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§. 3. Of the Place and Condition of Souls departed.
But leaving our Popish doctors, with their profound speculations of the not limiting God's power by the Scriptures, and the promises which he hath made unto us therein, let us return to the ancient Fathers, and consider the differences that are to be found among them touching the place and condition of souls separated from their bodies. For according to the several apprehensions which they had thereof, they made different applications and interpretations of the use of praying for the dead; whose particular intentions and devotions in that kind must of necessity therefore be distinguished from the general intention of the whole Church.
1. St. Augustine, (that I may begin with him, who was, as the most ingenious, so likewise the most ingenuous of all others, in acknowledging his ignorance where he saw cause,) being to treat of these matters, maketh this preface beforehand unto his hearers:
"Of hell neither have I had any experience as yet, nor you; and peradventure it may be that our passage may lie some other way, and not prove to be by hell. For these things be uncertain."
And having occasion to speak of the departure of Nebridius, his dear friend:
"Now he liveth," saith he, "in the bosom of Abraham; whatsoever the thing be that is signified by that bosom, there doth my Nebridius live."
But elsewhere he directly distinguisheth this bosom from the place of bliss into which the saints shall be received after the last judgment:
