THE .V ERENCE L ii . THE LIF" OF i*ili«ii hii I w .-1. f "N^ CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library BT921 .S17 1907 Christian doctrine of inimortaiity / by S 3 1924 029 320 524 oiin Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029320524 THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF IMMORTALITY FIRST EDITION, October 1895. SECOND EDITION. May 1896, THIRD Edition, May 1897 FOURTH EDITION, April igcj. lE7itirely Re-Sdi.^ FIFTH Edition, March 1903. Reprinted, i907' THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF IMMORTALITY STEWART D. F. JALMOND, M.A., D.D., F.E.I.a LATE PBINCIPAL AND PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY, UNITED FREE CHURCH COLLEGE ABERDEEN FIFTH EDITION EDINEUEGH T. & T. CLAEK, 38 GEOEGE STEEET 1907 PRINTED BY MORRIBON AND GIBB LIMITED, FOR T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH, IjONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, AND CO. LIMITED NEW York; charles scribner's sons. TO jVIy Wife FROM OPINIONS OF PREVIOUS EDITIONS The Right Hod. W. E. Gladstone.—" Dr. Salmond's 'Christian Doctrine of Immortality ' is an able, trwth-loving, and, from many points of view, comprehensive work." Professor A. B. Davidson, D.D., LL.D. — "The confusions created by these attempts [to traverse or modify, in various directions, the traditional, and what seems the natural, sense of the New Testament] imperatively required to be cleared up by subjecting the New Testament state- ments to a fresh analysis and interrogation. This has been done by Dr. Salmond, and in no part of his book are the qualities which distinguish his work, the exhaustive- ness, the candour, and the imperturbable judicialness, so conspiciious. ... It will not be easy to break the serried ranks of the author's arguments, and no serious attempt appears yet to have been made to do it." Principal Cave, D.D.—"The book steps at once into the front rank, and even into the first place." Professor Marcus Dods, D.D.—"Professor Salmond has rendered a service which merits the amplest recognition. Worthy of recognition are the courage which chose a subject bristling with difficulties, the patience and resolution which have weighed, sifted, and disposed of these difficulties, the method and scholarship which fit him to be a safe pioneer, the fair- ness of mind which inspires confidence, the lucidity and completeness of treatment which tell of a thorough digestion of the entire, multifarious material connected with the subject. The volume presents one of the very finest specimens of biblical theology that we have." PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION npHE eye of man looks wistfully to the end. Life, like -L love, believes in its own immortality. Heart and mind cry for light upon what is beyond the grave. Nor do they cry in vain. They have their answer in themselves. They have it in highest measure in those words of the Lord Jesus, into whose clear depths men have never ceased to look since they were first spoken, and from which they have never burned unsatisfied. It is the primary object of this book to ascertain what these words disclose of man's future. It does not undertake to examine the belief in immortahty in its relations either to science or to speculation. The rational proofs which have been elaborated in support of the hope of a future existence have their own interest, although it does not lie in the logic of the case. The heart has reasons of its own better than those of the understanding for its assurance of immortality. It has also its own presages of what that immortality will be. So far as these have any place in Scripture, they come within the scope of this book. But no attempt is made to follow out the philosophy of the subject. Nor is it proposed to prosecute the inquiry beyond the teaching of the Bible. It is of interest to notice the results reached by students of Scripture who examine its words in a frank and unbiassed spirit, while they do not accept its Til Viii PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION conclusions as final. But it is not the purpose of this book to go into any examination of the reasons which such students give for preferring other views of man's future to those which they confess to be found in Scripture. The present inquiry limits itself to the question, What is the witness of Scripture on the subject ? The words of Christ are to me the highest authority, beyond which I seek no other. Even thus limited, the inquiry is one of utmost difGculty. The questions at issue are so grave, and the field into which they lead one is so extensive. All the progress which this century- has seen in the historical interpretation of Scripture has only made it the clearer how much we require before we can be sure that we have got to the very heart of Chrisf's teaching, and understand His words precisely as He meant them, neither more nor less. For convenience' sake the subject of the book is described as the Christian Doctrine of Immortality. But it will be seen that the word " Immortality " is used in the large sense which Paul gives it when he speaks of " this mortal" putting on " immortality." Life, eternal life, the immortality of the man, not the immortality of the soul, is the message of the Bible, ahke in Old Testament and iji New, in Christ and in apostle, in John and in Paul. The book is the outcome of a course of Lectures delivered in -Edinburgh, the thirteenth series of the Cunningham Lectures connected with the Eree Church of Scotland. In preparing the matter for the press I found it necessary in some respects to change the form and arrangement, and to go, into a more extended investigation of certain questions than was at first contemplated. But the Six Books of which the, volume consists correspond generally with the six: original Lectures. I have to thank the members of the Cunningham Council for the honour done me in appointing me to the Lectureship. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EBITION IX They have placed me under a double debt of gratitude by their forbearance with me in the unusual delay in publication —a delay due to circumstances which it is needless to explain. I could wish that now, at the end, the book were worthier of their considerate kindness. I am indebted for much to some whose teaching I en- joyed in earlier days, and to many whose writings I have read with profit. To all my benefactors, known and un- known, I express my cordial thanks. On the Old Testament side of the inquiry I owe more probably than I am quite conscious of to my dear and valued friend, Professor A. B. Davidson, of the New College, Edinburgh, whose rare insight into Scripture has been an education to so many. The questions with which this book deals are not questions to be taken up lightly or disposed of easily. No one who understands their seriousness will be in haste to write of them. The sense of their gravity and difficulty has deepened as the work has proceeded. Even now it is with hesitation that the volume is issued. The studies which its preparation have occasioned have been at times a severe and anxious discipline. The result h.as been to confirm me in the conviction that the teaching of Christ and the whole burden of the Christian Kevelation make the present life decisive for the future. But this result has not been reached without an acute sense of the attractiveness of other views of man's" destiny which are held by many earnest men, and of the limitations which the God of Kevelation has placed upon our knowledge of the future life. S. D. F. SALMOND. r AberbAen, October 1895, PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION THE few months which have passed since this book was published, have not given opportunity to do much in the way of revision. Some expressions which were thought to be too strong, and others which were found open to misunderstanding, have been modified, A few references to new literature have been given, the indices have been somewhat enlarged, and a brief Kote has been added to the Appendix. With these exceptions the book remains in this second edition what it was in the first. I am well aware that much requires to be done in order to complete the inquiry. This volume is occupied with the testimony of Scripture, and the Biblical Theology, The wit- ness of reason, the place given in literature to the faith in immortaUty, the philosophical aspects of the subject, and the history of opinion, are but partially dealt with. Above all, the theology of the question calls for a larger statement than I have been able to give at the close of the Biblical inquiry, God willing, I may have something to say of these things hereafter. Meantime I take this opportunity of thanking those many kind readers, not a few of them in distant lands and differing widely from me in belief, who have sent me com- munications on the argument or the conclusions. I wish also to express my great indebtedness to those, both at PKEFACE TO THE SECOIO) EDITION XI home and abroad, who have reviewed the book, and in doing so have said much by which I hope to profit. Among my most generous critics I have the honour of reckoning Mr.