THE SLEEP OF THE DEAD by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 4, 1876

THE SLEEP OF THE DEAD

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

TEXT: “For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished.” Eccl. 9:5, 6.

DEAR reader, we have commonly been taught that when the body dies, the real man does not die, but lives right on, thinks, loves, and hates, in Heaven or hell, just as actually as while in the body upon earth. But is this true? Many false doctrines have been taught in the world; may not this be one of them? What proof do you have that a man lives after we have seen him die? Observation teaches us all that this is not so. Every day we see men die.

Did any person ever see anything leave the body at death? No, not in a single case. Has a human soul or spirit, separate from the body, ever been seen by any one? No, never. So far, then, as actual sight and observation go, all the evidence is against this popular doctrine. Reason is against it. How can a man think without brains, walk without feet, see without eyes, hear without ears? It is absurd and contrary to all reason. But does not the Bible teach that the dead are conscious? No, not in a single text; but it everywhere teaches just the reverse, as I will readily show you.

If the dead live right on and go to Heaven or hell as soon as they die, then what sense is there in a future Judgment? Is it reasonable to believe that God would send a man to hell before he was judged, and after he had been there a thousand years in torment, then bring him out and judge him? Would you hang a man and then judge him? Is it not absurd to believe that God would take a man to Heaven for thousands of years, and then bring him down from Heaven and judge him to see if he ought to go there? This is too absurd to be believed.

Again, if the soul or spirit can live just as well out of the body as in the body, or perhaps even better; if it can be like an angel, can fly rapidly from one place to another, can live and think, and act, and be exceedingly happy without the body; and if the body, as many preach, is only a prison-house, a cage and a clog to the soul, then what is the use of a resurrection of this body? Why raise the body and put the soul back into it again? Or, why was the soul ever put into the body at all, if it could do better without it? Yet no doctrine of the Scriptures is plainer than that of the resurrection of the dead at the last day. See 1 Cor. 15.

Then, again, if the saints as soon as they die go up to Heaven where Jesus is, and where they can enjoy all the glory and happiness of Heaven, what will they care for the second coming of Christ? Yet all the Bible writers were constantly wishing for it, longing for it, and praying for it. These fundamental doctrines of the Bible, the Judgment, the resurrection, and the second advent, are all set aside and destroyed by the doctrine of the conscious state of the dead.

The Bible directly asserts that the wicked are reserved unto the day of Judgment to be punished. “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of Judgment to be punished.” 2 Pet. 2:9. See also Job 21:28-32. Rev. 20:12, 13. Now if the wicked are reserved till the Judgment to be punished, then they certainly are not being punished in hell before that time. This is so plain that any child can see it, and so reasonable that everybody ought to believe it.

Another plain fact which clearly shows that the righteous do not go to Heaven when they die, is that they are not to be rewarded till the second advent, the resurrection, and the Judgment. If they went to Heaven at death they would have thousands of years of reward before the Judgment. But now see how plainly this doctrine is everywhere taught that the time of reward is not at death, but at the Judgment. “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” Matt. 16:27. When will every man be rewarded? At the coming of Christ; “for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14:14. When will you be recompensed? At the resurrection. No promise of it before. “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” 1 Pet. 5:4. When will you get your crown? When the great Shepherd comes—not till then.

“And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great.” Rev. 11:18. When will the Lord’s saints, great and small, be rewarded? When the time comes to judge the dead. How plain this doctrine is. Scores of texts all through the Bible might be given, teaching the same thing. But if this be true, then it cannot be true that the righteous go to Heaven when they die.

Well, if men do not go to Heaven or hell at death, where do they go? Let the Bible answer this question, and it will do it in very plain terms.

1. It says that they are dead. Death is thus defined by Webster: “The extinction of life.” Notice the following plain declarations: “For Naboth is not alive, but dead,” 1 Kings 21:15; “your fathers did eat no man in the wilderness, and are dead,” John 6:49; “David . . . is both dead and buried,” Acts 2:29; “the dead in Christ shall rise first,” 1 Thess. 4:16; “he being dead yet speaketh,” Heb. 11:4; “Moses my servant is dead,” Josh. 1:2; “Abraham is dead, and the prophets,” John 8:52; “Lazarus is dead.” John 11:14. How plain these declarations are,—

Moses is dead, David is dead, Lazarus is dead. And death is an extinction of life. Then all these men were dead and not alive.

2. They are in the grave. Nothing is more plainly stated than this. We will quote several scriptures upon this point. The reader will notice that it does not simply say that the body is in the grave, but it says that the man, the person himself, is there. It does not say that a part of man goes there, or that the house that the man lived in goes there, but it says that he himself, the man proper, is there. Notice carefully these scriptures: “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Gen. 3:19. Who was to return to dust? The conscious, intelligent, responsible man Adam. To Abraham God said, “And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.” Gen. 15:15. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” Eccl. 9:10. What is going into the grave? That part of man which is capable of having knowledge, wisdom, devices, &c. “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise.” Isa. 26:19. Notice it is men who are dead as well as bodies. “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.” Dan. 12:2. “The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and that they have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” John 5:28, 29. Who are in the grave? They that have done evil and they that have done good,—the intelligent, responsible man. “And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.” Acts 8:2. Who was buried? The martyr Stephen—not simply Stephen’s body, but Stephen himself. The reader will readily remember scores of texts through the Bible making the same statements.

3. The dead know nothing—have no thoughts. This is an important proposition which we wish the reader to distinctly notice. “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Ps. 146:3, 4. In the very day a man dies, his thoughts perish. Can a man be in Heaven or hell alive, and have no thoughts? “For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished.” Eccl. 9:5, 6. What do the dead know? The declaration is positive,—they “know not any thing.” But, says one, This is the body. No, it is not; for the next verse says, “Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished.” Men love and hate with the mind; hence it is the mind of man to which he refers. “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.” Ps. 115:17. “For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave who shall give thee thanks?” Ps. 6:5. “Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.” Ps. 31:17. “For the grave cannot praise thee; death cannot celebrate thee.” Isa. 38:18. All these scriptures plainly state that after death men have no thoughts, know nothing, are not intelligent anywhere, or in any manner.

4. The dead are asleep. We all know that in perfect, sound sleep there is no thought, not even a dream. We are simply unconscious. It is a well-known fact that the Lord everywhere uses sleep to describe the state of the dead. A person in sound sleep is peacefully, quietly resting, with no

sorrow, no trouble. Carefully read the following scriptures:— “So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David,” 1 Kings 2:10. “And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father.” 1 Kings 11:43. “And Hezekiah slept with his fathers.” 2 Kings 20:21. “For now shall I sleep in the dust.” Job 7:21. “So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.” Job 14:12. “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Dan. 12:2. “And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.” Mark 5:39. “These things said he; and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. . . . Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.” John 11:11, 14. “After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. . . . Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. . . . But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. . . . Behold, I shew you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” 1 Cor. 15:6, 18, 20, 51. “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.” 1 Thess. 4:13-15.

If the saints are dead, they are not alive. If they are in the grave they are not in Heaven. If they have no thoughts, then they are not thinking. If they know nothing, then they are not intelligent. If they are asleep, then they are not awake. If they are to be rewarded at the Judgment, they are not being rewarded now. Dear reader, this is the doctrine which we believe and teach. Is it not the doctrine of the Bible? We invite you to examine this subject further.