The auncient ecclesiasticall histories of the first six hundred yeares after Christ, wrytten in the Greeke tongue by three learned historiographers, Eusebius, Socrates, and Euagrius. Eusebius Pamphilus Bishop of Cæsarea in Palæstina vvrote 10 bookes. Socrates Scholasticus of Constantinople vvrote 7 bookes. Euagrius Scholasticus of Antioch vvrote 6 bookes. VVhereunto is annexed Dorotheus Bishop of Tyrus, of the liues of the prophetes, apostles and 70 disciples. All which authors are faithfully translated out of the Greeke tongue by Meredith Hanmer, Maister of Arte and student in diuinitie. Last of all herein is contayned a profitable chronographie collected by the sayd translator, the title whereof is to be seene in the ende of this volume, with a copious index of the principall matters throughout all the histories

CAP. XXIIII.

The censure of Dionysius toutchinge the reuelation of Sainct Iohn.* 1.1 The heresie of Cerinthus.

COnsequently in discourse be wryteth thus of the reuelation of Sainct Iohn: Diuerse of our* 1.2 predecessors haue vvholy refused & reiected this booke, & by discussing the seuerall cha¦piters thereof haue founde it obscure & voyde of reasons, & the title forged▪ they sayde it vvas not Iohns, nay it was no reuelation which was so couered with so grosse a vayle of igno∣rance, and that there was none either of the Apostles or of the Saincts, or of them which belon∣ged to the church, the author of this booke, but Gerinthus the author of the Cerinthian heresie, intitling this as a sigment vnder the name of Iohn for further credit & authoritie. The opinion of Cerinthus was this▪ that the kingdome of Christ should be here on earth, and looke what he him selfe being very carnall lusted after, for the pampering of his pāch, the same he dreamed should come to passe, to wete: the satisfiyng of the bellye and the thinges vnder the belly with meates drinks, mariages, festiuall dayes, sacrifices & slaughters for oblatiōs, whereby he imagined he should conceaue greater ioy & pleasure. but I truely durst not presume to reiect this booke, be∣cause that many of the brethren read it diligently, & conceaued a greater opinion thereof, then the vnderstanding my capacitie atayned vnto. I surmise there is a certaine hidd and wonderfull expectation of thinges to come contayned in the seuerall chapiters thereof▪ for where I vnder∣stand him not, I bethinke my selfe the words contayne a deeper sense, or more profound vnder∣standing: neither do I sift or pronounce sentence of these, after my grosse vnderstanding, but re∣sting rather with fayth, doe forthwith thinke they are higher then may be vnderstoode of me▪ neither doe I vnaduisedly refute the thinges I perceaued not, but rather maruell that I my selfe haue not manifestly seene them▪ after these things Dionysius alloweth of all y^• doctrine contained in the reuelacion, & declareth that it is impossible to vnderstande the meaninge thereof, by light reading ouer of the letter, writing thus: vvhen he had finished (as I may so terme it) all the pro∣phecy, the prophete pronounceth them happie which kepe it, yea himselfe to▪ happy (sayth he)* 1.3 is he which keepeth the words of the prophecy of this booke, & I Iohn savv these things & heard. wherefore I denyonot but that his name was Iohn, and that this worke is Iohns. I thinke verely the booke is of some holy mā, indued with the holy Ghost▪ but that it is the Apostles, the sonne of Zebedie, the brother of Iames, whose is the gospell intitled after Iohn, and the Catholicke epi∣stle, I can hardely be brought to graunt, for I coniecture by the behauiour of both, by theyre frase of wryting, & drift of the booke, that he was not the same Iohn. The euangelist layd downe no where his name, neyther preached he himselfe, ether by gospell or epistle. Againe after a fewe lines he sayeth: Iohn no vvhere made mention as of himselfe, or of any other, but the au∣thor of the reuelation forthvvith in the begininge of the booke prefixed his name, sayinge: The* 1.4 reuelation of Iesus Christ vvhich he gaue him that he should shevve vnto his seruantes thinges vvhich shortly must be done, vvhich he sent and shevved by his Angell vnto his seruant Iohn, vvho bare record of the vvord of God, and of the testimony of Iesus Christ, & of all things that he savve. Againe Iohn, vvryteth an epistle vnto the seuen Churches in Asia. Grace be vvith you and peace. The Euangelist prefixed not his name, no not to his Catholicke epistle, but orderly* 1.5 beginnes of the mysterie of Gods seerets after this manner: that vvhich vve hearde, that vvhiche vve savve vvith our eyes▪ for the like reuelation the Lord pronounced Peter blessed, saying: hap¦py* 1.6 art thou Simon bar Iona, for fleshe and bloode haue not reuealed that vnto thee, but my fa∣ther vvhich is in heauen▪ and yet neyther in the seconde, neyther in the thirde epistles common∣ly vnder his name, for all the shortnes thereof, is his name prefixed, but vvithout name, vvrote himselfe an elder. The author hereof not contente after once naming himselfe, to prosecute the* 1.7 matter he had in hand, but againe repeateth and sayth: I Iohn your brother & partener in tribu∣lation, and in the kingdome and pacience of Iesu, vvas in the Ile patmos for the vvord of God,* 1.8 and the testimony of Iesu. and about the end he vvriteth thus: happy is he that keepeth the vvordes of the prophecie of this booke, and I Iohn heard and savve these things. vvherefore vve haue to beleue that one Iohn vvrot these things according vnto this his saying, but vvhat Iohn he vvas it is vncertayne▪ he named not himselfe as in sundry places of the gospell, the disciple belo∣ued of the Lord, neyther him vvhich leaned on his brest, neyther the brother of Iames, neyther himselfe vvhich savve and hearde the Lord, no doubt he vvoulde haue vttered one or other of

these had he bene disposed to reueale himselfe▪ he layd dovvne not one of these but called him selfe our brother and partener, the vvitnesse of Iesu, and happie because of the vision and hea∣ringe of the reuelations. I suppose there vvere many of the same name, vvith the Apostle Iohn, vvho for the loue they bare vnto him, and for that they had him in admiration and imitated his stepps, vvoulde be loued alike of the Lord, and therefore vsurped this name, euen as Paul and Peter are often repeated of faythfull vvryters. There is an other Iohn in the Actes of the Apostles* 1.9 vvhose sirname vvas Marke, vvhome Barnabas and Paul tooke together vvith them, of vvhome he sayth aftervvards: they had Iohn to theyr minister▪ and vvhether this vvas he that vvrote the reuelation I dare not affirme. it is not recorded that he came vvith them into Asia▪ for vvhē they loosed (sayth he) from Paphos, they vvhich accompanied Paul came to Perga in Pamphi∣lia. but Iohn departed from them and returned to Ierusalem. and I take him to be some other of them vvhich vvere in Asia. the report goeth that there are tvvo monumēts at Ephesus and e∣ther* 1.10 of them beares the name of Iohn. agayne if thou consider and vveye the sense, the vvordes, & the frase of them, not vvithout iust cause shall he be found an other & not the Euangelist▪ the gospell and the epistle do ansvvere one an other, theyr beginings are a like. The Gospell: In the begining (sayth he) vvas the vvorde. The epistle: that vvhich vvas (sayth he) from the begining The Gospell: and the vvord (sayth he) became fleshe and dvvelled among vs, and vve savve the glorie thereof, as the glorie of the onely begotten of the father. The epistle hath the like but o∣thervvise placed: that vvhich vve heard (sayth he) that vvhich vve savv vvith our eyes, that which vve behelde & our hands haue handled of the worde of life, & the life vvas made manifest. for to this ende he vsed this p••eface, as in processe more playnely appeareth to impugne the hereticks vvhich affirmed that Christ vvas not come in the flesh. vvherefore diligently he ioyned these to∣gether: and vve testifie vnto you that vve savve, and shevve vnto you the euerlasting life vvhich vvas vvith the father, and appeared vnto vs, vvhich vve savve and heard that declare vve vnto you here he stayeth and svvarueth not from the purpose, but throughout all the seuerall chapi∣ters,* 1.11 inculcateth all the names, vvhere of some breefly I vvill repeate. he vvhich diligently rea∣deth shall often finde in both, life, often light, dehortinge from darkenes, very oft trueth, grace, ioye, the fleshe and blood of our Lord, iudgement, remission of sinnes, the loue of God towards vs, a commaundement to loue one an other, that all the commaundements are to be kept, repre¦hension of the world, the deuell, & Antichrist, promise of the holy ghost, adoption of God, fayth euery vvhere required of vs, euery vvhere the father and the sonne: and if throughout all the cha∣racter of both vvere noted, the frase of the gospell & epistle shalbe found altogether on. but the reuelation farre differeth frō both, resembleth not the same, no not in one vvord, neither hath it any one syllable correspondēt to the other vvrytings of Iohn. for the epistle (I vvill say nothing of* 1.12 the Gospell) neuer thought vpon, neither made any mention of the reuelation, neither the reue∣lation on the other side, of the epistle, vvhen as Paul gaue vs an inklinge, or somvvhat to vnder stand in his epistles of his reuelations, yet not intitling them so, that he vvould call them reuela∣tions moreouer by the frase thereof vve may perceaue the difference betvvene the Gospell, the* 1.13 epistle and the reuelation▪ for they are vvrytten so artificially accordinge vnto the greeke frase, vvith most exquisit vvords, syllogismes and setled expositions, that they seeme farre from offen∣ding, in any barbarous terme, soloecisme, or ignorāt error at all. for the Euangelist had (as it ap∣peareth)* 1.14 both the gift of vtterance & the gift of knovvledge, for as much as the Lord had graū∣ted him both the grace of vvisdom & science. as for the other I vvll not gaynsay but that he savv a reuelation, but that also he receaued science and prophecy, yet for all that I see his greeke not exactly vttered, the dialect and proper frase, not obserued, I find him vsing barbarous frases, & in some places soloecismes, vvhich presentlye to repeate I thinke it not necessary, neither vvrite I these thinges findinge fault vvith oughte, lett no man accuse me thereof, but onely I doe vvey the diuersitie of both vvorkes.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Cap. 25. after the greeke.
• * 1.2

  Dionysius. b. of Alexan∣dria in his. 2. booke of the promises of God. Some of olde thought the reuelation to haue bene written by Cerinthus. The heresy of Cerinthus. The reuerēt iudgement of Dionysius toutchinge the reuelatiō of Sainct Iohn.
• * 1.3

  Apocalip. 22.
• * 1.4

  Apocalip. 1.
• * 1.5

  1. Iohn. 1.
• * 1.6

  Math. 16.
• * 1.7

  Apocalip. 1.
• * 1.8

  Apocalip. 22
• * 1.9

  Act. 13.
• * 1.10

  The diffe∣rence gathe∣red first by the sense.
• * 1.11

  2. By the words often repeated in both.
• * 1.12

  3. No mētiō in ether of eache other.
• * 1.13

  4. By the ••rase.
• * 1.14

  Iohn was both learned and eloquēt.