3

13 Torrey's trans.

14 De Civ. Dei., lib. xxi. cap. xxv.

Fourthly, the Fathers believed that none of the righteous dead
could be admitted into heaven itself, the abode of God and his
angels, until after the second coming of Christ and the holding of
the general judgment; neither were any of the reprobate dead,
according to their view, to be thrust into hell itself until after
those events; but meanwhile all were detained in an intermediate
state, the justified in a peaceful region of the under world
enjoying some foretaste of their future blessedness, the condemned
in a dismal region of the same under world suffering some
foretaste of their future torment.15 After the numerous evidences
given in previous chapters of the prevalence of this view among
the Fathers, it would be superfluous to cite further authorities
here. We will only reply to an objection which may be urged. It
may be said, the Fathers believed that Enoch and Elijah were
translated to heaven, also that the patriarchs, whom Christ
rescued on his descent to Hades, were admitted thither, and,
furthermore, that the martyrs by special privilege were granted
entrance there. The point is an important one. The reply turns on
the broad distinction made by the Fathers between heaven and
Paradise. Some of the Fathers regarded Paradise as one division of
the under world; some located it in a remote and blessed region of
the earth; others thought it was high in the air, but below the
dwelling place of God.16 Now, it was to "Paradise," not to heaven,
that the dying thief, penitent on the cross, was promised
admission. It was of "Paradise," not of heaven, that Tertullian
said "the blood of the martyrs is the perfect key." So, too, when
Jerome, Chrysostom, and others speak of a few favored ones
delivered from the common fate before the day of judgment, it is
"Paradise," and not heaven, that is represented as being thrown
open to them. Irenaus says, "Those who were translated were
translated to the Paradise whence disobedient Adam was driven into
the world."17

A notable attempt has been repeatedly made for example, by the
famous Dr. Coward, by Dodwell, and by some other more obscure
writers to prove that the Fathers of the Greek Church, in
opposition to the Latin Fathers, denied the consciousness of the
soul during the interval from death to the resurrection, and
maintained that the soul died with the body and would be restored
with it at the last day. But