Soul and be satisfied In which words thrâ—e things fall under our consideration First The travailing pangs of Christ. So the Agonies of his soul and Torments of his body are fitly call'd not only because of the sharpness and acuteness of them being in that respect like the birth pangs of a travailing woman for so this word signifies But also because they forerun and make way for the birth which abundantly recompences all those labours I shall not here insist upon the the pangs and Agonies endured by Christ in the garden or upon the Cross which the Prophet stiles the travail of his Soul having in the former Sermons open'd it largely in its particulars but pass to the Second Thing considerable in these words and that is the assured fruits and effects of this his travail He shall see the travail of his Soul By seeing understand the fruition obtainment or enjoyment of the ends of his sufferings He shall not shed his blood upon an hazard His design shall not miscarry but he shall certainly see the ends he aimed at accomplisht And Thirdly This shall yield him great satisfaction as a woman forgets her sorrow for joy that a man is born into the world Joh. 16.21 He shall see it and be Satisfied As God when he had finished the work of Creation viewed that his work with pleasure and satisfaction so doth our exalted Redeemer with great contentment behold the happy issues of his hard sufferings It affords pleasure to a man to see great affairs by orderly conduct brought to happy issues Much more doth it yield delight to Iesus Christ to see the results of that most profound wisdom and love wherein he carried on Redemption work All runs into this DOCT. That all the blessed designs and ends for which the Lord Iesus Christ humbled himself to the death of the Cross shall certainly be attained to his full content and satisfaction My present business is not to prove that Christ shall certainly obtain what he died for nor to open the great satisfaction and pleasure which will rise to him out of those issues of his death but to point at the principal ends of his death making some brief improvements as we pass along First Then let us enquire into the designs and ends of Christs humiliation at least the main and principal ones and we shall find that as the sprinkling of the Typical blood in the Old Testament was done for four weighty Ends or Uses answerably the pretious and invaluable blood of the Testator and surety of the New Testament is shed for four weighty Ends also First That blood was shed and applied to deliver from danger Exod. 12.13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are and when I see the blood I will pass over you And the Plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the Land of Egypt Secondly That blood was shed to make an attonement betwixt God and the people Levit. 4.20 And he shall do with the Bullock as he did with the Bullock for a sin offering so shall he do with this and the Priest shall make an attonement for them and it shall be forgiven them Thirdly That blood was shed to purifie persons from their ceremonial pollutions Levit. 14.6 7. He shall dip the Cedar wood and Scarlet and Hysop with the living bird in the blood of the bird that was kill'd over the running water and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the Leprosie seven times and shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird loose in the open field Fourthly That blood was shed to ratifie and confirm the Testament or Covenant of God with the people Exod. 24.8 And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said behold the blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words These were the four main Ends of shedding and sprinkling that Typical blood Sutably there are four principal Ends of shedding and applying Christs blood As that Typical blood was shed to deliver from danger so this was shed to deliver from wrath even the wrath to come That was shed to make an attonement so was this That was shed to purifie persons from uncleanness so was this That was shed to confirm the Testament so was this As will appear in the particulars more at large End 1. First One principal design and End of shedding the blood of Christ was to deliver his people from danger the danger of that wrath which burns down to the lowest Hell So you find 1 Thes. 1.10 Even Iesus who delivered us from the wrath to come Here our misery is both specified and aggravated Specifi'd in calling it wrath a word of deep and dreadful signification The damned best undâ—rstand the importance of that word And aggravated in calling it wrath to come or coming wrath Wrath to come implies both the futurity and perpetuity of this wrath It 's wrath that shall certainly and inevitably come upon sinners As sure as the night follows the day As sure as the Winter follows the Summer so shall wrath follow sin and the pleasures thereof Yea it 's not only certainly future but when it comes it will be abiding wrath or wrath still coming When millions of years and Ages are past and gone this will still be wrath to come Ever coming as a râ—ver eâ—er flowing Now from this wrath to come hath lesâ—s delivered his people by his death For that was the price laid down â—or their redemption from the wrath of thâ— grâ—at and terrible God Rom. 5.9 Much more then being â—ustified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him The blood of Jesus was the price that ransomed man from his wrath And it was shed not only to deliver them from wrath to come but to deliver them freely fully distinguishingly and wonderfully from it First Freely by his own voluntary interposition and susception of the mediatorial office moved thereunto by his own bowels of compaossion which yearned over his Elect in their misery The Saints were once a lost generation thaâ— had sold themselves and their inheritance also and had not wherewithall to Redeem either but they had a near kinsman even their elder Brother by the Mothers side to whom the right of Redemption did belong who being a mighty man of wealth the heir of all things undertook to be their Goell and out of his own proper substance to Redeem both them and their inheritance Them to be his own inheritance Eph. 1.10 And heaven to be theirs 1 Pet. 1.4 All this he did most freely when none madâ— supplication to him No sighing of the prisoners came before him He design'd it for us before we had a being And when the purposes of his grace were come to their parturient fulness then did he freely lay out the infinite treasures of his blood to purchase our
of a Saviour He loved us and washed us from our sin in his own blood He did not shed the blood of beasts as the Priests of old did but his own blood Heb. 9.12 And that no common but pretious blood 1 Pet. 1.19 The blood of God one drop of which out values the blood that runs in the veins of all Adams posterity And not some of that blood but all to the last drop He bled every vein dry for us and what remain'd lodg'd about the heart of dead Jesus was let out by that bloody Spear which pierced the Pericardium so that he bestow'd the whole treasure of his blood upon us And thus liberal was he of his blood to us when we were enemies This then is that heavenly Pelican that feeds his young with his own blood O what manner of love is this But I must hasten End 4. As Christ dyed to sanctifie his people So he dyed also to confirm the New Testament to all those sanctified ones So it was in the Type Exod. 24.8 And so it is in the truth This is the New Testament in my blood Matth. 26.28 i. e. ratified and confirmed by my blood For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the Testator Heb. 9.16 So that now all the blessings and benefits bequeathed to believers in the last Will and Testament of Christ are abundantly confirmed and secured to them by his death Yea he died on purpose to make that Testament in force to them Men make their Wills and Testaments and Christ makes his What they bequeath and give in their Wills is a free and voluntary act they cannot be compell'd to do it And what is bequeathed to us in this Testament of Christ is altogether a free and voluntary donation Other Testators use to bequeath their Estates to their Wives and Children and near relations so doth this Testator all is settled upon his Spouse the Church Upon believers his children A stanger intermedles not with these mercies They give all their goods and estates that can that way be conveyed to their friends that survive them Christ giveth to his Church in this New Testament three sorts of Goods First All Temporal good things 1 Tim. 6.1 Matth. 6.33 i. e. the comfort and blessing of all though not the possession of much As having nothing and yet possessing all things 2 Cor. 6.10 Secondly All Spiritual good things are bequeath'd to them in this Testament as Remission of sin and acceptation with God which are contained in their Justification Rom. 3.24 25 26. Sanctification of their natures both initial and progressive 1 Cor. 1.30 Adoption into the family of God Gal. 3.26 The Ministry of Angels Heb. 1.14 Interest in all the Promises 2 Pet. 1.4 Thus all spiritual good things are in Christs Testament conveyed to them And as all Temporal and Spiritual so Thirdly All Eternal good things Heaven Glory and eternal life Rom. 8.10.11 No such bequests as these were ever found in the Testaments of Princes That which Kings and Nobles settle by will upon their Heirs are but trifles to what Christ hath conferred in the New Testament upon his people And all this is confirmed and ratified by the death of Christ so that the promise is sure and the Estate indefeasible to all the Heirs of Promise How the death of Christ confirmed the New Testament is worth our Enquiry The Socinians as they allow no other end of Christs death but the confirmation of the New Testament so they affirm he did it only by way of Testimony or witness bearing in his death But this is a vile derogation from the efficacy of Christs blood to bring it down into an equality with the blood of Martyrs As if there were no more in it than was in their blood But know Reader Christ died not only or principally to confirm the Testment by his blood as a witness to the truth of those things but hiâ— death ratified it as the death of a Testator which makes the New Testament irrevocable And so Christ is called in this Text. Look as when a man hath made his Will and is dead that Will is presently in force and can never be recall'd Besides the will of the dead is sacred with men They dare not cross it It 's certain the last will and Testament of Christ is most sacred and God will never annul or make it void Moreover it is not with Christ as with other Testators who die and must trust the performance of their wills with their Executors but as he died to put it in force so he lives again to be the Executor of his own Testament And all power to fulfill his Will is now in his own hands Rev. 1.18 Inference 1. Did Christ die to confirm the New Testament in which such Legacies are bequeathed to believers How are all believers concerned then to prove the Will of dead Jesus My meaning is to clear their Title to the mercies contained in this blessed Testament And this may be done two waies By clearing to your selves your Covenant Relations to Christ. And by discovering those special Covenant impressions upon your hearts to which the Promises therein contained do belong First Examine your Relations to Christ. Are you his Spouses have you forsaken all for him Psal. 45.10 Are you ready to take your lot with him as it falls in prosperity or adversity Ier. 2.2 And are you Loyal to Christ Thou shalt be for me and not for another Hos. 3.3 Do you yield obedience to him as your Head and Husband Eph. 6.24 Then you may be confident you are interested in the benefits and blessings of Christs last Will and Testament for can you imagine Christ will make a Testament and forget his Spouse It cannot be If he so loved the Church as to give himself for her much more what he hath is settled on her Again are you his spiritual seed his children by regeneration Are you born of the Spirit Ioh. 3. Do you resemble Christ in holiness 1 Pet. 1.14 15. Do you find a reverential fear of Christ carrying you to obey him in all things Mal. 1.6 Are you led by the Spirit of Christ as many as are so led they are the Sons of God Rom. 8.14 To conclude have you the Spirit of Adoption inabling you to cry Abba Father Gal. 4.6 That is helping you in a gratious manner with reverence mixt with filial confidence to open your hearts spiritually to your Father on all occasions If so you are children and if children doubt not but you have a rich Legacie in Christs last Will and Testament He would not seal up his Testament and forget his dear children Secondly You may discern your interest in the New Testament or Covenant for they are substantially the same thing by the new Covenant impressions that are made on your hearts which are so many clear evidences of your right to the benefits it contains Such are Spiritual
do your souls good Psal. 4.4 Commune with your own hearts Thirdly Labour to see and ingenuously confess the insufficiency of all your other knowledge to do you good What if you had never so much skill and knowledge in other mysteries What if you be never so well acquainted with the letter of the Scripture What if you had angelical illumination this can never save thy soul. No all thy knowledge signifies nothing till the Lord shew thee by special light the deplored state of thy own heart and a saving sight of Jesus Christ thy only remedy Inference 4. Since then there is a common light and special saving light which none but Christ can give it 's therefore the concernment of every one of you to try what your light is We know saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 8.1 that we all have knowledge O but what and whence is it Is it the light of life springing from Jesus Christ that bright and morning star Or only such as the Devils and damned have These lights differ First in their very kinds and natures The one is Heavenly supernatural and spiritual the other earthly and natural the effect of a better constitution or education Iam. 3.15 17. Secondly They differ most apparently in their effects and operations The light that comes in a special way from Christ is humbling abasing and soul emptying light By it a man sees the vileness of his own nature and practice which begets self loathing in him but natural light on the contrary puffs up and exalts makes the heart swell with self conceitedness 1 Cor. 8.1 The Light of Christ is practical and operative still urging the soul yea lovingly constraining it to obedience No sooner did it shine into Pauls heart but presently he asks Lord what wilt thou have me to do Act. 9.6 It brought forth fruit in the Collossians from the first day it came to them Col. 1.6 but the other spends it self in impractical notions and is detained in unrighteousness â— Rom. 1.18 The light of Christ is powerfully transformative of its subjects changing the man in whom it is into the same image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3. ult but common light leaves the heart as dead carnal and sensual as if no light at all were in it In a word All saving light endears Jesus Christ to the soul and as it could not value him before it saw him so when once he appears to the soul in his own light he is appreciated and endeared unspeakably then none but Christ. All is but dung that he may win Christ. None in Heaven but him nor on earth desirable in comparison of him But no such effect flows from natural common knowledge Thirdly They differ in their Issues Natural common knowledge vanisheth as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 13.8 It 's but a May flower and dies in its month Doth not their excellency that is in them go away Job 4.21 But this that springs from Christ is perfected not destroyed by death It springs up into everlasting life The soul in which it is subjected carrys it away with it into glory Ioh. 17.2 this light is life eternal Now turn in and compare your selves with these rules Let not false light deceive you Inference 5. Lastly How are they obliged to love serve and honour Iesus Christ whom he hath enlightned with the saving knowledge of himself O that with hands and hearts lifted up to Heaven ye would adore the free grace of Jesus Christ to your souls How many round about you have their eyes closed and their hearts shut up How many are in darkness and there are like to remain till they come to the blackness of darkness which is reserved for them O what a pleasant thing is it for your eyes to see the light of this world but what is it for the eye of your mind to see God in Christ To see such ravishing sights as the objects of faith are And to have such a pledge as this given you of the blessed visions of glory for in this light you shall see light Bless God and boast not Rejoyce in your light but be not proud of it And beware ye sin not against the best and highest light in this world If God were so incensed against the Heathens for disobeying the light of nature what is it in you to sin with eyes clearly illuminated with the purest light that shines in this world You know God charges it upon Solomon in 1 King 11.9 that he turned from the way of obedience after the Lord had appeared unto him twice Jesus Christ intended when he opened your eyes that your eyes should direct your feet Light is a special help to obedience and obedience a singular help to increase your light The ELEVENTH SERMON HEB. IX XXIII It was therefore necessary that the partners of things in the Heavens should be purified with these but the Heavenly things themselves with better Sacrifices than these SAlvation as to the actual dispensation of it is revealed by Christ as a Prophet procured by him as a Priest applied by him as a King in vain is it revealed if not purchased in vain revealed and purchased if not applied How it is revealed both to us and in us by our great Prophet hath been declared And now from the Prophetical Office we pass on to the Priestly Office of Jesus Christ who as our Priest purchased our Salvation In this Office is contained the grand relief for a soul distressed by the guilt of sin When all other reliefs have been essayed 't is the blood of this great sacrifice sprinkled by faith upon the trembling conscience that must cool refresh and sweetly compose and settle it Now seeing so great a weight hangs upon this Office the Apostle industriously confirms and commends it in this Epistle and more specially in this ninth Chapter Shewing how it was figured to the world by the Typical blood of the sacrifices but infinitely excels them all And as in many other most weighty respects so principally in this that the blood of these Sacrifices did but purifie the Types or patterns of the Heavenly things but the blood of this Sacrifice purified or consecrated the Heavenly things themselves signified by those Types The words read contain an Argument to prove the necessity of the offering up of Christ the great Sacrifice drawn from the proportion betwixt the Types and things Typified If the Sanctuary Mercy-seat and all things pertaining to the service of the Tabernacle was to be consecrated by blood those earthly but sacred Types by the blood of Bulls and Lambs c. much more the Heavenly things shadowed by them ought to be purified or consecrated by better blood than the blood of beasts The blood consecrating these should as much excel the blood that consecrated those as the Heavenly things themselves do in their own nature excel those earthly shadows of them Look what proportion there is betwixt the Type and Anti-Type
Historie to great indignation against Pilate the Jews and the rude and bloody Souldiers and could not contain himself but cried out as the Bishop was reading O that I had been there with my French-men I would have cut all their throats who so barbarously used my Saviour To allude to this When the Believer considers and remembers that sin put Christ to all that shame and ignominy that he was wounded for our transgressions he is filled with hatred of sin and cries out O sin I will revenge the blood of Christ upon thee thou shalt never live a quiet hour in my heart And Secondly It produces an humble adoration of the goodness and mercy of God to exact satisfaction for our sins by such bloody stripes from our surety Lord what if this wrath had seised on me as it did on Christ what had been my condition then If these things were done in the green tree what had been the cafe of the dry tree Sometimes representations and not common ones are made of the Love of Christ who assumed a body and soul on purpose to bear the wrath of God for our sins And when that surpassing Love breaks out in its glory upon the soul how is the soul transported and ravished with it crying out what manner of Love is this Here 's a Love large enough to go round the heavens and the Heaven of heavens Who ever loved after this rate to lay down his life for enemies O Love unutterable and unconceivable How glorious is my Love in his red garments Sometimes the fruits of his death are there gloriously displaied Even his satisfaction for sin and the purchase his blood made of the eternal inheritance And this begets thankfulness and confidence in the soul. Christ is dead and his death hath satisfied for my sin Christ is dead therefore my soul shall never die Who shall separate me from the Love of God These are the fruits and this is the nature of that remembrance of Christ here spoken of Secondly What aptitude or conducency is there in this Ordinance to bring Christ so to remembrance Much every way For it is a sign by him appointed to that end and hath as Divines well observe a threefold use and consideration viz. as it is memorative as it is significative and as it is instructive First As it is memorative and so it hath the nature and use of a pledge or token of Love left by a dying to a dear surviving friend And so the Sacrament as was said before is like a Ring pluckt off from Christs Finger or a Bracelet from his Arm or rather his Picture from his Breast delivered to us with such words as these as oft as you look on this rememember me Let this help to keep me alive in your remembrance when I am gone and out of your sight It conduces to it also Secondly As it is a significative sign most aptly signifying both his bitter sufferings for us and our strict and intimate union with him Both which have an excellent usefulness to move the heart and its deepest affections at the remembrance of it The breaking of the Bread and shedding forth the Wine signifies the former our eating drinking and incorporating them is a lively signification of the other Thirdly Moreover this Ordinance hath an excellent use and advantage for this affectionate remembrance of Christ as it is an instructive sign And it many waies instructs us and enlightens our mind particularly in these truths which are very affecting things First That Christ is the Bread on which our souls live proper meat and drink for Believers the most excellent New-Testament food It 's said Psal. 78.25 man did eat Angels food He means the manna that fell from Heaven Which was so excellent that if Angels who are the noblest creatures did live-upon material food they would choose this above all to feed on And yet this was but a Type and weak shadow of Christ on whom Believers feed Christ makes a royal feast of his own flesh and blood Isai. 25.6 all our delicates are in him Secondly It instructs us that the new-New-Testament is now in its full force and no sustantial alteration can be made in it since the the Testator is dead and by his death hath ratified it So that all the excellent promises and blessings of it are now fully confirmed to the believing soul. Heb. 9.16 17. All these and many more choice truths are we instructed in by this sign And all these waies it remembers us of Christ and helps powerfully to raise warm and affect our hearts with that remembrance of him Thirdly The last enquiry is how Christ hath hereby left such a special mark of his care for and love to his people And that will evidently appear if you consider these five particulars First This is a special mark of the care and Love of Christ in as much as hereby he hath made abundant provision for the confirmation and establishment of his peoples faith to the end of the world For this being an evident proof that the New-Testament is in its full force Matth. 26.28 this is the Cup of the New-Testament in my blood it tends as much to our satisfaction as the legal execution of a deed by which we hold and enjoy our estate So that when he saith take eat it is as much as if God should stand before you at the Table with Christ and all the promises in his hand and say I deliver this to thee as my deed What think you doth this promote and confirm the faith of a Believer if it do not what doth Secondly This is a special mark of Christs care and Love in as much as by this he hath made like abundant provision for the enlargement of his peoples joy and comfort Believers are at this Ordinance as Mary was at the Sepulcher with fear and great joy Matth. 28.8 Come Reader speak thy heart if thou be one that heartily lovest Jesus Christ and hast gone many daies possibly years mourning and lamenting because of the inevidence and cloudiness of thine interest in him that hast sought him sorrowing in this Ordinance and in that in one duty and another if at last Christ should take off that mask that cruel covering as one calls it from his face and be known of thee in breaking bread Suppose he should by his Spirit whisper thus in thine ear as thou sittest at his Table dost thou indeed so prize esteem and value me will nothing but Christ and his Love content and satisfie thee then as sweet lovely and desireable as I am know that I am thine Take thine own Christ into the arms of thy faith this day Would not this breed in thy soul a joy transcendent to all the joys and pleasures in this world what thinkest thou of it Thirdly Here is a signal mark of Christs care and Love in as much as this is one of the highest and best helps for the mortification of the
when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life Surely it cannot be supposed but he is able to save to the uttermost all them that come to God by him Seeing he ever lives to make intercession Heb. 7.25 Think how safe the people of God in this world are whose head is in Heaven It was a comfortable expression of one of the Fathers incouraging himself and others with this truth in a dark day Come said he why do we tremble thus do we not see our head above water If he live believers cannot die Ioh. 14.19 Because I live ye shall live also And let no mans heart suggest a suspicious thought to him that this wonderful advancement of Christ may cause him to forget his poor people groaning here below under sin and misery For the temper and disposition of his faithful and tender heart is not changed with his condition He bears the same respect to us as when he dwelt among us For indeed he there lives and acts upon our account Heb. 7.25 1 Ioh. 2.1 2. And how seasonable and comfortable will the meditations of Christs Exaltation be to the believer when sickness hath wasted thy Body wither'd its beauty and God is bringâ—ng theâ— to the dust of Death Ah think then that that vile Body shall be conformed to the glorious Body of Christ Pâ—al 3.21 As God hath glorified and highly exalted 〈◊〉 Son whose form was mar'd more than any mans so will he exalt thee also I do not say to a parity or equality in glory with Christ for in heaven he will be discerned and distinguished by his peculiar glory from all the Angels and Saints as the Sun is known by its excelling glory from the lesser Star But we shall be conform'd to this glorious head according to the proportion of members O whither will Love mount the believer in that day Having spoken this much of Christs exalted state to cast some general light upon it and engage your attentions to it I shall now according to the degrees of this his wonderful exaltation briefly open it under the forementioned heads viz. His Resurrection Ascension Session at the Fathers right hand and his return to Judge the World The THIRTY NINHTH SERMON MATTH XXVIII VI He is not here for he is risen as he said come see the place where the Lord lay WE have finished the Doctrine of Christs humiliation wherein the Sun of righteousness appeared to you as a setting Sun gone out of sight but as the Sun when it 's gone down to us begins a new day in another part of the world so Christ having finisht his course and work in this world rises again and that in order to the acting another glorious part of his work in the world above In his death he was upon the matter totally Eclipsed but in his Resurrection he begins to recover his light and glory again God never intended that the darling of his soul should be lost in an obscure Sepulchre An Angel descends from heaven to roll away the stone and with it the reproach of his death And to be the heavenly Herald to proclaim his Resurrection to the two Mary's whose love to Christ had at this time drawn them to visit the Sepulchre where they lately left him At this time the Lord being newly risen the keepers were trembling and become as dead men So great was the terrible Majesty and awful solemnity attending Christs Resurrection but to encourage these good souls the Angel prevents them with these good tidings He is not here for he is risen as he said come see the place where the Lord lay q. d. Be not troubled though you have not the end you came for one sight more of your dear though dead Iesus yet you have not lost your labour for to your eternal comfort I tell you he is risen as he said And to put it out of doubt come hither and satisfie your selves see the place where the Lord lay In which word we have both a Declaration and Confirmation of the Resurrection of Christ from the dead First A Declaration of it by the Angel both Negatively and Affirmatively Negatively he is not here Here indeed you laid him here you left him and here you thought to find him as you left him but you are happily mistaken he is not here However this giving them no satisfaction for he might continue dead still though removed to another place as indeed they suspected he was Ioh. 20.13 Therefore his resurrection is declared Positively and Affirmatively he is risen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word imports the active power or self quickening principle by which Christ raised himself from the state of the dead Which Luke takes notice of also Acts 1.3 Where he saith he shewed or presented himself alive after his Passion It was the divine nature or God-head of Christ which reviv'd and rais'd the man-hood Secondly Here is also a plain confirmation of Christs Resurrection and that first from Christs own Prediction he is risen as he said He â—oretold that which I declare to be now fulfill'd Let it not therefore seem incredible to you Secondly by their own sight come see the place where the Lord lay The Grave hath lost its guest it 's now empty death hath lost its prey It receiv'd but could not retain him Come see the place where the Lord lay Thus the Resurrection of Christ is declar'd and confirm'd Hence our Observation is DOCT. That our Lord Iesus Christ by the Almighty power of his own God-head revived and rose from the Dead to the terror and consternation of his enemies and the unspeakable consolation of Believers That our Lord Jesus Christ though laid was not lost in the Grave but the third day revived and rose again is a truth confirmed to us by many infallible proofs as Luke witnesseth Act. 1.3 We have Testimonies of it both from heaven and earth and both infallible From Heaven we have the Testimony of Angels and to the Testimony of an Angel all credit is due for Angels are holy Creatures and cannot deceive us The Angel tells the two Mary's in the Text he is risen We have Testimonies of it from men holy men who were eye witnesses of this truth to whom he shew'd himself alive by the space of forty days after his Resurrection by no less than nine solemn Apparitions to them Sometime five hundred Brethren saw him at once 1 Cor. 15.6 These were holy persons who durst not deceive and who confirmed their Testimony with their blood So that no point of Religion is of more confessed truth and infallible certainty than this before us And blessed be God it is so For if it were not then were the Gospel in vain 1 Cor. 15.14 Seeing it hangs the whole weight of our Faith hope and salvation upon Christ as risen from the dead If this were