under the Altar in the fixth Chapter of the Revelations, confirm the fame Things, and are utterly and entirely averfe to the Romish Opinion concerning the beatifick Vifion, as appears by the following Paffage. 'Tis for this Reafon that the Saints are feen to defire with Impatience the Confummation of the World, because they are commanded to wait till then, and to bear the Delay till the Death of all their Brethren, that they may not, according to the divine Apostle, be made perfect before them. In the mean Time the white Garments, which they have on, intimate the Splendor of thofe Virtues, which in them shine fo illuftriously, with which being furrounded, though they have not as yet obtained the Performance of the Promifes, yet the very Hope of that Happiness, which they view with a fpiritual Eye, caufes them justly to rejoice; efpecially fince, in the mean Time, they are freed from the Defilement of Matter, and in the Bofom of Abraham, free from all Difturbance, take their pleafing and their lasting Repofe: For many of the Saints are of Opinion, that every one who in his Life-time has endeavoured with all his Power to improve himself in Virtue, fhall find after Death a Place that is worthy of his Actions; from whence they may make a certain Conjecture at the Glory that is prepared for them. And thus much concerning Hades, according to what the most antient Authors

fua ad Phil.

have said of it, which they agreed to be the common Receptacle of departed Souls, even till the Refurrection.

LASTLY, to confirm the Truth of every Thing that has been faid, 'tis worth our while to confider with what Modefty, with what Moderation, the bleffed Martyr Poly-carpe, Clemens Romanus, and Ignatius, have fpoke of the Refidence and the State of the Saints, from the Time of their Death to the Time of their Refurrection. They affert not, that they are immediately received into the higheft Heaven, to the Enjoyment of the beatifick In Epift. Vifion; but, fays Polycarpe, eis TOTOV AUTOTS τόπον αὐτοῖς openóμevov, to a Place appointed for them, their own Place that is due to them, or that is proper for them; or * eis Tòv dyιov Tónov, into a boly Station, as Clemens Romanus faid of St. Paul, ἀπηλλάγη το κόσμο, καὶ τὸν εἰς ἅγιον τόπον ἐπορεύθη, fo be left the World and went to a facred Place. He afterwards calls that χώραν ἐυσεCov, the Place of the Righteous, in the fame Epiftle. But that Paffage principally deferves our Confideration, where he fays, that all from Adam to this Day, who have died perfected in Charity and Virtue, rest in the Regions of the Good, as in their proper Repofitories,

Art. li.

τὸν ἅγιον

ત

Tws

They were not receiv'd up into Heaven or Glory, but into a Place that was due to them, fays Clemens, Ep. c. v. Le Clerc quotes him on Matt. xvii. 18.

pofitories, 'till on the Coming of Chrift at the Day of the Resurrection, they shall be brought forth into open Light. All the Ages of the World, from Adam even unto this Day, are paffed away: But they who have been made perfect in Love, have by the Grace of God, obtain'd a Place among the Righteous; and fhall be made manifeft in the Judgment of the Kingdom of Chrift. For it is written, Enter into Ifa. xxvi. thy Chambers for a little Space, 'till my An- 20. ger and Indignation fhall pass away: And I will remember the good Day, and will raise you up out of your Graves. All these Things agree exactly with the Opinion I am contending for And the fame Place that Justin calls Xupav LuceCwv, the Place of the Righteous, Clemens terms, xopov xpeitlova, a better Place, and others, χώρες αξίες, οι τόπες αξίες, fit Places; and what Polycarp phrafes Tónov αὐτοῖς ὀφειλόμενον, a Place appointed for them, Ignatius calls τόπον ἴδιον, their proper Place; * What Clemens calls τόπον ἅγιον, the holy Place, Chryfoftome calls ispd poupa, the jacred Gates. Thefe Things agree perfectly well together, and answer exactly to that Temperament, in which the facred Writings tell us, that the Souls of departed Saints enjoy Felicity before the Resurrection. Thus when Christ speaks of the State of the Righteous, who are at Reft in the Bofom of Abraham, he calls that Reft magánλnov, a Com- Luc. xvi. fort only, and not a fupream Glory; which 25.

in other Places of Scripture is call'd Repose and Relaxation, and is compared to a pleasing Slumber. Behold here the Style of the holy Spirit, and of the apoftolick Writers! Behold, on the other Side, the Style of the Romish Church! that tells us that the Souls of Saints, after they leave the Body, are immediately taken up into Heaven, and there clearly fee God, as he is in Trinity and in Unity! Good God! from whence have they taken this Doctrine? from what Book of the facred Scriptures? or from what Remains of the primitive Church? When Chrift was about to die, he faid to his Difciples, I go to prepare a Place John xiv. for you; and if I go to prepare a Place for you, I will return and take you to myself, that where I am, there ye may alfo be. You fee, therefore, that this glorious Place, this Place prepared for them by Chrift, is not to be poffeffed before the Coming of Chrift; and that then, at laft, according to his Prayer to the Father, John xvii. the Saints fhall dwell together with Christ, and shall behold his Glory. I fhall be fatisfy'd, O Lord, when I awake, with the Sight of thy Countenance.

2.3.

2.4.

P. xvii.

15.

BESIDES, it is agreeable neither to Scripture, nor to the Light of Nature, either to cxact extreme Punishments, or to expect fupreme Rewards, before the Matter is brought to Judgment, and the Merits of the Caufe are known. But the Scripture makes Mention of no Judgment before the End of the World.

I Cor. iii.

10.

Apoc. xx.

11, 12, 13.

Exc.

World. That is the Day in which God will A&t. xvii. judge the World by Chrift. Then at laft, Eve- 31. ry one's Work fhall be tried. Then, Every one 13,14,15. fhall receive according to what he has done in the 2 Cor. v. Body. Then, The Thrones will be placed, then the Books will be open'd, and every Man will be judged according to his Works. Then the Just will be feparated from the Unjuft, the Sheep from the Goats; thofe being placed on the Right, and these on the Left, and both of them receive their Sentence. All this we have been taught by the Mouth of Christ himself: But when the Son of Man fhall come in his Mat. xxv. Glory, and all the Holy Angels with him, then 31, 32, Shall he fit on the Throne of his Glory; and before him fhall be gathered all Nations: And he Shall feparate them one from another, as a Shepherd divideth his Sheep from the Goats: And he fhall fet the Sheep on his right Hand, but the Goats on his Left. Then fhall the King fay unto them on his right Hand, Come ye Blefjed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you, from the Foundation of the World. Then fhall be fay alfo to them on the left Hand, Depart from me ye Curfed into everlafting Fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. So that here you have the Time of Judgment and likewife the Manner of it, and the Sentence that is given in order to the Execution. And all these Things shall be when the Son of Man fhall come.

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