Mark's account

Luke's account

already given from the writers of the first two centuries in testimony to the Resurrection, the same class of evidence is given for the Ascension, and it would be useless and a waste of time to recapitulate them. We must, therefore, refer our readers to the quotations already given in previous chapters. And the same arguments hold good as to the value of this evidence for the Ascension as did for that of the Resurrection. We shall, therefore, confine ourselves to the witness given in the New Testament writings, and deal with the objections which have been put forward. Matthew gives no account of the Ascension, neither does John. We must again remember that their works are not chronicles but memoirs, written for a special purpose, and that they only profess to record some of the sayings and doings of Christ, and that an omission does not mean a denial. Mark tells us, "So then after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into Heaven and sat on the right hand of God". And we have already shown that this by no means implies, as some critics say, that the event occurred on the same day as the Resurrection. The reference of John to Christ's appearance on the eighth day and subsequently in Galilee would corroborate our reading, were such corroboration needed. Luke tells us, "And He led them out as far as 1 Chap. xvi. 19.

1

Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And it came to pass while He blessed them, He was parted from them and carried up into Heaven." 1 And in the Acts of the Apostles, the The Acts same writer tells us: "The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began to do and teach. Until the day in which He was taken up, after that He through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the Apostles whom He had chosen. To whom also He showed Himself alive after His Passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." 2 "And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly towards heaven as He went up, behold two men stood by them in white apparel. Who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." 3 And later on, in relating the election of an Apostle to fill the place of Judas, Matthias is chosen because, amongst other qualifications, he had seen the Ascension.* That John knew of it is shown by his relating the John's speech of Jesus, in which the latter says, "And no 1 Chap. xxiv. 51. 2 Chap. i. 1-3.

3 Ib. 9-11. 4 Ib. 22.

references

Paul's
Epistle to

1

man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man who is in heaven". And again, "What and if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before?" 2 And again, in the appearance to Mary Magdalene, "Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God". Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians Ephesians is held to be authentic by a large number of the best critics; and in the fourth chapter we read, "Wherefore He saith, When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things.)" And yet we are told that John and Paul say nothing of the The laws of Ascension. But it is urged, "How can a material body ascend? It is against the laws of gravitation." Once again the objection shows a total ignorance of the nature and properties of the risen body, which is no longer subject to the laws of gravitaObjection: tion. Again, we are told that the bodily Ascension materialised localises and materialises Heaven. "The bodily

Objection:

gravity

Heaven is

4

Ascension into the sky in a cloud, apart from the

3

1 Chap. iii. 13. 2 Chap. vi. 62. Chap. xx. 17. 4 Vv. 8-10.

miraculous nature of such an occurrence, seems singularly to localise 'Heaven,' and to present views of cosmical and celestial phenomena suitable certainly to the age of the writer, but which are not endorsed by modern science." 1 Modern science

has nothing to do with the supernatural. It is engaged in the study of the natural. And Heaven is not here said to be amid the stars or to have any relationship either to earth or sky. When Heaven is spoken of as being above, it is merely a figure of speech. And hence was it that in condescension to human weakness, and to impress the spectators with the fact that Jesus was leaving earth and had completed the term of His stay upon it, He arose from the earth and ascended skywards. Thus were they impressed through their senses of His departure to a world which does not come under the senses. Jesus Christ Conclusion then ascended into Heaven, as the Church bears witness, and we have in its support a great mass of evidence from the early writers who if not eyewitnesses of that event were in personal communication with those who had been; and the Scriptural accounts give proof of the reality of that occurrence. 1 Sup. Relig., p. 845.

CHAPTER VIII

PROPHECY

AND now once more to look back, after the death, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ. In a former chapter we have described the expectation of the Jewish and Pagan world that He should come who should break "the grim silence of God,” and bring comfort and salvation to the human race. We refrained at that time from referring in detail to the Jewish prophecies, whereas we quoted from the Pagan. Here we intend briefly to refer to some of those ancient predictions, and then give those of Jesus Himself to His death, Resurrection and Ascension. Seen in the light of the accomhow Christ plished fact, their prophetical character seems refulfilled the markable, and their reference to Jesus very striking. prophecies

Looking back we see

Moreover, the prescience of Christ, as seen in His foretelling all that later was to come to pass, corroborates our assertion that He was God. That His Disciples did not understand Him at the time is clear; at least until, in the realisation of it all, His words came back to their memories. And then to the proof of His Divinity obtained from

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