WHOSE WITNESS SHALL WE TAKE?
By H. S. Guilford
Not long ago a young man called at my door and said: “Father is dying. Can you come and see him?” I immediately repaired to the house of death, to find the words only too true. A few moments only and the last breath had taken its flight to Him who gave it. And now transpired just the opposite of what was accomplished about six thousand years ago, namely, the going back to earth of what God formed from the dust, by the passing away first of the life-giving principle—the breath of life. “And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Gen. 2:7. Now this man’s breath of life having gone back to God, who gave it, the result is that the body goes back to earth, from which man was originally taken. And they who witnessed this scene knew as well as I that he was dead; for they allowed me to close his eyes, and perform a few friendly acts for them, preparatory to his going into the hands of the undertaker. A few words of sympathy, a few more tears, and then the dead was left with those who were waiting to prepare him for his last sleep. Having accomplished their work, crape was hung at the front door as another witness that the last enemy had entered that house. Two days later and a larger company of friends and neighbors added their testimony to the fact that the king of terrors had entered their neighborhood, by coming in to show their sympathy for, and to proffer their help to, those in affliction, thus signifying their belief that their neighbor was dead. They had seen him upon the street; he had been in their houses; they had walked and talked with him; but now it was different. They looked upon one robed for the tomb, his eyes closed as in sleep, but there was no animation, no movement of any kind betokening life. God had taken all that he had formerly given, even the breath of life; and all these friends looked and acted as tho they were in the presence of the dead. All that kind hands and loving hearts could do for a good neighbor, a kind father, and loving husband, had been done thus far; and now a few comforting words of Scripture, showing that even the dead shall live again, a song of sympathy, a short prayer, commending neighbors and friends to God, who doeth all things well, the last look given, and the lid of the casket is closed, and the dead shut from our view until the Lifegiver shall restore again that which was lost. Once more. Six strong men lift the casket and bear it to the hearse; I see it deposited therein; for I pass out before it. Preparations being completed, the procession moves toward the city of the dead. On arrival at our destination, we saw the hearse unburdened of its treasure, and lowered to its final resting-place. Nearly half a hundred witnesses stood near, and no doubt would testify that the man was properly placed among the dead. Yet, strange to say, there were two men who helped to bear him from his former home, and helped to lower him into his grave, that unhesitatingly say that he is not dead. And possibly many may believe their assumption, that we did not bury a dead man, that it was only his casket. How shall we determine who of these witnesses are correct? Shall we turn to the law and the testimony, and say, “If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them”? Let God be true, tho it make every man a liar. It was Satan who said to our first mother, “Ye shall not surely die.” Gen. 3:4. Let God speak again by his servant Job (chap. 14:14): “If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee; thou wilt have a desire to the work of thy hands.” Yes, he who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” said also to Martha and Mary, “I am the resurrection and the life.” And he proved that fact beyond a cavil on that occasion, by raising Lazarus from among the dead, even after corruption had set in. (See John 11.) There could be no deception in that case; for he sat at the table with him afterward, and it is said that Lazarus served. Paul declares that “all die” (1 Cor. 15:22), and the Saviour just as emphatically declares that all that are in their graves shall live again, both righteous and wicked (John 5:28, 29), thus more than intimating that all dead men are in their graves. Other scriptures, not a few, are very positive on this point. Take Jer. 31:15–17, where the weeping mothers are represented by Rachel, who refused to be comforted for her children, because “they were not,” referring, perhaps, to all who have suffered as martyrs in the church during the long years of bloody persecution. Says the Lord: “Weep not, Rachel; let thy refrain be turned from mourning to a song of joy; for One has been found who has taken from death its sting, and has gained a victory over the grave. Thy children shall come again from the land of the enemy.” If any class of the dead could be in the presence of God and Christ and holy angels, singing peans of victory over death and the grave, surely the infants that Herod slew in order to destroy the Saviour, and all that have suffered martyrdom from Abel down to the present time, would seem to be entitled to that position of honor and ineffable joy. But no, they must wait until the last enemy is literally slain, until there is no more Adamic death; then they “shall come again from the land of the enemy.” Then what?—O, then such a shout of victory will ring out from those millions as this old earth has never listened to, and it will be taken up by all the heavenly host, and echoed and reechoed, “Worthy, worthy, is the Lamb that was slain and that liveth again!” Let Job speak again for another class. How is it, Job? You said you were going to wait; is your waiting place in heaven?—“If I wait, the grave is mine house.” Is that going to be your resting-place, Job?—“When our rest together is in the dust.” But you will find corruption there; the worm will feed on your flesh; you surely do not expect that this old body will live again? “O that my words were now written! O that they were printed in a book!” and they have been written again and again. Yes, yes, Job; here they are, printed in the Book of books. What further, Job?—“That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever!” Since you went to your long home, three thousand or more years ago, your wish has been carried out so many times; as the many resting places for the dead will abundantly testify! But what have you of so much importance to say?—“For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and tho after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; tho my reins be consumed within me.” This same Redeemer was on this earth nearly two thousand years ago, and he left us word that he would “come again” (John 14:1–3); and Daniel declares that in the time of trouble, when Michael shall stand up, every one will be delivered that is found written in the book (Dan. 12:1–3). The prophet Isaiah by the Spirit says (chap. 26:17–21) that “thy dead men shall live,” that they will rise when he does from the dust, and will sing when the earth casts out her dead. And this will occur when the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. Men die, but the dead shall live. “Improbable,” says one; “impossible,” say my two friends. Well, what more can we do? Let us see, we have a man die, and that before a number of witnesses; we have closed his eyes; we have seen him robed for the tomb; we have followed him to his last resting-place; we have seen him lowered into the vault by kind neighbors; and friends looking on have made no objection to our burying him from their sight; every one seemed to act in good faith; all testified in this, their last act, that their neighbor was dead. And now comes another class of witnesses, who, on the authority of the great God, declare9(1) that men die; (2) that they remain dead until the resurrection, and (3) that the grave is their waiting or resting-place between death and the resurrection. And these are no less personages than the Son of God, and Daniel, Job, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and the apostle Paul. Could more faithful witnesses be produced? Yet my two friends shake their heads, and tightly close their eyes, and say, “We can not see it.” Well, what more can we do? Could we bring back the dead man, and should he testify, would that satisfy them? I fear not; for One has already borne testimony who, Paul says, has been raised from the dead, and who himself declares, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.” Yet once more. Listen to the testimony of this last witness, he who spake as never man spake. It may be that if some still continue to prefer the testimony of that deceiver and counterfeiter, which has been such from the beginning, others may be induced to accept the witness of Him who declared that the words He spake were not His own, but the Father’s who sent Him. John 8:28. While the Saviour was journeying towards a certain city, the city of Nain, as he came to the gate, he met a procession similar to the one we have described above; and foremost in that concourse of people was a dead man being carried out; and this dead man was the only son of a widow. Christ, having compassion on the widow, touched the bier, stopped the funeral procession, and said to the dead man: “I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.” Whose witness will we take? Shall we go to the dead, to him who brought death, or to Him who by death conquered death, who was dead and behold is alive forevermore?