The seconde tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testament conteynyng the epistles of S. Paul, and other the Apostles : wherunto is added a paraphrase vpon the reuelacion of S. John.

The texte.

And I sawe a newe heauen and a newe erth For the fyrst heauen, and the fyrst erth were vanysshed away, & there was nomore See. And I Iohn saw that holy cytie, new Ierusa∣lem come down from God out of heauen, prepared as a bride garnisshed for her husband. And I harde a great voyce out of heauen, saying: beholde, the tabernacle of God is with men, & he wyll dwell with them. And they shalbe his people, & God himselfe shalbe with them, and be their God.

NOwe from this place forth, the holy Apostle and Euangelyst S. Iohn describeth the saluation of al suche as are electe, their state, and the kyngdome of heauen, and finally the euerlasting blisse, wherof he wrote somewhat in the fyfte chapter, but here he wryteth more playnely, plentuosly and largely of it. As con∣cernynge the newe heauen and newe earth, after what maner they shall be, it is no place here to dyspute or to contende muche aboute it.

The testymony of the holy apostle S. Peter and of S. Iohn in thys place is suffycient for vs: S. Peter in the thyrde chapter of hys seconde Epistle sayth (as Iohn doeth here) that thorow the worde of God wherby heauen and earth are created and made, shall there be a newe heauen and a newe earthe agayne: whiche the faithfull elect shall well see, whyche had rather beleue the worde of God than all the weake and deceyueable reason of the phylosophers, whiche haue taken in hande to dyspute and discusse such thynges but lytle to the pur∣pose. But S. Paule dyscusseth the matter with one worde, saying: we shalbe alwayes with y^e lord, in that same state where Christ our lord the euerlastyng kyng is, namely, with all them whiche shall be saued, both angels and soules, and also withal those men whiche dyd ryse and wente vp to heauē with Christ. This is certen that like as thorow the synne of Adam, thys world is corrupte and infect and the earth also with weedes and vnprofytable thynges, whyche hynder and hurte the pleasaunt and good frutes whiche myght serue and be profitable vnto the worlde: and the see lykewyse with hir vnquietnes and ra∣gyng, doth muche harme: so shall the earth and water no more be, but altoge∣ther with out faute lyke as mankynde shall lykewyse be without any maner of faute in perfyte ioye, pleasure and blisse. Euen so, I saye, shall the whole earth be garnyshed after suche a sort, that it maye be a very paradyse, wyth∣out any maner of labor that the blessed shall wyshe to lyne vpon it, but that they are in their contrye in heauen. The same heauen whiche was made wyth one worde, may likewise be prepared of God with one worde for the whole and persyte blisse of the faythfull electe. Let vs content and satysfye oure selfes with this▪ in this doubte and dysputacyon whiche can not be comprehended nor discussed with any reason of man. But the holy citie that Iohn sawe, is no∣thyng els but the state of all the faithfull electe in eternall and full saluation withoute anye maner of imperfeccion, with aboundance of all goodnes, where nothing more can be desired, and with sure and quiet possessyon of all heuenly treasures, in the syght and fruicion of God the hyghest and the onely good∣nes and felicitie, as he can gyue himselfe to be inioyed, and that most louingly,

most cōmfortably and moste blissedly vnto all treatures of knowlege and vn∣derstandyng. And that thorowe the cleare and blissed glasse of the excellent ho∣ly and excedyng blessed manhode of Christ, the kyng of all honoure and blisse vnto all faithfull elect. Whose blessed and sacred body and soule vnited and knytte in one with the holy godhed, is a perfite and a cleare glasse, wherin hys moste pleasaunte gloryfied manhode maye be beholden. In whiche glasse all the blissed sayntes, that is to say, all that are saued doe beholde and haue the perfite fruicion of all that goodnes, whiche the Lorde God is in him selfe: and of all benefites that he will gyue vnto all his creatures euerlastyngly. This glasse is sygnified by the tabernacle of God, wherein God wyll abyde and re∣mayne with man, with all grace and louing kyndnes, and that in the newe Ie∣rusalem, whiche is buylded altogether of moste precious stones, of the blyssed frendes of God, in whom God hath a pleasure and a delyght to dwell and to remayne and to deale and distribute his ioye, felicitie, and blisse, vnto the faith∣full elect. For Ierusalem is not the myserable and wretched citie of y^e Iewes, whiche is called Ierusalem, and Iebus, and I can not tell with howe manye more names besyde, whiche was so ofte ouerthrowen for the rebellyon and dis∣obedience of their citizens, and for that they forsoke God, in the whyche cytie the blynde, proude, frowarde and obstynace Iewys doe fyxe and set all their hope and felicitie, where they hope and desyre to be lordes and to reigne ouer al men with their Messias whom they vaynely (beyng grossely deceyued) doe looke and gape for: but it is that Ierusalem, whiche is neyther heauenlye nor earthly, but a spirituall Ierusalem, a generall felowshyp and brotherhoode of all faythfull seruaūtes of God, whiche haue a ryghte Christen fayth, and a perfyte loue thorowly furnyshed with all good and holy workes, the bondes and lymites whereof are thorout the whole compase of the earth, wheresoeuer the Lorde God is rightly knowen and truely serued after his owne wyll, ex∣pressed in his worde. So that there are .iii. maner of Ierusalems. But saynct Iohn speaketh in this place, of the heauenly and newe cytie of those which are blissed in God, whiche citie is in heauen, prepared of God and made readye of Christ the brydegrome of all faythfull, for them, his spouse. Whiche spouse is garnished, not of her selfe, but of God with all heauenly graces and vertues, and with the ornamentes of all perfeccion. In this citie of the heauenly and e∣ternall Ierusalem, shall the lorde God in Christ dwell, as it were with and a∣mong his people and deare beloued spowse and well garnyshed or floryshyng bryde, with moste hyghe ioye and delyght and endles blisse and felycitie.