the faithful will deem not less true of his ascension; for, although we owe our redemption and salvation to the passion of Christ, whose merits opened heaven to the just, yet his ascension is not only proposed to us as a model, which teaches us to look on high, and ascend in spirit into heaven: but also imparts to us a divine virtue which enables us to accomplish what it teaches.
ARTICLE VII.
"FROM THENCE HE SHALL COME TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD."
JESUS CHRIST is invested with three eminent offices and functions, those of Redeemer, Patron, and Judge. But as, in the preceding Articles, we have shown that the human race was redeemed by his passion and death; and as, by his ascension into heaven, it is manifest that he has undertaken the perpetual advocacy and patronage of our cause; it next follows, that, in this Article, we set forth his character as judge. The scope and intent of the Article is to declare, that on the last day he will judge the human race: the Sacred Scriptures inform us, that there are two comings of Christ, the one, when he assumed human flesh, for our Salvation, in the womb of a virgin; the other, when he shall come, at the end of the world, to judge mankind. This coming is called, in Scripture, " The day of the Lord:" " The day of the Lord," says the Apostle, " shall come, as a thief in the night;" [1] and our Lord himself says: " Of that day and hour no body knoweth." [2] In proof of the last judgment, it is enough to adduce the authority of the Apostle: " We must all," says he, " appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the proper things of the body, according as he hath done, whether it be good or evil." [3] Sacred Scripture abounds in testimonies to the same effect, which the pastor will meet, every where, throughout the Inspired Volume, [4] and which not only establish the truth of the dogma, but also place it, in vivid colours, before the eyes of the faithful: that as, from the beginning, the day of the Lord, on which he was clothed with our flesh, was sighed for by all, as the foundation of their hope of deliverance; so also, after the death and ascension of the Son of God, the second day of the Lord may be the object of our most earnest desires; " looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God." [5]
But, with a view to the better explanation of this subject, the pastor is to distinguish two distinct periods at which every one
