III. Four Basic Charges Made by Blackburne

Near the close of his penetrating history and analysis of nearly three hundred years of conflict over the nature of the soul, Blackburne makes these four basic charges, on pages 93-95, of A Short Historical View:
(1) That although introduced into the Christian Church in the early centuries of the Christian Era, “these scholastic subtilties” were accentuated through medieval scholasticism. Thus “the notion of the souls immortality” was “bred and nourished among the schoolmen of the twelfth, thirteenth and a great part of the two following centuries.”CFF2 212.3

(2) “That these scholastic subtilties were adopted by the popish divines, as the groundwork of the fable of Purgatory, and the idolatrous invocation of Saints.” Thus “scholastic immortality” was intermingled with the immortality offered by the Bible, and the two were made to give “light and support to each other,” being “equally sanctified by the canons and decrees of the church.”CFF2 213.1

(3) “That though Protestants, on all other subjects, rejected all doctrines which were not built on a scripture foundation, they unhappily contented themselves on this, with the testimony of popish and pagan tradition.”CFF2 213.2

(4) That in disputes with Papists over Purgatory and saint worship, Protestants have “directed their arguments to the wrong object; and instead of insisting that the immortality subsequent to the general resurrection, was the only conscious future state allotted in Scripture, either for saints or sinners, they embarrassed themselves with an hypothesis of departed souls taken either immediately into heaven, or immediately thrust into a place of final torment.”CFF2 213.3

As a result, the Papists take “advantage of this weakness in their adversaries,” through Protestant admission of a “middle state.’ ^{2121) Ibid., p. 95.} But Blackburne’s conclusion is that according to Scripture “a suspension [of consciousness] actually takes place during the interval between death and the resurrection.” ^{2222) Ibid., p. 106.} He repeats and enforces the thought in the next paragraph, calling it “a total intermission of consciousness in man for a certain interval”—namely, until the resurrection day. Then he adds confidently:
“Our foundation standeth sure, we know whom we have trusted, and we are persuaded he is able to keep what we have committed to him against the appointed day.” ^{2323) Ibid.}CFF2 213.4

Such are the mature deductions drawn by this astute and accomplished Anglican scholar, after a really massive survey of the evidence. It cannot be lightly passed by.CFF2 214.1