Senn.CXLII. of our Saviour's !/fetlion. 273 onfidered, never did anyMan give fomanyEvidences of his being fent fromGod, as our Bleffed Saviour did. He delivered the Truth of God with a Divine Autho- rity; anddid the Works ofGod with all imaginable Evidenceof a Divine Power; and with.a DivinePatience fubmitted to the Will of God, enduring the greateft Sufferings; and bythe mighty Power of God was raifed from the Dead; and in a vifible Manner, by the fame Divine Power, takenup into Heaven. III. He was taken up in a Cloud : He was taken up, and a Cloud received him out of theirSight. WhichCircumftance, tho' it do not feem very material; yet does it fit- ly reprefent to us theDifference between the twoDifpenfations of the Law, and of the Gofpel. Elias was carried up by aWhirlwind into Heaven, in afiery Chariot withHorfes of Fire : but our Saviour in it Cloud; to fignify tous the Coolnefs and Calmnefs of the Gofpel-Difpenfation, inComparifon ofthat of the Law ; which Difference our Saviour had before obferved to his Difciples, upon a remarkable Occafion, Luke 9. 54, 55 When they would have call'dfor Fire fromHeaven to have confirmed the Samaritans for refuting to entertain our Saviour, as Elias had done in a like Cafe, our Saviour feverely reproves that fierce Spirit of theirs, as by no means fuitable to the Gofpel : re know not what manner of Spirit ye are of For the Son ofMan came not to deflroy MensLives, but toPave them. . And juft anfwer- ably to the Difference between the Spirit of Elias and our Saviour, was the dif- ferent Manner oftheir Tranflation into Heaven ; the one gently received up in a Cloud ; the other violently taken up by a Whirlwind, carried in a Chariot of Fire drawn by Horfes ofFire. And there is likewife another Difference not altogether unworthy of our Ob- fervation. TheBlef ling which Elijah left toElifha at his parting from him, and the Promifeofhis Spirit to be im -arted to him, is conceived invery doubtful Woïds; 2 Kings 2.9. Elijahfaid to Elifha, Askwhat I fhalldofor thee, beforeIbe takenawayfrom thee. And Elifhafaid, Let a double Portion ofthy Spirit beupon me. And helaid, Thou hall asked a hardThing ; neverthelefs, ifthou fieme when I am takenfrom thee, itfhaR be f unto thee ; but if thou fee me not, ít (hall not befo. This was very doubtful, fuit- able to the Obfcurity of the Law : But our Saviour, when he parted from his Difciples, makes a plain and abfolute Promife of the Holy Ghoft to them, an- fwerable to the Clearnefs and Grace of the Gofpel : Tefhall be baptized with the Holy Ghofl not many Dayshence. So wifely did God order al Circumftances concerning our Saviour, that every Thing belonging to him, every A&ion that he did, and every Circumftance of it might have forte important Signification. IV. The last Circumftance ofour Saviour's Afcenfion, is the Place whither he went, Ver. 1 I. This fame Jefus which is taken up fromyou into Heaven. And this is elfewhere more particularly exprefs'd, by declaring the Dignity to which he was exalted in Heaven ; Beingfit clown on the Right Hand of God, and having all Power inHeavenandEarth committed to him, Mark 16.19. He was received up into Heaven¡ andfat on the Right Hand ofGod: Which Phrafe lignifies our Saviour's being ad- vanced in his HumaneNature, toan Honour and Dignity next to that of the Di- vineMajefty ; the Right Hand beingefteemed the Place ofgreateft Honour. This Exaltation of Chrift, the.Apoftle tells us, was conferr'd upon him as a Reward of his great Humiliation and Sufferings; Heb. i2. 2. Who for the joy that was fit be- fore him endured the Crofs, and defpifed the Shame, and isfit down at the RightHandof the ThroneofGod. And byVirtue of this Exaltation, the Apoftle proves him to be exalted inhis Humane Nature above the Angels, Heb. r. ;, 4. When he hadby himfilf purged our Sins, hefat down at the Right Hand ofthe Majefly on high, beingmade fo much better than the Angels, as he bath by Inheritance obtaineda more excellent Name than they; that is, being advanced to a higher Dignity ; for Name among the Hebrews flgni- fies Dignityand Honour. So the Apoftle ufeth the Word Name, Phil. 2. 9, ro, r t. Wherefore Goda f hathhighly exalted him, and given him a Namewhich is above every Name: That at the Name of lefua everyKnee(hall bow, ofThings in Heaven, andThings in Earth, andThings under the Earth; and that every Tongue fhould confef that Jefut Chri/i is Lord, to the Glory ofGbd the Father. So likwife, Eph. I. 20, 21. Whom he raifed from the Dead, and feet at his own Right Hand in Heavenly Places, far above all Principalities, and Powers, andMight, and Dominion, and every Name that is named; not only in this World, but in that which is to come: And now, wherein this Dig- N n iiit
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