and SAVIOUR, ,JESUS CHRIST, and his APOSTLES, &c. 287 taught, in confequence of their baptifin, to obey all the precepts he had enjoined them : that fuch baptifed believers fhould receive the pardon of their fins, together with eternal life in the happy manfions of his Father's kingdom ; but that thofe who refufed to embrace the doEtrires of the gofpel fhould be for ever excluded thofe happy regions, and have their portion in the lake that burneth with fire and brim ffone ; that while they were employed in this work, he would be with them tá the end of the world, to guide them by his counfel, to aflifi them by his Spirit, and toproteft them byhis Providence. Finally, that thofe who should, through their preach- ing, be induced to believe, fhould them- felves work molt aflonifhing miracles, by which the gofpel fhould be propagated with the greateft rapidity and fuccefs. After Jesus had fpoken thefe things, he lifted up his hands and bleffed them ; and in the aflion ofbleffing them, he was parted from them in the midfi of the day, a shining cloud receiving him out of their fight ; that is, this brilliant cloud encom- paffed him about, and carried him up to heaven, not fuddenly, but at leifure, that they might behold him departing, and fee the proof of his having come down from heaven, as he had promifed them. The bleffed Jesus afcended in a cloud which was more bright and pure than the clearefl lambent flame, being no other than the Shechinah, or glory of the Lord, the vifible fymbol of the Divine Prefence which had fo often appeared to the pa- triarchs of old, which filled the temple at it's dedication, and which, in it's greateft fplendour, cannot be beheld with mortal eyes ; for which reafon, it is called the light inacceffible in which the Almighty reftdes, and with which he is furrounded. It was probably on this occafion that our Lord's body was changed, acquiring the glories of immortality, perhaps in the prefence of his difciples, who fledfallly beheld him as lie mounted from the earth. And as he afcended, the flaming cloud that furrounded him marked his paffage through the air, but gradually loft it's magnitude in the eyes of thofe who flood below, till at laft it vanifhed, together with their beloved Mailer, out of their fight; for he was received up where the Divine Being manifefts himfelf in a pecu- liar manner, and was fet down on the right-hand of the Majefty on high; all power in heaven and in earth being now- given him: and this univerfal government he will hold, till he eftabiifhes the domi- nion of righteoufnefs, when he will deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, that God may be all in all, s Cor. xv. 28. Thus did the great Redeemer of man- kind depart in a moti illuftrious manner, after having finifhed the grand work which he left the bofomof his Father toexecute; a work which God himfelf, in the remoteft eternity, contemplatedwith pleafure, which angels with joy defcried as to happen, and which, through all eternity to come, (hall, at periods the molt immenfely diflant from the time of it's execution, be looked back upon with inexpreflible delight by every inhabitant of heaven; for though the minute affairs of time may vanilh al- together and be loft, when they are re- moved far back by the endlefs progreflìon ofduration, this objet is fuch, that no dif- tance, however great, can leffen it: the kingdom ofheaven is erefted on the incar- nation and fufferings of the Son of God, the kingdom and city of the Almighty comprehending all the virtuous beings in the univerfe, made happy by goodnefs and love ; and, therefore, none of them can ever forget the foundation on which their happinefs Hands eflablifhed : the human fpecies in particular, recovered by the la- bour of the Son of God, will view their Deliverer, and look back on his flupendous undertaking with the higheft rapture, . while they are feaflingwithout interruption on it's delicious fruits : the refi of the members likewife of the city of God, will contemplate it with perpetual pleafure, as the happy means ofrecovering their kindred that
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