The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 286

III. ITB J,ASTINO LESSON. It is this which, if anything does, will make us strong also. What the Christian workman wants is the power which wmes immediately frO'f/1, God, the inspiration of the Divine Spirit; in truth, the same bestowal as that which the apostles were now promised and afterwards received. The miraculous endowments which accompanied the gift of the Holy Ghost were but the accidents of the bestowal. 'l'he power to heal without failure or to speak without error was nothing to the power to testify without fee.r and to live ·without reproach. 11 Though on ou heads no tongues of 11:re Their wondrous powers impart," we need, as much as they did then, the illuminating, sanctifying, ewpuwerrng influences of Heaven-" God's Spirit in our heart." Without that, our most heroic efforts will fail ; with it, our humblest endeavours will succeed. To gain that we must have (1) purity of heart and aim ; (2) earnest and believing prayer.-C. Ver. 60.-TM Ascension. Many thoughts offer themselves to us as we think upon this last scene. I. 'l'HE FlTNl:SS OJ:I' THE PLACE WHENCE JESUS ABOENDED. Not, indeed, that Jerusalem could claim to be worthy of such an honour-Jerusalem that had but lately dyed its hands in the blood of its Messiah. But as the ancient dwelling-place of God, as the seat and source of heavenly truth, as the metropolis of religion upon the earth, as the place that furnishes the name and type of the city of our hope, as the joyous gathering- place of the good,-it was well that, from without its walls, he whose presence makes the home and the joy and the glory of his people should pass to his throne. For from that moment "Jerusalem" meant another thing to mankind. Christ took up its meaning as he rose. All the associations of love and hope, of grandeur and gladness, which had belonged to the earthly are transferred to the heavenly city, where he dwells in glory, where he reigns in power. There is a transference, not formal but actual, of the centre and metropolis of religio\18 thought from the Jerusalem below to the Jerusalem above. II. THE NATUBE OF THE LAST BOENE. "They climb the hillside; they cross its summit; they are approaching Bethany. He stops; they gather round. He looks upon them; he lifts his hands; he begins to bless them. What love unntterable in that parting look I What untold riches in that blessing I His hands are uplifted, his lips engaged in blessing, when slowly he begins to rise. Earth has lost her power to keep him; the waiting u~awing heavens claim him as their own. He rises, but still, as he floats upward through the yielding air, his eyes are bent on those uplooking men; his arms are stretched over them in the attitude of benediction, his voice is heard dying away in blessings as he ascends. Awe-struck, in silence they follow him with straining eyes as hie body lessens to sight, till the commissioned cloud enfolds, cuts oif all further vision, and closes the earthly and sensible communion between Jesus and his disciples" (Dr. Hanna). III. THE REOEPTION THE SAVIOUR BAD IN BEAVEN. There have been" triumphant entries" in this little world of ours, and in the history of our human race, the pouring forth in loud acclaim of the pride and joy of many thousands of hearts. But to what a vanishing point do they sink when placed by the side of this entry of the conquering Saviour into heaven I Though unable to form any conception that can approach the glorious reality, yet we may well love to linger in imagination over that blessed scene. His struggle over, bis sorrows borne, his temptations met and mastered, his work finished, his great battle fought and his victory won,-the victorious Lord passes through all the ranks of the angelic host, amid their reverent worship and adoring acclamations, to his throne of power and glory. "Look, ye saints I tho eight is glorious: See the M11n of sorrows now From the fight returned victorious; Every knee to him shall bow." IV, THE EJ:l'FEOT UIMEDIATELY PBODUOED ON THE MINDS OJ:I' THE DISOIPLES. Blank disruay, inconsoluble sorrow, should we think? So thinking, we should be wrong.  THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [on. xx1v. 1-63,