prison, in which the soul, confined and pent up, is limited in its operations, and impeded in its perceptions of divine things. Though we are probably surrounded by the glorious realities of the spiritual world, only short and transient glances of them are discoverable by us; we see but by reflection, and darkly;* we know but in part, and should know nothing of them, but for the good report of the word of God. Farther, the body, as it is the seat of innumerable infirmities, and the medium which connects us with the calamities incident to this mortal state, is often a great hinderance to our most desirable enjoyments. Pain and sickness call off the attention, and indispose our faculties, when we wish to be most engaged in prayer; detain us from the ordinances, or prevent the pleasure we hope for in waiting upon the Lord in them. But our new, spiritual, and glorified bodies, will be free from all defilement or defect. They will be completely qualified to answer the best wishes, and most enlarged activity, of the soul. Then, but not till then, we hope to be all eye, all ear, always upon the wing in his service, and perfectly conformed to his image, in light, holiness, and love; for then we "shall see him as "he is," without any interposing veil or cloud.t * 1 Cor. xiii. 12. + 1 John, iii. 2. 292 SERMON XXVI. THE ASCENSION OF MESSIAH TO GLORY. PSALM XXIV. 7-10. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. The THE institutions of the Levitical law were a shadow or sketch of good things to come. They exhibited a faint and general outline of the mediation and glory of MESSIAH. They may be compared to the delicate engravings on a seal, the beauty and proportions of which cannot be plainly discerned without the assistance of a glass. The Gospel answers to such a glass. Beheld through this medium, the miniature delineations of the law, which to the eye of unassisted, unhumbled reason appear confused and insignificant, display a precision of arrangement in the parts, and an importance of design in the whole, worthy the wisdom of their great Author. From the similarity of the subject of this Psalm and the sixty-eighth, it is at least probable that they were both composed upon the same occasion, the removal of the ark of the Lord, from its last stationary residence, to its fixed abode in Zion; when the king, the priests, the singers, and the harpers, all assisted in the procession, attended by a great concourse of the people. The language of the latter part of the Psalm is evidently alternate. And we may conceive, that when the ark approached the tabernacle, the priests and Levites who accompanied it, demanded admittance for it in these words, "Lift up your 66 heads, O ye gates," &c. and were answered by those who were waiting within to receive it, "Who "is the King of glory?" To which question the proper reply is made, "The Lord of Hosts, He is "the King of glory." This, if taken according to the letter of the history, was a grand and solemn transaction. But it was, at the same time, a type of an event unspeakably more glorious. They who know that the Scriptures of the Old Testament testify of Christ, that it is he of whom Moses in the Law, David in the Psalms, and all the succeeding prophets did write, will, I think, agree in considering this passage as referring to his ascension, in the nature in which he suffered, into the true holy place in the heavens, as the representative and high-priest of his people; when, after having by his own-self purged our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Then having spoiled principalities and powers, he triumphed over them openly, though not in the view of mortal eyes. He lifted up his hands, and blessed his apostles, and while in this attitude he was parted from them.* He ascended gently and gradually, and they, admiring and adoring, beheld him with fixed attention, till a cloud concealed him from their sight.† The pomp and triumph of his ascension were displayed in the invisible world. But this description, accommodated to our apprehensions, is given † Acts, i. 9. * Luke, xxiv. 51. to assist the faith of his people; that their hearts may be comforted, their meditations enlarged, and that, in the exercise of grateful love, they may follow him in their thoughts, ascend with him into the heavenly places, and rejoice in his glory. We conceive of him therefore, from this sublime passage, as ascending to his Father and our Father, to his God and our God, accompanied with a train of worshipping angels, who demanded admittance for MESSIAH, the Saviour and friend of sinners, as the King of glory. The question is asked, who is he that claims this honour? An answer is given, asserting his character, his victories, and the justice of his claims-"The Lord of hosts, the Lord "strong in battle, he is the King of glory." The principal points which offer to our consideration are, I. His title, "The Lord of hosts." II. His victories, implied in the expression, "The Lord strong and mighty in battle." III. His mediatorial title, "The King of glory." IV. His authoritative entrance into the holy place. I. MESSIAH, who humbled himself to the death of the cross, is "the Lord of hosts." He is so, if the Scripture be true: I attempt no other proof. This is a point not referred to the discussion of our fallen reason, but proposed by the authority of God in his word, as the foundation of our faith and hope. He is the husband of the church, and the husband of the church is the Lord of hosts.* It was the Lord of hosts whom Isaiah saw, seated upon a throne, his train filling the temple. The vision filled him with astonishment, and he cried out, "Woe is me, I am undone; for mine eyes And it There "have seen the Lord of hosts." But the apostle John assures us, that when Isaiah said these things, he saw his glory and spake of him.* This is the title of God in the Old Testament; or, as some choose to speak, of the Supreme Being. is ascribed to MESSIAH in many places. fore, if he were not the Lord of hosts, the Scripture would be chargeable with authorizing, yea, enjoining idolatry. But he is "the true God and "eternal life ;" and they who give him the honour due to his name, have every thing to hope, and nothing to fear. II. He is "the Lord, strong and mighty in battle." It was in his human nature he engaged in battle with his enemies and ours. But the battle was the Lord's. Therefore, though he "trod the "wine-press alone, and of the people there was "none with him,"‡ his own arm brought him salvation. He is conqueror of sin, Satan, and death. We were under the power of these; therefore, for our sakes, he engaged in conflict with their united force. He fought, he bled, he died; but in dying, he conquered. The strength of sin is the law; this strength he subdued, by obeying the precepts of the law, and sustaining the penalty due to our transgressions. He destroyed death, and disarmed it of its sting. He destroyed him that hath the power of death, Satan. He shook, he overturned, the foundations of his kingdom, broke open his prison-doors, released his prisoners, delivered the prey out of the hand of the mighty," and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a "show of them openly, triumphing over them in it," that is, his cross. The apostle alludes to the manner of a Roman triumph, in which the 66 * John, xii. 41. Isa. Ixiii. 3. + 1 John, v. 20. |