and who are no longer to be delighted by his presence. We feel that within the veil alone can his recompense be bestowed, a recompense which could not be withheld without the darkening of all our best hopes: let, then, our voices mingle with yours; for we too are ready to pour forth the summons, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in."

But we must carry our argument yet further. Let it be supposed that the promised recompense might have been fully conferred upon Christ, without his departure or absence-the recompense that was to belong to his divinity, as well as that of which his humanity was to be the subject-we may still show that his ascension and exaltation should furnish us with great matter of rejoicing. It is clearly stated in Scripture, that the descent of the Holy Ghost, as the guide and comforter of the church, could not take place whilst Christ remained on earth. We are probably not competent to the discovering the reasons for this; but if we consider the scheme of redemption as constructed that it might manifest the three persons of the Godhead, we may see a special fitness in the departure of the Son before the coming of the Spirit. You cannot imagine a more thorough manifestation of the second and third persons than has thus been effected. The offices, respectively sustained in the work of our redemption, bring these persons distinctly before us, and that, too, in the manner best adapted to gain for them our love and veneration. The Son, having humbled himself for us, and thus bound us to himself by the closest ties, returned to take his seat in the heavens, and to be the object of worship to all ranks of intelligent being. The scene was thus left ready for the entrance of the Spirit, who came down with every demonstration of almightiness, endowing the weak with superhuman powers, and instructing the illiterate in the mysteries of the Gospel. We will not presume to say that there could not have been this manifestation of the third person in the Trinity, had not the second ascended, and separated himself from the church. But, at least, we may urge that we have

now that the office of one upon earth has succeeded to that of the other, which we could hardly have had if those offices had been contemporaneously discharged. Had the Son remained visibly with us, we should probably have confounded his office with that of the Spirit: at all events we should not so readily have recognized a Trinity of persons. Even as it is, the third person is often practically almost hidden from us by the second: what then would it have been, had not the heavens received Christ, that the Holy Ghost might be alone in his great work of renewing our nature?

But, whatever may be our thoughts and conjectures, it is evidently the representation of Scripture, that the Spirit could not have descended, had not. Christ returned to his Father, and fixed his residence in heaven. St. John expressly speaks of the Holy Ghost as not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." And our Lord himself, desiring to comfort his disciples, who were overwhelmed with grief at the prospect of his departure, made this strong statement, "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." Here, as you must all perceive, it is distinctly asserted that the Comforter could not come, unless Christ departed; whilst his coming is represented as of such moment to the church, that it would be advantageously procured even at the cost of that departure.

We are bound, therefore, in consid ering what reasons there may be to ourselves for rejoicing in the exaltation of Christ, to assume that this exaltation was indispensable to the descent of the Spirit on the day of pentecost, and to his presence with the church to expound and carry home the Gospel. And certainly, if we had no other reason to give why human voices should utter the summons of our text, this alone would suffice. Of what avail would it have been to us, that the Son had humbled himself, and wrestled, and died, on our behalf, had the Spirit not been given as a regenerating agent, to make effectual, in our own cases, what had been wrought out by Christ? Who

but this Spirit enabled apostles to combat the idolatries of the world, and gain a footing for christianity on the earth? Who but this Spirit guided the pens of sacred historians, that distant ages might possess the precious record of the sayings and doings of the Redeemer? Who but this Spirit now makes the Bible intelligible, throwing on its pages supernatural light, so that they burn and glow with the truths of eternity? Who but this Spirit convinces man of sin, produces in him that "godly sorrow" which worketh repentance," and leads to the putting faith in the alone propitiation? Who but this Spirit gradually withdraws the affections from what is perishable, animates by setting before the view the prizes of heaven, and so sanctifies fallen beings that they become meet for the unfading inheritance? Who but this Spirit comforts the mourning, confirms the wavering, directs the doubting, sustains the dying? The office of the Son may indeed be more ostensible; it may more easily commend itself to our attention, because discharged in the form of a man; but he can know little of vital, practical christianity, who supposes it more important than that of the Spirit. What the Son did for us was valuable, because to be followed by what the Spirit does take away the agency of the third Person, and we are scarce benefited by the agony of the second. And if then it were an act of mercy, not to be measured, that the Son of God descended to bear the punishment of our sins; it was no less an act involving all our happiness, that he departed to send down the Comforter. Shall we then join in the chorus of angels, when they throng the firmament in honor of the birth of the Redeemer, and shall we be silent when they celebrate his return to the presence of his Father? No; if we have any value for christianity as set up in the heart, and regulating the life, the departure of the Mediator will as much move our gladness as his coming. We are thankful that intrepid preachers were found, who, in the face of danger and death, carried the cross into every district of the earth. We are thankful that we were not left to the uncertainties and errors of oral tradition, but that we have a volume in our hands with the

broad signet of inspiration. We are thankful that men can repent, that they can be converted from the error of their ways, that they can "lay hold on the hope set before them," that they can "live soberly and righteously," die peacefully, and enter heaven triumphantly. But for all this we are practically as much indebted to the Spirit as to the Son. All this is virtually owing, not to the presence, but to the absence of the Mediator; and, therefore, will we hearken for the song of the cherubim and seraphim, as, with every indication of joy, they meet and encircle the ascending Head of the church; and even from earth shall be heard a summons, as though from the voices of those who are full of exultation, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in."

Now we would recur for a few moments, in winding up this great subject of discourse, to the first reason which we gave why men should rejoice in the ascension of Christ. We spoke of this ascension as the ascension of our nature, so that the entrance of Christ into heavenly places was the proof of our restoration to favor, and the pledge of our final admission into the paradise of God. And how noble, how elevating, is the thought, that it was indeed as our forerunner, as our representative, that Jesus passed into the presence of his Father. How glorious to take our stand, as it were, on the mount of Olives, to gaze on the Mediator, as he wings his flight towards regions into which shall enter nothing that defileth, and to feel that he is cleaving a way for us, the fallen and polluted, that we too may enter the celestial city. What were the words which angels addressed to the disciples, as they strained their vision to catch another glimpse of their departing Lord? "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Then the ascension should cause our minds to go forward, and fix themselves on the second advent of the Lord. Waste not your time, the angels seem to say, in regrets that your Master is taken from your view; rather

let faith anticipate a moment, when, "in like manner," with the clouds for his chariot, and flying" on the wings of the wind," he shall return to the earth from which he has just now departed. The gates shall again lift up their heads; the everlasting doors shall be opened; and the King of glory, who now enters to assume the sovereignty won by his sufferings and death, shall come forth in all the pomp, and with all the power, of the anointed Judge of humankind.

He shall come forth in the very character under which admission is claimed for him in the text, "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." As yet there have been accomplished but a portion of the Old Testament types: the High Priest has offered the sacrifice, and carried the blood within the vail; but he has not yet returned to bless the gathered multitude. The cry however shall yet be heard at midnight; and "the Lord strong and mighty" shall approach, to confound every enemy, and complete the salvation of his church. And if we would be "found of him in peace" on this his return, we must see to it that we provide our lamps with oil in the days of our strength. I do not know a more awful part of Scripture than the parable of the ten virgins, to which, as you will perceive, we here make allusion. We are always fearful of dwell ing too strongly on the minuter parts of a parable; but there is something so singular in the fact, that the foolish virgins went to seek oil so soon as they heard of the bridegroom's approach, but were nevertheless excluded, that we dare not pass it by as conveying no lesson. If the parable admit of being applied, as we suppose it must in a modified sense, to the circumstances of our death, does it not seem to say that a repentance, to which we are driven by the approach of dissolution, will not be accepted? The foolish virgins sought not for oil, till alarmed by tidings that the bridegroom was at hand; and many think that it will be enough if they give heed to religion when they shall have reason to apprehend that their last day is not distant. But the foolish virgins, although, as it would seem, they obtained oil, were indignantly shut out from the banquet;

what then is to become of sinners, who, in the day of sickness, compelled by the urgency of their case, and frighted by the nearness of their end, show something like sorrow, and profess something like faith?

I own that nothing makes me think so despondingly of those who wholly neglect God, till they feel themselves dying, as this rejection of the virgins, who would not begin to seek oil till they found the bridegroom at hand, and then obtained it in vain. It is as though God said, If you will not seek me in health, if you will not think of me till sickness tell you that you must soon enter my presence, I will surely reject you: when you knock at the door and say, "Lord, Lord, open to us," I will answer from within, "I never knew you: depart, depart from me." We dare not dwell upon this: we have a hundred other reasons for being suspicious of what is called death-bed repentance; but this seems to make that repentance-ay, though the death be that of consumption, and the patient linger for months, with his senses about him, and his time apparently given to the duties of religion

of no avail whatever: for if the man obstinately neglected God, till alarmed by the hectic spot on his cheek, that hectic spot was to him what the midnight cry was to the virgins, the signal that the bridegroom was near; and what warrant have we that God will admit him to the feast, if the five virgins were excluded with every mark of abhorrence, though they sought for oil, and bought it, and brought it?

We bring before you this very awful suggestion, that none of you may think it too soon to prepare to meet the Savior, whose ascension we have commemorated, and for whose return we are directed to look. Let all, the young and the old, be ever on the watch, with the loins girt, the lamps trimmed, and the lights burning. Let not that day overtake any of us "as a thief," as a thief not more because coming stealthily and unexpectedly, than because it will strip us of our confidence, and leave us defenceless. But if we now give diligence to "add to our faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance;" if we labor to be "found of him in peace," appro

priating to ourselves his promises, only as we find ourselves conformed to his precepts; then let "the Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle," appear in the heavens: we shall be caught up to meet him in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Glorious transformation! glorious translation! I seem already to behold the wondrous scene. The sea and the land have given up their dead: the quickened myriads have been judged according to their works. And now an innumerable company, out of all nations, and tribes, and tongues,

ascend with the Mediator towards the kingdom of his Father. Can it be that these, who were born children of wrath, who were long enemies to God by wicked works, are to enter the bright scenes of paradise? Yes, he who leads them, has washed them in his blood; he who leads them, has sanctified them by his Spirit; and now you may hear his voice in the summons, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and these, my ransomed ones, shall come in, and behold, and share my glories."

We are required on this day, by the ordinance of the church, to consider specially the person and work of the third person in the Trinity. The present festival is in commemoration of that great event, the pentecostal effusion of the Spirit, an event not inferior in importance to the incarnation of the Son. We say, not inferior in importance, for it would avail us little that redemption has been achieved by one Divine person, if it were not applied, or made effectual, by another. There is so much to fix, and even engross, our attention in the work of the Son; the humiliation, the sufferings, and the success, are so conspicuous and confounding, that we may easily become comparatively unmindful of what we

Owe

to the Father and the Spirit; though the persons of the Trinity are not more one in essence and dignity,

than in their claim on our love, and their title to our veneration.

It is of great worth, therefore, that the church has instituted such commemorations as the present; for, by bringing before us in succession the mysteries of our faith, and the various blessings provided for our race, they do much towards preventing our dwelling on one doctrine or benefit, to the exclusion of others which deserve equal thought. There would have been the same stupendousness and virtue in the work of the Son, if it had never been followed by the descent of the Spirit. But then if it be true, that our hearts are naturally averse from God and holiness, so that, of ourselves, we are unable to repent, and lay hold on

The outline of this sermon has been partly derived from that of a discourse by Dr. Donne on the last clause of the verse.

the proffered, but conditional, deliverance, of what use is it that such costly provision has been made on our behalf, unless there be also provision for our being strengthened to make it our own? Thus such festivals as Christmas and Easter, and such commemorations as Good Friday, though they might remind us of sublime and awful things, would bring before us nothing that could be practically of worth to fallen creatures, if they were not to be followed by a Whitsunday, when might be celebrated the coming down of a divine agent to renew the corrupt nature. On this day, the third person of the Trinity descended to tabernacle upon earth, as on Christmas day the second was "found in fashion as a man." And not deeper, nor more abundant, should be our gratitude, that, "for us men and for our salvation," "the Word was made flesh," than that, with the sound as of a rushing mighty wind," the Comforter came to take the things of Christ, and show them to the soul.

We have endeavored on former recurrences of the present solemnity, to explain to you the scriptural doctrine as to the person and work of the Holy Ghost. We have labored to show you, that the Spirit of God is not, as some have vainly taught, a mere quality, attribute, or property of God; but, in the strictest sense, a Divine person, possessing the divine nature, filling divine offices, and performing divine acts. And as to the work of this person, we have described it to be that of renovating and sanctifying our nature; so that, by secret suggestions and impulses, by exciting good desires, by strengthening our powers and rectifying our affections, by quickening our understandings to the perception of truth, and inclining our wills to obedience, he restores in us the lost image of God, and fits us for "the inheritance of the saints in light." Statements such as these, with regard to the personality and offices of the Holy Ghost, have been so frequently laid before you, that we can hardly consider their repetition necessary. We shall not, therefore, employ the present opportunity on proving what we may believe that you admit, or explaining what we may hope that you understand. But we will

go back to the earliest times, and see whether even then, ere this creation rose in its beauty, the Spirit of God was not mightily energetic, performing such wonders on inanimate matter as imaged the yet stranger which he was afterwards to perform upon mind.

It is not, however, that we design to lay great stress on arguments in support of the doctrine of the Trinity, which have been fetched from the very commencement of the Bible. We will only glance at those arguments. You are probably aware, that, in the first verse of the book of Genesis, where it is said, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," the Hebrew word, translated "God," is in the plural, whilst that rendered "created," is in the singular. From this it has been argued, with much appearance of truth, that Moses announces, in the very first line of his writings, a plurality of persons in the Godhead; for on what supposition are we to explain the combination of a plural noun with a singular verb, unless we allow that God may be spoken of in the plural, because there are several persons in the Godhead, and at the same time in the singular, because those persons constitute the one indivisible Jehovah? If we had nothing but this verbal criticism, on which to rest the doctrine of a plurality of persons in the Godhead, we might feel it insufficient for so weighty a superstructure. But we may fairly say, that, when we have proved the doctrine on less questionable evidence, there can be no reason for our rejecting this auxiliary testimony, a testimony peculiarly interesting from the place in which it occurs, seeing that the Bible thus commences with an intimation of the Trinity in unity.

And it is remarkable, that, having thus hinted at there being several persons in the Godhead, Moses immediately proceeded to speak of one of these persons, and to ascribe to Him a great office in the construction of this globe. If indeed this were the only passage in which we found mention of the Spirit of God, we should hardly be warranted in concluding from it the personality and Deity of the Holy Ghost. Had our text stood alone, it might perhaps with justice have been said, that nothing more was intended