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attention principally fixed on the objects of sense? Do they withdraw you from the supreme pursuit of the things which belong to your eternal peace, from the service of your God and Saviour, from the earnest endeavour to secure your heavenly inheritance? You are walking by sight-things temporal engross you, and you will lose the things eternal. Walk then, I beseech you, as your Christian profession enjoins, by faith, -faith in God, as deserving your supreme homage and service faith in your Redeemer, through whose propitiation alone you are reconciled unto God, and through whose grace alone redeemed from sin faith in the unseen glories of Heaven, the object of your constant desire and pursuit. Thus walking by faith, in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless""-you will gain the things that are eternal. And, my brethren, in comparison with these, what are the things temporal that would seduce us to walk by sight, and not by faith? Remember-in the one case our destiny will be,, an eternity of woe-in the other, an eternity of bliss.

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u Luke i. 6.

SERMON VI.

THE ASCENSION AND EXALTATION OF CHRIST, AS SET FORTH IN THE 68th PSALM.

[ASCENSION DAY.]

PSALM lxviii. 18.

Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive.

THIS verse, which I have recited as my text, is expressly applied by the Apostle in his epistle to the Ephesians, to the ascension of Christ into heaven, and to the subsequent conferring on the Apostles of the gifts of the Holy Ghost. The whole Psalm must therefore be considered as applicable to the Gospel dispensation; and particularly to the ascension to heaven, to the exaltation and victories, to the mercy and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to the extent and glory of his kingdom. An éxposition of the entire Psalm in its spiritual application, after ascertaining its literal and historical import, will therefore be highly suitable to this sacred festival. There is a richness of sentiment, a splen

dour of imagery, a beauty of structure, which independently of the glorious views which this Psalm affords of the power and the grace of our Lord and Saviour, are calculated to render it highly interesting.

It was composed on the joyful event of the translation of the ark, which was the symbol of the Divine presence with the people of Israel, from its temporary and changing residence, to its permanent habitation on Mount Zion.

From a consideration of the peculiar structure of the Psalm, it appears that distinct portions of it were sung at distinct periods of the solemnity.

The first six verses were sung at the taking up of the ark by the Levites, who were to bear it to Mount Zion. The next eight verses were sung at the commencement of the procession. The fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth verses were sung at the ascent of Mount Zion. The eighteenth and five following verses at the depositing of the ark in this its holy habitation: and the remainder of the Psalm at the conclusion of the solemnities*

I have taken the Psalm, as rendered in the version of the Psalms in the Book of Common Prayer. This version differs somewhat in style from the version of the Psalms in the Bible. It is the version which appeared in what was called the Great Bible put forth in England, at an early period of the Reformation, and is placed in the Book of Common Prayer, which was compiled before the present translation of the Bible, and is esteemed by good judges as not inferior in correctness to the version in the Bible..

The first six verses were sung when the appointed Priests and Levites took up the ark; the whole body of them Priests and Levites, as well as of the people, expressing the holy joy of their hearts, by the sound of harps, and psalteries and cymbals, by loud acclamations and songs of praise.

1. Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.

2. Like as the smoke vanisheth, so shalt thou drive them away: and like as wax melteth at the fire, so let the ungodly perish at the presence of God.

3. But let the righteous be glad and rejoice before God let them also be merry and joyful.

4. O sing unto God, and sing praises unto his Name: magnify him that rideth upon the heavens, as it were upon an horse; praise him in his name Jah; and rejoice before him.

5. He is a Father of the fatherless, and defendeth the cause of the widows: even God in his holy habitation.

6. He is the God that maketh men to be of one mind in an house, and bringeth the prisoners out of captivity: but letteth the runagates continue in scarceness.

God, the God of Israel, is here humbly supplicated to appear and discomfit his enemies, and the enemies of Israel; that the ark, the symbol of his presence, which they were now to bear,

might rest in security on Mount Zion. The first verse" Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him"-was always used by the armies of Israel, when in their march to Canaan they took up the sacred ark. The name Jah, which occurs in another verse, is an abbreviation of Jehovah, and signifies the eternal and self-existent God; and by this name, his people are called to sing praises unto him, " riding," in his majesty, "in the heavens,"" a father of the fatherless, and who defendeth the cause of the widows"-" making of one mind"-blessing with peace and unity the families of his people; "bringing" them from their cruel "captivity" in Egypt; while the "runagates," or the rebellious oppressors of Israel, as well as the rebellious Israelites themselves," continue in scarceness," their families desolated, and their prosperity blasted.

In the same sublime imagery does the Church celebrate the praises of her Redeemer, ascending, as did the ark, the symbol of his glory, to the heavenly Zion.

"Arise," O Jesus, thou King of glory," Scatter thine enemies,”—all who reject thy mercy, who despise thy grace, who hate or oppose thy adorable name. Let them "flee before thee."

As the thick cloud of "smoke" is suddenly dissipated by the wind, so shalt thou "drive away thine enemies," formidable as is their array.