SERM. LXX. But now is Christ risen from the Dead, and become the First- WHEN we seriously consider how much the Son of God suffered for our sins, we cannot but be highly concerned and troubled at the remembrance of those sins for which so great a Person suffered; for certainly it was the greatest demonstration that ever was or could be given of the Divine displeasure and vengeance against the sins of mankind, that no less a Person than the Son of God Himself was able to expiate them, nor He by any less means than His own blood. The consideration whereof should not only deter us from the commission of sin hereafter, but it should make us loathe and abhor ourselves for those which we have committed heretofore. What grief, what horror, should seize upon our spirits every time that we consider how the Eternal Son of God, the Only-begotten of the Father, was affronted, was abused, was spit upon, was arraigned, was condemned, was crucified, was put to death, to the painful, to the shameful, to the cursed death upon the Cross, and all for those very sins which we, ungrateful wretches that we are, have lived and delighted in! Methinks the remembrance of it should make us blush and be ashamed of ourselves, and never think that we can grieve enough for those sins, for which Christ Himself not only grieved, but died. But lest this consideration, duly weighed, should lie so heavy upon our spirits, as by degrees to sink them down into despair, we must consider withal, that as the remembrance of Christ's sufferings for our sins affords us great matter for grief and sorrow, so the remembrance of His Resurrection supplies us with as much cause of joy and comfort. We had great reason the other day to lament and bewail those sins which brought our Blessed Lord with sorrow to His grave. And we have as great reason this day to rejoice and triumph that He was raised again from it: which was so great, so exceeding great a blessing to mankind, that it ought to be our constant employment while we are upon earth, as it will be when we come to Heaven, to praise and magnify the Eternal God for it. At least, upon every Lord's Day, which was therefore set apart for our Lord's service, because He rose upon it. But above all other the Lord's Days, that which succeeded the Jewish Passover, wherein our Lord suffered, hath been all along devoted by the Church to the memory of His Resurrection, which happened upon it, and to our rejoicing and praising Almighty God for so great a mercy as that was. This, therefore, being the proper work of the day, that I may prepare you the better for it, and assist you, as well as I can, in the due performance of it, I shall endeavour to shew you what you ought to believe concerning the Resurrection of Christ, and what cause you have to rejoice and to give thanks to God this day, that you can say with the Holy Apostle, "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept." In which words we may observe, I. That Christ did truly rise again. II. That He thereby became " the first-fruits of them that slept." In speaking to the first, we shall consider, 1. In what sense Christ is said to have risen from the dead; 2. What ground we have to believe that He did so; 3. What benefit we have received by it, for which we ought to rejoice and give thanks unto God this day. As for the first, In what sense Christ is said to have risen from the dead: that we shall easily understand, if we do but consider how that Christ so took our human nature upon LXX. SERM. Him that He became really and truly a man, of the same nature and substance with other men in all things except sin; consisting, as other men do, of a rational soul and a terrestrial body, and both so united together as that His body was quickened, informed, and actuated by His soul; by which means He performed all vital actions, and therefore was properly said to live as we do, and that for several years together, until at length His body, by the excessive pain and torture that He suffered upon the Cross, being made incapable of all vital motion, and so unfit for the soul to inhabit any longer, the knot was untied, and His soul was separated from His body, and so continued for some time; during which time, although both the essential parts of man, His soul and body subsisted, or were in being, as well as they were before, yet not subsisting conjunctly, but separately, He was properly dead, as other men are when their souls have left their bodies. And in this state He continued from Friday till Sunday morning, when His body being made a fit receptacle for the soul again, the same soul was again united to it, and so the same man that before was dead, now lived again, and is therefore said to be "raised from the dead," or out of that state of death wherein He had continued all that time; yea, He so lived again as never to die more; but though it be above sixteen hundred years since He rose again, He is still alive, and so will be for evermore. 2. The next question is, What ground we have to believe that Christ thus rose from the dead? In general, we have as much ground to believe that Christ rose from the dead, as we have to believe that we ourselves are now alive; or, if you will, as much as it is possible for a thing of that nature to be capable of; for besides that it was plainly foreshewn in the types, and infallibly foretold by the Prophets under the Law, and so could not but come to pass, we have the testimony of two Angels for it, who were both eye-witnesses of the fact itself, for they saw Him, not only risen, but rising, and assisted Him in it, by rolling away the stone which was at the mouth of the sepulchre where He lay, and told the Luke 24. 4- Disciples that came to the place to see Him, that “He was not there, but was risen." And after He was risen, His Disciples frequently saw Him, conversed familiarly with Him, 6; Matt. 28. 6. yea, ate and drank with Him as really as they had done it before His Passion. And that it was the same person they knew by His visage, by the lineaments of His body, by His voice, and by the print of the spear in His side, and of the nails in His hands and feet wherewith He had been fastened to the Cross; which was so clear a demonstration that it was the same body that was before crucified, that when one of His Disciples doubted of it, whether it was He or no, He said to him, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold My John 20. 27, hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side;" which that Disciple had no sooner done, but he was fully convinced that it was the same Person that had those wounds given Him upon the Cross. And so his doubting proved the occasion of our being more confirmed in the truth of it. And, indeed, it is much to be observed, that both St. Thomas himself and the rest of the Apostles were so fully assured that their Master, Jesus, was risen from the dead, that all the troubles and persecutions that they afterwards underwent for His sake could never make them so much as doubt of it, much less deny it; but they all attested it to the last, and sealed it with their own blood; which certainly they would never have done, had they not been as sure that they had seen Him alive after He had been dead, as that they had seen Him so before He died. And, questionless, there never was any matter of fact since the world began so fully proved by the concurrent testimony of so many persons, not only hazarding, but actually laying down their lives in the defence of it, as this was. 28. Neither must we think that this fundamental article of our Christian religion is grounded only upon the testimony of men and Angels; for Christ Himself hath given us so full, so clear a demonstration of it, that though no creature in the world had ever seen Him after His resurrection, yet none could deny but that He did rise again; in that He did so exactly fulfil what He had promised before; for He told His Disciples a little before His Passion, that when He was gone from them, He would send another Comforter, even the ch. 16. 7. Holy Ghost unto them; which you know He accordingly did upon the day of Pentecost, the Holy Ghost descending LXX. Acts 2. 1-3. SERM. in a miraculous manner upon His Disciples, and enabling them to speak all manner of languages. But how was it possible for Christ to have done this except He rose from the dead? Can a man that lies in the grave, and is not able to lift up himself from the earth, can such a one get up to Heaven, and from thence send down the Spirit of God? It is impossible; for a dead man can do nothing, much less so great a thing as that was, and, therefore, His doing of it is an undeniable argument that He is indeed risen from the dead. To which we may also add that infallible testimony that Almighty God Himself hath hereby given to this truth: Heb. 2. 4. in that He bore witness to them that preached it, "both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His Own will,” as the Apostle speaks. For would He, who is Truth itself, bear witness to a lie? Would He have given such extraordinary power, and courage, and success to the Apostles in publishing this unto the world, if it had not been a great truth? No certainly; every sermon that the Apostles preached, every miracle that they wrought, every suffering they underwent, every danger they were in for Christ's sake, was a more than mathematical, a Divine demonstration, that He is risen from the dead; especially considering, that how, incredible soever it might seem at first, yet, by the Almighty power of God accompanying the publication of it, the whole world was soon convinced of the truth and certainty of this proposition, that Christ is risen from the dead; and therefore I need not insist any longer upon shewing what grounds you have to believe it, seeing God Himself hath proved it so effectually to you, that I dare say you are all, by His grace, fully persuaded of it. 3. The other and principal thing to be considered in this subject, especially upon this day, is, what are those great benefits we have received by Christ's Resurrection, for which we ought to rejoice and give thanks to God at each commemoration of it? In general, they are so many and so great, that did we but fully understand them, and were we but truly sensible of them, nothing would come near our hearts this day but joy and thankfulness to God for so unspeakable |