d archangels, He should not
only appear in the flesh, but be accompanied by specimens of what His
resurrection power was ultimately to do for all believers? If it be
asked who the favoured saints were to whom this blessed priority was
vouchsafed, we cannot tell. The dust, however, was not far away of
many whom the Lord might delight to honour--patriarchs, like Abraham;
kings, like David; prophets, like Isaiah.

But the true significance of this sign is not dependent on such
speculations. Even if it should ever be discovered, as it is not in
the least likely to be, that this story was interpolated in St.
Matthew, and we should be driven to the conclusion that it was invented
by the excited fancy of the primitive Christians, even then we should
have to ask what caused them to invent it. And the only possible
answer would be, that it was the force of the conviction burning within
them that by His death and resurrection Christ had opened the gates of
death to all the saints. This was the glorious faith which was
begotten by the experiences of those never-to-be-forgotten days,
whether the sight of these resurrected saints played any part or not in
maturing it; and it is now the faith of the Church and the faith of
mankind.

This may well be called the rending of another veil. If in the ancient
world there was a veil on the face of God, there was a veil likewise on
the face of eternity.[7] The home of the soul was hidden from the
children of men. They vaguely surmised it, indeed; they could never
believe that they were wholly dust. But, apart from Christ, the
speculations even of the wisest as to the other world are hardly more
correct or certain than might be the speculations of infants in the
womb as to the condition of this world.[8] Christ, on the contrary,
always spoke of the world invisible with the freedom and confidence of
one to whom it was native and well known; and His resurrection and
ascension afford the most authentic glimpses into the realm of
immortality which the world has ever received.

In this sign, indeed, it is with the death and not with the
resurrection that this authentication is connected. But the
resurrection of Christ is allied in the most intimate manner with His
death. It was the public recognition of His righteousness. Since,
however, He died not for Himself alone, but as a public person, His
mystical body has the same right to resurrection, and in due time it
will be made manif