"The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it; and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord at the head of them." (ii. 13.) And thus Christ's ascension was declared prophetically as well as typically; which was our first consideration. Secondly, Whatsoever was thus represented and foretold of the promised Messias, was truly and really performed by our Jesus. That only-begotten and eternal Son of God, who by his Divinity was present in the heavens while he was on earth, did, by a local translation of his human nature, really and truly ascend from this earth below on which he lived, into the heavens above, or rather above all the heavens, in the same body and the soul with which he lived and died and rose again. The ascent of Christ into heaven was not metaphorical or figurative, as if there were no more to be understood by it, but only that he obtained a more heavenly and glorious state or condition after his resurrection. For whatsoever alteration was made in the body of Christ when he rose, whatsoever glorious qualities it was invested with thereby, that was not his ascension, as appeareth by those words which he spake to Mary, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father." (John xx. 17.) Although he had said before to Nicodemus, No man ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven;" (John iii. 13.) which words imply that he had then ascended; yet even those concern not this ascension. For that was therefore only true, because the Son of man, not yet conceived in the Virgin's womb, was not in heaven, and after his conception by virtue of the hypostatical union was in heaven; from whence, speaking after the manner of men, he might well say, that he had ascended into heaven; because whatsoever was first on earth and then in heaven, we say ascended into heaven. Wherefore, beside that grounded upon the hypostatical union, beside that glorious condition upon his resurrection, there was yet another, and that more proper ascension: for after he had both those ways ascended, it was still true that he had not yet ascended to his Father. Now this kind of ascension, by which Christ had not yet ascended when he spake to Mary after his resurrection, was after to be performed; for at the same time he said unto Mary, "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father." (John xx. 17.) And when this ascension was performed, it appeared manifestly to be a true on Gen. xl. 9. Again the same Bereshith Rabba, Gen. xliv. 18. BOW ON ON When כשיעמדו רגלי השכינה על הר הזתים shall we rejoice? when the feet of the Shechinah shall stand upon the Mount of Olives; אמיתי כשיעלו הגליות מגיהנם,and again והשכינה בראשם של" ויעבר מלכם לפניהם When ? when the captives ויהוה בראשם: shall ascend from hell, and Shechinah in the head, as it is written (Mic. ii. 13.), Their King shall pass before them, and the Lord in the head of them. local translation of the Son of man, as man, from these parts of the world below into the heavens above, by which that body, which was before locally present here on earth, and was not so then present in heaven, became substantially present in heaven, and no longer locally present in earth. For when he had spoken unto the disciples, "and blessed them," laying his hands upon them, and so was corporally present with them, even " while he blessed them, he parted from them, and while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight," (Luke xxiv. 50, 51.) and so he was "carried up into heaven, while they looked steadfastly towards heaven, as he went up." (Acts i. 9, 10.) This was a visible departure, as it is described, a real removing of that body of Christ, which was before present with the apostles; and that body living after the resurrection, by virtue of that soul which was united to it: and therefore the Son of God according to his humanity was really and truly translated from these parts below unto the heavens above, which is a proper local ascension. * Thus was Christ's ascension visibly performed in the presence and sight of the apostles, for the confirmation of the reality and the certainty thereof. They did not see him when he rose, but they saw him when he ascended; because an eyewitness was not necessary unto the act of his resurrection, but it was necessary unto the act of his ascension. It was sufficient that Christ "shewed himself" to the apostles "alive after his passion;" (Acts i. 3.) for being they knew him before to be dead, and now saw him alive, they were thereby assured that he rose again: for whatsoever was a proof of his life after death, was a demonstration of his resurrection. But being the apostles were not to see our Saviour in heaven, being the session was not to be visible to them on earth, therefore it was necessary they should be eye-witnesses of the act, who were not with the same eyes to behold the effect. Beside the eye-witness of the apostles, there was added the testimony of the angels; those blessed spirits which ministered before, and saw the face of God in heaven, and came down from thence, did know that Christ ascended up from hence unto that place, from whence they came: and because the eyes of the apostles could not follow him so far, the inhabitants of that place did come to testify of his reception ;† for "behold two men stood by them in white apparel, which * Βλεπόντων μὲν οὐκ ἀνέστη, βλεπόντων δὲ ἐπήρθη· ἐπειδὰν ἐνταῦθα ἡ ὄψις τὸ πᾶν ἴσχυσε· καὶ γὰρ τῆς ἀναστάσεως τὸ μὲν τέλος εἶδον, τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν οὐκέτι· καὶ τῆς ἀναλήψεως τὴν μὲν ἀρχὴν εἶδον, τὸ δὲ τέλος οὐκέτι· παρεῖλκε γὰρ ἐκεῖνο τὸ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἰδεῖν, αὐτοῦ τοῦ ταῦτα φθεγγομένου παρόντος, καὶ τοῦ μνήμα. τος δηλοῦντος ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκεῖ· ἄλλα τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο λόγῳ ἔδει μαθεῖν. S. Chrysost. Hom. 2. in Act. Apest. † Ἐπειδὴν οὐκ ἀρκοῦσιν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ δεῖξαι τὸ ὕψος, οὐδὲ παιδεῦσαι πότερον εἰς τὸν οὐρα νὸν ἀνῆλθεν, ἢ ὡς εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, ὅρα τι γίνεται· ὅτι μὲν αὐτός ἐστιν Ἰησοῦς, ᾔδεσαν, ἐξ ὧν διε λέγετο πρὸς αὐτούς (πόῤῥωθεν γὰρ οὐκ ἐνῶν ἰδόν τας γνῶναι)· ὅτι δὲ εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναλαμβάνεται, αὐτοὶ λοιπὸν ἐδίδασκον οἱ ἄγγελοι. S Chrysost. Hom. 2. in Acta Apost. also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner, as ye have seen him go into heaven." (Acts i. 10, 11.) We must therefore acknowledge and confess against the wild heresies of old,* that the eternal Son of God, who died and rose again, did, with the same body and soul with which he died and rose, ascend up to heaven; which was the second particular considerable in the Article. Thirdly, Being the name of heaven admitteth divers acceptations in the sacred Scriptures, it will be necessary to inquire, what is the true notion of it in this Article, and what was the proper termination of Christ's ascension. In some sense it might be truly said, Christ was in heaven before the cloud took him out of the apostles' sight; for the clouds themselves are called "the clouds of heaven;" (Dan. vii. 13.) but that heaven is the first; and our Saviour certainly ascended at least as far as St. Paul was caught up, that is, into the third heaven; for "we have a great high-priest, that is passed through the heavens." (Heb. iv. 14.)† And needs must he pass through the heavens, because he was "made higher than the heavens;" (Heb. vii. 26.) for "he that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens." (Eph. iv. 10.) When therefore Christ is said to have ascended into heaven, we must take that word as signifying as much as the heaven of heavens; and so Christ is ascended through and above the heavens, and yet is still in heaven; for he is "entered into that within the veil," (Heb. vi. 19.) there is his passage through the heavens; "into the holy place, even into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God," (Heb ix. 12. 24.) this is the heaven of heavens. For "thus said the Lord, The heaven is The various heresies in the primitive time concerning the humanity of Christ ascended into heaven, are briefly touched by Tertullian: Ut et illi erubescant, qui affirmant carnem in cœlis vacuam sensu, ut vaginam, exempto Christo sedere; aut qui caruem et animam tantundem,aut tantummodo animam, carnem vero non jam.' De carne Christi, c. 24. Of which Gregory Nazianzen : Εἴ τις ἀποτεθεῖσθαι νῦν τὴν σάρκα λέγοι, καὶ γυμνὴν εἶναι τὴν θεότητα σώματος, ἀλλὰ μὴ μετὰ τοῦ προσλήμματος καὶ εἶναι καὶ ἥξειν, μὴ ἴδοι τὴν δόξαν τῆς παρουσίας, Epist. 1. ad Cledonium, p. 739. The Apellitæ taught, that Christ left his body dissolved in the air, and so ascended into heaven without it: Hunc Apellem dicunt quidam etiam de Christo tam falsa sensisse, ut diceret eum non quidem carnem duxisse de culo, sed ex elementis mundi accepisse, quæ mundo reddidit, cum sine carne resurgens in cœlum ascendit.' S. August. Hares. 23. This opinion of Apel Εδω. les is thus delivered by Epiphanius in his Hares. xliv. §. 2. Of whom Gregory Nazianzen is to be understood in that Epistle before cited : Η εἰς τὸν ἀέρα ἐχέθη καὶ διελύθη, ὡς φωνῆς φύσις, καὶ ὀδμῆς ῥύσις, καὶ ἀστραπῆς δρόμος οὐχ ἱσταμένης. p. 759. t We read it indeed into the heavens, but the original imports as much as through: διεληλυθότα τοὺς οὐρανούς· Vulg. Trans. qui penetravit cælos. my throne, and the earth is my footstool;" (Isa. lxvi. 1.) and as Christ descended unto the footstool of his Father in his humiliation, so he ascended unto the throne of his Father in his exaltation. This was the place, of which our Saviour spake to his disciples, "What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?" (John vi. 62.) Had he been there before in body, it had been no such wonder that he should have ascended thither again: but that his body should ascend unto that place where the majesty of God was most resplendent; that the flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone, should be seated far above all angels and archangels, all principalities and powers, even at the right hand of God: this was that which Christ propounded as worthy of their greatest admiration. Whatsoever heaven then is higher than all the rest which are called heavens; whatsoever sanctuary is holier than all which are called holies; whatsoever place is of greatest dignity in all those courts above, into that place did he ascend, where in the splendour of his Deity he was, before he took upon him our humanity. As therefore when we say Christ ascended, we understand a literal and local ascent, not of his Divinity (which possesseth all places, and therefore being every where is not subject to the imperfection of removing any whither), but of his humanity, which was so in one place that it was not in another: so when we say the place into which he ascended was heaven, and from the expositions of the apostles must understand thereby the heaven of heavens, or the highest heavens, it followeth that we believe the body with the soul of Christ to have passed far above all those celestial bodies which we see, and to look upon that opinion as a low conceit which left his body in the sun.* It was necessary to profess this Article of Christ's ascension. First, For the confirmation and augmentation of our faith. Our faith is thereby confirmed, in that we believe in him who The Seleuciani and Hermiani taught that the body of Christ ascended no farther than the sun, in which it was deposited, of whom Philastrius, and out of him St. Augustin, thus: Negant Salratorem in carne sedere ad dexteram Patris, sed ea se exuisse perhibent, eamque in sole posuisse, accipientes occasionem de Psalmo, In sole posuit Tubernaculum suum,' Hæres. 59. The same opinion Gregory Nazianzen attributeth to the Manicbeans: Ποῦ γὰρ τὸ σῶμα νῦν, εἰ μὴ μετὰ τοῦ προσλαβόντος ; οὐ γὰρ δὴ κατὰ τοὺς Μανιχαίων λήρους τῷ ἡλίᾳ ἐναποτέθειται, ἵνα τιμηθῆ διὰ τῆς ἀτιμίας. Epist. 1. ad Ciedoxium, p. 739. And St. Augustin says they taught the sun to be Christ: Manichæi solem istum oculis car neis visibilem, expositum, et publicum, non tantum hominibus, sed etiam pecoribus ad videndum, Christum Dominum esse putarunt.' Tract. 34. in loan. §. 2. This opinion is more clearly set down, but without a name, in the Catena Patrum on the 18th Psalm: Où yag weeκτέον τοῖς τῶν Αἱρετικῶν φληνάφοις, οἱ φασιν ὅτι μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν ὁ Σωτὴρ ἐν τῇ ἡλιακὴ σφαίρᾳ ἀπέθετο ὃ ἐφόρησε σῶμα, φυλάτε τέσθαι μέχρι τῆς δευτέρας παρουσίας. This was the old heresy of Hermogenes, as is related by Theodoret: Oros (6'Exoγενὴς) τοῦ Κυρίου τὸ σῶμα ἐν τῷ ἡλία εἶπεν ἀποτεθῆναι, τὸν δὲ διάβολον καὶ τοὺς δαίμονας εἰς τὴν ὕλην ἀναχθήσεσθαι. Harel. Fab. I. i. c. 19. is received unto the Father, and therefore certainly came from the Father: his Father sent him, and we have received the message from him, and are assured that it is the same message which he was sent to deliver, because he is so highly rewarded by him that sent him for delivering it. Our faith is thereby exalted and augmented, as being the "evidence of things not seen." (Heb. xi. 1.) The farther the object is removed from us, the more of faith hath that act which embraceth it. Christ said unto Thomas, "Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed:" (John xx. 29.) and that blessedness by this ascension he hath left to the whole Church. That Christ ascended is the ground and glory of our faith; and by virtue of his being in heaven, our belief is both encouraged and commended; for his ascent is the cause, and his absence the crown, of our faith: because he ascended, we the more believe; and because we believe in him who hath ascended, our faith is the more accepted. Secondly, It is necessary to believe the ascension of Christ for the corroboration of our hope. We could never expect our dust and ashes should ascend the heavens; but being our nature hath gone before in him, we can now hope to follow after him. He is our Head,+ (Eph. i. 22.) and where that is, the members may expect admission: for in so great and intimate a union there is no fear of separation or exclusion : there" are many mansions in his Father's house." (John xiv. 2.) And when he spake of ascending thither, he said expressly to his disciples, "I go to prepare a place for you, and will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." (Ibid. 3.) The first-fruits of our nature are ascended, and the rest is sanctified. "This is the new and living way, which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh." (Heb. x. 20.) And hence we "have our hope as an anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast, which entereth into that within the veil, whither the forerunner is for us entered." (Heb. vi. 19, 20.) For if Christ in his ascension Magnarum hic vigor est mentium, et valde fidelium lumen est animarum, incunctanter credere quæ corporeo non videntur intuitu, et ibi figere desiderium, quo nequeas inferre conspectum. Hæc autem pietas unde in nostris cordibus nasceretur, aut quomodo quisquam justificaretur per fidem, si in iis tantum salus nostra consisteret, quæ obtutibus subjacerent?' Leo in Ascen. Serm. 2. c. 1.Fides eorum qui Deum visuri sunt, quamdiu peregrinantur, corda mundantur, quod non videt credit; nam si vides, non est fides: credenti colligitur meritum, videnti redditur præmium. Eat ergo Dominus et paret locum; eat ne videatur, lateat ut credatur: tunc enim locus paratur, si ex fide vivatur: creditus desideretur ut desideratus habeatur, desiderium dilectionis præparatio est mansionis.' S. August. Tract. 68. in Ioan. §. 3. † ' Christi ascensio nostra provectio est, et quo præcessit gloria capitis, eo spes vocatur et corporis.' Leo de Ascen. Serm. 1. c. 4. † Διὰ τοῦτο ἑορτάζειν ὀφείλομεν, ἐπειδὰν σήμερον τὴν ἀπαρχὴν τοῦ ἡμετέρου φυράμα τος, τουτέστι τὴν σάρκα, ἐν οὐρανοῖς Χριστὸς ávnyays. S. Chrysost. Orat. 1. de Ascens. Διὸ λοιπὸν χρηστὰς ἔχομεν τὰς ἐλπίδας, πρὸς τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀπαρχὴν ἀφορῶντες. Id. Orat. 2. de Ascens. |
