On the Resurrection of the Flesh.

 Chapter I.—The Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body Brought to Light by the Gospel. The Faintest Glimpses of Something Like It Occasionally Met wi

 Chapter II.—The Jewish Sadducees a Link Between the Pagan Philosophers and the Heretics on This Doctrine. Its Fundamental Importance Asserted. The Sou

 Chapter III.—Some Truths Held Even by the Heathen. They Were, However, More Often Wrong Both in Religious Opinions and in Moral Practice.  The Heathen

 Chapter IV.—Heathens and Heretics Alike in Their Vilification of the Flesh and Its Functions, the Ordinary Cavils Against the Final Restitution of So

 Chapter V.—Some Considerations in Reply Eulogistic of the Flesh. It Was Created by God. The Body of Man Was, in Fact, Previous to His Soul.

 Chapter VI.—Not the Lowliness of the Material, But the Dignity and Skill of the Maker, Must Be Remembered, in Gauging the Excellence of the Flesh. Chr

 Chapter VII.—The Earthy Material of Which Flesh is Created Wonderfully Improved by God’s Manipulation. By the Addition of the Soul in Man’s Constituti

 Chapter VIII.—Christianity, by Its Provision for the Flesh, Has Put on It the Greatest Honour.  The Privileges of Our Religion in Closest Connection w

 Chapter IX.—God’s Love for the Flesh of Man, as Developed in the Grace of Christ Towards It. The Flesh the Best Means of Displaying the Bounty and Pow

 Chapter X.—Holy Scripture Magnifies the Flesh, as to Its Nature and Its Prospects.

 Chapter XI.—The Power of God Fully Competent to Effect the Resurrection of the Flesh.

 Chapter XII.—Some Analogies in Nature Which Corroborate the Resurrection of the Flesh.

 Chapter XIII.—From Our Author’s View of a Verse in the Ninety-Second Psalm, the Phœnix is Made a Symbol of the Resurrection of Our Bodies.

 Chapter XIV.—A Sufficient Cause for the Resurrection of the Flesh Occurs in the Future Judgment of Man. It Will Take Cognisance of the Works of the Bo

 Chapter XV.—As the Flesh is a Partaker with the Soul in All Human Conduct, So Will It Be in the Recompense of Eternity.

 Chapter XVI.—The Heretics Called the Flesh “The Vessel of the Soul,” In Order to Destroy the Responsibility of the Body. Their Cavil Turns Upon Themse

 Chapter XVII.—The Flesh Will Be Associated with the Soul in Enduring the Penal Sentences of the Final Judgment.

 Chapter XVIII.—Scripture Phrases and Passages Clearly Assert “The Resurrection of the Dead.”  The Force of This Very Phrase Explained as Indicating th

 Chapter XIX.—The Sophistical Sense Put by Heretics on the Phrase “Resurrection of the Dead,” As If It Meant the Moral Change of a New Life.

 Chapter XX.—Figurative Senses Have Their Foundation in Literal Fact. Besides, the Allegorical Style is by No Means the Only One Found in the Prophetic

 Chapter XXI.—No Mere Metaphor in the Phrase Resurrection of the Dead. In Proportion to the Importance of Eternal Truths, is the Clearness of Their Scr

 Chapter XXII.—The Scriptures Forbid Our Supposing Either that the Resurrection is Already Past, or that It Takes Place Immediately at Death. Our Hopes

 Chapter XXIII.—Sundry Passages of St. Paul, Which Speak of a Spiritual Resurrection, Compatible with the Future Resurrection of the Body, Which is Eve

 Chapter XXIV.—Other Passages Quoted from St. Paul, Which Categorically Assert the Resurrection of the Flesh at the Final Judgment.

 Chapter XXV.—St. John, in the Apocalypse, Equally Explicit in Asserting the Same Great Doctrine.

 Chapter XXVI.—Even the Metaphorical Descriptions of This Subject in the Scriptures Point to the Bodily Resurrection, the Only Sense Which Secures Thei

 Chapter XXVII.—Certain Metaphorical Terms Explained of the Resurrection of the Flesh.

 Chapter XXVIII.—Prophetic Things and Actions, as Well as Words, Attest This Great Doctrine.

 Chapter XXIX.—Ezekiel’s Vision of the Dry Bones Quoted.

 Chapter XXX.—This Vision Interpreted by Tertullian of the Resurrection of the Bodies of the Dead.  A Chronological Error of Our Author, Who Supposes t

 Chapter XXXI.—Other Passages Out of the Prophets Applied to the Resurrection of the Flesh.

 Chapter XXXII.—Even Unburied Bodies Will Be Raised Again. Whatever Befalls Them God Will Restore Them Again. Jonah’s Case Quoted in Illustration of Go

 Chapter XXXIII.—So Much for the Prophetic Scriptures.  In the Gospels, Christ’s Parables, as Explained by Himself, Have a Clear Reference to the Resur

 Chapter XXXIV.—Christ Plainly Testifies to the Resurrection of the Entire Man. Not in His Soul Only, Without the Body.

 Chapter XXXV.—Explanation of What is Meant by the Body, Which is to Be Raised Again. Not the Corporeality of the Soul.

 Chapter XXXVI.—Christ’s Refutation of the Sadducees, and Affirmation of Catholic Doctrine.

 Chapter XXXVII.—Christ’s Assertion About the Unprofitableness of the Flesh Explained Consistently with Our Doctrine.

 Chapter XXXVIII.—Christ, by Raising the Dead, Attested in a Practical Way the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Flesh.

 Chapter XXXIX.—Additional Evidence Afforded to Us in the Acts of the Apostles.

 Chapter XL.—Sundry Passages of St. Paul Which Attest Our Doctrine Rescued from the Perversions of Heresy.

 Chapter XLI.—The Dissolution of Our Tabernacle Consistent with the Resurrection of Our Bodies.

 Chapter XLII.—Death Changes, Without Destroying, Our Mortal Bodies.  Remains of the Giants.

 Chapter XLIII.—No Disparagement of Our Doctrine in St. Paul’s Phrase, Which Calls Our Residence in the Flesh Absence from the Lord.

 Chapter XLIV.—Sundry Other Passages of St. Paul Explained in a Sentence Confirmatory of Our Doctrine.

 Chapter XLV.—The Old Man and the New Man of St. Paul Explained.

 Chapter XLVI.—It is the Works of the Flesh, Not the Substance of the Flesh, Which St. Paul Always Condemns.

 Chapter XLVII.—St. Paul, All Through, Promises Eternal Life to the Body.

 Chapter XLVIII.—Sundry Passages in the Great Chapter of the Resurrection of the Dead Explained in Defence of Our Doctrine.

 Chapter XLIX.—The Same Subject Continued. What Does the Apostle Exclude from the Dead?  Certainly Not the Substance of the Flesh.

 Chapter L.—In What Sense Flesh and Blood are Excluded from the Kingdom of God.

 Chapter LI.—The Session of Jesus in His Incarnate Nature at the Right Hand of God a Guarantee of the Resurrection of Our Flesh.

 Chapter LII.—From St. Paul’s Analogy of the Seed We Learn that the Body Which Died Will Rise Again, Garnished with the Appliances of Eternal Life.

 Chapter LIII.—Not the Soul, But the Natural Body Which Died, is that Which is to Rise Again. The Resurrection of Lazarus Commented on. Christ’s Resurr

 Chapter LIV.—Death Swallowed Up of Life. Meaning of This Phrase in Relation to the Resurrection of the Body.

 Chapter LV.—The Change of a Thing’s Condition is Not the Destruction of Its Substance. The Application of This Principle to Our Subject.

 Chapter LVI.—The Procedure of the Last Judgment, and Its Awards, Only Possible on the Identity of the Risen Body with Our Present Flesh.

 Chapter LVII.—Our Bodies, However Mutilated Before or After Death, Shall Recover Their Perfect Integrity in the Resurrection. Illustration of the Enfr

 Chapter LVIII.—From This Perfection of Our Restored Bodies Will Flow the Consciousness of Undisturbed Joy and Peace.

 Chapter LIX.—Our Flesh in the Resurrection Capable, Without Losing Its Essential Identity, of Bearing the Changed Conditions of Eternal Life, or of De

 Chapter LX.—All the Characteristics of Our Bodies—Sex, Various Limbs, Etc.—Will Be Retained, Whatever Change of Functions These May Have, of Which Poi

 Chapter LXI.—The Details of Our Bodily Sex, and of the Functions of Our Various Members. Apology for the Necessity Which Heresy Imposes of Hunting Up

 Chapter LXII.—Our Destined Likeness to the Angels in the Glorious Life of the Resurrection.

 Chapter LXIII.—Conclusion. The Resurrection of the Flesh in Its Absolute Identity and Perfection. Belief of This Had Become Weak. Hopes for Its Refres

Chapter LXI.—The Details of Our Bodily Sex, and of the Functions of Our Various Members. Apology for the Necessity Which Heresy Imposes of Hunting Up All Its Unblushing Cavils.

Now you have received your mouth, O man, for the purpose of devouring your food and imbibing your drink: why not, however, for the higher purpose of uttering speech, so as to distinguish yourself from all other animals? Why not rather for preaching the gospel of God, that so you may become even His priest and advocate before men?  Adam indeed gave their several names to the animals, before he plucked the fruit of the tree; before he ate, he prophesied. Then, again, you received your teeth for the consumption of your meal: why not rather for wreathing your mouth with suitable defence on every opening thereof, small or wide? Why not, too, for moderating the impulses of your tongue, and guarding your articulate speech from failure and violence? Let me tell you, (if you do not know), that there are toothless persons in the world. Look at them, and ask whether even a cage of teeth be not an honour to the mouth.  There are apertures in the lower regions of man and woman, by means of which they gratify no doubt their animal passions; but why are they not rather regarded as outlets for the cleanly discharge of natural fluids? Women, moreover, have within them receptacles where human seed may collect; but are they not designed for the secretion of those sanguineous issues, which their tardier and weaker sex is inadequate to disperse? For even details like these require to be mentioned, seeing that heretics single out what parts of our bodies may suit them, handle them without delicacy, and, as their whim suggests, pour torrents of scorn and contempt upon the natural functions of our members, for the purpose of upsetting the resurrection, and making us blush over their cavils; not reflecting that before the functions cease, the very causes of them will have passed away. There will be no more meat, because no more hunger; no more drink, because no more thirst; no more concubinage, because no more child-bearing; no more eating and drinking, because no more labour and toil. Death, too, will cease; so there will be no more need of the nutriment of food for the defence of life, nor will mothers’ limbs any longer have to be laden for the replenishment of our race. But even in the present life there may be cessations of their office for our stomachs and our generative organs. For forty days Moses465    Ex. xxiv. 8. and Elias466    1 Kings xix. 8. fasted, and lived upon God alone. For even so early was the principle consecrated:  “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”467    Deut. viii. 3; Matt. iv. 4. See here faint outlines of our future strength! We even, as we may be able, excuse our mouths from food, and withdraw our sexes from union. How many voluntary eunuchs are there! How many virgins espoused to Christ! How many, both of men and women, whom nature has made sterile, with a structure which cannot procreate! Now, if even here on earth both the functions and the pleasures of our members may be suspended, with an intermission which, like the dispensation itself, can only be a temporary one, and yet man’s safety is nevertheless unimpaired, how much more, when his salvation is secure, and especially in an eternal dispensation, shall we not cease to desire those things, for which, even here below, we are not unaccustomed to check our longings!

CAPUT LXI.

Sed accepisti, homo, os ad vorandum atque potandum: cur non potius ad eloquendum, ut a caeteris animalibus distes? cur non potius ad praedicandum Deum, ut etiam hominibus antistes? Denique, Adam ante nomina animalibus enuntiavit, quam de arbore decerpsit; ante etiam prophetavit, quam voravit. Sed accepisti dentes ad macellum corrodendum 0883C : cur non potius ad omnem hiatum et rictum tuum coronandum? cur non potius ad pulsus linguae temperandos , ad vocis articulos offensione signandos? Denique et edentulos audi et vide, ut honori 0884A oris, et organum dentium quaeras. Forata sunt inferna in viro et in foemina, nimirum qua libidines fluitent: cur non magis qua potuum defruta colentur ? Est adhuc foeminis intus, quo semina congerantur: an quo sanguinis onera secedant, quem pigrior sexus discutere non sufficit? Dicenda enim et haec, quatenus, quae volunt et quorum volunt, et qualiter volunt , officia membrorum ludibriose, de industria suffundendae resurrectionis, oblatrant; non recogitantes, ipsas prius caussas necessitatis tunc vacaturas, cibi famem, et potus sitim, et concubitus genituram, et operationis victum. Sublata enim morte, neque victus fulcimenta ad praesidia vitae, neque generis supparatura gravis erit membris. Caeterum, et hodie vacare intestinis et pudendis licebit. Quadraginta 0884B diebus Moses et Helias jejunio functi, solo Deo alebantur. Jam tunc enim dedicabatur, Non in pane vivet homo, sed in Dei verbo. Ecce virtutis futurae liniamenta. Nos quoque, ut possumus, os cibo excusamus; etiam sexum a congressione subducimus. Quot spadones voluntarii? quot virgines Christo maritatae? quot steriles utriusquae naturae, infructuosis genitalibus structi? Nam si et hic jam vacare est et officia et emolumenta membrorum temporali vacatione, ut in temporali dispositione, nec homo tamen minus salvus est; proinde homine salvo, et quidem magis tunc, ut in aeterna dispositione, magis non desiderabimus, quae jam hic non desiderare consuevimus.