THE STATE OF THE DEAD by John Milton

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 18, 1858

THE STATE OF THE DEAD.

By John Milton

BY JOHN MILTON, AUTHOR OF 'PARADISE LOST.' (Concluded.)

CHAPTER II.

The providence of God, as it regards the fall of man, is observable in the sin of man, and the misery consequent upon it, as well as in his restoration.

Sin, as defined by the Apostle, is anomia, or the transgression of the law. 1 John iii, 5.

The death of the body is to be considered in the light of a punishment for sin, no less than the other degrees of death, notwithstanding the contrary opinion entertained by some. Rom. v, 13, 14. Until the law sin was in the world . . . death reigned from Adam to Moses. 1 Cor. xv, 21. Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection from the dead; therefore that bodily death from which we are to rise again, originated in sin, and not in nature; contrary to the opinion of those who maintain that temporal death is the result of natural causes, and that eternal death alone is due to sin.

The death of the body is the loss or extinction of life. The common definition, which supposes it to consist in the separation of soul and body, is inadmissible. For what part of man is it that dies when this separation takes place? Is it the soul? This will not be admitted by the supporters of the above definition. Is it then the body? But how can that be said to die, which never had any life of itself? Therefore the separation of soul and body cannot be called the death of man.

Here then arises an important question, which, owing to the prejudice of divines in behalf of their preconceived opinions, has usually been dismissed without examination, instead of being treated with the attention it deserves. Is it the whole man, or the body alone, that is deprived of vitality? And as this is a subject which may be discussed without endangering our faith or devotion, whichever side of the controversy we espouse, I shall declare freely what seems to me to be the true doctrine, as collected from numberless passages of Scripture; without regarding the opinion of those who think that truth is to be sought in the schools of philosophy, rather than in the sacred writings.

Inasmuch then as the whole man is uniformly said to consist of body, spirit and soul, (whatever may be the distinct provinces severally assigned to these divisions,) I will show that, in death, first the whole man, and secondly, each component part, suffers privation of life. It is to be observed, first of all, that God denounced the punishment of death against the whole man that sinned, without excepting any part. For what could be more just, than that he who had sinned in his whole person, should die in his whole person? Or, on the other hand, what could be more absurd, than that the mind, which is the part principally offending, should escape the threatened death; and that the body alone, to which immortality was equally allotted, before death came into the world by sin, should pay the penalty of sin by undergoing death, though not implicated in the transgression.

It is evident that the saints and believers of old, the patriarchs, prophets and apostles, without exception, held this doctrine. Jacob, [Gen. xxxvii, 35.] I will go down into the grave unto my son, mourning. Gen. xlii, 36. Joseph is not. So also Job iii, 12-18. As an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light. Compare Job x, 21; xiv, 10-13. Man giveth up the ghost and where is he? . . . man lieth down and riseth not till the heavens be no more. Job xiv, 13, 15, 16. If I wait, the grave is mine house. Where is now my hope? . . . They shall go down to the bars of the pit. See also many other passages.

The belief of David was the same, as is evident from the reason so often given by him for deprecating the approach of death. Ps. vi, 5. For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave who shall give thee thanks? Ps. lxxxviii, 10-12. Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee? Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? Ps. lxxxviii, 12. The dead praise not Jehovah. Ps. cxv, 17. Before I go hence and be no more. Ps. xxxix, 13. While I live I will praise Jehovah. Ps. cxlvi, 2. Certainly if he had believed his soul would survive, and be received immediately into heaven, he would have abstained from all such remonstrances, as one who was shortly to take his flight where he might praise God unceasingly. It appears that the belief of Peter respecting David was the same as David's belief respecting himself. Acts ii, 29, 34. Let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day . . . . for David is not ascended into the heavens.

Again, it is evident that Hezekiah fully believed that he should die entirely, where he laments that it is impossible to praise God in the grave. Isa. xxxviii, 18, 19. For the grave cannot praise thee: death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth; the living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day. God himself bears testimony to the same truth. Isa. lvii, 1, 2. The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come; he shall enter into peace; they shall rest in their beds. Jer. xxxi, 15, compared with Matt. ii, 18. Rachel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Thus also Dan. xii, 2. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.

It is on the same principle that Christ himself proves God to be a God of the living, [Luke xx, 37,] arguing from their future resurrection; for if they were then living, it would not necessarily follow from his argument that there would be a resurrection of the body: hence he says, [John xi, 25,] I am the resurrection and the life. Accordingly he declares expressly, that there is not even a place appointed for the abode of the saints in heaven, till the resurrection. John xiv, 2, 3. I go to prepare a place for you: and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. There is no sufficient reason for interpreting this of the body; it is clear therefore that it was spoken, and should be understood, of the reception of the soul and spirit conjointly with the body into heaven, and that not till the coming of the Lord. So likewise, Luke xx, 35; Acts vii, 60. When he had said this he fell asleep. Acts xxiii, 6. The hope and resurrection of the dead; that is, the hope of the resurrection, which was the only hope the Apostle professed to entertain. Thus also, Acts xxiv, 21; xxvi, 6, 8; 1 Cor. xv, 17-19. If Christ be not raised (which resurrection took place for the very purpose that mankind might likewise rise again) then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished; whence it appears that there were only two alternatives, one of which must ensue; either they must rise again or perish: for if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable; which again indicates that we must either believe in the resurrection, or have our hope in this life only. Verse 29, 30, 32. If the dead rise not at all, why stand we in jeopardy every hour? . . . let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die; that is, die altogether, for otherwise the argument would have no force. In the verses that follow from verse 42, to verse 50, the reasoning proceeds on the supposition that there are only two states, the mortal and the immortal, death and resurrection; not a word is said of any intermediate condition. Nay, Paul himself affirms that the crown of righteousness which was laid up for him was not to be received before that last day. 2 Tim. iv, 8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. If a crown were laid up for the Apostle, it follows

that it was not to be received immediately after death. At what time then was it to be received? At the same time when it was to be conferred on the rest of the saints; that is, not till the appearing of Christ in glory. Phil. ii, 16. That I may rejoice in the day of Christ. Phil. iii, 11, 20, 21. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead . . . our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. Our conversation therefore is in heaven, not where we are now dwelling, but in that place from whence we look for the coming of the Saviour, who shall conduct us thither. Luke xx, 35, 36. They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage; for they are equal unto the angels, being the children of the resurrection; that is, when they finally become such; whence it follows, that previous to the resurrection they are not admitted to the heavenly world.

Thus far proof has been given of the death of the whole man. But lest recourse should be had to the sophistical distinction, that although the whole man dies, it does not therefore follow that the whole of man should die, I proceed to give similar proof with regard to each of the parts—the body, the spirit, and the soul, according to the division above stated.

First, then, as to the body, no one doubts that it suffers privation of life. Nor will the same be less evident with regard to the spirit, if it be allowed that the spirit, according to the doctrine previously laid down, has no participation in the divine nature, but is purely human; and that no reason can be assigned why, if God has sentenced to death the whole of man that sinned, the spirit, which is the part principally offending, should be alone exempt from the appointed punishment; especially since, previous to the entrance of sin into the world, all parts of man were alike immortal; and that, since that time, in pursuance of God's denunciation all have become equally subject to death.

But to come to the proofs. The Preacher himself, the wisest of men, expressly denies that the spirit is exempt from death. Eccl. iii, 18, 20. As the beast dieth, so dieth the man; yea, they have all one breath, (Hebrew, spirit.) . . . all go unto one place. And in verse 21 he condemns the ignorance of those who venture to affirm that the way of the spirits of men and of beasts after death is different. Who knoweth the spirit of man, (an sursum ascendat,) whether it goeth upward. Ps. cxlvi, 4. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Now the thoughts are in the mind and the spirit, not in the body; and if they perish, we must conclude that the mind and spirit undergo the same fate as the body. 1 Cor. v, 5. That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus: the Apostle does not say, in the day of death, but, in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Lastly, there is abundant testimony to prove that the soul, (whether we regard by this term the whole human composition, or whether it is to be understood as synonymous with the spirit,) is subject to death, natural as well as violent. Num. xxiii, 10. Let me (my soul, Hebrew, anima mea, Lat. Vulg.) die the death of the righteous. Such are the words of Balaam, who, though not the most upright of prophets, yet in this instance uttered the words which the Lord put into his mouth. Job xxxiii, 18. He keepeth back his soul from the pit. Job xxxvi, 14. They die in youth. (Heb. their soul dieth. Lat. Vulg., anima eorum.) Ps. xxii, 20. Deliver my soul from the sword. Ps. lxxviii, 50. He spared not their soul from death. Ps. lxxix, 48. He shall deliver his soul from the hand of the grave. Ps. xcv, 17. My soul had almost dwelt in silence. Hence man himself, when dead, is spoken of under the name of "the soul." Lev. xix, 28; xxi, 1, 11. Neither shall he go into any dead body. Heb., dead soul. Isa. xxxviii, 17. Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption. The just and sufficient reason assigned above for the death of the soul, is the same which is given by God himself. Eze. xviii, 20. The soul that sinneth it shall die; and therefore, on the testimony of the prophet and the apostle, as well as of Christ himself, the soul even of Christ was for a short time subject unto death [Isa. liii, 10, 12,] on account of our sins. Ps. xvi, 10, compared with Acts ii, 27, 28, 31. His soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. Matt. xxvi, 38. My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. Nor do we anywhere read that the souls assemble, or are summoned to judgment, from heaven or from hell, but they are all called out of the tomb, or at least that they were previously in the state of the dead. John v, 28, 29. The hour is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth. In this passage, those who rise again, those who hear, those who come forth, are all described as being in the graves, the righteous, as well as the wicked. 1 Cor. xv, 52. The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised. 1 Thess. iv, 13-17. 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; for the Lord himself shall descend, . . . 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. They were asleep; but the lifeless body does not sleep, unless inanimate matter can be said to sleep. That ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. But why should they sorrow and have no hope, if they believed that their souls would be in a state of salvation and happiness even before the resurrection, whatever might become of the body? The rest of the world, indeed, who had no hope, might with reason despair concerning the soul as well as the body, because they did not believe in the resurrection; and therefore it is to the resurrection that Paul directs the hope of all believers. Them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him; that is, to heaven from the grave. We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. But there would have been no reason to fear lest the survivors should prevent them, if they who were asleep had long since been received into heaven; in which case the latter would not come to meet the Lord, but would return with him. We, however, which are alive shall be caught up together with them, not after them, and so shall we ever be with the Lord; namely, after, not before, the resurrection. And then at length the wicked shall be severed from among the just. Matt. xiii, 49; Dan. xii, 2. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

In such a sleep I should suppose Lazarus to have been lying, if it were asked whither his soul betook itself during those four days of death. For I cannot believe that it would have been called back from heaven to suffer again the inconveniences of the body, but rather that it was summoned from the grave, and roused from the sleep of death. The words of Christ themselves lead to this conclusion: (John xi, 11, 13.) Our friend Lazarus sleepeth: but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep: howbeit Jesus spake of his death, which death, if the miracle were true, must have been real. This is confirmed by the circumstances of Christ's raising him. Verse 43. He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. If the soul of Lazarus, that is, if Lazarus himself was not within the grave, why did Christ call on the lifeless body which could not hear? If it were the soul which he addressed, why did he call it from a place where it was not? Had he intended to intimate that the soul was separated from the body, he would have directed his eyes to the quarter whence the soul of Lazarus might be expected to return, namely, from heaven; for to call from the grave what is not there, is like seeking the living among the dead, which the angel represented as ignorance in the disciples. Luke xxiv, 5. The same is apparent in the raising of the widow's son. Luke vii, 14.