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SERM.

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upon their Departure from hence, or imme diately upon their Entrance into the other World, chap. xvi. 22, 23. The two Texts of St. Paul are thofe in which he declares himself confident and willing to be abfent from the Body, and to be prefent with the Lord, 2 Cor. v. 8. and expreffes his Defire to depart, in order that he might be with Chrift, which he prefers as a State far better (as to himself) than his ftill abiding in the Flefb, which yet (as to the Philippians) he acknowledged more needful, Phil. i. 23.As the Explication of thefe Texts will let us into the Knowledge of two or three Points that are not incurious; it is worth while to examine them, as well for the Doctrine they really contain, as to fhew they contain nothing contrary to the Doctrine we have al'ready advanced; nothing indeed but what tends rather to ftrengthen and confirm it.

The firft Text I mentioned is the Promife of our Saviour to the Thief upon the Cross; to whom St. Luke tells us Jefus faid, Verily I fay unto thee, To Day shalt thou be with me in Paradife, Luke xxiii. 43. Now Paradife is a Word that has a charming Sound, and betokens most certainly a Place of Happiness and Blifs. And from hence fome have been

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apt to imagine it to be the fame with Heaven, S ERM. And accordingly, from this Promise of our Saviour to the Thief, have concluded that as foon as he expired on the Cross, he was received into Heaven. But this is an Error which proceeds from not rightly understanding what the Word Paradife properly means. To have a right Senfe of this Text, we must know what the Jews intended by 'Paradife. For in that Senfe our Saviour fpoke, and in that Sense the Thief understood him.

Now Paradife was a Word ufed originally by the Jews to fignify Eden, or that Garden of Delights, which Adam, in his State of Innocence, enjoyed: And therefore they made Choice of the fame Word in After-Ge nerations to exprefs that Place where the feparate Souls of those who, having lived good Lives here, wait for the Joys of a happy and glorious Refurrection hereafter: For they fuppofing that in this Place they lived in a State of Rest and Quiet, of comfortable Hope and joyful Expectations, they thought they could not better diftinguish it than by the Name of Paradife. But that they made a Difference. between Paradife and Heaven, is evident from the good Wishes and Prayers they used to make for their dying Friends. For when Ff4

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SERM. a Man was departing they used to cry out"Let his Soul be gathered into the Garden " of Eden! Let him have his Portion in Pa"radife, and alfo in the World to come *!" Where we fee that Paradife and the World to come, are plainly diftinguished as two different States or Places. The fame Distinction is made by St. Paul, even after he became an Apoftle of Chrift: For fpeaking of several Vifions he had received, he tells us particu larly of one that he had had in the third Heaven, 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4 and of another in Paradife: Which fhews that even the Apoftle alfo diftinguished between Paradife and the third Heaven. So that the Promife of our Saviour to the Thief on the Crofs, can imply no more than that he fhould on that very Day on which he died, enter into that Place of Reft and Quiet, where the Souls of the Righteous wait for the Refurrection. And indeed that our Saviour could not mean Heaven by Paradife, is plain enough; be cause he himself did not afcend into the upper Heavens till after his Refurrection; as we every Day profess to believe in our Creeds: In which we declare that whilst as to his Bo

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dy he was dead and buried, as to his Spirit SER M. or Soul be defcended into Hell.

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In this firft Objection therefore you fee there is nothing which tends to overthrow the Doctrine I have afferted: But the Parable of our Saviour concerning the Rich-Man and Lazarus you may think comes nearer and closer to the Point. For there Lazarus is faid to be in Abraham's Bofom, and the Rich Man to lift up his Eyes in Hell, and to be tormented in Flames, even whilft bis Brethren were living in his Father's Houfe, Luke xvi. 22, &c. which fhews that the Parable does not refer to the Rewards and Punishments which shall be affigned to Men at the Day of Judgment; but to thofe Joys or Torments into which good and bad Men enter, immediately after they depart this Life.But to this Objection also we are able to give a fufficient Reply: In order to which we must firft confider, What is meant by Abraham's Bofom; next, what we are to understand by Hell; and laftly, how far we may argue from Parables, and where we must leave them.

As to the first of these, viz. Abraham's Bofom, the most we can make of it, is, that it was the State of separate Souls, under the Law,

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SERM. Law, where the Spirits of good and righte→ XIX. ous Men waited for their future Confumma

tion in Glory. That it can't be understood to mean those Heavens whither the Righteous are to be received by our Bleffed Saviour at the last Day,, may be gathered from the Name by which, it is called. Abraham's Bofom may denote a Place, where Abraham, the Father of all the Faithful, and to whom the Promifes were made, Rom. iv. 16. is himself repofed, and where all those who are the Children of Abraham are in Safety with him, But it can by no Means be extended to denote the future Inheritance of the Saints in Light, Col. i. 12. to which Chrift, when he fpeaks of it, applies more high and honourable Titles, calling it the House of his Father, John xiv. 2. the Kingdom prepared, Matt, xxv. 34. and which therefore the Apostles call the Kingdom of Chrift and of God, E phef. v. 5. the Kingdom of Heaven, the third Heaven, and the like. Abraham's Bofom therefore is either another Name for Paradife; or (which is more likely) the Name of that State in which Abraham was in before Paradife was opened *. And if fo, then La

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Vide Vofit Difputat. Sext. de Statu Anime Separate, Quest. I.

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