moned away from it all by a festival like this, of which the very motto seems to be that invitation in the Communion Service,-"Lift up your hearts!". . . By faith we behold the SAVIOUR'S ascended Body, ascended above the highest Heavens; and we know that His prayer before He suffered, His prayer to the Eternal FATHER for His Disciples was, that they might "beholl His glory." What place is left for trouble about the sick and suffering,-for despondency concerning our own departed saintly ones,-where this magnificent anticipation finds full place? True, the dead,-(that is the Saints in Paradise,) -wait, yea groan while they wait, for the adoption, that is the Redemption of the Body. Yes, and, (as I have explained already), the certainty of our LORD's Ascension is a pledge of the certainty of theirs. genes who say the je

(b) Another bows beneath the weight of Poverty, and is full of care about the morrow. What else is Ascension Day but a loving rebuke addressed to such an one, and an entreaty that he will away with such thoughts and cares? It is not the mere reminder that He that feeds' the ravens, yea, providently caters for the sparrow," will graciously take care that thou shalt never really want. It is more than that. It

is a loud summons to lift up the soul out of the sphere of its wants, and of all its present needs.qIt is a strong reminder that they who are rich in faith towards, Gop, a faith that worketh by love that they shall shine as the stars for ever and ever." bus. The rich in that day will be, not those who counted the largest number of thousands, or who walked in greatest pomp, or who wore the costliest purple and finest linen. Ono But those (and there will be many of the wealthy ones of this world among the number of those) whose citizen ship was in Heaven even while they lived here on Earth, and who kept themselves unspotted from the world. Their ascended Bodies will be dazzling as the light, and the verys memory of their pasto trouble will be extinguished by that overwhelming weight of everlasting glorylo yðrint

(c) A third there is whose life is spent in frivolous pursuits and vain sunsatisfying pleas sures. How stern a reproach to such an one is the teaching of to-day! Thou industrious trifler

thou busy idler, thou weak vain things that wast made for Heaven, and meant to entertaini immortal hopes, what thinkest thou of thy whole life when the light of Ascension Day falls upon it The very tissue of thy days is all a dream and

a deceit from which there must be at last a terrible awaking. Fix thine eyes on the ascending Person of thy LORD, and while there is yet time, shew thyself worthier of thy high calling!

(d) Lastly, there is he who wallows in the mire of Sin; who grovels in the dust of Death even while he liveth. To such an one, the Ascension of our LORD into Heaven, His awful session at the Right Hand of GOD,-His patient awaiting there until the sum of the ages shall have run out, and the great white Throne shall be set, and the books opened, and the gathering of great and small before the Judgment seat of CHRIST take place ;-to such an one, Ascension Day should be full of terrors. "Thou sitteth at the Right Hand of GOD, in the glory of the FATHER. We believe that Thou shalt come to be our Judge."

This, then, or the like of this, we hold to be the teaching of Ascension Day. It bids the mourner dry his tears. It silences the querulous and complaining. It rebukes the trifler. It makes the man of unclean life skulk away ashamed. Above all, it invites the sorrowful and afflicted to be of better cheer. It exalts the affections. It helps us in heart and mind to ascend; and to desire with CHRIST Continually to dwell.

Sunday after Ascension Day.

S. PAUL'S USE OF PSALM LXVIII.

EPH. iv. 7-10.

But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of CHRIST. Wherefore he saith, 'When He ascended up on high, He led Captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.' (Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the Earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all Heavens, that He might fill all things.)

IT ought to be quite enough to convince every person that no reliance whatever is to be placed on conjectures as to the occasion when any given Psalm was written, to observe how entirely learned men disagree among themselves on the subject. The 68th Psalm, from which S. Paul here quotes, has been thought to refer to almost every one of David's principal victories, and to celebrate the return of the Ark in triumph to the Mount Sion. I do, for my own. part, think such speculations among the weakest and most unwise which can be indulged. They

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are dreams after all; and, like dreams, lead to nothing..

Strange, that while there is so little to induce men to pursue a shadow of their own creating, they should be so reluctant to embrace what is certain,-quite certain by the Word of GOD, viz. that the present Psalm has reference to the Ascension of CHRIST. S. Paul is insisting in a certain place, that every one has his proper gift given him, and that it is proportioned by the bounty of CHRIST. And he proves his point by citing the language of David in the 18th verse of the 68th Psalm. He does not however cite the words exactly, which has led some to doubt whether the 68th Psalm be quoted here or not. I trust that all who hear me are ready to admit that when an inspired Apostle purports to quote Scripture, his quotation is of the same authority exactly as the passage he quotes from. It is in fact the HOLY SPIRIT in one place interpreting the HOLY SPIRIT in another. The differences→→ (which are not great)-between the Apostle's quotation and the Psalmist's original are therefore things to be prized rather than to be cavilled at.

It is a greater than David, it is CHRIST