n his own authority. 8 But ye shall receive
power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my
witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto
the uttermost part of the earth. 9 And when he had said these things,
as they were looking, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of
their sight. 10 And while they were looking stedfastly into heaven as
he went, behold two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 who also
said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus,
who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner
as ye beheld him going into heaven.

This epistle text is simply a narrative concerning the visible
ascension of Christ into heaven. It is in itself clear. Whatever it
may be necessary to say relative to the article of Christ's ascension,
we shall leave for the sermons on the Festivals of Christ as they
occur at intervals during the year, at which times it is fitting to
speak particularly of each article concerning Christ.

_Sunday After Ascension Day_

Text: First Peter 4, 7-11.[1]

7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore of sound mind,
and be sober unto prayer: 8 above all things being fervent in your
love among yourselves: for love covereth a multitude of sins: 9 using
hospitality one to another without murmuring: 10 according as each
hath received a gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good
stewards of the manifold grace of God; 11 if any man speaketh,
speaking as it were oracles of God; if any man ministereth,
ministering as of the strength which God supplieth: that in all things
God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and the
dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

[Footnote 1: This sermon appeared as early as 1525 in pamphlet form.]

EXHORTATION TO CHRISTIAN LIVING.

1. This text, too, is an admonition to Christian living, a discourse
concerning the fruits of a good tree, a figure applied to the
Christian; in other words, concerning the fruits of the one who,
through faith, has obtained redemption from sin and death and has a
place in the kingdom of grace and of eternal life. Such a one is
exhorted to live henceforth in a manner indicative of the fact that he
has apprehended the treasure of salvation and is become a new man.

EXHORTATION TO SOBERNESS.

2. Certain good works are also introduced, and in the first part of
our text Peter makes an especially emphatic cont