watchful warfare against the power of it, is the virtue that is expected from us here on earth, where the perfection of our Lord's character was not displayed in glory, but, as the Scripture saith, He was made perfect through suffering.

Lowly in demeanour and of an humble station, but of a zealous and fervent mind, the friend of all that is laudable and good, but abhorring all manner of iniquity, though merciful and refusing to condemn the sinner; beneficent even to the exercise of His almighty power for the good of others, dispensing food, and life, and health; subjecting Himself to frequent hardships and to want, which He bore with unshaken confidence in God; clothed with every infirmity and every affection of a man, sin only excepted, which could not be,He went a willing victim to the cross, a sacrifice and an atonement for our sins, dying that we might live; and thus hath left to all men an example to the end of time, of faith towards God and charity towards men, but most eminently of all, of patience and humility in the government of one's-self. Such is the actual holiness which by the Spirit of God through Christ we also may attain. By earnest vigilance in following this example of our Lord, we are enabled to subdue and hold in subjection the remaining sinfulness of our nature, and to become not unfruitful in various good works. True it is that there is a far other state of positive virtue to which we look, even the eternal life which God hath given us in His Son. But the Son Himself entered not into His glory before He suffered; neither do we into

H

ours. Into that state where we shall see God face to face, where we shall behold His glory and see Him as He is, where we shall be like Him in holiness, in purity, and in all goodness, the dissolution of our present frame is the only entrance. Till death, therefore, we must contend with sin in patience and by faith. From death we hope to rise triumphant, through Him who died that we might live, who rose again that we might live for ever.

SERMON VII.

Feast of the Ascension.

EPHES. iv. 8.

"When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive."

IT

T was forty days from His resurrection, after having confirmed their faith by repeatedly visiting and conversing with them, that our Lord finally ascended up into heaven in the presence of His disciples; and while they followed Him with their eyes as He went up, two of the blessed spirits, whose office it is to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation, stood by them and directed their attention rather to the world and to themselves, observing that "this same Jesus should so come even as they had seen Him go."

In this declaration of the angels, brethren, the Church hath a direct assurance that when the appointed season shall arrive, our Lord shall be seen coming in the clouds of heaven; which is a sufficient answer to those who think little of that coming of our Lord again, in which it is said that every eye shall see Him."

The judgment will then lie upon all men according to their deeds: they shall be judged in the body for things done in the body; they shall be called to account for their employment of time and for the improvement they have made of the

opportunity which time affords for serving God and increasing in goodness and virtue.

Greatly do they err who fancy that one part of mankind are born to labour and toil, while another part have nothing to do but to take their ease and their enjoyment; for indeed every one of us hath his work appointed in the service of God, varying as our stations vary, and as the gift of God is said to vary in the Scriptures. But unto every one of us is there a work appointed, and the higher the station the greater the work, for "to whomsoever much is given, of him will be much required." If any man would receive his reward, he must first learn to do his duty. The object of our Lord's coming, we are told, will be to take account of His servants; and our interest is to employ ourselves in the meantime so that He may approve our work. Neither is this present. employment without its present blessing; but if such be indeed the inclination of our minds, the knowledge of our Lord's doctrine, and of what He did and suffered, is not only able to strengthen and assist us, but is so full of pure hope and consolation, as to be productive of peace and happiness even in the midst of tribulation and distress. Suffer our bodies may, and die they must, but in those intervals of the remission of disorder and of comparative ease which almost every state of bodily suffering affords, on the bed of sickness and of death, we have experienced and we have seen the efficacy of faith to console and cheer the mind with the hope of better things to come.

The desire of happiness is good, and enjoyment

is not to be blamed, for it is natural to man, and prompts men to all their actions, both good and bad. But when the wicked seek their gratification by a vicious and rebellious course, the mistake into which they fall is a judgment upon them for their unbelief and for their falling away from dependence upon God. Still the desire of happiness is good, and the pursuit of it is laudable and wise; but it is the knowledge of God, that He is holy, and just, and good, with a fixed persuasion and belief that He is the rewarder of all who diligently seek Him, a firm dependence on His wisdom and power for the final result of things, and a dutiful obedience to Him as our Father and our Lord, that determines us in the reasonable pursuit of happiness to do such things only as are well pleasing in His sight. And then, surrounded as we are with sin and suffering, and sensible altogether of the want of merit in ourselves, and our consciences oppressed moreover with the sense of guilt and a just dread of future punishment, it is the Gospel of Christ alone which -by the doctrines of an atonement for sin by the death of Christ, and of His continual intercession for us at God's right hand, and by the information it affords of the comparative worth and real nature of things present and things to come,in the emphatic language of Scripture, "hath brought life and immortality to light."

But in the pursuit of pleasure men too often forget their real condition of "strangers and pilgrims upon earth." Some, therefore, seem to seek happiness in idleness and ease; others only