Page:Mahometanism in its relation to prophecy - or, an inquiry into the prophecies concerning antichrist, with some reference to their bearing on the events of the present day (IA mahometanisminit00philrich).pdf/236

 slept arose, and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, came out of the holy city, and appeared unto many." And it is the universal belief of the Catholic Church, that this privilege was also granted to our Blessed Lady, who, as St. John Damascene assures us, rose from the dead on the third day after her decease. It does not, therefore, appear in any degree improbable, that as St. John seems to tell us in his Apocalypse, the martyrs and principal saints will rise with their glorified bodies at the commencement of the glorious period of the Church. And this certainly agrees with the statement we have just quoted from Daniel: "And many of those, that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake, some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach."

It may be, that some such miracle as this may be made use of by Almighty God for the conversion of the Jews; and, I confess, I think this is highly probable.

There are, however, other interpretations that are given by orthodox men to this prediction of Holy Writ. They say it may refer to the solemn canonization of saints, when their sacred bodies are exhumed from the tombs, and placed upon the altars of the Living God. This honouring of their sacred relics is undoubtedly a sort of anticipated resurrection,