all other posture making it descend as much to the name as to the simplicitie of extension The foules of the aire also haue their ascension but it is as well by the aire as in it and their cunning wing which diuides the aire into away compacts it into a helpe Thus do they ascend with an easie wonder it being performed by the power of nature and apprehended by the power of the vnderstanding But for mans bodie to ascend without the actiuitie of a wing aboue the actiuitie of a wing is so strange that it was strange euen in Christ's bodie nay it might haue beene strange to his owne bodie which had it not beene instructed by his diuinitie might haue maruail'd at its owne motion And it did no lesse amaze Heauen then possesse it making a great part of the Angels thus behold earth without descending to it And this bodie ascended rather to Heauen then to God The Diuinitie was with it yet did not ascend with it since it does not change place but fill all place His soule did ascend with it yet did rather effectually change place then properly whiles it did only not change that bodie which did change place The whole person did ascend not that the Diuinitie left any place where the humanitie had beene but that it was in euery place where the humanitie was to be And this ascension of Christ's bodie was not only farre from the nature but also against the nature of his bodie which acknowledg'd the burden and tyrannie of our Elements till by resurrection it was refined into the libertie of a glorified nature and taught to obey its owne preferment which the Diuinitie so bestowed both vpon bodie soule that they were almost not more neere vnto it then like vnto it And that they might be more like vnto it the Diuinitie became voluntarily as humble as the humanitie was naturally and voluntarily made the humanitie as high as the Diuinitie was naturally Which great worke of the ascension did not only need a Diuinitie to performe it but also to perswade men that it could bee performed the beliefe of the ascension being the next wonder to the ascension As then God did effect it so he did teach it he humbled himselfe to man hee humbled himselfe in man making the degrees of his instruction descend by the degrees of mans apprehension And first he did discouer the possibilitie of ascension to the Vnderstanding by which wee doe as truly as Moses though not as cleerely see Enoch's ascension which was not for ought we know seene by any eye but the eye of the vnderstanding the ascension of his bodie being no more discerned then the ascension of his soule God tooke him bodie and soule his bodie being by a holy obedience to his soule made so like his soule that it did ascend as easily nay as soone as his soule Holinesse which to other men is a resurrection of the soule was to him a resurrection also of the bodie which was refined without the deliberate corruption of a graue It was refined sooner then it could be corrupted It knew no graue but sinne from which it did ascend as it did ascend from its owne mortalitie but his soule did first by righteousnesse ascend in his bodie before it did ascend with his bodie God tooke him to himselfe leauing his storie to posteritie and faith as if he would teach the world by this inferiour proportion that ascension should be an object of faith The next apprehensiue facultie in man to which God descended to teach it the possibilitie of ascension was the Phantasie Thus Iacob saw the angels goe vp to Heauen though this was an ascension but by the helpe of a ladder and that helpe like that ascension but in a dreame and the bodies which ascended were but like a dreame hauing no more substance then a dreame But Saint Paul did by the phantasie not see the ascension of another but enjoy one himselfe and to that degree of truth that hee doubted whether his bodie did not as much possesse Heauen as the Vision possessed his bodie At last the diuine instruction taught the ascension to the Sense it taught the ascension of the bodie to the bodie Thus did Elisha see Eliah ascend he saw him ascend like the fire in which he did ascend in which he did ascend till he ascended aboue it Hee saw the state of his ascension in a Chariot he saw the speed of his ascension in his horses he saw and he heard the whirle-wind in which Eliah suffered a triumph and rapture of his bodie as other Prophets had suffered a rapture only of their soules Nay Elisha's touch too did apprehend the ascension whiles it tooke vp the mantle that did ascend for the mantle too had an ascension though not to Heauen yet toward Heauen and to the working of miracles But all Elisha was but a witnesse of this ascension whiles God tooke-vp Eliah and left the Prophet with Elisha whom he clothed not so much with the mantle as with Eliah But if you would heare of one that had gone toward Heauen and come downe againe as if he would be a witnesse of his owne ascension you may remēber Abacuc with whose story wee may bee satisfied as much as Daniel was with his prouision Whom yet if carefully we will obserue we shall perceiue him cast into the Lions denne so late in the euening and deliuered thence so early in the morning that there will bee no more need then there was time for the ascension of Abacuc and the miracle of the dinner Nay had it come it would haue beene as great a miracle to haue kept the Lions from the food as to haue kept them from Daniel And had Abacuc liued till Daniel's imprisonment he would indeed haue had need to bee carried though his journie had beene farre shorter then from Iury to Babylon Thus did death make this Prophet preuent this ascension of his bodie by an ascension of his soule But Simon Magus did ascend in earnest nay and hee prooued it too by descending in earnest Only it was an vntoward ascension he did ascend by the power of the Deuill but hee descended by the power of God he descended to that power by which he ascended Now as this Sorcerer was made to descend by the prayers of Saint Peter so Saint Thomas of Aquine as some haue told vs ascended by his owne prayers hee ascended without presumption a foot or two Which petty ascension may serue for a mannerly miracle if the Saint-maker's eyes were not as dimme as his deuotion and by an apocope of that Saint's bodie mistooke not his knees for his feete vpon which peraduenture hee stood praying and the mistake was as easie as the miracle But wee haue heard of some Dead bodies that haue ascended thus some haue buried Moses in Heauen striuing to make his tombe as famous as his holinesse and belike lest the Deuill should haue made his body an Idoll they
master who was annointed with it A subtile Merchant that labourd so with an emulation to engrosse treasure and iniquitie as if hee would haue contented with Adam for the future tradition and monopoly of sinne Thus you see that it is possible to finde actors for the crucifying of the Lord of glory and now I thinke you can beleeue that there are monsters But now behold a man a man in whom innocence and patience contend for supremacy His enemies are preparing for his death by malice and hee himselfe is preparing for the same by loue The most of them are at their conspiracie and he is at the Communion with his Traytour At which last Supper he himselfe seemes to remember and imitate the goodnesse of that woman whom hee commanded vs to remember Shee wiped his feet and he washes his Disciples and would you not thinke that these feet would for euer after goe vpright Mee thinkes when hee came to wash Iudas his feete his sullen treason might haue expressed it selfe in Saint Peter's answer Thou shalt neuer wash my feet Indeed to wash a Iudas was to wash a Black-more Yet he had more need to haue vsed Saint Peter's second answere Lord not the feet only but also the hands and the head But it would haue beene a mercy vnwelcome to his stubbornenesse to haue beene washed to an vnwilling cleannesse His staine was as obstinate as his purpose and his eares were cauteriz'd as much as his conscience against our Sauious wordes which preuailed as little with his affection as with his memory Christ pointed-out the Traytour first by word and as if that had not beene enough with his very finger Hee that I giue a sop vnto he shall betray me nay with the Traytours owne finger Hee that dips his finger with mee in the dish hee shall betray mee Christ dipt and Iudas dipt and Christ gaue the sop to Iudas Who would not heere haue thought but that hee who by his garment and shadow could conferre health must by his sanctifying hand haue conferred saluation Was not heere the finger of God And yet heere was not the finger of God Iudas now found the truth of that vnhappy Philosophie Euery thing is receiued according to the nature of the receiuer Christ gaue the â—â—p but Iudas eate it When straight behold a sad transubstantiation a sop turned into a Deuill And now you will thinke it was time for him to leaue Christ's company and so indeed hee did for immediatly hee went forth and it was night a necessary shadow for the melancholy of treason yet it was but an embleme of his guilt To conclude supper they sung a Psalme this was the harmony of the Gospell in a Celestiall Quire where there was neuer a Iudas and Christ was the Chaunter Indeed they had need to sing whiles yet they had the leisure of company and joy for after this meeting sorrow had contriued the perpetuall silence of their Musique But leauing their Musique and the Citie they depart toward mount Oliuet a place where the customary deuotion of our Sauiour enjoyed the practice and happinesse of Prayer The way was but short yet our Sauiour made it tedious not by his company which was their delight but by his discourse which hitherto had bin their delight Hee tell them that this night he shall be their griefe and danger They as not seeing it make a large promise though without surety as much of their constancy as of their affection Peter especially makes this promise which our Sauiour tels him he especially will breake and that this night which is the present witnesse of his double protestation shall be the speedy witnesse of his triple deniall the Cocke ere morning being to be his watchman and remembrancer The length of our Sauiours discourse reacheth the mount where departing from his Disciples about a stones cast hee enters into a Garden and the horrour of his passion enters into him Now hee is crucified without a crosse the height whereof as it afterward aduanced him so now the feare of it depresseth him to the ground In the obedience of his supplication he bowes his knees he whose almightinesse could haue bowed the heauens In the dejection of his thoughts hee fals prostrate on his face to shew vs the nature of our guilt that dares not looke-vp vnto heauen and yet his voice is towards heauen whiles thrice he begs of his Father if it be his will that this cup may passe this cup crowned full with the bloud of sowre Grapes and thrice he returnes to his Disciples whom bee finds heauy as night and sleepe Whiles he prayes new terrours seize on him and man though vnited to God is so oppressed that an Angell from Heauen is sent to comfort him So hard it was for him that ouercame the Deuill to ouercome the Crosse But alas had hee not need of almightinesse for whom there remayned strokes and whips and wounds thornes and nailes and a speare and shall we thinke an Angell shall wee thinke one Angell enough against this host of torments Can wee with the confidence of words frighten horrour His agonie and prayer increase and from his mercifull pores flowes a sweat of bloud which beginnes his passion before the Iewes doe It pierces and dyes his garment O this would haue beene a relique worth the keeping a garment richer then Elias mantle a garment animated with bloud though not to life yet to a miracle The Prophet's loue and sorrow were but little ones though his eyes did cast-out riuers of waters for the destruction of Ierusalem but behold for our sinnes euery part of our Iesus does weepe bloud whose speedie drops seeme to imitate the expedition of the loue that sent them After which agony of deuotion on his faint limbes he raises himselfe and returning to his Disciples rayses them who willing rather to breake their sleepe then their faith arise when hee comforts them with a hope of more sleepe yet tels them that at this time they must sleepe no more treason and tyrannie by a strange friendship being in a readinesse to set vpon him Whiles yet hee speakes loe a band of Officers are come from the High Priests with Lanternes and torches and swords and staues to take him who neither meanes to fight nor runne away his mercy will not let him doe that nor his innocency this Their leader is Iudas guiding them with his feete to Christ but with his counsell against Christ When according to the compact and method of the Treason hee salutes our Sauiour with a phrase and a kisse enough to haue breathed a Deuill into any man but Christ who as much vnderstanding as abhorring his salutation by a Prophetique question preuents and reueales the newes of his intent Iudas betrayest thou the Son of man with a kisse And was there euer such a sight as Christ Iudas thus vnited Did not Christ now also descend into Hell From this kissing Traytour hee passes to the sword-men his
his soule was a diuinitie to his body so was his diuinitie a soule to his humanity To create man God â—reathed a spirit like himselfe into him him to redeeme man God himselfe entred into him and though the diuinitie could not hee crucified yet was the vnion of it with the passion of the humanitie counted as the passion of the diuinitie Thus by the bountie of interpretation and communication of proprieties they verily crucified the Lord of glory Whose carcasse now as cold as death raises a flame of loue in the breasts of Ioseph and Nicodemus Ioseph in a couragious Christianitie goes vnto Pilate and begges the body When Christ was aliue Iudas sould him and now he is dead Pilate giues him away whose body though it were preserued by the diuinitie yet Nicodemus sweetens it with Myrrhe and Deuotion They wrap him in a linnen cloth not so much concealing his nakednesse as expressing his innocence They lay him in Iosephs Tombe which was in a garden and was not then this garden Paradise It was a glorious sepulchre as if by the prophesie of loue it had been proportioned to the guest Whose bodie being heere entertayned with magnificent pietie his illustrious soule forces a triumph in Hell crucifies the Deuill and ouerthrowes the tyranny of damnation He does not take away damnation but contract it And now you see after this redemption of our Sauiour you may like Thomas put your hand and faith into the wound of his side receiue saluation You may behold the opening mouth of this wound which with eloquent bloud inuites you to faith and loue You may behold the Lord of glory comming from Edom with his died garments from Bosrah This is the Lord of glory glorious in his apparell glorious in his nakednesse glorious in his mightinesse to saue Wherefore art thou red in thine apparell and thy garments like him that treadeth in the Wine-fat Thou hast trodden the Wine-presse alone and of the people there was none with thee O what did cause these soundings of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards vs Who can expresse thy sorrowes and thy louing-kindnesse towards vs Who can expresse what thou hast done for our soules Thou wast afflicted thou wast despised thou wast whipt wounded bruised condemned sacrificed for our soules thou wast made a seruant of death thou wast numbred with the transgressours thou madest thy graue with the wicked for our soules Wherefore God has highly exalted thee and giuen thee a name aboue all names that at the Name of Iesus euery knee shall bow of things in Heauen and things in earth and things vnder the earth And euery tongue shall confesse that Iesus Christ is the Lord of glory And the foure and twentie Elders shall fall downe before the Lambe with their Harps and golden Vials full of Odours and in their new Song shall they prayse thee And the Angels about thy throne euen ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands shall say with a loud voice Worthy is the Lambe that was slaine to receiue power and riches and wisedome and strength and honour and glory Therefore with Angels and Arch-angels and with all the company of Heauen wee laude and magnifie thy glorious Name euermore praysing thee and saying Holy holy holy Lord of glory Heauen and earth are full of thy glory and of thy mercies The Angels in Heauen wonder at thy mercies the powers of Hell tremble at thy mercies thou thy selfe triumphest in thy mercies and the sonnes of men rejoyce in thy mercies Wherefore O thou that takest away the sinnes of the world deliuer vs by thine agonie and bloudie swear by thy crosse and passion by thy precious death and buriall deliuer vs And wee will fall downe before thy glorie and we will sing praises vnto thy mercie and we will triumph in the victorie of thy bloud and we will for euer euen for euer acknowledge that Thou the crucified Lord of glorie art the Christ of God and the Iesus of men The end A Sermon preached at Saint Marie's in Oxford on Easter-Tuesday 1623. 1. CORINTH 15.20 Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that slept IT were vnnecessarie art feare to stirâ—e to keepe the liuing awake with a preface when as the dead are at the businesse of a resurrection WoÌ„ders blessings are aboue their auditors who must be glad to be staâ—â—led to the newes Now was our Sauior task'd with his most vnweildie miracle His mercie had before bestowed many vpon others but now his power tries one vpon himselfe His diuinitie acts a miracle vpon his humanitie repairing this second Trinitie of his person from the immortall ruines of a God a soule and a carcasse Three dayes did hee consecrate for the performance of this wonder and three dayes doe wee consecrate for the perswading to this wonder which should haue beene the joy and was the shame of the Apostles who were slow to apprehend it though Christ was their Schoole-master They had not as yet learned their owne Creed which their peruerse sense was pleased to bee taught not so much by our Sauiour as by his sepulchre whose opening mouth when it sent forth Christ the Word pronounced his Resurrection which is the Epitaph of God Thus did the ambition of the graâ—e instruct the preuented Angell and though it cannot as the multitude of Tombes with the voice and conquest of proud Death tell vs whom it does captiue yet does it remember to vs whom it did Which assumed triumph of death is as short as its combat Ioseph's deuotion bestowed this Tombe vpon our Sauiour but our Sauiours victorie bestowed it vpon death which since his Resurrection has lien buried in his tombe But can a dead man bee warmed againe into life And can the lungs that haue forgot to breathe learne to breathe againe Faith indeed can answer this with as much ease as speed and being honoured with an imitating omnipotencie can with a coequall extension of assent apply it selfe to the number and degrees of Gods actions But as hard it was to raise the faith as the body of Saint Thomas nay it was his body that caused him to beleeue the Resurrection of Christ's bodie which was a way of faith more certaine then gratefull Yet must the vnderstanding bee so raised before it can beleeue that the bodie can bee raised that the diuine indulgence does gradually chastize the difficultie by the length of instruction For scarce had man viewed the materials of his Creation when straight hee was practised vnto an essay of this second Creation When Adam descended into sleepe there was a Resurrection of his rib which awaked into a woman Did not mortalitie then put on immortalitie when a senselesse bone was so endued with reason that it could apprehend its owne preferment Mee thinkes the Chymique might hence extract an easie Rhetorique for his promotion of metalls and without an Apologie teach that vsurie of art And heere too
is especially an act of the mercie of the liuing God to giue life to the dead yet by a greater mercie hee makes it an act of his iustice freely binding himselfe to admit our boldnesse not so much to to request as to claime a resurrection For shall the bodies of the Saints bee more remembred by their tombs then by their labours or shall they bee worse oppressed with death then they were with their torments or shall their soules with an enuious inequalitie vsurpe and enioy the purchase of their bodies shall those eyes whose deuotion did still watch or mourne for euer want respect as much as sight shall those hands that haue been free in extending themselues and mercie to the poore be for euer bound by the ingratitude of death shall those knees that haue bowed with such willing reuerence bee so held downe by the violence of mortalitie that they shall neuer rise vp againe Where are then thy teares O Dauid if thy eyes shall not enioy the happinesse of their owne sorrow Where are then O Iob thy faith and patience if thy body bee now as much without hope as it was before without rest Where are then O Esay thy victorious sufferings if after the ignorant furie of the Saw and the schisme of thy bodie thy bodie suffer a wilder dissociation from thy soule for tedious eternitie Where are thy trauels then O Paul if after thy Christian Geographie and conquest of Paganisme thou liest for euer confined to the dull peace of a graue No the almightie which made man with such wisdome of art wil neither lose his glory nor his worke But as he made his greater heauen for his angels so made he the lesser and mortall heauen of mans bodie for his soule and will make it as eternall as his soule There is more excellencie of workmanship in the soule but more varietie in the bodie The soule does more truly expresse God but the bodie more easily The soule judges best but the bodie first and though the eye of the soule does behold the works of God more cleerely yet does the eye of the bodie behold them more properly Nay should the bodie not bee raised to life and heauen how great a part of heauen and that life would be lost whiles not enjoyed and be as vnnecessary as it is wonderfull God hath prouided joyes which the eye hath not seene nor the eare heard but which the eye shall see and the eare shall heare and without the pleasure of a traunce for euer possesse as much without errour as without measure Such honour will the Creatour of our bodies doe to the bodies of his Saints they shall acknowledge corruption but ouercome it they may in their journy be the ghests of the graue but at last they shall bee the inhabitants of Heauen Yet the Lord cannot hereafter so much honour humane flesh by raysing it as hee has already by assuming it It was before his seruant but now his companion That was a resurrection of the flesh when it was raysed vnto God but the only resurrection of our flesh is when it is raysed to the soule At the day of judgement though there shall be no marriages of sexes yet there shall be of parts when soules shall be vnited to bodies in so intire and inexorable a matrimony that it shall admit no hope nor feare of a diuorce Neither need wee feare in the jealousie of this match the ignoble parentage of the flesh since what it wants in birth is supplied in dowry and flesh is now become such refined earth being made wonderfull in shape and office that the soule may be thought to be scarce more noble but that it seemes more reserued by being inuisible And yet you may obserue the bodies emulation which fals before its resurrection into such atomes of dust that they are with as much difficulty to be seene as to bee numbred But notwithstanding that these principles of earth be thus diuided among themselues yet are they not diuided against themselues retayning still though not an appetite yet an obedience to resurrection Nature has not lost this and God will supply that and as easily vnite as distinguish each dust To yeild to this truth is the Creed of the Creed If therefore any man's faith in the assent to this mysterie should bee as weake as his reason hee may helpe both his reason and his faith by his sense by which they shall either be conuinced or perswaded If you will bee but as bold as antiquitie you may propose vnto your selues the solemne Poetry of the Phoenix a creature rarer then the resurrection though not as admirable in whose ashes you may find the fire of life expecting but to be fanned to the resurrection of a flame as if this creature by the mystery of death would by a fire both perish and reuiue But without the courtesie of supposition you may in earnest behold the Eagle shoot-forth new quils wherewith may bee written and testified his endeauour of immortality Thus does God teach nature how to teach vs mysteries and without the Magicall studie of the language of birds to vnderstand without their voice their secret instruction But peraduenture you wil think that to discerne this truth in the nature of the Eagle will require a sight as sharpe as the Eagle's remooue then your eye from the foules of the aire but to the trees wherein they nest and with a negligent view you may obserue how after the nakednesse and death of winter they bud afresh into life and beautie Yet why should we in the sloth of this easie contemplation studie so broad an object Let our eye with more gratefull industrie confine its prospect to the small seed of corne and at least take the paines to see the paines of the husbandman And shall wee not admire at the delightfull arithmetique of nature to behold a seed whose hope seemes as small as it selfe by being cast away to bee found by destruction to receiue increase and from the same furrow to haue both a buriall and a birth Thus then we see that the body is able to shew that it selfe may rise but now the soule will proue that it must and with such friendly eloquence helpe its first companion that by the vnion of loue it will preuent the resurrection For should the soule for euer want the body should it not want both perfection wonder Is not the soule most perfect when it is most noble and is it not most noble when it is most bountifull and is it not most bountifull when it giues life to the dead Is it not likewise most full of wonder when it is thus perfect in that which is imperfect when it mixes with corruption and yet is incorrupt when it is most burthened and yet most variously actiue Thus by this necessary inclination of the soule the resurrection is as naturall in respect of the vnion as it is aboue nature in respect of the manner But now see
Shall not these first-fruits be likewise payed at our great Resurrection shall they not bee brought to the heauenly Ierusalem shall they not haue Angels goe before them shall there not bee crownes likewise prouided and shall they not be vshered with the voice of a trumpet It was the sound which the Iewes vsed at their brauer Funerals and may it not then fitly bee vsed when they shall awake againe from their tombes Till Christ was risen those that were buried were dead but if wee once but name him the first-fruits of them that rise let vs no more say they were dead but that they slept Yet all before the Resurrection shall not sleepe but some shal insteed of rising be only new-dressed by being clothed with incorruption and so haue rather a change of rayment then of life They shall not put-off their bodies but their mortalitie and bee made like Christ both in the truth of the Resurrection and in the glory The Eutychian shall then confesse that the two natures in Christ are not mixt though joyned and that his humanitie though exalted is not changed The Vbiquitary shall then see that Christ's body may be seene and it shall certainly prooue that it is not euery-where by being not in the graue whence it is risen The Pythagorean shall then recouer the possession and acquaintance of his vagabond soule and the Saducy shall then arise in that body in which he denied the resurrection of the body and with his bodily eyes see the errour of his soule Since then our Redeemer is as eternall in his flesh as in his God-head since the souldiers feare acknowledged his resurrection which their malice denied since we must rise both by his authority and example let our rising not only follow his but also imitate it As then the day of death and the peace of a Sabbath went before the Resurrection of our Lord so let the crucifying of our vices and the quiet contemplation of eternall joyes goe before the glory of the Resurrection So shall it be vnto vs as it was vnto our Sauiour a true Passeouer who passed thereby from this world vnto the Father So shall our hope bee as certaine as our rising so shall our soules rise as well as our bodies in that day of wonder When the last earthquake shall shake-vp death when the oecumenicall voice of one trumpet shall bee lowd enough to whisper-vp drowsie mankind when loose dust shal with the warmth and moysture of bloud bee kneaded into man when the tribute of dispersed and deuoured limbes shall bee paid-in from all countries and creatures when there shall be a Resurrection of disease of sleepe of death of the winding-sheet of the graue of rottennesse all which shall be purified into health into watchfulnesse into life into a robe of glory into a throne of glory into immortalitie when there shall bee a Resurrection of earth and heauen which shall be both renewed when there shall bee a Resurrection of God himselfe whose glory which seemed buried in this world shall illustriously arise in the face of heauen earth when there shall bee a new Resurrection of our Lord Iesus who shall no more arise from the graue but from heauen when the Iew and hell shall tremble those wounds of glory appeare which are the bloudie seales of our saluation So raise vs then O thou Lord of life vnto holinesse of life that when these things shall come to passe wee may not only rise in judgement but also stand in it and in these bodies both behold and follow thee into thy Heauen that glorious body prepared for the glorified bodies of thy Saints where thy crucified body sits at the right hand of thy Father where thy glorious company of Apostles praise thee where thy goodly fellowship of Prophets prayse thee where thy noble armie of martyrs praise thee And with their bodies O let our bodies find a labour to be learned in Heauen and let our soules euen there feele a new affliction that whiles we cannot grieue enough that we cannot prayse thee enough our increasing gratitude for our bodies resurrection may be our soule 's eternall resurrection The end A Sermon preached at Christ-church in Oxford on Ascension-day 16â—â— 1. PETER 3.22 Who is gone into Heauen and is on the right hand of God Angels and authorities and powers being made subiect vnto him FOr man to goe into Heauen is almost impossible for God to goe into Heauen is impossible To vnderstand then the wonder of Christ's ascension we might wish that our soules could but ascend like his bodie which whiles it was on the earth receiued motion from his soule but when it left the earth receiued motion from his Diuinitie without which that motion can now bee no more vnderstood then it could then be performed The greatest wonder of mans bodie has beene the structure but the greatest wonder of this bodie is now the motion The force of mans hand can make earth ascend towards Heauen but only the power of God can make earth ascend vnto Heauen Man can raise earth aboue its Spheare but only God can fixe it aboue its Spheare This day you may see both these wonders whiles the bodie is made as wonderfull as the soule whiles the bodie is made the wonder of the soule and goes to Heauen with as much ease and with more weight And indeed Philosophie may seeme to haue come short at least of perfection if not of truth whiles it has discouered the effects of its owne ignorance insteed of the causes of ascension and descension Which now seeme not to bee the workes of weight and lightnesse but of sinne and innocence seeing that a bodie free from sinne has learned to ascend and spirits loaden with sinne haue sunke themselues from Heauen to the punishment and center of sinne And yet innocence is rather a preparatiue then a cause of this wonder a bodie cannot ascend without it a bodie cannot ascend by it It has more power vpon the soule then vpon the bodie yet it has not this power vpon the soule And as the soule cannot ascend by the power of innocence so neither can the bodie ascend by the power of the soule The soule can affoord vnto the bodie the motion of progression but not of ascension progression being made by the power of the soule but by the parts of the bodie and it is a kind of friendly attraction when one foot inuites the other to a succession of motion by a succession of precedencie But the ascension of the bodie cannot bee performed but by somewhat that is aboue the bodie aboue it not so much in place as in power The bodie can bestow vpon it selfe an equiuocall ascension when a part of the foote shall be raised into the stature of the bodie but this is rather an ascension in the bodie then of the bodie Nay we cannot at all call it an ascension but by leaue when the bodie has by chance an erect situation
sent it to his soule to make-vp a Saint And some haue sent the bodie of the blessed Virgin thither with much reuerence and opinion though as farre from vse as from certaintie And some haue giuen two or three little ascensions to her Temple which is pleased as yet to be honoured at Loretto which is pleased as yet to honour Loretto make that place ascend aboue other places by not ascending from that place Nay the Turkes too boast of an ascension not of a temple but of their Mahomet though had this beene it had beene an ascension without a resurrection an ascension not so much of his carcasse as of his coffin which being of iron has beene reported to ascend to the roofe of his temple or rather to the secret vertue of many Load-stones fixt with as much secrecie in the roofe of his temple Yet euen this ascension also will proue to be the worke rather of Poets then of Load-stones Which can indeed make iron ascend nay make other Load-stones ascend from the cōmon center though they themselues if not violently sustained doe naturally descend and acknowledge the common center Yet since without respect one to another each does attract with an absolute intention and since the application in such attraction is most aptly made from some point in the stone to some point in the iron the defect of such forme in the iron and the number of the stones which was inuented to helpe the inuention does with the honestie of Philosophie quite betray it since the iron by a confused command of its dutie could not apply it selfe to any one and therefore not to any And thus you see that Mahomets presumptuous sinnes did ascend higher then his bodie or then the inuention of his idolaters But if we would see a low ascension and yet a wondrous one we may behold our Sauiour's walking vpon the water which was an ascension in respect of nature though not of our Sauiours person it was an ascension of his power though not of his person nay it was an ascension of his person because it should naturally haue beene a descension of his person And least wee might thinke that this ascension could only bee effected in Christ's person as it could be effected only by his power he did effect it in Peters person And though he needed Christ's hand as much as his inuitation yet was it his vnbeliefe that was heauier then his bodie But Christ's bodie was at last to ascend aboue all the elements except so much of them as composed his bodie which ascended to immortalitie fortie dayes sooner then it ascended to Heauen and now as much required to be placed aboue the place of our bodies as it was aboue the condition of them When therefore he was to ascend he led his Disciples out of Ierusalem it was the first degree of his ascension to separate himselfe from the trouble of the Citie to separate himselfe from the impiety of that Citie whose malice whiles it was increased in procuring his death was admirably deluded in procuring his ascension Hee led his Disciples vnto Mount Oliuet a place from whence his prayers had often ascended as now his person It was not farre from Bethanie a Village not great it seemes either in people or sinnes and so peraduenture as neere to the benefit of the ascension as to the ascension And being now to goe vp to to the Kingdome of God he discourseth to his Disciples of the Kingdome of God as if their eare should prepare their eye whiles he himselfe will make himselfe the illustration and proofe of his owne doctrine Yet to shew the truth of his loue as much as the truth of his words first be lifts-vp his hands at which they lift-vp their eyes and hearts and then hee lift-vp his voice and blesses them See with what kind preuention hee supplyes his future absence by his present blessing hee makes his blessing the Deputie of his person which whiles they behold with eyes as earnestly fixt by loue as they could be by death behold hee ascends and they lose the sight of him sooner by a cloud then by distance Which shortnesse of the the pleasure of their sight was happily supplied before by the intention of their sight His bodie was but a cloud to his Diuinitie and now his body ascends in a cloud which did as eminently shew his power as it concealed his person A cloud full of God is the Chariot of his triumph and the curtaines of his Chariot are the wings of Cherubins Lift vp your heads O yee gates and bee yee lift vp yee euerlasting doores and the King of glory shall come in But whiles the Apostles stedfastly gaze after him as if they would turne their eyes into Perspectiues or attend him as farre with their sight as with their desire behold their passion is not satisfied but changed and heard by them to saue them the labour of gazing they behold insteed of one Christ two Angels and their white apparell insteed of a cloud though their number was not so much for a supply of Christ who was gone into Heauen as for a more ful securitie of his returne from Heauen The expectation whereof if any shall thinke tedious they may ascend after him peraduenture before his returne not by seeking the impression of his footsteps on Mount Oliuet but by finding the ready way in his precepts by which wee may ascend to the vnderstanding of his ascension by which wee may ascend to the height of his ascension Which was aboue all the Heauens that eyther Philosophers or the Starres had beene acquainted with nay into that Heauen of which Copernicus might without errour haue said that it stands still the Heauen in which the Saints rest like the Heauen the Heauen in which Christ rest's like the Saints And yet you shall not only see his ascension into this Heauen but you shall see also his ascension in this Heauen that was the ascension of his person but this of his glory Enoch and Eliah ascended to this Heauen but you shall see Christ Iesus in this Heauen ascend to the right hand of God! Behold this day the humanitie made the favourite of the Diuinitie Behold Christ on the right hand of God! O what a spectacle would this haue beene for Herod and Pilate they would haue cryed out that their worst Hell had beene from Heauen and to haue scaped the horrour of this sight they would haue chosen vtter darknesse But behold Christ on the right hand of God! In whose right hand are pleasures for euermore And yet can wee behold those pleasures which no eye hath seene Nay can we behold the hand in which those pleasures are Nay can the hand be found that wee might behold it Shall vvee dresse the Almightie with shape and by an idolatrous gratitude bestow the figure vpon God which hee has bestowed vpon vs Shall we giue hands to him that were not able to giue them to our selues No
loued peace that hee lost his owne whiles he studied ours who so loued peace that excepting the combates of each Christian with himselfe hee would not haue had the Church to bee Militant heere on Earth making it almost Triumphant heere on Earth who loued peace as much as the Priest ought to doe nay who loued peace as much as he loued his Priest And now hee is ascended thither where only is to bee found a peace equall to his loue of peace and now without going to Spaine wee can find a Saint Iames Saint Iames of Britaine Defender of the Faith and the Cleargie O happy Saints who doe in peace attend our Sauiour in his triumph of peace And O the happinesse of holy Stephen whose eie was as full of wonder as his soule of grace and did so stedfastly looke vp into Heauen as if his eye had imitated the constancie of his soule And hee beheld with that zeale of looke the sonne of man in his triumph of zeale which was so raised against Stephens persecutors that he stood-vp at the right hand of God as if for his seruants sake had it beene possible hee would haue ventured againe among the Iewes his loue making him readie to forsake his glory rather then his Saint Whom yet he deliuered from their crueltie whiles hee seemed not to deliuer him Hee deliuered him from their crueltie by their crueltie and by the speed of death rescued him into Heauen whiles he was as constant in his prayer as in his death And it seemes his prayer was heard for Saint Paul whos 's first zeale did not more delight in Saint Stephens persecution then his second zeale delighted in Saint Stephens zeale and now with joy both doe attend vpon our Sauiour in his triumph of zeale And O the happinesse of diuine Iohn who heere on earth had the honour to see our Sauiour in Heauen in his triumph of honour And he saw the Elders fall downe before the Lambe imitating the humilitie of the Lambe and by the imitation presenting vnto him the remembrance of his owne humilitie and they triumphed more in their dutie then in their age and by fruitfull gratitude gaue honour to themselues whiles they gaue it to the honorable sonne of God! And now Saint Iohn is become a part of that wonder which hee wondred at whiles by his owne ascension hee increases the number and triumph of those Elders hauing put off his own bodie that he might bee neerer to our Sauiours bodie O happie Saints who are neere the right hand of God whiles they are neere him who is at the right hand of God! whose dwelling seate is at the right hand of God a seate which the malice of the Iew cannot reach vnto nay which the prayer of the Iew cannot reach vnto Whose judgement-seate is at the right hand of God nay the judgement-seates of his Saints are at the right hand of God for they also with him shall judge the twelue Tribes of Israel Yet marke the prerogatiue of our Sauiour they shall with him judge the world but only he shall saue it And againe marke the prerogatiue of our Sauiour by which hee is as wonderfully distinguished from them as hee is by his loue vnited to them As then you haue beheld the ascension of his glory so in this ascension now behold a jealous ascension an incommunicable ascension of his power Angels and authorities and powers being made subject vnto him The glory of a Prince is in the multitude of his people the greatnesse of a Prince in the power of his people but the greatest power of God is in himselfe yet hee communicates a great power vnto his angels To know the number of whose angels is as much beyond our abilitie as beyond our vse and it is enough glory vnto God that wee know their number to bee so great that we cannot know it To know the power of the angels is as easie as to know our owne weaknesse of which our bodies are able to instruct our soules But to define the Orders of the angels is not an act of man's knowledge though it has beene of phansie but like some to build the angels nine-storie-high were such a piece of architecture that Virtuoius himselfe would haue thought it to haue no more art in it then safetie and hee would haue beene as much confounded with wonder as the building would bee with its owne height Besides it would exceed the tower and vanitie of Babylon the foundation of this angelicall Tower being higher then the top of that Yet that of Babylon would in one respect exceed this since that had a stronger foundation though not a wiser But peraduenture these Dionysian builders layd their foundation vpon a Dreame and tooke their imitation from Iacobs Ladder vpon which because Iacob did behold angels they haue by finer workmanship reaâ—ed a Ladder of angels And that the inuention might seeme new by the seene as his ascent reacht vnto Heauen so these are made to reach vnto God Whose wisedome has indeed distinguished his angels but rather by their imployment then their nature as he has distinguished the soules of men not by their offence but their endowments Thus some of his Angels are Seraphins whose loue is as hote as fire whose loue is as pure as fire Some are Cherubins the intuitiue expedition and extent of whose knowledge may be named and figured by a wing Some are thrones who are safe from the feare of Gods judgements whiles they are made the seats of his judgements the ministers from whom his judgements are sent forth You may descend to dominions principalities and authorities but this middle Region of the angels is so full of clouds that we can only see the clouds through which wee cannot see You may descend yet lower to Powers arch-angels and angels and yet thus neere we shall be troubled with mists that we can scarce see our hand wherewith to point-out the differences Besides the Almightie can as easily appoint the change of their offices as their offices and by the weight of his message promote an angell into an archangell or hee can send the same angell to Balaam and to his Asse or hee cannot only change their offices but also mixe them making the same angell that killed the first-borne of the Aegyptian preserue the Israelite to confesse the distinction And because this distinction is rather the cause of thankefulnesse then the effect of curiositie let vs more consider their strength then their Heraldrie yet rejoyce more in their obedience then in their strength they being all made subject to our Sauiour all whether they are angels of authoritie to declare his pleasure or angels of power to execute his pleasure And it is his pleasure that as they are subject to him so they shall bee subject for vs. It was for vs that he sent two angels to be a witnesse and an effect of his ascension It was an angell deliuered Peter from the prison and kept him
safer then the jailou◠could It was an angell deliuered Paul from the wrath of the tempest which was not so obedient to the angell as the angell was to Paul And when at the last Day the trumpet shall found the angels shall make as much speed as the voice of the trumpet and bee as officiously obedient as the bones of the dead which they shall raise and attend at that last ascension And then shall they waite for euer after rather vpon the person then the message of their Prince Christ Iesus of our Prince Christ Iesus Who is ascended to rayse vs to an ascension of Faith by which it being of things not seene wee doe not only honour the person in whom wee trust but modestly oblige him And thus the skilfull mercie of our Sauiour vouchsafes to make himselfe beholding to vs by his owne work for his owne worke for our faith in his absence rather then to make vs beholding vnto him for our delight in his presence Hee ascended therefore to rayse vs likewise to an ascension of Hope which has obserued his loue to bee so vnited to his power in his assumption of our nature vnto his nature that by the great act of his ascension it likewise expects the assumption of our persons vnto his person Hee ascended likewise to rayse vs to an ascension of Loue which being like fire ought to ascend and being purer then the fire ought to ascend aboue the fire and since the fire can ascend to Heauen loue ought to exceed it and ascend into Heauen Into which holy place our high Priest is entred not so much to begge pardon as to giue it and by his entring into this holy place that he might make the certaintie of our peace equall to the mysterie of it he has prooued our Priest to be equall to our God Hee had before made man but little lesse then the angels but now the man Christ Iesus is aboue all the angels to whom Enoch's ascension was newes but this amazement And as it was their singular wonder so let it be our singular joy And indeed we may well rejoyce when by ascension we shall bee purged from the melancholy of our humanitie when our faith shall be happily lost into sight when wee shall bee past hope not by despaire but by possession when we shall be more transported by loue then by angels when we shall bee no longer their charge but their company when God shall so delight in vs that if wee could sinne we should be proud that hee so delighted in vs when we shall so delight in God that if there could bee sorrow in that delight we should bee sorrie that wee had not alwayes delighted in him and the eternitie of this delight shall be an ascension of this delight O happy and full Vision when Iacob shall not dreame that hee sees angels goe vp to Heauen but shall goe thither himselfe and now adore the angell whom once he wrestled with and as he then would not part from him till he had a blessing so now he neuer shall part from him because he has this blessing O happy and full vision when Moses shall see the face of God and liue nay when he shall liue because hee sees the face of God! when Moses his face shall shine so bright that now it would shine through his veile and yet his righteousnesse shall bee more glorious then his countenance when now hee shall not need to goe to the top of Mount Nebo to see the land of promise but on the top of this holy hill enjoy the true land of promise and the God that promised it O happy and full Vision when Simeon shall with more joy bee taken vp into Heauen then he tooke-vp the child Iesus into his armes and shall find himselfe more increased in joy then the child his Sauiour increased in stature when hee shall see his Sauiour honoured at the right hand of God who once vouchsafed to honour Simeons armes O happy and full Vision when Peter shall see himselfe as much transfigured as Christ when Peter shall see Christ more then transfigured and now shall with delight behold our Sauiours face when before for feare he fell vpon his owne O happy and full Vision when Paul shall so see Christs bodie in Heauen that he shall know himselfe to bee there in bodie when Iohn shall no more need to see the new Ierusalem come downe from Heauen but shall goe-vp vnto it Vnto which O thou Lambe of God grant that by the imitatiō of thy innocēce we may ascend that we may ascend to that Ierusalem by thy light who art the light of that Ierusalem that the sight of thy triumph may bee our triumph that our petitions may now so ascend that they may make way for the ascension of our soules and bodies that with thy Cherubins and Seraphins continually wee may cry Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabbaoth who doest now with victorie rest from thy passion And though wee cannot hope for the glory of thy right hand vouchsafe vs the protection Heare thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father and haue mercie For thou only art holy thou only art the Lord thou only O Christ with the Holy Ghost art most high in the glory of God the Father Heare O thou that sittest at the right hand of God and haue mercy And let thy mercy make our ascension a witnesse and part of the glory of thy ascension The end