Gen. 45.27 Did Jacob rejoyce to see a Waggon or a Chariot that would carry him into Aegypt to see his Son Joseph And wilt not thou rejoyce to think that Death is a Chariot to carry thee to JESUS CHRIST to carry thee not to Aegypt but to Heaven Not to thy Son but to thy GOD Death is but a Chariot to carry into Heaven to bring us to that Eternal Goshen of Light where GOD's Presence shall both make and keep us blessed for ever And thus have you been offered a taste of Three of those Sweet Streams which came forth of that River which runs in the Eden of God 4. The Fourth and Last is this Is Christ gone to Heaven Thou shalt assuredly go after him 'T is somewhat a sad thing when Death comes and says You must go with me the Body to the Grave the Soul to God that gave it I say then Nature makes a sowr Face upon such a sad Message What my Body that hath cost me so much I used so tenderly that lived so delicately Now to say to corruption thou art my father and to the worm thou art my mother and my sister What this Face of mine be cloathed with Clods of Dust as Job says These Arms these Hands these Feet of mine that were my Pride the Worms Meat They shall feed sweetly upon them Job 24. This is a hard saying to Nature and the harder to be born when the Care hath been all imployed about the Body and the Soul forgotten it will be dreadful indeed to leave the Body in the Hands of Death when the Soul hath been in the Power of Sin But hast thou the least Hold-fast on Christ a Faith but like a smoaking Flax thou hast then a Cordial to give the Spirit when thy Body is falling into the Pit No mattter let it fall it shall up again Christ is risen and he is gone to Heaven and he is gone to receive thee thither that thou mayest be even where he is So he tells you Joh. 14.19 Yet a little while and the world seeth me no more but you see me because I live you shall live also The Branches live in the Root and if the Root lives they will live As if he said Well my Friends I must leave you a while I must go to Heaven before you but know this I go to Heaven for you and be cause I live there bodily assure your selves you shall live there bodily too What saith a Father to this Well saith he Christ is our Flesh and our Bone he is gone with our Flesh into Heaven our Flesh hath taken possession already of our Inheritance And this is a good assurance and pledge to us that our Flesh these Bodies of ours shall be in Heaven where Christ is Christ is gone bodily into Heaven and because he lives there you shall live there also Because I live ye shall live also saith Christ And as much you have in the 14 Joh. 3. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am ye may be also Christ is gone for the present but when all is prepared above he will come again and fetch his People Home to his House and to their Inheritance Oh what an unspeakable Comfort is this to a dying Soul I am now ready to lie down in the Dust saith a Soul And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God as Job said 19 Job 26. Christ is entred into Heaven in our Name in our Flesh hath taken possession for us of the purchased Inheritance and therefore he will bring us thither in his appointed time Christ hath gotten in his Head his Body his Church shall come after CHRIST will not sit in Heaven a HEAD without MEMBERS It 's a Scripture more worth than both the Indies for a dying time 6. The End of Christ's Ascention was that he being full of Grace and Glory might be able to refresh and fill the Souls of all his People My Brethren as I told you before Christ did not lose his Bowels his Pity by going to Heaven We have not an High Priest saith the Apostle which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities let us therefore come boldly to obtain mercy Heb. 4.15 16. No my Brethren our High-Priest hath not lost his Feeling by going into Heaven he is not like a Man that his Advancement should make him forget his Friend 's Good That he might hear them that he might help them that he might fill them that he might save them so saith the Apostle Ephes 4.10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things He ascended with filling purposes as the Sun ascends with enlightning strength And therefore at his departure what saith he John 17.19 For their sakes saith he sanctifie I my self that they may be sanctified And Ver. 22. The glory that thou givest me I have given them Our Glory our Fulness our Holiness was one of Christ's Ends why he was glorified and filled himself Of his fulness we all receive grace for grace John 1.16 A notable Comfort to poor needy Souls Dost thou see thy emptiness yea but look on Christ's fulness he emptied himself for us Why so he filled himself for us Dost thou feel great want of Knowledge thou art a poor ignorant Creature that as Paul said thou dost know nothing as thou shouldst Thou dost want Wisdom and Strength and Grace to make thee solid and able in thy Christian Business Thou canst not walk as prudently as thou shouldest in the place God hath set thee Thou canst not carry thy self as beseemingly and as humbly as thou shouldest when God's Hand is upon thee thou hast not that fear of God as thou shouldest nor that love of God that his Mercies call for Yet in the midst of all here 's thy stay and support Thou knowest where to carry thy empty Vessels to be filled Thou canst now go to thy Saviour and say Lord thou art now in Heaven filled with unmeasurable Glory Thou art a God full of Grace and Glory Thou art full that thy People may be full Oh of thy Fulness let us receive Grace for Grace Such Thoughts such Meditations as these will in time work us out of all our Wants Where I am there also shall my servant be saith he John 12.26 When I shall be in Heaven ne're a Servant of mine but shall be in Heaven too the Servant shall be with the Master and you know in that fore-cited place Ephes 2.6 The Apostle speaks of our Ascension as a thing already effected and wrought by Christ's Ascension God hath made us sit together saith he in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Oh my dear Brethren here 's a Comfort for every Cross Come what can come Life or Death Fears Hopes Trouble or Peace this will give us Confidence in all our Fears and
and Disputes and whether such famous Men as John Reinolds Blondel c. even in the Universities got not their great Learning by searching the same Books which may be read in another place This I suppose to be abundantly sufficient to blunt the Edge of that Cavil and to vindicate my Father's Esteem from that Objection But now to return to the following Discourses I have already told you that their Subject Matter is our Lord's Ascension into Heaven a Subject very proper to be discours'd upon to a Christian Auditory or to be propounded to the perusal of Christian Readers seeing we find it an Article inserted in that ancient and common Creed which usually but yet how truly I cannot say passes for an Apostolical Composure This Article of our Lord's Ascention is a Truth upon which a Christian's Hopes are much bottom'd and Promises a Treasury of Comfort to all the faithful followers of Jesus for that our Redeemer has escaped the confines of the Grave that he has gloriously triumphed over Death and Hell by his Resurrection and Exaltation and that he is now in Heaven at the right Hand of his Father interceding for his faithful People who are got in this Vale of Mortality is matter of transporting Joy to all that are sanctified This assures them that the great Work of Redemption is compleated that God is reconciled and that they themselves shall at last be advanced to Heaven where their glorified Head now resides managing their Cause for them as their most prevalent Advocate but I shall not undertake to discourse on these Matters in this Preface because this will be but to detain you from reading the same things better said in the Treatise it self only let me observe that the Author in these Discourses most convincingly proves that the Humane Nature of Christ ascended above all aspectable Heavens or that Christ as entire Man as to Soul and Body was translated into the blessed Regions obove And its strange that any that pretend to credit the inspired Writings should call this into question I nothing doubt but that very Body of Christ that was crucified without the Gates of Jerusalem was the very same Body that was laid in the Sepulchre and am fully satisfied that this same Body was raised out of the Grave and ascended into Heaven and is now there at the Right Hand of God I doubt not but the Body of Christ is now glorious and is beautified with more excellent Qualities than it was vested with whilst he was here in his state of Humiliation but yet this hinders not but that this Body is still the very same that bled and expired upon the Cursed Tree neither do the Sacred Scriptures tell us any thing of another Body that Christ has now in Heaven quite distinct from that which was crucified and laid in the Grave But all this while I do but detain you from reading more weighty and instructive matter Therefore to conclude Sirs Remember it was the Importunity of many of you that drew these following Sermons into publick View let me therefore entreat you to give them a careful and diligent perusal and do not throw them by into a corner a moulding as too many deal by their Books as if they were some of the useless Lumber of your Houses But read them seriously and meditate upon the Truths contained in them with some Solemnity of Thought and then you will fully answer the Design of the Publisher Who is SIRS Your real Friend and Servant in the LORD JOSEPH HALLET F. Ex musaeo Nov. 26. 92. OF CHRIST's Ascension Luke XXIV 51. And it came to pass while he blessed them he was parted from them and carried up into Heaven IT was in Paul's Judgment no less a Mystery of Godliness That Christ risen from the Dead was received up into Glory then that being come off his Glory he was manifested in the Flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 Without Controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the Flesh received up into Glory We have formerly seen what of the Mystery of Godliness and Comfort for the Godly hath appeared in the former Christ's Humiliation by his Incarnation We now come indeed by the Revolution of time to see what of both may be found in his Exaltation by his Ascension and indeed his Ascension is the second degree or remove of his Exaltation which is all Mystery For so it pleased the Father that his steps to his Crown should be answerable but opposite to those descents which carried him to his Cross I. He rose from the Dead that 's opposed to his laying down of his Life That is his Resurrection is opposed to his Death II. He ascended into Heaven that is opposed to his descent into the Grave III. He sits at the Right hand of God in opposition to his abode while in the State of Death Signified by that Expression he descended into Hell IV. He shall come to judge the World In opposition to that wretched state in which as he stood he was judged by the World 'T is the second step or degree of his Exaltation or Advancement which we are come from the Words read to treat of at this time And it came to pass c. You may learn Luke's Project in his Gospel from Luke's Pen in the Acts for they both own him to be their Pen-man Where in the 1st Chap. v. 1. He tells you that what he had done was to let you know 1. What Christ did 2. What he suffered 3. What he said 4. How he departed His departure from his Disciples to his Father which he had often before inculcated to them and prepared them for you have described in this Text. Wherein you may take notice 1. Of the Place where he ascended on Mount Olivet nigh Bethany 2. The Persons who were called forth as Eye-witnesses of his Ascension His Disciples 3. The Manner of taking his Farewel He lift up his Hands and blessed them 4. You have the Action of his Ascent described 1. By his separation from his Apostles he was parted from them 2. By his advance on high He was carried up into Heaven He led them out as far as to Bethany Beza thinks that by Bethany was meant the whole Tract of Olivet but others with stronger probability conceive it to be a certain Village near Jerusalem upon Olivet where the poorer sort had their dwellings the Out-skirts of the Suburbs And the name of the place seems to give some countenance to the Conjecture It being that which signifies in the Hebrew Language the House of Affliction or the House of the Poor Beth Inanjah That is the House of the Poor Our Saviour seem'd much delighted in this place and most conversant amongst such Company Thy King cometh lowly humble it is Inani poor afflicted Poor saith the Prophet Zachariah 9.9 He came of poor Parents to a poor People in poor Habit with poor Attendants No such hurt then in a low and mean
is that Angel who hath a golden Censer to offer up the Prayers of the Saints Revel 8.3 And therefore God's People through Christ are said to be made Priests to offer up their Sacrifice with acceptance upon his Altar 1 Pet. 2.5 An unspeakable Incouragement to poor timorous Souls Who be their Prayers as as weak as imperfect nay as sinful as they may be they have an Advocate with the Father And art thou ashamed of thy Prayers art thou afraid of thy Prayers Thou hast one that will new draw thy Petitions who will not present thy Prayers as come from thee but as perfected and sanctified by himself 4. Lastly Hereby we come to be assured of God's Favour to continue with us that our Infirmities or Miscarriages shall not be available to take off God's care of us or care to us whatever we have done our Mediator is still in presence to keep off Judgment from us Rom. 8.34 This is the Apostles Argument Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again Who is even at the Right hand of God who also makes intercession for us who shall separate us from the Love of God As if he had said In that Christ is ascended on high he is become an Intercession and in that he is an Intercessor We can never be separated from God's Affection The Stability of our Condition is the Fruit of Christ's Intercession and his Intercession the Fruit of his Ascension He is ascended therefore he intercedes he intercedes Therefore who shall separate us from the Love of God THat was the Fourth Christ ascended to make Intercession 5. Christ must ascend to Heaven to prepare a place for his People That was one end and a great one too of Christ's ascending up to Heaven And this is the Cordial he gives his Disciples now ready to sink at the sad News of his departure John 14.1 2. Let not your hearts be troubled I go to prepare a place for you I go not from you to leave you but to provide for you And therefore the Author to the Hebrews calls him our forerunner Heb. 6.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Quarter-Master if we may speak it with reverence One gone before in his Triumphal Chariot to take up Quarters for his People in Heaven Now we must know that Christ may be said in Heaven to prepare a Place for his People three Ways 1. By way of Representation as seating himself in God's Presence in the stead and as the Representative of his People for as I told you in the description Christ is not gone to Heaven as a private and single Person but as a publick and common Person The great Representative of God's Elect Adam represented all Men in Eden and so by his Sin all sinned they sinned in their Representative in their common root and so Wrath came upon all Why so Christ in what he did in the business of Salvation he did as representing all the Elect. When he died they died when he arose they arose when he ascended they did ascend he did all in their stead as their Representative and Root all imputed to them which he did or suffered all made theirs which he purchased Thus when Aaron was to go into the holiest of Holies the Type of that holy place where Christ now sits at the Right hand of the Majesty on high He is said to bear the Names of the Children of Israel in the Breast-plate of Judgment upon his Heart for a Memorial before the Lord that is for a Remembrance that they be helped and blest and saved Exod. 28.29 The People must not go in none but Aaron must come in and represent them to the Lord So Christ is ascended to that holy place and there he hath carried the Names of the People on his Breast as it were stands presenting them unto God in that holy place as a People to be especially regarded and therefore he is said Heb. 9.24 To be entred into Heaven and to appear in the Presence of God for us there he stands in our steads to transact our business to get the Sentence of the Law reversed and the Blessing of the Covenant to descend And hence is that passage of the Apostles Eph. 2.6 And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly Places in Jesus Christ We are not in heavenly Places we are in earthly places Yea but we now sit in Heaven in our representative Our Burgess is as it were there a common and a publick Person there sits in our steads He sits there to bring us thither and Heb. 6.20 Thither the forerunner is for us entred He went not thither himself but to take possession in our stead As a Traveller that is sent out by his Fellows as a Harbinger to take up Lodging in an Inn for them Enters the Rooms not so much for himself as for his Company and so in a Sense when he is entred they are entred Christ is gone the Harbinger of his Elect in their stead and behalf to Heaven he is entred the Throne for them and his entrance is their assurance to be there 2. He prepares a place for his People in Heaven by Intercession too and therefore is said 9 Heb. 24. Christ is not entred into the Holy place made with hands but into Heaven To appear in the presence of God for us continually praying to the Father that we be preserved here and be brought safe thither Interceeding that he would so uphold them by his Power that they may not fall and be lost and so guide them by his Spirit that they may be brought to that place where he is And that his Disciples might see that these things would be his work in Heaven in the behalf of his People He in their Sight and Audience with much Reverence and Affection puts it on practice a little before his departure as John 17. He lift up his eyes unto Heaven it is said and said Father keep through thine name these whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are one Vers 11. and 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory So then this is the Work of Christ's Intercession To beg God's Protection on his People on Earth and Glory with him in Heaven that no created Power impede their Comfort nor any Sin their Salvation 3. Christ prepares his People for Heaven by way of Operation he makes a Heaven within his People before they shall get to Heaven he shall never enter Heaven that brings not something of Heaven with him he fetcheth up their Hearts their Affections to Heaven before he sends for their Persons thither My Brethren Never shall a Soul get to Heaven that is not in Heaven before he goes out of the World In Heaven by holy Meditations by holy Actions by good Thoughts by a good Life Christ never brings any Soul