Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-06-05
AT The CHURCHES.

Regular services were held in all the
churches yesterday, except in Calvary Bap-
list Church. At the Christian Church Elder
Porter officiate1. at the Seventh.street NJ
E. Church South Rev. 7. H. B. Anderson
resumed his pulpit after an absence Of some
weeks, he having been in attendance at the
General Conference OF the Church at Nash
vile, Tennessee. His morning sermon was
on the ascension of Christ, his text being,
he that descended is the ssrae .iso that
assembled up into the heavens He said
that the ascension Of Christ is fact all
Christian people are familiar with. He de-
scended to the earth and took upon him.
self cur nature. Born in Bethlehem, of
a virgin, he lived on earth rs other
men in a sense. He descended to the
earth and lived with men. He then de-
scended into the earth. There we're typical
announcements Of his descent into the earth.
There were also prophetic announcements Of
it. Why did Christ come out OF the grave
For what purpose did he rise from the tomb
First-inat the dogma of the trinity"
might be established. If, after death, Christ
had remained Ia the grave, men would have
said that he was not one with the Father,
and might well have asked, "Why does He
not rise to the Father?n SO 1t was necessary
that He should descend to the earth and into
the earth, and then ascend ont of the earth,
and hnally from the earth. The Old Tesla
ment teaches this dogma, and the New Tes.
lament reveals it to us in q new light.
The doctrine Of the trinity was
never formulated fully for men until
few minutes before the ascension
OF our Lord Jesus Christ, when He directed
his disciples to go and preach the gropel in
the name of the Father end the Son and of
the Holy Ghost Having thus formulated it,
lie lifted up his hands and blessed them, and
was then taken up into the heavens Second
1t was necessary that He should ascend, in
order that He might receive divine honors.
In the 80 years he spent upon earth He was
w0rshiped. aud It became more and more in
tense, and more and more took on the form of
religious worship. Now had Christ remained
on earth to this time, men would at last have
said lie Is not a God. Christ made His decla-
ration Of the necessity of ascending when He
said, " And, il | am lifted up, will draw all
men unto me-" Now this may refer to His
being lifted up on the cross, or it may refer
to his ascension, and l am strongly inclined
TO believe that the reference was to His
ascension. Ever since His ascension He
has been loadstone drawing men unto Him
They have ever sirce been praying to Hin,
and worshipiug Him, and nearly all men
have been talking about him. When Christ
assembled the disciples went back to the
temple, praising God and blessing His name,
and coon after, when all assembled together,
there was a grand bprst Of praise and wor-
ship. Third-He had to ascend in order
that the Spirit might be worshiped. So
after the ascension we find that divine honors
were accorded to the Holy Spirit. Ananais
and Sapphire we find lied to the Holy Ghost,
and at once the judgment Of heaven was
visited upon them. Had Christ simply died
and gone into the grave, and then have come
out Of it, and have remained among men, men
would have declared his work incomplete.
To complete his work of redemption,
it was therefore, in the fourth place, neces-
sary that He should ascend from the EARTH
Fifth-His ascension was a glori6cation of
His human nature. Here is a beautiful
I flower. few weeks ego but an unsightly
stem, and he who was uGaequainted with IT,
and the processes peculiar to il, would not
/ have looked upon it as the means through
which a beautiful development would be
worked out. But finally came the bud, and
then the flower in all its full beauty. That
. was glorihcation of vegetable life. In the
flower here vegetable life gloriGes ITSELF
There were premonitions of His Qualification
as the TRANSPORTATION, when His face shone
bloomed into full flower. At the Ascension
His nature burst into its full glory. So
! Christ is different to-day from what He
was when on earth. Christ was q representa-
tive man, the flower of our human race, per.
feet in soul and in body. So, after taking on
our human form snd nature, He was taken
| up into heaven, and He thus showed how our
nature shall be glorifed and shall bloom in
| trsnscendent glory. As | live, believe this
| shall be. Then our minds will flower. our
natures intellect will be in full bloom, and
our spiritual nature will see things not seen
| now and understand things now a mystery
1 to msn. This will be, because our Lord
| Jesus Christ descended to the earth. and into
| it, and ascended from it. By so doing he
| declared that He is the life of the EARTH He
has proven to US that we ara not ct home to-
| day. Christ was away from home when on
the earth. He came TO it to rsconquer a re-
I bellious province of Coos domain. and He
1 did.