But

us that the man Jesus is with God in Heaven. He would also show that Heaven is a cloud, and that we cannot now pierce its hidden mysteries.

III. Our Lord, then, is in Heaven. But what is He doing there? He is blessing. We know His very attitude in parting. He was giving His blessing to the Apostles when His feet were lifted from the earth and His body rose towards Heaven. His outstretched hands were dropping benediction, as the earth lost and the cloud received Him. The last look which the Apostles had was a look of never-ending love. The last words which their ears heard were promises of comfort. The last attitude of His form was a beatitude. It seemed to say and keep saying, 'Blessed ye are and I for ever bless you. In Me ye

shall have peace.'

How comforting is this. We know how much is thought about the last acts and words of a dying man, or of one from whom we have parted. The last we saw or heard of him is the fixed impression which rests upon our remembrance, and for ever associates itself with our thoughts. And still more if that last act or word was in accordance with his whole character; we feel then that the whole man was in it, and that the act or the word was in reality the man. This, then, is the last impression which the Lord saw fit to leave upon the mind of His Church. He was parted from us in the act of blessing, that, as long as time lasts, we might think of Him as pouring love upon us and shedding innumerable gifts. Upon the hearts of His Apostles, the warmest and the best of hearts, the hearts which lived and died for the world which they converted, while hot with emotion, and melted like wax in that fiery trial which parted them from their

Lord, He stamped His own image, sealing them with Himself as their seal; He left His last legacy to them, and put His own mark on this His last will and testament, as though they were never to think of Him except as standing over them with lips which spoke of peace and hands which shed a blessing. Nor is this all which may be said. It was not at this time only that He thus dealt with His Church. The whole series of His acts during the last forty days, and even before His death upon the Cross, was of the same character. "Peace be unto you," was His first greeting, twice renewed, to the eleven Apostles. "Peace I leave with you," was His dying promise and peace was the great gift of His new and risen life. Peace was evidently the chief blessing which He meant to leave behind Him. The whole spirit of His conduct in His latest dealings with His followers was a promise of peace.

Behold Him, then, as He ascends to Heaven. Mark the love with which His face is beaming, and the gentleness of His tender eyes which shine as softly as the stars. See the hands uplifted. But lately it was blood which dropped from them, and it is blood which now is falling, for He is shedding life and love. Watch Him till He is lost within the mysteries of Heaven, and believe that His last look is His look still, that His last benediction is eternal, that those hands are still spread out from His throne in Heaven, and that showers do not fall more surely, or the sun shine with more unvarying lustre, than does grace drop from the sky, and love illuminate that Church, which first He died to save and now lives to bless. Those outstretched hands, and all those comfortable words of promise are a pledge to us that life

shall be for ever poured upon His Church, and that the Comforter shall abide within it, and that Sacraments shall be made effectual means of grace. Grace is over us, and around us, and within us. We live beneath the blessing of our ascended Lord as certainly as we live beneath the sky. Blessings are spread above our heads. The blue arch which is stretched across the earth is not more surely over us, encompassing us with its depth of love and beauty, than our Lord is over us to send down peace and comfort upon every son of peace.

His last

IV. Our Lord left us with a blessing. attitude was love. What was the attitude of His Apostles? for the same attitude must be ours also. They worshipped. They looked up and they worshipped. Their eyes were up, their knees were down. They were exalted, and they were humbled. They felt that they must live where He lived, and that they were not worthy to live upon the earth. They were thus at once bent to the dust and lifted to the sky; level with earth, and therefore level with Heaven; as low as they wished to be high, and therefore as high as they were low. They adored their glorified God and Saviour. They worshipped. The attitude of our Lord to His Church is blessing.

The attitude of the

Church to our Lord is worship. The Lord blesses us, and we receive His blessing, if we are willing to receive it, and are sons of peace. But we are not mere passive recipients of bounty, who must simply open our hearts to entertain His gifts and welcome them by love and faith. We must be active also. We must offer ourselves to Him. We must give Him the sacrifice of our souls and bodies. We must worship in return for blessing; worship and work. He

gave and gives Himself to us; we, therefore, must give ourselves to Him. And one chief way in which we give ourselves is by worship.

Worship is the chief work of the Church, as benediction is the work of its Head in Heaven. Men sometimes wonder why so much is made of the daily service of God and frequent attendance on the holy sacrament. The reason is, because the Church waits upon her Lord and worships Him. In Heaven they rest not day and night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy," and the worship of earth should be an echo of the worship of Heaven. We come to church, not so much to be taught by sermons and the word of God as to show our love and thankfulness by acts of worship. We come to present ourselves before the Lord, and give Him the sacrifice of praise, and prayer, and thanksgiving. And while we think that the chief beauty of worship is in the beauty of hearts which honour God with love and adoration, we should also do all that art, and care, and pains of man can do to make it, even in its outward aspects, as worthy as we can of Him whose glory the Heavens utter, and who made man to declare His praise. It is a duty of religion; not a mere satisfaction of taste and love of the beautiful either in sight or sound, but a duty, a part of our love to Christ, to do what in us lies to show forth the outward beauty of holiness, as well as to give Him the inward homage of reverence and love.

Look, my brethren, at the Lord's Apostles, the eleven foremost names in the world's history. See the Foundations of the Church, and build your life on them by copying their example. See them as they worship Christ in His ascending glory. See them on

their knees, with eyes ascending, and with hearts which have ascended higher than their eyes. Look at them till they teach you how to worship Christ, in body as well as in soul. Imitate their adoration. Lift up your hearts unto the Lord and give Him glory. Prostrate your bodies at His footstool which is earth. Elevate your souls to His throne which is Heaven. Give Him glory as He gives you blessing. Come to His altar which is to-day His throne. Rejoice in His triumph for it is your glory. Shout for joy when you see Him crowned as Lord of Earth and Heaven, for you know that you too may yet wear a crown. Then think of the gifts which He can pour upon us, and pray with all your soul for His gifts.

Glorified Saviour! bless us. Shed out Thy gifts on us from Heaven. Pour life upon Thy Church. Give light to lighten our darkness. Scatter our enemies. Heal our breaches. Give us peace. Call in the heathen round us. Enlarge our borders. Chase the mists of error. Shed on us the rays of truth. Cast out from the midst of us the evil spirit, and send to us the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, the Anointing Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. Bestow on us the unction from the Holy One, Who knows all things, and Whose unction is comfort, life, love, peace.