shame which I have so justly deserved." Being come near to the church, and addressing himself to Ambrose, who sat in a room hard by, he requested absolution. The bishop answered, "Your coming hither is fighting against God, and trampling his laws under foot." Theodosius replied, "I do not desire to enter the holy doors contrary to law; I only beg to be released from the excommunication; and that you would consider and imitate the compassion of our Lord, and not shut those gates against me which he has opened to all penitents." The bishop then asked, what signs of repentance he had shewn? He answered, "It is your duty to prescribe, mine to submit." Ambrose replied, "Since you have let loose the reins to your rage, let a law be enacted, that all decrees made in haste, and under the influence of anger, be cancelled; that all warrants where life or loss of estate is concerned, be kept thirty days after signing before they are executed, to give time for deliberation; and after that, let those who drew up such warrant present it to you again, that the case may be reconsidered." The emperor agreeing, was immediately absolved, and, entering the church, fell prostrate on the ground, crying out, My soul cleaveth to the dust; quicken me, O Lord, according to thy word." Tearing his hair, and beating his forehead, he then begged pardon of God and all good men. On his return to Constantinople, he told Nectarius the bishop, "that it was with much difficulty he had found a teacher of truth, Ambrose being the only person he ever saw who deserved the name of a bishop." The fame of Ambrose being extensively spread, Fritigil, queen of the Marcomanni, sent letters to him, with a present, desiring instruction in the Christan faith. He accordingly wrote her an epistle in the form of a catechism. Some time after the receipt of this, she, with her husband, set out for Milan, to pat themselves under the protection of the empire; but were too late to converse with Ambrose, who, Worn out with cares and labours, had become ill, and had foretold his own death. The news of his illness being spread abroad, a Roman count Stilicho said to some of his friends, the moment that great man dies, destruction hangs over Italy; and sending for several of the bishops and nobility, he requested them to go with him to Ambrose, and entreat him to intercede with God to spare his life. They accordingly went, and endeavoured to prevail with him to do so, represeating, with tears, the loss which the Church would Sustain by his death. He replied, "I have not behaved myself in such a manner that I am ashamed to live, nor am I afraid to die, because I have so good a master." The day of his departure (April 4th, A.D. 7) he lay several hours with his hands extended, and his lips moving, though it could not be understood what he said. Honoratus, bishop of Verceil, having administered the sacrament of the Lord's supper to him, he expired immediately, aged 64. tons. 66 In this manner Ambrose closed the scene of this mortal life, having long been an ornament to the religion he professed, and being in his private life a public example. He was constant and fervent in his devoThe Te Deum, as it is generally believed, says Wheatly, was composed by him for the baptism of St. Augustine." The greatest part of the day, and Sometimes the night, he spent in reading and prayer. His disposition was tender and compassionate, which caused him frequently to interpose in behalf of the unfortunate. During the reign of Gratian, being informed that a pagan nobleman was led forth for execution for having spoken disrespectfully of that monarch, he went immediately to the emperor, and obtained a pardon; and after the overthrow of the usurper Eugenius, who had rebelled against the emperor Theodosius, by his earnest intercession with that monarch he saved the lives of many who would have been sacrificed to public resentment in that affair. His charity was boundless; he loved, relieved, and assisted all, especially those of the household of faith. Of all the affronts and injuries that he received, he never revenged any of them otherwise than by returns of kindness, as was peculiarly testified in his willingness to intercede with Maximus. He was a pattern to all the bishops, and particularly as to the care he took to admit only proper persons to holy orders. He administered the Lord's supper every day, preaching generally every Sunday, and on other occasions. He was an earnest contender for the Catholic faith and the discipline of the Church, which he maintained against all opposition. Offenders he reproved with the utmost impartiality-not sparing those in the highest stations. His uncompromising firmness to Theodosius is a proof of the holy boldness with which he scrupled not to rebuke vice--boldness which testified how little he stood in fear of man. The civil differences which arose among neighbours he was always ready to hear and determine. Though very abstemious himself, he used to entertain not only the poor, but persons of the highest quality, in a manner suitable to their dignity. The esteem and veneration which he had so justly acquired were not confined to Italy two of the wisest men in Persia went to Milan to converse with him. The remains of Ambrose were solemnly interred in the church which bears his name; persons of all religions, ranks, and conditions, attending his funeral. Ambrose instituted a particular formula of worship, which is hence called the Ambrosian office; and when the pope in after-times imposed the Romish office on the Western churches, that of Milan sheltered itself under the authority of Ambrose, from which time the ritual has prevailed. In the fourteenth century, a coin called the Ambrosia was struck by the dukes of Milan, whereon Ambrose was represented with a whip in his right hand, and which is said to have been struck on account of the appearance of the saint to a Milanese general, during a battle. The life of Ambrose was written by Paulinus of Nola, and dedicated to Augustine. "If we had the real life of this bishop written by Paulinus," says Milner, "we might make a profitable use of it. But that which goes under his name is so stuffed with fables, that I scarce know how to make use of it." The chief edition of his books was that published by the Benedictine monks, at Paris, in 1686, 1690. However indistinct some of his statements may be, and however confused some of his notions, "the lover of godliness will be disposed to forget his errors and superstitions, faults of the times rather than of his disposition, and will remember only the fervent, the humble, the laborious, and the charitable bishop of Milan." Y. THE ASCENSION.† THE visible ascension of Christ into heaven was such a magnificent attestation to the dignity of his person and the truth of his word, as could hardly have been expected by those who had marked the meanness of his life and the humiliation of his death. There was, indeed, an ancient prediction of the Scripture, that, ascending up on high, Messiah should lead "captivity captive" (Ps. lxviii. 18); but, really, despised and rejected as he had always been, destitute of open honour, deserted too, as it had seemed, by his Father when he hung helpless on the cross in his last agony, it might have been thought that he would quit the world secretly and invisibly, attended only Milner, vol. ii. p. 238. From the Mystery of Godliness, in Six Discourses. By the Rev. John Ayre. Burns, 1837. priests, either they would nationally have acknowledged him, or they would have persisted in nationally rejecting him. Had the former occurred, the whole matter would, with some shew of probability, have been represented to other nations as a juggle intended to further the national interests of the Jews: whereas, on the other hand, had the rulers beheld his ascension, and still denied him and this would doubtless have been the fact; for, as we are assured, if men "hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead,"—it would have then been used as an irresistible argument against the truth of Christ's pretensions, that his ascent into glory was attempted to be palmed upon the people, and was indignantly disproved! The witnesses selected by our Lord were perfectly competent to establish any fact; and it is an additional evidence of their veracity, that they moved in the face of most powerful and interested opponents, ready to detect any flaw in their assertions, and eager to overwhelm the Christians with confusion and shame. And this is exactly accordant with all God's dealings in revelation, to give abundant evidence of every fact to those who choose to consider it, and yet to leave room for the careless, and obstinate, and selfwilled, to overlook it. There is thus in every revelation a kind of test and touchstone of sincerity: as our Saviour himself speaks, "if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God" (John, vii. 17). . . . . by unseen troops of the angelic host. They would welcome their returning Lord; but their loudest hallelujahs might have fallen unheeded upon mortal ears. The resurrection was unwitnessed by man. To be sure, a mighty angel descended to roll away the stone, before whom the keepers of the sepulchre trembled and became as dead men; the earth was felt to quake, and the tenant of the grave was afterwards beheld alive; but no man beheld that dead body first stir with returning life, and actually come forth walking and rejoicing from its narrow house. It might have been so at the ascension. We might indeed have known, by the blessings he sent down, that the incarnate God was really seated on his throne; still no human eye might have been privileged to look on the triumphal chariot, in which, as it were, he returned a conqueror from the hard-fought field of battle. But it was otherwise ordained. Faith was here perfected in vision. Those very disciples who had been the companions of our Saviour's ministry, the chosen witnesses of his humiliation, were the chosen witnesses of his ascension; and they who had only a few weeks before fled basely from him as a proved impostor, when, seized and standing before the tribunal of the priests, he could not save himself, were now permitted to see him miraculously and literally soar from a world of suffering to a throne of glory, to his Father and their Father, to his God and their God. They saw flesh wonderfully mounting into the world of spirit, to prepare and occupy the mansions of felicity which they, in body and in soul, The consideration of our Lord's ascension ought to should one day inherit. They gazed up even into have a powerful influence upon the conduct of his heaven, till "a cloud received him out of their sight." | professed followers. Their conversation must be in What an august and amazing spectacle! Compare heaven. Christ's removal from the world should give with it the most splendid pageants of earthly pride | and pomp, and they are seen to be utterly insignificant. And how well calculated it was to cheer the minds of his followers through their approaching trials and persecutions! One whom they had beheld visibly "received up into glory" could not, they were well aware, could not but be "able to do exceeding abundantly" for them in their hour of necessity, above all that they could ask or think. And yet there was a mystery in it, calculated to put to shame the highest wisdom of man. Man's wisdom would have dictated, that, since there was to be a public spectacle, not his friends merely, but more particularly his enemies, should witness it. It would so effectually convince them of their error, and cast down their malice; it would at once establish the supremacy of Jesus, and have left for ever no disputer of his glory. All this might very plausibly have been urged as a reason why our Saviour should ascend openly before the priests and elders, from the centre of Jerusalem, and the very platform of the temple. It would have been, it might be said, a majestic sight for a whole people to confess at once their deadly sin, and to acknowledge in Him, whom they had lately judged, the Lord of glory. Yes, and they shall see him-" -“every eye"—"they shall look on Him whom they pierced," and mourn - but not now: for "the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." Had Christ, after his resurrection, shewn himself to all the people, and ascended in the sight of the rulers and chief additional weight to all his precepts, not to let the world engross their love (John, xv. 18, 19; 1 John, ii. 15). If any valued friend, at whose hand we have received many kindnesses, be living in a distant land, our thoughts naturally go often thither after himwe consider it in some degree a home-we dwell with him in spirit-we long, especially when discomfort meets us, for the wings of a dove, that we might fly away and be at rest in his society. Much more is this the case if we are really preparing to follow him, to take up also our abode in that country: we then strive to learn the language, and to initiate ourselves into the kind of life which we expect to lead there. When, then, our almighty Friend, the Friend of sinners, who ought to be dearer than our own soul, is on high, then surely ought we to place our "affection on things above," and to "seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." Since he has promised that we shall one day follow him, and inhabit the eternal mansions with him, surely we should cultivate a meetness for that inheritance. The language of heaven we should study; the delights of heaven we should anticipate; the employments of heaven we should begin now in this house of our pilgrimage. If this be not so; if we are engrossed with the pleasures of the world; if our treasure be heaped up here; if our conduct be such as is congenial with the maxims of the world,-where, be it remembered, he whom we call our Master was rejected and slain,—it is clear that we are not citizens of the heavenly city. The covetous man has not his conversation in heaven, for there is no gold which he can hoard; the luxurious, self-indulgent man has not his conversation in heaven, for there "they rest not day and night," performing worship to God; the proud, self-righteous man has not his conversation in heaven, for the inhabitants of that happy abode ever humbly ascribe glory and honour to the Lamb alone; the censorious man has not his conversation in heaven, for the blessed company, though a multitude which no man can number, are one, indissolubly one in love. I need hardly say that the open sinner, or the unprincipled hypocrite, cannot have his conversation in heaven, for there entereth there nothing that defileth. You see, then, Christian brethren, that you must walk circumspectly, as men that are strangers upon earth; and you must earnestly seek, in persevering prayer, the aid of the Divine Spirit, that you may have your eyes and heart lifted up to heavenly things. And as you approach nearer to the enjoyment of them, you ought to increase in meetness for them. It is a delightful spectacle, when, as "the outward man decayeth, "the inward man is renewed day by day;" when, fetter after fetter to the world being shaken off, the spirit becomes more ready to wing its flight above; when the dross and leaven of corrupt nature is by degrees purged out, conformity to Christ's image more clearly expressed, and the loveliness of heavenly character, in all its gentler touches, is more uniformly exhibited; when the corn, as it were, is daily maturing in the ear, till at length, fully ripe, it is gathered, meet for the Master's use, into the eternal garner. To the believer thus washed in the blood of Jesus, and sanctified by the Eternal Spirit, it will be one day said, "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." RELIGION IN THE ARMY.* I AM often asked (says an officer in the East India Company's Service, addressing the Marquess of Cholmondeley) to write some instructions for the guidance of young men going to India. I think, my lord, that the lives of those who are not dead, but only gone before, may be studied with great advantage; and I will relate the conduct of a departed comrade, whose memory is very dear to the humble individual now addressing this meeting. The name of Showers is known to some on the platform. In the early part of our professional career we passed together some time in the tented field and on the waves of the ocean. He was distinguished for all those amiable qualities which are so attractive; brave, generous, active, cheerful - not querulous, but possessing that high sense of honour, falsely so called, which could not endure the slightest offence-a taunt or sneer would have made his sword leap out of its scabbard. We parted as brethren in arms; but in a few years we met again as brothers in Christ. 'Tis said that religion changes a man, and many think it destroys many valuable qualities in a soldier. My lord, my comrade was indeed much changed; old things had passed away, and all things had become new. The keen sense of personal injury was gone. The taunt, the sneer, the sarcasm, were not spared him. The reproach of psalm-singing and cant was often heard; but they were all laid at his Saviour's feet. His high sense of honour was directed in the cause of the great Captain of his salvation. His resentment was turned towards the enemies of • From the Report of the Naval and Military Bible Society, 1833. his Master. His ingenuity was wonderfully active in discovering faults in his own character, his walk and conversation, which he thought justly exposed him to censure. He discovered that it was his own deficiencies which prevented his brother - officers from discerning the beauties of holiness. His servants were all most attentive and well behaved; it was his own want of temper and forbearance which made things go sometimes wrong. He could see those things, my lord, when I could only discern a light shining brighter and brighter. His cross he bore manfully, and found it light. But I would point to his character as a soldier. He was suddenly ordered to place himself at the head of a detachment formed of select or flank companies, and attack the enemy, whom he found posted behind a deep trench, with the earth thrown up as a parapet. Not having any cannon, he endeavoured in vain to dislodge them by a sharp fire of musketry; quickly perceiving that the attack must be made in a different way, he commanded his men to cease firing, and turn all their attention to himself, whose movements they must follow; and then, having recourse to his well-known activity of body, he leaped like an antelope over the trench, and, to the amazement of the foe, lighted in the midst of them. He was spontaneously followed by his men, and the panicstruck enemy quickly fled. Shortly after this occur rence he paid me a visit, and two sergeants called to see him. I inquired how they happened to know an officer of a different regiment: they replied, "Why, has he not told you? When he leaped across the trench we happened to be the first whose feet touched the ground after him; and with that eminent coolness and self-possession for which he is known, he seized our hands to learn our names, and when the action was over applied to the commander-in-chief for our promotion." My lord, this is a valuable proof of what religion does for a soldier. Trusting to his God, he fears no evil; and in the midst of imminent danger he is collected, has the free use of his judgment, with a heart capable of feeling for the lowest soldier under his command. But I must hasten to the closing scene. Years rolled on; the Gowkahs had rapidly conquered a very extensive tract of country in the mountains of Thibet, and at last had the temerity to suppose they could with impunity possess themselves of detached portions of the British territory. In the war which ensued, the troops had for the first time to leave the burning plains of India to carry on their operations amidst snow-capped mountains. I received a letter from my friend, describing the amazing difficulties they had to surmount. Contending with a bold and active enemy under numerous disadvantages, he had still around him a little band of Christ's flock; but their physical powers were greatly exhausted, and he feared their spiritual state was declining. For himself, his desire was to depart and be with Christ. A few days after this, a grand attack upon the strongest post of the enemy was determined upon, and Showers was selected to command one of the columns. He carefully reconnoitred the mountain tract, and, writing to the officer commanding the adjoining column, he expressed his determination to push forward, and not to retreat, whatever opposition he might encounter. The troops anxiously awaited the appointed signal; and thoughts would arise that ere the sun was set the mountain would entomb many a gallant soldier now eagerly desiring the fight. On such occasions, of what unspeakable importance it is to have been conversant with the Bible, and to have been taught by the Spirit of God to look up to Him in whose hands are the issues of life! The signal was heard the column advanced. It was soon found that the path was so steep and narrow that two men could not walk abreast. The bold mountaineers skilmurderous fire soon brought to the ground the leadfully availed themselves of their local advantages-a ing section, and every British officer attached to it. The advance was checked-my gallant friend cheered the men, and sprang forward to lead them to victory. The Gowkah chieftain, who was watching this decisive moment, saw that he had to contend with no mean foe, and rushed down the mountain to check his progress. Then was seen what in days of chivalry was no uncommon sight, but is seldom known in modern warfare-two commanders engaged in single combat in the presence of their troops. The struggle was short-the Gowkah weltered in his blood. The mountaineers, stung to fury at the loss of their chief, rushed on with a horrid yell, surrounded my noble friend, and destroyed him with the most forward of his gallant band before the main body could come to their rescue. Thus his immortal spirit took its flight to dwell for ever with that Master whom he served, and who had died that he might live. His conduct made such an impression on the enemy, that instead of insulting his remains, as savage tribes too often do, the moment the action had ceased they sent in a flag of truce, requesting a party might come to remove the chieftain's body, who had so greatly distinguished himself, and who deserved every tribute of respect which could be paid to him. My lord, I have related this for the benefit of young soldiers, who may learn that genuine religion is perfectly compatible with the zealous and faithful discharge of their professional duties. THE TRIUMPHANT ASCENSION OF CHRIST INTO HEAVEN: A Sermon For Ascension-Day, BY THE REV. WILLIAM DEALTRY, D.D. But on this, as on many other occasions, the inspired prophet appears to have been led from the subject immediately before him to matters of deeper interest-to that period when the promised Messiah, having finished the work which it had been given him to do on earth, should enter into his kingdom of glory. Such has, in general, been the application of these verses by the Church of Christ. Our own Church, in appointing this Psalm to be read on Ascension-day, appears thus to apply them; and where is the Christian who does not rejoice in the view here presented of his exalted Saviour, and enter with delight upon the meditations which it suggests to him? I. The description is highly poetical. It brings before us the triumphant entrance of a sovereign into his royal city, and in a way which gives great life and beauty to the scene. While the ark was approaching the tabernacle prepared for it in Zion, the congregation are supposed to have sung the verses of the text, partly in alternate measures, and partly together. Thus, too, on the ascension of the Messiah, the heavenly hosts, here introduced, are to be understood as addressing and answering each other, and then as all joining together in one song of triumph. The scene commences on his arrival at the walls. The angels who formed his convoy, call out to the gates, or to the Rector of Clapham; and Chancellor of the Diocese of hosts that guarded them," Lift up your Winchester. PSALM XXIV. 7-10. "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory." AMONG the festive solemnities which served to animate the devotion of the ancient Israelite, there are few more striking than that which celebrated the bringing up of the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edon to the tabernacle in Mount Zion. The passage before us forms part of a Psalm which is generally supposed to have been written for that solemnity by David himself; and to have been sung by him and by the whole assembly with every demonstration of delight, "with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet." It was a day much to be remembered by the house of Israel; and no language could appear to be too elevated, and no public testimonies of joy too great, for such an occasion. Jehovah was now, by the symbol of his divine presence, to arise into his restingplace, and that place the hill of Jerusalem; henceforth to dwell, as it were, in the midst of his people. heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." The guards, who are stationed within the walls, reply by inquiring, what are the grounds of this command? Who is the person that can thus claim authority to open the doors, and to exercise the privilege of a conqueror? "Who is this King of glory?" The attendants immediately answer: "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle;" and again, to urge the command with still greater emphasis, they repeat their former strain, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." The inquiry being once more repeated, repeated, "Who is this King of glory?" we are to imagine the gates as lifting up their heads, and the everlasting doors thrown open, and the whole company of angels uniting in the joyous strain, the joyous strain, "The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory." Every circumstance in this description is suited to impress us with a lofty sense of the majesty of the Son of God. He approaches the gates, not as one who belongs merely to that host of blessed spirits, the servants of the Lord: he is conducted by them with the highest imaginable reverence, and with universal acclamations; and he enters To illustrate and confirm this statement, let us consider more particularly the testimony of his attendants: he is "the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle ;"" the Lord of hosts," and "the King of glory." | into the place as himself entitled to authority, lower world! But what, then, is the majesty its undisputed and sovereign Lord. of Him who is the Lord of these hosts? And such is the Messiah. Such he was from eternity in the bosom of the Father; such he is also now on his exaltation, as the recompense of his great humility. "He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and hath given him a name which is above every name : that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (1.) He is described as a powerful conqueror : "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." Is it asked, in what conflicts he had been engaged, and what victories he had gained? We can speak of him as having overcome the world. Such is his own consoling assurance to his disciples toward the close of his ministry. The pleasures of the world had no power to attract him; its wealth and its greatness were by him unheeded; its children, both by his words and his example, he put to rebuke. Neither was his victory less decisive over its hostility; he "endured the cross, despising the shame;" shrinking from no trial, and rising superior to persecution in all its forms, We can speak of him further as subduing the great enemy of man, and bruising the serpent's head. We can point to his temptation in the wilderness; to the authority which he exercised over unclean spirits; and especially to the closing scenes of his life, and the events which followed it. By his own death "he overcame him that had the power of death;" by that cross, which seemed to tell the spectators only of human weakness, he "spoiled principalities and powers:" it was there that the great conflict was maintained which was to baffle the powers of darkness; and in his glorious resurrection and ascension he triumphed over death, and led captivity captive. (2.) He is described in the next place as the universal sovereign-" the Lord of hosts;" the Lord of angels and of men; the Lord of all things which exist. Observe, then, in this point of view, his pre-eminent dignity. He is not only a king above all the princes of the world, but he is seated upon the throne of the universe. In our present state of existence we can form no conception of the might even of a single angel of God. It was by one of these exalted beings that an army of Assyrians was destroyed in a night; by another, that, after the sin of David in numbering the people, the sword was stretched over Jerusalem to destroy it; and when the dissolution of all things is at hand, it will be announced by the trumpet of an archangel, which will be heard through all the realms of creation. Imagine. the courts of heaven to be peopled by such inhabitants: how mean, when placed in comparison with them, is all the might of this (3.) To complete the description, "He is the King of glory." This title must be understood to include in its meaning the substance of the description previously given. For, in reply to the question, "Who is the King of glory?" the answer is, "the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle; the Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory." Every passage in the Scriptures, which testifies of Christ as one with the Father, contains a clear assertion of his glory; and he makes mention himself, in distinct terms, of the glory which he had with the Father "before the world was." Hence the text leads us to contemplate not only the glory of his wisdom, or power, or majesty, or eternal duration; not that merely which the heavens declare, and which is shewn in the extent of his dominions, or in the multitude of his worshippers, who will hereafter appear in the world of light, casting their crowns at his feet, and ascribing to him their salvation: but that glory, before which angels veil their faces; which was seen under such circumstances of awe and wonder by Isaiah, and is expressly claimed by our Redeemer as belonging to himself. On the mount of transfiguration, and in the visions of Patmos, he was pleased to reveal some rays of that glory with which he is surrounded in heaven,- a sight alike overwhelming to prophets and apostles; and in these representations we may, perhaps, discover something of what is meant by the phrase, "the King of glory;" but never shall we rightly understand it till we become "like him, and see him as he is." II. This is a subject in which we all are deeply concerned. The ascension of the Son of God to his heavenly kingdom is a fact not merely to be believed and admired; it involves matters of the highest moment to every one of us. For henceforth we can look to him as our Mediator at the right hand of God. He who was the propitiation for our sins is now with the Father to plead the merits of his |