(Sunday after Ascension, Evening.)
Ephesians iv. 9. 10. 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.
This is one of those very deep texts which we are not meant to think
about every day; only at such seasons as this, when we have to think
of Christ ascending into heaven, that he might send down his Spirit
at Whitsuntide. Of this the text speaks; and therefore, we may, I
hope, think a little of it to-day, but reverently, and cautiously,
like men who know a very little, and are afraid of saying more than
they know. These deep mysteries about heaven we must always meddle
with very humbly, lest we get out of our depth in haste and self-
conceit. As it is said,
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
For, if we are not very careful, we shall be apt to mistake the
meaning of Scripture, and make it say what we like, and twist it to
suit our own fancies, and our own ignorance. Therefore we must
never, with texts like this, say positively, 'It must mean this. It
can mean only this.' How can we tell that?
This world, which we do see, is far too wonderful for us to
understand. How much more wonderful must be the world which we do
not see? How much more wonderful must heaven be? How can we tell
what is there, or what is not there? We can tell of some things
that are not there, and those are sin, evil, disorder, harm of any
kind. Heaven is utterly good. Beyond that, we know nothing.
Therefore I dare not be positive about this text, for fear I should
try to explain it according to my own fancies. Wise fathers and
divines have differed very much as to what it means; how far any one
of them is right, I cannot tell you.
The ancient way of explaining this text was this. People believed
in old times that the earth was flat. Then, they held, hell was
below the earth, or inside it in some way: and the burning
mountains, out of which came fire and smoke, were the mouths of
hell. And when they believed that, it was easy for them to suppose
that St. Paul spoke of Christ's descending into hell. He went down,
says St. Paul, into the lower parts of the earth. What could those
lower parts be, they asked, but the hell which lay under the earth?
Now about that we know nothing. St. Paul himself never says that
hell is below the earth. Indeed (and this is a very noteworthy
thing) St. Paul never, in his epistles, mentions in plain words hell
at all; so what St. Paul thought about the matter, we can never
know. Whether by Christ's descending into the lower parts of the
earth, he meant descending into hell, or merely that our Lord came
down on this earth of ours, poor, humble, and despised, laying his
glory by for a while, this we cannot tell. Some wise men think one
thing, some another. Two of the wisest and best of the great old
fathers of the Church think that he meant only Christ's death and
burial. So how dare I give a positive opinion, where wiser men than
I differ?
But about the other half of the text, which says, that he ascended
high above all heavens, there is no such difficulty.
All agree as to what that means: though, perhaps, in old times they
would have put it in different words.
The old belief was, that as hell was below the flat earth, so heaven
was above it; and that there were many heavens, seven heavens, in
layers, as it were, one above the other; and that the seventh
heaven, which was the highest of all, was where God dwelt. Now,
whether St. Paul believed this, we cannot tell. He speaks of being
himself caught up into the third heaven, and here Christ is spoken
of as ascending above all heavens.
My own belief, though I say it very humbly, is, that St. Paul spoke
of these things only as a figure of speech, for the sake of the
ignorance of the people to whom he was writing. They talked in that
way; and he was forced now and then to talk in that way, too, to
make them understand him. I think that, when he spoke of being
caught up into the third heaven, he did not mean that he was lifted
bodily off the earth into the skies: but that his soul was raised
up and enlightened to understand high and wonderful heavenly
matters, though not the highest or most wonderful. If he had meant
that, he would have said, that he was caught up into the seventh
heaven. We know that our Lord, in the same way, continually used
parables; because, as he said, the ignorant people could not
understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; and he had,
therefore, to put them into parables, taken from the common country
matters, and country forms of speech, if by any means he might make
them understand. And so, I suppose, it was with St. Paul. He had
to speak in such a way that he could be understood; and no more.
But when he says that Christ ascended far above all heavens, we are
to believe this--that he ascended to God himself. So high that he
could go no higher; so far that he could go no farther.
We, now, do not believe that there are seven heavens above the
earth; and we need not. It is no doctrine of the Church, or of the
Creeds. We know that the earth is round, and not flat; and that the
heavens, if by that we mean the sky, is neither above it, nor below
it, but round it on every side. But some may say, whither, then,
did our Lord ascend? To what place did his body go up? And that is
a right question; for we must always bear in mind that not merely
Christ's godhead but his manhood, not merely Christ's soul but his
body also, ascended into heaven. If we do not believe that, we do
not hold the Catholic faith. Whither, then, did Christ ascend?
My friends, we know this. That this earth and the planets move
round the sun, which is in the centre of them. We know this, too;
that all the countless stars which spangle the sky are really suns
likewise, perhaps, with worlds which we cannot see, moving round
them, as we move round the sun. We know, too, that these fixed
stars, as they seem to be, are not really fixed, but have some
regular movements among themselves, which seem very slow and small
to us, from their immense distance, but which really are very great
and fast.
Now all these suns and stars, it is reasonable to believe, most
probably have a centre. There must be order among them; and they
most probably move round one thing, one place, one central sun, as
it were, which is the very heart of all the worlds, and the whole
universe. Where that place is, or what it is like, we know not, and
cannot know. Only this we may believe, that it is glorious beyond
all that eye hath seen, and ear heard, or hath entered into the
heart of man to conceive. If this world be beautiful, how beautiful
must that world of all worlds be. If the sun be glorious, how
glorious must the sun of all suns be. If the heaven over us be
grand, how grand must that heaven of heavens be. We will not talk
of it; for we cannot imagine it: and if we tried to, we should only
lower it to our own low fancies. But is it not reasonable to
suppose, that there God the Father does, perhaps, in some
unspeakable way, shew forth his glory? That there, in the heart of
all the worlds, Cherubim and Seraphim continually adore him, crying
day and night, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth: Heaven and
earth are full of the majesty of thy glory!' before his throne from
which goes forth light, and power, and life, to all worlds and all
created things.
And is it not reasonable to believe, that there Christ is, in the
bosom of the Father, and at the right hand of God? We know that
those, too, are only figures. That God is a Spirit, everywhere and
nowhere; and has not hands as we have. But it is only by such
figures that the Bible can make us understand the truth, that Christ
is the highest being in all heavens and worlds; equal with God the
Father, and sharer of his kingdom, and power, and glory, God blessed
for ever. Amen.
What then does St. Paul mean, when he says, 'That he may fill all
things?' I do not know. And I will take care not to lessen and
spoil St. Paul's words, by any ignorant words of my own. But one
thing I know it will mean one day, for St. Paul says so. That
Christ reigns, and will reign, triumphant over sin, and death, and
hell, till he have put all enemies under his feet, and the last
enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Then shall he deliver up
the kingdom to God, even the Father; that God may be all in all.
What that means I do not know. But this I can say, and you can say.
We can pray that God will finish the number of his elect and hasten
his kingdom, that we, with all that are departed in the true faith,
may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul,
in his eternal kingdom. And this I can say, that it means now, for
you and me; for Whitsuntide tells me:--that whatever else Christ can
or cannot fill, he can at least fill our hearts, because he is in
the bosom of the Father himself; and therefore from him, as from the
Father, proceeds the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life. That
Spirit will proceed even to us, if we will have him. He will fill
our hearts with himself; with the Spirit of goodness, which proceeds
out of the heaven of heavens, and out of the bosom of God himself;
with love, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness; with truth,
honour, duty, earnestness, and all that is the likeness of Christ
and of God. Oh let us pray for that Spirit; the Spirit of truth,
which Christ promised us when he ascended up into the heaven of
heavens, to keep us sound in our most holy faith; and the Spirit of
goodness, to give us strength to live the good lives of good
Christian men.
And then it will matter little what opinions we hold about deep
things, which the wisest man can never put into words. And it will
matter little, whether what I have been telling you to-day about the
heaven of heavens be exactly true or not; for what says St. Paul of
such deep matters? That we know in part, and prophesy in part; and
that prophecies shall fail, and knowledge vanish away: but charity,
love, and right feeling, and right doing, which is the very Holy
Spirit of God, shall abide for ever. And if that Spirit be with us,
he will guide us in due time into all truth; teach us all we need to
know, and enable us to practise all we ought to do. Amen.