Resurrection

RESURRECTION. The Belief of a Resurrection from the Dead, is an Article of Religion in common to the Jew and the Christian: It is found very expresly taught both in the Old and New Testament. I do not speak of that miraculous Resurrection, which consists in reviving for a time, to die again afterwards; as Elijah, Elisha, Jesus Christ, and his Apostles, have raised some from the Dead; but I mean a general Resurrection of the Dead, which will come to pass at the End of the World, and which will be follow’d by an Immortality either of Happiness or Misery. For Example: Psal. xvi. 10.The Psalmist says, For thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell, or in the Grave, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see Corruption. Job; For I know that my Redeemer Job xix. 25,26,27.liveth, and that he shall stand in the latter Day upon the Earth. And though after my Skin, Worms destroy this Body, yet in my Flesh I shall see God: whom I shall see for my self, and mine Eyes shall behold, and not another; though my Reins be consumed Ezekiel xxxvii. 1, 2, 3, &c.within me. Ezekiel also, in his Vision of a great Quantity of Bones in a large Field, and which, at the Breath of the Spirit of the Lord, began to unite, and to be covered with Flesh, Nerves, and Skin, and at last to revive; has left us a Proof and an Assurance of a general Resurrection. See also Isaiah xxvi. 19.

Wisd. iii. 1, 2, 3, &c. & iv. 15.The Author of the Book of Wisdom speaks of it in a very lively manner, when he says, that the Souls of good Men, and such as suffer Persecution in this World, shall receive a Recompence for it in the Day of Visitation: For thus he calls the Resurrection, in more Places than one. In the Second Book of the Maccabees we see the same Truth maintained in a more express manner still. One of the seven Brethren of the Maccabees, who suffer’d Death at Antioch under Antiochus Epiphanes, directing his Discourse to this 2 Mac. vii. 9, 14, 23, 29.Tyrant, tells him, Thou, like a Fury, takest us out of this present Life; but the King of the World shall raise us up, who have died for his Laws, unto everlasting Life. The Mother of these holy Martyrs encouraged them to the Combat, by the same Hope of the Resurrection: And they were so entirely possess’d with it, that they despised Death, Tortures, and all the Menaces of the King.

At the Time that our Saviour appear’d in Judea, the Resurrection from the Dead was received as one of the principal Articles of the Jewish Religion, by the whole Body of the Nation¹, except only the Sadducees, who deny’d it. The Jews then tolerated them; and even there were several of them who held some of the first Employments of the Republick²; but at this Day they look upon ‘em as Hereticks, Epicureans, and maintain that they have no Share in the Life to come³. Our Saviour, in his Gospel, has effectually confuted the Error of the Sadducees: He has promis’d his faithful Servants, that they shall enjoy a compleat State of Happiness after the general Resurrection. He arose himself from the Dead, to give us, in his own Person, a Proof, a Pledge, a Pattern of our future Resurrection. St. Paul,⁴ in almost all his Epistles, speaks of a general Resurrection; refutes those who deny’d or oppos’d it; proves it to those that had started any Difficulties about it; explains the Mystery, the Manner, and several Circumstances of it: He says, that to deny the Resurrection of the Dead, is the same thing as to deny our Saviour’s Resurrection: If 1 Cor.xv. 13,15,16, 17,19.there be no Resurrection of the Dead, then is Christ not risen: And that, if we were not to rise again from the Dead, we are of all Men the most miserable.

Some Jews teach, that all Men shall not rise again, but only the Israelites; and, moreover, such as have been very wicked among them, shall have no Part in this happy State. But others are of Opinion, that all Men in general shall rise again. Some among them maintain, that when Men are once rais’d again, they shall be no more subject to Death. But others think they shall die again, and that their Souls alone shall enjoy everlasting Happiness. Upon this Subject see Menasse-ben-Israel, in his Third Book concerning the Resurrection of the Dead.

Leo of Modena, in Part IV. Chap. xi. of The Ceremonies of the Jews, expresses himself thus in this Matter: “ There are “ Jews who think, with Pythagoras, “ that Souls pass from one Body to another; this they call Gilghul, or Circulation. They endeavour to support their “ Opinion from several Passages of Scripture, taken chiefly out of Ecclesiastes “ and Job. But this Notion is not “ universal; and whether it be embraced or rejected, it makes no Schism “ or Heresy among them. As to the “ Resurrection of the Dead, ‘tis one of “ their thirteen Articles of Faith, That “ at the End of the World, all the Dead “ shall arise; and that God shall summon all Mankind to his general Judgment, whether in or out of the Body: “ According to that of Daniel; And “ many of them that sleep in the Dust Dan.xii.2.“ of the Earth shall awake, some to everlasting Life, and some to Shame and everlasting Contempt.

Bereshith Rabba, sect. 96.‘Tis also a common Opinion among the Jews, that all Men, at least all the Israelites, shall arise in the Land of Israel; from whence proceeds that ardent Desire they have always had, to be buried in this Country. They believe, those that have this Advantage, will arise first, and, before all others, will enjoy the Happiness of seeing the Kingdom of the Messiah. But then, what shall become of the Just who shall die and be buried out of the Land of Israel? They answer, That God will open them Passages in the Earth, and subterraneous Conveyances, through which they shall roul into this Country; and when they are come thither, God will give them the Breath of Life, and they shall revive. They think it was for this, that Jacob and Joseph shew’d so much Desire to have their Bodies carry’d into the Land of Canaan. And we read in some of the Books of the Rabbins, that often they carry’d the Bodies of certain Jews, who had shew’d a more than ordinary Devotion, from very distant Countries, to be interred in the Land of Israel.

We have also seen, in the Christian Church, a Variety of Opinions concerning the Resurrection of the Dead. Several of the ancient Fathers⁵ have acknowledged a two-fold Resurrection. The first, is that which is to precede the Reign of the Messias, who is to reign a thousand Years upon the Earth. The second, is that which is to follow the Reign of a thousand Years, and is to begin the Reign of the Saints in a State of everlasting Happiness. This is a Sentiment that these Fathers had borrow’d from the Jews; since it is found clear enough in the second Book of Esdras⁶, in the Testament of the twelve Patriarchs⁷, and in several of the Rabbins. We have treated of this Affair of the Resurrection, in a particular Dissertation, printed before the second Tome of our Commentary upon St. Paul’s Epistles.

The ancient Philosophers that believed the Immortality of the Soul, admitted also of a Resurrection. Whether they had received these Opinions from the Eastern People, among whom they had travelled; or whether they inferr’d a Resurrection, from the Immortality of the Soul, as a necessary Consequence; persuading themselves, that a Soul could not long continue, without being united to a Body. But this Resurrection is by some explained after one manner, and by others after another. Pythagoras, who was the first that introduced the Sentiment of the Soul’s Immortality among the Greeks, acknowledg’d a Metempsychosis, or a Transmigration of the Soul out of one Body into another successively. Thales⁸ and Democritus⁹ held also a kind of Resurrection: But the Manner in which they explain’d it, is not known. As for Plato¹⁰, we are better acquainted with what he thought about the Resurrection: He was pretty much of Pythagoras’s Opinion: He maintain’d, that the Souls that had already animated Bodies, passed from them into a State of Liberty, from whence they afterwards return’d to animate other Bodies.

This Doctrine of Plato was espoused by the Pharisees among the Jews¹¹, and John ix. 2. Mat. xvi. 14. Wisd. iii. 6, 13. & iv. 15. 2 Mac. vii. 9, 14, 23, 29.by Philo¹². It appears also from the Gospel, that many of the Jews admitted of a kind of Metempsychosis among them, at the Time of our Saviour. But we find from other Authorities, taken from the Book of Wisdom, and the Books of the Maccabees, that the Generality of the Nation held the Resurrection much as we do now. And Jesus Christ, in his Gospel, supposes this Doctrine, and teaches it without any Contradiction, except from the Sadducees, who altogether deny’d it. The Apostles have urged it likewise: And notwithstanding the Attempts of some Hereticks who opposed it, the Catholick Church has always constantly embraced it, as a fundamental Article of Christianity.

But there are many Opinions that have been tolerated in the Church, concerning the Time, the Manner, and other Circumstances of this Resurrection. When the Apostles asked of Christ, when the End of the World should happen, and his Coming; He answer’d them, That the Angels themselves did not know it, and he did not think it proper to be revealed Mark xiii. 32. Mat. xxiv. 43, 44. Thess. v. 2, 3, 4.to them: He only informs us, That this Last Day will come as a Thief in the Night, and shall surprize Mankind, when they least expect it. St. Paul says, that at that Time many shall be alive, who shall pass from Life to Death, and from Death to the Resurrection, with such Rapidity, that in the Twinkling of an Eye they shall be changed, and their Bodies shall be invested with Incorruptibility and Immortality.

Heb. ix. 27.There are some Greek Fathers¹³, and some Rabbins, who believe, that those who shall then be found alive, shall not die at all, but shall only undergo that happy Change, of passing in an Instant from Life to Immortality. But the other Opinion seems to be more generally received, that all Men shall suffer the Sentence pronounced against the Children of Adam: Statutum est omnibus hominibus semel mori; post hoc autem Judicium: It is appointed for all Men once to die; and after Death, Judgment.

Hieron. in Matt. xxvi. 6.St. Jerom assures us, that the Tradition of the Jews is, That the Dead shall rise in the Night-time, or at Break-of- Day, at the same Time as Jesus Christ came out of his Tomb. This Tradition hath passed from the Synagogue to the Church, as may Chrysost. in Matth. xxv.be seen by Lactantius¹⁴, by St Chrysostom, and by such Greek Writers as generally follow him. This Tradition is founded upon those Words of St. Peter; The Day of the 2 Pet, iii. 10.Lord will come as a Thief in the Night: And upon those of Jesus Christ, in the Parable of the Ten Virgins; At Midnight there Matth. xxv. 6.was a Cry made, Behold, the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. Prudentius, whose Words are made use of by the Church Prudent. hymn. cathemer.[of Rome], in one of her Offices, thinks that the World will be at an End, and, consequently, the Resurrection commence, in the Morning. Thomas Aquinas, Tostatus, and Suarez,¹⁵ on the contrary, are of Opinion, that it will be perform’d at Mid-day.¹⁶ St. Paul informs us, 1 Cor. xv. 52, 53. that it will begin at the first Sound of the Trumpet.

Those, among the Jews, who admit of a Transmigration of Souls, are perplex’d about the Manner in which the Resurrection is to be perform’d. For how can the Soul re-animate all the Bodies through which it has pass’d? If it can animate but one of ‘em, what must become of the rest? Must it have its own Choice, and return to that it likes best? These Difficulties very much gravel them. Some think it must re-animate its first Body; others, that it will be re-united with its last; and that the other Bodies will remain in the Dust, as barren Trees are forsaken and deserted. I should rather conclude, that almost all those who hold the Metempsychosis, do not admit of a general Resurrection; and that this Revolution, or successive Passage of the same Soul through several Bodies, was what they understood by a Resurrection. This I take to have been the Notion of those Pharisees mention’d by Josephus.

‘Tis inquired what will be the Nature of Bodies when raised, what their Stature, their Age, their Sex? Jesus Christ tells us in the Matth. xxii. 30.Gospel, that after the Resurrection Men shall be as the Angels of God; that is, according to the Fathers, they shall be immortal, incorruptible, transparent, light, luminous, and, in some sort, spiritual, yet without quitting the Qualities of Bodies, as we find our Saviour’s Body, after his Resurrection, was tangible, and had Flesh and Luk. xxiv. 39.Bones. But as Jesus Christ laid aside the Brightness of the Glory of his Body, and did not suffer it to shew itself to his Disciples; the glorious and bright Emanations from the Bodies of the Blessed, shall shine as the Matth. xiii. 43.Sun, as our Saviour expresses Some antient Hebrew Doctors¹⁷ maintain, that Men shall arise of the same Stature, with the same Qualities, and the same corporal Defects that they had in their Lifetime. That the Blind shall arise blind, the Lame, lame, and so of the rest. They confirm this Conjecture by the Excuse of Samuel, when he appear’d to the Witch of Endor, in the same Shape that he had upon Earth; and by that Passage of Ecclesiastes; One Generation passeth away, and another Generation cometh. Some Christians in St. Austin’s Time maintain’d the same Opinion, which they founded upon Jesus Christ’s Appearance after his Resurrection, with all the Marks of his Wounds. But the holy Father hath confuted this Sentiment;¹⁸ and undertakes to shew, that if our our Saviour preserved the Marks of his Wounds, ‘twas by an Effect of his Power, and to convince the Incredulity of his Disciples. See also what he says, Enchyrid. de Fide, Spe, & Charitate, c. 9.

The Resurrection of Infants is attended with great Difficulties. If they are to arise little, weak, and such as they went out of this World; of what Use can their Resurrection be to them? And if they are to arise full grown, comely, like those of an advanced Age, they will not be the same as they were, and this will not properly be a Resurrection. St. Austin has treated of this Question with his usual Accuracy and Modesty.¹⁹ He will not venture to determine whether Children will arise small or great, but he rather inclines to that Opinion, which supposes them to arise as in a perfect Age. And elsewhere,²⁰ speaking of the Resurrection of Children Still-born, he says, that the Resurrection will give them all the Perfection they would have had, if they had had time to grow up; and that it would secure them from all such Imperfections, as they might have contracted had they liv’d longer. Many, both Antients and Moderns have thought,²¹ that Men will arise at the Age at which Jesus Christ died, that is, about the Age of thirty-three or thirty-five Years. So that both Old and Young will all appear to be about that Age, to fulfil Ephes. iv. 13.those Words of St. Paul; Till we all come in the Unity of the Faith, and of the Knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect Man, unto the Measure of the Stature of the Fulness of Christ. But the more judicious explain St. Paul, as meaning the Progress which the Faithful make both in Faith and Vertue, till they arrive at the compleat Age of Perfection.

Many Antients have doubted, a whether Women are to rise in their proper Sex. They grounded their Scruples upon those Words of Jesus Christ; In the Resurrection Matth. xxii. 30.they neither marry, nor are given in Marriage; but are as the Angels of God in Heaven. And upon what is said by St. Rom. viii. 29.Paul; To be conformed to the Image of his Son. To this is added, that, according to Moses, Man alone was created out of the Earth, and that Woman was taken out of Man, as an Accident or Accessory. But to this it is answer’d, that if a Distinction of Sexes is unnecessary after the Resurrection, it will be as much so for Men as for Women: That the Woman is not less perfect in her Kind than the Man; that the Manner in which Eve was form’d, is in some Sort more advantageous to her, than the Creation of the Man. He was created immediately from the Earth, but she from him. Lastly, The Sex of the Woman is nothing of a Defect or Imperfection of Nature. Non est enim vitium Sexus fœmineus, sed Natura, saith St. Austin.

Aug. de Civit. l. 22. c. 17.Other Difficulties that have been moved upon this Subject, may be seen treated on at full Length, in the Dissertations composed by us concerning the End of the World, and the general Resurrection.

The Resurrection of the Saints, who arose out of their Sepulchres at the Time of our Saviour’s Death, and who, after his Resurrection came into the holy City, and appear’d Matth. xxvii. 51, 52, 53.to many, is a Subject which deserves to be consider’d here in a few Words. The Names of those that arose upon this Occasion are unknown. Some will have them to have been all the most antient Fathers and Patriarchs. Others, that they were the most modern ones, and such as were most known to the Jews then living. Others, that this Favour was granted only to those that were buried at Jerusalem, or thereabouts.

They dispute also about the Hour of their Resurrection. Some maintain that they did not rise till after our Saviour, who is call’d in Scripture the first Fruits of those that slept. 1 Cor. xv. 20.Primitiæ dormientium & promogenitus ex mortuis. Origen, St. Jerome,²² Gregory the²³ Great, Raban-Maur. Paschasius Radbert, Bede, Drutmar, Liran, the common Gloss, and several others, are of this Opinion. But Chrysost. in Matth. xxvii. Hilar. in Matth. xxvii.St. Chrysostome, and the Greek Authors who generally follow him, Hilary, and many others, believe, that they arose at the Moment of our Saviour’s Death; and that Jesus Christ raised them before he raised himself, to display his Triumph over Death in a more remarkable Manner. It must be allow’d, that the Text of the Evangelist St. Matthew, is not decisive for either of these Opinions; but if it be true, (which cannot well be doubted) that the Souls of the Holy Patriarchs did not come out of the Limbus, till after Jesus Christ descended thither; it must also be allow’d, that they did not arise till after this Descent. Therefore it will necessarily follow, that some Space of Time must pass between the Death of our Saviour, and the Resurrection of the Saints.

Hos. xiii. 14. Ps. lxviii. 18.But these Saints being thus raised, did they dye again, and re-enter into their Graves, after the Ascension of Jesus Christ, or did they ascend with him into Heaven? There is a Variety of Sentiments upon this Matter. Those that think Jesus Christ led them along with him into Heaven, as it were in Triumph, quote those Words of Hosea; I will ransom them from the Power of the Grave, I will redeem them from Death; O Death, I will be thy Plague; O Grave, I will be thy Destruction. And those of the Psalmist; Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led Captivity captive. And St. Eph. iv. 8.Paul; When he ascended up on high, he led Captivity captive, and gave Gifts unto Men. Is it probable, that after having restored Life to these Saints and illustrious Dead, God should think fit to make them submit once more to Death and the Grave? Would not this be to plunge them again into Pain and Bitterness, after giving them a Taste of Eternal Happiness? Lastly, Would it not be agreeable to the Justice, the Goodness, and the Majesty of that divine Deliverer, to compleat his Work, and to lead them along with him into Heaven, after he had restored them to Life upon Earth?

We might produce a great Number of the Fathers, who have been of this Opinion. Ignatius the Martyr, to the Magnesians. Origin, upon Matth. xxvii. and upon the Canticles. The Author of the Orthodox Questions, Quest. 84. Clemens Alexandrinus, Strom. l. 6. Eusebius of Cesarea, in his Gospel-Demonstration, c. 12. Hilary upon Psalm. II. Venerable Bede, Raban-Maurus, Drutmar, Paschasius, Radbertus, and a Multitude of modern Interpreters, who maintain in a positive Manner, that the Holy Patriarchs raised with Jesus Christ, enjoy with him the Happiness of Heaven, and were the Partners of his Triumphant Ascension.

But the contrary Opinion is maintain’d not with less Authority, or fewer Proofs. Heb. xi. 39. 40.St. Paul says expressly, that the holy Patriarchs, having obtained a good Report through Faith, received not the Promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. Therefore he did not think them yet raised, nor in Possession of the Glory of²⁴ Heaven. He says elsewhere, That Jesus Christ is the First-fruits of those that slept the Sleep of Death, and were to arise one Day, not to sleep any more. Besides, if any one had been to rise with our Saviour, doubtless it would have been the Holy King Ps. xv. 10. Acts ii. 29.David, John the Baptist, the Patriarchs and the Prophets buried at Jerusalem and in Palestine. But St. Peter, speaking to the Jews of Jerusalem, says expressly, That David’s Tomb was still to be seen among them; that David had foretold the Resurrection of our Saviour, but says nothing at all of his own. What Strength must his Reasoning have had, if David had been raised, and had ascended into Heaven with Jesus Christ? We know that the Relicks and the Tomb of John the Baptist have been shewn, as well before as after this Time; it was not therefore believed that they were ascended into Heaven, and admitted into Glory.

The Fathers that have treated upon this Subject with the greatest Care, have declared for the Opinion now proposed. TertullianTertul. l. de Anima c. 55. purposely confutes those who thought, that the Patriarchs and Prophets ascended into Heaven after the Resurrection of our Saviour. St. Chrysostome says, that Chrysost. Homil. 40. in 1 Cor. xv. Idem. Homil. 28. in Heb. xi.they who arose while Jesus Christ was upon the Cross, died again. And writing upon the Epistle to the Hebrews, he owns with the Apostle, that the just Men of the Old Testament have not yet received their Reward. Theodoret also expresses himself after the same Manner. Theophylact and Euthymius, explaining the Twenty-seventh Chapter of St. Matthew, acknowledge, that the Holy Patriarchs arose to be as Proofs of the Resurrection of Christ; but that they afterwards died again, to rise a second Time at the End of the World. St. Austin, in his Epistle to Evodius, expressly treats of this Question, and explains himself clearly enough for the temporary Resurrection of those Saints. Thomas Aquinas, having produced the Reasons upon which each of these Opinions is D. Thom. 3. part. art. 53. art. 3.founded, declares himself for those that hold, that they died again; and this is the Opinion that to us seems to be best supported, both by the Scripture and by the Fathers. The Reader may consult upon this Matter, the Dissertation we have composed and inserted in the new Collection of Dissertations.

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