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that we make before him '," how speedily will the effect be seen, the power felt. We shall be glad to take every opportunity that presents itself of approaching the throne of grace. We shall be regular at public worship, regular at private prayer, regular at family devotion. We shall be fervent and earnest in prayer, faithful and hopeful, joyful and humble. Above all, there will flow from so pure and holy a source, rivers of waters of life, abundant streams of “ pure and undefiled religion,” of visits to "the fatherless and widows," of affections "unspotted from the world."

THE ASCENSION DAY.
FOR THE EPISTLE.

THE former treatise have I made,
O Theophilus, of all that Jesus
began both to do and teach.

Acts i., 1 to 11.

Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

7 And he said unto them, It is 2 Until the day in which he was not for you to know the times or taken up, after that he through the the seasons, which the Father hath Holy Ghost had given command-put in his own power. ments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

3 To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying,

8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;

11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. The fact upon which this portion of Scripture turns is the Ascension of Jesus Christ, and the truth to which it directs attention is his second coming, or, as the Apostle's creed expresses it, “He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right

1 The Litany.

hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." There are also other matters of which this portion of Scripture speaks; such as, the former treatise of its author St. Luke'," of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up;" the wellattested manifestation of the living and risen Jesus to the ароstles whom he had chosen2; and the promise of the Holy Ghost. But the principal fact to which our faith is this day required to give its assent, and to which our life as well as our faith ought always to give testimony, is the truth upon which we should now especially meditate, and found our groundwork of edification. And may he, who, as on this day, ascended on high, now draw our souls thither, and grant unto them that ordinary inspiration, which soon after his ascension was for the first time given in extraordinary measure.

Never has the authenticity of profane writing been more clearly proved than has that of the inspired book, which, in conjunction with two of the Gospels, establishes the fact of the ascension of Christ. And the witnesses of that fact were many; they had knowledge of the person of Jesus; and they had ample time given them, forty days, to afford them complete satisfaction upon the subject of his identity. Many could not be deceived, though one might; the best testimony in any case is the testimony of the eye and ear; and the eye and ear in this case could scarcely have been under a delusion for forty days, although if the time had been shorter, and the evidence a vision, these senses might have been mistaken. He, then, who in this Scripture is proved to have ascended, at the time appointed, into the heavens, is certainly the same Jesus whose wonderful birth, life, death, and resurrection, are recorded in the Gospels; and the faith of his disciples cannot rest upon surer grounds, than upon the testimony by which these facts are established.

The Ascension then, as a fact in the history of Christ uncontrovertibly proved and undeniably true, is a strong confirmation of faith. If the ascension be an indisputable fact and an undeniable truth, we have the strongest reason to be satisfied with all the previous history of Jesus; and he triumphs, in our estimation, over all the enemies of his mission. His divinity becomes clear, his office unquestionable, his doctrine not to be gainsayed. Well may the Church celebrate an event so essen

1 The Gospel according to St. Luke. 2 1 Cor. xv., 5, 6, 7, 8.
3 Mark xvi., 19, 20. Luke xxiv., 50, 51.

tial to her truest interests as this; and gladly should every member of the Church, be his worldly station and relative position what it may, ascend in spirit to the heavens on the day of its celebration, and by faith see Jesus, his ascended Mediator and Advocate, standing on the right hand of God. How should his sordid thoughts and worldly affections die within him, kindle into faith and spirituality, and entirely change their character. An ascended, and therefore an accepted Saviour, gives the soul something substantial to go upon: sure mercies-endless love— omnipotent love-ratified forgiveness.

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But further, the faith of a Christian must regard the ascended Jesus in another capacity, namely, that of one who is to come again; of one who is to be the great Judge of all the earth. Faith may rejoice in the free grace of Christ, but it must be greatly overwhelmed with awe at his office of vengeance; for it is the office of faith to look forward as well as backward, and see that same Jesus, who was taken up from earth to heaven, so coming in like manner, as he was seen to go into 'heaven." And whatever be the Christian's spiritual state, he must, whether sinner or believer, if he ever thinks at all, thus think of Jesus, think of him as a Saviour and a Judge, think of him with joy, think of him with reverence. But how greatly will the hope preponderate over the fear, in the assurance that the Redeemer will " come, in like manner as he was seen to go into heaven," will come as a merciful Judge, as a God full of love, as the Word made flesh, as the incarnate Son of Man. Be this the joy of the believer, the comfort of the afflicted, the hope of the penitent, as well as the lesson of the ignorant, and the sting of the wayward and reprobate.

Be this doctrine, then, the appearance in judgment, the acceptance as Saviour, of an ascended Son of Man, useful to all, but especially to us of this family. Worldliness, to which in a family, as well as elsewhere, there is always great temptation, may be making us either formal in prayer or weak in faith. Cumbered," like Martha, "about much serving1," cumbered with domestic anxieties, cumbered with the pleasures or troubles of this life, we are in danger of losing all relish for prayer, or of carrying our faith no further than prayer. This temptation to a prayerless life, to a spiritless prayer, must be watched, marked, resisted, as often as it besets us; and the first great aim of the soul must be, distracted and burdened as it is

1 Luke x., 40.

with temporal avocations, to "have the conversation in heaven1." And when this blessed consummation is, by God's grace, wholly or in part attained, the next care must be, to give to our spiritual gifts both right direction and due regulation, and instead of exhausting them in sounds and forms, in flights and fancies, in prayers and sentiments, to spread them distinctly and broadly over the whole life, to infuse them into all the conversation, and give them the high, the holy, the daily office of preparing the soul for him, who "shall some time or other come, as he was seen to go into heaven."

SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION DAY.
THE EPISTLE. 1 St. Peter iv., 7 to 11.

7 The end of all things is at hand be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

9 Use hospitality one to another without grudging.

10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same

one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God: if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

The great truth, with which the Apostle here sets out, is the great truth above all others, which most nearly concerns man, and affords him most solemn warning. How grievous is it to him to hear, that there must be "an end of all things," how still more grievous to hear, that "the end of all things is at hand." He would rather, in the pride of his unconverted heart, in the self-will of his fleshly mind, live in torment for ever, than part with his sensual gratifications for a moment. He would rather deceive himself with the vain delusion, that death is far off and retribution long in coming, than make any immediate preparation for what may come at any time.

Such are the feelings, the fancies, the imaginations, with which man strives to evade the fact of his mortality, to forget what he would do far better to remember, to put partially out of sight what he dare not altogether disbelieve. But why should man be at such pains to keep death out of his thoughts? And why does he try to persuade himself that it is far off? Does it seem so very terrible in itself? Does the parting of soul and 1 Philip. iii., 20.

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body, and that alone, connect itself with the notion of death? It must certainly be acknowledged that death has its terrors, its own natural terrors; but is it not distasteful on other accounts? Yes, there is in death an everlasting loss of the pleasures of sin, the pleasures of sense, the pleasures of the world. And there is in death a prospect of judgment; of most terrible, most just judgment. Punishment for all past indulgence in the pleasures of sin, vengeance upon all friends of the world and enemies of God, wrath against "all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness'," these are the awful assurances which carry terror to the soul of the sinner. His conviction of these truths fills him with misgivings; his anticipation of these calamities makes him afraid; and he flies instinctively from a doctrine which has no charms for a sinner, puts all his imaginary peace to everlasting flight, and "drowns him in destruction and perdition"." And notwithstanding this disinclination of the sinner to entertain the thought, time never slackens in its pace. "The end of all things" is as much at hand as it was at first, and still do we hasten towards it. Indeed while a man is "serving divers lusts and pleasures," 'giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils," hearkening unto himself more than unto God, this dreaded "end of all things" is drawing nearer at hand. Even the time spent in our present meditations, short as it may appear, has brought us all somewhat nearer in its own small measure, to "the end of all things."

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Such being the case, we who are here assembled, have a great burden imposed upon us, a great truth to learn, a great motive to turn to account. We are all, I imagine, more or less in the situation of the sinner just described, unwilling to think of "the end of all things," still more unwilling to think that it is at hand." The sting of "the end of all things" is sin, and the cause of the soul's unwillingness to think of "the end of all things" is sin. But the proud heart of man will not acknowledge sin, and therefore will not acknowledge him who can alone be the Saviour of sinners. Are we, any of us, some of us, all of us, in this condition, fearful of the consequences of sin, but slow to throw off its burden, believing Jesus Christ to be a Judge, but shuuning him as a Saviour? Wherever this is the case, there must be a change, a total change, and from henceforth a settled conviction, that if " one died for all, then were all dead, 21 Tim. vi., 9.

1 Rom. i., 18.

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