so, on the other side, whatsoever befalleth the soul of every one at the day of his death, the same is fully accomplished upon the whole man at the day of the general judgment. Whereupon we find that the Scriptures everywhere do point out that great day unto us, as the time wherein mercy and forgiveness, rest and refreshing, joy and gladness, redemption and salvation, rewards and crowns, shall be bestowed upon all God's children. As in 2 Tim. i. 16. 18. "The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus: the Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day." 1 Cor. i. 8. "Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord JESUS CHRIST." Acts iii. 19. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." 2 Thess. i. 6, 7. "It is a righteous thing with God to recompense unto you which are troubled rest with us, when the Lord JESUS shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels." Philip. ii. 16. “That I may rejoice in the day of CHRIST, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain." 1 Thess. ii. 19. "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? are not even ye in the presence of our Lord JESUS CHRIST at his coming?" 1 Pet. i. 5. "Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Cor. v. 5. "That the spirit may be saved in the day of the LORD JESUS." Ephes. iv. 30. "Grieve not the holy Spirit of GOD, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." Luke xxi. 28. "When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." 2 Tim. iv. 8. "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day;" and Luke xiv. 14. "Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."

And that the Church, in her offices for the dead, had special respect unto this time of the resurrection, appeareth plainly, both by the portions of Scripture appointed to be read therein, and by divers particulars in the prayers themselves, that manifestly disVOL. III.-72.

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cover this intention. For there "the ministers," as the writer of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy reporteth,

"read those undoubted promises which are recorded in the divine Scriptures of our divine resurrection, and then devoutly sang such of the sacred Psalms as were of the same subject and argument."

Behold, I John v. "The

And so accordingly in the Roman Missal, the lessons ordained to be read for that time are taken from 1 Cor. xv. 66 tell you a mystery; we shall all rise again," &c. hour cometh wherein all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and they that have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life," &c. 1 Thess. iv. "Brethren, we would not have you ignorant concerning them that sleep, that ye sorrow not, as others which have no hope." John xi. "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, although he were dead, shall live." 2 Maccab. xii. “Judas caused a sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, justly and religiously thinking of the resurrection." John vi. "This is the will of my Father that sent me, that every one that seeth the Son and believeth in him, may have life everlasting and I will raise him up at the last day." And, "he that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath life everlasting and I will raise him up at the last day." And, lastly, Apocal. xiv. "I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth now, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; for their works follow them." Wherewith the sequence also doth agree, beginning,

and ending,

"Dies iræ, dies illa

Solvet seclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sibylla :"

"Lacrymosa dies illa,

Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus ;

Huic ergo parce, Deus.
Pie Jesu Domine,

Dona eis requiem."

Tertullian, in his book de Monogamia, which he wrote after he had been infected with the heresy of the Montanists, speaking

of a prayer of a widow for the soul of her deceased husband, saith, that

"she requesteth refreshing for him, and a portion in the first resurrection." Which seemeth to have some twang of the error of the Millenaries (whereunto not Tertullian only with his prophet Montanus, but Nepos also, and Lactantius, and divers other doctors of the Church did fall), who, misunderstanding the prophecy in the 20th of the Revelation, imagined that there should be a first resurrection of the just, that should reign here a thousand years upon earth; and after that a second resurrection of the wicked at the day of the general judgment.

"They that come not to the first resurrection, but are reserved to the second, shall be burned until they fulfil the times betwixt the first and the second resurrection: or if they have not fulfilled them, they shall remain longer in punishment. And therefore let us pray that we may obtain to have our part in the first resurrection,"

saith St. Ambrose. Hence, in a certain Gothic Missal, I meet with two several exhortations made unto the people to pray after this form the one that GOD would

:

"vouchsafe to place in the bosom of Abraham the souls of those that be at rest, and admit them unto the part of the first resurrection ;"

the other, which I find elsewhere also repeated in particular, that he would

"place in rest the spirits of their friends which were gone before them in the Lord's peace, and raise them up in the part of the first resurrection."

And, to come nearer home, Asserius Menevensis, writing of the death and burial of Ethelred, King of the West Saxons, and Burghred, King of the Mercians, saith that they

"expect the coming of the LORD and the first resurrection with the just."

The like doth Abbo Floriacensis also write of our Cuthbert. Which, how it may be excused otherwise, than by saying that at the general resurrection the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then the wicked shall be raised after them, and by referring the first resurrection unto the resurrection of the just, which shall be at that day, I cannot well resolve.

For certain it is, that the first resurrection, spoken of in the

20th chapter of the Revelation of St. John, is the resurrection of the soul from the death of sin and error in this world; as the second is the resurrection of the body out of the dust of the earth in the world to come; both which he distinctly laid down by our Saviour, in the 5th chapter of the Gospel of St. John; the first in the 25th verse, "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of GOD, and they that hear shall live" the second, in the 28th and 29th, "Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth: they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."

And to this general resurrection, and to the judgment of the last day, had the Church relation in her prayers; some patterns whereof it will not be amiss to exhibit here, in these examples following:

"Although the condition of death brought in upon mankind doth make our hearts and minds heavy; yet, by the gift of thy clemency, we are raised up with the hope of future immortality; and being mindful of eternal salvation, are not afraid to sustain the loss of this light. For by the benefit of thy grace, life is not taken away to the faithful, but changed; and the souls being freed from the prison of the body, abhor things mortal when they attain unto things eternal. Wherefore we beseech thee that thy servant N., being placed in the tabernacles of the blessed, may rejoice that he hath escaped the straits of the flesh, and in the desire of glorification expect with confidence the day of judgment."

"Through JESUS CHRIST our Lord, whose holy passion we celebrate without doubt for immortal and well resting souls; for them especially upon whom thou hast bestowed the grace of the second birth; who, by the example of the same JESUS CHRIST our Lord, have begun to be secure of the resurrection. For thou, who hast made the things that were not, art able to repair the things that were; and hast given unto us evidences of the resurrection to come, not only by the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles, but also by the resurrection of the same thy only begotten Son our Redeemer."

"O God, who art the Creator and Maker of all things, and who art the bliss of the saints, grant unto us who make request unto thee, that the spirit of our brother, who is loosed from the knot of his body, may be presented in the blessed resurrection of thy saints."

"O almighty and merciful GOD, we do entreat thy clemency, forasmuch by thy judgment we are born and made an end, that thou wilt receive into everlasting rest the soul of our brother, whom thou of thy piety hast commanded to

pass from the dwelling of this world, and permit him to be associated with the company of thine elect, that together with them he may remain in everlasting bliss without end."

"Eternal GOD, who in CHRIST thine only begotten Son our Lord hast given unto us the hope of a blessed resurrection; grant, we beseech thee, that the souls for which we offer this sacrifice of our redemption unto thy Majesty, may of thy mercy attain unto the rest of a blessed resurrection with thy saints."

"Let this communion, we beseech thee, O Lord, purge us from sin; and give unto the soul of thy servant N. a portion in the heavenly joy, that being set apart before the throne of the glory of thy CHRIST with those that are upon the right hand, it may have nothing common with those that are upon the left."

66

Through CHRIST our Lord: at whose coming, when thou shalt command both the peoples to appear, command thy servant also to be severed from the number of the evil; and grant unto him that he may both escape the flames of everlasting punishment, and obtain the rewards of a righteous life," &c. Lastly, Abbot Berengosius, speaking of Constantine the Great,

"Forasmuch," saith he, as hitherto he hath not the full perfection of his future rest, but rather doth hope as yet with us to find a better resurrection, we are to pray that he who by his blood was pleased to sanctify the banner of the quickening cross, would hereafter bring unto perfect rest both us and him.”

In these and other prayers of the like kind, we may descry evident footsteps of the primary intentions of the Church in her supplications for the dead; which was, that the whole man, not the soul separated only, might receive public remission of sins. and a solemn acquittal in the judgment of that great day, and so obtain both a full escape from all the consequences of sin, the last enemy being now destroyed, and death swallowed up in victory, and a perfect consummation of bliss and happiness. All which are comprised in that short prayer of St. Paul for Onesiphorus, though made for him while he was alive. The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. Yea, divers prayers for the dead of this kind are still retained in the Roman Offices; of which the great Spanish doctor, Johannes Medina, thus writeth :

66 Although I have read many prayers for the faithful deceased which are contained in the Roman Missal, yet have I read in none of them that the Church doth petition that they may more quickly be freed from pains; but I have read that in some of them petition is made that they may be freed from everlasting pains."