WHY SLANDER THE DEAD? by M. E. Cornell

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · June 3, 1880

FromThe Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 55, No. 23

WHY SLANDER THE DEAD?

By M. E. Cornell

BY ELD. M. E. CORNELL.

Where should we expect to find the exact truth plainly stated, if not in obituary notices and on tombstone inscriptions? Of the patriarchs and prophets it was plainly written, He died, and was buried. But never a hint is given that these men were in any sense still alive.

Several young men were walking in a cemetery and reading the inscriptions placed over the dead, when they were astonished by one that read, “I still live.” One of the company, who seemed to be in deep study, was asked what he was thinking. “Well,” said he, “I was thinking of the absurdity of that inscription. I will admit that death is a disgrace, and that it ought to be held in abhorrence as a shame and a curse, yet if I was really dead, I believe I would own it.”

Again, how often it is said of the dead, “The Lord has taken them away,” when there can be no doubt that their death was occasioned by their own neglect—their want of attention to the laws of life and health.

Not many years ago, nor very far away, there was a great feast, on the occasion of a popular donation party. It was held in the State-house, and after hours of excitement, near midnight, over three hundred sat down to partake of the rich dainties prepared for the occasion. The sisters had vied with one another in the preparation of almost endless varieties of the richest kinds of food. They had twenty-two kinds of cake, sixteen kinds of pie, thirteen sorts of preserves, and all else in proportion. Now it so happened that a wealthy and influential brother of that company was in such favor that the sisters actually killed him with kindness! As the tables were furnished by voluntary contributions of the sisters, they were all anxious to get this brother’s opinion of their particular kinds, and, being susceptible to flattery, they wanted his praise, and so urged him until he ate of all their delicacies, and the result was that he died in twenty-four hours. At the funeral, the cause of his death was said to be a “mysterious and wonderful dispensation of providence,” while in fact it was the direct result of a wonderful dispensation of cake and pie.

What an awful record would appear to an astonished world, if the exact truth was stated in all cases. In a country graveyard in New Jersey, there is a plain stone erected over the grave of a beautiful young lady, with only this inscription upon it: “Julia Adams, died of thin shoes, April 17, 1837, aged 18 years.” This is a rare specimen, because not one of a thousand would be willing to own that disease and death, in their particular case, was caused by fashion, pride, or appetite. But let the plain truth be stated, and we should read multiplied thousands, like the following: “Died of tight lacing;” “Died of impure air;” “Died of overeating;” etc., etc.

The general cause of premature deaths is comprehended in two Scripture expressions; namely, “My people doth not consider;” “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” These declarations will apply to things temporal as well as spiritual. If people would calmly consider and investigate, they would know the real facts in the case, both as to the living and the dead. Thus many evils would be averted, and many foolish and even heathenish statements would be avoided, both as pertaining to the dead and the causes of death.