only in extolling His name and His salvation Who has at length brought them together, and made them jointheirs of His everlasting kingdom!

Once again, to this idea of God's House, as embracing it its inclosure, the different members of a widely scattered family, another is added by the words that follow,many mansions-In my Father's House are many mansions. Here we have the idea of roominess-ample space for the accommodation of a large company. And the same is to be gathered from other expressions in the Scripture about heaven. Thus in the Epistle to the Hebrews, we hear of the heavenly Jerusalem, with its innumerable company of angels, and the general assembly and Church of the first born,—and in the Revelation, of a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds, and people and tongues, standing before the throne and the Lamb.

Such language, together with the words before us, warrants the thought that not few, but many will be saved. It supports us in saying--that heaven will have many inhabitants—that the Father's House will be filled, with a vast assemblage of souls, redeemed unto God by the blood of His Son.

The question for us to consider, is, shall we be there ? Shall we be of that large company? Shall we have a place in our Father's House of many Mansions?

Meditate upon that question, brethren. Do not refuse to entertain it. It is a question that must of itself one day force itself upon us-surely it has presented itself to many of us already." Where are we going when we

die? Where are our friends gone who parted from us but just now? We shall not be long after them-our days on earth are soon told—our age at the most, is as nothing in respect of eternity.-With whom shall we spend that eternity? with whom, and where?

Brethren, such thoughts must, from time to time, come into our minds. We cannot, if we would, quite shut them out. Far better that we should not tryfar better for us to face again and again the great inquiry, even though it may cause misgivings, and shake our false peace, and fill us with uneasiness as to our future.

Shall we then, judging by what we know of ourselves, of our present life, and conversation-shall we find a place prepared for us in the Father's House?

There is room, we have seen, in it for a great company, but is there room for ourselves?

of

The answer must come from each man's own conscience. Here are some plain marks, that may help us to ascertain the truth-marks which occurring in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, do not seem to lose any their force, when read by the light of the Gospel-Lord, who shall dwell in Thy tabernacle, or who shall rest upon Thy holy hill? even he that leadeth an uncorrupt life, and doeth the thing which is right, and speaketh the truth from his heart: he that hath used no deceit in his tongue, nor done evil to his neighbour, and hath not slandered his neighbour. He that setteth not by himself, but is lowly in his own eyes, and maketh much of them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth unto his neighbour, and disappointeth him not,

though it were to his own hindrance . . . He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God. of his salvation, this is the generation of them that seek Him, even of them that seek thy face O God of Jacob!

SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION DAY.

THE ASCENSION.

ST. MARK XVI. 19.

So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.

THE words I have just read are taken from the Gospel for Ascension Day. And this being the nearest Sunday to that day, and called after it, I think it may be well to call your attention to that great event, in the history of our Lord, with a view to the lessons it contains for our comfort, and instruction in godliness.

The fact of the Ascension we commemorate every Sunday. For every Sunday we repeat the Creeds of which it is an article. Every Sunday we say of the Lord Jesus Christ that He ascended into heaven-and not only that He ascended into heaven, but that His place there is of the highest dignity-He sitteth on the right hand of God.

Every Sunday too, in the morning service, we use that beautiful Hymn, the "Te Deum," in which yet more fully

the meaning of the Ascension is declared.-When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, Thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father.

We cannot, any of us, then, be ignorant of the great fact which, last Thursday was brought before us by our Church. We know that Jesus Christ, Who was crucified dead and buried, Who rose again the third day, and was seen after His resurrection for forty days, among His disciples-did not die a second death-is not now sleeping in the grave-we know that He has gone back to the place from whence He came out, to His Father's Home in heaven.

And, brethren, what else could He have done? It was to be expected that the Holy Jesus should go back to God. It was the only fitting termination to His life in the world. What was there to detain Him here after He had finished the work that was given Him to do? It was a great mystery-it has often been remarkedit was a great mystery His coming to us at all-a little child in lowliness and poverty-a great mystery of love. -It was, a thing to be wondered at, that the Son of God should be made flesh. It was still more wonderful that He should undergo all that He did, at the hands of sinful men-that for thirty-three years He should bear their provocations and submit to their ill-usage, and be content to be betrayed, and put to a most cruel and shameful death-but that when this was over, when the cup was drunk, and the Atonement made, that He should go back, ascend up to where He was before, this surely ought to