#bers believed it to be; which notion of Ori gen's was afterwards followed by several, especially in the Western church, where it prevailed to the exclusion of the ancient doct rine; though in the Eastern church it did not so; for there the primitive notions were still more generally received, as is to be seen in the writings of the two Gregories, Nyssen and Nazianzen, with others; and lower down than their times, Andrew, Archbishop of Casarea, in Cappadocia, relates it to "be the general opinion in his days, that every one at his death received a place suitable to his deeds, by which he might conjecture his future state;" which place he doth undoubtedly mean to be hell, seeing elsewhere he doth, according to the distinction of St. Jerome, make this difference between death and hell, "That death is the separation of soul and bo dy, but that hell is an unseen, invisible and unknown place to us, which receiveth our souls when we go hence."

The author of the book De Definitionibus, extant amongst the works of Athanasius, but supposed to belong to Maximus, who flourish ed in the seventh century, about the year 640, writes, that our Saviour is called the first fruits of those that sleep," because he first arose from hell, which we shall also do at his sec

ond coming;" that is, he died no more after his resurrection; whereas Lazarus, and others, who were risen from the dead, died again, and must continue in hell till the general resurrection-day.

But, I need not produce any more testimo nies for this matter, seeing to this very day the same doctrine, with very little alteration, is entertained in the oriental churches and the dependants thereof, as Sir George Sandys relates concerning the Greeks and Armenians, that they believe, "that the dead neither do, nor shall feel joy nor torment until the day of doom," by which, I suppose, those Christians mean no more that what I remember is related in the embassy of the earl of Carlisle into Muscovy, anno 1663, concerning the Christians of the empire, that they believe, that the souls of all good men are not admitted into heaven, and unto the immediate sight of God, till the general resurrection-day; and, than what Job Ludolphus writes, concerning the modern Ethiopeans, that "their common belief is, that the souls of the faithful shall not enjoy their happiness till after the resurrection, which the said Ludolphus doth affirm, to have been the sentiment of the greatest part of the fathers;" wherein he is not at all inis. taken, who generally maintained as it hath

been already proved, That as after death the bodies of the faithful remained in the grave, so the souls continued in hell till the general resurrection-day, when their happiness should be compleated and perfected in the highest heavens; which doctrine, as we also see, hath with very little alteration, been preserved in the Eastern churches for these sixteen hun dred years,

But in the Western church, it hath been o therwise; where, as the Latin tongue declin ed, the word inferi or hell, was more and more used in an evil sense, till at length it came to be wholly appropriated to signify a place of forments, or at least of some kind of misery and obscurity.

St. Ambrose was one of the first in the West, who varied from the ancient doctrinej and embraced the opinion of Origen, cons cerning the place of the departed souls of good men, which was, that "before the death of Christ the souls of all the patriarchs and saints went to hell, where they remained in joy and happiness till our Saviour's death? when his separated soul came into those in fernal regions, and breaking the bond there of, he freed those captive souls, and at his re surrection triumphantly led them into heaven,

unto which place the departed souls of all be lievers do now immediately and instantly go."

After him, St. Jerome entertained the same notions, that " before the death of Christ, all souls were alike conveyed to hell; that Abraham's bosom, where Lazarus rested in peace and joy, was a part thereof; that Jacob, Job, Samuel, and all the other saints who lived under the legal dispensation, were detained in hell, till the gospel opened the gates of Paradise, and our Saviour's blood quenched the flaming sword at the entrance thereof, when the thief entered with our Lord thereinto after whom followed into that holy city, the souls of all the saints who had been before detained in hell, and unto which heavenly place, the souls of all good men immediately, upon their dissolution, do now instantly pass, being no longer held in hell since the resurrection of our Lord.

Austin seems to be sometimes wavering and uncertain in his apprehensions of this point; "I do not doubt, saith he, but that the rich man was in an extremity of torments, and the poor man in a confluence of joys; but how that flame of hell and bosom of Abraham is to be understood, will scarcely be found by humble seckers, never by contentious strivers."

In some places he doubts, whether Abraham's bosom, the receptacle of all faithful souls be fore the coming of Christ, was in hell or no; "I must confess, saith he, that I have not yet found where he habitation of the souls of the just is in scripture called hell; and as I have said, so I say again, that I never yet met with the word hell used in a good sense in the canonical scripture :" But, in other places he seems to grant, that Abrahani's bosom, the mansion of the godly before the coming of Christ, was part of hell; "whether Abraham, saith he, was in some parts of hell, I cannot well define; for Christ was not as yet come to hell, that he might deliver from thence the souls of the precedent saints; it is proba ble that there were two hells, divided by the great gulph; in one whereof, the souls of the just were at peace, whilst in the other, the souls of the wicked were tormented:" And, in his book of the City of God, composed in the extremity of his old age, he writes, that "it is not absurd to belive, that the ancient saints who believed in Christ to come, altho? they were in a place remote from torments, yet that they were in hell till the blood of Christ, and his descent thither delivered them from thence; since which time, the souls of believers go to hell no more.