22
The Fundamentals
Lodge from the presidential chair told the British Association that the best science warranted belief in the continuity of existence after death. Solely on the assumption that mind is merely a function o f matter can the dissolution of the body be regarded as the extinction of being. Such an assumption is foreign to Scripture. In the Old Testament David ex pected to “dwell in the house of the Lord forever;” Asaph at the end of life hoped to be “received into glory;” and Solomon wrote: “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.” In the New Testament Christ took for granted that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, though long dead were still living, and in His parable assumed that Dives and Lazarus still existed in the unseen world, although their bodies were in the grave. He also assured the dying robber that when the anguish of the cross was over they would pass together into Paradise, and counselled men generally to be afraid of “him who could destroy both soul and body in hell.” Paul, too, had no hesita tion in writing that to be “absent from the body” meant to be present with the Lord,” nor had Stephen any doubt in praying as he closed his eyes in death: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” None of these citations suggest that the soul is simply a func tion of the body, or that it ceases to be when the body dies. But now, conceding that the souls of the impenitent are not annihilated at or after death, may it not be that another opportunity of accepting the Gospel will be afforded them, and that in this way sin may be removed even from them. This theory of a Second Probation , is commonly thought to derive countenance from two passages of Scripture of doubtful inter pretation—1 Pet. 3:19; 4:6. Were the best scholars agreed as to the exact import of the two statements that Christ “by the Spirit went and preached to the spirits in prison” and that “the Gospel was preached also to them that are dead,” it might be possible to make these texts the basis of a theological doctrine. But scholars are not agreed; and well informed
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker