4 ¡, 1h 190 Ì he Bleffédnefi of Good Men after Death. Vol. I. Ste john plaínly fpeaks of the Happinefs of thofe that fhould die after that time. ( whatever it be ) which he there defcribes; but that time cannon be the day of judgment, becaufe none (hall die after that time. Juft thus E/lius (one of their moft Learned Commentators) deals with another Text, which by the generality of their Writers is urged as a plain proof of Purgatory ; he(hall befaved, yet fo as by fire : Upon which he fays, it is fufficient that there ía nothing in this Text againfl Purgatory. Sumcient, for what ? Not to prove Purgatory, as they generally pretend from this Text ; but to fave it harmlefs from it ; as if we had pretended that this Text makes againft it. But there are others that makeagainft it with a Witnefs. Not only the perpe- tual Silence of Scripture about it, when there are fo many fair occafions of Speak- ing of it ; as in the Parable of the rich man and Lazarus, where the future State is fo particularly defcribed, and yet no mention made, nor the leaft intimation gi- ven of this Third State : But befides the Silence of Scripture about it, there are feveral Patfages utterly inconfiftent with it; as namely, St. Paul's Difcourfe in the beginningof the Fifth Chapter of the Second Epiftle to the Corinthians, where he plainly declares the Affurance he had,. that all fincere Chriftians, fo foon as they quit theBody, do pafs into Happinefs : For we know, ( fays he) that ifour earth. ly houfe of this tabernacle were dìffolved ; we have a building of God, a bottle not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. The plain meaning of which is, that fo foon as we quit the One, we (hall pafs into the Other. And this Confiderati- on, he tells us, made Chriftians weary of this World, and willing to die ; Ver. 2. For in this we groan earneflly, defiring to be cloathed uponwith our houfe, which is from heaven; and Ver. 4. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being bur- dened. But had Chriftians believed, that the greateft part of them, when they left theBody, were to go into Purgatory, to be terribly Tormented there ; they would not have been in fuch hafte to die ; but would have protra&ed the time as long as they could, and have contentedly born the burden of this earthly Taberna- cle, rather than to quit it, for a Condition a Thoufand times more intolerable. But St. Paul exprefly fays, that Chriftians knew the contrary, and that as foon as ever they went out of the Body, they fhould be happy, and with the Lord; and that this gave them courage agatnft the Fears of Death ; Ver. 6. Therefore we are always confident, ,9apprsvzs &r vreiley'ro, bono igitur animo firmus ; Therefore we are always of good courage knowing that whil/i we are at home in the body, we are abfent from the Lord; and Ver. 8. we are ofgood courage I fay, and willing rather to be abfent from the body, and prefent with the Lord. The plain Senfe of which is, that Chriftians were willing rather to die than to live ; becaufe they knew, that fo foon as they left the Body and departed this Life, they fhould he prefent with the Lord. But now if the Do&rine of Purgatory be true, this whole Reafoning ofSt. Paul, proceeds upon a grofs Miftake ; and therefore I am certain it is not true : And fo does the voice from Heaven here in the Text : Blef- fed are the dead which die in the Lord, that they may re/t from their labours : For there is no Reafon to reftrain this general Expreffion, that die in the Lord, only to the Martyrs ; for tho' they are certainly included, and perhaps Primarily intend- ed in it; yet this Phrafe comprehends all thofe who die in the faith of Chri/l, and is moft frequently fo ufed in the New Teftament. But let this fuffice to have been fpoken of this matter; efpecially fince Bithop Fiflier and feveral of their own Learned Writers, do fo frankly acknowledge, that their Doflrineof Purgatory, bath no fufficient Ground in Scripture. Other Reafons I grant they have for it, which make them very loth to quit it ; it is a very Profi- table Doctrine, and therefore they have taken care to have it more abundantly con- firm'd, by Apparitions of Souls from the dead, than any other Doitrine whatfoe- ver. ' In fhort, how little foever they can fay for it ; it is in vain to go about to perfuade them to part with it. Demetrius the Silver Smith argued as well as he could for his Goddefs Diana, ftom the univerfal tangent of the World in the Worfhipof her ; thegreat Goddefs Diana, whom all Afia, and the World worjhippetb. But his trufty Argument to his Workmen was, Sirs ye know that by this Craft we have our Wealth, and this asir Craft is in danger to befet at nought. II. Here
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