teous Redemption was wrought than that of Egypt, the individual determination of the Day did pafs, upon a ftronger Reafon, to the next Day, always to be repeated by a Seventh Return, in honour of the Creation. So that, as in the former Redemption, a Change was made in the Yearly Account, by the Command of GOD; This Month fhall be unto you the beginning of Months, it fhall be the first Month of the Year to you; fo in the lat- * Exod. xii. 2. ter, far more eminent and illuftrious, a Change was made in the Weekly Account; the firft Day was made the feventh, or the feventh after that firft was fanctified: The first Day, becaufe on that Chrift rofe from the Dead; and the feventh from that firit, because He who rofe upon that Day was the fame GOD who created the World, and refted on the feventh Day. The first Obfervation of this Christian Sabbath was perform'd providentially For the Jame Day on which our Lord rofe, at Evening, being the first Day of the Week, the Disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews t. The fecond Obfer + Joh. xx. 19. vation was perform'd voluntarily; For after eight Days again the Difciples were met together, and Thomas with them*. Again, When the Day of Pentecoft was fully Joh. xx, 26come, which was alfo the first Day of the Week, they were all with one accord in one place t. The fame Practice † Acts ii. 1. we find continued in the following Years. Upon the firft Day of the Week, when the Difciples came together to break Bread, Paul preached unto them". And the fame• A&s xx. 7

Apoftle enjoins the Churches of Galatia and Corinth; Upon the first Day of the Week, let every one of you lay by him in ftore, as GOD hath profpered him t. At length + Cor. xvi. 2. St. John diftinguifheth it by the honourable Name of the Lord's Day *, continued and tranfmitted to all Ages,* Rev. i, 10. as the Sign between GOD and Us, and the perpetual Badge and Cognizance of the Church.

To believe, profess, and meditate upon, this most neceffary Article, and agreeably to St. Paul's Admonition, to remember that Jefus Chrift, of the Seed of David,

was raised from the Dead, according to the Gospel t, we are t 2 Tim. ii. 8. under infinite Obligations; fome of which may be here mention'd. Without this Belief, our whole Faith is vain, we are yet in our Sins: But, if we confess with our Mouth the Lord Jefus, and believe in our Heart, that GOD hath

raifed Him from the Dead, we shall be faved. As He* Rom. x. 9. was delivered for our Offences, fo He was raised again for

our Juftification t. Who, then, fhall lay any thing to the Rom. iv. 25, charge of GOD's Elect? It is GOD that juftifieth; who

is

34.

+ Pet. i. 3.

"Coloff. i. 18.

+ Mic. ii. 13.

is He that condemneth? It is Chrift that died, yea rather *Rom. viii 33, that is rijen again. And therefore, Bleed be the GOD and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, who according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the Refurrection of Jefus Chrift from the Dead, unto an Inberitance uncorruptible and undefiled t. We are the Members of that Body of which Chrift is the Head; and if the Head be rifen, the Members cannot be far behind. He is the First-born from the Dead*, and we are the Luke xx. 36. Sons of the Refurrection t. His Refurrection is at once the efficient and the exemplary Caufe of ours: The ef ficient Caufe, in as much as by it He has obtain'd Power and Right to raise the Dead: In Chrift shall all be 1 Cor. xv. 22. made alive*: The Breaker is come up before them; they have broken up, and paffed thro' the Gate; their King ball pals before them, and the Lord at the head of them †. And the exemplary Caufe; for, as we have born the Image of the earthly, we shall also bear the Image of the hea venly: If we be planted together in the likeness of his Death, we shall be alfo in the likeness of his Resurrection : He shall change our vile Bodies, that they may be like unto his Philip. iii. 21. glorious Body". But as it is efficient and exemplary to our Bodies, fo ought it to be to our Souls. When we were dead in Sins, GOD quickened us together with Chrift† And, as Chrift was raifed up from the Dead by the Glory of the Father, Jo we should walk in newness of Life. To con tinue among the Graves of Sin, when Chrift is rifen, is to incur that Reprehenfion of the Angel, Why Seek ye the Living among the Dead? Awake thou that fleepeft, and arife from the Dead, and Chrift fhall give thee Light t. There must be a fpiritual Refurrection of the Soul, before any bodily Refurrection can be comfortable. Bleffed and holy is he that hath part in this first RefurreSion; on Juch the fecond Death hath no Power *.

I Cor. xv. 49. + Rom. vi. 5.

† Ephef. ii. s.

Rom. vi. 4.

+ Ephef. v. 14.

Rev. xx. 6.

:

A R

ARTICLE VI.

He afcended into Heaven, and fitteth on the Right Hand of GOD the Father Almighty.

I

He afcended into Heaven,

Am fully perfuaded, that the Only begotten and Eternal Son of GOD, after He rose from the Dead, did, with the fame Soul and Body with which He rofe, by a true and local Translation, convey Himself from the Earth on which He lived, thro' all the Regions of the Air, thro' all the Cœleftial Orbs, until He came into the Heaven of Heavens, the Imoft Glorious Presence of the Majesty of GOD.

That the promised Meffias was to afcend into Heaven, we find typically reprefented, and prophetically declar'd. In the former manner, by the High-Prieft's Entrance, once every Year, on the Day of the Propitiation, into the Holy of Holies: For fo, Chrift being come an High-Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle, not made with hands, was to enter into the Holy Place, having obtained Eternal Redemption for us. The Jews, as • Heb. ix. 11,12, we learn from Jofephus and others, did believe the Tabernacle to fignifie this World, and the Holy of Holies the higheft Heaven: And Chrift is not entred into the holy places made with hands, which are the Figures of the true, but into I

Heaven

Heb. ix. 24.

Heaven it felf. The fame Truth is prophetically declared in the famous Words of David, Thou hast afcended up on high, thou hast led Captivity captive, thou haft received Pfal. Ixviii. 18. Gifts for Men †: Which as the Apoftle exprefly refers to our Lord, (Wherefore he faith, when he afcended up on high, Ephef. iv.8.&c. &c. *) fo the Jews must confefs that the Phrafe on high, which in the Language of David fignifieth the higheft Heaven, can be attributed only to the Messias.

+ Joh. iii. 13.

Joh. xx. 17.

One Afcenfion there was of our Lord, grounded upon the Hypoftatical Union, by virtue of which the Son of Man, after his Conception, was in Heaven, and, in conformity with common Speech, might be faid to have afcended thither; as He Himself difcourfeth to Nicode mus: No Man hath afcended up to Heaven, but He that came down from Heaven, the Son of Man which is in Heaven †. Again, a Metaphorical Afcent has been afcrib'd to Chrift, in refpect of his more heavenly State and Condition, obtain'd after his Refurrection, the Alteration made in his Body, and the Glorious Qualities it was invested with. But after both thefe, it was true what He faid to Mary, that He had not yet afcended to his Father. His laft and proper Afcenfion is, therefore, defcrib'd as a true local Tranflation from Earth to Heaven. For, + Luke xxiv. so, when He had poken to the Difciples, and blessed them t even while He bluffed them, He parted from them; and while they beheld, He was taken up, and a Cloud received Him out of their Sight; they looking ftedfastly towards Atsi. 9, 10, Heaven, as He went up *. It was fufficient that Chrift fhewed Himself alive to the Apoftles, after his Paffion; because this was indeed a Demonftration of his Refurrection. But being not to fee Him in Heaven, it was neceffary they fhould be Eye-witnesses of the A&t, fince they could not with the fame Eyes behold the Effect. But because the Eyes of the Apoftles could not follow Him fo far as Heaven, the Inhabitants of that bleffed Place appear'd to teftifie his Reception: For, behold two Men food by them in white Apparel, which also faid, Ye Men of Galilee, why fand ye gazing up into Heaven? This fame Fefus, which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall to come in † Acts i. 10, 11. like manner as ye have feen Him go into Heaven t. And as the Afcent was a true Tranflation, fo the Heaven was the highest Heaven, the Heaven of Heavens. We have a great High-Prieft, who, being made higher than the Hea vens, hath paffed through the Heavens ; is entred into that within the Veilt, far above all Heavens, to appear in the Prefence of GOD. Whatfoever Heaven is higher than

Heb. vii. 26,

iv. I4.

+ Heb. vi. 19. Heb. ix. 26.

*

all

all the reft which are called Heavens ; whatsoever San&tuary is holier than all which are called Holies; whatfoever Place is of greatest Dignity in all thofe Courts above; into that Place did He, in his Humanity, ascend, where in the Splendor of his Deity He was before He took upon Him our Flesh. And this He propounded to his Difciples, as worthy of their greatest Admiration; What and if ye shall fee the Son of Man afcend up, where He was before *? So extravagant were the Conceits of Joh. vi. 62. those antient Heretics, who taught that, in our Lord's Afcenfion, his Body either vanifhed into Air, or was left in the Orb of the Sun.

*

Joh. xvi. 7.

The Afcenfion of Christ is a neceffary Article of the Creed, in refpect of those great Effects which did abfolutely depend upon it, and were immediately to follow it. The Bleffed Apoftles had never preached the Gofpel, had they not been endued with Power from above; this Power they had not receiv'd but by the Coming of the Holy Ghoft; and in order to his Coming it was needful that our Saviour fhould firft depart, and Jend Him unto them * It is likewife neceffary to confirm and increase our Faith, to ftrengthen our Hope, and exalt our Affections. Chrift's Afcent is the Caufe, and his Abfence the Crown of our Faith: becaufe He afcended, we the more believe; and because we believe in Him who has afcended, our Faith, as the Evidence of things not feen, is the more accepted. Again, in that our Lord is gone to prepare a place for us, that where He is, we may be allot; we have hence our Hope, as an Anchor of † Joh. xiv. 3. the Soul, fure and stedfaft, which entreth into that within

the Veil, whither the Fore-runnner is for us entred *. He Heb. vi. 19,2đẹ went before us, as the First-fruits; and we hope to follow Him, as coming late to the fame Perfection. Laftly, Chrift is afcended into Heaven to teach us, that we are all Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, and that therefore our Converfation, or our Citizenship, must be in Heaven, whente we look for our Saviour, the Lord Jefus t. Our + Phil. iii. 19,20. Affections and Meditations ought to be conformable to our Lord's Condition; that where the Eyes of the Apostles were forced to leave Him, thither our Thoughts may follow Him.

J

Hi