HOW LONG SHALL YOU LIVE?
By Uriah Smith
The following paragraph, under this heading, from the Congregationalist, speaks for itself. It is a good specimen of what the masses are presumed to be ready to receive unquestioned at the hands of their spiritual guides: "You will live forever. There are no dead. The blow which struck asunder body and spirit, did not end the spirit's life. And so the countless myriads of the past, whose dust has long since mingled with the soil, 'still live.' The men, women, and children of Noah's day, and Abraham's, and David's; the motly tribes that herded beneath the crescent of the Arabian Prophet; the swarms of Goth and Hun, Tartar and Vandal, that swept the plains of the Eastern world; the red men, that roamed the forests of the Western world, and left in mounds and tree-grown ruins the dim history of their earthly existence—all these are yet alive. They cannot die. Immortality is their birth-right and inheritance. With the first breath of life, they inhaled immortality." God threatened Adam that in case of disobedience he should die; but if the prevailing theology for which the above writer speaks, be correct, God has failed to fulfill his word; for, "There are no dead." Moses in his brief biographies of Adam and his immediate descendants, says, finally, that "they died." But Moses was a very early writer; he lived in an age which was comparatively dark, before men had been enabled to kindle about themselves such luminous sparks as those by which they are now surrounded [Isa. i, 11], before the scintillations of modern science had revealed the fact that there is no such thing as death; and he fell into the singular notion that people died; that there were some in his day who were dead; and it seems he was so far led away either through ignorance or inadvertence, as to record that which in the light of modern theology turns out to be an absolute untruth. No wonder the idea is rapidly obtaining that the Old Testament is obsolete, and has been done away. But stop! the New Testament is no better for them than the Old; for Paul has been so unfortunate as to copy this very same antiquated idea of Moses'. Speaking of the ancient worthies, he comes right out and flatly declares without any scringing or mincing that "these all died in the faith." Heb. xi, 13. The writer in the Congregationalist says in reality, "Paul you mistake. These did not die; for 'there are no dead.' They are alive and cannot die." And perhaps some would be willing to discard Paul's theology, and strike him from the list of sacred writers. But take away Paul's writings, and the words immortal and immortality cannot be found in all the Bible. And not only did God's threat against Adam prove empty and harmless, but he has issued sentence against the descendants of Adam, which the paragraph above quoted will justify us in treating with scornful indifference. It is this: "The soul that sinneth it shall die." Eze. xviii. Do any say that it is the death in sin [Eph. ii, 1] that is here threatened? We answer, This is the result not the penalty of sin. But mark the language of the sentence in Eze. xviii: "When a righteous man turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them, for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die." Verse 26. There is a difference between dying in sin and dying for sin. But the soul that sinneth shall die for its sin: the soul that dieth in sin shall afterwards die that death which is a punishment for sin. Our Saviour while upon earth bade the disciples of John carry back word to their master, that the dead were raised up. Matt. xi, 5. What! the dead raised up, when there are no dead? Can it be that the great Teacher mistook in this matter? Again: In the Revelation which Christ gave to John, chapter xx, verse 5, we find this language: "But the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished." Here, again, in the concluding portion of the concluding book of the word of God, we have it represented to us that there are some who are dead, and that they do not live again till a certain time. But if "there are no dead," this revelation is a deception. To particularize on this point would be as tedious as it would be unnecessary. The Bible abounds with testimony showing that men who have finished this present life are dead. The following books of the Bible contain unequivocal and oft repeated testimonies that certain ones have died. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st and 2d Samuel, 1st and 2d Kings, 1st and 2d Chronicles, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, Zechariah, Matthew, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st and 2d Corinthians, 1st Thessalonians, Hebrews, and Revelation. What proportion of the Bible these books constitute, the reader can judge. By the side of all these hold up the dogmatic assertion that "there are no dead," and that "men cannot die," and what conclusion can we come to? Is the Bible loaded with falsehood? Is it a deception? Is it calculated to mislead its honest disciples? Or is it, as it claims to be, the pure and unerring word of God? It is time that the true issue was understood by the people. Is the Bible to maintain its authority? or are the inventions of men more reliable? Did God speak the truth when he said to our first parents, Ye shall surely die? or the Devil, when he contradicted the word of God, and said, Ye shall not surely die? To cover his first falsehood in Eden, that mankind should not die, the great Deceiver, after the lapse of ages, introduces the correlative one that "there are no dead," that, in fulfillment of his word, no one has died, nor can die, and inveigles men into the belief and defense of his wily doctrine. Verily the exhortation of Jude is of force here, to "contend earnestly for the faith [doctrine] once [or which has already been] delivered to the saints [in the word of God]." This let us endeavor to do, seeking for the old paths that we may walk therein [Jer. vi, 16], making God's revelation our sheet anchor, and giving no place to the false doctrines of the great Deceiver, nor to the multiplied and ever-increasing inventions of men. "Immortality," we are told, "is their birthright and inheritance:" i. e., the birthright and inheritance of the classes above mentioned, Goths, Huns, Tartars, Vandals, heathen, Indians, and all men. Birthright is that to which a person is entitled on account of his birth. How came these characters in possession of such a birthright as this? We read of some who through Christ obtain this birthright, becoming through him Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. But we read of no other way of obtaining it, and of no others who do obtain it, except such as have an interest in him. How long shall you live? This is a momentous question. We cannot answer it that "you will live for ever;" but we can say as much as this, that you may live for ever. Man was created, not immortal, but "to be immortal," if he will fulfill the will of his Creator, and comply with the conditions upon which life is suspended. They who by "patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory, honor and immortality" will not find their efforts vain. Such will at length exchange corruption for incorruption, and this mortal for immortality. And then countless ages of joyous life will stretch away before them, without end forever and ever. "As a traveler can discern his pathway winding among the hills, till far off on the horizon it seems to end, but when he reaches the place there stretches the path again away to the hill-top—so will the ages of your endless life lie before you, age following age, cycle following cycle, till all your powers of computation and measurement have been baffled and silenced—and yet you have scarce begun! The never-ending eternity stretches out just as far ahead as when you took the first step of the journey." And all this while we shall be traveling hand in hand with bliss ineffable, and songs and everlasting joy sit throned upon our heads. "Come on, dear friends, let's mend our pace
To glory, glory, glory."
U. SMITH.