there was added the testimony of the angels; those blessed spirits which ministered before, and saw the face of God in heaven, and came down from thence, did know that Christ ascended up from hence unto that place from whence they came; and because the eyes of the Apostles could not follow him so far, the inhabitants of that place did come to testify of his reception: For behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 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 (o): we must, therefore, acknowledge and confess, against all the wild heresies of old, that the eternal Son of God, who died and rose again, did, with the same body with which he died and rose, ascend up to heaven. Should it be asked what reason can be given why our Saviour did not ascend in the sight of the Jews, for their conviction? I answer, that it was only absolutely necessary that they who were to preach the Gospel, should have the utmost evidence of those matters of fact they attested. God's design was to bring the world to salvation by the exercise of faith, which is (0) Acts, c. 1. v. 10 and 11. an an act of assent, upon the testimony of another, with which sight is inconsistent; and it is to be doubted, whether they, who ascribed our Saviour's miracles to the power of the devil, and suborned the soldiers to say, upon his resurrection, that his disciples stole him away, would not have called his ascension, if they had seen it, a phantasm and vain apparition (p)." The ascension of Christ is frequently alluded to in the Epistles (q). AND THERE SITTETH: The sitting of Christ at the right hand of God is foretold in the Old Testament, and asserted in the New: "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool (r)." Christ applied this passage to himself (s), and it is quoted by St. Paul, as describing the superiority of Christ to all created beings: "To which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool (t)?" Christ himself expressly foretold his sitting at the right hand of God: "Hereafter shall the Son of man sit at the right hand of the power of God (u)." There are several passages in the Epistles, declaring that Christ sitteth Heb. c. 9. v. 12. (p) Veneer's Exp. of this Art. (s) Matt. c. 22. v. 44. sitteth at the right hand of God: "When he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High (x).” "We have a high priest, who is set on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens (y).” By the metaphorical expression of sitting at the right hand of God, which is applied in Scripture to none but Christ, we are to understand the honour and dignity to which he was exalted after his ascension into heaven: "Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels, and authorities, and powers, being made subject unto him (~).”—“ And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed (a)." UNTIL HE RETURN TO JUDGE ALL MEN, AT THE LAST DAY: The second advent of Christ, and the purpose for which he is to come, are clearly foretold in Scripture: "I go to prepare a place for you; I will come again, and receive you unto myself (b)."-" This same Jesus, which (x) Heb. c. 1. v. 3. (b) John, c. 14. v. 3 and 28. (y) Heb. c. 8. v. 1. (a) Dan. c. 7. v. 14. which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven (c)."-" The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God (d)." "Whom the heavens must receive, until the times of restitution of all things (e)."-" For God hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead (f)."-" When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit down upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats (g)."-Then we shall " before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad (h)."-"The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour appear (d) 1 Thess. c. 4. v. 16. (f) Acts, c. 17. v. 31. (c) Acts, c. 1. v. 11. honour the Father (i)."—" The day of the Lord will come, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat (k)."—" In short, no doctrine is more clear and express, and fundamental in the word of God, than that of an eternal judgment at the end of the world, when the state of our trial and probation shall be finished, which will be a proper season for the distribution of public justice, for rewarding all those with eternal life, who by patient continuance in welldoing seek for glory, and honour, and immortality,' and for rendering to them that obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish (1).' I shall therefore conclude my observations upon this article, with that most excellent inference of St. Peter's: " Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto, the coming of the day of God (m). (i) John, c. 5. v. 22 and 23. (k) 2 Pet. c. 3. v. 10. (1) Rom. c. 2. v. 7, &c. (m) 2 Pet. c. 3. v. 11 and 12. Veneer: |