthly tabernacle of the body shall be dissolved, he speaks confidently of inhabiting another house “eternal in the heavens.” And his language admits of no intermediate space of unconsciousness, or nonentity, between the laying down of the body and the taking possession of the heavenly house. So soon as he is “absent from the body,” he is confident of being “present with the Lord.”
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” Php 1:21; Php 1:23-24.
Now, it is most unquestionable that the apostle expected to “be with Christ,” so soon as death should close his labors with the Church. Hence his language demonstrates that the soul neither dies nor sleeps with the body, in the grave or anywhere else, but is immediately “with Christ, which is far better.” This implies a state of conscious happiness.
Once more: St. Paul says, “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:6-8.
St. Peter speaks in tones of exultant joy of his hope of immortal bliss: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you; who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:3-5.
Upon the hypothesis that the soul ceases to exist when the body dies, or that an immortality of felicity awaits not the righteous after death, how impossible must it be for any sensible construction to be placed upon the scriptures we have presented, and many others that might be produced! We pursue the theme no farther. If the skeptic can gain delight to his own heart by persuading himself that unconscious nonentity is his own future heritage, let him - if he will - take his dark and gloomy course alone, nor vainly strive to destroy the foundation of the righteous.
“O listen, man! A voice within us speaks that startling word:
‘Man, thou shalt never die!’ Celestial voices
Hymn it unto our souls: according harps, By angel fingers touched, when the mild stars Of morning sang together, sound forth still The song of our great immortality.”