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of grace, is rather, and more principally founded on Christ's resurrection, than on his sufferings and death, Rom. iv. 25. and viii. 33, 34. - 3. Regeneration is another effect of Christ's resurrection; as the elect of God were quickened with him, and in him, as their head and representative, when he was quickened and raised from the dead; hence said to be raised up together, Eph. ii. 5, 6. so they are quickened in regeneration, in consequence and virtue of his resurrection, to which it is ascribed, 1 Pet. i. 3. 4. The resurrection of the saints at the last day, is the fruit and effect of Christ's resurrection, and which is ensured by it. Christ's glorious body is the examplar, according to which the bodies of saints will then be formed; and his resurrection is the earnest and pledge of theirs; of he is the first-fruits of them that slept, that is, of the dead; the first-fruits are the sample, and what ensure a following harvest; so the resurrection of Christ is the sample, and gives assurance of the resurrection of the saints in time to come: so that Christ's resurrection being certain, the resurrection of the saints is also.

OF THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST TO HEAVEN.

THE Ascension of Christ to heaven, was, as his death, burial, and resurrection, according to the scriptures; he himself gave hints of it to his disciples, even before his death, as well as after his resurrection; What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? John vi. 62. It was also pre-signified both by scripture-prophecies, and by scripture-types,

I. By scripture-prophecies; of which there are many; some more obscurely, others more clearly point unto it.

1. A passage in Psal. xlvii. 5. God is gone up without a shout; the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. The whole Psalm is applied, by some Jewish writers, to the times of the Messiah, and this verse particularly, who is the great King over all the earth, 2, 7, and more manifestly appeared so at his ascension, when he was made and declared Lord and Christ; and who subdued the Gentile world, 3. through the ministration of his gospel; by which, after his ascension, he went into it, conquering and to conquer; and caused his ministers to triumph in it. And though it was in his human nature that he went up from earth to heaven; yet it was in that, as in union with his divine Person; so that it may be truly said, that God went up to heaven; in like sense as God is said to purchase the church with his blood; even God in our nature; God manifest in the flesh; Immanuel, God with us: and though this circumstance of his ascension, being attended with a shout, and with the sound of a trumpet, is not mentioned in the New Testament, in the account of it; yet there is ho doubt to be made of it, since the angels present at it, told the disciples on the spot, that this sa ne Jesus should so come, in like manner as they saw go imo heaven: aw it is cerBain, that Christ will descend from heaven with the voice of an archangel, and

with the trump of God: and also, since he was attended in his ascension with the angels of God, and with some men who rose after his resurrection; there is scarce any question to be made to it, that he ascended amidst their shouts and acclamations; and the rather, since he went up as a triumphant Conqueror, over all his and our enemies, leading captivity captive.

11. The words of the Psalmist, in Psal. cx. 1. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, &c. though they do not express, yet they plainly imply, the ascension of Christ to heaven; for unless he ascended to heaven, how could he sit down at the right hand of God there; and hence the apostle Peter thus argues and reasons upon them; For David is not ascended into the heavens; not in his body, and therefore the words are not spoken of him, but of one that is ascended; But he himself saith, not of himself, but another, even of his Lord the Messiah; The Lord said unto my Lord, &e. Acts ii. 34, 35

III. The vision Daniel had of the Son of man, in chap. vii. 13, 14. is thought by some to have respect to the ascension of Christ to heaven; he is undoubtedly 'meant by one like unto the Son of man; that is, really and truly man; as he is said to be in the likeness of men, and to be found in fashion as a man; the same came in the clouds of heaven; so a cloud received Christ, and conveyed him to heaven, at his ascension; and he was brought near to the Ancient of days, to God, who is from everlasting to everlasting; and was received with a welcome by him; and there were given him dominion, glory, and a kingdom; as Christ, at his ascension, was made, or made manifest, openly declared Lord and Christ Head and King of his church. Though this vision will have a farther accomplishment at the second coming of Christ, when his glorious kingdom will com. mence in the personal reign; who will not deliver up the kingdom until that reign is ended. Once more,

IV. The prophecy in Mic. ii. 13. may be understood as referring to this matter; The breaker-up is come up before them; which, in the latter part of the verse is thus explained; And their King shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them; so that a divine Person is meant, who is Head and King of the church, and plainly points to Christ, who may be called Phorez, the Breaker; as Pharez had his name from the same word, because he broke forth before his brother; as Christ, at his birth, broke forth into the world in an uncommon way, being born of a virgin; and at his death, broke through the troops of hell, and spoiled principalities and powers; broke down the middle wall of partition, that stood between Jews and Gentiles; and at his resurrection, broke the cords of death, as Sampson did his withs, with which he could be no more nor longer held by them, than he with them; and at his ascension he broke up, and broke his way through the region of the air, and through legions of devils; at the head of those that were raised with him when he rose, angels and men shouting as he passed along.

v. What most clearly foretold the ascension of Christ to heaven, is in Psal. lxviii. 18. which is, by the apostle Paul, quoted and applied to the ascension of

Christ, Eph. iv. 8-10. and all the parts of it agree with him; he is spoken of in the context, in the words both before and after. He is the Lord that was among the angels in Sinai, who spoke to Moses there; and from whom he received the oracles of God, to give to Israel: and he is the God of salvation, the author of it to his people. And of him it may be truly said, that he ascended on high, far above all heavens, the visible heavens, the airy and starry heavens, and into the third heaven, the more glorious seat of the divine Majesty: he has led captivity captive; either such as had been prisoners in the grave, but freed by him, and who went with him to heaven; or the enemies of his people, who have led them captive, as Satan and his principalities; the allusion is to leading captives in triumph for victories obtained. Christ received, upon his ascension, gifts for men; and, as the apostle expresses it, gave them to men; he received them in order to give them; and he gave them, in consequence of his receiving them and even he received them for, and gave them to, rebellious men, as all by nature are foolish and disobedient; and even those be to whom he gives gifts fitting for public usefulness; and such an one was the apostle Paul, as the account of him, and his own confessions show, who received a large measure of those gifts of grace; the end of bestowing which gifts was, that the Lord God might dwell among men, gathered out of the world, through the ministry of the word, into gospel-churches, which are built up for an habitation for God, through the Spirit.

the

II. The ascension of Christ was presignified by scripture-types; personal ones, as those of Enoch and Elijah. The one in the times of the patriarchs, before the flood, and before the law; other in the times of the prophets, after the flood, and after the law was given. Enoch, a man that walked with God, and had communion with him, was not; he was not on earth, after he had been some time on it; God took him from thence up to heaven, soul and body, Gen. v. 24. Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind, in a chariot, and horses of fire; was carried up by angels, who appeared in such a form; when he and Elisha had been conversing together, 2 Kings ii. 11. So Christ was carried up to heaven, received by a cloud, attended by angels, while he was blessing his disciples: more especially, the high priest was a type of Christ in this respect, when he entered into the holiest of all once a year, with blood and incense; which were figures of Christ's entering into heaven with his blood, and to make intercession for men, Heb. ix. 23, 24. The ark in which the two tables were, was a type of Christ, who is the fulfilling end of the law for righteousness; and the bringing up of the ark from the place where it was to mount Zion, which some think was the occasion of penning the twenty-fourth Psalm, in which are these words, Be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in; and of the forty-seventh Psalm, where are the above words, God is gone up with a shout, &c. the bringing up of which ark to Zion,

VOL. II.

may be considered as an emblem of Christ's ascension to heaven, sometimes signified by mount Zion.

Now as it was foretold by prophecies and types, that Christ should ascend to heaven, so it is matter of fact, that he has ascended thither; concerning which may be observed,

1. The evidence of it; as the angels of God, who were witnesses of it; for as Christ went up to heaven in the sight of his apostles, two men stood by them in white apparel, who were angels, that appeared in an human form, and thus arrayed, to denote their innocence and purity; and other angels attended him in his ascent, when it was that he was seen of angels, who were eye-witnesses of his ascension. The eleven apostles were together, and others with them, when this great event was; and while he was pronouncing a blessing on them, he was parted from them, and carried up to heaven; they beheld him, and looked stedfastly towards heaven, as he went up, until a cloud received him out of their sight, Luke xxiv. 33-51. Acts i. 9, 10. Yea, after this, when he had ascended to heaven, and had entered into it, and was set down on the right-hand of God, he was seen by Stephen the proto-martyr, and by the apostle Paul: whilst Stephen was suffering, looking stedfastly to heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right-hand of God; and at the same time declared it to the Jews, that he saw the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right-hand of God, Acts vii. 55, 56. Christ appeared to the apostle Paul at his conversion, when he was caught up into the third heaven, and heard and saw things not to be uttered; and afterwards, when in a trance in the temple, he says, I saw him, Acts xxvi. 16. Moreover, the extraordinary effusion of the Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, is a proof of Christ's ascension to heaven, Acts ii. 33. for before this time, the Spirit was not given in an extraordinary manner; Because Jesus was not yet glorified; but when he was glorified, and having ascended to heaven, and being at the 1ight-hand of God, then the Spirit was given; and the gift of him was a proof of his ascension and glorification, John vii. 39.

11. The time of Christ's ascension, which was forty days from his resurrection; which time he continued on earth that his disciples might have full proof, and be at a certainty of the truth of his resurrection; to whom he shewed himself alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days; not that he was with them all that forty days, but at several simes in that interval: on the first day he appeared to many, and on that day se'nnight again to his disciples; at another time at the sea of Tiberias; and again on a mountain in Galilee. Now by these several interviews the apostles had opportunities of making strict and close observation, of looking wistly at him, of handling him, of conversing with him, of eating and drinking with him, of reasoning upon things in their own minds, and of having their doubts resolved, if they entertained any; and had upon the whole infallible proofs of the truth of his resurrection:

in this space of time also he renewed their commission and enlarged it, and sent them into the whole world to preach and baptize, and farther to instruct those that were taught and baptized by them; now it was he opened the understandings of his apostles, that they might more clearly understand the scriptures concerning himself, which he explained unto them, that so they might be the more fitted for their ministerial work; he also spoke to them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, the gospel-church-state; of the nature of a gospel-church, of the officers of it, of ordinances in it, and discipline to be observed therein; wherefore all that they afterwards delivered out and practised, were according to the directions and prescriptions given by him: and as all this required time, such a length of time was taken as that of forty days; yet longer it was not proper he should continue with them in this state, lest his apostles should think he was about to set up a temporal kingdom on earth, which their minds were running upon, and enquiring after and expecting, Acts i. 5, 6. and besides, it was proper that they should be endued with the Holy Ghost in an extraordinary manner, to qualify them for the important work Christ gave them a commission to do; and which they could not receive until Christ was ascended and glorified. 11. The place from whence, and the place whither Christ ascended, may next be considered. 1. The earth on which he was when he became incarnate, the world into which he came to save men, out of which he went when he had done his work, the particular spot of ground from whence he ascended was mount Olivet, as appears from Acts i. 12. a place he frequented much in the latter par of his life; and it was in a garden at the bottom of the mount where his sufferings began, where his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; and where he put up that prayer, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me and where he was in such an agony, that his sweat was as drops of blood falling to the ground; and from this very spot he ascended to his God and Father, to enjoy his presence, and all the pleasures of it, and partake of the glory promised him. One of the evangelists tells us, that he led his disciples as far as Bethany, and there blessed them, and was parted from them; which must not be understood of the town of Bethany, but of a part of mount Olivet near to Bethany, and which bore that name, and which signifies the house of affliction, from whence Christ went to heaven; and as it was necessary he should suffer the things he did, and enter into his glory, so his people must through many tribulations enter the kingdom, Acts xiv. 22. 2. The place whither he ascended, heaven, even the third heaven; hence Christ is often said to be carried up into heaven, taken up into heaven, towards which the disciples were gazing as he went up; passed into heaven, and was received into heaven, where he remains; and which is to be understood, not merely of a glorious state, into which he passed, exchanging a mean, uncomfortable and suffering one, for a glorious, happy and comfortable one; which is meant by the two witnesses ascending to heaven, even a more glorious state of the church, Rev. xi, 12. but a place in

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