116. And so although all are raised again in
a moment, yet all are raised in the order of their merits. And
therefore they rise first, who yielding early to the impulses of
devotion, and as it were going forth before the rising dawn of faith,
received the rays of the eternal Sun. This one may rightly say
either of the patriarchs in the course of the Old Testament, or of the
apostles under the Gospel. And the second are they who, forsaking
the rites of the Gentiles, passed from unholy error under the training
of the Church. So, then, those first were of the fathers, those
second of the Gentiles, for the light of faith took its beginning from
those, among these it will remain to the end of the world. In the
third place and in the fourth, those are raised who are in the south
and in the north. The earth is divided into these four, of these
four is the year made up, in these four is the earth completed, and
from these four is the Church collected. For all who are
considered to be joined to holy Church, by being called by the Divine
Name, shall obtain the privilege of the resurrection and the grace of
eternal bliss, for “they shall come from the east and west, and
from the north and south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of
God.” S. Luke xiii. 26.