was reserved in them, as it is in us, unto the Lord's coming. Nevertheless, it is by the seizing of the man, it is by taking possession or occupancy of the man, that the Holy Ghost does communicate those capacities which are necessary for God's end. And when He does so take possession, take the occupancy of the spirit of a man, it is not only a pledge that He shall hereafter occupy his body also, but it is a sign that by occupying the body He does in fact perform his part in that possession. Mark this; the possession which any one has of the Holy Ghost is by the supposed raising again of his body; that is, by the supposed entrance of the Holy Ghost into his spirit, that He may beget him again unto, newness of life; I mean newness of bodily life as well as spiritual life. Now the particular object I have in these remarks is, to lead you to the apprehension of this reality, that all these notions of the Holy Ghost acting in the spirit of a man without regard to his body, his body being put on one side, as if it had nothing to do with it,—that all these notions are vain and false; for that there is no operation of the Holy Ghost in, upon, and by man, but what presupposes his death, and his being begotten again from the state of death into a new form of substance, having a new kind of life, and having new relations, the relations of the new creation kingdom. "And ye shall be witnesses for me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the extremity of the

earth. And when He had spoken these things, whilst they were looking at Him,"-it was not, you see, that they turned their eyes another way, or something might happen to obstruct their view, but, "whilst they were looking at Him, He was lifted up; and a cloud received Him from their eyes." A cloud "privily received," as it were; stole upon Him, so as to form a covering; and thus they who had traced his ascent some way, at length lost sight,-a cloud enveloped Him. "And whilst they were stedfastly, with intensity of sight,-looking up to heaven as He was going along,—as He was passing on upwards,―behold, two men had been standing near them;" for such is the beautiful fulness of the original language; it expresses a most minute and particular distinction; they had been standing a good while, we are to suppose, by the side of these men, who were so intent in their gaze upon the substance of the Lord Jesus Christ, that they had not observed them; "they had been standing by them, near to them, in white raiment; who also said, Ye Galilean men, why have ye been standing looking up into heaven? this Jesus, who hath been taken up from you into heaven, shall so come again, after the manner in which you have seen Him going forward,-passing on, marching up,- into heaven."

Why then, it is here distinctly affirmed, you will perceive, by the sacred writer, that Jesus Christ has been taken up into heaven, has been taken from earth

into heaven.

And I ask you, Do you believe this? I am come to my simple way of applying faith. I ask, Do you believe this? Why, you profess to believe all that is written in the Bible; you profess to believe that this is the Word of God. Then I ask you, Do you believe this fact, as here stated, that Jesus Christ hath been taken up from earth into heaven? Now consider, it is a very wonderful thing. You know, or may know, what sort of thing your body is; that it is a heavy substance which, according to the principle of creation, is attracted towards the centre of the earth; and yet this substance, in the person of Jesus Christ, contrary to the laws of nature as they are called, was drawn up to heaven, drawn in a direction the direct contrary of its natural direction. This, then, was a miracle. His ascension was miraculous. Now do not get into a mistake here, and suppose, Well then, it was not a body of flesh, and He ceased to have a body of flesh from the instant of his death, though that body did continue flesh for three days according to the Scripture account,— but it was not any longer possessed by Him; it was in a state of separation, in another place from that in which his person was, from that in which his finite spirit inhabited by the Holy Ghost united to the eternal infinite Spirit of the Second Person, from the place where that was; his body was in a distinct place; and when He, inhabited by the Holy Ghost, that is, when his finite spirit, unto which

the eternal infinite Spirit of the Second Person had united himself,-when He, I say, in that finite spirit inhabited by the Holy Ghost, did re-enter his body, which was lying in a separate, a distinct, a remote place, his spirit having been during those three days in the centre of the earth, in the mansions prepared of God for the separate spirits of the blessed,when, I say, He did thus enter into that body of his, which had been laid in a separate place, He did no longer enter it as a substance of flesh and blood, but, in the very act of his entering in, He did convert it, namely, that substance of flesh and blood, into a spiritual substance. "Well then," "Well then," you will say, "if this was now a spiritual substance, all your remark about gravitation falls to the ground." No; it was necessary that He should be seen to ascend; if He had ascended unseen, where was the testimony to his ascension? It was not only necessary that He should ascend, that He should be taken up, as you have heard, but that He should be seen to ascend, and that in the very act of being taken up. Now how was that possible to an eye of sense? Can you see spirit? There is the history of the whole. All those appearances after the resurrection,-after the change of the form of his substance,-were miraculous; by miracle He assumed his ancient former substance, and by miracle carried that ancient former substance to a certain distance from the ground, to such a distance as was necessary in order to prove that He had been carried up from earth to heaven.

Then, I ask, do you believe this fact here recorded? It is not necessary that there be two testimonies to any fact of God; if therefore we had no other record than this one text, I maintain that we are bound to receive it as true, that Jesus was taken up from earth to heaven. And if I furnish you with collateral and distinct proofs, it is not because they are necessary, but because I would help your infirmity. And with this view I shall remind you of certain passages in the New Testament, which bear testimony to this point.

It is a remarkable circumstance, that St. Matthew does not mention the ascension. People who exercise their ingenuity in giving a reason why, say that he has mentioned the resurrection. But then this turns for a testimony. If the Evangelists and the writer of the Acts had been engaged in a conspiracy to deceive mankind, they would have recorded all the same facts; there would have been no omissions made; none of them would have omitted the ascension which St. Mark and St. Luke relate. And therefore we have a clear testimony that there was no conspiracy, that they were plain matter of fact men. But just ask yourselves now; We will suppose that the resurrection has been proved; Matthew has not omitted the article of the resurrection, though he has omitted the article which follows the resurrection. What becomes of Him? who has ever seen Him since that time? His ascension must have taken place, that is, He must,