The Handmaid to Private Devotion, Feast 17
THE FEAST OF OVR LORD'S ASCENSION OR, Holy-Thurs-dayes Deuotion.
The ground of this Feast
In the old Testamēt
Prophecies.
Types.
In the new, the History of our Sauiours going in triumph into Heauen.
PARALELL.
Prophecie.
Thou hast ascended vp on high, thou hast ledde captiuity captiue, Psalm. 68. 18.
Historie.
And when he had spokē these things, while they beheld him hee was taken vp, Act. 1. 9.
Hee rodde vponupon the Che…ubims, & did flye; yea he did flye vponupon the wings of the wind, Psa. 18. 10.
For a Clowd tooke him out of their sight, Act. 1. 9.
Sit thou on my right hand, Psalm. 110. 1.
Hee was caried vp into heauen, and he sate on the right hand of God. Mar. 16. 19.
Type.
Eliah was taken vp with a fierie Charet. 2. King. 2. 11.
Accomplishment.
While hee blessed them he was parted from them, and caried vp into heauen, Luke 24. 51.
For thine instruction meditate vponupon
Prophecie.
Types.
Storie.
of Christ's Ascension.
For thy comfort apply the benefit thereof to thy selfe.
For thy correction examine thy desires and affections, & check thy earthlinesse and worldlinesse.
Thy faith and ioy by the Psalme.
Thy louelove and hope by the exhortation.
Thy Zeale and Deuotion by the prayer ensuing.
The Hymne for Ascension-day.
Wherein all parts of Christ his glorious returne in tryumph into heauen, are prophetically expressed: as
1 His liftinga vp himself from the earth.
2 The cloudes receiuingb and carrying him.
3 The Angelsc meeting him.
4 The heauensd opening to him.
5 God the Father's enthronizing him into his euerlasting kingdome.
GOD is gone vp with a merrie noyse; and the Lord in the sound of the Trumpe, Psal. 47. 5.
Be thou exalted Lord in thine own strength; So will we sing & prayse thy power, Psal 21. 13.
Set vp thy selfe, ô God, aboue the heauens: and thy glory aboue al the earth. Ps. 108. 5
b O sing vntounto God; sing praises vntounto his Name: magnifie him that rideth vponupon the heauens (or cloudes) by his name IAH, and reioice before him, Psal. 68. 4.
In thy Majestie ride prosperously because of truth, meeknes, and righteousnes; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Psal. 45. 4.
The Chariots of God are twentie thousand, euen thousands of Angells: the Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place, Psal. 68. 17.
d Lift vp your heads, ô yee gates, and be yee lift vp yee euerlasting dores, and the King of glorie shall come in, Psalm. 24. 7.
Who is the King of glory? It is the Lord strong and mightie, euen the Lord mighty in battel. ver. 8.
Lift vp your heads, ô yee gates, and be ye lift vp ye euerlasting dores, and the King of glorie shall come in. ver. 9.
Who is the King of glorie? Euen the Lord of Hosts; he is the King of glorie. ver. 10.
e I hauehave set my King vponupon my holy hill of Sion, Psal. 2. 6.
Aske of mee, and I will giuegive thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the vttermost parts of the earth, for thy possession. ver. 8.
The Lord shall send the rod of thy power out of Sion; bee thou Ruler in the middest among thine enemies.
Thou shalt bruise them with a rodde of Iron, and dash them in pieces like a Potters vessell.
The exhortation for Ascension DAIE.
Wee ought to set our affections on things aboue;
1 Because there is the source of our Soule which is of a heauenly and diuine nature.
2 Because there is our Head.
3 Because there is the nobler & better part of our bodie.
4 Because there is our abiding Citie.
5 Because there is our mansion house.
6 Because there is our hope & inheritance.
7 Because there are no true ioyes nor durable riches but there.
GOD created man in his own Image, Gen. 1. 27.In heauen is,
God formed him of the dust of the earth,1 The source of our soules created according to God's Image. and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, Gen.
Then shall the dust returne to the earth as it was. Eccles. 12. 7.
The spirit-returneth to God that gaue it. Ibid.
We had fathers of our flesh which corrected vsus; shall we not be much more in subiection to the Father of spirits, and liue. Heb. 12. 9.
Exceeding great and precious promises are giuen to vsus,2 Our heads that by these wee might bee partakers of the diuine nature hauing escaped the corruption that is in the world. 2 Pet. 1. 4.
He was caried vp into heauen, and sate at the right hand of God. Mat. 16. 19.
Whom the heauens must containe. Acts 3. 21.
I saw the …eauen opened, and the Sonne of man standing at the right hand of the Father. Acts 7. 56.
I goe out of the world to the Father. Ioh. 13. 1.
Go to my Father. Ioh. 15. 10.
Our conuersation is in heauen from whence also we look for the Sauiour the Lord Iesus. Phil. 3. 20.
If ye be risen with Christ seek the things that are aboue where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Col. 3. 1.
Set your affections on things that are aboue, and not on things on the earth. ver. 3.
Yee are come to the generall assembly,3 The nobler parts of the Church. and Church of the first-borne which are written in heauen, and to the spirits of iust men-made perfect. Hebrewes 12. 23.
Now yee are no more strangers and forreiners,4 Our country. but fellow Citizens with the Saints, and of the houshould of God. Ephesians 2. 19.
For here we hauehave no continuing Citie, but wee seeke one to come. Heb. 13. 23.
For this we groane earnestly desiring to bee clothed with our house, 1. Cor. 5. 2.
Arise and depart for this is no rest for you, Mic. 2. 10.
They confessed that they were strangers, and sought a Citie whose builder and maker is God, Heb. 11. 13.
I beseech you as strangers and pilgrimes abstaine from fleshly lusts. 1. Pet. 2. 11.
I am a stranger and soiournet as all my fathers were, Ps. 39. 14.
In my Fathers house there are many mansions;5 Our mansion house. I goe to prepare a place for you, Io. 14. 2.
If our hope were in this life onelyonly,6 Hope and inheritance we were of all men most miserable, 1. Cor.
To an inheritance incorruptible, and vndefiled, and that sadeth not away, reserued in heauen for you, 1. Pet. 1. 4.
Lay vp your treasure in heauen, &c. Mat. 6. 19.
Look not on things which are seene, but on things which are not seene; for the things &c. 2. Cor. 4. 18.
Vanitie of vanities, &c, Eccles. 1. 2.
Whom hauehave I in heauen but thee? &c. Psal. 73. 24.
The Prayer for Ascension Day.
GLorious and gratious Redeemer, Lord Iesus Christ, who humbledst thy selfe, & didst become obedient to death, euen the death of the Crosse, and therefore thy Father highly exalted thee aboue the graue in the resurrection, aboue the earth in thy Ascention, aboue the heauens in thy session at his right hand, and then he gaue thee a name aboue al names that at the name of Iaesus eueryevery knee shall bow, both of things in heauen, and in earth, and of things vnderunder the earth. I humbly bow the knees not onelyonly of my body, but of my heart and soule vntounto thee. I neuer heare of thee, or remember; neuer thinke, or speake of thee but with greatest reuerence, and louelove that heart can conceiue, or tongue expresse. I admire the mystery of thine incarnation; I tremble at the horror of thy passion; I adore the power of thy resurrection; and I triumph in the glory of thine Ascension. My God and my Lord make me wholly thine as thou art mine. Thy birth was my life; thy life my merit; thy death my ransome; thy resurrection my deliuery out of the prison of death (when thy father layed thee vp for my debt) thy Ascension my assurance and takingp ossessiō of an incorruptible and vndefiled inheritance reserued in the heauens. O Sauiour if thou haddest not been born, I had neuer been borne anew, if thou hadst not dyed for my sins I had dyed in my sins: If thou hadst not risen from the dead, my soule might hauehave bin with thee in Paradice, but my body should not hauehave rested in hope, neither should I hauehave euer seene God in my flesh: if thou hadst not ascended I might hauehave bin freed from hell, but I should neuer hauehave had a place prepared for mee in heauen. O Lord when thou camest to vsus on earth, Iohn was thy forerunner, but thou wert my forerunner in thy returne into heauen. Iohn prepared the way before thee on earth: but thou preparedst away before me into heauen. That way & those regions in the aire which Lucifer defiled & cursed by his fall through them from heauen thou hast clensed and blessed by the marching tryumphantly through them into heauen. O blessed Creator and repairer of nature, in thee not onelyonly all the kindreds of the earth, but all creatures vnderunder the cope of heauen are blessed, and therefore they sigh and grone together with vsus; desiring feruently thy second comming. The earth was blessed and sanctified by thy birth, and thy treading vponupon it; The water, by thy descending into the riuer Iordan at thy baptisme, and walking on the Seas. Now the ayre, likewise, and fire expected an honour and a blessing from thee, and both receiued it: the ayre by thy ascending through it; the fire by sending downe the Holy Ghost in the likenesse of fierie Clouen Tonguer. O Lord my Redeemer, how excellent is thy Name in all the world!
Creatures without voice praise thee, as the heauens and earth: without vnderstanding knowe thee, as the starre that lighted the Sages to thee: without will obey thee, as winds and Seas: without eares hearken to thee, as the figtree which thou cursedst, and it withered: without naturall affection bemoan thee, as the stones that claue, the vale that rent, the earth that quaked at thy passion: without will voluntarily offer thee seruice, the Foale to beare thee, the Doue to manifest thee, the Fish to discharge thee, the Sunne to hide thine ignominy among men, and here the cloude to vaile thee from mortall eye, and transport thee into heauen. O Lord my Redeemer how excellent is thy name in al the world, who makest the light thy garment, the Angell thy messenger, the aire thy race, the cloudes thy charriot, and flyest vponupon the wings of the winde into heauen? Thou art ascended vponupon high, thou hast led captiuity captiue. In thy Passion thou wast Death's death, & killedst it. In thy buriall thou wast the Graue's graue and destroyedst destruction; Victoriā vicisti.and now in thy Ascension thou conquerdst conquest it selfe, and ledst captiuity captiue, and receiuedst gifts for men, for the whole Church and eueryevery Belieuer. O Lord bestow these gifts liberally vponupon me, that I may grow in grace, and the knowledge and louelove of thee. This day thou liftedst vp thy body from the earth; lift vp my heart from it. This day thou transportedst thy body to heauen; transport my desires thither. This day thou setledst thy selfe in thy Throne at the right hand of thy Father, fixe my thoughts, and settle mine affections on thee in heauen, and on heauen for thee. Amen.