before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
Surely the case of Elijah too, when we would ascertain the soundness of
this theory, must not be dismissed summarily from our thoughts, of whom
the book of eternal truth declares, that Jehovah took him {30} in a
whirlwind into heaven; his ascent being made visible to mortal eyes, as
was afterwards the ascension of the blessed Saviour Himself. Indeed the
accounts of Elijah's translation, and of our Lord's ascension, whether
in the Septuagint and Greek Testament, the Vulgate, or our own
authorized version, present a similarity of expression very striking and
remarkable.

On this subject we are strongly reminded, first, with what care and
candour and patience the language of Holy Scripture should be weighed,
which so positively declares, that Moses and Elijah, both in glory,
appeared visibly to the Apostles at the transfiguration of our blessed
Saviour, and conversed with Him on the holy mount: "And behold there
talked with Him two men, who were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory
(in majesty, as the Vulgate renders the word), and spake of his decease
which He should accomplish at Jerusalem;" [Luke ix. 30.]--and, secondly,
how unwise it is to dogmatize on such subjects beyond the plain
declaration of the sacred narrative. Moreover, how very unsatisfactory
is the theory which we are examining as to the state of the souls of the
faithful who died before Christ, even the words of Jerome himself prove,
who, commenting on the transfiguration of the blessed Jesus, is
unhappily led to represent the Almighty as having summoned Elijah to
descend from heaven, and Moses to ascend from Hades, to meet our Lord in
the Mount[4].

[Footnote 4: "Elia inde descendente quo conscenderat, et Moyse
ab inferis resurgente."--Hieron. in Matt. xvii. 1. Paris, 1706.