Neither such expressions as "to live for ever," "to exist for ever," "never to die," "to be immortal," nor any equivalent expressions, are ever applied to the nature of the soul, or to the destiny of the lost. It never appears as a plastic element, in the language of the Scriptures. Nor has it to do with the passages supposed to intimate, or to imply, the immortality of all men in general, or of bad men in particular but simply with the acknowledged fact, that such immortality is nowhere in the Bible stated, mentioned, spoken of, or alluded to, in proper terms. To divest the argument of its appendages,we should here say, the question is not respecting the after existence of the unsaved soul until the second death much less does it touch the immortality of the righteous.
For none, we think, but the Universal ist, will accept the writer's exposition. The fact is denied by one late writer, who thinks it is expressly asserted of all mankind, in at least one passage, that "they cannot die any more." But he must then allow that the lost-the children of the Wicked one-are in the same passage said to "be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead," to be "equal unto the angels," and to be "the children of God." 2 This last resort to find a distinct statement of man's immortality in the Scriptures will only make their silence more obvious. The silence of the Scriptures respecting man's natural immortality is commonly admitted, and converted into an implicative argument. In either case the Word of Life is no message of eternal existence,-for man did not need that, - but simply of eternal wellbeing to those who believe in Christ. The metaphorical sense is supposed to predominate in the New Testament. The literal sense is commonly allowed in the Old Testament, and is supposed to be there exhausted in the account of temporal deliverances and destructions. "The immortality of the soul," says one, "is rather supposed, or taken for granted, than expressly revealed in the Bible." 1 The words in question are therefore referred to man's physical destiny, or they are taken to denote happiness or misery in an immortal destiny. What is the "everlasting life" revealed to mankind in the Gospel? And what is the "death," from which that life is an eternal salvation? Here, at the threshold of this discussion, we are told that the soul's immortality is assumed in the Bible, and that all the language of Scripture must be understood accordingly. IS THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL ASSUMED IN THE BIBLE? (Top of Page) The attempt to reinstate these methods of interpretation is part of the only system which we are willing to profess, - that of seeking the historical sense of the inspired words. And we are far from being rigid literatists, as will appear in our reliance upon one or two rhetorical figures - tropes that may appear new to some readers because they are in fact so old and almost forgotten. We hold, indeed, that the obvious sense of words is prima facie their true sense though the rule is worth little, since time and opinion may change even the obvious meaning of the plainest words. Nor shall we offer any new principles of interpretation.
If it be so, then we may at once admit the words "eternal," "everlasting," and similar phrases, used to indicate the duration of the final doom, as denoting an absolute eternity we shall waste no time in efforts to reduce their significance in the least. We are to show that exclusion from all life is a punishment, and that this is the revealed punishment of the lost.
IT is hardly necessary to remind the reader that the question which we raise is not respecting the duration of future punishment, but respecting its nature. "Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me." "Even now, after eighteen centuries of Christianity, we may be involved in some enormous error, of which the Christianity of the future will make us ashamed." - Tinet. "Here, at least, let us hesitate, and suspend our judgment." - Witsius. "Evil things are not entities but good things are entities, since they are of God, who truly is.'' - Athanasius. "The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." - Rom.