fible, that any miracle could be greater in itself for confir- SERM mation of the whole, or more proper for ascertaining the XXX. parts of our religion. But more particularly; 5. First, From it the dignity of our Lord's perfon and his especial dearness to God (to the voidance of all exceptions and furmifes against him) did appear. If the meannefs of his birth and parentage, if the low garb and dim luftre of his life, if the bitter pains and fhameful difgraces of his death, (however accompanied with rare qualities fhining in him, and wonderful deeds achieved by him,) in perfons standing at diftance, cafting fuperficial glances on things, and judging by external ap- John vii.24. pearances, might breed disadvantageous apprehenfions or fufpicions concerning him, whether he were indeed, as he pretended, the Son of God, defigned by him to be the Saviour of mankind, the Lord of all things, the Judge of the world; the wonderful power and fignal favour of God demonftrated in his refurrection, ferved to difcufs thofe mifts, and to correct fuch mistakes, evincing those temporary depreffions to have been only difpenfations preparatory toward his greater exaltation in dignity and apparent favour with God; for though, faith St. Paul, he 2 Cor. xiii. was crucified out of weakness, yet he liveth by the power of*. God; that is, although in his sufferings the infirmity of our nature affumed by him was discovered, yet by his recovering life the divine power attending him was eminently declared; it was indeed an excessive grandeur of Eph. i. 19. Ὑπερβάλλον power, an energy of the might of firength which God did μέγεθος τῆς exert in the raising of Chrift from the dead, as the Apoftle laboureth to exprefs the unexpreffible eminency of this miracle; and being fo high an inftance of power, it was confequently a special mark of favour; God not being lavish of fuch miracles, or wont to ftretch forth his arm in behalf of any perfon to whom he doth not bear extraordinary regard: the which confequence alfo, by reflecting on the circumftances and nature of this event, will farther appear. He was perfecuted and put to death as a notorious malefactor, and an enemy to God, to true religion, to the ἐνέργεια τοῦ κράτους τῆς ισχύος. SERM. common peace, to goodness; and his being delivered up XXX. to fuffer was an enforcement of that pretence; for his ad Pf. lxxi. 11. xxii. 8. verfaries thence did argue, that God had difavowed and deserted him; they infulted over him, as one in a forlorn Ifa. liii. 4. condition, esteeming him, as the Prophets foretold, ftricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted: but God thus, by his own hand, undoing what they had done against him, did plainly confute their reasonings; did evidence their accufations to be false, and their furmises vain; did, in oppofition to their fuggestions, approve him a friend and favourite of God, a patron of truth, a maintainer of piety and peace; one meriting, because obtaining, the fingular countenance and fuccour of God. And if yielding our Lord over to death (which being a total incapacity of enjoying any good, doth fignify an extremely bad state) might imply God's displeasure or difregard toward him, (as indeed it did in a fort, he standing in our room to undergo the inflictions of divine wrath and juftice;) then, answerably, restoring him to life (which, as the foundation of enjoying any good, doth represent the beft condition) muft demonftrate a fingular tenderness, of affection, with a full approbation and acceptance of his performances: this indeed far more pregnantly doth argue favour, than that could imply displeasure; for that may happen to the best men upon other grounds, this can bear no other than a favourable interpretation. Farther, to give life doth ground that relation which is deepest in nature, and importeth most affection; whence, in the holy ftyle, to raise up to life, is termed to beget; and the regeneration is put for the refurrection; so that it being a paternal act, fignifieth a paternal regard; and thence perhaps St. Paul telleth us, that our Lord was declared, or defined to be the Son of God, by his refurrection from the dead. 6. Secondly, By our Lord's refurrection we may be affured concerning the efficacy of his undertakings for us: for confidering it we may not doubt of God's being reconciled to us, of obtaining the pardon of our fins and acceptance of our perfons, of receiving all helps conducible to our fanctification, of attaining final happiness, in case SERM, we are not on our parts deficient; all those benefits by our XXX. Lord's refurrection, as a certain feal, being ratified to us, and in a manner conferred on us. As God, in the death of our Lord, did manifeft his wrath toward us, and execute his juftice upon us; fo in raifing him thence correfpondently God did express himself appeased, and his law to be fatisfied; as we in his fuffering were punished, (the iniquity of us all being laid Ifa, liii. 6. upon him,) fo in his refurrection we were acquitted and restored to grace; as Chrift did merit the remiffion of our fins and the acceptance of our perfons by his paffion, fo God did confign them to us in his refurrection; it being that formal act of grace, whereby, having fuftained the brunt of God's displeasure, he was folemnly reinftated in favour, and we representatively, or virtually, in him; so that (fuppofing our due qualifications, and the performances requifite on our parts) we thence become completely juftified, having not only a juft title to what justification doth import, but a real inftatement therein, confirmed by the refurrection of our Saviour; whence he Rom. iv.25. was, faith St. Paul, delivered for our offences, and raised again for our juftification; and, Who then, faith the same Rom. viii. Apoftle, fhall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ? 33, 34. It is God that juftifieth: Who is he that condemneth? It is Chrift that died, yea rather, that is rifen again: our juftification and abfolution are, ye fee, rather ascribed to the refurrection of Chrift, than to his death; for that indeed his death was a ground of bestowing them, but his refurrection did accomplish the collation of them; for fince, doth the Apostle argue, God hath acknowledged fatiffaction done to his juftice, by discharging our furety from reftraint and from all farther profecution; fince in a manner fo notorious God hath declared his favour toward our proxy; what pretence can be alleged against us, what fufpicion of displeasure can remain? Had Christ only died, we fhould not have been condemned, our punishment being already undergone; yet had we not been fully discharged, without that exprefs warrant and acquittance 2 Cor. v. 15. 17. 2 Tim. i. 10. 23. 14. Morte cal cata fur SERM. which his rifing doth imply: fo again may St. Paul be XXX. understood to intimate, when he faith, If Chrift be not 1 Cor. xv. raifed, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your fins: death (or that obligation to die, to which we did all for our tranfgreffions ftand devoted) was condemned, and judiciHeb. ii. 14. ally abolished by his death; but it was executed and exRom. viii. punged in his refurrection; in which trampling thereon he 3. v. 18. vi. crushed it to nothing: wherefore therein mankind revived, 1 Cor. xv. and received the gift of immortality; that being a clear pledge and full fecurity, that as in Adam all die, fo in Chrift fhall all be made alive: He, faith St. Chryfoftom, rexit. Hier. by his refurrection diffolved the tyranny of death, and with 1 Cor. v. 21. himself raised up the whole worlda; By the pledge of his refurrection, faith St. Ambrofe, he loofed the bands of hell; Thereby, faith St. Leo, death received its deftruction, and life its beginning. Therein not only the natural body of Chrift was raised, but the myftical body alfo, each member of his Church was reftored to life, being throughly rescued from the bondage of corruption, and Eph. ii. 5, 6. translated into a state of immortality; fo that God, faith Rom. viii. St. Paul, hath quickened us together with Chrift, and raised us together, and made us to fit together in heavenly places in Chrift Jefus. Ep. 129. 21. Colof. ii. 13, 14. Hence in our baptifm, (wherein juftification and a title to eternal life are exhibited to us,) as the death and burial of Chrift are symbolically undergone by us; so therein also we do interpretatively rife with him; Being, faith St. Paul, buried with Chrift in baptifm, in it we are also raised 1 Pet. iii. together with him; and, Baptifm, St. Peter telleth us, being antitype of the paffage through the flood, doth fave us by the refurrection of Chrift, prefented therein. 21. It also miniftreth hopes of fpiritual aid, fufficient for the fanctification of our hearts and lives; for that he who • Διὰ τῆς ἀνατάσεως το θανάτε τυραννίδα κατέλυσε. Chryf. Rom. i. 4. b Dominus fuæ refurrectionis pignore vincula folvit inferni, &c. Ambr. ad Grat. c Per refurrectionem Chrifti et mors interitum, et vita accepit initium. Leo M. Ep. 81. XXX. raifed our Lord from a natural death, thence doth appear SERM. both able and willing to raise us from a spiritual death, or from that mortal flumber in trefpaffes and fins in which naturally we do lie buried, to walk in that newness of life Eph. ii. 10. to which the Gospel calleth us; and in regard to which, God, faith St. Peter, having raised his Son Jefus, fent him A&s iii. 26. to bless us, in turning every one of us from his iniquities. Rev. xx. 6. 1 Pet. iii. The fame confequently is a fure earnest of our salvation; for, If, faith St. Paul, when we were enemies we were re- Rom. v. 10. conciled to God by the death of his Son; much more, being 21. reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 31.) 7. Thirdly, By our Lord's refurrection, the verity of his doctrines and the validity of his promifes concerning the future ftate of men are demonftrated, in a way moft cogent and most pertinent: any miracle, notoriously true, (John xx. doth indeed fuffice to confirm any point of good doctrine; but a miracle in kind, or involving the matter contested, hath a peculiar efficacy to that purpose: fo did our Lord's refurrection, in way of palpable inftance, with all poffible evidence to sense, directly prove the poffibility of our refurrection, together with all points of doctrine coherent thereto; (the fubftantial diftinction of our foul from the body, its feparate exiftence after the diffolution, and confequently its immortal nature, God's wife and just providence over human affairs in this ftate, the scrutiny and judgment of our actions hereafter, with difpenfation of recompences answerable ;) thofe fundamental ingredients of all religion, most powerful incentives to virtue, and most effectual difcouragements from vice; the which, (before much liable to doubt and difpute, little seen in the darknefs of natural reason, and greatly clouded in the uncertainty of common tradition,) as our Lord by his doctrine first brought into clear light, fo by his refurrection he 2 Tim.i.10. fully did fhew that light to be fincere and certain. In- 23. finitely weak and unfatisfactory were all the arguments which the most careful fpeculation could produce, for afferting those important verities, in comparison to that one fenfible experiment attesting to them: for if our Lord, a man as ourselves, did arife from the dead, (his foul, which Acts xxvi. |