[A]. “The Immortality of the Soul and the Final Condition of the Wicked Carefully Considered. By Robert W. Landis. New York: Published by Carlton and Porter.” This is a work of 518 pages, and being issued under the patronage of the great Methodist Book Concern, we take it to be a representative work, and shall occasionally refer to its positions.
No emphasis can be attached to the word “became:” for everything that is called a living soul must by some process have become such. “Whatever was or is first became what it was or is.”
Take the case of Eve. She was formed of a rib of Adam, made of pre-existent matter. It is not said of her that God breathed into her nostrils the breath of life, or that she became a living soul; yet no one claims that her nature was essentially different from that of Adam with whom she was associated, as a fitting companion.
And it will be further seen that this word “became” can have no value in the argument, unless the absurd principle be first set up as truth, that whatever becomes anything must forever remain what it has become.
Defenders of the popular view, by such reasoning reduce their argument to its last degree of attenuation; but here its assumption becomes so transparent that it has no longer power to mislead, and needs no further reply.
CHAPTER VI.
WHAT IS SOUL? WHAT IS SPIRIT?
The discussion of Gen. 2:7 (as in the preceding chapter), brings directly before us for solution the question, What is meant by the terms soul and spirit, as applied to man? Some believers in unconditional immortality point triumphantly to the fact that the terms soul and spirit are used in reference to the human race, as though that settled the question, and placed an insuperable embargo upon all further discussion. This arises simply from their not looking into this matter with sufficient thoroughness to see that all we question in the case is the popular definition that is given to these terms. We do not deny that man has a soul and spirit; we only say that if our friends will show that the Bible anywhere attaches to them the meaning with which modern theology has invested them, they will supply what has thus far been a perpetual lack, and forever settle this controversy.
What do theologians tell us these terms signify? Buck, in his Theological Dictionary, says: “Soul, that vital, immaterial, active substance or principle in man whereby he perceives, remembers, reasons, and wills.” On spirit, he says: “An incorporeal being or intelligence; in which sense God is said to be a spirit, as are the angels and the human soul.” On man, he says: “The constituent and essential parts of man created by God are two: body and soul. The one was made out of dust; the other was breathed into him.” This soul, he further says, “is a spiritual substance;” and then, apparently feeling not exactly safe in calling that a substance which he claims to be immaterial, he bewilders it by saying “subsistence,” and then adds, “immaterial, immortal.”
This position strikes us as considerably open to criticism. On this definition of “soul,” how can we deny it to the lower animals? for they “perceive, remember, reason, and will.” And, if spirit means the “human soul,” the question arises, Has man two immortal elements in his nature? for the Bible applies both terms to him at the same time. Paul, to the Thessalonians, says: “And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Does Paul here use tautology, by applying to man two terms meaning the same thing? That would be a serious charge against his inspiration. Then has man two immortal parts, soul and spirit both? This would evidently be overdoing the matter; for, where one is enough, two are a burden. And further, on this hypothesis, would these two immortal parts exist hereafter as two independent and separate beings?
This idea being preposterous, one question more remains: Which of these two is the immortal part? Is it the soul or the spirit? It cannot be both; and it matters not to us which is the one chosen. But we want to know what the decision is between the two. If they say that what we call the soul is the immortal part, then they give up such texts as Eccl. 12:7: “The spirit shall return to God who gave it;” and Luke 23:46, “Into thy hands I commend my spirit,” &c. On the other hand, if they claim that it is the spirit which is the immortal part, then they give up such texts as Gen. 35:18: “And it came to pass as her soul was in departing (for she died);” and 1 Kings 17:21, “Let this child’s soul come into him again.”