THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 1242, 18 September 1875, Page 4

THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST.

Dr Armitage,of the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church, preached the iast of lus series of sermons, commenced during Holy Week, yesterday morning, his subject being "'Jhe Ascension of Christ." The tex: was from the Acts of the Apostles, i. 9—-' While they beheld he was borne up, and :i cloud received him out of their siu'ht." He said : — Three of the most extr.i >rdinary miracles of Christianity meet iv the proper person of Jesus Himself — Uis marvellous birth, rcsuri eetion, and ascension. His birth was His death begun, His resurrection was His death finished, and His ascension was Bis birth and resurrection crowned. These capital facts form a trinity of pre-eminent seals to His extraordinary claims. Upon the triple right — first, to be born into the world by a supernatural method, then to tiif, 'when and as He pleased, and after that to come forth from, the tomb into a self-assumed life.— He predicates His absolute prerogative to universal empire as a lawful inheritance at God's right hand. Thus it follows that His ascension holds as bold and indispensable a relation to His work for man as His birth, in which He became the "only begotten of the Father," or His resurrection, in which He became "the first begotten from the dead." Yet, notwithstanding this, much more thought and inquiry have been bestowed upon His b'rch, death and resupection than upon His ascension, as if this were of leas consequence than the others — a thought which we should not indulge, because His ascension not only perfects, but idealizes, Bis whole history a3 a Saviour. The divine and human natures of Jesus strangely blend in this awful and mysterious transaction, just as they always do in His wonderful personality. His manhood and divinity ineffably integral, yet distinct, were never interchangeably absorbed in the grand fellowship between them. Fiction cannot maintain such joint unity to an imaginary hero. To think of the record as fiction would be to invest the writers with a genius which no human ingenuity can unravel or expound when they tell us that, "While they Le'ieli he was bcrae up and a cloud received him out of their sight."

Let us look at Borne of the cirenmBtances which immediately attended our Lord's ascension on this 3ide of the cloud. He seems to have lingered as if He were reluctant to leave the companions of His early ministry. Olivet still reveah in Jeaus the iriend and brother. Usually, our Lord was wonderfully prompt and decided in His words and actions. But when the solemn hour come 3 for parting with His little flock, he meets it with strong emotion. They were to be left as sheep among wolves. With all His personal intimacy and instruction, they miyht falter and quail when He had gone, forgetful of His lessons of bravery and faith. Thus He felt the need of spreading His hands over them as if He would fain prolong the act of benediction. "He lifted up His hands and blessed them," and while He blessed them Be was parted from them, as if He lingered until some irresistible power drew Him away while in the very act of pronouncing His benediction. A blessing unfinished, a talisman in every struggle, and a solace in every sorrow.

The laws of gravitation were suspended, eavth lo3t its power to hold Him. longer ; let no its grasp, and a human body, of solid fle3h and bone, which should have gravitated to the mountain top, iloats upward iuto the ambient air. To meet a man coming out of the tomb after his s jlemn burial was a very powerful order of evidence ; but to watch a living man, into whose face they are looking and to j who?e words they are listening, begin a gradual ascent from the earth and begin to so,sr al"ft by the very power of God till He is lost i;i the distant skies, affords an entirely different order of evidence — the highest possible proof — and its effect ia evident at ouce. Immediately, they j worship Him," prostrate their souls in adoration. Instead of descending that { mountain disheartened, with faltering ! steps, doubting and foreboding, they^ ljfiuuded back to Jerusilem " with great joy, and weve continually in the temple, praising and blessing God." Then there is tiie phenomenon of

THE STOOPING VLOVJ>. What wonders are covered by that laconic avowal ! — " A cloud received Him out of their sight !" The chariot of the heavens stoop-,, receives Him into its glory. Myriads of wistful eye 3 above watch Him from tliu heavenly portals as He steps into His ;iugus.t velucle, a:id the "men of Galille ' stand gazing up into heaven, the-r eyes rivetled, as if they would jncTje ti.e azure veil which is so envious to uav.rap Hiui from their vision.

In the second place, look at the heavenly tide of the asceusi.m cloud. The first view that we have from the heavenly side of Ilia ascension cloud is that our humanity 1i:ls triumphed over all its foes and is hi_,l»l3 r exalted in heaven in the I^r-son of Jesus, who is the forerunner j;ii'l i i'pre3fciitative i>f our race. "He ]rt= opemd a new and liviug way" tji'ih. r Tor us, and by Him we ha\e a sure eu!;\.nco into the holy pi ice.

ihlom He bk-fc.sed His disciples on Oliv.st iin said, " Preach the Gospel, but be-in at Jerusalem !" There was not one iu.«.'!fn:uit iv the whole herd who mocked or j-.ortid Him, or spat in His face, or tiv.jisjixed His hands, but into that man's ears the apostles preached forgiveness for

hiß flagrant crimes. And on the other side of the cloud every fibre of His heart vibrates with commiseration, just as it always did. There, as here, He pities and soothes and clasps the contrite. On the heavenly side of the cloud, as on the earthly, He never brake a bruised reed or quenchtd the smoking flax. There He has received gifts for men, even for the rebels also. On either side of the cloud does rebellion find quarter. But on both sides He cures the rebellion and wins the rebel.

Slakes foes the partners of His throne, Decked with a ne\er fading crown. — New York Herald.