it felf uncapable of dying, and as being a Principle of Life to all others that partake of it. Nothing could be more properly mentioned on this occafion, than that very Spirit in which he might be present with them, though abfent in the Flesh, 1 Cor. v. 3. Col.ii.5. Than that Spirit, which, upon their Belief of his Preaching, was to be given them allo in its First-fruits, in its earnest, as a pledge of their Immortality, and a Prin ciple by which it was to be confirmed. Nor could this Preaching in his Spirit agree to any time fo conveniently, as that wherewith it is here joyned, when he was put to Death in the Flesh; that is, to the space between his Death and Refurrection. And the words fometime difobedient plainly imply, that their Difobedience was long before the time wherein they were preached to. And his Preaching is plainly distinguished from the Preaching of Noah, the Preacher of Righteousness, 2 S. Pet. ii. 5. That time of Noah, is faid here to be the time of the long Juffering of God, wherein 120 Years were allowed them for a refpite, Gen. vi. 3. and is opposed to this new Preaching of Chrift, wherein there was no fuch refpite granted, no fuch Argument of long-fuffering, but their final Answer, whether they would believe, was expected within the space between the Death of our Lord and his Refurrection. Here was the fittest feafon for visiting those Рва See Difc of Marriage, &c. Patriarchs in the fame Spirit, which was to restore them that Spirit,as a fecurity for their Immortality, which was withdrawn from them generally in those days of Noah, when God exprefly warned them that his Spirit fhould not always ftrive with men. This feems to relate to the Image of God restored to Seth after the Fall of his Father, which was not taken away from their Body till this time. The Children of Cain had long before loft their Title to it, not only on account of Adam, but alfo of Cain himself, who never had the Spirit himself, that he might derive it to his Pofterity. And the Scripture it felf oppofes this to have been the Cafe, when it calls the Sons of Seth only the Sons of God, and the Daughters of Cam the Daughters of Men, because it is this Spirit of Adoption which entitles us, even in the new Peculium, to the honourable style of being the Sons of God. So again the fame S. Peter, iv. 6. For this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to Men in the Flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit. Here it is plain, that the Spirits in Prifon are the departed Souls of them who were then dead when the Gospel was preached to them; and therefore that the Preaching cannot be understood of the Preaching of Noah, or of any other Perfon who preached to them while they were yet alive. It appears alfo that the defign of this Preaching was, that they might live a Life undoubtedly that was no necessary con Sequent of their own Nature, and which they could not have had but by the benefit of this Preaching, and the Floribility of their down Wills, by which they might be enabled to receive the Benefit of this Preaching. And this agrees with the words: that they might be judged according to Men in the flesh. The meaning could not be,that this Preaching, which was defigned for entitling those dead Perfons to Life, could give Men then living any Reason to judge those as still in the Flesh, who were punished in the Deluge. 1 But rather that notwithstanding Men then living were poffeffed with hard thoughts of the final ftate of those who perished in the time of Noah; yet, by the benefit of this Preaching, many fhould be found entitled to this Immortality, which was the Privilege of the new Peculium. The Expreffion, though it may seem strange, is yet exactly parallel to that of S. Paul, God be thanked, that ye were the fervants of fin; but ye have obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine which was delivered you, Rom. vi. 17. That they had been the fervants of Sin, could be no Rea fon of thanks to God, but rather that which followed in the Apodofis: that, though they had been formerly the fervants of fin, they had now obeyed from the heart the form of the the doctrine which was delivered to them. But this cenforious Judgment of Men here, fupofes the Preaching to have been to them in their separate ftate, because the good event of it was unknown, and therefore could be no restraint to cenforious Persons who knew nothing but the hopeless condition of their entrance on the state of Separation. A like paffage is preferved by S. Justin Martyr and Irenæus, fo antient then as to be ascribed to either Jeremiah or Ifaiah. The words are thefe: ἐμνήθη 5 κύριος ὁ Θεὸς $. Juftin, Dial. cum pr νεκρών αυτό κεκοιμημένων εἰς γι χώ Tfs Tryphon. ματ, καὶ κατέβη προς αυτές ευαγ[ελίσαθαι p. 298. αυτοῖς τὸ σωτέριον αυτό. S. Juftin charges the Jews with cutting these words out of iv. 39, 45, the Prophecy of Jeremiah. So in the La S.Iren. 1. iii. 23. $6,66. V. 26. tin Book of Ecclefiafticus: Penetrabo omnes interiores partes terræ, & infpiciam omnes dormientes, & illuminabo omnes Sperantes in Domino, xxiv. 45. Thefe are fo early Authorities, and fo esteemed by them who lived in the next Age to the Apostles, that it is hardly poffible that they could be inconfiftent with the then notorious Traditions. But, being plain Confequences from these Principles now proved Catholick, they can hardly be otherwife than Catholick themfelves. Nor would it have been mention'd in fo many Creeds, unless the Churches that fo inferted them, had thought them of more Confequence and Authority than private Opinions. And the literal Sence of the And in Befides, by the terms of the Gospel, 42. Baptifm is neceffaty, as well as Faith, for water Baptifm allo neceffary (by the Gospel) for receiving the Spirit, which therefore the Antients believed to have been given to the leparate Souls of them whe had no means of attaining it when living. re |