body, ascends to that abode which is above the heavens."

In the same strain, and entirely parallel run the words of Tertullian, in that chapter which treats of the soul. "What if Christ being God, and

because he also was man, dying according to the scriptures, and being buried as the same declare, fulfilled this law by going through the process of human death in the lower parts of the earth; nor did he ascend into heaven before he descended to the region below, that there he might put the patriarchs and prophets in possession of his presence." A little after he adds, "Heaven is open to none, not to say shut, while earth continues, for with the passing away of the world (transactione enim mundi) the kindom of heaven will be unfolded to the view."

The same father, in his treatise on Paradise, has the following words: "He [Christ] hath appointed that every soul should be set apart to (apud inferos sequestrari) or deposited in Hades." until the day of the Lord. It is this very act which constitutes Messiah the Kedosh-Israel, of which epithet it is the radical signification to sanctify, or to set apart to a particular use or place. To this agrees the act of trust which the apostle Paul expresses with regard to his depart

ing spirit; "I know whom I have believed that 2Tm./.12. he is able to keep my deposit against that day."

This clearly shews in what sense they understood the term Holy One of Israel, which is merely a title of office, and corresponding to the Hagiazón of the New Testament. "He who sets apart, as they who are set apart, are of one." Heb. ii. 2.

Besides being set apart, there is contained another radical signification, which in truth is nothing else but a particular modification of the general energy of the verb Kadash, to put in a state of preparation. This is termed by St. Paul a growing up, i. e. an ascending through the different degrees of the pleroma, purposed by God, and ripening for a higher and more glorious abode at the last day. On this head the apostle expresses himself in a manner somewhat singular. He views the issue of all the various labours of the different officers which have been, or shall be in the church of Christ, to be the arrival of every redeemed soul" into a uniformity of faith and of the knowledge of the son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:" and to shew that this can refer to no period of earth, he says it is that "we should no longer be children, tossed and carried about with every wind of doctrine." Now there never was a time or æra in the church of Christ, not even excepting the age of the apostles, when the children of God were not liable to be tossed about in some degree or other, by mistakes in sacred things. He continues,

tinues, "but that possessing things in their unveiled essence (aletheuontes.") Eph. iv. 15, we should grow up to the standard which Messiah exhibits in his human nature, as having gained the extreme point of salvation to which all his followers are destined to arise.

In that apology which Tertullian wrote in behalf of the Christian religion, we see, as to the invisible state, not his individual opinion only, but that of the whole church. "And if we name the place of celestial delights which is destined for the reception of the saints, paradise, we do not mean heaven. Therefore that region I call Abraham's bosom, and although not the heavenly country, yet is intended in the mean time to furnish refreshments to the souls of the righteous, until the end of the world bring forth the resurrection of all, with the fulness of reward."

This doctrine of the intermediate refreshments of the saints, was a very antient article of the Jewish church. It appears principally in the Chaldee paraphrase. In that passage of Isaiah, 33.20 where it is said, "thine eyes shall behold Jerusalem a quiet habitation." The language of the Chaldee is, "Thine eyes shall behold the consolation of Jerusalem." From this paraphrase being so much used in the service of the synagogues, its language and views became familiar to the Hebrew

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Hebrew nation, and at all times was a never failing spring of comfort to the pious. Of this class was Simeon. When an old man, the leading object of his soul was the consolation of Israel. To a devout Israelite this consolation operated as a powerful antidote under every affliction, and from the eyes dried up every tear. Although laid in the grave, yet he expected a time when the captivity of the Israel of God was to be turned back, and when they would be overwhelmed in sweet surprise at the unexpected change: being, as the Psalmist expresses it, "like men that dream."

As might be expected, this hope of future consolation mingles in the writings of the apostles and the Thalmudists. In the evangelist Luke, 6-24 our Lord says, "Woe to you, ye rich, for ye have received your consolation;" i. e. while the hopes of the truly righteous fix on the consolation of Israel, or refreshments of the invisible world, the consolation to which you directed the eye, was your wealth, and this you have got. The woe pronounced lay in this, that in the consolation of Israel they were never to participate. Such is the very sentiment which Abraham expresses to the Lk.16.25. rich man in Hades. "Son, remember that thou in thy life time hast had (Ta Agatha sou) thy consolation, but now he is (Lazarus) paracaleitai, in the possession of his, and thou art tormented."

"Know

"Knowing," says St. Paul," that as you are par- 2 Cor. 1.5-7 takers of the sufferings of Christ, so shall ye be of the consolation." Hence he calls Jehovah the God of patience and of consolation. Rom. xv. 5. These two terms may be viewed as in the abstract instead of the concrete, to denote they who wait and they who are comforted. Their synonyme, expectants of Jehovah, often occurs in the Hebrew scriptures. Of this abstract form there are several examples in the New Testament. Thus St. Paul employs circumcision (peritomè) to signify the Jews; and uncircumcision (Acrobustia) to denote the Gentiles; and apostacy (hypostole) to express apostates. Heb. x. 39. So Peter and 16.11. James employ the term dispersion (diaspora) as comprehending all Jews who were living in foreign countries. Nay, what is still more deserving remark, St. Paul terms this consolation the Phil. 2-1 consolation of the hidden period (paraclesis aiônios). In Hebrew this would be (nehamath-olam.) In our version it is rendered everlasting; but this will not apply to the glorified state after the resurrection, because comfort is in its very nature intermediate, and implies something given in the interim to enable to support the absence of an expected good. When that arrives, the comfort is

* Ne tam longa expectatio animum cruciaret, etiam solatia piis, medio tempore, concessa quæ Hebræi vocant (NuachEden) the repose of Eden. Grotius.

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