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A04774 Miscellanies of divinitie divided into three books, wherein is explained at large the estate of the soul in her origination, separation, particular judgement, and conduct to eternall blisse or torment. By Edvvard Kellet Doctour in Divinitie, and one of the canons of the Cathedrall Church of Exon. Kellett, Edward, 1583-1641. 1635 (1635) STC 14904; ESTC S106557 484,643 488

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first coming though it was accompanied with good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people Luke 2.10 yet was it also a dreadfull day to the wicked and disobedient men worse then if he had never come and it was dolefull also to the evil spirits whom he then vanquished cast out and tormented before their time Matth. 8.29 triumphing over them in his own person and trampling them down and breaking them in pieces with his rod of iron in their own kingdome and therefore may justly be called in respect of them a terrible day The Prophets testimonie reacheth home for confirmation hereof Isa 61.2 He hath sent me to preach the acceptable yeare of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourn Which Prophesie Christ himself Luke 4.18 c. applieth to his first coming and addeth remarkably vers 21 This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your eares The day of vengeance you see is threatned in Christs first coming And is not the day of vengeance unto such to whom vengeance passively belongeth a terrible day Which truth is also confirmed by that admirable similitude fore-prophesied in the law of Moses and applied to Christ in the law of Grace concerning Christs being not onely a chief corner-stone 1. Pet. 2.6 and the head of the corner Psal 118.22 Elect and precious saith S. Peter a tried stone a sure foundation Isa 28.16 and for a sanctuarie Isa 8.14 and whosoever beleeveth on him shall not be ashamed Rom. 9.33 But also Christ is compared to a stumbling stone and a rock to make men fall Rom. 9.32 33 or as Isaiah hath it a stumbling stone and as a rock to fall upon and as a snare and as a net And many shall stumble and fall and be broken and snared and taken Isa 8.14 c. Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken but on whomsoever it shall fall it shall grinde him to powder Matth. 21.44 And is not such a stone terrible to such as fall on it or on whom it falleth and is not that time terrible when it falleth This is prophesied of Christs first coming and so his first coming is truely said to be a terrible day unto some Lastly it is insinuated that Christ when he cometh may smite the earth with a curse which must be understood of his first coming for after his second coming after the day of judgement the earth is not to be cursed but rather blessed For there shall be a new heaven and a new earth ●no sorrow nor crying nor pain Revel 21.1 4. Upon which reasons and others I have wondred that the divine Drusius should be so caught with the Jewish fable as to doubt whether Elias be come or no. Drusius in his castigations or notes on Ecclesiasticus 48.11 thus a Hodie multorum ●pinio est credentiū istud Malachiae vaticinium ex parte tantùm in Joanne completum fuisse● Hi tenent venturum abhuc Eliam in propria persona sub adventum Domini quem vocant alterum sive secundum hoc est ante extremum judicium Quae vera an falsa sint non decerno H●c tantùm Judaeos etiamnum cum suo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expectare Eliam de quo hî● sermo est unde dicunt Cùm venerit Elias ipse docebit nos omnia To this day many think and beleeve that this prophesie of Malachi was onely by the Baptist in part fulfilled and they hold that Eliah shall personally and bodily appeare toward the second coming of our Lord before the last judgement Whether these things be true or false I determine not This onely I will say The Jews do as yet and to this houre look for Eliah to come with their Messiah and of him they have this saying WHEN ELIAH COMETH HE SHALL TEACH VS ALL THINGS I reply What part what syllable in Malachi concerning Elias was not fulfilled by John the Baptist If many do now beleeve otherwise they are such as are Jews who neither beleeve the words of our Saviour who said Elias was come and therefore think Elias shall come because they think their Messias is not come at all or at least they do Judäize in this point whosoever they be that expect the personall coming of the Tishbite Christopher Castrus the Jesuit on Malach. 4.8 concludeth That the true Elias shall yet come because it was the voice of the Jews and the expectation of the Scribes and Pharisees who said in the same places that Elias should come b Ante Christum gloriosum ut super Matthaeum ass●rit H●eronymus before Christs glorious appearing as S. Hierom writeth on Matthew First I answer that the Jews did expect the coming of their Messias to be glorious in all worldly pomp Secondly I call not now to minde that the Scribes Pharisees or Jews ever expected a second coming of their Messias Thirdly whereas our Saviour saith Matth. 17.11 Elias truely shall first come and restore all things though these words were spoken after John the Baptist was beheaded yet Christ meaneth not that Elias shall come corporally but in answering his disciples he propoundeth the objection of the Jews which they before alledged more briefly and speaketh according to their opinion Elias indeed shall come and then in the verse following Christ saith unto his disciples thus in effect by way of correction Whatsoever the Scribes say or affirm concerning Elias his bodily coming is not literally to be understood BVT I SAY VNTO YOV THAT ELIAS IS COME ALREADY And what he saith to his disciples here he saith to the people Matth. 11.14 If ye will receive it This is Elias which was for to come He fore-knew that some would not beleeve him and therefore he said If ye will receive it This is Elias This John who then did live this John is Elias not which shall come this is the exposition of the Jews but this John is that Elias which was to come and now is come and the prophesie fulfilled He that hath eares to heare let him heare The last words as Hierom well observeth do evince that the former to wit If ye will receive it This is Elias are mysticall and hard to be understood no plain sense or manifest sentence Whence I inferre that plain and easie it would have been to the Jews if he would have said as they did think That Elias should come bodily although the Baptist did resemble him in vertue and power and was equall unto him But here is the mysterie That Malachi never intended that Elias should live on earth corporally against Christs second coming but that the Baptist was prefigured in Elias and whatsoever was prophesied by Malachi of Elias was accomplished by the Baptist and no other Elias to come but the Baptist in vertue and power of Elias and not according to the outward letter Here is a mysterie here is depth which the c Judaei Judaizantes haeretici Jews and Jewishly addicted hereticks
Charles the fifth his Edicts n Nè quis de Sacra Scriptura maximè de rebus dubiis difficilibus privatim aut publicè disputet aut ejus interpretationem sibi sumat nisi sit Theologus qui probatae alicujus Academiae testimonium habeat Let no man take upon him to dispute publickly or privately of the sacred Scripture especially of doubtfull and hard points or to interpret it except he be a Divine that hath the testimonie of some approved Vniversitie It was an holy Edict breeding reverence to the sacred word of God and I could wish it were in practise with us though I must needs confesse the breach of the edict was too severely punished for the men were to be beheaded and the women to be buried alive though they desisted from their errour but if they were obstinate they were to be burned and their goods confiscated Yet the rebellions of the Anabaptists in Germanie may be some cloke for that cruell sentence which rebellions also forsooth were moved by the Spirit of God if for example sake you wil give credit to Thom. Muncer his oration unto the armed rebellious clowns o Constat nobis auspicatum esse me hanc actionem non meâ quadam autoritate privatâ sed jussu divino We are sure saith he that I began not this action by any private authoritie of mine but by a divine injunction c. And again p Videbitis ipsi manifestum Dei auxilium Ye your selves shall see the manifest help of God And he had Scripture to confirm it Scripture in word not in sense Scripture misapplied things falling out contrary to his propheticall Spirit for they were overcome and he beheaded Likewise Sleiden Comment 30. fol. 28. saith of the Anabaptists q Cum Deo colloquium sibi esse mandatum se habere aiebant ut impiis omnibus interfectis novum constituerent mundum in quo pii solùm innocentes viverent They said they had conference with God and a mandate from him to kill all the wicked and then to frame a new world wherein none but the godly and innocent should live This I will say of mine own knowledge that when that man of happy memory the late right Reverend now most blessed Saint Arthur Lake Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells appointed Doctour Sclater now also a Saint of heaven then my most learned loving friend and sometime fellow-Collegian in the two royall Colledges at Eaton and Cambridge with my self to conferre with an Anabaptisticall woman we heard her determine great depths of Divinitie as confidently as ever S. Paul did though he was taught by Christ himself and as nimbly as ever an ape crackt nuts yet so ignorantly and with such non-sense that we both wondred at her incredible boldnesse The Revelation she had at her fingers ends she thought that she understood it better then S. John himself and defined in a few houres conference more depths of Divinitie then six Generall Councels would in a long time Mysteries were no mysteries to her if an Angel of earth or one from heaven instruct her contrary to her frantick prepossest imagination she would conclude Because the Spirit bloweth where it listeth that the Spirit instructed her in the right way A fit consequence for such a pseudo-prophetissa 7. But what do I speak of her self-conceit when of late an other of her sex hath printed a book of her phantasticall crudities and by English anagrams expoundeth Scripture A new kinde of interpretation never thought of fit for a woman to be the inventour of She teacheth Daniel to reveal himself after a new fashion and such things which were he alive and racked he must say he never thought of She thinks she untieth knots and gives light to prophesies but indeed misapplieth things past and perhaps future contingents to present times and while she gathereth many excellent strains of words and sentences out of the divine Writ in coupling them together she maketh such a roaring hotch-potch as if she had vowed to write full-mouthed non-sense in loftie terms others not knowing nor perhaps herself what she aimeth at Take a taste of her anagrams DANIEL I END AL. Yet did not he end all prophesies nor all things MEDES AND PERSIANS SEND MEE SPANIARDS What would she do with them It was feared that they would have come too soon for her and others too THE ROUGH GOATE THE GOTH ROAGUE Like you this you shall have more as bad as void of wit PRINCE OF PERSIA I CAN POPE FRIERS If Friers should come and prevail they would teach her to be more humble DARIUS THE MED I DREAMED THUS Awake dreamer no sense is in thy dreams much lesse religion Was ever Scripture made such a nose of wax did ever any religious heart think such could be the meaning of those words Let me but touch at her obscene exposition of the end of Christs Circumcision pag. 5 and consider her fanaticall imagination that the Spirit of God by Michael understood King James pag. 50 And the warre in heaven with Michael and his Angels against the Dragon and his Angels is thus expounded by her pag. 55. The fray is fought by seconds by Michael is meant King James the Dragon is the Pope whom Michael overcame by the bloud of the Lambe and by the testimonie of so many Bishops and other faithfull crowned with the glory of Martyrdome whereas King James had never a Bishop so crowned and never a Bishop was so crowned since he was born Holy peaceable and harmlesse King James who would scarce hurt a worm is now interpreted to be the greatest fighter among the celestiall host I could wish she would repent for her blasphemy pag. 70 where she writeth That the person of the sonne of God not made was turned into a lump of clay and for her pointing out the day of judgement For though she confesseth pag. 90 Of the day houre no man knoweth no not the Angels that are in heaven nor the Sonne but the Father yet she addeth The account of this book of note is by centuries of yeares Suppose it were so as it is not could not Christ and his Angels know the day by the computation of centuries as well as she but she by a new account hath found out as she imagineth what Christ and the good Angels were ignorant of namely the exact day of doom For thus she determineth pag. 100 There is nineteen yeares and a half to the day of judgement July the twenty eighth one thousand six hundred twenty five Had not this woman been better never to have seen Scripture then thus to profane it and take Gods word in vain You think you have the Spirit of God as you write in the last page but I am sure if you repent not betimes for your wire-drawing of Gods word and intruding into hidden and unsearchable depths of Divinitie you are in a desperate case and all the Separatists and Enthusiasts of
mori An impossibility of sinning or dying An unchangeable and immortall life Non posse deserere bonum vel adhaerere malo An impossibility of for saking goodnesse and cleaving to evil and not onely beatitudinem gloriam but coronam gloriae Not onely blessednesse and glory but a crown of glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An immarcescible crown of glory 1. Peter 5.4 Lastly if we go to the numbring of them that were hurt by Adam and the number of those who receive benefit by Christ the greatest number is on Christs side I would be loath to say what the e Apud Sleidan pag. 293. Franciscane preached publickly at the Councel of Trent f Eos qui nullam haberent Christi cognitionem alioqui vitam egissent honestè salute●● esse consecutos That they who had no knowledge of Christ and yet had lived honestly had obtained salvation Nor will I conclude with others that Aristides Cato yea Julius Cesar himself is saved though according to the fertility of the Italian wits divers of them have found quaint passages and conceits tending that way Nay in these dayes of presumption wherein by all likelihood a thousand surfet and perish in the hope of mercy in comparison of one soul ship-wracked on the rock of despair I am afraid to confirm what Coelius secundus Curio hath writ in his books de Amplitudine regni Christi or Marsilius Andreasius of Mantua de Amplitudine misericordiae Christi before him who maintaineth That farre more are saved by Christ then are condemned For though Christ saith Matth. 7.13 Enter ye in at the strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat and vers 14. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that finde it and though divers other passages of Scripture by the little flock and few labourers with the like phrases seem to import the paucity of humane souls saved in comparison of the many condemned yet he restraineth all those places to the dayes of Christ when indeed few beleeved in respect of the unbeleevers and the emphasis may accordingly be set upon that word YE Enter YE And perhaps the antithesis is observable Many there be which GO in to the wide gate and broad way but it is not said Few SHALL go in at the narrow gate nor Few SHALL enter in but Few there BE that finde it And it may be expounded Few there be that finde it by themselves or by their own naturall power without patefaction divine But what they cannot finde without a guide they may finde by a guide and many may enter in at Christ the Doore and many may walk in Christ the Way Where sin abounded grace may much more abound As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one may many be made righteous Concerning which places with the precedent verses Rom. 5. we shall treat by and by But I return to their answer That respect was had to the primitive dayes of Christs Church and That we are to consider that when Christ likened the Kingdome of God to a grain of mustard seed which waxed a great tree and to leaven which leavened the whole lump Luke 13.18 c. he spake not without reference to his own dayes in which they were generally perswaded as the Papists are now that many were easily saved in their Church whereupon one wondering at Christs doctrine of the hardly obtaining of heaven and that by few saith Luke 13.23 Lord are there few that be saved And Christ answereth not without respect to those times Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many will seek to enter in and shall not be able because they sought awry and refused the right way offered Yet many might be saved and more in after-times then at that present time more by farre in the Church of Christ growing and increasing then in the Church of the Jews waning and decreasing Yea at this present though a diligent computer shall not finde much fault with me for saying that if the world were divided for places and people into thirty parts Nineteen thereof are Infidels six of the Mahometane Religion and five of the Christian the Romane Church and the Reformed Churches making but one part of the five so that the Greek Churches may more brag of their Catholicisme then the Romane and the scabbed petite flock and schismaticall parlour-full yea scarce hand-full of Separatists of Amsterdam may cease to claim themselves to be the onely Church by their paucity which the least number of the never-agreeing and subdivided Brethren may appropriate to themselves excluding by that argument all the Churches of the world besides yea even their own fellow-schismaticks yet this I will be bold to say that many places of the Prophets in the old Testament and many in the New did and do fore-signifie that great abundance of men women and children of all nations of all places shall be saved by Christ that there shall be as it were Mundus hominum electorum A world of elect men a great multitude of men which no man could number Rev. 7.9 Unto which number of humane souls if we annex those thousand thousands of Angels and ten thousand times ten thousand Daniel 7.10 even that innumerable host also we may confidently averre what Elishah said of the blessed Angels in an other case 2. Kings 6.16 They which be with us are more then they that be with our enemies or more then our enemies More in number enjoy eternall life by Christ then are condemned to eternall death by Adam For though Christ be not a Mediatour of redemption unto the Angels yet was he a Mediatour of confirmation in grace and whatsoever blessings they did or do or shall enjoy they had it for and by the merit of Christ foreseen For he is the head of the Church and they be but members and all the vertue or happinesse in the body or in any part of it is derived from the head All things visible and invisible thrones dominions principalities powers were created by him and for him Coloss 1.16 In him all fulnesse dwelleth vers 19. From him the whole body is fitly joyned together Ephes 4.16 In him all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy Temple Ephes 2.21 And of his fulnesse have all we received and grace for grace John 1.16 And not we alone but the good Angels also were predestinated created confirmed and glorified by his means as Suarez well concludeth in his Commentaries on the third part of Aquine his Summe Tom. 1. pag. 656. g Dico Christum meruisse Angelu gratiam gloriam quae illis data fuerat propter merita Christi praevisa I say saith he that Christ merited for the Angels grace and glory which was given them for the merits of Christ foreseen So Aquinas Cajetan Albertus
by the Evangelist Matth. 27.52 and 53 verses The graves were opened and many bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared unto many So farre the text Of the various pointing of which words see more hereafter opening two windows for two expositions On which words divers worthy men both modern and ancient conclude That those Saints died not again k Sed apparuerunt multis etiam cum Christo nunquam ultrà morituri abierunt in coelum But appeared to many and with Christ never after were to die but went into heaven saith Jacobus Faber Stapulensis And Mr. Beza on this place opineth that they did not rise that again they might live among men and die as Lazarus and others did but that they might accompany Christ by whose power they rose into eternall life The late Writers saith Maldonate think that they went into heaven with Christ and with them doth himself agree So Pineda on Job 19.25 So Suarez a third Jesuit So Anselm So Aquinas on the place and on the Sentences So if Suarez cite them truely Origen in the first book to the Romanes about those words of the first chapter By the resurrection of Jesus our Lord and Clemens Alexandrinus Strom. 6. and Justinus Quaest 85. Ambrose in his Enarration on the first Psalme and Eusebius Demonst 4.12 and of modern Authours and of our Church Bishop Bilson in the effect of his Sermons touching the full redemption of mankinde by the death and bloud of Jesus Christ pag. 217. So Baronius ad annum Christi 48. num 24. concerning those Saints whom Christ piercing the heavens carried with himself on high leading captivitie captive Ephes 4.8 More reserved and moderate is Mr. Montague that indefatigable Student sometime my chamber-fellow and President in the Kings Colledge in Cambridge now the Reverend Lord Bishop of Chichester who in his answer to the Gag of the Protestants pag. 209. saith of these Saints They were Saints indeed deceased but restored to life and peradventure unto eternall life in bodies as well as souls MOst cleare Fountain of Wisdome inexhaustible wash I beseech thee the spots of my soul and in the midst of many puddles of errour cleanse my understanding that I may know and embrace the truth through Jesus Christ Amen CHAP. V. 1. Who were supposed to be the Saints which were raised by such as maintain that they accompanied Christ into heaven 2. A strange storie out of the Gospel of the Nazarens 3. Adams soul was saved Adams bodie was raised about Christs Passion saith Pineda out of diverse Fathers Thus farre Pineda hath truth by him That the sepulchre of Adam was on mount Calvarie so say Athanasius Origen Cyprian Ambrose Basil Epiphanius Chrysostom Augustine Euthymius Anastasius Sinaita Germanus Patriarch of Constantinople 4. It was applauded in the Church in Hieromes time 5. Theophylact thought Adam buried in Calvarie Drusius unadvisedly taxeth the Fathers Tertullian consenteth with other Fathers and Nonnus who is defended against Heinsius 6. At Jerusalem they now shew the place where Adam his head was found Moses Barcepha saith that Sem after the floud buried the head of Adam 7. The Romane storie of Tolus and Capitolium much resembling the storie of Adam 1. TO the clearing of this cloud and that we may carry the truth visibly before us I think it fit to enquire First Who these Saints were which thus miraculously arose and then secondly to determine Whether their bodies were again deposited in the earth till the resurrection or Whether in their bodies with Christ they ascended into heaven 2. For the first Hugo Cardinalis on Matth. 27.53 hath an old storie It is said saith he in the Evangelisme of the Nazarens that two good and holy men who were dead before about fourty yeares came into the Temple and saying nothing made signes to have pen ink and parchment and wrote That those who were in Limbus rejoyced upon Christs descent and that the devils sorrowed Though the rest be fabulous yet herein the Gospel of the Nazarens agreeth with our Gospel That the names of the raised are not mentioned Others have been bold to set down both the names and the order of them who arose 3. Augustine Epist 99. ad Euodium thus a De illo quidem primo homine patre generis humani quòd eum ibidem Christus ad inserna descendens solverit Ecclesia ferè tota conseutit Almost the whole Church agreeth That Christ descending into hell freed the first Adam thence That the Church beleeved this non inaniter not vainly but upon some good ground we are to beleeve from whence soever the tradition came though there be no expresse Scripture If this be true of Adams soul yet is it nothing to our question of his bodily resuscitation Proceed we therefore to those that think his very bodie was raised Adam then arose saith Athanasius in his Sermon of the Passion and the Crosse saith Origen in his 35 Tractate on Matthew saith Augustine 161 quest on Genesis and others also if Pineda on the fore-cited place wrong them not And he giveth this congruentiall reason That Adam who heard the sentence of death should presently also be partaker of the resurrection by Christ and with him who had expiated his sinne by death To which may be added That as S. Hierom reports the Jews have a tradition that the ramme was slain on mount Calvarie in stead of Isaac as also Augustine Serm. 71. de Tempore ratifieth And to this day they say they have there the altar of Melchisedech So Athanasius reports from the Jewish Doctours that in Golgotha was the sepulchre of Adam This is true but it is not certain that Adam was raised and not true that he ascended bodily into heaven Mr. Broughton in his observations of the first ten Fathers saith thus Rambam recordeth that which no reason can deny how the Jews ever held by Tradition that Adam Abel and Cain offered where Abraham offered Isaac where both Temples were built on which mountain Christ taught and died And as the place was called Calvaria because the head or skull of a man was there found and found bare without hair and depilated saith Basil so divers Fathers have concluded that Adam was there buried and that it was his head See Origen tractat 35. on Matth. Cyprian in his sermon on the resurrection Ambrose in his tenth book of his commentaries on Luk. 23. Basil on the fifth of Esay Epiphanius contra Haeres lib. 1. Chrysostome Homil. 84. in Joannem Augustine Serm. 71. de Tempore and de Civitat 16.32 Euthymius on Matth. So Athanasius Sinaita lib. 6. in Hexam in Tom. 1. Bibliothecae Patrum and Sanctus Germanus Patriarch of Constantinople in Theoria rerum Ecclesiast as you may see in Tom. 6. Biblioth Patrum besides abundance of new writers with whose names I delight not to load my page 4 Hierom on
Therefore he arose not at all as yet Lastly should we grant that Adam did bodily arise with Christ yet hath Pineda neither Authour nor reason that Adam ascended with Christ into heaven as I said before which is the main point now in question Thus much if not too much touching Adam 3. Eve also arose saith Dionysius Carthusianus on Matth. 27. but voucheth no authoritie nor produceth any reason or probabilitie and therefore I passe it over the more slightly adding onely this that in the Original it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that except 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be understood either no women arose or more then one or two though Pineda mentioneth not one woman and Carthusian but onely and soly Eve But why Eve should rather arise then Sarah or the mother of Moses who were singled out for famous Heroinae Hebr. 11. or other Prophetisses in the Old and New Testament as old Anna and the like I see no reason or that Eve in her raised bodie should be translated into heaven and not Adam her husband nor Abraham nor David is both foolish and fabulous This have I said as supposing the words to be understood of women alone as indeed they are not nor probably can they be applied to women mixt with men so far as any likelihood could present it self to the great conjecturer Pineda who would have balked none of them 4. Abraham arose saith Pineda on Job 19. and annexeth this colour because Abraham rejoyced to see Christs day and saw it and was glad John 8.56 I answer Whatsoever is meant by these words of the Text My day either Christs Godhead which Abraham saw a Quia mysterium Trinitatis agnovit Because he acknowledged the mysterie of the Trinitie saith S. Augustine Or the day of Christs nativitie which Abraham might have notice of in his life time by supernaturall inspirations and then did remember being dead and desired that day for separated souls have both remembrance and appetite intellectuall as I shall evidence hereafter Or it may be Abraham being in blisse might first know it by divine illumination so soon as the day came and thereupon rejoyced as the Angel did and the heavenly host Luke 2.13 of which host Abraham might be one for even the souls of men are also called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Revel 19.14 saith Gregory Moral 31.12 In the foresaid place of Luke mention is made of an Angel and the heavenly host whereas if onely Angels were the heavenly host it might have been onely said The Angels or onely The heavenly host but The Angel and the heavenly host may give us cause to think that there were some of the heavenly host which were not Angels though Angels onely be mentioned If so humane souls were part of that quire and then Abraham in likelihood was one of them Now as the chief Angel like a chaunter began the Evangelisme of Christs birth so might it be answered by the heavenly host viz. as is probable partly by the Angels singing Glory to God in the highest partly by Abraham and the souls of men concluding the Anthem On earth peace good will toward men I say Whatsoever is meant by the words My day they cannot be expounded of Christs resurrection Some there are who interpret My day of the time of Christs passion whom Maldonate justly misliketh because saith he it is added ABRAHAM SAW IT AND REJOYCED but then when Christ said these words Abraham could not see Christs passion because it was not yet come I may say the same or more against Pineda who will have it expounded of the day of Christs resurrection for Christ speaketh of the day that was past he did see it he was glad and rejoyced so that day was ended when Christ said this but Christs resurrection was not accomplished when he uttered these words therefore they cannot be understood of Christs resurrection And if they were so to be interpreted yet it is not written Abraham arose or Abraham was partaker with Christ or Abraham ascended bodily into heaven this being the issue which we joyned in this controversie but Abraham rejoyced he saw it and was glad which words differ farre from Pineda his ridiculous interpretation 5. An other which rose at the same time was Isaac saith Pineda ibid. for he was a parable of the resurrection and this was done to recompense the fear which possessed Isaac of being slain when he represented Christ To this puncto I answer Pineda himself will not say that every one who was a parable or pledge of the resurrection or who figured it was raised as Samson from his sleep arising in strength and carrying away the gates of Azzah in type of Christ who brought away the gates both of death and hell or those who were raised by the Prophets or by Christ himself or the like for he mentioneth none of these Secondly what proof what consequence what shadow of truth is there that Isaac his fear which was past he being dead one thousand seven hundred yeares before should just now be recompensed and recompensed by being raised to a temporall life which was a poore reward if he ascended not into heaven which Pineda proveth not nor can prove Lastly though it be truth it self that Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac Genes 31.53 yet it is not meant as Pineda fancieth the fear that Isaac was in when he was to be offered For I suppose he knew by Abraham that it was Gods especiall appointment and that he also willingly offered himself and might think as Abraham did that God was able to raise him up even from the dead Hebr. 11.19 that in his voluntarie condescent and free-will-offering he might be a type of Christ who layed down his life John 10.17 But the fear of Isaac was either the filial fear by which Isaac reverenced worshipped God as Aben Ezra and Cajetan say or the pious and humane fear wherewith Jacob revered his father Isaac or rathest of all Fear is here taken for the object of fear Metonymically for God himself as it is also taken Esa 8.13 Let God be your fear let God be your dread as Cornelius Cornelii à lapide hath observed after Augustine and divers others for not Isaac his fright or Jacob his pietie is to be sworn by but God Deuter. 6.13 O God the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the God of the living and not of the dead I beseech thee make me to die to my self and live to thee through him whom the Fathers looked for and whose day Abraham rejoyced to see even Jesus Christ thy onely Sonne my alone Saviour Amen CHAP. VIII 1. Pineda his fancie that Jacob then was raised 2. The reason why the Patriarchs desired the Translation of their bones was not to rise with Christ as Pineda opineth but upon other grounds and to other ends 3. Where Joseph was first buried where secondly 4. The great difficultie
shalt rest and stand in the lot at the end of the dayes IN FINE DIERUM Which words are applied by Vatablus to the resurrection of the last judgement which was mentioned Dan. 12.2 And lest any should interpret the rising out of the dust vers 2. as Porphyrie did for their creeping out of the holes and caverns in the time of the Maccabees Lyra expressely contradicteth it and saith it is to be understood c De resurrectione vera in fine mundi of the true resurrection in the end of the world implying that Daniel shall then arise as he arose not saith Lyra at the time of the Maccabees nor at the opening of the graves before Christs resurrection d Ergò resurrexit Job sanctissimus Therefore most holy Job arose also saith Pineda equalling Noah Daniel and Job in this priviledge But the consequence is lame for Ezechiel doth not mention the equall priviledges of these three in their resurrection though perhaps this latter is figured out but onely the delivery from famine or death by famine Ezech. 14.13 c. of Noah Daniel and Job or rather of other holy men also designed out by their names and like them in their severall vertues Noah overcoming the world Daniel the flesh and Job the devil Concerning Pineda his other proof That Gregorie Nissen in his third Oration of the resurrection saith That the day of their resurrection who arose out of the graves was much more joyfull to them then the day of the generall resurrection If I should grant that he said so and that he said so truely yet it followeth not necessarily scarce probably that they went with their bodies into heaven The day of the generall resurrection is not yet come and could not be rejoyced at but in hope More especially concerning Job though Salianus ad ann mundi 1544. num 783. makes Jobs tombe-stone speak thus e Clausit viator hoc marmor aliquando mortuum emis itque gloriosum eum Principe Messia resurgentem Jobum This stone O wayfaring man kept under it dead Job and sent forth also Job in glorie arising from the dead with Messiah our Prince though Pineda his fellow-Jesuite in the end of his Commentaries on Job saith That Jobs sepulchral pyramis and kingly monument was made for him by his seven sonnes and three daughters and was framed and erected f Ad pietatis memoriam sempiternä spémque resurrectionis cum Redemptore certissimain for an eternall memoriall of pietie and most certain hope of his resurrection with our Redeemer yet none is ignorant that these are tricks of wit panegyrick Eulogies poeticall Epitaphs even a little thwarting one another rather then divine truths or historicall relations 4. And further it is evident that Job spake of the generall resurrection when he said Job 19.25 c. I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this bodie yet in my flesh shall I see God By which latter or last day we may fitly expound not the last day of judgement saith Pineda but the state of the Evangelicall Law and of Christs suffering and rising ending by his death and resurrection the former times and beginning to appoint a new for he is THE FATHER OF THE WORLD TO COME Isa 9.6 Did ever man thus delude Scripture and make it a nose of wax It is scarcely worse used by our unlearned lay-Rabbies the Doctours of Doctours Who ever dreamed that Dies novissimus should signifie so unlikely a matter and if it did how vain is his proof The words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pater aeternitatis The father of eternitie as the Interlinearie Bible reads it and Vatablus with it expounding the words g Anthor vitae aeternae The authour of eternall life which hath no reference to Pineda's wilde Comment or the everlasting Father as we translate it 5. The Seventie indeed and the Book of Job thus Job died being old and full of dayes so farre also goeth the Hebrew and it is added in the Greek But it is written that he shall again be raised up with those whom the Lord shall raise These words are not in the Original nor in Aquila nor in Symmachus nor in the Seaventie used by Vatablus but Theodotion so reads it and the Vatican Edition of Sixtus so acknowledgeth it and Origen in his epistle to Africanus confirmeth it and Clemens Romanus cap. 5. lib. 6. approveth it Two wayes there are of expounding the word Rursus Again Francis Turrian the Jesuite on the place of Clement collecteth that Job shall not onely be raised up in the last day at the generall resurrection but that he should be first raised when Christ arose and afterward at the last day Nicetas saith better The word AGAIN was therefore put that his first resurrection might be understood to have been when he was delivered from his troubles Which way soever you follow we have it That Job shall be raised at the last day of the world And therefore he arose not with Christ or died again and so went not into the eternall happinesse of bodie and soul for glorified bodies shall not be raised 6. Lastly there is an opinion even to this day among the Turks grounded no doubt on some old Tradition That Jobs bodie was removed from the place of his buriall to that citie and place which is now called Constantinople as Mr. Fines Morison in the first part of his Itinerary pag. 243. witnesseth These are all that ever I read of by name that are thought by Pineda or others both to rise with Christ and to partake with him at that time of the eternall happinesse both in soul and bodie 7. Bartholomaeus Sybilla Peregrinarum quaestionum decade 1. cap. 3. quaest 7. dubio 3. citeth Henricus de Assia as Authour that Perhaps not onely Enoch and Elias are kept in Paradise to preach against Antichrist but both John the Evangelist and those that rose with Christ Observe saith Sybilla the word PERHAPS for S. Hierom saith formerly concerning S. John WE DOUBT BUT BOTH S. JOHN THE EVANGELIST AND THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARIE DO REJOYCE IN THEIR GLORIFIED FLESH VVITH CHRIST And Aquin. in 4. sentent distinct 43. artic 3. cited by Sybilla saith It is a point of faith holily to be beleeved concerning the blessed Virgin Marie and S. John the Evangelist that their resurrection is not deferred to the end of the world Also Holcot saith on Wisdome cap. 2.2 h Corpus benedictae Virginis non fuit resolvendum in cineres quia in ca fomes extiuctus extitit The bodie of the blessed Virgin was not to be turned into ashes because in her was no fountain of ill from whence her asportation into heaven may seem to be confirmed The feast-day of her assumption is greater and more festivall then any other holy-day for her saith Durandus Rational 7.24 Surely I must needs say we reade
seen as well as Christs But their bodies were not seen ascending for the Evangelists would not have omitted a matter of such moment Suarez denieth this because the Evangelists do describe such things as may be seen with bodily eyes in which regard neither the Angels nor the souls of Saints are reported to have accompanied him which yet divers beleeve to have kept wing and way with him to heaven I answer Though Angels and the spirits of men be not specified as not being seen as not being to be seen without bodies yet such Saints as arose with their bodies and went into heaven with their bodies as Suarez and others think all they who arose out of their graves did might in likelihood be seen ascending with Christ as well as Christs bodie And their bodies were as subject to be seen with bodily eyes as Christs was yea more visible by how much Christs bodie was more glorified then any of the Saints if claritie impassibilitie agilitie and subtilitie do make glorified bodies to be lesse visible all which Christ had in an eminent degree above any other An unglorified eye can see naturally a glorified bodie though a glorified bodie can be seen or not seen according as it pleaseth See the Supplement of Aquin part 3. quest 85. artic 2.3 Therefore my conclusion is firm as his objection is impertinent Thirdly from Epiphanius in Ancorato I gathered what before I onely conjectured That such onely were raised as died a while before who rising were known to such as then lived that their testimonie might by their former familiaritie the rather be beleeved and be void of exception whereas if such were raised as died long before they must first use arguments to prove that themselues had sometimes lived and that they once died that they were newly raised and that they were the same persons whom they reported themselves to be 2. Now that these should go into eternall happinesse both of souls and bodies and leave the Patriarchs bodies in the dust is in judgement improbable Therefore if it were to be proved that those who arose out of their graves after or upon Christs Passion did ascend into the most glorious happinesse in heaven both of bodie and soul as above other men I should think and maintain that Adam Seth Noah Abraham Isaac and all the rest before mentioned and others unmentioned holy Prophets and others were they that did arise and were they who were partakers with Christ of perfect immortalitie and had more favours and priviledges then other men So since Epiphanius concludeth That others of later times were raised I will be bold to inferre that others ascended not into heaven before those holy Patriarchs but laid their bodies in the graves again 3. Again if the end of their resurrection mho now arose was to testifie that Christ was risen this dutie they might fulfill though they ascended not into heaven with him If to testifie that Jesus was the Christ that he was just that he was the Sonne of God which was the collection of the Centurion when he saw the graves open and that many bodies arose Matth. 27.54 their ascension into heaven was not necessary to that certificate If they say They arose to be witnesses of his ascension into heaven I answer He had other witnesses of it Act. 1.9 who would have been witnesses of their ascension also if they had ascended with him If you say they arose to be companions of his ascension I reply that you do but beg the question and hold a groundlesse conclusion 4. Moreover Christ was seen of the Apostles fourtie dayes and spake of things pertaining to the Kingdome of God Act. 1.3 and He shewed himself alive after his Passion by many infallible proofs as is said immediately before and they saw when he ascended into heaven vers 9. But that Christ ever conversed with any of those that were raised or was seen with them or they with him or they with the Apostles or Disciples or that any ascended into heaven is no direct mention as perhaps there would if Adam and the rest of the holy Patriarchs and Prophets had been raised and had gone into heaven 5. Neither would Christ who vouchsafed Peter James and John to see him conferre with Moses and Elias at the Transfiguration have now denied Peter James and John to see him conferre with the same Moses and other Patriarchs after his resurrection if they had arose and conferred with him as out of doubt during the time of fourtie dayes that he conversed on earth since their and his resurrection if they arose he often discoursed with them for he did but about twelve times appeare to the Apostles and that most on the Sabbath-dayes and then stayed not very long with them and so I may probably think that he did imploy some part of the rest of the time from his resurrection to his ascension in conference with Moses and the Patriarchs raised especially if they were to ascend bodily into heaven with him But none of these things are once pointed at Therefore there is no likelihood that they were raised much lesse that they ascended with Christ into heaven O Glorious Saviour of mankinde who didst ascend bodily into heaven to prepare a place for us amongst those many mansions filled with blisse Open the gate to me who do knock bid me enter into my masters joy that I may praise thy name and wait on thee my onely stay my delight and the life of my soul my Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ So be it CHAP. XVI 1. Angels taken for men Angels representing men are called men 2. The name JEHOVAH ascribed to an Angel representing JEHOVAH say Estius and Thyraeus Picking of faults in the Apocryphall Scriptures to be abhorred 3. Drusius his povertie The Apocrypha is too little esteemed The Angel who guided young Tobie defended 4. The great difference between Christs manner of rising and Lazarus his INdeed it is said Act. 1.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Behold two men stood by them in white apparel whiles the Apostles were looking stedfastly into heaven after Christ and they told them of his coming to the last judgement in the same manner as he ascended Which two certainly might be men and were men saith the Text yea say some Expositors were some of those Many who arose out of their graves after Christs resurrection These were amicti vestibus albis saith Erasmus In albo vestitu saith Beza Now the Saints are arayed in white robes Revel 7.13 and whitenesse of garments is a token of joy Ecclesiastes 9.7 8. and these had cause to joy I first answer with most of the Ancients with the modern Beza Sa Montanus and Sanctius That these two men so called were Angels For the Angels representing mens persons are called according to their names or titles whom they represent As in the vision which S. Paul saw by night Act. 16.9 it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There stood a man
raised the tombe-stone was first removed and Lazarus arose tied with the grave-clothes and his face bound with a napkin yea came forth bound hand and foot with grave-clothes Joh. 11.44 by a new miracle walking being bound and bound with grave-clothes to shew that though he did live he did live to die again In which respect also perhaps the graves were opened at Christs passion when he yeelded up the ghost and continued open till his resurrection yea till the ends of their rising were fulfilled and after his resurrection many bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of the graves Matth. 27.52 53. O Blessed Lord God who hast commanded that we shall not adde to thy Word nor yet take from it Grant I beseech thee that I may neither think thy certain true Scriptures to be doubtfull nor the uncertain to be Canonicall but possesse me with awfull and reverent thoughts concerning thy holy writ that I adoring the fulnesse thereof may avoid all hastie supine forced and uncharitable expositions and fetch my little light and candle of knowledge from that first shine and prime rayes of thee the onely Light my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen CHAP. XVII 1. The place of Matth. 27.53 is diversly pointed and according to the pointing is the diversitie of meaning The first implieth that the Saints arose with Christ though their graves were opened before This interpretation is not so likely though received generally 2. The second inferreth that they arose before Christ though they went not into the citie till after his resurrection This is favoured by the Syriack and is more agreeable to reason 3. That the raised Saints died again proved by reasons and Hebr. 11.40 4. Christ the first-fruits of the dead and of the raised Angelicall assumed bodies were seen and heard much rather should mens bodies ascending with Christ 5. S. Augustine Aquinas Hierom Chrysostom Theophylact Euthymius Prosper Soto Salmeron Barradius Pererius Valentian affirm that the raised Saints died again Franciscus Lucas Brugensis holds it likely THose last cited words of Matth. 27.53 being differently pointed will bear a double and different interpretation Our late Translation hath it thus The Saints came out of the graves after his resurrection there is one pause and went into the holy citie there is another pause so is it in the Vulgat and in most Greek copies This sense in those words is involved That the Saints arose not till Christ arose and that their resurrection was a little after or almost contemporary with Christs which also is evidently foretold Isaiah 26.19 if the prophet prophesieth there of Christ or speaketh in Christs person Thy dead men shall live together with my dead bodie shall they arise c. For Christs bodie ariseth not from the earth at the generall resurrection and therefore they punctually signe out the resurrection of other Saints with Christ and with his dead bodie But if Isaiah speaketh of his own resurrection and not of Christs nor in Christs person but in his own by these words and the words following he pointeth out the generall resurrection and so Vatablus Hierom and Lyra expound the place Now if he point at the last day of the world the argument is demonstrative that either Isaiah arose not with Christ though he was the most Evangelicall Prophet and in no likelihood to be secluded from those benefits which other Prophets are said to enjoy or if he arose that he died again to rise with others at the day of judgement which they who ascended bodily into heaven did not Therefore Isaiah is not bodily ascended into heaven and if not he why others 2. The second way of pointing that place of S. Matthew is this Many bodies of the Saints arose there is one Colon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and coming out of the graves after his resurrection went into the holy citie there is the full period and no other pointing of the words And thus it is read in the edition printed at Geneva by John Vignon 1615. and illustrated with Casaubon his notes but I take it that a pause should be immediately after the word Graves and then they might arise before Christ but not enter into the holy citie till after his resurrection I am sure the Syriack translated by Tremellius thus readeth and pointeth it and Lucas Brugensis disliketh it not a Et egressi sunt post resurrectionem ejus ingressi sunt in urbem sanctam And they came forth and after his resurrection went into the holy citie In the Syriack you have these steps Obdormierant surrexerunt egressi sunt post resurrectionem ejus ingressi sunt in urbem From which second reading the resultance is That those Saints arose before Christ arose Neither is it against reason for at Christs passion the graves were opened vers 52. Shall the graves be opened and nothing be raised No for it is added immediately Many bodies of Saints were raised Shall the bodies be raised and either lie down or sit still in the graves To what end Many bodies arose of the Saints which HAD SLEPT 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is in the preterperfect tense Now were they waked now were they raised now went they forth out of their monuments and between the time of Christs passion and his resurrection perhaps the raised conferred with themselves perchance they communed with others without the citie or being rapt with divine speculations might either on mount Olivet or rather on mount Calvarie spend that time in solitary devotions expecting the triumphant return of their captain Jesus Christ from hell and the grave and after his resurrection they came into the holy citie 3. The summe is These reliving Saints arose at Christs passion and before him but none ever arose before him unto an eternall resurrection for in that regard Christ was the first fruits of them that slept 1. Corin. 15.20 and it is Christs priviledge which the Apostle toucheth at Rom. 6.9 That Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him of which hereafter though I have spoken of it also before Death had power over others who were raised before him Therefore they ascended not into heaven with their bodies nor were partakers of the eternall incorruption and immortalitie Let me adde That as the sepulchres were opened that they might come forth and continued open till the resurrection and perhaps after so in that they were opened to their hand and did not shut again I take it as a figure that they did as it were expect the return of their bodies and as a probable argument that they did lie down again in their old repositories or dormitories And that you may the sooner give credit unto this in the next place consider the generall law That all of us shall have glorie and immortalitie together for Hebr. 11.40 God hath prepared a better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect If
is living or that he is dead The reason why some thought S. John liveth was because Christ said to Peter John 21.22 If I will that he tarrie till I come what is that to thee Neither doth it satisfie them that John himself saith ver 23. Jesus said not He shall not die for they expound that exposition John shall not die namely till that time that Christ doth come Dorotheus speaking of S. John hath it thus John lived 120 yeares which being expired he living as yet the Lord would so have it buried himself The storie is enlarged by S. Augustine Tract 124. in Joannem thus Some report that in certain Scriptures though Apocryphall it is found that S. John being in health caused a grave to be made and laid himself in it as in a bed and presently died or as some think lay down as dead but not dead and being thought to be dead was buried sleeping and that he sheweth his being alive a Scaturigine pulveris by the ebullition of the dust of his grave b Qui pulvis creditur ut ab imo ad superficiem tumuli ascendat flatu quiesoentis impelli which dust is beleeved to arise and to be forced from the bottome of the tombe to the top by his breath And truly saith Augustine We heard not this of light credulous men Whereupon he adviseth c Viderint qui hunc locum sciunt utrùm hoc ibi faciat terra vel patiatur quod dicitur Let them who know the place consider whether the earth spring up there so as is reported If it be so saith he if the earth or sand bubble up like water and that being taken away other ariseth and boyleth up in the room it doth so either to commend the precious death of that Saint or for some other reason which we know not So farre Augustine Some such thing in another case is recorded by S. Hierom Heare his own words Tom. 3. de locis Hebraicis out of the Acts of the Apostles d Cùm Ecclesia in cujus medio sunt vestigia rotundo schemate pulcherrimo opere conderetur summum tamen cacumen ut perhibent propter Dominici corporis meatum nuilo modo contegi concamerari potuit sed transitus ejus à terra ad coelum usque patet apertum Mount Olivet is situated on the East of Jerusalem parted by the stream of Cedron where the last footsteps which Christ set upon this earth are imprinted on the ground and even to this day are to be seen and shewed And whereas the same earth is taken away daily by the beleeving Christians neverthelesse the same holy footsteps presently and immediately recover their old form and fashion Who also in the same place addeth another strange thing e Mons Oliveti ad Orientem Hierosolymae situs est torrente Cedron interfluente ubi ultima vestigia Domini humo impressa bodiéque monstrantur Cúmque terra eadem quotidie à credentibus hauriatur nihilominus tamen eadem sancta vestigia pristinum statum continuò recipiunt Whereas the Church in the midst whereof these footsteps are was built of a round form with most exquisite workmanship yet the very top of that Church as people report could by no means ever be covered or vaulted over by reason of our Saviours bodily ascent into heaven but Christs passage and way by which he mounted from earth even to heaven lieth open and is visible But our late traveller M. Sands relateth That the footstep is on a firm naturall rock and the passage open at the summitie or top of the temple of the Ascension is to receive light into that sacred place For that is covered as the sepulchre or rather as the temple of the sepulchre whose round is covered with a CVPVLO sustained with rafters of Cedar all of one piece open in the midst like the Pantheon at Rome whereat it receiveth the light that it hath and that as much as sufficeth Just in the midst and in view of heaven standeth the glorified sepulchre So farre M. George Sands M. Fines Morison saith On the top of mount Olivet the highest of all the mountains that compasse Jerusalem in a Chappel they shew in stone the print of Christs feet when he ascended into heaven It did a little amaze me that these our two countreymen both being learned and both being there eye-witnesses do differ so much the first mentioning a footstep in the singular number the other feet in the plurall Antiquitie saith On the Earth late Writers On a Rock which maketh me rather bear with the good S. Hierom who relateth from others that the top could by no means be covered Open perhaps the top was left and open purposely by some exquisite workmen whose skill some credulous ignorants could not discern and they might report that what was done could not be done otherwise But of this in either of our countreymen there is not one word I return to the old matter Sixtus Senensis Bibliothecae sanctae lib. 6. Annotat. 93. saith Many most grave and worthy Authours have written that S. John the Evangelist yet liveth But Chrysostom Hom. 66. in Matt. reporteth f Illum violentâ morte obtruncatum obtisse That he was put to a violent death and he bringeth in Christ speaking these words to the two sonnes of Zebedee of whom S. John the Evangelist was one Mark 10.35 g Calicem meum bibetis Matth. 20.23 id est Martyrii coronâ potiemini violentâ morte sicut ego à vita discedetis YE SHAL DRINK OF MY CVP shall be put to a violent death and be crowned with martyrdome like unto me Euthymius also testifieth that Chrysostom in two other places saith that S. John the Evangelist was slain in Asia which makes me wonder that George Trapezuntius if he be truely alledged by Sixtus Senensis ibid. should interpret Chrysostoms words of the martyrdome and violent death which John forsooth should suffer with Enoch and Elias under the last persecution of Antichrist especially since Chrysostom so punctually designeth out the time past and telleth what was done to John and where Hippolytus Portuensis Episcopus in his short Tractate de mundi consummatione saith As Christs first coming had John the Baptist his forerunner so the second shall have Enoch and Elias and John the Evangelist This comparison is very lame and halteth for it may be applied as well to any as to John the Evangelist Others use not so foolish a similitude but yet embrace a wilder opinion for they say that S. John died and rose from the dead and was assumed into heaven Nicephorus 2.42 addeth DECEBAT It was fit convenient decent and requisite that he who kept Christs mother and was so beloved of Christ should be so assumed as Christs mother was O man how proud art thou to judge what is convenient or inconvenient for God to do Baronius Tom. 2. Anno Christi 101. numero