"nations of them that are saved;" "He is the "King of Glory."-" Who shall ascend into the "hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in His "holy place?" "He," of whom alone it could be said, that He had "clean hands and a pure " heart :" In His nature totally sinless; and in His life, the perfect fulfiller of all righteousness. Thus did "God go up with a shout, and the "Lord with the sound of a trumpet." Attending spirits sang, "Rise up, Lord, and let thine ene"mies be scattered;" whilst the gazing disciples responsive from below, cried out, "Return, O "Lord," now in the power of thy Spirit, and hereafter in the brightness of thy personal coming, "to the many thousands of Israel!" Might it not be said concerning those highly favoured persons, who were witnesses of His ascension, "They have seen thy goings, O God, even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary: "the singers went before, the players on instru"ments followed after?" All the joy of the blessed was in full exercise, all the melody of heaven was at its height, when Jesus was ushered to His throne; and when, as a lamb newly "slain," and as a God totally and finally victorious, He "entered into the holy place for us.' 7 No such occasion of triumph as this had ever occurred before. At the creation indeed, the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. At the nativity "a multitude of the heavenly host praised God and said, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men.' "When their God lay prostrate in the garden, hung on th cross, and was deposited in the grave, we my almost suppose their songs of joy to have ben turned into lamentation and mourning and woe. But at His resurrection their harps were tuned anew, and, as it were, prepared against the festival of His coronation. Then their acclamations and hosannas exceeded all preceding efforts. For if they praised God when the foundation of the magnificent structure was laid, how much more when the top-stone was laid on it! And if angels sung in triumph, what must their joys have been who had been admitted into paradise on the credit of the great sacrifice, when they saw their Redeemer in their own nature enter among them crowned with glory and praise! We cannot conceive aright of their feelings we must wait to know what they were? The triumph of our Saviour was now complete, for all His enemies and ours were vanquished, and "all power in heaven and earth” was vested in Him as the mediatorial King in Sion. But the triumph is not yet concluded: The Epinikion, or song of victory, continues to be sung. And every fresh instance of conversion and glorification re-invigorates the chorus; for "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over every sinner that repen"teth," and how much more over every ransomed soul that is added to "the general as"sembly and church of the first-born" who dwell with God in heaven! Every such instance is a fresh trophy of the Redeemer's victory, a new star in His glorious crown.. 66 The ministers of the Gospel are commanded to say unto Zion, " Thy God reigneth." The once crucified Saviour of sinners now sits on His throne, and reigns for the confusion of His enemies and the salvation of His subjects. O how great should be our joy to-day, while we contemplate Him as invested with the royal VOL. II. Q A diadem, and crowned Lord of all! May we be enabled to join in the triumph of the skies. The prayer of our collect implores the promised communication of the Holy Ghost to our souls in the character of Comforter, as the result of our Lord's assumption into heaven, and thus connects the commemoration of the ascension with its pentecostal effects. The petitionary part of our collect is founded on the doctrine of Christ's ascension to heaven, which secures to His church the comprehensive blessing for which we pray, according to our Lord's most gracious declaration: "It is expe"dient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; "but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. "And when He is come, He will reprove" (or convince) "the world of sin, and of righteous"ness, and of judgment." (John xvi. 7, 8.) "The counsel of peace" between the persons of Jehovah had settled this momentous branch of the scheme of redemption, which relates to the conversion and sanctification of the fallen soul of man. The mission of the Spirit was to result from the glorification and intercession of the great High Priest; who, having made the atonement and purchased salvation, was to make His work effectual by pouring out the Holy Ghost through the preaching of His gospel. When our Lord promised that He would not leave His disciples comfortless, and when we pray that we may not be left comfortless, but that the Holy Ghost may be sent to comfort us, it is implied that, independent of God, we have no source to which we can repair for comfort. Every earthly cistern to which man foolishly resorts is found on examination to be a broken cistern that can hold no water. The fruit which we expect to gather from "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" proves, like the apples of Sodom, fair without but full of fetid dust within. Fallen man, till he obtains comfort from God the Holy Ghost, "feedeth on ashes; a deceived heart "hath turned him aside, so that he cannot de"liver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my " right hand?" He spends his money for that "which is not bread, and his labour for that which "satisfieth not," till he hears the voice of sovereign love, crying, "Hearken diligently unto "me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your "soul delight itself in fatness. " The word which our Lord has used in the promise before recited, (John xiv. 18) is very emphatic and significant. "I will not leave you "orphans: I will come unto you"-i. e. "I will "be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons "and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." As an orphan is left destitude of parental direction, provision, support and comfort-is exposed to oppression and misery-so also are we, independent of Divine favour and care. And every conscious sinner feels it to be so. Without conso lation from above, the awakened sinner would be "of all men most miserable." For while others find some shadows of comfort in the world, he can find none. He is aware of his situation as a sinner, bereft of whatever is valuable to the soul, and incapable of making provision for his own safety and comfort. In his own estimation he is 66 poor and miserable and wretched and blind and "naked." He is a stranger upon earth in the midst of oppressors. His enemies, visible and invisible, are many and strong, and they bear a tyrannous hate against him. against him. The connection between God and man as father and child having been broken by the fall, man may truly be characterized as an orphan.* And when he is made sensible of it, he says with the prodigal, "I will "arise and go to my Father, and will say unto "Him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and "before thee, and am no more worthy to be "called thy son." In the state of primary conviction, when the guilt of sin is first revealed to the mind and becomes burdensome to the conscience, no creature in heaven or earth can communicate comfort to the soul. He only who hath wounded can heal. There is no balm but the balm of Gilead that can avail, and God the Holy Ghost only can effectually apply it. He must "take of the things which are "Christ's," of the virtue of His blood, the merit of His righteousness, and the efficacy of His intercession, and "shew them" to the heart, before the conscience can be pacified and the soul relieved from its fears and distresses. And in every subsequent trial and temptation that occurs between conversion and glorification, God the Holy Ghost alone can comfort and support. Whatever means may be used or instruments employed, He is the agent without whom means and instruments are wholly ineffectual. With strict propriety is God the Holy Ghost called, in the Scriptures and in our collect, "the "Comforter." For to "comfort them that are "cast down" is His peculiar office and delight, to which all His other offices are subordinate and * Poor orphan, in the wide world scattered, SPENSER. |