SERMON XLVIII. The Exaltation of Christ to his Kingdom,, and his sending down the -Holy Spirit. Ac-rs ii. 33.Therefore, beingby the right-hand of God exalted, and haring received ofthe Father the promiseof the HolyGhost, he halb shed forth this which yenow see and hear. IT was a strange amazement that seized the hearts of the inul_ titudewho came up to Jerusalem at the days of Pentecost, when they heard the apostles speak so many new languages : The Jews and the Gentiles of variousnations were struck with onegeneral surprize, when they found fishermen, andpersons of no learning, declare in every tongue the wonderful works of God and his grace And while they were busy in their enquiries into the cause of this great event, Peter, standing up with the eleven, lift up his voice as their speaker, and beginning with the prophecy of Joel concerning . the pouring out of the Spirit upon all flesh, preaches to them the life and death and resurrection of Christ, and assures them that these miraculous gifts descended upon the apostles from that Jesuswhom the Jews had crucified and slain : " But we arewitnesses,'.' says he, " that God has raised him from the dead ; and being exalted by the right-hand or power of God, he has shed forth these wondrous gifts of the Holy Ghost, which the Father had promised him, and of which your own eyes and ears are present witnesses." The two great subjects of my appointed discourse, are evidently contained in this text, viz. The exaltation of Christ to his kingdom, and his pouring down of the Holy Spirit. In pursuit of the first of these I shall show you'wherein con- sists the exaltationof Christ, and what are theseveral parts of it ; and here I might take notice, I. That at his ascension to heaven there was a glorious change passed upon his body to make it fit for the heavenly states For though Christ was raised from the dead, yet being designed to continue forty days on earth, he was not raised in a glorified body; Luke xxiv. 39. He pronounces his " body to be flesh and bones, and bid his disciples handle him ;r but St. Paul assures us; 1 Çor. xv. 50. " That flesh and blood cannot in-
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=