The anastasis of the dead ...

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Preface

The An-a-sta-sis of the Dead/' instead of the Resurrection of the Dead, may seem improper, it being unusual ; but if for that which is scripturally symbolized by those expressions, we really must use a term other than the plain Anglo-Saxon "rising," (or "raising,") why not sometimes ana-stasis, from a word out of the original Greek of the Evangelists and Apostles, as well as always resurrection, from a word out of the Latin Version of the Romish Church ?

The author of the following work is entirely confident that its leading theme — the scripture doctrine of the anastasis or rising of the dead — has a most intimate connection with the true philosophy of the after-death life ; hence that were the subject generally viewed in its true light, thousands would come to regard it with a great degree of interest, who now seem to consider it as scarcely worthy a moment's consideration. For these reasons and others, he deems such a work called for; and in the spirit of that scripture which says, " I believed, therefore have I spoken," he, believing, has therefore written, regretting only that he does not wield an abler pen.

IV PREFACE.

In pursuing the course that appeared to be marked out for him, he has found himself, in some instances, quite out of the beaten track ; but at such times the light from the holy Book has seemed to shine more brightly along the way, indicating, — as is believed, — the primitive path.

That form of faith which regards the rising of the dead, even as the death of the living, to be a normal process, provided for by the author of man's nature, and, through spiritual agencies, going on continually, — the whole in accordance with the original laws of our being, — is doubtless, not quite unknown to the christian public ; yet such a belief is thought not to be enunciated in any of the creeds ; and the number of those professing it is obviously not large ; — the writer, therefore, for sheer loneliness as to this, has made a somewhat frequent use of the first and third persons singular.

It being impossible to do the subject anything like justice without correcting sundry erroneous renderings in the common English version of the scripture s, it has hence been necessary to advert to the Greek of the New Testament more frequently than is to be desired in a work designed for general reading.

While he has not altogether neglected availing himself of the helps within his reach, he has not thought proper to load the pages of his work w r ith references to writers, however eminent, excepting only the writers of the scriptures.

In quotations from the scripture writers, the Common Version is followed, for the most part, w r ith the excep-

PREFACE. V

tion that a few merely verbal changes are made, (out of the many which should be,) as to for "unto/' — those for " they " or " them,' ? when used as a definitive or demonstrative pronoun, — who for "which/' when relating to a person or persons. And whenever any material departure from its renderings is deemed indis> pensable, due notice is usually given at the time; since probably, no translation was ever more religiously venerated than is this, excepting, perhaps, the Vulgate Latin.

In citing scriptural testimony, only so much — in general — is given of a text, or of a passage, as is adapted to the illustration, or to the proof, of the point then in hand.

Throughout the work, it is constantly taken for granted that a general doctrinal harmony among the several parts of the scriptures truly exists ; also, that such harmony will be apparent if to the language of each text shall be given the rightful interpretation. And it is held that, in most cases, the surest method of determining the true sense of any portion of the sacred writings, is, to compare scripture with scripture.

That the work may prove instrumental in correcting some of the doctrinal errors extant among christians, — that it may tend to induce in the minds of believers a faith having more of the scriptual vitality and reformatory power manifested in the apostolic age, — that it may lead to the more general profession of a hope which, taking firm, unfailing hold of the spiritual unseen, is, therefore, steadfast, lively, purifying, and sat-

VI PREFACE.

isfactory, — in a word, that it may, to some appreciable extent, promote the best interests of the cause of christian truth, — is the sincere desire of the writer ; and its accomplishment, by the blessing of God, will be his best reward. J. L.

December, 1859.

CONTENTS OF THE WOEK.

1 o I

CHAPTER I. Jewish Opinions 9

CHAPTER H, Scriptural Definitions 17

[CHAPTER III.

The Same — Continued 26

CHAPTER IV.

The Same — Continued . . . 36

CHAPTER V.

The Same — Continued 47

CHAPTER VI.

The Same — Continued 54

CHAPTER VII.

The Same — Concluded 64

CHAPTER VIII.

Mortalization in Adam 75

CHAPTER IX.

Annihilation 79

CHAPTER X.

Death of the Soul 90

CHAPTER XI.

Sleep of the Soul ... 97

CHAPTER XII.

The Same — Concluded 104

CHAPTER XIII.

Resurrection of the Earthly Body . . . 113

CHAPTER XIV.

Doctrine of Two Resurrections 124

CHAPTER XV.

The Same — Concluded. 130

CHAPTER XVI.

The Last or General Judgment 143

CHAPTER XVIL The Same — Concluded — '. 151

CHAPTER XVIII.

Endless Punishment 162

VI 11 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIX.

The Same— Concluded 171

CHAPTER XX.

The Last-Day Resurrection 182

CHAPTER XXI.

Disembodied State and Simultaneous Universal Resurrection. 194

CHAPTER XXII.

A General Objection against many of the Popular Views relating to the Resurrection , 198

CHAPTER XXIII.

CHAPTER XXIV.

The Same — Continued 215

CHAPTER XXV.

The Same — Concluded 227

CHAPTER XXVI.

A Present or Passing Resurrection 237

CHAPTER XXVII.

The Same — Continued 246

CHAPTER XXVIII.

The Same — Continued 253

CHAPTER XXIX.

The Same— Concluded 262

CHAPTER XXX.

The Manner of the Resurrection 268

CHAPTER XXXI.

The Primitive Gospel 277

CHAPTER XXXII.

Our Lord's Crucifixion, &c 283

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Our Saviour's Resurrection, &c . . . - 293

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Christ's Ascension . . . * 301

CHAPTER XXXV.

Proofs of a Future Life # 304

CHAPTER XX^VL

An Improved Translation of 1 Cor. xv 315

CHAPTER XXXVII.

The End of Human Mortality 324

THE ANASTA8I8 OP THE DEAD.

CHAPTER I.

JEWIS H OPINIONS.

In order that certain Scripture texts and passages may be the more readily understood, the opinions of the Jews as to the resurrection, in the times of the New Testament writers, requires to be briefly set forth. Such a presentation is also desirable from the fact that although the distinguishing doctrines of neither the Pharisees nor the Sadducees have been received entire among Christians, yet at least some small portion of " the leaven" of the one sect, or the other, or both,, seems to have been " hid in n — or incorporated with — nearly every creed in Christendom*

From various passages in the New Testament, it appears that the sect of the Jews called " Pharisees " admitted the fact of a resurrection ; but that those styled " Sadducees n denied it altogether. And as concerned this particular topic, the great mass of u the people/ 7 — analogous to those who, in these times, are denominated " non-professors/' — seem mostly to have sympathized with the Pharisees.

Many readers of the Bible appear to suppose, and without ever having suspected their error, that it was the Christian doctrine of the resurrection which was held by the Pharisees and their adherents. Scarce anything, however, could be further from the truth.

The Evangelist Luke relates that, at a certain time, our Lord asked his disciples who " the people said He was ; and that the disciples replied, " John, the Baptist ; but some say, Elias ; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again." 1

It is also related that " Herod, the tetrarch, heard of all that was done by Him: and he was perplexed, because that it was said by some, that John was risen from the dead ; and by some, that Elias had appeared ; and by others, that one of the old prophets was risen again." From Matthew and Mark, it would seem that, after a little, the tetrarch actually got his mind made up in regard to Jesus, and said, " This is John the Baptist ; he is risen from the dead. 772

From these Scriptures, it is easy to see that the rising therein mentioned, was thought to be to a state of mortality on the earth. In other words, it was a sort of metempsychosis, or soul transmigration, which it is presumed no one supposes to be the Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.

That the Phariseedoctrine concerning the resurrection was equivalent, so far as it went, to the Pythagorean doctrine of transmigration, is apparent also from the writings of Josephus, the Jewish historian, who represents the Pharisees as believing, in opposition to the Sadducees, " that souls

2 Luke ix. 7, 8; Matt. xiv. 1, 2; Mark yi. 14, 16.

JEWISH OPINIONS. 11

have an immortal vigor in them/' and that such as " have lived virtuously, .... shall have power to revive and live again." He also declares of them, 11 They say that all souls are incorruptible, but that the souls of good men only are removed into other bodies. 77 1

It may perhaps be true, as some have supposed, that by " good men," in the last quotation, Josephus secretly meant Israelites, or the descendants of Abraham, — in a word, Jews,- — irrespective of other good qualities. If so, then this was actually the Pharisees- doctrine; and then, too, it would seem to have been for the purpose of correcting this national assumption of inherited righteousness, that Jesus pronounced Zaccheus, the publican, to be "a son of Abraham,' 7 his conduct being good ; and also said of Nathaniel, a Jew, (which perhaps Zaccheus was not,) " Behold an Israelite indeed ! 7 ' adding, — to show what made him an Israelite so emphatically, — " in whom is no guile." Paul also wrote, " He is a Jew who is one inwardly; 7 ' and John, the baptizer, — the Elias of that age, — lectured the Pharisees and Sadducees most severely upon that same topic.

(Would that in this nineteenth century, some Elias- John, or John-Elias, might be •" sent from God, 77 with the ability effectually to arouse the Pharisees and Sadducees of the Christian world, to the propriety and duty of manifesting the practical " fruits 77 of faith in him whose " law 7 ' for the regulation of social intercourse, behold, is it not written in Matt. vii. 12?)

But however the facts may have been at the time Josephus wrote, it is evident that in our Saviour's day it was thought to be quite possible

1 Antiquities of the Jews, Book xviii. chap, i, section 3; Jewish War, Book n. chap. viii. sect. 14.

for the soul of a Jewish sinner to pass into an other body ; and that such soul was likely to be punished, in its new tabernacle, with some physical calamity or defect. Thus John tells us that in reference to a man " blind from his birth/' Christ's disciples asked of Christ, " Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind V — as much as to ask whether he was born thus as a punishment to himself, for sins committed in a previous life, or as a punishment to his parents for their sins. 1

Prom the same evangelist we also learn that after Jesus had bestowed on this man the gift of sight, the Pharisees, unable to refute his argument, that Christ must have been sent from God seeing He had done so great a miracle, vented their spite against him, not only by ejecting him from the synagogue, but also by taunting him in these words : " Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us ? " 2

The phrase "born in sins" has been taken, — though unusually, — as a proverbial expression, importing simply that the person to whom it is applied is a great sinner. This I admit to be its meaning, by implication ; yet, from the circumstance that it was applied to the blind man by some of " the Pharisees/ 7 as John is particular to inform us, I can not resist the conviction that the sense they intended to convey by it is specifically this, that the sins of a former life adhered to him at his birth, so that he was, as it were, enveloped in sins when born. There can be no doubt that they meant to denounce him as a very great sinner ; but in what way could they do this any more readily, than by twitting him of having had an accumulation of sins to begin life with ?

1 John ix. 2. 2 John ix. 34.

JEWISH OPINIONS. 13

This case also throws some light upon the supposed manner and time of such resurrections, or soul transmigrations ; since it was evidently thought that the pre-existent soul of the blind man was born with him. So, also, when the people accounted for the teachings and miracles of Jesus, that in him was exemplified the rising of Elias, or some one of the old prophets, they unquestionably deemed that whose soul soever He possessed, it had inhabited his body from the first.

But this passing of the soul before or at birth, was not supposed to be the only period of its migration, though it likely was thought to be the ordinary one. When it was said by Herod and others, that John, the Baptist,- — the time of whose death was but a little while previous, — had arisen from the dead, and was to be seen in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, it is manifest that if they thought as they spoke, they must have thought that the soul of John had taken an adult body.

The supposed resurrection of the Baptist in the person of the Saviour, may also serve to show how very closely connected were the notions of the Pharisees concerning the resurrection, and their notions in regard to persons being " possessed " with demons. (" Devils/' in the Com. Ver.) It is a fact that the possessing spirits or " devils ;; in which they believed, — properly demons, — were supposed by them to be the spirits of dead persons. See chap. vii. of this w T ork.

In the case above adverted to, of John's resurrection, as supposedly witnessed in Christ, if it was thought, as it seemingly must have been, that the soul of the Baptist had taken up its abode in Christ's body, and had either dispossessed its former occupant, or else was holding it in complete subjection, w\herein does this differ, as to the philosophy 2*

14 THE ANASTASIS OP THE BEAD.

of the thing, from possession by devils or demons? The modus operandi of the two are manifestly Identical, they differing only as the character of the inhabiting spirits were supposed to differ. Thus,

" Herod," astonished at the report of our Lord's "mighty works/ 7 ' * concluded that the soul of John was acting through him, John being probably the only prophet he had ever heard much about, and he having put John to death. u The people," entertaining a favorable opinion of Jesus as a religious teacher, either came to the same conclusion as Herod, or else supposed that the soul of some ancient prophet was in him. " The Scribes and Pharisees/ 7 who hated him, and sought to destroy his influence, alleged that he had a devil or demon.

Note. The demons or possessing spirits believed in by the Jews at this period, seem to have been uniformly evil-disposed.

The Sadducees not only rejected the Pharisee resurrection, but also seem to have contended that all there is of man dies at the death of the body. Josephus declares expressly, il The doctrine of the Sadducees is this, that souls die with the bodies." Again, he tells us " that they take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul." 1 In Acts, we read, "For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit ; but the Pharisees confess both." 2

Taking the above quotations together, it is apparent that the Sadducees denial of any resur-

* It would seem that the tetrarch had been absent from the country for a time.

1 Antiquities, Book xviii. chap. i. sec. 3 ; Jewish War, Book n. chap. "viii. sec. 14.

2 Acts xxiii. 8.

JEWISH OPINIONS. 15

rection, was equivalent to a denial of any after-death life. Also, that their denial of the existence of spirits and angels, was not in regard to the existence of spirits or souls in earthly bodies, nor in regard to men ? s being sometimes sent from God, and so being at such times His angels or messengers ; — but simply in regard to there being any spirits, or any angels, apart from earthly bodies ; they holding that when the body dies the spirit dies with it, and so has no further existence.

Having spoken of Elias in connection with John the Baptist, it may not be uncalled for to offer some remarks illustrative of those passages which speak of the coming of the former as fulfilled in the advent of the latter.

From a promise recorded in the last two verses of the Old Testament, the Jews had naturally imbibed the idea that the prophet Elijah — , " Elias," in Greek, — would come personally upon earth before the advent of their expected Messiah or Christ. Hence when John the Baptist appeared, and commenced his career as a religious reformer, "the Jews 57 — , as John the Evangelist informs us, — " sent Priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, " Who art thou ? " And when he" had " confessed v that he was " not the Christ," they asked him, "What then? Art thou Elias?" To which he unequivocally responded, u I am not." And yet, according to an other evangelist, it was actually declared by the very Christ himself that John was Elias. 1

The apparent contradiction which these statements present, will wholly disappear by duly considering certain circumstances :

1. An angel had prophesied to Zacharias, that his son John should go before the Lord " in the spirit and jpoiver of Elias ; also, that he should "turn the hearts of the fathers to the children," &c. ; and this last is the very work which, according to Malachi, was to be done by Elijah the prophet, 1

2. When we read of the Priests and Levites going to ask John who he was, we are very carefully informed that his questioners were " of the Pharisees," 2 who, as we have seen, held the doctrine of the transmigration of souls.

In the light of the above-mentioned circumstances, the following view of the subject would seem to be the correct one :

When the Baptist denied being Elias, he merely denied that the soul or spirit of " Elijah the Tishbite " inhabited his body. But when Jesus affirmed that John was Elias, he affirmed that he was so in the Scriptural sense, by manifesting that prophet's spirit and power, which is to say, his manner, and his efficiency. He was Elias, in the sense intended in Malachi. He was not Elias, in the sense in which that prediction was understood by many of the Jews at the time of John's appearance.

With the above view of the case, how interesting to note that the evangelist, when he tells of John's being questioned as to who he was, takes pains to add, as we have before said, what may have often been deemed a worthless remark, " And those who were sent were of the Pharisees."

How careful also was Jesus to qualify his declaration as to John's being Elias ! " If ye will receive it" said he, — that is, if you will take what I am about to say in the right sense, — "this is Elias who was to come."

Chapter II

Ok Remakes upon the Sckiptttkal usage akd significations op certain words and phkases employed by the scripture writers in connection with the subject of the after-death Life and its "Relations.

[It not unfrequently happens that an author's meaning is sadly misapprehended from the fact of his neglecting to acquaint his readers in what sense he uses some particular word or words of doubtful import. The writing of this, and of seyeral subsequent chapters, has been undertaken partly on this account, the author of the present work being greatly desirous that his language shall be properly and fully understood.]

The spirit or soul of man is that entity which possesses and exercises the faculty of thinking, whose organ is the body as a whole. In other words, "the soul 7 ' or "the spirit 77 of a man, is the man himself, considered apart from his bodily organization. Yet the words " spirit" and " soul, 7 ' like the Greek terms so rendered, are used in a variety of significations, both in the Scriptures and elsewhere. (Note. In this work, I use those terms in the sense above specified, unless I intimate to the contrary.)

The Greek word usually rendered " spirit " is nvevfia, — 2 meuma ) primarily denoting toind, from the verb pneOy to blow. As employed in the New Testament, pneuma signifies, for the most part, spirit ; a spiritual being ; a spiritual influence ; temper of mind. It is once rendered " wind ;' 7 " The wind bloweth where it listeth. 7 ' (John iii. 8.) In one passage, it has the sense of apparition, or unreal appearance. Thus,

In Luke's Gospel, we are told that when Jesus showed himself to His disciples in the evening of the day of his resurrection, they, at first, were very greatly frightened, supposing Him to be "a spirit ; 7? and that, upon this, He showed them his hands and his feet, reasoned with them in regard to their fears, invited them to handle him, and said, " a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have.' 7 1 Here pneuma seems to be twice used for pliantasma, the word made use of by both Matthew and Mark in relating that the disciples, in great terror, cried out, " It is a spirit" when they saw Jesus walking on the sea. 2 Pliantasma imports phantasm, phantom, apparition, special illusion, &c.

The Greek word usually rendered " soul ' 7 is yvxy — psuche,— frequently Anglicised into psyche, — primarily denoting breath, from the verb p )SUC ^°) to breathe. As used in the New Testament, it denotes soul, as synonymous with spirit ; a person; a living creature or animal; one's own self ; human bodily life. ■ In one place in the Common Version, it is twice rendered " life ' 7 in one sentence ; and then, in the next sentence, is twice rendered " soul. 77 3

The expressions " my soul," " his soul,' 7 &c, are sometimes scripturally put for the mere pronouns, I, me, he, him, &c. Thus Jesus, in the garden of Gethsemane, instead of saying, "I am exceedingly sorrowful,' 7 &c, emplo3 r ed the style of the ancient prophets, and, to his three attendant disciples, emphatically, plaintively, pleadingly said, " My soul

1 Luke xxiv. 37-39. 2 Matt. xiv. 26 ; Mark vi. 49. 3 Matt. xvi. 25, 26 is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death : tarry ye here, and watch with me." }

The life of the body, denominated physical, corporeal, or animal life, is that power, or principle, or whatever else it may he called, in connection with which this earthly body or organization is built up and sustained. Hence dying, in the ordinary sense of speaking, is but the departure of the life-power from the body.

There are two principal Greek words rendered " life." The one is psuche, often rendered " soul," and already defined ; the other, £«ij — zoe, from the verb zao, (originally zoo,) to live, to be alive. Zoe denotes, for the most part, a mode or manner of being, literal or figurative.

The word man (, Greek antliropos,) more usually includes in its meaning both the body and the spirit or soul ; but, in a few instances, it has reference merely to the body. Tet, philosophically, the spirit or soul is the man, and his body is merely the organism by means of which he holds intercourse with the world around him.

Some consider man to be a compound being, apart from his organization, they having discovered, as they inform us, that there are two distinct and opposite principles in man, the one, good, the other, evil. Yet these principles — , granting their existence, — are manifestly but attributes of the spirit or soul ; and they no more show that each human being exists in a state of duality, than the various propensities and sentiments common to men show that each individual has twenty-five, or fifty, or one hundred souls.

Death is often represented as a falling, especially in accounts of battles, a dead body being incapable

1 Matt. xxvi. 38. See also Acts ii. 27, 31 ; Ps. xvi. 10; Judges x. 16.

of maintaining an erect position. This mode of speech seems to have prevailed from very remote antiquity, it being met with in the books of Moses. 1 So, also, as a carrying out of this figure, the idea of coming to life, after actual death, and the idea of being brought to life, under such circumstances, have been commonly expressed by rising, and by being raised — regaining an erect position, and being caused to regain it. Such act and such state are usually expressed in English by the word " resurrection. 7 '

In -like manner, dying is frequently symbolized by sleeping, the expressions, to sleep, to have slept, and the like, being employed in the sense of to die 7 to have died, &c. Sleep is thus put for death probably to intimate an after-death life ; since, to all minds, sleeping unequivocally implies waking. And in accordance with this usage, is the fact that one of the Greek words for rising, raising, and being raised, when the dead are in mention, primarily signifies to awake, to be awaked, &c.

There are two words in the Greek Testament rendered " rise/ 9 " raise, 5 ' &c, in connection with the subject of the future life. These are avunrm*

— anisiemi, and eysi^co — egeiro, the latter of which has frequently the passive form, egeiromai, to be raised. In like manner,

There are two Greek words rendered " resurrection. 77 These are avaazacns — anastasis, and eye^ats

— egersis. The latter, however, occurs in the New Testament but once. (Matt, xxvii. 53.)

Th6 Greek verb anistemi comes from the preposition ana, again, and the verb istemi, to stand. It consequently signifies to stand again, that is, to rise to an erect position ; or, transitively, to cause to stand again, that is, to raise. It may also some-

1 Genesis xiv. 10; Exodus xxxii. 28; Numbers xiv. 29.

times have the sense of to arouse, as if from a state of inactivity. In the 'passive sense, to he raised or aroused, it is not often used.

The verb egeiro primarily signifies to awaken, at if from sleep, or to arouse, as if from inaction ; yes, in the New Testament, it is much more commonly used in the sense of to raise, or, when having the passive form, in the sense of to be raised. Though it sometimes signifies merely to awake, it seldom or never, in the New Testament, has the mere intransitive sense of to rise, though it is often made to bear that sense in the common version. See chap, xxxiii. of this work.

Anistemi supposes the riser to have fallen from a standing posture, as if by some casualty ; egeiro, his having reclined, as if for sleep or rest. Accordingly, a return from death as if from sleep, is more naturally expressed by egeiro than by anistemi. In one text, where both words occur in the same sentence, the former is rendered " awake/ 7 and the latter " arise : /,J "Awake thou who sleepest, and arise from the dead. 7 ' (Eph. v. 14.)

The Greek noun anastasis, mostly rendered "resurrection," is from ana, again, and stasis,, the act or state of standing, or causing to stand, or being caused to stand. (Stasis is from istemi.) Anastasis, therefore signifies the act or state of rising, raising, or being raised.

The noun egersis is from the verb egeiro, and has the sense indicated by its derivation.

The English word resurrection, from the Latin resurrectio, — and this from the Latin resurgo, compounded of re and surgo, — seems properly to import a re-rising, or rising again; but the Scriptures not having been written in either English or Latin, the question is not as to the original specific import of these words, but only as to that of the 3