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believe him to have been real Samuel that was fo difquieted. The Son of Sirach thought so, Eccl. xlvi. 23. and reckons it among his Glories, that, even then, he prophefied: Nor does Jofephus intimate the leaft Doubt of it, where he relates the Sto ry, Ant. vi. 15. These are the eldest Jewish Authors, next the Scriptures, that mention it, of whofe time we are certain. The eld eft Chriftian Writer, who takes notice of it, is Justin Martyr; and he is full in the Point, not only concerning Samuel, but concerning the Souls of all righteous Men and Prophets : Ράινεται δὲ καὶ ὅτι πᾶσαι αἱ Tryph. P. ψυχαὶ τῶν ἔτως δικαίον καὶ προφητῶν ὑπὸ ἐξεσίαν ἔπιπιον τῶν τοιέτων δυνάμεων, ὁποία δὴ καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐγδατριμύθῳ ἐκείνη ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν πραγ Orig. de párov oμoλoyeтal. So Origen alfo (that Engaftri Master of the Church next the Apostles, as S. Jerome ftiles him before his Quarrels concerning him.) in a juft Difcourfe of this Subject, though not fo confiftently. with his Hypothefis of the natural Immortality of Human Souls. So alfo Anaftafius Antiochenus exprefly afferts, that all the Souls, as well of the Saints as of the Wicked, were under the Power of the Devil, till they were delivered by Chrift. And he fo expounds the Words of S. Paul, that death (that is, fays he, the Devil) reigned over all from Adam to Mofes. But the Instance of Samuel fhews, that this Power is not to be

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confined to the time of Mofes. All are fuppofed by S. Justin to be in the fame Condition, even fince Chrift. And that he gives, as the Reason of the Prayers of the Church for departing Souls, that they might be delivered from the Moleftations of thefe Evil Angels, and interprets a Paffage of the Pfal mift to this Purpose. This I believe might be the Occafion of those antient Liturgies produced by Primate Uber, wherein we find Prayers for Patriarchs, Prophets, the Apoftles, the Martyrs even the Blessed Virgin her felf, though thofe Ages, wherein thofe Liturgies were introduced, had entertained the higheft Opinions of her Happiness, beyond that of any mere Creature. Not only as owning them all as one Body with the Militant Church on Earth, but as believing them to need their Prayers whilst they were in thofe Separate Manfions acceffible by the Devil. This was the Case of those who finned without a pofitive Law, fuch as Adam had, and did, in regard of the generality of Mankind, expire with Mofes; yet it is certain, that the Kingdom of Death did not do fo. The Apostle reckons Death as the last Enemy that shall be subdued by our Lord, i Cor. xv. 26. not certainly, till the general Refurrection. So long therefore even these good Souls must be fome way under him who has the par of that ßaσιλεία, I have already fhewn, that even S the

the Apostles were thought to go to "Adns,by the Apoftolical Hermas. Yet these are reckon'd in the Scripture and the fame Hermas, as the Foundations of the Church, next Chrift the chief corner Stone, in Allusion to the Paffage of the Pfalmift, on which all the other Members of the Church are to be superftructed. Thence it appears, that even new baptized Perfons, and Martyrs (whose Cafe is believed equal to that of those who die in their Baptifmal Purity) being incorporated into the fame Body with the Apostles, and built upon them, cannot be exempted from that State, to which the Apostles themselves are liable. And, if these be not exempted, I know none others that can pretend to it. Nor can I perceive any Inconvenience in it, fo long as this Slavery to the Devil does not make them obnoxious to any Pains that can be inflicted by the Devil, but only fome Difquietudes, wherein they might be relieved by the Prayers of the Living, according to the Opinion of S. Jullin Martyr. It is certain, that, even in thefe feparate Receptacles, thefe purer Souls are laid to be happy, and to be with Christ, notwithstanding this Slavery to the Devil, whilft they are in thefe Regions of Mortality; and therefore that their Slavery cannot make them liable to fuch Inconve niences, as may be inconfiftent with their Happiness; nor, that their Difquietudes can

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be fo great, as to hinder their State from being a State of Reft, as to the main, as the Scripture describes it. But how is it reconcilable, that they can be in Heaven, as being with Chrift; and yet in" Adas, as not being altogether free from the Power of the Devil? Very well: There is the uppermost and the nethermoft Hell or Gehenna. And there is the Heaven, and the Heaven of Heavens, or far above all Heavens, in the Language of the Scripture, the Pleroma, in the Language of the Gnofticks. Both Heavens are places of Happinefs, as both Hells are fuppofed to be in the Power of the Devil. The Difference is this: The lower Heaven is the place of the less perfect Happiness, as the uppermost Hell is the place where the Devil's Power is most restrained, as it must be where it cannot hinder the Inhabitants from being happy. And both thefe Qualifications may agree to the Air, in the Bounds now defcribed, as it is a mixture of mystical Light and Darkness, anfwerable to those Viciffitudes of visible Light and Darkness here fuppofed. As all the Space between the Air and the Earth is the Seat of Mortality, and not properly Heaven; fo it is contained under the Kingdom of Death, and of him that has the Power of Death, as being all Air, in Opposition to Heaven, properly fo called. But as it has Light, and, in the places nearest Heaven,

more pure and unmixt, comparatively with what is more remote from Heaven, and (for that Reason) more mixt with Darkness; fo it has the Name of Æther, as contradiftinguished from Air in a more reftrained Senfe, and is accordingly capable of that Happiness afcribed to it in the Scripture. This Diftinction is owned by the Scholiaft on Homer, who bears the Name of Didymus. He makes three Spaces of the In Homer, Heavenly Regions: one of the Air, expe 11. Θυ. 6. νεφελῶν, στα αιθέρα μέχρι τῶν φαινομένων , that is, the ftarry Heaven, fo called by Aratus in his φαινόμενα. The third therefore is that of the feveral Orbs of the starry Heaven itself. Which therefore was, very probably the third Heaven, into which S. Paul was caught, of greater Dignity than the ordinary Heaven of the Bleffed, in which they are fupposed to be at prefent. This fecond Region therefore feems to be the place of happy Souls, till the Refurrection. This S. Rev. vi. 9. John places ὑποκάτο το θυσιαςηρία, which he alots even to the Martyrs themselves, the highest Rank of the ordinary Blessed. That Altar he calls the Golden Altar before the Throne of God, Rev. viii. 3. ix. 3. No doubt, in Allufion to the Golden Altar of Incense, which was in that part of the Jewish Temple, which was acceffible to none but the Priefts. Accordingly the Oblations offered on it, are Suidpala, Rev. v. 8. and Frank

incenfe,