Calamities in all our Storms We shall one Day be where our Saviour is What a calming Support will it be when a Soul shall say It will be better when we shall be with Christ The Apostle says 2 Cor. 5.6 7. Therefore we are always confident saith he knowing that while we are present in the Body we are absent from the Lord We are confident I say willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. And thus have you heard the Four pleasant Streams of Eden come swimming to you from that great River of Christ's End in going to Heaven To prepare a place for his People And thus have I finished the Improvement of the Point by way of Comfort I now come to the last and that is Counsel Is Christ gone to Heaven and is he gone for us into Heaven Oh then let us carry our selves sutably to this Mercy and to our Hopes by it and that in these particulars 1. Is Christ gone to do our Work in Heaven Oh then let us do Christ's Work here on Earth 'T is but Reason and common Equity my Brethren that since Christ is gone upon our Business that we have an eye unto his Business in the World Endeavour to carry on Christ's Interest his Kingdom in your Hearts in your Families in the Places where you live Let all know you are the Servants of Christ and labour all you can to make others Servants to him do what you can by your Prayers by your Counsels by your Lives by your Examples by your Encouragements to propagate and enlarge the Bounds of Christ's Kingdom 'T is the Nature of Grace to be diffusive of her own Excellencies Grace hath a wondrous greedy eye it would fetch in all to Christ And therefore you shall find that immediately before his Ascension he shewed his Disciples that they should mind his Business when he was gone upon theirs Acts 1.8 Ye shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem and in the uttermost parts of the earth And then how after his Ascension his Disciples Men and Women and all went on in Christ's Business you may see in the after Verses of that Chapter Is the Master of the House gone and gone for the Servants Good Oh let them not then neglect their Master's Business How would it wound thy Heart and appale thee if Christ when he meet thee should say I have all this while on your Errand been employed to make you happy and you have done nothing for me the while whilst I have been providing for your Glory you have been dishonouring me Is Christ gone to Heaven to prepare a place for thee Then do thou prepare a Heart for him It is but a grateful Recompence to give up thy Heart to him who is gone to get Heaven for thee What wilt thou give him for all the Prayers and Cost he hath been at to make thee happy Why thou hast nothing to give but thy Heart and he calls for nothing else My son saith he give me thy heart Prov. 23.26 Prepare a Heart for Christ who hath prepared a Heaven for thee Shall Christ go to Heaven to prepare a place for thee and thou not suffer him to have a corner in thy Heart Christ is gone to prepare a Throne for thee and thou let Lust to sit upon the Throne within thee There is a sweet Exhortation 19 Revel 7. Let us be glad and rejoyce and give Honour to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made her self ready Be thou as the Bride ready against the Wedding-day When Christ went to Heaven then it was the betrothing Day But thy Marriage Day is thy Dying Day Make thy self ready against that Day and prepare a Heart for him who prepares a Heaven for thee 3. Labour to look upon him ascending with an Eye of Faith then is some spiritual Gift likely to drop down to us when we see our Master ascended It is said of Elijah 2 Kings 2.10 That if he should see his Master ascending then he should have his spirit doubled Certainly 't is no less true in this matter if we can but by Faith see Christ ascended into Glory his Spirit shall in some measure come upon us 4. Thou must lean and rest thy self upon Christ for all see him ascended on high for thee and so do all in his Strength and Power However thine Hand shakes in thy Duties know thou hast one above that will hold thy Hand Set about nothing but with Paul's Confidence I can do all things in Christ that strengthens me This Use Christ directs his Disciples to make of his Ascention John 14.3 4 6. I go to prepare a place for you saith Christ Whither I go you know and the way you know We know not the Way saith Thomas No why I am the way saith he No man cometh unto the Father but by me I ascend up to the Father for you and you must ascend up to the Father by me all your Doings all your Fightings your Works your Wrestlings are all to be undertaken in the Strength of Christ Thanks be to God saith Paul who hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor 15.57 5. 'T is our Duty that now we serve him more affectionately and accurately and faithfully than ever He hath led Captivity captive by his ascending on high The World Sin Death the Devil now lie bleeding at Christ's Feet yea and through Christ that strengthens us at our Feet so saith the Apostle He will tread down Satan under our feet Rom. 16.20 What have we then to do but to serve the Lord. Deliverance doth always infer Service and Obedience being delivered out of the hands of our enemies let us serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives Luke 1.74 Christ hath purchased our Obedience by Deliverance Thus 2 Sam. 7.1 when David had Peace from his Enemies he made this Use of it to raise up a House for the Service of God when the Lord had given him rest round about from all his Enemies Behold saith he I dwell in an house but the Ark of God dwells in courtains When God had given him Rest it was not to enjoy quietly what he had but to serve God with what he did enjoy He had no sooner Rest but he thought of God's Service so these in the 9. Acts. They had Rest as it is said and walked in the fear of God Are you freed from Enemies you are the more free to serve God obey more freely since you may live more freely This was that when Christ was to ascend which he gives in charge to his Apostles to teach his People He was now ready to ascend well what was it now fit that the People should know Why that they must observe whatsoever Christ had commanded them 28 Matth. 20. teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you Is the Master of the Family
and Disputes and whether such famous Men as John Reinolds Blondel c. even in the Universities got not their great Learning by searching the same Books which may be read in another place This I suppose to be abundantly sufficient to blunt the Edge of that Cavil and to vindicate my Father's Esteem from that Objection But now to return to the following Discourses I have already told you that their Subject Matter is our Lord's Ascension into Heaven a Subject very proper to be discours'd upon to a Christian Auditory or to be propounded to the perusal of Christian Readers seeing we find it an Article inserted in that ancient and common Creed which usually but yet how truly I cannot say passes for an Apostolical Composure This Article of our Lord's Ascention is a Truth upon which a Christian's Hopes are much bottom'd and Promises a Treasury of Comfort to all the faithful followers of Jesus for that our Redeemer has escaped the confines of the Grave that he has gloriously triumphed over Death and Hell by his Resurrection and Exaltation and that he is now in Heaven at the right Hand of his Father interceding for his faithful People who are got in this Vale of Mortality is matter of transporting Joy to all that are sanctified This assures them that the great Work of Redemption is compleated that God is reconciled and that they themselves shall at last be advanced to Heaven where their glorified Head now resides managing their Cause for them as their most prevalent Advocate but I shall not undertake to discourse on these Matters in this Preface because this will be but to detain you from reading the same things better said in the Treatise it self only let me observe that the Author in these Discourses most convincingly proves that the Humane Nature of Christ ascended above all aspectable Heavens or that Christ as entire Man as to Soul and Body was translated into the blessed Regions obove And its strange that any that pretend to credit the inspired Writings should call this into question I nothing doubt but that very Body of Christ that was crucified without the Gates of Jerusalem was the very same Body that was laid in the Sepulchre and am fully satisfied that this same Body was raised out of the Grave and ascended into Heaven and is now there at the Right Hand of God I doubt not but the Body of Christ is now glorious and is beautified with more excellent Qualities than it was vested with whilst he was here in his state of Humiliation but yet this hinders not but that this Body is still the very same that bled and expired upon the Cursed Tree neither do the Sacred Scriptures tell us any thing of another Body that Christ has now in Heaven quite distinct from that which was crucified and laid in the Grave But all this while I do but detain you from reading more weighty and instructive matter Therefore to conclude Sirs Remember it was the Importunity of many of you that drew these following Sermons into publick View let me therefore entreat you to give them a careful and diligent perusal and do not throw them by into a corner a moulding as too many deal by their Books as if they were some of the useless Lumber of your Houses But read them seriously and meditate upon the Truths contained in them with some Solemnity of Thought and then you will fully answer the Design of the Publisher Who is SIRS Your real Friend and Servant in the LORD JOSEPH HALLET F. Ex musaeo Nov. 26. 92. OF CHRIST's Ascension Luke XXIV 51. And it came to pass while he blessed them he was parted from them and carried up into Heaven IT was in Paul's Judgment no less a Mystery of Godliness That Christ risen from the Dead was received up into Glory then that being come off his Glory he was manifested in the Flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 Without Controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the Flesh received up into Glory We have formerly seen what of the Mystery of Godliness and Comfort for the Godly hath appeared in the former Christ's Humiliation by his Incarnation We now come indeed by the Revolution of time to see what of both may be found in his Exaltation by his Ascension and indeed his Ascension is the second degree or remove of his Exaltation which is all Mystery For so it pleased the Father that his steps to his Crown should be answerable but opposite to those descents which carried him to his Cross I. He rose from the Dead that 's opposed to his laying down of his Life That is his Resurrection is opposed to his Death II. He ascended into Heaven that is opposed to his descent into the Grave III. He sits at the Right hand of God in opposition to his abode while in the State of Death Signified by that Expression he descended into Hell IV. He shall come to judge the World In opposition to that wretched state in which as he stood he was judged by the World 'T is the second step or degree of his Exaltation or Advancement which we are come from the Words read to treat of at this time And it came to pass c. You may learn Luke's Project in his Gospel from Luke's Pen in the Acts for they both own him to be their Pen-man Where in the 1st Chap. v. 1. He tells you that what he had done was to let you know 1. What Christ did 2. What he suffered 3. What he said 4. How he departed His departure from his Disciples to his Father which he had often before inculcated to them and prepared them for you have described in this Text. Wherein you may take notice 1. Of the Place where he ascended on Mount Olivet nigh Bethany 2. The Persons who were called forth as Eye-witnesses of his Ascension His Disciples 3. The Manner of taking his Farewel He lift up his Hands and blessed them 4. You have the Action of his Ascent described 1. By his separation from his Apostles he was parted from them 2. By his advance on high He was carried up into Heaven He led them out as far as to Bethany Beza thinks that by Bethany was meant the whole Tract of Olivet but others with stronger probability conceive it to be a certain Village near Jerusalem upon Olivet where the poorer sort had their dwellings the Out-skirts of the Suburbs And the name of the place seems to give some countenance to the Conjecture It being that which signifies in the Hebrew Language the House of Affliction or the House of the Poor Beth Inanjah That is the House of the Poor Our Saviour seem'd much delighted in this place and most conversant amongst such Company Thy King cometh lowly humble it is Inani poor afflicted Poor saith the Prophet Zachariah 9.9 He came of poor Parents to a poor People in poor Habit with poor Attendants No such hurt then in a low and mean
Gen. 45.27 Did Jacob rejoyce to see a Waggon or a Chariot that would carry him into Aegypt to see his Son Joseph And wilt not thou rejoyce to think that Death is a Chariot to carry thee to JESUS CHRIST to carry thee not to Aegypt but to Heaven Not to thy Son but to thy GOD Death is but a Chariot to carry into Heaven to bring us to that Eternal Goshen of Light where GOD's Presence shall both make and keep us blessed for ever And thus have you been offered a taste of Three of those Sweet Streams which came forth of that River which runs in the Eden of God 4. The Fourth and Last is this Is Christ gone to Heaven Thou shalt assuredly go after him 'T is somewhat a sad thing when Death comes and says You must go with me the Body to the Grave the Soul to God that gave it I say then Nature makes a sowr Face upon such a sad Message What my Body that hath cost me so much I used so tenderly that lived so delicately Now to say to corruption thou art my father and to the worm thou art my mother and my sister What this Face of mine be cloathed with Clods of Dust as Job says These Arms these Hands these Feet of mine that were my Pride the Worms Meat They shall feed sweetly upon them Job 24. This is a hard saying to Nature and the harder to be born when the Care hath been all imployed about the Body and the Soul forgotten it will be dreadful indeed to leave the Body in the Hands of Death when the Soul hath been in the Power of Sin But hast thou the least Hold-fast on Christ a Faith but like a smoaking Flax thou hast then a Cordial to give the Spirit when thy Body is falling into the Pit No mattter let it fall it shall up again Christ is risen and he is gone to Heaven and he is gone to receive thee thither that thou mayest be even where he is So he tells you Joh. 14.19 Yet a little while and the world seeth me no more but you see me because I live you shall live also The Branches live in the Root and if the Root lives they will live As if he said Well my Friends I must leave you a while I must go to Heaven before you but know this I go to Heaven for you and be cause I live there bodily assure your selves you shall live there bodily too What saith a Father to this Well saith he Christ is our Flesh and our Bone he is gone with our Flesh into Heaven our Flesh hath taken possession already of our Inheritance And this is a good assurance and pledge to us that our Flesh these Bodies of ours shall be in Heaven where Christ is Christ is gone bodily into Heaven and because he lives there you shall live there also Because I live ye shall live also saith Christ And as much you have in the 14 Joh. 3. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am ye may be also Christ is gone for the present but when all is prepared above he will come again and fetch his People Home to his House and to their Inheritance Oh what an unspeakable Comfort is this to a dying Soul I am now ready to lie down in the Dust saith a Soul And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God as Job said 19 Job 26. Christ is entred into Heaven in our Name in our Flesh hath taken possession for us of the purchased Inheritance and therefore he will bring us thither in his appointed time Christ hath gotten in his Head his Body his Church shall come after CHRIST will not sit in Heaven a HEAD without MEMBERS It 's a Scripture more worth than both the Indies for a dying time 6. The End of Christ's Ascention was that he being full of Grace and Glory might be able to refresh and fill the Souls of all his People My Brethren as I told you before Christ did not lose his Bowels his Pity by going to Heaven We have not an High Priest saith the Apostle which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities let us therefore come boldly to obtain mercy Heb. 4.15 16. No my Brethren our High-Priest hath not lost his Feeling by going into Heaven he is not like a Man that his Advancement should make him forget his Friend 's Good That he might hear them that he might help them that he might fill them that he might save them so saith the Apostle Ephes 4.10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things He ascended with filling purposes as the Sun ascends with enlightning strength And therefore at his departure what saith he John 17.19 For their sakes saith he sanctifie I my self that they may be sanctified And Ver. 22. The glory that thou givest me I have given them Our Glory our Fulness our Holiness was one of Christ's Ends why he was glorified and filled himself Of his fulness we all receive grace for grace John 1.16 A notable Comfort to poor needy Souls Dost thou see thy emptiness yea but look on Christ's fulness he emptied himself for us Why so he filled himself for us Dost thou feel great want of Knowledge thou art a poor ignorant Creature that as Paul said thou dost know nothing as thou shouldst Thou dost want Wisdom and Strength and Grace to make thee solid and able in thy Christian Business Thou canst not walk as prudently as thou shouldest in the place God hath set thee Thou canst not carry thy self as beseemingly and as humbly as thou shouldest when God's Hand is upon thee thou hast not that fear of God as thou shouldest nor that love of God that his Mercies call for Yet in the midst of all here 's thy stay and support Thou knowest where to carry thy empty Vessels to be filled Thou canst now go to thy Saviour and say Lord thou art now in Heaven filled with unmeasurable Glory Thou art a God full of Grace and Glory Thou art full that thy People may be full Oh of thy Fulness let us receive Grace for Grace Such Thoughts such Meditations as these will in time work us out of all our Wants Where I am there also shall my servant be saith he John 12.26 When I shall be in Heaven ne're a Servant of mine but shall be in Heaven too the Servant shall be with the Master and you know in that fore-cited place Ephes 2.6 The Apostle speaks of our Ascension as a thing already effected and wrought by Christ's Ascension God hath made us sit together saith he in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Oh my dear Brethren here 's a Comfort for every Cross Come what can come Life or Death Fears Hopes Trouble or Peace this will give us Confidence in all our Fears and
that Work that would bring poor Souls to Glory And can any after this doubt of God's Love 2. He must ascend that he might manifest to all the World that he was God as well as Man his Divinity must have lain under a Cloud and Suspicion had he not been thus in a Cloud taken up into Heaven Christ had told his Hearers of many things which were too sublime and high for their understandings that were got but little above the pitch of Nature to assent to And therefore that by the Dignity of his Person he might win a full assent of Faith to his Words he makes it manifest that he came down from the Father and how Why by this in that he was to ascend to the Father again as you may see John 3.12 13. How shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things No Man hath ascended up into Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of Man which is in Heaven As if he had said ye cannot believe his Words till his Godhead is proved by his Ascension And you find Paul to make use of his Ascension as an Argument to prove his Godhead by 4 Eph. 9 10. Now that he ascended what is it but that he descended first into the lower parts of the Earth He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all Heavens that he might fill all things His going up to Heaven is there made by Paul an Argument that he came down from Heaven That is that he was God 3. He must to Heaven again that there might be a full Requital and Recompence made him for all those Sufferings and Sorrows and Dishonours which he met with in the Body It may astonish Nature to consider what he suffered and from whom Now what kept him up in his Sufferings but the assurance he had of his Reward How did he bear what he did on Earth but by considering what he should be in Heaven This is the Argument that Paul makes use of to prove his Glory by 2 Phil. 8.9 Being found in fashion as a Man he humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the death of the Cross wherefore saith he God also hath highly exalted him c. Quia Christus propter nos in nostrâ carne ultrò sese humiliavit Deus ea proptus nos in carne nostrâ etiam in sammam exhilit sublimitatem Because Christ of himself for us humbled himself in our Flesh Therefore did God for us advance him to the greatest Glory in the Flesh The Top and Perfection of Glory must be the reward of his Submission to carry on God's Purposes 110 Psalm 7. He shall drink of the brook in the way therefore shall he lift up the head He should drink of that Cup which God should put into his Hands embittered with the Wrath of God and Rage of Men. And then should he lift up his Head yea and there he should lift up his Head he should be advanced above the Grave by his Resurrection above the World by his Ascension and above all aspectable Heavens by sitting down at the Right-hand of God When Christ had been at Bethany the House of the Poor then should he come to Bethel the House of God His Cross must be his way to his Crown he must wear the Crown of Thorns before he could put on the Crown of Glory We see Jesus saith the Apostle For the Sufferings of Death crowned with Glory Heb. 2.9 4. That he might make it appear that his Kingdom was not of this World His Disciples no sooner saw him delivered from the Bonds of Death but their thoughts were presently on a fifth Monarchy a Temporal Kingdom They began to grow Millenaries dream of a Personal Reign which Christ himself should exercise over Israel and deliver them from the Bondage of the Roman Yoke under which they then groaned as appears from 1 Acts 6. When they therefore were come together that is his Disciples They asked of him saying Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel And this was the Epidemical disease of the Jews at that time they were so sensible of their temporal Bondage and it made them so impatient that they thought it must be the Work of him that was the true Messias by making himself King to set them at liberty and this and little else made them look after a Messiah and this fond Conceit because they understood not wherein Christ's Kingdom did consist made Christ a Stumbling-block and Rock of Offence unto them that they could not believe in him Now Christ's Disciples living amongst them began to be tainted with the same Opinion That Christ by a personal Exercise of Sovereignty came to restore the temporal Power and Kingdom to the Jews Now that they might not be so taken with Christ's bodily Presence as to forget his Spiritual Rule and Scepter He withdraws that from them by his Ascension and promises a more effusion of his Spirit upon them whereby their carnal Blindness might be taken off and they guided in the way of all Truth And thus much Paul's Words import 2 Cor. 5.16 Though we have known Christ after the Flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more As if he had said All carnal Knowledge of Christ in respect of personal appearance must now be laid aside he is ascended on high We must now labour to know him in a Spiritual way so to know him as to believe in him to submit to him To look for Grace by him and Heaven with him These Reasons I shall only give as respecting Christ himself There may be others drawn from that Eye which Christ had to the Advancement and Comfort of his People But I shall wave them here and propose them in another place as the blessed Consequences and Effects of his the glorious Ascension of Christ And now shall according to promise proceed unto Application and thereby improve it three ways to Information to Comfort to Counsel 1. Is it so that Christ is locally ascended into the highest Heavens first Use for Information and that in sundry Particulars Vse 1. Then may we here see the Vanity of that Popish Transubstantiation That real or rather Corporal presence of Christ in the Sacrament which they with so much fury maintain A carnal and corporal Presence For we deny not a real Presence in a Spiritual sence For Christ is really present in the Sacrament though not corporally and it were no way improper to call it a sensless Opinion since they must deny the Office of all the Senses that all Men have in the World to maintain it And though the Senses at the time of Administration are all at a loss in respect of finding any thing which may be a Confirmation to their Opinion yet will they not endure a Spiritual Understanding of it They place it under a miraculous Power and yet no change found by any Sense whereas Christ never did Miracle but
in all our necessities as is to be found in his Ascension We may now pray and not fear our Mediator is gone before our Advocate is with the Father Be now wholly confident that thou shalt be heard in that thou fearest weak Duties cannot hinder acceptance when Christ is above to further it When thou dost pray thou goest to a God that hath thine Advocate at his Right-hand He that is of God's Counsel is thy Counsel This the Apostle thinks is enough to give a Man a bold and confident face in that holy Presence 4 Heb. 14 16. Seeing then that we have an High Priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace Never fear Christ is above Who would not come boldly into the Court when he knows he hath such a Person to present his Petition The eldest Son to the King is of thy side what needest thou fear some would take off Prayer from being now a Duty because we live in the days of the Gospel Days say they of a high Dispensation 't is ill being too high for Duty No my Brethren pray now if ever for now thine Advocate is in Heaven and therefore thou shouldst now be always sending up Petitions thither 2. Christ ascended to Heaven that he might make a full Conquest over all his Peoples Enemies And this we are told by the Author to the Hebrews Ch. 10.12 13. This man sat down at the right hand of God expecting till his enemies be made his footstool That is till they are fully conquered and in the 4 Eph. 8. When he ascended up on high he led Captivity captive That is he led those captive which had before kept his People in captivity as we may see to be the meaning of the Phrase in the 5 Judges 12. An allusion to the Custom of the Romans who after their Victory led their Captives in triumph So Christ's ascending up to Heaven it was his getting into his Triumphal Chariot leading his own and his Peoples Enemies captived at his Chariot-wheels as it were and so saith Paul 2 Colos 15. Having spoiled Principalities and Powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is he did in height of confidence make them a publick Example of fcorn and shame 'T is true Christ strook the last stroke and won the day on his Cross Then the Devil and Sin and Death received their mortal wound But at the Resurrection he seized the Prey laid hold on those he had subdued and by his Ascension dragged them as it were at his Chariot-wheels to be trampled upon by all those that are Members of his Body which makes the Victory of God's poor People certain Oh what a comfort is this my Brethren that Christ by going up to Heaven doth manifest to all the World that all their Enemies lie bleeding at his Feet That he hath overcome the Grave Death the Devil and Sin They may bark they can bite no more the Serpent may put out his Sting but cannot hurt They now lie all as Captives chained in the Stocks till the King's Pleasure How are we hereby armed against the fear of Satan I confess these spiritual Powers are great in their own nature But they are not now what they were They are disarmed Devils they are Devils but they are naked Devils Devils they are but wounded Devils conquered Devils Devils led captives Devils in Chain no fear of a chained Enemy if you come not within his reach 2. Again what Encouragement have we here to hold out in all our Encounters against these Enemies They may foam but they cannot fight they are Prisoners Captives chained up from doing hurt Christ our Lord doth hold them pinioned that they cannot stir they think they may do what they please but no more then a Goal-bird in Irons they are held with Irons of Guilt and in Chains of Providence we would all say that that Man hath a base low Spirit who when he was well appointed and well-guarded should rear a naked Enemy We have our Weapons with us our Captain with us our Enemies naked and bound Let us be strong then in the might of him that strengthens us to look upon Satan now as loose is to deny Christ's Ascension He is a Devil still but a chained Devil 3. Here 's an Encouragement for our Faith too keep that eye clear that thou mayest see thy Victory and thou art safe there 's no more required then that thou see thy Captain triumphing Give Glory unto Christ that he hath done this for thee and he will apply it to thee Doth the Devil hold hard Fear not one look of Christ's will make his Weapons fall out of his hands Is Sin strong Yea but the Sting is gone Christ hath the Victory look to thy Saviour let but thy Faith mount into his Triumphal Chariot and thine Enemies are all under thy feet also You know 't is a mighty Encouragement to a Souldier to fight when he sees his Commander go on beating down his Enemies before him We should fear our Enemies less and prevail more if we would eye Christ's Conquest more frequently having such a Friend in Heaven we need not fear any on Earth nor Friend in Hell 3. He ascended on high for the pouring forth of the Graces of his Spirit that his People might also be prepared for that holy place not only that they be secured here but crowned above whence saith the Apostle Ephes 4.8 When he ascended on high he led Captivity captive and gave Gifts unto men It is an allusion to the Roman Custom that when the Conqueror rode in Triumph towards the Capitol or Palace he did not only draw the Prisoners at his Chariot-wheels but also scatter'd Money to the Spectators that saw him ride along in Triumph Why so Christ having by his Ascension spoiled Death and the Devil cast his Gifts unto Men dispenseth his Graces in a greater measure into the Hearts of his People He hath conquered his Enemies and now gives about his Favours to those that are his so that strength of Grace is the Fruit of Christ's Ascension and Acts 2.33 Being by the Right hand of God exalted he hath shed forth the Holy Ghost And therefore to comfort his Disciples at his departure shews them what they should get by the loss of his corporal Presence John 16.7 It is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come to you But if I depart I will send him to you And 7 John 39. The Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Christ was not yet glorified Not that this Text or that other gives any countenance to that Socinian dotage That before Christ's Ascension there were no saving Gifts of the Spirit for that will suppose that before Christ was there none went to Heaven or that Holiness was not necessary to the seeing of God But the