ANCIENT ADVENTISTS by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 24, 1876

ANCIENT ADVENTISTS.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

[Republished by request from Vol. 43, Nos. 18 and 19, April 14 and 21, 1874.]

There are two classes who hold opposite views concerning the hope of God’s people; one hopes to go to Heaven at death, while the other places all its hope in the personal advent of Jesus Christ to raise the dead and translate the living saints. Which of these is right? We will let the prominent men of the Bible, some from every age, from Genesis to Revelation, testify as to their hope. The advent of Christ and the resurrection of the saints are events immediately and inseparably connected, so that when one is affirmed the other is necessarily implied. For when Christ appears, the trumpet sounds, and the dead are raised. 1 Thess. 4: 13–18. With this fact before us, let us now examine the word of God upon this important subject.

The first promise of the Deliverer was made to Adam immediately after his fall, Gen. 3: 15, when God said that the “seed” of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head. From this time we shall find that the eyes of God’s people were ever turned with eager longing to the coming of this Saviour to deliver them. Thus we read of Enoch: “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all,” &c. Jude 14, 15.

This holy man was only the seventh from Adam, was the first prophet, and lived before the flood. He is a good witness from the old patriarchs of the antediluvian age. How plainly and boldly he expresses his hope in the advent of the Lord! Looking by faith through the long vista of over five thousand years, his prophetic eye sees this grand event, and in the rapture of his soul he exclaims, “Behold, the Lord cometh.” This, then, was his hope.

In Heb. 11, Paul enumerates a host of ancient worthies. Beginning with Abel, he mentions Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, and many more “who through faith subdued kingdoms, . . . and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.” The resurrection, therefore, was the glorious hope for which all those old patriarchs believed and suffered and died. But not one word do we anywhere hear from them about going to Heaven at death. They had no such hope.

Let us now call up a witness from the far-off land of Uz—the patient Job. In his deep affliction, he had need of a firm hope and strong consolation to sustain him. What was this hope? We are not left to guess; for Job has recorded it in the clearest terms: “Oh, that my words were now written! oh, that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever!” He has something important to tell which he wished all coming generations to know. “For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” Job 19: 23–27.

The most zealous modern Adventist could not express his faith and hope more clearly than this. “I know,” says Job, “that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand upon the earth in the latter day.” This shows his Advent faith. He further declares that then he will see God in his flesh. That he was a firm believer in the sleep of the dead is very evident. Thus he says: “But man dieth, and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” Now mark his own answer: “As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up; 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: 10–12.

Leaving the desert of Arabia, we will now come down the stream of time about five hundred years and call up a royal witness from the land of Judea, the man after God’s own heart. His testimony is clear

and decisive. He had no faith in the conscious state of the dead. Thus he says: “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.” Ps. 115: 17. Again: “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. Our thoughts constitute our consciousness; when we cease to think we cease to know or to have any consciousness. David says our thoughts perish the very day we die, and that the dead do not praise the Lord. This is in perfect harmony with what the great majority of Adventists now believe.

But now listen to what David did hope and wait for: “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” Ps. 17: 15. He knew that he should fall asleep, but his hope was that from this sleep he should awake in the likeness of his Lord. The apostle tells us when this will be; viz., at the advent of Christ: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3: 2. When Jesus comes, the saints will see him as he is, and will be made like him. For this glorious event, David, like all before him, earnestly hoped. This sufficiently shows his advent faith.

Our next witness shall be the wisest man who ever lived, a great king of Israel. In the most unqualified terms he states his faith in the unconscious sleep of the dead. Thus he says: “The heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.” Yes; they go to the dead, not to Heaven or hell. He continues: “For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, 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.” It is not simply the body which ceases to live and act, but the mind also ceases to operate; for it neither knows, nor loves, nor hates. He further says, “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: 3, 5, 6, 10. This is a good, decisive testimony, and shows that Solomon firmly believed in the sleep of the dead the same as his father David did before him. He shows his faith in the resurrection in the following language: “The righteous hath hope in his death.” Prov. 14: 32.

Dismissing Solomon, we will next call up one of the greatest of the old prophets, Elisha, the son of Shaphat. Like modern Adventists he believed in “going up,” and like them he “had trial of cruel mockings” (Heb. 11: 36) on account of it. As he returned from viewing the translation of Elijah, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, “Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.” 2 Kings 2: 23. This shows that he believed and taught that doctrine, and that it was as much hated and mocked at then as now. How often we have heard the question mockingly asked, “When are you going up?” But let these modern mockers take warning from the punishment which God visited upon those mockers of old. “And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.” Verse 24.

Passing down more than a century later, we find Isaiah the prophet all aglow with the grand doctrine of the second advent and the resurrection of the saints. He has said so much about these that I hardly know what to select. As his prophetic eye sweeps over the wonderful events of the last days, he breaks out thus: “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.” Chap. 26: 19–21.

He shows that when the Lord comes the saints will be waiting and eagerly watching for him, ready to hail him when he comes. “It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him; we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Chap. 25: 9. The fact is made prominent and emphasized that they have waited for him.

As Isaiah foresaw the persecution which the Adventists would receive for their faith, he comforts them thus: “Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word: Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.” Chap. 66: 5. While he thus frequently shows his faith in the advent of the Lord, not one word does he say about going to Heaven at death. He had no such hope.

From Isaiah who walked in kings’ palaces, we will pass down one hundred years later and listen to the voice of the weeping prophet from his dungeon prison: “Thus saith the Lord: A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.” This refers to the destruction of the little children in Bethlehem by Herod, as we are informed in Matt. 2: 16–18. These children were martyred and their mothers were weeping over their dead bodies. Jeremiah now comes forward with words of comfort and consolation. “Thus saith the Lord: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears.” Now carefully notice the hope which the prophet holds forth to these bereaved mothers. Contrast it with the comfort offered to mourning mothers in our days by popular ministers. As the little dead child lies before them, the minister says, “Sister, do not weep. This is not your child. He is not dead, but is now with the angels in Heaven, happy in the presence of God. Your loss is his gain. Be faithful, and you will soon go to join him.” Such words we often hear. Now listen to the hope held out to weeping mothers by this inspired seer. “Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord: and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.” Jer. 31: 19, 17.

What was their hope? That they should come again from the land of the enemy, and return to their own border. Then at death they went into the land of the enemy. Did they go to Heaven? No; for Heaven is not an enemy to children. But they did “go to the dead,” Eccl. 9: 3, there to remain till Jesus comes to awake them. John 5: 28, 29. Then death, the last enemy, shall be destroyed. 1 Cor. 15: 26. If there was any other, better, or nearer hope, why did not Jeremiah think of it? Because he, too, was an Adventist, and offered to others the same hope which consoled his own sorrow.

As we pass along, we listen a moment to the captive Ezekiel, and hear him adding his testimony to the same blessed hope: “Thus saith the Lord God; behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.” Chap. 37: 12.

Daniel also, from the courts of the heathen kings, comes forward and adds his testimony to the same great truth. “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life,” &c. Dan. 12: 2.

Hosea likewise comforts Israel with this promise of God: “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.” Chap. 13: 14.

Finally, in the closing chapter of the Old Testament, we see the eyes of the last prophet, like all before him, still fixed upon that long-wished-for event, the coming of that great day and the rising of the Sun of righteousness. Mal. 4: 1–3.

Thus we have seen that in one unbroken line from Adam down through the sons of God in the antediluvian age, the old patriarchs, the pious kings, and the holy prophets—men from every age and every clime—all have cherished that one blessed hope, the resurrection of the dead and the coming of the Lord.

We now come to the New Testament. Here we find the doctrine of the reward of the righteous at the second advent of Christ and the resurrection of the dead even more frequently and more prominently taught than in the Old Testament. Let us hear Jesus himself on this subject: “But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind; and thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed [when?] at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14: 13, 14. The time, then, for the reward of the righteous is, not at death, but at the resurrection. So says Christ, and who could be better authority? Contrast this with the modern popular doctrine of rewards at death. Suppose a benevolent man in a community dies. He has been noted for his piety, for feeding the hungry, for clothing the naked, visiting the sick, &c. At his funeral, the minister recounts his good deeds, and says, “Our loss is his gain. He has gone to his reward. He is now in Heaven receiving the fruit of his labor.” Such language we hear at almost every funeral, though a direct contradiction of the teachings of Christ. He points to the resurrection as the time of reward.

Hear him once more: “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. How beautifully all the witnesses agree in placing the reward of the saints, not at death, but at the second advent. Even the angels of God have come forward with their testimony to point the anxious, longing ones forward to that ancient hope of Israel—the personal return to earth of the Son of man. “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1: 9–11.

These are good witnesses, and their testimony is plain. This same Jesus is coming back as really and as personally as he went up. Forward to this event they point the minds of the mourning disciples; but they are totally silent about going to Heaven at death. But Paul is waiting to bear his testimony on this glorious subject. His warm heart was ever full of it, and it was the theme above all others upon which he loved to dwell. To Titus his son, he writes that he is “looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.” Titus 2: 13. He is not ashamed to call it “that blessed hope,” though, alas! it is now everywhere spoken against and anathematized as heretical. The modern church has departed from the old landmarks, and has gone after another gospel, which neither Paul nor an angel from Heaven ever taught.

In 1 Thess. 4: 13–18, the apostle has left us a short but model funeral sermon. If he believed that the saints went immediately to Heaven at death, this was certainly an occasion which would necessarily call out a statement of it from him. Those who believe this doctrine always use it on a funeral occasion as the best consolation which they can offer to the mourning friends. Says the minister to the bereaved wife: “Dear sister, your husband is not dead. He has only gone before you. Be faithful, and you will shortly go to join him in the heavenly land.” Now listen to the consolation which Paul offered to stricken friends: “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.” They were sorrowing. He wished to remind them of the hope of the righteous. Now we are interested to know what it is. He continues: “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” Your husband is dead. So Jesus himself was dead once. Your husband is in the grave, so was Jesus also once just where he now is. But did not God raise him from death and the grave? Yes, you believe that he did. Just so, my sister, God will bring up your husband also. This he goes on to say will occur at the coming of the Lord. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.” This has the genuine second advent ring—the saints asleep, the living waiting for the Lord to appear; and comforting one another with this hope; and finally all to “go up” together. So taught Paul, and so we believe.

Next, the apostle James shall be heard on this subject, and his testimony will be as clear and decided as the others. His brethren are in great affliction, and he is endeavoring to encourage them. Will he not present the true hope of the church, the nearest prospect of deliverance? Certainly. Is it that the soul is immortal, and that the gate of death will soon open and let them all into Heaven? Listen: “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” James 5: 7, 8. Ah! that is it, the same old story, the coming of the Lord. This wonderful agreement of all these witnesses shows them all to have been inspired by the “one spirit and one hope.” Eph. 4: 4.

But Peter, one of the “pillars” of the faith, must also be heard as to when the faithful are to be rewarded. To the elders he says: “Feed the flock of God which is among you. . . . And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” 1 Pet. 5: 2–4. Not a word about reward at death; but, like all others, he points them to the appearing of the great Shepherd for their crown of reward. Did witnesses ever agree better? And are we not in good company in talking so much about the coming of the Lord? in hanging all our hopes upon that event?

As we pass along, let us now listen a moment to John, the beloved disciple. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3: 2. Yes, “when He shall appear,” not when we die. So they all wrote, and so we Adventists all believe.

And now we come to the closing words of the Bible. Remarkable and impressive are they indeed. As we have seen, the Scriptures opened with the promise of the coming Redeemer. From that time on down through the long weary ages of waiting and hoping, of watching and longing, the eyes of the faithful have all and ever been turned with eager desire to that one guiding star of promise—the coming of the Lord of glory. The old patriarchs, the kings upon their thrones, the prophets moved by the Holy Ghost, the martyrs from their prisons, the Son of God while on earth, the angels from Heaven, the apostles in the gospel—all these, though separated by centuries, and scattered in different climes, possessing every diversity of talent and temperament, still agree in expressing their hope in the one glorious event—the coming of the Lord. With a fervent prayer for the speedy coming of Jesus, closes the Bible. “He [Jesus] which testifieth these things saith, surely, I come quickly. Amen.” To which John responds, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Rev. 22: 20.

Thus the sacred record concludes with this prayer for the advent of Christ, while the eyes of the prophet are upturned watching for its dawning.

And now, dear reader, the long-looked-for time for the fulfillment of this hope draws nigh. Not much longer shall we have to wait. Have you an interest in this blessed hope? Do you love Jesus? Do you want him to come? Are you praying for his return? If not, why not? If he was your dear friend, would you not long for his return, and rejoice for any evidence that it is near? May the Lord help you to yield your heart to him before it is too late.

D. M. CANRIGHT.

Woodland, Cal., April 5, 1874.