Other holy writers make similar affirmations. Speaking of mankind in general, who “dwell in houses of clay,” Job says: “They are destroyed from morning to evening; they perish forever, without any regarding it.” Again he says, and the passage is more definite than the preceding: “As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.” And still again: “Man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: so man lieth down, and riseth not.” Chapters III and X tell of the piteous lamentations of Job over his life, wherein he complains that he ever was born, that existence was ever given to him, that he was ever taken from a state of absolute nonentity, and that even death itself can bring no relief to his miseries except extinction.
Turning to Ecclesiastes, in which book occurs the solitary passage which is held to disprove a future existence to the lower animals, there are passages which are even more emphatic as to the immortality of man. Read what is declared: “I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them. As the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath, so that a man has no preëminence over a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.” Further it is said: “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.” “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.” Literally interpreted, no one can doubt the import of these words from Ecclesiastes, for they definitely state that, as regards a future life, there is no distinction between man and beast, and that when they die they all go to the same place. It is also distinctly stated that after death man can do no work, know nothing, nor receive any reward. Were we to deduce our ideas of the condition of man after death from the irrepressibly sad and gloomy passages from Job and Ecclesiastes, most deplorable and hopeless would be the very thought of dissolution. But we do not accept them in this light. They are written symbolically, and there underlies them a spiritual sense. It is not, however, the latter sense that concerns us at present, but the literal meaning of the translation, and, according to that literal meaning, if we take two texts to prove that beasts have no future life, we are compelled by no less than fourteen passages to believe that man, in common with beasts, has no better prospect. We have no right to say which passages are to be taken literally, and which parabolically, but must apply the same test to all alike, and treat all in a similar manner.
All classical readers are familiar with that wonderful eleventh book of Homer’s Odyssey, called the Necyomanteia, or Invocation of the Dead, in which Ulysses is depicted as descending into the regions of departed spirits for the purpose of invoking them and obtaining advice as to his future adventures. Dreary, and horrible indeed, are the revelations which the whole of the strange history makes of the condition of the future life. All is wild and dark, and hunger, thirst and discontent prevail. Nothing is heard of elysian fields, where piety, wisdom and virtue abound. Gloom, misery and vain regrets for earth pervade the entire episode. When is considered this heathen poet’s ideas concerning the future state of man, it is no wonder that sensual pleasures should be held as the principal object of his life when he is to look forward to such a future, a future from which neither wisdom, nor virtue, nor piety could save him, and where there is nothing but an eternity of gloom, remorse and hopeless despondency. Sad as this picture is, yet it is far brighter than that of the Psalmist, the Preacher, or Job. Those who have passed into the world of spirits still retain their individuality after death, being distinguished in the spirit as they had been in the flesh. Memory survives the body’s death. Naught of their earthly career is forgotten. They still have an interest in their friends that remain in the body whom they love, and over whose well-being they unceasingly watch. No such consolation, as has been described, exists in the future state of man if the passages of Scripture that have been quoted are taken in a literal sense. Man, in that event, passes at death into a place of darkness, forgetfulness and silence, where there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, and where even his very thoughts perish. No other interpretation, if taken literally, can be put upon them, for the statements are too explicit to be explained away or softened.
In the outward sense of their writings the Psalmist, Job and the Preacher are on an equality with Horace in their absolute unbelief in a future existence, and in a consequent desire to snatch what fleeting pleasures they can from earth before the inexorable law of fate consigns them to dark oblivion. Startling as it may seem to compare the teachings of a Greek idolater and of a Latin Epicurean heathen with those of sacred writers, yet it is still more startling to show that the teachings of the Epicurean sensualist are not a whit wiser than those of the Scriptural writer, while those of the Greek poet are very much better. Such, however, is the fact, and, if we are to be bound by the literal interpretation of the Scriptures, there is no possibility of denying it without doing violence to reason and common-sense.
We are now brought face to face with the point previously mentioned. Does the authorized version give a full and correct interpretation of the original? It is claimed that it does not. The word “perish,” it is said, does not occur at all in the Hebrew text, nor is even the idea expressed. No such translation as “beasts that perish,” which appears twice in our version, is justified by the Hebrew, the words of the original implying “dumb beasts.” The idea of perishing, in the sense of annihilation, does not seem to be implied. Let us take the Jewish Bible, which is acknowledged to be the best and closest translation in the English language, and examine it. Both in verses 12 and 20 of Psalm XLIX, where the passage occurs, the rendering reads: “Man that is in honor, and understandeth this not, is like the beasts that are irrational.” As an alternative reading for “irrational,” the word “dumb” is given in a footnote. A somewhat similar reading is found in the Septuagint, which, according to Brunton, runs as follows: “Man that is in honor understands not; he is compared to the senseless cattle, and is like them.” In Wycliffe’s Bible, which is a translation from the Vulgate, the passage is rendered: “A man whanne he was in honour understood not; he is comparisoned to unwise beestis, and is maad lijk to tho.” The “Douay” Bible, made by the English Roman Catholic College of Douay, and which is the version accepted by that branch of the Church in England, renders the passage: “Man, when he was in honor, did not understand; he hath been compared to senseless beasts and made like to them.” Numerous other translations might be adduced, and it is safe to say that scarcely any of them imply the idea of perishing in the sense of being reduced to nothing. Even supposing that the word “perish” is translated correctly, it does not therefore follow that annihilation is meant. Take the tenth verse of the same Psalm in our authorized version: “For he seeth that wise men die, and likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.” Surely no sensible, intelligent person would construe this passage into a declaration that the wise and fool and brutish had no existence after the death of the body.
That the last verse of the Psalm is a summary of the whole poem, seems not improbable. A vivid picture of the true object of man’s life in this world is drawn by the Psalmist, and also of his tendency to lose sight thereof. In it he sets forth the shortness of human existence, and shows that neither riches, station in life, nor fame, which appertain to the mere earthly career of man, can endure after his death. He, therefore, reasonably concludes that men who fix their hearts upon these earthly vanities ignore the honor of their manhood, and degrade themselves to the plane of the dumb beasts, whose operations are, as far as we know, restricted to this present world.
From what has been adduced it will at once be evident that the idea that beasts are said by the Psalmist to have no future life may be dismissed from our minds, and that the passage may be rejected as totally irrelevant to the subject. This is of the greatest importance, as the passage in question is the only one which even appears to make any definite statement as to the condition of the lower animals after death. Every reasonable person will now see how essential it is that the true meaning of the Hebrew text should be known, and that the Psalmist should not be charged with the introduction of a doctrine to which, whether true or false, he makes not the slightest reference.
Having settled beyond the possibility of refutation the true meaning implied by the “beasts that perish,” we will now turn to the passage in Ecclesiastes, which, as has been seen, is the only one which contains any direct reference to the future of the lower orders of animal existence: “Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?”—exclaimeth the Preacher. Here we have an admission that, whether the spirit ascend or descend, both man and beasts do have spirits, and these are undoubtedly the same in essence, for the Hebrew word is identical is both cases. In the Jewish Bible the rendering is verbatim the same as that of our authorized version. Read, instead of an isolated verse, the entire passage:—
“I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
“For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even the one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preëminence above a beast: for all is vanity.