I. The Catholic Church teaches that on

the Last Day all men shall rise in the flesh, — the just to be rewarded with eternal life, the wicked to be punished with eternal death.
Though the early creeds stress the fate of the just, 1 the Church has never permitted her chil- dren to doubt that the wicked also will rise in the flesh. The so-called Athanasian Creed says: "All men. shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give an account of their works ; and they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire/' 2
The Fourth Council of the Lateran defines: "All men shall rise again with their own bodies, which they now have, to receive according to their deeds, whether good or bad: the latter, everlasting punishment with the devil, the former, eternal glory with the Lord." 3 Hence it is an ar-
1 Cfr. the Symbolum Nicaenum as bus suit, etc." (Denxinger-Bann- reviied at Constantinople: " Et ex- wart, n. 40).
pecto resurrectionem mortuorum et a " Omnes cum suis propriis re-
vitam venturi saeculi." surgent corporibus, quae nunc ge-
2 " Omnes homines resurgere ha- stant, ut recipiant secundum opera bent [«. e. resurgent] cum corporis sua, sive bona fuerint sive mala: Mi
U2
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tide of faith that the souls of the damned as well as those of the Elect will be reunited to their bodies on the last day.
a) This teaching can be convincingly demon- strated from Holy Scripture. Cf r. Dan. XII, 2 : "And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake : some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach, to see it always." 4 Our Lord Himself says : "They that have done good things shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the res- urrection of judgment." 5 St. John writes in the Apocalypse: "And the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, ac- cording to their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up their dead that were in them; and they were judged every one according to their works. And hell and death were cast into the pool of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the pool of fire." 6 St. Paul, when brought
cum diabolo poenam perpetuam, et vitae: qui vero mala egerunt in r#-
isti cum Christo gloriam sempiter- sumctionem iudicii,"
nam.'* (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 429). eApoc. XX, 1a aqq.: "...#
4 Dan. XII, a: " Et multi de his, iudicati sunt mortui ex his, quas
qui dormiunt in terras pulvere, evi- scripta erant in libris secundum opera
gilabunt: alii in vitam aetemam, st ipsorum. Et dedit mare mortuos, qui
alii in opprobrium ut videant sem- tn so erant: et mors et in f emus de-
per" derunt mortuos suos, qui in ipsis
sloa. V, 29: " Procedent qui erant: et iudicatum est de singulis
bona fecerunt, in resurrectionem secundum opera ipsorum* Et in-
femus et mors missi sunt in stag-
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before Felix, the governor, openly professed his belief in "a resurrection of the just and the un- just" 7
A difficulty has been raised in view of Ps. I, 5 : " Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment." 8 But this difficulty is apparent rather than real. The Royal Psalmist does not except the wicked from the Gen- eral Resurrection ; he merely wishes to say that they will be unable to stand judgment. This is clearly apparent from the Hebrew text, which says: " The wicked shall not stand, but be as dust which the wind driveth from the face of the earth."
b) Though the Fathers devote more attention to the Resurrection of the just, there can be no reasonable doubt that they believed also in the Resurrection of the wicked.
Clement of Rome admonishes the Corinthians : " Keep the flesh pure and the seal undefiled, that we may obtain eternal life, and let none of you say that this flesh is not judged and does not rise again." 9 His meaning evidently is that impurity will be punished, as purity is rewarded, in the flesh. Tertullian testifies to the early belief in Christ's return to judge the wicked and the just, rewarding the latter with eternal life and punishing the
num ignis."— On the "Book of Life" see Pohle-PreuM, Grace, Ac- tual and Habitual, pp. 19a 9q.
TActe XXIV, 15: . . resnr- rectlonem futuram iustorum et in- iquorum (diKalww re Kal &8U
• Pi. I, 5: " ldeo non resurgent
impii in iudiclo."
• II Ep. ad Corinth., 8. 6-9, 1: Tripfaart riiw a&pica dyyijw Kal Hip payida fowikor, tva riiP atewiov dmXdfiufuv Kal fify \ey4rw rit vfxuv, 6rt aCrn 4} ffaf£ oif Kplverat otiBt drforarat.
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former with eternal fire, after they have all arisen from the dead and resumed their bodies. 10
c) Though reason cannot prove the necessity of the Resurrection, it can show its congruity.
"It is against the nature of the soul," says St. Thomas, " to be without the body. But nothing that is against na- ture can be lasting. Therefore the soul will not be for- ever without the body. Thus the immortality of the soul seems to require the resurrection of the body." 11 However, this argument must not be strained. It does not prove the impossibility of an eternal separation be- tween body and soul. If it did, a natural resurrection of the flesh would have to be postulated for the pure state of nature, and the dogma of the Resurrection could be conclusively proved from philosophy. Some Catholic writers have indeed asserted this to be so. 12 Schee- ben shatters their arguments by showing the essentially supernatural character of the Resurrection. 18 Man has no natural claim to be restored to life after death, least of all in a transfigured body, and to say that God might allow the souls of the dead to live forever without their bodies involves no contradiction, either against the order
10 DePrae script., 13: " Credimus . . . Christum . venturum cum clari- tate ad iudicandos sanctos in vita* aeternae et promissorum caelestium fructum, et ad prof an os adiudieandos igni aetemo facta utrisque partis resurrectiene cum restitutione car- nis."
11 Summa contra Gentiles, IV, 791 " Est contra naturam animae absque cor pore esse. Nihil out em, quod est contra naturam, potest esse perpetu* urn. Non igitur perpetue erit anima #fr/$«f corf or e, Quum igitur per*
petno maneat [quia immortaUs], oportet earn corpori iterate coniun- gere, quod est resurgere." — Cfr. Rickaby, God and His Creatures, p. 403.
12 Notably A. Feretti (Philosophia Moralis, pp. 88 tqq. v Home 1887) and Costa-Rossetti {PhUosophia Moralis, 2nd cd., pp. 41 aq., Innt- bruck 1886).
18 Die Mysterien des Chrietentums, 3rd ed., pp. 591 aqq., Freiburg
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of nature or against any divine attribute. 14 The souls of the Old Testament patriarchs have been living without their bodies for several thousand years and will continue in a disembodied state until the day of Judgment. There is no reason for assuming that they could not exist in this way forever.
A second argument for the congruity of the Resurrec- tion is derived from the attribute of divine justice and may be tersely formulated as follows : " Reward and pun- ishment are due to men both in soul and body. But in this life they cannot attain to the reward of final hap- piness, and sins often go unpunished: nay, here 'the wicked live, and are comforted and set up with riches' (Job XXI, 7). There must, then, be a second union of soul and body, that man may be rewarded and punished in both." 18
2. In conclusion we may add a few words concerning the raising of Lazarus and other dead persons by Christ during His earthly sojourn, and similar miracles per- formed by Saints. The persons thus miraculously raised were restored to life only to die again, and now await their final resurrection with the remainder of humanity.
Some doubt exists with regard to the saints who came forth bodily from their graves at the death of our Sa- viour. 16 There have been theologians who thought that these privileged persons anticipated, as it were, the Gen- eral Resurrection and ascended to Heaven with Christ; others (e. g. Theodoret and St. Augustine) hold the more
l4Cfr. St Thomas, Summa Theol, Supplement., qu. 75, art. 3.
ib St Thomas, Summa contra Gentiles, IV, 79: *' Necessarium est, ponere iter at am ad corpus con- iunctionem, ut homo in corpore et anlma praemiari et puniri possit."
leCfr. Matth. XXVII, $2 sq,: " Monumenta aperta sunt et mult a corpora sanctorum, qui dormierant, surrexerunt; et exeuntes de monu- mentis post resurrectionem eius, venerunt in sane tarn civitatem *t apparuerunt multis."
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probable opinion that they were revived only for a time and died again. This latter theory is preferable to the former because it agrees with the Catholic belief that the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is an alto- gether unique privilege. 17
17 See Pohle-Preuss, Meriology, pp. 105 tqq.