We are told that the Egyptians built their pyramids for no other purpose than to make tombs of them, and that their bodies, embalmed2 within and without, waited there for their souls to come and reanimate them at the end of a thousand years. But if these bodies were to come to life again, why did the embalmers begin the operation by piercing the skull4 with a gimlet, and drawing out the brain? The idea of coming to life again without brains would make one suspect that — if the expression may be used — the Egyptians had not many while alive; but let us bear in mind that most of the ancients believed the soul to be in the breast. And why should the soul be in the breast rather than elsewhere? Because, when our feelings are at all violent, we do in reality feel, about the region of the heart, a dilatation or compression, which caused it to be thought that the soul was lodged5 there. This soul was something a?rial; it was a slight figure that went about at random6 until it found its body again.
The belief in resurrection is much more ancient than historical times. Athalides, son of Mercury, could die and come to life again at will; ?sculapius restored Hippolytus to life, and Hercules, Alceste. Pelops, after being cut in pieces by his father, was resuscitated7 by the gods. Plato relates that Heres came to life again for fifteen days only.
Among the Jews, the Pharisees did not adopt the dogma of the resurrection until long after Plato’s time.
In the Acts of the Apostles there is a very singular fact, and one well worthy8 of attention. St. James and several of his companions advise St. Paul to go into the temple of Jerusalem, and, Christian9 as he was, to observe all the ceremonies of the Old Law, in order — say they —“that all may know that those things whereof they were informed concerning thee are nothing, but that thou thyself also walkest orderly and keepest the law.” This is clearly saying: “Go and lie; go and perjure10 yourself; go and publicly deny the religion which you teach.”
St. Paul then went seven days into the temple; but on the seventh he was discovered. He was accused of having come into it with strangers, and of having profaned11 it. Let us see how he extricated12 himself.
“But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council —“Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.” The resurrection of the dead formed no part of the question; Paul said this only to incense13 the Pharisees and Sadducees against each other.
“And when he had so said there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and the multitude was divided.
“For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess both.”
It has been asserted that Job, who is very ancient, was acquainted with the doctrine14 of resurrection; and these words are cited: “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that one day His redemption shall rise upon me; or that I shall rise again from the dust, that my skin shall return, and that in my flesh I shall again see God.”
But many commentators15 understand by these words that Job hopes soon to recover from his malady16, and that he shall not always remain lying on the ground, as he then was. The sequel sufficiently17 proves this explanation to be the true one; for he cries out the next moment to his false and hardhearted friends: “Why then do you say let us persecute18 Him?” Or: “For you shall say, because we persecuted19 Him.” Does not this evidently mean — you will repent20 of having ill used me, when you shall see me again in my future state of health and opulence21. When a sick man says: I shall rise again, he does not say: I shall come to life again. To give forced meanings to clear passages is the sure way never to understand one another; or rather, to be regarded by honest men as wanting sincerity22.
St. Jerome dates the birth of the sect of the Pharisees but a very short time before Jesus Christ. The rabbin Hillel is considered as having been the founder23 of the Pharisaic sect; and this Hillel was contemporary with St. Paul’s master, Gamaliel.
Many of these Pharisees believed that only the Jews were brought to life again, the rest of mankind not being worth the trouble. Others maintained that there would be no rising again but in Palestine; and that the bodies of such as were buried elsewhere would be secretly conveyed into the neighborhood of Jerusalem, there to rejoin their souls. But St. Paul, writing to the people of Thessalonica, says:
“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep.
“For the Lord Himself shall descend24 from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump25 of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
“Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
Does not this important passage clearly prove that the first Christians26 calculated on seeing the end of the world? as, indeed, it was foretold27 by St. Luke to take place while he himself was alive? But if they did not see this end of the world, if no one rose again in their day, that which is deferred28 is not lost.
St. Augustine believed that children, and even still-born infants, would rise again in a state of maturity29. Origen, Jerome, Athanasius, Basil, and others, did not believe that women would rise again with the marks of their sex.
In short, there have ever been disputes about what we have been, about what we are, and about what we shall be.
§ II.
Father Malebranche proves resurrection by the caterpillars30 becoming butterflies. This proof, as every one may perceive, is not more weighty than the wings of the insects from which he borrows it. Calculating thinkers bring forth31 arithmetical objections against this truth which he has so well proved. They say that men and other animals are really fed and derive32 their growth from the substance of their predecessors33. The body of a man, reduced to ashes, scattered34 in the air, and falling on the surface of the earth, becomes corn or vegetable. So Cain ate a part of Adam; Enoch fed on Cain; Irad on Enoch; Mahalaleel on Irad; Methuselah on Mahalaleel; and thus we find that there is not one among us who has not swallowed some portion of our first parent. Hence it has been said that we have all been cannibals. Nothing can be clearer than that such is the case after a battle; not only do we kill our brethren, but at the end of two or three years, when the harvests have been gathered from the field of battle, we have eaten them all; and we, in turn, shall be eaten with the greatest facility imaginable. Now, when we are to rise again, how shall we restore to each one the body that belongs to him, without losing something of our own?
So say those who trust not in resurrection; but the resurrectionists have answered them very pertinently35.
A rabbin named Sama? demonstrates resurrection by this passage of Exodus36: “I appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and swore to give unto them the land of Canaan.” Now — says this great rabbin — notwithstanding this oath, God did not give them that land; therefore, they will rise again to enjoy it, in order that the oath be fulfilled.
The profound philosopher Calmet finds a much more conclusive37 proof in vampires38. He saw vampires issuing from churchyards to go and suck the blood of good people in their sleep; it is clear that they could not suck the blood of the living if they themselves were still dead; therefore they had risen again; this is peremptory39.
It is also certain that at the day of judgment40 all the dead will walk under ground, like moles41 — so says the “Talmud”— that they may appear in the valley of Jehoshaphat, which lies between the city of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. There will be a good deal of squeezing in this valley; but it will only be necessary to reduce the bodies proportionately, like Milton’s devils in the hall of Pandemonium42.
This resurrection will take place to the sound of the trumpet43, according to St. Paul. There must, of course, be more trumpets44 than one; for the thunder itself is not heard more than three or four leagues round. It is asked: How many trumpets will there be? The divines have not yet made the calculation; it will nevertheless be made.
The Jews say that Queen Cleopatra, who no doubt believed in the resurrection like all the ladies of that day, asked a Pharisee if we were to rise again quite naked? The doctor answered that we shall be very well dressed, for the same reason that the corn that has been sown and perished under ground rises again in ear with a robe and a beard. This rabbin was an excellent theologian; he reasoned like Dom Calmet.
§ III.
Resurrection of the Ancients.
It has been asserted that the dogma of resurrection was much in vogue45 with the Egyptians, and was the origin of their embalmings and their pyramids. This I myself formerly46 believed. Some said that the resurrection was to take place at the end of a thousand years; others at the end of three thousand. This difference in their theological opinions seems to prove that they were not very sure about the matter.
Besides, in the history of Egypt, we find no man raised again; but among the Greeks we find several. Among the latter, then, we must look for this invention of rising again.
But the Greeks often burned their bodies, and the Egyptians embalmed them, that when the soul, which was a small, a?rial figure, returned to its habitation, it might find it quite ready. This had been good if its organs had also been ready; but the embalmer3 began by taking out the brain and clearing the entrails. How were men to rise again without intestines47, and without the medullary part by means of which they think? Where were they to find again the blood, the lymph, and other humors?
You will tell me that it was still more difficult to rise again among the Greeks, where there was not left of you more than a pound of ashes at the utmost — mingled48, too, with the ashes of wood, stuffs and spices.
Your objection is forcible, and I hold with you, that resurrection is a very extraordinary thing; but the son of Mercury did not the less die and rise again several times. The gods restored Pelops to life, although he had been served up as a ragout, and Ceres had eaten one of his shoulders. You know that ?sculapius brought Hippolytus to life again; this was a verified fact, of which even the most incredulous had no doubt; the name of “Virbius,” given to Hippolytus, was a convincing proof. Hercules had resuscitated Alceste and Pirithous. Heres did, it is true — according to Plato — come to life again for fifteen days only; still it was a resurrection; the time does not alter the fact.
Many grave schoolmen clearly see purgatory49 and resurrection in Virgil. As for purgatory, I am obliged to acknowledge that it is expressly in the sixth book. This may displease50 the Protestants, but I have no alternative:
Non tamen omne malum miseries51, nec funditus omnes
Corporea excedunt pestes, . . . .
Not death itself can wholly wash their stains;
But long contracted filth52 even in the soul remains53.
The relics54 of inveterate55 vice56 they wear,
And spots of sin obscene in every face appear, . . . .
But we have already quoted this passage in the article on “Purgatory,” which doctrine is here expressed clearly enough; nor could the kinsfolks of that day obtain from the pagan priests an indulgence to abridge57 their sufferings for ready money. The ancients were much more severe and less simoniacal than we are notwithstanding that they imputed58 so many foolish actions to their gods. What would you have? Their theology was made up of contradictions, as the malignant59 say is the case with our own.
When their purgation was finished, these souls went and drank of the waters of Lethe, and instantly asked that they might enter fresh bodies and again see daylight. But is this a resurrection? Not at all; it is taking an entirely60 new body, not resuming the old one; it is a metempsychosis, without any relation to the manner in which we of the true faith are to rise again.
The souls of the ancients did, I must acknowledge, make a very bad bargain in coming back to this world, for seventy years at most, to undergo once more all that we know is undergone in a life of seventy years, and then suffer another thousand years’ discipline. In my humble61 opinion there is no soul that would not be tired of this everlasting62 vicissitude63 of so short a life and so long a penance64.
§ IV.
Resurrection of the Moderns.
Our resurrection is quite different. Every man will appear with precisely65 the same body which he had before; and all these bodies will be burned for all eternity66, excepting only, at most, one in a hundred thousand. This is much worse than a purgatory of ten centuries, in order to live here again a few years.
When will the great day of this general resurrection arrive? This is not positively67 known; and the learned are much divided. Nor do they any more know how each one is to find his own members again. Hereupon they start many difficulties.
1. Our body, say they, is, during life, undergoing a continual change; at fifty years of age we have nothing of the body in which our soul was lodged at twenty.
2. A soldier from Brittany goes into Canada; there, by a very common chance, he finds himself short of food, and is forced to eat an Iroquois whom he killed the day before. This Iroquois had fed on Jesuits for two or three months; a great part of his body had become Jesuit. Here, then, the body of a soldier is composed of Iroquois, of Jesuits, and of all that he had eaten before. How is each to take again precisely what belongs to him? and which part belongs to each?
3. A child dies in its mother’s womb, just at the moment that it has received a soul. Will it rise again f?tus, or boy, or man?
4. To rise again — to be the same person as you were — you must have your memory perfectly68 fresh and present; it is memory that makes your identity. If your memory be lost, how will you be the same man?
5. There are only a certain number of earthly particles that can constitute an animal. Sand, stone, minerals, metals, contribute nothing. All earth is not adapted thereto; it is only the soils favorable to vegetation that are favorable to the animal species. When, after the lapse69 of many ages, every one is to rise again, where shall be found the earth adapted to the formation of all these bodies?
6. Suppose an island, the vegetative part of which will suffice for a thousand men, and for five or six thousand animals to feed and labor70 for that thousand men; at the end of a hundred thousand generations we shall have to raise again a thousand millions of men. It is clear that matter will be wanting: “Materies opus est, ut crescunt postera saecla.”
7. And lastly, when it is proved, or thought to be proved, that a miracle as great as the universal deluge71, or the ten plagues of Egypt, will be necessary to work the resurrection of all mankind in the valley of Jehoshaphat, it is asked: What becomes of the souls of all these bodies while awaiting the moment of returning into their cases?
Fifty rather knotty72 questions might easily be put; but the divines would likewise easily find answers to them all.
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1
sect
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| n.派别，宗教，学派，派系 | |
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embalmed
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| adj.用防腐药物保存（尸体）的v.保存（尸体）不腐( embalm的过去式和过去分词 )；使不被遗忘；使充满香气 | |
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embalmer
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| 尸体防腐者 | |
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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resuscitated
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| v.使（某人或某物）恢复知觉，苏醒( resuscitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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perjure
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| v.作伪证；使发假誓 | |
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profaned
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| v.不敬( profane的过去式和过去分词 )；亵渎，玷污 | |
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extricated
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| v.使摆脱困难，脱身( extricate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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commentators
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| n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员 | |
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malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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persecute
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| vt.迫害，虐待；纠缠，骚扰 | |
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persecuted
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| （尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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repent
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| v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔 | |
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opulence
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| n.财富，富裕 | |
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sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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trump
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| n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭 | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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foretold
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| v.预言，预示( foretell的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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deferred
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| adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从 | |
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maturity
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| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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caterpillars
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| n.毛虫( caterpillar的名词复数 )；履带 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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derive
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| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
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predecessors
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| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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pertinently
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| 适切地 | |
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exodus
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| v.大批离去，成群外出 | |
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conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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vampires
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| n.吸血鬼( vampire的名词复数 )；吸血蝠；高利贷者；（舞台上的）活板门 | |
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peremptory
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| adj.紧急的，专横的，断然的 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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moles
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| 防波堤( mole的名词复数 )； 鼹鼠； 痣； 间谍 | |
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pandemonium
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| n.喧嚣，大混乱 | |
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trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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intestines
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| n.肠( intestine的名词复数 ) | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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purgatory
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| n.炼狱；苦难；adj.净化的，清洗的 | |
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displease
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| vt.使不高兴，惹怒；n.不悦，不满，生气 | |
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miseries
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| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
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filth
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| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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inveterate
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| adj.积习已深的，根深蒂固的 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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abridge
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| v.删减，删节，节略，缩短 | |
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imputed
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| v.把（错误等）归咎于( impute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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vicissitude
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| n.变化，变迁，荣枯，盛衰 | |
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64
penance
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| n.（赎罪的）惩罪 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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70
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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71
deluge
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| n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥 | |
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72
knotty
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| adj.有结的，多节的，多瘤的，棘手的 | |
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