unto him, and see him as he is"." At his glorious appearing, we shall also appear glorious; we shall see him as he is; but till then, this beatific vision shall not be at all; but for the interval, the case is otherwise. Tertullian affirms, "Puniri et foveri animam interim in inferis, sub exspectatione utriusque judicii, in quadam usurpatione et candida ejus : " the souls are punished or refreshed in their regions, expecting the day of their judgment and several sentences".' "Habitacula illa, animarum promptuaria, nominavit Scriptura," saith St. Ambrose: the Scripture calls these habitations, the promptuaries or repositories of souls P.' There is comfort, but not the full reward; a certain expectation, supported with excellent intervals of joy: "refrigerium," so the Latins call it, a refreshment.' "Donec consummatio rerum resurrectionem omnium plenitudine mercedis expungat, tunc apparitura cœlesti promissione," saith Tertullian: "until the consummation of all things points out the resurrection, by the fulness of reward, and the appearing of the heavenly promise." So the author of the questions ad orthodoxos 9;'" Immediately after death, presently there is a separation of the just from the unjust; for they are borne by angels sis åžíous aútāv TÓTOUS, into the places they have deserved;' and they are in those places φυλατζόμεναι ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας της αναστάσεως καὶ ἀναποdooews, kept unto the day of resurrection and retribution.' But what do they in the mean time? how is it with them? @avμaríav τίνα ἡδονὴν ἥδεται, καὶ ἀγάλλεται, says Nazianzenr: they rejoice and are delighted in a wonderful joy.' They see angels and archangels, they converse with them, and see our blessed Saviour Jesus in his glorified humanity' so Justin Martyr'. But in these great joys they look for greater. They are now ' in paradiso,' but they long that the body and soul may be in heaven together; but this is the glory of the day of judgment, the fruit of the resurrection. And this whole affair is agreeable to reason and the analogy of the whole dispensation, as it is generally and particularly described in Scripture. For when the greatest effect of the Divine power, the mightiest promise, that hardest thing to Christian faith, that n 1 John, ii. 28. iii. 4. P De Bono Mortis, cap. 10. • Lib. de Anima, et lib. adv. Marcion. 4 Quæst. 75. ⚫ Ubi suprà. impossible thing to gentile philosophy, the expectation of the whole world, the new creation, when that shall come to pass, viz. that the souls shall be reinvested with their bodies, when. the ashes of dissolved bones shall stand up a new and living frame, to suppose that then there shall be nothing done in order to eternity, but to publish the salvation of saints, of which they were possessed before, is to make a great solemnity for nothing, to do great things for no great end, and, therefore, it is not reasonable to suppose it. For if it were a good argument of the apostle, that the patriarchs and saints of the Old Testament received not the promises signified by Canaan and the land of promise, because God hath provided some better thing for us, that without us they should not be made perfect,' it must also conclude of all alike; that they who died since Christ, must stay till the last day, that they and we and all may be made perfect together. And this very thing was told to the spirits of the martyrs, who under the altar cried, How long, O Lord',' &c. that they should "rest yet for a little season," until their fellow-servants also shall be fulfilled. Upon this account it is, that the day of judgment is a day of recompense. So said our blessed Lord himself: "Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just"." And this is the day in which all things shall be restored; for "the heavens must receive Jesus till the time of restitution of all things" and till then, the reward is said to be laid up.' So St. Paul: "Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the righteous Judge shall give me in that day." And that you may know he means the resurrection and the day of judgment, he adds; " and not to me only, but to all them that love his coming;" of whom it is certain many shall be alive at that day, and therefore cannot, before that day, receive the crown of righteousness: and then also, and not till then, shall be his appearing; but till then, it is a depositum.' The sum is this: in the world, we walk and live by faith; in the state of separation, we live by hope; and in the resurrection, we shall live by an eternal charity. Here we see God as 'in a glass, darkly;' in the separation we t Rev. vi. 10. * Acts, iii. 7. Luke, xiv. 14. 2 Tim. iv. 8. shall behold him, but it is afar off; and after the resurrection we shall see him face to face,' in the everlasting comprehensions of an intuitive beatitude. In this life we are warriors; in the separation we are conquerors; but we shall not triumph till after the resurrection. And in proportion to this is also the state of devils and damned spirits. "Art thou come to torment us before the time," said the devils to our blessed Saviour. There is for them also an appointed time, and when that is, we learn from St. Jude: "They are reserved in chains under darkness, under the judgment of the great day." Well, therefore, did St. James affirm, " that the devils believe and tremble ;" and so do the damned souls, with an insupportable amazement, fearing the revelation of that day. They know that day will come, and they know they shall find an intolerable sentence on that day; and they fear infinitely, and are in amazement and confusion, feeling the worm of conscience, and are in the * state of devils, who fear God and hate him; they tremble, but they love him not; and yet they die because they would not love him, because they would not with their powers and strengths keep his commandments. This doctrine, though of late it hath been laid aside, upon the interest of the church of Rome, and for compliance with some other schools, yet was it universally the doctrine of the primitive church; as appears out of Justin Martyr, who, in his dialogues with Tryphon, reckons this amongst the Tegodogía, 'errors' of some men, who say there shall be no resurrection of the dead; but that, as soon as good men are dead, τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν ἀναλαμβάνεσθαι εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, “ their souls are taken up immediately into heaven." And the writer of the questions ad orthodoxos,' asks, whether, before the resurrection, there shall be a reward of works? because to the thief paradise was promised that day. He answers: "It was fit the thief should go to paradise, and there perceive what things should be given to the works of faith; but there he is kept, ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας τῆς ἀναστάσεως καὶ ἀναποδόσεως “ until the day of resurrection and reward." But in paradise the soul hath an intellectual perception, both of herself, and of those things which are under her. * Cap. vi. Qu. 76. Q. 60. Q. 75. . Concerning which I shall not need to heap up testimonies. This only: it is the doctrine of the Greek church unto this day; and was the opinion of the greatest part of the ancient church, both Latin and Greek; and by degrees was, in the west, eaten out by the doctrine of purgatory and invocation of saints; and rejected a little above two hundred years ago, in the council of Florence; and since that time it hath been more generally taught, that the souls of good men enjoy the beatific vision before the resurrection, even presently upon the dissolution. According to which new opinion, it will be impossible to understand the meaning of my text, and of divers other places of Scripture, which I have now alleged and explicated; or at all to perceive the economy and dispensation of the day of judgment; or how it can be a day of discerning; or how the reapers (the angels) shall bind up the wicked into bundles, and throw them into the unquenchable fire; or yet how it can be useful, or necessary, or prudent for Christ to give a solemn sentence upon all the world; and how it can be, that that day should be so formidable and full of terrors, when nothing can affright those that have long enjoyed the beatific presence of God; and no thunders or earthquakes can affright them, who have upon them the biggest evil in the world, I mean the damned, who, according to this opinion, have been in hell for many ages: and it can mean nothing but to them that are alive; and then it is but a particular, not an universal jndgment; and after all it can pretend to no piety, to no Scripture, to no reason, and only can serve the ends of the church of Rome, who can no way better be confuted in their invocations of saints than by this truth, that the saints do not yet enjoy the beatific vision; and though they are in a state of ease and comfort, yet are not in a state of power and glory and kingdom, till the day of judgment. This also perfectly does overthrow the doctrine of purgatory. For as the saints departed are not perfect, and therefore certainly not to be invocated, not to be made our patrons and advocates; so neither are they in such a condition as to be in torment; and it is impossible that any wise man should believe, that the souls of good men after death should endure the sharp pains of hell, and yet at the same time believe those words of Scripture, "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them "." If they can rest in beds of fire, and sing hymns of glory in the torments of the damned, if their labours are done when their pains are almost infinite, then these words of the Spirit of God, and that doctrine of purgatory, can be reconciled; else never to eternal ages. But it is certain they are words that cannot deceive us: "Non tanget eos tormentum mortis:" torment in death shall never touch them.' But having established the proposition, and the intended sense of the text, let us awhile consider, 1. That God is our God when we die, if we be his servants while we live and to be our God signifies very much good to us. He will rescue us from the powers of hell; the devil shall have no part or portion in us; we shall be kept in safe custody, we shall be in the hands of Christ, out of which all the powers of hell shall never snatch us; and therefore we may die with confidence, if we die with a good conscience; we have no cause of fear, if we have just grounds to hope for pardon. The Turks have a saying, that the Christians do not believe themselves, when they talk such glorious things of heaven and the state of separation; for if they did, they would not be so afraid to die: but they do not so well consider that Christians believe all this well enough, but they believe better than they live; and therefore they believe and tremble, because they do not live after the rate of going to heaven; they know that for good men glorious things are prepared; but Tophet is prepared for evil kings,' and unjust rulers, for vicious men and degenerate Christians; there is a hell for accursed souls, and men live without fear of it so long, till their fear as soon as it begins in an instant passes into despair, and the fearful groans of the damned. It is no wonder to see men so unwilling to die, to be impatient of the thought of death, to be afraid to make their will, to converse with the solemn scarecrow. He that is fit to die, must have long dwelt with it, must handle it on all sides, must feel whether the sting be taken out: he must examine 'whether he be in Christ;' that is, whether he be a new creature.' And indeed I do not so much wonder that any b Rev. xx. 6. |