i Perfection, that Height of Felicity, and of Glory, which is commonly known by the Name of the beatifick Vifion, is not imparted to human Souls before the Day of Judg ment, and the Coming of our Lord. But yet if this Cause were to be determin'd by the Number of Witnesses, it would be eafy to add to these Fathers of the first Ages, those of the Fourth, and afterwards those of lower Centuries. But the Force of the facred Writings which alone is fufficient, would be but obfcur'd and hid by too great an Attendance. And therefore I fhall feparately by Way of Appendix, mark feveral of the more manifest Paffages relating to the fame Argument, from the Authors of the following Age, which every one may either confult or omit, according to his Leifure or to his Inclination,

T

APPENDIX.

See this

Gerard.de

397.

HE Author of the Questions and Anfwers to the Orthodox, whom we m. dicuffind in Juftin Martyr, is believed to have fed. lived in the fourth Century, who is exactly mort. of the fame Opinion with Juftin, concern- Tom. viii, ing the State of the Dead before the Refur- P. 396, rection: For difcourfing concerning the Time of Retribution, (Anfwer to Question 60.) he has thefe Words: No one before the Refurrection is rewarded or punished, according to the Actions which he did in his Life-time. Then anfwering the Objection

con

concerning the Thief, who was carried directly to Paradife, he opens his Mind more fully in thefe Words: (Queft. & Refponf. 76.) This was the Advantage that the Thief received from his Entrance into Paradife, that he actually received by it the Benefit of his Faith, through which he was reputed worthy to be join'd to the Affembly of Saints, among them to remain till the Day fhould come of Refurrection and Recompence.

St. Chryfoftome thought fo highly of the Refurrection, that without that he entertained but a mean Opinion of the Immortality of the Soul, and reckons all the Advantages that the Saints poffeffed before that, but as a very inconfiderable Part of their Recompence and Felicity. Be pleased to confult him upon the fifteenth Chapter of the first Epiftle to the Corinthians, where upon these Words of St. Paul, If our Hope was only in this Life, we were of all men the most miferable, he fays thus: What is it that the Apoftle fays? Why, unless the Body rifes again, have we only Hope in this Life, notwithstanding that the Soul remains, and remains immortal? And thus he answers himfelf: Though the Soul remains, and were yet a thousand Times, if it were poffible, more immortal than it is; yet never could it without the Body receive thofe ineffable Advantages: And, therefore, the Soul before the Body rifes, can neither be punished or rewarded: For all Things will be laid

open

open, before the Tribunal of Christ, that every one may receive in his Body the Recompence of the Things which he did in his Body whether they are good, are good, or whether they are evil. And therefore, fays the Apostle, if in this Life only we had Hope in Christ, we were of all Men the most miferable. For unless the Body rifes again, the Soul remains without its Recompence, and without that fupreme Felicity which is enjoy'd above in the Hea

vens.

AND thus St. Chryfoftome expreffes his Opinion clearly, and by Examples and Similitudes confirms it in other Places, viz. upon that Saying of the Apostle to the Hebrews, Chap. xi. 40. Thefe have not receiv'd their Reward, that without us they might not be made perfect. The Words of St. Chryfoftome are as follow: What! have not they received their Reward, but are ftill

kept in Expectation? What! have not they yet received their Reward, who died as they did, in fo much Tribulation, in fo much Affliction? Have fo many Ages paffed fince they conquered, and have they yet not triumphed? And do you impatiently brook Delays, though your Contention is not over? Do you confider of what vaft Importance it is, that Abraham and St. Paul have not yet received their Reward, but wait till you shall be made perfect, that they may receive it together with you? He afterwards proceeds in working up the fame Argument,

and,

and declares that Abal the Protomartyr, and Noah the Preacher of Righteousness, both to the Antedeluvian World, and ours, will not be crown'd before we are: For he has appointed one and the fame Time for all to receive their Crowns. Till that Time, he fometimes names for Seats to the Souls of the Righteous, ispa πpódupa, the holy Gate, but oftner the Bofom of Abraham. See at your Leisure his twenty-fourth Homily upon the first Epiftle to the Corinthians, and the fortieth Homily upon Genefis; where he fays, that it is the principal Ambition, and the only Wish of all the Righteous, from the Times of Abraham to the End of the World, that in his Bofom they may find Reft to their Souls. But by the Bofom of Abraham, as you know very well, is not meant fupreme Glory, or the Felicity that the Angels enjoy in Heaven. Laftly, all these Things are confirmed in St. Chryfoftome's first Sermon concerning the Refurrection; where he refers all our Hope, and all the Retribution which we expect, to the Day of the Coming of our Lord: Nor does he give us the leaft Ground to believe, that before that Day we fhall find any Reward, except that which arifes in this Life, from our very Contention for Victory, and from the exercifing ourselves in Virtue, and in Christian Conftancy, by which the Soul acquires more Fortitude, and, that I may use his own Expreffion, a more philofophical Temper:

For

For as Wrestlers, fays he, by contending for Victory become more nervous, and more robuft; fo from our Contention in Virtue, we fhall reap this great Reward; that our Souls will become more firm and philofophical, even before the Heavens are open'd to us, before the Coming of the Son of God, and before we receive the Recompence which we contend for.

THESE Paffages have we quoted from St. Chryfoftome, concerning the State and Felicity of the Saints before the Resurrection. But you will fay, perhaps, that fometimes the fame Father fpoke more freely and more fublimely of this intermediate Felicity. That, indeed, may very well be; for Orators, fometimes, when they come to conclude, are apt to grow fomething warm, nor fcrupulously weigh in the Balance every Word that proceeds from them; and when they are endeavouring to give Ornament to popular Harangues, or to funeral Orations, there are feveral Reasons which in their Conclufion may incite them to exaggerate the Felicity of those who are dead in the Lord, but not one that may incline them to diminish it, except their Consciousness of the Truth alone. This Method might be of great Advantage to comfort, and exalt, and raise up the Soul against the Influence and Power of Death, especially the Death of Martyrdom. To speak warmly and freely of the Happiness that the Saints are to enjoy immediately