XXV.  And if He ascend up into Heaven,90    Luke xxiv. 51. ascend with Him.  Be one of those angels who escort Him, or one of those who receive Him.  Bid the gates be lifted up,91    Ps. xxiv. 7, 10. or be made higher, that they may receive Him, exalted after His Passion.  Answer to those who are in doubt because He bears up with Him His body and the tokens of His Passion, which He had not when He came down, and who therefore inquire, “Who is this King of Glory?” that it is the Lord strong and mighty, as in all things that He hath done from time to time and does, so now in His battle and triumph for the sake of Mankind.  And give to the doubting of the question the twofold answer.  And if they marvel and say as in Isaiah’s drama Who is this that cometh from Edom and from the things of earth? Or How are the garments red of Him that is without blood or body, as of one that treads in the full wine-press?92    Isa. lxiii. 1. set forth the beauty of the array of the Body that suffered, adorned by the Passion, and made splendid by the Godhead, than which nothing can be more lovely or more beautiful.

ΚΕʹ. Κἂν εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀνίῃ, συνάνελθε: γενοῦ μετὰ τῶν παραπεμπόντων ἀγγέλων, ἢ τῶν δεχομένων. Ἀρθῆναι ταῖς πύλαις διακέλευσαι, ὑψηλοτέραις γενέσθαι, ἵν' ἐκ τοῦ παθεῖν ὑψηλότερον δέξωνται. Ἀπόκριναι τοῖς ἀποροῦσι διὰ τὸ σῶμα, καὶ τὰ τοῦ Πάθους σύμβολα, οἷς μὴ κατελθὼν συνανέρχεται, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πυνθανομένοις: Τίς ἐστιν οὗτος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς δόξης; ὅτι Κύριος κραταιὸς καὶ δυνατὸς ἐν πᾶσί τε οἷς ἀεὶ πεποίηκε, καὶ ποιεῖ, καὶ τῷ νῦν πολέμῳ καὶ τροπαίῳ περὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος: καὶ δὸς τῷ διπλῷ τῆς ἐρωτήσεως διπλῆν τὴν ἀπόκρισιν. Κἂν θαυμάζωσι, λέγοντες, κατὰ τὴν Ἡσαΐου δραματουργίαν: Τίς οὗτος ὁ παραγενόμενος ἐξ Ἐδὼμ, καὶ τῶν γηίνων; ἢ, Πῶς ἐρυθρὰ τὰ ἱμάτια τοῦ ἀναίμου καὶ ἀσωμάτου, ὡς ληνοβάτου, καὶ πλήρη ληνὸν πατήσαντος; προβαλοῦ τὸ ὡραῖον τῆς στολῆς τοῦ πεπονθότος σώματος, τῷ Πάθει καλλωπισθέντος, καὶ τῇ Θεότητι λαμπρυνθέντος, ἧς οὐδὲν ἐρασιμιώτερον, οὐδὲ ὡραιότερον.