"glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ" in his soul, as to make him "rejoice with joy unspeakable and glorified"." Yes, the joy that he imparts, is such as disembodied spirits may be supposed to feel, an earnest and a foretaste of heaven itself".] 2. The most independent [For all other pleasures we are dependent either on outward circumstances, or on the state of our own minds. If, for instance, we are racked with pain, or bowed down with grief, or standing on the brink of the grave, no earthly thing will afford us any comfort. Not so the pleasure of which we are speaking; that is even advanced by the want of other things, and never is enjoyed with so rich a zest, as when it has nothing to aid, but every thing to counteract it. Then it is that the excellency of communion with Christ appears in its true colours -] 3. The most ennobling [Earthly pleasures prevent, for the most part, the ascent of the soul towards heavenbut communion with Christ raises the soul to heaven, and transforms it by constantly progressive changes into the Divine image a - - - ] 4. The most diffusive [Other pleasures we are content to enjoy alone: but this no one ever tasted, without instantly feeling in his soul a desire to impart it to those around him. "Come unto me, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for my soul." "Draw me," says the Church, "and we will run after thee";" for no one that is drawn would ever willingly come alone; he would, if possible, draw all others along with him -] Some QUESTIONS, which may possibly arise in the minds of those who desire communion with Christ, we shall now endeavour to answer 1. How are we to attain it ? [It is not to be sought for in the circles of gaiety or in the cares of business, but in reading the word of God and prayer. We are aware, that all persons cannot dedicate to these exercises an equal degree of their time: nor is it necessary that they should: but all may, and must, devote some portion of their time to this great pursuit. God has given us six days for worldly labour, and requires the seventh to be sanctified to him: and if that day were conscientiously consecrated to the Lord, we should not long be unacquainted with the subject before us: "the grace of our Lord Jesus x Gal. i. 16. John xvi. 14. z Eph. i. 13, 14. y 1 Pet. i. 8. The Greek. b Cant. i. 4. Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost," would soon be known to us by sweet experience. "Search the Scriptures," says our Lord; " for they are they that testify of me." Again, "He spake a parable, to teach us that we should pray always, and not faint." These are the occupations in which we should take delight: and like the Apostles in their way to Emmaus, we should make the great mysteries of redemption a subject of our deepest research, and of our most familiar converse. Were we thus to seek after Christ, we should soon have the veil removed from our eyes; and God would "shine into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ."] 2. How are we to distinguish it? [I grant that there are enthusiasts, who pretend to such impulses, and such communications as the Scriptures do not warrant us to expect: and it is certainly desirable to be on our guard that we be not led astray by them. But we must not despise those manifestations which God does vouchsafe to his people, because there are enthusiasts who profess to have experienced more. We do not reject good coin because a spurious coin is sometimes obtruded in its stead: but we learn to distinguish between them. So in reference to the subject before us, we should "prove all things, and hold fast that which is good." We apprehend then that the genuine experience of communion with Christ may be distinguished from enthusiastic pretensions to it, both by its rise, and its operation on the mind. Enthusiasts found their pretensions on some visions, or dreams, or on the word of God coming in a peculiar manner to their minds: and they are filled with pride, and conceit, and an unhallowed presumptuous confidence, which are certain indications of spiritual delusion. The true child of God, on the contrary, is humbled in the dust by the favours vouchsafed to his soul: he prostrates himself like Abraham and Moses, and covers his face with his mantle, as Elijah, and abhors himself, like Job, in dust and ashes. Nor is he hasty to talk of these manifestations: he will strive indeed to bring others to similar enjoyments; but he will not be forward to boast of his own and the confidence which they create within him renders him tenfold more watchful against every occasion of sin. By such marks as these it will not be difficult for an humble person to judge; but such is the blinding efficacy of pride and vanity, that it is little less than a miracle if an enthusiast be ever brought to try himself by them.] c Gen. xvii. 3. Exod. xxxiv. 8. d 1 Kings xix. 13. 3. How to improve it? [We know of no better advice than that of St. Paul, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby ye are scaled to the day of redemption." God is a jealous God. There are no bounds to his love to those who truly honour him and walk circumspectly before him; "He will rejoice over them to do them. good" but if we presume upon his favour, and give way to any sin, we may soon provoke him to withdraw from us. What God himself then said to his people respecting the Angel of the Covenant, whom he sent to bring them into the land of Canaan, I would say to you; "Beware of him, and obey his voice; provoke him not: for he will not pardon your transgressions." Merciful as he is towards repenting sinners, he will not endure any secret abomination in the hearts of his believing people; and if he behold any, he will hide his face from them till it be put away. If then he has made you new creatures, and sealed you for his own, be careful to "glorify him in your body and in your spirit, which are his.”] f Exod. xxiii. 20, 21. MDXCI. CHRIST'S RESURRECTION. Luke xxiv. 33, 34. And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed. AMONG the various proofs of the truth of Christianity, that which arises from the credibility of the witnesses is by no means the least: nor is their credibility established by any thing more than by their backwardness to believe the resurrection of Christ, upon which the whole of Christianity is founded. They had been repeatedly informed by our Lord, that he should die, and rise again on the third day; yet upon his death they were totally confounded and disconsolate. Two of them conversing together in their way to Emmaus, were overtaken by a person whom they knew not, but who was none other than Jesus himself. He inquired into the subject of their conversation upon which they told him what expectations they had once formed concerning their deceased Master; they once thought that it had been He who should have redeemed Israel; but now their hopes were at an end. They had heard indeed that he was risen that morning from the grave; that certain women who were of their company had seen a vision of angels, who testified that he was alive; that moreover some others had gone to the sepulchre, and found that it was even so as the women had said: but yet they could not credit these reports. After their conference, Jesus discovered himself to them, as he had already done to many others; by this they were convinced; and, notwithstanding the day was far spent, instead of staying, as they had intended, at Emmaus, they returned that same hour to Jerusalem, that they might acquaint the other Disciples with these joyful tidings, and bear their testimony to the truth of the things which had been reported. And when they came to Jerusalem, they found the Eleven gathered together, and others assembled with them, all overcome by the weight of evidence, and full of this wonderful event; and heard them saying one to another, "The Lord is risen indeed." From these words we shall take occasion to consider, The importance of Christ's Resurrection; The proofs of it; and The uses we should make of it. I. The importance of Christ's Resurrection St. Paul, instructing his beloved Timothy what to do and teach, particularly gives him this advice, "Remember that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead." It was necessary that he should remember the resurrection of Christ, on many accounts; partly for his own comfort, because all his hopes of salvation were founded on it; but principally, that by endeavouring to establish this point, he might convince the ignorant, and confirm the enlightened. Whatever else he might omit, it was necessary that he should insist much on this, because it was a doctrine of the utmost importance: For, First, If Jesus was not risen, he was an impostor. Our Lord, in his discourses, had frequently foretold his resurrection: sometimes he reminded his hearers of the Prophet Jonas, who, as a type of him, was three days and three nights in the belly of a whale: at other times he declared it in still plainer terms; "Destroy this Temple (viz. his own body), and in three days I will raise it up again :" and to his Disciples he said repeatedly, that he must be crucified, and that on the third day he would rise again. Now, though his Disciples understood none of these things, yet there was evidently, amongst his enemies, some expectation of his resurrection; because they made sure the sepulchre, sealed the stone, and set a guard to prevent it, or at least to prevent his being stolen away; that so, by ascertaining that he was not risen, they might prove him a deceiver. And, had he not risen, they had accomplished their utmost wishes: they had detected him in deluding his followers, and thereby discovered him to be an impostor. But by rising according to his own word, he manifested that he was no impostor; but, as the Apostle says, he declared himself to be the Son of God, "with power by his resurrection from the dead." Again: If Jesus rose not, the Apostles were false witnesses. It was the grand truth which they were to establish for when another Apostle was to be chosen in the place of Judas, the traitor, they were to "take one who had accompanied them all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among them, beginning from the baptism of John unto that same day wherein he was taken up from them, that he might be ordained a witness, with them, of His resurrection." Accordingly, they went everywhere, giving witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus." When some among the Corinthian Church denied the resurrection of the dead, Paul proved it from the resurrection of Christ; and that again he proved by the most undeniable arguments: and then he very justly added, "If Christ be not risen, we are found false-witnesses of God." Again: If Christ be not risen, the Gospel is an |