that by the word paradise St. Paul means the place of happy spirits, into which he was transported, 2 Cor. xii. 4. And this sense is very accommodate and proper to this expression of our Saviour and to the prayer of the penitent thief, and it is as suitable to the design of Christ in his epistle to the church of Ephesus, Rev. ii. 7. " the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God," which are the only three places where the New Testament uses this word.

I know there have been great pains taken to shew that the stops should be altered, and the comma should be placed after the word to-day, thus, 'I say unto thee to-day, thou shalt be with me in paradise,' i. e. some time or other hereafter. As though Christ meant no more than this, viz. Thou askest me to remember thee when I come into my kingdom: and I declare unto thee truly this very day, that some long time hereafter thou shalt be with me in happiness at thy resurrection, when my kingdom shall be just at an end and I shall give it all up to the Father,' as in 1 Cor. xv. 24. Can any one imagine this to be the meaning of our blessed Saviour in answer to this prayer of the dying penitent? I know also there are other laborious criticisms to represent these words (to-day) in other places of Scripture as referring to some distant time, and not to mean that very day of twenty-four hours: but rather than enter into a long and critical debate upon all these texts, I will venture to trust the sense of it in this place with any sincere and unlearned reader.

But if we consult the learned Dr. Whitby, he will tell us, that it was a familiar phrase of the Jews to say, on a just man's dying, to day shall he sit in the bosom of Abraham:' And it was their opinion, that the souls of the righteous, who were very eminent in piety, were carried immediately into paradise.' The Chaldee paraphrase on Solomon's Song, iv. 12. takes some notice of the souls of the just, who are carried into paradise by the hands of angels.' Grotius, in his notes on Luke xxiii. 43. mentions the hearty and serious wish of the Jews concerning their friends who are dead, in the language of the Talmudical writers, let his soul be gathered to the garden of Eden:' And, in their solemn prayers when one dies, let him have his portion in paradise, and also in the world to come,' by which they mean the state of the resurrection, and plainly distinguish it from this immediate entrance into Eden or paradise at the hour of death. The Jews suppose Enoch to be carried to paradise even in his body; and that the souls of good men have no interruption of life, but that there was a reward for blameless souls,' as the book of Wisdom speaks, chap. ii. 22. "For God ereated man to be immortal, and to be an image of his own eternity," which seems to suppose blameless souls entering into this reward without interruption of their life. And, if this be the meaning of paradise among the Jews, doubtless our Saviour spake the words in such a knownand common sense, in which the penitent thief would easily and presently understand him, it being a promise of grace in his dying hour, where

in he had no long time to study hard for the sense of it, or consult the critics in order to find the meaning.

We come now to consider the writings of St. Paul: And it is certain, that the most natural and obvious sense of his words, in many places of his epistles, refer to a Separate State of the souls after death: For, as he was a Pharisee in his sentiments of religion, so he seems to be something of a Platonist in philosophy, so far as Christianity admitted the same principles. Why then should it not be reasonably supposed, wheresoever he speaks of this subject, and speaks in their language too, that he means the same thing which the Pharisees and Platonists believ ed, that is, the immortality and life of the soul in a Separate State. But I proceed to the particular

texts.

V. 2 Cor. v. 6, 8. "Therefore we are always confident, (or of good courage,) knowing, that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord: We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." The apostle ver. 4. seems to wish that he might be clothed upon at once with immortality in soul and body, without dying or being unclothed : But since things are otherwise determined, then, in the next place, he would rather choose absence from the body,' that he might be present with the Lord.' These words seem to be so plain, so express, and so unanswerable a proof of the spirits of good men existing in a Separate State, and being 'present with the Lord' when they are absent from the

body' at death, that I could never meet but with two ways of evading it.

The first is what a gentleman many years ago, who professed Christianity, acknowledged to me, viz. that he believed St. Paul did mean, in this place, the same sense in which I have explained him; but he thought St. Paul might be mistaken in his opinion, for he was not of the apostle's mind in this point. I think I need not tarry to refute this answer: But I may make this remark upon it, viz. that the sense of St. Paul concerning the Separate State was so evident, in this place, that this man had rather differ from the apostle than deny this to be his meaning. All his prejudices against this doctrine could not hinder him from acknowledging that the apostle believed and taught it.

The second way of evading it is, that this text, with one or two others of like kind, do indeed speak of the happiness of souls in a Separate State, but it doth refer only to the apostles themselves, who had this peculiar favour and privilege granted them by Christ, to follow him to paradise and enjoy his presence there, while the souls of other Christians were asleep, unconscious and unactive till the resurrection.

Answer 1. It is granted indeed, that several verses of this chapter, as well as in the former, have a peculiar reference to the ministers of Christ, and perhaps to the apostles who were his ambassadors; but there are many things in both these chapters that are perfectly applicable to every Christian, and the verses

just before and just after this eighth verse, may belong to all good men as well as to the apostles or ministers. “He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing," i. e. for the happiness of the future state, "is God, who hath also given unto us the earnest of the Spirit," at least as an enlightener and sanctifier, if not as the author of special gifts, for Rom. viii. 9. "If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." And ver. 6. "therefore we are always confident," or of good courage, "knowing that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith not by sight." This is or should be the character of every Christian. And the 9th verse that follows it belongs to all the saints: "Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him; for we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” Now why should we suppose that St. Paul excludes all other Christians besides himself and his brethren the apostles from the blessing of the 8th verse, viz. that when they are "absent from the body they shall be present with the Lord," since the verses all round it are applicable to all Christians?

Answer 2. These chapters were written with a design not only to vindicate and encourage the apostle himself under the sufferings and reproaches which he met with, but doubtless to give encouragement to the Corinthians, and all Christians under any sufferings or reproaches they might meet with in the world;