at "the
under world shall be spoiled through the death of the Most
Exalted."7 Again, we read, "The Lord shall make battle against the
devil, and conquer him, and rescue from him the captive souls of
the righteous. The just shall rejoice in Jerusalem, where the Lord
shall reign himself, and every one that believes in him shall
reign in truth in the heavens."8 Farther on the writer says of the
Lord, after giving an account of his crucifixion, "He shall rise
up from the under world and ascend into heaven."9 These extracts
seem to imply the common doctrine of that time, that Christ
descended into the under world, freed the captive saints, and rose
into heaven, and would soon return to establish his throne in
Jerusalem, to reign there for a time with his accepted followers.

7 See this book in Fabricii Codex Pseudepigraphus Veteris
Testamenti, Test. Lev. sect. iv.

8 Ibid. Test. Dan. sect. v.

9 Ibid. Test. Benj. sect. ix.

The FOURTH BOOK OF EZRA contains scattered declarations and hints
of the same nature.10 It describes a vision of the Messiah, on
Mount Zion, distributing crowns to those confessors of his name
who had died in their fidelity.11 The world is said to be full of
sorrows and oppressions; and as the souls of the just ask when the
harvest shall come,12 for the good to be rewarded and the wicked
to be punished, they are told that the day of liberation is not
far distant, though terrible trials and scourges must yet precede
it. "My Son Jesus shall be revealed." "My Son the Christ shall
die; and then a new age shall come, the earth shall give up the
dead, sinners shall be plunged into the bottomless abyss, and
Paradise shall appear in all its glory."13 The "Son of God will
come and consume his enemies with fire; but the elect will be
protected and made happy."14

The ASCENSION OF ISAIAH is principally occupied with an account of
the rapture of the soul of that prophet through the seven heavens,
and of what he there saw and learned. It describes the descent of
Christ, the beloved Son of God, through all the heavens, to the
earth; his death; his resurrection after three days; his victory
over Satan and his angels, who dwell in the welkin or higher
region of the air; and his return to the right hand of God.15 It
predicts great apostasy and sin among the disciples of the
apostles, and much dissension respecting the nearness of the
second advent of Christ.16 It emphatically declares that "Christ
shall come wi