Jb 19, 2527 Jb 14, 12 15 Ts 26, 19 Ps 48, 16 Da 12, 23, 13 dead, but of the living: for are learned shall shine as the shall see, and my eyes shall I will deliver them out of Os 13, 14 this my hope is laid up in redeem them from death: O 27 he shall not awake, nor rise As concerning the dead, Mk 12,26- I am now in warfare I ex-greatly err. shalt reach out Thy right THE LONGING FOR THE hand. RESURRECTION. Is 52, 2 Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall rise again: And not only it, but our- Ro 8, 23 awake, and give praise, ye that selves also, who have the dwell in the dust for thy first fruits of the Spirit, dew is the dew of the light: even we ourselves groan and the land of the giants within ourselves, waiting for thou shalt pull down into the adoption of the sons of ruin. God, the Redemption of our body. God will redeem my soul from the hand of hell, when He shall receive me. If by any means I may Ph 3, 11 attain to the Resurrection, And many of those that which is from the dead. sleep in the dust of the But as for me, I will P 16, 15 earth, shall awake: some appear before Thy sight in unto Life Everlasting, and justice: I shall be satisfied others unto reproach, to see when Thy Glory shall it always. But they that appear. 1 C15, 3 8 1 €15, 10 5.-ST. PAUL'S DISCOURSE ON THE RESURRECTION. 1. CHRIST'S RESURRECTION. He hath not raised up, if the 17 first of all, that which I also For if the dead rise not 1 C 15,16-. 20 according to the Scriptures: Then they also that are 1 C 15,18- eleven. 3. Then was He seen by able.-But now Christ is 4. After that, He 3. THE FRUIT OF THE RESURRECTION. 23 For by a man came death, 1 C'15,21and by a Man the Resurrecwas tion of the dead.-And as in Adam all die, so also in the Christ all shall be made alive.-But every one in his own order: the First-Fruits Christ, then they that are of Christ, who have believed in His Coming. 6. And last of all, He me, Afterwards the end, when1 C 15,24He shall have delivered up 2. HIS RESURRECTION. AN ARGUMENT FOR OURS. the Kingdom to God and the Now if Christ be preached Father, when He shall have that He rose again from the brought to nought all Princidead, how do some among pality, and Power, and Viryou say, that there is no tue.-For He must reign, Resurrection of the dead ? until He hath put all ene1 C15, 13- But if there be no Resur-mies under His feet. 15 25 27 rection of the dead, then And the enemy death shall 1 C15,26- cause we have given testi- under Him. 29 * 2. Another the glory of 3. And another tion, it shall rise in the Sou also Himself shall be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that the God may be all in all.— glory of the stars. Otherwise what shall they For star differeth from star do that are baptised for the in glory:-So also is the dead, if the dead rise not Resurrection of the dead. again at all? why are they 1. It is sown in corrupthen baptised for them? 1 C15, 30- Why also are we in danger every hour?-I die daily, I protest by your glory, brethren, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.-If (according to man) I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what doth it profit me, if the dead rise not again? Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow shall die. 32 we 2. It is sown in dis- 3. It is sown in weak- power. 4. It is sown a natural If there be a natural body, 4. THE MANNER THEREOF. there is also a spiritual 1 C15, 35- But some man will say: body, as it is written:— How do the dead rise again? The first man Adam was or with what manner of body made into a living soul; shall they come ?-Senseless the last Adam into a man, that which thou sowest quickening Spirit. 38 50 is not quickened except it Yet that was not first 1 C15,46die first-And that which which is spiritual, but that thou sowest, thou sowest not which is natural: afterwards the body that shall be; but that which is spiritual.—The bare grain, as of wheat, or of first man was of the earth, some of the rest.-But God earthly: the second man, giveth it a body as He will: from Heaven, heavenly.and to every seed its proper Such as is the earthly, such body. also are the earthly and 1C15, 39- All flesh is not the same such as is the heavenly, such flesh: but one is the flesh of also are they that are heamen, another of beasts, venly.-Therefore as we have another of birds, another of borne the image of the fishes. And there are bodies earthly, let us bear also the celestial, and bodies terres- Image of the Heavenly.— trial but one is the glory Now this I say, brethren, of the celestial, and another that flesh and blood cannot of the terrestrial. possess the Kingdom of God: 1. One is the glory of neither shall corruption possess incorruption. 40 1 C 15, 41 45 the sun, *The Apostle alludes to the baptism of sufferings and expiations undergone for sinners spiritually dead. 52 5. OF THEM THAT SHALL be changed. LAST DAY. 55 BE FOUND ALIVE AT THE For this corruptible must 1 C 15,53put on incorruption; and 1 C15, 51- Behold I tell you a Mystery. this mortal must put on We shall all indeed rise immortality.-And when this again but we shall not all mortal hath put on immorbe changed. In a moment, tality, then shall come to in the twinkling of an eye, pass the saying that is writat the last Trumpet; for the ten: Death is swallowed up Trumpet shall sound, and in Victory. O death, where the dead shall rise again is thy Victory ? O death, incorruptible and we shall where is thy sting? Ez 37,1 Ez 37,7 Ez 37,8 Ez 37, 9 6. AN ALLUSION TO THE GENERAL RESURRECTION.* * The hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me forth in the spirit of the Lord and set me down in And I prophesied as He Ez 37, 10 * And I prophesied as He had commanded me: and as I prophesied there was a me: and the Spirit came into them, and they lived and they stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. * noise, and behold a commo- And He said to me: Son Ez 37, 11 tion and the bones came of man: All these bones are together, each one to its the House of Israel: they joint. say: Our bones are dried up, And I saw, and behold the them. Therefore prophesy, and Ez 37, 12 Lord God: Behold I will open your graves, and will And He said to me: Pro-chres, O My people and * And you shall know that Ez 37,13 *"A simile of the Resurrection would never have been used to signify the restoration of the people of Israel unless such a future resurrection had been believed and known; because no one attempts to confirm uncertain things by things which have no existence."-St. Jerome. Ez 37, 14 I am the Lord, when I shall Spirit in you, and you shall And shall have put My God. PART V. ON JUDGMENT. "AFTER death the Judgment."* The body dies, but the soul lives on, and the moment after the death of the body the soul is judged. There are three stages in ordinary legal processes-discussion of the case, decision upon it, execution of the sentence. The first stage has no place in the Judgment after death. God already knows the merits or demerits of the soul brought to Judgment. But He pronounces sentence; and the soul divinely enlightened as to its condition acquiesces in the justice of the decision. The sentence is then executed upon the soul by the soul itself. Its merit or demerit or need of purgation carries it, according to S. Thomas,† "to its own place," as a stone is carried to its centre. But the soul will be judged once again in that General Judgment when all nations and tribes shall simultaneously appear before the Throne of God. "Thither shall be brought," says S. Jerome,‡ “Plato with his foolish disciples. There the arguments of Aristotle shall be of no avail." Then shall the Justice of God be made manifest by an equitable and final assignation of rewards and punishments, so that no one may thereafter complain, saying, "Behold, these are sinners, and yet, abounding in the world, they have obtained *Heb. 9, 27. Sum. Theol., supp. q. 69, a. 2. Epist. 1 ad Heliodor., c 9. |