The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-09-22
DEATH AND IMMORTALITY
~. The First Promises Fulfilled.

| : GOd IN tnOSe great words, .Ihe SeeG
| of the woman will crush the serpent's
head promised Redeemer. He
made this promise even though the
law of justice demanded punishment
on the first guilty pair and all their
progeny. From that moment there
was ever struggle between the prom
| ise of God and the forces leagued to
make it vain. Part OF that struggle
we read in Sacred History, part in the
! remains of prehistoric times. These
| remains take q wide sweep and prac-
tically include all the OutpoSts of the
wandering human race. They all tell
of the life beyond the grave, of the
worship of God by sacrifice and con-
sequently of the hope that was inn
planted in the human race from the
beginning. But it is to the men in
spired of God, Moses and the Prophets,
that we must look for an outline of
the Redeemer to come. They tell us
that He was to be a prophet, a
Saviour, a Prince Of Peace But al
though they gave Him a great name,
Emmanuel God with us, they were far
from knowing clearly much less re-
vealing clearly all that the Redeemer
was to be. At length the mystery
hidden from all ages was revealed by
the Apostles to a world whence hope
in a great measure had fed The Re-
deemer had come and OH What a
fulfillment of the promise was made in
Him q Lose fhaT1 ho tnnlxr
begotten of God full of grace and
truth" Beyond all human anticipa-
tions "the gift of God" was precious.
For nineteen centuries the greatest
and the noblest of mankind have dwelt
on Gods condescension in the In
carnation of Christ, and although they
have ever found new marvels they
have failed to exhaust it's riches. God
kept His word. Jesus Christ, Saviour
and model of men, beyond all possible
conjecture redeemed the promise.
v. The Second Promise Fulfilled
Again, God to Whom all ages are
present promised to Abraham, the
father of all believers, posterity as
numerous as the stars. If we follow
the history of the children of Abra-
ham we see from time to time great
danger of the non-fHIfiiiment of the
promise Egypt rose in it's might in
an attempt to Gnnihilate them. Led
to the promised land again and again
they nearly suecumbed to the punish
ments which they deserved for their
misdeeds. Ten tribes were carried
away and lost, the remaining two
TRIBES were likewise carried away in
to exile and ran the risk of incurring
the same extinction. But no! They
were restored and in the course of
time Christ, the descendant of Abra-
ham, with His Church diffused the
faith of Abraham throughout, the
world. Today one-half the world
acknowledges Abraham as it's father
in the faith, and for countless millions
in the past and present the faith of
that Oriental shepherd in a living
| God, distinct from this world, has been
| the sheet-anchor of their hope. Here
| IucA 10 dlOIuSl DlNfilc pIO1AIoC WllICh
we can trace to a most glorious full
| fillment. Two promises Therefore re-
corded thousands of years ago were
fulfilled grandly, divinely, notwith-
standing all the crimes and ingrati-
tude of men which are the dark
masses of the picture making more
luminous the fidelity of God.
vi. The Third Promise Will Be Full.
filled.
Now the third great promise made
| to us by God through the Holy Spirit
is that there is life beyond the
| grave Fear not little floek," Christ
i said. "for it has pleased your Father
to give you kingdom" elk. 12:32)
MY sheep hear My voice and know
them and they follow me and | give
them life everlasting" Go. 1929
Again He said of the just: Neither
can they die any more, for they are
equal to the angels and to the chill
dren of God, being the children of the
resurrection Gk. 20:36). Come, W