THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL NOT BASED ON SCRIPTURE.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3843, 23 April 1881, Page 4

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL NOT BASED ON SCRIPTURE.

. (T6,the Editor of tbe Evbhisg Stab,) "" Biß,f-I can well understand why the champion of Spiritism is so sorely tronbled, as.- the denunciations of the Bible against dealing with spirits, and the disproving of the ' doctrine of man's inherent immortality, strikes at the very root of Spiritualism, and fakes away its foundation. Doubtless the quotations in my last; letter were of an indigestible nature, but if " the time is come when sound'doctrine cannot be endured," why should any one attempt to swallow it P Why not denounce it, as heretofore, as being untrue,, "and be turned unto fables P" Surely no Spiritnalist can remain in ignorance of my name, as the phantoms-.that, teach, them so much will not deny them such a little thing. The appellation of" being a sneaking coward" will not apply to me, as; a coward is one who runsaway before he is beaten, which it;not my case, for, according to your " Correspondent," I am so completely concerned that I cannot run away if I wished. . But, while I leave to those whose minds are not biassed by spirits, ■ or led away by their own (imaginative) powers of argument, to decide whether my case, so far, has been hopeless or not, I will, ..with your permission, turn my attention to the subject under consideration,;, and; look at the positive proofs contained in the Scriptures against inherent immortality. Hitherto I have contented myself with meeting, the -. upholders of the dogma on their own ground and with their own weapons, and showed how little real grounds of argument they stood on. While they have, . by the misinterpretation of some passages and. the withholding of parts of others, tried to uphold a doctrine which is nowhere taught in that book which has been* said—falsely—to be very accommodating ; it will be seen that a positively contrary doctrine has been taught therein. The passage quoted by " Subscriber" — worth a thousand inferences—was not overlooked, but kept in.abeyance, to be used with others of a like nature. As stepping stones from my corner, I will lay down those two passages, viz.:—" Dust fhou art, and unto dust- shalt thou return." "The soul that.sinneth shall die." It will be useless to say that the first was was .not spoken of the soul, wheu we remember that the man in all the faculties of his nature stood before Him who had created him, and heard the sentence which doomed him to death, and which began to be carried into effect. But, lest some obstinate one refuse to accept it in common sense fashion, the second text comes more forcibly, and says to those who* believe in that delusive lie—-** Ye shall surely die," " Ye shall be as gods," . add live ; forever; ye cannot forfeit your existence, even by disobeying your Creator, you have an attribute of Diety, for He made you immortal. The soul ■ that sinneth it shall die" In this text, the very part—claimed to beimmor-tal-r-js subject to death, an utter absence of. life. • But- so strong is prejudice instilled by early teaching/ and the false assurance which flatters the pride of man, - that many will cling to error, and fondly - hope it to be true; The feeble efforts of .theologians to teach this doctrine, would be amusing—were it not of such vast importance—when we quote this passage. " The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down in silence." Of course they will say that it is only the body that shall then not praise the Lord." Well, ' then it follows that only the body S raised the Lord in life; and ence the body is the intellectual man, for praise is impossible without intellect, and the soul having never been the intellectual part in life, will not possess the intellect after death. But, if it is claimed that the soul praised God in life, then it follows that it ceases to praise Him after death. Again, if it be said that the. soul and body jointly praise God in life, then it must be understood that /Aa* which'did praise God, now ceases to praise Him, and enters into "silence." Whatever praises God in life, let it be a part of man, or the man in his complete nature, just that intellectual something ceases to praise Him after death, being enveloped in " silence."—Yours, &c., SeEKEE A7TEB TbTJTH.