mortal being can be higher than that of those, who, from dust, are destined to spring into union (we had almost said assimilation) with deity, "fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body." No more shall there be the elements of decay; no more "the sentence of death in themselves;" no furrow ploughed on the cheek, no wrinkle of age on the brow; but when stars shall fall from their orbits, and worlds succumb to the present laws of decadence, they shall still be in the immortal youth of undying life.

* Phil. iii. 21.

Christ Ascended.

"Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD GOD might dwell among them."-Ps. lxviii. 18.

"A little while, and ye shall not see Me; and again a little while, and ye shall see Me; because I go to the Father."-John xvi. 16.

"If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father." -John xiv. 28.

"Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My

brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God."-John xx. 17.

"And He led them out as far as to Bethany; and He lifted up His hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven."-Luke xxiv. 50,

51.

"Received up into glory."-1 Tim. iii. 16.

"HE THAT DESCENDED IS THE SAME ALSO THAT ASCENDED UP FAR ABOVE ALL HEAVENS, THAT HE MIGHT FILL ALL THINGS."—Eph. iv. 10.

"I ascend to My Father and your Father." You may observe that He reminds them not so much of what He had been doing for them. He says not, 'Tell them I have been dying for them, and they little think what I have suffered for them.' Not a word of that neither; but still His heart and His care is upon doing more. Having now despatched that great work on earth for them, He sends them word that He is hastening to Heaven as fast as He can, to do another."-Thomas Goodwin.

"Surely, if the inhabitants of those celestial mansions may be capable of any increase of joy, they then both found and showed it, when they saw and welcomed Thee, entering in Thy glorified humanity, into that Thy eternal palace of blessedness. And if there could be any higher or sweeter ditty than Hallelujah, it was then sung by the choir of angels and saints." -Bishop Hall, 1574.

XIII.

"This is the confidence that we have in Him'

"HE THAT DESCENDED IS THE SAME ALSO THAT ASCENDED UP FAR ABOVE ALL HEAVENS, THAT HE MIGHT FILL ALL THINGS."-Eph. iv. 10.

WE have listened in our last, to the glorious

tidings, another echo from the Rock of Ages-" The Lord has risen!" We have stood in thought by the entrance to the vacant sepulchre; seen the stone rolled away, and angelwarders telling of Him "Whom God hath raised. up; having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that He should be holden of it."*

When the now re-assured disciples were fully certified of the amazing fact, may we not well imagine that the thought which would suggest itself to their minds, dominating all others,

*Acts ii. 24.

would be this-" Is He now to remain with us?" Is the adorable presence of this Conqueror of death to be vouchsafed as a permanent inheritance and boon to His Church? Nay, further, Is the time now arrived for the oft-predicted Messianic reign, when we, as His privileged assessors, are to be seated on twelve thrones-the tribal heads in a new and more blessed theocracy?

No. Strange and startling, surely, the first message must have been which the Risen One sends them. He bids the weeping disconsolate Mary dry her own tears and theirs, but not with the gladdening assurance that He is now to continue for ever in their midst, as a Friend and Guide, to cheer them with His fellowship, and animate them with the tones of His living voice. He sends rather the unexpected announcement -that He must speedily leave them :-" Go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father, and to My God, and your God."* Accordingly, as is

* John xx. 17.

minutely described in the sacred narrative, after remaining with His infant Church for forty days subsequent to His resurrection-thus affording His followers ample time and opportunity to have their convictions established, on irrefragable evidence, regarding the reality of that great event; and after giving all requisite instructions relative to the proclamation of His Gospel and the extension of His Church and kingdom, the Divine Master led His more privileged disciples out "as far as to Bethany, and lifted up His hands and blessed them—and it came to pass that while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into Heaven."*

Let us enter this new Cleft of the rock;" and under its shelter, meditate on the grounds of confidence and joy which the believer has in the contemplation of his Lord's Ascension. In doing so, let us state and endeavour to illustrate, two leading and prominent reasons among others, why it was thus necessary and expedient

* Luke xxiv. 50, 51.