§ 308. Connexion of all the Supernatural Facts in Christ’s Manifestation.

We make the same remark upon the Ascension of Christ as was before made upon his miraculous Conception.⁸²⁴⁸²⁴   Cf. p. 16. In regard to neither is prominence given to the special and actual fact in the Apostolic writings; in regard to both such a fact is presupposed in the general conviction of the Apostles, and in the connexion of Christian consciousness. Thus the end of Christ’s appearance on earth corresponds to its beginning. No link in its chain of supernatural facts can be lost without taking away its significance as a whole. Christianity rests upon these facts; stands or falls with them. By faith in them has the Divine life been generated from the beginning; by faith in them has that life in all ages regenerated mankind, raised them above the limits of earthly life, changed them from glebae adscriptis to citizens of heaven, and formed the stage of transition from an existence chained to nature, to a free, celestial life, far raised above it. Were this faith gone, there might, indeed, remain many of the effects of what Christianity had been; but as for Christianity in the true sense, as for a Christian Church, there could be none.