The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1875-01-07
NUTS FOR ANN1HILAT1oH1srs.
Number One.
BY J. H. ACTON.

The Bible doctrine for the immOrtali-
ty of the soul necessarily involves three
things; the uninterrupted continuance
of soul substance, the continuaIee Of
soul life and its self CONSCIOUSNESS and
the lasting recollection in the futuTe sthat
its condition there is determined ly eHhe
probation of this life. To this view
Christianity is fully committed Its v6z
taries claim that it is supported by the
united testimony of the Old and New
Testaments and that reason lends her aid
in arguments drawn from the nature jot
the soul itself, its aspirations and De
sires, its powers and capacities, the e
istence of conscience, and many pEpleT-
ing anomalies of the present life une1S-
plainable upon any other hypothesis. !
In some form this doctrine can %
traced through all human history and
the worst that can be said even Of the
heather philosophy of the world's dark
est day as touching this subject, is, that
it was not always consistent with itself;F
that it taught the immortality OF the
soul will scarcely be. denied. Since the
days of Christ, the great disagreements
upon this question have not been con-
cerning the fact but have grown up with
speculations concerning the conditions
to, and the character of the fact. Many
who profess to believe in immortality,
make a difference between this and eter-
nal life, and here lay the foundation for
controversy rs to its character. This
class believe both to be conditional yet
distinct; and claim that both will be bes-
towed upon such only as fulfill the condi-
tions of the Gospel as revealed by Christ
The doctrine as now held by all evan
| qeIical churches, in all essential detail
aorees with the language of the Presby-
! terian confession of faith, namely, That
the bodies of men after death return to
dust and see corruption; but their
souls (which neither die nor Sleep hav-
| ing an immortal substance, Immediately
return to God who gave them The souls
| of the righteous being made perfect in
holiness, are received into the highest
heavens, where they behold the face oi
God in light and glory waiting for the
full redemption of their bodies; and the
souls of the wicked are cast into hell
where they remain in torments and utter
darkness reserved to the judgment o
the last day Besides these two places
for souls separated from their bodies the
Scripture acknowledged none. At the
last day such as found alive shall not die
but be changed, and all the dead shall be
raised up with the self same bodies anC
none other, although with different quail
tiles. which shall be united again to theil
souls forever. The bodies of the unjus
shall by the power of Christ be raised t.
dishonor; the bodies of the just by hi
Spirit unto honor and be made conform
able to his own glorious body.
For the support of this view the NOR
direct testimony of Scripture is to b
found in the New Testament in sucl
passages as Luke xvi. %. and John V. "a
In the first, we have the description c
the conditions of the the rich man an
Lazarus, and in the Other, Christ's de!
cription of the resurrection; but the fu
force of testimony from this source
found by carefully comparing the do
trines taught IN which the immortalit
), of the soul is implied; an example {
/ this kind of proof may be found in T
!. ter ii. 4. The want of agreement anon
writer's on this testimony has grown OIL
of difference in their definition of term
J, One view is that already given, namel
that the soul has an Immortal su
stance. and is not the result of organic
tion or function of the brain; but
: equally complete in all its attributes Wi
ar without the body, and the contin
y auce of it's life is therefore in no sense
be predicated upon any accidents OF