naturally become wise and virtuous. But as we cannot be solidly
virtuous or wise, except by divine graee, as grace is annexed to
Jesus Christ ; as Jesus' Christ is of no avail to us, independently of
faith ; as faith, which unites us with him, is that which reveals his
divinity : hence, with all those fine ideas of wisdom, they turned
out fools and madmen; they suffered themselves to be carried
away by the torrent of vice ; they yielded to the most shameful
passions ; they lost themselves (as St. Paul says) in their own
cogitations ; and, aspiring to the dignity of philosophers, sunk
even below the level of men. Where, on the contrary, have
purity of life, and innocence been found ? In that holy and divine
faith, which teaches that " Jesus is the Son of God." This is
what justifies us ; this is what lays the treasures of grace and
virtue open to us ; this is what gives us access to God, in order



62 ON THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD.

one day to take part in that blessed resurrection which is promised
tis. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is an incontestable proof of
Ms divinity : it is thereby he confirms our faith. The resurrection
of Jesus Christ is a certain pledge of our future resurrection : it
is thus he animates our hope, as you shall see in the second part.

Part II. St. Augustin tells us, that of all the articles in our
religion, not one hath been more controverted than the resurrection
of the flesh, because not one more effectually restrains men within
the bounds of duty, or makes them more subject to the divine law.
For, admitting once that we must rise again, it follows, that
therefore there is another life ; that therefore our hopes go beyond
the grave ; that therefore we have a lot to expect, good or bad, in
eternity. God Almighty, therefore, reserves us for other rewards
or punishments than those we behold. Our chief business, there-
fore, in this life, is, to labour all we can for obtaining one, and
avoiding the other ; we ought, therefore, to direct all our actions
to this end, and every thing else ought, therefore, to be indifferent
to us ; we are, therefore, to blame, for being disturbed at the
miseries and afflictions of this world, and for being deceived by
the dazzling splendor of human prosperities: virtue alone is,
therefore, upon earth, our greatest good, nay, our only good. For,
all these consequences are regularly deducible from the principle,
that the dead will rise again. It is for this reason that Tertullian
begins the work which he composed upon this subject with these
words : " The confidence of Christians is the resurrection of the
dead." On the contrary, (says St. Paul,) if we are not to rise
again, and oiu* hopes are confined to the happiness of this life, we
are the most wretched of mankind : for, whatever we do is of no
avail. In vain do we labour imder so many dangers ; in vain have
I undergone at Ephesus so many conflicts for the faith. There
needs no rule or measure to be attended to in our conduct ; and
full scope and indulgence may be allowed the senses in all they
desire. Filial duty and piety are imaginary virtues ; and nothing
should influence our conduct but the present advantage. Take
notice, Christians : from the error which denies the resurrection of
the flesh, the apostle drew all these conclusions, by a theological
ratiocination, the whole force of which there are but few who
thoroughly comprehend, but which St. Chrysostom hath clearly
shown, by pointing out to us against whom St. Paul's controversy
was directed. It was not (this father observes) against heretics,



ON THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD. 63

who acknowledged the immortality of the soul, but would not
admit the resurrection of the body ; that would have answered no
purpose : but his argument was wholly levelled at libertines and
atheists, who deny the resurrection of the body, because they do
not wish to believe the immortality of the soul, or of a future
state. For though these two errors are not necessarily and abso-
lutely connected with one another, they are joined inseparably in
the opinion of unbelievers, who, endeavouring to banish from their
minds every idea of whatever relates to eternity, in order to sin
with greater impunity, would, in the first place, abolish a belief in
the resurrection of the body ; and by an almost inevitable progress
of infidelity, become so strangely infatuated as to believe that souls
are not immortal. And this is the reason why the apostle uses
the same arms in discomfiting these two monsters of irreligion.

Be that as it may, I say, Christians, to keep within the verge
of my subject, that in the resurrection of Jesus Christ we have an
evident and certain pledge of our own resurrection ; for in the
resurrection of our Saviour, we find at once, the cause, the motive,
and the model, of our own. The cause, or power, by which God
can effect our resurrection ; the motive, through which he wills it ;
and the model upon which he effects it. This requires all your
reflection and consideration.

1st. In the first place, I affirm, that we find in the resurrection
of the Son of God, the cause of our own, for that miraculous
resurrection, so far as it regards our blessed Saviour, arises from a
supreme and uncircumscribed power. For if by his omnipotence
he could raise himself to life, why may he not do to others, what
he did in his own person. This is St. Augustin's argument, and
an unansAverable one it is. There are, (says this father,) who
believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and who subscribe to
the testimony of the scriptures upon that head. But how faithful
soever they may be in this respect, they corrupt their belief, and
plunge into an error, by not comprehending, or by being unwilling
to comprehend, how it follows from thence, that we ourselves shall
one day revive. Now, (adds this father,) is not Jesus Christ's
resurrection, in a similar flesh to mine, and arisen by his own
power, an evident proof, that I shall one day, not indeed rise
myself as he did, but be brought to life by his power? If,
according to the false notions of the Manicheans, (continues St.
Augustin,) he had assumed, when he came down upon earth, an



64 ON THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD.

ideal and apparent body only ; if he had left in sepulchral cor-
ruption, the flesh which was formed in the womb of the Virgin
Mary, and which he was clothed with, in order to live among
mankind ; if, when he resumed a life of glory, he had resumed a
body of a different nature from mine, a body of a more refined
substance, and composed of more perfect qualities, I might
question, perhaps, my resurrection. But, to-day he rises from
the dead, with the same flesh and blood he had, when conceived
in the chaste womb of the Virgin Mary. And why should I
doubt that what I see come to pass in him, may not also come to
pass in me ? For hath he not as much power in me, as he hath in
himself, and for himself? And if the power be always the same,
will it not be at all times in a condition to work the same miracles.

It is by this supreme power, therefore, that he will go into the
depths of the sea, into the bowels of the earth, into the recesses of
caves and caverns, into the most gloomy and most hidden places
in the world, to gather together the remains of ourselves which
death had destroyed, and to collect our dispersed ashes ; and,
insensible as they will be, to give them voice, corporeal organi-
zation, and life.

This is perfectly conformable to that which St. Paul said
(addressing liimself to the primitive Christians) : Jesus Christ,
my brethren, (says he,) is risen again : that he is risen, is preached
to you, and you believe it. But what amazes me, (adds this great
apostle,) is, that notwithstanding this God-man is risen again,
there should be some among you who dare contest the resurrection
of men. " Now if Christ be preached that he arose again from
the dead, how do some among you say, that there is no resur-
rection of the dead." 1 Cor. xv. Is not one a consequence of the
other ? For is it not this arisen God, " who shall reform the body
of our lowliness ?" Phil. iii. But in what manner will he perform
this miracle ? Will it be only by the efficacy of his intercession ?
Will it be only by the virtue of his merits ? To these interro-
gatories St. Chrysostom answers in the negative ; and St. Paul
himself gives us to understand, that it will be by the absolute
dominion which God-made man hath over all nature : " According
to the operation whereby also he is able to subdue all things to
himself." Phil. in.

And this was the doctrine even of the patriarch Job, whom
God inspired, three thousand years before Jesus Christ, to speak



ON THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD. 65

of it with such precision and strength, and to foretel in terms so
clear the resurrection both of our Saviour and of us. " I believe,"
says he, encouraging himself to bear his sufferings with manly
fortitude, " I believe that my Redeemer liveth, and that in the
last day I shall rise from the earth." Job xix. Did you observe
the admirable connexion he makes between these two resurrections,
that of his Redeemer Christ and his own ? What would he have
said, had he lived in our days, and been, as we are, witness to the
glorious resurrection of the Son of God, in which we find not only
the cause, but moreover the motive of ours.

2ndly. For, is it not natural that there should be a union
between the subordinate members and the head ? And when the
head rises himself, doth it not follow that he will rise his members
too ? Now Christ Jesus is our head, and we are every one of us
his members. Well may I, therefore, apply to this mystery what
St. Leo said of the triumphant ascension of our Saviour into
heaven, that where the head goes, there the members should follow
him. And as Christ Jesus is not returned into the abode of his
glory for his own sake only, but also for ours, that is, in the view
of laying its gates open to us, and calling us thither ; have I not a
right, by the same rule, and in the same sense, to conclude, that it
was for us he broke down the barriers of death, came forth from
the sepulchre, and rose again to life ? And, indeed, if in quality
of head he requires, that his members do as he does, live as he
does, die as he does ? why should not he have them rise again
to life as he does ? Is it not agreeable to reason, that as we
participate in his labours, we should participate in his reward ?
and forasmuch as part of his reward is the glory of his body, in
that his adorable body is entered into a participation of merits
with his soul, hath he not thereby pledged himself to reward in us
likewise both body and soul ? This is St. Paul's excellent theo-
logy ; and, therefore, it is, that this great apostle calls " the first-
fruits of death, (1 Cor. xv.) the first-born among the dead." Col. i.
First-fruits suppose that others are coming after ; and in order to
be the first-born, or, if you like that better, the first risen from
among the dead, the dead must also be born again at the end of
ages, and resume a new life. And so incontestable is this truth,
according to the doctrine of St. Paul, that he tells us, without
hesitation: " If there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ
is not risen again." 1 Cor. xv.



66 ON THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD.

3rdly. It is true, therefore, beloved Christians, that we shall
rise again through Jesus Christ, that is, through the omnipotence
of Jesus Christ ; it is true, that we shall rise again, because Jesus
Christ is risen again ; and, to crown our hope, I add, that we shall
rise like unto Jesus Christ, and that his resurrection is the model
of ours. For, (St. Augustin asks,) why would God make the
resurrection of his Son so clear and evident, and why did the only
begotten Son himself use such infallible methods to make it known,
and the knowledge of it spread abroad ? Ah ! (replies this holy
doctor,) it was to show us clearly and evidently, in his own person,
the just extent of our pretensions, what we ought to be, or what
at least it depends upon ourselves to be. All, therefore, I have
to do, is, to represent to myself whatever is most striking, great,
and admirable, in the triumph of my Saviour. I need no more
than contemplate his glorified humanity : his body, material as it
is, invested with all the qualities of spirit.-, emitting beams of living
light, and crowned with an everlasting splendor ; such is the happy
situation to which I shall myself be raised, and such is the conso-
latory promise which faith makes me. And this hope is founded
on the very words of God, whereas it is founded on the words
of his apostle. For (says the apostle) when God Almighty shall
draw our bodies from common dust, and vivify them with his
breath, it will be to conform them to the divine copy he proposes
to us in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, " who will reform the
body of our lowliness, made like to the body of his glory." Phil. hi.
These bodies arc at present subject to corruption and rottenness,
to sufferings, afflictions, pains and death ; a vile, despicable
lump of flesh. But then, by a change the most speedy and
wonderful, they will have, if I may venture so to speak, the
same incorruptibility, the same impassibility, the same immortality,
the same subtilty, the same brightness, as the body of a God,
" made like to the body of his glory." Nevertheless, my brethren,
all this is attended with a condition ; namely, that we shall labour
in the present life to sanctify them by mortification, and Christian
penitence. For if we have indulged these bodies, and afforded
them whatever a sensual appetite demanded, and thereby made
them bodies of sin, they will rise ; but how ? as objects of horror,
to the confusion and shame of the soul, to share in her torment,
after having participated in her crimes.

Ah ! Christians, these are great and eternal truths ; and wo be to



ON THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD. 67

those who do believe in them, but live as though they disbelieved
them ! But happy, thrice happy, the faithful Christian, who, not
content to believe them, makes them the rule of his life, and
draws powerful motives from them, to animate his fervour ! Let
us endeavour to discuss accurately and attentively so important
and so great a subject.

Wo, I say, to those who do not believe this essential point of
Christianity, and this future resurrection ! If there were any of
these libertines among my hearers, this is what I would tell them,
with all the sincerity, and with all the ardour of my zeal. Surely,
brother, you must lead a very disorderly life, and vice must have
deeply infected your heart, to make you disbelieve such funda-
mental truths of religion. Great, indeed, must be the corruption
of your heart, to blind, mislead, and pervert your understanding
to that degree. For, tell me, I pray you, if yet you are capable
of yielding to this kind of argument, which of us stands upon the
securest ground — you who disbelieve whatever is told you of a life
to come, and a resurrection of the dead ; or I, who believe it with
a steadfast faith, and entire submission ? What grounds have you
for not believing it, or even for doubting it ? Your own judgment,
your own wisdom, or rather presumption. You do not believe
these mysteries, because they are beyond your comprehension,
because you would measure all things by the senses, because you
will put your trust in nothing but your own eyes ; because you say,
like the incredulous apostle : " Except I shall see, I will not believe ;"
(John xx. ;) a conduct full of ignorance and error, and yet the foun-
dation of your infidelity. But I, in my belief, and in the faith
which I have embraced, (a faith for which I should be ready to spill
the last drop of my blood,) ground my reliance on the testimony
of God himself; on the principles of his divine Providence ; on the
concurrence and irrefragability of a thousand prophecies ; on a
number, almost infinite, of undoubted miracles ; on the authority
of the greatest men of the age, men of fine sense, clear conception,
irreproachable morals, and holy conversation. I find myself m
possession of a faith, which hath wrought so many miracles through-
out the universe ; which hath triumphed over so many kings and
people ; which hath destroyed and abolished so many superstitions ;
which hath produced and reduced to practice so many virtues;
which hath been confirmed by so many witnesses ; which hath been
signed with the blood of so many holy martyrs ; which hath



68 ON THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD.

increased, even by persecutions, and against which all the powers
of hell and of the world have not been able to prevail : for these rea-
sons it is that I am attached to it. Now 1 leave you to judge,
once more, whether these reasons, or yours, are founded on a more
solid basis ; and whether they are not more capable to determine,
fix, and give steadiness to an upright mind.

If it be objected, that this resurrection of the dead is incompre-
hensible, I say, beloved hearers, that the point is not to compre-
hend it, in order to believe it, but to believe it, although you do
not comprehend it. For whether you comprehend it or not,
it is not founded in truth, and certainly the less for that,
and consequently, not the less credible. Nevertheless, my dear
brother, I have great reason to be surprised, that you, who
plume yourself on the strength of your understanding, should
start so many difficulties against it. Would you insinuate that
tliis resurrection is not possible to God our Creator ? If he could
create (says St. Augustin) our bodies out of nothing, why may
he not, a second time, form them out of their own matter ? And
what can hinder him from re-producing that which existed in times
past, since he could draw corporeal substances out of a state of
non-existence ? Do you imagine that this resurrection was not
even an easy Avork for God, since he is all-powerful, and nothing
can resist an unlimited power ? Do not all creatures give a sample
of this resurrection ? A grain of corn dies in, the bosom of the
earth, (it is a comparison of St. Paul's,) and in effect, this little
grain must rot and die ; but do we not see it spring up again, and
re-exist? And is it not strange, that what divine Providence
intended to render most intelligible, should be the thing Avliich
makes you doubt your resurrection ? Is not this resurrection
agreeable to the principles of nature, which, by a % mutual inclina-
tion of body and soul, and the close connexion which subsists
between them, requires they should be re-united to all eternity ?
Hath it not been at all times one of the most universal and pre-
vailing opinions throughout the world ? Even they, (says Tertul-
lian,) who will not admit the resurrection, acknowledge it, whether
they will or not, by their ceremonies for the dead. The care they
take to preserve the tombs, and to preserve the ashes in them, is
a testimony the more divine, as it is more natural. The belief,
(he adds,) that we shall all be one day brought to life, is not con-
fined to Jews and Christians ; we find it among the most barbarous



ON THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD. 69

people, among pagans and idolaters. Nor is it merely a vulgar
opinion, the wise and learned are agreed in it. Moreover, God
hath made the belief of resurrection easy to us, by resurrections
which have been seen, declared, and attested by the most irre-
proachable witnesses ; resurrections not to be questioned, without
spurning the inspired writings, and historians the most authentic.

Alas ! Christians, let us see where the evil springs, and there
you may learn to know yourselves. You find it difficult to persuade
yourselves that there is another life, a resurrection, a judgment at
the end of the world ; because thereby you would be obliged to
reform your conduct, and you dread the consequences of it. But
are the consequences of your libertinism less to be feared, or less
dreadful ? God, independently of your will, created you without
you ; and without you, and in spite of you, he will rise you to life.
Your resurrection will not depend upon your belief; but the hap-
piness or the misery of your resurrection will depend upon your
belief, and upon your former life. Now what a surprise and de-
spair will seize you, at that last day, if you rise again, to hear the
melancholy, solemn decree of your reprobation ; if you rise again
to go forth from the shades of death, into the dark abyss of hell ;
if you rise again to consummate, by the re-union of your soul and
body, your damnation, because, in a matter of such importance,
you would not follow the wisest and most secure rule, which is, to
believe and live righteously !

I say, to live righteously ; and this is the misfortune not only
of libertines who believe not, but of sinners who do believe, and
live as though they believe not. And, indeed, what will it avail
us to believe, if we lead not a life conformable to our faith ? What
do I say ? if our life is in opposition to our faith ? To believe a
resurrection that will bring us before the supreme Judge of the
living and the dead, and take no pains to gain the favour of this
dreadful Judge ? To believe a resurrection that will produce us
before the eyes of the whole Avorld, and will make us known, such
as we are, and live in sinful habits, in vicious practices, now hidden
and secret indeed, but which then, revealed and published to the
whole universe, will load us with shame, disgrace, and ignominy ?
To believe a resurrection that must open a way for us to another
life, either eternally happy, or eternally miserable, according to the
good we shall have done, or the evil we shall have committed, in
the present life, and do no good in the present life that may pro-



'70 ON THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD.

cure us a happy immortality, and commit all the evil that may
draw the most terrible condemnation upon us, and lead us to a
miserable eternity ? What will it avail us, I repeat it again, to
believe in this manner ? Or rather, is not to believe in this man-
ner, to be more culpable, and stand convicted by ourselves ? It is
you, ye women of the world, it behoves to consider seriously this
point of your religion, and to profit by it. Little concerned about
futurity, you think of nothing but the present. Totally neglectful
of your souls, your whole care is about your persons. Alas ! you
lose them by endeavouring to preserve them. This, you think
not of; but this you will think of too late, indeed, when at the
sound of the last trumpet, this body shall revive from its own ashes,
and you shall hear from the mouth of God himself these formidable
words : " As much as she hath been in delicacies, so much torment
give ye to her." Apoc. xviii. Although you have idolized it, and
used every art of decoration, death hath condemned it to be the
food of worms, and the fresh life I have given it, will make it the
food of flames, the sensation of which will be grievous and excru-
ciating, in proportion to its pleasures, and to the degree in which
you cherish it. " As much as she hath been in delicacies, so much
torment give ye to her."

To conclude, beloved hearers : happy the Christian who believes
and expects a glorious resurrection, because he puts himself, by the
practice of good works, in a condition to deserve it. This is what
animated the great St. Paul, what comforted the rising and perse-
cuted church, what, through a course of ages, upheld so many mar-
tyrs, so many solitaries, so many recluses and cloistered religious.
For, (said they,) we suffer hardships, we mortify our bodies, we deny
ourselves the pleasures which the world affords, but it is to good
purpose. And, forasmuch, as we are assured, that the soul
survives the body, and that at the close of time the body will be
reunited to the soul, that they may commence together an immortal
life, we have reason to rejoice in the thought, that then we shall
be paid by a sovereign felicity, for all we have quitted upon earth,
and all the sacrifices we have made to God. This should inspire
all those pious souls who hear me, with the same zeal and the same
ardour : I say more, this should sanctify every Christian here to
whom I address myself. Upon this ground they ought to form
their resolutions ; it is impossible they should form them upon a
better. If, during this solemnity, they have not performed their



ON THE COMING DOWN OF THE HOLY GHOST. 71

duty to God, this ought to induce them to do it sincerely, speedily,
and thoroughly. If they have complied with the precept of the