Bethany, a tract or part of Mount Olivet. "The cloud which received and carried him up into heaven, was not intended as a vehicle like the chariot of Elijah, but was a visible symbol of the Divine Majesty." "Every where," says Bede, "the creature does service to the Creator; the stars point out his birth, the heavens veil him when suffering; the clouds receive him ascending, and will accompany him when returning to judgment." He ascended into heaven. The apostle uses a fine hyperbole in speaking of it; his words are, “Far above all heavens,” (Eph. iv.10.,) by which he meant the highest part of the empyrean heaven, or the third heavens. The Jews spoke of three heavens: the first, where the birds fly, and the clouds are suspended; the second, the visible firmament, where the sun, moon, and stars appear; the last, invisible to us, and denominated the heaven of heavens, considered as the throne of God, and the habitation of the holy angels. Hither Christ ascended in the sight of his apostles, and amidst the plaudits of angels. He rode upon the heavens and did fly; he went up flying upon the wings of the wind. Celestial spirits went before him, and cried, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in!" To the question, "Who is this King of glory?" an answer is given by the same joyful herald, “The Lord, strong and mighty; the Lord, mighty in battle;" and again they make the demand; "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in!" "Thus did God go up with a shout, and the Lord with the sound of a trumpet." Attending spirits sang, up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered," while the gazing disciples, responsive from below, exclaimed, "Return, O Lord, now in the power of thy spirit, and hereafter, in the brightness of thy coming, to the many thousands of Israel." Might it not be said concerning these highly favored persons, who were witnesses of his ascension, "They have seen thy goings, O God, even the goings of my God, my King in the sanctuary; the singers went before, the players on instruments followed after." All the joy of the blessed was in full exercise; all the melody of heaven was at the height, when Jesus was ushered to his throne, and when, as a lamb newly slain, as a God totally victorious, he entered into the most holy place for us.

"Rise

"Princes to His imperial name

Bend their bright sceptres down,
Dominions, thrones, and powers rejoice,
To see Him wear the crown.

"Archangels sound his lofty praise
Through every heavenly street;

And lay their highest honors down
Submissive at His feet."

O what rapturous exclamations greeted the triumphant Saviour when he took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high; there was he crowned with glory and honor; there did he receive the approbation of his Father, and there did he view with delight and satisfaction the completion of the great work of redemption, by which the perfections of the Godhead were glorified, the law magnified, the prophecies completed, the enemies of the cross vanquished, and heaven opened to all believers.

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Sitting at God's right hand," denotes the supreme dignity and dominion of Christ; the figure is borrowed from the customs of kings and great men, who placed at their right hands those to whom they wished to shew distinguished honor. Solomon's mother sat at his right hand, and the mother of Zebedee's children asked, that her sons might sit at the right and left hand of Christ in his kingdom. Suetonius relates, that the emperor Nero placed Piridates, king of Armenia, at his right hand; and in the sanhedrim, the "father of the house of judgment,” sat at the right hand of the chief of the assembly, who communicated every thing to him, so that the phrase was full of meaning to the Jews. "To sit at the right hand of God," is to reign; and denotes the regal and judicial authority of the Saviour; as kings and princes are accustomed to sit, when they exercise their authority. As God rested after he had finished the work of creation, so did the Son of God rest from his labors when the work of redemption was completed, and there with him will his saints rest, and enjoy perfect repose, and a fulness of joy when their earthly toils are ended. Thus will the mystical body be complete and glorified, Christ the head, and his people the members.

Christ attested his exaltation by his munificence. As a king at his coronation scatters gifts with a liberal hand, so Christ at his

inauguration to supreme authority in the highest heavens, gave gifts unto men, even to the rebellious. Scarcely had he taken possession of his glory, when, by his intercession, the Holy Spirit descended upon his apostles and disciples on the day of pentecost. Then pardon, peace, and acceptance with God, flowed forth copiously. The hearing ear, and the understanding heart, extraordinary ability to preach the word, and unwonted zeal to spread the gospel, were among the blessings procured by Christ's exaltation. It is at the right hand of the Father that he intercedes for his church in general, and for every believer in particular; hence their prayers are received, and their praises accepted; their sorrows alleviated, and their joys increased. We have, says the apostle John, an advocate with the Father; an advocate who pleads his own merits; an advocate always near; an advocate interested in our cause; an advocate whose plea cannot be rejected, whose suit cannot fail.

Lift up your eyes to the heavenly seats

Where your Redeemer stays;

Kind intercessor! there he sits,

And loves, and pleads, and prays.

The exaltation of Christ includes his judicial character at the great day. All must appear at his judgment seat, for the Father hath committed all judgment to the Son. In that day shall his glory shine forth as the sun when it shineth in his strength; he will then sit upon the great white throne, surrounded with thousands and ten thousands of angels; men and devils awaiting from his lips their final sentence. He will execute judgment in that nature in which he suffered for us; "He will sit as judge," says Augustine," he who once stood before the judge; he who was falsely made guilty, will condemn those who are really guilty." This will tend much to the consolation of the godly, who will have for their judge, their advocate and brother, and to the terror of the ungodly, who will see him reigning whom they persecuted. "His judgment will be just;" his will supreme; and from his sentence there will be no appeal; omniscient, all righteous, all powerful. His glory will be resplendent; he will be surrounded with angels; the rule of judgment with all of us will be the word of God. "But they who have sinned without the law, shall be judged without the law." (Rom. ii. 12.) Christ will pronounce

sentence upon the righteous and the wicked; the former he will adjudge to life eternal, the latter he will condemn to eternal misery! The words attributed to Jerome are striking and solemn, "Whether I eat or drink, or whatever else I do, a voice seems always to sound in my ears, arise ye dead and come to judgment.' As oft as I think of that day, I tremble through my whole soul and body; for if there is any sweetness in the present life, it must be so enjoyed, that the bitterness of the future judgment be never effaced from my remembrance." Nothing but a sense of interest in the blood and righteousness of Christ, can remove from the mind the horror excited by anticipating the awful events of that day.—

"Great day for which all other days were made.
I see the Judge enthroned! the flaming guard!
The volume opened! opened every heart!
A sun-beam pointing out each secret thought!
No patron! intercessor none! now past

The sweet, the clement, mediatorial hour!

For guilt no plea! to pain no pause, no bound!"

The mediatorial kingdom of Christ, over which he rules, and which is based on a foundation that never can be moved, shall continue to increase till all people, and nations, and tongues, are subjected unto his authority; now he reigns gloriously, but a small part only of the world has submitted to his word and Spirit. Eventually he will reign from sea to sea, and from shore to shore, and his name be crowned with unceasing and eternal hallelujahs.

How different the state of Christ in heaven and on earth! Here, he occupied a manger; there, he sits on a throne; here, he was despised of men; there, he is adored by angels; here, his name was reproached; there, it is extolled above every name ; here, he took upon him the form of a servant; there, he is the Prince of the kings of the earth; here, he was a man of sorrows; there, he possesses the fulness of joy for evermore.

We learn also from Christ's exaltation, that the way to true honor is humility; Christ went to glory through the valley of humiliation, and the believer's light, and momentary afflictions work out for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Christ is a powerful friend, but a formidable enemy; he is not only exalted to bless his saints, but to punish those who will not

have him to reign over them. O then, kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Now he is on a throne of grace, but soon he will fill a throne of wrath. Reader! are you prepared for his second coming? R. C. Penryn.

EARLY GENIUS.

Ir chanced one day that Cimabue, an artist of great eminence who flourished more than five centuries ago, lighted on a shepherd boy, who was amusing himself by drawing a sheep in the sand. The great master looked down on the figure, and recognised in it all the features of unconscious power. He went to the father of the boy, a laborer named Bondoni, then living at Vespignano, near Florence, and offered to teach the art of painting to the son. The offer was accepted; the boy soon learned to imitate his instructor; but he never turned his back on the mistress that taught him to draw a sheep-on Nature. The boy was originally a poor peasant, born in 1276, but by close application to his new calling, he soon excelled his master, achieved a name which has survived to this day, and died a citizen of Florence, in comparative wealth and loaded with honors in 1336.

Thus it is commonly found that an individual who gives his whole mind to some favorite pursuit, will succeed in it, whilst a double-minded man who is unstable in all his "ways," will do little good in any branch of study. Singleness of eye, preeminently valuable in the business of the soul, is often in matters of mere temporal interest, of much more importance than is generally supposed.

THE CARTOONS.*

ALL of our readers who are resident in the metropolis, or its immediate neighbourhood, are probably aware that a magnificent

Cartoons are designs, made upon paper, to be afterwards transferred to the walls on which frescos are invariably painted. To form a cartoon, the paper is strained on a frame covered with lining canvass. Sometimes two layers of paper, pasted firmly together, are used for the sake of greater strength. This done, the subject is sketched in with prepared charcoal, chalk, or some similar ingredient, and properly relieved by shading, and the requisite effects, excepting color.