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experiences between their death and resurrection. But this is a mere argument from silence,
which is quite worthless in this case, since the Bible clearly teaches the conscious existence of
the dead. It may well be, however, that those persons were silent about their experiences, but
this can readily be explained on the assumption that they were not permitted to tell about
them, or that they could not give an account of them in human language. Cf. II Cor. 12:4.
3. THE DOCTRINE OF ANNIHILATIONISM AND OF CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY.
a. Statement of these doctrines.
According to these doctrines there is no conscious existence, if
any existence at all, of the wicked after death. The two are one in their conception of the state
of the wicked after death, but differ in a couple of fundamental points. Annihilationism teaches
that man was created immortal, but that the soul, which continues in sin, is by a positive act of
God deprived of the gift of immortality, and ultimately destroyed, or (according to some)
forever bereaved of consciousness, which is practically equivalent to being reduced to non-
existence. According to the doctrine of conditional immortality, on the other hand, immortality
was not a natural endowment of the soul, but is a gift of God in Christ to those who believe.
The soul that does not accept Christ ultimately ceases to exist, or loses all consciousness. Some
of the advocates of these doctrines teach a limited duration of conscious suffering for the
wicked in the future life, and thus retain something of the idea of positive punishment.
b. These doctrines in history
. The doctrine of annihilationism was taught by Arnobius and the
early Socinians, and by the philosophers Locke and Hobbes, but was not popular in its original
form. In the previous century, however, the old idea of annihilation was revived with some
modifications under the name of conditional immortality, and in its new form found
considerable favor. It was advocated by E. White, J. B. Heard, and the Prebendaries Constable
and Row in England, by Richard Rothe in Germany, by A. Sabatier in France, by E. Petavel and
Ch. Secretan in Switzerland, and by C. F. Hudson, W. R. Huntington, L. C. Baker, and L. W. Bacon
in our own country, and therefore deserves special notice. They do not all put the doctrine in
the same form, but agree in the fundamental position that man is not immortal in virtue of his
original constitution, but is made immortal by a special act or gift of grace. As far as the wicked
are concerned some maintain that these retain a bare existence, though with an utter loss of
consciousness, while others assert that they perish utterly like the beasts, though it may be
after longer or shorter periods of suffering.
c. Arguments adduced in favor of this doctrine.
Support for this doctrine is found partly in the
language of some of the early Church Fathers, which seems to imply at least that only believers
receive the gift of immortality, and partly also in some of the most recent theories of science,
which deny that there is any scientific proof for the immortality of the soul. The main support
for it, however, is sought in Scripture. It is said that the Bible: (1) teaches that God only is