SERMON XIX.

Paradife, Abraham's Bofom, and
Hades.

SERM.
XIX.

HEB. xi. 39, 40.

Thefe all having obtained a good Report through Faith, received not the Promife; God having provided fome better thing for us, that they without us should not be made per

fect.

T

HAT the Souls of the Reverend Patriarchs and Fathers of the Old Testament, and of the Holy Apoftles, Martyrs and Saints under the New, have not as yet that perfect Confummation in Happiness and Glory, which they expect hereafter, when Chrift fhall come again to be glorified in them; I fhewed from this Text, and from feveral other Paffages of Scripture, in my last Discourfe. And in the Series of the Arguments I had Occafion to use, I also fhewed that even the wicked and reprobate, as well De

XIX.

vils as Men, will none of them be configned S ER M. to their final Punishments till the Day of Judgment: That Heaven, the Kingdom preparing for the Saints, and Hell, the Fire which is kindling for the Damned, will neither of them be in a perfect Readiness till that Day comes. This is the Doctrine which I fhewed you the Holy Scriptures fet forth, and which I told you the Primitive Fathers maintained.

And

But I fuppofed some Texts might arise in your Minds, which may feem irreconcileable, at first, with the Interpretation I gave of fome others which I had then Occafion to produce. These Texts therefore I come now to clear up, and to remove out of the Way the principal Objections that may seem to lye against the Doctrine I then delivered. I can think but of four Texts, which upon this Account require Explanation: Two of which are in the Evangelifts, being the Words of our Bleffed Saviour himself: And the other two are in the Epistles of St. Paul. Those that speak our Saviour's Mind upon the Cafe, are the Promife he made to the Thief upon the Cross, Luke xxiii. 43, &c. and the Representation he gives of the State which the Rich-Man and Lazarus were in upon

Ff3

SERM,

XIX.

upon their Departure from hence, or immediately 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 Christ, which he prefers as a State far better (as to himíelf) than his ftill abiding in the Flesh, 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 already advanced; nothing indeed but what tends rather to strengthen and confirm it.

The firft Text I mentioned is the Promise of our Saviour to the Thief upon the Cross; to whom St. Luke tells us Jefus faid, Verily I fay unto thee, To Day fhalt 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

apt

XIX.

apt to imagine it to be the fame with Heaven, S ER M. And accordingly, from this Promise of our Saviour to the Thief, have concluded that as foon as he expired on the Crofs, 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 Sense of this Text, we must know what the Jews intended by Paradife. For in that Sense our Saviour spoke, and in that Sense the Thief understood him.

Now Paradife was a Word used 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-Generations to exprefs that Place where the separate 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 distinguish 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

a Man

SERM. a Man was departing they used to cry out—

XIX.

"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 dif-
ferent States or Places. The fame Distincti-
on is made by St. Paul, even after he became
an Apostle of Chrift: For fpeaking of feveral
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 Apo-
ftle also distinguished between Paradise and
the third Heaven. So that the Promise of
our Saviour to the Thief on the Crofs, can
imply no more than that he should 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 Resurrection,
And indeed that our Saviour could not mean
Heaven by Paradife, is plain enough; be-
cause he himself did not afcend into the up-
per
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-

Vide Grotium in locum.

dy