The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

XIII. Witnesses Span Centuries; Opponents Invoke Same Arguments

It should be observed that in all this Layton was not defending Coward, with whose works he had little acquaintance, but was expressing his own convictions and conclusions on the counterargument projected by Coward’s opponents. He seriously “answers every argument that had then been advanced in behalf of the immortality of the soul, at full length,” including the constantly recurring objection that Conditionalism is “bold, singular, and heretical.” When he started writing, in 1670, Layton felt somewhat like Elijah—that he alone held the true view, but he soon found that there were “seven thousand” others of similar belief of whom he had been unaware. As to the charge of being “heretical” Layton says: CFF2 202.9

“The passing an intermediate time betwix death and judgment, (which time to the dead is nothing) doth no way infeeble the certainty of future rewards and punishments; but places the expectation of them upon a right and a firm foot or foundation, maintained by a concurrent testimony throughout the scripture, and fortified by the articles of our several Creeds.” ⁵⁷ CFF2 203.1

And as to the novelty of Conditionalism, he contends truthfully and significantly that—
“there have been testimonies all along in the church against the separate subsistence of souls, except in the 600 years wherein the thick darkness of popish ignorance overspread the Christian world, viz., from An. 600 till An. 1200.” ⁵⁸ CFF2 203.2

And he further observes that use was then being made of the same arguments to meet him as were employed against the unpopular Reformers by the “papists in the infamy of the Reformation.” These were: “The authority of the church, the imputation of heresy, and even of Atheism, the promoting of vice [evil], by taking away the fear of purgatorial pains, etc.” ⁵⁹ CFF2 203.3

This, he said pointedly, is “remarkable,” for— CFF2 203.4

“the separate existence of the soul, is one of these doctrines which popery borrowed from paganism, and is so necessary to the support of the better half of the popish superstitions, that it is not a little marvellous the reformers should think so little of removing the ground work, when they were so zealously bent upon demolishing what was built upon it.” ⁶⁰ CFF2 203.5

His was a remarkable polemical defense of Conditionalism. He was a notable champion. CFF2 203.6

MAJOR 17TH CENTURY WITNESSES TO CONDITIONALISM

No.	Page	Name	Date	Place	Religion	Position	Nature of Man	Intermediate State	Punishment of Wicked
1	134	Legatt, Barth	1611	England	Anabaptist		Denied innate immortality	Soul asleep in death
2	134	Wightman, Edward	1611	England	Anabaptist		Denied innate immortality	Soul asleep in death
3	138	Baptist Conf.	1660	England	Baptist		Mortal state	State of insensibility	Perish forever
4	142	Caffyn, Mathhew	1665	England	Baptist	Preacher—teacher	No immortality now	Awaits resurrection
5	144	Biddle, John	1654	England	Unitarian	Theologian	Immortality— saints only		Utter destruction
6	150	Milton, John	1655	England	Anglican—Pur.	Poet—statesman	Whole man mortal	Sleeps unconsciously
7	160	Wither, George	1636	England	Puritan	Poet—writer		Sleeping
8	163	Overton, Richard	1642-59	England	Baptist	Pamphleteer	Wholly mortal	Ceases to be till res.
9	169	Canne, John	1643	England	Baptist	Preacher— publisher	Wholly mortal	Ceases till res.
10	171	Chamberlen, Dr P.	1601-83	England	Ind.—Baptist	Phys.— preacher	Immortality at res.	Unconscious sleep
11	176	Stegmann, Joach.	1651	Germany	Lutheran	Author— translator	Immortality at res.	Unconscious in death
12	181	Homes, Nath.	1641	England	Independent	Minister— author		Consciousness at res.
13	183	Richardson, Sam.	1658	England	Baptist	Minister			Total destruction
14	185	Barrow, Isaac	1670	England	Anglican	Prof.— theol.	Conditional immort.		Total destruction
15	187	Locke, John	1671	England	Anglican	Philos.— teacher	Mortal	No consciousness	Ultimate destruction
16	191	Tillotson, John	1690	England	Anglican	Archbp. Canter.		Innatism not Biblical	Not necessarily eternal
17	193	Stosch, F.W. von	1692	Germany	Lutheran				Denies eternal torment
18	193	Coward, William	1702	England	Anglican	Phys.— theol.	Invested at res.	Unconscious sleep
19	199	Layton, Henry	1670	England	Anglican	Barrister— theol.	Not immortal	Sleeps in Christ	Not eternal torment
	(Restorationism begins to reappear sporadically under the term “‘Universalism.”)

SUMMARY OF CONDITIONALISM DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

Conditionalism in the seventeenth century opens, just as the sixteenth closed, with cruel persecution, even unto death—as with Legatt and Wightman. This was followed by the widely attested Baptist Confession of Faith, “owned and approved” by more than 20,000. Then follows a succession of prominent Conditionalist witnesses, chiefly in England but with Stegmann and von Stosch in Germany.

The British witnesses are about equally divided between Baptists and Anglicans, but also include Puritan, Independent, and even Unitarian adherents. No Jews are noted. In spread of professional and official proponents, they now embrace preachers, teachers, physicians, poets, writers, statesmen, publishers, philosophers, and barristers—with even an Anglican archbishop. So Conditionalism was not confined preponderantly to any one group or religious persuasion.

In doctrinal emphasis it was distributed rather evenly over the three main points of (1) the mortality of man, (2) the unconscious sleep of the soul between death and the resurrection, and (3) the ultimate and utter destruction of the impenitently wicked. And it must not be forgotten that those who held to the final destruction of the wicked thereby automatically held that not all souls are innately immortal—else such could not ultimately cease to be.

There is now a still slow but steady augmenting of Conditionalist ranks and a diminishing of persecution, so that in the latter half of the century opposition is virtually confined to oral and printed attack—with attendant ostracism. Nevertheless, the credibility of Conditionalism is increasingly recognized, as shown by the caliber and growing number of its conspicuous proponents.

Such is the status of Conditionalism during the seventeenth century.