Shall that which was Fallen to Stand up Again?
praise thee, O Lord." And if the spirits of them that be dead do not celebrate the praises of God, and that they who be departed shall not declare things, there shall be no resurrection. And in the same psalm, it is written, "All the whole heavens are the Lord's, and the earth hath he given to the children of men." If heaven belongs not unto men, but that they must dwell upon the earth, and therein must come to their end, there is no resurrection to be hoped for.
And Solomon, in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, writes, "There is all one end both of man and of beasts. For as the one doth die, so doth the other: yea, they have both one manner of breath. And who knoweth (saith he) whether the breath of the sons of men ascend upward, and the breath of beasts downward?" And in the 14th of Job, it is written that it is not so with man as it is with trees or plants. For these, when they be cut off, are wont to sprout and to shoot forth again: but man, when he is dead, returneth not. Again, it is said that this resurrection shall be universal. But Daniel, in the 12th chapter, seemeth to describe the same to be particular; "Many (saith he) which now sleep in the dust, shall rise again." But he would not have said "many" if they should all be raised up. Yea, and it is written in the psalm, "The ungodly shall not rise in judgment." And it is meet that seeing by Christ, the dead are to be restored; they only should obtain this benefit, which shall be joined unto Christ. Whereupon it followeth that the ungodly, which are strangers unto Christ, shall not be raised up. These are the reasons which are wont to be objected against those who affirm that there is a resurrection.
Shall that which was Fallen to Stand up Again?
9. Now let us come to the second point, in searching out what may serve to the nature and definition of resurrection. And we will begin at the etymology of the word. It is called of the Greeks "ἀνάστασις": in the composition of which word, the preposition "ἀνά" is the very same thing that "again" is, which signifies again: as if it were meant;
That which was fallen to stand up again. Therefore, Damascene writing of this matter saith, that Resurrection is the second standing of the dead. And the Hebrews called the same "Thechijath hammethim"; for Chaia is, To live. Wherefore it is even as if they had said; The quickening of the dead. And because Com among them is
To rise, thereof they derived the noun derivative Thekum hammethim; that is, The rising of dead men. Also among them, there is found Cuma. And of the verb Amad, which signifies, To stand, they have derived some noun of this kind. Perhaps also they have other words of this signification, but these are more accustomed and more commonly used among the Rabbins. Touching the Latin name we will consider afterward.
10. As to the matter, resurrection belongs to the predicament of action. And whereas in actions two things are chiefly to be considered; namely, the doer, and the subject itself, into which the action is poured by him that does. The efficient cause of this action is
God; for that no cause in nature, nor power in any creatures can be found, which is able to bring to pass the resurrection: as afterward in place convenient we shall declare. Action indeed is many ways distinguished. One is natural, as generation, corruption, increasing, diminishing, alteration, and such like. And there are also other actions, which belong to practicing knowledge; as to build, to paint, to plough, to cast metal. And other actions, which have respect unto the will, that is, to man's choice: such be the works of virtues and vices. Again, actions are distinguished, that some be economical
(that is, pertaining to household government) others be political, and