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SERM.

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Gospel of Salvation to them; and that when he afcended from Hades, he brought along with him not only the Souls of the Righteous, but a great number of the Wicked, fay fome, all of them fay others, and tranflated them to Heaven. For which Doctrine there is, I think, no manner of Proof.

BUT from fome Expreffions of St. Pe ter in his ift Epiftle, alluding perhaps to a Paffage formerly extant in the Prophecy of Jeremiah, but miffing in our prefent Copies, and from fome antient Authorities in and near the Times of the Apoftles, it seems probable that when our Lord went to the Manfions of happy Spirits, he made known to them the Way of Salvation. If this be admitted, it will perhaps help us to the best Solution of a difficult Question concerning the Salvation of Perfons who have liv'd Vertuously or died true Penitents, without ever having an Opportunity of embracing the Faith of the Gofpel. There is alfo Ground to believe, that when our Lord returned from thofe Manfions, he brought with

him a number of the Faithful, and having reftored to them their Bodies, carried them up with him into Heaven. For St. Matthew affures us, that the Graves were opened, and many Bodies of Saints' which flept, arofe, and came out of the Graves after his Refurrection, and ap pear'd unto many. And in an antient Account of Thaddeus his Preaching at Edella foon after our Lord's Afcenfion, Thaddeus is introduc'd expounding to them among other Things, How Chrift defcended into Hell, and rent asunder the Pale which had never been rent before; How he 'rofe again, and together with himfelf rais'd thofe from the Dead who had flept many Ages; How he defcended from Heaven alone, but afcended to his Father with a great Multitude.

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THAT Chrift releas'd from Hades the Souls of all Men, or of all the Righteous, the moft antient of the Chriftian Writers do not teach; but they do on the contrary affirm, That the Spirits of all, i.e. of the Generality of Men, both Good

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and Bad, do continue there until the Refurrection; which Opinion is, I think, moft confonant to the Holy Scriptures.

AND indeed herein the Chriftian Doctrine differs from that of the Pagans The Pagans taught, that the Souls of Men when they departed this Life were convey'd to Hades, where they were fummon'd to render an Account of their Actions at the Tribunal of certain Judges. They who upon their Tryal were acquitted, were conducted to Elyfium, where they liv'd joyously and happily; and they who were condemn'd were carried to Tartarus, where they fuffer'd for their paft Offences. The Pagans did not expect any Refurrection of the Body, nor any general Judgment of Mankinda at the End of the World; but they imagined that the Souls of Men were judg'd in Hades immediately as they came thither, and that Hades was the Place in which Men were finally rewarded and punished; and that the Rewards and Punishments of Men commenc'd prefently after Death.

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BUT the Chriftian Doctrine is, That the Souls of all Men are immediately after Death convey'd to Hades, not there to be finally rewarded or punished, but to be referved there, as their Bodies likewife fhall be in the Grave, until the laft Day; when the Souls of all Men fhall again be united to their Bodies, and all Mankind fhall be judged together at the Tribunal of Chrift according to their Works. They that have done Good fhall be tranflated to Heaven, and there enjoy compleat and perpetual Felicity; and they that have done Evil, fhall be everlastingly tormented in Fire unquenchable, which shall be kindled in a Place called in the New Teftament réɛrva, which is a Greek Word compounded of two Hebrew ones, fignifying the Valley of Hinnom. This Valley of Hinnom was a Vale in Judæa, in which the idolatrous Jews were wont to offer their Children by Fire unto Moloch. From the fierce Fires which were kept there, and the dreadful Shrieks and Sufferings of thofe who were there facrificed, the facred Penmen

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Penmen took Occafion to name the Place in which Sinners shall be punished by Fire to all Eternity, Teva or the Valley of Hinnom.

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I AM fenfible that of late Ages the prevailing Opinion has been, That the Saints, as foon as they dye, pafs into Heaven, and are admitted to the beatific Vifion; and that the Wicked do immediately after Death receive the Punishment due to their Tranfgreffions. But, as I faid before, this Opinion is repugnant not only to the Sentiments of the firft Chriftians, but alfo to the plain Declarations of Scripture. For therein we are informed, That at the End of the World, and not till then, all Men fhall arife to Judgment. But to what Purpose will the Judgment of the great Day bę appointed, if before that Time good Men fhall be actually enter'd upon their Happinefs, and wicked Men upon their Mifery? The Judgment is plainly in order to the Diftribution of Rewards and Punishments; and therefore the Diftribution of them muft follow and not pre

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