grave, and lift him up far above all heavens, that he may be glorified once morei, by raising us up from the dead, and promoting us to eternal glory with himself.

"O wonderful news! he that was lifted up to hang on a cross is preferred now from his grave to a glorious throne! And to come at it, he takes a journey through the air! the clouds running under his feet become his chariot! the sky opens to him, and the heavens with open arms receive him! the troops of angels join together in triumphal songs, and persuade his amazed disciples to keep that day a festival on earth as they did in heaven! Do not stand gazing here, say they, any longer, but go and preach this wonder to the world. By his departure represent his coming again; for so shall he come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heavenk.”

O how wonderful are thy works, O Lord! which give us hope (as the blessed St. Paul said when he thought of these things) that we shall then be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we be ever with the Lord. We can do no less than, to those voices which came so oft from heaven to testify this, add our poor voice of praise and thanksgiving; saying with the angels, when he came into the world, Glory be to God in the highest; and with the multitude, when they met him at mount Olivet, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Glory be to him who is the fountain of life, coming from the fountain of life, the Father'. Glory be to him who is the river of God, proceeding from the divine abyss, and inseparably one with it: the treasure of the Father's goodness, and of ever-springing blessedness: the water of life, who gives life to the world: the increated beam of the Father of lights, from whom he is undivided: who, being in the form of God, took on him the form of a servant; not lessening the dignity of his divinity, but sanctifying the mass of our humanity.

Him the angels praise, the archangels worship, the authori

i 2 Thess. i. IO.

k Athanasius in Assumption. Christi. [tom. ii. p. 465 B.]

'Cyril. Hieros. in occurs. Do

mini. [Πηγὴ τοῦ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ποταμοῦ, τοῦ μονογενοῦς, ὁ πατήρ. Catech. xi. § 20. p. 159 A.]

ties reverence, the powers glorify; the cherubims do him service; the seraphims acknowledge his divinity; the sun and moon minister to him: who hath broken in pieces the gates of hell, and opened the gates of heaven, and abolished death, and confounded the devil, and dissolved the curse, and made sorrow cease, and trodden sin under foot, and restored the creation, and enlightened the world. And therefore let us sing hymns to him with the angels, and rejoice in the light of the glory of God with the shepherds, and adore him with the wise men, and joyfully magnify him with the blessed Virgin, and confess him with Simeon and Anna, who were glad to see his salvation that so we at last may also be possessed of eternal good things, through the grace and the bowels of mercy, and the loving-kindness of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ: to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

CHAP. VII.

Concerning the testimony of the Word, the second witness in heaven.

IF we had no further witness of this truth but that which hath been already produced, we might well rejoice in the comfort which God the Father hath given us, and rely upon Jesus as the Author of eternal life to all those that obey him. The testimony of worthy men, as the apostle here observes, is readily received by us; and therefore we ought to be afraid of being so rudely profane as to reject the testimony of God, which is of far greater weight than theirs, and hath been solemnly given, you see, more than once for the confirmation of our faith. But God the Father, willing more abundantly to show (if I may borrow those words in Heb. vi. 17.) unto the heirs of this promise the immutability of his counsel, hath graciously vouchsafed us further assurance; and by his word hath told us as much as he himself declared by those voices from heaven.

What we are to understand by the Word in this place, I have shown in the former treatise, viz. the Lord Jesus himself,

God-man, or God the Word made flesh; who, as St. Athanasius speaks", is Ερμηνεὺς καὶ ̓Αγγελος τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ Πατρὸς, "The Interpreter and Ambassador of his own Father. For, as by the word a man speaks we understand his mind, which is the fountain from whence it comes, so (but by a more lively representation, and after an incomparably more excellent manner) we, beholding the power of the Word, come to the knowledge of his Father: as our Saviour himself saith, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also." From him this eternal Word came down and was incarnate, not only to reveal his will, but to die for our sins, and to seal what he had preached with his blood. After which God raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavens; from whence he testified as loudly that he hath in him eternal life for us as he did that he is the Son of God. This witness therefore let us now examine, and look over again the old evidences which we formerly searched; wherein, I doubt not, we shall find this truth most clearly contained. And the testimony of the Word, you know, as well as that of the Father, was threefold; once to St. Stephen, a second time to St. Paul, and a third to this beloved disciple St. John.

I.

For the first of these, it stands upon record in so many words, that St. Stephen, being full of the Holy Ghost, and looking up steadfastly to heaven, saw the heavens opened, and beheld the glory of God, and Jesus standing at his right hand. Thus he declares, not to some simple people, who perhaps might believe him for his confidence, but to the great council of Jerusalem, who, he knew, were very much disaffected, nay, perfectly opposite to this truth. To them he protests in open court, when he was upon his trial, and bids them mark it, ('ldoú, Behold, take notice of what I now tell you,) I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. And he said it, though he knew he stood in certain peril of his life for this declaration. It was for no other reason that Jesus himself was put to death, but

n Orat. contra Gentes, p. 49. [§ 45. ed. Ben. tom. i. p. 43 E.]

o John xiv. 9.

P Acts vii. 55, 56.

because he said he was the Son of God; and that they should see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. And therefore for him to confirm so peremptorily this odious truth, after they had killed. him, and thereby make them guilty of innocent blood, yea, of the blood of their great King, was a crime he might well expect they would punish with as great severity as was in their power to express which we may be confident he would never have provoked, had he not been so sure of the glory of our Saviour that he could not hold his peace. For who is there so frantic as to expose himself to death for such an unprofitable lie? It is not in the nature of man to suffer so shamefully as he did in his own person, merely to bring a little false honour to another. To fancy a person of his wisdom guilty of such madness, is a kind of distraction in him that supposes it: who, were he sober, would be taught otherwise by the abhorrence he feels in himself to throw away his life for a trifle.

Since there is not the least reason then to question but that this holy man beheld the glory of God, and Jesus standing at his right hand, (i. e. the gates of heaven being set open, that he might have the favour to look into the celestial palace, the majesty of God was there represented to him sitting on a throne, as it used to be in the prophetical visions; and he beheld the Lord Jesus the very next person to the divine Majesty) we may clearly see in this vision both the things that St. John here asserts, viz. that eternal life is in Jesus the Son of God, to give to those that effectually believe on his name.

I. As for the first, the power wherewith he is invested to give eternal life, it is visible from his standing at God's right hand: which denotes his omnipotent virtue to effect what he pleases. For by the right hand of God Jesus himself was exalted to the right hand of power, as you read, Acts ii. 33. v. 31, and therefore being placed there, it signifies that he can do for us what God hath done for him; that is, exalt us to the like glory in the heavens where he is. And as this is a clear proof of one of the things here recorded, that life is in him; so the other

II. That God hath given the faithful a right to this eternal life with him, and that he will bestow it on us, is no less evident from the very end of this vision. For we can see no other

reason of this glorious appearance of our Saviour to him, but to encourage him in his preaching, and incite him to witness a good confession, as he himself had done before this great council and before Pontius Pilate; in hope that if it cost him his life, as it had done our Saviour, he should live and reign with him in that glorious place where he now beheld him. This was the purpose of the heavenly Word's coming now to him, that he might not doubt of his promises, nor shrink in the least from what he had preached, though he should die for it; which would do him no greater harm than to dispatch him presently to the celestial habitations. In the very beginning of his history we read, that he had no sooner heard the indictment read which they had drawn up against him, but, before he spake a word for himself, the whole council beheld his face as it had been the face of an angel 9. There appeared, that is, such a bright and sweet majesty in his countenance, as made him look like one of the celestial inhabitants, who had already prevented the glorious state to which he was going. And his answer to their charge being ended, their barbarous rage was not more apparent than it was that the heavens opened to receive his spirit, and let it into the dwelling of God, as soon as he should put off his mortality.

There he beheld Jesus standing (whereas he is commonly represented as sitting) at God's right hand; that he might know he was ready to meet his spirit, and entertain it into his heavenly mansions; as well as that he was coming to destroy his persecutors, and put an end to their power and nation. And he saw also the glory of God, as the crown he should win by his martyrdom: which had as sensible an effect upon his heart for the confirming of his faith and constancy, as if he had heard the Almighty call to him and say, Mŋdèv ảyevès táons,

Erépave, "Be not fainthearted, O Stephen, nor suffer any degenerous thoughts to enter into thy breast. Though there is no man to stand by thee, no friend on earth to assist thee in this distressed season; yet I with my beloved Son behold what is a-doing. A happy rest and repose is ready for thee. The gates of paradise stand wide open to thee. Have patience a while, and, leaving this temporary life, make haste to that a Acts vi. 15.