SERMON I.

ON EASTER-DAY.

ACTs, iv. 33.

And with great power gave the Apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”

WHAT! the apostles of him, whom, in the week past, we

have seen abased, crucified, and consigned to the mansions of the dead, do anything among the Jews "with great power!" Those apostles, who, but lately, when their Master was arrested, deserted and denied him; who, at his death, trembling with fear and overwhelmed with despair, shrunk away into concealment, say anything in Judea, concerning the Lord Jesus "with great power!" Surely, something of an extraordinary nature has happened; something great has occurred to give them boldness, and success! Great, indeed! An event took place, which it becomes us, this morning, with grateful remembrance to review. We will, then, consider the various senses in which it was with "great power" testified by the apostles.

The enemies of our blessed Lord had, as they thought, accomplished their desire of his destruction. They had brought him to the cross. They had pierced his heart with a spear. They had delivered him to be buried. Recollecting his declaration, that he would rise from the dead the third day, and determined to have his body, to produce after that period should have elapsed, they placed upon the stone of the sepulchre that seal which it was death to break; and stationed before it a band of the Roman soldiers, who, at the time of the feast, were on duty

at Jerusalem. But "why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?" "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh them to scorn; the Lord shall have them in derision." No sooner did the morn of the third day begin to dawn, than the Saviour bade death resign his sceptre. Having been subject to it awhile, he now brake it; and, leaving the monarch of the tomb stript of his power, in triumphant majesty left his do-main. Do you ask, who rolled away the stone from the sepulchre? What obstacle was that to Him who burst the strong fetters of death? Do you ask, where were the guards? Appalled, they fell, or fled. Do you ask, who were the spectators of the sublime scene? God, who watched for this triumph of his Son, and the multitude of the heavenly hosts, who had not ceased, since he was there deposited, with wondering expectation to observe the sepulchre. Earlier in the morn he rose, than any of his earthly friends; for when they, whom their superior tenderness and constancy determined to embalm his body, came, early as they came, he was gone. Behold, two of the heavenly hosts sat at the sepulchre; "their countenances like lightning, and their raiment white as snow." Unwilling to burst unexpectedly upon his disciples in person, and overwhelm them with surprise and fear, and choosing that, as his incarnation, so, also, his rising from the dead, should have the attestation of beings from the heavenly world, he had commissioned these ministering spirits to honour the amiable women who had followed him through his passion, and who, he knew, would presently come to embalm his remains, with the first tidings of his resurrection. Accordingly, the angels addressed to them the most joyful truth that ever entered human ears: "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell his disciples, that he is risen from the dead; and behold, he goeth before you into Gallilee, there shall ye see him." They went. They saw. They believed. "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus."

This brings us to consider, as was proposed, in what this great power consisted.

In the first place, their testimony was "with great power" by reason of the great number of witnesses. It was not one, nor two, nor a few individuals, who attested the resurrection. Had the story been an imposture, a small number only would have combined for its propagation. But here were more than were necessary for the fabrication of a cheat, and too many to keep it long a secret. "He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve; after that, of above five hundred brethren at once." He was seen of the women, and of the two disciples who journeyed to Emmaus; and, last of all, he was seen of Paul, with the most extraordinary manifestations of his glory and power. These could not have been all deceived. Many of them, at first, were criminally incredulous. They, however, saw him at several times, in different places, under various circumstances. They ate, and drank, and conversed with him. They heard him, and they handled him. They saw in his hands the print of the nails, and laid their fingers upon the wound in his side, and in demonstration that it was He, "the Son of God with power, he commanded for them, on the sea shore, a miraculous draught of fishes. His appearance among them was not short, nor obscure; but he continued with them, coming in and going out, for the space of "forty days," arranging with them the conduct to be pursued, with regard to his Church, the kingdom which he was now to establish in the world. Will it be said, that his appearance should have been universal. Surely, when God has given sufficient evidence of a truth, which he requires men to believe, he is not obliged to give them more. With regard to the world in general, if none should believe but those who saw, Christ must have dwelt always, and everywhere, on the earth; and there would have been no opportunity for the superior blessedness of their faith, who, though "they have not seen, have," nevertheless, on the word of God, "believed." And with regard to the Jews, as they believed not "Moses and the prophets," we have no ground of assurance that the veil would have been

taken from their hearts, though "one rose from the dead." "Unto witnesses chosen before of God," was Jesus showed alive after his resurrection "by many infallible proofs." Their testimony was powerful in that there were an host of them, and that it was of the fullest and most explicit kind.

How far they were credible will appear, if we consider, in the second place, that the apostles' evidence was "with great power," by reason of their well known character. They were known to be poor, timid, and friendless; and, therefore, unlikely to devise, and unable to execute a scheme for imposing a falsehood of this nature upon the world. They were persons who aspired to no eminence; who slighted all honours and emoluments, and who had neither the pride, ambition, nor the prospects, by which impostors are animated. Above all, they were proverbial for integrity in principle and conduct. Simplicity, honesty, and rectitude, were the characteristics of the followers of the Nazarene. Such qualities would render any evidence respectable. Such witnesses, could not but speak with "power." Hence it was, that their preaching commanded such attention, and obtained such success. Will it be said that their simplicity exposed them to delusion. There were among them Peter, sufficiently acute; and Thomas, sufficiently scrupulous. Will it be said that they had been the followers of Christ, and were interested in the success of this story? There was among them Paul, that Paul, who had been the implacable adversary of Jesus. And, alas! in what way could the story advance the interest of any of them, if Jesus was not risen? It would have been much more natural, as well as reasonable for them, as, indeed they did after the crucifixion, to have shrunk from the public view. There was not, in truth, the shadow of anything in these chosen witnesses, upon which suspicion could fasten his criminating eye. They had every moral quality which could recommend them; and if the character of a witness can give weight to his testimony, the apostles of our Lord were, in the highest degree, entitled to be believed.

Once more. Their evidence had all the "great power,"