the remotest corners of the earth : for " in him shall all the nations of the earth be blessed f."]
If we look only to the past history, we shall be surprised at, II. The effect it produced upon them —
When our Lord had told them of his intended departure, they were " filled with sorrow ;" but now that he was really gone, they were altogether as full of joy : but they were now better instructed in the nature of his kingdom than they had been before. Indeed even to the last they retained some expectation of a temporal kingdom5 : but his departure from them effectually dissipated that delusion ; and taught them to look up to him for far higher blessings.
Now the effect which was produced in them by the sight of his ascension, ought equally to be wrought in us by the recollection of it; and I shall have addressed you to no purpose, if you do not depart from this place with a measure of those very feelings with which the Apostles were impressed on this occasion. I call upon you therefore now,
1. To adore him —
[He is worthy of all adoration : nor can we doubt but that the " worship" paid to him by his Disciples, was such as they paid to Jehovah himself. The prayer which they almost immediately afterwards offered up to heaven for the appoint- ment of a successor to Judas, was addressed to Him11, just as Stephen's afterwards was, at the very time that he beheld the Father himself sitting on his throne1. Let us then adore Him as our incarnate God : and remember that, in so doing, we most truly and acceptably serve our heavenly Father k.]
2. To rejoice in him —
[Who can contemplate Him seated on his throne of glory, and constituted " Head over all things to his Church," and not rejoice in him ? We are commanded to " rejoice in him always1 :" such joy is the characteristic mark of all his people"1 : and it ought to be as elevated and as fervent, as our feeble nature will admit of". If the Apostles, notwithstanding they
f Gen. xii. 3. Ps. lxxii. 17. s Acts i. (3, 7.
h Acts i. 24. . ' Acts vii. 59, 60.
k John v. 22, 23. Phil. ii. 9—14. > Phil. iv. 4.
n» Phil. iii. 3. "1 Pet. i. 8.