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λοις αὐτῷ τὸ μαθηταῖς, ἐδίδαξε ταῦτα ἅπερ εἰς ἐπίσκεψιν καὶ ὑμῖν ἀνεδώκαμθρ· This I take to le, without queftion, that ftatus dies which is mentioned by Pliny in his Epift. to Trajan. Affirmabant hanc fuiffe fummam vel culpæ fuæ vel erroris, quòd effent foliti stato die ante lucem convenire, carménq; Chrifto quafi Deo canere. Lib. 10. Ep. 97. Nobis quibus Sabbata extranea funt & neomeniæ & feriæ à Deo aliquando dilectæ munera commeant? ftrenæ confonant? lufus, convivia conftrepunt? O melior fides nationum in fuam fectam, quæ nullam folennitatem Chriftianorum fibi vindicat, non Dominicum Diem, non Pentecoftem. Tertul. de Idol. c.14. Nam quòd in Judaica circumcifione carnali octavus dies obfervabatur, facramentum eft in umbra atque imagine antè præmiffum, fed veniente Chrifto in veritate completum. Nam quia octavus dies idem poft Sabbatum primus dies futurus erat, quo Dominus refurgeret & nos vivificaret, & circumcifionem nobis fpiritualem daret, hic dies octavus, id eft, poft fabbatum primus & Dominicus præceffit in imagine. S. Cypr. 1. 3. Epift. 8. Eufebius reports how Conftantine taught his Soldiers to obferve the Lord's-Day, Kai ja ἐυχῶν ἡ Γειως κατάλληλον ἢ κυρίαν ἀληθῶς καὶ πρώτων ὄντως κυριακιώ τε καὶ (ωτήριον, * δὴ καὶ φωτὸς καὶ ζωῆς ἀθανασίας τε καὶ afatz warios iπávvuov. Orat. de Laudib. Conftant. c. 9. Quid eft fecunda fabbati nifi Dominica dies quæ Sabbatum fequebatur? Dies autem Sabbati erat dierum ordine pofterior,-fanctificatione legis anterior. Sed ubi finis legis advenit, & refurrectione fuâ octavum fanctificavit, cœpit eadem prima effe quæ octava eft, & octava quæ prima, habens ex numeri ordine prærogativam, & ex refurrectione Domini fanctitatem. S. Ambrof. Enar. in Pfal. 47. Dicat aliquis, Si dies obfervari non licet, & menfes & tempora & annos, nos quoq; fimile crimen incurrimus, quartam Sabbati obfervantes, & parafceuen, & diem Dominicam. S. Hier. in Epift. ad Gal. c. 4. . 10. And S. Aug. in answer to that Objection, Nam nos quoq; & Dominicum diem & Pafcha folenniter celebramus & quaflibet alias Chriftianas dierum festivitates. cont. Adimant. c. 16. Dies Dominicus non Judæis fed Chriftianis refurrectione Domini declaratus eft, & ex illo habere cœpit feftivitatem fuam. S. Aug. Epift. 119. Hæc tamen feptima erit Sabbatum noftrum, cujus finis non erit vefpera, fed Dominicus dies velut octavus æternus, qui Chrifti refurrectione facratus eft, æternam non folùm fpiritûs verùm etiam corporis requiem præfigurans. Idem de Civit. Dei, l. 22. c. 30. Dominicum diem Apoftoli & Apoftolici viri ideo religiosâ folennitate habendum fanxerunt, quia in eodem Redemptor nofter à mortuis refurrexit. Quique ideo Dominicus appellatur ut in co à terrenis operibus vel mundi illecebris abftinentes tantùm divinis cultibus ferviamus, dantes fcilicet diei huic honorem & reverentiam propter fpem refurrectionis noftræ quam habemus in illa. Nam ficut ipfe Dominus Jefus Chriftus & Salvator refurrexit à mortuis, ita & nos refurrecturos in noviffimo die fperamus. Autor. Serm. de Tempore, Serm. 251. & paulò poft, Sancti doctores Ecclefiæ decreverunt omnem gloriam Judaici Sabbatifmi in illam transferre, ut quod ipfi in figura, nos celebraremus in veritate. Max. Taurin. de Pentecoft. Hom. 3. Dominica nobis ideo venerabilis eft atq; folennis, quia in ea Salvator velut fol oriens difcuffis infernorum tenebris, luce refurrectionis emicuit, ac propterea ipfa dies ab hominibus feculi Dies folis vocatur, quòd ortus eum fol juftitiæ Chriftus illuminet. Περιέχε ἐν ἡ δὲ παρασκευή, τὸ (άββαλον τ' ταφὴν, ἡ Κυριακή 7 ανάςασιν. Author. Clem. Confiitut. l. 5. c. 13. Ὅτι ὁ δι χρισιανὸς Ἰδαίζειν καὶ ἐν τῷ βαββάτῳ χολάζειν, ἀλλὰ ἐς[άζεις αὐτὸς ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ, 7' ο Κυριακὴν προτιμῶν]ας· εἶχε διύαιντο, χολάζειν, ὡς χρισιανοί· εἰ ἢ ἐυξηθεῖον Ἰδαῖσαι, ἔσωσαν ανάθεμα το τα Χρισῷ. Concil. Laodic. Can. 29. 5

of God rose from the Dead, by the constant Practice of the blessed Apostles, was tranfmitted to the Church of God, and fo continued in all Ages.

This Day thus confecrated by the Refurrection of Christ was left as the perpetual Badge and Cognizance of his Church. As God fpake by Mofes to the Exod. 31. 13. Ifraelites, Verily my Sabbath fhall ye keep, for it is a fign between me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord that do fanctifie you; thereby leaving a Mark of diftinction upon the Jews who were by this means known to worship that God whofe Name was Jehovah, who made the World, and delivered them from the hands of Pharaoh: So we must conceive that he hath given us this Day a Sign between him and us for ever, whereby we may be known to worship the fame God Jehovah, who did not only create Heaven and Earth in the Beginning, but also raised his Eternal Son from the Dead for our Redemption. As therefore the Jews do still retain the Celebration of the Seventh Day of the Week, because they will not believe any greater Deliverance wrought than that of Ægypt: as the Mahometans religiously obferve the Sixth Day. of the Week in Memory of Mahomet's Flight from Mecca, whom they effeem a greater Prophet than our Saviour: as these are known and distinguished in the World by these feveral Celebrations of diftinct Days in the Worfhip of God; fo all which profefs the Christian Religion are known publickly to belong unto the Church of Chrift by obferving the First Day of the Week upon which Chrift did rife from the Dead, and by this Mark of Diftinction are openly *feparated' from all other Profeffions.

*Quid hac die felicius in qua Domi

nus Judæis mortuus eft, nobis refurrexit? in qua Synagogæ cultus occubuit, & eft ortus Ecclefiæ; in qua nos homines fecit fecum furgere & vivere & federe in cœleftibus, & impletum eft illud quod ipfe dixit in Evangelio, Cum autem exaltatus fuero à terra, omnia traham ad me. Hæc eft dies quam fecit Dominus, exultemus & lætemur in ea. Omnes dies quidem fecit Dominus, fed cæteri dies poffunt effe Judæorum, poffunt effe Hæreticorum, poffunt effe Gentilium; Dies Dominica, dies refurrectionis, dies Chriftianorum, dies noftra eft. Explan. in Pfalm 117. fub nomine

Hieron.

That Chrift did thus rife from the Dead, is a moft neceffary Article of the Christian Faith, which all are obliged to believe and profefs, to the Meditation whereof the Apostle hath given a particular Injunction, Remember that Jefus

Jefus Chrift of the feed of David was raifed from the dead.

First, Becaufe without it our Faith is vain, and by virtue of it, ftrong. By this we are affured that he which died was the Lord of Life; and though he were crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. By this 2 Cor. 13. 4. Refurrection from the Dead, he was declared to be the Son of God; and Rom. 1. 4. upon the Morning of the third Day did thofe Words of the Father manifeft

a most important Truth, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee: Acts 13. 33: In his Death he affured us of his Humanity, by his Refurrection he demonftrated his Divinity.

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Secondly, By his Refurrection we are affured of the Juftification of our Perfons; and if we believe on him that raised up Jefus our Lord from Rom.4.24,25. the dead, it will be imputed to us for righteousness: For he was delivered for our offences, and was raifed again for our juftification. By his Death we know that he fuffered for Sin, by his Refurrection we are affured that *the Sins for which he fuffered were not his own had no Man been a fin-* S. Chryfoner, he had not died; had he been a Sinner, he had not risen again: but dy- lently upon ing for thofe Sins which we committed, he rose from the Dead to fhew that that place, he had made full Satisfaction for them, that we believing in him might, obtain Remission of our Sins, and Juftification of our Perfons, God fending Faváry, aαπέδεξιν his own Son in the likeness of finful flesh, for fin condemned fin in the flesh, The x didži and raising up our Surety from the Prifon of the Grave, did actually abfolve, wo. Al and apparently acquit him from the whole Obligation to which he had bound yag isauhimself, and in discharging him acknowledged full Satisfaction made for us. b Who then shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that nagliav juftifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather deven that is rifen again.

τίαν εἰπὼν τὸ

ανατάσεως

ρώθη, φησίν;

καναςάσεως· εί Slidμxz7wλός, πῶς ἀνέ

ση, εἰ ἢ ἀνέση, εύδηλον ὅτι ἀμας]ωλὸς ἐκ ι; εἰ δ ̓ ἁμαρτωλὸς ἐκ μ, πῶς ἐςαυρώθη; δὲ ἑτέρες· εἰ ἢ δὲ ἑτέρες, πάντως a Rom. 8. 3. b Rom. 8. 33, 34.

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Thirdly, It was neceffary to pronounce the Refurrection of Christ as an Article of our Faith, that thereby we might ground, confirm, ftrengthen and declare our Hope. For the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Christ Pet. 1. 3,4according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the refurrection of Jefus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled. By the Refurrection of Christ his Father hath been faid to have begotten him; and therefore by the fame he hath begottenus who are called brethren and co-heirs with Christ. For if when we were Rom. 1. 10. enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled we shall be faved by his life. He laid down his Life, but it was for us; and being to take up his own, he took up ours. We are the Members of that Body of which Christ is the Head; if the Head be risen, the Members cannot be far behind. He is the first-born from the dead, col. 1. 18. and we the fons of the Refurrection. The Spirit of Christ abiding in us maketh us the Members of Christ, and by the fame Spirit we have a full Right and Title to rife with our Head. For if the Spirit of him that raised Rom. 8. 11. up Jefus from the dead dwell in us, he that raifed up Christ from the dead ball alfo quicken our mortal bodies by his fpirit that dwelleth in us. Thus the Refurrection of Christ is the Caufe of our Refurrection by a double Caufality, as an Efficient, and as an Exemplary Caufe. As an Efficient Cause, in regard our Saviour by and upon his Refurrection hath obtained Power and Right to raise all the Dead; For as in Adam all die, fo in 1 Cor. 15.22. Christ fhall all be made alive. As an exemplary Caufe in regard that all Rom. 6. 5. the Saints of God fhall rife after the Similitude and in Conformity to the Refurrection of Christ; For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be alfo in the likeness of his refurrection. He fhall M m 2 change

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Phil. 3. 21. change our vile bodies that they may be like unto his glorious body: That 1 Cor. 15.49. as we have born the image of the earthly, we may also bear the image of

Rom. 6. 4.

the heavenly. This is the great Hope of a Chriftian, That Christ rifing from the dead hath obtained the Power, and is become the Pattern, of his Refurrection. The breaker is come up before them; they have broken up and have paffed through the gate, their King shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them.

Fourthly, It is neceffary to profefs our Faith in Christ rifen from the Dead, that his Refurrection may effectually work its proper Operation in our Lives. For as it is efficient and exemplary to our Bodies, so it is alfo to our Souls. Ephef. 2. 5. When we were dead in fins, God quickned us together with Chrift. And, as Chrift was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even fo we Should walk in newness of life. To continue among the Graves of Sin while Christ is rifen, is to incur that Reprehenfion of the Angel, why feek ye the living among the dead? To walk in any habitual Sin, is either to deny that Sin is Death, or Christ is rifen from the Dead. Let then the dead bury their dead, but let not any Christian bury him who rofe from Ephef. 5. 14. Death that he might live. Awake, thou that fleepest, and arife from the

dead, and Christ fhall give thee light. There must be a fpiritual Refurrection of the Soul before there can be a comfortable Refurrection of the Rev. 20. 6. Body. Bieffed and holy is he that hath part in this first refurrection, on fuch the fecond death hath no power.

Having thus explained the manner of Christ's Refurrection, and the Neceffity of our Faith in him risen from the Dead, we may eafily give fuch a brief Account as any Chriftian may understand what it is he fhould intend when he makes Profeffion of this part of the Creed; for he is conceived to acknowledge thus much, I freely and fully affent unto this as a Truth of infinite Certainty and abfolute Neceffity, That the eternal Son of God, who was crucified and died for our Sins, did not long continue in the State of Death, but by his infinite Power did revive and raise himself, by re-uniting the fame Soul, which was feparated, to the fame Body which was buried, and fo rose the fame Man: and this he did the third Day from his Death; fo that dying on Friday the fixth Day of the Week, the Day of the Preparation of the Sabbath, and refting in the Grave the Sabbath-day, on the Morning of the First Day of the Week he returned unto Life again, and thereby confecrated the Weekly Revolution of that First Day to a religious Obfervation until his Coming again. And thus I believe the third day he rofe again from the dead.

ARTICLE

ARTICLE VI

He afcended into heaven, and litteth on the Right
Hand of God the Father Almighty.

cœlos, fedet

HIS Article hath received no Variation, but only in the Addi-
tion of the Name of God, and the Attribute Almighty; the* An- * Afcendit in
cients ufing it briefly thus, He afcended into Heaven, fitteth at ad dextram
the right hand of the Father. It containeth two diftinct parts; Patris. Ruff
one tranfient, the other permanent; one as the Way, the other nus in Symb.

as the End: the firft is Chrift's Afcenfion, the fecond is his Seffion.

S. Aug. in Enchirid, Maximus Taurin.

Chryfol. Author Expof. Symb. ad Catechumenos, Venantius Fortunatus, the Latin and Greek MSS. set forth by the Archbifhop of Armagh. S. Auguft. de Fide & Symb. hath it, Sedet ad dextram Dei Patris; to which was afterwards added omnipotentis. Sedet ad dextram Patris omnipotentis. Eufeb. Gallican. Sedet ad dextram Dei Patris omnipotentis. Etherius Uxam. & Author Sermonum de Tempore, the Greek and Latin MSS. in Bennet College Library.

In the Afcenfion of Chrift thefe Words of the Creed propound to us Three Confiderations and no more: the Firft of the Perfon, He, the Second of the Action, afcended; the Third of the Termination, into Heaven. Now the Perfon being perfectly the fame which we have confidered in the precedent Articles, he will afford no different Speculation but only in Conjunation with this particular Action. Wherefore I conceive thefe Three things neceffary and fufficient for the Illuftration of Chrift's Afcenfion: Firft, To fhew that the promised Meffias was to afcend into Heaven; Secondly, To prove that our Jefus, whom we believe to be the true Messias, did really and truly afcend thither: Thirdly, To declare what that Heaven is unto which he did afcend.

That the promised Meffias fhould afcend into Heaven, hath been reprefented Typically, and declared Prophetically. The High-Priest under the Law was an exprefs Type of the Meffias and his Prieftly Office; the Atonement which he made was the Representation of the Propitiation in Christ for the Sin of the World: For the making this Atonement, the High-Prieft was appointed once every Year to enter into the Holy of Holies, and no oftner. For the Lord faid unto Mofes, Speak unto Aaron thy brother that Lev. 16. 1. be come not at all times into the Holy place within the Veil before the Mercy-feat, which is upon the Ark, that he die not. None entred into that Holy Place but the High-Prieft alone; and he himself could enter thi ther but once in the Year, and thereby fhewed that the High-prieft of the Heb. 9.11,11 good things to come, by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands, was to enter into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. The Jews did all * believe that the Tabernacle did figni- * Eï is fie this World, and the Holy of Holies the highest Heavens; wherefore as Cal the High-Prieft did flay the Sacrifice, and with the Blood thereof did pass, through the rest of the Tabernacle, and with that Blood enter into the Holy eins lon of Holies; fo was the Meffias here to offer up himself, and being flain to din dis wee pass through all the Courts of this World below, and with his Blood to enter everiar into the highest Heavens, the most glorious Seat of the Majefty of God. xmedas. Tiv Thus Chriff's Afcenfion was represented Typically.

τολμώ, τά τε

τε νομοθέτίω Lieńce Dñor άνδρα και μια

ei

ταίως ἡμᾶς ὑπὸ ἢ ἄλλων τὰς βλασφημίας ακέοντας· ἔκατα δ τέτων εἰς ἀπομίμησιν καὶ διατύπωση ή όλων, είτις αφθόνως ἐθέλει και με Γενέσεως (κοπείν, αρέσει γεγονότα, τώ τε γ (akaki τριάκοντα πηχών ἦσαν νείμας εἰς τρία, και δύο μέρη πάσιν ἀνεῖς τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν, ὥσπερ βέβηλόν τινα καὶ κοινὸν τόπον * γιῶ καὶ * θάλασσαν επισημαίνει· καὶ γὰ ταῦτα πᾶσιν ἐσιν ἐπέβαλα τριτων μοίραν μόνο επέγραψε τῷ Θεῷ, διὰ τὸ καὶ τ' ἀρανὸν ἀνεπίβαλον είναι ανθρώποις. Jofeph. Where it is to be observed, that the Place which S. Paul calls the first Tabernacle, Jofephus terms βίζηλός

Antiq. 1. 5. c. 8.

Blondóv tha xj zowo TOTOν, a common and prophane Place, as reprefenting this World in which we live, and our Life and Converfation here: as the Apostle feems to speak. Heb. 9. 1. Eixe u ovi wewin oxlun dixaráμala halęcias tó te aylor not mixón. For yov xoxo fanctum feculare. or as the Syriack by NU domus fancta mundana, may well be that part of the Tabernacle which reprefented this World, and therefore termed common and prophane in reSpect of that more holy part which reprefented Heaven.

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This Place

Meffias, by

a

The fame Afcenfion was alfo declared Prophetically, as we read in the Pfal. 68. 18. Prophet David, Thou haft afcended up on high, thou haft led captivity must neceffa- captive, thou haft received gifts for men: which Phrafe on high, in the rily be under-Language of David fignifying Heaven, could be applied properly to no ofood of the ther Conquerour but the Meffias; not to Mofes, not to David, not to reason of that Joshua, not to any but the Chrift; who was to conquer Sin, and Death, high place to and Hell, and triumphing over them to afcend unto the highest Heavens, which no o- and thence to fend the precious and glorious Gifts of the Spirit unto the rour afcended. Sons of Men. The Prophecy of Micah did foretel as much, even in the Opinion and Confeffion of the *Jews themfelves, by thofe Words, The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up and have passed guage of the through the gates and are gone out by it; and their Kings fhall pass beProphet is at- fore them, and the Lord at the head of them. And thus Chrift's Afcenfion God, as Pfal. was declared Prophetically as well as Typically; which was our first Confi7.8.2 deration.

ther Conque

For that

למרום in

the lan

tributed to

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turn on high,

that is in the language of the Chaldee Paraphrafe, w, return to the house of thy majefty; and Pfal. 93.4. 77 121, the Lord on high is mighty, Chal. Ni mwa, in the upper heavens, Pfal. 71. 19. Thy righteousness, O Lord, is ny, ufque ad excelfum; the Chaldee again, wy. In the fame manner in this place, by thou haft afcended on high, the Chaldee Paraphrafe tranflateth y np thou haft afcended the firmament: and he addeth immediately Do thou Prophet Mofes: yet there is a plain Contradiction in that Interpretation; for if it were meant of Mofes it cannot be the Firmament; if it were the Firmament, it cannot be understood of Mofes, for he never afcended thither. *This Breaker up is by the Confeffion of the Jews

the Title of the Meffias. So the Author of Sepher Abchath Ruchal in his Defcription of the coming of the Meffias maketh ufe of this place. And the fame appeared farther by that Saying of Mofes Hadderfhan in Bereshit Rabba, уʊ

the Plantation from above is Meffias, as it is written, the breaker is come up before them, &c. So he on Gen. 40. 9.

,The Plantation from below is Abraham מלמטה זה אברהם נטעה מלמעלה זה משיח שג" עלה הפרץ לפניהם וגו: When hall we אמיתי אנו שמחים כשיעמדו רגלי השכינה על הר הזתים .18 .44 .Again the fame Berefhit Rabba, Gen

When ? when the captives fhall aicend from מגיהנם והשכינה בראשם שנ' ויעבר מלכם לפניהם ויהוה בראשם:

rejoyce? when the Feet of the Shecinah fhall stand upon the Mount of Olives; and again, mban byw 'ON

Hell, and Shecinah in the head, as it is written (Mic. 2. 13.) Their King fhall pass before them, and the Lord in the head of them.

Secondly, Whatsoever was thus reprefented and foretold of the promised Meffias, was truly and really performed by our Jefus. 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 Tranflation of his Humane Nature, really and truly afcend from this Earth below on which he lived, into the Heavens above, or rather above all the Heavens, in the fame Body and the Soul with which he lived and died and rofe again.

The Afcent of Chrift 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 Refurrection. For whatsoever alteration was made in the Body of Chrift when he rose, whatfoever glorious Qualities it was invefted with thereby, that was not his AfJohn 20. 17. cenfion, as appeareth by thofe Words which he fpake to Mary, Touch me not, for I am not yet afcended to my Father. Although he had faid before to Nicodemus, No man afcended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven; which Words imply that he had then afcended; yet even those concern not this Afcenfion. 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 Hypoftatical Union was in Heaven; from whence fpeaking after the manner of Men, he might well fay, that he had afcended into Heaven; because whatfoever was first on Earth and then in Heaven, we fav

John 3. 13.

afcended

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