So shall we have real pardon, and real peace. A pardon which will
make us really better; and a peace which will make us really more
useful. And to be good and to be useful were the two ends for which
God sent us into the world at all.
SERMON XXX. THE CENTRAL SUN
(Sunday after Ascension, Evening.)
Ephesians iv. 9. 10. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he
also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that
descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens,
that he might fill all things.
This is one of those very deep texts which we are not meant to think
about every day; only at such seasons as this, when we have to think
of Christ ascending into heaven, that he might send down his Spirit
at Whitsuntide. Of this the text speaks; and therefore, we may, I
hope, think a little of it to-day, but reverently, and cautiously,
like men who know a very little, and are afraid of saying more than
they know. These deep mysteries about heaven we must always meddle
with very humbly, lest we get out of our depth in haste and self-
conceit. As it is said,
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
For, if we are not very careful, we shall be apt to mistake the
meaning of Scripture, and make it say what we like, and twist it to
suit our own fancies, and our own ignorance.
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