Chapter XXII.—The Scriptures Forbid Our Supposing Either that the Resurrection is Already Past, or that It Takes Place Immediately at Death. Our Hopes and Prayers Point to the Last Great Day as the Period of Its Accomplishment.

We must after all this turn our attention to those scriptures also which forbid our belief in such a resurrection as is held by your Animalists (for I will not call them Spiritualists),128    For the opinions of those Valentinians who held that Christ’s flesh was composed of soul or of spirit—a refined, ethereal substance—see Tertullian’s De Carne Christi, cc. x.–xv. that it is either to be assumed as taking place now, as soon as men come to the knowledge of the truth, or else that it is accomplished immediately after their departure from this life. Now, forasmuch as the seasons of our entire hope have been fixed in the Holy Scripture, and since we are not permitted to place the accomplishment thereof, as I apprehend, previous to Christ’s coming, our prayers are directed towards129    Suspirant in. the end of this world, to the passing away thereof at the great day of the Lord—of His wrath and vengeance—the last day, which is hidden (from all), and known to none but the Father, although announced beforehand by signs and wonders, and the dissolution of the elements, and the conflicts of nations. I would turn out the words of the prophets, if the Lord Himself had said nothing (except that prophecies were the Lord’s own word); but it is more to my purpose that He by His own mouth confirms their statement. Being questioned by His disciples when those things were to come to pass which He had just been uttering about the destruction of the temple, He discourses to them first of the order of Jewish events until the overthrow of Jerusalem, and then of such as concerned all nations up to the very end of the world.  For after He had declared that “Jerusalem was to be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled,”130    Luke xxi. 24.—meaning, of course, those which were to be chosen of God, and gathered in with the remnant of Israel—He then goes on to proclaim, against this world and dispensation (even as Joel had done, and Daniel, and all the prophets with one consent131    Joel iii. 9–15; Dan. vii. 13, 14.), that “there should be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.”132    Luke xxi. 25, 26. “For,” says He, “the powers of heaven shall be shaken; and then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds, with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.”133    Vers. 26–28. He spake of its “drawing nigh,” not of its being present already; and of “those things beginning to come to pass,” not of their having happened: because when they have come to pass, then our redemption shall be at hand, which is said to be approaching up to that time, raising and exciting our minds to what is then the proximate harvest of our hope. He immediately annexes a parable of this in “the trees which are tenderly sprouting into a flower-stalk, and then developing the flower, which is the precursor of the fruit.”134    Luke xxi. 29, 30; Matt. xxiv. 32. “So likewise ye,” (He adds), “when ye shall see all these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of heaven is nigh at hand.”135    Luke xxi. 31; Matt. xxiv. 33. “Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all those things, and to stand before the Son of man;”136    Luke xxi. 36. that is, no doubt, at the resurrection, after all these things have been previously transacted. Therefore, although there is a sprouting in the acknowledgment of all this mystery, yet it is only in the actual presence of the Lord that the flower is developed and the fruit borne. Who is it then, that has aroused the Lord, now at God’s right hand, so unseasonably and with such severity “shake terribly” (as Isaiah137    Isa. ii. 19. expresses it) “that earth,” which, I suppose, is as yet unshattered? Who has thus early put “Christ’s enemies beneath His feet” (to use the language of David138    Ps. cx. 1.), making Him more hurried than the Father, whilst every crowd in our popular assemblies is still with shouts consigning “the Christians to the lions?”139    Compare The Apology, xl.; De Spect. xxvii.; De Exhort. Cast. xii. Who has yet beheld Jesus descending from heaven in like manner as the apostles saw Him ascend, according to the appointment of the two angels?140    Acts i. 11. Up to the present moment they have not, tribe by tribe, smitten their breasts, looking on Him whom they pierced.141    Zech. xii. 10; comp. John xix. 37. No one has as yet fallen in with Elias;142    Mal. iv. 5. no one has as yet escaped from Antichrist;143    1 John iv. 3. no one has as yet had to bewail the downfall of Babylon.144    Rev. xviii. 2. And is there now anybody who has risen again, except the heretic? He, of course, has already quitted the grave of his own corpse—although he is even now liable to fevers and ulcers; he, too, has already trodden down his enemies—although he has even now to struggle with the powers of the world. And as a matter of course, he is already a king—although he even now owes to Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s.145    Matt. xxii. 21.

CAPUT XXII.

Post haec, ad illas etiam Scripturas respiciendum est, quae non sinunt resurrectionem secundum animales istos, ne dixerim spiritales, aut hic jam 0824A in veritatis agnitione praesumi, aut ab excessu statim vitae vindicari. Cum enim et tempora totius spei fixa sint sacrosancto stylo, nec liceat eam ante constitui, quam in adventum , opinor, Christi, vota nostra suspirant in saeculi hujus occasum, in transitum mundi quoque ad diem Domini magnum, diem irae et retributionis, diem ultimum, et occultum, nec ulli praeter quam Patri notum, et tamen signis atque portentis, et concussionibus elementorum, et conflictationibus nationum praenotatum. Evolverem prophetias, si Dominus ipse tacuisset: nisi quod et prophetiae vox erant Domini: sed plus est , quod illas suo ore consignat. Interrogatus a discipulis. quando eventura essent, quae interim de templi exitu eruperant , ordinem temporum, primo Judaicorum 0824B usque ad excidium Hierusalem, communium, usque ad conclusionem saeculi, dirigit . Nam posteaquam edixit: Et tunc erit Hierusalem conculcatui nationibus, donec adimpleantur tempora nationum, allegendarum scilicet a Deo, et congregandarum cum reliquiis Israelis; inde jam in orbem et in saeculum praedicat, secundum Joelem, et Danielem, et universum concilium prophetarum, futura signa in sole et in luna et in stellis, conclusionem nationum cum stupore; sonitus maris, et motus refrigescentium hominum, prae metu et exspectatione eorum quae immineant orbi terrae. Virtutes enim, inquit (Matt., XXI), coelorum commovebuntur: et tunc videbunt Filium hominis venientem in 0825A nubibus cum plurimo potentatu et gloria. Ubi autem coeperint ista fieri, emergetis , et elevabitis capita vestra, quod redemptio vestra appropinquarit . Et tamen adpropinquare eam dixit, non, adesse jam; et cum coeperint ista fieri, non, cum facta fuerint; quia cum facta fuerint, tunc aderit redemptio nostra, quae eo usque appropinquare dicitur, erigens interim et excitans animos ad proximum jam spei fructum. Cujus etiam parabola subtexitur tenerescentium arborum in caulem floris, et dehinc florem, frugis antecursorem: Ita et vos cum videritis omnia ista fieri, scitote in proximo esse regnum Dei. Vigilate ergo omni in tempore, ut digni habeamini effugere omnia ista, et stetis ante filium hominis: utique per resurrectionem, omnibus ante transactis. Ita, etsi in agnitione sacramenti 0825B fruticat , sed in Domini repraesentatione florescit atque frugescit. Quis ergo Dominum tam intempestive, tam acerbe excitavit jam ad dexteram Dei, ad confringendam terram secundum Esaiam, quae puto adhuc integra est? quis inimicos Christi jam subjecit pedibus ejus, secundum David, quasi velocior Patre, omni adhuc popularium coetu clamante , Christianos ad leonem? quis coelo descendentem Jesum talem conspexit, qualem ascendentem Apostoli viderant, secundum angelorum constitutum? Nulla ad hodiernum tribus ad tribum pectora caeciderunt, agnoscentes quem pupugerunt: nemo adhuc excepit Heliam: nemo adhuc fugit antichristum: nemo adhuc Babylonis exitum flevit. Et est jam qui resurrexerit nisi haereticus? Exiit plane jam 0825C de corporis sepulcro, etiam nunc febribus et ulceribus obnoxius; et conculcavit jam inimicos, etiam nunc luctari habens cum mundi potentibus. Et utique jam regnat, etiam nunc Caesari quae sunt Caesaris debens.