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Which

mifed to

the patriarchs [or reprefentatives] both of the old and New Teftament church, fitting on fo many thrones, Rev. 4.2, 4..

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XXIV. Nor are we to doubt, but this was Chrift's Chrift pro meaning, when he faid to the penitent thief: verily I the thief. fay unto thee, to day thou shalt be with me in paradife. Luke 23. 43. Thefe words are an exact answer to the petition of the thief, who prayed that Chrift would remember him: Chrift anfwers, I will not only remember thee, as abfent, but promife that thou shall be in my prefence in everlasting glory thou shalt be with me. The thief fixed the time, in which he defired his petition might be granted, viz when thou comest -unto thy kingdom. Chrift informed him not only of the place, where he was to reign, which he calls Paradife, that is, the third heavens, compare 2 Cor. 12. 2, 4, A very common way of speaking among the jews, who place the fouls of the godly deceased in the garden of Eden; but alfo of the time, in which he was to enter on his kingdom, TO DAY and it was about the fixth hour, the noon of the day, before the expira1: tions of which, the death of both interveening, that our Lord promised him thefe joys. But becaufe fuch a fudden change of condition, feemed to be strange and almost incredible, Christ confirms his promife by an affeveration, AMEN verily. These things are plain. Whereas, on the other hand, the interpretations of our adverfaries are strained and foolish. They imagine the words may be thus pointed or diftinguifhed, I say unto thee to day, thou shalt be with me in paradife, as if Chrift did not fix the time, when the thief was to be with him in paradife, but only declared the truth of what he promifed. And they refer to Deut. 30. 11, 15, 17, 18, where Mofes fays, 1 command thee this day &c. But how weak is this? For,

+I the Amen, who am truth itfelf, infallibly affure thee, that what I fay unto thee fhall come to pass this day.

Ift,

ift, The thief could not be ignorant of the time, when Chrift faid this to him; he did not want to have that inculcated. 2dly. It is not our Lords faying to day, but his faying Amen, verily, that declares the truth of the promife. 3dly. To day denotes a time, it hel and answers to the + when, which was in the petitions of the thief. 4thly. Maldonat himself looks upon this expolition as infipid and weak Bellarminacounts it ridiculous, from the fame arguments almost with ours. See Riveti Catholicus Orthodoxus, quæft. 60. 5thly. The phrafeology of Mofes is of a different nature, I command thee this day I denounce unto you this day for besides, that the words there cannot be otherwife conftrued, here they both may and ought! Mofes there prophefies of things, that were to come to pafs afterwards, and would have the Ifraelites mindful of that time, in which he had foretold them in fuch a pathetical proteftation; and therefore this day or fo day, has a remarkable emphafis in the difcourfe of Mofes, but renders the difcourfe of Chrift, if con ftrued as our adverfaries would have it, weak and infipid. Moreover, what they contend for, that the thief underfood. by Chrift's coming into his kingdom, his coming to judge the quick and the dead, is afferted without any proof, nor will they ever be able to prove it. He had certainly been mistaken, if he imagined, that Chrift's kingdom was to be deferred to the last day. Chrift had reigned long before, notwithstanding the vain rage of all his enemics. And Chrift's kingdom is fo far from beginning at the last day,) that Paul declares, he will then deliver up the kingdom to the father. 1 Cor. 15. 24. But a groffer impiety, than any chriftian could well be imagined guilty of, is what the heretic fubjoins: that, from all these things, there is not the least pretence to conclude, THAT CHRIST,

ان

+ Lord rememember me, WHEN thou comeft into thy kingdom.

L

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IN

And the

IN ANY RESPECT, LIVED AFTER DEATH, or that other men live after death. These things are blafphemous, and cannot be either read or heard without horror..

XXV. Let us add Luke 16. 22, and Lazarus was parable of carried by the Angels into Abraham's bofom. It is the Lazarus general opinion of the Jews, that God ufes the Beaches. miniftry of Angels in carrying home the fouls of the

pious. Thus they relate concerning Mofes; that when the moment of his death was come, God faid

go aid bring me the צא והכא נשמתו של משח to Gabriel

foul of Mofes. And Chrift confirms the opinion about the miniftry of Angels by his own authority. But whither was the foul of Lazarus conveyed? Into Abraham's bosom. From which expreffion, it is certainly manifeft, that the place and ftate of the bleffed are understood, from the oppofition to the place and ftate of the miferable, in which the rich man was. But the learned are not agreed about the derivation of that metaphor. Some think, that this prefent life is compared to a tempeftuous fea, the condition of the pious foul after death to a calm haven, fignified by the term, bofom. Thus in Virgil:

Nunc tantum finus, et ftatio malefida carinis D.

"It is now only a bofom, or bay, and an unsafe barbour:

And James Capellus has obferved, that what the Latines called navem appellere, to bring a fhip to land the Greeks exprefs by ; from which Euftathius remarks is derived xos, a bofom, or bay, which is the word, that Luke ufes here. But Ludov. Capellus thinks, that the bofom of Abraham is an expreffion borrowed from the cuftom of parents, who cherish their dear infants in their bofom, in which they allo fometimes fweetly reft and fleep: juft as the godly are faid to fleep, when they die, and to reft from their labours: but where can they be faid more properly

perly to reft and fleep, than in the botom of Abraham their fpiritual father? For confirming this interpretation, we may add, that little ones, thus tenderly treated, are called by the Greeks no Bé children boot the bofom; fee also John. 1. 18, the only begotten fon which is in the bofom of the father, that is, who is most intimate and familiar with, and extraordinarily beloved by the father. But, if I mistake not, they explain this expreffion beft, who think, that here, as alfo, Mat. 8. 11, and often elfewhere, eternal happiness is reprefented under the fimilitude of fome fplendid and fumptuous feat. For, it was customary, that whoever of the guests was allowed to lean on the bofom of the mafter of the entertainment, was account. ed the moft honourable perfon. Thus John 131 235 there was leaning on his bofom one whom Jefus loved. Moreover, there is no doubt, but the Jews afcribed to Abraham, the father of the Gentiles, the principal place among the righteous. Here, then is denoted the very great honour conferred on Lazarus, who, in bleffed abode, was placed next to Abraham! Sée Cameron and Grotius on the place. I conclude in the words of Auguftine, lib. 2. de Origine Anime, c. 4. Was you then fo very ignorant of this found and very wholesome article of faith, that fouls are judged upon their departure out of the body, before they come to that other judgment, in which they must be judged, at the reftitution of their bodies, and that they are either tormented, or glorified, in that very flesh, in which they lived? Who has with fuch obftinacy of mind been fo deaf to the Gospel, as not to hear, and, upon hearing, not to believe thefe things, in the inftance of that poor man, who, after death, was carried into Abraham's bofom, and in that of the rich man, who was configned to eternal torment? What the opinion of the Ancients was concerning the bofom of Abraham, Martyr has with great learning explained at large, Claffis Tertia Loc. 16. §. 7. feq. XXVI. When

Y 3

That fouls

XXVI. When we afcribe to feparate fouls, not change only a change of ftate, but alfo of place, and new place, how to be un habitations dr manfions, we fpeak agreeable to the derstood. Scriptures, which affign manfions and a place to heaven,

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Jabu 14, 2, 3, and everlafting habitations; Luke 16. and a house, 2 Cor. 5. 1,2. Yet we do not think, that fouls are in a place in the fame manner, that bodies are nor do we conceive, that they confift of fome very fubtile corpufcles, whofe particles are commenfurate to the parts of the space, in which they are included. The very learned Parker, de defcenfu ad inferos, p. 106, 107, has given andoubted teftimonies, that a great many of the Ancients were of this opinion. But we think, that, not only with refpect to their external operations, but even as to their fube flance, they are in that part of the created world, where Christ is bodily prefent, fo as not to be on the earthed We diftinguish the effence of the foul, which is ea fpiritual and immaterial fubftance, from all its operations whatever, whether internal or external, as an agent is diftinguished from its action. Nor do we only enquire about the actions of the foul, in what place they may be exerted, bet alfo about its fubftance, in what place it may exift. Seeing it ceafes not altogether to be, it ought to be fomewhere and as it is not infinite, it cannot be every where. It is therefore in fome place; for, inftance, in fome part of heaven, or of hell, not indeed locally, as if it had parts commenfurate to the parts of space; but in a way fuitable to a fpiritual nature fo that while it is in this place, it cannot be in another. Nor is it in this place, becaufe it operates therein; but on the contrary, operates in this, and in no other place, because it exifts in this place. Hence, the prefence of the foul, as to its fubftance, is, in order of nature, prior to its prefence as to its operation,And when the Scripture afferts, that fouls are in heaven, we are to understand that of

fubftance,

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