The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

VI. Wesleyan Watson—Lost Title to Immortality Regained Through Christ

Now let us note RICHARD WATSON (1781-1833), Wesleyan theologian, who was one of the promoters of the Wesleyan Missionary Society in 1813, and was one of its general secretaries for eleven years, devoting himself to the theological training of candidates for mission service. In 1826 he was made president of the conference, and in 1830 declined the chair of Moral Philosophy in Wesleyan University. Frail of body, but with a remarkable mind and an indomitable will, he was a notable preacher and an effective and logical writer. CFF2 256.4

Watson produced the first systematic treatment of Wesleyan theology, and his two-volume Theological Institutes (1824)—running through many editions in Britain and the United States—was long regarded as the standard of Methodist doctrine. Some compared it, in theology, to Blackstone in law. Watson’s premature death at fifty-two—a martyr to his intense exertions—was greatly lamented because he left so much unfinished writing. But he was already author of a score of books. CFF2 256.5

Picture 1: Robert Hall, Richard Watson, Archbishop Whately
Left: Robert Hall (d. 1831), Famous Baptist Preacher — Eternal Torment Not Essential Article.
Center: Richard Watson (d. 1833), Wesleyan Theologian, Bishop of Llandaff — Lost Title to Immortality Regained Through Christ.
Right: Archbishop Whatcly (d. 1863), Famed Prelate of Dublin — Expressly Rejects Immortal Soulism.
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Picture 2: The Pledge after the Fall
After the Catastrophe of the Fall came the Glorious Pledge of Restoration to Sonship and Life Through Christ.
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1. SINFUL MAN LOST TITLE TO IMMORTALITY

In his sermon on “Paradise Shut and Re-opened,” Watson makes this significant statement:
“‘The tree of life was a kind of sacrament. As the promise of immortality was given to Adam, every time he ate of this tree by God’s appointment, he expressed his faith in God’s promise; and God, as often as he ate of it sealed the promise of immortality to man.—In this view, sin excluded man from the tree of life, as he lost his title to immortality.’” ¹⁴ CFF2 257.1

And he adds: “‘We find the tree of life spoken of in connection with the life of the soul—not only with immortality on earth, but with immortality in heaven.’” No wonder, Watson says “‘many eminent divines have considered this tree as a constant pledge to Adam of a higher life’”—life now, “‘and of a higher and more glorious life in a future state, to which man might pass, not, indeed, by death, but by translation.’” ¹⁵ CFF2 257.2

2. “SEED” TAKES PLACE OF “TREE” AS PLEDGE OF IMMORTALITY

This provision, Watson explains, was
“‘the reason why the fruit of that tree was prohibited after man had sinned. He had broken the covenant, and had no right now to eat of the sign, the sacrament, the pledge of immortality.” ¹⁶ CFF2 258.1

But after the Fall, with the sentence of death passed by God, He—
“‘also gives a promise; and man is bidden to hope in another object, “the seed of the woman.” That seed [Christ] was henceforth to be his tree of life.’” ¹⁷ CFF2 258.2

3. IMMORTALITY A GIFT, DEPENDENT ON GIVER

One further important Watson thought must suffice: “‘That the soul is naturally immortal is contradicted by Scripture, which makes our immortality a gift, dependent on the will of the giver.’” Watson calls the doctrine of the “‘natural immortality of the soul’ an ‘absurdity.’” ¹⁸ Yet Watson was one of Methodism’s famous theologians. CFF2 258.3