sinne were his Corruptio personae Reatus Poena as he was considered by himself till he repented but as he was the Referree and Representor of mankinde the effects were The corruption of our nature our fault our guiltines our punishment till we be freed The effects of our originall sinne are sinnes actuall with all the penalties or punishments due to them Moreover that we may more distinctly enlarge this point and remove the doubtfulnesse of termes know that in a larger sense the actuall sinne of Adam may in a sort be said to be originall sinne it may be called Adams originall sinne as it was first and originally in him It may be originall sinne both of Adam and all his posterity because our naturall defects and all manner of sinnes flowed originally from this onely sinne as from a defiled fountain Yet properly this sinne was in him actually in us potentially in him explicitly in us implicitly in him personally in us naturally in him perse in us per accidens And that his first sinne or aversion from God may both be said to be his originall sinne and the cause also of our originall sinne the cause not physicall or naturall for he doth not traduce by the vertue of that sinne any real thing which is properly sinfull unto his posterity but it was and is the morall cause of our originall sinne As originall sinne is by some described namely to be propagated to be in all alike and to be in the humane creature at the beginning of his being or to be an hereditarie transgression so Adam had not originall sinne but onely his posterity As originall sinne is defined to be That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or transgression that totall aversion of mankinde from God whereby we incurre death and damnation so was Adams sinne our originall sinne and he had originall sinne 3. Which the fuller to demonstrate let me insist on this point namely That sinne of Adam we sinned this way as we were in him materialiter though not formaliter As the severall members of a mans body united to his soul make one individuall person so all the branches of Adams posteritie with himself make one humane nature and are as it were but one by participation of the species * Fuerunt omnes in Adam quando peccavit fuerunt quidem in illo sed nondum nati erant ipsi All were in Adam when he sinned they were indeed in him but they were not yet born themselves saith Augustine De Civit. 13.14 and more punctually in the same Chapter * Nondum erat nobis singillatim creata distributa forma in qua singuli viveremus sed jam natura erat nobis seminalis ex qua propagaremur The form in which every one of us should live was not yet created and distributed to us but the seminall nature was alreadie of which we were to be propagated Anselm saith * Infans qui damnatur pro peccato originali non damnatur pro peccato Adam sed pro suo nam si ipse non haberet suum peccatum non damnaretur Aâ—sel De Partu Virginis cap. 26. The infant that is damned for originall sinne is not damned for the sinne of Adam but for his own for if he himself had not his own sinne he should not be damned And therefore Augustine Retractat 1.13 * Originale peccatum in parvulis cùm adbuc non utantur libero arbitrio voluntatis non absurdè vocatur voluntarium Originall sinne in infants though they have not yet the use of freewill is not absurdly called voluntary And Confess 1.7 * Imbecillitas membrorum infantilium innocens est non animus infantium The weaknes of infantine members not the soul of infants is innocent Lastly De Peccat Meritis Remiss 3.8 as he calleth originall sinne oftentimes Alienum peccatum to shew it began not in us alone but was delivered to us came from without so in the same place he termeth it Peccatum proprium our selves sinning in and with Adam and having corruption in us by him It can not sink into my head that God would have imputed unto us Adams fault by his absolute irrespective decretory will of good pleasure but that he whose foresight reacheth to things that are not yea to things that shall never be much more to things certainly future of which in another place did foreknow and preconsider that every one of mankinde if they had been in Adams state and place would have done as Adam did Therefore let us not accuse God or lay the fault onely on Adam our selves would have done so For as one said concerning the thief on the Crosse confessing Christ when Christ was on the Crosse nailed naked pained reviled scorned dying and forsaken of his own Disciples Profectò ego non sic fecissem I should not have made so glorious a confession as the penitent thief did at that time So on the contrary I say and am fully perswaded I should have done as Adam did Let God be just and all men faulty for it would have been the fault of all men Yea I must go one step further and without boldnes justifiably say by verdict of Scripture it was the fault of all men all men did sinne that sinne in Adam It is not said Propter hominem but Per hominem Mors 1 Cor. 15.21 and Rom. 5.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In quo in whom all sinned Of the first man Adam are all these words By man and in whom to be understood and by him and in him all died and sinned saith the Apostle and sinned that sinne by which death came into the world Though the father of the faithfull payed tithes of all unto Melchisedec before Leviwas born and Abraham alone personally discharged that duty yet for all this the Apostle saith Hebr. 7.9 Levi also who receiveth tithes payed tithes in Abraham for he was yet in the loyns of his father So on the contrary though Adam the universall father of mankinde did actuate that great offence long before we were created yet we also concurred in our kinde and were partakers in that iniquity For he stood Idealiter for us and we were in him our will in his our good and hurt in his and so farre as he received a law for us so farre as he represented us so farre when he sinned did we sinne in him with him and by him And if the worthy S. Augustine may say as is before cited * De Peccat Merit Remiss 1.10 Omnes eramus ille unus Adam I hope I may as well say Adam ille erat nos omnes I am sure Prosper in his Sentences pickt out of Augustine saith that * Primus homo Adam sic oâ—im defunctus est ut tamen post illum secundu homo sit Chrisius cum tot hominum miilia inter illum hunc orta sint idâ—ò manifestum est pertinere ad illum omnem qui ex
our own implicit will we may draw on us a necessitie of after-sinning which most justly may be imputed to us and we may tie our selves with our own bonds To the former part this may give satisfaction That against the will of the soul the soul it self can not be corrupted for then the will should be forced and so no will at all but Noluntas and not Voluntas It is not necessary saith Bellarmine that our soul must needs come from Adam because we draw sinne from him if but one part come from him it is enough For a father doth not per se produce originall sinne in the childe but per accidens namely as by the act of generation it cometh to passe that his sonne is a member of mankinde which was overtaken in Adams corruption and that the propension unto evill of the earthly part traducted meeting with a soul not much resisting causeth this originall sinne to result thencefrom and death by this original sinne So that no sooner is the soul united to its body and the matter glewed to the form but the infant deserveth to be and is the childe of death by reason of the primigeneall corruption If you enquire after what manner the body worketh the soul unto this evill we may truly say * Corpus non agit in animam actione physicâ immediatâ The body worketh not upon the soul by a naturall and immediate action You heard what Hugo Eterianus said It is stricken or cast down onely by fellowship He enlargeth himself in the same Chapter thus * Vitium languor corruptio ante animae conjunctionem in carne persistunt ex qua tabe anima maculatur sicut si testa odore malo imbuta sit quemcunque liquorem susceperit suâ corruptione inficit Imperfection languishing and corruption abide in the flesh before the souls conjunction from which disease the soul is infected as if a vessel be tainted with an ill odour it infects therewith whatsoever liquour it receiveth Gerson thus * Anima ex conjunctione ad corpus contrabit illud vitium sicut quandoquis cadit in lutum foedatur maculatur Gers in Compend Theolog. The soul by the conjunction with the body contracteth that infection as when one falleth into the mire he is besmeared and stained Felisius thus * Pomum mundum in manu immunda positum foedatur Vinum bonum tranâ—fusum in vas acetosum suum naturalem perdendo saporem centrabit alienum sic anima quando incipit esse in carne unita suum naturalem amittit vigorem A clean apple put in an unclean hand is soiled Good wine poured into a fustie vessel contracts a strange taste and loses its own naturall so the soul loses its naturall vigour when it is united in the flesh Another thus Anima cum labente simul labitur frustra nititur dum innititur To the same effect another saith thus As the purest rain-water falling on dust is turned with the dust into a lump of mire so at the coadunation of the soul unto the earthly part both spirit and flesh are plunged in the durt of corruption Augustine against Julian the Pelagian 4.15 preferreth the very Heathen before Julian for he held That nothing was conveyed unto us from Adam and they held * Nos oh antiqua scelera suscepta in vita superiore poenarum luendarum causâ esse natos That we were born to be punished for old crimes committed in a former life And saith Augustine it is true which Aristotle relateth That we are punished like to those who fell among the Hetrurian robbers * Quorum corpora viva cum mortuis adversa adversis accommodata quà m optissimè colligabantur necabantur Whose living bodies being coupled face to face with dead mens carcases were so killed Of the Hetrurian Tyrant Mezentius Virgil Aeneid 8. recordeth the like Mortua corporibus jungebat corpora vivis Componens manibúsque manus at que oribus ora Tormenti genus sanie tabóque fluentes Complexu in misero longâ sic morte necabat But I return from this Digression The Heathen say as S. Augustine relateth * Nostros animos cum corporibus copulatos ut vivos cum mortuis esse conjunctos That our souls united to our bodies are like the living coupled with the dead They saw somewhat saith he and commendeth their wisedome in discerning the miseries of mankinde to be for somewhat before committed in acknowledging the power and justice of God though without divine revelation they could not know that it was Adams offence which brought such a wrack both on our souls and on our bodies What hath been hitherto related seemeth too much to encline to the naturall physicall immediate working of the soul upon the body Others are as faultie who say The soul receiveth no annoyance from the body but by way of IMPEDITION onely where the spirituall faculties are hindered and the Musick spilt by reason of the untuneablenes of the organes But they wil not seem to heare That a spirituall substance can receive infection from a nature corporeall Both opinions may rest contented in the middesse or mean That as the body cannot go beyond the sphere of its activitie and work properly and physically upon the soul so by the interposition as it were of a middle nature the body not onely hindereth the faculties of the soul from working but sometimes worketh upon the soul Thus the naturall vitall and animall spirits do binde and unite the soul to the body that neither part can part from other though it would Thus bodily objects work on the minde but it is by the mediation of the outward and inward senses Shall corporeall outward and remote objects by degrees draw the soul into sinne even in our perfect age when our naturall reason is most vigorous and may not the corrupted seed having as great a propension to evill as Naphtha to take fire at the conjunction infect the soul with a participation of uncleannes though the operation be not physicall or immediate By Adams soul sinning was Adams flesh infected may not our soul be infected as well by our flesh A spirituall substance can produce a bodily effect Boëtius saith excellently Forms materiall came from forms immateriall Our will was moved by our intellect our appetite by our will and a bodily change conformable to our appetite And may not a bodily species work by the same degrees backward on the soul it self The reason is alike in the contrarietie Doth the corporeall fire of Hell torment and affect the incorporeall spirits of evill Angels and shall it of wicked men as most certainly it doth and must which shall be proved God willing otherwhere and may not the matter make some impression on the form the body upon the soul when there is such a sympathie in nature betwixt them If the soul do no way suffer from the body how doth it follow the
temperature of the body How doth madnes foolishnes anger and love with other affections work upon the minde Yea how cometh it to passe that not onely strength and nimblenes of body but even goodnes of wit is propagated if nature be strong and children resemble their fathers both in manners and understanding The flesh it self without the soul if it be beaten hurt or cut is no way sensible Reunite the separated soul to the wronged body the soul feeleth and is much affected nor is the grief in the incision onely but in the soul Yea in apoplexies and deep sleeps cast upon men by stupefactive ingredients and compounded by art while the soul is in the body wounds have been given unto the earthy part and it never felt them when those fits are vanished the soul feels the pain of the discontinuity and division of the flesh as well as the body Doctor * Praelect 51. De Libris Apocryphis Rainolds thus God by nature hath ordered that the soul naturally united to the body * Compatiatur corpori afflicto corpore vexetur recreato exhilaretur corpere occiso condolescat ut quodam medo ratione corpor is patiatur Should suffer with the body and be grieved the body being afflicted and rejoice it being refreshed and be sorrowfull the body being killed so that some way it suffers by reason of the body Permit me but the use of his modification some way and I dare say The body drawes the soul its way some way to sinne Aquinas on Rom. 5. Lect. 3. It should not seem that sinne which is an accident of the soul can be produced by the originall of the flesh It is answered saith he with reason Though the soul be not in the seed yet there is in the seed a vertue disposing the body to receive the soul which soul being poured or infused into the body is after a sort conformable to the body because every thing received is in the receiver according to the capacitie of the receiver To him let me adde If a new created soul should be put into a body not descending from Adam it should not have originall sinne but meeting with a body disposed to corruption after its kinde it yeeldeth and contracteth originall sinne 6. Yea but the act of Adams sinne passed quickly away and the guiltines was forgiven how could it infect us I answer * Persona primùm infecit naturam pòst natura infecit personam The person did first infect the nature afterwards the nature did infect the person The speedy gliding act poisoned our nature and we have not uncorrupted Adams nature or any part of it but his corrupt nature propagated corrupteth our persons The forgivenes of that his guilt and sinne joyned with subsequent holines of life is no priviledge of innocency to his posterity who were not made of his perfect but vitiated nature Accordingly since that time they who are cleansed with the laver of regeneration sealed with the spirit justifyed by faith presented blamelesse to God by Christ precious in the eyes of the Lord just among men elect and pure even such do beget children over whom this gangren of corruption creepeth and the babes are infected with originall sinne If it be objected If the root be holy so are the branches Rom. 11.16 therefore holy mens children are better in their generation then wicked mens children I answer the fallacie is in the word Holy which in the place to the Romanes signifieth not inward holines in the sight of God but outward holines whereby they might be distinguished from other prophane people Thus the wicked Jews were as holy as the righteous Abraham even the traytour Judas himself If any further insist and alledge The children of a beleever are holy 1. Cor. 7.14 It is also truly further answered That the same word Holy is homonymous not being all one with justified regenerate exempt or free from sinne but they are said to be holy in regard of the communion with the Church for that covenant sake I will be thy God and the God of thy seed So Holines signifieth a relation not a qualitie saith * Sanctitas significat relationem non qualitatem Scharp Curs Theol. pag. 461. Scharpius Augustine thus * Sicut gignatur ex oleasir◠semine oleaster ex oleae semine non nisi oleaster cùminter oleast um oleam plurimum distat Aug. De Nuptiis Concupijcentia 1.19 2.34 As a wilde olive-tree is brought forth out of the seed of a wilde olive-tree and out of the seed of an olive-tree nothing but a wilde olive-tree although there be a great difference between a wilde olive-tree and an olive-tree The seed both of the wilde-olive and also of the garden true good olive-tree bringeth forth a wilde-olive so a sinner is begotten of the flesh of a sinner and also of the flesh of a righteous man though there is a great difference between a sinner and a just person Hast thou ground fallowed manured fit to be sowen hast thou seed of the best picked winnowed or tried is it clear from tares chasse or dust though thou hast thy desire for a seasonable time of sowing though the heavens drop fatnes and the earth conspireth with them to yeeld thee a plentifull and good crop yet shall thy corn arise grow up and be reaped with weeds at least with husk chasse and dust so doth a just man beget an unjust Christianus non Christianum A Christian an Vnchristian the circumcised Hebrews beget children uncircumcised for the generation is naturall and not spirituall Wicked Ahaz begat good Hezekiah wicked Ammon good Josiah good not by generation but regeneration Those wicked Fathers had no more priviledge then just Lot who begat wicked daughters or David who had Absalom or Abraham who had Ismael or Isaac who had Esau or Noah who had Ham or to winde it up to the highest Adam whose first-begotten was the accursed Cain A whole family may be bound to some speciall service for some disloyalty they have shewed to their King If the King be so gracious as to make proclamation That whosoever in a battell fighteth valiantly shall be himself freed from such servitude and bounden service shall his children expect to be freed likewise Personall acceptance is no necessary signe of generall successive manumission We betrayed God for a little pleasure Those that fight a good fight under Christ are freed yet do the children of the just grone under that yoke out of which their fathers by speciall grace have plucked their necks Yea but he sinneth not that is begotten for neither body is framed nor soul united he sinneth not that begetteth for the bed is undefiled and in matrimony the act of generation lawfull yea commanded yea meritorious say some of the School He sinneth not also that createth the soul By what crany crank or chink shall originall sinne creep in It was the objection of Julian the Pelagian saith
they received their dead raised to life again to live with them according to their desire But others were tortured and would not accept deliverance and cared not for the joyes of this life or the punishment unto death nor temporary raising that they might obtain the better resurrection not to die again as the others did but to live for evermore 4 But as for the third Tostatus saith He lived a long time and he was more healthie then he was before he died And he giveth this sound reason Because what things are done supernaturally are farre more perfect then they that are done naturally Never was there so good wine as the water turned into wine the choicenesse whereof was so easily discerned even when the palate was cloyed when the taste was corrupted and dull'd towards the end of a feast Joh. 2.10 Now as he lived a long time so out of doubt in the end he died tasting of mortalitie as truely as the Prophet did whose bones before had raised him O Blessed Jesu I beg not at thy hands the reuniting of my soul unto my body for a temporary life but if it be thy holy will let the vertue of thy Passion raise me first from the death of sinne to the life of righteousnesse and from a righteous temporary life to the life of immortall happinesse Grant this for thy glorious Names sake O holy Redeemer Amen CHAP. III. 1. Whilest Christ lived none raised any dead save himself onely 2. The Rulers daughter raised by Christ died again 3. So did the young man whom Christ recalled to life 4. Many miracles in that miracle of Lazarus his resurrection 5. Christ gave perfect health to those whom he healed or raised 6. Lazarus his holy life and his second death 1. THe next place of my division leadeth me to treat of those whom Christ himself raised For if Christ did give authoritie to his twelve Apostles to raise the dead Matth. 10.8 though both in the old Interpreter and Theophylact these words are wanting saith Beza yet did they not or the Seventie at their return to him say they had raised any which he himself did so sparingly though they healed the sick Mark 6.13 and the devils were subject unto them through his name Luk. 10.17 Neither did the Baptist nor any in Christs life-time raise up any so farre as can be gathered It was a work he appropriated to his own power for the act thereof whilest he lived and which he maketh to be an infallible token and proof that he was the Messiah as appeareth by the answer of the ambassage which Christ returned to the Baptist Luk. 7.22 The dead are raised by me or by my power Therefore I am he that should come For that is one member of his argument And indeed perhaps he raised divers whom the Scripture hath not particularized for he did very many things that are not written Joh. 21.25 Yea many signes truely did he in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book Joh. 20.30 and his Apostles after his death did actuate that power which habitually in his life they received 2. But those that are mentioned to be raised by Christ whilest he lived on earth are likewise three 1. A Rulers daughter Matth. 9.25 2. A dead man the onely sonne of his mother Luk. 7.15 3. Lazarus his friend Joh. 11.44 And all these returned to do their offices and follow their vocations in this life and in the end payed their due to nature and died again In the first we observe that she was a damsel of twelve yeares of age and being dead her spirit came again Luk. 8.55 She arose and walked Mark 5.42 and Christ commanded to give her meat in the same place of Luke And as the meat was commanded to be given her that they might see she was to live such a life as before she lived so out of doubt the commanded meat was offered unto her and she did eat and was strengthened by it both living and dying afterwards as other maids and men did and no way rising to immortall life 3. As for the second he was a young man on whose mother Christ had compassion Luk. 7.13 She was a widow the youth her onely sonne and when Christ touch'd but the coffin and said Young man arise that you may see both his vertue and his voice had a piercing and quickning power he that was dead sat up and began to speak and Christ delivered him to his mother vers 15. Now these are evident signes of a naturall life in a naturall body which must yeeld in the end to the stroke of death And the raising of this young man being bruited abroad was the especiall motive why the Baptist sent two disciples with a message unto Christ Luk. 7.17 c. 4. The third whom Christ raised was Lazarus who had been buried foure dayes ere Christ came unto him Joh. 11.17 that I may passe over the uncertain time from his death to his buriall d Foetens quairiduanut Stinking after foure dayes enterring saith S. Augustine Yet when Jesus cried with a loud voice Lazarus come forth he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with grave-clothes and his face was bound about with a napkin and Jesus saith unto them Loose him and let him go Joh. 11.44 In which miracle I finde foure or five wrapped up and involved That so suddenly his soul did come from its abode That the stinking ill-organized body was so soon so well prepared That the soul was so quickly united and no sooner united then exercising her faculties on the bodie which yeelded such ready obedience That he could see the way out of the grave and perchance approach towards our Saviour when his eyes were blinded That he was able to go and walk before he was loosed by them while his hands and his feet were bound with grave-clothes Yet that the miracle aimed not to raise him to an immortall life appeareth because he did not onely go from his grave to Bethanie to the house where his sisters Mary and Martha were but because he supped with our Saviour he being one of them that sat at the table with Jesus Joh. 12.2 where out of doubt he did eat as the rest did There is an argument yet left as undeniable as unanswerable That the then living did think Lazarus lived to die again For the chief Priests consulted that they might put Lazarus to death as well as Christ Joh. 12.10 which they would not they could not have done if he had not lived and could not die like other men if he had been raised to life immortall and they knew he was once raised Joh. 11.45 47. 5. Concerning the sick that were healed and the dead raised by Christ worthy Writers further agree that Christ did integram corporis sanitatem conferre omni infirmitate rejectâ Left no reliques of sicknesse or infirmity when he healed Christ never healed any one man twice Joh.
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
answered by the prodigious Legend of Christina who died twice No hurt is to man if God will send his soul from an heavenly place to live a while on earth again 5. No harm to die twice The difference between death compleat and incompleat 6. God can dispense with his own Laws THus having beaten down the opposite authorities if they were fully on that side with weight and number the third and last point which I propounded to handle was the answering of all their reasons and arguments Some are so weak that I need not to answer For Suarez himself who alledgeth them confesseth their weaknesse and answereth them These three proofs following he alledgeth but answereth not First It was decent and behovefull DECUIT saith Suarez that Christ who had both bodie and soul should have companions of his glory in their bodies as well as in their souls For his delight is to be with the children of men Proverb 8.31 Which Suarez it may be took as an hint from Cajetan for he on Aquin. parte primâ quaest 53. art 3. hath it thus a Rationale videtur quòd sucrexerint perfectè ad vitam penitus immortalem ut beatitudo corporis in Christo haberet socios minus enim corporalis felicitas aliquid habere videretur it desit corporalis societas est enim homo secundùm vitam corporcam animal sociale c. It standeth with reason that they arose perfectly to a life fully immortall that the bodily blessednesse of Christ might have some fellows For the bodily happinesse seems not perfect and compleat if bodily societie and company be wanting for man is according to the corporeall life a sociable creature or good fellow not onely for want of necessaries unto life as happeneth in this world but for naturall delight consisting in bodily conversation saith Cajetan dissenting in this from the great Summist his master I answer that Cajetans argument is ridiculous for it holdeth chiefly in children or babies in fools and in striplings who love play-mates or in worldly factours whom businesse forceth into societie and commerce But that the Saints in heaven yea Christ himself the all blessed Saviour of the world both God and Man should not have the full of delight or have too little of bodily felicity if other humane bodies be not present savoureth rather of the Turkish Coran and the Arabian school then of the sacred Text and that Christ in heaven is animal sociale naturally delighting in bodily conversation for so much the application of that Axiom importeth or els he saith nothing to the purpose doth imply his brutish conceit of our most holy Redeemer The sweet singer of Israel saith Psal 16.11 In thy presence is fulnesse of joy at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore If this befall other holy Saints much more it belongeth to Christ from whose fulnesse all the whole bodie of his Church receiveth comfortable influences But grant we that such bodily companie might be desired by Christ yet he needed not these Many but he might have had Enoch and Elias or Moses and Elias with whom he conferred at his transfiguration Secondly unto Suarez his words Barradas his fellow-Jesuite answereth Christ needeth not men indued with bodies now in heaven As for the place of the Proverbs the precedent words give light unto them I rejoyced in the habitable parts of the earth saith the Text So his delights were with the sonnes of men in and upon the earth but of his delight in them with their humane bodies in heaven Before the last resurrection there is no inkling or intimation given Suarez argueth thus secondly b Animae gloriosae connaturale est c. It is very naturall for a glorified soul to be united unto an immortall and glorious bodie But their souls were glorious Therefore their bodies also And the glorie of a blessed soul of its own nature redounds upon the bodie I answer It doth so naturally if it be not hindered But the blessed souls of these Many Saints were in bodies not immortall not blessed not glorious for a few dayes or houres and that by miracle saith Barradius Besides whilest Christ lived on earth unlesse at his Transfiguration or some such especiall occasion the glorie of his most happie soul which was then beatified as much as any of the souls of the Saints are now and more did not impart visible glorie to his bodie but it was passible and mortall for it died Then why may not these Saints have the glorious light of their souls eclipsed from their bodies Again the assumed bodies of blessed Angels ever did resolve into their first principles when the ends why they assumed them were fulfilled the like might be in the Saints whose souls were hindered from communicating incorruptible and glorious qualities to their bodies and so they were partakers not of the perfection of the last eternall resurrection but of the imperfections incident to the temporarie and mortall resurrection Thirdly saith Suarez Corah Dathan and Abiram are in hell with their bodies therefore some to shew Gods mercie must now be in heaven with their bodies and therefore these Many I answer that both the sequences are lame though we should grant the ground or antecedent of the Argument For first was not Gods mercie seen in heaven from the houre of Corah and his companies descent into hell till these Many ascended Then why may it not still be seen though these ascended not especially since that Christ is there in a most blessed incorruptible bodie as they are in hell in cursed bodies which would take corruption for a favour Lastly why must these Many Saints be the counter-pattern in heaven rather then Enoch or Elias or Moses being the Magistrate against whom Corah and his complices combined themselves 2. Others there are who object It is said THEY ENTRED INTO THE HOLY CITIE But the holy citie is the new Jerusalem Jerusalem above Revel 21.2 Therefore they died not but went into heaven I answer Jerusalem below the materiall Jerusalem the seat of the kings of Judah because of Gods worship there especially to be performed in that glorious Temple was also called the holy citie GLORIOUS THINGS ARE SPOKEN OF THEE THOU CITIE OF GOD Psal 87.3 Amongst others thou art styled holy Rev. 11.2 The holy citie shall the Gentiles tread under foot but the Gentiles shall never trample on the new Jerusalem above On the one side of a shekel of the Sanctuarie which once I saw was stamped in Hebrew characters Holy Jerusalem Again Tobit 13.9 O Jerusalem the holy citie he will scourge thee but he will never scourge Jerusalem above which is the Mother of us all therefore Jerusalem below must needs be this holy Citie Bellarmine himself de Pontifice Romano 3.13 accordeth with us and interpreteth the strife of the two Witnesses against Antichrist in Jerusalem below And before him Hierom in his answer to the eighth question of Hedibia Tom. 3. fol. 50. saith Of these words
and shall be certainly the estate of the righteous who shall be alive at that great and dreadfull day I would be loth also to say That nothing else is noted by the words but that Whereas others die first and then are buried these men were buried alive or as live men that I may passe by his amphibolous phrase i Non inficior quin eorum animae si sint mortui pertinaces in seelecata sua obstinatione adjudicatae sint inferis cum Divite I denie not but their souls if they died obstinate in their wicked rebellion were sentenced to hell with Dives Why doth he not specialize where those inferi are and in what place Dives is or did they go to a parabolicall hell for he could not be ignorant that many hold that historie of Dives to be but a parable The truth and summe of all is this By divine power extraordinarie the houses or tents the beasts and the goods of Korah and his complices were separated and secluded from the use of men were swallowed up and covered in the earth and came to that end and destruction which they were capable of No word of God saith expressely no inference or reason evinceth no probabilitie induceth us to think that their tents houshold-stuffe or utensils were alive or that they yea or the beasts of these conspiratours went into the graves of them if graves they had any much lesse did such trash descend into hell that place of torment that Tophet prepared for wicked men that Deep excruciating and affrighting both the Devil and his Angels That tents goods and faculties should go thither to what purpose were it but God doth nothing unlesse it be to some great end or purpose therefore to the lowest hell their goods descended not But as concerning the men themselves it is plainly said That both the earth did open its mouth and swallowed them up even as it did their tents or beasts or goods and after that most distinctly that they went down alive into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but their souls could not go into the graves and there reside and their bodies might go into hell and there reside therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must needes there be expounded not of the grave nor of locus corporum as Doctour Raynolds phraseth it but of the hell of the damned of the locus animarum which place also must be the receptacle for all humane bodies of the wicked after the day of doom and retribution and may be the prison of those reprobate both souls and bodies whom God miraculously thither adjudgeth as he did this rebellious rout Though Lyra cited by Doctour Raynolds thinks the grave is meant because it is appointed for all men to die and after that cometh judgement yet I have many wayes proved that by especiall dispensation and by extraordinarie priviledge some may receive favour beyond the common rule or course of nature and contrarily I doubt not but upon so great a commotion and furious rebellion God could and did by way of exemplarie punishment punish these men bodily before the usuall time and sent their bodies to hell before the generall judgement If Cajetan and Hieronymus ab Oleastro cited by that Reverend Doctour expound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the grave yet they want both weight and age to put down Epiphanius before recited and many other Ancients who place their bodies in hell I accept then of Suarez his confession before mentioned and agree with him That Korah Dathan and Abiram are now both in souls and bodies in hell And upon this ground I thus work If they be there they are there to be punished and are punished if they burn in hell-fire they have no longer mortall bodies But as at the last day the bodies of the wicked that are alive then shall put on immortalitie so the bodies of Korah Dathan and Abiram were not properly separated from their souls but were changed and fitted for such places of punishments in the instant of their descent and so they descended alive into the pit of hell Then why may not Enoch and Elias be in immortall and glorified bodies since they were assumed up into heaven especially since Suarez himself again ingenuously confesseth k Animae gloriosae connaturale est uniri corpori immortali glorioso It is convenient yea proper to nature that a glorified soul should be united to an immortall and glorified bodie And the souls of Enoch and Elias are now glorified by the like acknowledgement of our learned Adversaries Again where the souls of Enoch and Elias are there also are their bodies But their souls are in the highest heaven For our Saviour saith John 17.24 Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am And John 12.26 Where I am there shall also my servant be But Christ is in the highest heavens Therefore both Enoch and Elias are with their bodies in the third heaven unlesse you can say They were not given by God to Christ and were not Christs servants Now since they are there in their bodies it is very unlikely that they should be there some thousands of yeares in bodies mortall and unglorified Hierom ad Pammachium avoucheth l Fruuntur divino consortio cibo coelesti They enjoy and have the fruition of the Deitie and are fed with heavenly food which is not meat for mortall bodies Besides S. Hierom Tom. 3. Epist pag. 189. in Epistola ad Minerium Alexandrum citeth Theodorus Heracleotes instancing in Enoch and Elias as carried to heaven and as having overcome death And Apollinarius fully agreeth with the other with this addition onely that Enoch and Elias have now glorified bodies Dorotheus in Synopsi de Elia thus m Qui humi iucedebat instar spiritus cum Angelis in coelis agit Who was on the earth as other men now as a spirit liveth in heaven with the Angels therefore he hath not a mortall bodie Again in most of the generall promises that God hath made he giveth some instance or other to be as it were a taste of what shall succeed lest mens hearts should fail in expectancie of that whereof they see no kinde of proof As for example because it was promised that there shall be a resurrection it was figured not onely more obscurely in Isaac his rising up from the Altar in the drawing of Joseph out of the pit in the Whales deliverie of Jonah in Samsons breaking from the cords in Daniels escape from the lions in the waters yeelding and giving up Moses to live in the Kings house and the like but more evidently by the reall and temporarie raising up of divers dead both in the Old and New Testament Likewise the glorification of our bodies being determined by God and by him promised yea Enoch himself prophesying that God cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgement upon all Jude 14 and 15 verses which is not
glorie of the Creatour If I be bold with Bishop Bilson he is as bold with S. Augustine and sleighteth his reasons and crosseth the very argument which Aquinas magnifieth and which we have now in hand concerning David All the Reverend Bishops words are too large to be transcribed you may reade them pag. 217. and 218. I will onely single out such passages as shew him to be singular or dubious in that point That David is not ascended into heaven doth not hinder saith he but David might be translated into Paradise with the rest of the Saints that rose from the dead when Christ did but it is a just probation that Davids bodie was not then ascended when Christ sat in his humane nature at the right hand of God Again he saith Augustine hath some hold to prove that David did not ascend in body when Christ did or at least not into heaven whither Christ ascended because in plain words Peter saith * Acts 2.34 DAVID IS NOT ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN But saith he either the bodies of the Saints slept again when they had given testimonie to Christs resurrection or they were placed in Paradise and there expect the number of their brethren which shall be raised out of the dust or lastly David was none of these that were raised to bear witnesse of Christs resurrection but onely such were chosen as were known to the persons then living in Jerusalem So farre Bishop Bilson Before I come to presse the argument let me desire the Reader to observe these things in the forecited words and to censure accordingly That the Saints may be in Paradise with their bodies but not in Heaven Is there any paradise but in heaven and when S. Paul was in paradise was he not in the third heaven Shall the Saints that rose upon Christs resurrection and if they ascended at all ascended upon his ascension Shall they I say be taken up from the earth and not be glorified or being glorified not be with Christ Shall they be kept at distance from the blessed spirits of Angels and men that attend upon the Lambe and hang between the earth and that heaven where their Redeemer reigneth Secondly against his former determination and against the reasons which he brought to confirm it he saith Either the bodies of the Saints slept again But doth it not impeach the power of Christs resurrection or will it not seem an apparition rather then a true resurrection as you before reasoned or they were placed in Paradise or David was none of those who were raised to bear witnesse of Christs resurrection You see now his resolution is come down but S. Augustines argument is sound that David was not excluded from that priviledge which other ancient Fathers and Patriarchs enjoyed if they enjoyed them Bishop Bilson himself confesseth that David ascended not when Christ ascended but Christ sat in his humane nature at the right hand of God when Davids bodie was not ascended If not then when did he or they ascend or how were they witnesses of his ascension Lastly that the Fathers before Christ were in blisse is out of doubt that they were in some mansion of heaven is probable that they were comforted and made happier by Christs exaltation may be beleeved But that either the souls of the Patriarchs and David are not with the other blessed Angels and spirits of men now where Christ is or that the Apostles and Evangelists and other most holy disciples of Christ do not follow the Lambe wheresoever he now is but are in a paradise out of heaven seems strange divinitie somewhat touching on the errour of the Chiliasts But I leave Bishop Bilson in this point unlike himself he being a chief of our worthies famous above thousands for a most learned Prelate 4. And if from the ground of S. Augustine and the words of S. Peter I do not demonstrate that David rose not to an eternall resurrection I am much deceived The confessed ground of S. Augustine is That it is hard and harsh to exclude David from being one that arose if any arose to eternall life so that if David arose not none may be thought of them so to arise as to ascend in their immortall bodies to heaven since he had greater gifts or priviledges then some of them and as great as almost any of them But say I David was none of those that arose or if he did he ascended not into heaven And this I will undertake to prove by S. Peter For first S. Augustine in the same Epistle saith The intent of S. Peter was to prove that these words Psal 16.10 Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption were spoken of Christ onely and not of David and the Apostle evinceth it by this reason Because David did die and was buried and his sepulchre is with us that is his bones and his bodie and his ashes are yet with us whereas if David had bodily ascended they would have fitted David as well as Christ who died and was buried and his sepulchre remained but his bodie was not incinerated neither was his flesh corrupted as Davids was but ascended And so the Apostles argument had been impertinent Secondly it is said most remarkably Act. 2.34 David is not ascended into the heavens But Christ is by Davids confession Note first the force of the Antithesis Secondly observe that S. Peter spake this after Christs ascension into heaven whereas if any arose to incorruptible glorie they arose or ascended with Christ and so by just consequent before this time when S. Peter spake these words yet the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is not yet ascended or He hath not ascended into the heavens Again though David were in heaven in his soul long before that time as we say or if he went up out of Limbus Patrum as some Papists say yet certainly someway he was not ascended when S. Peter thus preached If any way he ascended not it must needs be in bodie or soul They dare not say He ascended not in soul and therefore we may boldly say He ascended not in bodie unlesse they will shew us some third nature in David that might ascend which thwarteth both Philosophie and Divinitie 5. Moreover the Turks now inhabiting Jerusalem keep the sepulchre of David forbidding entrance to all Christians into it as every traveller into those parts knoweth and they questionlesse respect the sepulchre as containing the bodie bones or ashes of David there present and unremoved Lastly if David ascended not when Christ did or a little after which is evidenced from the words of S. Peter our enemies themselves will not say that he ascended long after or of late Therefore David is not ascended bodily as yet howsoever Pineda fancieth O Most mercifull Saviour the sonne of David the Lord of David who hast supereminently the Key of David and openest and no man shutteth and shuttest and no man openeth
of Macedonia c. Now cleare it is this was not a Macedonian indeed but an Angel bearing his person in the shape of man calling him with the call of God and what is said in truth of storie Joh. 20.12 Marie seeth two Angels in white sitting the one at the head and the other at the feet where the bodie of Jesus had layen is said by representation Luk. 24.4 Two men stood by them in shining garments they took on them the shapes of two men and stood in their places 2. If Angels represent the person of God and do things or say things as from him and as for himself they are called Gods and the very name of JEHOV A is attributed to them as the Angel appearing in the fierie bush to Moses and other Angels saith a De lociâ— infestis part 1. cap 23. Thyraeus and b Sentent 2. Distinct 8. Paragr 8. Estius In the New Testament another Angel is called Alpha and Omega Revel 22.13 which were blasphemie for any Angel to say or usurp if the Representer might not be styled according to the dignitie of the Represented Which note I have the rather insisted upon to lash the rash censure of such who under pretence to keep the Canonicall Scripture at a great distance from the Apocryphall pick unnecessarie faults in the Apocryphall such faults and so small as a man not prepossessed could not see and a naturall rationall Philosopher would esteem but little in comparison of greater doubts in semblance arising from our undoubted Canonicall S. Hierom was the first that styled them Apocrypha who never left any thing objected against him unanswered yet being therefore taxed by Ruffinus that therein he had robbed the holy Ghost of his treasure he made no reply Thus some have been hurt with kissing and the tendernesse of the ape killeth those young ones whom she loveth best And whilest they play the Criticks in censuring the Apocrypha they breed irreverence and irreligion toward the Canonicall by how much the doubts seem more or greater seem but are not 3. The most painfull and learned John Drusius in his epistle to Joseph Scaliger before his Commentarie on the first book of the Maccabees intimateth his fear of want even of things necessarie and in the very end of his castigations on Ecclesiasticus prayeth to God to stirre up the hearts of the Great ones and illustrious Lords to help him may heaven and earth take notice how miserable the estate of the learned is when tithes the fixed honourary of the Priesthood by Divine right are usurped by the Laicks and reward is measured not by true worth or by the measure of the Sanctuarie which was full running over and double to the common and profane measures but by the ignorant estimate of niggardly mechanicks their under agents yet he brake through all difficulties and hath bestowed great pains in his notes on both these books Scaliger de emendat tempor lib. 5. saith The first book of the Maccabees is c Opus eximium An excellent work Again d Tu praestantiam loujus libri jamdudum scis You knew long since full well the great worth of this book saith he in his epistle to Drusius And Albericus Gentilis most exquisitely disputeth in defence of the first book of Maccabees so little regarded in these times and answereth every objection which is brought against it I could say more in defence of other books Apocryphall but I recall my self to handle that particular which caused this diversion How many wide mouths have been made how many scandalls taken how many aspersions of horrible untruth and lying have been fastened on that blessed Angel who guided Tobias the younger in his long and dangerous journey because he said though he gave old Tobit a nick for that he would enquire his name immediately after Tob. 5.12 I am Azarias the sonne of Ananias the Great and of thy brethren whereas you may expound the words by this rule That he who sustains anothers person may call himself or be called according as the person himself As the Angel who appeared to S. John Rev. 22.9 saying I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren the Prophets and perhaps took one of their shapes at that time Likewise in the undoubted Canonicall the Angel Gabriel is called The man Gabriel Dan. 9.21 because he appeared in the similitude of a man Thus may the place of Tobit be expounded and without such favourable interpretations Familiaris quotidianus sermo non cohaerebit saith Cicero Pro A. Caecinna Secondly you may expound the words thus I AM AZARIAS that is the help of God THE SONNE OF ANANIAS THE GREAT NOW ANANIAS signifieth the grace or the gift of God And this is verified by the actions of the Angel who helped indeed both the Tobiahs by the especiall grace of God Adde to this that the Angels true name was Raphael Tob. 12.15 which is by signification the medicine or physick of God as indeed he did make whole young Tobie his wife and healed also old Tobie Tob. 12.3 All which being laid together remove all inconvenience from the words if we say The Angel by those names of men Azarias and Ananias did signifie that the help which was to come from him to them came to him from God For even this way draweth nigh unto that Lexicall exposition as d Bibliothecae sanct 3. Sixtus Senensis phraseth it which I will not wholly exclude Secondly I answer If these were no Angels but very men and these some of those Many who arose out of their sepulchres yet cleare it is they ascended not with Christ nor ascended they at all for ought that can be gathered but upon the performance of this their last errand their bodies might again embrace the dust 4. Lastly this may have a place of a probable argument As Elias when he was rapt into heaven in a fiery chariot by a whirlwinde being even therein a type of the resurrection let fall his mantle from him 2. King 2.13 perchance as a token that he needed it no more so Christ when he raised himself left his grave-linen in the grave the linen clothes by themselves the napkin that was about his head wrapped together in a place by it self John 20.7 out of doubt to shew that death should have no more dominion over him In which regard also he arose the tombe being shut and the tombe-stone sealed and observed narrowly with a watch for the removing of the tombe-stone by the Angel was not to help Christ to arise who entred in to his disciples januis clausis the doores being shut and came forth of the grave sepulchro signato the monument being sealed but that the women might go in and see that Christ was before raised Mark 16.3 c. and the stone was not rolled away propter Christum sed propter mulieres for Christ but for the women saith Hierom ad Hedibiam whereas contrarily when Lazarus was
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
flcut sua eisque propter seipsos hoc velit quod sibi They say that an happy life is a sociable life which loveth the welfarre of friends as it doth its own good and wisheth as well to others as to it self Ludovicus Vives on the place saith They were the Stoicks who said so but I rather guesse they were the Peripateticks and Aristotle their cheif Chaunter Which blessed life the heathen meaned not of eternall blessednes after the resurrection but of a blessed naturall life in this world and on this earth such an one cannot Enoch and Elias have though they were in Paradise because they have no more companie of their kinde Enoch more especially had lesse happines by this argument if he be supposed to be in the earthly Paradise because he was long by himself ere Elias came to him by the space I say of above two thousand yeares To the further illustration of the former point I may truly say If Adam and Eve had lived in Paradise by themselves alone without any other companie at any other time I should not much have envied or wished that felicitie yea though he had not fallen whereby he became Radix Apostatica in the phrase of Augustine Yea such a blessednes there is in communication of happines that the all-blessed onely-blessed ever-blessed Deitie of the Vnitie would not be without the conjoyned happines of the Trinitie The singlenes of Nature would not be without the pluralitie of Persons Thirdly do they see those men and women and their actions who now live in the bounds of old Eden whilest themselves in their bodies are invisible Fourthly here is a multiplying of miracles daily that Angels shall keep them yet so that they cannot be seen From Enochs assumption which is now above 4000 yeares since have Angels kept him that he hath not been once seen Besides no one place of Scripture Canonicall saith they are in Paradise and it is so farre from a favour as it is rather a durance and captivitie if they be kept from all other parts of the world within the bounds of old Paradise since many places are now more delightfull then the place or places whereabouts Salianus himself now holdeth Paradise to be situated Moreover Elijah was taken up into heaven Suppose that to gratifie Bellarmine we grant Coelum aerium is there meant yet must he needs be taken up from the earth and so not abide on earth in the circuit of old Paradise as Salianus foolishly conceiveth Likewise Ecclesiasticus 49.14 Enoch was taken from the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Vatablus hath it and rendreth it De terra sublimis assumptus est He was taken up on high from the earth the Vulgat hath it Receptus est à terraâ— Eâ—terra had been more pithie When the Apostle saith He was translated Heb. 11.5 was he left on the same earth on which he was before Or after he was in heaven did he come again on the earth It was an excellent and true observation of our learned Whitaker That Bellarmine sometimes confuting his fellows answers confuteth farre better answers then himself bringeth And I will be bold to say of Salianus though he doth justly deride them who make Paradise in the aire as Cornelius à Lapide and Bellarmine or in the orb of the Moon as others Yet his crotchet is as foolish as any of theirs For in what part of Paradise were they kept when the floud was or was not all the earth overflown The Angels then kept them in the aire or else by an other miracle kept the water from over-flowing that place That the Angels kept people from entring into Paradise I have read that they kept any from going out of it and kept them in it I have not read k Nemiui conspicul esse possunt None can see them saith Salianus They may say I by the same divine power by which they are invisible if invisible they be Can they be seen by none How was Elias seen by our Saviour and his three Disciples at the Transfiguration Or were all they within Paradise or was Elias out of the bounds of the old Paradise when Christ was transfigured on the mount But these and greater inconveniences must these men run into who will maintain against Scripture that Enoch and Elias are in earthly or aeriall Paradise that they may uphold an other crotchet worse then this namely That Enoch and Elias shall hereafter die and be slain by Antichrist and are not l In coelo supercoelesti in the highest heaven which is the last question 6. Let us speak of them severally then joyntly Concernning Enoch the first of them who were rapti it seemeth to me that the Apostles words Heb. 11.5 not onely do reach home to that point unto which before I applyed them viz. That Enoch died not but evince also that he shall never die For it is not said Enoch was translated that he should not die for a good while but he was translated that he should not or might not see death Therefore he cannot he shall not die hereafter since the holy Ghost hath expressed and signed out the end of his translation Nè videret mortem That he should not see death Some may answer to that place of the Apostle first that he speaketh of THE DEATH OF SINNERS as if he had meant with the book of * Wisd 4.11 Wisdome to say NE MALITIA MVTARET INGENIVM EJVS LEST HE SHOVLD BE CHANGED TO THE WORSE for sinners are called DEAD MEN according to that saying l Improbi dum vivunt mortui sunt WICKED MEN EVEN WHILE THEY LIVE ARE DEAD So farre Drusius To whom let me adde that Christ saith Luke 9.60 Let the dead bury their dead And 1. Timoth. 5.6 She that liveth in pleasure is dead whilest she liveth And to the Angel of the Church of Sardis the Spirit saith Revel 3.1 Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead In all which places wicked men are taken for the dead yet in the place of the Apostle it cannot be so for he was speaking of the true lives and deaths of Gods Saints And if the literall sense can be admitted we must not flee to the mysterie but here is no inconvenience in the letter Moreover the same God who mercifully placed him in the state of Grace could as easily have kept him so without inflicting death on him Lastly the Apostle said Hebr. 11.4 Abel is dead and then descending to Noah and Abraham at the 13. verse These all died in faith I hope no man will say the word died is here taken for sinned but it is taken literally that their souls were parted from their bodies So the words That he should not see death prove that Enochs soul was not parted from his bodie Indeed he is one of them that are mentioned between Abel and Abraham but yet singled out by expresse words That he was translated lest he should or might see