SERMON III.

FESTIVAL OF THE ASCENSION OF
JESUS CHRIST.

ON THE BLESSINGS RESULTING FROM IT, AND THE SENTIMENTS WHICH IT IS CALCULATED TO INSPIRE.

GOSPEL. Mark, c. xvi. v. 14-20. At that time: Jesus appeared to the eleven as they were at table; and he upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart, because they did not believe them who had seen him after he was risen again. And he said to them: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not, shall be condemned. And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name they shall cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues: they shall take up serpents: and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover. And the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God. But they going forth preached every where the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed.

It is related in the Acts of the Apostles, that our blessed Saviour "showed himself alive after his passion by many proofs, for forty days, appearing to them and speaking of the kingdom of God." (ACTS, c. i. v. 3.) On one of these occasions, and that probably at Jerusalem, he is stated, in the Gospel of this festival, to have discovered himself to them when they were at table, and to have reproached

them with their incredulity and hardness of heart, in refusing to give credit to the testimony of those who had been ocular witnesses of his posthumous, existence. "At length he appeared to the eleven, as they were at table, and he upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart, because they did not believe them who had seen him after he was risen again." He is then recorded to have delivered to them a commission to preach the Gospel to the inhabitants of the earth, without any distinction between Jew and Gentile; accompanied, on the one hand, with a promise of salvation to all such as should cordially receive, and practically observe the covenant of mercy which was proffered to them; and with a menace of condemnation, on the other, to those who should obstinately reject it. "And he said to them, go preach the Gospel to every creature; he who believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he who believeth not, shall be condemned." To enable them to gain credence to the doctrines which they were thus commanded to teach, he is related to have pledged his word that he would invest the believers of them with powers to perform such supernatural works, in confirmation of their truth, as would place it beyond the possibility of a doubt. "And these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover." Hay

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ing addressed the Apostles in these terms, he proceeded with them, as it would seem from St. Luke, to Bethania, situated on mount Olivet, where, in the words of the same Evangelist, "lifting up his hands and blessing them," he is represented by St. Mark, in this day's Gospel, to have been raised up to heaven, and as there sitting pre-eminently exalted in the blissful kingdom of his Heavenly Father. "And the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God." The Gospel then concludes by observing that the Apostles, in obedience to the mandate of their Divine Master, dispersed themselves abroad, in every direction, labouring with indefatigable zeal and industry, in the discharge of their high commission, and that the promised miracles attended invariably their successful exertions. "But they going forth preached every where; the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed."

The joyful event of the Ascension of our blessed Saviour into heaven, which is briefly mentioned in the Gospel of this festival, appointed by the church to commemorate it, is described more circumstantially in the Acts of the Apostles, in the following terms:"And when he had said these things while they looked on, he was raised up and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they were beholding him going up to heaven, behold two men stood by them in white garments, who also said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to

heaven? This Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come as you have seen him going into heaven." From this passage of holy writ it clearly appears, in the first place, that Christ Jesus, the man Christ Jesus, did actually, in the presence, and in the sight of his Apostles, ascend above the clouds, since it was the interposition of a cloud which intercepted their ulterior view of him; and, in the next place, that the important intelligence of his entrance into heaven was communicated to them by two messengers from that blissful abode. But what, it may be asked, and where is that particular part of space to which the appellation of heaven is here given? Why, my friends, from comparing the narrative of the glorious event which is the subject of this instruction, with other passages of the Sacred Scripture in which it is alluded to,as where it is called "his ascending to his father," (JOHN, c. ii. v. 17.) "his passing out of this world to his Father," (JOHN, c. 13. v. 1.) "his appearing in the presence of God," (HEB., c. ix. v. 24.) "his being exalted to the right hand of God," (Acts, c. ii. v. 13.) "his being taken up into glory," (1 TIM., c. iii. v. 16.) "his entering into glory," (LUKE, c. 24. v. 26.) or, as it is expressed by St. Peter," the magnificent glory,"* (2 PETER, c. i. v. 17.) "his entering into the most inward part behind the veil," (HEB., c vi. v. 19.) “ his having ascended above all the heavens," (EPH., c. iv. v. 10.) "having been made higher than the heavens," (HEB., c. vii.

* Υπο της μεγαλοπρεπους δόξης. Vulg. A magnifica gloria.

v. 26.)-from comparing it, I say, with these and similar passages, it is manifest, that by heaven is to be understood that peculiar place in the universe of God, which is bright, beyond every other, with the effulgence of his glory,—which is supereminently exalted above all other places; which in holiness, beauty, splendor, and magnificence, is incomparably superior to them; that it is the august presencechamber, if I may be allowed the expression, of the King of kings, and Lord of lords-the inmost sanctuary of God's Temple not made with hands, in which, from the mercy seat of light inaccessible, he replenishes the souls of the just made perfect with unutterable delights.

Such, my friends, is the grand and magnificent dwelling to which our blessed Saviour is represented, in this day's Gospel, to have been borne up aloft, -not, like the prophet Elias, in a chariot of fire, but as the only begotten Son of God-by the inherent energy of the fulness of " the Godhead dwelling in him bodily," where he occupies a station superior, beyond comparison, to that of the most dignified of the glorified spirits that surround the throne of God. For, "he sitteth," says the Gospel, "on the right hand of God." Not that God, who is a pure Spirit, possesses, like human beings, corporeal members; but the expression is used in reference to a custom at the courts of earthly princes, to convey an idea of the high degree of pre-eminence to which the humanity of Jesus is raised in the court of heaven. For, the most signal mark of distinc