the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the bosom of the earth." [1]
To understand, still better, the force and meaning of this Article, there are three things which demand attentive consideration: first, the necessity of the resurrection; secondly, its end and object; thirdly, the blessings and advantages of which it is to us the source. With regard to the first, it was necessary that he should rise again, in order to manifest the justice of God; for it was most congruous that he, who, through obedience to God, was degraded, and loaded with ignominy, should by him be exalted. This is a reason assigned by the Apostle in his Epistle to the Philippians: " He humbled himself," says he, " be coming obedient unto death; even unto the death of the cross; for which cause God, also, hath exalted him." [2] He rose, also, to confirm our faith, which is necessary to justification: the resurrection of Christ from the dead by his own power, affords an irrefragable proof of his divinity. It also nurtures and sustains our hope, for, as Christ rose again, we rest on an assured hope, that we too, shall rise again; the members must necessarily arrive at the condition of their head. This is the conclusion which St. Paul draws from the reasoning which he uses in his epistles to the Corinthians, [3] and Thessalonians; [4] and Peter, the prince of the Apostle, says: Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, hath regenerated us unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto the inheritance incorruptible." [5] Finally, the resurrection of our Lord, as the pastor will inculcate, was necessary to complete the mystery of our salvation and redemption: by his death, Christ liberated us from the thraldom of sin, and restored to us, by his resurrection, the most important of those privileges which we had forfeited by sin. Hence these words of the Apostle: " He was delivered up for our sins, and rose again for our justification." [6] That nothing, therefore, may be wanting to perfect the work of our salvation, it was necessary that, as he died, he should, also, rise again from the dead.
From what has been said we can perceive the important advantages which the resurrection of our Lord has conferred on the faithful; in his resurrection, we acknowledge him to be the immortal God, full of glory, the conqueror of death and hell; and this we are firmly to believe and openly to profess of Christ Jesus.
Again, the resurrection of Christ effectuates our resurrection, n. not only as its efficient cause, but also as its model. Thus with regard to the resurrection of the body, we have this testimony of the Apostle: " by a man came death, and by a man the resurrection of the dead." [7] To accomplish the mystery of our redemption in all its parts, God made use of the humanity of Christ as its efficient instrument, and hence, his resurrection is
