man: Thus Abraham and Lot are called brethren, chap. xiii. 8. though they were not sons of the same father, for Lot was Abraham's brother's son, chap. xi. 31. this is a very common acceptation of the word in scripture. Again, it is sometimes taken in a more large sense, for those who are members of the same church: Thus the apostle calls those that belonged to the church at Colosse, the saints and faithful brethren in Christ, Col. i. 2. and sometimes they who are of the same nation, are called brethren: Thus it is said, When Moses was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel, Acts vii. 23. And it is sometimes taken for those who make profession of the same religion with ourselves; and also for those who are kind and friendly to us: Thus it is said, A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity, Prov. xvii. 17. and, indeed, the word is sometimes taken in the largest sense that can be, as comprizing in it all mankind, who have the same nature with ourselves, 1 John iv. 21. These are objects of love, and therefore our prayers are, especially in proportion to the nearness of the relation they stand in to us, to be directed to God on their behalf. Some, indeed, are allied to us by stronger bonds than others; but none, who are entitled to our love, pity, and compassion, are to be wholly excluded from our prayers.

This will farther appear, if we consider that we are also to pray for our enemies, as the law of nature obliges us to do good for evil; and consequently, as our Saviour says, we are to pray for them which despitefully use us, and persecute us, Matt. v. 44, We are not, indeed, to pray for them, that they may obtain their wicked and unjust designs against us; or that they may have power and opportunity to hurt us; for that is contrary to the principle of self-preservation, which is impressed on our nature; but we are to pray for them.

[1.] That however they carry it to us they may be made Christ's friends, their hearts changed, and they enabled to serve his interest; that they, together with ourselves, may be partakers of everlasting salvation; therefore it is a vile thing, and altogether inconsistent with the spirit of a christian, to desire the ruin, much more the damnation of any one, as many wickedly and profanely do.

[2.] We are to pray that their corruptions may be subdued, their tempers softened, and their hearts changed; so that they may be sensible of, and lay aside their unjust resentments against us. And,

[3.] If they are under any distress or misery, we are not to insult or take pleasure in beholding it, but to pity them, and to pray for their deliverance, as much as though they were not enemies to us.

(5.) We are to pray not only for all sorts of men now li ing; according to what is contained in the last head, but for those that shall live hereafter. This includes in it an earnest desire that the interest of Christ may be propagated from generation to generation; and his kingdom and glory advanced in the world until his second coming: Thus the Psalmist says, He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer: This shall be written for the generation to come; and the people which shall be created, shall praise the Lord, Psal.cii. 17, 18. and our Saviour says, Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, John xvii. 20.

2. We are now to consider those who are excluded from our prayers; and these are either such as are dead, or those who have sinned the sin unto death.

(1.) We are not to pray for the dead. This is asserted ir opposition to what was maintained and practised by some ir the early ages of the church, and paved the way for those abuses and corruptions which are practised by the church o Rome, at this day, who first prayed for the dead, and after wards proceeded farther in praying for them. The first ste that was taken leading hereunto, seems to have been their be ing guilty of great excesses in the large encomiums they made in their public anniversary orations, in commemoration of the martyrs and confessors, who had suffered in the cause e christianity. This was done at first, with a good design, viz to excite those who survived, to imitate them in their virtues, and to express their love to the cause for which they suffered but afterwards they went beyond the bounds of decency in magnifying and extolling them; and then they proceeded ye farther, in praying for them; This is often excused, by som modern writers, from the respect they bear to them, who fir practised it; though it can hardly be vindicated from the charge of will-worship, since no countenance is given to it it scripture.

That which is generally alleged in their behalf, is, that they supposed the souls of believers did not immediately enter into lacaven, but were sequestered, or disposed of in some place inferior to it, which they sometimes call paradise, or Abraham's bosom, where they are to continue till their souls are re-united to their bodies. Whether this place be above or below the earth, all are not agreed; but their mistake arises from their misunderstanding those scriptures which describe heaven un der, these metaphorical characters of paradise, or Abraham's besom. Here they suppose that they are, indeed, delivered

* See page 917.

from the afflictions and miseries of this present life; but yet not possessed of perfect blessedness in God's immediate presence. Therefore they conclude, that there was some room for prayer, that the degree of happiness which they were possessed of, might be continued, or rather, that it might in the end, be perfected, when they are raised from the dead, and admitted to partake of the heavenly blessedness.

Others thought, that at death, the sentence was not peremptorily past either on the righteous or the wicked, so that there was room left for them to pray for the increase of the happiness of the one, or of the mitigation of the torment of the other; and therefore, in different respects, they prayed for all, both good and bad, especially for those who were within the pale or inclosure of the church; and above all, for such as were useful to, and highly esteemed by it.

The principal thing that is said in vindication of this practice (for what has been but now mentioned, as the ground and reason thereof, will by no means justify it) is, that though the souls of believers are in heaven; yet their happiness will not be, in all respects, complete, till the day of judgment: Therefore, in their prayers, they chiefly had regard to the consummation of their blessedness at Christ's second coming, together with the continuance thereof, till then; without supposing that they received any other advantage thereby. And, inasmuch as this is not a matter of uncertainty, they farther observe, that many things are to be prayed for, which shall certainly come to pass, whether we pray for them or no; e. g. the gathering of the whole number of the elect, and the coming of Christ's kingdom of glory: Therefore they suppose, that the advantage principally redounds to those who put up prayers to God for them, as hereby they express their faith in the doc trine of the resurrection, and the future blessedness of the saints, and the communion that there is between the church militant and triumphant.

This is the fairest colour that can be put upon that ancient practice of the church, and the many instances that we meet with, in the writings of the Fathers, concerning their prayers for the dead *.

*That several of the Fathers practised and pleaded for praying for the dead, is evident from what Cyprian says, Epist. xxxix. concerning the church's offering sacrifices, by which he means prayers for the martyrs; among whom, he particularly mentions Laurentius and Ignatius, on the yearly return of those days, on which the memorial of their martyrdom was celebrated. And Eusebius, in the life of Constantine, Lib. iv. Cap. lxxi. when speaking concerning the funeral obsequies performed for that monarch, says, that a great number of people, with tears and lamentations poured forth prayers to God for the emperor's soul. And Gregory Nazianzen prayed for his brother Cæsarius after his death. Vid. Ejusd in Fun. Cæsar, Orat. Also Ambrose prayed for the religious emperors, Valentinian and Gratian, anut,

Thus concerning the practice of the church, before we read of the fictitious place which the Papists call purgatory; where they fancy, that separate souls endure some degrees of torment, and are relieved by the prayers of their surviving friends; which was not known to the church before the seventh century; and is without any foundation from scripture, as has been before observed under a foregoing answer *. Now since this was formerly defended, and is now practised by the Papists, the contrary doctrine is asserted in this answer, viz. that we are not to pray for the dead; and that this may farther appear, let it be considered,

That the state of every man is unalterably fixed, at death; so that nothing remains which can be called an addition to the happiness of the one, or the misery of the other, but what is the result of the re-union of the soul and body at the resurrection; and therefore to pray that the saints may have greater degrees of glory conferred upon them, or sinners a release from that state of misery in which they are, is altogether ungrounded; and therefore such prayers must be concluded to be unlawful. That the state of man is fixed at death is sufficiently evident from scripture: Thus our Saviour, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, speaks of the one as immediately carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom, Luke xvi. 22, &c. (by which, notwithstanding what some ancient writers have asserted to the contrary, we are to understand heaven;) and the other as being in a place of torments, without any hope or probability of the least mitigation thereof; whereby hell, not purgatory is intended: And the apostle says, It is appointed unte men once to die, and after this the judgment, Heb. ix. 27, by which he intends, that all men must leave the world; and when they are parted from it, their state is determined by Christ; though this is not done in so public and visible a manner, as it will be in the general judgment: If therefore the state of men be unalterably fixed at death; it may be justly inferred from thence, that there is no room for any one to put up prayers to God on their behalf: Prayer must have some proof on which it relies, otherwise it cannot be addressed to God by faith; or, as the apostle expresses it, nothing wavering, James i. 6. Now, if we have no ground to conclude that our prayers shall be heard and answered; or have any doubt in our spi

for Theodosius, and for his brother Satyrus. Vid. Ejusd. de obit. Valentin. Theodes. & Satyr And Augustin speaks of his praying for his mother Monica, after her decease, in Confess. Lib. ix. Cap. xiii. And Epiphanius defends this practice with so much warmth, that he can hardly forbear charging the demal hereof, as one of Aerius's heresies. Vid. Epiphan. hæres. lxxv. And some Popish writers, when de fending their praying for the dead, have, with more malice than reason, charged the Protestants with being Aerians, upon this account.

• See Quest. lxxxvi. page 313.

rits whether the thing prayed for be agreeable to the will of God; such a prayer cannot be put up in faith, and therefore is not lawful.

Obj. 1. The Papists, in defence of the contrary doctrine, are very much at a loss for scriptures to support it: However, there is one, taken from a passage in the apocryphal writings, in which Judas Maccabeus, and his company, are represented as praying and offering a sin-offering, and thereby making reconciliation for the dead, i. e. some that had been slain in battle, 2 Maccab. xii. 43,-45.

Answ. The reply that some make to this, is, that the prayers for the dead here spoken of, are of a different nature from those which the Papists make use of in the behalf of those whom they pretend to be in purgatory, or, that they prayed for nothing but what some of the Fathers, as before-mentioned did, viz. that they might be raised from the dead, whereby they expressed their faith in the doctrine of the resurrection: But, I think there is a better reply may be given to it, namely, that the argument is not taken from any inspired writing; and therefore no more credit is to be given to it than any other human composure, in which some things are true, and others false: And as for this book in particular, the author himself plainly intimates that he did not receive it by divine inspiration; for he says, If I have done well, and as it is fitting the story, it is that which I desired; but if slenderly and meanly, it is that which I could attain unto, chap. xv. 38. which is very honestly said; but not like an inspired writer, and therefore nothing that is said therein is a sufficient proof of any important article of faith or practice, such as that is, which we are now defending.

Obj. 2. It is farther objected, that the apostle Paul puts up a short and affectionate prayer for Onesiphorus, in 2 Tim. i. 18. The Lord grant unto him, that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day; whereas, it is concluded by some, that, at the time the apostle wrote this epistle, Onesiphorus was dead, since there are two petitions put up, one in this verse for him, and another in ver. 16. for his house; and in chap. iv. 19. when he salutes some of his friends, according to his custom, he makes mention of the household of Onesiphorus, not of him. This turn Grotius himself gives of this scripture *. And the Papists greedily embrace it, as it gives countenance to their practice of praying for the dead.

Answ. It is but a weak foundation that this argument is built on; for though Paul salutes his household, and not himself, in the close of this epistle, it does not follow from hence,