A treatise of the sibyls so highly celebrated, as well by the antient heathens, as the holy fathers of the church : giving an accompt of the names, and number of the sibyls, of their qualities, the form and matter of their verses : as also of the books now extant under their names, and the errours crept into Christian religion, from the impostures contained therein, particularly, concerning the state of the just, and unjust after death / written originally by David Blondel ; Englished by J.D.

CHAP. XXXVIII. The Sentiment of the Protestants confirmed by the Eloges anti∣ently bestowed on the Faithfull departed.

THe same thing may be said of the Eloges, wherewith the worthy Persons of Antiquity have honoured the Memory of those, for whom the Custom would have Prayers made. Eusebius, a speaking of the Death of Helene, who died on the eighteenth of August, about the year 330. saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. She was called to a better Lot, &c. So that those, who had a right Sentiment, justly conceived, that that thrice-happy (Lady) should not die; (but to say the Truth) expect the Exchange, and Translation of a Terrestrial life into a Celestial. Her Soul therefore returned to the Principle thereof, being received into an incor∣ruptible, and Angelical Essence near her Saviour. And of Constantine, who (preparing himself for Death) protested of himself, that b he was ma∣king haste, and that he would no longer delay his departure towards his God, he affirms, that on Sunday, May 22. ^th 337. being Whit sunday, c 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. He was gathered to God, leaving to Mortals what was of the same Nature with them; and, as for himself, uniting to God what∣ever his Soul had, that was Intellectual, and beloved of God. Then, repre∣senting the common Belief of all the Subjects of the Empire concern∣ing his Beatitude, he adds, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. Having framed a figure of Heaven, in a draught, in colours, they painted him above the Celestial Vaults resting in an heavenly Mansion, &c. d 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. They graved his Effigies upon Medals, having on one side the Pourtraiture of the Blessed (Emperour) with his •…•…ead veiled, and on the Reverse, the same, mount∣ed on a Chariot, drawn by four Horses, as if he drove it, raised into the Seat by an hand reached forth to him from heaven on the right side: which De∣scription might as well relate to the carrying up of Elias, rather then to the Apotheoses of the Heathens; which Constantine, upon his embracing of Christian Religion, had absolutely renounced.

Saint Athanasius, who observes, that St. Anthony had seen the Monk Ammonius 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, raised from the Earth, and the great joy of those, that came to meet him; affirms; that on the seventeenth of January 358. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 As having seen friends coming towards him, and filled with joy because of them, he fainted. The same St. Athanasius (making a Relation of the wicked attempt of Magnentius upon the Life of Con∣stans, who was murthered on the eighteenth of January, 350. and num∣bring that Prince among the Martyrs) hath these remarkable Words, e 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, That to the Blessed (Man) proved the occasion of his Martyrdom.

St. Gregory Nazianzene represents in Celestial Glory Constantius; who, after he had, through misapprehension, persecuted the Orthodox, died on the third of November, 361. f 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. I know, that he is above our Reprehension; having obtained a place with God, and possession of the Inheritance of the Glory, which is there, and transported to such a distance from us, as the Translation from one Kingdom to another amounts unto. The same St. Gregory saies of his Brother, Caesarius, who died on the 25.^th of February, about the year 369. g 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. He re∣ceives the Rewards of his new-created Soul, which the Spirit had reformed by Water. And of his Sister, Gorgonia, who died not long after, viz. on the ninth of December, 372. h 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. The things, which are now present to thee, are much more precious, then those, which are seen; The noise of those, which make a Feast, the Quires of the Angels, the Order of Heaven, the contemplation of Glory, and, more then all this, the Irradiation of the Trinity, which is above all things, and of all things the most pure, and most per∣fect. And ••f St. Athanasius, who died May the second, 371. i That thou wouldest he pleased to look on us from on high. Of Gregory, his Father, who died the year following, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Make known unto us in what place of Glory thou art, and the light, which encompasseth thee. Of his dear Friend, St. Basil, who died January the first, 378. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, He is now in Heaven.

St. Gregory Nyssenus, of St. Ephraim, who died on the 28^th of the same Moneth of January, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. He expired in the quiet Haven of the Eternal Kingdom, and is kindly re∣ceived into it: But where otherwise may it be conjectured, that his Soul hath been deposited, if not (as indeed it is manifest) in the Celestial Tabernacles, where are the Batallions of Angels, a Populace of Patriarchs, Quires of Pro∣phets, the Thrones of the Apostles, the Joy of the Martyrs, the Exultation of Saints, the Splendour of the Doctours, the Assembly of the First-born, the per∣fect Noise of those, that are a Feasting? To those good things, in which the An∣gels desire to rest themselves, that they may see them, into that sacred place, the most blessed in all kinds, and most holy soul of our Blessed, and worthy-to-be-ce∣lebrated Father is passed. Of the great Meletius, Arch-Bishop of Antioch, who died on the twelfth of February, 381. before he could have enjoy∣ed the Communion of Rome; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. No longer, as through a Glass, and obscurely; but face to face, he prays to God. Of Pulcheria, Daughter to the Emperour THEODOSIUS; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 She was transferred from one Kingdom to another. Of Flavilla, first-Wife to the same Prince, who died in the year 385. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Her conversation is in the Royal Palaces of Heaven.

St. Ambrose, of his Brother, Satyrus; who dyed September the seven∣teenth, 383. De istius Beatitudine dubitare nequaquam debemus, &c. We ought not to doubt of his Beatitude. Of the Emperour VALENTINIAN the Second, two Moneths after his Assàssination, which happened on Sa∣turday, Whitsun-Eve, May the fifteenth, 382. before that Prince had re∣ceived Baptism; Ille etiam talis, ut ei nihil timeatis, &c. He is now in such a condition, that you need not fear what may happen to him, as before, &c. I ask, whether there be any Sentiment after death, or not? If there be, he lives; or rather, because he lives, he is already in possession of Eternal Life, &c. That

he was so soon snatched from us, we are to grieve; that he is passed into a better Estate, it should be our comfort, &c. Thou lookest on us, Holy Soul, from an high place, as casting thy sight on things, that are below, &c. Now, borrowing light from the Sun of Righteousness, thou enjoyest a clear day, &c. His going hence was most noble, as a Flight into Heaven, &c. What thou hast sown upon Earth, reap it there, &c. The stain of Sin being done off, he, whom his Faith washed, his Prayer consecrated, is gone up cleansed into Heaven, &c. joyned with his Brother (Gratian) he enjoyes the pleasures of eternal Life, &c. Of the Emperour THEODOSIUS, who dyed January the seventeenth, 395. Regnum non deposuit, sed mutavit, &c. He hath not layd by, but exchanged the Royal Dignity: being admitted, by the Prerogative of Piety, into the Taber∣nacles of Christ, into that Jerusalem, which is above; where being now placed, he saith, k As we have heard, so have we seen in the City of the LORD of Hosts, &c. Having gone through a doubtfull combat, Theodo∣sius, of famous Memory, does now enjoy perpetual Light, and a Tranquility of long continuance, and hath the self-satisfaction of what he did in his •…•…ly, in the Fruits of divine remuneration, &c. He hath deserved admittance into the So∣ciety of the Saints, &c. His abode is in light, &c. He is over-joyed to be in the Assemblies of the Saints, &c. There he now embraces Gratian, &c. Who en∣joyes the rest of his Soul, &c. Being pious, he hath passed from the obscurity of this World to eternal Light, &c. Now does he know, that he reigns; since that he is in the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus, and considers his Temple, &c. Con∣stantinople, thou art evidently happy, who receivest a Guest of Paradise, and shalt entertain in the narrow Inn of a Sepulchre, an Inhabitant of that City, which is on high, &c. And of Ascholius, Arch-Bishop of Thessalonica, who dyed about the year 385. Est Superorum incola, possessor civitatis aeternae, illius Hierusalem, quae in caelo est, videt illis facie ad faciem, &c. He is an Inhabi∣tant of the places which are above, a Possessour of the Eternal City, of that Je∣rusalem, which is in Heaven, there he sees face to face.

St. Hierome, of Blaesilla, who died in the year 382. l Postquam, sar∣cinâ carnis abjectâ, &c. Having layd down its burthen of Flesh, the Soul is fled back to her Authour; after a long Pilgrimage, she is ascended into her antient possession, &c. Me-thought, then (when her Coffin was making ready) she cryed from Heaven, I know not those Garments, that Covering is not mine, &c. Blaesilla now followeth Jesus, she is now in the society of the holy Angels, &c. She is passed from Darkness to Light, &c. She lives with Christ in the Hea∣vens, &c. Of Lea, who died March the two and twentieth, 384. m Universorum gaudiis prosequenda, &c. She is to be attended with the joy of all, who, having trod Satan under foot, hath received the Crown of Security, &c. For a short trouble, she now enjoyes eternal Beatitude; she is received into the Quires of Angels, she is cherished in the Bosom of Abraham, &c. she follows Christ, and saith, n All the things, which we have heard of, the same we have also seen in the City of our God, &c. Of Nepotianus, a Priest of Altinum, who died in the year 397. o Scimus Nepotianum nostrum esse cum Christo, & Sanctorum mixtum Choris, &c. Corpus terra suscepit, anima Christo reddita est, &c. We know that our (Friend) Nepotianus is with Christ, and among the Quires of the Saints, &c. The Earth received his Body, his Soul was restored to Christ, &c. And of Paulina, the Wife of Pamma∣chius, departed this life in the year 393. p Illa (Blaesilla) cum sorore

Paulina dulci somno fruitur; tu, duarum medius, leviùs ad Christum subvola∣bis, &c. Blaesilla, with her Sister Paulina, rests in a quiet sleep; thou, being between both, shalt have a more easie flight to Christ, &c. Of Paula, the Mo∣ther of Blaesilla, and Paulina, departed in Beth-lehem, on the twenty eighth of January, 404. q Fides, & opera tua, Christo te sociant; praesens quod po∣stulas, facilius impetrabis, &c. Thy Faith, and Works associate thee to Christ; being present (O Paula) thou shalt more easily obtain what thou desirest, &c.

Aspices angustum praecisâ rupe Sepulchrum? Hospitium Paulae coelestia regna tenentis, &c.

Seest thou a Rock t' a narrow Coffin hewn? 'Tis Paula's Mansion, who to Heav'n is flown.

Of Lucinus, departed about the year 410. r Obsecro te, &c. I beseech thee, Theodorus, that thou wouldest bewail thy Lucinius as a Brother; yet so, as to rejoyce withall, that he reigns with Christ, &c. Confident, and Con∣querour, he looks from on high, &c. Of Fabiola, departed in the year 401. s Depositâ tandem sarcinâ, levior volavit ad Caelum, &c. Having lay'd down her burthen, she is fled with more ease towards heaven.

Saint Chrysostome of Berenice, and Prosdoce, who were drowned during the Persecution; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 More∣over, these were with the Souldiers of Christ, the heavenly Angels. Of Pela∣gia, who had cast her self down Headlong; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. She ran, not towards the top of a mountain, but towards the highest heaven, &c. The threatning of the Judg, &c. pressed her to flie with greater haste towards heaven, &c. She went out of her Chamber, out of the Woman's Closet, into another Chamber, that is to say, heaven, &c. Which is as much, as he could have said, and what he had said in sub∣stance, of the greatest Martyrs, St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Romanus, St. Julian, St. Juventinus, St. Maximus, and others, whose Elogies he writ.

The same St. Chrysostome says also of Philogonius, Arch-Bishop of Anti∣och, deceased the twentieth of December, about the year 322. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. Ascending into heaven, he hath no need of the Praises of men; since he is gone to a greater, and more happy portion, &c. He is trans∣ferred to the Society of Angels, &c. Of Eustathius, who had held the same See, and died about the year 359. upon the sixteenth of July, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Transferred to heaven, he is gone towards Jesus, whom he had desired; and almost in the same Terms of Meletius, his Ordinary, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 He is gone towards Jesus, whom he had desired.

St. Augustine, of Verecundus, who had entertained him, and all his Com∣pany, at his Countrey-House, t Retribues illi, Domine, in resurrecti∣one Justorum; quia jam ipsam sortem retribuisti ei, &c. O Lord, thou shalt reward him in the Resurrection of the Just; because thou hast already cast that Lot upon him And of Nebridius, who was come out of Africk into Italy, to live with him; Nunc ille vivit in sinu Abrahae, &c. Now he lives in Abraham's Bosom (whatsoever it be, that is understood by that Bosom,) There my Nobridius lives, that dear Friend of mine, and thy adopted Son, O Lord,

who had once been a Bond-slave, but was after freed. There he liveth; for what other place can be fit for such a Soul? In that place he liveth, whereof he was wont to ask me, miserable, and unexperienced man, so many Questions. Now he no longer laies his Ear to my Mouth; but applies his spiritual mouth to thy Spring, and drinks Wisdom after the rate of his greedy Thirst, happy to all E∣ternity.

Paulinus, of Rusina, the Wife of Alethius; Habes jam in Christo ma∣gnum tui pignus, &c. Thou hast already in Christ a great pledge of thy self, an earnest Suffr age, thy. Wife, who prepares as much favour for thee in the Hea∣venly Places, as thou furnishest her with abundance from those upon Earth, &c. She abounds, by the supplies of thy Wealth, being clad in a Golden Vesture, and cloathed all over with variety, viz. precious light, &c.

Paulinus, the African, of St. Ambrose; Ubi corpus Domini accepit, &c. After be had received the u Body of our Lord, he gave up the Ghost, taking along with him a good provision, that his Soul, being more refreshed by the strength of that Viand, should be now rejoycing in the Society of Angels, and Elias, whose Life he lived here.

Sulpicius Severus, of St. Martin, who died on Sunday, November the eleventh, 400. Spiritum coelo reddidit, &c. He resigned his Spirit to Hea∣ven, &c. There was an holy rejoycing at his Glory, &c. The Heavenly Com∣pany, singing Hymns, accompanies the Body of the Blessed man to the place of his Enterment, &c. Martin hath the Acclamations of divine Psalms; Martin is honoured with Ecclesiastical Hymns, &c. Martin is entertained with joy in Abraham's Bosom; Martin, who had been here poor; and beggarly, enters Rich into Heaven, &c. And, it is to be noted, by the way, that that Great Man, a little before he gave up the Ghost, had answered those, who would have had him to lie on his side, Sinite me, Fratres, coelum potius respicere, quàm terram, ut suo jam itinere, iturus ad Dominum, Spiritus dirigatur. Suffer me, Brethren, rather to look up towards Heaven, then down upon the ground; that my Spirit, which is now taking its journey to God, may be directed in its way.

Palladius writes of St. Chrysostome, who dyed November the seventh, 407. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Passing hence to Christ, &c.

Ennodius, Bishop of Pavia, of Epiphanius, his Praedecessour, deceased January the twenty first, 496. Cùm beatissimus cerneret Pontifex, &c. The blessed Prelate, seeing, &c. that he was ready to fly to the pure brightness of Heaven, &c. assured of his perfection, he added, My heart is confirmed in the Lord, &c. So, as that heavenly Soul, resounding with Hymns, and Songs, even at the point of Death, returned to her Lord, &c. He, whose departure we bewail upon Earth, is in possession of the high places with God, &c. And of Anthony, the Hermit of Valtelina, afterwards a Monk in the Monastery of Lerina, deceased December the twenty eighth, 488. Mundi istius sarcinam deponens, &c. Laying down the burthen of this World, and having overcome the Ambushes laid by the craft of the old Serpent, he hath exchanged our day, and the light of this present World, for that, which is perpetual.

If the Harmony of all these Testimonies, which have been produced, suf∣fice not to satisfie, and perswade the most-prepossessed Spirits, that the most eminent, and best-informed Antiquity (reforming the Opinion, which the Sibylline Writing, falsly so called, had introduced among Christians, hath

unanimously embraced, and constantly taught the Protestants the Senti∣ment, which they, with one accord, follow, concerning the State of the Faithfull departed in Jesus Christ; it were no hard matter for them to make a more ample Production of Instances; since that, in a manner, all we have left, of the Lives of Persons, who have made profession of Piety, as∣sures us, that all, without any distinction; Martyrs, Confessours, Prelates, Religious Persons, Laicks, &c. even to the Catechumens, whom an invin∣cible necessity deprived of the Baptism, they had earnestly desired, were, upon their dissolution translated to Heaven, where they have been, and still are in Rest, Happiness, and Glory, expecting the Resurrecti∣on of the Bodies, they have deposited in Earth. And as we might justly rely on the grave Remonstrance, which Saint Hierome made above one thousand, two hundred, and seventy years ago, even in Rome it self, to Paula, excessively lamenting the death of her Daughter Blaesilla; speaking of himself, and of all Christians in general; x Nos, quorum exitum Angelorum turba comitatur, quibus obviam Christus occurrit, gra∣vamur magis, si diutiùs in isto mortis Tabernaculo habitamus, &c. In Jesu mortem gaudia prosequuntur, &c. We, whose Departure the Assem∣blies of Angels accompany, whom Christ comes to meet, are more grieved, that we dwell any longer in this Tabernacle of Death, &c. Joys attend the death, which is in Jesus, &c. So might we, with good reason, summon those, who hold the contrary, to let us know, what they have of greater Consequence, then the unanimous Consent of Eusebi∣us's, Athanasius's, Gregory's, Ambrose's, Hierome's, Chrysostome's, &c. and might induce them not to embrace it, and force us to change our Opinion.

Notes

• a

  De vita, lib. 3. cap. 45.
• b

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• c

  Cap. 64.
• d

  Cap. 73.
• e

  Apol. ad Constant.
• f

  Orat. 3.
• g

  Orat. 10.
• h

  Orat. 11.
• i

  Orat. 21. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• k

  Psal. xlviii. 8.
• l

  Epist. 25.
• m

  Epist. 24.
• n

  Psal. xlviii. 8.
• o

  Epist. 3.
• p

  Epist. 26.
• q

  Epist. 27.
• r

  Epist. 29.
• s

  Epist. 30.
• t

  Confess. lib. 9. cap. 3.
• u

  The Sa∣crament of his Body.
• x

  Epist. 25.