The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: American Conditionalists Begin to Appear

I. Bird’s-eye Preview of Far-flung Nineteenth-Century Awakening

It will be profitable to take a brief preview of coming spokesmen, particularly in the American line of Conditionalists, that we may grasp their sequence and relationships. CFF2 283.1

Just after the turn of the century a religious body arose, called the Christian Connection, that as a body rejected the inherent-immortality-of-the-soul position, along with its corollary, the Eternal Torment of the wicked, maintaining that they would be ultimately annihilated. This was a significant group development. CFF2 283.2

Then in 1808 Elias Smith, in what he claimed to be the “first religious newspaper published to the world”—The Herald of Gospel Liberty—issued at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, maintained that immortality is God’s free gift, bestowed on the righteous only, through Christ at the resurrection, that all the wicked would utterly perish and completely die in the second death. Meantime, Episcopalian bishop William White, of Pennsylvania, declared man mortal, not immortal. CFF2 283.3

Next, in 1828 Protestant Episcopal rector John Sellon, of Canandaigua, New York, issued a 106-page work maintaining the final extinction of the wicked. And in the same year Dr. Aaron Bancroft, Unitarian minister of Worcester, Massachusetts, published a volume of sermons advocating endless life alone through Christ. In 1829-1834 Walter Balfour, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, published a series of books advocating the unconscious sleep of the dead. ¹ And there were others. Discussions on Conditionalism now broke out in various places. Note one particular sequence. CFF2 283.4

1. FROM GREW TO STORRS TO ADVENT MOVEMENT

In the early thirties Deacon Henry Grew, of Rhode Island and Philadelphia, issued two important pamphlets on the subject. Then George Storrs, Methodist minister of New York, had his attention called to the subject by reading Grew. After thoroughly investigating the question, Storrs completely adopted the doctrine of the mortality of man and the postulate of the destruction of the wicked—in other words, the standard Conditionalist position. In 1841 he issued his first treatise thereon, and in 1842 began to publish his famous Six Sermons, which were thereafter extensively circulated. CFF2 284.1

In 1843 Storrs started the Bible Examiner, soon devoted largely to teaching Conditionalism. Meanwhile, in 1842 Congregationalist Calvin French published a 54-page pamphlet at Boston contending for immortality only in Christ, the sleep of the dead, and the final annihilation of the wicked. And numerous individuals among the Disciples, or Campbellites, likewise adopted Conditionalism, though not the denomination as a whole. These developments in the New World as well as the Old will each be noted in their chronological sequence. CFF2 284.2

(Following 1844 the two main divisions of the Adventists embraced the doctrine of the mortality of the soul, the unconscious state of the dead, and the ultimate and utter destruction of the wicked. Those Adventists who did not adopt these views separated into splinter bodies that have dwindled to small proportions and are scarcely in the fraternity of Adventists.) CFF2 284.3

2. PROMINENT ACCESSIONS FOLLOW MID-CENTURY

But back in 1828 at Buffalo, New York, came Baptist minister Jacob Blain with a 117-page book entitled Death Not Life. It had a large sale and numerous editions. And Horace L. Hastings, of Boston, Massachusetts, issued several extensively circulated pamphlets on Conditionalism—to mention but two. Next appeared Prof. C. F. Hudson, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, with two very important volumes, Debt and Grace, as related to the Doctrine of a Future Life, and Christ Our Life: the Scriptural Argument for Immortality Through Christ, Alone. These made a deep impression in religious circles. CFF2 284.4

In 1863 Professor Hudson reported forty prominent clergymen in the larger denominations—just among his personal acquaintances—who held the Conditionalist view. And by 1860 there were at least one thousand preachers in the United States alone now pleading the cause of Conditionalism. Prominent among men of all faiths advocating the doctrine were Dr. Charles L. Ives, of Yale, author of Bible Doctrine of the Soul; J. H. Pettingell, author of several able works, such as The Unspeakable Gift and The Life Everlasting. Then the names come so fast that one can scarcely keep up with them—such as J. H. Whitmore, with Immortality; Uriah Smith, with Man’s Nature and Destiny; D. M. Canright, The History of the Soul (1870). CFF2 285.1

Writers of other Adventist bodies who embraced the Conditionalist view were John Couch, O. R. Fassett, Edwin Burnham, Albion Ross, A. A. Phelps, H. F. Carpenter, and C. R. Hendricks. And a similar list—James White, J. N. Andrews, J. H. Waggoner, J. N. Loughborough, George I. Butler, S. N. Haskell, and W. H. Littlejohn—is to be found among the early Seventh-day Adventist Conditionalist exponents. By this time there were various journals published by these groups advocating Conditionalism—Bible Examiner, World’s Crisis, Review and Herald, Signs of the Times, The Restitution, Herald of Life, et cetera. CFF2 285.2

3. 1877 MARKS THE NEW PERIOD OF EXTENSION

Another interesting international development occurred in the fall and winter of 1877 as Conditionalism was brought prominently before the religious world on both sides of the Atlantic. In the United States a few previously “orthodox” ministers in different parts of New England publicly rejected the doctrine of immortality of the soul, and especially the Eternal Torment of the lost. This created a tremendous stir in religious circles. Both the religious and the secular press took up the cudgels, and expatiated upon the question, calling for a general discussion of the subject by the clergy. As a result ministers all over the United States preached simultaneously, on one Sunday, on the question of Hell. In New York City alone it was stated that one hundred ministers preached on that subject, pro and con. Thus the issue came more and more to the forefront. Symposiums appeared in newspaper, periodical, and book form. Debates were common. CFF2 285.3

And all this, be it noted, was independent of, but simultaneous with, an even greater awakening in Britain, which is separately handled, with its essential details. 1877 was not only a notable year for fomenting interest and fostering investigation over here, but—though not so extensively or intensively—there was widespread discussion in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Africa, Australia, India, Japan, Jamaica, and even China. Thus independent studies were conducted, or at least repercussions were heard, in far-flung lands. It was like a wave rolling over the surface of the globe. We will now trace the various American developments, beginning with Bishop William White, about 1800. Watch for the geographical spread and the denominations involved. These will be important. CFF2 286.1