1. First, That there is nothing in a child more than in a man to hinder him from the kingdom of God ; for Christ saith, * Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not ; for of such is the kingdom of God.' And I make no question, if in innocency Adam had had children, they should have been blessed ; much more are they capable of blessedness in heaven.
2. Secondly, Children may perform the chiefest act of our work in heaven, namely, to praise God ; as Ps. viii. 2, ' Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast ordained praise.'
3. Again, all those whom Christ raised, being upon earth, were raised in the same stature they were in when they died, as the maid, the widow's son, and Lazarus ; and those who were raised at the resurrection of Christ, how shonld they else have been known of their friends if they had not risen the same they were ? So that the imperfection of children is only in regard of labour and travail, not in regard of capacity to Hve a spiritual life.
Thus have I satisfied your desires in delivering my judgment in these weighty points, which I tie no man to believe further than the Spirit of God shall direct him. We must not be too curious in this great point, only stir up yourselves to the love and fear of God, to walk with him according to the prescription of his word, and then let it suffice us, we shall be raised up in a wonderful manner to everlasting glory and happi- ness, beyond all that we are able to think or speak ; unto which, God of his mercy bring us all in due time. Amen.
NOTES.
(a) P. 318. — ' TertuUian says well, " It was a harder matter for God to make a man, being nothing," ' &c. The present and after-references (b, e, i, p) combine, somewhat oddly, scattered reminiscences not only of this Father's great treatise De Resurredione Caraw, but likewise of his De Animd, ^vlA immortal 'Aisology.' Cf. for the former c. xvii., for the next c. iv. and xxii., for the third c. xlviii.
334 THE GENERAL RESURRECTION.
Probably tbc present reference is to tbo last, wbich is eloquent and eifective. Bp. Kaye's ' Tcrtullian,' c. iii. pp. 100-214, will reward consultation.
(b) P. 318.—' Again, Tcrtullian saith well, " We must not think," ' &c. Cf. noto a above.
(c) P. 319. — -'As Augustine speaks; and Cyril saitli well, "that Christ entered,'" &c. ' As with Tcrtullian, Sibbes in his references brings together various scattered reminisences of Augustine. The indices to his De Civilatc Dei furnish many refer- ences reflective of tSibbes's words. I suspect that Cyril is here a misreference for Basil, in whose Hexaemeron (Homil. viii.) the thought occurs, if I err not.
{d) P. 321. — ' Chrysostom says well, " If a man take a long journey," ' &c. Con- sult as in note o.
(e) P. 321.—' Thus Tcrtullian saith, that "he will pray," ' &c. Cf. note a.
(f) P. 321. — 'St Jerome says, "that it cannot stand with equity," ' &c. I find the thoitfjhts under the following references in this Father's works [Benedictine ed.), iv. pp. 323, 325, 326. So much does Jerome enter into details in the statement of the doctrine of the resurrection of the body, that he intimates there will be no use of barbers in the resurrection state, the hair and nails having ceased to grow, as did those of the Israelites during their sojourn in the wilderness. This Father abounds in the most singular illustrations of Sibbes's oddest questions.
{[)) P. 322. — 'Augustine shall answer for me,' &c. Consult as in note o; but Jerome, as described in note /, is more curious.
(A) P. 324. — ' Irenreus with this shuts up his book.' The 'book' referred to is his (fragmentary) Adversus Ilcereses.
(i) P. 328. — ' TertuUian fetclieth it from another ground,' &c. Cf. note a.
(j) P. 330. — ' We know that Moses was forty days in the mount,' &c. Dr Adam Clarke, in his Commentary upon the place, furnishes us with a fine Eabbinical explanation. Kelative, he says, to the ' forty days' ' fast of Moses, there is a beau- tiful saying of the Talmudists : ' " Is it possible that any man can fast forty days and forty nights ? " To which Eabbi Meir answered, " When thou takest up thy abode in any particular city, thou must live according to its customs. Moses ascended to heaven, where they neither eat nor drink ; therefore he became assimi- lated to them. We are accustomed to eat and drink ; and when angels descend to us, they eat and drink also." ' It was in very truth a ' heavenly,' not an ' earthly life,' in the case equally of Moses, Elijah, and the Lord. (ax..M.iy./S) —
[k) P. 330. — ' Augustine speaks, " It is called a spiritual body," ' &c. Cf. as in note 0 ; also various references under the text.
[l) P. 331. — ' Pliny reports of the little bees.' This apocryphal statement is only one of many concerning bees and other creatures found in Pliny, and magnified in the early English translation by Philemon Holland.