IV. Wilson-Eternal Life Only for Those “In Christ”

JOSEPH DAWSON WILSON, D.D. (1841-1923), a chair man of the faculty of the Philadelphia Seminary of the Reformed Episcopal Church, was graduated from St. Stephens College in 1863, and received his Master’s from the Episcopal General Theological Seminary of New York City. After ordination to the Episcopal ministry he served as rector of Calvary Protestant Episcopal church of Pittsburgh from 1867 to 1874.CFF2 522.2

Challenged on one occasion over the question of Endless Torment for the wicked, by the rector of St. Andrews’ church of the same city, he painstakingly “studied the question,” and came to the conclusion “that the Scriptures uniformly promise life, eternal life, to those in Christ, and destruction, perdition, and death to the impenitent.” Then he went on record with this fundamental statement:
“The more I have studied the subject the more confident have I become that the notion of the immortality of the wicked is a pagan notion, which crept into the church along with other errors when Greek philosophy saddled itself upon Christian truth. That melancholy error has descended to us through the papal communion, and has, I am persuaded, done great harm.” ^{1616) Joseph. Wilson, “Is Immortality Compulsory?” in Pettingell, The Life Everlasting, p. 632.}CFF2 522.3

In 1874 he transferred to the Reformed Episcopal Church and was successively rector of Christ Church, Peoria, Illinois, St. John’s Church, Chicago (in 1879), and the Emmanuel Church, St. Louis, Missouri. In 1884 the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him, and in 1901 he was called to the chair of church history at the Philadelphia Theological Seminary of the Reformed Episcopal Church, later becoming chairman of the faculty. He was author of Studies Upon the Words from the Cross, with an Inquiry concerning Hades. He contributed chapter five of the Symposium in The Life Everlasting.CFF2 522.4

1. THE UNANSWERABLE QUESTION-WHY?

The dogma of Eternal Torment raises doubt, he says in the Symposium, as to the justice of God. And because of this it has “arrayed many thoughtful men against Christianity altogether.” Increasing numbers have come to the conviction that “there must be some mistake about the whole matter.” ^{1717) Ibid., pp 632, 633.} Declaring that this “notion” is “an assault upon the Divine character,” Dr. Wilson asks:
“Why should God keep a soul forever and ever in a condition of sin? Nothing is without Him, for by Him all things exist. Why can He not withdraw His sustaining hand and let the sinner perish? All He has to do is to take away His upholding energy, and back the sinner goes into the non-existence out of which he came. Why should God disfigure His universe with millions of suffering wretches forever, and for no purpose-for what purpose can be conceived? Shall Gehenna be full of agonizing shrieks eternally as a warning to the glorified? Surely not!” ^{1818) Ibid., p. 633.}CFF2 523.1

No, he says, “Such a spectacle would turn heaven into a place of torment for the saved.” ^{1919) Ibid.}CFF2 523.2

2. GOD IS NOT A “MALIGNANT FIEND.”

Continuing his reasoning, he says:
“To say that God creates myriads of beings for eternal agony, when He could either forbid their birth or terminate their being, seems to me to make Him a malignant fiend. The only escape from so horrible a conclusion is the plea either that God cannot forbid a human being’s creation, or that, being created, He cannot destroy him. Neither part of such a plea can stand.” ^{2020) Ibid., p. 634.}CFF2 523.3

Dr. Wilson does not consent to the proposition that, “having given life to human souls, He can never recall it, the soul being a thing so indestructible that even Almighty power cannot terminate its being.” He adds, “The irreverence is not in these inquiries, but in those arguments for endless woe,” ^{2121) Ibid.} and their implications.CFF2 523.4

He then declares:
“All theories of endless misery assume necessarily the endlessness of sinning, and make God the minister of sin in that He is represented as denying the agonized prayer of the damned to be allowed to die.” ^{2222) Ibid., p. 636.}CFF2 524.1

3. DESPERATE INVOLVEMENTS OF THE DOGMA

Of the frequent assertion that “God cannot destroy a soul,” Wilson declares:
“The wickedness of this assertion is equalled only by its arrogance. The cause which is driven to such a shift is desperate. In reply to it we hold up the word of the Lord Jesus: ‘He is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna,’ Matthew 10:28. The defenders of Conditional Immortality find no occasion to deny that or any other word of Scripture. They find no occasion to limit Omnipotence.” ^{2323) Ibid.}CFF2 524.2

Such was the predicament created by the assertion as to the soul’s immortality-“The soul is necessarily immortal, and therefore God cannot destroy it.” It is to be observed that such a published statement, in 1882, did not affect Wilson’s later high Theological Seminary appointments, even his chairmanship of the Seminary faculty.CFF2 524.3