holy mount in their Humane bodies from Heaven therefore Christ was not the first that entred into heaven with humane body because if the two former brought their bodies along with them from heaven it is likely they carried the same bodies along with them to heaven sol Answ That this Argument hath contain'd in it three Articles or petty questions First whether Moses and Elias appeared unto our Saviour with true real and substantial humane bodies 2ly whether they were the very self same Humane bodies and earthly tabernacles wherewith they were invested and cloathed during their peregrination and pilgrimage here on earth Thirdly whether brought these their bodies from Heaven Though I may easily grant that they appeared to our Saviour in true real and substantial Humane bodies as may easily be concluded and confirmed from those bodily and corporal actions that they performed on the mount speaking and discoursing with our Saviour face to face concerning his death and departure that he was to accomplish at Jerusalem And though I easily grant in a second place that those true and real bodies were the same bodies wherewith their soules were cloathed whiles they were on earth for had their bodies bin others they could not properly have been said to be Moses and Elias yet cannot I so easily grant in the third place that they brought their bodies along with them from Heaven Full well I know that it was an opinion embraced by many yea very many of the Ancient Fathers that the bodies of Henoch and Elias are reserved and kept alive in a third mansion house distinct and separate both from Heaven and earth which they call Paradise and that they shall returne and bodily appear on the earth before the day of Judgment yea and John the Divine and the Prophet Jeremie too whose death is not read of saith Hyppolitus If this opinion be true then doubtlesse Moses and Elias brought not their bodies from Heaven along with them to the holy mount But leaving that opinion as we found it concerning Moses the Scripture plainly concludeth concerning him that his body went not to Heaven together with his soul Deut 34.5 6. there we read So Moses the servant of the Lord died in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord and he that is either God himself or an Angel of God buried him in a valley in the land of Moab over against Beth Peor but no man knoweth of his Sepulcre unto this day And this as I conceive accasioned that grave and solemne dispute and controversie according to St Judes Ecclesiastical tradition and relation v. 9. of his Epistle betwixt Michael the Archangel the devil about the body of Moses The devil urging as I conceive the necessity of the revelation of the place of sepulture thereof that by that meanes he might yeeld the Jewes a copious and abundant occasion of committing Idolatry who he well knew were apt enough by nature to honour God's faithfull servant too much and to neglect his Lord. Contrariwise the Arch-Angel pressing home the expediencie and necessitie of the concealment of it's place of burial for the prevention and disappointing of the occasion and introduction of Superstition and Idolatry Wherefore if the body of Moses went not together with his soul to heaven but as the Scripture teacheth remained on earth then surely could he not bring it along with him from heaven when he appeared on the holy mount and why may not the same be said of Elias that his body by the hand of God's omnipotencie had as sudden a restitution at his soul's descent from Heaven the very case of the soules of God's elect at the resurrection as it had dissolution at it's evection and transportation thither Sure I am whatsoever other men thinke the conceipt and opinion of the sons of the Prophets was that his body was not carried up into heaven but rather that the spirit of the Lord had taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley which made them so earnestly to sue unto Elisha That fifty strong and able men might goe and make search and inquisition after him 2 King 2.16 And these sons of the Prophets as I conceive were no plain or simple men but even Prophets themselves as man and son of man are all one in Hebrew phrase belonging and appertaining to the Schole or Colledge of Elias and Elisha whom a great Antiquary and Chronologer from prophane writers calleth by the name of Elulaeus Armagh Chron One objection remaineth that may be made that seems somewhat weighty and ponderous it is this Arg 4 Christ had his messengers and fore-runners his servants the Prophets going before his face to prepare his way before himself bodily and personally oppeared in flesh and blood here on earth to gather his Church and enter upon his Kingdome of grace what hurt then if we suppose some Saints and holy men of God corporally went before him as his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fore-runners and messengers before he himself personally and in his Humane body entred and actually took possession of his Kingdome of glory Answ Be it granted that Christ had his messengers and fore-runners before he came personally himself to plant his Church to gather his Saints together and to enter upon his Kingdome of grace yet hence it follows not that he had any that did fore-run him bodily before himself bodily and personally entred into his Kingdome of glory A necessity there was of the Antecedent but no necessity at all of the Consequent For the better and clearer Demonstration of my sense and meaning in this Answer we must observe and mark that the whole my stery of man's redemption is grounded and established on a threefold foundation First on God's eternal purpose before all time Secondy on his free promise at the beginning of time Thirdly on his mercifull performance in the fulness of time The first is God's eternal purpose before all time of this we must conceive thus that God to whose eternall knowledge all things are present and nothing past or to come foreseeing man's fall before all time purposed to send his Son Jesus Christ into the world to redeem him Ephes 1.9 Act 2.23 The second is God's free promise at the beginning of time when immediately upon the fall of Adam God promised Christ unto him saying unto the serpent I will put emnity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed He that is to say Christ the seed of the woman shall break thy head and thou shalt bruise is heel This promise of Christ the woman's seed was the Gospel and the only comfort of Adam Abel Henoch Methuselah Noah and the rest of the godly Fathers till the time of Abraham At the time of Abraham this promise was turned into a covenant with Abraham and his seed and oft times repeated That in his seed all Nations should be blessed Gen 12.3 and 18.18 and 22.18 which promise and
Henoch Deus à terrâ subduxerit God withdrew Henoch after an unusual manner from the earth And of him saith the Author of the book of Wisdome Chap 4.10 He pleased God and was beloved of him so that living amongst sinners he was translated The same saith the wise Syracides Ecclus 44.16 So doth Paul By faith Henoch was translated that he should not see death Heb 11.5 Answ I grant that Henoch was translated for so saith the Scripture but concerning the manner how and the place whither Adhuc sub Judice lis est there is the question for in the Scripture we read of a translation to grace as well as of a translation to glory 1 Coloss 13. The Apostle saith That God hath translated us into the Kingdome of his deer Son And yet notwithstanding all this he hath not as yet transported us both body and soule into the glorious Kingdome of Heaven That Henoch's translation should consist in the evection and exaltation of his Humane body into Heaven I can hardly grant for this as I conceive would quite evert and overthrow that assertion of the Apostle that Christ is the first fruits of those that slept 1 Cor 15. and that other of the same Apostle That Christ in all things hath the preeminence Coloss 1.18 Yea and that saying of Christ himselfe also Joh 3.13 No man hath ascended up into heaven but he that came down from heaven even the Son of man which is in heaven And if I must needs erre concerning one I will rather chuse to detract something from the honour repute of Henoch then derogate the least jot or title from the glory honour preeminence of Christ Sure I am that St Chrysostome is so far from avouching the body of Henoch to be in Heaven that he condemneth it of curiositie to enquire what is become of him or to what end he was translated Hom Heb 22. Jer 21.6 Ob But of Henoch the Apostle saith that he was so translated that he should not see death Heb 11.5 Sol The same saith Christ of every true believer Joh 8.51 Verily verily I say unto you if a man keep my saying he shâ—ll never see death yet every one that believes in Christ and keeps his saying is not forthwith corporally translated to eternal life It is plain and manifest that these words of Christ cannot be understood of the exemption from corporal but of the evasion of eternal death as plainly appeares by the Jewes answer to our Saviour v. 52. Abraham is dead and the Prophets are dead yet those holy men of God believing in Christ are truly said by Christ not to see that is not to feele the sting of death because in the midst of death by true faith they have a sight of eternal life Job 8.5 6. saith Christ to the Jewes Your father Abraham rejoyced to see my daies and he saw it and was glad As in the former sentence not to see is not to feel so in the latter to see is by faith to enjoy Arg 2 A second Argument may be taken from the example of Elias of him the Scripture testifies That he went up by a whirle-wind into heaven 2 King 2.11 The wise Syracides likewise celebrates him with this Encomium That he was taken up in a whirle-wind of fire and in a chariot of fiery horses Ecclus 48.9 He was taken up in a whirlewind of fire saith the Apocriphal book by a whirlwind into heaven saith the Canonical and what though shall we hence infer that therefore he was transported body and soul into the emperial Heaven without dissolution it doth not follow we well know that whatsoever is lifted up from the earth that doth encircle and encompasse the earth in Scripture phrase is called by the name of heaven for from hence the name of heaven is deriv'd for that it is hoven up above or from the earth saith Mr Verstegan In the Scriptures we read of the fowles of heaven Job 35.11 By that can be meant nothing else but the air as plainly doth appear from Gen 6.7 and Math 6.26 compared together In the Scriptures likewise we read of the Stars of Heaven Gen 22.17 By Heaven there can nothing els be ment but the Celestial orbs for as the Emperial Heaven that hath no need of Sun Moon or Stars or any of those petty or inferiour lights as St John witnesseth in his Revelation Chap 21.23 The City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb was the light thereof In the Scripture likewise we read of a third Heaven whither Saint Paul was rapt which by Paul 2 Cor 12.4 Joh Apoc 2.7 And Christ himself Luk 23.43 is called Paradise And again by Christ himself Abraham's bosome Luk. 16. And his fathers house wherein are many mansions Joh 14.2 So that Elias according to this Trimembred distinction may be carried into Heaven and yet be elevated no higher and passe no further then the air yet if this Answer seems too poor hungry and starvling be it granted that Elias was transported into the highest and Emperial Heaven yet as Paul speakes of himself and of his own rapture into the same place so may I say of Elias whether it was in the body I cannot tell or whether it was out of the body I cannot tell God knowes Still I thinke the safest way will be that nothing may be derogated from the prerogative of Christ To conclude that his spirit returned unto God that gave it yeelding over his body into the hands and secret wisdome and councel of God to be disposed of and resolved as he thought good And why may we not say that the body of Elias upon his spirits returne into the hands of the father of Spirits was resolved into its mother earth by the power of God even by the same omnipotent power by which Humane bodies were prepared and accommodated for the holy and heavenly Angels that appeared to Abraham Lot and others certainly they had true bodies as appeares by their eating drinking the washing of their feet and the performance of other Humane Actions and this is the opinion of Michael Psellus the best Doemonist that ever wrote saith Joh Luaovicus vives both concerning Angels and Devils as he derives it from the great St Basil in his book of the operation of Devils which immediately after the execution dispatch and finishing of their embassage and dispensation were by the same Almighty power of God either annihilated or resolved into their first principles Arg 3 The third probabilitie is raised from the example of Moses and Elias who at Christ's Transfiguration on the holy mount are said to have appeared unto Jesus and to have spoken unto him of his discease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem Math 17.3 Marc 9.4 Luk. 9.30 31. The objection as I conceive may be thus formed and fashioned Moses and Elias appeared in glory to Jesus on the
end for which he came with all other circumstances belonging to his manifestation The last of all the Prophets and that by Christ's own witnesse Math 11.13 was John the Baptist who immediately before his coming going before the face of the Lord in the spirit and power of Elias to prepare his way preacht unto the people the doctrine of repentance and remission of sins saying repent for the Kingdome of Heaven is at hand After the voice of this Crier immediately followed the eternall word of the Father in his own person clothed with flesh and blood to preach redemption to his people And here was the full performance of God's long promise now then to sit down and rest and breath a little after a long ramble and chase peradventure some may say quest Quorsum isthaec tam longo repetita circuitu What meanes this long narration of God's most mercisul dispensation to his Church in putting it in minde some way or other in all ages and generations of the promised Messias sol Answ That the necessity might the better appeare why the Father sent the servants in the first place before his son personally appeared in the last to gather his Saints together and to raise his Kingdome of grace these he did for these Reasons Reason 1 First for the better calling to mind and keeping his promise in perpetual remembrance For since from the first going forth of the promise and the performance thereof in the fulnesse of time by the incarnation and nativitie of the Son of God so great a Chasme and interval of time did intercede as the space and length of almost 4000. yeares according to the computation and account of Beroaldus had not God some way or other as saith Paul Heb 1.1 either by visions and revelations tradition Types and Figures Prophesies and Predictions of his servants the Prophets successively sent in all ages continually call'd his promise to remembrance and preserved and kept it fresh in the minds of his people in all reason his promise in so long a tract and duration of time would have been forgotten and the whole world have fell into a general and universal atheisme and apostacie faith unfeigned in the Lord Jesus Christ and in him alone being the undoubted and infallible ground worke and foundation of true and sound religion towards God so saith Christ to his heavenly Father And this is life eternal to know thee the only true God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ Joh 17.3 Reason 2 Secondly he did it for the strengthning the faith of all true believers which else through the weaknesse and infirmitie of the flesh had been apt every moment to faile had not God in all ages from the creation downward by some means and messenger or other still renewed and refresht his promise to his Church I say from the issuing forth of the first promise concerning the Messias from God in Paradise to the performance thereof there being so long a tract and continuation of time as the space of almost 4000 years had not God continually seconded and backt his first promise with fresh and new promises to his Church in all ages the faith of God's children had bin apt yea very apt to faile and not without cause might they have cried out and complained with David Psal 69.3 Mine eies faile while I wait for my God and 119.82 Mine eies faile for thy word saying when wilt thou comfort mee and 119.123 Mine eies faile for thy salvation and for the word of thy righteousnesse And as he doth Psal 77.7 8. Will the Lord cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more Is his mercy clean gone for ever doth his promise faile for evermore And for this cause God made the Saints of all ages as Saint Paul saith Heb 6.12 thorough faith and patience to inherit the promise both of the coming and incarnation of the Son of God that so both they and we might be made one Christ as saith Paul having broken down the middle wall of partition between us Ephes 2.14 And so as Saint Peter All of us be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ Act 15.11 We by faith in Christ that is come they by the same faith in Christ that was to come Reason 3 Thirdly this he did to whet and sharpen the desires and heighten the hope and expectation of his servants The wise Solomon yeelds us a most excellent saying to this purpose Prov 13.12 Hope deferred maketh the heart sick but when the desire cometh it is a tree of life In which golden Text hope is set for the thing hoped for as it is likewise Heb 6.18 And this hope defer'd and delai'd saith Solomon maketh the heart sick that is to sigh and groan earnestly with desire and love and longing after the thing hoped for Thus the Apostle Saint Paul by a most elegant prosopopoeia Rom 8.21 22. maketh the whole creature the whole creation to groan and travel in pain together to be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious libertie of the Sons of God Thus the Church grew sick with desire and longing she had after Christ Cantic 2.5 and 5.8 Thus Jacob waited for the Lords salvation Gen 49.18 And David longed for it Psal 119.174 And his soule panted and thirsted after God with as much vehemencie and ardencie of desire as the Hart panted after the water brooks Psal 42.1 2. Thus the Prophet Esay maketh the Church to sigh and groan after the company and fellowship of Christ Chap 26.8 9. In the way of thy Judgments O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee with my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within mee will I seek thee early c Thus Simeon earnestly looked and longed for him and all the Saints likewise that looked for redemption in Jerusalem Luk 2.38 And after the same manner the Apostles both Saint Paul Saint John make the whole Church to long after the comeing of Christ and the restitution of all things 2 Con 5.2 Apoc 22.17 18 20. This I say is the third Reason why the great Lord both of Heaven and earth sent so many of his servants in the first place before he sent his only Son that so the world being continually informed by the servants and messengers that went before concerning the comeing of their Lord Master that was to follow after the hearts of all true believers might be enflamed with the desire of him and long to see that day wherein Christ Jesus the desire of all Nations as Haggai calls him Chap 2.7 should come as the sick patient thinks every hour two till the Physitian comes who he believes will recover him and at his coming receive him the more joyfully and glorifie the Lord the more thankfully for that long lookt for was at last come and their eies with Simeon had seen the