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SERMON II.

ON EASTER-DAY.

1. THESSALONIANS, iv. 14.

"If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them, also, who sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him.”

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AND do we not believe it? "Who is this that cometh from" the tomb, "with dyed garments" from the bed of death? This that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength ?" Is it not he, whom we lately attended to the crucifixion, and left fast bound with the fetters of death? Is it not the resurrection of Jesus which, this day, fills our bosoms with unusual joy, and does not the declarations of the event which we have heard, call it up to our remembrance, free from doubt? Yes. If our service, this day, and the service of the whole Christian Church be not all a mockery; if the testimony of witnesses, competent in number and character, to establish a fact, which fact they attested with their blood, may not be set aside by mere suppositions, and sophisms; if we have not seen such a success of imposture, as is contrary to all the past experience of mankind; if all rules of evidence, and all grounds of belief, be not altogether arbitrary, and if the Almighty Governor of the world has not poured down his blessing upon the work of a blasphemous deceiver, Jesus Christ, who died upon the cross, according to the Scriptures rose from the dead.

In your minds, my brethren, I presume this point is established. You have no need that I go with you to the sepulchre,

and show that "He is not there, but is risen." You awoke, this morning, rejoicing in the glorious truth. Now, the inference which the apostle makes, from the resurrection of Christ, and which renders it, to us, the most interesting event in the annals of time, is, the certainty of our own resurrection. "If we believe," says he, "that Jesus died and rose again, even so them, also, who sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him." And again, writing to the Corinthians: "If Christ be preached, that he rose from the dead, how say some among you, that there is no resurrection of the dead?"

As it is this inference that gives us such an interest in the event we commemorate, to show you, in the first place, the certainty with which it is drawn; and, in the second place, the inestimable value of it; will be my present employment.

That our resurrection is the certain consequence of the resurrection of Christ, will be evident, if we first consider it as an evidence that the Deity accepted his sacrifice of himself in our behalf. Death, we know, is "the wages of sin." In no other way, can we account for its introduction into the creation of God. Now, of the rise of sin in our nature, we have an account in the Sacred History of man's transgression. To atone for this transgression, and take away the doom of perpetual death, to which it had subjected man, was the avowed object for which the Saviour offered himself upon the cross. If, therefore, the Eternal Father accepted his propitiation for our sins, and what stronger evidence could he give us that he did, than by raising the crucified victim from the grave, our debt to the law is cancelled. The reason for our subjection to eternal death is remitted, and it is impossible that we should be holden of it.

A sense of unworthiness would naturally excite doubts in any mind, unenlightened by revelation, about the resurrection of men to immortality. We are, indeed, conscious of faculties which qualify us for a longer and better being than the present, and of an inextinguishable desire to prolong our existence. But, a sense of our sinfulness, and moral frailty, must also be felt, whenever we study ourselves. Whether the Deity, there

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fore, who is able to people his universe with beings, as pure and exalted as he pleases, would condescend to exert miraculous power, to recover us to everlasting life after our dissolution, might appear problematical. The consciousness of our moral corruption would, at least, diminish the probability in some minds. We find that, according to the degree of their virtue, was the strength of the heathen's hope of a future existence. But, in Christ, "we have an advocate with the Father, and he is the propitiation for our sins." We have acquired new worth by our relation to him. He will feel an everlasting regard for those whom he hath redeemed with his blood, and will plead his merits with the Father, for their perpetual preservation. And if his expiation of our iniquities have been accepted, we are, doubtless, begotten by his resurrection to a blessed hope of everlasting life. The Father will behold us with peculiar regard, as the fruit of his Son's sufferings, and, for his sake, allow the efficacy of his merits to save us from the dominion of the grave.

Indeed, the prophet foretold, and he himself declared, that, in "the travail of his soul," in the happiness of those whom he rescued from destruction, he should find the reward of his obedience, and "be satisfied." Now, can it be supposed, that in the short-lived tenants of this chequered life, the Saviour "saw his seed?" Has he no other satisfaction, than to have redeemed them to the transient and adulterated happiness of this precarious state; or will the Almighty Father suffer him to be defeated in his purpose, or deprived of his reward? No. If he were pleased and satisfied with his propitiation for the sins of the world, for the Redeemer's sake, as well as ours, them who "sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him."

Now, that he did accept his sacrifice of himself, his resurrection is the fullest and most satisfactory evidence which could be given. In raising him from the dead, God set his seal to all that Christ had done. In testimony of his approbation, he gave him this public triumph before angels and men, on his return from the conquest of sin and death. Accordingly, the apostle

argues; "If Christ be not raised, ye are yet in your sins;" implying that, if he were raised, our sins were cancelled, which were the sting, that is, the power of death.

Again. How certainly the doctrine of our resurrection is established, by the resurrection of our Lord, will be evident, if we consider it as the sufficient and august proof of the truth of his religion. That miracles are stupendous evidences of the truth of any doctrine, in evidence of which they are really wrought, is incontrovertible. That to raise himself from the dead, is the greatest miracle Christ could have wrought, or man can conceive, no one will deny. When it is added that this miracle fulfilled prophecies which pointed to it, in distant, and at different times, it will be confessed that it combines in itself all the force which any evidence can possibly carry. To this, therefore, Jesus himself appealed, and when a sign was demanded of him, rested upon it the credibility of his mission. Without this resurrection of our Lord, the support of his doctrines would, I conceive, have been imperfect; but, while this stands, though every other argument should be subverted, the Christian faith would remain unshaken. And, blessed be the wisdom and care of our God, he hath so fortified this important pillar, that it defies the enemies of the gospel, and, without being marred or enfeebled, has repelled their most vigourous blows. Upon this pillar the religion of the Redeemer stands, the wonder and joy of all considerate beings. For the eternal validity of its doctrines and promises, this is a satisfactory voucher. Now, the very end of the gospel is, to bring us to everlasting life and glory. No doctrine is more conspicuous in it than that of our resurrection to immortality. No promise more frequent than that of eternal felicity to the faithful. We hear it from the mouth of Christ himself. His apostles repeat it. It is declared to be the purpose of God in the gift of his Son, and the passages are so numerous and familiar to you that I shall not attempt to quote them. This glorious truth, then, as a doctrine of our religion, is confirmed by that event which, of itself, proves the religion divine. "If Christ be not risen," says the apostle,

"then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." But by rising he established his word, and this word is eternal life.

But I add, once more, that the resurrection of our blessed Lord, confirms our expectations of being raised to a future life, by exemplifying the mystery to us. This is what man needs and desires, to place the subject beyond all doubt. He may conjecture, from the imperfection of the present life, and the promiscuous fate of the virtuous and the wicked, a future retribution. He may gather from the properties of his soul, and forebodings of his conscience, a probability that he is designed for another state of being. What he wishes, he may incline to believe, and religion may kindly descend to confirm his hopes. But in a thing so dear, he is anxious to have the possibility of the thing exemplified by fact. Till some one exhibits death's sceptre actually broken, the grim monster seems to reign the unconquerable monarch of the world. An instance here would be worth many arguments. And such an instance we have, through the abundant riches of the power and goodness of God. In our own nature, in that body and soul in which he lived, and was very man, Christ returned to life, after death had laid his hand on him, and he had descended into the tomb. In this the Eternal Father demonstrated his power to relume the sleeping dust, remand into it the departed spirit, and fit it for an eternal duration. "Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him." In his resurrection, God hath manifested his power, to awake every son of Adam from the sleep of the grave, and the end, for which he hath manifested it, is our assurance that he will do it.

Such is the evidence, that the certainty of our resurrection, is the consequence of the event which we, this day, commemorate. It remains an interesting duty, to set before you the inestimable value of this lively hope, to which we are begotten of God, by the resurrection of his Son. But time will not permit me, now, to enter upon it.

My Christian friends, go we to the altar of our God, and as the fittest expression of our joy, keep the great eucharistic feast.

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