afleep in Chrift were perished," ver. 18. and they," the apoftles, "having no hope "but in this life, were of all men the "moft miferable."

Laftly, our Saviour's argument with the Sadducees, in proof of a refurrection, from the words of God to Mofes, "I am the God "of Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob." Matt. xxii. 31. Mark xii. 26. Luke xx. 37. is this, that fince God is their God, those patriarchs, even now, that they have no life, live unto him; that is, they have existence in his fight, who looks into futurity. For, had they been actually alive, and happy at that very time, it might have been replied, that the promise which is implied in God's being their God, was fufficiently fulfilled without a refurrection. Indeed, his argument might have been thought to be calculated to prove an intermediate ftate only, had he not exprefly faid, that what he advanced was to prove a refurrection, that the dead hall arife. He does not fo much as mention any ftate of confcious existence before it; fo that, from the circumstances of the discourse,

difcourfe, we may fafely conclude, that he had no idea of any fuch thing.

ftate.

It may be faid, that our Saviour's parable of the rich man and Lazarus, goes upon the fuppofition of there being an intermediate But this parable is only a perfonification of what had no real fenfe; for he does not speak of the foul being feparate from the body, but of the whole man, as having paffed into the ftate of death, and therefore mentions the tongue of the rich man as tormented in a flame. In the fame manner, Ifaiah perfonifies the dead king of Babylon, whom he, at the fame time, fpeaks of, as confumed by the worms. Ifa. xiv. 9. "Hell "from beneath is moved for thee, to meet "thee at thy coming: it ftirreth up the "dead for thee, even all the chief ones of "the earth; it hath raised up from their "thrones all the kings of the nations. All

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they shall speak and fay unto thee, Art "thou also become weak as we? Art thou "become like unto us? Thy pomp is

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brought down to the grave, and the noife

" of

of thy viols: the worm is fpread under "thee, and the worms cover thee." There is also an instance of a perfonification fimilar to this in Rev. vi. 9. where the fouls of the martyrs are reprefented as crying to God from under the altar (the place where the blood of facrificed victims was poured out) to avenge their blood. But, in other places, blood itself is reprefented as crying for vengeance.

Our Saviour faid to the thief upon the crofs, "This day fhalt thou be with me "in paradife." But this faying is too obfcure to found any certain opinion upon. It may only fignify, that the promise was made that day, notwithstanding his present state of humiliation; or, by paradise, our Lord might mean, the unconfcious state of the virtuous dead, a state of mere reft, but wherein they are fecure under the protection of divine benevolence, and referved for the accomplishment of its purposes in their favour. The Jews fuppofed their fheol, or the ftate of the dead, to be divided into

two

two regions, viz. paradife for the good, and gehenna for the wicked. See Windet de Vita functorum Statu, p. 109.

A paffage in the Epiftle of Paul to the Philippians is urged with the greatest appearance of ftrength in favour of an intermediate ftate; but when the whole context is rightly confidered, it will appear to imply no fuch thing, as is, I think, fufficiently proved in Alexander's Differtation, prefixed to his Commentary on 1 Cor. xv. The apostle, writing from Rome, not long before his death, fays, Phil. i. 21. "To me "to live is Chrift," i. e. Chrift will be glorified by my labours, and, "to die is

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gain," as I fhall then be delivered from a ftate of perfecution and fuffering; "but if "I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of

my

labour: yet what I fhall choose, I wot For I am in a ftrait betwixt two ;" "I am

"not.

or, as it might have been rendered,

ftraitened by two things," viz. the profpect of life, or of death. Neither of them are the objects of my choice, having a "defire to depart, and to be with Chrift; Dd "" which

VOL. II.

"which is far better:" wifhing, if it were poffible, to be delivered at once from mortality, by the coming of Christ, and so be immediately with him. That this must be the fenfe of the paffage is evident from what I have obferved before, viz. that "being "with Chrift," always refers to his second coming, at the refurrection. "Neverthe

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lefs," the apoftle goes on to say,

"abide in the flesh is more needful for

you;" that is, of the two things which are not the objects of my defire, viz. life or death, more good will accrue to you from the former, and therefore I prefer it.

The fame confiderations may also help us to the right understanding of the fame apostle, in 2 Cor. v. 8. "We are willing " rather to be abfent from the body, and "to be prefent with the Lord;" that is, we prefer the future life, which commences at the refurrection, and in which alone we fhall be with Chrift, to the prefent, in which we are abfent from him. He particularly excepts against the idea of being unclothed, or naked, ver. 4. "For we that are in this

"tabernacle