is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 And such an one must he needs be whom the holy Ghost produces in such a peculiar way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That holy thing Secondly As it was produced miraculously so it was assumed integrally That is to say Christ took a compleat and perfect humane soul and body with all and every faculty and member pertaining to it And this was necessary as both Austin and Fulgentius have well observed that hereby he might heal the whole nature of that Leprosie of sin which had seiz'd and infected every member and faculty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He assumed all to sanctifie all as Damascen expresseth it He design'd a perfect recovery by sanctifying us wholly in Soul Body and Spirit And therefore assumed the whole in order to it Thirdly He assumed our nature as with all its integral parts so with all its Sinless infirmities And therefore it s said of him Heb. 2.17 That it behoved him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to all things that is all things natural not formally sinful as it 's limited by the same Apostle Heb. 4.15 to be made like unto his brethren But here our Divines do carefully distinguish infirmities into personal and natural Personal infirmities are such as befall particular persons from particular causes Such as Dumbness Blindness Lameness Leprosies Monstrosities and other deformities These it was no way necessary that Christ should not did he at all assume but the natural ones such as Hunger Thirst Weariness Sweating Bleeding Mortality c. Which though they are not in themselves formally and intrinsecally sinful yet are they the effects and consequents of sin They are so many marks that sin hath left of its self upon our natures And on that account Christ is said to be sent in the likeness of sinful Flesh Rom. 8.3 Wherein the gracious condescension of Christ for us is marvelously signallized That he would not assume our innocent nature as it was in Adam before the fall while it stood in all its primitive glory and perfection but after sin had quite defaced ruined and spoil'd it Fourthly The humane nature is so united with the Divine as that each nature still retains its own essential properties distinct And this distinction is not nor can be lost by that union So that the two understandings wills powers c. viz. The Divine and humane are not confounded but a line of distinction runs betwixt them still in this wonderful Person It was the Heresie of the Eutichians condemned by the Council of Chalcedon to affirm that there was no distinction betwixt the two natures in Christ. Against whom that Council determined that they were united 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any immutation or confusion Fifthly The union of the two natures in Christ is an inseparable Vnion So that from the first moment thereof there never was nor to Eternity shall be any Separation of them If you ask how the union remained betwixt them when Christs humane Soul and Body were separated from each other upon the Cross Is not death the dissolution of union betwixt Soul and Body True The natural union betwixt his Soul and Body was dissolved by death for a time but this Hypostatical union remained even then as intire and firm as ever For though his Soul and Body were divided from each other yet neither of them from the Divine Nature Divines assist our conception of this mysterie by an apt illustration A man that holds in his hand a Sword sheathed when he pleaseth draws forth the Sword but still holds that in one hand and the sheath in the other and then sheaths it again still holding it in his hand so when Christ dyed his Soul and Body retained their union with the Divine Nature though not during that space one with another And thus you are to form and regulate your conceptions of this great mysterie Some adumbrations and imperfect similitudes of it may be found in Nature Among which some commend that union which the Soul and Body have with each other They are of different natures yet both make one individual man Others fault this because both these united make but one compleat humane nature whereas in Christs person are two perfect natures and commend to us a more perfect emblem viz. that of the Cyens and the tree or stock which have two natures yet make but one tree But then we must remember that the Cyens wants a root of its own which is an integral part but Christ assumed our nature integrally This defect is by others supplyed in the Miscletoe and the Oak which have different natures and the Miscletoe subsists in union with the Oak still retaining the difference of nature and though making but one tree yet bears different fruits And so much to the first thing namely the nature of this Union For the effects or immediate results of this marvelous Union let these three be well considered First The two natures being thus united in the person of the mediator by vertue thereof the properties of each nature are attributed and do truly agree to the whole person so that it 's proper to say the Lord of glory was crucified 1. Cor. 2.8 And the blood of God redeemed the Church Acts 20.28 That Christ was both in heaven and in earth at the same time Ioh. 3.13 Yet we do not believe that one nature doth transfuse or impart its properties to the other or that it is proper to say the Divine nature Suffered Bled or Dyed or the humane is omniscient omnipotent omnipresent but that the properties of both natures are so ascribed to the person that it is proper to affirm any of them of him in the concrete though not abstractly the right understanding of this would greatly assist in reaching the true sence of the forenamed and many other dark passages in the Scriptures Secondly Another fruit of this Hypostatical union is the singular advancement of the humane nature in Christ far beyond and above what it is capable of in any other person it being hereby replenished and fill'd with an unparelell'd measure of Divine graces and excellencies in which respect he is said to be annointed above or before his fellows Psal. 45.8 And so becomes the object of adoration and Divine worship Acts 7.59 This the Socinians oppugn with this Argument He that is worshiped with a Divine worship as he is mediator is not so worshiped as God but Christ is worshiped as mediator But we say that to be worshiped as mediator and as God are not opposite but the one is necessarily included in the other and therein is farther included the ratio formalis sub quâ of that Divine religious worship Thirdly Hence in the last place follows as another excellent fruit of this Union the concourse and co-operation of each nature to his mediatory works For in them he acts according to both
that sent Jesus Christ and upon Christ that sent them So that it is a rebellion that how ever it seems to begin low in some small piques against their persons or some little quarrels at their parts and Utterance Tones Methods or gestures yet it â—â—ns high even to the Fountain head of the most supream Authority You that set your selves against a Minister of Christ set your selves against God the Father and God the Son Luk. 10.16 He that heareth you heareth meâ— and he that despiseth you despised me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me God expects that yon behave your selves under the word spoken by us as if he himself spake it Yea he expects submission to his word in the mouths of his Ministers from the greatest on earth And therefore it was that God so severely punished Zedekiah because he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the Prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord 2 Câ—on 36.12 God was angry with a great King for not humbling himself before a poor Prophet Yet here you must distinguish both of Persons and of Acts. This reverence and submission is not due to them as men but as men in Office As Christs Embassadours and must involve that respect still in it Again we owe it not to them commanding or forbiding in their own names but in Christs Not in venting their own Spleen but the terrors of the Lord. And then to resist is an high rebellion and affront to the Soveraign Authority of Heaven And by the way this may instruct Ministers that the way to maintain that veneration and respect that is due to them in the consciences of their hearers is by keeping close to their Commission Inference 3. Hence also we infer How great an evil it is to intrude into the Office of the Ministry without a due call It 's more than Christ himself would do He glorified not himself The honours and advantages attending that Office have invited many to run before they were Sent. But surely this is an insufferable violation of Christs order Our Age hath abounded with as many Church-Levellers as state-Levellers I wish the Ministers of Christ might at last see and consider what they were once warned of by a faithful watch-man I believe saith he God hath permitted so many to intrude into the Ministers calling because Ministers have too much medled with and intruded into other mens callings Inference 4. Hence be convinced of the great efficacy that is in all Gospel-ordinances duly administred For Christ having received full Commission from his Father and by vertue thereof having instituted and appointed those ordinances in the Church all the power in heaven is engaged to make them good to back and second them to confirm and ratifie them Hence in the censures of the Church you have that great expression Matth. 18.18 Whatsoever ye bind or loose on earth shall be bound or loosed in heaven And so for the Word and Sacraments Matth. 28.18 19 20. All power in heaven and in earth is given to me God therefore c. They are not the appointments of men your Faith stands not in the wisdom of men but in the power of God That very power God the Father committed to Christ is the Fountain whence all Gospel institutions flow And he hath promised to be with his Offices not only the extraordinary Offices of that Age but with his Ministers in succeeding Ages to the end of the world O therefore when ye come to an odinance come not wiâ—h slight thoughts but with great reverence and great expectations remembring Christ is there to make all good Inference 5. Again here you have another call to admire the grace and love both of the Father and Son to your Souls It is not lawful to compare them but it 's duty to admire them Was it not wonderful grace in the Father to Seal a Commission for the death of his Son for the humbling of him as low as Hell and in that Method to save you when you might rather have expected he should have Sealed your Mittimus for Hell rather than a Commission for your Salvation He might rather have set his irreversible Seal to the sentence of your Damnation than to a Commission for his Sons humiliation for you And no less is the love of Christ to be wondred at that would accept such a Commission as this for us and receive this Seal understanding fully as he did what were the contents of that Commission that the Father delivered him thus Sealed And knowing that there could be no reversing of it afterwards Oh then love the Lord Jesus all ye his Saints for still you see more and more of his love breaking out upon you I commend to you a Sealed Saviour this day O that every one that reads these lines might in a pang of Love cry out with the enamored Spouse Cant. 8.6 Set me as a Seal upon thy heart as a Seal upon thy arm for Love is strong as Death Iealousie is cruel as the Grave the coals thereof are coals of fire which have a vehement flame Inference 6. Once more hath God Sealed Christ for you then draw forth the comfort of his Sealing for you and be restless till ye also be Sealed by him First Draw out the comfort of Christs Sealing for you Remember that hereby God stands ingaged even by his own Seal to allow and confirm what ever Christ hath done in the business of your Salvation And on this ground you may thus plead with God Lord thou hast Sealed Christ to this Office and therefore I depend upon it that thou allowest all that he hath done and all that he hath suffered for me and wilt make good all that he hath promised me If men will not deny their own Seals much less wilt thou Secondly Get your interest in Christ Sealed to you by the Spirit else you cannot have the comfort of Christs being Sealed for you Now the Spirit Seals two ways Objectively and Effectually the first is by working those graces in us which are the conditions of the promises The latter is by shining upon his own Work and helping the Soul to discern it Which follows the other both in order of nature and of time And these Sealings of the Spirit are to be distinguisht both ex parti Subjecti by their Subject or the quality of the Person Sealed which always is a Believer Eph. 1.13 For there can be no reflex till there have been a Direct Act of Faith Ex parte materiae By the matter of which that comfort is made Which if it be of the Spirit is ever consonant to the written Word Isa. 8.20 And partly ab effectis by its effects for it commonly produces in the Sealed Soul great care and caution to avoid Sin Eph. 4.30 Great Love to God Ioh. 14.22 Readiness to suffer any thing for Christ Rom. 5.3 4 5. Confidence in addresses to God 1 Ioh. 5.13 14. And great
the High-Priests appearing in the Holy of Holies which was the figure of Heaven presenting to the Lord the names of the twelve Tribes of Israel which were on his breast and shoulders Exod. 28.9 12 28 29. to which the Church is supposed to allude in that request Cant. 8.6 set me as a seal upon thine heart as a seal upon thine arm Now the very sight of Christ our High-Priest in Heaven prevails exceedingly with God and â—urns away his displeasure from us As when God looks upon the Rainbow which is the sign of the Covenant he remembers the earth in mercy So when he looks on Christ his heart must needs be towards us upon his account and therefore in Rev. 4.3 Christ is compared to a Rainbow encompassing the Throne Secondly Christ performs his intercession-work in Heaven not by a naked appearing in the presence of God only but also by presenting his blood and all his sufferings to God as a moving plea on our account Whether he make any proper oral intercession there as he did on earth is not so clear some incline to it and think it 's countenanced by Zech. 1.12 13. where Christ our intercessor presents a proper vocal request to the Father in the behalf of his people Saying O Lord of Hosts how long wilt thou not have mercy on Ierusalem and on the Cities of Iudah against whom thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years and the Lord answered him with good and comfortable words And so Act. 2.23 As soon as he came to Heaven he is said and that as the first fruits of his Intercession to obtain the promise of the Holy-Ghost But sure I am an Interceding voice is by an usual prosopopeia attributed to his blood which in Heb. 12.24 is said to speak better things than the blood of Abel Now Abels blood and so Christs do cry unto God as the hire of the Labourers unjustly detained or the whole creation which is in bondage through our sins are said to cry and groan in the ears of the Lord. Iam. 5.4 Rom. 8.22 not vocally but efficatiously A rare illustration of this Efficatious Intercession of Christ in Heaven we have in that famous story of Amintas who appeared as an Advocate for his brother Aechylus who was strongly accused and very likely to be condemned to die Now Amintas having performed great services and merited highly of the Common-Wealth in whose service one of his hands was cut off in the Field he comes into the Court on his brothers behalf and said nothing but only lifted up his arm and shewed them cubitum sine manu an arm without an hand which so moved them without a word speaking that they freed his brother immediately And thus if you look into Revel 5.6 you shall see in what posture Christ is represented visionally there as standing between God and us And I beheld and loe in the midst of the Throne and four beasts and in the midst of the Elders stood a Lamb as it had been slain i. â— bearing in his glorified body the marks of his death and sacrifice Those wounds he received for our sins on earth are as it were still fresh bleeding in Heaven A moving and prevailing argument it is with the Father to give out the mercies he pleads for Thirdly and Lastly He presents the prayers of his Saints to God with his merits and desires that they may for his sake be granted He causes a cloud of incense to ascend before God with them Revel 8.3 All these were excellently Typed out by the going in of the High-Priest before the Lord with the names of the Children of Israel on his breast with the blood of the Sacrifice and his hands full of incense as the Apostle explains them in Heb. 7. and Heb. 9. Thirdly And that this Intercession of Christ is most potent successful and prevalant with God will be evinced both from the qualifications of this our Advocate from his great interest in the Father from the nature of the pleas he useth with God and from the relation and interest believers have both in the Father to whom and the Son by whom this intercession is made First our Intercessor in the Heavens is every way able and fit for the work he is ingaged in there What ever is desirable in an Advocate is in him eminently It is necessary that he who undertakes to plead the cause of another especially if it be weighty and intricate should be wise faithful tender-hearted and one that concerns himself in the success of his business Our Advocate Christ wants no wisdom to manage his work He is the wisdom of God yea only wise Jude 25. There 's much folly in the best of our duties we know not how to press an argument home with God but Christ hath the art of it Our business is in a wise hand He is no less faithful than wise therefore he is called a faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God Heb. 2.17 He assures us we may safely trust our concerns with him Joh. 14.2 In my Fathers house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you Q. D. do you think I will deceive you Men may cheat you but I will not your own hearts may and daily do deceive you but so will not I. And for tender heartedness and sensible resentments of our conditions there is none like him Heb. 4.15 For we have not an High-Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin We have not one that cannot sympathize so it is in the Greek and on purpose that he might be the better able to sympathize with us he came as near to our conditions as the holiness of his nature could permit He suffered himself to be in all points tempted like as we are sin only excepted And then for his concernment and interest in the success of his suit he not only reckons but hath really made it his own interest Yea more his own than it is ours For now by reason of the mystical union all our wants and troubles are his Eph. 1.23 Yea his own glory and compleatness as mediator is deeply interessed in it And therefore we need not doubt but he will use all care and diligence in that work If you say so he may and yet not speed for all that for it depends on the fathers grant True but then Secondly Consider the great interest he hath in the Father with whom he so intercedes Christ is his dear Son Col. 1.13 the beloved of his soul Eph. 1.6 betwixt him and the Father with whom he intercedes there is an unity not only of nature but will and so he always hears him Ioh. 11.42 Yea and he said to this his dear Son when he came first to Heaven Ask of me and I will give thee Psal. 2.8 moreover Thirdly He must needs speed in his suit if you
triumphant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 song of deliverance 1 Cor. 15.55 O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Deâ—truction Our Graves would not be so sweet and comfortable to us when we come to lie down in them if Jesus had not layen there before us and for us Death is a Dragon the Grave its Den a place of dread and terror but Christs goes into its Den there grapples with it and for ever overcomes it Disarms it of all its terror and not only makes it cease to be enemical but to become exceeding beneficial to the Saints A bed of rest and a perfumed bed They do but go into Christs bed where he lay before them For these ends he must be buried Secondly Next let us inquire what manner of funeral Christ had And if we intently observe it we shall find many remarkable properties in it First We shall find it to be a very obscure and private funeral Here was no external pomp or gallantry Christ affected it not in his life and it was no way suitable to the ends and manner of his death Humiliation was designed in his death And state is inconsistent with such an end Besides he dyed upon the Tree and persons so dying don 't use to have much ceremony and state at their funerals Three things shew it to be a very humble and obscure funeral as to what concerned outward glory with which the great ones of the earth are usually interred For First The dead body of the Lord was not brought from his own house as other mens commonly are but from the Tree They beg'd it of his Judge As who should say go bring the Corps from Tyburn Had they not obtained this favour from Pilate it must have been buried in Golgotha It had been tumbled into a pit digged under the Cross. Secondly As it was first beg'd then buried so it was attended with a very poor train A few sorrowful women followed the Bier Other men are accompanied to their Graves by their Relations and Friends The Disciples were all scattered from him Affraid to owne him dying and dead Thirdly And these few that were resolved to give him a funeral are forced by reason of the straights of time to do it in shuffling haste Time was short they take the next sepulcher they can get and hurry him away that evening into it For the preparation for the Passover was at hand This was the obscure â—uneral which the body of the Lord had Thus was the Prince of the Kings of the earth who hath the Keys of Death and Hell laid into his Grave Secondly Yet though men could bestow little honour upon it the heavens bestowed several marks of honour upon it Adorn'd it with divers Miracles which wiped off the reproach of his deaâ—h from him These Miracles were antecedent to his interment or concomitants of it First There was that extraordinary and preternatural Eclipse of the Sun Such an Eclipse as was never seen since it first shone in heaven The Sun fainted at the sight of such a ruful spectacle and cloathed the whole heaven in black The sight of this caused a great Philosopher who was then far from the place where this unparallel'd Tragedy was acting to cry out upon the sight of it either the God of nature now suffers or the frame of the world is now dissolved The same Dionysius writing to Apollophanes a Philosopher who would not embrace the Christian Faith thus goes about to convince him What thinkest thou saith he of the Eclipse when Christ was Crucified Were we not both of us then at Heliopolis and standing in the same place did we not see the Moon in a new manner following the Sun and not in the time of conjunction but from the ninth hour until the evening by a reason unknown in nature directly opposite to the Sun Didst thou not then being greatly terrified say unto me O my Dionysius what strange commutations of the heavenly bodies are these Such a preternatural Eclipse is remembred in no other History For it was not in time of conjunction but opposition the Moon being then at full From the sixth to the ninth hour the Sun and Moon were together in the midst of heaven but in the evening she appeared in the East her own place opposite to the Sun And then miraculously returning from East to West did not pass by the Sun and set in the West before it but kept it company for the space of three hours and then returned to the East again And whereas in all other natural Eclipses the Eclipse alwaies begins on the western part of the body of the Sun and that part is also first cleared it was quite contrary in this for though the Moon were opposite to the Sun and distant from it the whole breadth of heaven yet with a miraculous swiftness it overtook the Sun and darkned first the Eastern part of it and soon prevailed over its whole body Which caused darkness over all the the Land that is say some over the whole Earth or as others over the whole Land of Iewry Or as others over the whole Horizon and all places of the same altitude and latitude Which is most probable Secondly And as Christs funeral was adorned with such a miraculous Eclipse which put the heavens and earth into a mourning so the rocks did rend the vail of the Temple rent in twain from top to bottom The graves opened and the dead bodies of many Saints arose and went into the holy City and were seen of many The rending of the Rocks was a sign of Gods fierce indignation Nahum 1.6 And a discovery of the greatness of his power shewing them what they deserved and what he could do to them that had committed this horrid fact though he rather chose at this time to shew the dreadful effects of it upon inanimate Rocks than Rocky hearted sinners But especially it served to convince the world that it was none other but the Son of God that dyed Which was farther manifested by these concomitant Miracles As for the rending in twain of the vail It was a notable Miracle plainly shewing that all ceremonies were now accomplished and abolished No more vails now As also that believers have now most free access into heaven At that very instant when the vail rent the High Priest was officiating in the most holy place and the vail which hid him from the people being rent they might freely see him about his work in the holy of holies A lively Emblem of our High Priest whom now we see by faith in the heavens there performing his intercession work for us The opening of the Graves plainly shew'd the design and end of Christs going into it That it might not have dominion over the bodies of the Saints but being vanquisht and destroyed by Christ le ts go all that are his whom he ransomed from the Grave as a prey out of its paws A Specimen whereof was given in
the Church as breathed on earth till Christ gave him into its bosom by conversion and then no meer man ever did the Lord and his people greater service than he Men of all sorts Greater and smaller lights have been given to the Church Officers of all sorts were given it by Christ. Extraordinary and temporary as Prophets Apostles Evangelists ordinary and standing as Pastors and Teachers which remain to this day Eph. 4.8 9. And those stars are fixed in the Church heaven by a most firm establishment 1 Cor. 12.28 Thousands now in heaven and thousands on earth also are blessing Christ at this day for these his ascension gifts Fourthly Our Lord Jesus Christ ascended most comfortably for whilst he was blessing his people he was parted from them Luk. 24.50 51. Therein making good to them what is said of him Ioh. 13.1 Having loved his own he loved them to the end There was a great deal of love manifested by Christ in this very last act of his in this world The last sight they had of him in this world was a most sweet and encouraging one They heard nothing from his lips but love they saw nothing in his face but love till he mounted his triumphant Chariot and was taken out of their sight Surely these blessings at parting were sweet and rich ones For the matter of them they were the mercies which his blood had so lately purchased for them And for their extent they were not only intended for them who had the happiness to be upon the place with him from whence he ascended but they reach us as well as them and will reach the last Saint that shall be upon the earth till he come again For they were but representatives of the future Churches Matth. 28.20 And in blessing them he blessed us also And by this we may be satisfied that Christ carried an heart full of love to his people away with him to heaven since his love so abounded in the last act that ever he did in this world And left such a demonstration of his tenderness with them at parting Fifthly He ascended as well as rose again by his own power He was not meerly passive in that his ascension but it was his own act He went to heaven Therefore it 's said Act. 1.10 He went up viz. by his own dâ—vine power And this plainly evinceth hâ—m to be God for no meer Creature ever mounted it self from earth far above all heavens as Christ did Sixthly And lastly why did Christ ascend I answer his ascension was necessary upon many and great accounts For First If Christ had not ascended he could not have Interceded as now he doth in heaven for us And do but take away Christs intercession and you starve the hope of the Saints For what have we to succour our selves with under the daily surprises of sin but this that if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father mark that with the Father A friend upon the place One that abides there on purpose to transact all our affairs and as a surety for the peace betwixt God and us Secondly If Christ had not ascendâ—d you could not have entred into heaven when you die For he went to prepare a place for you Joh. 14.2 He was as I said before the first that entred into heaven directly and in his owâ— name and had he not done so we could not have entred when we die in his name The fore-runner made way for all that are coming on in their several generations after him Nor could your bodies have ascended after their Resurrection but in the vertue of Christs ascension For he ascended as was said before in the capacity of our head and representative To his Father and our Father For us and himself too Thirdly If Christ had not ascended he could not have been inaugurated and installed in the glory he now enjoys in heaven This world is not the place where perfect felicity and glory dwells And then how had the promise of the Father been made good to him Or our glory which consists in being with and conformed to him where had it been Ought not Christ to suffer and to enter into his glory Luk. 24.25 Fourthly If Christ had not ascended how could we have been satisfied that his payment on the Cross made full satisâ—action to God and that now God hath no more Bills to bring in against us How is it that the spirit convinceth the world of righteousness Ioh. 16.9 10. But from Christs going to the Father and returning hither no more which gives evidence of Gods full content and satisfaction both with his person and work Fifthly How should we have enjoyed the great blessings of the Spirit and Ordinances if Christ had not ascended And surely we could not have been without either If Christ had not gone away the Comforter had not come Joh. 16.7 He begins where Christ finished For he takes of his and shews it to us Joh. 16.14 And therefore it 's said â—oh 7.39 The Holy Ghost was not given because Iesus was not yet glorified He was then given as a sanctifying spirit but not given in that measure as afterward he was to furnish and qualifie men with gifts for service And indeed by Christs ascension both his sanctifying and his ministring gifts were shed forth more commonly and more abundantly upon men These fell from him when he ascended as Eliâ—ahs mantle did from him so that whatsoever good of conversion edification support or comfort you receive from spiritual Ordinances he hath shed forth that which you now see and feel It 's the fruit of Christs ascension Sixthly And lastly if Christ had not ascended how had all the Types and Prophesies that figured and fore-told it been fulfilled And the Scriptures cannot be broken Joh. 10.35 So that upon all these accounts it was expedient that he should go away It was for his glory and for our advantage Though we lost the comfort of his bodily presence by it yet if we loved him we would rejoyce because he went to the Father Joh 14.28 We ought to have rejoyced in his advancement though it had been to our loss but when it is so much for our benefit as well as his Glory it 's matter of joy on both sides that he is ascended to his Father and our Father to his God and to our God From the several blessings flowing to us out of Christs ascension it was that he charged his people not to be troubled at his leaving of them Ioh. 14. And hence learn Inference 1. Did Christ ascend into Heaven Is our Iesus our treasure indeed there Where then should the hearts of believers be but in Heaven where their Lord their Life is Surely Saints it is not good that your Love and your Lord should be in two several Countries said one that is now with him Up up after your Lover that he and you may be together Christians you ascended with him virtually when he
came Fourthly When did Christ ascend was it presently as soon as he rose from the dead No not so for after his Resurrection saith Luke he was seen of them forty daies speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God And truly the care and love of Christ to his people was very manifest in this his stay with them He had ineffable glory prepared for him in heaven and awaiting his coming but he will not go to possess it till he had settled all things for the good of his Church here For in this time he confirmed the truth of his Resurrection gave charge to the Apostles concerning the Discipline and order of his house or Kingdom which was but needful since he intended that their Acts should be rules to future Churches So long it was necessary he should stay And when he had set all things in order he would stay no longer lest he should seem to affect a terrene life And besides he had work of great concernment to do for us in the other world He desired to be no longer here than he had work to do for God and souls A good pattern for the Saints Fifthly How did Christ ascend into Heaven Here it 's worthy our Observation that Christ ascended as a publick person or fore-runner in our names and upon our accounts So it 's said expresly Heb. 6.20 Speaking of the most holy place within the vail whither saith he the fore-runner is for us entred His entring into heaven as our fore-runner implies both his publick capacity and precedency First His publick capacity as one that went upon our business to God So he himself speaks Ioh. 14.2 I go before to prepare a place for you To take possession of heaven in our names The fore-runner hath respect to others that were to come to heaven after him in their several generations for whom he hath taken up mansions which are kept for them against their coming Secondly It notes precedency He is our fore-runner but he himself had no fore-runner Never any entred into heaven before him but such as entred in the name and through the vertue of his merits He was the first that ever entred heaven directly immediately in his own name and upon his own account But all the Fathers who died before him entred in his name To the holiest of them all God would have said as Elisha to Iehoram 2 King 3.14 Were it not that I had respect to the person of my Son in whose name and right you come I would not look upon you You must back again heaven were no place for you No not for you Aâ—raham nor for you Moses Secondly He ascended Triumphantly into heaven To this good Expositors refer that which in the Type is spoken of David when he lodged the Ark in its own place with musical instruments and shoutings but to Christ in the Antitype when he was received up Triumphantly into glory Psal. 47.5 God is gone up with a shout the Lord with the sound of a Trumpet sing praises to God sing praises sing praises unto our King sing praises A Cloud is prepared as a Royal Chariot to carry up this King of Glory to his Princely pavillion A Cloud received him out of their sight And then a Royal guard of mighty Angels surround the Chariot if not for support yet for greater state and solemnity of their Lords ascension And oh what Jubilations of the blessed Angels were heard in heaven How was the whole City of God moved at his coming For look as when he brought his first begotten into the world he said let all the Angels of God worship him Heb. 1.6 So at his return thither again when he had finished Redemption work there were no less demonstrations given by those blessed Creatures of their delight and joy in it The very heavens ecchoed and resounded on that account Yea the Triumph is not ended at this day nor ever shall It 's said Dan. 7.13.14 I saw saith the Prophet in the night visions and behold one like the Son of man came with the Clouds of Heaven and came to the ancient of daies and they brought him near before him And there was given him dominion and glory and a Kingdom that all People Nations and Languages should serve him This Vision of Daniels was accomplisht in Christs ascension when they i. e. the Angels brought him to the ancient of daies i. e. to God the Father who to express his welcome to Christ gave him glory and a Kingdom And so it is and ought to be expounded The Father received him with open arms rejoycing exceedingly to see him again in heaven therefore God is said to receive him up into glory 1 Tim. 3.16 For that which with respect to Christ is called ascension is with respect to the Father called assumption He went up and the Father received him Yea received him so as none ever was received before him or shall be received after him Thirdly Christ Ascended munificiently shedding forth abundantly inestimable gifts upon his Church at his ascension As in the Roman Triumphs they did Spargere missilia bestow their largesses upon the people so did our Lord when he ascended wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high he led Captivity Captive and gave gifts unto men The place to which the Apostle refers is Psal. 68.17.18 where you have both the triumph and munificence with which Christ went up excellently set forth together The Chariots of God saith the Psalmist are twenty thousand even thousands of Angels the Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led Captivity Captive thou hast received gifts for men Yea for the rebellious also that God might dwell among them Which words in their literal sense are a Celebraâ—ion of that famous victory and triumph of David ever the enemies of God recorded 2 Sam. 8. These conquered enemies bring him several sorts of presents all which he dedicated to the Lord. The spiritual sense is that just so our Lord Jesus Christ when he had overcome by his death on the Crâ—ss and now triumphed in his ascension he takes the parts and gifts of his enemies and gives them by their conversion to the Church for its use and service Thus he received gifts even for the rebellious i. e. sanctâ—fies the natural gifts and â—aculties of such as hated his people before dedicating them to the Lord in his peoples service Thus as one observes Tertullian Origen Austin and Ierome came into Canaan laden with Aegyptian Gold Meaning they came into the Church richly furnished wiâ—h natural learning and abilities Austin was a Manichee Cyprian a Magician learned Bradwardine a scornful proud naâ—urallist who once said when he read Pauls Epistles dedignabar esse parvulus He scorned such childish things but afterwards became a very useful man in the Church of God And even Paul himself was as fierce an enemy to