IMMORTALITY.—BY DR. LORAINE BOETTNER. Dr. Boettner is well known to conservative scholars in this country through his book, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, which is one of the most scholarly discussions of this profound subject which has emanated from the Press in modern times. In the book before us the author deals with his subject in a very exhaustive and Scriptural manner. The work is divided into three parts: (1) Physical Death, (2) Immortality, (3) The Intermediate State. The position which he takes up with regard to death is the Scriptural one, that “the wages of sin is death,” and that “death therefore does not come merely as a result of natural law, as the Unitarians and Modernists would have us believe. Rather, had there been no sin, there would have been no death” (page 12). In the first part there are such sections as, among others, “The Certainty and Reality of Death,” “The Penalty of Sin,” “The Christian still Subject to Physical Death,” “What Happens at Death.” There is also a section on “Prayers for the Dead,” and one on “Burial or Cremation?” both of which are dealt with on a thoroughly Scriptural basis. In this latter section he says with regard to cremation, “We cannot bring ourselves deliberately to take the body of a dear one, only less precious than the soul that it enshrined, and give it to the flames for violent destruction, even though we know that the spirit is departed.” His conclusion on this subject is summed up in the following words:—”We can only conclude that the practice of cremation, which in our day seems to be becoming more common particularly in the larger city mortuaries, is anti-Christian and should have no place in the practice of the believer.” It has no support in Scripture. The early Church rejected it as a heathen custom, as dishonouring to the body, and as suggesting the denial of the resurrection. Most of those who advocate it in our day are religious liberals, or humanitarians who have little or no faith in the literal resurrection of the body, and not a few of them have either discarded Christianity or never gave serious allegiance to it in the first place” (page 54).
In the second part he deals with such subjects as “Immortality in the Ancient Religions,” “Proof not to be Obtained from Science or Philosophy,” “Scripture Teaching Regarding Immortality,” and “Wholesome Results that flow from belief in Immortality” and strikes the right key when he says, “The only reliable information concerning the state of the soul after death is to be found in the Bible. That which the philosophers cannot fathom, nor the scientists explain, God has revealed in His Word.
The third part of this work, as noted, is entitled, “The Intermediate State,” which he explains as meaning, “that realm or condition in which souls exist between death and the resurrection.” In this part he combats the dogmas of Second Probation, Soul Sleep, Annihilation, Purgatory, and Spiritualism, and has no difficulty in showing that these heresies have their rise in that fertile breeding-ground of un-Scriptural views, the human heart.
We consider that the book under review is well worth a perusal and the author has succeeded in presenting his subject in a clear attractive, and convincing manner, putting his readers under a debt of gratitude. While we do so our recommendation is not unqualified. On page 101 our author tells us that the word Paradise is an oriental term, meaning “parks or pleasure gardens,” but it would appear that he is taking a rather materialistic view of this when he says on page 85, in showing that there is no adequate basis for the assertion made by some that immortality on the part of man implies also immortality on the part of animals, that “this, however, does not necessarily mean that in heaven there will be no animal or bird or plant life.” This is inconsistent with his own statement about the Bible being the only reliable guide concerning the state of the soul after death. In vain will he search the Bible for anything to support the view that the soul in heaven will be surrounded by plant, bird, or animal life. Neither can we accept the statement on page 95: “What marvellous possibilities, for the growth of the soul open up during those blessed, peaceful happy years in immediate fellowship with Christ Himself. The intermediate state is therefore pre-eminently a state of special training and education for the high service of the eternal, perfect kingdom.” We prefer, on this point, the full and lucid statement of the Westminster Divines. “The communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible Church enjoy immediately after death, is, in that their souls are then made perfect in holiness, and received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies, which even in death continue united to Christ, and rest in their graves as in their beds, till at the last day they are again united to their souls. . . .” (Larger Catechism, Question 86). On page 104, what is asserted as the “generally accepted Protestant doctrine” that all children dying in infancy are saved, is not historically correct as far as being “generally accepted” is concerned, and betrays less caution than the statement of the Westminster Divines that “Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when, and where, and how He pleaseth” (Confession of Faith, chapter x. section 3). It is to be regretted also that in his Scripture quotations, Dr. Boettner follows the translation in the American Standard Version which, like the Revised Version of 1881, is based on a corrupt text.
While candour requires of us to notice these blemishes yet the work, as a whole, is well worthy of serious study. All ministers and others who address their fellow-sinners in public should possess a copy. The price is 10/-, post free, and copies may be obtained from Mr. Norman A. MacMillan, 29 Exchange Street, Doncaster, England.
—JOHN COLQUHOUN.