MAN BEYOND THE GRAVE

Thus far in our investigation we have found no intimation that man in his present state is in possession of an inherent, immortal principle. we have found no testimony relative to him in the grave, which shows him to be a compound being, only separated, not killed, by death. We have found that the resurrection is the only avenue to a future life. And now we approach the most momentous and solemn division of our inquiry; for beyond the resurrection no less than the long lines of eternity stretch away before us; and whatever sentence is then pronounced upon the guilty of our race, it is forever.MOI 84.2

We have here an inquiry to answer concerning the two classes of mankind: Of one it is, What profit is it that they have kept the ordinances of the Lord? and of the other, “What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” Let the points already settled in this investigation be here kept distinctly in view. Those who contend for the eternal misery of the wicked are too apt to reason in a circle. Thus, when the immortality of the soul is the point to be proved, they will say the wicked are to be tormented eternally, therefore the soul is immortal; and when endless misery is the point in dispute, they will invert their former proposition, and tell us that the soul is immortal, and therefore the wicked will live forever in misery; thus playing from one declaration to the other, and traveling complacently around within the limits of a complete circle. But nothing can here be presumed from the immortality of the soul in favor of the unending torment of the wicked; for we have not found any immortality yet predicated of the soul. If then it be a fact that the wicked will exist forever in devouring fire, it must rest upon express declarations of scripture to that effect, and upon them alone. We will then examine those texts which are supposed to prove this point.MOI 84.3