The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

VII. French—Death an Unconscious State Until Resurrection

CALVIN FRENCH (d. 1844), Free Will Baptist minister of Needham, Massachusetts, was a participant in the great Second Advent Movement in America of the forties, and an able expositor of prophecy. He was awakened concerning the Biblical soundness of Conditionalism by George Storrs, and wrote a treatise titled Immortality the Gift of God through Jesus Christ (1842). The purpose and scope of the treatise is set forth in the introduction. We will confine ourselves to this epitome of his unconsciousness-in-death-until-the-resurrection presentation. Here are key excerpts. CFF2 314.2

1. ALL DEAD IN UNCONSCIOUS STATE UNTIL ADVENT

Note these seven points:
“That there shall be a resurrection of THE DEAD, both of the just and the unjust. CFF2 314.3

“That there will be two resurrections as to time. CFF2 315.1

“That the righteous will be raised one thousand years before the wicked. Revelation 20:4, 5. CFF2 315.2

“That there will be no reward to them that have done good, or to them that have done evil, until their resurrection. Matthew 16:27. CFF2 315.3

“That the righteous and the wicked rest together in the grave in an unconscious state until they hear the voice of the Son of Man and come forth to the resurrection of life or damnation. CFF2 315.4

“That the dead being in an unconscious state, whether they are one hour or thousands of years passing through ‘the land of darkness and the shadow of death’ (Job 10:21, 22), it will be to them but a moment; they who sleep in Jesus will awake at the first resurrection, and appear with Christ in glory; the rest of the dead will awake at the second resurrection, and appear before Christ at the judgment. CFF2 315.5

“That this earth is to be redeemed from the curse which has rested upon it nearly six thousand years (Genesis 3:17, 18; Isaiah 24:6), and become the everlasting possession of the saints, with Christ their king. Daniel 7:18; Matthew 5:5; Revelation 5:10.” ⁷¹ CFF2 315.6

We will continue the American line after returning to Britain for paralleling developments and marked advances there. CFF2 315.7