THE HOPE OF the Faithful.  
Declaring Briefly and clearly the Resurrection of OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST past, and of our true essential bodies to come: and plainly confuting the chief Errors, that hath sprung thereof, out the Scripture and Doctors.  
With an evident probation, that there is an eternal life of the Faithful, and an everlalasting damnation of the Unfaithful.  
Newly Imprinted and Corrected. 1574.   

To the Christian READER, GRACE. and peace.  
every MAN must needs confess, that this is now a lamentable time. In the which the world is not only unquieted with wars, dearth, sickness and such like but also standeth ever more and more in greater peril, thorough vices every where bearing the swing. So that it is to be feared if we banish them not the sooner, we and our posterity shall yet come into far greater sorrow, than we are already wrapped in. For if one should barely, and without all rhetorical amplifications, but rehearse only the great pomp, vainglory, riot, fornication, open idolatry, perjury. etc. of mighty men and rulers, which waste the world miserably, the space even of many days would scase be any thing sufficient thereunto. And what heaps of wickedness private persons do add unto the same, all wise men can ponder by themselves. For if we go into our own bosoms, we find that we altogether will wholly fashion and frame our lives after the world: seeking vain pomp and private commodity for our own lust, with sure shame and public discommodity to other's loss.  
Which all are undoubted tokens, that the law and love of God is little esteemed among us. Which with grievous threats forbiddeth the foresaid and other vices by strait commandment forcing, and sure rewards alluring us to the contrary dealing Neither may we think, but that such vices daily will increase till the time they overwhelm us, except the contempt of Gods la ve set apart, being the only sufficient wellspring of all wickedness, for which the wrath of God is enkindled, and his bitter curses fall upon us the same word be had in greate● price and reverence. For why, what godliness can be hoped for of them, which hold nothing of God, the only fountain of goodness, and laugh his word to scorn, of whom we can know nothing, but that is there showed us: save that small knowledge, that is of beholding of the creatures▪ which nevertheless declareth rather that there is a God, than what he is, & how he will be pleased. And though all the scripture serve us to enjoy God's blessings, yet as in a compound medicine, all the simples being wholesome, some one may less be spared than the other so the article of resurrection, clear and oft inculcated in Sc ipture, is most available, so that it unknown, all vices swarm and roast in us. For we, not considering our end, wherein salvation & life standeth, or pains prepared for the accursed, will but stain ourselves in voluptuousness. For who knoweth but the flesh in this life, why should he not think, as good take it as leave it, and best to make the most of that which at last ceaseth. In this case the ethnics being said: live merely while ye be in the world: and eat we and drink we lustily, to morrow we shall die, which all the Epicures protest openly, and the Italian atheoi in life practise, and no worse man, than a Pope, in our days hath given the like definitive sentence, among his Court divines, of the soul's immortality: the story is known. Contrariwise, the learned in God's word, knowing that this life is a death from sin, and a way to the life to come, which Christ with his cross hath opened unto them, for desire thereof run forth in the race of godliness: assured of the reward, sith Christ, therefore bidding death battle, that we might live, hath broken her bonds and risen again. For goods are not the possessors, as the Philosopher saith, and Christ alludeth in the parable of the two strong men, but the more valiant man's. Wherefore, gentle reader, I having this little but absolute work of Christ's and our resurrection, and that there is an eternal life and damnation, wherein the devil hath sore assaulted the church, by men, this only excepted, of great authority and learning: thought it my duty, to put it in Print, not keeping that private, which might do such good common. The matter is plain in scripture: yet learn we better things called in question, and forced to us by reason. Wherefore not to stir up God's grace in us by embracing such treatises, were to tempt God, and extinct the spirit.  
For the scholar learneth of his school fellow, that he perceived not by his more learned master, and understandeth him ever after the better: and so men further one an other in scripture. Which as I mean in printing, if thou desire in reading, the Lord no nay shall grant our request: which giveth blessings plenteously to all such, as ask it constantly. To whom give honour & thanks from heart, for the good that thou repest in his creatures.  
FAR WELL.   

¶ The first part of THIS BOOK, ENTITLED THE HOPE OF THE FAITHFUL, which entreateth of the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, with the fruit and commodity thereof.  

THE FIRT CHAPTER. ¶ The Contents of this book, and the Author's purpose.  
COnsidering that, by the Evangelists, and by all the Apostles, there is nothing written more diligently, then touching the resurrection of our lord jesus Christ: my purpose is, some what more largely to talk of the same, and of the glorious ascension of his body into heaven: Item of the resurrection and ascension of our own bodies: of the damnation of unbelievers, of the hope and eternal life of the blessed. And this I mind to do, only unto the honour, laud & praise of our Lord jesus Christ: that the mystery of the holy gospel may be set forth & opened to the commodity & edifying of the faithful, and that of every man it mai be plainly understanded, how great things are prepared and given us of Christ. This matter also doth specially belong to the declaration of the holy Gospel, forasmuch as the best fruit of the gospel is contained and taught therein. Therefore if I write aught herein more largely, I do nothing that concerneth not my purpose. Yet I intend also to keep a measure, & not to open every thing, that hereof might be written, but only that which is chiefest, & most necessary of all.   

CHAP. 2. That the Lord verily arose with his body.  
THat our lord jesus Christ, with his own very true body, did verily arise from the dead, it shallbe expedient afore all things to testify & prove. Therefore let the first witness, even our Lord jesus Christ himself, come forth now and bear us record out of the Prophets, concerning his true resurrection. 
Math. 12.  Like as jonas (saith he) was three days and three nights in the whales belly, so shall the son of man be three days & three nights in the heart of the earth. Now did not the fish cast up to the dry land any other for jonas, but even the same jonas himself, whom he had swallowed. Therefore the very same true body of the Lord also, that was buried, arose again. Which thing the holy Apostle Paul minding perfectly to express, said: 
1. Cor. 15.  first of all I delivered unto you (or taught you) that which I received: how that Christ died for our sins, agreeing to the scriptures: and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.  
Lo, what can be spoken more evident and plain? He that died for our sins, and was buried, even he himself the very same rose also again. Of this now it followeth, that the very true substantial body of our lord did rise again: for even the same died & was buried. But to the intent that it might the sooner be believed, Paul the holy teacher declareth furthermore, that he speaketh this according to the contents of scripture, and that the same was taught in the scriptures afore, meaning undoubtedly the law & the Prophets.  
Nevertheless, we will now bring forth the true and evident testimonies of the Angels, who in Mark, 
Math. 28. Mark. 16. Luke. 24.  Luke and Matthew, speak unto the women that came to the sepulchre: You seek jesus of Nazareth, him that was crucified. Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is risen, he is not here. Behold the place where they had laid him. Remember how he spoke unto you, while he was yet in Galilee, saying, that the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, & the third day rise again. Therefore go quickly, and tell this to his disciples, that he is risen from the dead. And behold he shall go before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he himself told you.  
These are the words of the Angels, which (if all circumstances be thoroughly well considered) do plainly declare, that the very true body of the Lord did verily arise from the dead. The women come & seek the body of the lord, desiring to anoint it: therefore the question is, touching the body of Christ. The Angels also speak of the true body of Christ, & make answer, saying: You seek jesus of Nazareth. Whereunto they add distinctly, him that was crucified. Now are we sure that his very true body was crucified and died. He (say they) namely that died, even jesus of Nazareth, the same is become alive again. Why seek ye the living among the dead? The lord died of a truth, but death must not have dominion over him, neither must his body putrefy or corrupt, as other men's bodies do, according as holy David said before: 
Psalm. 16.  Afore hand, I saw God always before me: for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did mi heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption. Thou hast showed me the ways of life, thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance: and at thy right hand, there is pleasure for evermore.  
These words extend wholly unto Christ, according as the ii excellent Apostles, 
Acts. 2.13.  namely Peter in the second, and Paul in the 13. of the Acts, do declare. Out of the Angels words also is it come into the articles of the crede, as we all confess with these words: he rose again from the dead. This word (from the dead) doth truly express the death and resurrection after this sense. He died, as other men also do, according to the law of nature. And even in the same flesh, which he therefore took upon him that he might die, received the immortality and took it unto him again. Therefore say the Angels: he is rise● again. But that thing riseth no up, which fell not afore: therefore even the same body of Christ, that fell in death, is from death risen up again.  
Moreover, they name also the place where he was laid, to express perfectly, that the very true body was risen, saying: behold the place, where they laid him. The mortal body of the Lord hath his certain place, yea his own place (that the Logicians call, Vbi, that is to say, where) in the which he was laid. And as he now is become immortal, he hath his own place again. For if the body that was raised up, were every where, then had not the Angels said: Behold the place where they laid him. Yea, they had not been able to show any one place, where he was not if the immortal body must be every where. But now they show a place, in the which the immortal body was not, and that with plain express words, saying: he is not here. Of this now it followeth, that the body of Christ. which is but in one place, did verily rise again. In the gospel o● s. john also the sepulchre clothes wherein the Lord was wrapped (as the head cloth, & that which was about his body) are mentioned as strong testimonies of the body risen up: which clotheses Pete● and john did perfectly see. Furthermore, the Angels prove his very true resurrection out of th● word of god, and say, remember what he said unto you while h● was yet in Galilee: the son o● man must be delivered into th● hands of sinful men. etc. Wit● these words will they instruct us, that the son of man, a very true body, is truly risen again. They say moreover: go quickly, tell the disciples, that he is risen from death. Now was the body dead, and (as all men's bodies, that die) laid in the grave. And even the same body was made immortal, & rose again from the dead. He shall go before you into Galilee, yea before you shall he go, with a true body that moveth from one place to another: there, as in a certain place, shall ye see him. You shall see him I say: for with a visible & palpable body is he risen, as ye are told by the Lord himself, who can neither lie nor deceive.   

CHAP. 3. Appearings of the body raised up.  
HEreunto extend the manifold appearings or open showings of Christ, mentioned by the Evangelists. In Mark it is written thus: 
Mark. 16.  when jesus was risen early the first day after the Sabbothe, he appeared first to Mary Magdalen. To whom in the gospel of john, he saith: go to my brethren and tell them: 
john. 20.  I go up to my father and your father, to my God and your God. Now when she came to the disciples, she told them that she had seen the Lord, & that he had spoken such things unto her. In Matthew he meeteth the women, and sayeth: All hail. Fear not, 
Math. 28.  go and tell my brethren, that they go into Galilee, there shall they see me. In holy S. Luke is mention made of two appearings. The first when he showed himself to the two that went to Emaus, 
Luke. 24.  & opened unto them the true resurrection of his body. The second, when they were gone again from Jerusalem, they came to the Disciples, minding to show them, and to give them to understand, what they had seen and hard. Then prevented they them, and said: the Lord is truly risen in deed, and hath appeared unto Simon. 
Luke. 24.  Now while they were talking of such things among themselves, jesus stood in the mids of them, and said: peace be unto you. But when they saw him, they were sore afraid, thinking that they had seen a spirit, or some other vision. Then said the lord unto them: why are ye troubled: And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet.   

CHAP. 4. The body of Christ rose again, not a spirit but a true body.  
Now that no man should think it to be another body, which he had not afore his resurrection, he addeth thereto immediately: It is even I myself. Handle me, & see: a spirit hath not flesh & bones, as ye see me have. And with that showed he them his hands and his feet.  
With this evident testimony of the Lord, 
De agone Christiano. cap. 24.  was S. Augustine moved, boldly to say, that they aught not to be heard, which deny the body of the Lord to have risen again, as it was laid in the sepulchre. For if it were not so, he would not have said to his disciples after the resurrection: Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh & bones, as ye see me have. Now is it as much as to rob God of his honour, if any man would think, that the lord, who is the truth itself, had in any thing, that he spoke, not said the truth. etc. Thomas was not there, when the Lord showed himself alive unto his disciples: but when he came again, they told him with great joy, what they had seen & heard. Nevertheless he thought it had not been as they spoke, and he said: except I see in his hands the print of the nails, 
john. 20.  & put my finger into the holes of them, and my hand into his side, I will not believe it. Therefore after viii days, when the disciples were assembled together again, & Thomas with them, jesus cometh in, while the doors were shut, and standeth in the mids among them, and saith: peace be unto you. afterward said he unto Thomas: reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands, put thy hand here also and lay it in my side, & be not faithless, but believing. Thomas answered and said unto him: my Lord, and my God. For S. Paul also in the first chapter of the Epistle to the romans doth out of the resurrection of the Lord, 
Rom. 1.  prove the godhead thus: which was borne of the seed of David after the flesh, and evidently declared to be the son of god after the spirit that sanctifieth, and by that he rose again from the dead, namely jesus Christ our lord. What can be spoken more plain, more evident or more certain? For freely did the Lord set before their eyes his body, which was hanged upon the cross, that they might see it & handle it. For the body was pierced with nails, and marked with the prints thereof. Out of this now it followeth, that the lord with his true body did verily rise again, and not a spirit. And further, the Lord also showeth himself unto the seven, which then were in Galilee, fishing at the sea of Tiberias. The Evangelist addeth likewise thereunto, 
john. 21.  that it was not expedient for any of the Disciples to ask him who he was: for they knew that it was the Lord. In the .28. chapter of Mathewe, the eleven Apostles saw the Lord, 
Math. 28.  and worshipped him, as it is declared afore. Some think, that the same was the excellent appearing, that Paul speaketh of, saying: Afterwards was he seen of more than five hundred brethren at once: 
1. Cor. 15.  of whom many are alive this day, but some are a sleep (or dead.) And in the same place doth the Apostle make mention yet of two more appearings, saying: after this was he seen of james, then to all the Apostles. And last of all he was seen of me, as of one that was borne out of due time.  
Luke the Evangelist, in the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, hath in manner collected all the probations together. 
Acts. 1.  The Lord (sayeth he) showed himself alive unto his apostles after his Passion, and that by many tokens, appearing unto them forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God. S. Peter also, instructing Cornelius in the Faith of Christ, 
Acts. 10.  said: we are witnesses of all things, which he did in the land of the jews, and at Jerusalem, whom they slew & hanged on tree. Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto us witnesses, chosen before of god for that intent: which did eat and drink with him after he rose from death. With these plain probations & testimonies (as I suppose it) it is evidently declared, and sufficiently showed, that our Lord jesus Christ with his own very true body, which hanged on the cross, did vereli rise from the dead. As touching the glorification, I shall speak thereof, when I come to the resurrection of the bodies: and there will I show more, that the glorification doth nothing minish the verity or truth of the body, read the sixth chapter.   

CHAP. 5. The fruit of the Resurrection of Christ.  
NOw I will declare the occasion, why I have with such diligence, and so earnestly pressed unto this, that jesus christ with his true body did truly rise again. That is, how profitable & necessary it is, so to believe, and what fruit the true resurrection of Christ doth bring & engender unto us. And albeit that hereof, as of a plentiful treasure, much might be spoken: yet will I comprehend it all in a short sum. Though we be complete & made perfect thorough the death of Christ, while the just judgement of god is satisfied, the curse taken away, & the penalty recompensed and paid: Yet saith Peter, we are borne again, thorough the resurrection of jesus Christ, unto a living hope. For like a christ with his resurrection overcame death, so standeth also the triumph & victory of our faith in the resurrection of Christ. Therefore thorough his death is sin taken away, by his resurrection is righteousness brought again. For how could he with his death, have delivered us from death, if he himself had of death ben overcome? Or how could he have obtained the victory for us, if he had been destroyed in the battle himself? Therefore thorough death is death discomfited, and with the resurrection is life to us restored.  
Hereof cometh it that Paul saith: if Christ be not risen, 
1. Cor. 15.  then is your faith in vain, and ye ar● yet still in your sins: and so they, that be a sleep in Christ, are lost. And to the romans Christ (saith he) was delivered up for our sins, 
Rom. 4.  & rose against for our justification.  
Hereunto serveth it also, that h● writeth in the. 
Rom. 10.  10. Chapter. I● thou confess the lord jesus with thy mouth, and believe in thin● heart, that God raised him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved. T● the Philippians he saith more over: 
Philip. 3.  I count all things but loss● for the excellent knowledge sake of jesus Christ. Out of all this is there yet another thing concluded, namely: that not only life is restored unto us, but also that in the resurrection of the Lord, the immortality of the soul is grounded fast and sure. For so saith the lord himself in the gospel: 
john. 11.  I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth on me, though he were dead, he shall live: and whosoever liveth and believeth on me, shall never die.  
Yet another fruit also receive we out of the resurrection of the lord: namely that we are assured & out of doubt, even as if we had received writing & seal thereof, that our own bodies likewise shall rise from death: forasmuch as in the true resurrection of the body of Christ, our resurrection hath a fast and umnoveable ground For Paul sayeth: Christ ros● from the dead, 
1. Cor. 15.  & is become th● first fruits of them that sleep. Fo● by one man came death, & by on● man came the resurrection of ● dead. For as by Adam all die, by Christ shall all be made alive but every one in his own order▪ The first is Christ, than they are Christ's. etc. Now he that i● the first can not be alone: the hea● also shall not forsake the member▪ seeing then that Christ the head ● risen, it must needs follow, tha● we also, as members, must ri● again. For even in the same plac● doth Paul conclude: if the dea● rise not again, them is not Chri●● risen again. And finally out of the words of the holy Apostle Paul we learn, 
Rom. 6 Collos. 3.  that thorough the ensample of Christ, that was raised up, we are not only provoked to take upon us a new life, but that we also thorough the power of Christ are renewed, that we might lead an innocent and holy life. And thus have I briefly comprehended and declared the principal fruits of the resurrection of the Lord.   

CHAP. 6. Of the true Ascension of the lords body, that arose a body and no Spirit, and of his place whether he went to be in.  
Moreover, it shall be exdient to know, to what place the true body of the Lord was carried or came: whether it was laid in the earth again, or vanished away, or turned into the nature of the Godhead, or otherwise changed into a spirit. In this point, we affirm thus: The right old Christian faith, the upright holy scripture, & the ancient Doctrine of the Christian church, doth teach, hold, and confess, that jesus Christ, very go● and man, hath not laid away, no● mixed together, nor yet put of hi● natures, the godhead & the manhood: but that he keepeth still both natures in their properties unblemished, & that he ascended v● to heaven very true God & ma● For so we knowledge and confess in the Crede: he ascended up to heaven. We find also in the gospel of Mark: so then, when the Lord had spoken unto them, 
Mark. 16.  he was received into heaven, & sitteth on the right hand of god. Item Ruffinus an old writer (who hath declared the articles of the faith) saith: 
Ruffinus.  he ascended into the heavens: not thither where the word, that is God, was not afore (for he was ever still in heaven and continued in his father) ●ut thither where the word, that become man, sat not afore. Yet ●il we declare this more plainly out of the gospel of Luke, 
Luke. 24.  where ●t is written thus: and he led them out into Bethanie, & lift up hi● hands, and blessed them. And ● came to pass, as he blessed them he departed from them, and wa● carried up into heaven.  
Now if thou ponder every thing here thoroughly, thou mu●● needs acknowledge, and bein● overcome with the truth, tho● must needs confess, that the very true body of the lord was n● laid away, neither turned into the nature of the godhead: but h● a very true man, who at one ti●● is but in one place, ascended a● was taken up into heaven, as ● to one place. He led them out● saith he. Who? I prai the. Ever the Lord jesus, which unto than, by the space of forty days, had in very deed truly showed himself unto his disciples, that he was risen from the dead with a very true essential body. Even he, the very same that had taken unto him a true body, led his disciples out unto bethany, & from thence brought he them farther to Mount Olivet. And in the same place, lifting up his hands (no doubt, bodily & human hands) yea with the prints & tokens of the wounds, he blessed them, namely his disciples: that is, he saluted them, as the manner is of ●hose that take their leave of us. And so departed he from them, ● set his body corporally in heaven, as in one place. For afterward it followeth yet more plain: he departed from them: that is, he was carried into heaven.  
For, to be carried, may hear be spoken, only of the body: and in such sort departed he from them, that his body was from the earth taken up into heaven.  
And though all this be evident and plain in itself, yet by the Evangelist Luke, 
Acts. 1.  in the Acts o● the Apostles, it is set forth an● opened more manifestly. For afore all things he testifieth, that th● Lord arose with his own true b●dy: and that by the space of. 4● days, with many tokens & evidences, he plainli proved & declar● his resurrection unto the Disciples. And immediately he addeth thereunto, that even the very same body was taken up into heaven. For when he had spoken these things (saith he) while they beheld him he was taken up on high: and a cloud received him up out of their sight. Lo, the Lord was taken up: yea even in their eye sight was he taken up on high, so that a cloud received his very true body away from the sight of their eyes. I beseech you, what can be more aptly or more convenientli spoken of an essential body?  
It followeth farther in the Evangelist Luke: and while they looked steadfastly up towards heaven as he went (mark that well) behold, two men stood by them in white Apparel, which also said: ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, even as ye have seen him go into heaven. Wherefore our Lord jesus is departed up into heaven, with his own true essential body: yea even with the same which he raised up from the dead. For even with the same very true humane body shall he come again unto judgement, according as the Lord himself said, & the Prophet Zachary, 
Math. 26. Zach. 12. john. 19  whose words s. John aledgeth: They shall look on him, whom they have pierced.  
Thus I trust it is sufficiently proved and declared, that the Lord jesus, with his own very true body which he raised from death, is gone up into heaven. But to the intent that no man mistake this word (heaven) or otherwise imagine any thing, that is dark or not understand, whereby the simple being in error, may scase know at the last where heaven is, or where Christ hath his dwelling: It shall therefore be needful, briefly to declare, what the heaven is: and that the Lord with his own true body doth devil in heaven, as in one place. For heaven is a certain assured place, and not only a name & declaration of the estate & being in heaven. Therefore when it is said, Christ is gone up into heaven, it is not so much as only to say, he hath taken upon him an heavenly estate or being: but also, he dwelleth bodily in heaven, as in one place.   

CHAP. 7. The divers significations of this word, Heaven, as it is used in scripture.  
THis word (Heaven) in the scripture, is used divers and sundry ways. First for the whol● firmament, which is called th● heavenly host, or beautiful apparel of the heavens. Hereof ha● thou record in the eight an● nineteenth Psalm. 
Psal. 8.19.   
It is taken also for the air which is above us, as the Prophet sayeth: he covereth the heaven with clouds, 
Psal. 146.  to prepare rain for the earth. Hereof cometh it, that the fowls, which fly in the ●ire, are called fowls or birds of heaven, that is to say, birds ●n the air. Item, heaven also is used for a seat, habitation or dwelling, as: the Lord hath prepared his seat in heaven, and: 
Psal. 103. Math. 5.  ye shall not swear by Heaven, for it is God's seat. And though God be infinite, & can not be compassed ●bout with any place (as the most wise Solomon said: 
3. Reg. 8.  The heavens, and the heavens of all heavens, are not able to contain thee. And how should then th● house do it, that I have builded? Yet the scripture calleth the heaven that is above us, a dwelling ● God: which dwelling is ordein● for all faithful & virtuous belovers, and is named the heaven This doth Paul witness, sa●ing, we know, 
2. Cor. 5.  that if our earth mansion of this dwelling wer● destroyed, we have a building ● God, an habitation not made ● hands, but eternal in heaven.  
Here is now heaven taken f● the kingdom of God, for the kingdom of the father, or joy & eternal life, which is peace and re● The heaven (I say) is a seat a● dwelling of the faithful or ble●sed believers: a determinat place also, into the which the lord jesus was received, when he was taken up into the heaven. And this doth the scripture plainly declare unto us, namely the above ●s there is a certain determinate place prepared for us.  
For Luke saith: he was received up on high, 
Acts. 1.  and a cloud took ●im up away out of their sight. Item, and while they looked steadfastly up towards heaven, the Angels said: this same jesus, which is taken away from you ●nto heaven, shall so come, even as ●e have seen him go into heaven. ●ho is so ignorant now, that he wotteth not where heaven is or the clouds, or into which heau● the Apostles looked so stedfast● Besides this, the holy Apost Paul saith also: our conuersa●on, 
Phillip. 3.  freburgership or dwelling in heaven: from whence we lo● for the saviour, even the L● jesus. Lo in heaven, saith ● Apostle, is our dwelling. ● which heaven, I pray you? ●● in the same whence we look the saviour. Now is it euid● from whence we wait and lo● seeing that the Apostle saith ag● we, which shall live and rema● shallbe caught up with them ● in the clouds, 
1. Thess. 4.  to meet the L● in the air, and so shall we eue● with the Lord  
He saith also in another place: if ye be risen again with Christ, 
Collos. 8.  then seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. And therefore is the Lord jesus gone up into the heaven that is above us, and namely into that sure certain place, which is prepared for the blessed.  
And in the same heaven, as in a sure certain place, doth Christ now dwell bodily.  
Of this opinion also was holy Augustine, as in deed it is right & agreeable unto holy scripture. His words are found in the book and Dardanum de praesentia Dei. 
Fulgentius  Holy Fulgentius in the second book that he wrote unto King Trasimundus, is earnest to bring every man unto this understanding: that the humane kind & nature of Christ, which now dwelleth in heaven, is circumscribed, & in one place. With him also accordeth uniformly the holy martyr Vigilius, 
Vigilius.  whose testimony I will now omit, and come again to the holy scripture.  
The Scripture, minding t● show what is become of the body, that rose again from death and ascended up, and where h● hath his dwelling, saith simpl● & plainly: 
Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.  he sitteth at the righ● hand of God the father almighty. Thus now is the body 〈◊〉 Christ come to the right hand God, there sitteth he. But here shall it be expedient to declare what the right hand of God is, and what it is to sit at God's right hand.   

CHAP. 8. What Gods right hand is, and to whom it is referred.  
FIrst, the right hand of God is not referred unto god himself, but unto men, that are on the right hand. So that first the right hand of God doth signify the eternal salvation, and the place of those, that be saved. This did holy Augustine teach, whose words I may well allege, forasmuch as he also doth confirm & prove his opinion by the divine and holy Scriptures. In his book de Agone Christiano, 
August. de agone Christiano. cap. 26.  he saith: we aught not to hear them, that deny the son to sit at the right hand of God. For they say, hath god the father also a right or lef● side, as bodies have? neither d● we understand that of the father For with no bodily proportion can God be described or comprehended. As for the right hand o● the father, it is nothing else but eternal salvation, which he sha●● give to all godly & faithful believers. In like manner is the left hand rightly taken for the everlasting damnation, that shall com● upon the unbelievers. So that n● of God, but of the creatures ● must be expounded, that is writte● of the right & left hand. For even the body of Christ also, which is the church, shall come to the right hand, that is, into salvation, as the Apostle saith to the Ephesians: 
Ephe. 2.  he hath raised us up together with him, & made us sit together with him among them of heaven. For though our bodies as yet be not there, our hope nevertheless is there already.  
The same holy Augustin saith also further in the book De fide & symbolo. 
De fide & symbolo. cap. 7.  By the right hand (saith ●e) must be understand the highest salvation, where righteousness, peace & joy is: like as the goats also shallbe set on the left hand. That is, by reason of their sins & wickedness, they shall come into great calamity, trouble & misery All these are the words of holy Augustine.   

CHAP. 9 What it is to sit at the right hand of God, how Christ sitteth the● and what he doth.  
ANd thus now, to sit at th● right hand of God, is eue● as much, as to be in rest: that to say, all wretchedness & miser● set aside, to live in a godly life, to be partaker of eternal joy Now that this word (to sit) used in Scripture for rest, the places declare. In the. 4. book Moses it is written thus: sha● your brethren go to war, 
Num 32.  & wo● ye sit here? 
Mich. 4.  And in Micheas: eu●ry one shall sit under his vine and figtree. etc. Mani more such places there be. Wherefore now, when the scripture saith, that the lord jesus sitteth at the right hand of his father, it understandeth it chiefly of his humane nature: which he he took upon him, that the same being discharged and free from all travail and misery of man, is now all in joy, & partaker of the kingdom everlasting. Thus saith also Rufinus in his exposition of the Crede: 
Rufinus.  to sit at the right hand of the father, is convenient for the manhood received, which is received thorough a mystery. For to ascribe that to the divine nature, it is unseemly, as though it had a seat in heaven: but of the humane nature it is properly understand and spoken.  
And the like yet did holy s. Peter teach afore Rufinus time, a● it is to see in the Acts. 
Acts. 2.3.   
But now might one ask wha● doth the son at the right hand o● the father? Must he always sitt● there, & be as much as made fast and bound unto it? Answer.  
The Lord jesus, after his humane nature that he took upon him, & which he put not from him in heaven, hath now eternal joy with his elect: he as the head with his members ruling & reigning with all faithful believers for evermore. Whereof we shall spea● more afterward.  
A very superfluous & unprofitable question also is it, when one will so curiously inquire & know what God doth in heaven.  
For God will only teach us with his holy word, that he liveth & ruleth eternally in the glory of his heavenly father. Holy Augustin saith also in the book De fide & symbolo: 
De fide & symbolo. cap. 6.  To go about for to seek and inquire, where and how the body of our Lord is in heaven, it is a point of nice people, & bringeth no profit.  
Only we aught to believe, that he is verily in heaven. For truly it standeth not with our weakness, to comprehend and discern the privity of the heavens: but it beseemeth our faith, to have the worthy & glorious body of the Lord in high and worthy estimation. hitherto Augustine.   

CHAP. 10. That Christ sitteth at the right hand of God by his humanity, but circumscribed in place, and is not every where.  
NOw though the heavenly honour & glory be high, and may not be expressed: yet th● place where he dwelleth, is certain, & the body that is in heaven can not be every where. For the right hand of God, in and after this first signification thereof, is not infinite. Else must all faithful believers also, & they that are saved, be every where, seeing they are with the son of God, who is taken up into heaven. For the Lord himself saith: 
john. 17.  now from henceforth shall I be no more in the world, but they are in the world, & I come unto thee. Upon this he saith: father, they whom thou hast given unto me, I will that where I am, they also be with me, that they may see my glory which thou hast given me.  
Item, he that doth me service let him follow me: 
john. 12.  and where I am, there shall also my servants be. Seeing now that our souls & our bodies also, after the resurrection of the flesh, shallbe in heaven, as in a place certain: it followeth that the body of the Lord, which into heaven is taken up, hath also a place certain in heaven, and that the right hand of God in this signification can not be every where.  
In this upright matter, let it trouble no man, that is read in s. Paul, 
Ephe. 4.  how that Christ ascended up above all the heavens by means whereof, a curious body might peradventure conclude: if Christ our Lord be taken up above the heavens, then can there no place certain be ascribed unto him, seeing there is no place above or with out the heaven. Neither aught it to offend any man that is written, how that unto Christ there is given a name, which is above all names. Or that Paul saith, 
Phillip. 2. 1. Cor. 2.  how that no eye hath seen, neither any ear heard, nor is come into the heart of man, what god hath prepared unto them that love him.  
For the scripture of God thorough out, doth witness constantly and sure, that Christ jesus is taken up into heaven, & sitteth at the right hand of his father. Whereby it is out of doubt, that the Apostle thought not to set Christ without heaven: but therefore proponeth he the matter with so high & excellent words, to show and declare unto us, that the body of our lord which afore was despised, and shamefulli defaced, is now in the supreme & highest glory, & that meaneth he, where he saith, above all heavens. For who ● doth thoroughly consider that plac● of Paul to the Ephesians, findeth that Paul hath set two part of his oration, 
Ephe. 4  the one against th● other. For first he saith thus that he ascended, what meane● it, but that he also descended fi● into the lowest parts of the earth Against this, setteth he now: h● that descended, is even the sam● also that ascended up, even above all heavens.  
Therefore is here the one set ●gainst the other: namely, to descend into the lowest parts of t● earth, & to ascend above all heaven's. But who would here conclude: Christ ascended into the lowest parts of the earth: Ergo, he had no place upon earth? For every man understandeth well, that Paul with these words minded to declare the true coming of the Lord upon earth, & the great humility & meekness of our lord jesus Christ. Therefore, who would then in the other part of the oration conclude: Christ ascended up above all heavens: Ergo he is not in heaven, or in any other place? For is there also any one place without the heaven: Who understandeth not now, that Paul here minded to say nothing else than that, which he uttereth more plainly to the Philippians: 
Philip. 2  he hath exalted him on high? An● though this high or heavenly honour be greater and more glorious, than any man's tongue ca● or may express: yet the heaven is and doth remain still the dwelling of the faithful, and therefore is it a place certain.  
Wherefore after my plain an● simple understanding, which i● not curious, I believe constantly that the glorified body of Christ i● ascended up above all heavens that is above all compace, or spher● & height of heaven, & so even i● heaven, that is in the dwelling ● the faithful, and there remaineth and is not (as they say) passed b● on the out side of heaven.  
For the truth witnesseth evidently: where I am, 
john. 12.  ther shall also my servants be. Now shall the servants of God be in heaven, & not without or above the heaven (that is to say) in no place. For Paul, the chosen man of god, saith to the Philippians: 
Phillip. 3.  our dwelling is in Heaven, from whence we look for the saviour. etc. plainly also & evidently doth the true word of God declare, that the heaven, into the which Christ ascended, is a place certain: for the Lord saith: in my father's house are many dwellings: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 
john. 14.  And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come to you again & receive you even unto myself that where I am, there you may be also.  
Here in deed could nothing b● brought forth more meet & convenient to our purpose. For th● thing that we now treat of, is th● heaven, which is the dwelling native country of the blessed, an● which here is called a dwelling or mansion, or place: yea a dwelling & place in the house of Go● the father. Who is now any mo●● so malapert or arrogant, as to undertake to deny, that heaven is place? For thus saith the Lor● In my Father's House already there are many mansions: th● not only I, but all mine also have a place and dwelling.  
If it were not so, then had I told you, that I would go to prepare the same for you. But now it is not needful, seeing they be prepared already, & wait for you.  
Whereas I now go away, and must be from you a little season, it is not that I would prepare mansions for you, for they are prepared already: but that I thorough my death may make the way for you into Heaven, and open the street to the said dwelling. Now to the intent no man shall say, that we haply have a place in heaven as men, but Christ hath not so a place: therefore doth the truth of god plainly express, that the place, where christ is, is a place in deed.  
For he sayeth: I will take you unto me: 
john. 14.  yea not only unto me, but unto myself. For immediately upon the same, doth he yet add it more plain: That where I am there you may be also.  
Christ then, as a very true mi● is in Heaven, as in one place wherefore it followeth, that we also shall be in Heaven, as in o●● place certain. This the truth saith: therefore must it needs 〈◊〉 even so, & can be none otherwise  
The same also doth the human kind and nature require whic● God, as Augustine saith, did endue with immortality, but too● not away the nature and kind.  
The Seleucians, 
The Seleucians error.  or Hermians denied our saviour Christ after the flesh to sit at the right hand of the father. But the true faithful believers have ever still confessed and taught, that the very true body or flesh of our Lord doth sit at the father's right hand. For verily if the body and flesh of our Lord have not his place given him, or if that be withdrawn from him: then is this the plain meaning, that our Lord had no true body. For holy Augustine saith, and saith right: take all room & place from the bodies, that they have no place to be in, and then are they no where: if they be no where, then are they nothing at all. As for the place of Paul to the Philippians in the second Chapter, it teacheth nothing at all, that, with the exaltation and ascension of Christ, any thing is withdrawn from the nature humane, or that we ought to speak nothing more of it, or that we should or might ascribe no name and place unto it: but like as with the words going before (which serve much to the matter) he thought to express the lowest humility of Christ, even so is it now his mind, with very honourable and high excellent words, to set forth his glory.  
Yea he declareth himself in the words following, and saith: in the name of jesus shall all knees bow, 
Phil. 2.  both of things that are in heaven, of things that are on the earth, and things that are under the earth.  
And thus hath the father exalted the name of jesus above all names, 
The name of Christ is above all names.  even in showing and declaring, that jesus is the same, whom all they that are in heaven, upon earth, and under the earth aught by right to know, worship and fear, as Lord of all things & creatures: yea, & that all things should confess, that jesus is the lord, to the praise of god the Father.  
For verily we must needs knowledge that jesus Christ is lord, yea lord of all things, king, defender & redeemer, of like power and honour with the Father. Which thing extendeth not to the father's derogation or dishonour, as the Arrians foolishly thought: 
Arriani.  but to the great glory of the father.  
The Lord saith himself in the gospel: 
john. 5.  the father hath committed all judgement unto the son, because that all men should honour the son, even as they honour the father. He that honoureth not the son, the same honoureth not the father which hath sent him.  
Moreover there he saith: and now glorify thou me, O father, with thine own self, 
john. 17.  with that glori which I had with thee, or ever the world was. From the beginning had he the honourable name of god, which is glorious and far excellent above all names.  
Now thorough the incarnation, and by reason of the contemned and despised cross of Christ, the godly honour in Christ was thought to be somewhat darkened. But that did the father restore & bring to glory, in that he raised up his son from death, and took him up into heaven. And thus gave he him a name, which is above all names: for so he declareth, that he is Lord of all things.  
Holy Peter also, a fellow helper of S. Paul, in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, did in like manner utter the same. 
Acts. 2.  For after he hath opened & declared the true resurrection of our Lord jesus Christ from death, & his glorious ascension into heaven, he saith: so therefore, let all the house of Israel know for a surety, that God hath made this same jesus, whom ye have crucified, Lord & Christ. And to be short: Paul by the name of Christ, that is above all names, understood the blessed name of God the Lord, which can not be uttered, and is above all names.  
But seeing our Lord is a true man, like as he is also very God both together, and hath with the glorification not put of the kind and nature of man, neither consumed it thorough the godhead: therefore remaineth he still a true creature, that is, a very true man, & therefore may he also right well be named after the same nature, and hath likewise a place certain.  
Finally, as for the words of the Apostle Paul (the eye hath not seen, and the ear hath not hard, 
1. Cor. 2.  neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him) these words, I say, must not be referred to the place of those, that are saved. For they are written of the unoutspeakable greatness of the joy, as the whole text of the words sufficiently doth declare.  
briefly, forasmuch as it is op● and manifest unto us, that the Lord jesus Christ after his nature that he took upon him, is a very true man in glory: It followeth, that the true human body of Christ hath his own place, whereof I hau● hitherto spoken so much, not with out cause: namely, to the intent al● godly persons may know, tha● this is a place certain prepare● for them in heaven: and that the● may constantly believe, that in heaven they have a brother, namel● the Lord jesus Christ. Touching the fruit of the Ascension of o● lord, I shall more largely speak of it afterward.   

CHAP. 11. another signification of sitting at the right hand of God, by which manner of sitting Christ is every where, sitting there in such sort after his godhead.  
THus come I again to the former part, what the right hand of God signifieth, & is called. It is taken in the scripture for strength, protection, power, and for the incomprehensible honour or glory. And therefore it is written: thy right hand, Lord, 
Exod. 15.  is become glorious in power, thy right hand hath all to dashed the enemy. Item in the Psalm: Thou hast given me the defence of thy salvation, 
Psal. 18  thy right hand also shall hold me up. Moreover: 
Psal. 118.  The right hand of the lord hath the pre-eminence, the right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass. After this signification of the right hand soundeth the name to sit, to rule, to govern, to defend, to behave himself as a prince or Regent diligently in his office, & faithfully to execute the same. For in the third book of the kings, saith David: 
3. Reg. 1.  Solomon shall sit upon my seat, & shall reign after me. And so in the Psalm he saith: the Lord said unto my Lord, si● thou at mi right hand, 
Psal. 110.  till I make thine enemies thy foot stool. And Paul saith: Christ must reign, 
1. Cor. 15.  till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. Item in the Prophet Zachary: 
Zach. 6  behold the man whose name is the branch, and he, that shall spring up after him, shall build up the temple of the Lord, yea even he shall build up the temple of the lord: he shall bear the praise, he shall sit upon the Lord's throne, & have the domination. A priest shall he be also upon his throne. This kind of speech is taken of the use and custom of Kings and Princes, which have their Deputies, to whom they freely give all authority to rule and govern. Even so is Christ, in whom the father will be honoured, & thorough his authority & power is it his pleasure to rule. He is taken up to the right hand of the father, that is to sai● to have the dominion or governance in heaven & in earth: an● this commission is given hy● faithfully to execute, & to be lor● and governor of all things.  
Thus the right hand of Go● is infinite, neither mai it be sh● in, for God's might & pours incomprehensible: the kingdo● of Christ also, which is everlasting, is a kingdom of all world, & so is he of one substance, of o● power & honour with the father not bound to one place, but every where, who in all thing ruleth and worketh: seeing he not only a very true man, but ● so the very true God, after ● manhood finite, but after his godhead infinite, and incomprehensible, and that in one undivided person he containeth very true God and man, King and Lord of all things. For S. Peter saith Christ is at the right hand of God, gone up into heaven, 
1. Peter. 3.  angels, might and power, being subdued unto him.  
Item Paul to the Ephesians: God the father raised up Christ from the dead, and hath set him on his right hand in heavenly things above all rule, power, might and domination, & above all names that are named, not in this world only, but also in the world to come. And hath put all things under his feet, and hath made him above all things: the head of the congregation which is his body, & the fullness of hi● that filleth all in all things. Th●● much concerning the right hā● of god, and concerning heaven that is the place certain or dwelling of the blessed: in the which also our lord jesus with his body hath his mansion and seat.   

CHAP. 12. The fruit and commodity the corporal ascension of Christ, both● that he doth now for us, and in that w● learn by it.  
AFter this from hence fort● will I speak of the frui● and profit of the corporal ascension of our Lord jesus Christ, of his seat and place at the righ● hand of his father. Afore all things we must know, that our Lord ascended up with his very true body, that he as mediator between God & man (being very God & man himself) & high priest in his own temple, might be before his heavenly father, make intercession for us, & wholly take upon himself our necessities & griefs. For Paul saith to the hebrews: Christ is not entered into the holy places that are made with hands, 
Heb. 9  which are similitudes of true things: but is entered into the very heaven, to appear now in the sight of God for us. Hereunto all so pertain other sentences or testimonies of john in his first epistle. 
1. john. 1.2.  Item of Paul to the romans, 
Rom. 8.  wherein he saith: According to the same, did our Lord ascend up bodily, that he, with his flesh taken up into heaven, might stay & direct upon the holy go● all worshipping and Gods service of those that are his. For ● corporal worshipping doth fr● hence forth please him, but such as is done to his spiritual body He saith in the gospel of john the poor have you alway wy● you, 
john. 12.  and when you will, you m●● do them good: 
Mark. 14.  but me have ye n● always. Hereunto also serveth saying of Paul: although w● have known Christ after the flesh yet know we him so no more. 
1. Cor. 5.   
Moreover, the Lord with his resurrection hath taught us, that we also should lift up our minds into heaven, seeking no salvation at all upon earth, seeing that heaven is our right native country. Therefore ought we to use the world, as though we used it not, 
1. Cor. 7.  and to direct all our care and thought unto heavenly things. For Paul saith to the Colossians: 
Colos. 3.  set your affection on things which are above, & not on things which are on earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in god. 
Phillip. 3.  Item to the Philippians: our dwelling is in heaven, from whence we look for the saviour, even jesus christ our lord.  
Christ also with his ascension into heaven, thought to declare unto us his power and might, wherein consisteth our strength our power, richesse, triumph against sin, death, world, devil, and hell.  
For he ascending up on high led captivity captive, and wha● he had spoiled the enemies, h● gave gifts unto his people, an● endueth them yet daily with spiritual riches. 
Ephe. 4.  Therefore sitteth h● now on high, to the intent tha● with his own strength, whic● he daily bestoweth upon us, h● may regenerate us into a spiritual life, & quicken us with his holy spirit, garnishing his church that is to say the faithful, with manifold gifts of thanks, defending them against all evil, suppressing the terror of his enemies, but preserving and saving us, as those that truly do honour and worship him. For he, as having the victorious triumph, is the king, saviour, and head of all faithful believers.  
Finally, also with his resurrection, he hath prepared us a place, & made the way, & opened it into heaven. Thus in heaven hath he placed the true man, that we might have an assured true testimony, that our flesh also shall rise again, and that the whole perfect man, with body and soul, shallbe carried into heaven. For members shallbe like unto the heat. Therefore, as the cloud took up the very true body of the Lord, ye● even the whole perfect man Christ: so shall all godly persons be taken up into the air to meet the Lord, that they may live with Christ their Lord & head for evermore. For Paul saith: the dead in Christ shall arise first. 
1. Thes. 4.  The● we, which live & remain, shalb● caught up with them also in th● clouds, to meet the Lord i● the air, and so shall we ever b● with the Lord  
Item to the hebrews: by th● means of the blood of jesus, w● have free entrance into the hol● place by the new & living way, 
Heb. 10.  which he hath prepared for us thorough the vail, that is to say, by his flesh. Unto this meaning agreeth very well, the godly and excellent sentence of the old ancient writer Tertullian, 
Tertullian.  who in the book of the resurrection of the flesh, saith thus: Christ, which is called the arbiter and mediator between God and men, hath, of the same that is set and committed unto him of both, reserved all so unto himself, the adding to of the flesh, for an earnest penny of the whole sum.  
For like as he hath left us the pledge of the spirit, even so contrariwise hath he received of us the earnest penny of the flesh, and carried it up with him into heaven, a true evidence or pledge that he will bring thither also the whole sum, body & soul. etc. For this great and high benefit, declared unto us by his divine mercy, without our deserving, be laud and praise, honour and thanks unto our King, our victorious Triumpher, head and Redeemer, even our Lord jesus Christ, from hence forth now, and for evermore.  
Amen.    

¶ The second part, ENTREATING OF our bodies.  

CHAP. 13. Of the true Resurrection of our Flesh.  
Now cometh it to the point, that we must also speak of the true raising up of our bodies, or resurrection of this our flesh: for the same followeth out of the resurrection and ascension of our Lord jesus Christ. This word (to rise up) as Tertullian De Resurrectione carnis declareth, extendeth to nothing more, than unto that which was fallen. For nothing can arise, save only it that fell. For when a thing was fallen, and standeth up again, we say, it is risen, for as much as this term, to rise up, hath a relation. S. Paul useth the word Anistemi which signifieth to erect, to rise up, to set up again, and to stand. Egeromai ex hypnou, I rise up and awake from sleep. The hebrews use the word kum, which signifieth, not only to rise up, but also to endure to continued, and to remain upright.  

josua. 7.  For in the book of josua we read: the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, that is, they might not endure & continued before them. Furthermore in the book of Genesis: every thing was destroyed that remained (that is, 
Gene. 7  whatsoever there was, and stood upright or erected itself) upon the face of the earth.  
Hereof it cometh, that to stand up, and to raise up, is called the immortality, or the everlasting and perpetual continuance of the soul.  
As when the Lord saith in the gospel of john: I will raise him up at the last day. 
john. 6  For if by the last day the hour of every man's death be understand, then doth the Lord raise up (that is, he preserveth) the soul in the state, that it dieth not, neither perisheth in death: now if by the last day, be understand domes day, then raiseth he up the body from the earth at the last day in the general judgement.  
Therefore the words, to stand up & raise up, signify either the conservation of a thing, which is, that it be not destroyed and perish: or else the restoring of a thing, that was fallen to his right case and estate again.   

CHAP. 14. Our flesh, or body itself, shall rise again, though it be hard to believe, and what the flesh or body is.  
Now will we speak also of these terms, flesh & body, or corpse. We believe the resurrection of the body or flesh. The scripture commonly calleth it the resurrection of the dead: to declare evidentli, that the resurrection must not be referred to the soul, nor to the spirit, but directly unto the body and to the flesh. Cyprianus or Ruffinus saith, that the church towards the West, did express & knowledge the article in the holy Apostolical Crede, after this manner: I believe the resurrection of the flesh. And so they added there unto manifestly this term (the) to the intent that no man should understand any other flesh, save only the same natural and essential flesh, which we carry about. So saith Augustine also in the book of the Articles of the Crede: that same visible, which properly is called flesh, shall without all doubt & assuredly rise up again.  
Me thinketh that Paul the Apostle minded to point unto the flesh, as with a finger, and therefore said: 
1. Cor. 15.  this corruptible must put on incorruption.  
With the term (this) pointeth he as with a finger unto our flesh.  
Holy Hierome forceth and compelleth john, the bishop of Jerusalem, to confess and knowledge the resurrection, not only of the body, but also of the flesh, and sayeth: the flesh and the body are two things.  
Every flesh is a body, 
What the body or corpses is called of the latinists.  but every body is not flesh: namely, a wall is a body, but flesh it is not.  
For flesh is properly called a substance of blond, sinews, bones and veins set together. As for a body, though the name thereof also be used for flesh, and most part for a substance that may be seen or handled, yet it betokeneth sometime a subtle state, that can neither be handled nor seen. As namely, the air. 
It is hard to believe the resurrection.  But at all times it hath been a hard thing for man to believe, that the bodies which are buried & resolved to corruption, should wholly, without imperfection or blemish, be brought again, and restored.  
Therefore the Athenians, when they heard of the holy Apostle, the resurrection of the dead, they mocked and laughed his doctrine to scorn.  
For who would lightly credit that the bodies, which now are corrupt & returned to earth, o● otherwise torn, and devoured o● wild beasts & fowls, yea sonn● time brent and brought to ashes, or drowned with water, should perfectly be brought again, an● wholly restored? But God, willing to make that easy & light, which is hard unto us, hath i● the resurrection of our Lord jesus Christ set before our eyes an open, plain, and sure trial, declaration or evidence of the true undoubted resurrection: whereunto, as to an ensample & sure strength of the resurrection, we aught to have respect, as much and as often as we think upon it, and wonder how our bodies should rise again.  
Therefore with so many testimonies and arguments have I declared afore, that Christ our Lord with his own body rose truly again from death. He carried up Helias also living body and soul into heaven, and many ●ne raised he up from the dead, that we concerning the resurrection of the dead, should have utterly no doubt at all.  
Finally, with plain & evident testimonies of the scripture, hath he opened and showed as I now will declare: which testimonies and arguments truly do teach, that the flesh of men shall rise again from the dead: that is, that our bodies shall at the last day be truly raised up unto judgement. Holy job saith thus in the .19. Chapter: 
The true resurrection of the flesh proved.  O that my words now were written: O that they were put in a book: would God they were graven with an iron pen in lead, or in stone to continued. For I am sure that my redeemer liveth, & that he shall stand over the dust (or earth) in the later day: that I shallbe clothed again with this skin, & see God in my flesh. Yea I myself (or for myself) shall behold him, not with other, but with these same eyes. Mi reins are consumed within me. Job's adversaries complained of him, 
Antagonistai job.  as though he knew not God, & as though he set nothing by him. Upon this great slander & blasphemy, he answereth, and declareth his faith, desiring that his belief were written in lead, & in hard stone: that is, he wisheth his faith to be known to those that come after, which he also declareth with few words, after this manner: I am of you complained upon & accused, as though I knew not God: now do I know right well in my heart, yea & I believe, & am certified assuredly, that my redeemer or avenger liveth. Here job useth an Hebrew word called Goel, which some expound a redeemer: it signifieth a rescuer & an avenger, such one as is a more friend of ours, such as were they, to whom in the law of the jews, it appertained to redeem the goods and to rescue them, as we may learn farther out of Ruthe, and of the fourth book of Moses: 
Ruth. 4. Num. 35.  and with the aforesaid name Goel, doth job set forth and specify the Messiah our Lord jesus Christ, that he liveth: namely, that he is the true living God, the life & resurrection of men, and that he is also the rescuer and avenger, doubtless even the same that is our very near friend: namely a very true man, such one as hath taken our own flesh & blood upon him, suffered death, & with his death hath made us living.  
Moreover he saith: at the last shall he stand over the dust. For our Lord jesus, with his very true body, shall come at the last day to judge, and then shall he stand over the dust. This saying declareth evidently, that he will undertake and do somewhat: namely, that he shall put to his mighty hand, so order and bring to pass, that the dust shall come to life again. The dust calleth he here our flesh, 
Gene. 3.  and that according to the scripture. And with this doth he wonderful well express the truth of our flesh: namely, that our very own true flesh shall rise again.  
For he will certify us, that even the very same body, which at the first was made of dust, and now into dust is sown, & thorough the corruption is become dust again, yea even that same very body & none other, shallbe raised up.  
But to the intent that no man should draw or refer the dust to any other thing, than to the body of man: It followeth moreover in holy job, that after they (namely the father, the son, & the holy ghost) have with my skin (not with a strange, but with mine own skin) clothed the body, even mine own body, which I now have called dust (& thereby understandeth he the flesh, the sinews & the bones) then shall I see God in my flesh: that is, fully and perfectly shall I be restored & made whole again. For to see God, is nothing else but to be partaker of eternal joy & salvation. And to see god in, or from out of, that flesh, is to be taken up corporally into everlasting joy. Besides this, he doth yet more evidently express the perfectness of the resurrection of the flesh, and faith: Whom I for myself shall see (that is, to my commodity and salvation) mine eyes shall see him, even I myself shall see him, and none other for me. In the which words it is principally to be noted, that he saith, I shall see him, yea even I myself. Then, mine eyes shall see him. Finally, I and else none other. As he would say: even I the now have true flesh and bone, & look now upon you with mine eyes, shall with the very same eyes behold God also. Therefore in the resurrection of the dead, we shall, with the essential substance & nature, be even the same that we were before death: namely we shall have our members, as head, eyes, bones, belly, arms, legs, hands, feet. etc. Now where this distinction is, there must be also circumscription, there must the same have compass and limits. It followeth yet farther in job: my reins (namely my desire & lust) are wasted away and consumed within me: that is, with in me, namely in my heart, are ceased all other desires, lusts and pleasures, in comparison of this my hope towards the resurrection: yea in comparison thereof, they all are nothing, neither worthy to be esteemed. For in the only Resurrection resteth all my hope and delight.  
So said Paul also: I have counted all things but loss, and do judge them but dung, 
Phillip. 3.  that I might win Christ, to know him, and the virtue of his resurrection.  
And therefore the old translator of the book of job hath evil interpreted these words after the sense: this hope is laid up in my heart.  
After all this, doth holy Io●● add hereunto, that maketh the understanding perfect, and concludeth his saying, thus: seeing I this knowledge & confess, why hold ye me for ungodly? Why do ye persecute me and vex me thus with spiteful words of reproach and slander? Yet is the root of the word found in me. And he calleth the root of the word, the right foundation and ground of godliness. As if he would say: forasmuch as the true head article of salvation is found in me.  
For like as the rote giveth all virtue & sap unto the tre: even so is the matter of the resurrection of the dead thorough Christ, the chiefest, greatest, and true principal point of the word and affairs of God. Repent therefore (saith job) for wrath handleth or doth nothing right, but rather provoketh god unto vengeance. The prophet Esay in his twenty six chapter doth testify the Resurrection 〈◊〉 this manner: 
Esay. 26.  Thy dead shall ●●e, even with my body shall they arise. Stand up & be glad, ye that rest (or dwell) in the dust: for the dew of the herbs is thy dew, & the ground of tyrants shalt thou cast down. Thy dead O god (saith the prophet) shall live, nameli the souls of those that for thy sake are slain, and that have worshipped thee. Nevertheless, their bodies shall not prevent my body in the Resurrection: but at the last judgement, or upon domes day shall they rise again with my body? Likewise saith also S. Peter, that the souls of such, 
1. Peter. 4.  as died afore time, do live with god, but with the flesh they shallbe judged as other men. Therefore did the holy Prophet Esay believe & confess the general resurrection of all bodies at the last day. In the which Resurrection, he openly knowledgeth, that his own body also shall rise again. Afterwards bringeth he in an Archangel blowing the trumpet, and saying: stand up & be glad, ye that rest in the dust. To rest in dust, is nothing else but a description of man's body. 
To rest in the dust.  For the souls and spirits do not rest or lie in dust: but the bodies are buried therein, & become dust. Therefore men, according to the substance & state thereof, wherein they rise again, are called inhabiters and I●● dwellers of dust, or such as rest in dust.  
The declareth he with a similitude, how our bodies, that putrefy and corrupt, shall thorough the power of God from death and corruption be easily raised up again.  
The power of god, that chargeth & commandeth us to rise up from death, doth he compare to the dew: which when it falleth down, quickeneth and reviveth the dead herbs. Likewise also doth the power of God to our dead bodies, which it quickeneth and raiseth up again. Contrary to this he setteth another sentence, saying: the earth of tyrants that is, the bodies of tyrants ●halt thou raise up, O God: but ●hou shalt cast them down, that ●s, thou shalt overthrow them ●nto hell and eternal pain.  
Moreover, touching the true resurrection of our bodies, the ●ision of the Prophet Ezechiel ●s so evident and plain, 
Eze. 37.  that it ●s not needful to speak ought ●herof.  
And of this have we many testimonies and witnesses in the Prophets, which might here ●ell have served: but seeing it is not necessary, I have, because of shortness, omitted them, & now will I come to the sentences of the new Testament.  
The Lord saith: Verily, verily I say unto you: 
john. 5.  the hour shall come, and now it is, that the dead shall hear the voice of the son of God, and they, that hear it, shall live. And immediately after he saith: the hour shall come, in the which all they that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth. Now is it manifest that neither the souls nor spirits, but the bodies are in the graves And if other bodies should rise up for ours, what needed he alway to make mention of the graves: But to the intent that he, immediately in the gospel, might declare the evident, plain, & undoubted resurrection of our bo●ies: he forthwith, by his mighty and wonderful power, 
john. 11.  raised ●p Lazarus from death, who now ●id stink, and had line .4. days ●n the grave. This marvelous ●ct had the lord himself declared ●nto Martha with these words: by brother shall rise again. Thē●nswered she: I know that he shall ●se in the resurrection at the last ●ny. Lo how comen, manifest, ●nd known unto every man was ●e general resurrection of our bodies? The Lord saith more ●nto Martha: I am the resurrection & the life, he that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And every one, that liveth and believeth on me, shall never die.  
But what needeth me to collect so many testimonies of the resurrection of the dead, considering that the Apostles were upon no article more fervent and earnest then upon this? He, that will allege all the sentences & witnesses, must write out almost the whole new testament. Luke saith in the Acts of the Apostles: 
Acts. 4.  with great power did the Apostles bear witness of the resurrection of the Lord jesus Christ. And in the same book saith Paul: or the hope and resurrection of the dead, am I judged. 
Acts. 23.   
And yet again: 
Acts. 28.  for the hope sake of Israel, am I bound with this chain. In many places hath the holy Apostle Paul brought forth evident ensamples and testimonies of our resurrection, concerning the which we shall speak in due time.  
He saith moreover: we, 
2. Cor. 4.  which live, are always delivered unto death for jesus sake, that the life of jesus might appear in our mortal bodies.  
What could he have spoken more evident & plain? For immediately upon the same he saith thus: we have believed, therefore have we spoken, and know, that he, which raised up the Lord jesus, shall thorough jesus raise us up also.  
Wherefore our true bodies, which now are mortal, shall verily rise again: howbeit after the resurrection, they shall no more be mortal but immortal. To these witnesses out of god's word, and therefore invincible, I will now also add the testimony of John Damascene.  

johannes Demascenus de orthodoxa fide. Cap. 28.  The Resurrection (sayeth he) shall be nothing else, but a true conjunction of soul and body, and another laudable restitution of it that was fallen away, and brought to naught. Therefore the same body that perisheth, is dissolved and falleth a sunder and the very same riseth up again undissoluble. For he, that in the beginning created man out of the dust of the earth, & then brought him again to earth and dust, that he was taken of: The same (I say) is mighty and of power according to his word, to raise up the self same man again from death.  
Thus much Damascenus.  
And truly every man now may well think, that God, principally for this cause, did not created the first man of naught, as he did other things, but out of the dust of the earth: that as concerning the resurrection of our bodies, though they turn to dust and earth again, we should have no doubt. Now, as I suppose, I have sufficiently and plainly declared, that the true flesh of all men, yea even our own body, and else none for it, yea even the human true body shall rise again from death: namely formed and fashioned with his own right proportion, measure and property, as a true body: so that the measure and property of the true body, which now is divided & parted in his members and joints, remaineth: that is, he shall have true flesh, blood, bones, sinews, joints, members. etc.   

CHAP. 15. The manner how the bodies shall rise again, and the kind that they shall be of.  
But to the intent that this ●ay yet be more plainly understand, I will now tell how our bodies shall rise, & what nature and kind they shall be of in the resurrection. At the end of the world, shall the Lord come with great majesty unto judgement, and shall declare and show himself, in, and with a right true essential body.  
Hither also to shall he be brought & shall stand in the clouds of heaven, that all flesh may see him. Yea all men that are upon earth shall behold him, and know him by his glory. In the mean season also shall he sand his Archangel to blow the trump. Then shall all the dead hear, and perceive the voice and power of the son of God. And so all men, that died from the first Adam, shall immediately arise out of the earth.  
And all they, that live until the last day, shall in the twinkling of an eye be changed. And thus all men, every one in his own flesh, shall stand before the judgement se●te of our Lord jesus Christ, and shall wait for the last sentence and judgement of the Lord: which sentence, being given quickly and without delay, shall call one part into heaven, and thrust out the other into hell.  
This fashion and manner of the resurrection, have not I imagined of myself, but written it all out of the Evangelists & scriptures of the holy Apostles. For thus we read: The powers of heaven shall move in the last time, and then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven, 
Math. 24.  & then shall all the kindreds of the earth mourn, & they shall see the son of man come in the clouds of heaven with power & great glory. And he shall sand his Angels with the great voice of a trumpet, & they shall gather together his chosen from the four winds, & from the one end of the world to the other. etc. Hereunto add, that he spoke in Mathewe & john. 
Math. 25. john. 5. 1. Thes. 4.  And Paul in the first to the Thessalonians, saith: This say we unto you in the word of the lord, that we, which live & are remaining in the coming of the lord shall not come before them which sleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, & the voice of the Archangel, ● trump of God. And the dead i● Christ shall arise first. Then sha● we, that live & remain, be caught up with them also in the clouds, t● meet the lord in the air. And s● shall we ever be with the Lord Furthermore to the Corinthian● saith Paul: behold I show you mystery. 
1. Cor. 15.  We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed, an● that in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the time of th● last trump. For the trump sha● blow, and the dead shall rise incorruptible, and we shallbe changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. This is now the manner of the resurrection of our bodies, & in what nature and kind they shall rise again. But in the resurrection they shall, thorough the power of God, be made immortal & incorruptible. For the Apostle saith expressly: the dead shall rise again. After that he saith: this corruptible & mortal, must put on incorruption and immortality. In the which words the term this, pointeth directly, as with a finger, to our living and humane body.  

job. 19  And so job said: even I myself shall see him, & none other. Wherefore our bodies, after they be risen again from death, shall remain even in their own right state & substance, as afore. Yea even the very same men shall keep still their nature & kind, as they did afore: saving that they, which afore time were subject to frailti, shall from thence forth be pure, clean, perfect, immortal, of a sincere and purified nature, subject and obedient unto the spirit.  

What a glorified body is.  Such bodies, raised from death, did the old writers call glorified, purified or glorious bodies, & that according to the doctrine of the holy Apostles. Albeit there were some which abused that word, and therefore made the verity of the bodies voided & of none effect: beginning to dispute of glorified bodies, as of the pure substance & estate of a spirit. Whereof we shall speak shortly, if God william.   

CHAP. 16. That Paul spoke rightly of a glorified body, and what a glorified body is, and what a natural.  
But now will I declare, that Paul did rightly & well use this word, glorious or glorified body, even as it is truli in itself. For to the Philippians he saith: Our dwelling is in heaven, from whence we look for the saviour, 
Phillip. 3.  even jesus Christ the lord: which shall change our vile earthy body, that it may be fashioned like unto his own glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself. In this sentence thou haste that term (glorified body) thou hast also of what nature and kind the glorified body shallbe: namely whole, and as the body of Christ that rose again from death. And thus shall it not be a body utterly made void, or brought to nothing, or altogether turned into a spirit, & therefore having no room & place, incomprehensible and invisible: but it shallbe an upright very true humane body, as it is sufficiently declared afore, where I spoke of the true resurrection of the lord. In the which place we understand, that when the lords disciples thought they had seen a spirit when they saw the Lord, he said unto them: a spirit hath not flesh & bones as ye see me have. 
Luke. 24.  Handle me and see: for it is even I myself. The Lord also, after his resurrection, set before them some fashion or evidence of his glorification: namely when he was transfigured before them. And at that time remained the right essential substance of the body: but in form and fashion it was altered, in that it become glorious.  
So standeth it plainly, he was transfigured, and not that he was made void or brought to nothing, or altered into another substance. Thus saith Paul also: 
Phillip. 3.  he shall change our body. etc. Wherefore even the right true substance of the glorified body shall remain still.  
As for the change or alteration, it shallbe in the infirmities that happen unto us. So that, when the body taketh upon it the glorification and immortality, they shallbe wholly removed and fall away.  
Howbeit, this shallbe more evident and plain to understand, if it be thorough and with diligence considered and declared, what this word, glory, or glorification, meaneth.  
For transfiguration, glory & glorification, is one thing. So saith holy Augustin in his book against the Arrians.  
To bring to glory, to make glorious, and to glorify, are three words, 
Contra Arria. cap. 31.  yet is it but one thing. The greeks call it doxazein, but the translators in Latin have otherwise interpreted it. Thus much saith Augustine.  
But glory in scripture is taken for light, brightness and shine, as S. Paul speaketh to the Corinthians: if the ministration, that thorough the letter killeth & was graven in stone, hath glory so, 
2. Cor. 3.  that the children of Israel could not behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance. And here unto serveth this sentence of Daniel: the wise, such as have taught other, 
Daniel. 12.  shall shine as the brightness of heaven: and they that have instructed multitudes (or many) unto godliness, shallbe as the stars world with out end.  
Much after the same wise, doth the Lord himself also use it, saying: then shall the righteous shine as the Sun, 
Math. 13.  in the kingdom of their father. Wherefore the glorified bodies shall be clear, bright, & shining bodies, even as the body of Christ was in his transfiguration upon the Mount of Thabor: of whom it is specified in the gospel, that his face was as bright as the Sun, 
Math. 17.  and his clotheses did shine as the light. After the resurrection, did the lord show unto his disciples his palpable and visible, that is, his very true substantial body, but the brightness and shine he reserved, to teach and instruct the weak here beneath: like as also after the resurrection he did eat and drink, not that he needed any such thing, but that he so would declare and prove the true resurrection of his body. The glorification also is set directly against the low estate and dishonour, as Paul evidently declareth, saying: he shall change our vile body, that he may make it like unto his own glorious & glorified body. This word humility, low estate or dishonour, comprehendeth all that is called earthy, frail, miserable & mortal. For by means of our sins, we are brought low and into misery: so that we must needs feel & suffer sickness, hunger, thirst, cold, heat, pain, vexation, manifold lusts and affections, fear, wrath, heaviness, and such like things innumerable, yea, and death also at the last.  
Again: glorification comprehendeth deliverance, that is, the laying away & clear discharge of all these miseries and sorrows. So that now glorification is called (and so it is in very deed) pureness, perfect strength, immortality & joy: yea a sure, quiet and everlasting life. For Paul saith: We, that are in this tabernable, sigh & are grieved because we would not be unclothed: 
2. Cor. 5.  but we would be clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.  
And to the Romans he saith thus: I suppose, 
Rom. 8.  that the afflictions of this life are not worthy of the glory which shallbe showed upon us. For the fervent desire of the creature abideth waiting for the appearing of the children of God.  
In all these words it is sufficiently declared, what glorification meaneth, and what is understand by it. Namely a freedom or discharge from this frail servitude and bondage, and a deliverance into the glorious and comfortable liberty of God's children.  
By the which freedom, we are delivered from all sickness and frailty, and from all thraldom of weakness: that is, from all that which bringeth sickness, heaviness and frailty. From all such are we free, discharged and delivered, having now the perfect fruition of god, and made of like shape unto his son jesus christ, as holy s. john declareth. Hereunto serveth it well, 
1. john. 3.  that Paul sayeth: when this corruptible hath put on incorruption, & this mortal hath put on immortaliti, 
1. Cor. 15.  than shallbe brought to pass the saying, that is written: death is swallowed up in the victory.  
Therefore the glorified body, after the signification of glory, shallbe a purified body, which is purged and cleansed from all frailty and vileness, and now is clothed upon and appareled with cleanness, pureness, joy and rest, and finally with the glory of eternal life. That this is now the kind and nature of the glorified body, the holy Apostle Paul more largely and more perfectly declareth with these words: it is sown in corruption, and riseth in incorruption, and riseth in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour, and riseth in glory: it is sown in weakness, and riseth in power: it is sown a natural body, & riseth a spiritual body. Item what he meaneth by the natural and by the spiritual body, he declareth immediately upon the same, 
A natural and spiritual body.  and saith farther: If there be a natural body, there is also a spiritual body, as it is written: The first man Adam is made into a natural life, & the last man Adam into a spiritual life. Yet is not the spiritual body the first, but the natural: and afterward the spiritual. The first man is of the earth earthy, the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they that be heavenly. And as we have born the image of the earthy, so shall we bear also the image of the heavenly. This the holy Apostle declareth yet more evidently, and saith: 
1. Cor. 15.  by one man came death, and by one man cometh the resurrection of the dead. For like as in Adam they all die, so in Christ shall they all revive. Thus Paul calleth Animale corpus, 
Animale & spirituale corpus.  the soulish body, which is interpreted the natural body, the same that hath his virtue, strength, power, and life of the soul: which body we have of Adam, and it is earthy, frail and mortal. The spiritual body he calleth, not it that is become or made a spirit: but therefore nameth he the glorified body a spiritual body, because it liveth of the spirit of Christ: which spiritual body (that is incorruptible, indissoluble and immortal) we have received of Christ our Lord. Of all this, is sufficiently spoken in our expositions of the epistles of s. Paul.   

CHAP. 17. The case of our members in the body's resurrection, & of their functions.  
But here might some man say: if our very true bodies with their members shallbe in heaven, than it followeth, that the use and exercise of the members shall be in heaven also. To this, I give like answer as now is said: namely that we shall have even these members and this body which we now carry: but seeing that thorough the glorification they shallbe made heavenly, they shall not need earthy exercise. Neither shall they use any frail thing at all. Hereof cometh it that Paul saith: 
1. Cor. 15.  flesh and blood mai not possess the kingdom of God, neither mai corruption inherit uncorruption. By flesh & blood he meaneth not the true essential body, but bodily frail lusts and temptations which he now called the earthy and frail body. Such temptations & lusts (saith he) shall not be in the glorified bodies, neither shall there any frail bodies be in heaven.  
For he saith immediately upon the same: corruption shall not inherit uncorruption, for in the kingdom of God there shall be no corruption nor frailty. For the heavenly joy is far of another kind and nature, then that it can receive or suffer such vile & unclean lusts and temptations, yea such a stained and defiled flesh. For afore the bodies of men come in heaven, they must be wholly & perfectly altered: that is, cleansed and purified from all filthiness and frailty.  
This did our saviour teach also, when he answered to the question of the Saducees, 
Math. 22.  who denied the Resurrection of the dead. Of the which I have written much upon the gospel of Matthew. Holy Augustin saith also.  
This doth sore hinder the ethnics and heretics, that we believe, 
Augustinus de fide & symbolo. Cap. 6.  that the earthy body is taken up into Heaven: for they think, that into heaven there can come no earthy thing. But they know not our scripture, neither understand how it is spoken of Paul: it is sown a natural body, and shall rise a spiritual body. For this is not spoken to the intent, as though the body should become a spirit, or be changed into a spirit. For even now also our body, which is called natural (or soulishe) and is natural in deed, is not changed into the soul, and become the soul. But therefore is the body called a spiritual body, that it may so be prepared to devil in heaven. Which thing cometh to pass, when all feebleness and earthy blemish is changed into an heavenly pureness and steadfastness.  
All these are the words of Augustine.   

CHAP. 18. The divers errors that sprung about the article of the body's resurrection.  
hitherto have I told, what the Scripture of the Prophets and Apostles doth hold & testify concerning the resurrection of the dead, and of our ood● that is to say, our own true fleshy namely, that our true flesh and body shall rise from death, and be glorified in the resurrection, and that the glorification doth not therefore take away the verity of the body, or make it nothing, but doth translate and bring it it into a more upright and better state: so that nevertheless the true essential substance of the the body remaineth still. Upon this now, to the commodity of the reader, & for a more evident declaration and understanding of the aforesaid words: I will show what errors spring-up concerning the resurrection of the dead, that any good faithful Christian may the better avoid the same. 
Errors touching the resurrection of the flesh.  That there have been many, which denied the resurrection of our bodies, and had it utterly in derision, all Stories declare. In the which register, the Philosophers for the most part are reckoned and esteemed them Hymeneus and Philetus, 
Philosop. 2. Timo. 2.  of whom Paul maketh mention. In like manner are there many recited of Ireneus, Tertullian, Eusebius, Epiphanius, Philastrius & Augustine: namely these, the Simonians, Valentinians, Marcionites, Cerdonians Carpocratians, Caijnes, Archontici, Severians, Hierarchits, Seleucians, Appellites and Manichees.  
Among the Greeks also & latinists there were excellent men, that turned themselves to the golden, and yet earthy Jerusalem, promising much (I wot not what) of a kingdom of the world to come after the resurrection: ascribing unto us such bodies, as being partakers of the kingdom, should also beholden with these earthy desires. To these there is found yet the third part, which, as touching the substance and state of the glorified bodies, so said and taught that they utterly take away and overthrew the bodily nature, and gave unto it no more, nor other thing then a spirit. Against the second sort speaketh holy Hierom: that forasmuch as they were carnal, they have also loved only the flesh.  
Against the third speaketh the said Hierome: that they, being unthankful for the benefits of God, would not have and bear the flesh, wherein Christ yet was borne and rose again. Whereupon he giveth very godly counsel, that we tarry in the mean way: Namely, that we esteem and make the glorified bodies no more spiritual, than the perfectness, property and truth of the bodies may permit and suffer.  
Contrariwise, that we make them not altogether so carnal and unghostly, that it might he thought, how that natural and frail bodies shall be in the glory. Old writers say also, that Origen did not perfectly confess the resurrection of the flesh, 
Origen.  but that in the resurrection he fantasied and imagined such a body, as hath little difference from a spirit. And therefore in Definicionibus Eclesiasticis, 
Definici. Eccle. ca 6  there is a Chapter against the said Origen, in manner following.  
If that which falleth do stand up again, then shall our flesh truly rise again: for the same falleth in very deed, and shall not come to nothing as Origenes opinion was, that there should be made a shifting and change of the bodies, namely, that there should be given us a new body for the flesh: but even the same frail flesh that falleth of the just and unjust, shall without feebleness rise again, that because of sin it may suffer pain, or else according to his deserts continued in eternal honour and glory.   

CHAP. 19 The errors of Origen concerning the resurrection, confuted by Hierome.  
But forasmuch as I have once recited origen's opinion, touching the resurrection of the body, and somewhat recited the errors of some, that divided the resurrection, declaring the scornful opinion of those, whom they call Chiliastes: I will show now more largely, what holy Hierome held of the resurrection of the dead, and how he confessed the true upright belief. He speaketh to Pammachius concerning the errors of John bishop of Jerusalem: and in the same writing he comprehendeth the doctrine and opinion of Origen, concerning the resurrection in manner following.  
Origen saith, that in the church there be sprung up two errors: the one from us, the other from the heretics. Namely that we, as the simple and lovers of the flesh, say, that even these bones, this blood, and this flesh, that is, that our face, members, and all the proportion of the body, 
Hieron ad Pammachium.  and the whole body itself shall rise again at the last day, so that we shall also go with the feet, work with the hands, see with the eyes, and hear with the ears. This (saith he) we speak as simple, homely, gross and ignorant people. But the heretics (as Martion, Appelles, Valentinus, and mad Manes) deny wholly and utterly the resurrection of the flesh or body, giving salvation only unto the soul, and saying, that our words are nothing, when we affirm, that according to the ensample and pattern of our Lord jesus Christ we shall rise again, saying that the Lord himself rose in a fantasy or spirit: and that not only his resurrection, but also his birth came to pass more in imagination, than in very truth: that is, that he was not borne in very deed, but supposed to be borne.  
Now for the opinion and mind of both these parties, Origen saith, it pleased him not: namely, that he abhorieth the flesh on our side, and the fantasy on the heretics part for each of them doth too much. And namely they of our side, for that they would be again, the same they were afore: and the other, for that they utterly deny the resurrection of the bodies.  
And after certain words doth Hierome set forth origen's opinion, and what he held of the resurrection, and saith.  
There is promised us another body, namely, a spiritual and heavenly, that can not be comprehended, nor seen with eyes, nor having any weight or burden, and that according to the circumstance and diversity of the places, that it shallbe in, shallbe changed.  
And after certain words doth Hierome set forth the opinion of Origen yet more plainly, saying.  
O ye simple, the resurrection of our Lord jesus Christ ought not to deceive you, in that he showed his hands and feet, stood on the sea shore, went over the field with Cleophas, and said he had flesh and bones. This body, that was not borne of the seed of man, and of lust or pleasure of the flesh, is endued with greater freedom than another body, and with his nature it is not unlike the spiritual and heavenly body. For when the doors were shut, he entered, and in breaking of the bread, vanished he away from their sight. etc.  
But at the last, 
The confutation of origen's error.  Hierome answereth unto origen's foundation, and saith.  
Like as he showed his true hands and his true sides, so did he truly eat with them, went truly with Cleophas, spoke to them truly with his mouth, sat truly at the table with them at supper, took the bread with his true hands, gave thanks, broke it and reached it them. And whereas he immediately vanished out of their sight, that is ascribed to the power of God, and to no fantasy or false body. When he, afore his resurrection, was brought out from Nazareth, that they might throw him down from the top of the hill; he passed thorough the mids of them, that is, he escaped out of their hands. May we then talk with Martion, that his birth was therefore but a fantasy, because that he against nature escaped those that had him? How sayest thou, did not they know him in the way, when he yet had the body, that he had afore? Upon this hear the scripture: their eyes were holden, that they should not know him. But was he any other when they knew him not, or was he any other when they knew him? Verily he was always one and like himself.  
And therefore, to know and not to know, is given to the eyes, and not to him that is seen: although it be ascribed unto him also, that he held their eyes lest they should know him. Afterwards with many words giveth he answer to that, that the Lord entered, when the doors were shut. Yet doth he briefly answer thereunto in his Commentaries upon the last Chapter of Esaye, and sayeth: I marvel that some, after Christ's Ascension, will give and measure him a body made of the air, and soon returned to air again, because the Lord, by the power of his majesty, came into the Apostles, when the do●es were shut, considering that afore his resurrection also he went upon the water of the sea, permitting the same unto holy Peter: who at the first, thorough faith, walked upon the water. But afterwards, when he being faint in faith, began to sink and go under, he said unto him: O thou of little faith, why hast thou doubted?  
Thus much wrote Hierome against Origen, & many other more yet in this book written to Pammachius, against john bishop of Jerusalem: which because of greatness and length, I have omitted to put here in writing.   

CHAP. 20. S. Hieromes opinion of the resurrection of the flesh.  
YEt in the same book hath the said Hierome set his own opinion, touching the resurrection of the flesh, directing the oration unto Bishop john, and saying.  
If thou wilt now confess the resurrection of the flesh, after the truth and not after fantasy, as thou sayest, then look, that unto the words, which thou haste spoken to content the simple, that even in the body, wherein we die and are buried, we shall rise again, thou add these words also, and say: seeing the spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have: and forasmuch as it was so distinctly spoken unto Thomas: put thy finger in my hands, and thy hand in my side, and be not faithless but believing: Therefore say thou, that we also after the resurrection shall have even the same members, that we daily use, yea even the very same flesh, blood, and bone. The works whereof the holy scripture condemneth and rejecteth, and not their nature.  
And this is the right and true knowledging of the resurrection, which so giveth honour unto the flesh, that therewith it minisheth nothing the verity of the flesh.  
afterward speaketh he yet more evidently.  
I will freely confess, though ye wry your mouths at it, scratch your head, and scrape with your feet, yea, and though ye should stone me to death forthwith: Yet will I manifestly and plainly knowledge and confess the faith of the church or congregation of God, and boldly pronounce that the right profound Christian truth of the resurrection, can utterly not be understand without flesh, bone, blood and members.  
Where flesh, bones, blood, and members are, there must needs be a difference of kind, as of man and woman. And where these both are distinct the one from the other, there john must be john, and Mary must be Mary. But thou needest not to be astonished at the matter, as though a wedding also were there to be kept in all the haste: seeing that before they died, they lived without the work of their kind, that is, without the act of marriage.  
It is promised us, that we shallbe like unto the Angels, that is, partakers of the salvation: in the which salvation, the Angels are without flesh and distinction of kind. And yet it is given unto us in our flesh & kind. Thus believeth my simplicity, and understandeth that the kind must be understand, how be it without the works of the kind: yea that men must rise again, and so become like unto the Angels of God.  
Neither ought the resurrection of members forthwith to be therefore esteemed unprofitable & superfluous because they shall not do their office, but stand idle. For while we are yet in this life, we endeavour our selves not to perform the works of our members. As for the comparison towards the Angels, it is not a changing of men into Angels, but it is an increasing of the mortality and glory.  
Thus much have I spoken of the confession of holy Hierome.   

CHAP. 21. S. Augustine's mind of the Resurrection of the flesh.  
TOuching the resurrection of our flesh, not only did holy Hierome believe thus, who yet testifieth, that he knowledgeth and confesseth the universal Christian faith: But also S. Austen wholly agreeth unto s. Hierome, and namely Lib. 2. Retractat. Cap. 3. For in repeating & correcting certain points out of the .32. Chapter in the book de Agone Christiano, he saith.  
I said it shall not be flesh and blood, but an heavenly body. This ought no man to understand, that therefore there shall be no true substance of the flesh: but with the names of flesh and blood, must the infirmity of the flesh and blood be understand.  
Item. Lib. 1. Retractat. cap. 17.  
In repeating and correcting certain points, which he had written long afore, in the book de fide & symbolo: In the time of the Angelical change (saith he) it shall not be flesh and blood, but only a body. etc. This I spoke of the changing of earthy bodies into heavenly. etc.  
But if one would understand it so, that the earthy body, which we now have, should so in the resurrection be altered and changed, that these members and the substance of this flesh shall not remain, no doubt he is not in the right way, but aught better to be instructed: considering that he is warned and monished thorough the body of our Lord, which after the resurrection appeared even with the same members, not only that he might be seen with eyes, but handled also and touched with hands.  
Besides this, he testifieth, that he hath true flesh upon him, when he saith: handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. Therefore it is evident and plain that the holy Apostle Paul denied not, that the true substance of the flesh should not be in the kingdom of God. But rather with these words, flesh and blood, he understood, that either men, which live after the flesh, should not have the inheritance of heaven: or else that there should be in heaven no infirmity of the flesh at all. This is a grievous matter for unbelievers, and hardly are they persuaded to believe the resurrection: but most diligently and after my power, have I treated thereof in the last book de Civitate Dei.  

De civitate dei. Lib. 13. ca 22. &. 23.  Yet handleth he of the resurrection, not only in the last book, but also in the .13. book de Civitate Dei he writeth thus.  
The Christian faith doubteth verily nothing at all, to confess of our saviour, that also after the resurrection, though now in the spiritual flesh, yet also in his true flesh, he did eat and drink with his disciples. Hereof are they called also spiritual-bodies: not that they therefore cease to be bodies, but that thorough the spirit, which giveth life, they shallbe preserved and remain.  
For like as these our bodies, which have a living soul, 
And the same is again. Retractat. Li. 1. cap. 13  and yet be not named a spirit that giveth life, but natural or soulishe bodies, and therefore are not souls but bodies: so shall the glorified bodies be called spiritual.  
Yet God forbidden we should therefore believe that they shall be spirits: but bodies shall they be, which shall have the substance of the flesh. And forasmuch as they are preserved and made alive thorough, the spirit, they shall suffer no grief or infirmity. Then shall not man be earthy, but heavenly: not that the body, which is made of the earth shall no more continued the same body: but that thorough the heavenly gift and grace he shall be so from henceforth, that being such a kind and nature as can not perish, and altered from all infirmity, he shallbe able to devil commodiously in heaven.  
Furthermore saith s. Austen in the. 22. book the 30. Chapter.  
How the bodies there shall move, I dare not rashly define for I can not comprehend it, it passeth my understanding. Yet shall their mou●ng and state, even as also their proportion, be altogether beautiful: and how so ever it shall be, it shall be in that place, where nothing can be but that, which is beautiful and comely: yea where the spirit will, there strait sha●l the body be also. neither will the spirit any thing that is not very seemly and comely both for him and it.  
Thus have I hitherto recited s. Augustins belief, to conclude this matter of the resurrection.   

CHAP. 22. What Aurelius Prudencius thought of the same.  
I Will hereunto add the verses of the excellent and christian man, Aurelius Prudentius, which do wonderfully express unto us the resurrection of our flesh, and set it directly before our eyes.  
MY body in Christ shall rise again:  
I speak it earnest for it is plain.  
Why would thou then I should despair,  
O flesh, when I do see so fair  
The way, that jesus Christ, my Lord,  
Went after his death, as saith his word?  
This is the ground, and foundation,  
My heart believeth with confession:  
That I am sure, and know certain,  
My body shall rise wholly again.  
Not one here less, than was before:  
Neither in greatness any more:  
With strength and shape as it lived here,  
Afore they it to grave did bear.  
There is no tooth nor nail so small,  
Not here so little, but though it fall:  
Yet perish it shall not finally,  
But out of grave rise certainly.  
God which afore created me,  
With shape and strength undoubtedly,  
Wherewith I here on earth should live:  
Not feeble nor weak thing me shall give.  
For where any thing shall perish at all, 
Our bodies at the resurrection shall not be feeble nor weak.   
It is old feeble. So do not thou call,  
Of our bodies the renovation.  
Therefore is this my expectation.  
What sickness▪ pain and adversity,  
What 〈◊〉 in this ●ale of misery,  
Out of this world ●●we taketh away:  
Shall, when I rise at the last day  
From death to life a new, certain  
be given me all together again.  
For seeing that death is overcome:  
It ever beseemeth us all and some,  
Quietly to trust, with steadfastness:  
Our God will keep with us promise.  
Lest when we come into the grave,  
A man no hope then after have,  
When he to life cometh eternal,  
That he, for his body mortal,  
Which here so full of faults was,  
As brickle and frail, as any glass,  
Shall have a body of perfectness,  
That cold can not, nor hunger press.  
Though weakness be, at all season,  
The strength of death, and operation.  
Thereby in us what is consumed,  
When it again shallbe restored.  
Then thorough the power, whereby we rise,  
We go to the father in perfect wise.  
This should right well content our heart:  
Therefore my body regardeth no smart.  
In Christ my trust, is constantly:  
Who promiseth us assuredly,  
To ra●se us up from earth at last:  
Therefore be thou nothing aghast.  
For sickness nor for adversity:  
Nor yet let thou the grave fear thee.  
Let this ever thy comfort be,  
That Christ prepared the way for thee,  
Wherein himself is gone before.  
Follow thou and live for evermore.   

CHAP. 23. The bodies of unbelievers shall verily rise again.  
But to the intent that no man doubt, touching the resurrection of the flesh of the unbelievers: I will bring forth certain testimonies of holy Scripture, which do manifestly declare, that the unbelievers or ungodly, shall with their own true bodies rise again. 
Esay. 66.  The Prophet Esay in the last Chapter of his book sayeth: they shall go forth, and look upon the bodies of them, that have vilely behaved themselves against me: for their worms shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, & all flesh shall abhor them. With this sentence doth the Prophet play after the manner & custom of those that have soon gotten the victory: which with great desire, after that the battle is won, get them out of the city into the field, to view & look upon the bodies of such as are slain, and how fortunately they have fought. Forasmuch now as Christ also hath fought prosperously, overcome his enemies on domes day, and made them his foot stole: the faithful shall go out to see the bodies of the ungodly. The prophet doth for this cause call them bodies, even to declare, that the bodies, raised up from death, shall be very true flesh. He continueth further also in the recited sentence, and saith: their worm shall not die. For the bodies or corpses are full of worms, neither are they aught but worms meat.  
All this is spoken after the custom and property of man, and weakness of this time: and herewith is described unto us, and set before our eyes, eternal punishment, and how it shall go in the life to come.  
In Daniel we read thus: 
Daniel. 12.  many of them, that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake: some to everlasting life, some to perpetual shame & reproof. The whole multitude of bodies, saith he, that are become dust, yea all flesh shall thorough the power of God rise again, but not in like case and sort. For the good shall arise to eternal life, the evil to everlasting death. After this manner spoke the Lord also: verily, verily, 
john. 5.  verily I say unto you: The hour cometh, in the which all they, that are in the graves, shall hear his voice, and shall come forth: they that have done good, to life: and they that have done evil, to death. Who is so ignorant but he perceiveth, that to sleep in the earth, as the prophet Daniel said, and to be in the graves, as Christ said, is one manner of speech and of like effect? Now forasmuch as they, that are in the dust of the earth, and in the graves, come forth, awake and rise again▪ and only the bodies are in the graves, wherein they corrupt▪ it followeth that men's true bodies, not only of the good, but also of the evil, shall truly rise again. And the same doth the Lord yet declare more evidently. Mat. 10. Fear ye not them, that kill the body, & are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him, which may destroy soul and body into hell.  
Not only the souls, but also the bodies of unbelievers, doth the Lord destroy. Out of the which it followeth, that they shall rise again: for if they should not rise again, they could not be tormented and plagued. Neither shall any other body rise again to pain and punishment, but even the same, that with his use works hath deserved the plague.  
And hereunto serveth also the description of the last judgement. Math. 25. And S. Paul saith. 2. Cor. 5. We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ: that every one may receive in his body, according as he hath done, whether it be good or bad. See, how manifestly & expressly the holy Apostle testifieth, that the body shall rise again. In the same terrible judgement of God saith he, must every one take his body to him again. And why must he take the body upon him again? Even to the intent, that when any one hath received his body again, he may likewise receive the reward, that he by and with his living body hath deserved.  
Now hath the body some thing to do with godliness and ungodliness, with virtue and vice: for the body is an instrument or vessel wherewith somewhat is done: and therefore in the just judgement of God, the body, according to the divine righteousness, shall not be omitted, neither forgotten at all.  
For if it have been obedient and subject unto the spirit, if it have suffered much trouble for the name of jesus Christ, if it hath been an earnest follower of righteousness: then shall it be worthy also to be glorified. Again: If it hath been given over to worldly voluptuous pleasures, or transitory things of this world: then with the soul that wrought with it, shall it justly go to eternal damnation. Wherefore the unbelievers shall truly rise again in their own flesh: yea even in the same, which they here in this time have fed, and pampered with all voluptuous pleasure and excess.  
And like as they in this time have with their body taken their own pleasure, joy and delight: so in the life to come they shallbe plagued and punished with everlasting pain and torment, in the same body.  
For S. Paul witnesseth farther in the acts of the Apostles, 
Acts. 24.  and sayeth: I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law & in the prophets: and have hope towards God, that the same resurrection of the dead, which they themselves look for, shall be of the just and unjust.  
Therefore holy Augustine in book De fide ad Petrum diaconum said well and Christianly, 
De fide ad Petrum. cap. 3.  according to the nature of the Apostles doctrine.  
The unrighteous shall have a common resurrection of the flesh with the righteous: but the grace of the change, or glorification, they shall not have. For frailty and misery shall not be taken away from the bodies of the ungodly, neither the shame and reproach, sickness and feebleness, in the which they are sown: which therefore thorough death are not extinct and taken away, that they may belong to eternal death, pain and punishment, everlastingly to be plagued body and soul, with continual torment that never ceaseth.  
These are Augustine's words.  
And after like sort did the lord also say in the gospel: they, that have done evil, 
john. 5.  shall arise to the resurrection of judgement or damnation. As if he would say: the ungodly, that with their bodies shall rise again, shall rise with such property and proportion of their body, that their bodies may suffer the pain and torment: namely, that they now being made everlasting, may not be wasted and consumed away thorough any pain or trouble, how great and horrible so ever it be. And so the bodies of the ungodly, that rise again from death, shall after the said manner be altered and changed. For the bodies that might afore thorough pain and trouble be broken and consumed, are now altogether as iron, yea such as can not be broken, and yet painful and passable: so that from henceforth, the more they be tormented, the harder they become, and, thorough God's vengeance, more unapt to be destroyed, and yet made the more able to suffer misery.    

¶ The third part TOUCHING THE damneds perdition and the blesseds salvation.  

CHAP. 24. The death and damnation of the ungodly.  
Now seeing the onset is given, and the Oration come so far, that I must also speak somewhat of the eternal death and damnation of the unbelievers, that this matter may be wholly, uprightly, and perfectly brought to an end: I will therefore briefly declare, that the death, and damnation of the unbelievers and ungodly, is enjoined unto them of God. Item, that the souls are passable. Moreover where the scripture declareth the place of damnation to be, & after what sort damnation shall torment the unbelievers. Finally, I will declare, whether the punishment of the ungodly be everlasting, or whether it shall cease at length. Holy scripture doth often and many times make mention of the death of the soul, 
The death of the soul.  which yet concerneth not the substance, but the state thereof.  
For holy Augustine in his book de fide & symbolo, speaketh thereof very well and Christianly.  
Like as the soul (saith he) by reason of vices and wicked manners is frail, 
De fide & symbolo. cap. 10.  so may it also be called mortal. For the death of the soul, is to fall from God, and not to keep itself unto God: which is also the first sin committed in paradise, as it is contained in holy scripture.  
Moreover the soul dieth, when it is verily spoiled of eternal life, and cast into everlasting sorrow, trouble, and misery.  
And therefore, saith Augustine farther. The soul also hath her death, Namely when it lacketh and is destitute of the eternal and godly life; which truly and justly is called the life of the soul. But undeadly or immortal is it called, because it never ceaseth to live, how miserable so ever the life of it be.  
What bodily death is, every man knoweth well: but eternal death, when a man dieth the second time, is this: when the flesh riseth again, and so is placed in everlasting torment.  
For after the last sentence or judgement of God, the whole man, and not the half, shall be either saved or damned. The eternal death also hath S. john in his Revelation called the second death. 
Apo. 2.20.  This is appointed because of sin, and is not a resting or ceasing, but a continual pain. This death is called also damnation, that is, a judgement because the ungodly is adjudged unto pain: and for that there is appointed him a torment, sorrow and trouble that never ceaseth, and that, as touching the greatness thereof, can never be expressed with tongue.   

CHAP. 25. That there is an eternal death and damnation, and that the soul is passable.  
NOw that there is an eternal damnation, the truth and righteousness of God testifieth. For how could God be righteous, if he had no punishment, wherewith to torment and plague the vicious and wicked? Therefore out of doubt an eternal death and damnation there is, though the ungodly do mock & laugh it to scorn, and pass not upon it. The godly sacred Bible, which is an assured witness of the truth, sayeth evidently: death is the stipend or reward of sin. And: 
Rom. 6.  by one man came sin into the world, 
Rom. 7.  and by sin death. Item, thorough the sin of one man, is the evil fallen by inheritance, & come upon all men unto damnation. For, in that book of Genesis, 
Gene. 3.  God saith: In what day so ever thou eatest of this tree, thou shalt die the death.  
Now did he eat thereof, & therefore he also died, and was even condemned, appointed and adjudged unto eternal death. The Lord saith also in the gospel: 
john. 8.  if ye believe not that it is I, ye shall die in your sins. Item: he, that believeth not, 
john. 3.  is condemned already. Such like testimonies are found in holy scripture innumerable: out of the which we finally conclude, that death & damnation is enjoined, appointed and adjudged of God, unto all unbelievers and ungodly. But forasmuch as there be some which think, that, seeing the soul is a spirit, it can not, neither may suffer, yea that it is not subdued to any passion at all: Therefore, against such curious teachers, I will set now the soul of the gorgeous rich man in the gospel, which expressly & plainly sayeth: O send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and coal my tongue: 
Luke. 16.  for I am tormented in this flame: lo, the rich man's soul is tormented in the fire. Hereout now it followeth, that the souls are passable and subject to suffer.  
And though this be showed unto us of the Lord as a parable, yet is it done for this intent, even to describe and declare unto us the state and case of the souls, that are separated from the bodies.  
And how pain and punishment is appointed unto the souls, it is found expressed not only in the similitudes, but also in the holy gospel of Mathewe the truth itself saith: fear ye him rather, which may destroy soul & body into hell.  
What the mouth of god speaketh, must needs be true: Yea a shameful & strange thing were it: for any man from henceforth to doubt in this, that with so evident testimonies is witnessed.  
We aught rather to beware, that with our vicious life, we deserve not to learn and feel by experience, the righteous judgement of God, concerning the which we now doubt and demand so foolishly, as though there shallbe nothing of it. Now what I have spoken of the souls, that are already departed from the body, must be understand also of the bodies, which come again to the souls in the resurrection.   

CHAP. 26. The bodies of the unbelievers, being raised, are passable.  
FOr that the bodies, which come again to the souls & are raised up, are passable: it mai well be understand and perceived by that, which is treated of already. S. Augustine Lib. 21. de civitate Dei. Cap. 4. showeth by many natural examples and evidences, that living bodies may well remain & continued in the fire. But touching the place of the punishment, or where the souls with their bodies shallbe tormented, the scripture saith simply & plainly, that the unbelievers go down into hell. Hereof is it easy to perceive, that hell is under us in the earth: notwithstanding to go about to describe, to show and to compass precisely the place and the room, where it lieth, and to point it out, becometh not us verily, but is a foolish presumption. The testimonies of the scripture are simple & plain. 
Psal. 55.  For the Prophet David saith: let death fall suddenly upon them, & let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their houses and privy chambers. Item: with all their substance went they down quick into hell, 
Nume. 16.  and the earth covered them, and they perished from out of the congregation. 
Gene. 19  Hereunto serveth also right well the destruction of Sodom, and that which the Prophet Ezechiell declareth: 
Ezech. 32.  namely, that all cruel people are gone down and descended into hell: as the Elamites, which are the Persians, Edomites, and others. And therefore concludeth he farther, that even Pharaoh, the king of Egipte, seeing that he also is a tyrant, must be thrust down into hell, and be gathered unto other uncircumcised, that is to say, unbelievers. Item in Luke is the hell placed beneath downwards. 
Luke. 16.  For thus is it written in the Evangelist: between us and you, there is a great space set: so that they, which would go down from hence to you, can not.  

1. Peter. 2.  The holy Apostle Peter speaking of the angels that fell, saith evidently: that they are cast down into hell, kept and bound with the chains of darkness for ever. Esay also speaketh of hell, 
Esay. 30.  and sayeth: the Lord hath set hell in the deep, and made it wide. As for the manner, fashion, and measure of the damnation, and how great the torment of hell is upon unbelievers: I suppose no tongue is able to express the terrible & ugsome pain and punishment thereof. For Virgile the old Poet, though he were an Heathen man, 
Virgilius.  yet when he had recited divers and sundry vices, and what punishment is ordained for them of God, he said in his sixth book of the Eneydes.  
An hundred tongues,  
And mouths as many,  
Although I had,  
With eloquence high:  
And though my voice  
All iron were  
In strength: yet could  
I not declare  
The vices of men,  
Nor yet can tell,  
What pains therefore  
They suffer in hell.   

CHAP. 27. The pains of Hell, and the matter for the continuance of the torments, with the space of the place, and kinds of punishments.  
YEa though the holy scripture itself, can not with sufficient words express the pains of hell, and punishment of the damned: yet doth it partly describe the same with outward and corporal things, giving us occasion thereby, to consider far greater things: and, so to say, out of the small to ponder and weigh the greater: as when it calleth the pains of hell, the outward darkness, that is, most terrible sorrow & trouble, calling the pain also weeping and gnashing of teeth. Item, cold: and continual fire that never quencheth, & the perpetual gnawing worm. As every one that hath read the gospel, is well informed. The prophet Ezechiel saith, 
Eze, 32.  that in hell there is a great multitude of graves. And so, by a figurative & borrowed speech, he declareth the horror, mourning, weeping, and lamentation of the damned. The Greeks in their language named hell of darkness, cold, trembling and quaking.  
For Ades cometh of, a, and Eidein, that is of not seeing: or Tartarus of the word tartarizeia. that is, to shudder for cold: or of taratto: that is, to be in heaviness, put in fear, and out of quiet. But for the opening of this matter, we will take the testimonies of the scripture in hand again.  
The Lord saith: at the end of the world, shall the son of man sand forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into the fire oven: there shallbe wailing and gnashing of teeth. And even the said words doth the Lord use again in the same Evangelist. 
Mat. 22.24.  Item Esay sayeth: 
Esay. 30.  for he from the beginning hath prepared Tophet, that is, hell even for kings, and made it deep and wide.  
The mansions or chambers thereof are of fire and exceeding much wood, which the breath of the Lord, as a river of brimstone, doth kind. The place of the Prophet have I partly declared, in the exposition of the .5. chapter of Mathewe, and here will I now partly expound it.  
The prophet truly, with these words, declareth an assured and a very wide and broad place of hell, when he saith: he hath made it deep and wide.  
Hereof than it followeth, that hell is in the depth, and that the place itself is an horrible depth, so that who so doth once sink down into it, shall come no more thereout: neither needeth any man to think, that the place is not great and wide enough. For touching wideness, it shall be able enough to hold all damned persons.  
For, the wideness and greatness thereof, saith the Prophet, is exceeding horrible. The terrible pain also & torment, wherewith the ungodly are punished, hath the prophet described with these words, and said: the mansions or chambers thereof are of fire. As if he would say. The pain of hell is greater than can be expressed, for the fire noteth an unoutspeakable trouble. As for stuff to be tormented withal, it shall never lack, neither shall the pain have ever any end. Therefore saith he, that there is much wood. It followeth moreover, that the lord's breath, which is as a river of brimstone, doth kindle, and as a bellows, blow the fire, quickening it, and ever renewing it, to burn evermore. Therefore we aught not to think that that fire is kept in by natural causes: for by the power of God is it kindled and kept in. The same Prophet saith also: they shall go forth and look upon the bodies or corpses of them, 
Esay. 66.  that have vilely behaved themselves against me: for their worms shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and all flesh shall abhor them. And unto these words hath the Lord respect, when he saith in the gospel of Mark: better is it for thee to go halt or lame into life, 
Mark. 9  then having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm never dieth, & their fire never goeth out.  
Herein therefore consisteth the punishment and damnation, that the ungodly, which here upon earth would not know God, and receive the light of the gospel, shall be cast out from the face of God, wherein only yet is the fullness and perfectness of all joy: and than shall they be shut up in the great, thick, and perpetual darkness. For the judge commandeth them to departed from him, and to go into eternal pain and damnation. Yea the ungodly shall go into themselves, and shall know the equity of the judge: and therefore fret & gnaw their own heart, with sighing, with unspeakable pain, great sorrow and trouble.  
This is called, and so it is in deed, the gnawing worm, that in the hearts of the ungodly never dieth. For S. Paul saith plainly, 
Rom. 2,  that at the righteous judgement of God, the consciences of all men shall bear witness, and that the thoughts in themselves shall either accuse or excuse them.  
The same S. Paul also, speaking of the judgement of God, saith: praise, honour and immortality shall he give unto them that continue in good doing, and seek eternal life: but unto them, that are rebellious, disobeying the truth, and follow iniquity, shall come indignation & wrath, trouble & anguish. Besides all this, shall the ungodly be in the fellowship of most foul spirits, with whom they had their lust in this life.  
There shall all be full of confusion, loathsomeness, and great torment, and so shall all burn together for evermore. For thus shall the judge give sentence with plain and express words: departed fro me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, 
Math. 25.  which is prepared for the devil and his Angels.  
The Prophet Daniel sayeth also: the wicked shall rise to perpetual shame and rebuke. Item Esay: all flesh shall abhor them. And holy scripture sayeth, that the ungodly are given over unto that devil, to burn perpetually.   

CHAP. 28. The Refutation of them, that denied the punishment of the ungodly to be eternal.  
Moreover s. Augustin saith in the last book de civitate Dei. That some heretofore have been so merciful, that they durst promise' grace, deliverance and life, even unto those that are damned and adjudged to eternal death.  
The same witnesseth also S. Hierome, in his writing upon the last chapter of Esay.  
But no man aught to be moved by such a foolish and erroneous opinion of certain unbelievers: which opinion hath of all faithful men been ever still rejected and condemned. For the testimonies or witness of the scriptures, which wholly without all contradiction are to be credited, speak simply and plainly, that the punishment and damnation of the ungodly or unbelievers is everlasting, and not only of long continuance, as some expound it: but so great, that it cannot be expressed, and so perpetual, that it is without end.  
Hereupon, for the opening of the matter, we will show more testimonies. Esay saith: thy rivers shall become rozine, 
Esay. 34.  & the dust brimstone, the earth burning pitch, not able to be quenched day nor night: the smoke shall eternally go up, from generation to generation shall there be a destruction: neither shall any man be able to walk there in everlasting eternity.  
The Prophet doubtless speaketh of hell, minding with many words to declare, that the punishment and pain of hell is eternal and without end.  
For first he sayeth: day and night shall it not quench. Then sayeth he farther: the smoke shall go up still for evermore. Item, yet more plainly: from generation to generation shall there be a destruction: namely a dwelling, where as is nothing but pain and undoing.  
And at the end he addeth: neither shall any man be able to walk there, in the everlasting eternity. Which is such a manner of speech, that scarce there can be any other found, that more distinctly, evidently and plainly expresseth the eternity. For what is the everlasting eternity else, but a time without end? But to be able to dwell or walk there, signifieth not, that no man shall dwell in hell: but that it is a loathsome horrible place, wherein every man desireth neither to devil nor walk.  
Other Prophets also, speaking of the destruction of lands and Cities, have with such like manner of speech, described a very foul and horrible subversion. Therefore would the holy Prophet Esay also express here nothing else, but an everlasting loathsomeness, that never ceaseth. In the holy Prophet Daniel, it is written thus: they, 
Daniel. 16.  that have instructed the multitude unto godliness, shall shine as the stars in seculum & in perpetuum, for ever and ever.  
Now lest that by this word, seculum, any man understand a long season, as an hundredth, a thousand or .10000. years, he addeth thereunto immediately inperpetuum, that is, in to the eternity, or for evermore. And like as the eternity is appointed for the righteous, so is there an everlasting eternity ordained for the wicked. For the Lord saith plainly. They that have done good, shall come forth to the resurrection of life: and they that have done evil, 
john. 5.  to the resurrection of judgement. Note here the manner of speech, to the resurrection of life, and to the resurrection of judgement. Now have I showed afore, that this saying, to rise up unto the resurrection of judgement, is asmuch as to rise to a continual & still remaining state, in the which the bodies raised up endure perpetually in torment. We find also the like in the same gospel of john, that the Lord saith: who so believeth on the son, hath eternal life: but he that believeth not the son, 
john. 3.  shall not see life, but the wrath of god abideth upon him. Lo, what could be more evidently and pithily spoken? He shall not see life, saith the Lord. Item: the wrath of God remaineth upon him. If he shall not see life, how shall he then, as yonder men say, be preserved or saved? Item: If the wrath of God abide upon him, then surely the vengeance, that is, the pain & punishment, shall not be taken away from him. And note, that he saith: the wrath of God abideth, yea abideth on him. As if he would say: the punishment hangeth upon him, sticketh fast, moveth not away, altereth not, but worketh in the unbelievers without ceasing for evermore. The Lord saith: all sins shall be forgiven the children of men, 
Mark. 3.  and also the blasphemies wherewith they blaspheme. But who so blasphemeth the holy Ghost, hath no forgiveness for evermore, but is guilty of eternal judgement. For evermore, saith he, hath he no remission.  
And hereunto he addeth: he is in danger of eternal judgement, that is, he shallbe punished with everlasting continual punishment. The lord saith moreover in the same evangelist: 
Mark. 9  better it is for thee, to enter into life halt or lame, then having two feet, to be cast into hell fire: the fire that never quencheth, where their worm dieth not, & their fire goeth not out. Wherein he repeateth once again, that the fire never quencheth, and addeth thereto, that the worm never dieth. Wherefore as the bodies ever continue, so endureth their worm also perpetually. For the worm liveth and is sustained only of the body or carrion. S. john also saith in his revelation: 
Apo. 14.  if any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or on his hand: the same shall drink the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured in the cup of his wrath. And he shall be punished in fire & brimstone, before the holy Angels & before the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for evermore, and they have no rest day nor night. etc. And the like is repeated in the .20. Chapter. Thus much of eternal damnatian.   

CHAP. 29. Of eternal life and salvation, and that there is an eternal life.  
Now resteth, that in the end of this book we collect somewhat out of the scripture, concerning everlasting life, and the most perfect salvation of all elect, which is our only expectation and only hope, that we undoubtedly look for and trust to inherit, and that thorough the benefit and merits of our Lord jesus Christ. That there is a blessed and eternal life, no man can deny, unless he be altogether an enemy of god, & except there be in him no life at all. For if there be no everlasting life, and no everlasting salvation, then is there also no God: or though there were one, yet were he neither true nor just, seeing that unto all righteous and faithful he hath promised eternal life. But a God there is, who is true and righteous: therefore is there also an eternal life & salvation, which he hath promised to faithful believers. This doth holy scripture record with these witnesses. David saith: 
Psalm. 27.  I believe and trust to see the richesse of the Lord. And in the gospel the lord saith: 
Math. 25.  Come ye blessed of my father, & possess the kingdom, which hath been prepared for you from the beginning of the world. Item, O thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful in a little, I will make thee ruler over much: enter into the joy of thy Lord. Paul also saith: if we have a sure hope in Christ jesus only in this life, 
1. Cor. 15. Heb. 4.  then are we of all people the most wretched. And with many words to the hebrews treateth he of the everlasting rest.  
But in the .11. 
Heb. 11.  chapter he speaketh of the hope of the faithful: They desire a better country, that is to say, an heavenly. Item Hebrues .13. we have here no remaining city, but we seek one for to come. For holy scripture calleth eternal life the kingdom of God, the kingdom of the father, the native country of heaven, the joy of the Lord, the blessed rest, and everlasting life. S. Peter speaketh very evidently and plain: 
1. Peter. 1.  praised be God, the father of our Lord jesus Christ which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of jesus Christ from death, to an inheritance immortal and undefiled & that perisheth not, reserved in heaven for you, which are kept by the power of God thorough faith unto salvation. etc.   

CHAP. 30. Where the place of the faithful is.  
YEt are there s●me, that ask where the region or place of the blessed and faithful believers is. Of this have all righteous & godly men had ever one opinion: namely, that the dwelling of the living shall be with God, according to that, which the Lord saith in the gospel: 
Math. 5.  blessed are they which be of a pure heart, for they shall see God. And though God be every where, yet will he not be seen in this time, but principally in the time to come, and in heaven, according as Moses hath written, 
Exo. 33.  no man shallbe able to see God & live. Therefore is it necessary for us to departed out of this time, and to be brought elsewhere: namely to the place that is above us, where God dwelleth in a light, 
1. Tim. 6.  that no man can attain unto, as Paul saith. For there will he be perfectly seen of his. In S. Luke it is read, that Abraham's lap, or bosom, is above in the height: but the harborough or dwelling of the damned beneath in the depth. It is found also, 
4. Reg. 2.  that Helias was in a fiery chariot taken hence and carried upwards into heaven. And in john doth our Lord jesus Christ pray, 
john. 17.  saying: father, those whom thou hast given me, I will that, where I am, they also be there with me, that they mai see mine honour and glory. But in this, that I have treated of afore, it is manifestly declared, that the heaven is the same room and place of jesus Christ, into the which he is bodily taken up in his glory. Whereof then it followeth of necessity, that the heaven, into the which Christ ascended with his true body, is even the same place and rest, that faithful believers are taken up into.  
And into the same heaven desired Steven to be received, when he lift up his eyes into heaven, and saw at the right hand of the father jesus standing, to whom he committed his soul, and said: O Lord jesus receive my spirit.   

CHAP. 31. How the salvation shall be.  
But what the same life, and of what sort, fashion and manner the salvation of the faithful shallbe, or what the elect do or occupy in heaven, can of mortal men not perfectly be spoken. For s. Augustine also in his .22. book de civitate Dei. cap. 29. saith.  

De civitate dei. Lib 22. cap. 29.  If I will say the truth, I can not tell after what manner the operation, rest and quietness of the blessed in heaven shall be. For the peace of God excelleth and passeth all man's understanding.  
And likewise speaketh also s. Paul out of the Prophet, concerning the quality, 
Esay. 64. 1. Cor. 2  fashion and manner of eternal life: the eye hath not seen, and the ear hath not heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things, which God hath prepared for them, that love him. Wherefore touching the excellency of eternal life though all were spoken that the tongues of men were able, yet should it be hard for them to attain, and by words to express the least and smallest portion thereof.  
For albeit we hear, that the kingdom of Christ be filled with glory, joy, and salvation, yet the things that are named, continue still far from our understanding: yea they remain wrappeth, as it were, in a dark speech and in a mist, until the day come wherein he will open and give unto us his glory. Therefore when the holy Prophets could with no words express the spiritual salvation, as it is in itself: yet as much, as was possible, they described & set it forth by outward and bodily things. Therefore we may also, I suppose, by outward and corporal things get up, as it were by steps, to things invisible, and purchase unto ourselves an understanding of spiritual & everlasting goud things. For S. Paul to the Romans, speaking of the knowledge of the true only, and eternal God, saith, the Gods invisible things, namely his eternal power and godhead, are understand, 
Rom. 1.  if his works be pondered and considered. And out of that good things, that here upon earth are given unto men, hath the Poet Marcellus very goodly and well concluded and counted, that the good things, which for the blessed are prepared in the life to come, shall be such, as now can not be considered and expressed. And thus he saith.  
O Heaven, that art the throne most high, 
Marcellus de piscibus   
A beautiful crown, fair & worthy,  
How wonderful, pure and excellent,  
Art thou beset in firmament,  
With stars, with sun, and moon doubtless,  
Replete with joy and much gladness:  
Which God for us hath prepared,  
And cattle to give hath not spared,  
Waters and wood, with many a hill,  
vineyards, meadows, fair fields to till.  
Pleasant on earth and commodious:  
Thy dwelling, O Lord, how precious  
Is it? All full of honour and glory  
For thy celestial host with thee.  
Moreover holy scripture speaketh very simply and plainly, that eternal life consisteth here in, that we shall see God, and have the fruition of him, in whom is the fullness of all good, and without whom nothing can be desired or found, that is good, beautiful or pleasant. For eternal life or eternal salvation is nothing else, but man's everlasting and always continuing state, which by means of the best things of all, is fully perfect.  
This state is given us, thorough the beholding or sight, thorough the fruition and thorough the communion or fellowship, which we shall have with the blessed God in the world to come.  
Hereof is it that S. Aug. saith Lib. 22. De civitate Dei cap. 29. 
De civitate dei lib. 22. cap. 29.   
If I be demanded, what the blessed shall do in this spiritual body, I shall not say that I now see but that which I believe. Therefore I say, that even in this body they shall see God.  
Thus also did holy job hold thereof, and said: 
job. 19  I shall see him to myself, and mine own eyes shall see him, yea I and none other. Even of this occasion spoke S. Augustine in the last chapter of this .22. book, that the corporal eyes of the body raised up, 
Lib. 22. cap. Vlt.  shall execute their office, that is, they shall see. What he farther treated of the beholding of god, it is penned at large in the .112. Epistle, 
Epist. 112. ad Paulin. john. 17.  which he wrote ad Paulinam. Our Lord jesus saith also in the holy gospel: this is the eternal life, that they know thee to be the only true, God, & whom thou hast sent jesus Christ. This knowledge is not only belief, and the knowledge of understanding: but also the present beholding and fruition of God, and the fellowship with God, which after this life shall hap unto all faithful believers. For Paul said: we see now thorough a glass in a dark speaking, 
1. Cor. 13.  but then face to face. For faith is a steadfast substance of things, that we hope for, and as a beholding or sight of God: albeit somewhat more dark, and not so evident & clear, as shall be that, which, as a reward of faith, shall be given to the faithful in the world to come. To see face to face is nothing else but to use, enjoy, & have the fruition of all things: presently also to behold the promiss, and perfectly to be partaker thereof. Therefore sayeth the holy Apostle john yet more evidently: dearly beloved, 
1. john. 3.  we are now the children of god, and yet it doth not appear what we shall be: but we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him: for we shall see him as he is. With the which words s. john will declare three things: namely that even now in this very present time we are Gods children, and therefore also heirs. And though this be a great fore deal and an excellent jewel, yet the great and unspeakable glory that in time to come shall be declared unto us, hath not yet appeared. For we, saith he, shall be like him, namely our Lord jesus Christ: who, according to the saying of Paul, shall altar and change our frail body, that he may make it like unto his own glorified body.  
Besides this, even as he is, shall we see him: namely Christ the Lord, not only as man, but also as very God. Therefore shall we see god as he is: namely god as the only chief and highest good, in whom we have all good things. For Paul saith: 
1. Cor. 15.  when all things are subdued unto the son, then shall the son also be subject unto him, who unto him hath subdued all things, that God may be all in all.  
And therefore said he also in the gospel: 
john. 17.  that they know thee to be the only true God. Not that Christ is not very god, but that the mystery and the entreating of the son, our mediator & reconciler, shall after the judgement be no more so in heaven, as it hath been afore upon earth. But the only God, in the holy Trinity, shall be of all good the full perfect sufficiency to all faithful. For all that we can wish, think, and desire, shall only god give and be in all things.  
And that is also the meaning and understanding of Paul, when he saith: 
●. Cor. 15.  God shallbe all in all. And hereunto serveth now the goodly sentence of S. Augustine, 
De civitat. Dei lib. 22. cap. 30.  who saith thus: God shall be the end of all our longing and desire: him shall we perpetually see, him shall we love without tediousness and grief, and him shall we praise without ceasing. For tediousness and grief runneth customably with saturation or fullness. As for us, we shall with the beholding of God, be filled to the bodily satisfying: which filling shallbe as little tedious or grievous, as we are grieved at the waters and rivers, that still run into the sea, and yet out of the ground of the earth spring forth again.  
For the same cometh to pass without all men's tediousness, yea rather with great joy and commodity, seeing they water & moisture all things, and make them fruitful. And hereunto serve now these testimonies of the scripture: the Prophet David saith: in thy presence is the fullness of joy, 
Psalm. 16.  and at thy right-hand there is pleasure for evermore: that is in the beholding of thee, is, and consisteth all joy, and in heaven shall everlasting pleasure be.  
Item: in thy righteousness shall I behold thy face: 
Psalm. 17.  and when I awake, I shall with thy likeness be satisfied. Unto the Lord also saith the holy Apostle Phil lip: 
john. 14.  Lord show us the father, and it sufficeth us.  
Therefore the Poet Marcellus, spoke very Christianly and well in these his verses.  
HEreof hath God his name truly,  
Because the highest good is he.  
For where he is, there is present  
Much honour and glory excellent.  
And therefore every pleasant thing,  
That water and earth doth here forth bring,  
And what in the air is beautiful,  
That may delight and be fruitful:  
There is in all that number not one,  
Which is not seen at all season,  
Within the circle of heaven iwis:  
Where the highest fathers dwelling is.  
The blessed also and elect, shall in the heavenly and eternal country, with continual praise incessantly, laud and magnify the name of God.  
For when s. john in his revelation thought to signify & show this, he said: 
Apo. 5.14.  I hard the voice of many angels, which were about the throne and about the beasts and the elders. And I heard many thousands, that sang a new song, saying: worthy is the lamb, that was killed, to receive power and richesse, wisdom and strength, honour, glory, and blessing. etc. Moreover the same eternal life shallbe altogether free and discharged from all heaviness, sickness and temptations, whereas temporal joy, rest, and welfare of men is mixed with sorrow. As also the holy Apostle john doth witness: I john, saith he, saw that holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride garnished for her husband. And I hard a great voice out of heaven, saying: behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shallbe with them, and shallbe their god. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there shallbe no more death, neither sorrow, neither crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the old things are gone. And he, that sit upon the seat, said: Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me: write, for these words are faithful & true. And hereunto in manner serveth all, that followeth after in the .21. chapter to the end of the book.   

CHAP. 32. The souls departed, wot not what they do that are alive, thereby any thing to be disquieted.  

De cura pro mortu. is agenda. cap. 13.  Therefore did holy Augustin also teach, that the souls of those, that are departed, wot not what they do, which are alive. Yet will I recite his words. Thus saith Augustine.  
If the souls of those, that are departed, were among the doings of such as are alive, they should, when we see them in sleep, talk with us: and then, I will not speak of others, at the lest my good and faithful mother, that by water and land followed me so far, to be with me, should now not forsake me. For God forbidden, that he should have made that blessed life more unfriendly or more terrible.  
God forbidden, that when my heart doth any thing press and unquiet me, she should not comfort me her son, whom she yet so entirely loved, that she could never suffer or see me heavy. Undoubtedly it must needs be true that the holy Psalmist saith: my father and my mother have forsaken me, 
Psal 27  but the Lord hath taken the cure to keep me. If our fathers now and mothers have forsaken us, how can they be then in our cares and doings? And if father and mother do nothing at all in our business, how can we then think, that the other dead meddle aught with us, 
Esay. 63.  or know what we do or suffer. The Prophet Esay saith: thou O God, art our father: for Abraham wotteth not of us, and Israel knoweth us not.  
Seeing then that such honourable patriarchs wist not, what was done concerning their people, which came of themselves, to whom yet, as to God's faithful believers, the same people was promised out of their own stock: how can then the dead open themselves the door, to know and further the doings and not doings of them that are alive? And how shall we be able to say, that they, which are dead, were helped and eased, afore the evil came that followed up on their death: when they after death feel all the calamity and misery of man's life, that here happeneth unto us? Or be we in error, that speak such things, and count them to be in rest? Or doth he err, that maketh the unquiet way of the living so careful, and full of cumbrance? I pray thee, what great benefit is it then, that our lord God promised the virtuous king josias: namely that he should die, because he should not see the great misery, 
4. Reg. 22.  which god threatened unto all the land and people of Israel? The words of the Lord unto josias are these: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: seeing that by reason of my words, which thou haste heard, thy heart hath melted, and thou hast humbled thyself before the lord, when thou hardest what I had threatened unto this place and to the inhabiters thereof, namely how they shallbe destroyed, destitute and accursed, and thou there upon haste rend thy garment and wept before my sight: Behold I have heard thee, saith the Lord God of hosts. The plague shall not touch thee. Behold, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, & into thy grave shalt thou be laid in peace: and thine eyes shall not so all the plagues, that I will bring upon this land, and upon those that dwell therein. Lo, this king, standing in awe at the threatening of God, did weep and rend his clotheses: and thorough death, that came afore hand was he in safety from all misery to come. For he must afore depart in peace, and take rest, least he should see that great calamity. Therefore the souls of those, that are departed, must needs be in such a place, where they see not all that is done, and happeneth in the life of men.  
All this have we taken and written out of the .13. Chapter of Augustine's book de cura pro mortuis agenda.  
If the souls now in everlasting salvation have a perfect rest, yea such a rest as their body, which they have put of, hath not yet received again: and seeing that they are yet alive, whom they specially loved, while they were with them in body: how much more perfect joy shall they than first have and possess, when their bodies shall come again, and when they shall see, that all their brethren, whom they in this life had loved so entirely afore, are together in honour and glory, when now the time of frailty hath ceased, and when in the eternal time there can now no cause of heaviness and grief be thought upon, nor found any more at all. Therefore the glory and joy, which the mercy of god shall after the last judgement give unto men, that are made whole again of body and soul, shallbe without sorrow, and in all points perfect. And like as the ungodly, and unbelievers, shallbe gathered together with the devil and all his companions: so shall also the righteous & elect have the joyful fruition of the company and fellowship of their head jesus Christ, and of his members, that is, of all faithful believers.   

CHAP. 33. The faithful shall know one an other in heaven.  
THen also shall the blessed know one another again, having joy together, and rejoicing in the obtained health. For if there should be no knowledge, to what end then should the bodies rise again? Or what fruit and profit should the resurrection have? Or how might the sentence of Daniel the Prophet be verified, when he saith: 
Dan. 12.  they that have instructed & taught other unto godliness, shall shine and be as light, as the stars in the firmament?  
When the Lord was risen again from death, and hath taken upon him his glorified body: the Apostles knew him, yea so perfectly and thoroughly well knew they him, that, as S. john witnesseth, none durst say: who art thou? For they all knew, that it was the Lord. I pass over, that the Lord spoke in the gospel, saying: 
Luke. 22.  when the son of man shall sit upon the seat of his majesty, then shall ye also sit upon 12. seats, & judge the .12. tribes of Israel.  
For if they, that rise again, shall not know one another, how shall then the Apostles judge & give sentence upon those, to whom they preached here in their life time? Note, that the Apostles shall judge in the room and place of their lord, to whom only is given all power to judge: but this understanding it hath, that the apostles do then judge, when they are there at the judicial court, as witnesses of the righteous judgement of God, with the which he condemneth the unbelievers.  
For where as the unbelievers would not give credence to the Apostles, that is to say, their preachers, but cried out upon them as upon ungodly heretics: when they now shall see those present with the judge of all men, they shall immediately be overcome by the Apostles, and have witness in themselves, that they shallbe and are justly condemned. And for this matter read the .4. and .5. Chapter of the Book of Wisdom, which serveth very well to this purpose. And seeing it is manifest, that, in the life to come, even the wicked shall know the good, how much more than shall one good person know another, and one faithful another. In the Transfiguration of the Lord upon the mount appeared Moses and Helias, and were known of the three disciples of the Lord: 
Math. 17.  yea they knew the Lord himself, though he was now transfigured.  
Hereunto serveth it also, that Paul saith: 
Heb. 12.  ye are come to the city of the living God, the celestial jerusalem, and to an innumerable multitude of Angels, and to the congregation of the first borne sons, which are written in heaven, and to the spirits of the perfect righteous. etc. Besides this, we have for us the uniform and universal opinion of all faithful, which also witnesseth, that in the life to come, the blessed shall know one another.  
For when we talk of death, and of the state and case of the life to come, we say: though we now must depart a sunder, yet shall we see one another again in the eternal country.  
Socrates also, the right famous and most excellent among all the wise men of the heathen, marked such a like thing, & saw it as in a dream, when, as Cicero witnesseth of him, 
In tuscula questi.  he was unto death condemned of the judges or counsel, and now should drink the poison. For he said: O how much better and more blessed is it, to go unto them, that well and uprightly lived here in time, then to remain here in this life upon earth? O how dear and worthy a thing is it, that I may talk with Orpheus, Museus, Homerus, Hesiodus, with those excellent men? Verily I would not only die once, but many & sundry times also, if it were possible, to obtain the same. etc. After this sort, like as in a dream, did the good Philosopher imagine in himself joys vain and of none effect. But we promise unto ourselves true assured joy, in that we hope and know, that in the eternal and ever during country, after the oesurrection of the dead, we shall see Adam, our first father: 
Adam. Noe.  No, the dearly beloved friend of God: 
Abraham.  Abraham, to whom god made special great promises: Moses, 
Moses.  the most gentle hearted man, and one, that had greatest experience of all the mysteries of god: 
Samuel.  Samuel, the friendly and loving prophet: David, the king and Prophet, 
David.  who was Gods elect according to his own will and desire: 
josias.  josias the most godly and best among all the kings of juda: likewise john the baptist, 
john Baptist.  holier then whom there was none borne of woman: and with all these, the holy Virgin Mary, 
Mary.  the mother of God, and highly replenished with grace among all women.  
Item, Peter, john, james, chiefest of the Apostles, 
Peter. john. James. Paul.  with the other disciples of Christ: Paul, the famous teacher of the Heathen, and all the holy congregation of the patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs and faithful believers.  
As for our glorified and pure understanding & memory, now endued with immortality, the multitude and infinite number of the blessed, in our said native country, shall neither grieve nor entangle the same.  
From the beginning of the creation, there was in Adam a wonderful and excellent efficacy of understanding and remembrance, forasmuch as unto all things, and to every one in especial, what so ever was within the whole compass of the world created, yea in paradise also, he gave their names, and knew every one.  
A much more excellent, more pure and more clear understanding shall God give to the raised up and glorified bodies: so that they shall not lack, nor be destitute of any thing at all.  
And where as the blessed shall rejoice and have joy together one with another, yet shall all their delight be in the only god, who shall be all in all. Of these everlasting & heavenly things, more & farther to write, I have not at this present.  
How be it there shallbe graciously given us things far greater, much more glorious, more joyful and more divine, than we can comprehend, namely, salvation as it is in itself, in that day, when we, after the overcoming and treading down of death, thorough our Lord jesus Christ, shall be carried up and taken to heaven, into eternal joy and salvation. Touching the which, I have hitherto written, not according to the Majesty and worthiness thereof, but after my small ability in most humble wise.  
God the father of all mercy, thorough his dear son our Lord & redeemer, jesus Christ, vouchsafe graciously to take us poor sinners up to his glory, & after the joyful resurrection of our body, that we long for, to give & show us the unoutspeakable joy, which he hath prepared for all faithful believers: that we ever living, and having joy in him, may praise him for ever & ever, that is from eternity to eternity. So be it.  
With Christ, even in death, is life.  
FINIS.    

 

  

  

   

A TABLE of the Chapters contained IN THIS Book, and here followeth the chapters of the first part.  

CHAP. 1. 
The author's purpose 1.  CHAP. 2. 
The Lord verily rose with his body. 3  CHAP. 3. 
Appearings of the body raised up. 14  CHAP. 4. 
The body of Christ rose again, not a spirit but a true body. 16  CHAP. 5. 
The fruit of the Resurrection of Christ. 23.  CHAP. 6. 
Of the true Ascension of the lords body, that arose a body and no spirit, and of his place whether he went to be in. 25  CHAP. 7. 
The divers significations of this word, Heaven, as it is used in scripture. 38  CHAP. 8. 
What Gods right hand is, and to whom it is referred. 45  CHAP. 9 
What it is to sit at the right hand of God, how Christ sitteth there, & what he doth. 48  CHAP. 10. 
That Christ sitteth at the right hand of God by his humanity, but circumscribed in place, and is not every where. 52  CHAP. 11. 
another signification of sitting at the right hand of God, by which manner of sitting Christ is every where, sitting there in such sort after his Godhead. 71  CHAP. 12. 
The fruit and commodity of the corporal Ascension of Christ, both in that he doth now for us, and in that we learn by it. 76    

The second part.  
CHAP. 13. 
Of the true Resurrection of our flesh. 85  CHAP. 14. 
Our flesh, or body itself, shall rise again, though it be hard to believe, and what the flesh or body is. 89  CHAP. 15. 
The manner how the bodies shall rise again, and the kind that they shall be of. 114  CHAP. 16. 
That Paul spoke rightly of a glorified body, and what a glorified body is, and what a natural. 121  CHAP. 17. 
The case of our members in the bodies resurrection, and of their functions. 134  CHAP. 18. 
The divers errors that sprung about the article of the body's resurrection. 138  CHAP. 19 
The errors of Origen concerning the resurrection, confuted by Hierom. 143  CHAP. 20. 
S. Hieromes opinion of the resurrection of the flesh. 149  CHAP. 21. 
S. Augustine's mind of the resurrection of the flesh. 152  CHAP. 22. 
What Aurelius Prudencius thought of the same. 156  CHAP. 23. 
The bodies of unbelievers shall verily rise again. 159    

The third part.  
CHAP. 24. 
The death and damnation of the ungodly. 171  CHAP. 25. 
That there is an eternal death and damnation, and that the soul is passable. 175  CHAP. 26. 
The bodies of the unbelievers, being raised, are passable. 179  CHAP. 27. 
The pains of Hell, & the matter for the continuance of the torments, with the space of the place & kinds of punishments. 186  CHAP. 28. 
The Refutation of them, that denied the punishment of the ungodly to be eternal. 194  CHAP 29. 
Of eternal life & salvation, and that there is an eternal life. 203  CHAP. 30. 
Where the place of the faithful is. 207  CHAP. 31. 
How the salvation shall be. 210  CHAP. 32. 
The souls departed, wot not what they do that are alive, there by any thing to be disquieted. 226  CHAP. 33. 
The Faithful shall know one an other in heaven. 231     

GOD IS MY HELPER  
PRINTED at London in Crede Lane, by Hugh Singleton, at the sign of the Golden Tun.  
ANNO. 1574.  
Cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum.