του Το come, however, to the testimony of the primitive Christian church. In the First Epistle of Clemens Rom. ad Cor. cap. 5, we meet with the following observation, relating to the death of St. Paul; καὶ μαρτυρήσας ἐπὶ τῶν ἡγουμένων, οὕτως ἀπηλλάγη τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ εἰς τὸν ἅγιον τόπον ἐπορεύθη. And in that of Polycarp ad Philipp. cap. 9. PP. Apost. 1010. E, we meet with the following, in reference both to his death, and to that of the rest of the apostles; πεπεισμένοι ὅτι οὗτοι πάντες οὐκ εἰς κενὸν ἔδραμον, ἀλλ ̓ ἐν πίστει καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ, καὶ ὅτι εἰς τὸν ὀφειλόμενον αὐτοῖς τόπον εἰσὶ παρὰ τῷ Κυρίῳ ᾧ καὶ συνέπαθον. The phrase, εἰς τὸν ὀφειλόμενον τόπον, in this passage, is analogous, in point of expression, to that at Acts i. 25, in reference to Judas, which we considered above ; πορευθῆναι εἰς τὸν τόπον τὸν ἴδιον ; and it agrees with it so far in point of sentiment also, that Polycarp must have thought the apostles had a place due to them, and already bound to receive them after death-as much as the speakers in the Acts, that Judas had. This place, in the reference to it both in Clement and in Polycarp, is doubtless the same; and that in the apprehension of the latter it was Paradise-we may infer from the following testimony of Irenæus; concerning whom, I shewed elsewhere, (vide vol. i. page 293, 294,) that when he refers generally to the presbyters, the disciples of the apostles, he means Polycarp and his contemporaries more particularly. (Cf. also my Supplementary Diss. xv. note 304-308.) Διὸ καὶ λέγουσιν οἱ πρεσβύτεροι, τῶν ἀποστόλων μαθηταὶ, τοὺς μετατεθέντας ἐκεῖσε μετατεθῆναι· δικαίοις γὰρ ἀνθρώποις καὶ πνευματοφόροις ἡτοιμάσθη ὁ παράδεισος, ἐν ᾧ καὶ Παῦλος ἀπόστολος εἰσκομισθεὶς ἤκουσεν ἄῤῥητα ῥήματα, ὡς πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ παρόντι κἀκεῖ μένειν τοὺς μετατεθέντας ἕως συντελείας, προοιμιαζομένους τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν: Αdv. Hæreses, v. v. 405. line 12. The antiquity of Polycarp, and the circumstance that he was familiarly conversant with St. John, ought to make his testimony highly valuable both upon this, and on any other point. The same may be said of the testimony of Clement, as that of a disciple of St. Paul. The testimony which the Book of Enoch was competent to have borne on this point, has been anticipated supra, page 115—to which I refer the reader. In like manner, there is a full and minute account of the state of souls between death and the judgment, in the Apocryphal Second of Esdras, cap. vi. 44-76; the date of which we investigated, supra, chapter fifth. This passage is extant in the Ethiopic, though wanting at present in the Vulgate. Seven degrees of grief or discomfort are there recited, as the lot of the souls of apostates or reprobates, in the intermediate state; and seven degrees of consolation, the contraries of the other seven, as the lot of the faithful; and both are supposed to have their appropriate habitations, where the good in particular exist under the guardianship of the angels; Cf. of the same work, iv. 33—35 : 41, 42: 49. 51. In the Sibylline Oracles, the antiquity of which, though later than the Christian era, is probably such that in point of time we should place them on a par with, or next to, these two apocryphal productions, Paradise is mentioned by name, as the local habitation of the worshippers of the true God, and the heirs of life, for some period of being which I should understand of the intermediate state. Οἱ δὲ Θεὸν τιμῶντες ἀληθινὸν, ἀέναόν τε, Cf. Theophilus ad Autolycum, ii. 52. page 250, where the original of this passage first occurs. Cf. also Lactantius, Divin. Institt. ii. 12. Justin M. asserts in the following passage, that no souls die that those of the pious remain in a better place, somewhere or other, (which is in fact in Paradise,) those of the wicked in a worse-both awaiting the season of judgment; ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδὲ ἀποθνήσκειν φημὶ πάσας τὰς ψυχὰς ἐγώ ... . ἀλλὰ τί; τὰς μὲν τῶν εὐσεβῶν ἐν κρείττονί ποι χώρῳ μένειν, τὰς δὲ ἀδίκους καὶ πονηρὰς ἐν χείρονι, τὸν τῆς κρίσεως ἐκδεχομένας χρόνον τότε (leg. ποτέ:) Dialog. 148. 21. In another passage, he gives the following exposition of Ps. xxii. 20, 21, "Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling "from the power of the dog. Save me from the “ lion's mouth ;” &c. Καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἀπὸ ῥομφαίας καὶ στόματος λέοντος καὶ ἐκ χειρὸς κυνὸς αἰτεῖν αὐτὸν τὴν ψυχὴν σωθῆναι, ἵνα μηδεὶς κυριεύσῃ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ αἴτησις ἦν· ἵνα ἡνίκα ἡμεῖς πρὸς τῇ ἐξόδῳ τοῦ βίου γινόμεθα, τὰ αὐτὰ αἰτῶμεν τὸν Θεὸν, τὸν δυνάμενον ἀποστρέψαι πάντα ἀναιδῆ, πονηρὸν ἄγγελον μὴ λαβέσθαι ἡμῶν τῆς ψυχῆς, ibid. 363. 32. In the Quæstiones and Responsiones ad Orthodoxos, also attributed to Justin Martyr, we meet with the following passage, Responsio ad Quæstionem lxxv; which illustrates the author's notion of the intermediate state of Paradise, of the occupation of the just there, and the like; μετὰ .. τὴν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος ἔξοδον εὐθὺς γίνεται τῶν δικαίων τε καὶ ἀδίκων ἡ διαστολή· ἄγονται γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγγέλων εἰς ἀξίους αὐτῶν τό πους· αἱ μὲν τῶν δικαίων ψυχαὶ εἰς τὸν Παράδεισον, ἔνθα συντυχία τε καὶ θέα ἀγγέλων τε καὶ ἀρχαγγέλων, κατ ̓ ὀπτασίαν δὲ καὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος Χριστοῦ, κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον, ἐκδημοῦντες ἐκ τοῦ σώματος, καὶ ἐνδημοῦντες πρὸς τὸν Κύριον· αἱ δὲ τῶν ἀδίκων ψυχαὶ, εἰς τοὺς ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ τόπους καί εἰσιν ἐν τοῖς ἀξίοις αὐτῶν τόποις, φυλαττόμεναι ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας τῆς ἀναστάσεως καὶ ἀνταποδόσεως. Cf. also Quaestio lxxvi. and the Responsio. · ... Besides the passage from Irenæus, quoted above, the same author affirms the existence of a proper locality for the reception of souls after death, and their continuance there in the intermediate state, until the resurrection ; αἱ ψυχαὶ ἀπέρχονται εἰς . . . τὸν τόπον τὸν ὡρισμένον αὐταῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, κἀκεῖ μέχρι τῆς ἀναστάσεως φοιτῶσι, περιμένουσαι τὴν ἀνάστασιν. ἔπειτα ἀπολαβοῦσαι τὰ σώματα, καὶ ὁλοκλήρως ἀναστᾶσαι, τουτέστι σωματικῶς, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἀνέστη, οὕτως ἐλεύσονται εἰς τὴν ὄψιν τοῦ Θεοῦ : Adv. Hær. v. xxxi. 452. 23. He describes this locality, it is true, in terms apparently which might suit to Hades in general; but the context shews that they must be understood of the Hades of the good, that is, of Paradise in particular. Tertullian describes the idea which the church entertained of Hades, in his time, as follows: Nobis inferi, non nuda cavositas, nec subdivalis aliqua mundi sentina creduntur: sed in fossa terræ et in alto vastitas, et in ipsis visceribus ejus abstrusa profunditas : De Anima, 55, Operr. iv. 324. The local habitation of the good in particular, for the intermediate state, is thus described by him, Contra Marcionem, iv. 34. Operr. i. 329 : Unde apparet sapienti cuique qui aliquando Elysios audierit, esse aliquam localem determinationem, quæ sinus dicta sit Abra hæ, ad recipiendas animas filiorum ejus, etiam ex nationibus . . . . eam itaque regionem, sinum dico Abrahæ, etsi non cœlestem, sublimiorem tamen inferis interim refrigerium præbituram animabus justorum, donec consummatio rerum resurrectionem omnium, plenitudine mercedis expungat. Cf. quæ sequuntur. That he means Paradise by this locality, may fairly be inferred from the following passage of the Apologeticus, cap. 47. Operr. v. 114: Et si Paradisum nominemus, locun divinæ amœnitatis recipiendis sanctorum spiritibus destinatum, maceria quadam igneæ illius zonæ a notitia orbis communis segregatum, Elysii campi fidem occupaverunt. And that he placed Paradise somewhere apud inferos, appears from the same chapter De Anima, quoted above, where he observes; Habes etiam de Paradiso a nobis libellum, quo constituimus omnem animam apud inferos sequestrari in diem Domini. This treatise, De Paradiso, is lost. In like manner he wrote a work on the millenary promises, entitled De Spe Fidelium; which also is lost. It is observable, however, that in the same chapter, De Anima, he seems to place in Paradise only the souls of the martyrs: Quomodo Joanni in spiritu Paradisi regio revelata, quæ subjicitur altari, nullas alias animas apud se præter martyrum ostendit? quomodo Perpetua fortissima martyr sub die passionis in revelatione Paradisi, solos illic commartyres suos vidit; nisi quia nullis rhomphæa Paradisi janitrix cedit, nisi qui in Christo decesserit, non in Adam? Yet this conclusion is not necessarily deducible from these words. The final observation, nisi qui in Christo decesserit, non in Adam, leads rather to the inference that Paradise, in the opinion of Tertullian, |