Afterwards He is seen as sitting upon the throne,sitting there, it is true, as the representative of the Father; sitting there, not in his own name, but as having the Father in Him, who is doing all his works by Him; but being necessarily in that place where He that dwelleth in Him dwelleth, that is, in heaven at his right hand.

The testimonies then, you perceive, in confirmation of that which ought of itself to be sufficient, are superabundant. But I must not be satisfied without just reminding you of the testimony of the ancient Scriptures to this point. Now I do not understand what the burnt-offering is which is lifted up upon the altar, except there be a sign of the assumption and ascension. I do not understand therefore what Abel's sacrifice was, if it did not convey an intimation of the Lord's ascension. Then, again, what was Enoch's assumption? was not that a sign beforehand? And what was the lamb which God provided as a burntoffering upon the mount Moriah? was not that, in like manner, if a burnt-offering, a sign of this very transaction? The law set it out in all its ordinances; the heave-offering and the wave-offering, which were attached to the burnt-offering, exactly expressed One who, having the possession of all things upwards and on all sides of him, does present that which is his own to Him who has given those all things to him. What was the removal of the ark by David to Mount Zion, which was celebrated with so many songs of triumph,

but a sign of the same transaction? You remember the circumstance of David's dancing before the ark; you remember the joy of heart which he expressed in that elevation, or rather, in exhibiting himself as an expectant of that glory which is to be fulfilled in Christ. And what was the transaction which is the subject of the first lesson of this evening,-Elijah's being taken up into heaven? Was not that also as a fore-intimation? If testimony was given in the patriarchal state, so was it borne also under the legal dispensation to the same great event. And how many Psalms have you, which are distinctly commemorative of this fact? Psalm i records the setting of Him upon his holy hill; which, though it be indeed a hill to which He is to come, yet pre-supposes a temporary residence at the right hand of God, that He may prepare all things for that which is the proper throne on which He is to sit, even as He is now sitting on the Father's throne, that He may make that throne ready for himself. So the latter part of Psalm xvi, which so expressly records the resurrection, does not leave us with the resurrection; for it says, "Thou wilt show me the path of life in thy presence is fulness of joy; and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Psalm xv, xxiv, and especially cx; also lxviii; in fact, it is hardly possible to enumerate the different Psalms which have this for their particular topic. The prophecies also contain abundant testimony to the same; for while He is indeed, as I have just now remarked,

:

So

that King who is to reign in righteousness upon the earth, there must be, as we shall presently perceive, an intermediate state, in which the earth is to be prepared for his return.

Again then, I put my question over again,-Do you believe this transaction? You cannot possibly be receivers of the Scriptures as the Word of God, if you entertain any doubt as to the reality that Jesus Christ has been taken up from earth to heaven. But O, my friends, it is one thing not to deny, not to doubt, but another to have a realizing apprehension of the fact. My desire for you and for myself is that we may live evermore in the realizing apprehension of this fact; not only having our minds impressed with the glorious scene of his ascension, but having our thoughts continually directed to that glorious place in which He is for a while abiding.

II. I proceed then, in the next place, to show you, as concisely as I can, the reason and therefore the necessity of this transaction; why God hath ordained it and brought it to pass.

In order that you may understand this, you must understand something distinctly of the plan and counsel of God. Who is this Jesus that shall so come, even as the disciples saw Him go into heaven? Who is He?

You have heard in this sermon of the Second Person, the infinite spiritual Second Person; of a finite spirit inhabited by the substance of the person of the Holy Ghost; of a body, which was flesh and blood,

turned into spirit:—there you have the elements of the person and mode of existence of Jesus Christ.

But I am desirous, if the Lord will, to take a more general view of who this Jesus is. And when I take this view, I see Him, even this risen God-man, whom I am in thought setting before my eye in the act of ascension,-I see Him to be that form which God has selected for the manifestation of his own Being. I see, as I have lately been led to show before you, I see that God cannot consistently with himself,-cannot without helping to make people atheists, cannot without making his creatures atheists,—have creatures, unless He make it plain that He himself exists: that is, his own being, as the self-existent One, must be shown, in order to his having and maintaining creatures in being. Then, if He is to manifest this infinite invisible, it must be by taking form. Now there is one very little matter which helps to make this exceedingly plain. People are not aware, till it is suggested to them, that all acts are finite. Let the act be never so stupendous, an act is a thing finished, and therefore it is finite. Now all God's actings therefore, with respect to the creature, are finite. And therefore a finite substance can be made adequate to the performance of them. Now, if that matter is distinctly entertained in the mind, it puts an end to all the objections which people are disposed to raise, about God's acting in man, that it is impossible that God can do his infinite acts by a creature, within the limits and precincts of a creature nature.

You perceive, if every single act is a finite thing, why then, the innumerable acts are but a vast finite; there is nothing therefore beyond the capacity of a finite substance, in God's actings in making and sustaining and dealing with and governing the creature. And if God is pleased to lead you into the contemplation of this matter, you will perceive that there is no possible way in which the infinite uncircumscribable God can make his being known, except by taking a form, which form, you know, is a finite substance. Only that which is finite can have form. God is himself formless. And He must make himself a form, in order that He may be distinctly shown and recognized as God.

Well then, another thing, as I have lately noticed, is necessary with respect to this form; that this form must be shown not to be very God; that it must be shown to be creature; that, whilst God takes form, that form is not the very God. In this simple element you have this great mystery; that risen manhood is, in so far as we can perceive, and as we do gloriously perceive, the very form which God ought to take, in order that He may manifest his being. This then is the view in which I would now set Jesus before you. I would set Him before you as God having taken form, and that form the form of risen manhood, which He takes, to which He joins himself, that is, to which of his Substance

God joins himself in that Person which, by the relation which He has to the other Persons, the relation which He has to the Father as