The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

IV. Volume III-New Voices Add Strength and Significance

Volume three covers the years 1903-1905, and comprises Nos. 71-106 of The Faith Library. These were authored by familiar British names, together with Pettingell and Grant, from America, and Petavel, of Switzerland. New contributors add strength and significance to the series. This volume contains four important numbers (72, 75, 82, and 106) by Dr. Thomas Clarke, ⁴⁶ and two (Nos. 95 and 97) by Lieut. Col. V. F. Rowe, R.E. Dr. Clarke’s first tractate, No. 2 (“Religio Christi, or a Scientific Theology”), is an epitome of his larger work, A Life’s Thought on Christ. CFF2 465.4

1. DR. CLARKE SUMMONS SUCCESSION OF ABLE WITNESSES

In addition to Biblical evidence, Clarke has sections on the early Conditionalist Fathers, in which he lists Barnabas, Her- Ignatius, Clement of Rome, Polycarp, and the later Theophilus and Irenaeus. Of these he says: “Now, all these men were Conditionalists; and, as Olshausen testifies, denied the Immortality of the Soul.” ⁴⁷ CFF2 466.1

Dr. Clarke next quotes certain “Later Witnesses,” including philosopher Locke, Archbishop Whately (“No such doctrine as the immortality of the soul is revealed”), Bishop Watson (“The natural immortality of the soul is contradicted by Scripture”). Then he introduces such contemporaries as Sir G. G. Stokes, Sir Andrew Clark, M.D., Prof. Franz Delitzsch (“From the Biblical point of view, the soul can be put to death —it is mortal”), Bishop Westcott (on the “ultimate disappearance” of sin and evil from the universe), Archbishop Thompson, in the Bampton Lecture on the Atonement (that “life to the godless must be the beginning of destruction”), and J. H. Scholten (“The life which the sinner loses is his very existence”; he is “destined to perish”). Clarke ably discusses the Biblical terms involved, answers objections, and shows how in the final lake of fire, or second death, “death itself becomes dead.” ⁴⁸ It is a strong number. CFF2 466.2

2. SOUL IS CAPABLE OF ‘BEING MADE IMMORTAL.”

Again, in No. 82, Dr. Clarke deals with “Man and His Eternal Destiny, or The Early Faith Revived.” This is a comprehensive coverage in eleven sections, contending emphatically that the soul is “immortalisable; i.e., capable of being made immortal.” But this is “in and by and through Christ” only. And in section eight he addresses himself to “The Scriptural Eschatology or The Fate of the Dead.” It is saturated with Scripture. CFF2 467.1

3. BAPTIST MISSIONARY TO CHINA TESTIFIES

Another new voice is heard in No. 91 (“The Value of a True Eschatology”), by Frank Madeley, missionary of the Baptist Mission, Shensi, China. He holds that a true eschatology not only puts Christ’s advent as central but “reveals to us the real character of Death” ⁴⁹ and the “resurrection”—citing Conditionalist Dr. Bullinger. ⁵⁰ Conditionalism “gives the death blow to Spiritism. ⁵¹ CFF2 467.2

4. ENGINEER, EDITOR, AND VICAR ON ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION

Lieut. Col. V. F. Rowe’s two contributions (Nos. 95 and 97) are on “Natural Immortality of Man—The Devil’s Lie,” and “Are the Holy Dead in Paradise? or Can Death Really Be Life?” Both are heavily and effectively Biblical. Still another new voice is that of A. C. Johnson, editor of Prophetic and Mission Record, on “Eternal Life: How and When Obtained.” And yet another (No. 100) is by Vicar Edward Bell, of St. Stephen’s-by-Saltash, on “The Second Death: What Is It?”—an address presented before the Three Towns Clerical Society. In this he contends that “the punishing of the wicked will not go on for ever; but their punishment will be irreversible, and eternal in its duration and effect.” ⁵² This results in “the disappearance of sin. The rooting out of everything that offends, and of all who work iniquity.” ⁵³ CFF2 467.3

5. £ 1000 OFFER REPEATED BY CLARKE FOR MISSING TEXT

The series closes (No. 106) with “Some Questions and Reflections,” by Dr. Thomas Clarke. Twelve searching questions are propounded. Then comes the “13th,” which we quote:
“13th.—The words ‘immortal soul,’ ‘everlasting soul,’ ‘eternal soul,’ ‘undying soul,’ ‘deathless soul,’ ‘deathless sinner,’ are constantly in our ears; but we venture to repeat the offer to pay £1000 to anyone who will show us where any of these expressions are to be found in the Bible; nay, who will even show us where the word ‘immortal’ applies to anyone but God ‘who alone hath Immortality,’ ‘the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,’ and those who are one with Him in Christ.” ⁵⁴ CFF2 468.1

This is followed by eleven pages of “Some serious Reflections—a most earnest summation and appeal. CFF2 468.2

Those are the leading components of the third volume in The Faith Library. Twenty-two other numbers (Nos. 107-120) were issued subsequently, including “Spiritism-Demonism” (No. 111), “Life in Christ” (No. 115), “The Platonic Torch” (No. 122), by E. W. Browne, and “Concerning Them Which Are Asleep” (No. 121), by J. Furnezux. This makes a total of 128 items comprising this unique and highly effective library. CFF2 468.3